Thank you, God, for the stresses in my life.

I have been thinking lately about the things that cause me stress in my life. There have been a lot lately. But I can't thank God enough for those stresses because they are stresses that I can handle. I looked at Grace yesterday and thought How am I worthy to have such a blessing as her? I look at Collin's tests and think---Six months from now my son would have had colon cancer. How can God bless us so much, that Dr. Ho scoped a 22 year old, "just to be safe". God saved my son's life. I was lying awake last night thinking, God saved my son and my sins helped kill His son. How can He bless me so much when I am so unworthy. I lack complete faith, I lack complete trust, I lack complete obedience, I lack patience. I am unworthy. He has blessed me with three Christian children who put Him first in their homes and their lives. How can I thank God any more for this? He gave us the most beautiful little girl to love and cherish and spoil. How were we chosen for Grace to be ours? I cannot thank God enough. I have a husband who daily tells me that he loves me and shows me that he loves me. I cannot thank God enough for him. I'm so sorry that I complain about the small stresses in my life when others are going through hard stresses of losing a loved one. I have no right to complain or feel sorry for myself. God is an Awesome God and He has shown me over and over again that He is in control of my life and my loved ones lives. Throughout my life, I will never be able to thank Him enough. I can only try with my service, love, and devotion to Him.

My life, my love, I give to Thee,

Thou Lamb of God who died for me;

Oh, may I ever faithful be,

My Savior and my God!

I'll live for Him who died for me,

How happy then my life shall be!

I'll live for Him who died for me,

My Savior and my God!

O Thou who died on Calvary,

To save my soul and make me free,

That I may ever live for Thee

My Savior and my God!!!

A year later............

Wow----
How can a year have gone by without me posting???? If not just for myself?????

What a blessed year we have had!!!! We now live in Abilene, TX. Grace is one year old. Our Taco Casa is NEARLY finished!!

We love living in Abilene. What a blessing. We are by Brenna, John and Grace and by Collin!!!! We love our house and the neighborhood. We have placed membership at Hillcrest church of Christ and love it. It has been another blessing to us.

We celebrated Grace's first birthday. Wow---is she the love of all of our lives. JOY---that is what she gives us. Still no adoption started---but we still are hopeful and trusting that will happen. March we will know a little more and May will be the final hearing----and then they can start adopting. We cannot wait for her to be a Windham!!!

Taco Casa should be opening in another month or so. We are SOOOO ready. John has been going to WFalls for training and he is ready, too!!!

I know this is a fast update---hopefully I will do better this 2010!!!

If you are interested in a free Xmas photo session----here is a great giveaway in Abilene!!!!
http://www.photomomentintime.com/blog/index.php/2009/10/23/christmas-chri…s-time-is-nearchristmas-christmas-time-is-near

Grace---God's Greatest Blessing

The New Year

Here it is the first part of February and I have not "blogged" since Thanksgiving?? So much has happened in these few months.

I had a hysterectomy in early December. We had two Christmases, and then went on a medical mission to the Philippines. Ok--there ya go--you are caught up. :) We had Christmas early with Brenna and John and Collin and my mom. It was around Bren's birthday--the 12th, so I was only about 10 days postop. We had manicotti instead of Turkey since we had had two turkeys in two weeks at Thanksgiving. It turned out wonderfully and we had a great day. Of course, Grace was there and that was a wonderful, wonderful blessing. Sh
e is now-two months old and just beautiful. We are praying that she will remain in our family forever. Our second Christmas was in Abilene. Bren and John were back from Houston and his parents, so we went down for the day and spent it at my sister-in-laws, Lesli and Toby and the girls. Dik's dad and step-mom were there and we had a great time. It was so fun to have kids around.

Then on January 2nd we left for our medical mission. I was only 4 weeks postop and could not lift more than 10 pounds, but there were no problems. We had a fabulous experience in the Philippines. The people there are so grateful for everything. We saw 2900 people in 3 days. Unbelievable!! Dik and I worked in the pharmacy with a bunch of other people and we were running nonstop filling prescriptions. The kids were so cute. The parents loved for you to hold their children. We also got to go shopping. Things are soooo cheap there. We bought pearls and Lacoste shirts and purses and a painting. We got our hair cut and had massages!! We both had an hour massage at the hotel for $40 for the two of us. We gave a $2 tip and people told us that was way too much!!! That the average pay for a day was $2!!! We are so fortunate to live where we do and are blessed with so many things. God is so good.

We are still in the Taco Casa building mode. It has been slower than we expected but we close on February 27 and then it should start getting built in March. We are already looking at houses in Abilene and will put a sign in our yard in about 4 weeks. It is hard to imagine leaving Wichita Falls after 27 years but we are excited to live by our kids and start a new business. In this economy, again, God is so good. We are so thankful.

Collin is back in Abilene and will be starting back to ACU in the summer. We miss him but know that God is leading him and Collin is following.

I wish I could put a picture of Grace on here. She is smiling and even blowing bubbles now!!! But--I will put some pictures from the Philippines on.

Thank you all for reading the Days of My Life!!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving#1

Wow--do we have a lot to be thankful for this year. We have our health. We are faithful to our God. We are starting a new business. WE HAVE A NEW BABY!!!!!
We were blessed to have two Thanksgivings this year. Our first was the week before Thanksgiving when my sister came from NYC. Brenna and John came down and we had a nice family Thanksgiving. I decorated for Xmas, so it was very Holiday-like at our house. Our second Thanksgiving was on Thanksgiving day. I cooked everything a second time because leftovers are just not pretty. :) We had Dik's dad and his step-mom, and her daughter, her husband and their three girls. We had the BEST time. My mom and Mimi came too. We had 11 people!!!! I loved it!!!, although I did have a cold that day and was not feeling 100%, but food and family makes you feel better. We had Xmas presents for the girls because we will not see them on Xmas. It was so fun to buy for nieces!!! That is a first for us!!
And now-------we are going to buy for a beautiful little granddaughter!!! We are all so in love. She is now one week old, barely weighs 6 pounds and melts your heart. She has beautiful black hair and dark brown eyes. We are praying that she will be adoptable because she has already fit perfectly in our family. I went to Abilene twice this week to visit her (and Brenna and John) and she is such a good baby. She eats and sleeps, eats and sleeps. I wish I could put a picture on to show you---but we can't do that---so just take my word for it---SHE IS BEAUTIFUL!!! :) Thank you to everyone who prayed that Brenna and John would get a special baby. All our prayers were answered.

My sister and her Maltese, Aria

The Four White dogs--Neesy (Bren and John's), Belle and Cissy (ours) and Aria (Gayla's)Thanksgiving #2
The three nieces!!!!