And Again I Say, "Rejoice!!!"

Tomorrow is Sunday and that is what I will do at service! Rejoice!

(one service because of the holiday!)

This is the day that the Lord hath made,

I will rejoice and be glad in it!

A Senior Moment

For all who are seniors --- for all of you who know seniors --- and for all of us who will be seniors.It pays to be able to laugh about it when you are!"Where Is My Paper?"The irate customer calling the newspaper offices, loudly demanded to know where her Sunday edition was."Ma'am," said the employee, "today is Saturday. The Sunday paper is not delivered 'til Sunday."There was quite a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by a ray of recognition."So that's why no one was in church today."

Just thought this picture is cute!

Sis. Keyes sent me this picture of Cherish from during our stay with them. I just thought that Cherish was so cute with her beautiful blue eyes and the ketchup mustache!!

I thought we cleaned up the house!!!

This past Sunday night, Cherish thought she was a princess for sure. She finally has enough hair to wear her hair up and she was twirling for sure! She was posing like it was a photo shoot!

Now, we are 5 days down the road, it's Friday, Stephen is going to preach a men's meeting tonight and tomorrow, so I'm having a mini sleep-over! My mom and sister are coming to spend the night with Cherish and me! We, Stephen and I, straightened the house up, I dusted and we just did a surface clean! We no more than got finished and I looked over at Cherish's kitchen (compliments of Papaw) and the pictures below show what I found! I bought her some princess graham crackers yesterday, she had poured the whole box into the sink and was "washen them, mommy!" Well, they were more than in the sink, I started taking pictures and she jumped in and started posing like it was some great thing she had done! I had her help me pick them up, and we let the dogs in to get the crumbs! They were thrilled, of course!! This is just a moment in my eventful days!!! I forgot to mention that her kitchen sits between my kitchen/dining room and the living room! So this mess was IN THE MAIN PART of the house!!!!

"Open it, Mommy!"

OK, Cherish is at a really funny age!! For example:

This morning she was destroying the house which is a common occurrence, she had a discarded set of keys that her grandma gave her. She was going to all of the doors and pretending to be unlocking them. Well, she locked my bedroom door and we were all on the outside. She knows that when she has done that before, her daddy goes to the laundryroom where I have a drawer that has my "tools" in it. There is a small hammer for hanging pictures, a screwdriver for whatever we need it for in a hurry, a measuring tape, etc. She came through the house, said "bebroom door wocked!" I knew immediately, told her daddy, which was on the phone and we got a laugh out of that. In the meantime I could hear her rummaging in the laundry room, as usual, I sort of overlooked her goings on! Here she comes, saying "Here Mommy, unwock door!" I looked up and what did she have? A flashlight! I said, "Cherish, that will not unlock the door!" She was emphatic, "Yes, unwock it!" and insisted that we could unlock that door with that flashlight. I thought it so cute that she knew that her daddy goes to that drawer and gets a screwdriver to open it. Well, it wasn't in the drawer because he had taken it to his tool box, so she got the next best thing, a flashlight!

I am a great "improviser!" I called my dad who is an even better "improviser" and said, "OK, we have another one just like us, she doesn't have what it takes to fix it, so she got something else. Any idea on how to use the flashlight to open the door?" We very quickly decided that we could shine the light in the hole and surely it would open since Cherish is so determined.

What really happened? Dad got off of the phone, got the screwdriver and in about 5 secounds, he had the door open!

This road leads in many different directions!

I sat for a while yesterday, marveling at how God is working in Misti’s life. You do your best while raising your children and leave the rest up to Him. We as a church have been at a pivotal point, Stephen & I as pastor and wife, have done our part with praying, fasting, his teaching and preaching God’s word, and we reach a certain point, then sin and people reek havoc and we are left to clean up the aftermath!
I, for one, have had a hard time with the continual issues, knowing that God has promised “Us” revival here. I realized this past week that my focus has been on the wrong things. Here we are with over 20 brand new people in various stages (Christina & Michael & children, ~Teresa Gutierrez, & 3 children, ~ Joseph, James, Julia & their mother~ Augie, Trina & 3 children~ and a host of visitors that my hubby knows their names, shame on me, I’m bad with names!!) And, here I am focusing on whether this one is in a bad mood, if so and so is acting cranky, who is missing church, and what will go wrong tonight at church. Not thinking for one minute about just plain PRAISE!!! I do praise, don't get me wrong, but before service, I worry! Shame on me! I went in Sunday with a total different mindset, and God met us from the very beginning! He even spoke to me directly through other ministry that He is in control, His promises are still my promise, and that He knows exactly where we are and that we are to remain strong because He is taking care of everything. That we are at a point that we can go any direction and that we had stepped over the line to the next level in the spirit! Wow, I didn’t even look for frowns after that!!
Back to Misti, I knew that she and Adam were carrying a heavy burden for certain people and situations in our church. I have also noticed a new depth in both of them. She sat at my house last night, both of us in tears, as she talked about her passion, her determination to see God’s church in Kerman prosper, and the fact that they are binding with us! You see, the missionary, Bro. Peircy that was with us on Sunday morning spoke that our revival would come when the church’s burden met the burden of the pastor. He said that until present, we have carried it and God was waiting on the church to join us. I have blamed (not spoken out loud, just to myself) every flaw on our lack of knowledge, that my family must pray and fast more, be harder, be nicer, be…be……… as of Sunday I realized that we cannot do what God can’t do! He is waiting on others to join us!
Do I still worry about so and so? Yes, because I want them to be part of the revival that God has promised. I want to see the fruits of the Spirit in their lives. But, they have to make decision for themselves, my worry will not do it!!
Misti, don’t ever forget what you have learned in the past year about dedicated prayer. Every time in the past few months that we have gone to focused prayer for specific situations, it was just days before God answered. You were amazed on Sunday when the very ones you have been interceding for, were lost in the Lord with no prodding! On their own they were worshiping and loving God.
He is so good! It blesses my heart to see you dedicated and weeping before the Lord! Never lose that! Dad and I love you and Adam dearly!

