Football season is here!

Can't wait to watch Holley cheer her first home game of her senior year tonight. A lot has changed since c-team! Excited to kick-off football season :) Looking forward to next Thursday night for my Gamecocks! 

C-team

C-team banquet '08-'09

C-team '08-'09

Varsity Freshman Year  (not my photo)

Varsity Junior Year

 GO WILDCATS and GO COCKS!!! 'Tis the Season!

My Sister the Senior

Dear Holley, 

How are you already a senior in high school? Where did the years go? Our incredibly sentimental family is preparing for a bittersweet year as we watch you wrap up your days at Lexington and look towards college. It will be a year with lots of lasts. We will watch you cheer, compete and take your first day of school picture at our front door for the last time. Though this year will inevitably bring changes, we are all so excited to see what unfolds for you! Your future is undoubtedly bright and we know the Lord has BIG, WONDERFUL plans for you.

We will continue to pray that the Lord guides you very specifically in everything your hand touches. You do well whatever you put your mind to-- and that is certainly a gift from the Lord. I wish Dad could see the beauty you are to behold. Your kind, pure heart ministers to me on a daily basis and I know he is smiling down on you from heaven with pride. 'Tis no surprise that your first day as a senior falls on none other date than the 22nd.

Happy Senior Year, Little Girl! I hope this year exceeds your wildest expectations. We are all so proud of you and look forward to making memories with you as a high school senior!

Baby Noah

Ryan and I are proud Aunt and Uncle to the newest addition of the Fickle family: Noah Philip Fickle. Rachel gave birth to this little 5-pounder on July 24th. We took a quick trip to NC to visit them yesterday. Noah is a sweet blessing from the Lord. And big brother, Jacob, is as cute as ever :)

 

((Psalm 127:3)) 

Children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him

I have been a part of a Thursday night Bible study all summer long with an awesome group of women from CIU. My dear friend, Abbey, hosted our group in her home each week... Welcoming us with warm cookies and coffee and sending us home with the kind of wisdom only Abbey can impart.

In our time together, we studied the book of 1 Peter. Each week we unpacked sections of every chapter and discussed what these verses must have meant to the people then and the practicality for us now.

Unfortunately for Peter, he is most often remembered for denying Christ. In Matthew 26:34, Jesus warns Peter: "Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And sure enough, Peter denied the very Lord who selected him to be one of his closest friends. 

What I like about Peter is that he's so much like me. He represents us, the forgiven sinner, so well. He, at times, had little faith but was always rescued and redeemed by Jesus. Peter, an avid fisherman, was on his boat one day and saw Jesus walking on the water. "Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. 'You of little faith,' he said, 'why did you doubt?'" (Matthew 14:29-31). 

Oh, if I could count the times I imagine Jesus has questioned my doubtfulness! Doubtful about His plans for me, my relationships, my current state of life. I sometimes relate to Peter a little too well. I often take my eyes off of Jesus miraculously walking across the water and focus on the storm; the wind. Just like Peter, my doubt, self-reliance, fear, and faithlessness causes me to sink. And every time, without fail, Jesus reaches his hand to me and pulls me back up. It's a story of redemption, for Peter and for me. A wayward disciple turned ambassador for the Gospel. In the end, Peter was crucified upside down on a cross because he felt unworthy to be crucified the same way as Jesus.

Peter's story of redemption is like mine... ours. God does not leave us the way we are. He chastens us and refines us by fire so our lives can be a better reflection of Him. A reflection of Him even through suffering! Peter shares so much insight from his humble heart in this book. He urges us to "be holy as He is holy" and reveals in 1 Peter 1:3-4  the only hope we have as Christians: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade."

I am thankful for the time I was able to devote to Bible study this summer and for a message I will not soon forget. 

((1 Peter 1:8-9))
Though you have not seen him, you love him, and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Wistful Wednesday

My parents shaggin' on our cruise to the Bahamas (2006).