The Other 4 Bakers

Happy Fall, Sunday afternoon to ya!

Well I have had it brought to my attention that it appears I have an only child because Sarah has hogged up the last 3 blogs that I have written. When you only write 6 blogs and 1/2 of the them are about ONE child...that probably doesnt look so good. SO, even though the others would NEVER think I love 1 more then the other I thought I would write a short blog (ha) updating family and friends on the other Baker's! I will try to not bring up S___H. **Warning - a disclaimer right off the bat - if you love my children, you will love this blog -- if you don't really care or know them then you will be bored and want to scream. So read on because this is a blog to honor the rest of the Baker 5!!!

Let's see, my Rachel is AMAZING. She is trying, praying, saving, hoping and dreaming about Israel!! Her dreams and visions point her heart to Israel and she would LOVE to go there for a period of time. Her and S___H went to Israel last summer and a part of her heart stayed. So, we are joining in her prayers that if it is the Lords will...she will GO! She is subbing for the schools in our town and is really loving that. Rachel bossing 20+ kids around - has to be 1 of her dreams, HA! She also cleans houses and is a nanny for a few families. So did I mention she is a HARD WORKER. The girl is constantly working. If you need your house cleaned by a pro, Rach is your girl, she's had PLENTY of practice. Rach is living at home and we LOVE it that way. She has the best friend in the WORLD, Megan and MANY others. They ALWAYS have something going on. If its not a road trip, a concert, going to a movie&dinner or just hanging out - they are having a great time and making many, many memories. She has to be 1 of the BEST big sisters. When she was younger we would have a discipline problem come up with 1 of the other kids and Rachel would think that she was 1 of the parents. 1 time she looked at Ray & I and said, "WHAT are we gonna do with her"? The 1st born has a tough role to fill but man she fills it to perfection! Rachel is so wise, wise beyond her years and I often go to her for wisdom in SO MANY areas. I love how the Lord uses her words to bring calm, direct, peace to a situation. BOY is she annointed - in SO many ways. ALSO she is always up for a sister/sister date or a sister/bubbie date. She has the most giving, loving heart with a capacity to make you feel like you are THE MOST SPECIAL, loved person she has every known. Rach doesn't get 1/2 the credit for EVERYTHING she does for EVERYONE in her life!!! She is storing up many, many, many jewels for her crown in heaven. SO, that is a tiny bit of what is new with Rachel, no. 1 daughter and my faithful friend.

On to Hannah, Nan, Nantucket, Han, Hannah Banana, Monkey, Hannah Ray --- she even has MORE AMAZING qualities then she does nicknames!! Well let's see. She has turned into, well she has always been, but in the last year - what a beautiful, mature young woman she has become. My little woman with a PURE HEART OF GOLD. She still has a way with 1 smile that pours out the LOVE of Jesus!! She is my favorite 3rd daughter and man she blows me away with her wisdom and compassion for everyone. She has had a BIG change in her life....a boyfriend/manfriend - whatever you want to call him. He is Austin and we all are slightly crazy about him. After 9 months of becoming bestfriends they began to date. May I add the other most important person in Nan's life is Olivia and they all 3 became best friends so for me that was the BEST! Nobody would have had a chance if Liv didnt approve. Grant even adores him so you know he is a great guy. He is 1 of the BEST things that has ever happened to Ms. Hannah and they are precious together. To watch them cherish each other is like watching the Father lavish His love on them through each other. He fits into our family like he has always been here. So we approve and...being a photographer, they take a SUPER picture together too! To see Hannah be a girlfriend blows us away because of her selfless heart. What a testimony of the Fathers heart to us! We love to watch her love so effortlessly! I so admire who she is. Hannah is the BEST of Ray and I! Nan also has a job at a coffee shop that is cramping her style as far as sleeping in but she enjoys it. So that is a small update on Ms. Hannah.

Ms. Olivia -- woman of many nicknames as well. Well this could be the longest paragraph. She is such a delight. If we could wrap her up in 1 word that is the word I would use. What a delight to raise. Liv is the glue that keeps all the kids together. I think in most families there is 1 sibling that the Lord uses to keep the family going long after the parents are gone. That 1 will be Liv. I think because she is SO easygoing and steady - they all just look up to her to bring a chill to any situation and she is the baby of the girls - go fish! She is also the life of the the party - there is NOBODY that can make me laugh like her - she is something else. Her big sisters are her BIGGEST fans!! Her year has brought changes. Some growing pains but many, many more revelations from Jesus. Man this is tough because I could go ON and ON. If you know me that isn't hard for me to do but I would love to honor her for the AMAZING young woman she is and the PRICELESS jewel she is becoming!! Not that the other 4 aren't just as priceless but this year Liv has come into her own in such a unique way. It's hard to put into words and I could explain it in tongues better I am sure! She marvels me at her maturity in the Lord - she is SO FUN and in an instant she can share her heart and you are WOWED! Olivia is one of the biggest servants that you will ever meet - she gets that from her Daddy. She will jump to help someone. If you are around her long at all she will do SOMETHING for you!! What an AMAZING quality! I wish I was more like her in SO MANY ways!! What a delight! She also is a HARD WORKER. When Rachel needs her to help clean a house - Liv is willing and quite able! Did I mention that she is a raving beauty too but she is just as beautiful on the inside. I am so beyond excited to see what her future is going to be like. She is different in some ways then the others - I know the Lord has BIG, AMAZING things for every 1 of our children but He has something VERY unique for Liv's life. The Lord has shared a little bit of it with us but it is TO BIG for us to even comprehend right now. I count it a GREAT privelege to be her Mom. She makes ME better!! SO, I am gonna stop because I could go ON and ON! OH, she turned 16 this year which is a BIG deal! My sweet, sweet 16 year old. I love you Liv, you are my SUNSHINE!

