Russell Family Blog

An Introduction

2010-01-18T16:24:00.001-06:00

Though the person I want to introduce you to is not in my district, he is a great man running for an office in your district and wanting to represent you at our State capitol. Matt Krause is running against Charlie Geren for the District 99 Texas House of Representatives. I encourage you to look at Charlie's voting record. You will see that he is rated a low 59% conservative for his performance in the last session and an even lower 55% over his career in the congress. Charlie has voted for restricting and criminalizing free speech, he has voted for taking power away from elected officials and letting bureaucrats play political games with our children's education. H has voted against letting parents decide how and where is best for their children to learn, against 'choose life' license plates that would have funded programs to counsel pregnant women on options other than abortion.

Matt Krause believes Texas government should be smaller, more efficient, and operate like a business. Matt will bring common-sense, responsible conservatism to Austin. As Matt will tell you, he is a Christian, Husband, Father, Conservative, and a Republican. And in that order. Matt will not sacrifice principle for politics, and he values results over rhetoric. In his work as a constitutional attorney, Matt defends the core principles that Texas was built upon—the sanctity of human life, the traditional family, and religious liberties.

If I still lived in Fort Worth, I would be voting for Matt Krause. I believe he will do a great job in Austin representing the people of his district. I believe he knows the constitution and will work to preserve it.

The Republican primary is March 2nd. We all have less than 6 weeks to get educated on who we will give our vote on March 2nd. Please spend some time getting to know your candidates and most assuredly get out on March 2nd and let your voice be heard.

fyi: the last day to register to vote for this election is February 1st. So please make sure you are properly registered (if you have moved, please make sure you are registered in your correct county.)

NOvember

2009-12-15T21:34:00.000-06:00

Click Here for the November Newsletter.

Russell Math lesson, my little family

2009-12-15T21:24:00.000-06:00

It’s math time at the Russell house. I often think I have a small family. Really when people say I have a big family, I think, no really I do not. I think of the three that are in heaven and the ones that I would welcome into my home if the Lord saw fit to send them and I think my family is small. I look at other families my size and think they are big, but mine is not so big. But, I know my blessings are big! Then I think of the smaller families who think my job is so big… and perhaps it is a bit bigger than your average family. Do you have any idea the logistics of running a home where 9 people reside? The clothing issues alone are enough to make your head swim.

Consider these numbers for a week at the Russell house- (Let me say here, I am extremely grateful for my washer and dryer! I have no desire to do my laundry the way my grandmother, Mae Sadler did for most of her child rearing years, nor do I even have it as bad as my mother did raising the 7 of us)
126 socks to match (Where do all the missing socks go?)
63 pairs of pants (check pockets for crayons, army men, play dough and food, first!)
63 shirts (not including undershirts or just "I think I'll change in the middle of the day' shirts! And those of you who know Hannah, know this number can grow rapidly.)
63 pair of underwear (though boys at certain ages think one pair should work for a week… this is not an option)
21 misc. articles of underclothes (unmentionables)
31.5 pairs of pajamas (you CAN wear them 2 nights in a row)
add to that sheets: 7 beds changed a minimum of once a week.
Towels (I am trying to convince the children that it is indeed important to hang them on the nice towel racks so they can dry and be used for a second day… but they prefer to lay them on the floor, add to this an occasional comforter and blanket along with kitchen towels and wash cloths, jackets and sweaters and you begin to feel like an in-house laundry mat might come in handy! Has anyone thought of the idea of disposable clothes?

If the laundry isn't enough, think about the dishes!
At the very least you begin with-
315 pieces of silverware
189 plates and bowls (that's if everyone only uses one at each meal, when is the last time that happened?)
189 glasses (leaving out the ones for sips in between meals)
pots, pans, baking dishes and the containers that you eat the leftovers out of (as if that is an everyday happening- usually it's either there aren't any or they die some horrible moldy death in the fridge...)

