African thunderstorm

You will LOVE this video. Great talent. AWESOME!!!

African Thunderstorm!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

10 'Ways to Create Margin (re-blog)

Occasionally I will post a re-blog from Ambs' pastor, Mark Batterson, lead pastor of National Community Church in DC....this is such a time. This is soooooooo important to learn and for everybody to DO! ENJOY!

One of the quantum challenges leaders face is this: as the organizations they lead start experiencing organizational growth they stop experiencing personal growth. Why? Because of the demands of the organizational growth. They start leading the organization and stop leading themselves. And that is when the blessing turns into a curse. Growth will grind to a halt. In fact, it will probably implode. You lose spiritual margin. You lose intellectual margin. You lose creative margin. And you stop growing. No Margin = No Growth.

The key to continued organizational and personal growth boils down to this: margin. You need margin to think. You need margin to play. You need margin to laugh. You need margin to dream. You need margin to have impromptu conversations. You need margin to seize unanticipated opportunities. You need margin.

One of the primary responsibilities of leaders is creating margin. It almost seems selfish. But you are doing everybody you work with a disservice if you give them everything you've got. You need margin. And it starts with time management. If you don't control your calendar, your calendar will control you.

Here are a ten ways to create margin:
1) Use all of your vacation days. You owe it to yourself and your family.
2) Protect your day off religiously.
3) Don't schedule meetings on certain days or before certain hours.
4) Delegate more responsibility.
5) Only check email during designated times during the day.
6) Get up earlier in the morning.
7) Schedule meetings with God and yourself.
8) Turn off the TV.
9) Get out of your organizational context and go to a conference.
10) Hit the gym. You don't have enough time or energy NOT to work out.

How do you create margin?

Flo's Killer Cake Recipe

I haven't baked this yet, but my co-worker (Florene Jarrett, LVN) is an AWESOME cook, and she gave me this recipe. Sounds yummy, so I wanted to share it!

FLO'S KILLER CAKE RECIPE

1 box Carrot Cake mix

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

1 can creamy coconut pecan icing (1/2 used in cake, 1/2 used in icing)

Mix cake according to box directions. Add pecans and 1/2 of the icing to this. Pour into 9x13 pan and bake according to box (may need to allow a little extra time). Cool cake completely.

FLO'S KILLER CAKE ICING

1 can creamy coconut pecan icing (1/2 used in cake, 1/2 used in icing)

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 bag powdered sugar

1/2 - 1 stick butter

Mix all above ingredients together and beat (with mixer) until creamy. Ice cake when it is cool, OR for a moister cake, you can poke warm cake with toothpick (all over) & ice when cake is warm.

ENJOY!

Good Morning!

Received this in my e-mail & wanted to share it with all of you! Have a super-blessed day & week!!!

~Nonnie

***********************************************

When I say good morning I mean to say:

G-od
O-ffers us His
O-utstanding
D-evotion to

M-ake us
O-bedient &
R-eady for a
N-ew day with Him.
I-nspire & encourage others, &
N-ever forget.....
G-od loves you!

Lion Chaser's Manifesto

I have "re-blogged" this before....but it is back by popular demand. This was written by our daughter, Ambs', pastor, Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor of National Community Church. It comes from his book, Chase the Lion. I highly recommend this book if you have never read it!

**********************************************************

THE LION CHASERS MANIFESTO

Read it. Live it.

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Grab life by the mane. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Consider the lilies. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshipping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze a new trail. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Chase the lion.

TODAY!

Saw this acronym on my FaceBook this morning & wanted to share it with you:

T = Together
O = Offering
D = Devotion
A = Acknowledging
Y = YOU!

TODAY is the day that the Lord has made.....let us rejoice & be glad in it! GO GOD!

AWESOME Wedding Vows....

This has got to be some of the most AWESOME (and romantic) wedding vows I have ever seen! Enjoy!

AWESOME WEDDING VOWS VIDEO

My All-Time Favorite Video!

This has got to be my all-time favorite video!!! ENJOY!

Nonnie's Fav Video!

