How Quickly He Grows!

(Click on the collage to enlarge)

Caleb had his 12th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I had gathered some pictures to post but just haven't gotten around to putting them on the blog...better late than never, right?! 

Caleb's name is perfect for him.  When we picked it, we loved some of the verses in scripture about Caleb and the heart he had.  One of my favorites, and it seems to fit our Caleb perfectly, is in Numbers when the Israelites are preparing to enter the Promised Land after 40 years in the wilderness.  Caleb, who at this time was about 90 years old, says, "I'm as ready to fight today as I was 40 years ago!"  Now, you've gotta' love that heart!  He never doubted His Lord's power and plan.  He didn't waiver after all those years.  He finished strong.  That's a real man.  That's our prayer for our Caleb.  He's well on his way, and with the grace and strength of our Lord He will be a mighty man of God one day, too. 

Here are a few more pictures...We love you, Caleb D!!!





Always loved this one of Jake looking into the bassinet at Caleb in the hospital!

Caleb at 3 months old...he was a little chunker!!! I love sweet cheeks!

Playing in the mud...about 4 years old

Absolute sweetness! (:

Christmas 2010



On his birthday...12 years old!!!



Penn Jillette on Sharing the Gospel: "How much Do You Have to Hate Someone?"

Very powerful video that our pastor showed at church this past Sunday.  I was out of town, but Kenny shared this with me Sunday night.  This is Penn Jillette (an atheist) speaking about someone trying to share God's word with him...wow!  Not sure if there's a better "sermon" out there on sharing the gospel.

Caleb's Song

Caleb (who is almost 12) was asked to sing a solo for the school's elementary Easter chapel today (Yes, they did it a few weeks before Easter this year...start off the month ready to celebrate!) The entire chapel was just beautiful.  Here is video of Caleb singing Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace".  He loves to sing, but he's only done one solo ever before this one. Very thankful that he had the opportunity to share today.

I'll never forget a few years ago Caleb started really falling in love with singing.  For those of you who know me, you know I've always loved music and have always loved to sing. Well, when Caleb was about 8 years old  he told me one day as he fought back tears, "Mama, when I sing, I can't explain it, but I just FEEL God."  My heart knew exactly what he was talking about, and needless to say, it made me smile, because I knew that even in this tough, athletic little fella, God had put the gift of song and had begun molding his little heart a bit more into the man He was creating him to be. I think that's one of the things I love about Caleb.  He is such a rugged, tough, sports playing boy, but he's also always had this gentle side to him that is kind and true.  Hope you are blessed by his song today. 

"In the Corners of the Night..." by Jake





Yesterday Jake, our 13 year old remembered at the last minute that his 6th grade class at church was doing talent night...nothing formal, just a casual night of talent/variety show among friends.  He said, "I'll just write a quick poem and read it."  Now, Jake is an incredibly gifted writer, but I didn't love the idea of him just throwing something together.  I questioned him on whether or not this was a good idea.  He said, "Don't worry mom, I'm fine."  He went to the computer and spit out a poem in no more than 10 minutes.  When he came in the room to read it to me I was blown away.  My first question to him when he finished was, "Can I have your permission to print that on my blog?" Love this.  Just a sample of the mind of this boy. Yes, I'm bragging...Mama's are allowed to do that, right, especially on their own blog?!  In all seriousness, I have to brag on our Lord.  I love seeing little glimpses in our children of what He's up to.  Hope you enjoy the poem.  I didn't worry about changing punctuation, capitalization, etc. Just left it how he wrote it. 




In the corners of the night where it glows dark red
behind the black gates of stone, iron, and lead
hides the dark creature, Satan, in his flowing grey robes,
he stands like a king as time unfolds.
Now Satan glares down, on the Earth below,
and gives evil demons seeds of death to sow.
He prowls like a lion, though he seems harmless as a dove,
he truly is a being who has no love.
As the clock goes tick, and then it says tock,
Satan says he’ll never give, he’s as solid as a rock.
His armies of horseman, it kills and destroys,
exploiting evil pleasures of men and boys.
It seems there’s no hope for the people of Earth,
for Satan keeps a coming in his fiery mirth.
But just when hope for mankind looked grim,
while we were oh so lost in our sin,
came a rider on a white horse with a gold crown,
we hoped his kingdom could strike Satan’s down.
As this man Jesus went from town to town,
saying turn to the Lord cast your sins down
Satan’s workers, the Pharisees, were still doing all the evil they pleased.
They bombarded Jesus, wherever he went,
with a great many questions but he did not consent,
Jesus turned to them and said with a loud cry,
"The way to the Father is no other than I!”
Satan drew back again, poised to strike,
like a crafty black serpent, with gleaming red eyes
he struck forwards, at Jesus’s heel,
and within a day Jesus’s tomb was sealed.
Satan laughed with victory, he thought he had won,
but he didn’t get that he was messing with God’s only son!
Three days later there was a rumbling noise, followed by a snap and a shout.
The stone of the tomb was rolled away, and Jesus walked out!
Satan perhaps had bruised Jesus’s heel,
but that wasn’t enough to make Jesus kneel.
Jesus went to that serpent, whose eyes glowed red,
and in victory Jesus crushed its head.


