Birthday Cake Cones & Chocolate Pound Cake

We've just completed a summer full of birthdays. Every member of our family has a summer birthday. That's 6 birthdays in four months!
When I get caught up on all of the slideshows I need to make (Canada coming next, I promise!) I will post Emma's horseback riding party pics.
But for now, I will just share the recipes I used for her cakes.
Treston, above, is happily demonstrating the cupcake cone.
These are SO easy to make and then hand out at a kids' birthday party.
No cutting the cake, serving the cake, plates or forks needed. (Napkins, always needed.)
A few of the Moms asked me for the recipe at the party, so here it is. So easy!
This is from "The Cake Doctor" cookbook, which uses cake mixes to make cakes with a homemade flair.

You need:
28 flat bottomed ice cream cones
1 package Chocolate Cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1/2 t cinnamon
Chocolate Frosting (make your own, or go with store-bought)
colored sprinkles
foil

You need to wrap some foil around the bottom of each cone. Try to keep it flat on the bottom so it can stand up, but this keeps the bottom part of the cones from burning.
Set your cones in a muffin pan. I used large and mini-muffin pans.
Mix up your cake batter. Pour it into the cones, filling them about halfway. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. When they spring back, take them out and let them cool. Then frost them and sprinkle them.


This Chocolate pound cake is my favorite cake! It has pudding in it! It's incredibly moist, and doesn't need frosting of any kind. I have drizzled it with chocolate syrup before and decorated with M&M's.

Mix together:
1 yellow cake mix
1 large box of instant chocolate pudding
3/4 c oil
3/4 c water

Then add:
4 eggs, one at a time
fold in 8 oz. of sour cream (I was out this time and used vanilla yogurt, and it was great too!)
8 oz. chocolate chips (I leave them out sometimes because I don't like chocolate overkill, but I know that's blasphemy to some of you.)

Pour all of that into a greased bundt pan and cook for 50-60 minutes at 350.

Seay Family Adoption- You can help!!!

You see these cute kids? These are my nieces and nephews. They're waiting for their new siblings, who are waiting in an orphanage in Africa unaware of the forever family that is theirs. God has done a sweet thing in my brother Brian and his wife Amy's hearts. He put a fire in them to adopt. I know that doesn't sound crazy, knowing our family and all, but they already have four kids...and not a big house...and not a fat paycheck. Brian does the kind of work for Compassion that we should all experience in our lifetime. Seriously, their heart for the poor all over the world has changed our whole family, and the way they live their faith in that work is what the Gospel is all about.
As you may know, adoption is expensive. International adoption is way expensive. And they are being doubly blessed with a sibling set, so the expenses are more than they have already raised.
Here's what I believe and am not afraid to say on this blog...God loves the orphans. His heart is for the fatherless. We should all have His heart when it comes to adoption. Does that mean that everyone will adopt? I suppose not, but I think it does mean that we should all prayerfully consider what part we play. Financially supporting families who are on board with this adventure is a HUGE way to help! They couldn't do this without the generosity of others. So jump on! Here is the e-mail my brother sent out explaining the fundraiser on his blog. Check it out, and buy an "unticket." You might even win a vacation out of it!

As you know, my family is in the middle of an adoption from Africa. We accepted a referral last week for an amazing 9 year old boy and 4 year old girl. I can’t share photos, names, or much of their story until the adoption is finalized but take my word for it when I tell you how beautiful and incredible these 2 kids are. We have been calling them “Y” and “S” on the blog and they are a sibling set where the big brother takes great care of his little sister and that girl can melt you with a smile from thousands of miles away.
Because of some unique circumstances surrounding our adoption, it looks like we will have to stay in Africa for up to 3 weeks when we travel to pick up our children. This is 2 weeks longer than we had planned. Because of this increase in time and the fact that we are now adopting older children, we feel it is important to take all 4 of our biological children with us to Africa. The first 3 weeks with our new children will be bonding and attachment time that we don’t want the rest of the family to miss. SO, we are working on raising some money to cover the remaining travel costs we have.
On our blogs today we began an UNRAFFLE (no raffles in this family because of our Southern Baptist heritage!) where we are selling $25 UNTICKETS. For every $25 donated, that person/family will have 1 ticket in a drawing for a 7day/night resort certificate good at hundreds of destinations. We actually have 2 of these certificates and 1 will go to the winner of the drawing and 1 will automatically go to the person/family that donates the largest amount of money.
Go to my blog (http://brianseay.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/the-unraffle/) and check out all the details. Feel free to pass this along to anyone and everyone who might be interested in purchasing an UNITCKET or 2 (or 50). If you have a blog, prayerfully consider linking our direction as we try to raise the travel money needed to get a family of 6 from Nashville to Africa and then that same family plus 2 back home.

THANKS in advance for your help!

Brian Seay

Happy Birthday Emma!

My little girl went to bed last night a seven-year-old, and woke up this morning an eight-year-old. For some reason, that sounds really, really different to me! Eight!? My firstborn child cannot be eight! When did I blink and eight years went by?
Nonetheless, she is eight, and we are so proud of who she is.
A few things about Emma...as you can see in the picture above, she loves horses. In fact, she loves every animal God made, but she can't ride all of those animals and do cool tricks like she can on horses. (Although she absolutely would ride a cheetah if it were possible. She's convinced that will happen in heaven.)
Emma and I took a girls trip last weekend to her horse show in Glen Rose. We originally were all going to go, but Ike changed all our plans. So it was just us girls. I don't think we've done that since she was a baby! We did the horse show thing...I watched her ride and dazzle us with her amazing ability to control an enormous horse with her tiny little frame...we stayed in a hotel room together, and snuggled up at night, reading Ramona books together...we got take-out and had a hotel room picnic...we watched a movie, went to a strange church together, and had plenty of good conversation. It was just fun! I feel like I know her even better, and I can see how those kinds of weekends are going to be paramount to a sweet mother-daughter relationship as she gets older.
I'm proud of a lot of things about Emma, but most of all, what I tell her constantly that I'm most proud of, is the way she loves God. Her heart is His! She loves the Lord, she longs to please Him, and she loves the Word! Last night, her Daddy was teaching from Matthew 7 in family worship time, when Jesus tells us not to judge, and tells us to deal with the log in our own eye before we address the speck in our brother's eye. These sort of analogies can be difficult for children, who are concrete thinkers, to decode. However, I'm amazed at how the Holy Spirit speaks to them and gives them the ability to understand the scripture. Rusty started to explain this, and Emma shot up her hand and said "Oh! I know what that means! See, the speck and the log are sin! And it means you should confess your own sin before you try to help someone else out with their sin." Her explanation was even more thorough than that, and Rusty and I just sat there with our mouths open. Rusty then handed her the Bible and asked her to preach on!
Her pointed questions and observations continue to teach me. I'm watching her grow right before my very eyes.
Eight years ago, she kept me up three nights in a row laboring and delivering her. Yes, her labor was a marathon. She came into the world with wide eyes open, searching for us, and taking everything in she could. She hardly ever slept, afraid she might miss something. (She still doesn't sleep.) She cried...A LOT!!!...and was a high-maintenance, yet gorgeous, baby. (She loves these stories, how I came home from the hospital so tired from three nights sleep lost, exhausted to the point I couldn't do anything but cry. And how I would rock and nurse her and Rusty would walk in to find me bawling, and I'd say "I just love her so much!" Having a baby can make you crazy in the head.) But in truth, this day eight years ago, I was transformed into a new facet of me, which is Emma's Mom. It's been amazing, and sanctifying, and precious every day. Not a day has gone by, no matter how difficult or easy, that she hasn't been an enormous blessing to us. We are so grateful for you Emma! You are a gift entrusted to us by the Lord!
Our Bible reading this morning I selected for breakfast was Psalm 139:15-18. I memorized this chapter when I was pregnant with Emma. As amazing as it is, no matter how much we love all four of our children, God loves them more. Our love pales in comparison to His. His love is great. His love is sacrificial. His love gave His own Son for us. It's important for Emma to know she's loved by us. (And of course, she does.) But it's most important for her to know how God loves her.
Thank you God for September 18, 2000. We are thankful for Emma Michal Bacak.

