Twenty One years ago...

Twenty-one years ago today, at 9:41 p.m., after 18 and a half long hours of labor, Ashley Elizabeth Moore came into this world. It seems like yesterday. I can still remember every detail of the morning, day and night in which it all began. That's right, she is now 21 years old! I cannot believe it!

She has been a great blessing in my life over the last 21 years. Of course there have been times I wanted to strangle her, but those times are so easily forgotten when you look back over cherished memories. We have so loved watching her grow over the years. From a tiny baby (7 lbs. 4 oz) to a precious little girl who loved choc milk, to a wonderful big sister, to a beautiful Godly, Christian woman. She has the most beautiful smile. Her smile can change your mood instantly. It can also melt your heart. It has been so amazing to watch God developer her into the woman she has become. And sometimes when I get a little cynical about things, she's always there to set me straight. It's amazing when you start learning from your children.

We had so much fun over the years watching her play soccer, then softball and basketball and finally volleyball. Which is still her favorite sport. I couldn't believe it when she graduated high school and now she is about to begin her senior year at ACU. Where does the time go? Cherish every moment you have with your children. Even when the days are sometimes not so good. Because one day you blink, and they are grown women, about to take on the world.

My life would not be the same without her in it. She is not only my daughter; she has become my best friend. I feel like I can tell her anything and she never judges me. I have made so many mistakes throughout her 21 years, but thank goodness for God's grace and mercy who has covered over a multitude of mistakes. I give God glory for everything she is and for everything she will become. She is truly His child. I am just so fortunate and so thankful that He allowed me to be her mom. I love you Ashley! May God continue to bless your life and continue to mold you into the woman He wants you to be and to become. Happy 21st Birthday!!

I'll leave you with a few pictures from over her 21 years... Enjoy!

For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you. Colossians 3:8,9



Her 1st ball game...with many more to come!



The morning Jeremy was born. This was around 3:00 a.m.



The night before middle school volleyball tryouts!



High School volleyball game. They went to the playoffs for the
1st time in 17 years! They ended up Area Champs and
Regional Quarterfinalist.


Senior Volleyball Picture



Senior Picture

Some things never change!!!!




Officially Twenty-One!!



Ashley & Jeremy



Ashley & Warren
We found fireworks on her 21st birthday
and celebrated with some really good friends!!
How cool is that!!


Blessings Everyone... Have a great week!!

Ok God...I'm Listening...

I spent this past week in Abilene with Ashley. She was moving from an apartment to a house with 2 other girls for her senior year at ACU. I can't believe she's a senior! We had a great time together. In fact, I think it was our first actual "grown up" time together if that makes sense. I think we have crossed over to that adult relationship between mother and daughter. We didn't argue once and just had a really great time hanging out. And have I said before I miss having her home this summer?? :)

During the moving process, I think everything that could go wrong went wrong as far as utilities go. The electricity was suppose to be activated in their name on Monday last week. While Ashley and I were in the house on Monday, the electricity all of sudden went off. I saw someone walking around outside so I went out to talk to him. He was very reluctant to talk to me, but said he did not have an order for electricity to be turned on at that address. And of course he was there turning it off because the previous tenants had not paid the bill. (Normally, at least around here, they don't actually turn it off when someone moves. They just read the meter and change the name on the account.) We called the electric company and of course they had no record of anyone calling to have it turned on even though they had been called the previous Monday, a whole 7 days earlier. So, no electricity until Wednesday afternoon. We moved for 3 days in 95 degree weather with no air. What did we ever do without air conditioning! Fortunately, we had her apartment until Tuesday night so we slept there. And Tuesday night some dear friends who live in Abilene let us crash on their couch.

On Tuesday, the cable and internet was suppose to be hooked up. I called them on Monday evening to warn them we had no electricity and the person said, "Oh it's ok, they can still hook it up and that way it will be on when your electricity comes on". So they came out Tuesday and lo and behold, they are not allowed to leave equipment there with no electricity. Big Surprise! I told them about my call the previous day and he called his supervisor. They gave us the direct phone # to the supervisor and told us as soon as it gets turned on, to call him and they would try to send someone out. When the electricity finally came on Wednesday, I called and they had someone out within an hour an a half. So that was great! After he hooked everything up, he was explaining all the equipment and I asked him a question about the DVR (tivo) they were suppose to have..."Oh, you ordered a DVR? They didn't tell me that. This is just a regular cable box." Fortunately he was able to locate one quickly and came back out later that afternoon and switched the boxes out. Our best experience of the week with utilities!

Now with electricity on we began to wash clothes. I noticed after about 3 loads there didn't seem to be any hot water. I thought it going to be hard for 3 girls to shower every day if the hot water doesn't last any longer than that. We left a little while later and went to eat. Ashley had to work that night so I ran some errands. It had been about 4 hours since I had washed clothes when I finally got back. There was still no hot water. I told Ashley to call the landlord because the pilot light must out. They sent out a plumber the next day and guess what... you guessed it, the gas had been cut off because the previous tenant had not paid the gas bill either. After I headed home on Friday the gas company came out and turned on the gas but couldn't find the hot water heater to light the pilot light. And of course they didn't show up until around 8:00 p.m. so it was to late to get a plumber over there. So hopefully tomorrow they will finally have gas...and hot water!

