Emily

For the first time in the history of this blog I am coming to you, my faithful blog readers with a special prayer request.

I have a pastor's wife friend who is in serious need of prayer. Emily has 3 little boys and is expecting Baby #4. Emily is currently in the hospital as a result of becoming severely dehydrated. She has been in since Tuesday and is still no better. Their insurance does not cover prescriptions so any/all meds that could help her are exceptionally outragious in price - which is an added stress for her. So, if you think of Emily here are some specific requests:

1. For a divine healing touch for Emily.
2. For added strength for Jonathan as he is both dad & mom while Emily is sick and in the hospital.
3. For Baby Heath (who is doing well at this point)
4. For the ones who are helping care for their 3 children when Jonathan can't.
5. That the Lord would make a way to help cover the cost of the medication that Emily needs.

Thanks for your prayers!!

My husband was tagged by Tim Calhoun

I had my husband make his list since Tim Calhoun tagged him.

Things that most don't know about me......but I suppose many will know these things.

1. Working as a fireliner in the Bitterroot Mountain range of Montana and Idaho was the most arduous job I ever had.
2. 7 hours is needed to finish up my pilot's license.
3. I spent 1 month traveling in Europe with Brant Luther and 3 weeks in South America.
4. Running heavy equipment and restoring antique tractors is fun for me.
5. Hunting is one of my favorite pastimes (55+ deer and a 420 lb black bear).
6. My favorite food: General Tso's Chicken with fried rice at Chef Peng's in Niles Ohio(The best Chinese Restaurant in the world!)
7. Since 1985 I have collected bullets. My collection has around 1500 different calibers.

He was going to add: The true reason I married my wife - her dad has good hunting ground! I was not mpressed! :)

Thankful Thursday

Why do we wait til Thanksgiving to make a concerted effort to give thanks? As of today, I plan to spend a bit of extra time each Thursday to be thankful. I hope I can be thankful EVERYDAY but on Thursday I will post my thanks.

Today I want to thank the Lord for my children. Yes, the ones who spilt milk all over my newly mopped kitchen floor....

Yes, the ones who just cut each other's hair.....

Even the ones who just cut up an entire book of checks.......

And, amazingly enough, even the dear one who is "feeling his oats" (the teachers words, not mine) at school....... (sigh)

I just dearly love my little hooligans. They bring so much laughter and joy into my life and I don't know what I'd do without them.

Thank you Lord for Kenton, Vincent, Kendra and Alyssa!

Heaven is Sweeter

Baby Copeland is resting tonight in the arms of Jesus. She is whole and perfectly healthy!! Don't forget to pray for Conor, Booth, Sellers and the rest of Copeland's family as they grieve. Here is the entry in their blog:

Just wanted to let you all know... we lost our precious girl tonight at 5:35. We knew the end was coming... she had a very difficult day and we were anticipating it, but nothing can possibly prepare your heart for something so hard. We are clinging to the knowledge that she is no longer suffering but is in her Savior's arms. Our time with her in heaven will be so much greater and so much more special than even the most incredible days we've spent with her here on earth. We are so thankful for every memory the Father gave us. I will never regret a single second spent as her mommy.

Sellers and her Daddy spent some time outside on the back porch talking, so she knows. Thank you for your prayers and for your sweet encouragement.

We love you all...

A God for Real Life

I was reading after Beth Moore today and it was JUST what I needed so desperately at this juncture in my life......

A God for Real Life

Good Monday morning, my dearest Siestas! This is the day the Lord has made, Monday though it be! Let's get an extra shot in that Starbucks today so we can have a little extra energy to rejoice and be glad in it!

I caught myself doing something this morning that made me think of my own walk with Christ then yours, my darling fellow-sojourners, because that's the way God has wired me. It was still dark outside and I'd just finished my quiet time on the back porch. Our sanitation guys come early so I knew I'd better get the trash out before I missed them. As I was dragging a large trash can down the driveway and out to the curb with one hand, I held the other hand up in the air while I prayed some Scriptures out loud over my beloved son-in-law. It might have been any one of my closest loved ones but I knew he had a Greek test today and I wanted to spend some extra time on him. Suddenly the Holy Spirit made me aware of the sweet irony of what was happening. There I was, dragging a trash can filled with empty dog-food cans, coffee grounds, crumpled kleenex from blown noses, cardboard toilet tissue tubes, dryer lint, a weekend of Houston Chronicles, all manner of to-go food containers and goodness knows what other unmentionables out to the curb while having a holy moment with the King of all Creation.

And I thought to myself, "Isn't that the way it is?" God's Word and His ways were meant for real living. If we keep saving sacred practices for sacred life-moments, we will never truly see our theology collide with our reality. We may feel a tad better at church and more spiritually in-tune at Bible study but we'll never get the fact that Christ meant to infuse Himself into our relentless carpool lines, traffic jams, elevator rides, grocery store check-outs, expense reports, tank fill-ups, and family fights. If we reserve divine moments for divine situations, we are in for long waits and short visits. I don't know about you but I need Him more than that.

