Moses' Simple Staff

     My Dad and Mom were able to go on a paid trip to Israel! The Lord provided the money in an amazing way! But that story will be for a different time.....:) While they are in Israel, Beth and I are taking turns teaching my Mom's Sunday School Class, which is the 7-year olds to the 12-year olds. This week is my turn! We have a new SS curriculum that we are using and it is about objects and animals used by God. I was reading through the first lesson and I thought that I would share some of it with y'all!
  The first object we are teaching about is Moses' staff. I love the way this curriculum teaches the story in such a practical way! But anyway, it starts off by asking if you ever wondered if God could really use you? Have you ever thought that you were so incapable or big enough to be used of God? That sounds a lot like Moses, right? When God told Moses that He wanted to use him to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses doubted and made up so many excuses like, "I can't speak", or "They won't believe me Lord!"
  This is where Moses' staff comes in........God asked Moses what was in his hand. Which, of course, was Moses' staff since he was a shepherd. Then God told Moses to throw it on the ground. Have you ever thought about what Moses might have thought when God told him to do that? I wonder if Moses thought, "Why, Lord?" But the Bible says that he just threw it on the ground without asking any questions. Wow! That definitely is a lesson that some of us (including me!) need to learn. Why can't we just do what the Lord (or any authority in our life) tells us to do without asking any questions first? But...that's not what I wanted to focus on right now. (heehee) Anyway, Moses' staff turned into a serpent. So Moses' simple shepherd rod, when given to God, would be used to show God's power. Moses' staff was now God's staff. The Bible says in Exodus 4:20...."and Moses took the ROD OF GOD in his hand."
  God later used Moses rod (oops, I mean God's rod) to show His power in many other miracles. Like turning the water into blood, or bringing the frogs from the river, or lice from the dust, or parting the red sea, or the water from the rock......don't you just love all the miracles that God can do? Just to let you know....That is my God!!
  But the lesson that you and me can learn from this, is that each of us are just ordinary people with ordinary things or talents. But if we give those things to God, God can use it to show His power. Can you write? God can use your writing for Him! Can you talk? God can use your speaking for Him? Can you sing or play an instrument? God can use your talent to glory Him and show His power. The list can go on and on. But are you WILLING to give Him everything you have? There is a song that my sister sings that is called I Give It Back To You. The chorus goes like this......


              All of my talent, all of my time, all of my treasure shall never be mine.
              All that I am, all I shall be, Lord you gave it to me. I give it back to you.


Wow!! I want truly want my life to count for Jesus, but for that to happen I must be willing to give everything I have back to God!
        Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Have a fabulous day! Thanks for reading!!

Mathew Family Photo Shoot

So when I first started my blog, I mentioned that I would be posting some of my photography work. I recently took the Mathew's family pictures. They invited my whole family over (which is a big deal since we are a family of 8) :) and after taking pictures we had an amazing dinner at their house. I love this little family! They are so encouraging to me, my family, and our church. Plus, Mikey is SO adorable. 

                                                        I just love Mikey's smile!

                                        This one and the next one are my 2 favorites!

  The quality of the pictures didn't turn out as good on my blog, sorry about that. But I hope you enjoyed seeing this precious family!

Summer.....(part 2)

So...as I said in my last post on our family vacation, we went to the beach. But I didn't have enough room to fit these pictures in the last post! So here you go......

Silas has been asking for us to go to the beach for a long time. He loves the beach! We thought this would be the perfect time for us to go since public school had started back up and there wouldn't be as many people there. 

            I can't tell you how excited the 3 little ones were about going to the beach! They loved it!

                                   Don't even ask! :) I have no idea what she is doing!

     I wasn't planning on getting soaked because we had a two-hour drive home, but as you can see that didn't really work out. :)

     My family says that me and Callie have the same personality. Spunky, crazy, and most importantly weird! :)

                         We had a great day at the beach. Perfect ending to a perfect vacation!

Summer.....

This summer has been busy and full of fun and laughter! I can't believe it is already over and school has started again. And I also can't believe that I am a senior!! I had my last first day of school on August 22. 

We have had tons of fun this summer. We were able to go on a family vacation (which we haven't done in forever!) We went to Palatka and stayed at a hotel by the river. What we didn't realize is that this was the season for blind mosquitoes. It was horrible! There were bugs everywhere! The whole hotel was screened in to keep the bugs out of the hallways. We definitely made some memories this family vacation. 

      This is one of my favorite pictures of us sisters! Love both of these girls!

     For dinner we went to a seafood restaurant. It was really special because we don't go out to eat that often, and we were all together as a family too! I got the calm strips and the portions were huge! I was so stuffed when we were done!

    After dinner we went letterboxing. This is something that we did when I was little and we were traveling on Deputation. So it was fun to see Silas, Callie, and Micah's expressions as we searched for the letterbox. We finally found it!

   Then we went walking along the river and that is when Callie saw the ducks. She chased after them trying to catch one, while I stood at a safe distance away taking pictures! :) In case you don't know, I have a fear of anything that flies or has wings! When I was little we would go to feed the ducks and I would sit "on top" of the picnic table at a safe distance away.

 It was so hot, we were really thankful that the hotel had a pool! We just had to try not to think about all the bugs that were on the bottom! :)

                           And what's a vacation without ice cream and a family game!!

    Then next day we went to tour an old fort. It was pretty neat to hear the history of why it was there and what they were defending.

We also went to the beach that afternoon, but I didn't have enough room to put all those pictures on too! Haha! I will put those in my next post!

Decisions....

