Questions and Answers

photo sent to me by my precious friend Granny Smith Green

Good Morning! I hope you are blessed beyond measure this Monday morning! For those who have asked, e-mailed or left comments with questions- this is for you.I'm trying to catch up! :) My apologies for not getting back to you (if I didn't) but I am never really sure how to respond. Do I leave a comment on that blogger's post or do I answer in the comment section of my own post? I have never been sure about that! So I've answered the best that I can in this season of my life (with my limited computer time:) and decided to devote a post to a little Q and A.

Ask away.... I'm answering!

Blessings!

Creek Couture

Bella Grace making a splash...

Bella Grace and Emma Pearl rowing their pretend boat....

Ashton enjoying his Sunday morning....

Mama and Ashton wading through the water

Bennett posing for the camera!

Precious Emma Pearl with her newly caught craw fish!

Sharing the big catch!

A day on the farm......

Most relaxing Sunday in a long time....

Enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait to visit again!

After our big move I couldn't wait to take the babies to a creek for a little southern summer fun! I wanted to allow them the opportunity to wade around in the water, catch craw fish with their own net and look for turtles and other treasures. They had the best time! So did we watching each one discover and uncover the best of nature on a recent Sunday morning! Here's to a wonderful weekend with your little ones! May you catch all that He has for you this weekend.....

Your Gifts

Did you know that you were created with beautiful gifts? Yes you. Beautiful, incredible, amazing, talented, gifted you! Did you know that there are many gifts on the inside of you? Some of you may have already discovered your gifts and may be walking in them! Some of you may be wondering what on earth your gifts are or even if you even have any at all. I want to encourage you today and remind you that you were created on purpose and with a purpose. God has a plan for your life. You have incredible destiny attached to your life! He has equipped you with beautiful gifts! For those of you who assume you do not have any, you absolutely do. They sit waiting to be discovered like hidden treasures! God did not make some of us with gifts and some of us without! You have everything you need to fulfill God's plan for your life on the inside of you. Sometimes we are blessed with amazing parents or family members who "see" our gifts while we are young children and then nurture them and help us to grow in our giftings. Some may "discover" their gifts as they go throughout life. For others, sometimes our gifts are made known through adversity. Maybe you have struggled in life. You may have a story to share. Maybe you have experienced incredible suffering. You may have a ministry. Maybe you have suffered tremendous hardship, sickness or disease. You may have a healing gift. Maybe you have been through the unthinkable things in life. Perhaps you have a book inside. Maybe you have suffered tremendous hardship in life ~ I bet before the first time adversity hit your life, He had already given you the gifts of mercy and compassion. You may have a pastoral calling.

Did you know that the word says that your gift will make room for you? Proverbs 18:16. Your gift WILL make room for you. We do not have to push, pull or force our way through life. Our gifts will make room for us. I love this reminder. It is so powerful. Another way to interpret this would be to consider that whatever it is that God has called you to do, He has equipped you with the gifts, abilities and talent to do it and your gifts will make room for you. Did you also know that our gifts come without repentance? Isn't that amazing? There isn't anything we can do to earn our gifts. There isn't anything we can give God so that He would give us our gifts~ they are already yours. He created you with them and they do not cost a thing.

As you read this are you wondering what your gifts are?

A hint would be to take a look into your heart. What makes your heart sing? What do you absolutely love to do? What do you love to do so much so that you could do it every single day for the rest of your life and for free? What do you feel a pull towards? What makes you light up in life?

Here are some statements to help get you started. Just fill in the blanks....

1. If I knew I wouldn't fail I would__________________

2. I've always dreamed of __________________

3. If I had the money I would _________________

4. If I had the courage I would _________________________

5. If I had the love, support and encouragement I would try to ______________

Your answer lies within......

Sometimes in life we just need someone else to help push us into our destiny. Sometimes we just need someone else to be our cheerleader or to believe in us enough to speak those words of encouragement when we can't do it ourselves. Sometimes, all it takes is for someone else to see in us what our heart has been longing for all along but we were too afraid to take the chance. Sometimes in life, we sit on pause or on standby waiting for someone to give us permission to do what we love to do. That is a powerful thought......

I leave you with love, light, encouragement and permission to be the beautiful, incredible, talented and gifted woman that He has called you to be. May you walk in every good and perfect gift that he created you with from the very beginning.

A man's gift makes room for him , and brings him before great men.~ Proverbs 18:16

No Place Like Home

Mae-Mae's fancy feet

How true. There is no place like home. I am so thankful to be here. I mean the kind of thankful that you can't really talk about because your heart is so grateful and so full and so overwhelmed all at the same time. That kind of gratitude. Thankful for the opportunity. Thankful for the amazing, unbelievable way that He worked it out for us to get here. Thankful for the 21.5 hour drive I made safely by myself with all five children in tow. I still don't know how I did that. Thankful that I have managed for the past month to run the household and care for the children by myself while my husband continues to work in New York. His grace is sufficient has new meaning to me. I am most thankful that it will only be this way for a few more months and then we will all be together again. I am so glad to be home, I can do anything for a few more months.

We have been busy unpacking and finding a new normal. Meeting new friends and connecting with our old ones. Trying to make a house a home. Getting our oldest off to college for her second year and another one ready for first grade. I am the Mother of a college student and a first grader :) . Lots of beautiful things lie within those words. Looking forward to writing about it all. So thankful to be home ~Where life is slower and easier and even more beautiful than before.

I have missed you all.....