A Strong Statement

I was made aware of a speech that Rep. James Lankford of Oklahoma made on January 19, 2011.  This is a powerful speech that he made concerning the topic of abortion.  I would encourage you to check it out.  We need more guys like this guy in those positions.

Warning: one illustration that he shared is a little graphic, but it paints a clear picture of what is going on in our world today.

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Welcome, Cole Stephens

On Thursday, July 14, 2011, our family welcomed our newest member to this world.  Nicolas Carter Stephens ("Cole") was born at 9:42am.  He was 20 inches long and weighed 6 lbs and 1 oz.  We are very thankful to blessed to say that both momma and baby are doing great.  Here are some pictures that have been taken so far...







Notice the "mohawk" in the last pic?  Wasn't my idea, but I loved it.

God has truly blessed our family with three beautiful boys.  To the maker and creator of not just the universe but also my three wonderful boys, thank you so much.

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Blessed By Giving

Tonight was a special night for us. Early in the evening we went to the doctor to see if our three year old was correct. He kept telling us that we were having twins.

Normally, this wouldn't bother me, but the fact that he called our second child correctly (even down to the name) before we knew we were expecting caused concern and expectation on my part. Well, the three year old missed this one. We are only having one this time, and that's okay.

Seeing that little one and heartbeat was amazing. That was just the beginning of an amazing night. We decided to celebrate our 7th anniversary tonight. The real date is this coming Monday, but tonight was just a better night. We had no clue what God was up to.

We went to a local hibachi place for a nice dinner. There wasn't many people there so it made for a nice evening where we could actually hear each other. We were joined by a family of 5 at our grill. During the meal, we struck up conversation. When the subject of my profession (minister) came up, it went to another level. This family were believers who attend a fellowship in the area.

As the meal wound down, everyone began to get ready to leave. To my surprise, this family that we just met picked up our check and paid for our meal. Explanation: appreciation for the work I do (ministry of the Gospel).

It's amazing how God will just show up with a little happy for His children every now and then. To the Tomlinson's, thank you again for the blessing.

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Baby Checkup

As many of you know, we are expecting our second son this summer. We are very excited about the new addition to our family. As we approach the due date ever so quickly, we have began to think about some of the issues that we had with our first son, Drew. I believe that it was about this time during the pregnancy with Drew that Naomi began to have blood pressure issues. She was placed on bed rest for a while to prolong the pregnancy and give Drew a chance to develop properly. The blood pressure issues got to the point that we had to induce early. But all was good because we had a beautiful and healthy baby boy.

Today, we had a checkup and have started to notice a slight raise in Naomi's blood pressure. The doc wants to keep an eye on it and is starting to put some limits on Naomi (not bed rest yet). I ask that you be in prayer for Naomi & baby Sam that things will be okay with them and they won't have to go through the bed rest thing. That would be one of the crulest forms of torture for me.

It won't be terribly long now and our baby Sam will be here (due date is July 1).

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All Good

I went with my lovely bride this morning to hear the heartbeat of our second child. It was great. That is always a special time for our family because it was at that moment during our first pregnancy that we found out that we had lost the baby. So when that little machine starts thumping,we get excited because God has chosen to bless us with another life.

Now I can board a van with a bunch of teenagers and head to Boone, NC today. That's right, it's time for Student Life Ski. I am so excited about this trip. Please be in prayer for us that we first hear a clear Word from the Lord. Next, pray for our safety as we travel and ski/snowboard. We have a couple of visitors coming on this trip, so pray that we might make an impact on their lives and see them around our student ministry on a more permanent basis.

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Big News

Today, our big news hit the waves of communication. We found out this past Friday that we are expecting our second child. This comes as interesting news. We were not "trying" to have another child at the present time. Many times though God's blessings are not expected.

We ask that you be in prayer for us as we journey down this road again. We pray for a healthy pregnancy and that at the end of June or beginning of July we will have an addition to our family.

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