Thursday, July 28, 2011

This is my daughter....

....with no panties! The positive:she is completely potty trained and will go on her own to potty and wash her hands....the negative: she forgets to put her panties back on and this is what I find so may times throughout the day....a very cute, but bare bottom!!!



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Claire is Growing!!

Just some cute pics of Claire!
















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Love my Girls!

So thankful for these little joy bringers! Carsy took this pic...I just loove it!


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Thursday, July 21, 2011

Just two seconds...and everything could change.





I feel compelled to blog this two seconds of our life last night. God is continuing to graciously teach us and protect our family. God has blessed us with a pool. We have soo enjoyed the pool in this HOT summer. I saw this morning that we have had 28 days of over 100 degree temps so far. Dustin was home and we had finished dinner and decided to go out for a swim to cool down. We all got dressed and headed outdoors. I had Claire in my arms and headed for the watering hose to give the flowers by the pool a much needed drink. I looked over and saw Dustin, the boys, and Abigail go into the gate on the west end of the pool as Claire and I made our way to the gate at the east end. I heard Carson get in and turned my back to water my pots on the side of the pool. All was quiet....for just two seconds. Dustin yelled my name and I looked over. I saw Abigail bobbing up in the shallow and flailing around in the water...I didn't think, I just reacted. I yelled "Roo!"..She heard me and looked over, she looked very scared.... I dropped the hose and jumped in with Claire in my arms and grabbed up Abigail. Just after I pulled her up Dustin was there pulling her out of the pool and this is what he said, "Thank you, Jesus.". She was crying. My heart was pounding. She was fine. She was okay. Yes, Thank you Lord! She had watched her brother walk right into the pool and so she did too without her floaties on. I thought my husband was watching. My back was turned. Two seconds was all it would have taken to change everything. Today I am most grateful for the Holy Spirit and how he helped us to see Abigail needing help and Jesus who allowed us to help her. We thank Him and praise Him for his watchful care over our family and for allowing us to spend more days with Abigail Ruth. This morning I was overwhelmed with his word. "He who keeps you will not slumber." Psalm 121:3. He was watching, alert even in those two seconds when our eyes were turned and for that I am so grateful! Thank you, Jesus!


Monday, July 11, 2011

Claire Isabel is 5 months old!!




Oh my stars my little Clairey Berry it 5 months old! What a joy she is! She is rolling over very well which is making getting her to go to sleep a little challenging these days. She loves to watch her brothers and sister and is now grasping things and putting them right into her mouth. What an incredible blessing from the Lord!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

What is on my heart today...Contentment, Living Water, Sharing Life, Gift of Friends, Awesome God!

