Snaps from today

Y'all might know these folks.



And here's a picture of the performance held in the living room this afternoon. H.A. is rapping and Shayne is 'scratchin' like a DJ!



David's in the groove...


Hudson doing his daily workout routine :)

(Sorry for the faint fog on the pictures. I had a smudge on the lens and didn't know it until I uploaded these pictures.)

Some people will be offended...

EDITED - that entry was ENTIRELY too long. I'm sorry. To see what has been removed, click on the "source" link below.

Some of you might know that I'm raising money for www.MannaRelief.org to give nutritional products to children with HIV/AIDS in Africa. The program I am working with is called MannaWalk (and you can donate at www.MannaKids.info PLEASE!!)

This is a program that is not an 'awareness' program and it's not a 'find a cure' program. It is a program that is providing PROVEN RESULTS in quality of life for children with HIV/AIDS. 100% of funds raised goes towards providing nutritional products to children and we've already seen these same nutritional products providing incredibly positive results in sick children. The diplomats of Africa are almost begging us to grow our ministry in their different areas of the continent where the most children are being affected. In fact, the Ugandan Ambassador to the US wants us to expand our provisions to pregnant mothers in hopes of improving babies quality of lives before they are even born! I believe the LORD will answer her prayers for this kind of help one day...

Anyway, in the spirit of fundraising I felt I should share the difference between the kind of fundraising we're doing with MannaWalk versus the fundraising some OTHER organizations are doing. Some people are offended when I don't donate money to certain charities but I feel I must be a good steward of my money and must only give money to the charities that are moving forward with the LORD's work and not the work of businessmen and women.

Who am I to judge the LORD's work versus other charities? I don't want to be a 'judge' but a 'fruit inspector.' The following editorial work conveys many of my opinions and beliefs. Of course, there are points in this article that might stretch to the far side of what I believe but as a whole, I'm on board.

Again, be warned that some of you WILL be offended.

THE CURE CON

Tuesday, August 02, 2005
The Cure Con: how you're being deceived by charities that claim to be racing for the cure for cancer and other chronic diseases

Source: http://www.newstarget.com/009587.html

Stir it all up

Dip it all in
Stir it all up
Chomp it all down
And send it to stommmmmmach town.

This is the food mantra invented and chanted by Shayne and now the other kids, whenever they are eating. I'm hearing it now as they eat their PBJ&A in a cup (peanut butter, jelly, and Ambrotose).

Today -- guitar lessons for Shayne, lunch at the Walkers, grocery shopping at Fresh Market & Walmart. The evening is open and will probably be spent lounging around the house and getting an early start on bedtime.

Just thought I'd throw on an entry today while I sat here listening to the kids. Sorry it's not full of excitement and news.

Although there is one TEENY bit of news I would like to talk about.... but since it pertains to a family member that isn't ready for me to publically discuss the issue, I'll just tempt you with the thought that I'll be talking about something exciting in the near future (hopefully!)

One hint... Suzanne came over last night with her sweet Julianna :) That's all I can say!

Oh, and I can say "Happy Anniversary to Donna & Nathan!" 5 years!!!!!! Whoo hoo! We love y'all!

Just Layla

I am now the proud owner of the painting you see to the right. It is by Layla Palmer and her website is www.JustLayla.com and you should DEFINITELY check out her artwork (and BUY SOME!)

The painting depicts the 3 homes Donnie and I have shared since getting married over 12 years ago. The one on the far right was the home he built "for me" while I was a senior in high school. Of course, I didn't move in with him until we were Mister and Missus but I loved being able to tell friends at school that my Friday nights with my boyfriend were being spent picking out carpet or some other task.

The home in the middle is where we moved when Shayne was only 6 months old. It is also Hudson's birthplace. We told the now-owners of that house that if Hudson ever became President or a famous rock-n-roll star that they could turn it into a tourist attraction!

And finally, the home on the left is where we live now. You see Lucy lounging happily in the front yard. Isn't it the greatest?

The painting isn't in my possesion yet but I should get it this week. It will have a happy showcase in our bright yellow kitchen. I can't wait!

Remember, go to www.JustLayla.com and buy her stuff. She also has paintings for sale at ebay -- sells under name "justlayla". OH, she also has a booth at Eastbrook Flea Market (bottom floor).