Hope, Coffee, and Melody right here in town!

The Robbie Seay Band, i.e. my little bro. and his homies, plus my big bro. who's on tour with him, will be in concert in our most awesome concert venue in town...The Palace Theater. Who doesn't love this place? An outdoor theater (which especially rocks in today's weather!) in historic downtown Bryan. I actually love it more because it has a little area on the side for our kids to run around and be kids during a concert.
I don't know what to say about Robbie and his music without being the obnoxious sister. So just know, this album is phenomenal, and you don't want to miss out!
Also, Robbie will be talking about Compassion and what it means to become a sponsor. My other brother, Brian, does AMAZING work for Compassion, and I could not be more proud of their work and their hearts for Compassion's work. So go to the concert, and then become a sponsor for Compassion! I think that's all worth a whoop!
Here's the info.- please tell a friend, blog about it, pass out flyers, whatev.
Event Info Host: Robbie Seay Band
Type: Music/Arts - Concert
Network: Global
Time and Place Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: The Palace Theater
Street: 105 South Main Street
City/Town: Bryan, TX
Tickets are $10 and are on sale at www.tickets.com and as available at the door.

Truth and Grace Memory Books

We've started a new scripture memory book this past summer that I absolutely love and wanted to share! My friend Ashley showed it to me, and I purchased it online at www.founders.org for around $5 I think.
Truth and Grace starts with 2 and 3 year olds and goes all the way through high schoolers. It is a basic scripture memory program, but also includes memorizing some hymns rich in theology (like Jesus loves me, and Holy, holy, holy, my kids' favorite). It also includes a catechism for children to learn. If you're like me, and the average Baptist, you've never, ever done a catechism. I wasn't sure what that was about. But it's a basic question and answer format for learning theology. I have been amazed at how easy and fun it is to do with my kids, and they're learning doctrine that is so vital to their foundational understanding of God! (and mine.) Every answer to a question has a list of scripture references from where it came, and you could spend time on every question, looking at it in scripture if you wanted to. I can see my kids gaining a clearer understanding of who God is through this method. It may sound boring, but we rather enjoy it.
This book is not meant to replace your Bible study time or family worship time. But like AWANAS, or whatever scripture memory program you have used, it lends the organization and structure to our mornings that I love. For us, we do scripture memory and prayer over breakfast each morning these days (our routine changes during the summer versus school year) and sometimes spend a little time teaching through some of their verses. We never start our day without prayer. We need it! Rusty does the teaching, expositorily, or straight through books of the Bible, in the evening family worship time.
Hiding God's Word in their hearts is priceless! But for us to rush through their verses and not let them seep into their hearts would be tragic. They could memorize the whole Bible and several catechisms during their time in this house, but if they are not captivated by the cross and living in love with their Savior from the heart, it will mean nothing. I want to be mindful of that...no book or program can replace us shepherding their hearts in the everyday moments of life toward the Father. I desperately want our kids to LOVE God's Word, because they love Him. We don't follow the "rules" of family worship, Bible study, and scripture memory for the sake of legalistic, holy, going-through-the-motions. NO! Our hearts are for our kids to LOVE Him, and to follow Him, and desire the Word like David talks about in Psalm 119. We want them to grow up, waking up, and getting into His Word, eager for a word from Him, like it's the most natural thing in the world. We are indeed training our children, but we know this must all come from the heart, and only He can draw their hearts.
This book has been a great tool for us so far, and I thought some of you might want to know about it. I always like to hear what other Moms are doing as well!

Honey Mustard Chicken Salad

Y'all know these dressings are awesome, right?
We love them.
This is an easy recipe that we came up with when we were first married. (I love the recipes we make that take me back to our tiny apartment in Waco, before my children were a twinkle in our eyes. How different life is now!) We made it last night and I had forgotten how good and easy it was!
My kids even liked it.

1 package of chicken tenders
1 bottle Brianna's honey mustard dressing
Lowry's season salt (or whatever kind you use)
lettuce
red bell pepper
other salad veggies you like (I like grape tomatoes, carrots, etc.)
pecans
croutons

Season the chicken tenders and either grill them, or cook on the stove-top, using about 1/2 the bottle of dressing.
Then make your salad to your liking...I use the above listed salad items. I use the honey mustard dressing on the salad, but not too much. The chicken already adds a lot of flavor. Rusty used a different dressing on his, but I think that's weird.
I serve with crescent rolls, and there you have it.
Easy, hu? And it's so good!
Hope y'all like it!

Evangelism in the Home

I love this Normal Rockwell painting! It conjures up all the feelings of special times around a dinner table. I love sharing a meal with people in our home.
Hospitality and ministry out of my home is a huge part of our lives.
I work in the home. For several years, I thought that limited my ministry abilities. But God has been faithful to continue to bring ministry opportunities to my own front door. I don't have to be away from my home to do ministry or evangelism. This blog is just one way of doing that.
Another way has been having people live with us.
It's a unique time right now that there are no non-Bacak people living in our home.
We have made our home open to that for several years now. The first time was to a pregnant woman without a place to live. Her name was Robin. She came straight from prison to our house. We were a little nervous, but knew God was calling us to open our home. We did, and fell in love with her! It was wonderful and heartbreaking all in one. But we loved Robin, and the baby she place for adoption, and that experience changed us.
We've been a shepherding home for pregnant women, and we've been stop-over housing for college girls who needed a place to live for various reasons.
This has been fun. It's also been hard at times. Sometimes inconvenient. But it's ministry at home, and this kind of hospitality seems spelled out in scripture. We have room, and this house does not belong to us. (I don't mean it belongs to the bank...I mean God!) All that we have is His, and I notice sometimes we are holding onto it like it's ours. I don't want to do that. It needs to all be for his glory!
So Rusty and I also determined to have our home open for things like HOPE group (our church small groups), Countdown, the marriage prep class we have been teaching for over five years now, and various other things.
But what about EVANGELISM?
Having Robin live here, and other pregnant women, who didn't know the Lord was true evangelism, in it's purest, rawest, most intense form.
But everything else we are doing is in service to believers, WHICH WE LOVE, wholeheartedly believe in, and won't stop doing!
But what about my lost neighbors, that I don't have time to really know and have over because I'm too busy doing ministry?
(One of my neighbors once asked me why we have "parties" all the time? I explained they were Bible Studies. All she knew was that we cluttered our streets with cars twice a week.)
What about the other families that we make connections with through our kids' sports and other events?
What about Rusty's patients that he is witnessing to and wanting to go deeper in relationship with for that purpose?
When do we develop that? When do we have them over? When do we share our lives with them and hopefully allow them to see a difference in us and point them to Christ?
We would...except we're a little chicken...and we're just too darn busy doing ministry. Last year, we couldn't squeeze one more thing into our schedules or it would all explode!
And I realize, I stink at evangelism. I hate it, but it's true. I've shared what Christ means to us to one of our neighbors, and they all know we're Christians, but I don't know where to go next...I don't know what else to do. I realize a big part of it is needing to build an authentic relationship with them that's not there. I need God to train me and equip me more fully for this!
This has been the dilemma in our hearts this summer.
Our lives are crazy, as are yours. Many of you do all the same things we are doing.
Small groups for church, and all the other activities, GREAT things, that go with a busy family.
I don't want to stop doing those things.
But I know we need to make room in our lives for evangelism. That's even messed-up, the way I wrote that. We want evangelism to be the driving force in our lives! We should be sharing the Gospel with the people God has put in our path. I think this is going to take some creative shifting in our schedule. But holy cow! What could be more important?
I would like to see our weeknights more free for hospitable evangelism.
And let me not leave out-FAMILY WORSHIP- and the evangelism in our own home being a top priority as well. We are making little disciples in this house, and that cannot and will not be neglected. When we have people over, they join us for family worship, and my kids always enjoy that! It's fun to include people in our little service in the living room.
Rusty and I are thinking through what things need to go (any of the fluff! Not critical church involvement, obviously!) and also asking God to open our eyes to all of the lost around us that we are missing opportunities with.
I am afraid we are missing a lot!
We are probably not the only family with these questions and quandries. I posted this because some of you may be thinking through some of these same things. Comment with any encouragements you have and what God is showing you as well!

