What's More Important?

What's more important, ball practice or Bible class?

What's more important, finishing homework or learning about the Lord?

What's more important, sleeping or spending time studying God's word?

What's more important, wearing something that's acceptable to our culture or wearing something that's acceptable to God?

What's more important, having an alcoholic drink to relax or relaxing for eternity in Heaven?

What's more important, showing your children that it's not that important to go to Bible study or showing your children that the Bible is eternally important?

What's more important, fitting in with your co-workers and friends or fitting in with Jesus?

What's more important, laying up my treasures in this life or laying them up in Heaven?

"But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33 ESV

"And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' " Matthew 22:37 ESV

Where will you be tonight when it's time for mid-week Bible study?

Just a Couple of Beach Bums

Ok, people. I'm finally writing about our trip to Panama City Beach, Florida! :) My mom and my aunt Patti were planning a trip and were kind enough to invite Reagan and I along. The two of them came to our house on the 18th and we all drove down together the next day. What map quest said was a 5 hour 5 minute trip took us 8 hours... There was a ton of construction. We had to slow to 45 in almost every construction zone. Then add in stopping for lunch and feeding a baby, and not having a clue where the hotel was. Patti claimed to know the way. Next time we will have printed directions! :) lol Love you Patti!

Reagan and I stayed until Thursday and headed home after lunch. We did have a really great time. Traveling with a baby is never really relaxing, especially when your super helpful hubby is at home (boo). Reagan decided that she didn't want to sleep in at all. She woke up at 5:45 one day, 6:15 another day, and 7 the next. But it was good just to get away from the normal for a couple of days and play. Plus the fact that the beach is my favorite place on earth to be. Even if it's cloudy and windy it's still gorgeous. I think the beach is the most beautiful of Gods landscapes. It's one of those things you just have to see for yourself to appreciate fully. Pictures and paintings just never quite live up to how beautiful it really is. You can't ever capture the colors perfectly.

This was Reagan's second time at the beach, but the first time that she could do more than sleep through it. Here is one of the few pictures of her in her hat. She wouldn't keep it on for anything.

She really enjoyed looking around and taking it all in. It was pretty windy the first day and she loved it. For some reason she thinks wind in her face is hilarious.

She started crawling towards me and hit the sand. She immediately stopped and looked at her hands. She couldn't figure out what in the world that stuff was! :)

The water was I really cold so we only stuck her feet in for a minute. First she sucked her breath in when the water hit her. Then she said, "Oooh!" Then she fussed. End of ocean. :)

She absolutely loved the pool! It was the first time she's ever been in one. She was kicking her little feet like she was swimming. She can already swim better than her daddy! :) (He dog paddles feverishly then sinks to the bottom if he tries to tread water. I've seriously tried and tried to teach him but I think it might be impossible!) She loved it so much she cried when we took her out of the water.

And, of course, she wouldn't be Reagan without trying to eat someone's face!

The next day was much more sunny so we stayed under the umbrella!

This was the view from our balcony! We were 20 floors up.

Thanks Patti for letting us come along!

I have to talk about something I ate while we were there. I love food. When I travel food is always a big part of the experience. If I tell you about my trip to New Orleans I'll tell you about the red beans and rice I had there. If I tell you about my trip to New York City I'll tell you about this awesome brunch sandwich I had at a Mexican restaurant there. When I think about our time living in Memphis I think about all the great restaurants we went to there and my favorite dishes. I am a lover of seafood. Part of my joy of going to the beach is getting fresh seafood. We ate at a place called the Salt Water Grill. I highly recommend eating there if you ever go to Panama City Beach. I had what was quite possibly the best meal in my life. It was Pan Seared Diver Sea Scallops. It came with Parmesan risotto, fresh cooked spinach, tomato salsa, and extra virgin olive oil. I wish I had taken a picture of it because it was a beautiful plate! The risotto and olive oil covered the bottom of the plate. Four huge sea scallops sat neatly on top of the risotto with the spinach and tomato salsa (which I would describe as Italian pico) in the middle. When I took the first bite I literally groaned and said, "Wow, this is good!" I think every time I took a bite I said out loud that it was ridiculously good. My mom kept laughing at me because I was taking a breath and closing my eyes after every bite. The scallops were seasoned perfectly. The spinach was cooked thoroughly but was not mushy. The tomato salsa was amazing. The only thing I didn't finish eating was the risotto because I just couldn't fit it all in! I can still taste it right now thinking about it. It wasn't a cheap meal, but it was completely worth it! I don't mind paying for food when it's that good! I want to go back to Panama City Beach just to eat that meal again! I don't know what it is about food, but just thinking about this meal makes me feel so relaxed and satisfied...except for the fact that now I'm hungry because I've been thinking about it. Fortunately it's lunch time. :)

