Sanctus Real - Lead Me (Slideshow With Lyrics)

The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you , O valiant warrior." Judges 6:12 It's Father's Day and I wish my father, Tim, and husband, Brandon, a joyful day. We love you and pray for you. I know that leading a family must seem impossible sometimes but I plead with you to stand firm and look to our Heavenly Father for strength because your family needs you to be warriors for us and most of all for Christ. When Gideon heard those words "valiant warrior" spoken to him he did not believe he was capable of leading his people to victory against the Midianites but God doesn't see us as weak human flesh He sees how He is going to use us. He sees the end result... the redeemed, the sanctified, the cleansed, the forgiven, the valiant warrior.

I realized, Daddy, that you are the patriarch of this family. Know this... your family kneels behind you in prayer. "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; they will not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies at the gate." Psalm 127:4-5 You are blessed, your quiver is full... me, brother, Ellie, Ethan, and Eli (and I'm sure more in the future). I love you, Daddy.

For my husband... thank you for your hard work and perserverance. I mostly appreciate and am thankful for your spiritual growth. I pray for your protection as you enter the world everyday and I pray you will be a light among the darkness. I pray that other men will see you are different and they will desire to know what makes you different. When you take my hand I feel the result of hard labor but when you hug and kiss your children I see the result of a gentle spirit. Continue to grow and walk in Christ and I will continue to pray and support you. We love you.

I pray this for my father, my husband, my brother, and my sons...

The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:12-15

The song I have posted above I feel has a wonderful message so listen and enjoy. Happy Father's Day!

What will we do today?

Well, we have been busy the first 2 weeks of our summer vacation. First of all, this is the time that I enjoy being a stay at home mom the most. Everyday the kids get up and ask "what are we going to do today?", and we go from there.

We started off with Memorial Weekend and spent most of our time with the Lemonds (refer to Amandas blog or facebook for pics because she always has her camera and I always forget mine). On that Memorial Day Monday Ethan had to go to the doctor and get his 5 year shots so he can go to kindergarten in the fall. I haven't cried yet but call me on the first day of school and I'm sure the floodgates will open. Also, that week I had to go meet with the insurance agent about life insurance because they so graciously reminded Brandon and I that we are ten years older and we need to go over some things and update policies. We also went shopping on Ellie's birthday but she managed not to purchase anything with her money. We had a special lunch at KFC and then that night we ate supper at the Mexican restaurant. Ellie got to wear a sombrero and the waiter sang to her (once again sorry about the pics but I took one with my phone and I don't know how to download it, upload it whatever I'll do better next time.) We ended the week with a t-ball game and Ellie had a sleepover with her friend Andrea. I spent some time baking a barnyard cake for little Jake McGinnis' first birthday (yeah go to Jen for pics). We also cooked out with the McGinnis', you will learn that Todd and Brandon share a love for food and grilling. It's kind of ridiculous really. Jennifer and I sit through many conversations about meat and seasonings. Well that's just the first week.

What's next, you ask? Well I will tell you. This week we went to the dentist. No cavities for all three kids, what are the odds? After the dentist we stopped at the Collierville mall and walked through Build a Bear, too expensive for Ellie, we used the potty in Gap, went to Dillards just to ride the escalator at Ethan's request, went in Barnes and Noble so Eli could play on the train table, and finally I managed to get to walk through Charming Charlie's with only a few complaints and grumbles from the kids. Finally, we had a cookie. Also this week, Ellie and I dragged the boys thrift store shopping. Ellie loves to buy books at thrift stores. She always has her nose in a book and is usually reading 2 or 3 at a time. Brandon and I have been building and painting props for VBS. Brandon has built a ship and a ships wheel and I have painted a ship and a ships wheel plus a jungle scene. Maddi and Wade Malone came over for a play date on Wednesday while I was painting the ship and the kids spent the day splashing in the pool. Yesterday Ellie went to a friends to play and Ethan, Eli and I went to Pop's tractor store. Ethan got to help Pop park a brand new tractor that had been delivered that day. Then we visited Aunt Gail at the bank and got loaded down with suckers. I also put some of my paintings on craigslist and through that I got a job doing some custom paintings for a lady who is redecorating her living room. So today is Friday and what will we do today? I don't know. Wherever the wind takes us!

