Last Saturday I drove to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for an engagement shoot, just me. I realize that doesn't sound like anything crazy. In fact, we drive near and far for photo shoots all the time. But, this certain Saturday all my usual companions were occupied. Bill had to work at Uno, Caroline was preparing the house for Easter and Abbie was cherishing her day with Stephen (long distance is no fun!). So, grandma and grandpa Baxter said they'd watch Jack and I headed up for the evening, all by myself. I'm not trying to over dramatize it or anything (because there's nothing dramatic to say) but it just got me thinking about how I'm never alone. I don't hate being alone. In fact I don't even always crave being with people, but I never don't want to be with my people. The 3 hours of driving and little walk through Lehigh University in silence was enjoyable. I sang in the car, quite loud. Bill never asks me to sing quieter... but he does sometimes turn up the music a little louder. I'm pretty sure it's to soften the blow of my belting. ;) I don't think he minds though. It was the day before Easter and it was so good to drive and remember Christ's death and resurrection, His goodness, and to sing along to "Because He Lives!" on repeat. This child can face uncertain days - because He lives! - "Because He lives, all fear is gone!" I watched the sunset as I drove, I tried to listen to cds that weren't working and knew that Bill would have been able to figure it out, I pulled into chck-fil-a and got some chicken nuggets and a coke zero to-go and I realized I'm better with my people. I knew it was true, but it's been confirmed. Sunsets, food, car rides, thinking, singing, funny things. They're better together. Better when shared. God has created us each so uniquely. And I love that all our lives are so different. I love that some people can't relate to this, because you're not me and I'm not you (deep, I know). He has equipped me for my life, with the people He has given me and they are good. And they make my life what it is, certainly not perfect and I couldn't be more thankful for it.

My basic conclusion is that I'm glad that God has brought us to where we are. Our future isn't clearly defined, but one of our main priorities is to spend life with each other, doing and pursuing what we love and care about while enjoying grace and the many gifts that we've been given, together.
Those are just some little thoughts. :)

To see the wonderful couple that I was shooting (I wasn't alone the whole time! :)) head over here to my photo blog.

It was a very busy weekend in the Baxter home. Easter was full of festivities. We enjoyed a morning full of fellowship, singing, laughter and teaching with our church family. They really do feel like family. Everyone joined us for dinner after church. My mom had prepared most of the a meal for everyone, while some of the ladies brought fillers and desserts. We all sat around for hours eating, talking, going back for seconds, enjoying more laughing and eating some more.  They all continued on and Bill Jack and I headed off to enjoy another dinner with Bill's family and grandparents. Great Grandma and Grandpa loved holding and bonding with Jack. It was a nice time. 

I was eating too much yesterday to take pictures of the events. I don't think that really counts as an excuse, but I'm gonna go with it.

I did get the photo though and it makes me very happy.

We are particularly enjoying our Monday today. A day off feels good. We went out for coffee earlier and sat and accomplished things. It's fun to work with Jack. He just sits most of the time and dozes off on our laps or plays with one of us while the other gets things done. It's nice. Then we enjoyed dinner with the family. 

It's the day after Easter and our minds a freshly reminded of Christ's resurrection. Running through my head are the words to two songs. 

"Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;My chains fell off, my heart was free,I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

And this one line, 

"This child can face uncertain days, Because He Lives."

Back Home

We had a very good week in Mississippi! It was such a cool opportunity for my dad. He did an amazing job and there are already opportunities coming out of it. It will be fun to see how they play out. I love to watch the ways that God weaves relationships, desires and opportunities in life to bring about His purposes. I'm sure you'll all hear more along the way.

It was good to be in a different place for the week. Tupelo, Mississippi was not at all what we expected. It was a happening town and everyone who's grown up there doesn't want to leave. That says something about a place. We would never have said, "Hey! We have a week to go anywhere... let's go to Mississippi!" But it's interesting to go to a place you wouldn't think to go. It was a distinct culture and an experience that will always effect my view of unknown places and the south.



 

We journeyed home on Sunday and Monday. Ever since I was a kid car rides have been something that I loved. We all looked forward to it. My parents deserve credit for that, they made it a happy thing to be together which made it easy to be content. It worked out well because we did a lot of being together and a lot of driving. We're hoping the same is true for Jack. Roadtrip #1 was a success, so that was good. :) Being in the car is such a unique way to hang out. Driving activities are some of my all time favorite things; talking, reading, singing, sleeping, eating... It's all good. We particularly enjoyed talking this trip home. It was vision building, faith bolstering, hopeful and fun. It's great to share dreams and goals with people that we love and trust. It's good to talk, discuss and laugh together. It brings joy to my heart.

