TYMTJ Day 10!!!

“We shall finish up by looking forward.


Press into praying for your man's future; everything God has in store after this very minute. So many things that will happen for you and your man will be far greater than you can currently conjure up. We serve a God that does not have his hands tied. He is mighty!

Our focus:
-Protect him.
-Bless his health.
-Guard his mind.
-Hold fast to his heart.
-Go before him.
-Be his counselor, his confidante, his help and his refuge.
-Surround him with people who will speak life into him.
-Be his shield and his firm foundation.
-Light his way and give him hope.

Thank you, friends, for joining me on this journey; we made it! Way to be a faithful mate. You have also helped hold me accountable to doing what God called me to do. I can almost guarantee that I would have weaseled my way out early, if not for you. Gracias!"

TYMTJ Day 9

"Anyone still trucking with me? When you say pray for ten days, it seems a small feat. Yet, when you put ten days of hard-core praying to the test, it doesn't seem so small does it? I am confident that our dudes will reap from our diligent, loving efforts.

On the first day of our journey, we prayed for our man's worship. Now, here we are back to Wednesday and I just cannot get away from the fact that this is a day in which most of us take our worship public {at Elevate tonight!}. So let us focus on his Jesus time today.

Spending time with the Lord. A statement, a question, a request....

Whether or not you know that your husband spends daily, quality time with the Lord or not, let's seek this for him. Now, don't you start judging your man. What does your time with the Lord look like? Yeah. That's what I thought...I kid, I kid.

As we go through our day today, let us really just press into this topic for our man. Pray for your future husband, that God would do these things in his heart this very day and that God would develop discipline in him now, rather than later. May we all step closer to the Lord as we take this cry of our heart to Him.

Our focus:
-Draw him into an intimate time of worship.
-Call him away to a quiet place.
-Drown out life.
-Speak with clarity.
-Reveal yourself.
-Love him.
-Give life to your Word.
-Pour out revelation.
-Grant him accountability in his journey of following Christ.
-Shape him into a man of integrity, character and self-discipline."

TYMTJ Day 8

"Long before you knew your man and even early on in your relationship, there were many events and much life that took place. Just as our past has much responsibility for determining who we are on this day, so does our man's.

Let's pray for our guys life, before today. We want life before today to be an encouragement for his present and his future. Though we cannot change the past, we can learn from it, grow through it and become mature because of it. When our man may not think to pray for his past, let us take that responsibility on ourselves. As we pray for his past, let us ask Jesus to reconcile it. May we also thank the Lord for developing him into the man he is today.

Our focus:
-Seek forgiveness for yourself if there are any areas in his past that you have yet
 to forgive or have developed bitter roots.
-Ask that he would have full forgiveness of himself for who he used to be.
-Allow his past to be used to encourage him in his future.
-May he learn from past triumphs, successes, failures, and sins.
-Would he be able to use each part of who he is as a testimony to Christ and his
 faithfulness.
-Pray that his past is not where his thoughts dwell.
-Give him eyes to see that you are doing a new thing.
-Reveal yourself faithful in the past, giving the promise of being faithful in the
 present and the hope of being faithful in the future."

TYMTJ Day 7

"Onto day seven...


I really think it would be meaningful to spend one day focused on your husband's family. If you are married, this is now your family as well, but these are the people that knew him & loved him long before you did.

I realize that families can be a very 'sticky' situation in some cases. I ask you to put opinions, disagreements and past hurts aside today. No matter the family circumstance, the Lord used family blessings & trials in your man's life to develop him into the guy you are so crazy about. As easy or difficult as it may be, spend today focused on your man's family, taking them before the Lord.

