Meg Was, God Is

So my last blog posting was heart wrenching. I was in tears every word I typed and anxiously (in the tied up in knots, not excited kind of way) awaiting the first family member's funeral that was a result of tragedy. I knew there would be tears. I knew there would be that heavy feeling in my gut that just sits there making you nauseous. I knew there would be heartfelt but overall empty words coming from hearts and minds that just couldn't understand why. I knew there would be sweet children in tears. I also knew that although it would be sad and devastating, that it was somehow going to be one of the most beautiful things I would ever witness....and I was so right.

Muldoon Baptist Church is everything a rural community church brings to mind. Friendly folks. Gravel road parking. Wooden pews. Whitewashed exterior. But for my cousin and her husband and kids, Muldoon Community Church is so much more. The support and love and heartbreak and prayers and faith were seeping from that place - love covered all.
My sweet cousin Megan was buried in a private ceremony early that morning (such a beautiful and classy way to do it in my opinion). Her service was a memorial, a celebration of her life.

The beginning of the service was worship music - songs full of lyrics about God's sovereignty and grace and love. These moments allowed for the first glimpses of Megan's husband and pastor of Muldoon Community Church, Will. His arms were outspread in total worship. His head uplifted with tears. His devotion and trust in our Lord evident while his heart was breaking for Megan's loss.

After the songs, the most amazing thing happened. God granted a man the strength to stand up in front of hundreds (literally - in a church stuffed to the gills with people standing in every nook and cranny and packed into an overflow room with audio feed) of people and give the most moving message I have ever heard titled "Meg Was, God Is." Will stood before all of us and told their love story. He told of when Megan gave her life to the Lord and when he fell in love with her. He told of the sweet night they had before the accident and the last words and prayers they exchanged before she left that day. He told us about Megan's greatest attributes and then through his tears, he told us about her God....about His sovereignty and His great love and His goodness.

I can't even do the message justice....I know you don't know Will and Megan, but I believe every human needs to hear his words. Below is the link to the audio file. If you don't see it immediately, scroll up to October 15, 2013 - Meg Was, God Is.
It will revolutionize your heart and challenge your thoughts about death and tragedy when it includes the Lord's people.

Enjoy, be encouraged, and share with whomever you like. One of my initial prayers when this happened was "Lord, please let SO much goodness come as a result of Megan's death, that there is no way in the world we can doubt your purpose."

http://muldoonbaptist.com/media.php?pageID=6&itemID=5

Dear God, Help.

This is my heart's cry at 1AM laying in bed unable to sleep and crying out in literal tears to my God. Forgive the honesty. I just had to write. My heart is exploding with pain for my cousin's immediate family. Not sure if this is all appropriate to share with the world, but I pray God will use Megan's memory to change someone's life.

Oh dear God, your ways will never be understood by us mere humans, and we can only hope and pray that your promises will hold true and that we will indeed be reunited in Heaven with those we love so much on this tired and broken earth.

You decided to take a sweet, earthly angel yesterday. We will never understand why. My cousin, Megan, was a blessing to this world. She was a mother to handsome Eli (6 years old), beautiful Layelah (4 years old) and adorable Lily (2 years old) and an amazing and supportive helpmeet to a man of God, Will. Will is your man, the pastor and lover of his close knit community church and as you know, Will and Megan and the kids are loved by so so many. Why did Megan have to die in that single car accident? I'm so glad you protected Eli, Layelah, and Lily...but why did you have to take Megan? Will needs Megan as his best friend and wife. Eli, Layelah, and Lily need Megan as their incredible Mommy. Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda need Megan as their sweet, firstborn daughter. Jenna, Kendra, and Joshua need Megan as their forever solid and loving sister. The Hiller cousins need Megan as the one who completes 10. Megan is a part of us all. Megan was a part of so many of our pasts, but she was the central future for a few...a few who don't want to live life without her.

You decided to take Will and Megan's firstborn son, Benjamin, home when he was 12 days old about eight or so years ago. What a terrible tragedy for them, and yet they held true to your love and your purpose. Now you have taken Megan home, and we don't understand why. I feel like Will, Eli, Layelah, and Lily need her more.

