Happy Father's Day to Dad and Rusty!

I am overflowing with thankfulness today! The older I get, the more deeply I understand the blessing it is to have Godly parents. Don't get me wrong...God redeems families who are broken in every way, and every family is broken somehow. But by God's grace, I had a Dad who was an earthly picture of my heavenly Father to me. For many adults who still struggle to comprehend that God loves them, I do not. (I have plenty of other struggles, friends, so no boasting here!) I believe I have always felt loved by God because my Dad so beautifully loved me. He was patient with me. He pursued my heart. He invested in me spiritually. He lovingly corrected me. He encouraged me and always told me he was proud of me. He was not perfect, because no earthly Dad is. But he loved us with a love that only comes from the Father. In 1 John it says that if you don't know God, you don't really know love. The One True God is the One who loves through us, and He loved me fully through my Dad.
One of the things that now amazes me about my Dad is that he didn't have a Dad. His Dad was killed in the Korean War, and his mother died a few years later. He was raised by his grandparents. He grandmother was a believer, and God used her to bring him to faith. His grandfather...well, I don't know that much about him. He was called Pappy, and I know he loved my Dad, but drove a truck for a living. I know he had one arm, lost the other to war. He was not always around, from what I understand. In short, my Dad was not a great Dad because he had an example to follow. He didn't mimic what he knew, or look to a role model. He started from scratch, and asked the Lord to make him a Godly Dad to his five children. What an example of God's transforming love! It sure is nice to have a Godly role model, but it's not always the reality. I'm sure God used other Godly men in my Dad's life to teach him. But my Dad's story could have ended very differently. He had every reason to. I'm so thankful for God's hand on my Dad and the legacy that he has produced in the brevity of one generation. My Dad now has five adult children who know, love, and serve the Lord wholeheartedly. He has seventeen (Ella will make eighteen) grandchildren that are becoming the coolest kids ever! We can't wait to see what they are going to do for the Kingdom! Are Dads important? I sure think so.


It's a funny thing, but I married a man similar to my Dad is several ways. Servant hearted, to the core. My husband Rusty amazes me. It requires very little sleep, a whole lot of caffeine, and a ton of Advil to pull of what he does each day, but he makes it look easy. My husband is a Dad of four, almost five little people, family practice Doctor, and an elder/ pastor at our church. A typical day for him entails getting up in the wee hours. This week he was preparing a sermon. Rounding on his patients in the hospital. (That's where he is at the moment.) Then on to whatever breakfast meeting he has for that day; mentoring younger men, meeting with his accountability group, or having a weekly elder meeting. THEN, his actual work day starts at 8am. When he comes home from work, he jumps on the trampoline or wrestles with the kids. He eats dinner with us and then leads us in family worship. I'm exhausted thinking about it! But he also suffers from a rare arthritic condition, so he pops the Advil like crazy all day to ward off the joint stiffness all over. He doesn't complain, and it humbles me when I think about what I would be like in his place. (BIG complainer!) But most of all, he loves us with all He's got. He is so faithful in teaching and loving us! Like my Dad, he is investing in us spiritually on a daily basis, he is loving and affectionate, he has made us a top priority above all of those other things. He continues with the madness that is our life with JOY. I love this man so much! I am so proud of the Dad he is to our munchkins. He's not perfect. Again, no earthly Dad is. But he is more than I could have prayed for! Rusty, I hope you feel honored and loved today. I am so thankful for this journey we are on together. And this journey of parenthood is about to take us as far as Africa together! This calling you have as a father is a holy one, it's an adventure, and it's downright sanctifying. Thank you! We love you! We are overflowing with thankfulness to God for you today!

Happy Birthday Rusty!

