UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Yep, I have the bug.

Time to change up the blog.

So let me apologize now for the mismatched header and background. And for the changing fonts, colors, and layouts. Crazily placed and sized pictures.

You may find something new every time you visit for the next several days.

And that header....well, I probably won't have time to update it for a least a day or two. Or three.

So please pardon the mess. My blog WILL be open during construction, so feel free to come on over. And thanks for bearing with me. Hopefully things will settle down by the end of next week!

Kloe

Look at this sweet girl. Isn't she beautiful?

And not just on the outside. She has such a sweet, gentle, tender heart.

She loves babies and baby dolls (still) and stuffed animals. And real animals.



I told you she's saving money to dig a water well in Africa, right?



$5,000 is her goal. Quite a lofty goal for a little girl....and I'm so proud of her for dreaming big and going after her goal with determination and confidence. She's saving coke cans. She even contributed some of her own allowance money to the fund. She's told her friends at school about it and they give her their coke cans from lunch (really, I didn't know elementary kids brought cokes in their lunches).

My sweet, tender-hearted baby girl has had such a hard week.

First of all, last Saturday - about 30 minutes before her basketball game - her finger got slammed in the car door. She had to sit out the entire game with an ice bag on her hand. Just today she could finally bend it all the way for the first time.



You can't tell it from the picture, but if you look at her finger from the side, the nail is actually raised up higher than the rest of her finger. Yep, pretty sure that nail's coming off.

And then today my heart absolutely broke for her when her sweet little, long-awaited, birthday-gift friend left us after only six short months.



As I sat holding her in the rocking chair while she cried, her sweet brother began bringing her gifts.....prizes he had won at school this week for math challenges and good behavior. He didn't know what to say....didn't know what to do....just handed them to me and pointed to his sister. Sweet boy.



What sweet, wonderful, amazing, tender-hearted children God has given us.

I am more blessed than I could ever have imagined, and grateful beyond measure.

It is so hard when they are hurting....either physically or emotionally. So hard. I want so much to be able to protect them from hurt, and yet I know it's a part of life in this world that they will have to walk through. I just feel so ill-equipped to help them and teach them and support them and guide them through it.

So today I have to choose to trust in this....

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:6-7

And this....

"If any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

Random Musings of a Novice Blogger

1. Does anyone besides me have to fight the urge to start every new post with the word "So"? So, Kloe got a necklace from a boy for Valentine's Day. So, our car broke down. So, Jacob turned seven today. So, I'm breathing.


2. So, I find myself going through my days with a constant stream of blog-talk narrating everything I do, turning every event of the day - from grocery shopping to dusting to homework - into a potential blog post. Is this normal?


3. In addition to the ongoing narration in my head, I also have become a blog-photo stalker. Any time I get out the camera, my kids start saying, "Are you going to put this on your blog? Noooooooo!" I find myself posing pictures in ways that will look flattering (either for the photo subject or for my house) instead of taking candids like I used to.


4. So, I have a stack of unfinished posts in my drafts folder. It makes me sad because most of them are things I really wanted to post about, but now they seem out of date and irrelevant. I read somewhere that "catch up" posts are lame. So, yeah, guess my drafts folder has just become my unfinished blog post graveyard. :( Although there's one that may just show up here at some point, because it has cool pictures. And my family wants to see them. Yes, they do. Be prepared.


5. Blog envy. I'm guilty. Hate it. Probably need to read this book.


6. I usually stay up waaaaay too late working on posts. Mostly because 1) the only time I have to post is after the kids are in bed and, 2) it still takes me a really long time to write and edit a post....especially if pictures are involved. Probably related to #5. *sigh*


7. So, when a recipe calls for "1 medium onion, chopped", does anyone actually use the whole onion? That's a whole lotta onion, sister. I have to say I am very happy I learned about pre-chopped onions from Starr at Lost in Laundry. It's likely I will never chop another onion again.

So, I warned you. Random.

Five for Friday

1. Kloe entered the science fair at school a couple of weeks ago, and she won 2nd place in her grade! Isn't that awesome? We were so excited for her!
   
