Putting God First

      In my own life I have noticed consequences in my day when I don't meet with God first thing in the morning.  I have realized that I need to put God first in my day.  If I don't get up and read my bible and pray and just skip over those and move on to breakfast or my chores then my day goes sour fast.  I might have a bad attitude or I might be lazy or I might just be really selfish or hurt someone's feelings. If I would have met with God first I would have been changed and ''refreshed'' by the reading of his holy word.  I also wouldn't know what God wanted me to do for that day if I didn't give him time to show me.  We need to talk to God each morning so he can show us how he wants us to live.  We should also spend some time reading his word.

      I know mornings can be very hectic for most people with school and work but it doesn't take long for you to read a Psalm or Proverb and pray to God.  Just by doing this your day will be changed dramatically.  Meeting with God and putting Him first is the right thing to do.  If you do this, you will be blessed I promise!

  The Bible says, ''But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you".  Matt. 6:3
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied".  Matt.5:6

There are also some very great devotional books you can get to work through each morning with questions to think about and answer.  You can find many of these at your neighborhood Christian book store.  I have worked through several books like this and they have really blessed me.  It's important that we give some of our time to spend with our Creator first thing each day.  

I'm Lovin It!

     My feet are killing me.  I am so tired.  My back hurts.  But I am happy!  I have a job!!!!!!  Ethan and I both have been  hired by McDonald's.  Today was our second day.  The last two days we have been getting up at 6:30am and getting to work at 8am and working until 4pm.  It has been lots of fun!  I have learned the system really fast.  All the people we work with and wait on are extremely nice.  The time flies by with McDonald's being slammed all day.  It is nice because we get a 66 % discount on our food (not that we should eat a lot of McDonald's food.  I am really liking this job way more than I thought I would!  It is also an added bonus getting to work with your best friend.  We both have been helping each other if we have questions about something at work.  McDonald's is a great place to work.......well at least the one in Ooltewah, Tennessee.  I have to go to bed now.  Got to get up early in the morning and go to work!  There are hashbrowns to drop and coffee to brew.

Ethan I in our snazzy uniforms! :)

The True Meaning of CHRISTmas

     With CHRISTmas only a few short weeks away it is easy to get caught up in the ''gifting'' part of CHRISTmas and to forget about the true reason for the season.  We tend to spend a lot of time thinking about what we are getting people and if they will like it, or what other people will be getting us.  It is easy to spend all of December thinking about the new video game system, or the new game, or the new iPhone.  If we are not careful we will find ourselves thinking about only worldly things and not godly things.

     In my opinion CHRISTmas is the most important holiday of the year.  CHRISTmas is the time for me to celebrate the birth of my Savior.  That doesn't mean we can't think about gifts or CHRISTmas trees, but we should really focus on the Christ of CHRISTmas.

     Here are some things you can do to help you remember the reason for the season:

You can read the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible (Luke chapters 1 and 2)  aloud with your family.

You can read CHRISTmas books that are about the birth of Christ.

You can celebrate Advent.  My family reads an Advent book each year and it is a great way to help us focus on Christ.

You can also make sure to play music and sing songs that are about Jesus' birth.

I have also decided to capitalize CHRIST every time I write CHRISTmas.

Here are a few fun things my family has done in the past:

We have made CHRISTmas ornaments with the names of Jesus written on them.

We have hung a stocking for Jesus and put inside things we wanted to give Him.

We had a birthday party for Jesus and all the gifts were for babies and we took them to the Crisis Pregnancy Center.

     This CHRISTmas season we should make sure that our hearts are in the right place and that we and our families realize the reason we celebrate CHRISTmas.


''For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.''
                                                               Isaiah 9:6

NACA Soccer Tournament 2012

     Ethan and I were blessed to be able to play in the NACA soccer tournament again this year.

Last year we came in 2nd in Division Two.  This year we came in 4th in Division One! (Our record was 3-2)  So this year our team played better than last year and we could have done a lot better if we would have had our whole team.  5 of our players were either hurt before the tournament or they got hurt during the tournament.  I started every game and played all of them in their entirety except one, while Ethan also got lots of playing time!

I was a little upset when the tournament was over because being a senior it was my last time to ever play soccer at Fort Bluff.  Now I just can't wait for the spring season to start!

Go Patriots!

FALL

                                                  

                                      The leaves are falling
                                      The rakes are calling.


                                                  Fall.

                                 Colder nights and pumpkin lights.

                       
                                                   Fall.

                                  Tasty Halloween treats
                                   and costumed kids in the streets.


                                                  Fall.

                                    My favorite season,
                                     for many a reason.

