Yesterday my baby girl turned 10!
On Saturday we had her party and as you can see it was Monster High themed.
I painted the girls' faces as their favorite character and Rob sprayed their hair.
I must say Kelly's friends are so sweet and thoughtful.

The house was jammed with family and friends and it was comical watching everyone trying to get around each other to get food or drinks. Thankfully I had a few things planned that included being outside.

Here is most of the gang minus Chelsea, Wyatt and the cousins.
We have a Ghoulia,  Draculaura, Frankie, Clawdeen and Laguna. One young lady didn't want to be painted and another was a make your own ghoul. Crack me up.

I misspoke when I told Rob and Mikey to spray Kelly with the silly string. I meant after we sang Happy Birthday, but I guess I said when we sing Happy Birthday. That was hilarious and I almost missed it because I didn't really have the camera ready.

 After the cake and ice cream we gave each kid a can of silly string to take out front. Then the girls dived into opening up the presents to play with until their parents arrived.

I'm pretty sure they all had a great time, I know I did.

Taken from Pinterest but cannot find the source.

What an amazing week and each day something new or renewed sparks more thankfulness for who I am and for who/what is around me.
Thank God I'm not perfect and that I don't have to try to be.
Certain truths are sinking in and in it there is freedom and acceptance, not only for myself but for others.
I love the line that says, I make mistakes, but I own them. There is power in owning up to the words and actions that you use. I've been trying so hard to make my words count. To lift up anyone around me.
I found this pin and when I went to like and re post, I somehow lost it and no amount of searching on Pinterest could find it, until a friend put it on Facebook. I copied it to my clip art and would love to print it out where I can look at it and remind myself daily just how awesome(in humbling terms) each one of us are.
I'm working on getting the words out of my head and onto the page, words to inspire, think, and praise. Words that have been used time and time again but the message gets pushed to the wayside by a society that screams at us with print and social media.
What would our world look like if we accepted each other as we are?
 I know from my experience that when I have gotten to sit down and get to truly know someone all the superficial crap doesn't matter. On the inside we all have similar struggles some just hide it better, some seek to understand, others just stuff it down, whatever the case may be.
Each one of us has choices to make and some of us need to be loved on and shown that there are better choices.
This past weekend I worked on the question of how much faith do I have? The bible says if you have faith the size of a mustard seed and you ask the mountain to jump it will. Me being a visual person expects to see air under the mountain when it jumps. Our world moves and shifts everyday and after much thought I have to trust that just because I didn't see Oro Valley when the mountain lifted into the air doesn't mean it didn't move.
Do I have enough faith?
After this weekend I can say for sure that I have faith bigger than a mustard seed. :)
*Carrie*

Just like this bloom that was opening for the day, so
I am too blossoming in the love and knowledge of who God has created me to be.
Pretty heavy words to start a post but they ring so true.
I'll start with yesterday, I was doing some research for my retreat course and I was looking up ideas and scripture for my course notes.
I found so many people online who are doing what
I want to do, or they have something to say on the subjects that I feel that they are doing it better than I could.
I continued on, trying to ignore my lack of confidence, but it all came to a head last night. I had found a verse for something special planned and as I read through my LLM (Learning to Love the Master) manual, I broke down into tears as I struggled through why God has put me on this journey. I took my concerns to my journal and asked God for his answer.
And he gave me one.
You are a spark, to give hope and rest to those you will serve.
I cried.
It was during my tears that my friend LaDonna texted, Hey chickadee. We ended up having a conversation that I'm still sitting in.
We truly don't realize how we inspire or whose life we have touched by just being ourselves, that even when told this, it is hard for us to accept.
This morning as I continue to reflect, I saw today's daily truth from the Brave Girls club. Brave Girls daily truths
I just love how God works in our lives, especially when we open our eyes to see the beauty that is around us and inside each of us.
Last Wednesday I was shown quite blatantly that I'm on the right course.
Rob and I were sitting at dinner and out of nowhere it felt as if someone and just rushed up into my face and started yelling at me. I almost had to gasp for breath it was that profound. I have never had anything like that happen before. The words I heard were that; I wasn't going to do this retreat, to stop now before it was too late and that I wasn't good enough to do it and that the retreat wasn't good enough.
Once everything was spewed out I just sat there for a second, really that's about how long it took before the calm set in and I just knew that I was on the right track. I didn't really give the words a second thought because it was such a blatant attack that I knew it for the lies they were. I just kept thinking, Wow, I must be doing something right.
I have been shown over and over again that I am on the path set before me by my Creator. I'm willing to walk into whatever He needs me to because I know on the other side I will be better for it. It doesn't mean that the walk is easy or not without setbacks, but as long as I cast my eyes upon my Father each time I start to stumble, then I will walk into the person and life he wants for me. Its far better than I can dream for myself.
*Carrie*