And then you get to the meals. Does anyone out there actually feed their family what the food pyramid says to feed them?
For us that would be 284 servings of fruits and vegetables a week!!!! We would need our own orchard and a garden the size of a baseball field! Milk = 189 cups of milk per week, that is almost 12 gallons per week. We need to get a cow or two!
Meat would be almost 22 pounds per week. Then the grains! 378 oz per week, which is almost 24 pounds! Then once you get all of these foods you have to prepare them into good nutritious meals. Add in a picky eater or two and it’s enough to make your hair turn gray. (please, no comments about the gray in my hair)

Sweeping… Kitchen is done at least three times a day and living areas 1-2 times. I could figure out the square footage, but I think not. Then there is vacuuming and mopping and… the toilets… Let’s not talk about the toilets. It is enough to say we are blessed to have them inside the house and not outside. But they do need maintenance and cleaning on a regular basis.

Now on to education-
We still have 5 that we are schooling at home. I must admit that I sometimes follow way too many rabbit trails when we do unit studies and get burned out when doing it by the books…. So I tend toward the unit studies thought it takes us a while to finish a unit. But the numbers alone might show you why we have chosen this method though it sometimes gets crazy.
Consider for yourself what it would be like to teach 30 subjects at separate grade levels if I followed a traditional curriculum. It would look something like this-
(all taught on 5 separate levels)
10 spelling tests
25 science lessons
25 math lessons
25 English lessons
25 history lessons
25 Bible lessons
plus sports practices and games, coops, church, etc.

Did I mention that I have a toddler, in case it has been too long since you have been blessed with one of those… if it gets quiet, there is a problem! If it gets loud, there is a problem. If by chance the toddler and the 5 year old are gone at the same time, it may take you hours to recover the bathroom from the mess they made while experimenting with baby powder, tissue paper and water!

So, now, you may ask what it is that I have to be thankful for with all that work to do? Well, I'll tell you my friend. It's like this-
Scripture tells us "That my father owns the cattle on a thousand hills" so I know we will always have food to eat!
Also, remember that story about the sparrows, that God arrays them in splendor? So know I don't have to worry about clothes for a while- like forever, I guess...

As for a roof over my head? "He shall cover me with His feathers and under his wings shall I trust."
If everyone in the family learned just one scripture a week different than everyone else in the family we would be at 468 scriptures a year! I wonder how long it would take us to learn the whole Bible at that rate? Oh, now my head is churning… I think we can do it! Where do I start? Gonna go play with the numbers and make some plans and chase that rabbit for a while!…………..

So the next time you begin to feel overwhelmed, come back and look at this list. You never know when you might be blessed in this way, too! But until you are, enjoy how quickly your housework can be done!

I know that I often look to my many friends who have more children than I do and I maybe should, but I don’t think about how much work they have to do, I think about how incredibly blessed they are, because I know I am so incredibly blessed with my little family!

What is more beautiful than the fresh fallen snow?

2009-12-08T18:22:00.004-06:00

What is more beautiful than looking out the window this morning and seeing a blanket of snow with still huge snowflakes falling? After spending some time on God’s Word and meditating on the beauty of the fallen snow in scripture. (See verses at the end of this note.) Then enter each of the younger children. First our little Hannah, she goes over to the window and sees the snow and starts to dance and sing a song. “Thank you Jesus for the snow, the beautiful, beautiful fluffy white snow… la la la” And then looks out again and just giggles and says ‘Daddy, it is really snowing.. a lot”. Daniel crowds in giggling with his sister wanting to get in on whatever has her signing and dancing and then you see him glance out the window and he sees it. His face is full of wonder as he stares out the window and you can see his eyes and his expressions as he is trying to process what he is seeing… he is only two and thus does not remember ever seeing snow before. He stands there looking out the window and his face, his eyes grow big then curious then excited as he assimilates what he is seeing. Then he points and exclaims “snow!” though it sounds more like ‘no’. He spends a little more time watching the huge snowflakes fall and then he and Hannah burst into song and dance again about the beautiful fluffy white snow. They decide to go get Jordan and Stephen. First Jordan comes in and as soon as she sees the snow she grabs my arm and says “Look Momma, snow, it is snowing! Jesus does answer prayer! I prayed for snow really I did and look, it is here! Can I call Riley, she needs to know that God answered our prayers.” Then she sits down to look at the snow for a while. In comes Stephen. He looks out at the snow and is in awe. “Mom, look how much snow there is, usually it would take days to work up to that amount of snow. Yesterday, there was no snow and today there is all that snow and it is still coming down in huge flakes. Did you know that it could snow that much when it was not snowing yesterday? If it continues to snow today then we’ll have to dig our way out. But if I had a troop of men, you wouldn’t have to worry because we would have no problem digging a tunnel from here to the mailbox and then if you needed us to we could dig it to the store. If you wanted us to we could dig a tunnel to the playhouse so the children could play. But if it is going to be this snowy we will need provisions and warm blankets……. His story goes on for a while, then he looks up at me and says “It’s beautiful, isn’t it mom.” And then goes back into his army story. Sarah pretends she is too old to get excited about the snow, rolls over and snuggles deep into her covers. But quickly she is roused out of her cocoon and when she sees the snow she smiles and I can see the smile radiating as it goes into her soul.
I didn’t get to see Jonny’s response to the snow, he is working away from home this week in Graham. But when he got up he called me and queried “Did you guys get snow” with a hit of anticipation in his voice. I told him about his siblings reactions and he encouraged me to put Stephen in some jeans, boots and a hat and get pictures of him. You could hear in his voice that he wanted to be here to bombard his little brother in a great snowball fight. Sadly he tells me they didn’t get any snow in Graham, but that they were expecting some tonight or tomorrow, but it would not help them on their job, so he didn’t know whether to wish for it or not. Joshua’s was the response of many men going to work this morning… first a deep breath and almost a sigh then “I hope the roads are good, I’ll be careful, gotta go I’m running late.”
So what is more beautiful than the snow? Watching my children’s reactions when they first see the first snow of the year. Thank you Lord for the snow and for the experience of seeing my children’s reactions to the snow. And for your Word, your living and active Word. Like a blanket of snow, it comes down and covers me and waters my soul as it melts into my spirit and blankets me with white and light. May I in return bud and flourish and yield seed.

