GOD IS SOOOOO GOOD!!!!!

Well, we made the trip to Shreveport on Sunday. It started off a little rough. We had the same driver that we had last time. His driving kinda scared me last time and he got a little gripey so I was really hoping for a different driver. After we left the city, we had to stop and pick up another patient in Norman. When we got there, they had 3 passengers instead of 2 and the driver was upset about that and decided we needed a bigger van so we went back to Oklahoma city. He then decided he no longer wanted to make the trip so the shriners got us a new driver, Max. He turned out to be the nicest most caring guy and his driving did not scare me a bit. I apologized to the other riders that they had to wait on us to go back and get the big van since they kinda got mixed into the middle of a prayer answered for me. They were fine with that and were actually happy to have the other driver instead. Monday morning we checked into the hospital and basically got to play ALL day. We had to talk to doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, therapists. child life experts, human resource people, and probably some others I am forgetting. Kalysa had free reign over 2 different play rooms and an outside play ground. There were movies, video games, dolls, lego tables, color books, video games, kitchen sets, rocking horses, bikes, swings and tons more. She had a total blast! So much so that she said "I LOVE coming to have surgery! This place is fun!" Of course that was before any surgery actually took place! :) Finally around 4 pm, we saw the surgeon. By that time Kalysa was so tired that she fell asleep on the table as he was stretching her and taking measurements. Because she was asleep, he got to feel her muscles COMPLETELY relaxed for the first time ever and decided things were not as bad as he originally thought. Instead of doing surgery on 3 muscles, he only needed to do it on 1! Of course, he can not guarantee that the others will not need any thing done later but he really believes that one muscle is the cause of the problems. What that means is instead of a week in the hospital and 3 weeks of therapy in the hospital in OKC and walking with a walker we have a short leg walking cast for a month, one more night in the hospital here and NO in patient therapy in the city!! I KNOW!!! GOD IS SOOOO GOOD!!! The surgery was this morning and lasted less than an hour. She did great and is resting in her room now. She has a red cast on and has said her leg hurts once but has not said anything else and is now asleep so she hasn't even taken pain medicine yet. We have called the shriners in OKC and they have a van coming down today with one patient so we should be able to hop on with them to go home tomorrow. All I can say is GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! Thank you all for your prayers for us, they have worked and the Lord has surprised us once again with blessings we surely don't deserve. I am so grateful for His love and mercy!

Top 10 reasons to go to church

Sunday we had a lesson about the top 10 reasons to be a faithful member of a Bible believing, Bible preaching, Independent, Fundamental Baptist church. People often say "I don't have to GO to church to know and love the Lord" and that is partially true-God will meet with and be there for all of His children whether they are in church or not but going to church or not is not really an option that God gives us. Of course we all have free will and therefore can choose not to be faithful and active members of our local church but to be in God's will, His word makes it clear we are expected to be in church. Here is the top 10 list...

Top 10 reasons to be a faithful church member (taken from my notes as presented by Pastor Brad Lowrie)

