On to middle school.....

So long Norton Elementary... Ricky is headed to Westwood Middle School. They had their graduation from elementary school today. It was a great celebration!

Ricky has finished the year with straight A's. Rick and I are so blessed to have our son. He is very well behaved, a great student and a very compassionate heart.

Ricky is now off to enjoy his summer vacation. Grammy and Big Papa picked him up on their way back from the beach. He couldn't wait to get some time with them. I know he is going to love his time with them.

What a week!

It has been a crazy, emotional, wonderful couple of weeks. Last week was so amazing with the joy of our son being baptized. I still can't put into words how amazing that was for us. Ricky took his first communion yesterday. He was so serious and did a really great job focusing on the Lord and keeping his mind where it needed to be. We are so very proud!

Last Tuesday night while eating, of all things a Taco Bell mexican pizza my tooth broke in half. UGH, yes half!! I promptly went to my dentist Dr. Von Gunten who I love, thank goodness. He informed me that because this tooth had been filled with a porcelain inlay it had settled and expanded. Of course there was some more decay; this caused the tooth to split. Okay no problem right, just need a crown. I am very familiar with this process it will be fine.

The kick in the teeth.... Because it was a porcelain inlay the insurance company considers that a serious repair and like having a crown. They will not pay to fix the tooth. Well great, who has a $1000 just laying around to crown your tooth. It had to be done, it was sensitive and was only going to get worse. Thankfully my dentist being the awesome guy he is cut me a deal and then got me financing for 0% for 12 months. Thankfully I only ended up spending $842, that seems like a stupid sentence! Nearly 3 hours later I walked out with my new temporary crown and scheduled to go back in 3 weeks to get my permanent crown. It was just not how I wanted the week to go.

We have had good reports on Dan, the father of the child who want's to live with us. He has had his tumor removed, there was a serious fear it would become malignant. I ask that you pray for him, because of his history he can not take pain medication. He is just taking Tylenol, they cut into his back and he can only have Tylenol. I felt so bad for him when I talked to him the other night. He is doing better. Rick and I do not think that his son will need to live with us, however we are going to continue to be here to give guideance and be of help to them.

Ricky is graduating from the 5th grade tomorrow. Wow I can hardly beleive that as of tomorrow I will be the mother of a middle school student. These 6 years of elementary have passed so quickly. There is a big celebration tomorrow at school. Ricky will then go spend some time for the day with a few friends and then off to Grammy and Pappa's.

All of our friend's laugh but when the summer comes, Ricky goes. He get's to spend time with family and friends. He will also have North Florida Bible Camp in July. He has a busy summer ahead of him, again this year.

The Lord is answering prayers...

Good morning! I know that I have written about the young boy that wants to live with us. He was at the house last night when his Dad called from the hospital. He was being taken to surgery to remove a mass at the bottom of his spine, near his tailbone. Thankfully the mass is benign! A prayer answered. He was to be in the hospital until at least today, so we offered to let his son sleep over and get him off to school this morning.

This is such a great thing! Our prayer is that he will heal quickly and be able to continue to put his life right. Please join me and pray for him, his name is Dan. He needs prayers for guidance, faith, wisdom and direction. Rick and I both feel he is desparate to do right for his son. We are hopeful this puts them both on a better path. Maybe we were just meant to help them through this process, who knows but God. He will bring them through.

"And Jesus said unto them ... , "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to younder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you." Romans 1:17

Okay now on to a funny note... Rick finally read my blog posts last night. I really think he thought I was writing something crazy. He was even impressed, what is the world coming too. He cracks me up. But seriously we both really appreciate all the words of encouragement for Ricky and his decision to become a Christian. It is really moving and so wonderful to have you in our lives.

