HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNELISE!

Annelise was born early this morning at 3:45 am! I am sooo excited to meet her!

Sexy Little Thang!

Tisha and I were playing in Target while we waited for Allyson and her family last weekend and Callie discovered the world of big sunglasses! She already knows how cute she is! Finger in mouth and all! haha Watch out Kent!

Here comes Santa Clause...

I ordered our first stockings! I am so excited about getting them put up to make it feel even more like Christmas around here!

Emily's Maternity Pictures

We are all so very anxious for Annelise to get here! Emily finally got her maternity pictures done and they look great! Thank you Tanya for so many beautiful pictures!

What your Dog Says About You

Even though I dont have one, YET, I am a lifelong lover of Chihuahuas. Here is what Yahoo claims this means about me:

Chihuahua:

You are a mischief-maker. These tiny dogs have a lot of energy and may have a hard time being home all day alone, Dr. Weiss says. If not given the proper attention, they can develop some bad behaviors and get themselves into trouble

What are you??:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/20/dog-identity-breed-forbeslife-cx_jp_1121dog_slide_2.html?thisspeed=25000

What a Knight!

Texas Tech has been all over the news lately; not just for football, and I am loving it!!! Check it out:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=ap-texastech-167points&prov=ap&type=lgns

Insight for Today

My Pastor sends out emails periodically with just some insight on what we as Christians, specifically Lutherans, ought to feel and believe on a given topic. They are very inspiring and have always conveniently come at just the right time when I may need them the most. I thought this would be a great outlet for me to share some of his words. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Here is one for today:

God's Response to "Why Believe in a god?" Campaign

During the 2008 holiday season The American Humanist Association is running a provocative ad campaign to assure unbelievers that they are not alone and to challenge believers to question their faith. Messages such as, "Why believe in a god?" will be seen on buses as part of the $40,000 ad campaign in the Washington, D.C. area.

How are believers to respond?

Believers can never compel others to believe in God. Nor can we argue someone into having faith in God. Misguided Christians attempted this forced approach during the crusades of the middle ages and other points in history. Yet mistakes in history or warped expressions today do not negate the veracity of Christianity.

Bill Maher highlights in his recent movie Religulous that Christianity and other religions are filled with hypocrites, extremists, and assorted wackos. In Christianity we admit that Maher is accurate. Our expressions of faith are often feeble, flawed and inflexible. This is why those of us who are Christian admit our faults daily and humbly depend upon God's forgiveness for our imperfections (aka "sin").

Thank God (ironically) that in America atheists, agnostics and humanists have every right to question matters of faith, religion and even the very existence of God. In many nations believers are persecuted for expressing their faith. In many others, unbelievers would be arrested and punished for daring to doubt the official religion.

When I first heard about this ad campaign's latest attempt to question matters of faith, my reaction was one of outrage and defensiveness. But before I and other believers become all hyped up about every attack on faith, we must remember that such unbelief is recycled history. The Bible points out "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9b).

God began a public relations campaign thousands of years ago in response to those who say there is no God. God's response is not found on bus placards. It is recorded in Psalm 14:1, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" And in case a person misses it in Psalm 14, the same message is duplicated in Psalm 53. Apparently Scripture wants us to be sure not to miss the folly of unbelief.

In the current American Humanist ad campaign, the alternative to believing in a god is stated in what amounts to an unbelievers' mini-creed: "Just be good for goodness' sake." Being a good person is the suggested alternative to believing in God. This, too, has been tried before.

During the Reformation Martin Luther attempted to practice the "be a good person" version of religion. Trying to be good led Luther to despair, because he could never be good enough to satisfy himself, much less satisfy a perfect God. He eventually discovered that knowing God, having peace and being saved do not hinge on human insight or efforts. These things are matters of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Christians distinguish between faith and religion. Religion is a human system. Faith is a Divine gift. Faith has nothing to do with our attempts to act religious or to be "good for goodness' sake." Faith receives and believes what our five senses cannot prove, but what our hearts know is true. Faith is a Divine gift that recognizes and receives all that God has to offer-gifts like hope, peace, love, forgiveness and salvation.