MR. GRANT!! No.1 SON, my very, very, very FAVORITE SON!! NO other son like him in ALL THE WORLD! I am sure of that. OK, these are getting sappy! I never knew I wanted a son. Having 4 daughters and thinking I would never have a son, people would tell me you must have a son. Well I would want to fight them because nothing could be more amazing then my girls. WELL, how wrong was I!! He is a clone of his father. I am so serious, he is RAY BAKER in an 8 year old body. He is quite the blessed young man because he has 4 big sisters that think that he hung the moon. But Mr. Grant holds his own around here and Austin coming into his life has brought some "guy time" to him that has been such a blessing. They haven't broken anything "YET" in the living roon! He is in 3rd grade and may I say he is a genius. He loves to read, he loves movies, he love video games, he loves outside and he LOVES his Momma. I love that little boy. Grant has such an AMAZING heart - VERY sensitive, which is tough when he cant control grown up stuff but what a precious, precious heart he has. He is FUNNY and it is crazy to me that he has the SAME sense of humor that Ray has. I LOVE THAT. Also, I am extra nice to him because LONG after the girls are gone - Grant and Ray will be here to overtake the house with GUY STUFF. SO, that is a portion of Grant.

OK, that is all and I pray that makes up for all the blog attention on S___H! Can I say I love her very, very, very, very much and MISS her more than that. Most of what I said about them individually, I could say about them ALL!!! I am SO PROUD to be their Mom. What an HONOR to be their Mom! The thing that makes me the PROUDEST is their LOVE for the Lord. They all have a true relationship with Him and it is SO evident in their lives!! They are a true reflection of Jesus!! Man we got GREAT kids! It is the GRACE of God! But they are AMAZING and I can only take a tiny bit of credit. The Lord has truly, truly BLESSED us with 4 GODLY little women and a dashing GODLY son! The true riches of our lives! Some people may seek fame, fortune or success in this world but something that will last for eternity is so much better to put 2nd in your life, after our heavenly Father. Eternity will be forever affected by these 5 creations.

I pray that 1 day or today you can write a blog about your children like this. Has it always been perfect, NOPE but when we can ALL take our imperfections and make a vessel that is yielded back to Jesus - that is where a GREAT harvest of fruit will come from. So I pray blessings to overtake you MORE then they have US! Have a super FALL and enjoy your friends and family this holiday! Teddi

PICTURES!! Even though you don't have to look far on my myspace to find pictures of these kiddos - I still like a blog with pix! We took some last night at a festival that we went to so I will show a few of those and some old 1's.

The eldest and the youngest girls - Rachel and Olivia



The 2 middle girls -- Sarah (S___H) and Hannah



BEST FRIENDS


The BOY - we have decided since he is smiling challenged, we make him smile with his mouth CLOSED! Ortho here he comes! And SWEET Hannah!



This was on his birthday--Grant Man



Grant kinda looks in pain!



THE FAB 4 at 1 of the MANY weddings we took part in and went to this grand ole summer!



Here is the CUTE couple - probably not their favorite pic. but it is 1 of mine so my blog, my pick!



Megan is a BIG part of our family and she did make the blog so I MUST put a pic. in of her and her best tall pal - RACH!



I think that is LONG enough! I am for sure a MOM to the core after reading and looking at this blog. I don't apologies for a word!!!! Until next time....

I'm gonna sneak 1 more in of you know who...I couldn't resist. I found this hidden in my computer so it has NEVER been seen. This was on her 21st birthday!! Man I miss seeing this face everyday!!!

1 month mark for Sarah

Hello ALL, I thought I would write an update since today marks 1 month of Sarah being gone. I could seriously write 1 word and be DONE with this, well maybe 2. HA, now we know that isnt gonna happen. The 1st word would be GREAT and the 2nd word would be HAPPY!! That is Sarah!! Today is her day off or her Sabbath and I talked to her about an hour and she sounded SO great!! I have NEVER in her 21 years heard in her voice what I hear now!! After we got done talking she wrote me a text and told me how much she loved talking to me and she wrote, "Mom, I'm just so happy and the only thing that could be better is if ya'll were all here"!!! WOW, what more could a Mom want! She is living a dream that she has had for a really long time and it makes my heart FULL that she is walking in His will. SO, that is how she is doing. Happy, healthy but not warm. She is VERY, VERY cold and it aint even winter. I dont know how she is gonna LOVE it when she is up to her knees in snow and COLD to the bone but I'm sure she will LOVE that too. She has totally gotten used to her schedule. Some room mates have been challenging but the Lord has a plan in that (he, he). She's LOVING the FALL in Kansas City - even if she doesnt see alot of the SUN. She absolutely LOVES her classes. Her prayer time in the prayer room has been intense, humbling, GLORIOUS and life changing (man I think I need to go)!! OH, she auditioned to be a worshipper for 1 of the prayer rooms and she was accepted! YAY! It's kinda different the way they do things but she is trusting the Lord for the right timing and team that He wants her to be on and when.

