Special Times...Special Friends

This is a small group of a few of the police wives whose husbands all got hired around the same time and we have all been friends for years. I have known most of these ladies for about 10 years. We have all seen a lot together.
We have been at some of each others weddings, in fact Susan on your far left was one of my bridesmaids. We have celebrated the birth of many babies together..a few of which have been TRUE miracle babies. We have grieved the very tragic and painful loss of a few children together. We have attended a couple very tough police officer funerals together. We have delivered meals to one another in hard times. We have seen A LOT in our police department over the years together. We usually manage to all get together a few times a year. What a truly special and dear group of women. I could easily share how very special each one is...it would takes days! :)

On this special night last week we all gathered together to celebrate sweet Sarah (3rd in from the left) and share in her WONDERFUL news!! Sarah, my heart is overjoyed for you and Rick...I love you! We all love you! You are a personal hero of mine.

Kimberly and Silke, thank you for bringing us together...you ladies are amazing!

Special thanks to Kimberly (kneeling and holding Sarah's hand)...you have such a heart and passion to reach out to ALL the police wives, and you work so hard to keep us connected and really create a true sense of family. You have done so much for us all over the years, words cannot express how truly thankful we all are. You are one in a million!

This is Jessy and I at the annual police banquet. Our husbands work together and Jessy and I also sing together at church. She is very dear to me, and has become a very special friend in my life. I love you Jessy!

Whew! I am feeling sappy today! :)

Great Devotion

"'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'"
Hebrews 13: 5b-6 (NIV)

Recently, I was at an event full of people. Everyone else seemed gabby and like they were effortlessly making easy connections with others. I just felt out of sorts. Someone had said something to me earlier that day that hurt my feelings and knocked me off kilter. It was one of those I would really like to be at home alone, in a bubble bath, eating something chocolate kind of nights. But I had to go to this outing, so here I was - lonely.

I politely smiled my way through the evening and finally got to go home. As I crawled into bed that night, I asked Jesus, "Why am I letting some thoughtless comment someone made affect me like this?"

There was no deep explanation. There was no Bible verse that instantly popped into my head. There was no sudden rush of peace through my heart. There was only a very gentle reminder in the depths of my soul that Jesus loves me - insecurities and all.

Jesus loves me. It's just a simple little song that I learned all those years ago. Very simple yet so powerfully profound, that one statement grounds me in the truth of who God says I am. Friends can't make you feel accepted all the time. Accomplishments will never truly make you feel secure. Having lots of people around you does not mean you won't ever feel lonely. And chocolate, while it is deliciously distracting, is just a little too temporary.

So, I turn to the One who is Everlasting, Prince of Peace, and Emmanuel - God with us. I draw close to Him so He can help me separate solid truth from shifting emotion. And I remember I'm never alone.

Dear Lord, "Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings." (Proverbs 61: 1-4) In Jesus' Name, Amen.


Has someone hurt your feelings lately? Typically people respond to hurtful things that are said in one of three ways:

1. Get angry with the person who hurt you. But this only hurts you more.
2. Internalize it and let it affect your mood and attitude. This hurts innocent others around you.
3. Or, take it to Jesus and ask Him if any part of this statement is true and ask him for help letting the rest go. Then, use this encounter to make you a better person instead of a bitter person. Now this is progress!

How can you prepare your heart for the next time someone hurts your feelings?

I've had to challenge myself with this question, "Do my feelings get hurt too easily?" Sometimes I have to say that they do. So, I am working on being less sensitive to others and more sensitive to the truth of God. The more filled up with God I am, the less I look to others for approval. And isn't the real root of others hurting our feelings really the lack of their approval?

Philippians 4: 4-6, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (NIV)

Philippians 4:8, "Finally, my brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- If anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." (NIV)

-Devotion by Lysa TerKeurst

Fun Times!

From an 80's party for Noelle to a Western Party for Melissa!!! :) Happy Birthday Mel!

A Cagle Christmas :)

CHRISTMAS EVE...
We started Christmas Eve off with a family trip to go see Santa!
This was the first year we have gone to see Santa and we had a lot of fun going to see him on Christmas Eve...this will be a new tradition in our family. The rest of Christmas Eve the 4 of us just spent together before John had to go to work at 11pm. We had a GREAT dinner cooked by...ME!! :) We opened some presents, read the Christmas story, and then drove to a local neighborhood famous for Christmas lights. It was a very special day. I finally got an IPOD...yay! And John got a new wedding ring! :) Of coarse I got his shoe size confused with his ring size so it will be about 6 weeks before the new ring (correct size) comes in! :)

CHRISTMAS DAY AT MOM'S


Johnny and Grumpy (my Dad)...Best Buddies!
On Christmas Day John got up after about 2 hours of sleep and we did stockings and had a BIG breakfast (again cooked by ME!). Then John laid back down for a nap for a couple hours while the kids played with their new toys and I cleaned up. Then we headed over to our Pastor's house for a little bit, and then over to my Mom's for dinner. After dinner, we all went to the movies and saw The Chipmunks movie...another tradition. It was a very nice relaxing Christmas.

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS....TUBING!!!!



This is another new tradition we started and LOVED this year! What a TOTAL blast! They have this whole tubing center up at the pass and they have tubing runs carved out and they are long and FAST!!!! But they are carefully carved out lanes....kinda like huge massive slides....and even though you go crazy fast...they are very safe....I never saw anyone fall off their tube or get hurt or anything. The Kelly's came with us and we had a GREAT time!









THE GIRLS COME FOR A WEEK!!!! We had another Christmas at my Mom's with the girls and gave them their gifts and such. It was really fun. They loved all their presents and they are always SO appreciative, and they always bring really nice gifts for us too!

My family! Dec 2007...Dad and his kids...John, Johnny, Taylor, Josiah and Storm
Gimme a kissy face!
Show me your biggest, cheesiest grin!
Gimme GANGSTA!

And finally...THE CHRISTMAS CONCERT....

OK, so it was on the 16th and I am just now posting about it. :) It went really well, and was a lot of FUN to do. I felt everything came together well. I really wished we could have had a full dress rehearsal and got everything set up a day ahead (lessons learned) cause I know the concert had the potential to be off the charts, but with that said it was still really good and I was SO proud of my team and everyone that participated to make it such a special day. The church seemed to LOVE it. The Seattle Times was doing a story on our church that morning and they were very impressed with the amount of talent in our church and the hearts of the people who serve in our church. We made the front page of the Sunday paper and had 2 more FULL pages! It was a great morning. I don't have any pictures of my own cause John was videotaping but here are a couple that I stole from Leonard. :)