                                                  






-All I have left to say is, "HALLELUJAH!!!"

Zech is Two!!!

Well, I'm a little behind, but happy birthday to my precious, beautiful baby boy, Zech!  I know we all say it, but I am in shock at how quickly time flies (can't believe my baby's 2!), but also can hardly remember our family without him!  So neat the way God does that. 


I wanted to give God some praise here, because we had a dangerous situation with Zech when he was just 2 weeks old.  Everything had gone just fine with the pregnancy and delivery, but out of nowhere at 2 weeks old he started running a high fever early one morning.  To make a very long story short, we ended up in the hospital for the next 2 weeks with him getting antibiotics to save his little life.  He was septic, which simply put, means he had a bacterial infection in his bloodstream.  The doctors told us that if we had been just a few hours later it most likely would have been too late.  Needless to say, the Lord had His hand on this little guy from the beginning, and I believe with all my heart, He has great plans for His life! 


I will say, that from about halfway through my pregnancy with Z, I started feeling very strongly that his name should be Zechariah.  Now, I'm quite aware that this isn't your everyday, "normal" name to most!  All I know is that God wouldn't allow me to let go of it, and we were certain by the time he arrived that Michael Zechariah would be his name. (Michael after Kenny's brother) Zechariah means "the Lord remembers"...isn't that an interesting meaning?  I thought it was.  I spent a lot of time back then thinking on the meaning of that, asking God what it meant, and I can't say I know exactly why it's his name, but I do know that the idea is that "the Lord is faithful."  The Lord remembers His people and will not forsake them.  I believe with everything in me that this precious one's life is going to show many people that our God is forever faithful. 


What do I love about Zech?  (pronounced "Zack" in case you're wondering...just stuck with the traditional Hebrew spelling).  Zechariah is our only red headed boy.  Gotta love that.  He's also the only Dallas child with curl in their hair!  I love how he has his own little trademark in the mix with all these other boys, and, yes, we absolutely love his hair long and curly for some reason...it's just him! Zech is about the smiliest thing you've ever seen.  He is ALWAYS smiling and literally almost always happy!  I don't say that pridefully, because each of these sweet children have come with their own personality from the beginning, but Zech just has this way about him that makes you feel happy just hanging around him.  He's laid back and smiley, shorter and small for his age, but he can climb about as good as the big boys already!  He loves cars, choo choos, buzz and woody, and about anything cowboy there is...oh, yeah, and he would LIVE outside if you let him.  Z just makes me smile.  I guess God knew I needed an easy baby this time, because Zech has been the kind of baby who makes us look like really great parents! I love the way his big brothers love him to death and the way he loves them (they're already begging for us to let him join them and move into their room where the 4 of them already bunk together!) I love the way Elly can't get enough of him and even more how he thinks she's his second mama!  I think he'd do anything she said!  Zech just loves people (and at the top of his list is his Poppa, my dad!) Funny, now that I think about it, that sounds just like my dad...just loves people.  Neat the way the Lord works, huh?


Quick Zech story from the other day before I close.  My mom was keeping the kids, and she's had some problems with her knee for the past few months.  She had propped her leg up to ice it, and Zech came over, putting his little hand right on her knee and bowed his head praying for her.  Now, ofcourse, he doesn't use too many words in a row yet, but it was quite clear what he was doing.  That's about as precious as it gets.  That's gotta' make our Lord smile.


Well, I suppose I've done enough bragging on sweet Zechy for now!  I just want to celebrate his sweet little life and all that God has done and will continue to do in the years ahead.  I can't imagine him any other way right now, but I know before I blink it will be hard to remember him at this sweet little age.  Lord help me just savor every single second of it!  Doesn't get any sweeter than this!

