Singing in the Rain

Our precious daughter Bethany married the man of her dreams, Tyler Bigham, on July 3, 2010. She had the outdoor wedding she always dreamed of on the "wedding hill" behind our house. Her dad, brothers and Tyler worked especially hard to make the wedding hill beautiful, but God gets the glory for all the wonderful creations He has made for us to enjoy.

Despite about 6 inches of rain that weekend, the wedding went on as planned, and just as Brian starting walking Bethany down the isle, the rain stopped and didn't start again until after the ceremony. God is so GOOD! :)

The wedding was the most precious I've ever been to, the weather was perfect and the smiles were contagious! We are still on cloud 9 and wanted to share with you! Blessings!!

Life goes on...

Well I'll have to say that the past year has been a doozy! In February 2009 I lost Mema, Jetuan George...she and I were really close and I have missed her terribly! Then 66 days later, I lost Bapa, Billy Joe George. What a character! If you knew him I'm sure he made you smile or laugh at some point. Last week I lost Mimi, Myrtle Jennings. What a precious lady she was. 99 1/2 years old and evangelized until the very end. I am sad to no longer have living grandparents, but smile to know what a brighter place Heaven is now with them all there. It just reminds me that life goes on and to keep on living while I have the chance. If I get to live long enough to see my grandkids in their 40's I will be old...yet grateful! :)

I really can't put into words how blessed my life is because of these 3 wonderful people. I am who I am because of them all and have always been thankful for them. What a blessing to grow up in the same town as all of your grandparents! I have friends that tell me that they never really knew their grandparents and I can't even imagine that! I also knew my great-grandmothers and one great-grandfather well...That reminds me of how thankful I am that my children got to know their great-grandparents so well. We are blessed beyond words and I thank God daily for the wonderful family He allowed me to be a part of!

And to top that off...I'm His child too!! I can't think of anything any better than that!

Have a blessed day!

Shana

The Engagement

I remember when I was 16 and really started praying for my future. I prayed about my future husband and children. I started praying then for my children's future spouses, that they would grow up and become Christians and date and marry Christians....it doesn't seem that long ago, yet here I am 25 years later announcing my daughter's engagement.
I always knew I was going to have a blonde-haired daughter named Bethany. In fact, when I was pregnant with her, I knew she was going to be a girl so strongly that I almost went ahead and filled out the birth announcements. I can remember that day like it was yesterday. She was instantly bright-eyed. Her pretty blue eyes were so big and she blinked slowly and looked around as if to make sure she wasn't missing out on something.

I'm not sure how time goes by so quickly, that was over 20 years ago and I still can't help but think of her as my little girl. She has always been so independant and she always has known what she wanted and went for it. She rarely ever lets anyone tell her what to do, (except for her parents of course) and doesn't have a problem standing up for what she believes in, even if she's the only one standing.

So now she's engaged and I'm so very humbled at the way God has answered our prayers in this area. My number one prayer for her husband has always been someone that was a Godly man who loves the Lord more than he loves Bethany and that he will lead her spiritually. I am so proud to say that this is just what she got in Tyler...plus so much more! I could cry at the thought of seeing her get married and move away possibly, and I'm sure I will, but what makes me cry today is the realization of just how much God loves us and hears us and cares about our lives. I'm so humbled to know that He has heard my prayers for so long and has answered them in a way that is just like His word says, "more than we could ask or imagine".

It's so nice to meet someone that you've prayed for for so long. I not only prayed for Tyler, but his parents as well....I asked God to bring Bethany a husband that was raised in a Christian home with a strong Christian dad and mom...WOW! It's not that I am just now realizing that God hears my prayers and its not the first time I've seen Him at work in my life, but its just a humbling, sweet time and I'm thankful!

