Hard times brings showers of blessings.

Flurteen months later we still dont have a church. Unbelievable. We ahve turned at least three down knowing God wouldnt let us go. Had several call and say no thanks. The most excitemnet was when we felt God leading towards a church plant in New Mexico. We were planning to go out there amd Lee preach and we were going to stay with some of oir missionaries in Deming. Two whole weeks!! Of course we needed God to supply the money. But that is nothing for Him. But a few days before we were to leave, no money had come and the church decided they didnt wamt southern preaching styles so the door got slammed shut. It was really tough. All my family really believed it was where God was leading. Our missionary pastor thought so too. But....
So here we are. Five weeks post job loss. Waiting on God to suply money to pay bills and buy food. I told the Lord I would go sign up for food stamps Tuesday if He didnt send money. Amd low and behold he sent some Sunday!! Yay! Just in time for this weeks needs. Next week has a big list of needs but He will provide. Like the He rews in the wilderness. God provided day by day. Is it fun? No. Is it comfortable? Nope. But it builds faith in me. In my children. To others whomare watching and dont understand. Its been really hard telling the kids we cant have that or do this. But it hasnt killed us. Helps us be more grateful. They are learning we have a Father who owns it all. And also has spurred hem to find ways to earn money. Not easy but at least they try!!
We have decided we will serve the Lord. And i know this trial will come to an end someday. Praying it is soon!!

Sweet little Cubbie...

May 19 came far too quickly! I can not believe my little caboose is two years old already!! Its crazy how time flies. You are still a little guy, though. Only 27 lbs!! You love your bebe, or blanky, your Mama, and your bubba, Caleb. You Re starting to talk and trying hard to get some hair. You LOVE and i mean dearly love Cuties. Those tiny citrus balls make your whole face light up!! You are usually a happy little fellow you sleep most of the night now. Yay!! You have a sweet little smile and like to shake hands with people at church. Your dark sad eyes melt peoples hearts!! We love you, Brennen James, and I am so thankful God answered our prayers and sent you to us!! I pray you will be saved young and use your whole life to serve Jesus! I love you little Cubbie!

Grandmother took us all to chuck e cheese for a party. You had a cute whale cake and pizza and you like playing the games. Mostly you like putting the tomens in the machines.

To my oldest son....

Cant believe it has been 15 years(April2) since my life dream
Came true and I gave birth to my first child! And it coukdnt have been a better first son, either. You are maturing into a hamdsome, caring, hard working, Godly young man. You read your Bible everyday, and more importantly you put what you have learned into practice. I am so proud of you!!! I never have to worry about what you are doing, whether your chores will get done, or if you have your school completed. You are super trustworthy. This past April at missions comferenec, the Lord called you to make your call to the mission field public, and I couldnt have been more proud!
Brennen James adores you and you are so good with him. Hardly ever acting as if you are sick of being a two yr olds hero! You patiently care for Cubbie daily.  I know the Lord has big plans for you! Just stay true to yourself amd keep your honest character. I love you more than life!
We took you to the Ole Miss baseball game again and it was a blast!! We lost, but oh well!!

Happy belated birthday, Reece!

I did it again. I failed to write a birthday letter on time. Puh lease forgive me!!

Happy birthday, Reece. Feb 17 wS the day you turned 11 years old. Time really flies. You are in 5 th grade and doing very well. You make A's amd dont have much trouble excpet in language. And who needs that, right??? Just kidding. So proud of you for working hard at school. You are still goofy and can make us laugh with you infectious smile. You have been trying to be more of a helper, and I appreciate that. You love to go to church and you try to read your Bible. Keep it up!! I pray the Lord will use you in ways we never could imagine and that you will always serve him. We love you Reece-boy!!

Catching up

ots been forever. Blame technology. My old ohome couldnt put pictures on my blog. We still dont have internet. So it wasnt convienent. But now maybe the pictures will show up!!
I believe my last post was in Septmeber. Goodness. Time flies. So heres a whirlwind of my life!
We still dont have a church. We have turned several down because God wouldnt give us peace to go. We are still poor, but God has provided for our every need. Right on time, every time. Lee is still working at Hancock fabrics. The kids and i are still doing the same old thing. School, clean, etc.
our fluff ball, Finn, went to a new home due to the stress of a dog that wont housetrain in a ymriny home. We still have Dozer, the boxer. It has been a long road of well ess for him. But i believe we have arrived.

