The Madness that is BUNCO!

Saturday night I had my friends over for a crazy night of Bunco. We had the best time! Thanks for all the fun and laughs girls!

Let Them Eat Turkey!

As you can tell, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent the afternoon with Aaron's family and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. Afterwards we all went a played ultimate frisbee. During the evening we spent time with my family. My Aunt Debra fixed a delicious Thanksgiving meal that we shared, and then we played a few games.

This holiday season is special for us because of Levi. Today we were reminded just how blessed we are to have him in our lives. It is easy to look back and see how the hard and difficult times brought us to where we are. Only then are we truly grateful for the hardships we face. God is always faithful! Levi is a constant reminder to our family that God is faithful through it all. His goodness never ceases. Thank you God for your many blessings!

Um, Um, Good!

Saturday we started Levi on rice cereal. He took it with no problem, and seemed to enjoy every bite. He has been eyeing our food for the last two weeks, so I figured he was ready. He's been eating it every morning since, and is just gobbling it up. I think he is going to be a good eater, but we'll see as we venture into fruits and veggies. I taped a little video of him eating, you can watch if you like.

Gobble Gobble

On Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. My grandmother had a lot of her family there, and it was really good seeing people we haven't seen in quite a while. The food was delicious and we had a great time catching up with everyone. Moo's turkey and dressing was wonderful of course, and all the desserts were yummy! We missed those of you that are out of state, but we hope you have a good Thanksgiving where you are.

TWILIGHT!

Rachel holding our tickets!

The line...

Our place in line...Waiting....

and waiting....

...and waiting. We were there an hour early! Last night Beth, Amy, Rachel, Mom, Aunt Denise and myself all went to see TWILIGHT! We have all been obsessed with the books and have been looking forward to the movie for weeks. Rachel bought our tickets like a month ago, and we've been waiting ever since! We all went to dinner beforehand, but ALL we talked about was TWILIGHT and EDWARD! We started a line to get into the movie to make sure no one was in before us. As soon as the doors opened, we RAN, yes RAN to get the best seats in the house! There was so much excitement in the theater, and here's what happened when the lights went down for the movie to begin...

The movie was good, but I will say that you should read the book before you see the movie in order to understand everything. I thought they left a few key things out of the movie, and they made a few scenes a little cheesy for my taste. However, Edward was handsome and did not disappoint any expectations. When he appeared on screen the first time the place went CRAZY! I mean he sparkles! Overall, we had a FANTASTIC time, and I think we are all looking forward to the New Moon movie.

In Honor of Twilight

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

We are going to the movie tonight! Can't wait!

Fabulous!

My cousin Rachel, nominated me for a fabulous award! Thanks Rachel!

Here are the rules for receiving the fabulous award:

1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous blogs in a post.

2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.

3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.

Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" it in your post as a picture so your winners can save it as well. To add it to your sidebar, add the "picture" gadget. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog.

Five Fabulous Addictions:

1. Jesus - my favorite addiction.

2. Facebook & Blogging

3. Levi - everything about him! I'll add my hubby here too!

4. General Hospital

5. Music

And the winners are...

1. Amy Danger - fabulous sister

2. Elizabeth - fabulous sister 3. Jennifer - fabulously friend 4. Jessica - fabulous cousin & friend 5. Lisa - fabulous friend

Being fabulous is so much fun!

New Car

Levi just wants to thank Paw for his cool new car. I miss you and can't wait to see you!

Veteran's Day

Our family wants to take just a moment to say thank you to all the men and women who have served our great nation. Because of you, we have the freedoms most people only wish they knew. Thank you for giving of yourself to protect my freedoms and my children's future.

Where Do You Stand?