Our focus:
-Thank Jesus for a family that brought such a wonderful man into the world.
-Pray for mended family relationships (if needed).
-Petition that Jesus would make himself real & known to his family; call each
 person out by name.
-Ask for protection to surround his family members.
-Pray for the health of family.
-Give wisdom to family members.
-Pray that your husband would be quick to honor his family.
-Seek out wisdom so that both you, & your man may know & agree on what
 family legacies to pass along & what God desires to break & rebuild in your family"

TYMTJ Day 6

Ouch. I don't like this one because it hits too close to home :(. I REALLY struggle with this because I'm so jealous of Joel's free time. He doens't get much free time and I feel entitled to every minute he does get. The second he mentions "guy time" my hackles go up. I've REALLY been working on this lately and I'm proud to say that I'm getting better. My initial gut feeling isn't any better but the words that actually come out of my mouth are more encouraging and positive ;) So I guess I better pray for this one double time!

Here is the post I got from Meagan's blog for day 6:

We have completed half of our ten-day, focused prayer time for your man. I just want to encourage you to stay strong in your commitment. I am great at starting tasks, but stink at finishing strong. I do not want this to happen to me, nor you. Really commit to disciplining yourself over the next few days to finish strong in your prayer journey.


Friendship. A word my man knows so, so well. I am ashamed to admit, but I am not always gun hoe when Brad wants to spend time with friends. I have been known to feel that they are competing for my quality time. I rarely take the time to acknowledge how beneficial Brad's quality friend-time can be, nor do I give thanks for the great friends that my husband has. Maybe some of you are on the opposite end of the spectrum, you desire for your husband to develop more friendships. If so, spend today requesting this from the Lord.

If your husband has many friends or few, let us be thankful for all of the men in his life whom he can be 'real' around. Be thankful if he returns home refreshed and a better husband and father after being around his friends.

Our focus:
-Give him wisdom in choosing men worthy of honest friendship.
-Thank Jesus for the friends that he has been given.
-Be specific, thank Jesus for each friend that comes to mind. Call them out by 
 name.
-Ask that he would be vulnerable with his friends.
-Pray that the vulnerability would grow to true accountability.
-Develop him into an authentic, giving, approachable friend.
-Increase integrity in friendships, making him worthy of great friends, in return.

Maybe he should get a guys night soon, away from the stresses of a job, the demands of a family, the requests of a wife and the expectations of those he leads. Just a thought...

TYMTJ Day 5

If your man is already a daddy, this is a prayer that is probably constantly on your heart. I know that it is for me. If you do not yet have children, this is the perfect time to start praying for them, by praying for their daddy.


I love my husband ten-fold after watching him become a daddy. Amen? There's something amazing about Mia being in my arms and giving me kisses, but it's almost more magical to watch her crawl up in Joel's arms and give him kisses. He's such a sweet father, and she loves her daddy so much. They say that the relationship between child and father is every bit as important to development as the child and its mother. That's why when Joel exercises a different parenting style or disciplines her differently or doesn't discipline her over something, basically does anything I wouldn't have done, I try to bite my tongue and let him be the dad God created him to be. He's never doing anythine WRONG to her, just different from my instinct. But I think that the two parenting styles are very important for a child to get. It creates balance for the kid as well.

Our Focus:
-Teach him to train his children up in godliness.
-May his time with his children be increased.
-Grant him wisdom, patience and endless love.
-Grow his children up to always bring joy to their daddy.
-Prepare him to use 'life' as a teacher for his children.
-Inspire him through his offspring.
-May he always see the wonders of the Lord in his children.

Miss Fix-It

My mom and dad are VERY smart and talented and can fix just about anything. Well, I found this beautiful, very heavy Kohler sink for only $25 (with faucet!!) for our cabin. Mom was fixing some sort of plumbing issue on it and Mia grabbed a wrench from the tool bag and got right in there helping! She's so observant and wants to do exactly what we do.

 I walked into the bathroom to find her doing this! Not bad for a 20 month old... if only we could keep this spontaneous, voluntary cleaning up through the teenage years...

 Not sure what she's trying to fix here, but she was focused and determined, so I left her alone.

I'm hoping she'll keep up this love for tools and fixing things. She'll come in handy!

TYMTJ Day 4

God has been doing some good things in my heart as I've put much time and focus on the spiritual well-being of my husband. Anyone else?


