A Caramel Apple Pumpkin Picking Good Time!

Geesh!!! Is That All She Talks About?

Yes, it is! HA. What can I say I'm my Mother's daughter:)
And out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks:)

*gotta love the phones in the hotel bathrooms (AND the free toilet paper)

So yes, I love the Lord and love my husband and kids with all my heart so that is what I seem to talk about the most and what is constantly on my mind.
Therefore that is what I blog mostly about...



I am proud to say that if you know me you know I love Jesus. I don't hide it and I'm sorry if I annoy you when that's what I'm most excited to talk about. And maybe I do blog about Jesus because sadly I can't seem to find enough people around me who have ears that want to hear and who share the same excitement of talking about Him as I do.
On this blog I have found those friends and I love to share and talk with you all:)
Do your neighbors, friends,family, coworkers know that you love Jesus?
Do you like to talk about Him?
Is it a chore to read the bible or spend time with Him?
Or do you love to talk about Him and are hungry for the Word of God and excited to learn more about Him?



I enjoyed reading all your thoughts on Halloween. Thank you all for taking the time to share on the topic. My husband and I spent last night reading through them and looking at the different links.
I love to see so many like minded friends in blogland. I thank you for your words of wisdom and you are truly a blessing to me. I also want to thank some of you for your emails. Some emails were full of questions about me being legalistic. It's not the first time I have been called that.
Let me just say that........
I don't mean to post to get everyone up in a hype. (although I love a good debate and wish someday to have a spot on The View)Ha..

But for now I think this blog is just a great place to share (meet)and discuss what's on MY heart and what MY OWN convictions are. I also think it's a great place to learn from others as you share too.
I am NOT saying that if you don't homeschool you are a bad Christian.
I am NOT saying that if you use birth control you are bad.
I am NOT saying that if you have a tattoo it's a sin.
I am NOT saying that if you wear a bikini etc...(I can't remember all the things that were said) that you are a bad lukewarm Christian.
I am just saying that FOR ME and as I seek God more in my life and read the Bible I AM convicted in these area's. Even things that a year ago I had no clue I ever thought were wrong I see now FOR ME that they were. I agree that in the grey area's we have to deal with as Christians we need to search scripture and our own hearts and pray before making decisions. I PERSONALLY try not to compromise. For example: It's not that having a beer is bad (I)just choose not to and to be honest I don't even care to or am tempted to. If I saw you having a beer I would not judge you. Please know that! I choose to live MY life and raise MY family to glorify God. With this as MY main goal in life I try to test EVERYTHING by "is this glorifying God and is this bringing me closer to Him. Is this helping in raising MY children for His kingdom???


*yes my boys are wearing skeleton shirts. I don't feel convicted by them wearing them. I don't see anything wrong with bones. You might.
I don't let my kids watch certain things, (even Scooby Doo) Not because I think they will grow up to be into witch craft or anything just because I don't see how watching it will help them in their walk with the Lord. I would rather them spend time watching something like a DVD from Wonder Kids or something along those lines...
I don't let my kids listen to secular music not because I think it's all bad I just would rather them listen to songs that are about Jesus or will make their little minds think on good things! I love to see them worship. I thank God for stations like Air1.
For example my son loves to play Guitar Hero so instead of playing that we bought him Guitar Praise. (and NO I don't think you are bad if your child plays Guitar Hero.) I am just saying that in OUR (house, hotel or RV HA) I try my BEST to raise godly children.

I was reading Luke last night and I think a good set of rules to live by are:

Truth before Tradition

Serving before Spending

Loving before Lifestyle

Excepting before Accusing

I really gave all these much thought. They are up on the hotel fridge!
I had to really read over them and really think about what they mean. I think as Christians these are good rules to live by.


and one last thing...
I pray my kids will continue to be excited to talk about Jesus and spend time with Him.
My two oldest (age 8 and 10) have just completed the training of
D2BD
They are excited to get their dog tags in the mail and are up for the DARE and I couldn't be more proud.

Halloween Thoughts???

Last week we attended a fun pumpkin carving party....


No, Landen did not go dressed as Llyod from Dumb and Dumber that is just how he likes his haircut:(
What can I say?



here are some pictures and thoughts on Halloween.....

