Oh Praise Him!

My heart is joyful today! I am so grateful for the many blessings the Lord has poured into my life. Today is a day when I am speechless. I just want to Praise Him today! He deserves our praise, you know? The bible says that we are to Praise Him each and every day. We should praise Him in good times and bad times. I hope you make time to praise Him today. Take a moment in your car, at your desk, where ever you are and just close your eyes and praise Him! Thank Him for what He has done for you, what He is doing, and what He is going to do.

Last night I got to hear my nephew at his choir concert. I was so blessed to be there and see him participate in the concert. For those of you who know him, this is something that you would have never seen him do in the past. He is a changed young man and changed by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is so precious to me and I only pray and hope the best for him.

I hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season and are keeping your heart focused on Jesus. May God bless you and may you have a wonderful day!

Thanksgiving in St. Louis

All of these pictures are from our Thanksgiving trip to St. Louis to see Rick's sister and her family. There are quite a few pictures. Hope you enjoy!

I didn't mean to post this picture first but oh well...this is Buddy, our English Springer Spaniel. It snowed on December 1st here. This is him out on our back porch. Isn't he cute?

This is a picture of Loren riding a go cart at the St. Louis Mills Mall. This is a great place to spend an entire day. There is a movie theatre, the track area, a ton of stores to shop at, indoor playgrounds, a Cabelas, and plenty of restaurants to eat at.

Jacob has finally gotten big enough to ride the adult go carts. He had so much fun! Here he is worrying about someone passing him. These little cars went really fast.

You can somewhat see the smile on his face. He was so excited to get to ride these cars. This was an indoor track.

This is the playground that is close to Rick's sister's house. Isn't it neat? The kids love playing there.

This is a picture of Loren, Keegan, Jacob, and Brayden at Cabelas. They don't get to see each other often so they have a lot of fun when they are together.

This is a picture of the bumper car riding that happened at Partyland. I think this was in Bellville, Illinois. This was also an indoor bumper car area. The fee for unlimited rides was $5.00. I thought that was great!

This picture is of our nephews, Brayden and Keegan. We miss them!

You can see here that Rick had to get in on the action. He rode one time with the kids.

A picture of Jacob on the bumper car...

and Miss Loren in her car...

This is Rick's sister Tammy, her son Keegan, Rick's Mom Dee, and Tammy's son Brayden.

This is me and the kids in front of the Gateway Arch. We had fun going up to the top. It was beautiful!

This is the four of us up in the top of the arch...635 feet tall. Wow!

We had a great time in St. Louis! We are hoping that the Leonards will come to see us in Arkansas soon! Love to you all and God bless you! Kim

Fall

We went to a Hayride at a local church in late October. It was a lot of fun. This picture is of my kids and my brother Johnny and sister-in-lawAmy. The kids got to ride a camel there. That was quite an experience. The camel got spooked by a four wheeler passing and jumped in a half circle almost throwing the kids off. They probably won't be riding a camel again. They didn't like it. :-) We went on the hayride and sang songs around a bonfire. Great fun!

This is me and my sweetie at sunset the evening of the hayride. The land we were on is just beautiful. We would love to have a place like that someday.

I've got more posts and pictures coming. Better get to it.

Happy Thanksgiving

Just a quick post to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. We will be leaving tomorrow to travel to the St. Louis area. Please say a prayer for our safety. I am sure the interestates will be full of people.

This will be my first Thanksgiving away from my family here in my hometown. While I am happy to be with my husband's family, I am going to miss lunch at my aunt's house. It is my favorite "large" family gathering of the entire year. We always eat, then play cards or spoons, watch football, and at the end of the day the ladies gather around to look at all of the next day's shopping ads.

For the last couple of years I have always gone shopping with my mom the day after Thanksgiving. We usually get up at 4 am and are at the stores by 5 am. I know most of you probably think that is crazy but we have SO much fun doing it. We get a quick breakfast in the car and then eat lunch together and call it a day by noon. Then it is nap time. This year I am probably going to take advantage of sleeping in and watching football. If I haven't mentioned it, I LOVE FOOTBALL!! I hope the Hogs win on Friday...doubt it but who knows???

I know that my husband's family is very excited that we are coming. We don't get to be with Rick's sister very often so it will be a great time!

I better get to Wal-Mart to get some things before we leave. Love to you all and I am so thankful for each one of you! May God's blessings pour out on each of your families, friends and especially those who have no one to share this Thanksgiving with.

Thankful

Hello to you all! It has been a while since I have posted. I have been so busy it seems. If I look back, I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what has kept me so busy...maybe work, kids, church, etc. I will tell you that I am blessed to have a full life. I am excited about the holidays coming. For those of you who don't know, I work for my church. We have just finished decorating it this week and it is SO beautiful! I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet but you have to find time to decorate and early is the best way to handle it. I think both holidays wrap into one...aren't we thankful that Jesus came into this world???

