The Shelter of the Most High

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress. My God in whom I trust!" Psalm 91: 1-2 The entire chapter of Psalm 91 would apply to the situation my sister's family experienced last Sunday. God protected them in a terrible car accident involving my brother-in-law, Marc and 2 of his sons, Matthew and Malachi. (Malachi is the little guy in the the picture with Clayton. Matthew is the tall boy in the back in the last picture.) Matthew was hit the worst and was knocked unconscious for a while after the accident. Malachi is scraped up and has a broken leg. Imagine having a 3-year old in a leg cast! Marc was banged up too but I'm sure the worst for him by far was seeing his sons hurt so badly.
God really showed his grace, mercy, and protection that day in the fact that Matthew came out as well as he did. The car apparently looks really awful. A family friend saw the accident right after it happened and was able to help out and get word to Marcy what had happened and where. Another amazing thing is that my sister Kellie drove up in Marcy's driveway not long after the accident happened with her kids. (Kellie lives 2 hours away from Marcy, but had come to see Marcy's new baby.) God knew what a heartwrenching day it would be for Marcy. Kellie was able to drive her to the scene of the car accident and pick up Malachi to take home. After that, Marcy was able to leave the rest of her kids at home with Kellie so she could go to the hospital to see Marc and Matthew. The people in their church have been amazing in the way they have helped out.

We are so thankful that Marc, Matthew, and Malachi are alive and healing. Life is so very fragile. Even if you're a careful driver, other people aren't always so careful. I just love how God really shows how much He cares about us when we are going through really hard times. I love that God is in the details of our lives.

The other pictures are from our trip to Pigeon Forge. We just got home yesterday.

Myles Truth

My nephew was born this morning. His name is Myles Truth. It means soldier of truth. I love that! He is in the NICU right now because he had a little bit of breathing trouble this morning. We are praying that he will be able to get out very soon and be with his Mommy. We can't wait to see him! McKenzie sent us some pictures of him through an e-mail, but I couldn't get them on here. I'll post some soon.

Here are a few Bible verses in honor of Myles Truth: 2 Timothy 2:4 "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." (It means that we shouldn't get so entangled with the trivial affairs of the world that we forget why we are here on this Earth.) Psalm 15:1-2 "O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent? Who may dwell on Thy holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, And speaks truth in his heart." Psalm 25: 5 "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

The first 2 songs on my play list are in honor of Myles. Enjoy!

Visit to Aunt Marcy's house

We went to visit my sister Marcy and her family last week. Here are some of my favorite pictures. We went across the street to look at the cotton. The field was beautiful. Carrington had fun riding Abasha, their sweet horse. My kids always have a great time playing with some of their favorite cousins. Malachi, their youngest, has given me the name "Aunt Monkey". That's one I haven't been called before!

Labor Day Weekend

We had company over Labor Day weekend. Kellie and her family came up for a visit. Lily Kate has gotten bigger and is just scrumptious! Carrington and I always fight over who gets to hold her (not literally)! In light of the "Do Hard Things" book, we decided to do hard things and have a "crunch competition" among the girls. I was the loser at 120 crunches. I think Abigail did 700. She won. I decided to redeem myself during a moment of dementia. With Lydia cheering me on, and Clayton sitting on my feet, I did 200 sit-ups. I've never even thought about doing that many sit-ups. I haven't done a single one since. I can't. My tail bone is still killing me. I shouldn't put that on a blog for all the world to see, but that is what happened. Nevertheless, we had a fun visit and the weekend went too fast and I had cooked too much food!

Field trip

We went on a fun field trip yesterday with a few families from our homeschool group. It was at the house of a famous author. We heard a storyteller, went to a workshop held by a present day author, the kids dressed up in period clothes, they made some cute crafts and we went through a museum of the author's old house. My kids also got to help write a story. They each added one sentence to the story. Of course Clayton wrote about an airplane bombing something. After reading the book, "Bringing Up Boys" by James Dobson, this kind of "violent" talk doesn't worry me. I tell him that he is God's little warrior. :o)