Henryetta campout pictures

Here are the pictures I promised. We had such a WONDERFUL weekend. It was a very uplifting weekend. We visited with so many brethren, and it was just perfect!Ryan and the kids in front of our tentUs and brother Paul, the guy that married us, he's so special to us!!!My Uncle Ronnie visiting with my father-in-law, Ollie.The kids with Grandma SharonA stick bug I found on my tire, these things are neat!

Major catch-up & PRAYER request for my mother

Hello, I'm so sorry I haven't been on here in a long time, and even more sorry that I haven't been commenting on your blogs. I've been a busy lady lately. I finally have a day off today, but will mainly be catching up on my house today. But I have the first half of next week off and I will try to get caught up on everyone else's blogs. A lot has happened since my last post. First of all, I got a different job, the hotel did have a couple perks, but had wayyy more downfalls. So now I am doing something I love, and that is taking pictures at the Wal-Mart Portrait Studio (PictureMe). So far it is really fun. I enjoy taking pictures and I love kids/babies, which is the main people getting their pictures done. So that has been going good so far. I don't plan on being there forever, but until we can get back on track/caught up.
Our lives have been really confusing and stressful. Ryan quit his job, and things have just been... not good. But, Ryan has figured out what he wants to do and is going for it now! I'm happy for him. He is starting, on Monday, to take online courses to be a Personal Fitness Trainer. It will take 10 months to get his certification, and then he will be doing what he has always wanted to do. And he also got a job that he is excited about. I hope this job goes good for him, he is very optimistic about it. He just started demonstrating Kirby vacuums. He doesn't have to sell them, but he does show people what they can do. So we'll see how that goes.
I haven't been myself, I've just been so stressed and I'm finally feeling like myself again after praying that things would work out, things are starting to go good again.
This past weekend was the Henryetta campouts. Ryan and I took our tent down there and we all stayed in a tent (which was FUN) for 3 nights. The whole weekend was SO wonderful and UPLIFTING! We got to visit with so many brethren, and the meeting on Sunday was WONDERFUL! I will post some pictures in a couple days when I have a little more time.
I really need to go for now, and get back to my chores, and just be patient with me, I WILL be commenting on all your blogs in just a few days :)
I do have ONE more thing to ask of all of you... PLEASE pray for my mom, she has been down, unable to walk for a week or more. She has been down with Gout in her right foot. Her name is Nora, and she REALLY needs prayers.
We'll talk to you all very soon ♥

Uplifted

Friday night Ryan, with help from Bill P. got a new fan belt on our van. So I'm feeling so much better now. Plus... Bill found something under our hood that he said was making our van get TERRIBLE gas mileage. The vacuum had come loose. He put it back together and said it would help at least 4-5 miles a gallon better. I knew that we hadn't been doing very good on gas mileage. I just wish I would have known why a long time ago. Who knows how long it had been loose. I don't exactly know what it does to improve gas mileage, but I trust Bill, he knows a LOT about cars. I'm so glad that he found this problem before our trip to Colorado in August. We should also be getting that tax check soon, I HOPE!!! Then we will get our A/C fixed. So slowly, but surely, things are coming together.

Then last evening I took the kids to Henryetta where they were having a fish fry at the church. It was really nice. Then they had a bunch of homemade ice cream. Yummy. Afterwards we drove home and all of us went to see The Incredible Hulk. That, by the way was an AWESOME movie. Blake absolutely loved it!

Today we had such a great meeting. There was a lot of visiting brethren, and it turned out to be a very uplifting meeting. Ryan G. gave her hand to be baptized. So this evening was her baptism and ordinance supper. I was really down at the end of last week, but this weekend definitely uplifted me :)

Taylor's trial

This past week, I was organizing pictures to get ready to scrapbook again! I came across some pictures of Taylor when she was around 18 months. For those of you that don't know, Taylor had a SEVERE case of eczema when she was little. She started getting it when she was 7 months old. She had it bad up until her 2nd birthday. It was by far one of the worst things to ever have to go through, just seeing you baby scratching herself until she bled. And the cries she let out, they just broke my heart. I tried everything under the sun to try to help her skin. Aveeno products, Arbonne products, Oatmeal baths, nothing helped! I didn't use medicated lotions, but tried everything else. I even put socks on her hands and pinned the top of the socks to her shirt sleeves. I had the elders once, but back then, I didn't believe with my whole heart that she would ever be healed of that affliction. Then, on Christopher and Melissa's wedding day (03/23/02) a brother asked us if he could pray for her. We appreciated it and told him yes. He saw how bad she really was. Then we moved to Colorado the very next day. Then for the next 4 Sundays in a row, someone came up to her and prayed for her in church. It was so touching. So my heart just melted to see people's faith and it helped me to have more faith about it. So I STOPPED using everything and I just felt like she would be healed and I prayed a lot harder and just trusted God. I kid you not, after those 5 weeks of prayers, her eczema went away. Her skin used to feel like sandpaper, and after it went away, it felt baby soft again. She does occasionally break out in small patches of eczema, but overall it has totally went away. I am kind of happy we went through that so that we can tell of how God took that horrible affliction away from our baby. I just was reminded of it this week and felt like sharing it with everyone.