God's Word says that we are to become like little children....and that they will lead us......GO GOD!

Well, here we are in the middle of the week.....it has been a great week, too! Clay had a Praise & Worship practice (& dinner) here at the house last night.....it really does something and touches my heart to see (& hear) 5 or 6 men praising God and such powerful worship! WOW! It was awesome!

I saw a video today that I wanted to share with you. Really cute!

MAN SINGING HIS PUPPIES TO SLEEP VIDEO. Enjoy!

Have a great "rest of the week"!.............I'm gonna!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

Samba Pa Ti

And another video Clay did this morning on our deck...................

SAMBA PA TI

Blessings to you all!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

Here is another video that Clay did this morning on the deck of our place here in Alto, NM!
I LOVE YOU LORD . Enjoy!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

Good Morning everybody!

Good morning, everybody! Great weekend this weekend in Alto, NM. Today is my hubby's birthday....so sending a "shout out" to him to wish him a "Happy Birthday!" He has had a friend from West Texas come visit him here in Alto the last two mornings, and they sipped coffee together on the deck and visited.....nice!
Here is a video Clay shot from our deck yesterday....ENJOY!
Our 24 year old daughter, Amber, is in the Mediterrean somewhere as I type this between southern Italy & southern France, on a private yacht, sailing with co-workers (a job-related, week-long cruise). The sailor is a sailing Olympic gold medal winner from Australia. Hopefully when she gets back there will be pictures to share!

Have a super-blessed day today and enjoy the remainder of the weekend!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

Awaiting Seed

Hey everybody!
We had a realy AWESOME presentation last night at our church from a Christian brother who happens to be a landscape architect. Our church has purchase 17. acres of land to build a new church/activity building/lake/recreation areas/sabbatical area.....etc..... but something that he said during that presentation has kept coming back to me over and over......something that has great spiritual concepts to it. We were talking about the landscaping.....and he was discussing bringing in "natural grasses" into the area, & not "fighting" against the land with something that would not really be "native" to the area......FIRST thing here.....how much time....both in thoughts and actions.....do we spend trying to be something and plant ourselves somewhere that we are NOT or not meant to be at? Hmmm.......think on that one a while & allow Holy Spirit to bring God's Truth to you on that one.....but here is the "kicker" I was talking about.....he said, "There are many, many 'seeds' out there on that land, with a little mowing , that many of these "grasses" are already out there. We need to position ourselves in such a way through this life that we get "stirred up" (sometimes even mowed down) that it cultivates all those seeds that have been planted in our life throughout our lifetime.....things that have lain dormant for far too long. They are waiting on US to allow them to be cultivated......or they can just remain dormant......the choice is up to us.
I CHALLENGE each of you to allow the mowing and cultivating to begin.......go to places where you can get "watered" and "fertilized"........I double-dog dare you! You will NOT be disappointed, and it will not only benefit you but soooooooooooo many others! GO GOD!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

Good morning everybody! Happy Tuesday!!!
Hope this finds everyone doing well.....but even if you aren't.....BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD! Wanted to share a video with you that Michael James Murphy's team at Central Church in Las Vegas put together.....great video. Enjoy!
BLESSED BE THE NAME VIDEO LINK

Have a super-blessed day....and don't forget.......no matter what is going on.....
Blessed be the Name of the LORD!

God's love & mine,
Nonnie
aka Lauren

Lessons Learned from Noah's Ark...

Here some lessons we can ALL learn from Noah's Ark (this has been on e-mail for quite some time now.....Author Unknown):

Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark .

One : Don't miss the boat.

Two : Remember that we are all in the same boat.

Three : Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

Four : Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

Five : Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

Six : Build your future on high ground.

Seven : For safety sake, travel in pairs.

Eight : Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

Nine : When you're stressed, float a while.

Ten : Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

Eleven: No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting.

Have a super-blessed everybody....remember, 99% of the battle is our mindsets & attitudes......possess a CAN-DO attitude this week......it WILL make a difference!

Smile!

God's love & mine,

Nonnie

aka Lauren