Don't Let Them Stand Alone

There is a site where you can donate money to help families travel to their Marines graduation. The Marines have a saying "No Marine Stands Alone" You can bet if I see one standing alone we will Adopt him! Please pray about giving.

Hope & Faith

Hope & Faith are a powerful thing. When you have them nothing is impossible, I mean nothing. But if you don't have them, then you have nothing.
When I left my job to pursue this dream, this purpose God put in my heart I was very hopeful and very faithful. On the days when I felt hopeless and faithless I also felt defeated. That is when I realized how powerful these two words are. They are my kryptonite! So I made a decision to never, ever be hopeless or faithless again. With them I can do anything. God stands by the faithful.
When God puts a dream/ purpose in your heart He does so for a reason. He never said it would be easy, but He did say has long as you stayed faithful and have hope these dreams will become real. It is up to you. If you stay faithful and hopeful through not only the good but also the bad and trying times God will bless you. If you just want to hang it up and not try then your dreams will never become a reality. What blessing you will miss out on! We only need the faith of a mustard seed. A mustard seed! Thats it. Do you know how small a mustard seed is? Good grief.
Ok all I can do is speak from my own experience and trust me I have had many. But as long as I have remained faithful, hopeful and persevered God has taken care of me. I am going to write down the words to my favorite song of all time " You are God". It is on Point of Grace new cd HOW YOU LIVE, track 6 then track 7 is also awesome. Oh the whole cd is awesome!
But anyway I sing this song at least once a day because in a way it is a prayer.

When the sun starts to rise and I open my eyes you are good, so good
In the heat of the day with each stone that I lay you are good, so good
With every breath I take in, I'll tell you I'm grateful again
When the moon rises high before each kiss goodnight you are good
When the road starts to turn around each bend I've learned you are good, so good
And when somebodys hands hold me up, helps me stand you are good, so good
With every breath I take in, I will tell you I'm grateful again
Cause it's more than enough just to know I am loved and you are good.
So how can I thank you and what can I bring
What can a poor man lay at the feet of a king
So I'll sing you a love song, Its all that I have
To tell you I'm grateful for holding my life in your hand
When it's dark and your cold and I can't feel my soul you are still good
When the world has gone gray and the rains here to stay you are still good
With every breath I take in, I'll tell you I'm grateful again
And the storm may swell, even then it is well and you are good.

Semper Fi & Sons

What you will do to hear you sons voice! Yesterday I was standing across the street from the school waiting for Cameron. I was talking on my cell to my sister in Texas. All of the sudden I see Jordan running towards me with Kennedy on her back! She said "mama Dustin is on the phone!" I thought she said he was calling me on my cell, so I told my sister bye. She said " no mom he is on the phone and he only has 10 minutes." Jordan stayed to wait for Cameron and this old girl took off. I can run! This African American lady saw me and she was grinning and cheered me on! She said " You go girl you can do it!" By the time I got home (after running a little over 1/2 a block) he had hung up. I was devastated. He called back a minute later but he only had like 3 minutes to talk and you could tell he was disappointed as was I.
He needed to know our travel arrangements and to tell me his platoon video was up on the website.
This is awful but I went to the site, found his platoon and couldn't tell which one was him! Even my daughters couldn't tell. Their hats are way down over their eyes and they all have the same look. Anyway we narrowed it down to 3. We even go his senior picture down and tried to compare chins and noses! Mike came home and it took a minute but there he was! 3rd row down 5th from the left (or the one in the middle) and about 40 pounds lighter! It was like getting your referral picture when you adopt. You just keep looking at it over and over. I couldn't download the video so I pulled it up, froze the frame and took a picture of him! A picture I will carry with me for a very long time.
Dustin blew up the motor in his car and we sold it for junk. My sister and I were out there cleaning it out. He loved to go mudding. Man did he! There was mud in the car! I found his Cd's, mud, his rugby jersey, mud, and his cleats and yes more mud. I miss him so much. See right now I know he will be home for at least 10 days after graduation, but after that we have no clue when we will see him again.
I think the hardest part of being a parent is letting go. You wonder if they ever listened to anything you ever said. Do they still pray and seek God for strength and guidance? You pray they make wise decisions, drive safely, be kind and you hope they know how much they are loved and that you would do anything in the world for them. Including lay down your life for them. Then you realize your son is going to be a Marine. He has to have courage and honor to come to this decision. He is willing to lay down his life for his country, our freedom. You see that he is good and brave and strong and you have to let go and continue to pray.
We have three sons and they no longer live at home. They are all great guys with big hearts who adore their little sisters. I can not think of a time after they have spoken to me or Mike that they have not said; on the phone, in person, in front of friends, they will yell it across the room "I love you." I miss the days of baseball, basketball, loud rock music and late night talks. I miss the piles of laundry, empty fridge and their guy humor. Yes, I miss my boys, but I look forward to watching these young men grow. What a blessing they have been, are and always will be. Thank you Michael, Cody and Dustin for being my guys! I love you.

