Hard Work really Does Pay Off!

For about 6 long weeks now the girls have been very diligent in doing their chores to make sure they could stamp off every spot on their chore charts. The end goal was two fold. First, and in my opinion, most importantly the girls have developed some great new helpful habits. Secondly, they both got to work for their very own brand new bikes with training wheels! We have made a couple of trips to look at bikes to keep the enthusiasm going and FaithLyn has wanted a princess bike almost the whole 6 weeks. Elise fell in love with this Dora bike recently and it is just her size. We had such fun picking out helmets. Dan and I have a hard time remembering why helmets are necessary but we bought them anyway.


Olivia has done a great job mimicking her big sisters and she has been very helpful too. She has really learned how to help pick up her room and put shoes away and help set and clear the table. I am so glad that this helped the girls enjoy helping in those ways. I am just praying it lasts!!

But we felt like Olivia's efforts should be recognized too. She got this really cool swing and she is pretty pumped about it!!

Rain, Rain, Go away and take the Roaches with you!!!

WOW! It just won't stop raining!! If we wanted to keep our yard in good shape we would have to mow every 3 days! Good thing we aren't too concerned about that.

It's flooding all over the place. No one knows what to think or do. This just isn't supposed to happen. The plants and grass are all in shock and we actually have some green algae like substance growing on our back porch!

Not to mention that we just aren't equipped for this kind of weather. None of the houses in our neighborhood have gutters. Our chimney is leaking. Oh, and did I mention that the bugs are all a bit confused as well? They love the muggy mild weather but the rain has them kind of freaked out. I think they held a meeting and decided that the best plan for them was to come and camp out at my house! And by bugs, I mean roaches. I have commented on how I feel about roaches before so I will spare you the details of my long, LONG, journey to overcome this deep seeded hatred for roaches.
But every time it rains we find about 4-5 roaches dead or dying in our house. Don't even get me started on the garage. But because of my dislike of roaches I know how to deal with them (kill them). One of the girls favorite things to do in the morning is to go searching for dead bugs. FaithLyn has realized that if she could overcome her fear of the bugs she could make herself invaluable in the family. She has become the new hero around here. The first bug was discovered while I was unable to help so she went and got her shoe and stomped it while Elise hung out on the fireplace. Ever since then she has been my number one roach hunter. The other girls are a lot less afraid now too. They enjoy pointing them out for the shoe squashers. But Dan and I are the squashed bug collectors. We get to do the dirty work and if Dan is around I let him hold that title alone.

But every time it rains, which is about 2-3 times a day, more bugs find there way in. And this week it has rained every night! It's raining right now. I would go and look for more bugs but I don't want to spoil the girls fun when they get up from their naps. I mean we have to get our excercise somehow!

Our last few weeks....

Our sweet Memaw Cumbie in Plainview.
Elise loving on PawPaw . Olivia with PawPaw.

This is the pool at Nana and Papa's house. Dad just finished the porch around the front of the house and we thought this was a good place for the pool. We (I) just didn't think about trying to get the water OUT of the pool. The girls were helping Nana water the flowers and Papa suggested getting water from the pool. You see we couldn't swim in it because it was infested with june bugs! GROSS! Well, that's what the girls thought anyway.
Olivia was really getting into it and she got a little carried away. She was just dumping the water right out onto the dirt. She created quite a mudpile.
FaithLyn was the first to experience the mud up close and personal.
After VBS Aunt Angie came to visit. She is a super star at our house now. The girls LOVED her visit and we got to introduce her to all our new church friends.
The large slug we caught trying to get in our house! Did I tell you Dan accidentally stepped on one in front of the closet? It left a yellow slime in our carpet! GROSS!FaithLyn and Olivia enjoying the hammock. We sure have been enjoying this nice summer weather!!

I will NOT feel Guilty for......

As a mom it is so easy to pile on the guilt about what we have done wrong or have failed to do all together. My Mom gave me a book called "Motherhood: The Guilt that Keeps on Giving" by Julie Ann Barnhill. In the preface she gives an assignment to all mothers prior to reading the rest of the book. The assignment is to make a list of as many things as you can think of that you refuse to feel guilty about as a mom. I haven't filled out my list in the book yet, but my mind has been going back to this list for days now. It was such a refreshing thing for me to be able to think of some of the things that I feel good about as a Mom. I thought maybe it was time to write that list down. Maybe some of you tired Moms out there would benefit from doing this too?

SO... here goes....

As a Mother I refuse to feel guilty for.......

