Happy Birthday Christy!!!

Today is my sister's birthday. She has one more year to enjoy before the big 5-0. Christy lives in Lubbock and works for the Vice-Presidents of Nursing Services at University Medical Center - the best hospital in town. I had 4 of my kids there and recommend it to everyone.
One of the reasons I love it so much is because the staff there care about more than just the physical needs of their patients. Christy is a great example of that. Many times when I've been there or just get a call from her, there is a patient that she asks prayer for. She calls in on weekends to check on patients, or goes in to sit with them if there is no family to take care of needs. She meets new people every day and sometimes becomes the one they depend on for emotional, as well as spiritual support. She becomes involved in their lives because she sees her job as more than just a job. It is ministry to her.
In our family, she is the one that keeps everyone up on family news. She's like the glue that holds us all together. No matter how busy she is. She has done an amazing job as mom to Cary Ann. Christy has walked through some tough times in this life, but she has let it make her into this one amazing woman. If I had a hat on, I would take it off to her.
Thank you Christy, for being an incredible mom, daughter, sister, aunt, friend and all the other roles you fill in so many lives. We don't tell you often enough how wonderful you are. But we all see it. Happy birthday, Sweetie. Oh yeah, can't wait till next year!

Family is Home!

We don't get to all be together very often, but this past weekend was very special. They even brought their solid color shirts for pictures! I have great kids. We enjoy them so much. Kayla, Jade and Eli got to stay until Tuesday and we went to Target to shop a little. Such fun. I played with Eli and watched all my beautiful girls try on clothes. Doesn't get better than that.
I love for them to go to church with us. Our church family feels like they know them but hardly ever get to see them. Sometimes I worry that our kids don't think we have time for them because of the needs here. When they come, my prayer is always that they will see again God's hand in this place and know again that He brought us here to do His work. I know they already know that.
There is nothing in this world I love doing more than serving our sweet kids.
God chose to put us all in different places to serve Him. He wouldn't have done that if we weren't trusting Him enough. We would still need to depend on each other being close by until we got strong enough to serve elsewhere. They are strong enough to serve elsewhere. Lord, bless them in their service for You. I pray for their faithfulness to You. Let them by in Your will so they will hear Your voice.

Papa and Eli

There is such a sweetness having this little guy around. Poor thing, when he is here he never gets a complete nap, has kisses all over his face, and has tons of pictures made. We don't get to see him often, so we take advantage of every second we have. Expecially his Papa. Jade is an angel to let Michael have him even when it means getting off schedule, because she knows we have precious little time. Thank you, Jade.
We don't get to hold him in our arms often enough for me, but we hold him in our hearts and pray for him more than once or twice a day. God bless you little man, Jesus hold you precious one.

Want to see a picture of grandbaby?

Imagine you are driving into a grocery store parking lot and you pull in beside a minivan with a Cowboy Church sticker on one side of the back window and an OSU sticker on the other side. There's a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper sticker on the back bumper by another sticker that screams "Want to see a picture of my grandkids?" Okay, I admit, there are no stickers on my vehicle, but when I pass another vehicle going own the interstate with a Cowboy Church logo on the back, we all wave and smile really big. When I pass a vehicle with an OSU sticker, I do the Cowboy "guns up" while the girls slide down in their seats. Sometimes I do honk because I love Jesus, but mostly I just clap and sing if my seat is high enough for my knees to touch the steering wheel and drive for a bit. I also don't have a little Grandma's Brag Book that accordians down to the floor full of pictures of the little darlings. So if you do see the minivan outside the grocery store, it is perfectly safe to go in. If I had one of those little books, I promise whenever I got out of my vehicle, I would tuck that thing under my arm to whisk out at a moment's notice. So instead of having to be polite to my face as I go through picture after picture and explain everything he was doing before, during, and after the shot, you can just browse through on your own time. Feel free to copy any of them for your screen saver, or to print off and show all your friends, because I know you'll want to. Oh yeah, and just a warning. I have six children. I plan on having LOTS of grandkids. You can bow out at anytime. I, just for the life of me, don't know how you could.
Isn't he precious?