0-15?

Well I hate to be a pessamist, but I dont see my Panthers winning ANY games this year unless SOMETHING changes or if there is another team out there as horrible as we are.... which would be pretty hard to find! 

Nathan and I went to the game yesterday and had AWESOME seats!  The tickets were given to us and it was the best seats we have EVER had!  Section 101, row 15!  It was a really neat experience to sit that low and have the players that close to you.  We tailgated before the game with Nathans dad who grilled AMAZING buffalo chicken thighs!  I made my taco dip and one of the guys fiances made the best peach pie that I have ever ate!  It had cream cheese in it and it was soooo yummy!  There was a little damper on the day though, litterally... the day was VERY damp.  Nathan was so dissapointed because he ALWAYS says "todays gonna be a pretty day cause it NEVER rains when the Panthers play"  until this point his little theory for the most part was true.  The majority of games we have been to have been beautiful and sunny and if not sunny just a little overcast.  Its snowed a few times, but other than that, its mostly really pretty weather.  Not Sunday!  Last week it was 90 and sunny, this week it was cool and rainy!  haha, Nate was kind of dissapointed he had such good seats but horrible weather, but we had a great time anyway!  Here are a few pics!

I Got A Blog Award!

Yay!  My first blog award!  Thanks to my sissy at Little Carrigan!  

Here are the rules! 

The Rules:
1. Answer this question: If you had the chance to go back and change one thing in your life, would you and what would it be?
2. The second thing you have to do is, pick 6 people and give them this award.You then have to inform the person that they have gotten this award.
3. The third and final thing is, thank the person who gave you the award.

My answers:

1.  If I could change 1 thing in my life then I would have not been so stupid and let my hubby get away the first time we dated!  I thought he was too dorky the first time around, boy did I have a lot of growing up to do!  I am thankful that I have him now, but sticking with him from the moment we met and dated years ago would have saved me a lot of heartache and trouble, but God has a plan and I'm thankful for his grace and mercy and that he led me back to my sweetie!  :)  

2.  Here are my six people!

1.  The tallented:  Jonathan O'Brien at J. O'Brien Photo  -  This guy is so tallented, and if you need any pics taken, he's your guy!

2.  Crystal at stories from my ute.  I have to be honest, her blogging skills are what made me first want to start a blog, and then she had an adorable daughter so of course I love checking out their latest adventures!  She is so stylish and I love reading about the things they do!

3.  My friend Jimmy of Elishah has started a new blog with very inspirational posts check him out here More than a Man 

4.  Amber over at The Grooms always has wonderful stories and inspirational thoughts!

5.  Becky at Beckys Blogs has some pretty cool recipes

6.  And of course my other sissy Joy at Life On Hallman Hill!

I dont follow a lot, but these are some of my favs! 

I love fall!

I just had to say it!


I LOVE FALL!!!! 


There's just something about football games, marching bands, the apple festival, the chill in the air, the warm colors, falling leaves, just the crisp, freshness of it all....

It makes me excited that Christmas is coming! 

One thing I need to work on is becoming a better seasonal decorator.  Today I went to Dollar Tree and Dollar General and got some little fall accessories for my house.  I didnt want to spend a lot because honestly I have NO clue what to do with them.  I love to decorate my house just for normal, but theres something about seasonal decorations when I do them that well... I think just looks tacky!  I go into other peoples homes and its so warm and inviting lol  any suggestions on how to make it more appealing?  Not just fall, but Christmas too, things just look cluttered when I put them out...

Kimmie... HELP ME!  :) 

Also, did I mention Im SUPER excited about our band playing at the Apple Festival this coming Saturday?  If your in the area, we will be playing at the 5/3rd stage from 12:30-1:15  then its Taylor Made Unplugged at 1:30 at Freedom Church then New Life Saturday Night at Dallas Wesleyan begining at 7:30 Saturday night!  Its a full day of Taylor Made Music and I hope you can come see us at least at one! 

"I cant get enough of his grace..."

The title of this blog is taken from a song by one of my favorite ministries/bands of all time, The Crabb Family.  Here is the song in its entirety:

I've been to some places, where I did not belong.
I've been through some valleys where I almost lost my song.
I stood in an unholy place.
But through my triumph or failures, I couldn't get away from His grace.

His love is amazing, He won't let me go.
Unmerited favor, He loves me so.
When I falter and fail and feel like giving in,
He says lay your burden on me, I'll bear it again.
The only thing I know to say is,
I can't get enough of His grace

His grace is still amazing after all this time.
Still nothing separates us from His passion so divine.
Neither life, death, nor ages, or principalities
Could ever come between the love that Jesus has for me

When I think about Grace, this song inevitably comes to mind somewhere in my thought process.  The line "I cant get enough of his grace" echos in my mind throughout the day when I think of how good my God is!  

