Abortion

This topic is not something most of us like to discuss. Lately I think God has been placing it on my heart to do something about it though! A dear friend of mine went to the pro-life rally downtown last week and she had the brochure sitting on her kitchen counter. I picked it up and started reading the articles. Honestly, I had to put it down because I couldn't get through it without breaking down. And it wasn't an appropriate time to break down into sobs. So she told me I could take the booklet home with me. I haven't gotten a chance to read much more yet but I have wanted to post one of the articles here for you all to read. I have had a hard time figuring out how to do it, so I hope it works this time.
I really have no idea who reads my blog. So if this offends you, I am sorry. But I will not appologize for bringing up this issue, because I believe it is the heart of God for us all to take a stand against abortion. Please read the article and consider how God would move you to action. I am praying through many things right now and seeking counsel from dear friends who are already active in stopping the murder of babies.
If you are reading my blog and you have had a abortion, please do not feel condemned. Christ died for that too! There is complete forgiveness in Him! Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade has become a believer and she trusts in God daily for forgiveness, as we all do and you can too. The worst sinner I know is writing this blog. He is gracious to grant us forgiveness!
Actually, I think I was just able to put the whole booklet on here! The atricle I referenced above is the very last one called "To End All Abortion, What If"
http://www.operationsaveamerica.org/brochures/acrobat/ToEndAllAbortion.pdf
I hope this moves your heart to action! We as the church must do something!

ASAP

On the way to Angier we had to stop at Cracker Barrel for a potty break. In the gift shop there was a sign that said ASAP- As SOUTHERN As POSSIBLE!

How appropriate is that for me?! I just had to laugh.

I am reminded of my "southerness" all the time. Like the other day I was talking to Juli and I said bedroom shoes instead of slippers:) Or I say pocketbook instead of purse. Or buggy instead of shopping cart. I am sure you have heard many more come out of my mouth:)

I thought about changing my blog name to something more southern but I can't think of anything good. Any thoughts?

Thanks for putting up with my accent:)

Best Friends

A few weeks ago, my friends Kim and Craig wrote about what they told with their son when Kim was pregnant with their daughter Lydia. They told Caleb that God was bringing him his best friend. I thought this was fantastic! I wanted to make sure my girls felt that way about one another too. So last week I started talking to them more about how they were sisters and best friends. This week God has really done a work! The girls have been playing so well together. Gracie has taken Piper all over the house with her, even to her room to play. They have played all kinds of things together. It has been precious to watch. What a gift having a sibling is:)
Piper says Gracie soooo cute. As soon as she wakes up in the morning she asks for Gracie. And she so cheerfully says "Hey Gracie" as soon as she sees her.
Love it:)

All the Girls!

Make-up! Julianna, Alyssa, and Gracie aka Boo, Girlie, and Boog
Aren't they sweet? Lauren aka Bidgie and Gracie
Lauren, want some of my yogurt?
Cutie Patooties
Playing with ice. It was FREEZING outside yet they insisted on going out. The mommy was the only one complaining:)

Girlie, Boo and Bidgie, Ms Gibson and Pipes and Boog had a ball with you:))

Congratulations Papa!

Yeah Papa!!!
Papa and Gamma

Papa's Fan Club-His friends Richard, Bobby, Ryan, and Nicole

Papa Ron graduated Thursday night with his GED! So we made a quick trip to Angier to celebrate with him! This man has quite a testimony. Why get your GED in your 50s?

I want to attempt to share his story with you here. So that we can all give glory to God! Ron grew up in an abusive home, his mom and dad were both alcoholics and abusive to him and his four siblings. In his early teens, 12 I think, he was taken from his home. He ended up in a boy's home, awaiting foster care placement. I think there were a total of three homes he was in. When he was 17 he got into some trouble and ended up in prison. This was a turning point in his life. While on work release, Ron was placed with a dear Christian family. He saw what is was like to have a loving family and desired that for himself. The Lassiter's went to the church where Wanda and her family went and Ron began going with them. He and Wanda quickly fell in love and were wed as soon as Wanda was of age:) Then they began their own family. They had two boys, Jeremy and Jason. For most of their childhood, Ron worked three jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. The hours were long and the pay was little. When Jeremy was in highschool, Ron began his own construction business. He has been very successful and God has provided. About three years ago he had a serious operation on his neck. Work for him really slowed down after that. He realized he wanted to spend his time enjoying life more. So he has been taking it easier and maintaing their rental properties. After all, he needed a break!

Ron and Wanda have always had a heart for more children! So they are open to helping children who are in need. They want to be a witness! They have much to offer:)

Ron decided to get his GED. He had the time, so why not? He was the oldest in his class and God used him to minister to the other students. He was a witness!

