Two Words...

Merry CHRISTmas!

Christmas Crazy Chaos...

My blog is suffering! I was looking at my calendar just a little bit ago...and Oh My Soul...It is slat full of things to do. Thankfully Paul and I have all of our shopping done and now we are just going day to day, event to event. There is something for everyone on every day for the next 7 days! CRAZY. I'm sure most of you can relate. For some reason EVERY single Christmas party seems to fall this week. Noone wanted to spread things out, or start early...oh well. My Christmas cards are not even done...well, they are done on my computer...does that count? Probably not. I guess it would be better if I actually printed the cards out and pu them in the mail. We'll see.
I am excited about one thing for sure. This Saturday we are taking the students from our church to the Christian Hope Resource Center. We are also taking our own personal children. The CHRC is a place where the less fortunate people of San Antonio can come and receive food, toys and clothes. I am so looking forward to showing my children what it means to serve others. We are actually going to start the process on Tuesday night by cleaning out their playroom. They will each fill a paper sack of toys that they don't want anymore, or are too old for. Then we will take the toys with us to CHRC. The kids will help the students and us hand out toys and clothes and food. I am really praying that this is an awesome learning experience for them. I want them to see the whole process of giving. That's why we are starting with them cleaning out their playroom, I hope it will give them a "full circle" view to serving other. I will let you know how it turns out!

We hope your Christmas is Merry and your New Year is Happy!

Superheroes and a Royal Ball

In our Preschool AWANA time...only called that because the bigger kiddos actually do AWANA's...we started working our way through the Bible learning different stories that correlated with each other. Our first unit was Superheroes. We talked about Joshua, Daniel, David, Nehemiah, Gideon and Elijah. All people in the Bible who had supernatural experiences as God used them to do extraordinary things. We ended the unit with a superhero party! Here are my two little superheroes! We had a great time...and the kids had a great time pretending to be superheroes, all the while celebrating the true Superhero!







The unit that we just finished was on Kings and Queens/Important Women of the Bible. We talked about Kings Solomon, Manasseh and Josiah and we also talked about Judge Deborah, Queen Esther and Ruth and Naomi. So to follow suit with our plan, we had a Royal Ball at the end of that unit! This was more fun than the Superhero party. The kids were so excited to pretend to be Kings and Queens. They were so well behaved...it was as if they were REAL Kings and Queens! The kids were so cute when they set the head of the table for Jesus. There was a "fancy" crown in His chair so they would know that it was His chair! So fun! We had a great time...enjoy the pics!

I don't ever get tired of this...

This is Jacob teaching the "little ones" how to set the Nativities up properly. Of course you can see that all of the "characters" are gathered around Jesus. They are not spread out evenly across the area with the shepherds on one side and the wisemen on the other. The animals are not evenly dispersed between their respective riders. Everyone is gathered around Jesus...after all "that's who they came to see, mommy, they can't see Jesus if they are way out "here"!"

For a couple of years now, Jacob has had the job of setting the Nativities up and he always sets them up this way. This year, however, he took on the job of showing Caleb and Abby the "right" way to set them up. It was really fun to watch. Thank you God for my kids.

On another note...yes Jacob has a Halloween costume on...hence the black and white pic...it's not even this year's! It was last year's costume. And yes Abby is topless...Paul and I have been praying about an effective resolve to that problem...I'll let you know. And even though it didn't get above 55 degrees today, that is my son Caleb in a sleeveless shirt...What are ya' gonna do? I OFFICIALLY give up!

Christmas Decorating...

So I'm putting up Christmas Decorations this week....

Ok, ok, ok, For all you nay-sayers out there...at least read to the end of the blog before casting your judgement.

For the last two years, we have traveled to Dallas for Thanksgiving...and I have always been a huge proponent of holding off Christmas until after Thanksgiving....I always want to give Thanksgiving it's due justice before the "hustle and bustle" starts....HOWEVER...

Like I said earlier we have traveled to Dallas for the last two years and of course I wanted to put the Christmas decorations up as soon as Thanksgiving was over. So we would travel the 5 1/2 hours back to San Antonio and come in the house exhausted from a trip with 3 kids and time spent with family...and I would want the tree and lights up...like...now. Since everyone was so exhausted from the trip no one would want to help me and I would end up doing it all and then the laundry from our trip sat in the laundry room for days, and the empty boxes with evidence of Christmas decorations would just keep getting scooted around the living room until we finally got them back out to the garage...and...it was not fun.

So Paul and I decided this year was going to be different. Each night this week we have been putting up a few decorations with the kids. We are keeping the lights off so we have something to do come December. I have eaten WAY to many cookies that we made the other night...when we were having FUN!

So now this year we will come home from our wonderful family Thanksgiving to a house that is all ready for us to jump feet first into the Christmas season. So I figure we are doing exactly what this season is all about. We are spending time as a family remembering the things God has done for us...and eating some triple chocolate chip cookies...

I took Caleb shopping today...

Here are some parts of conversations that Caleb and I had today. I took him shopping because we needed some special time together and we had a great time...

***Mom, don't you know, that God "crated" the "earf"? (translation...God CREATED the EARTH...in case you didn't catch that.)
~Yes son, God did create the earth.
***Yeah He made it oval.
~Why did He make it oval?
***So that when we drive, we won't go upside down.

Sometimes I don't try to understand, I just smile at his logic...or lack thereof.

***Mom, let's listen to the King of Kings song.
***Mom, don't you know my verse?
~What is your verse, son?
***God, the blessed the only ruler, not like a ruler but like a Ruler, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 1 Timothy 6:15b
~Good job son! I am very proud of you learning that verse.
***yep.

***Hey mom, don't you know that big thing over there?
~The water tower?
***Yeah, don't you know what it does?
~What does it do son?
***It gaders (gathers) all the icky yucky air from the Earf (earth) and burns it up. I like to say icky yucky air. I love you, mom.
~I love you, too, son...very much
***I love you more than the leabs (leaves) on the trees.

There are so many more ramblings of Caleb, I just can't come up with them right now! Hopefully I can remember...I need to write these things down, don't you know!

"Daddy, there are TWO ways to go to Heaven."

Now, now, now, before you start ranting about my Theology, please keep reading...

The other day I was driving...somewhere (not important to the story)...and we were listening to the Christmas Musical that our church choir is working on. Part of the song lyrics are, "Jesus is coming, hope is in sight..."

Caleb, of course, wanted to know if Jesus was coming to our house...and I told him no, that He came once as a baby, died on the cross and He is going to come back again and take us to Heaven.

To which he replied, "Without even dying?" And I said, "Yes, son, without even dying!" He replied with his super cute..."cool."

Not to long after we got home, Paul came home and Caleb ran up to him and said, "Daddy, daddy...did you know there are TWO ways to go to Heaven?!?!"

And Paul had the same reaction that you may have had to the title of my blog.

?!?!?!?!?!What?!?!?!?!??!

I gave Paul that, hold on a minute, look...and he listened to the rest of Caleb's story which went like this...

"Yes, Daddy, there are TWO ways to go to Heaven! The first way is to die. You can die and go to Heaven, but that's not fun. And the other way is that if Jesus comes before you die then you get to go back to Heaven with Him! Without even dying!!! And Jesus is going to take us back to Heaven with a trailer!"

That's right folks...just in case you were wondering how, exactly, Jesus was going to get us all back to Heaven...according to Caleb...Jesus is using a trailer...probably pulled behind His white horse...I'm just guessing, people...it could happen...

Well that didn't last long...

That's right ladies and gentleman...that is our used-to-be beautiful pumpkin. As you can see mold has formed all on the inside...I have no idea how it happened so fast. This is a first for us. Usually we at least get a week out of them. This one only lasted a few days. You can also see that the middle of the "B" has been punched out. You can thank Caleb for that addition to our artistry. He was trying to put a car inside...of course! So the middle of the "B" is gone, the inside is moldy...I think that's about it for this year's pumpkin! Until next year!

Our Pumpkin

Every year Paul and I carve a pumpkin. We have had some pretty good ones in the past, but we think this one is so far our best. In case you don't get it...which I'm sure you do...It's the initials of everyone in our family. This is by far the biggest pumpkin we have ever carved. We have a good time and I hope we will continue this for...well...ever.

