3 kids together = 1 happy mom!

Lunch at Logan's. Mom & Dad enjoyed the day -

Aunt C, Jeanette & Stacy drove in to meet us for lunch - we had a great time together. We ate then went to Brennon's for gifts, cake and then off to the mall for some serious shopping! I had to sweet talk Pop into 30 min. of waiting for Mom to get to go to Dillards.

It was so good to be together. Treg said, I wish I could spend more time with them. I say "ditto" to that! Family time - togetherness, laughter, nothing better Look at my baby, so sweet - hope you had a belated happy b-day! love ya -

Brennon & Treg at Logan's.
Here is the card I made for Cort - it was lot's of fun to make -

My 3 kids - wow I love them - Greg Mc had to stay home and keep the dogs. We missed him, maybe next year it will work out for him to come too.

Greg L. and I feel so blessed to have our family - we love you and thanks again for giving up a Saturday to spend time with us.

Stampaganza!

Close To My Heart is having a huge special for the month of November 2009 -
When you order 2 stamp sets you will get the 3rd stamp set free!
This special is for all sizes -you can order the E size stamp, but will not get an E size for free.
November is also the month that the really cute house stamp is the stamp of the month.
Great Christmas gift ideas -
I will be placing an order some time this month -

Happy Birthday Cortney Marie "25"

25 yrs ago today God blessed me with a baby girl. I could not believe how perfect she was...The years have gone by so fast - laughing through my tears, and an ache in my heart from missing you - I am thankful for memories (that I still have) lol - and I am so thankful that we will get to meet this Saturday to celebrate with Cortney. I love you baby girl...

To Dine with the King

Our Bible Study group is doing the Kay Arthur study, "Covenant" and it is been so good and rich. I have to share the coolest story with you. 2 Samuel 9:1-13
David and Mephibosheth 1 David asked, "Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake?"
2 Now there was a servant of Saul's household named Ziba. They called him to appear before David, and the king said to him, "Are you Ziba?" "Your servant," he replied.
3 The king asked, "Is there no one still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show God's kindness?" Ziba answered the king, "There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet."
4 "Where is he?" the king asked. Ziba answered, "He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar."
5 So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.
6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, "Mephibosheth!" "Your servant," he replied.
7 "Don't be afraid," David said to him, "for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table."
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, "What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?"
9 Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have given your master's grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master's grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table." (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)
11 Then Ziba said to the king, "Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do." So Mephibosheth ate at David's [a] table like one of the king's sons.
12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica, and all the members of Ziba's household were servants of Mephibosheth. 13 And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king's table, and he was crippled in both feet.
ok - Jonathan & David had made a covenant with each other in 1 Samuel 20 that extended to their descendants. The 1st covenant was made with David & Jonathan in 1 Samuel 18:1-5. Well in 2 Samuel 9 - it starts with David remembering the 2nd covenant he had made with Jonathan. Jonathan is dead, but the Bible gave a glimpse of a son he had in 2 Samuel 4:4 - Mephibosheth was 5 yrs old and his nurse took him and fled in fear, he fell and became crippled in his feet. Now David finds out that there is a son alive living in Lo-debar (land of no fruit/barren land) and has him brought before him. Mephibosheth is scarred to death, very fearful. David tells him not to fear, and he gave him all of Saul's (his grandfather) land and all that belonged to him. David told Mephibosheth that he could eat at his table as his own son. We learned that Mephibosheth is brought from a barren land, full of fear, referred to himself as a dead dog, and because of a covenant that was made before he was born - covenant is a solemn, binding agreement - He is given land, servants and gets to dine with the king. He was poor and now made rich, not because he earned it - But because of a fulfilled covenant promise. His crippled feet are not healed, but God is taking care of him.
Now apply this story to us - without Jesus - we are just like Mephibosheth - we may still have our own crippled feet, but....because God loved the world and sent His Son to die for me and you.... we get to dine at the King's table crippled feet and all! There is a covenant in place made before we were born and through that solemn binding agreement, we have a promise and know that Jesus paid the price for all sin. Each time we take communion, we are given the blessing of remembering our Savior and can rejoice that He conquered death. 1 Corinthians 11:25 says, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." Our God is so Holy - and I am so thankful for His Word, that each time I study, I am so humbled and realize that it's not about me....it's all about Him - Yahweh - this song will bring you to your knees and then you will rise in praise to give Him glory!

Harvest Festival Weekend

The band waiting to go out and march. They got in from the football game about 1 a.m. then had to be at band hall at 6:15 a.m. and marched at 9:30 a.m. - They did a great job.

BHS band won Most Outstanding Band in the 3A class! They will continue to UIL contest next week. It was misting, wind blowing and freezing! They still did such a good job. Treg is with the bronze baritone up front. It just seems like yesterday I was watching Brennon when he was a freshman.

Harvest Festival Princess candidate - is she not so precious. I missed the parade this year because we went to watch Treg play in pre-UIL Band Marching and it all fell on the same day. I thought sweet Taryn looked just like a little angel. Her Daddy was standing behind her (he was her escort). This year they had 9 little princess contestants. They all did great, I just couldn't take my eyes of of one in particular!

Look at her sweet little hands. It was so cold, but she did so good.

