We Salute YOU!

1st Lt. Clinton Ott

Our Budda, My Dad!

Uncle Cliff Reed

Our family salutes all those who have served our country especially those above. They represent all those serving, who have served and who are no longer with us. Clinton, my cousin is serving as we speak, my Dad served bravely in the Vietnam War, and Nana's brother, our Uncle Cliff has passed away but received a purple heart for protecting mine and your freedom. More than anything now that I have a family I also appreciate the families of the Veteran's who allow their spouses, sons, daughters, etc. go and fight for us when they are left back home alone. I can not imagine how hard it is for them as well. So while we salute them let's not forget to also pray for their safety, and their families as well. I know I love my Veteran's!!

Days of Thanksgiving.

There has been so much sadness, sickness and hurt going on around me that it has put me an a constant state of prayer for others and continual Thanksgiving to our Lord for what I have. Please join me in praying for those who are hurting or need healing...I am only naming a few:

Tucker Isbill (baby with rare virus who also needs surgery)

Lucy (friends baby going through surgeries)

Kristie, Evan, Bailey and Bryce Butterworth (mom due any day with little girl who has a rare seizure disorder)

Donna (Mom's friend whose brother just passed away)

Heather Hill (my sister who is soon to find out her fate in past issues)

Kristie and Jonah Wren (mom and baby who was born at 29 weeks)

There are more but these are the ones that just came to my mind. I have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of people who I need to be praying for...

Which brings me to take notice more and more every moment of every day that I spend with my precious family. They aren't perfect nor without bad moments, but they are mine and God has given me more than I could ask or imagine. I am so thankful for them and have found myself crying "thankful tears" quite often. I pray this wouldn't just be the case when I'm thinking of others needs but each day I would look at what is going on and be thankful and grateful to an awesome God.

The pictures are of yesterday and some specific reasons I am thankful:

-Micah was at school so I had uninterrupted playtime with SayJ. She even got to jump on the trampoline without fear of getting whiplash.

-Micah and his funnies: He caught a beetle today and named it "Cledus take the Reel". You gotta know the backstory(ask me later). I came in his room yesterday during naptime and he looked guilty as all get out....long story short he had been trying to be like me when I was pregnant and was putting turtle's shell up his shirt. He is having trouble having more than one best friend, he isn't my child. He went to Mick's class today and shared Jesus with the whole class, if he'd passed out tracks I would have had an alter call. He told Mick the other day that singing a song about Jesus was just like praying. Micah found mushrooms in the backyard and without me knowing went and got my camera and took about ten pictures of them. I put one above if you were wondering what in the world. There's more....but I'll stop for now.

-Sadie Jane is trying to talk and is sleeping (dare I say it) alot better.

-We are having a hard time quitting nursing, but I am so thankful we have done it this long. Judge me if you want.

-They both love to dance, and so do I . Warms my heart to rock out at the house or in the car with my babies.

-My husband, while he lost at softball early, ended up gaining a month of time with us by doing so. He also has picked up every odd job that we have heard of to help make ends meet the past few months. So thankful.

Warren Barfield - Love Is Not A Fight ( Acoustic )

Trying to find a way to share this with my husband...and the rest of you. I stole it from an awesome girl. She knows so much so early.
This song should be our prayer for our marraiges, for others, and for those that are seeking marraige it is something to think about before you jump in.

Redeemed.

Warning: Long, rambling post to follow. Read if you have the time:)

