A horse show, playing in the yard, and pool!

Today was a very fun day! Our friend Kaitlin was in a horse show in Murfreesboro so we went to that! Elijah was super excited to go to the "cowboy show!" Unfortunately we did not see any real cowboys... :o) But it was so fun seeing all the "horsies!" Haven kept pointing at the horses and saying "Dat! Dat!" :o)

Elijah had his gun and was ready to see horses!

Julia and Haven

Watching the horses!
Lily and Haven-lou

Lily, Haven, Cara, and our friend Kaitlin

Elijah, Julia, and Cara

Elijah- ready to water and play in the yard!
So cute!!

washing off
haven and lily
"Dat! Dat" pointing at the pansies
checkin' out the garden
washing his feet off in the waterer

Haven LOVED the water!! She loved the pool water, water coming out of the hose, if it's water she loves it!

Ready to go!

In the "wittle pool"

Haven and Elijah had so much fun in the pool! Whenever Haven was not in the pool, she would point at it and say "Dat!"

We are so enjoying having them!!

Elijah and Haven :o)

I love this picture and these two sweeties!!

playing with trains
Haven has already mastered walking up the stairs! We are working on coming down... ~:-)
Elijah and the "crab." :o) We try to tell him it is an octopus but he calls it "the crab" and occasionally "the octopus." ~:-) Julia got it at Michael's- it is one of those things you put in water and it soaks up the water and gets bigger. Elijah loves to go "check on the crab." We told him that tomorrow, when he wakes up, the "crab" will be bigger! I think he remembers the crabs (now um expired ;) from the last time he came. When Julia first put it in the water, Elijah said, "It is growing! It is getting bigger!" so cute!!

Discussing our plans for tomorrow :o)

Haven laughing with Cara :o)

We are so excited to have Elijah and Haven with us!!

It was so cute to hear Elijah say to Julia as she put him to bed, "make me cozy!" :o) They are so fun!!

Dear friends!

Wednesday evening-Thursday evening I got to hang out with two dear friends, Anna and Jenny! I have known Jenny my whole life and have known Anna for a very long time as well! I am so blessed to have such great friends!! They are awesome!!

On Wed night, we hung out at the pool and then went to the end performance part of Harpeth Hills Church of Christ's VBS. This is Julia and Cara's second or third year to go to this VBS and it is oh so impressive! Julia helped this year while Cara participated. Harpeth Hills does such an amazing job!! The whole thing is free and the kids come home with tshirts and fun crafts (i.e. decorated flip flops, lanterns...). They do a terrific job decorating, doing performances, taking pics for a slideshow at the end... It is awesome!! The last night they show the slideshow and have lemonade and ice cream treats and cookies for everyone!

cute girls!!
dear friends!!

jenny

anna

playing her one song ~;-)

When we woke up on Thursday, it was very rainy. So our very fun mom had the idea of going to Third Coast Clay in the Factory! Mom had gotten a Groupon for it (love that Groupon!), so three hours after deciding to go (haha) and after going to Jenny's and Anna's to get stuff, we headed out to Franklin!

the dear and very fun mumsie used a hairdryer to dry the paint on my plate :o)

paints
jenny using the hairdryer on her pottery
annie and cara!
anna

my plate!

Thanks so much for a fun, rainy afternoon activity, Mom! You are so fun!! Thank you dear friends for coming with us!!

Put on the full armor of God= SUIT UP!

Ephesians 6:10-18

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—"

These are some of my notes from Pastor Stephen's awesome sermon this past Sunday! Want to hear it? Check out SermonAudio to see it posted! It is coming soon!

When we choose to believe Satan's lies, we can be robbed of several things. Joy. Peace. Comfort. Hope. Confidence. When we are robbed of those things, God is robbed. He is robbed of His glory. Others are robbed of hearing about the Gospel from us. We are in a spiritual warfare. We are either on God's side or the devil's side. 1. Satan is a real person. 2. It is possible that we can be outwitted by Satan. 3. How can we fight being outwitted by Satan? The devil is strategic. We cannot underestimate in this battle what God has given us to fight with.

Nine Things that we are to suit up with:

1. Truth

2. Righteousness of Jesus

3. Gospel of Peace

4. Faith

5. Salvation

6. Word of God

7. Prayer in the Spirit

8. Persevering Alertness

9. Cooperative Prayer

"Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world."

I highly suggest that you listen to the sermon!!

