My Southern Belle Redneck

It was an art fest this morning at our house...and ALL of it was pulled out. Even the glitter...ugh! But the kids always love to get it all out and "make" something. I love to see their creativity and they stay occupied for hours at a time. Besides, I was cleaning out the pantry and they certainly didn't want any part of that!

Brayden and his play-doh creations...notice the blob. He mixed ALL the colors.

Karis spent about an hour painting faces on plates for different people. "Don't worry mom. I'll make you one tomorrow!"

Karis had all her stuff organized into these cups. Gosh...I wish she wasn't so much like her daddy! Haha (Just kidding she is totally me!)

Glitter...a mom's nightmare :)

So I pulled out the beans and we hid stuff in them and they had to find them. Hide and go seek...

Brayden found a googly eye...

You can totally tell he is concentrating. He even has the tongue in his cheek....

Now for the explanation of this post title...Karis got this shirt from her BFF MM because she had grown out of it...so cute. Yep she is a Southern Belle and is TOTALLY a girly girl...princess dresses, makeup, heels and all most of the time.......

Except for when she is eating sunflower seeds and is SPITTING IN HER SPIT CUP! Gross!!! But hey she was lovin' them and I was laughing at how she can be so prissy yet so "Mississipian" at the same time! haha

Fall Family Fun day

Today was such a fun day!!! It was GORGEOUS weather and with all this rain we've had, we were dying to do something outside! We went to a local elementary school this morning for a Fall Festival and it was a blast. There were all kinds of things to do (blow up bouncers, pony rides, train rides, games, cake walks, and much more). There wasn't enough time for us to do everything unfortunately!

My ATTEMPT at getting a Fall picture with the kids...wasn't very successful!

Brayden and Karis going down the slide...they were doing all kinds of tricks coming down this thing!

You know Brayden's going to find himself a ball somewhere!

In the bouncers...(all smiles immediately before they saw Chuck E. Cheese...their smiles quickly turned to frowns!)

They both made some sand art necklaces...Brayden hasn't put his down since. He wants to take it everywhere!

Out of all the stuff there was to do, he wanted to play basketball more than anything. And he has this exact bball goal in his room!

After we left there we had a Fall family fun day for our church and it was tons of fun as well. There were games, food and a pumpkin carving contest. And we have some competitive people in our church let me tell ya!

Our children's director Liz and Jennifer and Jake..

Karis "helped" Ellie carve their pumpkin....

My favorite...the Michael Jackson pumpkin. If you notice to the right he had an ipod playing a MJ song...hilarious!

We came home to nap and then went and grilled steaks at a friends house and Karis had her friend Ellie come home and spend the night...fun filled day!

What is your purpose?

I have been contemplating this week my purpose in life. Why am I here? Am I doing what God has called me to do? Do I even know what my purpose is? Am I making a difference or am I just passing the time?

As I was reading in Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow I was very challenged with this.

Ephesians 5:15-17 says,"¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is."

I was very convicted about using my time wisely. A German philospher said, "Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." How do I spend my time and are the important things getting left out because I am too busy with things that don't matter? I was so convicted by this statement, I put down my Bible and my book and immediately turned on the TV and deleted a bunch of shows that I had DVR'd (decorating shows...I am an HGTV junky) because I didn't want them to take the place of things which truly matter. Don't get me wrong, I don't feel that TV is bad, but I know myself and I know that if they aren't there I won't be tempted to watch it and dream of worldly things I don't NEED like decorating (when my house is just fine right now as it is) instead of doing my quiet time or other way more important things.

Betty Scott Stam wrote her life purpose statement in the form of a prayer and I thought it was amazing...(I changed the thees and thous)

"Lord I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept your will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all utterly to you be yours forever. Fill me and seal me with your Holy Spirit. Use me as you will, send me where you will, work out your whole will in my life at any cost, now and forever."

WOW! I wish I could say that prayer and truly mean it. I do feel that way alot, but selfishly, I tend to take things back after giving them to Him, over and over again. "At any cost?" That is a powerful statement! Do I really want Him to have His will in my life AT ANY COST? At the cost of my husband, my children, my home, my possessions, my life???

Now once I start using my time wisely and doing things that are "more important" I must think about my motives for doing them. Because the condition of the heart is way more important than the actual deed. Am I doing them to glorify God or to be seen and praised by man? After all "You can mimic goodness by godliness cannot be imitated." Anyone can be "good" but not everyone can be "Godly." I don't want to be "good," but I want to be "Godly" with all my heart. After all, being "good" doesn't get us to Heaven and it certainly doesn't get us closer to the Father. Without Him, there is nothing "good" in us. Him, in us, is the only way we can be good in the first place. So without the relationship with Him, our attempts are futile and are a waste. Period.

What is your life's purpose? Can you say that you want Him to fulfill His will in your life at any cost?

We have lots of love to go around...

"Jesus Messiah" by Chris Tomlin

My mom posted this on her facebook account and said, "Could this be Karis, Brayden and Lucy someday?" Oh I would be so humbled, ecstatic and there would be no greater joy than if they all grow up to know the Lord and have a close relationship with Him! The singing ability would just be a bonus.... :)

I love this song and these kids do an INCREDIBLE job singing it!

Lucy has pigtails!

Just for kicks, I put Lucy's hair in pigtails this morning just because I could. And yes, I know it is not a good hair job, I just couldn't get her to understand to keep her head still...haha! But what a cutie she is! I just can't believe at 5 months she has pigtails!

I could kiss those little cheeks off!