   
   Her project was on filtering water. We sponsor a little girl in Lesotho, South Africa, through World Vision, so last fall (summer?) we had a family night about Africa. We talked about the fact that many people in Africa don't have clean water, and how they often have to walk miles every day to collect the (dirty) water that they do have.
   
   
   
   Kloe's heart was moved beyond belief. She has since started saving money in a jar to send to Water for Life, and collects soda cans from everywhere she can think of in order to raise more money. Anyway, that's a post for another day....
   
   Back to the science fair. She came up with the experiment all on her own. She chose three different materials to filter the water with: cotton balls, a towel, and computer paper. We mixed dirt into the water, then poured it through each of the filters.
   
   
   Turns out the computer paper actually removed the most dirt from the water....go figure!
   
   Kloe was so excited about her discovery and insisted that we could solve the water crisis in Africa simply by sending them boxes and boxes of paper and teaching them how to use it as a filter. :) She was heartbroken when I explained that it's not only the dirt that often causes sickness, but the bacteria....which can't be removed by paper. I felt so sad for her. She wants so very much to help those who are in need. And I'm so proud of her for using all of her efforts to figure out a way to do so.


2. I just love Valentine's Day. It is my absolute favorite holiday....even more than Christmas. I know, it's un-American, but true. There's no hustle, no bustle, no fretting over 47 people you feel like you're supposed to buy presents for even though you have no idea what to get them and they don't really need anything anyway (oh, did I just type that out loud?). I love the slow, quiet pace of Valentine's Day, and doing lots of fun things with just our family.
   
   
   
   This year we had pink, heart-shaped, chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast....
   
   
   [they look kinda orange in this picture, but really they were pink :) ]
   
   ....and we had Shirley Temples with our lunch.
   
   
   Then we took a nap. :)
   
   Just before dinner we had a scavenger hunt for the kids to find their heart-shaped boxes of chocolates. Then we had a candlelight dinner along with sparkling grape juice in pink (plastic) champagne flutes. Such a fun day! How did your family celebrate?


3. Kloe is playing Upward basketball this year for the first time. She absolutely loves it and is really learning a lot. I just learned about Upward this year, and I have been so impressed with it. The whole focus of the league is to encourage kids, to build character, to promote Christ-likeness, sportsmanship, and self-esteem. They have a 10-minute break in the middle of every practice for team devotions, and the girls have memory verses every week. They get stars to iron on their uniforms when they memorize the verses. And at each game, every girl gets a star for things like Great Offense, Great Shooting, Christ-likeness, Teamwork, etc. It has really been a great experience.


4. The arrival of the Olympics every other year just makes me all sorts of happy.
   I cannot begin to tell you how much I love the Olympics. Summer and winter. I am so very happy that they split them up. Four years is just too long to wait in between.
   
   For two weeks there is nothing else on our television (except for PBS, of course), I stay up way too late every night, and our poor kids hear way too often, "Watch this! This only happens once every four years. You'll be in middle school the next time the winter Olympics come around. Shh! I want to hear this!"
   
   Wanna guess what my favorite winter Olympic sport is?
   
   Apolo Ohno. Nuff said.


5. My hopes for Sea World seem to be growing dimmer by the day.
   
   *sigh*
   
   Wonder what Midland has to offer this time of year.

Wild Olive Tees - Hope for Haiti

Hey friends, just wanted to pop in real quick and let you know about this fabulous website I found. If you already know about it, act surprised anyway, k?

It's called Wild Olive Tees, and they have the greatest t-shirts evah. I LOVE them. Check them out for yourself here. They are cute and have awesome scriptures on the back AND they have kids sizes AND the best part is that they give 10% of all their profit to Christian charities.

(click the word "back" below each of the t-shirt pictures below to see the back of the shirt on their website - remember, they all have scriptures on the back)

I love this one:

{back}

And this one:
(it says "transform your mind" - isn't her hair adorable?)

