Happy New Year

Make a postcard - it's easy!

13 days until Christmas

OK so the title of this blog in itself stresses me out. Which is exactly the opposite of what my pastor as been preaching about. It is so hard to keep your focus and not get stressed out. The presents, the parties, the money, the wrapping, the traveling, the cards (that I am sure I will not mail again this year) - oh my!!!

So if you read my blog and have great ideas on how to focus on Christ this Christmas and not on all the other stuff that HAS to be done, please respond. My kids are getting older and I am feeling like I need to come up with more grown up things to help them focus on the real meaning of the season. Of course we will have a happy birthday Jesus party, read the bible story all month, buy gifts for others, sing the songs but I would love to hear if you have any other ideas to share.

I plan to post some pictures of the house all decked and the girls in their Christmas outfits but in case I don't blog until the new year - I pray you and your family will have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wanted to post a quick note to tell all of you how thankful I am for so many things, including you. God of course is at the top of my list, without Him I would be nothing but lost. So to my God, my Savior thank you for ALL the ways you have blest me.
Thank you for the big things like my amazing family of four. I am so thankful you gave me Karl to live life with. I am so thankful you allowed me to have the girls who fill our lives with so much joy. I am so thankful you allowed me to be born into a christian home with loving parents. I am so thankful for my two big brothers who watched out for me and still do. For my little brother who let me practice my parenting skills as I tried to mother him. I am thankful he turned out ok in spite of me. For my brothers wives who gave me the one thing in life I always wanted, sisters. For my in laws who raised an amazing man for me. For my brother and sister in laws who make Karl laugh like no one else can do and who make the holidays a joy to be a part of a large family. For my 19 nieces and nephews who are so beautiful and I am so proud of each of them. For my friends oh I wish I could name you all. Thank you God for blessing me with so so many friends here in TN and all over the world. For my church family, Tn would not be our home with out you. For my staff family who make coming to work every day a joy even during the stressful, busy times. For our health, for our home, for all the extras that we have we are so grateful to our Lord and Savior.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Fall Break in Gatlinburg

This is a picture of the girls racing each other. Madie tried to cut Karly off and they had a huge 3 or 4 car pile up. It was the funniest thing, watching them blame each other to the worker. We were on the side rolling, just imagining what they were saying, "she did it, it's her fault", fingers were pointing and heads were shaking.
Karl and Karly raced to the top. Neither of them made it and I thought we might have to call for an ambulance Karl was so winded. This to was hilarious!

This turned out so cute. We took this down town Gatlinburg while we were shopping. The girls favorite thing was the cool inside pool we had. It had tunnels and waterfalls built into it. The hot tub was what I enjoyed the most. It was a cave inside the pool.
A little golfing (putt putt) lesson for Madie. Who did not enjoy the challenge of getting that little ball in that little hole.

This was on top of the Sky Lift mountain. It was so beautiful. I would have loved it if more of the trees had turned but my fourth grader explained to me that the weather had not been cold enough for the roots to pull the chlorophyll out of the leaves into the roots thus changing the color from green to fall colors. Are you smarter than a fifth grader? NOPE, not even a fourth grader.
This was a great little family get away.

Double digits for Karly, the big 10.

Karly turned 10 today, October 15th. We took her and some friends out to eat pizza
and skating.
Madeline, Alexis, Abbie, Tori, Madie and Karly - The Party Girls!

We celebrated with her girlfriends on Sunday.
This morning for her actual birthday her daddy woke her up with a muffin and candle singing "happy birthday Karly". I took donuts to her class as we walked down the hall everyone was saying "happy birthday, Karly". She was beaming. Then Rebecca and Derrick sent her balloons at school. She loved all the attention.

Karl and I have both agree that 10 years ago on October 15th was the best day of our lives. Honestly, it was perfect. The deliver went so smoothly. Our doctor made it, my parents made it and Karly made it safe and sound. We could not believe we had a baby. She was so cute, so fat and hairy. I know that doesn't sound cute to you but to her mom and dad it was. (She wants me to take off fat and hairy but she was. She had a head full of hair.)

