The view from the porch...

Lake Vernon in Leesville, Louisiana

It was GORGEOUS tonight. The lake is lowered about 20 feet right now because they are doing repairs on the spillway. All the land you see is usually underwater.

I grew up seeing this every night. I love my parent's house.

YoungLife

Young Life brings the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of adolescents with an approach that is respectful of who kids are and hopeful about who they can be.

Young Life doesn't start with a program. It starts with adults who are concerned enough about kids to go to them, on their turf and in their culture, building bridges of authentic friendship. These relationships don't happen overnight — they take time, patience, trust and consistency.

So Young Life leaders log many hours with kids — where they are, as they are. We listen to their stories and learn what's important to them because we genuinely care about their joys, triumphs, heartaches and setbacks.

We believe in the power of presence. Kids' lives are dramatically impacted when caring adults come alongside them, sharing God's love with them. Because their Young Life leader believes in them, they begin to see that their lives have great worth, meaning and purpose.

This is the first step of a lifelong journey; the choices they make today, based upon God's love for them, will impact future decisions … careers chosen, marriages formed and families raised. All ripples from the time when a Young Life leader took time to reach out and enter their world.

Rockdale County YoungLife has the first Club of the year tomorrow night. There are kids that have been waiting and looking forward to this since the last Club of last year, and there are kids that don't even know what YL is yet that will show up because a kind and genuine adult approached them at lunch and hung out with them.

YL is an amazing ministry that impacts thousands of teenagers each year with the Gospel. Lives are being changed - and for every teenager that meets Jesus there is a family at home that is impacted as well.

Please pray today for the volunteer leaders all over the US that are loving on kids and pray specifically for the leaders of Rockdale County Georgia that are continuing to give of their time and energy this year even without a paid Staff person to keep things going.
They are:
*Zach May
*Lisa Leavitt
*Zach Ames
*Sarah Lynch
*Max Hunnicutt
*Lindsay Anderson
*Kent Harris

Pray also for the Committee Members that run the behind-the-scenes stuff and give support to the Leaders.
In Rockdale County they are:
*Dave Crandall
*Sarah May
*Jeff and Greta Beech
*Lonnie and Beth Lamb
*Matt and Leslie Cardoza
*Justin and Stephanie Moon

Each YoungLife area raises it's own support. This year Rockdale County YL is operating solely on volunteers - no paid Staff person. We are raising our funds so that hopefully next year we will be able to support a staff person to replace the one who recently moved to a different area. If you would like to give financially to Rockdale County YL (and we would greatly appreciate your help!) you may do so here. You can choose an Area to donate to - Rockdale County YL's Area Number is GA132.

Thank you for reading this long post and for spending a few minutes in prayer for this ministry. If you do choose to donate, please leave me a comment - I'd love to thank you personally.

Sunday Song

There is love that came for us
Humbled to a sinner's cross
You broke my shame and sinfullness
You rose again victorious

Faithfulness none can deny
Through the storm and through the fire
There is truth that sets me free
Jesus Christ who lives in me

Chorus
You are stronger
You are stronger
Sin is broken
You have saved me
It is written
Christ is risen
Jesus you are Lord of all

No beginning and no end
You're my hope and my defense
You came to seek and save the lost
You paid it all upon the cross

So let your name be lifted higher
Be lifted higher
Be lifted higher
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Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I've been recovering from mastitis which is a B**** just so you know. I've been feeling like I was hit by a truck, but thankfully the antibiotics have been doing their job and I am feeling much better.

Regular posting to resume tomorrow.

Silas 8 weeks

Silas is 8 weeks old now - kinda hard to believe. He's constantly changing and growing. He smiles and "talks" all the time now and looks for us when he hears us come into the room. Instead of pushing up with his arms when he's on his tummy, he pushes up with his legs and it kinda looks like he's attempting a "downward dog." I haven't gotten a picture of that yet, but I'm sure I will.

We've been enjoying this 4 day weekend immensely (Justin is off on Fridays). Friday morning we all went for an early walk at the park where Justin informed me that I put the term "speed walking" to shame and then we spent the rest of the day loving on Silas who was in THE BEST MOOD all day. Saturday was !!!GAME DAY!!! and we got up, put on our UGA gear and watched the game at home. We went to the May's for dinner (ribs and shcrimp and cheese dip) and the Auburn game. Fun times. :)

Here's some pictures in no particular order:

The Moons

Silas playing air guitar. :)

Silas 2 months, Connor 4 months

GO DAWGS!

Oh yeah - last Thursday we got home from the May's about 10:15pm and realized that I had left the freezer door cracked for quite some time. ALL of my breast milk that I had been saving was thawed which meant it had to be used quickly because you can't refreeze it (which I don't completely understand). To keep from wasting all of that HARD WORK, Justin got to feed Silas a lot this weekend. Silas loved it and I think Daddy was pretty fond of it too. :)

The child definitely got his Daddy's eyelashes. Gorgeous.

I hope y'all are enjoying your Labor Day weekend!

Supercalifragilisticexbeallidoces

I have no idea if that's how you spell that, but that song has been stuck in my head for 2 weeks now. Yep. Commence with insanity.

I thought I'd let you see what I've been up to lately - between feedings and snuggles. Moonpie Designs is back up and running and I have a tentative "Show" planned for sometime in the 10 days I'll be home in Louisiana this month. I say "tentative" because I'm a little intimidated by it. I was intimidated by the last Show I had here and of course it turned out great (thanks again Sarah and Mom!), but for some reason this one is making me a little more nervous. I have 2 weeks today to finish everything and figure out how to get all the product there. We are traveling by train and I'm not seeing a scenario in which I can handle myself, Silas, our luggage, AND boxes of product all by me lonesy. The good thing is that if for some reason I don't finish everything I need to before I leave, my mom has an awesome sewing machine so I could always finish some stuff once I got there.

Anyway - here's a bit of what I've been working on:

Burp Cloths, Checkbook Covers, and ID/Credit Card/Business Card Wallets. That reminds me - I need a name for those (wallets) and I am having trouble coming up with something creative. What do you think think I should name it? Leave me a comment with your best idea.

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I just love my little pepper plant. I got it last October at a Yard Sale and it was just this little tiny plant in this little tiny pot. Now look at it! It survived the winter and my not-so-green thumb, and also being picked to the stem by some critter (it was naked and sad. The pepper plant that is, not the critter. Well, I guess the critter could have been naked and sad, but I'm not seeing how my pepper plant could have helped. Unless it wanted to dress Adam and Eve style. But I digress.)

ANYWAY - I love that it has purple, orange, and red peppers all at the same time. Very Autumn looking.

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And now for some randomness (like that rest of this post wasn't random and scatterbrained enough):

Micah volunteered to snuggle with me for about 2 minutes last week and Zach snapped a picture. It was a sweet moment.

And now what post would be complete without my sweet boy?!

Happy Thursday y'all!