"A faithful man will abound with blessings." Proverbs 28:20

This past week we had the blessing of getting to spend some time at the beach. I love the beach- and pretty much think it's the perfect vacation, all the way around, for a big family on a little budget. Cheap fun and oh so relaxing. I did have to occasionally remind myself though that we do not 'look' like your average family... because any time we go out in public I have to prepare myself for the stares and comments. (For some reason we just seem to attract onlookers -LOL). While we had several comments, it was nice when one man came up to us and told us that 'it was such a breath of fresh air to see such well behaved children' (yep I was so proud of my awesome kids!) Many people commented on how many kids we have (and we only had the youngest five with us) but the one question I am still trying to figure out was when this woman stood watching my kids on the beach for quite some time and then said to me "Are you a church group?" I just smiled and said- "Nope, we are just a regular old family-but we do love the Lord."

She smiled- but still looked confused. ;0) That makes two of us...

Anyway, thought I'd share a few of the 4,000+ pictures I took of my beautiful family- because they make me so happy.

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."
~Albert Einstein

The Way (repost)

There are times in our lives where we find ourselves lost… heading down a path we never intended to end up on.We are not even sure how we got there or if there is a way out. We are searching… looking...

trying to find a way out- a better way.

We have tried every direction...

-Money (yet once we spent it, it is gone)
-Food (after we eat, we are still unhappy, and now we are over-weight which makes us even more unhappy!)
-Entertainment (we tried laughing and having fun, yet we were still crying on the inside)
-Popularity (It is here today and gone tomorrow. There is no lasting happiness in popularity)

-Our own strength (we tried so hard to prove to the world we were strong enough, cool enough, good enough and yet we were not).


All of those only bring tempory happiness. We see that now, recognize it- and long for MORE. But where do we go?

Which way do we turn?

Time is running short, we have already wasted years of precious moments in life, doing one mistake after another, trying to conquer and achieve things that have no value.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6


And then we sense Him calling us, we feel him changing us… we hear His voice saying that no matter what happened in the past, we can choose to follow God today and be free from any guilt or shame. He promises that we will be successful if we follow His word exactly. If we allow Him to direct our steps, He will not allow us to ever again loose our way. We will find rest for our soul and a whole new world will be opened to us. We will be changed at our root.

So we run into the arms of our savior- the one who loves us most of all.

For there we know we have found true happiness.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you. Matthew 7:7

Because of who you are (repost)

(another repost from June, 08- cause they are so cute and I love them so much!)

Because of who you are...

Travis, I have learned that God does not make mistakes and that even when things do not go the way you had planned -God is IN the plans.

Because of who you are... Keegan, I have learned that the right road always leads to the right place…and because God is in the right place, everything else just falls into place...

Because of who you are...

Addisyn, I have learned that it’s important to be the person God created me to be- a unique individual with my own thoughts and dreams.

Because of you...

Kallan, I have learned that true happiness lies in the little things in life- a hug, a smile, a bed time prayer.

Because of who you are...

Mya, I have learned that God’s plans are always better than mine, and no matter how big the mountain I should never give up hope.
Because of who you are...

Aleigha, I have learned to never ignore my heart and that God is much bigger than I had ever believed.

Because of who you are...

Kaden, I remember to always look to Jesus first... because while I may not be able to 'save the world' -HE sure can!

Thank you for being just the way you are.

Love, Mom