Brown paper packages tied up with string...

...these are a few of my favorite things!

 brown paper packages

matching Christmas pj's

the boy's excitement

calling Steedee and Tara to wish them Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night.

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours.

Love,

Ron, Rhonda, Kelley and Amie

Stephen and Tara

Jacob, Christine, Jace, Jackson and Tanner

Christmas Shenanigans

White Elephant party

Ugly sweater party

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

A Sad Day

My heart is hurting right now.

At 9:00 this morning, in Newtown, Connecticut, 28 families lives were changed in a traumatic, terrifying way.

I don't know a single one of them personally, I don't know their names and I don't know anything about their lives. But I can hurt with them, I can pray for them, and in this united country, I believe we should all feel the same way.

From ages 5 to 10, 20 little children lost their lives today. They won't graduate, get married, or have children of their own. And with barely two weeks until Christmas, their parents and siblings are going to have to try to cope with this, plan funerals, and get through losing that tiny soul.

I hope that you'll join me in praying for them. I hope you'll appreciate the loved ones you have still alive. I hope that in this painful world, we can pray in some comfort for these hurting people.

"Great and mighty things..."

 "And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all;  for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.” - Luke  21:1-4 (God looks at the cost, not the price.)


Have you ever been sitting in a church service, watching a missionary presentation, and felt a tug at your heart? Have you ever watched a missionary cry over the people in his field and felt tears running down your own cheeks? Have you ever wanted to empty your pockets, wallet, and bank account into an offering plate?

If the answer is no, then you are missing out on something very special.

This week is the most anticipated week of the year for me. Above youth camp, music school, and all of our other meetings, I look forward to this one the most. Missions Conference. It just tops them all. It's the icing to my cupcake, the sprinkles on my ice cream. It's just the best.

In my 19 years, I've been "called" to every country in the world. Because growing up, I was taught that missionaries are our heroes. And for 4 days straight, I get to be around them. Their burden becomes my burden, and their stories touch my heart.

It's why we can stay at church until midnight and still get up early the next morning. It's why we don't mind sitting on a pew for 2 hours or more every night. It's why we talk to people we don't know, hold babies that aren't ours, and do everything we can for these people. They are heroes, and we are privileged to get to help them.

Tonight was the first night of the meeting, and it was a wonderful one. I am SO excited for the rest of it! I don't want Wednesday night to get here, and I want time to crawl by. I'm excited to see what our Faith Promise will be for 2013, and I'm excited to get to know the missionaries better. 

Our church will step out on faith, we will give of our abundance and pledge an amount of money to give to help the missionaries get to their fields. China, Japan, Indonesia, England, New England, Papua New Guinea. People will be saved because these missionaries went, and we get to help. How wonderful is that? 

Great and mighty things will happen, and I'm so glad I get to be involved.

"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, 
and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not." 

-Jeremiah 33:3

Seven Smiles on Saturday (12.01.12)

I'm posting this on Friday night because tomorrow is going to be quite busy.

1. Getting most of my Christmas shopping done.

Thank you, Cyber Monday! :)

2. Decorating the outside of our house for Christmas.

3. Getting ready for our Missions Conference that starts on Sunday.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year...." means Missions Conference!! :)

4. Decorating the church with poinsettias and red bows.

So, so pretty, if I do say so myself. :)

5. Trying on my dress for Hannah's wedding today.

Yay! Weddings are just so glorious! :)

6. Homemade cheesy broccoli soup.

With lots of sour cream.

7. This quote: 

“I have one desire now - to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it.” –Elisabeth Elliot

Thanksgiving Weekend

 

We had breakfast and then lunch with Jacob, Christine, Jace, Jackson, and Tanner. In-between, we set up the Christmas decorations and Daddy made me and Amie shovel gravel. ;) It was a fun day!

Mama's side of the family for lunch, Daddy's side of the family for supper. Way too much food, but wonderful company. The left set of pictures is lunch, and the right side is supper.

Thanksgiving

"The pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these, who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving."

I think this should be the most celebrated holiday in America. It doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves, and it's usually outshined by Christmas. It's a truly American holiday. A day where our ancestors, amidst the trial and affliction they were were going through, still found a reason to be thankful.

I am thankful for many things. There are the obvious - life, health, salvation, friends, family, etc. But I'm thankful for so much more than that. 

In this country, we take so many things for granted. Today, I am thankful that I woke up. I'm thankful that I didn't struggle for breath and I had two legs to walk on. That's more than a lot of people can say. 

