Sometime between the 30th of March, and the 1st of April, my little baby sister  went to live in heaven forever. Although the baby was a few weeks from being able to determine the gender, we belive she was a little girl.
My parents had bought a baby doppler machine, so up untill the time she passed away,  Mom listened to her heartbeat everyday, and the rest of our family often joined in. It was such a neat experience to be able to hear it, especially since we did not have the machine with the other babies that were miscarried.
We were all very shocked to lose her at fourteen weeks, and disapointed that we had waited untill twelve weeks to tell people, since then we were not able to share the happiness for very long.
It just makes you wonder why God would allow us to have that hope, and make our plans and dreams, only to have them torn away three and a half months later.
 Following God's will for your life and walking in obedience to His Word does not ensure earthy happiness at all, but it does reap rewards in heaven. I know that this little baby is just one more precious life that will forever be able to worship God, along with the other four other babies, because of my parents' willingness to let God choose the size of our family.

Jerimiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Romans 8:28 
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Blessings,
             Kelsey

You're Tagged!

Here are my questions for the people I'm tagging.

FBI agent or chef?

If you could have any car you wanted, what would you pick? (has to be an actual car)

Vacation in the mountains or at the beach?

Laptop or ipad?

What was the age of your parents when they married?

What is the  color that  you love but can't wear?

Do you prefer skirts or pants?

Would you rather have a debate with someone, or shallow conversation?

Would you rather go horseback riding or go have tea at an expensive tea house?

Have you ever been to an amusement park? (Kings Dominion, Busch Gardens, etc.)

Do you want to go sky-diving?

Okay, those are your questions,and here are the people I'm tagging. I think it's actually supposed to be eleven people, I don't know if I'll be able to think of that many.

Abigail Taylor

Gavin Larum

Katie Wilson

Homeschool on the Croft

Munck Sisters

Anna

Oliver Alexander

Graham Donahue

Daniel

Matthew

Yesterday, Today, Forever

Okay, that's eleven people.... I have alot of blogs on my dashboard, but about a third of them haven't posted for at least six months. *Clears throat* and two  of the people I picked haven't posted in two years! Is it a rule that you have to pick people who are actually connected to the blogging world currently? *hmmm*
Hope y'all have fun with it!

~Kelsey

Yes, We Are Still Alive!

I'm not sure if anyone will read this or not, but yes, Kelsey Butler is still alive, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. ;) I hope all of you are doing well.
We had a great Easter, and I'm pretty sure that Mom had  a good Mother's Day. :)
As all of you know, Osama bin Laden is dead. I have to say when I heard that, I wasn't quite sure what to think. (well to be honest, at first I couldn't even remember who he was)
I think I was about to turn six years old on September 11th. I can remember watching on the News the pictures and things, and a while later in my grandfather's house, looking through the huge book full of pictures about the catastrophe. I really was too little to understand anything about the people who died, or  any of the subjects related.
So, when I heard that Osama was killed, I have to admit that I felt a deep sorrow for him. Since I was to little to understand the hate surrounding the event on Sept. 11th, I didn't feel like rejoicing or anything like that when I heard the news.  I hadn't ever really felt any anger towards him, or any feelings at all for that matter.He had never directly affected my life.  But if he had, I wonder how I would feel now? Would I still feel sorry for him, that he never was able to experience true fulfillment through Christ? Or would I feel like America had had it's revenge on him, like so many others? "Revenge is mine sayeth the Lord."  He's now in hell, where he will stay forever.
Forever is a really powerful word, and I've been thinking about it for a while. I'm going to be in Heaven forever, and I hope you will to, but do you ever think, "It must be boring to be in the same place for forever." Well, let me tell you something! Have you ever had just a really good time, doing something wholesome,and thought, "I could do this for forever and never get bored."  Heaven is going to be something like that, but even better, 'cause it will be forever with you true friend, the one who will never leave you, nor forsake you, the one that you can always count on, and knows everything about you. Just something to think about.
I'm sad that Osama's life was so full of hate; he never had a chance to experience true love for anything worthwhile, because hatred and murder were the driving forces in his life. He thought by killing those people, he could somehow gain a place in paradise. He is now in torment, living a life in hell, which isn't even life: it is a time of continual death, with no relief, whatsoever.  I can understand how people could feel so much anger and hate against him, especially if they had a friend, or loved one who died, or suffered as result of Osama's hate. But if you are angry with someone, you have committed murder against them in your heart, no different than what Osama has done. The only difference is contact, but to God, it is the same.
If you'd like to, you can leave a comment to express your thoughts on the matter.
~Kelsey

Random... just for fun ;)

Here are a few random things... I hope you will find them interesting!

