Sunday Snapshot~ Prayers that Avail Much

I have a book called Prayers That Avail Much by Germaine Copeland. My mom was introduced to the Prayers that avail much years ago when she was growing, learning and stretching her faith. My mom gave me a copy of the 25th addition several years ago. Sometimes, when I just don't know how to pray anymore, or I just need some scripture on a certain thing I'm praying about, I refer to that book. My book has lost it's cover, has quite a few markings in the margins, dates where I've claimed this and that, it's a very loved book. There's nothing like praying God's word back to Him. His word does not return void. ( Isaiah 55:11).

I recently signed up for word ministries (the ministry of the author of Prayers that avail much) email/and twitter prayers and each day I receive a little prayer for the day on my phone. And usually those little email prayers are just what I needed for the day. Today's prayer was one of those needed prayers. It was about destiny...So I am claiming it for myself, my family and my friends. Want you join me in claiming this powerful prayer for you and yours?




DESTINY

Walk in your destiny trusting the Father God to direct your pathway. All things are possible to him who believes, and God has promised that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. God is your Strength and you are self-sufficient in Christ's sufficiency (Philippians 4:13). With God all things are possible.

PRAYER OF AFFIRMATION

Though some trust in chariots (riches) and some in horses (materials things), I will remember the name of the Lord, my God. You shall cause me to be as Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken or moved off course, and I shall walk in paths you have ordained for me. LORD, you surround me from this time forth and forever. In Jesus' name, I will reach the destination you have charted for me, Father, bringing great glory to your kingdom. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Psalm 20:7; Psalm 125:1

©2012 Word Ministries, Inc.

I will be claiming that prayer for these folks pictured here...plus a whole lot of other family and friends too.

Join me over at my blog this week for a giveaway ...

It's time for another SPARK give-away!

Last month I hosted a SPARK give away on the blog! Since the give-a-way was a hit, and I was able to introduce many of you to SPARK as well as to the 24 Day Challenge, I wanted to give away another box of SPARK this month. This month's winner will receive a box of 14 pouches of Mango Strawberry Spark.

shopping4advocare.com

JUST WHAT IS SPARK???

AdvoCare Spark Energy Drink is a unique multi-nutrient system that was developed as a nutritional source of energy and enhanced mental focus.* It’s a sugar-free drink mix that has more than 20 vitamins, minerals and nutrients that work synergistically to provide a healthy, balanced and effective source of energy that won’t overburden or overstimulate your body like other energy drinks on the market.* This amazing product serves as an all-in-one solution that gives you a quick boost of energy that lasts for hours.

Recently, my  friend since childhood, Tammye  is currently in the middle of her 24 day challenge. She likes the products so much she has signed on as a distributor. This is what she has to say about Advocare and the challenge:

"I just want to say that along with all of my wonderful weight loss over the last 11 days, now up to 21lbs, I have been free of all my Fibromyalgia pain for just as long. I have an appointment with my Rheumatologist on Monday and I am playing the conversation and his reaction in my head when I tell him I want to try to stop taking all of my fibro meds (of course, I kinda already have..ooops!!)... I am TOTALLY in love with Advocare and the quality of life it has given back to me!! I have not gone completely pain free in 13 years, so 11 days is a miracle even if the pain comes back tomorrow!"

TO ENTER THE FREE SPARK GIVE-A-WAY...SIMPLY LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG SAYING ENTER ME! (that will enter you once in the drawing) NEVER HAD A SPARK SAMPLE? LEAVE A 2nD COMMENT saying SPARK ME! Share this blog entry on your facebook gets you a 3rd entry...Follow my blog gets you a 4th entry.

Thanks for participating in this month's give-a-way....

Winner announced on the blog on FeB. 1st.

Let me see what cha got?

Shek is not only the comedian in the family, but he is the sporty one too. He always wants to watch sports on tv, play sports games on the ds, wii...etc. He even commentates everything  in life and I do mean everything. Imagine life with a comedian sports commentator, commentating every detail in daily life. It's funny let me tell ya.  Every year he plays soccer in a church league, and he has played tball before, but it's been awhile since he has played more than one sport in a year. BUT this year, he wanted to give baseball a shot, so we agreed.