Job 37:6
He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'

Psalm 51:7
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Proverbs 25:13
Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a trustworthy messenger to those who send him; he refreshes the spirit of his masters.

Proverbs 26:1
Like snow in summer or rain in harvest, honor is not fitting for a fool.

Proverbs 31:21
When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet.

Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.

Isaiah 55:10
As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

Why are we politically active?

2009-12-08T17:06:00.003-06:00

In the last two years our family has become consistently more politically active. We have enjoyed learning more and more about the way our government works, more about the grassroots movement, more about the history of our great nation, and more about those who have been elected to serve us in our government. Now much of our ‘free’ time is spent being ‘politically active’. We stuff envelopes, knock doors, attend meetings, promote candidates, make phone calls, write emails, study issues and study those seeking election to public offices. We pray for our leaders and their families, we pray for those seeking political offices and their families. We have read and re-read the constitution and still need to read it again. The kids have memorized the preamble, the bill of rights, the presidents’ names and verses about civil government from the scriptures. We have enjoyed reading some great books and stories about some great heroes in the history of the United States. Our nation was founded by Christian men and on biblical principles.

Why are we politically active? We believe it is imperative that conservative God fearing Christian leaders gain and hold access to the high places. George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without god and the Bible.” We are “We the people”. When our forefathers penned those words they had us in mind. They worked to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity. We are that posterity and we must work to hold the blessings of liberty for our posterity. We are involved in politics for our children and their children.

Sadly, I have heard too many people who have given up because they think that it is a losing battle. I choose to differ, I agree with Abraham Lincoln when he stated: “The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe just.”

Many years before our republic was formed Plato mused “The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.” Then years later as our great nation was but an infant one of our founding fathers George Washington proclaimed: “It is infinitely better to have a few good men than many indifferent ones.” I think it is time to stop being indifferent it is time to stand up and fight. So now the question is… what can I do?

We the people, the Christian conservative Americans need to get out – get educated and vote. We must get educated on who is running for the different elected offices and we must vote. We must educate others and get them out to vote. It is not good enough to simply talk about it we must do it --- VOTE!

Abraham Lincoln noted “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” We can do this destruction through our apathy. We can no longer sit back and wait for others to pick up and then run with the ball. We the people, one nation under God must run with it!

We must implore those elected to public office to consistently judge their actions and decisions by the living word of God. Andrew Jackson, incredibly a democrat, rightly proclaimed “The Bible is the rock on which our republic stands.” We know our history, we know this to be true. We have no doubt our God is able, why do we sit back and act like He is not able? After-all, “With God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

We must with resolute hearts fervently pray for our nation and our elected officials and their families. “If my people which are called by name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin, and will heals their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Did you know that it was customary when our nation was new for pastors to preach an ‘election sermon’. In one such sermon Daniel Foster (1790) encouraged the people to steadfastly pray for their elected leaders. He assured them as I do here to each of you, that it is truly your duty to pray for your leaders.

