Our Favorite Summertime Treat



And, as they do with everything else, here are the kids doing "cheers!" with their watermelon slices

A visit with friends

We had a great visit with some good friends form Birmingham. Kenneth, Kathleen, and little jay came to Franklin this weekend to hang with the Stephens. We had great conversation, drank a few too many margaritas, and enjoyed a fun game of Phase 10. Over the course of the weekend I only took 3 pictures...wish I had taken more! Kenneth took more than me, so maybe he will send me some so I came post them (hint hint!)

Also, I made another tasty dessert from Picky Palate. They were so yummy! I used milk chocolate morsels for the top insead of semi-sweet 'cause we are definitely milk chocolate people around here. To see the Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bars go here. Amanda, I thought of you since you share the love of peanut butter and chocolate:)

Below is an e-mail I would ask all of you to read. Stephanie and Samuel Rainey are good friends of ours and Samuel's sister, Rebecca, gave birth to a little girl named Molly Ann earlier this week. Molly was born with brain and heart issues and, as you can imagine, these past few days have been extremely difficult. Please pray for Rebecca, her husband Jacob, and their sweet little girl (who is their first child). The e-mail was written yesterday by Rebecca's father, Dennis Rainey:

Molly’s condition remains the same, critical. Multiple meetings with neonatologists, pediatric cardiologists (from here to Little Rock, to Indiana to Mayo Clinic), neurologists, and interventional radiologists, have confirmed:
Much of her blood is going to the brain.
Because of the abnormal vein and aneurism, the blood that’s going there is ineffective, since it’s not going to her lungs, and the rest of her body…as a result 60-80% of her blood is going to her brain, normally it should be 10-15%. And because of this she is in congestive heart failure.
Damage is substantial to both halves of the brain and permanent.
As a result they have two options:
Brain surgery, very dangerous and at best a questionable procedure, since she’ll never function normally without a miracle. If the surgery is successful, the congestive heart failure could be slowed and with a couple more surgeries, perhaps eliminated. Leaving Molly with a damaged brain and many more dangerous surgeries.
Second option is to withdraw life support and enjoy what hours or days God may give Rebecca and Jake with her. It is likely she’ll only live a few hours.
I have to tell you that listening and watching Rebecca and Jake (with Molly in Jake’s arms) grapple over what God wants them to do in terms of treatment of their daughter has been THE most difficult thing I’ve ever watched. It’s been holy. Worshipful. Heart rending. It is beyond imagination and words. I know that some of you have been through this, but oh how tough to watch two people you love enter into this deep valley. I marvel at how honest and real they’ve continued to be. Their faith and trust in God is remarkable.
They have decided not to operate. And in the coming days, Rebecca and Jake have decided to remove the life support.
What has been unimaginatively tough has just become a lot tougher. Please pray for Jake and Rebecca’s broken hearts. Scriptures tell us our days are numbered. Molly’s little life may be comprised of less than 7 days.
I am grateful for your prayers and sustaining love.
God is God. We are surrendering to Him and His ways. Blessed be the Name of our God. There is NO hope in any other.

Dennis

One of my new favorite blogs to visit is picky palate. she always posts great ideas of fun things to cook and bake. On Sunday, I needed something quick and easy that the kids and I could bake for Daddy on Father's Day and I remembered seeing this on her blog. The kids had fun helping with the cookie dough and we all had fun eating the finished product!

simplicity

several of you have heard me mention lately that Mitch and I are in the process of simplifying our life. Simplifying our home (i.e. getting rid of the clutter), simplifying our time/schedule (little tv watching, being very mindful of what we commit to - big or small) simplify our spending...we are just pretty much evaluating and simplifying our lifestyle. Why you ask? Well, I am delighted to share that answer with you.
It all started back in early April when we went to hear John Eldridge speak at a local church. He shared his experiences of being quiet and listening to God, of being still and hearing the Lord speak to him. Mitch and I both walked away that night longing for that type of intimacy, both wanting to cultivate that quiet spirit that waits to hear His voice. A week or so after that, Mitch picked up a small book from our bookshelf titled "Intimacy with the Almighty" by Charles Swindoll. It's a very small book that has had a huge impact. It only affirmed what our hearts desired after walking away from John's message. I will not be able to do the book justice in my few comments, but I strongly suggest to add it to your reading list. In general, he shares how to cultivate an intimate relationship with the Lord. He shares 4 decision and 4 disciples that can move us in that direction. I will just share about the first decision which is "to reorder one's private world." The accompanying discipline to this is simplicity.

"To reorder one's private world, the need to simplify is imperitive. Otherwise, we will find ourselved unable to rest
within, unable to enter the deep, silent recesses of our hearts, where God's best messages are communicated.
And if we live very long in that condition, our hearts grow cold towards Christ and we become objects of
seduction in a wayward world."

"To get rid of clutter, simplicity isn't just nice - it's essential. But neither is automatic; it will call forth intense
determination."

In the past 2 months we have really sought after simplicity. For us, it has brought so much freedom. We feel a passion for knowing God that we haven't felt in a long time. We are still not done in terms of simplifying our home, but with each room and each closet our load gets a little lighter. And just in case you were wondering, the next decisions/disciplines are:
To be still/silence
to cultivate serenity/solitude
to trust the Lord completely/surrender

Good stuff, i tell ya. Good stuff.

In the next few days I will share some thoughts on 1Timothy 6 and how living simply is closely tied to living green. I would love to write more now, but I don't want to bore you!

Testing...

Due to some much needed computer software upgrades, I am finally able to blog again! We were having an issue where I was able to write an entry, but unable to post it. So, this is my test post. Here is a recent picture of my precious little girl.