This and That

Here is a picture of Danielle and Lilly at our church's Mother/Daughter tea.

Hey Y'all:) Can you believe tomorrow is the first day of March? John Anthony's due date was in the beginning of Feb. I spent most of it in bed feeling sick, I think I just felt bad about it all. I really regret having my tubes tied. I can't go back and change it though.

The kids are all doing well. Rex has midterms here soon and I think he is looking forward to Spring Break, we had to veto his plans to go to Fort Lauderdale. Ethan is coming to a decision on college. Geneva lost her top front teeth this month and she looks as cute as can be. She and Rexford have a little competition on their grades going. When he gets home from school she has to show him her papers from the day and then he will get his out. I guess you have to be here:) School is coming along fine for the other kids.

My brother has had a flare up with his MS. He is doing chemo again for it. Please pray he gets the feeling back in his hands.

Last week at the restaurant where my mom and brother work a man came in with a gun and pointed at the assisted manager, my mom was a few feet away and he demanded everyone out of the restaurant, he wanted to kill himself. He ended up surrendering to the police later that night. It is bizarre what that one man did to all the businesses in the area for the day. Anyway this week my mom had 2 to go orders, one person called and asked for the hostage special and another called and asked if they had any specials on 9mm guns. Hopefully the jokes are helping the staff get over what happened there??????

So I have started a garden, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, rosemary, basil, cilantro, watermelon, eggplant and some other plants....to be continued (I hope)

We try and have pineapple on Friday nights:)

I am on a diet so all I can really do is look at food.
Thai Cashew Chicken, I made this when I was allowed to eat:)

Rejoice with those who rejoice

Please rejoice with us, Rexford, Ethan, Isaac, Lilly and Danielle were baptized in November. They went up before the church and gave their testimonies of their salvation during an afternoon baptismal service and upon their profession of faith in Jesus were baptized. It was absolutely wonderful. Our pastor had spoken to them all previously of course:) I don't want to put our pastor on a pedestal or anything but I can't begin to tell you how good it has been to be under him. The church here has really ministered to our needs and have been so supportive to us. I know this is the Lord's work through them:)

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We ate...I didn't overeat but this was our menu, turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potates in brown sugar, sage sausage dressing, cranberry relish (mom's recipe), spinach casserole, corn, whole wheat buns, pumpkin and pecan pie. Afterwards we played outside, tag football, ultimate frisbee and 500. One of the kids got bit by a mosquito..:) The weather is still so nice, we have covered up the pool though, the last day we swam was on hubby's birthday in Nov.

Last week on Rexford's way home from work he ran over 2 deer. The car is pretty messed up but he is fine:) This week is his last week of school before winter break. Ethan took the ACT in Oct and scored one point higher than Rexford, which was pretty tough to do. So Rexford's amazing score has been dimished by Ethan...lol we have to give him a hard time about it. Ethan is now applying for college and before I know it I will have 2 in college:)

Here is a portion of the baptism. I had to cut some of it out so it would fit better.

A Hug

It has been awhile since I have blogged. A lady at church on Sunday told me my face looked more peaceful. I told her I am still grieving and was able to talk to her about it. The Lord is teaching me many things. Scripture has never been more comforting and still there is not a day that I don't cry for John.

I can not begin to tell you how sweet the children have been during these weeks. I can hardly type this so this is all that I will share about that.

Life does move on, just from a different perspective.

Sunday night Lilly gave me this poem she had wrote.
A Hug by Lilly 11/8/08

A hug is one of the best things ever.
Because it always makes someone feel better if it is from the heart.

And can sometimes be the best way of saying goodbye.

You can give someone a hug anywhere at anytime.

And the only bad thing about a hug is sometimes it makes people cry.
But the best thing about a hug is it can get someone through the toughest times.

I found this all out on Sept. 18, 2008 the day I found out my baby brother John had died.

But Romans 8:28 makes me so very happy because I know that the Lord My God is always looking out for me. So whenever something bad happens I think of Romans 8:28 and I feel like the Lord is giving me a hug.