HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well, here we are on the brink of beginning a brand new year! And of course as we think of the new year we always think what resolution am I going to make this year. I've been thinking about a couple of things I'd like to do or accomplish so I thought what better place to share them than on my blog. :)


1- Be more consistent in my time with God!!!

Spending time with God always makes a huge difference in my day! There are just some days that I simply don't make time for Him. I want this to change and to spend time with Him daily!



2- Share my faith and lead at least 2 people to faith in Christ.

Sharing our faith should a part of our daily lives. I don't know about you, but sometimes that scares me half to death. But, I want to get to the point where that's not true. I want to share my faith like I would share anything else.



3- Pray with my husband every night before bed.

We used to do this very consisently and it really drew us closer together.


4- Become actively involved in a women's ministry.

God has placed a very special calling on my life in this area. I want this to be the year that I begin to pratice the gifts he's given me for this ministry.


5- Last, but not least! Yes, I want to lose weight. :)


So, there's mine! I'm really focused on my spiritual life right now. I've not been as consistent as I have needed to be and I have not relied on God as much as I should. It's just so tough sometimes. But, the truth is, God is the only reason I've made it this far in my life. Without Him, I don't even want to think of where I may have ended up.

To God Be The Glory for the Great Things He Has Done!

Joshua

Here is a picture of Joshua with one of his favorite Christmas toys. :) He loves this thing.

Christmas Pictures

We're Baacckkkkk

We're back safe and sound in Texas! YEA!

We had a terribly long day yesterday with plane delays and layovers. Man, I didn't think I would ever get home. And, Thursday morning Joshua woke up with awful congestion and a bad runny nose so I wanted to get him to the doctor before we left. We were so stinkin busy. But, we have arrived and I'm back at work today. Joshua and Rodney are both home getting some rest today. Joshua has tons of new toys to play with so he's on cloud nine playing his little heart out and Rodney is probably in the recliner, trying to keep his eyes open. :) The nice thing is that when I get off at 5 today I don't have to come back to work until next Wednesday so I just keep telling myself that over and over and over and over again so I can get through this day.

I'm going to try and post some pictures from Christmas tonight. Joshua was so cute and really got into everything this year. We went to the mall the day after Christmas and Joshua told me he wanted to see Santa. I told him that Santa had already left to go back to the North Pole to get ready for next year and then I asked him why he wanted to see Santa. He then said, "say tank-you to santa, mommy." AWWEEEE... so sweet!!! He's so precious! I could just eat him up. :)

We were on the plane flying into Dallas last night and I had my arms propped up on my knees and my head laying in my hands and Joshua starting patting me on the shoulder saying, "mommy, you ok?" I told him "yes, I'm fine. I'm just sleepy." He then put his hand on my head and pulled me over towards him and rubbed my head for about 5 minutes. I told him thank you and he said, "mommy, ok now." I told him, "oh yes, mommy is much better now."

He is just so thoughtful, and bless his heart he cannot stand for his mommy to be sad. If I ever get upset about something or cry he always comes to comfort me. It's just the sweetest thing. He has a very tender heart up under all his hyper, tough man exterior.

Well, I'm off to get some more stuff done. I'll catch up with ya'll later!

Merry Christmas Eve

Well, we have made it to SC!! We flew in on Saturday and are loving every minute we are getting with our families. Joshua LOVED flying. I was so scared he would flip out since this was his first plane trip. But, he didn't. The only time he got mad and upset was when they were calling the different sections to load the plane and it wasn't his turn yet. He was so ready to get on that big airplane and when he did he was the happiest kid on earth. He got to sit by the window and thought it was so cool. So, unlike his mommy, Joshua loves flying.

