We had a wonderful time!

We just finished our vacation, and it was wonderful. It was so restful and we had a great time with the kids. Steve did not even check his email. The beach was the most beautiful beach that I have ever seen except for when we went on a mission trip to Jamaica(years ago). This island was great and very quiet-Anna Marie Island. I just loved it and did not want to come back. What a blessing it was for us to go.

Simply Joys!

It seems like we are always finding joy in places we don't expect. As our family took a trip to Pine Cove Camp for a retreat, I experienced the joy in the beauty of our surroundings. I looked out of our cabin one morning and the mist was rising from the lake. I found great pleasure in the beauty that was before me. I can't explain the sweetness of that moment. Often, the beauty of the Earth gives me great pleasure. Unfortunately, we live in a huge metro area where we don't experience it much. Growing up, I lived so close to mountains and trees. I really took those moments for granted. The joy that I experienced in those wonderful places can also be found in our day to day lives.

My husband lowered our goal for our middle child. She loves to shoot. I think that she would stand and shoot baskets all day and night. When he lowered the goal, I could see her eyes get bigger and bigger. Wow, the joy that she has experienced by lowering that goal. It is similar to what I experienced at camp.

The sweetness and joy of life may only come in small moments. I sure love it when it comes, don't you?

Our Happenings

I know that it has been a while since I posted. I really have been busy. Our whole family got sick with a virus for 3 weeks so, I have been playing the role of a nurse. It really is terrible when everyone gets sick, because it seems to never go away. The kids had a temperature for 8 days. I caught it twice or never got better the first time, and Steve takes so much medicine for allergies that he keeps on going. We are finally feeling better-I think.

So, what's new with you? Well, we have been trucking along. Megan got glasses. She couldn't believe how much she couldn't see. She looks so grown up in them. I have applied to one school system for next year. It is a little intimidating for me to begin to look for a job. I don't even know what I would say in an interview. Madison has lost one of her front teeth. She is so cute! Mackenzie is mastering the computer and doing very well. It is a little scary how smart she is! At the dinner table, we practice our math facts with the older girls, and she solves them too. Steve is still going to school and working with the youth. After this semester, he has one more class of Greek. It has been very rewarding for him to learn Greek. He will start Hebrew after that which takes 2 years. We think that he has another 3 years until he graduates. When you go part time to school and work full time, it takes a long time. If you want to pray for us, please pray for money for Steve to finish school. We sort of don't have enough.

Steve hired our friend Michelle to help with the youth. She has been a blessing to us. She is starting to help manage the youth's curriculum. I think she is really enjoying it.

I have had laundry overload fever since we have been sick. I am looking forward to summer when the clothes are lighter. I often get concerned of how I will manage the house cleaning after I go back to work. Oh well, I guess the Lord will take care of it! Well-that is our happenings! I hope your happening are going well!

The Mommy

Megan made this for me with help from a website Steve featured on crosstie.org.

My Christmas Days

It is interesting how each year Christmas seems to creep up on me. This year we will be spending Christmas away from our extended families. When we have done it in the past, it has seemed lonely. This year it still seems like something is missing. Until you are not with them, you really don't understand the importance of close family and friends. This year we are blessed to spend our Christmas day with some special friends, the McIntoshes. They are really neat people. They are great friends too!

On another note, the kids are out of school. We are doing okay! Their Christmas parties at school were a little forced this year. Megan said, "I have been to better parties." It is funny to get a child's perspective. Since we have been home, we have been trying to keep busy. The girls tend to get board. We did our gingerbread house, made snowman cookies, made several crafts, and played pirates. We let them watch the first movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean. They loved it, and they have been sword fighting ever since. Oh, I forgot to mention that we do pretend ice skating to the karaoke on the wood floor. It is rather entertaining. Today, we went to see the movie Night at the Museum. It was cute and the girls liked it. Kenzie said, "I liked it, but I really did not understand it."

Well, Christmas is almost here. My merry wishes go out to all for the holidays. I pray that God's love will impact me and you this upcoming year. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Nothing Like Your Hometown!

