...with arms wide open...

"the babies", as Becky lovingly refers to them. (I love that...)

Scott and Nora

Our family...we aren't sure who the creepy guy with the cigar and long hair is but he kept getting into our pictures. eeek.

Good thing we had Karate Man to protect us...

And the Phantom of the Opera....

Masquerade girl...

Sheesh, there he is again...in all honesty, David always creatively comes up with some costumed character that has everyone laughing. This one, though, has been his creepiest because he played the part so well. Thankfully, he is nothing like this guy in "real life". note: he did NOT smoke this Swisher Sweet...

My God is so Big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do...

gotta love blue frosting...Molly surely does. Nora shows her without flinching....

the Bandy's hosted a Daddy/Daughter Dance last week. David was out of town for his Uncle Kent's memorial so Uncle Tom stepped in. What. A. Guy.

Molly does a mad twirl....

Then a dip...and I don't mean Molly. What fun!!

This pic is  for pure fun....I know these crazy bad things are happening for a reason. But it surely seems as if someone has it out for me and for us. Refiner's Fire is a painful thing sometimes.

 Good Sunday Morning!

I really do not know where to begin. You'd think the pix above would give me a good shoo-in...yeah, no. they are all completely random and most of them were taken by my loving brother, Tom. Thanks Tom...as usual, your pictures are da bomb. Expect to see our family portrait above on our Christmas card this year.

I'm really just at a total and complete loss. Dealing with fear is like dealing with a great big, gigantic, unruly beast. David and the kids went out for a late night Cow Tail run last night and discovered that the driver's side lock was punched out of the door. How we didn't notice or the cop that filed our incident report, I dunno...it's not that obvious and we use our remote to lock/unlock the van. As if taking our purses and identification wasn't ENOUGH. CREEEEEP!

One might start to think that God has it out for us, or someone does. That God is allowing these things to happen to us. I believe that the latter is true. What is He trying to teach us? Complete and total reliance on Him. That this world is NOT my home, I'm just passing thru...people are "crafty" and wicked (I am NOT referring to ANY of my crafty friends...I mean crafty in the evil, space-invading, sneaky sense).

We are to completely and with arms wide open surrender our lives to Him...even when it makes NO sense. and when it hurts. and when there are thieves and robbers out there...which there seem to be a lot of...

So please, let me be an example to you...not of what NOT to do, but of what TO DO. keep going, keep trusting in Christ, keep PRAYING most of all. Because that is what I've been doing.

so I will (fearfully) embrace each day and take it for the gift that it is. (does NOT mean I will get it right most of the time, but that I will put on a JOYful face and bathe the day in prayer). When you see me, I've most likely just had a little crying jag...so forgive the lack of make up, or make up running down my face, or red eyes...or well, you get the picture.

Heaven just keeps getting sweeter every day...