fbcdalhartwomen.blogspot.com

Dana Abla has begun a blog for the women of FBC Dalhart. Please add it to your lists of blogs. Thank you Dana for being "willing" to take on this project. (Great idea K. :) Thank you Lord for the amazing women in the Body of Christ!

In Search of a Great Book.

Our Sarah has caught the reading bug! We are so excited. Several times throughout the past few days, I have stopped suddenly and thought, "I have not seen Sarah lately." As I go looking for her, I find her snuggled somewhere with a big, soft, warm blanket reading a book. This is a new thing for her. In the past she has struggled with reading. I have prayed that she would "fall in love with reading". 

Brian and I can look back to the point where we began devouring books. We were both about the age that Sarah is now. When I find Sarah reading, it warms my heart. It brings back memories of slower times in my life when a good book could carry me to far off places. There were times when I was younger that I would spend the whole day reading! O the good ole days:)

Anyways, Sarah is just finishing up HuckleBerry Finn. I am looking for suggestions for a book series for her. She is thirteen and loves adventure. As you could probably guess from the book she is reading now, she is not really into girly, girl books. She has read most of the American Girl books as well as Anne of Green Gables. We would love some suggestions. Please let us know if any come to mind.

Sweet Friends

This morning I woke up the sound of the gentle rain. A wave of gratefulness engulfed me. I felt so aware of the bounty of God's goodness. 

Over the last few weeks and days, we have been surrounded by dear friends who have exemplified Christ through their love and acts of kindness towards our family. This love and kindness has come in many different forms. Some premeditated, some random and spontaneous. All greatly appreciated

So, to all of you, I hope you know who you are, I would like to offer my truest, most sincere, heart felt, thanks. The funny thing is, you might even think that your actions might have been, "just some small thing". To us, it was HUGE. 

As friends you have come along beside us and walked arm and arm beside us. You probably did not know it but without you, we probably could not have stood. You showed up at our front door on a very dark night just to pray with us and surround us with love. You pulled me to my knees to pray when I absolutely could no longer stand. Many of you have prayed scripture over us, you spoken to us out of the Spirit not out of your flesh. You have spoken the truth in love to us. You have allowed us to ask for prayer for us without requiring an explanation. You have been genuine. Thank you.

Thank you to the dear friends who dropped gifts off that we might find them on our front porch and in our mail box. Thank you for the kind notes, phone calls and emails of encouragement and support. Thank you for the sweet "vandalism" on the church windows that has brought many smiles and fun comments over the last few weeks or so. Thank you to the dear ones that prepared a meal for us that seemed to be prepared for royalty, yet it was just for us. It was a delicious meal served with such warmth. It filled our stomachs and our hearts.

Thank you to the gals who spent several hours on their knees with me, reading Scripture and claiming the Lord's promises, reminding me over and over of His faithfulness. One of those dear gals reminded me of the Biblical "sewing and reaping" principle. My prayer for all of you is that you will reap a bountiful harvest of blessing in return for the sweet seeds of kindness you have sewn into our lives. Through you we have been reminded, once again, of the magnitude of the love our Lord has for us. Thank you!

FIRE PROOF... A MUST SEE!

I don't normally give movie reviews. I guess probably because there is not much out these days that is worth writing about. Fire Proof, is worth writing about. It is incredibly well done. The Kendrick brothers have outdone themselves this time. I am a huge fan of their first movies, Fly Wheel, and of course, Facing the Giants. As you might guess from these two, each new movie they make, gets better. I loved the story lines of the first two movies, but the acting left a little to be desired. This is NOT the case with Fire Proof.

I read a great review that summed things up pretty well. I posted it below.


http://www.revelife.com/

Fireproof Movie Review: Kirk Cameron's Saving Marriage, Saving Lives
by miss poppy


Sherwood Baptist Church's media team, creators of Facing the Giants, has just released another film, Fireproof.

The film stars Kirk Cameron as firefighter Caleb Holt, who has an exemplary service record, but a terrible record as a husband. The main part of the film focuses on his efforts to save his marriage and what he learns through a book he follows called "The Love Dare." He attempts to re-win his wife's heart through things like cooking dinner for her and dealing with a personal addiction. It also features realistic fire rescue sequences.

