Life Light Weekend 2011

This past weekend Charlie and I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in the Sioux Falls/Worthing, SD area taking in the Life Light Music Festival.  We headed up to Sioux Falls and met up with Kasondra and Kelsie Friday night and enjoyed some Buffalo Wild Wings before heading out to the festival to take in some of the artists that were performing that evening.  It got a little chilly that night, but we bundled up and made the most of it.  Then on Saturday, we all slept in (over at Kansas & Danny's house) and headed out to the festival later that afternoon to take in the many other artists and speakers that were performing that day.  On Sunday my sisters and I, (True Emotion) performed on the Triple Shot Cafe Stage at 1:00 p.m.  It was great to see so many family members, friends, supporters and first time listeners come out to worship with us. Not only did we share of our ministry of music, but we also shared about our upcoming mission trip to Haiti and how we feel God's calling as a family to reach out to the Hatian community this coming January.  I look forward to Life Light weekend every year as it is a weekend to get away from work, school, and the busyness of life and take time to come together as a body of believers to worship and praise our Heavenly Father. The weekend was full of amazing artists and speakers who not only shared their personal testimony and faith journey, but also their passion through music and/or speaking. I am so thankful that I had the priveledge of growing up in a Christian home my whole life where I was learned about Jesus Christ daily and where I came to a point in my life in which I made the decision to accepted Him as my personal Lord and Savior. It is my prayer that the Lord will continue to work in the hearts and lives of those who may have been at the festival and heard about Jesus Christ for the very first time or were on edge with their faith.  I pray that they may continue to seek out individuals that can help them come to know Him more on a personal level. Even though the festival may be over, I am constantly reminded that our job as Christians to be "Disciples of Christ" is never over. We need to live each day out for Him. We need to show through our actions, our words, and our daily routines that Christ is living in us and because of Him we have a reason to believe. Jesus Christ, the true and living God died for our sins and was raised again so that we may have life eternally.
I just want to encourage you today to think of those you may have come into contact with in the past year. Are you 100% sure that they know your Heavenly Father. Have you taken the time to share Him with them?

Here are a few pictures I thought I'd share with you from our weekend away:

Taking in some of the artists at the Triple Shot Cafe Friday Night

Oh my rockin' the double chin...lol...let's try again...

Ok now we just have the chipmunk cheeks going on...no more pictures for me tonight ;)

Taking in some of the Main Stage Artists on Saturday

 Our performance at the Triple Shot Cafe on Sunday afternoon

Wild Water West

Tuesday Charlie & I enjoyed a wonderful day off with my side of the family.  Kasondra, Jeff, Charlie & I left Sioux Center at about 9:00 a.m. that morning, drove up to Sioux Falls and did some browsing at several car dealers (as we are looking for a pickup), made a stop at Scheel's for the guys to pick up some hunting items, and then met up at Wild Water West with Mom & Jamaica, Kansas, Danny, Coyer & Kedren.  The weather wasn't the greatest for a day at the water park since it was cloudy and a little breezy...but it didn't seem to phase us too much as we made the most of it.  We enjoyed taking several trips down the slides (yes including the steep scary ones), did the ropes course across the lilly pads, crocodile & logs, did a couple loops around the lazy river (while trying to avoid every possible fountain that could get us wet & cold), the guys went in the wave pool for awhile, while us girls laid out on the chairs for the 5 minutes out of the day that the sun was out, and then we hit the other side of the park to take in the bumper boats (which the guys really enjoyed soaking mom on), the batting cages, mini golf & go karts-my favorite!  Kelsie & Dad had to work until about 3 p.m. or so that day, but they made it up by about 4:00/4:30 and still got to enjoy a big chunk of the day with us.  At about 7:30 p.m., after a long day at the park, we were all starving so we headed to Kansas & Danny's house, and dad & mom treated us all with Pizza.  Kasondra, Jeff, Charlie & I stuck around for awhile after pizza just to hang out with Kansas & Danny after they laid the boys down for bed as we don't get to see them or hang out quite as often as we'd like being that they live in Sioux Falls before.  We had such a fun, relaxing, enjoyable day & made so many memories that I will never forget.  I love my family & the time that we get to spend together.  Life can get so busy sometimes as is has been this summer with concerts just about every weekend, ball games that the boys are in, and just several other things that everyone has going on in each of their own lives, so setting aside time (even if it has to be during the middle of the week) to get together was so worth it.

Take a look at the fun we had:

Charlie going down the steep slide

Myself giving the black hole (the other steep slide) a try

"after a little convincing"

Charlie tryin to knock Kansas off the logs

The boys all excited to race go karts

At the batting cages

What a kid at heart...he's so focused on the race

Bumper Boat time...

Jamaica with our niece Jorja who happened to be at the park

with her grandparents on the same day as us

Trying to teach Kedren how to bat

Pitching to the boys while the "big kids" play in the batting cages

Waiting in line to go on the go karts as a group

Do you see who is in the lead?  ;)

Softball Season Comes To A Close

Wow...I have been waiting to blog for over a week now but just haven't had a chance to get to it, nor have I had the motivation to sit at my computer besides checking my emails/facebook quick (after being on it all day at work).  But...it's finally Friday & I actually have a little time to sit down catch up before doing a second coat of paint on the walls/ceiling that I am working on leading to our upstairs.

Anyways, this past Monday marked the finish to another fun softball season for Charlie & his team.  He has been playing in a men's softball league all summer with several of his close friends.  At the start of summer they had games on either Monday nights or Wednesday nights weekly, and then when it got down to tournament time they dropped down to only having games on Monday nights.  The guys had a great season, and it was a lot of fun chatting with my sister(s) & friend Jen while watching the guys play! 

Here are a couple pictures my sisters Kasondra & I captured at their last game:

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