Hosea 6:1-3

 ¹ "Come, let us return to the LORD. 
       He has torn us to pieces 
       but He will heal us; 
       He has injured us 
       but He will bind up our wounds.

 ² After two days He will revive us; 
       on the third day He will restore us, 
       that we may live in His presence.

 ³ Let us acknowledge the LORD; 
       let us press on to acknowledge Him. 
       As surely as the sun rises, 
       He will appear; 
       He will come to us like the winter rains, 
       like the spring rains that water the earth."

13 YEARS

Yesterday was the 13th Anniversary of my wedding. I thought I would post what I wrote to Mr. Smith.

13 Reasons Why I Still Love You:

1) Because I will never forget the first dance or the first kiss!

2) Because you were my friend before you were my boyfriend.

3) Because you are an incredible daddy and my kids love you to pieces.

4) Because you still think I am beautiful even though I can’t fit in my wedding dress anymore.

5) Because when I am really sad, you put your arms around me and say “Awe, poor baby”

6) Because we have secret jokes no one else will ever understand.

7) Because you forgave me for hiding from you that night and making you think the rapture had come. I still feel bad about that, but it was so funny!

8) Because when you talk about a story in the Bible, you always teach me something I didn’t know or show me something in a different light.

9) Because you have forgiven me a thousand times at least.

10) Because sometimes when you are laughing, or playing with the kids, or sometimes even when you are sleeping, you still look like a little boy.

11) Because you “get me”.

12) Because you’re the first person I want to talk to when I am happy, excited, mad, hurt or sad.

13) Because I promised to and I meant it.

HAPPY 13th ANNIVERSARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Post I Never Wanted To Write

So I am gathering all my courage to write this post. There is so much I need to say, but somehow writing what has happened in the last 2 weeks, makes it all seem more real and right now everything is still raw.

Thursday, September 17th I returned from lunch thinking that it was just another work day. My mom had told me that morning that my dad wasn't feeling well. He was working outside of Chicago and had called to say he woke up with a ringing in his ears. 

The next thing I know I was getting a call from my mom that my dad was in an Emergency Room and had suffered a stroke. The next hour was a blur as I had to pack, make plane reservations and make arrangements for my kids and be on the road to Dallas to catch our flight all before they even made it home from school.

The next call from the neurologist in Indiana (he was in a hospital 30 minutes southeast of Chicago), was that my dad's stroke was very severe and that the situation looked very grim. The nurse held the phone up to him so I could talk to him, by then his speech was so slurred that he couldn't really respond.

My amazing super hero husband drove my mom and myself to Dallas to catch a flight to Chicago. We arrived around 11:00 pm and still had to rent a car and drive the 45 minute drive to Merrillville, Indiana. We finally got to my dad's bedisde at around 1 am.

For the next 4 days we barely left the hospital room except to eat and sometimes sleep. Most of the time we just slept at the hospital and we took turns getting a good night's sleep at the hotel. The following Monday, I had to go home because let's face it. I have a 3 yr old and a 5 yr old and while my hubby was being a wonderful daddy, I knew it was time to come home. I left not knowing when I would see my mom or dad again. I was just as worried at the point about my mom being left up there as I was about my dad. Luckily my brother works 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off and he was able to stay with my mom throughout the rest of that week.

Once I got home I immediately started working on getting my dad transferred back to Texas. I wanted to know at what point he had to recover before they would do a medical transfer. It was no easy job finding a company who would do a non emergency GROUND transport for over 930 miles. Thank You God for Ameritrans. They were wonderful and took such good care of my daddy.

To make a long story short, on my birthday (yesterday) I drove to Tyler and anxiously waited to meet the transport team and my dad. What an incredible birthday gift! He still has a long road ahead of him with therapy and rehab, but praise God he is in Texas!!!

I am still wrapping my brain around the fact that this has all happened in less than 2 weeks. It is difficult to compute. And don't even get me started on the emotional rollercoaster. 

So for the few of you faithful readers left at my blogspot. Please take a moment to remember my dad. And ask that the Lord would speak to his heart during this time. If I have learned nothing else from this situation it is that our days are not promised and are time here is so short.

So if your daddy is still with you. Take a moment tonight, pick up the phone and tell him that you love him.

This is daddy learning how to walk again.

I know I know!

I know what your thinking. You've about given up on me. I am so sorry that I took such a hiatus, but things have been so crazy and every time I even started to blog I just didn't even know where to start. 

Madelynn started kindergarten at the end of August and Zachary started preschool the first part of September, so that was a big deal in our house just trying to adjust to a new schedule. I think we are all starting to get the hang of it. 

Todd and I are both under a little bit of pressure as there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes and we are trusting God that HE alone is in control of the situation. Please remember us in your prayers and hopefully I will be able to say more in the coming weeks. 

I was asked back in June to speak at a day retreat for the women of our church and boy have I been excited, anxious, nervous, ect.... That has taken a lot of my free time as I have been praying and preparing for this past weekend. We had around 30 women in attendance and I really believe more than anything else  that I was able to speak from my heart. 

I have already heard some incredible testimonies from what God did in the hearts of so many of the women. What an AWESOME GOD we serve. I came home from the retreat Saturday night feeling exhausted but content that I had given it my ALL!

So now that I feel you are adequately updated, I hope to begin to write again and not be such a stranger.

Heavens to Betsy!!!

Nesting

I love normalcy. 

I am a friend of consistency.

I like things you can count on. 

That's why I have such a problem with change.

Now I didn't happen to be this way always. Something about motherhood made me into a lifetime nester. I like to settle down and get comfy.

But I am learning that God doesn't see nesting as such a good thing. When we become safe and comfy in our own little world, we start to lose our dependency upon Him. Right?

When my feathers get ruffled and my nest starts to unravel I run right to the Father. (Which is a very good thing.) That's exactly what He wants me to do. 

So while the world has seemed a bit topsy turvy as of late, and I fear the ride has just begun, I've been hiding out under the Shadow of the Almighty. 

And it's a pretty sweet place to be!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

THANK YOU!

This week has been just crazy. I work till 5 at the office  and then I leave to go to my other job, my crew leading job at VBS. Crew leading 10 preschoolers for 2 hours sounded like so much fun when I signed up! So why do I now have a stomach ulcer, a head cold and possibly a few thousand torn ligaments?

No seriously, while it has been exhausting I have loved watching their little faces and how much they soak up. I mean really they are like little sponges, learning and retaining all that we can dish out.

So many times I have thanked God for keeping His hand on my life and keeping me in church when my life could have turned out so differently. And I think back to all the VBS, Awanas, Missionettes, Youth Groups, Fellowship Groups and Summer Camps and know that every seed planted during those childhood and early teenage years was harvested as I became a woman of God. So to all the VBS workers, Summer Camp Dorm Leaders, Fellowship Group Co-Leaders, ect....

Thank You for Giving to the Lord. I am a life that was changed!

This week on Blog Hop, it favorite photo week. This was a picture a friend took of my kiddo's first tailgating experience. It will always be treasured by this LSU momma!