So in conclusion, we are politically active for the sake of the generations to come, our children and our children’s children. And simply stated the things we can do to affect change are.. vote, educate ourselves, others and our elected officials and it is imperative that we pray. Now the question is will you join us in our fight to gain and hold the high places?

Mixed Emotions

2009-02-24T17:46:00.003-06:00

My dad and mom (Jim and Paula), my oldest brother, Richard is missing. then from left to right: Michael, me, David, Loy, James (Jimmy) and John Mark.

I just got home from Oklahoma where I went to my Uncle Bill's funeral. My uncle Bill was a good man who loved his family greatly and provided and protected them. So for that reason, I am sad. But my Uncle Bill was a Christian, he loved his savior and is now with Him and for that reason I celebrate. He left a beautiful wife of over 56 years, two children, 4 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren and for them I am sad, they will miss him greatly. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit with cousins that I had not seen for years, for some it has been a couple of years and for others it has been around 20. And for that I rejoice. I look forward to getting together with them and renewing our friendships. I hope we can get together for a reunion that does not include a death.
5 of my 6 siblings also made the trip. It was good to see all of them.

December newsletter

2009-01-28T14:07:00.000-06:00

Finally got December ready. It is two different pdfs, sorry about that.

December part 1
December part 2

My boy

2009-01-20T17:09:00.003-06:00

Here are a few pictures of my smallest boy, Daniel Josiah. He is such a little blessing. He doesn't talk much, but he makes himself heard. He makes car sounds, animal sounds and sounds of joy with he laughs. His eyes are strikingly blue though that does not really show in any of these pictures. I was counting today and realized he will be 2 years old in only a little over 2 months. It does not seem that it could be true, but I know that it is. (And along with it will come Joshua's 19th birthday.) Am I really that old? I guess it is true, I am. But boy oh boy am I greatly blessed.
I know that I have let my blog get behind as I have been busy with the new year. Perhaps here soon I can catch it up a little. I am also a bit behind in my photo journaling. But yesterday I starting trying to catch up on that. Life is just busy with schooling, church, and Darrel being out of town.

Life gets busy

2009-01-03T21:37:00.003-06:00

We are sort of on a company binge. We have new friends, the Beamers and we have had them over 3 times in less than three weeks and we had some other friends Friday night and we are having two families tomorrow. Keeps things busy but lots of fun.
Darrel and Jonny worked on Jonny's new truck.... Darrel's old red truck. Jonny has decided to fix it up. He got two new tires and a battery and now it is in the shop getting a new transmission. Jonny is so eager for it to get out of the shop so he can do some more things to it. I of course love them working together.
The kids have basically lived in the playhouse since we got home from Lubbock/Slaton. They love it! Tomorrow cold weather comes so they are bummed.
I started trying to eat better on January 1st. I pray the Lord will help me with self control.
I know I need to post pictures, and I will when I get time.
We start school on Monday so that needs my attention tomorrow after the company leaves.
Company plus my family will mean 6 adults and...18 children... and the weather will be cold so the kids can not go out... what was I thinking? It will be fun and I will get lots of exercise cleaning up after they leave.

Update on playhouse

2008-12-17T09:16:00.002-06:00

Sunday was 83 degrees and so after church and lunch the boys worked until sun down. (CRAZY thing is Monday was a high of 28 degrees)

Christmas letter

2008-12-17T09:03:00.002-06:00

After running out of ink... twice and getting postage and.... oh the list goes on, but anyway I do believe that today is the day that the Christmas letters will go in the mail.
Christmas Letter 2008
Joshua designed the pages for us.
I am very sad that I do not have a family picture this year. Perhaps we will soon get one together. In my mind I am very sure that we need one before Darrel leaves in early January for Ohio and Israel.

Has anyone told you Merry Christmas today? Merry Christmas Ya'll!!!!

November Newsletter pdf

2008-12-17T09:02:00.000-06:00

Click here to get the November Newsletter.....

