A Letter to My Future Daughter In Law

This is a blog I've had written for almost 2 weeks on paper, but with the crazziness of the end of school and the special plans surrounding Mother's Day and Gotcha Day...I'm only just getting this typed up. I'll have more to come next week about Mother's Day and Gotcha Day celebrations this year. Right now, it's all so close to my heart it's just hard to share.


Our family has had some pretty big birthday's this year, and they are all reminding me that before I can even blink my precious boy will be driving, then graduating from high school, and then college, and Marriage. OK, so I'm getting a head of myself, but he does turn 10 this October, and I know that my time with him is limited. So I thought I would share with you some of what goes on in my head when the headache doesn't allow me to sleep.


To My Future Daughter-in-Law,


This has been my favorite time of year with Mother’s Day and Gotcha Day so close together. I’ve been praying for you since Samuel came home from the hospital with us, and for your parents too!


My prayer has been and will continue to be that you are being raised in a home where God comes first, that you’re learning about God’s plan for marriage by watching your mama and daddy, and that you have a love for others and doing what’s right. We’re working hard to raise a Godly gentleman. A man who stands strong in his convictions, yet has a tender heart easily touched by the needs of others, along with the desire to serve God in all things.


He’s a perfectionist and stubborn (just like his daddy). Those are traits that will make you proud at times and crazy at others. Lord willing, you will have a husband who will open your doors, hold your hand, and above all lead your family to heaven.


At the time of this writing, your future husband is an only child. As a family, we have longed to have it grow and you just may be the answer to that prayer. I know there is no one like mama, but I hope to call you daughter. You see, I’ve been praying for me too. It’s my prayer, you’ll look forward to seeing me, that God will give me the words to encourage and not to tear down. I hope that when something’s not going like you think it should that you’ll tell me so I can get out of the way, or better yet put me to work to help like I should. I won’t want to step into places not wanted, but I want to help and be busy as much as I can.


I pray that you’ll accept a piece of my heart and hope that you’ll be able to share your’s with me too. I’m praying that God blesses you with children and that you’ll give me the opportunity to be grandmamma too. To help shape and mold more precious souls will be better than treasure untold.


I’m praying that as you approach the teen years that you’ll guard your soul from all sexual sin. I know that it’s hard, but with God’s help I know you can do it! We’ll be encouraging that same behavior from your future husband as well.


Much love to the future daughter of my heart,
Mama Moore


Pro 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the LORD.

I'm Painting Souls Today

I’m Painting Souls Today

Help me hold the paint brush Lord
I’m painting souls today.
The snuggles of this precious babe
Are the soft sweet colors that make the light shine
On this precious piece of art that you've made mine.

Help me choose the colors Lord
To show this toddler of mine
That while he wants to paint in reds and dominate this time,
Give me words that form bold straight lines,
So he can know what I expect.

Help me choose the tools Lord
That scrape away the stains.
Father guide me as I choose which traits,
To help make the way more clear,
This little boy is changing fast and needs me as a guide.

Help me choose the colors Lord
To paint this gangly youth.
Once again he wants to paint in reds as he stubbornly holds the line.
Guide me with sweet words of wisdom
That a sunset we can paint.

Help me hold the paint brush Lord
I’m painting souls today.
The wee babe I painted in gentle hues has almost become a man.
Father guide my hand as I paint the lines,
May they be bold and straight and softened by your love.

Father my part is almost through,
The painting of this precious soul will soon be his to do.
Help the foundation colors and the lines I’ve helped to form,
Become the portrait you desire to see as he grows up and leaves.
Father may he reflect the light of all your love and glory.

I know that God is the creator of souls and the choices that we make determine who we reflect. Do we show Christ to the world or do we show it’s evil? As Mamas, God has given us the task to train and raise our children.
Pro 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Eph 6:4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
God is the Master Painter…the Master Designer and we need to open our hearts and engage our children so that they may be open to the plans of the Master Designer.
Isa. 64:8 But now, O LORD, You [are] our Father; We [are] the clay, and You our potter; And all we [are] the work of Your hand.
Rom 9:20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed [it], "Why have you made me like this?" :21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make

Father, please be with us as mamas and help us to say and do those things that will bring our children to you.
Samantha Moore

What does God look like?

