Family update:

My friend Wendi, just reminded me that I never gave an update as to our week last week. The funeral was nice, we got to see quite a few people that we grew up with, teachers and friends, and that was good. Gabe's grandmother came through her minor surgery nicely; however, I found out last night she needs to have another minor surgery on Monday. I don't have any other details other than that.

The children both have nice coughs, we are suspecting they caught bronchitis from the nursing home when we went to say good-bye to Andy's mom last week. I caught food poisoning Thursday from a BBQ place here in Round Rock, which has resulted in my reflux that I battled 5 years ago to making a comeback. Hopefully, it's a short one and not another endurance race again. Although, that is when I lost the most weight and I still need to lose another 15-20 pounds of Perryn baby weight, but I would like to not lose it with the strand of reflux that I have....not pretty worshiping that porcelain god each night. Gabe has bronchitis as well, and is also battling a migraine. His mom came and helped for a couple of hours yesterday so that we could get him the medicine he needed to get it under control. For that, I am thankful we live so close.

That's it for now.....please pray for Teagan and his potty training...we aren't having much success and I don't remember much about Perryn's potty training, but it seemed to be a bit easier......hmmm any suggestions?? Perryn and Teagan also have their yearly check-ups tomorrow, so we will see what's up with these coughs and how much of a difference there really is between them in weight and height....I predict its not more than an inch or two, and a couple of pounds!!! I will try to get some fun pictures up in the next day or so....Perryn has a new friend....that's all I'm saying for now...heehee

Movies we want to see this summer!

Since we are all a bit under the weather, here is what we are looking forward to seeing this summer!!

The Chronicals of Narnia: Prince Caspian


Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull


The Dark Knight


Jumper


Definitely, Maybe


Expelled

Please pray for our family

Please pray for our family this week. Yesterday, Gabe's grandmother on his stepdad's side passed away from illness and age. The funeral will be tomorrow at 2pm in the town we grew up in, which is about 30 minutes away. Gabe is one of the pallbearers.

On Thursday, his grandmother on his mom's side will be having a lump removed that they feel pretty strongly is breast cancer, BUT they do not feel it has spread to any other part of her body.

Gabe is taking these two family matters pretty hard and he really needs to be lifted up and surrounded by prayers for peace. Thank you so much.

Play friend and insight

So recently God has been convicting me through His word and through blogs of friends who are great mothers, that I am SERIOUSLY dropping the ball when it comes to raising my children. WOW, that is very hard to say. I have been finding myself searching for strategies and ways to get 'control' of my children and their behavior. In the last few days I have been convicted of several things, 1. The TV is on WAY too much at our house. 2. I spend WAY too much time in front of the computer instead of with my children. 3. We eat WAY too much in front of the TV!


With all of this, I decided it was time for a bit of change. We turned the TV off today, except to watch 30 min so that I could shower at 10am, and at lunch we watched Franklin. The great part about digital cable is that we were able to listen to music all day, with the TV on....it was great. The imagination of my children came out in spades.

I am getting some cleaning done, and I hear Perryn tell Teagan they need to go for a ride on a rocket ship. Cool, I thought. Then comes the next 30 minutes of getting ready to 'leave' on their rocket ship (that is actually our empty dinosaur sandbox). Talking to God, having him 'control' the wind to either let them 'take off' or to let them 'land'. I waved good-bye, I gave them 'phones' to call me when they reached Maw-maw and Paw-paws house. The next thing I know, they are talking to God on their phones. Sending Him messages. I stopped mopping and thanked Him for 'playing' with my children today. They especially were trying to 'direct' God with regards to the wind gusts. Oh, to be able 'to play' with God...how cool is that? Yes, we did have to talk about how God is everywhere, we weren't going to leave Him here to play alone while we ran errands, and they were really excited about that. I found myself realizing I need to foster this fun relationship that they have now with God, yes they will need to 'fear' Him, but right now they need to have fun with Him, respectfully.

So, we started BSF last week (Bible Study Fellowship), Perryn, Teagan, and I go on Wednesdays to a Bible Study. The fun part is we are all learning the same chapter at the same time. Well, we came in on Matthew 24 with the prophecies of Jesus' return...whew..what a time to get into a Bible Study. What I like about this Bible Study is it is helping me be able to talk to Perryn about God and Jesus. I don't really know how to do this and I am not sure why. Anyways, back to what we are learning... this week we studied the 3 parabels in Matt 25..the Ten Virgins, the Talents, and the Final Judgement. Everything that could happen last week did so that I could not get my lesson done until the night before, as opposed to doing it daily like I was supposed to. Today I reread my notes from lecture yesterday and it FINALLY hit me, after 20 years, it's about my personal relationship with Him!! duh.. I am to speak to Him daily, I am to include Him in all things that I do, I am to learn His word so that I am prepared for His return, I am to 'play' with Him.

