A Prayer for These Times . ..

FROM MAX LUCADO

You Have Our Attention, Lord Our friends lost their house The co-worker lost her job The couple next door lost their retirement It seems that everyone is losing their footing This scares us. This bailout with billions. These rumblings of depression. These headlines: ominous, thunderous- "Going Broke!" "Going Down!" "Going Under!" "What Next?" What is next? We're listening. And we're admitting: You were right. You told us this would happen. You shot straight about loving stuff and worshiping money. Greed will break your heart, you warned. Money will love you and leave you. Don't put your hope in riches that are so uncertain. You were right. Money is a fickle lover and we just got dumped. We were wrong to spend what we didn't have, Wrong to neglect prayer and ignore the poor, Wrong to think we ever earned a dime. We didn't. You gave it. And now, tell us Father, are you taking it? We're listening. And we're praying. Could you make something good out of this mess? Of course you can. You always have. You led slaves out of slavery, Built temples out of ruins, Turned stormy waves into a glassy pond and water into sweet wine. This disorder awaits your order. So do we. Through Christ, Amen · • • • · God will always give what is right to his people who cry to him night and day, and he will not be slow to answer them. (Lk. 18:7 NCV)

A friend forwarded this to me the other day . .. I just read it and was struck by it's content for a variety of reasons. This economic state does make me feel a little funny in the pit of my stomach. I wonder all the time what my little family's future is with Donny's new business, my job, our friends and families' jobs. Life is precarious. But this prayer was convicting. I've loved money too much. I've thought it was mine, that I deserved it, that I had a right to a comfortable life. I don't. It's all His. And I'm glad - He is a much better money manager than I. I can trust Him to provide whatever He thinks I need - not what I want. Now I just have to recall this truth daily! Praise Him for His faithfulness. Praise Him for His goodness!

Baseball season . . .

The big boys have been playing fall baseball and t-ball and LOVING it!! It has been neat to get to know some people around this area of town, especially on Tyler's team. He has several kids on his team that he goes to school with, and has even made a good friend on his team that lives just a few houses down. This is something that we have been praying for him since before we even moved over here - God has been so sweet to give my boys all good buddies, but we especially have been praying for good peer connections for Tyler at his new school.

Back on the baseball topic, though: I took some pictures this last Saturday and wanted to share. Colby is a natural athlete - he would be happiest talking about and playing every sport under the sun all day every day. He gets SO pumped about every practice and every game, and was so glad I got some cool pictures of him "smacking the ball" as he put it. Tyler takes a little bit after his mama and is more gifted in the area of reading and fine arts. I played softball one season after watching my VERY talented younger sister play for a couple of years . . . and quickly decided to stick to my areas of giftedness - reading books, drawing, and playing the piano! Tyler would spend all day every day drawing pictures, but really does LOVE playing ball as well. He's not the most talented one on his team, but he has made huge progress this season, and we are super proud of him! He got two hits at 2 at bats on Saturday, which was huge for our little man!! He's only had one other hit all season, so he was very excited. Tyler has an amazing coach who knows exactly how to teach the fundamentals of baseball, is very encouraging and challenging at the same time, and pushes the boys to be respectful and respected. I have loved having him and the other coaches work with Tyler, plus getting to know the family's has been very neat, too. Just all good!! Yea, Yankees and Bees!!


I love this one . . .it's right before he hit it - I started screaming shortly after this was snapped! He made it safe at first, by the way. And look below at Colby's hit - the ball is already gone, but notice the expression on his face - he wanted to see this picture over and over and couldn't stop laughing at his own face! Who knew he puffed out his cheeks when he hit the ball?!?

The slide into home . . .even though there was no danger that he would be tagged out - it's just cool to slide, especially in our nice white baseball pants!! ha!

I'm sorry, but this is the cutest little t-ball player in the world. LOVE HIM.

Thankful hearts . . .

I had a delightful surprise at Care Group last Sunday night. Donny and I help lead a group with Lance and Kim Yowell . . .which translates into Donny and Kim plan and organize it, Lance cooks amazing meals for each time we meet, and I just, well, show up and support their efforts!

