Sarah Rebecca Salters Loy

29 years ago today God brought another precious baby girl into our lives. Sydney was 27 months old and we were ready for another baby. Sarah Rebecca was born after about 12 hours of labor and welcomed into this world by her mama, daddy and our preacher, Bro Charles Harvey. I had been sent home with false labor several days before and my parents had come and taken Sydney back to Natchez with them. Everybody wanted to be sure I was really in labor this time so none of the grandparents made it in time for Sarah's birth. It didn't matter, as soon as they arrived and saw her she captured their hearts forever and she has been capturing hearts ever since! The night before Sarah was born we still had not decided on a name. We had no intention of naming our 2nd child something that started with an S but God did. I was reading my bible the night before I went into labor and read about Sarah and then about Rebecca. I asked Bill how he felt about Sarah Rebecca if this baby was a girl and he loved it. It also fit with our family, since my maternal grandmother's name had been Sarah and my sister is named Rebecca. The name Sarah means "Princess" in Hebrew and Rebecca means "to tie." From the time our "Princess" was old enough to talk, she has been "tieing" people together! God gave Sarah a unique and special love for people. She is not only loving.. but kind, caring, compassionate, sweet, honest, humble, faithful and much more. All through her childhood as people got to know her, they would ask me " Can we take Sarah home with us?" You hear people ask that sometimes and parents answer by saying something like.. "sure, you will bring her back soon!" knowing that you did not really mean it,....I can honestly say I never once answered that with Sarah... my answer was always, "No, you cannot have her!"

It is such a blessing for Bill and I to see her now as a wife and mother. One who is teaching her children the love of God and to serve Him. We are thankful for her husband, who is a fine Christian young man. What joy to see them serving God in His church and living their lives striving to please Him. How thankful to God we are to have Will, Macy and soon another baby boy Loy in our lives. God is SO good!

When Sarah was about 4 or 5 I guess she realized that people loved her.. alot..and one day we were introducing the girls to someone and after we said " this is Sarah, our middle daughter"... she looked up and said ..." I am the special one!" She hates for me to tell that story because she is so humble, but ...Sweetheart, you are indeed "special" and I am so very proud of you and thankful to be your mother! Sarah Rebecca, you are very loved!!

Spring and just rambling...

I am loving this beautiful spring weather! We have had so much rain and cold the last few days that I was about to go crazy. Now the only problem is that I am stuck inside my office today and tomorrow..:(

Have had "kids" at home since last Friday. Sunny came in Friday with two of her friends and my two granddogs. They did some touring Saturday and went to the Pageant that night. We enjoyed having them here! They left Sunday afternoon and about an hour later Sydney came in with Skyler and Mylie! The kids had dentist appointments Monday afternoon, which by the way were great.. no tears and no cavities!! Mylie was in the Little Maypole Monday night and was so precious! Will and Jeremy also got to town Sunday afternoon. Will spent Sunday night with us and had a blast playing with Skyler and Mylie. They are all gone back home now, but all(minus Sunny & Bud) of them will be here the last weekend in March to celebrate Skyler's 11th birthday and Sarah's 29th birthday. Pilgrimage seems to be going better than we thought it might. Lots of people intown and we are very grateful!! My friend John Moody is bring a group from his church in TX today. They will be here from this afternoon until Friday. Looking forward to seeing he and his wife, Beckie. Well.. this is a really random post, but at least I am posting!! Going to post some picts of Mylie in the Little Maypole!

Catching up!

Gosh.. it's been a long time since my last post. Guess I am not doing so well on this blogging thing. I guess it's because I feel like no one out there is even reading it, so it doesn't really matter. I will try to do better though.

My last post was on Sydney's 31st birthday. I still find it very weird that I have a child that old. I keep wondering when I will start "feeling" older. Not my body, cause I sure have aches and pains that tell me I am getting older, but the real me.. inside. In there I still feel like I am a young person. I still enjoy the music I always have, I still like to drive fast, I love to go places and do things, and I still care about how I look. I just wonder when that is supposed to change. Do you reach a certain age and all of a sudden stop all those things and start just being glad to be alive? I mean, I am definitely glad to be alive, but I do not want to JUST be alive... I want to enjoy my life until my last breath. Of course while I am enjoying it the most important thing is to be doing what God wants me to. Been reading a great book by David Jeremiah, "What in the World is Going On?" It answers lots of questions about what is going on in the world today and how it all fits in God's plan before the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. I have never really studied end time prophecy, but I am finding this book fasinating. I truly believe we are living in the last days and that Jesus could come for His church at any moment. I am ready... I hope anybody reading this is too! Get the book and read!