~A few months ago, only our service was having communion, instead of all the services. (there are three, plus an evening service) So Daddy was discussing with Mama where he could find Matzo crackers. If you don't know what Matzo crackers are, they're these tasteless wheat crackers made of wheat flour and water... yuck! (if you haven't had them before, be glad, you aren't missing out on anything) Anyhow, after Mama told Daddy where he could find them, she told him she thought they were yucky. If you personally don't know my dad, he is such a servant to others and very friendly, and he loves to make people happy. So, he bought garlic flavored Matzo crackers! (we didn't know he did though) So on Sunday morning, while we were taking communion, after everyone had their "bread" a strange murmur went through the room. We were trying very hard not to laugh, when Pastor Bradd said," I know if I don't say something, someone else will. It seems that the body has some spice this morning!" So then the whole congregation burst out laughing. It was really funny, especially since Daddy is famous in our house for adding strange spices to things.

~The other day Anna found a tiger cowrie shell laying on the kitchen counter. She picked it up and said, "If this was in our house long enough, could we hear people arguing?" It was truly funny, especially since she really thought that one could "hear the ocean" in it because it was in the ocean so long. ;)

~Tomorrow is my brother Daniel's 11th birthday! It is really neat though, because he is turning 11, it is on the 11th, and it is the year 2011! Isn't that cool?

~Kendal invented a new game for us called,"Brainstorm." this is how you play it. You think of a category, like countries, states, trees, plants etc. Then you set a timer for anywhere between one and four minutes, and in that time you have to write down as fast as you can, as many things you can think of that belong in that category. It is alot of fun! It is amazing how hard it is to think of things sometimes though! A really super hard one is, "places where you can buy food, or eat." I won last night with 17! Daddy won the countries and states category with forty some though! :)

~When I was little, the subject of many odd and unusual dreams were the "flying monkeys" from the Wizard of Oz. Daddy said his was the "child snatcher" from Chity chitty bang bang.

~A fun thing that Kendal and I do sometimes is fabric and dress trading. I'm usually the one trading the fabric for dresses though! (and shirts) the other day, I traded some fabric for a new dress, and a short crocheted sweater for a new blouse! I think I got the better part of the deal that time though, because Mama said the blouse looks better on me than it did on her. ;) But the sweater does look good with the dress she made out of fabric I traded her for a matching shirt and skirt she made! I took pictures of all the things we've traded recently, I'll post them soon.

I hope all of you are having a great week! ~Kelsey

What do you measure your productivity by?

What do you measure your productivity by? Or what are your thoughts after a day has ended or just begun? Is it, "how was I able to bless others today?", or is it,"I wonder what I can get out of this social event/time with church family." Or even, "I wish I had been able to have some more free time, or do something for me today." As human beings we are so selfish and in general such takers, instead of givers.(and quite prone to exaggerating, though some more than others) I'm sure at some time or another we have been guilty of this, and even recently I have caught myself thinking "I hope this will be fun for me." It is so worldly to be thinking this way, and even acting on these thoughts. Especially since it is opposite of what Jesus did in his daily life. He was always giving of himself and sacrificing his will and even daily needs even until his very last seconds on this earth. I especially see this shown when Jesus is dying on the cross and he asks John to take care of his mother, he was constantly seeing to the needs of others.

I'm sure we can all do more to serve others instead of ourselves. Is it not part of being a Christain, everyday dying to ourselves and following Christ?

It is such a sad and empty life when people serve themselves constantly, instead of others. I'm sure that if you are paying attention to life around you you have found that the people who are most enjoyable to spend time with are those who are servants to others, and the ones who seem to enjoy life to it's fullest.

Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful week,

~Kelsey