Do Not Be Silent

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night."

Psalm 92:1-2

"I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness
and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High."

Psalm 7:17

"You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,

that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever."

Psalm 30:11-12

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name."

Psalm 100:4

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done."

Psalm 105:1

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever."

Psalm 106:1

"You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you."

Psalm 118:28

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

1 Corinthians 15:57

"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign."

Rev 11:17

Operation Christmas Child

The mission of Operation Christmas Child 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.

Today is the deadline for local shoebox collections. You can still send your box in to the Boone, NC office until December 31. We finished our boxes this weekend!


To start, we began praying that God will show us things to include in the shoe box that will be special to the child receiving the shoebox. We prayed that God will use this shoe box to bless that child and show the child God's love.

We love this project! As the kids are growing and anticipate this project more and more, each year has been different. This year, we invited our neighbors to help us pack a shoe box. They loved this and ended up helping fill 3 additional boxes making 5 boxes total!


This year we started early with our shoe box collections and collected many $1.00 items or less as we saw items reduced or on sale throughout the year. This made packing our boxes so much easier!

To finish packing our boxes, we just headed to the store, which was a little crazy with my 3 plus 3 neighbors. But they each got $5 and got to spend it how they felt lead. They sure made their $ stretch!


After we finished packing and wrapping our boxes, the kids included a personal note, drawing, and our address.


The kids had so many questions about how this works. So we spent a lot of time on the website reading the stories. We are so used to being on the receiving end and have an over abundance of "things." They are amazed that this could be the only Christmas gift a child might receive! Alisia is looking forward to taking a trip with her class to the central office when she is in 8th grade to help with shipping.

It's so much fun being able to do this as a group and consider the ways we can share in the gospel being spread across the world. The kids are so faithful to remember to pray for the children who will receive the boxes! And for one of our neighbors, it was the first time she said she ever prayed. I can't wait to read the follow-up stories on the website and show the kids how easy it is to be involved in sharing God's love.

"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings."

I Cor 9:23

Purpose

CREATED TO GLORIFY GOD AND TO ENJOY HIM FOREVER!

"I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever."

Psalm 86:12

Pray for Joy

Since going back to work after Aaron has been born, my heart has been full of myself and complaining. After confessing this to God, I asked a friend to help me pray for joy especially in the home, since I only have a few precious hours with my family at the end of the day. Sometimes I feel like all they get is "the leftovers" after I put in my all at work.

I finally got a chance to put the dishes away and fold the laundry after everyone was asleep. The house was quiet and I checked my e-mail and facebook. I went to bed a little later than usual, but was all "caught up." It was hard to drift off to sleep cause my mind was still stiring with the "latest gossip." A few minutes after I finally got to sleep, I heard Aaron awake. Grrrrr. So I was back out of bed.

Why can joyfulness be so hard to find? Is the joy of the Lord really my strength? Am I so distracted from putting my Hope in Him? Do I trust Him to overflow my heart with joy? Sometimes I feel like I have good reason to complain. Sometimes it is so hard to get a good nights sleep. But by praying for joy, God is slowly changing my heart.

I stepped into Aaron's room to check on him. He wasn't really awake, but he was just making that noise trying to get himself back to sleep. I picked him up out of his crib and sat down with him in the rocker. His tired smile turned into a yawn as he closed his eyes. I gazed at his beatiful face and delicate features as he curled up against my chest. He always seems to find "that spot" that was made just for him. I immediately started thanking God for this chance when the house was quite to hold him close with no distractions. I started praising God for all of my children and praying for their future. Praying that Aaron would come to know Jesus as his Savior and never remember a day without him. And thanking God that Alisia and Caleb will always have this blessing of knowing him as their Savior at such a young age.

I realized that he was back asleep. I didn't want to lay him down. I was loving this moment. Then I realized....WOW, I've got joy in my heart! That is what JUST what I asked God for! I laid Aaron back in bed so I could get just a few hours of sleep. But it felt so good. I was joyful.

