What a blessing it was to be in the house of the Lord this morning. We had a WONDERFUL service. The presence of the Lord was so strong in that place and so was the love of the people. I am SO very thankful for our church family. Please join us in praying for the Watkins family, their 28 yr old son was diagnosed with cancer this week. I am believing God to do great things in Kevin's life and body!!! God is moving at Oasis and we are so thankful for what He is doing in the body and who He is bringing to join us. We have a lot of great activities coming up which include Membership and Baptism. I am looking forward to it!

On a personal note....we have been talking about a shifting and a shaking going on...well, the Lord did some shifting and shaking this week in our circumstances and I am happy to say that we signed a contract on a new home this week!!! It was all God!!! I could seriously write a book on everything that fell into place for this to happen. Danny & I along with the kids are so thrilled that we will no longer have to rent, but will have a home of our OWN!!!!!! 

 
Our new home...a work in progress!

We are closing at the end of May and are so thrilled. To all of our Oasis family who has offered up their services to help us move, thank you, bless you, thank you.....did I say bless you?

We have been leasing from a wonderful couple that live in another state who are believers also. They are very sweet people and I feel like we have known them for a long time. Please pray for them that they will be able to sell or lease their home and that the Lord will meet their needs.

I am looking forward to a blessed week. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us. I am also looking forward to spending a little (hopefully) extra time with Danny this week as he is off! Thank you for joining us in prayer for the Watkins family and for Wayne & Sharon. I love you all very much and can't wait to hear from you. Love & Blessings, Cheryl

Thanks to all of you who helped with our Flat Stanley Project! We completed it tonight and sweet Kylie will turn it in tomorrow.


Here is Kylie with her completed project!

Flat Stanley visited Nana's work where he got to meet the General Manager, received an ID badge, got to learn about Water Quality and he even got to go to the lab to see samples of fish that were taken out of the Brazos River.
Flat Stanley in the lab with the fish.

Flat Stanley also visited one of my friends from high school who is in Nursing School. She took Flat Stanley to her clinicals. He ate some cookie that the nurses had gotten from the Great American Cookie Co. He then ate so much he got sick and had to ride in a wheelchair to the hospital. He even got his own hospital room. After the nurses treated him, he felt much and even climbed a radio tower!

Flat Stanley's hospital room!

Flat Stanley also traveled to Arkansas with my Aunt & Uncle to watch my cousin in concert.

My Uncle with Flat Stanley in Arkansas!


My Aunt with Flat Stanley in Arkansas!

We also received an e-mail from a friend of a friend in South Carolina - Thanks to Karen & Evelyn.

Thanks again to all of you who helped with our project. We REALLY appreciate everything you all have done for us.

On another note, our subdivision is having it's Spring garage sale this weekend. I have lots of junk to get rid of. Say a prayer that we will be able to get rid of a lot of stuff!!!! I also have some other very exciting news to share with you all very soon!! Hope you have a Happy Friday!!!!! Love & Blessings, Cheryl

Well, there's nothing like a "little" procrastination is there? We seem to have had a case of this come through our house. Kylie has a "project" due on Friday, (I hope her teacher is not reading this) which is really nothing more than something for mom to have to do. That is the honest truth. Anyway, they sent this letter home about a month ago and it seems that "Flat Stanley" (All you moms will know what book character I'm talking about) got lost in all the junk mail and school papers that lay around & here I am at the last minute scrambling. (No comments from the peanut gallery!) Seriously, I did not intend to procrastinate I just TOTALLY forgot about it until I read the teacher's update for the week on the internet this morning.  

The letter we received for the "project" which was to be mailed to a friend:

Dear ______________,

In school we read a book about a boy who got mashed by a bulletin board. His name is Flat Stanley. He wanted to go on a trip, so his family folded him up and mailed him to California.

I am mailing my Flat Stanley to you. Please take him somewhere and write me back telling me where he went. If you have pictures or postcards, send them too. I will take Flat Stanley back to school and share his adventures with my class. My parents will then display the letters, pictures, and anything you send on a poster board.

Thank you for helping me with this project. I wish that I could fold myself up and visit you.

I love you,
Kylie

Here is the Flat Stanley that Kylie colored at school:

She must have been in a hurry when she colored it and yes, his head is a little jagged from her cutting! Looks like he had "surgery". Wink, wink!!!!

So, this desperate mom would appreciate any of you who would print and cut out Flat Stanley and take a picture of him with you or your family having an "adventure". It could be anything from sitting on your computer at work, to eating dinner with the family, working outside, reading a book........ etc. You get the idea? E-mail the picture back to me at cheryl@oasischurchtx.com with a short paragraph explaining what City and State you live in along with what Flat Stanley is doing. I will print the pictures and post them on a poster board along with the explanations of what Flat Stanley is doing. I would appreciate your help SO very much!!!!! I need them back by Thursday morning so I can have time to print the pictures.