It has been a while since I just shared what God has been doing in my heart and what He has put on my heart and being that I have a few moments I thought I would just start my post there. Please don't feel obligated to read this is just so I will remember. On my heart today is contentment. The past six months really Dustin and I have been praying about a position that Dustin was offered in being the medical director of the transitions unit at the hospital. We were first approached by a hospice group out of Chandler that was needing another doctor to help answer phone questions which would mean just some extra money to be able to put toward student loans. With the news of Dr.Babb leaving, the hospital in Cushing approached Dustin with the medical directorship of transitions. They told us that they would have the deal ironed out quickly as we began talking with them in January. We decided to put the hospice care on the back burner and was very surprised that the hospice rep was so very friendly and flat out told Dustin that they would wait for him because he felt like Dustin was the right guy for the job. So we waited....and waited...and waited some more. They originally told us that it would be very lucrative....Dustin was a little uneasy about the position because transitions is the psych ward and that their is little opportunity to share Christ with these patients. We began to pray for God's will for our family. I will not lie the extra money sounded fantastic to pay off loans but as we began to get into June and finally had a deal on the table it was quite interesting how it was presented. The hospital wanted him to be oncall 15 days a month (which means he would have to take calls and manage patients on those days) and to manage this ward. They had decided that the salary that they had paid the previous doctor to do this was excessive and that they would offer us less and not only that but they would actually only pay us half of the less and put the other half towards Dustin's clinic. It was almost insulting. It would be more than what were were making now but they wanted so many more hours for so little pay.....and we had waited 6 months to get the details of this. I started to see Satan in the midst of this. All I saw was time being taken away from our family. Time that cannot be replaced. Dustin was really distressed about it and we began to pray diligently and seek God's word to guide us in this decision. This is the verse that the Lord gave him 1 Tim 6:6-10 "But godliness actually is great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wondered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains." I believe that God's word is so very true. It seems that with money you could always use more but learning to be content with what God has provided now and understanding that it may take time to take off those loans but we will not squander that time away to the enemy has been a great gain for us. Contentment. On my heart today is living water. It is soo hot these days and I have been spending quite a bit of time in the morning watering my flowers. We had VBS two weeks ago in the evenings here at our church and one of the stories I taught was about the Samaritan woman at the well and how Jesus told her that He was the living water and that whoever drinks of Him will never thirst again John 4:9-20. Living water. I need Him not only for salvation but for daily watering just like my flowers need watering. Every day as the sun is hot and scorching the flowers dry out and wilt but the water restores them just like God's word restores me when I am disciplined enough to set aside some time and open His word. I am making a point of doing this daily not just when I have time because I need His living water. I need His word to equip me to be the best wife, the best mom, the best Christ follower that I can be. On my heart today is my desire to share life with others. To share Christ's plan for abundant life now! God has been moving in the hearts of 6 moms, including myself, here in Cushing. A new ministry is blooming! It is called Moms31. Simply put our mission is to connect all moms of Cushing, OK to Christ and to one another so that they may be equipped and encouraged to live life to its fullest with Jesus right now! This has been really exciting to see God working out all the details and funding! We now have a year of sessions for moms that can meet during the day and are praying through some outreach opportunities for working moms too! You can find more information on our blog here: http://moms31ministry.blogspot.com. Here is the verse that has been on my heart regarding this ministry. "You are here to be a light, bringing out God colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this , as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think that I'm going to hide you under a bucket do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand- shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt others to open up with God, our generous father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16 (Message) Sharing life with others so that you can Share Christ with others!! On my heart today is the gift of friends. We have been in Cushing now a year! Isn't that crazy! So hard to believe and yet at times it seems like we have been here forever. Friends. We have prayed for friends that love the Lord and God has granted us the sweet blessing of some good friends and for this we are so very thankful! "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from God." James 1:17. On my heart today is awe of an awesome God who cares about His people and answers prayer. Sunday night we spent the evening doing and watching fireworks with Dustin's family. As we were leaving the show we were looking off in the distance and saw a huge grass fire a long ways off. It looked scary. All around us counties had issued a burn ban to protect people from possibly setting things on fire with fireworks this year because it had been so hot and dry. As we loaded the car and the boys continued to ask questions about the fire and started to get concerned about who might be in it, we decided to pray God's protection for the families and homes involved. We have tried to teach our children that in any circumstance that we can pray and that God's word tells us that He loves us and listens to us if we are right with him. " The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much" James 5:16. We pray alot. We pray for upset stomachs, for boo boos, for ambulances that pass us, car wrecks that we see on the highway, and even for parking spots. We pray because we know that God's word is true and that He is an awesome God that can accomplish all things! This morning Mimi called to tell us that Grandmommie was not feeling good and so they took her to the heart hospital in OKC today. She told me that Grandmommie had told her that we had prayed for the families that might have been involved in the fire on Sunday night and that she had found out that it was actually a friend of hers on facebook. They were just getting ready to pack all of their stuff and evacuate because of the fire and didn't have to in the end because they claimed that only answered prayer stopped the fire! Now that is awesome! God cared enough to make our boys become concerned for that family, whom we did not know, and that He answered the prayer of His people interceeding on their behalf. I am sure there were many more people praying for them as well. Awe. Lots of awe just swelling up in my heart for a God that loves his children and answers prayer!