A Weekend To Remember

I was blessed to be able to spend the weekend with my beautiful baby girl at our annual Mother/Daughter Retreat at the fabulous Camp Peniel. On Friday afternoon we headed towards the Marble Falls area with our sweet friends Toni and Morgan. The drive was filled with lots of joy and laughter. This is our second consecutive year that we have been able to enjoy this amazing experience. Last year TBC was one of the several churches to take part in the camp's event however, this year we were super excited to have the entire grounds to ourselves.

Our weekend was filled with an enormous amount of fun activities and amazing worship.

Together we enjoyed a fun trail ride, a plunging ride on a zip line, and a little archery lesson.

Probably my favorite activity that was scheduled for us was the rifle shooting experience. Neither Brittanie nor myself have ever fired a gun. We were instructed by the amazing Don. He diligently instructed us on exactly what it was that we needed to do to hit the bullseye. Brittanie did great her first attempt.
I on the other hand was lousy. Initially we were given 5 bullets each and somehow I managed to miss the target on every single shot. I could not handle the disappointment. I was taught as a child if at first you don't succeed try and try again so, try again I did! I received a few extra pointers and I was on my way to shooting off another 10 bullets. This attempt was intense and precise. The work paid off. I managed to hit the target with every single shot. Go Me!! I can't wait to shoot again!

Along with these scheduled activities we also enjoyed a frigid hay ride followed by some tasty s'mores by the fire, a mean game of Mother against Daughter volleyball, and our game of choice for the weekend Catchphrase.

This game was hilerious and I just loved sitting in a circle enjoying laughter with my baby and sister's in Christ.

Combined with all these fun activities was incredible worship and life lessons spoken to us by the amazing Linda Strom. She encouraged us to love our daughters where they are right now and for who they are because this time will be gone before we know it. This weekend my God of grace reminded me why I was chosen to be the Mother of one his most precious gifts. He gave me the opportunity to see my baby shared her love for her God along with her passion for music and led us in worship and dance.
What an amazing pride that I felt at that very moment. Every single moment spent with my gift from God this weekend I will truly cherish in my heart forever. She is a beautiful creation given to me for only a short time and I yearn to appreciate every single second with my angel. I love you baby girl!


These girls were inseperable...Brittanie, Morgan and Reagan


Here are some of the girls that enjoyed the weekend with Mom.


"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.: Isaiah 66:13

Cold......Brrrrrrrr......

Holy Cow it's cold!!! I am so not a winter person! I like to be comfortable! I can't even get warm in my own house! I have adjusted the thermostat a gagillion times (which I don't like to do because it will cause the bill to go up) and still can't get warm!! AAAAHHHHH!!!! Help!!!!! The only place that I have found that I can get comfortable is in my bed and that's not such a good idea because then, I get absolutely nothing done!!! Sometimes it's ok to have days like that but, I am ashamed to admit I had one of those days yesterday and quite honestly I can't afford to have two in a row! I think I've got it....if I would get off this computer and do some activity around the house I would probably warm up.....and maybe get some things checked off my to do list! Wow, I am a genius! Ok, maybe not a genius but it does seem like a pretty good idea but so does a nice hot bubble bath! Don't you just hate the decisions you have to make as an adult? Anyway, I am off to do whatever it is that I decide to do to be productive today and I hope that you all stay warm :-)

Thought for the Day

ATTITUDE
by
Charles Swindoll

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our Attitudes.

My Mother, My Friend

Happy Birthday to the best Mother a girl could ask for!! I love you Mom!! Look at that sweet picture. You gotta love that, "Sissy, please hurry and take this picture, you know I loathe having pictures taken of me", look! Seriously, I completely love this woman with every ounce of my soul! From birth she has given nothing but her whole-heart to everything that crosses her path and my brother and I are no exception. She has always been there from kissing boo-boos when I was little to still continuing to pick up the pieces today when my life seems to be falling apart (though most of the time she reminds me that it is a fear or worry that should not be because God is in control.) I am blessed to be the child of such a Godly woman and leader for our family. She is our prayer warrior and rock in our family. I praise God that I am her daughter and that she is my Mom!

Momma,
I love you more than you know and appreciate you more than words can express. You have made me who I am today through prayer and example. I yearn to be more like you and I cherish our friendship and your loyalty to love. I am inspired by your amazing spirit and love for the Lord and your family. Thank you for everything that you have sacrificed for me personally and for all the decisions that you made with my best interest at heart. I long to love my children the way that you have loved David and I. I feel blessed to call you mine!

