Copy / Paste

I cannot take credit for this but it was so good that I had to copy and paste it! This is an email I got from some dear missionary friends. This email has beauty and 'meat' to it regarding the new year . . . unlike my latest post that had sheer survival of life written all over it! May we all be blessed by Gods word and the wisdom that pours from these mature believers in our Lord.

Forgetting....Reaching

Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God.

Philippians 3:13-14

A fresh page of a New Year awaits our story. Day upon day we etch our personal history on the pages of time. The choices we make are our ink and pen. With inevitable twists and turns the plot unfolds and moves towards its climax. What will be the enduring theme of our life after the last page is turned and the book is closed?
None of us escape the crosscurrents of humanity's earthly drama - love, hurt, foolish decisions, providential opportunities, dreams and regrets. We each have our share. Yet, those who are Christ-followers possess a glorious horizon, a magnificent obsession. Paul called it a "prize," an "upward call."
Pressing on and reaching forward are not possible without first letting go of what lies behind. Unshackling the ball and chain of past failures and painful wounds is not easy. But it is essential.

The goal ahead of us is too eternally significant, the stakes are too high to wallow in the mire of the past which we cannot change, or to allow haunting memories and unresolved conflicts to suck the marrow out of our future. The goal is nothing less than growing into the fullness of the likeness of Christ.

Hosea the prophet foreshadows the Apostle Paul's words when he wrote

"So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord." Hosea 6:3

So Far So Good

Reflected on God's blessing during 2010 by looking back at some pictures of the year, now we are geared up to take steps forward to whatever 2011 has in store for us.

1st things 1st, is this momma's motto right now. There is a lot to juggle these days, and in order to do it well, I must stay focused and put 1st things 1st!

Ridded ourselves of the 'garage sale pile' in the garage by taking it to the Goodwill. The garage sale thing never happened . . . and that is ok!

Made play dough with Aiden for his class. After bringing it to his class, he came home to tell me that the play dough was "famous" WoW!!

Finishing up basketball with Athan. Two games left and so far undefeated . . . NOT because of Athan's rookie skills (ha,ha). He has learned a lot and has had loads of fun, though!

Just finished a CD series on Rekindling your Marriage by Dennis Rainey and his wife, Barbara. I highly recommend it and now ready for a little getaway :) hee, hee!

Enjoying the new member of our family, Annie. She is all about pleasing us and has a large amount of energy to burn on a regular basis. Fortunately, the energy is burned by walks with me - I've certainly needed a reason to get out and walk!

Love hearing Alf come home to share wonderful things happening in peoples lives around the Gentilly area . . . and not just on Sunday mornings. hmmm :)

Having quality time with family and friends.

And with all that said, 2011 is so far so good!

Thats what little boys are made of.

Rolling down levee hills,
spitting on ant piles,
playing 'tag' with the dog,
peeing on trees, and
having their mom be QB over and
over and
over again....
that's what MY little boys are made of. :)

KaBoom Rocks!

Benches, picnic tables, walking path, and an awesome KaBoom playground.
What an awesome experience.
Im blown away by the KaBoom organization and
Im humbled by people near and far that came to help this all come together.
Im grateful for those that kept the kids entertained from 8am till 3pm and
Im impressed at the restaurants that donated food.
Im delighted to have had an opportunity to engage with neighbors this way.
It was a very cold day but that not only didn't stop us, we kept smiles on our faces through it all.
Today, we have professionals laying the padding on the slab.
A great Christmas present for Gentilly, dont you think? :)

(Lastly, shouting out to the neighbors that volunteered to be captain of a team or
those neighbors that gave of their time to be apart of weekly conference calls for the last month and a half....thank you, thank you, thank you!)

- A Really Good Find -

From Mandeville, you get on a bike trail for a little over 4 miles and run into a phenomenal playground. Did you catch that adjective? Seriously, it was impressive.
After you are done on the playground....

...you ride further down the trail, about another 4 miles, and run into a quaint town with a wonderful restaurant/brewery. The restaurant has large portions and since I don't care for beer,
we settled for root beer:)

Across the street from the restaurant is a very cool fountain that the boys played in. Do I even need to mention that they had a blast?

It was good family time. We sang, 'the ants go marching' to the ant piles. We talked about Brutas (another post for another day:) We watched dad relive his childhood by popping wheelies. We got to watch a giant dead tree get cut down. A good time! Even our bodies thanked us, but our butts had something else to say about it.
(I guess no family event can be absolutely perfect!)

Thanks to Southern Living for posting an article about the trail and for all its suggestions.

Annie!

Canoeing on Bayou St. John

Once upon a time there were two brother, Iberville and Bienville.......this was an educational AND fun field trip for Athan and his class. The guides taught them some history on how New Orleans was founded, why we call it the Crescent City (the crescent of the river:), and they even had a treasure hunt where they found an "old" map that took them to some "treasure"!!!

Old ruins of the Spanish Fort

When I heard that 25 kids in Athan's class would be canoeing down Bayou St John, I was a bit apprehensive. In all honesty, I did not know where Bayou St John was! All it took was a little googling to find out that it was in our "backyard" Bayou St John runs along City Park into Lake Ponchatrain. (We drive next to it every day taking Athan to school) So, I was relieved that my child was not going to get swallowed up by any alligators!

They had a great time and made some great memories.