OUCH!

This may be one of the most shallow posts I've ever done, but take it very seriously.

This is a WARNING for my lady friends!

Do NOT get your upper lip "threaded."

EVER!

The tears were rolling down my face!

Excerpts from A Thousand Shall Fall, by Bodie and Brock Thoene...

"My father...loves me. I will not...be afraid...A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee."

Have you ever felt like the whole world has turned against you? Have you felt hopeless? alone? afraid? abandoned?

When difficult times come, Lily pleads with God:

"You ain't brought us so far to break us to pieces. Don't matter what's out there or what ain't out there no more. I'm believin' you, Jesus. You see when one sparrow falls. You spin clothes for the lilies...I ain't gonna fear nothin'! Ain't gonna fear hunger! Ain't gonna fear bein' poor! Ain't gonna fear what men do to me! Ain't gonna fear bein' alone!"

Because of her faith, her friend realizes anew: "When there's nothing left to give the Lord, then you have to look at what you have. Your soul. Yourself. And that is the only gift he wants from His children...Maybe this is what the Lord wants from us. For us to look to Him. To trust Him like a Father."

Do you--can you--trust God like a Father? trust Him to provide for you in the midst of loneliness, fear, and prejudice? trust Him to plant you deep, like a tree, so that no "wind" can "bust" you?

When you are feeling scared and alone, why not follow the advice of the mother in the book?

"Don't put your trust in nothin' else. All else is shiftin' sand. Just read Psalm 91 when you are feelin' scared. It'll tell you all you need."

Life will always be complicated. If you seek diligently, you will find the One who holds all the answers to the universe (I Chronicles 28:9).

Psalm 91
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling—even the LORD, who is my refuge--
then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Happy Birthday, Mel!

I would like to give a shout out today to the birthday girl.

Melodie is about the closest thing to a sister I could have. Will blessed us all when he got on his knee and begged for her hand in marriage (even if she did want orange juice so badly that she almost missed the proposal).

After she was a great server at my favorite restaurant (even if she did offer a tampon instead of a straw and even if she did drop an earring in a customer's spaghetti and a crab cake in another customer's purse), she became a wonderful, relaxed, and calm first-time mother who's very generous with her precious baby girl.

She is a hard-working stay-home mom who appreciates that her husband's work ethic allows her to stay home with her baby girl.

She is a great friend to many--girls, boys, kids, babies, men, older men (go Cliff!) and women.

She came into what was Will's world and happily made it her own. She is pro-active and involved at church and is adored by everyone there who has had the opportunity to be welcomed by her.

She loves my children, which seals the deal. When Reagan was a toddler, she used to watch the Wiggles and do their dances with him. How many aunts do that?

She is eternally thoughtful and never forgets a thing.

She is a dream daughter-in-law for my parents.

She is so good to go into our family get-togethers and hug everyone. She has done that since the first time she went to either of our grandparents' houses, just like they were her family all along.

She never meets a stranger.

She has a HYSTERICAL sense of humor and says funny, funny things (even though I don't think she's a natural blonde). I hope she forgives us for laughing and understands that it's terribly endearing (even if Keep Lee and the rest of us do beat her menus with a dead horse).

She loves her God and talks to him faithfully.

I love you, Mel, and am proud to call you my sister-in-law. :)

Sweet anniversary gift

Last night, T&T asked if they could have 5 mins at bedtime to "discuss something in Taylor's room."

This morning, Tyler brought me a note that said, "Taylor and I need to talk to you and Dad in Taylor's room." When Scott and I got in there, there were three anniversary cards on Taylor's bed and Taylor's room was clean. Tyler also had wrapped two CDs up for us. :) Then, they had us go look at Reagan's room.

(Back up 11 hours--yesterday afternoon, Reagan had three NEAT [and big] piles of clean clothes on his bed for me to put away. By bedtime last night, ALL those clothes were on the floor along with about 5 pairs of shoes, who knows how many changes of clothes from playing yesterday [he changes about 3 times a day], toys and playing cards. I WANTED to kill him last night...)

So we go into Reagan's room and IT IS SPOTLESS. All the clean clothes are put away, the shoes are organized and the dirty clothes are in the hamper. They had even made up the top bunk (because he came to our bed at some point last night) and had laid out his clothes for school today.

They told us they had planned to pick up the house but found Scott on the couch (Reagan ran him off, I guess) and didn't want to wake him.

Then they told us that they had been up since 3:30. YEP! You read that right. They set their alarms for 3:30 AM.

They showed us the schedule.




Although we'll have to have a talk about getting up at 3:30 in the morning (OH MY!!), they worked very hard to start out this day great for us. I just had to brag on them a bit and tell you how sweet and thoughtful they are. :)

Here are their funny cards. Please forgive their spelling--I didn't proofread. :) Notice that the whole family is pictured on Taylor's card (first) and the Jordan logo on Scott's shirt in Tyler's card. They make me laugh.

Happy Anniversary, Scott! Enjoy that DVR!!