Papa Ron, may God receive the glory for this accomplishment! CONGRATULATIONS!!! We LOVE you!

We're still here:)

I am still alive, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! I have started several posts and haven't been able to finish them. So you can espect a few more soon.

Well we had some fun this week! First there were two little girls, then there were FIVE, then there were SIX, then there were SEVEN!!! We were able to watch the Morrison girls on Monday and Tuesday so John and Juli could get away for a little while. Then we had Ellie in the afternoon too, so Kim could go visit her little boys in the NICU, then Tristen stopped by with Aunt Abbie for a few minutes. It was so funny having all these girls! I must say, I loved it though! They were all great and soooo sweet. I haven't heard that much giggling in a long time:) I was so glad that Gracie had Alyssa and Julianna to play with, some older girls. She is the oldest child of most everyone we hang out with. And most of them have boys. So that was really nice.

Thank you everyone for letting us have your girlies over! It's an honor.

I have been trying to post pics with this, but alas it's not working, so here is the post. Pics to come.

They're Baaack!

Yes, my girlies came back home yesterday! They have been at Gamma and Papa Ron's since last Friday!! They were having so much fun that they begged for a few more days. So Jeremy and I let them stay. What a gift it is to be able to let my children spend precious time at their grandparents like this. And what a blessing that we have Ron and Wanda to desire this time with them. You guys rock!

Which leads me to my next point... Part of my plan for reviewing 2007 is to honor those who have invested in my life. You are supposed to write them a letter but there are sooooo many people who have invested in me. I just thought I would honor them here, one by one so that all of us can give glory to God for them. So maybe I will do one a week. Who knows? They will be in random order:) Starting with my dear in-laws.

Ron and Wanda, Thank you for my husband first of all. Thank you for caring for him those 21 years before I met him. For loving him unconditionally. And thank you for loving me like you do. That is such a privilege that I do not take lightly. That you would accept me into your family and love me like I was your own. Thank you so much for that. And thank you for loving my children. Oh my, they soooo love spending time with you. I am so grateful to God that we live close enough to see you as often as we do. Thank you for the effort you put into making that happen. Gracie asked me the other day about where our geese had gone. (We have a pond with geese) I told her they flew south for the winter. Gracie wanted to know if she could go to Angier for the winter!!! It was sooo cute, but what a testimony to the care they receive from you. They adore you two! Thank you for playing so hard with them and spending quality time with them while they are there. Thank you for trying your best to uphold our standards:) You do a great job honoring our wishes.

Most of all we love seeing you grow in your walk with the Lord. Papa Ron, thank you for consistently seeking the Lord! I love hearing about what he is doing in your life. And thank you for pointing Gracie and Piper to Him often.

You are both incredible servants. They do meal on wheels for homebound people in their area. They have been doing this for years. I used to go with Wanda when I lived there. It was so neat to see how many lives they have touched doing this. Wanda also just started reaching out to a nursing home in their area. She saw that noone was caring for these people outside of the staff that work there and she got busy. Now three churches are involved! They have provided food, clothing, parties, and lots of love to these dear people. This is just the tip of the iceberg!

I love you guys! Thank you for investing in my life through your love for me, my husband/your son, and my children. Thank you for taking the girls so that I can have a break, go on a trip, or spend extended time with the Lord. You are a blessing! I will be there to testify to the Lord of your faithfulness on the last day. I can't wait to hear Him say to you "Well done my good and faithful servants!"

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." YOU LIVE THIS SO WELL. GOD IS PLEASED!

Retreat

Thank you girls for your encouragement about my personal retreat and for meal ideas. I received a new crockpot from Jeremy's Grandma for Christmas and I was so excited! It is one of the bigger ones. I put at least one crock pot meal a week on my planner and maybe I'll do more Shawna! That sounds really good. Wow Robin, cooking every night! Go girl! That's really what I want to strive to do.

Another thing my sister and I have done in the past and in fact we did yesterday is make freezer meals. So we spent ALL day making meals to have for the month. Yesterday we made 10 each but I think we have made as many as 20 before. That took us about three days to do. I find it exhausting but sure do reap the benefits for a while. I think there was a stretch where I didn't cook for about three months but we had dinner every night just from pulling one out of the freezer. It was awesome. One word of caution-this is best done without little ones! Tristen, my niece plays so well by herself so she does great, mine, not so much. They are at Grandmas so I usually take this time to so things like this. But if you can't get time without kiddos you can double meals for a while each night and freeze those. I think I might try that some too.

Meghann, call me. I do have some ideas for you!

Thank you all, please send me more ideas!

