Happy 18th Birthday Tyler!

Can I ask you something?

WHERE HAVE THE PAST 18 YEARS GONE??!!??!!???!!!

When Tyler was born, he was a HUGE baby. My friends all joked that he was "half grown at birth!". And he was THE prettiest baby in the hospital nursery!!! Beautiful skin, and so sweet.

Okay...he's still HUGE...or at least very tall...and slender. And he's not pretty anymore...

HE'S A HUNK!!!

Beautiful skin, and all!!!

And he's growing into a fine young man. Learning (albeit the hard way at times) responsibility, and respect for others. Learning the value of a dollar (okay...that one's a stretch, but we're working on it!), and family. God has blessed him.

And me.

My favorite things to do with Tyler, besides talking with him...hearing about his day (in the most fabulous of detail!), is to watch a good movie with him...or our 10th episode of Magnum P. I. I love playing games with him...especially Rummy (I always beat him), and we laugh about who the "winner" is.













I love taking him with me to run errands. It gives us time together. He's a comfort to me...kind of like an old comfortable shoe. I'm not at all insecure around him.
He knows who he is, and to Whom he belongs...and so do I.

I absolutely love to go to the beach on vacation, and have Tyler sitting beside me in the sand, digging into the latest murder mystery, as I do the same. I love watching him play with his sisters and brother. They adore him! And I'm forever hooked, as well!!! Some of my fondest memories are the times I would be in the bed with a migraine, and Tyler would quietly enter my room, sit on the bed, and rub my hair. As he got older, I'd ask him to "squish" my head.

He would lovingly oblige...snicker, snicker...

I could tell you many things about the past 18 years. I could tell you how surprised and scared I was as a 19 year old to discover that I was pregnant. I could tell you about how, when there was nobody...there was Tyler and I. Or...how much & how fast I had to grow up during one of the hardest times in my life. I could share with you all about those hard times...when I was hanging on by "the skin of my teeth". But alas...this blog is NOT about me.

It's about Tyler.
And the overwhelming grace and love of God.
God knew all about Tyler, even before he was born. He knew Tyler would bring the greatest of joy to a lot of people.

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And he has...touched so many hearts and lives. God had a plan when He formed Tyler. He still has a glorious plan for Tyler. And as long as Tyler doesn't turn away from his Creator, God will carry out that plan.
It's exciting to see Tyler change. He's gone from a scared, insecure little boy...to a young man who knows and recognizes the truth. He loves the things of God. And he stands firm in them. He's not perfect, but he has a distinct awareness of doing "the right thing". God honors that. God loves that about Tyler. And so do I.

God has used my son to change my life in ways I never imagined. My life is fuller and richer because of Tyler. My heart is more tender, too. My desires are different because of how much I want to see Tyler succeed. I am overwhelmed with love for him. And I'm so grateful that God chose ME to bless with this special soul. I can't believe all that we've been through over the past 18 years, and how quickly it has passed.

Tyler's "Dad" loves him. Tyler's sisters love him. Tyler's brother loves him. Tyler's family is wild about him! Of course there are those times when any of us might want to drag out the 'ole cast iron frying pan and whop it upside Tyler's head. Knock some sense into him. But we love him, all the same.
There are pages that I could blog about this special young man. Stories that would have you in the floor. Like the time...
Dad & Tyler decided to stop off the interstate and go fishing. They had their poles, etc. But they didn't have a clear way to the lake. There was a fence in the way...one of those tall kinds of chain link. So they managed to find a spot where it wasn't firmly in the ground and slide under the fence. After they got through, they realized that Dad's bee-hind was bleeding. He had scooted over a root or branch sticking up from the ground, and it poked his bee-hind good enough to make it bleed...through his jeans. Tyler panicked, dropped to his knees, and cried out to God to save Dad's life! Tyler was about 8 or 9. And he was scared that Dad was going to DIE ON THE SPOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We've laughed about that one for years.

How about the first time Tyler babysat? We had moved to TN the previous summer, with Dean & I having maybe a date or two since...and I was busting to see the newest "Terminator" movie. The movie theater was only a few miles from our house, and Savannah & Summerlyn were not at home (gone to Nana's?). So we put Tyler in charge of year old Scarlett. Scarlett was such a sweet baby. So pleasant to be around, & an obedient child. Still is. Anyway...Terminator. Dean & I headed for the movies, leaving a more than capable 13 year old Tyler with a sweet little innocent 1 year old Scarlett. The Terminator movie was excellent, and it was refreshing for Dean & I to have some time to ourselves, if only a couple of hours! After the movie, we went straight back home.

