Overheard Today...

Daddy came home from work early very muddy and decided to get some yard work done before coming in to shower. Daddy was raking leaves.

Kat: "Daddy is getting stronger."

Daddy raked all the leaves into BIG piles.

Kat: "Daddy is getting stronger!"

Daddy raked all the leaves into black trash bags.

Kat: "Daddy is getting stronger!"

Daddy carried all the heavy bags full of leaves and threw them into one big pile for the garbage man.

Kat: "Daddy is getting stronger!!"

Kayli:  "No Kat. Daddy isn't getting stronger. Daddy has always been strong. Daddy went to Ir*q. You gotta be strong to go to Ir*q."


I find this completely random since Kayli was a baby when Daddy was in Ir*q and it isn't something we normally discuss. Such a sweet simple reminder that her Daddy is her world. I love this age!

You Gotta Start Somewhere...

Once upon a time God started to speak to my heart to get outside of myself. To meet the people I lived among. I planned an Easter Egg hunt. I enlisted help from church ladies who donated Easter decor and hand delivered an invitation to every door. The feedback was great, several families were excited and planned on attending. Wouldn't you know I woke up the morning of the big day to several inches of snow covering the tender shoots of grass, blossoms, and daffodils. Needless to say the hunt was cancelled and the battle began.

Five very long years have slipped past in the blink of an eye and I am still battling...

but NOT any longer!

I am going to DO something..  anything to take a step toward what God has called me to do.

How do I know this is what God is calling me to? Because it is the LAST thing for which I would say I am qualified and capable.

I am shy.

Not in a cute, look how sweet and shy she is way, but in a socially crippling, completely backwards way. Trying to make simple conversation is as complex as solving quadratic equations. It never fails. I look like a blundering fool stumbling over my words. I'm not exactly sure how people perceive me - I only hope that they are somehow able to get the fact I'm not some complete stuck-up moron - just severely socially delayed.

Anywho... I digress, the point here is this is a match made in heaven. For in my weakness HIS strength is made perfect.

I have a vision I am ready to start sharing....





I can't help but feel we are being ineffective. Talk to someone on the street and ask them to describe the typical Christian and what you are going to hear isn't pretty... terms like critical, judgmental, hypocritical... not exactly what I had hoped would describe me... terms I don't want used to describe 'us' because we reflect HIM.

We are called by God to love.

This is more important than anything else.

Love God.
Love Others.

We weren't told the most important thing to focus on was going to church, or to keep any rule that is on your super religious checklist of do's and don't.

Just love.

So simple but so HARD!

It is time to do something to make it easier. It is time to encourage and equip born again believers to do something to show love to the people they rub shoulders with every day.

Please join me by praying for my husband and I as it is time to prepare to launch the vision into a reality. Time to stop daydreaming and start doing. If you are a go-get'er who isn't satisfied where you are now. If you want to get in the game and actively* participate and actively* join the battle.

*I say actively because if you are a born-again believer you are in the battle, even if you haven't chosen to pick up your sword. Since you can't get around the fact you are in the battle it would be wise to pick up your sword and FIGHT! {Just saying}

PLEASE email me at doSOMEthing@lovingthyneighbor.com because more than anything my desire is that this is NEVER about me, about a denomination, or a single church. This is about and for and through JESUS CHRIST alone. If you believe in HIM and want HIS will to be done above ALL else - you're in! We need YOU. There is a battle to be fought. We already have the advangate of knowing WE WIN but that doesn't stop us from having to fight.. so please JOIN US... do SOME thing!


For more on our Vision & our current focus please visit us at our Facebook page because our website isn't quite up to snuff just yet!

My "White" Entry

-Much Love, E

 Check out more 'white' photos at i heart faces!

When Life Knocks You Down....

...Keep Smiling

I was actually trying to get a cool cartwheel shot this particular day.... This picture is one I snapped 
after this sweet girl had fallen on her diary air....
(it may or may not have happened alot...) {ahem}

 I like it because even though she had just fallen, was probably in some measure of pain, and had failed to complete her cartwheel 'just so' she still had a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye....

Rachel, that is the sort of attitude that 
will take you far in life. 

Never.Lose.It

Memorial Box Monday Saturday

{the not so fine print: Memorial Box Monday is a time to remember God's faithfulness 

in our lives. This was started by Linny, visit her blog and read the amazing stories she shares.}

Backed up against the wall with nowhere to go. The weight of the world is crushing me. Suffocating. I don’t know to whom to cry out for help. Don’t know if I even can.

I stumble into and out of church wondering if I’m invisible. I’m in a room full of people and yet I feel so very very alone. Happy smiling people surround me and my heart pleads for a hug, a smile, a kind word even. My throat is dry, and my lips stay shut, arms wrapped around my middle keeping the hurt inside. No one can hear my silent cries for help. No one can see my pain.

I feel uncomfortable in Sunday school and stop going… choosing to hide in the nursery with my baby instead. When my baby is plagued with sickness and I miss a month of Sundays I feel as if no one really cares . The motivation to come back is gone for the first time since I started going as a teenager. We go occasionally at best.

Financially we’re ruined. Month’s without hot water. Limited heat all winter long. When the food stamps run out at the end of the month I struggle to feed my babies and I hope and pray the little ones don’t get sick again because it’s a long drive to the doctor and my gas tank sits on E. {deep breath} Collectors call asking for their money. Some make threats to take away our home and leave us without a place to pillow our heads at night. My husband works non-stop, so much so that he is only home for six days every 6-9 weeks and yet the paychecks are minimal at best.

He doesn’t deserve this.  My kids don’t deserve this.

It’s not fair…

Or is it?

We have our health. We have each other. What more could we ask for? Nothing. We already have far more than we deserve.

Be as it may we’re at the end of our rope. Backed into a corner up against the wall with nowhere to go.

Right were God wants us.

I find myself smack dab in the middle of my own modern day Exodus. The Egyptian army is closing in. The Red Sea stretches out as far as I can see.

Trapped.

 Nowhere to go.

Complete and utter ruin is eminent.

But God…

The water is doing something funny. I can’t explain it but the waves are acting crazy.

A  truck breaks down. 

A nudge from a friend.  

A  phone call.

Can it be? Is there a path forming?

My husband comes home early for Christmas and NEVER goes back.

I stand in awe. 

Dumb shocked.

Mouth agape I watch the water rise. I walk on solid ground again.

I am blessed beyond measure to walk my modern day Red Sea.

I'm not on the other bank just yet, but I stand protected by the wall of God's faithful protection. I look behind me and see how far He has already brought us.

I must remember!

Boiling water for baths on Sunday mornings before church. Bitter tears of loneliness cried into my pillow at night. The pang of solitude in a crowded sanctuary.

God’s been good.

It’s easy to forget but I won’t.

I can’t help but believe God truly allowed this deep pain in my life this past year to open my eyes to the pain in others who surround me daily.