Today I was in conversation with someone and the subject of Gods grace came up.  Two sides were represented in the topic.  

The First Side:  God is full of grace and mercy, and preachers/christians/singers/ need not sing/preach/or speak in a negative manner about how God will punish you for sins or actions.  

The other side:  Yes, God is full of grace and mercy, but that doesnt give you a get out of jail free card.

Which leads me to this blog.  I want to know your opinions, scriptures, thought on this subject:

There is a fine line between RECEIVING Gods grace and ABUSING Gods grace....where is that line?  

When I think about this, I am so torn.  I was raised in a church that pretty much taught what you cant and shouldnt do and for the longest time I was terrified that if I didn't shout and run the isles, pray for hours, cry my eyes out in such abandoned pursuit of God that I was not a "true" christian, and that I was in danger of hell.  In my opinion, grace was not taught to me as a child.  Yes, I knew Jesus loved me, and yes I knew he would forgive my sins, but only if I asked, and my asking had to be a heart wrenching emotional experience.  If I didnt read my bible every day then I didnt have it....

Today, I do not believe that God is like this.  I have read the bible, and when I read it I feel like God is the exact opposite of this, yet because of the culture here the questions arise in my heart and I feel like I doubt my beliefs, or that I have misread or misinterpreted the bible. 

For example:  An alcoholic.  Alcoholism is a disease, a generational curse, a form of bondage.  Say a person gets saved.  They dont want to drink anymore, but their body still craves it.  They have a drink.

Can God not have grace on this person because he knows their heart?  Is Gods grace only ok to be given if it applies to your sins and not anothers?  Just because you dont do a certain "sin" and God doesnt have to use his grace on you for that particular "sin" doesnt mean that he cant or wont use it on someone else who does struggle with something you dont.  Its so easy to judge others and say... well how can they do that and then expect to get into heaven?  Im sure that same person wonders how you can call yourself a christian and yet sit back and judge and not help them through prayer and support and faith that God can help them through.  

Now, just to clarify myself.  I am on neither side of this, I have questions about it and I would like to know scripture to clarify this for me.  Grace or no grace?  And if there is grace, then how can it only be applied to certain things and not others?  Who decides?  Who gets it?  Why are somethings okay and not others?  

Okay, let loose! 

Taylor Made T's

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you know that the new Taylor Made T-shirts are in!  They are $15.00 and we have sizes from Small - XL.  If you would like to order one, just let me know!

The shirts are black with this logo on the front, and they are high quality soft cotton shirt!

Also, make plans to come support Taylor Made at the following events!

Saturday, September 18th
Lincoln Co Apple Festival
Fifth Third Stage
12:30-1:15 PM

New Life Saturday Night
Dallas Wesleyan Church
7:00 PM

Thank you for all your support for Taylor Made Music!  A special thanks to Nelson Bynum, and Purpose 51 for helping us with the T's!

"If I only had a few more hours in a day....."

I would be a better wife
I would have a spotless house
I would train CoCo everyday
I would cook fantastic healthy meals every night
I would have lunch prepared for work the next day
I would do at least 30 min of cardio every day
I would exercise every day
I would practice singing and playing guitar more often
I would teach myself to play the mandolin
I would plan out our ministry better
I would study the bible more
I would pray by myself more
I would have ironed clothes
I would have friends over much more often
I would go to church more
I would go shopping more often
I would spend more time with my family
I would read more books
I would decorate my house better
I would have an immaculate yard
I would... be a better person all around....

Yet, all these things, I expect myself to accomplish with the time Im given....

What would you do if you had some extra hours in the day?  Do you find yourself wishing you did?  Do you get all these things done? 

"Lord, help me make the most out of the time you've given me here on this earth.  Help me to distinguish the things that I NEED to get done, and the things that can wait.  Help me to not waste my time on things that don't matter, but instead to be wise.  Help me to take good care of the things you've given me and blessed me with.  Help me to be a woman of GOD!" 

I've been a slacker!

I have been slack in the blogging world latley, but exciting things have been happening!  Back on July 17th, Taylor Made Music recorded four new original songs written by Nathan and I.  Im so proud of the guys, they did so well in the studio.  I would love to post the songs here on my blog page, but I have NO CLUE how to do that...so.... visit our Myspace page to hear them!  I cant wait to record more of our songs until we have a full CD to send out.  All in HIS time though!