This is a picture of where my husband grew up. It is a special place. As we went back to our hometown this past week for the holiday, we found ourselves greeted by so many familiar faces. It had been a year since our last visit. We got to visit with family, and old friends. It was neat to drive back home toward our city and realize what a special place that our hometown is! We are always struck by the beauty that exists there. We had such a great time and made such good memories. My kids cried on the way out of our hometown. It is hard to be away from your loved ones. It is hard to be away from all the natural beauty of this sweet town! We are truly thankful for the time with had in JC!

A Working Day?

When we talk about moms, we usually mention how special they were or how often they were busy. I think sometimes we talk about how our moms where there all the time or how our moms were not there a lot of the time. I watched a special on 20/20 tonight. It really started my thoughts spinning. I quit my job nine years ago to stay home with our kids. I felt like I would be unable to give 100% to my job and my kids. "I did not think that I could have it all!"

The program that I watched tonight discussed and interviewed working moms. Most moms who work are overwhelmed. They feel like they have to do everything. Most don't have much time for themselves unless their job is flexible enough. Lets face it, who's job is flexible enough? Probably, women who are at a higher level of income!

I think working mom's tend to not want to cheat their kids. They also don't want to cheat their husbands or their jobs. They want to be able to give to everyone, and they certainly don't want to look weak doing it. You probably are wondering why in the world do I care? You see I am in the process of returning to work in the Fall. Wow, that scares me to death. I quit because I did not think you could do it all. Even though my kids are a little older now, I still wonder about it? Will I be able to do it all?

I know a lot of women who work, and they seem to have it all. I can't help but wonder if they do have it all? I am not trying to say working is wrong for women. I mean in a couple of months that will be my situation. I guess that I am honestly asking can we as women have everything without any negative consequences? I certainly don't want my kids when they grow up to not know what I was doing or not remember my being there with them. Is there an answer to this dilemma? I don't think so!

Just a little Fun!

We sure had a lot of fun before it even got dark! I wonder which one will win?

Penny Voting

Well, we have been very busy and sick lately. Madison and I have had strep--not a fun thing. We also went on a youth retreat this past weekend. It went well. We had our own cabin this time, and we experienced Pine Cove in a new way. I suppose you are wondering what in the world is that green thing. Well this week at school, the third grade had penny voting on pumpkins. Each third grader was suppose to decorate a pumpkin. The pumpkins sat out in the hallway and all the kids in the school brought pennies to vote on the pumpkin they liked the best. The third grade uses this as a fun-raiser to buy journals and magazines for the kids. Well, this green one is Megan's pumpkin. She did the whole thing by herself except I helped her glue the grass on. She used the hot glue gun with such gracefulness. I was so proud of her!I thought for sure hers would win, but instead some kid that built a pumpkin with a body and hands won in her class. I saw some interesting pumpkins when I walked through the hall at lunch. There were every kind of pumpkin that you could imagine. There was everything from bald babies to sharks with bloody hands hanging out of it. I must say the kids did a great job, and they were certainly creative.

We are getting excited about going to JC for Thanksgiving. We haven't see Steve's parents in a year. My parents came out to visit this past summer. It is exciting to finally see our families. My brother will have a new baby when we come in for Thanksgiving. I know that it is going to be exciting to meet the new addition to the family. I know that Steve's mom is getting excited to see us. It is a very hard thing to go a year and not see your parents. I know Steve misses them dearly. I hope that JC has not changed too much in a year.

By The Way, We Caught 6 Fish!

Do you ever feel like you are living in the moment? I think that I find myself there everyday. With our family situation, we tend to feel like as a family our future is unknown. I often think about how everything is for a season. Everything is for a time. These words often comfort me. I use to think how irresponsible it is to not plan for the future. After our family chose this path of uncertainty in life, I have laid our future in someone else's hands.

So, when I say do you ever feel like you are living in the moment? I really am there. I am taking each day as it comes. For example, we went to 2 soccer games, did some fishing, washed off in a sprinkler park, and watched a movie this Saturday. We had a great time enjoying each other as a family. We were living in the moment. It felt so good to connect as a family and take time with each other.