13 Year Old Preacher Boy

Today I witnessed a pretty amazing thing for a Mama.  My 13 year old son preached at Middle School chapel at his school.  This all came about because about a month ago he felt led to start a Bible study with the boys in his grade at lunch once a week.  He took the initiative and went to his principal and got permission to start this.  He worked out with one of his teachers a classroom to have it in and started spreading the word to all the guys.  Now, I have to admit, I know Jake is incredibly gifted with an amazing mind, especially about the things of God, but there's something in me as a mama that was afraid FOR him as his first day of trying this out approached. Kenny and I both asked him did he want to talk through any of it ahead of time, or did he need any guidance, help, etc.  "No, I'm good.  God's already shown me what to teach."  Well, 22 boys showed up the first week, and the word from the kids and the principal was that it couldn't have gone any better.  The kids were engaged, listening, asking questions, and didn't want to stop when the bell rang.  The following week every boy in his class came, and he's even gotten some girls to start a girls' Bible study, too!  Well, the middle school principal asked him a couple of weeks ago to do chapel today, so needless to say I was SO excited for the opportunity for him. However, as the day approached I was doing the same thing again, even though he knew exactly what the Lord had given him to speak about.  I was simply nervous for him!  This was the entire middle school.  Some of the kids are older than him.  Would he be able to hold their attention?  Would he be able to get his point across?  As smart as he is and as much as I know his heart's desire is to honor God and listen to Him, what if he says some things that aren't really lined up with scripture?  "Ok, enough," God said.  "How about you just trust me, Shannon?" The Lord reminded me of something He started teaching me the very first week I brought Jake home as a newborn from the hospital. 

I can remember just like any new mama, just holding him, feeding him, changing him and feeling so overwhelmed at this new little life God had breathed into existence....this little eternal soul that God had, in his miraculous ways, entrusted for a time to Kenny and me.  I literally can remember hovering over the bassinet just about to explode inside with joy looking at this tiny little creature God had so magnificently designed.  You hear new mama's say it all the time, but I really did stand over him making sure he was breathing so many times, especially that first few weeks. I was worried to death...butterflies in my stomach...about doing something wrong.  Messing up.  Not protecting him the way I should or training him just right.  I was flooded with emotions I had never experienced, and it was overwhelming in my spirit.  The Lord reminded me at that time of something Beth Moore had said in one of her Bible studies.  She had described similar feelings with her first child and how she would just stand over her, worry over her saying, "Lord, who needs angels to guard over her, you've got me!"  That's about where I was.  God began teaching me from that moment, "Shannon, I've got this.  It's not about you.  You're going to have to trust me."  You know, I'm no scholar, but I've been told that the Hebrew word picture for "trust" is a man lying at the feet of another, flat on his face, hands by his side, fully surrendered.  I don't know about you, but trust is a tough thing for me.

Well, today I was reminded by my Lord of that same truth again.  Trust.  I've heard it said, don't be afraid to leave someone alone with God.  Yes, we are to teach, to train, to pray over our children.  But we also have to learn how to leave them alone with God and trust that He doesn't always want us to be up in the middle of everything.  His Holy Spirit spoke through a 13 year old young man this morning.  Boldly, clearly, and beautifully, the entire middle school, including adults, completely mesmerized.  I sat there amazed.  I don't know why.  I know that's who this boy is.  It's him to the core.  Everything he does just reeks servanthood, sharing truth, and knowing not only the things of God, but truly KNOWING God.  Still, the Lord spoke to me and reminded me that He's got this.  Yes, I was reminded how important it is to keep doing the things the Lord has impressed upon us as parents in teaching and training our children, from Jake all the way down to our youngest, but more importantly I was reminded that God does His greatest works when we let go and simply trust Him.

Pardon My Progress (or Attempt at Progress!)

You may be noticing that the appearance of the blog has changed a couple of times in the past few days!  That's due to me trying to learn as I go how to design a blog!  It's pretty amazing all the neat stuff out there, but due to me being quite a novice to all this and only having a few minutes here and there to work on it in between life, it may be a gradual process!  I'm learning as I go, and I have several things I've found I want to try out, but not sure exactly when that will happen, so stay tuned, because the blog may be changing a little more day by day!  If any of you guys have any advice or tips, I'd LOVE to hear from you! Thanks!  Have a terrific day! (: