Pass the Salt

Clothes War III

2011-12-06T09:30:00.000-06:00

Today I feel the need to be transparent. I feel the need to confess. I know that my confession will make some judge, but others will be comforted by the fact that everyone has their hidden issues. There is a war raging in my house today and I am determined to come up victorious! :) With two more people in the house, comes two more people worth of clothes. Add a busy schedule to that and the result is that if you at least have clean clothes....you are winning the battle. But today I plan to win the war......all those clean clothes are going down......or is that up (in their drawers)!!

Here is my confession: for the past few weeks I have had several tubs of clean clothes at the end of my bed. In the mornings after I make my bed, I dump the piles on the bed and we stir around to find what people are looking for. As clothes get washed, they just get added to the pile. I usually make a mental note to do some folding that day "when I get a chance." At about 10:00 each night, when I can barely keep my eyes open anymore, I rake all the clothes off the bed back into the baskets and hope for better luck tomorrow in the folding department. There it is. The truth is out.

But today will be different. Today I have on my fighting shoes. When I made the bed this morning and dumped the piles, I told them that this would be the day of their defeat! :)

Just in case you thought I was exaggerating; here is documented proof! ;)

Well, I must go now. As you can see, I have work to do!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T11:32:00.000-06:00

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Wow, there is so much in this one short verse. I taught a children's lesson last week about this verse, and as often happens, God ended up teaching me!! This verse is encouraging and comforting to me, because it gives instruction to each Christian about God's plan for our lives. Maybe you are a college student struggling with a career choice. Maybe you are a woman struggling with infertility. Maybe you are a senior adult struggling with what God would have you do after retirement. No matter what God's specific plan is for each of our lives, this verse says that there is one thing that we can all be sure is in God's will for our lives.......to give thanks in all circumstances. So, whether we know God's specific plan for our lives at this moment or not, we can be actively living in His will. Whatever circumstances we find ourselves in, we should give thanks.

This brings up some tough questions, though. We all know that it is easy to give thanks in the good circumstances, but what about the hard times that we all find ourselves in sometimes. What about that woman that is struggling with infertility? Or what about a widow that is alone during the holidays, remembering times past? What about a mother that has just unexpectedly lost a child in a random accident? Do they have to give thanks in these circumstances as well?

This is the really cool part that gets me excited!! You see, it is the last three words in this verse that are the secret ingredient, if you will. When tough times come, we as Christians, can have hope and are able to be grateful, because we are in Christ Jesus. We know from experience that God can be trusted and even when our hearts might be breaking, we can still have faith in His love and have hope for our lives in Christ Jesus. And oh, what a testimony it is to the people around us when they see a Christian giving thanks during a horrific circumstance. Of course, God doesn't say that we have to give thanks for the circumstance, only to give thanks during it! :) There are specific Christians in my own life that immediately come to mind when I think of someone who gave thanks during a tough circumstance. This causes unbelievers to do a double take and consider the power of this person we call, Christ Jesus. That is what it's all about.

So, this Thanksgiving season, no matter what circumstances you are in, I encourage you to give thanks and to have hope. Remember, if you are a Christian, you have an unmatchable power inside of you just waiting to be tapped into. If you are not a Christian, maybe this is the day that God has chosen to invite you to accept him into your life.

Thanksgiving Lunch

2011-11-17T22:22:00.000-06:00

Today the kids and I went to Victoria's school to eat Thanksgiving lunch with her. They had the traditional turkey and dressing meal. Victoria didn't want to eat in the cafeteria, so she just ate her packed lunch! :) I personally thought the turkey and dressing looked pretty good!

This is Victoria with her friend, Reece

I am looking forward to having a memorable Thanksgiving and spending special time with family....also looking forward to some good eating! My hubby makes a mean sweet potato casserole! :)

Look who got glasses!!

2011-11-14T16:59:00.000-06:00

Victoria had been complaining about not being able to see the TV without squinting and her teacher has been letting her go to the floor by the board to read things. So, we decided her eyes needed to be tested. Sure enough, she can not see at a distance very well. He said anything beyond eight feet was fuzzy! She was amazed at how clear things looked when she put on her glasses.

Here she is on Sunday with her friend, Emma. I'm so glad that Emma had to get glasses recently also, so Victoria isn't embarrassed. She was actually very excited about getting glasses! ;)

Courageous

2011-11-08T22:13:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago Robert and I went to see the movie, Courageous. I knew that it was a Christian movie, so when we went to the theatre, I convinced Robert to let us watch it to help support it. He agreed! What I didn't know was that the whole movie was about fathers being good dads. I felt bad at first, because it appeared that I had convinced Robert to watch the movie as an "intervention." Ha! While we were driving home, I explained how great of a dad that I thought he was. His response to the movie was, "Watching that movie reminds every good daddy why he does what he does and encourages others to do better." So, either way, I would encourage any daddy to watch this movie. It is very sweet. If you have not seen the movie, you can view the trailer below.

As the credits were rolling after the movie, something special happened. In the last scene of the movie one of the dads is sharing his testimony at a local church. He asks the question, "Who will be a man of courage?" Men in the congregation begin to stand up and say, "I will." There in the pitch dark movie theatre, a man down front stood to his feet and said, "I will." Then another stood and said, "I will." Men all over the movie theatre stood and made that promise. Oh my, what a moving and incredible impromptu moment!! It was amazing...I definitely witnessed a special moment and I feel very blessed that the man that God gave my children has promised, "I will."

Mother of Four

2011-11-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

I have been the mother to four blessings for two weeks now. l remember the fear that I had those first few days. I knew that being a mother to four kids would be different; it would require me to be different. I knew that who I was would evolve and change; I could almost feel it happening inside of me and it terrified me a little bit. I wondered if once the tranformation was done, would I still feel like myself? Would I still be me? Or would I be so different that I regretted the change and longed to go back to the way that I was. This may sound completely ridiculus, but none the less, it was how I felt. I can remember feeling something similiar right before I was to give birth to Carson. How would it feel to be the mother of two instead of the mother of just one? Would the new responsibilities and demands change me? Would it change my relationship with the first? Change always brings unknown. Oh, but God is good. And He is undoubtedly shaking His head at my worries. "My Child, if you will trust in me, I can bless you."

And blessing me, He is. Fortunately, I am successfully becoming the mother of four and yes, I am happy to say that I do still feel like myself. Ha! Is our family changing? YES! Is it good change? YES! After only two weeks, it is becoming hard to imagine our life and our family without them. I feared that adding two more children would change me and I would not feel like myself; I am quickly realizing that now I would not know who I was if I wasn't the mother to these four. God chose to bless our family with these four specific wonderful kids. We were made for them and they were made for us.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T22:12:00.000-05:00

Carson got to wear his Halloween costume to school on Monday. He was so excited and they had a blast. They had pizza for lunch and a fun party! Carson sent Halloween sugar cookies as his treats for his friends.

Mrs. Tata's class (Carson is the Red Ranger)

Carson with his buddy, Carter, aka Batman

The whole group again! So cute!

Our Beautiful Cleopatra.......Queen of the Nile :)

Our brew!

A fun time was had by all!!

Pumpkins

2011-10-30T23:33:00.000-05:00

Tonight we carved the pumpkins that we picked out at the pumpkin patch last week. They turned out really cute! Looking forward to trick-or-treating tomorrow!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-26T23:07:00.000-05:00

Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch with Carson's preschool class. He had a blast hanging out with his friends!

Carson's class

Carson loves his teacher Mrs. Tata and thinks that she is so cool!

Carson with his best friend, Carter, and his little sister, Elliott

Carter and Carson hiding from my camera! ;)

New Job Title

2011-10-19T16:01:00.001-05:00

Today was my last day at my part-time job. I am officially a full-time stay-at-home mom again!

I know that I will miss working with Paige and helping out in the children's ministry office; but I am excited about what God has in store for our family!

Evidence of God Working in My Life

2011-10-18T22:41:00.000-05:00

Awhile back I started a series of posts entitled: Courage Builders and filed them under the tab Courage Builders at the top of my blog. Looks like this entry would be #8 in that series. :)

My courage builders are things that happen in my life that show God working. This courage builder is actually evidence of God working in Victoria's life. Last year Victoria was in first grade and although she was a great student, she really did not like school. I hated to see her miserable and we began to pray about options for this year. We seriously prayed about if she would benefit from homeschooling. Again, she is an At student and had perfect behavior. It just wasn't fun for her. I know school isn't fun everyday, but knowing her personality, I knew she should be a little more optimistic about it.

I realized that maybe one of the reasons she wasn't enjoying school was because although she did have friends at school, none of her school friends, were our family friends. She has a lot of close girlfriends that go to church with her, dance with her, are family friends, etc. BUT none of these girls went to her school. Unlike the school district that I grew up in, our school district here has 4-5 elementary schools and then her church friends are funneling in from Little Rock, Bryant, and Benton. Last year she had eight little girls at a sleepover for her birthday and none of them went to school with her!

Sooooo, God answered our prayers by bringing her Reece. Reece has been her friend since they were born. Actually, I guess you could say they hung out together even before they were born...in their mommy's tummies. Reece's mom and dad are some of Robert and my best friends from our college years. Reece's dad and Robert were college roomates and then us girls became fast friends, dreaming about getting married, raising kids, etc.

God knew what Victoria needed.....Reece not only moved to Victoria's school, but they are in the same class with the teacher that I know God handpicked for them. Between Reece and Mrs. Stipe, Victoria's outlook on school has improved 100%. Thank you, God, for caring enough about Victoria to orchestrate these things in her life.

Reece is in the front basket.....Victoria in the back

Reece and Victoria in their first outing together

Victoria giving Reece kisses

Reece on left....Victoria on right: at Chuck-E-Cheese

A few months after Reece turned one, they welcome their second daughter, Ashlyn, into their family. This is the three girls (Victoria, Ashlyn, and then Reece) and Victoria's third birthday party.

Ashlyn, Reece, Victoria, and Carson hanging out during a Razorback game! Go Hogs!

Reece and Victoria.....so cute!

Reece, Victoria, and Ashlyn on Crazy Clothes Day!

Victoria and Reece showing their Bryant spirit!

Kisses

2011-09-25T22:13:00.000-05:00

I stumbled upon a cute idea that I wanted to share with other moms with little ones that take a lunch with them to school/preschool/etc. Both of my kids take a lunch everyday that they go to school. I always try to pack them a little something sweet. Not a huge dessert, just something small. I was rummaging around in our candy stash in the pantry, trying to find something "peanut" free and school approved. :) I found a few Hershey kisses and threw a few in their lunch boxes each. The next day I rummaged around in the candy stash and did the same. In the mornings as I pack their lunches, they are sitting at the bar eating breakfast. So I just commented "Hey, I'm putting kisses in your lunchboxes again today." Of course, I meant Hershey kisses, but it gave me a great idea! I started laughing and I said the same thing again, but with a twinkle in my eye. "Hey, I'm putting kisses in your lunchbox." and I added a big lip smacking sound! Ha! They looked at each other and laughed! :) They are used to me being silly and weird! Now it is our secret thing! I always put kisses in their lunchbox, so that they know that I love them. Luckily my kids don't get homesick too bad while at school, but for a child that did this would be a great way to send encouragement with them. I wish I could see my kids' faces when they see their "kisses" from mom. I bet they chuckle a little at their silly mom. But you know what, I also bet that they know their mom loves them more than anything else in the world.....and that is good enough for me!!

Being Obedient

2011-09-13T11:42:00.001-05:00

     This past Sunday night I got rebaptized. What? Rebaptized?  You are probably wondering....is that theologically sound? Well, no. Once a person becomes a Christian, they only need to be baptized once. In my faith, baptism does not save a person. It is only an outward display (or testimony) of what has happened to change a person on the inside (in their heart, soul and mind).
     I believe that a person must come to a point when they decide if they are going to believe that the Bible is truth and that God really is the creator of all things (not that the Big Bang accidentally created us). They must decide if they will accept that Jesus did in fact come to earth as a man and sacrifice His perfect life on a cross, so that each person can be forgiven of their sins and go to heaven. Every person has to decide if they are going to accept that gift for themselves or not. I also believe that once a person has asked Jesus to save them, then they can never loose their salvation.
     When I was six or seven years old, I made a profession of faith, saying that I wanted Jesus Christ to be my Savior. I was baptized at that time. As I continued to get older and understand more about what it meant to make Jesus the boss of my life, I began to wonder if I had completely understood when I was six.  Satan would make me doubt whether or not I was a Christian or not.
     One night when I was 13 years old, I decided I wanted to nail down my salvation, so that Satan could never use that against me. I can remember kneeling in my bathroom floor and praying. I told God that I wanted to get this nailed down, so that Satan could never make me doubt my salvation. I thanked God for being in my life and I told Him that I wasn't sure if I had understood what being a Christian completely meant at six, but now I knew I understood the sacrifice that Jesus made for me and I wanted to accept Him and ask Him to forgive me of my sins. I wanted to not only invite Him to be apart of my life, but to control my life. I trusted in the plan He had for me and I wanted that, too.
     From that day forward I never doubted my salvation. Have I been perfect? No, but I have never doubted who I am in Christ and He has never left me. I have tried to make a conscious effort throughout my life to let Him lead, not me. So far, that is working out pretty good! :)
    Recently God prodded me that I needed to be rebaptized, because my salvation experience (which was at 13) actually happened after I had been baptized.   At first I questioned Him. Everybody knows that I am a Christian now, so what would be the point? Also my daughter who is seven has already made a profession of faith. I didn't want this to confuse her and make her question the decision that she made. Plus, I feared that someone might misunderstand and think that I had just become a Christian.  God and I "discussed" this for several weeks. I kept telling Him all these things, but I still heard that still, small voice saying that I needed to be obedient. So, I humbled myself and took that step out. I now have my acceptance of Christ and my baptism in the right order!! :) No one would have ever known that I was being disobedient to something God was leading me to do. But God would have known and that disobedience was already creating distance between us. I didn't want anything standing between me and my relationship with God.
    I wonder how many Christians are "arguing" with God about something they know He is telling them to do. Sometimes it doesn't always make sense, but God can see the bigger picture. I chose to trust Him and be obedient.
     Just for fun, I posted pictures of me from both times I got baptized. I have no plans to add anymore pictures to this collection. Ha! My salvation and baptism are officially squared away!

