God Hears Me

I had spent at least 4 months praying many a prayer and not getting the answer I wanted.  I was to the point that I knew He heard me, I just needed some visual sign that made me feel better.  Don't get me wrong, I am a christian, I have been for YEARS, but when things get tough, doubts enter your mind that were never there before.  It is not a good place to be.

 In August, as I was sitting outside my home in Jacksboro, I watched the most amazing lightning show I have ever seen. I had been trying for at least 20 minutes to catch one of the many, many lightning bolts with my phone's camera.  They were just so beautiful, I wanted to have one to look at when I needed raw, God given beauty to look at.  I had at least 20 pictures that were near misses.  So at that point, I said, out loud, "God, if you hear me, PLEASE let me catch a picture of a lightning bolt.  I need to KNOW you hear me.  I need to KNOW you are listening."

And, THIS was the very next lightning bolt!!!

So, from that moment on, to this day, I KNOW God hears me.  From all the things that have transpired in the last 7 months, I KNOW he is answering my prayers, just not with the answers I think are best, it is with the answers HE knows are best!!!

My Goal As A Single Mom

When I suddenly became a single mother, I was violently thrown into A LOT of regrets.

my marriage

my behavior
my walk with my Lord and Savior
my parenting

I chose, when I came out of the fog I was in, to work on all of these.

• I decided that if and when I did get married again, I would be the wife God made me to be.  
• My behavior was that of someone who was NOT HAPPY, and was something that NEEDED to be changed.  
• My walk began again when I began going to church regularly and seeing that the only way I was going to have the life God wants me to have is to walk with Him each and every day.
• My biggest regret of all was my parenting of my 2 raving beauties.  My girls didn't know God.  They had been to church a few times, but I realized that they didn't KNOW Him.  I want them to grow up KNOWING how much He loves them and KNOW his word.  I wanted them to hear me pray as well as have them praying too. These are all things that should have been going on all along.  

I am bound and determined to train my children up "the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6.  Don't get me wrong, it is the hardest thing I have ever done.  I fall down daily.  The only way I get through it is with God by my side.

All that to say, that I got the girls their own bibles and they came in today.  They were both very excited!!! Here they are:

Rachel read and read. I pray that this to be her go to book!!!

Madi was "reading" too!!  LOL

Now my prayer is that these girls would find the love of Christ as comforting as I do!

The Man In My Life....

After all the drama of my marriage ending, me coping with a new life, and raising 2 beauties on my own, I chose to sign up for a dating website.  It was for pure entertainment.  I just wanted to chat with guys and make some of the lonely time in my day, not so lonely. (Desperate I know, but I was in a HORRIBLE place in my life!)  I chose Christian Mingle in hopes of finding a man who was after a close relationship with God.  I was just going along and sending smiles to people, and this went on for a few weeks.  I had met some not so outwardly christian people, so I tried a different tactic sending the quote "How YOU doin'?"  I sent it to several guys I thought were cute, and pretty quickly I got a response about how that was so funny and he liked my profile, and so on and so forth.  That was just the beginning!!!

We met  about 10 days later, we met at Fuzzy's Taco in Weatherford.  After the initial meeting, and the nerves settled down, we talked like we had know each other forever and we closed the place down that night.  The next night we went out again at Logan's Roadhouse.  Again, the conversation was effortless.  He is an amazing guy who loves the Lord and strives to walk close with Him everyday.  That to me is what a man is meant to do.  THAT is what I am looking for in a man.

He brought me to his church, and in turn to a small group I love.  He encourages me to walk with the Lord daily.  He is the most thought out person I have ever met.  He rarely speaks without thinking it through.  Aggravating as it may be, it is refreshing to feel secure in a decision made about most everything.  

His kids are AMAZING, he has a boy, 12, and a girl, 8, that round out who he is. 

Fast Forward 6 1/2 months, and here we are.  

Still going strong and loving the life we lead together.  We go to the most amazing church (which the girls and I will join tomorrow) ,we pray together, we enjoy time with all 4 of our kiddos, we put God first in our relationship, we act totally silly together.  Match made in Heaven if you ask me!!!

Thank you Clint, for helping me to be right where I am in this crazy life of mine.

I wouldn't be here without you!!!

Indoor Water Park: Here We Come

I was in a car accident on Dec. 17th, and I had to have my car towed to a shop to have it fixed.  I was working, so it was just me, and I was perfectly fine!

My parents were so generous and let me borrow my dad's work car to drive since I needed it to work. After a month, I called the insurance company to see what the hold up was and they had no idea my car was still at the shop. Herein lies the problem with not having rental insurance. We got it all straightened out and the repairs began. FINALLY, a month later, I was able to return my dad's car.

We were so lucky that my sister and her family were enjoying a weekend at a resort near Tyler, and invited us to come spend the day with them at the indoor water park. We certainly couldn't turn that down, so off we went to take the car to her to drive back to San Antonio, and MAYBE have a little fun too!

We watched these two pictures happen OVER AND OVER!!!

We stopped for a snack of Gatorade and chips!  Who knew swimming makes you hungry???

 These two girls LOVE each other!!!

We had a blast! We got to visit and enjoy time with family we don't see NEAR often enough!