With Valentine's Day approaching, I started thinking about what I should do for those I love. I thought that I should do something special for Frederick. I should get some candy for Grace (from her dad). I should buy Valentine's for the boys to hand out at co-op. Quickly I began to realize that most of the things I do, I do because I "should" do them. Even in my walk with God. So many times I find myself reading my Bible because I feel it is the right thing to do. Or heading out to church simply because it is Sunday. In other words I am acting out of obligation not love. This has been a very sobering revelation for me.

That leaves me asking myself, is it sinful to serve God purely out of duty without love or joy? Sadly, the answer is YES. Our actions are a pure reflection of the affection of our heart. God tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 6 that judgement fell on the people ‘because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart’.

With that on my mind and my heart I am seeking God's help in growing my affection for Jesus. I want to MOVE (there is that word again) to a closer relationship with my Savior. I want to worship in 'spirit and in truth' not duty and obligation.

Israel Houghton- Moving Forward (w/ lyrics)

I thought I needed a new song to go along with my new "WORD." This song is absolutely amazing to me. How I love my JESUS!!

Is this what He meant?

When God tells you to move out of the way, you move. I totally get that. But which way am I suppose to go? Seems as though all roads lead me back here, right where I started. Today it feels like I am going the wrong way down a one way street. I don't know where this road is going to take me. I'm not really sure how I plan on getting there. What I do know is that God is Good. He will never leave me or forsake me.

Psalms 37:5 "Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass."

MOVE!!!!

That is it! Really? Move, that's all you got? I prayed for God to give me a word for this year. I know sounds so silly and churchy (is that a word?). But, I really want to be more focused this year. I want stay the course, run the race, fight the good fight. So, I prayed for a word that would challenge me. A word that would get me out of my comfort zone and into the God zone.

I was thinking about all the wonderful, fancy, grand words that God could bestow up me. Words like: triumphant, reverent, visionary, splendor. You get the picture, right? This word would come down from heaven, hand delivered by Arch Angel Gabriel himself. All the time light would descend upon me as a host of angels sing a hallelujah chorus. Sounds good, doesn't it? It was perfect.

Then my word came to me. Not from angels, but from a parent in the car line at school. "Can you move so I can pull around the cones", she asked. I just looked at her with this horribly confused faced. I am sure she thought I was losing it right there in the parking lot. I heard the statement again. "Can you move?" This time it wasn't the lady asking me, it was the Holy Spirit.

I gathered my thoughts and told the lady that she would need to go further down and turn around. In other words, "No, I will not move." Then quickly God spoke to my heart louder that any human ever has. "Will you move for me," God asked? I thought about that question many times over the next few days. I began to reason out that I would indeed move for God. I would go anywhere He asked me. I began to get really excited. Maybe, I was going to move to a new and bigger house. Maybe just maybe, I was going to travel and see the world. This is going to be a great year.

And then it happened. It was a complete revelation. God said, no wait, God whispered, "just move." WHAT? What does that mean? There were no singing angels, no beams of white light, no angels at all! Sweetly and softly God said, "move out of the way so I can do what I need to do in your life and the life of your family."

WOW!!!!


John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Christmas Count down...8 days til Christmas

Not sure why I make plans.

We are going to the Kloudas' on Monday to make Christmas candy (YUM). I planned to go to Sam's this evening to get all of the goodies we will need for the candy. Unfortunately, the fuel pump went out on my Suburban. Frederick had to go to work so I was left without a vehicle.

So, I am stuck in the house...all...evening....ARGH! Definitely not one of my top ten activities. Not just me, but my five kids, and the neighbor kids as usual are with transportation and cooped up inside my house. I finally got smart and put Elf in to watch and handed out cookies.

I couldn't just let this day go by without some sort of Christmas activity being accomplished. I decided to sit down and finally write our annual Christmas letter. Prayerfully, the letters and the gifts will get delivered Monday night. But don't worry, I am NOT going to plan on it.

Christmas Count down...9 days til Christmas

The count down may be at nine, but the number of the day is six! Zion turned six years old today. He is an amazing child. He is smart, funny, adorable, and such a blessing to our family. So today was spent celebrating his special day.


McDonald's was the order of the day. Not necessarily my birthday meal of choice. But then again, it's not my birthday.

Zion is not a big cake eater so ice cream was on the agenda. It doesn't get much better than the Marble Slab.

Then off to the mall. Build a Bear was next on Zion's itinerary. He decided on Rudolf. Seemed like a seasonally appropriate choice.

Christmas Count down...10 days til Christmas

Spent the day doing the "usual" daily tasks. But the evening was spent PARTYING!! It started with the "Happy Birthday Jesus" party at AWANA. There was cake, cookies, candy, punch and much more. Grace Baptist always does such a terrific job making things special for the kids. Then it was off to Grace's second dance party. Last night was for modern dance and tonight for Jazz class. She did an awesome job as usual. So the running total now stands at 4 Christmas parties down and the good Lord knows how many more to go. I LOVE CHRISTMAS TIME.

Christmas countdown...11 days til Christmas

With only eleven days left until Christmas, the parties are getting started. Tonight was Grace's modern dance Christmas party/dance performance. She was amazing as always. Graceful, elegant, beautiful and inspiring. I love to watch Grace dance. She is so precious to me and I am so thankful to have such an amazing daughter.

