Say Cheese!

Would you like to count my teeth??

Finger lickin' good spaghetti!!


Nana and Braelyn playing outside at Nana's house.

ok, i just wrote a blog post, and somehow lost it. so i'll update with words later. here are some pics of braelyn. aaron has been working a lot the last six weeks, but will be on a better schedule starting tomorrow!! Thank you Lord....I miss my husband. looking forward to seeing Sarah and Martin soon ;)

Who is an overcomer?

ok, so I wanted to share how God encouraged me this past Tuesday at bible study. The study was focused on 1 John 5. Here are verses 4 and 5

"For whatever is born of God overcomes(present tense, which means "continuously overcomes", it's an ongoing action) the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith."

There is so much good stuff, but honestly I can't convey it all on this blog. Kay Arthur taught us that the word for "overcomes" in that verse is the word "nikao" which means "to rule over, subdue, CONQUER". It is also what Nike shoes comes from, just a side note. So here is the SUPER EXCITING thing that just really sank in and stuck with me in a real way.......if you are a child of God then you are an OVERCOMER!! You can't not be an overcomer, bc God's children by definition are overcomers, bc we have Christ in us. And Christ is our greatest example of overcoming.
In John 16:33 Jesus says to his disciples, before his crucifixion "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." This is the first mention of the word "overcome".
Kay Arthur also reminded us that this doesn't mean that 100% of the time you are victorious in life, but as a pattern or habit of your life, you live in victory. I have been struggling lately with different things, and honestly, have really not felt like an overcomer. But this message was just so encouraging to me.....to know that being an overcomer is not something I choose, it is WHO I AM IN CHRIST!! Yes, I have to choose to believe this and set my mind on it, when Satan tries to get me down, but it will ALWAYS be true of me and of you, if you are a believer. I hope this realization sticks with me until I see Jesus face to face. I pray that God will use this to encourage someone else who might be struggling.
I am so thankful that we serve a RISEN Savior! One of the girls at my AWANA group last week had never heard that Jesus rose from the grave! What a privilege it was to share with her that awesome/exciting news. Hope you all enjoy celebrating our risen Savior this Easter weekend and all year long.

1 John

So, I've been doing a bible study on 1 John for a while now, although I have to confess that I have not been doing the homework the past couple of weeks. But I went this morning anyway and still learned a lot. It is a Kay Arthur study and boy is she good! I love the way she teaches because she just tells it like it is and doesn't try to sugarcoat anything....truth is truth! And that's what I need to hear, and we all need to hear. So, I just thought I would share a few things I learned this morning.
Some parts may seem random, but i'm still going to share.

It was mainly on 1 John 4. We talked some about verse 18 which says "There is no fear in love; because perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment , and the one who fears is not perfected in love." I have heard this verse a lot and read it a lot through the years, and usually just tried to come up with my own ideas on what it meant(still mostly confused), not really using the context too much. And I had heard a lot of people just quote this verse by itself and use it in different ways.....well, I felt like I got some new insight on this verse that I hadn't had before. And the Holy Spirit revealed it to me first a few weeks ago while i was studying these verses, and then confirmed it this morning during our discussion time. It had been a long time since I felt like the Holy Spirit had taught me something new in my own quiet time, so I was excited just to experience that. It may be something you already know, but it was new for me.

I learned that the word "fear" means "to run away from in terror" in this verse and it is referring to the fear of God's judgment. When I realized what this was talking about it reminded me of when I was young, before I was saved. I used to lay in bed at night and wonder what would happen to me after I died.....and it was terrifying, bc I didn't know.....I just thought of total darkness and being alone. THEN, when I became a Christian, I no longer had that fear....I knew I would be in Heaven with Jesus. People who don't know the Lord do have a reason to be afraid and to run in terror because there will be a real day of judgment and they are enemies of God. They don't have Christ's righteousness in them to make them presentable before our Holy God. This makes me want to go out and share with people so bad, yet when I go out, I make excuses and don't say a word most of the time. I am really missing sharing the gospel with people, just talking to people about Jesus.....I hope and pray that God will give me boldness and opportunities soon. so back to the verse, it just made more sense to me....when we are saved through God's perfect love, we need not fear the judgment, because we have Christ in us and our sins have been forgiven. but those who fear the judgment, as they should, have not surrendered their life to Christ and have no righteousness on their own, they are enemies of God....not a good place to be.