As you know, Derrick and I are studying the book of Ruth right now...and through tragedy in Naomi's life, You brought about the lineage of Jesus. You have the aerial view. You understand the big purpose and have orchestrated this earth together perfectly, but we don't get to see it all, and its so hard. I beg of you to bring so much goodness from this situation that we cannot doubt your purposes.
But right now, more than anything in the world, I beg of you to give Will an overwhelming sense of strength and peace and an undeniable covering of love and purpose. I don't think I could take one more breath on this earth if this had happened to me. I'm not sure I'd want to. Yet he has to wake up every day to the reality that she will never be there again. That has to be his life's testimony. He has to keep her beautiful, life filled memory alive for their kids, and yet separate himself enough from his love that he isn't destroyed. Our two options on this earth are to care so much that we become sick and miserable or try to pretend like it never happened and become hard hearted to the pain around us. Father, teach us how to pray. Teach us how to access the understanding of eternity. Help us to KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that we will be reunited in Heaven. Not just know because we're supposed to know...but KNOW. In our heads. In our hearts. Beyond any possible doubt. Help us to understand eternal love and eternal connection to You. Help us have a healthy understanding of Heaven, that we wouldn't fear death and that we'd be able to truly rejoice that our loved ones got to get there first. What a liberating understanding that would be.

As humans, we fear death because we fear the unknown. I don't know why we don't know it better. You wrote about in your Word, but I wish we truly understood life after death better so we wouldn't be so scared. I thank you for what you've done for us...but I'm scared to death for those I love (and even for those who I don't even know) who don't believe in you. For those who haven't believed the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. For those who don't understand that the decision in believing in Him is the only way we get to spend eternity in a place full of love, hope, and joy. The alternative is eternal separation in a place of fear and death and overwhelming loss. How absolutely awful. Brings me to tears to even type this. Dear God, reveal yourself to all...
Thank you for revealing yourself to Megan and thank you that she is experiencing a place so good we cannot even imagine.

The only happy thought through all this is that Megan is so stinkin' excited to hug her little boy, Benjamin. As a Mommy, I get that now. I don't understand how infants look when they get to go to heaven, but You've got it figured out and Megan got to meet her son. I'm sure she's sad for Will, Eli, Layelah, and Lily because she's probably saying "don't cry!...this place is awesome and I can't wait for you to be here too!...I'll see you soon!"....but they have to be here on this earth, without her. They have to bear the testimony that You have given them. Help them to bear it, Lord. Help them to stand...with the memory of Megan as their joy and with the hope of a tomorrow filled with Your love.

Help us all...to love you more. To care for those you've created more. To understand you more. To rejoice in the earthly death of your children more. Oh dear God, help us...because this is so hard. Help us to believe your words...."I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die."

Lord, be with this sweet family. Mommy is now missing. That hurts so much. 

Ratliff Happenings....

Yikes its been a while...not even sure where to start. Most of the following will just be details of our lives so you probably don't care :) but occasionally I am inspired to write and tonight is one of those nights.

Rhyder is 10.5 months these days and is learning and growing and developing constantly. He got truly sick for the first time this past week. He's had 2 coughs, one worse than the other, but that doesn't really count. This time around, he started feeling warm on Wednesday night. I took his temperature and gave him baby Ibuprofen several times throughout the next 24 hours because his fever would spike then drift off with the medicine. By Wednesday afternoon he was at 103.5 and that just made this first time momma nervous. I took him in to see the pediatrician and they ruled out all the infection options and just said he had "that virus." At one point, she called it herpangina and said he'd have a sore throat and fever but we had to wait it out and he'd be fine. The next day, I got a text from one of the sweet moms in our new church home group letting me know that two of Rhyder's new friends (11 months and 14 months) had hand, foot, and mouth disease and wanted to let me know that there was nothing a doctor could do as they had both visited their pediatricians as well. It did indeed end up being that for Rhyder as well and we got the lovely ulcers and blisters around his mouth, hands, and feet. Yuck! On Sunday he was being really fussy and kept grabbing his ear. With all the sores and ulcers, I figured the drooling had just been because of the pain in his mouth, but alas, he had cut his very first tooth the same weekend! Poor baby was dealing with all kinds of stuff! Maybe it was better that they came together so we didn't have to deal with pain two separate times. So, Derrick's concerns about our child having no teeth have been put to rest...we at least know he has ONE tooth! :-)

