New Bible Study - Romans

Oooooooo I am so excited my friend Jenilee and I are going to be doing a new bible study this March on my favorite book of the Bible, Romans. It is going to be fantastic or as some of the kids in our youth group may say, "It's going to be Epic!" hahaha It will be very fun to dig into one of my favorites.

Grab our cutie, cute button and join us. (I took the picture with my new camera...love) Join us for the whole month, join us for a week, join us for a day; I am sure you will love it. Make sure you check out my friend Jenilee's thoughts. It is fun to see what God is showing each of s.

Join us March 1st for and "Epic" Bible study of Romans!
GET JOY!

Romans 1, part 1 "Living and Breathing Faith"
Romans 1, part 2 "Deserving of God's Wrath"
Romans 2 part 1, Only One Really Judges!
Romans 2 part 2, The State of Our Hearts!
Romans 3,part 1 - We Are All Sinners!
Romans 3, part 2 - Are We Without Hope?!
Romans 4, part 1 The Joy of Faith!
Romans 4, part 2 - I Love You, Lord!
Romans 5, part 1- Great Hope, Great Love, Great Gifts
Romans 5, part 2 - The Tale of Two Men!
Romans 6, part 1 - Dead to Sin...Alive to God!
Romans 6, part 2 - Slaves to Righteousness.
Romans 7, part 1- Two Marriages!
Romans 7, part 2 - Good VS. Evil
Romans 8, part 1- Life in the Spirit
Romans 8, part 2 - More Than Conquerors
Romans 9, part 1- Loving the Lost
Romans 9, part 2 -Of Pots And Mugs
Romans 10, part 1- How To Get Saved!
Romans 10, part 2 - Beautiful Feet
Romans 11, part 1 - The Family of God
Romans 11, part 2 - Oh the Depth!
Romans 12, part 1- True Worship & God's Will
Romans 12, part 2 - BE 3 and Get Joy!
Romans 13, part 1 - Live Blameless
Romans 13, part 2 - ahhhhhh.... In The Presence
Romans 14, part 1 - Personal Convictions
Romans 14, part 2 - Critical of Others
Romans 15, part 1 - Hope for All
Romans 15. part 2 - Passion for Missions
Romans 16 - My Greetings!

Bonus:
He Fails Us Not!

Freeing the Fat Friday - New Beginnings

God's Lessons for Me
One thing of a thousand things that amaze me about God that there are always new beginnings in Him. I have been on a hiatus from having a proper relationship with my food. There has been adverse effects of it too, my acid reflux has been simply miserable. Thank goodness that we can always pick up from where we left off and for unexpected help.

I have been meaning to get back on the eating right wagon for a few weeks now...and then I got a much needed phone call from my sister. She wanted us to start holding each other accountable everyday for every piece of food that went into our mouths...Yikes! So thanks to sparkspeople.com I think we are doing pretty good. We look at each others food chart everyday. For the last five days we both have been sticking to our low calorie life change.

I love how God just works things out to help and guide us. If we need help, He provides it...in very unique ways. His help is not always what we expect it to be sometimes; but when He does grab a hold of it and run with it. This morning when I stepped on the scale I saw that little red line go under the number I have not been able to get under for years. God is faithful.

Meals for the Week
I am using the Sparks People website for help. What a gem of a site...thanks to my dear friend Gail who introduced it to me. I am such a terrible calorie counter and this just takes all that pressure away from me. I put in what I ate and it calculates it all for me. It tracks my goals, give me charts and graphs, monitors my water intake, checks my exercise amount and even tracks my goal of letting diet coke go. Can you tell how much I love it????

Five days + 1,200 calories = Success!

Exercise
I have come to find out that I love variety. I can't stick with one thing because my very nature seems to rebel against the "same old thing". So this week I am trying to get all the highest scores on my daughter's Just Dance Kids....terrible I know....but very motivating. We will see what next week will be????


Food's Favorite Friends
Have you tried the Kraft Mayo made with olive oil! I love it! It is half the fat and half the calories and taste great in my opinion.

My sister also introduced me to plain Greek yogurt that taste like sour cream and 6oz is 80 calories and O fat.....I am going to sing that now..."ZERO FAT"!
So, check those out and see if they help you in your eating healthy efforts!

