I Don't Know What to Say...

This past week we went to Louisiana on a mission trip, you talk about a blessing. God has given me the most amazing joy I can' describe it. You know how the Bible tells us that He will give us a peace that surpasses all understanding, God has given me a joy that surpasses all understanding, or, at least mine and that is fine with me because He has changed my heart and I hope and pray that I never change. As we sang "Victory in Jesus" this morning in church I LITERALLY COULD NOT STAND STILL!!! I just kept moving vack and forth and tapping my feet. It was awesome!!!! I felt so victorious!!!! The Holy Spirit really spoke to me in the second verse.

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory.

Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

After I sang it, I realized that the week before last, I was broken, I had broken myself away from God. So, He took me 500 miles away from home to bring me back to Him and jimany cricket, I don't ever want to leave Him again!!!!!

I hope that this has been encouraging and that it has helped you in some way!
May God make you joyful,
Leah-Joy.

PS. coming soon: a post of our trip to Louisiana!

I Need to Remember...

To be crazy with my sisters...


To love my family and be thankful for my friends...


To do things that I love...

To capture special moments...

And Love Like Crazy

they called them crazy when they started out

said 17 to young to know what loves about

they've been together 58 years now

thats crazy

he brought home 67 bucks a week

bought a little two bedroom house on maple street

where she blessed him with 6 more mouths to feed

thats crazyjust ask him how he did it

he'll say pull up a seat it'll only take a minute to tell you everything

(chorus)

be a best friend

tell the truth

over use i love you

go to work do yourbest

don't out smart your common sense

never let your prayin knees get lazy

and love like crazy

they called him crazy when he quit his job

sellin home computers boy they'll never take off

well he sold his one man shop to microsoft

and they paid like crazy

just ask him how he made it

he'll tell you faith and sweat

and the heart of a faithful woman who never let him forget

(chorus)

be a best friend

tell the truth

over use i love you

go to workdo your best

dont out smart your common sense

never let your prayin knees get lazy

and love like crazy

always treat your woman like a lady

never get to old to call her baby

never let your prayin knees get lazy

and love like crazy

they called him crazy when they started out

they've been together 58 years now

ain't that crazy

Lee Brice

LOVE Y'ALL!!!!

Thursday...

Thursday I was feeling so very defeated. I felt as thought God had told me what to do slong ago, I was passionate then it got and I quit. I was feeling as though there is nothing a sixteen yearold from a little town in the South could do about abortion. Hope, as always could tell I was not myself. I didn't want to tell what was botherng me but because I was honest with her she helped me so much! She told me how Sonny Perdue can' do anything about abortion in our state because it is a federal issue; that things like this take time, perserverance and patients. While she was telling me elderly friend of ours was over helping us learn "The Star Spangled Banner" (we have been to sing at a Thrasher's game). As I was listening to the words I began to wonder what Francise Scott would think of our country now? And that just me feel een worse. But then, something awesome happened! God is so amazing!! It was late in the evening and I hadn't practiced piano yet. I really didn't want to but I knew I needed to. I was ending my practice with the hymn that I am learning and something told me to play all the ones that I knew in the book. As I was playing I began to sing and it was the most amazing feeling! It felt like the Holy Spirit was filling and lifting me up! The last song I sang was "It is Well With My Soul."

And I pray and hope that everything today is well with your soul!
God Bless and continue to pray for Haiti!
Leah-Joy.

What happened 37 years ago today?

It's not just a wod of tissue, it's a child.

• Roe V. Wade


• Abortion was legalized


• Since then there have been 51 million lives taken, murdedered, aborted, what ever you want to call it.


• Need I say more?

Wy? Why does it have to go on? What are they thinking? How can they justify it? I read they story of a young lady who had an abortion, she said, "Is it worth a life of regret or nine of pain?"

Is it worth it? No. God is the gier of life and the only one who can take life. He has a plan for all of us and we need not interfere with that plan.

Please pray for the leaders of our country, for the women who have had an abortion and those considering it.

Thank you and God Bless,

Leah-Joy

J.Man and SunShine's first CHRISTmas!