With the election of Senator Barack Obama as our next president, many people have felt the need to share their thoughts and opinions on the situation. I haven't wanted to get overly emotional about it, but then I decided that someone needed to say something - and I guess that someone is me. Let me start by saying that I voted for John McCain. It had nothing to do with race, and everything to do with character and values. I am pro-life and have made a covenant that I will not vote for anyone who is not pro-life. It is that plain and simple. Now, it just so happens that I agreed with several other policies that John McCain proposed, but even if I hadn't I would still have voted for him based on the pro-life issue. You see, I vote based on my beliefs, not my checkbook. That all being said, my candidate did not win. Am I upset about that? Yes. I mean obviously I wanted the candidate that shared my thoughts and opinions to win. However, Obama was elected, and I respect that he will be our president in a few short months. However, respect and support are two completely different things. I respect the office of president, and how much power comes with being president. However, that does not mean that I completely support the person that holds that position. When we start supporting things we don't believe in, we start to compromise our own beliefs. I see that happening all around me. Polls show that nearly 80% of Americans consider themselves to be Christian. If this statistic is true, that should mean that Christian have the majority vote in America; therefore we SHOULD have elected a Christian president, or at least someone that holds the same views and values that Christians SHOULD hold. Based on what I heard from the candidates in the debates I didn't think it was too hard to figure out which of the two candidate lined up more with Christians values (I watched three of the presidential debates and the vice-presidential debate). Now some people may tell me that the Bible says that we have to respect and pray for our leaders. I can completely agree with the prayer part, but the respect part is where I find fault. As I mentioned above, I respect the office of president (or any other government authority), but that does not mean that I respect the person who holds that office. Romans 13:1-7 states: "1Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. 4For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. 6This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. 7Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor." Some have taken these words to mean that we must accept and live with whatever government is in control. I disagree. If you are going to use the Bible to defend your reasons for doing nothing, then you must look at the entire Word of God. The idea of unlimited submission to government is just not biblical. "Daniel disobeyed Darius and went to the lions den. The three Hebrew children broke the law for not bowing. The parents hid baby Moses from Pharaoh. Rahab lied to protect the Hebrew spies. The Apostles went to prison for preaching Christ in the authority of Heaven. Paul and his followers in Acts 17 did contrary to all the decrees of Caesar in order to make Jesus the King. Even Jesus lived in direct opposition of the political religious leaders of his day and went to the cross for us" (taken from Rethinking Romans 13). Must we respect the government that God has put in control? Yes, but respect and acceptance are two different things. I believe it is our place as Christians to speak out about the injustice that goes on in America. To do that may mean to speak against our governing authorities. I'm not talking about a revolt; I'm simply urging Christians to respectfully speak out against the things going on in our country that do not line up with the Word of God. That means be law-abiding citizens taking our plea through the right channels as the law allows. Many people gave their lives to protect the freedom for us to do just that. My fear is that Christians believe that God approves of all government. How can He approve or agree with things that go against His nature? Abortion is not His plan. Homosexuality is not His plan. Do you seriously think He approves of our government supporting those rights? We have let immorality sweep through our nation, and we have turned our backs on God. When Israel turned their backs on God he let their enemies overtake them. That was not His plan, but He did give Israel and us free will to choose rather we would worship Him or other gods. The good news is that when Israel returned to God, He returned His favor upon them. We choose rather to be righteous or unrighteous. What do you think America has chosen? Do you think God's wrath or God's favor is upon America? It is our urgent prayer that the Bride of Christ will rise up and take a stand for righteousness. Will you choose to stand for righteousness or will you choose to be quiet? The choice is at hand.

It's Time for Baking

I have never been much of a baker or cook for that matter, even though I enjoy doing it. It just seems that I never have the time to put into it. Whatever is easiest seems to always win at our house. However, my cousin Jessica has inspired me with all her baking and has introduced me to some pretty awesome blogs about cooking and baking. Well I was looking at the Bakerella site and saw this recipe for Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Maple Brown Butter Frosting. If you are like me the name alone sold you. I decided that I must make them, I mean they sounded soooo good. I decided to omit the pecans since neither Aaron or I are big fans of nuts in our cookies. It was my first experience baking from scratch, and if I can give myself a little shout out, I don't think I did that bad of a job. They were pretty good, but I think they would have been better if I had been able to make the frosting to go with them. I baked all day Tuesday, and Levi was feeling a little neglected, so I didn't get a chance to make the frosting, but I'm dying to try it. Any of you wanting to try a new recipe, I'd recommend you give this a try.

Corn Maze Mania

Aaron and I have been working with the youth at his dad's church since September. Last Saturday we went to the Corn Maze in McDonough. It was so much fun. They had three different mazes - beginner, intermediate, and expert - and of course we did the expert first. It only took us about 45 minutes, but we finally made it out. At the farm they also had hayrides, games, animals, and a corn gun. All the youth seems to have a great time in fellowship.

Let the Weak Speak. Vote for Life.

Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. End abortion. Send revival to America.

We want to plead with everyone to vote for LIFE when you go to the polls tomorrow. This election is so vitally important, and we pray that God's people will stand up for those who have no voice. Did you know that annually 46 million babies die from abortions each year worldwide? That is approximately one baby every 2 seconds. In America alone, 48 million babies have been aborted since 1973? Women have cited 'social reasons,' not mother's health or rape/incest as their motivation in approximately 93% of all abortions*. The heart of a baby begins to beat around 22 days after conception. Our hearts are breaking for the innocent. Please click on the candidates name to learn more about John McCain and Barack Obama's stand on abortion. You may visit Bound 4 Life to become informed on abortion issues and statistics. Please pray before you vote, and vote for life. *Source: Lawrence Finer, et. al, "Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives" Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Vol. 37 No. 3 (Sept., 2005) p. 110.

Twilight Fever

Well, I was feeling a little left out. Not because I haven't read Twilight, but because I haven't written a post about it...until now. Let me start by saying that I'm always up for a good book, but that is the problem. It MUST be good, or I will quit reading it even if I'm already half way through. I can't tell you how many books I've started and never finished because they just didn't hold my interest. Besides the topic of vampires was a complete turn-off. I mean, really, how could that ever be interesting? Jessica, Rachel, Rebecca, & Beth were all reading it, so I decided to bite the bullet and read it too. I LOVE IT! I can't wait to read the others, and I'm so excited about the movie. See you all on November 21st!

Pumpkins & Halloween

The weather has been so nice and "fall-like" this week, that I couldn't help myself by getting excited about all that fall has to offer. So the other day I took some pictures of Levi with all the pumpkins from the Pumpkin Smash of 2007 . I couldn't get a smile from him, but I did get a few cute shots. These are some of my favorites.

Happy Halloween!

Last night was Halloween, so we attended Prospect's Hallelujah Festival. Levi dressed up like a lion (thanks Rachel!) and Aaron was the lion tamer. I must say that we think he is the cutest lion there ever was! We had so much fun seeing all our friends, and I think Levi's favorite part was when the costume finally came off and his Grandmama took him inside the bouncer! Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!