Our kids are not quite old enough to carve so we are painting their pumpkins tomorrow...of course I will post pics of their pumpkins too. We are having great fall fun. We made homemade applesauce the other day...super tasty! We also made some fall sugar cookies in the shapes of leaves, pumpkins and scaredy cats. We are getting geared up for our Fall Festival. Everyone has a costume...except daddy...we'll see if we can get him all dressed up too...I'll let you know how that turns out. Jacob is going to be a Storm Trooper from Star Wars the Clone Wars...by far his favorite cartoon right now. Caleb is going to be Optimus Prime from the animated Transformer's series and Abby is going to be a Purple Princess. Why "Purple" you ask? Because I have never in my entire life met a child with such dedication to one singular color for so long. That's right people. She more than adores the color purple...and I'm not talking about Oprah's movie. her birthday was purple, her room is purple, at school I am her teacher and I am not...I repeat...NOT allowed to write her name on her paper in ANY other color...but.....purple. So anyway...I'm going to be a clown.yep.a clown. We'll see if we can get Paul to dress up...I doubt it.

Ok...so you have all been waiting to see our pumpkin...well...here it is.

Tag...I'M it!

. If you could go back in time and relive one particular time in your life, when would it be? Part of my sofomore year of high school and part of my freshman year of college
2. If you could drive any car out there, what car would you drive? One that would cost me exactly $1.00 to fill up
3. If you could drive an SUV, what kind would you drive? Refer to answer #2!
4. What is your greatest pet peeve of all time? Injustice...on any level
5. What room in your house stays clean most of the time? There is not one single part of my house that is clean most of the time...not one...my mom is agreeing with me on this point right now...
6. What room stays messed up most of the time? all of them...
7. Can you get both cars in your garage? Sure if I take all the other crap out of the garage.
8. Do you make your bed every day? Are you kidding? I'm going to return to it in aprox. 12 hours anyway...why make it?
9. When you come home from a long day or you have to change clothes, do you hang things up or do you make a pile that last for days and days? piles..absolutely..nothing better...except maybe clean laundry..hmmm
10. How many days of the week do you cook an evening meal? 4 or 5
11. What's your favorite meal? One I don't fix.
12. If you could go anywhere on vacation and spend a week, where would you go? I would love to go on an Alaskan cruise.
13. What's your favorite television show of all time? Friends.
14. What was your favorite children's show growing up? Sesame Street
15. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie's
16. What was your favorite book as a child? There's a Monster at the End of This Book
17. What was the first car that you drove? 1970 Volkswagen Beetle with manual steering AND manual brakes...fun times!
18. What color was your first bike? I'm pretty sure it was pink...I know it had a white basket with flowers on it.
19. Did you ever do anything really bad growing up? sure, but let's not re-live it.
20. Did you ever steal anything growing up? Yep. Chalk from my neighbors house...Why you ask? Because I didn't have any. My mom found it when she did the laundry and made me go over and give it back and apologize.

So there you have it...all you ever wanted to know about me and less...

I'm back and We're on the Move!

Hey Everyone!

I'm back online. We had a great time with our media fast and we are now back online. I feel like I have missed so much...but from what everyone is telling me...it's a good thing I missed it!

I have much to blog about, but I'm going to start slow. Here are some pics from the Alzheimer's Memory Walk we did this morning...We were On the Move to cure Alzheimer's. There is still time to donate if you would like to! Just copy the link to our team page, scroll down and click on my name to go to my personal page and donate!...and don't forget to check out the pictures!

https://www.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=268992&lis=1&kntae268992=546690092DFB43B5B863117D08D4B3E7&supId=0&team=2850335&cj=Y

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

So for my 100th post...

I am going on a media fast. That's right. A media fast. It's part of a Bible Study that Paul is taking the youth through. This is our 4th time to go through it as a family. So for the next 21 days there will be no computer (except for work), no tv, no XBOX, no blogging, no facebook. Occasionally if the sky looks dark we'll check to make sure there is no danger...other than that...no media.

This will be an interesting time in our family. The last time we did this the kids were hardly watching cartoons so it wasn't that hard. This time they love cartoons (all three of them) and they love to play XBOX. So it will definitely be a bigger challenge this time. We have lots of things planned. We are going to clean out our play room and give the toys to Hurricane Ike victims. We are hoping to go, as a family, to Port San Antonio and serve food to Hurricane Ike victims. There are still several thousand people displaced to Port San Antonio. We will play games, we will play outside, just spending time together. We are going to read Bible stories do crafts, all kinds of things...just to be together with little distraction.

So don't lose heart...I'll be back in 21 days! Maybe my 101st post will be about the amazing things that God has done over the last 21 days!

God uses pagans....

Ok, so my friends aren't necessarily "pagans" per se...however, they are certainly are not believers in Jesus. I went to a jewelry party tonight...totally out of obligation. A friend of mine donated to the Alzheimer's Walk that we are participating in and then invited me to her party...so I went.

(by the way if you would like to donate to our walk, please copy this link and go to my webpage!

https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=268992&supId=230780424

And I thank you;)

Anyway, so I go to this party where there is plenty of beer, wine and other beverages that I don't drink and plenty of words flying around....that I don't say. We are looking at jewelry and talking and about two hours after the party starts a lady walked in really upset and begins to tell a story to the host (my friend) about her daughter. She is 5 years old and can do EVERYTHING a 5 year old can do...with one exception. She has a communication delay. In other words she understands everything you say, she comprehends everything, she can do and act in accordance with everything you say, but she cannot verbally or expressively communicate back to you. She has struggled with speech but she has made some incredible strides and her pediatrician said that after two years in a school program (not public school) you would never know that she had a problem.

The reason the mom was so upset is because the pre-school her daughter was in called her today and told her to come get her child because they "could do nothing with her." She was told not to bring her back, also.

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

I was floored. Another church in our area turned down an opportunity to minister to this family, for no good reason. I realize she is developmentally delayed...but according to her mother (who is a nurse by the way) she is NOT retarded, she is NOT special needs, she is NOT autistic...She just has trouble communicating. She knows what she wants to say, but cannot turn the thoughts into words and get the words out of her mouth.

I was so devastated at the notion that this church would not help her. She is sitting at this jewelry party bawling her eyes out because she just wants someone to love on her daughter. Her daughter needs stimulation and a classroom and a teacher to challenge her and teach her new words....because her issue is not learning. She can learn and is learning new words all the time and working toward communicating.

Since we have just opened our Mother's Day Out I began talking to her about our program and as soon as I did, I realized my entire purpose for coming to the party. I spoke with her and her daughter will begin our program on Tuesday! God used a seriously ungodly people and place to accomplish his purpose. I had a Divinely appointed meeting with that lady tonight and I thank God that He prompted me to go.

I hope I never underestimate the power of God to use ungodly people and circumstances to accomplish His will. His will pevails over all.

Caleb and Abby's First Day of School

Make a Smilebox postcard

So Caleb and Abby had their first day of "Mom's Day Off". We just started the program at our church and it is starting off slow but sure. We hope to have more childred over the next few days and weeks, but we had a good start. Caleb and Abby were really excited about "school". Caleb did really well. He came home and told me that Ms. Jodi (his teacher) had taught him to read and he is now ready for Kindergarten. I thought...how amazing! One day and he can already read! Give Ms. Jodi a raise!

Abby is in my class and I wasn't sure how that was going to go over. We have been talking about it for a while...reminding her how good she was going to be in mommy's class. So all was well for the first part of the day and then....

I told her three times to do something and she refused all three times. So I calmly walked over to the stoplight and changed her clip from green to yellow and then...

She FREAKED out. I mean the whole bit. Screaming, kicking, crying...all of it. So I basically manhandle her out to another teacher for Abby to be in time out. She kept up with her CRAZY fit and then all of the sudden out of the corner of my eye I see her feet flying through the air and Paul walking out of the room. I guess this is what you would call a perk. Her daddy working just feet away down the hall! In a few minutes she came back red faced to class and apologized to me and then promptly asked me to change her color back to green because she said she was sorry. I told her we would see about that and she rejoined the class.