Here are my boys at the Harvest Festival. I don't remember what Greg said but I can tell it was some smart remark! I can't understand why 2 big boys would not want me taking their picture for all to see! We had to work in 3 different booths this year... but I can say this was the most fun Harvest Festival ever. In the past Greg was always with peanut harvest and I was by myself. We had lots of fun and shared lots of good eats. I am not sure if my fav was the pink cotton candy still warm or the strawberry shortcake. Our Church had a booth that was handing out water bottles that had a label with a pic of our church and it said, "Jesus is living water" and we handed them out free to as many as we could. Our preacher had this idea and it was great! They are such a blessing to us and to Brownfield. They have a passion for showing love outside the walls - and that is just what we needed. They are so genuine and sweet. Optimist had a strawberry shortcake booth and we worked selling shortcakes. I had whipped cream all over me! Greg said he loved to see the faces on the kids as he handed them the huge plate of shortcake. Then Industrial Tech had a silent auction booth that Treg had made a shelf and we had to help with the closing of the auction. I got lots of goodies too, I think I went a little silent bidding crazy!

Today in my little Sunday school class our lesson was on Noah and the rainbow - I let them make bead bracelets and we put the colors of the rainbow in the exact order, their initial bead, and then a cross charm. God is so great - our Ladies Bible Study this fall is on Covenant - and we just learned about how the rainbow was a covenant. With God as you seek Him all things tend to work together - covenant, a promise... how amazing and what a honor it is to try and help these precious little children to remember that when they look at their bracelet, that the rainbow is a promise, just like the cross is a promise from Jesus. I love how God works! Wes is my only boy and he cracked me up, I told him that he didn't have to wear his bracelet that he could put it in his room or give to his Mom - I had to put it on them to tie the elastic and it made him a little nervous just to have it on. He took it right off and stuck it in his Bible when I finished. just precious.....

Fall

It's that time of year when the air gets crisp and the leaves on the trees start to turn. I love it, the cool mornings and then the warm afternoons. Football games, Harvest Festival, pumpkins, I love the holidays, I love to bake and enjoy this time of year. How lucky we are that we don't have to dread fall - in the past this time of year I called myself a "harvest widow" Greg was busy with peanut harvest - but now thanks be to God, we can enjoy this time together and enjoy! God has blessed me so richly - Seasons of change - you can try to hold on to summer or look forward to fall, enjoy the change and find the good in it. I am so thankful that God didn't make the earth to stay with just one season, but as one comes to an end, we see the signs of the next season on it's way.

Sisters Keeper

I just finished up the book "My Sister's Keeper" - ugh - I wanted to see the movie and someone said oh read the book first....so I did and finished it today. Oh my - what a twisted ending that I didn't expect! It has made me think about being a Mom and how you treat your kids, on the way we look and try to hold on to life, and most of all it made me sad to read a book that was "not" focused and had a hope of God. Maybe some of you read it differently, it was tough to read through some of it (which some words and ideas I skimmed over) - I think a lot about my kids - - I wish I knew then what I know now - I just can pray that my uncontainable love for Jesus will be seen by them and they will know I do love them!

A Gift of Grace

I had to go to Austin this past week for training, a one night trip - when I got home on the bar was a fed ex pkg. Greg said it was from Cortney (my daughter) I opened it up and it was a book, "100 Reasons Why a daughter needs a Mom" as you can guess I started to cry. She had written a little note that said she loved and missed me. I called and thanked her, and then I got down on my knees and thanked God. I am so undeserving, and yet He still blesses me! I am so thankful that Cort is a thoughtful, loving very giving person. When they leave home you can only hope you instilled good in them, and you have to give them back to God....I am so thankful she is in His Hands.

I love my kids, I miss the 2 that are not living at home, I am counting the days down until we will meet in the "middle" 10-24 -

God's Little Princess

This is my Sunday morning class.... God's Little Princesses....Lily with her baby picture, princess pen and her crown!

Trinity, Raney, Jes'Lynn, & Lilly...

Raney's card she colored...

Jes'Lynn and her card....

Trinity and her card...

Lilly and her card....

I teach the kindergarten class on Sunday mornings. We are learning about God's creation and today was on God creating people. It worked out that I just had little girls today and Treg said that was a good thing when he saw what I had planned! We celebrated God making us special....

I took my princess blanket, and they all sat on it while we learned that God made each one of them very special, then I let them color in a princess stamp I had brought and we made that into a card, then they made their thumbprint (with ink) on the back of their card - we talked about no one has a thumbprint just like them. I love this age group they are so precious. I read the Beth Moore book "A Parable about the KING" and they were so sweet listening to this story about a little princess. I then gave them each their very own princess pen. I hope they will remember that God made them a princess, he created them very special not to be a "spoilt" princess, but God created them with special gifts to use and do good for God! My prayer is that they remember they are special! Oh yeah - when I was telling them that when they were each in their mommies tummies God was shaping and creating them with a special color of eyes, hair, nose.... then later on I had one little girl raise her hand and say, "how do babies get out of their mommies tummy?" Yikes! I just said honey ask your mommy, and I just kept on teaching. I had ask them to bring a baby picture of themselves and as you will see in some of the pics 2 little girls brought theirs. I took a picture of Cortney (my baby girl) as a baby, when she was in kindergarten (their age) and then a wedding picture of Cortney. I lined them out and told them her eyes have always been brown, I told them to see her when she was their age - but the one they just kept looking at was Cortney in her wedding dress. It seems like yesterday that Cortney was their age, how fast time goes. Little girls fascinate me, so sweet, so innocent, loving princess talk & dreaming of weddings. Hope you enjoy these pictures and can see the beauty in each little sweet face...Thank you God for giving me the chance to teach such a special class.

ps. I usually have one little boy, Wes Woodard and I was prepared with a boy card and I had a shield and sword for a prince if he was there. Kathryn had let me know they would be out of town, but I still came prepared. God made little boys so very special too!