What is Beauty Anyway?

The other day my mom text over a few pictures of one of the first beauty pageants I was in. We were comparing just how much my little girl looks like me. Twins!

Anyway, they got me thinking. Thinking about beauty, self-esteem and what God has to say about it all. I was reminded of a message that I gave at a mother-daughter tea a few years ago. I thought I would share that message with you. As women, it is so easy to get caught up in what the world says. I thought this would be a nice little reminder of what He says. (a reminder I often need myself)

Please pardon any references to being here tonight or my examples given for little girls as they were the target. I was going to change all of that for you readers but I didn't want to throw off what I was trying to say.


I grew up in the pageant scene. I was what they call a “beauty queen”. Some of my bigger titles include Little Miss Orange County, Miss Anaheim, Miss Orange County, 4^th runner up for Miss California.

Needless to say I have been around and learned a lot about outer beauty, but I also learned a lot about inner beauty. Tonight I want to share a little about those with you.

Being in those pageants, I saw what the world calls beauty. A certain hair color, a particular body type, a specific style of clothing. A lot of the girls in pageants, as well as in the world end up struggling with how they feel about themselves because they don’t look like that, and because really, it is impossible to look like a girl in a magazine.

A lot of you may struggle with that, a lot of girls and women in this room may think they are ugly. That they could never be pretty. I was fortunate to learn that what we think or say about ourselves means nothing in God’s work, what matters is what God thinks about us.

Can I tell you all a little secret tonight? God thinks you are beautiful.

In Psalms 139:14 David says “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Listen to what David says here. “I am wonderfully made”, God created everyone of us, and He made us exactly as He wanted us.

God does not make mistakes, He put those freckles on your face for a reason, He gave you that hair color and body shape because He thought they were beautiful. Everyone of us looks different, and God wanted it that way. I think that it is our differences that make us so beautiful.

I want you to look at these flowers with me. Every flower in here is different but equally beautiful in it’s own way. If every single flower in here looked the same, it wouldn’t be quite as pretty. If they were all pink, pink would be boring and no longer unique and beautiful.

We are a lot like that, God gave us certain traits to stand out, and that is what makes us beautiful.

Now, even though we were wonderfully made, and God made us all so beautifully, the Bible tells us that outer beauty is not the most important. More importantly is the beauty that is on the inside.

1 Samuel 16:7 says "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

So even though all the jewelry and fancy clothes are fun, it should not be our focus. Our main focus should be on what we look like on the inside. What our heart looks like.

Next, let’s look at 1 Peter 3:3-4, these verses will explain a little more about what we just read.
1 Peter 3:3-4 “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.”

Now that does not mean we should not take care of ourselves and look pretty but that we should focus more on our inner self.

If God cares more about our inner beauty, then we should probably figure out what true inner beauty is, so that we can work on that. When we don’t know exactly what to do or how to be beautiful on the inside, the best thing to do, is to look in our bible, and see what God says.

The best example of inner beauty that I can think of are the fruits of the spirit. These things, tell us exactly what God wants to do.

The fruits of the spirit can be found in Galatians 5:22-23. The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.

When we act in these ways it makes our hearts soft, and our inner beauty shines right through to the outside.

That leads me to the question: How many of you have thought that someone was not so pretty, but you got to know them and they were such a kind and loving person, that they became one of the most beautiful people you know?

Now their looks didn’t change at all but their inner beauty beamed out of them. Isn’t that cool? The way we act can make us so breath-taking. Looking at all of you, I already know you are so so so beautiful, but can you imagine how much more beautiful you are when you act in these ways and your inner beauty shine through? Wow!

Now is it always easy to follow what the fruits of the spirit say to do? NO! It can be really hard. Like when we really want a piece of candy and our mom tells us that we have to wait until after dinner, is is easy to be patient? No way, I have a hard time being patient when it comes to candy but in the end that patience will pay off.

Think about all the work that was put into tonight. How much time you spent thinking of what to wear, how to do your hair, and all the time your teachers and the leaders here put into making this place look beautiful for you. A lot right?

Now God tells us that our inner beauty is more important, so all the time that was put into to the outward appearance, we should put even more time into giving our hearts a makeover.

Can you think of some ways that we can work on our inner beauty, how do we give our hearts that makeover I just mentioned? Like I said earlier, if we ever have questions on what we should or should not do, we can read our bibles. So reading our bibles is a great step in making over our hearts. We can pray for strength, and for God to help us be kind and gentle and loving. As well as the other fruits of the spirit.

