Jack is 7!

Jack turned seven years old on Friday!  Matt decided when each boy turned 6 years old in our house, he would begin giving them the option to continue having parties or to use their our alloted "birthday budget" money on an activity of their choice.  This year was the first year Jack chose the latter of the options. He asked to go to the movies and have a sleepover.  His best buds and mentors Caleb, Micah, and Ken went to the movies with him along with his two buddies who were coming to the sleepover, Titan and Elijah.  It still amazes me the Godly men that surround that boy and love him...two teenagers and a 27 year old dude went to see Continental Drift for a 7 year old's birthday.  God is amazing!

The sign Daddy made him that hung above his bed for the morning.

The traditional streamer door for birthdays!

Oh my gosh did this kid got a serious amount of legos!  Score!

Also the first year I did not make a homemade cake :(.  He requested a Funfetti box cake.

Sleepover Fun

 Seven years ago, I went into labor with Jackson at 6:30am.  I woke up with lower back pain and asked my mama to rub my back.  Within an hour I was in full blown labor.  Mama thought it was false labor because my contractions were so close together and kept me at the house for about 3 hours.  That was until Grandma came over and told her she was absolutely crazy and she had to get me to the hospital as soon as possible!  We raced to the hospital (with me yelling at Mama the whole time to please go at least the speed limit this one time instead of 5 below).  We made it to the hospital and Jackson Patrick was born a few hours later.  And this woman's life was changed forever.  I found Jesus that day.  If Jesus could give a sinner like me such a beautiful child to love, then I wanted to follow Him all the days of my life.

My little sister Ellen, my Lamaze coach (true story)

Jackson you are the reason I know Jesus and you show Him to so many other people in the incredible young man you are.  We love you and are so proud of you big 7 year old!

Jack also had his first day of 1st grade yesterday!  All day school!  You can imagine how I cried dropping him off.  My sweet, sweet boy is growing up!

I didn't want to let him go.

Before & After

One of the goals we had when we moved, was that we would garage sale and thrift store shop to get some things that we would need for a new house.  With our old house being 1,000 square feet we didn't have room for a lot!  So here are a few of the things we have gotten and restored so far...

Old North End Garage Sale Find ($20)

 Boston has decided that he would like to have a cowboy room and he wanted a 

red dresser to go along with that!

Annie Sloan Emperor's Silk Chalk Paint (I can't say how much I love chalk paint!)

Now Jack, on the other hand, has asked for a hunting room.  "His own private room" :)  So we have been working on lots of camouflage things for that!

BEFORE I know I have already redone these but I found these awesome new dining room chairs that I have a new project lined up for so we redid one of these old ones for Jack.  I scored a new desk, hutch, and bookcase for him at the Woodmoor Garage Sale and we painted this chair to match those.

One of our old neighbors actually gave us this rocker when we were moving.  Jack thought that it looked like the one that Ben Cartwright reads his Bible in so he had to have it!  We redid it in camo as well.

 And then Pops brought these beauties up from his personal collection for Jack and Boss to add to their hunting and cowboy rooms.  The boys were pretty excited about them!

  

True Story

You know how sometimes things happen that are so unbelievable that you have to preface it with, TRUE STORY!  It actually happened.  Well our lives are getting to the point that I think I should just start prefacing every story that way.  Some are really awesome stories and some are really sad and hard ones but the Lord is in all of them and they are TRUE STORIES.
We have some A.M.A.Z.I.N.G friends who offered to give our family a vacation this year.  TRUE STORY.  After all we have been through, they wanted to provide us with some time away to be together.  And since we have said that we connect with our family and the Lord the most outside in His creation, they let us borrow their camper for the weekend. TRUE STORY. We headed up to 11 Mile Reservoir.

If you haven't seen Matty V's new truck, here it is.  My Daddy blessed him with that and I quote, "because he is such a good man and father and he remembers what life was like with a wife who stayed at home with 3 small children, there were more kids coming in than there is money to go around."  TRUE STORY.

Moses and I had an awesome hike.  It was so beautiful up there.  He got a great ride and I had a powerful time with the Lord in this beautiful valley about 1/4 mile past the lake.

Setting up

Inside the camper.  The boys thought it was the most awesome thing ever!

We played lots of games.

Boss gets serious about his Connect 4 strategy

We camped over the fire, John Wayne style.

There was a set of big rocks behind the campsite which is pretty much where these guys stayed the whole time we were are the camper.  They played Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone.  And some kid before them had left tons of small army men in the rocks so it was a great treasure hunt too!

 Fishing with Daddy is everyone's favorite thing to do.  

Last year Moses wasn't even big enough to stand!  

They are getting so big so fast my little fishermen!

He's standing and running now on this vacation, our little MoMose.

