Sorry about the delay!

Well, I had every intention of getting back on here, but as you can see, my dear Hannah went down sick. She was running a fever, feeling exhausted and had wierd bumps on her forehead. I took her into the doctor and they said she had a severe case of strep throat. Strep throat and scarlet fever are related and she was already showing signs of the scarlet rash. They put her on some heavy dose pencillin and told her to rest. She was contagious until she had been on the medicine for 24-48 hours. So, needless to say, I stayed home with her. It was a small blessing in some ways because I was really behind on chores around the house. So, while she slept and watched PBS kids, I got some laundry done and some serious bleaching done. A bunch of my homegrown daffodils had bloomed, so I took her some to cheer her up. She really appreciated them.

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Here are pictures from our spring break trip. We decided Saturday that we were going, and loaded up our bags. We headed to Mom and Dad's sunday after church for a pit stop on our way to St. Joe. They were working on the cafe roof, so it was fun to go up there and have a meal. We also stopped by the cemetary where my grandparents are buried. It had been 2 years since I had been by there. We met a very hungry white cat who got the leftover of our cold sonic fries. She was really grateful. Monday we headed to St. Joe, as Brett and Amy were expecting us to come and stay at least one day. I wasn't sure what we had planned for the week except that Chris wanted us back early. We went by their apartment to see if anyone was home and Brett and the kiddos were there. Abram was so excited to see us. We all visited and played and caught up. It was really nice. Amy was at work, so when she got home and Brett headed off to work, it was visiting all over again. The kids were so excited about being together again, that we didn't get them calmed down and in bed until 10:30. Abram kept saying, "We will sleep tomorrow". And "Remember when you lived where those people stole your house.". It was so wonderful to see them again. Tuesday we woke up and Amy had made us eggs, biscuits and bacon. We spent the morning playing until recess at Coleman. Abram didn't want us to leave. He started crying, so we left all our stuff there and promised we would be back.

At recess, you would have thought the kids were the president of the united states. The 1st graders were out first and when rumor got around that Nathan was here, wow, he got flocked. You can tell in the picture that he was surrounded. He went in with them to see Ms. Milbourn, who was estatic to see him too. He stayed for math lesson while Hannah and I went to see Mrs. Kingery and her friends. They all remembered her too. They had her picture up on their Classmates wall. She was a little out of her element when we went to recess. Everyone swarmed her too. They were glad everyone remembered them, but were ready to go after all the people asking questions and such. It was great. We got 3 happy meals and then headed back to Brett and Amy's to see how Abram was doing. We had said we would head back to Mom and Dad's that night, as Mom was planning a lunch with Grandma, Lorrie, Aunt Joy and Leah the next day. I really wanted to stay longer, but we promised we would be back with a longer stay. It was hard for Abram to understand. it was like us moving all over again. Broke my heart!!

We headed to Mom and Dad's about 3;30 and got back in time to wash laundry and have showers and get to bed at a decent time. The next day, Joy, Leah, Lorrie, Rowdy, and Grandma got there for lunch. It was great to see them all. It had been since August of last year. Rowdy wasn't on the move then. He sure was there. What a sweetie!! Lorrie had a dentist appointment and Rowdy was ready to go see Grandpa, so they all left after a couple hours of visiting. Grandma stayed as Karen and Mary were due to arrive later that evening. We had originally planned to go home that evening but decided to stay so we could see them. It wasn't like we would have seen Chris that night anyways, so we headed out Thursday am.

Meanwhile, that afternoon we played games with Great-grandma and when Karen and Mary arrived, we played some more. We got home in time to wake up Chris and hang out with him most of the day. The neighbor kids were ready and waiting to play with Nathaniel and Hannah. They came over and played most of Friday too, which was ok. It was nice and the kids really enjoyed having company in their own rooms.

