New Year...Again?

This morning in church, we had an awesome service where the Lord was moving and stirring my heart about commitment and priorities. What comes first in my life...and do I really trust Him like I say I do. I say I am committed but - is that just words? Our scripture was found is Matthew 6, which, by the way is such a powerful chapter - especially if you have a doubtful moment in your life- But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (I told you it was powerful!) So anyway...the questions that kept coming to me where:

• Do I seek God first in my life?
• Do I seek God first in situations OTHER than troubled times?? (ouch)
• Do I seek God first in the lives of my girls?
• Do I seek God first in the life of my marriage?
• Am I committed to finding God's will in all of these things...or do I ask once and hope I don't hear what He has to say!

I'm just sayin', my toes are hurtin'! My Heavenly Father was walking all over them this morning... So, as I realized I needed to work in these areas I knew I need to visit the alter. Now what I'm about to tell you is not meant to be boastful, but is necessary to tell you so I can relay to you something absolutely beautiful God gave me today. So, Bro. Reagan gave the alter call, and I gathered my girls up and we went down...so they may know what to do (we are are children's example). I wanted them to hear my prayer for them and to hear me seek God and His will in our lives. It was such a special time the three of us kneeling there asking for the guidance of our Creator...
So, after church was over, and my make-up totally smeared all over my face - why they didn't tell me I don't know! - one of the teenagers in our church come up to me and asked to speak to me. (Here is the beautiful gift God gave me.) She wanted to tell me how much it meant to her that my girls and I went to the alter together as a family. She had the biggest tears in her eyes as she was telling me that her parents just told her this past week they would not be coming to church with her because they no longer believed in God. She went on to say that she would never be able to experience that type of worship....oh what sorrow for this precious child. As I stood there, God gave me words of comfort to tell her - I had no idea on my own how to comfort such brokenness. I told her not to give up...her prayers would not go out in void - the Bible said so. And that after 30 something years of praying, my mom and dad just in this past two years had accepted Christ and been baptized and started living for God.
And then there it was -my gift from God. This awesome realization that this child brought to my attention. I have a complete Christian family...as of 2011!  As I look to what I am supposed to do and be in 2012, I can't help but be elated over the last year. Thank you God for answering my prayers of salvation...thank you for all of your promises...and thank you for this new year to serve you.

A Step Back in Time...

My girls are just beautiful.... We had a back in the day celebration at church this past Sunday, where we celebrated the 1940's. I think my girls look like they stepped right of a  movie from that time period. I stopped by my grandmother's house today to show her the pictures, and the crazy thing is, she has a picture of her and her sister together that look just like Allicyn and Mallory!  I just can't get over how pretty they are...and how grown they look!

End of the 2011 School Year

Well...the end of the year and so much has happened. Let's see, Mallory made JR High Cheerleader! Allicyn made FFA Chapter President! Kacie Graduated Sam Houston State University! Oh wow, God has been so Good to my family, where do I begin? Those are just the highlights....Along the way, Cody graduated High School, everybody moved on with their lives and it seems I got a few more wrinkles! It just seems that things go crazy, then one day you look back and realize things have gone exactley as they should have...everyone is doing exactly what they should be doing! Mallory is going to Cheer practice every week, Allie is working hard to prove she can be the best FFA Chapter President Colmesneil has seen ( I know she can!), and Kacie is looking for a job... Rodney is fighting fires in this terrible drought (however, overtime is good!) and I'm baking lots of cakes. It seems that somewhere, in the middle of crazy, you seem to find normal. How crazy is that? I remember my grandmother saying that idle handle hands are for getting into trouble...well, you don't have to worry about that with the Monk family I can assure you! Oh, and did I mention that we got our new pigs in yesterday for our County Fair. So, as if we didn't have enough to do, we now have two baby pigs to take care of! Am I Crazy or what? The crazy thing is, writing this blog with NO FOLLOWERS! How funny is that...it really doesn't matter how wild or wonderful our family is - no one will ever know!

We've been experimenting with the camera! Mallory's & Allicyn have been taking pictures of me...and of course I've been taking picture's of them.

I'm so excited...I just took Kacie's SR pictures! I mean her College SR pictures. Her dad and I are so very proud of all of her accomplishments. And, as you can tell in her pictures, she's absolutely beautiful. But then again, all of my girls are!

Spring!

Spring has sprung with our family! Oh my goodness...Allie is going in about 50 different directions (all of which she is driving herself!) and Mallory and I are getting ready for the Dogwood Pageant this weekend! Mallory will be dancing and twirling..I on the other hand will be just twirling...It's a week away and I'm already loosing sleep! Then there's Softball! If I can just keep Allie from running into poles, and hurting herself I think we'll be Ok... Mallory hasn't played her first real game yet. I don't know when that'll be...AND now she's decided to try out for cheerleader....the baby has been jumping all over the house. It's a wonder all of the pictures haven't fallen off of the walls! She's super excited about it though. So much is happening right here at the end of school...that's right - I said it- the end of school. There is only 2 months left. Then I will have a junior and a 7th grader...and I will be lonely....Ok...enough tears. Enjoy the pictures of spring with my family! Until next time.....

Tyler County Fair Pictures

My Beautiful Girls at the Fair. They don't understand why their dad and I are having a hard time with the growing up thing! Allie thinks she's grown and should be allowed to drive all over the world! and Mallory just thinks she's grown!

Well, I was unemployed and now I'm not! I should've known I couldn't stay still long. I don't even know what I was thinking! I'm now the part-time church secretary for our church. Too funny! Who'd thought I'd be the "Church Lady"!!! So anyway... now I work at the church, teach twirling on Monday nights, and still cook for people. Who said unemployed??? What was I thinking?
My goal was to spend more time at home...well, I'm home just long enough to change clothes for my next job.
Anyway, I'm just thankful I'm able to get to go, as Rodney always says, keep the road hot - I guess! The girls and I have been really busy with the Fair...Allicyn won Grand Champion with her Pie & Cookies and Mallory won Rerserve Grand Champion with her Pie & Cookies. Funny thing is that when I turned their entries in, I got the pies mixed up and so Allicyn's pie was actually Mallory's and Visa Vera! So, I'm still trying to decide who gets the blue ribbon! Too funny. We didn't do so hot with the chickens....I think we left the winners at home! Allicyn said all she cared about was beating her "ex-boyfriend" - which she did! Yea for her! Mallory said she just didn't want to get last place - which she didn't! Yea for her! I said I wanted them to make the sale - which we didn't! Not so yea for me!!!
So anyway... I'll post some pictures soon. And maybe since I've retired, I'll be more faithful to my blog! Ha ha that is soo funny!