1. Letting my little girls scream as much as they want when we are playing ... OUTSIDE.

2. Teaching my children to respect others by answering when someone speaks to them.

3. Disciplining my children in whatever way Dan and I see fit, ie. spankings, time-outs, loss of
priviledge.

4. NEVER withholding love from my children, even through discipline.

5. Expecting first time obedience from my children.

6. Reading to my children LOTS.

7. Making my relationship with the Lord and then my husband a priority over them.

8. Teaching my children to respect authority.

9. Allowing my children to watch an hour or TWO of TV every day.

10. Putting my children to bed at 7:30 so I can enjoy some time with their father.

11. Allowing my babies to cry themselves to sleep.

12. Putting my children on a schedule that promotes a schedule that works best for Dan and I
and our lifestyle.

13. Telling my children about Jesus' love and reading from the Bible.

14. Trying my best to imitate Christ for the little eyes that are watching me CONSTANTLY.

15. Saying sorry when I fail to imitate Christ before those little eyes.

16. Hugging and kissing my little ones as much as they will let me!

17. Allowing myself to be silly and play with my girls.

18. Putting off the dishes if my girls want to spend some time with me.

Well, that's just for starters. I have plenty to feel guilty for, believe me, but today I want to focus on the things that I feel confident about.

Another quick update!

Summer hasn't slowed down for us so unfortunately my blog probably will!

We started VBS this week and I am leading a 2nd grade class. It's a lot of fun and this is the girl's first year to really experience a week of VBS. We all took long naps today!

I had another sonogram today and we are still having a boy! I guess we better get busy with those boy names! Maybe we should start looking for a car seat, too, You think? Anyway, praise the Lord, my marginal placenta previa looks like it has moved and that shouldn't be any problem. Thank You, LORD!! Now if He can just hold my womb together for a few more weeks!!

Last weekend we went to visit Nana and Papa while Dan took the youth group on the 1st annual Brazos River Canoe/Camping trip. It went well and I think there might be a 2nd annual trip! We had a fun but short visit to good ole West Texas. Dan will be taking the youth group to Centrifuge next week after VBS so we will be traveling back to Nana and Papa's. We are trying to take advantage of the close proximity. It's only a 3 hr. drive and it's very pretty and relaxing. Something about those wide open spaces makes me feel so free and calm. Plus, the rain has made everything so green. I can't remember the last time I saw it this green around here.

I will try to update with pictures as I have time but time is short and I am not getting any less pregnant so you will have to settle for my best effort right now.

Pregnancy Update

I just got the results back from my 28 wk labs. For those of you that don't have that lab work done every year, it's the blood work that determines your glucose levels and if you have problems with anemia.

My glucose levels were fine but I am a little anemic. That just means I have to start taking iron pills every day. Not a big deal. But it does explain why I have been SOOO tired all the time. At least I know it's not from just being pregnant and chasing three little girls, or should I say, ONE little girl around. Elise and FaithLyn have this thing down. They know the routine and often remind me of the routine if I stray from it a bit. BUT Olivia, she just tears through the house like she's on fire! IF FL and E are doing something she is interested in I am ok. But once she is not being entertained I better start checking up on her! SHE GETS INTO EVERYTHING!!

The other day I heard the front door open! I looked at the clock, no, it's too early for Dan to come home. I went to look and there was Olivia taking the placemat out to dump the crumbs. It really was sweet once I got over the horror of the fact that my 1 yr. old could open the door!! The big girls do this chore for me and she was just wanting to be a helper too. As my Dad would say, She's just way to big for her britches.

Boy, am I tired. I think I'll go take a nap while I can!

Slug Hunting

I think I have mentioned that I grew up on a farm. I am no sissy, prissy girl. I am familiar with all sorts of bugs and vegitation. Our swimming pool, growing up was the bar-ditch. What is a bar-ditch, you might ask? Well, it's just the ditch beside the dirt road that collects all the run-off water from rain or crop irrigation.

I spent lots of time outside growing up. I know how to kill mice and I'm not afraid to do it. I can kill the spiders that live in my house. I often find some sick pleasure in being able to take care of these things myself. I know the difference between good snakes and bad snakes. I know how to kill one if I need to.

But in all my growing up years as a farm girl, playing with worms and caterpillars we NEVER had slugs. I don't think I had even seen a slug until we moved to PA. Don't they like wet climates? I don't know. But we have a legion of slugs that decided that our porch connecting to MY bedroom is their new sanctuary!

Dan makes fun of me because I figured out that they were getting in the sitting room connected to our Master bedroom. It's pretty common knowledge that slugs and snails leave a trail of slime, right? Even this slug ignorant farm girl knows that. What I did not know is that the slime dries into a clear shimmering film. I kept seeing this film all over my carpet. When the sun would hit it just right it would sparkle. I could not figure out what this was. Until one night for some reason Dan and I went out onto the porch for some reason late at night. We saw a slug crawling around on the porch. The next morning I noticed the trail on the concrete. It lead to the door! And sure enough as I opened the door the trail was faintly recognizable along the wall in our bedroom. Hummm...Ok. It's just a slug and at least it has the decency to exit the same way it came in. No problem, right. I told Dan what I had discovered and he wanted to see the proof so I showed him the trail all along the carpet. He now calls me "the slug hunter". He says this is proof that I should be a CIA agent but it seems like a weak association to me seeing as how people and slugs have a relatively different mode of travel and pace. I simply link it to a gift for observing my surroundings, or simply being aware of them and to Dan, apparently this is a coveted characteristic.

