Crazy!!

That is the best word to describe the last 10 days!!
Last Thursday was the kids parent teacher conference. It went really well. Hannah is doing awesome! Nathaniel is reading at a 3rd grade level and making all A's. Friday they were off from school, so we played here all day. That afternoon we went into Norman to spend the rest of Nathaniel's birthday money. He found his beloved HO scale BNSF engine at a new hobby shop there. It is run by 2 vietnam vets. They are really nice. He got a free ball hat and all from that. Saturday Chris was off. His parents had decided not to come, so we went to the State fair for the day. It was fun!! We saw Clydesdale horses, a llama show, spaghetti cake, dogs catching frisbees, and rode the space needle and the octopus. After doing all of that, we went to our Tim Hawkins show. He was hilarious. We got his new cd and then headed home. Sunday we went to church and then our friend Jenn had her first book written and was having a party for it. We went and spent the rest of the day there. It was so good to see them.
Monday the kids had their annual checkup. All went well until word came that they needed their Hep A shot, thanks to Oklahoma law and Nathaniel was up for his first tetnus. Since that was unexpected and it took so much longer than we thought, we took them out to eat at Cici's. They spent the rest of the day out of school, since we didnt get out of norman until pushing 2pm and they get out of school at 2:30ish. I had planned to do way more than nothing all day. So I wanted to start Tuesday off right. I spent the morning in the parking lot of Woodland hills reading my bible and just spending time with God. I didn't want to get distracted by all the work. then I got back and began to get started when some Jehovah witnesses came by. They were nice and considering I had read all morning, I let them in and just visited with them. They had a little book they left, which I went through, but by doing that, Satan took over me mentally. I struggled with what do I believe and why. Some of their stuff had valid points that I had never asked myself. I just believe it because that is what I have always heard was right. Along with that, Chris was having a hard day with people and so by the end of the day I was beat up. I went to bed feeling defeated. I was scheduled to sub Wednesday for 4th and 5th grade special ed kids. I was so worried about it, due to the day before. They were great!! And Chris got a visit from the district manager and said he was the best in the district at what he did. the rest of the day, other zone managers from zone 1 were there taking pictures and all, telling Chris that Collard had said that if they didn't have their zones looking like his by the end of the week, it was their jobs. He then proceeded to tell Chris that he thought he should be promoted and grilled Joe, Chris' boss, as to why he hadn't promoted Chris sooner. Chris has to choose between Sales manager and Administration manager. The decision has to be made by tomorrow. He is nervous, because he has to do something or Collard will be disappointed at his lack of attempt to acknowledge his wanting to be promoted. Sales takes him to district-wide control of pricing and sales. Administration leads him down the path to getting his own store, or working in human resources, which is what he really wants to do. He wants to make the right decision, so...
With that all falling Wednesday, along with church that evening, it voided the horrible day before. I was also able to book my flight to Oregon for the 17th of October and I am so thrilled about that!!!! Thursday I was able to get some things done around the house and visit with Heidi about my upcoming trip. I also baked a lot of apple goodies for the kids Johnny appleseed day. Homemade apple butter and apple bread and carmel apple crisp.
Friday I visited with my grandma, who fell a few weeks ago, and volunteered to work the kids book fair. We went to town that afternoon to get some bulbs for my front porch area.
Yesterday we worked in the yard with the flower garden and the kids just got to be kids and played all day. We got ice cream to finish the day off!! It was great. Today we went to church and then went to a Wildlife expo in Oklahoma city and got to ride in a kayak. Nathaniel went in one on his own and LOVED it. Hannah rode with her daddy. We also got to fish in their pond, and Nathaniel was the grand champion in the Buffalo chip throwing contest. Yes, he threw buffalo poop into a basket and was the best at it!! He won a little board game about identifying the states. It was a fun day. We came home to play in the yard and get ready for bed. I am on here because it has been way too long and I have another busy week ahead.
Tomorrow I really need to get caught up with laundry and do some dusting. The kids have their annual dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon and then we are headed into town to help our friends Clay and Jenn move into their new house. Tuesday I need to finish the flowers in the yard and Wednesay is church and I am volunteering again in the book fair. Thursday is free and Friday Chris has off, so we are going to paint his shed and go to the Bridge Creek home football game.
Anyways, just thought I would catch everyone up with what was going down here. hope it finds all well and enjoying the fall weather.
I need to think about heading to bed. Love to you all and praying that you all see God in all things!! Thanks for your prayers and for keeping up with us. Feel free to comment whenever you want. It is encouraging when there are notes in my email that you are in touch with us all.:-)
Till next time!!