Then was the surprize that I posted about earlier and Easter sunday. We went to Great-grandma and Grandpas for lunch. Brent and Sarah were able to make it, so the kids were glad to be together again!! Hannah was glad to be with Great-grandpa too. When we got there, she gave great-grandma some flowers she had picked out for her and then went straight to looking for "Papa". When she found him, she crawled right up in his lap. I think he gets ticked at her liking ot be near him. We headed home right along with everyone else around 3 so that Chris could sleep and we could get ready for heading back to school. I think that catches me up, minus posting some pictures from a while back. Maybe next time I am on.

Some general updates: Chris is not going to Mustang. Instead they are moving him back to days to be in charge of Zone 1, which is inside and outside garden. Reason being they need someone with experience to help with the "100 days". He said that after doing this, he has been in charge of every zone in the entire store in 6 months. He is looking forward to days and gaining the knowledge and experience to forward his career.

Another update, we have been checking into how much it would take and what the odds are of buying a house out near where Chris grew up and it looks like doors are swinging really open at the possiblity. A lady in that area sent us a post of a house that is right down the street from Bridge Creek, and is near hwy 9, which would give Chris close access to work. It is a 3bed, 2 bath house and is all electric; which would save us over $200 a month right now alone. We will know more, but it looks like it might be a go and a go for the beginning of summer. WE aren't for sure, but we are praying Gods will be done. Ok, now that I have written a novel, I hope you all have a great weekend. My actual birthday is tomorrow. We are planning on going to the Omniplex and maybe the memorial. The kids baked me a really nice cake tonight and will decorate it in the morning while I "sleep in". I am looking forward to hanging out with them!!

I will post picts of that all when I get to it next week. Until then, God bless and keep Him first!!

Where do I start?

Wow! It has been a little over a week, but I feel like this post will be one of the longest ever. :-)

I guess the first thing to say is Happy Spring! I am so glad it is here. The weather overall is really nice and the flowers are blooming. I had a happy surprize one morning. Chris had brought home these beautiful daffodils, my favorite just so say " I love you!" and then I walked outside to take the kids to school and to my surprise, God had decided to allow one of my hyacnths to survive the racoon feast last year and it was blooming out of the side of a stack of pots. It was a fun day to be surprized by the 2 biggest loves of my life.

Speaking of surprizes, my family came down this past weekend to surprize me for my 30th birthday. They forked my yard, decorated my car and hung up a bunch of balloons and signs. The kids and I were upstairs cleaning up a mess made when a bunch of neighbor kids came over. Chris had decided to get me a hammock for my birthday, so he said he was going to go to the garage to start working on it. Unknown to me, he was actually letting my family in the garage so they could get to my car. When I heard the doorbell, I thought Chris would answer it since he was in the garage. When I went to answer it, there were my two sisters wearing birthday hats and my parents with confetti. They said they were kidnapping me and taking me out to lunch. We went to Teds, where Josh and Misty and Dacia were. it was a nice lunch and little birthday party. I even got to wear the awesome sombrero and be sung to "Teds" style, which was loud and inbetween the "happy birthday to you"s they yelled, "Look at Angel". Karen and Mary thought it was awesome.

After celebrating with the Williams family and mine, we decided to go to the park and play tennis and on the playground. it was a lot of fun. We came back home and they had brought brownie bites and had put candles in 30 of them. We had another little birthday moment. They made me this really neat book with memories in it and pictures. It was really great.

Thanks to Tim for reminding me of the squirrel incident! I had totally forgotten about that, but it was pretty funny!! Thanks to everyone who sent my sister something. It was a very special reminder that I am not forgotten and that people do care.

I know over my lifetime I have always had that question run through my mind, "If I died, would anyone really care." That book helped me with the answer to that question, along with Misty and everyone being there for the party.

Well, as I hate to cut this short, I have to get ready for work, so I will post the rest of this crazy week tonight after the kids go to bed. Until then, enjoy the picts.

SPRING BREAK!!!