Happy Birthday Karly, you are an amazing little girl. I am so proud to be your mom. I crawled into bed with you this morning held you and prayed for you. I am so thankful that God chose you for me but I know you are really His. I trust Him with you and know that he has an amazing plan for you. I can't wait to see the women you become. I don't expect you to be perfect. I know this journey of life gets rough but I will always love you no matter what. I will always be here for you. I pick you up now when you fall and I will pick you up later when you fall. We will brush it off and learn from it, together. Love you mean it, Mom.

Melanie's Wedding Day, Sept 29th 2007

Karl and Karly dancing.
Karly, Emery and Madie what dolls. We missed you Parker.
The Bride
The Groom

Karly and Madie with Mel at the rehersal dinner.
How sweet is that?
Minutes before the ceremony we snapped a few shoots on the church lawn.
Mel and all her girls. 2007 BFF's Mel and Ruth

On September 29th my dear friend and co worker, Melanie married Tony.


It was so beautiful. She did a great job putting everything together for her special day. The whole weekend was fun the rehearsal and wedding day. So I am going to post several pictures that I snapped. Hope you enjoy!
Ok this was suppose to be at the top and the pictures are all done backwards. Oh well I tried.

Madie's Baptism

I know this was quick but Madie wanted to get the baptism over so since I have a few connections at the church (ha ha), we were able to get her baptized Sunday. It was a very emotional day, I can't imagine how I am going to feel on her wedding day.

The sweetest thing was in her video she thanked Karly for leading her. Oh man, I lost it. Plus Karl being the one to actually be able to baptize her was priceless. My girls have no idea how blessed they are to have the daddy they have.

I am sorry to my friends who did not know and missed it. It just happened so fast.
If you would like to view her video testimony and baptism, go to http://www.fbcsmyrna.org/media/video/madie%20meyer.mov .

Thank you to all of you for sharing this precious moment with us. She loved all the notes and hugs and presents. We are so blessed with wonderful friends who love our girls.

Madie did it!!!!

Monday night Madie was in her room doing her quiet time. I came in and said "what's your quiet time about?" she gave me the "Jesus" answer and it really was about Jesus. She looked up at me and said "Mom, I want to ask Jesus in my heart". This was the moment we had been waiting for. She has taken a class at church on becoming a Christian, we have been talking about it for months and we knew she had the head knowledge but she had never asked what she needed to do to become a Christian. I ran to get her dad and Karly turned to Madie and said "ok Madie lets go over the ABC to becoming a Christian". Karl and I just set there as Karly made sure Madie knew what sin was and that she needed a savior. You talk about emotional. It was emotional enough that Madie was about to make this desicion but then to have Karly lead her was WOW a very proud moment. I wish I had record Madie's prayer. She was so emotional as she cried out to God and asked him to be her savior. There is nothing more amazing to know that we will all be together forever. Man, it is one thing that he died for me but that he did that for my children, something I could not do is the most amazing thing that I am so thankful for - Thank you Lord Jesus!

Big week at Meyer Manor

I have about 5 different stories so pick one or read them all:

Home Repairs/Remodeling:
We chose to put hardwood in the kitchen/dinning room we did not expect the dishwasher to leak on it and ruin some boards a few days later. In one week the fridge had to be replaced, the dishwasher and the air conditioner had to be worked on. YEAH! Life happens I am wearing out and so is all my stuff.

Hard lesson for my Karly:
We have a rule at our house while playing outside you do not go in houses or in back yards. Well my very obedient child for some reason chose to follow all her friends into our neighbors back yard. This is not a normal back yard these neighbors have a pit bull, rottweiler, and two other large dogs. Well as Karl and I are enjoying our Saturday morning coffee we hear our girls screaming and of course we jump up and run outside. They are hysterical and yes my Karly got bit twice by the rottweiler. It was not bad "thank you God" but the terror that they went through just killed me. I can't tell you how many times I have said a prayer of thankfulness because of course all the "what ifs" were playing out in my head. I must say the sweetest thing was Madie's concern for her sissy. She was crying "I don't want Karly to die, I don't want my dream to come true". She had a night mare about Karly a few weeks ago. Sad but sweet.

