a Blog for my "ROGERS" FAMILY:)

    It's that time of the year again and we've been doing this for as long as I can remember and it never gets old.  But, I think this year it may be a little bit different because not as many people are coming and my heart is breaking! && I'm missing everyone that couldn't come.

    I pray this NEVER happens again because this SERIOUSLY is the BEST time of the year. 

  YES! It beats Christmas and 4th of July! and that's saying a lot because those are my TWO FAVORITE HOLIDAYS! But there is nothing like this... and that is:

The ROGERS FAMILY REUNION

  

FACTS:

• This is my mom's side of the family. 
• She has a BIG family.     
• 12 siblings. 
• 13 kids including her.
• My grandma was pregnant 9.75 years of her life. 
• I have A LOT of cousins. 
• I stop counting after 40. 
• Our family is still growing. 

---------------------------------------------

I'm blessed to know my family. To know my cousins and to have that many cousins. 

I admire my aunts&uncles&cousins for always making an effort to bring their family to the reunions. (this year some of you are going be in trouble for not coming...but we will talk later) :)

 Things I love.

• The Humid/Hot weather everyone puts up with when coming to Iowa. 
• The green grass that my cousins from the "dry states" can admire. 
•  The bonfires. 
• The sound of my aunt's singing.
• The SAME memories we reminisce about every year.
• The NEW memories we make every year. 
• The talent shows we have. 
• The canoe trips down the river.
• The late night talks.
• Our night games ----> CAPTURE the FLAG!
• The fact that we are in our 20's & 30's and still play night games.
• The bond between us. How you can go months without talking..& then pick up where you left off.

 

*I APOLOGIZE for the photo's below. Some are really blurry. But its mainly just to give you an IDEA of what some things are like:) && to my family that read this- I'm sorry if you are not in any of the pictures. I only could find a couple that would work! But know that I love you SO MUCH!

My Grandma Rogers. The Lady who started it all =)

My Mom with all her siblings&mom at my Aunt Ann's wedding in 1995

             

My girl cousins JAMMED into Brook's room (some not pictured)...doing hair & watching Anne of Green Gables!

*this is what I meant by blurry!* 

Not everyone is in this photo..& we have added quite a few since then:)

My Grandma and her children

a "few" of my COUSINS =)

*The Next 3 pictures below are of some of my cousins!

                                                                               

                                                                              

<3

Well, this is all I have for now. I will be blogging this next week about this weekend's

2011 ROGERS FAMILY REUNION!

I Wish all of you that couldn't make it were here with us RIGHT NOW!

 I love you & I'm so proud to be apart of your family.<3

P.S. you ALL better COME NEXT YEAR...No EXCUSES! ;)

Refreshing comes from the presence of the Lord.

     Some days I look at my white legs and think "I need to get in sun and get a tan!" So, I go outside and as I  SOAK up the sun, I think " I'm GONNA HAVE A TAN!"  It's lame..but that's just how it goes:)

 Some days I look at my life {the things inside me that aren't pretty} and I know I need to get in the presence of God. So, I turn on my worship music, and begin to cry out to God..I pray that He will do work in me. That I will be changed and that the un-LOVELY things that are in my life, will be dealt with.

Just like me soaking up the sun to get a tan does work, so does soaking in the presence of God to be changed & to grow closer to Him.

So many times we view God as this FAR OFF GOD- and we haven't experienced the LOVE He has for us. or the Power He has. We don't trust Him with our lives. or have too much of ourselves to surrender to him ----> {pride}.  We just live a life of religion where we just wanna go through the motion's but don't want to change. If you want change...you need a RELATIONSHIP with God.

So I ENCOURAGE you --> Get to God....Put on some praise&worship music. Pray. Seek Him. Read your Bible. He will take you as you are and you never have to be the SAME- He CHANGES lives...He Changed Me. . <3

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." Acts 3:19

Surrounded by LOVELY things!