Discussions At Home

Things we're talking about these days...

Disney World. Our Christmas trip to Orlando is getting closer and we're all getting very excited!

Dream Home Giveaway. This will be our 3rd attempt to win a Dream Home given away by the local country radio station. I qualified for a key in 1995 but the house was won before I got a chance to try. Donnie qualified for a key in 2003, got a chance to try it in the door, but didn't win. This year I qualified and we're thinking this could be our year :)

Homeschooling. It's becoming a very real option for me to homeschool Shayne her 5th grade year. H.A. and David would stay in K and 3rd at ECS while we give this a trial for a year. I'm looking at a curriculum called "Switched On Schoolhouse" and would love any feedback from others who are familiar with it. I will be spending time this year doing research and going to lots of homeschool activities. We're praying about this a lot.

Friends and family members with needs. We have several who have job and health needs.

Cleaning up this house. We're in a house that has room for everything to have a "home." That's what I wanted when we were in our other house. I was tired of not being able to clean up because there were so many things that didn't have a 'home' to go to so they just sat around cluttering up space. Now we have a 'home' for everything but things still don't get there. It's frustrating. I'm doing some massive cleaning in preparation of the big consignment sale. LOTS of things will be going out the door for that sale.

We haven't discussed Natalee Holloway lately but I just had thoughts of her and her family. So sad.

Speaking of.... It's time to go watch some Fox News before getting some shut-eye. Night night everyone.

Elephants & Kangaroos

It's gone. All gone.

The blog I started a couple of years ago is gone.

I had intentions of printing all of my entries but I never did.

That blog held many very dear entries. It documented a very difficult time in my life and the triumph of Christ leading me through it.

And now it is completely gone.

It makes me sick to my stomach.

I've got to print these pages sometime. Does anyone have any ideas about a way to backup blogs like this other than to print hard copies?

Ugh.

1 limb down and waiting it out

The wind is WHIPPING big time outside the door as I sit here at my computer. I look over and see the undersides of the leaves and hear a low, human-sounding 'whurrrrr' as the air travels quickly around the corner of our brick house.

LOL....all of that is true but I'm smiling at myself for writing such near-literary sounding descriptions!

We have trees bending in every direction in our front yard but none of them are large enough tht I'm worried about them landing on the house. They're pretty tall, though....taller than the house, but far enough from them that I'm not too concerned. They're being slapped around all over the place so much that I'm unable to tell which direction the wind is blowing. The wind earerli was from north to south but now it seems to start from the south and then swirl around taking the trees in every direction. These trees seem soft and too flexible to snap but since we've already lost one of these limbs, it's certainly possible more will come.

We're waiting for the worst part of our role in the Hurricane Dennis drama. It shouldn't be too bad and hopefully will be done by early morning hours. Of course, we will have rain for several days but the eye of the storm is steadily heading out towards Mississippi. Sorry MS, but I was praying for that!

And I'm in the middle of a confession to God for lack of faith. I'm not sure if my sin of near-faithlessness is even over actually. I have been praying for this Hurricane to not affect us on Monday night because I had a HUGE Mannatech meeting planned with the Senior VP of Sales/Marketing. Talking to him yesterday, I almost begged him to please see about changing his plans so that he could do the meeting Thursday instead. He agreed to try. I moved forward with these changes and even emailed a MASSIVE amount of people and made several phone calls. Now, today as we see the storm's forecast, we're thinking that Monday night should be OK after all. So...we've decided to stick with the original plans. Sigh. LORD, please forgive me for worrying about all this. I trust you that things will be FINE.

Stay safe everyone!

Hey! 

Mom, PLEEEEEZ get me out. I'm freezing! 

Desoto Caverns Silliness. 

She's so shy. 

Sun-kissed Spider-girls. 

David & Stanford were mesmerized by the TV. It was either Pingu or Thomas...can't remember which. 

Oh look! I found a picture on the camera from BEFORE his hair cut. I so love the boys' hair when it's a little long. Hudson's is almost in his eyes these days but I just don't want to cut it. 

He's 5 now, ya know. 

I just love these of David. 

Ken & Dottie at the Johnson wedding. 

