Hold on to Jesus

It seems as though so many things around us lately are all crumbling and basically are just going wrong! From friends with cancer and friends losing children to earthquakes and warring growing all the more rampant - our world is absolutely broken! Lately I have found myself on my knees more than I ever have been before - pleading for God's grace, peace and mercy to cover us! God never forsakes us and is most definitely our ever-present help in time of need. Recently, a dear friend of ours lost a baby one week after she was born. When I received the news that day, I broke down weeping in front of our children. Of course they wondered why in the world I was crying so hard. I proceeded to explain what had happened to sweet little baby Charlotte. Kaylen got teary, but then grabbed my arm and with a smile on her face said, "Mommy why are you crying - baby Charlotte is with Jesus! What better place to be!" No doubt that she is right - Charlotte is just one step ahead of us - where we who belong to Him will eventually be also! I proceeded to then tell her that my tears were for her mommy and daddy and sisters who will miss her terribly. I simply feel sad for them. Kaylen and I then stopped and spent several minutes praying for our dear friends. Why would I share this news with my very young children, who many think should be sheltered from scary and sad things such as this? I want our children to KNOW Jesus!!! I want them to talk with Him; to learn to pray!!! I want them to know that when it all goes wrong, that their Savior will not forsake or leave them, but that He is there with them every step of the way and that He loves them deeply. I want our children to pray; to "pray without ceasing." If they think that this world is one without conflict or sadness, then what need is there to pray - other than to thank God for the many blessings in our lives - which is important. I want our children to know that it is God that has given them all of the amazing blessings in their lives.

Over the course of the past year, Kaylen has started asking questions and learning about the fact that Satan is in the picture. We've talked much about how God is so much more powerful than Satan and that God's truth (scripture) that we learn and think and say is a good way to "battle against" or "shoo" Satan away. We have been working on committing those "victory verses" to memory so when Satan shows up, we can immediately send him packin'! For so long I have let the evil one get the best of me, not quite knowing how to battle him. It is only in the past few years that I have truly learned this and put it into practice. I want my children to be well equipped to battle the evil one.

I am truly amazed at Kaylen's spiritual maturity for someone of her age. She continues to minister to me daily and I am so thankful for the heart that she has for Jesus! Joshua has even come over to me when I have been sick or have had a headache, laid his hands on me and has prayed for me. Absolutely heart-warming, amazing moments that I treasure!!! I am in awe of what God is doing in my children's lives and I am excited to see how God is going to use them to be His champions in this broken world!

In closing, I want to post the lyrics to one of my very favorite songs. It is called, "Hold on to Jesus" by Erin O'Donnell. Beautiful song!

You're a little piece of heaven
You're a golden ray of light
And I wish I could protect you
From the worries of this life
But if there's one thing I could tell you
It's no matter what you do
Hold to Jesus
He's holding on to you

The world will try to tell you
That might is more than right
That beauty's on the outside
And being good's a losing fight
But remember what I've told you
Because the world will make you choose
Hold to Jesus
He's holding on to you

Hold on to Jesus
Cling to His love
Rest deep in His mercy
Whenever things get rough
Don't lose sight of His goodness
And don't ever doubt this truth
That when you hold on to Jesus
He's holding on to you

Hear me dear Jesus
Rock this little one to sleep
Keep her close when she's scared
And give her grace when she is weak
I know she'll stumble
But I know she'll make it through
If you hold to her just like
You said You'd do
Hold her Jesus
And she'll hold on tight to You

Our weekend getaway!!!

