Tuesday, August 26, 2008

To INFINITY...and BEYOND!!!

I tell you, these words put fear in me every time I hear them! For some reason, Landon is really into the Buzz Lightyear flying thing. I have not a clue why...especially since the movie is old. Maybe it's new to him since he's only three?

I hear these words last night and shortly afterwards there was a thud and a cry. Yep, he discovered he could not fly off mommy and daddy's bed! I heard the same words today, and took off running to his room only to find him perched on the edge smiling at me. When will he learn that he cannot fly???

Monday, August 25, 2008

Sunday School




Landon's Sunday School class got to play with the shaving cream at the end of class. He loves this stuff!

S.U.G.A.R.





Oh Yea!!!! We love Cotton Candy....

Sunday, August 24, 2008

He's My World!!


You have no idea how much laughter this little boy has brought into my world! He's the greatest!!!

One thing leads to another...





Oh....it was so good!!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I WON!!! I WON!!!

I actually won a cruise! It's only a 3 day/2 night cruise...but HEY! I'll take it. I'm not sure when we are going on the cruise, but hopefully before the end of the year we will have the chance to go. I'm so excited.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Storm Cloud..


I love pictures of clouds...this one is of the sky right before the rain tonight.

My favorite subject...

to take pictures of. My little boy, Landon.

Photography...

Some of the pictures I took of my niece for her birthday.



Sunday, August 17, 2008

Conversation...

Hey...don't knock the weather!! Ninety percent of the people couldn't start a converstation if the weather didn't change once in a while!

Saturday, August 16, 2008

My Rock


This man is my ROCK!! After 20 years, I can't think of anyone else but him to be beside me each day and night. I simply could not make it through all the hurts and disappointments this life brings without him . He always replaces the negative things happening in my life with something positive. He holds me close till the storms of life pass. I am a lucky girl!!!

Even nature itself...



The sky looks like I feel inside tonight! Dark, quiet and a storm brewing on the horizon...

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Wisdom from a 3yr old...



I tell you my child is smart. Now, I know that every mother says that about her kid, but....Landon is really into puppets lately. I think it's because our Children's Church leaders at our church are incorporating puppets and puppet shows into some of their services. Landon has drug one of his daddy's old puppets out of the closet and he takes it everywhere with him. He has his own puppet shows and sometimes even comes and talks to me through the puppet.

Well, Landon came to me last night and said, 'Mommy, this puppet is a real little boy like me. He is hungry. Watch him eat one of my chicken nuggets.' So, I watched as he fed the puppet the chicken nugget and laughed at how his little mind perceives things. I was walking out of the room when his next words stopped me in my tracks. He said, 'Mommy, I think the puppet needs to be potty trained like me.'

You guessed it! We had to go into the bathroom and let him sit the puppet on his potty chair. After a few minutes, Landon raised up the puppet's shirt and looked at me really funny and confused. He looked again and said, 'Mommy, I don't think he's gonna be able to be potty trained!'

Ask me how long it took me and his daddy to stop laughing!!! I told you this little boy was SMART! :)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Do I Create or Destroy??

Proverbs 18:21 "The tongue has the power of life and death...

"I am going to admit my wrong tonight in hopes that it helps someone else. I think one of the things God likes most about me is that I am very open and honest before Him. I am not afraid to admit my wrongs and shortcomings to Him in prayer when I am pricked in my heart and stopped by a little nudge. I am not too big to go back and apologize when I need to.

Today I was having one of those busy days. So many things to do on the list, so many little cares and worries. So many questions rolling around in my head...many to which I have no answers to. The phone was ringing off the hook, the teapot was screaming at me that it was boiling. My life was truly in one of the chaotic moments.My precious little boy came running when he hear the teapot whistling. See, he loves to help his mommy make tea. He puts the sugar in for me, (sometimes spilling quite a bit before it ever hits the pitcher.) He likes to stir the tea and to add the water to it. He makes such a mess when he helps with it, but he enjoys it and it makes him feel so big!

Today when he came running and asking to help, I said words to him that I wished I would have swallowed instead of speaking them out loud. My response was, "Landon, mommy is very stressed and busy. I don't have time to clean up your spills and the mess that you make when you help with the tea. Mommy will do it. You go play.

"Instantly! I felt the destruction of those words spoken into this little boys life. I had just spoken words that told him of all the negative things he does when he is trying to HELP his mom. I pointed out the fact that his little hands are not steady, they are unskilled, unlearned...I pointed out that he made more of a mess than he helped and that it was a bother for me to clean up his mistakes. Oh God, forgive my insensitively. I picked him up with tears in my eyes and said to him that mommy was sorry...that mommy should have told him how much she loved him to help her...mommy needs someone like him to help her remember the simple joy of putting sugar into tea and stirring it till it is perfect! I put the canister in front of him and let him add the sugar his way, and stir the tea himself like he loves to do. And...there wasn't near the mess he normally makes!

