Flowers For Me...

My sweet sweet man brought me home a beautiful bouquet of tulips tonight.  Are you wondering why?  Me too. 

He says it's just because he loves me.  HE MADE MY DAY!!! 

What a wonderful surprise!!!

A Day to Remember

Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday and is a day to remember the helpless unborn child and the mother and father that are facing one of the biggest decisions they will ever make.

Let us all pray in agreement on this day that life will be chosen and the unborn will not be silenced.

Deuteronomy 30:19...This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.  Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him...

I would also like to take a moment and say to the mom or dad who has lost a baby due to abortion or miscarriage, I am sorry.  I am sorry for your loss.  But, please know that  there is hope in Jesus Christ.  I have a baby in heaven waiting for me that I lost due to a miscarriage, and I have assurance that as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, I WILL see my baby boy again.  I believe he is waiting for me and that when I get to heaven, Jesus will place him in my arms.  Oh what a day that will be.  You too can be reunited with your baby in heaven someday if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  Isn't that exciting?  It is to me and I hope it is for you too.

Watch Out World, She's Driving

I told you that Beth turned fifteen on Monday.  Sadly for her, the DMV was closed that day so we had to wait until Tuesday to go get her driver's permit.

Well, needless to say, she couldn't wait.  And, also needless to say, I took my camera to document the whole thing.  Of course, she was dying that I had my camera, but I CAN'T HELP IT!

I took pictures from start to finish.  Some she didn't even know about.

Yes, she did pass her test and I did let her drive a little after we left.  She did a great job, by the way.

Here we go!!

She just tolerates me sometimes. She loves me and understands that I just can't help it.

Even while she was taking her driver's test, I wanted to be in there with her holding her hand.  I know, I have got to let her grow up, but boy its' hard.

I snapped this picture without her knowing cause I knew she would hide her face.  A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do, right?

This was her least favorite part.  She hates to get her picture made.  I took one while they were taking one.

Can you see the smile through the window?  For now, she can only drive daddy's truck.  Once she passes his inspection, then she can drive my van.

She's In and She's Hooked

After being with me on my blogging journey thus far, Beth has decided that she wants to do her own blog.  Might I say that I am going to so enjoy what she is writing because I love to hear her thoughts, wishes, and dreams?

If you would like to follow along with her, you can go to The Making of a Missionary, and see what she has to say.  I'm thinking we are going to be in for a good ride with this one.

Happy Birthday, to My Beth

This is a big day in our house.  Beth is 15 today and yep, you can only imagine, what excitement is within her.   She is thrilled that she can now get her permit.  The DMV is closed today, so we will be going tomorrow if all of the paper work comes in that we need from our umbrella school.

Once again I say that I can't believe I have children this age.  Time has flown by.  My son will be 18 in just a couple of months.  OH MY!!  And, remember that my baby turned seven in October.

To Beth I want to say...I love you with all of my heart.  I tell you all the time that I think you are near perfect.  Yes, I know that puts a lot of pressure on you and I don't mean to.  I am just being real with who I think you are.  I see a love for Christ in you that is beyond your years.  I hear your conversations with God and I am amazed at your maturity.  Man, I am proud of who you are in Christ and the constant growth that is there.  You pursue Him and I love that.  You want others to know about Him and His love and are not ashamed to share it.  You have a boldness that most definitely comes from Him and will take you down that road of missions that you feel called to.  Man oh man, Beth, I love you and am so happy that you are my baby.  Yes, still my baby, still my angel, still my sunshine.  That will never ever change.

Now I want to tell you that I think your athletic abilities are crazy good.  No wonder you have the name Smack on the volleyball court.  You are one strong chick.  And that competetive spirit of yours, that certainly comes from your daddy, will take you places.  It's funny, you are very competetive, but will still stop to pick your competition up from the floor if they fall.  That's my girl.  Actually, again, that's your daddy.  You are so much like him and I love that.  If you want to do it, you are determined that it will get done, aren't you?  When you set your mind to something...watch out!

My sweet Izzy B, I hope your day is just wonderful today.  You deserve only the best.  We love you with all our heart and soul.

You are beautiful and you don't even know it.  It's funny that this is dressed up for you.  I love to dress up and be all girly and you love to be in your shorts and t-shirts.  You rock!

And this is you in your absolute comfort zone...

Happy Birthday Beth!!

Faith...Before and After

Faith did a neat thing today for some special person, but we don't know who that person is. 

For a long time now, Faith has been growing out her hair for Locks of Love.  This was something she wanted to do so that she could share her hair with someone who wanted a wig made of real human hair.  To do Locks of Love, you have to have at least a 10 inch pony tail that they can cut off.  Of course you want to make sure that once you cut the pony tail off, you still have plenty of hair left. 

So Faith grew her hair long enough that today she gave almost 13 inches.  HOORAY!!  Good job, Faith.

It really is exciting to know that you can do something as simple as grow your hair long to be able to make a difference in someone's life. 


 This is Faith before...

Let the cutting begin...

Presenting the ponytail that will be sent to Locks of Love...

Faith loves having her hair washed at the hair salon.  Such a treat.

The cutting continues...

TA-DA...After...

Faith and Mrs. Tish.  Can you tell how happy she is?

Faith and I prayed after she got her hair cut that whoever received her hair would be blessed, healed and would feel the love of Jesus.

Remember the Challenge?

Wanted to give a quick update on the challenge I accepted at the beginning of the month.  Remember my plans to eat out of our pantry for the entire month of January and spend no more than $75.00 on groceries for the month?

I am happy to let you know that we are going strong!!  I have only spent $30.00 to this point and that was just for some basic things like dairy, fruit, juice, a big container of oats and, my must have, Diet Dr. Pepper.

This has been a cool challenge because it makes me think out of the box and I love breaking tradition now and then.  I am a pretty routine kind of gal most of the time. 

I will be going to the store in the next few days just to pick up those basics again.  I think we need milk, juice, maybe a bag of chips because I have used up all of my nuts and bolts supplies, Diet Dr. Pepper again and I guess ice-cream because Faith is not happy that we have been out of it for three days now.  I think we can make it on everything else that we have. 

So we continue on this challenge.  I will let you know how we continue to do.  You really ought to try it.