Mighty women of God

Yeah, yeah, Cortnee beat me to it - but now's my chance!

We had Word Works last night and it was amazing, as always. I agree with Cortnee, I am watching my women grow in leaps and bounds already!!! I cannot believe the hunger these ladies have inside them for the Word of God!!!! They are so excited about what He is doing in their lives and eager to share that with others. It's really cool to sit back and observe how they interact with one another and I am more than honored to be allowed to do so. I am learning how to see others as God sees them and I get so excited about the gifts within each of my beautiful ladies. They are truly mighty women of God and I cannot wait to see what God does over this next year in their lives.

I was just thinking about something - have you ever watched a new baby and tried to experience life through their eyes? I look at my little Anastacia and I see all of the new things that she is learning and I wonder how the world looks to her: she gets excited over all of the bright colors and when she sees a shadow on the wall, she will "talk" to it. She smiles at the sound of my voice and she feels comforted by the smell of her daddy. She laughs at her Bubba when he acts silly and she loves to hear her sissy sing. She is experiencing all of the same things that I am, but they are "new" to her and she appreciates them a lot more than I do.

That is how it is with a new Christian. There is really nothing new about Jesus - He is the same yesterday, today and forever. But to look at Jesus from the perspective of a new Christian, He is so exciting and so new. A babe in Christ sees the same things that I take for granted and they get excited. They revel in the smell of His presence and they take comfort in the freedom of worshipping Him. They laugh just because they can and they get joy from being able to sing in His presence. They are thankful for each new day, they look at His creation around them and they are in awe. The colors are brighter to them and the smells are sweeter. They want to talk about Jesus and share Him with others and they aren't ashamed to do so. There is a bounce in their step and a smile on their face! Oh, the things I can learn from a new Christian!!!

4 1/2 months old

Anastacia is now 4 1/2 months old and growing so fast! She weighs almost 17 pounds and is a little over 2 feet long. She has been eating bananas and this last week we added pears to the mix (for the sake of her tummy). So I was giving her bananas at one feeding and pears at another. Then she must have hit a growth spurt b/c for a few days in a row she was eating the whole package of bananas and then a whole package of pears, all at one feeding!!!!! We also started giving her a little water in a bottle, but she mostly just likes to chew on the nipple and dribble the water down her chin. She has been drooling/blowing bubbles since she was only a couple of weeks old and sucking/gnawing since birth. Everyone kept telling me "she must be teething," but we haven't seen any teeth yet. However, the last few nights her bedtime routine has changed and her top gums seem to be tender, so I am wondering if we won't see a little tooth come through soon......who knows???? It's so hard to tell when they are so little and can't really tell you anything.

Since she was about a month old, I have been showing her the sign for "milk" and this last week she started doing it pretty clearly. We have caught her moving her hand before, but weren't sure if she was really saying "milk" or not, but now she is pretty definite about it. She squeezes her hand open and shut several times and tenses her little arms up and grunts. It's so funny to watch. She definitely has a lot of personality and her face is full of expression!!

Anastacia is a very happy baby as long as you feed her when she's hungry, change her when she's wet and let her get herself to sleep. When she is tired, she wants to be able to get herself to sleep or else you are in for a very cranky baby. She loves to go places, but when it is time to take a nap, she prefers to be at home!

To show you just how chunky she has gotten, I took a picture of her thigh. Talk about thighs this baby has got some thighs! Shawn hates it when I call her my fat baby - but then we know she will grow out of it. Colten and Mahala were both big babies and look at them now (skinny minnies). So here is a picture of my little chunky monkey's thunder thighs~~I love it!!!

Thieves!!!

Okay, I had to post this!!! And even though it says from Florida, somebody is a thief cause this is definitely GA!!!!! I received it from a friend who currently lives in Florida but is originally from GA and knows the truth!!!