Playhouse Update

2008-12-08T09:41:00.005-06:00

Darrel went back to work and the playhouse is not complete. It really really disappointed him, but he knows that he and the boys worked hard. The windows will not come in until tomorrow. They plan to work on it on Friday as it is Darrels AFO.
A new family visited the church yesterday and really wanted some fellowship, so they came over for the afternoon (2-8) while the guys worked and then stayed for dinner and fellowship. So you may see a few faces that you do not recognize in the pictures.

Playhouse

2008-12-06T22:38:00.003-06:00

For Christmas the boys and Dad are building a playhouse out back for the younger kids. Actually if you ask the kids they are all building it. It has been a fun adventure so far. Day one of the actual building (after days of planning and re-planning and a large trip to the lumber yard) was digging the holes. The ground was solid! They had to rent a machine to help them. But the machine had problems. Then there was the cement..... it's done so let's not talk about it anymore. Day two.... after shooting about 20 nails, the nail gun died! So we had to track down and borrow another one. Day 3 we get a surprise visit from Grandmother, she and Sunny came to see the progress on their way from Plano to Lubbock. It was nice to hug her neck, though the kids were very sad she didn't stay and eat. But she needed to get back on the road for the trip home to Deedo. We now have the frame built and one side has two panels up! It is looking great. The boys and dad are working very hard and are disappointed that they don't see any way to finish it before Darrel has to go back to work on Monday. One thing they may not have noticed is how much fun the kids are having playing in and on it right now. I think they could stop where it is and the kids would have a blast playing for a long time. I believe tomorrow is the rest of the siding and the top deck. The windows do not come in until Tuesday.

Daniel and Sunny

2008-12-06T22:24:00.002-06:00

Grandmother's little Sunshine came by for a short visit to see the play house and Daniel and Sunny enjoyed looking out the door together looking for our dogs.

art class

2008-11-14T17:54:00.003-06:00

Stephen did very good paying attention and following instructions until the last 30 minutes and he was still very well behaved, but he was tired of focusing. 2 hours is a long teaching time for that little guy. But I was very pleased as he paid attention and was not wiggly.

Jordan enjoyed getting to create a 'piece of art'.

Hemmed in Prayer

2008-11-12T09:01:00.004-06:00

I enjoyed spending a little time praying for little Tanner James who is scheduled to be born in mid-December to my friends, Sean and Mallie. It is always a joy to me to hem the things I make in prayer. I pray for different aspects of the child's life as I put together the different little things that I make for him/her. During the middle of this project, my large embroidery hoop broke! So that brought up a whole new group of things to pray for. (bummer is I have a pile of things that need to be embroidered. )
This is the big gift. They are doing his room in cowboy and I just fell in love with this little quilt. I like the way it came out with the cute pocket from some old jeans. Then I added a couple of burp pads to match with little pockets from some the kids old jeans. If you were too look closely you could tell when my embroidery hoop broke as one of the names on the pocket of a burp pad is not perfect. I had to hold it together as it did the stitching.
This fleece blanket is really for Tanner when he sits on his dad's lap watching Dad's favorite football team. I did a new thing around the edge, I crocheted it. It was fun to learn a new technique. It makes a nice edge but it does cause the edges to sort of curl like a fitted sheet. It will still be snuggly and warm.
Burb pads or rags or cloths. Different people call them different things.

Venus and Volcanoes

2008-11-11T16:24:00.002-06:00

Simulating the volcanoes on Venus....
This was our first try. I think will try it again and again...... and again. The kids molded the mountain and then we painted it. It is the kind that they can use over and over. Can you tell that it did not smell too good? Little Johnny (Mulcahy) was holding his nose and saying how bad it smelled.... vinegar and baking soda.......

Peculiar

2008-11-09T20:34:00.004-06:00

My three oldest kiddos are on a ministry team called Peculiar Party Ministry Team. The team does puppets, choreographed dance, ventriloquism, mime, and other things along that line. Each week they lead the kids in our children's church in their worship time and they go out to other places and do performances. They have a couple of videos on You Tube. (Click the blue word video to see one of them.)

Legacy Graphics recently took their pictures with their friend (puppet). Here are a couple of them.

a post from Joshua

2008-11-07T15:15:00.000-06:00

Consecrated Lord to Thee
By Joshua Russell 10-24-06

Take My Life and Let It Be A song by Frances R. Havergal.

Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee; Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee; Take my voice and let me sing, Always, only for my King.
Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee; Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my moments and my days, Let them flow in endless praise; Take my intellect and use Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it Thine,It shall be no longer mine; Take my heart, it is Thine own, It shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store; Take myself and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee.

Consecrate the Church
This is a song of surrender and submission to say “Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee” means take my life Lord, purify and use me. To offer your self up as a sacrifice is the meaning of Consecration (Consecrate - to dedicate something or somebody to a specific purpose ~ Encarta World English Dictionary.)

"Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the LORD, the God of Israel, has said, "There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst." (Joshua 7:13)

Today’s Church must rise up and Consecrate it’s self unto the Lord. We must remove all sins from our midst not because it is required for salvation, but for three other reasons, which I would like to discuss in more detail, these are 1.) As an act of Gratitude, 2.) To enable us to stand before our enemies, and 3.) To prepare for tomorrow.

Reason 1: As an act of Gratitude
If you have truly accepted Christ into your heart how can you help but be Grateful for all that He has done for you? He gave his life so that you might live what more can you do than to offer up your life as a living sacrifice and consecrate yourself unto the Lord? If you are Grateful for your salvation and the grace given to you then should you continue sinning? If you are already forgiven of all your sins (past, present, and future) should you worry about continuing to sin? These are question that every Christian must ask himself / herself at some point in their life. I believe that the Apostle Paul stated it very clearly when he said

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? [2] May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (Romans 6:1-2)

So what shall we say then? Will we say that since Christ has given us grace we will “live life to the fullest” or will we say, “Father not my will but Yours”. What will you say?

“So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:26-27)

Christ has cleansed us of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) by the washing of the water with the word, so that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory. Who doesn’t want a perfect and spotless bride? A bride that is holy and blameless. For this reason we must sanctify ourselves though the Word of God, that we might become the holy and blameless bride of Christ. Ask any bride-to-be on the night before her wedding and she will say that she wants everything to perfect for her wedding. She will want her dress to be perfect and beautiful, and she will want herself to be perfect and beautiful. So I ask again, What more can we do than to offer ourselves a living sacrifice and consecrate ourselves unto the Lord?

Reason 2: To enable us to stand before our enemies
Imagine: it is 1314 A.D. and you are in the army of Robert the Bruce, you are fighting for the rightful King of you country, however you do not have on any armor and you are carrying several burdens. You might wonder how you are able to stand and fight while carrying these burdens, and you are right to wonder because you can’t. A knight can’t go into battle loaded with stuff and without his armor. Neither can a Christian go into battle and fight the evil one while loaded down with sins and without his spiritual armor.

This is the second reason why the Church must be re-consecrated unto the Lord. If we as a body are going into battle carrying our sins and leaving our armor how can we expect to stand strong against the wiles of the devil? We are instructed in Romans 6 to put on the full armor of God.

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." (Romans 6:11)

We are not called to put on only the parts of the armor that we chose, rather we are called to “Put on the full armor of God”. When arming for battle a knight would not put on his armor on-top of his court attire (worldly baggage), rather he would remove all of the things that would get in the way and hamper the efficiency of his armor. Likewise we as Christians must put aside the things of this world that way us down and keep us from going in to the entire world to spread the gospel (Mark 15:16). So today’s Church must set aside the things of this world, take up the armor of God, and consecrate itself unto the Lord

“But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness you are blessed AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, [15] but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:14-15 emphasis mine)

When you stand before an enemy you must do so with courage and with power. Imagine: the smallest weakest guy in school standing up for what is right against the biggest strongest guy in school. Would the big guy think that the little guy was very dangerous? Of course not he would laugh in his face and ridicule him in front of the entire school. Now imagine that the little guy is ready to make a defense against everyone who asks him to give an account. Imagine he knew karate and so could beat the big guy. Now consider your average Christian, they don’t know what they believe, they are apathetic about what their faith. They are sort of like the wimpy guy that doesn’t know karate, they don’t have a chance whenever someone challenges what they believe. They are not “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks them give an account for the hope that is in them [paraphrased]”, today’s Church must learn what they believe and be able to give an account of it to whoever asks.

Reason 3: To prepare for Tomorrow
The meaning of sanctification is.