Personal Retreat

Hey All, I am back and have been since Sunday night. Lisa and I had a great time with the Lord and with each other. We headed to mom and dad's condo at the beach. So here is what I worked on... My primary focus is to love God more passionately this year. I plan on doing that in a major way through loving and serving Jeremy better. So I worked on outlining how to serve him better most of the time I was there. I started reading the book "Passionate Housewives Desperate for God" which is very good! I also asked myself this question "How Do I love and serve Jeremy better?" I know, genius! Then made a list of what I thought his priorities for me would be. Here they are: Growing in humility by respecting, loving and serving him more, making meals more consistently, love his children more, and well you know, romance him more. I won't go into any details here;) Pray for me, I am selfish and lazy!

Then I made a schedule for the girls and I. And a meal schedule for the next two months. Contrary to popular belief, Lindsay does not prefer cooking. She would go out to eat every meal of every day if allowed to. Now of course this would not serve her family very well. So she is growing in serving them better in this area by having a plan! Mostly she gets into trouble on the weekends when she doesn't have dinner Sat night or lunch ideas for Sunday. That one is so hard for her!

So anyways, I am sharing this with you so you can keep me accountable and know what God has placed on my heart. I have a long ways to go but my God will meet me this year as He will each and every one of you!

Personal Growth Priorities 2008

At least, this is what we called New Year's Resolutions in our care group. I like it better. At the suggestion of my dear friend Michelle, I looked at the blog Your Sacred Calling (Love this blog!!)and she had suggestions for how to reflect on this past year. There are three things that you do.. 1. Outline and chronicle the many providences of God 2. Say thank you to those who have invested in your life 3. Forgive those who have wronged you.
So I started with numero uno.This past week I have been recounting God's faithfulness to the Gibson's over 2007. I went through the entire year week by week. I learned that I need to journal better! It was so neat to see the things that God did in our lives. He has met us mightily. He has carried us through the storms. What a great God we serve!
This weekend I am going on my first ever planning retreat!! I am so excited to see what God is going to do. I have developed some goals for my time and #2 and #3 above are on the list. I have lots of thank you notes to write to everyone who has invested in my life! That is going to be fun:)
A few other things on my list are: Make a daily schedule for the girls and I-one that actually works:), Make a meal schedule, Read, Outline how to love and serve Jeremy better, and most importantly- come up with a plan as to how I am going to love God more passionately this year. Whew! It will be busy.
Sweet Lisa is coming with me. I so love our time together.
Can't wait to share what God is going to do in 2008 with you all and update you on my retreat!

Babies Galore

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
Connor Robert 2 lbs 13 ozs
Alexander Wesley "Zander" 3 lbs

It has been crazy around here STILL people! I can't seem to catch up.

But I am having a chance to serve my dear friends The Childress' and The Balts. You know the Childress' story but I haven't told you about the Balts yet. Kim was pregnant with twins too, boys this time. On Saturday morning she was having cramping that got severe. Tim took her to the hospital and to make a long story short, she went in for an emergency c-section. Turns out her uterus ruptured! Now as an OB nurse I can assure you this is the emergency that sends us all running and praying. It is one of the worst. Baby and mom can die very easily with this. But our merciful God saw fit to bless us by preserving the lives of Kim, Zander, and Connor on Saturday morning!!!! Thank you God!!! The boys were 29 weeks and are doing well. They are at CMC University in the NICU. So very precious and perfect in every way:) Kim is healing and doing great I think. Please pray for them when you think of it. They are going through many of the feelings Joe and Lori have. Leaving their babies in the hospital, not being able to hold them yet, and all the unknowns. They both have holes in their hearts which close normally in full term babies. They will be getting meds to help them close. Zander is doing great, breathing with just a little oxygen via nasal cannula and Connor is improving too. He is still on the vent but should be off soon.

Pray for Ellie too, big sister can't see the twins because she is too young to go into the NICU. They are relying on pictures to help her see her brothers. She knows which one is which:) Isn't that fun:) They look really different.

If you want to read more about them they both (the Childress' and the Balts) have caringbridge sites. These are wonderful sites where you get updates and you can leave them encouragement in the guestbook. Here are the links:

For Jessie http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/faithofachild

For the Balts: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/zanderandconnorbalts.

Addie!!

Addison Grace
Big Sister Macy:)

Hey All,

I had the privilege of going to Lori and Joe's yesterday to help Lori for a little bit. And I got a few pics of Addie:) Thought you would enjoy them. And since she and Jessie are identical you can see what Jessie looks like too.

They are doing okay. I was just so overwhelmed seeing what they have to do on a daily basis. You have to rely on the Lord to even get out of bed in the mornings! We all do, but so much more the Childress' do!

