On the Road Again...

I am so excited to say we will be heading out this afternoon. We will be traveling to my in-laws to spend a few days. Due to football season we haven't been since summer and I so miss relaxing and watching tv. I hope everyone else has a great holiday. Remember to give thanks to God for all the wonderful blessings you have.

Thankful for...

I am so thankful for a wonderful friend who calls to say she was thinking of me. This is a dear friend that I have known for years, but don't get to see that often. This has been an especially rough week dealing with the cut in pay on top of all the extra expectations. The state has furloughed teachers, which has caused a cut in pay, but still his job demands extra work on the weekends and such. Not to mention that the band puts in as much work as the football team and is expected to travel to all games, but can barely make ends meet. Then you have the football team that is fed steak dinners and charters busses to play-off games. This whole inequality really stinks!!! Sorry for that soap box, but it does make me feel better to get it off my chest.

Anyway, the song "Showers of Blessings" has been going thru my head all day. I have been blessed in so many ways. God is so good to me, but I can't help but continue singing the last part: "but for the showers we plead." God, I am pleading for more showers because I know You are the giver of good gifts.

Speaking about blessings I want to tell you about someone with lots of blessings. A friend of mine has her plate full with blessings!! She has a set of twins who are 4 and the little boy has had different medical problems all his life. The biggest has been the fact that he needed a kidney transplant. And guess what... He got it!!!! Yippee Jesus!! Riley will be coming home from the hospital hopefully on Monday. Wow what a Thanksgiving. But the story gets better, his mom is scheduled for a c-section this Wednesday!!!! Talk about blessings. Her little boy healthy with a new kidney and now another little addition. I hope they name the things they are thankful for after they eat, if not the food will be really cold by the time they get to it. LOL!!!

I pray you will count your blessings and be thankful!

Okay, I have to post this! I was so whiny earlier and then read thru some other blogs I follow and was convicted. Here I am worried about steak dinners and chartered busses and there are people out there with REAL concerns. Please forgive me and then go over and read Kati's blog: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Thanksgiving...(Maybe)

Okay, well this Saturday my family will be having Thanksgiving. We are doing that because my brother and I will both be at our in-laws on the actual day of Thanksgiving. However, there is one small catch to this, I am preparing the dinner!!! Yikes!!!
For years we have gone to my aunts house for Thanksgiving, but this year I decided I wanted to do something different. And different it may be. I have never cooked a turkey, don't know really what kinda sides people want, and really just not sure how this is going to turn out. However, I console myself by saying," I'm making memories." So for anyone who reads this I will gladly take any suggestions, ideas, and most of all prayers (or if not for me at least for those who will be eating my food)!! I'll let you know how it goes.

Sad Day

So today was a Horrible, No Good, Bad Day. Got up this morning and began working on my pecans while the boys played. Then I noticed across the yard that the rabbit cage was out of the barn and I was glad Jim had set him out. Then I looked again and saw something white out a ways from it. I went to look because I didn't want Rabbit getting too far because he was caged to help heal his back leg. Well, when I got there I saw that Rabbit was dead. Sometime in the middle of the night something had pulled his cage out of the barn and turned it over and then pulled Rabbit out thru a small gap between the door and wall. I tried to hide it from the boys until Jim came home, but Samuel wandered over to talk with Rabbit and found his cage empty. Then he spotted him. He was mostly just curious.
Telling Blake was pretty rough. He took off across the yard and then bent down to pet Rabbit. I followed behind and tried to comfort the best I could. (I'm crying now as I type.) You see this was no ordinary Rabbit. Blake got him with my Dad and Mom about 4 1/2 years ago. When we moved to this house Rabbit jumped out of his cage and became the neighborhood pet. He came home daily and ran to us like a dog. He love saltine crackers and all you had to do was rustle the paper and he came running. He really was like a part of the family.
Anyway, Rabbit was very well loved and will be greatly missed.

Thankful Thursday...

Today is Thankful Thursday and let me just say I have lots to be thankful for. As we celebrated Veterans Day yesterday I was proud to have a US soldier. I am thankful for my husband who served actively and now in the National Guard. Every time he puts on that uniform my heart swells with pride.

I'm thankful also for my children. They have to be some of the most amazing kids on the planet. They are each others best friends, love the Lord, and love others. It doesn't get much better than that.

I could go on and on, but I think you get my point. I am blessed beyond measure and I believe each one of you are blessed as well.

Thank you Lord for my wonderful blessings and Your love and protection.

The Cry of the Orphan...

As many of you may know, Novemeber is National Adoption Month and today was Orphan Awareness Sunday. I want to take just a moment and talk about this. There are approximately 143 million orphans in the world. That number is so hard to grasp. I mean that is HUGE!! However, God calls us to care of the orphans and widows (James 1:27). Now you may be saying, "I'm too old to adopt." or "I don't have a lot of wealth to offer a child." or any number of reasons. Let me just say that a child with no parents doesn't care what your age as long as you will love them. And a child with a very meager diet and really no personal possessions doesn't care if you aren't rich. Whatever means you have is more wealth than most of these children have seen.

I know for some people adoption isn't an option for various reasons. However, this does not get you off the hook of following through with James 1:27. There are still many things you can do. Here are just a few:

1.) Pray for the orphan.

2.) Speak up for them.

3.) Provide for their needs.

4.) Support those families who adopt.

5.) Go on a mission trip and visit them.

6.) Mobilze your church to reach out.

(For specific children to pray for check out rainbowkids.org)

There is a story that helps to paint a picture of adoption. Many of you may have heard it, but I'm going to tell it anyway.

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

I can't help all 143 million orphans, but I can help one.

My question is: What can YOU do to help the orphans?

I pray that you will seek God's face and make a difference in the life of a child.

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will answer the best I can.

Birthday Boy...

Well, I survived the day without a breakdown. I am very proud of my boy and I have to say I think he truely enjoyed his birthday. Last night we made the cake together and that was fun for him. Then tonight we had a simple party with my mother, aunt, uncle, grandmother, brother and sister-n-law. He had a blast and said it was as much fun as having friends over. Thank you Jesus for such a sweet young man to call my son.

This is the birthday boy in his prized present.

He is now part of the pit crew.

The following pics are just a couple from the past couple of weeks.

This is Grace marching in the Homecoming parade with Daddy's band.

And here is Samuel gearing up to join Daddy's band.

Good for nothing...

That describes me right about now. See I can do nothing but cry!!! Tonight is the last night my baby will be 8. I don't know why, but that really has the waterworks flowing tonight. We sat in the rocking chair and I read "Love you Forever" and sang like I used to do when Blake was a baby. This really started the tears.
The tears are tears of gratitude for how awesome God is and how thankful I am. Blake has been nothing but a blessing ever since he entered this world. He really was the perfect baby and has always been just a model child. How did I get so lucky!!
The tears are also tears of hurt and grief. This is the first birthday for Blake without my daddy. We looked back at old pictures tonight and there were all these pictures with Daddy and Blake. My daddy loved a baby bout as much as I do and he especially loved Blake. I really hate he won't be here to celebrate another birthday.
The tears are also tears of being scared. I'm not sure if that is the right word. However, I am sad to realize that my baby is half way to leaving me. We always tease that when they turn 18 we are sending them packing, but tonight I just want to say, "No stay forever." What will I ever do without all my babies with me.

I will dry up these tears and put on my big girl panties and celebrate with my boy tomorrow. I hope to be able to post some pics tomorrow.