1st Day of School!

Today is our first day of school, and I'm so excited!
Yes, we are starting late because of our awesome trip to Canada, though I usually start with the school calendar here. I'm not a slacker, I PROMISE!
I've been obsessively preparing over the last month for our new year, and now it's here. Emma is in 2nd grade, Jax is in 1st grade, and Justus is starting Pre-K.
We have freshly sharpened pencils with erasers not yet bitten off by Treston!
We have brand new journals filled thickly with pristine pages yet to be filled with color and words and imagination.
We have brand new books and readers, waiting to be read and learned from.
We have a new school schedule, totally different from last year's, and a new list of "Approved School Snacks."
I have brand new dry erase markers and a new eraser, which is my little indulgence each year. How I love a rainbow of colors of dry erase markers.
We have newly decorated school boxes with crayons still in the box, markers, all with their tops, and scissors, never yet used. Every marker and supply labeled with their names in Sharpie. I love to label with my Sharpie.
I have a new school closet that is the perfect picture of organization right now. RIGHT NOW.
You get the picture. I like this stuff.
Which is funny, because I hated school so much when I was little.
It was not the school supplies or learning that bothered me. I just hated going to school. That was a great irony when I ended up teaching public school for two years. The place I abhorred so much I volunteered to go back to. I really loved teaching Deaf Ed. Pre-k and K for two years.
But I LOVE, LOVE teaching my kids! I love watching them light up with something new! I love being with them, despite the craziness of this house!
Every year, when I write about our homeschooling, I feel like I need to apologize for it. That's not what I actually want to do. God led me (drug us really) to homeschooling, which was right for our family. But that does not mean that we are against every other avenue of schooling! The "evils of public school" is not what led us here. A little Emma with a unique and creative mind, totally lost in her Pre-K class, led us here. Homeschooling didn't even dawn on us. I was working with her one-on-one at home, and it was so effective, and I still didn't even think about it. God was clear, long story short, and He totally changed Rusty's mind and mine about homeschooling. There we were, doing the one thing we never, ever thought we would. We were amazed at how Emma was transformed into a wonderful pupil!
So we didn't make this decision, looking down on all other forms of education in disapproval. (The kids I know and admire most in their walk with the Lord attend public school...Feldmans...my nieces and nephews) We just followed the Lord, as so many of other parents have done in whatever they chose for their kids, and saw the fruit of obedience.
I would never in a million years do this if I didn't know God was choosing this and equipping me. I am fearful of teaching my kids for one day on my own! I don't know if we'll do this forever. Rusty and I will pray about this every year, and follow His lead. We feel confident we are where we're supposed to be right now.
So today is the day! Second grade! That sounds so big! I have three kids in school, as crazy as that sounds!
We'll use our sharp pencils today, and brand new crayons, but we all know the tops of markers will be lost next week, so I'm going to enjoy the newness while it lasts.

Keeping the Sabbath Day holy...how?

We are back from Lake Louise in Alberta Cananda...I think the most beautiful place God made. Seriously. It was heavenly.
Rusty and I enjoyed five days together (God bless my parents for keeping my four kids that long!) where we just talked, and relaxed, and it was amazing! We did a pretty awesome hike, that resulted in my severe shin splints, and crippled me for a few days. But nonetheless, it was awesome.
We had a few questions on our mind to discuss this trip. We have already been mulling over and discussing how to free up our schedules a little this semester. (Yes, when you live in a college town, even adult lives revolve around semesters.)
Like many of you, we're too busy. That's another post.
Another question we have and were asking of the Lord during this trip was 'How do we keep the Sabbath Day holy?'
Up to this point, I'm not sure it has been. I started feeling this conviction a while back, and was noticing our Sundays being just like any other day. Busy. Filled with chores and to-do lists, and groceries to fight for at HEB...(it's hard not to want to ram your cart into the hundreds of roommates standing in front of the yogurt, blocking you, saying "I don't know...what kind of yogurt do YOU like?" "I don't know...what about YOU?" MOVE OVER!) Oh yeah, and church. Like many of you, there are no days off during the week, and we homeschool, so the errand running and to-dos take over the weekend. We're very involved in church, so there are meetings and classes as well.
But what about the Sabbath? What about rest? What about the concept of a holy day, in addition to our commitment to corporate worship in our body of believers?
We are looking at scripture and trying to determine what that looks like for us.
Some might consider the concept of keeping the Sabbath as an Old Covenant/expired idea. (As part of the Law that we were set free from.) But it is included in the Ten Commandments, which are all still very applicable in our New Covenant! I don't think it's expired, though that's how we treat it.
Jesus spoke out against the legalism of keeping the Sabbath by the pious Jewish leaders. They reprimanded him for healing on the Sabbath, and feeding his disciples. As always, Jesus was about the heart, not the rules! I know he wants our right heart in this.
I don't think there are rules to be enforced for all of us in keeping the Sabbath.
So what is there?
We looked at this passage, Isaiah 58:13-14:
13 "Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don't pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the LORD's holy day. Honor the LORD in everything you do, and don't follow your own desires or talk idly. If you do this, 14 the LORD will be your delight. I will give you great honor and give you your full share of the inheritance I promised to Jacob, your ancestor. I, the LORD, have spoken!"

Keeping the Sabbath and not pursuing our own interests on this day should be our delight! We ought to look forward to our time of worship, rest, and reflection all week!
So this is what we've determined so far. In order to not "pursue our own interests", meaning our to-do list, chores, grocery shopping, errands, on Sunday, we need to shift things around in the week. We are trying to do a lot of shifting in our week anyway, and this is going to take forethought. It's going to take saying no to certain things. It's going to take commitment.
Secondly, as we are purposeful in doing this, we want to impress upon our children the spirit and delight of this commandment, and not rules or a bunch of "don'ts." Last week on the Sabbath, the kids and I watched one of my all-time favorite shows together, "Little House on the Prairie." The Ingalls...how I love them! And they kept the Sabbath Day holy! They were a God-loving, prairie-dress wearing, (tv) family! We decided that could be one of our new Sabbath traditions together. The kids LOVE that show too, which is a life long dream fulfilled for me! My husband has mocked it for so long, finally, someone in this house appreciates good, wholesome, cheesy, 70's tv with me!
One other little thing we decided was that I would not cook a huge meal on Sunday. I have done that some recently, because I wanted a special meal with us all here, but it eats up most of my day. So we decided our Sunday dinner is going to be BBQ sandwhiches. I just shred the chicken, and put in into the crockpot with a lot of BBQ sauce and a little soy sauce. Let it cook all day. My family loves this meal so much! So it's our new Sabbath, keeping it simple and holy meal!
I want our Sabbath Days to be marked with rest...togetherness...no rushing, no HEB, definitely no Wal-Mart! I want it to be a day that's different, because we've set it aside for the Lord. Yes, everyday is his, and everyday should be about worship. We're not missing that fact! But God said this day should be different, and that it was made to benefit us in that way (Mark 2:27) so we're going to aim for a real Sabbath these days.
What about y'all? Any thoughts, good ideas about this topic? I'd love to hear them!