The basic fact that we are here shows that a Power out there first began reality as we know it. Something cannot come from nothing. But even such general, philosophical speculation about the existence of God can only take a person so far. We finally need to wrestle with the specific truth claims of the Bible and of Jesus.

To those who question if God exists, I encourage them the read or re-read one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John). Go on a journey with Jesus from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Ponder the cross and the empty tomb and discover anew there is a God (capital "G") out there who loves you-even if you don't believe it yet.

Rev. Scott Schmieding

"The Farmers Ass"

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quietened down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.


Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.

2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.

3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less

LATER --------


The donkey later came back and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected, and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON

When you do something wrong and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

The big 2-5!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH! Sorry I am a day late. At least your card was sent yesterday! I Love you!

Ethen Bulls

Here are a couple of pictures of our angel that left us this afternoon...

Why??!!

Sometimes it is really hard to see what God has planned when He takes someone out of our lives...
I got an email today from my Mother-in-Law, Barbara, letting us know that Ethen, Jeff's cousin Matt's 18 month old son, had fallen down the stairs at his mom's apartment complex and suffered a head injury. At the time she rushed him to the ER but the doctors did not want to do a CAT scan in fear that Ethen was too young. She then began to see signs that things were not ok. He was life flighted to Memorial Herman in Houston last night and was thought to be brain dead. They had him on monitors to keep a watch on him.
At 2:30 this afternoon I got a call from Barbara letting me know that Ethen had passed away. Apparently they found Meningitis. At this point we dont know if he died from the fall, the Meningitis, or if he fell due to the Meningitis.
I do not know much besides this, but I hope to learn more...
God blesses us with little babies in our lives. They bring us such joy and happiness. It is really hard to understand why they are taken at such a young age. All we can do is have faith that this is all part of God's plan and pray for comfort in our pain.
I hope to get some pictures of him up. I do not have any so I will have to get some from some family. These are the times when I wish we lived closer to family so that we could get to know them better. Fortunately, I have the memory of holding and playing with him at the Bulls Christmas gathering last year. He was such an angel!
Please pray for his mom, dad, brothers and sisters, and the rest of us as we say goodye...

It is either "God Says" or "I think"... There is no in between!

Proof...

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56494

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

Cut off the edge again... here is the link:
http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/face-recognition-results.php?temp=06f7c194ezwpen21&server=Server25&database=2&startYear=1800&endYear=2005&collage=1&loadMethod=myFiles

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

It seems to cut off the right side, so if you want to see the whole thing go here:
http://www.myheritage.com/photo-145711992_1_1/title

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celeb - Collage - Morph

Outrage!

I have held this in long enough. Unfortunately, I don't think I will EVER be able to fully convey in words how patiently I feel about this!
I am so sick and tired of the treatment of Christians these days! Please watch this video below (excuse the advertisement). I could not believe what I was seeing! (Actually, to be honest, I should say that I am not surprised but it is never easy to be faced with reality.) This just proves how Americans have truly rejected The Lord Jesus Christ and replaced him with sexual immorality, money, disrespect, hate... actually, I cant even find a word to describe it! These are the people that are out there protesting their right for "fairness" and practicing their freedom of speech when they trample an elderly woman who is out there DOING THE EXACT SAME THING! How hypocritical can you be??!! Get some class, for crying out loud!

I am SICK of these people and their hateful actions. I am shaking it makes me so mad! I am sick of being the one referred to as "ignorant" because I am not "open" to other views. I believe you have a right to feel the way you do, but there is a fine line between that and morality and it should not be forced on anybody. COME ON PEOPLE!

If believing that life begins at conception, babies have a right to live, Marriage was created for one man and one woman, hard work should be rewarded and not punished by the government taking my money to give to other people, and the right to protect myself and my property makes me ignorant, SO BE IT!

