It's Justin's 2nd Birthday Today!!!

Wow!  Our baby is two today.  With football games, a very busy weekend, and family coming in from out of town, we will, Lord willing, be celebrating when they all get here sometime in the next week.   But for now, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PUMPKIN!

Happy 12th Birthday Kristalyn Grace

What a joy it has been to watch Kristalyn grow up. Over the past year Kristalyn and I have become really close. I have grown to appreciate who she is as a person. She is definitely a blessing to our family! Its been so much fun to have a sister around to talk with and enjoy the blessings of everyday life together. Kristalyn, thanks for always being there for me whether it be helping me out with the household duties or just being there as a friend I can talk to. I love you so much! (love, Katherine)

The pictures below are of our Sunday birthday party. What a wonderful surprise to come home from church and find Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda waiting for us! It was a lovely celebration for Kristalyn with family and special friends. John and MaryEllen Long have been a blessing to our family and we were so blessed to have them with us for this special occasion.

We miss you Katherine Joy!

Here are some pics that were taken the day Katherine left for her "vacation". We are so grateful for the opportunity that she has for some rest and relaxation while also taking care of her two cousins and spending time with Uncle Rob and Aunt Wendy. We really miss her sweet smile and loving hugs but are very happy for her. Everyone is counting the days down until her return. Can't wait to see all the lovely pictures of the the island, the ocean and the beautiful beach.

Please know that you are deeply loved and your sweet joyful spirit is greatly missed and has left a huge whole in our home Katherine! WE LOVE YOU!

New family photographer

Anthony has been interested in broadening his horizons lately by learning more about his camera and the different settings so he is branching out and trying his hand at some "people" pics.   He really enjoys taking nature, sunsets, and animals but I am grateful he is wanting to learn more so we can all benefit with beautiful portraits!  This is his first practice shoot...pretty good Anthony!  THANK YOU!--love, Mom

Republican BBQ

On Sunday Katherine, Anthony, Jonathan and myself were invited to help out with a fundraising event for the Republican party of Bexar county. It was alot of fun being around fellow Republicans where we could share a similar thought process on our political priorities! :) I thought it was ironic that we were serving BBQ with white new T-shirts! I did manage to get through the day without spilling anything on mine though....can't really say that for the rest of the group :) As always at events like this we had the opportunity to meet many of the local candidates that are running for office in November! Keep these people in your prayers as they work hard for the next 2 weeks to be elected. I am sure many of them would appreciate any help or time you could give if you felt a burden to help in the area of politics!

Jacqueline's 15th birthday party!

Once again we rejoice in the goodness of our Lord in allowing us to have great friends that are, as the Word of God states-"iron sharpeneth iron" and "there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword but the tongue of the wise is health".  The Clark family has been the kind of friends that are always ready to encourage others to follow hard after the Lord!   We were so delighted to spend an evening with many families  celebrating a very special girl's birthday!  Jacqueline,  you have grown to be a very sweet, kind and gracious young lady.  God has so blessed us to be a part of the last 6 years of your life and watch you grow mighty in Spirit and see the fruit of a self sacrificing life.  May you continue to follow the Lord by honoring and obeying the wishes of your parents that you will have no regrets and that you will hear those words "well done thou good and faithful servant!  Enter into the joy of the Lord".  Finish strong my dear and remember you serve God first but you influence many others that come after you.  We love you Jacqueline.  Happy 15th birthday!!!!!

F.E.A.S.T. Civics Class

Our family has been blessed to be a part of a very informative and interesting civics class that the F.E.A.S.T. organization puts on each month. As always, the speakers are a delight and more than willing to teach us their expertise in the area of politics. This week's line up was no different! We had the opportunity to hear Judge Marion T. Carson as well as Attorney Blake Coffee. Both were very intriguing and well informed on the topics they shared, but what was most interesting about this month's speaker Marion Carson is the fact that he is totally deaf! Assisting in his courtroom duties are two hearing aids and a state-of-the-art captioning system that transforms courtroom talk into text. The text is then displayed on a computer screen making it readable for the Judge. He says 99 percent of the time defendants don't even know he is deaf! It is truly amazing what technology affords us these days. Once again thank you Gale Sayers for everything you do to make classes like this happen. We have all been extremely blessed and look forward to each new class every month :)