Congratulations, Kasey Black! I hope that you and your family will enjoy these scripture cards! Please email Leigh Ann Loeblein ([email protected]) your address and she will get the cards in the mail to you asap!
And if you did not win, you can order a pack of scripture cards for yourself here. Consider it an investment in your spiritual health!
How about this blast from the past? Tetris was the only video game I ever liked. It was also the only one I was ever any good at. I got on a Bejewled kick not too long ago because it reminded me of my old friend Tetris.
The key to getting far in Tetris is to keep it low. If you start to let your wall build up with holes in it, you are in trouble. If you let your board begin to look like this, death is inevitable.
We were discussing forgiveness in my small group the other night and I got to thinking about Tetris. How do you have a marriage that lasts? By forgiving over and over again and not letting unforgiveness build up inside of you.
Forgiveness in marriage can even be a pre-decision. I am deciding today that no matter what you do tomorrow, I will forgive you (even if he doesn't ask for it). This way, when I am faced with a hurt, I have already decided how I will respond.
I will keep it low. I will forgive because I have been forgiven.
Luke 7:47
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.
Colossians 3:13
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
I cannot believe that my baby turned 1! She is so funny and full of life. We get a new glimpse into her personality every day.
She is a talker. In fact, she is much more concerned with talking than walking. She is finally taking steps but still not convinced that walking is a better form of transportation than crawling.
Her favorite word (and person) is Da Da but she also says tons of other words like Bubba (for her brothers), yes, dress (although one could argue that yes and dress are the same word), uh oh, hey, and many many other "words" that only she knows what they mean. She has stopped saying Momma, I guess she doesn't see the need since she can get my attention by saying "ahhh!"
She loves purses, phones and keys. That's my girl! Her favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It," and will join in with the hand motions if she feels up to it. She is a joy to have in our family.
Here are a few of her 1 year pictures...
My friend, Lysa TerKeurst recently gave away a set of these scripture cards on her blog. When I saw them I knew I needed those in my kitchen. My children have minds like little sponges and they can memorize scripture like nothing I have ever seen. I have been wanting to do more scripture memory at breakfast and when I saw Lysa's blog, I knew these were it.
Well I received my order a few days ago and my boys have already memorized A- A friend loves at all times, Prov 17:17.
And I bought an extra box to give away! Just leave a comment here in the next 24 hours or so and I will pick a winner. Good luck!
Painting your nails is such a fun way to bright and pretty no matter what you have on. Polishing your own nails is easy and cheap. There are a few places in Charlotte that offer a mani-pedi for $35 Mon-Thurs (Polished in South Park and My Bella Spa), but a new bottle of good nail polish costs less than $10, and you can do your own touch ups. You also don't have to have long nails to look trendy. Short colorful nails look amazing.
So here are some polish trends for this spring. (I stole all these pictures from Refinery29.com).
First of all, if you are going to paint your own nails, splurge on this top coat. It dries super fast and gives you a thick glossy finish. I never paint my nails with out it.
Neon colors are so much fun. Don't be afraid to put them on your finger nails too. Just make sure your nails are not too long!
Nude nails are always a great way to look finished and natural. The trend right now is to match your polish to your skin tone. One article I read said, "this look lengthens your hands."
Glittery polish is great! It looks fun and doesn't chip as easily (the con to this is it can be kind of hard to remove). Make sure it looks super glittery, not just shimmery.
And if you are wanting one of these hand-painted design looks, try these Sally Hasen stickers. I have bought them at Target and Walgreens. They are about $9 for 16 stickers and I was able to use one sticker for every 2 toes or fingers. They were surprisingly easy to work with and stayed on my toes for at least 2 weeks. They are also easily removable with nail polish remover. They come in designs and solid colors so if you are not so great at painting, these are a great alternative even if you don't want a crazy design.
There you have it! Get to painting becasue flip flop season is upon us!
Since we were all dressed up for Easter, I could not let our family go undocumented. My husband was so gracious to come over to an outdoor area behind our Blakeney building between worship experiences on Saturday afternoon. He changed from a white shirt to a pink one just to match the kids. Now that is a great man. The very talented Cheyenne Schultz was so kind to take our picture, and thankfully, everyone cooperated. The shoot was short and sweet and Cheyenne got so many great pictures. Here are just a few...
PS. I am so flattered that several people have asked me where my skirt came from. I actually found it at Anthropologie (in store not online).
Monday Morning Commentary
Well today is an odd commentary because I was the preacher this weekend. My husband has been preaching his heart out in Australia this week. He comes home tonight and my children and I cannot wait to see him. It has been a long 7 days.
I held down the fort at church this weekend (I said in my sermon that I took over the fort because of what I did to my husband's backstage bathroom. Picture make-up everywhere and a cloud of hair spray.) as we began our new series, Waiting Room, which is all about waiting on God.
My sermon was about how to turn your waiting room into a work room. I am going to skip the commentary because it feels too weird. You can listen to the message (or watch it) at our website, the Elevation Network and our podcast.
I would like to say that I wish every pastor's wife and church staff member could have the opportunity to preach one Sunday. Every time I do this, it gives me a renewed perspective and sense of empathy for what my husband goes through every single week. The pressure to prepare a message and basically speak on behalf of God to a group of people is more than you could ever imagine. And it never really goes away, even if you do it every single week.
So it is a great thing for me to preach at our church every couple of months even if the only thing that comes of it is a renewed vision to pray for my husband each weekend. I truly do not know how he delivers such an incredible message every single week!
I hope you have a great Monday. This week I will finally be sharing some of Abbey's birthday pictures as well as a great giveaway and of course great stories of life change too!