Sometimes we think something is wrong with us because our spiritual lives and disciplines are not glamorous. We frustrate ourselves with the wrong impression that other people's are. We don't realize that right in the middle of their quiet times, sometimes they have to jump up and run to the restroom...or nurse the baby...or yell at a barking dog, "Would you shut that up before you wake up every dad-blasted soul in the neighborhood?"

And, yet, right in the middle of real and un-sacred living, something sacred does happen. Though human eyes are blind to the sight, the cloudy pillar of God's glory really does fall upon us and we, and our trash cans, are enveloped by His Presence. And He is pleased that we got it. That we got Him. And He got us. Right smack dab in the middle of living.

That's what got me thinking. If God is not about dragging our trash to the curb for pick-up, what on earth is He for?

"The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

You are deeply loved today.

By Beth Moore

Pray for Baby Copeland Farley

Michelle Krick posted on her blog about the Conor & Booth Farley family and the heartache they are enduring right now and will continue to for a long time to come. Their baby girl, Copeland was born with trisomy-18 a chromosone defect and the medical community has said that her body is not "compatible with life". Miraculously, she is still hanging on. Her dear family desperately needs the prayers of those of us looking on - their brothers and sisters in the Lord. Here is their blog address: http://conorbootheandgirls.blogspot.com (sorry, I can't figure out how to do a link)

Tagged!!

Well, I was "tagged" by 2 good friends so I guess my assignment is to tell you 7 things about myself (that presumably you don't already know).

1. I am DEATHLY afraid of snakes. Any kind, any size.
2. I have been to Haiti 2 times and the last time I was so sad about leaving that I got sick!
3. My favorite foods are pizza and cinnamon rolls.
4. Max Lucado and Keith Drury are my favorite authors.
5. I am NOT a morning person. I cannot be even slightly productive before 10:00 a.m. (that doesn't mean my dear hubby doesn't persistently try to change that!!!)
6. My ultimate goal in life (besides making it to Heaven) was always to be the best wife and mother I could be. While I am not the one to judge how well I am doing at the job, I am so thankful that I am at home and have the privilege of being a mom and a wife.
7. I never ever in a million years dreamt I'd be a pastors wife but here I am and I truly feel it is a privilege.

The Cousins Visit the Zoo

Today my sister got really brave and took four little girls (2 four year olds and 2 two year olds) to the Pittsburgh Zoo. The girls (with the exception of Brooklyn who isn't feeling well) had a blast!
















This how Aunt Shandra felt after visiting the zoo!!

The Cousin's - At it again!!

My girls are visiting my sister and her family for a couple days this week. Once again they are having a blast!! After Kendra decided that Aunt Shandra's house wasn't boring after all, things got into full swing. Unfortunately, Aunt Shandra decided to make pizza for supper but Kendra informed her that she doesn't like pizza - and definitely not pizza sauce. The interesting thing is, she ate about 2 slices of pizza last night and fought with her siblings over the last piece for breakfast this morning!! Her dislike for the Italian delicacy must have developed rather quickly between breakfast and supper today!!! :-)




Brooklyn can only handle so much frivolity before she has to indulge in some quiet more mature activities! :-)

Grandparent's Day Service

Today, we honored our grandparents here at Keepville. We had a very lovely service and Byron spoke to the people about being faithful to their grandchildren. Byron and I sang "Find us Faithful" at the end of his sermon and it summerized what he had preached about. Then the children came up front and sang "You are my sunshine" to the grandparents and then passed out a gift I had made up for each grandparent. It was a small jar filled with candy kisses. Here are some pictures of our day.

The gift for each Grandparent (jar of hershey kisses)



All of the grandparents present today

Our "one light" town

Albion, PA. Any of you ever heard of it before? Ever been here? It is the coolest town ever in my humble opinion. Where else in America would you see farm tractors proudly driven by dad or mom with Jr. riding on his lap - down main street!! Or, a line of snowmobiles driving down main street headed for the gas station to fuel up. Our little town has 1 traffic light, one gas station, 1 fast food restaurant (McDonald's), an old fashioned corner drug store and a "Dollar General" which has been affectionately renamed - "The Albion Mall". We have an "old fashioned" feed mill that looks and smells like feed mills used to look like and smell like. We have a little "mom and pop" grocery story and a couple pizza shops. This is the kind of town where you go into a store and everyone knows your name. I went into the grocery store last week and heard, "There's the preachers wife!" Since moving here, I have seemed to loose my identity. I am now mostly known as "Pastor Byron's wife" - but that's ok.

We are just truly very very blessed to live in a wonderful, farm community where everybody knows everybody and looks out for each other.

Recently our town had some fun activities for the kids. The boys participated in a pedal tractor pull and had fun catching some perch.....

Congregation Appreciation Service

Last week was our Congregation Appreciation Lasagna Dinner that we (Byron & I) gave for our people. Today was the actual service during which we spent alot of time telling each individual what we appreciate about them. It was a long service but a good one. We truly love our people here and we hope that today's service reaffirmed that to them. We try to give them something each year from Byron and I. This year our personal budget was tighter than others so we got creative!! :-)We gave each of them a certificate for a meal with their Pastor and family.

We had several families missing today but here are the ones who were here...




















Did I mention that it was a long service?? Here's what the clock said when Pastor finished!!