So much going on this week!!

Hi! Am on to post picts of my birthday, but also to let you know of a few things going on and some changes that will be taking place soon!

First, on my actual birthday, we got up and the kids finished decorating my birthday cake. We ate a piece of it for breakfast and then got ready to head to the Omniplex, which is Oklahoma City's space museum. We had a lot of fun. Exporing all kinds of science.

The kids loved the maze of mirrors,

the planetarium,

(I hadn't been into a planetarium since grade school. It was neat. The guy narrating it obviously thought some of the consellations were a little funny as he turned the "little bear" into a giant squirrel asking the "shepherd of the sky" for acorns. And he also called the "little dog" a hot dog. It made everyone laugh.)

the giant mouth that had a little game where you zapped the plaque,

"discover space",

a model train area,

a kids play area with water and bubbles,

and this thing called the "gadget trees"

which had all kinds of machines, like levers and pulleys and such worked into this enormous tree house. It was neat to see where in the Oklahoma sky you can locate Mars and Saturn at this time of year. We also went to the Dome theater and watches, "Rivers are running out", which was a guy taking a trip down the Colorado river through the grand canyon. Afterwards, we went to Cracker Barrel for supper to have some comfort food before heading home and to bed.

It was a really nice birthday. Just spending time with the family:-)

I think in the last blog I told you about the possiblity of buying a house. Well, last week, a lady told us about the one in Bridge Creek area that seemed a perfect fit for us. Well, after church, we went to look at it and see what was next. It was AWESOME!! WE fell in love with it and after talking with Cheryl more, we made an offer, as someone else was interested in it too. It is a pre-foreclosure, so we did some figures and gave an offer on it. Then we prayed that if it was God's will for us to have a home, he would allow this to work out and if it was his will for us to wait a little longer, he would allow the house to go to the other people who were interested . We prayed, as we truly have believed for years that our time would come when it was just right, where God would open a door and it would just work out. Believing in this and trusting in it, we knew we wouldn't hear any results until later this week. So, we have been focusing on our Nascar/Dallas trip. Well, I got a phone call from Cheryl today and she said that the people had chosen.................... US!!! After getting off the phone with her, I did a little dance and then it hit me that God is so good to me, and always hears me when I pray, knowing that in His perfect time, he grants his blessings. I fell on my face and wept, thanking him for being so good to us and for this wonderful blessing. I am posting pictures I took Sunday of the place. WE will know some final details as to when we close on it and stuff tomorrow, but when we made the offer, we suggested the 21st of May as closing. So, by the beginning of summer, we will be there, unless there is something that comes up with financing. The greatest things about this are: All electric, so it will be money saving, and fire hazard of gas heating gone, a wonderful storm shelter!!, well water (no water bill), and 1.2 acres of land with it too, a patio, close to the hwy, yet far enough away that it is so in the country!!! We figured that we will saving in housing expenses about $500 a month. We are so looking forward to seeing how we can bless God with that extra!! So, here are the picts for that...

The living room from the kitchen, looking at the front door

The kitchen looking from the living room towards the back door and the wash room

The master bathroom (Chris is so excited about the size of the tub!!)

The kids bathroom, with a little neat window

One of the kids bedrooms

And our room!

And finally, just some regular, I need to post these pictures just because I said I would, pictures

First off, my autistic kiddos: T.J, Bryce, Cody, Issac and Angie

Second, the ladies I work with! Michelle, Laci, Suzanne and Shaista

Thirdly, our trip to see Brent and Sarah the first weekend of March. Aren't they silly?

The Truman after school thing at Skateland, where Hannah let the Norman North high schoolers turn her hair pink and give her a face paint. :-)

Max Atchley's 6th birthday party!!

The kids student-led parent teacher conferences:-)

I can't remember if I posted easter picts, but here are some of that and of the day Hannah and I went up and spent the day with Grandma C.

I think that is about it. Will post next week of our trip to Dallas and the Nascar!! We are so excited!! I am making the kids special shirts, because they want to. Nathan wants a shirt with 48 on the front and Jimmy's name on the back. Hannah wants a shirt with a number 18 on it and Kyle Busch's name on the back. We are staying in a suite, so we are planning on bringing some groceries from home so we can just chill Friday evening and Saturday evening. WE are planning on going to the Dallas zoo Saturday and to Chipolte grill for supper on Friday. It will be a nice get away. April is already filling up as Nathaniel will be in a 1st grade play the 15th of April with a speaking part. April 29th is his field trip to the OKC zoo. Chris goes back to working days as of April 7th and there you have it. Hope this finds everyone doing well. Will write more later, but am getting tired, so I am going to bed!! In His hands!

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!!