Vacation Day 3

A week ago today, 06/30, I started my day with another run. I found that it is a lot easier to be consistent with exercise while you are on vacation. G-ma cooked pancakes and bacon and I again chose to refrain. Almost the whole crew (there were 22 of us total), left after lunch to check out another rental facility across the lake called Chesnut Bay. They came back raving about it and because it was so nice Grandma and Grandpa went ahead and put a deposit down to hold 3 houses for 09 family reunion. It is more of a family friendly place with lots to do. They have a trampoline in the lake, a 125 foot tube slide into the lake, tennis courts, basketball courts, a fitness facility, an ampitheatre, and kayaks and paddle boats. I chose to stay back while the fam was gone. I was able to sit by the pool and read which was nice.

(Place we are staying next year)

While I was taking a nap, more swimming, fishing, and game playing took place. Tyler caught his biggest fish ever and the biggest fish of the entire week.

(fishing - 3rd pic: Tyler's fish)

For dinner, all the married adults went out. We call it our "adult dinner." This is an annual event that only happens once the whole week. We do not allow the single adults to go (their our babysitters) so we are thinking about changing the name to "married adult dinner." We have to figure out the requirements for this dinner because it is starting to cause some conflicts :) What if the singles never get married or what if it is not for a long time??? We went to the Santa Fe Cattle Company in Rome, GA. Where we were staying was only 9 miles from the GA line and only 30 min from Rome (the biggest city near by). Santa Fe was very similar to a Roadhouse. It was one of those places where you throw peanuts on the floor. We ended the night at the cinema with Get Smart. Before bed, almost everyone had root beer floats. I didn't have my own cup, but ate some of Justin's. It makes me feel better when I just have a "few bites" of someone else's instead of having my own. That way I can say, "I didn't have any." :) I got teased about this quite a bit. Nathan (Justin's brother) arrived just before midnight. He couldn't come with us on Sat because of "school," but I think it was really the volleyball tournament he wanted to play in on Sun. Either way, we were glad to see him.

Family Vacation Day 2

A week ago today, 06/29, I woke early to run. Running in Al-a-BAMA can be kind of scary. Obviously, they don't have leash laws there because dogs were loose and barking at me. I was able to scare them off though with my deep toned yell and pointed finger (GO AWAY, STOP)! We went to Wal Mart when I got back for our HUGE shopping trip. Each year we prepare most all the meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) at our lodge and then at the end of the week we split the cost between the number of people. 2 hours and almost $500.00 later we returned back home. This was only the 1st trip to the store.

Healthy eating is so hard when Grandma is around. We ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast this morning. I chose to refrain, but was very tempted. The rest of the day we just relaxed - swam, fished, played blongo, played bean bag toss, swam, swam some more.... It is nice being in a small town because you don't feel like you constantly have to be doing something. The closeness shared between this family is so rare and special and is one to be treasured. Just being with each other is a good time. I am so very grateful to God for blessing me with such an amazing family.

For dinner we had ham, cheese potatoes, baked beans and rolls. G-ma uses an unknown amount of brown sugar in her beans. We always joke with her about brown sugar. If it is good, it has brown sugar! After dinner more, swimming, fishing, and game playing. Davis (our cousin) had dropped a bobber into the lake. His dad and Justin held him upside down by his ankles, over the railing of the dock, so he could get it. On the way up he dropped it and had to go down again. We all got a kick out of this. Everyone said, "OHHH!" and started laughing when he dropped it.

I decided to go to bed early. Justin went upstairs to condo # 3 and played XBox until at least 1am. I kept waking up because I could hear them laughing. When he came to bed I was awake. He said, "HONEY!" Unbeknownst to me, for the last 3 hrs I had been sleeping on a card he had left under my pillow. It was our Anniversary and he had left me a surprise card. I am so thankfuk for him and for the way he loves and cares for me.

(2nd pic: Blongo, 3rd pic: Bobber catching , 4th pic: sunset)

08 Family Vacation Day 1

June 28th we left for our annual family reunion. This year it was in Cedar Bluff, AL. We drove with Mom and Dad Edwards and Annsley. When you are with the Edwards, car rides are always fun! We started the morning off with a trip to the new Einstein Bros. Bagels in Riverside. This could become a new tradition (we stopped there last yr too). For lunch, Mom had planned a nutritious picnic consisting of peanut butter and jelly, chips, and oreos. We were going to actually stop at a park somewhere, but because of our very frequent potty breaks (which tested Dad's patience) we decided to have our picnic in the car. When Mom started breakin' out the food, we realized we had no peanut butter. So....we had to stop AGAIN. We had no luck at the 1st gas station or the 2nd gas station so we went to a grocery store. I (the queen of decision making, HA!) was sent inside to make the purchase. I decided to try and be funny and hide the peanut butter so the family would think the store didn't have any either. I could not hold my laughter as the peanut butter was slowly slipping down my pants. Dad said, "now that is truly some peanut BUTTer!" Shortly after lunch, our tire blew right outside of Atlanta. It was very scary! Justin did well controlling the car across 3 lanes of fast moving traffic into the emergency lane. Fortunately, I have AAA (big thanks to my grandparents). We were fixed and back on the road within 35 min. The customer service and promptness was amazing.

