F-A-M-I-L-Y

We took a couple of days at the farm in Alabama...every time I go it reminds me of growing up. Seeing the family and spending time with them makes my heart so happy.
Here the girls are playing together...

Here is a picture of Mr. Masters and I.... I love that man! He was helping my Aunt Lisa out at the house with windows, ceiling fans , and such. Aunt L cooked up a storm for us, which we loved, and some good southern food. Thanks to Aunt Lisa and the girls for making us feel so very welcome.

Phoebe liked playing with the new addition to the family, Lexi...

Before leaving for AL we took the kids hiking...
Something about taking them and being in the great outdoors is so peaceful. I love that the girls ask about all the things around us and how God made it. Lula asked "if God speaks to us then why don't I hear him?". My Aunt told me to tell her that it is like the wind, you can feel it but you can't see it. Lula seemed to understand a little better...

Greyson was lulled to sleep by Mr. Masters walking...

The last two weeks I have been blessed to see God moving mountains and it is nothing short of AMAZING. Just when I thought that I am good and nothing needs "tweaking ", He shows me just how much I need to grow and that through Him anything is possible. I am so grateful for HIS love for me and HIS gentle reminders. I am also thankful for those wonderful people in my life that help me in my walk with HIM.

We dropped Phoebe off for a week at her Mamaw's and she was so excited! Mr. Masters is headed out of town on Monday so I am taking the two remaining kids with me back to Alabama. Looking forward to going back and getting more time with family.

Be imitators of God as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

~Ephesians 5:1-2

Mr. Masters

How do you honor the father in your home in one day?! That is easy...you don't!

We try to show him daily just how much we appreciate and love him! I see God working through him everyday and so blessed that my children get to walk in his foot steps.

I am thankful for the daily godly example Mr. Masters is to my children so they know how a father should be....

I am thankful for Mr. Masters love for God, life, and adventure that gives the family an amazing since of how life should be lived....

I am thankful for Mr. Masters amazing love for me so our children know how a godly husband should be....

I am Truly Thankful and Praise God for giving him to us...

Happy Fathers Day to you Mr. Masters

Enjoying Family

God is good......

I am thankful for this wonderful time with my family during this stay-cation. We have been hanging out, playing games,reading books, and spending a lot time at the pool.

Our little dare-devil...

Mr. Masters took this photo of Greyson. Walking in the room and finding G up on all fours!! It is just a matter of time before he will be on the move.

Satisfy us in the morning with you unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. ~PS 90:14

STAY-CATION

Stay-cation has officially begun, Mr. Masters is off from work and we plan to get as much free stuff in as possible... so far fishing and pool time. I love summer. Lula is swimming and both the girls spend all their time jumping off the diving board.

Went fishing today...did not catch a thing but had a great time in the great outdoors and with the most precious thing, FAMILY!

God is so amazing...
Isaiah 12:3 "With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."

Our little peanut is growing... here she is looking ever so fashionable in her paper gown. Praise God she is healthy and apparently very tall.

A little of this and a little of that....

Triple T's~
Here is Phoebe spending some time in timeout. The Terrible Three's have begun. I learned with my first daughter that 2's have nothing on the 3's. Phoebe is just pushing the boundaries because she is starting to see herself as her own person and trying to find out what she is capable of. I don't want to hinder that just guide it a little.

I can not stand to do Laundry...mine tends to pile up and with a family of five it piles quickly. The girls now help me with the folding and putting away. The system goes like this....
I quickly sort the pile of clean clothes into three piles. Socks, kid clothes, and everything else. Lula likes to fold her clothes and them being small make it easy to manage. Phoebe tackles the socks and underwear. I get everything else. Besides when I have something in my laundry basket like this then who could resist doing laundry.

The "STUFF" saga continues and my closet is the latest victim. I ended up with three large trash bags, the big ones, full of donations. Mr. Masters has not yet gone through his clothes so I will have even more to git rid of. It is so much easier to find things and actually know what I have and I don't feel the need to keep that door closed all the time.

Before

After...

Crazy Love

On one of our last road trips I read the book Same Kind of Different As Me, excellent book, out loud to Mr. Masters. We both laughed and cried together. That was the first time that I have read a book out loud to him while he drove but I think it will become tradition. Next time though it will be a more kid friendly book so the whole family can get in on it.

Overwhelmed By A Relentless God

Since my women's bible study is out for the summer I am doing some reading. This is one of the books that I am currently into and wanted to share. Enjoy~

http://www.crazylovebook.com/index.html

Phoebe's Birthday Weekend

Big Birthday Weekend. Thanks to the Harpers for coming down for the weekend. We had a great time as always. Phoebe enjoyed eating cake, opening presents, and playing with friends. Thank you to all the Grandparents for sending birthday cards. She loves to get mail.

This one was my favorite picture. The cake turned out a little chaotic but was yummy and as you can see she was happy!

This is Phoebe going under water with her hat on. She is doing great and starting to swim.

The adults had fun too...kid free evening with dinner and live music. Spa treatment on Sat. morning. Had a women come to the house for a chemical peel and microdermabrasion. Had a cookout down by the pool and stayed cool in this hot weather.

100 Thing Challenge

I enjoy and follow a blog called the Lazy Organizer. She lead me to the 100 Thing Challenge....

Phoebe turns 3

I know I am one day early but definitely a life worth celebrating. Praise God for His wonderful creation who brings so much joy to our life!!! Happy Birthday to you peanut.....

Oooops

Okay so I went shopping yesterday. Don't judge me! I was dropping off a tone of STUFF that I was getting rid of and donating to Goodwill. I thought I would go in and just see what was there and I did end up buying a rocking chair. I have been wanting 2 more for my wrap around porch. The good news is they had all their furniture 25% off and I ended up paying $6 for it. I think it was a great deal and it was used. Think of it as recycling. =) I have the paint in my garage too. If you are confused on what I am talking about see previous post.

