Pretty Britty

Brittany and her friend Hillary

on their way to

the Homeschool Dance

Happy Birthday!!!

I can't believe my baby is now 2 years old!

He's growing up too fast. This past year he started talking, he's potty trained, and  has become quite assertive (must be a Heuermann trait).

We celebrated his big day at Chuck E Cheese and he had a blast. He was scared of Chuck E though.

Then he went home and had a big chocolate sundae and made a huge mess right before bed.

Happy

2nd

Birthday

Ryan

We Love You!!!! 

Cheyenne's New Do!

Cheyenne got a haircut yesterday and she is very proud of it.

She walked around all day telling EVERYONE look at my hair its so cute short.

So how does she look?

God's "Grace"

      This is my picture of Grace!

Courtney Grace

Courtney sang today (at Grace Baptist, I see a theme here). She sang "I need a Savior", it was beautiful, not the song or the singing but the 'singer'.

For years we've prayed for healing for Courtney. He hasn't healed her YET (one day He will, perfectly). We've tried to help him along in the healing process, diets, vitamins, herbs, not much success. We've gone to dr's to see if they can help in in the process, drugs have helped some but they don't heal, and as we were told last week by the dr, they really don't know what to do to help her. So....what now?

But as Courtney sang I realized He was healing....ME!

If God had magically healed Courtney, I wouldn't see my all own failings, He uses Courtney to expose all my character flaws, that need ALOT of work. I've been reading "A Praying Life" by Paul E Miller (great book by the way) and in it he says, "If Satan's basic game plan is pride, seeking to draw us into a life of arrogance, then God's basic game plan is humility, drawing us into the life of his Son." Well Court certainly keeps me humble. Courtney is my living picture of God's grace to me. I won't lie life with Court is HARD, she's mean, disrespectful, messy and does just the opposite of whatever we want her to do. But I love her fiercely, I'd give my life for her, when she hurts, I hurt more. And that's exactly how God feels for me, even though spiritually I'm mean, disrespectful, messy, and do just the opposite of what he wants. But He loves me, so much He did give his life for me. Courtney has the biggest heart, she's the most loving person unfortunately her head and her heart don't always connect and I'm the same way with God.

When she sings I see God at work. Courtney can't get up there on her own, He's using her for a purpose. Today I saw people crying, hands raised, worshiping God, not because of her but because of Him. I realize if God can use Courtney with all her problems, he can use me too, a broken vessel, with all my problems.

 She reminds me daily that God doesn't promise us an easy life, if life was always easy we wouldn't realize our need for a Savior. I'll never stop praying for healing for her, because as a mom I want better for her and an easier life for her (and for us), but until then I'll try to keep looking for the lessons he's teaching ME thru her.

Easter

Well the Easter Bunny came to town! Just ask Chey she saw the proof on the lid of her sand box! Yuck!

How ya like John's new easter dress?

He spent his Easter morning crucifying Jesus. And no, hollywood is not knocking down our door yet.

We colored lots of eggs!

We hunted lots of eggs!

And we had lots of fun!

But Chey's still trying to figure out why the Easter Bunny did that on her sandbox!

I Finished!!!!

Today I finished the Bible in 90 Days Challenge. WooHoo!!  It was definately a challenge but one that was well worth the effort. Reading it at this pace and straight thru gave me so much more of an overview of the whole big picture of the bible. Going at this pace there is not time for indepth study but I marked tons of passages that I plan to go back and study more indepth now that I'm thru.

I learned so much from this challenge. It showed me how much time I waste everyday that could be better spent reading the Word. I learned if I didn't get up early and get atleast part of it read, then I usually wouldn't finish that days reading and would have to play catch up later. I also learned to grab my bible and take it with me everytime I left the house and read a page or two here and there while waiting for dr appt. or kids activities. It has also given me so much more of a love and hunger for His Word, I can't wait to go thru it again.

It's sad though how many people own bibles but have never read it in its entirety. Horace Greeley stated "It is impossible to mentally or socially enslave a Bible-reading people." Think of how different this country would be if Christians read from it daily. Think of how different our Church's would be. I read some testimonials of whole Church's that had done this Challenge together and they all said attendance increased and tithing increased and missions giving increased. Church's today spend so much money on entertainment to keep people coming or bring new people in. Maybe all we really need to do is to teach them to read.

So...go read, 90 days, 6 months, a year, just go read. You won't regret it!

Oh and as we prepare to celebrate Easter I'm oh so thankful for Christ's sacrifice for us. Can you imagine having to keep up with all the different sacrifices and offerings and rituals like the old testament people. Some of us would have to have some bigger goat and sheep herds than others. Ha!

OK now you can go read!!