Senior pictures

Joy's pictures are in and these are some of my favorites!

 

Enjoy your babies because before you know it

you will blink and they will be graduating! 

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

I was totally surprised to find out the other day, that the kings of Israel were commanded to make their own copy of the law.
As in write it themselves and not have a scribe do it. ; )

Did any of the kings do this? I wonder.
 Maybe Solomon?

It is in Deut. 17:18.
It says "when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book and it shall be with him and he shall read it all the days of his life." Wow! Love that!

Then it goes on to list the ways the king will benefit from this:

1. It would teach him to learn to fear the Lord and obey His commands

2. It would keep his heart from being lifted up in pride above his brethren

3. It would keep him from turning aside from the commandments to the right or left

4. It would prolong his days, the days of his children

We are blessed not to have to 'write for ourselves a copy'
 of the Bible these days, but I"m pretty sure that reading it 'all the days of our lives' will benefit us in these same ways and numerous others!

~Becky

We got out and about this weekend

A young couple we love got married!

Andrew and his buddies were ushers. Weren't they cute?

As it turned out, Andrew didn't actually take anyone down the aisle, his job turned out to be to listen for the musical cues and tell people when to start walking down the aisle. (even the bride!) And that's a pretty big deal! 

Joy and I had fun helping set up for the reception and served lots of iced coffees.

How cute is this cake?!

 Nathan flew home to attend the wedding! Yay!

 His boss and our dear friend called and extended Nate's stay and helped him find a later flight. (so sweet!) As it was, he was going to have to race to the airport the second after the 'I do.' So thankful he could stay longer!

On Thursday, Hubby's feeding tube came out! Whoo-hoo!
This made him able to attend the wedding too!
-It was his first real time out and about since the first surgery!
And he went to church on Sunday!

Life is starting to feel a little bit more normal now.

We only found a few hours to be together as a family but they were special ones! -We had a chance to hear Nathan's dreams for the future and his passion for the spread of the gospel. Love him!

And I'm happy to say that there is another wedding coming up....

in which Nathan and Zac will both be groomsmen. Glad that he will be back again soon! -It is hard to believe our kids' friends are starting to marry! Time flies!

~Becky

Our senior and her pics

Joy had her senior pictures taken yesterday. -I still can't believe that she is about to graduate!

Zac had his pictures taken downtown among buildings with neat architecture. My favorite one was taken in a parking garage!
Nathan had his taken in a gorgeous park that reminds us of California. His were taken in a field and underneath some gigantic oak trees.
And Joy chose to have hers done in the  historic district with brick walls, graffiti, and train tracks. -This setting also came complete with an angry man on drugs, who kept yelling at us because he thought we were tourists and who made fun of our photographer's lack of hair!

Since she loves to paint, we brought her easel and brushes for one of the poses and our very creative photographer took those photos beside a gigantic mural. Such a cool idea!

Here is a sneak peak, I took:

She's a beauty! No Photoshop needed on this girl!

And here is the whole picture:

Because you know you are blessed with a great friend, when she will even be your footstool when you need one! : ) LOL

It was a blast!

~Very thankful for the A. Family, who gifted us with their talent, creativity and time! :-) Love them!

~Becky

Wednesdays in the Word

I love this!

"Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good,
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless; 
Plead for the widow."
Isaiah 1:17

And I would love it if someday this could be said of me:

Becky ceased to do evil,
Learned to do good,
Sought justice,
Rebuked the oppressor;
Defended the fatherless,
Pleaded for widows.'

How awesome would that be?! 
Especially since Psalm 63 tells us that God, Himself
is "A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows."

I'm not sure how to go about it yet, but I would love to care more, for who He cares so much about.

~Becky

Our prayer

On the day after the second surgery, when I was praying, I felt like the Lord put on my heart that it will be 'smooth sailing' in Hubby's recovery process from here on out. 

Hubby was on a ventilator at the time. But later that day, when it was out and he could speak, we prayed this to be so. 

He said he'd like a plaque of that phrase and Etsy does not disappoint when you want something that random! : ) 

I ordered this and framed it for him: 

And I asked Whimsy Studios to please put the date on the print somewhere, and she did! In the corner of the boat. I love it!  (it is much cuter in person and not under glass, by the way)

So, this is what we are praying and believing for!
And when the way seems to get bumpy, we pray harder. : )

~Becky

And we're back

I didn't intend to take a blogging break but I was busy having a wonderful visit with my sweet sister who came to take care of us for a week. She took care of all of us while I took care of Hubby. What a blessing!

She took a red eye from CA and hit the ground running when she got here. Before I knew it, she was grocery shopping all over town and then cooking up a storm.
She did A LOT of cooking.

Jen working her culinary magic!

She also cleaned, ordered things we needed, fixed things that were broken and trained our dog to walk on a leash without pulling our arms out of the socket. : ) She's pretty amazing like that!
There was also a Frisbee-throwing-park-day,
one dinner party

and two game nights. And she and our kids spent two days riding roller coasters!

She totally spoiled us and Hubby and I both tried to talk her into staying longer. LOL ; )

Hubby is doing well. He is resting and recovering. He is on a feeding tube for 12 hours a day now and is eating 800 calories of real food, as well. He is learning how much food his esopho-stomach (as he calls it) can handle without making him sick. 

Jen's chicken tacos and guacamole were his first meal of solid foods since the first of the year! He was SO happy!

He goes for little walks around the house and we try to walk down the street and back together once a day if he is feeling up to it. Lord willing, his feeding tube will come out next Thursday! (the 'J' tube is a messy thing that I need to clean every couple of hours, even during the night, and I will be one happy camper when it is out)

I recently added up all that Hubby has been through and it came out to:
Six weeks of chemo and radiation, 2 surgeries, 2 ER trips and 19 days in the hospital!
What a journey! Such patient suffering! He is amazing!
We are so thankful that he is cancer-free!
And that God has met all of our needs along the way! -He also sent us a bundle of fun for a week in my sister!

Grateful,
~Becky

Sister LOVE

My sister is coming!!!!
She wants to 'pamper us' for a week. Isn't that the sweetest offer ever?!
Love her!

Can't wait to see her and laugh with her.
(we have have the same laugh! But I don't think she has to laugh at her own jokes like I do)  ; )

So excited! Fun to have family coming!
Thankful!
~Becky