A Few Things...

First of all, thanks to all of you who commented on my "Who are You" post a while ago. Wow. I can't believe how many people read it! I had several more people on facebook tell me that they read it too. I am overwhelmed!

Secondly, the "fasting week" went great. The Lord is really working in my life! I have fasted again this week at various times. I realize that my baby can feed off the fat of the land if I miss a few meals here and there. :) We've had family conference this week, and although I had to miss last night because of sickness, the other services have been challenging, convicting and encouraging all at the same time.

Thirdly, we are leaving for Florida vacation TOMORROW!!! This week has been crazy busy trying to get everything ready. At the end of a 10 day vacation, we will all be traveling to MS where my dad will be preaching a family conference for 5 days. We will all be teaching various classes and singing each evening.

This makes packing a little more difficult, as we have 5 days of church at the end of a nice warm vacation. We need swim stuff, casual stuff and church stuff too for 4 people. Cramming it all in 2 suitcases has been fun. :) We are driving there (16 hours) and flying home (long story), so please pray that my kids do good in the car. Namely, Joey!! He's not crazy about the car to begin with, so for that reason we are driving through the night, hoping the kids sleep all night. Also please pray that my husband stays awake--or uses me to keep him awake because I'm not exactly known for staying awake on road trips. :)

Well, this post has been scattered and rushed but I just wanted to check in. If I can post while we are there I will, but if not, see you when I get back with LOTS of pictures! :)

Just Say NO!

Our Pastor preached a great message on Sunday night about fasting. At this point it's not up on the website, but you can keep checking if you want to listen to it. The gist of it is telling the flesh NO, something that we need to do in order to feed the spirit.

Nate is fasting this week, but I can't because I'm nursing. So I have a few things that I've given up, one being sweets. Namely, my dove chocolate. My husband keeps my in steady supply of them and I eat a few each day. They are near and dear to my heart, my mouth, and, sadly, end up on my rear!

While Pastor was preaching I knew that this was something that I would need to give up for a while, so I have. He said that when our flesh tells us to eat, the spirit is telling us to pray.

We have family conference next week. My husband has given up eating and I've given up sugar and a few other things. I can't WAIT to see what God will do in our lives because we are strengthening the Spirit this week!

I want to challenge each of you to pick something in your life this week that you can do without! Through this, I'm learning that it feels so GOOD to tell that rotten flesh NO while uplifting the spirit! Whether it's fasting, giving up something in your diet that you love, no internet, facebook--whatever it may be, tell the flesh no for just this week.

I promise you won't be disappointed! If you do so, feel free to share here when you comment!

Happy Birthday to Anna!

My sisters, Anna and Deb, have been here for a little over a week now and still have almost a week left. So you know what that means for me--2 weeks of pure sister bliss! Yay! We've been having a great time. One of the best times of the trip so far was Anna celebrating her birthday here! Nate treated us like queens and took us to Carrabbas, our favorite restaurant!

(Spell check is telling me that Carrabbas is not a word. It has obviously never been there before, or the word would have stuck in it's mind-er, dictionary, forever. Poor thing. Doesn't know what it's missin out on!)

Beautiful Anna! 19 Years Old!

It was amazing we managed to stop on our way in to get this picture. When it's time to eat we tend to get a little panicked and have to gather around the table in a frenzy.....

...to eat bread and oil. If you are not Italian you may or may not appreciate this. You may think it's yummy, even delicious. But if you are Italian, you have a special relationship with Italian Bread and Oil that no one understands but us. See the look in our eyes?

And enough said about that.

And then there are my twins :) My handsome hubby and beautiful daughter! She is a daddy's girl (and a mommy's girl as she chows down on the bread and the calamari)

Happy Birthday! (I was the annoying big sister who took a hundred pictures of her on her birthday. I think I'm getting old)

My 3 favorite people in the world! Brookie has oil all over her face and Jo Jo is reaching for the menu....but still cute :)

Look at that little smile in his eyes...love it!

We love bread. But we also love chocolate. An ooey, gooey, chocolate brownie. And chocolate mousse. And whipped cream. Repeat Layers. Drown in hot fudge sauce.

Faint. Repeat as needed.

Once again, spell checker is telling me that "ooey" is not a word. I beg to differ.

I think we have that look in our eyes again. So does my son. That cannot be good!

I love sisters. Especially when they have birthdays!