Yesterday, was the sports evaluation at the fields. There were all kinds of folks out there, boys, girls and grown ups. There were stressed moms on their cells, telling the dads, "you shoulda been here, to tell him what to do, he has missed every ball!" Then there were moms like me who were freezing, cause we forgot to bring a jacket.   And there were nervous kids hungry kids, impatient kids, and tired kids. There was a lot of nervous energy at the church fields.

 Anyway, there they all stood in the dugout, waiting for their name to be called so that they could show their stuff. I give um all props as they say, because, being a musical person, when I had my tryouts, at least I was evaluated by a couple of band directors in an office with out everyone in the world looking on...Can you imagine?

Anyway, I brought my camera along, because naturally this had all the makings of  a blog post. BUT, my boy, knowing that I brought my camera along, wasn't all grins, smiles and poses. He dodged my few attempts at taking photos. So, being the only momma out there with a camera and not wanting to embarrass my boy anymore than normal....I tried taking photos on the sly....and these are the lovely shots I came home with...some  blurry, but I have them saved for the memories, right? Memories of Shek's 4th grade school year when he was the ripe old age of 10.

" Yes, Momma, I know you have the camera, but I'm not about to look at you."

 Momma says, "Fine, I'll take a picture of your back then!"

 He was wearing his whatever shirt from wildolivetees

 Catch

Reporting to the coach with the clipboard.

 In the dug out.

 Pitcher's mound

Batter up!
Before too long, we will be hearing, PLAY BALL!

The Princesses are in the HOUSE

Jolie has a thing about the Disney Princesses. Not that she's really watched one of the movies straight through, yet, but she likes them none the less. She has the princesses on her pullups. There's two designs, one with 3 princesses, and one with just Cinderella. On the pulllups, Cinderella looks to have reddish hair although I thought she was blonde. Anyway, yesterday, during our daily trip to Kroger, or at least it seems like we end up in Kroger daily, she happened to spot the spaghetti o's with who on the label? The princesses! SO she had to have them. Since she loves anything with noodles, I let her get them, although spaghetti o's have never been a family favorite. In fact, when we got to the car, she had to have them out of the bag, she had to hold them in her lap on the way home. Later, we had to take Karlie to the dentist, and would you believe, the can of spaghetti-o's had to come too? I did at least talk her into leaving them in the car before we went inside the dentist office! LOL

It was a late dentist appointment, and we were having our Chinese New Year Celebration, and everyone was coming over. I was busy trying to get those dumplings cooked before everyone arrived...etc etc etc....BUT she was all about eating those spaghetti o's. I told her that we would have them later, because we were about to have some of her favorites, won ton soup, chicken low mein...she wasn't buying it...she wanted them NOW. Somehow we got her distracted. AND I didn't have to serve up a side of spaghetti o's on Chinese New Year.

BUT after Supper, Jolie found her can again and had to show Gam. And this is what we found out!

She had been telling Gam about the Princesses on the can. So I grabbed the camera to document this cute discovery. Come to find out the one on the left is Momma, the one in the middle she says is "ME-uh" meaning her, and the one on the right is Karlie. Well, that would make me Cinderella. That's right folks, I am Cinderella in my daughter's eyes, not bad!....If you remember, Cinderella appears to have reddish hair on her pullups so I can understand her reasoning. AND Cinderella is so slim and beautiful and all...Doesn't she have me pegged? lol The Princess on the right is Belle. Dark long hair...looks just like Karlie, then the one in the middle is Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog. She picked the darker princess to match her.  Smart cookie isn't she?

We are discovering our celebrity status as Jolie tells Gam who is who.

Here we are pictured on the can, That would be from left to right: Mom, Jolie and Karlie. Are you needing to see some real life princesses...Well come to our house, where the princesses are not just on the can.

We are after all, daughters of the King.