Open your eyes people... God has blessed this country in countless ways and all we can do is spit and stomp on him! Do you not know that this is exactly what the Isrealites did after Moses rescued them from Egypt??!! They soon forgot the grace of God and turned to their own evil sinful ways. People have been the same since the beginning of time. Have we forgotten 9-11?? It has only been 7 years and we have already decided that it isnt worth fighting for anymore! How would you feel if you lost a loved one due to a terrorist attack?? Would you just decide you are tired of fighting and give up? Or, would you keep the focus on getting rid of the evil in the world? Isn't this what most liberals want; world peace??!!
I could go on forever, so I will leave you with this: I stand with the belief that the phrase should no longer be "God BLESS America" but "God HAVE MERCY ON America"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Seven Wonders of the World

Need a Laugh?....

Try one of these....

Comfort for today

Have you ever needed to find an answer and knew the The Bible was the place to go, but was not sure where to begin???? I find that quite often. Many times I just open it blindly and begin reading. I have always found some kind of comfort in what I was reading by doing this. There are times, however, when I need something specific. This link ( http://www.biblegateway.com) has been great! You can simply search by key word and it will give you a list of verses that include that topic or phrase. I hope you like this as much as I do!
I know I am not the only one that needs this right now...

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Hebrews 11

By Faith

1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.

3By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

5By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 6And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

7By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he^[a]considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18even though God had said to him, "It is through Isaac that your offspring^[b] will be reckoned."^[c] 19Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.

20By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

22By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

23By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.

24By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. 25He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea^[d] as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

30By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.

31By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.^[e]

32And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched 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. 35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37They were stoned^[f]; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. 40God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

2012

The future Presidential Nominees for 2012? I sure hope so! Palin or Jindal would be fine with me!

discusted, frustrated, annoyed, and scared

I got this email from my dad this morning. It pretty much sums up what I am feeling a lot better than how I can explain it:

Isn't it funny how depressing something can be even when you knew it was going to happen?

As my emotions vacillate between pure anger, frustration and despair, It is nothing short of phenomenal to me that we have 52% of the people in this country that either have no moral compass, are economically ignorant, have ostensibly have rejected Christ, who covet openly and proudly, who have no work ethic, who do not understand or have never read the constitution, or who do not have a fundamental understanding of freedom or it's frailty.

My solace and focus remains;


Ephesians 6:12 - For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.



Romans 13:1 - Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.



Proverbs 3:5 - Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight.



and I can't help but think of;



Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; 21 for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. 29 They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.

Our First Home

Micro Chihuahua Teacup

If this doesn't melt your heart, I dont know what will...

Jeff turns 27 today!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Global Wildlife Center

I was finally accepted into Carson's little world! Allyson took Callie and Carson to the Global Wildlife Center yesterday. This was a new experience for me, but the kids had been there multiple times. You basically pay for a feed bucket and a spot on the wagon and you get to ride around and feed some exotic animals. It was really pretty neat! The giraffes were my favorite, of course! Those of you who know me well enough would know that those are my favorite, and only a few of you would know why! hehe. Anyways, it is about a hour and a half ride so it keeps the kids occupied for a good period of time. I was warned that the kiddos would be a handfull, but they were great! We had lunch at McDonalds and on our way home Carson asked me to swing with him and play with his new cars when we got home. First thing Allyson said was "uh oh! You're In". I did swing and play with his cars and then all 4 of us passed out watching Scooby-Doo. What a day! :)

Hallo-Weenie!

Boys are great at turning an everyday word into something very silly! Carson decided that he would yell "Hallo-Weenie" at every door while he was Trick-or-Treating.
Kent and Tisha decided to have some people over for Halloween and take the kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. I am sooo glad that we were moved into the neighborhood in time for this weekend. We had a blast. Callie was a pink Minnie Mouse, Carson was a Power Ranger, and Corey, well, I am not quite sure what he was, but it was scary! Allyson got a hold of one of the kids hunting outfits and decided to be a bus... a bit scary herself, too. Needless to say, it was a lot of fun riding around on a hay-filled trailer being pulled by a tractor. Thanks Tisha for having us all over; it was a blast!