debrief: Extraordinary Women's conference

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He has loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  We love because He first loved us.

~1 John 1:9, 10, 19

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

~Romans 8:38,39

  What an amazing conference!  Ten thousand women worshiping the Lord and hearing His word and being transformed by His Spirit.  It was so incredibly awesome.
The conference was two days: a Friday night session and all day Saturday (broken into 3 segments).
Friday evening was the opening ceremonies and speaker Kasey van Norman.  After a short break, Third Day performed!  That was pretty cool.
Saturday we had speakers Karen Kingsbury and Margaret Feinburg.  We also were blessed with a performance by Tim Hawkins and got to meet Missy Robertson from Duck Dynasty.

My 3 favorite songs from the worship sessions are
1. Hosanna Praise is Rising
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZBiC_5aI6k
2. Happy Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duLQ6d_BpLs
3. Free
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MbcYyOsF50
you can click on the links to listen to the songs

Some truths that I learned (or relearned):
*God's love is gracious and redeeming (Ephesians 2:4,5).  There is absolutely no place that God's hand cannot reach.  He stretches out his hand and plucks us out of whatever dark, black cave of sin we're stuck in and rescues us.
*the love of God is a transforming power.  When we walk in the love of Christ, we are changed.
*Love does not travel alone-it is accompanied by peace, joy, grace and other fruits of the Spirit.  Furthermore, in the presence of Love, fear flees (There is no fear in Love.  But perfect Love drives out fear ~1 John 4:18)
*Love erases lines we draw with God.  Sometimes we have places in our hearts that we think are too risky or too fragile to give to the Lord.  We erect walls around those places so that we can keep them from God.  But when we allow the love of Christ to come into our hearts, it gives us strength to begin tearing down the walls.  And it allows us to finally be healed.

Over all, the weekend was a refreshment for me.  It was nice to be immersed in the Word of God and the fellowship of His people.  

Jeter Farm Pumpkin Patch

This weekend was fun!  I went with my sister and a good friend to an Extraordinary Women's Conference (more on that later!) and Derek took the kids to a pumpkin patch for the day.

The day was perfect!  Blue sky, white puffy clouds, hot weather!

the barn

hay bales for kids to climb and conquer

hay ride!

i wonder what they both were thinking?  

some of the land owned by the farm

the boys love this train

even Elijah had fun

this hay bale tractor was a hit

update on my cuties!

this chunky monkey is very close to crawling.  right now, he crawls backwards cuz he hasn't figured out how to use his arms to pull forward =)

this cutie is reading!  i know???  we're working on some fun first reader books =) 

Eli currently has two teeth and is working on 2 more!  chew, chew, chew, chew..... 

He's making a ton of new friends!  our house is usually the nieghborhood hot spot

these were all taken at Jeter Farm Pumpkin Patch

Eli's half birthday

A quick glance at the calendar this morning stopped me in my tracks.  Eli's 6 months old today!  Whaaaat?  Where does the time go?

Some things he's up to:

*rolling over.  as soon as you put him down.  usually from his back to his tummy, and then he gets stuck.  he hasn't quite mastered from his tummy to his back yet.
*he sleeps on his tummy now.  i still lay him down on his back, but he rolls over almost every time.
*showing a big interest in food.  so now, i will give him chunks of whatever vegetable or fruit i'm munching on.  he loves to gum it, and smash it, and throw it everywhere.
*he has 2 little teeth!  they haven't popped all the way out yet, but they're there!
*sleeps through the night....he already did this, but now he sleep longer...from like 9 to 6 usually =)
*can sit up all by himself for a few minutes.  and then he face plants.
*his current weight is 17 lbs 3 oz.....and 21 inches long.  crazy!  he's growing like a weed.

it's amazing to me how much babies change in the span of 6 months.  i'm looking forward to the next 6 months!

right after birth

first day home

3 months old

five months old

30 minute rolls

I love this recipe.  Love, love, love it.  I was very skeptical trying this one out, because I had tried a few before that flopped miserably.  So, actually, while I was making this, I expected them to not work out.  Surprisingly enough, they are wonderful!  They're light and fluffy and just a hint sweet.  Try it out, and hopefully you'll like them too!

What you need:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water

1/3 cup oil

2 TB yeast 

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3 1/2 cups of flour

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400.

Mix the first four ingredients in a large bowl.  Let it stand for 15 minutes *this will allow the yeast to get all nice and foamy*

Add the salt and egg and 2 cups of flour and mix well.

Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour in 1/2 cup increments, mixing well.

**This dough will be slightly sticky**

Grease a cookie sheet.

With clean hands, hand roll out the dough and put the little rolls onto the cookie sheet (depending on how big you want your rolls, you could get anywhere from 9 to 15 or so).

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

pictures of Eli

Eli meets Greatma and Greatpa

The hubby's parents and grandparents came to visit this weekend.  It was fun!  We got to show Greatma and Greatpa around Roanoke, and they got to meet Eli =)

playing's hard work when you're 5 months

my babies =)

Great grandpa Coller

Great grandma and Great grandpa Coller and the boys

the cheeses =)

i love this face!