    So in my last post I said that I would share what the Lord worked on my heart about at the youth conference. I still can't believe it went by that quickly! The preaching was amazing! So here goes....
   Whew! Where do I start? I guess I will share some of the quotes that stuck out to me and then some of the decisions I made.

    You ought to be the first one to show others how fun and inviting trusting the Lord can be.        -Steven Barnes

   The only thing you lose in the fire is what the world puts on you.                           -Dean Miller

     I thought I would kind of explain to you this quote. Remember in the book of Daniel, the story about the 3 Hebrew boys who would not bow down to the statue, and they were thrown into the fire? Well the Bible says that their hands were bound with ropes and when they came out of the fire the only thing burned was the ropes that were put on them. What an amazing thought, how that when we are going through some trials in our life, if we trust in God, the only thing we will lose is what the world has put on us.


  When God gives a commandment, He is doing it for our good and our protection.                         -Dean Miller

  When's the last time you went to God in prayer and talked about Him and not only you?                   -Dean Miller

   God is the only One who can take the trials in your life and make them blessings.                      -Scott Gray


  YOU are the only one who chooses if YOU make it in the Christian walk or not.                        -Bob Gray 2


  Your attitude determines what kind of person you become and what kind of influence you have on others.

   So....Bro. Dean Miller preached a message about the 3 Hebrew boys in the furnace. He talked about having that strong kind of faith to be able to stand up for what you believe in and not be ashamed. That made me start thinking about the example I have on my  friends. When I get together with them I usually don't bring up spiritual stuff because I am kind of scared about what they are going to think of me. Don't get me wrong, I love the Lord with all my heart and would never do anything to shame Him!  But I wasn't the kind of girl that would look at my friend and say..."Hey, let's go read our Bibles together!, or, "Hey, we need to pray for so-and-so real quick" I realized that I wasn't being the right kind of friend. Later that week I sent a message to my friend and asked her to forgive me for not being the spiritual friend that I should. 

  Bro Bob Gray 2 preached a message about your sanctuary. He talked about having that one-on-one time with the Lord, and again the Lord spoke to my heart. I read my Bible every day and pray. But I realized that I do it just to check it off my list, not really spending that quality time with my Heavenly Father. So the next week I went to the store, picked out a huge notebook, and started a new prayer journal. So far, so good! I am really enjoying my one-on-one time with God. Also, after Bro. Gray preached that message me and my friend became sanctuary accountability partners. We keep each other accountable and check up on each other, and ask how our sanctuary is going. So thankful for wonderful friends like her! 

   I hope that was an encouragement to you! I am so glad to be able to have gone to that Youth Conference. Can't wait till next year!

What an Amazing Week!!!

This week some teen girls from my church and a couple others from a church in Port Charlotte had the amazing pleasure of going to the Deep South Youth Conference in Gulfport, Mississippi. It was wonderful! The Lord worked on all of our hearts and many decisions were made. I thought I would share with you some of the pictures and memories we made all along the way.

           On our way! It was a seven and a half hour drive. There was definitely a lot of giggling!

                    We were scared that the luggage on the back would come loose and fall off. Thankfully we made it safely with all of our stuff!

       With a seven hour drive you have to stop along the way and get snacks, of course. Mcdonalds was one of our first stops for breakfast.

                                                         Finally in Mississippi!!!

                 I just love Linsey's face in this picture! (she is the girl all the way to the right)

          Thank you so much Mrs. Lydia (and mom!) for driving us crazy girls!

                We were able to stop at the Mississippi Welcome Center and stretch our legs. The welcome center was decorated really beautifully!

        I am so thankful for the wonderful friends that I have. They are amazing and such an encouragement to me! Love you Beth, Tricia, Tabitha, and Linsey!

            We were able to rent a house for a couple days and it was beautiful! A lot better than staying in a hotel. :) The view in the morning was great and it was so peaceful!

                                             Perfect for having morning devotions!

          This is the first night of the conference. We were all SOO excited to hear the preachers!

    The church there rented the water park. One day for the girls and one day for the boys. It was my first time going to a water park and it was so much fun! I loved all the slides and the lazy river too!

     This is the second night of the youth conference! So glad I got to share this memory with these wonderful friends.

    After seeing Grammy's Donuts on the drive home we knew we would have to get breakfast there the next morning!

    So I thought I would explain this picture to you.  While me and my family were in St.Barths, before we started the church, we would watch some preaching online. Bro.Bob Gray 2 became one of our favorites to listen to. When we found out that he would be one of the preachers at the conference, we were SOO excited!! We knew we would have to have him sign our Bibles and get a picture with him! :) All of us girls were really excited to finally meet him in person! (and thank you Bro Scott Gray for the photo bomb!) :) :)

           And in being in Mississippi we also knew we would have to get some sno-cones! We found a cute little place on the beach and ate some while listening to the waves.

 Umm.....does anyone notice the flavors Frog in the Blender and Fuzzy Navel???? I just stuck with a normal flavor!

    After eating our sno-cones we sang some hymns on the beach before we left. What a sweet memory!

              This is Bro Bob Gray 2. He was my favorite preacher at the conference!

                            I love it how Bro.Gray uses someone in the crowd as an example. It makes the message really stick in our minds!

                                     Someone took our picture and it got put on the wall!

  I know these pictures are kind of blurry....but! This is one of the games that they had. What I didn't realize is that I got volunteered to play in it! Thanks Mom.....  It was an Indian pillow fight and let's just say.......I got beat really bad. And I mean really bad! The other girl was really tough! That was kind of an embaressing moment, but now we look back and laugh at how horrible I did! :)



I plan on posting in the next few days about the messages that were preached and what kind of decisions were made! I am so thankful to be able to have gone with this wonderful group of girls! This week was amazing!