Faithful Fridays ~ Beyond Your Wildest Expectations.

Hi, everyone!  :)  It's time for Faithful Fridays!  :)  Sorry I'm a bit late this week--I got on the computer to write my post and the internet decided not to work.  Technology.  ;)

Next Friday will be right after Thanksgiving, and I'll be out of town and probably very busy, so I'll be taking a break from Faithful Friday then.  I hope you guys have a wonderful Thanksgiving!  :)


Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :) *************************************************************************** When you wake up in the morning, what do you do first?  Read your Bible?  Prepare yourself for the day?  Check your phone?  Turn off your alarm?   I know that part of my morning routine, whether I realize it or not, is measuring myself up to the rest of the day.  How will I handle the frustrations and troubles that will probably come up throughout my day?  Will this be a good day?  Can I handle it?   But then my devotional book just kind of slapped me in the face with something.  I have these plans laid out in my head of what my day will be like, or what my life will be like, but in reality, God's will is oh so much better than that.  If God were to take my day in His hands and orchestrate it, it would be amazing, would it not?  It would be ten times better than anything I could lay out, because He's GOD.   "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." -Proverbs 16:3 And you know what?  God says He will order our steps.  He will lay out a path for us.  "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you." -Psalm 32:8  But we have to trust Him in that.  We have to let go of all our plans and surrender it all to Him, because only then will He take it into His hands and make it something better than we could ever imagine.  God knows the dreams and desires in your heart, so don't worry.  He loves you and unless they will be harmful to you or they're outside of His perfect will, He won't make you give them up.  Because don't you know that when God intervenes, it becomes something better than the best day we could imagine?
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!  Amen." -Ephesians 3:20-21 So, I often get into the mindset of what I "know" will "probably happen" in a day, and I try to fit God into that, but instead I need to just give it all back to Him and let Him do with it what He will, because only then will it be amazing and beyond anything I could ever ask or imagine. God bless you guys and have a great day!  :) Joy :)

Faithful Friday ~ So You Want a Good Life?

Hi, there, everyone!  :)  It's time for Faithful Friday again!  :)  We're breaking out the rest of the Christmas decorations, as well as the Christmas movies this evening.  We loooove Christmas!  :)

Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
*************************************************************************************************** I'm reading a book right now in school called God's Will, God's Best for Your Life (one of the perks of homeschooling is that awesome Bible books are part of your school work ;)).  I love it, love it, love it.   Here's the deal: there's this watered-down, falsified "gospel" going around these days that's a sort of "prosperity gospel."  And it's totally wrong.  It claims that if you go to church and read your Bible and do all that "Christianly" stuff, God will give you things--more money, a bigger house, a new car, all kinds of things. But we see in God's word that this is not true.   But that's not to say that as Christians we're going to have a horrible life and it's just going to stink. That's what I love about this book that I'm reading.  God never promises us that we'll have all the nice earthly things.  He never promises that our lives will be all sunshine and rainbows and roses.   But, living our lives in His will is the very best way to live.  It won't be perfect.  But it will be oh-so-amazing.  God promises to be with us and comfort us and give us joy.  He gives us all these amazing promises.   "Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.  Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.'” -Joshua 1:8-9
"Trouble and distress have come upon me, but your commands give me delight." -Psalm 119:143 But do you know what the key to all that is?   Giving yourself completely to Him.  Dedicating yourself to following Jesus and His will for your whole life--not living by the ways and standards of the world, but living your life for Him--in worship and dedication to Him.  
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." -Romans 12:1-2  So, you want a good life?  I know I do.  I want something to hold onto.  A purpose.  Love in my life.  Peace.  Protection.  Joy.   And Jesus promises all that.  He really does.  But in order to claim that for ourselves, we must surrender our lives to Jesus.  It's a sweet surrender.   *********************************************** God bless you guys and have a great day!  :) Joy :)

Disney World 2013 ~ Day One

I'm finally getting around to blogging about Disney World!  I can't wait to share the pictures and stories with you.  :)

So, after driving about 15 hours (split between two days--we stayed with friends in Atlanta overnight), we arrived at our resort, Pop Century, on Sunday afternoon!  We walked in and I was like a little kid.  I was dancing around, telling myself, "I'm at Disney World, I'm at Disney World!"

It was my first time, okay?!

Luke and I got first visit buttons.....

....and we all got magic bands, which are these little bracelets Disney has come up with--they are your Fastpasses, room key, and meal plan all in one little bracelet.  You just hold it up to their little scanners and go.  It's very handy and very awesome.  :)

We spent the first evening in Downtown Disney.  It was our first little taste of what the rest of the trip would be like and we loved it.  :D  I rode the Characters in Flight hot air balloon.

The fact that Peter Pan was on the side of it really just made me want to ride it more.  ;)

It made me a little nervous at first, but I loved it!  They actually shut it down after I rode it, because the winds were getting too high.  I didn't know that at the time, but it made sense once I got off and my parents told me...we were getting blown around a bit!

I took a bunch of pictures while up in the balloon.  It was so neat!