I did manage to completely declutter my kitchen yesterday. I got rid of so much STUFF that we do no use. How many plastic cups can one family have?! Anyway, it is so nice to see my organized cabinets and pantry.

The bad news is that I did go grocery shopping and only used two coupons. Needless to say I did not say a ton of money but I am working on it. I have found some great sites that will take a little time to figure out how it all works. Maybe the next grocery trip will be more successful.

I forgot to mention the other day I picked up two hitchhikers. I drove by two very young looking girls, I would guess 14, with their thumbs in the air. Who does that!?! I pulled over and they both got in the van with me, a complete stranger. They both were carrying shopping bags and did not realize how far the Mall was from their house. When they were tired they decided to hitch a ride. I lectured them the whole way on the dangers... blah blah blah. They just looked at me with blank stares. They lived in a really nice neighborhood and those shopping bags are from stores that are too pricey for me. So that started me thinking about how children today are so un-grateful and think they deserve everything handed to them. I want my children to know and appreciate what is truly important in life and not the STUFF! See now we have come full circle, well sort of.

STUFF, STUFF, AND MORE STUFF....

The definition of STUFF is to pack or fill completely; cram. I found this interesting because people in general cram their life up with stuff because they feel empty and then want to judge everyone else by all the stuff they have....now i know I don't have to tell you what you are suppose to be filling that emptiness up with but I will give you a hint.. it's not STUFF!

Okay so life has been getting too complicated with STUFF. What do I mean by STUFF...well I admit I like to shop and I am frugal to a point but there is just all this STUFF.
STUFF = distractions (TV, computers, sales), unnecessary wants/ "needs"(I want a bigger house but don't really need one, since it is on sale I must buy it). Yada Yada Yada ... you get my point.

So after discussing with A I have challenged myself not to buy anything new, with a few exceptions such as groceries, and try not to buy anything at all unless absolutely necessary but buy used. Now that means changing my entire thinking on life and the STUFF that is involved.

So now I am getting serious about coupons too. I admit I hate coupons, it is time consuming, need to learn the ins and outs of it, print them....blah blah blah. It is amazing how blogs have made the process pretty easy. Have you seen all the FREE STUFF companies give away too. It is unbelievable and I am anticipating all the free STUFF that will be arriving in my mail box in the next few weeks, all necessary STUFF of course and it makes me feel like I am shopping! =)

My mind is bursting with things that need to change, things to sell and get rid of, raising my children to appreciate God and the life He has given us not the STUFF in it! Yes we have three cars but I am working on that one too. =) All this STUFF is keeping that message from getting to my children and they are too young now but soon they will start the same cycle of wanting STUFF.

I have so much stuff that is unnecessary that I am ashamed of it... for wanting it and buying it. Now to get rid of some of it....we shall see how that goes... maybe make a little money on the way of getting rid of some of the STUFF.

I think getting back to simplicity is key to raising my children, nurturing my amazing relationship with my husband, but most importantly de-cluttering my relationship with God. All this STUFF gets in the way of that.

Lu is starting school soon, P is starting pre-school soon so my agenda is to start de-cluttering my life and my families life since I will have a little more time on my hands and of course enjoying some alone time with G.

Another goal is to save as much money as possible. We and I mean A is a saver (Big Time). It is one of the things I love about him and glad that he is so diligent with it because my children will have college money and we will have a good retirement (good Lord willing), etc.... Now I need to be on board completely with both feet instead of just one! I think I just heard him breath a sigh of relief.

Today I went and got my fishing license....I am determined to get my children in nature as much as possible and appreciate the simple things. I had the girls go through and slim down their toys and was not surprised at how willing they were to give to charity.
I also have started dwindling down T.V. time. I have always been picky about it but now I want no television at all through the week and just occasion on the weekend. This is not happening cold turkey and I did not expect it too but our first week I managed to cut out three solid days of no TV. It was not missed and I felt there was more quality time with my kids.
We also have decided to have a staycation this month instead of going to the beach. A is taking a week off to enjoy all the free stuff the city offers and all the free stuff nature offers. I know my children will be glad to not have a long travel destination, to sleep in beds other than our own, and completely get off schedule to where everyone is cranky. So it should be a nice relaxing staycation and I am looking forward to it.

So far the changes of STUFF that have been made have not had any negative impact what so ever. SO I plan to trudge forward...I will definitely have my moments of relapse because it is the easy way and only natural but I plan to try like crazy until it seems that there is no other way to live life but with less STUFF.

Oooh Baby......

Here are three pictures of A holding each child around the same age. Hard to believe that the girls are soon to be 3 & 5. Harder to believe that my baby will be 6 months soon. I cherish it because it goes so very fast.

Mermorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend went by so fast but it was wonderful! Here is a picture of the girls enjoying being outside. A big thanks to the men and woman who have served and are serving this country and the sacrifices they have made!!! THANK YOU!

We spent a lot of time at the pool and had a big cookout there too, which was fun. Here is a pic of Phoebe getting tickled about something. We spent so long at the pool that Anthony had to run home and make PB&J's for dinner one night. SO glad the rain decided to hold off too.

G enjoyed the water but had enough and was getting changed to hang with A and I.

Lula is getting comfortable with the water again and spends most of her time under water. She is jumping in the water and starting to swim...

A life size chalk drawing of Phoebe...

Life size chalk drawing of Lula....

Anthony and I had a wonderful date night this weekend...went to a comedy club. It had skits with about 8 actors and was so funny. Then hung out at a really neat restaurant with some friends. It was so nice for adult activity without the kiddoes.

G sporting his tie...