Happy Mama's Day!

Well first off, Happy Mother's Day!! :-)

Mine has been awesome! We started off Mother's Day at church this morning and it was TERRIFIC! Mom invited Memaw to come to BBC with us! Much to my surprise, we sang many of my favorite praise songs, "This is How We Overcome", "You Said", "Jesus, Lover of my Soul", etc, etc, etc (If you know anything about me, you know I lerrrve me some praise!! anywho...) all the Mama's received a pink carnation and Pastor Lon had a great sermon about the many women that accompanied Jesus to the cross... it was a great mornin' at th' church house! :-)

After going by Mom & Dad's to change clothes, we headed to the cemetery to put new flowers on my Grandaddy's grave for "Decoration"... (maybe you're wondering what Decoration is... well, basically it's tradition... deep tradition... many cemeteries hold it on Mother's Day, others just hold it on any ordinary Sunday... for us, it's on Mother's Day... I suppose it's because that's when folks used to come home to visit and it was stamped in time forever to be on that day...)

Well, then we headed to Red Lobster for lunch!! It was me, Steve, Trey, Blake, Mom, Dad, Memaw, my aunt Phylliss, uncle Frankie and cousin Jr... we were missing 8 of our crew. :-( I hate they couldn't make it... Even though we had to wait for about 45 minutes, it was soooo good! The talapia was YUMMY!! Let's back up a minute though... while we were waiting, there were other people outside sitting around chatting and all of a sudden, we hear a guitar and a voice singing... yep, right there on the grass outside the Red Lobster! That kid was really good! I don't know what songs he was singing, but since they were "PG", I let Blake go over to watch and listen... I wanted soooo bad to take a picture, but I was one of only a few chickens at the seafood restaurant... I was definitely the only live one. Believe me, I won't let that happen again. I had my camera in my purse and was too chicken to get it out! I don't know what was wrong with me... lesson learned.

*This is where a picture of a kid playing guitar outside Red Lobster should be. When that happens again, I'll post a picture for you. I know, I know...

Steve & the boys gave me a gift card for Kohl's!! Steve put on the card that it was only $10... but I know him better than that! I told him with only $10 I'd have to stay in the earring section 'til I picked out a pair!! :-) Turns out it's a $200 card!! WOOO HOOO! Looks like I'll be goin' shoppin' this week!!

We gave Mom a food chopper... that's what she asked for, I promise!! Her 'old faithful' broke, so she needed a replacement... I had no idea of what else to get her, so instead of getting another little cheap one like she had, I went to Williams Sanoma and got a good'en...
So after lunch, we (me, Steve, Trey, Blake, Mom, Dad & Memaw) went to a movie... "Letters to God"... it was a fantastic movie, but so sad! I don't want to ruin it for you, but let me warn you... TAKE A BOX OF TISSUE!! I looked terrible when I came out of there!! The kids love to watch me cry during a movie and believe me, they got an eye-full today! Sheesh!! It was so good, though... I highly recommend it!!



On the way home, we stopped by Arby's for a milkshake... Life is good today...

So here's my Letter to God for you...
God, Thank you for the person reading this post... there's no reason that they should want to take time to read something that's written by me... but maybe they need to know You. Maybe they're reading this to see what I'm up to, but I pray that they only see You." Love, Karen

My new friend...

I have no idea what to write about tonight, besides the fact that I'm ready to head to bed and I can't for two reasons... 1. because my baby boy is laying asleep in my lap... and 2. because I'm glued to this computer because of blogs such as Jasmine Star and Live in the Name of Love and Natalie Norton... I love those girls...

The first reason is very peaceful and wonderful, because well... he's my velcro-baby. That's his nick-name from when he was a baby and toddler and he wanted to be on my hip 24/7. Something he still does to this day is rub the back of my arm when he's sleepy... Trey used to rub my earlobe... I guess every kid has something that sends them straight to sleepyland... I played with my hair, ok, I still do... ANYWHO... having him sleeping on my lap is so sweet.

The second reason... oh, well, those are my guilty pleasure everyday. Yes, everyday. Jasmine and Bianca are twin sisters... Jasmine is a ROCKIN' wedding photographer from California and Bianca is a public speaker... actually, a 'real' Christian woman that LOVES the Lord and is trying hard to make sure that the whole world hears about Him! Natalie is actually the first blogger that I ever followed... she is a FANTASTIC family photographer from Hawaii. I first blogged about Jasmine and Natalie here and I've been stalking, er... following them for over a year... A few months ago, I found Bianca on Jasmine's blog... she's now been added to my daily rotation! :-)

So, without further ado... I'd like to introduce my newest friend (can I still say that even though she doesn't know it? yes, I vote yes.) Ladies and gentlemen... please put your hands together and your mouse on this link to welcome... Bianca Juarez!

In The Name of Love from Bianca Juarez on Vimeo.

Pierced...

I just wanted to take a minute to invite you to
“Pierced”

the Annual Easter Production at my church, Bethlehem Baptist Church in Hazel Green!

Admission is FREE! Also, sign language interpretation will be provided for the deaf!

Hope to see you there!!


Here are a few pics from last year's production...

I hope you get to come!!! Bring friends, family and neighbors to see the Real Story of Easter!

He is....

Mighty to Save... simple as that.

Oh, How He Loves Us...

So, it's definitely been a while since I've posted... its been SUPER BUSY lately, of course, I say that everytime it's been a while... but seriously, I know your house is probably the same this time of year!
I guess you're wondering why I'd post at 12:50AM when I have to get up and get kids to school and me to work tomorrow... and here's why... it started out as just 'wandering around' my email, which took me to my Facebook, which took me to Santa-ing myself, which took me to wonder why this won't let me send it to anyone right now?... which took me to wonder what Heather Bookout has on her photography site?, which took me to her blog instead, which took me to this video...

funny how the Lord worked this one out, huh? Keep in mind, I haven't wondered about HB's photography in a long time, but I saw one of her ads on my kitchen table this afternoon before leaving for a Christmas party, it musta been stuck up there in my 'check out this site' brain-file... and to be honest, this is nothing like what I expected... I just thought her blog would be about her recent photog adventures and that's it, but God knew exactly what she had posted there back in JULY, and HE knew that I would keep looking at her blog as if I were looking for some photography tip to jump out at me... the thing is I have a hard time sometimes picking up the Bible instead of my favorite photog magazine... yes, I still pick up the Bible and I read it, but it seems so much easier to read that magazine because well, I love photography and learn something new on every page... the thing is, God wants me to be more interested in Him than I am in photography(or anything else!) and sometimes HE has to remind me by jumping off the page at me... well, that's exactly what happened tonight.

I don't know what your hobbies, businesses, busy-ness-es, obsessions, addictions, etc are, but I know mine and I know that God sometimes has to stop me in my tracks to turn me around and make me realize that I didn't stop to take time with Him today... it's easy to do, we have so much to do and so many places to go and so many people to see, but don't fail to realize that being in His presence and seeing Him and doing His work is the most important thing we can do on any day of the week... not just Sunday.

Father, I am so sorry for not taking the time to be in Your presence today. Thank you for using my hobby to remind me....thank you for Your Love, Your Grace, Your Hope, Your Guidance and Your Holiness.