I am feeling blessed to celebrate all of the things I am thankful for. Most of all I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. Without Him, nothing is possible in this life. To just have a relationship with Him is all that I need in this world. Anything else that I receive is just icing on the cake. I am blessed with a wonderful Godly husband who I am very proud to call mine. My children are precious...you know it's funny how God makes each one of them different. One thing I can say about mine is that they are both uniquely different but are both such very good kids, compassionate and sweet! I have the greatest parents in the world. They are SO unselfish and loving. I have a wonderful brother and sister, a great family and friends. I am so thankful for all of the people God has placed in my life. If it is for a season that is great, then I am blessed for that time.

Times are very hard for almost everyone these days. I pray God's blessings upon you and that you will pray for a "thankful" heart. May the Lord open your mind and heart to help someone this holiday season. I don't know if you listen to KLRC but they have been having "Pay It Forward" for the month of November. When you go through the drive thru next time...pick up the person behind you's order. If you can't give money or buy someone something, donate your time, give a hug, pray for them. That is truly what Jesus would want us to do.

May God bless you this weekend and begin to prepare your heart for time with family, friends, and loved ones!

Halloween

I haven't posted in a while. Life has been CRAZY!! Anyway...I had to post some pictures of Halloween. You can see in the picture below that Loren was Cleopatra. She was SO pretty! I think it was my favorite costume yet. The only thing is that when you buy your costume at TARGET you should expect other little girls to buy it too. Well, let me tell you - they did. That's ok though. She was the only Cleopatra in the 2nd grade at her school.

This is my VERY sweet son Jacob. He decided at the beginning of October that he was too old to go trick-or-treating. Well, on Friday morning (Halloween), he decided he wanted to dress up. I am not very creative with making homemade costumes but my Mom is. I was very proud of what she threw together for him. He has always wanted to be a werewolf. We didn't have a good wig for him but she did pretty well with the makeup, nails, hairy chest, etc. Ha! Boys will be boys so he is giving his best scary face here.

This is a picture of Jacob and Loren together. Can you tell that Loren was afraid of her brother? Look at her face...hilarious! My mom and I couldn't get her to stand closer to him. I guess she thought he was a real werewolf.

This is better. She is warming up to him a bit. We had a lot of fun this Halloween. The kids didn't get too much candy. It was actually stuff we will all eat. Yipee!!

I just want to thank God for the family he has blessed me with while on this earth. I am so proud of my children. They are really good kids. Hopefully someday I will look back and feel as if I've done a good job being a Mom. I pray so anyway....God bless you all and have a wonderful evening. Don't take one minute for granted, time flies so fast.

Daughters

This weekend my daughter's best friend spent the night. They had so much fun. I remember being their age. It is a fun time!

This picture is of L and R before church Sunday evening. It was "Bring a Friend Day" so L brought R with us. The kids were supposed to dress the same. My girl and R were the only kids to dress the same. I went to Wal-Mart and picked out these outfits especially for them. Thank the Lord they were on clearance.

Picture of their complete outfit. Aren't they cute?

This is a picture of them dressed up in play clothes. Miss R is in a halter style gown (made out of a poodle skirt and scarf) and L is in one of her dance outfits. They had makeup on and were they stylin' or what?
This is their "pose". I just love little girls. It is so much fun to dress them up and let them pretend to be big. I have to watch that last part though because they grow up fast enough as it is.

The girls had a fun weekend. I am sure we will do this again soon!

My sister and her family came up this weekend. It was so nice to see them. I was going to post a picture but I didn't have a recent one. I wish that we lived closer but we make the most of the time we get together.

Well, I must get busy with the usual...WASHING CLOTHES! UGH!! Have a blessed evening and great day tomorrow!

Follow up to Eureka Springs

A fellow blogger let me know that the Psalm 23 sign at the Passion Play grounds says this

"and if I go through the dark valley, I have no fear."

What beautiful words and they are German!

Eureka Springs

Rick and I needed some "us" time so we headed to Eureka Springs, AR yesterday. Eureka Springs is such a beautiful little town with unique shops and great restaurants. It was busy yesterday but we had a great time. This photo was taken in the Basin Springs area in downtown Eureka Springs...not the best because it was one of those hold the camera out in front of you type things. :-)


This is the entrance to Basin Springs in Eureka. This little area has beautiful water fountains and flowers with a small ampitheatre for bands and performances.



For those of you who have heard of the Cresent Hotel in Eureka Springs, this is it. It is a beautiful place. I took this photo standing across the valley in front of the Christ of the Ozarks. The hotel is said to be haunted. I just kind of ignore that part.

This is the entrance to the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs. If you haven't seen the Passion Play you MUST! It is held in an outdoor ampitheatre (holds 4,100 people) and it tells the story of Christ's life. There are live animals and hundreds of actors. It is awesome. Rick and I had our first date there. Kind of strange, I know but it was special!

Right after you go through the entrance of the Passion Play and are on your way to the statue of the Christ of the Ozarks, this area is to your right and it quotes Psalm 23 in another language. I plan to find out what language this is so I won't feel so stupid! I'm sure it is Greek or Hebrew.

