Friday, May 30, 2008

I'm A Lucky Girl


Twenty-seven years ago today I pledged my heart and my life to this man. We have learned a lot about life and about each other in those years. It would be a lie to say that things have always been easy...a big lie...but things have always turned out good. By the grace of God, our tears have been turned to laughter and our struggles have joined us in a bond that we would not have otherwise.

And you know what? He still makes my heart go pitter-pat!!!

We are off for a romantic weekend at the beach. See you all next week!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Fresh Face

I have been away from the computer for a little while now. I didn't exactly mean to take a blogging break...but it happened. Our internet service at home went out last Wednesday and we didn't get it up and running again until last night. I had tons of emails to wade through before I could get back to the blog.

And speaking of my blog, how do you like my new banner? A dear friend of mine, August, created it for me! (You can read her blog by clicking on her name in my sidebar.) I love it! I think it represents my 'simple', 'rural' style. I don't know what it is about the color brown that draws me in...but it does. I have collected quite the wardrobe in shades of brown over the past couple of years. At one point in my life I owned mostly red tops. Then I went through a very long black/white period. (I still have a lot of black.) Now the clothing items that seem to call to me are mostly brown. I had to force myself to buy some blouses for work in 'colors' the last time I went shopping.

I don't know why I felt the need to tell you all of that.

It does remind me of a time several years ago sitting in a women's social where a woman was speaking on the temperaments. (Choleric, Melancholy, Sanguine and Phlegmatic) I honestly had no idea which was my temperment/personality type. As the speaker was explaining the types, she made a comment to the effect that the melancholy personality would most likely wear khaki or black. All eyes turned to me as I sat there in my khaki colored t-shirt with khaki and white plaid skirt! I had to laugh at myself...as did all my friends sitting around me...there was to be no more denying my personality type after that night.

I had really hoped that one day I would grow into a 'life of the party sanguine' or a 'got it all together choleric'. I knew I could never be a peaceful phlegmatic...I could never live up to Jim's easy going self. He makes everyone he meets feel at ease. And talk about a man who extends grace...I know that is what drew my heart to him. He may have never taught a Sunday School class, but he has taught me so much about how to apply the Word of God to my life. (I wish I always appreciated it like I should instead of stomping my foot like a tempermental child.)

I, however, am Eeyore. I still tend to be too introspective. (Remember, my friends all used the word 'serious' to describe me?) I sometimes see too many mountains and want to give up on the journey. But I am also a pretty good listener who wants to encourage those who are in need of a shoulder. I was born with a desire to learn and to grow.

I am who the Good Lord made me to be. And I think August did a good job of capturing that in the new banner. Brown representing my melancholy personality. The beautiful font makes me think of a good book. The simple, yet welcoming flowers invite you in for a visit. Thank you, August. I love the new design!

Psalm 139:13-16
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Thank You For All The Prayers


I have to thank you for your prayers which carried us through yesterday. I felt buoyed in a way that is hard to explain. Everything went well. The anesthesia was not nearly as difficult as I had feared and other than the long ride home, I did not experience much pain.


Thanks again for the prayers, the sweet emails, phone calls and the beautiful flowers! You are all such a blessing!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Prom Night 2008

This has been my first prom experience from the male point of view. We have always spent prom day running from nail salon to beauty salon and then rushing home to get the make-up done before the guy showed up at the door. It never happened, by the way...the being ready before the guy showed up at the door thing, that is.

Yesterday was Brian's Junior Prom night. First of all, I have to confess that I never knew how expensive prom was for the guy. I always thought the purchase of all those dresses, shoes, jewelry and beauty treatments had to cost way more than the guy. WRONG!!

Secondly, I never realized that the guy took just as long to get ready. Oh, he didn't go to any salons or anything...but he did have to wash and polish the truck to a high shine, pick up the flowers and make a bank run before heading out the door to meet the girl.

Oh, and by the way, the girl wasn't ready on time for him either. That makes me feel a little bit better about the many times our girls left a guy sitting in the living room with their dad.

Here are a few pictures from Prom Night 2008:

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Battle Of The Davids

What a difference twenty-four hours makes! At the close of last night's American Idol, Debbie called to see how I felt about the final three. I had to admit that no one really thrilled me and that it didn't really matter to me who went home this week or who made it to the finals. My fave girl, Carly, was sent home weeks ago and my fave guy, David Cook, just wasn't bringing on the 'wow' factor for me. She pretty much agreed.