When we got here I got to head off to the spa for an afternoon of relaxation!! It was so awesome. I got a facial and an hour and a half massage!! It felt so wonderful (in fact, Dr. Cathey I'm sure you are totally envious by now that you didn't get a massage,but don't worry I got you a gift card and they even serve vegetarian food!!) HAHAHA!! :) That's just a little inside joke for my new boss!! :)

We headed off to Lancaster on Sunday morning to see my family. We spent Sunday and most of today with them and then headed back to Columbia to be with Rodney's family. Right now, we are getting ready to put Joshua to bed so Santa can come visit tonight. He is so excited about Santa this year. He's been running aroung in his Christmas pajama's and wearing his santa hat yelling, HO HO HO!!!

I really didn't realize how much I missed SC until we flew in on Saturday. It felt so nice to be back home to all of my familiar sites. I really like Texas too, but there is no place like home. :)

Well, I'm off to force my child into bed!! :) Hopefully, he will fall asleep fast!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Believing God

There are a few books that I will pick up and read more than once and one is Beth Moore's book, Believing God. Here is a quote from her book that has just really made me stop and think today:

"The only way we are going to impact the world and the next generation is to prove that our faith in Christ is real and that it works."

I just pray that I'm living the kind of life that will impact someone for the cause of Christ. Because, that's what it is all about anyway. What better gift to give my Savior this Christmas season than a life that is totally sold out for and to Him!! Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

Joshua's Christmas Pictures

We took Joshua to have his Christmas Pictures done at Picture People last night. These are some of the BEST ones we had taken. We had a family picture done also. I'll add it after you've had time to FULLY ENJOY THESE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

September 23, 2006

I have lots of old journals and files that I have written over the years and I was reading through some of them this morning and found an old journal entry that I felt like I should share:

"Focusing on the Sovereignty of God

I spent my weekend in West Virigina at a Beth Moore conference. I asked the Lord to show up in my life and change me this weekend and he was not slow to answer my request. I went into this weekend just positive that God was about to break me to pieces and just leave me devastated. For some reason that has been my struggle all week long in preparing for this conference; scared to death that He was going to hurt me. My background is one of abandon, hurt, and total confusion; so for some time now I have thought I deserve nothing more from God than that. I have expected God to hurt me and turn his back on me because of my past.

Oh, but to my glorious surprise that is NOT the GOD I serve. Tonight the Lord spoke to me so clearly, saying "Courtney, I'm not a mean God and I'm not out to hurt you. You think I'm trying to break you when in reality I'm trying to lift you up." WOW, what a remarkable word from my God. One thing Beth said tonight I know was said just for me totally revived my whole world, "So much of our personal misery is wrapped up in our own insecurity. We have got to remember our feelings do not determine God's presence or God's feeling about us in our lives. Don't you dare let Satan trick you or tell you otherwise."

God is always there for us and he is not emotionally messed up or insecure about who He is. He is our stable and consistent God. This is so awesome because I really needed to know that I don't have an insecure God. The God I serve is the one who can and will lift me up."

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Every now and then I like going back and reading my old journals. It takes me back and reminds me of all the great lessons God has taught me. I've been a Christian for 17 years. AND, OH MY WORD I FEEL SO OLD SAYING THAT! It's almost unbelievable that I've been walking with Christ for that long or that I've even been alive that long. WOW!!! (I'm having a getting old mental moment right now) :) Ok, I'm better now. .... well, maybe not.. I'm a little overwhelmed by this fact. :(

OK... well, I have a feeling I'll remain in my overwhelming phase for a little bit but I'll try to get back on track now.

So, before I was so rudely interrupted by my 17 year confession.... :) Isn't it amazing to know we serve a God that looks past all of our "booboo's and scars"? He doesn't see us as a scratched up mess.. He just see's His Child! He see's ME!! The real ME, and loves me regardless.

Living in Awe!!
God's Daughter >>>> ME!! :)

Just Another Normal Night

I haven't done an update for quite some time now so I figured I'd give you guys a head's up on what we've been up to.

