What's my favorite word???? (Review & Giveaway!)

edify

–verb (used with object), -fied, -fy·ing. to instruct or benefit, especially morally or spiritually; uplift:

 

If you ask anyone who knows me what my favorite word is, this would be it.  I love to teach my kids, my youth, whoever it is what this means. 

 

Romans 14:19
Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

There are many Scriptures that tell us how important it is to lift each other up, or to edify one another. 

Do you ever just long for someone to say something uplifting and encouraging to you?  What would your life be like if you walked around all day long, everyday, and no one ever gave you any edification?  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hold myself together very well. One day of just negative things and I'd already be shaken! 

It is so important as a body of believers that we lift each other up. That we encourage one another, and love one another! You never know when one word of encouragement can turn someone's entire life around. A pat on the back to say, hey I've been there, things do get better. A high five to show someone you appreciate the great job they've done. Sometimes all it takes is a moment to brighten someone's day and let them know they are loved. 

I often bring the word edify into conversation with teenagers. I find that at their age a lot of the "norm" is to cut each other down and make fun of one another. What purpose does that serve? Do you not realize how your words affect others? Jokes, whether you mean it or not, hurt. Harsh words, hurt. Even something as simple as not believing someone's motives when they speak to you, that hurts.  I'm sure we've all dealt with this in our own lives. When I've faced these issues in the past, I've let them dig holes in my heart and it's hard to pull away from that. It's hard to forget. Thank God for His amazing grace because He gives me strength to move forward even when I'm hurting the most. He wants us to love each other as He loves us. 

Psalm 3:3

 ³ But You, O LORD, are a shield for me,
         My glory and the One who lifts up my head.

If God loves me enough to lift up my head and be a shield for me, shouldn't I try to do the same for others, realizing that I am not God, I am man, but that I can still strive to lift others up?

If we are going to move forward as a body of Christ, we must acknowledge that there is no place for negativity in our lives. We need to step out of our comfort zone, stop picking on people, making jokes, etc and begin to lift one another up in love.

This month I have the privilege of sharing with you guys a beautiful piece of work that I received from DaySpring, through (in)Courage 's (in)spired deals. Each month they pick a theme for the month, and this month's theme is: Encouragement

I was sent a beautiful picture frame to review that I absolutely love.


   




Isn't it cute?  I absolutely love the bright vibrant colors, and the fun decorative numbers.


I haven't found just the perfect picture of it yet, but I plan to put a picture of my three sweet blessings in it.



It's made of VERY durable material (in fact my 6 year old has already dropped it, without a scratch to be found) And the best part of all, it opens up an opportunity to tell anyone who enters my home and sees it about the blessings God has given us, not just in our kids, but in all things.

In addition to being able to review this great product for you guys, I also was given the opportunity to share something with one of you. One person who comments on this post will win a Coupon Code for $20 to spend at DaySpring!

All you have to do to enter is :

1. Be a follower of my blog

2. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite way to encourage others.
You must do both to qualify for an entry!

You can get bonus entries for:
Tweeting/Facebooking about this message, leave a separate comment for each (1 extra entry per social networking site)
and 2 bonus entries for writing your own blog about encouragement in your life and linking back to this giveaway! (please post two separate comments)

I will leave this post open until Friday the 24th  at midnight and at that time I will draw a winner using Random.org and post the winner here on my blog!

I cannot wait to hear the great things you guys are going to share with me!

 

 

In full disclosure, I was given this product at no cost to me by DaySpring to review as well as the giveaway code. All opinions within this post are my own.

4 of a kind

My sweet babies are all growing up so fast!!! 

Elijah, Kyley, Krissy, Emily

Missing from this photo is obviously Asher :)

Puzzles & Braids

Kyley wanted me to take a picture of her finished puzzle and put it on my blog. She was so proud that she finished it all by herself (it wasn't a hard puzzle and she's done bigger ones on her own, but for some reason this one made her happy to finish)
Yesterday , I french braided her hair for the first time.  I've tried in the past but he hair was either too short or too thin at the time, we never had any success. It's not perfect but it's a start!


Any tips you can give me on french braiding and cute hairstyles now that her hair is getting longer? 

Babies

This weekend, we welcomed a sweet little girl into our quickly growing family of friends. 

Welcome to the world Juliet Arianna. You are so loved by so many already.

June 12, 2011   

   

Congratulations to Will and Angie Rus. We are so excited for you guys and can't wait to love on her more and more and watch her grow. We love yall!

Kyley's new Bible!

Deuteronomy 6:6-9

New King James Version (NKJV)

⁶ “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

My sweet little girl, who's learning to read (slowly but surely!) was in desperate need of a new Bible, because the binding was coming off of her old one. That kid can wear out a Bible, and I'm not sure how, but at least she's learning to carry it with her to church and is starting to look things up and try to read them and learn the books in order. 

So far she's learned all the way to Ecclesiastes! I'm so proud! (and her little brother is giving her a run for her money because at 3 yrs old he can already say the first five books in order and almost pronounce them correctly!)

So anyways, we looked all over  for the perfect Bible for her, and she kept coming back to this one, it was her absolute favorite, so we finally ordered it (yay amazon!)

So here are a few pictures of the day she got it, she was so excited to get her own mail!

 

Re-designing

So I'm in desperate need of some re-designing around these parts, seeing as how the pictures in my header are over a year old (and not great to boot).

So any suggestions on color schemes/headers? What would YOU like to see on my header? I'm working on some things, but I wanted some outside ideas as well, so hit me up!

2 months old!

