Passing of Time

Just having a little fun tonight with pictures....

Wedding 1972

Trying Out My Wig for the church

Christmas Play 2009

Me in 10 Years!

Giving Thanks

Well, another Thanksgiving has come and gone for the Millsap family. We cooked, we ate, we played, we looked at my tadpoles and cleaned their tank, we cleaned dishes, we celebrated my birthday, the guys had to go out and pull a calf after dinner...you know, the usual Thanksgiving activities. For those who don't know what "pull a calf" is - the cow is trying to have her calf, but either it is too big, turned backwards, or has some other difficulty and must require assistance. It is not a pretty situation - messy, smelly...not something you like to do just after a huge meal. It often ends with the calf having already died and needs to be pulled to save the cow. Such was the case today, but hopefully they were able to save the mama. So, thanks to Matt and Stuart for helping Rick with that unpleasant task.

Even with that unfortunate event, we still had a good day and have so much to be thankful for. First and foremost, Rick and I are blessed with each other, 2 wonderful children (Matt and Sarah), a beautiful, sweet daughter-in-law (Susan), a loving, kind son-in-law (Stuart...affectionately known as "Stubert" or "Stuball"), 2 darling grandchildren (Natalie-4 and Parker-2, both Matt's and Susan's) and 3 wild and crazy Yorkies (Buddy-ours, and Spanky & Scrappy-Sarah's and Stuart's). And, as if this wasn't enough, Susan is expecting another baby in May and Sarah is expecting hers and Stuart's first in July!!!!! Yes, 2 more grandchildren on the way!! God has blessed Matt and Susan with another child and God has answered our prayers in giving us a miracle with Sarah's pregnancy! She is almost 8 weeks along, which is still very early, but we feel at peace that this is going to be "His chosen time" for Sarah and Stuart. God's grace and faithfulness have seen Sarah and Stuart through some very difficult trials. He has matured them and nurtured their spiritual walk with Him, and He has found favor with them. We are trusting in His timing and His will. She is not posting much right now because she is experiencing much nausea and fatigue, which did put a little damper on her festivities today, but she was a trooper - no complaints. She has waited for this day to come for so long, she is taking the nausea and fatigue in stride. Hopefully this will soon pass and she will be up and running at her usual non-stop speed!

All of your prayers have sustained them, encouraged them, and carried them through - we are all eternally grateful and humbled that you have traveled this journey with them/us. Words can hardly express the gratitude in our hearts! Thank you all - faithful prayer warriors!

Can you imagine what this summer is going to be like??? Can you imagine what our family get

togethers will be like with 6 adults, 2 toddlers, 2 babies, 3 dogs! Oh my goodness! Praise God and give me some energy!

The only thing that could have made the day more complete was to have the "Pledger's" (my side) here. This is the first year ever that my family has gone their separate ways for Thanksgiving. Last year was our very first Thanksgiving without both of our parents, so we all felt that deep desire and need to carry on, so to speak, and have our usual Thanksgiving celebration together - feeling that somehow Mother and Daddy would want us to. It was bittersweet, but we needed to do it...wanted to do it...to find comfort and closure I guess. Though it felt sort of empty and strange this year, it seems the time has come that as our own families continue to grow, it is harder and harder to schedule holidays where we can all be together. However, we have vowed that at least once a year, we will set aside a designated time that my 2 brothers, their kids & families, and mine will all gather to spend time sharing, remembering, celebrating and rejoicing in all that our parents gave us and made us through their love and their lives. I miss them every single day...sometimes more than I can fathom.

So, I thank you, Father, for my beautiful parents!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Happy Birthday to me,

I've passed 53,

Beware of the big ones

See what they do to me!

Naomi Carroll

I don't know if you have ever heard of Naomi Carroll or not. For a long time, she only had one single out - "Enjoy the Journey", which is one of my all time favorite songs. It is deeply personal to me because it is a song that greatly ministered to my mother and to me during her final weeks of battling head/neck cancer. We heard it together for the first time just 6 weeks before she passed away, when Jonathan Martin (of The Martins) gave a free concert at our church on a Sunday night in May of 08. Apparently another church had cancelled out, so he had an opening in our area. He contacted our church and offered to come, free of charge. (that was a God thing) Mother really wanted to go, so I took her and we spent the evening together - listening to Jonathan's testimony and to his wonderful voice singing these beautiful worship songs, savoring each and every moment, as we each silently knew this would be among our last memories together. Jonathan began to share a story about his family and some of the difficult things they had encountered with one of his young twin boys...a journey that they never expected, but had been blessed by nonetheless. He then sang "Enjoy the Journey", and it immediately touched us both very deeply. It became our "comfort" song during the darkest of days. I still listen to it almost every day. Once you hear it, you will understand why.