Happy Chinese New Year

新年快乐

xin nian kuai le

Today is the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Today, after Karlie's geography class, we all came home and did a mini-Chinese New Year  unit study. We read about Chinese New Year celebrations in China as well as the one in China town NYC. I decided to let Jolie wear one of her silks today. I let her chose either the blue or the pink. She chose the blue, but she's already outgrown it. So, she wore the pink, even on our errands to the grocery store and to Karlie's dentist. She was quite festive in our travels today. I decided to take a few photos of her. She wore her red one for our family Chinese new year celebration. Here she is with some tangerines.  

These were snapped with my phone and posted with instragram. I just love the filters that I can play with right on my phone.

The serious look...

A little CHeesY grin

A little sass...or let's call it spunk...momma don't allow any sass around here! LOL

This is the year of the Dragon!

I was born in the year of the goat and so was my hubby.

We made our own Chinese New Year Decor. Today we learned/reviewed some Chinese New Year facts:

Chinese New year is a very important holiday in China. It is celebrated in Late January to early February depending on the year.Children are given red envelopes containing money.

Oranges, tangerines, and persimmons should be served. Oranges symbolize luck.

Houses should be decorated in red gold and orange.

 Chinese New year starts on a New Moon and ends with the Lantern festival on the full moon 15 days later.

Since it's the year of the Dragon...Shek went to his treasure chest and brought out a lot of his China treasures purchased last year while we were in China. His little wooden knife has a dragon on it. He also brought out his hand painted fan from the Yellow Crane Tower, and our little statue from the Yellow Crane Tower is there as well. We decorated with tangerines too...and who knew...but our red dining room is in perfect Chinese New Year Decor. 

After school, we headed to the store to get some items for Chinese dumplings. I found a recipe on dashingdish it was very yummy. I made these, but we ordered Chinese take out from our favorite Chinese restaurant, and invited Gam, Pop and Honey too. 

 Jolie changed into her fancy red silks. When Karl got home, he looked at Jolie and said why are you so dressed up? she said I don't know. We all laughed.  Gam brought her handcrafted red bag and filled with a tiny orange and candy. Jolie shared the candy with her sibs.

 Here's the finished dumplings. I made some triangle shaped and tried to fold the others like the won ton package said to fold them. This was probably not an authentic recipe, but they were yummy...just ask Zach. He kept snagging them as fast as I could take them out of the pan.

 Our Chinese New Year Dinner~

won ton soup, chicken low mein, sesame chicken, rice, and dumplings.

 Jolie's treat bag

Jolie wen wen

Just one more photo of a sweet baby girl

 Our Decor

This was my fortune in my cookie. I don't believe in luck and fortunes, but I do like to crack open those cookies just as much as the kids do. 

Our first Chinese New Year with Jolie was really fun.

Happy Chinese New Year to you and yours.

Nimrod and flu-like symptoms?

This past Wednesday night, Zach called us as he drove home from church. He usually calls the house phone, you know the one attached to the wall  and  hardly rings anymore, because everyone now has a phone on our hip. Karlie says, why does he call the home phone when we would answer quicker if he called  a cell. I said, beats me. She said something like does he think we're amish or something....I chuckle and think yeah,...those amish love those landline phones in their homes. BUT I digress from the story. He called to say how he had the chills, he felt feverish, he ached all over, and was just miserable, and would dad please get him some wonton soup, and help him get his guitar and stuff out of the car when he got home.

A photo of Zach when he was a little under the weather

SO, he came in all miserable, wanting blankets etc. I said how did you make it at church, How did you lead worship in this state? I asked, why didn't you just come home? He said, Well, mom, I had a responsibility. Apparently he waited till getting home to totally let his guard down, and act as bad as he felt.  Karlie said why is he acting like that? I said, he feels bad.

So, Dad, helped him with his stuff, and got him some won ton soup. Zach was afraid Jolie would eat it all up, she's all about noodles, not only chinese noodles, but she's pretty partial to Progresso chicken noodle soup as well. She did have to have her own little taste of his soup.

Karlie said he better not give me this sickness...and what do you know, but 2 mornings later she has it. She feels miserable, wants the blanket, etc...and Zach seems to be feeling fine except his voice is not back to normal yet.