Thank you guys in advance for your help!!! I'm looking forward to seeing how many responses we get and from where!!! I'll update the blog later in the week (and possibly post your picture of Flat Stanley if that is ok with you, let me know) with what kind of response we received.

Hope you all have a blessed week! We are getting some much needed rain in the Austin area today. Be careful out there!
Love & Blessings to you my friends,
Cheryl

We had a great weekend!!! How is it that the weekend goes by so fast and the week goes by so slow??

Saturday night we had our first Marriage weekend for Oasis Church. It was a couple only event and we had such a great time!

Me & Danny before Marriage Weekend

We were so grateful to David & Susan for hosting the event in their home. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, food and teaching. Since the subject was marriage, we also enjoyed a few laughs as well. It was a great event! I can't wait for the next one! A couple of people left before we snapped some pictures, but I wanted to post these anyway!

The "Girls"

The "Guys"

We had a great service today! The kids started a new series called P.U.S.H. - Pray Until Something Happens! The kids really enjoyed it.

I'm looking forward to a great week! Another busy week ahead! Our community is having their Spring garage sale on Saturday and I have plenty of junk to get rid of!!! Kylie has something special this week at school on Friday and I can't wait to share that with you. I hope you all have a great week! I can't wait to hear from you my friends. Love & Blessings, Cheryl

I received an anonymous comment this week from someone saying they missed my blog. I don't know who it was, but thank you. I have also had people come up to me and ask me to blog. So, here you go!!!

It's honestly been sort of a strange season of life, the last year or so. Not all of it has necessarily been in a bad way. I try to share what is going on in our lives and maybe I "expose" us a little too much. I just am so proud of our little family, they are such a joy to my life, I can't help but share them with you. There have been some things that have gone on outside of our four walls that have made me reflect, cry and ultimately cry out to God. There have been times that I have just simply "pitied" down. But through it all, I am so thankful that He has never left me or forsaken me. God is so faithful and I am so thankful for what He is doing in my heart and life. I'm looking forward to what He has in store! I'm also so very thankful for my husband. I am so honored to have him in my life. I love him more everyday!

The other part of my not blogging has been that we have been SO busy with life!! I have been working a few more hours and Danny always stays busy with his work. Besides all of that, we have been really busy with the church and all of the activities that go along with that. I'm so amazed at what God is doing and who He has brought to join us. It's so exciting!!!! I'm really looking forward to the Marriage Weekend tonight. I hope you will join us!

On another note, here is a picture of the kids from back in March. We drove around for about 30 to 45 minutes looking for Bluebonnets and we could not find very many. But, here is our picture anyway!!!

Jon, Kylie, Kelsey & Abby

As far as the kids go.......Jon and Kelsey have been busy working on their schooling through the University of Texas. Jon has been doing lawn maintenance and Kelsey is gearing up for her summer babysitting job. Those two are so funny!!! They keep us laughing all the time!!!!!! The "little" girls as we so fondly call them are winding up another year of school. It's hard to believe how fast it goes by. Abby is finishing up second grade and we are looking forward to her field day in a couple of weeks. Kylie is finishing up first grade. We enjoyed her field trip to the Austin Science and Nature center this week. She also has her Author's Tea for the book that she wrote this year. She also has a field day coming up. Of course, they are ALL looking forward to getting back in the pool and all that summer has in store.

So, thank you my friends for loving me. You never know what your words of encouragement or kindness mean to me. I look forward to sharing many more tales of what is going on in our family. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!!!!! Love & Blessings, Cheryl

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so the kids and I went to visit her for her big day! We had a great time as we ate way too much pizza and cake. We visited and spent the night. Then today we ran around and did some stuff with mom. We all enjoyed our visit so much. The kids enjoyed aggravating Grandpa! Happy Birthday Mom!!!


Me & my sweet mom celebrating her birthday

I'm really looking forward to our church service tomorrow. I'm expecting great things!

I'm also looking forward to Spring Break this week. I am so excited about getting to spend some extra time with Danny & the girls. I think we all need a little break. Spring fever is in the air!!

Love & Blessings to you my friends.

For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis, you know that I stick to mostly telling about my family or whatever is on my mind. But I have something that I wanted to share.

There was a story on World News tonight about the Loss of Faith in America. It was stated that in America as a whole, people are abandoning organized religion. It was also stated that people claimed to be "spiritually anchored" but they were not part of a local church body. That really saddens me. There is such a joy in coming together as the body of Christ. One of my favorites scriptures is found in Psalm 122:1 where it says, "I was glad when they said to me,  Let us go to the house of the LORD." That has been my whole life. Thanks to the upbringing that my parents gave me in the house of the LORD; I remember being at church every time the door was open. I do remember sleeping under the pew as a little girl, drawing on fun pads during church and as Danny would say, watching the ladies dance until their hairpins fell to the floor. HA!!! I also remember awesome times of seeing my parents being refreshed, but also feeling it myself. The house of God has always been such a comfort to me, no matter what I was going through in life.

