Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving was filled with... 

Sweet Babies

Cute Kiddos

 Loving Family

Pretty Scenery

Lots of Laughter

And Lots of Love 

Hope your Thanksgiving was too!

Remembering 4 Years and Giving Thanks

Today marks four years since I lost my precious Dad. While the Lord has used the last four years for His glory, I inevitably come to this day with sadness. Selfishly, I wish my Dad could be at my Thanksgiving table today or, simply, that I could pick up the phone and call him. I wish that he could see the young lady Holley has grown to be and that he could have seen her win a medal at State last weekend. I wish I could dance with him in our living room again and blare James Taylor in the car with the windows rolled down. I wish we could have one last heart-to-heart. His absence has left a perpetual void in my life that goes deep down to my soul, but praise God!... I have a Savior who gives me hope.

God, in his great mercy, has given me the strength to carry on over the last four years with a hope-filled heart. Even though I miss my Dad and long not to have to acknowledge anniversaries like these, I know that none of this caught the Lord by surprise on November 22, 2008. I am thankful that He is the Author and knows the number of our days and that His resurrection promises me that my citizenship is in heaven.

Today I give thanks for Hope that is firm, secure and anchors my soul for eternity. I have hope because the same God who was raised from the dead is the One preparing a place for me in the heavenly realms… right beside my Dad. I am thankful that in life and in death His grace saves me, sustains me, and gives me hope. I am thankful that, if I have nothing else, I always have Hope.

Four years after my Dad’s ushering home to be with the Lord, I will celebrate Thanksgiving with my husband and his family. My angel of a father will be celebrating at the table of the King. Oh, Glorious Day!

Thanksgiving 2007 - Houston, Texas

 

Because he lives
I can face tomorrow
Because he lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life and is worth the living
Just because he lives

Happy Thanksgiving

The end of an era

After cheering from c-team through varsity, watching Holley cheer c-team through varsity, and three years of coaching LMS c-team somewhere in between, Lexington cheerleading is officially phasing out of our lives. It's been a long, fun, memorable ride. This pretty girl has cheered her last football game and has competed for the very last time. Holley and her team went out on a high note for her senior year... First Runner Up at State! 

Captains

Last football game

Congrats on a great season, Holley Girl! Now on to basketball :)

Thankful in 2012

What I’m most thankful for these days… 

1. How the Lord is teaching me to accept his grace in full. I’m so thankful for all He has revealed to me in the last several months. Our life should be about Christ... His story... and the GRACE he gives us to do all things. While we are important, we are not the main point.

2. That Ryan has received his religion degree from Liberty University!

3. Holley... and being able to enjoy all of the bittersweet "lasts" with her as a senior.

4. Starbuck’s pumpkin spice lattes.

5. A slower pace :)

6. That we leave for snowy Colorado in 36 days!

7. For the health and love of my family.

8. For the fun Ryan and I have day in and day out. He makes everything an adventure :)

9. Friendship. I am blessed to carry my best friends from childhood. And from college, Mere!

10. For a good mind that recalls precious memories of my dad and our time together every.single.day.

11. Thursday night Bible study with some wonderful ladies from CIU. I'm learning a lot AND having fun studying Ephesians. 

12.That my prayer to see “22” in some fashion has been answered daily for the last four years. On license plates, on scoreboards, in movies, on clocks, in songs, on paper, in conversation, on receipts, etc. His mercies are new every day. Great is Thy faithfulness!

((1 Thessalonians 5:16-18))

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

58

My Dad would have been 58 today. Happy Birthday to the best Dad there ever was. :)

Psalm 63:1-8

You, God, are my God,
    earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary
    and beheld your power and your glory.

Because your love is better than life,
    my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
    and in your name I will lift up my hands. 

 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
    with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

 On my bed I remember you;
    I think of you through the watches of the night. 

 Because you are my help,
    I sing in the shadow of your wings. 

 I cling to you;
    your right hand upholds me.

18

Happy Birthday, Holley! If Dad was here he would surely be singing to you...

Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there's no one above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that's what you do

And that you certainly do for all of us. Hope 18 is your best year yet. We love you!

NEEDTOBREATHE

Holley turns 18 on October 12... So in honor of this special birthday, Ryan and I bought Holley and Grant NEEDTOBREATHE concert tickets! The concert was last night at the Township and it was AMAZING!! Probably one of the best I've seen. The company was pretty great too :)

Wistful Wednesday

Today would have been my parent's 31st wedding anniversary. 9/19/81

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).