The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away



Today was a pretty bittersweet day...  We've had our dear wiener dog Hershey for about 16 years, and today the Lord took him home.  He'd been having some health problems for a while now, and we finally found out that his kidneys were failing.  He had gotten to where he wouldn't know us anymore, he was in a lot of pain, and just wondered the floor.  Our parents, with heavy hearts and much consideration, decided that we had to put him down.  There's a part of me that thought that we shouldn't have taken matters into our own hands, but the other part of me knows that it was better for him.  I thank God that we had this many years to be able to love him.

        Hershey

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
~ Ecc. 1-9 KJV



 

Lovely Weather!

Okay... so my title might be a little bit deceiving.  This isn't the usual pretty spring weather... this is the scary,  tornadic, and typical Oklahoma weather! : /  I'll show you a few pictures:

 

Scary, huh? 

 Please pray that we and our friends are kept safe tonight. :D

Thanks!

~Mallory

Chuch News

 

 I wanted to tell you all that I think the Lord has led us to a church to stay for the time being!!  We have been visiting the church for the last few months with some friends. The people have been so hospitable to us and so welcoming, that I feel apart of the family!  But I feel that I shouldn't get my hopes up too much, in case the Lord doesn't want us to become members and remain there.

 I've had a jumble of emotions these last few months.  First, God leads us away from the only church family that I've only known.  Then we're visiting different churches every Sunday, and not feeling that it's where we need to be as a family.  It got so frustrating at times, that I just wanted to give up, and I found my crying myself to sleep at night.  Then I couldn't take it any longer. I cried out to God to ask His forgiveness, and asking Him to do His Will for our family.  Then, and only then, did I see that God was working in ways that I couldn't see before!  I was so focused on what I wanted, that I was missing the beautiful plan that He has for me and my family!  Now I know that even though God hasn't completely answered us, I know that He still has a WONDERFUL plan for us! : D

Thank you to all that have prayed for us, and please continue to for our family.

Your sister in Christ,

Mallory



First Chuch Of God Centennial Celebraiton! September 30-31

 

 

Hello! It's been a few days since I've posted, but I've finally found time to post. This last weekend has been REALLY busy at our church lately getting ready for our centennial celebration!  Here's the events we attended this weekend:

 

On Saturday night, we had a singing in our sanctuary.  All of the old pastors from the years past came back, and sang a few songs for us. 

This is half of the Centennial Choir

 

This is our old youth pastor, Michal Mattocks.  His family has gone through some really hard times a few years ago.  He became really sick, and they didn't know what it was, until two years ago.  They have two sweet boys now, and live in Colorado. We see the family every once in a while, and we love them very much!

 

 This is our current pastor, Andrew Rebein.

 

 

The man on the left is an old pastor, Brother Gable.  He became the pastor a little while after we started attending there.  He is a very sweet man, and really funny! 

 

~

Then on Sunday, we had one combined service that morning.  Then that night, we had a big celebration out on our new church property.

Daddy lounging in a chair while listening to the Downing Family playing some gospel music. They played wonderful bluegrass gospel music! 

The Downing Family

We took  our friend's little son, Keegan, that night.  Isn't he handsome? : )

 

He loved playing on the playtoy that looked like Noah's Ark

 

 

We stopped the swing so we could get a better shot.

The church bought a bunch of glow sticks, and Keegan loved them!  

We ended the great evening with a beauiful firework show.

The funniest thing happened that night when the fireworks started.  I've never seen a baby fall asleep during fireworks! 

~

Even though it was a great evening, I still know that we won't have many more left... 

We are visiting more and more churches lately, and I'm still having hesitating thoughts about this.  I don't know about you, but Satan has been attacking our friends and family a lot lately. 

 If you didn't read my last post about our church, click here.

 

Please keep praying for our family.  I would really appreciate it! : )

Also keep praying for the leaders of our church.  That the Lord will open thier eyes, and turn it  all around!

 

Thank you again for the listening ear!

~Mallory : )