How foolish and short sided I have been to NOT truly understand this until now. I have always known somewhere in my head that my relationship with Christ is all personal, but it took my children 'playing' with Him to really and truly see and understand it.I find myself with minimal head knowledge, but lacking in the deep heart knowledge. I often ask God to make things crystal clear for me or to hit me over the head with something as to not have any doubts...He hit me with a crystal clear 2x4 today!! WOW.

I now am challenging myself to show my children what it looks like to learn from God, reading the Bible daily, talking to Him more than just at meal times. To become unplugged, to read, to imagine, to spend time together as a family. Please pray for this really take root in our family. I have a tendency to really start off strong, but then get bored with what I am doing and need some change...I find it happening right now with my weight loss, I am gaining instead of losing because I am tired and bored of counting points. Please just pray that I am able to really stick to showing my children who, how, and what to do to learn to be closer to God.

Also, please pray for my sister and her husband, they have hit a rough patch today. They need strength, guidance, and peace about some things that are going on. Thanks.

cool giveaway

So I like to see what fun creative things are happening in the blog world and come across some fun things. I found this on Tip Junkies blog...it looks WAY COOL to use. All the details though are at crazymamaof6 blog...go check it out to see how you can win....no offense, but I hope I win it!!!

I've been tagged...heehee

First off, I must let everyone know that as a codependent person, I am feeling VERY loved to be tagged by THREE people at once. Woohoo....now to get my codependence back under control let me see what I can come up with as far as a memoir. So, Shannon, Kristyn, and Caroline all tagged me. I think that even though the tags look a bit different they are the same, so I will put them together. Both tags are six word memoirs, one is in a sentence (like a life's motto) and the other is a list....

When Shannon tagged me, I wasn't sure what I would put down then my mother-in-law gave us a sign to hang in our house that I ABSOLUTELY love. I look at it each day and try to figure out how to make it be the 'theme' of our lives.....

HOME is where you story begins.

As for six words that could sum up my life:

Servant

Wife

Mother

Faithful

Fun Loving

Creative

So now I must tag 5 more people...let me think....ok here it goes...I tag Rebekah S., Sarah C, Wendi H, Angel W, Bethany W, Cynthia C. For those I just tagged, please feel free to do either the motto or a personal list...I think they are both fun.

The rules are:

1. Write your own six word Memoir.

2. Post it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who tagged you.

4. Tag 5 more blogs with links (leave a comment on their blog with an invitation to play).

Happy Birthday Teagan

Wow, I can't believe I have a 4 year old AND a 2 year old!! Teagan turns 2 today! Happy birthday. We celebrated his birthday with friends and family Saturday afternoon (yes, after the t-ball game at 9:15). Enjoy our slide shows!!

T-Ball

Saturday marked Perryn's first t-ball game. She seemed to really enjoy it. She hustled to try and catch the ball each time it was hit. She got to hit the ball two times off the T, and to top all that off, she is a genuine LEFTY... right down to her pink and purple right handed glove and hitting on the right side of the plate! She was absolutely AWESOME!!!!!

At one point in the game, she came running out of the game to see if her coach could come over to our house one day!! My social little butterfly!!

Teagan's cake

The cake is done and loaded over on the cake/craft blog. Go check it out. It's ready to go for tomorrow afternoon's party!!

Silliness

So Perryn has played the 'house' game with other children, but never with Teagan...until yesterday. He was ALL about it too. He enjoyed her rocking him and singing him to sleep. Silly children. They sure bring smiles to my face.

PRAY, PRAY, PRAY....

Right now, Tricia is on her way to prep for surgery to possibly get a new pair of lungs. Please pray for her, the medical staff, and her family in this important time. Please also be praying for the donor family in their time of loss. Please keep up to date with all that is going on via their website. It could be a really long night ahead for everyone involved.

Lots of prayers please...

Please say an extra prayer today for Tricia. She has a collapsed lung which is causing some pain and is a new obstacle for her. Keep updated about what all is going on by checking their blog throughout the day. They have put in a chest tube to help the lung re-inflate. Please pray for her to get some rest and for God to provide the new pair of lungs she so desperately needs. Thanks.
Elizabeth