I'm thankful that when I think of one thing that could make me sad, I can think of three things to make me happy. I'm thankful for memories that make me cry, and the ones that make me laugh. 

I'm thankful for phones, email, and Skype. Things that get overused and abused, but allow me to talk to family and friends I can't see today.

I'm thankful for this country. I'm thankful that through the many mistakes she makes, God is still giving her grace. I'm thankful He found it in His mercy to allow me to be born here, in the town I was born in, to the family I entered. 

I am thankful for life. I am thankful for health. I am thankful.
 

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!

Seven Smiles on Saturday (11.17.12)

1. Our trip to Kentucky.

I was going to blog or at least share some pictures while we were up there, but I never had wifi, and turns out I didn't take many pictures. It was a great trip, though - a missions conference at Bluegrass Pike! If you go to their "Pictures" page, you can see some photos of the meeting. :)

2. Iced chai tea.

Who knew I would like it?

3. Thanksgiving plans.

By now, we don't really have to make very many, we just know what we're going to be doing. Next Thursday and Friday are going to busy, busy, and I'm so excited for it! (Do you go Black Friday shopping? I don't, I'm too scared.)

4. Making our Christmas card.

The last couple of years it's been difficult to get a good picture because Stephen and Tara live in Texas now. Plus it's my job to write the letter/poem - pressure! But I love it. :)

5. Little girls.

Most of them like to have their hair fixed and wear pink. Someday, someone in my immediate family will have one of these.

6. Christmas music.

I caved. I listened to some last night. But that's it until Thanksgiving day!

7. Pictures that make me smile.

Like this one:

 Going shopping in KY...crammed in the back of the bus! (Not as scary as it sounds.)

Seven Smiles on Saturday (11.09.12)

1. Saturdays.

Reason #1 - I get to sleep in as long as I want to.
Reason #2 - I get to sleep in as long as I want to.
Reason #3 - I get to sleep in as long as I want to.

(I'm not a morning person. AT ALL. I did this thing at one point this summer where I was going to run in the mornings - first day, I come downstairs in my pajama's and just said "Well. I don't think I want to do this." My mom: "I didn't figure you would. You're more of an afternoon runner, morning's just aren't your thing." Let's be clear on one thing: I ran every afternoon for a week and a half. Yes, I did.)

2. Grilled chicken.

I'm slightly alarmed at the number of times I put food as a Smile on Saturday. But grilled chicken is good! And on a fresh green salad with cottage cheese on the side...I promise you I do not eat all day every day.

 (How awesome is it when you make lunch for yourself and it ends up looking like this? Pretty awesome!)

3. Raising the windows.

Oh, how thankful I am that I don't live any further north than Tennessee - on days like today, when the sun is shining and it's warm-ish outside, I am so thankful to live where I do!

Also - and I guess this is kind of a bonus one, but it goes along with the windows being up - is this candle. It's an all-natural soy candle in the scent "Berry Creme Brulee" and it smells amazing! I keep it on my nightstand in front of my window, and if the wind's blowing and I take the lid off, it's as good as burning it. Mmmm...Grace told me this was her favorite scent so I got it, and it's a great one!

4. Listening to a song on repeat.

"His way is perfect, His way is perfect..." (by the Cleghorn's)

5. Homemade popcorn. (food once again...)

Daddy makes this, and let me tell you - there IS a difference between this and store bought. I like to put creole seasoning on mine. :)

6. & 7. Our church's new basketball team, and our "C'Stone" symbol for them.

They played their first game tonight, and even though they didn't win, I was so proud of them! They put forth so much effort and really did do a good job. I love watching basketball, and since I knew the players, I think I may have gotten way too into it. It was just so much fun! :)

The fist represents a stone, and the "C", well, the "C". 

This is also the symbol for "church" in ASL. So cool, right?

GO C'STONE!

Seven Smiles on Sunday (11.04.12)

1. Voting!

This was my first time to vote! We went on the last day of early voting, and I was just a tiny bit nervous. (I need reading glasses and I had a hard time reading it.)

When I stuck my "I Voted!" sticker on, I didn't even think about it, I just peeled it off and slapped it on. When Amie came out she laughed so hard at me she had to take this picture:

Yay! I'm so grown up! ;)

2. Design.

I honestly didn't know I enjoyed it so much. I'm not very good yet, but I have a lot of fun making posters and different things with word art. Here are a few I've made recently:

                     

    Which one is your favorite?