One poll that they gave said that in 1990 Americans who identified themselves as Christians was at 86% and as of 2008 that had dropped to 76%. 15% of Americans stated that they had no religion. In 1990 Americans that identified themselves as atheists was at 900,000 and in 2008 it was at 1.6 million. I could say I'm shocked by these numbers, but not surprised. There have been so many areas in our country that have been comprised.

We have a lot of work to do my friends. There is a lost and dying world out there, it could be your family member, your neighbor, your boss, your child's teacher or even a close friend. Can I encourage you today to share the love of Christ with that person? People are seeking for answers in these hard times and there is no greater time than now to share the Love of God. As I said in my blog recently, we have had 14 adult salvations in the last 3 weeks alone at our church. It's all about relationships; relationships with others and relationship with the LORD!!!!!

If you do not have a home church and you live in the Round Rock area, I invite you to come and check out Oasis Church. We are a body of believers that are passionate about our relationship with the LORD. And to seeing those who are lost, broken and hurting restored to the Father. If you live elsewhere, find a bible based body of believers that will encourage and aid in your walk with the LORD.

My heart aches for the lost, broken and hurting. May I see through His eyes of Love.

I know we all have to Spring Forward with our time, however, I have chosen to Spring Forward with my attitude. I know that there lots of things going on in my life and in the world that I have at some point or another allowed to have a negative impact on me. I've come to realize after a long and sometimes painful process, my "worrying" gets me absolutely nowhere. I choose to trust in the Lord and in the power of His might. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for not only myself, but my family and our church family as well. Can I encourage you to do the same this week?

On another note, a lot has happened since I last blogged. We celebrated Abby's 8th Birthday. She is growing up so fast and is such
a sweetie. She is such a character and she always brings a lot of joy to us. I love you Abby!!!
 

Danny & I also had our anniversary, although, we have yet to have to celebrate. I'm looking forward to something that he called a date. Does anyone know what that is? I think I sort of remember something like that.

God is on the move at Oasis Church we have had 14 salvations in the last three weeks in the adult service and 6 children. This week we have a lot of members out of town for various reasons and we missed everyone!!!!! I'm looking forward to our fellowship meal on the 22nd!!!!

One last thing, one of the members of our church who has been coming since August was speaking Wednesday night of a dream she had many years ago. She mentioned that the dream happened when she lived in Panama. I began asking her questions such as did she go to church when she lived in Panama and if so where. She said yes that she did, she said that the Pastor was a tall man with a beard and he was a nice looking man. She said that the church was up on a hill with lots of steps leading up to and it had a large porch. I looked at her and smiled and told her that she had attended the church that my grandparents pastored in Panama. We hugged and cried. She told me that her husband had bought my grandfather's toolbox. What a small world we live in. And what a blessing to find out that connection. My Memaw called last night to remind me to take a picture of her at church, but of course, this morning, we could not find the camera. So, Memaw...I will have to do it another day.

I'm looking forward to a great week!!!! How about you? I love you my friends and can't wait to hear from you!!!

Today is my love's birthday, he says that he is celebrating the 10th anniversary of his 29th birthday. I think he thinks that sounds better than saying 39.


One of my favorite picture of me and my sweet

Danny is such a blessing to my life. He is my best friend and he makes life fun, exciting and very special. He is a great husband, father, pastor and friend. He truly cares about people and is very eager to share Jesus with whomever he comes in contact with.
I'm honored to be his wife and I can't wait to see what God has in store for us as we continue each year celebrating another year of God's goodness, grace and mercy.

Happy Birthday Danny! I love you!

After the little girls went to bed on Friday night we finally had the opportunity to watch the movie "Fireproof". It was a great movie and I highly recommend it.

Last night we hosted our 2nd annual Father / Daughter dance here at the house, we had a great time. We cleared out the living room so we would have a "dance floor"  & we put up balloons and decorations. We had "party" food and punch. The girls dressed up for Dad and they had a blast dancing. I laughed so hard I cried. It was a very special time. We haven't had a lot of family time lately & let me tell you, it was priceless. I love my family very much.


Kelsey, Abby, Kylie and Dad

Today was our 2nd service in the new building and it was another exciting day. I'm so thankful for our church family and appreciate so very much all of you who help.

I'm looking forward to a great week and hoping we get some much needed rain (both natural and spiritual.) I love you my friends and can't wait to hear your thoughts. Love & Blessings!