Happy Anniversary Meagan & Jeremy!

What a wonderfully blessed 4 years it has been!!

A Prayer for Marriage by Kay Arthur

Father, whenever we communicate, help us to uphold the priority of our marriage, permitting no other relationship to weaken ours. May the word “divorce” never be formed on our tongue, never pronounced with our lips. May it never be considered as a viable option—for it strikes terror in the heart, fear and anger in the mind, and anxiety to our souls. And it grieves Your holy heart.

May we always, in all our conversations, uphold the oneness of our marriage, understanding that what affects one always affects the other.

May we allow open and honest communication, encourage vulnerability and authenticity. May we never be guilty of breaking each other’s spirit. Rather, may we affirm and strengthen one another so that together we can endure any weakness, any failure and not lose hope.

Father, help us to sharpen our communication skills. Teach us to communicate with our eyes—to convey our delight in the other’s presence, to say, “I love you,” to let our loved one know even in a crowded room, “You’re special to me.” Remind us to give each other the gift of our full attention when we talk.

Teach us to respond to what is said so that our mate knows he or she is being heard. Help us to keep a confidence, to build a wall of trust so that we are free to share all that is in our hearts. And as we listen, Lord, help us to avoid giving quick or pat answers. Help us to listen patiently. Remind us that our loved one does not always want advice. Sometimes we just want to be heard; to say it, and to get it off our chest.

Father, may we feel the freedom to open up and share our fears. Sometimes it is so difficult to admit weakness or fear, but we need to be able to talk to someone—and of all people, it should be our spouse. May we also know that we don’t always have to dispel each other’s fear—nor should we think we must have the cure. May we just learn to listen. . .listen and pray.

Father, we all need to have that sense of significance, of worth, of security, so teach us to continually look for ways, for words in private and in public, to build our loved one’s self-esteem. When one of us shares with the other, may we learn not to attack each other verbally. May the goal of all our conversations be for the building up of one another, the healing of one another, and the encouragement of one another so our loved one will want to talk, to communicate. May our words never be demeaning or destructive.

And finally, Father, when our tempers flare, may we make it a practice not to lay our heads on our pillows and close our eyes until we have resolved our anger. You tell us very clearly, “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”

As we look at the one lying on the pillow beside us, may we remember that this is the one to whom we made our vows to love in sickness and in heath, for richer or poorer, for better or worse until death do us part.

Help us realize, Father, that a marriage like the one we prayed for is a marriage that speaks to all the world of the power and indestructible joy of living in obedience to the Word of God. A marriage that demonstrates to the world that with You it is possible to have a marriage without regrets; a marriage that gives others a snapshot of the marriage of the Lamb and the heavenly home You have prepared for us.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32

Wonderful Christmas Reflections

Through the years Christmas has grown and traditions have naturally changed. This year Christmas began with the Christmas Eve candlelight service at Second Baptist Church with Dr. Ed Young. This has been our tradition for the last few years and it is a lovely service that never disappoints. As things have changed it was just Tony, Pat, Dan and I - a small but intimate family gathering! The night was filled with the traditional carols of the seasons and was focused on the redemptive power of the life of this child born in a manger.

We were delightfully surprised by a solo of "O Holy Night" done by Mark Ballas (Dancing With The Stars) Thanks, Mark, for making this video of that performance available to us! It was amazing!!!

Christmas morning was spent with Tony, me and Mr. Darcy opening our presents to each other. I decided to include the above video of Mr. Darcy receiving his bag of toys. He loooooves toys and was focused on one in particular!!

Jeremy and Meagan spent Christmas Eve with her Mom, Step dad, Grandmomo, sister and brother and were going to come over sometime after breakfast depending on Sawyer's schedule.

Can you guess where Josh and Jamie were spending Christmas this year? If you said the North Pole, I wouldn't have blamed you but it is Minneapolis!

In that tissue somewhere is the best baby in the whole world!! And I can say that because it is 11:30 am and at 2:00 pm he needs to be at his "Geeps" (Meagan's dad's) to celebrate with his family and at 4:00 pm he is going to try to see his great grandmother and great grandfather at my sisters house!!!

Sawyer loves books!! His favorite is his Bible and my prayer is that it will always be!!!

Look at that baby still in his cute Christmas jammies!!

One of his other favorite things is music! He loves clapping hands to songs and so we got him some musical shakers!

Did I mention he is cutting some new teeth. What he is holding is a large puzzle piece that has a large wooden knob on it that fits perfectly in his mouth!!!

OK, it may not have been the most practical gift but it is a signed picture of Colt McCoy and it is a happy memory for the Hamblen family. We were all present (including Sawyer) to see Colt's last game as a Longhorn! (Yes, he got hurt and yes, we lost but still...)

This gift was from Auntie Jamie and Uncle Josh and was a big hit!! It was a shame they weren't here live to see it but Josh did call and we were able to "face time" with him.

A lot of our pictures were blurred due to the fact Sawyer was a boy in motion!!

It is 4:30 pm Christmas Day and we are at my sister's home for an early dinner and he is still smiling!!! His shirt says "Mommy's Best Gift"! Too cute!

Pat's home was beautifully decorated and she could have fed the neighborhood and it was delicious as always! Sadly, as I am going through my pictures I don't see any of my sister or her delicious feast! That is indicative of the fact she was always working and my cameraman was eating when the food was ready! ;-)

Sawyer brought in one of his Christmas gifts from "Geep" to show the girls. And he was so sweet to share as they all wanted to play with it!

Hannah shared her ball with Sawyer!