P.S. I probably should have warned you to bring tissues with you to the computer! I love you!

Thank you God for brothers!!

Happy 34th Birthday Bub!!!



Today is my only brother's birthday! I am truly blessed to have you in my life. You are one of my best friends and your phone calls brighten my days!! For those of you that don't know, my brother and I are super close and about 8 years ago he moved to California and left me here. One thing is for sure, though I miss him terribly our conversations definitely don't suffer. We talk several times a week and sometimes daily! He is one of the true lights of my life and I don't know what I would do without him! I love the way my children's face lights up when they get to see him and vice versa! He is an amazing Uncle and I couldn't ask for anything more!! I have so many amazing memories growing up that I won't bore you with but, let me just say that I couldn't have asked for a better friend, role model and support system. I truly hope that one day my children have the love for their siblings that I do for mine and share the kind of friendship that we share.

I love you man!!!!

Holy Muscles!!!

Today Bryan and I started working out at a local gym!!! I was SUPER excited that he was home to go with me!! We worked out really hard!!! Like, REALLY hard!! I was under the impression that we were going to start out slow and ease into it but, WRONG again!! We walked for 30 minutes on the treadmill, then I rode the bike for 15minutes then moved on to the free weights. Wow, Bob and Jillian would not be impressed!!! I have no idea how to workout on free weights. My poor hubby was trying to help me but, I have never used those in a workout before. Anyway, after making a complete dummy of myself on those we moved on to the weight machines. At least those have a picture to illustrate the correct way to use them. That was a little bit better! We walked out of there 2 hours after going in and I was just bouncing and totally proud of myself. But NOW is a TOTALLY different story!!! My legs are KILLING me!!!! SERIOUSLY KILLING ME!!!!! I am anxious to go back tomorrow so I can stretch them some more. I have been told and experienced that working them out the next day will help with soreness. I would like to go tomorrow morning but, I have to work so, tomorrow I will suffer through my day and workout promptly at 3:15 :-) I can see it now......I am going to be one toned, smokin hot mom and wife!! I can't wait!!!

A New Year A New You

"New Year's resolutions are easier to keep when you rely on God"
After thinking about a New Year's resolution and seeing this sign, this year I decided to write all the things down about me that I would like to change and pray about them. Of course I have the same changes as a lot of people and that is to take better care of myself, lose weight, excercise etc.... That is definately one thing that I am going to strive for this year however, my main goal this year is to rely on God to help make the person that he created me to be. Previously I have been really good at saying God, please take control of this in my life and then I treat it like a fishing pole that I just casted and reel it back in and try to control it myself. Do you ever do that? Today while sitting in church there were a lot of things said that made me realize that I need to trust. Pastor Gary quoted J.Hudson Taylor saying "God gives the very best to those who leave the choice to him"! That was really powerful! He said that we don't need to test God...we need to trust God and then we will realize that He is trustworthy. You know every year I decide there are several things that I need to change but this year I am just vowing that I am going to be in The Word every day and letting God guide my life and my family. Then and only then will I be doing what is right and what is in His image. Don't question the care and goodness of God, just trust Him with the very life that He created for you and be a living sacrifice for Him. Pastor Gary shared this poem with us today and it really hit home so I thought I would share it with you. My prayer for you and your family this year is that you Let Go and Let God. Trust Him with everything from the smallest to the largest of things and He will give you strength to make it through.

Broken Dreams
Submitted by: TonyaB
Author: Unknown


As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend.
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because He was my Friend.

But then instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.

At last I snatched the back and cried,
"How could You be so slow"-
"My child," He said,
"What could I do? You never did let go."

Happy New Year

Bryan and I bringing in the New Year together!

Happy New Year from The Washburns! We got to bring the new year in with some of our best friends and had a blast. I have been truly blessed for the last week and a half and have gotten to spend it with my husband...uninterrupted!! He took some vacation time and we have had a great time together. I can not blog long today because we are headed of to go deer hunting, just he and I! I am super excited because as I have said before, I love spending time with him in that little box. It is QUALITY!!! Just thought I would say Happy New Year and share a few photos with you from our fun evening! We wish you joy and happiness in this new year! By the way, no time now but soon I will blog about my New Years Resolution's!


I love dancin with my honey


The Washburn's and The Bouviers!


My favorite part of the new year


Bryan and his work buddy Paul


Bryan, Paul and I


Bryan with our buddy Bouvier

Are we not the best looking party crowd you have seen?

We had a blast Bouvier's!!! Thank you so much for ringing in the New Year with us!