                                  WELCOME TO IOWA!!!! :)

     I have lived here for 22 years. That's MY WHOLE LIFE! and I've traveled a lot of places and seen amazing things. But like Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz- " there's no place like home"


    I've heard time after time people complain about Iowa. How Iowa has NOTHING. and..." it's so boring to drive through because all they have there are corn fields"  and in most of our small towns we don't have stores that stay open past 9pm. & the closest Starbucks to us is 45 minutes away....and the list goes on....

    When you grow up in a small town Iowa- you learn to appreciate the small things! We always look forward to going to a BIG city for the day to enjoy shopping..and to get Starbucks coffee! What a TREAT:)

    In IOWA- our summer "breath taking" view is the STARS at night. We can lay out on the road and star gaze!..One night I counted 33 shooting stars!...it was so BEAUTIFUL!

    We have lightning bugs (Fireflies)....they go out in fields..(THOUSANDS of them) and they light up..OFF and ON.. OFF and ON....its all sparkly and looks like glitter! I LOVE GLITTER! 

      Just today I was driving looking at my view......of course it was-->  CORN FIELDS.... and they NEVER get old to me..perfectly lined up. All the trees, grass, corn, beans, & field land are a CRISP GREEN.. and to go with the green we have the blue sky with- WHITE fluffy clouds.

  Its all so beautiful to me.  and I'm always shocked when people think its not, or they say its boring.-->They haven't been paying attention to what we have here...its a form of Simplicity. We don't need tall buildings, Starbucks, Taxi's, Designer Clothes, Celebrities, Mountains, 10,000 lakes ;), Oceans, and so on..

 We have all we need here-& when we want all those other things...we will travel! (just like all you city folk will travel here when you want to get away from the busy "city life" :) 

 NOW! Don't get me wrong...I do love Cities... and I know they have special things about them... But this is my homeland...and while I'm here living I will enjoy the small things & take pride in them!



    Here are some pictures of my home.. and what I'm surrounded by daily. . . . 

     the mail box.

 

Vines that are growing onto our drive way.

     the side view of my home-

Our pond across the road <3

     another view

                              

Pond #2- The pond behind our house. I love the dock & weeping willow!

     One of my dad's gardens...

        a cute little shed that has been a recent addition this past year:)

    IN FRONT of our house.. we have a corn field- it fits PERFECT:)


  I encourage you today as you are out and about to notice your surroundings and to find the beauty in them. Look for the simplicity and take in all that God gave us to enjoy!





Living Lovely in Iowa,
Brittany

Here's my life, Lord...Consume me!

A few months back during morning prayer for Master's.... a question was laid upon my heart "What if we were ALL consumed with God?"...

what does CONSUME mean?  

	to engross or obsess
	to use up; expend:

This hit me so hard and became such a burden to me. . I had to just sit down and ponder this question and the potential it held and as I began to think about this,  I was overcome with weeping..because how many times do we come to this spot where we want to be this way.....where we desire to give God all that we have?...we want to walk in holiness....but then we SO EASILY go the other way and give into what Satan puts in front of us.

 When I read  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind"......It was so easy for me to think "I went to Master's and gave up 9 months of my life just to pursue after God. OF COURSE I LOVE HIM WITH ALL MY HEART!".... I can tell myself that.. but how is my life really looking?  I need to daily ask God...."what is apart of me that is taking your place? and HE IS FAITHFUL to show us...He continues to bring things to the surface that are in my life and I am like.. WHAT?! that's still apart of me? yep..there are so many things that are so easily apart of us and we go day by day living with these things and not knowing that we are easily consumed by them. 

So many times we just want to be the comfortable Christian...who loves God with "ALL" their heart.. but in all reality....our sin says otherwise.

As we were made in the image of God, we were also made in the likeness of His character. The Lord said, "Be holy, as I am holy". "Be imitators of God". "... For God is love and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God". God does not merely want us to be casual observers of his character but partakers. He desires for us to be consumed by Him. He wants ALL of us!...He wants our HEART! He wants our LOVE.

