But Mrs. Becky...

I have a dear friend that is babysitting the boys this, when Ryan is working.  She is a God send and a GREAT woman.  She has triplet boys of her own, that are 7, and she always keeps some other kids.  On any given day, she has about 9 kids at her house!  Bless her for being able to do this, and man am I thankful!  Don't think I could do it.

Anyway.. at the beginning of summer, Becky and Bobby bought a pool (which all the boys LOVE)!
One of the first few days that Becky was keeping the boys, they had to go run a few errands, which included stopping at the pool store to get somethings.  As Becky was talking to the lady at the store, Pierce was off in his own world doing his own thing!  While, still talking to the lady, Becky notices that Pierce is tapping her on the leg saying, "Mrs. Becky, Mrs. Becky", to which she said "Wait a minute Pierce, I am talking." However, Pierce was not liking the idea of having to wait.... "But Mrs. Becky, I just opened the door for a lady that was coming in the store!" At that point, the lady that Becky was talking to and Becky had to stop and praise Pierce for being such a little gentleman! He was so proud of himself!

This goes to show that even if you aren't really "trying" to teach children something, they are always watching what you are doing and picking up on things.  Ryan is very good about opening the car door for me, as well as other doors and Pierce has picked up on this!  Way to go Pierce!  We are proud of u!! It melts my heart to watch the boys grow and learn such great things!

I am holding up my end of the deal?

God has given us such an important job to do, which is raising our children to be great men/women of God! In mine and Ryan's case it would be raising 2 great men of God. I realize everyday that got has trusted us with 2 of his greatest gifts!  What an honor to know that God trusts us with 2 of his precious children to love, discipline, and raise and at the same time it is scary, cause I want to make sure that I am doing it the way that he would have me to do it. Our children really aren't our children, they are really Gods, and he has let us temporarily have them to love, cherish and to raise according to his will!
One verse that stands out to me the most about children is Proverbs 22:

"Train a child in the way he should go

and when he is old he will not turn from it"

That verse says a lot to me.  It speaks truth!!  Everyday I wonder am I teaching them the right things, saying the right things to them, encouraging them enough, am I being to strick on them, am I not being strick enough, this list could go on and on.  But in reality, if I would simply let God guide me in the way that handle every aspect of my children's life, I wouldn't have to worry!  He has a perfect plan, and in his perfect timing it will all take place and be set into motion.  Not a moment too soon, and not a moment too late!  AMAZING!!

Something else that has stuck in my head is something that I read in my bible.  I have a Life Application Study Bible (which I love) and at the bottom of each page there are explanatory notes (also love these too).  I was reading through Ephesians 6 one day which is about Children and Parents.  As I was reading v4 which says 

"Fathers, do not exasperate your children, instead, bring 

them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."

After reading this verse I went to the notes at the bottom to see what it said about this verse and it really hit home to me! (By the way, God is awesome, because at the time that I was reading this, I was going through some issues, in my mind, about my parenting ability and he gave this to me to read) The explanatory notes say:

"The purpose of parental discipline is to help children grow, not to exasperate and provoke them to anger or discouragement.  Parenting is not easy --it takes lots of patience to raise children in a loving, Christ-honoring manner.  But frustration and anger should not be causes for discipline.  Instead, parents should act in love, treating their children as Jesus treats the people he loves.  This is vital to children's deveopment and to their understanding of what Christ is like" 

Can we say WOW!!  Man if that doesn't hit home then I don't know what would.  That spoke to me on several levels and even today, after reading it again, it reminds me that I have to work on my parenting.  Not that I am a bad parent, even though that thought has crossed my mind before, I am human and I struggle!  But with God I can make it through anything.  As the verse says  

"I can do everything through him who gives me strength" 

Philipians 4:13

My prayer is that I will always look to and depend on God to guide me and direct me in ALL actions as a parent.  That I will always look in his word for guidance in rearing my 2 boys. I pray that all my actions would be pleasing to god, and that at any given time, my boys can see Christ through me.  I pray that I can teach them to pray, to worship, and follow God.  I pray that I can teach them to love others the way that Christ loves us, and to overlook ones imperfections, which is of the world, and to look inside their heart and to see the true person that is within.  I pray that I can teach them to give of themselves and to serve others.  