Now my curiosity is peaked. I need to catch this slug in the act. But I am not so desperate to actually execute a stake-out. But we were sitting in the sitting room late one night visiting and I caught a glimpse of something dark on the floor board. I saw it in the reflection of the mirrored closet doors. (We can talk about that some other time.) It took me a few seconds to get the image reversed and actually find the perp. But I calmly brought it to Dan's attention and we moved in for a closer look. Sure enough, it was the slug. This slug was no longer or wider than a common earth worm. But, let me tell you, these are nasty bugs!! They're all slimy and cold. GROSS! Dan looked around the room for something to scrape him off the wall with and once that was accomplished we had to figure out what to do with him. Here are a few of our suggestions: squash him; too gross and messy, throw him out; he obviously knows the way back in!, toss him, WHERE? We decided to toss him. I let Dan do it, but I suggesting tossing him in the front yard. That way we had at least a few days before he made it back around to the back porch and we could figure out a plan by then.

Case solved. Case closed.

Not so.

Now I have this compulsion. Every night I have to go out on the back steps and look for more slugs. We have since found three more and all of these keep getting fatter and longer and nastier. I don't want them coming in to my sitting room and having a party on my carpet! We have kept with the theory of tossing them. Sometimes into the neighbors yard, they have dogs. I secretly hope the dogs will find them but perhaps even dogs are grossed out by these things. Who knows?

Last night I did my final check before bed and found one. BUT Dan was in the shower. I told him but he didn't immediately jump out and come to my rescue, so that's when the farm girl independence kicked back on. I found a piece of paper on Dan's dresser and coaxed the nasty thing onto it and brought it to Dan in the shower. I didn't know what to do next. Even MY farm capabilities have there limits! I suggested flushing it down the toilet but Dan said it might crawl back up!!! THE HORROR!!! Can you imagine, you turn around to flush the toilet and there coming up out of the bowl onto the seat..... I can't even finish that thought because it leads to other, worse thoughts. Then he suggested pouring salt on it. I am not sure if this is an experiment, a sure fire answer for death or just torture so I take it to the front yard and toss it under our tree. I am hoping one of the hundreds of birds living there will spot it and take it home for breakfast.

The sad thing is....this morning, I checked for the tale-tell filmy trail. It has become an obsession. What do I do? How do I get rid of them? I think I am going to have to do some research. Get better aquainted with my enemy. I mean, that's what an agent would do right?

Rainy Day Musings

Growing up in West Texas as a farm girl I learned to appreciate the rain. We needed it, depended on it, and very often prayed for it to come.

In Pennsylvania I learned to tolerate it, expect it, and even feel thankful when it didn't make it's regular appearances.

When we moved to Pennsylvania we experienced an unusually warm, dry summer. Now that we have moved back to Texas we have had an unusually mild, wet spring. It's funny though how those things that you grow up learning and understanding never really leave you. My love and deep appreciation for rain and thunderstorms grew dormant in the wet hills of Pennsylvania. But now that I am back in West/North Texas, that love is alive and thriving again.

Today is a rainy, thunder struck day. The sum rose this morning but was soon engulfed by the deep blue clouds that came sailing in from the North. A Norther. Those storms that come in from the north are usaully trouble because they bring colder air and it's usually pretty hot here by this time of the year and that usually brews up one heck of a storm. But the milder temps kept this storm from being a record breaker. The heavy rain and menacing clouds have passed on now and we are left with the steady rain and comforting thunder of a good ole Texas style storm.

I am not sure why but today, turning all the lights on in the house at 8:30 made everything feel cozier. In Pennsylvania it was just normal. And today, for me, that cozy breeds a contemplative spirit. These days should be special. They were for my family growing up. If it was summer time it meant everyone took the day off and stayed in doors. EVEN Dad. This was a special treat for us because it meant something speacial would happen. Days that Daddy stayed home were like holidays. We made yummy treats to eat, dusted off the board games and sat on the living room floor together. At least until Dad fell asleep. Then we would all pull out a good book and just bask in the warmth of home.

As a kid, I cherished those days. One time while Angie and I were still in school a big storm came and we got several inches of rain. We lived on about 3 miles of dirt road and Dad let us stay home that day from school. We were redecorating the living room and we all spent the day painting. Even working together was fun when Dad was there.

Home for my family was a refuge. A place we went to rest and relax, to eat, and be together. Home is so much more than that though. My home was no different. My mom did such a great job of making our home a peaceful place that we wanted to be. She kept it so inviting and my home was always filled with love.

As a Mom myself, I am so thankful for the home I grew up in. It is not an easy task to make your home peaceful and warm and inviting. Especially if I can not keep that kind of spirit for myself.