Regret

Living with regret is an aweful thing. Life has a way of leaving one with regrets, and  the realization that there usually is not much one can do about it. I have several regrets in my life. Some I try not to think about. Some that are t that major. And some that reshaped my life. Sometimes regrets aren't that big of a deal. Like when you go to Sams and see the neatest little rocking horse you would like to give your child for Christmas, but its only May, so you say "I will get it next time." But of course its gone. But they can also hurt you. One such instance happened to me recently. 

    I have several friends here in Town that I know love caramel cake.  Every  time  I make caramel cake or my now famous cupcakes, I always think of them. Just a few weeks ago I was making the cupcakes and I thought, I could run a few by my old neighbors houses. But, I didn't. No time. Out of the way. But now, I have regret. One of the neighbors died Sunday afternoon. I cant take her one anymore.  Cant give her something to help her smile in her bedridden state. Regret. As soon as I heard the news I thought of it. If only I had done it when I thought of it..... Its too late now. But I just hate that I didnt do it.  Ugh. 

Moral of the story...just go ahead and do whatever it is that keep popping in your head to do. Its like the Bible teaches, life is like a vapor. Here today Nd gone tomorrow. We dont know what is in the future. So live now!!  No regrets...

Lost...???

No, friends, not lost or forgotten! We had to move suddenly, so my life took a little detour and there hasnt been much free time! But i am still here. There hasnt benn any sewing ir new baking recipies. But Go has been real in the last month or so! We are still with out a church. But God has kept Lee busy filling in and we have been to some really neat places.
God has continued to supply our every need. He is so awesome!! A sweet family gave us the use of their little rent house. We are camping out in one bedrm with wall to wall mattresses! And we are learning how to manage with one, yes, one toilet!! I believe living with out all the stuff may be a good thing! Simple life. Ahhhh.....
We also added a puppy to the herd. His namr is Dozer. He is an AKC boxer puppy. His daddy is almost a champion. He has championship pedigree. He is a lively boy, and we love him. He isnt hyper at all. And very smart. He is doing well in puppy kindergarten, too. Finn likes him, but Dixon cant stand the sight of him. Lol. He has grown so fast too. He is almost 4 months old. I will try to get a picture soon!!
Im going to make an effort to et back into the blog world!!

A little piece of Heaven

Sometimes in life, you come across something good. So good, in fact, that you just HAVE to share it. well, my friends, I have found just such a thing. It is a most wonderful, fabulous perfectly balanced cupcake you have ever eaten. I found it on Pinterest. Sorry it wasn't my own creation. I can't blog about how I played around with the reipie til it was perfect. I just make the chics recipie and fell in love. It was so wonderful,  had to put it here. Enter on to the scene: drum roll............
                                          Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Sorry this isn't the prettiest one. Those got snatvhed up pretty quickly. Most of them had a wonderfully huge swirl of goodness. I Used a

catch up

So I have been MIA for a little while. Have no fear, everything is ok. God has been taking care of our needs everyday. He never ceases to be so good to our family. We havn't been late with a bill or missed a meal. And He has even provided for some wants!
     So I have still been sewing. My friend put in a n n order. She is the sweetest. thing! She didn't even get frustrated with me when I would brain storm and come up with another cute thing that wasn't on her list! I had a wonderful time sewing for little Emery! She is Gracelyn-Joys friend. Emery also has 6 brothers! I think that is too cool. Anyways, I will leave you with a few pictures to catch you up. Nothing amazing, but cute.
I laid awake one night dreaming up this boutique set. The dress has an adorable pocket with a friendly crab hanging on. There are matching flip flops and headband also. I made a set for Gracelyn-Joy, too. Too cute for her not to have one!