Canada, Eh?

Oh, yeah.
You see this picture? We're going there.
I'm not saying exactly when we're going there, because I'm sure creepy people read blogs too...but considering that our house sitters include the biggest guy we know at our church and his lovely wife, I'm not worried.
Rusty and I are celebrating our 10 year anniversary. We went to Canada on our first honeymoon. (This is our second honeymoon! Yay!) We LOVED Canada! It's beautiful...the bathrooms are beautiful...the sewage plants are probably even beautiful. They hang flowers on everything. McDonalds is beautiful.
Last time we went to British Columbia, visiting Whistler and Vancouver. The exchange rate was way in our favor then. We had, what I always tell our Countdown couples, the best week of our life!
We have always wanted to go back, and now we are! We are taking another honeymoon. This time to Lake Louise. As you can see from this picture, it's amazing. The high will be around 50-60 degrees!!! That's reason enough for me to go. I'm packing fleece!FLEECE! I'm so excited. We're going to hike a lot. I've never done much hiking, but in my mind, I think I like it. We have filled out our Last Will and Testament, just in case we get eaten by bears. I'm pretty sure we put some un-suspecting people on the back-up list of who gets our four kids. It might be you. Are you scared?
5 days with just Rusty and I in the moutains of Canada is more happiness than my brain can compute. I'm super excited.
I can't help but ponder, in how many ways are we different from our honeymoon 10 years ago?
Four kids is pretty obvious. We're parents. We have four little people in common.
We totally love each other now, just like then, but our love has evolved and changed. We know each other better, obviously. Brand new and exciting has been replaced with read-your-thoughts and familiar, which is NOT inferior, by the way! I would still say we're smitten with one another.
We're obviously 10 years older. Hopefully, we're a little wiser.
Sleeping in on a trip has exponentially greater value. Wow.
I can't wait. I can't wait to give my husband my full attention for five days and enjoy him. I can't wait to look at mountains and read while wearing fleece. I can't wait to sit by a fire! I can't wait to eat without getting up 10 times each, and with a much lower noise level. I can't wait to just talk...talking is good.
Just let me note, we're not "getting away" because we don't love our life and our children. We do! But as married people, every now and then (in our case, every five years) we need to take a trip for more than one night and soak each other in...remember all the things we do and are together on our own...share our hearts...we were a couple before our bundles of blessings came along, and will be a couple when they fly from our nest. Maintaining that identity is important, and making it a priority takes a little fighting sometimes.
Every couple does this differently. Every couple has to identify what THEY need in order to keep this in perspective.
For us, OFF TO CANADA.
We'll be holding hands, taking in the breath-taking scenery, and NOT sweating for five days. I can't wait.

What happens when you take a shower?

For most people, the only thing resulting from a shower is cleanliness.
Not so in my house.
Crazy, crazy things happen when I get in the shower.
I step in, knowing that it's risky, leaving Treston unattended.
But sometimes you just smell, ya know?
I ask Emma to watch him, and she tries...but then she realizes she MUST make a sock puppet right away, and she's off.
And it's not like I'm lingering in the shower. No, I'm speed showering.
That should be an Olympics for Parents sport.
(Jogging while pushing a double jogging stroller would be another event. I have many events planned in my mind...another post.)
But recently, even with the speed showering, no matter how speedy I wash, Treston is speedier.
He finds lipstick in my drawer (lipstick? I haven't worn lipstick in about five years...but he can find the tiny free sample in the back of a drawer) and puts it all over his face (see picture)...and then the walls...and then the carpet. Why not?

Last Sunday morning I took a shower. You know,cleanliness is next to Godliness? What does that mean? Anyway, I stepped out, and then wished I could step back in and hide there until Rusty came home. (That would have been about three hours.) He had reached the kids' red toothpaste and squeezed out the tube EVERYWHERE we had carpet. Not on the wood floor. That would have been too easy. And then he found some of his books and squeezed toothpaste in between EVERY, SINGLE PAGE. Seriously? This took much diligence, focused attention, and fine motor skills. Based on that skill, I think he's ready for Kindergarten. I'm still finding globs of red toothpaste everywhere. That was all before I got the kids to church by myself. That was awesome preparation time for worship, let me tell you.

And then there's the times when I've come out to find him on the computer. Not only has he Sharpied the screen of my laptop, but pulled up about 15 different screens, doing things that never should be done to a computer. How did he find a Sharpie?

If you know Justus well, you know I have boys who are incredibly gifted in mischief. They are just plain talented. This makes life crazy for me now, but I have no doubt that God is going to harnass their talents for good and not evil someday. He has to.

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!

Happy Birthday Amanda!

Amanda cringes when I use pictures of her, but tough! It's your birthday, and your picture is going up on my blog!
What a blessing this girl is to our lives! There are times when I am overwhelmingly grateful to live in a college town. Not necessarily when I'm driving around, like this week, and 50,000 people come back at once to clog up Texas Ave., but other than that, I'm SO grateful! Because it means that I have girls like Amanda in my life. Girls that I keep lasting relationships with. (I miss you girls, who have left me, much to my protest!) I am trying to keep Amanda here as long as possible. Of course, that means, she's working at our office right now. We'll employ her as long as we can. She'll use her super-organizational powers on our office for a while.
Thanks, Amanda, for loving my kids almost as much as if they were your own. Thanks for being their "favorite babysitter" who brings fun movies and lets them eat popcorn with M&M's in it. Thanks for always calling me when you're going to the store to see if I need anything. (EVERY Mom needs someone like that in their life, am I right?) And thanks for being teachable and growing right before my very eyes. We love you! Happy Birthday!

Also, for those of you who also love my Emma, check out her latest blog post "If I was a movie director." I think it's so cool! I love seeing her budding relationship with the Lord played out in her creativity! She also created a book club last night for her and the girls from our Core Group who come over for prayer each week. They decided they would read about Neil Armstrong and get back together next week to discuss it. Emma made her own sign-up sheet and everything. How cute is that?

My Dad: Leaving a Legacy of Godliness

If I didn't know and love the Lord, I would be without excuse.
I have been shepherded by parents who have modeled faithfulness and devotion to Him in a way that I am seeking to follow now as a parent.
My Dad is a pastor, and he writes daily e-mail devotionals to his church. He goes through books of the Bible, verse by verse, in these daily devotionals. I receive them, because I like reading what Dad has to say each day from the Word. (It's a little like sitting at the breakfast table when I was a kid and him reading to us from his little devotional book in his p.j.'s...but not quite.) I particularly loved what Dad wrote today. It's a lot like 2 Corinthians 7:1 that I'm memorizing right now. "Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body and spirit, and let us work toward complete purity because we fear God."
The other day, I was having a conversation with some folks and the term "preacher's kid" with all it's negative connotations came up. I quickly told them I was a P.K. but all five of us kids are grown now and loving and serving the Lord. They asked what was the difference in our home? There's an easy and clear answer. My Dad never put shepherding a church flock above shepherding his home flock. He was a real, Godly man at home and he taught us to love God.
I wanted to share a little snippet of my Dad with you, to show you the legacy that I have received, and bless you with him. Many of you may be the first generation like him, passing this down to your children. What an amazing testimony to God's goodness!

