The Adventures of This Week...

"Lesson For The Day"

Today I was looking through my book Beautiful In God's Eyes and came across a thought that "hit home" HARD! The title of this particular chapter was "A Watchful Eye, Her Management". {This book is about the virtues of the Proverbs 31 Woman} Anyway, Elizabeth George reminds us of a good principle to remember when it comes to life in our homes. 'The people first, then the place'. She quotes a wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother by the name of Edith Schaeffer: "Neglected mothers and grandmothers may perhaps have been preparing for their own neglect by teaching over and over again that people's sensitive feelings, and people's need of response is never as important as clean houses, schedules, or rules and regulations." WOW!!! That is just what I needed to hear. As most of you know I am a little on the OCD side with the cleaning and scheduling so this is so me!!! God has been convicting me of my failure to "let it go and have some fun" and what-do-ya-know, He put it right here in this book just to remind me again! She goes on to say when you follow the precept, people first, place second, you'll always be focusing your energy in the right place-the place for maximum beauty!
It would all be so easy if God only expected us to have fun...but no, He expects us to balance the two-keep watch over the people and the home. So, for the second half of that responsibility, Elizabeth says this: "The woman who is beautiful in God's eyes makes sure her home is beautifully attended to." The joke that reports "Most homes nowadays seem to be on three shifts-Father is on the night shift, Mother is on the day shift, and the children shift themselves" must never be true in the beautiful home we are building for GOD!" Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys, but this is a tremendous challenge for me! So ladies, enjoy the beauty of serving in a little place, a little place...like home!

And...I had to share a picture {or two} of my sweet little man.

A New Hobby...

READING!!! Yes, I have started reading and actually enjoying it! This is a big surprise to myself because just a short while ago I would not read unless my life depended on it! I certainly didn't do it for fun. But... recently I have really gotten into this reading thing. I have been inspired by other blogs to "mix it up" a little, and I just thought I could maybe spark someone else's interest in slipping in a few minutes of reading during their VERY busy days of motherhood! I have found it to be extremely relaxing and enjoyable. So here are a few of my latest favorites...



These two books by Elizabeth George have been very good. They are easy reads and very applicable to our everyday lives. God has taught me numerous lessons about marriage and family through these books. The "lessons" have been an encouragement and a challenge! Another one of hers to add to the list is A Woman After God's Own Heart.

Thanks to my sweet friend Robin from Bible Study, I had the pleasure of reading this book. It is awesome!

This book was our "study guide" for our last Bible Study. If you haven't read it, trust me it is an "eye-opener"!

I am currently reading this one. So far, so good.

P.S. I meant to add The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. VERY GOOD!!

A Morning With the "Early Bird"

"Bye Bye, Mama. I'm going outside."

For some reason, God gave us a very early riser! John and I are both sleepers and we were not created to wake up really early. We believe everyone should get up at a reasonable hour but some days sleeping in would be nice. Well, I guess God thought we needed to be getting up at or before 6:00 a.m. EVERY morning! So, He gave us John Luke!!! This child will wake up at the same time no matter what time he goes to bed the night before or how tired his parents might be! We don't even have to set the alarm clock because we have a "human alarm clock" as John calls him. Some days we would love to pull the covers over our heads and pretend we don't hear the "rooster" but a 14 month old running free through the house could be a disaster!! Some mornings John will get John Luke out of his bed and put him in bed with us. Now, in the "perfect world" he would lay down with us and go back to sleep. But in the real world that NEVER happens! He is wide awake and ready to play from the moment his eyes pop open and he expects us to be just as energetic as he is. So, this particular morning I decided to get some pictures of what it's like to wake up with Mr. Early Bird. As you can see it never takes long for him to find the back door. He wants to go OUTSIDE!!! The positive side to all this is we are able to get LOTS of stuff accomplished before the day is even half over! No wasting the day away around here!!!

Happy Birthday Grandmother Dean

Grandmother Dean will be celebrating her 74th birthday this week so all the Jacobs crew got together Saturday at Aunt Gloria's. The picture is with all of her great-grandchildren. Kinda hard to get a good one with a 14 month old who never cooperates and a 6 1/2 month old who has had no nap all day! Happy Birthday Grandmother!!

Happy 4th of July!!!

"Need a Ride?" {John Luke and Caroline}

Max, the playful dog.

Sweet, Sweet Girls! {Catherine and Gracie Burgess}

{Shonna, Caroline, Me & John Luke, Michelle & Emmie, Christy, Gracie, & Catherine}

Today I had the pleasure of visiting with some "old" friends from highschool and college. Actually, we go back further than that...as far back as I can remember. I have not seen two of these girls in years. A few months ago we all got back in touch with each other through our blogs and e-mail. Christy {Christy Hinson Burgess} and Michelle {Michelle Dubose Hunter} were coming home to visit so we decided it would be a perfect time to get together. Me and John Luke and Shonna and Caroline met the other girls at Nikki's house {Michelle's sister...Thanks Nikki, for sharing your home}. The kids had a great time playing and I had a wonderful time catching up. Thanks girls for fantastic food and fun! Hopefully we'll see each other again before another 5 or 10 years! Good Luck Michelle on the baby and Christy your girls are precious!

Then tonight John and I took John Luke to the fireworks display.


Papa and Granny dressed in their patriotic colors.

This is how John Luke looked about 1/2 way through the fireworks show. {Result of NO nap!}

Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday Michelle! {July 5th}

Pink Strollers and Butterbeans...

Saturday night, Shonna and Jamey hosted a baby shower for Jeff and Katherine Hunt. John Luke and Caroline played the entire time. At some point, Caroline decided she would get her little pink stroller out. Well... John Luke 'took a liking' to her stroller but she did not appreciate this idea too much. Every time she took her hands off of it, he was right there to grab it. He wanted to push that stroller so bad. As you can see in the second picture, Caroline decided she would fix this problem. She gathered all her stuff up and took off with it! We had lots of fun watching these two play!(John may possibly kill me for putting this picture of John Luke with a pink stroller on here...

As most of you know, John Luke is not the best eater in the world. After seeing Maggie Ruth enjoy her healthy bananas, I decided I would share this video. Last night I cooked butterbeans with supper. I made enough for all three of us. When I recorded this John Luke was already on his 3rd helping. He did not stop until he had eaten the entire pot!! John and I did not complain. We were just happy he ate that much of something healthy and actually enjoyed it!!
Well, I just discovered this video is not working. I have had the most trouble getting this thing on here!! I guess I will try again later. Right now I am tired of fooling with it!!