Picture this!

Kimberly Smoot came up from Springfield the other day to visit and take our family pictures. Her pictures rock - this was just a sneek peak - cannot wait to see the rest! Watch for more pictures to be posted soon!

Happy Independence Day!

Lots of fun down at the Peoria Riverfront!

...and relaxation to!

Mawma and Bella

Lili's belly.

Blowing kisses...

Lili attacking Daddy!

Look at those piggy tails!

Yo ho, yo ho, a Pirate's life for me...

POTC3...are you wondering if it was worth seeing? Well, wonder no longer, go see it! The movie had everything...action, drama, comedy, love, and beautiful scenery...and of course Johnny Depp, isn't that enough?

We arrived about 7:15pm for the 8:00 showing and the theater was already mostly full. Good thing we didn't wait any later or we probably would have had to sit separately. I'll try not to give too much away, but be forewarned, this may contain some spoilers...

The movie opened with the laws that Beckett imposed or suspended being read and a line of men, women, and children waiting to hang at the gallows. Beckett has decided to rid the world of pirates and anyone willing to help or befriend a pirate in any way that he can. The end of the opening, when the boy starts singing and everyone joins in and then when he is hung and his coin drops and the opening title is displayed...awesome opening that displays how evil Beckett has become. Okay, bring on the movie.

Elizabeth is navigating a small boat through a crowded village in China, singing a nice little pirate song. Upon reaching her destination, she meets up with some friendly Chinese pirates and then is joined by Barbossa. While trying to avoid being seen by Beckett's soldiers, they continue through the village to meet up with one of the Pirate lords, Sao Feng. It's humerous seeing just how many weapons that Swan can carry on her at once. Okay, to sum up the rest of this scene, Turner was captured, there's a spy, a fight breaks out, Jack the monkey gets to blow things up, Turner makes a deal with Feng to get one of his boats and a crew, and they all head out to save Jack from Davy Jones' locker.

Skip to the next scene with Captain Jack Sparrow and his interesting crew aboard the Black Pearl. Funny, funny, funny! Ok, so now Jack is apparently crazy-er...and not invited to the garden party either. So, he's trying to get the Pearl from the middle of the dessert to the sea...not too easy to do, but this is Jack, so of course, he does it. When Barbossa and the gang finally find Jack, and finally convince him that they're not just hallucinations, the fill him in on what Beckett has done and that a meeting of the Pirate lords has been called.

After Sparrow and the rest of the crew get back to reality comes the real fun. Beckett sets up a deal with Jack that will allow him to take Davy Jones place as the captain of the Flying Dutchman, Wil Turner forms a deal with Beckett that will allow him to free his father from Davy's crew, Elizabeth is captured and meets up with Bootstrap who now has some form of amnesia, Norrington helps Elizabeth and her crew escape only to have Bootstrap kill him before he can leave as well, we meet the Pirate lords as well as Teague, Jack's father, and his mother, and Elizabeth becomes the Pirate king and declares war on Beckett.

We also get more details on the story of Davy Jones and his romance with Calypso (Tia Dalma) and there's a great scene with Jones and Dalma while she's in the brig of the Pearl. You could really sense the feelings of both characters, and when she puts her hand on his face and he becomes a man again....just wow. This one brief scene made up for the fact that Tia's character didn't really get explained in POTC2.

So, with Beckett's fleet on the horizon, the Flying Dutchman surfaces and battles with the Pearl. While Sparrow and Jones engage in their own sword fight, the crews of each ship fight it out. During the fighting, Wil and Elizabeth take a moment to have Barbossa perform a marriage ceremony. All the chaos and fighting around them seems to disappear when they finally get to kiss.

Sidenote...one of the best lines in the movie...this was actually hard to pick because there were so many great lines, but Jack has just done his cannon trick and is escaping through the air from the Endeavour to the Pearl...Beckett asks the sailor how soon they can start after the Pearl and then the Endeavour's mast snaps in the background, the sailor, looking in awe, says to Beckett "Do you think he plans it all out or just makes it up as he goes along?"