Growing up we never went trick or treating or dressed in anything "bad" or "scary". Instead on Halloween my mom always made costumes for us to dress in like Strawberry Shortcake or Superman for my brother etc (never forget that Halloween HA!). We still laugh at the video of my brother in tights. HAHAHA! We would always attend our Church Hallelujah night. We would play games based around bible stories and go home with lots of candy! They would play Christian music and we would all have a great time.

I now do this with my own kids...

Thinking nothing of it....

Dressing them up like a princess or a cowboy....

I only decorate the house (or hotel this year) in Fall like decor.

Never ghosts of witches etc.

Only pumpkins and leaves...

We love to go to the pumpkin patch and carve our pumpkins....

Roast the seeds...

And all the fun family traditions that go along with this time of year....

I love all the fun memories we have made as a family dressing up in family costume themes...

I do try to incorporate Bible lessons. (there are many good Christian books to read during Pumpkin carving etc)

BUT.......

lately I don't mean to be the party pooper.........

I just don't like this holiday and kind of feel convicted in letting my kids be a part of it.

As Christians are we compromising? Are we doing the things of this world?

I know the Bible doesn't speak directly about Halloween, but some biblical principles apply. One things is clear .....

all pagan practices are to be avoided.

Witchcraft, occult practices, sorcery, etc. are strictly forbidding in the Bible (Exodus 22:18; Acts 8:9-24; Acts 16, 19).

I know that dressing up our children in animal costumes or skeleton shirts (because my sons say God made our bones, it's not bad Mom to wear bone shirts!) It's obvious that wearing a superman costume (except for the fact you will get teased by your sisters forever)isn’t involving themselves with witchcraft, so what is a biblical stance on Halloween?

I guess it's a personal decision and it's up to us as parents and our own heart felt convictions. As a Christian do you celebrate Halloween? I'd love to hear your take on it. I think that if we as Christians decide Halloween is something fun for our children we should make sure they are kept far away from the evil aspects of Halloween. When believers participate and in anything (even Halloween), their attitudes, dress, and behavior should glorify Christ (Philippians 1:27)

I have a Christian friend who is letting her son dress as a soul taker??? Really trying to not be judgemental here...
She said but we don't trick or treat we just go to the Church.((yikes))

I thought Bianca's post on Halloween was great too!

In fact all her posts are great....especially her Friday Vlog posts! She answers questions from readers in a ask anything series...

like are tattoo's a sin?

at what point is shopping and fashion wrong?etc....

And she's proof that homeschoolers can grow up to be successful beautiful people not nerds that are scared to go outside the house HA:)

Worlds Strongest Daddy........

carries all 4 kids at once...

Wait....what's this we see???......

there's another one hanging on the back......

5 kids in all!

AMAZING!

Girl Talk

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you something....


What do you mean sis?


Our crazy parents are taking us on a road trip in just a couple weeks....

Lets pray they stop at Disney World....

Bucket Bath

Poor homeless children!

We live in the wheelchair accessible room (it was the biggest room the hotel had)
so there is no bath tub for the babies.
This good old bucket will have to do for now HA!

Just wanted to let you know I'm still alive just lots to do before we leave....

Born To Be Wild

No, I'm not talking about girls gone wild kind of wild. I'm talking about a different kind of wild. Not a bad wild but a good wild. I'm reading this book:

and doing the study guide that comes with it. This book is a must read for anyone who desires to live wildly different. (different for God)
So grab your cheetah print gear and start living the WILD life God has imagined for you. A life bigger and grander than you ever thought possible.

Another book that has really inspired me was Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I'm actually reading it again with my husband. After each chapter you can watch a short youtube video of him talk about that chapter. I just love Francis Chan...here's a small video that just shows a little bit of how crazy and wild he is......

Has anyone else read A Different Kind Of Wild or Crazy Love?


and now to the zoo pictures...
I took my 3 wild girls......

and my 2 wild boys...






to the San Diego Wild Animal Park
and we did some pretty wild things....
like go on an animal ABC hunt.


hide in a cave....


see how far we could jump....




I even tried to break out my triple jump skills from the good old track days...We won't post a picture of that.

we learned how certain animals hear....


we went in a huge bird cage and studied some birds....


pretended we were turtles.....

and took tons of pictures........












Just the fact that I had to be in San Diego by 9am (which is almost 2hrs away) to get in for $1.00 (with our homeschool group) was WILD.....ha!
I know this was a long post but be sure to stop the music and watch the video.