Now another make-over step, that is sometimes a little harder, is listening to and obeying our parents.The bible tells us to honor our parents. Moms and dads usually know what is best for us because they watch over us and a lot of times have struggled with the same things, so listening to them is a great way to stay on track and keep our beauty shining through. I mean moms, how beautiful do your little girls look when you walk in and they are cleaning their rooms after you only asked them once?

Everyone in this room has the potential to be a hundred times more beautiful than they already are by simply following after what God’s word tells us.

Like I said earlier, each of us were wonderfully made and our outer beauty was made perfectly by God. We should take care of ourselves and our appearance, but more importantly we should focus on our inner beauty because that is what God looks at and cares about.

I want to challenge you all, to not only work on your own beauty, but to let those around you know how beautiful they are. It is easy to forget how great we really are, so it is nice to hear it from people that we care about. Can everyone here take on that challenge?

Valentines Day Recipes

Saturday's Kids Menu

Baked Croissant Sandwiches


Ingredients:
2 can refrigerated Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used Colby Jack)
1/2lb Deli Meat (I used Turkey and Ham)

• Preheat oven to 350
• Unroll dough on cookie sheet and separate into 4 rectangles; press each into a rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
• Use a heart cookie cutter
• Place deli meat and cheese onto half of your hearts
• Place remaining hearts on top
• Pinch edges to seal
• Bake for 15-19 minutes

Veggie Loaded Salad


For our side dish we chose a salad. Rhiannon loves veggies! I don't think I need to walk you through the salad making process. Ha!
We loaded ours full of cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, carrots and tomatoes.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries


Ingredients:
Strawberries
Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate chips

• Melt Both types of chocolate over low heat, stir often
• Once chocolate is melted dip half in white and half in dark
• Put the remaining melted chocolate in separate sandwich baggies.
• Cut a small hole in one corner of bag
• Drizzle the chocolates over contrasting color chocolate.

It really is that simple. Why pay a fortune for them in the store?

Hope you enjoy our kid friendly meal!

Tomorrows Menu
Bruschetta

Ingredients

• 2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 (1 pound) loaf Italian bread, cut into 1 inch slices
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, olive oil, oregano, basil and parsley. Place bread on a baking sheet
3. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until bottom of bread is browned. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

Ribeyes w/ Balsamic Glaze
Ingredients

• 2 (4 ounce) filet mignon steaks
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to taste
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup dry red wine

Directions

1. Sprinkle freshly ground pepper over both sides of each steak, and sprinkle with salt to taste.
2. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Place steaks in hot pan, and cook for 1 minute on each side, or until browned. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add balsamic vinegar and red wine. Cover, and cook for 4 minutes on each side, basting with sauce when you turn the meat over.
3. Remove steaks to two warmed plates, spoon one tablespoon of glaze over each, and serve immediately.

I top these with some caramelized onions.

We will pair this up with some yummy baked potatoes and steamed veggies. Finish off with DOUBLE chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. Yum-O

You might be able to see some pictures of our meal if you come back on Tuesday.

Who Loves You Baby?

Today, we gathered up our little fam and celebrated our love for one another with a Valentines Day Party.

It was just the four of us.

We had food. Baked Heart Croissant Sandwiches, Veggie Loaded Salad and Chocolate Covered Strawberries. Yum-O. Come back tomorrow for all of the recipes. (Ill also share recipes for mine and hubbies Vday dinner)



We had decorations.

We crowned the King and Queen of our hearts.

We played games.


And we made memories.

Our Love Story- His Version

I am so stinkin' excited to introduce you to my guest blogger today. I am even more excited to share his post with you (and to read it over and over again myself). On Friday, I shared the love story of my husband and I. You can read it here. Today, my amazing husband agreed to share his side of the story. Isn't he sweet? Here's what my man had to say...

My side of the story, huh? Nobody has ever asked my side of the story before. Maybe it’s because she tells it so much better. We guys tend to leave out the romantic, mushy stuff and skip to the good stuff; like when her car wouldn’t start and she needed me to rescue her from the school parking lot (true story). You know, the manly things that we guys are not ashamed to admit. But seeing as how this is her blog, I guess I can put down my sledgehammer and battleaxe and be sentimental for a bit.