Life Challenge
Keep On Keeping On

Next Week
I will write about my brief eating disorder and what I learned.


GET JOY!

My Hubby the Blogger!

My hubby has started a blog!!!! I can hardly believe it! It is a blog for our youth group. On Wednesday Nights my husband has a question and answer night with the kids called Random. The kids are free to ask any question that they have....any question...silly or serious! It can get pretty intense in there; kids have a lot of questions about serious topics. Sometimes the questions are silly; but most of the time these students have serious topics that they want to know more about.

So, If you have a teen or will someday have a teen check out the blog and see what topics they are facing. My husband gives excellent answers with a biblical response. Go on check it out, click on the logo, follow him....maybe there are even some questions as a adults we may need answers for there. GET JOY!

The Making of Cheese!

Every time my sister comes to visit, we always come up with something very strange to do....today it is making cheese. However, the recipe says fresh milk from a grass feed cow will taste best. So we figured with all these farmers around surely these city girls could find some milk from a cow. Hey, we were even willing to milk the cow ourselves. We got in the car and started our quest for fresh moo juice.
We tried the local Farm Market first....No Luck!

We thought maybe some of the Amish, that live in our area, must sell milk! So we decided to take a drive deep into Amish land here in northern Michigan. Just a side note....I love this picture, I took while sitting in the back seat of our cruising car. Fantastic, I didn't even know there was a Amish guy walking on the road until I saw the picture.....Perfect.

Here is the Amish country store a couple miles from my house....Maybe they sell milk????!!!!

Doing a little shopping of course...peaches....pitcher....

No milk...but Mrs. Yoder gave us hope!

We were impressed with her wood pile ...I had to take a picture.

So off to the neighbors who, to our dismay, only sold eggs. I wish I had bought some. However, he sent us to another home a few miles away...but no luck....still no milk.

After talking to a friend, many hours later and $5 bucks

SUCCESS!

she only charged 2.50 but we couldn't do that, good grief she was going to milk a cow for us on the spot and in the cold. My hubby and I sat in our car on a Amish farm and waited for Mariam to milk a gallon for us. John and I just laughed as we sat waiting...oh the things we do sometimes.

These were our amish purchases today...very fun! Thanks Mrs. Alma Yoder, Mariam Beechey and her cow for a very fun adventure!

Now for some fresh homemade cheese.....

Oh my, Jen and I fell in love with the cheese, it was sooooo good. So good in fact, that I did even see my sister kiss the cheese. LOL

What a cheesy story.....GET JOY!

In 35 Years...

1. I learned how to play the piano
2. Joined Girl Scouts
3. Played on a softball team in 8th grade
4. Played flute in band
5. Had braces
6. Learned to swim
7. Learned how to play the hammer dulcimer
8. Competed in the Fine Arts Festival at the national level
9. Placed in a few art fairs
10. Survived a major car accident
11. Went to only three schools my entire life including college
12. Have been to 31 states and plan to add two more this summer
13. Was a cheerleader
14. Gone on two mission trips
15. Became a follower of Jesus Christ
16. Was baptized
17. Filled with the Holy Spirit
18. Called into ministry
19. Went to Bible College
20. Become a minister
21. Got married to the most fantastic man on the planet
22. Became a mommy 3 times
23. Learned to love to write
24. Worked as a daycare worker, a burger joint, Bath and Body works, receptionist, pottery assistant, dishwasher and art/music teacher.
25. Learned to love photography
26. Learning the art of gardening
27. Enjoyed and enjoying 14 years of ministry
28. Going to celebrate 15 years of marriage this year
29. Became the proud owner of a dog.
30. a few fish
31. and a hedge hog
32. Became a fond reader of classic books
33. Seen 9 Broadway Musicals
34. Falling more and more in Love with Jesus everyday
35. Learning to Get Joy with every breath.

GET JOY!




Oh I had a wonderful Birthday with my family. We went to watch my daughter play basket ball and then went out to dinner. I loved my presents: a side table from Ikea, kitchen shelves and some clothes from my hubby; Godiva, money, pitcher and a beautiful book from my parents; vintage spice jars from my sister; and the most fantastic shoes from the kids. I am blessed and I am truly loved! Here are some pictures from the day....