{back}

And these:

(love unfailing)

{back}

(beauty from ashes)

{back}

But this one is my absolute favorite (not so much the color, but the verse):

{back}

It says "Redeemed", and the scripture on the back is Isaiah 44:22, "I have swept away your sins like the morning mists. I have scattered your offenses like the clouds. Oh, return to Me, for I have paid the price to set you free."

Isn't it beautiful?

So here's the main point of this post. Wild Olive has just launched this new t-shirt called HOPE:

The scripture below the word "Hope" is Matthew 12:21 "and His name will be the Hope of all the world." 100% of the proceeds from the sale of this shirt will go to help victims of the earthquake in Haiti. 100%

You can order a Hope t-shirt for yourself....AND you can send a second shirt to a person in Haiti who is in need of some hope.

I hope you'll head over to their site and check out the Hope for Haiti shirt and all their shirts....love them!

He went to Jared

What 13 letter phrase means "Are you kidding me? What do you mean a BOY asked my 4th grade daughter to be his Valentine and bought her a "diamond" heart necklace with matching earrings, along with a Webkinz, a Dr. Pepper, and a Hershey bar with a custom-made wrapper?!!"

He. Went. To. Jared.



Ok, maybe Walmart.

But still.

HUH?

4th. grade. y'all.

This is where you can picture me with my eyes squeezed shut and my fingers in my ears going "la la la la la la la la - I can't hear you! I'mnotreadyforthis.I'mnotreadyforthis." That was me on the inside.

On the outside I smiled really big and gave her a big hug and said, "WOW! That's so exciting!"

And then we had a talk about what exactly this means, and what exactly is ok and what is not, and what exactly.....what exactly.....what exactly am I supposed to do with this???

I. So. Am. Not. Ready. For. This.

Any suggestions? Come on, bloggy friends, don't fail me now. I need your help.

The Diagnosis is in....

....and it's NOT the computer, thank the Lord! Turns out we actually had a leaky battery (can you believe it?), and the leaking battery acid had eaten through some wires. Crazy. Still pretty costly to fix, but not anywhere near what it would have been had it been the computer. And to top it off, when we picked up the car the bill was actually even less than what the mechanic had quoted us. We are so thankful for God's grace toward us.

So, no new car. Which is good. And sad. But good. We returned the taxi-car today and we were all sad to see it go. Kloe, true to form, had a positive outlook. As we were getting into our old car after returning the rental she said, "Whew! I'm so glad I can open my own door again and don't have to crawl over the seat anymore!" :)

Thank you all so much for your sweet words and prayers. God is good all the time, but as humans aren't we always so thankful when His plan allows us to bypass the really tough trials?

She's Been a Good Friend (Thankful Thursday)

So.....our car died last Wednesday night. Dead. Kaput. Finito. Doornail.

The Mister was out of town, the kids and I were driving home from church, it was 9:00 at night, and it was sleeting. And the car just....died. No sputtering. No chugging. We weren't even stopped at a light or anything. We were driving down the road at about 50 mph and it just shut off. The windshield wipers stopped mid-swipe, the power steering went out, the electric door locks wouldn't work. The headlights did stay on, but dimmed. And the flashers worked. Thankfully we were able to coast into a parking lot and out of the path of traffic.

So.

Umm, now what? Well, we called my cousin to come rescue us, and then we started making a list of all the things we were thankful for:

#1 - THANK GOD FOR CELL PHONES!! Jacob asked, "What would we do if we didn't have a cell phone?" That thought made me shudder. Is anyone out there old enough (like me) to remember the days before cell phones? What would we do? We would get out and walk. In the dark. In the freezing rain. There was a Walmart around the corner, but yeah, very thankful for our cell phone.

#2 - We were thankful we all had our coats on! It's not uncommon for Jacob to run out the door without his. He'll often say to me, "But Mom, I'll only be outside from the house to the car and from the car to _______ (the school building, or the church building, or whatever). I'll run." Even in just the 15 minutes or so it took for my cousin to get there, it got really cold in that car.

#3 - We were thankful we live in town and not in the country yet, like we want to someday. It could have been a much longer time before my cousin was able to get there.

#4 - I'm thankful we were able to coast far enough to get out of traffic.

And the best one of all....