This is my grandmother, Margery M. Eley, pictured with me here. She was a huge part of my childhood, but passed away when I was eight years old. That makes me realize the impact a person can have on a person during those first years.

My childhood pastor, Dr. David Blase. He actually just retired from my childhood church after 25 years of service.

This is me and Dave Hughey, the associate pastor at my present church home. I got to know him very well the past two summers as we served together in Peru. He is an awesome man of God and is very special to me.

Can you tell I was scared to death??!!!! I look so serious and sad.......I think I did smile a little bit right before he baptized me.

Want to guess what His sermon was about that night? He preached from Matthew 5:13 about Christians being the salt of the earth. I was amazed, because that is the scripture that God led me to when I restarted my blog awhile back! Our God is amazing and He works in very cool ways. I have no doubt that one of the reasons God led Dave to preach from that text was for my benefit. My God wanted to assure me that He was pleased with my obedience and that He still has a plan for my life. I am so excited to see what is next! I know that He desires for me to keep taking steps toward Him and "passing the salt" along the way!

Go Bryant!

2011-09-03T11:34:00.001-05:00

Last night we went to the Salt Bowl football game where the two rivals, Bryant and Benton played each other. I have no idea why it is called the Salt Bowl, but it is always held at War Memorial Stadium instead of at the hometown stadiums. Our towns are located right beside each other, so they are huge rivals. Tons of people come out to support their home team, so it is a big deal and so much fun!! Before the game they had a huge tail-gate party where local businesses gave away tons of free stuff, including hot dogs, cokes, etc.

My babies showing their Bryant spirit!

The fam with Ned Perme, Channel 7 Meteorologist

Sophie, Victoria, and Carson with Buzz. Victoria came home from school one day saying that she knew a secret. Her teacher had told her who was in the Buzz costume this year. Actually it is a "Buzzette" this year. I could tell you the secret, but then what fun would that be!!!! :)

The kids almost got to be on TV live, but I guess they ran out of time, because they never came back to them live.

The reporter felt bad for getting them excited and then not delivering, so he let them hold his mic!

Tori trying out the mic! Maybe we have the next Diane Sawyer on our hands!

Tori with her friend, Emma, and her lil' sis, Eden

This is Emma and Tori at the Salt Bowl last year. Amazing how fast they grow up!

This is Carson's teacher, Mrs. Tanya. He can't wait to finally start school this next Wednesday!

Tori and me

How cute is Maggie with those Shirley Temple ringlets?!! Her mom, Natalie, and dad, Jeremy, went to college with Robert and me. Natalie grew up in Bryant and they live here again now.

Tori with her friend, Torin

Torin liked the stickers on Tori's face and wanted a pair.

Torin and Tori......lovin' how they both are missing some teeth!

We had a great night and the fact that Bryant WON made it even better!! Go Bryant!

Torin and Tori

2011-08-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

I can't resist posting this picture, because it is so darn cute! This little boy was in Tori's class last year and is in her class again this year. His name is Torin. Isn't that cute????!!! Torin and Tori..........they said that last year they always got confused about which one their teacher was talking to. :) Tori had mentioned maybe wanting to be Victoria this year and when we heard that Torin was in her class again, she decided for sure. Hopefully that makes it a little less confusing for their teacher, but to their friends they are still Torin and Tori!! Right now they are just friends, but I think they would make the cutest couple some day......a LONG time from now!!! Not only is he cute, but he is the sweetest little boy. I think this picture will be precious someday.....maybe in a senior video!! This was them at the end of school last year on a field trip to the family farm.

A Baby Shower

2011-08-19T17:05:00.000-05:00

This past Sunday I helped host a baby shower for a good friend who grew up in my hometown and now lives near me. I say it that way, because growing up we didn't know each other very well, but have become good friends since. She is one of the sweetest people that I know. She and her husband have had quite a faith journey in growing their sweet family and I know that so many people have prayed for them over the past few years. They are blessed to have a little girl who is 3 years old and then they will be adding a little boy to their family the end of this month. I can't wait! I am so excited for them!

This is the food table; I did not get a picture of the drink table

This is Kacey, her mom, her mother-in-law, and her daughter, Ava Jayne

Kacey is so special to me. Like so many of us women, she longed to not only be a wife, but to also be a mother. Several weeks before their first daughter, Maddie, was to be born, she passed away. I have no idea the heartbreak that Kacey and her husband went through. By that point, Kacey's heart had made that transition from not just a women, but a mom. Unfortunately she did not have her sweet baby to take home and hold. We lived in different states at the time, but nonetheless my heart broke for them. I can remember holding my son so tight in my arms (who was only a few months old then) and weeping for them. Sometimes things seem unfair and unexplainable. Then they later were blessed by delivering a healthy baby girl named Ava, who is beautiful and precious! Each of Kacey's pregnancies have had its difficulties, which is why I am so excited to see this healthy little man!

Kacey, you have handled the trials along this journey with grace, never doubting God's goodness and His love for you. That is such an amazing testimony to the people around you. You have been given a gift of compassion and understanding for women who are experiencing heartbreak due to pregnancy issues.
I am so glad that you are brave enough to use that gift to help other people.......and by the way, you are a great mom!!

My Baby is in 2nd Grade!

2011-08-15T22:25:00.000-05:00

Today was Tori's first day of 2nd grade! She has a great teacher and is lucky to have one of her best friends in her class this year!

Tori posing outside the house before leaving for school

Mrs. Stipe helping her hang up her backpack

Getting all her paperwork out of her folder

Tori and Reece all smiles

"Reece-ster"

Yeah! They made it through their first day!

The kids enjoying some after school Icees!

Panama City Vacation

2011-08-15T21:55:00.003-05:00

Last week we went to the beach for our summer vacation. I plan to make a post for each days pictures and what we did, just so that I will have that info to look back on. But for now, I have put together a slideshow of some of the pictures that we took during our photo shoot! This was my first time to create a slideshow like this, so hopefully it works! :)

Click here to view Panama City Vacation Slideshow

Shots!

2011-08-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

The kids had their yearly check-ups today and they both had to get shots. Well, Victoria had to only get one, but Carson had to get FOUR!! They were both brave, so I told them I'd treat them to soft tacos at Taco Bell. We never eat at Taco Bell, but our dentist gives free coupons for a soft taco and cinnamon sticks when they get their teeth cleaned. So, we always go by and get one after dentist appointments. From that it has somehow turned into a tradition to get soft tacos from Taco Bell as a treat after any unpleasant doctor visit. They were complaining that they couldn't even raise their arms to eat their tacos. :) Poor Babies!!!

One of my favorite things about summer is.......

2011-07-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

.........eating home-grown tomatoes! As a kid, I hated them, but I have sure made up for that now. I love them by themselves with just a sprinkle of Tony Chacheres! Some of our friends have a garden with their parents, so I get to share in the spoils!!! I could eat them until I made myself sick!

I also love fresh peaches during the summer! The best peaches come from south Arkansas, no doubt!

Pillowcase Dresses and Doll Clothes

2011-07-28T16:49:00.002-05:00

     My mom had some extra fabric at her house that the girls had been playing with and I got an idea to try and make cute pillowcase dresses for their American Girl dolls. I knew that making normal size pillowcase dresses was pretty easy. So, why not miniature size? Tori picked out some fabric and ribbon and my mom said that they would try and work on it. Well, they ran out of time, so Tori brought the fabric and ribbon home to me. Yes, I do have a sewing machine. No, I don't even know how to thread it! :)
     So, I called in reinforcements. I called my friend Devon (who happens to be a very good seamstress) and told her my idea. She said we could do even better than that. She would run by Hobby Lobby and get enough fabric for her two girls and Tori to all have matching dresses with their dolls! Yeah! I was pumped. So, yesterday Devon and the girls came over. The kids had tons of fun playing and we (I use that term loosely) had tons of fun sewing!! :) Devon is amazing.....she whipped out the three big girls dresses like it was nothing and then we ran out of time, so the doll dresses will have to wait for another day.
     I did get my sewing machine out and after Devon loaded the bobbin and got it ready, I made Tori's doll (Lacey) a pair of shorts, all by myself (with Devon showing me how step-by-step)! It was so easy and fun!!

Devon hard at work

Tori's dress

Lacey's shorts that I made

I can't wait until we play again! I'll try to remember to post a picture later of all three girls and their dolls in matching dresses. It should be cute....Lacey just might get herself a whole new wardrobe!! :)

Robert Playing Softball

2011-07-28T11:49:00.001-05:00

Robert played softball again this year for our church's team. It was so hot this summer that the kids and I didn't go to many of the games. These pictures are from his last game on Tuesday...I think they got second place in the league. It's so strange to be married to someone who is so competitive, because I do not have a competitive bone in my body.

Tori lost her second front tooth, while eating nachos!

Robert playing first base

Robert batting

I tried to get a picture of Carson playing with all the little boys, but this is the best I got.
They were a blur the whole time, running around chasing each other.
They had the best time!

Cousin Camp

2011-07-28T11:28:00.000-05:00

The kids had tons of fun at Cousin Camp! My kids love going to my hometown, because my whole family and my husband's whole family all still live there. So a weekend there equals overload of cousin and family time.......and they love it!! We spend some time with my family and then when they all get burned out and go home to rest, we move over and spend time with Robert's family. So, it is pretty much non-stop fun for my kids! Last week my mom had all of her seven grandkids at her house for the whole week! Here are a few pics she took of some of the fun things they did.

Breakfast in the backyard, minus Grace (she had a stomach bug)

Playing with her puppy, Molly. Looks like Molly is checking out a turtle

They also made cute "Cousin Camp" t-shirts
(Katie, Natalie, Tori, and Carson modeling the shirts)

This is what they put on the front of their shirts

THE BACK

I'm sure they made tons of sweet treats.....not sure what this was

Of course, they all had to get in the bathtub to give Molly her first bath...poor
Molly, she may never be the same

I am so glad that my family and Robert's family are both "family-oriented." Not all families put priority on spending time together as a family, so we are lucky to come from two great families! I know that my kids will forever cherish these great memories they are making. Thanks, Mom, for a week off of mommy duty....much enjoyed!!

Carson's End of Year T-Ball Party

2011-07-28T10:48:00.000-05:00

Carson had so much fun playing t-ball this year.....even with a broken arm! The team that he played on had their end-of-the year party at Larry's Pizza a few days ago. Carson was so excited to get his first trophy! Carson has a bunch of his dad's baseball trophies up on his shelf in his room and he proudly told his daddy that they were going to have to move those trophies, so he could put his up! hahaha!

Carson being presented his trophy

All the team members that were able to be there, showing off their new trophies

Michael, Bentley, Carson, and Sam

Waiting for CAKE!!

Carson with Coach Michael

Sewing the Seed has a blog!

2011-07-22T12:12:00.001-05:00

My friend Nitzia and I have been working on a blog for our new ministry, Sewing the Seed. It is now up and running, so I wanted to share it with you. You can check it out by visiting: http://www.gsfbcsewingtheseed.blogspot.com/

You can also find information about the ministry on facebook and join the facebook group.

2011-07-19T20:23:00.000-05:00

Now you see them.........

....and now you don't!!!

Yeah!! I got my braces off today after wearing them for a year and eight months!

I also drove my kids to my hometown today to spend the week with my mom. All the grandkids are staying with her this week, they call it "Cousin's Camp." They were so excited to be going down and spend time with their cousins and they have several projects that they have planned.

Did I mention that our kids are out of town all week?!! Yeah!!

My hubby took me out to eat tonight to celebrate being braceless and

we have a Redbox rented for later.

I have a list of projects that I want to get done during the day when I am at home alone this week and then looking forward to spending some quiet time at night with my hubby!

Lake Fun

2011-07-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

This weekend we went to the lake with some our good friends. We have all been friends since college days and we would dream about what we would do once we were all married with kids. We are lucky enough to now live very close to each other and our kids are getting to grow up together.

Carson LOVED the water! One of his favorite parts was his daddy throwing him up in the air off the boat and him landing in the water. He did get spanked by the water a few times, though.

