Life is so very precious

I just want to write that I love my husband and my children and that God is reminding me that life is very precious. Here are some pictures of my beautiful children and my Mom. I also love my Mom and Dad and sister and brother. Everyone!

I am writing this after I have learned of another tragedy that is close to home. A couple from our Sunday school class just lost their 7 year old daughter in a freak accident last night. She and her brother were playing in an old culvert tunnel when the top of the tunnel collapsed on them. It shocked me yet again to have this reminder that no matter your age when it is time to go you will be called home. I write this with a very heavy heart for the Crow family. I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a child. I hurt just grieving for them. Please pray that they will get through this. Especially because it is right on the heals of losing our Pastor. The Dad has only been a Christian for 4 years and has just started to get involved in the Sunday school. Just yesterday, he flew out for Canada where he was going to work for 5 weeks and to hear this news and have to come back has to be really hard.

Please pray for us also. All of this tragedy has burdened my heart. Mike told me the other day that he almost lost control of his car on the road and I broke down because of what could have happened. Also, Garrett put three pillows on Keira while I stepped out of the room to do something for a few minutes. What if I had been gone longer? I know that I can not dwell on the what if's. So please pray for our protection. Also pray for my Grandpa who is not doing well. He is 94 years old and things aren't looking good. I'm not sure that he knows the Lord either.

I love all of you! Please know where you are going when you die.

The Hardest Week

This past week has been very difficult for me and my church family, but it has also been an awakening. An awakening to the fact that no matter what tragedy unfolds that God is still in control of the situation and He allows certain things to happen and we will not know why until we get to Heaven. It also awakened me to the fact that I need to not be shy and to tell more people about Jesus because we never know when our last day will be. I know where I will be when I die but do you? I know where Pastor Fred is right now, he is in Heaven probably getting to hear first hand all of the stories that he taught us as a Pastor. How cool is that!

The reason that I know that God was in the midst of this tragic situation is through talking to people who were actually in the service. One man, Jesse, told us that many people in the service were not sitting in their regular seats during this service. There were also not as many people in service as there usually was because of the time change. Here are some of the events as they unfolded, Pastor Fred was in the middle of his sermon and a man came down the aisle. Pastor Fred addressed him and the man then fired a shot hitting pastor Fred's bible. Here is the part where God used Fred to save the rest of the congregation. Pastor Fred could have easily gone behind the stage and been safe but he chose to run stage right to direct the man away from everyone else. Fred ran stage right yelling someone help me and jumped off the stage. All the while the assailant was mirroring him on the ground. Note: There is a man in our church that usually sits in the front row that would have been able the stop or detain the gunman but he was sitting somewhere else that morning. Once Fred was on the ground he was shot and killed. Meanwhile two men from the congregation jumped on the gunman and started pulling him off of Pastor Fred. They were stabbed in the process. After this the gunman tried to get away but was tripped by Keith. The gunman then started crawling under the pews and tried to kill himself but was detained by other men from the church. One of those men, Jesse, started telling the gunman that God forgave him and so did Pastor Fred and that it was not to late for him to accept the Lord. You see God knew what was going to happen and He let Fred die, but He did not let anyone else die because of the stategic way he had placed everyone that day. As Cindy, Fred's wife, said, "It was not death day. It was celebration day." because we know that Fred went to heaven that day. I would encourage anyone reading this to check out Cindy's speech on kmov.com. Her strength encouraged us all.

Thursday night we went to the visitation. We waited for four hours just to pay our respects. There were so many people there because Fred truly cared about everyone. He was a wonderful man because God shown through him. They had pictures from his life playing on a big screen and in one of those pictures I saw myself when I was a little child in Cindy's Sunday School class. That was shortly after Fred became the Pastor of the church.

On Friday, we went to the funeral service which felt more like a celebration service. We were celebrating a life well lived for the glory of God. There were two hours filled with laughing, crying and worshiping our God. We have felt the prayers of the whole world and it has given us a peace that only God can give.

Tragedy Close to Home

Yesterday we woke up on Sunday morning and got ready for church just like any other Sunday. We were running a little bit late (9:38 am) but it was okay because we go to Sunday school first. Little did we know that it would be like no other Sunday and it would change our lives forever. The church is only about 2 miles from our house and as we approached we could see many cop cars in the distance. This did not look good. When we finally made it up to the church the fireman told us that there had been a shooting and that it was now a crime scene. My heart sunk and I went into shock. No, this could not be happening here. We came back home with dread in our hearts and turned on the news to find out anything we could about the shooting. Bonnie called from church to let us know that she was alright and that Pastor Fred had been shot and a couple of other guys stabbed. Later on the news we found out that he had gone to see Jesus.

It is so surreal. I still cannot believe that Pastor Fred will no longer be there to preach sermons to us. I have known him for 22 years. My parents started taking us to First Baptist Church of Maryville in 1987 shortly after he became the Pastor there. He was the one that led me to Christ when I was 11 years old during vacation bible school. He baptised me and he also performed the ceremony for Mike and my wedding. Mike played Axis and Allies on the computer with him and he was going to give Mike a copy of the book that he wrote. I was hoping that he would be the one to baptise my children when the time came. It is just so hard to believe that he is here one moment and then gone the next in such a tragic incident.

If you are reading this, please pray for our congregation and especially for Pastor Fred's wife Cindy and their two daughters. It will be a very hard time for all of us. Mike went to a prayer meeting last night and our childrens pastor told them that he asked Cindy what we could do for her and she looked up, smiled and said that Fred died doing what he loved to do (preaching the gospel).

Garrett's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Garrett's 3rd birthday last Saturday with family. He actually turned 3 on February 25th. This is the cake that I made for his celebration. It is actually a Wilton's puzzler cupcake mold. You can make up many things using the cupcake shapes in the set. I am going to make a rocket cake for Cameron's birthday. This cake was much easier than the Lightening McQueen that I made for Cameron's birthday last year.

Here is our birthday boy opening up one of his birthday presents. He received an Indiana Jones whip, a bow and arrow set, the movie "Horton hears a Who" and a dog quilt that I made him which I don't seem to have a picture of right now.


Some good news that we have is that Garrett now that he is three is finally interested in some potty training. He has gone potty on the toilet most of the day for the past week. It is a great start. He has even been wearing real underware for the day. Unfortunately, he still goes number 2 in them.




This is a picture of Garrett in the hospital when he was born. He was only 8 lbs. 2 oz. then. Now he weighs around 35 lbs. and has a personality all his own. He is our little Garr Bear. It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing him home from the hospital to meet his big brother. Now he has his own little sister that he dotes on.