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Campmeeting Pictures

We had a wonderful time with our friends at Campmeeting 2008! Here is a little bit of our fun! Enjoy!

God, Direct These Feet

My little 2 year old has not slept in church since she was 9 months old. She has always been too busy! We just got through with campmeeting and she is exhausted! Yesterday, Stephen preached for Bro. Keyes here in Santa Maria, and she fell asleep right away. Her sissy was here, too, and she pulled her shoes off right away. When I came back from the altar, this is what I saw............Cherish's bare feet, with her blanket thrown over her legs. They looked so sweet to me, I grabbed my new iphone and took this picture. Then I thought, with the help of my aunt, Karen Hopper, these would be darling for a blog. Hmmm, what do I say, then I remembered Stephen's message yesterday about the next generation.

It fits, God, it's not enough to just put shoes on these feet, that have a blister on the side, but I cloth and teach her, I need you to direct her. Where would you have her to walk? Where would you have her to stay away from. What are the footsteps that you have prepared for her? Don't let her ever take a step without you!

Happy 23rd Anniversary, BABE!!

Our Wedding Day

Phoenix, Arizona

August 10, 1985

23 Anniversary

Sunday, August 10, is our 23rd wedding anniversary! Babe, I have to say that I love you more now than then! You have always been my best friend, but it is amazing, each day we seem to be more in sinc with one another. We know what the other one is thinking and going to say before we even say it!

I am so blessed that God saw fit to put you in my life! I love you dearly! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and loving me, as well as our two gorgeous daughters! (I think that you grow more handsome each day!)

Don't forget, you fashion people, this wedding was 23 years ago, the decor was a little different then! LOL

Here are a few pictures of us in the last few years!

I like this one, babe!!

And these are this week!

I think his weight and hair are both distinguishing and I love it!!!
Today!! Acting Goofy!!

The "Pwincess" Bedroom

Cherish's daddy and I finally got her room done....Well, there is one wall to paint and decorate yet, but here is the outcome!! We wanted girly but something that would last for a while. We painted the squares and diamond in the colors from her comfortor and I painted the silly flowers on the wall (they are the colors in the stripe!) and hung pictures in strange places, we love the outcome. I have to get lamp shades yet, I'm thinking pink with black boa or black with pink.........We'll see. She was playing "pwincess" yesterday and started saying, "How Annie look Mommy, How it fit Annie Mommy?" I turned around and this is what I found. It's a good thing that Annnie is goofy and doesn't care! Alex, our male, would not have stood for it!! That's princess high heels laying there, I'm suprised those weren't on Annie, too!

Great and Mighty is His Holy Name!

Today, I just really feel like magnifying Him! I am so greatful for all that He has done for my family, the wonderful church that He brought us to, the great friends and family! I have been staying close to the updates of Timothy Simoneaux and the reports are so wonderful, still in need of prayer, but he's asking for cookies! Yeh! He's a normal kid, well, for that matter, I might ask for cookies, too, so I'm a kid, right?

I am awestruck today at His Majesty! Cherish loves to play "pwincess" and that is beautiful royalty, but it is hard to comprehend how wonderful, powerful, almighty...............He is, then on the other hand, I consider the tender side of Him. I visualize Him holding the tiniest of premature babies in the palm of His hand, think of the times He stopped to speak to the cast offs! He is amazing!

The song I'm singing today while I pack for campmeeting......

Great and Mighty is His Holy Name

Great and Mighty is His Holy Name

Great and Mighty is His Holy Name

He is an Awesome God!

To any of you who feel hopeless today, He is your hope!!