Helping in Some Small Way

I have been extremely proud of our small group and youth group lately, and really, our church as a whole.

We have been trying to live in such a way that brings glory to God. We realize that it is not all about us, but that it is all about God and furthering his kingdom. We are trying to look more outside of ourselves to see the needs of people and to be Jesus to them, even if it is in just some small way.

Our church has been a part of some projects and activities that blessed my life and reminded me of what is really important in this world.

The first project was something we did with our youth group last year. After participating in it last year, we decided as a family to make it an annual tradition. I was proud this year when our 4th and 5th grade classes challenged our church to pack shoe boxes full of toys, school supplies, or hygiene items to send to children all around the world. We did it though Samaritan's Purse whose mission statement is to demonstrate God's love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Last year 8 million children received a shoe box.

Just like last year, the girls chose to pack a box for a girl that was their age. They even used some of their money to help pay for the items. They had a great time picking out all their special treats.

We had a middle school retreat the second weekend in December. I was glad that a large group of middle schoolers signed up to go. We had a great time learning from Wes and the other youth minister, playing some fun games, and hanging out together.

On the ropes course learning to depend on each other for help.


Listening to some instructions. Avery and Abby are ready to participate too.


Zack and Bowen. Zack was two or so when we moved here to Denison.

The second project was going to the Grayson County Shelter here in Denison with our middle school and high school girls. We made cookies to take to them along with some milk. We also brought supplies to make some Christmas crafts. We sang Christmas songs with them and listened to Cina as she read us a Christmas book. I love watching our youth serve and love on others.

Sierra holding her new little friend who was happy to go from one gal to the next.


Working on some crafts together. Poor Abby did not get to join us. She was sick.


This little guy was a character. He kept us laughing and on our toes the whole night!

Every year our church participates in an activity we call Project Christmas. Each small group adopts a family or two to provide Christmas gifts for them. We decided to help Radiant's family. I think I have written about her before. She had brain cancer and is now recovering from several chemo and radiation treatments. She has 3 other siblings that we were also able to bless with clothes and toys. I was so very proud of how much our group donated to help make Christmas a special time for this family who is struggling to make ends meet. We had a fun time picking out everything, and it was special to see their excitement when we delivered our gifts. Our prayer is that this family will see Jesus through our love and actions.

Our small group is also planning to help out another family who is struggling financially due to medical bills. Watching our group respond so quickly and generously to these situations has warmed my heart.

Picture Time!

Nana wanted some pictures for her Christmas card, so we asked my good friend, Jennifer, to take our pictures down at our prayer garden at church.

Jennifer is extremely talented. It is always hard to photograph large groups of people, especially when four of them are young children. She did a terrific job!

Here are some of my favorites.















Thanks again Jennifer!

Thanksgiving

I realize I have not blogged in quite some time, but it is never to late to catch up. This Thanksgiving we had a great time with our families.

My sister, Heather, and her family, David, and Caleb came for a couple nights. The cousins had such a good time playing with each other. We played lots of card games, went on a long hike through the forest near our house, and had fun just hanging out. Time with them is precious since they live all the way in Nashville, and we aren't able to get together very much. Dad and Gina were over a lot too. It is nice that they live so close.

Waiting for the adults on the bridge.

Abby with Uncle David.

Taking a break on our hike.

Yes, we are all climbers!

Dad and Baby Girl in the cave.

Showing off our muscles.

Heather recently finished as valedictorian of her class AND another graduating class of massage school. Impressive! She gave us all a wonderful massage which left us feeling totally relaxed.

Avery's turn for her massage.

David finished as the valedictorian of a his graduate work as well. We are proud of these two! I am sure they are glad to be done with school!

On Thanksgiving Day we headed to Arlington to spend two nights with Nana and Paw Paw. We had our Thanksgiving meal at Granny's house down the road. Blake and Katy joined us the next day. It so fun watching all the little cousins interact with each other.

The cousin's table.

In the hot tub with Paw Paw.

The girls helped Nana decorate their tree.


Nana, put it there.

Thanksgiving is yet another reminder to stop and remember all we have to be thankful for. God has given us so many blessings. My hope and prayer is that we will continue to use these blessings for his glory.

Halloween Happenings

This year, we got to use the new building at church for our Fall Festival which gave us more room for all the games. The girls had a great time playing the games, eating hot dogs, and jumping in the bounce house.