• 1.As we see in Hebrew 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Going to church(assembling together) is not an option but a command to be obeyed. You can't be obedient while sitting at home during church.
• 2. Faithful attendance ensures a good testimony and unfaithful attendance affects others negatively. Your life speaks louder than words. Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Don't pray that your kids will live for God and be faithful adults if you choose other things over church-why would our kids do something different?
• 3. The Lord promised to be with us when we assemble. When you are not in church you miss out on the Lord's special presence. We know He has promised to be there so why would we not choose to meet Him there?
• 4.You can not be submitted to the Lord's will and fully obedient to Him if you are not a faithful member of a Bible believing church.
• 5.Ephesians 5:25 Husbands. love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; Jesus LOVES the church. He loves it so much that He gave Himself for the church. If Jesus loves the church that much, there should be no reason for us not to want to be there. Through the church, Christ acts and without it He can not.
• 6.Church is God's center for discipline and direction. We all need direction in our lives from the Lord and church is the place that God has set up for us to receive it.
• 7.Your church NEEDS you. We (local members) are a part of each other and we love each other and need each other. 1Corinthians 12:26 says And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. When you miss church you discourage other members. It only took 10 men to discourage the entire population and prevent them from entering into the promised land. Just like our own body-every member has a purpose even if we are not sure of what it is. There are many parts of our body that we can live without but anytime something is removed or not functioning, our live is not as good. As a member of our local church, we are a member of that body of believers and when one member suffers the whole body suffers.
• 8.Church is the safest place you can be. When you are not in church it is very easy to be deceived. The Bible believing church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
• 9.Church is God's designated vehicle of service. Romans 12:4-8 For as we have many member in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another, Differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching: Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.
• 10. JESUS IS COMING BACK!! Imagine sitting in a boat out on a peaceful lake with your fishing pole in hand just relaxing and enjoying the cool breeze and the fresh Sunday morning air when He arrives. How will you explain THEN why you are not in church. When you consistently choose to do another thing instead of being in church you are bowing down to another God. You may still be able to say that Jesus Christ is your saviour but you can not say that He is the Lord of your life.

This message just really made a lot of things clear for me and I thought I would share it with you. I pray that you also have a loving and faithful church family that is as much a blessing to you as my wonderful church family is to my family; and an awesome preacher -like my own-that is not afraid or ashamed to preach the true Word of God straight from the Bible without apology and without watering it down a bit before the service. Have a blessed weekend and be sure to be in church!

Incredible Tree climbing dog

This is my dad's weinie dog, Cash. He usually goes on the truck with my dad but when they are in town, Cash stays at our house because he will not stay in the yard at dad's. I discovered the reason it is so hard to keep this boy in the yard. He is a good digger by nature and is quick to dig under the fence. I see now that he is making plans to go Over the fence as well. I went outside to find Cash sitting in the tree and looking over the fence.


You may not be able to tell, but he is about 5-6 feet off the ground. Several times throughout the day I noticed Cash back up the tree and doing his best to get higher each time. When he is finished with each attempt he just runs right back down. This is just the funniest thing! I never expected to go outside and see a little 9 pound dog climbing trees.

Let there be light!

We finally got school started on Friday. We were all ready and very excited to finally get started. Everyone except Kenyon. He spent a large part of the first day griping and complaining about having to do school. I am convinced that I had him in public school way too long and I am so sad that I didn't learn of homeschooling earlier. He still has lingering feelings that school is bad and boring and he hates it. By Monday things were different and we all had a good time laughing and discussing all the new things we will be learning this year. Tuesday was even better and the time seemed to fly by as I really tried to get the kids creative juices flowing. Kenyon and Jacinta have never really done any creative writing and that is something we will be doing a lot of this year. It was a struggle to get them to actually think on there own and they all had a good laugh at me as I threw out crazy ideas and goofy sentences to get things started. They finally caught on to how fun writing really is and both ended up with a page long story. I can't wait until the end of the year to see what kind of stories they will be able to write by then! One of my goals is to get Kenyon and Jacinta to really learn to think on there own this year. My little girls were only in a public school for a short time and their love of learning and creativity has not been squashed so hopefully they will not face the same types of struggles.
After all the fun we had being creative and making up stories, we moved on to science. Kenyon and Jacinta are using My Father's World and will be studying history from the creation to the Greeks. Our science lessons begin where the Lord began-light. As we learned the different properties of light and how our eyes see things, Kenyon was still in his creative, goofy, giggly mood and stated that he could do the same thing that God did. He happened to be sitting right next to the light switch and he flipped it to off. I told him that he should never claim to be able to do what God does because God started with nothing and he needed to turn the light switch back on. As he flipped the light switch to on, he said "LET THERE BE LIGHT". Right then we heard a POP and the light bulb went out. It was soooo hilarious! The look on Kenyon's face was priceless as he looked up at the dark bulb and realized that Lord was here and just let him know that NO, HE CAN NOT DO THE SAME THING GOD DID! Kenyon immediately repented and apologized to the Lord for claiming he could do what HE did and we all thanked the Lord for using a kitchen light bulb to remind us who we are and who HE is. It was definitely a lesson that will not be soon forgotten and one I would never have been able to teach them myself. Who ever said the Lord doesn't have a since of humor? He sure had us all cracking up for hours!

