Sexy Photography

Photography. It's the new black...right? Especially if you're a SATH. :) So if you're into it, then........

Watch THIS.

Did you watch it yet? (Don't lie!!!).

They call themselves The Boudoir Divas.

A friend of mine from college out in California has started a photography business specializing in Boudoir photography (you know, the sexy stuff?). She's an amazing woman of pure character who LOVES the Lord - seriously one of the sweetest girls you can meet - but oh my goodness I never knew she was so talented! Now I know some of you might think this whole idea is somewhat strange, but I think it's somewhat genius.

Their mission statement is this:
Our God grants us beauty and love everyday.
He gives us the strength and wisdom to create a life that will benefit those around us and those he asks us to help and give to abundantly.
He gives us the resources and creativity to create a classy and romantic piece of art
that ignites confidence and excitement in a wife.
Re-enforcing beauty in a woman and romance between a couple.
With praise and deep gratitude
we thank God everyday for the blessings
He gives to us. We have nothing to fear because Christ sustains us.

Their using their God-given talents to help spice up marriages and I LOVE it. I wish I still lived in the area (I wonder if they're in Arkansas much??).

Maybe a group of us could take a little girls trip down to San Diego for some supermodel fun?? You in?

Visit their website. You won't be disappointed.

Around Here...

I have nothing extra-special to say...just finished cooking 2lbs of pasta (Beth has the other half) for the boys basketball team and their Play-off "Tiger Party" (as Lincoln refers to it)...sat down and realized it's been a while.

So here it goes...

1. The weather has been a hot topic around here. In the last month, we've had a tornado, 2 earthquakes, and 25 feet of snow. My friend in Cali talked to me today and said a radio station out there is declaring May 21st as Judgement Day (though I'm not sure that's the term they used). Hmm.

2. But today, the weather is FABULOUS. We spend a lot of time in our yard ("The Backyard, I hope??" says my mom). No - the front yard. The back has turds, and the front yard is more social. :)

 2. But yard time will have a glitch cause we took Noah to the doc today and found out he has strep. Poor thing.

 4. Everything Tiger has been threatening to overtake our existence the past week or so (blamed on #1 - the weather and make-ups). But we made it through 4 games in 6 days - yes we went to them all - and now we're headed to round one of the playoff's tomorrow night!!

 5. I took this picture at our last season game (which we won - by a lot!) and realized looking back that it looks as if we handcuff our children to the railings at games - we do not. But this is not a bad idea...

6. I do not believe what the radio says in #1.

7. In all the Oscar talk (which I DVR-ed and then watched only the main awards), there was NO TALK about Matthew McConaughey's girlfriend's dress...I thought she looked AMAZING and it was one of my favorites.

8. I have cooked 2 new dishes for our last few meals. One of which the main dish and the sides had bacon in them. I have never before cooked with bacon and was shocked I had 2 things with the ingredient in the same meal. (I will add I didn't actually eat it though...used it for flavor and gave it to the dogs).

9. Both meals were surprisingly really good!

10. Our house is officially on the market...again. We'll see how this round goes.

Aren't They Cute?

Yes, people refer to us as "The Daycare Center" at games...you decide. :)

Tiger News

In Tiger news (since it's Friday) we have a HUGE home game tonight against Rogers. We already beat them once (which was amazing since they're always so good and our team is so young!) and need to do it again tonight.

We've already clenched a play-off seed, but if we win tonight, we get a higher seed and better chances of advancing to the quarter-finals!

But regardless, we're IN IT and BHS has only made the tourney 2 other times in the last 21 years (could be longer - that's just how far back we have records!).

Last Saturday, we beat the #1 team in the state (huge surprise since we're clearly the underdogs).

My tendency is to laugh when I think we could actually go to state finals, but then I catch myself, b/c 3 years ago, I also laughed at the thought with the Siloam team - who were also the underdogs - and we freaking won the whole thing. So stranger things have happened...we've seen this before!

