Tornado and Egg hunt

Friday was a very horrific day for most of Clinton peeps and also other areas that the storm traveled. It was the first time I have personally ever experienced something like that so very close. I saw God's hand in it all that day. It came REALLY close to my parents house and if it had not changed directions when it did, it would have gone straight to them. They were in the path of it. My brother was home by himself, so God totally looked out after them. I saw his hand in so many other ways as well. The childcare center at MHBC's old campus was spared without hardly a scratch and Eastside school where so many of our children are were safe. You can't tell me there is no God when you see such a sight. I wish I had pix to share, but I didn't get a chance to take any. I did go in and check on several friends that live in the Easthaven neighborhood and it is just devestating. To think that this could happen so close to home to people that you love. Thank our good Lord above, no lives were lost and everyone will be able to put things back together. We will be remembering these precious people in our prayers constantly. Let us know if there is anything we can do.

Saturday morning I woke up and drove over to Easthaven just to see what I could do to help. After spending a little bit of time there, I came home and got ready to go to our FRG Easter Egg hunt!! It was really good to be able to do this and be reminded that life is precious and that it does go on. We had a very enjoyable time with our Army family!! It is always so nice to be able to be with people who understand exactly what you are going through. Here are some pix from that day......

Elizabeth, Bennett, and Grayson

Allison, Christopher, Lydia, and Mattie

Hannah, Lauren, Me, Bethany, and Amanda


Lauren, Me, Amanda, and Jennifer

All of the girls together

We had an amazing time as usual!! The kids really enjoyed themselves. My mom and dad were able to come with us and meet some of our precious friends.

Thank you to Mr. Robbie and Mrs. Janet for everything that you all did to make it so special. A lot of work went into having such a great day and we appreciate it more than you know. I think Cayden's favorite part was the hayride and the dancing!! That boy likes to shake his bon bon!! ;)

Babe, we wish you could have been there. There is already a coming home party in the works for you and the guys so we can all go back out there and enjoy it with our honeys!! Miss you tons! Can't wait for you to be back in our home!! It is terribly lonely without you!! I love you baby!!

Embracing the big 3-0

I am now officially the big 3-0!! I have been dreading this birthday for months now and even tried to ignore it, but I had some precious friends and family that kept reminding me.....all day!! :) We started celebrating Monday night. My wonderful, thoughtful parents threw me a little "surprise" party with some of my dearest friends at Margaritas here in Clinton. Thank you mama and daddy....You rock......and everyone else who came to celebrate!! I love you all very much!!

Me and Leah

Some of the kiddos that were there

Wednesday night (my actual birthday) my sweet friend Pamela took me out and we went to Outback and a movie. We went to see Lincoln Lawyer.....good movie!! We had a great girl's night out!! Thank you Pamela for your thoughtfulness and for always being there for me!! We have known eachother and been great friends for many years, but it has just been in the last several months that our friendship has grown into something special!! You are so special to me and I love you!!

Friday night the greatest next door neighbors that anyone could ask for took me to eat at Mint. It was fabulous. We had an awesome time of visiting and laughter!! Jim and Mindy, you guys are wonderful friends and JD and I couldn't get through it without you!! We love you guys so much!! I wish I had a pic to share, but as usual I forgot my camera. :/

Anyway, to wrap it all up.....I had a great birthday!! The only thing that would have made it better would have been for my amazing husband to have been here!! I miss you honey!! I can't wait for you to be home and life be back to normal!! :)

God had surrounded me and my family with "REAL" friends!! That is a very hard thing to come by, but we have some amazing ones.

Fun Family Events

This past weekend was my Mamaw's birthday so we went and spent our Saturday in the big D-town (Durant). We always have so much fun sitting around under the shade tree visiting with the family. This weekend, my uncle got the bright idea to make a water slide down the hill. The kids LOVED it!! Here are some pix from that day!!Cayden and Cousin Jack

WEEEEEEEEE!!!!


There is the whole family sitting under the shade tree being country foke!!

That evening we took my Mamaw to eat for her birthday dinner and she loves Mexican so we took her to eat Mexican food!!!



We had a blast as usual!! Mamaw we love you and we are so glad we could celebrate another year with you!! You are getting younger and younger every year!!

JD, sure wish you could have joined us, but although you weren't there in person, you were totally there in thought and heart!! Everyone missed you very much, but we will celebrate even bigger next year when your home!! I love you babe!! Take care!

Baseball

I have not had any time to blog the last week or so!! We have gone from stomach virus to 104 fever to the early stages of pneumonia!! I am exhausted to say the least!!

We have started playing some baseball in the Wells household!! My Cayden is playing and loving every minute of it!! I never thought I would say this, but so is this mommy!! It is so much fun to watch him out there! And of course if you know me, I really like the socializing part of it!! He is really doing good this year!

Here are some pics from the games....

My future bulldog

JD, we sure do miss having you here for the games!! Miss seeing you out there on the field with Cayden. Can't wait until next year when you can get back out there with him!! We love you so much and miss you to pieces!!

Suffering

*Suffering is God's gift to make us aware of our contingent existence. It creates an enviornment where we see the true nature of our existence-dependant on the living God.*

Sometimes it is hard to look at suffering as a good thing especially while your walking through it. You have a choice to make in it. You either choose to walk through it with your Heavenly Father or you choose to walk by yourself. Whatever we choose determines how we walk through the valley!

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. Isaiah 43:2

This is a verse that I keep close to my heart on a daily basis. It is a constant reminder that no matter what God ask us to do, he will always equip us with the strength and guidance needed to fulfill the mission.