This is the statue of the Christ of the Ozarks on the ground of the Great Passion Play. It is huge. It stands 67 feet tall. Rick and I are standing in front of it. A sweet lady from Alabama took the picture for us. I love to meet people from all over the United States and this is one place you can do that.

This is a closer picture of the statues face. It was strange that there were hundreds of insects swarming it yesterday. Everyone was standing around trying to figure out what they were and why they were attracted to the statue. You might be able to see them is you look close enough.

This is a picture of the plaque that shows the artist who sculpted the Christ. It quotes Matthew 1:20-21.
On our way home yesterday, we stopped at the War Eagle Mill in Rogers, Arkansas. If you haven't been you need to go. It is an old mill dating back to the early 1900s. They still make flour, cornmeal, batters, etc. there. You can even purchase these for your own baking/cooking. Yummy! There is also a restaurant on the 3rd floor called the Bean Palace. I haven't eaten there but Rick says its delicious!

This is a picture of the bridge and the small waterfall underneath it. It was a gorgeous fall day yesterday and we were blessed to have the time to see some of God's beauty!

Well, house work calls so I must go. Happy Friday to you All!

Kim

Sky Angel Cowboy

Hello there...I was reading a blog this morning and watched a you tube video called "Sky Angel Cowboy". Y'all, it was just precious. I have put it on my blog because it touched me so much. Oh to have a young child understand the gift of God's son is just amazing. This boy is going to much for our Lord Jesus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0r_FbARIn8

I couldn't get the You Tube to paste in but click the link and watch.

God bless you all today!

Moving Madnes...

I haven't posted in a while. We have moved to another house in our hometown. We moved maybe two miles away but we did it without packing anything. It was one of those moves where you put things in boxes as you go through rooms. What a mess! We are in the new place and trying to get it organized. It is really nice. I would post pictures if I had them. I'll try to do that at a later date.

I want to share how much God has done our my lives recently. Life has been somewhat of a struggle lately but you know, with God, all things are possible. We have been living in the unknown - my husband being unemployed, me about to be, not knowing where we were going to move to. Those kinds of things can become quite stressful. Sometimes you wonder if God has forgotten you or if he just doesn't want to help out at the time. It isn't either of those things, it is that the situation hasn't worked out for exactly what He has planned for your family and it must work to His glory. If we pray to God for help, he will come through - in HIS own time. I had a good friend give me reference to a passage in Isaiah the other day. I was really struggling with needing answers and it really spoke to me so I'd like to share it.

Isaiah 45:5-7 v 5. "I am the LORD and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, v6. so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD and there is no other. v. 7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things."

Isn't that powerful? It is amazing to me. It just shows me how powerful and in control God truly is in our lives. May we always be open to His plan in His time.

Things are still a bit crazy for us but we will make it through. God is our Rock and Savior. To him be praise and glory forever!




I took this picture from the backyard of our house we just moved from. Look at the rays of the sun...just gorgeous. I see God all in this picture.

What weekend???

Hi everyone. The title to my post sounds quite negative huh? I'm just kidding. It has just been an extremely busy weekend. I had planned on spending my entire Saturday cleaning and packing some stuff. BUT...my dad called me around 9:00 am on Saturday and told me he had free tickets to the Razorback game. Well, being that they were free and we haven't been to a game yet this year, we took him up on the offer. Well, needless to say - 6 hours later - we lost BIG TIME! I almost wished I had stayed home but it was a good time for Rick and I to have some fun together. The funny thing is that our seats were right in the middle of Alabama fans. The hogs were playing terrible and I'll promise you that you would not have wanted to have our seats. We ended up leaving our seats around half time and went to sit with my brother in Arkansas territory. We left with 2 minutes left on the clock. I know Petrino will eventually have a good team but they are not good at all!

My Sunday was spent at church. I helped out in the Youth for the early service, went to late service, ran to Sonic to eat a quick lunch, prepared for and hosted a baby shower then we headed to our connection group. We finally grabbed some dinner on the way home and it was 8:30!! Can I say kids...bathtime...late for bed and it is Sunday night! Our week isn't starting out too good.

We received an awesome word from the Lord today from our Pastor's message. It was on satan and how he is deceptive and destructive. It was also a history on how he fell from heaven and where he will end up. Anyways, it was a great message - just one of those you need to hear.

Well, I better get to bed. It will be 5:00 am before I know it. God bless y'all! Have a great night!

Kim

God is so good!

Ok, here goes...I am trying this blog thing again! I hope this time I will keep up with it. Blogging really is fun and my husband keeps asking me if I am ever going to create a blog. So, here goes...

You can learn so much from reading someones blog. Once I get into the habit of updating everyday, I intend to send this to our family members that are spread out throughout the U.S. so that they can keep up to date with our lives.

I just want to use this post to write that "God is so good"! Yes, he is. He is there in the midst of troubles, in the happiest of times and just when life seems unbearable. I hope that anyone who is reading this knows the Lord Jesus and can agree with me when I say "God is good"!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Kim

Thought I'd share a few pics of my boys and my girl...

Jacob

Loren and Rick