Our Christmas Letter 2011

Merry Christmas! What a joy to be able to say those words and relay the message of Jesus!

This year we have once again enjoyed God’s blessings.
Yes…Dave Got his fishing fix several times…He went to Canada with Jon, Sam and David in June while I went to WI with my friend, Nancy and my sisters, Patty and Sandy. He fished around here with our boys and friends and then in August we went to Canada with friends, Nancy and Terry Welsh.

We were able to have many camping trips with our families…all but David and family…We enjoyed camp grounds in Oklahoma, Texas and a beach home in Florida with Jon and Sam and families.
Dave spent most of the winter in the garage remodeling the boat…adding new carpet, a live well, and repairing and cleaning up our Vintage boat. It is beautiful.
Now all we need is more water in our lake. Due to the severe drought in Texas our Lake Fork is down 8 feet and there is no water under our dock. We have learned through this that we need to trust our Father God for all our needs…we can build a dock…build a beautiful walk way…have a house on the lake…but only God can fill the lake! We know that in the coming days we will need to know this lesson and we are learning it!
The end of May (while we still had some water) we hosted our 5th GrandKids camp for 11 of our grandchildren.
We look forward to spending Christmas day with our family.
Truly…children are a heritage from the LORD our greatest blessing!
We celebrate the birth, death, resurrection and coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ this season.
He is our everything and in Him we live, move and have our being! Praise the name of JESUS.
Love,
Dave and Marybeth

Mormon Tabernacle Choir - Hallelujah, Christmas 2010

wow...I have lots of catching up to do!

What happened to June, July, August and now half of September? We have been to Wisconsin, Missouri Had a fun visit with Sandy and Tom...always great reconnecting with family!Canada, camping...working....watching our lake dry up... spending time with kids and grand kids...and are ready for cooler weather. With 73 days over 100 this summer we are welcoming the cool down!
In a few weeks we'll head to FL with Sam and Jon and families for our "annual" Oct get away with them.
I am still working two days a week at Teen Mania...Dave is working frantically trying to save some
I'll catch up soon.
of the trees on our property.
He has cut down 143 pines already due to the drought.
We continue to have our hope and trust in our GOD! NOT the weather...the government...our money...ourselves...but our mighty God whom we love and adore!

Vacation Time

In just a few days Dave will be off to Canada with David and Jon fishing and I will be flying to Wisconsin to spend a few days with Nancy and my sisters, Patty and Sandy.
Looking forward to a good week.

Grandkids Camp 2011

Another year of Grand kids camp successfully executed. It was a great time...4 days with 13 of the best grandchildren on the face of the earth. We are so blessed!
These are the things we did..
After attending the Lindale Rodeo with them the first night...
Grandkids Camp- May 21-24, 2011
Grandchildren are the crown of old men,
And the (glory of sons is their fathers. Proverbs 17:6)
We held camp for four days at our home on Lake Fork for 13 of our grandchildren this year. Tori, Haley, Ashley, Josiah,, Jonathan, JonMichael, Ana, Brian, Cole, Henry, Abby, Jordan and Jonah. The 4 oldest were SR. Counselors and without their help…we could not have done it! Thank you Tori, Haley, Ashley and Josiah! The first night we all loaded into the Smith Van and Granddad’s truck and headed south to the Lindale Rodeo. What fun that was! The next morning we loaded up the vehicles again and took off for church- Living Waters- we took up 2 whole rows! Our camp activities this year were swimming, boating, studying the life of Chamberlain and the Butterfly Effect, memorizing Psalm 16, archery, bb guns, eating Grammy’s famous cinnamon rolls, the breakfast hunt, playing chess, ping pong, Chinese checkers, swinging from the tree, wallowing in the mud and building clay pools and such down at the lake, making team flags, individual flags, painting plaster figurers,. Updating our journals and scrap books, eating and doing very little sleeping!
The older kids had air soft gun wars. waking up early and having our quiet time before all the campers were up, tubing, playing cards with granddad, eating Tori’s famous French bread and Ding Dong cake..waking up to Haley’s trumpet playing Revile! What great memories we all have!

A holy Experience One Thousand Gifts

I am just beginning this adventure today. I've read it on Lisa's blog and it seems like a great thing to do.

1. I am most thankful that God has called me before the foundations of the world to be in His family as His daughter. Through the shed blood of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead...I am His! Thank you Lord!

From my youth....

"O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness O God, reaches the high heavens! You have done great things. O God who is like you?"

This morning I read this passage during my time with the Lord and it blessed me. Yes, from a very young age, I have been taught of the Lord...and now that I have had another birthday, and entered into another decade of life...I reflect on the awesomeness of the great God I serve. O my! How He has blessed me.

We live in a beautiful land. Texas is so blessed to have wildflowers that just seem to abound. The first...the clover...is just blooming...the fruit trees are flowering, the red buds are bursting forth with their crimson branches and even the dogwoods have begun to bloom. The country side is aglow with color- every shade of green as the trees are leafing out and the flowering bushes and trees adding the whites, reds and purples to make for a beautiful drive to Teen Mania and to Lindale!