Devon and the three girls tubing. Devon's going to love I posted this pick. Ashlyn hated getting the water in her eyes and she would cry because she couldn't see. Devon would let go with one hand and without looking, reach over and wipe Ashlyn's eyes off for her.......that's a full service momma!!

Robert and me taking a turn....we aren't actually moving yet in this picture. The action shots were not so great.....I look like I'm laughing, crying, and squinting all at the same time. :)

Robert with Carson, Tori, and Reece

These two were our daredevils. Just look at those faces....they were so focused. We couldn't go fast enough and jump high enough for them. They both said that it was the best day of their life and
that they wanted to tube until they die! Ha, ha!

More Summer Fun!

2011-07-11T20:14:00.000-05:00

Once Robert got safely home from Peru we stayed a few extra days in our hometown to celebrate the 4th of July! Over the weekend we experienced our first movie in 3D. We saw Cars 2! I must say that I was a little disappointed.....I'm not sure that was the best movie to see in 3D. It was a cute movie, but there didn't seem to be much 3D special effects. I was expecting the cars to come speeding off the screen at me.

The boys stylin' in their 3D glasses

The girls sporting our glasses, too!

2011-07-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

We have been having a great summer.....it is flying by so quickly! I feel like I'm constantly catching up on here instead of blogging as we go. Guess that is just how it's going to roll this summer! I will try to hit the highlights.

A few weeks ago Tori had fun going to VBS with a friend that goes to a different church. On Family Night the kids got to ride a camel. Tori was hanging out with her friends family, so I didn't get a picture of her.

The kids have also been to several birthday parties lately. One of Tori's best friends from school had her party at Playtime Pizza. Playtime Pizza is crazy!! The kids had a blast, but there were so many kids running around and the music was so loud.....I think I must be getting old, because I was glad when it was time to go!

Robert spent a week in Peru on a mission trip, so the kids and I went to my hometown to spend some time with family. At the end of the week, Tori and I went with two of our friends on a little girl's trip to Dallas. Instead of having a birthday party, one of Tori's best friends wanted to go to the American Girl Store and the Galleria for her birthday. So she and her mom (which happens to be one of my best friends as well) invited us to go to Dallas for the weekend. The girls had so much fun.....and us moms had a great time, too!!

Tori, Lacey, Laney, and Emma were all smiles, so excited to hit the road!

Here they are as they entered the American Girl Store. Tori has only been to the actual store once and this was Emma's first time. It is quite overwhelming because there is so much fun stuff to see!

The girls got their dolls' hair done in the beauty shop! The ladies were so sweet and really pampered the dolls and little owners! :)

Here is Tori and Lacey in the Bistro after Lacey had gotten her hair done. It was time for our dinner reservations in the bistro before Lacey's hair got done, so the stylist delivered her to our table. I'm telling you the staff there really go all out to make girls and their dolls feel special.

It was so much fun to watch our girls experience this wonderland for little girls. Even the waiter pampered the dolls and their little owners. Tori and Emma were grinning from ear to ear the whole time!

They were just as excited about our hotel! It was very nice.....thanks to Hannah's husband!

Lacey and Laney both got new swimsuits at the American Girl Store, so of course they had to
sport them at the hotel pool and hot tub with Tori and Emma! :) Lacey and Laney just did some sun bathing while the big girls swam!

SHOP TIL YOU DROP!! Here the girls are in our hotel lobby. The color scheme in the hotel was PINK! We couldn't believe it......it went along perfect with our girly American Girl Store weekend theme!

The next morning we ate at the coolest McDonald's ever! It was shaped like a happy meal and Big Mac.

Then it was off to the Galleria to shop. Emma still had a little birthday money left that she didn't spend at the American Girl Store the day before. The girls got necklaces that connect to say "Best Friends."

Hannah and Emma resting a minute on a bench in the Galleria.
Thanks girls for such a fun weekend....we'll never forget it!

Catching Up!!

2011-06-17T15:22:00.001-05:00

My handful of faithful readers, may be wondering where I have been the past few days. I am still here, just haven't taken the time to blog lately, so I am going to try and catch up.

Memorial Day Weekend
On Memorial Day weekend we went downtown to the river and got to see the annual firework show. Some of our friends were invited to see the show from one of the rooftops near the river, so we lucked out and got to go with them! In the past we have taken lawn chairs and sat close to the river to watch. It was a different perspective to be level with the fireworks instead of under them. Both views are beautiful!!

Tori waiting on the show to start!

Yeah! The fireworks were amazing!

Another pic of Tori with the River Market and the river in the background

Our friends who were sweet enough to invite us along!

Gymnastics for Tori
Tori is very excited to be taking gymnastics this summer at a gym near our house. She has taken dance for several years and has loved it, but has said for awhile that she wanted to try gymnastics. So far she has done well at everything athletic that she has tried. I think she gets most of that from her dad, because he is very athletic and very flexible. I never did master the splits completely in all my years of gymnastics as a little girl and Tori does it with such ease already. The first day of gymnastics she moved from Level 1 to Level 3. The teacher kept asking me if she had taken before. She really is just naturally gifted in this area. I know that I'm her momma, so of course I think she is wonderful! :) It was cool to see that someone else recognized her natural ability. I am just so proud of her.

Practicing her back walk over.

Practicing her cartwheel...trying to keep it very straight and not get off the line.

First time on the balance beam. :)

Sewing the Seed

Our mission group, Sewing the Seed, met again this past Sunday night to finish up the fleece blankets that we are sending to the orphanage in Peru. We made over twenty blankets in one night!!!! We will normally always meet on Saturday mornings, but we had a deadline to get the blankets completed. There were eight or nine ladies there again at this meeting and we worked hard whipping out these blankets! Two of our volunteers left today to go with a group to Peru and they took the finished blankets with them. They will be hand delivering them to the orphanage. The past two summers I was able to visit the orphanage there, so I am so excited to see how it goes for them and see pictures!! Another group leaves next Friday to spend a week in Cajamarca and Robert will be going with that group. This will be the first year that he goes and I stay behind. I pray for his safety and that God will do amazing things through him there. The fact that he is bilingual makes him a huge asset to the group...especially when they are going through the different

airports, etc. :) Here are a few pics of some of the ladies working!

Vacation Bible School--Bright Lights, Big City

We have had an exhausting, but fun week at VBS this week! There were around 650 kids there each day!!In the past few years, I have been a coordinator of some sort and not taught. Since I wasn't sure if we would have foster/adoptive children in our home by summertime I did not commit early on to help coordinate. Since we ended up not having more children in our home, I was able to commit at the last minute. So, I got to teach Bible study! It was fun to actually be in a room, teaching instead of roaming the halls checking on people. The theme was "Bright Lights, Big City." Every day the kids got to visit a different place in New York City (in their minds, of course) and learned neat facts about those places. I taught 1st grade Bible. All the Bible stories this week were focused on Jesus' teaching while He was on earth, the miracles that He performed as a man, and His crucifixion and then resurrection.

One of the fun things that I did this week was get to team teach with one of my sweet friends, Kacey. I can't imagine how exhausted I would have been if I had done it all by myself! :) She came up with the best idea of having the kids make a book of all the things that they were learning throughout the week. It turned out great and the kids were so proud to look back through their books on Friday and realize how many things they had learned!

Carson and Tori posing on the sidewalk in front of some "skyscrapers" in NYC!

I learned a lot about NYC that I did not know this week! :) It has been on my bucket list for awhile, but now I've added a few more places to my list of places I want to see there.

The kids got to make a book this week that told about the places we went in NYC and then the Bible story that we learned. Here is one of our kiddos gluing her picture and verse of the day in her book!

Here's another sweet girl with her
finished book on Friday.

Another proud "VBSer!"

Yeah! One of our groups showing off their finished books. Each of their books had their picture on the front!

VBS-2008

VBS-2009

VBS-2010

VBS-2011

Carson's Cast

The big news for Carson this week was that he got to get his cast off on Wednesday afternoon!!

Waiting to see the doctor....one last cast pic!

The nurse sawing it off! :)

...it's almost off!!

Love that expression! Looks like he's thinking, "Wow, I still have an arm under there!"

He was very proud of his dirty, stinky cast and convinced the nurse to let him take it home....he can be quite the charmer when he wants to be!! :)

Robert and I also celebrated our 10th anniversary this past weekend, but since I'm pretty sure this is the longest post I've ever made I'm going to write about that later! :)

Randoms of Today

2011-06-03T14:35:00.000-05:00

Yeah!! Tori made it through 1st grade!! Today was Tori's last day of 1st grade! She was so excited this morning before I took her to school she was jumping off the walls. She told me that she was going to scream when she got home this afternoon; she'd be so excited. I'm thinking I better plug my ears, becuase it's almost time!!!!
I am so proud of how hard she has worked this year. She is a great student and I pray that God will give her a love and passion for learning.

Here she is before school this morning!

This picture is just for fun....while Tori was at school Carson and his friend, Spencer, were having fun playing. In case you can't tell by the picture, they are pretending to be the blue and gold ranger on Power Rangers. They found my tall boots in my closet and they have pot lids for shields. Is that funny or what??!!

Yeah!! In about thirty minutes summer will officially start in the Cortez house......let the good times roll!!

The Shed is Done!!

2011-06-03T14:22:00.000-05:00

I have wanted a shed since we moved into our house almost four years ago! I am happy to say that my husband and I have fought a hard battle with this shed and we were conquerors!! I will not be putting one of these together again any time soon. It took MANY hours.....I'm acutally scared to add it all up. But in the end my husband and I got to practice being patient with each other under frustrating conditions, while standing out in the hot sun! Oh, good times!! :) Do you think that God may have been equipping us with the patience that we will need as a couple to raise a house full of kids?!!

You may remember me posting a few weeks ago about my brother coming up and helping us build a shed in our backyard. That was the same night that Carson broke him arm, so the shed project got put on hold. They were able to complete the whole base, though, which was a huge help and we could not have done that without him.

This picture is from Carson's birthday party, but you can see the shed base in the back left corner. It stayed like this for several weeks, because it was either too rainy, too windy, or we were out of town and not able to work on it.

Finally we had a pretty day and we mustard up the courage to tackle the shed. I must say it was quite intimidating. It took us the good part of three days to assemble this thing with just me and Robert working on it. I am not a hard worker when it comes to using my hands and being outside and more over I am not very strong. So, I wasn't sure how much help I would be. It was fun to see how we worked together and figured out how to make it work. I used my brains (which is what I prefer to exercise) to read the instructions and then hold pieces and he used is muscles (which is what he prefers to exercise) to screw and blot the pieces. Ha, ha!!

It was hard. It was a test of endurance, but we made it! And we still liked each other when we got done! Now, if it blows away in the first big storm, I definitely want my money back!!!!

Sewing the Seed

2011-05-31T23:41:00.000-05:00

     I am very excited to share with you about a ministry that a friend and I have started. For awhile God had been prodding me about this ministry opportunity and once I finally took the step to move forward, He has been faithful.

     Eight years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child, Victoria, my husband bought me a sewing machine for Christmas. Both of my grandmothers were great seamstresses, but I had never taken the time to learn myself. I have many memories of them making things for me and also for my dolls. So, as a new stay-at-home mom, I wanted to learn. After getting my sewing machine, my mom and I purchased a lot of cute fleece and cute ribbons to make taggies (if you don't know what a taggie is, google it). My mom, my sister-in-laws, and I made taggies for our babies and for our friends' babies. The taggies were super cute, but once our kids started getting older, we didn't have time to sew, and all the materials got stored away.

I ran across that tub of fleece in my garage awhile back and thought it would be a great idea to create a home-based business making taggies to bring in some extra income. My friend, Nitzia, who has her own sewing business gave me some pointers, but then I learned that taggie has a strict patent. I realized that if I was going to use that fleece to make taggies, then they could only be gifts or I could donate them. That is when the lightbulb went off and God began to give me the vision for this ministry. Wouldn't it be great to get ladies from the church together to sew and spend time together with a common goal of producing pieces to be donated to people who are in need?

After several months of throwing that idea around in my head, I sent an email out to my Sunday school class to see if anybody else would be interested in being apart. My friend, Nitzia (who had given me some pointers before and even allowed me to help her with her booth at a craft show), immediately emailed me back. And the coolest thing was that I could tell that she was just as excited about this as I was. She commented that this was something that she had been wanting to do for quite some time. I just knew that God had called us both to this.....we became a team with a common goal.

     We began talking about specifics and what the ministry would look like and where we felt like God was leading us. We began researching needs and possible people and places to help. Before we had even advertised the ministry,  a lady who knew that Nitzia sewed came up to her at church and told her that she had tons of fabric that she would like to donate to Nitzia if she had anything that she could do with it!! Isn't that amazing??!! God is always faithful. Someone else also donated money, so that we were able to purchase some other supplies that we needed. We talked to the women's director at our church and she was very supportive. So, a lot of background info to say that: this past Saturday was our first meeting!!!!

     We had eight ladies that got to come and partcipicate in the first work day! Since it was Memorial Day weekend, there were several more that wanted to be a part, but were either out of town or with family.

Here are some pictures of our time together:

Ashley measuring and cutting fleece for one of the blankets that will be
given to a child who lives at the orphanage in Peru.

Nitzia helping Mary Katherine cut fabric for one of the pillows that will be donated to
Arkansas Children's Hospital.