James 1:21

New American Standard Version
Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

Pastor's Paraphrase
Understanding that He has a plan for each of us to become more like Jesus each day, let us rid ourselves of anything that even resembles the immorality and impurity so common among those who reject the Lord.

"How does this help me become more like Him?"
Many years ago, I traveled to another country and witnessed something I had never seen growing up in America. At that time in this large city in Asia, the sewer system ran above ground. There was literally human waste running in the ditches of the streets. As you can imagine, the smell was not pleasant and I cannot even imagine the potential health hazards that such exposure to filth posed. I am sure that to live in such conditions, one would have to take great care and precautions not to become infected and become ill.
Thankfully, in our country today there are strict standards and guidelines to protect our physical health from such filth and infection. However, there is far less protection morally and spiritually. Sin and immorality flow freely in our society. Guarding yourself from spiritual infection is even more difficult than biological infection because the pollution of the heart and soul is much more acceptable in our culture. We have become desensitized to that which can pollute our hearts and poison our minds.
We find our plan to safeguard ourselves in Romans 12:2, where Paul commands us not to shape our lives according to the morality and practice of our culture. Instead, we are to allow the Holy Spirit to teach and apply the principles of Scripture to our hearts so that He may use them to transform our lives. We must live in a culture that flows freely with spiritual and moral pollution but we do not have to swim in it. The challenge is to live in this world without becoming polluted by it.
We must use wisdom and discernment to make the right decisions concerning what is immoral and unwise. We must teach our children and grandchildren modesty and good taste. We must help them understand behaviors that put them at risk for the attack of the evil one or a hindrance to their testimony for Christ. Most of all, we must model for them and teach to them the priority of bringing glory to Christ with all of their lives. As His children, we are not our own to do as we please. We have been bought at a very high price - His own blood.
We must remember that we are not citizens of this world - we are here on assignment from our King. Our loyalty and allegiance, as well as our values and behaviors, must come from our homeland. We must live here for Him for now but we're just passing through.

"How should I pray for Him to change my life?"
Pray for the protection of the Holy Spirit upon your mind to protect you from the pollution of this culture. Ask for strength to withstand every temptation to blend in with and become comfortable with the immorality of our day. Allow the Holy Spirit to do His transforming work of renewing your mind each day.



Dr. Ed Seay
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Church

Recipes: Peaches n' Cream Pie/ Manicotti

Here are some special recipes from this week.
First, we had an Olympic Party last night. I made a Peaches n' Cream Pie (because I wanted to be American, but I like this better than apple pie), and I made the Olympic rings out of extra pie crust on the top and carved USA in it. Fun! I love making fun things on the top of my pies with cookie cutters, etc.
(I can feel Heather making fun of me right now.)
We watched the Olympics together. Is anyone else loving this? But Rusty really takes issue with the syncronized Men's diving. He wasn't sure he wanted our boys watching that. (ha!) The gymnastics is our favorite.
The kids thought it was hilarious that those people were swimming in their "chonedogs" as brief underwear are called at our house. (Thanks to Landon Carl!)No Olympic Party is complete without a group of mini-Olympic athletes flipping around the living room. How many people sign their kids up for gymnastics after the Olympics air? I bet gyms love the Olympics for this reason!

Make a Peaches n' Cream Pie and ice cream! You won't regret it. And it's super fast and easy!
2 Pilsbury pie crust
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c flour
1 bag of frozen peaches
1 c heavy cream
a sprinkle of sugar on top

Fill a pie crust with the frozen peaches. Mix together the flour and sugar and sprinkle in the pie shell, distributing it well.
Fill the pie with the heavy cream.
Cover with the other pie crust, press to seal.
Sprinkle a little sugar on top and bake at 350 for about an hour. (You may want to protect your crust with some foil. I have a super awesome pie crust shield that I use. I love it!)
Serve with ice cream, of course. It's our favorite pie!

Tonight's dinner is definitely worth sharing!
Special Cheese Manicotti:
8 oz. package manicotti shells
2 c shredded mozzarella
+1/2 c more shredded mozzarella
1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese
3 T minced fresh parsley (I used less of what I had of dried parsley)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/8 t ground nutmeg
1 egg slightly beaten
3/4 c sour cream
1/3 c Italian dressing
1/2 c shredded zucchini
a jar of Spaghetti Sauce

Cook manicotti shells and rinse in cold water. Don't over cook!
In a large bowl, combine the 2 c mozzarella, parmesan cheese, and all other ingredients through zucchini.
Very carefully fill the shells using a baby spoon. Then pour spaghetti sauce and the 1/2 c shredded mozzarella on top and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
I served with a great salad!
This is awesome!
Hope y'all enjoy these.

Rules with Reasons

My kids and I were talking to another parent the other day, and as we were talking, I corrected Emma in saying "yes sir" to him.
He told me about his own three-year-old, and how they were trying to teach him to say "yes maam" and "yes sir." He said his little boy asked why he had to say this?
And he explained to him that it would help in how other people perceived him...that essentially he would make a good impression in life.
I thought to myself 'that's a pretty lame reason.'
So I was thinking about the rules we have made in our home. Do our kids understand all the reasons behind them? I'm sure we've explained them once before, but do all four of them remember that moment, and know for certain that there are reasons behind the rules? And do we have legit reasons for them? Or are they just there so we feel less annoyed in life?
The verse we are learning right now is "Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105
To illustrate this verse's meaning, we walked around with our eyes closed and bumped around aimlessly. Then we walked in the light, with our eyes open, and talked about how we wouldn't know how to live without God's wonderful Word! God's Word gives us guidance; guidance we so desperately need as parents to know how to lead our children.
So we have been evaluating our rules with the kids, showing them the reasons behind them in scripture.
Some are pretty obvious. Treston can't play with the oven because he could die.
He can't play in the street because he could die. Some of these are common sense in keeping our kids from danger.
But let's take the "yes sir" rule. I know not everyone has this. In fact, I would never assume that we would all have the same rules. Our houses are different, our kids are different, and how we interpret the same principles and flesh it out in our homes is different. That's okay! But the "yes sir" rule for us stems from respect. It's just a tangible way to respect your parents and elders, as they also learn to honor and obey us. We're also working on teaching and reinforcing real first-time obedience. By repeating myself, I'm teaching them not to obey the first time.
And then there's the building each other up rule.

Eph 4:29
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Proverbs 27:2
Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.

Phil. 2:3
Walk in humility and consider others better than yourself.

We have to be on guard in our house always that are words are building up, and not tearing down. Also that we are not bragging or even sneakily putting ourselves up, but rather considering others better than ourselves.
Sadly, this is not only difficult for the children. But we are accountable to one another for this, and I will often hear the kids even ask each other "were you building him up just then?" (They love to catch each other in it, of course.)

And then there's complaining and whining.
Phil 2:14-15
14 In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing,

The Bacak paraphrase includes in this verse whining. We think whining is most certainly a form of complaining...the most annoying form.

And then there are so many things we do just to be courteous to others. Part of this is considering others before yourself (Phil. 2), and doing or not doing things so that we are a blessing to others. We just went over Phil. 4:5, "Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do." Being considerate by not yelling, trampling on people at church while they have a wrestle-fest in the hallway, using good manners, holding open doors, etc. can testify to their love for the Lord.

