Visiting Aunt Leah

My sister, Leah, is in Fort Walton for the summer. Jackson and I had a wonderful day visiting her!

Aunt Leah was very excited about taking Jackson to feed the fish. (He LOVES fish...and birds....and dogs....okay, he LOVES all animals.) Although Leah is holding fish food, Jackson looks like he's thinking about digging in.FishLeah loves pictures as much as I do. I have taken almost 3,000 pictures of Jackson since he was born. Although we didn't take that many during our visit, I had a hard time choosing which ones to post. So I posted all of my favorites. :)Worn out after a day of fun.

Bible in 90 Days Update

I will be checking in every ten days to update you on my journey through the bible in ninety days. It has been so much easier than I anticipated! I just finished day ten's reading and am halfway through Numbers. It takes about thirty-five minutes each evening and I have a great little routine that includes putting Jackson to bed, making coffee, and sitting at the kitchen table to read. I continue to be excited about this experience and pray that God will reveal Himself to me through the reading of his word.

I have to remind myself on nights like tonight when I am reading about descendants, rules and customs that each word of the bible is inspired by God and worth reading. I cannot wait to be able to say I have read the bible cover to cover!!! I am 1/9 of the way there. I'll be back for another update in ten days.

I encourage you to do something that you've wanted to do for a while but have put off. Whether it's reading the bible, an organizational project, exercising, or pursuing a new hobby- there's no better time than now. If you're anything like me you have quite a list of things you'd like to do and an even longer list of reasons it's not convenient to do them now. Take the plunge...you'll be glad you did!

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures from this week. (I just couldn't help myself.)

Jackson and Mommy ready for church.

Now that Jackson is crawling, pulling up and cruising on furniture I never know how I will find him when I check on him in his crib. This has become one of his favorite positions.

Maybe I'm just overly sentimental (okay, I am definitely overly sentimental) but have you ever had a moment where you were just completely overwhelmed with love and gratitude? When I walked in Jackson's room and saw these little feet poking out through his crib that is exactly how I felt. So in love....with these little feet....with this precious child, and SO grateful that God heard my prayers for him. Sometimes I get consumed with life's details and a moment like this snaps me back into reality and reminds me to treasure each moment with these little feet.

10 months old!

Jackson's crawling!!!! A few weeks ago he ditched his pitiful slither I previously described and opted for a much easier, faster approach....real crawling! He is completely adorable and getting faster by the day. Jackson is ten months old! He is so much fun. He loves to play with his toys, read his books, dance to music, play in water, go outside, swing, talk, and be with his Momma and Daddy. Only two more months of our first year together. I cannot believe it!
Many of our summer days are spent like this, splashing away in the backyard. Jackson loves his pool although he looks less than thrilled in this photo.

Did I mention this kid LOVES books? He would pick a book over a toy any day. This is what his room looks like after he picks out a book to read.

Sleeping angel.

He loves shoes. Well, technically he loves taking them off. This is why he is barefoot most of the time.

Ready for a walk.

This is the life!

Cake Decorating

I love all the cake decorating shows and became inspired to take some classes so that I can make cute birthday cakes. I just finished my first decorating class and will be beginning my next class this week. I am having a lot of fun! Here's what I've done so far....

Bible in 90 Days

Although I have been a Christian since I was six years old, I have never read the bible in its entirety. For twenty-two years I have had a relationship with my precious Savior but have not read the bible: His word, the instruction manual for this life.
I know it’s long…but not quite twenty-two years long. I have been convicted for years about this. If you combined them all how many hours have I spent watching T.V., on the computer, or doing countless other meaningless things? Surely I would shutter at the magnitude of time I have wasted. I bet I could have read the bible hundreds of times by now. My priorities are completely out of whack. My stomach lurches at the thought of standing before God before having read His word.
No more excuses.
I don’t believe it was an accident that I stumbled upon this blog at www.MomsToolbox.com and learned about the “Bible in 90 Days” challenge. I am feeling excited and overwhelmed about tackling this challenge. My time during Jackson’s naps, which unfortunately lately are short and unpredictable, and after he goes to bed is full of a myriad of tasks that I race to accomplish. How will I get everything done and successfully complete reading the bible in ninety days? Seriously, that wasn’t rhetorical.
I am blogging about this for two reasons:
1. I am hoping that maybe you want to join me on this journey. If you would go to www.MomsToolbox.com for details and let me know so that we can encourage each other.
2. I need the accountability and knowing I will have to post an update regarding my progress will hopefully help motivate me on the “I am exhausted, I have too much to do, I just need a day off” days.
I am feeling inspired and motivated! Pray it lasts. :) I know that the rewards that I will receive will greatly outweigh any sacrifices I have to make for the next ninety days. I’ll keep you posted.