I HATE needles!

Wednesday, three of us were scheduled for our medical check-up, TB test, and blood work in order to get ready for our homestudy. Brandon ended up having to go alone since he couldn't miss a class at the time I had scheduled the appt. I conveniently forgot to tell him that he had to have blood work. I got a text that said, "MOM, you know I HATE needles and you didn't tell me I had to have bloodwork!" I sent back that I was sorry, and for him to remember that this was his idea. I was so proud when he responded with, "IT WILL ALL BE WORTH IT." As soon, as I get our medical records back I should have all of the paperwork ready to send off for our homestudy.

All in a day...

Starting at 6am my wonderful husband called to wake me up since he was already at work and I often forget to set my alarm and should have already been up and moving. Have you ever heard, "I'm too busy not to pray?" Well, I knew today would be one of those days, so with a cup of coffee and my bible I heard a quick word from God and this is what He said, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-12

Doesn't He always have a perfect word for us and He knows what we will need for the day ahead?

After waking my grumpy little girl and rushing to get out the door we had a quick conversation that went like this:

"Mommy, is ___ a bad word?"

"No, but it really doesn't sound nice for little girls to say."

"Ok, but ___ said it."

"Well, you can only control you so make sure your language is nice."

"Ok" and we were off to school. On our way to school, she asked another question,

"Mommy, is ____ a bad word?"

"YES! That is a terrible word, where did you hear that?"

"I saw it on the back of a man's shirt riding his motorcycle driving down the road."

"Well, baby girl, we can't control other people, we can only show them that Jesus loves them, and make sure our language glorifies God."

Oh Lord, can't we protect our children from the filthy language that surrounds us? Thank you, Jesus, for reminding me that your peace will guard our hearts and minds when we present our requests to you.

Once in my classroom, I spent a day with sixth graders, and that is always full of adventure! Yes, I've definately heard some language there, too. Occasionally, I get to experience a little bit of innocence. I was tutoring two students during lunch(yes, that dreaded TAKS test is next week). The little girl asked me if I had adopted my daughter when she saw a picture on my desk. I told her yes, and the little boy, who knows my family very well, said in all honesty, "REALLY!" I said to him, "you know her," and he said "I know, but I didn't know she was adopted." It is such a blessing to get the opportunity to experience that kind of color blind every once in awhile.

During my conference I was able to walk across the street to the baseball field and watch #1 on the baseball field as they won 12-5. Then after school was over we returned to watch them lose the second game in this tournament.

As I arrived at home to let my precious puppy out of my room, I found he had somehow gotten into some bath confetti and scattered it all over my bedroom and bathroom. Well, at least the dog should have a clean mouth!

We were even able to get outside and play a game of washers and swing on our favorite swing before the sun went down. Of course, I was the loser, but it was a great evening for getting outside.

Now, while Dad is at a softball draft and big brother is at a track meet, I cooked Tia a gourmet bowl of Mac and Cheese. Hearing her say, "Thanks, Mom for cooking Mac and Cheese, " made

me feel alot better about cooking such an unhealthy dinner.

And as I watched the sun set from my front porch, it reminded me of God's awesome beauty He has blessed us with, even when the world around us, isn't always pretty.

II Corinthians 9:12

This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.

To our anonymous "Sister in Christ" you have blessed us more than you know today. The precious donation to our "saving for a sister" fund means more to us than money. It shows us your love for the orphan, it is further proof of God's endless provisions for us, and blesses us to know that you heard God's call when He spoke to you and you were obedient to that call.

Following God and then sitting back and watching how He orchestrates it all is such an amazing blessing. For anyone reading this, I would love to hear how God has blessed you in an awesome way that was way beyond what you ever dreamed.

Our prayer for you precious sister is IICor. 9:10 "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness."

Saving for a sister...

Isn't it amazing how serving someone else puts a little joy in our heart and a smile on our face. My daughter is not a happy camper when she wakes up in the morning. We try to go to bed early so our mornings will start a little better, but that isn't often the case. Last week, when I woke her up to get ready for school, she said, "I need to finish my dream." Unfortunately, she had to finish that dream another night. So, every night we talk about getting up happier the next morning.

Right after waking her this morning, I was surprised to find her with a big smile and see her with her change purse picking up change from our dresser. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "I'm saving money to get my sister." It is going to take every penny we can find around here to save for our sister, but we know if this is God's desire He will finance it penny by penny. She is excited and we are so proud of her heart to provide a home to a little girl that wouldn't otherwise have a family. What a joy it was to see that smile...I just hope for it again tomorrow morning!

On another note, we are excited to follow our friends, The Addington's, on their journey to China to adopt their little girl starting tomorrow. Please pray for their safety and God's guidance and peace as they travel. By clicking on their name, you can see the blog they have begun to chronicle their journey.

What a weekend!

Tia and her teacher after winning 1st place on her valentine box.

A tired bunch of boys after staying awake for the past two nights.

Claire loved her little train we bought her and her birthday cupcake. This was taken immediately before she was quicker than her mommy and grabbed the candle and let out a huge scream.


