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"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see it's possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of it's life and for it's destiny, - she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." JR Miller
Dearest Emily Ann and Bailey Jo,
"A woman's heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her." Max Lucado
Love,
Mama
This morning the little boys and I got up to some WONDERFUL morning air. It was 70 degrees on the dot. There were birds singing... a breeze was blowing... it was OH SO NICE!!! So Bug and I decided to make breakfast and eat it outside. He loves to "scramble" the eggs for me most mornings, but we usually just hang out inside. Today we ate on the deck while a hummingbird zipped all around us. It was delightful. Of course it was only minutes before it was back to business... dishes, laundry, getting the big kids off to camp, work, etc... But I am grateful for those few beautiful moments. It set the tone for a wonderful day.
"
Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning."
We were blessed with a wonderful Father's Day yesterday. Troy is the most amazing Daddy and I am thrilled that his children know and recognize this. They celebrated the day with him yesterday with church, lunch out (yay!), family swim time (which involved Robertson style smack-talking pool volleyball), dinner out (yay again!) and the day wrapped up with the girls taking Daddy out on a movie date. Whew! Busy, but so very fun! :)
On Saturday we got to celebrate something really special with my Daddy... We celebrated his 30th birthday........ SOBRIETY birthday that is. He (through God's grace alone - and he would say that) made the decision 30 years ago to surrender to God his addiction and allow the grace of Jesus to wash him and make him a new creation. For this I am grateful.... It not only broke the chains of addiction and generational sin for me and my family, but also is what led us to know Jesus in a personal way. Thank you Dad for ALL that you have given to us... :) 
Bailey Jo... without a doubt, she's one of the greatest blessings in my life. She is sooo funny, very mature, passionate, and has a real servant's heart. This girl is the "bomb"! I often think about what a marvelous woman her future husband will receive when they marry. She's got it going on! :) I'm just taking this blog to brag a little... Today Bai went with me to the grocery store (as she often does) and on the way she helped me organize a list - her writing, while I was rambling. Then, in the store she's like a super hero - able to help me get things, entertain a 2 year old, and keep me on task. She's amazing! Last week though she did a really amazing thing - she organized, worked, stayed up really late several nights pricing, got up at 6AM the day of and worked all day having a garage sale with all the money going to a family who lost their home in a fire. When the sale was over, she went outside and cleaned and loaded up all the leftovers... ALL of this being her idea and her desire to serve... there was zero prompting from us at all. She raised $326.00!!! I'm so stinking proud my heart could burst!
Bailey loves Jesus, her family, friends, children, her pets and every other animal on earth. :) She loves to worship, take care of her little brothers, play volleyball, cheer her big brother on in sports, and help those in need.
Troy and I often talk about (and sometimes with my parents too) what an exciting future God must have for Bailey. She is gifted in so many ways, but most importantly with a heart that loves God completely... The sky is the limit for her!
Bai- thanks for all you do to bless our family. Many days go by that I know I couldn't do it without you. You serve all of us unselfishly. I'm ETERNALLY GRATEFUL that God made me your Mama... Every day of my life is better because you're in it. Its the cry of my heart that you keep following the way of Jesus... He'll never let you down baby.
I've been kind of camping out in Ephesians 5 lately... really pondering what God has to say about marriage roles... I've been challenged to go deeper with this... I think it's been easy to just say, "yeah, yeah, I get it... submit. Blah, blah, blah." Oh, but there's so much more. God has such a beautiful design for marriage and when we follow that design (not easy... in fact, impossible without his strength and power) it works! WOW! I want to stand up and SHOUT - WOW!!
There's much to say about this topic of marriage... And let's be honest, I'm no theologian, but I have been married for almost 19 years and I can honestly say that I've tried (way too many times) to go my "own" way and then repented and decided to go God's way... And let me tell you, God's way WORKS!!! I am deeply in love with my man. Still. Has it always been easy? Goodness, no! (for the record, I believe that it's not easy for anyone, some just have a way of making it LOOK easy.) Has it always been fun and pretty and cozy and sweet? NO!!!!!!!!!!!! There have been some rough times. Times when (like I said before) we went our own way, were stubborn, selfish, sinful, etc... But thank God (really) that his mercies are new every morning. He takes our ashes and makes something beautiful.
So........ anyway, I got these beautiful tulips from my hubby yesterday. Nope, no occasion except that he loves me. Wow... that can still make my heart pound. As a side benefit of feeling so special - each one of my kids got to see that Daddy sent Mama flowers. This is a priceless gift that Troy has given our children - that they see that he loves me. I am learning more every day how to respect him (man's need) and he is learning more every day how to love me (female's need)... and so, we're stumbling through (sometimes kinda sloppily, but going on anyway) Eph. 5... And we're just watching the wondrous things that the Creator is doing in our lives. God is so amazing... and Troy's pretty great too. :) Thanks for the flowers babe. I LOVE THAT THEY'RE RED! :D
"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is placed in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse into the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see it's possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of it's life and for it's destiny, - she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." 
