Tim Hawkins

Listen y'all. if you wanna laugh, go look up some Tim Hawkins videos on youtube. My friend Heather form Texas turned us on to him and we have quoted and laughed ever since!
Do it.....NOW!

I'm a Weirdo

Isn't it funny...I was telling Chris the other day, during the Christmas season that it was interesting how we people all have our own individual worlds that we operate in. We bring to it all our gifts, talents and not-so-good qualities. We endeavor to make them more meaningful by involving others and sharing what we bring to this life and in turn we partcipate in someone else's world and partake of what means something to them. It's kind of a give and take. This thought usually hits me around Holidays that involve getting together with family and signifigant others. Like the Fourth of July or Labor Day or Thanksgiving when you see a particular house with a lot of cars at it. Those people that live in that house have a world and others are participating in it, some more permanently than others. And its like that at house after house after house. Little, loosely connected worlds with all their own agendas and priorities. Little worlds like my own here at my house. An earthly world that really revolves around me. Literally, around Christ, but I am speaking in human terms, you know. Idk what relevance this has to anyone or if you ever think abstractly or maybe not so abstractly. Another thought I have sometimes is the continual striving in the business world. Sometimes it just gets on my nerves how many businesses there are out there while I'm going down the road. I can't really explain it but I just wanna say go home-haha. At other times, I'm combing my brain for an innovative idea-I'm a weirdo. I think sometimes I just feel like Solomon...'meaningless, meaningless'. Truly, only what's done for Christ will last. Gold, Silver and Precious Stones but so much of what we do in life is wood, hay and stubble.

Write me!

Hey Everybody!
Can you believe it is 2009?!?! I mean is it just me or did Prince just come out with 'we're gonna party like it's 1999'!?!?! What is up with me being 40, having 7 children and being married 20 yrs! Just last week I graduated HighSchool! haha-I KNOW I can get an Amen...
Well, nothing new to tell. It's very cold and Abbey and I are obsessed with Twilight but that's about it-lol.
Love Ya!
Lindy

Blog Sabbatical-haha

Talk about a blog sabbatical....sorry! Well, Christmas was great. It's always a challenge to make it special with this many children. The kids are great. They really do appreciate whatever we do for them. They truly love to give, also, and it makes them so happy to give each other gifts. We had our Homecoming Christmas program at church on the Saturday before Christmas. It was very nice and well attended. And we had a Christmas Eve Candlelight service. It was very beautiful. It was icy and snowy but we had several visitors to come out. We met a nice family who came back to church again this Sunday. We had some instrument challenges that night, which was very weird. The digital piano pedal quit working which made for a very funny sound. Abbey was going to play a prelude (her first piano solo) but couldn't because of it. Then, during my solo-O Holy Night-one of Chris's guitar strings hit the music stand and went way out of tune. At first, he thought it broke. He tried to tune it but eventually gave up and I finished it accapella. But, somehow, we muddled through. We came home, ate pizza and acted out our traditional family Christmas Eve Nativity story. Chris is alwasys Joseph. This year Liberty was Mary. Judah was a donkey. Adam and Abbey were shepherds. Sam and Jesse were wisemen. Gracie was an angel and, as always, I was the narrator. Honestly, this year I just wanted to skip the nativity story. I know that's terrible. Life is so busy and you really have work to keep your focus on the priorities. I really want the littles to have meaningful memories, too. It was easier when I was younger and more motivated-youthful zeal, haha. But, I don't regret it. To see their little faces as the story becomes real to them... I never want to lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. It is so easy to let everything crowd Him out, but so wrong.
So here we are on the back side of Christmas. Lots of cleaning, taking down decorations and packing them away for another year, vacuuming up pine needles and moving the furniture back into place. Happy New Year everyone!
Linda

