Merry Christmas!

 We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

     This year has been so good, but 2014 is about to bust wide open!  So much has come together to make the way for some serious progress.  Curtis has fulfilled prophesy in taking his company to record breaking profits, Maggie will be getting her license and plans to seek a job with the Whole Foods that is opening up a brand new store 6 miles from us, Curtis Wade will be graduating from high school, and has three options for employment that he'll be deciding soon.  He will then dig in his heels and start his college education, paying for it as he goes.   Two more kiddos will start reading, one more will learn to swim, I plan to travel with Curtis more than I have gotten to in two years, and our friendships have only grown deeper and more precious, causing us to make more time than ever to spend with those we truly love.  

    We pray for you all, as well, to seek God's best for you and your families this year, to find it, to revel in it, and be blessed beyond words.  There are always those willing to compromise to get what they want, but my experience has been that if you are willing to wait on the Lord, He will reward you.  And He can give beyond what we could ever possibly make happen on our own.  We pray the strength to endure, and the faith to see it through.  God is so good!

 The girls.

 The boys.

A Glimpse Into Our Marriage

     I'd like to take a moment to speak to an issue recently brought to light in the general "quiver-full movement" that our family, along with many others in our evangelical faith, embrace.  Though we do have a lot of children, and obviously do not believe in using birth control, we do not align ourselves in full to any particular ministry or teacher.  We glean the good and toss the bad according to Scripture to walk out our faith in a clear conscience before the Lord.  After all, He is the One to Whom we'll each answer in the end.

    Vision Forum is a ministry and business that has catapulted many other ministries and churches into existence.  They have taught some stellar things concerning family and faith.  We have always appreciated their family values, and especially their products supporting our similar vision.  Without going into the similarities or differences in our related beliefs, I want to mention the scandal that the founder of Vision Forum, Doug Phillips, has now confessed to, adultery.  He has issued a public statement of remorse and repentance, and we pray for such leaders and their families to be restored.  Our hearts were broken, but our faith and convictions unshaken.  In fact, as I contemplated the story and thought about my own family, and my own husband, I found overwhelming gratitude for the gifts God has given me.  I wanted to share the letter I wrote Curtis in regards to this.  He was away again on business, strapped to an unrelenting schedule, and demanding emails, remanded to skype to do our nightly Bible reading together with the children.  I knew he was missing home, more than he could mention without emotion, and we were certainly missing him.  The hope for 2014 is a dramatic change in the demands of his job.  Until then, he presses on doing his best for the glory of God and the benefit of his family.  My email:

 "Hey, Honey.  In thinking today about what has come to light at Vision Forum with Doug Phillips, and others like him, leaders in the faith that have gone astray,  I happened upon a profound thought wrapped in unwavering gratitude.

Here is Doug Phillips, admired by so many, eloquent in speech, well versed in Scripture, history, patriarchal foundations, Christian apologetics, godly living, and a leader in the quiver-full movement we all embrace.  He's traveled the globe in charitable missions, worked alongside greats like Ken Ham with Answers in Genesis, the Kendrick brothers and other film makers pioneering the way to redeeming media for God's glory,  etc, etc, etc.   How his family must hurt today.  How his wife must suffer under the shame and public rejection of his choices.  How his children must question everything he ever told them.

Now....you.  If anybody ever asks my definition of a man, I'll describe one named Curtis Parnell.  You chose to leave a life of sin, though it cost you companionship, friendships, and comforts.  You committed your ways to the Lord with no guarantee of the outcome (humanly speaking).  You've stayed true to your wife, your children, your duties and responsibilities, but most of all, your Lord.  You have no earthly accolades for these choices, and instead find yourself the object of scorn and derision because of your solid and staunch manner of belief.  Words like unyielding, lacking grace, unreasonable, and mean have been used to describe your personality. 

Yet, within the walls of your home, not one could find the kind of harm done to the home above.  Therein lies peace, joy, and plenty.  There is no lack, no sorrow, no anguish, no shame.  Only love, forgiveness, sanctity, friendship, loyalty, steadfastness, and truth.  And might I mention, passion.  The kind of passion to do a job well because it matters, to love completely with body, soul, and spirit because any other kind of love is illusory, to state emphatically your beliefs, because to live without conviction is not living at all, and to commit wholeheartedly to a God you cannot see, yet have lived long enough to know from experience that He lives.  Not only does He live, but He died to save you, and saved you are!

Your life exudes it.  Your choices prove it.  Your family benefits from it. Your children are showered with protection and blessing because of it.  I revel in it.  I soak it up everyday I draw another breath.  I bathe in it and I am clean.  I lay in it and I am rested.  I eat it and I am full and nourished.  I wake up to it and I can see my way.  I succumb to its embrace and I am exhilarated, satisfied, and made righteous.  Your salvation is mine.  If only people could see what life could be like lived in the presence and company of a man like you, they'd change.  They would be washed clean, too.  Women would choose better men, and men would live better lives.

I love yours, therefore I love mine, too.

I love you."

Always, All Ways,

Jackie

 There are opportunities that come along to tell those you love just how much you love them.  Don't let those slip away.  Take them for all they're worth.  Curtis was blessed, and his trip home not so long as we celebrated yet another return.  We were kinda anxious, if you know what I mean :)

 Texas Weather

     Yes, we were iced in a couple of weeks ago along with the rest of North Texas!  We had a blast!  Curtis didn't have to go into work, we had grocery shopped the day before and stocked up for some serious cooking. Christian and Curtis Wade had chopped me a cord of wood that we burned up that three days of life coming to a glorious stand still.  We discovered the TV series "Alaska: The Last Frontier" on Netflix, and watched the entire first season during our down time with little ones asleep, either during the quiet hours of the afternoon naps, or after bedtime.  I'm pretty sure we ate five bags of popcorn, three pans of homemade baked desserts, four baked from scratch dinners with the leftovers, four gallons of stove-top tea, and countless cups of gourmet coffee (thank you, Daddy, for the K-Cups...it's still rockin' and rollin').    These are pics after the sun finally broke through the heavy grey skies.  The temps still didn't get above freezing for another two days!  It took six days for the ice to clear off the drive. 

     The kids gathered any item from the house and the barns remotely resembling a sled.  They spent four and five hours "sledding" for three straight days.  Curtis got out there to bring up more wood, and ended up taking several rides with them.  Curtis Wade is riding the steel frame of our computer table!  He went head over heals when it abruptly stopped, screaming like a little girl.  If only I had that one on video!  I had tears in my eyes, I laughed so hard.

     There were those of us, though, that much preferred the warmth and safety of the den.  I choose life.  The puppy, the baby, the toddler, and I stayed by the fire, nice and toasty. 

 After all, you can't really sled in your "babin'suit".

 "How long before they come in?"

 The outtakes.  Look at the kids.  Funny.