Photos of the Queen!

More photos of the Queen!

Baby Miley

OH MY GOSH! Being a grandmother is the COOLEST thing ever! I thought nothing would surpass the birth of my own daughters, but when you daughter has her own daughter...no words describe it. I suffered through the day today holding Miley while Renee and Jesse tried to catch a nap. It was hard, but I made it through the bottle feeding and the diaper change. Nothing but Jesus compares to being a grandmother!!! And I officially decided Honey is the name. We'll have to wait for Doug's name. He's not confirming or denying anything at this point. He's just trying to hog all the holding time! I'll have a ton of photos tomorrow of her. Hopefully, we come home tomorrow. Life is grand!

Announcing the arrival of...

MILEY ANN
Is this not the most precious baby on the entire earth????

I think she is. Miley Ann was born on Wed, April 25th at 4:21pm. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 9 ozs measuring 19 1/2 in. She is so tiny. She is such a good baby so far. She has lots of dark hair and big lips (which are not completely evident on this photo). She's already got the paparazzi after her and is posing for pictures as you can see. She's looking at everything and trying to hold her head up. Oh, look out Renee!
Renee & Baby Miley are doing great!

And the jury is still out on our grandparent names. I think God gave me a confirmation tonight or at least I think I will claim that! :) I met a lady and her husband that are called HONEY AND POPS. I'm leaning heavily toward Honey again, but Gran is still a contender. I just cannot call myself Gran or Granny or Grandma yet. I am not old enough for that! The kids loved it and I think we might go with it unless Doug veto's the plan...

Lastly, I surpassed my record of staying up the entire night for a Pathfinder Lock in (26 hours) after working all day. My new personal record as of now for no sleep whatsoever is now 40 hours straight!!!!! I deserve a medal (or a straight jacket)!!!! At this point, I'm not sure which it is, but it's amazing what you will do for your kids.

Thank You Jesus for blessing our family so incredibly much today. Your hand was over the delivery and such. Thank You for a healthy, happy baby and her incredible mom! I love You so much Jesus! May our family bring You glory beyond our mere words!

Hospital

Well...it's 4:30am and we're at the hospital. No baby yet...I'll let you know when she gets here!

Sparkle

Hey chicks! Sparkle is going rock climbing Friday night! Woo Hoo!!!

We need to know which girls are coming ahead of time. We are getting a bus but we need to make sure we have enough students to pay for the bus!!!

Call me or email me for details.

Elevator rides...

God is good! The doctors are about 95% sure that my dad had a stroke (definitely what we were praying for - we didn't want any part of the tumor option). Amazingly (this was all God!!) dad has no facial drooping, slurred speech, or paralysis from the stroke. Praise God!!! God has once again protected dad. I don't understand how dad can be so fortunate other than saying God protects dad every time. He's doing good and will likely come home from the hospital tomorrow. Hospitals are by far the most boring and most interesting places to be which leads me to yesterdays elevator ride...

As I walked into dad's room announcing "I need to cry" yesterday afternoon, I was so moved. I had just returned from the elevator. As another lady and I were waiting for the elevator, a gentleman sitting on the bench began telling us about some hospital in N.O. that had even slower elevators. He said you could "hit the button, go to the cafeteria, get coffee and return right on time for the elevator". Being the skeptical person I am when I am around men I do not know, I started wondering just what his motive in talking to us. He wasn't well-kept, hair was a mess, dirty fingernails, etc. I had totally judged him without even knowing him or his story. He began telling us about his wife being in there and so on. The lady and I were trying to be polite in small talk. About that time, he finished his less than interesting story by saying that his wife was here and she just passed away. Needless to say, we froze. I literally wanted to bust out crying right there on the spot. As the elevator doors opened, the 3 of us entered and he shared the sweetest story about being married for a blessed 21 years to her - the best years of his life. She was his right hand. Needless to say, he had completely captured our attention at this point. He told us the only thing keeping him together was the fact that God loaned his wife to him, and now he was returning her where she belonged...with God. He apologized for "preaching" to us, which we both said no, we thought it was beautiful. Pray for this man and his family.

God, I don't know his name or how we ended up on that elevator with him, but You do. I am so sorry for judging him without any cause. Thanks for blessing him so tremendously with his wife for the last 21 years. Give him strength to endure the sad times and happiness to fill the void in her absence in the day-to-day things. Lord, wrap Your arms around him. Pour Your love into him in a way that only You can. I lift up this man and his family to You for healing of their hurting. In Jesus name!

We NEED prayer!!!!

Our family needs prayer and a lot of it!

My dad is in the hospital as of this morning and we don't know what is wrong. He's VERY disoriented and covered in scratches. Doesn't know how they got there. Has a rash all over his arms and back. Doesn't know what he's been doing for the last 2 days...right now, they are just ruling things out (very slowly I might add).

and to top all of that, Renee and I spent several hours at the hospital for her. Renee was dehydrated and having some strong contractions. She's been having contractions since 12/1pm this afternoon but they are now irregular although they are hurting a good bit. They sent her home after watching her for almost 3 hours, pumping her with fluids and with a shot of pain med.

