Happy Birthday Rachael!

Just a few blasts from the past...

I wish I had pictures to document all the times we made mud pies in the tree stumps, hid from passing cars in the pink mimosa trees for hours, and swatted at wasps out in the playhouse. One of my favorites was the rash we got from rolling around on the hay bales all day! :) From out in the pasture to Freshman Year in Griffis with the fourth floor nerds, we've been through alot!

We've grown up with so many precious memories with each other, and I'm so glad to call you my cousin. Happy Birthday Rachael! Love You!

"Missus An-na"

Taking a break from homework tonight and rewarded myself with a movie. I forgot how much I loved this one, and how much I want to be a "Missus An-na!"

My Jerusalem

He said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem"

"In our Lord's life, Jerusalem was the place where He reached the culmination of His Father's will upon the cross."

It is our goal in life to find and follow His Will, and go toward our "Jerusalem."

"Nothing ever diverted our Lord on His way to Jerusalem. He never hurried through certain villages where He was persecuted, or lingered in others where He was blessed."

I don't know where my Jerusalem will be, but I know that The Lord will lead me there, if I am not diverted by things on this earth. I pray that we keep our eyes on Him so that we can follow Him, and "By the Lord's grace, end in glory."

-My utmost for His Highest

Just a little chuckle :)

Found--while poetry lesson planning...:)


Roger Renfroe-Jones Kincaid

The meanest boy in the fourth grade
Is Roger Renfroe-Jones Kincaid.
He's meaner than a junkyard dog.
He's meaner than my sister's frog.
My sister's frog ate my friend, Brown,
And all Brown did was fly around,
Then land on top the frog's dumb head.
Brown licked his wings and 'THWACK! ' was dead.
My sister's frog is called Boo Bear;
Though he's a frog and not a bear.
But bears get mean when they're afraid,
Like Roger Renfroe-Jones Kincaid.

Busy as a...

These days, life is filled with athletic work, school work, running, cooking, and reading! Lots of FULL days! Lovely days!

But...

my strength lies daily in God's Word, without which I'd be in trouble.
Thank you Lord for giving us what we need for the tasks you've given us!

Training

Running is challenging. It's a battle of the mind. It's not so much a physical game, but a training of will power, a drive to keep moving.

There are some mornings that I wake up, put on my tennis shoes, and take off, knowing that a solid run is ahead of me. Other mornings, I feel like Elmer's glue trying to peel myself out of the bed. My legs feel like they have lead inside them, and each step takes all the strength I have.

Despite the kind of morning I feel when I wake up, I know that the run is necessary, a jump start to the rest of my day, and a goal I must meet. It's on those mornings when my legs feel like lead that I have to push myself the most. Yet when I reach my goal, I grin with pride. Pushing myself past the point of comfortable, even through pain, I finished the run. It's not by my own strength...surely I know that. Only through The Lord's encouragement and refreshment am I able to make it through those tough runs, and it is for His glory that He gives me that strength.

Praise The Lord that He gives us the things we need to accomplish the goals He has laid before us! What a Mighty God we serve!

Gardening

Sometimes, The Lord closes a window in our lives so that He can open a new door for us to look out. It may not be pleasant to close the window, but when we can finally look out of the new door that He has opened for us, we realize the wonderful reason why He was longing us to look at a new view.

For a while now, I've been looking out one window in "my house," enjoying the view of wildflowers and dandelions. I've had some wonderful laughs and memories from this window, but The Lord helped me to realize that it was time for me to take a look from another door: The front door of "my house." How is it that I've been missing this view for so long?

I had become so distracted by the beautiful view from the window, that I forgot to be experiencing life from my front door, the place that The Lord has been longing for me to return to. What a blessing that He closed the side window to bring me back to the center of my world, my relationship with Christ.

I'm so excited to be looking out the front door, helping My Savior work in the flower beds and pull up the weeds that have collected in my life. What a Great Friend He is to take this special time with me, working in the dirt, to create a more beautiful expression of His glory through my life.