The Power Of Forgiveness

Once Saved, Always Saved, this is the power of forgiveness.

The bible tells us in Romans 8:38 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor height nor depth,nor any other created thing,shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The definition of forgive is “to pardon”. If you look up forgiving the definition is “able to forgive, allowing room for error or mistakes”. Why does it seem like forgiveness is at times the hardest thing for us to do?

The bible tells us in Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood,the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his Grace. God has forgiven us, he has wiped our slate clean. God is truly the only one who knows us inside and out, he knows how black we have been, our every sin and he doesn’t care, he doesn’t hold a grudge, no matter how big or small the sin is,he forgives.

So, why is it we cannot show the people around us the same grace and mercy? Everyone sins, we are human, we will make mistakes, we will hurt other people, are we all not the same? Is one sin bigger than another?, the bible tells us no. We as humans tend to really hang onto the hurt other people have caused us, in the long run this only bonds us to the past. We need to forgive others, to let go of the past and the hurt and anger. We can often set ourselves free when we forgive others. Who in your life do you need to forgive?What in your life do you need to let go of?

Turning 29....

This past weekend I turned 29, no really 29! For some reason alot of people think this is a lie but for me it is the truth. Yes, next year I will be 30, but I am looking forward to embracing my 30's!
     I had a wonderful weekend! James was actually home for my birthday which rarely ever happens! He let me sleep in Friday morning and then James Henry and I met our good friends at Brush With Art for story time. My best friend Trista took James Henry home with her and James and I stayed and worked on Christmas presents and then had a wonderful lunch alone!

After lunch, we visited with friends which was followed by a wonderful shopping trip to the mall all by myself. We had dinner with friends that night and great talks.

Saturday was Girl's day! We had lunch at a great pizza place and had girl talk and we were creative at Brush With Art! They also bought me some yummy cupcakes!

Saturday night was date night!!! James and I had a couple's massage and dinner at Macaroni Joe's. We had never been to Macaroni Joe's before and I was pleasantly surprised that some place so elegant and fancy was tucked away here in Amarillo. It was an amazing dinner and a wonderful date night!

We finished Saturday night with UFC and great friends!

We rounded out our weekend Sunday with church and a quiet evening at home with our kids.

I had the best birthday I may have ever had. I was truly blessed by my friends and family. I am looking forward to the next year with James and the kids full of love, laughter and tons of memories.

I am not in fear of my 30's but ready to embrace them with the Grace of God!

Thank you God for my life!

Christopher's Birthday Party

We had Christopher's birthday party this year at Cheer Texas, which is a gymnastics place but is perfect for a bunch of wild and crazy kids. There are trampolines, bouncers and a big open foam pit to jump in.
  This year he wanted a Lego theme but not just any Lego theme, Lego Star Wars! It was not easy to come by, I found plates and napkins on line, I ordered the invites from EBay as well as the edible image cake topper in which I placed on a plain cake I ordered from United.
  He had a great party, there was an awesome turn out. The kids had crazy fun. He got lots of awesome gifts and alot of Lego's! I loved how on this day and looking around his party that I was able to see how blessed beyond measure we are with our friends! James was stuck at work so it was just me to run the party and everyone stepped up and really helped me out and I am so thankful!!
  Here are some pictures from the party....

Wonderland Amusement Park

Amarillo is home to Wonderland Amusement Park. It is a small but beautiful and fun place tucked on the outskirts of downtown. We went to Wonderland for the first time this year. James was working and Christopher bought along his friend so I enlisted an extra set of hands in one of my favorite teens Ms. Hailey Helton.
    We got to the park about 4pm and headed straight for the kiddie rides. I was soon to find out my third child is a complete daredevil!! He rode every ride in the entire park that they would let him on and he was not happy when he could not ride one! He ran from ride to ride like a maniac and having the time of his life!

This is James Henry on the fire truck ride in which he nearly gave me a heart attack when he moved to the backseat halfway through the ride!

Here he is in the backseat of the boat with Christopher and Kaden in which he yet again changed seats in the middle of the ride!

This is a picture of my whole crew from left to right:Hailey, James Henry, Makayla, Kaden and Christopher.

Besides, finding out that I gave birth to a one day stunt man, everyone had a great time! They rode every ride in the park except the two biggest coasters. It was an extremely fun night and I believe the Lis family will be making this a yearly tradition.

Christopher turns 7

Our sweet little boy turned 7 on August 18th. Wow! How the time has flown by. Well, we tend to make a big deal out of birthdays around the Lis house. We like any excuse to celebrate.
  For lunch Christopher chose to eat at Kabuki his favorite place to go, it is Japanese hibachi. He ordered his favorite dish, shrimp and fried rice with a Root Beer to drink. Thanks to our good family friend Brittany for joining us for lunch.

One of his favorite things about Kabuki is the show they put on while they cook your dinner in front of you. He loves the onion volcano!

He chose to have his birthday dessert at his favorite snow-cone place, Bahama Bucks. He had an ice cream flavored snow cone.

We really had a great day celebrating his seventh birthday. We ended the night by meeting his new first grade teacher, Ms. Willborn at "Meet the Teacher Night"

My Baptism

August 7, 2011 was possibly the scariest day of my life so far. I shared with my church family, the world and my children my testimony. I was nervous about being so open and honest. I was worried about people's thoughts about me after knowing who I truly used to be. I was however totally blessed by sharing my life. I received so many kind words and encouragement and for some reason God used me to bless other people lives. It was amazing, humbling and life-changing.
   A few weeks prior to that day I found myself sitting in church listening to our youth pastor talk about baptism and what it means and why we do it.  This made me think about my own baptism and really made me take a hard look at my life and my salvation. I really felt the guilty pull of needing to get baptized but most of all to make sure I was saved to secure my salvation in God's eyes.
   You see I was baptized as a child but only because my friends were doing it, and I have no good memories of that day nor did it start me on a walk with Christ. I found myself crying and on my knees that day after hearing the sermon, I was tired of carrying the quilt of my life, the shame of my past and the worry that the salvation I had accepted in my youth wasn't real enough to secure my salvation. So there I was on my knees crying and asking Jesus to come into my heart once and for all. It is amazing how quickly a lifetime of guilty sin can be lifted off your shoulders. I knew that once I had my salvation secure and God knew how I felt that I needed to follow it baptism.
    So on Sunday morning August 7, 2011 I stood in front of my church family, my two oldest children, and my brother and after sharing a videotape of my testimony my wonderful husband James baptized me. I don't know if I can tell you how I felt. It was amazing I really soaked in every second, I knew it was a memory I wanted to carry all my life. I am so blessed to have a God loving, God serving husband who held my hand the whole time and spoke so well of me and baptized me that day.When he raised me up and said "raised to walk in newness of life" I really was a new person, my past, my sin all forgiven and left in that water.
   How blessed am I! I am purely a sinner, saved by Grace, saved by the precious blood of Christ! Thank you God for sending and sacrificing your son to die on the cross for a sinner like me!

First day of School 2011-2012

Yesterday was the first day of school! Makayla started 4th grade and Christopher started 1st grade. They both woke up very excited! They loved their teachers. Christopher's teacher's name is Ms. Willburn and he really likes her. Our baby girl is growing up on us and started changing classes every hour this year! Yikes! They were both excited to see old friends and make new ones.
   James Henry missed them both so much. He kept asking me all day "Where's Bubba? Where's Sissy?" Poor guy was spoiled having them to play with all summer!
  Here is a picture of Makayla and Christopher all ready for the first day of school in their new clothes and carrying their new backpacks and lunchboxes.