REALLY BIG NEWS at our house!!!

Ty turned 6 this week and while that is a very big deal and we of course celebrated for days with Avengers plates, oreo blizzard cake, ice cream sundae's with his class at school.  That is by no means the biggest news around here this week!  

Tuesday night Lance had a class so the kids and I had a pretty typical night with a little extra silliness for the birthday but it got to be time for bed.  I gave the typical orders...everyone go get pajamas on and come to the den for devotional time.  As they came in and got comfortable I pulled up a screen shot of something I wanted to read to them from earlier in the day.  This was the story I had taken the screen shot of...

A Cherokee Legend

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life "a fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.
"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.  One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego."  He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

As I read the story I stopped to explain the words describing the angry wolf. The other wolf they felt like they knew all about because, we studied the fruits of the spirit in the spring.  I went on to tell them that we don't believe there are two wolves fighting in us but we do believe that when you ask Jesus into your heart the Holy Spirit lives in us and it is constantly fighting with the Devil or as some adults would say "the flesh".  I asked them if they remembered seeing on Tom and Jerry about the little angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other...they all knew exactly what I was talking about.  Then I said which ever one you listen to you are making him stronger and his voice louder.  So if you listen to one a lot more than the other it will get harder and harder to hear the smaller one.  They seemed to understand and we got ready to pray.  

Ty started crying and said, "Mom I need to ask Jesus to come into my heart right now. Can I pray for that with you?"  I was a little surprised (mostly because we have had some AWESOME bible studies around here and we have had some duds where their eyes seemed to glaze over and on that scale this one was about a 2 maybe a 3 out of 10) but I told him that would be great and we would pray.
Then Haley started crying, "Mom, I need to pray that prayer too!"
I was getting skeptical (let me just stop right here and say that I am the most ANTI share the gospel with a group of kids and let them pray the prayer together kind of person.  I detest hearing intelligent adults brag about how many small children were saved at vacation bible school or at a youth rally....not because I don't believe children should be saved at all ...BUT...how many of those are actually legitimate and how many are peer pressure??  How many more problems are you creating for those poor children in the future as they look back on the experience??  Are you giving them a false sense of security if it wasn't real?? YES!!  Are they going to know if it was real or not?!  MAYBE...AT BEST  So to say I was skeptical here is a HUGE understatement!  Let me also say we have an AMAZING children's minister at our church that does such a wonderful job of making sure the kids know what to do and who to talk to but these type of pressure services are NOT done in our children's department.  I LOVE THAT!!) so I wanted Haley to tell me why she wanted to pray too.
She said, "because such and such at church won't let me play the games she is playing because I haven't been baptized and because I want to be like the other girls"
I explained that #1 that is not a reason to ask Jesus into your heart or get baptized and that #2 being saved is not about excluding others but about including others and loving them.  
She quickly wanted me to understand her view..."Mom we have talked about it a lot, I know why I am supposed to pray the prayer and God is telling me now is the time.  You don't have to let me I am going to pray it in my room if you don't"  That did it, I was convinced.
The whole time we were talking Brock was pacing and antsy but some nights that is just Brock so I told them to bow their heads.
Brock said, "Mom, don't get mad"  I looked at him and with tears in his eyes he said, "I need to pray that prayer tonight too!"  
You could have knocked me over with a feather.  
I said, "Brock please don't pray the prayer because they are.  God sees our hearts not just us as people and he knows if we mean in our hearts that we want to give our life to him"  
He said, "I know mom and you said when it was time I would feel God telling me it was time and now is that time."  So I said, "Here is the deal, I will say the prayer and if you feel like you need to say the prayer too then you can say it after me, but if you want to wait and say it tomorrow or next week or next year or ten years from now then that is completely fine too.  I do not want anyone saying it just because someone else did. AND for that matter it is not some magical spell it isn't like you say these magic words and boom all of a sudden you are a christian.  You are making a decision to live your life for Jesus to die to your old ways and trust Him and live for Him from now on."  (Let me just stop here and say that I have heard our pastor talk on numerous occasions about the importance of learning scripture because when you need it, it will come to you if it is already in that rolodex in your mind.  I am a flip and dip kind of bible reader so while I agree with him I always think, Yes but I can just open the bible if I need a verse.  HE WAS SO RIGHT!... I WAS SO WRONG! The verse that kept screaming in my head was, "...my ways are not your ways...My thoughts are not your thoughts..." (Isaiah 55:9) which made me almost laugh because for the reasons I stated above this could not be more true)  So I prayed and they all repeated after me, Haley very loud and clear, Ty whispering in the chair next to me and Brock mumbling across the room.  We finished and I got Haley and Brock put to bed and Ty was sobbing on my bed because he needed to talk to me.  He had quite a few questions about the process of baptism and he is very apprehensive about that.  He then wanted to know, "Mom, so every time I mess up I need to pray that prayer again and get baptized again right?" I explained that we all mess up every single day and all you have to do is talk to God and ask for his forgiveness and he will forgive you.  I could tell that wasn't going to be good enough so I said, "Ty grab my wrist and I will grab yours so that our arms are locked together.  Imagine my hand is God's and tonight you are holding on to him tight, but in a few years when you are a teenager you might listen to what some other boys try to tell you is okay or make some decisions that are not the best and when that happens you will be turning him loose just a little so turn me loose some.  Then when you get in college there will be more choices you will have to make and some you will choose wisely but others you may not and let's just say that you start questioning what you believe and why you believe it and you turn me loose completely.  Do I still have your arm?" 
He looked at me so solemnly and said, "Yes mam" 
Then I asked, "Ty am I holding you as tight right now as I did when we started?"
Very slowly he said, "yes mam" 
I said, "Ty you can't get your arm loose, you can't walk away because if you do I am going with you.  I have you and even though you let me go, God will never ever let you go.  He was right here a few inches away and all you had to do was just grab his hand and once you did now its no longer up to you.  He is always with you no matter what."
He kind of looked off and said, "So God is holding me" and then he grinned from ear to ear and he was ready for bed.
When Lance came in I told him all the details of what had happened and we prayed that each of them would know for sure, without a doubt, if their decision was real and that we would know with certainty too.  We also agreed to let them bring it up...kind of like if it was that big of deal to them I didn't think they would not tell him.
The next morning when I woke up the boys Ty popped right up and said, "mom can I go tell my daddy that God's holding me?"  Of course I told him that would be great and that gave him a chance to talk to Lance one on one.  Brock and I came out to the den and Haley got up after a few minutes and as soon as she rounded the corner she said, "mom is daddy still here? Can I go tell him I asked Jesus into my heart last night and I want to get baptized?"  So then she got to go talk to him one on one.  Brock stayed out in the den and when Lance came up front he told Brock he had heard he made a big decision and how proud he was.  Brock was very matter of fact about it all.  He has been struggling with it for six months to a year sometimes more than others but to him He had done it and he didn't feel like he needed our approval I think.  So that is our HUGE news!!  WE HAVE THREE NEW CHRISTIANS in our house and I am so excited!  I slept better Tuesday night than I have in years and I really believe it is because My God showed out at our house that night and my soul was at peace.  We are going to take them individually to talk to our pastor and they have chosen to all be baptized at the same time so we just need to set that up.  Tons of pictures of that coming soon!  