There was this guy in Downtown Disney playing the guitar and an Australian instrument called a didgeridoo.  It was really neat!

There's this place in Downtown Disney called Planet Hollywood.  It's a restaurant and it has all these movie souvenirs and stuff like that.  Really cool.  But doesn't it remind you of Pizza Planet in Toy Story?  That's all I could think of when I was looking at it.  I always wanted to go there when I watched the movie as a kid!

I think the nerd within me passed out when I found out that just up those stairs was the ACTUAL Iron Patriot suit from Iron Man 3.  We waded through the crowded tables and got some good pictures of it.  It was really neat.  :D

All right.  So we went to sleep that night all ready for the next day--our first full day at Disney World.  I woke up insanely excited because what park did we go to first?  MAGIC KINGDOM.  And do you know who resides in the Magic Kingdom?  PETER PAN.  

Peter Pan has always fascinated me.  I love the movie, the book, the whole story and the characters.  And since Disney World is as close as you can get to stepping inside a fictional world....I was pretty excited.  

I brought a kiss for Peter (it's a thimble...if you've read the book or seen the 2003 movie, this will make sense ;)).  

Pulling up to the gates of the Magic Kingdom was one of THE most exciting feelings.

Walking into the park was like a dream.  I've wanted to go to Disney World since I was little and saw commercials on our old Disney movie VCR tapes, and seeing the castle kind of just completed things!  :)

When we walked in and had our bags checked, the man handed my mom her bag and said, "There you go, princess!"  It was the perfect way to start out the day.  ;)  Disney World is just a magical place!  I love that every time you leave somewhere, they say, "Have a magical day!"

Main street was decorated for fall, and it was all really pretty!  :)

Childhood = complete.

Our MyDisneyExperience app said that Peter would be in Fantasyland right after the park opened.  So what did we do as soon as we could?  We headed to look for Peter.  My parents knew how excited I was to meet him.  They were really great about it.  :)  We walked past where we were supposed to meet him, not knowing it, and asked a person to point us in the right direction.  They did, and as we were retracing our steps, I saw a flash of green and blue and Peter's hat and Wendy's curls!  I set off following them, my parents and Luke trailing behind.  

I loved how they were so adorably in character, even when they were just walking.  Wendy acted like a little girl in Neverland, and Peter was just...totally himself.  I had actually not planned on meeting Wendy.  If I had known she was going to be there, I probably would have brought something for her.  :)  I'm glad I got to meet her, though.  She was really sweet and good with Luke.  He was really shy with both of them.  :)

I had three goals for when I met Peter: 1. Give him the kiss.  2. Ask him to crow for me.  (Or better yet, crow WITH him!)  3. Give him the little story I had written about Peter Pan and Neverland.

I said, "I have something for you!" and gave him the kiss.  He said, "I have something for you!" and ran off and got me a little flower.  Wendy helped me put it in my hair.  :)

I was really excited and a little flustered when I first met them (I met them on my own because I had gotten there ahead of Luke), so I forgot to ask them to sign my canvas bag (I got almost all the characters I met to sign it) and to crow.  So, I went through a second time with Luke so they could sign his autograph book, sign my bag, and I could ask Peter to crow for me.  It was lovely.  :)  Peter said, "Will you crow with me?" and I said, "I'll try!"  So we did it.  It was a lot of fun.  :)  I never did give him the story I had written, but I'm planning on doing that next time.  :)  I was grinning from ear to ear when I left.  :)

All throughout the rest of the day, when we were riding It's a Small World....

...and seeing Rapunzel's village (EXACTLY how it looks in the movie...SO cool)....

...all I had to do was think, "I crowed with Peter Pan!" and I went into all smiles again.  :)  Unfortunately, his ride was closed down for refurbishment and won't be opening again until around November 13th.  :(

We set out to hit the rest of the park!  Mama, Luke, and I rode Splash Mountain.  I got to ride up front and get covered with water.  ;)

Mama and I rode Big Thunder Mountain, and I rode Space Mountain by myself.  Mama had ridden it before and knew she didn't want to do it again.  ;)  But I had been looking forward to it!  I made up my mind before we came to Disney that I would ride everything, no matter how scary, and I did!

We went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and explored the Swiss Family treehouse.  

It's Captain Jack Sparrow, mate!

As we were getting off this ride, the pirate working it pulled out his sword as I was walking by.  I got a little past him, and he pointed it toward a girl behind me and accused of her of stealing treasure!  :)  The little things like that make Disney a magical place.  

We also went to Enchanted Tales with Belle.  Very neat!  Lumiere and Madame Wardrobe were literally life-like.  They talked and they moved just like in the movie!

Sorry for the blurry picture!