Pam cutting fabric for a pillow. She didn't last long on this and decided
she preferred to stuff the pillows with the batting. Ha!

Nitzia helping Erica measure more fleece for the blankets.

Pam cutting fabric. She is so much fun, I smile just looking at this picture.

Our faithful seamstresses: Kacey and Sue (or Granny Sue, as she says she prefers to be called)

There's Pam, stuffing away!!!

Sweet ladies posing for a picture.

Erica cutting fringe around a finished blanket.

Ellen and Nitzia

Yeah!!!! This is documentation of the first finished blanket.

Here's the whole crew from Saturday!! We were able to complete eight fleece blankets and ten pillows
during our time together. Plus we had tons of fun doing it!

One neat thing is that two of the girls who are volunteering their time to help with this ministry are going with our church to Peru this summer. So, they will get to hand deliver the blankets for us!!

Sewing the Seed:
Our mission statement: Sewing the Seed is a mission opportunity for ladies in the church to spend time together sewing and creating things to donate to children who are in need. The purpose is to meet a child's needs with tangible love and comfort, so that they might experience and know the ultimate love and comfort that only God can give. The possible projects that can be completed through this ministry are endless. We want to reach children in foster care, orphanages, extended hospital stays, poorer nations.

Our mission verses: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Our prayer is that through our sewing, we will be planting and sowing seeds in people that will someday result in their salvation. Each piece that is donated will have a tag attached that will include our logo and a note explaining that the piece was handmade by someone who cares and that the recipient has been prayed for specifically.

I thought the day went perfect. There was a lot of working, but also a lot of laughing and enjoying each other's company. It was fun working together towards a common goal. I loved seeing how these women have a heart for missions just as much as Nitzia and I do. I also love that the group ranges in age and as the group hopefully continues to grow, I look forward to getting to know more ladies that I would otherwise not get to spend a lot of time with. And God is being faithful with providing supplies and bringing different projects to our attention. Right now we are working on finishing enough fleece blankets for every child at the orphanage in Peru and the pillows to be donated to AR children's hosptial, but there are already other projects that we are looking to work on in the future.

We are just normal women, but because of our obedience, God can do some extraordinary things through us. Can't wait to see what He has planned!

Zoo Trip

2011-05-27T08:58:00.001-05:00

I'm wondering if anybody else has had any problems with blogger lately. For two or three days it has not let me login to my blog and post anything. I could type in my blog address and view it, but it wouldn't let me sign-in to my account. I was starting to get nervous, but then today, thankfully, it worked!

All the first grade classes from Tori's school took a field to the zoo yesterday! Carson had to miss his zoo trip with his preschool, so I let him skip school and go along with us. The weather was perfect yesterday for being outside at the zoo.

As my kids get older, the zoo experience becomes more enjoyable. When they were small they would get hungry, hot, and tired quickly which would turn into whining and grumpiness. I was always exhausted by the time we had walked the whole zoo and fought Carson to stay in the stroller and/or carried him. I would wonder why I put myself through such misery.

Yesterday they just excitedly ran from exhibit to exhibit and never complained about anything. Well, Carson may have had a slight meltdown when we were leaving, because I didn't buy him any cotton candy. He had done so good the whole trip, I gave him a little slack.....anyway, the cotton candy did look good!! :)

This is Tori with her teacher, Mrs. Broadway. She has learned a lot this year in 1st grade!

Carson at the new penguin exhibit.

Porcupines!!

You may notice in these pics that Carson got his big cast off, so now he can bend his arm. He has to wear this small one for three weeks! Wish I had taken a picture of his face when they were sawing his green cast off. He thought it was so cool!

Our Ball Player

2011-05-23T14:17:00.000-05:00

I know I've already posted pictures of Carson playing ball, but he is just so darn cute I can't resist posting some more! Once he broke his arm we weren't sure if he was going to be able to still play, but it hasn't slowed him down. It has been raining a lot, so some of their practices and games have been canceled, but he has had a great time and has made some good friends.

THE WHOLE GANG!

Carson with his sissy.

Tori's Dance Recital

2011-05-20T21:58:00.001-05:00

This was Tori's second year to take dance lessons; she takes tap, ballet, and gymnastics. I love the dance studio that she goes to because the owner is a Christian and not only is she a great dancer, but she is an awesome person and great role model for the girls. She is so sweet and patient with the girls, it is really unbelieveable. There is no doubt in my mind that God has given her the talent of not only dancing, but of being a dance teacher. I feel so blessed that Tori is getting a positive experience with dance.

Her dance recital was last Friday night. She did a great job! I was so proud of her.

This is Tori with her friend, Emma, at the dress rehearsal.

Here's Tori in the dressing room right before showtime!
Last year I danced in the adult group and I was more nervous this year, then I was then. I guess I had more time on my hands this year to be nervous for her. She did great!!!!

This girl knew how to shake a maraca! :) I was so glad her dance this year was tap, because they just make for a more exciting performance. Last year her class did a ballet routine and it was sweet, but not near as much fun.

Mini Vacation in the Middle of the Week

2011-05-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

Last week Robert had to go out of town for a meeting and so the kids and I went along. We had the best time being lazy, watching TV, sleeping in and then playing in the pool and hot tub while he was at his meeting. The elevator in the hotel was glass, so you could watch the people standing on the elevator as they went up. Our kids thought that was the coolest thing ever and we may or may not have ridden the elevator all the way to the top floor and down again several times in order to enjoy the view of the lobby from up high! :) Our kids had so much fun you would have thought they were at Disney World!! Guess it doesn't take much to impress them!

They loved their bed with all the big fluffy pillows. They also enjoyed being able to watch TV in bed, because they do not have TVs in their bedrooms at home.

This is us enjoying our very nice complimentary all-you-can eat buffet and made to order breakfast!

There was a pretty waterfall in the middle of the lobby that the kids loved!

We also took pictures of us swimming, but my camera deleted them or something. Carson looked hilarious, because we covered his cast with a trash bag and he walked around in the water with his arm raised up above his head. It takes more than a broken arm to slow him down and ruin his fun!

Carson is 5!!!

2011-05-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

Carson turned 5 years old last Wednesday!! I can't believe my little man is so big! Since our kids' actually birthdays usually fall on a weekday, we have started doing something special that day just as a family. Then the following weekend they get to have a birthday party where we live to celebrate with their friends and then we go to our hometown the last part of the weekend and have a family birthday party with Robert's family and mine. This has worked well the past few birthdays, so I think we're going to stick to this plan. :)

This is Carson and Tori Wednesday morning before we took Tori to school.

He got to open one small present at breakfast time.

I made him his favorite type of muffins. Tori and I sang "Happy Birthday."

Carson got to pick somewhere to eat out for his birthday lunch, so he picked McDonalds. His daddy met us to eat, which made it extra special!

( This next picture is out of order, but I can't figure out how to delete it without erasing over half of my post, so just ignore it.)
<><><><>

<><><><>

Ice cream.......yum!!!

He got to open his big present from us on Wednesday night after church!

Carson is all about some Batman right now!!

We have a tradition that on their birthday they get to measure themselves to see how much they have grown. When our kids were very young Robert was in the process of taking several promotions, so we knew that where we were living was not a permanent home for us. Because of this, I didn't want to chart their growth on a wall or closet door, because I knew that when we moved it would be lost. I got the idea of taking a roll of art paper and measuring off about six feet worth and laminating it. This way no matter where we went, I could always have their growth history with us. We also chart their weight, their hand size, and how well they can write their name. They stay rolled up in the top of their closets, so they hardly take up any room to store.

Here is Carson getting measured on his.

This is Carson's without him on it. :) It's hard to read because of the glare.

Here's Tori getting measured.

You can't really read this, but I have matched up their charts so that we could tell who was taller when they turned five years old.

Then on Friday night, Carson had a Spiderman party in our backyard!

Here's Carson and Tori right before the party got started!

Carson and one of his sweet friends. This was the first year that Carson had a real opinion about who he wanted to invite. It's neat to see the friendships that he is creating through church and preschool.

Here's the whole crew! We felt very safe, with there being so many superheros close by!! Ha!

Before they ate, we played some games. This is during the scavenger hunt. There were three spidermen all dressed exactly the same! It was hard to tell them apart! ha! They also got to spray villains with silly string and went through an obstacle course.

PIZZA for dinner! In one of the Spiderman movies, Peter Parker is a pizza delivery boy, so we called it:
PETER PARKER PIZZA!

The birthday boy loved having all of his friends at his house all at the same time to play!

Spiderman Cupcakes! I was trying to not spend tons of money, so I made the cupcakes myself. They were very easy and I thought they turned out cute enough.

The party ended with a pinata!

Then on Sunday, amongst all the Mother's Day festivities, we had a family birthday party for Carson. This is Carson with all of his first cousins except one (Wyatt had to leave for baseball practice).

After presents, we had more Spiderman cupcakes and ice cream! :)

Played outside in Nana's backyard

And yes, another pinata! :)

I know this was a super long post, but I want my kids to be able to look back and remember these special times in their life. I'm beginning to sense the urgency of documenting their childhood, because I realize in a blink it will be gone. Little man, I love you so much. I'm so glad that God entrusted you to me and your dad.

Weekend Excitement

2011-05-02T22:39:00.001-05:00

This weekend my mom and my brother's family all came up to spend some time with us. Robert and I have several projects around the house that we would like to get done before summertime and one of those is to build and organize a shed in our backyard. Right now 1/2 of our garage serves as our shed, but we really need that room to move our gym equipment out of the house. We are working towards creating more room inside our home for when we adopt. My brother is very good at carpentry stuff and he volunteered to come up and help with the shed. They got the base constructed which is the hardest part and now (if it will ever stop raining) Robert can do the rest (we bought a building kit that you just have to put it together).

The shed is going in the back corner of our yard....can't tell you how excited I am to finally be getting a shed!
I have wanted one for quite some time.

Luckily, the rain held off and the guys were able to finish the floor. By dark on Saturday night they were ready to begin assembling the actual building. They had said that they wanted to keep working until they finished it. So, around 8:00 pm they had just gotten flood lights set up, so they could see what they were doing when the unplanned happened.......

You see, inside the house, the ladies were watching the Royal Wedding on DVR while the kiddos were playing around in the playroom. Everything was happy and bliss until we heard a loud shriek and cry coming from Carson. So, I ran in there and picked him up off the floor.............he kept crying and crying and once we sat him down on the couch we realized that he could not move his arm and he was in a lot of pain. Once he calmed down he told us that he had jumped off the computer desk chair onto the carpeted floor head (and arm) first. Not exactly sure what he was trying to accomplish by that, but his arm did not like it.

I ran outside and got the guys. My brother used to work at a vet clinic and Robert's friend who was helping is a pharmacist. So, we immediately gave him Tylenol and my brother splinted it. Then Robert and I rushed him to the emergency room. It is horrible to see your child in pain and there is no way that you can help them. Sure enough, his arm was broken!!

He got a temporary cast at the ER and then they scheduled us an appointment for today to get the real cast.

This was our first experience with broken bones in either of our children. It was amazing that once they secured his arm, he didn't hurt anymore and was even joking around with the doctor and nurse. He was excited to be getting a sling and immediately said that he wanted a green cast!! On Sunday at church he showed it off very proudly!! :)

My mom, brother, and his family went to church with us on Sunday morning.

Sunday night the kids were in a musical at church. Carson looked so pitiful in his sling. :(
They did a great job singing, though.

Today he got the real cast. He will have to wear it for 4 weeks probably. He turns five years old on Wednesday, so I keep telling people that he almost made it to five with no broken bones. That would have been quite an accomplishment, because he is always climbing on things and jumping off things. So it would have been a miracle if he had made it all the way to five; he missed it by only four days! Ha,ha!

One last picture with the temporary cast before getting the permanent one.

This is the nurse putting the cast on him.

Yeah! A green cast! The doctor said that he would heal up just fine; it would just take a few weeks.

Needless to say, the shed project got put on hold with the other excitement of the night. And it rained all day on Sunday, so they didn't get to work on the shed then. Hopefully Robert can work on it this week once it dries up a little. I will try to remember to post a picture of the finished project. :)

Baby Steps

2011-04-26T22:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't talked about our adoption journey lately here on my blog, but it is very much a part of my daily thoughts and prayers. We also pray about it as a family everyday. We still do not have any foster children in our home, but we are waiting and hoping. I know that God has a plan for our family and He is showing me that if I will trust Him and take baby steps of obedience, He will lead us. He knows where we are going, I just have to hold on to His hand and trust His lead.

I've heard people say over the years, that once you step out in faith, God does the rest. I have seen this played out in my own life over and over the past few months. We have never done this before and are walking blindly most of the time. God continues to lead us ahead little by little. I hope that the point will come that I can openly share all the crazy ways that God is working and what He's doing in our life, but let it suffice to say He has already begun to work out all the details.

When we began this process of fostering to adopt, I would tell people that we were not going to bring any child into our home unless God had given us a definite peace and even a sign. I jokingly said that they would practically have to have JESUS written on their forehead and that I would need to feel such a peace about bringing them into our home that it would be as if I was leaving my own child out in the weather. An unexplainable love is already growing inside of me for these babies, just as my love for my first two babies started while they were still in my womb and I did not know them yet. God has showed up in so many ways, and in each instance that I realize He is working, I see the etching of JESUS become darker and darker. He promised me at the beginning of this process that He would not leave me. He is keeping that promise.

