"Celebrating Life"



A kind ole gent from a nearby table graciously took this picture of our family
 celebrating Bartholomew's new birth in Jesus Christ.
(You can barely make out lil Branson's baby carrier between daddy and me,
 but he's there with us:).



Bud wanted to try crab legs so Red Lobster was the choice
restaurant.  What a celebration! February 24,2012
 is the awesome date!

Our two "Royal Red" Plates. The first one,
 the one daddy brought home a few years ago, is the one on the left.



Cameron chose Bob Evans as his place to celebrate!



Cameron's awesome date celebrating his new life in Christ is
May 22,2012!



Daddy took the picture of all of us at Bob Evans:).

 I sit here with the wafting aroma of a pie pumpkin cooking in the oven....maybe we will actually get the pumpkin pie made and the pumpkin pie spices and homemade pie crust will send it's savory smell throughout our house also.:) We woke up to a crisp morning and the first of window opening season for us! The kids have and still are absolutely enjoying this verrrry fall day.:) They have been busy in between school studies, converting a playhouse to a mini workshop:). Life with rough and tumble boys have added such dimensions to my outlook and have definitely stretched me beyond my comfort zone at times. The boys are quick to remind me to let them be boys and that is definitely my hearts desire to cater to that masculine restless stirring toward ambitious leadership that is hinted at in their risky boy mentality.:) In my journal last week I recorded as follows: ".....I've enjoyed immensely the joy of being mama to so many rambunctious boys, future leaders.:) I've been blessed to experience the joy of gracing this family with a gentle beautiful bundle of future lovely femininity-our Alaythia." So...we get to enjoy the best of both worlds~that of little boys and little girls!:) That of, "Snakes and snails (literally) and puppy dog tails! Sugar and spice and all that's nice!"  Except that miniature bundle of femininity likes many of the same things as her brothers such as trucks and camo stuff except she wants hers pink!!  Lol! Such a joy our kids are! But I am always very humbled at the real reason we experience this deep joy and peace that passeth all understanding and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been our all in all. The very Solid Rock we stand on and rely upon, as sometimes life's circumstances causes us to walk a life on the edge. We accept by faith that God is already in every tomorrow and already knows and has conquered that path for us. This past year holds some verrry precious milestones. Our two oldest sons have both asked Jesus to personally live within their hearts. They are as Jesus describes in  John chapter 3 as being born again. There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus. He was confused by that statement and questioned Jesus about it...Jesus answered him in verse 5, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God....." So we are really excited to have witnessed their physical birth as our babies and now their Spiritual birth in Jesus Christ.:) A special family tradition we began is their Spiritual birthday party!! So each boy was given the honor of choosing a restaurant of their choice. :) That went over very well with them! So Bartholomew chose "Red Lobster" and Cameron on his turn tho't he might like "Crab Lobster" too! But later chose "Bob Evans".:) So life has been interesting:).... A couple years back Daddy dear came home one day with a " Uniquely special red plate". He explained to our lil family that we will honor each other by having each one eat off this awesome plate on milestone occasions. Well needless to say, that is one popular plate! They have never tired whenever their turn has come around. We've had it for birthday's, achievement testing days, Father's day, Mother's day, baby shower dinners, just because we love you, and now for Spiritual birthday dinners etc.....Well, now we have two plates.....because we sadly forgot our special plate when we arrived at Bob Evans for Cameron. It wasn't till he came over as we were waiting for a table and whispered in my ear that we didn't bring the "Red plate". Can you imagine the heart brokenness we experienced as our minds scrambled for what to do?  We live way too far to have went back home sooo.....? I mentioned the Belles in the same plaza and wondered if they might have a "red plate"....I checked in the store...praying nearly the whole time  for a special red plate! I wasn't having any success till~there on the clearance shelf was a stack of handsome "red plates" that would do perfectly:). So Jesus not only provided us with a red plate but at an awesome price!:) :) So now we have two red plates and Cameron is tickled cause his and mommy's birthdays are on the exact same day and we always had to share by turns "The red plate":).