Harding chapel.

I know TWO posts in one day! Feeling froggy I guess!

The whole time we were in college at Harding, David talked about speaking in chapel. But it never happened. Well....6 years later...he finally got to!

If you remember, after the tornado Harding sent over 800 students to help in relief efforts to our little town of Clinton. The next week David was asked if he would be willing to come and speak during the "Struggles of the Faith" week. Of course he said "YES!!!"

This past Friday was the day. We sat in the second row right in front of podium so he could see us. I am a little parital to my wonderful husbands speaking ability, but I think he WONDERFUL! But in usual preacher fashion, he went over time! Oh well.

So after 10 years of talking chapel....it happened! He got to say ...." You are dismissed."
Congrats, David....

The Cook Adventure Continues.........

Well, if you have been following us the last 4 months...you will know that we are on house number three since November. :) We are now house sitting for several families from our church this summer. We are just getting started on building our home...which I am VERY excited about. What I am NOT excited about is living other people's lives in the meantime. After the tornado, rental properties are non-existant. So we either comute an hour or live in someone's house. We chose not to drive.

Please send a prayer up for us....more specifically my children. They like to have stability and lately....between the tornado and us moving around.... the only stability they know is our love. Thank goodness that counts for a whole lot more than a house! Right?

Stay tuned for the next chapter in "David and Bethany's Big Adventure!"

Horton Hears a Who!!!!

As I mentioned in my last post we went to go see Horton Hears a Who. It was a pretty cute movie. The girls enjoyed it...that is, between the bathroom visits and the visits to the snack bar. (Luckily, David was on the outside! hehehe!) When we were leaving the theatre, and getting the girls all buckled up, Eden started chanting....." We are Here!!! We are Here!!! We are Here!!!" I just laughed. She's too funny.

Oh what a Night.....

This is our drive way and main entrance to our house.

Well, we've had a tornado, two snow storms, two hail storms, several thunderstorms.....and now....TSUNAMI! And that's just in the last 5 weeks. I don't know who in our town is the "sinner" that God is trying to punish, but I wish that person would repent....and quickly! :) (Just kidding. I know that God doesn't do that to people.) But, one would start to question after so many MAJOR storms.

Last night our family went to the movie to go see Horton Hears a Who. (More on that to come!) When we left the theatre, David checked his phone and had like a million missed calls from various friends. He called our friend Dale back first. Dale told him that the "chicken plant" was being evacuated and that we should be really careful going home. (FYI: Chicken plant is 1/4 mile away from us, and actually on higher ground than us!) By the time we got to our road, the river that runs parallel to it had already started to rise. We decided that we were going to stay somewhere else for the night, so I started to pack up a few days clothes...just in case. You see, this house flooded in 1982...13 feet to be exact. And I want no part of a repeat performance. So...the girls and I head over to Dale (yes, same Dale) and Amanda James' house for the night. David and Dale decided to stay at the house and move things to counters and high spots in the case of a minor flood....if there was a major flood... it's all gone, so who cares!

At 11:30 pm I was finally able to get my now traumatized children to sleep. And I was exhausted. I dozed off to sleep very shortly after. I woke up suddenly at 3:30am to check on my kiddos. As I got up of the mattress, I stepped into 3 inches of ice cold water. At first I thought maybe a glass of water tipped over, or the toilet overflowed.....nope. Yes folks, their basement flooded. So, up I go to Dale and Amanda's room to tell them the glorious news. From then on we had a "bucket brigade" to get the water out of the crawl space and soak up as much as we could. Dale and David were outside trying to dig out the French drain from under the house (that was the culprit)......all while pouring down rain! After 3 hours, the drain was unclogged and we were wet and tired. As of now, things are calm at the James house and our house. The water are receding and the rain is slowing down. And Wet Vacs are a wonderful thing.

But, now I am even more tired than I was before. Oh well. I can always sleep tonight.

Pillow Talk with God

Last night Tatum was messing around at bedtime and I told her she had one chance to say her prayers with me. ( She ususally tries to talk and ask me a gazillion questions to avoid sleeping!) Well, I said my prayer with her...and as ususal she began to jump around. So I told her she was on her own and I left the room. I hung around a minute to make sure she settled down. Not only did she lay down, she said her OWN prayer. It went a little like this....

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the day and the rain.
Thank you for Eden Grace, and Daddy. Thank you for letting me
have Upward and next year I want to cheerleading again so make sure the First
"Baftish" doesn't go down in a tornado. Thank you for my mama and letting me be
her kid. Help me to be good and not go to hell. Please let mama have a baby. Amen.

I thought it was the sweetest prayer....and funny all at the same time. I especially like the "help me to be good and not go to hell" part. It's always a little shocking when she uses the word "hell" in it's right context. But I am glad that she (and Eden both) knows how serious hell is, and that they want to avoid it! Makes one part of my job a little easier.

I love to hear my children pray. I especially love that the majority of thier prayers consist of THANKS to God. Can we say the same?

PS: Oh yeah, There will NO more babies!!!! :) (Sorry Kid!)

Car for Sale!!!

While shopping in Conway, we ran across this car for sale. I just busted out laughing because ....well.....Why would anyone spray paint a car with "FOR SALE?" Duhhh!!!

MOM CONFESSIONS!!!

I was reading a friends blog today and a comment made me laugh. I decided to make a whole post dedicated to this comment.

The comment was from a mom who said that she painted her son's toenails just so he would leave her alone so she could finish hers. My friend responded with a mention of "Mom Confessions." That is what made me laugh....how many of us have those confessions?

Here's where this post needs group participation.....I need your Confessions!

I will start:

I have on several occations, gone to the Wal Mart deli and bought "chicken balls" (aka: popcorn Chix) and a blue slushy drink for the girls....then driven through Taco Bell for me. All because I didn't feel like "fixin" lunch that day.

Your turn.