I wrestled with God for almost a year as I began to feel His calling toward adoption. I told Him every reason why it was not a good idea and why it was too risky. There is one day in particular that stands out in my mind. I was putting away laundry in Carson's room as my children were playing together in a different room. I could hear their sweet little voices as they played (they do occasional play together nicely--ha!) and unknown to anyone else a struggle was going on inside of me between me and God. As I quietly folded and put away laundry, I told Him how much I love my children and that there was no way that I could love a child that I did not birth as much as them. I concluded that it would be unfair to a child to bring them into our family, because Tori and Carson would always be my favorites. I remember shutting the dresser drawer, in my mind shutting the doors to that idea. The problem was that God just kept opening that drawer back up! :)

Awhile back a friend who has also adopted through foster care was sharing with me a little of her story. She and her husband have three biological sons and then their youngest is adopted. She told me how the love for her adopted son is so strong that she sometimes feels it is stronger than that of the three that she birthed. She often wondered how that could be and then someone told her that it was simply because she had been obedient and God had blessed with her an unexplainable love for her new son.

One morning as I was praying I began to be concerned that I would love my new children more than my biological children. I began asking God to please allow me to keep the strong bond and love that I have with my first two as our family continues to grow. That's when it hit me-----wow, what a long way God has brought me in one year. I went from assuring God that I could not love a child as much as my own to pleading with Him to not allow me to forget my existing children as I feel this new love grow. God has been busy doing some serious changing in my heart!!

I know that even once we bring children into our home I will not be able to share openly about them here, for safety reasons. I hope though, that someone will be able to take my generalizations and use them for good in their own life. God may not be calling you to adopt, but whatever He is calling you to do, if you are willing to take the risk and step out on faith, He will catch you. Once we hand over the reins, God has control of the ride.....and man, it's going to be exciting!!

Easter Sunday

2011-04-25T13:25:00.001-05:00

We had a good day yesterday as we celebrated the fact that we serve a risen, living Savior! I love our church and love being there to worship, especially on Easter. But since we live almost two hours away from our families, there's no way that we can go to our church and then also be with family for lunch and for the rest of the day. We did have a great day, but I wished that I could wiggle my nose and be in our hometown for a few hours and then wiggle my nose and be back here.

Our whole family

Tori took our picture.....I thought she did a pretty good job!

How cute is that?! She told her daddy to pose. :)

After church we ate at one of our favorite restaurants and then came home and hunted Easter eggs. The kids wanted to keep hiding them over and over. They even hid them, so that Robert and I could find them. :)

Silly girl! Wow, she found one with money!!!!

Easter Cookies

2011-04-23T09:27:00.002-05:00

Since Tori didn't have to go to school yesterday, we decided it would be fun to make Easter sugar cookies. We've done it at Christmas time before, but never at Easter. So, we thought it would be a fun Good Friday project.

In the morning, we made the sugar cookies. I was given a great sugar cookie recipe that is very simple, but taste great! The kids always love helping me measure out ingredients and pour them in the bowl. We had gotten everything out and had started mixing the ingredients when I realized that I was out of stick butter. I was afraid that using tub butter would mess up the cookies, since we were rolling and cutting them into shapes. If we were going to go to all that trouble, I wanted to make sure something stupid like using the wrong type of butter didn't mess them up. Anyway, so I called my neighbor down the street who is super sweet and asked her if she had any unsalted stick butter. I promised her some of the finished product if I could have some butter. Ha! One of her sons rode his bike down to our house and delivered two sticks of butter! Now that's a great neighbor! :)

After the cookie dough was made, it had to go in the refrigerator for at least an hour to get firm.

Then the rolling and the cutting began! We made flowers, lilies, bunnies, butterflies, and crosses. Once we got them all cut out, it was time for baking. I didn't take a picture of them cooling, but of course, they had to sit on the cooling racks for awhile until they weren't hot anymore. Then last night, the decorating finally happened!

They turned out really cute! Making cookies also taught my children patience. They didn't realize there was so much waiting involved in making cookies! :) Here's our finished products:

Disney on Ice

2011-04-22T21:53:00.000-05:00

Last night my friend, Devon, and I took our kids to see Disney on Ice. It was so much fun! I loved it as much as the kids and I was ready to come home and watch all the Disney movies! :) Another friend told me about a deal where I could get my tickets for 50% off. It was a great deal! The three of us were able to go for less than $25.00. You just can't beat that for the entertainment we received!

Can't wait until it comes to town again!!

Living Proof Live

2011-04-18T20:56:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I got to hear Beth Moore teach live! I have done several of her Bible studies and I feel like I know her personally, because she is so down to earth and she has walked along beside me as I studied God's word through her Bible studies. There is no doubt in my mind that God has anointed her and I would encourage anyone who is interested in growing in their relationship with God to seek out any of the studies that she has written.

God blessed me this weekend by allowing me to be surrounded by some of my dearest friends while we worshipped God together and grew closer to Him. Can't tell you how much I love these girls and what they mean to me. God put each of them in my life for a reason.

Since I don't have any sisters of my own, God gave me Brandi. This is me, her, and her mom. We don't live in the same town anymore, so we had the best time going out to eat Friday night and catching up.

These are two of my other dear friends who God has blessed me with to "do life" with. We go to church together, we volunteer in the children's ministry together, our kids are in the same preschool class, our husbands are good friends, it goes on and on. Only God could orchestrate the amazing connections that He has made for me with these women. We enjoyed going out to eat on Saturday when the conference was over and sharing what God had showed us.

The second day we got to sit up fairly close. The pictures that I took of Beth did not turn out very well. The pictures are dark and she looks a little scary.....she really is a very pretty lady.

It doesn't help that I caught her in mid-word. :)

The icing on the cake was that I got to meet Kelly at Kelly's Korner's best friend, Laurie. You would have thought I had met the president I was so excited!! :) She was probably surprised I didn't go ahead and ask for her autograph!! LOL! It's just so much fun to meet some one in person who you have read about for over two years.

Fun Friday Favorites

2011-04-10T21:55:00.000-05:00

I thought it might be fun on Friday to share a few of my favorite things.

Favorite places to shop for clothes: Maurices, CATO, Rue 21

Favorite places to browse: Hobby Lobby, Kirkland's, Garden Ridge, and any Hallmark store

Favorite places to eat: Most any Mexican Restaurant (as long as they have good salsa), Chili's

Favorite Fast Food: Zaxby's and Arby's

Favorite Movies: Fools Rush In, Dance with Me, Selena, The Notebook

Favorite Ingredient to Cook With: Worshiture sauce (I could put this on everything)

Favorite Drink: I used to LOVE sweet tea, but I'm trying to reduce the sugar in my diet, so now I drink mostly water with lemon or unsweet tea with lemon. I LOVE putting fresh lemon or lime juice in whatever I am drinking.

Favorite Snack: ro-tel cheese dip and chips, hands down!

Favorite People:

Ok, ok, I know that it's Sunday night (not Friday), but this post has been sitting on my computer all weekend and I never sent it. So, I'm posting it anyway. Hopefully you enjoyed learning a little about me you didn't know.

Manna Muffins

2011-04-06T21:52:00.002-05:00

I wanted to share a great breakfast muffin recipe that I have. They are very easy to make and they taste great! Plus my kids love them because they get to dip them in the butter and cinnamon/sugar mixture all by themselves.
Dry ingredients--1 3/4 cup flour
                          1/4 cup sugar
                          2 tsp baking powder
                          1/2 tsp salt

Wet ingredients--1 egg (beaten)
                           3/4 cup milk
                           1/3 cup oil
                           1 tsp vanilla (this is not in the original recipe, but I decided a little vanilla couldn't hurt it)

Preheat oven to 375. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, stir together all the wet ingredients and then pour into the larger bowl. Stir just until moistened. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar with 3 tsp cinnamon (those are the measurements that the origianl recipe gives, but you can't really mess this up. I never measure exactly).   Also melt 1/2 stick of butter in another small bowl.

Bake muffins for 10-15 minutes. Once done, let them cool enough to be handled without burning your hand. Then dip each muffin into the bowl with the butter mixture and then into the bowl with the cinnamon mixture.

The original recipe described them like this:
These muffins are hearty and taste almost like biscuits. They are not super-sweet desert-style muffins, but once you taste them you'll probably call them a little slice of heaven on earth.

That comment got me to thinking about the manna that God provided the Israelites when they were in the desert (Exodus 16). It made me wonder what the manna tasted like and I was reminded of the story of God keeping His promise to provide for His poeple.

Robert and I have been going through a training at our church that is teaching us how to incorporate more faith interactions in our day to day life at home with our children. This gave me the best idea.........why not name different foods after stories in the Bible so that whenever we cook that food we can tell the story that goes along with it and be reminded of what God was wanting us to learn from each story.

So, I decided that our Cinnamon Muffins would from now on be called Manna Muffins. The name will be a great conversation starter in the future to talk about the story of the Isrealites with our kids. Hadn't come up with any more yet.  If anyone has any great ideas, please do share.......I can think of great stories that have to do with lambs, but unfortunately we never cook lamb at our house. :)

Here's Carson dipping

Here's Carson, well, just being Carson

Here's the finished product....at least what was left. One batch makes twelve and we were able to make
six of them disappear very quickly.

Carson's First T-Ball Game was Saturday

2011-04-04T16:22:00.000-05:00

I have a confession to make.......I am in love with this little man!!!!! He just melts his momma's heart. I know it's just because I'm his mom, but I think he's the cutest t-ball player there ever was! Plus, he had a good time and played great....except when he started running towards the pitcher's mound instead of first base the first time he hit the ball!! Oops! Ha,ha,ha!

This is the whole team with two of their coaches. We are very blessed to have been put on a team with very patient and loving coaches who love the game of baseball, but keep in perspective that these boys are only four and five years old. They don't have unrealistic expectations and as a result, I think these boys are going to end up LOVING the game of baseball.

He's ready for the ball!!

Yeah, Carson! Way to stop that ball!

Robert wanted him to be #7, because that is Robert's lucky number, but he got #3.
Maybe Carson will start his own tradition and #3 will be his lucky number!

Did I mention how much I love this little man??!!!!! Just checking....... :)

Spring Break Camping Trip

2011-04-02T22:28:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we went camping with my family and had the best time!! Several weeks before Spring Break Tori asked if we could go camping, because she had never been camping before. I thought that would be a fun Spring Break activity, so I called my brother who is a wildlife biologist and outdoorsmen to see if we could plan a trip. We tossed around the idea of renting a campsite at a nearby lake, but then settled on just camping on some of our land that Robert and my brothers deer hunt on. So, the men had all these fun activities that they planned for the kids and the kids had a blast (us adults had a pretty fun time, too)!!!!!

We spent the night at my mom's house the night before we were to go camping. Before bed that night Tori wrote this on a a little dry-erase board that my mom has. Tori was so excited she could hardly sleep!!

Here's a picture of our campsite (it was really just an open field in my family's woods)

Washing and cutting potatoes to cook

My oldest brother chopping wood. He went to a lot of trouble to make the trip fun for all the kids.

The guys cooking the potatoes over the fire.

I love this picture!! Carson is showing his little cousin, Natalie, a cricket that he caught.

Nothing like a hamburger cooked over an open fire!

Cousins looking for critters

Roasting some hot dogs

This is a pic of my whole family. It's rare to get a picture with all four of my sweet family members in it.

After dinner we went on a nature walk down some of the trails in the woods.

This is Carson's older cousin, Wyatt, carrying him on his back. These two boys are hilarious together!

Here's the crew, looking for cool things in nature. My oldest brother made a neat experiment where he prepared several patches of dirt for viewing. Then the next morning the kids went back down the trail and got to see if any wild animals had left any tracks. They found rabbit, deer, etc. My kids thought it was so cool!!

Here's a pic of the whole gang. It's my mom and her three children (I have two older brothers) and then our families. My oldest niece, Grace, brought a friend along, so she snapped this picture of all of us.

Once it got dark, the coats and blankets came out. Everyone got on comfy clothes and we talked and laughed around the fire.

Sorry, this picture is out of order. This was while we were waiting for supper to cook.

Of course, no camping trip is complete without making smores!!

Here's some of the guys enjoying their hot drinks and smores, talking about "manly" things. ha,ha,ha!

The next morning the guys made pancakes, biscuits in a dutch oven, bacon, and sausage. It was soooo good and the guys really enjoyed using all their outdoor skills on us!!

Plans have already been made for the next trip! For this summer, we've booked a campsite at a nearby lake and have decided to make the "Deer Wood's Camp Trip" an annual Spring Break event! Once we got back to my mom's house and were packing up to come back home, Tori told my oldest brother that it had been the best weekend of her life!! :) I would say it was a success!!