Tybee Island 2012

      We had never been to Tybee Island before.  We rented a beach house on the island.  We met up with my grandparents who drove down from Virginia. It took us about 6 hours to get to Tybee with all our stops, and because of some bad traffic.  When we arrived at the beach house we were all soooo excited to be there.  Our beach house was in the perfect location.  We were only a minute walk from the ocean and there were a bunch of stores also within walking distance.  I knew that this vacation was going to be great!

 Mom made GORP!

Each day we day we would take our stuff down to the beach and set up camp.

 We spent most of our time in the ocean body-surfing in the waves!

 Papaw doing what he does best!

Clare loved her first trip to the beach!

We loved playing soccer and football on the beach.

Each day when we came back to the beach house we were all exhausted!

Nicholas, Eli, and Olivia  bought hermit crabs at the beach.

So cute!

We were able to go see the lighthouse on Tybee Island which is still active today!

This is a great family shot!

God blessed us with a wonderful vacation as a family!  The weather was perfect all week, nobody got hurt, and we had some great family time.  We are definitely going back to Tybee Island next year!

The Holy Spirit Dwells in Us

     The Bible calls the Christian's body God's Temple, or the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  Temple means dwelling place.  Therefore, if we are Christians, God's Spirit lives in us.  (1Cor. 3:16, 6:19)  Our bodies are also called members of Christ.  God created us, and we are His.  If we are Christians we belong to Christ.  If we are Christians we should be the hands and feet of Jesus.  Christians should do the work of Christ here on Earth.  We should be witnessing, praying, spreading the gospel/good news and helping others.

     Since our bodies are God's temple; His dwelling place, we should keep our bodies holy.  Our bodies should be well taken care of.  One way we can take care of our bodies is to eat healthy and to exercise.  Our bodies aren't being kept holy if we are filling them with fatty foods, unhealthy junk, or if we are overeating or smoking.  We should exercise our bodies and try to stay in good physical condition.  Another area where we should take care is our personal appearance.  Our bodies aren't being kept holy if we are pierced, tattooed, or have self-inflicted wounds.  We should also keep our hair neat, teeth brushed, and nails trimmed.  We should always try to look our best and dress appropriately.

     We should keep our minds pure as well.  Our minds should be kept pure just like our bodies are to be kept holy.  Our minds aren't pure if we are filling them with the lyrics of bad music, if we are speaking bad language, or viewing pornography.  We should take extra care to make sure that our eyes don't look at anything unholy and our ears don't listen to anything unholy.  We must honor God in what we do with our hands and what we say with our mouths.

     Since the Spirit of God lives in every Christian, we should be certain that we are good stewards of our hearts, minds, and bodies.  The place where the Spirit of God dwells must be a holy place for Him to reside.

KETCHUP

I figured it was high time I catch you up on what the Moran Clan has been doing.

Playing at the park.
We love Imagination Station.  Mom calls it the Hand in Hand park and you all from Virginia know why.

Taking guitar lessons.
We now have a guitar instructor and are taking guitar lessons again.  We are so glad!

Swimming.
We enjoyed the neighborhood pool this summer and it was almost like having our very own pool - without the work!  We are almost always the only people there!

Going to AWANA.
Dad is a SPARK leader, along with Nic.  Ethan and I are TandT leaders.  Olivia is in 1st grade and she is in SPARKS and Eli is in 5th grade and is in TandT.  Mom and Clare are AWOL.

Hanging out with friends.
After a lonely first year in Chattanooga it is nice to finally have friends.

Celebrating Nic's birthday.  Nic turned 14 on September 3rd.  Mom and Dad are currently working on a plan to stop all of us from getting any older.  They talk about it all the time.

Watching football.
It's football season and at the Moran house we watch as much as we can.  We are Hokies first and foremost and also VOLS.  Our best friends are always saying, "Roll Tide" so we are a little bit of that.  Papaw B is a major WVU fan so we have a little of that running in the veins.  I guess it can be summed up by saying the Morans are football fans.

Celebrating Nic some more.
Essentially Nic had 2 parties.  One wild with friends, one tame with the family.  We picked up this multi-birthday party habit from those BFFs I mentioned earlier.  ROLL TIDE!

Reading to Clare.
If reading to a baby makes them smart than Clare will ace the SAT before kindergarten.  The 7 of us read to her all the time.  What can you do when she holds up a book to you and signs "please" with her chubby little hands?

Bringing in our garden.
Ahhh...success!  We've been able to harvest some crops.  Next year will be even better I hope.

School work.
Kids: Too much school work!
Parents:  Not enough school work!
UGH.

Being silly and having fun.
This is a long story so I will give you a brief version.  Clare likes to "dress up" with a dishtowel.

More school.
Kids:
Oh yeah, I already mentioned that.

Going to the beach.
So much fun!

That's what the Moran Clan has been up to!