Heaven

It seems as though Heaven has yet another addition from the Sanders family.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Sassy Shoe Thursday

I have been so caught up in packing for our trip and getting everything situated that I forgot until just a few minutes ago (OBVIOUSLY I remembered!!) that it is sassy shoe thursday! But, it's only 1015am so I have got plently of time!

Here are my absolute favorite sandals. We bought these at Famous Footwear in the Old Navy shopping center in Great Falls, Montana about 2 years ago. We were heading down to Texas for my little brother's graduation and I needed some brown sandals to go with my khaki pants. Being the black shoe girl that I am, was hesitant to buy brown. But, I needed them so we bought them. One of the best things we could have possibly bought me. I have worn them so much there is not longer tred on the bottom and my foot has worn a cozy little indention so they fit just perfect. Because of these shoes, brown is my new black!

So these are my sassy shoes....and I love them.

What a beauty

I am not a normal "girl". I do like high heels, I love to drink tea and occasionally wear a skirt; I love to play volleyball and go for a jog. But, I LOVE cars. I am IN love with a certain car....and I got to see it this weekend at a corvette show....and I can't stop looking at it. For whatever reason, I am absolutely in awe of this peice of machinery. I KNOW!! It's just a car....but the beauty and power it possesses leaves me speechless. Here it is for all you bloggers to see as well.


Is she not the most gorgeous car you have ever seen?! And I say she because look at those lines, those curves that beauty!! I am by no means gay but seriously...men aren't made like that. You should see her when she is on the road. WHOA! If we win the lottery (and you have to play to win) I have already been promised a lovely ride to be my own just like this one....except black. AHHHHH!

See, I told you I'm not a normal "girl". I am in love with a car.

more precious than words

"Hey Haley! What are you doing today? I am just sitting here watching my favorite move Madagascar for the fifth time today. My momma seems to be tired of it but I'm not sure why. I really would LOVE for you to come over and play. We can play with all my stuffed animals, look at these books that I have and go for a ride in my Radio Flyer! Whaddya say? Hold on...lemme ask my mom. 'Momma can Haley come over and play?' Okay Haley...my momma says its ok. Go ask your mom and call me back ok?!"

Can't you just hear it now?! I love it!

It's amazing how much I love this little who has much slobber dripping from her chin.

The Da Vinci Code

So, what are everyone's feelings on the new release "The Da Vinci Code"? I don't know enough about it to make any kind of judgement one way or another but am curious as to what everyone else knows and how they feel about.

Thanks guys!

Flashback Friday!

I am getting on the blogging bandwagon! First it was Sassy shoe Thursday and today is Flashback Fridays! Thanks again Amber for letting me in on these fun days!

This one is Chris's favorite pregnant picture of me. He says it is hilarious because not only am I bare foot and pregnant but I am in the kitchen. Nice. It was taken November 23, 2004. I was just shy of 6 months pregnant. We were living in San Antonio in an apartment at the time. It's so funny to look back at these pictures and realize what a miracle it was that my belly got soooooo big!! 50 pounds whenever it's all said and done really adds a lot to a frame huh?!

Enjoy!

Sassy Shoe Thursday!

Okay....its my first time to ba apart of this and I have to admit....I couldn't be more excited!! It's amazing what kind of joy taking pictures of my favorite pair of shoes can bring!

These shoes are my absolute favorites. I am a sporty girl. I would rather hang with the boys, throw a football around, play some volleyball or watch a game on tv rather than dress up and be fancy. Well, since buying these shoes I have changed. They were pretty expensive but Chris said if I promise to wear them he will let me get them. Let's just say I have become one sassy girl after wearing these shoes! They go with just about everything and are surprisingly comfortable for high heels. I can dress them up or dress them down and I feel like such a girl whenever I wear them. Love love love them!

Thanks Amber for allowing me to be a part of such a fun day!!

When bad things provoke good

I have been frustrated at myself lately. I don't ever make enough time to sit and read my bible or pray like I should. That got me thinking....have I truly given my life over to Him or do I just say I have and live according to my own fleshly desires and wants? Why don't I make Him THE priority in my life like I know is in my heart to do? Am I simply human and let life's daily tasks get in the way or does it go deeper than that? Am I afraid? Thus the question following....I am anxious to hear others responses and have actually gotten a few. They will be in a later post. So, ponder, look up scripture, do whatever, but please let me know what you think!


The question is: Do we make the decision to die unto ourselves only once in our lives or is it a continual choice we make on a daily basis as long as we are living of this world and have our own fleshly desires and wants?

Swinging

Joy....if only we could expierence this like we did as a young child swinging on a swing for the very first times to do so. I'm not sure what it is she is doing with her tongue lately but it makes for a really cute picture! I took this monday night at our church picnic. It was a lot of fun. We got to play volleyball, throw the football around, eat burgers and visit with our friends from church like we never really get to on busy sunday mornings. It was neat and I look forward to doing more of that in the future.