These are just a few examples we are going over with our kids about rules with reasons.
The main thing I want my children to know from us is this: Our goal in parenting them is NOT to produce good children, that make a good impression in life and are successful people. I hope those things turn out to be true, but our goal is GODLINESS. That is all we can hope and pray for! Our hearts ache to grow children who know and love and serve the Lord all the days of their lives.

Happy 10 Year Anniversary, Love!

Before I even opened my eyes this morning, I thought "10 years...thank you Lord!"
It's hard for my brain to take in and inventory. 10 years of marriage.
Can we be that old? Can we be this blessed?
10 years of learning what it means to serve one another, letting God sanctify us, and love each other.
I remember this day. How amazing it was that God had given me this man, that I so clearly didn't deserve.
We'd known each other less than a year, and we were without hesitation as we committed our lives to each other, said our vows with utter joy, and I took a new name.
No trace of hesitation...until we got in his car, decorated with crude sayings thanks to his friends, and started driving into the night of Houston towards our hotel. I was nervous.
And then the best week of our lives. Our honeymoon. I would go back and re-live it a thousand times if I could. Canada...no heat, all new-ness, looking over our shoulders for our parents or chaperones, and realizing they were long gone. We were real grown-ups, and really ONE.
Our early married life...in a tiny apt. that was plenty big (except for all of the wedding gifts we had to store away for a later time.) Learning to sleep together, because Rusty claimed that I wasn't the friendliest sleeper and occasional used my flying arms as weapons in a dead sleep. (What a wimp:)
The thrill of the nightly slumber party...nobody drives away!!! Staying up talking and laughing.
Quickly learning I can't sleep without him. I never want to.
Inviting little people in...discovering pregnancy in all it's excitement, joy, glory, and misery.
Moving.
Giving birth.
And then there were three.
We were overwhelmed with love for Emma.
Who were we before this? We felt our selfishness being ripped away little by little.
Suffering through pregnancy again, and wondering if we had enough love for another one. How silly we were!
And then there were four.
I was smitten with Jax from day 1.
God grew us spiritually, causing us to love His Word more and more.
He moved us to College Station, and firmly planted us.
Countdown! We began teaching from our marriage semester after semester.
Refining, refining, refining.
Sharpening, sharing, baring, pouring our marriage into other couples.
ADOPTION.
Sanctifying. Praise God. Teaching us about who He is and who He wants us to be through the process.
I remember embarking on that drive with two little ones buckled in the back and an empty car seat between them...wondering if we would bring a baby home or not.
And then there were five.
Bonding, loving, protecting, cherishing this little one.
We didn't know there would be six. Thank you God for your perfect plan.
Precious Treston. We scooted over and made more room and all of us poured our love into this little one. We didn't know if he'd stay.
But he had to. There was no other option. He was our baby.
God confirmed in the courts what we already knew, and there were six.
How many date nights passed in ten years?
Countless. I'm not good enough at math to know.
Countless dinners where we sat across from one another and had conversations we were so deeply entrenched in the wait person felt intrusive approaching us, piercing the invisible bubble of intimacy around our table.
And others where we sat, without much to say, but so comfortable, so easy, content.
And some with serious things to hash out. So productive.
Ten years of dancing together. I can follow him blindly. It's so easy.
Ten years of holding hands instinctively. Our hands were made to fit each other's.
Ten years of learning.
We have not been perfected yet. But we keep striving, immersed in gratitude today.
Thank you, Lord, for ten years with this man.
I can't imagine following anyone else.
I can't imagine any man putting my needs above his own like him.
I can't imagine a better ten years, despite the trials.
Without the trials, we wouldn't be as glued together.
Thank you Lord. For ten years of marriage.
And he's not sick of me yet.

31 Days of Praise

I have this little book by Ruth Myers called "31 Days of Praise." It's a daily guide of prayer and thanksgiving, drawn straight from scripture. I am touched by the author's invitation to sincere and intimate praise and thanksgiving, especially knowing she wrote this book in the aftermath of some of losing her husband. She was a young widow and mother. Yet she filled these pages from the overflow of a thankful heart. Some of the prayers written in the back of the book have been meaningful to me as well. Here's the beginning of my favorite one:

"Lord, I'm Yours. Whatever the cost may be, may Your will be done in my life. I realize I'm not here on earth to do my own thing, or to seek my own fulfillment or my own glory. I'm not here to indulge my desires, to increase my possessions, to impress people, to be popular, to prove I'm somebody important, or to promote myself. I'm not here even to be relevant or successful by human standards. I'm here to please you."

The rest of the prayer is wonderful as well. I think I need to read this daily. How easily I can get side-tracked and forget our purpose in life!
Have a great day today, and live it to please the Lord alone!

Deuteronomy 6: Love the Lord...

I decided to take the kids through the book of Deuteronomy this summer. I know, sounds daunting to me too, but one thing I know for sure is all that God said to the Israelites, he says to us, (because we're as ridiculous as they were sometimes) and I also see so much value in them getting the big picture of the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
This week we came to Deuteronomy 6. This is a great passage of instructions given to parents.
Listen...
Deut 6:4-9
4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5 And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. 7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. 8 Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.


How much more specific and complete could this be? Talk about God's instructions when you're lying down, and when you're up, when you're at home, and when you're not...
Tie a reminder on your hand, wear them on your forehead, and write them on your doorposts.
Have we done that?
These were not instructions given to the Temple leaders in how to teach the children.
These were given to parents to teach their children about God.
Have we abdicated our God-given role to be our child's primary Bible teachers and shepherds to the church?
Our church reminds us all the time, they should only be re-inforcing what our kids are already learning at home.
Rusty and I are continuing to learn about how to do this better.
It's been an ever-involving process.
I do Bible verses or a lesson and prayer time with the kids in the morning each day before we start our school day.
Rusty does Bible teaching with the kids in the evening. We both know that Rusty is the lead teacher and is ultimately responsible for what our kids are learning in this house. I come alongside him and help him.
But this summer God has showed us the value of family worship.
We now have "mini-church" I guess you could call it, in the evening with all of us, even the little ones. We sing worship songs, and then Rusty gives a lesson. Sometimes we have drama, because our kids have always enjoyed acting out our lessons. (Last night John the Baptist (Jax) baptized Jesus (Rusty) while the dove/Holy Spirit came upon them (Emma, of course, it's an animal) and the voice of God spoke (Justus; it's pretty different to hear the voice of God in broken three-year-old language, but you get the picture.)
We're not saying our ways of doing this are the only and right way.
But we do know this...teaching our kids to Love the Lord with everything in them is THE thing we teach them. Everything else they learn from us has to take a backseat to this. If I started our school days without laying the foundation with time with Him and growing their knowledge and intimacy with Him, I would be showing them otherwise.
We did tangible things this past week, as you can see in the pictures, to remind us we need to write it on our doorposts, wear it on our foreheads, and talk about Him ALL THE TIME.
What are some ways that you guys are doing this? I love to hear how different families are teaching their kids...share!