Please keep praying for them. Jessie is healing slowly but surely. She will have another barium flush in two weeks. That means no eating (she's just getting IV fluids, still chest tubes, no holding her for that long. They think they may have her pain under better control. That gives her mommy and daddy much comfort:)

New Year's Part 2

Holleman in the left corner vs Moore in the right corner
Look at em go!
Danny vs Tim

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year

Tennis
Just hangin out-but don't let Lisa fool you, she's a mean Wii player:)
Obviously, Stephen had a victory!
Couples tennis
Does she look like a boxer to you? I didn't think so. She beat Jess and Jeremy!!! It was hilarious watching them too.

Here are our New Year Celebration pictures. Wii had a ball!! Several families celebrated with us and wii stayed up till the wii hours of the morning playing the Wii and dutch blitz (yes, we gave Jess the pleasure of killing us). It was so funny, three of girls got Nikons for Christmas. So we were snapping away.

Happy Anniversary Buddy!

I have been trying to send this all day but image upload is down, it still is soooo...


My Love,

Happy Anniversary!! Nine years ago today we were wed! I was laying in bed last night with Gracie and she said, "Mommy, why did Daddy marry you?" I had to assure her that you trusted in God!

I am so glad you did marry me:) That you trusted the Lord to bring us together, though we are very different. I am so grateful to the Lord for placing us both at ECU at just the right time. It's pretty neat to ponder all the circumstances that He orchestrated to get us there at the same time. You are certainly the perfect man for me, in every way.

I would like to honor you this year for your diligence. It means "constant and persistent attention to one's work." I can't think of a better word to describe you over this past year. You have been so diligent. Of course you have been diligent at your full time job, but I am really talking about all the other hats that you wear, your other responsibilities. First of all, to our land development. I can't believe the time and attention you have had to devote to it. Much of the work has been added to you from other sources. Yet you have risen to the occasion and been so diligent to cross every "T" and dot every "I." I can say with confidence there is noone else I would trust to build my home! I know I'm biased but I know many would agree with me:) Then you also have another side job that you have worked very hard with. So much so that he keeps giving you more work! Just at a time when we needed it to make ends meet. Praise God that you were sensitive to the need to do this job. Yet with all this work you have been doing, we as a family haven't felt it as much as one would think. You have continued to help me with the girls and around the house, almost as much as you normally would. Thank you!!! This leads me to my final example of your diligence and one of the most important-your commitment to our family. Thank you for continuing to lead us and care for us. Your care has increased substantially as I have been in bed so much with migraines. I never hear you complain and I can tell that the girls absolutely love the time you spend with them. It is so hard for me to lay in bed and know that you have so much to do. Yet you make it easier for me by releasing me. And thank you for being diligent to help me follow the Drs orders even when I don't want to:)

So Buddy, you are my hero. I love you more and more every day and I thank God for you as often. Please know how grateful I am for you and your desire to serve the Lord in this difficult season that He has kindly placed us in. I love you TONS!!!!!

Christmas Pics, a week late

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy BDay to Jesus...
Ooohhhh! A medical kit
Gracie's new robe
Everybody got jerseys. Yes me included, but I got mine last year:) Hubby takes good care of me!

I realized I haven't posted any Christmas Pictures. We've been so busy, can you relate?!

We had lots of fun. Christmas Eve is spent at my mom and dad's. That morning we get together with the Murphys. A family we have been friends with since I was two! Then we have Christmas with my immediate family-mom, dad, Lauren, Ab, etc... Then it's off to church for the Christmas Eve service.

On Christmas morning we wake up and have Christmas with our little family. Jeremy did a great job talking to the girls about Jesus' birth. We sang to Jesus and read the Christmas story. It was a sweet time. Then in the afternoon it was back to Mom and Dad's for dad's side of the family. Ron and Wanda met us there. Then from Mom and Dad's we go to Mimi's, moms mom's for dinner. Whew! I can't imagine it any other way! It's crazy though. I've wondered what it would be like to have a quiet day at home with just Jeremy, Gracie, Piper, and I but that just wouldn't seem like Christmas to us. The day after Christmas we open presents with Ron and Wanda. Just can't seem to fit it in on the actual day. Hmmm wonder why?

Usually we go to Angier on Christmas afternoon. But we decided to stay home this year and give the girls a little more time to play. It was nice not having to pack and run around crazy Christmas morning trying to get ready to leave. It was so great for Ron and Wanda to come and stay with us for a couple of days. We always enjoy their company.

So that's us and our celebrations!

Childress Update

Hey! There were big praises yesterday in the Childress home, (and in many of ours:)) Jessie is off the ventilator!!!!! Huge progress for this little one! Thank you Lord!! Pain is under better control and she is improving!! Wednesday she is scheduled for the barium flush to see if the surgery worked. Please pray that it did.
And Lori asked that we pray for Addie as well, the other twin. She has terrible reflux and she is screaming for hours at a time. Joe and Lori are having such a hard time watching both of their babies struggle with pain. She said it's almost more than they can bare.
God is working!!! As always:)