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM LIVING IN FLORIDA
*Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.
*There are 5,000 types of snakes on earth and 4,998 live in Florida .
*There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 live in Florida, plus a couple no one's seen before.
*If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.
*Onced and Twiced are words.
*It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.
*People actually grow and eat okra.
*'Fixinto' is one word.
*There is no such thing as 'lunch.' There is only dinner and then supper.
*Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. *We do like a little tea with our sugar!
*Backwards and forwards means 'I know everything about you.'
*DJeet is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'
*You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
*You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.
*You measure distance in minutes.
*You'll probably have to switch from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day.
*'Fixin' is a verb. Example: 'I'm fixing to go to the store.'
*All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
*You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
*You carry jumper cables in your car . . . for your OWN car.
*There are only own four spices: salt, pepper, Tabasco and ketchup.
*The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and sports.
*The first day of deer season is a state holiday.
*100 degrees Fahrenheit is 'a little warm.'
*We have four seasons: Almost Summer, Summer, still Summer and Christmas. *Going to Wal-mart is a favorite past time known as 'goin' Wal-martin' or off to 'Wally World.'
*A cool snap (below 70 degrees) is good pinto-bean weather.
*A carbonated soft drink isn't a soda, cola or pop. . . it's a Coke, regardless of brand or flavor. Example: 'What kinda coke you want?'
*Fried catfish is the other white meat.

EVERYONE CAN'T BE A (Georgian); IT TAKES TALENT. YOU MIGHT SAY IT'S AN ART FORM OR A GIFT FROM GOD!

It's ok to laugh - you know it's true!!!

Checkin in.....

Yep, we are still here! We had our God Encounter weekend this past weekend, so it's been crazy!!! As always, it was amazing!!!! God always moves mightily during those weekends and we come home feeling joyful, exuberant, encouraged and exhausted!!! This weekend was different because I came home feeling all of those except exhausted. I actually feel more energized and like I could conquer the whole world. I needed that and I just wanted to share that with all of you! God is so good and He always comes through for us just when we need it. We are getting our vision back, the devil has been trying to steal it from us, but God is restoring it. We are dreaming again, like we haven't done in a while and we are dreaming BIG!!!! I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us over the next few weeks, cause satan has fought us so strongly over the past few weeks. He has stolen from us and he has tried to destroy us, but no more. God is restoring us.

Some praise reports: A friend of mine had a tumor that the doctors wanted to biopsy b/c they were concerned about it. She asked me to stand in prayer that it would shrink or go away so that she wouldn't have to have a biopsy. We did and the tumor shrunk down to a tiny nodule and she doesn't have to have the biopsy done!!!

Second, some of you already know, my best friend since childhood has a four year old daughter named Maddie who has been diagnosed with neuroblastoma. This is a type of cancer and when they started, she had tumors in her chest and covering her abdomen. They were HUGE tumors, the doctor said she was a stage four, which is NOT good. Maddie has had four treatments of chemo and the doctors are absolutely amazed at her response to the treatments. The tumors in her chest are completely gone and the one in her abdomen has had "marked" change. They have been astounded by her progress and we all know that it is only the Hand of God that does this. We have been standing in prayer with Angela and her family since July 23, when this all began. Maddie has been through a lot, but she continues to amaze and astound the medical community, even setting records on things such as her bone marrow harvest (the doctors harvested enough cells to do FOUR bone marrow transplants and they've never done that before in one bone marrow harvest)!!!!! Angela continues to report to me how good God has been to them through all of junk the devil is bringing against them. The greatest thing that has come from all of this is that God has come into their lives in a BIG way! He is doing signs, wonders and miracles through them!

Last praise report that I will share (there are SO many): Another friend of mine had her car stolen. She stood in prayer that her car would be returned, that the person would just abandon it and that it would be evidence that God was strong and big in her life. She got a call exactly one month and one week after it had been stolen saying that her car had been found and was at a tow company and that she could pick it up. When she went to pick up the car, the attendant said that they had never had a stolen car returned in the condition that her car was in: absolutely nothing was missing from her car, even a purse in the back seat that had $6 in it. Nothing was damaged or broken in the car and the gas tank had a full tank of gas!!!!! The only thing that the car needed was to be washed cause it was dusty like it had been abandoned!!!! How awesome is our God!!!!! He answered her prayer and He showed Himself strong in her life!!!

Just wanted to share some encouraging news in the midst of all the bad news we hear each day. Our God is El Shaddai, the God of more than enough and He is still supplying all of our needs in this day. He is still a Healer and He still loves us. I give Him praise for all of this and so much more. I have so many more things that I could share, but not enough time or space here.

Love you all! Be encouraged!!!