This weekend Nathan and I are going with some friends to the ATL to see the Braves Vs. The Dodgers!  Those crazy sales people who always come by work trying to sell packages finally came in with something I like!  So I got 4 free game tickets for 40.00 plus 6 buy 1 get 1 free tickets!  So I sent off for my tickets and we will be sitting in section 148...not too shabby for 10.00 a piece!  I hope we can get down there in time to eat at Jalepeno Charlies.  Last year I took Nate on a surprise trip to ATL to see the Braves and go to the aquarium.  We had such a good time we really wanted to go back this year!  Anyway, the Sunday we came back we stopped downtown to get an early lunch and we just stumbled across this mexican/spanish restraunt and it was DELISH!  So, Im really hoping we can go there again, it was so neat, you enter from the street into a lobby and go up an escalator to get into the restraunt, and they have a balcony patio you can eat out on above the street!  It was so nice!

Recently something happened to me, that has reinforced a lesson I learned a while back.  We were asked to play somewhere, but someone did not want us to be there.  So they went out of their way to keep us from playing!  Then lied about it to other people to make themselves look better....Yes, these are "christian" people too!  The person who did this to me used to be my role model.  I wanted to be like this person, I would sit in church and watch them sing, I wanted to be just like that when I grew up.  As fate would have it, in some ways I am very similar to this person in the career path I chose and of course this person did have an influence on the way I sing to this day.  But years ago I learned that sometimes people really just don't care if you look up to them or not.  So this is a two part sermonette...

Lesson #1:  We need role models to step up and CARE about those people around you who look up to you.  Whether it is in your church, your place of business, your family, sports team, wherever you are... people look to you.  They watch your life, they imitate things you do.  They watch your reactions, they hang onto every word YOU SAY!  You might be thinking right now, there is no one who looks up to me, but I PROMISE you SOMEONE is!  It might be your child, it might be a parent..yes...it might be someone older than you that looks up to you, it could be anyone.  Take time to pray today that God will let your life shine, and that you will not overlook those who need to be reached out to and raised up in your footsteps... you can make a difference in someones life, dont take that forgranted.  You are responsible whether you want to be or not!  So why not step up, be a man or woman of God and make a difference!

Lesson #2:  Lesson #1 was for the role model, Lesson #2 is for the protege.  DONT LOOK TO MAN!!!!!  IF the role models would step up, this lesson would not be so hurtful to learn, but the fact is... whether it is on purpose or not on purpose.... we are human and MAN WILL LET YOU DOWN!  Its a hard hard hard hurtful lesson to learn, but its one that needs to be learned early on in life.  Yes, its okay to look up to people, but never put them on a pedistal higher than yourself because if you do they will hurt you, fail you, and dissapoint you.  The ONLY person we can look to is GOD because HE will NEVER fail!  He is always there, he is always teaching us, he is ALWAYS mentoring us, he always listens, he always answers.  He always answers... that part is the best because we as humans will sometimes answer, but not answer honestly, and we dont always give the best advice.  But HIS answer is always perfect!  It might not be what you want the answer to be, but it is honest, true, and perfect in every way and when we follow HIS advice that he has given us in the Word of God, and when we follow the guidance (advice) of the Holy Spirit then we will NEVER go wrong! Notice I said ADVICE... just like taking human advice, the choice is still ours to follow it!  We are never forced to do what he says, but the outcome is so much better when we follow HIS lead!

This makes me so excited because when MAN fails you GOD ALMIGHTY will lift you up!  Can I just say since that person "banned" our ministry from performing that God has opened MANY doors of ministry for us since then!

So today, seek Gods will for your life, don't look to man to direct you, look to HIM!  This makes me so excited that its not up to us to find our way through life, but if we just pray and submit ourselves to him and follow his will, he will carry us through!!!  PRAISE GOD for that!  Be excited today that HE is in control if you just let him be!  You don't have to worry about the stresses of your life!  You don't have to wonder around worried and afraid of tomorrow... you just have to TRUST him that HE KNOWS BEST... and that he will GIVE YOU HIS BEST!  That is a PROMISE from him!  Even though it might not be the way you want, that is trusting him anyway... that is FAITH!  Have FAITH today that HE is in control if you have placed your life in his hands, and if you haven't then TODAY is the day!  Give your life to him, and let him lead!  It still might not be easy, but knowing you have someone else in control of this crazy life gives you peace beyond understanding, and knowing that in the end, all things work together for the good of those who trust HIM!