Our family is going to visit her in a couple of weeks and she is VERY excited for that. When we leave after 4 days Olivia is going to stay another week with a friend so Sarah is very excited to have her Liv with her. Everyone has had their moments of REALLY missing her but I can understand the Lord's GRACE now more then I ever, ever have. I think if she was out of the Lord's will I would not have the grace that I have but KNOWING that she is in His will just makes missing her easier. She is now a 1/3 of the way done with this 3 month internship BUT...I would be SHOCKED if she didnt stay! We dont know yet because the 3 months isnt up and the day it is over she may say - my time is up. But right now she says her heart is at home there. Maybe it is for now but we are preparing ourselves for her to stay! I NEVER in a TRILLION years thought that I could say that but I can because of GRACE! We never know the seasons that the Lord has us go through and how long they will last so we will see. I would rather be prepared then hit blindsided with, Mom/Dad, I cant leave. The awesome thing about it is our whole family feels the same way. We want her and all of them, where the Lord wants them! PERIOD.... I believe that Sarah and all of us have assignments along the way of life and at different times we need to get this assignment done to be ready for the next. Before she left I heard over and over and over in my Spirit that "NO assignment will be left undone in her"! Pretty exciting! Of course there will be many, many more in her life but the ones that the Lord has for her to complete, finish and succeed in NOW - WILL BE DONE! So I have that AWESOME promise and I am standing on that.

So, thanks to everyone that has checked in to see how she is and the prayers for her and us! They have been heard. She will be there for Thanksgiving so I am praying for her to have a nice day without her family but new friends that will become like family. She has met some amazing people that have helped her and been there for her. They have actually been used by God to help remind her of what she wants for her future!! YES, she got her dreams and visions back! I am SO grateful to the Lord for them and we cant wait to meet them. The Lord is just so AWESOME people, He takes such good care of the people we love. Trust Him today.

The ONLY sad thing about this blog is I have NO recent pictures. Well I do have a pix. that she sent of herself with her phone, with a -- I MISS YOU BABY-- to Liv - so I will use that. Not the best quality but I promised, NO blog without pictures. We are gonna take pix. when we go so for the next 2 mth. mark blog -- OH, WE WILL HAVE PICTURES!! Blessings to you ALL, Teddi

Well I looked for the pix. and I cant find it so I will post this and when Liv gets home she will find it.

Update on Sarah

Well we are a few hrs. shy of Sarah being gone for 1 WEEK!! WOW!! 12 to go. I figured up the weeks and it wasn't 12 weeks, it is 1 day away from 13 weeks!!!

I have talked to her just a few times because she is SO busy and I wait for her to call. She is very sappy in her text messages so I know she is missing home. Ray and I had a long talk with her yesterday and she sounded SO GREAT!!!! I for real can't explain how GREAT she sounded!! It took 1 trillion tons off of our shoulders.

Let me see, she said that in her transition from being a Grandma and going to bed at 10 to staying up all night - she has done SUPERB. She has had moments of being tired but just moments. She feels that she is totally a night owl - no problems! We really prayed for that 1. If you know her you know the girl likes her sleep.

SO...she has 7 roomates in her 2 bedroom apartment, 2 BATH (thank goodness). She is enjoying them ALL (YAY). In her room she has 3 roomates and she is really clicking with them. She is planning trips with them - visiting families and so on. She LOVES KC - it's cooler then here already so she is pumped. For all the shopping we did before she left, she will be decked out with her winter attire.

She has gotten "in trouble" 2 times! HA!!! 1 time for talking in the prayers room - asking her roommates where they were going and the other for having coffee with a "BOY"!!! YIKES!!! There is a nice fellow that helped her push her application through and she wanted to meet up with him to say thanks - well meeting at the IHOP coffee shop with people around wasn't "group" enough for whoever ratted on her. SO...she learned her lesson and will meet with 3 or more from now on, if there is a boy in the group. Good rule!!!

She is absolutely LOVING the classes and talked to Ray about all her new revelation. She is "getting use to" the worship. A little different but she is beginning to love it. She has decided to audition when the time comes that she can.

1 week into her prayer sabbatical she feels that she probably isn't called to IHOP longterm - she feels that she is there for a refreshing, new revelations in her life and healing so she doesn't think she will be there more then 3 months but she didn't promise anything!! We will continue to trust God that she will hear His voice for her next move in life. The world is her limit.