I've been wanting to sit down and write for so long and I've had many things I've wanted to share, but once again the headache has been my enemy. So the following is something that I've been working on for a while and I'm finally ready to share it. Someday, I hope to put it in book form and at least read it to my grandbabies. I've been house bound for most of the winter and I'm praying that God will take this mean ol' thing away, but if it must be endured I pray it will at least let me attend worship services, Lads to Leaders convention, and some baseball games. We covet your prayers! Our family lives with the headache and we each have things we don't enjoy because of it. I love hearing my sweet boy pray for it to go away every night, and we've learned many lessons from it. But we'd love a "YES" here and now instead of later. God sees the big picture and holds the blueprints for our home, so we will wait in faith for his answer. Now that I've done my usual ramble here's the reason I'm posting tonight.

What Does God Look Like?

“Mama, what does God look like?“ Asked the sweetest pair of big brown eyes.
Well I’d have to say He looks like love.
But Mama I can’t see love, so I can’t see God.
“Hmm, my sweet boy, let’s sit and think…Do I love you?
Oh, silly Mama, of course you do!
Ok, precious you know I love you, but just how do you see that love?

When I’ve been running and I trip and fall, your sugars fix it all. You clean it all up, and put on the bandaid, and then you hug me and say it’ll be okay.

Very good, my little man, are there other ways to know I love you?
You fix me my food and bring home my favorite snacks.

You make sure to clear the monsters from under the bed and out of the closet after prayers are said.
I think you’ve got the idea now… love and God are not people to “see”, but I know they are just as real as you and me.

God’s love is so great that it covers us up…just like when you have a nightmare and snuggle in with us. He makes sure we’re safe and holds us close to his heart. He kisses away all the tears and our fears.

His love for us is so very special because He shared His son to bear all our troubles. He sent Jesus so that one special day, we can go live with Him in His mansion in heaven.

God’s love is so great there’s nothing you can ever do to separate yourself from the one who made you. If you ever think you’ve done something to cause Him to leave, just tell Him your sorry and He’ll forgive you, just like Mama and Daddy do.

Mama, just how big is God’s love…does He have enough to share with us all? My sweet boy his love is wide and so tall, so long and so deep it will never run out. His love is like the ocean when we go to the beach…it seems to go on and on without any end.

God’s love is so great that He wants you to be safe forever and always, so He sent His son Jesus to live here on earth. To teach us to love and to serve others and Him.

But Mama, I was listening to what the preacher said today…He said they killed Jesus and He was raised again. He lives in Heaven with God once more.

Those sweet little eyes were overflowing with tears, you see he’d been listening even closer still. Mama, he cried, I want to be safe…I want to go to heaven and I want to be His!

Now tears are pouring down a pair of faces, and he buries his face in my neck, and I promise him that he is safe that little children have nothing to worry about. God’s love surrounds you and He won’t go away.

But Mama, I love Him and I’ve been telling my friends, can’t I get baptized just like you! Sweet boy, when you can tell me His plan for you and what you must do, to tell me what sins you need forgiven too…I promise you that special day, your daddy will take your hand in his and ask you the question that will change your life. Then on that day, you’ll see God’s love as you never seen it before…and you’ll want to share Him now even more.

But the very best part of God’s love is knowing from that moment on you’re not ever alone, and your best friend Jesus is always going to be there to help you through the hardest of times here. He’ll keep your soul safe, if you’ll let him lead…like walking in daddy’s footprints at the beach.

Our First Christmas

When I think back to some of my most favorite Christmases as a teenager and a young new wife, it was those Christmases that the money was tight that were the most special. I guess when we look back at our very first Christmas, money always seemed to be in such short supply, but we were so incredibly rich in love.

We decided we were going to have a tree (even if there were no gifts to put under it). This was the year, we lived in the green house on Green Street in Wetumpka. One of the things we had seen advertised was the Wadsworth Christmas Tree Farm (it’s still in operation by the way). My favorite thing about this Farm is you get to walk around, pick out your tree, and cut it down. We went out to get our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving and enjoyed making a day of it. My sweetheart actually had a 4 day weekend, and decided that we needed the time together instead of him doing some side work. (Love his heart, those first 4 years of our marriage while I was in school, it seemed all he did was work just so we could keep a float.) So, we walked and walked until we found a tree that would be in our price range and was just right. We had a wonderful day and I held the tree while Rich cut her down.

I enjoyed watching him tote the tree back up to the front of the farm where they got it ready for us to take home. I loved watching them shake all the extra pine needles out and then slipping it through a “thing-a-ma-jig” that put the tree in a net and made the drive home easier with the tree strapped to the top of the car. We got her home and in the tree stand (which by the way we didn’t even think about needing until we got to the Tree Farm) and realized that we had spent all our Christmas money on just the tree and the stand. For the first few days we just enjoyed seeing the tree up and the wonderful smell that permeated the house.

