I'm back!!

An Old timey school bus @ the Biltmore House, NC. Our 5th grade
field trip to the Biltmore House in Dec.

Four cousins hanging out at Kid's Planet on Thanksgiving Day.

Yes, that's our youth at Family Fun Day at Christian Heritage

Church Nov. 1. Brittany, Taylor & Samantha.

Megan making to the top on the rock wall on Family Fun Day.

Just another day in Taylor's life (yes, it's a wig!)

Well, it's FINALLLY Christmas break so I can catch back up on my blog. It has been a crazy last 2 months...busy one too. I'm just going to post some pictures from the past few weeks and blog more later today. Enjoy...

Coach of the Year??

OK, I've been stewing about this all weekend and still do not know what to do. Let me give you some back ground before I let you know what I was told on Friday evening. Taylor; my oldest, has alway lived for softball. In our District 5 Softbal leagues she was always the one who was drafted first, looked up to by the younger girls, and made the All Star Team every year she tried out. She ate, slept and lived softball. In the 8th and 9th grade she played on the high school team, then last year she decided she would try something different and go out for the drama team. This meant she wouldn't be able to do conditioning for softball during the fall 2 days a week (which is not a requirement for trying out/playing on the team...so the coach says). Taylor's drama teacher told her she would work around her softball schedule and even schedule the play when there wouldn't be a game!! Taylor had even called the coach and talked to her about this decision and she told her she couldn't do both and needed to make a decision, she couldn't have it both ways....even though there was a girl who was allowed to run on the track tream AND play on the softball team. Taylor was so dishearted that she didn't even go out for the team. During the summer while playing on her summer team she rememebred how much she missed it and made the decision she would go back out for the Byrnes HS team. Well, conditioning started and Taylor decided that since she was working out with me at Curves she would continue to do that and get some math tutoring afterschool instead of going to conditioning. Then after a few weeks she went to the coach, who is also her homeroom teacher, about starting to come to conditioning. OK...I know it's been a long read and I appreciate you reading this far. This brings us up to last Friday. Taylor comes home and tells me about her talk with coach and she told me she went to talk to her about conditioning and the coach's reply was..."Well Taylor, you didn't play on the team last year and barely made the team the year before maybe you just shouldn't come out this year." And this person has been named Coach of the Year in our state? This person has just put a sword through my daughter's heart!! I told her if that was me it would just be more incentive for me to work my butt off and come out and throw it in her face that I could do it! Of course, she is not me and she is defeated and probably won't play for Byrnes her Jr. or Sr. year. I told Taylor I would go talk to her and the Athletic Dir., but she won't have any of it. OK, I've vented and feel a LITTLE better. What is a parent to do when your baby is just crushed like that???

A Letter to Myself in 1984

Fairview Park High School
Fairview Park, Ohio

Dear Me in 1984,
First of all, Honey, we need to talk about the eye make-up. If God intended you to have electric blue eyelashes, He would've made you Smurfette.

Second of all, you're not fat. Look in the mirror and memorize what 115 pounds looks like, because you will never, NEVER see it again. The little babies you will someday house in that flat belly of yours will stretch it out to inhuman porportions. And you know what? You will think it's beautiful.

You seem to be awfully preoccupied with the wrong kind of boy. Right now, the ability to block a 40-yard touchdown pass seems like a very important trait in the opposite gender. It's not. But I also know that, deep in your heart, you're wondering if there's more out there than jocks in letter jackets. You're wondering if you'll ever find someone to understand that deep part of your soul you haven't shown to anyone in your little hometown. You'll find him. He'll knock your socks off. He'll challenge you until your head spins, all while loving you just the way you are--and you will never be the same. (Trust me when I tell you you're getting a much better deal.)

You don't understand yet what a treasure your family is. You love them, and you depend on them, but you haven't yet learned how much of the world lives without the kind of support and love that surrounds you. Thank them for the sacrifices they make for you, and spend a little more time listening to them. And you know that little brother who bugs you endlessly? Someday he won't be there to bug you. Go easy on him.

You're spending a lot of time wondering if this faith of your parents is worth claiming as your own. That's okay. Don't be afraid to ask the hard questions. If God is who He says He is, He can withstand the doubts of a teenage girl. Know that the day will come when He'll be more real to you than anything you've ever known. Until that day comes, stop agonizing over your inability to truly believe. He's working in your heart, and He'll accomplish His work--in His timing.