That was it. The whole thing. The rest of the day went flawlessly and I have a really great class...including my precious daughter. I don't think, however, that she will be throwing anymore fits...you know...with daddy in such close range!

Welcome to my world...

So Yesterday (Wednesday) was a normal day until this one thing happened.

The kids and I were waiting for Paul to come home from work. He was due in about 3:30 so we were just hanging around...waiting. We hear the door open and then close and so we go to the kitchen to greet daddy. As I go into the kitchen I see Paul grabbing a metal spatula and another kitchen utensil that I can't exactly make out. He is also grabbing a ziploc bag...and SMILING like he has just been caught.

So of course I ask Him, "What are you doing"
He said, "This is an answer to prayer."
And I said, "What? My spatula?"

And He said.........

"No, Caroline (the cat) threw up! and I need some throw up for my bible study illustration tonight for small group."

So he proceeds to "scoop" the cat throw up into the bag with my spatula and what I now know is a rubber spatula and put it on the top of the refridgerator until small group that night.

Welcome to my world, people, welcome to my world.

Jacob's First Day of First Grade

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Well the first day was wonderful. As you can see from the pics. First Grade is an entirely different animal than Kindergarten. Now you might be saying, "Duh, Tanya", but as someone experiencing this for the first time I was not quite ready for what I'm calling the "First Grade Attitude". Lately he knows everything. I was unaware that he came in to such a plethera of knowledge and so I find myself continually telling him things that, "(he) knows...mooooommmmmmmm." So we have been dealing with that. yeah...and save the "it only gets worse" comments, please...we do work with teenagers...we know. Thank you.

Anyway...hhe came home with homework today. Yep. Homework. On the first day.

Of course he was exhausted because he is used to having a FOB time. (That's Flat On Back time for those of you who did not know.) He hasn't been taking naps all summer, just resting. Well no rest for the first graders makes for super cranky first graders when they get home. Not only was he super cranky but he was one of the last ones to be picked up today....NOW WAIT. Before you start yelling at me about how I should have been on time...just read on.

Short story...Jacob's school used to be split into two buildings. PK-1st in one and 2nd-4th in another, 5th on a campus of their own. This year all the children are in ONE building...PK-5th under one roof. Why you ask, because they are tearing down the other building and building a new beautiful one for next school year. So that's added people and children in the building plus all of the extras that come on the first day to pick up their kiddos. School ends at 2:45 so at 2:45 I pack the other kids up and drive over to the church (right next door to our house) to pick up Paul. We drive out of the church drive way and...get in the line...literally backed up all the way to the church. Big deal you say? The church is about 1/2 mile from the school. Yep. The line to pick up the children from school is 1/2 a mile long. We need to get gas, because waiting for that long we were going to run out of gas. So we go past the school and get some gas and come back to get in line. Clearly this is not going to be an easy pick up. We wait and wait and wait and we finally get to school and we FINALLY get Jacob and go home. We walked in the house at 3:47. That's right folks...1 hour and 2 minutes after leaving to travel 1/2 mile to pick up my son from school. Lovely. Maybe tomorrow will be better...please God, please.

God is totally into details!

So each summer I begin praying for my children's school teachers for the upcoming year. This summer was no different. I began a few weeks ago praying for Jacob's teacher (even though I had no idea who she was). I began to pray that she would be exactly what Jacob needs for 1st grade. After all, God knows them both so I figure He would be the best at putting the two together! I also prayed for someone who loved boys and the energy and patience they require. I prayed that she would be structured and fun because Jacob needs both of those things equally. Most of all I prayed for a good relationship between Jacob and his teacher and me for the maximum amount of fun and learning this year.

So......


Meet the Teacher was last night...well let me back it up a bit.

Yesterday morning I went to the school at 7:30 to help host a Welcome Back Breakfast with the PTA. I walked up to the school and the list was already out so I checked to see who Jacob had for a teacher and...his name was NOT on ANY list! I calmly checked again, thinking surely I have missed his name...NOPE. At this point I begin to semi-panic. I did not want to freak out for no reason...I mean if I am going to freak out...I need a valid reason and my son not being enrolled in school a mere 5 days before it is to begin IS A VALID REASON ladies and gentlemen! So I say forget the breakfast I am going to go find out why my kid is not enrolled in school! I walk into the office and they are working on this very problem. Apparently they were working with an older version of the software and the new version rolled over onto their system and several children were dropped off the teachers rosters and some other children who were already dropped mysteriously appeared back onto the list. So they were working on it and they new that Jacob needed a class...so I decided not worry and to go serve breakfast.

After the breakfast, I found out that Mrs. Hare is going to be Jacob's teacher. I asked around a little bit and found out who Mrs. Hare was and went to meet her. She is SUPER! She is a more seasoned teacher than we had last year. Much more established and very structured.(yeah!) I told her I would bring Jacob to meet her later that night.

Back to my story...

We all go to Meet the Teacher and we are the first ones in to Mrs. Hare's classroom. Her room is so fun! Jacob immediately began checking things out after meeting Mrs. Hare, of course. I filled out all the paperwork I have to do and then began talking a little more to Mrs. Hare. I asked her how many boys were in her class and she said there were 8 or 9. Then she said this, "I love boys. I have 3 boys of my own and I just love them!"

I said a short little, "THANK YOU GOD FOR BEING ABOUT THE DETAILS!" prayer and told Jacob it was time to go. He walked over and gave Mrs. Hare a hug and she said, "Come back on Monday, we are going to have so much fun!"

Thank you God for being about the details.

Success!

Well ladies and gentlemen...Thank you so much for your prayers and supplications for my school supply dilema. HEB came through for me and I am now the proud owner of over $45.00 in school supply product! Yeah. My son can now begin school and succesfully complete his first grade year! We also went to the Disney store where they had backpacks on sale and with the purchase of a backpack you got a lunch box for absolutely free!(maybe not absolutely...we drove there, bought the backpack, ate out...etc.) Anyway...free. So we are now the proud owners of not one, not two, but three...yes three (3) backpack/(free)lunch box combos. we are OFFICIALLY ready for school.

I have not fallen off the bloggy planet!

In the words of the Who's from Whoville..."We are Here, we are here, we are here!" We made it back from Ecuador. God did some amazing things there. To see some video blogs and some pictures from our trip go to www.bbcstudents.com.

We are now in the "Oh my goodness, school starts in two weeks" freak out mode! I went to buy school supplies the other day...can I just say...

The "school people" need to get together with the "school supplies people" who need to get together with the "Target/Office Depot/Walmart people" and they need to have a little meeting and then maybe lunch...coffee at Starbucks...whatever....

AND DISCUSS THE SCHOOL SUPPLY LISTS AND ALSO DISCUSS IF THE TEACHERS NEED IT THE MANUFACTURER'S SHOULD MAKE IT AND THE STORES SHOULD SELL IT!

So...needless to say...I went to two stores and I still don't have everything that Jacob needs to start school. Don't get me wrong. If they need it for school, I have no problem buying it! I want to make school the best experience for both Jacob and the teacher. So I will buy the plastic blue folder with brads and pockets...if only someone would make it and someone else would sell it!

There I am done with my venting...thank you and have a nice day.

The last big trip of the Summer......

We are leaving on Friday Morning to go to Ecuador. This is our first time to take a group overseas on a mission trip. We are really excited to be going back to Camp Chacauco in Patate, Ecuador. We are taking some really amazing kids from our church and we are all ready to see what God has in store for us. I would love it if ya'll could find time to pray for us...and for your praying convenience here are some simple and easy to use prayer requestss for the low, low price of....(sorry...to many infomercials!)

1. Travel - we have to travel from SA to Houston by car, then get on a plane for 5 hours and land safely in Quito, Ecuador. We then will travel by bus 5 more hours to the camp.
2. Camp - our group is responsible for Rec time.
3. Language Barrier - so...they speak Ecuadorian Spanish...we speak English...you do the math
4. Sight seeing - we will be travelling to some really cool places and experiencing some Ecuadorian culture. We want to have fun and be safe in all we do.
5. Students - Paul and I really want them to have an amazing experience...for some this is their first trip overseas...some are ol' pros at it. We want God to really touch and impact everyone's life in a way that only He can.