Ironing Online

I took David's shirt that he was going to wear for his pictures today and told him I needed to iron it. On my trek to the office closet, where I keep my ironing board and iron, I checked to see if an important email that I needed had been sent to me.

David came soon after and said, "Where's my shirt?"

I answered, "I need to iron it, baby."

He asked, "Did you hook it up to the computer?"

Don't I wish!

HOT HOT HOT

Hope my title for today's blog doesn't put any kind of weird links on my page ;)

The temperature today was brutal. Honestly, I don't even know what it was on a number scale but I can tell you that it was miserable being outside.

I had a very disappointing experience with the kids and a fun activity I had planned for them. We were playing at the Splash Pad near the Amphitheater when a mean old man from a construction crew came and said we couldn't be there because they were working. I couldn't believe he wouldn't let us be there when his workers were nowhere close by. I told him we had checked with the city's Visitor Information Center and were told that the Splash Pad was indeed open and that they even drew us a map on exactly how to walk to it when we went into the visitor's center. I told the dude the web site said it was open and that if it was closed that many city workers were wrong.

He said something snide under his breath and then turned off the water!!!! THEN he sent a Bike-Cop to run us off. Ugh. What a doofus. AND IN 100+ weather!

Anyway....this crankiness leads me to copy/paste a bit of an email I sent tonight describing the importance of something as simple as hydration and behavior. The point of the email was that ANY type of nutritional deficiency can affect behavior. This particular Mom had asked me about the Cellular Restoration Program for children and whether or not it might help her daughter. I hope it makes the point:

(snip) Our child's Cellular Restoration Plan is WONDERFUL. I think you'll see alot of behavioral improvements with it. Nutritional aspects of behavior are huge. Just today I was reminded of how important our nutrients are to our children. We had been playing outside and the water we had in our water bottle had gotten hot and gross so nobody wanted to drink it (even me.) So we had to deal with our thirst for the drive home. Would you believe my daughter Shayne started crying and whining in the car and just couldn't control herself emotionally? It was SO annoying! And then I got cranky with her because I was thirsty, too! But when we pulled into the gas station, bought a couple of Dasanis, it was like a MIRACLE occurred! My children became happy and sociable. I became happy and sociable. We all were able to have a wonderful afternoon at home together. Her behavior wasn't good because she was lacking what her body needed. When our kids lack the nutrition they need from fruits and vegetables, their behavior will be altered. (snip)

Easier way to blog

I knew I needed to blog but didn't really have an idea of what I should write about (girls' last day of school tomorrow, H.A's desire for her ears pierced, tonight's Mannatech meeting, the long talk I had with Shayne today about her attitude and my fear that she doesn't know how much I love her.....) Instead of an intelligent blog entry, I'm stealing this idea from Willena :)

A is for Age - 31
B is for Booze - none
C is for Career - Wife, Mom, Wellness Encourager :)
D is for Dad’s name - David
E is for Essential items to bring to a party - Sport, Firm, Emprizone
F is for Favorite song at the moment - I gotta get back to you on this one
G is for Graduation year - high school 1992, college 1995
H is for Hometown - Montgomery
I is for Instrument you play - I've learned one chord on Shayne's electric guitar
J is for Jam or Jelly you like - grape jelly
K is for Kids - 4 ages 9, 6 (7 on Sunday), 4 (5 in June), 2
L is for Living arrangement - 4 bedroom house with 5 other loving people
M is for Mom’s name - Jo Anne
N is for Not-so-bright-idea - letting David drink iced tea before a ballgame
O is for Overnight hospital stays - Shayne's, Harris Anne's & David's births
P is for Phobias - losing my kids, puking, and snakes
Q is for Quote you like - To go somewhere different you have to take a new road.
R is for Relationship that lasted longest - Skye & I have been best friends since 1980
S is for Siblings - 1 sister, Stephanie
T is for Toughtest habit to break - staying up late and sleeping late
U is for Unique trait - I'm 6 feet tall and I can type pretty fast (??)
V if for Vegetable you love - Lima Beans, blackeyed peas, corn, southern mashed potatoes
W is for What you're waiting for - a fully-furnished home but ultimately, I'm waiting for Jesus to return
X - is for XRays you’ve had - dental, orthodontic, chiropractic and some on my knees when I was a teenager and one of my hand when I broke my finger in junior high. Oh and of my pelvis when I fell down on my butt in 96
Y is for Yummy food you make - egg, sausage, cheese quesadillas
Z is for Zodiac sign - Pisces (Horoscopes are so stupid, though)

Motivational Neighbor

I went to bed last night at 2:30 as predicted (decided??) by the way.

