not major.... but timely!!

Not MAJOR like anyone's getting married yet, but, I read this today, so timely for me when so many are going "hither and thither." Bethany and Micah headed to Illinois, of course Caleb still in MD and thats maybe his new residence :) Daniel flying back and forth to Tulsa and soon helping Rebekah get to Kentucky for school ( i hope he comes back, haha) And then today when a few of us are going on a fun outing with friends to nearby Sulphur and Terry can not go because he is working.......we are all not continually together it seems. I'm happy, happy, happy bout everyones agenda's but also its hard, hard, hard! So when I read this devotional this morning about God is continually with me.....it soothed my heart!!

"Nevertheless I am continually with Thee," Ps. 73:23 ( Spurgeon)

Nevertheless, As if, notwithstanding all the foolishness and ignorance which David had just been confessing to God, not one atom the less was it true and certain that David was saved and accepted, and that the blessing of being constantly in God's presence was undoubtedly his. Fully conscious of his own lost estate, and of the deceitfulness and vileness of his nature, yet, by a glorious outburst of faith, he sings,"nevertheless I am continually with Thee." Believer, you are forced to enter into Asaph's confession and acknowledgement, endeavor in like spirit to say "nevertheless, since I belong to Christ I am continually with God." By this is meant continually on His mind, He is always thinking of me for my good. Continually before His eyes; the eye of the Lord never sleepeth, but is perpetually watching over my welfare. Continually in His hand, so that none shall be able to pluck me thence. Continually on His heart, worn there as a memorial, even as the high priest bore the names of the twelve tribes upon his heart for ever. Thou always thinkest of me, O God. The bowels of Thy love continually yearn towards me. Thou art always making providence work for my good. Thou hast set me as a signet upon thine arm; thy love is strong as death, many waters cannot quench it; neither can the floods drown it. Surprising grace!! Thou seest me in Christ, and though in myself abhorred, Thou beholdest me as wearing Christ's garments, and washed in His blood, and thus I stand accepted in Thy presence. I am thus "continually with Thee." Here is a comfort for the tried and afflicted soul; vexed with the tempst within-- look at eh calm without. "Nevertheless" -- O say it is in thy heart an d take the peace it gives. "Nevertheless I am continually with Thee."

I just needed that today.....that no matter who is here, if only a few are with me, God is continually with me!!

See......I posted and it wasn't that long. I guess when I feel like I have something "post worthy" I will post!!

Happy weeekend!!

dear friends......

Dear Faithful Blog Friends~~~

Hope you all are doing well!! We are hot!! But whats new??? I was blessed yesterday to get a window a/c in our bedroom and had the first cool night of sleep all summer, thank you to my husband!! I am finding myself in a place of what to do about this blog. I would never "delete" it, I still need it for Joel's sake, yet I am finding myself with a lack of what to write about. Yes, I still grieve but I think I have expressed every emotion under the sun so I just say three words, "God is Fathful!" I hope you all will always remember Joel. Anyways, I think the best thing for you all to do is (if ya want) is to subscribe to our blog and if and when I update, you will know and you won't have to keep checking back many times a day. I will be sure to let you know if anything exciting happens like engagement or marriage......hopefully it will happen before I'm tooooo old!! haha!!Or if anything MAJOR happens around here!!

Thank you all for being so faithful to our family!! I love you all! And you never know......that something MAJOR could be tomorrow and I will see ya then......hahha!!

In the mean time, know God is Sovereign, and may the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you........

scattered.....

Some are in NY/Maryland, some are in Missouri, some are in heaven, some are in Stillwater, some are fixn to be in Illinois.......DOES ANYBODY STILL LIVE HERE?????????????????? I am beginning to wonder!!!!!!!!! It seems like with so many NOT here, my grocery bill would be less, but thats not happening! hahah!! So many are scattered all over the place!!

Elijah is doing well, he needs to DO what the DR. says instead of saying "its all better, its good!" Thankful all is going well post surgery. Will be anxious to hear how long he is suppose to do "not much" when he gets his stitches out today. I was in such shock when we took the bandage off and saw how they sewed it up, they had gathered the skin up, which I guess they had to do because there is not much skin there, but it looked like a worm laying on his collar bone. He will definitely have a nice scar there. :]

The temperatures are still soaring in the 100's and have been for right at a month! Very unusual for the heat to last sooo long. Its really making it difficult for the winter in preparing for hay, we are getting hay already.