As soon as we walked through the door, I knew Tyler was fried. His face was almost comical. His reply to our entrance? "Thank God you're home!"

I laughed and asked him what happened. He immediately began spilling the details...right down to the doo-doo smeared into the cracks of the hardwood floor in Scarlett's room! Apparently, everything had been fine, until Scarlett got into the cabinet under the sink. We used to buy dish washing detergent in those big round buckets from Sam's, and she had pulled it out of the cabinet, dumping the detergent on the kitchen floor. I'm sure the mess was terrible for a 13 year old boy! In order for him to clean up the mess, he would have to remove her from it. So he took baby Scarlett up to her room, sitting her in the crib until he could clean up the kitchen floor.

Upon his return to Scarlett's room, he discovered that she had stunk it up. So he proceeded to change her diaper. After his first stinky diaper change, he sat Scarlett down on the floor to play and went to wash his hands. When he came back into her room, she had pulled the trashcan over, emptying it's contents into the floor...and you guessed it..."playing" in the stinky diaper that had just been disposed of! Tyler had to give her a bath, and put her to bed after that one...so he could clean the doo-doo off the floor, attempting to get it out of the lines of the hardwood floor. He had just finished putting her to bed and scrubbing the floor when we arrived home! We've SCREAMED over that one through the years!!! Needless to say, if he has to change a poopy diaper these days...he's a lot more careful!!! HAHAHAHHAAAAHAHHA!!!

Tyler is a good kid...young man. We're all very proud of him. I love his heart. I'm crazy blessed to have him.

THANK YOU, HEAVENLY FATHER!!!
The memories I have of Tyler will forever be lodged in my mind...and my heart. And guess what?
I plan on making a lifetime full of more memories with him.

Happy Birthday Tyler!

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I love you with all my heart.

New Years Resolutions

I'm sure we've all had 'em before. I'm sure we've all had good intentions with them before. And I'm sure we've all broken them...way before we should have...maybe even before we got started...

Resolutions.

Specifically...NEW YEARS resolutions.


I've never been one to MAKE New Years Resolutions. Because I know if I make them, I'll break them. Good philosophy, huh? If you know you're going to fail...just don't try! HAHAHHAAA!!! Not exactly what God has in mind, I'm sure!!!

The last New Years resolution I made was 2 years ago. I decided to spring for something easy. Printing pictures. I got the idea from my beautiful and well-organized friend in SC. Better known as "my Sherry". Sherry had decided that she was going to dive into her pictures (the year before), and she got most all of hers in albums and finished. Simple enough...or...NOT!

My Friend didn't have several THOUSAND pictures on her computer that needed to be printed out. 6 years worth, to be exact. Do you know what that cost at $.28 each? It's a lot of Lean Cuisine, for sure. And more diapers than my baby will use over the next year!!!
So I got started...and made it through approximately 4 orders...at anywhere from $40 to $90 per order. Then a birthday came along...a vacation came along...a trip to Target intervened...and I saw a new top on Ebay that I just HAD to have. Thus...the picture printing ceased and was left "on the back burner"...forgotten.

That was 2 years ago.

NOW...I'm several thousand MORE pictures behind. Did you hear me? SEVERAL THOUSAND. And too broke to print them all out. So if I were to make the New Years resolution THIS YEAR, to begin printing them out...it would probably take me 2 more years to complete them.

Or maybe it would take me 3 or 4 more years...considering that I could see another top on Ebay...or take another vacation (yep..in October again...to Topsail Beach)...or encounter another birthday (you KNOW that's gonna happen!!!!). And WHAT THEN? Is this all about commitment? Or is this just a hobby that will take the rest of my life to complete?

And here we are...starting a new church-wide study next week, entitled, "One Month To Live". It asks the question,
"What would you do if you were given only 30 more days to live?".

Pictures are a treasure I'll never grow weary of. But I doubt I'd care much about them with only 30 more days to live! I'd need at least a thousand and thirty more days just to "catch up" the printing of my pictures!


Thank God that He doesn't break HIS resolutions...uh...He doesn't make resolutions.

And before you throw up Webster's 1st definition of "resolution", letter b, to me (b: the act of answering : solving), let me remind you that God already has the answers and solutions to every problem we have ever had, every problem we have right now, and every problem we could ever have...He IS the solution.


Back to what I was saying...

He doesn't make resolutions...only promises.













And He keeps EVERY ONE!














Happy Birthday Jesus...
and thank You for another New Year!!!

Christmas Day!!!