I am not talking about having a spotless kitchen or squeaky clean bathrooms. That's nice, but that is not what makes a home warm or inviting. To make a home your family's haven, well...you have to have that peace in your heart. I have caught myself not wanting to be at home. I just want to be somewhere else. I mean, good grief, I spend somedays where I don't always even make it out the front door!! But that is NOT the attitude I hope to foster in my children. I want our home to be a place that our children want to be. A place where they want their friends to come visit and are content to just BE. A safe place that they know they will be accepted and loved no matter what their faults are, no matter how badly they mess up, no matter how long they stay away. A place where they learn about who God wants them to be and who God is. A place where the distractions and fast pace of this world just melt away.

That takes work. It doesn't just happen. I have grown to realize this and appreciate my mother so much more for her willingness to take on this formidable task. She made my childhood home so peaceful and warm and wonderful. I still feel that when I go home and visit.

But as a mom I realize how much work that truly takes. You have to diligently gaurd against those distractions that so easily emplant themselves into our everyday lives. Things that are harmless enough but wedge their way into our families and take the place of these dreams we have so carefully crafted in our hearts of what home should be. There are too many to even name. But be on the look out. Scripture says that Satan is like a roaring lion, looking for who he may devour. And very often that lion of sin comes sneaking up behind you and you never even see him coming. That's why you have to be on a constant look out for the safety of your home. Diligently, you must keep your eyes wide open with every opportunity that arises to entertain your family, to keep them busy, or simply occupied.

Nothing has made me more aware of my selfishness than being a mom. Some days I find myself fuming over the fact that I have spent a whole day caring for ALL the needs of others that I haven't even had time to think about myself. But frankly, those days are easier than the days that I do have time to think about what I would like to be doing. On the days I give in to the temptation to think of myself are usually the days that I spend justifying my time and putting off the things that I know will have an eternal impact but just don't show any rewards right now.

Today, the rainy weather gave me a renewed vision for my role as homemaker; A deeper desire to make this house the home that I want our children and my dear husband to rush home to; A passion to be the grace filled mother that God has called me to be and knows I can be.

I would be a very dishonest person if I tried to make you believe that my spiritual walk has been deep and thriving these last few weeks. The truth is, I have been resting in faith and I don't mean watch and see what God can do faith, but my ever faithful Father has been so diligent to seek me out. I have been so very aware of His provision and watch care over us. This doesn't mean that I have been in a spiritual drought either. There have been times of spiritual awakening in these last several weeks but I wish they were not so few and far between. I have not been very diligent in seeking out my Savior. BUT He is always my pursuer and He will not let me forget His love and care for me. I tell you this so that you will be able to ascribe the credit for these blessings where credit is due. I have done nothing to deserve the provision and care of my Savior, yet He is faithful!

I thought it was about time I shared some of the things that the Lord has been doing in my heart and family.

1. We love our new hometown, home church, and home. We feel very blessed to see how God brought us here through months of preparation in Fort Worth so that both our family and the church family would be ready and waiting anxiously for our arrival.

2. I have never moved in the middle of a pregnancy before and was VERY nervous about finding a new doctor and all of the hassle that goes along with it. I have just gone to see my new OB and he is great! I have been so blessed to have friends that helped me find great doctors in both Fort Worth and here. It was only at the request of a church member that this doctor agreed to see me. Thank you, Lord for friends that care and doctors that can be persuaded!

3. We are recieving regular pay checks now!! PTL! We even have a tiny bit of money left in savings. That is truly an act of GOD!

4. I have never had a hard time getting pregnant and I have never lost a baby to miscarriage. During this pregnancy I have been painfully reminded through the hardships of so many just how blessed I am. This is a blessing I admit I have taken for granted for far too long!

5. God is giving me a renewed passion for my children and my role as mother. I finally can focus on them now instead of the move or finances. It's no excuse, believe me, I know. It feels like it has been a long time since I was able to truly enjoy my time with the girls instead of resenting how tired I was. Pregnancy isn't the best time for this revival but I am learning to live like today is the MOST important day of my life. It has helped me to re-evaluate my daily goals. It probably helps too that I get to bed a lot earlier! ;)

6. Dan and I are ONCE AGAIN revisting our personal goals. For so long we have known what things are stealing our attention from obedience to God like: TV, desserts, caffiene, sleep, ..... the list goes on and on! You know those little things that don't really matter but you find yourself thinking about and doing more and more of? Well, we are tired of letting those things dictate our days, emotions, and desires. We are struggling, together, to give those things back to God and recommit our hearts to obedience. Obedience in EVERY part of our lives. Free time, work time, sleep time, what we eat, how much we eat, why we eat what we eat, and taking care of our bodies, physically, mentally and emotionally. Every time I find my self dissatisfied with life or any part of my life, or even just some part of me, if I look back at how I am spending my time and who or what I am giving my attention to, I usually come back to one of these things and I realize I have given it a more important role in my life than it deserves.