It's good to be home with the rest of the family. There's a hole in our lives when they're not around. Our men are able to rest a little bit, although still jumping back into the swing of life. They made us proud this week.

Now off to Virginia to Abbie's first wedding shower! Hope you're all having a fabulous day.

Mississippi Pt.5

 We went to the Elvis museum today. We didn't actually go into the museum. But we did take the free walking tour, perused the gift shop and actually found it quite interesting! It was neat to see the truly humble beginnings of such an icon. I mean it's elvis. It's kind of cool.

We enjoyed lunching, talking, planning out the details of Abbie's wedding shower (we miss her) and just being in a different place and exploring. This was a good addition to the whole Tupelo experience. 

don't do them.

While we were off being tourists along with all the other Elvis fans in their beatup RVs, our men were off working hard. My dad is putting in 16+ hour days. Lots of studying and preparation and then close to 8 hours in the studio. Unfortunately, this new recording studio is having air conditioning problems. That means, my dad is teaching for many hours, under hot lights, with the air being around 90 degrees. He's holding up just fine, but that will drain you pretty quick. Bill keeps saying how great he's doing, even under the challenging circumstances. I'm so glad they're doing this together. I'm looking forward to joining them in the morning to take some pictures and be with them for a bit. 

Things are very good and we look forward to sharing more details along the way. :)

Mississippi Pt.4

It's a neat thing to travel as a wife and mom.  Mostly because I've always been able to watch my mom care for us all. She does so many things well.  She has a way of bringing pieces of home to wherever we go. It's often small comforts and they can so easily go overlooked. She just has this stress free, effortless way of making things go as smoothly as possible and it's great.
I love trying to be like her. It's a fun challenge. It feels good. :) A week away like this one, reveals so many the subtle ways that marriage is so beautiful. Watching her with my dad and experiencing it as Bill and I. It's so good to care for each other. It's a real image of God's goodness. 




Tonight we walked into a cool little authentic Mexican restaurant called D' Casa. My dad had just gotten a phone call, Bill was getting the baby settled, Jana was chatting with Caroline. Next to our table was a guy alone. Sitting, waiting for his family. He was in a wheelchair with a severely broken leg. I watched my mom so naturally and gracefully ask him about his leg. He's having another surgery tomorrow. He's just a guy who liked to deer hunt. She showed interest and care for him. She laughed with him as he told stories about it all. She encouraged him when he asked "They wanted me to amputate. Did I make the right decision not to? I often wonder that." He was introduced to the whole family, we all laughed and joked and he rested his hand on my moms shoulder and said, "It was so good to talk to you, Lisa. Thank you." 

That kind of story isn't rare for her. In fact she had another similar, funny interaction earlier this morning. It's so simple- but it's not.  She knows how to listen and what to say. She asks questions that show that she actually cares and wants to hear a response. Whether it's a stranger, coworker (she's got some good stories from the hospital!)  or a friend, she'll come away from any given conversation having said nothing about herself (she's very interesting) but having learned about a person.  She actually cares and she remembers. 

It's just cool. I love her. And I want to say more, but I won't. I'm just happy when I sometimes do things like her. I hope I do more. It's wonderful to live life so closely linked with someone so intentionally thoughtful. 




It was a good day in Mississippi. The boys worked hard at the studio. We have a sick feverish Caroline, but she's getting better. Jack took his first swim. He was a fan. Grant enjoyed himself immensely. In his very Grant way. :)

and now we sleep for a bit.  

Mississippi Pt.3

Today we got into our actual hotel for the week. It's quite nice and we're happy to get settled in. We pretty much relaxed for the afternoon, enjoyed the new hotel, unpacked and were together.
 We also had a good Taco Bell experience. I love when in life, something simple turns out really good and you just feel like talking about it. And you know that years down the road you'll go to Taco Bell for lunch and you'll be like, "That was good, but remember the Taco Bell in Tupelo. That was great! Southerners know how to do Taco Bell. That was a good experience." And it becomes a memory, even though it's such a small thing. Do you know what I mean?

Some of you may wonder what has brought us to Tupelo, Mississippi. Elvis is cool and all, but his birthplace wouldn't quite have been at the top of our list for destination sites. My dad's brief Facebook description sums it up, below. 

