love them like Jesus

Well it has been a long time since my lost blog. A lot has happened since my last blog, but I won't bore you with all of that just what is on my heart mind right now.

A few months ago Misty and I were asked to be foster parents for a specific child. We both felt God leading us in this direction and we also felt that we were going to be more than just foster parents to this child. Misty and I both feel that eventually adoption was a future possibility.

I felt like blogging today because we now have the child in our home. It has only been a few hours, but things appear to be good. It is difficult to hold back the tears when I read the child's history and hear what they have been through. No one should have to face the fears and circumstances this child has been through.

While preparing to blog the song "Love Them Like Jesus" by Casting Crowns came on my blog music player. The chorus really hit me.

You're trying to make sense of it all
They're desperate for hope, darkness clouding their view
They're looking to you

Just love them like Jesus, carry them to Him
His yoke is easy, His burden is light
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus.


This song is not about children, but the chorus really made me realize how we need to reach out to people in the way Jesus did.

Jesus simply showed love to others and accepted them as they are...sinners. "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

Jesus does not expect us to follow a bunch rules, before we follow Him. He just wants us to be in relationship with Him and show that love to others. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31


The last part of the song sums it all up for us:

The Lord of all creation holds our lives in His hands
The God of all the nations holds our lives in His hands
The Rock of our salvation holds our lives in His hands
He cares for them just as He cares for you

So love them like Jesus, love them like Jesus
You don't need the answers to all of life's questions
Just know that He loves them and stay by their side
Love them like Jesus

Will you love them like Jesus?

road trip 09 part 2

Well it's been a while, but at the prompting of one of friends from Corsicana, I will attempt to finish this series of blogs.

On the second day of our road trip we visited Carslbad Caverns. It was a lot of fun, but I wish we would have have more time there. Maybe one day we can go back and do some of the things we did not have time for.

Next we were on our way to Tuscon, Arizona to spend the night. A few hours into our trip we received a few text messages from family and friends. They were contacting us to let us know that a dust storm near Tuscon had caused a bad wreck and the interstate was closed. Our friends, Kenny and Miranda, were spending their holiday at her parent's house in Sierra Vista, AZ, which is east of Tuscon. They invited us to stop there and spend the night to avoid going to Tuscon. So we crashed at Miranda's parent's house for the night. Unfortunately, I left my camera unattended and Kenny left us a reminder of our stay with them.



The next morning we woke up to see snow!!! Snow in Arizona??? Yes, it's true!!

After eating a great breakfast prepared by Miranda's dad and we got on the road again toward our final destination - San Diego, CA.

road trip 09 part 1 (aka the continued adventures of mr. strawberry and mrs. orange)

Misty and I celebrated our 13th Anniversary on December 21st. This year we celebrated yet again by taking a road trip. This year we went to San Diego, California. We have spent our anniversaries traveling to see family. This includes our honeymoon which consisted of traveling from Texarkana, Texas to Eureka Springs, Arkansas (honeymoon spot)then to Hope, Arkansas to spend Christmas with Misty's family.
This was by far our best road trip yet. We think that is mostly because we took our time getting there (and because Sebastian got to go with us). Instead of driving straight through we took in some sites along the way, hope you enjoy reading about our adventures (btw Mr. Strawberry & Mrs. Orange were also along for the ride).
We started our adventure with a short jaunt from Ft Sill to Dallas to celebrate an early Christmas with Memaw, Maw-maw & Paw-Paw, Melody, Danny, and of course little Nathan.

Our first destination was Carlsbad, New Mexico. As we were traveling we saw road signs for Ranger, TX home of Ranger College. Ranger College ss the college which Misty's dad attended before enlisting in the US Marine Corps. So we made our first unscheduled stop and explored the very small town and college campus.

After our adventure in Ranger, TX we continued our journey. Here are a few pics of the sites along the way to Carlsbad, NM.

After arriving in Carlsbad we found a hotel to crash at for the night. This was our 13th Anniversary so we celebrated with dinner at a local place called "The No Whiner Diner". Then we grabbed a movie from a "Redbox" and hung out at the hotel the rest of the evening.