Yours Truly...

Family Photo Time...

2015-07-03T21:21:00.000-05:00

7 months!

2015-06-04T12:20:00.000-05:00

Kelty Jo is 7 months today! My O my how she has grown and changed! In this month she has really taken to her solid foods. Her favorites are probably the fruits but she really likes chicken and brown rice too. She is one strong willed little girl and she will definitely let you know when she is not happy! As I write she is laying next to me crying because she wants to be held. LOL. She is doing great sleeping through the night, giving mommy and daddy a much needed break in the early a.m. hours. She is rolling all over and uses it as her mode of transportation for the time being. 85% of the time she is a super happy baby girl, laughing and giggling at daddy, snuggling with mommy and just figuring life out!

Kelty Joan 6 months!

2015-05-03T15:13:00.002-05:00

Our girl is growing so fast! Half a year old already, we love her so much!!!

Kelty Joan 4 months old!

2015-03-04T16:56:00.002-06:00

Our sweet girl is growing so big! We love her so much! At four months she is working on sitting up all by herself and rolling over. She has her hands in her mouth all the time! She love grabbing things and shaking her rattle. She loves her naps and will definitely let you know if she needs one by fussing it up quite a bit! These are for you Dorth, hope you enjoy!!

Girl's Weekend!

2015-01-24T17:24:00.000-06:00

My best friend Katie and her little girl Nita came to visit while Brett was out of town for the weekend! We had such a fun time hanging out and getting to see our two little girls together! It will be so fun to see the girls grow throughout the years. Below are a few photos of the girls in their matching outfits :)

2014-11-12T10:45:00.002-06:00

So excited for our girl to finally be here!

My best friend Katie and her Mom Marsha arrived right before we were about to begin pushing and we were able to pray and visit for a minute. So thankful for both of them!

After just a couple pushes our little girl was born! So thankful!

We love our doctor and nurse so much! We prayed for months that both of these women would be the ones to deliver and they both were there!!

Proud Papa!!

We love looking at her <3

Kelty's Birth...

2014-11-12T10:24:00.002-06:00

So to anyone interested in how to birth of our sweet girl went I am compiling the highlights here. Those of you who know me know that we prepared and studied and had a very specific plan for how we were hoping labor would go. All along knowing that whatever the Lord has planned is perfect and I wanted to submit to His plan regardless of it was not what we were planning and praying for.

Sunday Night (Nov 2)

- contractions started at 9pm (assumed it was nothing and went to sleep)

Monday morning (nov 3)

- woke from contractions around 1am

- water broke at 1:50

- contractions became a little stronger and I woke Brett to go to the hospital around 2:30.

- got to hospital at 3:30, they were unable to determine if water was broken and sent us home at 6:30.

- water cont. to come out in intervals

- dr apt at 12:30 and she confirmed that it was my water that was broken. She agreed to let me labor on my own without any medical intervention until 2am. I thought for sure she would be born by then so we agreed to be put on pitocin at 2am if she was not born yet.

- Brett and I ate "last supper" before being admitted to the hospital

- contractions had cont. to strengthen all throughout the morning and day

- admitted into hospital at 4 pm

- one cm dilated and 50% effaced. Had been that for over a week.

- labored all afternoon and late into the night with no progress. Had been awake for over 24 hours now.

- November 4th no progress still 1 cm. Pitocin was started at 2am

- contractions got stronger and closer together.

-checked again at 8am. 3 cm. a little discouraging but contraction were still manageable. Painful but manageable.

- Pitocin was increased at this time

- contractions became incredibly close and high intensity pain quickly after. Had to literally "labor" and work through each one

- 11 am checked again. 4 cm

- afterward the contractions became unbearable and I thought for sure I was dilated a lot. About 2 min apart. Vocally and rhymically have to move through each one. Becoming increasingly exhausted with each one and losing heart as to how much longer I could do this.

- checked again at 12 pm. Needed some good news. Needed to be at least an 8 in my mind. I was only a 5cm.

- broke down hard. Sobbing uncontrollably. Had nothing left in me to keep going. No way in my mind was I going to be able to go on. I could not function at all and each contraction was the worst pain of my life and I was not progressing like I should it had now been over 34 hours of labor and time since my water had broken.

- Brett got everyone out of the room and he and I worked through it for a minute. He encouraged me and was such help to me in this moment. The worst physical pain of my life and I could not emotionally or mentally go on. He was everything I needed to hear in that moment. We prayed for the Lord to provide a way of relief. I decided I wanted the epidural. ( something i avidly did not want pre labor)

- our amazing nurse came in and helped us and encouraged us through that decision.

