Growin' up too fast

I'm feelin a bit nostalgic... 

Since I don't have kids of my own sometimes I kinda feel like the nieces and nephews in the fam are mine. 

I don't like how fast they're growin' up. Remember, my niece is married and pregnant with twins. Whaaaat??? And her brother is off in the Army doing his civic duty. 

But this one... 
  Cullen loves some basketball, always has - just like his dad (my brother)

This little 5th grader has grown a bit, wouldn't ya say?  

He's a freshman now and measuring at about 6' tall

Now Cullen's got a deeper voice, a cell phone and a little hair on his upper lip... oh me!

But he's really a good kid. Does well in school and stays out of trouble. Teachers love him.

I love him and his little brother a whooooole lot! I'll dig up some pics of Camden for a future post.

I have so many sweet memories of the boys coming to our house and playing and spending the night and being cute and rowdy and funny and crazy... 

but now they're big boys busy growin' up and not needing us as much. (sad) But that's okay. They're still the coolest boys I know and will always be tops with us! 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Well you've come to the end of memory lane. Thank you for joining me today. 

That is all.

Some *SMILES* for ya - Riley style

If you frequent this blog, you know this little fella... our friends have the most precious little boy and he spends a little time with us here and there.. he feels a lot like family... 

Thought I'd show ya a few pics from a couple of his recent visits to our house for play dates.

Riley LOVES him some dinosaurs.. and not just your garden variety t-rex or stegosaurus lemme tell ya... this kid knows the names of the dinosaurs that have like 10 syllables...

Anthony and Riley built the race car track so the cars would jump Wolverine... 

It was epic !

The Avengers Lego set was pretty sweet, too. Boy toys have come a long way I must say.

And any time Anthony has food, it's a given that Riley must also sample...

What a boy! So expressive this kid...

Me thinks he digs Anthony... and his goatee

It's a little sad for me really... cuz when Riley was a baby he was kinda MY BOY but now that he's gettin bigger he tends to lean more toward hangin with Anth. 

But it's okay... I just pick up the camera and try to capture the cute moments like these...

If you didn't smile, your smilin' muscles must be broke!

Striving to do better

I read a few blogs here and there. I'm usually looking for one of two things out of a blog - information or entertainment. Sometimes I'm fortunate enough to get both. 

One of the blogs I enjoy is Lysa TerKeurst's. Lysa's blog 
If you've never heard of Proverbs 31 ministries, read Proverbs chapter 31 and then go check out their site here. 

I recently read a piece on Lysa's blog about random acts of kindness. I feel like {sadly} kindness is not one of my strongest attributes. But Lysa's blog post planted a seed in me. And it sprouted a few weeks ago. 

At work, they send everyone an email once a month that provides company news and lists employee anniversaries. I decided I'd start writing down the names of the folks I work with or know pretty well and the number of years they'd be celebrating so I could email them a quick happy anniversary. 

I've been doing that since the first of the year and the response is always a heartfelt one. I think they really appreciate the small gesture.

Another thing I've been trying since the first of the year is listening to Christian music in my car. KLove is 97.1 in the middle Tennessee area and they play great worship songs and Christian music that's current. What I love about this switch I've made is that now when I have a song pop in my head it's something that helps me remember the God I serve and reminds me of my purpose.  

A couple Sundays ago our pastor preached out of Philippians and kinda forced us to memorize this verse: 
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5

In this sermon he talked a lot about pride. {ouch} Pride is a big ugly problem most of us try to ignore. But pride does a lot of damage - it's why we struggle with forgiving others, it's why we judge others and it's why we won't ask for help. Pride can really destroy us.

When we're full of pride, we put ourselves in place of God. And guess what? God is not pleased with that. 

I'm afraid I've had a big ole pride problem a lot in my life. I try to appear strong when inside I'm so weak & tired. I justify my anger with others. I compare myself to others... and on and on it goes. 

But it seems like the harder I try to do things right and follow God's plan, more obstacles & difficulties are put in my path. 

Inside I'm screaming I don't deserve this! 

Instead of focusing on myself, I could be reaching out to others around me and showing them the love of Christ.

We're all in this together. We all have struggles and need help here and there. And we're gonna make mistakes. I feel like sometimes we just forget to tap into THE SOURCE who has promised us He'd never leave us or forsake (abandon) us - Jesus!

I'm leaning on HIM a lot these days. He's everything we need and more. 

So I'll leave you with this  - - 
  
Philippians 4: 6,7 says:  
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  

Every day I'm trying to do better. Some days I fail miserably. Other days I do okay.
He never promised us a life without trouble, but He did promise He'd always be there with us. 
And I know He is. And I'm thankful for that. Cuz I need pickin' up a whoooole lot!