This outfit was a combo of a ought pattern and my genius. (HAHA that was a joke. I saw a top like this and came home and tried to make it. I bought this fabric for next to nothing. I got there on the moment the lady was really NOT wanting to put it back on bolt. She gave me the fabric so cheap!

 This is so adorable. The reverse side is grey swirl with a panda head and a bow. really different and cute.

I made several other things but didn't get pictures. Thanks Erin! you are my one and only customer. lol. And I am ok with that. You are the best!! I love to sew for em an gj. So much fun.

 

 

Sewing frenzy

In the past month or so I have been on a sewing frenzy. A friend of mine bought some things I made and gave me a little bonus!! YAY! so that I could buy some fabric. SO, of course I took advantage of that. I am still working on one more. SLow go on that since havn't had time to sit and smock lately.

 I just love brother sister outfits. These seersucker ones are so comfy!

 This bishop is fab! I love the coral and peach and citrus colors. IT took 8-12 hours to smock this bishop. LOVE IT.

a moment....

Any of you moms seen the best movie ever, Mom's Night Out?? That has to be one of the best movies ever. Allie has to be me made over. Every thing she says and does is Cristen. Maybe that is why it is so hilarious. And one of my favorite parts is where she talks about having a "moment". I am giggling now. Her moment is when the bomb goes off and she feels crazy and nearing saying things she shouldn't. MY, how I can relate. Can't you?? Do you ever have a "moment'? When the stress levels with the children are getting to the blowing up point, and the baby is crying and only wants YOU, and the two smallest are fussing, and the oldest is having a TEEN moment, and daddy is gone somewhere??? Well, my friend, there is help. Jesus is here for us. We just have to take time to seek His face. Pray for strength. Honestly, sometimes I do this, and still fail. But I am a work in progress.
   If you haven't seen the movie, its definitely worth buying. It will make you laugh a lot, and really has a good message. Being a mom IS crazy hard. But its the best job in the world!

Happy Birthday Brennen

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby boy!
   I can't believe that you are one year old today. As I write this, I am thinking about that day we met you. Right now I was laughing and talking with your daddy, Grandmother, and Grand pop. At 10:30 am I got out of bed and started walking around the room. Immediately the contractions kicked in. You came into the world at 11:30. IT was one of the most awesome days ever. I wanted to have you without pain meds, and I DID IT! I was very proud of myself. I had planned and prepared for your birth the entire pregnancy. I had determined to do it naturally. I really don't think many people thought, after 7 epidurals, that I would do it. But I did. God gave me everything I had prayed for. I asked him to give me a safe, fast, fairly pain free birth. And that is exactly what I got!!!
     I am so proud to have you. my little snuggle bum, as a son. You are the sweetest little baby. You don't cry very much at all. You have stayed a little baby much longer than most of your siblings. You still aren't walking, and that is just fine with us!
     I prayed for you so much. I wanted another baby so bad. I was so afraid God had closed my womb and there wouldn't be any more. I was very excited and thankful to welcome you into our family.
     I pray that you will always be sensitive to the Lord. That God would always be first in your life. That you will never stray from the path He has for you.
     Lord, thank you for this small arrow that is such a huge part of our lives. Thank you, Lord, that we didn't say no to one more gift from You. Help me be a good mom so that Brennen can grow up to be a great soldier for You. That he will be brave and strong and never tire of serving You all his days. Thank you so much for the honor to raise him. Help me and his daddy to always point him to you, and raise him the way You would want.
                                                               In Jesus' name,

                                                                     amen.

Cubbie

Time flies so quickly. My sweet baby boy, Brennen, will be a year old tomorrow. I can not believe it has been a year already. We had his party Saturday. The house was full of friends and family. (maybe a lot full!) My friend, Sidra, and I had spent many days planning and preparing decorations for his big day. (Thank you pinterest!) I used my Cricut machine and stamps to work wonders. Sidra graciously came and burned the midnight oil. Big thanks, my friend!!!
     It took three tries to get his outfit just right. The first time I didn't like my thread choice. The second timeit was waaaaaay too big. The third time it was just right.
I chose a koala theme. MY kids made up this game years ago called Hangy's Pets. Caleb(hangy) is the owner of a petshop and all the other kids are the animals. So Brennen was named Cubbie and he is the koala cub since he has always grabbed oour shirts and held on. So Cubbie stuck. And a koala theme was born.
    Koalas are really cute. And they were everywhere. Pictures will tell the story. We had a great time and above all, Brennen seemed to really enjoy his first big day.
   

