Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy, happy...

"I'm so happy todaaaay!!" ;-)

(Clip of clown's birthday song from Liar Liar. lol)

HAPPY 29th BIRTHDAY to my beautiful and talented younger sister, Rachael LaJo!!

Praying it's a good day and great year ahead for you and your precious family! =)

Sorry I can't be there today to celebrate, but I'll have a cupcake in your honor! ;)

Photo Friday!

Happy Friday! #thankful

Today, I'm catching up on iphone pics from the last couple months:

1. Two puppies watching me blog. :)
2. Lunch at Judge's with the fam! 
3. My "Best of my Days" calendar + giant Hershey bars gift!
4. What the calendars were supposed to look like (before the Kinkos guy cut the tops off of them... grrr.)
5. Random Santa that came to see me and Laura at work. :) Jaceman was pretty excited to see that pic on my phone! lol
6. Awesomesauce pizza from Upper Crust on New Year's Eve!
7. Not sure what to call this - homemade potpourri? from Gary to the Wilsons - smelled really great!
8. Our NYE cookiecake - YUM!
9. The girls, minus me, in the last few minutes of 2014!

1. Tara Lynn putting the door back on in the dark - very impressive! lol
2. Laura basking in the warm glow of the spotlight after painting.
3. Me and Tara Lynn ordered the exact same meal by accident, and since she's the queen of healthy eating, it felt worthy of documentation!!
4. Presh Kyndal Faith getting herself some ice. :)
5. Encouraging verse from Philippians I read on January 1st!
6. At the Garth concert - they'd put a huge picture of just his eyes on the stairs - kinda creepy! lol
7. Cowboy saluting Garth - made me happy.
8. Me and Laura before moving to our separate seats at the concert! lol
9. Me and the Cox minion mascot - cuteness - at the Home & Garden show with Mom and Dad!

1. Card and cute envelope for TLT!
2. Sammy Sue after her bath (after being sprayed by the skunk). Sad day!
3. My hair color inspiration - yay, DJ!
4. My Couch to 5k app thinks I'm inspiring. lol Picture worthy.
5. Cute banner by Karli Marie for Chet's aunt and uncle's going away party!
6. Chet giving a mini-speech (this was at Sand Spring Espresso).
7. Me and Lauralai being the only cars left at the Creek County Courthouse. :)
8. My iphone google history - cracked me up when I read through it!
9. Kelly making an adorable new friend!
10. Cute cupcakes for the party!

1. LifeChurch (8:30 service) Photo Booth fun on Super Bowl Sunday with JEM and Kelly!
2. The guys at the Super Bowl Party.
3. The girls at the Super Bowl Party.
4. JEM and Eden, who was very particular about where she wanted him to sit. :)
5. Kelly Marie and Karli Marie. :)
6. Kyle and Chet in a Patriots fans victory pic. Being photobombed by Jay and Brent. lol
7. Evan looking super excited about getting his picture taken.

That's all, folks!

Three!!

1. Happy Monday. Blah.
2. Happy Groundhog Day... Kinda Fun.
3. Happy Jaceman's Birthday! Get excited!! :)

That's right, my beloved nephew, Jace Michael, turns 3 years old today... craziness! So in honor of that, here are three through-the-years collages of some of my favorite pics of him. :)

When he put on that antler headband in the center pic, he said (so sincerely), "I look so handsome!" lol  Cutest thing ever. I could go into why I chose each picture, but I'll spare you that. lol They're all special to me for one reason or another. :)

Jace-in-the-box is still one of my favorites - he just crawled in there to get his toy then turned around and looked right at me scrambling to get my phone ready to take a picture! lol :)

I especially love the one (in his red shirt on the bottom row) where he's reacting to Mamaw saying "No!" lol

Finally, this one was too long to fit in the square collage frames, but it's my all-time favorite pic of Jace and his brothers, Triston and Carter! So cute!!

Happy Birthday, Jaceman!!

May God bless and keep you always

May your wishes all come true

May you always do for others

And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars

And climb on every rung

May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous

May you grow up to be true

May you always know the truth

And see the light surrounding you

May you always be courageous

Stand upright and be strong

May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy

May your feet always be swift

May you have a strong foundation

When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful

And may your song always be sung

May you stay forever young!

