"But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul." - Deuteronomy 4:29

Saturday, December 14, 2013

"Abide in Me..."

As well known as she may be, my little nugget never fails to make my day a little bit brighter! I was home and babysitting her one Saturday morning when I was awaken by my adorable three year old. She  had on her new Matilda Jane Clothing dress and was giddy as could be. I knew it was time for a girls day. We suited up in our "cooold owsideee!!!!" clothes and boots, grabbed the camera, and were off into Narnia (which is what we call the backyard).
This picture brings me such joy. Mary Alan is always being silly and making us laugh. I guess it's her age but I am so enjoying it and really don't want her to grow up anymore! 
Oh so flexible! She's always throwing her legs up into a heel stretch or sprawling them onto the ground in a split. She loves showing off her tricks!


MA and Remington have a love/hate relationship.. especially when she is in a sassy mood. Remmy has become a part of the family now that Annabeth is home. All I'm going to say about that is on a Saturday morning, sometimes waking up to Rem and Sam jumping on the bed like some sort of a tag team isn't always the best way to wake up....



My sassy little nugget. 




So, while in Auburn for the Auburn v. Florida Atlantic game, we accidentally left one of Mary Alan's boots when she was getting into the car! We then purchased these boots only  to have one fall under the bleachers at the HA powderpuff game. So now, she has one boot from each set. They coincidentally make a pair so she'll goofingly wear them together sometimes!

In Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the spirit are listed: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Each of these has a very significant meaning that The Lord has implied for a specific purpose for us to abide by. 
LOVE- he says to love as he has loved us. A love that is literally willing to die for one another. The best example is one I heard several years ago.. loving someone so much that when they are standing in line for the electric chair, the friend takes their place and dies for them because this is how The Lord has loved us. 
JOY- It's better than happiness. It isn't even ours! It is freely given to us and then it becomes ours! 
PEACE- A peace that passes all understanding.. a knowing that our eternity is heaven.. and not being shaken. 
PATIENCE- This is probably my biggest struggle. My friend explained it to me as we were standing in the line to call our families at camp. I was standing there tapping my foot and getting antsy about waiting, and she wasn't like that at all. She was laughing and not worried at all about having to wait the two seconds to get the phone. I asked her how she did it and she looked at me with the most gracious eyes and said, "Well, I know that I will eventually get to talk on the phone, and even if it doesn't happen right away, I know that sooner or later I will get to! So until then, I'm just going to do me and not worry about it!" That conversation is what gives me patience because she helped me understand it. (Happy Birthday Madeline!) 
KINDNESS- Being kind is being able to feel for someone and sympathize with them. This is a quality that is hard to adapt, but so rewarding because, even though feeling the pain of someone and sharing that with them may be hard, good times come and feeling those make it all worth it in the end!
GOODNESS- This doesn't mean that the things we don't do are who we are because that makes us "good". Let's be defined by what we actually do! What is right and pure for Christ's sake.
FAITHFULNESS- Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see. Having faith that Jesus is coming back and that he is always here for us no matter how alone we feel. Knowing that in the hardest times, there is someone to lean on even if there is nothing to physically lean on. 
GENTLENESS- A gentle answer turns away wrath and why would we want to be angry with someone? Imagine talking to someone at night, and being so angry with that person and your last words to them being, "I hate you. You're so mean and don't talk to me." and then just say that person doesn't wake up the next day? So speak gently to one another and don't say anything you wouldn't want to be said to you. 
SELF-CONTROL- Self-control isn't just not giving in to desires, it's willingly abstaining from those desires. Controlling the body by force of will. This is where willpower comes into play. For example, not eating the huge slice of cake because you know its bad for you and you would rather put good foods into your body; not restraining yourself from it because you can't have it even though it is all you can think about. Shift your focus from the circumstance and up to Heaven. Look to God for a Heavenly perspective. 
Abide in The Lord and remain in Him and He will remain in you! He rewards those who do what he says. He says to produce much fruit and these are those fruits. It is hard, but in every situation, stop and think which fruits you are producing! The road is narrow and the gate is small- but it leads to LIFE!



















Sunday, June 2, 2013

A Colbert Family Farm Update

About three weeks ago, one of my friends found a mother cat with five baby kittens in her yard. She asked around if anyone wanted them. coming from a family that is very big on pets, I was eager to get one. I didn't decide on her name until last week and closed on Phoebe (After Phoebe from the television show, Friends) Before that, we were calling her Cat- and let me tell ya, we all lover her, especially Mary Alan!






The bunnies...

 Our bunnies have gotten SO much bigger since they were blogged last, and they are still extremely soft and adorable. 




 I love how you can see her fluffy white cotton tail.






 Mom doesn't have that many pictures with Mary Alan because she is usually the one taking pictures- well until now of course! There is such a cute mother-daughter connection between these two.




 My sweet little sister walked over to the gate and said, "Ivy! look! loooooook! watch meeee!" She is already loving the camera time and her model status is at an all time high. 



Mary Alan loves my kitten sooo much. When I told her that Cat had to take a nap, she got really sad and tried so hard not to cry. Such a sweet girl.

The farm animals...

 Mom loves having farm animals around. We all firmly believe it is because she wants to live on land and have a real farm with several different animals. We all really want to also, but this is her way of having a little piece of farm life around. 








The dogs...

