Praise Him

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.  Psalm 100

Around here

It's been a busy past few days, which I like.  I enjoy being busy.  On Saturday we had the NHBA meeting and it was really nice.  It was very informative.  This place is truly a mission field.  It was nice to meet other pastors and their families.  That evening we had some sweet church members over for dinner and to watch the Bama vs. Tenn. game, but we did wayyy more talking than watching.  We had a great time.

Sunday, we had lunch and a meeting after church.  Then we ran a couple of errands and came home and relaxed for the evening. 

I watched The Shunning Sunday night which was a good movie, but I prefer a better ending.

I'm almost finished reading The Devil in Pew Number Seven written by a preacher's daughter.  Their family was harassed and attacked terribly about 30 years ago and she shares their story.  It's really a good, sad, and eye opening book.  A lady at the Women's Conference we went to a few weeks ago recommended in the Pastor's Wives class.

Potty training is going well, but not quite as well as I would like.

Yesterday was our day off and the girls and I ran some errands, and the family went to lunch thanks to some very sweet church members.  It was really good too.  Last night we went to some other sweet church members home for dinner and certainly enjoyed the meal and the fellowship.

We are back in school groove today.  We are planning to go to a friends house to play in the leaves after school.  (The kids are, not me)!

We have been invited to another precious family's home for Thanksgiving dinner this year, and I'm really excited and thankful for that. 

There are lots of hurting people out there and it's weighing on my heart and mind.

We serve a Great and Mighty God, and I'm soooo thankful for that true privilege.  It's not always easy, but it's always a blessing!

Abby loves to play dress up with this child.  Yes she is wearing my heels and she walks really good in them too!

Reading some books

Say whatttt???

Our new family games to play together!

Lately

I haven't been much in the blogging mood lately, so I've been a slacker!  This has been a better week so far though and I'm super thankful for that. 

I've decided for now to only do school 4 days a week, which may run us into the summer, but that's okay, it's what's best for us now.  However when it starts snowing (soon), we may do 5 days again since we will be stuck inside anyways.  We will see.  We try to do the work that they need my assistance on during nap time.  Other things that they normally don't need my help on they do in the mornings while I play or read with AC.

Monday, we ran errands, had lunch with Daddy, played at the park with friends, Kyndal got stung by a bee, went to the library, and I joined a local gym that night.  Busy day indeed.  I also went walking early that morning with a friend.  Another friend and I go to the gym at night 3 nights a week.  Maybe I will actually lose some weight soon.  Who knows, I still like to eat!!!!

Tuesday, we went to Senior Saints lunch and a man in the church who is an artist was there to lead us in a painting.  It was really lots of fun.  AC made a big mess, but she had a blast in doing so.

My painting

Abby's painting.  When she poses like this (which is too often) she says send this to Aunt Rikki, so Aunt Rikki this is for you!

Kyndal's painting

Today we went to the library again, did a little shopping, and went to the park again with a friend.  I was told it would be wise to have fun outside now while we can without freezing.  The weather has been perfect today.  It's so pretty and feels really good too.  It's suppose to rain ALL day tomorrow.  Good day to clean my house! 

Check out that hair!  Hilarious!!!

She cried when I said it was time to go.  Poor girl was having too much fun.  Tomorrow night the girls have play practice.  Sat. we have an association meeting and friends coming over for dinner and the Bama vs. Tenn. game, Sun. we have lunch and a meeting after church, and Mon. we are going to dinner at friends house.  A busy few days coming up, and I'm looking forward to it.

Heavy

I have a heavy heart tonight as many people I've been friends with, acquaintances, friends now are struggling, hurting, sick, and just going through so much.  So when you get a minute please lift these people up to the Lord.  Thank you!

I posted about a year ago about a girl we went to college with, Kristi Casey, who after giving birth to her 3rd baby girl found out she had breast cancer before even leaving the hospital.  She has just found out the tumors that were shrinking are now growing again and there are new spots in her other breast.  She is facing a possible double mastectomy very soon.  She is having some other symptoms as well.  Her children are very young, and I'm sure she and her husband are very tired.  They also found out a few months ago that her mother also has breast cancer.  Please lift this family up and pray for miracles of healing.

A friend that Craig grew up with who is also very young and has 2 very young sons was diagnosed with breast cancer this past summer and has had a double mastectomy and is currently undergoing very strong treatments.  Please keep Brooke and her family in your prayers.

