Life with my sister

"Daddy plant corn?" or "Marmie sick?" is all that I have heard in the past week out of this little precious love. My heart aches for him. His daddy is in the thick of planting all over the delta and his phone-a- friend( Marmie) is not able to communicate with him. He is so confused and has seen me cry way more than he should have. Julie told me to stop crying in front of him because he was going to be jacked up...so I have bucked up and kept dry eyes for the last few days. He has talked to Juju in place of Marmie this week and I think Juju has really liked that...I know Henry has! When he talks to his daddy every morning by phone he says "plant corn good daddy!" This week has been a challenge to work and be mama without distraction. Playing outside with him after work has been therapeutic for me. I committed the cardinal sin and allowed him to sleep with me. I needed it and so did he. Sometimes we have to break the rules. I am back with Mama now and relie...

Mama has a long road ahead of her. She is still in ICU and will be for a few more days. She is expected to be in the hospital for 3 weeks once she gets out of ICU. Your prayers of strength for all of us, especially mama, are very much felt and appreciated. Thank you for loving us enough to lift our family up often to our healer and merciful savior. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my father There is no shadow of turning with Thee Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not As Thou hast been, Thou for ever will be Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me Great is thy faithfulness Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest Join with all nature in manifold witness To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love Great is thy faithfulness Great is thy faithfulness Morning by morning new mercies I see All I have needed thy hand hath provided Great is thy faithfu...

I just wanted to drop in and give ya'll an update on mom. She had some complications develop from the surgery last Wednesday. As we were in the room with her yesterday we watched as her condition weakened and worsened. Her doctor was right on top of things all day. She went in for emergency surgery at 5 last night. It went well and she spent the night in ICU. I haven't seen her  this morning, but we haven't heard anything so we consider that a good thing.  Thank you for your prayers. Please continue.              Also please keep one of moms nurses in your prayers today. His name is Sam, his wife's name is Erica. They are delivering their 3rd son today and he will be born with spina bifida. I told Sam I would ask for prayer and I know that you will.   Julie

Abby and I are both in Ft. Smith this week. It seems fitting to be together this week since it's spring break. Abby used to spend her spring breaKs with Stephen and me every year while she was in high school and a couple when she was in college. We had some fun and memorable times. We were laughing last night about listening to DCTalk's cd. The Mrs. Morgan monologue was our fave! Abby even quoted the whole thing last night! And it's been a good 16 years since that spring break! Memories are a funny thing, they last forever. Mom will be in the hospital for a few more days, I'm sure you can imagine her excitement! She is doing well, the recovery is just long. She's being a trooper though.  Abby and I are relying on the Lord and so thankful that our gag reflexes have calmed down. We are a family of gaggers and have found that God cares enough about us to help us out this weeK! Thank you for your prayers, please keep them up for the next couple of weeks. Julie

Today our dear mama is having a portion of her colon removed. Julie and I have made the pilgrimage home to care for her. Before you read any further, please pray for our mama. Her name is Kathy and she is a jewel. Pray for her to have peace, the surgeon to have a steady hand and sharp mind, pray for her to have rest and a stress-free recovery. March is Colon Cancer Awareness month. I find it an ironic blessing that all this came about this month. Mama had never had a colonoscopy and her doctor had been on her about it for a while. She finally scheduled one. She hated every minute of the prep and the waiting on the procedure proved to be a bear also. She had to wait for hours. We got updates from our Aunt J, who had taken her, and it went from comical to maddening, real quick!( My favorite part was when Aunt J told her she would take her anywhere she wanted to eat afterwards and she told Aunt J she just wanted to go home and eat scrambled eggs. I still laugh about that.) After the proce...

I have to show off my latest Cricut fun. These are Easter buckets for some of my favorite kiddos. Julie giving me a Cricut for my birthday was the best thing ever. Working for a sign shop and getting the leftover vinyl is the icing. Having a friend who loaned me her Easter cartridge is the cake...she rocks! I hope the kiddos love the buckets as much as I loved making them. Abby

Planting season has started for our little Daddy so this past weekend Henry and I flew solo. We loved the sunshine days and took advantage of the pollen-filled air. Henry ate his supper Friday night on his new picnic table. He was yelling "more mama!" because he was out of his beloved chicken nuggets. Saturday was St. Patrick's Day so we had to pose in his Henry shamrock shirt, of course. This is my 3rd St Patty picture of him in this same spot. I was going to post all 3 pics together but they are on my old computer and I am too lazy to walk upstairs and get them off that one and put them on my laptop...just imagine or go back on the blog and look! Randall has never been at home on March 17th since Henry was born...I realized that Saturday and thought it was sort of funny. Planting season always starts at this time. Saturday after we ran our errands we ventured back outside. I put a pair of flip flops on Henry. He had never had a flip flop on nor had anything between his ...

