The Harvest is plentiful

About a month ago Matt and I were out running and we decided to stop and look at some blackberry bushes that were along the way.
The berries were still mostly green. A few red ones but over all very small and very green. We have been to this little honey hole about 4 times a week to harvest our berries and boy have we hit the mother load!!

The past couple of weeks we have really stored up the berries. We have a freezer full and have given away lots of them! I made a blackberry cobbler and we have eaten several!!:) They are sooo sweet and so yummy! The girls love going and it has been such a fun little family outing each week!! Matt an I stay scratched up from all the thorns! But it's worth it for these beauties!!:)

What a fun memory for Matt and I with our girls. We pray they will remember us spending time together as a family picking blackberries in the summer!!:).

Blissful weekend with amazing friends...

This past weekend some of our very best friends came to spend a few days with us!  We try to get together with Taylor and Meagan a couple times a year.  Once we go to their home, and then they come here in the fall for a Razorback football game.  This year, very last minute, we decided we could not wait any longer to see them so they booked a flight here from Virginia.  Boy did we have a blast!

The weekend was cut a little short because Tay and Meg had the "privilege" of staying the night in the DFW airport due to weather.  We picked them up a day late but that did not slow us down!  We began the weekend eating  lunch, and then we headed to the Lake.  If you have not been to Echo Canyon at lake Quachita you need to book yo-self a trip.  It is so relaxing.  The Restaurant is fabulous and has a super view.
We stayed at the house boat which is so relaxing.  We lounged on rafts, skiied, tubed, road the jet ski's, we laughed a lot, talked, got caught up and just had a blast.  It was so much fun.

We got up Sat morning and headed to breakfast with another friend!  We ate and shopped for a little bit.  Then we headed to our little "honey hole" (at the cemetery) and picked blackberries. It was so fun.  Matt and I have been picking blackberries every other day (we have had a ball checking on the berries) and we knew there would be lots to pick that day.   It was so fun to have them to help us!  I will never pick blackberries again without thinking about you guys!:)

Saturday afternoon was LAZY.   Meagan and I did a little couponing (scored some serious deals) at WAGS while the guys napped with the girls.  We got home and started whipping up all the fixins (yes I said "fixins") for the fish fry.  It.was. SO.GOOD!!

We got up Sunday and headed up the Hill to take them to the airport.  We hit up a pizza joint and the promenade and made our way to XNA.  It's always sad to see them leave again, but we are so thankful for a friendship that is so close that we pick up right where we left off!  Blessed to call them friends!

We are already looking forward to November when we will see them again!  This time we will travel to them!!:)

Love you guys and thanks for a wonderful weekend!!

 

Loving life...

Boy was I so excited for school to be out this year.  I missed my little girl every day and I have so loved having her home the past couple of weeks.  She has loved it too!

Girls day with my sweetie!

Silly Bella Grace. 

We are making the most of summer 2012.  We have been busy little bees.  Gotten to go to the lake several times, date nights, snow cones, bonfire roasting marshmallows and making smores, VBS, lunch dates with my sweeties, the park, picnics at home, painting, pintrest projects and much more.  So much fun already and summer has just begun.  I am soaking. In.every. second!

Here are a few pics of the last few weeks!  

Just a Saturday doing her babies hair.

A fun day at the lake.  In their happy place.

Date nights with my man.  Sure am thankful God chose us for to walk through this life together.
Sweet, sweet sisters.

Thanking God that His mercies are new every morning... and that a new sunrise brings a new day full of new blessings, new struggles, and lasting memories.  His faithfulness and His love cover me daily.  Blessed....

End of the year activities...

With Alyssa finishing up school a few weeks ago we have been on the go with activities and just pure fun-ness.  Yes I am fully aware that is most likely not a word!!:)

Alyssa started softball this year.  IF you know Matt and I at all, you know we are uber competitive.  I mean a little too the crazy degree.  We had to stop playing Co-Ed softball because it  just wasn't going to be good for our testimony. :) Well our daughter wanted to play softball this year (kind-of) so we signed her up!  Stoked could not explain my excitement.  I loved softball.  It was pretty much my life from the time I was 5 till I was in high school!  So I just  KNEW she was going to love it as much as I did.  HAHA!!
This was what she came out in for her first game!!:)  This picture sums up the year!:)

She finished the year and actually had a good time.  She was fully convinced her game tying RBI won them these awesome team trophy's!!  We didn't tell her any different!:)
I've never seen a child so excited to get a trophy and to finish up the season!

She also had a super fun end of the year swim party at school.  Instead of a program or graduation, her class had a luau swim party.  The kids loved it and I was miss emotional mom!:)

Alyssa LOVED kindergarten and adored her teacher!  We pray she has just as much fun in first grade and makes an impact for Jesus!

Yay for summer fun and having my baby back home for a few months! I sure missed her!

investments

I have been thinking about investing a lot lately.  Matt and I have made plans for our financial future through investments and savings.  But this past week, when I least expected God to speak, HE did!   I was just driving in the car by myself and it was as if God was asking me this question... what are you doing to invest in things that have much more of a life long impact?  A spiritual impact?

God has given us a great desire to make disciples of all the nations.  He has given us an unbelievable passion for Haiti.  The children of Haiti. The people of Haiti.  He has given us a love and desire for this country to know HIM and to praise HIM.  This project in Haiti is time consuming.  It is not something that is going to happen over night.  The people need Jesus and that is the bottom line.  But, things in Haiti don't just happen over night.  The Lord is working in the people of Haiti but we have to continue to be faithful to plant the seed of life in the lives of these people and wait for God to pour out His blessing on this investment.

God has given us 2 beautiful children of our own that we are required to pour our time, our energy, and our resources in to.  Our desire is to teach them everything we know about Christ.  Letting them see Him by the way we live, speak, and love others.  Boy do I fail.  I fail each and every day, but it's as if the Lord keeps telling me, "Sarah, it's worth messing up.  It's worth failing daily.  I am worth it.  It's worth it for them to know Me and know My ways. They are an investment."
Just like our resources are an investment for us and take much time to grow and mature.

They lose money along the way.  They gain money along the way.  Are children are much more of an investment.  Worth far more than any financial investment is the investment of our children.  They want our time.  But most of all they need our time.  They need mom and dad to sit down with them and read them God's word.  The need for us to be involved in their lives.  They need us to put all other things aside and just spend time with them doing things as a family. They need us to not over book our schedules so that we are not too exhausted to pour in to them.  They need us to get off facebook and off the internet to make sure we don't miss something important.  We can't afford to miss a teaching moment that could forever change their life.

Alyssa just finished kindergarten this year.  Whoah!
This is one thing I have learned.  Time flies when you have a child in school.  Each and every year pass by and before I know it she will be in middle school.  I don't want to miss a moment with her. With both our children.  Every day is a day we can't get back. This summer my goal is to send her off to school with a stronger knowledge of the Lord.  A greater strength as a little girl.  A deeper confidence that she is loved and that she is beautiful in God's eyes.  I want her to know we are a strong family that Loves Jesus, loves others, and that everything we do is for the Glory of the Lord!

I am thankful the Lord calls me out of my selfishness and ignites a passion in me that far out weighs my own desires.
I am grateful for  a God that loves me enough to not leave me in my idle state.