#5 - Kloe's answer....."I'm thankful we don't have to go through this alone, because God is with us." Awesome answer, baby girl. And you are absolutely right.

So.

The Mister has checked out everything he can think of on the car. His conclusion? He thinks it's the computer. Great. You know what that means don't you? New car. We can't afford a new car. We can't even afford a new used car. Ugh.

We've had our car for almost 13 years. It's only the 2nd car I've ever owned. I got my first car when I was a sophomore in college (nope, no car for me when I turned 16) and drove it for 7 years until it literally blew up. Not the whole car, but the engine. The car we have now has been a really good car. Just a couple of major repairs in 13 years. I think that's a pretty good record.

So here's the question: how much do you spend to repair a 13-year-old car versus just getting a new one? We really can't squeeze a monthly car payment into our budget right now. We haven't had a car payment in forever. Like 8 years. And it would take a lot of repairs to equal all those years of no payments.

I'm having visions of my precious Sea World vacation flying out the window.

So.

Meanwhile, we are driving this cute little banana rental:


Actually, it's more like the color of mustard. Easy to find in a parking lot. :) The kids love it. It is cute and fun and zippy. BUT, it's a 2-door, so you have to lean the seats forward to get into and out of the very tiny back seat. It gets old quick. I love driving a not-13-years-old car. And I love the keyless entry. They didn't really have those 13 years ago when we bought my car. :)

So. Anyway. We finally got our car towed to the repair shop and we're waiting to hear from them what the damages are. And that's where we stand for now. I'll keep you posted.

To be continued....

Five for Friday

1. I woke up at 7:40 this morning....and the rest of my family was still asleep. I immediately had visions of Home Alone with the mom and dad sitting straight up in bed yelling, "WE SLEPT IN!!" We flew around the house trying to get everyone ready for school on time. Kloe did great and was ready (WITH her bed made and breakfast eaten) in 15 minutes. She has no more excuses for dragging around the house taking an hour to get ready in the mornings. Jacob....well, I had to dress him while he slept standing up....and brush his teeth in the same manner....but he made it. Thankfully, Dad took them to school. I usually help in Jacob's classroom on Friday mornings, but today I am staying at home in these....
   
   Yes, they have holes in both toes, but they are comfy and warm and cozy and that's a post for another day. Anyway, this will give me a chance to catch up on my homework before Bible study at 1:00.


2. I made chicken fried rice for dinner last night. Yummy, gourmet :), made-from-scratch fried rice. Y'all. I fried bacon then removed it to a paper towel to drain. I sauteed (sauteed, y'all!) cubed chicken with diced onions and celery, and then removed it from the skillet and kept it warm. I scrambled some eggs, then added all the ingredients back to the pan and mixed well with some yummy teriyaki sauce (I like it better than soy sauce). And Jacob took one bite and asked, "Can I have ketchup?" Y'ALL! (For those of you who aren't from Texas, "y'all" is a multi-functional Texan word that, in this case, is a substitute for "People!" Sometimes being from Texas comes in really handy when you are shocked and at a loss for words.) Seriously. Ketchup? On my gourmet fried rice? Come on. We all know I'm not a great cook, but really?


3. Loved this scene that I found in Kloe's bedroom the other day. She has said for a long time that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up (among 7 other things). Looks like she's off to a good start teaching her Webkinz about the joys of obedience.
   
   




4. Also love this....



Both of my kids love to read and are very good readers, and I am so glad.

And this....one day I walked into my bedroom and found Jacob reading the Bible, with two other versions spread out in front of him. Yes, he really was looking up the same verse in different versions. :)



5. Two things I thought were really interesting and wanted to share with you from the Philip Yancey book I'm reading.
   
   1) Writing about when Moses came down from the mountain after speaking with God and receiving the Ten Commandments...."After that, the holiest moment in Moses' life, he descended from the cloud to find a scene that made him retch. He had been meeting with God on the sacred mountian, getting the stone tablets inscribed by God's own hand. When he came down, his face shining like a lantern, he found them cavorting around a golden calf, an Egyptian idol." I didn't know that, did you? I didn't know that the calf was an Egyptian idol. That's why they were saying, "This is your god, who brought you out of Egypt." Not only were they worshipping an idol, they were worshipping an idol of the very land of bondage that God had just delivered them from! Oh, Jesus, how I pray that I would have open eyes and the wisdom to stay away from the things You have freed me from! It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Gal. 5:1
   
