WATCH OUT!!!

If you're planning on driving through Dallas these days, there's a hot new reserve officer roaming the streets with a badge, a gun and a desire to serve justice. So be good!


David graduated from the police reserve academy last Saturday night. Not only did he complete his six months of training with flying colors, he also received the "Top Shooter" award. Yes that was the top shooter award! His graduating class had 37.


Being sworn in by the Dallas Chief of Police, who is also an amazing man of God and a friend.

For those of you who are wondering, this is still a volunteer position. Right now he is third on the hiring list at Dallas, so we will just continue waiting patiently. We are so excited to see what God has planned for us!

I'm so proud of my man!!!

For those of you who missed my original post about how the Lord has been directing us this way, here's the link: http://graceisblessedbygod.blogspot.com/2008/09/proud-to-be-his-wife.html

Happy Birthday Lydia!

Lydia celebrated her fourth birthday last week. I'm finding this harder and harder to do! I could write a book about my sweet little girl and still not feel like I've given you an accurate portrayal of her! Nevertheless I will attempt to do my best.

I got pregnant with Lydia after being married for two months. I was so excited! I have wanted to be a mom all of my life! My husband, David, comes from a family of eight boys and one girl so I naturally assumed that we would have a houseful of boys too. We were positive we were having a boy and actually called her a "him" the duration of my pregnancy, but the Lord was working on my heart! I remember getting a bag of hand me down clothes, looking at the girl clothes and actually crying while praying " Lord, please give me a girl someday!". Maybe I need to reverse my prayer now!

My labor was incredibly long with her, lasting 49 1/2 hours, but finally Lydia Grace was born. I couldn't believe she was a girl. We were both overjoyed even though we both would have said previously that we wanted a boy.

Lydia has been a joy and a blessing every moment of her life. I am so amazed at God's blessing towards me in giving her to me. She is such a little mommy and loves taking care of her sisters. She talks about getting married all the time. She also loves to sing and always has a song in her heart. A few months ago she let us know that she wanted to pray to ask Jesus to come in her heart and she loves being a child of God and finding out all of the brothers and sisters in Christ she has!

I am so excited to see all that the Lord has in store for her. I also tremble at the thought of being responsible for raising her in a way that honors the Lord. What a challenge that is! It is so rewarding though to see the fruit in such a little life. I love you Baby Girl!

I'm behind again!!!

Well, once again I've found myself woefully behind on keeping you all updated with what's going on in my life. Awhile back I might have figured that it didn't really matter, seeing as how I only get about 1-2 comments per post ( thank you Alysun!), but then I found the live traffic feed post! I can't even begin to tell you how much that has brightened my world of blogging! To see how many people at least give my blog a glance has renewed my fire. Now I just have to figure out how to get you all to at least admit that you stopped by! Even a brief " I'm came by" would brighten my day. Even if you don't have a blog you can post "anonymously".

I will now try to catch up on the big things in life and hopefully remain up to date on what is going on for us!

Happy Birthday Havilah!!!

I am actually three days late with this post as her birthday was the 22nd, but I thought that I had better go and give some recognition to my youngest little sweetheart.

Let's see, what do I remember the most about Havilah's birth? I found out I was pregnant with Havilah during one of the most stressful times of our lives. We had to move very soon and still didn't know where and work was the slowest it had ever been for David. We knew right away though that God had an amazing plan for this little one and that she would be a tremendous blessing and not a burden.

Her pregnancy flew by! With two little girls to chase around there wasn't much time to just sit. She was six days late and I remember going to the hospital and feeling uneasy about maybe having a boy because David and Lydia were at such odds about what we should name him. They would go back and forth about how Daddy likes Moses, but Lydia likes Gabe. I was pretty sure I was having another jewel of a daughter though!

Her labor was by far the easiest I had ever had. It was only eight hours and I never even had to get to my "hoo hoo heee" breathing! When she came out, she was so beautiful! I know every mom says that, but I was overwhelmed at the beautiful little creation I held.

She truly is a treasure. Her smile is the most effective medicine I've found. She is definitely our most "strong willed" child, but it is so rewarding to see the fruits of training her. She is going to be one powerful young woman!

I am so thankful for my precious little Havi. My heart delights in being her Mommy.

Havilah at the Hospital

Yesterday we went in to Legacy Emanuel Hospital for Havilah to have a skin graft done. This was our first surgery to have happen to an of our children and I'm so thankful to say that everything went great!

She was such a darling little patient. All the nurses loved her!

Making sure she was still ticking!

This is was our great doctor, Dr. Pulito. He was so sweet! They had given her some stuff to make her a little loopy before starting so she really did look like that in real life! After just being totally hilarious for a while though, she decided that she really didn't like not being able to think straight and screamed the rest of the waiting time!

I finally got to hold her after the surgery. She was so hungry that she downed two glucose bottle and one of apple juice in about five minutes. They couldn't give her any more!

Not something I ever want to repeat but I am so thankful that all went well and for the loving people who took such good care of us!

Sad Days!

Last Friday night our sweet little Havi took advantage of the two seconds Mommy wasn't looking and pulled the iron onto herself. We took her to the hospital where we learned she has a third degree burn on her left hand. The blessing in this horrible situation is that because the burn is so bad, she is in no pain at least up until now. Please pray for our precious sweetie that she would heal quickly and efficiently. Thank you!

Havilah These Days

I can't believe how fast she is growing up so I thought that I would catch you up on what's happening in my littlest one's life.

Teeth. While my first two were amazing teethers ( I rarely knew a tooth was coming until it broke through!) Havilah is educating me on what it is really like when someone says " My baby is teething. Three down, many more to come!

She loves being a big girl and so far is not showing any amazing signs of being the most humble baby of the year! She likes everyone to know how proud she is of herself.

Ahh, yes. Stairs. How can going up be so easy and fun and coming down such a puzzle?

Did I mention that I think she's beautiful? She continues to melt my heart everyday!