Phoebeisms, cont....

Phoebe lost her cookie. She thinks she put it on her plate, when she walked into the kitchen. I asked her what she thinks happened to it, and she said, "I think it melted into my plate."

Baxter

This guy is just too cute!

Ice Storm! Brrr!

This was the ice that was on my van. It was about an inch thick. Not fun scraping that off! The tree was pretty though.

Phoebeisms...

Quote by Phoebe..."I'm just thinking about how Jesus made me so pretty."

I admit it, I'm a wimp!

After only 3 days I was dieing to bring our cute little puppy home. I just couldn't wait any longer. Not so much to give him to the kids, but more so because he was just so cute and i was worried about him too. So, he's here and the kids love him so much. Abbigail cried and Abbiyah just kept giving her daddy hugs because she was so excited. Forest thought it was someone else's dog. Phoebe was too sleepy to show excitement, but she has declared many times since, "He likes me!" I think that means she likes him too! The kids were still very surprised and didn't expect it at all. And, yes, his name is Baxter for certain. He's cute!

11 Years!

Last night Kenny and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Thanks Kenny for being so great! You're the best husband ever! The kids stayed the night with friends. (Thank you John, David, Jacob, Amber and any others who were there to entertain the troop!) Kenny took me out to dinner at Legend's in Norman and we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast. Very fun!

Don't Be Afraid

Something from the Word that I have been thinking about a lot this past week or so is when it says that we have not been given a spirit of fear but of love and of power and of a sound mind. Jesus first spoke this to me when Abbigail, my first-born, was 1 or 2 days old. I was so scared that He was going to take her back, though there was no basis for that fear. She was totally healthy(and so beautiful, i might add). He showed me how fear is the opposite of love and power and a sound mind. If I am afraid, then I cannot love as Jesus has loved, and I will shrink back when I should have courage. If I am afraid, then I will not see that I have been given the power to overcome the world- I will be blinded to the truth that through Jesus I will not be destroyed by anything that would happen to me. If I am afraid I cannot think clearly and make decisions with a clear and sober mind, but my judgment would be clouded and I would not be trusting in Jesus to take care of the things that would make me fearful. I realized my whole life I had been afraid of everything. Of all the what if's and might be's. And for the first time, I was able to receive from Him courage to love(even if i lose what i love), He gave me faith to begin seeing that I don't have to be crushed by my circumstances(even if the worst does happen), He began teaching me to push fear aside and make decisions based on reality and not my exaggerated concerns of the catasrophies that could happen (but most likely never would.) Not to say, that I am not afraid at times, but He is freeing me. And I am grateful.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.-John 14.27

Shhh! The best kind of prize is a SURPRISE!

Kenny and I drove over 400 miles yesterday to pick up this adorable puppy for our kids. We decided on a fox terrier about a year ago and finally found this little guy yesterday. We are thinking about naming him Baxter. He will be staying at a friends house for the next three weeks, until Christmas Eve. Thanks Malthaners! Remember, its a surprise, so don't tell our kiddos!

Henry and Betsy

The world's coolest cats! These are our friends', Keri and Reagan's cats- Forest's favorite is Betsey, the black and white one.

It's All About Technique!

We went bowling last night with our good friend, Reagen. It was great fun!

Random Recent Happenings...

We made a map cake for geography. Can you tell that is North and South America?
Our friend, Crush (ode to the best animation character ever in Finding Nemo). Sadly, he has escaped and we haven't seen him since....
Forest climbing a restaurant.
These were too cute not to share...

Field Trip

My kids with their friends- Judah, Nathan and Benjamin
A butterfly
A bromeliad
Phoebe enjoying the waterfall

Abbigail, Abbiyah, Forest and Phoebe
This past Friday, I took the kids to the Myriad Botanical Gardens. It was open for free in celebration of Oklahoma's centennial. We went with my friend, Tamara and her kids and had great fun. We have been studying rain forests in school, so it was cool to see some of the same plants we had been reading about.

Big Day!

The kids were recently in a wedding. Congrats Jay and Amanda! These pictures are from the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.

Baptism Pictures

Here are pictures from my Abbigail's big day!
Before Abbigail was baptized this morning, Kenny and I spent some time talking and praying with her in the courtyard at our church. I reminded her of the verses of Proverbs 3.5-8, as this has been a special scripture just for her since before she was born. We celebrated the day by going to lunch with a group of friends and then to Grandma and Papa's house for swimming and dinner. I hope that Abbigail will remember this day. It has truly been special!

A Big Day For Our Family!

