His children...

our friends are staying with us until their house is ready for them to move in. they have a 1 year old along with a 2 year old. i must say that since katie is 8, this is quite an adjustment. i am very thankful that our children aren't toddlers anymore. i had forgotten how hard those years were. with the strength that only the Lord gave me, i made it through.2 toddlers and a newborn at one time wasn't an easy feat. our oldest is a full blown teenager, and boy is that something i am leaning on the Lord for. huge amounts of tolerance and understanding. my point is that when our children are small, we have to do so much for them, everything. not much changes when they are older, just different needs. we cannot forget how much we are doing to prepare these people for the mission fields, school, and life. giving them the confidence to chase their God given dreams. could you imagine how your life would be different if someone didn't tell you about Jesus? or for that matter how different your life would be if you had your "fire" put out? we have got to realize that these are the Lords children that He has entrusted to us to raise and "train up" to be "ambassadors for Christ". i might have thought that the younger my children were, the harder it was, but i am learning that this is the hard part, allowing my children to choose. and then sitting and watching while they learn, and to be there when it's time for me to step in and just hug 'em. or to thump 'em on the noggin if need be. : )

summertime

tonight at 6:59 is the official beginning of summer. and the longest day of daylight i might add. enjoy being outside and don't forget the off bug spray. oh and the sunscreen, oh and plenty of fluids. have a great day enjoy vacation and mission trips and church camp !!!

father's...

today is father's day and it is a beautiful day. i was outside this morning and couldn't help but notice the glorious sun rays. the wonderful smell of grass with the signs of dew on its top. the way our dog proudly pranced around the yard. the way my husband woke up smiling. the happy look on the kids face when they saw donuts in the kitchen. as all these things played together so blissful, i thanked the Lord for this day. for father's, for dads, grandpas and Him. so as today is the day we appreciate our father's, i would like to say thank you to the Father who makes all of this possible. not only is this a day of earthly father's, this is a day in which i would like to stop, look and love You without ever stopping, knowing that you have never left my side. seeing you in the details...

it's summertime

whether i was ready or not school is out and the kids are home.

all of them worked very hard to enjoy this time off. our summer is filled with mission trips to michigan, falls creek and latham springs. lets not forget the fair in just a very few short days. so the bags are ready to be packed, the alarm clock has been turned off ( well except for the fact that the dog still thinks she gets fed at 5:30. a task i happily turned over to her human "mom" taylor). and time to sleep in and stay up late has arrived. right now the kids and keith are at the sand lot playing a little game of catch. so taylor and i are enjoying the house being a little less active. well the washer and dryer are going full speed ahead as well as the a/c and the television. well, so not totally a less active house, just the normal rumblings going on. so as i'm off to complete some regular duties i wish you a very happy summmer and pray that you have the energy to complete all the goings on in your day... :)

wondering ...

i am sitting here tonight, wondering ... well i am wondering quite a lot. why i haven't allowed myself to cry. why i haven't totally submitted myself to Christ. why i have hit a wall with acceptance. why i have become tolerant of disrespect. why i only allow faith to show up when i am too ignorant to understand how i got there in the first place. and most off all i am wondering what does Jesus see in me that i am missing ? Lord if you could give me a glimpse of what you see in me , wow !! wouldn't that solve a lot. i feel the Maker beconing the made. i crave to find rest in You. so i can pray, i can read, yet i realize, in my small brain, that all knowledge is pointless if i am not hearing the voice of my Savior. so as i listen to the screaming of the alarm clock at 5:30, the radio on in the car, the television throughout the day, have i drowned out the voice that i long to hear the most? that hurts.no really let that soak in my head for a minute... i have to make the time to seek His will. i have to seek His face and maybe, just maybe i will recognize His voice. this is something that , if you would please pray for me. i really think that i have just gotten confused with all that is running past me. as i am writing this, He spoke to me, through my husband. keith was on his way to behave as only can be described as fleshly. he walked back in the door after being gone a little while and told me that "my prayer was heard, whatever that means." this was a time when i had really prayed with my heart as only i know that He could know. keith didn't know why he needed to tell me that, but he did. didn't make sense to him, but it meant everything to me. that He is listening to me... now i need to listen to Him.

joshua is 10...

on saturday, may 31, we took joshua and a friend of his to a texas rangers baseball game.

he had a wonderful time and said "it was the best birthday ever." after the game, there was a fireworks show that was beautiful. so the rangers won, and my little man was happy. :)

i love you joshua...