We are VERY excited for her!! I was so antsy before she left and when I last blogged. I just had NO IDEA what to expect. She told me at lunch before she left that she had NO EXPECTATIONS herself. As her parents we just needed to hear her say that this is where I am suppose to be. Which gave me a HUGE sigh of relief - especially since I was the 1 that encouraged her so much to GO!!!

Our family staying up with her for her watch has gone SO WELL!! I think everyone has had a watch but Rachel. Grandma has been handy because she can "cat nap" through the evening and take the 3 to 6 shift. Ray and I have split the time so that is working. Sweet Liv has been the most faithful. 1 night she was at Megans and I had the 12to3. Well I knew she was up and I texted her at 1:30 and told her that I was really fighting to stay awake. She writes back and says, Mom you have to do this for our girl - you can do it. Of course I did it and she writes me right at 3 and sees how I am. Well I wrote her back and asked her WHY are we both up - you could have had the watch!!! She is silly!! It was awesome to write that 1st blog and have SO MANY people write me messages and they all talked about our families unity and how great it is that we support each other so much. I was taken back because I just don't think it is unusual but I guess it is.

So that is our 1 week update - 1 will let you know if anything new happens like - "Mom/Dad HE found me"!!! HA!! Just kidding!! She will kill me for that comment!!

Well Sarah if you read this WE MISS YOU but we are SO BEYOND BLESSED, HAPPY, ESTATIC, PEACEFUL and PROUD of what you are doing!! You are sacrificing A LOT to OBEY the Lord and what a reward you will have. LOVE YOU!!!

OK - I swore to myself I would never have a blog without pix. or videos so I will hunt for some pix. Blessings to ALL!!!

She was TRYING to eat a hot dog but MOM had the camera!!! Isn't she PRECIOUS and her new haircut is HER!!!

Liv, Coty and Sarah



Sarah and BlaireOK - I am sad now!!! All I want to do is pinch her cute cheeks and give her a hug!! We found out yesterday she can't come home for Thanksgiving so that is sad but the Lord will find her some family to share it with I am sure!!

Sarah is Kansas City BOUND!!!!

Well, about 3 hrs. ago (45 min. later then planned) my Sarah headed out to Kansas City, Missouri to go to IHOP (International House of Prayer) for 3 MONTHS!!! Ray, Hannah and Olivia drove with her and then they are going to help set her up in her apartment and fly home tomorrow. Coty followed them but that is for my next blog!! I know that 3 mths. isn't long to most but in my families mind that is a 1/4 of the YEAR!!! WOW!!! She has traveled for long periods of time - 3 weeks in India - 1 mth. in Israel&France - 2 weeks here and there, Philippines - also 6 weeks for 2 summers in a row at Camp (YFN). But NOT 3 mths!!! She may come home for Thanksgiving but that is not for sure - SO, she is GONE!!! YIKES!!!

She is my VERY most independent child and she was created to do what she is doing!! Her independence has driven me crazy over the years from the time she was LITTLE bitty, but I have grown to LOVE the independent woman that she is. The Lord has stretched her in more ways then she has agreed to lately but through everything she has walked a testimony of trusting the Lord with her life!! SO....she is gone for 3 mths. - we pray!! Her desire is to come home but she has NO IDEA what the Lord may desire - that is were I come in - not wanting to give her physically up, but knowing I MUST!! It is a very different season for Ray and I - the sisters aren't happy but KNOW that she is walking in God's will - Grant isn't happy and doesn't really care about God's will at this point. Grandma is SO HAPPY that her "Sarah Belle" is going to do what my mother is SO PASSIONATE about - PRAYER!!! The only way that as a Mother I can explain how I feel is this --- I have had this quiver full of arrows (our children) and I feel as though I have reached back and got 1 of those arrows and launched it into the sky!! Not really certain where it will land but confident, FULLY relying on God to take care of that arrow and make it land EXACTLY where HE needs it to BE!!!

We are all looking forward to Sarah seeking the Lords face and beginning a brand new season that is going to re-fire her desire to run this incredible race that she has ALWAYS ran, but just slowed down for a time!! She is SO FOCUSED on wanting what the Lord wants for her life!!

God is so good to me - when they left Grant was upset and I told him I would go to McDonalds to get him a burritos (to get his mind off of things). When I got in the truck a CD was playing - it was Misty Edwards singing "Finally I Surrender" and the 1st words from the song are - All I want is, YOU to have your way - WOW!!! That has been my anthem for ALL the years I have been a Mom but OH GOD did I need that song!! I cried all the way there and back. When the words - I surrender all came on I knew that I knew that the Lord wanted me to surrender her to HIM - again!!! It was so precious of Him to give me that song! I can't wait to tell her later about that.