Read to Succeed:
Every year I am asked to read at the girls school on "Read to Succeed" day. I love doing it the girls pick their favorite books for me to read. I bring props and everything.
Well this year Karly the big 4Th grader did not want me to come read to her class. I might embarrass her. I must admit it hurt my heart a little but I respected her decision. So I get to the school and head to Madie Moo's class and I see Karly in line for lunch so I go say hi and as I am about to leave she says "bye mom" and puckers up and gives me a big kiss in front of all the 4th and 5th graders. That fixed my heart right up. PRICELESS!

Real Marriage:
Saturday night my church www.fbcsmyrna.org had an event to celebrate marriage. We went to eat and then to the event a great date. What a reminder to us both to "Hurry Home" to want to be here with each other and to cultivate what we have. We laughed a lot that night. I am sure God was so blessed to see his children enjoying life together. I believe we worshipped through our laughter. I love my husband dearly and am thankful that he hurries home.

Week 2 of Daniel:
Well I had to walk into my girl friends and tell them that I had only gotten 1 of the 5 lessons done. Shame shame! I came home that afternoon and finished week ones home work and did three lessons for week two, that is how good it is. It is so deep and so filled with history, I feel smarter already!

A few statements to think about from this study:
Godliness is never accidental.
Integrity depends on consistency.
The more we learn the more God will reveal.

John 16:24
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Daniel 2:20-23 (she asked us to memorize it so quiz me when you see me)
vs 20 this week:
Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever, wisdom and power are His.

Ok that was my week - oh and I got to see my sweet friend Gwen. Let's get together soon.

Week 1 with Daniel

No Daniel is not the new love of my life, Karl is still that but I am going to be getting real intimate with him over the next 11 weeks.

I have joined a Daniel Bible study with some church friends. The study is of course by Beth Moore, so it will be incredible! Today was our first look at Daniel and I can't wait to see how God speaks to me through the life of Daniel.

This week I have on my own been doing some reading about the book and character to just be prepared. I have to be honest the only thing that came to mind about Daniel was "Daniel in the Lion's Den". Today as Beth can do so well she opened our eyes to see so much more. We stayed on chapter one and picked it apart. I had read chapter one twice on my own this week but reading it today with the history and insight was like reading it for the first time.

So as the next eleven weeks of this study goes I am going to blog about what God says to me, and how the life of Daniel from 605 BC is still relevant. God is amazing, his word is amazing, timeless and alive.

Today we were challenged to look at our lives and see if:
Question:
Are we being influenced by our Babylon (culture/community)?
Are we influencing our community? Our culture is telling us that it is all about me, "have I found myself", how is that going to help me, satisfy me, fulfill me, how do I look, ME Me me!!!!
Is our focus on the world we have been sent to or is our focus on the royal family we are?
Reminder:
We are just visiting we our not home!

WOW! week one and He has already spoken volumes to me, I can't wait to see what He will say in the next 10 weeks.

Blogging + or -

Blogging - well I thought blogging would just be fun, you know a great way to read what is going on in friends lives, see pictures of their kids, you know fun. That would be all the positive stuff. But twice now I have read blogs and WOW sometimes things people post just hurts. That would be all the negative stuff. I refuse to comment on them because my mommy taught me "if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all". So I won't but as a mom I am going to teach my girls "if you don't have anything nice to say or write don't say or write anything". You know that whole do unto others thing. Just my opinion!

P.S. Please don't ask me what blogs I got my feelings hurt by and no they were not even directly about me but about places or people I love and respect.

Magic Springs Trip

One more fun summer trip before another school year begins! Magic Springs is an amusement park in Hot Springs Ar. Where my parents live. I grew up going to it each summer. They have added a water park to the amusement park. It is small like Dollywood but was perfect for our girls. They got to ride on everything they wanted several times. I was amazed at how brave they both have become. They went on things that I won't go on and of course made fun of me for being a chicken. The water park was our favorite due to the heat. We all loved the slides. Of course there were several that non of us girls were brave enough to go down. My Dad went down several water slides with the kids and ended up at the Chiropractors office the next day and on pain medicine. Sorry Dad but thanks for the great memories you made that day with the grand kids. They think your the best. Mom went down them in spite of the fact that she broke her back two years ago. What great grandparents!
This was my personal favorite thing to do, float down the lazy river. The water was freezing which was perfect because it was in the 100's.
We had so much fun at the park with our nieces and nephews. They are all such great kids. Very well behaved, which made it easy to enjoy having 5 extra kids each day. So much fun!! These memories are priceless.
They were all tuckered out from the heat and the amusement park rides. "Can we go back to the water rides" Madie and everyone requested.
Uncle Karl and his nephews, he had so much fun with the boys. I know they are getting older and hanging out with your uncle and aunt won't happen much in the future, so we treasured that they wanted to be with us this year. Karl spent the night with the boys and you should hear all the pranks they pulled on him and he on them. Oh my! Let me put it this way one of the pranks involved the police calling the house. Boys!!! That was actually one that Karl pulled.

