Coming To An End

Our Spring Break is coming to an end.  It has been really nice to not be in a routine. 

Monday the girls and I got some things done around here.  It was such a pretty day.

Tuesday we headed to Fort Worth.  Sallie had an appt with her old speech therapist for an evaluation and A and I had a consultation with the Cochlear Audiologist for Cook Children’s.  For some time since we knew our options we have felt the Lord leading us in the direction of moving forward with a cochlear.  Our appt went well and although we knew our answer before she ever said anything, it was confirmation and we both are completely at peace with this decision.  We learned a lot more about the procedure, what we will be required to do following the procedure, and about the device itself.  We left that appt and called our ENT to schedule the implantation.  It is scheduled for June 4th.  We ask for continued prayers as we decide which manufacturer to go with (yes, we have to decide between 2), as we prepare for our lives to be changed and to get busier than ever following the implant and definitely for the procedure itself.  It will be a long surgery and very different from a typical cochlear implantation.  He will have to take muscle tissue from her head to build something inside the ear to implant into.  Also because of her history of cholosteatoma he will have to make some adjustments to hopefully minimize the likelihood of the tumors coming back.  We will be making lots of trips to the Metroplex.  I may even get tired of going to the metroplex which will be a lot because we love it!  A huge thank you for the support we have had in making this decision.  It is great to have others praying as we sought the Lord’s will and for the many comforting words. 

We spent Tues nt and Wednesday in Fort Worth to give us all a little break during Spring Break.  We ate some good food, shopped a little, saw a movie, visited some, toured the new chapel on campus, and just enjoyed being away and together. 

We came home last night and have just hung out today.  A went to Dallas to take a lady in our church to the airport.  I think he is kinda tired of driving tonight!

Elleigh stayed in FW with her friend Sarah.  We will meet them tomorrow night for dinner and to pick her up. 

Back to the grind next week BUT we have a couple more days to enjoy our little break!

The girls were quite excited to spend the night away from home!Could they look any more alike!?Grandy they are as precious as you thought they would be in their dresses!The little girls thought it was really cool to sleep on a fold out couch and to be able to watch TV in bed!  I am happy it doesn’t take much to excite them!There are no words!!!  As soon as I saw this in the bathroom I knew he would put it on!They LOVE their Daddy even if he is wearing an old man robe!Outside the new chapelSallie made herself right at home inside And so did Lizzie and Millie!  I was so afraid they were going to break something!Lizzie and Millie sitting on one of the prayer benchesThey were most enthralled with the Baptismal FountainThey wanted to get way too close!A checking out the replicas of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  The actual ones are not on display yet but will be.

The auditorium is really niceMillie checking out the VIP section

These Days

One of Millie’s favorite things to do right now is to look at old pictures.  When I say favorite I mean she asks me no less than 10 times a day if we can look at old pics on the computer.   We usually just pull up the blog and randomly look at different pics and if she does not see enough of herself she asks for more pics of herself!  Honestly I really struggle with blogging lately.  I just feel like I have nothing to share or nobody cares or whatever.  So, Millie’s obsession with looking at old pics has made me realize why I blog.  Through looking at the pictures and quickly reading through some of the stories I am so thankful that I have blogged.  I look at the girls and I read the stories and I am reminded of what seems so long ago and so much that I have forgotten from those days.  The days were long.  I was homeschooling, I had 2 babies plus 2 more, A was gone or studying all the time, and there were times when I just thought I couldn’t do it another minute and I am reminded of how much has changed and I reflect on these days.  I will be completely honest, the end of 2011 and particularly the beginning of 2012 have not been a great time for me at all.  I look back at the blog and I am reminded of my days back then and I see the contrast to these days.  It is just Mill and I for most of the day, these days are very different for her because she has never been alone, adjusting to full time ministry is still difficult (I am sure I will be adjusting over and over and over), I do not have the relationships with friends I had during that time (and probably never will) and that can be very lonely, and although I have plenty to do I am not busy in the same way as I was then.  All of this to say life has changed so much in so many ways over the past years.  I know, it is life.  Life changes.  I do not mean to say that life is just terrible these days it is just simply a reflection of the stages of life and how we can look back at times that seemed so difficult and see the blessings and I am reminded that one day I will be able to look at this stage which doesn’t seem so great right now and be able to understand a little more clearly.  I may be only making sense to me!  But, looking back and the blog with my precious Millie has reminded me of the importance of recording these thoughts and being able to look back at them one day and Praise Him!  Speaking of praising Him, the timing of what we have been studying in Experiencing God is straight from HIM!  I just sat and cried this morning as I studied about the adjustments and the cost of those adjustments to follow Him.  Thank you Lord for being Lord and giving me your word! (Maybe more on that later)

Here are just a few of the pics Mill and I view regularly!  Loved these days (thankful I can say that NOW!)