I just wanted to take a second to tell all of Sarah's friends how overwhelmed we all have been with your love and support for her!! You would think that she was going to war with how much support she has got. My kids have some of the BEST FRIENDS in their lives. You ALL make them better. She has had more lunch and then dinner dates in the last 10 days - in the last 2 days I bet we have had 20 friends come to say goodbye, bring her stuff (Casey), just LOVE on her and reluctantly let her go. Sarah is a VERY unique person - she is so many different things to all of us. To me she is my source of STRENGTH on earth - she has gotten me through some tough times in my life. When Ray isn't here Sarah is who I go to when I need prayer, when I need a stern word to TRUST GOD. Her faith in the past is unwavering (I can't wait to see that again)!! Her black and white personality has always WOWED me!! OK - I was doing good till now - tears flow - To her sisters she is their ROCK!! I think it has rocked our family to see her go through trials lately because Sarah isn't usually shaken by much!! To Ray she is a friend that he can spend hrs. talking about the Lord with! To her friends she is MANY, MANY things....and the girl has friends!!! ALL OVER THIS WORLD!!!

Since I want to put some pix. and videos in this blog (because that is fun) - I will tell you about Sunday. Sunday during our worship time I took some video on a camera - not the best sound & its dark - but I will share that with you all. For those of you that haven't seen her worship, that is her HEART - if you truly know Sarah you know that she is the MOST fulfilled worshiping her GOD!!! It was a powerful time and then came the time that we put her in the middle of the living room and we ALL prayed over her. To hear every one of her sisters pray a POWERFUL prayer over her and her Daddy of course, it was truly unforgettable - and I knelt at her feet, unable to pray, just ugly cried!!! Then so many of her friends prayed, it was AWESOME. Everyone covered EVERYTHING, spirit, soul and body!! She is coveredd!! So here is a song from Sunday. It's VERY interesting how the song she is singing says - Lord have YOUR WAY!!



And this is another song~


So that is a little of what she is going to do in KC - WORSHIP at the throne of God and PRAY to the Lord for His kingdom to come and His will to be done!!
She is going to be having the midnight to 6am prayer watch - which will be a stretch for my Sarah!! She has worked the last mths a job that she had to get up early so she is in the habit of going to bed early!! So, it will take her body some getting use to!!! But we as a family are going to be doing the watches with her. There is 6 of us and we are going to take 1 night a week each and stay up with her (she has 1 night off). On our watch we will watching on the internet what is going on in the prayer room that she will be in and we will be praying for all the things she is. It will be our way of joining in with her prayers!! Then 1 day a week she has to fast and we are going to fast as a family with her. I believe it is $10.00 a mth to subscribe to IHOP's prayer room - and if you do you may just see Sarah praying heaven down - and after she has been there a mth. she can audition for a worship team and she would be up doing worship!! Very exciting for her!!!

Well that is what is going on with 1 of the Baker kids and for all our friends on Myspace I wanted to share some of the details of our journey. OH, to pictures - my favorite. Yesterday we had an AWESOME day!! The 5 kids were gonna go on a date. Ray couldn't get away from work (which NEVER happens, but it did yesterday) so he left Grant with plenty of money to take HIS girls out for a DATE!! Well I got invited so we all 6 went to Pappadeaux for an AWESOME lunch (thanks to Austin for recommending yummy dishes)!! Of course I took a camera and that restaurant has some really pretty areas outside, so we just had to have a little photoshoot!! So here are a few of them.....

The FIVE!!!


On our way for the day!!


At the restaurant - Grant had ALL his weight on Sarah's shoulders!! We also couldn't stop laughing because the boy CAN'T smile!! AND he talks ALOT so every picture is him in mid sentence!!



Then 1 of Sarah and her guy!!!!


OH, and 1 more of Grant and Sarah - my fav!!!



Well that is all for now. If the Lord places on your heart to pray for Sarah, please do. She will probably be praying at some time for all of us!!! So Sarah if you see this don't be mad about the video clip - YIKES - and have the time of your life - meeting new people from ALL over the WORLD - spending time with just YOU and JESUS - spreading your wings and FLYING!!!! Know that you will TRULY BE MISSED and it won't be the same around here without you!! I love you my little one!! Go in PEACE and SERVE GOD WELL!!!! Walk in the FAVOR of the LORD!! We will see YOU in 3 mths. - I PRAY!!!!!

Grant's 8th Birthday PARTY!!!!

Well Sunday No.5 child and No.1 SON had his 8th birthday - or he likes to say 1/2 way to 16!! It was a beautiful day for a backyard party. He wanted it to be a "dude" party so we tried but he did allow the sisters to come. We played a few really fun games so I thought I would give my hand at posting videos & pix in a blog.

1st game was the balloon toss ~ I think Hannah and Liv won!


The BIRTHDAY boy REALLY concentrating!!


After the balloon toss there were a few balloons left - well they couldnt go to waste so Ray began throwing them at the "kids" on the trampoline - Sarah got soaked and tried to dodge them but didnt always succeed!!




The 1st video is a fun game called "The Balloon Stomp" - it was really fun and VERY competitive - ENJOY
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Here are a couple of REALLY funny pix. of Sarah and Hannah (my 2 most competitive) - I think Sarah could be called for holding.




Grant with the WINNER!!!