Peace.
It's something we all strive for. Something we all need. And something that baby Jesus...The Christ...offers.






When I woke up this morning, the sun was beginning to peek over the tree line into my window. I felt compelled to pick up my study Bible and read. The title of scripture reading today?

"Live in Peace!"
It's what I want. And hopefully something we all long for and work toward. It's better to live in peace...better for our minds...better for our bodies...better for our relationships with other people.

The scripture was from 1 Peter 2:18-3:12. Convicting passages, if I do say so myself!

"Slaves, yield to the authority of your masters with all respect, not only those who are good and kind, but also those who are dishonest. A person might have to suffer even when it is unfair, but if he thinks of God and stands the pain, God is pleased."

Hey...I didn't say that! It's in God's Word! Do you know what this means? Even when things are not fair (He might call us to suffer)...unfair situations at work or in relationships or in marriage...unfair advantages given to one who hasn't worked for it...unfair treatment by a spouse...unfair accusations by another...we are to think of God, and He will be pleased!

Unfair.
"...if you suffer for doing good, and you are patient, then God is pleased. This is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and gave you an example to follow. So you should do as he did."



So we should unfairly suffer?

Sometimes...YES!!!

Nothing about the way that Christ was born, lived,
and died was fair...NOTHING.

THE KING...born in a barn. THE KING...laid in an animal feeding box. THE KING...wrapped in rags. THE KING...challenged as He lived. THE KING...ridiculed by others. THE KING...mocked. THE KING...beaten. THE KING...carrying our sin. THE KING...perfectly God, yet paying for all humanity. THE KING...reduced to a painful and horrendous exposure to our sin. THE KING...being held accountable for crimes He did not commit. THE KING...dying a criminal's death.
THE KING.
MY KING.
YOUR KING.

Treated as though He were nothing. Treated unfairly on OUR behalf. Forsaken by God to bring us hope...eternal life...and...
PEACE.






When we count for joy ALL things...even the unfair things in our life, God is pleased...because...Jesus paid it all for US.

The very least we can do is count ALL things for joy
in recognizing that the blessings...
the gifts given to us by Him,
FAR OUTWEIGH even the worst of challenges...
the worst of things in this life.

When we learn this in our hearts, and know it in our heads, we will discover the peace that passes ALL understanding. The peace that only comes through knowing Christ.












The peace of God.

That's what Christmas Day is all about.

The gift of The Christ-Child.

The blessings of The Father.

The peace born to us this day in the city of David...
which is...

Christ, The Lord.

Live each day in the knowledge and truth
of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve

I wonder...

What did Mary think about giving birth to The King of Kings in a stable? Laying her precious package in a feeding trough? And having strangers witness Jesus first night on this planet?



Christmas Eve.

She, like every other mother, knew that the time was near for Jesus to be born. She felt the pain. She went through the labor that would bring our Savior into this world on Christmas Day.

Did she wonder why God chose for Jesus birth to be so...ordinary? Did she stress over being the "perfect mom" to our perfect Lord?

I wonder!

The Bible doesn't tell us how Mary felt. But I've always imagined that she was scared and excited at the same time. Much the way I've felt with each of my own children. She had God-given motherly instinct, of course, but because of the holiness of this particular experience, and the nasty politics involved, it's my bet that she was a little bit afraid of what her family would endure because of this baby King.

And I bet she was overwhelmingly excited to be having a baby! A tiny baby boy for her to love and care for. I've been so excited with my babies...haven't you? Smelling them...holding them...loving on them. Mary was excited, too!

I wonder today, if YOU are excited. Are you excited to be celebrating the birth of Christ? Do you get excited thinking about the enormous gift of love that God gave us in this special birth? God sent Jesus in the flesh...to live as we live. And to die as the perfect Sacrifice to end all sacrifices. That's how much our God loves us. That He would give His only Son to die in our place. To take the blame for our short-comings and ugliness. To pay the ultimate price for the sin that separates us from our Creator. God WANTS us to be with Him. God WANTS us.

I am so thankful for my God! He wants me! And He is so perfect!!! He will not allow sin of any kind into His heaven. So He sent Jesus to pay the penalty for my sin, so I can be with Him when I pass out of this life. Because of Jesus, I can be with God. Because Jesus paid. Because Jesus was born.


Happy Christmas Eve!

Remember to thank God for His gift today!

Remember Mary...Joseph...Jesus...God.

Jesus is the ultimate gift. The Gift of a life-time! Wrapped in swaddling clothes. Waiting to be unwrapped.

No peeking until tomorrow!!!!