Our weekly schedule pretty much consist of work for me, school for Joshua, and lots of errand running for Rodney during the day. We get home around 5:15pm everyday and just do our normal family stuff. For about the first 30 minutes of being home Joshua has a snack, some juice and watches about 30 minutes of whatever show he is in the mood for that day. After that I'm usually playing with Joshua up in his room or in the living room and my wonderful husband is cooking dinner. We are pretty laid back and just do whatever we feel like at night. But, trust me something interesting is always happening around here.

For example, I was upstairs changing my clothes tonight and I hear Joshua walking up the stairs. He was on a frantic search for his blankie. :) I came out to help him find it and his hands were BLACK!! I was like what in the world have you gotten into now. We have our bikes by our front door because they are pretty expensive bikes and we don't want anything happening to them outside. Joshua had been playing with my bike and got grease all over his hands. It was so funny because he had not even noticed it before I said something about it. And then he was going crazy trying to get it off. He DID NOT like that grease on his hands. I think it kindof freaked him out. He was very happy to have nice clean hands again once we were done scrubbing them.

Now, he is jumping from the coffee table to the couch. Trust me, the child never slows down. He's always trying to come up with some sort of new "special ability" to show off.

I started this post about 3 hours ago, but Joshua came in the room and decided I was finished typing so he shut the lap top and said, "play, mom!" So, mommy got up and went to play with Joshua. We have done everything from play with playdoh to making really cool slopes for his cars to zoom down. :) He has such a great imagination... it's always so much fun playing with him. He's starting to slow down now, so I'm off to read bedtime stories and snuggle with my sweet little baby!

Santa Picture

OK, so I have to explain the not so "elegant" santa picture for this year. Joshua has totally not been about any sort of "professional" picture taking for quite some time now. I mean we are talking NOT happening. :( Well, we decided Thursday night we would go out to the Hulen Mall and have dinner, walk around, let Joshua play in their indoor play area for little kids and just hang out. Joshua was having a BLAST! Then, all of a sudden I asked him, thinking he would say NO, if he wanted to get his picture taken with Santa. To my surprise, he was like, "YES!" He was all sweaty from playing in the little playground area and dirty from eating dinner, and totally not wearing "santa picture" clothes. But, he was READY! So, we went, got his picture taken and have now been able to make another wonderful, funny memory with Joshua. :) He sat down right next to Santa and just started talking to him. He said, "Santa, I want a truck, A BIG Truck, Santa." Santa was like, OK at least we don't have to guess on what you want this year. (hahahaha) It was so stinkin funny. He sat there and talked to Santa for like 5 minutes nonstop. It was ADORABLE!!!

So, Joshua doesn't "look like" he was ready for a Santa picture, but trust me since he wanted his picture taken we were getting the picture taken. :) And, for all of you that know Joshua totally know that this picture couldn't describe him any better. That's my little man!

Afternoon Fun

We had a wonderful afternoon. Joshua took some kids little scooter thing and rode it around the neighborhood for a little while. All the kids just share their ourdoor toys around here. Good thing because Joshua LOVED the scooter and wasn't giving it up until he was D.O.N.E!! :)
We all rode our bikes around the neighborhood today too. It was so cute just riding around with Joshua and Rodney. We all had a blast. Joshua has totally mastered his tricycle skills. I am so proud of him. He is totally whipped tonight though. He's laid out on the couch with his blankie totally not moving.. :) Once we were done riding out bikes Joshua just kept on going. He probably rode for about 30-45 min. straight. :) We went to pick up some dinner and as soon as we got back home he was like, "mom, i ride my bike again."

Our Morning Adventure

We spent most of our morning outside. It's like 80 degrees, and is just beautiful here today. Now, Joshua is totally exhausted and taking nap. He had a blast running aroung the school campus, climbing trees, playing with sticks and all that "boy" stuff. :) It's so nice having all this beautiful land to just let him run and play on.

I think we're going to go back out and play somemore this afternoon when he wakes up. If we do, I'll definitely put more pictures up.. :)

ENJOY!