Abbey's Cell Phone and Barb

Sorry Guys! I really didn't realize it had been over a week since my last post. Thanks for being faithful to check in, though. Well, Thanksgiving was a wonderful Holiday. We had a few flakes of snowfall to add to the festive atmosphere. We had a great time, just us, laughing and talkng around the table. We are such an animated family, things can get pretty loud at times, though-everybody vieing for their turn to talk. Recently we sat down to eat dinner and we bowed our heads in prayer. Immediately after the prayer Samuel Isaac blurts out "Hold it!" and holds his hands up in a motion to keep everyone from beginning the onslaught of verbage. He had something to say and he knew that if he didn't stop it before it started, he would never get a word in edgewise-haha.
I am not feeling well, so I have been dragging this week. I have run a fever for a few days and my fav spot is on the floor in front of the woodstove-so warm and cozy. Lying there like a cat or something-I learned it from Abbey. Speaking of Abbey, she is currently unreachable on her cell phone. It has taken a beating over this past year traveling around with a teenager and it finally decided it had had enough. Because of where we are in the contract, we have to purchase one at full price which ain't happenin' right now. Poor thing-she can't receive any texts, it's like her right arm has been cut off-lol. But, she is handling it very well. So, if anybody out there has a spare cell phone they want to sell at a reasonable price, let me know. It has to be able to take a SIM card. A friend of ours graciously gave us theirs to use but it was Verizon and didn't take a SIM card, so we gave it back-bummer! Thanks anyway, Tom and Jen (and also Carrie).
I went to Bible study yesterday at Miss Kitty's. I just joined this group of ladies. It is kind of a neat story. I'll share it with you. Back in October, I think, I had a yard sale. A lady came and was thrilled to find several things she was on her way to Walmart to buy for her grandkids. Baby gates, clothes, etc. Gracie was helping me run the sale and was attending to the lady. I heard her voice and she sounded SO much like Miss Kitty-a good friend and sweet lady who goes to church with us. I thought about saying to her-, "You sound so much like my friend Kitty" but I decided not to because I thought 'she doesn't know Kitty and I'd just be boring her'. Well a few minutes later she says to me "You're the pastor's wife aren't you?" I looked terrible, in fact I still had pj pants on, but I confessed that I was indeed the person she thought I was. I'm sure I looked a lot different than what she'd seen in the newspaper so I apologized for my appearance. So, she says, "Yeah, one of my friends goes to your church, Kitty Z****" In my mind I was like 'Uh UHHH!' But, I told her I was just listening to her and thinking how much she sounded like Miss Kitty but I didn't say it. So, we kept conversing. She was telling me that she thought God had led her to my yardsale because I had so many things that she was on her way to buy and she had seen my sign and decided to turn in. As she was leaving and we were loading her stuff into her trunk, she told me of a Bible study that she was in, in fact, I found out later, she was the leader of. She told me that a week from Tuesday they were going to start a new study on encouragement and that she would really like me to be a part of it. I was interested, even though it is in Hague which is a ways for me to drive. Anyway, that was on a Saturday, I think. One week and a day later, during church, another friend Miss Dawn (who also attends the group) spoke up and asked for prayer for the family of Barb R**** who had died in a car accident that week. I was up at the piano, as usual. I spoke into my mic. "Dawn, is that the Barb that has a Bible study in Hague?" "Yes, it is." I was stunned. She was traveling in the car with her grandchildren (the ones she bought my stuff for) securely strapped in their carseats. She had a massive heart attack which resulted in a head on collision with an oncoming car. She died instantly but the children, whom she loved dearly, were unharmed. For some reason, this hit me extremely hard. My chest was heavy. During prayer/praise I felt the need to speak of my experience with Barb just days before she died. She had felt, as I do now, that our meeting was a divine appt. Apparently, Barb had already informed the ladies of the Bible study that she had invited me to join. They had even ordered me a book, although I had not yet confirmed I would be there. For some reason, I felt that God wanted me to attend. He saw to it that I had met this lady, whom I have since learned was loved and respected by many for her walk with God, just days before she met Him. Her simple last request to me was that I be a part of this Bible study. And that, I am doing. I am honoring the last wish (to me, at least) of a lady I barely knew and had met only once, briefly, but long enough to know God was in it. I don't know what God has in store for me, I am just walking in faith. I hope she knows that I am there.

