Babe, You're Amazing

Today, Keith and I celebrated being married nine years. I want to take a moment to publicly tell my husband how truly incredible I think he is...bear with me, it will get mushy :)

Baby,

You have enriched my life so much. You make me so much better than I would be by myself. The Lord has used you in my life to give me a tangible picture of what His love is like. I thank God all the time that I get to walk thru this life with you. He blessed me with so much more than I deserve when he put us together.
You make me feel loved all the time - that gives me a confidence that I can't even explain. I have never once doubted in our marriage if you loved me because you show me love daily in your words and in your actions. You provide for me and our family so well. You encourage me in my mommy role by placing such a high value on it that you choose to sacrifice in other areas so that I can stay home with our children. Thank you for having so much confidence in me.
You are still the one that I enjoy being with the most. I can't get enough time with you. I so love just sitting and talking with you about anything (even theology :)...I know I tease you that God put me here to help keep you humble, but seriously, I think you're the smartest person I've ever met. I just won't tell you that too often because I don't want it to go to your head ;)
I love how you love the Lord. I am so thankful that you lead our home spiritually - that makes my role as your wife so much easier. You gently point me to God everytime I start looking somewhere else. Your walk with God, your conviction in the gospel, and your commitment to see those around you become Christ followers inspire me.
I am so blessed to be your wife. Did I mention that I think you're HOT? You are..very much..and I'm so glad that God gave you to me.

love you,
barie sue

You know how there are those things that you just don't realize you need until someone introduces you to it...well, I was just visiting my sweet friend's blog (check it out...At Home in Austin) when I discovered this:



Is this not the coolest ride ever?!!! I could have so much fun taking our four little ones around the neighborhood with this. I wonder if Keith would think this was a need also? Probably not, but a girl can dream :)

A Sad Week

Yesterday we got a call from Keith's mom that his Mimi (E.'s mom) had passed away. She was 92 and up until about a year and a half ago, she was in extremely good health, both mentally and physically. She lived past her husband, one son and most of her friends and had a fascinating perspective on life because she had lived thru so much, including the Great Depression. Keith and I got to spend time with one of her nieces last summer and gained a whole new appreciation for Mimi as we listened to Delight Marie talk about her with an awe and reverence for the tough woman she was. She said that all the nieces were inspired by how Mimi could tackle anything that life threw at her with a "Deal with it and move on" mentality. I've seen that same spirit in E. and also in Keith. I remember being in awe of her when I first went to Gladewater to visit her with Keith because she had e-mail and knew how to use the Internet. She was in her 80's then - you've got to admit that it is very rare to find someone that age who is in to surfing the Internet and keeping up with people by e-mail :) She seemed to be a woman with few words but with so much wisdom.

Please pray for E. and the rest of Mimi's family as they say goodbye to someone they love so much. And pray for Keith as he prepares to preach at his Mimi's funeral on his 30th birthday. That will be a bittersweet day. Pray for Karen, my sister-in-law, who will be struggling with wanting to celebrate her husband's graduation from medical school this weekend while also mourning the loss of her grandmother. Not to mention that she has a new baby boy that is keeping her up at night...speaking of Evan, I don't think I've posted a picture yet of him. He is a cutie...here he is with Alan, the proud daddy:



Here are a couple of pics of Mimi:


with Kade...

with Kamden...

with Kale...
with Brynlee, taken a couple of months ago...When we asked the boys what they wanted to pray for tonight at dinner, both Kade and Kamden wanted to pray that Mimi would have fun in heaven. And Kale just wants E. to not be sad anymore. Kids keep things sweet.

A Formal and Blue Hair :)

Keith and I got to have fun getting dressed up in formal attire for a Gala event last weekend (thanks, John!). We had a blast even though the virus was beginning to make me feel sick towards the end of the night. What really made the evening memorable was coming home and getting changed just in time for our two oldest boys to throw up all over their room. There's nothing like lots of throw-up to get you back to reality :) Here we are pre-sickness:

I am married to one HOT man and I'm so thankful that he is the absolute love of my life. I know many of you are going to get a chuckle out of this: we had to stop by the store and pick up dog food on the way home and we actually heard a couple of comments that we must have just come back from prom. If only they knew that we were on our way home to take care of our FOUR kids and that we were about to turn the big 3-0!

Speaking of the big 3-0, we are one week away from kicking off our month long celebration. That's right, I figure that with all that Keith went thru with his health last year that we need to really celebrate life and turning 30 is a good reason to have fun :)

I actually began prepping for turning 30 a couple of weeks ago when I had my hair done - can you see my blue streaks in this picture ;) The boys think I'm the coolest mom ever because I have blue hair. Kamden came up to me this morning with a red marker and asked me to bend down so that he could give me red hair. I'm a little afraid to go to sleep while they are awake now!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Mom,
So I know that I give you grief 95% of the time. I am known for teasing you even while you are in the midst of serving me or my family. I am sure that I take you for granted a lot. But I love you. Lots. And I think that you are a wonderful mom and granny. You're fun and I enjoy having you close by to be a part of our daily life. Sorry I don't tell you that as often as I should.

Good Friday

A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated Easter, beginning with Good Friday. It is always a fun-filled day for us, but this year we really wanted to make sure that, as a family, we spent time reflecting on the seriousness of that day for Christ so long ago. It was such a God-thing that the day before Good Friday, I met with Kathy and Kendall for our regular mentoring time and this topic came up. They reminded me about the service their church (HCBC - Pflugerville) was having for Good Friday. So, Keith and I decided to take the boys so that it would give us another opportunity to reflect with our kids on the cross and the incredible sacrifice that Jesus made for us. As we sat there and watched the pictures flash on the screen, I saw the boys, especially Kade, watch with an intensity and seriousness that usually does not characterize them. They asked a lot of questions that night. Before bed, we did the Resurrection Eggs with them.

When Kade trusted Christ as his Savior a couple of weeks ago, he brought up the Good Friday service and the eggs. He said, "Remember mom and dad when we saw those pictures Jesus on the cross - I know he did that for me." You just never know the moment when your children will grasp the gospel for themselves. That's why it is so important to not get weary in pouring the truth of God's Word into our children. I honestly do find myself struggling sometimes to see the importance of talking about the gospel with my children when I'm in my daily parenting mode. I know it is so important, but I struggle because it just doesn't seem as urgent as the other 15 tasks that are staring me in the face. As I sit here reflecting on the incredible role of "mom," I am reminded that my most important task is to shepherd their hearts towards the One who created them and sacrificed his very life so that they could be free and live life with a peace that is only available thru Christ.

Like I said earlier, Good Friday was filled with fun. It is a tradition for our family to visit the local feed store on Good Friday to see the Easter bunny and colored chicks. The boys love to play on the tractors and other ride-ons while we snap as many pictures as we can. E. and Papa met us there and then we headed over to a park for lunch with some friends. We spent the afternoon dying Easter eggs.



I don't think I can do a short post.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you reading this!