every week, i want to write about stuff from this study, but then I don't. it has just been so good, but so hard too. it's all about knowing that you KNOW, that you really KNOW that you are saved. If you have doubts or have friends/family who have doubts, 1 John is the book that gives you the tests and helps you have that assurance of salvation.
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" 1 John 5:13

Spring fever!

Soakin' up the sun!!

Braelyn discovered the headband at my mom's house and just thought she was the coolest thing!
Aren't I pretty? :)
Hanging out with my cousin, Mattie, at Mamaw's house. They had lots of fun playing together.
Just a random shot of Colton, my nephew....showing off his creative skills. He actually did this all by himself, and he's not even in kindergarten yet! I was impressed! Pretty cute.

Well, I am so thankful for the sunshine and warmer weather we have had recently. It has been so refreshing to be able to get outside and enjoy some sunshine. We have been to the park twice already and Braelyn loves it. Things are starting to bud and green shoots are coming out of the ground- woohoo!! I love watching spring unfold and watching things grow. I have definitely been more motivated to get some things done lately. I am almost done organizing all of Braelyn's clothes, which feels nice. I like being organized, but a lot of times I lack motivation.

I wanted to share a few pics. One of the days when it was really pretty we decided to just move Braelyn's chair out on the deck for a picnic lunch. She loved it. Aaron and I decided that we might need to invest in some outdoor furniture for our little deck so we can eat out there more as the weather keeps getting nicer.

Braelyn was excited to get to see her Nana yesterday and today. Aaron's mom came up and spent the night with us last night and we were so glad to have her visit us. I am thankful that we are close enough that she can do that. And I got to go get some shopping done while Nana took care of Braelyn :) Thanks Nana!

hope everyone has a good weekend

Aaron's Award winning Chipolte Chicken Chili

First of all, I have to say that I am copying Aaron's handwritten recipe.....so hopefully I will be able to decipher all the steps/ingredients. Here it is.....

Makes 8 servings

1 1/2 -2 lbs chicken (ground or shredded) Aaron used 1 lb ground chicken and 1/2 to 3/4 lb of a rotisserie chicken
4 Tbsp Chili powder
2 tsp Cumin (ground)
2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz each) Aaron used the ones that come with green peppers
1-2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp Tobasco chipolte sause to taste
2 cans (15 oz each) black beans rinsed & drained (Aaron used 1 black bean and 1 tri-bean blend)
1 can drained whole kernel yellow corn (save juice, Aaron used 1/2 for more liquid)
*1/2 Tbsp chopped garlic
*1/3 cup ranch dressing
*1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

*Aaron's own additions to the original recipe

1. Cook chicken in oil and half cumin & chili powder.
2. Mix everything else together (on stove or in crockpot) Bring to simmer. Add corn juice for more liquidy soup.

Hope you enjoy it!!

Pics from February

So, this blog covers all of February. First of all, I wanted to show Sarah how cute Braelyn looked in her outfit that she got her. Everyone at church just went on and on about it. And as you can tell, I think Braelyn liked wearing it too :)


Next, we have the one and only 1st place winner of the Chili cook-off at our church about a week ago. There were 16 chilis entered and Aaron won!!! I was shocked, mainly bc he just threw it together about an hour before we went and had never made it before. But apparently it turned out GREAT....people are now asking for the recipe. He even got a trophy!! And a $50 gift card to FATZ. Sounds like a date night to me.
And here is Braelyn modeling an outfit I put together and thought was pretty cute. The sweater is from Aunt Sarah (you got it a long time ago, when she was little) but it has little bunnies on it. And the dress part was Caryss'. Thanks for all the clothes, we really enjoy them.