Science came a knockin

We have not officially started school yet but we are all ready. Even though I knew we would not be able to really get into school full on until after Kalysa's surgery, I have been fretting about our lack of school thus far. I have had several moments when the familiar feelings of failure have tried to creep in and I just know I am not giving my kids what they need. The Lord is so good, He reminds me of all the learning that has taken place regardless of our lack of "school time" and He eases my mind. As I think back, I realize(again) that homeschool is not school but a lifestyle. We have done lots of learning. There is all of the keeper of home training that I have been going through which in turn is being passed on to my children. The new cooking experiments we have all been involved in. The old set of encyclopedias we found at a garage sale and spent a whole afternoon to look through. The notes I have left the girls to "feed the dogs" or some other small chore that has really enforced their reading skills. The girls have gotten out some of their workbooks and done several pages on their own and in turn started teaching their baby dolls how to read and do math as they play school. Kenyon and Jacinta did a few language assignments as soon as we got our new book in the mail. The rest of Kenyon and Jacinta's curriculum arrived last week and they (and I) have gone through the books with great anticipation of the things we will be learning this year. Everyone has completed at least 1/2 of their handwriting books. I bought them at the convention in May and they worked on them through the summer on their own. The box of SRA reading comprehension cards is always out and Kenyon has gone through several more when he is looking for something to do. I have used both of our new science curriculum for children's church lessons. These are a few of the things the Lord has brought to me to show me that we are learning all the time. Whether we sit down at the table for a few hours or not, we have been learning. Since school is no longer an 8-3 experience, anytime a learning opportunity arrives we jump in-so you can imagine how excited we all were when we had science knock at the front door. I have mentioned before about my husband's love of doing surveys and many of the free items we have received to try and fill out questionnaires about. Today UPS arrived delivering a box with a label that read CAUTION: DRY ICE MAY STILL BE PRESENT IN THIS PACKAGE......KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. So of course, I immediately called all the kids to the kitchen to come see!! We quickly placed the frozen pie that was meant to be the item delivered in the freezer and forgot all about it and began our learning. We dumped the dry ice into a pan, watched it smoke, got out the encyclopedia and learned how it is made, how cold it can be, what damage it could do to us if we touch it our ingest it, and the fact that it never melts but goes straight from a solid to a gas. We dumped water on it and watched this gas just pour out and felt the coldness of the smoke. We watched the water bubble violently as if it were boiling even though it was so cold that frost was forming all over the outside of the pan and on the cutting board on the counter. We welcomed this arrival of science and enthusiastically embraced the opportunity to learn all we could. The kids asked question after question and jumped up and down giggling and squealing with glee at all they were learning and seeing. They experimented by pouring salt and hot sauce on the ice to see if it did anything else. They poured some of the bubbling water onto the grass to see if it was cold enough to freeze the grass. They played and laughed and soaked up everything they could until the last piece of ice had transformed into a cool cloud of smoke before their very eyes. They learned-without sitting down at a desk and taking notes and doing worksheets and having equations written out on a black board-and they are excited about it and can't wait to tell daddy all about it when he gets home and they will remember this without having to do a test on it.
This is why I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!!!

What would you have?

