Looking ahead to 2013 brings great excitement! This will be a BIG year for us! On New Years Day, the kids and I will fly to Charleston, South Carolina to start a new chapter in our lives. We are praying Scott will join us sometime in January once his US Immigration is approved. New city, new home, new church, new school, new everything! I'm not sure I could be more excited than I am! This is the city I've dreamed of living in since I was a little girl! God amazes me!! One of the things I hope happens in 2013 is that I can get back to posting here more regularly. It's no coincidence that the first day of our new chapter will be in Charleston! So, I'll post on Tuesday, either in the airport on our layover in Houston or on one of the flights if my children sleep (PLEASE Lord Jesus, let them sleep!), but if not, definitely once we get in and get settled Tuesday evening! Looking forward to a fresh start. For now, I have what seems like a NEVER-ENDING list of things to do

Romans 12:8 "If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously." What do secure leaders do? 1. Secure leaders raise up other leaders. Ephesians 4:11-13 "He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up the full stature of Christ." Jesus didn't carry out his ministry and mission alone, hoarding all of his knowledge and talents to himself.  He was secure in his leadership abilities; not fearing that if others shined, he would shine less. He raised up the 12 disciples around him and poured into all of them so that they would be leaders as well. Jehoshaphat was a perfect example of a leader that raised up leaders ar

Just days after writing a post about resisting sin and not conforming to the world's standards, I almost had to laugh at the irony of God's testing of myself and my faith. Here is that post.  Last night, I discovered that with the upgrade of our cable package I now get a few of my favorite networks that I haven't had since moving to Canada. Included in our package are Food Network, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), TV Tropolis, and several others I used to enjoy. Among the first shows I flipped through, I was almost too excited to see "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and the "Real Housewives" series.  I shamefully admit that I used to love watching reality shows like those mentioned, but never saw anything wrong with it because I wasn't copying any of their behaviors in my own life. What I didn't realize though, was the affect those shows can have on your mind and your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affect

I read a fantastic article on the phenomenon of "50 Shades of Gray" and "Magic Mike". I share the same disbelief that women everywhere that claim to follow Christ would indulge in these types of entertainment. There seems to be this sort of movement of women saying, "if men are allowed, so are we!", instead of standing against the very things that breaks the heart of God. Sure, men all over the world have become ensnared in the tangled web of pornography. Do I think that's any more wrong than women being involved in the same thing? No, of course not. I do know though, that because of the incredibly high demand for pornography, young women and even girls are being enslaved to supply that very demand. If we choose to begin a new revolution of sex-for-sale with women in mind, are we going to be OK when the same number of boys end up trapped across the earth as there are girls because of our sinful means of entertainment? That's the reality of this sit

I read these two posts by Justin & Trisha Davis yesterday and had to share. What every husband needs.   (Read the whole post here.) 1. Loyalty 2. Encouragement 3. Sex 4. Common interests 5. Prayer What every wife needs.   (Read the whole post here.) 1. Pursuit 2. Prayer 3. Engagement 4. Leadership I thought they were pretty spot on with these posts. A tweet by The Marriage Bed @themarriagebed "If you decided to start treating your spouse how God wants you to treat them, how much would you have to change?" Pretty good thought! I'm blessed to have a husband who pursues me, prays for me, engages with me, and leads me and our children!

Last night I was thinking about our wedding anniversary (3 years today!) and ways I could encourage my husband more than usual on this special day. I began to think about all the things that make our marriage so fun and special, and realized that more than anything, it's the little things that matter most. Don't get me wrong, I love the special, out of the ordinary things Scott does for me too, but I started thinking about the little things he does that he probably doesn't even realize mean a lot to me. Partly, I'm sure, because I forget to vocalize my appreciation for those things. So then I thought, what a great opportunity to make a little list of sorts of all the little things I appreciate about him. We just got back from our summer holiday in British Columbia, and I was thinking about all the little things he did along the way that were everyday, normal things, but meant a lot to me. He took our SUV in to be serviced and have new tires put on. THAT is definitely

The Sunday before we left for Vancouver I watched a live video stream of a church I'm pretty fond of. The bonus was that Chris Caine, founder of The A21 Campaign which I've written lots on, was in town speaking this weekend. I could not have started my Sunday any better than hearing her pour her heart out on that stage. I'm still reeling from her message! God is SO at work in my right now, and I just had to share some of her message for y'all! She was talking about Moses, Joshua, and the Israelites when God led them into the promised land. If you know the story about the Israelites, you know that God promised their ancestors land for their descendants. He led them out of Egypt and out from under the rule of Pharaoh, and sent them on the journey into this new life set aside for them. What was supposed to take just 11 days, took over 40 years. Here's where her message picked up.  Deuteronomy 7:1 says, "When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are a

