Me (Suz) and Tom (Thoms) during the summer of 91

I loved him then, I love him still... maybe more than ever... Yep, I'm sure, it's more than ever...
Thanks babe for almost 18 interesting.adventurous.courageous.terrifying.life-giving.reality-promoting.zealous.devoted.hilarious.nurturing.educational.tender.love-filled years

"We Preach Best What We Need To Hear Most" ...unknown

Oxygen is what all mortal humans breathe.
Faith and Love are what all Spiritual beings breathe.
As a human—stop breathing oxygen and see how weak and powerless and foolish you are, in only a matter of moments.
Spiritually—walk in doubt and fear and self-love, or in rebellion and jealousy and bitterness, or in arrogance... or in self-pity and whining... and the results in your Spirit-life will be just as real and just as devastating as suffocating for lack of oxygen to the physical body.

Cultivate a life of Faith, and Trust, and Love—Believing Him in all things without reservation!
Crush the fear, self-love, self-hate, doubt, and disputes with His Promises and His Ways.
Reject all thoughts of how you are being cheated, or your so-called “rights violated” or that something is not “fair” or that God is not AWESOMELY good and wonderful in ALL His Decisions and Ways.
Step into the OXYGEN of Spiritual LIFE and LOVE: THIS is the victory that overcomes the world, sin, and death: even our Faith.

I love to paint -- but didn't. ;)

I love to paint. But haven't painted in a long while... therefore, am not very "practiced" any longer. I wish I could paint like this... but with digi software from picnik.... look-y what I can do!... turn my daughter's pretty face into what looks like a painting... maybe a little?
Anyway.. I liked it a lot... so I thought I'd post it up!
Happy Spring all!

A Heart From Dad's Heart

okay...Beside being a really neat shot of Noelle as well as sweet pics of Noelle with Ava and Jada Lynn, the little sweethearts we babysat for a long while (and whom we miss terribly)-- this is an exquisite photo of Noelle's love gift from her Pa... a lovely birthstone ring .. an authentic heart (kinda like a rounded triangle--like a real heart) shaped garnet stone with a lovely yellow gold setting...
{SHE LOVED IT}
Tom presented it to her in February,... to commemorate her Birthday as well as Valentine's Day... but mainly to say "I love You.. and you mean the world to your mom and I"

Father's and daughters can have a tough go of it at times... But Noelle and her dad have striven through ups and downs and are reaping the fruit of forgiveness and working through... striving with one another.

We are excited to watch what the Lord is gonna do in her life as the next couple of years fly by...

She has so much on her heart to do and be... and become...

...and if I know my daughter, (and I do :) I know the Lord is smiling

Our Sweet Daughter, a Young Adult Now...

No longer a little girl, dressed up for a portrait shoot (in the photo
shown here), Our Noelle is becoming a young woman of grace and glory.
I am humbled by what the Lord is doing in her life... at the tender age of fifteen. She exudes wisdom and maturity that many adults never even know exist for them...

and yet she longs to be "not about herself", striving to reach higher than the temporal sphere where she is still, as much a young woman who yet cares what is thought of her.

Any yet, we distinctly see the Lord working that out, and her desire matching His, to where, her flesh is diminishing and her spirit is gaining pre-eminence.

I am honored and as I shared, humbled... and so thankful to the Lord for, despite us, allowing her to grow into who she has ... as well as who her father and I prayed for and so terribly desired for her to be.

Noelle wants to serve in missions... as well as aspiring to pursue excellence in all things concerning her womanly calling and role in marriage... including, but not limited to... serving her family and her man in the kitchen... (one sure route to his heart!) by preparing meals with flair, making poignant memories... learning about gardening, herbs and healthy lifestyle enhancements,honing her skills as she prepares to be a homemaker/nest builder... for gracious hospitality where all manner of folks are ushered in and
welcomed to stay on..sharing their tales of their adventures or their
hearts travail ~~whatever it may be...

We are so excited to see how this
all plays out in the Lord's overall plan for the life that awaits her in
the near future, no matter how soon or how far....

Above all, Noelle is set on continuing to develop a servant's heart and is
preparing to be a missionary on the home-front as well as listening for the Lord's call to her to serve abroad... and yet, eventually desiring to
raise up children who are nurtured and marinated in love... yet with discipline, a firm and loving consistency, with a passionate heart for Jesus as well...

I wish I would have had a mind and a heart at
such a tender age to be about the Father's business as she has been over
the years.

It is most certainly true that the fear of God is the
Beginning of Wisdom.. (fear as in reverence)... for she is wise.

I foresee her as a true blessing to her husband to be...

It is certainly exciting to see what the Lord will do... in Noelle's life, as she continues to seek His will.

Her father and I can scarce believe she is ours... (and in reality she is not ours, but only on loan, as a blessing :) -- to help raise, in co-operation with the Lord Jesus-- who has helped us to parent her as He has parented us!

It has been quite a journey...and I wouldn't trade a minute of it...

Thank you Dear Lord for giving us a child who, it seems, embodies.... the best of the both of us..
or stated another way...
a picture of who it was that we were to be... had things been different for us!...
She is a gift ... and I give humble thanks for this young woman who was such a short time ago.. just a child...
definitely, always mature beyond her years...
yet still a child.
She is gaining on us here... so fast.. Lord, Please, just keep her in the palm of your hand as she continues to prepare and seek You for her future and what You have for her...
and Lord, please, make certain that she is hearing directly from You in the decisions that will truly change her life.
We want Your best for her as much as we know You do...
Keep her Lord, and Thanks You again..
forever and for always...
Come what May...

In the Rain

I held the dream fast, upon my windswept brow...

As a storm threatened it's approach,

I held it with a fervor...

...so as to not forget it's depth or how it touched me now.

I let the dream slide softly away…

It was meant to be embraced for a time,

~ then shared as a Testament to live by;

An offering to Him who held all of what would come to pass.

I awakened... waves of recognition gentled through my consciousness

~Then, the rain.

It began to fall... quietly at first, like a lamb's first breath in the spring...

I had to choose...

...and so I did.

I stood unyielding, as Intensity built ...

I was purified, you could say, by the torrent:

As it beat down drenching me...

...then rolling from my skin, without a sound...

leaving me lighter somehow,

cleaner it would seem.

continuing to wash over me.

~Let it melt away the dross...

of disregard, ill-content... full of fear... and on...

so full of me...

--not any of Him--

I decide to stay here,

with He;

With He who paid for

my life -- with His own...

In it all, a promise... to wash all away...

...I stood mute, without wavering...

in the rain.

~An offering for Him who loved me;

Who makes all things new...

Even in my disheveled state of being,

in my life;

so bleak...

He made it shine

So here I will stand, with Him...

... in the rain.

by Suz 1010