So my last post offended enough people I guess. Just teasing. It really was meant to be humorous, not at all serious. I have been meaning to post a little bit about the Bible Study I am attending but I wanted a picture with it...but haven't found one yet. But I thought this would redeem what I was saying in the previous post. When I spoke of Baptists in the previous post I was being terribly stereotypical and over the top. In fact those Baptists that I was teasing about in high school ended up being some of my closest friends and only a few really still think I need to "get saved". I love some Baptists and in fact almost all my closest friends consider themselves that as well as half of my family(oh yeah, and my husband, eek)! Not my mother, God forbid, that place Micah discussed would have to freeze over for that to happen. HA. AND those people I discussed in high school were simply "predestined" to minister to me. Anyways, I digress. I am doing a Precept Bible Study on Genesis. It has been hard, challenging, frustrating, enlightening, inspiring and awesome all rolled into one. I have missed a good bit dealing with children for some reason or another but what I have gotten to be apart of through study or teaching I have so enjoyed. We have three weeks left and I continue to be excited to go and learn. Mainly to know more about God, but secondarily to get to study under an amazing teacher and thirdly(is that a word?) to hang out with some pretty cool women (a dear friend and I committed together, making it harder to copout which is always good accountability in a tough study, I recommend it). Most call our teacher by her first name but I simply can not...to me she is always Ms. Juli. She was my neighbor growing up and has a son the same age as me. So it isn't just a great study, I am also learning so much from someone pretty special. What is funny about this is that growing up some of the things she required of her boys, or didn't let her boys do that we could do made her very strange to me. I am sure there were times when I even made fun of her boys for said things. But as I grew older I learned that these were the very convictions that I would then impose or instill in my children. I have since apologized for the making fun:) But it is also neat to study under someone who I have watched all my life who I am sure has made mistakes, but I have seen a constant theme in her life, and that is Jesus. There is no question when she says something I am listening, I mean I listen to any teacher, but because I know of Ms. Juli's life it makes what she says all the more validated. It is definitely something I want to learn how to live out loud more and seeing how Ms. Juli studies the scriptures in this class has given me light into how she has gotten to who she is...it wasn't all those days at church, or the Bible studies she had at her house, or where she sent her kids to school, the trips to DQ for memorizing our Bible verses, or the happy Birthday Jesus party, or any of the other outward signs I saw. (Although, those were all good things) it was what she was doing that I didn't see that has really made such a difference in her life and enabled her to make the decisions, choices and set the example that she is setting. (both now and then) Humbling, challenging and convicting for me to be in a class under Ms. Juli. Now don't go thinking I've forgotten what the class is about, I know it isn't Ms. Juli we are studying; it is our amazing God in Genesis:) And let me tell you, I never realized how important that book is to what we believe. What we believe about Creation and those first seven days impacts everything we believe about God and Jesus. I wouldn't have said that before studying it so hard core, but it is the truth. The most exciting thing we have learned so far is discussing whether Creation happened in six 24 hour days...I believe it did. I think I am starting some more controversy:) I have always believed it did, but never did I have the knowledge to back this belief up. Wow, God is so much bigger to me now that I have read scripture and have knowledge to back up my belief. We have been looking at Genesis for a long time, but last week Ms. Juli brought in the example of the first miracle Jesus did and juxtaposed it next to the Creation story. Go read it. Now compare it, I am stealing all this from Ms. Juli, but the first miracle is when Jesus turned the water into wine. The servant took it to the head waiter. When the headwaiter drank it he immediately knew/thought/assumed it was aged wine. Hmmm....but it wasn't. Jesus just made it. In the same way God made Creation in six days. Some say it looks a whole lot older (ie. aged), but it isn't. God created it. In the timeframe mentioned in Scripture. And if He did it some of the other ways scientists suggest He isn't quite the God we claim He is...or at least that is the way I see it. There is waaay too much of this study to compile a single post or even several posts. But I wanted to share a glimpse so there it is...take it for what it's worth.

P.S. I'll let you guess what denomination Ms. Juli is...hee hee.

Last Disclaimer: By the looks of my posts it looks like I care way too much about denomination or about what people think. Maybe moreso of the latter. I do not take as much stock in denomination as it sounds and I try not to worry about what others think, while also trying to be who Jesus wants me to be. The end.

Southern Baptist Evangelist?

Today my worst fear came true...well actually that is a gross exaggeration but for the sake of humor I will say that...
I have told you our Micah is a rare bird. The boy is sensitive and passionate and loving and spiteful and kind and ugly all in one. The things he says and does really amaze me. Again another picture of our great God and how He knit Micah together to be who He is, no chance or happenstance could have made my little boy.
All this to say this morning we are all sitting around the table for breakfast, a miracle in itself...not Mick but the three of us...and I remind Micah to say the blessing. He says we only bless dinner. Ahhh, can you tell I forget at breakfast alot, so much so that Micah thinks it unacceptable to bless it. So I start to tell him we thank God for every meal and he looks at me and says, "You know if you don't believe in God, you go to he-ell. (it is two syllables for my southern boy)" I told him yes, that I knew this but who told him that? He said Mick did and we moved on I wasn't really sure I wanted to go any further in that conversation. So we keep eating and he looks at me and tells me again..."If people don't believe in Jesus they go to he-eell." I said I know Micah but that is a hard concept for little boys brains, isn't that hard to understand? To which he replies "No it is not, if you don't believe in God you go to hell." Alright. I decided to go towards that "and that is why we tell people about Jesus, so they wont go to hell part" to which he replies "some people already went to hell because they didn't believe..." Ok. I then told him to eat his breakfast because I didn't know where else to go here...
...and inside my head I was cringing because I grew up Presbyterian at a high school with a whole bunch of Southern Baptist's who felt it was their mission to "save me from he-ell" even though I already believed in Jesus and God. Their views were very legalistic, they were very focused on keeping people from hell, rathering than seeing people go to heaven. And now I am raising one of them. Not if I can help it. All these well meaning Baptists are good people, and if you are reading my blog sorry for throwing you under the bus. I happen to attend a Southern Baptist church now (gasp) but still can't bring myself to be put under that label. Personal issues people. So hopefully you wont take this post too seriously, most of it is meant to be humorous. We are not raising our child to be a "Turn and Burn Preacher" but it is interesting what he chooses to focus on learning and what he actually understands and wants to talk about. We want him to know truth and I am glad he wants to hear it and understand it I just pray he gets a complete biblical worldview and isn't swayed to be judgemental or think he is above any body or that he's superior and that he grows up never knowing a day when he didn't believe Jesus was real and that heaven is where he is going when he dies...and not hell....but maybe notsomuch focus on the hell part.
I have thought of a thousand disclaimers to put on this post so please read it knowing it is a small snapshot of what we teach our child and what goes on, please read all my other blogposts to know what I represent, in case this one causes some confusion.

