Celebrate good times, come on!

Drivers beware...we have yet another teen driver on the road as of 2:48pm this afternoon!! What better way to celebrate passing her learner's test (on the first try) than a frozen Mocha Frap at Starbucks!!!

VOV it!! (Venting over Venti)

Do you ever just feeling like venting? I had one of those moments recently. Just needed to “let it all out”. I was drinking a nice, large cup of java while feeling the need to vent this afternoon. As I glanced at my coffee mug it hit me. I was having a “VOV” session. VOV? Beck’s newest term. What is VOV? Glad you asked. In my world it stands for Venting over Venti! (I just cracked myself up sometimes!). Then I remembered Psalms 142:1&2 where David was “venting” to The Lord.

1 I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy.
2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.

The Lord is so faithful to listen to us! Next time you need to let it all out, grab a cup of coffee (venti of course) and go to the Lord for a little “VOV”.

venti - noun (context, mostly, US) A cup of coffee larger than grande, usually 20 ounces.

My new grand-puppy!!!! SQUEALLLLL!!!!

Oh, I wish I could kidnap my grand-pup (Amanda's new Yorkie!). Here's a few picks of precious little "Venti" (as I called her....see the first pic and you'll know why!!)

Say What? She's 21!!!

Yep......one of my baby girls is 21!! Amanda (a.k.a. the whirlwind) arrived from Texas yesterday and we had the pleasure of celebrating with her tonight!! Love you "Nananda"!!!

Amanda's favorite gift (from Jordy) a New Kids on The Block CD!

She has a way of cracking us up!!

Manda and Bubs!


Yes, Jord is offically taller than Amanda (and Beck!)

Yikes! I am the mother of a 21 y.o.

Pop, Nan and "Scoo-boo". Nan and Pop ROCK!

Hail, Hail the gangs all here!

Horsin' Around

For years, Jim and I have said that our family/ministry theme song is "Great Adventure" Steven Curtis Chapman. Well, this summer...that song has a whole new meaning!!!

Especially the chorus:

Saddle up your horses we've got a trail to blaze. Through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace. Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown. This is a life like no other - this is The Great Adventure. Come on get ready for the ride of your life. Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind. And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored. This is what we were created for

( Thanks to D & S for this opportunity.)

Gettin' Ready.......

Please be in prayer for our upcoming Bible Study:

Thankful Thursdays Burton-style

When words are many, sin is not absent,but he who holds his tongue is wise. Proverbs 10:19

Thankful Thursday I have seen the term "Thankful Thursday" on blogs in a cute little icon form. Honestly, I have no clue what the blog world's definition of Thankful Thursday or what you are suppose to do, much less type. I just remember the phrase.

Recently I was doing some research for an upcoming Women's Bible Study. The topic I was studying was the "tongue". You know...our speech. It made me think and examine the words that come out of my mouth. I realized through examining my heart (and my mouth) that there is a lot of room inside these pearly whites for improvement. As I pondered my need to be more positive and thankful, I wondered "how?". What exactly should I do? Well, duh! Of course I need to PRAY! Yes, as I continued to reflect on things I say in any given day, I realized I would need to take action.

Being the opinionated and far from shy woman that I am, this task would require some serious action: prayer and fasting to tame this tongue. Then I had an "AHA!" moment.... instead of a food fast..what about a word fast. Hmm...for me that is way more challenging than a food fast. giggle. Thus "Thankful Thursdays" evolved in my household today.

What is exactly is "Thankful Thursdays" according to The Burtons? It is a day that we give more Thanks to God for all he had done for us. We take time to notice the small (and large) blessings around us and thank Him. We try and think before we speak and when we do, we try to speak words that give encouragement, words that see the best in people. More positive, edifying speech.

As I type this it is 12:19am. My first official "Thankful Thursday" has come and gone. Wow! I have a ways to go with taming my tongue, but Thank The Lord...nothing is impossible for Him.

Randomness from the Weekend

Happy Birthday Pop! I love you!!!


Getting ready for our church's luau night (Yes, my man has a habit of trying to annoy me by flaring his nostrils in pictures!)


Our little "Weedle-pova"

Praying for the Chapman Family

We are praying for The Chapman family during their time of sorrow. Please join us in praying for this precious, precious family. We love you Chapman Family!

In memory of Maria Chapman

Pass the tissues please!

Sniff, sniff. Excuse me for a moment as I wipe the black mascara streaks from my face. Okay, there! Done! Enough word drama. I realized this afternoon that this is a week of "lasts". It all started this morning. Seven months and 30 lessons later,I went to my "last" Community Bible Study. (Sniff) I realized saying goodbye to my CBS 'buds' until the fall was just begining my "lasts". As I diligently worked (I was a bit behind this week) on my "last" days of homework for Beth Moore's Believing God study...I realized...tomorrow night is my "last" Friday Night Live Women's Bible Study until the fall. (More sniffs). In the process of working on my Believing God homework, I realized I needed to get ready to study and prepare for my "last" Sunday of teaching through the book of Joshua to the best adult Sunday School class ever. (BIG Sniffs). Excuse me for a second, sniff sniff, blowing nose. Okay, I'm back. So now I ask, what on earth will I do next week? Maybe I should think about Bible Study-aholics Anonymous? No way! Better yet, I think I need to type the "last" sentence of this blog and go search Christianbook.com for a new Bible Study for the summer!

Smallness

I had the privilege to spend time with one of our missionary friends and sister-in-Christ this weekend. She shared something with me that was profound. She was talking about how God uses "small things". She then made a comparison to the human body and the eye. She said that the eye is very important, yet rather small compared to the leg.

That gave me tons of encouragement. Unfortunately the world we live in looks down on small things. Small churches. Small houses. Small bank accounts. Small (simple) minds. But, if our focus is on Jesus, then it doesn't matter how "small" things seem. Jesus uses the "small" church, the "small" and simple person, the small bank account (remember the widow who gave her "small" offering) to do His work. May we take heart, when our hearts are completely committed to Jesus, He accepts our "smallness" and makes something great from it....and to me, that is no "SMALL" thing!!!

I will close with the words I read this morning from 2 Chronicles 16:9: For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are completely His.