I just had to show you how cute my boy was at church today. He actually picked the hat out himself at the store and I bought the shirt to match. We compromised with the sweater vest with a cookie bribe, and had a cute little outfit. Julie says Henry is still my big, live baby doll...and that he is. I love dressing my Henry. I think it is safe to say dressing him is my hobby! poor little cutie - ha! Abby

For the last 7 or 8 years we have been filling out NCAA basketball brackets at our house. We started this now tradition when the twins were 2 or 3. We would say the name of the teams playing, and they would say the team they thought sounded the best. It was the most fun. Samuel loves this time of year. He was born thinking about all things sports so he has always filled out his own bracket, and knows what he's doing! After everyone fills out their brackets we hang them on the wall with tape. March isn't our best decorating month! We check our brackets faithfully on the weekends and crossoff our teams that have lost but we thought would win. For the last couple of years we have entered our brackets online at cbssports.com and they keep track of our rankings. I don't know why we do that, it seems Samuel or Stephen win, David and I lose and Daniel and Anna come in in the middle. Last night we were giving Anna the teams to pick from and she would pick based on whether she had b...

1-Daniel thinks David can read his mind. I think this may be true. 2- Anna let Daniel pull her front tooth after 16 days of it hanging loose. 3-Samuel's voice has changed. I don't recognize him anymore. 4-I threw away a pair of Easter socks last night that I've had for two years. It seems by the holes in them that I wear them at other times other than Easter. 5- I took the boys to a local barber college to get haircuts. We were the only white people there. The students that were going to cut the boys hair had never used scissors before and couldn't understand why they should cut their hair wet. It was one of the funnest times we've had, they even told us to come back! We will! 6- If you were to get pregnant this week you could very well have your baby on 12/12/12. If you do will you please tell me?! 7- I finally got a bread starter from a friend. I really wanted a sourdough starter, but I got an Amish one and it is so good. It tastes like a cinnamon roll. I think on...

Remember this post? Well, I told my friend Stepanie about the story Thursday afternoon while the kids and I were visiting with her and her kids. She laughed and thought it was funny. I mean, who wouldn't? Her husband called and said he needed to run by some a church members home. And guess who the church member was. Yes, you guessed it, the McDonald's couple! Stephanie was so excited. She couldn't wait to tell them. She texted me and asked if I minded if she printed the story out and showed it to them. She then texted and said it was too late she had already done it. I was eating during both texts! She said they enjoyed the story, I'm a little nervous about seeing them. Ha!

It is a joy for our family to serve the Lord in full time ministry. We're joining up with Kelly today. She is linking up with ministry wives and as you know I am one. When Stephen and I were married I knew that he was going to be a music minister and I was just fine with that. I even looked forward to it. I was excited about serving in a local church and attending church so often that I would know all the words to all the hymns in the hymnal. Oh, my lofty goals! After being a music/youth minister for eight years, Stephen knew that he was being called by the Lord to be a preacher. As much as I didn't want to be a preacher's wife, I knew he was also being called. God is so good to let both of us know His plans. Now, we are in a different season. We are planting a church. We won't be serving in an established church with all that they offer, good and bad. We will be seeking people that don't have a relationship with the Lord, showing them His goodness and provid...

I absolutely adore this song. My hands go up in my vehicle and I am really surprised the speakers have not blown up! I can't wait to buy the CD when it is released next week. Phillips, Craig and Dean is by far my favorite Christian group. Their pure sound makes my soul sing. Enjoy! Abby

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. --The Bible, Proverbs 22:6 If you missed it, Anna was saved two weeks ago. Sunday was the day she followed that decision with baptism. It was a great day! This is her before the baptism. She was scared and embarrassed, I was a little worried. She did it!I breathed a sigh of relief. I also cried a couple of tears. It was just so sweet. She was baptized in the same swim trunks that the boys were baptized in. Some people have christening gowns they pass down through generations, maybe we'll pass down these swim trunks! Oh, this church doesn't have robes for anyone to wear when baptizing, or for the preacher to wear. So Stephen wears his hunting waders so he doesn't have to change clothes before he preaches. I know those of you that attend bigger churches might think its a little hokey, and it is, but I'm just so glad that these little churches are doing church the right way and baptizing ...

I thought I would share some photos of Henry I have taken recently and failed to post. I seem to be so busy lately. I have over-extended myself with obligation this spring. I am participating in Wanna Dance, The Reebok Crossfit Games, and then all my regular stuff...I can't keep up. Randall has reminded me that this is not the season for me to be over-extended since he has to be (it is time to plant!). Oh me...what fun this should be for us! Life with a two year old is so much fun... and exhausting. Most nights Randall and I are dead to the world by 9:00. We fight to stay awake until 10:00 but it is a struggle, I tell ya. Henry Patton wears us out. We get up before the chickens with Henry, then we work all day and when we get home we go in fast forward all evening. We try not to miss a beat with Henry. I hope to remember at least some of this later in life. I worry I will forget because it moves so fast! Henry loves his Nana and Papa. They came to visit him after church last week. ...

I'm writing this days ahead of when you are reading it. I'm not even sure I'll even be posting this, actually. Today I saw on facebook something that angered me so badly I had to take a deep breath, close my eyes and say a prayer. I texted Abby and asked her to pray also, and could hardly type the words correctly because of my anger. I've done pretty well the past few weeks and really thought I was over the town we used to live in and the people we served. But this one comment threw me right over the edge. Nothing was said directly, but what was implied hurt my feelings. It seems that some people tend to think that their opinions are always correct. That they aren't opinions but facts. I am quite insecure and never want to hurt anyones feelings. But, some people are just evil. I don't know what kind of person you are. I don't know if you are meek and mild, or harsh and opinionated. But if you are the latter please think before you speak or post. If you are m...