Little things

Our life has changed a lot in the last two weeks. My husband resigned from the church, and now we are unemployed with a large family. We need to e moving from the parsonage by mid June. The boys have started playing baseball, too. But the Lord is faithful when you follow His path. He will provide for your needs, and more often than not, give you lots extra. I wont bore you with all the ways God has provided already, this past week or so. But one hing I thought was really neat happened yesterday. But I didn't even realize it until this morning.
     I had several dresses I didn't need, so I had two friends I was going to sell the different things to. One set had a couple of smocked things Nd an appliqued dress. The others were nice dresses. I was going to drop off that set then pick up my check with the other set. At the first stop, I really felt I should just give them to her. After I got in the car I told her I wasn't going to cash the check. The next stop w the fancy stuff, I dropped it in the mailbox. She told me she had written check for a few extra dollars as a happy.
      It didn't dawn on me until today that God had given me even more than I had given up! Ain't God good?? And that was just a little thing. He really will take care of us!!

Easter 2015

Easter. The most wonderful time for a Christian. Spring is in the air, flowers are blooming, the birds are singing again, and the air is fresh after the rain. (I won't mention the pollen that covers everything like frosting on a cake.)
    It's the time we Christians remember what our Lord did for us. He came down to earth, grew, then began a wonderful ministry on earth to show His love for us. After 33 years of life, men nailed Him to an aweful cross, where he hung there, between Heaven and earth. He did it for us! He died for me. And you. How amazing it is to think He could do that for me. I am so thankful.
    This year I wanted to do some things to celebrate spring, and Easter. We took the week off of most of our school, and played and did fun things. MOnday morning we took our pups to the park and had a picnic. We hid plastic eggs, we played outside, and we had a few snacks.

One night we had Bunny pancakes for supper.

On Thursday we had Calebs birthday meal and I made bunny garlic Resurrection Rolls. Got that idea off....you guessed it......Pinterest.
You need crescent rollds, marshmallows, butter, and cinnamon sugar. you unroll the rolls. I talked with the kids about how the roll represented the grave. The marshmallows represented Jesus. We talked about why Jesus had to die on the cross. I drove home the point that because they didn't obey me, were hateful to their brother, or snuck candy, that Jesus had to die because we sinned. we dipped the marshmallow in butter. Then put cinnamon sugar all over it. Then we tolled the marshmallow up in the roll like the wrapped Jesus up in graveclothes. Then we put them on the pan and baked them. I told them while they were in the oven that it was like Jesus being in the grave three days. The aroma was sweet. Isn't that just like our Jesus??? Out of the oven they came. We talked about that first Easter Sunday, the women went to the tomb but it was empty!!! (At this point in the discussion, I was about to cut the roll, and was praying it had turned out and I didn't look like an idiot!!) I took a roll, cut it open, and there was nothing but empty space inside. Woo hoo! it was a really cool visual. And tasty too. And even Jack, 5, and Gracelyn-Joy, 3, enjoyed it and answered questions.

FUN 14th

We all went to the Ole Miss baseball game for Calebs birthday gift. We took our friend, Sidra, and another family form Dumas came, too. It was suppose to be warm and small chance of rain. But about the time we sat down it started to drizzle. It was cold too. oh, well. The Rebels palyed well, and beat Florida. We didn't stay for the whole game. We were all miserable. We had lunch at Wendys before the game, and went to Rebel Rags after that.
Now, Rebel Rags is worth mentioning. Imagine driving up in the parking lot to a little store front. We open the door, walk in, and your senses are flooded with OLE MISS everywhere!!! I mean, they had everything you could ever think of with the logo on it. Banners, shorts, dresses, pillows, key chains, glasses, yard decor, bedding, stickers, pencils, lipstick, raincoats, bows, etc. It was very over whelming.