He loves anything with wheels. He will study them and watch them go around and back and forth and back and forth. He is pulling up on everything now. He's taken a few tumbles but overall getting very steady on his feet. He has grown very attached to his Buggie and now wants to take it with him when he leaves his crib. My favorite change is that he's become much more cuddly before bedtime. He used to push and climb and scratch anytime I tried to cuddle him in our glider, but now, he grabs his Buggie and snuggles against me before bedtime...ahhhh...I love that!

Our lives' biggest change is that we joined a church home group that we absolutely love. For so many years, we have desired to be a part of something that allowed us to deepen friendships with people who have a lot in common with us. We went to our first get together and knew we were in the right place. There are 7 kids under the age of 5 (two boys within 6 months of Rhyder). All the couples are great and we are studying the book of Ruth together this fall. One week we have a social then Bible study then community/service/church project then Bible study then start a new month. We are looking forward to the weeks ahead!

Regarding the last posts about my Grandpa, he came home last Thursday!! After about 1.5 months in the hospital, he got to come home...what a miracle! They performed a quadruple bypass on an 86 year old man and he made it through and is now in rehab with his brain just as sharp as its ever been (which is really sharp!) He truly believes it wasn't time for the Lord to call him home yet so he's back with us for a while!

Derrick is currently in New Mexico on an elk hunt with a buddy he met in Oregon while working at Bowtech. They've had this trip planned for a year and I've never seen my husband so giddy. The very first morning they both got an elk with Derrick's custom rifles and they are thrilled. They've spent two days processing all the meat up on the mountain and will be heading home tomorrow. They took along my 84 year grandfather and Derrick said he just hopes he can be in the shape that Daddy Don's in when he's 84 and as much fun! (this isn't my grandfather who just had quadruple bypass) :-) Its hard being without him, but I got pretty used to it the first 6 months of Rhyder's life and I am so happy for him that he gets to have this time in God's creation on a mountain out in the middle of nowhere with good friends and fresh air. I'm so proud of him in so many ways and love that he gets to do what he loves to do every once in a while.

Derrick's company, Horizon Firearms, is doing well. He was on a role in September working on several projects for new customers. We are loving having him home. Life is so much more fulfilling with him around. We love to watch Duck Dynasty on Wednesday nights and gosh darn it, now The Voice is on 2 nights a week as well. Thanks goodness for DVR and racing through commercials to save as much time as possible!

My job has been crazy crazy busy. This week I finally have the chance to breathe for the first time in several weeks. We contracted a company based in Dallas and LA to film a national quality commercial for us. We pulled it off in about 2.5 weeks and the whole time was crazy. SO many details. It was a blast watching the whole process throughout the weekend. On Sunday, they also filmed Granger Smith's new music video, Miles and Mud Tires, using our trucks and our offices and such. It was a great weekend but I'm glad its over! :)

Other than that, its fall so its hunting season and Aggie football season in the Ratliff household! We love our Aggies and its been a blast being in the SEC and watching Johnny Manziel lead our team to victory again and again. We probably won't even make it into the stadium this year. With Rhyder being the age that he is, its just more fun to tailgate on campus or be at home watching the game with the commentary in the AC. :)

Oh and guess what?? A cool front is coming through this weekend! This lover of jeans, sweatshirts, and scarves cannot wait!!

Recent photo favorites:

Aggie Family! :)

Yay for the new Bahama Bucks sno-cones in town!