I enjoyed Facing the Giants, but Fireproof clearly has higher production values and a better script, along with better performances. It is a highly enjoyable movie.

The film has a good deal of realism. The tone is heavy in some spots, as Caleb and his wife contemplate divorce and fight intensely with each other, but there is also a liberal amount of comic relief involving several side characters.

One thing I want to emphasize is that this film is not for children. There is nothing that would be offensive to an adult, but it features verbally escalated and physically intimidating arguments. Caleb takes out his anger violently on inanimate objects, and there are also scenes of intense fire emergencies and the aftermath of a serious car crash.

The heart of Fireproof is a mixture of love, respect, and faithfulness. The point it very poignantly reiterates is that marriage is about much more than going with the feelings of the moment. Instead, it is a lifelong commitment that is worth fighting for at great cost.

There is a point in the movie in which Kirk Cameron's character kisses his on-screen wife. However, Kirk won't kiss anyone except his real-life wife Chelsea Noble. So, the producers dressed her like the actress and shot the scene in silhouette. I just saw the movie, and I promise, you can't tell. It's a very sweet, tender scene, and I think that knowing this adds another dimension to the affirmation of marriage.

Fireproof is worth seeing, not only to support a Christ-centered ministry, but because it is a good story. The emotions displayed in the film are raw and moving; people around me in the theater were sniffling throughout many scenes. Kirk Cameron's performance is strong and believable, and he lifts the movie to a new level of reality.

I felt that the gospel message, in particular, is presented very skillfully in this film. It is laid out quite specifically, but in a way that is appropriate to the scene in which it occurs, rather than being wrenchingly tacked on in a place it doesn't belong.

I encourage you to see this movie. It affirms marriage and selfless love in a God-honoring, entertaining, and believable way, and besides, it's an exciting and fun story about likable people. http://www.revelife.com/

There are many reasons why I loved this movie. Aside from all of the obvious reasons, I loved that you can see some of the same cast members from the prior movies, cast throughout this movie. Also if you look closely, you will notice that Caleb Holt, (Kirk Cameron), drives the same truck that was given to the coach in Facing the Giants, with the same plates on it that say, "Jay Austin Motors," which is the car dealership from Fly Wheel. I know, I know, these are small details, but I love them.

I love that these movies started as a church backed project that was never intended for theaters. Three movies later, they are still at it. My entrepreneurial spirit cheers for them. They are facing the giants of Hollywood and standing their ground. My prayer is that Christians everywhere will cast their vote in favor of this movie by buying up tickets. If they have seen the movie already, I pray that they would buy more tickets and give them to their unsaved friends.

BLXLLNR, Dyslexia at its best

Alrighty!! I must confess that, when leaving a comment on many of your posts, I have to put the code in more than one time. Am I alone in this or are the fellow dyslexics that struggle with the same issues? I know, I know, it might just be me:)
P.S. I have no idea why there is a line under my comment. Nor do I know how to get rid of it. Clearly, I have issues:)

Robert, Our First Born.

Alrighty, I already see the irony in the fact that I am writing about our first born son, last. I guess if asked about the order I would probably say that it was just a timing thing. I started blogging just about the time that Peter was coming home, so I wrote about him first and the rest of the blogs just kinda fell into place. In reality though, if I were to be perfectly honest, I would have to say that, Robert is probably our most complex child. Which makes him a little harder to write about.


We are so proud of him and we want everyone to know all about him. There are just many different facets to him. As you see from his pictures, he is incredibly handsome. (How's that for a boastful mom:) (I feel like I am safe in boasting about that because our genes had nothing to do with his good looks. So does that make it OK?:) His heart is so good, but we see a struggling in his identity.


When he first came to live with us, he was three and turned four within two months of being in our home. He was a very angry little boy. He had a very limited vocabulary for his age. The one word he did have down was, "NO". The first few days of him being in our home were marked with his fits of anger in which he would repeatedly scream, "No, no, no ,no!" As brand new foster parents, we had no idea what to do. We were given very little information about him, so we did not even know where his anger was coming from. Sometimes his outburst only lasted for a few minutes, sometimes they would go on for an hour our more. Sometimes he would let us hold him through it, sometimes he did not want to be touched.