Our family had decided not to exchange gifts that year, but to exchange homemade Christmas cards. After exams and selling my books back, I had the money to buy construction paper, markers, glue, envelopes, and stamps. Those homemade cards got put in the mail and were sent to Grandmamma Lyle’s house in time for Christmas. I also had enough paper, ect. To make Christmas “ornaments” for the tree. We had teddy bears in pairs holding hands all over the tree. We’ve talked about it and we can’t remember for sure if we actually had lights on the tree or not. We’re pretty sure we didn’t but there were lights in our heart.

When Rich got his Christmas bonus, we went out and spent more money on groceries than we had in a long time and then realized we had a little money left for the ornament we wanted that had “First Christmas” engraved on it. We went to the mall and looked around and finally found an ornament in our price range with a little money left over. We had just about $3.00 left to spend, so we made a trip to the Dollar Store with the agreement that we would take turns shopping for each other and we’d have a surprise under the tree. When you have just a little more than a $1 to spend, you have to get creative. So we took our treasures home and wrapped them and put them under the tree. It always makes me smile, we I think about those gifts…Rich got me some tissues in a pretty little box to put in my purse, and I got him a ribbon that said #1 Husband. The best gift was that my sweetheart wore that ribbon to church on Sunday and my tissues were in my purse. It wasn’t about the stuff, it was about the LOVE.

Every year we put that first store bought ornament on the tree and we put the teddies on branches of the tree. Rhey’ve gotten a little ragged, but we’ve laminated them and Lord willing my grandbabies will still see the teddies on Grandmama’s tree. I’m hoping they teach the lesson of just how important LOVE is and not all the stuff. My little man listened as I told him the teddies’ story this year and his smile warmed my heart. We don’t have them on the tree this year, but they’re standing guard over the Christmas cards.

So, Merry Christmas, sweet friends and may your holidays be filled with friends and family and joy and love. May you drink from the saucer because your cup is full!

A Tender Heart

I’m so thankful for the gift God gave me in my sweet boy! Since the last time I updated my blog my baby has become my brother in Christ. His sweet heart broke in the telling us of his need for baptism, and the hour long discussion he had with daddy to insure that he knew the why and need for baptism touched me more deeply than just about anything since we brought him home. One of my sweet red heads was also baptized that day, so my heart was so full of joy that at first there were no words. (I know sweet friends that that is hard to believe.) We were blessed with both sets of grands and Aunt Nancy getting to come in for his rebirth. I love knowing that I’m part of a family that will make an hour and a half drive one way to see my sweet boy start a new part of his life. I’m thankful that both sets of Grand’s now strive to walk daily with the Father and that my boy has their example. I’m also very thankful for the precious men (and their wives) who care for our souls at church and that they and a few other precious folks took their Friday night and came to witness his rebirth and celebrate with us.

I am one very blessed lady! Over and over again, God shows me His grace and mercy through the tender heart of my son. He and I have ridden an emotional roller coaster today, and it’s a ride I’m thankful to have ridden with him. One of the first things, I saw this morning when checking my FB page was a picture of a sweet baby boy with the caption “Forever Family”. Since this is a topic so dear to my heart, I took the time to follow the link. My boy came up behind me and saw the picture and asked who the baby was (we have many friends with brand new little ones right now). I told him I didn’t know who this baby was but that he needed a forever family. I took the time to point out (with tears in my eyes) that this sweet baby is missing one arm and one foot with some other possible physical problems. The adoption agency has no one who is already on their list ready to adopt a child with his special needs. My sweet boy said, “Mama, I know where he has a forever family! I’ll help take care of him and he can sleep in my bed.” My Mama’s heart was so full with his immediate acceptance and desire to care and love for this baby. I had to make myself have the very serious talk that IF (God were to choose us for his forever family) that this new baby would need lots of help and love and very possibly in the future if mama and daddy weren’t able to take care of this little one as an adult, my sweet boy would be the caretaker. I know that this is a lot to talk with a 9 year old about, but he quickly said I’ll take care of him if he’s my brother. So, I’ve e-mailed the agency and we’ll wait to hear something. It’s possible that he may already have a home.

