Happy 25th Birthday Jamie Dianne Overton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***Warning: the following statement may be slightly biased…although completely true!***

I would like to say Happy Birthday to the love of my life, the world’s greatest wife, and the best Mother there’s ever been!  She blesses me more than I deserve, provides me with strength, encouragement, and gives me something to look forward to come home to every day.  She’s a Godly woman who is gentle, kind-hearted, loving, and selfless.  She can cook like a pro, sew anything "other than a dress", and sing like her idol-Cher (although I think she sounds way better).  She takes wonderful care of her 200+ pound baby and her 2-toothed baby!  She’s the world’s greatest photographer and a beauty queen on the inside and out!  This world became a much better place when, 25 years ago today, God decided to bring my Jamie into the world!  Happy birthday babe, I love you…thanks for all you do!

P.S-I edited that picture all by myself!

3 Years!!

Three years ago today I married this man...

We went to Jamaica the next day...
We came home to this house in Lubbock
Shortly after being married we moved here in Russellville, Arkansas
Shortly after this we moved here...in Lubbock...Again...
We went a little crazy and purchased this little "muddy" Bull...

But shortly after moving back to Lubbock and buying our bull we found out we were having our first son and were moving to this house in Shamrock, TX...
Things finally started to slow down when this little chubby-cheeked boy blessed our lives...

So after 4 moves, a new puppy, a baby and many more things in between we are living a beautiful life together. I have loved every minute of our three years. Shawny, thank you for making me a mommy and being such a wonderful husband and dad. I love you so very much and I am looking forward to this next year together!

Me and God

As you may have read in one of my previous posts, this entire process of pregnancy and preparing for fatherhood has really been an eye opener for me regarding my relationship with God. Please allow me to set the groundwork for this post...
All of this got started back around September, 2009. As soon as Jamie and I found out we were pregnant, I instantly had a deep desire to give my Son the best life had to offer. I also developed a growing sense of protectiveness in me towards my Son. I started to realize just how dangerous the world can be for adults, let alone children. I wanted to be sure that this little guy would be safe both in the womb and in life in the real world after he is born. As these two desires grew and I began thinking more and more about them, I realized that I truly was almost helpless to provide these things for my Son. How can I give my son the best the world has to offer? I am limited by my abilities, talents, income, location, many other things. How can I keep my Son safe in this world? Sure I can keep him safe while I am awake and with him, but what about while he's in the womb, sleeping, sick, at school? This brought me to the "ah-hah" moment that while I am limited in what I can do for my son, God isn't. Although I want what is best for Him, God is the only one who (1)knows what's best for him and (2) is the only one who can give it to him. God is the only one who can watch over my little guy right now while he's in Jamie's womb as well as every second over every day no matter where he is.

After realized how helpless I was an began to experience the fears of my inabilities, it got me thinking that I probably wasn't the only one to go through this. I suddenly realized that my parents and many other parents around the world have probably had very similar thoughts for their soon-to-be-children. That led me to the question, "If my parents were limited in what they could do for me, how did I manage to live a blessed life these past 24 years?" The answer to this question was the same answer that triggered my previous "ah-hah" moment...God. After thinking more and more about the answer to this question, I realized that the only reason that I am alive and thriving today is because God has been gracious and merciful to me from the moment I was conceived. He has blessed me immensely and continues to do so each and every day. I think that I have always known that God loves me and has blessed me, but I didn't realize just how much until I started wanting His love and blessings for my son.

Therefore, I went from wanting what is best for my Son and wanting to be his protector to wanting him to have access to the source of the answers of my two desires... which can only be provided through a relationship with God. This brought both Jamie and I to wanting nothing greater than for our Son to have a personal relationship with God. So, how do we do that? Well, when we first conceived, we went and spoke with our pastor at the church we went to in Lubbock. At that time, (which was before my "ah-hah" moments and later realizations) he told us that we cannot expect our children to apply something to their life (such as a relationship with God) unless we consistently make it a part of our lives.

