Sappy Football Post...

We have had eight years of football.

Not sure about football in any other state except Texas,

but here it is so woven into the fabric of our lives.

Eight years of training in the weight room, eating lots of food, spring practice, cuts and bruises and broken bones -wrist, ribs, knee cap, pelvis, unbelievable sweaty-stinky ruined clothes, hard hits and bad concussions, losses and lots of wins, great catches and hits and dropped and missed ones too, hits that make a mom's heart stop while she prays that he just gets up, lightening storms and delays, listening to the band, hearing the same songs every game, out of town traveling to small Texas towns, hot chocolate and lots of blankets. Laughing with friends. Praying all the way through the game. Hours of praying. Feeling so proud of my boys I could cry.

Such. Great. Times.

Such. Great. Memories.

Hard to believe it is over. I used to spend alot of time worrying and wishing they were not playing. I spent too much time obsessing about them getting hurt bad. Now, looking back, it was just an absolute good time and a blessing to watch our boys be apart of teams that work together for a common goal. Sure, there were bad seasons and even worse coaches but over all they grew as men and learned hard lessons and struggled and played. (The good coaches outweighed the bad by the way. That is a tough job. Ask Brad, Michael, Dad, Sid, Bill and many others.) There were so many spiritual lessons that we all learned through their time playing football. I am thankful for that. Football was good for them and it was good for us. I can't believe I feel this way but, I will miss it.

So much...I have to cry a little over it.

I was in some store earlier today and the song "Boys of Fall" came on. I have never even payed attention to that song, but today...it really touched my heart. I walked around trying not to be noticed while I was blubbering. Maybe I cry some for Sid. He loves this game. No, really, he LOVES this game. He loves his boys even more. Put the two together and you can really pull this man's heartstrings.

A chapter is ending in our lives.

Thanks for this fun ride boys.

When your back's against the wall

You mess with one man, you got us all

The boys of fall

Boys of Fall- Kenny Chesney
When I feel that chill, smell that fresh cut grass
I’m back in my helmet, cleats, and shoulder pads
Standing in the huddle, listening to the call
Fans going crazy for the boys of fall
They didn’t let just anybody in that club
It took every ounce of heart and sweat and blood
To get to wear those game-day jerseys down the hall
The kings of the school, man, we’re the boys of fall
Chorus:
Well it’s turn to face the stars and stripes
It’s fighting back them butterflies
It’s call it in the air, alright
Yes sir, we want the ball
And it’s knocking heads and talking trash
It’s slinging mud and dirt and grass
It’s I got your number, I got your back
When your back’s against the wall
You mess with one man, you got us all
The boys of fall
In little towns like mine, that’s all they’ve got
Newspaper clippings fill the coffee shops
The old men will always think they know it all
Young girls will dream about the boys of fall
Chorus:
Well it’s turn to face the stars and stripes
It’s fighting back them butterflies
It’s call it in the air, alright
Yes sir, we want the ball
And it’s knocking heads and talking trash
It’s slinging mud and dirt and grass
It’s I got your number, I got your back
When your back’s against the wall
You mess with one man, you got us all
The boys of fall

Our boys of fall.
My how time flies. (Well, Kylee is in there too...love you girl!)
Could not resist this picture. My Mom with Wes and Will. Love how they are all three laughing so hard. Precious times, precious people.
One of Wes' last games. Sitting in the stands with family and friends. Good times.
Blessings on your day. Amy

San Antonio River Walk...

So, there you have it. A great trip it was. The times that we are all together now are few and far between. A blessing and lots of fun. I am thankful. Nine days until Wes graduates. It is coming fast. I can't help but think about the many people that are being effected by floods and tornadoes and earthquakes. So many tough, tragic things happening. We also had a friend of ours in Lubbock suffer a devastating accidental tragedy. He accidentally shot his 9 year old grandchild. Her funeral was last night. Sid and I have had them on our hearts and minds and in our constant prayers for days. Only through God can someone survive such a heartbreak. There is nothing certain about life. I am reminded to live it out loud for God and for His glory each and every day. The Dahlstroms will have precious Soren in their cloud of witnesses awaiting their arrival in heaven. Comforting to know we will be with our loved ones again.