As the months went by, we struggled to understand him. Brian and I had both come from very stable families so we did not even really understand that there were little ones being raised in homes that were filled with violence, rage and neglect. So, as we struggled to understand these two little boys who had suddenly come into our world, our eyes were opened to a whole different lifestyle that we did not even know existed.

When were preparing to have Robert and Peter come to live with us, we changed our floofy guest room into a little boy's room. Away went the sea foam green and peach colors and out came the primary colors of blues and reds. The newest 101 Dalmatians movie had just come out so we used that pattern throughout the room. We purchased Tonka trucks, baseballs, in-line skates and many other little boy things for them. We were so excited to have these two little ones become a part of our lives. One of the cutest things we purchased were two little red toddler beds. We wanted the beds to be just the right size for the little guys.

They did indeed seem to like their new room. We noticed something very peculiar early on about Robert. Each night we would tuck him into his bed, pray with him, smooch his little forehead and say goodnight. We would later check on him and his little bother and they would be fast asleep in their beds. Yet, the following morning, Robert would be sleeping on the floor, by the foot of his brothers bed. He could not explain why or even when he had gotten there.

Early on in their stay, their social worker encouraged us to get counseling for the boys. Throughout that year, we learned more and more about their circumstances prior to coming to live with us. We learned that, at the very young age, Robert had attempted to protect his bio mom and his brother from extreme violence that was going on in the home. We do not know, to this day, who was the instigator of the violence. We simply know that it existed and occurred on a routine basis. Robert's lying on floor, at the foot of his brothers bed, was a trait he had learned at a very young age. In his mind, it was his way of protecting his little brother. Robert was only three and he already felt like he was the only resource his brother had.


It took him several months of living in our home before he realized that he no longer had to be his brother's protector. We saw his countenance change, as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. We saw him start to become a little boy who could play without the burden of being a parent to his brother. We also saw much, not all, but much, of his anger begin to melt away.



Looking back on those years, we wish we had understood so many things much better than we did. His counselor told us that, because he saw so much violence during his, "pre-verbal years", he has a hard time articulating his anger. We wish we knew better, back then, how to help him through that. We see him still struggling with that now, and it breaks our hearts.

His heart is so good. We love him so much and we are so proud of him. Our prayer for him is that he would allow his Heavenly Father to unlock some of those hidden closets of his life and be set free. Free to be all that he was created to be.
Thanks again for your prayers.

Josh and the Joy He Brings Us

In 1994, we were neck deep in foster-parenting two very rambunctious, handsome little boys, Robert and Peter. They had already been through a lot in their young lives before coming to live with us. They were, to put it gently, quite a handful. We felt that we were, at that time, a complete little family. After all, there were two of them, and two of us...perfect. The boys had been in our care for almost two years by then and we were just beginning to get the hang of the whole parenting thing.

One early Friday morning, we received a call from the agency that was overseeing our fostering endeavor. They had a little guy who needed a home, "just for the weekend". They had identified a family for this little guy, but they were out of town for the 4th of July holiday weekend.

With that, Joshua, a little roly-poly 5 month old baby boy, bounded into our lives. We had never done the "baby" thing. Robert and Peter had come to us as toddlers, not as babies. "Well", we thought, "it was just for the weekend". "We would survive, and so would he".

That was over thirteen years ago. So much for "just for the weekend". We are so thankful that the Lord chose for him to be a part of our lives. The Lord had a plan for Joshua and for us, way before Josh was ever born. The first five months of his little life were filled with extreme trauma. It breaks my heart thinking of all that he went through, yet God had a plan. We are so grateful that our Heavenly Father is in control of all things. What Satan meant for evil, God has made good.


Josh and his big brother Robert

He has added so much joy to our lives. He is bright, loving and intuitive. We believe that he will be true to his name and someday become a great leader and a "Mighty Warrior", like the Joshua of the Old Testament, for our Lord and Savior.



Joshua has asked me to let everyone know that he now has his own blog page. It can be viewed at believingfollowingleading.blogspot.com. (Yes, in case anyone is wondering, he was much faster at figuring it out than I was:)