7. God can use me as long as I make myself available for His use. It doesn't matter what my attitude is when I make myself available, or how equipped I am for the job. IF I give myself over to God's use, HE CAN DO AMAZING THINGS, despite me! Sometimes I will keep myself from doing things I know God is calling me to do because I am ....not trained for it .....don't want to .....or jsut have the wrong attitude in general. But I am usually MORE blessed in those situations if I just DO IT because I am usually leaning more heavily on Christ to work through me than if I felt equipped or equal to the task. The lesson here...Do the thing you fear! Just be obedient and let God do His thing!

Those are just some of the things that have been floating around my head lately. God has been so diligent to teach me even if I haven't been seeking out his wisdom. Wow! Just think what I could learn if I was really ready to hear from Him!

Daddy's Birthday!

Daddy Dan turns 28 today! The girls and I have had a fun time making his cake. It's THE birthday cake. It's pretty famous in our house. It's a chocolate cake that I only make for birthdays and it's been a while since I made it. Diana made it for me on my birthday and that was the last time we have had it. FaithLyn was pretty cute this morning. She came out of her room and smelled the cake baking and had to lay on the couch for a few minutes just to enjoy the cake smells. She later told me I made the best chocolate cake in the world. She's really racking up the points today! I put on my apron this morning so I didn't splatter chocolate all over my white shirt and the girls wanted to wear their aprons too. They wore them most of the morning. I know they won't always want to be just like Mommy but I do so treasure those moments now!

Here is the finished product. You can still see some remnants of my frosting lickers! Olivia at least saved some for later on her shirt. Even the apron wasn't enough to save her from the enthusiasm of licking the beaters. These girls were pretty proud. After we put the lid on the cake Olivia sat at the table and stared at it. Every once in a while she would turn around in her chair and just squeal. Then when Dan got home she kept saying, "Cik, peese. Eat Cik, peese!"
Dan was pretty proud of my helpers too. Happy Birthday, Daddy Dan! We sure are thankful for all that you do for us and how well you love us all! May God bless this year with abundant joy as you strive to follow your Savior and allow Him to direct your days. We sure do love you!

That Terrible, Horrible, No Good, VERY Bad day!

I alluded to our trip back to Fort Worth in one of my recent posts and I think I have recovered enough to share it with the world.

Dan had a really big paper due and I was worried about him driving because I knew just how much sleep he had gotten in the past few days. His mother and I were praying that he would let me and the girls help him out by driving him. We had big plans. We were going to visit the Museum before our membership ran out and then spend the afternoon at the GerltHouse. We were pumped!! To prepare for this big endeavor I got all of the girls clothes ready the night before. I packed lunches for everyone and decided it would be best if we just got the girls up and put them right in the car in their pjs. I was hoping they might fall back to sleep because it was 5:15 when we pulled out of the driveway.

We made a quick stop for some coffee for the driver and breakfast for the clan. When I got back in the van I noticed that the lights and the dash lights were flickering a little. I asked Dan what he thought and if I should worry but we decided to keep moving. This was before we had even left Iowa Park! So I am praying that it stops and it does. But my mind is going over all the things my Dad told me about cars. I knew flickering lights was a bad thing....the alternator....the battery....what else could it be? We just spent TONS of money fixing the transmission. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! Anyway we start on our journey. The girls do not sleep. Olivia eventually screams herself into oblivion and we all get a little peace. Dan is catching some shut eye as well. His big plan was to skip his 8 o'clock, which was risky because he might have a presentation due that day, but he had to finish this paper and it was a risk he had to take. So we were going to drop him off at the library to finish writing this paper.

We made it to I-35 and were about 30 min. from the Seminary when the lights started going crazy and then.................nothing. The van died! OH, DEAR LORD! I pull over and decided to try and start it up again. IT STARTED! HALLELUIAH!! We made new plans.

The new plan was to try to get to the dodge dealership that we are now financing thanks to all the work they have done on our van. Then call our dear friend to rescue us. We make it to the dealership with no more trouble and I shakily exit said vehicle. I am not sure what caused the shaking;the coffee, lack of sleep, or the circumstances. Anyway, they assure us that they can at least figure out what the problem is so we start to gather up our day full of stuff and I realize I have children still in their pjs. OH, and while I am gethering up our junk I realize I forgot to bring shoes for FaithLyn! At that point I looked at Dan who was working on the other side of the van and said, "Dan, we are white trash!" His always delicate reply? "Kel, we are what we are!" Not the reassurance I was hoping for.

SO I carry the children into the bathroom and get them dressed and carry FL back to the waiting area. Dan is starting to look a little sick. I call Erin to see if there is any way possible she could come and pick us up. Luckily it was Chad's day off so we just had to wait for him to come home from playing b-ball so he could keep the kids, otherwise we wouldn't all fit. So we began our wait. Dan was looking pretty miserable at this point. And a man came in and asked if anyone needed a ride in the courtesy van. I told Dan to go and get started on his paper. He reluctantly left us there. But I assured him that Erin was coming soon.