After lunch, my sweet boy said, “ I could have a brother!” , as he was grinning ear to ear. I quickly told him we have to be careful, to not get excited, we just may not be the answer for this sweet wee one. My boy’s precious heart broke. He cried and cried and climbed into my lap and cried some more. I’m so thankful for the gift of the Holy Spirit that comes with salvation. I was able to tell my baby that when we don’t know just what to say the Holy Spirit says it for us. Even when we want something so much and don’t begin to know how to ask, the Holy Spirit takes what is in our hearts and presents it to the Father. We took this time to remember the three answers that God gives us: Yes, No, and Wait. We talked about the times we’ve gotten a yes, a no, and a wait and have seen the results of God’s answers in our lives.

I thought for a moment that we were through the worst and could get back to school, but he began to cry again. His heart still breaking for the wanting of a brother. It’s so hard for me to talk about more children because I LONG for more but know that God has the perfect plan. So, I told him one of my favorite poems, “Footprints In The Sand”. We talked of how God is not some far away being, but He’s with us all the time, and that through the Holy Spirit we receive strength and comfort. What comfort there is in knowing that during the hard times, the Father carries us! His sweet heart and eyes filled with tears yet again, and my sweet boy still sprawled on my lap (he is getting almost as tall as I am) snuggled his sweet head into my neck, and we allowed our hearts to pray in our silence. I know we were praying for the baby and for the new treatment plan for the headache that might make it possible for us to adopt again, and I prayed for God to help us with whatever His decision is for our lives.

My sweet boy has taught me how to love and open my heart in ways I didn’t know I could! I’m so thankful he is mine to love and have the privilege of watching him grow. So once again my sweet friends, I’m drinking from the saucer because my cup overflows!!

Mat 19:14 But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven."
Jam 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

A Time of Storing Memories

As the days fly by and the seasons change, we are given the privilege of watching our babies grow. To be able to see all the little changes from day to day and the big changes that seem to all most happen overnight. My baby will be nine in one month and I’m so thankful for how God has worked our family, so that, even when we thought our world was crumbling He was providing us the opportunities to raise our baby the way we want to.
I recently came across Luke chapter 2 again. I know I’ve read this chapter many times over but something jumped out at me a little differently this time. The chapter deals with the Christ's birth and the two times we are allowed to see Jesus taken to the temple to worship. At the time of his circumcision and as a pre-teen who scared his mama and daddy and stayed in Jerusalem listening and talking to the teachers. I guess I have always gotten caught up in the end of the chapter, but this time it was the middle that caught my attention.
God introduces us to two very faithful, hardworking Jews: Simeon and Anna. They were both well advanced in age and were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.
Beginning in Luke 2:25, we get the background that Simeon had been waiting for Christ to come and had been promised that he would see Him. When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple the Holy Spirit had Simeon there and waiting.
Luke 2:27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, :28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said :29 "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; :30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation :31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, :32 A light to [bring] revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.":33 And Joseph and His mother [fn] marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.
I love the part where we’re told that His parents marveled at the things that were being spoken. It seems as new parents, we marvel at every little detail and we store those memories up. Here was God saying, this is My son and He will do wonderful things. As mamas, we love to hear sweet precious words spoken to our children, but sometimes there are moments that just stand out in the haze of sleepless nights and dirty diapers. For Joseph and Mary this was one of those times. In Luke 2:34-35, Simeon goes on to tell Mary that her baby is destined to be the rise and fall of many in Israel and that a sword will pierce her soul, so that the hearts of many may be revealed. I think about this and know that this had to be one of those moments that she hid away in her heart.
Then God introduces us to a woman of great faith, she was widowed early and spent the rest of her life serving in the temple and was known to be a prophetess, and she comes in as Simeon is blessing Jesus and she gives God praise for allowing her to see the Messiah. And speaks of Him to all who are interested in redemption. It is after all of this takes place that Joseph and Mary go home and spend 12 years raising Jesus.
Her mama’s heart must have been full on that trip home, recounting the things that were said that day and all that had led up to His birth. She knew she was raising God’s son and that he had a job to do. But she also dealt with him as a toddler, a little boy, and what seems to be a very precocious preteen. Luke 2:40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, [fn] filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
Luke 2:41-52, gives us the account of the family traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, and how Jesus stays behind to listen and question the teachers in the temple. Can you imagine just how scared His mama and daddy had to be. (I know when mine just barely gets out of eye shot I go nuts). I know I wouldn’t have been sure which I would have wanted to do first: hug and kiss Him, or beat Him for worrying me. When they ask him what he thought he was doing scaring them this way, he answered Luke 2:49 And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" We’re told in the next verse that they didn’t understand his statement. I can only imagine that as we get caught up in the day to day routine of parenting that His beginning could have felt surreal enough for them to not understand that He was talking about His Father’s business, not his daddy’s. I can get that and I think that it would be very easy to do. I mean do we get so busy with school, ball, Scouts, play dates, clean rooms, and the daily grind that we forget to show our babies how to be about the Father’s business.
Luke 2:51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart.
This is one of my favorite verses. She kept all these things in her heart. Can you only imagine that as he left carpentry and began His ministry that she didn’t look back on the things that Simeon and Anna said the first time they took Him to the temple. As she watched Him suffer and die on the cross, don’t you think that the words of Simeon came back to her “ a sword shall pierce your soul”. I can’t begin to imagine the torture in her soul as she watched her Baby die for a crowd shouting for His death, and knowing that He was their salvation. I would have wanted to scratch and tear the eyes out of those who spoke so cruelly as He suffered. Maybe, it was the store house of memories that helped her through it. Surely, His placing her in John’s care would have offered some comfort, but I would have wanted to yell and scream, weep and wail at the injustice of it all. Yet, she played the part God gave her. She, as a virgin, delivered the Messiah to a world in desperate need of Him, and just as the prophets spoke of His birth, they also foretold his death.
Let’s take the time to store up memories in our hearts as we watch our babies grow. Let’s feed them the word of God and help them to drink the water of service, and let’s prepare them for a world that will wound them and so in turn wound us. Let’s listen to their sweet voices as they share their dreams with us. Let’s pray and hold fast to the knowledge that with Christ’s help they WILL overcome the trials and tribulations of this world. Let’s train them to live each day as if it were there last and each moment a gift so precious that it’s a sin to waste them. May we train our babies to look for the good in others and to stand firm in the faith. I know if we do our jobs and our babies do theirs then this life is just an intermission in eternity and whether we are granted the opportunity to watch them grow old and have children of their own, or they leave this world before us…We CAN KNOW that we WILL spend eternity with them. So store up those memories, the ones others give us to hold onto about our babies, and the words they speak to us. We never know when those things that we hide away in our hearts will be what sees us through this life to the next.
May God bless us as we raise our babies and may He help us see clearly the things we need to do and say.