But as I watched the show tonight, I found myself rooting for David C. again. I just couldn't get over the idea that if I had to go out and buy a CD from one of these three, it would be David C. hands down. His genre of music is one that I like and his humbleness causes me to pull for him. (Don't get Jim started on the last part of that statement.)

As soon as the show ended, my cell phone started ringing. It was Debbie again confessing that she has had a change of heart and was back on the David C. band wagon. I had to laugh! We were having the same thoughts...and she is all the way in Arkansas this week. Maybe we have just watched together for so long this season that we think alike, even when we are hundreds of miles apart.

You know where I will be next Wednesday night. I will try to watch Tuesday night as well, but if I am not quite coherent enough by then, ya'll will remind Jim to record it for me, right?

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

In His Loving Care

Last Friday morning, I sat on the back deck and recorded in my prayer journal a struggle I was having with myself. I really wanted to spend time with friends of mine this weekend while Jim was scheduled to be out of town on a motorcycle trip. However, I also felt that I needed to be around for the kids...especially Brian, who has prom on Saturday night. I was feeling overwhelmed by the thought of doing it all and I hadn't even made plans yet!

I recorded the following words as I cried out to the Lord:
Father, You know that I desire to see...friends...Yet, I feel like I am overloading myself if I schedule...Help me to be sensitive to Your leading. You are the only one that knows what next week will really be like for me.

I had no idea how those words would come back to impact me today. You see, Jim is no longer going on the motorcycle ride because I have developed a medical condition that has not only impacted the plans I wanted to make for the weekend but also caused me to cancel plans I had for dinner with friends last night.

I will undergo a day surgery procedure next Tuesday morning. I have been freaking out a little bit since I found out yesterday. I have never undergone anesthesia before. Actually, I have only been in the hospital six times in my whole life -- pneumonia when I was in elementary school and the birth of our five children.

Right now I am trying to remember that not only has the Lord gone before me this week as He influenced me not to make those plans for the weekend...but He has gone before me into next week as well. He knows the plans He has for me...and I want to hold tightly to that truth.

As if He had not been gracious enough to begin preparing me last Friday for this week's trials...today, He gave me this in my devotional:
The way to peace and victory is to accept every circumstance and every trial as being straight from the hand of our loving Father...and to look...on our circumstances as being lovingly and divinely appointed. (From Streams in the Desert)

May you feel His loving touch this week. And if you think of me, please pray that I would experience His peace between now and next Tuesday.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

To The Moms In My Life


Mother - Thank you for giving me life and for allowing me to keep it, especially through those awkward and rebellious teenage years. May you enjoy this year's gift even more than the year you recieved the hamster that Rosa and I wanted!



Memaw - Thank you for the unconditional love that you have shown me over the past 26 years. I loved being the first girl in your family! If only I could live up to your example of being a mother-in-love!



Donna - Thanks for being my friend and for loving us like we were your own. You are the best 'wicked stepmother' in all the land!



Rosa - I am in awe of how you do everything that you do...and yet, you continue to be there for your girls. When it comes to being a mother, "Girl, You Rock!!!" (I don't think you sleep, but YOU ROCK!)



Meagan and Kelli - You two amaze me! You have both taken to your new role as 'mommy' so naturally and easily. Savor every moment of it because, even though you can't see it now, they will be grown before you know it. Just look at the two of you, you were both in diapers just last month!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

What Will They Think Of Next?

I admit, I have been out of the baby game for quite some time. 13 years to be exact.

Compared to my mother's child raising years, I had it pretty easy. The disposable diapers had reached a dependable level and the baby formula had started coming in powder form - which made travel easier. By the time Will joined the family, we even had the benefit of the audio baby monitor so that I could hear him over the noise of the other four.

My girls have it even better, enjoying the technology of:
*baby swings that you don't have to wind up (boy were they loud)
*car seats that double as baby carriers and attach to strollers (it looked like we were moving every time we set off for the grocery store)
*video monitors (especially nice with a newborn who you constantly check to see if they are breathing)
&
*portable play yards that are half the size of the old ones

But early this morning, around 3 AM, I discovered something that really made me think "what next?" BABYTV. That's right. While flipping through the DirectTV channels to find something that would keep me awake while Brooke took her bottle, we found BABYTV. They play classical music while bright pictures flash across the screen. I guess there really is money to be made in the land of infants.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Flight Of The Love Bug

