Love. Love. Love.

Love. Love. Love.

Valentines Day

Maddy explains the roses in the first video! Enjoy!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Dad, Deer & Dead Stuff!

Ok, I am invading Michelle's blogging space.  I (Billy) took Maddy and Logan to the Eastern Sport's Outdoor Show this weekend.  We had a blast!  We probably could have stayed much longer than we did but previous commitments forced us out the door after 4 1/2 hours.  We looked at all kinds of dead stuffed things, ate some great food and had a wonderful time hanging out together.  I don't know which of the kids was more into it, Maddy or Logan.  Maddy wanted to study every animal and see all of the displays.  Logan wanted to check out any form of weapon that was there.  Here are some pictures of our day out.  See if you can spot the "celebrities" in some of the photos.

Our First Stop was the Bass Pro Shops Display.  Display is relative I guess, it was more like a small store.  Here we had our first celebrity sighting, any guesses on who this guy is?

Jimmy Houston from Jimmy Houston Outdoors.  I remember watching him on TV growing up.  He was asking the kids if they kiss their fish after they catch them.  He said it makes them happy and they wag their tales and swim off.  Maddy wasn't so sure.

Our next stop was to the hunting area, well one of them anyway.  This place was full of all things dead.  I'm not sure that we didn't see every animal that has ever been hunted.  We saw elephants, buffalo, deer, turkey, giraffes, zebras, all sorts of cats (non-domesticated) as well as 100 or more animals with antlers.  This was by far Maddy's favorite stop.  She loves seeing all the animals up close and I admit some of them were quite impressive.

Grizzly bear with a mountain goat in the background.  Maddy was impressed with the claws on this one.

One of the lions.  The way some of these were mounted was pretty amazing.  I can't imagine the time and effort it took, not to mention the cost!

This guy was huge!  Those are the rafters just above his head. I've never seen a giraffe this close before and it was quite impressive.  I didn't know you could hunt them either.  I think I would prefer hunting these rather than the lions.  They seem a little safer.

This was a pretty cool display too.  Again, I think I would stick with the giraffe or deer over trying to shoot any one of these three beasts.

Ok, celebrity moment number 2.  Maddy was impressed with these folks, especially since one of them was a girl and they were showing her hunting videos at the display.

Pat Reeve and Nicole Jones from Driven Hunting.  Again, Maddy was impressed.

And our last celebrity sighting of the day.  What would a hunting show with lots of guns be without this guy?

Yep! Ted Nugent was hanging out signing autographs.

He had a "different" sort of crowd in line to meet him, kind of reminded me of Johnston Co. for all of my NC friends.  You understand.

Next we headed to the archery section.  There were a ton of displays as well as a shooting competition.  We took advantage of the seats and hung out watching the shooters for a while.

There were all sorts of different people participating the competition.  From young girls to guys who looked like professionals to some other guys in cut off t-shirts.

The targets were spread all across the end of the arena.  The shooters stood on a numbered mat and had to attempt to shoot the target that corresponded with their mat number.

We finished up the day at the Military Surplus booth.  Logan could have stayed here for hours.  He was checking out every item they had from boots, to ammunition containers to uniforms.

He thought this was funny, he put it on and tried to breathe.  He jerked it off and said "It was sucking my face!"

Gettin' geared up!  This is the perfect picture of Maddy; flannel shirt, camo hat, military vest and her zebra striped purse.  That's my girl

Logan ready for battle, he wanted to buy all this stuff for his Nerf Wars with his friends.  I think it would have been an unfair advantage so he settled for a canvas bag to keep his darts in.

We had a great day together and we are all looking forward to next year's show.  You can see more highlights and check out the dates for next year here.  You can come join us if you like, it will be a blast!

www.easternsportshow.com

Secret Keeper Girl-Real Physical Beauty

Maddy and I are working through a book "Secret Keeper Girl" by Danna Gresh.

This week we headed out for our second date together. We had a fun night of laughing and heart to heart talks.

 Date #2  Real Physical Beauty

Focusing on what scripture says about beauty and the importance of taking care of your physical body.

We listened to a short CD on our way to the first stop. It provided a great conversation starter.

We stopped in a store at the mall to look and talk about the computerized edited pictures on the front cover of magazines amongst other things such as modesty, inappropriate topics..etc. It really has been a while since I have looked at a magazine rack and I must admit my heart skipped a few beats as I read the cover on a few teen magazines. (gulp, I need to be praying more for my kids!)   Unbelievable!!!

We stopped in to get a haircut, the beautician talked with Maddy about proper hair care and participated in my conversations about taking proper care of your skin and body. We are not talking about vanity here, just taking care of the body as an act of worship.

"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

1Corinthians 19-20

After her haircut went to one of Maddy's favorite restaurants.

We talked through many topics throughout our dinner including not comparing yourself with the world's standard of beauty (that is never obtainable and leaves one feeling empty) but digging into scripture to know you are uniquely created.

"But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1Samuel 16:7

We listed to a CD on the way home and ended the night praying together. Maddy shared with Billy and Breanna all that we talked about during our evening & Breanna shared this video with Maddy.  It was a nice fit to our night out together. 

  

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."
 Psalm 139:14

The link to the Secret Keepers website is here

 #1- Secret Keeper blog is here

What verses can you add for Maddy to look up on Physical Beauty????

Wordless Wednesday BUT a peek into Olivia's morning

Olivia is excited about going to "big school" in the fall!!