In the gym...In life...

 

This is such a great quote.  We are always sharing stuff of this nature with Tim.   

Our son loves weightlifting.  He'd rather be doing it than anything else.  He looks forward to training everyday.  He thinks about it and talks about it all the time.  

Life events though, are just like with weightlifting, it doesn't get easier, you just get stronger and better equipped to handle them.  

Tim is growing so much these past couple of years (mentally & physically).  His maturity from all he's gone through in his young life is like that of a young adult instead of a normal 16 year old teenage kid.  He doesn't spend a lot of time around kids his own age because he tells his dad and I all the time that they are just too immature and that he doesn't have time for all that.  We love seeing where his mind is at right now.  We love hearing the words coming out of his mouth because we know that all that we have taught him all these years has stuck.  As a parent there's no greater feeling than knowing that your kid really gets it and all the life lessons you've taught have stuck.  

Tim knows, I mean really knows, that God has a plan for his life.  God has saved him from death twice.  Two times satan tried to snuff his young life out and two times God told satan no, it's not his time.  What satan has meant for harm in our sons life God is going to turn for Tim's good and His glory.  We love watching the hand of God move in our family.  We are so appreciative of His protection over us.  For His keeping us healthy.  We take our jobs as parents seriously because we know in two more years when Tim is 18 we hand his young life fully into God's hands knowing we've done our part to the best of our ability trusting God completely to complete in Tim what we didn't/couldn't do.  

God's hand in/on our lives matters.  Everyday it matters.  From the time we wake up til we go to sleep til we rise again from our slumber it matters.  I'm so thankful everyday that God has blessed my life the way that he has.  He gave me Scot at a time when I had finally said, "Lord if it's only you and me for the rest of my life that's fine."  But God!!!   Then he gave Scot and I Tim at a time in our lives when we weren't sure if we'd be able to successfully have a child because we were in our upper 30's when we married which made any pregnancy I would have be a high risk pregnancy because of my age.  But God!!!  My pregnancy was easy but the labor was hard and the delivery ended up having to be a c-section.  Complications forced that to happen.  I just couldn't physically have him.  We never got pregnant again after that.  We wanted one more but that door was shut so we've just been incredibly thankful for the gift we were given in Tim.  He made our family complete and we are cherishing every moment with our son.  

Thank you Lord that you give us the wherewithal in this life to grow stronger everyday so that we are better equipped to handle life's problems with Your guidance!  Thank You for our health and for Your protection over us each and every day as we do life together as a family.  Thank You that You protect Scot every day as he works to provide for us.  We thank You that the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous and that You are glorified in our lives as we seek Your face each and every day of our lives.  May You be at the center of it all no matter what happens or may come.  May You always be glorified now and forevermore.  I love You, Lord!  I can't say those words without thinking of that old song.  It rings in my ears every time I think or say them:  https://youtu.be/8hyBJwTKmQ8?si=xSQl9WBrMEPhHnFq.  May the words to song ring in your ears every time you say, "I Love You" to the Lord too.  

Keep growing my friends.  Keep growing.

No Other Way To...

There's no other way to slice or dice it folks: 

The Bible calls it murder and so should we who are followers of Christ.  We should also be careful of anyone that we endorse (not just politically) that have views separate of what the Bible says.  It's not hard to imagine a babies body being ripped and torn from the womb crushing every portion of a babies body.  It's the truth of what happens with abortion though.  What's worse is so many use it as a means of birth control which is so incredibly wrong to do.  

It's so sad that our society has a seared conscious.  Most are not being taught right from wrong anymore because they've made right v. wrong a fluid thing that is to each person to decide what is and isn't wrong/right.  God's Word shows us what is right and wrong and that should be the standard by which we live all of life.  It should be what we teach our children and what we should aspire to live our lives by.  God's Word should be final authority over every part of our lives.  What a different society we would have if we lived God's Word all the time.  

I'm writing this as much to myself as I am to those who will read this post.  I'm guilty of not living out God's Word in my life as I should all the time.  Those of us who are true followers of Christ are all guilty of having done that.  We don't profess to be perfect.  We just profess knowing a perfect God who can/will help us in our imperfections and all we have to do is call on Him and seek Him.  There's no one like God in all the earth who will always be there for us to help us.  

My hearts desire is to see no more murdering of babies.  There are so many options out there today and abortion doesn't have to be one of them.  Christians are not heartless as so many think.  We don't wish women to die because of complications in pregnancy.  That's not at all what we are after.  In my heart I don't believe that is what God wants either.  In those cases doctors need to continue to do their jobs and save lives and no one is taking that ability away from them either.  Saving lives is the bottom line on this issue.  The numbers of killed babies will go way down if the only reason babies die is because doctors had to save the moms life.  

