it's a ptp recap

Polishing the Pulpit is a church of Christ convention that we attend every year. It is at the Wilderness at the Smokies Hotel and Convention Center in Sevierville,Tennessee and we always have an amazing time. This year, along with all the rest, was a growing experience in our walk with Chirst.

For the first time this year, mom was asked to help in the crafts for the children. So, Mem and I offered our assistance. :)

Here it is folks...PTP week...

Singing in the courtyard on Saturday night is always my favorite part.
I cannot even describe the sound of this many people singing.... I totally cannot wait till Heaven...where we can sing like this, with even MORE people, for forever.

Preachers taking pics on their phones and iPads of a drawing of a skeleton....hilarious. ;)

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One afternoon, we drove to Cades Cove and took a hike....

Love my sister to death!! :)

Need I say more?....



Me and Raegen...have known this sweetie her whole life.



Our first day, with our first group of children.

The two "Marli's"!!!! =)

This girl is amazing. Getting to see her family that week was one of the cherries on top....
I'm just bummed out that I wasn't able to take a picture with her other sis, Naomi. =(
(We seriously need to Skype, Naomi, okay? :)



Oh, just my super model sister with the super cool banner that greeted all of us for the week....



I spy....my daddy. ;D

Shelby, Me, and Emma
Two amazing young ladies. I have been privileged to know their families for a while, and am so thankful for their mothers and the examples they are to me, not only as Christian women, but as mom's. 

One night, after sessions, we went go-cart racing.... ;)

Group #2

Rodge (long-time friend and brother to my bestie, Lori Lynn), Valerie (Natalie's sister), me, Natalie (friend of Mem's that we met at PTP a few years ago), and Memory

Last and final group, #3, on the last day. :(

Me, Mom, and Memory

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It is our tradition, on the way home, to stop by the Apple Barn and eat an apple fritter and ice cream.

This year was no exception.... ;)

Can't wait till next year!....



Joyfully at Home: Chapter Six

What is Joyful Contentment?

Jasmine Baucham shares....


...we need to live in the present while planning for the future. When we stand before the Lord, we will be responsible for the way we used all our time, not just our married years. We need to learn, right now, to find our contentment in the Lord. As daughters, as wives, as mothers, every aspect of our lives should be geared towards Him. As single daughters in the home, our long-term focus should not be on that husband of ours that may come along; it should be on the Lord's Kingdom. All of our other longings, desires, aspirations, and actions should be filtered through this lens.... 

Check it out. :)

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus

...let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...

Hebrews 12:1, 2

Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England in 1863, into the same home of a minister who immigrated to America when Helen was a child. She loved music, and her parents provided the best vocal teachers they could find. Eventually Helen returned to Europe to study vocal music in Germany. In time, she married a wealthy European, but he left her when she became blind, and Helen struggled with multiple heartaches during midlife.

At age 55, Helen heard a statement that deeply impressed her: "So then turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will find that the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness."

"I stood still," Helen later said, "and singing in my soul and spirit was the chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make rhyme, or note to note to make melody. The verses were written the same week, after the usual manner of composition."

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Doug Goins of Palo Alto, California, and his parents, Paul and Kathryn Goins, both 82, of Sun City, Arizona, knew Helen in Seattle. "She was advanced in years and almost destitute, but she was an amazing person," said Doug. "She made a great impression on me as a junior high child because of her joy and enthusiasm. Though she was living on government assistance in a sparse bedroom, whenever we'd ask how she was doing, she would reply, 'I'm doing well in the things that count.'"

One day, the Goins invited her to supper. "We had never entertained a blind person before," recalled Kathryn, "and it was interesting. Despite her infirmities, she was full of life. I remember how amused we were when, following supper, she said, 'Now if you will lead me to the bathroom, I'll sit on the throne and reign.'"

"But she was always composing hymns," said Kathryn. "She had no way of writing them down, so she would call my husband at all hours and he'd rush down and record them before she forgot the words."

Helen had a small plastic keyboard by her bed. There she would play, sing, and cry.

Helen Lemmel, who wrote nearly 500 hymns during her lifetime, died in Seattle in 1961, thirteen days before her 98th birthday.

Taken from the book: Then Sings My Soul

"It's Insta Friday y'all."

Hey there! It's me. You know, the one that blogs here. I know. I know. I have been slacking lately.

But I'm great and life has been truly amazing.

Having a sister-in-law has been a wonderful experience. And just to let y'all know, she is a fabulous wifey to the brother. :)

Well, here is a few Insta pictures from the past couple of weeks.....

Picture #1- July 7th, my brother got married....
Picture #3- Bride, bridesmaids, and two flower girls. :)
Picture #5- Cut down a big tree with friends and family...(mom had somewhere to go...that's why she's dressed up. ;) What a totally fun day!
Picture #6- The tug-o-war with the tree...:D A friend was cutting the tree while we were pulling and the tree came falling to our feet.
Picture #7- One of the greatest things about living in the south are....BIG TRUCKS! :)
Picture #8- Just finished week 8 of 10...and loving it!

That's all folks.

I hope you are having a splendiferous weekend!