The lady that led us in our adoption classes earlier this year is in the process of adopting their first little boy from Russia.  They just returned from their second trip Sunday and are scheduled to pick him up and bring him home next month.  Lisa became VERY ill on Monday night/Tuesday morning and is in ICU.  Please pray for a miracle of healing and very quick recovery for Lisa, and her family.

There are so many more I could list.  There are so many people who are hurting.  It truly just burdens my heart.  I've just felt such a burden this day as I continue to hear of things people are going through.  I'm praying the Lord will work Mightly in each of these people's lives and they will feel His power and His presence in their lives.

Honestly...

I've had a tough week this week.  It has rained for 2 weeks straight with only a couple days in between of sunshine.  It's getting really cold (at least what I call really cold) here.  Which means it's only going to get much colder and start snowing and I'm not so sure I'm ready for all that.  Guess I better get that way quick.  I seriously need some good ideas on entertaining a 2 year old while teaching 2 other grades to 2 other girls.  It's not the hardest thing in the world, like I tend to act sometimes, but it definitely has very difficult moments.  I'm really missing my family BIG time.  I really try not to dwell on it too much, but like I said it's just been a tough week.  My hubby had to make a trip back to Bama for a funeral, which I know he will be Super tired from because it was a boomerang trip.  He did get to see some sweet familiar faces though!  I know everything can be better or worse depending on my attitude and perspective and I've got to get to work on that for this upcoming week for sure!

We haven't done too much this week other than school, but we did pick up daddy the other day and go to the closest Chick fil A about 25 minutes away for lunch.  While we waited on him, the girls played outside the church.

Yesterday we stayed in all day and I was determined to get out and do something today to burn some energy!  We went to the mall and walked around for about an hour and they rode on those little toys they have.  Then we went to Burger King and had some lunch and the girls played for about 45 minutes.

There were no other kids there, so we had the play area to ourselves, which was nice.  The slide went really fast (according to the girls, I didn't try it), so they had a good time.

"I'm not getting on that thing, but I will wait for Abby and Kyndal to come down"

"Boy this makes me thirsty"

Please don't misunderstand, I'm thankful for where we are in life.  We are blessed and we are where the Lord wants us.  I'm grateful, and here's to a much better week, with a much better attitude and perspective!

Here's 3 GREAT reasons to have a good attitude!  I have 6 ears and 6 eyes hearing and seeing everything I do, almost 24-7 literally.  They learn from me, so Allison, get with it girl!!! (little pep me up talk):)

Hiking

Saturday about mid morning we went hiking with another sweet couple from the church.  They go hiking alot so they are in much better shape than me, which doesn't take much!!!  It was about a 45 minute drive and when we got there we had a picnic lunch.  Once we got up there though it was SUPER windy, like our plates and everything blowing off the table.  After we were done eating, we started climbing.  It's been raining here for many days so it was still pretty muddy, so we had to be a little extra careful not to slip on the rocks.  We got to one peak and rested for a minute.  I decided to stay there while they all kept going.  It makes me a nervous wreck watching the girls climb, I'm so afraid they will fall and hurt themselves.  After they were gone for about 10 minutes, I went on up the rest of the way.  However I didn't go to the very tip top, it was too steep a climb for me.  They said the wind was really crazy up there.  When they came down, Kyndal said she almost blew away, which wouldn't take much to blow her little self away!  No one slipped or anything on the way up, but on the way down, Abby slipped twice and my foot slipped in a hole.  Everyone is good though.  Once we got about 10 minutes down the road it started raining.  So, perfect timing.  We had a really great day, great fellowship, and seeing God's beautiful creation.

Before the hike up!

And...we're done!!!  Actually once we got down, Kyndal said okay lets go again!

Before we got on the road good, she was out like a light.  This weekend wore her out!

The "little" party

So the girls really wanted to have a little sleepover for their birthday, so Friday night they each had a friend come spend the night.  They came around 5 pm and started playing.  I bought some boxed pizza's to cook and they were suppose to cook in the oven for 25 minutes.  So after 10 minutes, my very sensitive smoke alarms started going off.  It literally took me 15 minutes to get them to stop.  So on to plan B, call Pizza Hut and have them deliver, because the ones in the oven burned up.  I really have no idea what happened!

They played hard all evening.  They decided to go to sleep about 11 pm.  They had a really great time and I'm glad the girls were able to come.  Anna Claire had quite a blast herself!