I'm so excited ... Pam (Blessedwith2angels) posted my 100th comment ! Thanks Pam ! I appreciate all you come here and read my ramblings. It is great to know that you have other people who pray for you and uplift your name to the Lord.
I made a blinkie for Pam's blog and put it on my sidebar so be sure to check out her blog(s). Pam , if you want here is a blinkie I made for my 100th commenter ,
you can put it on your blog if you like. Have a great day everyone! ~ Nikki
I guess you have noticed the new look here on the blog.I snagged this neat template from Recycled Templates and BabyGirl worked her magic on it for me and made it so pretty. We need your prayers everybody . Friday Toodles' vehicle tore up and we had to have it towed. He worked on it all day Saturday and it was running great ... til early this morning when we had to have it towed again. So today has been one of those crazy run here run there type of days. Can we say STRESS! Toodles is irritated and I am cringing because it seems like "car payments" are in our future. *sigh* It's a great thing we have a big God who can take care of things like this isn't it?! Pray also for my Brother. His car broke down Sunday and he is quite discouraged over that and a few other things too. So lift him up in prayer too.
I have been able to work on some school things tonight though. I was able to finalize our school calendar and set up my grade book.I found an awesome sight over the weekend. Its called Homeschool Launch and it is a place where you can upload/download files you made for your homeschool so that others can use them too. Best of all its FREE! Go sign up even if you don't make hs printables. You can download all kinds of neat forms and notebooking pages. Hey , don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to. Right?! You can even get a neat widget to add to your blog that lists your newest printables available for download.
Sad to say the pickles didn't get made over the weekend so we are hoping to get them done Wednesday or Thursday. Be sure to check out all the stores this weekend for great deals on school supplies. Tax free weekend for Tennessee is Friday August 1 - Sunday August 3. Well I guess that is all for now. God Bless ! ~ Nikki
. Oh yeah , I will try to post a picture of the flowers Toodles gave me for our anniversary . He bought me a bouquet of roses and one of sunflowers ~ how sweet is that ?! They are so pretty! Be sure to check out my friend Shirley's blog (finally the elusive S****** in some of my posts has a name
) She is new here. Stop by and say hi ! ~ Nikki
After being together for 2 1/2 years Toodles and I were married on July 23, 1999 , 9 wonderful years ago. We didn't have much money so there wasn't a huge wedding. We just had a simple ceremony with family and friends and a wonderful reception provided by our loved ones. We honeymooned in Gatlinburg in a perfect country cabin owned by some people we worked with at one time. The place where I worked always got discounted and free stuff from local attractions for us employess so I ended up with a free white water rafting trip for two. Toodles and I had a great time doing that. Our favorite part ? ... Coming around a bend in the river and seeing this huge curtain of rain coming at us while thunder and lightning were crashing all around us ... wouldn't you know that a thunderstorm would sneak up on us !
Toodles is my best friend in the whole world. He became a father Daddy to my two children and in time to the two we biologically share. It takes a special man to step into the position of instant fatherhood and he wears that mantle well. Times have not always been easy but we have been blessed. My Mamaw once told me when Toodles and I were having a disagreement , " Don't expect your garden to grow if it never rains on it." Wize words !
I love you Papa ~ Big as the sky !
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
(Colossians 3:18-19)
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
(1Peter 3:5-7)
This is one of our favorite pictures of our family. When I came across it today I knew I had to add it here because it always makes Toodles laugh. Of course our Blessings are much older now but they were such cuties (still are). Once again Papa ~ we love you ~ always!
