MORE INFO ON STATE FINALS

Well everyone knows the boys placed 5th and are qualified to go to Nationals in Branson, Missouri. We are very excited about this. Just wanted to share a bit more information from state finals. We are very proud of Haiden who came in first place with the highest individual score on his average points per game. He averaged 112 points per game with this being the highest average score out of every child that participated in the state finals. Then we are proud of Brother Triplett who recieved the award for coach of the year. He does a great job with all the children at these tournaments. He always goes out of his way to talk to the bible quizzing children and to the coaches. He has a way of showing himself friendly to everyone and making the children feel special. Congratulations to him and we are happy for him! Enjoy the pics!

YES WE ARE GOING TO NATIONALS

Just want to make a quick post to let everyone know that our boys came in 5th place and they are going to nationals. This tournament was not easy for them and they had to work hard. The first game they played on Friday was to Magnolia 2 and they lost that game by 10 points I think. Magnolia 2 is a very awesome team! Then today there was a tie for 5th place between Magnolia 2 and Center, and the two teams had to playoff to see who goes to Nationals. Our boys pulled it off by getting the last question right. It was a very, very, good competitive game! The thing I'm proud of the most is the word of God that is hid in these children's heart.

STATE FINALS

Okay, we leave tomorrow for the Bible Quizzing state finals! The boys should be more ready now than they have been all year. Austin has been with us for a week and we have practiced and reviewed for about 3 hours a day, yes, I said three hours PER DAY, lol! It really is a lot of work for us parents. You know putting up with the kids who groan and moan cause they don't feel like reviewing, but as parents we make them and they have no choice. The boys really do enjoy Bible quizzing but just like anyone, they get tired of working on it at times. When the boys first got here on Friday, Haiden could quote all 184 of his verses in like 33 minutes and today he made record timing by saying them all in 17min,44sec. Austin was saying his in like 46min and made his record timing of 27min today. So they have both got there material down and we are proud of them both just for knowing scripture from the God's word. Pray they do wonderful and the results of their tournament will be in the next post!

FAMILY

After camp meeting we headed to Jasper and spent a little time with our families before heading home. We were actually able to see all of our brothers and sisters this time, it doesn't always work out that way. This means there were lots of children around. On both sides of our families there seems to be quiet a few kids all around the same age so they always have fun. Just want to say thanks to our moms for keeping the two little ones while we were at camp. We enjoyed our visit! My oldest sister, Bridgett, called me tonight and read me a letter I wrote her when I was nine years old. It was hilarious! I got a good laugh tonight from that. It just made me wish I knew what I was thinking writing some of that stuff. It said something about a black cat going to court, and me nor my sister have any idea what that was about, LOL! Memories are wonderful!

FRIENDS AT CAMP MEETING

Well I typed out this great post a few nights ago, but then computer had issues and I lost it. So, here I am trying again! One of the biggest highlights at camp meeting for me is getting to see friends and spend some time with those you don't always get to be with. It was so wonderful to be able to get together with Andrew, Mandy and the girls for just a moment at camp. It was refreshing to visit with them. It just seemed as if it had been FOREVER since we seen them, especially the girls! I guess when your used to seeing such a beautiful family at church on Sunday and Wednesday you don't realize how big of a light they shine until they are gone for so long. It was very exciting to see quiet a few people from our home church of Center. We miss everyone there so much and it is always great to go visit or see the people from there. It was an honor to be able to have lunch with Kassie, Priscilla, Kim and Joseph from our church in Wichita. My husband and I both agreed after leaving that we enjoyed being around them all because they make us laugh, of course in a good joyful way. It is always good to be with people you can cut up with, and these are the people for that, LOL! I must say the moment I looked forward to the most was being with my best friend from high school, Ashley. She is the won who shared this wonderful truth with my husband and I. Some of you may remember me asking prayer for my friend Ashley at times due to her not being where she needed to be with God, but I can say now that her focus is now where it needs to be and she is serving God to the fullest once again and I can't explain to you what a joy that brings to my soul. It the past seven years we had not had much of any contact with each other due to the situation, but at camp meeting it was just like old times being together. It seems as if those seven years never once separated us. We picked up wherever we left off and I'm thankful to God we were able to that. Hope you enjoy the pics! (I forgot to take pics when we were with folks from Wichita, sorry. I did get one of Kassie and it is on here by request,lol)

