We will always love you, Baxter!

  
   I will post more on this sometime in the future. Today I am so broken hearted I can say no more. Isaiah 61:1 tells us what God told Isaiah to write about Jesus, "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,...”. Nehemiah 8:10 says, Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So, I have told God that I believe His Words are true, and that I know He will heal my broken heart. I now thank Him for that. My healing will come because God is not a liar and I can trust what He has told me. I am going to spend quality time in my Bible because we find joy spending time with Him in His Word, and that makes us strong. God is always my go to for anything, and He being Love never fails me.



 

Praise God for our freedom!

Happy 4th of July!

Have a blessed Independence Day everyone! I do have several friends in England that I truly cherish. While this day marks the Independence we established from Britain, I honestly like to dwell more on the freedom we have in our dependence on God and completed work of His Son Jesus, at Calvary on the cross. So, in addition to our national freedom I would like to celebrate our freedom in Jesus today while I think of all of my friends and their precious walk with Him.

I could not close this without saying that my heart is also with all of our military men, women and families today. Thank you for all you do! Thank you Marty and Larry! Becky, my love and thoughts are with you today my friend.




Just a little post~script here. I will begin blogging Monday. I have been away and will fill you in then. I have kept up with all of your blogs and have enjoyed that. More Monday.

Day 434.., but who's counting?

I am sure most of you will remember this photo. I posted it last February 6. On 2.6 my son-in-law turned 26. I wanted to wish him a happy birthday. At the time he was in, Iraq. He had deployed in November for a 15 month deployment. This was his second time deployed there.




Below is a series of photos and a little that I had had written to go with the photos in January of last year.

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These are photos taken the day Marty's, unit was deploying.







I know children are to such an amazing degree resilient. I also know that Tara, is a wonderful mother, and these children are being handled, nurtured and reassured, very well. I am sure however that you would understand why I am sobbing, and why my heart is so desperately broken. Marty is a good father and these children need him. They will survive this as well as any will because of how Marty, and Tara. have handled all of this. But, I just want that family in tact and back to normal Those children need him, so does, Tara. Posted January 28, 2008
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Now I would like to jump forward a few months to June of last year. Moving to Oklahoma in May of last year had a few perks. One of my favorites was that I was living close to my daughter Melissa and her family, and that Tara was just a few hours away in, Texas. After being here for three weeks, Tara and her children came to visit for three weeks. What a treat that was. I want to share a few photos from that time. I have so many wonderful pictures, but I will limit myself here.

There was so much packed into that three weeks, much of which won't even show up here. There were:
Silly times:







Sweet times:













Study times:
And this friends is one of the deep secrets to getting those A's. And this momma does!


Times of I thought this was a vacation:






I think I will just stay right here and keep myself out of trouble, thank you very much.


Vacation Bible School week: It was yellow day this day.



The girl in brown pedal pushers and the one in the middle with red hair are Melissa's girls.







Water park day:







Family picnic on the 4th of July:
I honestly think Melissa's husband, Uncle Larry, had at least as much fun as the kids.










Wow!! does she look like her daddy! I'm guessing Marty will like this picture. :-)






aaawww


Life is good.

A beautiful surprise for Tara from Marty...all the way from, Iraq!


We had a lot of fun in those three weeks. Life is good, and Tara continued to do just as I knew she would. She handled and nurtured and reassured the kids so well that you could almost be fooled into thinking all was well on the planet. And in many ways it was. But there was a hole in everything we did, and everywhere we went. Though absent, it was the heaviest thing in the air and weighed so heavily on my heart. Marty is no wallflower, and is very involved where ever he is. He's the guy that keeps it all going, and going well. And so, though we had plenty of good times, there were some times that broke my heart to the point of hardly being able to stand it. I will always cherish these three weeks and hope we have many more times like this, but there were some things you only get to see when someone in your family is deployed to war, and that I really never care to see again. I enjoy the internet, but never was I so thankful for it as I was at the times you will see in a few of the photos of below.


Once a week was letter writing and sending daddy goodies... beef jerky, snacks, personal items, drawings the kids had done. This particular time root beer floats were involved.

Oh my goodness was I ever impressed with how well this full grown woman I used to rock and marvel at how she cooed, crawled and just smiled back at me, handled all of this!



Anytime there daddy could get online, he would and he would call Tara and she would set up the video chat and they could all visit. Tara and the kids could see and here him, and often what struck me to tears, he could see all of them. It was bad enough that Tara and the kids all missed Marty so much, but when I would think of how at least they had each other and family and that Marty was over there, head of his home and yet unable to be with any of them, and with no family around.......... like now typing, at those times I could hardly breathe. And tears were abundant.




They loved singing a new song they learned in Vacation Bible School to, Marty. The blender is there to support the camera.

Soon, blenders and video chats will not be necessary.

Marty is due home in Texas, to stay, tomorrow morning. I will be posting tomorrow!!

I really want to thank all of you that have kept Marty safe in prayer. Kim, barring any delay, the yellow ribbons come off tomorrow girl!!