It has been an amazing journey thus far being a part of Creekwood Church. Growing up we never went to church. I can remember as a little girl having a little fellowship time around our coffee table with our neighbors....but we never became involved/members of a church. I even had a bad outlook on chruches. I constantly got pressured from friends to "come to this event" or "visit my church". I even had several friends stop hanging out with me because I wasn't babtist and wasn't involved in a church. Then one of my very close friends was repeatedly raped by her youth minister. Not so inviting after you hear about that one. My over all opinion of churches, whether right or wrong at the time, was a negative one. I could never understand why people would get up on one of the only days you get to sleep in just to hear someone preach to them. I could never understand what the big deal was about going to church.

Then on December 3, 2005 my heart, body, mind, and soul did a complete 180 swing. It took 26 years to do but the Lord showed me what the appeal was. We started going to our church that day and haven't missed a service since (except for when all three of us got a wonderful intestinal virus and couldn't be more than 2 feet away from the toilet). We walked into the service with an open heart and a willing spirit. And boy did God show us!! That very first sermon was like we were the only ones in the room and God himself had put these words into our pastor's mouth just for us to hear. We both cried....and I seem to cry at every sermon I hear to date. The worship time is AWESOME! I love music and it is so wonderful when you can enjoy something you totally love AND get to worship our ever loving God at the same time. How beautiful. It is an awesome expierence to feel at "home" with all these people. Every single person has opened their hearts and homes to us from day one. Chris and I both feel that we have so much to offer this church and can't wait til God reveals where He wants us involved. For the first time in my life I wake up on sunday mornings excited. There are no more lazy sunday mornings. GOOD! I love the hurried whirlwind of our little family getting ready on sundays. I long for the songs to start pouring into my ears. I thrive on the words He speaks through Pastor Stephen. I feed off of the spirits of others and warm embraces they bring. I never knew how much I would or even could need other believers and how much they just might need me. God is quite the awesome God.

I now know what those other kids were tring to get me to see. I now know what the appeal of getting up early on sunday morning is. I now am one of those friends who is so enamored with her church that she wants to tell everyone she meets about the wonderful God we have and about the awesome power He has to change a girl's hardened heart towards church. I now know what it feels like to have a home away from home in a church. This home has a wonderfully new meaning to me and I never knew I would adore it so intensely.

Jennifer Knapp

Turn Your eyes from on this way
I have proved to live a dastardly day
I hid my face from the saints and the angels
Who sing of Your glory
What You had in mind
My weakness shines
Show me grace

Chorus:
A little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve
Unearth this holiness I can't earn
It's a little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve

For all the sin that lives in me
It took a nail to set me free still,
What I do I don't want to do and so goes the story
What You had in mind
What we seek we'll find
Shine, show me grace

A little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve
Unearth this holiness I can't earn
It's a little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve

With all this motivation I still find a hesitation
Deep in my soul
Despite all my demanding I still find You understanding
Show me grace
Show me grace I know is

A little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve
Unearth this holiness I can't earn
It's a little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve


I was driving yesterday to pick up my husband from work (we currently only have one car and it usually just makes more sense for me to take it rather than him) and NOTHING good was on the radio. I can't stand this new idea of music they have playing on the radio stations....rap is what they call it. It just seems to be infiltrating our every station and making my daily rides to Fort Worth not so enjoyable. So, I have resulted in playing my cds over and over again. Jennifer Knapp's cd (which I bought about 5 or more years ago) was the cd of choice yesterday. I can't remember a song that makes me totally and utterly humbled yet at the same time showing me how wonderfully loved we are at the same time. It brings me to tears every time I listen to it and I wanted to share it. I love the way she writes and brings such meaning to her songs. This one is titled A Little More and it is the reason I bought her CD in the first place.

Don't you just love those songs that you can listen to over and over and over and have the repeat on all day and never tire of hearing it again? I love those songs and look forward to the next one that climbs into my head and touches my heart. I don't think I could survive without music.

Tea

What is it about tea? Why do I love it so much lately? It's warmth, aroma, soothing qualities? Whatever it is I LOVE IT!

It all started last week when I went to a Tea Party with a friend of mine at her church. While there we sipped on tea poured from tea pots and ate real english tea time treats. Cucumber sandwiches, scones with fresh strawberry jelly-because apparently that is how you eat them in England. There was a speaker who spoke of the signifigance of a brewing the perfect cup of tea. I didn't get to hear it all for Katelyn wanted to run around and play outside of the room but there was a lot of truth in her speech. The jest of it all was that we have to take time, be careful and sqeeze every last drop out of life (the tea bag). It was good. During that I realized that I wanted to start drinking tea and having girlfriends over for tea time every once in a while. They can come over, we will eat pastries and let our little ones play. Priceless.

