Rainbows+sunshine+funny faces+yummy things= good for the heart

This past thursday, I left my sister's house and there was an ENTIRE arch of a rainbow outside (of course it was outside...) But it had been messy and rainy all day and then the sun came bursting through the clouds and produced THE MOST beautiful rainbow I've ever seen. I've never seen an entire arch! I was speechless. I pulled out my rinky dink digital camera and TRIED to capture it in all it's glory, but this one definitely does not do it justice. I'm just so honored that I was able to witness such a miraculous Divinely-created piece of art in person.

Today was a "Toad the Wet Sprocket" kind of day. I put Kasen down for a nap and then thought "Hmmm... what to do now...." I took one look at the backyard and spread out a blanket. It felt so good to lay there soaking up the sun. And Kevin's grass is especially plushy. Here's proof:

This is Chase wondering what the heck I'm doing laying in the backyard where he goes poop...

Here's that amazing star in the big blue sky God created so us earthlings could survive.

Sweet Chase finally decided to join me on my blanket. I'm so glad he did. He's such good company...

Now it's time for funny faces with Kasen! My 'funny face' isn't very diverse, but man, can Kasen cheese for the camera!

Tonight I made this lovelyyyy italian pasta salad. I was so afraid Hunter wouldn't like it, but he did! It was so easy, too!

-Cook a box of tri-colored pasta

-allow to cool and add as much italian dressing as your heart desires

-chop 2 roma tomatoes, half an onion (only if you like raw onion), and a can of artichoke hearts and combine with a drained can of sliced olives

-add feta and parmesan to taste, as well as garlic powder and salt/pepper

-chill for at least an hour and enjoy!

(it gets even better after a couple days)

Yesteray my sister joked about me being addicted to facebook. I thought.............. she's right. It's weird to admit that you can be addicted to such a thing. I just get on it and look at all my friends' pages and then look at everybody's pictures and then see how many dumb comments I can leave on people's pages and write statuses that nobody really cares about.... It's a cycle one can pathetically get sucked into!

So I was thinking about it and decided "What a lame way I spend my spare time...."

Don't get me wrong- I think facebook is great!!! It helps me keep connected with all my family and friends, it's an easy and fast way to get in touch with someone, and it's a way for you to re-connect with old friends and keep up with everyone's lives!!

But then, if you're like me, you take it to the next level of just plain addiction. I do things like promote my blog, if you will, and then turn around and say something at someone else's expense that completely cancels out things I've shared on my blog! Then you find yourself getting offended if you discover that you weren't a part of something you see others talking about, you look at pictures and compare yourself, you read statuses and judge. NOT the point of facebook.

I'm going to take a break from good ol' facebook. My goal is at least two weeks, and if it goes well, then longer. I'm hoping to accomplish during those 2 weeks to find more rewarding ways to spend my spare time. For instance, though it may sound cliche, I want/need to be fed with more intimate time with the Lord. Yeah, yeah I have my quiet time everyday, WOO HOO! But then as soon as I'm done, my thought turns to "OOO, I wonder what's new on facebook!" So I want to go deeper with that. I want my blogs to be more meaningful. I want to write new recipes. I want to take walks instead of runs so I can soak in the beauty I'm surrounded by. I want to take more pictures. I want to finish a gosh darn book for once in my life (I hate reading). I want to fall in love with music again and sit on my floor and read lyrics for hours. I want to better myself for the sake of others.... I might need way more than two weeks to do that, geesh. But after my "time off" I want to be able to have a healthy balance on facebook. When I get on, I want to breeze through, say my hi's and bye's and congrats and I'm sorry's. I don't want to fall into the linger trap and wind up losing precious time.

So *maybe* I'll be back on April 13... maybe longer, who knows!

I leave you with a song my dad used to sing to my sisters and I when we were little before he would leave to go out of town.

Reflecting....

"Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ's return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy."
-Philippians 2:12-18


"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
-John 16:33



"For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace."
-Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
(when I was little, I thought The Byrds wrote these lyrics.... Whatever happened to folk rock...)


"You can feel secure, even in the midst of cataclysmic changes, through awareness of My continual Presence."
-Jesus Calling


Great service yesterday at Grace Chapel.... Pastor Steve spoke on biblical prophecy FULFILLED. No fluffy stuff here! You can watch the service by clicking on this link:
http://www.gracechapel.net/
(It's the sermon called "Pneuma" You may want to fast forward through the worship- it's a bit lengthy...)

me and my fluffs

For Beau Lamb, Pauline Drake and William Joseph...

"I'd give anything just to talk to you....."
The losses these past few months have been so hard, but we rest in the peace of knowing that they're Home with the Lord!

Oh, how I enjoy kiddies and kitties

This post is all about cuteness....

Kasen chowing down on his lunch... he ate every bite. Such a big boy!

My sister's cats, Sergeant and Pepper. They're brothers and they're inseparable. Aren't they pretty?

Emerson was being SUCH a cutie today, I had to grab the camera.