A few new pictures and a story. The first one is the one I wanted to post last time.

Then, the rest are from our "Mole hunt". We were out watering our trees and plants and Ben went nuts on a mound in our yard. He dug for over an hour. Chris said he was pretty sure it was a mole. Quite entertained by himself, we had a hard time distracting him. Even water didn't work, so that was a shock! (If you know Ben at all, you know his biggest motivation is the thought of getting shot with a hose!)

Rest of our week so far has been starting a new bible study with the ladies I have been a part of. A study by Beth Moore called "Stepping up". Hannah spiked a fever that night and so she was home yesterday with me. Am hoping she is better. Not sure what it was. She went up to 101.9, which is underarm, so add a degree. YIKES!! It was normal by yesterday morning, but I kept her home to rest.

Parent teacher conferences are tonight at 7 and then we are going to just do nothing all Friday!! Saturday is our Tim Hawkins concert that we bought tickets to a few months ago. We are excited about that. And then we are planning on going to the state fair together on Sunday afternoon. Noel and Lorna might be here this weekend, but I haven't heard for sure. They got a lot of rain and damage last weekend with hurricane Ike.

Thats about it. Hope this finds you all well and praising God for all his many blessings!!

birthday weekend!

This past weekend, what do I say?...

Well, considering we had no idea what we were doing, which is super abnormal for me, we were assured of one thing. That was Mom and Dad coming down. We went to the homecoming football game friday night, which was a lot of fun. Bridge Creek won 13-6. Mom and Dad arrived about 30 mins after we got home, so the kids were still up!! Everyone crashed for the night and then the following morning we got up and did a scavenger hunt for his gifts. He got new bike tires, a remote control Charger, 2 lego ships, and a huge blow up millenium falcon. (Thanks Tim and Heidi! He loves it!! see attached picts)

Hannah wanted to make him some cinnamon rolls for his birthday and thanks to my sister Karen, I had just the right recipe. She worked really hard at decorating too! After opening all his gifts and building his lego things, we decided to take a trip into town to purchase some HO scale stuff with the money that Grandma and Papa were giving him. He came home with a tank car, a hopper, a BNSF caboose, a goat boxcar and a red flat car. We then called Sarah Crosswhite, because David really wanted to see Nathaniel on his birthday, since we had invited them. They didn't end up having a crosscountry meet, so we met them in Edmond to do something. Ended up raining so we went to Quail springs mall and wandered around. It had cosmic golf, so we all played that. Nathaniel said it was a great birthday because lots of people he really loved were there.

Sunday after church we stayed here and Nathaniel and Papa built the cars he had bought and then played with all his goodies. We played some games too and just hung out. It was a good weekend!

Today I subbed for Mrs. Kelly, which was a LONG day!! I was grateful to be able to go home and enjoy my kiddos. They have a short week this week as parent teacher conferences are thursday night and friday they are off. Chris and I are off tomorrow so we are going to get some major grocery shopping done as well as set in stone a budget. Wahoo!! Hope everyone is doing well and managing to adjust to the fall like temps!!! I am loving it!!

Enjoy the picts!

A good one I wanted to post won't load up, so be looking for it next time. It is Nathaniel choosing to sleep in the falcon the last 2 nights. He looks so sweet!