I just wanted to come and praise the Lord a little bit this morning.Yesterday was just an awesome day for me. Nothing "exciting" happened really , as a matter of fact a couple of the Blessings weren't feeling well.We did have a great time at church though and some relaxing family time at home watching a movie . The "awesome" part is just that for a while now I have been asking God to renew my heart , my mind and my spirit (having some David moments
) and yesterday it happened. I woke up feeling renewed. I felt joy within me , not bursting forth like a volcano , but kinda budding out like a flower. Now I haven't been down or anything like that it's just for a while I had been feeling like I was "stuck" if that makes sense. I wasn't unhappy. I just didn't feel joyful. Toodles preached at our evening service last night and he was talking about how we let Satan hinder us in every aspect of our our Christian life. We let him affect our witnessing, our personal walk with Christ and even our joy.(Now I haven't told Toodles how I've been feeling lately so I KNOW it was God speaking to me , just a friendly reminder from the Lord
) The thought that came to my mind last night was this , Satan is indeed a powerful enemy but he is subject to a more powerful LIVING God! Why is it so easy for us Christians to forget that ?! Satan hinders us because we let him. Why don't we cry out to Jesus at those time? The Bible tells us Satan must flee at Jesus' name so why do we so often keep silent when he starts picking at us? We as the Army of God have an arsenal that can change the world and defeat our enemy , why don't we use it? Jesus is our fearless General and Prayer our greatest weapon but so often we don't use it to its full effect. Casting Crowns has a song that says"fearless warriors in a picket fence". How true is that sometimes? We are gung ho about fighting for the Lord as long as the battleground is inside our "comfort zone". But it's not...it's out in the world and Satan wants nothing more than to keep us from the front lines.I believe he is the furnisher of our"comfort zone". Well sorry if I've been rambling this morning. I'll hush now. God Bless Everyone ! Keep my Momma in your prayers please ! ~ Nikki
Ok ... did you laugh ?
Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:
Have a great day ! ~ Nikki
I had my first weigh in on Monday and PTL I had lost 5lbs ! I was so excited. I went in thinking I hadn't lost anything so I was really surprised. I will weigh in again this Friday and be measured so I'm praying for good results then too.
If anyone is interested in "Homesteading" or getting back to simpler things , Homeschool Freebie of the Day has a great download available today , Homestead Simplicity: A Primer .
If you need a funny pick me up , be sure to check out this blog : Spirited Sons . Today's post is sure to bring a giggle bursting forth .
In the Sparrow's Nest has some great info and pics about taking a Wildflower walk so be sure to check it too.
Well I'm off to work on some of the cleaning "zones" around the house . First I will tackle my desk . Hopefully I won't throw anything important away ...:)
Hey ! First I would like to say welcome to my friend S****** . She joins us in blog world today and you can visit her here at My Thr33 Sons. Be sure to stop by and say hi. I am posting a slideshow of some of our VBS pics. I didn't get a good pic of one of the classrooms. Don't know where my mind was . (No comment from the peanut gallery S****** ! ) Anyway hold your mouse over each pic and it will tell you a little bit about it.Most of the costumes you see in these pics were made by the aforementioned friend S****** . She is very talented . She did an awesome job on the Roman Soldier costume . He was everyone's favorite this year. I am working on our Science goals for this year . We will be doing units and mostly notebooking . As soon as I get it together I will post it . If your like me you enjoy digging through other peoples links and stuff cause sometimes you find some neat stuff. I have to tell you about the neat stuff I found at the $ Tree this week . Of course I got a couple of the wall calendars so I won't have to put so much time into making them this year. But the great find was the flash cards and workbook from the Planet Earth series.Here is what I got : ( I had to take out the pictures . They were messing up my template but you can check out the stuff I got at Modern Publishing.)
Planet Earth : Animals of the Seas , Animals of the Air , and Geography flashcards. I also got the Animals of the Air Workbook. I wish I could have gotten the other cards in the series , Planet Earth Land Animals, and the other books but they didn't have them but I will check again. I just love the $ Tree ! Another great place to check out if you live in this area is The Teacher's Pet at Governer's Crossing. They have some great stuff , even for church, and the prices are very reasonable.
Also friends I have some prayer requests to leave with you . First my Mom , she has MS and many other health problems and she really needs prayer right now. Second my cousin who is having surgery tomorrow. Pray for calming peace for her and a speedy recovery . Third , my DH Toodles who has problems with his heart and some GI problems too. He is waiting to get scheduled to have an endoscopy. And last but not least please remember me. I have started a program to help me lose A LOT of weight. My goal weight is 150 lbs which I hope to reach by March of 2009. Pray that I hold true to my part cause I know God will hold up His side of the bargain to help me:) Thanks everyone. Also I guess I should apologize to all my friends here at HSB. I have not been doing a lot of commenting lately due to shortage of time these days trying to get all our school stuff done and our house organized before the new school year starts. But I promise I have been lurking on your blogs and keeping up with all the latest . I will be leaving comments again very soon . Thanks ! God Bless ~ Nikki