When Kris and I first met… well which time really. There was the first time (if you could call it that), when one of our friends introduced us to each other and told us to keep shaking hands while she asked us a few questions. “I am a visitor from a distant galaxy.” She said. “How do eat on your planet?” “With our mouth,” we replied. [Still shaking hands] “And how do you walk?” she asked. “With our feet,” we answered. [Still shaking] “And how do you introduce someone on your planet?” she inquired. We looked at each other funny [Hands still shaking] and replied, “By shaking hands!” “Huh, that’s funny,” She said. “That’s how we have sex on our planet!” Quickly Kristen dropped my hand and walked away without saying a word. She never turned around but I knew her face was red.

After this embarrassing introduction it’s amazing that Kris ever spoke to me again. But she did. Our first actual conversation was on the pool deck. I was an “aqua jock,” playing water polo and she was the cheerleader that was way out of my league. She used to show up on the pool deck with her friend (the same friend who introduced us) whose brother also played water polo. I remember one time sitting down and actually talking to her thinking, “Man this girl is way too smart to be a cheerleader!” I know stereotypical, huh. I’d like to say that was the beginning of a long and wonderful relationship but that was the extent of our communication in high school. Two years of casual conversation in passing. But as Kris said in her blog, we both had a lot of maturing to do before God placed us back in each other’s lives.

We saw one another at a few get-togethers with mutual friends after high school and never really talked much than. That is until, one day while browsing through friends of friends on MySpace; I stumbled across this girl I always thought was too good for me. I thought, “Aw, what the heck. The worst thing she could do is say, ‘no! Leave me alone you wacko!’” But she didn’t she accepted my invitation to “hang out” and we have been doing so nearly every day since that one.

Sometimes I wish I would have struck up a conversation a little sooner. Maybe I could have saved myself a lot of pain. And, to really overwork the cliché, she really is my soul mate. From the first conversation we had, God has aligned our thinking. We agree on most things the first time; and the things we disagree on, well, we always work those out too. I’d like to say we are perfect in every way but that would be impossible. Instead I would say we complement each other perfectly, by filling in one another’s imperfections. And, trust me, she works overtime filling in mine.

I love you babe!

Don't you just love him? I scored! Although, maybe I shouldn't have let him blog here. He showed me up. So, let me promote him just a little bit. Ha! That sounds so wrong, after you just read our love story. I am referring to his blog. Steven has an up and coming photo business and JUST started a blog. Like, it's so new you will be one of his first followers. Go check him out Here!

Our Love Story

I first laid eyes on my hunk of a husband when I was a sophomore in highschool. He was this 6'5", gorgeous, innocent water polo player. I on the other hand was a fun loving, wants to party, cheerleader. Needless to say, we did not date at that time.

We had mutual friends and would talk on occasion. Both of us were interested in each other but just knew we were off-limits for whatever reason. I would tell my friends that I was "gonna marry that boy", we always got a good laugh out of it. He had never kissed a girl, he sure wasn't the type of guy I would typically date. I mean the boyfriend I had at the time (yes, you heard me right, I was lusting over Steven while I had a boyfriend) was what most girls in my high school called a player. Ha! Do they still use that word?

Over the next few years, God would align our paths. I say God did this because only He could know what would happen in my heart because of the casual run ins. I seen Steven a few times while I was out with this boyfriend whom I was forbidden to date. It always seemed to be when some undesirable situation was taking place, for example, a few friends and I went bowling with our boyfriends and while I was paying for my dead beat boyfriends beers, that I was not old enough to drink, there was Steven. He was there with a friend and greeted me with open arms. Always so sweet. I left there thinking "I wish I had someone like that". Only God could arrange for that, right?

Anyway, let's fast forward a couple years, get to the good stuff. While checking my MySpace inbox, I see a message from Steven Murphy. Can I just tell you that my heart skipped a beat and I may have had a panic attack... So I open the message and he is asking to get together, just to hang out. (BTW, my myspace account is still open just so I can cling on to a couple of our first chats.) The e-mail was innocent enough, so we decided to hang out right after I got back from partying it up in Havasu that weekend.