My sweet husband wanted to skip his birthday.
They are getting less fun, you know, the older we get.
But there's no skipping birthdays in the Bacak house!
Oh no! There is cake, and dance parties, and presents.
We celebrated early because I am in Las Vegas on his birthday with Justus and my Mom
visiting Justus' birthmom Kathleen.
This was sadly, the only date my Mom could go with us.
But here are pics from the party we had already.
The boys made confetti out of construction paper (hopefully not the new pack I bought for our school year) and threw it everywhere for the dance party.
There is nothing better than watching all four of your very different kids bust their moves. Emma was river dancing, Jax was break-dancing (which we decided is somehow instinctive in all boys. Don't know where they would pick that up- they just do it!) and Justus and Treston hopefully are retaining some sort of non-white rhythym that God gifts them with. Rusty is convinced that this house full of white people is sucking them dry of rhythm, but I disagree.
Also, I made a cake.
I am very critical of my cakes, to the point of driving my husband crazy.
If there is something to do wrong with a cake, I've done it. I've learned the hard way. This cake was good but not the best cake, but the very best icing I've ever made. It was my cream cheese icing with real strawberries cut up in it. Divine! The real problem with the cake, however, was that it was three layers, and it leaned very definitively to one side. Not the prettiest shaped cake, but it was good. My husband asked for a strawberry cake, and I made a cake with real strawberries in the batter and the icing. I like that. I intend to make small improvements and develop it into the best cake ever.
But as for my husband's birthday- there's no way we could NOT celebrate this man.
I adore the day he was born, because I adore him so.
He is way more than I deserve, and consistently loving to all of us.
One of my favorite things about him: The kids and I never wonder if he loves us or approves of us. He is so affirming. Did you read the blogpost he wrote about me on our anniversary? Ridiculously flattering to me, and just an example of the way he loves us.
I am thankful for his life and all God has done in him.
Happy Birthday, love! I'll be home soon.

Nurse Needed: You can help!

Behind every good doctor, is a good nurse.
Well, at least the doctor hopes he has a good nurse. It makes all the difference in the world! Every doctor and ever patient knows that.
I think Rusty is fabulous, but if he doesn't have a strong staff, people will leave dissatisfied with their care.
We have had a wonderful nurse with us for the past few years!!!
If you're our patient, you know Gabbie, and she's been a treasure to our practice.
But Gabbie's husband is a pastor and they have been called to a church in Illinois.
They've decided her commute would be too much. Whatever.
So we are in desperate need of a wonderful nurse, soon!
I'll have to say, one of the best things about Gabbie has been her heart for ministry in our office.
Rusty and Gabbie met on a mission trip where they worked together, and they knew doing ministry at home would be profitable for the kingdom! Gabbie gave up her much higher paying hospital position to work alongside Rusty, and minister to patients.
I have written on here before, I couldn't be more proud of my husband's ministry through medicine.
What I love about him is he has never separated the Godly man, leader, servant, and teacher he is to us at home from who he is at work.
He holds the Truth of the Gospel up in his life, wherever he goes.
He has made Abundant Life Family Practice an outpost for the gospel, fearlessly (from my perspective- he appears fearless! That may not always be so!) sharing the gospel and praying with patients, giving spiritual questionnaires to every new patient, and even sharing spiritual answers to their physical problems. (They get a little more than they come in for sometimes.)
Gabbie has been in step with with him in ministry every step of the way.
This does not make our practice perfect. It doesn't mean they don't make mistakes or have bad days. But their desire is to share Christ, and I'll confess my own sin...it makes me a little nervous sometimes.
Rusty will come home and tell me about an exchange with a patient in which he boldly shares Truth, and I am thinking...the law suit is coming. Surely, we're going to get sued for this stuff.
But so far, God has totally protected us. He's so good!
If you know of someone who would be interested in our office, let's talk.
I'm praying God would use this to get the word out to just the right person.
So pass it along. And if you've been blessed by our office, please take a moment to pray for God to grant us the staff member we need. Thanks!

Daddy Yoga

There are some pretty hysterical moments in our life and house.
Kids are built in comedy relief, you know?
But this was a hysterical sight to behold.
The volume level in our house was reaching a mind boggling level.
Sometimes we can't hear ourselves talk. Or think.
Having four little kids, and mostly boys, is pretty crazy.
It's not necessarily a bad loud. They're having fun, chasing each other, goofing off, doing what kids do.
But sometimes the noise can get to you.
So Rusty decided it was time for a little relaxation session with the kids.
They stopped running around like children hyped up on speed, and sat in the floor for their Daddy Yoga.
This is what it looked like.

He was having them repeat things, in their new trance like state "I will fall asleep by 8:30 every night."
(kids repeat, in calm voices)
"I will eat all my vegetables."
(kids repeat)
"I will kiss Mommy and tell her she's beautiful every day."
(kids repeat)
"I will pay attention in school and go to college, and not to jail."
(kids repeat)
"I will start flushing the toilet after I poop."
(kids repeat)
If only this really worked!!!


It looks like he got them practically to sleep this way.
But afterward, they just popped back up and started running and screaming again.
it was a pleasant 5 minutes.