Ok so I'm 2 days late, but hey at least I remembered :) 

Stats: 

Weight 10 lb 13 oz (25%)

Height 23 1/2 in (75%)

Head Circumf. 15 3/4 (50%)

Just this week Asher has been rolling over a ton!

He holds his head up really well when on his tummy and loves to "talk" and smile at us.

He's still wearing 0-3 month clothes (thankfully, that means we've gotten good use out of them!) and a size 1 diaper.

He sleeps well and loves to eat but what infant doesn't?

I just can't believe how quickly time is flying!

Who's the star?

 I found this bib last night at target. I found it VERY fitting and decided Asher had to have it. Yeah yeah, I know, it's just a bib, but I thought it was hilarious.




   

Lead me Lord, I'll follow

oh how I just love sweet baby feet

My Famous Chef

What do this...


this...


and this...

(crushed cornflakes btw)

have in common?



This sweet girl made up her very own recipe and specifics for what she wanted with it.

 Dip chicken tenders in Zesty Italian Dressing
Then roll in crushed corn flakes and put on your baking sheet.
Bake 20 min at 400 degrees (more or less depending on your chicken, this is what worked for us) or until golden brown and done
Serve with crinkle fries and greenbeans w/ potatoes

Thing's I've learned today: Second Edition

Asher can roll over from his tummy to his back, repeatedly.

And he gets mad when he gets to his back and can't flip back.

He also loves the swing. Why didn't I bring that inside sooner?

Elijah does not like peeps. At all. Ok, he likes to smoosh them but not to eat.

Kyley apparently has decided she has an aversion to wheat bread. Just today. Never had a problem before.

Asher likes to talk. He is always cooing and trying to tell me or Kyley something (depending on who's playing with him at the time)

Elijah doesn't like for Asher to sleep, AT ALL. (oh wait, I have known this a while)

While I'm learning things, does anyone know why Kate is called a Duchess and not Princess?  Kyley and I are going to look that up in a few. Maybe I'll earn some swagbucks while I'm at it!

(if you haven't joined swagbucks you should, I've gotten over 40 dollars worth of amazon.com giftcards. you can sign up by clicking HERE, it's totally free! no strings attached!)

Things I learned today...

Asher sweats. Like a pig.

I love Publix.

Kyley likes ice cream before bed.

She also likes punch bugs.

And she won't let you forget about it.

Elijah thinks if we go to bed he can do what he wants (he told Kyley to go to sleep so he could play the xbox)

Boys have hard heads

Kyley is interested in presidents and queens.

Apparently a Queen Elizabeth costume is in our future.

Today was Theory of Relativity Day (who knew?)

I love getting to know new friends.

My life is still chaotic and I'm still overwhelmed.

But there are good moments :)

7 weeks!

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by! Little man is 7 weeks old today!  Yesterday he weighed in at 10 lbs 3 oz at the WIC office, after being down to at least 8lb 4oz at one point early on. So he's gained a full 2 lbs pretty much since he started gaining! WOOT!

my Easter babies

   

Admitting it is hard for me.

I've almost deleted that last post countless amounts of time. Why? Because I hate being vulnerable. I hate others knowing my weaknesses. I hate sharing that side of my life. But it's real. It's me.  I don't know why I have a desire to hide those parts of my life. I guess I've been burned before when laying my heart out there so I don't want to chance it again? Or is it because showing that side of me means I'm weak?


And just so I don't forget this one day... Today, the workers who have been painting the outside of the house, broke the AC again. When I went outside to fix it, I left asher asleep in my room, and the other two having a snack in the living room. When I returned a few moments later. I found Elijah trying to shove an entire oatmeal creme pie into Asher's mouth.  Such love, he has for his brother, that he wanted to share his snack. LOL

overwhelmed.

Pardon me for baring my soul, but I don't want this blog to be only pictures and high points. I want to remember it all, the good, the great, the bad and the ugly.

Tonight, I'm overwhelmed.

My livingroom looks like my washing machine/dryer threw up. Literally. They are doing work on the outside of my house causing me to need to be home but not able to let the kids outside to run off energy. They were WILD today. I have a newborn. Who likes to nurse. And snuggle. I have a 3 yr old. Who misses being the baby. I have a 6 yr old. Who also just wants mommy's attention.  And dishes. And laundry. And bathrooms. And toys. And dinner. And lunch. And snacks. And obligations. And family.

I'm not going to lie. Today was hard. I've cried. I've wanted to scream though I've held myself together. I've cried some more. I've thought about all the things I'd like to say in anger (thankfully I held them all in because they were pointless, just me getting out my frustration). I'm exhausted. They've shown up at my house all week by 7:30, beating and pounding on the outside framework replacing boards and painting. The kids are getting up early but still not wanting to go to bed, and I end up staying up to get work done at night because I can't get anything done during the day. I'm sure that this doesn't help my frustration. In fact I know it doesn't. I get grumpy when I get tired. It's just me. 

In the end, I know tomorrow is a new day. Please Lord just let it be better than today.

One month stats!

Asher had another pedi appt this morning and I wanted to record his stats :) 

Weight 8lb 15oz (he was down to 8lb 4oz) (25%)

Height 22 in. (75%)

Head circumf. 15 (50%)

28 days later

28 days ago I gave birth.

28 days ago I found out how amazing my body really is.

28 days ago we learned that 'Kinsley' was really 'Asher' (and we are so in love)

28 days ago Elijah became a big brother for the first time.

28 days ago Kyley became a big sister again.

28 days ago I was at home surrounded by my sweet family and friends.

28 days ag our lives changed forever

look what I caught today :)

the view from here

is so so sweet!