i'm not sure if it the weather changing from rain to sun that has me a bit lazy. or if it is the thought that i cannot for the life of me find my "purpose". or maybe it could be that i am feeling unloved or neglected. one thing that i do know for sure is that i am in a transition period in my life as i write. which most of you know, being a christian means we are always being challenged to better ourselves and to change something that needs work. not accepting the way of the world means that i have to stand for something meaningful and grounded in the Lord. which that i might add is not an easy thing to do. easy, in that in my heart it all makes sense, then i step out of my prayer closet with great understanding of what the Lord wants me to do :), then i run into a worldly problem or i verbalize my plan with someone and BAM !!! everything seems to get all chaotic. i know that my Jesus is wonderful, loving, understanding yet in those same actions of greatness he is just, truth and jealous. that at times scares the dickens out me, yet i rest in his arms when i'm scared. i have been reading a wonderful book given to me by my sis-n-law, melissa. this book is written by an awesome thinker named shane claiborne. this book challenges me by revealing some obvious things. we are the church, yes !! we are redeemed, yes!! we have forgotten the basic reason that Jesus exists. he came that we would have life more abundant. in our society that means bigger cars, bigger houses, and terribly so bigger churches. i am seeking God's face in a different way. i am looking for him in the most obvious places that i have overlooked for so long. a wonderful friend that moved a few months ago has been on my heart the past few days. she sent me a text message the other day letting me know she had been feeling the same. i was overjoyed that the Lord was in that detail. when she was texting me i felt his presence around me. she let me know on sunday that she was in prayer for me and my family and was interceding for me with the Lord. Amen!! we should all be intercessors constantly. i should. could you imagine the difference we could make if we all prayed for one another instead of ourselves? wow, can you even wrap your mind around it, or your heart for that matter? philippians 2:4 tells us to not only look to our own interests but to look to the interests of others.the verse before it tells us to consider others better than we consider ourselves. yes i am feeling my toes being not only stepped on but flattened. i am trying to have the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ. dear Lord help me to realize that you are opening my eyes, and help me see to it that i don't close them or look the other way. all to often i have prayed that he open my eyes. little did i know that i was closing them or looking around it. knowing that i am a work in progress gives me hope, i do not want to ever be too proud to be taught by Him.help me learn and remember those lessons...

mommy, mom, mother

to all of my beautiful friends and family out there... happy mother's day.

whether you are a mom to one or a mom to a bunch, you have been bestowed

the highest honor. enjoy this ride of raising our children and savor the laughter

and understand the tears. they grow up all too fast. whatever your children call you,

mommy, mom, mother or friend, it still means that we have been given the greatest job

EVER!!!

she's off to the dance...

taylor has left for the 8th grade dance and she looks beautiful. here are some photos of her before she left. i am so proud to have her as my daughter. she was excited to go. while we were doing her make-up she asked me if i "was worried about her while she was going to be gone?" i told her "no because i trust her totally." she then said "well that's good because i'm growing up and there isn't anything we can do about it". talk about maturity. i'm not sure at the age of 13 i had my head on even as close to straight as she does. thank you Jesus for helping us raise our young lady. she is awesome.

okay, she IS growing up....

on saturday our oldest child, taylor, will be going to the 8th grade dance with a friend of hers. she has picked out her dress, the nail polish, the hairstyle she wants and shoes. she is excited and ready to go, the only thing not ready ... me. i'm not quite sure i understand when we went from starting elementary school to getting ready for a semi-formal dance.? i'm sure she will have a g-g-great time, dance with her friends and look absolutely beautiful. she is a beautiful girl, (hang on, let me be correct here, she's a young lady now) and we are very proud of her. good thing is though, our son has a baseball game on the same day so luckily i will be distracted watching him play and not worried about taylor. amen!! i will post some pictures of her in her dress after the big day, so bye for now and wish us luck!!!

time flies

today i was cleaning my house ( for the first time in a long time without someone being here).

anyways, i realized how fast things are moving. my kids growing up, school almost over, how quickly time goes. our friends are moving at the end of june (which will be here before we know it), but not before we get to go on vacation together. the month of april is coming to an end, quickly. baseball season starts in may, practices are already underway. then school is out for the summer, children go to church camp, world changer mission trips and your oldest child turns 14...Ugh!!!

i wish i could have one more day in my childhood, playing outside in the dirt, making mud pies of course. not wanting to be inside, but outside where we were only limited by our own imagination. we played until dark, ate dinner, went to bed and we couldn't wait to start all over again the next day. oh how i long for a great game of hide-n-seek, without my back hurting, my knees giving out and wondering why in the world i cannot catch my breath. i certainly appreciate those days a lot more now! and that brings me to the present time in my life when i am interested to see how my children grow and change. so for that.... i can't wait. so i am an adult living a grown up life with the child in my heart still wanting to just sit and color in my coloring book ; )

all grown up

my friend tonya blogged just the other day about how children grow up and move out. something her son bradley just did.