"Father God hold our hearts tight and walk us all through the hard times. Please give us strong arms to hold each other and not let go. Please lift our hearts and help us to endure and to thrive for You. Through our precious Lord Jesus we pray. Amen."

Great Cloud of Witnesses...

Hebrews 12:1 says that we are not running our race unobserved. While we are running in this spiritual race, the Bible says we are surrounded by a "great cloud of witnesses."


Who is included in this great cloud of witnesses? Hebrews chapter 11 tells us. Here are the names of the people of faith listed there:
Abel – offered a better sacrifice by faith and was commended as righteous
Enoch – by faith he pleased God, so he never experienced death
Noah – by faith he obeyed God’s command and turned his back on a world of evil
Abraham – obeyed God and went where God told him to go, without knowing where ths would be. He made his home in the Promised Land even though he was a stranger there. From him came "descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky".
Isaac – Abraham’s promised child, who by faith blessed Jacob and Esau
Jacob – who by faith blessed Joseph’s sons and worshiped God
Joseph – who by faith spoke about the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions that his bones should one day be carried out of Egypt and buried in the Promised Land
Moses’ parents – who by faith hid Moses from the edict of Pharaoh and did not leave him to die
Moses – who, though adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, by faith refused to be known as her son, and "chose to be mistreated along with the people of God". By faith he kept the first Passover.
The People of Israel – who by faith passed through the Red Sea
Rahab- who by faith welcomed God’s spies, saving her family from the fall of Jericho

The rest of this scripture is just too good to leave out. Look at what those that have gone on before us went through. Hebrews 11: 32-40 says:

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. 39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

When you go to a track meet, you are in a stadium and the crowd is surrounding the runners and watching and cheering on the athletes. This is what is happening with us. The huge difference here is that this is the race of our lives. Our spiritual race.

The message of Hebrews 12:1 is, "All these heroes I've listed here and all the other believers who have ever died are watching us from the grandstands in Heaven as we run our spiritual race." They are up there cheering us on! Not only the people of Heb. 11, but people that we have known and loved and who loved God and glorified Him. They are cheering us on, too. Thinking about their lives, how they lived, what they lived for, and how they died, is an inspiration. Their example shows us how to have that kind of faith and how to live it. Oh, if we could only keep this thought in the forefront of our minds daily.

So who is on your personal great cloud of witnesses list?

It would be good if we each spent some time thinking about it. Maybe we should write their names down and put them up where we can see them daily.

Father, thank you for the men and women of faith that have gone on before us. Thank you that they are cheering us on and waiting on our arrival. Please help us to walk with You daily and to live lives that glorfy You. In Jesus' beautiful name. Amen.

The Great Golfing Adventure...

Wes wanted to go golfing. We went. We laughed. We got tired. We enjoyed.

We had some four legged visitors that were out dodging golf balls, just like us.

Weird picture.

This face tells how this boy feels about golf.

Blessings on your Monday. Amy

Oops!...

Wait

1 Sam. 12: 24

But be sure to fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.

I found it interesting in my daily reading this morning that Saul was made King and so quickly... immediately he did something wrong and sinned against God. He started a fight with the Philistines and then did not wait long enough on Samuel to come and sacrifice and ask of God what to do. He just went ahead and did it himself. I am so like that too. I don't wait on the Lord like I should and am impatient and do things on my own. It rubs me wrong that I can see myself in Saul but I do.

My prayer this morning is that I would wait on the Lord. Pray, listen, wait. On the big decisions and problems of course but even on the everyday worries and small happenings in my life.

I am so thankful for His word that anchors my every day
when I am smart enough to drink from it.

Ps. 108:1-2-& 5
My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. 5 Be exalted, O God, above the heaven's let Your glory be over all the earth.

Blessings on your day. Amy

Week's Worth of Pictures...

Wes graduates in about three weeks. Will is home from college (with ALL his stuff) Sid is feverishly working on his dissertation. Things are well, in a word...nutty. Time is rushing by so quickly and I am trying to dig my heels in a little and slow it down. It is not working. I really have not written anything worth anyone reading on this blog for a while. I hate to tell you it may still be a while yet. Thank you for stopping by...things will get back to normal. Maybe. Oh yeah...we are going to have to find a new normal. I am sure I will write about that.

