Time passes all too quickly

Our sweet Payton graduated from Preschool this year. It's so so hard to believe! Our third girl is going to big kid school with her two sisters and one of her brothers. For one year and one year only I will have 4 of our 6 kids at the same school!


Sweet Eli graduated KINDERGARTEN this year too! We have been so blessed each year with each child and the teacher God has appointed them to have! I canNOT wait til monday to find out who nexts years teachers are!





My heart is sad and excited at the same time. I know that everyone says it happens in a blink, but it really really does. I would love nothing more than for time to stand still for a while. I want to savor and cherish every single moment with my children and I don't want to miss a single thing. I consider it a true honor and calling to raise godly children in this very messy world. It's a job I will not slack on--the Lord has entrusted His children to us and I want to do the best possbile job I can.....it's just going a little to fast for this momma. Our babies aren't "babies" anymore. Judah is walking and I would normally be pregnant with our next child at this time...I'm not, so don't even go there! (though I would be delighted if God has planned for us to have more, I am just almost certain it's not His plan for us to have another). Abram will be starting preschool this next school year so I will only have one at home (tears)! Payton off to kindergarten, Eli to first grade, Emry to 3rd grade and Kynnedy to 5th grade. WHAT?!?%$%&*$@# FIFTH GRADE! how did this happend!? when did this happen!??!?!?

Devastation

It's truly only because of how much I love MY SAVIOR that I am able to love others. My heart is so big and burdened for God's creation. I wish that I had "go-go gadget" arms and legs so I could be everywhere all the time to serve Him and to serve others in His name. When I hear of the tragic situations happening all over the world my heart and body wants nothing more than to go and volunteer wherever I may be needed to offer some relief to those who are affected. I simply can't up and go always or for that matter I can't go often times, but what I know that I can do without fail is pray. And I do. It's those times I find myself in deep intercession for others. This week, on Monday the 27th I was given one of the most humbling opportunities to help in an area that can't seem to catch a break from storms. This is an experience I am forever grateful for and was so blessed by. I, along with several others, were able to partner with IsraAid and simply be the hands and feet of Jesus. Chuck King, Our worship arts leader at our church is from the Oklahoma city area. He was born and raised there until he felt the Lord call Him, his wife, and their children to Jerusalem--yes, Israel, where they lived for 13 years. They moved to where we are now about 5 years ago but obviously made dear friends from all over during their journey across the world. Someone in Israel contacted him last week about a crew from IsraAid flying here to help in Moore so that's how my Monday began. 15 or so of us loaded up and made the 2 hour trip from Arkansas to Moore, met up with IsraAid and got to work. I have never seen such overwhelming devastation first-hand. IT.WAS.SO.OVERWHELMING. It was really too much to take in. I met 2 families that day who were so blessed and grateful that we would come from so far to help them. We were able to talk with them and they recounted the events of that day the GINORMOUS F-5 tornado leveled everything in it's path. I was blown away by how they had NOTHING left yet they had everything that mattered. They were safe and neither family suffered any kind of injuries. I am still trying to process everything I felt and am still feeling and learning from being there that day. It really puts things into perspective for me in my own life. The emotions I experienced came in waves. There were so many different times where I would be standing in the yard sifting through debris and rubble and the tears would just start to come, and honestly I didn't really have words to describe why I was so torn. It's such a strange feeling to be putting things in wheel-barrels that they worked so hard for. Bending over and picking up not just shingles, but actually giant pieces of roof, or picking up little trinkets that would be displayed on a shelf just shot through air like a missile landing many yards away is so unbelievable. And then the owner of one of the houses we were at literally had his home just demolished...we could stand in the back yard and see through his living room, front door, all the way across the street to the neighbors house. This particular man was the most genuine and sincere men I have met. He wasn't worried a single bit about his house or any of his possessions--he was only worried about finding an envelope with money in it for he was the head of a fundraiser and wanted that money to go to the rightful place. He will never know how much he taught me and blessed me that day. I could go on and on about the mini and many conversations I had that day with countless people, but I won't. I will only leave you with a few of the pictures from that amazing day. This is Me and my precious friend Brandy Chuck in the middle and our new Israeli friends.

