Happy Sweet 16 Libs! Your mom loves you!!

My Dearest sweetest Libby,

One of the greatest honors of my lifetime is being your mom. Who would have known that 22 years ago, the doctors would have told me that I had a 2% chance of ever having a baby.... 6 years before you born, your daddy and I tried and tried, prayed and prayed, but no answer came from God.... not for 6 long years....But we had faith...we believed that God would answer our prayers...and He did....Elizabeth Faith Neu was born to 2 of the happiest people on this earth 16 years ago.... I think of all the days in my life, giving birth to you was one of the most memorable. I remember asking your daddy if you really came out of me! I could not believe that God had really answered our prayers! Tears still come to my eyes when I remember God's kindness to us on that day and every day since then ......

Your name means consecrated to God and I can attest as your mother that I have seen this walked out in your life. Libby, you are the greatest example I know of a godly woman. I don't think I will ever stop learning from you. I want to take some time to honor you tonite....

You excel at all these areas: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, gentleness and self control. All of these areas are walked out in your daily life. You are so kind, quick to forgive, always believing the best about others, quick to bring your sin to light...seek God every morning, you take great joy in your relationships, you are very self controlled, always striving to be more godly....You honor your father and mother...you are such an encouragement....always telling us things that we do right....I often think - I wish I could be more like you! You Libby, are my hero!

I love it when you seek me out to share a struggle that you are having. You so want to please God in your thoughts and actions....You will never know how much I admire you and am so humbled to be your mother...I know that there is no credit to be had...You are a true gift from God....One that I know I could never deserve...but that I am extremely grateful for.....

Thank-you for your diligence to be a godly young woman, for your desire to be a blessing to your parents, for your sweet spirit to be a peacemaker, for your humility to share your sin and confess it quickly, for your humility in all areas of yor life...for denying your flesh when, at your age, self wants to rule...Thank-you for fighting for righteousness..

I love you and am soooooo grateful that God blessed me and your daddy 16 years ago and gave us you! Happy Birthday sweet Libby Lu!

love,

your mommy.....

Happy 16th Birthday Libby!!!! A message from your dad....

A tribute to my little girl who is growing up so fast.
It seemed like just yesterday when you first learned to walk and talk and ride a bike and now you are learning to drive a car. Yikes.
Where have all the years gone? It has been my utter pleasure and priviledge to watch you grow into one of the most godly people I know. It makes my heart glad every time I walk past your room and you are listening to a book on cd like the Elsie Dinsmore series, or the Narnia series, or the Bible on cd, or a teaching message by men like CJ, Mike Bulmore, John Piper, etc. God has been so gracious to us to allow us the opportunity to pour into your life early on and now you encourage me and bless me and humble me with your love for your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. You have been blessed with such a creative imagination. Such a passion for the Lord. Such a willingness to serve in any way you can.
some of my most memorable times with you have been playing games with you throughout the years...
pretty pretty princess, herd your horses, battleship, chess, backgammon, and endless card games...
its been great watching you grow into a fine young lady learning english country dancing, singing lessons,
guitar lessons, now driving lessons. We've had a blast playing soccer together, wrestling around the house,
and geo-caching together.
It doesn't really matter what we do together, I just thoroughly enjoy every minute with my wonderful precious
daughter. I never thought that after trying for 6 years to have children that God would bless us with such a
one as Libby. I couldn't have asked for anyone better. She is so much like her mother in so many ways. Thats a wonderful thing.
I just want to end by saying that Libby, I am so proud of you and the godly young woman you are. You are light years ahead of me when I was 16. I can't imagine what my life would have been like without you being a part of it.
Thank you for loving God ahead of everything. You are truly an inspiration to me.
I Love You!!!
Your Daddy

A blog award :)

Thanks Heidi! I have never had a blog award before! Heidi is a gifted writer and I love checking our her blog. She is definately the one who deserves this award that was graciously bestowed upon her!

Heidi you are a sweet friend, one that I would love to get to know more!

Thanks for this award and I would like to pass it on to Alyssa at Resolved2Worship....She also is a very gifted writer and a great photographer! I enjoy reading her blog regularly as well.... and I could give this to many more....but lots of you have got an award too which is so neat!


5 things I am addicted to are what I am to add....oh geesh! ok, well....let's see...

1. Growing in Godliness-I want to grow and change and I seem to be always working on something to do that. I think about it constantly and although in somethings change has not happened, by pursuing it regularly, I am at peace that God's timing is different than mine :)

2. Lists....I am constantly making lists and checking things off. I don't know what I would do without lists! I will never be without one and usually have 3 or 4 going at the same time...

3.Calendering...I have to have things wrote on the calendar. Buying a new calendar gives me immense pleasure! I actually get giddy! I love seeing my life in the days ahead and wonder what God has in store....yes....I am a dork.... but I love it!

4. Caffeine Free Diet Coke....I love it and sometimes drink a few in one day! I have had to cut so much out since I found out I am allergic to wheat and gluten, that this is a treat when many other things are off limits!

5. Recipes....I love them..I must have thousands...I have not cooked them all, but I love having them. This is an area that I plan on addressing in the new year...I am seeking to be paper-clutter free and my mission will be to reduce our paper load! but if you saw my recipe collection...look out!! It is scary!

ok, that's my sinful vices in a nutshell...... More blogging to come this week as my baby girl is turning 16 and I want to pay a tribute to her! I cant believe I will be a mom to a 16 year old!!! oh my gosh!!

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party!

Every year we try to do something special as a family around Christmas time. This year Ms. Dianne got to come with us! (since she is my adopted Aunt- smile with glee-).

Magic Kingdom was so beautifull! One of my highlights is they handed out complimentry hot chocolate and cookies, and they gave me and my Mom gluten free cookies! We were so excited and they tasted better then the sugar cookies! So every time we passed a place that we could get some, we asked for "four gluten free cookies please", so we came home with a lot of cookies that we could eat!

The Castle was so beautiful with all the lights on it changing colors. It was neat to see Tinkerbell zip down the line and she was real person! We got right on the rides and barely had to wait. It was a wonderful night to remember!

We will definately be doing this again as my whole family said what a great time it was!

Thank-you-Mom and Dad!

Care Group Christmas...Stir Crazy Style.....

Well...we had our Care Group Christmas Party last Sunday and it was a blast! We did a Stir Crazy Party where we had 3 teams and they competed against each other by cooking an appetizer, a side dish and a main dish...all without recipes! The dishes were all judged by everyone there and the winning team won a Prize. Team 1 won this competition by a very creative dish-filling bread with a rice and egg stir fry! It was so much fun and everyone participated and enjoyed eating all the creations for dinner! We ended with a white elephant and full tummies! What a wonderful evening! Next year, maybe we will try mexican crazy..... ~smile~

Thanks groupies for being team players and making the evening a night to remember! We love you guys!!

Can you say...Can?

And can is just what we did! some yummy stuff! Krista, Praise and I ventured into the domestic world and canned the old fashioned way! We had a blast and I must say, many hands made very light work.....
Our feet were tired, our backs were sore....but what a harvest we produced! Thanks girls for hanging out! Us younger women have to stick together you know!....Take a peek for yourselves......Next time though, I will peel 20 more cloves of garlic just to be safe ~wink~