Today, our oldest daughter is getting baptized. Abbigail is 8 years old and has been asking questions for at least 3 or 4 years about being born again and getting baptized. Finally she is ready. On Friday night of this week, she apparently was having a hard time getting to sleep so she started praying and spent much of the night in prayer. Saturday morning, with tears of excitement, she told me how she had told Jesus about the bad things she had been doing and asked Him to take away her sin and that she wanted to be with Him. When she told Kenny about it, he asked her if she ready to be baptized. She said yes. Later that day she told me "This is the happiest day of my whole life!" I am so excited to see Jesus' love and power at work in her life. I am grateful to all of our friends who have set a wonderful example for her to see Jesus at work in their lives. And to everyone who has had a part in teaching her of His love.

Thank you, Jesus, for hearing our prayers for our daughter. Make her strong in You. Grant her grace to become more and more like You. Deepen her love for those that are far away from You. Use her as an instrument of Your love in their lives. And just as her name means "My Father's Joy" let her feel and know Your delight in her.

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born
or you brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn men back to dust,
saying, "Return to dust, O sons of men."

4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.

5 You sweep men away in the sleep of death;
they are like the new grass of the morning-

6 though in the morning it springs up new,
by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger
and terrified by your indignation.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your presence.

9 All our days pass away under your wrath;
we finish our years with a moan.

10 The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 Who knows the power of your anger?
For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.

12 Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, O LORD! How long will it be?
Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us;
establish the work of our hands for us—
yes, establish the work of our hands.

This is the prayer of my heart today. I read it this morning and God just keeps bringing me back to it. Yes, Lord, let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children!!!

A Good Word

I was very encouraged by this today...

And [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

What might seem like such a long time to me, when I am waiting for God to come through on my behalf, is really not a long delay nor is it a slow response. God promises me that He will answer speedily and He won't delay. God is seeing everything in His perspective of time- in the perspective of ETERNITY. I see things in the perspective of the short 80 or so years that I might live on this earth. When He is ready to avenge me of my adversary, will He find faith in me? I pray that He does find me faithfully waiting, confident in His care for me.

Some old pictures I came across...

The first picture is of my 2 oldest girls. This must have been almost 4 years ago. Abbiyah (left) would have been 3 years old and Abbigail (right) would have been 4 years old. How cute!
The second and third pictures were taken a few months later. Forest is in the middle and that's him with the crazy hair.

More Before and During Pics...

This second set of pics is of one of the bathrooms. We took out everything and actually closed it off where the door was before and opened it into the master bedroom. It will have a large shower and pedestal sink. The toilet will have its own little room. I love the arches and am glad that we were able to keep them. Obviously, we still need to paint in here as well and put in flooring. I'll be sure to post some AFTER pics when we are finished. At some point in the future we will also being tackling our other bathroom and our kitchen. We just want to get through this phase of the remodel before tearing into that one.

Before and During Pictures

Here are some BEFORE and DURING pictures of our home remodel. This first one is from the living room looking towards the dining room. We tore out the wall and put in a beam to make the living and dining area more open. We still need to paint the walls and ceiling and add trim around the windows. The final step will be refinishing our wood floors.

Under Construction

As can probably be seen in the background of some of my pictures, our house is currently being remodeled. We bought our house nearly 4 years ago and have been remodeling ever since. We have had several lulls in the progress when no work was being done, but we have made great progress this summer. If everything goes as planned, we should be finished with all the work in the next month. I am excited and grateful.

Summer Fun

On Thursday I took the kids swimming. Phoebe and Forest were wearing their latest summer fashions! We had so much fun!


Later that night we had our usual Thursday night meeting in our home. We spend time hanging out together as well as in the Word. It is always so great to be around so many wonderful friends.

The Ultimate!

Met with several friends tonight for a game of ultimate frisbee. We had a blast. Everyone played a great game, when we weren't taking water breaks!

More Pics Of Our Fun Evening

Kenny walking on his hands.
Go Phoebe!
Abbiyah and Abbigail have got their game face on!
That's me spitting watermelon seeds. I did pretty good!

Old Fashioned Fun

Tonight we went to my brother-in-law's church for an evening service and family games afterwards. The song service was nice. Enjoyed singing "The Old Rugged Cross." The games were way fun. Kenny talked me into a 3 legged race. We came in 2nd. My son, Forest, did great in the potato sack race and so did my 3 year old, Phoebe. My 2 oldest girls, Abbigail and Abbiyah, came in 1st in the kids' 3 legged race. Kenny and I both did our best in the watermelon seed spitting contest. We also had home made ice cream and cookies. It was a great evening!

First Time

My first post...ever. Today I am full of expectation for what God will do. Not every day is like that, though I strive for it to be. But today, I feel excited about what God is working out in my life. I feel very, very rich, though not in material things. I have such a great husband who has been a huge strength to me in this life. I have 4 amazing kids that have taught me so much about who I am and who I need to be. I have the best friends that can be found. They have also, in many different ways and at various times, been a source of strength to me. And, in Jesus, I have an unending supply of strength and hope.