"From My Rearview Looking Back"

Those country fans know that song..."From My Front Porch Looking In". I have always loved the Rascal Flatts song, wasn't it Rascal Flatts?? Oh well, that really isn't the point anyways...
Last week I was driving around as usual, working, playing, planning, singing, talking and I just thought how blessed I was to be able to look in my rearview mirror and see most of what God has given me in that small little space. I immediately thought of that song and replaced the words with "From My Rearview Looking Back" It just made sense for me that day.
It wasn't so long ago for me that I have forgetten the ache I had anytime I thought of having babies and we couldn't figure out why we weren't having any, that my rearview mirror was actually used for its primary purpose of checking for things behind me.:) Now it is used to check faces, sounds and to properly pass a sippy cup or snacks.
...or it wasn't that long ago that I heard a friend loose their baby before he entered this world...and it wasn't too long ago that a friend's child was diagnosed with cancer, another with a seizure disorder and yet another born with heart issues.
So I took that moment as I looked in my rearview on Friday and I praised Jesus for what I saw...
...I saw two sweet babies.
...I saw more crumbs, goldfish, puffs and straw papers than I could count.
...I saw crocs in every color and size.
...I saw smiley faces.
...I saw sleeping faces.
...I even saw those days of the screaming faces.
...I saw millions of buckling and unbuckling.
...I saw SayJ's baby doll that she loves to hold.
...I saw the silly puppy dog that Micah couldn't part with in the car that SayJ wants nothing to do with
...I saw my past and my future.
...I saw Micah singing every single word to "If I Got Young" (it's actually If I DIE young)
...I saw SadieJane trying to sing with that sweet tiny mouth.
...I saw SayJ having her first sucker, in between saying mmmhmmm.
...I saw trips as a family of me wedging myself in between those two seats to make somebody happy or trying to nurse someone while still in their carseat.
...I saw things flying at me, feet kicking and hundreds of "Mommy, hold this!"

It is amazing how that little mirror can encompass so much of what I love and care for in this crazy place we call life.
So I think I'll be safer from now on and always check my "rearview" and thank God for all that is in it...crumbs and all.
I don't know what is in your rearview today, or what you wish you saw, but I say be thankful for what you do or don't and know that God has a plan for your life...my rearview mirror and I, we are living proof of just that...

4th Annual Harvest Party

SuperMEN trying to agree on a pose...

Our sweet butterfly...

...that looked an awful lot like Pete's Dragon:)

Here are most of the kids with no one looking. Nice.

Pax, the cutest elephant ever...and Uncle Mick.

The butterfly checking her blindspot.

off roading it...

Daddy with his beautiful butterfly, somewhere in there.

Barrett and his horse

Chase conked out!

Trick or Treat! The butterfly wanted to go IN every house!

Aunt Amy minded the manners patrol at each door...thank goodness!

All worn out. Should've taken a brother/sister picture before the madness.

All of the girls that were left...

Justina.

Pax and Micah hanging out after everyone had gone.

We had our 4th Harvest Party yesterday. I say Harvest because I don't like the scary that comes with Halloween. I cooked chili and we ate and trickortreated. This year Micah REALLY enjoyed the trick or treating part. I think every boy busted it and dropped their candy at least once. This year we did the whole neighborhood. Which means all the parents walked at least a mile while also pulling, carrying or chasing something. As far as I could tell fun times were had by all. Sadie Jane even went with us and by about half a mile she was done with the fun. She eventually just laid down on the sidewalk. Hilarious. My camera was being soooo crazy so I didn't get any good pictures. The battery died and Mick being superdad went and got more during our walk around the hood, but it still didn't work quite right. Boo. Happy Harvest to you and yours!