We were all a little tuckered out from our weekend of camping, but a good time was had by all!

Grampie and Gina joined us for the festivities.

Avery, Paislee, and Skylar - Bee Buddies
Great minds think alike.

Abby, Cord, Beth Anne, and Avery,
enjoying the bounce house.


Amy and Ansley - two cute bananas.


Jessie did a great job painting Abby's ladybug.


Avery at the ball toss.
I am thinking she should stick with soccer.


Easton, thanks for being a good sport
for the sponge throw.

Our Home Away From Home

-OK, maybe not, but we sure do enjoy camping at Eisenhower State Park!

We went again with several friends in our small group at church. A huge plus of this state park is that it is 15 minutes from our house. We had just four tents on the campgrounds, but we had a couple of other families join us for the days and not spend the night since we were so close to Denison.

As usual, we had a blast hanging out with one another. We went on walks/hikes, watched the kids play, roasted marshmallows, carved pumpkins and more.

Friday night was pretty cool – about 35 degrees. It was fine around the campfire, but it was pretty chilly when we headed to our sleeping bags. All the kids slept fine and were nice and cozy. Most of the adults stayed pretty cold through the night. I was even in Wes’ nice sleeping bag meant for 10 degree weather that he uses on Trek, and I was still cold.

The next day we had breakfast around the campfire. I made pancakes for our crew. There are little jugs with pancake mix that you just have to add water to, which makes it super easy.

After breakfast we went on a little hike with Sam, my friend Jennifer’s dog. Wes and I had to leave during the day to go to the girl’s soccer games. We also grabbed a quick shower afterwards at home since it was on the way.

Wes went to the Ranger game that evening and just slept at our house afterwards since he was getting back so late. He also needed to be at church the next morning. He was able to come after church and bring us all lunch and help us tear down camp.

Saturday evening we carved pumpkins, roasted hot dogs, and marshmallows. Don’t worry, I got some healthy food in the weekend too. I gave the girls lots of V8 Fusion (vegetable and fruit juice – they just don’t know about the vegetable part) and lots of grapes.

We slept much better that night mostly due to the fact that it was about 10 degrees warmer. I also had Wes’s empty sleeping bag to cover me.

On Sunday we had another breakfast around the campfire. Cara, our camp cooking queen, made donuts for us over the fire. The kids got to shake them in powdered sugar which was a fun treat. Cara taught us all kinds of meals and treats to cook over the fire.

After breakfast we had a nice little worship service around the campfire. We sang lots of children’s songs led by the kids. Then Barry led a little devotional for us with one of the girl’s devotional books. There is nothing like praising God right in His beautiful nature.

A huge thanks to Jennifer for taking some of these great pictures! She is talented!

Jennifer and Barry, it was fun being neighbors. Wish you lived next door, for real.

Avery climbing a tree, again. She loves doing this!

Abby cleaning a rock! She is concentrating hard!

Love this gal and her "natural" smile she is sharing with us here.

Having fun!

Preslee holding Abby - sweet friends.

These girls are planning something.

The kids had so much fun playing with this water faucet, creating waterfalls, and just playing in the mud.

Rocks + mud + water + sweet girls = hours of fun

Hanging out around the fire.

The Milner family.

Jana and Alyson - we sure love you both!

Sweet Jamison. Not sure what she thought about the whole camping thing.

She wants to climb much higher like her sister.

This girl loves to give kisses!

Thank you God for our friends!

Avery is not enjoying this, can you tell?

Abby think Jennifer needs help, I guess.

I do not pretend to be a great pumpkin carver. This is the best I could do. The girls did not want to help get the "guts" out of it. These are the same girls who played in the mud and dirt all day. Whatever!

They all looked pretty neat when it was dark.

Cara was so sweet to let the kids help cook and eat the donuts.

Abby dancing/shaking the donut in powdered sugar.

Abby eating Cara's amazing donuts!

Good stuff!

Abby giving Sam some water.

Alyson and Abby picking out a Bible story for our devotional.

"If a brother is in the way, we will stop and pick him up..."

The girls leading us in "This Little Light of Mine".

We had a great time and made lots of memories. I can’t wait to do it again sometime soon. I am so thankful to God that I get to walk through this life with such great friends.