But that's just my two cents worth of thoughts on this issue.   And this coming from a mom who could only have one child.  It wasn't in God's plan for us to have more than one child.  We accepted that and we committed to raising our child to be a positive addition to society and not a problem to it.  Oh if that were the heart of all parents we'd have such a better society and this abortion issue would be a non-issue because of the improvement made on society by parents really and truly parenting their kids in the way they should go - as the Bible teaches us - and it would have them making decisions that wouldn't result in such harsh consequences of way wrong decisions.  We can all bring our part of the world back to God just by doing as God would have us do as parents.  Teaching them and guiding them towards right choices.  This world can be changed in a positive direction - and back to God - where our kids are not a problem on society but we as parents have to take our job as parents seriously.  

That is all.  

Final Results...

It took them long enough but here are the final results.  

Presidential results:

Senate results:

House results:

The people have spoken in a very mighty way what they want and do not want.  This was huge in that DJT also got the popular vote as well so the other side didn't have a leg to stand on in their argument that we should do away with the electoral college.  I love that we took all 3.  Now things that need to get done can and will get done in our country for the better.  

Everyone is like how can you call yourself a Christian and vote for that man?   I vote for the one holding closest to being true to the Bible and that for sure wasn't the other side.  Yes DJT has issues but all God's people got issues.  Let those without issues/sin please be my guest and throw the first stone because it will show just how clueless you really are.  God's working on DJT as He is all Christ followers.  Give the man a chance to show you what God can do with him now that there's nothing standing in his way of doing his job.  

I will always give credit where credit is due and we were much better under him the first time with all he had to battle then we were these past four with B & H.  They've done nothing but destroy our country and heap on us tons of more debt because they really don't care about this country or the American people.  Can you only imagine how much better DJT will be now that he's not having to battle congress to do his job?!  A clean sweep gives him the opening he needed to do his job and do it well and show the American people what a prosperous country looks like.  People will thrive under his administration make no mistake about that.  I know we did and we are considered lower middle class which if you remember is who B & H said they were for but we were hurting big time with them in office.  Now how does that make any sense seeing as they are "supposedly" for us???  Plain and simple it just doesn't!!!

God Bless America! And God Bless DJT!  And God Bless all whom DJT chooses to work in his administration to help improve America and Make America A Great Nation Again!  

Tim and Nan....

Tim loves his Nan so much.  He really enjoyed getting to spend time with her this past weekend.

Tim and Scot ripped out some carpet in Pop's old bedroom that Nan wants to turn into a sitting room.  We are prepping the floors for whatever new flooring Nan decides that she wants in the room.  The walls will be done before the new flooring though.  Then Nan will get to put whatever furniture she wants in the room.  It may take some time before it all comes together but it will be fun to see the finished product when it's done.

18 Years...

18 years of doing life together and there's no one I'd rather have by my side than you, Babe.  No marriage is perfect and we've had our ups and downs to say the least but there is no better person to have gone through all of the ups and downs with than you.  You are my best friend.  The love of my life.  There's no place I'd rather be on earth than with you.  The memories that we have shared I cherish always and forever and I look forward to many more to come that I can cherish as well.  

I'm so thankful we did us right.  We dated in groups with our friends from church.  We saved our first kiss for our wedding day and sex for our wedding night.  We didn't overthink our wedding and neither of us were a bridezilla or a groomzilla.  We had everyone there that was of any importance in our lives to share our day with.  

Our honeymoon, a Caribbean Cruise, was so much fun and we have such great memories of such special times on that cruise.  Especially getting to go to St. Thomas and the formal dinners nightly on the ship.    

One and half years later Tim came into the world completing our little family.  He has been a bundle of energy from the start.  As one of our friends told us, "he has enough energy for five kids."  We have cherished all the moments along the way with Tim.  From homeschooling outings to his Taekwondo journey to, now, his weightlifting journey.  There's never a dull moment with our boy.  He is the piece of our puzzle that completes us.    

Our ten year anniversary in Maggie Valley was so wonderful.  I loved having that weekend in the Mountains with you.  It was such a precious time that we had together.  Getting to go to the Cherokee Museum and learning more about my family heritage was awesome.  Getting to also go to the Wheels Through Time Museum was such a treat.  Getting to see all the old motorcycles was a blast.  On our next trip to Maggie Valley I want to take Tim so that He can learn more about his family Cherokee heritage too.  Maybe for our 20th in a couple of years.

There have been too many incredible memories through these 18 years together to mention here.  We know them all and that's all that matters.  I love the life we have built and I pray we have many more years to come if Jesus tarries.  