One last thing. Your life isn't going to work out quite the way you think it will, as you sit there scribbling away in your 12th-grade English Lit. notebook, dreaming big dreams. You have very grand hopes of changing the world, and the good news is that you will accomplish this--though not in the way you're dreaming right now. You'll change the sheets of a little girl who has gotten sick in the night, and you'll make sure she feels safe and warm in a way no one else can. You'll stroke the face of your daughter after she has a bad dream and cover her with prayer. You'll share your faith with a second-grade boy in your Sunday School class and watch the light of understanding flip on in his eyes. You'll sit at the kitchen table with a girl whose confidence has been shattered, and you'll build her back up. You'll love a man more completely than you can imagine, and with him you'll build a home where it's easy to laugh and safe to speak your mind. Yes, a tiny corner of the world will be forever changed by what you do more surely than anything you could do in your big city dreams.
And it will take your breath away.

Love, You in 2008

Going to the Dark Side

Well, I knew it would happen one of these days...but already?? Sunday night I had to go and pick up some reading glasses. For someone who has always had near perfect eyesight, it's been kind of difficult to accept the fact that I needed the glasses or grow longer arms!!

Please Pray

Please keep our family in your prayers this week. Thank you.....

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. - Matthew 7:7-8

[God says], do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you;I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. - Isaiah 41:10

Wanna Laugh??

Whenever I'm in a bad or sad mood the girls know exactly what needs to be done. They sit me down on the couch, turn o the tv and pop in one of our favorite movies. We watch this movie quite often...not because I'm in a bad mood that often, we just LOVE it. Here is one of my favorite parts....take a look and have a laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjFCmJCzF1A

What I've Learned

Megan at 2 yrs. old

In my spare time (yeah right) this week I was looking through some of the girls early scrapbooks (volumes 1-3 out of 60 some) and it reminded me of a few things I've learned through the last 16 years.

I’ve learned that permanent markers are, sadly, quite permanent.
I’ve learned that you should never underestimate the wide variety of mischief that can be inspired by a ceiling fan. (I originaly learned this when my sister;Tiffany, and I were sent to our room afternoon!! LOL)
I’ve learned that the likelihood that our daughter will ask you how babies are made is directly proportionate to the likelihood that I'd be sitting at a resturant surrounded by many of Eddie's friends.
I’ve learned that hearing your toddler sing "Old MacDonald" over the baby monitor is decidedly more charming at 9 pm than at 2 am.
I’ve learned that sometimes ketchup may be the only vegetable we manage to squeeze in on a particular day, and it’s not the end of the world.
I’ve learned that I am, remarkably, able to simultaneously detangle a child’s hair, conduct a spelling quiz, check e-mail, and phone the plumber, yet I cannot remember my own age. I went a whole year thinking I was a year older than I was!!
I’ve learned that if you sigh and tell a little girl that yes, the groceries need to come in, but I’m afraid they might be a little too heavy for you is one very efficient way to get your groceries brought in, pronto.
I’ve learned that watching your child get off a school bus with her shoulder sagging can rip out your very heart. And that watching her get off the bus carrying an aced spelling test may bring you more joy than you thought was possible from a simple piece of paper.
Most of all, I’ve learned that this parenting journey is a marathon, not a sprint, and that I’m not alone in sometimes feeling overwhelmed and out-matched. So we circle the wagons, we parents, and we lend each other a hand when it’s been One Of Those Days. We share what works, and what doesn’t, and we remind each other that there’s always carpet shampoo and fortunately one of our best friend owns his own carpet cleaning company!!
I look forward to circling the wagons with you my friends. I suspect we have much we can learn from each other. I know there's many new lessons to come in the very near future.

Super Size Me Lord!!

So, we serve a SUPER GOD or what? I think, at least I do, that yes, God is super and that he has very BIG plans for each and every single one of us! So, why do we choose to not answear his calling? Why do we as christians refuse to be the christians we say we are in church and yet go behind each others backs and talk about every one. I've notice people in the church who will look down or think bad of a very wealthy person in the church... why is this? Is it because we don't have such thing and we expect them to give more because of the way they are blessed? WHAT? Key word is blessed! The people in the church who are blessed are blessed by GOD because they follow and obey. They're not talking about other christians! They are also blessed because they know how to ask in their prayer life! Did you know that the Jewish people are some of the most blessed and wealthy people on the earh? This is true? Why do you think this is? Well, their faith is based on thinking BIG and asking GOD their FATHER for BIG blessings. Are we not that way as kids with our own dads? We always wanted that cell phone, that bike, new car? Then why do we not ask GOD for big things? Are we afraid that he will not answear our prayers? Guess what? God knows what your thinking and what you'er going to ask before you even do... so, whats keeping you from speaking to him and asking him for BIG blessings? God wants to supersize you in every single way... so, go ahead and ASK BIG! God will provide according to your faith. Remember when McDonalds used to supersize your meals? (lol as if the Big Mac wasn't big enough...you had to get it supersize! Well, God wants the same thing for you. He's asking, " Child of mine, do you want me to supersize your life?" and what are we going to say? We really need to say YES GOD... SUPERSIZE ME!