This is our first official Spring Break!! Boy are the kids and I excited about a week off to just be together!! In Missouri, Spring break consisted of good friday and easter monday. Here in oklahoma, it is an entire week!!
we spent our first official day split up. that wasn't a bad thing, though. Chris and Nathaniel went to Tulsa with Clay and Max to do a guys day out/Dad's and sons thing. Hannah and I hung out here and then headed out late morning to Great-grandma Crosswhites. She was going to be home alone today and we hadn't seen her since Christmas, so Hannah loaded up some puzzles, books, crayons, and horses and we took lunch up to her. It was a fun day! We played and visited and just spent good time with her. We came home to find Chris super sick, so I took the kids out so Chris could sleep and we got some supper and went to Walmart and Target to price leapsters, which is like a learning gameboy. they have been asking for something to do on road trips, like a nintendo ds. We looked at them, but for the price of one ds, we could get 2 leapsters, plus, the nintendo doesn't really have any learning games. If you know me very well, you know I hate game systems and am not fond of my kids wasting their time on them, but we do have a gamecube. they just have time limits here. Anyways, I didn't want them getting something that would melt their brains, but something that would challenge them instead. They were really interested in the leapsters, as it seems that they can use these until they are 4th or 5th graders. math, reading, and even science. Nathan got a game that will teach him about the different forms of matter (liquid, gas and solid). he was excited because we had been talking about God and how he is like water. He is water, ice and steam. So he is really game to try out this new thing. We are getting these thanks to Chris' annual bonus, that he actually got this year. Last year he got ripped. He is hoping to fix up the laptop, as it has some issues.
Lets see, what else. I am on here as I am up making sure Chris is ok and finishing up some laundry as the kids and I head out to Mom and Dad's tomorrow. We are going to spend the night with them and then head to St. Joe to see Brett, Amy, Abram and Sophie; as well as hit Coleman for recess time. We are going to spend the night with Brett and Amy and then see who else we might be able to catch up with before heading back to Mom and Dad's to see Grandma.
We would like to be back here by the middle of the week, so we can spend some time with Chris and there is some stuff here i would really like to get caught up on before school is back up.

Speakng of school, our March party was so much fun. Michele made special brownies for everyone and we all sang and ate those. I had made, with the help of TJ, a photo book for Laci. She really liked it, so I was so glad we had made it. Since most of the kids don't color and some of them don't speak, TJ and I took pictures of all the kids and then we wrote on each page, "happy birthday" from whoever the kid was. She really liked it, so we were thrilled! hard to believe that when we get back it will almost be april. seems so wrong. I am excited, though. The end of march is my birthday and i will be the big 3-0. I think the family and I are just going to hang out here. The following weekend we are headed to Dallas to stay in a hotel and go to the Nascar race. I think that will be fun. Nathaniel is so pumped and we are going to go to the zoo or somethiing the day before. That will be so much fun, that i am treating that like it is a b-day gift. never really hung out in dallas before. Chris is really excited because they have Chipolte there, so that is one lunch stop:-)
Well, I need to get to the dryer. it just stopped, so I need to check to see if everything is dry so I can finish putting stuff in the suitcase. hope everyone enjoys the first week of spring, and i will do my best to post pictures when we get back from our trip!!
Till then, all our love!!

whew!!

