Our 3 kids

I LOVE our children!! It's hard to get a pic of them all together and semi-happy. This will do for now ;o)

An insightful man once penned these words...

o death! why dost thou touch the tree beneath whose spreading branches weariness hath rest? Why dost thou snatch away the excellent of the earth, in whom is all our delight? If thou must use thine axe, use it upon the trees which yield no fruit; thou mightest be thanked then. But why wilt thou fell the goodly cedars of Lebanon? O stay thine axe, and spare the righteous. But no, it must not be; death smites the goodliest of our friends; the most generous, the most prayerful, the most holy, the most devoted must die.

And why? It is through Jesus' prevailing prayer—"Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." It is that which bears them on eagle's wings to heaven. Every time a believer mounts from this earth to paradise, it is an answer to Christ's prayer.... Lord, Thou shalt have them. By faith we let them go."

-Spurgeon

Meet the Hamiltons

Ha ha, I'm sure you (most of you) already know them. They are some of the dearest people around! Love you guys :o)

more from the wedding

The day of death

A good name is better than precious ointment;
and the day of death than the day of one's birth.
It is better to go to the house of mourning,
than to go to the house of feasting:
for that is the end of all men;
and the living will lay it to his heart.
Ecclesiastes 7:1,2

Yesterday marked one month since my mom left this earth to be with her LORD. I see more and more how the above verses are true. Hard, but true. Death is real. Death has come and will continue to come. Only God knows who will make their death appointment next. It may be me. It may be you. Death makes a person think. And that's a good thing.

I think one thing I'm learning is that God never intended for my mom or our Jada (the baby I miscarried) to have ANY MORE TIME ON THIS EARTH than what He gave them. For my mom it was 54 years, almost 55 and for Jada it was just a few weeks. My mom was never intended to celebrate our Jadon turning 8 months old with us. She cared so much for her grandchildren, mainly for their souls. I truly believe she left them enough lessons/care/love/words/prayers/tears/kindnesses/gifts, etc. for a lifetime. She taught us all of God. What a heritage to leave. As Psalm 31:15 says, "my times are in thy hand." As humans we tend to think that they had so much earthly "potential." There is a far bigger and greater picture. God has total knowledge, total control of EVERYTHING. All that He does is good.

Death is so painful for those left on this earth. Since my mom died, several others have lost their lives as well. We are not isolated in our pain. SO many people are hurting and looking for comfort and wanting healing. Only God can truly give it. One reason death is good is that it sobers us. How easy it is to go through life hardly ever having to think of death. I know I had one of the most "cream puff" lives that I've ever seen. Our family had not had much experience at all with death. I even have both sets of grandparents still living, which is probably not extremely common.

Through my mom's death, I think more of eternity. More of God and his sovereignty and his goodness. What a HUGE blessing it was to have my mom for all the years that I did. Some people- LOTS of people- don't have that privilege. She was faithful. Not perfect, but faithful in the things that truly mattered. I can learn so much from her life.

I don't even remember the last time I talked to her. I know it was sometime that week before she died. We talked on the phone nearly every day. When she would call, my cell phone would show up "Mama Risse." Since my dad inherited her cell phone, I changed the name to "Papa Risse." The last time I saw my mom was on Monday, July 5th. We spent that day together shopping and just being together. She and my dad had spent Sunday night with us. Looking back, I'm grateful for the time we had together. I LOVED the time I got to spend with her. always!

I plan on eventually posting some entries on the different lessons my mom has taught me. I want to always honor my dear mother. I hope I honored her in life and I hope to honor her in death. One thing my mom wanted to see in her lifetime was revival. That was not in God's plan for her life. I'm sure what she's experiencing now is more than making up for it!!

I would say to those of you who have a mother living, "don't take her for granted!" But, I want to say: Enjoy your mom. Learn from her. Help her. See how you can be a blessing to her. Call her and talk with her. Send her a note. If she's lost, pray for her salvation. If she's saved, fellowship with her. Pray with her. In reality, we are always taking something/someone for granted. We are human! If we truly realized every single mercy/blessing that we receive, there's no way we could be as thankful as we would need to be. I wanted to take care of my mom when she got older. Boy, did we ever have it planned out. We wanted (want!) both sets of our parents to live with us or very near us when they got older and needed help. With my mom, that won't be necessary. She's getting the absolute BEST care possible. In fact, it's out of this world! :o)

Kevin and Rikki

Beautiful wedding I was able to "shoot." Will post more later.