We got to go visit my friend, Stephanie and her little girl, Addie. This was the best picture I had of them. Maybe we'll get a better one next time. It was fun to visit, even though Braelyn was a bit rude to her friend Addie and kept wanting to hit her :(.


Valentine's Day!!!! Thank you Dwight & Andrea (all the Disneys) for the cute dress. It was perfect for the occasion. Aaron got me the Glory Revealed 2 cd, which is really good. We made it a week long celebration bc we went to Knoxville for a few days and got to go to a movie and out to eat a few times while Aaron's mom watched Braelyn.






Braelyn has begun brushing her teeth now and she really likes doing it......BY HERSELF. She gets frustrated when I try to help her, but it must be done. One good thing is that I can clip her toenails and fingernails while she brushes her teeth....good distraction.
And this is a picture of her first ponytail. Her hair is getting really long, but she won't leave anything in it for any amount of time. Usually by the time we get to church or wherever we are going, she has pulled out the rubberbands. Oh well, maybe someday.
We are really looking forward to spring and ready to get out of the house!!!! Goodbye February, come on Spring!

More pics from January

This is Braelyn's favorite place to be outside, even in the snow!! She loves her swing.


This is Braelyn's new friend, Madelyn. They are really sweet together. I am thankful that Braelyn has a friend here. She has another friend, Kyrin, but we don't have a picture of him yet. They all three like to get together and play.
I think Madelyn is reading to Braelyn, while they both watch some PBS.

For some reason this picture just cracks me up. Just hanging out with God's word. She will find my bible and say "bible".

update on pics

Thanks Aunt Laura for my cute outfit!! I really enjoy wearing it :)
Dreaming of going outside to play...one of her very favorite things~
Striking a pose
Would someone please take me outside?
)Cheese!!!

Carla and the boys (left to right: Jackson, Hayden, Braelyn, and Colton) came to stay with us one Friday night and it was a lot of fun. Colton especially enjoyed putting bows in Braelyn's hair. And believe or not, she actually let him and LEFT THEM IN!! Only for her cousin :

This is the first time she ever "cheesed" like that for the camera! It was SO FUNNY :)
My Granny and Pop Hasty.....with some of the GReat grandkids

Sorry for the long delay in updating with pictures. Here are a few to start with and hopefully more to follow soon. Braelyn is 17 months old now. Hard to believe. The first year seemed to go by pretty slow for me, but since she has turned one, it's passing quickly. I am enjoying this time though. Braelyn is so funny and is such a happy girl most of the time, thank you Lord. She is getting a lot more teeth, and has to be reminded often that it's not ok to bite your Mommy :) And she is learning to say "sorry"...it is so cute. Sometimes I struggle with keeping a "stern" face when correcting her bc she makes such funny faces even when she's not trying to. She LOVES to dance and is able to put her CD into her CD player all by herself and push play. She can even change CD's. She also likes to fake sneeze and just say "achoo". And she will say "Hi" to everybody we pass in Wal-mart or at the mall. One of my favorite things she does sometimes is when I am putting her to bed at night we always pray right before I lay her down and sometimes she will reach her head up and give me a kiss while I'm praying!! It just melts my heart. She is kinda stingy with her real kisses, but will blow kisses to anyone. ok, gotta get to bed....will continue this on another day.

