My Dear Sweet Baby Brother

Logan,

Words cannot begin to express the pride I have knowing that you are following the Lord's direction at this time in your life.  I was just looking at wcbc.org and found a number of videos that brought tears to my eyes and warmed my heart.  To see that you will be surrounded by like-minded young men and women who are also there answering the Lord's call warms my heart so much!  Knowing that your spiritual life and participation in a local church is one of the college's biggest goals excites me for your heart and your soul.  I know you have struggled to find direction in your life and to figure out just what it is the Lord wants you to do.  However, knowing that your heart is open and prepared to go and do and that you have answered the Lord's calling makes me so proud.  Yesterday at church when Bro. Bigham asked for prayer over you, Brittany and Casslyn, I wanted to jump up and say that's MY brother.  My heart is bursting with joy and pride.

On the other hand, my heart is hurting knowing that you're going so far away from me.  I feel so blessed that you and I have always had such a wonderful relationship, much closer than a lot of brothers and sisters and I truly feel like a part of me will be left in California next week.  And, although a part of me will be left, I am excited to see how that part of me will change and grow and mature over the coming months!  I know that you will be successful in whatever endeavor the Lord places in your heart.  I know that you are going to have more fun than you could ever imagine and I know that you are going to know the Lord in such a personal way when you come back.  (You are coming back right?)  Truth is, I'm a little jealous of the opportunity you have to shut out the world for the next 12 months and grow your personal walk with God.  I've gotten those opportunities, but only for a week out of every summer and, inevitably, the fire fades and I've got to work twice as hard to kindle the flames next time.  However, you're going to have 12 full months will little to no worldly influence on your life.  You will be living the revival that is SO badly needed in this country and in many Christians' hearts today!  And, if the Lord chooses NOT to call you back home at the end of this journey, but instead sends you somewhere else, my prayer is that I can continue to rejoice in His grace and mercy knowing that He is using you for mighty things! 

And yes, just in case you were wondering, I AM praying that the Lord will give you a beautiful young woman while you're there.  Mom has always prayed that you would find a godly wife and I have no doubts that while immersed in the greatness of God's love, He will provide you a help-meet who will encourage you and love you for the wonderful man you are!  You deserve that Logan!

Our hearts will hurt and Canyon won't be the same without you.  I'm going to miss terribly seeing you out in that congregation from the choir and will think of you with every "on the last now" spoken!  You are an incredible brother, a wonderful uncle and a great all-around guy and I know that God, if you continue to allow Him, is going to move in your heart unlike anything you've ever felt before.  Get ready, the Devil is going to attack harder than he ever has knowing that you're doing the Lord's work...just like 1 Peter says...BE SOBER and VIGILANT!  The Devil wants to devour you and your spirit...hold tight to your God and seek first His kingdom.  Pray without ceasing, do everything to the glory of God and thank Him continually for the blessings He's given you.  Know that we will be anxiously awaiting each update and will celebrate with you every success! 

I am proud of you, my brother and I love you with all of my heart!

Miscellaneous Pictures!!!

Playing in the Mirrors while Daddy gets fitted for his new suit! 

 Such a talent!  ha

 Helping Pops on the Tractor!

 Sleeping with our new puppy, Raider!

 Being Silly!!

 Loving on Pops!

 Eating Dinner!

 Breaking into our Friends' House!!!  (To take care of their dogs...next time I bet that door isn't locked!  haha)

 Wearing a tie like Daddy!

 And, bathing in Lolli's sink!

Kids say...and Daddy's 5K!