We are blessed to be able to be with our children and grandchildren and have seen all of them several times this month. I was treated royally on my birthday thanks to the planning of my daughter-in-laws (Lisa and Beth). We had an adult dinner at Red Lobster one night which is where I was given the certificate for "Girls Day Out" which Lisa had planned. It began the next morning with fruit and cinnamon rolls at her house. The next stop was the Nail Salon where Beth, Kelly, Lisa and I all had manicures and pedicures. What a treat! The four of us piled into the car and headed for Dallas- where we met up with Amy and had afternoon tea in a Tea Room there- so special! We topped it off by shopping at Ikea and then Sam Moons. What a fun day. I felt so honored. The following day- Sunday- Most all the family gathered at our home for a Mexican dinner brought in by all the families. Beth and Nikki had to miss out due to Nikie being sick- and Caitlin had to stay home and study for mid-terms- but the rest of us (24) enjoyed the day together. I am so blessed! God...you have blessed me over and above what I could have ever asked or thought and I love you so much!
We have been out camping already with Jon and Kelly. We are looking forward to Easter weekend camping with Jon, Sam and maybe Amy and families.
Dave has been working hard all winter on the boat remodel and is about ready for the big launch. He took out all the seats- rebuilt those needing repair- replaced all the carpet- installed a live well- and we have a "new" boat. I am so proud of him and the great job he did.
This week Dave had a cancerous growth removed from his arm- we are trusting God for a good report from the pathologist on Monday that they got it all.
I have been inspired and challenged by messages from Mike Bickle on IHOP'S website. Messages on the End Times-The Omega Series- prayer- The Cost of Discipleship by Steven Venable! These have me digging deeper into the Word and pressing in even harder to God in prayer. All of this came about from David and Beth attending One Thing and Jon-relaying to us the content of the book RADICAL- during a camping trip! The events of the past week- the earthquake and tsunami in Japan...Libya...Egypt...Iran...The Emergent Church and the great falling away...all make me want to be prepared for the last days. Even so...come Lord Jesus!

2010 The Year in Review

January 1, 2010... As we approached a new year it was with much prayer, and trusting God with my life. I knew I had cancer- but not what kind, where, or what stage. I was scheduled to see doctors, have tests, scans, etc. We made many, many trips to Tyler, Tx- one hour from home- for all these appointments. Often we went three times a week. Once everything was scheduled- and I'd had a biopsy- but had to wait over a week for the results- so Dave and I took off for Colorado to have prayer and treatment with Mike and Mary King. They graciously welcomed us into their home for 5 days and Mike counseled, tested, treated me and set us on a nutritional path for battling this disease. Back home- we met with the Dr. and got the diagnosis of Lymphoma cancer. I was then sent to the Oncologist-Dr. Droder- and he laid out a plan of treatment- one to last until April.
Our daughter, Amy, was there with us for many of the appointments and was such a great source of support for us. Jon came over at lunch time for several of the treatment days. There were some tense time of facing reality...and choosing to trust God..
.I began the first of 5 chemo treatments- lost all my hair after the 2nd- and chose throughout the time to rejoice in the Lord and trust Him for healing- in whatever way He chose to bring that about. I am so thankful to my husband, to Sam and Lisa who were living with us due to their house fire- so were such a support in every way!- to my children- Amy, Jon, David and Sam and their support- to friends who sent flowers, cards, gifts, prayers, came to visit, - such an outpouring of love. I felt so valued! Thank you God for all this support and love- people from all over the world contacted me on Facebook as the word spread of the battle.
Near the end of February- Dave chose to send me to Wisconsin for a time of R & R with my good friends Nancy and Terry.We had a beautiful snow fall in February- such a treat for the kids- we don't see this often in Texas! I was there a little more than 2 weeks and was treated royally. On my birthday my sisters, Patty and Sandy showed up to surprise me! My friend Rose Hayes was there for a week with me also.
What a blessing to be in fellowship with Nancy and Terry and friends from Full Gospel Church there. I dearly missed my husband and was glad to be back home- but thankful for the time in Wisconsin. By the time I came home on March 15th- it was spring time in Texas- the trees were in bloom- as well as the daffodils! I came home full of faith and well rested. By April I had a clear report from Mike- cancer free which was confirmed by a Pet Scan in April or May by the Dr. Praise you Jesus!
June came with the beginning of summer and the time for our annual Grand Kids camp. We could not have done it this year without the help of our granddaughters- Caitlin, Haley, Tori and Ashley who basically "ran" the camp. We had the 11 oldest grand-kids- you have to be 6 to come to camp...and they were here for 4 days with all the camp activities in full swing. We were so blessed by the way the children loved each other and displayed such godly character qualities- a testimony to their parents who are training them to fear the Lord! Activities included swimming, fishing, boating, Bible lessons, dance instruction (they did a hip hop dance for the family "show", crafts, skits, KP duty, tournaments, BB guns, archery,the construction of their team flag as well as individual flags and lots of laughing and fun! they all (almost all) memorized Psalm 16.




The July heat drove us to Colorado to camp with Sam and Lisa and family in the mountains near the Sand Dunes- it was actually COLD at night and we rejoiced! Int eh fall we made the annual trip to Destin Florida with Jon, Sam and families for a week and spent several nights camping with Jon and Kelly here in Texas.
I went back to work at Teen Mania in the summer- started back slowly- just one day a week- to the work I love- being the Titus 2 older woman to the young women there who desire to be mentored. I am so blessed that God is allowing me to do this. I had all the girls from the "core" that I am "core mom" to over in October to prepare a Thanksgiving meal- quite fun.
Another mentoring experience that I am enjoying this year is being a Mentor Mom to a group of MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) at a church in Garden Valley. Kelly- my daughter in law- hooked me up with this position and it is fun.
We were thrilled to have the weather turn cooler in November and welcomed Thanksgiving and the Christmas season. With the help of several women from my church I was able to host the Christmas tea for over 40 some women. Dave and John Cameron graciously did all the valet parking and made all the tea. Lisa directed all the serving and it was an elegant affair! Thanks to all who made that possible.
Christmas day our home overflowed with love, laughter and people! All 27 of us plus Joab Fischer from Hong Kong joined together to celebrate the birthday of the king- JESUS! What a perfect ending to a year blessed by God.