3. Asparagus.

Yum, yum, yummers!  I had this for the first time when we visited Stephen and Tara, and it's moved to my top 5 favorite vegetables list (along with broccoli, green beans, corn, and squash).

SO good! Do you want this recipe? I can give it to you! Maybe post it on here? :)

4. Babysitting my nephews.

Especially this time of the year, when it's chilly outside and we have to put on coats and hats to ride the "Club Car" around and come inside to warm up. Jace can drive nearly as well as the rest of us, but Jackson not so much. Tanner's content to sit in my lap and enjoy the ride.)

(I wanted to include these pictures, even though they're from last week. It was Sunday afternoon and they came over after church for lunch. Both older boys started feeling bad and thought they were going to be sick. They laid on the couch with their buckets, both running fevers, and Jackson fell asleep. It made my heart melt looking at them so I just had to take pictures! Thankfully it was only a 12-hour virus. :))

5. The smell of wood smoke, the crunch of leaves, and hot drinks.

I just love every season, and fall feels so festive!

6.  Mickey D's sweet tea.

I got a large one yesterday! (Don't judge - southern all the way.) I found it humorous that inside the Carthage McDonald's there are two sweet tea dispensers, but not one for unsweetened tea. Maybe it was just a one day thing, but it made me smile.

7. Shenanigans in the teen room (before class began, of course!)

I am part of the best youth group in America the world. Just so you know. :)

Poor Malachi... :)

If You Only Had an Hour

What if you found out you only had one more hour to live? The Lord is returning, and you have one hour's notice. How are you going to spend your hour?

60 Minutes.

You have sixty minutes.  What is the first thing you do? Do you freeze for say, a split second, as everything you’ve done, everything you’ve not done, replays itself in your mind? For one, ear-deafening silent second, do you panic a little on the inside? All of a sudden, you aren’t as ready as you thought you were. Just one minute to panic, one minute to think, one minute to do nothing. Nothing, for the last time.

Now what? You find your family. Maybe your closest friends. You call the ones you know aren’t going with you to plead, beg with them one more time. “This is it,” you say. “This is your last chance, and I mean it. You cannot fathom what lies in store for you in just one hour. Please come with us!”

Maybe you start leaving notes around your home, perhaps even recording a few videos. Labeling them “What To Do Now”.

45 Minutes.

You have forty-five minutes. Are you running around in a frenzied state, or are you sitting still in a daze? Have you made all the phone calls? Are you still talking to that stubborn family member? Have you shed your last tears? Are you at home? Church? Outside watching for the signs?

As the echoes of your life reverberate in your mind, what are they saying? Do you have a lot of regrets? Who is that one friend you should have held on to tighter? That one person you never told about Jesus? That one thing you know the world is about to see? Or are you thankful for the times you were able to help someone? The one person you lead to Christ, the times you said “Yes” to your Lord?

30 Minutes.

The hour is halfway over. Maybe at this point you’re gathering your immediate family to your side. Maybe you’re hugging, laughing, most likely excited and definitely praying.

You may be thinking of all the things you never got to experience, the people you never got to meet, to love, and the places you never got to see.  In that secret corner of your heart that no one knows about, are you asking God to postpone? Are you going to be that afraid? Or are you telling Him thank you, one more time on earth, for all of the things you were able to see and love and do?

15 Minutes.

You head outside. You lie on the grass. You whisper to your family, you pray for everyone that won’t be traveling with you.

10 Minutes.

Someone says “Ten more minutes. Thank you, Jesus for this beautiful life you’ve given us. Thank you for the eternity that lies ahead. I love you all.”

5 Minutes.

All is quiet. All is still. History repeats itself of a world in turmoil, waiting for the Master’s return.

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

Overwhelmed

Everything begins to blur as your eyes fill. Tears tickle the edges of them, threatening to fall. They overflow and the droplets of salty water hit the swell of your cheeks with soundless plops. They create tracks as they slide down into the hollow of your neck, telling stories and releasing emotion. 

And for this type of crying you are not ashamed, are not even aware of the small gasps of air going in and out of your lungs as your involuntary reflexes join together and weep. 

You are overwhelmed. 

You've suddenly realized that you are not hungry. You have clothes on your back and shoes on your feet. 

Your family loves you and you love them. You are healthy, you have a warm bed to sleep in. You have a house, shelter. You are getting an education and you have opportunities every other second to learn.

