Urgent prayer request

Please be in prayer for Henry and his family. Go to www.henryschallenge.blogspot.com for details of how to pray. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much! May the Lord's will prevail.

New Pictures of the guys

Ladies and Gentlemen, Here are the latest school pictures.....



Original photos for family will soon be in the mail, but I just couldn't WAIT to show them off! Aren't they great??

Also, tonight was Nick's football awards ceremony, complete with pizza, popcorn, soda, and ice cream (can you say "healthy"?? NOT!) He got a really cool football trophy and we received the team photos tonight... here is Nick's..... (click on image to see it larger).

Again, the individual photo of him we got in wallet size, and family members will be receiving theirs in the mail soon.

Now that football is over, we can focus on NORMAL life again. Phew!

Have a great day y'all!

Technology makes for a "small world"

I am excited! I love technology! When my mother-in-law and her husband moved away to Denver 3 weeks ago, I was really bummed. Now, I know that they are in the Lord's will and that makes me happy. But I miss them!

So, Julie and I can easily keep up on things by cell phone and email, and we also both have a blog... hers is on my sidebar... Grammie Betimes! So we can share pictures and such. I just posted wedding pictures for her to see, and she has been posting pictures of her new apartment, the Denver area, Jack's sister, etc. It's been really cool.

But the very best thing was tonight! The church they attend has a live stream webcast of their services. SO... being 2 hours behind us here on the east coast, we came home from our evening service, and found an email from Julie with a link to the church's website. We clicked on it... it's only 7pm out there.... LOOK!!!! Service is going on RIGHT NOW! They have a fantastic choir, and the preacher is preaching along similar lines to the message we heard in Vermont this evening! The Holy Ghost is MOVING! Then suddenly, THERE'S JACK! Where's mom? THERE SHE IS! It is like being in service with them! It was exciting for us. :)

Back before the invention of the automobile, families stayed close. Now we are spread out all over the globe, but technology has made a way for us to "be there" nonetheless! It truly is a "small world". Thank you Lord for affording us the opportunity to worship you with the saints in Denver! YOU ARE GREAT, JESUS!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, MOM! HOPE YOUR DAY WAS GREAT,
JUST LIKE YOU!!!!!!

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get married!

What a fun day! Our longtime friend Ruth King got married today to a dynamite guy named Ben, and the wedding was so wonderful! Here are some pictures of their big day.

The wedding was co-officiated by our pastor and Ruth's uncle from Missouri.

The bridesmaids were beautiful... Kelly was emotional...

Dad made it down the aisle with Ruth on his arm, but the tears flowed after he sat down. :)

This picture of Ben and Ruth doing the unity candle is blurry because I zoomed in too far.

You may kiss the bride!

I LOVE this picture... it is the true Ruth! She looks soooooooo happy!!!

Ruth's mom Karen looked absolutely beautiful as well!

They did an excellent job decorating a gymnasium for a wedding! It was very nice!

Kissing after sharing the wedding cake.....

Don't they look terrific????

Here's dad... chillin' now that it is all over. A very proud papa. :)

And the coolest thing??? For their honeymoon, they are going to GENERAL CONFERENCE in North Carolina! That is totally cool! I'll be watching online in my living room... maybe I'll see them....? Or not... :)

Fireproof and football

Hello everyone! I ask your forgiveness, as I have not been in much of a writing mood lately. My energies have been spent in other areas of life, and trying to focus on writing has just been too much.

Hmmm... one thing I would love to share with you all is the AMAZING movie our family went to see called "Fireproof". Anyone who frequents my blog has heard about it or clicked on the banner to see all kinds of information and trailers. I have to tell you... the movie FAR EXCEEDED our expectations! It was a tremendous testimony to God's amazing ability to use ordinary people to get out HIS MESSAGE to the people who need to hear it! There is no question that the reason our nation is in the mess it's in is because of the breakdown in the basic family unit. Marriages are crumbling all around us every day, and it weakens society to the point where immorality and sin prevail, destroying God's model of how we are to exist in this life. Marriage between one man and one woman until death do us part is a model of the relationship between God and his people! Jesus Christ and the church! OF COURSE the devil wants to attack and destroy this Godly institution!

Anyway, suffice it to say, it is an adult topic (divorce) and there are no children in this movie, and yet my 9 and 11 year old sons walked out of the theater saying it was the best movie they have ever seen! TRUE!!! Jesus Christ as Lord of your life and Lord of your marriage was the central theme of the movie. And it was #4 in the box office opening weekend, and #8 the following weekend! It opened on 839 screens, compared to Hollywood's offerings, opening on 2500-3000 screens each! God is amazing! If you have the chance, I URGE you to drive to the nearest theater to see it (which for us was a 3 hour drive, as it did not open anywhere in Vermont). It will be soooooo worth the drive!!!! AND... we will be owning this on DVD the second it is available!

What else can I share with you? My job is proving to be very challenging this year. I come home physically, mentally, and emotionally drained most days. I have discovered that this particular child I am working with will require much prayer. Only God can give me the strength required to do my job. That way, HE gets all the glory, as it should be!

Football is just about over! This Thursday's game was a really exciting one, and Nick's team did win! They have had a great season, and learned SO MUCH! The mighty green team has outstanding coaches... the BEST! They teach the love of the game, not the competitive "out for blood, win at all costs" mentality. The boys just LOVE playing! And at age 8 and 9, they can run complicated plays like reverse sweeps and such... successfully!!!! And they have some amazing passing/receiving players as well, and some kids who are just natural born football players... all-around amazing!

Hmmm... what else? I don't know. There is a ton of other things I could tell you about, but my writing mood just isn't there, and it would probably bore you to tears anyway. Here are the only 2 facts that matter right at this moment...

1. Jesus Christ is Lord and coming back soon (THAT is exciting news!!).

2. Red Sox just won Game 1 of the ALCS against Tampa Bay, and it was exciting!

I am rambling because I am so tired... 12:37 am! AH! Time to hit the sack. Take time to thank God for His faithfulness to you today! Bye!

Abundant life

In John 10:10, Jesus said, "I am come that they may have life, and that more abundantly." Here is my take on that...

Life is full of ups and downs; it's just the way life is, whether you are a Christian or not. Now.... a non-believer has a life that looks like this...
But because the Christian believer has been promised life MORE ABUNDANTLY, they have a life that looks more like this....

That is very much how my day was today. Extreme highs and lows. It is exhausting, actually. But God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. He never has "bumps" in the road like we do! Nothing takes him by surprise. God sees everything like this

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So, I will not bore you with the details (many of which are confidential anyway). I'll just let you know that I went grocery shopping at 1am to relieve the stress in my mind. And it's pouring rain....