Lil trooper at the doctor's office. He got a pretty cool blue camo band-aid though  

For some reason this kid loves the broom and dustpan. He'll run all over the house in his walker with a very proud death grip on both haha

Daddy getting ready for duck season...and Rhyder learning all about decoys in his turtle pool 

Rhyder likes to drink water out of the bottom of a straw. We enjoy Fazoli's Tuesday Trio occasionally! 

handsome boy...he's had about 8-9 hair trims in his short life. We like the little man look, but it grows like a weed!

Oops! Got into a bowl of baking soda my mom had placed under my dresser in my old bedroom. He was quite proud. 

The above photo inspired this photo...I figured he seemed to enjoy the white powder so why not give him a pile of flour! :)

Such a sweet boy....the filth on the window is outside, I promise! Mmmmm dog slobber. 

Grandpa Update 8/26/2013

For those of you who are friends with my family who have been praying for my Grandpa:

So it has been a crazy roller coaster and we pretty much witnessed a miracle. Last Monday night, my Grandpa was at his very lowest. Basically, his body was declining and vitals failing and the doctors told my Mom and Grandma that unless they increased medical intervention, Grandpa wouldn't make it. Grandma knew my Grandpa wouldn't want to live helplessly with no improvement and so they had basically decided that it was about the time to release him to hospice and bring him home to Yoakum for his last days. Tuesday morning, my uncles and Grandma went in to meet with hospice and they walked into my Grandpa's room and he was basically sitting up, waved at them, and said "hey guys, great to see y'all!" Whoa! He had been basically unconscious for 6 days, not recognizing anyone or having any mental cognition. Tuesday he knew everyone by name and he asked about everyone who wasn't there...he has 3 kids, 3 kid in laws, 10 grandkids, and 9 great grandkids! Everyone was cautiously optimistic as we'd heard of people having one good day before the end. The next day came and he had improved even more and so on and so on. My mom said its been the craziest thing she's ever seen in her life. He was basically dead and then life came back into him overnight. My family is claiming a miracle!

Grandpa told us over and over that he told God he was ready to go home. Grandpa is a Christian and we all have 100% confidence of where he was going, but he said that God just let him know it wasn't quite time yet. He's 86! So its hard to know how to see all this as he's lived a wonderful, full life. The doctors said they wanted to do an angiogram to determine what caused the heart attack and if you know my Grandpa, he doesn't put much stock in medical procedures and such. We didn't expect him to want the angiogram, but he said God kept him around so he might as well find out what happened. They performed the test and determined all 4 passages to his heart were clogged and he needs a quadruple bypass. Yikes! Again, we didn't expect him to allow the surgery as he said he'd never go under the knife, but he said that if God wanted to keep him around for some reason, he might as well improve his quality of life (as he understood he'd just be another heart attack waiting to happen AND he's been having some really bad breathing problems due to his heart).

So...Grandpa is undergoing heart surgery on Wednesday at 8:30am. Again, my Grandpa said that if God wants to take him on the table, so be it. If not, he'll come out in better health than he started. ha! What a very practical view of things.
So at this point, the prayers requested are for his surgery...of course for the doctors wisdom and procedural focus and then of course for my Grandma and the rest of the family to just have peace through the rest of this and then for the probable marathonish rehab process.

Grandpa Update 8/17/2013

I'm really sensitive about flooding people's Facebook walls so thought I'd post a Grandpa update here and those who are praying and know my family can read it.

Just talked to my mom and the hope is high but morale is low. They are several days in now and Grandpa did wake up. He was interactive and recognized people yesterday morning but as the day wore on, he was less and less cognizant which of course is hard on everybody, especially my Grandma. The doctors are saying that is normal though because as the medically induced coma medicine wore off, he began to feel himself again and he is in extreme pain, most likely caused by the CPR procedures. They aren't sure if he has broken ribs yet, but for sure bruised up pretty badly. So the pain meds are making him distant and out of it.
So right now, there are just so many medicines and so much medical procedure that its still hard to tell how he'll be. We think though that this is all fairly normal and there is hope of recovery...even though it'll be a marathon.
Specific prayer requests are for Grandpa and his pain and of course his recovery, and for Grandma...that she would have the supernatural strength and comfort to make it through this long process and see her sweet husband in so much pain.
Thanks for all your support and prayers. My mom said they are very aware of the prayer support they've been receiving and are so appreciative.