We went to the drive-in movie last night and LOTS of people went/met us there!! Had the lawn chairs, ice chest, reminded me of when I was little and went with my parents back in Arkansas. It actually wasn't to bad after the sun went down. Cars 2 was playing, it was not as good as the first one, but the little children had a fun time and I guess all the big people did too!! Fun summer memories!

I dont have the camera, Anna has it so I cant post any pictures and that makes me not motivated to write a blog, as you can tell. I love to have pictures so I posted one of a very favorite person!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

post surgery update!!!

We are home!!! Elijah is resting. All went well with the surgery. Thankful for that!! He was suppose to have the surgery at a surgery center in Stillwater but they were remodeling so they sent us over to the Stillwater Medical Hospital.The surgery staff at the surgery center came to the hospital to do the procedure. To be honest, I did not like going to a hospital, too many memories but God gave grace and everything is all fine! Now, to keep Elijah's arm doing "nuthin" til the 20th and then for 4-6 weeks of no work will be my biggest challenge!!! Me and the little children went to the library yesterday and got tons of reading material and lots of old movies for him (and us)!! So that might get him by for maybe 48 hours!!!! hahah!!! Main thing is for him NOT to use the arm, raise it, lift, or anything like that!! I think he thinks hes got it made because he can still text!! We will see how the eating goes, as his left hand is all bandaged up from the hand break and now the right arm has to be immobile!!!! I even got to feed him a muffin this morning after surgery with a spoon, and of course I have to add some drama to it, so I was pretending he was my little boy again!!! haha!!! He didnt think that was toooo cool!!!

Thank you for praying!! It means so much to us!! Now for a good quick, strong recovery!!

so dry !!

The ground crunches when you walk on it!! The pasture is like straw! It is really terrible! We got a few sprinkles today but it was not enough to make even a dent. The cactus is thriving but everything else is dying, trees are loosing their leaves, and some of our red buds are all brown, I don't know if they have died or not. May the Lord have mercy to send rain to our land!

I would like to share Anna's photography blog with with you all. It here!!! I think she has done a good job along with Kristens help, I like it!! Hope it blesses you!! Make sure you look all the way to the beginning!!!!

Well, guess we will head out about 5 am Wed morning for Elijah's collar bone surgery! If you think about it, pray for him! Thank you!

Blessings to you!!

injury report......

Well, I guess in 24 years to only have 2 breaks of bones with 13 children is not a bad record. Daniel's was the first with a broken finger many years ago and now Elijah with the broken collar bone with the dirt bike wreck he had on Saturday and after the Dr. appt. today he also found out his left hand was broke too. He found out as well that he has to have surgery to "fix" the collar bone break!!!!! They will put him back together with some plates and screws!!! Besides Joel having a surgery related to his cancer this is the only other surgery our family has had!! We have been blessed, God has protected and kept us safe from so much. The very strange thing is on Saturday as Elijah was outside with his dirt bike loaded and about to drive off, I had this "feeling" he was going to get hurt. I prayed for him in my heart that God would keep him safe and that angels would be round about him. Now some might say God did not answer my prayer. It depends on how you look at it. I say He DID answer my prayer!!! Not that my prayer is so great but what if I had not prayed, it could have been maybe a worse injury. I am thankful I stopped and prayed for him. God did keep him safe!!! So now, if you think of it pray for Elijah Wed. morning about 6 am as he has surgery. Thank you already!!

Elijah is left handed and its all wrapped up from the break and after Wed. he will likely not be able to raise his right hand/arm up to high, so Mercy assured him as he was trying to eat tonight and experiencing some difficulty that she would feed him like a baby!!! She is very compassionate with people when they get hurt!! They said it would be about a 6 week recovery, so pray he heals quick and strong and during this time, he will still be a good steward of the time he will have!! He asked us today as we were sitting around, "is this what yall do all day?" I said, "well yes, and welcome to the club!!" Its not going to be easy for a fellow like him to be doing "nuthin!!"