- about 30 minutes later the epidural was in and relief was quick to follow.

- we were thanking God for modern medicine at this time and saw the epidural as an answered prayer to the relief we begged for.

-3 pm checked again. No progress, still 5cm. Dr was encouraging and was not ready to give up but did inform us if there was no progress the next time we checked we would probably have to move toward a C- section.

- I was so thankful to not be in horrendous pain anymore and honestly just wanted her here. I absolutely did not want a C-section but I had surrendered my plans to the Lords and was willing and ready for whatever he wanted for Keltys birth. Mentally I was thinking we are going to have a C-section and I was ok with that trusting that if that was the case then the Lord had a good reason for that and that it would be for mine and her good. Very at peace with that. However we kept praying that I would progress and we had many friends praying the same thing at this time.

-5pm checked again 9cm!! And just about ready to start pushing!

-By 5:30 it was all systems go. Pushed once with the nurse and she was crowning. Waited on Dr to arrive. -Pushed through 2 more contractions and our baby girl was born!! Slid right out!!! When she was ready to come she was ready!!

Kelty Joan Sampayo Barton was born at 5:51 pm November 4, 2014. Weighing 7 pounds 5oz, 20 inches long

We are so thankful to the lord for a safe and healthy delivery and baby girl which is what we prayed for all along. Learned many lessons through out the whole 44 hour labor. Thankful to God for his plan and trust it to be better than any we could ever come up with! The word Labor really took on a whole new meaning to me through this birth experience. So many emotions ran through me during this process. So many thoughts of the Lord and the light momentary affliction that we face on this earth compared to the excruciating pain that He felt when the sin of man was poured out on Him for our behalf. So thankful for the Gospel and what that means to me personally.

The Morris Family!

2014-10-24T20:53:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday to my Dear Friend!

2014-08-31T16:47:00.001-05:00

Aim, below are a few of my favorite shots! Love you so much and Happy Birthday!!

Reid Charles

2014-08-11T19:39:00.000-05:00

I had the amazing privilege to witness and photograph my first birth today!! What a joy being a part of Reid's big day coming into the world! Below are a few of my favorites from today for the Lavender's to enjoy!

Holbrook's Sneak Peak

2014-08-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

New Etsy Merchandise!!

2013-08-30T12:13:00.003-05:00

I have taken about a year off from making items for my etsy store, and the time has come for some new inventory. If you have any babies in your life check out my new items and be sure to check back often as this is just the first wave of new merchandise for the store and more is to come soon!!

Check out my Etsy store here!!

Global Staff Conference....

2013-08-01T14:40:00.000-05:00

Brett and I are just returning home from another 3 weeks in Orlando, FL. The first week we were so blessed to be apart of such an encouraging week...the first ever Global Staff Conference. Where CO staff from all over the world joined together for one week to grow in our vision and relationship with the Lord. E-mail update to come with more details of the GSC and finishing out Orlando Project '13.

To check out the website and listen to any of the talks from John Piper or Matt Chandler click here. Also on the link is a little recap video. Check it out and be encouraged, the Lord is doing more than we could ever ask or imagine in the world through the ministry of Campus Outreach!!

Jordan, Bree & Kord...

2013-06-16T13:43:00.003-05:00

If you fear... read here

2013-06-12T14:43:00.004-05:00

The word fear is found over 435 times in scripture. There are countless Godly resources that can be found on the topic, this brief article is my attempt to tackle the topic of fear. I cannot think of a more frequented topic for women than that of fear, which in my opinion stems from two things: too small fear of the Lord and the need to control; to control our lives, our surroundings, our loved ones. We too often think that we know better than God and sit in anxiety of what He may be bringing, fearing not being able to handle all that He brings. More than any other resource, obviously we should look to His word. Below are a few scriptures (many of which may be familiar, but I pray that they will fall on fresh ears) that I have found comfort in, as I along with you am praying to never again allow fear to take a hold in my life.

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Exodus 20:20Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”

Deuteronomy 3:22 You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’

Deuteronomy 6:13 It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.

Deuteronomy 8:6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.

Deuteronomy 13:4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Deuteronomy 31:6,8 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. ”He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 25:14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant.

Psalm 86:11 Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.

Psalm 103:10-12 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

Psalm 118:5-7 Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord is on my side as my helper;

Proverbs 9:10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Isaiah 41:13 For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Isaiah 44:7-9 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 8 Fear not, nor be afraid;have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”

Jeremiah 5:21-24 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. Do you not fear me? declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season  the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.

Luke 12:4-6 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Romans 8:14-16 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

2 Timothy 1:6-7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Hebrews 13:6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.