My adorable Grandpa and Grandma at my cousin's wedding this summer!

Joy and Purpose!

I read a friend's blog earlier today that inspired me to write this one. She is a stay at home mom and was honestly admitting to the intangible burden that sometimes hovers over stay at home moms. I think it is a common story...an intelligent, good looking woman who works in the corporate world and lives life on her own schedule doing the things she enjoys and spending money where she wants because she makes it herself....to the contrasting life of a Mommy who loves her kids with her whole heart but who's new life challenge is getting out of her pajamas by noon and wondering why getting her children fed and the laundry folded and the bajillion other things that are on the list done is so stinkin hard! I have a few friends who have gone through this and I'm not exactly in either one of those two boats so I'm not gonna act like I have all the answers because I absolutely don't!

However, I have a unique life situation that falls somewhere in between there, and I think as a human, we all struggle with purpose in life, which is what the burdens all come down to anyway. I often look at my life and wonder about my purpose. As a Christian, I know it is to bring honor and praise to my Lord in everything that I do and to work for an eternal purpose of telling other people about Jesus in order to expand his Kingdom and save lives from hopeless and horrible eternal separation from Him.

However, the reality is that we live in a day to day life. We have to run errands. We have to raise our kids. We have to make money. We have to eat. We have to budget our time. Etc Etc Etc. We are blessed to live in a first world country, but along with that blessing comes the curse of decisions, decisions, decisions...because we have so many resources which creates so many options which subsequently creates so many distractions from our true purpose.

So being purposeful...that's been rolling around in my head lately and I've been wondering what that looks like in my life. The last thing I want to do by "being purposeful" is to add stuff to my plate of things to do. I already have a full time job, a husband, a child, a kitchen that requires time every day, a laundry room full of clothes, a house to clean, dogs to walk, a body to attempt to take care of etc etc. I guess the question is how do I be purposeful with my free time to accomplish things that make me feel....accomplished. And not just spinning around in circles letting days go by feeling cruddy about myself.

I don't have the answers. My life isn't nearly as balanced as I'd like for it to be. My body is dying to be on a regular work out schedule which includes playing competitive sports (because I'm really bad about desiring to work out just to work out...I like having a "purpose" in my working out :-)

I don't have it figured out...My life is full of baby steps of learning...but I have made 2 recent baby steps that have brought a lot of joy and purpose to my life so I thought I'd share and I'd love for you to share anything that you've done to bring some clarity and purpose to your life.

1) For a few years, its been on my bucket list to sponsor a child through Compassion International. Its an organization that's been around since the 1950s that ranks in the Top 1% of charities every year because of its professionalism, legitimacy, and effectiveness. Growing up, my family sponsored a boy named Donald from Kenya. I remember writing and receiving letters and photos from him every year. I wanted to do the same for our family. So several months ago, I started researching and I got totally overwhelmed. There were so many faces staring back at me on the screen. I felt like if I chose any one of them, it'd be like rejecting all the rest! I couldn't decide so, sadly, I walked away from the whole thing. I think it may have been meant to be though because I was re-inspired a few nights ago and we found the PERFECT child. His name is Sabirou and he is from Burkina Faso in Africa. He's 6 years old and the best part is....he shares a birthday with Rhyder! This is going to be the coolest thing ever...as Rhyder grows up, he will get to be a part of preparing for Sabirou's birthday along with his own. We will get as creative as possible in sending him something special for his birthday that is within the very strict limitations of what we can send through the program...but still...if bookmarks, stickers, coloring book pages, and bandaids light up those kids lives...we will be sending 'em! Being a family who's income was cut in half and expenses increased due to a new business startup, the financial commitment was scary, but I just shuffled money in our tithe account to make the sponsorship money available so we didn't have to increase our budget. I am so excited about being Sabirou's American family and writing him letters as he grows and allowing him to be a part of a program in Africa that will help keep him healthy, nourished, educated, and most importantly knowledgeable about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! If you're interested in doing this, you can find out so much more at www.compassion.com.

