Christmas in Februrary

THANK YOU NANA AND PAWPAW!!!!!

Ta-dah!!!!!!


The kids LOVE it--even Caleb!

And thanks to Mr. Brown and to Grandpa Pubs for their help putting it together!

Wedding Fun!

This weekend our dear friends Mary Margaret and Caleb (a.k.a. "Big Caleb") got married. It was a gorgeous wedding and truly glorified Jesus in everything from the music to the covenant the couple made to Christ's Kingdom Purpose.

As I posted a few months ago, our family was honored by Mary Margaret and Caleb asking Josie to be their flower girl. She did an AMAZING job! She was so brave and stood at the front patiently for her cue to come and sit with us. We must also thank Whitney and Eric and Whitney's family for going to two different convenient stores to find pink Nerds as Josie's reward.

Most of these girls were in the college Bible study I was privileged to lead before our Caleb was born. I have said it over and over, but I must say it again, I love these girls! As you will see from the pictures, they adore Josie and I pray that she will always admire and strive to love Jesus the way they do.

Mary Margaret and Josie

Josie's BFF, Whitney

Wanting to be like the big girls...

Miss Sarah....

A lot of the girls in our Bible study.

What a WONDERFUL group of young women!!!

This was our Thursday night dress rehearsal with Whitney in our kitchen...

This was a couple of weeks ago at Rebecca's (another one of "my girls") wedding in Dallas.

A dance with my man...

"Everything is Sacred"

Since Christmas is over I forced myself to put away most of our Christmas music. So I pulled out a CD that we got last year by Caedmon's Call. Wesley and I have loved this band since high school and all through college.

Overdressed was their first CD released in several years and once I began listening to it I realized I'd forgotten how good it really was. The lone female member of the band sang a song called "Sacred" on the album. She is reflecting on her days as a mother. Here are some of the words:

"This house is a good mess, it's the proof of life
No way would I trade it, but it don't pay overtime
I'll get to the laundry, I don't know when
I'm saying a prayer tonight 'cause tomorrow starts again

Could it be that everything is sacred?
And all this time, everything I've dreamed of has been right before my eyes

the children are sleeping but they're running through my mind

my cup runneth over and I worry about the stain

Help me to run to You like they run to me for every little thing..."

This song is eerily similar to my own life and I've been brought to tears almost every time I hear it lately. (Many of you know that laundry is the bane of my existence.) God has really been doing a work (s) in my life over the last few months and I guess you could say it has made me a little more sensitive (if that is even possible!) to stuff around me. Josie must think I'm nuts because I give her a huge hug and a kiss every time that song comes on.

Being a "stay at home mom" or "domestic engineer" or whatever you want to call it is really hard, but it is so worth it when I see my children play and laugh together or see some of my son's first steps. No, we don't have the "big" house and luxury cars and we probably never will. We have a quiet and simple life, but it is abundantly full of good things...eternal things.

Thank you, Jesus.

"No way would I trade it...."

"Sacred" words by Randall Goodgame and Andrew Osenga

Fun Moments

Caleb doing the dishes with Dad...

Cinderella...

Saying good morning to Dad (We experienced a miracle for a couple of weeks...she slept until 7:30!!! But we missed seeing Daddy in the morning so we called him up.)

Josie tried to get Caleb to be "Mary"

Josie's friend Caleb A. came over to play...they had a lot of fun taking out all of the pots and pans.

Comin' Through!

Josie and Caleb received this John Deere tractor for Christmas from my Aunt Penny. The best part is that she "rescued" it from her neighbor's trash (with permission of course)! It's fantastic!

Don't worry, Aunt D'Ann was't hurt. She only lost her shoe, a bit of her drink, and a little bit of her dignity, but she recovered quickly.

A Visit With Grandmother

Around New Year's we got a chance to travel and see Wesley's grandmother Narine. We couldn't believe she had never seen Caleb in person! He loved her! He crawled all over her and she just laughed and laughed!

The visit was wonderful, but difficult at the same time. Over the last year Grandmother had suffered numerous strokes and other life threatening problems causing her sell her house and move into an assisted living residence. We were blessed to have seen her on her "good days" and thoroughly enjoyed every moment we were able to spend with her as well as Wesley's aunt, uncle and cousins.

Because of her strokes she has been left almost blind and even more hard of hearing than before. She shared with us that when we arrived she knew it was us because of Wesley's silhouette in the door frame. I couldn't help but think how frustrating life must have become for this once very independent woman.

Something I have always been thankful for is the spiritual heritage that I have become a part of when I married Wesley. He has spiritual roots that grow deeply and are strongly set in the foundation of Christ. Narine is part of that and I know I can always look forward to uplifting conversations with her. Despite her "set backs" this year she shared with me a few things that she has learned recently:

1. God still has a plan for her life and He can use her even if she is blind, deaf, and finds it difficult to move around. She asked God to only keep her here as long as she can be of service to Him and bring Him glory--even if it is frustrating.
2. Not to take reading the Bible for granted. Even with a large print Bible, she still struggles to read God's Word.
3. Things don't matter. She lost her favorite scarf in the move to her new residence. She had had if for years and always prided herself on taking her time to find the right one for the right price. "What time I wasted," she said, "when I'm sure I had much more important things to do."
4. She was sure He still had things for her to learn. He was allowing her to go through all these frustrations to "prune" her because God prunes those He loves.

As I sat listening to this beautiful, godly, older woman talk about what God might still be trying to teach her and the ways He was "pruning" her, I was reminded that no matter how old we are or how long we've gone to church we must never stop growing. We must never stop learning about God, His character, and must never, ever stop making ourselves available to be taught or "pruned". John 15:2 says, "... every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." Even at Narine's stage of life (when most of the world casts them aside) God still has plans for her to be fruitful.

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."--Philippians 1:3-6

Christmas 2008

Here are a few pictures from our Christmas.

We are so blessed and thankful for our families, but most of all for our Savior who left his throne to become one of us. I know it's a little late, but I hope you enjoy...

A Psalm for Christmas Eve

by Joseph Bayly

Praise God for Christmas.
Praise Him for the Incarnation, for Word made flesh.
I will not sing of shepherds watching flocks on frosty night or angel choristers.
I will not sing of stable bare in Bethlehem, of lowing oxen
Wise men trailing distant star with gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Tonight, I will sing praise to the Father
Who stood on heaven's threshold and said farewell to His Son
As He stepped across the stars to Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
And I will sing praise to the infinite eternal Son
Who became most finite
A Baby who would one day be executed for my crimes.
Praise Him in the Heavens!
Praise Him in the stable!
Praise Him in my heart!