More toys to open from Hannah and Kate!!

It was nice to have Erin home for Christmas this year! Now, if we can only get Lucas to come in on the same day!!! (Sorry, Amy, I don't think Tony realized you would be in the line of fire from the flash!)

What a sweet family!!

Meemaw and I were helping Katie acclimate to her new picnic table!!

And as we all prepare to go home so the babies can make their bedtimes, Tony takes one of my favorite photographs of the day!! I know it was a hard day for a lot of people but memories captured like this are priceless.

Change has always been very hard for me but that is what life is - change! And I am sure next year's holidays will change again but the one thing that never changes is God's love for us! It is like the explanation of the Christmas tree that I give my Sunday School class. I tell them we use an evergreen tree for our Christmas tree because God's love is everlasting! How does He love us..

Isaiah 49:16 says He loves us so much He engraved our name on the palm of His hand.

Matthew 10:30 says He loves us so much He knows how many hairs are on the top of our head.

Psalm 56:8 says He loves us so much He saves our tears in a bottle.

Jeremiah 31:3 says He loves us with an everlasting love.

And most importantly...

"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10

God's holiness demanded that sin be paid for, and then God's love found a way!!

A Little Early Christmas...

When you have your Christmas pj's on and you have been a good boy all year (OK, eight months) then it is quite alright to receive a present a little early!!!

Not quite sure what to think about Dino?


OK, I get it now! He lights up and makes music! YEA!!




Lolly, I'm on board with a little early Christmas!! ;-)

"For you are our glory and joy."

1 Thessalonians 2:20

Thanksgiving Vacation

This year with the help of Jeremy and Meagan we decided to do something different for Thanksgiving. We rented a lovely home in the Texas Hill Country (sight unseen) and we're absolutely ecstatic with the results. I have included numerous pictures that are the product of two in-house photographers - Jamie and Jeremy! I hope they don't mind that I have procured their work for this blog! It was just too good not to share. And to say that we are blessed is putting it mildly!! (Allow me the opportunity for my usual disclaimer. The weekend before we left I was very ill and barely made it to Wimberley. So when you see me there is a reason that I look like death warmed over!)
The gate to the property. Let me just say that I am glad we didn't arrive after dark!

One of many art pieces the owners have on the property.

Just a peak of the house can be seen from this vantage point.

The kids all arrived before we did.

From the front of the house you couldn't see much but once you went inside you never wanted to leave!

This is a shot of the back of the house. They have seating on the upper level of the deck for 10 people which includes my favorite - the swing!! What a great place it was for me to recover!

This is a view from one level of the deck looking out over the pool. Of course, it was too cold to swim but not too cold for the hot tub. I was just too lazy to get in it!

The view was just spectacular and it was hard to get me to come inside!

This part of the deck held an outdoor dining table.

Another piece of art in the backyard.

And, of course, plenty of deer came to visit.

We had special family time!

We got to read our favorite book. I think it is funny that it is written by a "Beck".
(Meagan's maiden name!)

We had lots of happy times!

Sawyer was excited because he got to open his Christmas presents from Auntie Jamie and Uncle Josh!

Opening presents can be serious business!

Josh even got to open one of his!

And lucky me - another birthday!!!! Ya just can't have enough of those!

This was Meagan and Jeremy's night to cook and on the menu was Spaghetti, Cesar Salad, and Garlic Bread. Sadly, I still could not eat. But it smelled great.

Thanks Jamie for faithfully taking our pictures!

Now one of us got really spoiled on this trip!! Wonder who?!

We made fire!!!

You may wonder where are the marshmallows?! Everyone was full from dinner! You are going to see that there was never a shortage of food!!

There would have been a time when I would have never though this possible but Jeremy had a recipe he wanted to try for breakfast!! ( Jeremy was the pickiest eater as a child that you could ever imagine!!) And the above picture is the successful result of that recipe. It is a baked apple with a streussel filling with syrup.

It smelled wonderful and I still could not eat so Jeremy has promised that he will make it for me over Christmas!!! (AND I'm holding him to it!)

Look at those sweet boys cleaning up the kitchen!!!

Sawyer loved the Hill Country!

We played hard and laughed a lot!

I know I'm prejudiced but he's the cutest little lumberjack in the whole world!

I wasn't always sitting in the swing on the back porch. We went shopping and we went for walks!

And sometimes we took naps!

We experienced the Texas Fall!

And sometimes you had to look hard to find it!

Mr. Darcy decided he is a Hill Country dog. He loooooooved his time there!

He decided he belonged among the wildlife no matter what...

the locals thought!

Jamie and Josh cooked and cooked and cooked. They decided to have a Luby's night. So they brought their Luby's Cookbook and made Cheese steak (the boys Luby's favorite), mac and cheese, new potatoes, and a huge salad. AND, yes, there was leftovers! Additionally, Jamie made a Tres Leche cake! Jamie loves to cook!

Josh's plate. The salad plate had already been cleared!

A little Frisbee needed to be a lot of Frisbee with all the eating that was being done! :-o

It's Thanksgiving!! And we'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

I am so glad my sister and brother-in-law could be here. There are some memories that only your sister can appreciate!

It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. After having been so sick, my beautiful daughters and sons stepped in and pulled it all together because Thanksgiving was my meal to prepare! I am so blessed!

On Saturday we all decided that our last meal together would be in town at The Leaning Pear.

It was a lovely end to a wonderful little family vaction. There is nothing better than making memories with the ones you love!

The sun sets on a very special time but soon it will rise on another and again we will wonder at how blessed we all are!

"Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!" Psalm 150:6