Busy Little Bee

Sorry I've been away so long. Since I got home from the beach Thursday night things have been super busy. I promise I'll post about the trip soon, but for now I'm just going to update you on everything that's been going on. Reagan and I got back Thursday night somewhere between 7 and 7:30. Friday I was sitting around, chillin', taking it easy, when all of a sudden, I remembered I had about a million things to do. You see, Justin and I clean the church building to make a little extra money, and it was still dirty. I also was in charge of decorating for a bridal shower that was to take place Sunday afternoon. I had not started yet. We had no food in the house, so I also was planning on getting some groceries. I was thinking I had all day Saturday to get it done. Then, I remembered that I was going to be gone all day Saturday. There was a teacher's workshop in Northport with Teah McWhorter and April Meacham. Justin cleaned the building, I decorated, then we just picked up supper. Saturday we left the church building at 7:30am. Have I mentioned I don't do mornings? :) The workshop was AMAZING!!! It was so educational, motivational, and encouraging! I wish more of our teachers had gone with us. I'm hoping we can get our elders to host a workshop here at some point.

Sunday was busy. We had am worship, shower at 2, clean up shower, come home for a little while, then pm worship. Needless to say, I'm still worn out!

So, dear blogging world friends, this is why I've not posted anything else yet. I will get to it soon. But right now I'm going to take a little time to chill while Reagan is napping!

Vote or die!

Sorry, had to channel P. Diddy there. I entered Reagan in Parents magazine's cover model contest. While I was gone to the beach, which I will blog about soon, they sent me an email saying she was up for becoming one of there reader's choice weekly finalists. If she were to win she would go on to the readers choice semi-finals. Who ever wins in the end becomes of the ten finalists who will go to NYC and do a photo shoot and then they will choose a winner for the cover.

Anyways, we have until Sunday people! Vote! Please! And thank you! Here's the link!

Another Month Older: 8 Months

What? Really? I know I always say this, but I really can't believe it's been 8 months! My little baby girl is getting big so fast!

In the past month Reagan has gotten even better and faster at crawling. She sees something she wants and just takes off for it. She pulls up constantly. Sometimes she just does not want to sit. She will crawl over to the coffee table, pull up on it, chew on it, and talk her little head off. She likes to hold our hands and walk around and is getting close to being able to stand by herself.

She is also teething like crazy. She keeps covering herself in drool! She chews everything and you can tell on her gums that the teeth are getting closer to coming through. She had a fever last night that the think was from the teething.

I'm not sure how long she is or how much she weighs now, but she can finally fit into size 3 diapers so she can wear cruisers.

She has become very attached to Mommy. She will still go see other people, but wants to come back to me after a minute. I can no longer leave her in the living room entertaining herself to run and do things. She's taken to screaming her head off when she sees me walk out of a room.

She's starting to figure out the waving thing. Usually she just randomly waves her hand at her self because she thinks it's fun. But sometimes she will actually do it at people who wave at her. It's really cute!

Okay, enough of hearing from me...I know what you really want...

She likes to pull up on the jumper to play with it now. Sometimes she'll sit in it, but usually this is what she wants.

She can roll her tongue!

"Helping" with the laundry

"What's this stuff?"

Tomorrow night my mom and aunt are coming in. They will be on the way to Panama City Beach and decided to invite us so Reagan and I are going to go down there for a couple of days! Yay! I'm excited to take her now that she's a little older. I'm wondering how many times I will be diving to stop her from putting sand in her mouth. :)

Justin Wrote a Sermon About What?!

Yesterday morning we were sitting in class about to start, when someone asked Justin if he had seen the title to his sermon on the handout...