Anyway, Jack's plan is to stab the heart of Davy Jones so that he can take his place and sail the seas for eternity, but after Wil is stabbed by Davy, he realizes that the only way he can save Wil is to give up what he truly wanted and to let Wil stab the heart and save his life. (Yes, I cried.) Wil then becomes Captain of the Flying Dutchman, human crew and all, and takes over Davy's duties of helping those who died at sea cross over to the other side.

The Pearl and the Dutchman then team up on each side of Beckett's ship and blow it to smithereens. This scene is quite amazing. Beckett, large ego and all, walks along the ship as it blows up around him, finally ending in his death.

Elizabeth leaves the Pearl and she and Wil are on a beautiful island before Wil has to leave to fulfill his duties on the Dutchman. He leaves his heart, which he says has always belonged to her, with Elizabeth to guard and sails off into the sunset, disappearing with a green flash. Yes, I cried again.

Cut to Jack trying to smooth talk a couple of ladies into taking a ride on the pearl....er, but why's his ship out at sea? Barbossa stole the Pearl again with the map and plans to find the Fountain of Youth, only to find out that Jack removed the center of the map and will be tracking it down himself in his little row boat.

Roll the credits...but don't leave just yet, there's a short clip that takes place 10 years down the road (it actually feels like 10 years after all the credits too!) and don't forget..."keep a weather eye on the horizon."

Overall, I loved the movie. Bring on POTC4!

POTC3...did you forget? It's almost time!

Ahoy, Maties! How could it have slipped yar mind? Well, it hasn't slipped mine, and we now officially have our tickets to see POTC: At World's End on Thursday, May 24th!...that's right, not the 25th! They're having one showing, 8pm on the 24th, at select area theaters and our area is one of them. YEAH!
In any case, we'll be sitting in a dark movie theater watching Johnny, Oralando and Kiera dressed as pirates in an awesome movie one day before many other people will be! Now, when to schedule to Pirate's marathon to refresh our memories from the first two...hmmmmm...

Spring has sprung!

Today Mommy and Bella went to Chuck E. Cheese to play for a while, then went back to Papa and Mama Myers house to play. Papa watched Lili while we were at Chuck E. Cheese. It was such a beautiful day today that we decided to play outside for a little while.

While we were playing, we found this cute, little toad. He kept hopping when Lili was trying to catch him. She thought it was quite funny. Bella even enjoyed carrying him around for a short time before we let him go so he could go take a nap.

Lili also discovered how much fun dandelion seeds could be. She liked to hit them with her hands and watch them fly.

Before we went in for a snack, we found this baby "Anaconda"...or perhaps it's just a Garter Snake...either way, Papa didn't want anything to do with it, so he and Lili headed for the house while Bella chased him around. We watched him slither through the grass, climb through the Lilac bush, and quickly slither over the driveway and under the evergreen tree so he could go hide...he was afraid of Papa too!

Are you a good egg or a bad egg?...

I'm thinking these two are two of the cutest bad eggs I've seen around!

I really want to change...

The small groups have started at Harvest and we're working through the book "I want to change...so, help me God" by Pastor James MacDonald. Only a few chapters into the book and wow - it definately doesn't give you that warm-fuzzy feeling all over. James hits you with several hard questions and challenges.

Everybody knows what it is to struggle with sin – whether you want to admit it or not. Well, this book is telling you to admit it! At different times in our lives, we all try and fail, we all fall and get up again, only to fall again and feel discouraged.

For the good that I want to do, I do not; but I practice the very evil that I don’t want to do.

(Romans 7:19)

It's so easy to fall back into old ways, that's why we need to ask God to help us.

Do I really want to change? Yikes...what a question.

Well, yes, I want to change, but....

There are no buts...you have to commit to wanting to change. Change is difficult and you cannot do it with any of the hundreds of self-help books at Barnes & Noble...you have to allow God to change you.