I told him after his bull riding event at a rodeo several years ago and he got hurt, I said "NO more!!!" and now with this, I think he needs to get my drift......."NO more!!" I dont think hes going to totally take me up, but at least find something less eventful, like trail riding on horses, or calf roping or golfing!!!

May you have a blessed evening tonight!! Gonna get some coffee going!!

:(

Wow!!! the temps have been unbelievable!!! It was 111 degrees here yesterday! and like 110 degrees at 8 pm!! We are in need of rain desperately. Everything is literally like straw and such a danger!! It looks like the 100's all week too! I do like heat, but this is a little much!! :/ Trying to stay cool inside is a challenge as well, since we have only a few portables and a couple of window units and it has been 94 in here, but we are doing fine. God is good and there is worse things for sure. One being the incident at the Texas Ranger stadium on Thursday, remember we were just there June 24th, well a dad and his son were there and the father reached for a ball and fell out of the stands onto concrete, he died within an hour. Pray for them, such a sad thing!! I have to remind myself of the scripture in Ecc. "there is a time to be born and a time to die." God is Sovereign!! AND God is Sovereign over dirtbikes!! Elijah had a wreck and he broke his collar bone on Saturday. On Monday we have to call and get an appt. with a bone Dr. to see if its the kind of break that will heal on its own or the kind that requires surgery to put it in place!! So, say a prayer for him as well if you remember!

Well, this week, Terry and Daniel have an outta town job! We have a wedding this weekend to attend and some of the older ones (the adult ones) are going to a church camp!! And then the week after some are going to another church camp and are involved in playing some music at the camp!! Can it get any busier???

Heading over to pizza hut, I gotta go see my girly friend that I have not seen in too many Sundays!!!

Stay cool, if you can!!!

TGIF!!

Hey its Friday!!!!! Glad about that!!! Some are camping out, some are going to a rodeo, some are going to a Red Hawks baseball game!! I'm one of the baseball attendees!!! Everyone goes in different directions these days!

I think sometimes we think the people in the Bible had something we dont have now, maybe more of something, but as I was reading this morning in Gen., I was reminded that they were people just like us. I read about Abraham being a father, how he had to lay his son down, about Sodom and Gomorrah and the worldly wickedness, about Sarah dieing and saying goodbye to ones we love, and I read about the desire of Abraham to have God ordained marriages of his children with the marriage of Issac and Rebekah. It all sounds like very familiar situations that we experience in the 21st century! The thought that struck my heart was, in all the experiences that Abraham faced with God's presence being very real, I too can know and see His presence in my personel situatons....... God has not changed at all!! We can have the same comfort that he received, we can have victory of the worldly temptations, we have joyous provisions for our sons and daughters for godly wives and husbands. We have the SAME God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob! I was encouraged as I pondered this, sometimes we get "bogged' down thinking, "if God would just come through like he did with those of our past." He will, He can!!

Hope you all have a good weekend!!!!

generations to come......

It's what I have been doing these almost 24 years........investing, praying, nurturing, admonishing, training, advising, protecting, disciplining, loving and much more...............only to send them out to Lord willing raise generations of faith!! I have been reading about "generations" in the last week or so. People born at certain times, certain eras, places, its all happening according to His will. In the long ago days in the the book of Ruth, HE was foretold. "And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsmen that his name may be famous in all Israel." ......."and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David." Way back then a little boy was born named Obed and in generations to come Jesus would come through his line. Raising a heritage of faith is my greatest prayer to the Lord. Not just one or two generations but until the appearing of Jesus Christ is my prayer!! I like the verse in 4:22, it says, "the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son." Its the Lord that grants children! I guess I am thinking of all this because of the older children and where they are, 5 of them are definitely of the age to consider/praying about marriage as He provides. Its a new step for a moms heart. I am super-duper excited yet there is this tinge of I dont think its necessarily sadness but rather trying to prepare for change. A change of devotion, affection, of giving themselves to another. I am not saying woe is me by any means, this has been going on since Adam, but its my turn now or close to it Lord willing and so I am just saying its different, its a bitter sweetness. That saying is all I can come up with. The scriptures I have been reading is very fitting to my heart now, it tells me this is why I have done this.....so that they will cleave to another, allow God to give children as a blessing and by His grace and mercy may the Lord give faith and repentance to a mighty host of generations to come through the 12 children that are here with us!