Thank you for praying. We hope to be able to blog during our trip so keep checking back!

It is finished!

I could quite possibly have THE greatest husband in the whole wide world...Why? You ask?.....Well I'll tell you.....

If you have been keeping up, then you know that I painted and redecorated the kids rooms...and then I went to bed in my, let's just say, BORING room! My room was in serious need of a re-do, but I had already spent the money and time of our "vacation" doing the kids room so how could I possibly ask for more...

Just like this...

After church on Sunday, we went out to lunch and then came home. I was sort of sulking around and I said the 4 words my husband dreads...

"So, I've been thinking..."

Yep. He has learned over the last eight years of marriage that those 4 teeny tiny words usually cost him money, time and back pain. So at 4:00pm he sends my off to Home Depot to see what I can find. And I find the most amazing deal! I painted my room for FIVE dollars! There was a can of "oops" paint that was really close to the color that I wanted. The Home Depot paint expert made a couple of changes and "ta da! a beautiful color of brown! Yeah! and then...of course since I was getting such a great deal on the paint, I didn't stop there and I got a gold metallic finish to go over my beautifully cheap paint...don't worry it was on sale too...so as to keep in my theme of "in-expensive."

Don't get me wrong, people...the gold paint is FANCY! And FANCY is what you find in the magazines...And I always believe in having my house "Magazine ready." Of course my mom is falling out of her chair laughing right now reading this because my house is FAR from magazine ready...especially in the cleanliness department. (Hence the reason my mom is falling out of her chair laughing) Because if cleanliness is close to Godliness...then I am in TROUBLE people...serious trouble!

Anyway so after some quick painting and faux finishing my room is complete and it looks just as good as the rest of the house...of course my room was the last one to get done...it always is.

I think it turned out pretty AWESOME! And I am now done with the "re-doing" for a while! Here are some pics and the last one pretty much sums up what my husband thinks of all my "thinking" here lately! And my mom is going to FREAK out when she sees that all of the internet world is looking at my bed unmade! That's right people I don't make my bed for me...why would I make it for you! ;)

Of course we paint the kids bedrooms on our vacation...don't you?

Since we had our little "fire incident" we paid for our car to be fixed and so that meant no "vacation" per se. We were going to go to Dinosaur Valley State Park for a few days and just hang out...but now we are hanging out at the house.

Well if you know me at all...you know I don't "hang out" very well. So since we are spending extra time at home I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to paint the kids rooms. I've wanted to do it for a while...but just didn't have time...ironic...I Know. So I'm sitting here blogging to you about painting the kids room on our "vacation"...might as well show you some pics! The rooms turned out pretty cute...and if you are thinking that Abby's room is a little bare in the bed area...it's because her bunk beds are "in the mail"(according to her)... in real life they are on a truck headed our way! Thank you ebay! Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Aaaaannnnnnddddd...We're Off!.....again...

This has been a CRAZY summer...well when your husband is a Student Minister...all the summers are crazy. This one seems especially crazy though.

We started the summer with one week off between school and VBS and then there was one week after VBS and then Paul was off to Youth Camp and I was off to my moms for a visit. We were at my moms for 10 days and Paul eventually caught up with us there so that we could go to a wedding. Then there was the "Fire" Trip home. We just got back home last Monday and here we are again...today (Monday...exactly one week later) leaving again on the Jr. Sr. Retreat. So we will be spending 3 fun-filled days at Lake Bastrop with the Juniors and Seniors from our church. Only to be home for 2 weeks before spending 10 days in Ecuador and then home for 2 weeks before school starts!

You may be asking yourself why in the wide wide world of mike I might be dragging all three of my children on this trip...well I'll tell you...

Paul needs someone to cook. Yep...I'm the "Camp Chef". I can do amazing things with a grill and some foil pans...I assure you. So alas...I have spent the better part of the last 24 hours doing laundry, gathering clothes, swimsuits, pajamas, floaties, sunscreen, underwear, shoes, towels, sheets, toiletries AND food for three days for 15 teenagers plus our kids...

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen...I am amazing. Thank you. Thank you. No applause please.

So Paul and I had a talk last night and he's going to take the rest of the week off and we are going to get my house back to working order and probably paint the kids rooms over the weekend. Why? You ask...because it's what I want to do...and I think I deserve it...OK? So I will blog when I get back and let you know how tired I really am. Amen...and Amen.

And Now for some good news...

I just wanted to share with all of you one of the best parts about our weekend...crazy as it ended. Here are the pics from Jacob's baptism.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Quite possibly the most random tragedy ever...

Have you ever had to place one of those phone calls that starts off with..."Mom, everyone is ok...but"...

Well Sunday was one of those days for us. We had a BEAUTIFUL time baptizing Jacob on Sunday morning at the lake with our close family and then we had a picnic with some of my father-in-law's famous smoked ribs and my mom's famous potato salad. So we baptized, ate, swam (swum...whatever) and then headed to pick up a former youth to bring back home with us for the week.

Cut to three hours later on the road...Paul looks in the rearview mirror and says, "I think I see smoke!" and of course I whip around and I don't see anything...but Elizabeth does. So Paul pulls over, we jump out of the car and we find the luggage on our cargo basket...ON FIRE...not just smoking...ON FIRE...EN FUEGO...BURNING! So I run back to the car and I yell for the kids to get out of the car. Elizabeth jumps out with Abby and I literally throw the boys out of the car to Elizabeth. Meanwhile Paul is trying to beat the flames out and get the luggage of the cargo basket at the same time. Of course the luggage is strapped securely on...because we don't want to lose it! So while he is trying to put the fire out it spreads to the grass under our car and we have to move the car so that the car doesn't explode. It is at this point that Paul and I realize that this is serious. We finally get the luggage off the basket because a man that stopped to help had a pocket knife and he cut the straps. The luggage is now completely engulfed and the fire is spreading in the grass.....quickly. The kids and Elizabeth are safely away and we now had to move the car again. We threw the luggage away from the car and we finally get to a point where enough of the fire is away from the car and we can at last release the pin holding the basket on so our car can be safe too. After the car is safely away and the children are safe...we stood on the side of the road and watched Paul's luggage and Jacob and Caleb's luggage burn about 3 acres of the median down Interstate 35 in Hillsboro, TX.

We got Elizabeth's bag and my bag away with minor damage, but Paul's and the boys luggage was a total loss. It's one of those times when you know that Satan has blatantly attacked us and even though we lost physical things, God protected us from a major catastrophe. Of course I had my camera so I snapped some pictures for the insurance company and (of course) for my scrapbook.

I just realized that I haven't told you how the fire started...We normally have the cargo basket attached to our hitch with an extender that raises the basket about eight inches higher than the hitch....but the extender was in San Antonio...we were in Dallas...(that's a long story...don't ask! ;) So anyway...without the extender the basket sat just behind the exhaust pipe. So over the course of 3 hours...the exhaust got so hot that it actually caused Paul's luggage to ignite...thus...fire. I know...it's totally a freak accident.

Ok so back to the pictures...Here they are!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Mommy, Does God get sweaty?

This is one of the questions my sons were asking on the way home tonight.....

A little back story...

Ok call me a bad mom or whatever, but I LOATHE children's CD's and Music in the car...for whatever reason, I can handle it in Sunday School or for children's choir, but it has (in my humble opinion) NO place whatsoever in my car on a long trip...SO

We listen to alot of David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Passion, Starfield, Hillsong United...and the list goes on...My kids LOVE to listen to the whole host of songs that I do...which makes for great car trips! It's so funny to hear them request a song too...For example:
~The "Mad In My Soul" song is really "Undignified" by David Crowder
~The "Turtle" song is really "Get up Get up" from the Power Lab CD
~The "Mighty" song is really "Mighty to Save" by Hillsong United
~The "Everything Glory-nest" song is really "You Make Everything Glorious" by David Crowder
~The "Ever and Ever and Never" song is really "Forever and Ever etc."by David Crowder

So you see, we have a great time listening to this awesome music. I made two "Mix Tapes" from my iTunes so we could have the best of all the music in the car...No I didn't really make "tapes"...who does that anymore? I just named my freshly burned CD's "Mix Tape #1 and Mix Tape #2" for nostalgic purposes.

