This is my first Aloha Friday posting. It is being sponsored by Kailani over at An Island Life. In Hawaii, every Friday, it's just carefree and easy, so to celebrate, and practice just relaxin', I'm joining her. I will post a question, and you can answer it in your comment. If you'd like to join in Aloha Friday, just click on over and link to your site!

QUESTION: If you could hang out with any Bible character, who would it be, and why?

My Answer: It'd be Mary, Jesus' mother, I'd like to hear her side of the story!

Girls NIght Out

I had used up my last dollar that was taken from the dryer (haha! I collect any money I find & put it in a cup!) when I bought a ticket to our church's 1st ever Womens Banquet. It was a night of 4 F's. Food, fellowship, fun, but most importantly a faith filling message! The food was catered in-delicious! Fellowship-just what could be better than a room full of other Christian women?! Fun-absolutely! Full of faith-that was our guest speaker, Cindy Beard. She is a contributing author of She! magazine. But even more than that, she is a Christian with an awesome testimony!! Being a recovering cancer patient, she had stories that came from both high and low points in her life. At times I was crying from emotion, and the next minute, I was laughing so hard that I was crying! The message that rang out loud and clear, was this; God is faithful. God is always faithful! Thank you God! What a WONDERFUL time I had during this Girl's night out! I was thankful that I had spent my last four quarters! God is faithful, and I was blessed, as were many others that night!

Children's Church

At our church, we have started teaching children's church every third Sunday. When asked if we (my husband and I) would do it, it was a quick answer, yes. You see, we had been praying together that God would put us in a place that we could serve Him. Less than a week after we starting praying, doors were being opened! Children's church, is just one of them. So, let me tell you about it... Our Sunday was last week, and we prayed, and had read over the lesson, and was as prepared as we thought we could be. IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TIME!! There were 13 children, the Bible lesson was out of Genesis, and how God made the animals. There was a puppet show, Bible story, snack, a song, craft, and a game. The kids were even asking for more when their parents showed up! I am still so excited that I've been put in this position! My favorite highlight was when we prayed, a child asked if he could pray, and it was the sweetest most sincere prayer--my heart was blessed! Looking forward to next month's lesson and experience!

WOW! This is AWESOME!

"You're sponsoring what?! OOH, that's really cool!" That's the response I'm getting from people I'm telling about what's going on at my church, South Florence Baptist. We, as a church have been given the opportunity to be able to sponsor our local high school football team, through Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). There are 60 players, so there are 60 church families participating in this. We are backing and encouraging our "adopted" player this year, as well as our youth minister, Jeffery, going out to have a devotion with the players each week

   This past Sunday, was awesome! The players, their families, and the coaches were invited to our church. So many showed up, it was a full house! We (my family) were unable to be in the sanctuary due to keeping children's church, but that's a whole other blessing (post to come soon). All of the prayers that came before this day, truly set the way for the worship that was experienced.

   I am SO excited about what is going to come of this!! Stay tuned for updates, but until then, Go Trent! and all of you Bruins!!

(Our youth minister is pictured in the blue shirt in middle~one of the guys!) GO SOUTH FLORENCE!

(High School & Church!!)

Got a Good Deal?

   A little about me, I LOVE to get a good deal! I am not really sure where it started, going to the store for my mom, watching Supermarket Sweep so much while I was pregnant (which is by far, one of my fav-O-rite tv game shows!), or just being excited by such great bargains. Anyway, I have to laugh at myself, because I was in the grocery store the other day, getting what was on my list, when I happened upon "a deal"! No, it wasn't on my list, but they were these burritos that were 3/$.99 (TAXCO Brand) I thought, "Hey, why not, that would be quick and easy" There were different flavors, but I got the flavors -Bean & Cheese and -Pizza (I thought, huhm.. like Hot Pockets maybe). 

    Moment of Truth:  This morning my hubby is just wanting something, says, "Hey honey, why not fix us one of those burritos?" Okay, fixed 'em. UGH! The bean & cheese needed serious salsa, and the pizza one, just needed a trash bag!! Some things are just better name brand! Here I come, next shopping trip, Patio and Hot Pockets! (The back of my mind is thinking about Aldi's, they have a brand of burritos that are like $.29, they are GOOD!)

   So, do you have any name brand items you swear by, or a deal too good, not to mention?

Some sense of order

   Well, my husband said to me the other day. "Honey, we've lived here for a year now, and some things just don't feel like we live here, yet." He was referring to the fact that there are still some unpacked boxes, and clutter hiding around the house.

   So, as part of my DONE! lists, (I have started making these lists on the side of my journal to note the things that I DID accomplish during the day) Over the past couple of days, I have shined my sinks (Thanks to the FLY LADY), organized our living room closet, children's closets, and brought order to all of the unruly sheet sets looming at the top of our hall closet! WHOO HOO!! I'm on my way to living in our home!

   What do you have hiding in your closets?!

Update on Rachel S.

Hi everybody! I am posting an update on my cousin, that I wrote about here. The fund raiser that they had was a success, although, there is still much to do. I am excited to report that they raised a little over $14,000.00 with their plate dinner! There are  more fund raisers in the works. Their goal is $65,000. I THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS, and am asking that you continue to pray! This family needs our prayers as much as we can give them. Also, if you would like to make a donation, please feel free to check out their website by clicking on this: http://www.cotaforrachels.com/  Thank you.