Happy Birthday to my ter-RICK-fic guy!

Happiness is spending every day with your very. very. best. friend.

I love that God knew exactly who I needed.......and who needed me. He created Rick and I for each other.

I prayed many times as a teenager for my future husband.

I couldn't wait to meet him someday!

He has many amazing and Godly characteristics that I love and admire.

He really loves God. He really loves me. He really loves our kids. Those are probably my three favorites.

He is masculine. He is patriotic. He is punctual. He is funny.

He loves coffee, hunting, burritos and pick up trucks.

He LOVES his church! He loves his people so much. I wish everyone could see his heart like I do. He so much wants each of them to grow in their service for the Saviour.

He sacrifices for his children. They think he is the greatest guy in the universe. And they are right.

He loves and collects sermon tapes and listens to preaching every chance he gets.

He loves good music and makes sure we have a wide variety of it in our home.

He is quick to forgive and he doesn't hold a grudge.

I love him more every day. He is my every dream come true, my every prayer fulfilled. "I fell in love without the fall; I jumped right in my heart and all."

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! I love spending every day with you!

Happy Serving the Lord!

What a joy to spend our days serving the Lord. And what a joy to find old friends still serving the Lord after many years apart from each other.

We had the wonderful honor to spend time this week with Andrew and Laura (Plummer) Steers. We knew them back in our college days......which is starting to seem like a very long time ago! "Iron sharpeneth iron...." We feel refreshed, convicted, encouraged and challenged after spending time fellowshipping with these humble, Godly missionaries.

We are honored to serve God alongside hundreds of other friends literally around the globe. May each of you have a wonderful Sunday!

Happy Birthday, Preacher!

What do you say about someone who has influenced your life in ways that cannot be measured?

Bro. Hyles, as we affectionately called him, was my pastor for sixteen years. And even when we moved away and my husband pastored a church, we still thought of Bro. Hyles as our pastor.

Under his ministry I was saved and baptized. I surrendered to full time Christian service under his preaching. He counseled me about where to work and who to marry. He officiated our wedding ceremony and made it such a special, meaningful event. He rejoiced with us as he met our babies. He counseled us as we went into the ministry. And he helped us when we struggled in the ministry.

He always made me feel like he was proud of me.........

.......so I strived to live up to that. What a privilege to have grown up in his ministry!

He loved people and gave each of his very best.

He loved his God and gave Him his very best.

He is still my hero. My husband and I named our third son after him. He may be gone, but he is not forgotten. Heaven is sounding sweeter all the time. Happy Birthday, Preacher! We miss you every day!

Our Most Recent Family Picture

It has been so long I wonder if I remember how to blog! Thought I would give this a test run. :) Thanks for stopping by,

What If.....

I will never forget sitting in college chapel one day and one of my favorite student soloists got up to sing. That particular day she sang a song I had never heard before. It was titled "What If Someone Had Not Shared?"

I was mesmerized by the message as my mind journeyed back to that day that someone shared with my family the Greatest Story ever told.

You see, the story of my family is that someone cared enough to knock on doors in middle class America in order to spread the Gospel. The new preacher in town who was starting a church in his home came by with one of his deacons. My parents were saved because these two men cared enough to come by and knock. And my parents jumped into everything the church had to offer. And this four year old girl observed the many changes her parents made over the next few years and concluded that God must be real.

Our family has traveled an incredible journey. We have had our ups and downs. Our imperfections seem to stare us in the face more often than we would like. But God has blessed the Nesbitts beyond all measure! Our family has all attended Christian schools and Bible college. We have seen hundreds of people saved and baptized. We children have grown up and married fantastic Christian spouses. We are all involved in full-time Christian work and are now rearing the third generation for God.

And it is all because one man heeded God's voice. One man said, "I will go."



I could never adequately express my gratitude to Pastor Tom Asbury. Where would I be if he had not cared? Who would I be now if he had not obeyed? How drastically different my life would have been if he had simply NOT gone that day.

But he went. And we were changed.


(My Dad and Pastor Asbury)


I am grateful to his family who made his pastoring possible. They opened their home and their hearts. I am so thankful.

So often I have failed to go. Too often I failed to knock. Excuses are easy to come by and Satan is a ready supplier. But I must strive to do better. I must reach out. I must do my part.

Because someone shared with me.....

...And I am forever changed.


Thanks for stopping by,

Girlfriends

I have been so very blessed with the greatest of girlfriends as I have journeyed through life.

I truly feel like I have been blessed with true friends....more than one person deserves to have.

Here are my three favorite girlfriends-my sister, my daughter and my Mom.



I have always been a bit social and I enjoy meeting new people. I feel like I have always made friends easily and I tend to talk a lot. I also ask lots of questions which can drive some people crazy. ;)

But it is just because I tend to find people fascinating and I want to know them better.

I have moved around some in my lifetime and made friends wherever I have lived. It is so fun to have friends now literally around the world.

And now I watch my own daughter make her own girlfriends. She had several shy years where making friends did not come easily, but now she is blossoming into a young lady and her social skills are improving-which is a good thing as her friendships have become very dear to her. She loves and adores her brothers. They play a unique and special role in her life. But she also craves feminine interaction. More than what I alone can provide. We have started having girls over every Sunday afternoon. It is a time Rachel eagerly anticipates. She loves the girl time and the girls love talking her Dad into getting ice cream every week. ;) (He never seems to mind!)

As a teenage girl I had heart-to-heart talks with my Mom who has always been my number one girlfriend. She understood my need for close girlfriends who were my age and helped me seek out good, godly girls to spend time with. She never acted hurt that I needed more friendships in my life. She diligently prayed with me through a lonely time in my life and rejoiced with me when God provided a particularly special friend after that season of prayer.

All this rambling is because of a picture I took this last month. I took a picture of Rachel with some of her girlfriends at church. It reminded me of a picture I have of myself with my church girlfriends years ago.

This was taken in May, 1990. What a long time ago!





And this was taken in December, 2010. Some of the girls in this picture are related to one of my friends in the previous picture. Both pictures are taken in the same room. :)



I am so thankful for the special friendships God is already blessing my Rachel with.



This "friend"helped her through her "shy" years. (Shy...what is shy? I have never experienced that!)



Special memories....



I love it when Rachel makes a friend with a daughter of one of my long time friends.



Damsels in distress...



American Girl party...



Hana and Rachel...forever giggling...




Sometimes your best friends are cousins...



I am so thankful that my Mom is more than Rachel's Grandma....she is Rachel's friend, too. What a godly influence.



They obviously enjoy each others company!



We LOVE this girlfriend! I truly have the greatest sister in the world. And, yes, I really believe that. She is the greatest. Period. End of story.



My Mom used to tell me over and over again that one of her greatest joys was that her daughters grew up to be her best friends. I believed her.....

....but now I think I understand what she was trying to tell me.




To all my girlfriends wherever you are....I appreciate your part in my life. I love you!


Thanks for stopping by,