Psalm 127:2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,“Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Jeremiah 17:7-9 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew 6:25-34 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Luke 10: 38-42 38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Philippians 4:5-7 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I pray that some of the verses above you will commit to memory and use as a weapon against the evil one; the father of lies, who feeds us many fears. O, Lord may we be women who believe truth, who run from lies and at all times combat them with the truth, I pray for you my sisters that you would choose to believe truth. God is for you! No more is that displayed than in the suffering and death of his son. He has bought you with the blood of his precious son. Would you not see that He wants good for you in all things, in your trials and in your suffering. They are not to be feared. Our lives were not given to us to control them and to try and make them as easy as possible. If we are in Christ, we have been crucified with him, and our lives become His. Let Him work His righteous will in your life. Boldly trust the only one who can be trusted.

“Open hands should characterize the souls attitude toward God- open to receive what He wants to give, open to give back what He wants to take. Acceptance of the will of God means relinquishment of our own. If our hands are full of our own plans, there isn’t room to receive His.“ Elizabeth Elliot

If we allow ourselves, there will always be temptation to fear but this I know, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”(Hebrews 4: 15-16 ) Sister, will you join me in making war on the area of fear and anxiety in our lives. No longer allowing it to control us, “It is peace to leave it all with him, asking only that He do with me anything He wants, anywhere He wants, anytime that God may be glorified.” Elizabeth Elliot

Melba and the girls sneak peak!

2013-05-14T21:18:00.001-05:00

Today I had the opportunity to take some photos for a friend and her daughters!! Below is a sneak peak for them until I get them on a flash drive!!

Ready for summer!

2013-03-14T21:23:00.004-05:00

Well this girl is very ready for summer...for multiple reasons:

1) I will be officially done with cosmetology school May 24th. I blame school for not being able to update the blog more often ;) I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to learn some new skills and gain more knowledge of "real life" ministering for Christ. I am continually blown away by God and all the many opportunities He allows for me to share at school with the girls. I believe the Lord has really allowed me to be a light for him there and I will give Him all the glory! That being said, I am ready to graduate and have more of my time to be with the college women and minster there. I am also looking forward to potentially working in a salon for a couple days a week starting next August.

2) I will be leaving for the Orlando Project May 25th (Brett will already have been down there for a week). This summer Brett will be leading COASU!!! Very Exciting, and we are also excited about all of the students who have made the big Lordship decision to spend their summers serving the Lord. Please join us in prayer for 45 ASU students to attend summer project. We are projecting around 150 students from University of Memphis, Rhodes College, and Arkansas State University to be in attendance this summer. For more information on OP please click here http://comemphis.org/www.comemphis.org/Orlando_Project.html

Encouraged by brothers and sisters at COMinneapolis

2012-12-20T16:46:00.002-06:00

As I was browsing the CO website as I randomly do I clicked this video and wanted to share it with you all. I am so encouraged to see what the Lord is doing with CO in Minnesota and it's really neat to see and know about so many similar stories within COMemphis and specifically with COASU!
Hope this encourages your heart as it did mine!

Click Here!

Fall photos...

2012-10-28T18:56:00.002-05:00

So today, Brett and I had the privilege to take a few maternity photos for some good friends who are expecting their first little baby this december. Here are a few of my fave's!

And before they got to the park we were able to sneak a few in of us!

Questions about suffering....

2012-10-01T09:48:00.002-05:00

So as many of you know the Lord has been brining me through some of the deepest suffering of my young life in loosing my mom. It has been 9 months now, when most days it seems as though it were yesterday. There are many details that go into her and I story that I will not go into right now, but like most mother and daughter relationships she was my best friend. She knew me unlike any other and some days are excruciating not having her here; although the Lord is healing my heart little by little. This past week I received an e-mail from my sister in law sending me to a link of a blog that she follows. This blogger and his wife have been though the unthinkable of loosing an infant child to a terrible disease. He shares in his blog a link to a sermon entitled Questions about Suffering by Tim Keller.

The first few months when I was so angry at God for taking her I scoured the internet and books, hoping and praying for something to make sense of my hurt. I came up empty time and time again. I began to learn that the Lord was wanting me to turn to Him to make sense of my life and deep pain. It has been a slow process (one that will never be complete), but the words that Pastor Keller speak in this sermon has probably been one of the most helpful things that I have heard about suffering thus far.

I heard a pastor say once that we are all in one of three places, getting ready to head into a trial, in the middle of a trial, or coming through the valley on the other side of a trial. So as this would be applicable to all, I highly encourage you to take 30 minutes of your time and listen to the word this man has to say. I pray the Lord will use it in your life as he has in mine.