A dear friend recently wrote me these encouraging words in an e-mail and I thought I'd share them:

How many joyful moments we miss only because of the wrong perspective at that time. I just pray that we have the right one everytime for the sake of our children, our marriage, our family and our future generations...the only cost that it comes with is sacrifising our own ego, being selfless at those moments....

Yes, the only cost is being selfless. To think, that could change future generations! The distraction is not worth it! I do not need to keep up with everything everyone else is doing. In this technology-crazed age, why do we think we have to stay informed and up-to-date? Don't get me wrong, I love definately enjoy facebook, blogging, and instant messaging. I love how I can share in the lives of my friends and family in this way. But why do we let those things steal from us time we have for carrying out God's purpose in our life?

The enemy wants us to be distracted from finding joy. He does not want us to be a light to point others to God. How Satan must enjoy seeing our complaining hearts tear down our lives. May the Lord renew your joy today! May we pass on the heritage of a joyful heart! Oh that the joy we find in Him may transform our home!

"Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart."

Psalm 119:111

Payback!

"This is for all those times you squeeze MY cheeks!
Here's what it feels like, sissy."

The Tale of the Momma Possum

There once was a ‘possum who gave birth to a beautiful baby possum. He had big bright eyes, a soft shiny coat, and a long fluffy tail. Every day, the baby possum got more and more beautiful and the momma possum was so thankful that she got to be the mother of the most beautiful possum ever created. This momma possum took very good care of her baby possum because he was so special.

One day the momma possum was waiting for her baby possum to come home. She was very worried that something awful had happened to him so she set out to find him.

First she saw a fox and said “Mr. Fox, have you seen a beautiful baby possum with big bright eyes, a soft shiny coat and a long fluffy tail? He’s the most beautiful possum ever created and I’m very worried something has happened to him.”
The fox replied, “I’m sorry ma’am, but I haven’t seen a thing.”

The momma possum went on her way and she saw a skunk. “Mr. Skunk, have you seen a beautiful baby possum with a soft shiny coat and a fluffy tail? He’s the most beautiful possum ever created and I’m very worried that something has happened to him.”

The skunk replied, “I’m very sorry ma’am, lots of possums pass by these parts, but I haven’t seen one to that description.”
The worried momma possum kept looking for her son when she saw a hen and asked, “Mrs. Hen, have you seen a beautiful baby possum with a soft shiny coat and a fluffy tail? I’m very worried that something has happened to him.”

The Hen replied, “I’m sorry ma’am, I have to scare off lots of possums around this place. But I haven’t seen one like that. But I did run off a scroungy ol’ ratty possum! That lil' fleebag was trying to bother my chicks. I had to chase the ugly thing off ‘cause these here chicks are the most beautiful chicks ever created.

Then the mother possum answered the hen, “Oh, Mrs. Hen, that’s my son! Don’t you know that for every mother, there’s no ugly child.”

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Ok so maybe it sounds better in Spanish. But Angel says I’m the momma possum! Angel's mom used to tell him this story, so now it's my favorite Mexican folk-tale!
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The three Most Beautiful Children ever created:

Hard to Resist

Check out this adorable little baby!


So soft


So cuddly


So special


So precious & sweet


That angelic look


That precious button nose


That squeezable smile


That squishable face


That ticklish belly


Those irresistible big brown eyes


His contagious laugh


Those kissable cheeks


His huggable little body


How can you resist this?

First Halloween

This was Aaron's First Halloween!


Alisia was quite the helper with the hot little chile pepper. I was surprised that she didn't want to wear a costume since she still is into dressing up. She just wanted a "new look." So that's what I helped her with. Helping with Aaron was a good excuse to still be in the fun and get his candy.

For some reason, Caleb didn't want to wear his costume much. Maybe it was because he wore it out when we first got it and I've been letting him play with it. Once he realized he got more candy when he wore it house to house, he wanted to keep going.

Our favorite trick-or-treaters (our next door neighbors)!


Every year, our church has a fall festival we go to at the Marsh's farm- La Sata. This year, the kids had a lot of fun playing in the barn while Mommy and Papi sat around the bond fire.