We had a great time for the first day and a half.  We hiked, fished, played outside, cooked like cowboys!  Then, I started to have chest pains. TRUE STORY.    We waited and waited and it didn’t go away.  We packed up and headed back Saturday night thinking that maybe getting to lower altitude would help.  I got worse and worse and it went into my arm.  Matt called 911 and guess what I got to ride back to the Springs in? 

 

TRUE STORY.

An ambulance carried me from Divide down to the Springs.  We stayed in the ER til about 1 in the morning only to find out that my heart is fine.  It’s still going on.  We have no idea what it is.  We did get test results back last week about my blood levels from losing John Marshall.  There are some things that have to be further investigated from those.  However, from the information we have been given none of that should be affecting my heart.  All of that to say, I am also having panic attacks due to everything that has happened this year.  And according to my FAB 5 (that's what I like to call my five girlfriends who know my deepest darkest secrets and love me anyway) I need to relax, breathe deep, and wait for God's grace, peace, and mercy to sweep over me.  So when each of them said a version of that yesterday I realized that the anxiety and stress of this year has compiled into this huge lump in my chest.  It is all another part of the lesson in which God keeps teaching me over and over…WAIT and I AM IN CONTROL. The Lord is pursuing my heart to rest in Him.  Lord, may I submit and learn the lesson.

  

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:6-7

Never Once Did We Walk Alone

This last week has been a tough one girls.  I felt as though the emotions hit me in a whole new way.  The shock has worn off and the grief has set in.  The week began with my sweet future MIL holding me as I wept in the women’s bathroom at church.  I know that if you want healing you have to walk through the depths of despair and face them head on with Jesus but oh, it is excruciating.  It is so painful to think about what has happened, to look back over the last year, to see John Marshall’s little face when I close my eyes, he was so beautiful.  Yet as only could be destined by the Lord, so many of you sent me verses or words of encouragement to pull me through the week.  You impressed on my heart that my mourning will become dancing, my anguish will become joy, God has good and exciting plans in our future.

Friday was Marshall Lucas’ due date.  In true Raw to Real fashion, it began with something that was completely unbelievable.  Matt broke up a dog fight at our house and ended up in the emergency room for 2 hours getting his hand bandaged up.  Then, Moses ended up with an ear infection (an ear infection in August!)  As I was practically screaming at my sister on the phone and explaining what a hard day it was for me and how I just needed to grieve, she gently pointed out that maybe God was showing me mercy and providing some distraction.  God proved that to be true when Jonathan came into town that evening and provided some much needed laughter and excitement.  Can you tell by Jack’s response to his arrival that we have missed him a little?

Saturday morning Matt and I arose at 5:30am to make the 45 minute hike up to where Marshall is buried.  It was so surreal.  We had been planning the last few months to go up on his due date to spend a little time together, to talk about where God has taken us on our adventure, to rejoice over the life that He was now bringing us despite the deep loss we had in the beginning of our year.  We were able to do all those things, yet now we were carrying the ashes from the life that He had brought us.  We were making the trek up there to now bury another little boy with his little brother. 

The morning was cloudy and chilly.  As we left, Matt said he thought by the time we got to where we were going the sun would break and it would be beautiful.  As we sat with the remains of our two little boys and shared our pain with the Lord, we prayed for the continuation of our journey without them and the legacy that we are honored to carry on.  In those moments, the sun broke and shone right upon us.  God is SO good.  Walking right beside us, shouting to us that He is there…never once did we ever walk alone.  

During my devotions that same day, the Lord gave me these verses…

I waited patiently for the Lord to help me,
    and he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the pit of despair,
    out of the mud and the mire.
He set my feet on solid ground
    and steadied me as I walked along.
 He has given me a new song to sing,
    a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be amazed.
    They will put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:1-3

Those are our life verses for this season.  I hit my knees when I read them and I beat my fists on the ground and I begged God to hear my cry, to lift me out of the pit of despair and to put my feet on solid ground.

This morning, Alan gave an amazing message at church and spoke on the Psalm 30.  The Lord will turn our mourning into dancing.  Never once will we ever walk alone.  I feel it in the depths of my soul…there is joy coming.  Right now I am holding on for dear life, pressing in to Jesus as much as I can and waiting.  He has heard my cry and He will lift me out of the pit of despair…

Date with Jack

Today Matt and I had the privilege of taking our oldest son out on a date.  Our big 7 year old is getting ready to go into 1st grade.  ALL DAY SCHOOL...ugh!  I can't believe it.  So we took him out for a date together and a big school supply shop!

His favorite spot, Rudy's Texas BBQ

Root Beer, yay!

Fun with Daddy

We love you so much Jackson!  We are so very proud of the young man God has created you to be.  I am going to miss you like crazy this year when you are in school all day!  Who is going to be my leader to the boys, my big helper, or my partner in jokes all day?  You are going to soar baby and I am so proud of you!