Maybe, I am talking about all this because moments like these are so rare with our family situation right now. They may be rare, but boy they are the coolest. Spending time with the people you cherish and love. I think that I could live in that moment forever. Well, I suppose that is enough rambling. By the way, we caught 6 fish!

Greek Killer!

Everybody deals with something hard. I think right now that Greek is the hard thing for Steve. I have never seen Steve work so hard to try to stay on top of work and school before. He continues to put in hours and hours to stay ahead in his Greek class. He has a year of it left. He says that each assignment takes four hours to complete. I suppose that I never knew that Greek could be so hard. He has not even started Hebrew yet! I just keep wondering- will Hebrew be this time consuming? I look at his diagramming, and I have no idea how I could help him through this. It is totally-Greek To Me! Keep up the good work-Pookie!

Where were you?

I was standing in my nice cozy home. I was taking care of my sweet children. I was folding clothes. I was watching TV. As the news hit about the terrible acts of terror, I stood thinking it was just a bad dream or maybe it was just a TV drama. On that day, it took me several minutes to realize this is not a dream or a TV show-this is the real thing! I immediately called my husband, and he and the church staff turned on the TV.

What began to unfold that day would forever effect Americans and their world view. I know that it effected me! As I look back on Sept. 11, I find myself mindful of the families who lost a loved one. Since that day, I am becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the fight against terror. This kind of behavor is only a terrible way to kill innocent people. Before Sept. 11, I never understood what a terrible thing random killing could be.

I think that my generation has been raised not understanding the significance of what our military does for us. I hope that the soldiers that are defending us know that I sure do appreciate their efforts. My prayer is that I could stop and really take a moment each year to remember the loss of life and pray for all who make our country safe!

Rain, Rain, Rain, Stay!

On this wonderful Labor Day, we are blessed with rain. Dallas has been so dry all summer and our drought conditions have been very bad. I thought that I almost forgot what rain looked liked. It started raining early this morning, and I must say it feels wonderful. I took a picture so that I could remember what rain looks like in case we don't receive any more! I never saw anything look so good!

What are you afraid of?

Have you ever had a fear that just paralyzed you? Well, my 2 younger kids have some terrible ones. The are terrified of dogs, cats, and small lizards. We have little lizards that live in our house. Before we moved, I would have told you that a lizard is a pest, and they are definitely for the great outdoors! Living in Texas, I have a new outlook on the little creatures.

It all started about 3 weeks ago. Meg saw a lizard in the bedroom. Well, the other girls started screaming and crying like you would never believe. I told them that they eat bugs and that the sweet little creatures would not hurt them. They did not believe me. Since then, Maddie spotted another one in the kitchen. These little guys have caused a great upset in our family.

Their fear of dogs have intensified because of the lizard sighting. We went to Kenzie's soccer practice and guess who shows up. A small dog that had gotten loose. My kids were so terrified they would not get out of the car. Maddie sat in the car almost the entire practice. Kenzie finally got out when I told her she was not going to earn her toy. Okay, I know it is not smart to bribe a kid, but I was at my limit! I mean it was her practice.

I told Maddie that if she didn't quit being so afraid of animals that I was going to buy a dog. Okay, I made an empty threat. I don't dislike dogs. I really don't want the responsibility of caring for something else. Steve said, we should get a guinea pig! I think as long as I don't have to take care of it. I really don't know how to help my kids over come these fears. I hope that I have not shelter them too much. I think it probably is a faze. I just hope it ends soon. I am not sure if all this fear is good for someone's emotional growth!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well, there it is. It is huge and vast. Dallas is very spread out. This is only the downtown area. Steve's school is somewhere in that mess. Speaking of school, the kids started this week. They also started soccer. This week has certainly been a new adventure for our family.