I am trying to corral three little kids and I look up 2 hours later and see a gray van sitting out in the parking lot. It looks very much like our van. I walk to the window and yes, it looks very much like our van. I take a few steps outside...It IS our van!? I wonder how long it has been waiting here. I take Olivia back to the shop to find out what is going on and leave the girls under strick orders to stay seated or ELSE! Yep, it's our van and it's all fixed. The mechanic thought we had all left. HE obviously did NOT look in the waiting room. Anyway, Praise the Lord, it was just a dirty battery cable causing a bad connection and the mechanic caught it before he did all the tests so he saved us a bit of money!! THANK YOU, LORD! I called Erin real quick and told her to turn around and head back home, apologizing profusely.

Dan gave me the cell phone (church cell) just in case and I gave him Erin and Chad's number because I knew the cell number would be long distance. Sure enough I got a call from Chad that Dan was trying to get in touch with me. I gathered up my crew and carried FL to van. I kept trying the number Chad gave me to no avail while I headed to the Seminary. We got there and got the girls in the stroller and went to the phone I hoped Dan was trying to reach us from. We walked up right behind him before he saw us and as soon as he saw us I saw color come back to his face. Poor thing. He must have been so worried about us. I filled him in and handed over his lunch. I soon found out that he had been so worried about us that he had worked himself into a stomach fit. This has happened once before and now I know it is stress related. But as soon as he knew we were out of danger he felt immediately better.

I then took the girls to Target to find FL some shoes. Luckily I had some socks left over from who knows when and it wasn't quite so noticable that she didn't have shoes on. But I made the mistake of letting her get her very first pair of flip flops. I forgot that you have to learn to walk in flip flops. They were cause of quite a bit of frustration for both FL and myself!

But we ventured on! On to the Museum. At this point I thought we were in the clear! We played and had a fun time at the museum for about 45 mins. We were finishing up in the downstairs play area with the water play. They have these nifty aprons that keep the kids dry. Well, I look over at Olivia and she is pouring water and because of how she is pouring it 95% is running down her arm right through the arm hole. Right as I notice this and get up to go inspect the damage Elise gives me that deer caught in the headlights look. I know what it means but Do NOT want to admit to myself. Sure enough...She had an accident. This is so very rare for her. She has had a total of maybe 6 accidents. But it happened none the less. I take off her apron and send her to the stroller. She doesn't move though. She is paralyzed. I carry her to the stroller while Olivia pours about 3 more gallons of water down her arms and legs. By the time I get to her she has a tiny dry strip of clothing in the exact same spot that Elise is wet. Hmmm...the irony just isn't funny to me yet.

At this point I congratulate myself for deciding the night before NOT to bring an extra outfit for the girls because, I mean, really, what could happen!??

At this point I wish I could say I was calm and understanding and we all laughed at the kind of day we have had so far. No, there was not one ounce of graciousness left in me! We made our way out of the museum FAST! FaithLyn was whimpering somewhere behind me trying to keep up. I wasn't too worried about her because I could here her shuffling in those stupid brand new flip flops. I wasn't going to leave her!! I promise. But I wasn't slowing down either! We made it to the car and I think I was the only one not crying well, it took Olivia a while to catch on but she got the picture when I yanked her out of the stroller and shoved her in the van. I got in the van and closed the door so that my . . .lack of control. . .couldn't be seen by everyone. I didn't spank anyone, I didn't touch anyone but I wasn't speaking quietly. FaithLyn is worried that we aren't going to get to have our picnic and is asking about every 5 seconds. I told everyone to sit down and be quiet until I could figure out what everyone was going to wear. So, everyone is crying again and this time I am included in that group. I strip off all the soiled and wet clothes. Thank goodness we had at least worn our pjs that morning so I put the pull-up back on Elise and put FL's pj t-shirt on Olivia. It was almost long enough to look like a dress. Elise put on her pj pants and we all got buckled in.

I pulled it together enough to realize how unreasonable I was being and I prayed and apologized to the girls and we set out for our picnic. We were going to go to Trinity Park. It's right on the Trinity river and is lots of fun. But first I have to get gas and stop for drinks. I find a gas station and fill up the van but the store part was locked up!! AT NOON ON A MONDAY??? SO we find another gas station and I run in for drinks and wait in a line while I pray that our van doesn't get stolen with my children in it! Finally we are on our way to the park. You will not believe this....THE PARK WAS CLOSED!! This huge public park was CLOSED! WHAT!?? There was one little side rode that open right parallel to the busy street that intersects with I-30. Not the most ideal place to have a picnic but at this point... I didn't even care. We pulled over and spread the girls sleeping blankets for our meal. That's when the birds came scavenging. Once I could convince the girls that the birds would not hurt us we ate our lunch and even got to read a book I had brought for this very purpose. It was even about birds. I was trying to focus on the good things no matter how small!