Anyway.....we have been listening to these "Mix Tapes" and the lyrics have been leading to some really cool discussions with my boys. Now we're getting back to the time frame of the title...

The song Mighty to Save has a line in it that says "Savior, He can move the mountains..." So that lead to the question, "Mommy, can God move ________________ fill in the blank." We talked for a long time about the fact that God is mighty enough to move anything...if He wants to. That's a hard concept for 4 and 6 year olds...

So tonight on the way home we were...of course...listening to our music and here are some of the questions that the boys were asking...

~What happens if God lets go of the "earf" (translation...EARTH)?
~Does God get sweaty?
~Does God have lungs?
~Can God make you alive after you die? (After we answered Caleb came back with: "We can call Him "makin' alive man"
~Does God have hair?
~What happens if God snores...will it shake the "earf"...(EARTH)?

Paul and I just love the fact the the songs we are listening to are causing our children to seek after the person of God. Their questions tonight were really all aimed at the actual person of God and we are so excited to be a part of this journey they are going through in their minds...just trying to get a glimpse...a picture of the person of God and who He is. We want them to seek after and decide...choose for themselves to follow Him...like Jacob did last week and we are so blessed to be able to point them in that direction. Along with a little help from David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, Christy Nockels, Hillsong United...etc...

The MOST precious sound is to hear your children singing praise to God...there are times when Paul and I just sit in the front seats holding hands...listening to the sound of our children singing...

Savior, He can move the mountains
My God is mighty to save
He is mighty to save
Forever Author of Salvation
He rose and conquered the grave
Jesus conquered the grave!

bad evening...Great Night.....HORRIBLE DAY!

Last wee we were at GEM camp...aka...GA Camp in Midland, Texas. We had a great time! Paul played the drums with Chad and the band and through a strange chain of events ended up being the camp pastor. ANYways...

We arrived home on Friday night and (of course) we have no food at home because we have been gone for a week sooooo we go to Pizza Hut. Where we have a lovely dinner and we leave. It's not until Monday morning that I realize that I left my purse at Pizza Hut! Why so long until I figure it out?.....Because I was VERY sick on Saturday...I did not leave the pull out couch the entire day! I was, as Paul would say, FOB (Flat On Back) all day long. Then Sunday I didn't need it because we didn't go anywhere mostly because I still wasn't doing so great...which brings us to Monday. To make a long story longer....we ended up finding out that one of the employees at Pizza Hut took it. I will not go into the details of the mess we are dealing with...just know it's a mess and it leads to a bigger frustration later!

Skip forward a few days to Wednesday night. We are putting the kids to bed and Jacob asks us to play the "Christmas" game. This is (not really) a game that tells the story of Christmas by opening up presents and the last one is "What God wants for Christmas". On the inside is a mirror because God wants "you" for Christmas. The book then goes into the salvation message. So Paul and I start going through the story with him, because as I have told you earlier, he was very close to accepting Jesus as his Savior. So the story starts with Gabriel and as we finish reading about Gabriel, Jacob asks if we can skip to the part about Jesus. Of course we do and I asked him why he wanted to skip to Jesus. He said because he wanted to ask Jesus to be his Savior! YEAH! Paul and I lead him through some questions and then he prayed to receive Jesus as his Savior. He did it all by himself too! So exciting! Paul and I were so grateful to be a part of this amazing time in Jacob's life! Here are some pics to commemerate this wonderful occasion.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Well...Satan decided he would not be outdone by God which brings me to the "horrible day" part of the story. Remember the "frustration" I wrote of earlier in the blog...here goes.
So since my purse was stolen I have to get a new driver's license and social security card...well you basically cannot get one without the other...FANTASTIC. So I go to the SS office with my passport...Praise the Lord they give me a SS card after waiting only an hour...except first...Google tells me that there is an office in New Braufels...long story longer...that office has been closed for about 5 years! I drove around downtown New Braufels for almost an hour asking people where it was and no one knew. I finally found a sherrif who told me that the office was closed and I would have to go to Seguin...20 more miles north. So I finally make it to Seguin. I am now about an hour and a half away from home. Back to the SS office. I wait for an hour and got my SS card. I then make my way down the road to the DPS. Success! There is only one person in front of me! So I fill out the form and take my place in line...only to find out that the computers are down. I should have known. My place in line was way to easy. So I wait about 20 minutes and the computers come up...Yes...the finish line is in view. I step up to the counter and hand her my paperwork and the lady asks me for my $10. I reach into my purse and then the panic sets in...no checkbook. Of course my debit card was in my original wallet...and I have no cash...To which the lady replied we only take exact cash or check. So I have to leave my place in line and go find an ATM in a town I am unfamiliar with I cry the entire way there. It has just been one thing after the other. So I get money go back take my DL picture and then begin the trek home. I stop at an Olive Garden and I have lunch and, of course, dessert...because this day totally warrants dessert....and it was good...and now I'm at home. Finally. With a valid driver's license and SS card mind you.

So I got a new camera!!!!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

ok ok ok ok....

I know the Bible says "thou shall not covet"...so try to control yourself! I got a new camera. I've been wanting one for a while now...not because I "needed" one...but because I wanted one! I'm not really very good at "waiting" for God to provide me things that I want...until this time...and my camera is worth every minute that I waited!

I've been looking around at different cameras and trying out friends cameras figuring out which features I wanted most and deciding what I liked and didn't like. So when God provided the funds, I walked in to Best Buy and I knew exactly what I wanted.....and I bought it! Thank you God so much for the little things!

We have gone through some really tough times (financially) over the course of our marriage and so to now be blessed financially and to be able to buy a new camera is a feeling like no other! I took 287 pictures the first time I got it out of the box...don't worry...I spared you the 287 and just put a few together in the slide show above. Enjoy!

VBS...yep...it's here...with FULL force!

So today was the first day of our VBS. We are using Power Lab by Group. It is really fun, so far. We had 276 today...which means we are probably going to have a few more tomorrow. At our church we run "2" VBS'. A preschool VBS and an elementary VBS. Our preschool VBS has about 70 kids plus workers...that's the one I'm in charge of. Can I just tell you how fun it is to have 70 birth to 5 year olds spread out all over our nursery singing and learning about Jesus?!?!?! I'm in charge of the games too, so I have about an hour of "down" time...(as "down" as you can get with 70 preschoolers in VBS) before the kids come to games.

So during this time this morning I was just listening here and there to all the goings on and this is what I heard:

From the Babies room: Two VERY sweet grandma's cooing and singing sweetly to 3 SCREAMING children! They handled it like any fantastic grandma would. So sweetly.

From the 2's: Let's go outside, line up everyone. YEEAAAAHH! Out! Out! This particular group LOVES going outside...that was all the teachers had to say and they were set for the day.

From the 3's: "Jesus gives us the power to be thankful!" Said over and over each time getting louder. What a wonderful truth to hear from 3 year olds!

From the 4.1's (One of our 4's and 5's classes): "One, Two, Three. Eyes on me." Over and over and over and over...this is a lively bunch of kiddos, but once they got to me at the games they learned "Thankful, thankful. I am thankful for...my...(fill in the blank)"

From the 4.2's while they were in Music: "There's power, there's power, there's wonder working power." and "I wanna be thankful, I wanna be Graaaaaaaateful"

So FUN! Of course as soon as we got home this afternoon we ALL took a nap. Praise the Lord for naps! We'll get up and do it again tomorrow. So much more fun to be had. I'll have some cute pics of my kids and the decorations later on this week.

"House"

This whole week I have been working in the afternoons on VBS decorations...pics to come later...and so the kids haven't been with me every afternoon...this makes for lovely mornings let me tell you...

So I have been trying to do special things in the mornings to spend better time with them.