Our family is going through the valley right now. Some days it is honestly unbearable. I have some days when I don't even want to pick my head up off the pillow, but I always have that still small voice saying "You can do this, I will be holding your hand" and he is. The emotions that go with having your family separated are hard enough, but when you put in the fact that he is overseas in a battle zone, it just gets harder. I struggle everyday to not let my mind go some places. I am always trusting that he is in the palm of God's hand and God loves him more than I do. (Hard to imagine that). But he does and there is so much peace found there.

JD and I love our Lord with all of hearts and our most heartfelt desire is to trust and obey Him. He always has our best interest at heart. He will NEVER leave us or FORSAKE us. We have chosen to look at suffering as a blessing from our Lord. He has drawn us near to him and I personally would rather be no other place. I have so much joy in my circumstance.

With all of that said, I long everyday for our life to be back to normal as I know the rest of my family does. JD is my best friend, husband, lover, father of my children, and so on. He is my soul mate and living each day without that is so hard. We get to talk, but no matter how often we talk, there is still a strong disconnect there until he comes home. His children are changing so much daily. I try to keep him updated, but it's not the same.

This too shall pass and we will be so much stronger in our walk with the Lord and in our own personal marriage. God is growing us and grooming our marriage everyday!!

I love you baby and miss you terribly!! See you soon!

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains-
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1,2

What a week.......

It has a been a whirlwind of a Spring Break for us!! I was so looking forward to Spring Break mainly because it is one of my milestones in this year of deployment. I break things up in my mind and it helps the time to go by for us easier. Also, since Cayden has started school, I feel like I don't get to see him nearly as much so I was looking forward to spending lots of fun time with him. We had all kinds of plans with our friends. We were going to go see some awesome animals and watch them get fed. To top off the week, we were suppose to attend sweet Macy Kate's bday party!! Well.....instead, we came down with a doozy of a stomach bug!!! This was not just any ole bug. It lasted and lasted and lasted! I got it first, then Grayson, then my mom (cuz she helped with my kids while I was so sick), then Cayden!!! It took us all FOREVER to get over it!! So here we are.....hopefully much better finally!! Yesterday the walls were closing in on us so my mom and I took the kids to the park.
Here are some pics from our park time!!We had lots of fun at the park. It was a much needed time outside in the beautiful sunshine.

Also, I have not been able to update about the Bible study that we had last week......
Last Saturday night was our first time to meet!! We had a great time with AWEOSOME discussion!! Thank you to all of the girls that were able to attend. We missed the ones that couldn't come, but look forward to seeing you all next time!!! The Lord is at work here and doing some amazing things in so many different lives!! I give him ALL THE GLORY!!
Here are some pics from the bible study......

Melissa and Lydia

Sandra and Lauren

This one's for you Laurenboo! ;)



Jennifer, Melissa, Lindsay, Bennett, and Lauren

It was a great time of sharing and I can't wait to get together again!!


JD, this is the time of the year that we start having all kinds of fun as you know!! I miss you so much and some days it's really hard to bare. Cayden has asked about you alot more this week. Probably cuz he has been sick and has had more time to think about things!! You are very loved and missed by all of us and we are waiting patiently for the day to come when you are home with us again!! You are in my thoughts and prayers every second of everyday!! Be safe! I love you bay!!!

Rainy days

It was a very rainy weekend. Good for mommy, bad for children. I love to have rainy days from time to time to just relax and soak up precious moments with my children. Cayden has other ideas about it. He gets bored and restless. He has gotten really spoiled to our beautiful spring weather we have been having so yesterday was a little trying for him.

Because of the rain several of our plans for the weekend got cancelled, but we ended up having a wonderful weekend anyway. My daddy's birthday is today (march 6) so friday night we braved the torrential rains and went out to eat to celebrate his day. He probably would not appreciate me giving away his age so we will just say that he is now one year wiser!! My daddy is a very special man. He is such a wise man and the man I look to for so much direction in my life!! Thank you daddy for being so amazing and for loving me through it all!! I wish I had pictures to share, but can't always remember to carry my camera!!

Saturday we went to our precious friend Murphy's bday party!! Murphy turned 3 friday and we were very honored to help him celebrate his BIG day yesterday. He had a construction party. You can probably imagine how much my boys truly enjoyed this party. They were able to jump in the jumper for a little while before the rains started up again. Here are some pics from the party....

Grayson's first time in a jumper

Cayden, Grayson, and the sweet birthday boy Murphy playing togetherHappy birthday Murphy

Last night, I was able to go have a little girl time with some of my greatest friends. I love these girls so much and couldn't get through the hard days without their love and support. We are all going through the same thing in life right now so it is such a true blessing to be able to get together with them and cry, laugh, vent, or whatever the mood strikes. Last night we experienced lots of laughter. For those of you who know me well, you know that is my absolute favorite thing to do is laugh.

This morning topped off our weekend with worship at church. I LOVE my church family!! God has put these people in my life to be such a rock for me!! As I have mentioned before, God has been doing some amazing things in my life and spiritual realtionship with him. This morning was an amazing time of affirmation for me!! My family is experiencing a true valley right now. We are so thankful and blessed to say that we are facing this valley with so much joy and peace throughout the whole thing. That doesn't mean that the days aren't hard or that we wouldn't much rather have things another way, but God has given us a true peace and calling about the situation. This too shall pass for us and I am so excited to see how much we grow and much more willing we are to profess the love of Christ at the end of this. If you don't know him as your personal Lord and savior, I truly encourage you to find him. There is no love like the love of Christ. You will never be the same!

Now the sun is shining and the air is cold, but that hasn't stopped Cayden for one minute!! He is back outside and at it again.

JD, we miss you so much! I hate that I haven't gotten to talk to you this weekend, but I trust the Lord that you are ok. As always, we are here waiting for your return to us!! Be safe and keep your eyes on God at all times!! I love you and so do the boys!!