Step one is repentance. Repentance involves our emotions and will, but it begins with a chance of mind. All sin has wrong thinking in it. In our sinful nature, we say...just this once...I can handle this...nobody else has to know. Repentance is putting those ugly lies that we tell ourselves out in the open and calling them what they are...SIN. When I sin, I deceive myself. When I repent, I turn my mind from that deception.

When repentance happens, it leads to two things:
First, confession. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). I have to see sin the way He sees it. That's a scary thing. You have to make things right on a verticle level first, you have to make it right between you and God.
The second thing that happens when I genuinely repent is I make restitution. Zacchaeus is the example James gives us for this (Luke 19:8). If you wrong someone, you must make it right with them. If you lie, go back to the person(s) and tell them the truth, if you steal from someone, give it back, if you hurt someone, physically or emotionally, ask for forgiveness. Do whatever can be done to make it right on the horizontal level after it is right between me and God. That’s restitution.

Both confession and restitution are easy to understand, terrifically difficult to do, but the only way to a right relationship with God. – James MacDonald

Just a few snapshots . . .

Thought I'd share a few pictures I took the other day.

Once a week we go to McDonald's for a playgroup and lunch. The kids have so much fun. This is Bella and her friend Tyler. They are hilarious together!

Lili Jo is growning so fast...she's quite the little drama queen.

I think she knows I want her to smile and thinks it's funnier to make faces! This is her apparently telling me she's done.

The Glory of God

God’s glory...His holy presence...it’s something so many people desire. But are they really ready for it?

Many prophets in the OT experienced God’s glory, and it wasn’t how many Christians today imagine it to be. When God entered a place, the ground shook, the Temple filled with smoke and people fell down in fear...YIKES! Isaiah was no exception. When struck with the presence and glory of God, Isaiah cried, “Woe to me! I am ruined for I am a man of unclean lips.” He recognized the sinfulness of his soul and the awesomeness of God.

What would happen if we were met with the presence of the God? Thankfully, God will look upon us and see the blood of his son, but still the presence of God changes people.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 “We, with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory…”

I want to be like Jesus, but I’m so far from looking anything like Him. On some days I really wonder if there is any resemblance and if He’d recognize me as his child.

A closer relationship with Him brings change...Maybe that’s my problem. I’m not changed because I don’t sit long enough in the presence of the One who can change me. I know what quiet time is, but do I do it?

I found this quote that sums it up nicely: “Nothing so invigorates our souls, so ravishes our hearts, so diminishes our anxieties, and so ennobles our existence as being supremely preoccupied with God’s greatness and presence. This is what you and I were made for.” Dwight Edwards

So how do I find the time to sit in God’s presence and absorb His glory when I’m surrounded by “stuff” to do and little girls to take care of? We all can’t be monks or nuns, called to hours of isolation and communion with God. So how can a normal person, a stressed-out, busy mom experience the glory of God in her daily life? I’m still trying to figure out this answer.

Father, I want so much for your glory to be present in my life, especially in my home and in my parenting. Help me find the time and desire to spend it with you so I can be filled with your glory so others will be drawn to you.

Worship the Lord God Almighty!

Lord, you are more awesome than I can even imagine and I give you praise. For the day and the sun...and the snow (if I have to)...and the ability to enjoy one more day in your presence.

I've been studying a bit on worship, and what I've found is that I need to worship God not because of what He does for me, but for who He is!

In the Old and New Testament, people who worshiped God first before facing the enemy. Gideon, Elijah, Paul, Jesus to name a few. All worshiped God despite their circumstances and God moved!

So, I need to praise Him in the middle of my circumstances, instead of complaining about them. I’m getting better at this. Instead of focusing on my problems, I’m trying to visualize them as I know God wants them to be. And it really has changed my attitude about the situation, when I do it.

That’s the toughest part. Remembering to praise God and thank Him for what I know He will eventually accomplish. I have no idea when He will bring certain things to pass, but I do know if I focus on the future, the will of God, it will happen.