Monday was coloring and we sorted and stripped the broken crayons so I can melt them into big round crayons.

Tuesday I told them that we would play whatever they wanted in the playroom...and they chose "House"...which eventually turned into "Life". House wasn't quite enough, they had to go to "HEB", "Home Depot", "Work", the "Doctor"...and of course I was the "all-time quarterback" if you will. I was the cashier, the "Home Depot guy"(as Caleb said) and I was also the doctor. And here's where you give a nod to my mom again for providing all of the play clothes that we used...thank you.

All in all we had a great time and you can read my commentary on the slide show I made below.(which is not perfect. There is a random baseball pic at the end that has nothing to do with the play time...but nevertheless when you get to the baseballs you know it's over...don't click to the end...it'll take forever.) The worst part was the end of the play time when Caleb knocked over my coffee...The best part...playing with my kids.

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

An update on the "frog hugging..."

So...

the frogs FINALLY stopped "hugging"! It took them over 24 hours to FINISH their "huggging"...but they finally quit.

Well.....

Not to long after that stopped, the eggs began to appear and there were a whole bunch!...I mean there were a slew of eggs...(I'm not exactly sure how much a slew is...but, in this case, a slew is A-LOT!" There were, according to my research, about 500 eggs. Yep, I said five-hundred.

So of course my kids wanted to know what all the "black things" were on the bottom of the frog tank...so we told them they were baby frogs. They are so excited! They could not believe how many baby frogs we were going to have...oops...maybe Paul and I should have discussed how many we were going to keep before we told the kids that the black things were baby frogs...so we learn for next time...

So of course I then go and do some more research about how to keep these baby frogs. I have a little experience because we grew the two frogs that we have now (that started this whole mess) from tadpoles. My mom got these tadpoles from a website called growafrog.com. Yep...growafrog.com. She got them for the boys for Christmas 2006. So really this whole thing is her fault...in a good way, of course! Thanks mom...love you.

Short side note...if you have little ones...this is a REALLY fun project! My kids absolutely loved watching the tadpole grow into a frog...and now we get to do it again...with a bunch more!

So we now have the eggs in the proper containers and water and food and they are beginning to hatch. They are miniscule...no bigger than this ~ seriously...that's how big they are.

It's been really fun to talk about God's creation and how God created the frogs and how He thought through the whole process of the frogs beginning as tadpoles and growing and adapting into frogs...amazing...truly.

I'll let you know what happens. I know you will all be waiting on the edge of your seat with baded breath to hear the next installment of the frog story...I promise not to disappoint!

When Daddy goes to the Spurs game...

So the Spurs are in the playoffs...in case you don't live in San Antonio and in case you are not aware of the fact that Spurs-mania is occuring in the Southern part of Texas...well it is...

And my point...

Paul is at the game tonight. He told one of our youth on Sunday that he would love to go...so...the youth invited Paul to go along and to top it all off...they upgraded their tickets to the lower level. So as I speak/type he is sitting 27 rows behind the Lakers bench...which is who they are playing by the way.

I wanted to share what happens when daddy gets to go do something really cool...Well I make the best of our time at home "pretending" to see daddy on the tv in the midst of the other 20 some odd thousand people who are also at the game.

So, of course I think it is only fitting that we get to sleep on the pull out couch all together...of course...we don't all FIT on the pull out couch. So Caleb (the eternal peacemaker) made the sacrifice and chose to sleep on the couch RIGHT next to me...except on the other couch...Thanks, buddy.

The dishes...ARE NOT done...because if you know me AT ALL...I do not do dishes...With Paul at the game...I guess they will get done tomorrow!

I also came home to a really intriguing sight tonight...our frogs..."hugging"...well at least that's what I told my kids they were doing. So far...let's see...they were "hooked together" (according to Caleb) before we got home at 8pm and when I checked again later and took the pics it was 10:15pm...whoa...That's a whole lot of "hanging on to each other" (according to Jacob)

I'm not exactly ready for the S-E-X talk...(I'll spell it in case any kiddos happen their eyes upon the blog...I jest) So for now our frogs will hug, hang on and hook together because they are really good friends and they love each other. Lord help me.

And not to mention...what am I going to do with frog eggs? Enjoy the pics!

For I know your Name...Amen

So the other day we were driving somewhere...I forget where, I'm sure it's super important...anyway...

We were driving somewhere and out of the blue Jacob started praying...this is not out of the ordinary because we really strive to teach our kids to pray anywhere, anytime, about anything...not just at dinner and bedtime...ANYWAY

Jacob was praying about something. He has really just "learned" how to pray like Paul and I do and he has been using some of the same words. Super cute to listen to! When He got to the end of his prayer he said, "For I know your Name, Amen" instead of "In your name I pray, Amen". It was really cute! I absolutely LOVE experiencing Jesus through my kids...it is SO refreshing. Thank you God for my AMAZING kids!

On a separate note, be praying for Jacob...He is beginning to reach the point where He is ready to ask Jesus to be His Savior. Paul and I are really excited about this and we selfishly want to be with him when he does...however...if it happens in VBS or Sunday School we would be equally as excited! We are also trying to make sure that this is HIS decision. We want God to touch his life in a special way to cause him to realize his need for a Savior. So...if you have a minute I would appreciate a prayer for Jacob!

Some random sayings that I've heard

So I have heard some random and hilarious things over the past few days from various sources and I think they are worth sharing:

Source: my son Caleb
Caleb: Mommy, mommy! I want to hear the Turtle song!
Mommy: What "turtle" song???
Caleb: the TURTLE song...please mommy?
Mommy: son I would love to play you the Turtle song...but I have NO IDEA which one you are talking about! Can you sing it to me so I know which one?
Caleb: (singing)
Get up Get up
Get up and tell the world
Get up Get up
Get up and tell the world
That Jesus paid the price
So we could have TURTLE life

OH MY SOUL did I laugh so hard...of course the word is supposed to be ETERNAL...but TURTLE works just as well!

Source: again...my son Caleb
Caleb: Mommy I'm afraid of dying and I really like to sing in a microphone.

He is the King of random statements...and yes we did address the "afraid of dying" part.

Source: A friend of Jacob's at school
Friend: (while sitting in the grass outside) "I'm ELECTRIC to grass."
Me: You're what?!?!?
Friend: I'm ELECTRIC to grass...It makes me itchy.

Again with the laughing...because, of course, he meant ALLERGIC...and no he's not really allergic to the grass...he just didn't want to sit down.

Source: Jacob after a swimming party regarding the Blisters on his feet

Jacob: Mommy my toes are really hurting.
Mommy: Why son?
Jacob: Becuase I have "Blinners" all over them
Mommy: Son? What are "blinners"
Jacob: These little bubbles on the bottom of my toes
Mommy: Oh...you mean BLISTERS!

Thanks for listening/reading!

An Update...

Well here's an update on the last blog.

No I did not get a good cry out...it just wouldn't happen for me. I'm sure it will come at the most inopportune time...you know...Jacob's t-ball party, in the middle of "fer-nastics" (that's "gymnastics" for those of you who don't speak Caleb's language!)or at youth small group on Wednesday...you know some REAL appropriate time.

Anyway...back to what I'm supposed to be blogging about. Last night Beau and Magan came over to drop off their son so he could spend the night with us. We had a great time of prayer with each other for today. They went to the hospital this morning and began the process of enducing her labor. She delivered her baby girl stillborn at 3:00pm. They named her Ryann Michelle (I'm not sure if the spelling is right) she was 7 inches long and 3 1/2 ounces. Beau and Magan got to have a special time with her and Magan is doing really well. She had a few days to cry and be sad over the weekend and she said that helped her to be "in the moment" when she delivered little Ryann. There were no complications with the delivery and now they are doing some testing on both mom and baby to see if they can get some answers as to why Magan hasn't been able to carry a baby full term in almost 2 years. She said the experience was as "good" as it could be. The doctor and nurses were all compassionate and understanding and they could not have asked for a "better" time...considering the circumstances.