I have FOUND that wonderful neighbor that I have always wanted. First, we borrowed flour from her/them as a last minute school project needed it (making a volcano -- last minute on our part and not the part of the teacher). It was an amazing blessing that we could call on her and she could ANSWER! Next, I have found a WALKING BUDDY! She's a night owl like me and we made a plan to start walking on as many nights as we possibly could at 9:00. I was supposed to call her tonight at 8:30 to confirm but when I got no answer, I was actually RELIEVED. I was sooooo exhausted from staying up late last night and then getting up early for ball games today, sitting in the hot sun for 2 ball games (the second being at noon!) and then going to an outdoor birthday party for Seth (1 year old yesterday!) Anyway, I was pooped and LOVED the fact that it appeared to be my neighbor's fault that we didn't go walking because I actually did what I was supposed to do. But at 9:15 there was a knock at the door and she said, "Get your shoes on and let's go!" Dang.

So we went walking and it was WONDERFUL! Turns out she was on the other line when I tried calling her and she didn't recognize my phone number (I wanted to say 'duh' LOL). But she knew I was home so she got my butt in gear and we walked. It was really nice. I'm very much looking forward to this routine and encouragement. YAY!

AND, she's considering the possibility of doing Trading Spaces :)

Oh, and I have the blessing of already knowing this neighbor from when I worked at ECMI. We have LOTS to talk about when we walk and that makes it really fun.

Wasting Time That I Can't Afford To Waste

The only way I could believe it's 12:20 AM is that my eyeballs are burning and ready to pop out of my skull, run through the house and jump onto my pillows for some much needed sleep. Otherwise, it seems like it's only 8 or 9 o'clock. I have so much left to do this evening. I can't believe the hours aren't available.

So why am I here blogging? I have no idea why I do this. I think it's a lack of focus.

I bet I go to bed around 2:30 AM. I think I can make it that long.

Shayne poses with her friend Brittney. 

David on the trapeze bar. 

It took several shots before we actually got one of H.A. in the air. She is very proud of this picture! 

Our latest snapshot of Pearson. Ain't he a cutie? And who thinks he favors H.A.??? 

Our newest paintings are proudly displayed in our kitchen. The girls absolutely LOVED making these! I enjoyed it, too :) 

"Ten dollar buck"

David can read. Really, he can! He's reading Hop on Pop and even though he will sometimes slip into his "memorization recitation" of the story, there are MANY times that he's actually sounding out words. I LOVE IT! He's only started reading this book Wednesday. He giggled and giggled with his hand over his mouth as he rolled around on the floor when it dawned on him that sounding out each individual letter actually made the word that was written on the page! He's memorized PARTS of the book but since he's really only been reading it since Wednesday, it's not a perfect memorization. He remembers the theme of each page and when he gets a little lazy I remind him to actually look at the words/letters. And when he does, he smiles the biggest smile knowing that he can actually figure out what the words are! It is a beautiful thing :)

My favorite part of his reading tonight was the page that says something like, "My father can read big words, too like CONSTANTINOPE and TIMBUKTU." Well, this was one of those pages where he just guessed at what it said. He told me, "I don't know this first word but I know that last one. It's 'ten dollar buck.'"

I laffffffffed!

It's times like this that I get a little sad about our decision and the recommendation of him not going to 5-year-old Kindergarten next/this year. He's SO smart! In fact, Shayne was basically only sounding out individual letters when she entered K, Harris Anne was doing pretty good and basically reading like David is now but she was a couple of months older than David is now AND she's a girl! I'm sorry, but David is really, really bright.

However, Donnie and I agree that socially..which has been the main issue with Kindergarten the whole time....it's still best for him to wait another year before doing ECS K. He will do a summer program one day a week and then do a pre-k 3 days a week (half days like ECS) in the fall.