   2) And I loved this...."The scene of Jesus' transfigutaion contains a fact often overlooked by Christians, but poignant for any Jew. At that moment of tender mercy, Moses finally realized his life dream. He stood on a mountaintop smack in the middle of the Promised Land. Indeed, God remembers the dusty ones, the meekest and the greatest."

Happy Friday, y'all!

Happy Groundhog Day. And other stuff.

So I heard that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning.

Six more weeks of winter.

Bummer.

Although it has been kinda fun to have some snow around here for a change.

Six more weeks. Six more weeks until spring. And....six more weeks until Spring Break!

And we finally have some exciting plans for Spring Break! We are soooo excited (ok, I'm soooo excited) and can't wait! I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas. We aren't telling the kids yet. The Mister thinks 6 weeks is too long for them to have to wait. Awwwww, come on. They wait a whole year for Christmas!

Are you ready for this? Yeah, you're not going to think this is nearly as exciting as I do. We're not going anywhere grand like Disney World or Paris or anything.

BUT, considering the fact that we have NEVER gone on a "real" vacation with our kids....nothing longer than just a regular weekend trip where we drive all day Friday, do stuff Saturday, then drive home Sunday.....except when we go to my brother's every year for the 4th of July. But that doesn't really count.

Ok, back to the trip. We're going to (drum roll please)....

Sea World in San Antonio!

I know, I know. "Seriously?" you're thinking. "That's it?" you're thinking.

Well, remember, we've never taken our kids on a real vacation. We're going for 4 days and..... I LOVE SAN ANTONIO!

Love it, love it, LOVE it.

Ahhhh, the River Walk, the Alamo, the river tours, Brackenridge Park, the Wildlife Ranch, the awesome zoo....I can't wait! And not to mention Sea World.

Did I ever tell you that since I was 10 years old I've wanted to be a whale trainer? Yep. When I was 10 my family moved to Orlando, Florida, for a short time and I had my first real-life encounter with Shamu. It was love at first splash. I got to meet his trainer and ask him (the trainer, not Shamu) all sorts of questions about how one goes about becoming a whale trainer.

I planned on getting a college degree in marine biology....until I found out the only program in the state of Texas at that time was at Texas A&M, and I just couldn't bring myself to become an Aggie (deepest apologies to any of you who are Aggies...my aversion has subsided since then. somewhat.) So, long story short, you will notice that I am now a CPA who lives very far from the ocean.

sigh.

When the Mister and I had been married about 3 years we took a trip to San Antonio one summer. Sea World actually has programs now where you can sign up (and pay an arm and a leg) to go to the park before it opens and interact with certain animals. There is a Dolphin Encounter, a Sea Lion Encounter, and a Beluga Whale Encounter. Wanna guess which one I did? :) It was AWESOME, fabulous, a dream come true. I love, love, loved it! I'll have to see if I can dig up some pictures to show you.

And so...blah blah blah. Sorry about that gigantic rabbit trail. No wonder my friend Tammi won't read my blog.

I'm so excited! I'll be counting down the remaining 6 weeks of winter with an extra dose of anticipation this year. I really want to make one of those paper chains to hang on the fireplace mantle and cut off one link every day.

But guess I probably should wait until we tell the kids.

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Overhead from the backseat of my car yesterday:

Jacob: Where are we going?
Kloe: Mom needs to go talk to Mrs. L.
Jacob: Who is Mrs. L.?
Kloe: She's the Assistant Principal.
Jacob: Mrs. L. is the Assitant PrinciBAL?
Kloe: Prin-ci-PAL.
Jacob: That's what I said, Prin-ci-BAL.
Kloe: No, it's Prin-ci-PAL, with a "P-L-E".
Jacob: Sissy, I don't do "P-L-E".