Hello all!! Thought I should get on and catch up. Let's see. Friday the 29th, I started feeling cruddy. We had made previous plans to go and see Brent and his family that weekend so I "Mommed" it up and went up there. The kids had a blast and it was a good time. I will have to post picts the next chance I get. We spent the entire day up there. We came home and all Saturday night I ran a fever and was up going to the bathroom. Of course, this is according to Chris, because I don't remember any of it. I slept all Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. By Wednesday, I knew I had to get to feeling better, because Suzanne at work was going on vacation and i needed to be at work Thursday to cover for her. i wasn't totally feeling great on Wednesday, but I went in anyways, and there was T.J, with a huge hug. "Oh, Ms. Angel. I am so glad you are back. I really missed you!" that made my whole day worth it. Of course, Thursday and friday i was working with cody and he was awful! I wanted to go home and cry because he was so difficult!! This week I work with Isaac, so i am looking forward to that. he is one of the new ones and I have yet to work with either of them!
and, this week is our March birthday parties. laci, cody and i all have march b-days, so we are going to celebrate before spring break.
which, speaking of, we still don't have a plan. Chris interviewed with Mustang's human resource manager and will know the results of that this week. we are anxious to see what that will mean. if he is in mustang that week, he will be busy and will be working days!!! so we could do whatever. If he will still be at nights that week, then we will have to be gone most of the days or be totally quiet here so he can sleep. that is what poses a little more difficulty.
Oh well.
Today we went to Clay and Jenn Atchley's oldest boy's birthday party. that was a lot of fun!! it was an imagination birthday party, so all the kids got to come dressed up as whatever! We haven't really seen them since December, which is terrible of us! The kids were glad to see each other. Eli was Hannah's tag along, chasing her around and playing catch with her. he is such a sweetie at 2.
Thats about it. I hope you all are doing well.
oh, yeah, and one more bit for the week. We found out that my brother and his wife are going to have a little girl in late July/early August. Hannah is happy. We got to counting that my grandma will have 3 great grandboys and 3 great grandgirls and 1 unknown as of the end of the year. How fun!!!
Well, got to go. Have some paperwork to finish for work tomorrow before heading to bed. And I need to head there soon since I lost an hour last night. silly time change.!!
Sending all our love and hope to see all of you soon!!
till then, our prayers and thoughts are with you as we hope you are searching to live for Jesus!!

Hello all!

Hi! I am finally getting on here to post after Ben's fun one.

I had intended to do it the same night, but didn't get around to it. Laundry and the rest of the house chores called to me. :-)

Well, lets see, since my last post, everyone here went down with a taste of the flu. Compared to what everyone around here is coming down with, I think we had it but a really mild case of it. It didn't knock us out for 7-10 days like most. That was the Thursday after Nathaniel's lovely dentist escapade. WE were out of it Thursday through the following Tuesday. That Thursday after we were all sick was valentines, so our gift to each other was a trip to the McDonalds playland, so we could just get out and do something fun. Saturday the 16th was the "Daddy ball" that Chris had decided to do since he forgot to get tickets to the Daddy/daughter dance here in Norman. Kind of worked out because if he had bought tickets, they would have had to miss it because of the flu. Anyways, he burned her a CD and they got all dressed up. It was really sweet!!

Nathaniel and I went bowling and just hung out. It was some much needed time I needed to spend with him. WE talked about a lot of things and it was just nice to listen to him voice his heart

.

We have been attending church in Newcastle with some friends of ours and are starting to really feel at home. The kids beg every week to go to church and Wednesday nights. WE have yet to make it to a Wednesday due to either sickies or weather. Hopefully this week we will have a go at it. It is looking more and more like we will soon be living closer to that area. last thursday Chris received word that John Collard, the district or regional manager was asking for him by name for the Mustang store. They are looking to place those managers by the first part of March. He is excited about that because it is quite an honor, however, he is really have a fun time with the guys he works with at nights! He says if it is up to him, he will take most of them with him to Mustang. They play jokes on each other and just have a good time.

This last weekend we went to Waskom to see Grandma and Papa Crosswhite. That was a really fun time. WE drove down friday and ate pizza with them. Then Saturday we just played in the yard and helped them with some of the things they needed done in the yard. Then we cleaned up and went to the airport to fly with Papa. it was really cool! I have never flown in a small airplane and I had a blast. I felt like a little kid again. The adrenaline of takeoff was cool and getting to wear the headphones was neat. Noel even let me control the rudders with my feel and take a 30 degree turn with the steering. it was so awesome! I told Chris, after having him take me up just once, I would gladly take a trip with him anywhere in that. It was the smoothest, safest flight I think I have every been on. Maybe it is just because I trust the pilot, but really, it was way less scary than flying on a huge jet!! The kids got to take a ride on their own too. They are looking forward to the next time we go down so they can ride with Papa in his plane again. Me too!! "-)

Sunday we headed to church with them and then ate Mexican before heading home to start another week of work and school!!!

WE are looking ahead to spring break. so many things we would like to do and so many unanswered questions. If Chris is still at nights, he might be able to do something with us. If he is in Mustang then, he will be so busy, it won't matter what we do. As long as we are back in time for Easter. Chris has joined the choir out in Newcastle and they are doing a really neat easter service. If he is still working nights, he can be a part of that.