Strange coincidence

I was surprized today with a strange coincidence. I was subbing this afternoon for a 3rd grade teacher and saw a woman at the homecoming pep assembly that seemed familiar. In thinking about it, I knew she was a mother of a little girl I had taught when I co-taught 3yr olds at Antioch. Mrs. Sparks. Her daughter, Emily, was the most notorious 3 year old. On open house, she ran away from Ms. Linda and I and was consistently testing our patience. I remember one time her parents offered her a kitten if she was good for an entire week. She was and got the kitten.
Anyways, I went up to her and asked if her name was Ms. Sparks. She recognized me immediately and said, "Emily still carries a picture of you and her in her wallet. She is in 7th grade now." I was shocked. She turned 13 today. That means it was 10 years ago that I made an impression on a little girl who is now becoming a woman. After the assembly, she approached me(Emily) and with an awkward and shy smile, she gave me a hug. I was so touched. We visited for a while and then I had to go back with the 3rd graders. After school, I introduced her to my kids and them to her. It was such a neat experience. Just another reminder that God always sees the future and that somehow 10 years ago, I made enough of an impression in loving Emily the way she was that she has carried a picture of me in her wallet all these years. Wow!! Wow!!
Overwhelmed is an understatement for how I feel. But knowing that I was able to help her grow up in some way and that I will be able to reconnect with her is cool. And, she still has the kitten. Her name is crackers and she has a thing for cats. imagine that!
Mom and Dad are headed this way for Nathaniel's birthday tomorrow. Chris and I are repairing his bike and Hannah is replacing his remote control car. I made him a root beer cake today and I have no idea what tomorrow holds. His friend joey's mom was in a car accident Tuesday night and they are struggling with all of that plus their other commitments. He probably wont' be able to come over. I guess we will figure it all out tomorrow!!
We are headed to Bridge Creek's homecoming football game tonight. We went to their parade last night, as Hannah was in the parade. It was fun. Looking forward to staying for the whole game this time! We play the wildcats, so I will have to be careful not to accidently say, "go wildcats," even though it is in the blood. :-)
Will write again soon!!

Change of plans

Just a note. We won't be having the baptism this sunday. Nathaniel went to church with us and said it wasn't the right time, so we will wait. And we got phone calls from all his party invites and none of them can come either, so we are trying to quickly come up with another alternative for the weekend. Probably still go to homecoming. Bless his heart, at least my mom and dad are planning on coming.
I am trying to get a bunch of stuff done here today so that I won't have to worry about it tomorrow or wednesday. thursday and friday I will need to think about getting groceries and presents, since we are waiting on payday to do all of that.
Just wanted to post a short addendum about the baptism being on hold. Anyone is welcome to come to the birthday activities, whatever those will be, and we will keep you posted on the upcoming baptism.
Till later, all our love!!

another week is over.

