Fronk has been here...

My sister and I shared a room until we were in junior high. Every night before bed she would snuggle up next to me and in the sweetest little sister voice you ever heard say, "Will you hold my hand?" I always did it begrudgingly. (Secretly I think I loved it).

She is by far one of my favorite people on this planet. I just love being in Stephanie's presence. I am so amazed by the woman that she has become- trusting God, seeking to honor Him, and living to love to the fullest. Not to mention, she is going to be the most diva country bride you have ever seen; she's going to put Carrie Underwood to shame. I am thrilled that we are having her wedding out here at the Ranch!

In honor of the festivities we brought in a celebrity wedding planner...




Okay, I wish. A girl can dream, right?

We have been working for the last several weeks to turn the ranch into Normangee's premiere wedding venue....











All with this little one under foot.





Wouldn't have it any other way.


We did get to steal away for a bit for mani/pedi time and some fun wedding errands.



Stephanie, I have cherished this time with you and can't think of any better way to begin 2011 than celebrating what God has joined together in you and Zach. I am so thankful I have your hand to hold as we walk through wifedom together; the best is yet to come. I love you.

Pics of the final outcome to come...

Its just the way things are...

Photo credit: Nicole Graves <3

Right now.

Child #1 has been an idol in my life for a long time. Whew! I said it. Idols they are the pits.

When he's doing good, then I'm doing good. When he's not (most days) then I'm not. It is the pits.

Idols come down hard.

On top of that, Jesus and I are working through some anger issues. Oh my, its messy around here lately.

That's the ugly truth and I love it.

Last night in the midst of an intense training session with my little guy, it HIT me!

It is my JOY to train him. Its my joy to restore him to a sound mind. It is my joy to return his sweet soul to the "circle of blessing' (Tedd Tripp). So there is nothing to be angry about. His sin is NOT personal. When he disobeys it doesn't mean I have failed. When he dishonors me that doesn't mean that I am a horrible mother. I would be all of those things a part from Christ but I have His Spirit living in me so "Because of His great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail." Lam 3:22

My scripture that I am memorizing for this two weeks is so good and NEEDED...

"IF any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual [who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit] should set him right and restore and reinstate him, without any sense of superiority and with all gentleness, keeping an attentive eye on yourself, lest you should be tempted also." Galatians 6:1

While we're talking about the rip your heart out thing, I just have to add that he is the hardest working 2 yr old I have ever known. He likes to mow and edge the rugs, he loves to vacuum, he is quick to take his dish to the sink, he lives to help make the bed, and the list could go on all day. If he's not working he's on his "hand phone" delegating to everyone else what they should be doing. He brings a whole new meaning to work ethic.

Today with as serious face as they come. He said, "Mom, can I PLEASE go in the pasture and pick up the horse poop?" Every mom's dream question, right?

We're going to the other side. Are you?

God's grace to you as you face your parenting challenges with JOY!

All of my love.

Quick Yet Important Note

Its been such a fun weekend already. My man and I snuck away for our first night alone since baby girl came along. We ate a-mazing food, bought a new journal to write down all that God is going to do in this next season, enjoyed live music and dessert, played a marital game ;) (we encourage one another toward love and GOOD DEEDS here!), woke up late (8 a.m.), enjoyed a coffee, paid for a day pass at a gym so he could whip me in racquetball, and headed home. We have some really amazing college girls to thank for taking such beautiful care of our little ones- Bless Meredith, Elizabeth, and Brittany 100 fold! Our children slept all night, were peaceful and in a sound mind to boot! Now that is a miracle of His greatest kind.


On another note, I'm memorizing scripture with the ladies on Beth Moore's blog. I did this in 2009 and I'm still bearing fruit of God's thoughts that I memorized then. I am so excited to be doing it again with them this year. There is not many things I love more than writing His word on this nasty, sinful heart of mine and watching Him do a work that only He can do.

Its not too late- you should do it too! To top it off, I ordered extra of her little spirals that she had made. If you will do it with me, then I will mail you your very own spiral! So email me at melissa (at) heartlinesranch.com and I will put it in the mail Tuesday (no mail Monday with MLK day)

Who's in?

Alright, well, I'm out the door to my sister's bachelorette/lingerie party! Wahoo!

Can you believe it?

How did we get from this...


To this....


Someone get me a tissue.

My girl is turning one this week. I thought it was only appropriate to have a few pics of my two monkeys together because they are by far each other's best friend. They just love being around one another, love on each other, snuggle, and fight for mom and dad's attention :)


Here are some random pics from my iphone of every day life in our house.














Baby Girl,

This year has been so much fun but it has just flown by too fast. You are a beautiful blessing to our family and we are so thankful God saw fit to bless us with you!

Just in the last couple of months you have discovered that there is life outside the boob and here are some of the other things you have discovered:

Likes: Sleeping through the night, playing with anything that crinkles, pinching mama's skin, eggs, cliff bars, carbs and more carbs (she is her mother's daughter), smoothies, kisses, musical horse, bath time, waking up happy, and snuggling.

Dislikes: Yogurt, When brother takes her toy, rocking, and booger extraction.

Loves: Daddy and to keep mama in arm's reach. She is our dog, Madi's, biggest fan. She LOVES to dance. If you turn on the music, her little body is a bouncing and she loves to get her groove on to the music. (Heart melt...Its so precious).

Happenings: Says "bye bye" "mama" "da da" "pease" and she signs "More" and "all done" all the time and thinks she is REALLY big. She is crawling all over the place and responds really well to boundaries we have given her. Unfortunately, she has discovered the fit the last couple of weeks and uses it with an a vengeance.

Soothing: The child occasionally uses the pacifier, doesn't have a blanky or stuffed animal that she keeps with her always...just skin. She likes to pinch your skin when she is tired and to soothe herself. It has tested my patience and my pain tolerance.

Oh little miss, every night when I pray for you, Numbers is always on my heart that "he would bless you and keep you that He would cause His face to shine upon you and give you peace." May it be so, little one. When we worship together before bed time, the song that is continually on my heart is "Jesus Paid it All." I'm so excited for year two and can't wait to see what all is in store.

Happy Birthday and we love you!

Merry Tacky Christmas!

We once again had a "Tacky Christmas Party" with our small group.

The kids and I were Christmas trees.





The winner of the tacky awards goes to the family that dressed up as a 80s home school family (they home school so they can make fun of homeschooling, right?). Drum roll please....






Wish you could have seen them up close, because they are all so precious...



The whole lot of us. I love you people and I'm so thankful for each one of you in our life!

O Christmas Tree!

Meet Tim.



This is our 3rd year to go to his farm and pick out a tree. We love driving further out into the middle of nowhere and join the ranks of other country folk to pick out our own real, live tree.



This one.



This one right here. We went with a fur this year instead of a pine. I like it much better!





We love preparing for Advent and the sacred Christmas season! Oh what a joyous time!

God's Sweet Gifts

As we celebrate the birth of our precious Lord, He still miraculously continues to give and give.

These friends are some of God's sweetest gifts to us.


We met last year at Barnes n Noble and immediately connected at the heart. They are originally from Iran and came here for higher degrees. They have stayed and now they are both working and living in BCS.



They are so precious and dear to our family. We come from opposites sides of the world, distinct cultures, diverse foods, and contradistinctive religions yet we love each other like we have been lifelong friends. We enjoy every particular thing about the other and relish learning from one another. Only God could give us such sweet gifts and knit our hearts so tight.



If our love were a picture it would look a little something like this...



"For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners." Romans 5