We are trying to survive the drought of no rain but everything is so brittle and dry! One can hardly go barefoot anymore, unless you want splinters! About the only cool place is outside in the little kids swimming pool. Not much relief even in the house! But when I have it, ice cold lemonade quenches your thirst! I hope Hosanna doesnt make us start paying a $1.oo for it like on Saturday at Farmers Market! :) I always do it, but you know those popsicle things you freeze, well we have "chain popsicle eaters!" They always ask if they can have one, but it has gotten where that is like every minute, so I finally said, "don't ask, just eat them when you want!!" (and then the popsicles will be gone sooner) haha!!

Terry and Daniel are doing a job outta town but they will be home for the weekend, at least Terry will be, I think Daniel has plans with you know who.....Rebekah, so we wont see him, and then they will have to go back next week. Some are getting ready for church camp, to go as a counselor, and then another camp after that one. Bethany is waiting for the call from her bestest friend to say "the baby is on the way," her and Micah are driving up to Illinois. And well, you know, Terry and I are hanging around taking care of the all the littles!!

Terry did get the sheet rock up to the laundry area, so it looks neat to have it all sectioned off now. I am still waiting for the cabinet guy to come and measure the space for the area that will hold the double oven. My next step is something I can do and that will be taping, texturing and painting the sheet rock that we just put up. I have to move the computer desk thing because I am going to texture behind it as well and paint it the same color as in the kitchen. So the only things that are left to do will be, finishing out the windows and around doors with wood trim (same wood as cabinets), the tile on the floor, ceiling fans and lighting over the island, and then putting the tongue and groove wood ceiling over the computer area and of course finishing out the laundry room. Some of it will be next spring/ summer, like the tile for sure.

Well, thats about it!!! Hope you all are doing well! Hosanna lit a candle awhile ago and it was cinnamon......makes me think of pumpkins, and hot dog roasting fires, and sweatshirts and I guess if you can believe it.....I am thinking of Fall!! I am ready for it to be about 80 in the house instead of 93!! :/

Blessings to you!!

july 4th 2011

Jeremiah having tons of fun swimming!!!!

Rebekah and Daniel......twinkeeeees!!!

all the gals......
4 Morris girls in the middle
3 Stinson girls at the bottom and
Heather at the tip top

What a fun 4th!!! We celebrated over in Owasso Oklahoma with the Stinson family!! Swimming, volley ball, hamburgers, ice-cream and fireworks!! Our children LOVE to swim, who wouldn't when its 100 degrees plus everyday!! Bout the only thing one can be doing to survive this! Thankful for friends with wonderful hospitality.

Friday I got up early for grocery day, Saturday I got up for Farmers Mrkt, (our best one yet, thankfully) Sunday got up early for church, Monday got up early for our 4th trip to Owasso Ok, Tuesday..................I slept late!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I am still soooooo tired. It takes me a few days to recover when I loose sleep!!

All is well on the Morris farm, our garden is suffering greatly for lack of rain. It has been a very tough gardening year. Of course Terry does not give up, thats what farmers do, keep throwing organic matter in, keeps pulling weeds, keeps watering, keeps praying. Hoping for a small fall harvest of lettuce and spinach. Goats are all doing good. Bethany sold two small bucks this past week. And as always making plans for future goals. Our cow head has grown significantly, Elijah sold 4 just recently. Most of the chickens have bit the dust, I dont think I want anymore after these are deceased!!! Too many cats, so if in need please come and get!! hahah!!

I have a new name for Kristen and Caleb, "the inseparables!!" I guess the "Incredible Inseparables!!" They are doing well up in MD. I think they enjoyed the 4th at Harpers Ferry!! Caleb is still working for Kristen's dad. Lots of wonderful people up there that he has met. I wanna go meet them all someday!!

I also wanted to mention almost 8 weeks now, Bethany and Lucas after prayer, came to a mutual decision not to continue with the courtship. Thats what a courship is, to see if your compatible, learning about each other, and discerning God's will. All is well with them both. We dont actually see him much anymore since he is on the Cushing police dept and lives over there, but the guys have hung out with him so he's still a friend they see. God is good as we are face to face with the season of life where the older ones are seeking, praying, waiting for the ones that God has for them.

Guess I better see whats happening on Andy Griffith, the littles have him on!