I've spent the day in hospitals...I have a lot of peace. I know God is in control. He's gotta be because I personally cannot handle all of this without Him. Thank You Jesus!
Please pray for all of us.

New blog to check out...

I love blogs if you didn't know that already! I love knowing what makes people tick, hearing life from another angle, etc. Check this out: Chris Caine (one of my role models...although she has no clue whatsoever who I am or that she has impacted my life) has a blog. Enjoy!

Times may have changed, but one thing's the same!

I am about to take on a new season in my life that is looking me right in the face. I didn't dream or imagine it would come so quickly, but it has. In less than 2 short weeks (possibly less than 1 week), we will have a new addition to our family. Our first grandchild. (I still have not decided what I want to be called. Pressure is on now!) Thanks to modern technology, we already know so much about her before we even lay eyes on her. We know (as you can tell) that she is a she. We found out today that she weighs about 6 1/2 lbs right now and appears to have a head of hair. She is constantly moving. Amazing! How can we know so much already?

I'll probably date myself here, but oh well! When our girls were born, our families had a big tradition. We had "THE SHEET". Everyone wanted to be on 'THE SHEET" which would be anything from a napkin to an envelope to whatever could be found! We made a list in the waiting room guessing the weight, length and sex of the baby. Most people in our family didn't know what they were having since sonograms only occurred if you were wealthy or had a problem. We were not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination! As each family member arrived at the hospital waiting room, there was great importance in getting to the waiting room first. You had to make sure you submitted your entry on "THE SHEET" before anyone guessed your answers. By the time my girls came around, they had implemented a $1 entry fee to officially guess (giving the money to the new baby upon arrival). Everyone already had the perfectly planned and well thought out answer to put on "the sheet". Every person had their own formula (if you will) for calculating their answers...some used weight gained by the mom-to-be, while others used food cravings and how the mom-to-be carried, etc. Crazy stuff! It was a BIG deal to see who guessed closest to the actual. No trophy or ribbons, just the honor of knowing you were right! (We are all very competitive if you had not figured that out by now). When the baby arrived and the new dad announced the actual facts, everyone would be silent with anticipation absorbing the words. The room would erupt with excitement about the baby (and who won bragging rights!). Lots of high 5's and tears...

Today, there isn't much room for guessing. You already know. Times have changed, but one thing remains the same. God already knows the birth date, weight, length and sex before you even know you're expecting. He knows every detail about her to the very number of hairs on her tiny head. Every thing/life created has a purpose and a season. What will Miley's be? I am anxious to see how God has gifted her, what He's birthing in her little heart even now, and what she's gonna do with all of it!

I cannot wait to see & hold this little world changer!

Overwhelmed?

"For I am overwhelmed, and You alone know the way I should turn."

Psalm 142:3

Just thought I'd share a quick verse I came across this morning.

When all else fails (or you're just plain overwhelmed), turn to God.

He alone knows the way you should go, look, turn, run, ....

Thanks God for reading my mail again and reminding me of where I should be looking.

Point the way for me today Lord (and may I bring You glory).

Cajun Night

Mmmm Mmm! Good stuff!

I have the amazing privilege (and I do mean privilege) to co-lead one of the best life groups in my opinion. (People in the life groups are what make it great)! Sparkle is by far one of my favorite groups!!!! We have some awesome God super-chicks. Tonight we had a total of 27 attending (leaders included). Here are a few pictures of the evening. They danced to some cool Cajun music, talked, fed turtles, talked, and ate some incredible food. Hats off to Boutin's and our waiter! He was from Belgium and had the coolest accent! We were treated like Queens! (and little do they know we are royalty - holy princesses of the King!!!!) I just LOVE these girls!!! They are the best!!!

Next on the agenda...
Rock wall climbing ... look out Ignite! Here we come!!!!!

Actions & words

With Easter still fresh on my mind, I stumbled across a verse this morning that stopped me in my tracks.

"And I tell you, every one who acknowledges me before men, the Son of man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God." Luke 12:8-9

WOW! This is about as deep as it gets. Jesus Himself says this. As He was teaching, the teachers of religious law wanted to trap him into saying something to use against Him. Jesus replied by warning the disciples and those present (which was several thousand) with several things including the verse above. I couldn't help but think about all of the people on this earth that verbally deny God. The conversations that take place where people actually state they don't believe in God. What eternal harsh consequences come with those simple words. Then I started wondering about actions in general. When we pick good over evil is that enough? Do our actions deny God? THEN God reminded me about ME! Do my actions scream with every fiber in me that I KNOW HIM or do they simply remain silent falling to the ground powerless? (huge pause)

Lord, when people look my way, may they see nothing less than You! May I be a reflection of Your love and compassion. Show me Your view of my actions...my words...me! Teach me Your way. Let me be nothing less than Your billboard constantly displaying Your message for this world...Your truth ... Your freedom! May my actions and words declare Your greatness! Praise the One who paid my debt! May I NEVER NEVER NEVER take that for granted! EVER! Thank You Jesus! I love You Jesus!

