Everyday Blessings...

Good morning! These pictures are actually of the tail end of our Thanksgiving celebration. Tomorrow I will add pictures of the front end in College Station with Sid's Dad and family. We were so blessed to be able to spend time with both sides of our families. We are just SO blessed. Always give thanks to God the Father for everything. Eph. 5:20 Thanksgiving is a time of quiet reflection... an annual reminder that God has again, been ever so faithful. The solid and simple things of life are brought into clear focus. Charles R. Swindoll This is what we enjoy the most I think. Early morning coffee sipping by the roaring fire. A good fire and good company and good coffee. What more can you ask for? Love this big oak tree and the field of dreams beyond. The view is always changing and is quite lovely. We always see deer running across this field in the mornings. Lucy and Chance snoozing in front of the fire. So sweet. Thanksgiving feast. Sure missed Colt and Rachel. Yes, those are p...

Will has hunted and looked and waited for this deer for several years. I don't have much of a stomach for hunting and seeing the poor thing after it has taken it's last breath, but I had to post this for William. Coming very soon...Thanksgiving update. I just have to get through the mountain of laundry and a million other "catch up" things first. Blessings! Talk to you tomorrow.

Hello! Not sure that I remember where I saw this but it was way too good not to share. It sure made me think. I get a little miffed about all the businesses taking Merry Christmas out of their greetings and their decorations and putting in Happy Holidays but this little letter sure helps me to think in a different, better way. We are missing the point a little I think. Enjoy. Letter from Jesus about Christmas It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don’t care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live does not allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa's and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on you...

Good morning! Very random thought: Do you remember the song from "Singing In The Rain"..."Good morning, good morning, we talked the whole night through, good morning, good morning to you?" I love that movie and the songs in it. I used to sing it (way too cheerfully for everyone in our house) in the mornings when I was trying to get the boys out of bed for school. This little birdie below is wishing you a happy, beautiful fall Monday! We are getting SO excited about being with loved ones for Thanksgiving. We will be blessed to spend some time with Sid's family and then a few days with my family. Our hearts are a little heavy because Colt and Rachel will still be in Ohio and won't be able to be with us though. Stinky NFL football going over the holidays! Anyway, we will miss them and are praying for Colt this morning because he was hit in the game yesterday and sustained an ankle injury. No word yet on how bad it is but he was in a walking boot after the game....

Good morning! Here are a few happy photos from the past few days. Thought for today: All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. - Ralph Waldo Emerson We just have to open our eyes and our minds...THINK about God, about what He is doing around us and trying to do THROUGH us. Have the eyes to see it . A lovely stretch of road on the way home from Mom and Dad's house last week. The leaves are SO beautiful right now. Yes, it is way too early. Just could not help it. Wesley's latest master piece drawing. He is going to give this to his Aunt Becky at Thanksgiving. They have a Boston Terrier and she wanted him to draw a picture for her. I think it turned out really fine. The sun coming through the neighbor's trees this morning. So beautiful. I am sure I looked pretty silly standing out on the driveway in my fluffy red robe and slippers taking pictures this morning. The school bus came by and I could see kids laughing at me! ha. Here is lookin...

The Drunk and the Hypocrite- Jon Foreman Switchfoot's Jon Foreman on what churches can learn from bars. I’ve played music in churches and bars all my life. In many ways, these two gatherings are very similar. Both sets of “regulars” are looking for meaning, carrying out a ritual of sorts—hoping to find purpose, something that makes sense of the pain. At first glance, it might seem the Church is a better place to look for hope than the bottom of a bottle. Every day, alcoholism and drug abuse destroy families, ruin careers and wreck communities. On the other hand, theological beliefs and misunderstandings have been blamed for divisions, divorces and wars around the world. The trouble with each institution lies within us. True, alcohol feeds a different fire than pietism, but neither a drunk nor a hypocrite look very good in the daylight. We carry our problems into the church the same way we carry them into a bar—they just react differently in each location. Unfortunately, the sins th...