Titus 2 kids

Titus 2 tells us that older men should teach the younger men, and older women should teach the younger women. We have taken that to heart in our church and in our lives. We have an intergenerational adult set-up, meaning past the youth group, we don't separate into college, young marrieds, older marrieds, singles, marrieds with big kids, marrieds with bigger kids, mid-life crisis group, drawing social security group, etc. (These are probably not the names above the Sunday School rooms, but you know what I'm talking about!) We have small groups, and we mix together, intertwining our lives, so that mentoring and being mentored happens more naturally. I have seen great fruit come from this!
Well, I started wondering, why don't we do that more with our kids? I mean, especially since kids are separated into very narrow age groups in schools, we think that their friends need to be very close in age to them. While there's nothing wrong with having friends in your stage of life or your age group, there's also great wisdom to be gained from older wiser friends as well!
I have to tell you, the Feldman kids (Megan and Tyler in pictures above) are the older, wiser friends for my kids. These kids rock my socks off! They love the Lord passionately. They have been well-trained in the Word, early in the morning before school, and in their everyday moments of life. It has taken root in their hearts. (I take notes when I talk to Moms like Shannan.) I have heard their prayers, and there is spiritual maturity there that I long to see in my kids at that age!
So I am taking every open opportunity to kidnap the Feldman kids and have them around my kids. My kids ADORE THEM!!! They look up to them...they hear them pray...they listen to their instruction...and they play and goof off together as well. We've had them both over to spend the night recently, and these are pictures of them in the morning, reading to my kids. In the picture of the boys, I told them to go do their Bible Study time together (something they both do daily at home) and Tyler is reading the Bible Story to Jax. What could be sweeter than this? And we all know that teaching our faith to others strengthens our walk with the Lord. So shouldn't our kids, if they are walking with the Lord, be modeling and assisting younger kids? All of our kids are now doing ministry together as well since the Feldmans have started going to the nursing home with us. They love old people too!!! And they want to be a blessing and light there with us! Love these people!
Why do we think our kids only want to be around kids just as young and foolish as they are? They long for and benefit from mentorship as much as we do!
Praise God for these older, and more spiritually mature kids!!! They're not perfect, so their Mama would say (because nobody's kids are) but their hearts and eyes are fixed on Jesus. That's all I want for my kids! These kids are told to "be a blessing" when they come to my house, and they seriously are! Last Sunday Rusty took all four of our kids plus Megan to HEB for our weekly shopping trip. (I know, is he crazy, or what?) Megan got a big kick out of this adventurous shopping trip! Rusty told me he wants to rent Megan out every time he takes the kids shopping.
I want my kids to be that kind of blessing in return to someone else! Thanks Feldmans!

Jax cracks me up!

This kid is hilarious.
He memorizes everything he hears. (Scary, I know!)
So he uses movie lines in his everyday vocab.
Today I was in my room, and he busted open the door and said to me
"Mom, you're so cute I could dunk you in my coffee!"
(Except it sounds like "you're so coot I could dump you in my coffee.")
What would I do without those moments?
I can tell you. I'd go insane. These moments of pure comic relief provided by my little people keeps me going! I love it!

Happy Birthday T-Bear!

Treston Jeremiah Bacak is 2 today! Man, this kid is cute!
My favorite things about Treston...his cookie monster impersonation, his "angry eyes" (ask him to do it for you! It's hilarious!), his laugh, his total adoration of trucks and how he waves at the drivers when they go by, his hair, his squatty little football body, his hugs, and a thousand other things.

Rusty says "I love the fact that he can run a 4.0 forty, and put his head down at the end of it and knock you down on your bottom...and smile the whole way."

Emma says "He's so cute, and he just makes me laugh! And his angry eyes."

Jax says "He smiles all the time and he plays with me."

Justus says...nothing. But I could tell you it would that he has a partner in his endless pursuit of mischief. They're quite a team in that respect!

Happy Birthday Treston! You are so loved!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Rock Star Preachers

I don't know how you qualify a "rock star preacher", but the Houston Chronicle has made a list of 10 of them, and not surprisingly, my brother's in the The Chronicle again.

(This is sort of a monthly occurrence though. They love him at the Chronicle.)

Most of you know my rock star bro, Robbie, but I have two other rock star brothers.

Chris and Brian.

(Brian, you're a rock star too.)

Check out this link. You'll recognize some of the others on the list. Pretty interesting.

Chris is on the 9th page. (click the 9th box below the picture.)

Birthmoms: What NOT to ask?

Every child that has been adopted has a story.

It starts with his birthparents. (It actually starts with God's perfect plan for their lives since before time began, but you know what I mean!)

Birthparents are a very real, personal part of who my boys are.

We love them and pray for them daily. We keep in touch with them, and have relationships with them. They will always be a part of our lives.

If you walk into our house, you will see a picture of Justus and Kathleen framed on our bar along with our other family photos. It's funny, because lately when new people come over, Justus goes straight for that picture and shows it to people. He knows she is super important. He never forgets her. He prays for her. He loves her. We await our visit with her on his birthday each year with anticipation.

Kathleen placed Justus with us when he was born, and we've been building this kind of relationship with her ever since.

Treston's story is a little different because we fostered him first, and are now slowly trying to build a relationship with his birthparents.

Here's what I want you all to know...

We love sharing the joys of open adoption with everyone! It's a blessing to us, and we want everyone to know what a joy it is to love birthparents and we feel this is the most biblical and beneficial way to do adoption. I LOVE to talk about adoption!

But when people ask about our birthmoms and want to know "their story" I am always caught off guard.

When you ask "Why did she give him up for adoption?"

I KNOW that you haven't thought through this the way we have. I KNOW that you mean absolutely no harm in the question.

But to this day, I still don't know how to answer this well. If you've asked me this, please know, I'm NOT offended. But I probably did stammer around for a while.

Someone asked me this the other day about the Hendricks' birthmom, (very well-meaning) and I found it easier for some reason to just let them know this is private to them.

It's our children's story to tell, not ours.

New Life does an amazing job of training us in right thinking about adoption, and how to foresee the consequences of what we say and tell now for the future.

When we spill all the details of their story, it can be hurtful to them. They may feel exposed, embarrassed, different.

Every birthmom's story and reasons for making an adoption plan is different. Some are simple. They are textbook, classic Juno type stories.

But most are more complicated than that. Most are messier than that. A lot of them are so hurt and broken inside for various reasons, they know they aren't capable of being the Mom (and sometimes Dad) that they want for their child.

It's not fair for me to spill all the details and hurts that led my child's birthmom to that point in her life.

I don't know how my boys are going to feel about all of it. But I know it's not fair to share it with every person we know in order to satisfy their curiosity.

So here's what you can ask! Ask their names, and how you might pray for them.

I think I can speak for other adoptive Moms I know (Heather and Shannan specifically) that would LOVE for you to pray for our birthmoms! Some of them are lost, and we are desperately praying for their salvation.

Our hearts break for them, and we love them!

So birthmoms are NOT a taboo subject! We talk freely about them daily in our house. We share pictures and stories of our relationships with them. I love to show how Justus looks just like Kathleen, and has some of her traits. I love the way he loves her. I love that she loves all of us. We just keep their private stories, private.

I hope I've communicated this well. Feel free to ask questions about this.

Other adoptive Moms may have totally different thoughts and opinions on this.

Most of this comes straight from the wisdom of the ladies of New Life, our agency, who have been doing this for more than 20 years and have grown children who are adopted.

My Mom is the first to share that she shared too much of my sister's story initially as our church prayed for my sister's adoption, and felt like they payed the consequences for that later.

It's not that we don't trust you with the information, it's really a respect issue to our birthparents and our children.

Thoughts, anyone? Just a little adoption education from the Bacaks. We are open for questions.

Joy and Grief

This is Hudson Isaiah Hendrick. He will come home today. My dear friends, the Hendricks, are adopting for the first time, Hendrick boy #4, and God is bringing them home today! I love this little guy so much already! I need to see more than this one picture!!!

I couldn't be more excited! God has done a beautiful thing, and brought them through one of the most sanctifying experiences of our lives, ADOPTION.

The joy of bringing this baby home will fill our lives and church for some time. There will be much rejoicing. There will be signs, balloons, showers, brand-new genius baby gadgets that have been magically invented since her last baby, birth announcements, proud, show-him-off moments in the sling at church, walking and bouncing, sleeping and snuggling, and as I set up their baby stuff in their house last night, those teeny-tiny newborn diapers just got to me!