Today, let's focus on our husbands as just that, a husband. If you are not yet married, pray for your guy as he steps into the role of husband. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Your husband, my husband, is the leader. Already. It's settled. You don't have to negotiate it or loose sleep over it, they are the head of the home. Christ appointed them to that role.

In thinking about praying for this role, it was hard for me to strip this roll from the other rolls he fulfills. Yet, it is the one role that is solely created for me. Funny, isn't it?

Our focus:
-Encourage him in his leadership of me, his wife.
-Continue to develop him into a man that always makes marriage a priority.
-Give him a deep love for me, his spouse.
-Give him new revelation into your heart for marriage.
-Guard his eyes from Satan's attempts to steal his affection from me.
-May he be a model of submission as he submits to the Lord.
-Give him wisdom in leadership.

TYMTJ Day 3

Whatever it is that he does to 'bring home the bacon,' let's ask that Jesus meet him there today.


We all know our husband's jobs well, so spend some time today personalizing your prayer in the way your husband needs them most. Try to take yourself out of the prayers. Don't pray for what you would be pleased to see happen, but rather things that would bring growth to your man.

Our focus:
-May his workplace be/become a place where he has freedom show his
 creativity and use his gifts.
-That he would gain encouragement, specifically today, from his co-workers.
-That he would be effective.
-A thankful heart for a job that provides.
-Give clarity to any callings that the Lord may be placing in his heart.
-Professional growth.

Take a few extra moments to thank Jesus for giving your husband a job. For those of you who have the joy of staying at home with your kids make sure you have your heart right. Rather than comparing your life to the lives of others or wishing you had more to "show" for your life or sulking in the career you used to have, give thanks for a man who works so hard so that you can be a full-time mommy.

Let us all make a noticeable effort today to show our gratitude for our husbands when he enters the doors of his home at five or six or seven o'clock in the evening.

One of the most applicable pieces of advice I have ever heard is this:

"When your husband comes home from a long day at work, you and all of your children should go to the door to greet him, showing him how thankful you are that he has come home to you. A man who comes home with no one to greet him, feels as though no one notices his presence. If his presence is not noticed, he will start to pull away. Make a conscious effort to greet your husband today. And have your children or pets or make believe friends do the same thing. It will make him feel loved. That is our goal!"

More Mia

We had a suitcase packed for Mia when she spent the night at my mom and dad's for the first time. When we got home, she took the liberty of unpacking it in the kitchen. For the record, this is a little suitcase!

 Then she got in the suitcase and laid like this for a very, strange, long time. Looks like a frog to me. Maybe that corner smelled good! Tee hee...

 As we were packing totes for moving out of our house, we constantly had to give her rides in totes. This one in particular was comfy as it had our guest bedroom bedding in it! She played in this tote forever, it was so cute! I wish you could see the joy in her face while Joel pulled her around, inverted :)

 Here she is helping my mom cook by breading sliced zucchini and handing it to "grandma" to cook. SO cute! She gets a bucket or a chair or whatever she can get up on, whenever someone is cooking, and loves to help. This morning she spilled my protein powder all over the floor in an effort to "help". Thanks Mia :)

 While we were in Mexico, Mia got a few blisters on her feet. They are almost completely healed, but the slight scab that is left still has her very bothered. I still have to kiss the dang "owwweee" about 3 times a day. After playing in the fridge door, she thought it would be a good idea to get out the Cholula (hot sauce) and put it on her blisters. I'm tellin' ya', strange child!!!

 We had 10-12 inches of snow this week and we have taken full advantage of it. We have a little hill on our property and have been kayaking down it. SO fun. Mia doesn't really like her hands in it - who does? it's cold!- but other than that she has a great time and cries when we have to go back in the house.

 Just a goofy picture Nora took of Mia:

                          

She loves taking baths and is so cute all wrapped up in her towel afterwards :)

 So, my child loves anything that is dangerous. Here I was doing paperwork on the table 4 feet from her. She reached up where the dishes were drying, grabbed this steak knife, found an apple, apparently stabbed the knife into the apple, then brought it to me like this. I figured if she hadn't hurt herself while accomplishing all that in mere seconds, she could hold it for a few more while I ran and grabbed the camera.