When things slow down...

Wes lead singing Sunday morning. He was nervous but did a fine job.

The junior parents and youth group gave the Seniors a wonderful banquet last night. It was perfect! So beautifully decorated and the food was yummy. They gave the Seniors a bible and a blessings. Wonderful evening.

Just a beautiful backyard close to our church. Picture perfect.

We took a few pictures in our backyard yesterday and I thought you might like to see our Hydrangea bush. So lovely right now.

Ok, I am nearing fifty. Yes, I will say it out loud. It is coming fast. I am amazed that I can put makeup on and feel like I look at least passable in the mirror and then see myself in a picture and think...girl you are way over the hill. Plastic surgery might have to be an option. Ha. Just kidding, kind of. Getting older is not for the faint of heart or those who care how they look. Very thankful I have a man that loves me no matter what. He is a great blessing.

Anyway...sorry for that rant. Anyone know of any good take away wrinkle products???? Of course loosing about twenty pounds would probably do the best trick. :(

Will and I took a flying under twenty four hour trip to Brownwood and back a few days ago. It was fun and fast. We worked on some music for singing at Red River this summer and enjoyed seeing the beauty of the hill country and family. These sweet kitty's are the newest members of the ranch family right now.

This was lovely to behold.

The kitty's need two pictures. They are that cute.

Of course we had to eat at Underwood's BBQ.

Massive amounts of food were put away on this day. Thank you for lunch Dad!

We also lost a big tree last week during one of the storms that rolled through.

Loved the rain but hated to loose this big beauty of a tree.

So, we continue on day five of Will's large mound of laundry. Heaven help us.

Blessings on your day and on your week. Hope to talk to you again soon. Don't hold your breath though, at least for a few days. This last picture is of the moon through the pines as we were coming into the house last night. Breathtaking and peaceful. I pray our week will be the same.

Love, Amy

Mother's Day Gift...

(pause the blog music and enjoy)




For my Mother's Day gift the four of us are going to see the Celtic Woman. I attended one of their concerts in Lubbock a few years ago with my sister-n-law Jan and my Mom. Absolutely one of the best concerts I have ever seen. It can't quite touch a Switchfoot concert but it is good. :)
I am excited about taking my boys to hear them. Should be interesting...
Oh, so anticipating this...

By the way, our oldest is HOME! Finals are finished and I think he might sleep for a week. He looked so tired. The inside of his truck...a whole dorm room worth of stuff.

Scary. Nice to have all four of us under the same roof for a while. Blessings on your day! Amy

Just Because God Loves Us...

He made flowers...

Oh, how I love them.

Lovely flowers from my children and husband for Mother's Day. Beautiful.
Our sweet William is coming home tomorrow! He is taking his last test Wed. morning and then heading home. He will only be here for two weeks and then is off to Camp Blue Haven to work for the summer, but we are going to really enjoy the two weeks we will all be home together. Thankful and excited.

Loved this scripture that God blessed me to read and rejoice over this morning:
John 4:23
Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.
He SEEKS...us!
Blessings on your day! Amy

All Dressed Up...

Wes wore his Dad's tux and went to his senior Prom solo a few nights ago.

He did however take some sweet pictures with two of his good friends Emma and Ande.

Two beautiful girls with hearts of gold.

He did not last too long at prom. He said he thought the dancing was stupid so he just stood around and laughed and talked to his friends. I am glad THAT is over. We have less than four weeks until graduation. Hard to believe and it is flying fast. Wes just wants it to be here and over so he can get up to New Mexico and spend a few weeks at Camp Blue Haven.

I don't blame him. It sure does sound wonderful. The smell of the pines, the sounds of the river dancing over the rocks and many voices singing praises to our Awesome God. Yes, can't wait.

Don't you think he is trying to strike a James Bond pose in this one?

Cracks me up.

Cute picture. Wes still cracks me up.

Ande has the most beautiful blue eyes. Lovely.

Very Audrey Hepburn-ish Emma! Beautiful.

Blessings on this new week! Amy

Psalm 37:3-4

Trust in the Lord and do good.

Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.

Take delight in the Lord,

and He will give you your heart's desires.