Spirit of Generosity

I said in the previous post, I would tell more of the quilt story.  God’s involvement didn’t end when the quilt was finished.

There were some special ladies I wanted to see the quilt.  I called one of them and invited myself over and asked if I could invite another lady over too.  SHE WAS ALREADY THERE.  I kept them in suspense until I arrived.

We were standing/sitting around the living room looking at the quilt.  I was explaining to them about each square and the design and the symmetry of the whole thing.  I told how God put me and the seamstress together and His hand was on it the whole time.  It was good to talk about.  Then we realized……………each woman in the room had lost a son.  There were four of us together admiring this handiwork, not just the quilt, but the orchestration of that moment.  God is generous with His love.

I want to share some comments that were made on Facebook.

This was written to me.

Rejoice with those who rejoice [sharing others' joy], and weep with those who weep [sharing others' grief]. Romans 12:15

How awesome to rejoice with you yesterday, friend. How amazing it was that you showed the quilt to us yesterday and all four women present have sons who have died. AND...we all experienced God's grace to rejoice to...gether.

Thank you for sharing the joy and the journey with us!

P.S. Jenny, I've never met you, but I wanted you to know your creative gift from God ministered to all of us as we marveled at Peyton's quilt.

This was Jenny’s (the seamstress) comment to the one above.

Wow, that's all I can say. I never dreamed that God would use this quilt in such a way. Our God is an Awesome God alright!

I had named the photo album on Facebook – PDJ Memory Quilt – stitched with love by Jenny. This is Jenny’s comment on the album.

Becky, It was MOST DEFINITELY made with love, every single stitch! I can't explain what an honor it was that you asked me to do this. (tears are flowing :) Whether you realize it or not, God was using you the whole time I was working on this, inspiring me by your walk, your strength, and your love for Him. I just thought you should know that. God Bless you and Tom and thank you again!

She is thanking me?!?!?  That is a generous spirit.

Every time we have shown the quilt, people have thanked us for showing it to them.  That is generosity.  It humbles me.  I am grateful they want to see it and am happy to share it with them.

I love how God uses us all to be a blessing to one another.  That is what the Body of Christ should be about, supporting, loving and using our gifts to build up one another.

I hope sharing this experience has encouraged you today.  Use your God given gifts generously. 

Thanks for reading :)

p.s. for those who’ve asked – I plan on keeping the quilt on the quilt rack in the living room so I can grab it and cover up whenever I need to ;)

The Quilt

I’m sure I’ve mentioned I was having something special made.  It turned out better than I could have imagined.  I knew this would be the case because God was ALL OVER IT!!!!  When I had the idea for the quilt, I asked God to send me the right person for the job.  After all, I didn’t want to hand over Peyton’s things to just anyone. 

The right person was Jenny.  She is a sweetheart and very talented and very tenacious and very dedicated and very…  You get the picture, she is special.  I knew she was the woman for the task at hand.  I had no doubts when I handed over Peyton’s clothes to her that they were in capable hands, anointed hands, divinely appointed hands.

She spent 18 months of her life putting this memory quilt together.  If you check out her blog, you will see she squeezes every moment out of every day.  She would tell me from time to time she was sorry it was taking so long.  I had no fear, no anxiety.  I had perfect peace that it would be finished when it was supposed to be finished.  So here it is. 

Sorry Facebook friends, this is a rerun for you, but I had to share on my blog too :)

This is the completed quilt.  It is approximately 5 x 5.

The center square is from a t-shirt of Tom’s dad’s.  He was notorious for keeping every fish he caught, no matter its size.:) Peyton wore it to sleep in after his PaPa went to Heaven. (15 yrs ago) 

 

Some of Peyton’s favorite shirts.  I love the way she did the collars on each one.

 

His jeans with boxers hidden underneath.  What a personal touch.

 

The quilt backing was a sheet from his bedding.  She incorporated the Browning symbol on the front too.

This piece may be the closest to my heart.  Peyton wore these Wranglers during the day of his accident to help a friend paint his house.  I believe those are Peyton’s fingerprints wiping paint onto his pants.  I remember telling him. “I can’t believe you wore those BRAND NEW Wranglers to paint in!”

You can imagine how special this quilt is to our family.  God is concerned with the details of our lives.  He wanted me to be blessed with this quilt. 

There are more stories of blessing connected to this divine gift.  I will share “the rest of the story” in another post.  I hope you have enjoyed looking at the pictures as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you.

Thanks for reading :)

Tourney Time

This weekend was the fourth annual, Peyton Jackson Memorial Baseball Tournament.  It is such an honor and we are very grateful.  It was very cold, but NO RAIN!!  Thank you Lord.  This Arkansas weather is crazy.  We had temps in the 80s last week then the weekend was cold.

The tournament director is a good friend of ours and he did a great job for the opening ceremony. 

He read Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Some of Peyton’s friends were there.  Burke threw the opening pitch and Adam caught it.  This was the first tournament they had been able to attend.  Every other year, they had been playing high school baseball out of town.  It was good to have them there.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

     

Thanks for reading :)

My Foundation

Tonight, I visited the church I used to attend.  It was our first church and it was where our spiritual foundation was laid. 