So if I start to stray from this thinking. If I focus on my current set of circumstances, instead of worshiping God, I give you permission to give me a whop upside the head and remind me of my words.

Worship God for who He is despite my current need.

That’s what I’m trying to do. What about you?

Turning one...

Lili Jo's birthday came and went. I cannot believe that she is one already! It seems like just the other day that we were making trips to and from St. Francis to visit her in the NICU. I'm so glad it really wasn't just the other day!

We had her birthday party at Papa and Mawma Myers house.

We decided upon a Mickey Mouse theme, once again my gift of picking a theme that you cannot find decorations for was visible. Mawma Sheila made two beautiful cakes, one of which Lili ate a few small bites of.

She opened several great gifts...with a little help from big sister Bella and cousin Isaiah.

By the time the party was over, she was exhausted
and could barely keep her eyes open. I'm sure,
had she been more awake, she would have devoured
the cake.

Thanks to everyone who made Lili's first birthday so wonderful!

A night in the cold...

One Event Program + Monsters, Inc hardhat... ... ... ... ...$10.00

One bag of cotton candy + Monsters, Inc hardhat... ... ...$10.00

One Boo doll with costume... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... $26.00

One Monsters, Inc T-shirt, size 6... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...$16.00

One picture with Mike W. and a magnet frame... ... ... ...$12.00

Two Mike mugs filled with an icey... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... $20.00

Two Mike W. straw/spoons... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .$4.00

The look on her face while watching the Mike and Sully skate on the ice... ... ...PRICELESS!

2007...time flies!

Wow, another year...2006 is now history and we've begun 2007!

If you’re like most people, you make resolutions each new year's day, only to find by the end of January (or the end of the week!), you’ve already forgotten about it. And I sit here wondering to myself, why do we fail so miserably at our resolutions? Well, why did you pick...enter your resolution here....to be your goal for this year? I believe, in part, it could be our heart motive behind those resolutions.

Without a doubt, the most common resolution we hear about is losing weight. With obesity on the rise in America, one would think this would be a good resolution to stick to; but it’s difficult to break bad habits and start new, good habits...very difficult! So the resolution itself is good - but our heart attitude is off. We really want to lose the weight, but we don’t relish the hard work and effort that it takes to make that happen. I don't like to make New Year’s resolutions.

If I feel the Lord leading me to change or correct something, I don’t want to wait until New Year’s Day to put it into action. Am I always successful at everything the Lord tells me to change or to do? I wish I could say yes, but the truth is - No, I’m not. Why? Because I am not perfect and I am still a work in progress...I'm a sinner.

So what’s my point? For 2007, my resolution, or should I say goal so I make it past the end of this week, is to grow even deeper in my walk with the Lord. I want to know Him more fully and intimately. I have looked back on 2006 and while it’s been a blessed year, it’s also been very stressful at times. I find myself busier than I should be and that busyness has left me tired, stressed and not digging into the Word like I need to. I read my Bible - and I do pray and hear from the Lord, but it’s not as close a relationship as it should to be - and it’s my fault. I let life get in the way of what should always have been my first priority: my relationship with Christ.

Now, it wouldn’t kill me to lose about 25 or 30 pounds, do some more organizing in my home, take more time for relaxation, prayer and just quietness; but I know that the root of all the good things I want/need to do will come after I first seek God and put Him first above all else. My heart was seeking worldly things rather than pursuing a relationship with the One who will give me what I need...spiritual growth, and what I want...to lose weight, organize my life, etc. No wonder I am stressed and tired! I was trying to do all these things! I can only do all things through Christ who strengthens me, if I let Christ strengthen me. I was leaving out the important element in my plans: Christ!

The year 2007 is going to be a year of rest, less stress and spiritual growth for me. I know this is what God is calling me to - and without this step, nothing else will get done that I want. I must first do what I need to do.

Is God calling you to do something? Get your priorities in order and all else will come in God’s timing.

God bless you in 2007!