For those of you that had a nice, quiet, Valentine's weekend, don't be too jealous or try to keep up with the Jones'. I am trying to catch my breath after an extremely busy weekend. In the midst of the craziness, David and I did exchange a card a small gift for each other, but a quiet date will have to come another time. God has show Himself in a mighty way and just the mere fact that I haven't collapsed is proof enough to me. We just finished up a Disciple Now weekend with the youth at church. There were 72 youth involved in the weekend, 12 of those staying at our house. The Jr. and Sr. boys stayed with us all weekend and believe it or not, my house is still standing! I was very proud of these boys and saw some great times of fellowship and devotions with the Lord and one another. They can certainly eat and without the help of another dear couple I would have gone broke trying to feed them. Saturday breakfast alone consisted of 2 dozen eggs, 2 lbs of bacon, 16 large biscuits, gravy, a box of pancake mix, bananas, a gallon of milk, and a carton of juice. During the 5 hours that they were gone doing mission work on Saturday we slipped away and went to Tia's last basketball game and my neice's first birthday party. Brandon also had a baseball scrimmage that I had to miss, but David watched in the nice cold air.

I do have to say that I hope God spoke to the ladies in my Sunday School class this morning, because if they got anything at all out of it, it was definately God and not me! I went to my room last night around midnight to continue looking over my lesson and think I crashed the moment I sat down. Here are just a few of the pictures from our weekend. To God be the GLORY for the things He has done! It was not by my strength, or by my power, but by His strength. (Zech. 4:6).
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FYI - Mom was NOT smiling!


Look at what can happen in just a matter of moments. Just as I completed typing this but before submitting it, I told Brandon and his friend that I smelled something burning. We didn't see anything, but I remembered he had a candle burning upstairs to improve the aroma after a houseful of boys was gone. He ran upstairs to check and screamed for me to get the fire extinquisher. As I ran upstairs with my heart pounding, I saw the candle that had begun burning the coffee beans around it and it wouldn't blow out with about a 8 inch flame. So much for my pretty candle. He set it in the bathtub and turned the water on. The flames shot all the way up the shower and left behind lots of smoke and black flame marks. After letting my heart stop pounding, I decided to finish and send a picture of the little mishap. I am praising God that He allowed us to smell it before it got any worse. I couldn't help but think of the time my mom's house burned down and about the terrible fire of my blogger friend, Linny, and say thank you Jesus for your protection. I didn't even have to use the fire extinquisher, but boy did it scare me!

A Quick Update

I don't have much time at the moment, but want to update you on something exciting. We just got our acceptance letter by email for China's Waiting Child program. That is one more detail which is in God's hands and is another step closer to finding out which precious little angel God has waiting for us in China. There are so many details to take care of in the months ahead, but we are confident that this process will happen in God's perfect timing. David is going today to have our fire extinquisher checked to see if it is still good before we have a fire inspection. We are praying that everything will be ready to submit our homestudy for review within a few weeks. Please pray with us as we open our hearts and minds to which age and special need God desires for us. One thing I do know for certain today:

God is good all the time
All the time God is good!

Birthday Blessings

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TWO SPECIAL PEOPLE!

I thank God that He has blessed me with sharing in your lives!

Princess Claire, turned 1 on Tuesday

PawPaw turned 65 on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday!

This is an old picture and not good of me, but it is one of my favorites anyway. I miss that smile and enjoy going back to a few of my old pictures. Justin called tonight(I think it came from a promting from his daddy that momma Needed a phone call!). He is still in California and has not deployed yet. He is extremely disappointed, but I know God knows what is best for him. Please keep him in your prayers along with the others that are deployed as we wait for their safe return.

"I thank my God every time I remember you," Phil. 1:3

He can move a mountain

These pictures were taken in Mexico
last summer. The mountains were
beautiful and reminded us that if God
can move a mountain He can certainly
move the obstacles in our lives, no
matter how big or small they may
seem to us. Thank you, Askey family,
for sharing your home with us! We
pray that God moves all the
mountains that may be in your way!

If you need a little encouragement or just a great moment of praise take a moment and listen to the newest song on my playlist at the bottom of this page. It is Mighty to Save, by Hillsong. That song has been playing in my head all week and I have been thinking of the lyrics and what they mean. "Savior, He can move a mountain, my God is mighty to save." I know my God can move a mountain. I've seen Him do it many times before and can't wait til I watch Him do it again. When I think about the mountains He has moved in the past I know He can move the ones we are praying for now.

Please pray with us that He moves these mountains in the days and months ahead:

*Our friend, Hank, whose cancer has returned. He will be going through chemo next week.

*Another friend, Cliff, who has been diagnosed with Leukemia

*Our military, protecting us right now at home and across the world

*All the mountains of paperwork we must work through to adopt our daughter from China

Job 9:5 (New International Version)
He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger.

The Super Bowl was incredible

Can anyone tell me who was playing or who won the game? I have no idea, but it was incredible because I had time to relax while everyone else was watching. The only football I enjoy watching is my own home team. Thanks to my boys, I love high school football, although after all this time, my guys still just shake their head that mom just doesn't get it when it comes to football. Sorry guys, I try and I will always be your #1 cheerleader. I can't believe we only have one more year to be the parents of a high school football player. It has certainly been fun! Looks like we will be watching more basketball in the years ahead since that is what our baby girl just loves. She made 5 baskets at her game yesterday, but my camera just doesn't capture action shots. Brandon came in #2 in power lifting with a total lift of over 1000 lbs. WOW! I can't believe that little baby that once weighed less than 5 lbs is so strong!