Heaven's Gates...

This week my brother's church "New Vision" has been putting on the powerful play "Heaven's Gates, Hell's Flames". I've seen this many, many times, but it has never been this powerful to me before. But the reason is, my family is in it. My brother Ron, Sister Sheila, Nieces Jessica-McKenna-Trinity, Nephews Zach-Ryan. Let me tell you, it takes on a whole new meaning seeing your family up there on stage. Sunday night I literally sobbed. Just to explain some of it to you...

One of the scenes is a dad, mom, daughter, son who are driving home from church and the son had just asked Jesus into his heart. And he asked about his other sister that had died when she was young. mom told him that she had asked Jesus into her heart too and that they were a complete Christian family. They run into a car (son and dad-I'll get to that in a moment). Anyway they make it to heaven and asks the Angel if their names are in the Book of Life. She smiles and points to the gates. Jesus comes out and before they walk up the stairs Jesus puts his hand out and the little girl that they had lost walks out with Jesus. This scene get me everytime because I think of my little niece Carissa that died when she was 1 year old. Well, this time it was even harder because the little girl that comes from heaven is my niece Trinity. She looked so cute and smiles so beautiful!

The dad-son scene I was talking about was so sad and I sobbed. The son asks the dad why they don't go to church. And the son tells his dad he wants to be just like him and that if his dad doesn't need church then neither does he. Well they wreck, go to heaven, and ask the angel about their names. The little boy starts to cry, which is my nephew Zach. The angel then says no and satan and the demons come and take them away and my nephew is screaming and crying. It was all I could do to not run up their on stage and take him to heaven myself.

Another scene was a girl and her mom shopping. The girl is a Christian and is trying to get her mom and dad to come with her to church. The mom says they don't have time and besides, mom is a good person. The mom promises that she will go to church with her next time. But they get hit by a car. They get to heaven and the little girl is scared and knows that her mom is not going to go to heaven. Pretty soon Satan comes to get the mom and the little girl is crying and trying to hang onto her mom. The little girl is left there crying and crying. Pretty soon Jesus comes down the stairs and holds the little girl while she cries and then holds her hand and they walk into heaven together. The little girl was played by my niece McKenna. Heart breaking.

My niece Jessica played a teenager who was in a car drinking with some of her buddies and they crash. They all think they can go to heaven because their parents are Christians and even one of their friends is a Pastor's son. But the angel looks up their names and does not find them so Satan comes to get them. She is screaming at the top of her lungs. Again, I wanted to go up there and punch satan and take Jessica to heaven.

Ron was in a really cute scene. He was a construction worker with another guy. He did so good and there was a lot of humor throughout the scene. Ron gave his heart to Jesus during the scene and made it to heaven. When the angel said his name was in the book, he did a little dance. It was priceless.

Sheila was in a elevator scene with a co-worker. She was not a believer and her friend was trying to witness to her. But Sheila told her that all church was full of was hypocrits. Anyway, they die and when the wake up at the gates of heaven Sheila asks her friend to pray with her right then to receive salvation, but her friend told her it was too late now. Her friend goes to heaven and Satan comes for her. It was so hard to watch. But the thing about Sheila, and those of you who know her can see this, she didn't go to hell easily. She pretty much sat down and made them drag her out and she yelled and screamed at them. That part got me tickled.

And Ryan was in the crowd at the beginning and then he was drinking and partying in another scene but thankfully he did not die in any scenes.

There have been so many people saved this week and it has been so wonderful. I went Sunday, Monday and then again tonight. Hopefully tonight I can get through it without crying loudly. But I can't help it. Anyway, after the service they have been going to the creek ( I know cold) and being baptised.

We've been taking Trinity and one time Zach too home with us. Trinity has been cracking us up. The other night Zach and I were bragging on her and what a good job she was doing smiling and she looked at us both so serious and said, "I'm only smiling for my bike". Apparently daddy told her that if she would smile and do her part like a big girl, he would buy her a bike. Well you should see that smile!

Also, during practice Trinity is suppose to come out and jump to her "dad" in the scene and yell "Daddy". So during practice she came out the gate and they told her what to do and she looked at the scene "dad" and says very seriously, "That's NOT my dad". She is so much fun.

Anyway, I'm sad that tonight is the last night for this wonderful play. But is has been wonderful and such a blessing.

I'll leave you with one question that they ask at the end of the performance...

WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY!

My adorable hula boy...

Friday night Boyd and I were sponsors at another dance at Mark Twain. This time the theme was Hawaiian. We had a ball. As you can tell, Boyd decided to put the grass skirt on and do a little dancing. He also has a lei (sp?) as a head band. The kids seemed to really have a good time. Boyd, Ms. Bedwell, and I took turns being in with the music and patrolling the hallways. The music was so loud, that you really did need to take some breaks from it because it got on your nerves after a bit.