I CAN do all things

Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.The road to success is not straight. There is a curve called Failure, a loop called Confusion, speed bumps called Friends, red lights called Enemies, caution lights called Family.You will have flats called Jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination, an engine called Perseverance, insurance called Faith, a driver called Jesus, you will make it to a place called Success.
Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it falls due.Don't worry be happy. may your life be full of peace ,and prosperity.
Now go and have a bless day :)

VBS...A Success!!

Outrigger Island at Christian Heritage this year was a huge success! It was a lot of work ahead of time, but so worth it and after the first night everything went great. We had quite a few little ones who gave their life to the Lord...Praise God! I just want to say I have such an awesome family that put forth such effort, time and energy. Lisa did an bang up job with the music program and playing Ginger in the plays, Robert, Chris, and Michael kudoos on the general assembly, Donna...way to go on the crafts...as usual and Staci, way to go with the snacks, yum yum!! Taylor, way to handle those K4 & K5ers...especially Daniel. I wouldn't have been able to have pulled this off without the above mentioned or the other volunteers! I'm glad it's over and that it's my LAST year directing!! THANKS EVERYONE!!

Family

It was a VERY hectic day at church today and when we got home all I wanted to do was kick back and relax after lunch...do nothing for the rest of the day. We had made ify plans to go to my niece's house for fireworks. Not sure on time to get there and the warnings of thunderstorms coming in put me more in a mood of just staying home, Well, 8pm came and I said, "OK girls let's go." It was one of those times when you really didn't want to go, but you knew you really needed to go. We got there and more family and friends were there and we had a BLAST!! The guys had brought a ton of fireworks they had at the stand and it took a good 1 1/2 hrs. to set it all off. The only thing missing was Eddie...who has been stuck in Ariz. for almost a week now. Hopefully he'll get a load out tomorrow...we miss him!! But, back to our evening in Holly Springs. The girls had an awesome time and it was good for us to be around friends and family. Thanks Staci and Michael for having us all over!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Who are you NOT TO BE??

" We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,talanted and fabulous? Actually, Who are you NOT TO BE? You are a child of the living GOD. Your playing small doesn't serve the Lord! There is nothing spiritual about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the GLORY of the MOST HIGH in whose image we were made! Every single one of us! And as we let our light shine, we unconciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

- Nelson Mandela

Happy 4th

We hope you all had a blessed 4th. Remember to thank a soldier and God for the freedom you experience each an every day!!

Baby Borrowers

LOVE this! Did you get to see this show tonight? This group of teenagers who believe they are ready for "adulthood" and pop those babies out. I haven't laughed so hard in awhile! If we had ALL teenagers go through this I know the teenage pregnancy rate would fall instantly. If you didn't get the chance to watch it is a Must see! Taylor isn't home tonight to watch, but she will definatley watch it next week. Megan is watching it though and getting a lot out of it.

It amazes me how some of these kids act, believing they deserve to have everything handed to them. It's the real world out there kids! Taylor comes home and tells me how many girls are walking around the school pregnat and it's like a status symbol. I just don't get it!! Can anyone out there explain it to me?

summer fun of 2008

Taylor at Catcher??

See...Bus drivers have fun too!

you NEVER know WHERE you'll find Taylor and Sam! Freedom Weekend Aloft

awwww...they do love me! The Heat sleepover.

These 4 have been together in scouts since Daisys...6 yrs. now!

just a few fun pics of the fun we'e having this summer..enjoy, we are!!

I'm BACKKKKKK....

Okay, it's been 11 months, but I am back now. We actually went 10 months without the internet here at the house. We had gotten to the point where we spent more face time with monitors than we did with each other. I also called the cable company who we had been with for 17 yrs. and when I asked for the same price they were giving "new subscribers" and they refused I told them to cut everything off...cable, phone and internet. It worked ok for me because I was able to check my mail @ school mon.-fri. and if needed we ran to the library with our laptops. Well, summer is here, gas is high and it's too hot to be heading out all the time so today the cable man came and hooked everything back up. Now I will have the time to BLOG again!! So, keep an eye out for more blogs.....it's good to be back.