 As much as I want to say that I'm Consumed with ALL of God... I'm far from it.. and here I am..on a journey..because I do long to be consumed with Him. and I want to encourage you to join me:).. JUST THINK- What if we were ALL consumed with God? What would our lives look like? what would our church look like? what would our community look like?...what would our Nation look like? and what about our world. :)

New blog design which means....A WHOLE NEW BLOG! :)

BLUHM  /blum/ Show Spelled[bloom]

–noun

1. the flower of a plant.

–verb (used without object)

15.to produce or yield blossoms.

16. to flourish or thrive: a recurrent fad that blooms from time to time.

17. to be in or achieve a state of healthful beauty

Bluhm (BLOOM) WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED!

Okay!....I Love my last name..its so pretty...and I love pretty things:) I sometimes think about when I have to change my last name.. and it just makes me so sad! My goal....To marry a guy with an AMAZING last name.  Of course thats not all I will be looking for in a guy.... but it helps:) I do know I dont want to have "B" for a last name. "BB"....or lets use my middle name..."BMB"... big mouth Brittany....or Brittany's mouths big. but.. I just want God's will.. So, I will stop being fussy.

Now that we have that covered... My blog will be on the things listed above above: Pretty things, people, life, hair, crafts, humor, anything and everything that's lovely!


Obvious reasons to why I picked these topics..
#1 Pretty things- I'm obsessed with anything pretty. Examples of what I find pretty. 
I LOVE LOVE LOVE vintage antiques, glitter, flowers, clouds, stars, bright colors, jewelry, headbands, wedding dresses, weddings in general, fabric, a great hair color&cut...or updo! and my list goes on:)....

 

                                                   
#2 PEOPLE- I will be featuring people either weekly..or a couple times a month. We will see where it takes us:)


#3 LIFE-  God is the biggest part of my life....So EXPECT to hear about Him:)..because I LOVE to talk about Him. and all the WONDERFUL things He has done in my life....:) I will share experiences..and just AWESOME things about this life we live:)

#4 HAIR-  You may not know this.. but I'm a hair stylist... yes, I know.. sometimes my hair is a wreck, and I am sure you are thinking.." SHE IS A HAIR STYLISTS?!".. yes! It's true! I went to school for it. It was a passion of mine for sometime & I LOVE the artsy side of it... you can be SO CREATIVE and really just be YOU. I learned while in school you didn't have to follow the rules exactly..throw "you" into it. DARE TO BE DIFFERENT:)...so I took my own approach :) I still enjoy doing hair & I LOVE MY CLIENTS!.... I've learned a lot from it!


#5 CRAFTS- I have already talked about being artsy and creative but, I will expand on this... My mom is so CRAFTY! She is AMAZING at any crafty/creative thing you put in front of her. I LOVE having a mom like this & I'm so thankful she gave me a little of her crafty side:)...I hope to be doing A LOT this summer with crafts...& expanding my talent:)..and I will be pulling my mom into it. We already are booked for an ART SHOW in the fall!! So excited! :)
  
#6 HUMOR- I LOVE to laugh. I love to joke. I love to make people laugh!..I hate when a moment gets really intense (bad situation....car problems, fights, someone is hurt...etc)  so, I will say something to make people laugh... is it always appropriate? No...But...we need to have comic relief somehow. :)
  
#7 Anything&Everything that's Lovely- weddings, babies, Jesus, love, laughter, pictures, family, friends, places, art, and if I get to know you.....YOU! :).....etc.


    Well this is the end....But, I promise to be on here A LOT more & fill you in on all these topics!! :) I'm
SO EXCITED!!!!

..My Own Strength Always Fails..

..A few weeks ago while still in the full swing of Master's...I was aware it would be coming to an end and summer would begin...and to most people they are excited for that "freedom". . No curfew, no covenant, no director or leader keeping you accountable, basically you get to do anything you want and not be in that "SAFE BUBBLE"....and I started to PANIC! Mainly because when I graduated from High School (having been there k-12)...I went into the "real world" and thats when I was removed from my bubble...I could do what I wanted and not have all the "rules"....it was like CULTURE SHOCK!...I was not prepared and grounded in Christ..I wanted to do what I wanted...and that was my downward spiral of not living for God...and experiencing the things of the world. . it ended up being the MOST MISERABLE time in my life. . .