2011-03-30T10:24:00.001-05:00

Well, it's been several days since I have posted anything and I really don't have time to be blogging today, but I do not want to get out of the habit. We were out of town for several days over Spring Break and then once we got back we've been trying to get back in the swing of things with school, etc. My whole family is exhausted. The past two nights at supper we've almost fallen over in our plates, counting down the minutes until bedtime (well, not sure the kids were as excited about bedtime as I was). Anyway, hopefully by the end of the week, the laundry will be caught up on, the house will be clean, and I will have to time and energy to blog again regularly.

Tomorrow the adoption specialist comes to meet us and have a walk-through of our house. From my understanding, this is so when a child comes into the system that is eligible for adoption and their criteria matches with ours, the adoption specialist will have a better idea of who we are and whether she thinks our family would be a good match for that child. All that to say......today Carson and I are cleaning house!! :) His room was a disaster, because when he plays in his room, he plays hard. He pulls out everything and has the biggest time. Yesterday he had a friend over to play, so there was two little people in there to create a wreck. They stayed very busy having fun, though. We had to drag them out when it was time to eat lunch and then time for him to leave. :)

When Carson's room gets really messy, he has trouble figuring out how to clean up. I think the mess is just so overwhelming that he doesn't know where to start. If I stand in his room and give him step by step instructions, then he can clean it himself. You know, focus on one thing at a time. He is still not able to master that ability since he is only four. I was needing to be tidying elsewhere, so I came up with the idea to draw him a map (since he can't read) of the steps that he needs to take to clean his room. He did a pretty good job!

This is the before picture........yikes!!!

Here is Carson's map. I called it a map, because he likes maps and I thought he would think it was cool to have a map! :)
Step #1: Make bed, put stuffed animals on top and then place clean clothes basket on top
(I'll have to put up the clean clothes)
Step #2: Find all dirty clothes on floor, pick them up and take them to the dirty clothes hamper in the bathroom.
(I even drew underwear! ha,ha,ha!)
Step#3: Find all your big toys and put them in the tubs in the bottom of your closet.
Step #4: Find all your dress-up costumes and put them in the blue bag on closet door.
Step #5: Pick up all the little toys off the floor and put them in the container on the shelf.

He was very proud of his work and called for me to come look..........

He did a pretty good job...I did find a few things stuffed under the bed and a dirty sock he'd put in his sock drawer, but overall a passing score. Now I can come in and do the vacuuming, dusting, etc. Think I'll make his bed again, but I'm very proud of his good attempt.

I slipped his map down in a clear protector, so that he could mark off when he finished a step with a dry-erase marker. Then we can erase it off and use it again the next time his room becomes a disaster.......because I'm sure there will be a next time. :)

That's all I have time for now. I want to post about our fun camping trip last weekend, but that will have to wait. I have this uncontrollable urge to make my house look perfect for when the specialist comes tomorrow.......God forbid that she realize we are real people with a normal life and normal clutter. :)

(For all you clean freaks out there, I would like to clarify that Carson's room is not always that messy. :) It can go from clean to wreck in minutes and the toys get cleaned up almost every night. Just don't want you to think that there was anything growing or living in that mess or something.....it was all clean clutter that just needed a few minutes of attention.)

Spring Break Fun

2011-03-22T15:59:00.000-05:00

Spring Break is in full swing around here. This weekend my mom and two of my nieces came to visit. They don't get to come to our house that often, because we usually always go to where they live and hang out. My oldest niece that came is only six days younger than Tori, so they are exactly the same age. The little squirt is 3 1/2, but she can hold her own with the bigger cousins. :)

On Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and took a little road trip to a field with tons of daffodils. I had heard about it for several years, but never been. It was very pretty! The pics didn't turn out very good, because it was really sunny and the kids were squinting in almost of the them. I also am no professional photography, so I didn't know how to arrange the kids in the flowers to make it look really cool. The kids had fun seeing all the flowers and running around though, so that was the most important thing. Here's a few pics from our photo shoot:

All four cousins

My children

Tori and Natalie

I think this picture is good, if only the sun had not been in her eyes!

Sweet cousins: Tori, Katie, and Natalie

Running through the flowers

This picture shows only about a third of the field....it was unbelievable.

A good time was had by all!

Saturday night we grilled hot dogs and made smores over the fire pit in the backyard.

Carson roasting a marshmellow

Carson's marshmellow on fire! ha,ha,ha!

Yum! The finished product!!

Courage Builder #6: Evidence of God in My Life

2011-03-16T09:38:00.003-05:00

In my very first entry in this series, I told about breaking up with my boyfriend the summer after my 10th grade year (when I wrecked my brother's truck). He and I had been friends for awhile and had only been dating a few months. He was actually two years older than me, so he had graduated that year and was going to college. The reason that I broke up with him was because I felt like I was putting my relationship with him above my relationship with God. As a teenager, it was a struggle to keep my priorities in the right order. You see the problem was that I was so crazy about this guy that I spent all my time with him and when I wasn't with him, I was either talking to him on the phone or thinking about him. :) He became the most important thing to me, instead of God. It was the same for him and I knew that wasn't good for either of us. So, I really felt like God was just telling me that we needed to break up and that I needed some time to reprioritize things. My boyfriend was also going away to college and I didn't want him to come home to our small town every weekend. I wanted him to "spread his wings and fly" (isn't that a song?). ha!

That whole summer I moped around. I experienced my first heartbreak and the crazy thing was it was me that broke up with him. At the time I had a stronger relationship with God than he did, so he didn't really understand when I tried to explain it all to him.

So, school started my junior year and I still missed him terribly. Several weeks into the school year, I was sitting at youth group at church on a Sunday night. During the ending prayer, I really started silently pouring out my heart to God. I told him that I wanted to be obedient to Him and that I had broken up with Robert because I felt like that was what He told me to do. So, He was either going to have to heal my heart and help me get over this or He was going to have to give him back to me. When my youth pastor said Amen, we all raised our heads and opened our eyes. I noticed someone standing in the back of the room..........Robert had slipped in right at the end of the service. It was pretty darn cool!! I can't think of a clearer way for God to give me the answer to that prayer. I still remember what he looked like today. He looked so mature and "collegy." He had on a new ball cap and shirt that had his college logo on it. (Sounds cheesy, but he looked really cute!)

After church that night, we talked for awhile and started dating again not long after that. We did break up a few more times before it stuck permanently. :) Starting to date when we were so young made those breakups necessary for me. I always wanted to make sure that I wasn't just settling for what was comfortable and missing out on something else. I'd fish the waters for a little bit and then always realize that I had an amazing guy that already loved me and I'd come crawling back. The last time I broke up with him when we were both in college, he told me that if I ever broke up with again, he wasn't taking me back (he's patient, but he eventually gets to a breaking point). I took him for his word and didn't break up again.

I know now that Robert is the person that God created to be my mate in life. We compliment each other well. Where I am weak, he is strong and vice versa. We have been married almost ten years and I still not only love him, but enjoy his company as much as I did as a teenager. We are not perfect people, but we are perfect for each other. I think when a couple can get to a point where they can accept each other completely (even the imperfections and weaknesses)........that's true love. The tough things that we have experienced along the way have only made us stronger and made us not take our relationship for granted.

God, thank you for caring about me enough to move Robert across the country from California to Arkansas, to be my life partner. You went to a lot of trouble to bring us together. Please give us the strength and courage to fulfill the plans that you have for us!

Here's a few blasts from the past........just for fun!

Jr./Sr. Banquet

Homecoming, my 10th grade year

This is when we were playing Mary and Joseph in the Christmas Cantata.

Homecoming, my senior year

Celebrating Robert's birthday when we were in college

Robert's graduation

Engagement Picture

Wedding Picture

Little Slugger

2011-03-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

Carson as a baby with his baseball gear! :)

Carson at 15 months

Tonight my little man goes to his very first t-ball practice! I feel like it is a monumental day, because it's his first official introduction to a sport that has the potential to give him many hours of joy and pleasure, as well as great memories. I could care less if he is the most talented or not, I just want him to have fun! I already see how much he and his daddy enjoy getting out in the yard and hitting the ball around. The picture below is Robert as a kid. He loves sports, so I hope that is something that he and Carson can share!

Courage Builder #5: Evidence of God in My Life

2011-03-14T14:59:00.000-05:00

I think I've mentioned on my blog before that my parents got divorced in July of 2008, after over thirty years of marriage. It was a tough time for me, because my heart broke for my family. During that summer, a new couple began visiting our Sunday School class at church. We became friends very quickly and began spending a lot of time together. She and I soon discovered that our parents were going through similar situations. She had grown up in a Christian home (just like me) and had always looked up to her parents. They had taught her right from wrong and taught her the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Due to some unwise choices of her father later in his life, her parents were also getting divorced that summer after thirty something years of marriage. We talked a lot about what our families were going through. If you had told either one of us five years earlier that our parents would be getting divorced, we would have thought you were a lunatic. It is not very common to see well-respected, Christian couples get divorced after many years of marriage. She was the only person that I could talk freely about my feelings and know that I wasn't going to be judged, because she was going through the same thing. I can remember us praying for each other and talking a long time during the days that surrounded the actual court date of my parents divorce. Just a few months after that, they decided that our church was too far away from home and they found a new church closer. I have no doubt that God put her in my life at such a time as this to help me through that difficult time (and hopefully I helped her). She was God's comfort to me in a tangible way.

It makes me think of the phrase, I'm not exactly sure how it is worded: Some friends are put in our lives for only a season, while others grow roots and stay awhile. Thank you God for caring about me enough to bring her into my life during that season.

Finally, the bed is complete!

2011-03-11T11:09:00.000-06:00

I blogged awhile back about my mom's baby doll bed that Tori and I were going to paint for her American Girl doll, Lacey. Well, after several coats of primer and a coat of paint.....it's complete! Lacey has moved in her new establishment and I think she likes it! :)

BEFORE

DURING THE MAKEOVER

AFTER (I don't know why this picture is pink. I guess becaue the sun was coming
through the pink curtains in Tori's room.

Tori and I found this hat and jacket in one of my childhood suitcases that was up in the top of her closet. It was my mom's and I'm assuming that it fit some doll that she had as a little girl. It appears to be homemade, so I'm pretty sure that my grandmother made it. I love it and it fits Lacey perfectly!! We also found some homemade
Barbie clothes. They are so cool! Maybe we will have a fashion show and snap some pictures. :) I think I secretly have as much fun as Tori when we play......shhhhhh, don't tell anyone!!

Courage builder #4: Evidence of God in My Life

2011-03-11T09:52:00.002-06:00

Two summers ago I spent a week in Cajamarca, Peru on a mission trip. There were three different teams: VBS, Medical, and Construction. I was on the VBS team, so we spent our days teaching a VBS at an orphanage there in Cajamarca. There were only 50 kids at the orphanage, so by the end of the week we knew almost every kid by name and had grown to love them very much. At night our whole group would come back together we would all share experiences from our day. The group of us on the VBS team realized that although we were enjoying all the kids, God seemed to be laying a different kid on each of our hearts that we really felt connected to. A special bond was forming for me with a twelve year old little boy named Jhon. I began noticing him when the kids would play during rec time. He was very gentle and patient with the younger kids, but he also was a great leader with the boys his own age. I could tell that the other boys looked up to him and followed his lead. I could just see a special spark in him. I guess the expression in my eyes told him that I loved him and saw potential in him, because he bonded to me as well. Everyday when our van would pull up, he'd be looking for me and waiting for me to get off. I'm telling you, I would have taken him home and raised him myself if they would have let me. As we became friends (with me communicating in my "patchy" Spanish) I tried to explain to him how I thought that he could grow up to be anything that he wanted to be. I asked him if he knew that one of the great leaders in the Bible was named John also. He said that he didn't know, so I ran and got my Bible and began to show him. I will forever be indebted to one of our teenagers on the trip who snapped a picture of this precious moment to me. So, anyway, the week ended and we all came home, trying to remember how to function in our normal American life after experiencing something so amazing. :) I continued to think about Jhon (that's the way he spells it) and prayed for him often that entire year.

Fast forward to this past summer. I returned to Cajamarca with my church group. There were still three teams like the previous year, but the VBS team's plans were different this year. We were only spending one day at the orphanage and then going around to several public school to hand out shoes that we had brought and make salvation bracelets, sharing the salvation story. Once I got to Cajamarca, I longed to go back to the orphanage that had impacted my life so much the previous year and I wanted to see all the kids so bad. Every year the group is different, so no one else on this current trip had been on the VBS team the previous year and been able to build such strong relationships. I actually cried the first morning that we got up and headed to one of the schools, because I wanted to see my babies at the orphanage so bad. On Sunday we went to the church there that was started by the ministry that we work with. I knew that on Sundays sometimes kids from the orphanage came to church there. I hoped to see someone that I knew. The service started and there were no kids. After the first prayer a few kids and one of the tias (that's what they call the woman who serve as "house moms") came shuffling in and sat on the pew almost directly across from me. As I looked over......you've probably guessed.......yes, Jhon was one of the five kids that had gotten to come to church that Sunday. You see there are around fifty kids at the orphanage, so of course they can't transport that many all in one Sunday. The kids have to take turns going to church. You can tell me that it was a coincidence that Jhon's Sunday happened to be the Sunday that I was there, but I'm going to say that it was God ordained. During the next song, I got up and went to sit by them. I just kept hugging him!