Heavenly Father, I pray that you will continue to feed me with knowledge to raise these 2 precious boys that you have given me on this earth!  Lord, continue to help me seek you in all that I do and to follow you! Protect my boys from the evil of this world, and keep them safe in your arms.  I pray that I am guiding them in the right direction so that when its your timing they will ask you to be their Personal Lord and Savior, oh what a day that will be!

In Jesus Name!!

Happy Father's Day

(A Day late)
We had a great Father's Day.  The boys and I gave Ryan his father's day present a few days early, seeing how Ryan always fusses at me for making him wait until the certain day for all of his presents (ex: birthday, christmas, etc.).  So I gave in this time because I wanted to show him that I didn't always have to wait until the exact date to give him his present :)  (Plus I was really excited to give it to him, as it was something he had been wanting for a while)

So Daddy got this:

He loves his softball, so what better way to say We Love You, than giving him something that he can use for softball! :)
I couldn't ask for a better daddy for the boys!  He is loving, caring, compassionate, strick (when need be), praises the boys when they have done good, kisses the bo-bos, plays ball with them, and the list could go on and on!!  He is doing such a great job at helping me raise them, the way that we want.  The way that God would have us to raise them!  He is always working to make sure that we have what we need and want! He is always making sure that the boys are taken care of all the time!  He is SUPER!! Words can explain how great he is and how blessed we are to have him in our lives as a husband and a daddy!

Ryan, the boys and I love you very much and we are very appreciate of everything that you do for us!

We LOVE YOU!!!

Encourging Word

We always listen to K-Love.  Matter of fact, we LOVE K-Love!  That is all that is ever on in my truck, except when we listen to Rob Biagi music or "The Ole Miss Song" as the boys call it!  :) It is so great to be able to hear the boys singing to the songs as we are driving down the road!
They also have a website www.klove.com that you can go to and check out a lot of fun, cool stuff.  They have the option for signing up for Encouraging Word Emails.  Man are they a blessing!!  There have been many times when I have had a rough morning at home, and when I get to work, my encouraging word email is there waiting on me, and because we serve an AWESOME God, it always is what I need to hear!!  It never fails that he always send the right word to me at the right time that I need it.  Isn't that AWESOME??  Praise God!!  I get excited about it!!

Here are two that I got this week:

"So lets not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." Galatians 6:9  ~~  This was the word that I got yesterday.  And it reminded me that even though there are times where I am tired and ready to completely give up on something, that I need to preserve because God is going to do great things and richly bless me when the time is right!!  God always amazes me with his PERFECT timing of things!! 

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Philippians 4:6 ~~ This is the word that I got this morning.  Again this week, this hit the right spot in my life.  I have be praying about somethings for a while and knew that when God's timing was right it would happen, and it did!  Amazing!!

Praying for the Head Family

There is a couple in our Sunday School class that are in the process of adopting a daughter in Ukraine.  They have been led to this adoption by our Heavenly Father!  They have been thrown curve ball after curve ball, but through it all, Christ has brought them through and has prevailed! Praise God!!  He always provides and protects his children!

Please add this family to your prayers!  Here is their blog if you would like to read more about their journey!
http://takingupourcrossesandfollowinghim.blogspot.com/

Its your day, CP

Happy 34th Birthday, CP!!  Man your getting old. haha!!  I'm allowed to pick on you about that since I'm the baby sister!  :)

Hope you have a great birthday!  We love you!!

Love,

Alicia, Ryan, Colton and Pierce

2 became 1

On June 12, 2004 I married my best friend and soul mate! God sent me the best husband that I could ask for!  It has been the BEST 6 years!  We have been through a lot, had many happy times, some not so great times, but through it all we have grown stronger and closer!  I couldn't ask for a greater husband!