We finished our meal and headed over to the Gerlthouse for a fun afternoon. Well, the kids had fun. I wasn't the best company I am afraid. But Erin is always so good to listen to me and she never tells me what a dope I am! We finally leave to head back to Seminary to pick Dan up from his class and that's when I really start worrying about him. What if he fell asleep in the library, what if he didn't finish his paper, what if he got sick again.....

But he didn't. He finished his paper and got it turned in. But once I saw him and he said it was finished, I lost it. The floodgates were loosed! We ate at Chick-fil-A and made it home with out any further distrubances. But WHAT A DAY!

It is still hard for me to think about so I doubt that I will check this for errors. Just give me a little grace. I finally feel like now that I have posted this I can move on. So forgive me if I move on immediately!

Haircuts

In the intrest of having a truly worshipful experience on Sundays I have decided it is best for all concerned that the girls have their Sunday bath on Saturday nights. So I took this picture last night rather than wait for the Sunday morning crunch. Dan has to leave by 7:30 for the early service so that means we have to have breakfast ready by 7 sharp. That just doesn't leave enough time for the girls to have a bath and for me to have a bath. I think both are important. SO this is my way of keeping Sundays holy.

I also get everything ready for the morning the night before. I set the table for breakfast, get the clothes ironed, get Olivia's cup for nursery time ready, I even get the coffee ready to brew in the maker. If I am making lunch I get that ready to go and try to take as much of the prep work out of the morning time as I possibly can. Some mornings, like this morning, it works really well and I have a chance to fix all the girls hair and even come back in the house to search out my church bible with out running! But on other mornings...it's still crazy. So it goes with little ones! Hope you have had a worshipful Sunday!

Oh. My. GOODNESS. Was that the last time I posted?

Let's see...Since I last posted, we have hosted a youth fellowship at our house, I have signed up to help with VBS,(I am teaching 2nd grade A) Dan went to monday school. OH, that's why I haven't posted. OUR TRIP BACK TO FORT WORTH!....That will have to come later. It still makes me crazy just to think of it. We got our first paycheck, made our first mortgage payment, Dan had Fear Factor Fusion last Wednesday night which included large mealworms, mice, and throw-up juice (*not actual throw up), He also successfully navigated his first service project day on Friday with the youth. Today we got indoctrinated into true Iowa Park citizenry by attending ParkFest. Their local car show and cruise. Fun. If you like to look at cars...but that kind of thing is just lost on me. We did get a good ole fashioned funnel cake though! Oh, and the girls got their summer haircuts. Very cute. I will take a picture tomorrow morning after we get ready for church so that those who care to see, like the grandparents, will keep up to date on the kiddos.

Let's see, we actually have money in the bank and it didn't come from our savings account. SCORE! Dan is taking his finals Monday at Fort Worth and then he can take a good little rest from school and focus his attention more fully here in Iowa Park.

We got to have a date night last night. We went to eat and then just decided to rent some movies and go home. We were both pretty tired. But it was nice to eat out alone and come home to sweet children already in bed.

We are quite settled in to our new home. I already need to do some REAL cleaning. So we must be settled in. But no matter how much we love it here and KNOW that God lead us here, we are still dealing with the transition of a new home, town, job, and everything else. I am not complaining but I was still in this transition in FW and now have to start over from scratch. It helps that we are on staff at a church because everyone knows us, we just don't know them all very well yet. It has been a very welcoming town though. We really like the small town mentality. It is just so exhausting to try and make new friends and get to know people. I have lots of expectations for our home life and Dan has lots of expectations and goals and ideas for the youth group. The great thing is that a new start gives you a clear picture of how you want things to be and what changes you need to make the bad thing about a new start is that you get a really clear picture of how you want things to be and ALL the changes you need to make. So we are trying to remind each other that we can only make progress one step at a time. So we are taking steps in the right direction and trying to hold on to that clear vision we had when we moved here and let God refine that picture with out losing the desire and drive to keep working at it.

We are so thankful that God has kept us moving so that we are more likely to keep our focus on Him. The crazier things are the more we are forced to our knees in recognition of our need for our Savior.

New Furniture and A Cute Story

Our sweet Elise has begun to develop quite an imagination. Shortly after our most recent move we were talking about making new friends. Elise was talking about her friends from Fort Worth going to church with her and I told her we would just have to make some new friends. Well, said something in reply about making up friends. I tried to explain that we would meet new people and become friends with them but and that we couldn't just make-up new friends. Apparently she caught on to the "make-up new friends" part. Somehow I also said that Daddy needed to find some new friends because he has been friend poor for a while because of his hectic schedule. Well, now we have 4 new friends that appear at our house at various times. I have never actually met them but join us for dinner most nights. These four new friends are Daddy's friends. Their names are Chickakenny(the short one), Chickabenny(the tall one), Kokophony(the other tall one), and Bill(the other one). I am not sure where these names came from but last night Elise decided that Daddy's friends needed names. When we had this conversation a couple of weeks or days ago I had no idea that these friends we were talking about were going to be imaginary friends. But everyday Elise has something to tell or show or share with "Daddy's friends". It is nice to know that Dan doesn't have to worry about finding any friends now. He has 4 that are here whenever he needs them!