A glimpse of an update :)

Since it has been sooooo long since my last post before the other day, I thought I needed to update just a tad. For those of you who stumble upon my blog from afar, you must know we are a family of 8 now. We had our 6th blessing in Feb. of 2012! We now have 3 beautiful girls and 3 handsome young men. We are so very very blessed. I consider it such an honor that the Lord entrusted us with HIS children. We need to revamp the blog a little and make our header picture up to date, but the pics below will have to do for now! :)

#crowdtappers

So, I am a member of crowdtap. If you have never visited the site, I encourage you to check it out! I recently was selected to participate in a sampling of Old Navy from crowdtap. I was sent a coupon for me and one to share with a friend that was redeemable for 1 pair of WHITE denim jeans. There were several varieties to choose from, each a little different, but all AMAZING! I found the most adorable denim shirt to wear with the jeans, a pop of color with a coral scarf and a pair of ADORABLE thongs on clearance that had a coral embellished flower inbetween the big toes. I will post a picture SOOOOOOON, but for now... here's the link to check out the site on your own!http://new.crowdtap.com/join_action/old-navy-look-fashion-fresh-with-old-navy-s-white

THE BREAK.....again.

This week has been a typical penderweek. Monday started off full of excitment as we were waiting on Grammy and Pops To arrive for a short visit. It was grandparent's day at the kid's school, so they came up for the festivities. They hadn't been here long, when we were all in the kitchen hanging out having a good time. Just to inform you of how it happened...I keep my dining room table chairs turned on their sides so no one can climb up on the table for serious injury. I have since found, it doesn't matter how the chairs are, serious injury can and will occur. Payton leaned up against the leg of one of the charis with her feet still planted on the tile, when the chair slipped out from under her and she fell about 1 ft. on her bottom. She landed just perfect enough to spiral break her radius and buckle her ulna. GO FIGURE! So my sweet princess who spiral fractured her femur last year (and had surgery for), now has a matching break on her arm........love this child whose name should have been "GRACE".


When we got home from the emergency room, little Abram was throwing up like crazy....it was a LONG night and next day we had.
Then Eli woke up for two consecutive days with HIVES! Bless his heart he looked terrible!

After I returned from Brazil, the rest of the summer came fast and furious. Football practice for Adam started back up, we took a fast trip to Texas, day after we got home Kynnedy went to children's camp for three days and had the BEST TIME EVER, then right around the corner school started! I have a big 3rd grader, first grader, preschooler, 2 at home and one in the belly! Gonna post o mod podge of pics now....

Right before heading tot he airport for Brazil.

few and far between.........

means more to updates to let you in on. And man oh man, there's much to fill you in with.
This summer I went on the most amazing trip of my life. TO BRAZIL. I left the kids, the husband, and all my responsibilities behind and took off to another part of the world for 2 whole weeks. I missed home and my familiy terribly, but I fell in love with the most amazing people in the world. Brazilians are without so many luxaries that we take for granted, but they are so happy and full of joy. They enjoy life in the "slow lane". Walking most everywhere they go and taking in God's creation. The Holy Spirit moves in power there, because these people EXPECT it and I enjoyed every single second of every single day there with 35 americans with me. The food was like nothing I have ever tasted in my life. My mouth still waters as I sit here and think about it! So many unexpected things came to pass on this trip, but I had a little unexpected moment of my own. DAY 2....day 2 is when I had to walk down to the pharmacy and since I am NOT FLUENT in PORTUGUESE, I had to use "unofficial" sign language to purchase a pregnancy test.....and after trying to decipher the directions (no, they aren't like american pregnancy tests, and MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH mroe expensive) and several questions later, I had a POSITIVE! I had to skype my husband and let him know BLESSING NUMBER 6 WOULD ARRIVE IN FEB 2012!
I still can't put into words how this trip has changed my life and how I have a GINORMEOUS heart for BRAZIL. I am so ready to go back and honestly, I would move there in a heartbeat. It's simply breathtaking. We stayed right outside of Rio and traveled hours each day to different little cities. Thank you to those of you who helped with my family while I was away and for the prayer covereage while we were out of the country. Many lifelong friends were made and relationships formed and I am so thankful to have been a part of it.
Now...on a side note.....we need YOUR help! Our brains are fried and we need names for this baby... send boy names, girl names, middle names, fav names. but most especially UNIQUE names! I can't wait to go through what you send us! THANK YOU!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upTPZJFQuIQ&sns=em

Sent from my iPhone

 Memorial day fun!