From the Heart...

Our church has been study the book of James together. I was doing my devotion in James today which I have to confess, a bit half-hearted, more because I know I need to get it done rather than a deep desire. I have been feeling tired and just plain unmotivated lately.

God is so faithful. I just felt so ministered by Him during my devo (thank you God!). I wrote this e-mail to Andy and thought I would share it here too. Maybe it will be an encouragement to you...




Also, I was convicted of my tiredness... I read these verses:

Ps. 34:1 " I will extol the Lord at ALL times; His praise will ALWAYS be on my lips."

Heb. 13:15 " Through Jesus, therefore, let us CONTINUALLY offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess HIS NAME."

Eph. 5:20 "ALWAYS giving thanks to God in EVERYTHING, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

I was convicted to have more "praise on my lips at all times." I think it is easy for me to feel down with all the sour news of the economy and all my fears with raising a family, doing a good job etc... This attitude of mine does not honor God and certainly zaps energy! He is honored by faith and trust. It feels good to be convicted of this and I am going to focus on praising Him today!

What can mortal man or a bad economy do? My HOPE and salvation is in God - THE creator of Heaven and Earth. He speaks and it is done. He is so powerful and yet, He allows me to know Him personally, to live in my heart which is dirty and filthy but made clean by Him?? Awesome! I have EVERYTHING to be thankful for!

Latest Happenings...

A little bit of Hope cuteness...

Hugging her daddy's leg. She gets so EXCITED when he walks through the door. Hope is just starting to walk too!
Cheese! I love pictures of babies. They are just their cute selves without even trying.


Andy and I had a quick get-away to Florida for a few days. Very relaxing and refreshing. Thanks to some generous friends for the use of their beautiful condo and a big THANK YOU to my parents and A. Elaine for helping with babysitting! This is the ONLY picture I have of the trip - pathetic! I only took a few more but I accidentally deleted them (brother!). How do you like the complete stranger in the background??

When we got home, the kids had decorated our garage door for my birthday the next day. Very sweet!

My mom helped the kids make a birthday cake too. Notice - Caleb did not want to take a picture - real family life at it's best :-)

Upwards basketball

Travor played Upwards basketball this year.  It was great!  We were so impressed with the Upwards basketball program.  The program is held at a local church. Their goal is to have the kids learn basketball but more importantly, to learn to glorify God and to play with character.  

At each practice, the boys would learn a verse for the week and a devotion was given.  At the games, the players, fans and coaches are instructed to be encouraging and edifying to all the players and a half-time devotion is presented to all who came to watch the game. 

 One neat story from the season:  Trav's team had won a game and his team was meeting together to get their character & achievement stars when one of the boys said to his team mate, "did  you see how many points we beat the other team by?"  

The coach quickly and kindly responded, "boys, there will be no boasting."

Thanks to the encouragement of some great friends (you know who you are :-) ), we are really thankful to have been a part of this wonderful program!

Faithful fans!  Thanks dad for coming many Saturdays to watch Trav play!!  Andy was there many times too.  The week I actually remembered to take pics, he was on business and my mom works on Saturdays or she would have been there too.

Sorry these pics are not great quality, I did not have my camera, only my phone.  Here is Trav and his team getting some instructions from their coaches.  

Setting up for a free-throw.

GREAT JOB TRAVOR!!  WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!

Mama Said There Would Be Days Like This...

A friend sent me this a long time ago. She has 5 kids. This is not her child or mine for that matter, nor has she or I ever done such a deed and if you look real close, you can tell this picture is staged - so no worries, no one actually did this to their child

...But some days, well...you could feel like it for a split second ;-)

Just in case you are having one of those days...

The No Whine Watch

We have a whiner at our house.

We will protect the guilty and not name names.

We have been working on the behavior

I had heard a broadcast on Family Life a while back about a "No Whine Watch" and we feel that we are at the point of needing some extra help, so off to Family Life's website I went to order this new gadget...

I had to laugh when I saw it...bright yellow with the "No Whine" logo engraved on it. I wondered for a moment if making the child wear this would be more scarring than being known as a whiner?? I think we will limit the wearing of this watch to home.

But order it, I did.

...along with the parenting manual about helping whiny children (surely, it is not our parenting??).

Truth be told, some days I should have this loud, yellow watch on my wrist as a reminder to stop my whining...

I suppose I will learn a thing or two as I teach this child about whining. Parenting is so good for me!

Good Times!

My Ladies Bible Study Group has had a lot of fun lately!

We had our annual overnight with just the girls. We have some good men to let us get out for a girl's night without kids!

Rebekah had this unique game called "What's a Dame To Do?" It was very fun.

Rebekah & Megan

Jess & Marie

On Valentines night Matt & Rebekah hosted a dinner, this time with our hubbies! Rebekah set a beautiful table and she had an amazing meal!! She is quite talented!

We have not had a picture taken of all of us for about 6 years. Everyone was there except Marla :-(

Rebekah had set the table with old pictures of each couple before kids.

Andy & I got voted "most improved." My hair was Texas bufont style and the guys thought Andy looked like he belonged in a "boy band." I hope we have acutally improved :-) I think we have been married the longest (11 years) so that is my excuse for the lack of style!

Clint & Jami getting cozy!

Life is more sweet when shared with friends!

Hip-Hop-Hope

Lately Hope has been dancing to any music. It is so cute. Even in church to acapella hymns, she tries to find the beat to move a bit...Here is a short clip, sorry for my pathetic singing.