Gathering Round the Looooong Family Table

Well, the children and I just finished making up a squasherole, broccoli rice and cheese, green bean casserole, different flavored jellos, cheesecake, chocolate pudding pie, 2 huge pans of dressing and various other things (Buddy washed dishes while we cooked). My eggs are waiting in the pot, all boiled and ready to be transformed into Angel Eggs (the Agees don't eat deviled eggs). I'll bake the casseroles tomorrow but they're on deck in the fridge. Adam is about to make the crust for 2 cherry pies, 1 apple, 1 peach, 1 pumpkin and 2 pecans. I am going to make some orange balls tonight and get the turkey ready. Tomorrow will be mostly cooking, because the preparing will already be done. I'll have both ovens going, I'm sure. And, of course, we'll get to adorn the table (my favorite part of a dinner), with Old Country Roses-the most beautiful china in the history of mankind. This year I even have the flatware to match because Chris got it for me for Christmas last year. I abso-freakin-lutely love setting the table! I once read a book by Edith Shaeffer (sp? Francis's wife) called The Hidden Art of Homemaking and it revolutionized my thinking in this area. Since then I have found such joy and purpose in the presentation of things. I bought 4 bottles of sparkling cider in the fancy bottles. They have been chilling for about a week in the 2nd fridge. I thought the kids would enjoy having that poured into their goblets tomorrow. So, I'll put the turkey on in the morning around 5 am-my least favorite part-haha. Oh and Chris and I saw a demonstration on TV about the proper way to carve a turkey. So, I'm excited about it actually looking like the pictures you see of other turkeys (our is always mangled up-haha). Chris better do it right-jkjk. Right now the kids are sitting on the old computer looking at old pics and howling with laughter-so I can't concentrate but it's a good thing. Sam said Chris is upstairs getting his back walked on which probably means I won't see him until tomorrow (it always puts him to sleep). But y'all...Happy Thanksgiving. It is so good to know that around so many tables sit families I love so dearly who will truly be thanking Almighty God from whom all blessings flow. Tomorrow, when we raise our glasses for a toast, we will remember all our beloved friends and family and lift a prayer for a wonderful Thanksgiving for you all.
Lovingly and with Thanksgiving to the Living God,
The Agees

Born From Above

Have you ever wondered about your salvation experience(s)? I mean, trying to make sense of how one can believe as a child but feel as though you weren't 'saved' or 'born again' until that second time when you were older. Well, I've thought a lot about it. I've heard a lot about it. But, a year or so ago, it was settled in my mind. I felt as though the Lord Himself had taught my heart. You know those times when you have that light bulb experience and you try to share it with others but it doesn't affect them the same way? Years ago, I began taking my own informal survey of the age when one is saved. Time after time I would hear someone say something like "Well I was saved when I was a child, but I dedicated my life to Christ when I was in college." I noticed that the first experience usually happened somewhere between the ages of 9-12 and the second between 17-25. For my own life, I don't actually remember a time when I didn't believe in Jesus, but at 9 years of age at the Joliet General Baptist under Reverend Maricle (yes, that was his name and to a child miracle and maricle sound the same-we were in church, he was the preacher, it made sense to my childbrain) I had my first experience. I went down front and was 'saved'. I was baptised and continued to act, basically, the same, I think, but I always knew I was His and when I wasn't doing right, I felt guilty. So, while I wasn't necessarily obedient, I did feel a responsibility to God. Funny enough, around 14 or 15 yrs I became aware of the hypocrisy in my life and my thoughts were something like "I am a Christian but if I died right now, I wouldn't go to heaven." That's because I didn't understand God's Grace and the impossibility of being a Christian and not going to heaven. So, anyway, at 17, at a Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, AL I had my second experience, where I 'rededicated' my life to Christ. From this point on, my life did change. My desires did change. My actions even changed. Whatever it was, it was real and lasting-in fact everlasting. Fast-forward to my thoughts today. What actually happened to me on those two occasions. Here's what I believe. Warning: Some of you theologians out there may be tempted to teach me about context and the order of salvation and etc. etc.
My first experience was when I came to Jesus and He said "let the little child come to me and do not hinder her."
My second experience was not when 'I made Jesus my Lord', it was when Jesus said "Follow Me." And what else could I do? I am one of His sheep, I heard His voice and I followed.