Ephesians 4:5... one Lord, one faith, one baptism

WOW what a weekend! Our son Ricky followed the Lord and was baptized Sunday night. It was an amazing moment!
We spent the weekend with Rick's mom and family. Brooke, Michael, Leeland, Garrett, Erin and Tim; with mom and dad. Rick and I also brought two extra kids with us... It was a full house for sure. We had a wonderful day on Saturday. The guys went and played disc golf and the girls hung out, girls time! We spent the day swimming, laughing and playing. It was wonderful!
Sunday morning we were awakened with blueberry pancakes, thanks Dad for making me plain ones. We all went to church where we all enjoyed seeing Rick's dad, Terry do a Lord's Supper talk for the first time. He did great, he will tell you it wasn't that great. DON'T believe him, he did fantastic. It's so wonderful to see him working in the Lord's church.
Sunday afternoon was filled with lunch, naps and swimming. It was very peaceful. We went back to church on Sunday night for services. Monticello does a song service the last Sunday night of the month. It was a great service of songs on the Lord. Then Adam Willingham the preacher at this church got up to give a talk or as you can say invitation. He told the children to remember 1 thing, that 1 thing "To get to Heaven!" It was a great talk. I was sitting next to Ricky for this talk.
While Adam was talking I could see his brain going. I asked him if he was thinking about it, "Yes mom I think I'm ready". I told him he needed to stop and pray. He didn't really hear the last few minutes of Adam's talk as he was praying. We stood and sang the invitation song, I waited for Ricky to go forward. He didn't after the end of the service he didn't move. He sat in the pew, with his head down praying. Rick and I looked at each other and knew this was probably the moment.
My sister Erin was sitting behind me and I had to tell her to wait for a minute. I let Rick talk with Ricky and he was ready. In the time they were talking Erin told Rick's mom what was happening, I'm pretty sure she was going to burst. I was holding back the tears. Rick got done talking to Ricky and said he would do it on Monday when we got back to Gainesville. I sat down with Ricky and he told me he didn't want someone he didn't know as well do it and he wanted Devin, our preacher and dear friend. I told him that was his call and to remember if he was ready he needed to follow his heart.
Ricky asked who else could do it and could his Dad. So it was on and Ricky was going to be baptized at Rick's parent's house in the pool by his Dad. I pretty much cried all the way home. Brooke and Michael had stayed home trying to get Leeland to sleep. I walked in looked at Brooke and said we are having a baptism. It was going to be Ricky!!!
Rick started making a couple of calls. He needed to make sure he was going to follow the Bible and do this right. He was so honored that Ricky asked him to do the baptism. Ricky and Rick changed and they went to the bedroom together for a few moments. Then we met outside at the pool, we sang Nothing But the Blood. It was probably one of the best ways I had ever heard that song, just the 13 of us singing. Then Rick and Ricky went into the pool. Erin and I leaned on each other crying, Brooke was crying. It was a JOYOUS moment in our lives.... Our son had chosen to follow the Lord! As soon as they were walking out we sang God is So Good, YES, YES, YES God is SO very GOOD!
What a blessing and joy! It was so great and to have our family with us and two of Ricky's closest friends. I can not find the words to truly express how amazing this was to see and be a part of. To see my husband who I love, treasure, and value as my Christian role model baptize our son was overwhelming. I was lost in the clouds, if the Lord had come at that moment it would have been just right for our family!
God Bless You! Food for thought Adam taught a second thing to remember "Take as many with you as you can". Ricky is very focused on these two things in his life, I hope as you read this that you will find this focus too...

A beginning...

Rick and I were married June 28, 1997. We welcomed our amazing son Ricky February 24th, 2000. Our lives have been full of many ups and downs. Including my infertility, loss of jobs, death of family and friends, and one of the most difficult times the death of my Daddy. I have decided to start this blog to detail them so we could remember as they happen and see how God has pulled us through. Also to write about the monumental decision we are now facing.

A little more about us... Rick was 22 and I was 18 when we were married, of course most people felt we were crazy and had no business getting married. Both of us come from divorced parents, for many reasons these existed. Rick and I chose to be the exception, after almost 14 years we are still married! I can tell you this is attributed soley to God! Rick and I made the decision there was no way out, in our minds the only reason for our marriage to end would be one of our deaths. Having made that decision with each other and placing it in the Lord's hands we have made it this far and will continue.

Our son is the pride and joy of our lives, he is our only child. He is just like his dad, tall, skinny, intelligent, loving and compassionate. We have been so fulfilled with him and we are proud of the young Christian man he is turning into, we are truly blessed. Bragging moment... He is also a straight A student, and will begin middle school next fall. He has been accepted to the Cambridge program at the middle school, for those of you unaware this is a great thing!

Our monumental decision.... I won't go into a lot of details at this time. I will tell you that we have had a child approach us and ask that Rick and I become his parents and Ricky be his brother. He is a child that has not been part of a family, had structure or a stable home in anyway. He is of course one of Ricky's friends and has gotten to know us and our family because of this. Rick and I have spent some time talking with him and he is a very smart, sweet child. He knows that the way his life has been is not how a child should have to live. We have had him over more often then not, and we are working very hard to keep him in church with our family.

We are just at the beginning of this journey, we are asking for prayers. Please prayer for the Lord's will, if this child is meant to be in our family, we are willing. In everyway we are praying and asking for the Lord's will be done.

Psalm 25:9
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.