We just got home from almost 2 weeks in BC. So blessed to visit places like Vancouver, Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, and Sun Peaks Resort. It was probably one of the more relaxing trips my family has ever done. Instead of trying to fill every spare second with events, theme parks, beaches, shopping, and eating out, we took a much more laid back approach to this holiday. It was so peaceful to spend time with God in reading, prayer, and listening to podcasts being surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen! Hopefully, I'll get back on board with blogging here so I can share some of what God has been speaking to me about. Until then, here are a few of my favorite photos from our trip! Enjoy!  The kids and Mimi & Papa on Granville Island  My handsome hubby and I on Granville Island in Vancouver  Nanaimo  The girls-me, my Mom, Olivia, and my sister at dinner in Nanaimo  Going on a walk through the park in Nanaimo  My cute boys on board t

I absolutely LOVE pinterest ! I was inspired for Father's Day gifts to my Dad and my husband, and threw in one for my Mom while I was at it! :) One for Dad! One for Papa! And one for Mimi too!

Being a slave is a reality to more than 27 MILLION people in the world today. The words "human trafficking" are becoming known world wide. When I first heard about The A21 Campaign, my heart was tortured by the thought that girls my age and younger were being bought and sold for sex. At that time, I chose to take an interest in what this organization was doing to fight human trafficking on the front lines. My heart in ministry at the time was for young women-teens to early 20s. It was about fighting for girls that should be in school, but instead were being brutalized each and every day. Recently, I've grown more and more passionate about this cause because as more facts and information surfaced, I discovered that sex trafficking affects girls as young as 4. My daughter is 6. This issue now has a face for me. It has a voice. Last month I received a beautiful bouquet of pink roses and lilies from my parents after a minor surgery. Each day I watched as they grew and chang

THESE SMILES!

God's been very intentional about placing this subject on my mind and in my heart today. First, when watching my 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, walk out the door on her way to school this morning. After she left I thought, "What if I were never to see her again because she was captured by someone intending to traffic her?" Scary thought, I know. You might encourage me NOT to think about such horrific thoughts. I'm convinced though, that too many of us are REFUSING to think about things like this because we don't WANT to know they happen; and not only in other countries around the world, but in our own backyards. You see, it's EASY to ignore or tune out the cries of the world so that we FEEL better. But just because you ignore the cry doesn't mean it goes away. Watching your young daughter walk out the door and never seeing her again is a reality of millions around our world. Human Trafficking, and the sex trade in particular, is not just a problem overseas.

It's that time. Things are crazy, life is hectic.  Family life is busy, and it's time to schedule a little time-out for Mommy! You've heard of "personal days" or "mental health days". Well, today, I thought to myself, "I need one." Typically, Scott's day off is Monday and we usually do some things together as a family. I didn't feel prepared to go spend the day by myself today, thinking I would waste that precious time away without a good, solid plan. I want to soak it all in, after all! So, I'm making a list. When you're a wife and a mother, it's easy to forget who you were before becoming those things. What kinds of things you did in your free time. Hobbies you had, goals you wanted to achieve, and dreams you liked to grow.  Taking a personal day is especially important for mothers for many reasons. Not only to get away, clear your head, and get some rest from the everyday routine of family life, but also to DREAM again.

About a month ago I stumbled across this website that was promoting a conference for pastor's wives & women in ministry. It's called the JustONE Conference. If you're married to a pastor or are in ministry yourself, I would really encourage you to check it out here.  http://bit.ly/4D6owY Anyway, today was the first day of a 4 week conference. The idea is genius. We're all busy, we all have different schedules. This is an online virtual conference that streams twice a day, Monday & Tuesday for 4 weeks. Each week there will be different speakers, and tonight I got to hear from several really gifted women I had never even heard of before. After just an hour I am fired up! So, I thought I would post some thoughts each week about what I've heard. You can also follow me on Twitter for more of my insight! Probably the thing I related most to tonight while watching came from Jessica Cornelius from Texas. She was talking about the "voices" that we lis