He Asked. I Said Yes.

January 31st, 1998, Rusty asked me to marry him.
He washed my feet, read Ephesians 5, said lots of sweet things, and gave me a ring.
He got on his knee, and asked me to be his wife.
Without hesitation, I said yes.
I stared at that ring, and solemnly vowed to never replace it, upgrade, or alter it. This was going to be the ring I would wear happily, everyday, as long as I live.
Single girls, I didn't earn this man. I am not worthy of his love.
He didn't come the first time I wished for him. Maybe around the millionth.
He wasn't what I expected, exactly. I didn't have that good of an imagination, obviously. He is WAY better.
Our story is not like a chic flick.
It's more real. It's deeper. It's flawed. It's lasting.
He didn't arrive on the scene at just the moment I got my act together and was totally content. That would be works driven. He was a gift of grace, despite myself. (I did have to get rid of the WRONG guy I was hanging onto first!)
I remember the euphoria of that day! I can only reflect on God's goodness and His good plans for me, though I am undeserving.
He has good plans for all of us, despite ourselves, and those plans seldom look like what we hope for. They are not always what we expect.
Single women, I know Valentine's Day is approaching, and I'll talk about that more soon, but please...throw off disappointment! Defeat discontentment!
God is good to you. Recognize His goodness and His gifts to you.
I am thankful today.

It's a New Day...

Kind of reminds me of a song...anyway.
Something very exciting has happenned in our family!
My husband is a Family Practice Doctor. He has his own small practice here in town, and the history of it is...well, interesting...and not at all what we expected.
It's been a rough road, to make it short. We never intended to go out on our own. We never intended to inherit a practice that was a total mess, and we never really had time to stop, take a breath, and make it all our own. We've been trying to keep our heads above water and make it work.
In the meanwhile, God has taught us truckloads about obedience, honoring Him with our business, the ministry of medicine, and reaching out to people in need the best way we know how.
We had the opportunity over a year ago to move our office to a brand new building going up exactly one minute from our house. We prayed about it, and felt God's blessing on a new location, a new start, a new day for Abundant Life Family Practice.
So we watched the slab being poured, with anticipation.
We watched every beam, every element of this building rise up.
We've driven by it and jogged past it hundreds of times, praying over it over and over again.
The building rose and our hopes followed, anxious to start this thing from scratch.
And we did. I chose every color, every surface, every piece of furniture, everything in that place. (More than a little nerve-racking for me. I'm so thankful for the friends who helped me.)
Last weekend, during Christmas break, we moved our office. Moving in December- definitely the twelfth best month to move our office. It's peak season for us. It's the busiest time of year. We couldn't afford movers. This move is a stretch for us financially in itself. Who in the world was going to help us? Rusty, me, and our four kids weren't going to cut it!
But Wow! Saints starting pouring out of the woodwork. Friends and patients who care about our practice and us offered to help, bring their trailers, pack and unpack with us...I couldn't believe it! Who has time for that ever, especially during Christmas break!? But they came, and God knocked us over with His provision and goodness in these people.
So we did it. We moved our office, and we've never felt so loved. Praise the Lord for every person that poured themselves into this with us. The product has exceeded our expectations. Our new office, conveniently a hop, skip, and a jump from home, is up, running, and beautiful! It's our own. It reflects who we are. It screams we love Jesus and we are all about family. (Which is a good thing for a Family Practitioner.)
If you are our patient, don't wait until you're sick to come by and check it out! But if you need an appt., our new number is 695-3570.
If you're not our patient, think about checking us out. (By the way, we accept Scott and White now.)
Needless to say, I'm incredibly proud of my husband. He is bold, like crazy bold with the Gospel in his work. I have witnessed it a time or two, and it makes me nervous even how bold he is. I'm challenged by this amazing man I'm married to! I'm blessed by his faithfulness. He's not perfect, but he truly desires to honor and serve the Lord with all he has.
Best of all, he had breakfast with us yesterday!!! That's never happenned. He did the morning devotional with the kids. Starting our day like that is going to be life-changing for us. Having him so close to home that the kids can seriously ride their bikes there is awesome.
We are thankful. We are full of hope for the new day God has given us in our practice. We hope not to miss any opportunity to fulfill God's design for us in it. Thank you, sweet friends, for sharing in this journey with us!

