Let it Snow!

Well today was a very fun day with the 5-6 inches of snow that we got here in Hernando, MS. I can't remember the last time that we got this much snow! The kids had a blast as you will see below. Brayden looks a little miserable, because he was! Karis had the time of her life eating the snow!

Ok, so Karis is saying some pretty funny things these days. Here are the top 3 for today saving the best one for last...

3. She got up from her nap and was looking at the snow and was concerned about the "eagles" getting cold. When I asked her what eagles do in the snow, she said, "They get all 'snowed' up mom!
2. When we came in from the snow, she said, "Mom, guess what my favorite part was?" I of course said "What Karis?" She replied, "My favorite 'snow part' was....eating it silly!"
1. And the best of all, she was sitting at the table eating a brownie, and being such the lady that she is (which she usually is, but not this time), she "tooted" LOUDLY. After excusing herself and Jay and I getting over the shock of it, she said, "Mom, that smelled like a teenager!"

Growing up...

"AWW MAN!"

Karis is now 3 1/2 and Brayden is 20 months and they are doing new fun stuff every day. Today...

Karis was singing one of her favorite songs this morning and she sand a word wrong that makes it really funny. She sand it as follows:

"God our Father, God our Father,
Once Again, Once Again,
We bow our heads and Thank You, We bow our Heads and Thank you,
AWW MAN, AWW MAN! (It is supposed to say 'A-men, A-men.')"

Brayden was standing at the window waving at his daddy as he was driving out of our driveway and said "Love you!" for the first time. It was precious...too bad his daddy didn't hear him!

Here are some random pics that I took this morning of Karis and Brayden playing this morning.


Pics with Daddy before he left for work

Playing and tickling each other

Brayden playing peek-a-boo

Mud Pies or Holidays at the Sea

"We are content to go on making mud pies in the slums because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea."

Are you making mud pies or waiting on that holiday at the sea? Oh that we could wait on the Lord to satisfy us in every way and quit settling for earthly treasures!

The Law and Sin

How does the Law help me to know my sin?
(From Pierced by the Word by John Piper)

"What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been from the Law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.' But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead." Romans 7:7-8

The law creates all kinds of covetousness. In general, there are two kinds of bad desires (covetousness) that the law stirs up, and both are expressions of our love affair with independence and self-exaltation.

1. One is more obvious, namely for the desires for the very things that are forbidden. This is owing to our ingrained love of being our own god and our distaste for submission.
2. The other kind of bad desire that the law stirs up is the desire to keep the law by our own strength with a view to exalting our own moral prowess. It is not stealing, murder, adultery, lying; instead, just self-righteousness. Not that keeping the law is evil. No, the problem is the desire to keep it by my power, not in childlike reliance on God's power. The problem is desiring the glory of MY achievement, not Gods. That is a subtle form of covetousness.

So know yourself! Know your sins. Know your sinful condition of rebellion and insubordination. If this leads you to the cross and the gospel of justification by grace alone through faith alone, it will exalt Christ, be healing to your soul, and sweetening to all your relationships.

My Treasures

As my friend Lindsey says, "The Lord spanked my tail". The past couple of days have been very "dry" in my time with the Lord and it is really frustrating me. I have been consistent in spending time with Him even though I feel emotionless and know that it is just part of my walk. Things can't always be on a high, that is not reality. I haven't experience this in a while, actually, lately my times with the Lord have been incredible and I have desired him more than anything. But the Lord is trying to teach me something and I am slowly figuring out what that is. It seems as though I have failed and the Lord was sure to remind me of that this morning. My goal is to never spend more time watching TV than I have spent in the WORD that day but yesterday, I failed. Why do I even care about the tube, nothing about it is eternal! I somehow felt that I deserved a "break" from the routine and to relax. So instead of spending time in the word (I was home alone last night and how often does that happen?) I caught up on some shows. And of course in the gentle little way that the Lord likes to remind us of His truths, he did just that this morning. I was reading out of John 14 and he states, "If you love me, you will obey my commands." Do I love him? OF COURSE! Then why can't I be obedient to what He has called me to and convicted me of? I am so tired of being less than I need to be for Him. Then I was reading in the Daily Light and read for yourself...

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust [1] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Where are my treasures? And am I building them here on earth or in Heaven? Oh Lord that you would fill me with you and that I wouldn't desire the things of this world! As my dear friend Amber said the day before her death.... "When will I shake this sin?!"

Diego and Downtown

A bunch of silly girls with bows in their hair? Where in the world could we have possibly taken this crew? DIEGO! Karis calls it "Diego ALIVE." Friday night, we took a group of 4 girls downtown memphis to go see Diego at the Orpheum and boy was it a show! We got to ride the trolley and you would have thought it was a Limo or something! In this picture, they all have a mouthful of gum in case you wondered what that was...

Me and Karis at the Orpheum

Mine and Karis' buddies, Paige and Mari-Morgan (our pastor's wife and daughter)