Christmas count down...12 days til Christmas

There are those days where things are good. Then there are those days when things are perfect! Days that I know are a special gift from God, just because he wants me to understand how much he loves me. This was one of those days. God is so good to me. I love the snow and snow days. This one was picture perfect. From the snow, the snow cream, the gingerbread houses, and the hot chocolate. To the Christmas movies, kids playing Christmas carols on the piano, filling out Christmas cards and spending time with my precious family. I will go ahead and mention (yet again) how much I love this season of the year. Thank you Jesus for loving on me and my family in a special way today.


Our mini ginger bread village. Take note that there are only four houses. One was eaten prior to the photo.

Elijah enjoying the snow cream. He needed something to wash down the gingerbread.

Grace adding all the details to her house while Isaac supervises.

Aaron creating his masterpiece.

Zion's cute little cottage.

Preparing the snowcream. LOVE LOVE LOVE me some snowcream.

I Definitely didnt learn from my previous pain...

So I went Christmas shopping tonight for shoes for my children. In case I havent mentioned it, I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I love the shopping, the crowds, the trees, the lights, the smells, the food. I love it all. Christmas season makes for the best of everything. But I digress. I was in the shoe department when it happened. I saw these amazing brown leather boots. Yes I know it was just yesterday that the my new black leather boots made my feet scream out in pain. But, I just couldn't resist. These boots were amazing and oh so soft. The evening ended after everyone tried the new peppermint milkshakes from Chick-fil-a, the boys saw Santa Claus, a few Christmas presents were bought, and "momma got a new pair of shoes."

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I love everything about it. The lights, the crowds, the shopping, the presents, the smells, the food, the decorations, and most of all my Jesus. We spent the evening at Dollywood. After seeing all the sights, riding a few rides, and drinking a HUGE mug of hot chocolate, I am offically in the Christmas spirit.

Most people enjoy going to Dollywood in the summer but I love it at Christmas. It is a magical place. For me it brings back all the joy and wonder of childhood Christmas.

My little elf.

Everyone has their ticket for the Polar Express.

Letterboxing, my old friend...

It has been several weeks since our last letterboxing adventure. Boy, did I miss it. Today was the perfect day to get back on the band wagon. We headed out to Victor Ashe Park, which just happens to be my favorite local park. For those of you who keep asking me about going, now is the perfect time. The weather is perfect. The poison ivy/oak is gone. And the snakes are nowhere to be found. By all means start finding those boxes.

Charlotte's Web Lapbook

The Durham gang got together with a some of our favorite people today. Had a great time putting together a lapbook on Charlotte's Web. Here is a few pictures of the finished product.

Down on the Farm

This was a terrific day for a field trip. The weather was absolutely perfect. The company was superb with great friends and even a few new ones. The farm was beautiful with lots to do and see. There was a corn maze, inflatables, a corn box, animals, hayride, train ride, and much more. And to top it all off, the price was very affordable!!


Aaron on the hayride.

Feeding the horses.

The corn maze.

Grace on the hayride.

Isaac, bringing up the rear.

The whole gang.

Zion, on the inflatables.

Elijah and Hunter trying to fit into one train car.

AWANA is AMAZING

I am so thankful that my kids have all been blessed by the AWANA program. I have been in church all my life and have never came across a program that could even hold a candle to AWANA. I am so grateful for all the truly amazing leaders (Jennifer, Sunday, Rodney, Diann) and to Grace Baptist Church who opens their doors to so many kids. During tonights AWANA service Zion recieved "Clubber of the Month"!!! He was so excited and I am so proud.

Letterboxing in East Tennessee.

We headed out this afternoon to visit Gina in Oak Ridge. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful and weather and do a little letterboxing while we were there. It has been about three weeks since we went on our last letterboxing adventure. I have to say, I missed it.



This is Grace stamping our book.

The two mile hike!

View's like this make living in East Tennessee amazing!!!

Totally out of my Element!!

We took some time this afternoon to visit the PUPPY ZONE. Those of you who know me will appreciate what a sacrifice this was for me. I really should get extra mom of the year points for enduring this little venture. But even I must concede, that some of these puppies were pretty darn cute.

Not really sure how to take this one....

We board our ship and go check out our room. For the first time we have a stateroom with a large window. I open the curtains and this was what I saw!!! Now, thankfully we are still docked at Charleston, I would hate to think this was going to be my view for the entire cruise. But what are the odds of this being directly in front of our room? Not only that, but NO ONE ever spells Lorrie the way I do. I usually get Lori, lauri, lorri or some other version of the name. But never Lorrie. One might have a tendency to think this a good thing. I am not so sure. It is after all spray painted on a dumpster. Nothing says love like spray paint and trash.

Last Horse Show of the Season.

Saturday night was our last horse show until next year. It as been a great ride (pun intended). Everyone really enjoys the show. Everyone, but Isaac. His allergy make him absolutely miserable anytime he gets anywhere near a horse. Not quiet sure how we are going to work that out. Luckily, we have all winter to figure it out.

My Cowboy

My Cowgirl

My Cowpoke

Don't you just wonder what he is thinking?



Grace showing Jet in Halter

Elijah showing Gigi.

Rain delay.