Blog friends, meet our new little boy, Sabirou!! He's 6 and precious and I can't wait to find out more about him! 

2) The 2nd thing I've done recently that I think would be beneficial for a lot of people is creating a "Things That I've Done!" board on Pinterest. If you're like me, Pinterest is a black hole of time. "It is the site that never ends...it goes on and on my friends. Some people started playing it, not knowing what it was...and they'll continue playing it forever just because it is the site that never ends...it goes on and on my friends...." You get the point! The other day as I was pinning new ideas, I realized it was a worthless hobby to identify great ideas if I never DID any of them! So I quickly made a "Things I've Done!" board and in order to feel accomplished, I went back through my existing boards and moved everything over that I'd actually done into it. Again, if you're like me, the list was pitifully small. So I determined to pick a project in one of my existing boards and actually do it...and repeat...and repeat until my accomplishment board grew. I'm early on in this so don't go looking at my board to grade my progress :-) However, I wanted to bring purpose to the fun hobby of "Pinteresting"...I felt like this gave me a pick me up kick in the pants I had been needing. They are all great ideas and so fun and so creative but often spending time on Pinterest just frustrated because it got my creative juices flowing but then nothing actually came of it which made me feel overall inadequate and unaccomplished. So I wanted to change that!

Welp, that's all folks. Just a couple of things that have brought me joy and purpose in the past couple of weeks. Would love to hear your ideas! Stay at home moms or otherwise...we're all in this together and we all feel the same things! Keep your chin up, commit to something that is bigger than yourself, and I guarantee you it will make ya feel better!

2nd Half of July....

I blogged about the first half of July in my last post so here goes the second half. Our anniversary is July 14th and my birthday is July 28th (I think Derrick planned that well) :) We wanted to take a mini vacation as we hadn't really done anything fun this whole summer so we planned a trip to Austin. It ended up being Austin because my brother's company, Texas Precious Metals, hit a huge milestone in their company and they had invited us on their celebration dinner cruise on Lake Austin. That was happening Saturday night so a couple of days before, we drove up to Boyd to spend a day with Derrick's family and get Rhyder settled in to stay a couple of days with the grandparents. On Friday, we drove back down to Austin to our hotel on the river. We wanted to see the bat emergence at Congress Street Bridge (which ended up being pretty incredible) but we got there early so we drove down to the Texas State Capital and parked for 21 minutes (according to the parking meter). We did a quick run through of the capital building, which is just amazingly beautiful. After all that, we joined Jason and his girlfriend, Hali, and his business partner, Tarek, at Moonshines which is a nice and yummy restaurant in downtown Austin. We shut the place down sitting around talking and enjoying a nice evening on the patio. 

So proud to be a Texan!

There was way more to do and read than we expected like this Civil War Memorial....the quarter and dime we put in the parking meter for a whole 21 minutes wasn't enough! 

Beautiful rotunda looking straight up in the entrance to the capital building. Focusing on the Lone Star! Whoop! 

The House of Representatives Chamber...I was imagining a room full of rowdy and passionate people in lieu of the recent SB5 abortion bill 

No photo can do this bat emergence justice. Its the world's largest urban bat colony....1.5 million bats emerge every night creating clouds of black in the sky. Crazy!

Saturday morning, we slept late!!! Whoa....no baby monitor, no worrying about feeding the baby, no noise...just a really cold window unit A/C, lots of covers and pillows, and no worries about the clock....aaahhhh! Yep, we slept late on our vacation. We were planning on going to Barton Springs that day but when we finally got up it was overcast and had rained HARD the night before so we weren't sure if the weather would cooperate, so instead, we decided to head down Congress to get the best burger in the world at Hopdoddy's and then go the Bob Bullock State of Texas History Museum. I think I mentioned in my last post that we like museums :) 

I had been there years ago, but it was fun again. We watched the Spirit of Texas movie and perused the 3 floors throughout the afternoon. Then it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for that night's dinner cruise on Lake Austin. 