At the Colbert house, there is never a dull moment. The excitement is something that I don't know if I could live without. On the rare occasion that I am home alone, it is one of the strangest feelings. It feels super empty and I almost can not wait until someone gets home. We have several dogs that help keep the action vibrant. 
 Gage (above) is our black lab who pleas for attention. If that is brushing by our legs and nearly nocking us down for some lovin or basically setting himself up for getting run over when Dad pulls in the driveway and he sits right in front of the truck. He is such a fun dog! and really fun to bathe...
Sam, our golden-doodle, is our biggest and furriest dog; but ironically, he thinks he is a teacup Chihuahua and will literally try to sit in our laps! He is so funny.  
Annabeth's golden retriever, Remington, has truly grown on me. Not going to lie, at first he was a bit too hyper for me; but he has really mellowed out and now I love this precious/ginormous pup! We call him Sam with a straightener. 

Clementine, our Cavalier, is ALWAYS licking the air! Mom and I call it L.O.D.- Licking Obsessive Disorder. 
Sophie, our Shih Tzu, is so sweet. We used to take her into nursing homes so that she could love on some elders. They absolutely adored her, too!
 Murphy is our grandpa dog. He is almost 12 years old and we rescued him from Petsmart one Easter a while back. He has such a sweet heart and even though he takes a while to get up, he always lets Mary Alan pet his tummy! 

 The cats...

We actually have 5 cats, but the only one that isn't always out exploring is the new kitten, Phoebe. The "big" cats live outside and a little interesting fact is cat urine keeps away snakes! This really helps since we live on a pond.
 Something you may not know about me is I knit, and always have yarn around. Phoebe and her brother Richard Parker, my friend Ashton Mueller's kitten, found my stash. Good thing they didn't get into the good stuff. I guess cats really do love yarn! 


 We are babysitting little Richard Parker for a week while Ashton is in Arizona for the summer. He and Phoebe have the best time together... partners in crime.  







     I can honestly say that at our Zoo, it gets crazy sometimes. We love this lifestyle so much and wouldn't trade it! If anything, we would probably expand. Whenever people ask me how many pets my family has, it takes me a little bit to calculate how many we actually have-6 dogs, 5 cats, 4 ducks, 2 bunnies, 2 chickens, and a fish. Having seven people living together with all these pets, it gets pretty interesting. I can't help but think of how Noah and his family must have felt on a boat for 40 days and nights with an overwhelming amount of animals; two by two they came. I also think about how Noah's family must have trusted him so much to believe him when he said God was going to destroy the earth and for him to make a boat for his family along with God's creatures. His family was right there with him because Noah was such a trustworthy man that they didn't have any doubts that this was what God had called him to do. This kind of trust is something that I for one definitely need to work on. Trust is being able to rely on someone. If we can't trust anyone, how will we grow as one? It says in the bible that we are suppose to be in unity with fellow believers, but if there is no trust, then how will we be able to become one? I know being a teenager, trust is a hard thing to come by. It is difficult to know that the people I talk to about my problems won't go around telling others what I said. Finding friends who won't tell your secrets is something that is so hard in this day and age. I try to be trustworthy to my friends and by being that way to them, I can better my chances of having the same trust in them to where they won't tell mine in return. Everyone has things that they need to confide in someone about, and everyone needs someone who won't go around telling other people what they were trusted not to. Being christians, if non-believers and even believers see us as not trustworthy, do you think they will want to become a part of our, so called, "unity"? Take a stand in being trustworthy. Don't let anyone rattle out secrets that you were trusted with to keep. That is absolutely not living life like Jesus would want us to. After all, we are His. Every breath should be for Him. Don't use that breath to break trust. It simply isn't worth it. Be like Noah. Trust Jesus and be trustworthy to your family, friends, and even total strangers. Breathe for Him. 

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Too Little Time...

Today, Mary Alan wanted to go outside and take pictures.. All her idea, but I of course was up for it! I think she knows that she's absolutely adorable and is starting to use that to her advantage. She wanted to be a princess so she asked if she could wear the crown that Hunter gave her. She LOVES it too! 



 This little thing loves to dance. To no music, but to the beat of her angels wings.


 Her free spirit and contagious laugh makes me want to join into the fun and laughter. The Lord has blessed her with this ability and I know He will use this in her life. 














 One day she'll be able to open the door on her own but until that day, I will photograph her trying. (p.s. note her calf muscles!)

Mary Alan is the best little sister a girl could ask for. As her birthday gets closer and closer, I am reminded of how quickly time flies. I am only 16, but it seems like yesterday I was playing cats with my friend, Beth Ann, in her den at the same age Mary Alan will be, and I think of how she is going to be my age so quickly and I'll be that much older. Our time here on this Earth is so precious and we shouldn't waste a second of it. We don't know when Jesus will call us home and there is absolutely no way to tell. All we can do is prepare ourselves for meeting Him face to face. It also reminds me of how other people's lives are so precious. How we don't have a second to spare in spreading the gospel to our friends, family, and even strangers we don't really know that well. The time we have to tell the WHOLE world is too short. Every second we spend not glorifying God in our actions and words is less time we have to do just that. Why would we procrastinate this? Why would we not want to share the best thing in our lives with those suffering and needing anything and everything Jesus offers... Compassion, Love, Shelter, Strength, and sooo much more! The things we say and do are the things that make us who we are. They bring out our true character; one that should be crazy in love with Jesus.. So in love that we aren't afraid of standing up for what we believe in. A love that makes us WANT to tell everyone we see the truth about Christ. God calls us to share His word with everyone so why would we be scared? If He is calling us to do this, He will go with us! Yes, it definitely will be hard a lot of the time, but it will be SO worth it in the end!!! On that day when He calls us home and we can look back with absolutely NO regrets; feeling completely at peace with the way we glorified God. Let that be you. I pray that it will be me too, but it is a battle we all have to be willing to fight. Go out and fight the good fight; the one Jesus is the commander of. He is with you! Do not be afraid.