Naughty and Nice

Hey ya'll!
Ok, first I wanted to let ya'll know, I put up my sisters newest blog address in my info/about me section or here is right here:
beyondthebod.blogspot.com.
Also, my momma, daddy, sister and I are all doing the Paleo: Whole30 challenge. Christan's (sister) blog is all about our challenge. She explains exactly what it is, gives examples of the types of foods we'll be eatin' or not eatin', her motivation in doin' the challenge and all kinds of tips for completing said challenge. For those of you who like pictures to help you better visualize things, she's got that covered as well.
Just to give you a little insight into what the Whole30 challenge is, or if you have absolutely no idea what paleo is, here is a brief summary of both:

  The Whole30. My mom, dad, and sister are all in on the Whole30 with me. For the first 30 days of 2013 we will restart our bodies and cleanse our systems by eating an ass ton of veggies, meats and eggs, healthy plant fats like avocados and nuts/seeds, and some fruit. If you want to take a negative spin, that means no grains of any kind, even gluten free, no dairy, no beans or legumes, no sugar, and none of the processed crap that masquerades as food.
-Christan Kennedy (again, sister)
Paleo: based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups that our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, or Stone Age.
Christan and I will be keeping updates of the challenge throughout our posts, and will hopefully be able to give encouraging news throughout.
Second, I hope ya'll had a wonderful christmas, and that you received everything you needed and more. I would love to hear some crazy christmas stories! One of mine, every year for the past two or three christmas' my family has drawn names to help us save money around the holiday season. Let's be real with ourselves, we don't need a tangible, costly gift from imediate AND extended family. Enjoy the fellowship and memories you'll have for years! And don't forget the food!

 Anyway, this year we decided to get a little crazy and pick names plus a white elephant gift. Also known as chinese new year, or dirty santa, and probably many other names. Well first off, we called it dirty santa only to realize that were only two people who knew what we were talking about, while the rest had their minds in the gutter, I mean WAY off. When someone finally asked what dirty santa was, was when we realized we were not all on the same page, "I was thinking everyone would be giving things we'd be too embarrassed to open in front of mamaw and papa!"
Well, since everyone had had their share of indecency I decided, with the help of Christan, to get a gift that was along the lines of dirty. While we're going through numbers and people are picking presents and getting everything from tool bags to lotion with gel hand gloves, I'm just waiting for someone to pick my gift. Finally, someone picks up my gift: Blake. My sister's husband, there was no other person that I wanted to pick up that gift more than Blake. As he's opening it, I can't help but start to laugh,  Christan soon follows, and when he opens the box his laugh bursts through the anticipation of everyone waiting to know what it is. He holds up..a chipandales 2013 calender. The whole room laughs at the silliness, and as my mother steals my mamaws gift from dirty santa, mamaw quickly grabs the calendar which sent the whole house rolling and holding their sides from the pain of laughing so hard.

 It was quite the christmas we had at our house with all the mischeif going on. I hope ya'lls was just as silly! And have a very Happy New Year! Be safe!
Blessings and sweet dreams!

My daddy getting beat by the elf in checkers.

The elf being very mischievous.

Santa! I know him..I know him! (sorry the picture is sideways!)

Silas, my awesome dog.

 

Silent Night

"Everything was ready. The moment God had been waiting for was here at last! God was coming to help His people, just as He had promised in the beginning.

But how would He come? What would He be like? What would He do?

Mountains would have bowed down. Seas would have roared.Trees would have clapped thier hands. But the earth held its breath. As silant as snow falling, He came in. And when no one was looking, in the darkness, He came."

-The Jesus Story Book Bible

By: Sally Lloyd-Jones
From The Nativity, Luke 1-2If you've never read or heard any of the "Jesus Story Book Bible", I hope after reading the above you choose to read more. Yes it is a children's story book bible, and that's what I use it for on many occasions when counseling during my summers, but it has definitely changed the way I think about the  Bible, and especially the Christmas Nativity.