The place that we stay in Cajamarca is called Villa Milagro. In English that means "Village of Miracles." When I am in Peru I always feels God's presence so strongly. It is probably because all the distractions of everyday life are taken away and I can focus on Him. Also it is so beautiful there that it is impossible not to acknowledge that God exists. It is also really high above sea level there, so you feel like you are in the clouds. I loved to go up on the roof in the mornings to have my quiet time. I could hear all the amazing animals, see the mountains in the distance, and I was practically in the clouds. Can't imagine a better place to talk to God!

This is the picture that Chantel snapped when I was showing Jhon the "John of the Bible." That crazy thing on his head is the parachute that we had been playing with during rec time.....silly man!

This is another picture of Jhon the first year I went.

This is Jhon and me the second year that I was there!

There's one last thing I want to share about this that I will never forget. On the last day of my first trip, we all had to say goodbye to the kids at the orphanage that had quickly grown to mean so much to us. Saying those last goodbyes, it was a very good probability that it would be the last time that we would see them (at least here on earth). Let me back up a minute to explain our van rides to and from the orphanage everyday. Driving in Peru is CRAZY!! There aren't really any lanes, you just honk at someone and that means that you are passing them. The man that drove our van was hilarious and everyone was always talking, joking, and laughing. So, on that Friday we all relunctantly said our last goodbyes and climbed on board. The ride back to Villa Milagro (where we lived while we there) was about five miles. There was not one word spoken on that van the whole way home----complete silence, which was a stark difference to our usual van atmosphere. All you could hear was the occasional sniffle. Man, I will never forget the heavy feeling that we all felt. Our hearts were breaking for these children and their lives. And I know that I personally felt like my feeble attempts to make a difference just didn't add up to how great those kids were and how much they deserved to know that even if they don't have an earthly family, they are loved by their heavenly Father and can be apart of his family.

Courage Builder #3: Evidence of God in My Life

2011-03-09T11:06:00.003-06:00

This entry is going to piggyback off my last courage builder. Like I mentioned in the last entry, our realtor was also in the Sunday school class that the couple we met at the park was telling us about. She was very friendly and was a good friend to me. I don't know if you've ever had to visit a new church home, but it can be very intimating and scary even to the most outgoing person. Once we got moved into our new house, she invited us to visit the Sunday School class with her and her husband. They were very hospitable to us, even having us over for dinner and answering any questions that we had about the church. Their was one couple that she kept saying that we had to meet, because she thought that we would have a lot in common. I knew that God had led us to visit that church, but I didn't have a complete peace yet that it was our new home. After visiting the class for several weeks, one Sunday morning I prayed that God would give me a sign as to whether or not we were supposed to join this church family. If God didn't speak to me that morning at church, then I was going to take that as a sign to visit other churches. As we were walking out of class, someone asked if we had met a certain couple that had not been there since we had been visiting. We said no, so they introduced us...........it was the couple that the realtor had told us that we should meet. Can I say instant soul mates??!!!! The only explanation is that it was a "God thing." Let me share a little of their story. The guy is Hispanic and grew up in California. He moved to a small town in Arkansas when he was around 15. He ended up marrying a "white" girl (as we refer to ourselves) from that small town. Does any of this sound familiar?????? It is truly uncanny how much we have in common. Our guys became like instant brothers. They had never met anyone who knew exactly what they experienced as a teenager moving from California to what felt like the end of the world to them-----Arkansas. And I had never met anyone who knew without me explaining the strengths and struggles of mixing American and Mexican American cultures together. We really aren't friends......we're family. We love spending time together and enjoy hanging out with each other's extended family as well. So, God answered my prayer that Sunday morning. He told me I better stay put. :)

He's going to love I posted a picture with his eyes closed!! :) This is their oldest daughter. Tori and her go to the same school. She has the teacher that Tori had last year!

This is when their youngest daughter was born.

Another picture of their oldest daugther

This is a more recent picture of their youngest. She is almost two!!

Thank you God for the good friends that you have put in my life.

Imaginary Play

2011-03-08T15:08:00.000-06:00

I had lit a candle in the kid's bathroom, because we were having company over a little later. Carson hollered for me to come to the bathroom and this is what I found:

"Mom, my Veggie Tales are camping out and this is their campfire!" How creative! I love it!

Who's Your Favorite Super Hero?

2011-03-08T15:02:00.000-06:00

Is it Superman?

Or Batman?

Or maybe Transformer.

Or Buzz Light Year?

Or Bibleman?

Or perhaps Larry Boy.

As you can tell, Carson loves him some Super Heros!!!!

Courage Builder #2: Evidence of God in My Life

2011-03-07T21:26:00.001-06:00

Introduction to "Evidence of God in My Life" Series
Courage Builder #1: Evidence of God in My Life

After getting married and graduating from college, my husband and I moved back to our hometown. Once we started our family, I became a stay-at-home mom. Living on one income of even a college grad entry level salary proved to be almost impossible. We realized that I was either going to have to go back to work or Robert was going to have to take a promotion. Well, the first promotion he applied for he got. So, we moved a little over an hour from our hometown. We rented (which God gave us the perfect little brand new duplex to rent) until we were sure that we wanted to stay there and buy a house. We lived there one year and Robert decided that he would like to try for one more promotion. By this point we had two kids and while our duplex was a wonderful temporary fix, I was longing for a house where I could stretch my arms, have good storage, and a good backyard. I couldn't wait to go house shopping!! Robert found out on a Thursday or Friday that he had gotten the promotion and that weekend we piled the kids in the car and went driving around neighborhoods in the new area. I was soooo excited!! It was actually Sunday afternoon. After driving around we stopped at a park. There was a couple there playing with their daughter. I knew that the guy looked familiar, but I couldn't place him. I could tell that he recognized me also. Finally, we broke the ice and asked how we knew each other. We had gone to the same college for awhile and had some mutual acquaintances. We started to talk to them and we told them that we were moving to the area. They told us about their Sunday school class and their wonderful church. They also gave us the name of a realtor in the area that was in the Sunday School class as well......Long story short, we are now in that church and that Sunday School class! The realtor did in fact sale us our house and it actually backs up to that exact park. I have no doubt that God put that couple at the park on that particular afternoon to lead us to where we are today.

We loved the church that we were going to at the time and I hated to leave it. I remember telling God that morning during the worship service that I loved the church so much and if He moved us He was going to have to lead us to another great church. As we got in the car at the park that afternoon after meeting the couple and their daughter, it hit me. The name of the dad, mom, and little girl were all names of people in our small group at our current church. God spoke to my heart right then and reassured me that He had amazing people and new relationships waiting for us at our new place. He has kept that promise.

Courage Builder #1: Evidence of God in My Life

2011-03-07T15:00:00.002-06:00

(For an introduction to this post, please read the previous post, Courage! first.)

On July 3, 1997, I flipped and totaled my older brother's truck. I was leaving my parents' house to go to a city-wide 4th of July celebration in my town. I remember that his truck was parked in the garage. When I got in the truck I felt like something was weird. You know that feeling like you are forgetting something. I got out of the truck and walked back in the house. I could not figure out why I was having that weird feeling. Their was an electric saw in the floorboard of the passenger side of the truck. When I went to get back in the truck, I decided to get the saw out ( I was 16 year old girly girl.....I didn't want to be seen with my brother's carpenter tools). :) I started down the steep hill on the dirt road from my parents house. I think I was trying to buckle up, turn up the radio, and shift all at the same time. His truck was a 4X4 standard with mud tires. Before I knew it the truck was out of control on the loose gravel of the dirt road. It flipped over and actually turned completely around in the road.

Here's the cool thing. To this day I can remember the feeling that I had as the truck was flipping. It seemed like it was happening in slow motion and the whole time all I could feel was an abundance of peace. It must sound cliche and I don't know exactly how to explain it. I just never felt fear. Anyway, the truck came to a stop and I climbed out the back window and ran back up the steep hill to my house. It was actually when I was running back to the house that I became hysterical. It wasn't the realization of what just happened that scared me, it was realizing that I had just totaled my brother's truck a week before his wedding!!! Yeh, bad timing on my part. I think maybe my sister-in-law has forgiven me. :) I just didn't think they had enough stress already with wedding plans! J/K!

I see God's hand in this situation, because if I had not taken the saw out of the truck it would have fallen on me, probably cutting me severely. Also, I had just broken up with my boyfriend a day before this and he was performing in the city-wide celebration. I was really going to see him. I wonder if I had been able to go to the celebration what would have happened. Would we have spoken to each other, ignored each other, maybe even said something hurtful that would destroy our relationship. You see that boy turned out to be my husband and this summer we will have been married ten years. God knew the plans He had for us and obviously He did not want me at that celebration......He could have just given me a flat tire or something, though. You know God, always dramatic. :)

Sometimes God's hand is working when we can't even see it.

Courage!

2011-03-07T13:47:00.000-06:00

I teach 3rd grade Sunday School at my church. I often feel like I learn as much from studying the lessons as my kids learn from my teaching. :) Every month we study a different virtue. This month the virtue is: courage. We learn the definition of the virtue and then a verse that we can memorize to go along with it.

Courage is: being brave enough to do what you should do even when you're afraid. I love this definition because often times we think of someone who is brave and courageous as fearless. That does not have to be the case. The verse that the kids are memorizing is: When I am afraid, I will trust in you. Psalms56:3.

Yesterday the story was about David and Goliath.....more than likely anyone reading this is familiar with this childhood Bible story. Goliath was a huge soldier in the Philistine army and David was the little brother of some of the Israelite soldiers. Little David ended up killing the huge Goliath with only his sling shot.

This story is found in the 56 verses of 1 Samuel. There was one verse that really stood out to me as I study these verses. Little David said in verse 37: "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." That's what it's all about!! That is where his courage came from......it came from evidence of God working in His life in the past!!! This is exciting to me, because in 2011 this is still where our courage comes from. As a Christian, I can look back at evidence of God working in my life in the past to give me courage for the present and the future!

That's a lot of explanation to say that I am going to add a series to my blog entitled: Courage Builder: Evidence of God in My Life. I want to record experiences in my life that I know God was in control, so that I can look back at them and remember where my courage comes from. I would encourage you to do the same.

Tori's Birthday Weekend

2011-03-01T20:36:00.002-06:00

Tori had a great birthday weekend! Thursday was actually her birthday, so it started off with pancakes made by her daddy with a candle in them. Then Robert spent the whole day with her at school because he signed up to be a Watch Dog Dad and decided it would be special to sign up to take his shift on her birthday. She was so excited to have him at school with her all day. Then Thursday night we cooked her a meal of her choice: taquitos. She got to open her presents from us Thursday night after dinner.

She loves the movie, Despicable Me. Her cousins have it and we watched
it ten million times over Christmas break.

This is the coolest diary ever. The lock is voice activated. It records your voice saying the password and that's how you unlock it. Then on the inside it has a pen that only shows up when you shine the blue-light on it that is included in the diary. This thing is super cool!!

Then the super fun started! Friday night she had five of her closest friends over for a sleepover. She has always wanted to have a sleepover, but I always told her that she had to be at least seven. In a moment of weakness when I was obviously temporarily insane, I decided that it would be fun to let her have a sleepover for her birthday! :) Seriously, it was actually tons of fun and the girls were so well behaved and there were no arguments, tears, or drama. I will say that there was ALOT of praying on my part! :) So, what do six seven year olds do at a sleepover you might ask? Well, they play board games, eat lots of pizza, then eat lots of cake. They make fun crafts, then they dance to Barbie songs, eat lots of popcorn, watch movies, and then they finally GO TO SLEEP!!!! There was also a whole lot of giggling and tickling going on in between. Do you know what happens when you put a straw under your arm and then blow into the other end? It makes the same sound as a whoopy cushion. Speaking of, I did also see one of those come out at one point! :) They were all so sweet to each other and played well together.

This is the girls making sleep shirts.

The girls were so cute dancing to the Barbie Mermaid Tale song!

I thought her cake turned out so cute! I can't take credit....it was made by a friend
who goes to church with me. Let me tell you, this cake not only was pretty, it tasted sooo good!

Pizza! Yum!

All the sleeping bags spread out in the living room floor!!

Then Saturday after all her friends got picked up, we drove to our hometown to celebrate her birthday with our families. Robert's whole family and my whole family all still live in the same town that we are from, so it's just easier to go to them than ask all them to drive to us. Saturday afternoon my sister-in-law gave her a spa treatment and painted her toes and fingernails. She has also been wanting to get her haircut shorter, so later that night Robert's dad (who is a barber) cut her hair.

This is last minute documentation of her long hair before it got cut off. I'll have to post an
after picture later.

My mom cooked Sunday lunch for my whole family and Tori got to pick the menu. My brothers and their families usually always eat Sunday lunch together at my mom's house, but when someone has a birthday, we always get to pick the menu and the meal is in celebration of the occasion. Tori chose chicken spaghetti!

All the grandkids (except one) on my side of the family enjoying Sunday lunch! The oldest
grandkid had to leave to go to winter guard practice.

Then later Sunday afternoon, Robert's family came over to my mom's house and we had a birthday party for Tori!

Tori and Katie

This is Tori with all her first cousins (except the one that had to leave)

Tori loves her family and friends so much, so I am glad that everyone got to help her celebrate her birthday!

Tori is 7!!!