You can see where she had scratched her face until it bled, there are scabs throughout her face. She was close to being healed in this picture, she was healed within one month.

This is one of the hardest things to see you child doing. I only took this so we could remember how horrible it was. You can see how red her legs were (they were bleeding). She would cry so hard, but she couldn't stop scratching.

Today is my 10th re-birthday!

Yes, 10 years ago I chose to live my life for serving the Lord. It just dawned on me a few minutes ago and realized that it was exactly 10 years ago today. My baptism worked out really awesome. My dad, who was NOT in our church was pretty ticked off at me at first when I told him that I had gave my hand, and told me that he wasn't coming to it. But my sweet grandma somehow convinced him to go ahead and go, and she also came with him. She was from the Church of Christ, but never tried to push me to conform to her church. My mom was actually in Vici, Oklahoma for her last living aunt's funeral. So, I was sad that she wasn't there. But... I was dating Ryan at the time and Dale, Chantel and Andy were there. Also, Lee was there, so I thought it was kind of neat that my someday to be family was there. I had always wanted my uncle Ronnie to be the one to baptize me, but he lives in Tucson, AZ, and he happened to come up for a funeral in Grand Junction (Lynn H's funeral). I gave my hand after the funeral and Sunday after church, we all headed to the little creek in Olathe. I still wish I could feel as WONDERFUL as I did that day. There is no greater feeling then becoming a child of the king! I have learned so much in the last 10 years and I know in another 10 years, I will hopefully know much more than I do now. Life is a constant battle to stay living the faith, but it is the only way for me :)
I was looking at my baptism pictures and found a LOT of people that are no longer with us. It is amazing how much can change in 10 years. It really doesn't seem that long ago. I just thought I would post these.

Two of these elders are already gone: Brother Mitch and Brother Mark. And Brother Bob isn't doing good at all. I'm afraid his days are very numbered :(

Talk about a moment that I wish I could have back, my dad embraced me immediately after everything was over. I still think he felt the precious holy spirit that filled my heart that day. My dad is gone and Jason (left side of the picture, my cousin) is also gone. I actually wish I could relive this day over and over again.

Satan's meeting. This will really make you stop and think.

I received this as an e-mail and I just wanted to share it, it really does make you stop and think. I can see a lot of this in my life, which makes me want to change it!

SATAN'S MEETING (Read even if you're busy)

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said, "We can't keep Christians from going to church." "We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and Knowing the truth." "We can't even keep them from forming an intimate Relationship with their Saviour." "Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power Over them is broken." "So let them go to their churches; let them have their Covered dish dinners,BUT steal their time, so they Don't have time to develop a relationship with Jesus Christ.."

"This is what I want you to do," said the devil: "Distract them from gaining hold of their Saviour and Maintaining that vital connection throughout their Day!" "How shall we do this?" his demons shouted. "Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and Invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, Borrow, borrow."

"Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and The husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a Day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles." "Keep them from spending time with their children" "As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice." "Entice them to play the radio or ipod. Whenever they drive." To keep the TV, VCR, Cd's and Their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it That every store and restaurant in the world plays Non-biblical music constantly." "This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill the coffee tables with magazines and Newspapers." "Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day." "Invade their driving moments with billboards." "Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order Catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter And promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.."

"Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV So their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with Their wives. " "Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night." "If they don't give their husbands the love they need, They will begin to look elsewhere." "That will fragment their families quickly!"

"Give them Santa Claus to distract them from teaching Their children the real meaning of Christmas." "Give them an Easter bunny so they won't talk about His resurrection and power over sin and death."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive." "Have them return from their recreation exhausted." "Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on God's creation.

Send them to amusement parks, sporting Events, plays, concerts, and movies instead." "Keep them busy, busy, busy!" "And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve Them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences." "Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have No time to seek power from Jesus." "Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of The cause."

"It will work!" "It will work!" It was quite a plan! The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busier and more rushed, Going here and there. Having little time for their God or their families. Having no time to tell others about the power of Jesus To change lives. I guess the question is, has the devil been successful In his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!! Please pass this on, if you aren't too BUSY.

