14 Years......Loving it!!!

My Son Got Aggravated And Made Me Proud!

We have had so many wonderful experiences here is Texas! We have met wonderful people, had neat experiences, and seen amazing things. However, there is one experience that has not been so great. This is something we do weekly and after about 10 weeks of "giving it time" we are still disappointed. This weekly let down is our regular trip to the library. We have accepted the fact that libraries in our area are not as modern as the libraries we were used to in Greer, but the problem has to do with noise. We have visited four different libraries in our area and the problem is always the same...they are LOUD!

Today Wes and I were in the central library in our area. We had discussed that once again this library was unusually loud. Wes had found his book and was sitting down to read while I finished looking. Suddenly he came up to me just furious. He said "it is impossible to read in here, because everyone is making so much noise". Let me just say this was not just children on summer break with nothing to do...this was adults! They were talking to each other and on the phone and across the library!

I am not sure the reason for this problem. Maybe people are just not familiar with library etiquette. So I did a little research and found a little article on just that subject! Ironically, this article is written by a resident in Fort Worth.

Maybe we will visit a library in Fort Worth and do a comparison. Just remember when you visit the library...shhh!

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18

Amen.

Those days...

I am really at a pretty interesting place in my life. I have just moved half way across the country, my husband is returning to school and I am living the last few months of 39. That means in a very short time I will turn 40.

I have been handling this pretty well. At least there has been so much craziness going on that I have been distracted enough to not think about it! I mean this could be the one time that I could ignore it and it may go away!

Then tonight I was cooking supper and my beautiful daughter asked me this question, "Mama, what were the styles back in the day?". What? Back in the day of who? Back in the day must mean some great time ago. Maybe she meant the pilgrims, or the pioneers. Maybe she meant bible times. Maybe "back in the day" meant when Nana was a little girl!

So, I got brave and asked "back in what day?". Then it came...what I really did know deep down inside she had meant all along..."back in the day when you were young". My heart sank. I didn't really know how to handle this news. My childhood was "back in the day".

Now that I have been slapped in the face with the reality that I have lived long enough to have a "back in the day" time period. I have decided to embrace it!! To face the last half of 39 with a smile and take on 40 with gusto!! Possibly I will do all the things I have never done, scuba diving, climbing Mt. Everest, sailing around the world, or sky diving! Maybe I will loose a lot of weight and run marathons and hike the Appalachian Trail!

Or maybe best of all, I will get a better hair dye, sit down with a cup of coffee, and tell my daughter about "back in the day"

We have a new family member!!

I was told that you better watch out when you go to seminary..."if you can have kids you will at seminary, everyone does"! Well we have... but maybe not in the way you think! Our new family member live in Rwanda and her name is Liliane. She is 6 and absolutely beautiful! I hope you will go to Sid's blog and read more about Liliane and see her picture.

Psalm 127:3 says that children are a gift from the Lord. If you have ever spent time with children you can quickly see that this is true. If you have any questions about how you could be a part of a child's life like Lilian go to: www.worldvision.org

SOS

Today we got a really neat piece of mail..."How to be a Texan". It told some really neat things about how to legally be a citizen of the state(or small country) of Texas. It included things like your drivers license, your car tags, and inspection sticker. It was a really neat and well done information brochure. There was one problem however...it did not tell me where to find my instant grits!!!

I had found one small, box of quick grits earlier but we were in need of some instant ones as well. So I looked at Kroger, I looked at SAM'S, and finally at WalMart I found one box of plain instant grits. Now if you are at all familiar with grits you know that the instant grits come in a large variety of flavors. Not in Texas.

So my SOS is to any of you wonderful people who have access to instant grits...we would love some!! We really love the cheese lovers!! I think I can handle being a "Texan" better with some grits!! So please have mercy and send grits...after all I am a:

Girl

Raised

In

The

South

...with boldness

A wonderful new friend of ours, Martin Jones, will be leaving for Ghana on June 19th. We ask you to pray for him as he travels to spread the message of Christ. This is a link to their blog, and you can read more about this mission trip there. Please pray for this teams safety, Martin's courage, and his family staying here in Dallas.

When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were filled
with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God's message with boldness
Acts 4:31