  - -So here I am in Master's......In a BUBBLE again!...  I ENJOY this bubble and knowing it was coming to an end I started to feel uneasy about it and started doubting all the WONDERFUL things God had done in my life this year...everyday that graduation grew near..I had doubt rising in me...and faced the question "What if I fail?"....and that's when I just got before God..and cried out to him.. and through that process...He comforted me. and spoke such life to me. . .why was I doubting?... It was because satan hides in the shadow of MY STRENGTH and he LOVES when he catches me off gaurd and I fall on my face and buy into his lies..

  To be honest-I'm not at all confident in myself this summer. . I can't say that I wont mess up...But, I can say that I'm CONFIDENT in MY GOD. and that He wont let me go, and through HIS STRENGTH I will overcome my flesh.....and depend on God, when my weakness is in God, it becomes strength...not by me..but by God!

I pray for an INTENSE summer and that I will grow more these 3 months than I did in my 9 months of Master's. and I CHALLENGE each of you to lay down all your strength at the feet of Jesus. He can do so much more with it than we can....

How I got here---> My Master's Commission Journey.

 The summer going into my senior year (2006) I went to youth conference in Kansas City, Although satan did everything he could to have me stay home...he told me lies and gave excuses why I shouldnt go. Of course, I believed them. .ohhhhhhh- But we serve a MIGHTY God...and He allowed me to go. :) That week I had an experience that I never had... I felt the LOVE of God. (Growing up in a christian home.. I knew Jesus loved me.. and I loved Jesus.. but until that moment I never had felt it because I didn't allow Him to)  Also- God spoke to me..SO PLAINLY-.and I KNEW I was to go to MASTER'S COMMISSION.

 In life...we have many "ME" moments...(satan is tricky) and I let those moments over take me.. before long I was doing what I wanted and my senior year that I had "given to God" - I took back for myself. and I tried to be all spiritual with the "I only wanna do God's will" or justify what I was doing or gonna do...with "I still love Jesus and it doesn't matter what I do, As long as I'm happy." 

-----> The next 2 years of my life turned into the most MISERABLE. .. I did things I said I never would...and I lived two lives.  1. a life that was walking toward Hell...& 2. a Life that was FAKE. . . . ---> YEP! I KNOW- what a AWESOME way to live!...SO PROMISING. :/.... (sarcasm)

So- after doing my OWN thing.. & following my OWN will and  living a life with no PEACE or Joy...God got ahold of me..& He began to draw my heart back to Him . and I knew God was calling me to something... But I had no idea it would be MASTER'S COMMISSION again......my first thought was..
" that was over 3 years ago.. I'm almost 22...I cant start a first year of masters commission."... But I did:) when I said "YES" to masters commission... I felt PEACE. and I will NEVER forget the first day of master's....standing in the sanctuary CRYING because for the first time..I KNEW with ALL MY HEART that I was in GOD's WILL.


 The biggest Change I experienced:

    The beginning of the year.. I knew I wanted to go "deeper" with God. . and a few weeks into it I felt  like there was something keeping me from going deeper....My daily prayer was- " God, Remove the sinful things that keep me from you"...and He answered them.... EVERYDAY God was cutting something out of me... whether it be Jealously, UN-forgivness, Bitterness, Gossip....etc. the list goes on... I know I shouldn't be amazed what comes out.. but I am... Because our flesh  wants to hold onto these "little" sins that are really BIG...& we can get so wrapped up in them..And we can never experience God the way He intended us to.  ----So I let him cut... and sometimes it was SO HARD...and I would cry because of how sinful I really was!...I learned so much about me....and it wasn't PRETTY!.....

IT'S BEEN AMAZING! 

Through out the year.. I had so many AMAZING experiences with My GOD-  Being Freed from the lies of Satan....Renewed in many ways... the overcoming of insecurities....and the list goes on...

My Experience of Masters Commission was so wonderful.. and I thank God that He opened the door again for me to go....:)

I'm Sure I will do individual lesson's God has taught me throughout this year....:) You just wait!! <3