Peace...

Dear Lord, I need peace. I need Your peace - the peace that passeth understanding. I don't know what to do, I don't have the answers - but You do. You know exactly what needs to happen, and what will happen, long before it ever happens. You've known exactly what needed to happen in my life since before I was even born. I bring you my needs, my wants, my hopes and dreams, the desires of my heart, and I lay them at Your feet. I long for You to wrap Your arms around me and love me, and just to let me know that everything is going to be okay. Hold me, Lord, surround me with your love, your grace, your peace. I need You, and only You. I long to please You. Thank You Lord for loving me, the most unloveable, and for making me your daughter - a princess. I love You Jesus, and I pray in Your most precious and holy name, Amen.

I was so blessed at church this morning. We are still in transition, visiting, and I don't know for sure yet where God would have us now. My husband is still reeling from the loss of our home church, and he is having a hard time even thinking about getting rooted in anywhere yet. We need guidance, we need healing. We don't want to miss God. I put the picture at the top in here because when I stand under this tree in our yard and look up at the sky I think it is such a peaceful place. God has given me this beautiful view in my own yard, a place where I can truly appreciate the beauty He has created, and as I pray for peace I thought this picture was appropriate. I need the Lord to calm my mind, drive out fear, overcome doubt. I just need to be so full of Jesus that there is no room for any of that other stuff, any of that negativity. I need to know that God will bring me the right job so that our family will be provided for, so that food will be on our table, so that our needs will be met.

Oh God, I receive the answers you have for me because I know that You hold those answers already. You're not brainstorming somewhere about what is going to happen in my life. You already know. I receive, I receive what You have for our family, and for me.

A Party at the Library...

Ms. Dot, with Jordan and Noelle

I have gotten behind again on my posting, so this will be a little bit of catch-up. This past Tuesday, the lady who has been the head librarian at our local library for 20+ years had her retirement party. It was a pretty big deal, lots of people, lots of food, and probably the loudest the library has been for quite a while! Ms. Dot has been the head librarian ever since I can remember and it's sad for me that she is retiring now. She has always been so precious to my kids, just like she always was to me. My kids absolutely love to go to the library and spend time. We have a great summer reading program there, and they just like to go in the kids' room and pick books, do puzzles, play with dinosaurs, etc. It's just a great place for them. These next pictures were of the kids and me standing in front of the mural in the kids' room at the library. I think the animals on the wall are so precious!

We'll miss you, Ms. Dot!


Letting the panda bear hug on us, and apparently the zebra is grazing on my hair...


This is a better shot of the entire mural in the library's kids' room.

Father's Day Weekend

We had a good Father's Day weekend. Mitch's kids, Leslie and Alan, came over on Friday night to see him and brought him a present. We had a really good visit and I know he was so glad they got to come.

Then Saturday, Dad got some time to himself while I took Jordan and Noelle to the movies - FUN! We hardly ever, ever, ever get to go see a movie, and the kids were so pumped about it!

On Sunday, the kids gave Dad cards they had made for him and a present, then we headed off to church, where they made two more cards for him complete with candy attached! YUM! After church we went to see Mitch's Dad and had a nice visit with him. When we got there Mitch's sister and her family were in from out of town so we got to visit with them for a little bit too, so that was fun too. After we left his house, we went to meet my parents for a late lunch at Los Portales (more YUM!). I took my husband to Dairy Queen for a blizzard for a treat, my kids were riding with my parents and we were going to meet up with them at our house. Instead, my hubby wanted to go to Cypress Park which has a really great walking trail and thought that would be a good idea after our lunch. On the way to the park he gave me a little less than half of his Blizzard. He knew I was trying to be good and not eat anything like that, but he wanted me to have it, and well - let's just say he didn't have to twist my arm out of socket to get me to eat it! We all met up at the park and walked and looked at the animals, took a few pics, and went home. It was almost 5:00 when we got here and we were worn out! We sat around for the rest of the evening watching nature shows until bedtime, after Mitch had seen the baseball highlights that is! It was a really good weekend, hope ya'll enjoy the pics!


Mitch, Noelle & Jordan


My honey and me
Love you Sweetie!

Papaw, Noelle and Jordan

Me and my dad
Love you Dad!

Ahoy Me Mateys, Another Birthday Be A-Comin'...

Well, another birthday is almost here. My little Jordan is turning eight years old on Monday! We went on and had his birthday party today at the park and it was just beautiful. It was not really a "party" per se, just really a nice get-together with two of Jordan's friends and their siblings, and his cousin. His grandma came and she brought his cousin, which was really nice! He was so excited he could hardly sleep. I'm talking about in the wee hours of the morning when it is still dark outside he was tossing and turning and could not sleep. His stomach was turning flip-flops just in anticipation of everyone singing the birthday song to him! It was such a fun time and a really perfect day! Thank you Lord for the beautiful weather today!

As the kids are getting older we have decided to stop having the "parties". We have always had the whole family there and lots of friends, but we feel like they're getting big enough now just to do something fun with their close friends (instead of mom and dad's friends) and that be enough. This is the first year we have done our parties like this and it's gone really well. Having the big parties are also not very reasonable for us anymore because of the considerable cost of having them! Anyway, it was a fun time, and he still has his real birthday on Monday to look forward to, the day he turns EIGHT, the day he becomes... well, he just becomes a year older! LOL!

I love my son and I"m so thankful for him and that we have been blessed with him. Hope ya'll enjoy these pics!

Birthday Boy Jordan!

Pirates Cake

Jordan, Brent, Christian, and Jacob

Great memories!

Changes...

I have decided to change the name of my blog from my weight loss journal to the title you see above, "Clay in the Hands of the Potter". In the past few months, it seems there have been so many changes in my life that it is hardly recognizable as the same life! Of course, this is ridiculous, it is very much the same life, but there are some very big differences. I truly feel like clay in the hands of THE Potter, continually being molded and shaped, changed and improved (I hope), and I must remain pliable in His hands so that I can become exactly what He wants me to be.

I have been thinking for days and days, not sure how long, of what the name of this should be. I felt like with the old name there was just too much focus on my weight. I will still talk about what I am doing and my progress, and will include pics, but many times I just want to talk or share pictures, and I feel like it's not right because I'm supposed to be talking about my weight. My weight is only one part of me, and I don't want it to be the most important part. The most important parts of my life are Jesus, my family, my ministry, and my friends. My body, my self-image, my weight, are way, way down the list, or at least they should be! I have had times since I have had this blog that my body has been my main focus, and I would think constantly about what I would eat next, what exercise was next, etc. Then, if I didn't have an update or if I hadn't eaten right or had not exercised, I felt like a failure. This is not the way I need to be! I want to be healthy because my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I want to be healthy for me and for my family, and I want to live as long as possible to fulfil what purpose God has for my life.

So please, keep reading, keep commenting (I love to get your comments!). I will keep you all updated, but I just need you to know that my weight is not - and cannot be - my focus. Thanks so much to you all for your encouragement!