As for me at work, we have gotten two new kids and they are great!! Really low key, so that is nice. Isaac and Angie. Isaac is non-verbal but Angie is a talker. I have been working with Cody, the other non-verbal one and last week was a hard one. He was gone today, so we all think maybe he was sick last week. This week I am with Bryce, who talks, but superspeed. He had a great day with me today. And of course, we have T.J., who is the highlight of our day. He makes the funniest comments about things. He really has a tendancy to lighten even the hardest of days. He is forever saying, "Ladies and gentlemen.... sank you, sank you very much!:"

The ladies I work with continue to be a blessing to me. Laci is the one who started with me and is such an amazing person. She is such a ray of sunshine always. Her smile is contagious and she is so loving. Suzanne is really outgoing and always has something funny to say. If we need someone to break a serious mood, she is the one to do it, but also is such a concerned person too. If something is going wrong, she is the first to get to the bottom of it and know every detail. Shaista is from Pakistan and has already brought in 2 meals for us to try. She is very humble and quiet. She is such an example of what a silent graceful woman should be. I think a lot of her quietness is because she lacks some confidence in her vocabulary, but I love to hear her talk. Her accent is so neat!! Michelle is the Lead tutor for all of us. She is like a walking dictionary. She knows so much it is amazing. He son has been in the program, so not only does she have lots of information but she has practical knowledge as well. She is a life rope for all the rest of us.

Anyways, I need to get back to the laundry. I don't think I will ever get it caught up. Tomorrow is student-led parent teacher conferences. The kids are excited about that. Otherwise, we are looking to enjoy the week as the weather should stay the same for once. No more 10 degree wind chill in the morning and 65 the same afternoon~!

Hope all of you are well. Sending all our love!!

Post by Ben

i learned that i am tall enough to reach the computer, so i thought i would post a blog of my own. it sure has been cold here. my family has put me outside when it isn't too bad because i am getting so big. i had worms a couple of weeks ago, so i had to go to the vet. i got a shot and some medicine, but they gave me lots of snacks. they even gave me a bag of really yummy puppy food. i went back this last week for a check up and still had some worms, so i had to get more medicine. some in a needle and some hidden in those snacks. i am feeling better..

my boy nathaniel loves to play ball with me and we run a lot together. his sister hannah is always sweet to me. i like this picture of them because it shows how much fun they are. they are so good to me.

this is a picture of hannah with her new friend dacia, whose parents are friends with my mommy and daddy. i had to go outside when they were here to visit because i get really excited with people come to visit and i jump. my mommy says i am stronger than i look and she didn't want me to hurt their friends. that was ok. i like being outside so I can dig in the dirt and play in the leaves. my stuffed friend dover helps me feel not so alone.

oh, get a load of these hot dogs. i didn't get one, but i sure wanted one. i even sat really nice. no luck!!

well, i have to go. my mommy wants a turn. here are a few more pictures of me.