Mr. & Mrs. Ryan Sanford

So Happy and In Love

Signed, Sealed and Delivered :)

We are looking forward to many, many more wonderful, happy years as Mr. & Mrs.! We have changed so much as a couple and individually but we couldn't have done it without each other.  I can never thank Ryan enough for all of his love, support, encouragement, strength, and many other things.  He is always there to make me smile when I need to smile, to life me up with I am down and always there to get me through the good and bad days!  Together we make a great team.  I love him more today, than I did 6 years ago when we got married!  

Ryan, I love you with everything in me!  I thank God each and every day for sending such a great man to me!!

A look back

As everyday passes, I keep thinking to myself.. Man time is flying way too fast!!!  It seems like yesterday my boys looked like this:

(these 2 pictures is from 2006)

and this:

I blinked my eyes and they now look like this:

(this picture is from Easter 2010)

Where have my babies gone?

Colton and Pierce, I want you to know that Momma and Daddy are SO proud of y'all.  The two of you are growing up to be sweet, handsome young men!  We have so many memories of ya'll so far and we'll have many more to come in the coming years!  Always know that no matter, we love you regardless of what happens!  Even when you aren't at your best, Momma and Daddy still love you unconditionally!  Nothing can ever change that!  God has placed the two of you in our lives for us to raise, love and to guide you into your lives!  It is a job that is more than a hand full at times, but it is all worth while!! We look forward to all that is to come in your lives and in our lives as a family!!  I pray everyday that we are raising you the way that God would have us to raise you and that both of you will grow up to be MIGHTY Men of God!!

Love Always,
Momma and Daddy!

Little Notes

Its always neat to find little notes or sayings that you can relate to.  I find them all the time.  It could be something someone said, or I could have read it on the internet, or a scripture, its always somewhere. 

Today, I came across one, and it is so true!  It is something that I think we all could be reminded of sometimes.

"Compromise is a sign of strength not weakness"

God Bless!

Memphis in May

We all met up in Memphis for the weekend.  Momma, George and Jimmy were in TN so that Momma and George could look for houses in North Mississippi for their pending move back towards home.  Clay and his family were coming home for the weekend, so we all decided it would be fun to meet up and enjoy the Memorial Day weekend!  Clay surprised Momma by going up to Memphis on Friday! (She wasn't expecting everyone until Sat morning).  Rere, Ryan, the boys and I headed up on Sat morning, as well as Daddy and Ann.  We had lunch and then spent the day at a putt putt golf place with go-carts, batting cages, bumper boats, and lots of games.  We didn't get around to the putt putt but we did most everything else.

Colton and Katelyn during lunch

 Shane during lunch

Clay and Shane getting ready for a round of go carts!

Pierce and Ryan doing the same, except they weren't 

looking at the camera!  Imagine that! 

Colton wishing he could be the one driving

instead of momma :)

What the boys LOVED doing while back

at the hotel!  Even the big boys as you can tell

Katelyn LOVES her Uncle Ryan!! And of course

he loves her too, and was loving the fact that

she wanted him a lot! :)

Perfect example of what you get, when you try to

get a picture of 3 boys from ages 4-8 to take a picture.

Especially when 1 of them weren't happy that he couldn't go

with us and the other 2 weren't happy cause Shane had to

leave to go home!  But they are all in the picture,

doesn't that count for something??

All in all, we had a great weekend.  We had to stay an extra day because Grandma got sick and had to go to the ER.  She is feeling some better now, it will take time to get completely well.  But we were able to stay an extra night, get her some rest and then headed home yesterday! Grandma is still recovering! 
We enjoyed seeing everyone and having a great weekend with the family!!  Too bad that we couldn't bring Shane and Katelyn home with us, but Clay and Dawn wouldn't have thought too highly of that!  :)

Hope that everyone had a Great Memorial Day weekend and most of all, remembered what Memorial Day is all about.  A HUGE Thank You to all of our Military that has served, are serving and will serve our Great Country.  Thank you for all the many sacrifices that you have made and will continue to make in the future in order for my family and I to have the freedoms that we have today!! God Bless each and every one of you!!!!