Happy Birthday Rusty! (& his favorite recipe)

I wouldn't call this my husband's best picture, but it's one of the most telling.
I love this man.
I love how he comes home from a long, draining day ready to swing the kids and have a wrestle-fest. (The kids live for this all day long!)
I love that he makes lunches with us a top priority.
I love that he still dates me regularly.
I love that he is at work right now, prayerfully treating his patients and even sharing the gospel with them. (A man gave his life to Christ last week when Rusty shared the gospel with him in the hospital! How cool is that!)
I love the way he loves the Lord.
I love the way he loves us.
I love the way he loves the church.
He is a servant leader to the core.
I feel so blessed to celebrate him today!
We love you, Daddy! Your five biggest fans are thinking of you all day!
Happy Birthday!

*Rusty's preferred birthday dinner is Taco Soup with Jiffy cornbread and cobbler and ice cream for dessert (instead of cake.)
Here's the recipe for Taco Soup:
(Put the following in the Crock Pot for 8 hours)
1-2 lbs. of group beef or turkey, browned with an onion (we use ground turkey, cause that's just how we roll)
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1 package Taco Seasoning
1 can corn
1 can Ranch Style Beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can chopped green chiles
2 cans stewed tomatoes

Serve with cheddar cheese on top, and with crackers or cornbread.
This makes my husband happy!

Our Daddy:
Fun Dad
Professional Tickler
Chaser
Pusher of four swings at once
Explorer
Hunter of bugs & frogs
and pacifiers
and lost stuffed animals
Master of teachable moments
Interpreter of scripture on our level
Communicater and Explainer
Knows all things
Fixes all things
Strong
Faithful, Loving Daddy
That's our Dad!

Happy Birthday Rusty!

Happy Birthday Daddy!
These are some things that we love about Daddy!

I love when Daddy takes me to horsey lessons... (Emma)
I love when he comes home to each lunch with us...(Jax)
I love when he jumps on the trampoline us...(Emma)
I love when he swings us...(Jax)
I love when he eats ice cream with us...(Emma)
I love when he chases and tickles us, and jumps on the bed with us...(Jax)
I love when he tucks me up in the bed at night...(Emma)
I love when he watches movies with us...(Jax)
I love when he takes us to the movie theater...(Emma)
I love when he toots with us! (ha, ha)...(Jax)

And I love that he is my best friend, that he makes me laugh, that he is a servant-leader to the core! I love that he is the kind of Dad that doesn't want to miss out on anything! I love that he sharpens me spiritually, and makes me better. (Jenn)
We love you Daddy!
Happy Birthday!!!

In A Doctor's Refrigerator...

There are some interesting things about being a doctor's wife.
You see people's rashes in Wal-Mart. (When they show them to Rusty.)
You get used to the on-call nights, where the phone can never stop ringing.
I used to hear every call, and now I hardly ever wake-up.
I have actually become quite a helpful nurse, where I can answer many medical questions, advise on some medicines, and take your basic info. for a prescription to be called in.
But another interesting thing about being a doctor's wife is what you might find in the refrigerator. It struck me the other day that we find things among the butter sticks and apple juice containers that a lot of you don't.
Right now in my refrigerators (because we have two), we have three examples:

1) hypodermic needles- people come over wanting things injected, and Rusty obliges.
2) Phenergan suppositories- I firmly believe every family should have these handy. You never know when a stomach virus from the devil is going to hit, and you will be calling us in a hurry.
3) A urine sample- No family should have this. This really grossed me out when I went to my outside fridge to find sliced turkey, and I found this instead. But sometimes people need their urine dipped, so here we are.

But HOLD THE PHONE! We have something really great in our refrigerator right now too!

The Chocolate Caramel Creamer has been restored to my refrigerator, and my life!
You may remember my love for this, and I posted about it long ago.
Well, ATTENTION HEB SHOPPERS, because they quit carrying it.
What is wrong with them?
Who makes these decisions?
Do they even drink coffee, or do they just randomly point to things in a catalog without thinking this through?
Well, I found myself in a creamer crisis this past week...we were going to run out...in the middle of the week.
I do my shopping on the weekend, and I don't go back. I try to NEVER step foot into HEB on a weekday.
But I had to go to Target for something, and I decided to grab some creamer there.
Lo and Behold, there was my beloved creamer.
Hello Happy Mornings!
We will face them together...we will read the Bible a little happier...we will warm and re-warm our coffee cup 20 times because it is so good.
I love you International Delights Chocolate Caramel Creamer.