Get to know the persecuted church around the world

Hey everyone, I just wanted to share this, in case there are some people out there who are not aware of this great ministry and resource for the persecuted church. It is called The Voice of the Martyrs, they have been around since 1967. They have a website www.persecution.com . Please check it out. My favorite thing is they have a FREE newsletter that you can sign up for, once a month, that gives you updates on what is going on around the world with our brothers and sisters in Christ. When you read these updates, it really brings things into perspective AND it really reminds me that we are ONE BODY of believers here on this earth and we are called to pray for one another and bear one another's burdens. There are even links that you can go to on the website and are able to print and send a letter of encouragement to another brother or sister in Christ who is being imprisoned for their faith!! Isn't that amazing? I haven't done it yet, but I plan on it. Can you imagine how encouraging it would be to get mail from someone halfway around the world and hear that they are praying for YOU?? These Christians you read about in this newsletter/magazine......they are the REAL DEAL. They are risking their lives and they are losing their homes and jobs and loved ones because they LOVE JESUS!!! Their boldness and their faith encourages me, and convicts me of why I am not sharing Jesus with more people here when I don't even have to fear my life??? Lord, give us all boldness and opportunities to share and bring glory to your name.
So, PLEASE, share this info with others you know, sign up for the newsletter, and PRAY for our brothers and sisters around the world!

Open my eyes that I may see...

I was just browsing around on John Piper's blog, Desiring God, and found a GREAT sermon on why reading our bibles regularly along with seeking God in prayer is what really GROWS us in our spiritual walk with the Lord. John Piper puts it so simply that I just had to share this bc hopefully, if you are a Christian, you want to be growing in your relationship and your understanding of the Lord and who He is and what He wants to do in your life. It is hard to be disciplined to do these things, and we all fall short, but it is worth making it a priority. It's all about what matters most to you in life. And God reminds us that this life here on earth is like a vapor....it will be gone before we know it, compared to ETERNITY!! When you stand before God someday at the end of this short time here on earth, will you be able to stand there, knowing, by the grace of God, you lived your life in a way that brought glory to the Lord, and was pleasing to the Lord bc you had purposed in your heart to seek Him and follow Him with all you had?? We only have one life here on earth, only ONE! I became a Christian when I was 9 years old, in VBS. I was blessed to have parents that raised me in church. I went on lots of youth trips and was really involved at our church. I remember the first bible verse I memorized was Ps 56:3 "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee" bc I have always struggled with fear. When I went to college I started going to some different churches and started learning some things about being a Christian and about God's word that I had never known. God used different circumstances while I was in college to really make me lean on Him and depend on Him....and it was during these times that I grew the most and could feel God's presence. I signed up to do summer missions in Gatlingburg one summer and God REALLY opened my eyes to see more of Him and taught me alot through friends I made there. That summer is when I knew for sure that I wanted to be a missionary. I really didn't intend on sharing all this this morning, but I guess I just think back on my life thus far and I can see how God has grown me at different times, and the times I learned the most or experienced His power the greatest were usually tough times when I had to cling to God's word and hide it in my heart. I have experienced the power of God's word in my life, and I just want others to experience it too. Even when life is good, I want to be hiding God's word in my heart. I think it's one of those things that you don't realize what you are missing until you experience it. I am doing a Precepts bible study with my church right now, and I love it. I realize now more than ever before that there is SO MUCH I don't know about the bible and that I WANT to learn.....and there will always be more to learn and understand. As Christians, we never "arrive" and are done with learning. We should always be seeking to know God more and understand His word better.
We have been so encouraged at our church here in Bristol. So many people truly love the Lord and you can tell that they are spending time with God on a regular basis.......they know God's word, they encourage one another, they pray for one another. They are real and they are dependent on God. They have been such a blessing to us.
Ok, so, like I said, I just want to encourage you to make spending time in God's word and spending time communicating with Him a priority this year. He will transform you and He can show you and teach you things you never knew. I am going to post an excerpt from John Piper's sermon....but I will post a link to the actual sermon and you can read it for yourself. He just says it SO WELL. Praying God will use all this to glorify Himself in your life and mine. Here's the excerpt:

Jesus put it like this in his great prayer for us in John 17:17, "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth." "Sanctify" is a Biblical word for making a person holy or godly or loving or pure or virtuous or spiritually wise. And these things I want for myself and for my children and for you. So what then should we do this year? If we are sanctified by the truth, and the Word of God is truth, what should we do?