Needless to say it was an interesting week where the utilities were concerned. As many of you know who have read previous posts, I tend to like to be in control. (no duhs here please :) I try really hard to let it go, but lately I have noticed myself having more trouble in that area. This week, it was like God was slapping me up beside my head, saying back off, you CAN'T be in control. I think I finally realized that on my drive home. I started replaying things from the week over in my head and it was like, Ok God, I'm Listening... finally. And as if to reiterate it, all the way home, things kept happening or I kept noticing things that were just one more subtle hint after another. I was flipping radio stations on the way home trying to stay awake. I don't usually listen to country but happened to stop for a few seconds on a country station. The song had just gotten to the chorus which said, "I'm living life in fast forward, I need to rewind real slow". I thought, how many times am I just rushing from one thing to the next and not enjoying things along the way?

Then, when I was about 30 minutes from home, the traffic suddenly came to a stop do to an accident. It was like God was saying, "I'm really not kidding, you aren't in charge". Don't you just love that God has a sense of humor! Fortunately it broke up in about 10 minutes and I continued on. Then I saw a billboard that had paper dolls cut out on it. I don't even know what it was advertising. I noticed that at the front there was one cut off from the rest of the group standing by itself. My thought was, I am cutting myself off from what God wants me connected to by continuing to take control of things I really can't control.

It's really kind of scary. It's obvious that I haven't given up control as much as I thought I had and that God is trying to get my attention. That's always a scary thing, because I know God is leading me somewhere and He wants me to just let Him lead. So once again I'm trying to turn that over to Him.

All in all, it was a great week! I got to spend the entire week with my daughter and that is always one of the great blessings in my life. She will be home on Thursday for a little over a week. I can't wait!

On a side note, Tim Spivey, our minister, is taking a few weeks off and we had the privilege of having Wade Hodges from the Garnett Church in Tulsa, OK speak today. It was great to get to hear him again. He had a great message on "Moving Up From the Back Row" taken from the passage about the Ethiopian Eunuch.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. John 10:26-28

My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. James 1:19-20

Catching Up...

It's been a while since I've blogged. The past 4 weeks have been extremely busy. I haven't had time to even read blogs, much less write one of my own. It has been really hard not having time to especially read blogs. I enjoy doing that so much. School is out now though and I hope to catch up on my reading and hopefully post a little more often.

Well, I'll catch you up on what we've been up to lately. It started about the 2nd week of April with Jeremy's prom. Yes, Jeremy is old enough to be going to prom. Soooo hard to believe! In fact, he is now officially a senior in high school! Ashley is now officially a senior at ACU! Where does the time go. Here are a couple of pictures from prom that night.


Ashley & Jeremy


Jeremy & Warren (Warren was standing on the down slope of a hill. He's not "that" much shorter than Jeremy :) Actually, he might be :)


Warren & Ashley

A couple of weeks after prom, Chris and I went with Jeremy's choir from high school (70 kids!!) on their choir trip for 5 days. We went to Branson and St. Louis. The trip was a lot of fun, the bus driver was a psycho (a story in and of itself :), but all in all a fun trip. Of course by the time we got back we were exhausted. We went non stop for 5 days from 7:30 in the morning until 11:00 at night. On the way back, a nine hour drive, we had 3 freshman girls sitting behind us, who did nothing but shriek and carry on for 9 solid hours! No joke, they NEVER slept for even 1 minute the entire 9 hours back. Believe me, I was so ready to get off of that bus :)

Then we had the opening of the new Highland Oaks auditorium which is just amazing! Jeremy's choir banquet was the next week (he was elected the new choir president for next year by the students and was also named a senior leader for next year by the faculty). The same week he also had 2 choir performances. In one of the performances he sang a solo of "Casting Crowns" Lifesong. He put together clips from the "Passion of the Christ" to be playing while he was singing. He did an amazing job! The next week was my 4 year old class's preschool graduation. Obviously, it's been a busy several weeks. It's been a good busy, but I'm sure glad it's summer!

Ashley is staying in Abilene this summer and working :( It's the first summer she hasn't been home for the whole summer so that is sad for me. That's always our time to hang out together. Although someone else is taking up a lot of her time now a days. You might have noticed the guy in the pictures from Jeremy's prom with him and Ashley. That is Ashley's boyfriend (yes I said it, boyfriend) Warren. He is a really sweet guy and we really like him a lot. He is the youth minister in Clifton, TX. He graduated last year from ACU and he and Ashley met working together at the Abilene newspaper. They started dating this past February. He spends a lot of time driving back and forth from Clifton to Abilene.

Summer is almost here and it promises to be busy as well, but with no school it will be a lot more manageable. Jeremy is going to Encounter at LCU the 1st of June, to Honduras the 1st of July, then to choir camp the very next week, the week after that will be Summer Bible Quest (VBS) at Highland Oaks, then at the end of July Chris and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and in August Ashley and I are going to see Celine Dion in Las Vegas!

Well, I guess that's about it. I had told several people after Jeremy's performance in Beauty and the Beast back in January I was going to try and post a video. I think we've finally figured it out. So I will close with a couple of videos from Beauty and the Beast and also his solo of "Lifesong". Have a great week!

P.S. Even though there is sometimes no picture on the YouTube screen, it still works. Just click on the YouTube image.