Backyard fun!

Wesleygrant cracks us up singing the "Dora Explorer song", so this is an attempt to catch it on film....

Sally loves to talk these days! Thought we'd share it with you...

Is Sally Stew or what!?!
OOPS!
Enjoying yogurt pops!



We are housitting for our friends, the Hoffs. They have 2 precious children, Kiah-6yrs and Cayden- 4yrs. We are taking care of them while their parents are at a conference. It has been so fun! We all surprised Stew with cake and ice cream and the kids made up a birthday show for him! so fun! It has been good practice to have 4 kids. We have been playing in the back yard and having so much fun! The hammock is our favorite! Here are a few pictures and videos to view. We are sad that tomorrow is our last day, but know we have to get back to "the real life" of packing and moving. We are going to miss the Hoffs so much along with so many people who we consider family here in memphis.....Austin, here we come!

Just a little update:

Happy birthday to Stew!! Was on the 27th! We will have pictures soon. Stew and i are housitting and babysitting this week until tomorrow. We have 4 kids!! Kindergardener, Preschooler, toddler and infant! wow! so fun!! We will have pictures of all the fun when we get back to packing for Austin! thank you for your prayers! We found an apartment! yeah!

BIG NEWS!!!

We are MOVING to AUSTIN, TX!!! Stew will be working with Austin Stone Community Church! www.austinstone.org We are very excited! yet very sad to leave our relationships here!! So much has happened here in Memphis...it has been our "city of firsts". We have so many testimonies of God here...we look forward to the journey ahead where we will have much more! We love you memphians!!!

Thinking of Now Past

Today marks 4 months since my mother died and met Jesus. That is still an unimaginable, yet believable, thought i continually think upon. What was it like when she gave her last breath and was face to face with Christ, her Lord? I can only imagine. But I can imagine and know the day she took her last breath. The memories of the time in the hospital with my mother continually replay themselves in my mind over and over. It hits me when i least expect it and it is still so fresh.

Two days ago I was thinking, "I've got to call my mother and tell her what sally just did." Then i realized, i can't call her....she is not there. We would like to visit my family soon in TX and i was thinking...."My mother would love to see sally's grin." I seriously had the thought as if she was still there. But then the reality hits me that she is not. I guess you can only understand if you yourself have lost a loved one. The aching pain grips so hard, when i realize that she is gone....that it takes my breath away. It is as if I am hanging from a cliff about to fall but griping so tight to the strong hand of Christ. The feeling of falling is so real, but there is a sustaining peace that keeps me securely tightened with my Father's hand. There is deep comfort in the deep griping pain. I wonder if I will always feel this way.....I don't know.

This weekend, I felt the aching pain again. And it was unexpecting things that triggered it. Knowing I was losing Laura from across the street was one of them. And then WesleyGrant all of the sudden got a fever yesterday after playing. It shot up to 103 degrees and i was at someone else's house trying to find their tylenol or motrin. I paniced a little bit...and I don't usually do that. There was a panic that I was going to lose him. We stayed up all night with him and I rubbed his face with a wet cloth. I did the same thing with my mother the night before she died. Her fever was up so high and would not go down. All we could do was keep cold rags on her. I would talk to her and wipe her face that night before she died. I did the same with wesleygrant last night. I found myself crying so hard as he would sleep, wishing my mother was here and wondering if wesleygrant had some fatal virus.

I took wesleygrant to the doctor today and he is fine...just as expected, a virus that has to run its course. But until the doctor said it, I was continually reliving those last moments with my mother. Fear set inside and I truly thought, could i lose my son? How much more ache can i possibly take? I continually was challenged to trust the Lord and not fear.

I was reading the girltalk blog a few weeks ago and found a comforting quote. Spurgeon once said "Some have only learned to trust the smile of His face, but they must also learn to trust the blows of His fist” (Beside Still Waters, p. 15) and that has continually helped me as I walk through this rocky road of grief. There is the strongest grip of His hand in the midst of the stongest pain....I'm sure the death of my mother is not the first rocky journey i will walk. But I pray I can gain a sight of the sunset that comes with His perfect plan He so faithfully walks us through and be better prepared to trust yet again, the blows of His fist. The memories of my mother are now, past. But as i relive them all, I pray it will remind me of how faithful and sustaining our God is and give strength to continue ahead until I too, like my mother, will be face to face with my Jesus Christ, my Lord.

Wesleygrant is already feeling better....thank you Lord, for using his virus to help me grieve and see that you are the Lord Almighty...great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds....thank you for bringing me 4 months along.

REALITY, AGAIN

The Pinkstaff Family had a huge garage sale...the 1st of 2 before they leave for India. And it was a lesson in many ways. I've been walking this journey with Laura (in the middle) as she has surrendered to following her husband to India, agreed to 3 years or more, faced opposition and accusations of being a bad mother to her children, and saying yes to leaving almost everything she owns material wise. WOW.

Laura is the closest friend God has given me here in Memphis and every day we are a part of each other's lives both in the big and small things. We have grown so much from each other in the last 3 years. We've experienced things of life and things of death. We've wrestled and often fallen together in how to live the gospel in our neighborhood. We've stood beside each other in fear and unbelief....and ended in belief and victories together.

So, the reality is that it is going to be so hard to let Laura go to India. There will be an aching pain as she goes so far away. But the lessons i've learned with and from her are ones that has changed me. I am not the same person I was as when i first met her. Today that reality hit me. As I watched the things precious to laura and her family be sold and given away....i saw those things become rubbish compared to the Christ they so greatly adored. And they showed me today that Christ was worth more than all i could ever possess from this world....Thus true life was shown to me in the "death" of their possessions today.

Thank you Pinkstaff family...thank you Laura, my dearest friend for showing me that Christ is enough. I love you laura!

Okay, Not Reality....but Fun!

We wanted to see what Sally might look like with long hair and so we did some experimenting.....let's be honest....God knew what he was doing when he gave babies a small amount of hair...and for sally, i think the dark isn't her color......though she is Cute as a Baby doll. =) We had fun and got a little glimpse into the future of what Sally might look like. Thought you might enjoy a laugh!

Wesley-grant thought mommy's sunglasses looked better on him......

It was Hannah's 1st birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday Hannah!

Sally having fun in Austin....she is really starting to smile and coo so much! She is our sweet sally for sure!!!

Sally had her first airplane ride this weekend. We went to Austin, TX and had a blast! THanks so much Fords for the incredible time!!! We already miss you guys!!