This week we had revival meetings at church. It started on Sunday morning and was completed last night. On Monday night and Tuesday morning we also had a preachers meeting thrown into the mix so there were about 40-60 preachers and their families there for special preaching and we provided meals for them as well. And of course there is still the paper route that I do every night/morning from about 4 am to 6 am. Last week, the kids and I spent almost every day/evening helping a friend and her 3 children move into their new apartment-in the rain! Needless to say, I haven't had much extra time to check in here on blog land and I am EXHAUSTED! I have to spend today and tomorrow (and probably part of the weekend and -who knows-maybe the rest of the year cause it is really bad) getting my home back in order after so many days of running like crazy folks and feeling as if we have just been stopping in on our own house for a few minutes here and there. I just thought I would stop in and challenge you all with the challenge Brother Barber gave us all last night. He preached to the preacher about his responsibilities to the church and then preached to us members about our responsibilities to the preacher. Then he preached to us all about our responsibilities as Christians and members of our church.

So are you doing everything you should be and could be doing for the Lord in your local church?

If everyone in your church was just like you, what kind of church would you have?

I KNOW!!! NOT A FAIR QUESTION AND VERY CONVICTING, HUH?

Square one

I am a planner. I have always been a planner. Now, I am not one of the crazy organizers that have lists for everything and know what they are doing every minute of every day; no offense if you are, I just don't have the discipline to do that but I have a general plan in mind and sometimes on paper for most things. Kalysa's surgery is now just a few weeks away and I have been trying really hard to wait for the Lord to reveal His plan and provisions for our trip. The general plan in my mind has changed many, many times over the last few months. I had originally hoped that we would all five take a train ride down and stay in a motel and kinda make the whole experience a family get away. Finances ruled that one out pretty quickly. I then hoped to take the train down and stay in a motel for just a few days and then send Kenyon and Keslee home with my mom when she came down. Again, finances said no. I got to the point that I was just praying that Kalysa, Monty and I would get to be there someway, somehow. Then I found out about the Shriner van and hope returned. Now the plan is that the 3 of us will get to ride the van and stay at the hospital and mom will stay here with Kenyon and Keslee. She is still hoping to get to come for the actual surgery and if she can, Kenyon and Keslee will at least get to visit Kalysa in the hospital. So now that the travel details are all worked out, I have to plan for meals and such while we are there. Of course Kalysa will be fed but Monty and I will have to eat in the cafeteria. I finally got everything worked out in my head on how much we would have to spend each day and planned according to this months income and bills. It is all gonna work out and I know what bills to pay when to ensure we are still able to eat on our trip. Just as I thought I had finalized my plans, Monty tells me the wires are sticking out of one of his tires. So I go back to square one and readjust everything and find a way to fit in $75 for a new tire. Everytime I make plans, I normally always have a plan B in there somewhere since plan A often has to change so I moved some things around and shaved a few dollars off here and there and it still worked. I was so excited that I still had a workable plan. So I head to town yesterday afternoon with the cash to pay the bills I had allotted for and the shopping list I had gone over and over to determine what we really needed and what we just wanted and as we started pulling out of the drive, guess what!!?? I NOW HAVE A FLAT TIRE!!! Back to square one-readjusting and shaving a few dollars here and there and asking and waiting on the Lord to show me the way for plan C (or is it D, E, or F?).