Neither Tom nor I were raised in church.  I received Christ as my Savior in high school, but didn’t grow in the Word or attend church.  There came a time in our life that this world wasn’t enough.  There had to be more to life than what we were living.

We attended this church and grew exponentially.  The Word of God was so good and we were hungry!!!  I know it is because of this foundation that we have been able not only to survive these past three years, but thrive.

Truths I focused on (and still focus on)

God is good and He loves us so much. 

I know who my enemy is and he is the ultimate loser. (God and His people win this thing!!)

I base my life on the Word of God, not my life experiences.  God’s Word supersedes any experience I may have.

What I focus on determines whether I win or lose the battle in my mind.

I am eternally grateful for the spiritual foundation laid in Tom and I during those early years.  I know those truths are why we are standing today.  God is the master craftsman and He continues to grow us up in Him.  We are More than Conquerors.

I would love to read about the history of your Christian walk, so leave a comment.  If you’re not in church growing in the Word, I encourage you to do so.  Lay a firm foundation so you are able to stand against the enemy.

Thanks for reading :)

 

The Accident of 2003

I started working for my present employer the first part of September in 2003.  At the end of my fourth week, while making a delivery to a client, I was involved in a car accident.

An elderly gentleman crossed over into my lane of traffic and hit me head on.  I saw him coming and hit my brakes, hard.  When I came to a stop, I looked down at my foot and thought it was too far to the left compared to the alignment of my knee.  Both bones in my lower right leg were broken.  

A woman I work with came to the hospital.  I couldn’t say anything to her, but I knew she was there and could hear her prayers.  When Tom & Peyton got there, Peyton was crying.  He was almost twelve years old and  he didn’t like seeing his mom like that.  

I was thinking about all of this today and missing that little twelve year old boy.

After the accident or before the accident?  That is how I used to remember when things happened.  A difficult time that I would never forget, helped me to keep things on a timeline.  It felt odd to me to do this, but the accident was a major moment in my life.  That car accident is no longer the “accident” that I ask myself about anymore.  Now the question is, “was it before Peyton went to Heaven or after?”

I’m looking for a good event to be my point of reference.  I don’t believe there is one big enough to overshadow the one I use now.  I miss this kid so much.

Thanks for reading :)

Cooking for the Freezer

I like to spend a Saturday or Sunday cooking things to put in the freezer.  It makes eating healthier more convenient and less clean-up at meal times. 

Pizza crust and sauce.  The crust is made with 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups white flour.  I make small individual crusts, bake them and put them in freezer bags. 

 

Look at all that whole wheat goodness :)

The pizza sauce has no sugar.

Other things I have made ahead and put in the freezer.

Meatloaf (freeze before you cook it, thaw before you bake)

Hummus – I love this stuff and it is a healthy snack.  Tom doesn’t enjoy it so I used to throw half of it away, now I make double batches and freeze it!!

I made a couple of batches of marinade for steak & chicken.  I then put the marinade and fresh meat into freezer bags.  When I took the meat out to thaw, the marinade was already in the bag!!  I didn’t have to gather all the ingredients for marinade and there was no mess :)

I’ve been paying attention to sodium content in the foods I buy.  Ever since the Daniel Fast last year, we eat a lot more canned beans.  I realized I could eliminate all the sodium by cooking dry beans.  I cooked a whole bag of black beans in a crock pot.  I used what I needed for the recipe I was making and then froze the rest. 

I know everyone is busy these days and I like to find the best tasting and most efficient way to prepare meals.

Please share something you do to make your cooking more enjoyable, easier and healthier.

Thanks for reading :)

This post was thrown together.  I needed to write something to get back in the groove of blogging.  Even so, I hope it was helpful to someone. :)

Surreal

I don’t usually share about things unless they are for sure going to happen or have already happened.  I’m making an exception. 

I received an email from a producer from ESPN a couple of weeks ago (I Googled him, he’s legit).  He wanted to speak to Tom & I about Peyton’s accident.  He’s doing preliminary work on a story about rodeo safety and regulations.  When I first read his email, I didn’t know what to feel.  It didn’t evoke any emotion one way or the other.  There was no blame to place on anything, so I never gave the equipment much thought.  I did have a nice conversation with him and he said we may be called again.  I told him that would be fine.

Today, we got a call from a woman from CBS news.  She wanted to talk about Peyton’s accident too.  Tom spoke to her.  I don’t think she is interested in rodeo safety.  I don’t know if you have heard about the bull rider in Florida.  A sixteen year old girl was bucked off a bull and it kicked her in the chest.  She died during surgery.  Our prayers go out to this family.  I believe this accident will be the focus of her story with Peyton added to the mix.  I emailed her some pics of Peyton and a little of what I thought.

"Bull riding is not to be taken casually.  Know your child.  We knew Peyton very well and understood the passion he had for this dangerous sport.  Peyton felt he HAD to ride bulls, kind of like breathing to him.  We love our son and miss him more than we can convey.  Do we wish things would have turned out differently?  Yes we do.  However, we would not have withheld our support from him under any circumstance."

I pray that something positive will come from these stories.  However, if you see something about it on the news and it’s not positive, don’t worry about us.  Tom and I are confident with the decisions we made raising our son.   We are at peace and will not be shaken.  God is good, all the time.

Thanks for reading :)