It is Saturday morning and another week of the kids school is over. We are becoming more acclimated to the school. I didn't end up subbing at all this week. The one day I was scheduled, Nathaniel's asthma flared. Most of the week was spent in doing laundry, dishes, shopping for groceries and mowing the yard. Chris was off yesterday and we set up the cheap patio table we got and cleared up the sidewalk. Our minister from church was coming over to visit with Nathaniel about the questions he was having about getting baptized. He has been asking for about a year now. It was so neat to hear him talk about when he asked Jesus in his heart. I think I posted about that the night it happened. He remembered it in clear detail and described it as "being face to face, nose to nose with Jesus". Bruce asked him if he still felt that way, and Nathaniel replied, "no, but it is because those guys forgot about it". Then Bruce pulled out a dollar bill. He told Nathaniel to put it in his pocket. He asked Nathaniel if he could feel the dollar in his pocket, and Nathaniel said no. Bruce asked him how he knew it was there, and Nathaniel said, "because I put it in there". Bruce said, that is exactly the way it is with Jesus. When we put him in our heart, even when we don't feel him, He is there because He promised to never leave.
It was a great time. Bruce said the first thing he wanted Nathaniel to do was to come to big church and experience that and when it comes to invitation time, if he feels God asking him to come down to get baptized, to do that, because confessing in front of others is something God asks us to do and it inspires others to think about their relationship with God. When he feels God asking him to do that, then we can plan when to have him baptized. He said that because it is a representation of what we are doing with our lives with Christ, it is very important. We are tenatively planning on the baptism being sunday the 14th, so if you can make it, that would be awesome!!
It was nice to have Bruce and Mike in our home. They are so great and it gives me a sure peace about our church home and our involvment there and this being our home. I miss St. Joe and Rodney, but I also realize it is different up there now, so it was good timing that God set us here.
Lets see, also this week, we all went to the Bridge Creek home football game. Since Nathaniel had been home, he only went for the first half. Chris stayed for the rest of the game. The superintendent said there were over 500 people at the game. Can you imagine a crowd like that at Northern Heights?? That is about the same size of school. They beat Blanchard 9-7. Chris was so excited. Next Friday is their homecoming. It is also the tenative slumber party for mr. Nathaniel's 8th birthday!! I hope it all turns out for him.
Well, today we are planning on making a bunch of birthday and anniversary cards, since Sept. is full of them and just playing in the yard. Chris opens so tonight I think we are just going to hang out here and play some board games and read. Tomorrow he works an overnighter and the kids and I have an AWANA meeting at 5. Then I sub next tuesday and wednesday. So I am sure I will post before then. Until then, sending all my thoughts and love!!

A great weekend!!

With a busy week last week of substitute teaching, I was ready for somthing different. We left Blanchard around 4pm and headed north to go to Mary's first. About an hour into it, we ran into some heavy rain in Kingfisher. That town floods somethin terrible. Within just a few minutes, people were freaking out about the water on the road. Only one point of it concerned me. That held us up just a little while. We made it Mary's around 10-10:30. and the kids were excited to see both Mary and Jon. So excited we didnt get them back to bed until pushing midnight. Next morning we got up and played pretty much all day at Mary's. Cars, Barbies, store, and a whole bunch of board games. It was fun!! Sunday morning, before heading to Dodge, she took us by the hospital she is interning at. It was really nice just to veg at her house, especially after the crazy week we had been through. I feel bad, though that she didn't get to show us all the places she hangs out at, and stuff. Or the thought occured to me that with Jon working alot, she is probably at home a bunch and might have wanted to get out. But I know we all had a good time just enjoying her home.
We headed to Dodge and made it to her church in time for morning service. We actually arrived about 20 minutes early and found Karen's name in the bulletin like 3 times, so we made it a game. After church, they had a potluck dinner, which was good. Then we decided to head to Garden city to see their FREE zoo. It was, as far as I am concerned, better that the Oklahoma City zoo, which you pay $8 a piece to get into. We hung out there and enjoyed the animals. Then headed back to Dodge where we made tacos for supper. We then watched muppets in space and everyone got to bed around 10.
Monday we hung out at her house too, playing board games and making a homemade pizza. We also got to help her water her garden, full of yummy looking veggies. We headed back, feeling more rested than when we left, which, for a weekend trip is good!! We got home in time to go straight to bed. It was an awesome time!!
On a side note, while we were gone, the conservation agency came out and radared our hill, and found 138 active lizards and 12 live nests. They said for that species of lizard, we had a Massive colony and that if it was ok with us, they would carefully extract the nests out and put them on protected property. We could keep some since this was their natural environment, and would set us up with a permit to have them. So, effective when they call, they will be digging into our shale hill to save the lizards. Crazy, huh?
Well, i need to get off here. With the wild week last week, i never made it to the grocery store, and with hurricane gustav's leftovers hitting us tonight and tomorrow, I want to make sure we have things to eat in case we get stranded by the flash flood waters. They are still predicting that we might get 5-7 inches a day. No one is for sure of the projected path yet, I saw this morning that it is parked over where Noel and Lorna live, so that should be interesting to hear about how they brave it. Will post again when I get a chance!! Love to all!