The kids just love my husband. He loves to give them a hard time, imagine that, and they love to give it right back to him. I love to watch him interact with them. His face just light up. I know without a doubt, Boyd was born to be a teacher. I can't imagine him anywhere else.

Home Sweet Home

As most of you probably already know by now, my folks are going to be coming home very soon. My dad's last Sunday in Tishomingo will be April 19th. I'm so very, very excited. Dad is needing to retire from pastoring. His cancer, even though he is cancer free, has taken a tole on him in every area. They will still stay in Tishomingo most of the next year and help out at camp. This is the little house they will be staying in. Isn't it cute. They have already been painting it on the inside.

I'm so anxious to have them back home. I can't believe it's been 7 years in June since they moved to Oklahoma. I've always been a little jealous of my friends having their parents so close. I took mine for granted when they lived close, but never again! Cherish every moment that you have with your family. Hold them close.

32 down, a lot more to go

As of today I have lost 32 lbs (128 sticks of butter). I'm so excited. I like to go to the store and pick up a 20 lb bag of dog food and feel how heavy that is and think that I've been carrying that weight around for a long time. I have a lot more to go, but I'm just taking it one day at a time. I've tried diets before and have lost up to 55 lbs before, but that diet was just because I wanted to. Now, this time I have to because I will die if I don't. And let me tell you that gives it a whole new meaning. I've always struggled with my weight ever since I was a girl. I've been the biggest one in my class height and weight. I'm up and down the scale all the time, and I really needed someone to kick me in gear on my weight loss this time. Well, I was kicked into gear on January 7th when my doctor told me I was diabetic. I had been pre-diabetic for a while, but to actually hear that you are diabetic. Well, it's an experience. So now when I'm really craving a certain food, I make the choice, do I want to continue to eat that and die or find something different and live a longer life. Um, let's see, LIVE! Now don't get me wrong, I still mess up but I get right back on the band wagon or sometimes if I feel really guilty for what I just put in my mouth I'll exercise more. The key is exercising. I will sometimes use my walk away the pounds video for exercise, go outside and walk a mile, stay inside and power walk and jog for 15 minutes, etc. Then I stretch really good and do 100 crunches and 20 leg lifts where I lay down put my lets together and lift them up and then down without letting them touch the floor and hold it there for 10 seconds then back up. Feel the burn! This weekend I did buy a Biggest Loser DVD and I'm excited about it, but the weather has been too nice to stay in and exercise, but sounds like Wednesday I may need to work out inside.
The first picture above is a couple of days after I started my "lifestyle change". The picture below is one that I took this morning. I can finally start to tell a difference in myself now, so that's exciting for me to see. I've got a long way, but with the Lord's help and with the help of my husband, I can "Get er done"!

Where did the weekend go...

Friday I took the day off and hung out with my mom. We had a great time. We went to 7 different thrift stores and had a ball. I was also looking for some new Nike's and finally my sister Sheila told me to go the Nike outlet at Tanger and I found some shoes. The best part... They were only 29.99. I was psyched!!







Then on Saturday Boyd had to take some tests at MSU and so I spent the morning until 2:00 p.m. I was shopped out. I'm not a big shopper anyway, so to have to spend that many hours shopping was awful. After I picked him up we went to the quarter final games at MSU and didn't get home until about 11:00 p.m. that night. But we had such a good time.

Roastin' Hot Dogs

Last night we went to my brother Ron's house and had a hot dog roast. Dad and Mom are in town because of their Minister's and Mate's Retreat in Branson this week, so it gave us an opportunity to get together and visit one another. We had a great time sitting outside talking and cooking our "dawgs" until all the sudden the temperature dropped and it started pouring down rain. We quickly went inside and Ron roasted his marshmallows over his cook stove. That was pretty funny, but of course I missed a picture.


And here is Miss Trinity Alice. She had played all day with Granny and Papa, so she got pretty dirty too as you can tell by the face. Too cute.

4 Days With A Two Year Old...

This past Thursday, we picked up our nephew Caleb and he stayed with us until Sunday night. We have had such a blast and I think Caleb enjoyed it too. He got to "farm" with us and that was a blast. The weather was beautiful so as you will be able to tell by the pictures, he got REALLY dirty because we played outside all day everyday.

He talks non stop it seems. The very first night he woke up about 2 a.m. and the conversation goes like this...
Caleb: KK? (this is what all my nephews and nieces call me)
Me: Yes Caleb
Caleb: time to get up?
Me: Not yet, go back to sleep
Caleb: For goodness sake

I couldn't get back to sleep for a bit because I was laughing so hard. Then on Saturday we were out riding around in the truck and Uncle Boyd hit a hole and Caleb hit his head on the window. Uncle Boyd said, "ouch Caleb, that even hurt me" to which Caleb replied "It hurt me first". Different things like that all weekend. It was a lot of fun. The following are just some pictures from the weekend...

We Love You Caleb!