Jail House Rock

This last Sunday, I had the privilege of visiting a women's prison with about 25 other people to sing praises to the Lord. It was such a blessing! I wish I could accurately put the experience into words, but I know that's impossible. So, I'll just do my best!

After church, our group ate lunch together and practiced our songs a little, and then piled into a few people's vehicles and headed to Dayton, TX. We had been praying for this mission as a group for a few weeks, but we continued to pray that we would be let in to the prison without interruption or delay. God blessed us, and we got to go into the prison right away. We were led into a big room with lots of chairs, and about 180 inmates already in the room. We sang a few songs, and then had the opportunity to listen to Shannon, who spoke to the women about redemption, and about how we are clay, that is being molded by The Potter's hands. As we got up to sing again, some of the women from our group had the opportunity to pray with some of the women in the audience. It was a blessing to speak with these ladies. These women were searching for a saviour, and were willing to be transparent in order to receive that. They weren't ashamed of their needs and truly desired to grow, and believe in the change and resurrection God has for their lives. It's too bad more people aren't like that. Too bad I'm not more like that. --I truly hope these women stay like that.

Outside of he Prison, as we drove up.

 Some of the things that amazed me about this trip?
 - The women wanted to keep singing, and even had song requests. We sang, "I can only imagine" at their request, and sang a few of the songs, that we had rehearsed to sing, more than once.
- The women were joyful, and danced as they praised.
- I found out that, there is no air conditioning in these women's cells. That means there cells get up to about 120 degrees in the summer. This is a medical prison, so many of these women are pregnant or have life threatening diseases. Can you imagine?

The Chapel of Hope - where we met to sing

 The Chapel it's self, barely had air conditioning. Suppossedly it was cooler inside than outside, but I think it was the other way around. We were warm as we worshipped! :)

One of the chosen songs was on the play list had "special effects" and cool parts. It was our "gift" to the women, and it was the only song that the audience didn't have the words too.  It is called Beautiful Things by the Michael Gungor band. To listen to it on you tube, click here. (It truly is a beautiful thing.) The words are simple, meaningful, and powerful. When we sang it for the second time, as the inmates were leaving, many of them sang along. How awesome!

The group right after the 2 hour church service

After we left the prison, some of us went to dinner at Sonic before heading home. Cranberry Limeades are the bomb on a hot a day.

More of the complex

I wish I had more pictures, but cameras are not allowed in the prison. so, these were all I could get. --We had a group picture of the volunteers taken, but not with my camera. We are suppossed to be getting a copy of soon, and I would love to add it to this post. So hopefully, I'll have the opportunity to do that.

Thanks for reading about my one-day mission trip. I am grateful for the opportunity in so many ways. -Amber

Rough and Tumbler

Little Lydia has another bump and bruise. :( We were at a birthday party on Saturday, and Lydia fell in the bouncy house, and another little boy fell on top of her. I was pretty scared that it was worse than it was when Dave brought her inside with a bleeding mouth. But, thankfully, her teeth are not loose and her lip wasn't punctured by one of her teeth. She just has a fat lip. She cried, of course. But, overall she was very brave.

Yesterday right after the party.

This was how it looked this morning. The red spot on the right is actually a mosquito bite. Her face was also dyed green from frosting.

Dave wanted her to really show it off. It doesn't seem to hurt her that much. We've actually had to keep her from messing with it.

Oh, Lydia, please don't puncture your little face any more. I don't know if my heart can handle it! A fat lip is way easier to deal with than when this happened to Lyddie Lou's eye, though.

Please stay tuned for a blog tomorrow or the next day. I had the privilege of going on a mission's trip today, and I would love to blog about it. But for now, I have to get to bed. I'm very sad about the fact that my alarm will be going off at 6:15 tomorrow morning.

Happy Week to all of you!! -Amber

A Shy Extrovert

I am a shy extrovert. This "condition" sounds like an anomaly to me, but, it's probably more common than I realize. All through high school, I could never understand why I needed to be around people so much when I could barely bring myself to speak to them before they started talking to me. During my last years of college I definitely started growing out of my shyness, but it was a challenge to say the least.

I remember when I first got my driver's license. --I was so excited to be able to take myself to the places I wanted go. But, I soon realized that going places in the car byself was...lonely-- not really fun.

After Dave and I got married, I realized that I still felt kinda lonely a lot of the time. I was used to living in a house with my parents and syblings. There was usually someone around to watch t.v. with or to give a hard time. I thought that after Dave and I were married, that we would get up together, make dinner together, shop together, drive everywhere together, and clean together. But, Dave is very independant, and wasn't in the habit of doing everything with another person - at least not the same person. He even had a hard time adjusting to sharing a room with me.