Speaking of these days:

Ell is still very busy with Meat Judging.  They are doing really well and she is having a great time!  Of course she still loves to travel.  Although, I think it is begin to wear her out!

Sallie made the A/B Honor Roll this past 6 weeks for the first time ever!  I know this may not be an accomplishment for some parents or kids but we were beside ourselves with excitement!  She always has a C in Math which she takes with her Special Ed teacher and she is tough on her (as she should be).  Not only did she not have a C but she pulled it up to a high A!!!  She is doing so well in school and therapy right now!  We are all amazed!  Also, during Awana last week she got up during closing in front of the whole group and did her memory verse in sign.  If I could have bottled up that moment…  Priceless!

Lizzie had all E’s and one S on her report card this time.  She has done well all year but each six weeks some of her S’s have been replaced with E’s and this 6 weeks she had only one S left.  She has also really taken off in Awana lately.  Next week she will finish her first book and move into extra credit for the rest of the yr!

Millie wins the Award for Sweetest 4 yr old on the planet!  She has a great personality and is a little sponge right now.  Talk about memorizing scripture-she can do it!!! 

We are SO READY for Spring Break next week!  I think we all need a little break from the norm!

Gardening Girls!

On Saturday A began planting our garden.  Of course he had some Gardening Girls to help!Just the beginning of LOTS of watering!Even Gardening Girls POSE!And POSE some MORE!In case there is any concern, they are “working” where nothing is planted yet!Sallie is not as into it as Millie and Lizzie but she did make an appearance every now and then!Working hard!This looks a little dangerous!Teamwork!!!

If you can’t tell in the pics it was extremely windy and thanks to the wind the Gardening Girls fun ended sooner than they wished.  Lizzie was walking into the garage and the wind caught the door and slammed her hand in the door.  It got it good!  We debated taking her to the ER but decided to wait until Monday to see how it was.  We took her yesterday because she still will not bend the tip of her thumb (I should have pics but I have not taken any).  The Dr thought it looked really bad too.  They sent her for x-rays and the Dr seemed surprise that nothing is broken.  However, the x-ray showed a divet at the base of her thumb that the radiologist pointed out SO they said they wanted her to go back for x-rays of the other hand and if that hand did not show anything they would need to do a CT scan of the injured hand.  Both thumbs have that same divet so it is just her bone structure.  We were pleased to hear that!  We hope that soon she will be able to bend it and it is not an issue that is not showing up on x-ray.  You never know what the crazy TX wind will do!

Relay For Life

Our church has a Relay For Life Team this year. This is a first for all of us as far as actually having a team. A and I debated whether to take this on or not because it is a lot of work and as always there is a lot going on. However, we have had people very dear to us battle cancer and we feel it is important for the church to take place in these types of community events. I am the team captain and A and Ell are both on the team as well. We have 15 team members total and we are required to raise a minimum of $100 each for a total minimum of $1500. We are doing several things at church to raise money but we are also raising individually as well. I know many of you who read the blog give to your local Relay and that is great but I thought I would put it on here in case any of you would like to give to our team. You can give online at our Relay for Life page here. You can either give to our team or if you scroll down you will see individual team members. Thank you!

Valentines Day 2012!

Our Valentines Day was a little different this year.  I have a feeling it is just preparing us for the coming years…  Elleigh has been gone a lot with basketball playoffs (which is still going on) and Meat Judging (which we have a couple of months left).  Last weekend was her first competition and their team scored 3rd!  This past weekends she improved greatly and their team got 1st!  The team consists of 3 members who are returning from last year and who won 1st in the Nation and her SO lots of pressure on her as the new girl but she is working hard at it.  Of course she loves traveling, staying in hotels, and eating at good restaurants!!!  I joke that she went in and asked if they had an extra-curricular activity that provided all those and she was sold!!!  All of that to say we had to adjust our V-Day plans.  We were not able to do our traditional breakfast but we did do a nice dinner on another night.

We made these heart shaped crayons for Sallie and Lizzie’s classes at school and for Millie’s Cubbies Class at church.  This was much more work than I had imagined but I thought they turned out cute.  If I had to do it over, I would print something to attach the crayons to as opposed to cutting all those circles and writing on them.  I have intended to make this cake for A since right before he left for Africa and never did so I finally made if for our Valentine’s Dinner.  It is called Cappaccino Cake and it was SO GOOD!!!  I think this is his new favorite cake!  I decided after it was too late that the plating would have been really pretty with a strawberry or chocolate covered strawberry on the plate.  Maybe next time!This year A got the girls teacups in Africa!  They were hand painted there and I love them so much!  So special…I just realized when I looked at this pic that Ell has not been on the blog since her hair color change.  She decided several months ago to not color her hair and let it go to her natural color which is brown according to her roots but we began coloring it when it turned from blonde to light brown so not sure exactly what color it would be.  The line where the blonde was fading was looking kinda bad so our hair stylist suggested putting a temporary color on it that matched her roots so that she did not have that line while the color was growing out.  I really had a hard time letting go of the blonde.  My “little girl” is blonde, even if it did come from a bottle the last couple of years!  But, some battles just aren’t for fighting (at least not too much!).  It really is growing on me.  However, I think she got it out of her system and wants to be blonde again!  I told her she had to live with this a while longer!  We’ll see!A thought the cake was so good that he needed to lick the plate!Sallie thought Daddy had a great idea!We did not have our traditional Valentines Breakfast BUT Saturday morning the girls (minus Ell who was out of town) insisted we have heart pancakes!  They love tradition as much as us!