SANCTIFICATION - The act of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; consecration.” [Noah Webster 1828]

So in order to become consecrated we must go through the process of sanctification and set ourselves apart for a sacred purpose. In part 1 I discussed that how consecration (sanctification) should be done as an act of gratitude, in part 2 I talked about how we must be consecrated (sanctified) in order to stand before the enemy, remember how I talked about the knight without armor and loaded with stuff and how he can’t do battle? Now in part 3 I would like to talk about the reason for sanctification, which is the process of consecration.

As an example of sanctification consider the refining of gold. The gold starts off as a lump of ugly useless rock, and the refiner takes it and puts it into the fire (trials and hard times). While in the fire the sludge and grime (our baggage and stuff) are separated from the gold, it is then put in to the fire again and more sludge is removed this process is repeated several times (we go through hard times throughout our lives) to ensure that all the sludge is removed. Next the partially refined gold is refined in water (Eph. 5:26) and it is then 99.99% pure (our lives will never be completely pure until we are with Christ in eternity)

So you see how the process of sanctification takes a lifetime and even then is not complete no matter if you live to be 200 years old you will still not be completely sanctified. For as long as we are still in our physical, carnal bodies we will not be completely sanctified, however we must continue to “read the Bible, Pray every day so we can grow, grow, grow” we must continue to strive for purity and holiness because that is what it takes to be a living sacrifice. We, the body of Christ, his Church must prepare ourselves for tomorrow. For we are the bride and tomorrow is our wedding day, we must cleanse and prepare ourselves for our Savior and Lord.

If we want to be ready we must consecrate ourselves unto the Lord and dedicate ourselves as living sacrifices. So the question I ask you is this, Are you ready for the Lord to do wonders?

“Then Joshua said to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.'” (Joshua 3:5)

letter to my children

2008-11-06T21:50:00.000-06:00

Dear Daniel Josiah;

This is actually a letter to all my children, but I want it to be addressed to each of them personally. Dear Joshua, Dear Jonny, Dear Sarah, Dear Jordan, Dear Stephen, Dear Hannah Ruth and Dear Daniel Josiah.
First, I want to start this letter by letting you know that even though we just had probably the biggest/most important election of my lifetime and it seems we did not win the race for president. God is still God and He still reigns supreme! He still listens to the prayers of His people (Proverbs 15:29, Proverbs 15:8, Proverbs 28:9) and they are still effective. (James 5:16) As of today our pledge and our coins still say ‘Under God’ and “in God we trust”. Psalms 91:2 says ‘I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” And we do trust in Him. “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15) There is such incredible peace in that knowledge. At times like this I feel an overwhelming need to run to my Father and rest in His arms like Daniel comes and nestles into my arms when he is hurt or tired. Our heavenly Father is our refuge, He is our fortress, He is our shelter. (Psalms 27:5, Psalm 61:4, Psalm 91:1) There is such peace in just knowing that is true and unwavering.
Our family sacrificed yesterday for the election (Mom, Dad and Joshua worked the polls from 6am –8:30pm and Jonny and Sarah stayed with the little ones and cared for them and kept them safe.) We have worked for this election for several months as a family, attending various fund raisers, County meetings, putting out signs, stuffing envelopes, making phone bank phone calls encouraging people to get out and vote, writing letters, helping with a candidate forum, and much more. I do not want you to think we did it in vain. Obama becoming president does not mean our work was not worth it. I received a note from Huckabee and he said “Politics is not an event but a process. We sometimes lose the events but it never gives us the right to stop being faithful to our principles that enlisted us in the process. We shall live to fight another day.” And I must agree. We do not have the right to stop being faithful to our principles. We did not work this election because we wanted to get to say that we were on the winning team. We are involved in this process because we have strong founded convictions and we believe that it is our duty to stand for these convictions. Just because Obama is president does not mean we can stop fighting for the lives of the unborn. They still need to be protected. America still needs to stop the bloodshed and stop killing the most innocent. Just because Obama is president does not mean we can stop fighting for family values with things like the definition being between one man and one woman as the Bible describes.
Now we may have to work even harder than ever before, but that is ok. For we know that we do not work for men but for our heavenly Father. Colossians 3:23-24 We must not sit back and be complacent or sit back and simply complain because we did not win, the fight is not over! I must continue to fight because I need for this nation to be a God fearing nation for you, my son, my daughter, my grandchild.
So what will we do now? We will pray. God’s Word has not changed. We are told in II Timothy to pray for our leaders. It doesn’t say if we like our leaders we should pray for them or if we agree with our leaders we should pray for them, it says we are to pray for our leaders and like it or not, Obama is becoming the president of our nation. More than any other man in this nation at this point in time, he needs salvation. We need him to find Jesus and receive the gift of salvation. Christ died for Obama, he just has to receive the gift and we NEED him to receive the gift. Our nation needs him to receive the gift. Our world needs him to receive the gift. We MUST humble ourselves and pray for Barak Hussin Obama.
In closing, let me once again remind you. Joshua, Jonny, Sarah, Jordan, Stephen, Hannah, Daniel, God is still God and he still rules from His throne supreme.
With love and devotion,
Your Mom

