Be A Servant

I have never posted a sermon on my blog before but for some reason I felt moved to add this one. This was the sermon from our church last Sunday. I encourage you to take the time to watch all of this, with no distractions, and an open heart! I pray that you are humbled and encouraged to be a servant to all others, make your character and actions be a true light.

http://www.mcleanbible.org/media_player.asp?type=large&messageID=59794

Here are some of the verses he sited:

Galatians 5:13-15
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature[a]; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."[b] 15If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Matthew 6:2-4
So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Dedicated Daddy

Daddy volunteers every year with a ministry through our church called Love Thy Neighbor. And well it does just that! They help needy families take on tasks and renovations that they could not do themselves or afford otherwise. And of course Brian with all of his God blessed skills of fixing and making things around the house, not only does he enjoy serving others and using his talents but he does such a great job doing it too!

Last Saturday the group did a lot of work for an elderly couple that live in Rockville, MD which is about 45 minutes from where we live. I don't have a before and after picture but this house had broken down trees from the winter storms, broken pipes, faucets, and all kinds of landscape that needed to be done. This crew buckled down and spent almost the whole day getting this couples home back in shape.

We are so proud to have such a dedicated Daddy that has these skills and uses them to help those in need! Good job Daddy, we love you!

The Love Thy Neighbor Team with the couple to the left; wife in pink shirt and husband in wheel chair.

7Brian helping out with the landscape duties...someone in the group had access to a city dump truck which was a huge help!

Some of the team taking a break to get to know the husband.


More work....

Daddy working on something in the bathroom...they give him all the grungy complicated work; Daddy ROCKS he knows how to do all that stuff:-)

Some of the guys carrying pieces of a tree that fell down during the winter.

Daddy getting some tools.

The thankful couple...

A Day Out

Ahhhh warm weather, shorts, tshirts and roadtrips are one of my favorite parts of Summer. We woke up Saturday and with the temperature forecasted at 68 we decided to pack the car and go on an adventure! Brian suggested we go to Crabtree Falls, which I had never been before but he had. A hike that we discovered when we went to Apple Orchard Falls, another waterfall hike nearby. We even grabbed Grandma and brought her along. Grandpa was suffering from severe allergies so he stayed indoors.

We headed down Rte 29 and ran into Charlottesville, the beautiful town of University of Virginia. What a beautiful little town and the campus was gorgeous...I would have loved to have attended some place like that. So to give everyone a break from the car we stopped there, which was just under a 2 hour drive, walked through the really cool farmer's market and then walked through the historic downtown area where there were tons of neat shops. I found a knitting store that had a gorgeous scarf but of course they didn't have anymore of the yarn. I should have taken a picture of it but it was a beautiful saffron orange color. My favorite! I love orange. The kids found the kid store, dogs everywhere, and a local banjo player in the middle set of the mood for skipping through the pebbled road and smiling. Then we grabbed a pizza and headed out for the Blue Ridge Parkway to get to Crabtree Falls for our hike.

Crabtree Falls is the largest East of the Mississippi River. Of course for me, coming from CA, and having been to Rainbow Falls at Yosemite this isn't quite as majestic or grand. Yes for the scale of the East coast mountain this is a big waterfall! Pregnant and all we headed up the 1 mile switchback hike that had a pretty steep incline the entire way. Everyone did great, and Aria, she took after Mommy....and practically wanted to run up the mountain:-) Daddy did super with Kaden in the pack which probably was another 40-50lbs and Grandma was a trooper! Way to go everyone!

Starting our roadtrip! Aria got to sit up front with Daddy this time:-)

Of course Kaden is happy to have Mommy sitting next to him for a change!

Grandma comfortable in the back seat...



My little pony hanging out on the dash; our navigator:-)

When we got to Charlottesville we found a neat kid store. Kaden loved this doggy pinwheel outside the store and played with it for a awhile.

Aria got her face painted for free!

Granma and Aria found this neat mosaic tile chair outside an art store.

Going up the hike; our first overlook stop.

Getting closer to the water...

Our little princess posing as always:-)

Kaden really wants to go in the water...but instead we let him and Aria throw a few rocks in.

Mommy and Daddy...we don't get a lot of pics of us but yea with Grandma with us we got one!

We made it back down...now time for some ice cream!

And yes Kaden ate almost the whole ice cream sandwhich, he was in heaven! Messy too, oops I need to go wash that car seat cover!

In Memory

OK so I should have posted this on Easter Day, but it's a heartache I hate to remind myself of sometimes since it always brings tears to my eyes. April 4th was my Dad's birthday; he would have been 68. For those of you that didn't know him, one word I always use to describe his character is love. My Dad loved like no other person I knew. He was a friend to everyone around him and followed God like someone I would aspire to be one day. He devoted his time to his family, friends, church, and strangers. He always made people feel welcomed, went out of his way to make you feel loved, always had a smile on his face, and always had a positive attitude no matter what. He was a father heaven sent for sure! He has been gone 5 years now it's hard to believe, and everytime I think of him it doesn't seem like it's been that long. I know he is in heaven and that one day I will see him again, and he will be able to meet his grandchildren which he never met.

So in memory of my Dad, Howard, I give everyone a BIG HUG and a BIG SMILE! I encourage you to love those around you in any way possible and plant a seed, whether you see the fruits of your seed or not. It's a great thing to leave such a wonderful legacy behind....

I love you Dad and miss you all the time!

Kaden In Training

We were all in the basement playing and working out when Kaden pushed Daddy off the Total Gym and wanted to get on and try. So Brian put him on and away he went:-) Enjoy the video....