O.K., I know this is getting long, but hang in there. I guess all of this could be summed up by the following:
1. God has blessed me and given me so much in this life that I am extremely un-deserving of. He has protected me in this sometimes hostile world and brought me up through my childhood to where I am today.
2. I want the same blessings I received from God for my Son, and I am not capable of providing for him everything that God has provided for me.
3. I know that I cannot expect my Son to have an active relationship with God unless I do in my life.
4. Therefore, I need to actively pursue my relationship with God and go from knowing Him casually to knowing him personally. (to put this on a timeline, I came to this realization around November of 2009(

This brings me to the whole point of this post. I need to know God on a personal level and experience Him daily so that my children may come to know God. After I came to this conclusion, I truly began to actively seek God consistently for the first time in my life. I have had a relationship with God for as long as I can remember, but it was not a "personal relationship" that I pursued every day. It was more of a casual relationship that grew little by little on Sundays and at night when I prayed. So, I can honestly say that I now know Him more today than I ever had and am looking forward to getting to know Him more and more each day.

As a new part of this blog, I am going to be sharing with you some of my experiences with God and things I learn about Him. I am doing this for 2 reasons....
1. Teaching others about something is the best way to actually learn it and retain it. In all honesty, this is just as much for me as it is for you. By posting God-related blogs, I will need to continue in my pursuit of God's word which will help me grow in my relationship.
2. Hopefully I can encourage you to seek God more in depth and become closer with Him. I will be letting you know about resources or strategies that have helped me grow in my faith. A lot of you will probably think that my postings about God are very "simple" and "basic", but that's where I need to start. Like I said earlier, I have a lot of work to do and need to set my foundation before I can start building.

Anyway. Sorry this was so long. I just wanted everyone to know where I was coming from before I started sharing my experiences with God on this blog. Please feel free to comment on anything I say. I want to grow with you. If I interpret something incorrectly, correct me and help me to better understand. Let me know of things that have helped you in your walk with Christ. I am sure I have more to learn from most of you than you do from me. In any way, God is great!

**I would also like to note that my beautiful wife has been right there beside me during this process. You could replace my name with hers in the post and it would still be true. She will be sharing as well and I am blessed that she desires to grow in her relationship with God.***

Sweet Little Bull

Good evening blog followers. I am reporting to you tonight engulfed with a sense of sorrow. The reason being is that our youngest (4-legged) baby is spending the night at the vets because she was spayed earlier today. I must say that it is pretty sad sitting here right now not hearing not hearing a "roaring" snore coming from a sweet and wrinkled dog. Not only is this hard on me because my sweet dog is being operated on, but I have also been getting some grief from my "better half". See, she is under the impression that I am fully to blame for Lola having to get spayed because "I called in the appointment". I will admit that it was very cute hearing Jamie give Lola a talk explaining what was going to happen. She kept wanting me to give the talk, but I thought Lola would rather hear it from a fellow female. So Jamie went ahead and explained what was going to happen and also threw in that we were going to check with the vet to see if she could get a "breast reduction" on her.... (her "doggy-boobies" are still a little swollen from her first heat cycle)......I truthfully think that Jamie is just a little jealous, but Lola seemed to understand. Anyways, we are going to just have to tough it out tonight, but we will get to see her tomorrow morning. For those of you not familiar with Lola, let me update you. I was peacefully working one day in Plainview when I got an e-mail from my wife. She was told by her Mother (Pegs) that there was a sign for AKC registered English Bulldogs for sale in Lubbock. Me and Jamie have always loved English Bulldogs and knew we eventually wanted one. That same day, I was sent about 20 different e-mails with different pictures of breeders websites with arrows pointing to the one that we "needed". Needless to say, Jamie had already talked to the breeder in Lubbock, and we went to see the litter the next day. The following day we took out a redicuous sum of money and reserved our little Lola. She was so grateful that we chose her that she pooped on my shirt during the drive home...lucky me!! In the end, Lola has been a blessing to our family. After being bit a few times by our sometimes evil Hattie, she now is best friends with both the other dogs. She is the only one who has full time furniture privileges and is a great 45 pound lap dog. Please enjoy the following pictures of our "Poco Torro!"

Lola saying hello to Wesley on the first day we had her. Notice I just have my under shirt on.

Lola often gets too tired to go outside to potty before bed. Therefore, Jamie "makes" me carry her outside like this. I just hate doing it.

This is the "cuddle-bug" aspect of Lola. I will admit that most of the time she snuggles with Jamie, but she was giving me some lovin' this night. This is also where the roaring snoring comes in to play.

In conclusion, I would like to let you know that Lola is a very spiritual dog. While she can't quite recite bible verses, she has taught me a lot about meditation. This final picture is just me and Lola practicing our intense yoga/meditation/chi-focusing routines. We do this every Mondays-Wednesdays-Fridays. Lessons are available upon request. Good night!

