This is one of my all-time favorite pictures. Ever.



Mallory, my precious, precious first born, was baptized yesterday. At the age of 9 she's decided to show everyone her love for the Lord and that she's accepted Christ into her beautiful little heart. She wanted her Daddy to do the baptizing cause she thinks he's pretty awesome ;) He was more than touched to do so. That's our phenomenal Pastor Tim holding the mic for Scott.

My sweet girl.

This is Mal with one of her besties, Mikaila.









Mikaila was also baptized on the same day by her Dad. What an awesome memory for these two! They also lost the exact same tooth, on the exact same day about a week ago, and they think that's pretty darn swell :)

To make Mallory's baptism even more sweet is the awesomeness that it was also my Dad's birthday! So of course they came to church with us to be there for the special event. My sister and my niece, and Scott's mom came as well.

Afterward, we went out for some Chinese. I took pics, which confirmed to everyone how weird I am. But that's ok. I wanted pics so I took some!

My sister and my Maggie

My Mom and my niece

Birthday Boy & Mallory

The sweetest Mallory there ever was!

My awesome Dad!

There was a mirror above our table so I made everyone look up so I could snap that shot ;)

Hard to see, I know, and my flash doesn't help, but I enjoyed it!

Then we spent the afternoon at our house playing this fun game, along with some b-ball in the driveway and a little football in the yard (I didn't get any pics of that, frown). But it was such a fabulous day and I will cherish it forever.I really could not be more proud of my little Mallory who totally loves Jesus and wants everyone to know it!
I'm a blessed Momma. My cup runneth over.

Deny Yourself

Selfish. Selfish. Selfish. It's what we all are.
Selfless. It's what we should be.
Nobody's perfect, of course, but being Christ-like means striving our darndest to be selfless. It's honestly quite elementary, yet we all tend to really struggle to think less of ourselves and more of others. The only way I even come close to being less selfish is with God's help. And I literally thank God that He does help me. It's simply impossible to do on my own.
My devotional that I've (tried) to read everyday this year is from Joyce Meyer, whom I really enjoy, and is about this very subject today. And I'm feeling led to put it on here. Not sure why. Maybe so that when I read over my posts in the future I'll come across this one and be reminded to be selfless. Or for my girls when they're old enough to get online and look at this. Maybe it'll speak to someone else who may stumble upon my blog. Whatever the case may be, there is a reason. So here goes.

Deny Yourself

And Jesus called to Him the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and follow Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me]. ---Mark 8:34

Jesus said if we want to be His disciples, we will forget about ourselves, lost sight of ourselves and all of our own interests. The minute we hear that, fear strikes our hearts and we hear loudly in our heads, "What about me? If I forget myself, who is going to take care of me?"

My beloved, do not be afraid, God Himself will take care of you. Everything you do for other people will come back to you many times over, with joy. If you are willing to give yourself away, you will have a much better life than you ever would have had trying to keep yourself.

Are you using the resources you have in the service of God and man? Be courageous. Forget about yourself and start doing all you can do to help others. Get a new goal. "Put smiles on faces." Encourage, edify, lift  up, comfort, help, give, relieve pain, and lift burdens.

(She ends with a prayer for the day...) Lord, You called me to a life far bigger than my own interests. Help me to forget about myself and follow You wherever You lead. My greatest pleasure is to be Your disciple. Amen.

And AMEN!



Good Times @ The Tulsa State Fair :)

This is my little monkey that won a BLUE ribbon in the 6 & under Arabian Western Pleasure horse riding event at this years Tulsa State Fair. (We won't mention that they all get blue ribbons in this age group, or the fact that she was the only entry!) Anyhoo, ain't she a cute lil cowgirl?!! She was also given a pony Webkinz she decided to name Centennial after the sweet horse she rode that day. Centennial belongs to a dear friend of ours, Mrs. Karen Doney of Gooseneck Bend Arabians.
We looove horses. It'd sure be a dream come true to someday have enough land so we could have some. Maybe some cows, chickens and piggies too ;)

My other lil cowgirl didn't get to ride this year :( she's had some ankle issues and sadly, it was also time for the sweet horse she always rides, Willie, to hand over the reigns, pardon the pun, and retire :(

But she'll be back at it next year I'm sure, barring no physical reasons getting in the way. Miss Karen has lots of precious ponies to choose from. There is, however, something she did get to ride this year! Check out this sweet video:

Is she good or what?! ;)

&

Her dad had to get in on the action too:

Bahahaha! Good times!