You are so blessed.

We are so blessed.

We live in America, and know God. The One True God. The King above all kings. And He is ours, we are His children. We are grounded in our beliefs, and have no reason to be afraid. We are safe. Physically and spiritually.

Why weren't we born in Vietnam or China? Why do we have three hot meals every day? Why are we allowed to read the Bible when and where we please? There are no answers, only blessings.

Overwhelmed.

The dull pain in your knees barely registers as you bow to try to find words, any words to say … what? We do not know, cannot understand the depth of this emotion. It's drowning, it's bigger than us, it's overwhelming.

So we say the two words we do know, the two words we learned at a very young age.

Thank you.

A million times and again.

Thank you. 

For dying for me. This I cannot understand. The depth of this kind of love, to give your life so painfully for people who have done nothing to deserve it and probably never will. Amazing. Incredible. Overwhelming.

Thank you.

Seven Smiles on Saturday (10.27.12)

1. Being home!

Nothing, nothing, nothing compares to coming home. Nothing ever will. I read something once that said "Home is where I can look ugly and enjoy it." Simply put, home is the place you can be yourself more than anywhere else. I love my home.

2. Cold weather.

I thought I hated it. Sometimes I do, and I know in two months I'll be sick of it and ready to move to Hawaii. But for now, fall is here, and it makes me excited for the holidays.

3. Lock-ins!

We got home around 10:30 yesterday morning after being gone for a week. We got to our church at 6:00 last night, and got home this morning after 10:00. I'm pretty exhausted, but I had so much fun. There are only so many years I'll be able to do these things, and I want to embrace every one of them.

In this picture we're playing a game called "Assassin". It's way too complicated to explain if you've never played, but trust me that it's a lot of fun and not as weird as the picture looks.

4. Online Christmas shopping.

Yes, I'm that person. The one who hates going into stores feeling pressured to buy stuff and spends way too much money on shipping. But I'm also probably one of the only 19-year-olds who gets emails from Gymboree, Children's Place and Carter's. Nephews are the funnest to buy for. :)

5. Ball caps!

Go random baseball team in Corpus Cristi, whoever you are! (Thanks, Steedee for the hats :))

6. Change.

I make everything in life way too monumental. This year as been full of "this is the last time I'll do this as a teenager!" I've been depressed at the thought that in January, I'll no longer be a teen. But in life, things are constantly changing. One of my favorite quotes says, “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” As fall is here, and my own personal life has changed this summer, I'm learning to anticipate the things ahead of me while still appreciating the things I'll have to leave behind.

7. Laughing until there's pain.

I'm pretty sure some of us girls developed abs last night from laughing so hard. :) Sometimes it feels so good just to laugh until you cry. Once in a blue moon we'll get together and without words, we all know why we're laughing, or maybe we don't, but something tickled our funny bone, and it makes me glad to have these sister-friends that I do.

What We Did on Saturday...

Daddy had to leave early to go to Houston to get ready for the Missions Conference. The rest of us went to Port A and acted goofy:

At Port A we went to a candy store and filled our bags with all kinds of yummy treats that I'm still munching on. They had tubs of candy with scoops in them, and you just got whatever you wanted. Best candy store ever?

For supper we went to a hibachi grill where I tried everything but the sushi.

(P.S. Alabama won...again. Roll Tide! :))

Yesterday we went to church and heard a missionary to Trinidad preach (by the way, Amie and I got told we need to go on another Missions Trip - to Trinidad!! I think yes?). That afternoon we watched a movie while Mama and Tara napped. Tara started a night shift again last night. :( She has two weeks of it, so pray for her!!

She went to work and we went to church. On the way home we stopped and she gave us a tour of the hospital where she works. I wish I had a picture of her - in her scrubs and long white coat, clipboard in hand, the doctor on the floor. I'm so proud of her!!

Today me, Mama, and Amie head to Houston to be part of the meeting. We'll all be SO glad when Tara's residency is over and they can move back to Tennessee and be closer to us.

Picture Post

Fishing! :)

We're here :)

I slept on both planes (both the 2-hour long flight and the 38-minute long one) and we got here around 2:30-3:00 yesterday. Stephen and Tara made a wonderful supper...

 ...and then we walked it off at the ocean!! It's so beautiful!

Those little white specks are the reflection of the camera's flash on the water spray. Today we're going fishing, so hopefully I'll get some more pictures. It's so good to see our family! :)