So, I am proud to announce that I am officially...married to a runner!  Thomas has always been an athlete, but usually in the form of a massive tight-end in football.  However, as most things go football wise, when you quit, that mass of muscle tends to get a little less toned and that massive steak/hamburger/hot dog diet that you were on starts to really add up.  (Especially when your wife hates to cook...ahem, I'm working on that!)  Christmas Day, my hot hubby started working out and exercising and has lost 30 pounds to date!  I'm not really interested in seeing him lose too much more weight, but very interested in the increased energy he has!  The first few months were spent doing a combination of P90X and Biggest Loser on the Wii, as well as drastically changing our grocery shopping habits!  He's even got ME eating more vegetables which is a big deal for anyone that knows how much of a steak and taters girl I am!!  Anyway, on August 6, Thomas ran in his first 5K in our hometown!  As he'd only really been training for a 5K for 4 weeks, he was hoping to come in around 26 minutes.  Like anything else he does, he easily surpassed that goal with an official time of 24:47!  Now, I can't stop him!  Nor would I want to! The joy he gets from running is something I wish I could understand, but am so happy for him!  So, on that note, here are a few pictures from his first 5K!  WAY TO GO honey - I could NOT be more proud of you!

Here he is before the race!

 His number one fan!

 Yes, his tag (?) says "Thomas Callen!"  Apparently Thomas C Allen is difficult to read ??

 Go Daddy Go!  (He yelled this the entire 5 minutes before they took off and started again when we saw Daddy coming back up the street!)  SO Cute!

 Getting ready to take off!

 Eating a blue snowcone at 8:30a.m. waiting for Daddy to come back!  (Mother of the year folks...come meet her anytime!)

 And here are my two favorite men AFTER the big finish!  Bananas and all!

 I wanna be just like you Dad!



So what's next for my running man?  Well, there's the Komen Race for the Cure coming up in September and another 5K in Lubbock in October!  I better keep myself lookin' good to hold onto my hottie!  haha

In other news, I have to tell you how fun it is to have a 3 year old boy!  The things he comes up with keep us constantly laughing!  He loves Sonic "flushies", is proving how "boy" he truly is by thinking all bodily functions are hysterical and worth repeating and loves his "Raider Naider" (our puppy who shall be getting his own post soon probably!)  He can recognize most letters A-M and we're going through them about 3 times a week before bed so he can learn not only what they look like, but also what they say!  He signs all cards that we send with his "M" and can count objects, not just counting in sequential order!  Next on the list is long division...haha  He has a place in the big kids class (4 and 5 year olds) at daycare and I have no doubt he'll learn a LOT from his teacher, Mrs. Monique (sugar booger to Malachi!)  He loves to take Aunt J (another daycare teacher) on "dates" to McDonald's or Feldman's and adores our new home!  His favorites right now are riding his bike, helping Daddy mow our grass and playing a "Kerplunk" type game with bumble bees!  He's become quite adept at finding ingenious ways to argue without actually arguing, i.e. "Hey Mom, you know what?" then going on to say the exact same thing I told him he'd better not say again.  Everytime he gets in trouble his first defense is to tell me, "Hey Mom," "Yes handsome?" "You know what?  I love Daddy."  Or, vice versa!  And, if we're both getting onto him, all of a sudden he loves Lolli! haha  I do love how sensitive he is when it comes to disappointing one of us!  I"m glad his heart breaks when he thinks we're disappointed...I'd much rather him have a tender heart about that so that we can use discipline as sparingly as possible.  (And, it's working...for the record...not all the time, but real discipline is few and far between these days!) More importantly, he has memorized 5 memory verses since Christmas, John 3:16, Colossians 3:20, Psalms 119:105, John 1:3 and Jeremiah 10:10.  We try to do one about every 6 weeks and I'm so glad we're planting those seeds in his heart now! 

Well, I won't lie...there is a good chance I won't have any more posts for a while.  My brother is getting ready to ship out to West Cost Baptist College next Friday so we're all driving him to Lancaster, CA via San Diego next Friday.  My parents, Malachi and Logan's best friend, Tanner, will be flying back next Tuesday and Thomas and I are going to head back down to San Diego for a day to go to Sea World and then drive back arriving home hopefully early on September 1st!  I'm very much looking forward to the trip and very much NOT looking forward to dropping my baby brother (who happens to be 22 and 6'5") off that far away!  However, I know this is the Lord's plan for his life so I couldn't be more excited for him and to see what the next phase of his life is going to bring!!!