 Her beloved, obnoxiously pink, 4-wheeler:

 Opening the dog kennel door (or should I say, "about to be demolished by overly excited labs getting out of their kennel")

 Just cute:

 That's all! Aren't you proud of me for the semi-consistent blogs lately??

TYMTJ Day 2

Worship, as you know, is a matter of the heart. So, let's begin by praying for his heart. I know what it feels like to have a heavy or burdened or uneasy heart. Don't you? Let's come together against this for our guys.


Our focus:
-Take the burdens from the heart of my husband.
-Replace them with freedom.
-In that freedom, begin to teach my husband what it truly means to worship You  
 in spirit and in truth.
-Come and meet my husband where he is.
-Allow him to find rest in his home and in his current circumstances.
-Begin to lay new words and encouragement on the heart of my husband.
-Develop him into a man who is capable of being in a constant spirit of worship.

TYMTJ Day 1

Take Your Man to Jesus Day 1:

I read this on a friend's blog and decided it would be good to post on mine as well! The men in our lives have a lot resting on their shoulders as they strive to lead us and lead others - in their jobs, in the church, and in the community. I think our culture has gotten far to comfortable with "man bashing" and demolishing their reputation. Especially when a group of girls get together. Our men need our confidence, our support, and our approval. I think the saying goes: "behind every good man there is a good woman" and that is so true. The more we help meet the needs of our spouse, encourage them, and believe in them, the better they will be in all facets of life.

We've all seen what can happen on the flip-side: a lively, strong man gets together with  a girl, they fall in love, they get married. She has no problem putting him down in public, pointing out his shortcomings and his flaws. He gets home from work and she hounds him to do this, do that. He has no quiet time, and finds no joy in coming home. Eventually he isn't so lively or strong. He starts letting her make the decisions, their kids are brats, she doesn't respect him because he has no back bone anymore. He dreads coming home and finds any excuse not to. It's just a downward spiral.

Ok. Let's lift our men up to the awesome God who created them for the next 10 days. Let's strive to support our men, thank them for what they contribute to our families and encourage them every day.

Day 1:
"disclaimer: Before I begin, I want to let you know that I will, most often, be referring to that special man in your life as "husband." If the guy you are praying for is not your husband, please still participate and know that when I say husband I actually mean: husband, fiancé, boyfriend or future husband...

Let's begin by praying for our husbands as leaders.

All of our men are leaders in one way or another and most of them lead in multiple areas. They are all the leaders in our relationships and homes. Many of them lead multiple people in their place of work. And whether you realize it or not, many of your husband's friends look to your husband as a leader in their friendship. For those of you who have been in leadership roles yourselves, you know the burden and pressure that can come from such roles. Recognize that your husband is a leader to many people, even in situations that you may be unaware of. Let's ask the Lord to bless them in this role, to teach them through leadership and to use them to influence others.

Our focus:
-Increase his wisdom in making decisions for those he leads.
-God would give him confidence as a leader.
-Call him to step out in his role and calling.
-Give him influence in the lives of others.
-That he would view his leadership as a way to lead as the Lord has lead him.
-Teach him through leading others.
-A teachable spirit.

Use the next twenty-four hours to focus on your husband's roles in leadership. Take him before the Lord, specifically as a leader."

A Girl and her Dog (and goat and horse)

Mia LOVES animals and in fact, we had a hard time keeping her from loving all over stray dogs while we were in Mexico recently (more on that later).

This is such a pitiful picture of little Chevy. Any of you who know this spaz will appreciate the fact that she was being SO mopey about being in her kennel (which is bigger than our house), that she sat still with this leaf hanging out of her mouth, the whole time I walked up to her and took this picture. Brat.

There is little that excites Mia more than getting to go feed all the random animals at my mom's house. This is Lizzy, the ginormous goat. She only gets more ginormous when Mia is around because Mia gives her so many treats! This is actually a big deal because for MONTHS Mia was scared to death of Lizzy. She wasn't scared of the huge white mule that could stomp her in the ground, but she was petrified of the goat that wants nothing more than a snack.