Congratulations, Tyler and Bethany! We love you!! And this only makes me a little giddy inside knowing that God already has a plan for my boys and their future wives. I can't wait to see what else He will do! To Him be the glory today and evermore!!

thoughts

I have just been sad all morning. As I sat down to put on my makeup I was fighting back tears and trying to figure out what was going on and then it hit me...tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of when Mema passed away. I miss her so much. She was and is such a huge part of me. She's the first person that I've lost that I was really close to and I've been amazed throughout the past year at how many times I've wanted to call her or stop by and see her on my way through Plainview. I've had so many things happen that I've wanted to share with her and so many times, she was the first person I'd call. I loved sharing things about my baking business with her. She always encouraged me to keep on doing more and she always made me feel so special. I know she was proud of me and I was proud of her too. She was more than just my grandmother, she was one of my best friends. I'm so happy for her that she's not suffering anymore, but I still miss her so bad it hurts. I look forward to seeing her again one day. I always thought I'd be ready for this...I'm realistic and knew the day would come....I just didn't know how hard it would be. The emotions that I feel still are at times overwhelming, but I look at her picture that is on my bathroom mirror and feel as though she's still here. I think of her all the time and hope that I can someday be as good of a grandmother to my grandchildren as she was to me and all of us. I learned a lot from her and putting it all into words is hard, but anyone who knew her, knows what I am talking about. One thing for sure, she taught me how to grow older gracefully. Her body was in horrible shape, and she had plenty she could've been bitter and grouchy about, but every time one of us would walk into her room, she would light up and perk up and just be full of joy. She knew how to laugh at herself and she often did so...and to hear her laugh was a treasure all in itself! :) I'm proud to have known her and so thankful to have been able to have her in my life for over 40 years! God is so good!

hmmm...

Sometimes I just wish we could see the future, don't you? It seems as though it would make today easier, doesn't it? I've been full of many questions and prayers lately for things in the coming days, weeks, months...if only I could just know now what was going to happen, it would make it so much easier now. So for today, I will cling to the one thing I know for sure about the future...mine is secure in the hands of God for eternity...that's enough for me to know! :)

Things forgotten

I woke up this morning thinking about all the difficult things that we go through on this earth. Sometimes things seem harder than anything we think we can get through, yet our wonderful Heavenly Father has a plan. I know that I've been through things before that at the time, I didn't handle well, I thought it was just far more than I would ever be able to get through and yet I continued to stay faithful to Him and then something strange happens...you wake up one morning and realize you made it through and suddenly, it doesn't seem as big as it once was. Somethings I can't even remember the details of now that were all consuming to my life at one point. God can take things from us when we give them to Him and he really can erase it. It's kind of like a bad dream in the middle of the night that wakes you up....at the time it seems horrible and you can't go back to sleep for a long time, but then in the morning all of a sudden you can't even remember the details and it seems a little silly and not so big.
I'm thankful for every trial I've endured so far because they've make me who I am and they've pushed me to fall deeper and deeper in love with my Lord and Savior! :)
I'm working on getting to a place in my life that the first thing I do in any circumstance, good or bad, is talk to God before I talk to anyone else. Sometimes that is the only talking I need to do. I'm learning more and more that He is enough and He already has everything worked out for my good....after all Romans 8:28 says: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."
So won't you join me today in loving Him more deeply and trusting our lives to Him no matter what our circumstances?
It enables me to smile and feel peace and joy today and everyday! I hope that you feel it too!
Blessings!!

Inspired

Well today I watched the movie Julie and Julia with my mom and I'm even more inspired to write a cookbook. I wonder how long it will really take, will I be able to do it? If I do, would anyone really care or want one? It's not so much about that as it is about the fact that I come from a long line of good cooks and I want to put so many of the recipes from my grandmothers and my mom in it, as well as my own original ones...but more than that, I want whoever reads the book to put it down knowing more about my grandmothers, and my whole family as well as feeling loved by God because I want this to be way more than a traditional cookbook....
I know that it will take alot of time and patience....we'll see what happens, but for today, I'm inspired!