For months now we had been planning on having a Praise night that Ryan C. was going to lead for the kids. When we got there, the tables were turned and the wives were honored by their husbands one by one with their children gathered around them sharing what they loved about their wife and mother. Donny and Lance had been talking about and planning this special Care Group time for months, and had talked to all the husbands ahead of time to make sure everyone was on board. There's something so very special about hearing your spouse affirm you in front of your friends. But what I think is the neatest, though, is that each of those sweet kids witnessed husbands going out of their comfort zones of communication to bless their wives. They learned about showing honor to people. And they got to participate. So thanks to all the sweet men who blessed their wives last Sunday - you all brought honor to us in a very special way!


Blessings -

Family Night at the Farm . .

Our family joined a bunch of other families from church at a Pumpkin Patch Farm area for a fall night. We all had a great time riding on a hayride, feeding cows with amazingly long tongues, and going through a tricky corn maze. Here are some highlights from our adventure:

Is my niece not the cutest thing ever?!?!

Colby and Brady both love her so much . .

Exploring the corn maze was interesting . . .it really was pretty disorienting, but we all had fun. the big boys led the way the whole time and eventually found the way out for us!!

"Daddy - it's THIS way!", "No, Brady, it's THAT way!!"

Check out that nasty long black tongue!!!!

I love this little series . . .Brady says, "Colby, listen . . .do you hear it??? DANCE music! Bust a funky move with me, brotha!" To which Colby smiles, sighs and lets Brady have his moment to move.

Sticking out your tongue while dancing is known to make you look cooler (or cuter, whatever!)

Oh, the cuteness in my life is astounding sometimes!!! Blessings -

Alone time . .

I am so tired right now . . .long weekend - fun weekend - but long, busy, every moment occupied kind of weekend. But I just had to document my alone times that I loved this weekend. Not by myself - I actually had some "alone time" with each of my children this weekend, and it was so special.

Friday morning, Colby and I went together to the school to help run a 2nd grade election! Each class had nominated some character from a book or movie, made a poster with their picture and listed their "character traits", then everyone in the 2nd grade voted on who they wanted to be the president of 2nd grade. I'm sad to say that "Super Diaper Baby" was the winner (at least it wasn't Sponge Bob Squarepants, who I've always been creeped out by). I was pulling for Rainbow Fish or Ms. Frizzle (Magic Schoolbus). What was so fun was watching Colby get so into his role of handing pencils to the voters, making sure everyone signed in, helping tally the votes, and coming with me to get different classes. He was pumped. Then we finished in time to go grab some Sonic lunch together and eat in the car and chat about our morning. I loved it. I love being with that little guy - he's a JOY.

After the drop off at school, I went to pick up Brady who had been hanging out with his grandparents and Daddy at the "other Vaughn's" house. I took him up to my office to have the PT and orthotist check out his feet. This is one of the perks of working at an outpatient therapy office who happens to have a great orthodics clinic a few times a month. Brady was fitted for orthodics a few months ago due to weak ankles and just a crazy walking pattern - that's my non-technical description. Apparently he has the body of his father and the ankles of his mother. If you have seen both of us, you can imagine why that could present a difficulty for Brady in his coordination and strength! He's been wearing them in his shoes faithfully, and the great news is that he looks AWESOME!! The therapists were so pleased and just gushed over his new arches (they spouted off the names of them, but I can't remember them for the life of me), and were just so proud of his new, muscle toned ankles. ha! That was great news, but what I really loved was waiting to see the therapists and getting to watch our 2 turtles in the office play in the tank - Brady loved them, and I loved chatting with him about them, and hearing his reactions to them. And I just love showing my kids off to my co-workers - it makes me feel so good when other people notice just how precious my guys are! I love being with Brady - he always has some funny things to say that make me laugh out loud - he's my favorite 2 year old in the world!!

Then today, I took Tyler to a birthday party, and our drive there, our shopping trip to get the bday present, and our ride to meet the rest of the family was filled with neat conversation. He's growing up. He reminds me of that fact all the time, but something about the depth of our conversations lately, his perceptiveness, his compassion and his maturity (at least it's increasing?) are amazing me. He was resting his head on my shoulder today at lunch, and started to kind of rub his head on me - I said, "What are you doing?!" He replied, "I just love you, Mom - I just nestling!" Where did he learn that word? And something tells me I better soak up any "nestling" I get because I hear it gets to be not so cool for boys to even hug their moms - much less "nestle" with them? Oh, i hope not.

Anyway, I have a lot more I could say, but I just wanted to treasure up those sweet snaps in time that I had this weekend. Blessings -