A Prayer Request

I had been keeping up with this family and just heard on Amy's Daily Pleasures that this sweet little baby has been born. Please remember this family in your prayers. Even though they knew he would be born with this I cannot imagine how sad they are to know that he will only be with them a short time. It's easy for me to complain about and not be as thankful as I should be for my very healthy young ones. I've heard so many say " just as long as their healthy". I pray to never say that flippantly in passing but to be so thankful when they are healthy and also to have peace, understanding and thankfulness especially if they were to not be healthy. Please pray that this Mother and Father, brothers and sisters and entire family will feel God's Love and peace. Here is the link

Tuesday Girls Night Again

We have started to really look forward to our meetings that we are having. Our little group is starting to grow. Last night we had close to 20 people altogether ( not counting the boys that were playing). One family didn't get to make it due to her husband's work schedule and I hate that she missed it because we had such a fun time. It's so encouraging to get to talk with other Moms and see that we all have so much in common. This isn't the best picture but I had to post about it so that we could look back and remember those great Tuesday nights. This is a quick picture of some of the girls. We didn't do a Mom picture. Maybe another time.

Large Family Living

Some would consider our family "large". In my opinion it just depends on how you look at it. I would think that a large family might have ten or so kids. We aren't there yet and only the Lord knows what our future holds. I heard a sermon by a local pastor titled " Is Ten Too Many". ( I have got to remember to bring that back to the library) I love what he did at the end, he called each child up on the stage. Yes they were prepared for this. He went on to say had they not made the choice to let the Lord bless them then these children would not have been there for them to enjoy and Love. This made a huge impact on me. I had felt the same way but didn't know how to express it but thanks to Pastor Gibson it was so clear. When I see Sarah and Samuel I realize that this is because we just couldn't say yes to those questions you are always asked- Will this be your last one? Are you getting your tubes tied? Even with the birth of Jacob we had left the norm! No birth control?!?! Are you nuts? Said by many who got a little too much into our business. So when I see a picture of my family I see 3 that we planned almost down to the exact month and then I see three that we took our timing out of the picture and allowed for God's timing to take place. I can remember after Josiah's birth Sammy went in for the big "V" consultation. I am so glad that he is wiser than I am and said No! With all the issues of Josiah's birth, fear crept in and I was afraid to have more. Isn't it just amazing that when I was pregnant with Jacob all those problems that -would get worse- just simply started to disappear. God showed up when we allowed him to take control! Now with Mother's Day quickly approaching I always look forward to that day. When I was a kid it was a different story. Being raised by a Grandmother instead of a Mother made for some very uncomfortable Mothers Days to say the least. I remember Mamaw would rarely go to church but on Mothers Day she sometimes would just because my Aunt Vickie really wanted her to. We would all have to wear those great big huge corsages. I hated mine! Why did I have to wear some flower half the size of my chest. To me it was so ugly and so heavy. But I didn't dare say a word, obviously it meant something to someone. Funny thing now is that for the past few years I have really wanted to wear a simple small corsage on Mothers Day. As crazy as it sounds I would feel proud to wear one. I am throwing hints hear and there but I think I will just pick one up at Bi Lo or someplace. Would I make my girls wear one? Only if they wanted to and only if it were very small. Our church doesn't do this and probably not many do now but I can remember as a kid the preacher would give a pot of flowers or some kind of plant to the oldest Mom and the one with the most kids. I loved seeing these gray haired little ladies yell out " I've got 8" or "I've got 10" sometimes I can remember the number going above that. In my mind I would think WOW that had to be a really neat family to grow up in. You could see the pride coming off them when they would talk about those kids. Not the looks of disgust that so many have today. So maybe it started out as a small child that loved to hear about big families and dreamed of having one. God started something in my heart years ago and now I am the Mother who looks forward to Mothers Day. But in a different way not the little girl who was a mistake from two people. I didn't care for Mothers Day or for that matter Fathers Day and to even hear the word "Family Tree" would totally cringe. Now I am the adult Mother who looks forward to Mothers Day celebrations. In spite of all that "junk" and all those mixed up feelings as a child came a huge desire to be a Mother. So now for a visual and yes I am being a copy cat from his sermon I spoke of earlier.

The last two that we have had would be considered our "quiverfull minded" babies, but to make it easier and not sound so -out there- we just call them blessings!

Happy Anniversary!!!

Today April 17th two people were joined together in holy matrimony. Making a life long commitment when they said "I do for better for worse for richer for poorer in sickness and in health". These two people are my parents.

They never knew they would be raising six children, homeschooling and be in full time ministry.