The way Sally Lloyd-Jones writes in this book, takes the unfathomable birth of Jesus and His miracles and transforms them into breath taking, yet understandable stories. It captures the awe you felt as a young child when something AMAZING just happened before your eyes and you are the only one who knows it. You keep it inside you like locked treasure, and you pull the memory back out with the greatest ease at any moment in time, still remembering every detail, still feeling everything just as if it were the first time you were experiencing it.

I hope, as christmas comes in just hours now, that you take the story of Jesus' birth and not think of it as the christmas story you know all to well, and could recite every word of every verse and sing blindfolded, every christmas carol and hymn. But that you remember just how great God is, that He, who created planets, and orchestrates every wave and blow of the wind, who wakes us every morning and brings us to rest and sleep at night, how BIG  He really is. Instead of coming to earth with thunder and lightning, as a giant and destroying all sin, "He was making Himself small. And coming down...as a baby."
"But this child was a new kind of king. Though He was the Prince of Heaven, He had become poor. Though He was the Mighty God, He had become a helpless baby. This king hadn't come to be the boss. He had come to be a servant."

Blessings

Raised on Football and God's Sweet Grace

Goodmornin' sassy southerners, and those who at heart are just as sassy and southern as if they were raised down here! Ya'll I have had a most spectacular weekend, and I got to do somethin' I never thought I would have the chance to do. I went to the New York Giants and Falcons game this past sunday! Let me just explain to you the significance of this game: My heart forever belongs in Falcon nation, born and raised in Georgia, I've been here infront of my t.v. every sunday, monday, and thursday for their games. I've watched through the years of struggle, and rebuilding, and we are so close to a superbowl now that I could just go crazy. Then the New York Giants are a team that have never let me down from the very first superbowl win, to the repeat win four years later. All thanks to an Ex boyfriend of mine who was a patriots fan and had a rather loud and ungentlemanly attitude, I will stick with the Giants for many years to come.

Then I get invited to the NFL game in atlanta against the Giants?! It was such a great experience! The fans, the smack-talk, the Falcons GATA. I couldn't have been more proud to be a Falcons fan than if I had been on the field myself! I thank God for such wonderful friends and opportunities like this to make memories and share in the joy he provides in many different ways for us.

Falcon Pride



Represent STATESBORO! (Blue helmet, big white S)

I thank ya'll for reading, and I pray for you, many memories and joyous occasions and blessings for you and all you come to know!  

New Beginnings and Sweet Tea

I really should be studying for my final tomorrow, but sometimes you just need a break ya know. Granted this one has been a two hour break, in which I struggled, but sucessfully made my first blog! The semester is over, soon we'll be starting another and with this upcoming spring semester in the lovely Statesboro there are some changes that will be happening. First and foremost, I just became an aunt for the first time, to a beautiful baby girl, Millee Alana Quattlebaum (I won't be posting pictures for now but soon!). Second, my second oldest brother (4 years older than I) just returned from his deployment in afghanistan, and it was a joyful, tearful, full of blessings and praises to God reunion. Already some big new beginnings happening!

This next semester though comes with one of my best friends doing a long dreamed for internship in Haiti at an orphanage, and I know with her spirit she will bring light and life into those children's worlds, not only from herself but from the Gospel she preaches daily in her words and actions. She has been such a strong force in my life and I can't wait for her to impact others in places far from where the Gospel comes free. Many graduating friends and a whole new generation to RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) that we get to spend time with and be impacts in their lives from our experiences in college as well. Always the making of new friends and watching peoples lives grow and branch out from college to "the real world". I feel like there is so much more that I can't think of and I know there is so much more that I don't know of yet but that's the wonderful thing about life. It only gets better from here, no matter what I come to face, and I know that there will be and are things right now that are too much or too hard for me to carry right now and I trust my Father to carry them for me.

So bring on the new challenges and excitement, the struggles and growth, I'll be right here with a Bible and some sweet tea, loving and living life with some class and a whole lot of sass.
Blessings Ya'll.