 So, now Karlie is calling Zach a NIMROD, for giving her his sickness. I decided to look up Nimrod. I thought it was someone in the Bible and I wanted to know exactly what that name meant. So having a homeschooling teachable moment, I looked it up and this is what the Urban dictionary has to say. I think Karlie likes the #2 definition, but the #1 definition is nicer...

nimrod

1. A mighty hunter. Now chiefly used in this sense outside the United States. 2. A slow-witted person. The Bible ONLY mentions that Nimrod was a son of Cush, the founder of Babylon, and a mighty hunter. Curiously enough, Dictionary.com attests definition 2 to have derived from a Looney Toons episode, wherein Bugs Bunny mocks his adversary, the hunter Elmer Fudd, calling him a "poor little Nimrod". Warner Brothers' Looney Toons cartoons were not written for children, but for literate adults, and often contained literary references children would not understand. Younger generations, mostly illiterate, and having little or no Bible knowledge not gleaned from their moronic parents and half-wit talk radio hosts, probably misunderstood the comment as being a general insult describing the slow-witted Fudd. Probably from the phrase “poor little Nimrod,” used by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny to mock the hapless hunter Elmer Fudd. I thought that was an interesting, especially the part about children being illiterate and not knowing the Bible to understand why Elmer Fudd was called a Nimrod.  Well, there has been a little sniffly, sneezing, and  achy feelings going on around here, but there are no Nimrod symptoms here.

Love yo momma

This momma needs hugs

Here's some love from my kiddos captured with the camera over the years ...

Karlie and I both have the squint/blink problem when photos are taken. If it's not me with the eyes shut, it's karlie...It was my turn in this photo.

baby sugar~slobbery baby kisses are the best

A squeeze from the Shekster is always pretty cool!

Here's an old photo of zach and me.

A momma and her babies...pretty sweet!

Before and After

We've been using Advocare products since late November...We think we look better,  and we certainly feel a lot better. 

Would you like to feel better? I can tell you how.

Msg me

@

berrybliz

Before Advocare...

Really tired and really jiggly

Zach's before photo taken on day 1 of the 24 Day Challenge

Karl and Martha After....

zach's after shot

After taking Advocare products...

We've lost

Karl 15 lbs...and and 12 inches and still losing

Martha lost 10 lbs. and 10 in. and still losing.

Zach ...lost 20 lbs and 15 inches and still losing..

We are not tired anymore. We are a whole lot less jiggly...and getting less jiggly by the day.

Want you join us?

Check it out. www.shopping4advocare.com

Little girls and lipstick...

The girls at my house like make-up. Jolie watches Karlie and me apply all of our lipstick, moisturizers and such and wants to do it all too. Sometimes she does her make-up all by herself.  I caught her yesterday, sitting at the mirror in my bathroom, in my makeup bag, applying away. I grabbed my camera...and took a few photos. Karlie and I wonder why we keep losing our makeup, we find it in the oddest places around the house...because Jolie has been using it....

 Jolie sits in the makeup chair that was in Honey's old house. I remember Honey sitting in this same chair getting ready to go to town to run errands when I was a girl. When Honey sold her house and moved here, she gave me her makeup chair. Sweet memories it has.

 everyone needs a little blush

 Lipstick!

 I think lipstick is Jolie's favorite makeup of choice.

 Sweet reflection...

A little  lipstick coloring outside the lines... 

Sugar and spice and everything nice, a little lipstick

 and little girls...gotta love it.

My Sweet Hubby

God blessed me with the best hubby ever...I know everyone says that about their hubby, but I speak the truth.  This June we will celebrate 22 years of wedded bliss~we dated 5 years before that. Since we got married when we were 22 and 23 years old...we've been together more than we've been apart when you count the courting days. 

We had our pictures made the other day. Most of them were taken by Karlie and Shek, but the photos of just Karl were taken by me, his sweet wife. Here's some of just Karl.

I am thinking he rocks the bald head and the denim jacket...he's one cool dude, cool daddy, cool hubby.

We are blessed.