Suit up!

suit up!

check out this post by pastor stephen!

"I will give you rest"

From Johnny Farese

Find rest, O my soul, in God Alone! (By James Smith (1802-1862)

"I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

There is no rest for the Christian in this world. There will be always something to disturb, perplex or distress him; it is an enemy's land.

But Jesus says, "I will give you rest." He does so by enabling us to . . .
rely on His Word,
recognize His hand,
submit to His will, and
trust in His perfect work.

He assures us . . .
that our sins are forgiven;
that we are safe in His keeping;
that His presence shall always be with us; and
that all things shall work together for our eternal good.

We can rest on His faithfulness--for He has been tried, and found faithful.

We can rest on His love--for He loves us to the uttermost.

We can rest on His power--for it is ever engaged on our behalf.

We can rest on His covenant--for it is ordered in all things and sure.

We can rest on His blood--for it speaks peace, pardon, and acceptance with God.

We can rest at His feet--for there we are safe, and can never be injured.

We cannot rest . . .
on our graces,
on our comforts,
on our friends, or
on our possessions.

We may rest on Jesus alone.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken!" Psalm 62:5-6

this makes me smile :o

What would our world be like if we all had this positive attitude? It makes me smile :o)

thankful

I am thankful for:

-the fact that God answers prayers!!!

-good news about the job of a dear friend at church

-my dear darling family whom i am so very thankful for!!!!

-a wonderful and encouraging church family

-hearing the Gospel preached every week at church

-fun outings with Hannah :o)

-youth night

-great sales at Kohls

-people excited with me about the conference!

-amazing friends!!!

-spontaneous celebration outings to Sweet Ceces with girlfriends

-getting to go with Lydia to GPRC

-getting to watch three very fun little boys this past weekend

-my fave shows on TLC when I'm exercising at the Y. I know that sounds really lame, but how could I be motivated to exercise otherwise? haha ;o)

-a really awesome mom who not only is amazing at everything, she also has great taste when picking out clothes for me :o)

-getting to spend lots of time with Dear Dad while he has time off :o) Thankful that he has time off!

-very fun and wonderful sisters!!

-listening to the girls play harp. beautiful.

-getting to work with the amazing coordinators for the DHT conference

-a very inexpensive meeting place for my publicity meeting

-getting visits from the little princesses next door :)

-being able to play every week for church

-God's mercy and forgiveness every day.

"can't you just call me cordelia?"

I love that movie! Today I watched part of Anne of Green Gables. :o) Such a classic! I can practically quote it! It is awesome!

Monday night was RBCN Youth Night at our house! It was so much fun, although we dearly missed Jessie Rae, Mara, Nicole, and Bryan! We played spoons, Rockband, Balderdash (talk about a fun game for a big group!!!), played piano/guitar and sang, ate really yummy food Mom made, and had good fellowship. Thanks for coming, guys!!!

Today we had a coordinator's meeting at Two Rivers! It went very well! Walking into the sanctuary really made the conference a reality! It hit- wow! In about 2 months or so there are going to hopefully be lots of people in here!

Yesterday Hannah and I went shopping at Target! I love going shopping, driving, going to breakfast, and hanging out with Hannah! :o) She is super fun!! We got some stuff for the GPRC's Clothes Closet! We had lots of fun picking out cute baby clothes ~:-)

Swim team has been going well!

It makes me sad to think about how fast my summer is going to fly by.... :p

Have a great day!!

DHT Publicity Meeting!

Hey friends!

The Do Hard Things Conference is coming to Nashville August 14th 2010!

As the publicity coordinator, my job is to get the word out! I am putting together a publicity team and would love for you to be on it!

Not sure? This will be a two hour meeting (**with snacks! :D **) to give info about what our publicity team will be doing!

This meeting is for people who are already committed to helping with publicity and for people who are interested but not sure. We can fit 100 people in the room so please come!

This meeting will cover:
-what this is about
-our job
-publicity tips
-how to speak with youth pastors about promoting this event
-and more!

I will also have brochures and more info to hand out!

Please invite anyone you think might be invited!

The meeting is from 5:45-7:45.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

Hope you can make it!

Lily :o)

Are you Dug Down Deep?

Here is a great video by Joshua Harris. His most recent book is called Dug Down Deep, which just came out. You can also see Alex and Brett's post about it!

Check it out!

DugDownDeep_Carnahan.mov from Covenant Life Church on Vimeo.