I tell you what...God answers prayers...selfish ones too. We very specifically prayed last night for compassionate nurses and a quick delivery. Once the medicine took affect, Magan delivered in about 3 hours...can't really ask for faster than that! I am so thankful for a COMPASSIONATE God. A God who cares about how we feel and is willing to answer selfish prayers in accordance with His will to help us through the toughest of situations. Praise Him. Magan's quote on her myspace is so appropriate and so I share it with you:

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will CHOOSE to say
Lord, blessed be Your NAME!

Amen.

I need a good wallerin' ya'll...

Uuuuuuugggggghhhhhhhh.

Yeah, I said "wallerin"...I know classy. But seriously, I think as soon as this blog is written, I'm going into my bathroom, drawing a nice hot bath, getting in and I'm going to cry for a minute. Ladies, you understand right? There are just times when desperate times call for a good cry.

What are these, "desperate" times you may ask? Well, if you read my blog on a regular basis (all both of you;). Then you know of my dear friends who's daughter took her own life a couple of weeks ago. Well when we got back from her funeral we found out the one of our current youth's dad also committed suicide while we were gone, so we did that funeral. Another one of our youth's grandmother died and in the same week the youth tried to runaway...so we dealt with that.

Then...my best friend Magan lost her baby this week. She was 17 weeks pregnant. According to my friend Georgia it's a "fetal demise" and my dear friend will have to give birth to her baby on Monday.

It's been a hard few weeks ya'll.

I just need to cry and let it out and cry out to the Father, tell Him how I feel, ask Him why and then rest in the fact that I don't need to know why...I only need to know Him.

The sadness is indirect to me, and yet so overwhelming. When will it end. It's to HIS glory though, and if this is all I have to endure...I can do it. One of my favorite lines from MercyMe is in their fairly new song All That is Within Me...

Such a tiny offering
Compared to Calvary
But Nevertheless
I lay it at your feet

It's all I got...in other words. Pray for us. We are walking through this with our dear, dear friends and it's uncharted territory. We are sad...real sad. Hopefully I'll have better things to blog about next time.

A little disconnected...

For a few days now, I have just been feeling disconnected. It's just been hit and miss here lately. Paul and I seem to be on different pages...not all the time...just enough to cause miscommunication. I am also struggling to hear God's voice right now. Granted I am not making a tremendous effort, and I am aware of that....and working on that. It's just frustrating when everything is not firing at the same rate, when the gears are not turning at the same pace...and things are off.
I feel like I should just "snap" out of it...after all I am wasting valuable play time by feeling this way. At the same time, I don't want to just "snap" out of it, I want to learn something. I want God to teach me during this time to rely on Him when it's me who is disconnected...because it's certainly not Him who is disconnected. Hopefully, prayerfully, Things will fall back into sync soon. There's to much going on in our lives here towards the end of school and I want to be working all together to make the best of the next few months and the summer.

Mother's Day

I just want everyone to know that I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. To top it all off...I just read Paul's blog about it...I want to share it with you...not to toot my own horn, but because I have the greatest husband ever!

Saturday, May 10, 2008
Mother's Day
So this weekend is mother’s day... I am so excited that my kids have such an awesome mom. Tanya is the type of mother who will stop her whole day to make super hero costumes complete with masks and capes. I never know what I will come into when I come home from the office. So this is the weekend where we tip our hats to the ones that make scraped knees heal instantly, make a plain old sandwich into a gourmet meal. I am blessed to have Tanya in my life and my kids life as well!

Thanks so much, Paul...love you!

Now more from me...
At church on Sunday our pastor was doing the typical Mother's Day thing giving roses to the oldest mothers and the newest mothers and I sat there thinking of all the other mothers who really deserve a rose to...here are a few examples:

1. Mothers of Kindergartners...we taught our children to READ this year...I feel victorious!
2. Mothers of Seniors...they have been through all the years of school, all the science projects, book reports, boyfriends and girlfriends, bad teachers, lost ball games...etc...the list goes on.
3. Mothers of new babies...oh the sleepless nights
4. Mothers of soldiers...oh the uncertainty
5. Mothers of preschoolers...need I say more?!?!
6. Mothers of college grads...oh the lack of cash...
7. Mothers of special needs children...again, need I say more?!!?
8. Mothers of teenagers...YIKES!
9. Mothers of 16 year olds just chomping at the bit to get their license!
10.Mothers...all shapes, all sizes, all of them...

Pics from Field Day 2008

Field Day 2008

Ok...so today was Field Day! Can I just say that you know it's going to be a crazy day when all 800 students PK-4th grade descend upon the playgrounds and parking lot for a day of fun! What you don't expect is the grown women who flirt with the high school boys...there to help, mind you, and spray them with water and chase them around the parking lot! No I am not kidding! There was a lady who was next to me and she was supposed to be running a game. Yeah right...now let me say first of all this lady was neither young nor cute nor small...I'll repent later for my judgement....but seriously. She was "in charge" of the water hose...not because the PE teacher put her in charge...but because she did not want to "eat what she was dishing out!"

She then proceeded to flirt...I'm not even kidding...full on flirting with the high school boys...you know spraying them with water, chasing after them with the hose and then the kids would get in on the "action" and dump the water buckets...that were supposed to be used for the game...on the high schoolers heads...and so on and so on.

All in all, we had a good time and Jacob had fun...if it hadn't been for that crazy lady next to me it would have been a great day!

So back to the 800 kids playing the games...Needless to say...it's San Antonio and it topped about 96 degrees today...so the water games were a hit. The kids were SOAKING WET! I mean all the way down to their underwear. So then ALL of them descended upon the bathrooms to change from their soaking clothes into their dry ones...Have you ever been in a place where 140 Kindergartners were trying to take off wet clothes and put on dry ones...and then why...I ask you WHY do parents send the hardest dry clothes in the history of all changes of clothes!

I, (being mother of the year) sent an easy pair of elastic waisted shorts and a t-shirt...simple...no fuss...and I was there to help.

Others.....sent jeans and boots and belts and snaps and all the clothes that THEY hate putting on so they thought the teachers and the parent helpers would love to help the kiddos! What!?!?!!?!

So after the clothes changing fiasco we finally got ready to eat lunch...it's already, because of field day, about 1 hour past their normal lunch time. We walk down to the cafeteria and the line is OUT THE DOOR! Other classes were late, on top of the fact that the lunch ladies were not moving very fast AND their computer that the kids punch their numbers into was broken! So she was having to write EVERYONES number down and what they bought for lunch! One word...CRAZY! So Jacob's teacher and I are standing in the hall with the class singing every song we can think of to occupy the kids while we wait almost 20 minutes to get our food!

We finally eat, and get on with the rest of our day...movie, rest, recess...tough...I know.

Now here I sit smelling like dried sweat and I feel as though I have the grime of 20 Kindergartners all over me...I think I'll go take a shower.

Remember Rachel...according to her momma...

This is what Rachel's momma wrote in tribute to her precious daughter. We celebrated her life on Friday afternoon, she was WELL LOVED! The over 500 people at her funeral are proof of that! It was a privilege for Paul and I to sing at the service. I did ok too! I got all the way to the very last line of the last song before I started crying. I hope that Chris and Georgia (Rachel's parents) were pleased with the service. Anyway...I can think of no better way to pay tribute to Rachel than through her momma's words. If you would like to see some BEAUTIFUL pictures of Rachel click on the "fellow blogger", Georgia. Truly a beautiful girl. We will always love her.