The Deed Is Done!

Around our house when you turn 8 you are old enough to have your ears pierced.

Today, she turned 8! She was so brave, she didn't even cry. What a trooper!!!

Look at her wonderful daddy holding her hand, Awwwwwwww.

All smiles, she can not wait to show all her friends at school tomorrow....how fun!
She gives me such joy.
Thank you Lord for such a sweet blessing!

Get JOY!

Wednesday's Walk~ An Ear Piercing

This post is in honor of my daughter who is going to attempt to have her ears pierced this week.

Have you ever seen that scene from the Parent Trap (the new one) were the one twin has to pierce the other twins ear? I laugh every time I see that scene because that is exactly what I did to one of my friends at camp when I was in eighth grade. When I think about my one and only piercing experience I amazed that I even attempted such a thing.

First things first, we got our supplies together. Some how we got a potato and ice from the kitchen, my only guess is that it was a baked potato from dinner. The needle came from a sewing kit one of us had. Believe it or not one of us had rubbing alcohol to clean the needle. My piercing victim, Sara, even had a stud with her.

In our little camp cabin at FAHOLO, I got elected to do the piercing because all the other girls were chicken I guess. To be honest I was a little nervous myself. This becomes evident a li

ttle later in the story. We iced up her ear and it was now time to do the deed.

She was lying down on her bed...eyes squeezed shut. I remember all the girls talking and giving instructions as I came at her with the needle. hehehehe I positioned the needle and started and she screamed! Her scream startled me and I stopped.

I shuttered when I realized that I wasn't all the way through. She told me to stop and I said, "You can't have a half pierced ear!" I then did not hesitate and pushed the needle the rest of the way. One ear pierced.... Accomplished! However, she would not let me do the other one. Hahahahahahaha

Anyway, my daughter recently said, "I could pierce her ears!" I simply replied, "NO WAY!"

I did wonder about my friend, Sara. Did she remember this traumatic event in her life? Did she still have the piercing? I wondered.....and wrote her a message and here was her response....

"Ha! I remember that! The hole is still there, but not in the best location and I have not used it because it's my third hole in the left ear. Not into wearing more than one set of earrings these days ;-)So your piercing job did go good! But..., why wouldn't she want to get it done at a place where it's quick!? Ha! Hope it goes well for her."

She is having it done tomorrow...I am sure I will blog about it. ; )

GET JOY!

She is 8!

Ahhhhh they never stop growing, another year gone. If there was a way of keeping them 8 forever.

(I blogged about the party plans here)

We had a yummy make your own sub sandwich dinner.

A wonderful time with best friends...

Cake time...make a wish!

Showing off their mighty fine dance skills...hillarious!

They had fun painting their faces!

I loved the way my kitchen table looked when they were done...I had to grab a picture of it. It is a sign of things to come.

Before you know it they have grown up much faster than you thought they would. I love you my sweet baby girl! Happy 8th Birthday! Everyday you help me ....GET JOY!

Pinkapurplelicious

My daughter is turning 8 and she decided to have a .....

Decorations are up...

The table is set....

The cake is made...

(There are four layers of cake inside each a different shade of pink and purple..just use white cake mix and food coloring)

The fun party favors are ready!

( I love Target, the buckets and pen I got in the dollar spot)

Crafty Project!!!

One Beautiful 8 year old Girl!

Love You!

Wednesday's Walk~ Snowzilla 2011

One of our favorite things about our home is that after a snow storm the school plows their snow from the parking lot into our yard....some may think that is a nightmare but for my kids it is a snowmiracle. A special shout out to our neighbors, "Thanks Steve for bringing your snow plow over and helping us remove a 2 1/2 ft drift out out of our drive way!" Oh and a BIG Thanks to the school plow guys for not plowing any of that snow into our drive way...they are awesome! A perfect snow day for my kiddos. Hot chocolate and warm chocolate chip cookies to come after lunch...yum..good day, good day! Yeah!

I love living in Northern Michigan! ......well sometimes!

Jenilee at The Goodwin Family is hosting Wednesday's Walk.