Cameron

Cameron is my middle daughter. Cameron came home one day shy of 15 months old. Cameron got off the plane with a look that could kill and attitude everywhere! And the girls still got it! For those of you who know Cameron this comes as no surprise. Don't get me wrong, she has a smile that can melt your heart and a heart as big as Texas, and she has turned out to be a great big sister.

I have a list of "Cameronisms" from the time she could talk. I use to share them at work and the girls would crack up.

The last couple of weeks Cameron has been in rare form.

Let me go back to last school year. Cameron, for whatever reason was constantly going to the nurses office. After a while I would ask the nurse if she thought she would live. Nine times out of 10 the answer was yes and I would tell her to keep her! Towards the end of the year I told her if she kept going to the nurses office she would have to repeat 2nd grade. The visits stopped. Big shocker.

This year was going great until last week. She was actually sick and I went to pick her up. Then 2 days later she was in again. I could tell the nurse was trying not to laugh (we have developed an understanding over the last year) She said Cameron was in the office and told her that she couldn't lift her arms and could hardly walk. Cameron on her own diagnosed herself with low blood sugar. I started laughing. I told the nurse she probably got that off the Discovery Health Channel! We agreed she should keep her. iIt was Thursday and Cameron has gymnastics. When she came home from school I told her I didn't think she should go to gymnastics seeing that her arms were so weak. I was afraid they might collapse and she would hit her head or something. (Oh yea 2 can play this game!) The look on her face..."But mom I ate something and my blood sugar is fine now." hmmm... "Cameron, where did you get this info on blood sugar?" TV. Oh really?

So a couple of days ago I am watching a very hilarious DVD with Anita Renfro. SHE IS CRAZY! Anyway she is doing this funny skit about mammograms. Now this was filmed in front of a live audience. She ask "who has had a mammogram?" Cameron raises her hand!!! After I left the room laughing my head off, I came back and said "Cameron you have had a mammogram?" She looked very thoughtful and said " Yes mom I believe so." OK.

Cameron, don't ever change!

ADOPTION

Four years ago today my daughter and I were coming home from South Korea with a very special gift. We had the wonderful privilege of bringing home four month old Kooper to his mommy and daddy. It is a feeling neither one of us will ever forget. I had escorted babies home before, but this little guy was special. We were going to watch him grow up and be involved in his life. For Jordan bringing Kooper home brought her full circle. She came home to us from South Korea just 2 days shy of being four months old. She was only eight when we brought Kooper home but she fully understood the significance of it. Happy Gotcha Day Kooper, We love you! Did I mention Kooper will be my future son in law? :)
November is National Adoption Month. We celebrate how our lives have been touched by adoption. We bring awareness to the hundreds of thousand of orphans in the world who are still waiting for their forever families. This year our church is celebrating The Hug Away Foundation. Our prayer is that families who have been called to adopt will not let the financial aspects of adoption stop them from pursuing this wonderful blessing. We hope to raise so much money that we can help families with some of the cost. International, Domestic, it does not matter. We want to help.
Please, please say a prayer for the orphans. Pray we can help lots of them come home to their forever families.

Life & Halloween

Is truly like a rollercoaster. Your up, your down, you level out for a while, then WHAM! Life throws you a curve and down you go. The question is, can you handle the ride?

I left my job one month ago today. It seems more like a year and I have been on the craziest roller coaster ride of my life! But I know without a doubt God has been with me every step of the way.

My faith is being tested, there is no doubt about that. There have been days I wanted to give up, but I believe that God has a plan in all this and I would like to see what it is. In order to do that I have to let Him keep control. So much easier said than done. But He knows my needs and He will make sure they are met.

The picture is of my daughters and grand kids. I look at them and my heart melts and I realize how blessed I truly am. They are so young but in the picture is 3 aunts a nephew and a niece. Cracks me up. My grandson just now quit calling Kennedy Aunt.

I dislike Halloween very much. I have for a long time but now more so than ever. From the time Kennedy came home she has slept in her own bed, all night no problem. BUT a few weeks ago we were at Walmart and she looked up and there was this huge evil looking monster hanging from the ceiling. Life has not been the same since. Add in the scary movies previews that come on in between kiddie shows and you have a little girl who is terrified to go to sleep at night. Every night I hear, I afwaid mommy, I afwaid. Breaks my heart. I mean it is pitiful and you can tell she is truly scared. I hope the guy in the big red suit doesn't have a negative affect on her.