If a doctor says, "You're very sick and may die of your sickness, but if you will take this medicine, you will get well and live," and you neglect to take the medicine - too busy, the pills are big and hard to swallow, just forgetful - you are going to stay sick and you may die. That's the way it is with sin and spiritual immaturity. If you neglect what God tells you will sanctify you and make you mature and strong and holy, then you will not be mature and strong and holy. Reading, and meditating on and memorizing and cherishing the Word of God is God's appointed way of overcoming sin and becoming a strong, godly, mature, loving, wise person.

Psalm 119:18. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." This verse combines prayer and the Word, and we need to see how, so that we can combine them this way in our lives and in our church. There are three things that we learn from this verse.

• One is that there are wonderful things in the Word of God. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." The word "law" is "Torah" and means "instruction" or "teaching" in this psalm. There are wonderful things in God's teaching to us. In fact, they are so wonderful that when you really see them, they change you profoundly and empower holiness and love and missions (2 Corinthians 3:18). Which is why reading and knowing and meditating on and memorizing the Word of God is so crucial.
• The second thing we learn from this verse is that no one can see these wonderful things for what they really are without God's supernatural help. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." If God does not open our eyes, we will not see the wonder of the Word. We are not naturally able to see spiritual beauty. When we read the Bible without the help of God, the glory of God in the teachings and events of the Bible is like the sun shining in the face of a blind man. Not that you can't construe its surface meaning, but you can't see the wonder, the beauty, the glory of it such that it wins your heart.
• Which leads to the third thing we learn from this verse, namely, that we must pray to God for supernatural illumination when we read the Bible. "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law." Since we are helpless in ourselves to see spiritual beauty and the wonder of God in the teachings and events of the Bible without God's gracious illumination, we should ask him for it. "Open my eyes."

Here's the link to the entire sermon: it's printed out so you can just read it.
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1998/1024_Open_My_Eyes_That_I_May_See/

Happy New Year!

aaron, me, martin, sarah, laura, daniel & joanna......missing a few still
Caryss & Braelyn
Cheese!

Christmas in Bristol....before Christmas :)



This is one of the kids' pics at Mamaw's house(my mom). From left to right: Mattie, Colton, Hayden, Jackson, and Braelyn
Christmas at Aaron's parent's house
Showing off all my teeth....all four of them.



Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to see what God has planned this new year. We had our care group meeting with our church last night, which is just a group that meets once a month for dinner and fellowship at someone's house. It's the same group all year long, so we are getting to know people a little better. We look forward to these times of fellowship each month because we are always so blessed when we leave. Anyway, we were given some questions to think about and I wanted to share them with you.
1. What is something new that you want to do for someone else this year?
2. What is something new that God could do in you and through you this year?

Also I just wanted to share some things I want to do this year. First of all, I want to try and have some people over for dinner at least once a month just to fellowship and build relationships. Secondly, I want to try to call a friend once a week "just to talk". I am really bad at planning ahead when it comes to inviting people to our home, but I want to do better. Finally, I am going to read the bible through in 2 years or less. It is a chronological study bible, so there is a lot of extra information to read along with the bible. Maybe I will do it in less than two years, who knows. I'm not following a plan, bc you just read it like a book, from beginning to end.

Braelyn is trying to talk a lot more these days. She tries to say cup, cracker, thank you, no, bath, puzzle, and lots of other things I haven't been able to decifer yet. She is a really good eater and can use her spoon pretty good, sometimes :). She really likes watching Elmo's World on Sesame Street, Clifford (which she does try to say, oh, and she says "melmo" for elmo) pretty cute. And she gets excited when Wheel of Fortune comes on and she will try to say the letters like they do. She tries to mimic a lot of things we say and do. For example, after she drinks from her sippy cup sometimes she will set it down and say "ahhhhhh". Just bc she saw me do that one time. :) She is very observant.

On a random note....we are setting records here in Bristol. 10 straight days of temperatures below freezing!! I am enjoying the snowy scenery everywhere. I always say, if it's going to be cold, I at least want to see some snow. So, I guess it's been a good winter so far. I'm curious to see how much more snow we will get.