So now I am on a quest to find the perfect tea set.

blah

You know sometimes I want to write these profound things and spill my heart and soul out on to (virtual) paper but sometimes I just don't feel it. Like today. I read other people's blogs and they write paragraph upon paragraph of profound thoughts and ideas and how they view the world, Christ and what the effect of His peresence is etc etc. Should we all think like this or am I just not that deep? My desire is to make people laugh and enjoy life.....not think too deeply into the meaning of life. Yet I contradict myself when I say that. Because lately I HAVE had the desire to delve more deeply into my thoughts, my soul, my ever loving God and the relationships He has put into my life. Is He the key to opening up and getting past the surface of things? All my life I have dealt on a surface level with people. Never really allowing anyone into my little world and I have never really truly given of myself in friendships. Sure I have friends and long lasting ones at that. But honestly, how much of those friendships have I held back from? Do I really put myself out there for people to know and see and love (or not love)? Or am I the shoulder that they cry on and I simply cry to myself never really allowing them to see the "real" me? How do you start becoming an intimate friend having never done so before in your life? How do you let people in and gain meaningful relationships without having anything to judge it by?

The desire is there. I have often in the past felt left out by certain people and "groups" and couldn't understand why. I am begining to see the why. I would ask people how they were, wait for a response and comment when it was required. Yet I gave nothing. I feared everything and gave no one anything of myself. It is going to require a huge change on my part and an awful lot of prayer for that wall that seems to be guarding my everything to fall. It's funny how well satan can mask himself.....and we don't even see it as that. We simply see it as a personality trait; its "just the way I am". Yet when we look at ourselves and how we are supposed to be Christ-like creatures, how on earth can a person say that the "wall" of their personality allows them to be such? Christ gave His whole heart, His entire being and never asked for anything in return but for us to love Him and one another. I am who I am today because of Him yet I don't glorify Him with all that I am and with all that I have. I hold back from myself and from everyone who may need Him through me. I pray that I can release this "wall" and allow those He wants in my life to come into it with no questions asked and with no holding back.

This is a major step in my life and its only 27 years in the making.....wish me luck and say a little prayer for me.

interesting

What insecurities do you face on a daily basis that hinder 1. your walk with Christ 2. your relationship with your spouse and/or kids and 3. your willingness to go forth and do those things you never thought you could?

Just some questions to be thinking about and pondering because as of right now....I struggle with overcoming certain insecurities and fears that could potentially unmask a completely different side of myself that I have long since waited to see unveiled. Any words of wisdom for a hesitant yet hopeful soul?

Not enough time to just....play.

I was sitting here today watching my little girl play and my mind started wandering. She is so incrediably sweet and loveable and so even tempered. She gives a million kisses a day and hugs even more never even hesitating for a second. She loves to climb all over me and giggle all the while. She can't seem to read enough books in a day...or should I say read "that" one book enough times in one setting! She loves to watch Madagascar and dance her little heart out to all kinds of music anywhere anytime. She loves it when I sing to her...which I will have to say is not at all enough....I guess I should get rid of that insecurity. She smiles at everyone and waves just as many times to perfect strangers. She absolutely ADORES kids and wants to play with the big kids at church so badly but they never seem to wait for her. She never meets a stranger yet is cautious at the same time. She brightens the days and lives of everyone she comes in contact with. She has a wonderful future ahead of her full of all kinds of hopes and dreams to be had, prayers to be answered and lives to have touched. Then it hit me. That little tiny human being that I have been so incrediably blessed with will one day go to school. She will one day cry because of a mean girl/boy who teased her. She will talk my ear off after school with all the fun things they did on the playground and all the interesting things they learned at school. She will do many science projects (that her Daddy will be the one helping with...smarty man!) and have her very first musical play. She will have her first crush. She will go to junior high, have that awkward phase that everyone goes through where your body grows faster than your maturity and you get pimples for the first and hopefully last time. Not to mention the yearbook photos to proove all that. Then she will go into high school where talks of college start creeping in. She will break curfew and want to date boys sooner than her father and I are ready for. We will meet potential boyfriends, hear her giggling as she talks to her friends about her first kiss, miss her smiling face at friday night dinners because we just aren't cool enough to go out with on a weekend night anymore. She will start driving and get her first ticket. She will have her first Homecoming and eventually go to her Prom. She will graduate high school and go on to college. She will bring home boys for her father and I to meet....none of which we will approve of! :o) Until that is, Mr. Right comes along. God will reveal him in His timing and we will know him when we see him and be forever blessed that he has come into her life. They will get married. Wow. I will have to see my precious little girl who sits here now reading her books and gabbering about Elmo one day stand before her Almighty God and wed the man He has for her. And the cycle will start all over.

So needless to say, I have many sleepless, prayerful nights ahead of me waiting and watching what miracle and joy He has in store for my little slobberfaced girl who so lovingly kisses me with all her heart.

Where does the time go?