Finns up, guys!!

Happy Birthday Caleb

Yesterday was your 14 th birthday. I still cant believe it. Just. Few months ago I held you in my arms, rocked you And read you book after book. You were a chubby blonde haired lil boy with smiling blue eyes. And now, you have grown into a handsome, smart, thoughtful, Godly young man. I'm so proud of you! You do great in school; I never have to fuss or beg or plead. You just get your work done with out a word. You love to learn, and thats so great!
     You are a good role model for your younger brothers. If they would listen and follow, they would be wise. Not that you are perfect. But you do strive to live right. Keep it up! God is proud, i know.
     The sweetest thing is seeing you care for your baby brother, Brennen. He loves you so much, and you have really learned how to care for him. You change diapers, rock him to sleep, entertain him in the car, and tell him all about the Ole Miss Rebels. Lol.
      My prayer for you is that you will always love the Lord. That you will always have a soft heart, and stand strong. You have already read the Bible through once, and on your way through it again. Keep His Word in your heart. I know the Lord has a great plan for your life. I cant wait to see it unfold. Im so proud that God sent you to us and that I'm your mom. Im proud to say you are my oldest son, and I love you so much! Happy birthday!

Happy belated birthday, Reece.

Well, I'm only a month and a half late writing you your birthday letter. I decided sometime last year this was something i wanted to start doing. Then I began this blog and knew I could wrote it here and save it forever! Sorry it is so late.
    Happy Birthday, Reece. I cant believe it has been ten years already, since you were born. We got to hold you three weeks early because of a kidney stone. You were such a surprise, with a head FULL of soft black hair. You were tiny. Leas than 18 inches! Such a sweetie. Now you are a big boy. Double digits! You are the family clown a lot. You love to laugh and make us laugh at your crazy antics. You like to sing with this funny deep gravelly voice. Sometimes we dont appreciate your humor though....
You are doing very well in school. I dont have to fuss at you much, about getting your work done. I am grateful for that. Now baseball season is about to begin. All of you boys love to play. I hope you do your best this year.
     Reece, I know God has a special plan for you. Somethimg great that only you can accomplish. I hope as you grow older, tht you will always love Jesus, that you will try to serve Him, and never forget what your dad and I have tried to teach you about God and how we should all live. I pray you will grow up to be a soldier for the Lord. Brave. Strong. Determined. May you never care what the world says about you. May you always allow the Lord to guide you and listen to His voice. We love you Reece!!!

Day 6 all things come to an end...

Today we travelled northwest. Originally we planned to drive to Atlanta and spend the night. But we decided that winter weather heading west was a problem. So we drove 668 miles northwest. We drove through four states, stopped about 5 times, and was in the vehicle more than 10 hours!! Where in the world are the Dillard's? If you guest back in northeast Mississippi, you win the game!! we made it safe and sound, and sane! The kids were mostly very good the whole way. I was proud of them. Lee did a fantastic job of driving and I didn't go crazy in the back seat entertaining babies...well..., mostly! ha.
I've enjoyed this little game with you all. Thanks for playing along and reading my entries! Hope it was a little bit of fun.
The excitement for today included a fun stop at Bass Pro Shop, seeing all the wild dead animals that are stuffed there, and  the boys played the laser gun shooting game. And, when we got home the heat was out and it was 52 degrees in here! YIKES. Thankfully, a man in church was able to whiz on over and fix it very quickly.yippeee. Now, for a decent nights sleep in my own bed. Hoping baby sleeps better too.  It's suppose to snow a bunch tomorrow. we shall see......

day 5

our last day was wonderful. we spent the morning at the beach. The boys played football, looked for sharks teeth, and shells, and talked to the sea gulls.  Had  a late lunch a mc ds, and then back to the motel to pack up and shower. That night we ate at red lobster. not much action really. lol. We also really cheated and had ice cream for dessert. Oh, well. We can eat healthy another day.. hehe.

Here are some pics of the kids enjoying 78 degree weather at the beach.

And Brennen was having so much fun sleeping. What a sweetie!!