Before the Throne of God

I like to post lyrics every once in a while to songs that make an impact on me. I first heard this song on a Selah CD. Then, several years ago, we were visiting Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and had the chance to go to chapel. One of the professors of the undergrad school, Jim Orrick preached, and he used the lyrics to this song. It is one of my "go to" songs when I'm having hard day, a great day, I need encouragement or I just want to praise God. So....I thought I'd share. I don't think we've ever sung this song at our church. I wish we would...it's so great. Here is a video I found (just wanted you to heard Selah) and the lyrics are below.



Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
King of glory and of grace,

One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

I was reading Colossians today and as I listened to this song, it reminded me of a great verse I read. Colossians 1:13: "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

A conversation with Yaya

Nicole, talking to Yaya (my mom) on the phone this morning.

Yaya...Hi Nicole, How are you?
Nicole....Good
Y: I'm coming over soon, do you want me to bring you anything?
N: Well, yes.
Y: What?
N. A present!
Y:What kind of present? I have cake, M&Ms, crackers...what do you want?
N: Well...I want a cookie.

Hannah's Birthday, Take 2

We celebrated Hannah's birthday on Wednesday with a family dinner. It just so happened that my Aunt Julie and Uncle George were down for a vacation and flew in that day. So, we had the pleasure of having them join us for birthday dinner. Of course we had Yaya & Papa, Grammy & Gramps, Uncle Justin a & Erica, and the girl's Great-Grandma Mimi. It was a fun evening. Hannah was in good spirits and didn't even cry. She got some fun birthday presents and money to buy books. Here are a few pictures from the night. If you haven't seen the video yet of her eating (or should I say NOT eating) her cake, scroll to the next post and watch it there.

I saw this cupcake cake on the back of a cake box and thought I'd give it a try. I'm not the most artistic person in the world, so I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Hannah's birthday, take 1

OK, I've been trying to find time to post pictures, but haven't. Here is a video for your viewing pleasure. Hannah was not sure what to think about the cake. She made some very funny faces. Hopefully more pictures and stories will be coming soon. Until then....enjoy....

Happy 1st Birthday my sweet Hannah Grace

Hannah Grace was born one year ago today! I can not believe it has been a year already! We are having a family celebration tonight which everyone is looking forward to. Even my Aunt and Uncle from Ohio will be there!! I'll post pictures later. For now, I'll leave you with her first few moments.

So sad...

Something destroyed and partly ate my beautiful zucchini :'-(

My first Veggie!!!!!! and a few pics of the girls

Oh my goodness...I'm so excited. I was working in the garden yesterday, weeding when I found our first veggie! It's a zucchini...and it's big already! I ran around front to get Jeremy so I could show him. I'm not sure when to cut it or know it's ripe. Honestly, I think it's perfect now, but maybe I'll wait a few days to cut it anyway.

Friday night we had a beach picnic with our friends Ben and Jami. A few cute shots of the girls were snapped. It was a perfect beach night, cool, no bugs and enough wind to fly a little kite. Hannah LOVED both the water and the sand, woohoo. Nicole had a blast going far out in the water with daddy. I love love love to watch them play together. She was taking every moment in with him. It was precious.

Hannah and Vanessa, playing in the sand

This is a classic Hannah face. She is LOVING the sand and water.

We went to a park last week, and I thought this was a cute photo of Nicole.

Time Savers

I have seriously been give at least an extra hour in my day....maybe even an hour and half. Ladies and gentleman I now have a working dishwasher!!!! ***Applause*** I have been handwashing my dishes for a little over a year now. I don't think I complained much, it really wasn't a big deal. I actually sort of liked doing it. But, as Hannah gets older and with another baby on the way, the time I spent washing dishes was beginning to get the best of me. Well, it's here. I've used it for three days and tested it out well. The first night I piled ALL of the dishes into it, including pots and pans. I didn't pre-wash, just scraped the food off and loaded it. Dishes were done in minutes, and the next morning, everything was spotless....woohoo!!! Last night I had a grand idea of delay starting it. I knew the guys would be over for Bible study and I would be asleep before they were done. So, I thought I would start the washer around midnight . Grand plan, except I forgot to tell Jeremy to load up the few cups and plates used, so the dishwasher was only half full, and my sink was half full this morning too. Oh well. The delay start worked great by the way.

It's not a fancy dishwasher, just wash and go. No extra settings, no bells and whistles, but you know what it works! Great so far, and I've freed up my day a bit. I am pleased:-)

Oh, the first time I ran the dishwasher, the girls were both awake and Nicole kept asking me what that noise was (when it would turn the water on, or the jets or whatever). Even Hannah crawled over to get a better look, hehehe.

Hannah's first time Finger painting and Morning Fun

Another beautiful day in Sunny Florida:) We started the day early by swinging and taking a short walk. Here are a couple of cute pics of the girls (in matching dresses today by the way)

I love this pictures of Hannah. It makes me laugh. Her mouth opens SOOO wide!!

Then we spent the later part of the morning painting and playing in the pool again.

My little Picasso.

Hannah even got to try finger paints for the first time today.

She wasn't so sure at first...

Finally, she gets paint on both hands.

Oh....this is fun! (check out Nicole's face in the background, haha)

Oh Yeah!!! I like this!!!!

She is totally into it now. By the end, she had both hands smearing the paint around. We love to paint. It's so much fun. I'm glad Hannah liked doing it too. I didn't get a final picture because she had just put her hand in her mouth and had yellow paint all over her face, haha. So we had to quickly wash it off.

Oh...we also played with water balloons. No pictures, but we plan on attacking Jeremy when he gets home tonight. Sshhhh...don't tell ;)

Painting, Picnic, Pool

Yesterday was a beautiful day! Perfect really. The sun was shining and there was a a slight cool breeze. We loved it. After running a few morning errands, we came home and enjoyed ourselves. Nicole Painted, which she loves, outside. We had a picnic with great-grandma Mimi, and then the girls played in their little pool. We all were in our glory. This is how every day should be. Here are a few pictures to share.

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