God has blessed us so much.  We have so much to be grateful for.  I pray we never ever forget that!!!

Always remember that outside my relationship with God...

                                                                                                                           and always will be!!!

I love you forever and always Babe!!!  Here's 🥂 to 18++ more years with you, Babe!!!

Quotes...

 

Today when it comes to politics they try to use everything possible to influence the people to vote for them.  This time the left tried to use Hollywood celebs to do their bidding to get folks to vote for them but it didn't work.  The American people really don't care what they think and they showed that with the right winning huge in this election.  I'm so thankful that folks turned out big.  Had they not it would have been a disaster and we'd been dealing with someone that would destroy our country. 

This is TRUTH!!!  David was all these things and he was King.  He was a King after God's own heart too.  He made tons of mistakes and God used him despite himself.  Let that sink in.  

Even though the right won this election we still need to gird up with the amor of God and keep praying.  The fight is just beginning and we need to back our leader every chance we get.  I know in my heart that God is going to use him in ways that we can't even imagine and that it's going to be for Americas good and God's glory.  I'm going to love watching God work through him.  

One Of My Favorite Verses...

 

I love my mornings where I spend time listening to worship music/reading God's Word/praying.  It's my absolute favorite time of day.  It's gets my day off on the right foot.  I love having worship music playing in our house as we go through our day getting things done with school/work.  Just being reminded continually of the goodness of our God and His love for us.  It is so calming in a world that isn't calm.  I know that no matter the storms that may go on around us because of this world that we have a peace that passes all understanding because of our God.  It brings such calm.  I'm so thankful that we can do All things through Christ because He gives us strength.  He has our back at All times and knowing that is such a blessing.  

Then (2017) & Now...

 

This shows just how much Tim has changed from 2017 to now.  So much change in a 7 year span.  7 years ago Tim did his first big TKD tournament, Kukkiwon Cup, and won 3 gold medals (1 for forms, 1 for breaking & 1 for sparring) and the grand champion cup.  His tag team also brought home the trophy for that event as well.  It was a banner day for Tim that day that jump started him wanting to really get into the competition side and TKD.  He appreciates all that he learned on his TKD journey and will never forget those that poured into him for all those years that he did that sport.

Fast forward to now and Tim is coming to the end of his first whole year in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting and loves it.  He came in 4th at Nationals and that is so huge seeing as he wasn't a complete year into the sport when he competed at it.  He recently did States and brought home 3 gold medals for the 61kg weight division (1 for men's Youth, 1 for men's Juniors because he qualified with his total & 1 for men's open because he qualified with his total) + he was given a Best Youth Male Lifter plaque. He really cleaned up at States this year.  His total got him into the 1st Wave for registering for the North American Open which is a huge event.  

All this to basically show you that he is looking more like a man now and has all the manly muscle bulges to go along with it...LOL!  He has a more grizzled jaw line now as he is growing into a man.  It's a sad/happy mix of emotions for me that my boy is growing up but we've raised him right and trust God for his future because that's really all we can do as parents.  Our kids are on loan to us from God until they're grown and we are to help grow them up in God so that they will be good additions to our society.  Tim will most definitely be that.  He's such a good young man with a good strong mind.  We are excited for all that God has got in store for our boy in the future.  

A New Exercise...

Tim did his first use of the rowing machine at the gym yesterday.  He was feeling it afterwards but as always he knew if he was feeling it then he knew he was making more gains in his body and getting stronger.  He loves going to the gym so much.  He really would live there if he could.  He's learned so much about his body and his health since changing over to weightlifting.  It's not just about doing Olympic Weightlifting but it's about your whole body being strong.  He really gets that and because he gets that he loves what he's doing even more than ever before.  Here's a picture of him doing rows with some of his teammates.

God Bless The U.S.A.!!!

 

I prayed for this election as so many did. I make no bones about the fact that I will ALWAYS vote for the candidate that most closely holds to the Bible & that candidate was not Kamala Harris. If I had been on the fence about who to vote for this election, which I was not, when KH denounced my Lord before men, at a rally that went viral on social media, my Bible tells me, “Jesus will deny her before His Father in Heaven”. That was a tipping point for many Christian voters I’m sure. Thank you Lord for hearing the collective prayers of your people!  

I’m so thankful that the nightmare of the Biden/Harris administration is over & that we have Donald Trump for another term in office. And it looks like we will gain the House and Senate as well. That's huge for our President so that he can get down to business and do what needs to be done in our country. I can't wait for him to turn the nation around and give us a better future. He has a lot of work ahead of him but I know that he's up for it.

Congratulations President Trump!!!  

#Trump47