From My Heart...

Two years ago my husband, Cody, was asked if he would start helping teach our youth on Wednesday nights and teach Sunday School on Sunday mornings. Our youth leaders at the time were moving and since he has always volunteered with the youth we agreed that he would help until the church found a new youth leader. After a few months of teaching our church trustees asked Cody if he would be the part time youth leader until they could find a full time youth leader. Once again we agreed to do this. At the time our church was going through some growing pains and we thought once we got through the storm every thing would go back to normal. I was head over the nursery department at the time also and I was very content with my job but God laid it on my heart to quit the nursery completely. He was calling me to stand beside my husband in his new position and completely devote myself to the youth. This was not what I wanted but after throwing a tantrum like a 2 year old I finally agreed to be ...

My husband, Cody, and I recently took our youth group on a week long mission trip in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. I must say I am a Texas girl, born and raised, but I LOVE that area of Oklahoma!! I even caught myself thinking, God if you decided this is where you want Cody and me then I am ready and willing! We have been home for almost 2 weeks and I still miss the trees, hills and water.  (Let me pause for a minute and remind you of my "word for the year"...CHANGE and let me also remind you I like to plan things out!) When Cody and I started looking at youth mission trips we had originally wanted to go to one that was in Texas, the same week as the Oklahoma trip. We scheduled it and put down our deposit then found out that camp was cancelled for that week and we needed to pick another camp. We decided to change the week we wanted to go but that didn't work with Cody's full time job schedule so we left the week the same. We picked this particular camp in Tahlequah becaus...

A few weeks ago my 5year old son had his tonsils and adnoids out and tubes put in his ears. The doctors told us it was a simple procedure and he would stay a few hours after, eat a popcicle and go home. This was our first time going through any kind of surgery with any of our kids, we have had nephews go through the same surgeries and they did ok so I thought there really wasn't much to worry about. The doctor came out after about 30 minutes and told us that the surgery went well and he was in recovery and we would get to see him in a little bit. Soon after we were called back to his room where he was sleeping. It wasn't long before he woke up and started throwing up, he couldn't keep anything down and all he wanted to do was sleep. What was supposed to be a six hour stay turned into a 14 hour stay. When we finally got home we thought he was over the hump and on the mend but then his fever spiked. We called the Doctor and he suggested we keep a close eye on him for the ti...

My husband and I choose to live a very simple life. In our minds we do not have a lot of worldly, material things our vehicles are not brand new and our house is very average, our kids do not have all of the latest and greatest toys, our clothes are not name brand and we are not wealthy according to the world's standards but we are happy and consider ourselves extremely blessed; we do not go to bed hungry at night and there are not holes in the floor of our house, our vehicles are nice and they get us from here to there, our kids have more toys than I would like for them to have, our closets are full of clothes and our bills always get paid. We pray and we laugh and we love unconditionally and we forgive, we give what we can when we can and sometimes even when we can't we still give. Some people look at the way we choose to live and question it. Some people wonder why I want to be a stay at home mom, why don't I go get a job and help provide for my family, why don't w...

This morning my 5 year old son got up, was almost ready to go to school and he started throwing up. So back to bed he went. Every morning before our kids leave for school we circle up, hold hands and say a prayer to start our day, so this morning we prayed in his room so that he could still be included and we also said a prayer asking for him to feel better. After my husband and daughter left I passed by my sons room and could hear him talking so I paused to see if he was calling me but before I could ask him what he needed I realized it wasn't me he was calling on, it was God! He was not asking God to make himself feel better but he was asking God to keep his best friend/cousin from getting sick because they were together yesterday at school. His prayer continued by praying that his aunt and uncle and other cousin would not get sick either because they were all around each other. As tears began to well up in my eyes (I must stop for a minute and say I had tea...

When I was reading through the book of Isaiah I got to chapter 53 and I had to stop and read it again then I looked it up in The Message translation and it was even more amazing. This was several weeks ago that I came across it but today, on Good Friday, as Easter is approaching I find myself once again turning to this passage. When the book of Isaiah was written Jesus Christ had not been sent down to earth but His coming birth and His death are foretold in this book. I want to share this chapter with you today as a reminder of what this weekend is ultimately about. Yes our families get together and celebrate and the kids have an Easter egg hunt but greater than all that is the fact that Jesus was crucified and rose again all for us, no other reason, just for you and me and just because God loves us that much!!! I don't know about you but that gives me chills!!! Thank you Father God for sending your son, Jesus, to die blamelessly for my sins! Thank you for the love and grace and ...

Everyone is busy! Everyone has someone or something pulling them one way or the other! We cannot do everything or be everywhere! This is a hard concept for many of us to understand, myself included. I want to do everything and be everywhere but it is absolutely not possible to do! In my perfect world I am always on time, I never have to say no, my house is always spotless and my laundry is always washed, folded, put up and never piled up!!! My world is not perfect, in fact it is FAR from it!! I have a tendency to let the things on my to-do list get the best of me, I start to feel guilty because my laundry isn't done or I missed someones birthday or, or, or... I get caught up in all the busyness and I forget about God! He is the one person or thing that isn't pulling me in all different directions, yes He is there watching, protecting and guiding but He is also waiting, waiting on me to recognize His presence in all of the busyness, and ironically He is t...