Questions about Suffering

It's been a while....

2012-09-13T20:38:00.000-05:00

Hey all!! So, I'm a slacker and I always have good intentions to blog weekly but they never seem to happen...maybe it's just that I don' really have much to say, or in comparison to other blogs I read I just don't lead that fascinating of a life! But here I am again!!

Week 6 of cosmetology school and it has been so fun! We are already practicing on "real" customers verses Kim who has been such a great customer for the first month, but I'm happy to move on to a real head!

Here is Ms. Kim in all her beauty, with painted on lipstick and a little extra eye makeup! I like to have fun with it ya know!!

SO I wonder if this ever happens to anyone else...

Last night I got home from school planning on a fun date night with my hubby. As we are eating the delicious dinner that had been waiting on us all day, (crock pot meals are my fave) Bretter tells me that we were gonna be having a few football guys over for dinner tonight. So I knew that he was planning this and that's why when I made my weekly grocery run, I got all the needed ingredients for ONE tater tot casserole. However, the latest was that it was up to 10 football player now, which means One wasn't gonna cut it. These guys aren't kickers here, we are talking about line backers...those boys can eat! Which meant date night included running back to the store and preparing all the fixins for tonight's dinner! Which consisted of :

TWO tater tot casseroles,

Large batch of mashed potatoes (I know, your thinking exactly what I said, two potato dishes for one meal...but that's what he asked for, so I just went along with it) & Gravy

Green Beans and Carrots

Bread

and cookie cake for dessert (i got a little lazy with the dessert)

Now they are all here, eating happily in the other room and I am sitting in the bed room writing and praying that the Lord will use Brett, this time at our home, and this meal to draw them to Himself.

OP 2012... Completed!

2012-07-31T16:20:00.000-05:00

Another one gone, and only memories left behind! Above is a video of some of our students sharing what the Lord has been doing and is doing in their lives this summer though Project! Please check it out and I pray that your heart will be encouraged!!

Ella's coming soon...

2012-07-26T08:54:00.001-05:00

So the past week Brett has been out of town. He went back down to Orlando to finish everything on the Orlando Project and we decided for financial reasons that I would just stay home. Well I learned a good lesson...everything is way more fun with him around. By day two I was bored out of my mind. Now I am an introvert and I like time to myself...but everybody has their limits and i would prefer a small group of good friends over being alone most times.

So that is exactly what I did. I drove up tp Cape where my two best friends are. They are that small group that I pretty much never get tired of. And one of them is about to give birth to their first child! So I was really praying that little Ella would decide to come on out while I was there. However, she is not on Aunt Kitty's clock, and that's alright. I got to take a bunch of fun pictures with her on the inside still with momma and dada!

Back Home...

2012-07-17T16:26:00.000-05:00

So we are back home from our many travels now. From Orlando we went to Asheville to St. Louis to Jonesboro to Memphis and now back to Jonesboro. It's wonderful being able to sleep in our own bed every night! There is just something about your own bed...the familiarity I guess.

But if you know me, I cant sit still for too long before I get a little antsy and want to start a new project. So the project of the week....Painting our garage stairs!! And boy did they need it!

Since they were already a dirty brown I decided to go with a brown paint and chose Chocolate pudding in Valspar Primer and Color in one for the top part of the step. But I knew I wanted a little more than that, so I painted the face of the step a cream that we had left over from our kitchen. I think it gave it a really nice two tone look!

I will say this if you are thinking of painting your stairs you probably wont' need a whole gallon. At least I didn't. It took me a little under 1/4 of the can to do two coats on each step. I was really pleased with the end result, but have a lot of extra paint left over! There is this pattern that I saw on Jones Design Company Blog that I have been wanting to do somewhere and I thought this could be the perfect place to try it out in a small area before committing to do it on a whole wall.

It is pretty time consuming and I decided to do only one step for now because I can't decide if I like it or not. What do you think? I would love your comments!

I have also been working on a few beanies for my etsy store. These are a couple of my favorites :

The Ella

The Avery

( Named after two of my sweet friends little ones :))

Check out the others here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/katbarton?ref=pr_shop_more

Asheville...

2012-06-26T09:43:00.001-05:00

So Brett and I just got home from beautiful Asheville, NC where my older brother Nick lives. It was such a fun vacation for us doing exactly what we love: playing in the great outdoors! We can't wait to go back for another visit next summer!!

Above is a picture of us at sliding rock in the blue ridge mountains...it was this amazing natural water slide! So much FUN!!!!

The beautiful Blue Ridge in the background

Looking glass falls...freezing cold!!!