Well, I was not able to access my blog while overseas. However, during the next few days, I will attempt to blog about our experience. I loved visiting Asia, yet I am so thankful for where we have been called to minister, Weatherford. While we were overseas, our family still continued our morning devotions. We talked about the passage in the book of James that states, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you." How do we accomplish this? We enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Thanksgiving and praise. Not so hard. After thinking for a moment, Addyson shouts, "When I get back to America, I'm not gonna have any trouble drawing near to God. I am going to enter his gate with thanksgiving for my toilet, my van, my food, my bed, my life...." and the list continued for about 30 more seconds. We all literally laughed out loud (lol). For the record, she did praise God as we entered the doors to our home. I learn lessons from her everyday.
Making lists--checking them twice packing up scoping out the airlines saying goodbye to friends counting to make sure we have all of our chldren prayed up rested up---well, sort of
Have you ever noticed how some people are always "down in the dumps?" Eeyore is enthusiastic compared to some of these unfortunate souls. Every morning I wake up thanking God that I WOKE UP! If I have nothing else to be thankful for, I can be thankful for that. However, generally speaking, I wake up every day excited to go into my kids' bedrooms, tickle their feet, and sing, "Good morning, good morning, good morning. It's time to rise and shine. Good morning, good morning, good morning. I hope you're feeling fine!" To my chagrin, they moan somewhat disdainfully, 'Good morning, mom." I love these days. I am happy because I choose to be. It's a good choice. You know, grocery shoppin is not my favorite thing, but I don't have to grow my own food. This is a great life. Yes, my kids will go to the store with me. They love me. I am happy.
I'm so honored to be a child of the King of Kings! Look at my life...wonderful husband, beautiful children, amazing job, nice home, yard, van, cool church, healthy kids (mostly), food to eat, school to attend, grocery store to buy stuff, imagination to have fun, and so much more! My heart is full of blessings. The girl in the picture is from Thamahanzi, South Africa...her name is Miriam. Lord, bless Miriam with all your promises.
Addyson has walked in the Kitchen and given me a hug. She is as sweet as sugar on a gumdrop. Her statement she keeps making is, "it's such a beautiful day!" It's only 77 degrees and it has been raining on and off all day. It is "indeed" a beautiful day! I'm grateful that I'm not too old to learn valuable lessons from a 7 year old. Sometimes we are tempted to grumble when the sun does not shine, but not today! "We celebrate a beautiful day," says Addyson.
We had an awesome weekend! It was the annual Spring Soccer Tournament. Dylon and Brooklyn had a fast-paced, hard-playing weekend. Brooklyn kicked off the weekend with her Friday night Game. Unfortunately, I feel like it was the championship game. Her team lost right off the bat, and the opponent did win the whole tournament. She was an amazing team player. I believe she scored 2 goals during her first game. The next morning she and her brother played at the same time, 9:00 am. I was running back and forth trying to watch both kids play their hearts out. Dylon's team came up short on his first game and Brooklyn won her game like 10-2....no kidding. It was ridiculous. She scored another 2 goals in that game as well. Due to the fact that Dylon lost his first game, he had to turn right around and play another one at 11:00am. His team was outscored during the first half 0-2. As I noticed his slumped shoulders and glum look at half time I asked Dylon, "Do you think you can win?" He replied, "not really." I said, "What!?!" He laughed, "I'm just being honest, Mom." I encouraged him, gave him a hug, and told him to play with his HEART! I tell you what, that kid is awesome....He was picking his teammates up off the field, patting them on the back, running with an endurance that I've never seen in him. He came out and scored a goal. Then, he set his teammate up for a goal! The game was tied. He ran down the field and I yelled at him, "Dylon, Do you think you can win?!" He laughed, shaking his head and said, "OH YEAH!" Right after that, he was able to shoot a penalty kick right over the top of the goalie! Yes! We were ahead by one! He looked at me and I could see that he was playing with his HEART! He ran like an antelope trying to escape the African Lion with just a few seconds left, leaving everything on the field. He shoots at the goal, it bounces off the opponent, but Dylon doesn't stop running. and he kicks again, scoring another goal at the whistle. His team won 4-2! I love that kid, not because of his ability, but because he is MINE! I love what he loves and right now, he loves soccer. Needless to say, he lost the next game he played, which was at 3:00 pm. He did score 2 goals in that game, but he was completely spent. Three hours of playing soccer will do that to you. Brooklyn also won her 1:00 pm. game and scored 2 goals. We had fun and it's over for now. I can't wait to see what summer brings!
This video is Dylon's Penalty Kick that helped win the game!
Well, I am posting this entry in the hopes that all who read it will PRAY! Addyson had another ear check-up (post surgery). It was not good news. The graft is not taking, she has considerable infection in it, the ear drum in sunken in, and she still can't get any fluid in it. The doctor thinks that her eustachian tube in not working in her left ear. However, he did say that her hearing is better than he would have expected based on what the ear looks like. She is considerably below normal though. I kept her home from school today. She is just not right....dark circles, tired, 99 degree fever. Thanks for prayin. I'm believing God for a miracle. He has already proved himself faithful. By the way, the doctor want to wait 'til August before he makes any decision to "do" something else.