Sydney Carlisle Salters Magee

31 years ago tonight I became a mother. Sydney Carlisle finally arrived a little after 8pm after a LONG hard day of labor. It was worth every second of the pain!! I always knew that God had intended for me to be a mother and I was ready for that little bundle of joy when they placed her in my arms, but I wasn't ready for the instant, unconditional love that consumed me that I knew at that moment would last my entire life time. Sydney was our "only" child for 27 months and we ooowed and aaahhhed over her every move. She was a handful from the very beginning, being my only child to have colic! We had a period of unbelievable crying every night from 9pm until 2am from the time she was 1 week old until she was 3 months old. She then was a perfect sleeper from 3 to 6 months when she decided she did not want to sleep at all! By the time she was a little over one she was sleeping in a big girl bed, but not by herself. Every night from then on I would lay down with her laying on top of me until she went to sleep. Then I would gently slide her down in the bed and I would get up and go to my bed... this went on until she was 6 when she finally decided she was a "big girl." The years went by and our first baby girl grew into a teenager in what seemed like over night! Sydney continue the tradition in our family of being not only the first born, but the one to inherit her mother's, grandmother's and great grandmother's strong will! That made for some interesting times in our household! However, the joy that she brought to our family far outweighed those times! We have seen such evidence of God's hand on our Syd's life. He has used her to safe Sarah's life in the ocean one summer. He saved her life by using the Holy Spirit to literally wake her up and tell her to put her seat belt on minutes before a horrible wreck the week after she graduated from high school. Then on March 30, 1998 my baby became a mother herself and in the process made me a grandmother! The next couple of years were filled with ups and downs, but through it all I watched her strength, her courage, her faith in God and her determination bring her through. With God's help she worked full time, went to school at night, took wonderful care of Skyler and earned her teaching degree. God has blessed her tremendously! He sent a wonderful Christian young man, Tony Magee into her and Skyler's life in the fall of 2000 and he became her husband and Skyler's daddy in December of 2001. In May of 2004 they were blessed with the addition of Mylie Addison Magee. God continues to bless their family day by day as they strive to serve and love Him! I cannot begin to say how very much I love her and how very proud I am of the young woman, wife, mother and teacher that she is! I thank God for the privilege of being her mother. Sydney, you are very loved!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Wow... I haven't posted in over two weeks, since December 10th. Of course lots has happened since then...including Christmas!! All my kids were here and we had a great time being together. We ate way too much, laughed alot, learned how to play Wii and Guitar Hero and enjoyed our time together. Of course it was a normal household with a 10 year old, two 4 year olds and a 16 month old. It was loud and crazy...and there were some melt downs.. but over all it was great and we survived! And now here we are on the threshold of a brand new year.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! We are so very blessed and I thank God for His amazing love and the blessings we receive everyday! I am very thankful for Jesus, our family, our friends, our health, our church, our jobs and so much more! May He bless you and yours in this new year!

Tornado!

We had a wild night last night! We had a house full of people for a Sunday school Christmas party and had been having a great time.... eating, laughing and enjoying being together. We all knew that the weather was supposed to get bad but we were not ready for what happened. All of a sudden we heard this huge noise...weren't sure if it was rain or wind...we looked out the door and the wind was unbelievable!!! Then it started raining very hard. We went to our front porch and I heard the "Freight train" sound... had never heard that before. Whoever "they" are, are saying there was no confirmed tornado... I got news for them.. I will be glad to confirm it! Two doors down Glenn Mizell's patio cover was ripped from the house, blew over it and into Jeff Davis Blvd hitting Mike and Louan Peavy's car.. they were at the party at my house. Espero Dr looks like a war zone there are so many trees down.. Robert and Arlene Marler's house suffered extensive damage...the church also has extensive damage. Part of the steeple blew off and part of the Fellowship Hall roof too. I am going to try to add some pictures on here. We are very blessed that as far as we know no one was hurt. That is a miracle!! And now.. "they" say it's going to snow... I will believe that when I see it!!

Christmas is coming!!

It's the 3rd day of December, we have two Christmas parties at my house next week..one Sunday night and one Tuesday night... and my tree is NOT up and my house is NOT decorated. I guess I keep thinking the decorating elf is going to come get it all done for me. I will be off tomorrow afternoon and do not work on Fridays, so hopefully I will get it all done then.

We had a great time at Sydney's for Thanksgiving and then a wonderful long weekend in Destin. There is just no more relaxing place in the world to me than on "that" beach. I enjoy any beach anytime I can get to one, but the beach in Destin and the house in Destin are like going home to me. I did not have lots of beach time, but the time I had was great! I did have LOTS of shopping time and spent way too much money!

I love Christmas! I love the real meaning of Christmas, that God loves us so much that he sent His son in human flesh, to live and to die and pay the debt for my sins...way beyond my comprehension, but I believe it! I love having my family all together at Christmas... I love shopping for them and seeing their eyes when they open their gifts. I love riding around and seeing Christmas lights and trees in people's houses. I love putting ornaments on the tree and remembering where each one came from and what occasion it marked. I love being with friends and keeping traditions that we have established. I love getting Christmas cards and letters. I love having people over to my house. I love memories of Christmas's past when I was a child and when my girls were little. I love pictures and old home movies that show those Christmas's. Christmas brings me much joy and I am very thankful!

I know that there are many people who have a hard time at Christmas. They may have lost loved ones in the past year, or maybe at this time of year. They may have financial problems and not be able to buy for their family like they want to. There are many other problems that cause grief and stress especially at Christmas. We need to remember to pray for people we know who fit in any of these categories. We also need to do whatever we can to encourage them and lift them up.


I hope that you are all having a wonderful Christmas season and are getting ready to celebrate the birth of Jesus with your friends and family! Try not to let the stress of decorating, shopping, wrapping, cooking etc. spoil the season... remember we are the only one in charge of our attitude!! Let's all have the attitude of gratitude!!