This past weekend was the best weekend of my life so far - it was absolutely amazing!!! My incredibly sweet and romantic husband secretly planned a weekend getaway for the two of us - totally without my knowing about it! He came home from work on Friday, told me to pack a bag and then we took the kids to his parent's house for the weekend. He then wisked me off to a weekend in Dallas at one of the nicest hotels I have ever set foot in! We stayed at the Joule - a very modern and beautiful place. One thing that I'll never forget about this place was the fragrance that you smell when you set foot in the door. I'm not exactly sure what it was and how they got it to smell so good, but it was wonderful! We started the weekend off with a candlelit dinner at the hotel's restaurant, Charlie Palmer's. It was super yummy - and Brad treated me to one of the most delicious (and expensive) glasses of wine that I've ever had. Once you've had stuff that good, it's hard to go back! We then made our way up to the top of the hotel for a night swim in the heated infinity pool - so COOL! To be in the pool at night right in the middle of all lit up Dallas was incredible! We didn't stay out there too long because it was pretty chilly. The next morning we tried to sleep in, but after getting up with children for the past six years, that is rather hard to do. So, we decided to go ahead and get up and go get some breakfast. We ended up at Le Madeline - one of my favorite places! After that we went and strolled around Snider Plaza over in Highland Park and then headed over to Knox street for some more shopping! It was nice to just walk around as the 2 of us - we felt so strange not pushing a stroller around and not having to make several bathroom stops. We then decided to drive around and find a nice place to sit and have a cup of coffee. We found one of the neatest places that I've been to - it will definitely be a place that we will revisit. It is called Chocolate Secrets - a place where they make their own homemade chocolates (absolutely to die for they are so good) and all kind of different types of coffees, lattes and teas! On the weekends they have live jazz bands at night! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit there and can't wait to go back! Later that night we broke down and hadn't planned on having yet another expensive, fancy dinner, but we simply couldn't resist. Our very favorite place to have dinner is Fearings at the Ritz Carlton in Dallas! Amazing food!!!!!! We even got to talk with the head chef himself, Mr. Dean Fearing! Again, can't wait to go back again sometime hopefully in the near future! We then decided to walk from there over to the American Airlines center to see all the Mavs hype and watch the channel 8 news broadcast. It was so much fun! We ended up walking literally all over Dallas for about 3 hours or so just exploring and enjoying the sights and sounds of Dallas on a Saturday night! It was so much fun - I felt like a little kid again! We were able to go up into the "W" hotel and look out over Dallas from the pool deck about half way up the building. Usually they close off that deck at night, but one of the workers there let us go out for a couple of minutes to enjoy the view - awesome! Anyways, we ended the weekend with a visit to our favorite place to grab breakfast, Einstein Bros. Bagels. We then headed over to Scurry to collect our sweet children from Netta and Papaw! We sure missed them, but SO enjoyed living it up in the big D for the weekend! It was a weekend that I will truly never forget! Thank you my sweet Brad! I love you!!!

A pic of me when we first got to the hotel

Our vanity - I think this sink is so cool!

Our bedroom

The view from our room onto Main Street in Dallas

Me and B

The infinity pool in the day time - this picture really doesn't do it justice

Brad all dolled up for dinner

Me all dolled up for dinner

Brad and his "compliments of the chef" lobster corndogs

Chocolates and coffee - who could ask for more!!!

Brad anxiously awaiting his main course at Fearings

My main course - mmmmmm......so good! Especially love the deep fried asparagus!

Brad's main course - it had lobster and steak

One happy guy!

Atop the "W"

They would turn down our bed at night and leave us these chocolates on our pillows!

Our goody bags from the yummy restaurants we dined at!

Hello Baylor!

So on Valentine's Day we thought rather than fight the crowds eating out and doing the same old thing that everyone else does, we would go back to where our love story first began. Well, technically ours started in Coppell in high school, but in college at Baylor is where we decided that we would spend the rest of our lives together. We hadn't been back since Brad graduated in 2002 and we have had conversations with our kids about college at Baylor, so we thought we would take them and show them what we were talking about. It was so crazy not only to be back there after all this time with Brad, but also with our 3 children. The last time that we walked around that campus we were talking about our dream of having the 3 wonderful children we have today, and there they were, walking around with us. It was surreal to say the least! It was a wonderful day that I will never forget! We can't wait to go back for Homecoming this coming year! :)

Kaylen and Josh at the bear pit

It was very chilly that day so here we are all huddled together.

Joshua getting ready to ride the elevator that his daddy rode many, many times in the Hankamer School of Business.

At the top of the business school - you could see the entire campus from there.

Brad teaching the kids how to find more books at the library - they loved the library!

"Here's how you find......" Kaylen was so interested in this electronic filing system. She's her daddy's daughter for sure!

Joshua and me stopping for a picture

Look at little miss sassy pants there on the left! :)

It's good to be back!

Kaylen took this one - I was pretty impressed with her photography skills!

Um.....go Baylor!

"Wildcats.....I mean, Baylor Bears gonna tear it up...."

Joshua's awesome new winter hat!

We stopped by for some coffee at Common Grounds - mommy and daddy's old hang out!

"Mmmmmm......good stuff!"

This was a common theme back when we were students!

Not so much anymore - we can use all the sleep we can get nowadays!

The view in the back of the car on the ride home