Mother's Day!!!

Mother's Day!! Wow, did ours start out with a bang...literally. At 4 am Charlie came into my room because he was scared of the thunderstorm. I had just finished feeding little Jesse when I heard Ric coming up the steps. He had been up watching the TV because some bad storms had come through earlier in the night and he wanted to see if and when another bad storm was coming. Needless to say he was coming to get us to get in our shelter (under the steps) because there was a tornado coming. The siren was going off and the news was telling us to take shelter. I grabbed the boys while Ric gathered the girls and we hustled downstairs to make a makeshift shelter for us all. It was very scary for me because Ric was worried. Anytime he gets worried I know its bad! Charlie immediately wanted to pray that the tornado wouldn't hit us and the girls just thought it was the coolest that they were up in the middle of the night. We can already see the birth order thing coming through. Oldest children are the worriers and the middle ones just smile and have a big time. After a brief power outage and some strong winds we ventured out to see what the news said. The storm was past us but had hit our area really hard. I immediately began to think of friends that lived near the storm area. My friend Stephanie called a few minutes later to tell us that her neighborhood was hit really bad but their house was fine. Other church members had damage but all were safe. Our great and Mighty God protected us. As we ventured out to go to church that morning the damage was just unthinkable. Literally out of the movie Twister. Trees were down everywhere and just split in half. Homes were just blown apart. I had never seen anything like it. I was just grateful that all were ok. We got to church and we had the opportunity to dedicate Jesse to the Lord. I stood on the stage that I have stood on with all of the other 3 children and dedicated my sweet son to the Lord. We made a commitment to raise him in a Godly home and to teach him Godly principles. It was such a humbling experience. I stood there surrounded by my children as Ric prayed and realized that I had to step it up. I had been given this huge blessing and responsibility to raise these kids and to be the best mom I can be to them. Sometimes I feel that I get so caught up in the busyness of life that I don't do the things I ought to. I pray that I would quit worrying about little things and take time to find those life changing and shaping teachable moments. Every night I lay them down and I pray for my children....that God would protect them, keep them safe and pure, that He would save them, that He would save them for the future spouse, that they would be Godly, set apart and bold. I just pray that they would see boldness in me and that I would be set apart. I just want them to see a solid uncompromising Christian in me. I know I am so far from perfect, but I pray that God would help me be a Godly example for them. On this Mother's Day God showed me how he protects us even in the storms of life and He also showed me what a privilege it is to be called "Momma" and that I should never take being a parent lightly. My Mother's Day was wonderful, even without any sleep! I got to spend the day with my precious family and talked with my mom several times. It would have been perfect if she were here.




Me and the kids . Shelby was cracking herself up!



Intorducing Jesse to the church. The others were hiding behind the podium!

Jesse slept through it all!