Another blessing for us

About one and a half months ago, Ryan wasn't working and he applied at this company called Paragon. He was hired very quickly after that and we were both thankful. His pay wasn't as good as we were used to but they told him that they worked a lot of overtime and the pay was better with overtime. He really wanted a day job, but that was filled up so he had to take evenings/nights. He went in at 2:45 pm. and was supposed to get home shortly after 3:00 am every morning. They also worked him 6 days a week, so as you can imagine, he had no life outside of work. He worked at least 70 hours a week. He would come home and have to wind down for about an hour and then slept during the day. Then they started keeping him longer hours, and it wasn't consistent. They would just decide the night of how long they were going to stay. So he never knew if he would be home at 3,4, even 5 am. And another thing started to bother him, they have a day crew and a night crew. Well the day crew would ONLY work 10 hours a day. They would make the night crew make up for the "quota" that the day crew (most of the time) didn't make. Also, Ryan said that they treated him and everyone TERRIBLE! Ryan didn't get to go to church Wednesday nights, we couldn't go visiting nights, like we wanted to. And even on Sundays, he had a hard time getting up to go to church, and he really wanted to go. So he has been very stressed lately.

Well, he talked to a brother (yesterday) that does tile and started working for him today, so we will get to go to church 2 times + a week together and go visiting! I think this will be so much better on him spiritually also. So God has really blessed us!

Angelic voices

Today I went to Brother Jacob Bocook's funeral. He moved to Delta when I was a teenager and he started hanging out with my good friend, Velvadene, so I also hung out with him as a teenager. We weren't close friends, but was definitely good friends. I just felt so bad for his wife, Renee. She also was a good friend of mine as a teenager. It is so strange to see people that I am/was friends with being called home. He left behind 5 children and 1 on the way :( I just can't stop thinking about poor Renee. She is going to have quite a trial ahead of her. But as I was standing at the graveside, they asked that we all sing a couple songs. I have heard some beautiful singing, but today I just listened to the voices harmonize and it actually (to me) sounded like a bunch of angels. It comforted me. I don't know why that was the most comforting thing to me, but it was. I think it was only about 3 months ago that I saw Jacob and Renee at RD and Andra's wedding and it was so nice getting to catch up with them. I told them I was going to try to come and see them. And you know how time goes by SO quickly and I've gone through a lot of things in those 3 months, but now I just am so MAD at myself that I didn't. I hope that this will be a lesson for me that we can NOT take advantage that everyone will always be there and we can go see them just whenever we want to, because that isn't always so. He was only 35, his family needs all the prayers possible.

Thankful

Hello, and thanks for taking time to visit :) For those who know me, know that my husband and I have been through some really rough times in the past. Ryan hadn't been spiritually strong in a very long time. I hadn't known what a great marriage was like and was not jealous of anyone specific, but jealous of happy couples in general. Well, the month of August, Ryan and I had decided to separate. He went to Colorado and then to Oregon and was gone the full month of August. He came back and about 2 days after he came back, God put a heart softener inside of him and he has been a TOTALLY different person. Things have been going SO good for us. I saw a change in Ryan OVERNIGHT, literally. On September 1st, he was angry because he knew that people were upset with him and he just had a lot of bad feelings. He had told me that he hadn't planned on going to church anywhere, because he just didn't care anymore. So I really didn't see much hope of us working anything out. On September 2nd (a Sunday) I was getting me and the kids ready for church and didn't even ask him if he was going to go and he got up and got ready to go to church. We got to church and meeting started. To much shock, he got down in the beginning part of meeting and prayed. I was so shocked and SO happy. This is what I had been wanting for a long time. Then towards the end of meeting, he got up and testified about how God has protected him so many times when he could have been hurt worse than he was. Anyway, it was a happy day for me. After that, he has honestly been a completely different person, in such a great way. Our marriage has been happier than it has ever been. And for the last 4-5 years, everything seemed to not work out for us, and lately, God has been working out so many things that we finally have a comforted feeling about a lot of things. God blessed Ryan with a good job, he's been there all week. He works long hours, but all the overtime should really help us get caught up on bills. Anyways, it has been about 5 years since we have been halfway this happy. Ryan got mixed up with the wrong crowd in those 5 years and it took so long to get back to a normal, christian life. I'm not saying that Ryan was the only one not living right either. I made some mistakes also. But it all is in the past and like I said, it has turned around. I'm so thankful. I had forgotten just how happy a person can be when they put God #1 in their life. We have been visiting several different times. Yesterday, we were over at brethern's house from about 1:30 to 9:00 visiting about different things in the bible. I got so much rejoicing from it! I just can't stress enough how THANKFUL I am that things are going in the right direction for us, finally. I owe EVERYTHING to God. He is the only thing that has worked all of this out for us.