Now, when I went out with Steven, I was newly saved but still not walking the walk, I had a boyfriend and was just kind of a mess. So I go out with this boy, as friends, and have an experience that I had never had before. For once, this guy, who I hardly knew, was treating me with respect, he was interested in me and only me. We had so much fun that night that we went from dinner, to a movie, to bowling and then to InNOut because it was the only place open. We could not leave each other. When he finally dropped me off at home, I instantly called my boyfriend and broke up with him. You see, I had finally actually met and spent time with that boy I swore I was going to marry.

The next month was torture. I wanted so badly to be his girlfriend. To him, girlfriend was not taken lightly, he had only had one other girlfriend EVER. To me, we already were discussing marriage and saying we loved each other, why was it not official yet?

One month later, on Feb 8th 2005, we were boyfriend and girlfriend. Nine months after that we were engaged and in another months, we would be married. Our little life together has been crazy exciting. I am married to the man of my dreams, the boy I swore I was gonna marry. Let me end with this, I cannot wait to take him to my 10 year reunion. I will get the last laugh.

To hear his side of our love story, come back on Monday, my wonderful husband has agreed to guest post for Valentines Day.

Interview with a Toddler

Being a mom is an amazing thing. Have you ever just sat and looked at your little ones? Did you see a million things that were distinctively...You? My two year old, Rhiannon is my spitting image. Looks, personality and the goofy quirks. Yep, she is me. It is so much fun to have a little mini me. Although I love having someone just like me to hang out with, (Yeah, I hang out with my two year old, we are cool like that), it is extremely important to remember she is her own individual. She is like me but she is not me.

This morning I thought it would be fun to learn a little more about my girl. So I had an interview with Rhiannon. It was a blast. Here is what she had to say.

Hi baby, want to talk to mommies friends about yourself?: Nope
Oh, you don't? They want to get to know you though.: K
Ok, let's see where should we start?
What is your name: E-Nannon (Rhiannon)
Favorite food: Mmmm Nummy Nummy ::ssslluuurrrppp:: ahhhhh
Favorite Drink: Mm Mmmm Mmmmm
How about your favorite dessert: Nummy Nummy Coookies Iscream Mmm MMM

How about we talk about what you like to do: aiiight (She sounds like a gangster when she says alright, just so you know)

What is your favorite thing to do: Aneryn n Baylby pay (Anberlyn and Baylee play) YAY
Do they make you happy: ya smile
What else makes you smile: wit teeth
Yes Rhi, with your teeth: Happy mommy daddy broder!
What do you like to do with mommy: YES! Mwah (attacked by kisses, on my shoulder) Mommy BooBoo(boobies), broder yikes booboos mmmm nummy! (Oh man, kids say the darndest things. Maybe I should have censored this.)
What do you like to do with daddy: Daddy funny!
How about brother: Yes play broder!

What is your favorite color: Tinkabell cuder, me cuder tinkabell, MOMMY GET IT!
Do you love Tinkerbell?: Momma Shhhh E-Nannon sleeping!

So, I guess that is the end of this convo. Isn't she so much fun?

A Whole Lotta Random

I have been seeing these lists everywhere and I thought it would be fun to make one up. So, if you want to be my BFF you have to know:

1. I love Jesus. Like more than anything. Even more than cake. And Starbucks!

2. I met my Husband in Highschool.

3. We both thought the other was to good for us.

4. We re-met on Myspace. That proved we were meant for eachother. Ha!

5. As a kid, I was taller than everyone. They called me daddy long legs and made me cry.

6. My husband is 6' 5" and makes fun of me for being short.

7. I act like it bothers me but I secretly love it. Can you tell that daddy long legs thing traumatized me?

8. In 4th grade I started developing and prayed that God wouldn't make me get boobs.

9. I regret that prayer often.

10. Sometimes I say way to much.

11. Even more so, I speak to soon.

12. I regret it most of the time. Hubby gives me a hard time.

13. I let my 2 year old eat french fries.

14. That started when she was 1.

15. She eats cake too. Lots of cake.

16. I wasn't always a Christian.

17. Sometimes that unsaved girl peeks her out bad head.

18. I have a tattoo.

19. It has nothing to do with being bad. It is a cross and bible verse.

20. I want more.

21. I used to do beauty pageants. I was Little Miss Orange County.

22. I am equally proud and embarrassed about that.

23. I hate talking on the phone. I feel awkward.

24. I really want to be a clean freak.

25. I'm too lazy for that.


Umm that's all the random I can think up. Should we be BFF's now?