~My Thoughts~

~Where or where has time gone? I found these pics that P. Pilmore took (on his cell phone) of our kids in 2004. This is Kimberly.~

Last night, Sarah was choosing a little goody out of our goody box, and it took her QUITE a while to choose...then after she chose, later, she was thinking about trying to exchange it for something else. So, I decided to make this a "lesson in life" and told her that this time, she had to "stick with her decision". That sometimes we can change our mind...but that some decisions we make ARE FOR LIFE~~Marriage being one of them!
Later on that night, before we went to bed, I was reading to my 2 girls out of the book "Beautiful Girlhood" Revised by Karen Andreola, and telling them that God has made us SPECIAL...and has made us to want to be 100% lady. That today there are girls and women that are trying to make themselves THINK that they want to be like a man, do a man's job, or they wouldn't ever want to be a wife..."for I want to be my OWN BOSS", wouldn't ever want to be a Mommy..."for my body is my own...and I won't be "ruining" it by having children", don't want to dress very feminine, etc. But...down deep inside those women, they are fighting against the way God made them. I had a good talk with my girls about marriage and carefully making their CHOICE FOR LIFE!!
~This is Sarah in 2004~

Ever since I can remember, I ALWAYS wanted to be a wife and Mommy. I played dolls until I was 11 or so, and I pretended that my name was the name of one of the girlfriends of my 2 brothers at that time. =) (Sorry Vonnie, and Lyn...but I'm THRILLED that they married y'all! =) But not only did I want to be a wife...I always wanted to be a pastor's wife...for that was what my Mommy was...and she was/is the Best Pastor's wife that I have ever known. She made the "job" look wonderful. We ALWAYS had visitors over and I enjoyed the Christian fellowship. When we were having company, I always got to set the table with the pretty dishes, and fold the cloth napkins fancy. (THAT IS STILL ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS TO DO WHEN I HAVE COMPANY OVER. =) When I went to college, I went to study "Church Music" and graduated 5 years later with a BA in that, but as I already told you, I prayed that God would lead me to the right husband.
~This is My baby Noah...2004~

When I got engaged (And I got to marry a PASTOR and be the Pastor's wife I'd always wanted to be!!), I took one of my FAVORITE classes while in College called "Marriage and Family Living" taught by Dear Sis. Wolf!! (I loved all of the 1,000 pages of Collateral reading that I had to read for that class. =) I remember her GREAT talks to us about marriage and how there would be days that we might wake up and not FEEL in love. That there would be other men that we would see that might appear "better looking", or we didn't see any of his faults and thought, "I bet that He never leaves His dirty socks on the floor", etc. But she told us that each time that the old devil tempted us to look at our husbands faults or look at someone else, to get out our scales and our husband had better outweigh the other man EVERY TIME!! WE HAD TO CHOOSE TO STAY IN LOVE!! I don't remember her singing this, but my friend Nancy said that she remembers Sis. Wolf singing "I have Decided to Stay Married, I have decided to stay married, I have decided to stay married, NO turning back, NO turning back!" (or like I sang to my girls last night, "TO MY MAN, TO MY MAN!")
~Our family in Canada~~June 2006~

Kimberly and Sarah may be a tad young for that talk that we had...but I'm laying the foundation for their marriages some day (in God's plan) and am PRAYING DAILY FOR THEIR MATES...wherever they are! Isa 28:10 says "For precept must be upon precept; line upon line; here a little, and there a little. Duet. 6:5, & 7 also says that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our might,...and we should teach these words of God DILIGENTLY unto our children, and talk of them when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down and when we rise up. As a Mommy, I AM TEACHING my girls...by my example...whether I mean to or not!! Also as a Mommy it's my job to raise my girls to want to be LADIES, want to be a wife and Mommy (Again I say in God's plan), and to want to be the BEST CHRISTIANS that God will help them to be!