slow down!

I am having trouble slowing down at night lately. Just check out the time of this post. Yes I do take a sleeping pill, but I seem to not be able to make the brain stop. I think this is a sign that I am trying to do too much.



Here is my man Dre with one missing tooth on top. This was two Thursday's ago.



Then the very next night he was missing both! Now we are just hoping it stays this way until Christmas. Sing with me...."All I want for Christmas is my _____ _____ _____!"

Too much fun!

The Best trip I have ever taken! Only made so much fun because of my very own bored gargoyle!


Notre Dame was amazing...it had better be after the 370 stair steps to the top.







What better way to turn 30 and spend your anniversary than in Paris with the best man in the world?












I must go to bed now, I am having too much fun!

Move over Beth Moore

So this is my new screen saver. A great reminder of what God taught me on the roadtrip to San Antonio. This group of women were used as vessels to change my life. Move over Beth Moore, here come the Edmond girls! (just a side note...Beth Moore was awesome and taught some amazing truths!)

love my babes!

These are my babies! Well, they aren't really babies anymore, but I guess they always will be to me. Julia (2), Draden (5 and 1/2..that half is important by the way), and Caleb (4). They are my mess and I love them for it! God is using them everyday to teach me things I never thought I would even want to know. But mostly, I live for the moments when Draden says, "Mom I love this, can we please do more home school?" Or when they laugh so hard they snort, or when they crawl up into the big blue chair just to rock with me. Not so much when they are my alarm clock at 7:15 with a not so pleasant..."No! It's mine!" But all the same. They are such a magnificent blessing, and I guess my greatest fear is that I will do them wrong. I'm told I can't, but for a girl who generally doesn't worry, if I had to admit my greatest fear, that would be it. One of the many things that God is using these wonderful children for. Teaching me to trust to my very core. Oh, how I love them!

Bon Jovi

Going back a bit....This is the sisters, all gussied up for Jon (Bon Jovi that is) We had a blast! We went and saw him when he came to OKC on April 15. Yep, just going back in time. I like the picture thing. I think I will back up again....very soon!

The blanks in my life

I apparently am not any good at keeping a blog that is updated. Maybe it is because nobody ever reads it. I should be more faithful.
So as soon as I figure out the finer things of blogging (such as how to post pictures and stuff) I will make it public and I will tell of the great things that have happened in my world. Can I pre-date my stuff? Because I could go back a ways and fill in the blanks. I don't want to have blanks in my life! ARRRGGGG!!!!!

One year

Today is July 17th.

What a journey this year has been. A year that God has really revealed Himself to me. He gave me opportunities to turn out and serve others instead of turning in and sitting in sadness. Don't get me wrong. Feeling the loss of Kathy is not a bad thing. Dwelling on it for hours on end is.

I love serving at the mission. I feel a breath of life every time I go down there. Which is really kinda weird because so many there are just so lost. But I feel God moving and stirring up something. I'm reaching out instead of sleeping in. I love it!

I also love the steps (and quite a few there are too!) that I am taking to fight cancer. I have learned a lot about how my body works and the more I know the more I can tell others.

I loved doing the Beth Moore study on Daniel. I learned so much about God and it was refreshing to learn about Him and not necessarily have it be about me in any way. I am a part of the plan, I am not the plan!

I love that my sweet sisters-in-love both went out of there way to tell me that they were praying for me today. Amy with the flowers and Taunda with the card. I could not ask for better sisters. God has blessed me with so much!

Sometimes I wonder why some lives get cut off so short while others keep on trekking on with little discomfort. I wonder why beautiful women like Kathy and Christie, who both love God so much, don't get to live very long. What is the point of that? But I don't feel angry. Just confused sometimes. I know that God is bigger than my heart, so He knows what he is doing. I just wonder about it, that's all.

Mostly today I am so incredibly grateful for my family. We live in God's peace and I feel it every day. That is not to say that it is always peaceful and quiet around here, but there is just a sense of knowing that I am not in charge. My little mistakes are not going to ruin everything. God has a plan for my family's life and I just need to let the Spirit of my Mighty God live in me and through me every day and things will be alright. Better than alright.

So as I sit here today being lifted up in prayer by my family and friends, I am so glad that this is the journey that God has brought me on. It is not my way, nor my will, but it is THE way. The only way, I am guessing, that could have brought me so close to God and to so many people that I never would have encountered if not for that week one year ago. My life has been touched by homeless people, breast cancer survivors, those who have now lost their lives to cancer, my friends and my family in a way that I never thought possible. God has protected my heart all along the way. Moments when I felt intense loss, He had something prepared for me to show me His light on the other end. My God is amazing and I could not live life to the fullest without Him.

So as I sit here one year to the day since Kathy made her journey home, I may have some moments of tears, but it is not overwhelming. What I am overwhelmed with is the love of friends and family. I don't just know you are praying me through this moment, I can feel it!