My sweet mother was such a remarkable woman with an unbelievable will to live, more moxie than most of us put together, a wicked sense of humor, an amazing outlook during her journey, and more courage than most of us could only hope for. She was such an inspiration to me! I pray that I can become only half the woman she was. I will forever listen to this song with the memories of her courage and strength...courage and strength that I know runs through my veins...and Sarah's veins.

So anyway, after the concert, I began searching for the lyrics to "Enjoy the Journey" and discovered that Naomi Carroll had written the song and had a recording of it. Thus...my discovery of Naomi Carroll!

I've tried every way in the world to add this song to my Playlist, but I can't get it on here. I'm sure there is a way, but I haven't figured it out yet.

In the meantime, I will do this the "old school" way. I'm going to send you to Naomi's My Space. Naomi has come out with a new CD, "Becoming." I love all the songs, but especially the title song, "Becoming." (duh) I can relate so much to the words in this song! Enjoy the Journey and Becoming actually go together so well, as we all are changed by the journeys we go through. I can't help but think of all of you out there too...who have been on, gone through, or are in the middle of your own journey. What/who will you become as you face and go through your journey? How will God use you? What will you learn? Will you become bitter, numb, afraid...or will you become more like HIM?

Here you go. Please listen to both "Enjoy the Journey" and "Becoming"...in that order. I hope they both minister to your heart as much as they have, do and always will mine.

http://www.myspace.com/naomicarroll

Lord, help me "become".

p.s. If you get her new CD, "Enjoy the Journey" is on there, but it is a re-mix version, which is good too, but personally, I like the original better. Itunes has the original Single.

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs!

We (Sarah and I) have a tradition around here...dressing the dogs for Halloween. Do we take them anywhere? No. Do we have Trick or Treaters coming to my house? No. (we live on a ranch 10 miles outside of town) So, why would we dress our dogs up for Halloween? Because they're just so darn cute and we can take pictures of them!!! Well, ok...we take pictures of them all the time anyway, but this is just special fun.

Laugh and make fun if you must. But, at least admit that they really are cute!

I marvel at how attached to our pets we become. I grew up always having a dog...an outside dog. When Rick and I married, (back in Kindergarten - I covered that in one of my first posts) he set his foot down and said, "No inside pets...ever." True to his word, we've had many outside dogs, but never an "insider". Matt and Sarah grew up with several outdoor Golden Retrievers -Einstein, Edison, Buffy and Spike. They were wonderful, loving dogs. Spike is the only one still alive and he has gone to live with my dear friend Karla. After Buffy died, Rick and I didn't spend the time with Spike that he deserved and he was terribly lonely. So God sent my dear friend Karla and her husband Charlie, to adopt him, where he roams their farm with other dogs. Now he has friends to play with! I still get to see him and he is a very happy boy!

Back when Sarah was in college and decided to move out on her own, we/she thought it would be a good idea to get her a dog for companionship...easing her into the "living alone" phase. So, along came an adorable little Yorkie named Spanky. Rick was pretty adamant that Spanky would spend little time inside our house. After all, he was Sarah's dog, not ours. Little did we know, he would steal our hearts and we would soon become Grandma and Grandpa to Spanky. (not even my "real" grandchildren can get away with that...no names for me that even refer to an "old" person)

After Sarah and Stuart got married and prepared to move to Northwest Arkansas, Rick discovered he was REALLY going to miss Spanky. He even teasingly offered to buy Sarah a new dog if she would give us Spanky. Yes, this is the man who would NEVER have an inside pet. And thus...this is how we ended up with a Yorkie of our own, Buddy. It is also how Sarah and Stuart ended up with Scrappy. Moving to NW Arkansas far away from Grandma and Grandpa would be traumatizing enough for Spanky, so he HAD to have a friend to ease the pain! (Scrappy and Buddy are half-brothers) So, now you know the story of why we have 3 Yorkies running around inside all the time.

The Pirate, The Monster and Chiquita Banana

Again? Scrappy and Spanky

Kisses

Booooring!

Buddy

Windy Day BuddyBuddy and Me (lovin' the boots)Pretty Spanky

Spanky and Sarah