A Great Purchase for Boys ( and their Dad!)

Hey guys! I just found out about this book and I wanted to pass on the good news. As many of you know we have a 5 year old boy that is all boy so I am always looking for things to keep him from breaking windows just to see what happens to the glass.
Just yesterday he found an old disposable camera and he used a screwdriver and a hammer to completely demolish it. There are pieces of it here and there in the yard and in the house. But he was very excited to see the wires and the batteries and the "lecticity" that the film that unrolls!! ( I guess the film will never be developed :))
So all of that to say i think that this book is a GREAT find. And I am not the only one! Dr Mohler reviewed the book a few weeks ago and so did Dr. VanNeste http://childrenshourbooks.blogspot.com/ from Union Universtiy on his children's book blog.
Buy it for your boys, young and old. I did and I think it will be a great addition to our collection!

Mother's Day

As we approach the day that Mother's are celebrated I was sobered by the thoughts of many of my peers and friends as they wrote about life and suffering as a mother.
You can see those stories here http://www.girltalk.blogs.com and herehttp://www.lisaelaine.wordpress.com. One other recommendation that I have is the sermon from John Piper entitled To Be a Mother is a Call to Suffer.
And another sobering thought is that my family and I are in the midst of packing to attend a funeral. One of Ryan's best friends from childhood is Luke. His sister, Kelly, died yesterday of unknown causes. She was at home with their youngest child, a daughter, and planning to leave for a baseball game. She never made it to the came and her husband, Lee called their home to find out what was going on. Their young daughter answered and she told him that her mother was on the floor and she could not get her to wake up.
So we do see that God numbers our days. That he knows when our children and mothers and fathers will be born and when they will die. We are to live everyday in the light of eternity praying for His return.
Life is not easy and especially not easy when you lose someone tragically. But we know that God is in control of all things and He is working them out for our good and His glory.

Sally's Party

I know that I posted a pic of Sally on her birthday but I never put up a picture of her cake or party and I said that I would. So for those of you who asked... here it is.

Encouragement

What do we do to encourage one another?? How do we take part in the building up of the saints? Where can we find help and hopeful words? I think the answer is simple. We can find these things in the Word and in the words of our friends and family who are in the Word.

Who has been an encouragement to you this week or in the last few weeks? I can think of many of you who have faithfully prayed for me because you know that morning (all day) sickness is especially hard for me. You have called or emailed with thoughtful words and help for my soul. I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.

I can also think of the books that I read. These books written by faithful men and women who have gone before me in life and in faith have strengthened me.

I am thankful for the Word of God. I have been so sick lately that I would often eat and go straight from the dinner table to the couch. Ryan was faithful during this hard time to read the Word out loud to our family and I was able to listen from the couch too sick to hold my head up and read for myself.

I am also thankful for the hopeful words from Ryan. This weekend he shared with me that he was so encouraged to take part in the Sabbath. He told me of how his life almost seems despairing on Saturday and then Sunday comes and the Word is preached and his soul feels revived and refreshed. I was so thankful for this reminder of God's grace to us thru His preached Word. It was an encouragement to me to hear that the Word is fresh to him and it is changing his life as he sits under it.

Today I was also encouraged to hear of a good family friends recovery in the hospital. We thought that he was facing eternity just days ago and now he seems to be recovering well. But we know that his eternity would be spent in Hell so I am encouraged that the Lord spared his life so that we might share the Gospel with him.

A few days ago I was so discouraged about my situation of all day sickness. Now it seems to have passed and I have tried to think all day of encouraging things in the Lord that will allow my delight to be in Him and not my temporary circumstances. I am thankful for the things mentioned above. I am thankful for these things...

PS If you would like a good laugh you should read my husbands blog : www.redeemedson.blogspot.com

SALLY IS ONE!!!

Our daughter, Sally is one TODAY! I can't believe that is has been only a year. Sometimes is seems that it has been much longer and other times I think that she has grown too quickly! She still seems like such a baby to me. Tomorrow she will eat her first cake (actually a cupcake). We are having a ladybug themed party.
She has been such a blessing to us in such hard times. We had such a difficult year last year and the Lord allowed us to have Sally and enjoy her as a blessing and not a hardship.
Praise to the Lord for Sally Elisabeth!

Read the following quote from Carolyn Mahaney,
As mothers, we have a choice. We can either resent the challenges and demands that accompany motherhood and persist in our selfishness, or we can draw from God's grace and receive His help to cheerfully lay down our lives for our children. Let us choose the latter.