See, you may think I'm crazy or being too dramatic, but our words have power in them. Words can motivate, energize, inspire...but words can also destroy or created despair in someone. Many a person has lost their ability or desire to do something or to achieve things they could have because of words spoken to them. There are many stories in the world today regarding the power or the infulence that words spoken to them had in their life. There are some instances where those words had a negative effect on a life. However, there are just as many stories of individuals who have been encouraged, challenged, and comforted by words that made a difference in their life.I want to be careful that my words to Landon create a positive effect on him.

I've seen children do one of two things...they will either rise to the expectation that an adult has of them, or they will fall to the expection that an adult has of them. Let me explain. I've seen a child that had every reason and excuse (because of his home life and atmosphere) rise up and become somehing great because a Sunday School teacher and a minister believed in him and spoke positive things into his heart and life. (I know because I was that SS teacher and my husband was that minister that took him under their wing and nutured him and reinforced the negative he was receiving at home with positive words when he came to Sunday School.)I know the power that words have over small, innocent lives!

The point of this blog is to keep myself in check. To make sure that no matter what kind of day it is for me, that I speak words that give life to my little guy and not words that will destroy him or his dreams. So my little "Note To SELF" here tonight would be..."Carol, T.H.I.N.K. before you T.A.L.K.!!!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Nature Pictures...


A couple of pictures from our trip to Joe Pool Lake. I love to take pictures of the cranes there.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Ho...Hum...



My little one is so bored tonight...and that usually leads to trouble!!!

Hold On To Your Party Hat...

Micah 7:8 [i]Rejoice not against me, O mine ememy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.[/i]

...so hold on to that party hat just a bit longer, don't open that bottle yet, don't start celebrating, don't write the epitaph yet. All the talk, the words, the lies, the deeds someone's done for your harm cannot work unless you let it! What they meant for your set back is just a part of the 'set-up'...just part of God's way of taking the chaos people create and working it into a plan for your life.

See, someone can say or do something that can make you fall down for a bit, but the story ain't over unless you choose to stay down. SO....GET UP...CARRY ON...JUST SAY, SO WHAT...come back, stronger than ever. Stand up and say...Rejoice not... Let them know their party is over...Let them know that you are choosing to rise above all the cheap talk and lies and such. DO NOT give them place in your life! Do what the eagle does to it's prey. The eagle will rise above and fly high into a diminsion that other animals cannot fly or live in. The eagle flys so high with it's prey in it's mouth that the altitude actually sucks the oxygen (or the life out of) it's prey and kills it.

I believe that there are situations in our lives where we have to fly so high that it sucks the life out of the things that prey upon us. We have to walk and live in a different diminsion...one that's above all the junk that weighs us down. I wonder, could it be why Jesus tells us to mount up with wings as eagles? Could it be that the Lord is wanting us to take some of these petty little things and take them to a different diminsion of prayer and choke the life right out of them so we can just go on and have true freedom and revival? Hmmmmmmm....could be?

Focus...Focus...Focus...

II Corinthians 5:8-9
8) "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9) Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;"

I choose to focus on what's happening IN me, rather than what is happening TO me. There are troubles on every hand, life happening all around me. Pressures can come against me from the outside, but I must remain focused on God's word and His promises so that it does not affect what happens on the inside...or how I respond to things!

Sometimes I must simply choose not to respond to a situation at all. Sometimes it's best to just trust in what you know is true, WHO you know is true, and not give a situation place or comment in your life. Just move on and rise above it.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Crumbled Wall

A life that was torn, A heart that was marred...
Emotions that were ruined, feelings that had become hard.
A determination to not relive the past.
That was my plan...That was the task!

Then You come into my life in quite an unexpected way.
You began to break into that wall of mine the very first day.
You showed such true love and concern from the start,
That it became hard for me to remember to protect my heart.

I realized I was losing my grip, that I'd lost sight of the plan.
What had happened? I couldn't understand...
I just needed to focus, I just needed to remember the past.
That would put the walls back up real fast!

I found those memories again and held them tight..not willing to bend.
Whatever it took, I would not walk that road again.
I couldn't love completely...I simply would not trust.
I had to rebuild that wall, making it higher...it simply was a must!

Most people inevitably fall short of your hopes once you let them in.
Therefore I told myself it was senseless to open up, and to love again.
I laughed at people who trusted some one's word.
To depend on something so unsure; to me just seemed absurd!

I fought hard within myself...protecting my heart was a must!
Why was I suddenly loving again? Why the feelings of trust???
This wasn't in my plans...Really, I couldn't understand!
See, I thought it best to hide behind a facade, to turn my feelings into stone.
I thought it was safer to show no heart, no feelings, no mind...just flesh and bone.

Now I see that I was wrong...I opened my life, and freely began to let you become a part.
Now, like a favorite song, often played, you are a part of my heart.
I've found that I can not only be loved...I can love and be sustained.
I can give of myself again...knowing that it doesn't make me vulnerable to more pain.

With all I've been through, I've seen the worst someone can be.
But none of that matters, for now I can stand free....Outside of the crumbled wall!

By: Carol Kennon

Proof...


Here's proof that I am mother to the most handsome little boy ever! And...you can't argue with proof!