Rachel, remember...
To all the lives Rachel touched We as a family would like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the outpouring of love you have shown this week. We know that you are hurting just as we are and trying to make some sense of it. I am not sure we will ever make sense of it… Even we have to keep reminding ourselves to quit trying to make sense of it; it is not going to happen. We sometimes have to remind ourselves every minute. We may not ever know why… Just try to remember… Remember… Rachel as the vibrant young girl blossoming quickly into a young woman who loved everything about life. Remember not how she took her life but how she chose to live it. She was vibrant, always smiling, bubbly, funny, and goofy, laughing, remember how she lit up a room when she walked in. Remember her fierce protection of her friends and her loyalty to them. Remember her love of life- she loved so much and so hard that she lived full steam and when she finally ran out of gas she crashed for hours and nothing could wake her. She was even passionate about her sleep, the girl LOVED her sleep. You should have seen her bed when she got up, it had to be completely remade, and you might even find her sideways or at the foot of the bed. It was a mess. Remember… how she loved you as friends. She loved each and every one of you (guys & girls) in a very special way; and yes, even when you got on each other's nerves. She loved you intensely and with every ounce of her being. She loved being goofy and hanging out, being mischievous, sleep over's, going to the movies, she loved to lay out and attempt to get a tan even though she rarely turned more than one shade darker and she loved "TP-ing" houses. She loved IM-ing, talking on the phone (sort of), singing, playing on her dance pad and listening to her Walkman MP3. She loved SIMS and both Father of the Bride movies. She loved shoppi
ng trips, Wal-Mart scavenger hunts and dares and of course mani-pedi's. No matter the circumstance she loved you!!! Remember… She loved life She loved her family and pets She loved her friends fiercely, intensely and passionately She loved her school and everything about it She loved her teachers and her coaches- she was furious that many of you were leaving; however she was beginning to understand that is the life of a coach but she did say that if even one more chose to leave she said she was going to Tom Bean She loved learning, reading and yes even homework She loved to travel and was able to go many places this past year… Richmond, Virginia, Williamsburg, Washington DC, Missouri, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina She loved UT and OU, can I even write that in the same sentence??? Yes she loved life, but most of all she loved Jesus! Remember… the good times spent laughing and cutting up in the halls and in the lunch room at "your" lunch table, on the bus for whatever occasion, slumber parties, football games, movies (sitting on the front the row at the Odeum), track meets, volleyball games, softball games, classes together, youth group activities, shopping, working in the concession stand, getting your nails done together. Remember her witty sense of humor, she loved to laugh and be goofy. Remember her passionate and intense love of life, family and friends. Remember… To thank Him for the blessing of 15 awesome years with her. Thank Him for the gift of her precious life and how she touched each and every one of us in some very special way. Remember… Most of all remember her love of Jesus! We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she loved Jesus & that her last breathe on earth was her first breathe in heaven. Now she is rejoicing in heaven with Jesus and probably making him laugh too! Remember… written by her momma

When God doesn't make sense...to us...

I am reeling with this question right now. Last night we learned that one of our former youth shot herself in the face with a shotgun. Excuse the graphic nature of my sentence, but God is not making sense to alot of people in that community right now. We are pretty close to the family, their son lived with us for about 6-8weeks. We have been through "it" with this family and now this. I, from the outside looking in, am trying to see the big picture from God, His greater glory, for this tragedy. There are so many unanswered questions that only He has the answer to. I am praying for the family. Their son is bravely serving our country and is stationed in North Carolina trying to get home. I am praying that the ARMY will have compassion on him and let him leave in enough time to make the funeral. I am fully confident that God knows what he's doing....that being said...God isn't making a whole lot of sense to lots of people right now. Pray that God will give Paul and I wisdom in ministering to this family.

You know your kids play too much Halo when...

Yesterday at church the most hilarious thing came from Caleb's mouth! In AWANA's the preschool kids are going through the Bible according to the alphabet...A is for Angel, B is for Babel, C is for Christ...etc...you get the picture...

So yesterday was X. Yep, the lovely letter X. Nothing starts with X, it rarely makes it's own sound, what in the Bible starts with X...that preschoolers can handle. So the book suggests "Crucifixion". Yes, students, Crucifixion does start with "C" not "X". But alas, there is an "X" in the word AND (bonus) a cross can look like an "X". So we began telling the story of Jesus and the crucifixion....

Parallel back story:

In Halo, the XBOX game, when you die or get killed (figuratively of course) you have to wait for your character to respawn. Caleb has just taken up playing this game with Jacob and they have a great time...

Back to the main story:

So my co-teacher and I are telling the story about Jesus dying on the cross and she asks the class, "What happened after Jesus died on the cross?" To which Caleb emphatically replied, without skipping a beat, "He respawned!"

We died laughing. It was so funny! I immediately had to call Paul and tell him. So, you know your kids play to much Halo when they start thinking the Jesus "respawned".

A Bikini and Guitar Hero

A while ago I blogged about my strong fondness for the video game "Guitar Hero". We just had an XBOX not an XBOX 360 so we did not have the game. We just shamelessly borrowed it from time to time from youth so I could play. Paul has been looking into purchasing a 360 but we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend the money on a "game"...until the other day...

Paul was out with the kids on a daddy day and he texted me and asked if he could get a 360. He gave me all the details and Game Stop was running a sale (he knows I can't resist a sale!) so I said sure why not...we have the money...and then I asked..."What do I get?" He texted back that he had bought me something and not to worry.

When we all arrived back home we started to look at what all the daddy day had involved...including the 360. So like a child I ask, "What did you bring me?" He leads me on a scavenger hunt to find my treasure. I follow the clues and I was getting kind of excited because He had gone to all this trouble...my present must be awesome!

I finally arrive at my last clue and there was a small bag...(that usually means the gift is for "him" and not me!) It was a....bikini! What! Now those of you who know me well need to pick yourself up off of the floor at the visual of me in a bikini and finish reading! Seriously...stop laughing...stop...seriously...ok keep going because it is hilarious. I just held up this teeny tiny swimsuit...in my size, mind you...and I died laughing! I could not help myself. To even think of wearing a bikini...it's bringing me to laughing tears as we speak/type. So anyway, I told Paul that I truly appreciated his thought, but this "swimsuit" was not appropriate. He wasn't going to let me wear it in front of anyone...if I even put it on.

So then I went into the living room and there it was...GUITAR HERO! He bought me Guitar Hero...I know what you are thinking, the bikini was a joke and Guitar Hero was my real present...nope. The bikini was real too. I really didn't care though...I now own Guitar Hero. So yes, I have been playing...and having a great time.

Thanks to Paul for making me so happy, and laugh so hard!

So, needless to say, I will be returning

Lots of Things...and this is funny!

I have so many things that I want to blog about, but alas, D-Now is tomorrow and I am out of time. I will tell all my stories next week. My mom sent this to me though and I thought it was blog worthy...so cut...paste...done. Til next week!

Things I learned living in Texas ~
1. A possum is a flat animal that sleeps in the middle of the road.
2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 of them live in Texas .
3. There are 10,000 types of spiders. All 10,000 of them live in Texas , plus a couple no one's seen before.
4. If it grows, it'll stick ya. If it crawls, it'll bite cha.
5. 'Onced' and 'Twiced' are words.
6. It is not a shopping cart, it is a buggy.
7. 'Jaw-P?' means 'Did ya'll go to the bathroom?'
8. People actually grow and eat okra.
9. 'fixinto' is one word.
10. There is no such thing as 'lunch'. There is only dinner and then there is supper.
11. Iced tea is appropriate for all meals and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar.
12. Backwards and forwards means 'I know everything about you.'
13. The word 'jeet' is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'.
14. You don't have to wear a watch, because it doesn't matter what time it is, you work until you're done or it's too dark to see.
15. You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH EM.
16. 'No. Jew?' is a common response to the question 'Did you bring any beer?'.
17. You measure distance in minutes.
18. You switch from heat to A/C in the same day.
19. All the festivals across the state are named after a fruit, vegetable, grain, insect or animal.
20. You know what a 'DAWG' is.
21. You carry jumper cables in your car --- for your OWN car.
22. You only own five spices: salt, pepper, Texas Pete, Tabasco and Ketchup.
23. The local papers cover national and international news on one page, but require 6 pages for local gossip and motorsports.
24. You think that the first day of deer season is a national holiday.
25. You find 100 degrees Fahrenheit 'a bit warm'.
26. You know all four seasons: Almost summer, summer, still summer, and Christmas.
27. Going to Wal-Mart is a favorite past time know as 'goin' Wal-Martin' or 'off to Wally World'.
28. You describe the first cool snap (below 70 degrees) as good chicken stew weather.
29. Fried catfish is the other white meat.
30. We don't need no dang driver's ed. If our mama says we can drive, we can drive, dag-nabbit.