The Last Battle

From The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis: And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Greatest Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.
I have loved reading the Chronicles of Narnia series with my boy this year. It's been a wonderful journey and I'm sorry to see it come to an end. It has spurred many wonderful discussions on how Aslan is so much like Christ, and the characters in the book so like many of our Bible heroes. He put into beautiful language some of the hardest things for us to grasp as adults. He made it possible to share the pain of the cross and the joy of the resurrection when Aslan took on the sins of Edmund. He taught us the importance of truth and humility in Eustace. He showed us the struggle one has within to do right and to truly repent in the sweet, pure heart of Lucy. He showed us that truth is always worth fighting for and how easily we can get caught up in the lies of this world. He showed us the beauty of forgiveness every time one of the characters disappointed Aslan and the mercy and love he showered on then when they turned back to him. He showed us the ugliness of sin in the White Witch and Tash. And finally in this last book, he showed us the joy that will come when our life here is over and we have the chance to enter Heaven. His words brought tears to my eyes and Samuel's. My little man doesn't quit understand that my tears were of joy and not at the loss of our friends at the end of the series. My tears of joy were shed because Mr. Lewis knew just the way to put into words what heaven will be like so that my "upper elementary school child" could picture what the apostle John wrote in Revelations. Heaven will be a place with no pain or tears, no worry or fears, and no hunger or thirst. It will be a place without time, but filled with all the good and precious "things" of this world.
If you haven’t ever read the Chronicles of Narnia, I highly recommend you do it. Read it as a family. My little man and I have enjoyed our time snuggled up on the couch together. He’s read the voices of some of his favorite characters, and I’ve had the opportunity to emphasize how to read with feeling and how to use punctuation for dramatic ques. It opens the door to wonderful discussions, and has allowed me to see just how close he may be to obeying the gospel. I loved how Aslan called the characters, Beloved and Dear One. Mr. Lewis’s ability to show the fear that comes with disobedience, and the strength and love that comes with repentance. There are so many other wonderful lessons that can be drawn from this series, and I would definitely start off by reading The Magician’s Nephew first, after all that is how the author wanted it to be done, even though it was the last book he wrote in the series. It makes The Last Battle even more meaningful. I hope you choose to snuggle up with your little one(s) and share the adventures into Narnia together, and if you’re an adult who has never read the series, it’s definitely worth your time. May God bless you richly and may we dream of heaven and the joy that awaits us there!