We went back by the capital on the way to the museum...I think this picture is awesome

You think Texans are proud of the Lone Star? :) 

Problem with traveling as a pair is you never have anyone to take your picture! 

 The dinner cruise was very nice. My brother, Jason, and his business partner, Tarek, have done amazing things with the company in the short time that it has existed. I'd like to post some numbers, but I'll refrain as that's their business, but let's just say that Texas Precious Metals has become a HUGE player in the bullion industry in a very short period of time. If you or anyone you know invests in gold or silver, you really should check out purchasing it from TexMetals. The company has my true and honest endorsement. They are genuine guys from Texas doing the business correctly and in an honest manner...something you can't always get in the bullion industry. www.TexMetals.com

I love lakes and I love sunsets...the combination = perfect!

My brother and Hali

Tarek and his beautiful family minus little Marianna and Sebastian...if he looks familiar, its because he was on the Apprentice :)

There were 27 people on the boat...but I never got a good group pic. Sad day. They have a lot to be proud of!

The cruise ended at 9:30 so Derrick took me on a date to Amy's Ice Cream...we just love bein' together

On Sunday, we drove back north to Hillsboro to meet the Ratliffs and swap off the sweet kid. It was my first time away from Rhyder overnight so I was happy to snuggle him again. There is just something special about that warm baby skin and cute gummy grins. My mom had given me a pile of birthday gifts so when we got home, I enjoyed my new patio chairs compliments of Derrick and his mom and opened my gifts from my parents. What a great birthday weekend!

Apparently, while we were gone, my kid was learning how to be a rancher, a farmer, and a cowboy!  "So God made a Farmer." 

How blessed we are!

OMG How cute is that. 

Whoa! Big version of my little toy tractor!

I've got this!

Or...maybe not. Help Pappy! This steering wheel is as big as I am!

Memories forever...the Ratliffs 30 year old horse, Smoky, who was Derrick's childhood horse and roping buddy.
A picture speaks a thousand words...

First Half of July...

July has been a fast, full, and fun month...so many life changes and life accomplishments all packed into July of 2013. I think this post is going to be about the first half of July and then I'll follow up with the recent events.

Rhyder turned 8 months:
Every month I have taken his pic in this little snuggabunny bed to track his progress so at 12 months I can go back and put all the pics together to see how much he's grown. I think he just gets cuter and cuter every month. :) At 8 months, he's starting to not appreciate so much being set down to play alone. He likes interaction and likes to be held. We've experienced a couple little temper tantrums that will have to be nipped in the bud very soon. However, most of the time, he's all grins. He all of a sudden decided he hates carrots, after he's eaten them like a champ for a couple of months. He likes all things sweet..like his momma and grandma! His favorite toys are a couple I found at a garage sale...a little walker that sings some songs he loves and a little toy that has 4 pop ups that he likes to close and have me open over and over. He definitely loves Baby Einstein DVDs...how crazy it is to watch him totally ignore a regular TV show and then zone in on Baby Einstein...I guess they knew what they were doing when they created these shows for lil ones! He is right on the verge of crawling. He can scoot and twist and roll over and get places he wants to go...and any day he's gonna hop up on all fours and be off. He had his 5th haircut....yes, 5th! But he still has no teeth at all...I guess all the energy in his head is going to his scalp rather than his gums cuz his hair grows like crazy!

The 4th of July:
This year, the 4th was on a Thursday which worked out pretty well for us. Derrick came home on Wednesday night and then we were able to enjoy most of the rest of the weekend minus me working on Friday. On Thursday, we wanted to do a patriotic activity that we could work into Rhyder's nap schedule and we found out that the George Bush Museum on Texas A&M's campus had free admission all day so off we went. It had been years since either of us had been to the museum so it was like seeing it all for the first time. We enjoy museums and learning and relearning so we had a great time. That night, all the fireworks displays were after Rhyder's bedtime so Derrick and I crawled out on our roof to the tippy top and watched 3 different displays going on at the same time. Thank you, Lord, for the country we live in and that we can proactively celebrate our freedoms once a year together!

