Everyday Blessings...

Shocking item for today: There are no birds in this post! :) Goodness, time gets away from me lately.  Here I am blogging about last weekend and it is nearly the middle of THIS week. We were thrilled to spend time with people we love on both sides of our family last weekend. My sweet husband and his sister Rebecca in the photo below. Don't you love the red hair? We had fun going to an old theater in downtown Garland and hearing our nephew Brazos play with his percussion band. So very cool. They wore white, spooky masks and man can these guys keep the beat. It was incredible! I guess maybe you can be more uninhibited when your face is hidden. They did a great job. We were then blessed to sit with some fun friends and hear Colt speak in Dallas for a Dallas Christian School Fundraising dinner.  My folks came and the fellowship was sweet. We celebrated Mom and Dad's Birthdays. We went to church together and then to Babe's to ...

I thought that since it has gotten pretty cold, as in the 30's for several nights we would loose the flowers and buds that have come out on the trees and up from the ground. As you can see they are hanging in there and in fact look to be laughing at the cool temps.  No stopping these gorgeous, smiling flowers. I have been reading a little book called "Jesus Calling."  I love it. It is a great companion read with my everyday Bible. Yesterday this phrase really touched my heart.  The emptiness you feel within will be filled either with problems or with My Presence. 1 Thess. 5:17- Pray continually- give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus . Blessings on this sunny, warm, God filled day! Amy

Wes getting shots for the Haiti trip... Our two kind, sweet, adventurous boys are headed to Haiti in a few weeks for their spring break. I have to fight being concerned about their safety while they are there. I rejoice and love the fact that they have servant hearts and want to help people. I just struggle with worrying about them. God has given me a great measure of peace on the trips Will has been on and now I pray He will give me peace as they both head over there together. The article below really hit me over the head. I want to really live out loud exuding joy and faith. I want my expectations to be positive about everything. I do pretty good most of the time but I want to REALLY let go and trust because deep down I know the end of the story and I am not afraid .  Father God, please take my fears and turn them into joy and peace in You. Evil Forebodings by Joyce Meyer - posted February 01, 2012 All the days of the desponding and afflicted are made ...

  Our crazy boys and their crazy friends...posing with the Pres. of TA&M  I believe they were on a Sadie Hawkins picture scavenger hunt... looks like fun to me.  M ay you have a blessed day and may it be filled with laughter and smiles and peace...Amy

Hey! Do you know what today is?  Here is a hint...there will be red everywhere...just like me...  The girl who writes this blog is in love with this man...  She loves her Valentine's roses...  She wants to know if he will be hers forever... Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike Indiana's early morning dew High up in the hills of California Home is just another word for you Well I never had a place that I could call my very own That's all right, my love, 'cause you're my home Happy Valentines Day everyone! Blessings. Amy

Sweet Colt. Jesus is enough...in fact He is more than enough... Counterfeit Love: An Interview with Colt McCoy from The Austin Stone on Vimeo .

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill, which only fear can put in you. He said, 'I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.' Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two.. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt. As he was tight...

This is what our world looked like two years ago on this date. Gorgeous snowfall. It is 28 here this morning. No snow but oh so cold. Ps. 33: 18 & 20 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him; on those who's hope is in His unfailing love. We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice for we trust in His holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord even as we put our hope in You.

Well, I guess that title might have been a little suspicious...sorry. I am not giving the car away but this is the deal... This little video is of my cousin Cindy's wonderful son, Alex. He is a senior and made this video to try to win a car from a local dealership in the town he lives in in California.  He is a great young man, loves the Lord and really needs some wheels for college next year. (His mama says it will help so much because of paying for college too. For those of us who already have children in college and are paying those bills KNOW how much this would help.) Please pause the blog music, watch the video and then go vote for him on this web page. (It is fast and easy.) He is in second place right now. Thanks for your help! http://www.bakersfieldhyundaigraduationgiveaway.com/vote.php

(please pause blog music at bottom of page to view video.)

 Happy day! I know...enough with the bird pictures. I hear ya.  This will be it for a while. I promise.  They just tease me every morning.  Before the sun comes up they start chirping and I am driven to pull up the blinds so I can take pictures of them.  They perch on the bush outside my kitchen window or on the feeder and pose.  They seem to know right when I have them in perfect focus and they fly away. I am a patient bird photographer though. They come back for the food and I get a few good pictures.  This is the way the sky looked this morning as the chirping started. Red birds everywhere.  They are kind of magical don't you think? Psalm 104: 10-13 He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper...

 It seems WAY too early for these blooms...  They are lovely though...  While I was out enjoying taking pictures of the blooms I thought I would snap some pictures of some of my favorite houses that I get to drive by occasionally and enjoy. Lovely... Oh, and just a last shot of one of my morning friends.  Blurry but colorful.  I have been re-reading the "Mark of the Lion" series by Francine Rivers. Without a doubt some of the most gritty, inspiring books I have ever read. I am so moved by the character Hadassah. She puts God first in every aspect of her life. She loves unconditionally and selflessly. She is a little Jewish Christian girl enslaved in Rome after the fall of Jerusalem. This text below is just a bit of conversation between her and John. John shook his head. "No, Hadassah. Our struggle isn't against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness." "I can't fight Satan, John. My faith isn...