Monday, I left one kid screaming at school and the other very unsure of her situation. Maddie pitched a huge fit when I left her at school. I have no idea why? She got the teacher that Megan had in first grade. She is sweet and kind. I think that Maddie has just developed some fears. Megan says school is boring and that breaks my heart. She is so bright. I think 3rd grade becomes more serious, because of the Tacks testing.

Wednesday, I went to pick up a substitute packet to sub at the kids school. I really can only do it on Fridays, so I am wondering why am I even trying? Well, since I need to start looking for a job in the spring, I thought that I better make an effort to try some substituting!

Soccer is a great sport, but it has just started and it is killing me. Three kids in one sport at the same time. Don't try it! Busy, Busy, Busy does not even describe it. We changed leagues to the YMCA. We felt like we needed more of a Rec league feel. Megan got on a team with some kids from school. I think that has helped with her adjustment to a new league. Meg has practices 2 times a week. Maddie has practices 2 times a week, but she won't practice. She loves soccer but, I think the new situation has her scared. She only knows one girl on the team and her daddy coached her team last year. We are going to just be patient with her.

We thought that Steve was going to get out of coaching this year, but the YMCA called and now he is coaching Mackenzie's team. It is a brand new team with 4 year olds. I told him that he has his work cut out. I was out side the other day and Mackenzie could barely kick the ball! She has practice 2 times a week too. Last night, I saw the game schedule. There is only one night where all the girls have a game at the same time. I don't even know how to figure that out!

On Friday, Steve had his throat done again. Yes, he has had this procedure 5 times now. He has had a constricted esophagus for the past couple of years. I finally got him to go to the doctor about 10 months ago, because he would choke so bad a meals that I could not take it any more. When the doctor went down the first time, he found precancer cells. He continues to watch them. Finally, this time the doctor said that we would not have to have the procedure again for a whole year! Yeah! I was really excited, because we had been going to get it done every 8 weeks.

All this stuff has happened in just one week. Next week, Steve starts school. I think Dallas is going to swallow us up. I hope we survive this year!

First Time In Eight Years!

If you know me, you know that I go ever where with my kids. Well, I had the privilege of going somewhere with out them. Until this past weekend, I had only left my kids once over night. Steve had a youth staff retreat that we both got to enjoy. I have been on every youth retreat and youthstaff retreat since we got married. The kids have always been with us, but thanks to Daniel and Michelle we got a taste of what one would be like without the kids.

The weekend was great! I met people, stayed up late, stayed on the 16th floor, watched cable TV, ate meals someone else had cooked and got to see my husband in action! The best part was getting to know my small group. At the first of the retreat, we were put into groups. On Saturday, we had a task to complete. We were given 40 dollars to go and serve the kingdom. It could be as simple as passing out water to people which some groups did. We had only 1hour and a half to perform this task.

We decided that we wanted to buy children's books and go and read to kids at a hospital. So, our group split up. One would buy the books and the other would find a hospital. Oh, did I mention that the best group project won Starbucks cards! We found out that you must have background checks to read at most hospitals. Standing in the middle of Target trying to figure out what to buy, I got a little hyper. I was worried about running out of time. So, we decided to buy one gift bag and some notecards and just go and write notes of encouragement to some sick children.

We drove up to Children's Medical Center. This is the same hospital that the Siamese twins were separated at. It is a wonderful hospital for kids but it is huge. Steve dropped us off, because parking was crazy. We met up with the other half of our group. As I walked in, I thought that we probably were not going to perform any kind of acts of service. Okay, I am totally a skeptic. We got in and a guy in our group who had been a missionary went around the corner. He came back and said I found a kid. A small cute kid in a wagon pulled by his mother and followed by his father came around the corner. This little boy had been bitten by a copperhead snake the night before and was airlifted in from a town about 2 hours away. The family was from Maryland just visiting relatives. We gave him a gift bag. His parents were amazed. We had a neat conversation with them. They were certainly open to hear what we had to say.

God amazes me all the time. As I walked into that hospital, I thought well I wasted this 40 dollars. He showed me that faith can go a long way and that He will work it out for His glory not mine! He also showed me that even though I may not have a plan-He will have one for me!

Old Camp Costumes!

