When the rebellious spirit reigns...

Oh how the rebellious spirit has taken over today!  It's definitely not something I am proud of and as I get older I become keen to it a lot quicker than I used to.  I can identify it pretty quickly in my day now as opposed to living out the entire day without even giving it a second thought.  The battle now is that I recognize it but struggle with choosing to do something about it.  I am sure this holds true for lots of people.  I've come to realize that when a lot of deadlines are put on me at once, the rebellion takes over and I want to say forget it all.  Eeeeek!  Looking back now, I realize this was a HUGE problem for me in college.  I wasn't aware of it at the time but I'm certain now that's what was going on.  The biggest times I notice it now are when things need to be done around the house or for sure when work deadlines are added on top of the house deadlines.  I'm living in that right now.  When the rebellious spirit reigns, I eat whatever I want, I find every excuse not to do what needs to get done, I will fill my time with useless activities, I would love to just get in the car and drive, I don't care if the salad gets chopped for tonight's dinner...I don't even care if my family gets dinner! :o) 

So how do I break the ugly cycle when I see it happening?  Today I decided to take a look at what the Bible says about it.  Obviously I think the comparison is a little extreme but as I read through some verses I realized that what it could lead to is separation from the Lord.  That's definitely not my heart and in the many times I've been eating my 10th cookie I never thought of the effect it has on my relationship with God.  Please hear me when I say that eating 10 cookies DOES NOT make the Lord love me any less but what I am saying is that when I'm eating that cookie I have lost ALL self control and that is not of the spirit.

"...but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."  Psalm 68:6

 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and SELF CONTROL.  Against such things there is no law.  Galatians 5:22-23

 



Feels like 10 minutes...under water!

This month Eric and I celebrated our TEN year wedding anniversary!  It's hard to believe it's been ten years.  I am so thankful for that man for so many reasons!  I have often said that my life is nothing like I imagined but more than I could have ever hoped for!  I give God all the glory for this special gift!

To celebrate we stayed at a spa resort that overlooked Lake Travis and had AMAZING pools that we spent lots of time in. We ate lots of yummy food, relaxed and ended our time with a private sunset sail. 

It's been the best 10 years of my life!  Eric jokes, "It feels like 10 minutes...under water!" ;o)

 

We started the time off with lunch at Oasis!

 View from our room!

 The view just got better! :o)

 Captain on our sail!

 Blessed!

The sunset was gorgeous! 

 We were amazed to see deer below our balcony every day! 

At one point we counted seven deer!

 My beautiful flowers!

 

Noah is an Owl!

This year Noah is the 3 year old "Owl" class at his school!  It's going to be such a fun year!  He loves that he gets to go play on the BIG outdoor playground and I love that one of my best friends, Raven, is his teacher!  He is already learning some numbers and letters and doing some really fun activities.  Noah wakes up excited about going to class and enjoys seeing his friends!  I love to hear him call them by name.

First day off school!

Second grade!

Gabriel started his second grade year back in August!  He absolutely loves school, which makes things super easy on this momma!  We were excited to hear the news that he got Ms. Lanier for his teacher!  She did her student teaching in his classroom during his Kindergarten year so we knew we would love having her again.  Gabe has already learned so much in the six weeks that he has been back in school.  He reads great, is doing well with his math facts and is learning lots of new things.  He doesn't complain about doing homework and has excellent grades.

First day of school breakfast!



 A little gift to start the year off!

Our 2nd grader!

 Too handsome not to post! :o)

 The fam!

 Walking in!

So handsome!

 Noah and Gabe!

 Gabe, Cami and Scout...and Noah!  ;o)

 Ms. Lanier!

 G sitting at his desk for the first time!

 

Tidbits of Summer!

I'm a summer girl but I have to say I am super ready for Fall!  I'm looking forward to cooler weather, yummy foods, scarves and football on TV!

But it's fun to look back over the summer and think of all the great things we did.  I did separate posts on a lot of the things but here are a few pics of random things that helped make our summer great!

 

The boys enjoyed playing in the water out back!

Noah got a hold of the water hose!

Noah thought it was the greatest, especially when G would let Noah blast him!

This picture doesn't capture the greatest part though...the deep belly laughs!

 

We took down the back privacy fence and replaced it with a shorter fence to open up our view...

...which is an open field with an awesome skyline and some cows!

 

Gabe had the honor of being in a wedding!

 Our family loved being a part of it!

 

We enjoyed a Ranger game!

 

Spidey came out occasionally!

 

And we ended the summer the best way possible...with the Autens!  My best friend, Carrie, had us out to her parents house where we had lots of fun eating, swimming, fishing and enjoying AWESOME company!

 

G-man at the fish pond!

 At least Noah is facing the camera! ;o)

 Noah's favorite part was hanging with Skyleigh!

Lots of fun memories!

Celebrate, good times!

If you know me well then you know I LOVE to celebrate birthdays!  And when it's my turn I like to celebrate for a week or two!  It used to be a month so I feel like I've come a long way! ;o)

This year was sweet as I celebrated with some of my closest friends and then my family!

 

Dinner at Bar Louie!

God has blessed me beyond belief with these girls!

My boys always make me feel special!  Eric made dinner and picked up

 my favorite cake to celebrate!