Stand in Confidence

This morning I was reading in my devotional about the Truth of scripture. The passage of scripture was 2 Timothy 3:14-17, such a great passage! The author of this story went in to discuss how believers use scripture to tell people about Jesus, but the person there talking with stops them and says "the Bible can't be trusted, it's a book written by men, just like everything else!" And well, typically, this is where the Christian may stop and get embarrassed and secretly begin to question their own faith (I will be the first to admit this!). The author, also, gave a quote he read from his local newspaper. It read, "Believers cite that the Word of God is infallible, but I see no apparent reason to believe that the words written in the Bible by man are any more infallible than the words written in a science journal by man."

I'd have to make 2 comments to this.

1) Show/find me one science journal, nay, ANY book that was written over a span of 1600 years with 66 books written by 40 different authors ( oh and don't forget the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testament) but from start to finish tell one, clearly evident, unified cohesive story? I'm confident there is no other book!

2) He clearly has never read the Bible

Just thought I'd share some confidence with y'all! Go and tell the world about Christ--He's worth it!!

~LaRae

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

Hey everyone! I hope you're having an incredible fall, so far! I've finally gotten around to making something with pumpkin and I'm so excited to share!

I got this recipe from Jaime at My Baking Addiction; so head on over to check out her site with hundreds of delicious recipes, including this one!

Del-lish!

*I think I'm going to start selling these and many other flavors for the holidays! Let me know if you want some!

Happy Fall Y'all!!

~LaRae

Baby (decor) Fever

Since I now have to start using my toes to count the number of friends that are 'with child' or have just had a baby (check out these precious new cuties here and here), I thought I'd jump on the baby train....well, the baby DECOR train, that is!

I may or may not take a few minutes out of my workday and peruse the Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids or cute online baby boutiques. But, seriously, who can blame a girl! These nurseries are to die for! So, I thought I'd post a few of my favorites...you know, for those secret pregnant ladies who follow the blog! So, here are a few of my favorites...hopefully this will diminish the baby bug :)


I just love the pink and browns of this, but more than anything the fantastic storage! It eases my mind knowing that everything has a place, so this is the general appeal...plus it's just so stinkin' cute!

I'm not a big fan of the colors (peach hasn't been hot since it made it's debut in the 1980's bridesmaid dress circuit)...BUT, the huge windows and the overall layout is so bright and beautiful!


(Pause for audience gasps)--ok, now let me explain. Yes, the baby girl may go blind from the extreme HOT pink color, but I really love the textured wallpaper and the navy accent color---I think LOTS more navy should've been added, though! Ohh, and that monogram...love!


Remove the stuffed animals and baby books....I'll use this as inspiration for a guest room! I LOVE this brown polka dot chair and the light blue and light chartreuse accent colors...too cute! (p.s. not a fan of the circles on the high walls, though)


This may be a bit too much drama for my taste, but chartreuse and black is such a fabulous color combo!


I kinda hate the pastels, but the artwork above the crib was too cute not to share--ABC,123!

Really love this--though it's a bit bright, I think the chair is my favorite part!


Probably one of my favorites for a boy--the deep tan wall color really makes the other soft colors pop....and I'm a glutton for blue and white stripes...my poor kid has no choice but to be a prepster!

This was just so calming to me! The colors are so complimentary that I just imagined a mommy cozying up on the chair and cuddling her little peanut!

Who doesnt love an aqua crib!? This was so fun!


This was picked for Cody--this nursery has his name ALL over it! For some reason it reminds me of Chuck Taylors...which our kid will surely be rockin'!

This one reminds me of those of those gift shops where there's so much stuff that the second you walk in you're on sensory overload! But, I did like the cute ribbon and painted frame details....just take away a few accessories...Would a solid color be so bad?!


If this picture didn't illicit an 'awww', you have no heart. It's just too precious!

And for my all time favorite---I adore this one! Don't be surprised that you'll see a near replica whenever we have a girl! love it!


Hope you had as much fun as I did--ok now, back to work!!

*All images were found here

Quick weekend getaway!

This past weekend, I headed south (just a bit) to Boone,NC to visit my parents. Side note, Boone in the fall is truly a small glimpse of heave that God has given us--it's gorgeous! I digress. So, I headed south and had a sweet, relaxing weekend with my parents...but, we sure missed the other Lee gang (my brother, sis.in.law, and their daughter) and my hubby! Here are a few pictures from the weekend!


Breakfast at the Grandview Restaurant!
(L-R: Friends of my parents, Kathy's brother and sister in law, my family, Juan and Kathy)

Valle Crucis Festival (aka Apple Butter festival)
*These guys are up at 3am to start making the apple butter


Our guys at the festival (and my dad's crazy hat!)


This artist is paralyzed and paints with a paintbrush between his teeth--it's seriously incredible!




finally getting some roasted corn!



They're so cute :)

Dad and I enjoying football on Saturday

Sunset from our back deck--gorgeous!

Evening walk around the mountain

#11

Well, you read here, about my 27 before 27...here's my proof of finishing #11

Recent happenings!!

Hey everyone!! I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post!! So much has happened since then, so hopefully I'll be able to give all the updates in this post :)

Well, I made a 27 before 27 list a few weeks ago, you can check it out here. I've made some progress to it in the past few months, you can see that here. But, since then I've made even more progress...including knocking out one of my biggest fears...singing in public, on stage! This one is happening, this Sunday, on my actual birthday....10/10/10....I love that, that's my birthday this year!! It's so fun!!

Ok, so here are the one's I've marked off even since my last update of it!

1. Train for and then run a 5k--I haven't found one that works for my schedule for me to run yet, but I'm still training and getting addicted, I'm loving it!!

7. Read the entire Bible...I've atleast started on this one!!

10. Finish decorating our new house! --This is QUITE gradual, but I'm having fun finding new things!!
11. Sing on stage with Cody...without wanting to throw up from fear!..THIS SUNDAY!! YIKES!!

14. Pray more, TONS more! --This has been an incredible addition!

17. Successfully plant something and actually have something grow from it! --i planted 3 new plants this summer...2 are still alive :)

18. Get Cody recording time to make his demo! I was so happy to knock this off the list--I surprised him when we were in Charleston with 4 days of recording time with a recording studio & producer in Charlotte, NC (kinda a belated anniversary present/super early Christmas present/just because I believe in you present)

25. Lose weight & get in shape! (I'm happy to announce that as of today, I've lost 13 pounds...and counting!)

Ok, so that's about all I have to update the '27 before 27' list--hopefully I'll get some of them marked off by the end of October!!

A few weeks ago, Cody and I headed down to FL to visit my family, as my granddad wasn't doing well, health-wise. So, we made the decision to go visit and see him. Not many pictures were taken during this trip, but one morning my parents and I were up and I took some gorgeous pictures of their backyard sunrise....they live directly on the lake, so it was just gorgeous!

In other news, we had our annual women's retreat last weekend. It was incredible! I really prayed for the Lord to bring 25 women to the retreat and we ended up having 28 women signed up! We had a few that were really sick and a few who had family issues and couldn't make it. BUT, we ended up with 24 ladies at the retreat! :)


All the girls!!


My incredible planning team!


Some of our fun decor

One of our mascots the weekend...Norah!


What women's retreat would be complete without a trip to Bubblecake!

Next up, my 27th birthday!!!