And then Belle came in, and she was perfect.  Definitely one of my favorite princesses!  :)

Luke got picked to play Maurice, Belle's father, as they acted out Belle's story.  We got to meet Belle quickly and she gave us each a bookmark.  :)  The fact that I have a bookmark from PRINCESS BELLE of all people makes me really happy.  :)

Later that afternoon, we went through the waiting line to meet the princesses--we could only pick two, however--either Cinderella and Aurora, or Rapunzel and Snow White.  I really wanted to meet Rapunzel, because she, Belle, and Mulan are my favorite princesses, so we got in line for Rapunzel and Snow.  While we were waiting, I saw this little girl dressed in a Merida costume, and, since I hadn't gotten to meet Merida, I asked her to sign my autograph book, and we got a picture.  :)  She actually asked me to sign her book, too, which I thought was really sweet.  :)

And then I met Rapunzel and my inner 7-year-old came out!  ;)

She was beyond adorable, and so sweet, and so in-character.  She loved my braid.  "That's like my favorite hairstyle EVER!" she said.  She asked if Luke was more the ruffian or prince type.  And when she wasn't greeting someone, she just twirled around in her dress.  And who can blame her?!  Isn't it adorable?  :)

Snow was really good, too.  She said she liked my "earbobs."  "Lovely red color!" she said.  :)

At the end of our night at the Magic Kingdom, I did what I had been waiting all day to do--get my Peter Pan hat!  :)

Coming soon....day two....Animal Kingdom!  :)  

God bless you guys and have a great day!

Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ Strengthening Those Muscles.

Hey, everyone!  :)  Sorry I'm a bit late this week!  We've had a busy weekend.  :)  How has your week been?  Mine has been filled with Christmas decorations.  That's right.  :D

And I have some exciting news.  You may or may not have seen it on my Instagram, but our family is starting the process to try to adopt again!  :)  We're doing it through the states this time.  We're very excited!  We'd appreciate it if you'd keep us in your prayers.  :)


Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
**************************************************************************************************
Lately my calf muscles have just been killing me.  Between exercising, swing dancing (that really gives your calves a workout), and roller skating, they just ache most of the time.  It's a pain, because sometimes I'll wake up in the morning with this really bad pain, and it takes a while to go away.  Or sometimes, my legs will just hurt dully throughout the day. 
But you know what that tells me?  It tells me that my muscles are weak, but they're getting stronger.  They're stretching, they're working, they're getting bigger and better.  
And in a way that makes me think of when we have storms in our faith--trials, doubts, painful times.  
It's painful, it's unpleasant, and if I had the choice to change it, I might, but I know that in the end, if I persevere and keep getting back up and doing what I'm doing, things will get better.  In fact, they'll probably be a lot better than they were before!  I'll be rewarded for persevering.
"Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance." -James 1:3
Are you being tested in your faith right now?  Are you sore and tired and in pain?  Take heart.  If you will persevere and trust God during this time, despite your feelings, things will get better, God will restore, and you will be rewarded.  Don't give up!
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings,because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. -Romans 5:1-5
God bless you guys and have a great day.  :) Joy :)

Faithful Fridays ~ The Sock that Hung Out on the Dryer.

Hellllooo, people.  :)  How are you guys today?  No, really, I want to know.  Tell me in a comment below what you've been doing today!  :)



Faithful Fridays is a weekly linky party hosted on my blog. I made it so that Christians could have one special day out of the week (Friday) to share something from their Christian walk on their blog. If you'd like to participate, write your post, grab the button from the Faithful Fridays page on my blog (so that it will link back here), and come link up at the bottom of this post! :)
**********************************************************************************************
One of my main jobs around the house is taking care of laundry.  I was folding clothes the other day, and (pardon the OCD coming out in me), I came to having two white socks that weren't quite exactly the same.  One was a little shorter than the other.  They could have gone together, I suppose, but it wouldn't have been a perfect match.
Now, I had a bunch of stuff piled up on our dryer waiting to find a match or a place, and I was tempted to just throw those socks together and get them out of the way, but I decided to leave them both on the dryer and see if their matches came along later.

So they hung out on the dryer for a day or two, and then sure enough, on one of the next loads I folded, once I got around to it, the correct match came up and they all lived happily ever after.  :)
What's my point?  It may seem silly, but because those socks sat around on the dryer for a little bit and waited for their perfect match, they ended up finding that match and living happily ever after.
Life is a lot like that.  Especially with the whole dating and finding a husband thing.  It's a messy business, all right, because of the way the world does it these days.  People jump at the opportunity to go for a relationship with any guy or girl that seems remotely attractive or a good match for them, instead of casually getting to know the person first and waiting for the perfect match--because they're too eager to have a boyfriend or girlfriend for whatever reason.  
Am I saying that you're going to find a perfect person?  Of course not!  No one's perfect. 
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." -Romans 3:23
But God does have a will set out for your life, and He offers it to you quietly--not trying to push it down your throat, but wanting you to choose it--and it includes the right match for you.  
People are desperate to jump into a relationship.  Why?  They don't seek God first.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." -Matthew 6:33
God brings satisfaction over everything else.  Sometimes we have to quiet ourselves and really seek God's face to find that satisfaction, but it's there.  And we won't find it in any relationship or status or object.  
So, be patient.  Be encouraged!  God has a plan for you, and He also will give you satisfaction while you wait, if you'll just seek Him.  
God bless you guys and have a great day.  :) Joy :)
P.S. - There's a Disney post in the making, and some photography coming over that!  :)