The Countdown Begins...

Well, I am 35 weeks now. It's a little surprising has fast the past 8 months have gone. Seems like yesterday I was standing in the bathroom picking my jaw up off the floor from shock. I thought it might be fun to take a look at Parker's (and mom's) progress since November...

Here we are just a few weeks after finding out we are having a BABY!!

At 20 weeks...

At 25 weeks...(and someone claiming to have "sympathy weight".)





At 31 weeks...(because I forgot to take a picture at 30 weeks!)



We are anxiously awaiting for Parker to arrive. "Daddy" put his crib together last night and did an excellent job on it. Just wondering how much longer we have until our precious little one is actually here to sleep in it. Not too much longer...

Our Garden?!?!

Well, I have officially entered into the world of gardening. This is my attempt to grow my own garden. (hey, times are tough) I planted: Tomatoes, squash and okra.

It should be fun to see how they turn out.

I know what you are all thinking. What in the world would possess someone who works two jobs, has a baby on the way to go out and plant a garden on a porch.

The Answer..... ADD

A Diet of Bread and Water Only...

If you thought this was about a real diet you are wrong.

I am the last person to give eating advice from.
If you have seen me in the past year you know that I am gaining more wight then my prego wife.

There has been a thought on my heart for a while now. I do not think I have masted this area of my life by any means(in fact, Its a Daily learning adventure for me), however I thought I would share it as a challenge, since thats how I received it.
I ran across this verse a while ago, at first I over looked it, and just let it role right off my mind and heart, then I was challenged to pray it. After a long time of wrestling with the idea that lies here in this verse, I decide to look at it more closely. I think its easy for Christians to over look certain challenges from God's Word. I keep getting scared of this verse to be honest.
I like feeling in control, and I like feeling like I can choose my own direction. However God desires us to be sufficient only upon Him right? Beyond tithe?
So I prayed this verse.

I dare you to pray it.... but beware, it might rock your world...


Proverbs 30:8" give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread."
(you might want to read it again to let it soak in.)

John 4:14"but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Lamentations and Blessings

Lamentations 3:21-23 says "I'll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I've swallowed. I remember it all--oh, how well I remember-- the feelings of hitting the bottom. But there's one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: God's loyal love couldn't have run out, His merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over) He's all I've got left."

We sing this song almost every Sunday. "Blessed be your name in a land that is plentiful, where your streams of abundance flows blessed be your name."

That part of the song is easy for me to sing. Its real easy for Christians to sing this when life is good, easy, when everything seems to be going ok.

But there is a part to that song that I just realized after singing it for years and years.

"Blessed be your name on a road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, blessed be your name"

Now the song becomes a little harder to sing. How am I to sing "Blessed be your name" when all I see is hurt?

How is it that over and over in the Bible we see a theme that as "followers", we are look at hurt, pain and suffering, then turn around and be joyful, and still some how still see Gods blessings?

For the past two years this is all I could see; pain, hurt, suffering. So how can I look back over the past two years and sing "Blessed be Your name"

I think for to many years, I "settled for mediocrity" in my walk with Christ. It became a routine. Reading Gods word was more about passing the test or preparing the sermon.
While reflecting over the past two years, I have come to realize that God was trying to get my attention. As my wife has found out, sometimes its hard to get my attention. So what happens. God knocks us to our knees. Why? because when we are on our knees, there is no where else to turn "BUT" to Him. We began to find comfort from the storm like never before, we began to look around at the hurt, the pain of being falsely accused, the sickness around us, the finacnal hurt from the econmoy, and still see that there is a loving God that is still holding on (Lam 3:21-23). When we are humbled/on our knees we begin to see things from a different perspective. We begin to see our need for Christ. As the verse in Lamentations says, He is all we have.

Francis Chen once said "when we love God, we naturally run to Him-- frequently and zealously". That's what God is wanting from us, in the hurt, pain and storms, He is desiring for us to run to Him with a new found: love,need, hope and JOY!?

As hard as it is fore me to say this, I am glad for the hurt, the pain, the feeling of hopelessness, because in that moment of need is when I found what I was missing, I found the message God was trying to get through to me.

Blessed be your name when the road is marked with suffering Blessed be your name!
Blessed be your name when there's pain in the offering, Blessed be your name!


Hebrews 13:8
"For Jesus doesn't change--yesterday, today, tomorrow, he's always totally Himself."

-Trey

First Post

Welcome friends and family. This is our attempt to keep our friends and family up-to-date on whats going on in our world and to keep everyone up-to-date with our little Parker.

To start off the blog. I thought I would post a picture of the ultra-sound from Tuesday, April 6th. If you look real close you will be able to see his face. He looks just like is dad?!

We are very excited about the arrival of Parker this coming July. Our lives will change in a very big way. But we are very excited about that change and can not wait to share our life with him...