PICS FROM CAMP MEETING

Well I finally feel rested up enough to make a post from Camp Meeting. I was surprised at how drained I was this year from it all. Not getting to bed til after 1 in the morning for 5 nights in a row was pretty rough on us all. We stayed in Jasper for the weekend to get some visiting in with our family and Chris brother got married at Midnight Saturday. We didn't get to bed til after 4 on that Sunday morning, and then didn't leave Jasper until 7:30 Sunday evening to head back home. Needless to say we had a long tiring trip home and made it in at 3 o'clock in the morning. I don't know how my husband got up and went to work cause I slept til 1 o'clock and felt awful when I did get up. Oh, anyway, enough about the lack of sleep! We had Punkin keep Breann and Colten, and just the rest of us attended camp. We knew Ryan would love it and he did! He was preaching about stones yesterday morning. Don't remember if his message aligned with Brother Grahams but he remembered the stones and had his own message going. I want all my children to have a desire to attend special camp meetings like this and to just love the house of God. Oh, and how Brother Graham got down to that thought of mine. Friday night did speak to me the loudest I believe and it was about fighting for our kids, and hiding them from the devil. My husband and I hear from various people all the time about how we can't shelter our children forever. I can't tell you how many times I've thought to myself maybe we do shelter them to much, maybe they wont be able to cope with different things when they grow up, should we just let them do this or that. Oh, thank God for a minister like Brother Graham who just flat out told it like it is. Like he said, the problem is that we CAN'T shelter them enough! I just know I'm fighting for my kids soul and I'm looking forward to God using each one of them in a special way. I'm gonna shelter them and their minds as long as I can and make it a point to know whats going on in there life. If Chris and I have anything to do with it our children are gonna be hid from the things the devil would want to fill their minds and hearts with, and we are gonna be busy filling their hearts with God's word. The devil can not have my children because they belong to God and they are going to be used in God's kingdom. I just get all stirred up thinking about Brother Grahams message. The devil can't stand the fact that Haiden has learned over 500 bible verses and has been doing this for 4 years, he gets so mad everyday when Ryan wakes up and the first thing he is doing is preaching and worshiping God to the top of his lungs, he doesn't like Breann worshiping and singing with all her heart to God and taking all her baby dolls to church and having church with her brothers, and he sure won't like whatever it is that Colten does, but I don't care! This is what I want to see my children doing. I want them to love this life they have and dedicate it to God. I don't want the devil having pleasure or thinking he's got one on my child if they are on a ball field or at a theater or anywhere that could possible be a down fall for any child of God. Why take a chance, no I can't help it, I'm not willing to give the devil a chance for my children to desire something else more than the house of God. Maybe these are things that are not wrong, but to Chris and I we don't want to give the devil the slightest chance at our children's walk with God. Okay, most people are done reading and if you are still reading you have read enough about all this. So I will stop! Well all the services were incredible and here are a few pics!

CAMP WEEK

Well we are excited to be heading to Lufkin tomorrow morning for Family Camp. It seems as if we are up in the air about whether or not we are going every year, but always manage to pull it off and go. We love going to camp meeting! We have had the privelage of being a part of Family Camp every since we got into church because we used to only be one hour away from the camp grounds. Now it seems to be more of a challege to attend camp, but there is such a huge desire to be there that we make it work! Every year it amazes me the crowd that gathers in the santuary on the camp grounds during family camp. It is just awesome to have that many people together worshiping the one true living God, Jesus Christ. It is just a fact that you know God is going to move in a mighty way in every single service. I think there are just so many people that come expecting something great to happen and so therefore it does. This life I live is so AWESOME! I could never turn back after what my God has done for me, and where he has brought me from. I love the life I live for Jesus Christ. I am so thankful God drew me to him and I chose to live for him. You see we all have a choice and I beleive God draws every single person to him, but then it is up to us as to what we choose when we feel God tugging at us. Will we turn our lives over to him or will we say no and live our lives how we want to. Anyway, I don't know where all that came from, but I just know I'm glad to be living my life for God and living it according to his word the best that I can. He is my focus in life and I daily strive to be more like him and seperate my self from this world. I am filled with joy from God, and choose to be happy with this life he has blessed me with. Thank you Jesus! Hope everyone has a great week!

UPDATE FOR SOME

Okay for the few comments feeling sorry for Haiden, I will let you know the trampoline is in our yard now and is in about perfect condition. So the children can still jump. However, the saftey net is whats totally messed up. The metal bars were are bent out of shape. So, for my comfort I hope we can purchase the saftey part seprate somewhere. I just don't like Ryan and Breann being up there jumping with it wide open. This trampoline is a bit higher off the ground than the normal round ones. My husband will fix our neighbors fence before we leave for camp this week, so that means fence damage was not major, LOL! Hope everyone has a great week!

BLOWN AWAY

Well after living in Wichita Falls for 2 years I guess we can now truly believe how the high winds can effect things. I know we have been told about the high winds but you know how things just don't really sink in with you until something happens in your backyard. After our church business meeting we had to do some things in Wichita and came home to Burk around ten to find electricity out, lots of people driving around and then our trampoline gone from our back yard. We just got this about a month ago and had not gotten around to anchoring it down somehow, so I guess this is what we get for procrastinating, lol! I'm just thankful it is not any worse. Our neighbors fence doesn't appear to be in too bad of condition and hopefully nothing in their yard was destroyed. Our fence only suffered very minor scratches so to speak. Haiden was upset seeing how he had saved his money and paid for more than half of this trampoline. Guess it was a lesson to him to find things to be thankful for even when something bad happens. We told him worse things could have happened so be thankful this is all it was.

FUN SATURDAY

We had a fun Saturday! We made our minds up to stay at home and just have some good family time. A big part of us wanted to invite some people over, but just decided to dedicate all the time to our kids. My husband grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, we had fruit, and finished off the evening with ice cream with all kinds of special toppings. In between all the eating we did, we spent the rest of our time in the pool. This was Coltens first time in the pool this year and he screamed and cried at first then came to the point where he just laid his head on his float the whole time. He looked as if he would fall asleep but he never did. Breann is scared to death of the water unless she is in a baby float as well. So she had a screaming fit when we took her out of the float and got dunked under for the screaming. I don't like doing this to the kids but my husband says this is how you begin to break them of that fear, or at least make them learn to not scream and pitch a fit for being in the water. Haiden used to be like this, but we made him take swimming lessons and he overcame his fear of the water during his lessons. It was really bad at first. His teacher told him his mom was going to leave if he didn't stop acting the way he was cause he was having a horror fit! Oh, anyway, we had a wonderful Saturday as a family!