Adopt A Student Christmas Party

Our Gracious and Heavenly Father,
We pause in the midst of this festive occasion, mindful and thoughtful of the guidance that you have given us. We would ask today, Lord, that you be with us in this rodeo arena as we pray you will be also with us in life's arena. As cowboys, Lord, we don't ask for any special favors in this arena today. We only ask that you will let us compete in this event, and in life, as You did for us. We don't ask that we never break a barrier, draw the steer that won't lay, draw around a chute fighting horse, or a bull that is impossible to ride. Help us to compete in life as honest as the horse we ride; in a manner as clean and pure as the wind that blows across this Texas country; so when we make that Last Ride, that we know is inevitable, to the Country Up There.. Where the grass is green and lush and stirrup-high and the water runs clean and clear; You will tell us, as our Last Judge, that our entry fee's are paid. We ask these things in Christ's Name.

I tell you what, we are so very blessed!! Not only do I have the two best kids in the whole world, but I have the 6 greatest adopted students in the whole world too!!

That picture is from our A2S Christmas dinner. The boy in the black shirt is Tori "TACO" and Kutter is wearing the orange shirt. We were also to have a few of their friends at our table for the dinner since all of our boys couldn't make it.

Our boys are rodeo boys, with the exception of Morgan, a livestock judge. We are blessed, highly blessed to have the opportunity to get to know these kids as they live in the dorms here in Borger. Even though we haven't had the chance to spend alot of time with very many of them, we cherish them as we do our own children. They are welcome in our home any time and we look forward to getting to know them better.

If you have the chance to adopt a college student and you pass it up, all I can say is that its your loss...and a huge one. They are a blessing in our lives!

Merry Christmas Morgan, Kutter, Garret, Cody, Tori "TACO", and Kord; we love you guys!!

My New Boys!

Last night was the kick-off party for our church's A2S, or Adopt-A-Student. Where members of our church become adopted parents to the dorm dwelling students at our local college. This is Vaughn and my first time to participate.

When we signed up last week at church, we were not sure if we were ready, since our house is not quite done, but we prayed about it and God had just really pressed upon our hearts that this is what he wanted us to do. So we signed up. Thought it would be great to have a kid to reach out to. To be there for. To inspire. Hey, maybe, we might inspire someone, really.

Johnny's pretty much in charge of the college ministry I think, he emailed me and said that the best thing is to take two kids, that way you're not always trying to entertain them, they can entertain each other, teehee. So we got our two boys and we went to the party, eager to meet them. Here's a picture of my gorgeous husband at the party. He's watching the kids on the slip-n-slide.

We made a giant slip-n-slide out of old billboard vinyls. It was great. Here's one of our boys now. Kutter Anderson, a team roper from McLean, TX, coming off of the slip-n-slide now. You can tell he's a cowboy, look at his white legs.

Here's our other boy, Garret Reeves, his handwriting is hard to read and I forgot to ask him, but I think he's from Salado, TX, down by Waco. Garret's a Bronc Rider. I really like his necklace, something about turquoise and barbed wire.

Then, we found out that some of the boys didn't have parents yet. Well, Vaughn just couldn't have that, she he hunted Johnny down and added us as parents to this sweet boy too. Morgan Lane, a livestock judge from Allison, TX. This boy immediately texted his Momma and told her that he now has parents, it was so cute.

As if that wasn't enough, before we left we found out that there were at least two more boys who hadn't gotten adopted yet. Taco, a bull rider from Lake Charles, LA and Cord, not sure where he's from or what he does, but these two boys are ours now as well. We may very well end up with the entire FPC rodeo team before its all said and done, who knows.

What a blessing it is to be able to share our life and our home with these kids. Please help me pray that God will use us in their lives. If I can pray for you, please let me know.