We have been getting all kinds of Halloween costume magazines in the mail. I am not sure why but the magazine people have found me! The kids love to look at them and dream of what they may be on Halloween. I know some people don't like Halloween. I was totally against it too. I understand that the dark side of it can be very real. We came to a decision a couple of years ago to let the kids dress up only as good characters and not dark ones. It has been a good discussion starter with the kids about why they can't be certain characters.

You probably are wondering why are you writing about Halloween in August. Well, I was going through old pictures this morning, and I found this one. I started thinking about some of the best costumes that I have seen. I must say this one is hilarious. This is an old camp costume from years ago. Years ago, Steve and I did camp every summer. We would serve as camp counselors. Every year we would pick the campers up in our costumes and every year there was a theme. Steve decided to be the human canon ball that year, because the theme was circus. We had a blast doing camp!

Last year for Halloween, Steve went around with the kids to the neighbors dressed up. He said, some people laughed. After he got back, he said that the costume stunk so bad from being in the attic that he may have to retire it. I just could not resist letting everybody in on this wonderful picture. I just think that this is the best costume!

A Solution And Not A Problem

Sometimes, I walk away from church and wonder what am I doing. Today, I had one of those days. We have been taking all the kids to the service, because the children's ministry was giving their volunteers a break. I think that it is great to give the volunteers a break especially since I am one of them. I had the kids by myself today, and near the end of the speaker I had all I could take. I told them to gather there things that we were leaving.

We walked out early. I scolded the girls, and told them how they should act. The truth is that I have felt guilty about it ever since. I really want my kids to enjoy church. I have heard that most kids walk away from church after they leave for college. The reason that I felt guilty is that I truly have had a hard time enjoying church. I really don't think there is anything wrong with our church. It is a great church. I think that my heart is struggling with the universal church. I mean the church all over the world. I am not sure if what we are doing is working so well.

I don't want to be a problem for the church, but I am not sure where I fit anymore. I go, and it feels so much like my heart is just going through the motions. I show up because that is what I am suppose to do. I know that if I want my kids to enjoy church and find meaning and purpose in it, then I am certainly going to have to find it too.

I am not about to give up on the church. Paul in Acts 20:28 is giving a farewell to Ephesian elders and he says ,"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. "
I know that I am not an elder, but I believe that we as christians have a responsibility to be small shepherds over the church and to help the church communicate the message of Jesus Christ. I mean if Jesus bought it with His own blood then it is an important thing to Him. It should be that important to me. So, I guess that I want to find a solution to my heart -not enjoying church. I am determined to not go through the motions and, I will somehow find purpose in church! I want to be a solution and not a problem for something that Christ loved so much!

So, What Do You Do On A Vacation?

You lay on the beach and do nothing!

You go to the NASA Space Center in Houston and stand in front of something that went to the moon and you get to touch a moon rock on a very hot day!

You lay in the pop up camper and sweat while you take a nap! It is only 9 am!

You play checkers and UNO, because their is bacteria in the ocean and there is a NO SWIM advisory!

You put up an umbrella, because the cool shelter you bought tore up!

I suppose camping can be called a vacation?

Summer Fun

On my birthday my parents finished their visit with us. It was a sad thing to see them go back to JC. We had such a great visit. While they were here, Steve went on a mission project. He had a good time, but he is still exhausted from it. He got to go to Graceland and eat ribs at a famous BQ place. It was kind of cool, because the President went to Graceland and the rib restaurant the same day Steve and the teens went. (No, they did not actually get to see him.)

We spent the Fourth with Daniel and Michelle. We did the American thing and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and went to see the fireworks. We have been in a severe drought, and we have not seen rain in a long time. Of course, it rained for the Fourth. It slowed down during the fireworks (which was nice). Now when it rains, we all go to the door in amazement. It just feels so weird when you have not seen rain in so long!

We are on our way to Galveston beach in 2 days. We are going camping there for almost a week. I now begin the terrible journey of packing the camper and the kids. It feels like summer is flying by now. At first, it seemed slow. Oh well!