Now that I'm a mom, I'm never alone! (That's one of the things I love about being a mom.) It wasn't until after Julia was born that I started feeling like I really, really needed some alone time. Dave was shocked the first time I asked him to go somewhere else so that I could just unwind quietly, by myself. I guess down time is something everyone needs...even shy extroverts.

Another thing I love about being a mom is analyzing my kids behaviors and thinking about what sort of personalities they are devoloping. Dave and Julia are also extroverts like me, but neither one of them is shy. Especially not Julia. Lydia isn't shy either, but Dave thinks she is an introvert. Out of all of us, she is definitely the one who can spend time playing by herself the longest.  Who knows, Dave may be right. --(I'm excited to see what our next little one will be like, and how dependant he or she will be on other people.)

So, what are you? Are any of you out-going introverts? Do you really just crave alone time, or do you think it is more fun to be with others? God made us all so differently! I'd love to hear a little about you. -Amber

Chocolate Pie

This last weekend, Dave's dad had the opportunity to visit us. We were so happy to have him! While he was here, he requested that I make him a cherry pie or a chocolate pie for his birthday that had come the week before. I have never made either one before, but decided to give both of them a try. Saturday night I made a cherry pie, and Sunday I made a chocolate pie from this blog.

The Pie was so stinkin' delicious, that I had to let you all in on this delicious and easy recipe. I hope you love it as much as my guests and I did! -Amber

First Dentist Appointment

Lydia had her first dentist appointment this week. She cried during the x-rays, but was happy when she got to have chocolate toothpaste.

Here she is, holding her Kai lan doll for dear life. She wasn't very happy.

The conversation about chocolate toothpaste is making her happier.

Cars movie over head.

Big girl Julia is old hat now.

Proud of my growing girls! -Amber

A Pregnancy Promulgation

(To those of you who have had kids, or would like to know what it's like to be pregnant, this blog may be slightly interesting. To the rest of you; sorry.)

Why is it when you're pregnant that you are continuously starving? And, although you are hungry NOTHING sounds good!? Tonight, I decided that the only thing that sounded good to me was chili. Luckily I had some ground turkey, canned tomatoes and kidney beans, among the other required chili ingredients. I quickly chopped the onions and garlic and got them cooking. But once the turkey was in the the pan with the aromatics, the idea of eating chili sounded dis-gust-ing. I ate a few bites of it with the fam, but then I had to take two tums and lay down.

There is such urgency with pregnancy! Like: "I need a chicken sandwich, NOW!" and then two seconds later, "The smell of a chicken sandwich is going to make me ralph!" Last night, after church, I couldn't wait until the kids were fully calmed down before I headed down the stairs to my own bed. I felt like if I didn't go to sleep with in a matter of minutes, that I was going to be sick. And then this morning, I went to brush my teeth. After my morning quiet time, brushing my teeth was all of the sudden "an immediate need". As I gagged and choked while brushing, my stomach started growling ravenously. (As if the simple act of cleaning my teeth was a full-body workout.) But, since food sounded gross, I waited a little while to toast my english muffin for breakfast. That was not a good idea....

Since this is my third pregnancy, my clothes are already fitting tightly on my abdomen. I'm not to the point yet where I can wear clothes that tent open at the middle, but I know I'm gonna need to do something soon. I sure do wish that they made pregnancy clothes for your first, second and third trimester. --Instead of just clothes for the "about to pop" pregnant belly.

Also, if you didn' t already know this, pregnancy can turn anyone into the biggest airhead known to man (or woman)! Thankfully, I have a very understanding boss! Being pregnant causes the worst case of foggy headed adhd imaginable (minus the hyper activity, of course). I walk around work feeling groggy, with the overall goal of obtaining a little bit of focus. Some moments are better than others. (Usually in the good moments, I am focused on running to the restroom.) And then to top it all off, I can't have hardly any caffiene! That's a real kick in the pants! I mean what's a girl to do? I guess, I'll just take it one foggy day at a time....

Anyway, all in all, pregancy is great. It's just so wierd to me that it's sorta fun to talk about. --It's a miraculous phenomenon. If any of you have any crazy pregnancy stories, I'm momentarily in the mood to hear them! So, bring it on!

Lovingly, Amber

Stewart Update

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Thanks for watching. Love, Amber