Prayer Request

We got a call after revival last night saying that Darren's cousin, Stephanie Grimes, had passed away unexpectedly. She was only 40 and leaves behind a 13 year old son, her husband, and her father. They think she had a heart attack caused by an allergic reaction to some medicine. Please keep this family in your prayers, especially her son, Tyler. In the space of the last couple of years he has lost an uncle, two great-grandmothers (one of whom lived with them), his grandfather and now his mom.

Also keep my brother-in-law, Rob Hughes, and the rest of the Carlisle Guard Unit in your prayers. They should be on their way out of Iraq soon. They are supposed to be home on May 1st.

Out Of The Mouth Of Babes

We've been in revival here at New Life all week. It has been a great week with some great messages but a long week nonetheless. It has been especially hard on Noah. He is not used to having to sit still through a church service and it has been a real struggle. Tuesday night I had to take him out and spank him about five minutes into the service. He was pretty good for a while after we came back in but then he started getting loud and rowdy again so I looked at him and told him if he didn't behave I was going to take him back to the bathroom. He looked at me just as serious, cocked his head to one side and said, "Mommy, if you're gonna' spank me again you need to spank me slowly and carefully." I couldn't help be get tickled. Of course, I couldn't spank him after that.

I Survived

Well, April 15th has come and gone and I survived. I only ended up filing three extensions and, hold on to your seat, one of them was not my own. For only like the second or third time since we've been married I filed my return before the April 15th deadline. I decided I didn't want any surprises in the form of unexpected checks to write come October this year. We still owed but we had the money saved to pay it and it's done! I must admit that it felt pretty good to be that "on top of it" this year.

I got a few days to catch my breath and then we started revival yesterday so this week will be very busy. I'm planning on cutting back to three days a week at work once school is out so I'm looking forward to that. At least I think I am anyway. I may change my mind after being home with the kids a couple of weeks.

Hope everyone is having a great Spring! I just love this time of year. Everything is so green and starting to bud and bloom. It's times like these I look around and wonder how anyone could ever question God's existence. It is so easy to see His hand in everything around us. Personally, I'm so grateful that He is part of the tapestry of my life! Love to all!