Verses used in letter to my children.

Proverbs 15:29
The LORD is far from the wicked but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Proverbs 15:8
The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.

Proverbs 28:9
If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Joshua 24:15
But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Psalm 27:5
For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock.

Psalm 61:4
I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah

Psalm 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Colossians 3:23-24 23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

October Family Newsletter

2008-11-02T13:45:00.001-06:00

If you want to read or look at my Family Newsletter/photo journaling type thingy. Here is the link for the pdf.

2008 Candidate Forum

2008-10-27T13:37:00.010-05:00

'Vote for my better tomorrow' Hannah Russell, 4

Singing the National Anthem: RFF Kids: Lily Huse, Jordan Russell, Jillian Sorah, Cody Littrell, Bailey Littrell, Colby Lowrance, Riley Huse, Emma Hewitt, Victoria Moffett, Allie Hewitt, Drew Littrell

Color Guard performed by Boy Scout Troop 1136

Three of the young people who asked the questions to the candidates: Landon Bruce, Jonny Russell, Taylor Huse

Rep. Phil King, Texas House of Representatives, District 61

Candidates for Texas House of Representatives, District 61 from both parties answering the questions: Charles Randolph and Incumbent Phil King

Pastor Joe Bruce of Real Family Fellowship leading the audience in prayer over the candidates as instructed in I Timothy 2:1-2

(this is better as they are praying, but it is a little blurry.)

During the meet and greet some of the candidates and some of the young people from RFF had an impromptu jam session.

Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, District 12 Terry Smith and young citizen of Parker County, Joshua Youngblood

'Vote for my better tomorrow'. Daniel Josiah Russell 18 months

The meet and greet went for over an hour as local citizens got to know the people running for offices in our precinct, county, State and nation.
Darrel Russell (citizen) Clint Hall and Tom W. Clayton both running for Precinct One Commissioner (not pictured: George Conley)

Princess Hannah Ruth

2008-10-13T22:44:00.005-05:00

We had a wonderfully fancy celebration in honor of our little princess Hannah Ruth who will be turning four on October 19th. A decree went forth inviting all the little princesses to come and celebrate with Sir Darrel of Russell at the Russell Chateau in the fifth hour after noon on Sunday. Each time a new princess arrived they were announced and taken to the royal festivities. The Royal festivities included photos by the Royal Photographers (aka Joshua and Queen Mom), making of a scepter, making of a Princess of the King bag to carry all your accessories and of course making of a royal tiara with the Royal helpers: Sarah and Jordan. They also had a royal banquet of hot dogs with all the trimmings grilled by the Royal grillers: Joshua and King Daddy. The royal grounds keeper (Jonny) had the grounds looking... royal and thus all the little princess and prince's could run and jump with joy. They rode the royal horse (rocking horse) drove the royal chariot (little people car) and burst the royal pinita. And most certainly they were tempted with delightful cupcakes and ice cream sundays. It was an all around fancy delightful time for all the little princesses.

Registering to vote is EASY

2008-09-28T17:39:00.001-05:00

Registering to vote is EASY. Just click here: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/reqvr.shtml

You don't have to leave the comfort of your home, just verify your registration status online and if necessary, print out a registration application, sign it and mail it by REGULAR MAIL. Your registration form canNOT be submitted electronically.

Your conservative friends will be happy to verify their registration or to use this easy way to register before the deadline on October 6th.