(2nd pic: AAA guy, 6th pic: Our port-a-potty)

Because of potty trips, a blown tire, and several traffic jams, the trip was way longer than expected, but it was definitely memorable. When we got there the VERY SMALL town of Cedar Bluff was having there annual 4th of July festival a week early. You could defintely tell we were in Al-a-BAMA! Driving through the town was like a scene right out of Sweet Home Alabama - they even had a big water tower just like the movie. The only exception was this one was decorated with Santa and Christmas Lights!

As soon as we arrived at our condo, the kids ran straight for the pool like they had never seen one before. After we were all settled and the kids swam off some of their excitement, we decided to go in to town and end our day with fireworks - we were celebrating our safe arrival :)

Part 2 Na Testimony

Sorry it took me so long to get Part 2 posted. I encourage you to go to the New Attitude website and listen to the messages. Click on 2008 Conference on the left of the page.


continued from part 1................I want to give myself to the Word and I want to Labor to know him. Labor means work. Our generation is the most biblically ignorant in history. Piper asked us not to waste our life by being lazy. He told us that we must die to the notion that we don’t have to work hard or think hard in order to obtain spiritual progress. He encouraged us to use our brains. The Lord will give us understanding in everything. He said that there is such thing as regressive sanctification. You must keep swimming in the river (the world and its influences). If you stop, you will go backwards. We cannot make progress in our spiritual life until we are confident that God is 100 percent on our side. He freely gives us all things. He is not against us no matter the circumstance or event. We must fight to believe this, not to make it true. We must fight to see glory when there is doubt. In order to fight, we must be people of the Word so we can pull out our swords and stick our feelings with God’s promises. This requires memorization which I have already started with my family. I am motivated to make God and His Word my passion because I am deserving of judgment and wrath, but instead get life and breath and every good thing because God sent his son to die in my place for all my sins so I could be completely forgiven. I have been adopted into God’s family and am a child of God. I am no longer a slave but a son and if a son than an heir.

This conference came at the perfect time for me. God is so good and kind. I pray that from here forward I will never read my Bible the same way again. I want it to be my joy and the delight of my heart.

Na and friends...........

Over Memorial Day Weekend, we were in Louisville, KY for the New Attitude Conference. This is an annual conference that exists to help Christians believe, live, and represent the truth with humility (humble orthodoxy). It is grounded in the churches of Sovereign Grace Ministries. The goal is to equip people and point them back to their own local church communities.

This year's theme verse was Jeremiah 15:16. We spent 4 days examining the Bible and its implications on our lives. I am going to share with you my testimony from Na. But, before I do so, I want to tell you who we went with. God has been so kind to bless my husband and me with incredible friends that love the Lord and seek to glorify Him in all they do. Most attend our church and all are single - funny, huh? These people have become some of our dearest friends. They teach us by their example what it means to live a life passionate for the Lord Jesus Christ. Their trust in the Lord's sovereignty and wisdom for their lives is one to be commended. We are motivated by each of them and thank God for their friendship which we don't deserve. Thank you guys for loving us! We pray that the Lord will continue to grow our friendship and we look forward with anticipation to the times to come. Prov 17:17 "A friend loves at all times"

Now for the 1st part of my testimony.........I'll post the rest tomorrow.

You know how the Lord sometimes uses other people’s circumstances to change you? That is what happened to me before Na. The Lord began to show me, in a way I didn’t expect, what it meant to TALK to myself about the unchanging truth of who God is and what He’s accomplished for us at the cross instead of LISTENING to myself and my constantly changing feelings and circumstances. Often times, I was allowing my feelings to guide my thinking and, therefore, would react sinfully to situations in my life. I was definitely giving, to my children in particular, a distorted perception of God through my ungodly responses. CJ said that we need to question, rebuke, and challenge our souls when they are in turmoil. Most of the time our unhappiness comes from listening to ourselves instead of talking to ourselves. We have an internal ceaseless conversation with ourselves everyday. We have to learn to talk truth to ourselves and it requires effort. Our troubled souls will not be immediately cooperative; they need continuous addressing with the Truth. It requires repetition and perseverance. In order to practice this, I have to be feeding my soul every day which is something I have never consistently done. The Lord has kindly been convicting me of this since the beginning of the year. I use the word feeding because Josh Harris said we eat what we trust, what is healthy, good, and nurturing. I get really excited about my food and my desire is to have this same excitement for God’s Word. I was really awakened when he told us the story of Jahoiakim. Jahoiakim burned God’s Word. Josh said this is something none of us would do, but isn’t it in a sense what we are doing when we ignore it – when we don’t read it? It is encouraging to know, as Josh reminded us, that God will meet us right where we are. His Word speaks perfectly even when we aren’t doing perfect. He will draw near to us if we draw near to Him. Eric Simmons said if we love Him, we will love His Word. He asked – Do you look for yourself in the scriptures? I am not sure if I do this, but I think I can sometimes get overwhelmed with all the things I am not doing right. I learned that the Bible is a story of all God did for us not a list of “to-do’s” for God. This was so good for me to hear. It is all about Him not me. As Paul said to Timothy, I need to keep learning, believing, and studying, no matter the battle, not only because it is a command, but also so I can be equipped to help others, to defend my faith, to train my children and to mortify sin in my own life. It is not about me and my selfish ambitions. God’s Word reveals Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers................ to be continued

Christine