well i must say that i do agree, and before you know it your little babies are driving. there isn't much we can do about it except love them and pray for them. my friend melissa sent me

a picture yesterday of her cute son nicholas (you've seen his picture here before). the picture reminded me all too well of just how quickly they grow up. to me, being a mom, this is how i will always remember my children...babies.

birthday pictures

1. 

here are some birthday pictures from the big turning "8" party. we went over to tonya and meredith's house last night for food, fellowship and a very energetic house. it was filled with our 5 children, john and chasity had their 6, tonya and meredith had their 4, and alex and melissa had their 2. wow 17 kids is a party waiting to happen, and let me tell you it did. we had some playing in the fort that the lindsey boys had built, some on the trampoline, some playing soccer, and some were running around with play guns. the smaller ones were in the house crawling about seeing who could maneuver around the floor faster. it was noisy, they all talked at the same time (so trying to understand one question before hearing another one being asked was fun), some bumps and bruises followed by with tears, cake and ice cream to boot and it was WONDERFUL !!!!

now that's a guard dog

this morning i was awakened to the pouncing of a 7 month old great pyrenees puppy. she is under the impression that promptly at 5:30, when the alarm goes off, she should be fed breakfast. she wants to eat outside on the front porch, so when she is done she may "patrol" the yard for any unwelcome intruders. you see she doesn't understand that we are not on a plantation and we only reside on about an acre. so she is all about walking around the area, barking and letting you know her dislikes. we love her dearly and couldn't imagine our home without her. she is supposed to be a working dog, you know sitting and guarding goats. we were at a goat auction with my sis-in-law, melissa :), in late october and our oldest taylor just had to have this cuddly little ball of fur. how could i resist, she was very cute. after we got her home and took her for a check-up at the vets, we learned she is blind in one eye. i personally felt very relieved that we "saved" this blind dog from a job that she was certainly not equipped for. that is what i choose to tell myself, knowing full well that she could probably do a pretty good job. after all, she is a working dog. my husband calls her a hurricane and she is every bit the chaos that comes with one. very sweet, cuddly, and if there was ever a dog that could possibly have "ants in her pants" she does. she is never still. even when she sleeps she moves quite a bit whimpering and barking in her dreams. chasing those animals trespassing across her yard and doing her job... so she may not be on a farm guarding real goats, but God gave her to us so that she could fit in with a different sort "kid". sleep tight olivia and get those "intruders" in your dreams...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE

on tuesday our youngest child, katherine sterling, will turn the big "8".

she was given to us by God, who in his infinite wisdom, knew how much of a

blessing she would be.we have enjoyed having her in our lives and cannot wait to see what type of a young lady and woman of God she will be. so Katie, enjoy your day, enjoy the princess cake, smile, laugh and most of all just giggle. : )

yup that's it

this morning i woke up and i had a ton of pressure in my noggin because i went and cleaned 2 houses yesterday. i feel so exhausted, yet i want to admire the beauty of a sunny day with all the sounds and smells of spring. so i was trying to find the perfect picture to show exactly how i feel and i think i got it accurate. so please, if you agree, just do the same as this little guy, not missing a beat : )

cu-u-u-ute

nicholas has quite a sense of style doesn't he? his mommy sent this to me and i thought that it just needed to be shared with all.

tweet, tweet, tweet

meet the newest member of our family... her name is leelu. we got her when she was 9 weeks old. she is a budgie parakeet. she is very loud with her chirps, of course you'd have to be around here to get a word in. we have had her for almost a month and enjoy her. i love hearing a song in the house, so wonderful and happy...

somewhere in the peace...

sometime last september we had a day trip to the botanical gardens in fort worth. we went with alex and melissa and we were able to enjoy the day without our children, just a little break. i thought that this pic looked just ever so relaxing. when we are in the rush of laundry, kids, sports, school, breakfast, lunch and dinner, it is just nice to sit back and watch God.

keith's girlfriend...

there are many things in my life that give me joy... one of them is the fact that we have the cutest, funniest, most talkative bassett hound at our house. her name is chloe and she just doesn't know that she is a dog. she sleeps under the covers in our bed, my fault. she looks at you most shocked when you move her off of the furniture, also my fault. she is also under the impression that she comes first with keith, also my fault. she jumps in his lap, lays across his chest and just very innocently, and adamantly wags her tail like she has done no wrong... which that is another story within itself... enjoy our dog