I Heart Faces ~ Yellow

Well I haven't entered an I Heart Faces photography contest in a while, but the theme this week was "Yellow", and I had this REALLY CUTE picture of one of Josh's cousins, so I thought I'd share. :-)

I love the colors- and especially her red hair!!!!! :-) There are lots of lovely pictures this week at I Heart Faces ~ Check it out!!

The Power of a Praying Wife

Lately I have been thinking about how important it is to pray for my husband constantly. He has so much pressure on him with work in a slow economy, a painful knee, being the spiritual leader of our home, worrying about the future of our country and the effect of that on our lives, and so many other things. I think it is very important for me as his wife to remember to pray for him every day. Prayer seems like such a small thing to do, but when I am diligent about it, I am always amazed at the results. If my focus is on the Lord, and I am constantly talking to Him about everything, amazing things happen! I am happier, life seems easier, I feel closer to my husband, he seems happier, we treat each other better, he seems more tender and loving- and I don't even have to tell him I've been praying! The benefits of walking with the Lord are amazing. :-) I just thought I'd share my thoughts with you and encourage you all to be praying for your husbands or fathers too! Have a blessed day! ♥

"This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem."

Song of Solomon 5:16b~

Birthday Boots from my Sweet Husband! ♥

Today Josh and I went to the cute little town of Charm ( I love that name- total tourist trap haha). He needed new shoelaces for his work boots, so we went to Charm Boot & Harness. I love going to this store, because they have all kinds of beautiful riding tack, and all sorts of lovely cowboy type things. :-) Unfortunately I forgot my camera. :-(

Anyway, while we were there I started looking at the cowgirl boots, and I saw a pair almost right away that I LOVED. I wasn't going to say much about them though, because they were expensive, but I did tell Josh that I had been looking at the cowgirl boots and they had some really nice ones. After he had what he needed, he said he wanted to go see the boots, so I took him over there and we ended up each trying on a few pairs. It was fun! :-) In the end, my sweet man told me that since it is almost my birthday he would get me those lovely boots! Here they are!

Aren't they lovely??!!! :-)

Photo Contest- Water

Hannah at Find That Creative Spark sweetly invited me to enter her photography contest, so here goes! The theme is water/streams. The rule is that you can only edit one thing on each picture.

I love the beach, so most of my "water" pictures are of the ocean. :-) Here are my three entries. I hope you enjoy them!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Moms in my life!! You are such an encouragement to me.

I think I have the most wonderful Mom in the world. She is truly a Proverbs 31 woman. I love herwith all of my heart and I miss her an awful lot.
I also have a wonderful mother-in-love. I am so thankful for you Marci Mom! ;-) I am truly blessed!
God has given me many wonderful women in my life to learn from and be encouraged by, and I am very grateful. I hope you all have a wonderful day! ♥

Photography Contest by An Old-Fashioned Girl

Johanna at An Old-Fashioned Girl is having a photography contest, and I thought it would be fun to enter! I love photography, and my favorite thing to take pictures of is flowers, which just happens to be the theme of this contest. :-) It is stunning to me how many different kinds of flowers there are and and how beautiful they are!! These pictures are from last summer except the cherry blossoms, which are from this spring at my parents house. I hope you enjoy looking at them! :-)

Back Home Again & Other Thoughts

We are back in Ohio! Actually, we've been here for about two weeks now, but I haven't had time to post anything on here. :-)

It was so nice to be able to spend so much time with my family in Florida! I can't wait for the day when we are all neighbors! Hopefully that will be soon. It was hard leaving them.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our trip:

Brianna :)

Brason :)

Beri- Isn't she cute!!!??

Mom at a neat little shop we visited one afternoon. :-)

Ben after rescuing Pat. C. from a tree :)

Amanda :)

Another cute one of Beri! :)

Josh ( in the white t-shirt), Dad ( in the yellow t-shirt) and Ben ( in the black t-shirt) walking towards the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C during the Healthcare Bill Opposition Rally that we took part in.

Josh and I in Front of the Capitol Building.

Mom, Dad, and a few of the kids at Alexander Springs :)

Mom looked so pretty in her dress and hat! :)

Josh and I at the beach! It was REALLY windy that day! :)

We went to a part where you can drive right down to the water. It was fun!

I really miss everybody down there. Hopefully It won't be too long before we see them again!

For the last few days I've been thinking about just how blessed I really am. Yesterday Josh came home a little early, which I always love! :) The windows were all open because it was absolutely beautiful outside, the birds were singing, there was bread baking in the oven, my husband was here with me, and I thought to myself, 'This is what fairytales are made of!!'

Life isn't always perfect. We have our share of hard times and bad days, but some days I just have to step back and think, ' It doesn't get any better than this!' I am so thankful for all of the blessings that God has given me. It is certainly more than I deserve.

A few days ago I was on Facebook reading comments on a post a friend made about submitting to our husbands. She simply quoted Ephesians 5:22-24 and said she was praying for the strength and humility to obey that command. What followed was over 50 comments on wether or not God actually does want wives to submit to their husbands. It amazed me what some people will go through to justify their decision not to submit to their husbands! What saddened me even more though, was something one of her "anti-submission" friends said at the end of a very long comment. She said "I'm soooo much more than just a wife and mother and am quite frankly sick of people seeing me as just those two things." This strikes me as very sad, and I could not disagree with her more!

What a blessing she is missing! It was obvious from her whole comment that she is a career minded woman with an "I'll do my thing and he can do his, and he better not try and tell me what to do" mentality. I guess a lot of women think that way.

There is no "just" in being a wife! Being a wife is to be your husbands best friend, closest advisor, encourager, comforter, lover, and helpmeet. Marriage done right is one of the most powerful institutions in the world. A husband and wife who are doing God's will and working together as one can save lives and accomplish great things for the Lord! Look at the woman in Proverbs 31. It is obvious that her and her husband are in compete agreement, and through her actions and help her husband becomes a well respected and well known man, she is happy ( she smiles at the future), and loved and respected by her children and husband.

Just because we are submitting to our husbands, doesn't mean that we are any less important than he is. We are just embracing our God-given role as helpmeet, and allowing him to embrace his God-given role as leader so that our family can receive the blessings that God has for us. Marriage is supposed to be an illustration of God's relationship with the church.

To be a wife is the most holy and beautiful thing God can ask us ladies to be, and to be a mother is a close second in my mind. What an honor to be given a new little life to nourish and protect and teach! How can you belittle such and honor? You are raising up the next generation of men and women. How you raise them will affect thousands, maybe millions of people. This cannot be taken lightly, or brushed off as a mere distraction from your agenda.

I am partly talking to myself here, because there are many areas in my life that are not as they should be. I'm not anywhere close to a perfect wife, and I suppose I never will be, but I pray that I am getting CLOSER to perfect as time goes on. It takes a lot of effort, I'm finding. ;-)

I welcome any comments and opinions you may have!