Forgive me because I don't remember what site I got this photo from.
On Friday night the whole family watched Empire Strikes back and I must say it's such a hoot to hear my kids say, "I know that guy". "I'm trying to defeat Darth Vader now!"
You see for Wyatt's birthday he got the Ds game of the complete Star Wars Lego whatever. Now we are completing his training by introducing to him the story lines.
Saturday night we watched Return of the Jedi.
As I sat there and watched it brought back so many cool memories of have light saber fights in the front yard, me and a friend arguing over who got to play Leia and all sorts of adventures using the playground equipment from the elementary school next door.
I think as a young girl, Leia was someone to look up to, she was strong, smart and could kick some major butt.
I recently saw a picture on pinterest showing 6 women in today's culture that some girls idolized Kim K., Gaga, K. Stewart, Snooki and Kat VonD, below them are 6 women from various sci fi shows that they all kick major butt. I want my girls to learn that those 6 women that most girls idolize aren't worth idolizing. I want my girls to grow their strength in what God wants for them, to act with dignity, grace, service to others. I want them to use their minds and to love themselves as God loves them, with respect.
This was so not how I planned this post to go.
On Saturday morning I stole away for a couple of hours to just sit and work on my retreat. I have felt a desire to get away from all the noise so that I may hear where God is taking me. I'm hoping to have more time like this in the coming weeks until I have all the major kinks worked out.
I have finished my Walking in this World and my 5 Conversations to have with your daughter course. I'm now reading How to have a new kid by Friday, love Dr. Leman and 5 love languages of children. I hope to have both finished by this Friday. Already I'm looking into more studies just so that I can grow and understand more of how people operate. I must say it is opening my eyes and softening my heart to other peoples hurts. I don't want to try and fix them in so much as I want to understand where they are coming from.
*Carrie*

Big announcement this morning
I finished my Artists Way, Walking in this World, 12 week study!!!
So far I have never had a study meet me where I was at almost all the time. I learned so much not only about myself but how I process and sometimes avoid my one true passion. I'm so glad I did this. I kinda feel like this flower, starting to open up and bloom.
I'm making myself take a least a week off break before I jump in and begin the next book Finding Water. I would like to process and relax before diving right back in.

Another announcement this morning,
I had the craziest dream about cuttlebug folders and My little Pony.
Long story kinda short. Cuttlebug folders are embossing folders used in scrapbooking and card making and I received some for my birthday last week and have picked up a couple the other day. The My little Pony reference is because almost every morning after walking Kelly and Wyatt to school we watch a couple of episodes together on Netflix. Let's just say it was a crazily hilarious dream and I wish I could have finished it and remember more of it.

Let's see, Kelly is off her grounding and I'm beginning to read two books, Five love languages of children and Have a new kid by Friday . This momma is gonna be armed with love and discipline. New strategies to keep my heathens from becoming menaces to society. Nah, they're not that bad.
Last Friday Rob and Kelly had their first Daddy/Daughter Date. The two went bowling, enjoyed some
In-N-Out burger before going to see Madagascar 3. When Rob walked into the house that night he said that the movie is better than the first one and he wants to see it again. Awesome! They both had a great time and I hope this leads to more dates. I was home with Wyatt and Chelsea, we had pizza and watched the original Star Wars. He got the game for his DS and really had no clue about the story or who the cast of characters were, so we watched the movie. Very enlightening for him. Hopefully this weekend we can watch Empire Strikes Back.
I'm sure I could ramble on forever but I'm gonna get busy and enjoy my day.
*Carrie*