We must stay full of God’s presence or we won’t have anything to give everyone else. 

Take time to recharge.  Take time to connect with God.  Take time to rest.  

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31

It's not summer without pulling out the popsicles molds!  Frozen lemonade is pretty much awesome.

Our basic recipe:

1 cup lemon juice

1 cup sugar (or splenda)

2 quarts of water

Thanks to Pinterest, I'm gonna get fancy smancy with it this summer and make these:

P.S.  Everything is better frozen.  Including gatorade, kool aid, and crystal lite peach tea. (I'm the only one who likes that last one.)  Y'all it gets hot!  We gotta do what we gotta do to stay cool. 

P.P.S. Paper cups work just as well as popsicle molds.

I've lived in the Low Country for two years now and I was convinced that it is always summer here.  But thanks to tropical storm Beryl, it hasn't felt much like summer.  Rain, rain, and more rain!  My flowers and our yard love it.  Come the super hot days of July, I will long for this abundance of rain. 

I'm working on our summer list.  If you don't live life on purpose, the days get away.  I want to be sure we get in lots of summer fun and memories, so, my summer list is in the works. 

Things that should be included?  Picnics, kite flying, beach reading, sand castle building, ballgame watching, fireworks...

How about you?  Whatcha doing this summer?  Give me some inspiration. 

Y'all!  I'm so excited!  The Chief and I are leading our first ever eGroup (online small group)!  We have small groups at our church throughout the year and enjoy those so much!  When we were choosing a topic for our next group, we really wanted to do something to encourage the Family.  Cause you know, if we want praying churches we need praying families.  And you know, the most important small group we'll ever lead is at home.  But we just couldn't imagine asking parents to take time away from their families to talk about family.  So, the idea was developed to have an eGroup.  That way, parents can "show up" for meetings on their own time and at their own convenience.  Love it!

Want to join?  Go here to sign up.  (See the contact form at the bottom of the page.  Choose "Family Devotions eGroup" from the drop down menu.)

Session starts Monday, June 11!

Do you ever feel like this poor donkey?  More burdens then you can carry?

Usually the things that burden us down are regrets from the past or fear of the future. 

Let's lighten our loads by choosing to believe God's word. 

Come to me all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  (Matt 11:28)

To the burdens of the past,

Philippians 3:13 says:  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Isaiah 43:18 tells us to, Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!

To the burdens of the future, 

Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Lay those burdens down.

(Recipe here.)

Yes.  I. Did.

Why?

I could tell you it is because it is so much cheaper or because I can get it exactly how I want it or because I don't have time to make an appt. or because I don' t have time to go to an appt.  All of those are true.  Partly.  But the real reason I cut my own hair was....... (Drum roll)

I was just in the mood to take scissors to my hair.  lol  What?!  That never happens to you?

My husband learned how to fix our clothes dryer by watching a YouTube video.  My reasoning:  Surely there are videos for cutting your own hair.  There are.  I used this one.

Doesn't the girl in the video have pretty hair?

The next day, my daughter snapped this pic of the chief and I.

I'm still presentable. 

P.S. I may have cut on it a couple more times since then. 

P.P.S. If you are under the age of double digits and reading, DO NOT TRY THIS!  Seriously. 

Oh. my. goodness.  This recipe was a huge success at our house! 

As in, everybody (all six eaters in the Trent Tribe) liked it!  A lot.   

And I think you will too! 

Pizza Casserole recipe.

Every day is a new day. Every hour is a new hour. Every second is a new second.
Every moment is a new moment. We can't go back into the past so there's no point
in living there.  It's a brand new day! 

I have no way of knowing whether or not you married the wrong person, but I do know that many people have a lot of wrong ideas about marriage and what it takes to make that marriage happy and successful. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s possible that you did marry the wrong person. However, if you treat the wrong person like the right person, you could well end up having married the right person after all. On the other hand, if you marry the right person, and treat that person wrong, you certainly will have ended up marrying the wrong person. I also know that it is far more important to be the right kind of person than it is to marry the right person. In short, whether you married the right or wrong person is primarily up to you.  – Zig Ziglar

I want to be the "right kind of person."  Don't you?