"So, we are driving South tomorrow to a television studio in Tupelo, Mississippi (the birthplace of Elvis Presley). At the thoughtful and generous request of The Potter's School (Springfield, VA) and the American Family Association, I will spend three days in an HD video studio recording a 12 part DVD teaching series entitled "Generations of Grace." It is a great privilege to have the opportunity to announce the glory of God, His grace, and His happy vision for family-life. The DVDs will be a tri-production of the AFA, The Potter's School, and our own Enjoying Grace Ministries. They will be distributed through the AFA, used by the Homeschool Channel and The Potter's School's international discipleship activities. Lots more to this unfolding opportunity, but that's the introduction, for all of you friends out there who we would ask to pray for us throughout this intense, exciting week. Pray for Bill Baxter as well, who will be recording conversational clips with me, that will be used throughout the DVD teaching sessions."

When they requested for him to come down and do these recordings, their plan was to fly him down for the majority of the week by himself. We immediately wanted to be a part of this with him and were able to make it work. Even if it meant just driving down and back with him so that we could be together, it was worth it. My dad is passionate about each member of our family. He shows so much love and care in each one of our lives and through every new circumstance and opportunity. 

We had to be with him for such a neat adventure. Our hearts are knit together. 

He'll be talking about the heart of God. The delight that the Father has for us, His children. The prodigal sons and their prodigal Father. The Pharisees and why they matter. God's lavish and abundant goodness and grace. I want to say more but my little bullet point sentences don't do it justice. This is defining to the vision of life and the Gospel that drives his ministry. It is good stuff. If you know my dad, you would know that these themes are dear to his heart.

My dad has been a pastor since I was born. Every Sunday that I can remember, he has woken up at 5 in the morning (if not earlier) to pray and finsish preparation for each message that he has ever spoken. He doesn't treat any of this stuff flippantly. He's an excellent speaker and could prepare on the fly if he wanted to, but he doesn't.
 Each day, for the next three days he will be doing four full teaching times along with conversational clips with Bill as well. Please pray for him! That's a lot of teaching in a short time. I know that He'll do wonderfully and I know that God will give him strength, clarity of mind and ability to do this very well.

 I hope that he's even able to really enjoy it.  

I'm looking forward to letting you all know how things are going along the way. It's fun and I am so happy to be here and a part of it. Bill will be in the studio with him for the whole time. Mom, Caroline, Grant, Jack and I hope to be there a little as well. Abbie, Stephen, Adam, Jackie, and kids are so sad not to be here with us.  We are too and we wish they were. But we've enjoyed talking with them along the way. They're the best. :) 

These words are always an encouragement to me and are a refreshing reminder today;

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, 

according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. 

Ephesian 3:14-21

I love that. He won't just do more then we ask, as if we could be too greedy to desire and ask for God's gifts. He will do exceedingly and abundantly beyond what we could even think. 
It is good to be His child.

Thank you all for your love and prayers!

Lookout Mountain - Mississippi Bound pt. 2

"We are alive. We are here ... and we are laughing beneath a surly sky." - n.d.wilson

Yes, we are here. Today was another full day of driving. We all continued to enjoy ourselves, but were very ready to arrive in Tupelo and settle in. Today was full of many things. To name a few, changed plans, a solid handful of farm animals, oatmeal cream pies and some unique characters . Like the suspenders + santa clause tie wearing, talks about his canker sores + presidential candidates kind of characters.
I would like to elaborate on the quirkiness of the day. But I will not. You're welcome. :) 

We drove through Hackleburg Alabama today. It was a town devastated by tornadoes last April. At first we didn't realize that this was the result of a storm that we had seen on tv on my mom's birthday. The destroyed trees, land and homes was so huge that it didn't seem possible for it to have only been one tornado. The reality of seeing the kind of destruction, that you grow so familiar to seeing on the news, was sobering.

On a sweeter note we took a quick little pit stop to journey off the main roads to Lookout Mountain - the place of Grandma and Grandpa Ellis' honeymoon. It's South of the Border-esque in it's signage. The more signs we saw, the more we were convinced that it would be a happy thing to drive up the mountain and see where grandma and grandpa spent their first married days together. :) It was beautiful and I made a very simple, little video of it. You should probably watch it. -

We are very happy to be in Tupelo now. No more road trip adventures until the way home. Now to explore Elvis' birth town and do other Mississippi-ish things and get settled in for the week. Please continue to pray for my dad! Tomorrow will be a big preparation day for three very big days of teaching. It's a joy to be here with him!