It is that time of year in Texas. Love bug season is in full bloom. We can't sit on the back deck during the daytime because they cover our beige patio chairs (not even citronella helps). And don't even think of wasting your time or hard earned money on a car wash because you can't drive more than 5 minutes before the grill is covered in them again. Now I find out from Wikipedia that "Its character as a public nuisance is due not to its bite or sting (as it is not capable of either), but to its apparently highly acidic body chemistry...If left for more than an hour or two, the remains become dried and extremely difficult to remove, and their acidity pits and etches automotive paint and chrome." Great! There is NO way that I can keep them off my car! What's a girl on the Texas Gulf Coast to do at this time of year, walk? It was up to 90 degrees here today!
Luckily, we are also being visited by a much friendlier love bug this evening. No, not Herbie the Volkswagen Beetle from the 60's movie...but by our lovely granddaughter, Brooke. She is sitting up in the middle of my bed, 'talking my ears off' as I type. We have been snapping pictures all night...but here is her favorite. (She told me so when I was showing her on the view finder.)


This one, on the other hand, is my favorite. She is wearing her camo onesie with its lace and bows and Pappaw's camo ball cap. Yep, we start 'em young around here!

Happy Friday night, ya'll.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

A Timely Word

I received a comment from a friend on the blog today. I hadn't heard from her since last October and have been concerned about her. I rushed over to her blog to see if she had written and I found a very insightful and moving post. I am too familiar with the wilderness right now myself. Go here to read it. It blessed my heart, I hope it does the same for yours.

(In case you are wondering, Kadesh Barnea is where the Israelites spent 38 of their 40 years wandering in the desert before entering the Promised Land. You can read about it in the book of Exodus.)

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Boys And Their Toys

Here are my boys on their new toys. When Jim was a boy, his favorite thing to do was to ride the woods trails on his dirt bike. He is now introducing our boys to the thrill of dirt bikes. Jim and Brian picked their bikes up last Thursday. Will got his on Sunday. They are having a blast. They can hardly wait to get them up to the deer lease.

Note to Grandparents: Don't worry, they will have on plenty of protective gear!








Tuesday, May 6, 2008

How Many Of Me

HowManyOfMe.com
LogoThere are
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

Although there are 4,560 people with my first name (99.9% being female) and 27,361 people with my last name, there are 0 people in the USA with my first and last name. Does this mean that I do not exist?

Monday, May 5, 2008

"When You Have Nothing To Say, Say Nothing."

At least that is what quotedb.com is quoting Charles Caleb Colton as saying. Maybe it is good advice to follow. I have had nothing to say over the last week, so I have said nothing at all. I still have nothing to say; yet here I am, lest you all begin to think I have disappeared.

Last week was a little busy around here. I spent Monday at the hospital with Casy and Debbie. It was a sobering day as we met with the surgeon for the first time. It looks like Casy's first surgery will be the middle of July and it will be very intense. The good news is that they expect to get all of the tumors in the two surgeries.

Tuesday was catch up day at work and Wednesday night the girls and I went to dinner and saw 'Baby Mama'. (A predictable ending, but it was funny none the less.) I especially enjoyed Romany Malco's portrayal of the doorman 'Oscar'. He was a delight to watch.

On Thursday Jim picked up two dirt bikes for him and the boys. I spent the evening watching Brian learn to ride his. My how things change with boys! We will soon have a dirt bike path worn around the edges of the property.

Friday I spent the day in a Sales and Tax Use seminar. Lots of information...which had my brain numb by the end of the day. It was a horrendous drive home -- 45 minutes from 610 to Barker Cypress. (And that doesn't even get me half the way home.) My saving grace was that it was a beautiful afternoon so I was able to put the top down and turn up the music for the parking lot traffic on 290.

Saturday afternoon Casy and Debbie came in from the hospital. His five day treatment was with a different chemo combination and went 'okay'. More nausea this time, but still the side effects have been minimal for him. That evening we roasted hot dogs over a fire in the back.

Sunday we had friends over for lunch to celebrate 'cuatro de Mayo' since we had to work on Cinco de Mayo. Jim finally found Will a dirt bike and picked it up as well.

Today it has poured down rain. Inches and inches. The back of the property is flooded. I cannot even see the ground. We needed it though. I don't think it has rained since I planted the azaleas early last month.

Now you know as much as I do! I guess I will get off of here and get on with the laundry. Jim and I were not able to get out for work this morning. It started really pouring after the boys got on the bus and just stopped about 30 minutes ago. It looks like I will be playing catch up at work again this week!