A few pics from Thunder's fireworks

Our friends, Abbi & J.R., playing with Raegan

Korissa found a new friend in Elaine
(Elaine shared her food! :-p)

Aunt Heather, Korissa, and Uncle Chris

Elaine & Larry Harold (Chris' college friend)

Uncle Chris, Korissa, Kim, Aunt Heather, & Raegan

"I can't HEAR you!"

Korissa & Uncle Chris watching the fireworks
(I LOVE this pic!)

Waterfall of fireworks off the 2nd St. Bridge

Of course, if you know me at all, you know I took WAY more pics than this. Again, you can check them out if you're a friend of mine on Facebook. All 200 of them are posted there! LOL

A few pics from the Thunder Air Show

He has TEETH!

Pics of Kim, Korissa, & Raegan's visit

Just a couple of pics from the girls' visit

Kisses from Aunt Heather

Sisters, Korissa & Raegan. We bought them these matching shirts for Christmas

Korissa & Raegan
(Raegan had JUST pulled the paci out of her mouth...)

Aunt Heather, Uncle Chris, Korissa, Kim and Raegan

God Works the Night Shift

Here are my notes from the session titled above:

GOD WORKS THE NIGHT SHIFT

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Why do we have to go through dark times in our lives?

1) So God can FORM us:

Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,

travail: transition period form: change, metamorphosis (Let God do an "Extreme Makeover" on you!) Every event in your life PUT TOGETHER means something, even though it may not make sense individually
until: a long time, a slow process
We are in transition periods (travail) as God changes (forms) us into the image of Christ, which is a long, slow process!

2) Because of the FELLOWSHIP He enjoys with us (I didn't get the Bible verse here)
God wants to spend time with us, and it is only in the dark times of life that we tend to seek that fellowship like He wants with us

3) He reveals His secrets and hidden treasures in the darkness
He puts us in darkness so that He can develop His image in us... just like photo film in a dark room

What do we do when we are in darkness?

1) Look to the Lord for forgiveness

2) Look to the Lord for guidance
3) Look to the Lord -> Look BACK on His faithfulness
4) Look to the Lord in prayer

When we depend on education, we get what education can do.
When we depend on others, we get what others can do.
When we depend on prayer, we get what GOD can do!

5) Look to the Lord and be glad!
6) Look to the Lord for His return... He's coming VERY SOON!

Hope this encourages you if you are going through a dark time... it sure did encourage my heart!

I'm going to try to share some of the other notes from sessions that encouraged/convicted my heart. I hope they'll be a blessing to you!

A month later...

Wow - this month has been really busy, even though I didn't know it was going to be this way! I'm all for surprises, and I got a great surprise this month.

On April 10, I went with our teens on a laser tag activity. It was VERY fun; I'd never played laser tag before. I didn't do well, but I didn't come in last, either, so I was pretty good with that!

My great surprise came on April 14. That night, Chris texted me to ask me what I was making for supper. Now, mind you, I don't ENJOY cooking... I don't even LIKE cooking, so I try not to think about it until I absolutely have to. Part of the problem is that Chris and I don't often eat together, b/c he doesn't usually get home until around 9pm. I am still TRYING to lose weight, and try not to eat after 8pm. I hate cooking for just me, and having him eat leftovers when he gets home, so I usually just cook for him when he's on his way home, and then I eat the leftovers for lunch the next day. ANYWAY, I told him that I hadn't planned anything, and left it at that. Well, he called me at around 9:15pm, and told me that he was on his way home, and that he was REALLY hungry, so I needed to make sure that I made enough dinner. As I was finishing up dinner, he walked into the house and said, "Hey, Babe, I'm home." My back was to the door when he walked in, and as I turned around, I saw that he was holding a blonde little girl...
SURPRISE!!! Many thoughts were reeling through my head in that moment until I recognized who it was... our niece, Korissa! I said her name, and her mom and sister stepped out from behind Chris! They live in Vegas, and we hadn't seen Korissa for 9 months, and hadn't had a chance to meet Raegan, since she's only 4 months old now! I was totally surprised... I had no idea! They had planned this for over a month. Kim's husband is overseas on business for 4 months, so they broke up his absence by coming here for a week in the middle of the four months! It was SO FUN having them here. Korissa just LOVES Uncle Chris, and I loved holding Raegan. Chris and I both still had to work while they were here, but I got off about every other day, so it worked out OK.
That weekend, the 18th, was Thunder Over Louisville... the big kick-off to the 2 week long Derby Festival before the Kentucky Derby. We all went down to the riverfront for that. Chris had a friend from college that lives in Nashville come up for Thunder, and he and his wife joined us, as well as a couple that are friends of ours from here. We had a great time! Even the girls loved the fireworks; Raegan fell asleep half way through them, in spite of the fact that one of her earplugs had fallen out.
We SO enjoyed having kids in our house, and it was very lonely when they left!
I packed in several days of work after they left, then last Thurs. headed down to Murfreesboro, TN, for the Sword of the Lord Ladies' Jubilee (conference.) I took two of my friends with me, and joined a few more mature ladies from the church to caravan down there. We had a wonderful time. It's so amazing how God always gives you JUST what you need, when you need it! I have recently been struggling a lot with the fact that God has chosen not to give us a baby right now, along with some other things in my life. There were 3 different sessions at the conference about God working through the trials in our lives. One of them was entitled, "God Works the Night Shift." The speaker was talking about how some of God's greatest work is done in the dark... a baby being formed in the darkness of his mother's womb, the rest and recovery our bodies do while we're asleep, etc. It was so encouraging to me! (I'll post the notes on another post here in a minute!) It was an encouraging, fun, but emotional weekend for me.
This week, I worked a lot to make up for the time I will be gone this weekend.
We're leaving later today to head to Atlanta, GA. The Kentucky Derby is this weekend here in Louisville, and we get Saturday off (because most everything around here closes for the Derby.) The kids in KY actually have today off school because it's Oakes Day (the "local's" Derby). Anyway, we don't really want to be a part of all that, so we've been leaving town for this weekend ever since we moved here. The past two years we went to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play baseball, but they didn't have a home game this year. So, we decided to cross another baseball park off the list of parks we need to see, and so we're going to Atlanta. My uncle lives near Atlanta, so he'll be meeting us for lunch tomorrow. On Sunday, we are going to church with some long ago friends that we haven't seen in a while, and then doing lunch with them, and heading home.
Whew! Life has been busy! God is good, and we are thanking him for DAILY loading us with benefits... even our salvation! :-) (Psalms)
My baby brother is graduating from Maranatha next weekend, though we won't be able to be there. He and his wife are moving this weekend, so pray for them, and please pray that Nathan can find a job in Madison. Also, my brother Greg is graduating with his Master's Degree this weekend. (Not from Maranatha... can't remember the name of the school.) I have lots of cards to make! :-)
Well, I better get going... too much time on here already! I'm going to try to post some pictures, but if I can't get them on here, you can check my Facebook page if you are interested.
Thanks for stopping by! :-)