Thank you Beth Moore

I think I have already told you that I have been studying Beth Moore's "Living Free" in my small group. Well this amazing woman of God has opened my heart and mind into seeing God in a completely new way, therefore, teaching me how to grow in my personal walk with Him. One of the main things I have been learning is how to use scripture as prayer. In one of our exercises we were to pick a verse and then pray that verse for however long. While looking at the different verses she had given us to choose from, I just so happened to come across Psalms 26. I felt like this passage went straight through me and tugged on my heart. This will be my prayer for the next week. I hope you find as much strength in it as I do.

Psalms 26
Vindicate me, O LORD, for I have walked in my integrity,
And I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
Examine me, O LORD, and try me;
Test my mind and my heart.
For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,
And I have walked in Your truth.
I do not sit with deceitful men,
Nor will I go with pretenders.
I hate the assembly of evildoers,
And I will not sit with the wicked.
I shall wash my hands in innocence,
And I will go about Your altar, O LORD,
That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving
And declare all Your wonders.
O LORD, I love the habitation of Your house
And the place where Your glory dwells.
Do not take my soul away along with sinners,
Nor my life with men of bloodshed,
In whose hands is a wicked scheme,
And whose right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
Redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on a level place;
In the congregations I shall bless the LORD.

Thank You, Lord, for Your Lovingkindness!

Photobooth Session

5 fabulous things

ive been tagged once again. my gorgeous and very creative friend roybn tagged me and now i get to tell you all about 5 things that i think are "fabulous" as of right now. well here it goes...

1. SCRAPBOOKING. i love being creative and my talents tend to come out in my scrapbooking or making other creative ditties such as thank you cards or gifts for my fabulous friends. it makes me happy!
2. WORKOUT PHENES. i have mucho respect and find a ton of encouragement from people who work out A LOT! stephanie philp being one of them. stephanie...i think you are fabulous!
3. RYAN & JACKSON. the 3 year old boys i nanny. i am always on my toes with these little characters. for instance, this morning they disappeared and when i went to try and find them i found them in their older sister's room....in her clothes!!! i looked at jackson and said "what are you doing?" his response was simple and innocent: "ryan and i wanted to play dress up" (pictures to follow!) they truly looked fabulous!
4. FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI. if you havent heard of her she is an absolutely fabulous singer! check her out on iTunes! you will not be disappointed.
5. YELLOW. it is my favorite color and reminds me of summer...which is right around the corner! YAY! yellow is going to be totally IN this summer just wait and see :)

How I spent my Monday...

Oceanside is my ABSOLUTE favorite place in the whole wide world. I love it!! I don't know what I love more-the part that it is at the beach or that it is shared between our family. Today it is gorgeous and I could NOT have asked for a better, more beautiful day. A day filled with some of my favorite things: the sun, the beach, a great book (I eventually got sucked into the Twilight phenomenon...THANKS a lot Kel!), diet coke, and TANNING.

I also got to spend my quiet time laying on the beach while soaking up all the sunny goodness. It makes me appreciate things in my life so much more when I am outside surrounded by the Lord's creations. I LOVE this study I'm doing with some friends of mine called "Living Free" by Beth Moore. It is definitely stretching me and my relationship with the Lord and allowing me to explore myself in ways I could have never imagined. It has also been uncovering different areas of my life that I have needed to work on and then bringing healing to those areas. It's almost like an infected wound that you try to hide then reluctantly allowing a professional doctor to dress the wound, no matter how badly it hurts, so that it can heal properly. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for taking away the sting of my wounds and being my healer :)

BATH TIME!

My favorite part of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays is.....BATH TIME!

Tagged.

So I was tagged! Thank you so much Mrs. Guard I truly appreciate it. I have to write 7 quirks or interesting things about myself. I have a feeling it might take me a while to think of some but here it goes!

1) I have to eat small items of food on both sides of my mouth. For instance, if I chew a Skittle on the left side of my mouth I have chew a Skittle on the right side of my mouth as well. And if someone gives me three Skittles, they MUST take one away, give me one more, or I usually just bite it down the middle so I have 2 halves. Weird I know, but true oh so true.

2) I like fountain drinks WAY better than soda in a glass cup or can. It just tastes better in a fountain drink. To me, there IS seriously a difference.

3) When I place a new roll of toilet paper in the bathroom I have to place it in such a way that the paper comes off the top of the roll and not from the bottom. I know...SO weird!

4) For a while I wanted to have 5 girls and have their names be Lacy, Macy, Stacy, Tracy, and Kacy. Hahahaha. Thank God that phase is OVER.

5) I am a half-identical twin. YES. I AM A HALF-IDENTICAL TWIN (or semi-identical). There IS such a thing and I ALWAYS have to explain it so here is a quick definition for you blog readers. A half-identical twin is when one egg drops and splits into two and then those two eggs are fertilized by two different sperm. So we have 50% of the genetic makeup from our mother and different percentages of genetic makeup from our father. My mom calls us her "little mutants."

6) I LOVE SHOES. Not only do I love shoes but I love shoes when they makes that clicking noise. Just something about the sound makes me feel good.

7) This last one is written by my mom: "If you want Alyssa to HEAR what you are saying AND follow through with it, make sure you see that she is looking at you with her baby poop colored eyes and focusing on what you are telling her. You might even want her to repeat your words back to you just so you know she heard what you said." I have a problem with focusing. I can only focus on one thing at a time, especially if I am 1) watching tv, 2) on the phone, talking or texting, and 3) on the computer. My mom says she was like that until she had twins. I hope it doesnt take twins to make me focus.

Now its my turn...I tag Katelin, Shauna, Jocey, Schuyler and Kelly. Have fun!!

FINALLY!!

So I have been having some MAJOR issues with my laptop! I learned from the amazing people who work at the GENIUS BAR that I have a hard drive problem so I will have to fork over the mula and send off my computer for 2+ weeks. I FINALLY got my computer to stay on long enough to back up some files on my external hard drive so now I will have the ability to download some pictures from some major events that happened in the month of October. October was for sure a completely CRAZY month and I have the pictures to show for it! Look forward to FINALLY seeing some new blog posts ASAP!

PS...Kelly is still in Europe and I have been missing her like CRAZY! SEESTER--I miss you and I hope you are having a beyong amazing time in Europe. Have fun in Austria on the "Sound of Music" tour...(Dad and I were reading your blog today and OR COURSE he started singing so I joined him...I know you miss our singing!) I LOVE YOU KEL! Come home soon :)