I started drafting this post back when the news broke about Kim Kardashian ending her marriage after just 51 days or something. I like her. I wouldn't call myself a fan, but when all the news came out about who's fault it was, how expected it was, etc, etc, I got a little defensive. Obviously, none of us know the real truth-who's fault it was, how it happened, and why, but does it really matter? I don't think God cares. I think he's just saddened that another marriage had to be lost. When God created Adam and Eve He didn't present Adam's wife to him with the disclaimer, "Here's a wife to keep you company until things fall apart and the next woman comes along." In the same way, He didn't give Eve the "out" by saying, "Eve, have fun with this one until you see something you think you'd be happier with." No, God ordained marriage as a forever thing. One man, one wife, forever. I think God is truly saddened by each marri

Can I please just say how much I love these 2? Both my babies are in bed, and I'm just thinking about how blessed I am to be their Mommy! There is no feeling in the world like having both sets of those big, blue eyes look up to me each and every day!

I'm aware the phrase "to be honest" (or TBH as teenagers refer to it as) is floating around on facebook. I don't know how or where it started, but a lot of our youth are using the phrase to send each other messages about whatever topic, speaking honestly.? I didn't realize I needed a disclaimer placed in front of whatever I feel like sharing to others...I'm a pretty bluntly honest person. At any rate, I'm about to get brutally honest. This is not fun to admit, but I feel like the greatest lesson learned may be in being able to help someone else. Today started out rough for me. (Big deal, you might say) I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I wasn't myself this morning (or I HOPE that's not myself). Because my day started rough, I made my family's day start rough. I woke up like normal, headed to the kitchen to make Olivia's breakfast and pack her lunch while she got dressed. When she came down, she sat at our counter to eat

So I'm on Day 2 of my Daniel fast. Fruits, vegetables, and water. That's it. Sounds like torture-especially for a "meat and potatoes" kind of girl. I Love fruit-and several veggies too though, so it's not bad (yet). I've also given up facebook.  Scott and I are wanting to grow closer together as well as hear from God about a few specific areas of our life, so I'm devoting these 3 weeks to seeking God, hearing from God, praising God, and being more productive as a wife and mother! This morning I was reading my fasting devotion and it talked about repentance.  "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Matthew 4:17 In the Old Testament the word "repent" meant to "be sorry". But in the New Testament, the Greek word means "reconsider or think differently".  It's no longer OK to just "be sorry". We're called, commanded even, to chan

"Back to Life, Back to Reality". Anyone know what song that is? Ha, me either! Home from a 3.5 wk holiday. Today is Olivia's birthday! I cannot believe she is 6 years old. Only because most of the time she acts like she's 16! "The princess" woke up to hot cinnamon buns and cold milk in a champagne flute this morning! She got a big kick out of that! We've played with birthday gifts and her toy puppy that Santa left her. In a way, it's good to be back! She even got a call this morning from a little girl in her class asking her to come to her birthday party this afternoon, so she's excited about that! Can I just say how nice it was to come home to a clean house last night...especially since we didn't get home until around 12:45AM!  It's much nicer to wake up in a clean house after being away so long! The only thing I should have done before leaving was make my bed! It's much more relaxing to just be able to crawl in bed rather than s

Most people say that "goodbyes" are never easy. I can definitely agree with that! My family knows all-too-well how hard they are. In fact, I've been saying goodbye for years, and it's never fun. Also, people that say "it gets easier" are LIARS! Scott and I started dating long distance in 2007. We were constantly saying goodbye in airports, and it ALWAYS sucked! When we moved to Canada in 2009, we had to say the hardest goodbye ever. I never imagined I would be 2,000 miles from all my family. Each time we are able to see my family, we all dread the goodbye at the end of the visit.  Tomorrow, we say goodbye again. After 3.5 weeks of holidays with my family, we are flying from Atlanta to Orlando, and then fly from Orlando back to Canada on Wednesday.  The end of a long trip always leaves mixed feelings for me. Sad to once again say goodbye. Eager to get back home and "get back on track".  (P.S. For me, the word "home" is used very loosely

Here's to catching up from 2011. I promised myself that during our Christmas holidays I wouldn't get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the retail-generated commotion of the holiday season. Yes, there would be gifts to buy and give, food to prepare and indulge in, sales to take advantage of, and "traditions" to keep up. I expected to take part in all of these things, but wanted to remind myself often of Psalm 46:10. The NLT version says this, "Be still and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world." In the midst of all the holiday traditions, I wanted to truly remember the reason for all the celebration. We have been in the U.S. for about 3 weeks now, and I can truly say that I've been able to slow down, enjoy the moment, and remember the reason for all our celebration.  Also, in keeping to tradition, I'm quite sure by the end of this trip I'll need a vacation from my vacation! That's the