That's right...it says "Great Thongs He Has Done."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Justin and I agreed that this was, by far, his best typo ever. One member asked him if his fingers were too short to reach he "i" key...hehe. In fact, the title was "Great THINGS He Has Done."

Also, Reagan's hair is most definitely curly. This is what it looked like after she had been sleeping in her room with the humidifier going. (she's been all snotty from sinus stuff)

When I actually enjoy being "lectured" at

I told you previously that we were going to the MSOP Lectureship last week. Sorry I"m just now getting around to writing about it. We had such a great (but tiring) time seeing friends and hearing God's word. I think most people don't understand how nice it is for a preacher to be able to sit down and hear someone else do the preaching or for a preacher's wife to be able to sit next to her husband during a worship service. Another thing that is so great about the MSOP lectures is that the students' wives provide childcare during the day. I actually got to hear and listen to speakers! Except, of course, during the evening worship, during which Justin and I took turns taking Reagan to the training room and even to the car one night. Her schedule was so out of whack that by the night time she was done with sitting still or being quiet and was very tired. I also got to hear several wonderful women speak, something else I don't often get to do. They also have 30 minutes of singing every night. Monday night the entire place was full and the singing was amazing! Hearing that kind of singing and taking part in that kind of worship is always so uplifting!

It was also quite an adventure. I told you that our friends Carl, Kristen, and their son Benjamin were staying with us. The very first night we discovered that Reagan had lost her paci somewhere along the trip. This paci was the one they gave her in the hospital and the only one she would ever take. She always went to sleep with it. We tried, in vain, to get her to go down without it, but she just wasn't having it. Everyone else was asleep or trying to get that way so Justin and Reagan ended up going out to Walmart to try to find one she would take. After buying one and driving her around until 1:30 in the morning, he was successful. I guess when she has no other options she will take a different paci. :) We all took turns snoring and waking up Kristen. :) It was a bit crazy, but it was a lot of fun. The kids also had a lot of fun together!

Reagan was just so sleepy one afternoon she passed out holding her new Bible they gave her in class.

It was an awesome 4 days of fellowship and learning, but we were glad to get home and settled. Reagan is mostly back on her schedule (something for which I am very grateful). Now we all seem to have the crud...I think it's sinus/allergy issues from all the pollen that is coating every single surface outside.

Oh, I thought this was interesting on the way home.

Those aren't just black birds or something. Those are vultures. I'd never seen so many in one place at one time...were they waiting on a whole town to bite the dust or what?

Happy Easter! ...Oh, and by the way, you're fat.

So, yesterday I wore my new "Easter frock" as my mom likes to say. I thought it was really cute and was getting lots of complements on it. In fact, lately I've been getting lots of complements on my getting back into shape. I've actually started to get a better self-image (something that I've struggled with my whole life but having a baby only made worse). That is, until yesterday morning. Someone so kindly decided to share this little gem.

Them: "Your gaining weight aren't you?"

Me: "No, actually, I'm losing weight."

Them: "Oh. Well you've gotten some hips then."

Me: "No, I've always had those."

Them: "Oh, OK."

UGH!!! I felt like they had taken a hunting knife to the small balloon that was my self-esteem. Lesson for everyone out there: Just because you think it, doesn't mean you have to say it out loud.

I know they were wrong. I know I'm not gaining weight. My scale and my clothes tell me I am losing weight. Plus everyone else was so nice and said really sweet things. I'm doing my best not to concentrate on the one negative person. I wanted so badly to say something ugly, but knew that would get me no where and wouldn't be the Christian thing to do. I think the way the dress poofs out must have made said person think I looked bigger or something. Justin continues to tell me I look great and that I looked beautiful yesterday. He's sweet like that. :) Anyway...

I hope everyone had a happy Easter yesterday!

Here we are in our Easter outfits. :)

Isn't that the cutest Easter Bunny you've ever seen?!

She wouldn't keep her ears on!

I hope you all had a wonderful day!

I'll try to post about our Memphis trip soon!

Workin It Out

Apparently, Reagan has become a little work out buff.

She does push ups...

...one armed sideways push ups (don't think those exist)...

...downward facing dog...

...and more push ups!

Since she learned to crawl she will not sit still! During worship services it is a constant fight to keep her in my lap. She just wants to get down and roll and crawl around on the floor. I think I'm in big trouble when she learns to walk!