Happy Birthday, Ellie!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl, Ellie! You are growing up fast. Today is your ninth birthday and I can't believe how quickly those nine years have gone by. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you. You are so smart and you do so well in school. You are happy and you make others happy when they are around you. Remember to always be kind and to make others smile whenever you can.

We love you sooo much!!!!

Lord, I pray that Your Beauty will be upon my precious daughter that you have given us and that you will establish the work of her hands. I pray that as long as she lives, her life will be dedicated to you Lord. Use her, work through her, bless her all the days of her life. AMEN

"I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4

Plan of Salvation

God loves you!
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."

You are a sinner.
Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"

You are now dead in sin.
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Christ died for YOU.
Romans 5:6-8 "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

You can be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 16:30-31 "and after he brought them out, he said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, '"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved, you and your household."

You can be saved and KNOW it.
1 John 5:10-13 "The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life."


You are now a child of God and you are to obey Him.
Acts 5:29 "But Peter and the apostles answered and said, " We must obey God rather than men."

I was born into this world October 27, 1977 but I was born in Christ when my daddy prayed with me beside my bed in 1988 and I accepted Jesus into my heart. My life began then and will be forevermore. At that moment I began my journey to learn the meaning of life... Every day you get up and perform your daily activities and EVERY DAY God is working around us. You can either join Him and walk closer or you can get caught up in your daily activities and walk farther away. And Jesus said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Mark 1:17 This is why we are here. God's children have the light we know what we are suppose to do, the question is are we doing it? Am I doing it?

The tie dye extravaganza

Ellie loves to come up with themes for birthdays and this year she has decided to invite her classmates to a tie dying frenzy on Saturday. Here is the itinerary...when the guests arrive they will immediately be escorted to the tie dying station to make their tshirts, next they can make their way to the picture taking area where I have tie dyed an old sheet that will be the backdrop for silly pictures, they will also be able to swim, play, and socialize, then they will enjoy tie dyed cupcakes and rainbow sherbet ice cream along with a candy buffet with an assortment of sweet and sour, sugary goodness. This is our vision for the perfect party, anyway. I'm not sure that a bunch of 9 year old kids will cooperate but no matter what I'm sure they will have fun. I am absolutely positive that I will be exhausted. We are already starting to brainstorm next years party ideas but that is TOP SECRET information at this time.

lolly pop song

The kids just love this song. I saved it to my ipod and we have fun singing and dancing along. Eli just sings the word lollipop over and over. I just wanted to share one of the top ten on the potts family music charts.

Aldi's Accident Report

So,whenever I go anywhere with the kids I never know what's in store. We leave our mark wherever we go and today was no different. I have to go pick up a couple of things at Aldi's so that Brandon can have dinner for tonight, no big deal. I get my bags and my quarter for the cart and we cross the parking lot. We always looks like a mother hen and her chicks the kids even line up in order of size. Anyway Eli announces he has to go potty and Ethan chimes in that he needs to go No. 2. It's always No. 2 for Ethan. So automatically my quick stop turns into a longer one. We manage to get everyone in the restroom, Eli takes care of business and Ethan is of course going to take a little longer. I go out to check on Ellie who is right outside the door and the next thing I know Ethan is following behind with his pants still around his ankles. I push him back in the restroom and get him dressed and I prepare to gather up my few items. Eli wants to push the basket and Ethan and Ellie are irritating eachother. I have gotten most everything and I turn to grab something out of "my grocer's freezer". Then in an instant I hear a crash, a gasp, and a scream. I turn to find my basket tumped over with things rolling across the aisle and Eli is underneath the groceries and the basket. A woman is already lifting the basket up and hovering over him. She looks up at me and assures me she is a nurse and just wants to check him over. No broken ribs, cuts, or bruises but he does begin to develop a huge goose egg of a knot on the back of his head. The Aldi's employees swarm around me asking me questions and I'm promising that I will not sue. One lady grabs a bag of frozen peas and places it on Eli's head. At this moment I just want to check out and leave or better yet leave the groceries on the floor and just escape to my van and head home. An Aldi's employee insists that I fill out an accident report and asks me exactly what happened. I finally get to check out but not without people coming up to us asking if everything is okay. Eli is fine and it turns out Brandon had already eaten so it was not necessary for me to run to the store after all. FYI: the above pic says 2007 but it was actually 2010