New Bathroom Product Available

Good evening everyone. Well, my sweet wife is having a girls weekend back in Lubbock, so I am left here in Shamrock all by my lonesome. Since I have some time to kill, I thought I would share with yall a great new bathroom product that is now available. I must admit that I did not know that this product existed for my first 20 years of life. However, soon after June 2nd, 2007...my eyes were opened. Here is the wonderful product. I like to call it the "Multi-Purpose TP Holder"... please soak it all in!


As you can see, this is no "ordinary" TP holder. First off, it gives you the option of getting your TP from a horizontal role as well as a vertical role. Who doesn't love that? Also, you can either choose to get your TP from a full role on top or use one of those last few cherished sheets on the bottom role. It should be noted that sometimes the lower role may contain as little as ONE SQUARE of TP, however, I am sure that it serves its purpose. Well, I hope you are now enlightened to the engineering advances that have been made in the bathroom "TP Holder" industry. I still am not sure exactly where you get these, but I am sure Jamie does. She has successfully installed one of these in every house we have lived in together! Any further inquiries to the "Multi-Purpose TP Holder" should be directed to Jamie. Good night!

Living With Pregnant

Good evening ladies and gents. I figured that since Jamie and I are "kind of" isolated up here in Shammy-Town, some of you may be wondering what it is like to live with Jamie while she is pregnant. I will say that Jamie really hasn't had any dramatic changes and is still pleasant to be around just like before. However, I have noticed a few subtle changes and thought I might share them with you.

(1) She gets winded tying her shoes.
(2) There are many nights that she does not sleep good and let's me know by grunts of frustration and occasional kicks in the back throughout the night.
(3) Going on a 1 mile walk can sometimes be like trying to get her to run a marathon.
(4) She gets winded getting settled into bed.
(5) The foundation of our house shakes when she switches the side she is sleeping on.... :)
(6) Nice diaper bags are really "for the baby" and "not the Mommy".
(7) I have bought more twix in the last week than in 24 years previously.
(8) Pizza almost brings tears to her eyes...(this one really isn't much of a change) (9) I commonly get asked the same question more than once in a short time span.
(10) Sometimes I say things that "make her wanna cry"...most of the time in a good way.

All in all I consider myself very blessed by how she has acted while pregnant, especially after hearing other people's horror stories. Here's to hoping that her stable demeanor holds for the rest of the pregnancy!

From Mr. Overton

Hello everyone. I have been informed by my sweet little wife that I need to become an active part of this blog. So, here is my first attempt at "blogging". So, for those of you who don't know, we now are living in the thriving metropolis of Shamrock, Texas. That is, of course, THE Shamrock, TX with the tallest water tower in the state....I know....try not to be jealous. I am working for the NRCS which I know everyone knows stands for Natural Resources Conservation Service. Basically, we are the people who try to keep the dust bowl from happening again. If it's hard for you to remember what I do, just tell people that I am a government agent.

So, to get you caught up I'd have to say that the past few years have been pretty hectic. We went from living in Arkansas where I worked at a job that I hated to living in Lubbock, finding out we were expecting our first child, then moved to Shamrock all within roughly a 2 year span. The good thing is that I love my job and that God has been great to us throughout this entire process. Although Shamrock doesn't have everything you could ask for in a town, it has very good people and has given Jamie and I a lot of time to grow closer to each other.

Of course the biggest blessing in our lives is our son who is due to enter this world in May. Just so everyone knows, yes we do know the name and no, we're not telling anyone until he's born. It has been such a blessing to see my wife's belly start to plump up, see him on sonograms, and not to mention feel him kick (which I'm up to about 8 times now). I can honestly say that knowing I am going to become a Father has been one the greatest and most spiritual experiences in my life. Knowing that I am soon going to have a Son to take care of has made me realize just how much God has taken care of me and how much I need Him in my life and in my family's. We have had great support from everyone throughout this pregnancy and can't wait for ya'll to share in our experience. As you can see in our pictures, we have everything in the nursery ready, just waiting for the furniture to come in (which Jamie reminds me to check on everyday).

Well, sorry this was kind of long, future "blogs" will be shorter. Hope everyone has a great day! God Bless America and "Wreck 'Em Tech!!"