2011-02-24T21:32:00.000-06:00

Today Victoria turns seven years old! Where has the time gone? Tori, you are an amazing kid; I am lucky to be your mother.

Happy Birthday, Victoria! I love you.

Love and Respect

2011-02-23T21:42:00.002-06:00

I have had a post bouncing around in my head for several days. I even attempted to type out some of my thoughts the other night, but saved it as a draft, so that I could brew on it. There are so many families and marriages who are hurting. And Christian families are not immune to marriage struggles. My parents got divorced when I was in my late twenties, so I know how hard it is on everyone involved.

I just feel led to say that if you or anyone that you know is going through a tough time in their marriage, I would encourage them to read the book Love and Respect.

If anything can save your marriage, it is the Godly principles that are taught in this book. God allows divorce in some circumstances, but he HATES it. I believe that the reason God hates divorce so much is because he hates to see His children in pain. And I will tell you, pain is a definite when dealing with divorce (whether it is unavoidable or not). In my opinion, there are too many couples today (even Christian couples) who are divorcing because they are bored, unhappy, or have conflicts that they are not willing to address. These are NOT good reasons for divorce and I feel very passionate about the effect that divorce has on the children of divorce (especially children who are still in the house). I am trying so hard to not sound preachy, so I will stop at that, because I could go on forever on this topic. I also am very cautious here because I am blessed with a wonderful husband who is patient, loving, attentive, and a Godly leader. So, I have no room to judge any women who is living in a difficult situation and I can not say what I would do if put in someone else's circumstances. This is why I have battled with how to approach this post. All I know is that God has a plan for each of our lives and He promises to never leave us or forsake us. If you are looking for HOPE for your marriage, please read this book! You can buy this book at Wal-mart, Target, Amazon. Just google it, order it, and it can be on your doorstep ASAP.

Website with information about Love and Respect

I hope that this post will help someone. Like I said before, I feel very passionate about this topic and if anyone would like to talk more about this, please leave me a comment or email me and we can correspond more. My husband and I read through this book together with a small group and it changed the way I looked at marriage completely.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

2011-02-14T20:01:00.001-06:00

This weekend my mom kept our kids, so that we could go out by ourselves and have a Valentine's date. My sweet Valentine treated me to dinner at Red Lobster and then a shopping date.

Tonight we celebrated Valentine's as a family. The kids stayed home from school today, because they have not felt good....runny nose, coughing, sneezing, sore throat, low grade fever. Turns out, the doctor said it was just allergies. I let my kids stay home from school because of allergies!!! Oops! I promise these are some really bad allergies. Here are a few pics of our evening:

This is Tori and Lacey. This picture doesn't do these two cuties justice! :)
They dresses are matching, of course. But I wish you could see the cute little hearts all over their dresses.

Olive Garden ain't got nothing on me! Ha!
Salad, Spaghetti, and Bread.

Didn't realize that Robert had noodles hanging out his mouth in the picture. Oops!
You get the idea.

This is Prince Charming! LOL! Oh my, won't one girl be so lucky to have this
little man as her Valentine someday. Hopefully by then, he will have mastered eating
spaghetti without getting it all over his face!!!

Then there were chocolate covered strawberries. Yum!!

And we finished it off with brownies and ice cream!

It is Snowing!

2011-02-09T13:14:00.000-06:00

Yeah! It's snowing. I think this is classified as a white out!

The kiddos are playing games and getting ready to go out and build a snowman.

2011-02-09T10:59:00.000-06:00

Tori's Valentine box is complete!

Victoria's Projects

2011-02-07T21:38:00.000-06:00

PROJECT #1:
My mom passed down her childhood doll bed to me when I was a little girl. When Tori was born, it got passed down to her. It is the perfect size for Lacey, Tori's American Girl doll. Tori has never been overly enthused about this doll bed and has asked for the real American Girl bed. I couldn't justify spending that money when we had a nice one already. So, since we are wanting to paint her room furniture white, I thought this would be good practice. I called my mom and gently asked if she cared if I painted the bed. Honestly I cringed to paint it, because I think that it is so neat that it has lasted three generations. But what good is it to anyone if it doesn't get used? It was either put it in the attic or paint it to jazz it up. My mom gave her blessings and so the project began. Lacey's gonna get a new and improved bed!!

Here is documentation of the before. It is really sweet, but just not very current.

First coat of primer

Second coat of primer. Tori would KILL me if she knew I was telling you this, but she told Robert that she needed to paint on the second jacket. Get it? She was getting jacket and coat confused. I love seeing the world through the newness of children's eyes. The second jacket makes just as much sense as the second coat.
Sometimes our language is so confusing.

It has been too cold the past few days to work on finishing it, but we will post the final product. You may remember that a few weekends ago we were supposed to paint Tori's furniture. Well, that Friday night Carson started running a high fever during the night, so my mom didn't come. I spent Saturday loving and snuggling with a little sick man. Hopefully, we will eventually get around to the big painting project.

PROJECT #2:
Tori had to make a Valentine box for her school party. My mom, Nana, helped her while she was here celebrating my birthday. I will also post a completed picture of this project. It turned out really cute.

Who Needs Toys When You Have Bath Soap?

2011-02-07T21:13:00.000-06:00

3-O in the Snow!

2011-02-06T22:52:00.000-06:00

So, Friday was my birthday. It was one of the big milestones.....it was the 3-0 milestone. Up until now all the milestones have been exciting. You know, 13--you are a teenager; 16--you get to drive, 18--you are officially an adult, 21--you can drink legally (have to admit I didn't really run out and use this new advantage). But can someone older than me please explain how it gets any better from 30 on!! I see no major milestones to look forward to....guess that's part of getting older that I will just have to accept. My mom put it in to perspective for me when she asked me, "Well Ellen, what's the alternative to turning 30?" Yeh, I should be thanking God for giving me another year of life in which I have my health and so many blessings!! So, it's really not that bad. I'm actually fine now and embracing this new decade with grace!! :)

But on Friday? Not so much. I have to admit it was a very tough day! Let me explain. You see, it snowed on my birthday and that would have been super fun if it had been on any normal non-milestone birthday and if it hadn't already snowed tons this winter. But on Friday, that meant that I was stuck in the house......and my brain had no distractions from the blaring truth. Yes, I was getting older and yes, I was entering into my 30s. See, I would have been fine if I could have just gotten out and done something fun to keep me busy. Instead I was stuck in my house with laundry that needed to be folded, clutter that needed to be straightened, and kiddos that were bored out of their mind that needed to be occupied. It was quite depressing.

You see, my husband had anticipated my birthday and had been planning something special for me. What he did not anticipate was the snow. So, his special plans that he had been planning for weeks got thrown out the window. He quickly rescheduled the plans for Saturday night and called several of my close friends to let them know that the changes had been changed. Well, they didn't want to spoil the surprise and let something slip, so they basically avoided talking to me on Friday. Again, I did not know about any of these plans. So, imagine me, in the depressive state that I was. I really needed a friend and all my close friends were avoiding me. I may or may not have gone in the closet and cried several times during the day. I'm telling you, it was a bad day. On Saturday night when I learned the surprise, it all made since why my friends had avoided me and I realized that indeed my husband and my friends did love me.

Had it not snowed....my birthday would have been perfect, but through the experience I learned that my husband really loves me (or he would not put up with me when I am an emotional basket case) and I have really great friends! I've heard people say that their 30s were their best years. I'm banking on it!!

My mom got to spend several days with us to help celebrate my birthday!!

This is the "make-shift" celebration with just my mom and my immediate family on Friday. We went to Wal-mart right before dinner and bought a cake mix. My sweet husband did make me dinner and a cake.
He was trying so hard to cheer me up!

Yeah, the celebration was a success! Yes, that is a Twilight cake.
It was just a joke....well, mainly! ;)

The Amazing World of DVR

2011-02-01T21:17:00.001-06:00

Ok, so I promised a post in which I shared what shows are regularly DVRed at our house. Here are the top ten most watched shows at our house:
1. The O'Reilly Factor (watching this is a nightly ritual for my husband)
2. Castle (Love this on Mondays and are very sad when a new episode doesn't air)
3. Chuck (This is not our favorite; it's a little more cheesy than we usually prefer)
4. Human Target (We love this as much as Castle....which is A LOT!!)
5. The Bachelor (Hey, just keeping it real....I know that it is trash, but it is very entertaining. Plus, it makes me feel so lucky to have a man that loves me and I appreciate the fact that I found my Mr. Right.)
6. Dancing with the Stars (when a season is being aired. I will say that we used to watch this as a family, but it has continued every year to get more and more provocative. It is no longer appropriate for my children to watch.)
7. American Idol (I don't let my kids watch the first episodes when they are visiting the towns, because they make fun of people. I usually will let them watch once they begin competing on stage.)
8. Batman (This is the 1960s version with real people. We have tried to record the more recent versions, but they are just too violent and scary for Carson).
9. Full House (this is an afternoon must for Tori once she gets home from school)
10. The Fresh Beat Band (another one of Tori's favorites)

There are numerous other kid shows that get DVRed regularly, but they don't always get watched. The main thing I love about DVRing is it allows us to watch our shows whenever we want. Plus we get to forward through the commercials, so we can watch things quicker. We really are kind of like two old people; we have a schedule and love sticking to it. I put the kids to bed around 7:30-8:00 every night while he is taking a shower. Then he watches O'Reilly while he is ironing his clothes (yes, he irons his own clothes) for work the next day. During that time I am doing my computer stuff and putting up any leftovers from dinner. Then we get all ready for bed and snuggle up and enjoy one of our DVRed shows. I honestly feel like I have a date with my husband every night and it is great! Speaking of, it's time to go get my pjs on. How did we ever manage without DVR?

Weekend Fun

2011-01-31T14:26:00.000-06:00

In the middle of winter, we were blessed with a few warm days this weekend! It felt so good outside! The kids got to finally test out their new bikes that they got for Christmas!

Carson has a dilema. His old bike is too small for him, but his new bike (which is only one step up from his old one) is too big. He can ride it, but he can't reach to put his feet down. So for now he has to use the training wheels. He has been a good sport about having to have the "baby wheels" on it. Hopefully his legs will grow fast!!

Our Lilly is Almost Three!

2011-01-31T14:12:00.000-06:00

All the girls in our family have birthdays in February, including our cocker spaniel, Lilly Anne. We got Lilly three years ago as a pup from my brother and his wife. She has been a really good pet. As a puppy she stayed inside the house, but moved outside once she got old enough. On occasion we tried to teach her to be an inside dog.....even bought her some doggy diapers. The problem with cocker spaniels is that when they get excited they pee. So, every time the kids would convince me to let her come in, the first thing she would do is pee on the floor!! It was a vicious cycle, because then I would just send her back out! Well, this winter it has been super cold, so we started letting her come inside. She lives in our fenced-in backyard and her kennel is up on our covered porch. So, I got the bright idea that if I was going to let her inside I would immediately walk her out the front door and let her pee, so that she wouldn't pee on the floor. It worked, lucky for her!! So, this winter she has officially become an inside dog. She barks at the front door when she needs to go out and do her business and then immediatley comes back in. On a few pretty days recently I have let her out in the backyard for some fresh air. The minute I let her in she runs to the front door to go outside and pee. Isn't that funny? She is outside, hanging out in the grass in the backyard, put she holds her pee for however long I leave her out there and waits to pee in the front yard!! Anyway, she is so sweet and we have really gotten used to her being inside with us. She even sleeps in her kennel in Tori's bedroom.

Lilly when she was a puppy

This is Lilly and Tori in 2008, the day that we got her. She was a few weeks old.

Here she is a little older. She was about to go into the pet store to get a haircut.
You can tell that she needed it......she was really bushy!

This is her now (with Tori).

A few weeks ago when it snowed, she would look at the front window and bark at our snowgirl.
She barked at that "thief" in the front yard until it melted. You'd think after awhile she'd give up the alarm!

She's a trickster!! Ha! Please excuse Superman in the background.

Our Sweet Lilly Anne.....HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY GIRL!!

Adoption Journey

2011-01-27T21:43:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to share the news that our adoption file has officially been turned over to the adoption specialist in our county. From what I understand of the process, this means that we are ready and eligible to adopt. To read about our adoption journey you can look back at my previous post entitled, The CALL. (I know there is a fancy way to put a link here to that older post, but I don't know how to do that.) It has taken us almost exactly a year to finish the process.

And here are a few pictures, just for fun.

This is Tori with her cousin, Nora, when we went to visit them in Austin, TX over New Year's.

This is Carson playing with his Batman Cave. And yes, my son has on shorts and a sleeveless shirt in the dead of winter. The minute he gets home from anywhere, he immediately goes to his room and changes into summer clothes. It drives me crazy, because then I have to wash all those clothes!!! It must be a boy thing. Does anybody else have that problem with their sons?

I took this picture of Tori tonight because she is about to loose one of her top front teeth. It is so loose, that I was sure it was coming out tonight and I wanted one last picture of my baby with her two front baby teeth. The tooth made it through supper, though, so I guess it's going to make it at least one more day.

Carson got a tool set for Christmas that the tools are real, just miniature. I found him in his room with his safety goggles on unscrewing a screw in his wall that was left there from his old book cabinet. I love this kid!!