A VERY EXCITING SATURDAY!!

About two months ago Haley and I had lunch with Matthew and he told me then that he thought he would get to dress out for last Saturdays game.  So as the game got closer we had our feelers out for tickets.  Lance was able to get tickets in the Zone from work and we were even able to use a parking pass so we felt like royalty.  We usually try to go to a few games each year, he usually takes the boys to one and we try to go to one together.  When I got the text Thursday night (they post the list after Thursday evening practices of who will dress that Saturday) it simply said, "I'm dressing".  I cannot tell you how excited those two simple words made me! He has worked so hard for this!  So I, of course had a million questions about when and where he would be and at what times because I have paparazzi tendencies and they really come out on these type days!  ;-)

We got up there right before the team came out to warm up and after wiping tears I started clicking the camera non-stop.  I won't make you endure the 300 pictures I took (well only 200 were during warm-ups) but here are some of my favorites.  

There are lots of duplicate numbers so I had to have one of him standing with the other 43.

 Brock and Ty get most excited about pictures where he has his helmet off so they can see that it really is Uncle Matthew.  Now Ty has added playing for Alabama to his "when I grow up" list.  He is going to be a very busy young man...owning a zoo, changing oil, being the president and playing for the University. ;-) ROLL TIDE!! 

October at a glance...

We were so excited this year that the cousins got to go to the fall carnival at NES with us!  Granna and Pop were so sweet to go get them for the weekend and be back in time on Friday for us to all go.  I really wish we all lived closer to each other because we love getting to all be together but it makes it special when they get to come and play!  So, this is a picture of the boys on Mr Jackie's train.  The little ones loved it and Dylan is so sweet to humor them on this kind of stuff!

Mam-Maw turned 95 the end of September.  She had a wonderful birthday party at the church but there was such a crowd we didn't get a good photo with her.  This one was taken at the family reunion.

The boys and me with Aunt Margaret at Ty's birthday party.

My sweet 5 year old and his Avengers cake.  Mrs Valerie always does such a great job on the cakes.

Sitting in the Birthday chair at Fun Factory.

Sitting in the birthday chair at Fun Factory with all of his friends!!

Well, most of his friends, there wasn't a spot for Joey in the first picture so we got one of him and the birthday boy.

The cousins

Aunt Margaret and Uncle Floyd

Popa, Ya-ya, Uncle Brad and Uncle D...I forgot to take one before Uncle Matthew left for practice.  

Granna and Pop

Uncle Brad trying out the birthday chair

My sweet princess in the chair

Daddy and the birthday boy

The A Girls had their October outing at The Barnyard.  It was so much fun!  We had a hayride and bonfire, roasted hot dogs and smores and of course got to play with the baby animals.

Carving pumpkins...

Haley has called the pumpkin insides "Cheese" since she was able to talk and without any prompting this year she stuck her hand right in and declared she was pulling all the cheese out.  Apparently she doesn't believe us that it really is not cheese.  

Brock's, Haley's and Ty's pumpkins.  They each picked their own design and we carved them just as they were drawn.  So much fun!!

The Incredible Hulk, Batman and Dorothy ready to Trick or Treat.  

Haley is working on a lapbook on Friday morning's at Co-op.  You could do it on anything you wanted and she decided to do it on her dogs.  So we needed pictures of the dogs.  Jake has gotten really big!

And Miss Cocoa

Here is the trick or treat gang ready to go house to house

Miss Vivi Ruth was the. cutest. thing. ever!!!  She was so shocked and excited after they knocked on the first door and got candy.  It was like,  did you see what just happened??  They gave me candy!!  

Lance surprised us on Friday and got off early to take us to see Wreck it Ralph.  

It was cute and lots of fun!

Ty with his very first trophy.  He was so excited!  It was a great first experience for him.  Trae and Tommy were so nice to him and he really seemed to be getting the hang of it all by the end of fall ball.   He says he will play in the spring so its going to be busy!!