My mom is the best friend I could ever wish or hope for and is continually showing how a Godly wife should act.

My dad is also my best friend and is teaching and guiding the whole family to trust Christ in any circumstance.

I believe I have the most wonderful parents in the whole world.

I Love you mom and dad!!!

My beloved is mine and I am his.~Song of Solomon 2:16

( They are celebrating their 17th anniversary on April 17th)

By Morgan for all of the Parris Kids

Friday Outing

Friday we took a fun trip to the Zoo in Chattanooga. It was packed! Never have I seen it so crowded before. The kids all had a ton of fun. This was Sarah's first trip (except as a 5 month old) and she really enjoyed herself. I loved seeing her smile and wave at the animals. She was so sweet! If you want to see animal pictures you will need to head over to Morgan and Katie's blog. They took some great pictures. After that Daddy surprised us with a trip to Red Lobster. Oh my, it was so so good. I always get the Cajun Chicken Pasta and then Katie and I share because they don't have it on the kids menu and I think she loves it as much as I do. Well now Morgan and Josiah tried it and found out how great it is. Wish I could come up with a similar recipe. The biscuits were warm and perfect!!! This was probably the best I have ever had there. Of course I can count on both hands just how many times I have been to Red Lobster. We went around 5:30 and hit it just right! Looking forward to the rest of the weekend!!

Too much time on the computer!?!?

Am I the only one or does it seem like in bloggy land I spend way too much time on the computer? How much time? Well I would hate to add it all up. Between the little bit of time I spend on my own blog to all the other great blogs out there that I love to read it can be very time consuming. I remember a few years ago when I spent NO time on the computer except to check an occasional email through the local homeschool group. This then developed into finding tons of info in general about homeschooling. After that I somehow stumbled across a few blogs. Large Family Living, Lockwood Family and Joel's Journey were some of the first ones I read regularly. Then it seemed like everyone was blogging. I have enjoyed finding and reading so many blogs, oh yeah there was also Money Saving Mom who really got me started with coupons and all that good stuff. But when does it become too much? Back to the original question. I have to admit that on my daily schedule of our free time/rest time in the afternoon I could go straight to the computer and waste many precious minutes. Not that looking at everyones blog is a waste but you know what I mean. This is not healthy for me, the kids, my husband, the house and the list could go on. I seem to let things go that I need to get done and then complain that I don't have enough time. Or worse yet after reading about everyone else I then get off the computer feeling like a complete failure as a Mom and ya know I wish I could do it all as good as they could attitude. Now isn't that crazy, I am who I am and that's just how it is. I know I have plenty to work on but that's okay. I don't want to cut out blogging altogether but I do want to put a limit on time spent on the computer. My girls enjoy their blogs so much but they are young and have extra time to have this as a hobby. Hubby has a blog but it doesn't consume him ( I still want to link our blogs together, it's on the to-do list). I started this blog to keep up with pictures and also plain everyday stuff or exciting new adventures. So how did this happen? Not really sure but I do know that I will try to limit 30 minutes maybe a couple times a week. We'll see how that goes. Okay so I have shared my personal feelings. This is not to say that everyone spends too much time on blogs, it's just an area in my life that I need to refocus and cut back on.

HIP HIP HOORAY

Yes, I am excited! Tonight while Morgan was at piano Josiah and I walked a nice brisk walk for 30 minutes. It might not sound like much but for me it was a huge step towards trying to take off some of this extra weight. Now if I can just stay motivated and continue walking several times a week. I even thought about doing my weight and then a target weight that I would like to be at. Also making notes of when I did some sort of exercise. I have since then decided not to publicly humiliate myself and skip the weight part but keep up with the exercise. Okay one step in the right direction and it really felt good!!!!

Spring Pictures 2010

A 10 Year Celebration

A couple weeks ago we celebrated the 10 year anniversary of our pastor and his family at our church. There was a great power point with all kinds of pictures of the entire family through the years, many I hadn't seen. He was given a lovely plaque that I wish I had taken a picture of and there was also a big reception afterwards. He was then presented with a Holy Land trip. So many people were there to let Allan, Taunya and the children know how much they are loved. A few shared some words at the reception. I know that my husband has told me many times that Allan is not only a great pastor to our church but personally has become a true friend to him as they have worked together. The celebration was enjoyed by all. I had several pictures I wanted to put on here but I can't seem to get them to scan good enough so I will need to add some of the children later. I took several shots of just random people and families in the crowd but being the photographer I am they also didn't quite turn out. These are at the reception after church. It was decorated beautifully and the food was wonderful. We are blessed at Waterville!!!!