Snow Afternoon/Night/Morning 2012!

I am WAY behind on blogging right now!  Hopefully I will be able to do several posts before this week is over to get caught up.  If I don’t, I will have forgotten everything!  A was gone which didn’t leave much time for me to blog and since he has been home I’ve been trying to spend every minute he is home with him. 

Last Saturday night we went to bed with weather reports of maybe a little snow on Sunday but probably not for us.  By Sunday morning they were saying they were fairly certain we would get some and we did!  It was SO cold Saturday and Sunday so the ground was really cold and it really stuck.  It began Sunday afternoon around 4 and snowed until around 11 that night.  The girls had 10:00 start which is always nice.  A warm front came in right behind the snow and by lunch every bit of it was already melted.  I have never seen it melt so fast. 

All our snow pics look the same each time!  We are creatures of habit!  However, I was noticing in these how much Lizzie particularly has changed in just a few months.  She gets taller every day!  Our pediatrician says she will be the tallest of our girls and it is sure looking like it!

FULL of energy!Lizzie and Sallie like to throw snowballs at each other!  Millie, likes to throw them BUT does NOT like to be hit!

What would she do without that dump truck???”Lizzie, NO do not hit me with that!!!”  AND, Lizzie hits her!Totally out of character but she loved piling the snow in the truck!We can’t have snow without Daddy pulling them with a belt on their car!Sallie can’t miss the car fun!

Then we come in and warm up with hot chocolate!  Elleigh did not join in any of the fun this time!  She was content with getting ready for school in the warm house! 

WORKING!

I really do not have a lot to say (talking takes energy and I currently have none to spare)! I am good for about 5 days of this doing it solo stuff! When A leaves I always feel myself going into "superwoman" mode and then after about 5 days I am over it. I give up! I am NOT superwoman! I do not want to be! I want my MAN back!!! I have enough experience in this to know how it goes. The days in the middle are the hardest which is where I am now. The last days are easier because you know the end is near. I really do not mean to complain. It does make me VERY, VERY, VERY thankful for him and all he does and VERY thankful doing it solo for me is only temporary. This is WORK!

Sallie has done much better than she normally does when A is gone. She still has her moments and is much more emotional than normal. I think she just misses him so much but she has done well at school which is a HUGE change from the Nightmare of January 2011! I know lots of people were praying! Her poor teachers have probably never prayed for anything more! The prayers are working!

A is at work in Namibia and everything is going well. We will share more about his trip once he returns (after the girls and I leave him alone that is)!

We had a great Lord's day yesterday! A sent me an email which I got yesterday morning sharing what an awesome time he had preaching and worshiping with our brothers and sisters in Outapi and our day was awesome too. We are currently going through Experiencing God and the deeper I get into it the better it is. We have 4 different groups going through it and many of us are really experiencing God in new ways! I was approached yesterday morning by a woman who has really struggled to find a place of service and through our study God has spoken to her to serve in an area she is not comfortable and really does not want to but she is being obedient. Praise Him!!! For some time A has wanted to try Storying through the Bible in Sunday School. Yesterday we began in 2 classes and will try it through the month of Feb and then evaluate. Our class is one of the classes that is trying it. I think it went really well. I enjoyed it a lot at least. Yesterday our story was the Lord's Prayer and as simple as that may sound there is a lot of application there when you break it down. We'll see how it goes from here. Our DOM preached and it was NOT coincidental that the majority of his sermon was dealing with the same issues we have been learning about over the past few weeks in Experiencing God. Last night as we watched our video on this week's lesson Blackaby's intro was almost identical to our DOM's sermon introduction. On each video after Blackaby teaches they show an interview with someone who has had different experiences with God. Last night's was a man from Lynch, KY which is where Elleigh and Melba will be serving this summer AND he began the teen club which will be holding a camp the week they are there and they will be helping with that camp. He was telling the story of God providing in miraculous ways in Lynch and particularly for this teen club. I was so moved by how God is working in so many areas that I was just shaking! I just had to share! GOD IS WORKING!!! Are we watching? Will we be odedient in joining Him?

Ha! My first line was I don't have much to say! Maybe I did have something to say!!!