So far So good

I think this "keeper of the home" thing is really starting to agree with me and I have really been enjoying it. The kids are pretty much into a routine now with cleaning as they go and the girls even REALLY cleaned and vacuumed their room yesterday without even being asked. I have made a few big changes, well-they are big to me. We normally have cereal for breakfast but this week I have COOKED breakfast everyday. I mean really cooked it. We have had homemade bagels(soooo good and easy), homemade cinnamon biscuits (better than ANY restaurant and SUPER easy!), french toast, banana muffins (box of jiffy), canned biscuits with jelly (I was extra tired that day), and biscuits with gravy. I have been having a blast trying new recipes and it is so rewarding to cook from scratch. Today I made homemade pizza and made the crust from scratch for the first time. I have started to really work on planning our meals for the week and then shopping for the ingredients based on the menu plan. I can't take credit for any of these ideas, I have been inspired by so many other ladies from their blogs. Now that our house is finally getting more in order, I am ready for school. I mean emotionally ready, I am still waiting on some curriculum to arrive. We will not be getting into school really strong until after Kalysa's surgery but we have started a few things. I have almost finished off my shopping and have saved a lot of money by finding a most of what I need on ebay. We spent the day today garage sale-ing and I bought several cute dresses(too small for me) and men's shirts(too big for Monty). My mom is gonna make my girls lots of modest clothes out of them since it is really hard to find decent cloths in the stores for little girls. I would be doing the sewing but right now I don't have a machine and my mom loves to do it. I do plan on having my own by next year for sure. I hope it doesn't sound like I am bragging because I really don't mean to. It is just so exciting for me to feel like I am finally really growing into the position that the Lord has set before me. To God be the glory!! I better get church clothes all set out and get to bed. I still have to deliver newspapers in about 4 1/2 hours. Yall have a great week, ya hear!?! :)

That's the value of one

Go sound the horn
Strike up the choir
A sinner was saved
Saved from the fire.......


This past weekend, our church had a free kids carnival in an effort to grow the bus ministry. We have several kids that ride the bus to and from Sunday service and the bus ministry has resulted in several families that now attend our church regularly and parents that have gotten saved as a result. Our preacher knows another preacher that has a ministry of providing the games for a carnival. It started out inside the church and the children all sang a few songs and then were presented with a clear presentation of the Gospel message. We had almost all of the children that normally come to church and lots of visitors from around the area. There were probably about 200 people in attendance. After the carnival, one little girl, that has been coming to our church with her mother and siblings for quite some time, told her mom that she knew she needed to get saved but was scared to say anything during the presentation. Her mom took her to talk to Ms. Connie, our preacher's wife, and she showed her in the Bible what Jesus did for her on the cross and how she could accept His gift of salvation. ADDY GOT SAVED! She came forward on Sunday morning to share her news with the rest of the church and now our preacher is talking to and teaching her about baptism being the next step in obedience to the Lord. Hallelujah!! The value of ONE soul saved from hell is so great "All Heaven's Rejoicing!" The carnival was a great success and the seeds were planted in many others.


Here are some photos of some of the fun!!!

Austin sitting in the flush tank. This was sooo fun. The kids had to throw a ball at a target and when it was hit, water dumped out onto the person sitting on the potty chair. Our preacher took the seat for a while and the line was quite long while he was there. He did not escape dry! :)

Here is Keslee standing behind the screen. Kids threw soaked spongy balls at the screen, splattering her with water. She was pretty drenched by the end of things.

On this one, kids had to throw a bean bag frog onto the lilly pads.

This is like the Price is Right game- Plinko.

The games were set up in a big circle in the front lawn of our church.

Our preacher also had a local fire department stop by with a few trucks and they were a BIG hit. The kids all got a color book about fire safety and got to play in, on and around the truck. They also got to see all the equipment like the firefighters uniforms, hats, oxygen tanks, and the jaws of life.


Kenyon spent most of his time in the driver's seat. He wanted his sisters to see what it was like so he invited them to sit with him but he sure wasn't getting out for them. :)

All the kids had a great time and most ended up with a sack full of candy and prizes. I spent my day painting faces and Monty was at the put-put golf game so our kids were able to play the games on their own. When it was over, I noticed that the girls did not have a bag of candy and asked if they had played many games. Keslee said, "No mom, we did not come to play the games. This is our church and our carnival and we were here to help." It really warmed my heart to see that my girls had so much fun giving to others. The day was not all about them and what they could get but what they were able to give to others. They did not feel cheated for not getting a bag full of goodies. They did play in the fire truck and jump on the big jumpy thingy and Keslee got her face painted so it wasn't all work. :)