Happy 1st Birthday William!

Today, we celebrated our angels 1st birthday. It was a day filled with many, many thoughts of him. Some sad thoughts, some happy thoughts, just alot of reminiscing about him. We laughed, we cried and most importantly, we thanked God for our time with His son. He was a gift, actually, he is a gift that keeps giving to all who know him everyday. We celebrated his birth at his graveside (I thank God daily that His earthly body is resting in a place full of our families heritage!), we released 12 balloons and prayed. His godmommie Servanie came down to share in this time with us. She said to me, "Lil Will does not want you to be sad all the time, it is OK to be happy and get back to normal." I definitely know, William wants us to be joyous and always remember what his obedience to our Father has taught us. Somedays, I am just sad! But, it is getting easier as the days go by. So today, Father we thank you for allowing us to parent Your son. We shall never take for granted the most precious gift of Prince William, yes! He is no longer Lil Will to us, he is William, our forever guardian angel. We love him and know he is resting in your arms. Amen.

The Messenger

I am still in awe of the beautiful portrait our dear friends Melinda and Jason Guerrero had made for us for Christmas! It is absolutely breathtaking. The best part about the painting is the story behind it. Melinda asked me for mine and William's favorite picture of Lil Will, so of course, we sent the one where he is pointing his little finger!( Preach! Teach! Spread God's word, my angel!) Melinda took the picture to an artist to have him paint just the picture of Lil Will. The associate told Melinda that she didn't think the artist would be able to paint just a picture of him on the size canvas she selected. When Melinda and Jason went to pick it up, she was not happy with the final product because it wasn't what she had requested and she didn't think we would like it. WE LOVE IT! The artist told her he painted it this way because Lil Will was an angel now, free of tubes (now what no one else knew was when I told William, Mel and J wanted a pic of Lil Will, he said I wonder what they are doing, whatever it is I hope they don't put the trach tube on there!) WOW! and he titled the painting, "The Messenger." When Melinda and Jason asked him why he titled the painting, The Messenger. He simply said, "Look at that finger!" How awesome is our God?! He ministered to this artist as he painted a portrait of Lil Will. The artist didn't know Lil Will or us or our story. What a blessing! There are not enough words for us to thank Melinda and Jason for this most special gift. We will cherish it forever! We love you guys!!

P. S. The last picture is the actual picture the artist used to create the painting!

A night out.....

Tonight it was nice to get dressed up and go out and have a good time! It was a great Christmas party shared with family (Tam & Den) and friends with lotsa of laughter, great food & drinks and some good ole fashion dancing! Happy Holidays to everyone!

Your will be done!

This morning as I was exercising the Lord was speaking to me and when I finished, I was listening to Hezekiah Walker's song, "I Need you to survive." What a powerful song! During my time of meditation as that song played, I felt the Lord with his arms around my shoulders and right now as I am typing this message He is still holding me. Are you feeling alone today? Has the depression snuck in because it is the holiday season? Today, the Lord says to you, allow me to hold you. Allow me to complete you. Cast your burdens upon me, I care for you! The scripture He gave me this morning is Luke 22:42, Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done. I read the scripture and this is what the Father said to me, think of the cup as your life, all of it, worries, concerns, bills, health, all these things that weigh you down. Give them to Me. We cannot both hold the cup so give it to Me completely so My will can be done. Enough said, I thank you Father for Your word. May each of you reading this post stand on what God has spoken to us today. Be blessed!

11 months old

Today, our angel is 11 months old! Time has flown by, even though his physical body does not dwell with us, his spiritual body is with us everyday! So, today, 11/28/2009, we celebrated Lil Will. We set off 11 balloons each filled with a picture of him and the address to his blog. Our continued prayer is that these balloons reach the people God has selected. For He is the only one who truly knows what each of us need, when we need it and He will supply each and every one of our needs. Some wonder, I am sure, was today a hard day for us, absolutely, but we still stand in faith that God knows what is best for us and never, ever gives any of us any more than we can bear. So, happy 11th month old birthday lil one, we love you, we miss you and you live in our hearts forever! To God be the glory for the great things He has done!

Joy, Joy, God's great JOY!!!!

It is very important to our family to never allow Lil Will's memory to fade from our lives. As many of you know, Lil Will's earthly body is at rest in our family cemetery so his meemaw and granddaddy keep a close on eye him everyday. William and I try to go visit him as often as we can but sometimes our ministry and work obligations prevent us from doing so. Thanksgiving was the first time in two months that we had the opportunity to spend sometime with Lil Will at his grave site. We knew we wanted to decorate his site for this holiday season and the seasons to come even after we have selected his headstone. Although it was hard to be at his site, it was also a very joyous occasion. His spirit was there with us and God's arms were wrapped around us as we decorated his Christmas tree and placed his reindeer at his head. God walked with us during this past year and He was walking around with us on today as we decorated His son's grave site. God filled our hearts with joy even though were sad that our angel was not with us physically to celebrate Thanksgiving. Our son spent the day with our Father. We do not have to worry where he is, we know he is in the perfect arms of our Master, safe and sound. So, Father, I thank you for life, I thank you for the gift of my son, William Thomas Myers Carlisle. I thank you for your grace and your mercy. I thank you that you are a God who cares for us, who supplies our every need and never gives up on us. You are so awesome! I thank you for the joy, you give me even when my heart may be aching, I know there is hope in you. I love you Father!

Today, find joy in everything you do, big or small. God loves you and he wants you to be joyful not only during this season but in every season. God Bless you all!!

Just goofing around

As the days go by we are starting to feel like ourselves again. For me the clouds are lifting slowly day by day. Today was hard but our love and our faith keep us going from day to day. This is just a few pics we took of ourselves on Thanksgiving night. We truly have many things to be thankful!