Great Quote

So, for those of you who know, I find myself fascinated with black history, I LOVE gospel music and would love nothing more than to take a group of teenagers to Ghana,West Africa, on a missions trip. Today I Found this beautiful quote that I'd like to share.

"For twenty years I prayed but received no answer until I prayed with my legs."
-Frederick Douglass, escaped slave

Don't have any profound thoughts on this but I really liked it. This man didn't wait for an answer, he pursued it on foot and became a free man. If you like this quote too, tell why.

Beautiful day today!Not too hot or cold, just right! Jonathan and I spent the day together because he was off and the girls had school. Yay! Went to Whataburger, Target and Walgreens. Exciting huh?
I'll send out pics soon of the girls in their Halloween outfits!

Love to all!
April

Recent Family Picture

Here's our family picture taken last Sunday, Oct 21....we had fun getting these done and Glory and Grace did well for about 20 minutes, after which they began looking for frogs and chasing dragonflies....we went out for Marble Slab afterwards per Glory's request!

Lots of love!

Thought I'd take a moment to honor the sister in my life,Pamela Valentine.

She's 21 years old, loves to be with friends and family, adores her two nieces, and has her own apartment not too far away that she's done a great job of decorating. My favorite thing about her is that she will do almost anything for anybody. She has the gift of mercy for sure and Glory and Grace have certainly figured that out!!! Pamela is a manager at Walgreens, she's cute and single, she has a knack for decorating and she is 6 years younger than I.

What do you love most about your sister, or friend that's almost like a sis?

Get Your Iron

OK, so I decided to push past my fears of giving blood and donate blood yesterday during my 3-11 shift. I can't stand getting stuck! I know, doesn't make a bit of sense. So, I leave my patients in the care of the charge nurse, nervously amble downstairs and wait in line for 45 minutes, get my blood sugar checked, eat an apple and a muffin and then get stuck AGAIN, only to find my iron level is too low and I cannot donate. And I thought I was going to overcome my fears!
To make matters worse, Jonathan hears word of this and totally starts analyzing everything I eat(By the way, he thinks I don't eat enough, I, April, who can eat 5 slices of pizza at a sitting)
Anyway, now I've got his eyes on my every bite! I love that about my husband. He gets all up in your business and that means he cares about you!

Oh, well, all this to say giving blood is a great thing to do, but get your iron up!!!
Foods high in iron are red meats, leafy greens(like spinach) raisins and liver(uugghh!)
Oh, well, maybe next time I can become friends with the blood-hoarding needle of the American Red Cross!

The Saguaros and our Journey

Have you ever wondered how life is like a cactus, aka saguaro?

Our lives are strong, some older than others, sometimes hard to approach, usually beautiful in their own special way,awkward and unbending and always studded with something poky and uncomfortable??

God makes all things beautiful in His time and today I claim that even with my prickly faults and insecurities, I am loved and chosen, not agreed upon, not reluctantly picked last, but hand-chosen by God.My stickers mean nothing to His strong Hand.He will use me and He will use you, prickly or not, IF we are willing.

Thought I'd share some pics of our new landscape we will come to know as home shortly.

Our Houston friends, Austin and Cami are in this first pic with us and they are already in Tucson, gearing up with Ben Barfield(in the 3rd picture) to help make CommonGround Church a place where someone not totally keen on "church" would one want to come and learn how to love their journey with Christ. That's what we're so excited about doing also!

Love to all,

April

Just Because

Just had to practice this whole picture thing one more time!!!

First Pic

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!

I just learned how to post a picture and I'm so excited I almost peed in my pants! So, here's one of many more to follow. Glory and Grace enjoying icecream on the front porch.

Today is Sunday and we went and had our family pics taken so those will follow soon. We went out for icecream after that and tonight the girls are spending the night with their Aunt Pamela so it's a date night for us and we went to IHOP! I love date nights!!!!

The 5 Things I Dig about Jesus

1. He prompts us to do the impossible.
2. He gives us amazing gifts(this is my love language, ok?)
Some gifts he has given me are:
a strong marriage
healthy, mostly happy children :)
a secure future with him
3. He was unafraid to think outside the box( I mean, would we think to make mud out of dirt and spit, tell a diseased man to dip in a river seven times and then heal him?)
4. He cheers for the underdog.
5. When I worship Him, everything else pales in comparison.