Let's go TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Upcoming games to come watch:

TONIGHT at home against Rogers: Girls 6:00/Boys 7:30 - homecoming, too

TOMORROW (sat) at home vs. Heritage: same as above

WEDNESDAY: starts play-offs at Heritage; we will either play at 5:30 or at 8:30 depending on if we win tonight!!!! Come support!!!!!

And I'll leave you with the words of Lincoln: "BENON..BIIILLLLE TIIIGERS!!!!!! Bo, Luke, Nick, Jon, Rogan (name is really Logan), Corbin, Duke, Au-in (Austin)!!!!"
He's too funny. Can't tell you the number of times all the Benonbille Tigers have made it in his prayers. :)

Learning

My new favorite toy of Lincoln's:

We have a similar "shapes" wooden puzzle that he got a while back and was able to QUICKLY learn the 8 major shapes. So when I saw the "ABC" puzzle at Target 3 weeks ago, I got it in hopes that it would help him learn his alphabet in the same manner.
Happy to report he LOVES this puzzle and since he has gotten it, has forgone all other puzzles. He does this one at least three times/day.
He can now do it in no time flat, so this week we have been working on the song. Maybe he would have learned this all without the puzzle (who knows) but I really think this little gadget has helped him learn this! He now knows almost every letter and can sing the first part and the last part of the song.
The other cool thing about the puzzle is that under each letter is a picture of an object that begins with the corresponding sound. Anyway - if your kid's at this age for learning, this puzzle gets an A+ from me!

They have a number's one, too that will be my next purchase. They only had it in pink last time I was there...so it might be a pink one. :)

And Noah? Well, he has mastered 2 signings: More and All Done. We're working on where his body parts are - just started this. Poor thing. I think I had already worked with Lincoln on these things. I need to get it out of my brain that Noah is an infant because he is NOT! Ha.

Have a good day. We're expecting thunderstorms - my most favorite weather of all time, so I'm excited. :)

Thoughts on Love

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
 I Peter 4:8

I wanted to share something that so powerfully pierced my heart yesterday in hopes that maybe you, too, can benefit from the amazing words a friend spoke.

Read the verse above.

Pretty familiar...right? I thought so at least.

Now read it again with the emphasis on the highlighted words:

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

My friend brought this rich word from God yesterday regarding how love covers sin. We are all called to love...above all things, love..right?

Through her words, she reminded me of how in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned against God, he did not let them go exposed to the world in their shame and guilt...

He covered them...He loved them...love covers.

And in contrast, when Christ showed His ultimate love for me...for you...by dying on a cross to save our sins, he was un-covered...fully exposed to the sin and darkness of the world, so that we may be covered...

Love covers.

For me this was so simplistic, yet amazingly powerful. Through meditating on this simple semantic in God's Word the past few days, I feel I have grown to a deeper understanding of Christ's love for me.

And Christ calls us to love this way...to love in a manner so powerful that it can actually cover sin.

I know in my own life, I am inclined to do just the opposite.

Like when Jason does something I don't like or a friend or family (not to mention the people I don't like!) - my first inclination is to expose the wrongdoings...to point them out...to dramatically demonstrate how it has affected me (i.e. pouting, passive aggression, gossiping...); sometimes it's to judge; to stand back and wait for that person's sin to eat them alive so I can think "I told you so...".

But love doesn't expose sin....

Love covers sin.

Oh how I have failed at this.

Rainy Day

Since it is raining outside, I'll give ya some bath pictures (of the kids). :)

Taking a bath ranks up there with going to church and the park in our house. If you mention the word, little Noah with start giggling and immediately take off toward our bathroom, chuckling the whole way. So here's how we do baths. :)

Note: I did not put things all over their heads. That would be Lincoln's handiwork.

****Also - why do the pictures show up grainy on posts when you upload them?? Anyone else experience this? They look a lot different on here than they do on my desktop. Hmmm....