Lil' booger was trying to take my socks off!

This is Emerson's trick. Isn't he talented?

I love him!

laughing with Kasen

Because I'm like my pawpaw, I like to make up ridiculously silly songs pretty much everyday.
This was my song today:
"Krispy Kreme donuts for everyone,
Krispy Kreme donuts are so much fun!"
(we weren't even eating donuts)
And Kasen's response promptly following was,
"Why you sing dat song?"
and then attempted to sing along.
"Krissy and Sophiiieee"
(the name of my parents' dogs)
"Krissy, Krissy creeeaaaamm! Krissy, Krissy creeeaaamm!"

Me and Kasen make each other laugh often.
It's one of my favorite past times!

laurenhaleybarton.blogspot.com

i stole this from my sissy-in-law's blog. she took it in fresno~ it makes me so happy and ready for spring!!!

Random update!

Mr. Man had his 6th birthday at laser chase! We had so much fun!

The other night, Hunter and I watched Monster's Inc. Vito was intrigued by the moving doors. It was so cute!

Some cool finds from Goodwill...

This picture of my mawmaw and pawpaw has made me really happy lately. I miss pawpaw so much....

Even though spring is just around the corner, we're still having icky weather! This picture sums it up....

Enjoy this lil video of sweet Emerson talking to me!! He's a cutie!

It's time I put a picture up on my blog....

Dear, sweet Cuz D bought us this picture when we visited Gatlinburg with her!

I found a blog of a sweet couple with a sweet baby.

Sounds like every blog, right?

This baby tugs at my heart and I wish I could meet him!

Click here to meet Jonah.

The thoughts for this post just came on a whim, so it may seem disorganized, but I hope it makes sense.

Last night, I was reading about the magnitude 8.8 quake that took place in Chile Saturday. What caught my eye was that the death toll has reached around 700-800. I tried to imagine such a number of people all dying at once and couldn't. So knowing that Haiti just suffered an earthquake 6 weeks ago, I googled the death toll from that disaster.

230,000.

At first, my eyes scanned over the article I found and read 23,000. Immediately I felt devastated. Then I glanced again and reread 230,000. I think that was the first time since these earthquakes I truly felt a pit of sadness that my mind couldn't quite grasp. I wanted to put the loss into perspective for myself- sometimes I do that in order to understand just what kind of suffering has taken place b/c I don't want for a second to take tragedies like this lightly.

Initially, my thoughts were "That would be like the entire state of Tennessee being wiped out." So, using the lovely google, I looked up the most recent population census taken for the state. 6 million people live in Tennessee. Realizing that the number was too large, I looked at the census for Franklin. The population is 40,000. Knowing this, my quest to gain perspective became scarier. Sitting there in my bed with the computer in my lap, I realized that the event would have been more like an earthquake destroying just a few cities out of the state of Tennessee. It would have been more like going about my evening and suddenly the world comes crumbling down for Spring Hill, Columbia, Franklin and the surrounding small towns. Or roughly, half of Nashville. Disturbing, right? (Also, did you know that Hurricane Katrina took nearly 1,200 lives? I had no idea.)

I said to myself "God, mother nature has the ability to perform quite the massacre. This is terrible."

It's hard to digest why such things happen in this world. Not for a second do I believe that this is the Lord's doing- He is not a God who seeks to destroy His children. But I do know that 'bad things happen' and it's easy to be angry at God for it all.

I was reading in Mark this morning about how Jesus healed a bleeding woman and restored a 12 year old girl's life. In chapter 5 verse 36, He speaks "Don't be afraid. Just have faith."

Don't be afraid. Just have faith.

Right there, that tells me that our Father KNOWS these things are going to happen, and He doesn't want us to deny that. But what He wants us to do in the middle of crisis is to have faith.

I have to say that after putting the effects of the earthquakes into perspective for myself, I felt afraid. I wondered how Chile and Haiti would ever overcome it and I felt the blow of reality that this is going to happen again.... and again..... and again.

But as God's children, we are to have faith. Not just faith, but faith without fear.

I know that living here in our cozy country, it's hard to feel like we can be a part of the healing that is going to have to happen. But every little attempt helps. There have been pastors and other figures in leadership positions that have said not to feel good just because you've written a check to donate to the cause of helping these countries. But you know what? That's not fair. The fact that people are even giving their money, even if it's just 20 bucks, shows that we, as Americans, care about the rest of our world. Everyone has a choice to react and if you've given even a small amount, good for you. I have faith that if a family has taken the time to give a little, that there are other families out there, too, giving a lot. And praise God for those who are able to physically help out- whether they're volunteering their time back here in the US or getting on a plane headed to the sites of destruction. Not all of us can do that, but like I said, thank God for the people that can do that right now. And what we all can do is pray.

I know that the death toll and tragic events seem so hopeless and terrible, but I also know that if we allow it, God can manipulate this situation into a story of hope. You can decide what that means for you. I know what it means for me. In the mean time, don't be afraid. Just have faith.