Then we bought a BUNCH of silly string which is ALWAYS a hit. Ray thought to put Grant on a ladder with safety glasses on and let everyone shoot the silly string at him. Then Hannah got Sarah back for popping her balloon. Here is that crazy game.

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Silly pix.!!


A few covered in Silly String


I believe the last game was the pudding race~not to many big kids wanted to do this-we had some good sports!! Let's say Grant won that 1!!!





A few pix of different people~

Emanuel is always a big help!!


Grants cousin Landry-3 mths. apart





Then came presents and OH was he BLESSED!! Its VERY HARD not to want to buy a kid that is SO AWESOME everything he wants!! So between us and all the others that love him - he raked in the gifts!!


After presents came CAKE - it was the LONGEST rendition of "Happy Birthday" and as you can see Grant went ahead and blew the candles out!!



Grant had a WONDERFUL birthday - starting with him and his Dad going to IHOP for breakfast!! Then he went shopping with me to pick up his cake - a few of his favorite people weren't at his party, he missed them but understood. He is such an AMAZING kid - I know I can say that about all my kids (they aren't perfect but they are AMAZING to ME)!! He is beyond smart - funny - sensitive - and just an all around AWESOME SON!!! I waited for him for a very long time and I really didn't know what I was missing until the last 8 years!!! So heres to you Grant, you are my number 1 SON for ever and EVER!!!!! I LOVE YOU more then words can say - ALL the way to the MOON and BACK - MORE then the very LAST number!!!! Thanks for being my son!!!!

After all the festivities this is where the big kids ended up!!!

So that is my 1st video/pix. blog and I am very pleased how it turned out!! I tell my kids - I blog ya'lls lives through pictures but I think I like this way too. Maybe MORE to come.....

Honoring the BEST Dad in the WHOLE WORLD!!

I just wanted to write a little (yeah right) something to honor my husband and the father of ALL our kiddos!! Really there isn't enough words to describe what an amazing man he is. Since it is Father's Day I will stick with that subject.

He has been a Daddy for 23 years and he is THE BEST DADDY in the WHOLE WORLD. Does that sound cheesy, cliche, silly -- probably, but if you know him you know that HE IS!!! Let me try to put into words HOW AMAZING he is!!

1st of all to be the MOST AMAZING Dad you MUST be an AMAZING MAN of God and ALWAYS put God 1st -- he is and he does 1,000,000 times over!! 2 you MUST be an AMAZING husband and he is MORE AMAZING then I could EVER, EVER, EVER write.
So let me review - he has things in ORDER - God, wife and then.....KIDS. Our kids ALWAYS know that they are after me and they LOVE THAT!! They know that is the order it should be and they KNOW that we will be together LONG after they are gone out of the NEST. So after God, after me they are 1 in his world!! In that world he will do ANYTHING and I do mean ANYTHING for them!!! If it is humanly possible the man is there for his kids.

I am sitting here not able to put into words how great he is!! The only thing that comes to mind is that he is the TRUE REFLECTION OF JESUS!!! He is not his own - he has laid down his life for his family. Not just his immediate family but ANYONE that God puts in his path - he helps, he takes care of, he listens to, he geniunely LOVES!!
In my book he is a SAINT but when I say that he tells me that saints are dead so I just call him my hero!!

This weekend we counseled a couple that Ray is going to marry and to sit by him and hear him speak and know that every word that comes out of his mouth HE LIVES, that is an AWESOME thing!! I TRULY have NEVER met a BETTER father then he is (I know plenty would fight for that title)!!

I asked some of the kids (and not just his DNA kids) to give me words to describe their Dad/Pops and here goes....awesome, COOL, funny, ONE OF A KIND, silly, precious, SELFLESS, biggest giver, hardworking, handsome, kind, gracious, trusting, loyal, smart, not a good speller, faithful, good listener, PATIENT, handy-man, HUMBLE, stable, inspiring, discplined, loving, gentle, corny, helpful, sincere, MAN OF GOD, good-listener, reliable, martyr, BEST 2 Dad (megan), liked, honoring, cherishing, care-giver. The 1 thing that they ALL said 1st was SELFLESS!! I could sit and take each of these words and describe him but that would take years.

So I will end this by telling you what he told me this afternoon as we walked into Home Depot. He said --- if there are great fathers out there they can NEVER take the credit for being a great father -- it is ALL the LORD that makes any of us GREAT fathers!! Don't get me started on what a HUMBLE man he is!!! OK -- I will end with giving the Lord all my thanks and all my praises. Ray would hate to be praised for how he is because he would only say that it is the grace of God in his life. But I can PRAISE him and THANK HIM for being the BEST HUSBAND to me and the VERY, VERY, VERY BEST FATHER to my children.

I am beyond honored that the Lord would pick me to be the 1 to walk beside him!! There is NOTHING greater then knowing that God has given me a husband that I can follow and that my children can follow through life!! I LOVE YOU Ray ~ You are my BEST FRIEND!!

Your Gonna MISS This....

