Friday, November 27, 2009

This Thanksgiving, Jeff, the kids and I drove to Atlanta Georgia. I am so excited to tell you how awesome time I have had here. I was a little apprehensive at first, but it has been an awesome time. I am connecting with my sister and I have really felt like part of her life. And my niece had her baby and they are doing really well. When I get home I will post a ton of pictures of our Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also, I want to tell you little about our new addition Jeffery James Rowley, he is the most awesome little baby. He sleeps through the night and he feeds well. He does not like to be naked, but he loves to be held. He is a little angel and even Tasha has been doing an awesome job as a mother. She loves her new son and she is taking good care of him.

The scenery on our drive here was absolutely beautiful and I was so intrigued with all of the beauty of our country. I feel so blessed to be in a country with so much beauty. Like I said, I will post pictures when I get back, we are doing fine and we are having fun, love all of you and we hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. God bless all of you. Love Tanya

Thursday, November 19, 2009








Charlene, what I am about to post, please do not be mad???

Most of you know that our family is going to Georgia next week. And this is all possible because my sister and her husband are giving us the money. So, on Monday we received a money order from her. Well, some how during the day the money order was forgotten. And I did not think about it until Tuesday morning.

So, I started to look for it and I could not find it. But most importantly, I could not even recollect where I had placed it. I freaked out and Jeff calmed me down and told me to pray. So, I left for the Pregnancy center and then just broke down before the Lord. In that time of humbleness, I reached out to some sisters in Christ and text them to pray for guidance. As soon as I was done praying, I recollected a book that Luke and Jeff were reading on Monday. I texts Jeff and told him to look in that book.

Well, I got home, Jeff and Luke could not remember the name of the book. And I could not remember the name, but if I seen it, I would recognize it. So, I kept looking, and I went in the bedroom and sat on the bed. I raised my hands to heaven and said, I give up my control, it is all yours God. I reached down to pick up all the books and papers off our bed and there was the book. When I opened it the money order fell out at my feet. I began to cry again and praised God. Then I text all of the sister and thanked them for their prayers.

At that moment, I was so blessed by God and I realized how awesome He really is. He cared about a small piece of paper and it was just as important to Him. WOW, how thankful I feel. I am so blessed to have a sister that really wants to see me, but a God who really wants me to go. And sisters in Christ who were willing to pray, even thought they had no clue to what I was going through. Amen.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009


As some of your may or may not know, this week marked the twentieth year of the pulling down of the Berlin Wall in Germany. I was seven months away from seeing this, but Jeff was there when it happened. As Jeff and I were reminded of this awesome event, I could not help but remember my time in Germany. I was so blessed to be in a country that was so old in history and full of beautiful wonders. This tower was in the middle of the town that we lived by. It leaned a little and faced towards a cemetery. We lived outside of a small town called Kitzegen. It was a precious town.










This is me, yes I looked so skinny and young there. Notice the street, it is cobbles stone and their Market place was outside, it was like an out door mall. It was so beautiful. The picture on my header is one of the bridges in this small town. Their bridges were absolutely beautiful.
All the taxi cars were Mercedes and BMW's, it was cool to be able to ride in one of those cars.





This is the entrance to the cemetery. Inside these gates there are very old head stones and burial chambers. The rich history of Germany was all around us as we did all of this site seeing. So this week as you go through your daily task, remember the freedoms and blessing that our America has. We may be a young country, but we have something that no other country has freedom, pride and and our own Constitution. Men and Women are in our military fighting for our freedom and preserving the Constitution. I feel blessed right now to be an American.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Happy 18th Birthday LUKE!!!!!


Today is a special day for us, our son is now eighteen. I can not believe that he is this old. Where did the time go? Luke's Birthday is November 10th, I am posting early.


This is a picture of Jeff, Luke and I at Chuck E. Cheese. Luke was six months old here. He looks so little.

This is Luke when he was first grade and at Red Oak school.






This is Luke a couple of month ago and he is holding out cat Leix. I am so proud of him and he is growing so fast. Today my son is a man. WOW, I am amazed and really at awe. I love ya Luke and I am so proud of you. Love Mom.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Yesterday, Jeff and I took the kids to Indian Gully for a nature walk and science day. It was really cool. I realized that my husband was a nature freak to say the least. He was telling the kids his old stories of spending hours in Indian Gully with his friends and going through all the trails and such. The kids had a great time, we even took our dogs, so they could run all over.






Here is a picture of Luke and the dogs above Jeff. They were on the other side of the creek from Melanie and I. They were trying to find some arrow heads.



















The trees and all the foliage was in their fall colors and there were leaves every where. I loved the different trees and their mushrooms or left over leaves that are on the trees. I think that one of these trees is a dogwood, it had these awesome thorns on them. Could you imagine those piercing your brow?











Here is Jeff, Melanie and Luke walking a head of me. They were so fast, I sometimes could not keep up with them. And of course, Jeff does not stay on the trail, he wants to explore. He was so funny. He told me after we got home, that he had a great time and he wanted to do it again soon. So I guess we will be taking more walks, that is okay with me. Have you walked in the autumn leave yet? It is fun.

Sunday, November 1, 2009


I love Autumn, it is so unpredictable. Yesterday we were bundling up and cold and today we have our heat off and we have all the windows open. It is so beautiful out with all the leaves all over the place and the trees are bare. I reminds me of my life when it seems to be unscrambled or I am hurting, bare and messed up. And I go through a cold and barren season, but soon the buds come up through the ground and trees began new leaves and I am healed and refreshed. Seasons are so amazing, God just made them like our walks with Him. Each season represents the way we go through trials. He is so amazing.

I have been going through this study called "Lord Teach Me to Pray in 28 Days" by Kay Arthur and it has been so awesome. Yesterdays chapter was "Total Dependence on God" as I was going through this chapter I was struggling a bit with why I do not give my life totally to God. I stopped and started to pray and then I journaled it. I started back with the study and God answered me so quickly, I have abandonment issues from my childhood, so I am really not quick to give my life to Him. I realized that I wanted God more than keeping this issues on my heart, I gave them up to Him and I am going to march forward with God. He is my only life line in this world. I felt so great after I let it go and let God.

Then today the study talked about Asking of the Lord. Here is a quote that Kay gives, "Prayer is the key to Heaven, but faith unlocks the door." Awesome!!! We need to be in prayer always and asking the Lord for help continually. I have also realized that I need to be in the word to learn all of His promises in order to know how to pray more efficiently. I really loved this book and I hope that it will really build up my prayer life. I have been so blessed lately with freedom from bondage, health, friendship, and the relationship I have with my blessed father. I am so looking forward to this season of Thankfulness and the soft reminder of a Savior born to free me from sin. My heart leaps for joy and I am so thankful for every breath I breath. God bless all of you and thank you for reading my rambling. Love Tanya