It's official!

It's official! 24 is hazardous to your health!

Doug and I (thanks to Byrd!) have been on a "24" watching marathon! We've seen probably 2 or 3 seasons of shows in the past 2 weeks (or I should say Doug has - I've just heard the majority as I'm cleaning house or doing other things). This revelation came to me Monday night at Outback. Evidently I thought I was Jack Bauer because I was scanning the restaurant and spotted two suspicious characters in the back. I began watching them to see what they were up to. Doug asks "what are you staring at?" That's when it occured to me that I was in surveillance mode! Ahhhh! This cannot be good...

On a separate note...

Last night we had the pleasure of helping at the Delirious and Rebecca St. James worship tour. I love working those events because you get to see what the people behind the scenes are really all about. I met Rebecca St. James' sisters and brother. They were over the products table. They are really cool people and I LOVE the accents! Actually I love hearing anyone from Australia talk! They were so sweet.

Sparkle - Don't forget...

Today's the deadline to sign up if you want to participate in Sparkle this Friday. You have until midnight tonight or you will turn into a pumpkin (or something like that)!

Safari Animals, Aloe Vera and Maple Wood...

What do safari animals, "Aloe Vera", and maple wood possibly have in common? One precious baby's room! Renee and I painted our hearts out Friday and Saturday. The color is called Aloe Vera (it's a light green). By the way...the primer smell was gross beyond words! No joy in that!

Yesterday, they put together the baby furniture and put the bedding on the bed. Voila - we have one finished baby room!! Now we just need the baby! I have to say I love it! Renee really did a great job picking everything out. Picture to come soon! 3 weeks and counting...

Update on Katie

Thanks for all of your prayers for Katie. In the words of Katie's mom, "she got her miracle". Please continue to pray for her family.

Shelby Katelyn “Katie” Williams
Born: April 30, 1998
Died: April 08, 2007
Williams, Shelby Katelyn “Katie” age 8 passed away Sunday April 8, 2007 at her home. A beloved and cherished child who loved everyone and was loved by everyone, a strong fighter, who after battling cancer for two years, has gone on to be with her Lord and savior Jesus Christ. You will never be forgotten. Preceded in death by her grandparents, Von Dell Williams and Margaret Williams. Survivors include her parents, Matt and Adrian Williams; brother, Matthew Williams; sister, Savannah Williams; grandparents, Larry and Andrea Norris and April Heckman and numerous other family members. Memorial donations may be made to any Ronald McDonald House or East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, 2018 Clinch, Knoxville, TN 37921 in memory of Katie.

Katie Williams

My dear friend's niece is in GREAT need of prayer. Her name is Katie Williams, and she's around 7 or 8 years old. You see, she has brain cancer. The tumor behind her eye has caused her to be completely blind now and Monday her eye began bleeding. Things are looking pretty bad at this point, but God is so much bigger than this horrible illness.

Please pray for her as if she were your daughter, your little sister, your best friend... She & her family are so precious and in need of a major miracle/healing. Please fast for her and keep her in your prayers!

Jesus, please move in this situation. Please heal her. Give her family strength to handle what they must endure. Pour Your love on this family. Hear their cry!

Surrendered

I have not posted in a while because I've been busy. I know, that is bad. Elevate is coming to a close and the pressure is on to finish all of my assigned reading and stuff. Yes, I actually try to do all of it! I am a nerd at heart! "All or nothing" is my motto! Either do it right or don't do it at all!

I wanted to share a snapshot of my Monday. As I was sitting in the prayer room Monday morning totally absorbed in Psalm 139 and Mark 6, a guy walked in (that I don't know) dressed in his army fatigues. We all nod to one another and smile. After a little bit, the other person left and it was just me and the army dude. Again, I'm totally absorbed in my journal and bible (there's the nerd in me again) and I look up to see the most precious sight. Without a sound the army guy is on his knees in front of the table with his hands on it praying over the map of the world. He ends up face down on the ground. I cannot stop watching him. I start crying because here's a guy that is obviously passionate about the US (or he wouldn't be in the army) on his face before God. What was he praying for? Peace? Salvation for the world?

At this point, I'm trying to contain myself before I get in sob mode (because I am a messy sobber -you know, the entire snot thing - not a pretty sight), tears are rolling down my face, and when I look back up a couple minutes later, he's up on his knees with his hands extended out to the side and his face up to heaven silently praying. I kept thinking, where the heck is my camera when I need it!! Everyone needed to see that picture. I am honored to have someone like him to fight and serve me and my country. Someone that is on his face before God completely submitted to HIM! So the best thing I have is a picture of the room from my phone. You'll have to use your imagination for the rest. It was positively the most beautiful thing I saw this week. With that, I have nothing else to post today for the last week and a half!

Father, bless our men and women who are selflessly giving up their freedom to fight for ours. Keep them safe and let their sacrifice be rewarded! Bless their coming and going. Put Your hedge of protection around them that nothing can penetrate. Give them discernment and wisdom in every step they take. Father, pour Your peace upon them and fill their hearts with joy and love. Let them feel Your love like nothing else!