~Forever Young, Bob Dylan

(Parenthood theme song)

Memory Monday ~ Weekend Update

It was a fun weekend starting with the wonderful K-Lamb Foster's birthday! We celebrated with dinner at Freebirds then headed back to the Fosters' for some epic ice cream cake and a fun game night (where the girls crushed the guys in Taboo)!! ;)

Saturday was lunch then grocery shopping then a really good talk then my first cooking lesson with the kind and awesome Miss Kelly Marie!  (Including peeling and chopping sweet potatoes, juicing lemons, mincing garlic, marinating chicken, making a strawberry salad, and preparing asparagus - all for the first time on my end). We listened to T-Swift and One Republic while chatting and cooking... it was fun and honestly easier than I'd expected. (Time consuming, but not hard, so that's good!) We pulled out the extra leaf on my kitchen table and brought in my chairs from outside and the computer room chair and Mary Engelbreit stool for extra seating - it was eclectic, I guess. lol 

Note to self: Time for me to buy some fold-up chairs soon! 

JEM, Chet, Karli, Laura, Evan, and Jessica came to join us for a good, healthy dinner - (strawberry/walnut salad, asparagus, seasoned sweet potatoes, and rosemary lemon chicken)!! Chettles promptly put in Pitch Perfect as our background noise during dinner, rewinding it to see his favorite parts later. lol  We had fun, as per usual, and the girlfranz were very excited to see everyone as well! lol

Pics = JEM excited to try our cooking, SamSue... probably peeing on my couch :(, Kelly fanning the smoke alarm when it kept going off - lol, Bellsy being precious, Chet and Karli talking to Jessica on speakerphone, Laura reading my new book (Scary Close by Donald Miller - it's going to be AMAZING, I can already tell), and me, just mincing some garlic, which was weirdly my favorite part of the cooking lesson. lol After dinner, we watched Brooklyn 99 and then randomly watched figure skating for a while, where JEM knew a surprising amount about Ashley Wagner. lol Good times!

Yesterday, I went to LifeChurch, hung out with Kristin, and had a Parenthood season 6 marathon (11 episodes in one day... out of control! lol) I'd never watched it until yesterday, but I really liked it! I have one more episode to watch tonight, then Laura and I will be watching the series finale together this Thursday after our walk/jog at CP -- get excited!

So there's my ridiculously detailed weekend update. Happy Monday, gang!

Martin Luther King, Jr. (Quotables)

I recommend seeing Selma, a movie that honors the life and light and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. I still can't get over the courage, wisdom, love, and Godly self-control he displayed in the face of very serious and deplorable persecution and unfounded hatred. He was truly a man of God, a light shining amidst great darkness and evil, and he helped to light the way for so many others and strengthen them to choose action over passivity and love over hate. These are just a few of the brilliant, inspiring words he spoke in his short 39 years here on earth -- even now, I want to soak them up and serve God that faithfully with a similar integrity, hope, and courage!!

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite HOPE."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to JUSTICE everywhere."

"A time comes when silence is betrayal. In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends... He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it."

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the LIGHT of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness."

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that MATTER."

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to FORGIVE... There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.  When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power.  We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"No one really knows WHY they are alive until they know what they would die for."

"There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep LOVE."

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for FREEDOM in the history of our nation… In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.   Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.  We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of DIGNITY and DISCIPLINE… I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream…  

I have a dream that one day this nation will RISE UP and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal…"  I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their CHARACTER.  I have a dream today… I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.  This is our HOPE...  With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope… knowing that we will be FREE one day.”

~Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 15, 1929 ~ April 4, 1968

Words of Wisdom Wednesday!

Canvas by my sister... see more HERE! =)

"There's this love that is burning deep in my soul, 

Constantly yearning to get out of control,

Wanting to fly higher and higher,

I can't abide standing outside the fire!"

"So don't you sit up on the shoreline and say you're satisfied.

Choose to chance the rapids, and dare to dance the tide!"

"I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss the dance."

"Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers!"

~Garth Brooks

(Concert tomorrow!!!)

New blog layout -- GET EXCITED -- I really love it!! :)
(I'm working on an Ultimate Quotables post for the Favorite Quotes tab... stay tuned.)
Happy Wednesday!

Growing Forward!

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."
~Isaiah 9:2

"[The light of Christ] shines even in our darkest moments. And it is that light that calls us out and into better things: Love instead of Hate, Hope instead of Despair, Gratitude instead of Bitterness, Compassion instead of Judgment. I hope we all feel that light shining upon us, a light built into our very souls, and that we can find a way to share it with the world." ~Mara

“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."

~Isaiah 43:18,19

"Those who become Christians become new persons.  They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone.  A new life has begun!"

~2 Corinthians 5:17

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

~Lamentations 3:22-24

"Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him."

~Hebrews 11:6

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

~Galatians 6:9

Today, I am thankful for new beginnings! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!