WoWW! a lot has happened since my last post. Sorry I have been out of blogger world for a long time )it seems like every time i post i say i'm sorry i haven't posted in so long). We had an amazing time with Cousin's, a blessed CHRISTmas, and a fun time with an Aunt and Uncle ringing in the new year. I would to do this post about CHRISTmas morning and then another about the afternoon and then our visit with the cousins!

We got up at 8:00 and did the usual wake up call (stomping on the floor above Mama and Daddy's room to wake them up and caroling at the top of the stairs).

Then we came down stairs, took the annual "children on the stairs" CHRISTmas picture.
Before we opened the gifts, Daddy read the CHRISTmas story. It was so peaceful.

J. Man was so excited! He didn't know what to do with all his gifts!

Sunshine woke really fast when she saw her first very own doll house!
And just her Mother, she put as many tables in one room as possible!!!

IT was so awesome to see Little Man excited about getting books about animals!
He loves them!

It was amazing to my little big brother excited about getting his new Bible!
This morning it was awesome to sit with him in the foyer and read the Bible.

How many 13 year olds would do you know that would excited about getting a hard, all one, Narnia series?
MY SISTER!!!!! She is so insipiring!

I know, I. AM. CRAZY!
I was so excited to get a pretty apron!
Hope said that I picked out the loudest one!

Hope is so cute when she gets excited!
I got to help Mama do a lot of shopping for Hope! It was a lot of fun!

And MARIGRACE GOT A GUITAR!!!!!!
She was really excited and so were we!!

Thank you all for stopping by! I hope that you a have peace in your soul about the this new year that surpasses all understanding! God has blessed me beyond words and I am so grateful! Thank you again for stopping by!
God Bless,
Leah-Joy.

The Cousin's are coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those you who don't know who the Cousin's are, they are our awesome family who we don't get to see a lot. Well, there are 10 people in our family, already houseful you would think, right? Well, with cousin's there are 24 people in our house and it is an awesome party!!!!

At times there are peaceful moments with Gomer Pyle... then crazy moments with hide and go seek. It is pretty awesome!!

then crazy moments with hide and go seek. It is pretty awesome!!

I am really sorry...bad blogger person!!

I have been the worst little blogger person! I am really sorry. I am not going to make an excuses, I have just been a really bad blogger. Thanksgiving we all had the flu and we are all now getting better. School is going good and Christmas is just around the corner! WoWW!!!! I am so excited about Christmas. I have been able to go in with Baby Girl on a lot of presents and they are awesome!!! I can't wait to give them to everyone! The house is full of Christmas cheer, school is almost over and there are going to be partys!!! HOORAYY!!!!!! I love dressing up and going to peoples houses. This Christmas is going to be really special. This time last year, we were all longing for the little ones to come home and now if youi ask them where they are they will say, "Ome for Christmas!" (they don't say their h's) THEY ARE HOME!!!!!! It is amazing to think about. This time last year Mama couldn't listen to a song about a family going through an adoption and their children weren't home and then its Christmas time again and now their home. And now, that is us!! They are home and we are all together!

The man at the pack N ship we used to mail all our important adoption papers owns a place with blow up toys and gave Mama two tickets for the little ones! They loved it!

This is me and my wonderful *favorite* aunt! I am her name sake which she made very well known at my 16th surprise birthday party! It was great!!

Cody and Sunshine! He came over the first day they were home, stuck his huge hand in her face and she has loved him ever since then! We were all just treating them like they were egg shells but Cody just played with her like any other little kid!

Thank you all for stopping by! I hope that you have an amazing Christmas!

God Bless,
Leah-Joy.

PS. Fun Fact: Merry Christmas! Merry=mighty, Christ is Christ, Mass=celebration, so when you say "Merry Christmas" you are telling them that you hope they have a Mighty Christ Celebration!!

Encouragement!

If anyone is feeling bogged down, like you can't get anything right, or your just feeling discouraged, I would encourage you read this post from my Aunt Renee. It is an amazing and uplifting message from a fellow sister in Christ.

God Bless,
Leah-Joy.