coming soon to a blog near you....

pictures of NEW ATTITUDE 2008!!!!!!

pictures of our apartment-sweet-apartment!!!

see ya

"Lord....let me recover my sight"

"Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!"

"Lord, let me recover my sight"

From Luke 18

When my EYES and ears and lips and heart and mind and strength and song- created to worship God- worship the creature rather than the Creator...When they seek inspiration and sustenance from things other than the all-powerful, almighty, merciful Lord and Savior...when they attribute beauty and awesomeness to anything but God...when I allow my gaze to drift form the Cross, my hearing to tune into another message, my words to subtly or overtly worship me, my heart to flutter at whatever temporal happiness the world has to offer, my thoughts to run a marry-go-round of me me me, my desire to be for anything but Him, my strength to be conjured up in me, my song to credit myself and not Christ.......When I am in this place...which is -to one degree or another- as long as I live here on earth, a sinner saved by the blood.....I will cry "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me...Lord, let me recover my sight" Oh, let me behold the Almighty Creator, the Crushed Lamb,the Obedient Substitute, the Victorious Savior and his empty cross and grave, the Merciful Intercessor, the Radiant King on high.....worthy of worship...worthy that my gaze should catch and fix magnetically upon Him, His glory, His creation, His ways, His words, His awesomeness...worthy that my ears should relish in His children's tunes and filter through the stones cries; and what God-glorifying beauty will my ears find in both that is not to be credited to Him? ...worthy that my tongue should move to praise and sing His songs, confess my endless sins and lift thanks to Him who forgives them, speak his truth and love to all while it is called 'today'... worthy that every faculty He has endowed upon me- those which are currently strong, weak, effortless, draining, pleasurable, loathsome- should be motivated for His glory, empowered by His grace, controlled and convitcted by His infallible perfect Word, conformed to Him, Inspired by Him, grateful to Him, flourishing in Him, Serious about Him, held against a standard of Him, cling to Him, Look to Him, Interested in Him, filtered through Him, Strengthened For Him and His purposes...finding all rest, joy, sustenance, peace, hope, faithfulness, love, mercy, self-control,  trust, perseverance, discernment, forgiveness, conviction, perspective, satisfaction, supply...In Him alone! Whatever the cost. 

"Heavenly Father, Though hast placed me in the church which thy Son purchased by His own blood. Add grace to grace that I may live worthy of my Vocation...My heart is not always a flame of adoring love, but, resting in thy Son's redemption, I look forward to the days of heaven, where no langour shall oppress, no iniquities chill, no mists of unbelief dim the eye, no zeal ever tires. Father, these thoughts are the stay, prop, and comfort of my soul." (parts taken from "Vocation" from The Valley of Vision)    

If you think of it...pray for me to fix my eyes on Jesus, release any idols to Him and allow His Spirit to help me change to love Him and His word more!

Happy Ma's and Mom's day!!!

I love you both so much! Ma, thank you for loving me. Thank you for homeschooling me all those years. Thank you for teaching me bible verses and playing with me when I was little. thank you for your humble example of a wife and mom! thank you for always forgiving me! thank you for your friendship!! And thank you for teaching me how to be a good wife and homemaker. thank you for being one of my closest friends...i adore you! Mom, thank you for raising Jordan up to be a wonderful man, for teaching him about God and the bible, for loving me and wrapping your arms around me into your family. I love being a Smith!!! Thank you for always taking time to talk when I call you. Thank you for your example of warm and loving hospitality and kindness! i love you so very much!

The thing I am most grateful for in both of you is this: it is very evident that the most important part of both your lives is Jesus Christ!!! I hope I can be like both of you mixed together when I am a mother!

Love you so much, Nelly

mild salsa sisterhood

To the most loving and kind and precious sisters in the world!!! I love you each so much and am so thankful to God for each one of you! Liz, you have been a huge example of caring for others. I remember one night when we lived in our town house and it was just you and me home, you had a TON of homework to do and i wanted to spend time with you...so, you took time away from your mound of school and made smoothies for us and we listened to Point of Grace music together! I'll never forget that night...it made a huge impression on me! I know it is a huge blessing to mom and the rest of the family that you help with making meals while mom's leg is healing! A few months ago, you also showed me so much care when you lovingly brought an observation to me! Your demonstration of joy, trust in God, and submission to God's will for your life are just a few evidences of the wonderful fruit in your life! I am so grateful for you! Kate, you inspire me by your close walk with God. I love it when you post on your blog or tell me on the phone how grateful you are for the big and small things God is doing in your life! you remind me to take advantage of the gift that each day is and not live like life is just the same old routine every week. Your love, care and loyalty to Clay are such an example to me, and -now that I am a wife, too- i am very thankful for a humble example like you to follow! Jord and I love hangin with you and Stanger! Jappy, you are my sunshine. Your love for God and strong desire to honor Him makes my heart rejoice! I have loved growing up as "the younger two" and learning from you even though you are "the younger one". One thing that i am so grateful for is your tender heart! When we would get in fights, we would both be mad and i would want to quickly make up...but, you would really think about your sin and come crying to me repenting and asking forgiveness! That has made me want to be more concerned about the sin in my heart toward God, than even making up quickly. 

You each mean so much to me and I love you so much!!!! 

Beach date...Or not!

A few weekends ago, me and myboy went on a really fun date!!! On a pleasantly warm and sunny evening, we headed to the beach around dinner time. From the parking garage to the last road before the boardwalk, it was nice and warm... but, the moment we crossed the street and reached the boardwalk, we were so chilly. So, we took a few pix by Neptune and booked it to our car! So, then we hit Lynnhaven mall and walked around for a while, took pix on the sweet mall rides :). And -of course- I couldn't leave the mall without smelling like four different perfumes!!! Then we got Pizza hut and picked up the movie Band of Brothers(thanks Dad Smith for letting us borrow that... it's so long, but I'll make sure we have it back to you by '09). We watched as much as we could before 12:00am! See, last datenight movie (which took like three evenings to finish) was Jane Eyre!!! One of my top favorite books...so, this it was one of Jord's fave books on movie! I'm so thankful for my cutieboy...He is truly my very BEST FRIEND and I love spending time with him all alone...What a treat!!!"Hi-ho silver" Alright, that's all    

we spotted our sign!

On the way home we had fun with the camera!

Bona fide accountant

myboy started a new job on monday working at a law firm as an accountant. We are grateful to God for this job! (And I think he looks so cute with his tie on!!!)

just 2 kids...

the dishes pile up

the trash overflows

the bed's not made

we're just 2 kids in love

"Luke...i am your father"

we have a new little addition to our family... can you guess who he is?

oh and.... may the force be with you!