Well lastnight while watching Celebrity Apprentice with Ray, one of the contestants came on and played a song called ~ Your gonna miss this by Trace Adkins ~ after tears flowed down both of our cheeks it got me to thinking. 1 its a country song and I haven’t loved country music since the 80’s but it had a message that hit really close to home. You need to listen to it but the jest of the song is through all the seasons of our lives, we just want to get through them and on to the next season. But when we do that are we REALLY enjoying the season that we are in??

Now I know not all seasons are worth reflecting on or wanting to stay in but most are, let me explain. Since I started dating Ray at a VERY young 12 years old (do as I say, not as I do) - I just couldn’t wait to be older. I seriously thought that 16 would NEVER get there. Then I felt that I was 16 FOREVER and at 17 I got married. Then I couldn’t hardly wait to have children so instead of enjoying my first 2 1/2 years of marriage, all I could think of was having babies. Then I had 1, 2, 3 & 4 babies and much later 5 and I really couldn’t wait for them to walk - talk - play sports and so on. Did I enjoy them, YES, but looking back I wonder if someone would have told me HOW MUCH I was gonna miss those times - I wonder if I really would have hurried all those seasons of my life...

I remember being in a line at Walmart with Rachel in the buggy when she was not even a week old and I had this older woman behind me telling me to enjoy her because it will go by in the blink of an eye. I looked at that lady and wanted to tell her - I am going to be changing dirty diapers for the rest of my life, or so it seemed. Well it went by quicker then a blink of an eye!!

I NOW cherish times with my kids like I never did when they were driving me crazy all talking at once (& they do still all talk at once). I now have this (good) problem of not wanting to miss 1 thing with them. I have children of all ages now - adults that act in their 30’s and teenagers that act in their 20’s and a son that is 7 that acts like a teenager. Can I change that they are VERY mature for their ages - NO but I sure want to remind them, not so much the age they are but the time in their life they are in - RIGHT NOW - because it is going to go by in a blink of an eye -- SO enjoy it!! Seize every moment to serve the Lord with your whole heart. We can NEVER go wrong walking through life LOVING people - unlovable or lovable. Make a difference in someone life TODAY. Even if its that 2 year old that if you wipe their nose 1 more time...or clean up 1 more mess... Every time we have MOUNTAINS of laundry (and if you know us well you know that we even name our mountains) I try to be grateful for a family that has money to buy clothes and when they were little I was grateful that they were healthy enough to dirty them up & even put holes in the knees.

1 major thing that I have learned being married for 25 years and being a mother for almost 23 is to really ENJOY right where I am - RIGHT NOW!! We have had those times were we just knew the Lord had this HUGE call on our lives and on our families life and I was determined to figure it out but what we did wrong was we felt very unsatisfied in our lives at that moment because we had the dreams and visions of what our life was "suppose" to look like and we wanted it NOW!! So enjoy the NOW even if you know there is something different for you in the future. It may take a short time or a long time to walk in those visions and dreams but the worst thing would be is if you were so dissatisfied with not being at "that ideal place" that you didn’t enjoy the NOW!!

I challenge you to do something that I think will make a difference in your life. When your at a happy, fun, exciting or even not so happy time -- take a mental picture of the scene. Being a photographer I live my life seeing frames of my life and thinking of everything as a picture. For example...1 of the last nights that Blaire lived at our home we were all sitting together in our living room just cutting up, laughing till we cried, just having an amazing time and I thought to myself that I don’t ever want to forget this time with us all together. I do this all that time and I swear it works because I can think and remember the emotion of the night, the scene, I can even remember the smells of what we ate for dinner.

So now we are coming to "new seasons" in our lives, ones that will be very happy and some that will be sad. But I am determined TODAY even more then yesterday to remember that we are gonna miss THIS time in our lives so I am going to ENJOY, cherish, treasure, love every moment of my life...

If you "want to be a REAL Man" or if you "want a REAL MAN"

So this will be a blog of my opinions, my standards and my beliefs. I do not want to condemn, judge or hurt anyone's feelings in the process of sharing my heart and what the Lord wants me to share.

I am a 45 year old male that has been with my junior-high sweetheart for almost 30 years. The Lord also has had a sense of humor in my life and not only let me be raised with 6 sister but he gave me 4 daughters (plus many more that just don't share my dna). I have lived my adult life trying to always please the Lord and I have tried to love my wife as Christ loved the church and we know he layed down his life for her. So, I have come to a junction in my life/parenting that the time is approaching for me to turn my daughters over to a REAL man (please NO applications). I say these things not to do anything but encourage, encourage young men to be MEN and young women to wait for a REAL man.

I would never say that there is 1 type of real man because we come in all kinds of packages. I am also NOT saying that there is real men out there that are perfect and have NEVER made a mistake, makes mistakes or will make mistakes because we live in the real world and sorry folks but we are human. But I am saying that if we as men don't have a mark to hit, then we won't hit anything at all !!