Also, for you ladies with girls or hope for a girl, isn't her dress too cute. It has a birthday cake and balloons smocked in the neck. Her bloomers have a cake with one candle, too!

Check out this blog

I think you should all read my husband's blog :

www.redeemedson.blogspot.com

If I were smart enough I would post it as a link on the side of my page but after many attempts to do so I have failed!! :) So add his to your favorites.

My husband is the one on the left holding the cup, not to be mistaken with the crazy man on the right!

Children are a blessing from the Lord

We are excited to share the news with you... We are expecting our 3rd child sometime in September!!
I am just a few weeks along but we have never been good at keeping the news of pregnancy to ourselves! Ryan is really excited and so is David. They daily chant, "We want a BOY!" while marching around the house. Ryan is scared that David will leave for college and family and he will be stuck in a house full of girls! :)
And of course, Sally has no idea what is going on! She will be one on January 26 so she is a bit young to understand the chants and excitement.
WARNING: When morning sickness sets in there will be fewer and fewer blogs!

(Ryan made the sign!)

Have you seen her? Tell me have you seen her?

Here are some pics of our little girl, Sally Beth, posted on my brother's blog. Take a look. My dad, mom and brother came to Brunswick for Christmas with us. It was nice to eat lots of seafood and spend time on the beach. The weather was a bit rainy but we managed! Hope that you all enjoy!

http://erichenley.wordpress.com

Happy New Year!

The new year is always a fun time for the West family. There is never a dull moment and that is not due to the fact that a new year is ringing in but due to our son's birthday. You see he was born on December 31, 2001 at 11:07 p.m. Yes! That is right! He was our big tax break for the year and he squeaked that in by 53 minutes!! I was in the OR while he was being delievered by c-section and the shift changed at 11p.m and all of the nurses walked right out and the new shift walked in and he was born a few minutes later.

We had a great time this year. I had more goals in celebrating his birthday this time around. I wanted to make more memories, to make this a special time of worship (of God, not of David!), and to enjoy our son and all that God had given us thru him during the last five years.

David wanted to have a Pirate themed birthday party. We used much of the Pirates of the Caribeean themed plates and cups although he has never seen the movie. I also made a Pirate cake for him. He LOVED it!! We got a great pic of his face when he saw it for the first time. We played pin the X on the treasure chest, we made hook hands and we hunted for buried treasure with clues leading to a treasure chest hidden in David's closet. We had clues for outside but it rained! I painted a styrofoam cooler gold and filled it with Rolos, Kisses, Gold Coins, and fake jewelry. We also ate gummy worms and gold fish and black licorice and drank black cherry Koolaid.
I made part of David's costume ( part was from grandparents) for the party and all of the kids came dressed as pirates or princesses. It was great! I really went the extra mile to have a great and memorable party. I did not throw an expensive party but I tried to put a ton of thought into every aspect.

We also have spent so much time teaching David about the gospel and what it means to be a Christian. We do that normally but I feel a real need to share with him more and more. To think that he is 5 blows me away. It is easy to think of him as a baby but I also know that he is growing everyday and I want him to grow in grace and knowledge and learn to worship in spirit and truth.

We praise God for the gifts of our children. Even though I complain about being a mom sometimes and how hard it is, and it is hard, I am so thankful for my kidos!

What are you reading?

Tell me ladies ( and I heard today from a great resource, thanks Jolie!) that some men are reading this too, what are you reading these day? Thanks to Ryan, Ben and Brad for reading or having this blog read to you. And please note Ryan and Brad this is not a forum for you to slam one another ! :)

So what are you reading? I am about to order More Love to Thee by Sharon James. It is a new book about the life of Elizabeth Prentiss, Sally's namesake. She, Prentiss, was an amazing woman of faith and I can't wait to read this. Also, I will be participating in the Girl Talk blog, http://girltalk.blog.com, about this book.

I am also reading A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Elliot about the life of Amy Carmichael. I tried to read Suzanne's copy in college but I was so immature I put it aside as boring! Now that I have seen just a minute part of what her life was like I am now hanging on every word.

Tell me girls... what books and blogs and journals are you reading?

Please respond on this site so that everyone can see. I have this set so that you can all respond and read what the others think.

On the move again

Yes, you heard it right!!! The West family is on the move again and on the road too! We are packing up to move to Brunswick, Georgia in two weeks.
We have fielded so many questions like, " Are you ready to move?" "Have you started to pack?" The answer to those respectively is yes and no. We are ready to move and being this exciting time in our lives and the other answer is NO!!! Actually I am hosting a baby shower in my home tomorrow so no packing will begin until this is over.
We have moved 8 times in the lat 6 years so I feel like we are gifted in the boxing, packing, and moving areas. For those of you that are skeptical of the actual number I listed above I am going to now list them in chronological order.
1. To Louisville for Seminary
2. To our second apartment in Louisville due to a crazy neighbor that we were too immature to confront.
3. To our third apartment in Louisville for $100 less rent and to live next door to Taylor and Anna.
4. To Bolivar, Selmer, Murfreesboro and Warwick all in a single trip to prepare for the mission field.
5. To Calcutta, India for the Work
6. To Bolivar after our work was cut short by my illness and brain malfunctions which still occur so regularly but that is another blog.
7. To Somerset to a tiny cabin until our house was built.
8. To our new house in Somerset.

and exciting number 9 is to Brunswick to a little beach cottage for Ryan to begin work at Redeemer Presbyterian as Minister of Mercy and Evangelism.

Hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. We had a great time in Nashville with family.
My team won the annual family game and Ryan dominated Ping Pong. And we started a new tradition of making fun cookies to take to the family dinner. They were loved!

And then there were 2

One of our friends was at our home tonight and I braved the question that I had been longing to ask since we had known him and his family. He and his wife have two sweet children and they live across the street from us. Their kids are great! They love to play on the community play set in the lot across from us. And I must admitt that our son David has probably taught them more than they would like for them to know about swords and knights and launching secret attacks.
Back to the story... Tonight I asked Ron to tell me about the story of how they adopted Katie and Ben. I know that I can never retell this story like he told it tonight but I do know that we have to tell stories like this and remember them as a testimony to the Lord.
He began to tell us of the first child they were to adopt. They planned to adopt a child conceived out of wedlock and the mother decided to keep the child the day of the birth. You can imagine that they were heart broken. Next they applied with a local agency and were chosen 3 more times based on a letter they wrote to the birth mother and yet every mother chose to keep their child... months of heartache followed.
During this time people would approach them from the community and ask them for their number because so and so had a friend that knew so and so that had a friend, you know the story. Well, none of the cases ever led to a child UNTIL a lady approached Ron with the same old story but she called back 3 months later and asked if was still serious. Then she called back six months later and informed him that the baby was due any day!!!! Can you imagine his excitement??? and his terror???
He went to his lawyer and social services and completed the paper work and asked them NOT to share this with his wife. They were very confused but knew of their past and agreed not to share with her. He said he would ask her to sign papers and she would and she never asked questions.

Tracy was employed at a local department store and Ron knew that Katie,their new baby girl, was soon to come to their home if the birth mother did not change here mind. And it looked like she was not going to change her mind. So he went to her boss and told her to schedule her to be off on Friday, the day they were to officially have Katie as their daughter. He made her boss promise not to tell Tracy and she promised!

All this time Ron knew where Katie was staying with a foster family until she was to be united with them he told us through tears at our table. He said he would drive by there daily.
Well, on Thursday before the Friday that Katie would join the family Ron received a call from Tracy and she was frantic. He rushed to her work to find her, in his words, white and in shock.

She had just received a call from the adoption agency that they had been chosen to take a newborn baby boy. And she had accepted!!!

So now it was Ron's turn to be in SHOCK!!!

He then told her the story of Katie and how he had kept it a secret from her to protect her heart from disappointment. What joy and excitement for this family. What had once been one joy had just become two by the grace of God. Isn't that wonderful??? Isn't God Amazing??

Thank you Lord for rescuing Katie and Ben. Thank Lord for placing them with parents who love and trust and serve you. Thank you Lord allowing them to be adopted. We thank you Lord for Ron, Tracy, Katie, and Ben.

As the waters cover the sea

Cassie has water!!!

Ladies, please read her comment below (the name is anonymous at the top but she signs the bottom of the comment section with her name) from the oh, so short blog on her life. I enjoy reading what all of you are thinking and I am glad to know that we are all staying in touch a little better with this fun blog. I am so glad that God is teching us all and that we are learning more of Him through others. Cassie, we rejoice with you that your water has been restored to your home but more than that we rejoice that you have living water and you are sharing the well...

She said, "Jesus is all I need."

When I update this blog I send out an email to let my friends know so that they can read what I have written and tell me what they think. Well, today I got an interesting reply from my friend, Cassie, who is serving the Lord alongside her husband on the mission field in Peru. She made an interesting comment. She said something to the effect that it was good for her to hear the real, daily stories about being a mom and a wife here in the states. She said that is good to read these things and not to just hear I went to the store and fed the kids but to know the hard times and the funny little stories.

Well, the funny thing is that my husband just returned from a mission trip to serve with Brad and Cassie and he has been telling me the stories of their daily life. I often wonder what it is like there for them and what they are experiencing every day. My husband got just a taste of their lives when he was there for a brief weeklong experience.
I know that she would never gripe about these things but Girls listen up here are some things that she does in her daily life... Think about it and let me know if you are man enough, or should I say woman enough to handle it?? :)

1. They lived there for several months without a kitchen sink.
2. They have no running water in their house due to repairs that began in MARCH! and note this is OCTOBER!!
3. She walks to get water from a hose a few blocks from their home and fills several 5 gallon jugs for their daily water.

I am sure that there are other hardships and I am not writing this to complain about her life but to allow us a glimpse of what she is doing to lay down her life daily. Is this life easy for them? NO. Are they always glad that they are there working? I am sure that the answer varies. I am sure it would be much easier to be there with more ammenities. Does she wish for an easier life? Maybe, I don't know but I do know this she is serving the Lord in a way that most of us will never experience. She is serving the Lord in many ways just through her daily living. Her sacrifice of praise is walking and filling up water jugs so that her family has water.

We have the Cademon's Call CD with the song on it Jesus is All I Need. One day we were driving down the road singing away and my son, David, said, " Mama is that true? Is Jesus really all that we need?"

And when I think of Cassie, I think yes, David, Jesus is all that we need.

No Mom Jeans!

Okay ladies, I did something I never thought that I would do again... I went to the Buckle to buy jeans. It was very interesting experience. First, I feel that I must share with you my last experience there and then I will share with you the one that I had yesterday.

In 2004 I went to the Buckle to purchase a pair of jeans. I went in with much confidence knowing exactly the size and brand for which I was searching. I asked the store clerk, who I am sure was no more than 18 for my size and brand and she had such a look of confusion on her face. She had never heard of my brand. She was very polite and insisted that she could help me find a replacement.

I then remembered that I purchased my last pair of jeans from there in 1998!!! No wonder she had no idea what I was talking about she was in elementary school then! I purchased the last pair in Memphis with Ashley and Jon on an adventure when we skipped class before our trip to Costa Rica. I loved those jeans and wore them until they had holes everywhere and were very inappropriate for a seminary student's wife! :)

So I tried the sizes and styles that she recommended while I was laughing hysterically. I could not believe that some of the zippers were literally 2 inches long... that was a problem for me. Way too ultra low! I came out of the dressing room and told her I wold not be purchasing these jeans and that she was forcing me to shop for mom jeans at places like Eddie Bauer! She kind of turned her head to the side and just looked at me.

Yesterday I ventured into the Buckle again becasue my brother assured me that I could find jeans there and that I would like them. I took his advice and boldly went where most moms don't go... at least to purchase jeans for themselves.

The clerk this time was older, probably the manager, and he helped me with several pairs.

And HALLELUJAH!!!! I actually found a pair on the third try that covered all that needed to be covered, met the approval of my husband, and cost less than $100!!! It was a grand day!!!

I know that this entry to my blog means nothing in the light of eternity but we had a crazy weekend at our house. And my friends Ben and Jolie said to me a few weeks ago why aren't you blogging?? And they answered the question for me. You blog about what is on your mind and what you are learning but I don't have that freedom right now. One day I will and that day is coming soon but right now it is all too fresh.

So until then I have some cool jeans!

One Life to LIVE

My blogs have been few this past month as we have endured much in our family and church life. While enduring much we have seen the Lord work in ways that we were not aware that we would ever see. We have seen Him point out our own sin and the sin of others, thus living in the world and working in the church! It has been such a painful process to go through but we will persevere by God's grace.
I am not sure that I will ever be able to put into words what God is teaching me through this time but one thing that I have learned is this...

I have ONE LIFE

I have one life and I am almost 30 years old. I have one life to teach my children about the goodness and greatness of the one true and living God. I have one life to serve the church with my whole heart and learn to worship on this earth because this is just a glimpse of the the new earth. I have one life to give all that I have to loving my husband and serve him. I have ONE LIFE. I have one life to give for the service of the kingdom of Christ in His army.

I am yours Lord. Here is my One Life. Teach me to make it count for your glory.

Where O, where have your little posts been?

Sorry ladies!!! I am not so blog smart! You have been commmenting your little hearts out and I have not been posting them to the blog because my settings were not what I thought they were! Oops! I apologize! Please continue to read and post away and I will try to continue to write thoughtful blogs! :) I appreciate all that you have said! Keep posting!

After Eve

Ladies,

I think that we should all attend this event. Check out the web-site at

www.aftereve.org

Home Alone!

My husband is out tonight enjoying one of his many manly adventures and I am at home with the children after a long and I repeat long day!

It has been an adventure to remain calm at all times and not allow my temper to shoot through the roof. Here are some of the examples of why I had to remind myself and renew my mind that God is in control of all things and He knew that I would be with my children today and I would feel like I was losing my mind...Yet I can call on Him to renew my strength!!! :)

1. We went to the church office to pick up a list from my husband and while waiting for an extended period of time in line in the bank drive-thru with a screaming and whining baby he left for the hospital to make his weekly visits! So he was not there when we got to the church! yikes!
2. My son ran around as if I have never disciplined him ever in his whole entire life! I just looked at him in shock as he screeched around the office area... As did the secretaries and other staff wives that were there for visits. Sometimes I think to myself, "Is that my child??" :0 Who is his mother? And why doesn't she do something about him? Then I realize I am her!!!
3. When we came home I wanted a fun snack and so did my son so I made Butterfinger milkshakes! He was so excited and I must admit that I was too until he dropped his whole shake on the kitchen floor and just stood there screaming as he looked at his huge accident! I think that much of it was caused by the blue scooped gloves he was wearing! The shake just slipped right out of his hand!
4. My 7 month old daughter is teething so she whines and fusses all day long. I had forgotten how hard teething was, for me not for her!
5. And as I am writing this my son just said, "Mom, you have blonde hair but it's black in the middle!"

And then my lovely husband comes home for a few minutes before he is off to his fun times and I have to make a choice. Do I whine and manipulate him to stay at home with me? Or do I allow him to leave with a happy heart knowing that he needs time to refresh and relax? Should I wallow in self pity or should I glory in my job as a wife and a mom and grow up and take care of them without always expecting a long and relaxing break?
I must admit that I battle with the options above and I pray that by God's grace alone that I can make it while Home ALONE! :)

Make it on my own, my own way...

Here is a quote from Christina Aguilera that a friend of mine passed to me and asked me what I think of her comments and how I would respond to them.

"I think there was something that was instilled in me in a really,really young age, probably far before I was even ten years old, just witnessing a lot of the abuse that had happened in my household when Iwas a child. I think that whole experience, instead of making me wantto repeat that cycle or cower down to a man and whatnot, it made mereally feel this sense of power to never ever want to feel helpless toa man, to never ever want to need to ask anyone for anything. I wasgoing to make do on my own in my own way, and I think really thatwhole experience really pushed me and drove me to be where I'm attoday, I really really do. I think a lot of the experiences and a lotof the hard times that I've gone through in growing up have helped to instill in me a drive to thrive off of the bad instead of stopping me and cowering down to anybody or anything."(source: http://www.christina-a.net/)

I think that these comments are all to characteristic of not only superstars but also of the girls and ladies that we are sitting beside in our churches today. There are so many women who have been hurt and abused and neglected by others so their response is to withdraw and decide that they will make it all on their own and that they don't need anyone else to help them. Oh, how this is not true.

The Lord has created us to be women and that is a good thing. We are created in such a way to be a help mate to our husbands ( Genesis 2). We are to compliment all that God has created our husbands to do and therefore we fulfill our roles as women. Just as we have very specific roles as women and we can fulfill them in a way that glorifies the Lord!

And this also includes single ladies!! I have several single friends right now who are embracing their God given role as a woman and they are serving their chuch wholeheartedly and working with other families to serve them while earnestly waiting for their own family or faithfully praying that the Lord would direct them to the next area of service in His church enabling them to fulfill their role as a single.

So to think that as a woman we are created to go at this life alone is a farce. We are created to be a helpmate by God the Creator. We are able to complete this role as a married woman through faithfully loving our husband and children and serving the church or as a single woman by faithfully loving the church and serving a family in the church as your own.

I pray that we are able to embrace the call to be true women. It is a blessing for sure!