Boys will be boys (even when they are 42).

Well goodbye summer now back to having a schedule, home work, bed time and early mornings. YUK to all of the above. Honestly, I love being back on a routine. You just get so much more accomplished in your day. So here we go.....back to school.

Summer is over

I really cannot believe how fast this summer went. I didn't get enough time with the girls or in the sun or to relax or to read or anything. It just flew by.
We do have some tricks up our sleeves for the last week of summer. I'll post all about that next week when I can add some pictures.
I think all in all the girls had a great summer. They loved coming to the church with me everyday and spending time with Addie. They have totally fallen in love with her and she with them. She is pretty easy to love. They have taught her lots of new tricks. She is so smart!
It was nice having them there and getting to just walk down the hall if I needed a hug or if I was wondering how they were or if it was storming in would run Madie who hates storms.
Summer is normally very hard on me because it reminds me that I am a working mom but this summer it was so nice to have them with me.

So all in all I to had a great summer.

Evaluation Time

Evaluation - The process of pointing out the positive and negative of something or someone.

This week I had my three year evaluation with my boss and pastor, Kyle. Having an evaluation is never a comfortable thing and always makes me nervous. But this year was different and I am not really sure why. Maybe because I am more comfortable with my boss, maybe because I have done it several times already, maybe I am feeling more confident (no, not that). When I came home that night I told Karl word for word of how things went during the evaluation. He was shocked at everything I shared with Kyle; the good, the bad and the ugly.

All week I have thought about it and thought how well everything went. This morning it hit me why things went so well because after three years God has taught me that the preschool ministry is not mine but His. He wants it to succeed, He has a plan for it, He calls the people to serve, He gives me the ideas, He gives me the wisdom to run it. HE not Me! As long as I am seeking him he will guide me.

I love to think about how Joshua must have felt when he had to take Moses place. Can you imagine the pressure. Here is the guy who freed the Egyptians, Crossed the Red Sea, Ten Commandment,... Studing the first book of Joshua and seeing how he was nervous but the Lord told him to be strong and courages, to seek him and he would be with him, has been a huge encouragement for me in everything I have been called to do.

One thing I told Kyle was a struggle of mine is to constantly wondering "what am I going to do next, where is God going to lead me or use me". This is so wrong! (and Kyle and my husband told me so). God wants me to wake up everyday seek him, serve him (and others) and when this chapter in my life is over HE will let me know.

By the way, Kyle had positives things to say and things I need to improve on. A year or two ago any negative thing from a parent or co worker would have sent me into depression but now I try to find a positive in the negative and make it work to improve myself or the ministry.

I can't really believe I have been on staff for three years. I am so honored and blessed to be able to serve my God at FBC www.fbcsmyrna.org and in my community.

My Baby is 7! 7 that is so old

Madie turned 7 yesterday, June 21st. I can't believe it 7, that seems so old. We had a High School Musical Party. She is our singer. Her gift was a Karaoke machine. They sang and danced all afternoon. I must admit I have tried it out myself. Karl got a good laugh out of that.
Izzy and Madie the next Cheetah Girls
All the partiers!
Rebecca got Madie with some icing on her nose, isn't she a cutie!

Camp Pictures

This was OMC - Organized Mass Chaos - so fun so messy!

Karly with Green hair.
Karly's Crew
All 60 of our FBC Kids




Ok I thought I would post some camp pictures. I included one from the wreck for my folks; I didn't even tell them. "Sorry Mom and Dad but we didn't even need a band aid".









Jeff Slaughter

This was me at "Slaughter Salon", Jeff Slaughter does your hair to raise money for missions. He used freeze hair spray and it stood straight up.