The museum was decked out in red, white, and blue for July 4th! 

Rhyder considering the wise words of President Bush :)

We have high aspirations for this little guy :-) 

We took a walk in the gardens to President Bush's family's gravesite...only one buried there now is their little daughter, Robin, who died of leukemia when she was 4.  

I took my bridal pics under this pavilion behind the museum...crazy to now be holding my son here 6 years later.  

Happy 4th of July everyone!

We got to write thank you notes to our troops overseas!

And we topped off the trip with patriotic colored slushes from Sonic :) Yes, I ordered blue coconut on purpose to compliment Derrick's cherry :)

  I had to be in Shiner on Sunday for my 10 year high school class reunion and we decided to turn the trip that direction into a bigger trip so we left Saturday morning to join my uncle and aunt at their lake house on Lake Gonzales. It was Rhyder's first time in a boat and on the lake, and we knew he loved swimming so figured it'd be a blast. Between staying up super late and talking like we always do with them and enjoying the wind in our hair on a fast boat ride down the lake, it was a super fun overnight trip.

He was SO excited to be at the lake :)

Ready to go, Mom! 

Pretty darn fun! Just wait, buddy, til Uncle Doug can teach you to waterski and pull you all over the place on a tube! 

He wasn't quite sure about the major wind as we zipped through the water...didn't really know which way to turn his head to breathe best ha!

can't beat this...relaxing in the shade of a big river tree

This bumblebee was made for me!

So fun playing blocks with Aunt Laura!

We celebrated being married 6 years:
Thanks to our dear friends, the Maders, we had a night out on the town to celebrate our 6 year anniversary without the little man. Rhyder got to go play with Karis, Kelsie, and Rilyn, and we headed out to one of our classic favorite restaurants in downtown Bryan, Cafe Capri. We debated going to a movie, but now its kind of a weird thing because when you have a limited amount of time to be out and about without a baby, a movie seems like a waste of that time. You can't talk to each other...you just sit and the time flies by...so we decided to head out to Lake Bryan for a country music concert and some quality time together. The evening was perfect. Food was delicious. Sunset was gorgeous. Weather was perfect. The only thing that went wrong was observing a girl tripping on the stairs of the deck and literally breaking her leg. We saw her stumble and thought she'd hop right up looking embarrassed, but instead she stayed down there. We looked over the railing as we were sitting right next to it and saw a very pokey, pointy object against the inside of her skin on her shin...yep, it was her bone. Ick!! Poor thing..I caught her eye and mouthed "are you ok?" to which she responded "no...." and ducked her head. She was in so much pain and had to wait forever for the EMS to arrive. The only awkwardly funny outcome of that is the band continued to play throughout this whole time and then when the fire department EMS arrived, the band finished their song and then without missing a beat broke into "The Fireman" by George Strait. It definitely earned some awkward chuckles...everyone wanted to laugh but didn't want to disrespect the girl who was about to throw up because she was in so much pain!
We had a wonderful evening. I am so blessed to call Derrick Wade Ratliff my husband. He and I are the best of friends. I know that for so many marriage is a difficult thing, but oftentimes we look at each other and ask "why is that?" We feel like if you treat your spouse as the best friend that he is and live life generally unselfishly while not taking yourself too seriously, its really not that hard. We love our life and we're grateful for the 5 years we had as just the two of us and now the infinity years we will have with a kid/kids! Isn't Rhyder just stinkin' adorable in this top pic?

This is why I love Lake Bryan! 

Enjoying the deck overlooking the lake listening to some good ol country music

I have more to talk about regarding July. We had one HUGE change in our lives that I will discuss next posting. (no, Rhyder is not getting a sibling). But for now, its Sunday night and its 11:30 so that only means one thing. Monday morning is tomorrow and that means back to reality...