Texas Football

I've always thought that Texas is the best state and have been thankful to be from here. I've moved all around the state and have found that for the most part, the people are friendly and helpful. There are lots of God-fearing people in Texas and that's a good thing. But another thing that I've noticed is that football is very important here. In highschool I was in the band and went to all the football games because I had to be there to march. I probably would've gone to all the home games even if I wasn't in the band, just because that's where everyone was on Friday nights in the fall. Then I married a basketball coach, but in Texas if you're a coach at a small school, you're a football coach too. So I spent the next 20 years or so going to football games on Friday nights, only if the weather was good or if it was at home, but found lots of good excuses to stay home many of those Friday nights. But I definitely went only to visit with my friends, not to watch the game, because besides a touchdown or interception, I knew nothing about football. I discovered that some Texas football coaches take this game so far as to deflate all basketballs during football season and run basketball players out of the gym. So I realized that football is important in Texas. It wasn't until 3 1/2 years ago that I got a different taste for this game. Its when my friend Amy moved to town and started asking me to pray for her nephew, Colt McCoy. Now praying...that's something I understand and can do. So I decided to watch Colt play one day soon after, because afterall, if I'm praying for someone, I'd like to see them and see how they're doing. Well, something happened to me, because I began wanting to watch all his games and even on occasion stood up and yelled at the TV....not sure what got into me, but I always looked forward to hearing Colt speak in his postgame interviews. It just made me proud to call him brother when I would hear him speak so humbly of our Lord and how he glorified Him everytime so sincerely.
I'm sure most everyone has heard of Colt McCoy by now and most of you have heard about or seen his emotional final postgame interview of his college career. I'm honored to have been praying for him these past few years and again am so proud of the Christian young man he is and the example that he continues to set for my sons and so many others. I pray that we all can be as bold as Colt in our faith and never be ashamed to speak out and give God glory for the things He does for us so generously. Colt hasn't proved to be one of those athletes that only gives God glory when things are going his way, but also when things don't go the way that he would've wanted. I learned a little more about football over the past few years, but I learned even more about living outloud for the Lord through the example of one young man, Colt McCoy.

Thankful for answered prayers!

This was April 2007

"Micah, you have enough hair for 3 people!" my mom said yesterday to my youngest son Micah. He's almost 14 and one of the funniest people I know. He makes me laugh outloud every day and I'm so thankful for that! You may not think having "enough hair for 3 people" is that big of a deal, but if you know anything about Micah you do. Just a little over a year ago, he was completely bald. He had something called alopecia. The doctors said things like, "this is a really severe case", "we don't usually see much progress in kids his age with alopecia", "we can try steroid injections to the scalp" Wasn't looking real good, but I knew Who had the answers. I was thankful all along that it wasn't a life threatening disease, but it was sad to see a 6th grader go through such a thing. But Micah handled it so well, that it helped me to handle it well. Finally in April 08, he went ahead and shaved off what was left of his hair. A couple of friends came out and shaved theirs too! That was amazing! He decided he was finally ready for the steriod shots, which scared me, but I made the appointment and we PRAYED WITHOUT CEASING!! Some of you prayed with us and I thank you! As the time approached for his apointment, he was getting some hair back. The doctors took a look and said, "Wow! What have you been doing? We never see this kind of results in kids with alopecia." I said, "We've prayed." I made sure I said it at least 2 more times. They said, "He doesn't need shots!" Thank you, God! I know that we don't get everything we pray for, and I'm okay with that...hey even Jesus didn't get everything He asked for when He asked for God to "take this cup from me" So why should I think that I should get all my prayers answered the way I want them...but I am very thankful when God answers them with a big fat YES! Especially when it comes to my kids! I don't want to take for granted that Micah has enough hair for 3 people now...God is good and I give Him all the glory for the healing He brought about in Micah's life!! So today, be thankful for your blessings, too!

Wedding Cake!

Here is my latest cake...my talented mom made the stand for it! It all turned out beautiful!