 Here my dad is watching Mia feed the mules and horses. Joel's mom sent us the camo trapper hat and orange/camo pullover. I'm not sure why she chose the boy stuff for Mia, but Mia pulls it off and still looks adorable to me.

So I was cooking one day and found it odd that Mia was quiet for a few minutes and not insisting on "helping" me in the kitchen. I went to the living room and found her painting the black dog white! I had a paintbrush in a baggie for future use that she found and decided her dog needed to look more like a skunk. Silly girl. Poor dog.

 Here she couldn't get the dog's attention so she flopped on the floor and laid there staring at the dog for AGES. She'd talk to Sadee, sing to her, poke her in the eyeball, anything to get Sadee's attention, but Sadee is a master at ignoring you when she wants. So Mia lost this battle. Ha!

 This is probably a good example of WHY Sadee chooses to ignore Mia a lot of times. Here Mia had gotten the thermometer thingy and decided that Sadee needed her temperature checked. She kept swiping the thing over Sadee's forehead like you're supposed to do with those things - on humans. Sadee is such a good dog and just sits there and takes it.

These posts are a little random but I'm behind so this is catch up time! Enjoy!

OFL

Our restaurant sponsors the Ozarks Fight League, which puts on MMA fights every 3 months with fighters from all over this state and surrounding areas. One of our employees, Braden, fights for a local team and retained his title belt at the last fight we went to. Here are some photos:

This is a RazorBack Ribs staff photo: the blond girl is Laura, she works for us, and they hired her to sing the National Anthem before these fights. She brought the house DOWN with her amazing voice!!!! I was thoroughly impressed that such a big sound could come from such a little human :). The other guy is Brian, and he's our assistant manager. He's worked with us for about a year and a half now and we are very proud of the way he takes his job seriously, takes on responsibility, etc. He's great. We love our staff!!!

Christmas in February?!?

I guess that's what happens when you don't post for a month and a half :). We had a great Christmas. We spent the morning at home just the 3 of us, then went to my Aunt Gwen's where we played Just Dance (along with 50% of all Americans that day it appears), and finished the day at my mom and dad's with a delicious prime rib dinner.

She got VERY good at opening presents this year and in fact was quite willing to open gifts for anyone and/or everyone...

Her grandpa in Texas send her a pretty dress with shiny bloomers, and apparently she liked the bloomers. She put the dress aside, put these on, and went on with her day!

Here is at my parent's house. This was her big gift from my dad, a rocking horse!

It required some assembly... (thanks dad)

...which she decided to help with. Notice the directions AND screwdriver in her hand!

At long last, she's on it (and pieces didn't go flying - Christmas miracle). She loves this thing!

This is the day after Christmas in her pretty Christmas dress. Yes this is another picture on the potty. Some people record themselves singing in the bathroom, we take pictures of Mia. Either way, it's a bathroom studio :)

Book Review

I am letting you know that I am currently doing some photo editing of the past 2 months of this blog famine. That means that there will be several new posts in the days/weeks to come. Yay! It's long overdue....

In the meantime, I recently finished a really REALLY good book called Velvet Elvis. It's by the same author, Rob Bell, as Sex God. He's all about catchy titles apparently :). Regardless, I HIGHLY recommend picking up one of these books. Or better yet, both!

We are currently under crazy winter weather here in Arkansas. It sure feels like Alaska when temperatures are below zero around here!!! I've gotten very UN-used to that feeling.

We moved out of our house the first week of January and into our cozy cabin on our 3 acres. We plan to apply for financing to build our house on this property in the near future. But as we are self employed and the economy is crazy right now, who knows what will happen. We are VERY happy in our little cabin at the moment (minus the fact that our hot water pipes are frozen right now... how does HOT water freeze and not the cold??)

So hopefully you can forgive my lack of blogging. Stay tuned! But as usual, don't ever hold your breath :)