I have the privilege of mentoring many young men and it is 1 of the many passions that the Lord has giving me and I hear the same things over and over again. You want a wife but are prepared... spiritually, financially or emotionally, but you say I REALLY want a wife. Please listen to me, I am not saying that you need a portfolio or a degree from a bible school but you need to be heading in the direction of being able to take care of a family. Let me tell you, most of our species need an AMAZING woman (like my wife is) to birth us out to be the REAL men that the Lord wants us to be for THEM and then for others around us. I was married at 20 years old and Teddi was 17, do you think we had every duck in a row - NO - not even close. I wasn't even barely saved, I made $5.00 an hour and I had 1 thing on my mind. We have made it this far and we wouldn't change a thing but I want better for you. Better comes with a big price but an amazing woman will be worth it.

I thank God for wisdom - He says to ask Him and it will be given to you. Seek wisdom, seek God to make you a real man, and you woman - wait, not for perfection because only Jesus is, but wait for a real man!! For any of you woman that have a man in your life that doesn't live up to your wants and desires I would encourage you to pray, pray that the Lord would mold and change your lives together to reflect HIM. I know I wouldn't be 1/2 the man I am if it wasn't for a wife that spoke blessings over me, encouraged me, prayed for me and wouldn't stop hounding God until I became the Real Man that she hoped for and desired. I have come such a long way but I hope I am never satisifed in my relationship with the Lord and with my wife.

Below is a letter from a young man that isn't much older then I was when I married. He is a friend of our families and it is a privilege to know him and to hear him share his heart like he does. He wrote this letter to his wife - a wife that he doesn't even have yet. I could NOT write anything better then what he wrote. The things he says are things that come out of a REAL man's heart. There are MANY things in this letter that I am to my wife and family and some things that I want to be. I believe that if you read this letter and it doesn't stir you up to become this type of REAL man to a woman 1 day - then you have NO business looking, talking or thinking about a wife (my opinion). But if it stirs you to want to learn and grow to be a man, that I believe is a man after God's own heart, then allow God to teach you. Get a good mentor to pour into your life that has a Godly successful marriage. One of my desires is to train men to become the men that the Lord wants them to be. So enjoy this letter and be challenged (like I was), be encouraged and seek after God's own heart and you will become a REAL
man. Bless you all, Ray


Dear future wife,

It's almost 3 in the morning and I can't stop thinking about you.

I'm not exactly sure who you are or where you live…

but there are some things you should know...

I love Jesus with all my heart; I know you will too…

When I say I love Him, I mean… I REALLY LOVE HIM.

And His church.

I plan on loving you like I love His church.

I've made a lot of mistakes and I'm not perfect

(ha, I guess that's obvious).

But I will choose to pursue righteousness and holiness in all I do.

I will be man of integrity. A trustworthy man. A strong leader.

I promise to be the best husband you could ever ask for in every way.

I look forward to raising little sons and daughters for the kingdom of heaven.

And you can rest assure that I will treat you like a princess.

My name means blessed guardian. I plan on living up to my name and being the blessed guardian and protector of your heart and emotions.

I will never cheapen your value by calling other women names reserved for you. Never.

I will not so much think a thought about another woman in a way reserved for you.

I will tell you that you are the most beautiful girl in the world and mean it.

I will tell you that there is no one like you and mean it.

I will never ever cheapen what we have by giving it to others.

I honor you too much for that. You will know it.

I never plan on making you submit to me. I only plan to be a good enough leader to earn your honor and respect so that you can trust me even when things are unclear.

I will never abuse you.

I plan on being open and honest about everything in my life. I know I can trust you.

I know that we will probably have arguments, but no fighting.

I plan on being civil and controlled when speaking, I trust you will do the same.

And if things get a little heated… our love will be too great to let the sun go down on it.

Making up will be wonderful.

I will wait as long as required to find you. I really mean, until the Lord brings you to me.

I am asking for a whole lot. I'm not even going try to lie to you.

I've known for a long time that my life would never be "normal".

I know that will excite you.

I feel that we are going to travel together. A lot.

In fact, you are key and essential to what will be our ministry.

I will sing to you. If you want.

I will open your door for you.

I will pray with you.

I will worship God with you.

I will read to our kids and pray with them.

I will do what I say I'm going to do.

I will admit when I'm wrong.

I will do everything I can to help your dreams come true.

I will study the word and share my revelation with you often.

I will be patient with you.

I will ask for directions.

I've had these dreams, I'll tell you about them later, but they make me smile.

Songs, poems… I just want to explode.

There is so much going through my mind… I can't type it all.

It would take me all night.

Hopefully we'll talk soon, then it will be easier.

I may not be the best looking guy.

I may not be the richest man.

I may not be the perfect guy.

But no one, I promise, no one will ever love you like I can. Not on earth anyway.

Well… I suppose I'll stop here for tonight.

I have church tomorrow morning and I want to be alert for Jesus.

I wish you could be there with me.

Maybe you will be… maybe not.

Maybe you don't even speak English. Ha. Who knows.

Oh yeah, God knows… we'll just wait on Him, ok?

Again, I don't know who you are or where you live, but I want you to know…

I'm praying for you.

You are beautiful.

Let's change the world together.


Forever yours,