Hudson has been pursued, as God pursues us, and brought into the family God always knew He would be in, just as their other children. Let the celebration begin!

However, when you adopt a baby and love him this much, you also fall deeply in love with the woman whose womb he slept peacefully in. You love his birthmom for giving you the hands-down best earthly gift you will ever receive. You love her for her selfless act, that I, even being a believer, think I am still to selfish to make. You love her for all her unique qualities that you will see mirrored in your child.

And there is grief for her today.

Adoption, particularly semi-open adoption as New Life does it (that I so strongly believe in, obviously) is a strange thing. You feel joy, and you feel grief for her at the same time. It's hard to know how to sort through that, where to put all those emotions.

Heather's blog has been eerily quiet this past week, when it normally spills out well-written words faster than I can read them. It may even take her some time to sift through all that's going on inside her and write. It's overwhelming.

Not only do we have two children we have adopted through New Life, and two birthmoms to love, but we have also experienced this from the other side when we housed birthmoms and became what they call a "Shepherding Home" for women who needed a place to stay and give birth. I wrote this article for the New Life newsletter about my life-changing experience from the "other side" a couple of years ago. Read this excerpt from it, and please, please, please pray for Hudson's birthmom and family today, as they desperately miss Hudson and grieve the loss.

Read about our experience with Robin, a birth mom we fell in love with.

*For those of you who don't know about New Life adoption, Hudson will always have contact with his birth family, and they will receive tons of pictures, letters, and will even visit soon. New Life does NOT let you forget your birthmom, or stop loving her for a moment!

The “Other Side”
I am Cindy Seay’s daughter. Her life work of ministering to pregnant women and placing babies for adoption in loving, Christian homes, has permeated my whole family‘s life. After my husband, Rusty, and I had two biological children, we heard a clear call from the Lord to grow our family again through adoption. Working with my Mom in the adoption of our sweet baby boy, Justus, over a year ago was amazing! Getting to see firsthand what New Life means to pregnant women, their families, and to adoptive families touched Rusty and I so much. Rusty, who is a medical doctor, became the medical director for New Life. We wonder how anyone who has experienced the miracle of adoption could remove themselves from this ministry? God’s hand is truly in it.
When my Mom mentioned she was unsuccessfully looking for a Shepherding Home for a pregnant woman, the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear “Why not you?” I had to answer that question, why not me? We have plenty to share, and the scriptures are clear, what we’ve done for those in need, we have done, or NOT done for Christ himself. Rusty and I took a few hours to pray about it. You see, this woman had just been released the day before from the State Jail. This seems like quite a risk to take with three small children in the house. But despite the risk, we felt like God was saying “This is your chance to live your faith, not just talk about it.” So we told my Mom that day that we would take her in. I am so glad we were listening to Him that day! What a life-changing experience this has been for my family! Robin came to live with us almost two months ago, and she has forever changed the lens through which I see life. I have experienced adoption from the “other side”, and every adoptive family should! Robin has become like a member of our family. She has been delivered from her past mistakes by accepting Christ as her Savior. I was able to pray with her for salvation, and spend time in the Word with her almost everyday. I have the privelege of watching her grow in her faith and knowledge of Christ week by week. As a stay-home-Mom, it is ideal. I can’t get out to do many types of ministry outside of the home, but she came to me, where I live in the day-to-day, and by walking together, I am able to minister to her and serve her. I have seen everything through her eyes now, and it has changed me. I was in the birthing room with her, holding her hand, when her beautiful boy Jacob was born. It was a bittersweet moment. What a precious moment, when we lay eyes on the little one who’s been in the warm, hiding place of the womb. But our joy was with quiet tears, knowing that we would only have him for two short days before he joined his sweet family. I empathetically, felt the love and agony of a birth mom in the moment Jacob was born. I also had the joy of announcing his birth to two very proud adoptive parents, and seeing them hold him for the first time with tears in their eyes. I remembered living it from their side, but I was on the “other side” this time, and my heart was full of joy, but heavy at the same time for Robin. I spent those last hours with her holding Jacob for the last time before the placement. I cried with Robin as she signed the papers, and as she handed him to his parents. The finality of it weighed on me, and the peace and sorrow that co-exist in that moment can hardly be described in words. Making an adoption plan for Jacob was undoubtedly the right thing for her to do. Before then, I could only imagine how hard it was. Now I know. I drove her home from the hospital without a baby. We sobbed all the way home. She recovered and needed all the aftercare a woman needs after delivering a baby...but without a baby. There's a constant reminder of what's missing. That’s the reality of adoption from the other side.
My love and respect for our birthmother has only intensified. Some of you may not be sure you want to experience the “other side”. It scares us to feel the emotions of the birthmother too much. I promise you I was scared. But I assure you, as adoptive parents, it will only enrich and deepen the spiritual experience of adoption for you and your family. What New Life has tried to teach us is that you cannot love your child, and not love his/ her birth mother. Having the opportunity to wholeheartedly love and serve Robin has been a gift to our family. She will be staying with us for two more months as she re-builds her life. It is our joy to be used by God to His purpose in her life, and we are humbled by this experience. We have so much to share, and to give. Why not us? Maybe He’s asking you, Why not you?

"I pray for them every time I poop."

Yes, that is my husband's direct quote. I shared this with Sally in an e-mail, and I'm sure it touched her.
To explain, I put our wonderful missionary friends, the Estes', picture on the wall facing our toilet. It didn't start out there. It used to be on our bathroom mirror, but I quit seeing it there. So I moved it to face the toilet. I sit down there several times a day. I forget boys only sit down to poop. Good thing my husband's very regular. TMI??)
I try to keep it visible on a daily basis so that I NEVER FORGET to pray for them. Why? Because, we are their Senders.

Rom 10:13-15
13 For "Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"

Jon and Sally were in our HOPE group. We heard their hearts, broken for the lost, and burdened for North Africa, where you could fit all the Christians in their large country in our one church building...probably in our fellowship hall...maybe in our house. Anyway, this young couple with a little boy (the same age as Treston) left everything and everyone behind for atleast a season of life in North Africa. They are learning what has to be the hardest language to learn, Arabic. Sally has been so good to share with me the joys, struggles, and culture shocks along the way, helping me to know how to pray for her. I have tried, and could definitely be doing an even better job, to let them know they are not forgotten.
We are all called to be missionaries. And all of us should play a part in international missions. I want to not only financially support mission work in places that are so dark and desperate for the Light of Jesus, but I want to encourage and help hold up those who are actually going!
There was a time when a missionary was completely disconnected from home, except by letters, if they made it.
Now, we live in a new time. We have SKYPE!!! Wow! We have e-mail, we have cell phones, we have texting!
Sally and I can talk face-to-face on Skype on our computers, and I get to pray for her, see her belly grow, (she's due in about 2 weeks for their second baby!) and love them.
I need to do that more! I need to send more packages! I need to do a better job of keeping them updated from home! I want to be the Sender that we're supposed to be.
So here's my encouragement in this...pray for your missionaries. The kids and I cover our missionary friends daily in prayer.
Make sure they know they are not forgotten.
Pray like crazy for their effectiveness in the Kingdom where they are.
See their fervor for their mission field, and be convicted for your own.
Pray for Jon and Sally, little Jude, and baby Brennan to come. They will be delivering with medical care not quite up to our standards, and language barriers are their biggest enemy in that. (They are learning Arabic, but people also speak French there. They are not learning French.)
Pray for their team, and their continued guidance on where God wants to use them.
Be a native missionary, and a Sender.