We got our new furniture yesterday. It is always fun to get new furniture. But with or without this new STUFF we would feel blessed beyond measure in our new home. We are enjoying it so much and hope that some of you will come and enjoy it too! We are hosting our first Youth Social at the house this Sunday Night. It feels good to get back to what I know how to do. I'll try to remember to take some pictures and tell you all how it goes. But for now, nap time is over....til next nap time!

Just some cute pictures

These glasses we call the "Mr. Goodattitude" glasses. I am not sure why they got that name but you have to have a good attitude when you have them on. They may come in handy later! The girls found these glasses in Dan's car(well, the car he currently drives). They are 3-D glasses. Dan looked in the rear view mirror and had to do a double take. He wasn't sure who was sitting in his back seat. I think they are very Buddy Holly on FaithLyn.
This was just too cute to pass up. Olivia woke up early from a nap and woke me up early from my nap. It has become a bad habit I hope to break soon, (Olivia waking me up that is!) but in my groggy sleepstate I went straight into the room so she wouldn't wake up Elise and gave her the "baby fish mouth". Then I grabbed her out the crib and laid her down in my bed next to me, dirty diaper and all. Let's just say I wasn't thinking clearly. But she did slumber peacefully for an hour longer! I even got up and went about my business and she still slept on!

Ok, so you may be wondering what exactly is "baby fish mouth"? Well, this is what my father did to me when I was talking back, or disobeying or just for fun or to cause me embarrasment. He would grab my face right on my cheeks and make my lips squish out like a fish mouth. You know. Anyway, we have some close friends that would always make fun of Dad for doing that and Nancy named it "The baby fish mouth". You know as a parent there are always things you say you will NEVER do to YOUR children...well, it's best to just not say that, EVER!

Home Sweet Home

I know this is silly, but this is my new fridge. I am so excited about it. It is our first fridge that we have owned. It's just special to me. Dan has a friend at church that picked up the fridge for us and brought it to the house and now he calls Dan "fancy fridge".

Ok, here is the front of our house. I can't wait to get to work in those flower beds! And I am dreaming of a rope swing hanging from that HUGE tree. This is our side/back patio. The door you see goes into the living room. I can't wait to have our first cookout!
This is the fenced in back yard. It gets some good shade and has lots of nice grass. The girls are making friends with the neighbor dogs.

This is my prayer for our life in this home: Psalm 1:3

May our family be "like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither."

A virtual tour of the new house in Rewind

Dan and I were looking through some pictures that I haven't gotten in albulms yet. (He's trying to get his office fixed up) I was so saddened by the hard truth that I don't have ANY hard copy pictures of Olivia! They are all on this computer!! What would I do if this computer crashed? I only have a few on CD. I have some work to do. I am going to start using that expensive camera that I used to use so much but became outdated with the advancement of technology. But here is the virtual tour, thanks to that advancing technology! It starts at the back of the house and goes forward. But I don't have any pics of the outside. That will come next time. Or rather later. This is the closet in the tiny room that the big girls will share when the new baby arrives. The girls are especially excited about this room. And I do mean room, it is only slightly smaller than the bedroom itself. This doubles as the playroom!

Still more pics!

The other side of the kitchen. Minus the new fridge and all the counter tops and cabinets.
The utility room. Notice the nice large closet in the back. It has lots of shelves too!
The fire place in the living room. Which, it turns out, we could have been using. It has been COLD here!! It snowed on Easter and it was in the 40's today most of the day! WHAT?
That is the corner that I am sitting at right now.
Here is the girls room or FaithLyn's room for right now.We had to rip out those shelves to make the bunk fit. BUT we moved them into the closet!!

More Pics of the new house

This is the hall bathroom or the girls bathroom. This is the front room which someday will be a more formal sitting room.
This is our front door. I like it.
These are the hall closets right inside the front door. Sorry, I get excited about closet space.
This is one view of the kitchen, with a peek into the utility room.
Look at all that counter space!

Hello to all from Iowa Park!

Here are some pics of the house when we came last weekend for the walk through. These are the before pics!This is the master b-room. Where Elise is standing is where my dresser and mirror are now.
Master Bath. THE best shower....EVER!
The sitting room connected to the master b-room. Or it will be eventually. (Not our dog!)
The hallway from the master b-room. The girls really wanted to be in the pictures.
This is the YELLOW room. right now Elise and Olivia are sharing this room. When the new baby comes it will be the two littles in here. Hopefully we will have time to repaint before then.