Super Bowl hotdogs, and pasta & the dentist

I know my title sounds a little odd, but this last weekend is what that consisited of. I will post picts of the "Super" bowl hotdogs when my camera batteries are charged. We got footlong hotdogs to eat while we watched part of the game because the length of them looked funny. Seeing the kids eat them looked funny too!!
As for the pasta and the dentist, after eating the hotdog, Hannah wanted some macaroni and cheese to go with it, so as I was making it, Nathaniel did what he always does when we make pasta. Eat some raw and crunchy. Except when he bit the piece, he cracked his 2nd molar in half. He was crying and since we haven't established a dentist yet, I saw this advertisement for one that had 24 emergency service. They also take state insurance. So I called them.
Well, for emergency care, it is $175 cash only. So we ambasolled (sp?) it and gave him some motrin and figured we could hold off till morning. So, needless to say, I called right away and the only office they could get him in today was in Edmond. If you don't know OKC much, Norman is major south suburb and Edmond is major north suburb. So, if I can get him there before 10 am, they will take him. So we rush up there and the dentists were GREAT!!!!
They take several xrays and find out that his 6 year molar had broken the molar first from the root-side. When he bit the pasta, he just completed the break. So, they took it out. Also, they found in the xray that his crowns had no teeth in them anymore. They were just hunks of metal taking up space in his mouth. So they took them out too.
He had a hard time with them removing the crowns because the only thing really holding them there was the skin, but since he has had them for about 3 years, the teeth had adjusted around them, so the dentist had to "pop" them out. He cried and freaked out. The worst tooth didnt' even phase him at the end because the crowns had been so disturbing.
He did great. They gave him a "Bravery" award that certifies him a free trip to Incredible pizza, which I thought was cool. That is normally a $6-10 purchase, so .....
Super great dentist!!! Dr. Baird!!
Anyways, other than that, Chris is still recieving about 2 trucks a night. I got to work on my own with a boy last week and that was awesome!! This week I get to work with one of the kids who is non-verbal. I really love my job!! The ladies there are truly a God-send and according to them, I am a God-send too. It makes for a GREAT working environment!!
That job makes me want to live in Norman for good.
Thats about it. We broke a record high today and we are supposed to get snow tomorrow. yahoo!!! I would rather it be like today!! it was so great!!
Well, I have about 7 loads of laundry to fold and to get to bed fairly early as I am still fighting off junk. Hope all of you are well.
As one guy here put it, "All we need to do everyday to do the will of God is to believe in the Lord Jesus and take Him at His word." Till next time!!

New job, no sleep,long couple of weeks

If the title of this doesn't give away that the last 2 weeks have been really hard.... :-)
The puppy is of course a puppy, so he is keeping us sleep free as well as adding a pleasant animal aroma to our duplex, which is still falling apart. Along with that, Chris working nights adds to the chaos. He is sleeping from 7am-4pm and getting up and hanging out with us from 4-6, which pretty much means watching the news and eating supper before he has to go to work. They have been recieving 2 trucks at night, in preparation for spring reset. He has 3 other guys to help his recieve and process the 2 trucks at night for the entire store. Because they have been getting 2 trucks, they have been getting there at 6:30 at night recieve the 7 o'clock truck and have it gone before they get the huge 9 oclock truck. Needless to say, he isn't much help around here because he is so tired all the time, which has caused some issues in our marriage.
Along with that, since the cost of living here is so high, I needed to get a job. I was going to sub at the school, but when I got on their website, I saw they were hiring special tutors to work from 10am to 1pm for $10 an hour helping autistic kindergartners. It is a really rewarding job so far as yesterday i worked with a boy who is really severe. At their play time, he was lookiing in a mirror and then ran over to me and gave me a huge hug and said, " I really love you!!" and got up and ran back to the mirror. For being with the kids less than a week, that really made my day. the ladies I work with are really neat. Michelle is in charge and is really knowledgeable about autism and is great with getting them to meet their goals for the week. Shaiesta is from pakistan and as worked with the kids the longest. There is Susanne, who has been there a couple of months and then Lacy and i are the newest. I like it, but being gone from home 3 hours makes enough time for the puppy to get into trouble. that or he sleeps all day and then at night when i would like to sleep, he wants to play.
We are getting ready to file out taxes and looking at cost of living here is amazing. An example of how much more it cost in Oklahoma. We lived in Missouri in 2007 for 10 months and state taxes were around $300. We lived in Oklahoma in 2007 for 2 months and state taxes were more than twice that. Nothing changed except that we live in a different state. That blew my mind. I thought, no wonder we are drowning here.
one last thing. Chris' job has several possiblities now. He can either do sales manager and stay in Norman, or go to Mustang with is new friend chad, or he can stay permanent at nights or he can go with Chad to mustang as a zone 1 manager, or he can go to days here and be in lumber.
He is struggling with which option to take as they need to know his intentions in about 2-3 weeks. You can just be praying for that as well as everything else.
Tired and falling apart is how it feels here. We are back to feeling like all was happier and more normal when we were in st. joe.
thats about it. sums up the last few weeks for us.
hope all of you are doing well. Will post again soon.