We Were Married 9 Years Ago Today!

It hardly seems possible, but the calendar doesn't lie. 8/8/98, the coolest wedding date ever, was nine whole years ago.
I love this man! I love being married to him! It is a dream being his wife!
I walked into the kitchen this morning to find a lovely arrangement of white roses. He proposed to me with white roses, so I still get them from time to time.
We have a journal that we write to each other in, and at the bottom of his journal entry, he wrote "...after nine years, we haven't lost us. We never will."
What a comfort to hear those words!
We teach about marriage in our ministry called Countdown, and so we are called out, semester after semester, to practice what we preach.
One thing we know for sure, is we have to be intentional about not "losing us." That was much easier when we had no, or fewer, kids. Oh, how we love the little people in our house! They are a pure blessing from the Lord, but they will suck the life out of our marriage if we let them. They would take as much as we give them, and our kids have grown up thus far knowing that there is time and space that belongs to Mommy and Daddy alone. For us, that is date night! We know, FOR US, that we need this. We need to sit across the table from one another, somewhere outside of our house, away from the place where laundry, bills, un-returned e-mails, and yet-to-be-dictated charts loom. We need to look at one another and talk. We often do a lot of catching up on Friday nights. It's not that we're holding anything back from each other during the week, it's just that a busy life and a house full of kids tends to sweep us up, and we are trying to shout at each other through the noise futilely. We must make sacred time for our marriage. We crave it. And our children are blessed by it as well.
Our marriage is not new anymore. Sadly, we can no longer claim to be newlyweds. The newness has been replaced with other wonderful things...like familiarity, the ability to mind-read, and our lives pre-each other drifting so far away, we can hardly remember it.
We are still learning! We seem to take something new from Countdown every semester that we teach it, and we are embarking on Countdown 10!!! (Hard to believe!) We learn how to raise the bar higher according to God's Word, and not the world's standards. I still have so far to go in learning how to serve and love Rusty the way I should.
But it's a joy learning alongside, and being loved by, my husband. I'm immensely grateful for 3,285 days of being Mrs. Rusty Bacak. I hope for thousands upon thousands more!

My Own Man Vs. Wild

Have you seen this show?
This is my husband's favorite new show.
He told me he "wants to be him."
This guy is surely going to die very soon.
It's crazy what he does!
I personally enjoy the show, because I enjoy hearing him talk. He has a British accent, and I could listen to it all day. I just have to close my eyes when he eats raw zebra, and my husband is saying "What did he say???"
He things people with any foreign accent are completely unintelligible.
I remember going to see a lovely British film with him early in our marriage...I was loving it! And 20 min. into it, I look over at him, with this puzzled look on his face, and he whispers to me "I have no idea what they've been saying for the past 20 min.!"
I love my own personal Wild Man!
Sometimes I wonder how I'll survive with the sheer amount of testosterone that courses through this house, with a husband and three boys. (Plus a daughter who is pretty darn wild herself. She would ABSOLUTELY go on a wild adventure with her Daddy!)
Check this show out on Discovery channel if you haven't already.

Happy Father's Day Super-Dad!!!

Father's Day...a day we usually give our Dad a tie and take him to lunch.
What could I possibly give Rusty to show him how grateful I am for him?
Everything is inadequate.
He is not only the man of my dreams STILL, but he is the best Dad to our "Bacak nation" as he calls it!
This is the man who...

goes grocery shopping with four little ones while I sing on the Praise Team at church on Sundays, pulling two carts, and makes every woman in the store stop and stare. He's actually somewhat famous at HEB because of this. People I DON'T know will tell me "I saw your husband at HEB! Wow! He's amazing!" (Rusty actually feels this is a sad commentary on Dad's today. He's out shopping with his own kids, and people act like it's a freak show. But it is stinkin' amazing considering having four little ones!)

comes home from work and goes immediately into tickle, wrestle, jump on the trampoline, swing, and chase mode.

comes home to the insanity for lunch with us everyday ON PURPOSE!

stayed up until 10pm (on Father's Day) making water balloons in the backyard for Jax's birthday party before getting to eat any dinner.

who kept all four of our kids while I was out of town recently for four days and still had the house totally clean when I came home.

He truly is SUPER! I could go on and on...but all this to say- Happy Father's Day Rusty! I hope you feel celebrated everyday in our home. We love, respect, and down-right adore you!