Wed. news on Dad: He is now home! yippee! He was released and is home and doing better everyday. It is still going to be a long, slow process of healing but being home is so much better than being in a hospital and that alone will speed up healing. Thanks to sweet Debra for being there the past few days to ease Mom's anxiety about being able to handle helping Dad by herself for the first few days. He is still having lots of pain in his chest and the worst pain is in his neck. They are going to scan his neck again in a few weeks to check on breaks after the swelling goes down. Please continue to pray for this pain in his neck to get better. There is a good joke in that last sentence. You know it. :) I wanted to share a sweet email from my cousin Scott that he wrote about Dad when this first happened. I love it and I love you Scott. Blessings on your day today. Let us all have open eyes for ways to glorify and serve our good God today! Dear Aunt Jan, and all, Kicked, blasted, burned,...

I LOVE this video. The Opera Company of Philadelphia went to Macy's and sang the Hallelujah Chorus. This is called a random act of culture. I agree that it is just something cool that was staged but I love it that they are singing to our good and gracious God. I remember singing this song in chorus at ACU. It made me cry and sing along and praise His Holy Name! Blessings and enjoy! Amy (pause the blog music at the bottom of the page to listen.) By the way: A Spot on article about Colt and the Cleveland Browns. This guy has it completely right. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/518940-colt-mccoy-the-kid-man-behind-the-change-in-cleveland

Mean metal thing that pulled Dad off of the top of his tractor. Good morning! It's a new week. I was able to go and spend time with Mom and Dad from Wed. to Sat. The first few days were really very scary. He was in so much pain that he could hardly move. We were very concerned about his hundreds of cuts and abrasions getting infected and the possibility of pneumonia from laying in the bed and not moving much. He could not get a deep breath because of the broken sternum and rib. He also had bad pain on his left side and could not comfortably lay on that side. To say that pain killers were his best friend for about three days would be an understatement! God is so good to answer our prayers for safety from the things we were concerned about and for the relief of much of the pain. Dad had a wonderfully positive mind set and it really helped him get through some tough days. By Sat. morning they had him sit up a little and even walk a little. We were clapping and smiling and taking pict...

I ended up going to be with Dad yesterday because there was some concern about a small bleed in his brain. That turned out to be ok and through another Cat scan it showed that it was small and not a problem or growing. He was in such terrific pain though with his neck and chest. With a cracked sternum it is so hard to breathe without it really hurting. Forget coughing or rolling over or laughing. (There wasn't much laughing yesterday but we attempted it a few times and it did not mix too well with the pain problem, ha.) It is so hard to see someone you love hurt so badly. He is very tough but when you have been run over by a tractor it brings even the toughest to their knees. He is so very cut up and bruised with a big cut on his head and over one eye and serious trauma to his left arm. Praise the Lord he landed on his stomach and not his back before it ran over him. The doc said we would be planning a funeral if he had been on his back. So blessed. Mom is hanging in there. She is ...

Good morning. I wrote yesterday about the heritage of faith in families and also about how much I love my Mom and Dad. I find it interesting this morning looking back to yesterday that it was on my heart. I got a call late in the afternoon yesterday that my Dad had fallen off of his tractor while it was moving and it ran over him. We are all praising the good Lord this morning that he lived through it. He is in the hospital with a broken sternum being the worst injury along with a gash on the top of his head and over his eye, a banged up arm and lots of bruises and scrapes. The big back tractor wheel ran over him after he had been thrown of it onto the ground. He fell onto the ground on his stomach. The doctor said he would not have lived if he had fallen on his back and it had run over the front of him. We are just so thankful and blessed to still have our Dad on this earth and alive. Thank you Father God for sparing his life and for leaving him here with us for how ever long you want...

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Good morning! Thinking this morning about our heritage of faith passed down from our parents and grandparents. Some of us are so blessed to have grown up in homes that were centered around God. Although, at times I think we take it for granted and are too comfortable in the Christian lives we live, I pray that we will keep hunger for His word and for speaking His name alive. I am thankful for our heritage of faith. The picture below is of my Mom and Dad at a social I think right before they were married. We were just a twinkle in their eyes at this time. Thank you Mom and Dad for living to glorify God and for teaching us His ways and His word. Love you so much. I am excited that no matter what, we will never be without each other. In this world or in heaven, together. Family Target or Plan: (Rick Atchley) 1. God is real and He loves us. 2. God's word is our guide to what is true and good. It teaches right and wrong and character development. 3. People are more important than thing...

Doing an awesome job Colt! Continue to lead! http://mobile.cleveland.com/advcleve/pm_59556/contentdetail.htm;jsessionid=7E79BEE18788EF1F3BC872F83935FF13?contentguid=E88fESGc

Romans 8:19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.