The tip was painted purple. It totally embarrassed Karly but then she went and had hers painted green. Picture up top, she is still so cute.

This pictures was during our church group quiet time that we had each morning. It was so precious to see them reading their Bibles and writing in their journals.

Camp was so much fun!

Kids Camp 08

Camp is going great!!!

We are having a blast.

We are very thankful for how awesome our God is and so grateful for his hand of protection. Monday's events have not ruined our camper experience. The kids are having so much fun that they have not mentioned it since we got here (unless they talk to their parents).

We had one salvation last night (Brett Derr). It was precious and awesome to see such an emotional time for him as he knew he needed to be saved. He was nervous but really wanted to do it. Others have told us that they want to go home and get baptised. It is just neat to watch them as they are growing and learning about their God. We are all growing even us old folks.

Our verse this week is Jer 29:11, what an amazing verse for us to focus on this week after the bus wreck on Monday, that He has a plan for our live, not disaster but a hope and a future.

Well I must go, I am the photographer for our campers. I have taken almost 300 pictures and I am going to make disk for the parents. I am loving getting to walk around and see all of them doing their different tracks. I know parents have been worried but I hope after seeing the pictures they will see how much fun the kids had and how they did not let the wreck ruin a great week.

Keep us in your prayers, that God will continue to move in our kids and the other campers.

"The Original Meyer Manor"

We visited "The Original Meyer Manor" my in-laws place for a little R-n-R. We had a great time. We got to see all the niece's and nephews including our newest one, Ms. Sadie. She is a doll like all the Meyer kids. We swam, we tubed, we rode the jet ski and of course ran from the water balloons.

One of the best things was getting back with our kids. My folks took them to Hot Springs after VBS, so we were kid less for about a week. Which was nice for about two days but then boy was I ready to see them. It was way to quiet without them. We did enjoy going out to eat without the extra noise and watching a movie without being interrupted but we were both very ready to have them back. They had a great time in HS with all the cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.

We were planning on maybe doing Disney again this year but when asked what they wanted to do it always comes back to going to Ar to see family. We know someday they may not feel this way so while this last we will just save the money and go back to Ar.

We celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary on the 4th of July. I can't believe how fast time has gone by but then on the other hand I can't remember not being married to Karl. He surprised me by taking me to Union Station for the night, Maggion's for dinner, Melanie S. had the girls. We went to the Pancake Pantry for breakfast and then went shopping in the Village and down town Franklin. It was perfect!! Oh I also received an amethyst ring and surprised him with a new wedding band.

A few thank you's:

To Mom and Dad for taking the girls, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Meyer for showing us a great time at the lake, thanks Melanie for watching the girls for our anniversary.

Also
To mom and dad thanks for all the years that you prayed that God would give me a wonderful husband, he did.

To Mr. and Mrs. Meyer thanks for raising up such a great man to be my husband and the father of my girls. I know that without your example and up bringing in a Christian home, he would not be the husband and father he is today.

Two Highlights of our Summer down

VBS and Dance will go down as two of our summer highlights, both were amazing!

Here are a few pictures of both events. I am sure I will post more so bare with me.

End Zone

In this room they learned scripture in a pep rally environment.

They loved it and had fun.

What a great way to learn Gods Word!

Worship Rally At VBS.

We rocked the house as we praise the Lord.

My favorite was the rock en' Jesus Loves Me!

32 accepted Jesus on Wednesday!!!!!!

I love it, I love that - what a mighty God we serve.

Karly's Dress Rehearsal.

We could not take pictures at TPAC.

Karly was amazing. We were so proud of her.

I could never do what she did. Susie my friend and co worker, came to rehearsal with us. All three of us cried as we watched her (Don't tell Karl I blogged that he cried, he'll kill me, but he did). She has a great teacher, who just so happens to be one of my dear friends (bff) and co staffer at FBC, Ms. Melanie Simpson. Mel your the best!! Thanks for being you and the great example you are to my girls, who adore you.

The girls are in AR with the grandparents. The house is so quiet! I have to tell you what my oldest told me as they were leaving Saturday and I was getting weepy. She hugged me and said "Mom look on the bright side, when I have kids they can go stay with you for a week". Now how sweet is that. My pastor spoke on spiritual gifts this morning, I am thinking she may have the gift of mercy. lol