One more big maturation process that occurred this week. I left the kids alone for about 20 minutes while I walked up and down the block in front of the house. I never got out of sight of our front yard but I still felt a little funny about it. We had a HUGE talk about emergencies before I did it and I called Shayne and talked to her on my cell phone the first half of my block. Instead of walking very far, I just walked the street a couple of laps. I don't think the kids had moved from the TV show they were watching the whole time I was gone.

Does anyone think I'm a bad mother for doing this?

I took some neat pictures today at our VERY FUN Sunday School party. We had the honor of hosting a lunch in the backyard today. I MIGHT try to post some tonight or tomorrow.

Tomorrow

It will be a cold and windy day tomorrow, according to ye olde weathermen...but it will be SATURDAY! And it won't be just ANY Saturday...it will be the SATURDAY AFTER THE LAST DAY OF THE BUSINESS PERIOD! To me, that's like a special day of rest and relaxation! Looking forward to it.

We're having our first spend-the-night guests tomorrow night. Both girls are having friends over. Here's hoping all goes well...

2 more weeks 'til Shayne's 9th birthday! YES.....9 years old! ACK!

Sorry for the disjointed post. I need to go to bed but I'm waiting for one more email...

More intelligence in a future posting :)

I need a globe...

Pick a country, any country...

I'm looking forward to the day where world-travels can be tax-deducitble for my family's business! Here's one more country I can "work"! My personal business creeped into Korea recently (via Canada) and I hope that one day I will have business in each of the countries where we operate.

Life is sweet!

Mannatech Plans to Begin Operations in Taiwan in June 2005
Coppell, TX. – April 18, 2005 – (NASDAQ-MTEX) Mannatech, Inc. today announced that it will begin operations in Taiwan beginning June 20, 2005. The opening of the Taiwan market increases Mannatech’s countries of operation to eight and comes on the heels of the recent opening of operations in the Republic of Korea in September, 2004. Sam Caster, Chairman and CEO of Mannatech commented, "We are extremely excited about our entry into the Taiwan
market and proud of the enthusiasm with which our planned entry has been received. The citizens of Taiwan are known for their strong spirit of entrepreneurialism and their commitment to health and wellness. We see this as a perfect combination for the acceptance of our unique, scientifically based products and the business opportunity represented by
our network-marketing model. With the expansion of our business into Taiwan, we are realizing another step to share our products and our opportunity on a global basis."
Mannatech Taiwan will be headed by Ms. Jolene Kuo who will serve as Taiwan’s General Manager. Jack Crowley, Mannatech President of International stated, "We believe that Mannatech Taiwan is in very capable hands with Ms. Kuo as its General Manager. She is a seasoned veteran of our network-marketing industry and a true professional with proven
abilities to launch a new company and to work with our independent associate sales organization in expanding Mannatech’s presence into the Taiwan marketplace."
About Mannatech, Incorporated Mannatech, based in Coppell, Texas, is a wellness solution provider that sells its products through a global network-marketing system throughout the United States and the international markets of Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, and Republic of Korea.

Writing this late

I really shouldn't be writing this late....and I shouldn't be writing in the fog of my 9:00 Mannatonin. But here I am.

Went to an awesome doctor today. He's new in town but I know his reputation for being a doctor of PREVENTATIVE medicine and one who is fairly well-educated (at least for a Internal Medicine doc) in Mannatech products. SO, I went for this general physical exam and got all my initial paperwork setup with him. Now, Heaven forbid I need to actually HAVE a physician, I am setup with a doctor that I trust.

The bad news. He wants to be my accountability for losing some weight. Ugh. I guess I should try harder now.

Had my very first pedicure today. It was A W E S O M E ! My feet aren't exactly CUTE (see post from a week or so ago) but they DO look better. And man oh man, they FEEL better! They're so silky smooth :) I will definitely be doing that again soon!

Got a haircut today, too. (Mom was babysitting this morning.) It's WAY shorter layers than I'm used to. I started out liking it but it's not looking so good after laying around watching TV. Hopefully I'll be cool with it. David REALLY likes it. Shayne was polite. I asked her, "Do you like it?" and she answered with the very mature, "Do YOU like it?"

My computer is making a weird noise. Better log this post before it loses it.

I know David didn't mean this the way it sounds but I thought it was cute and sweet anyway... (forgive the poor-man's-scan and forgive the lack of carriage returns -- the "Blogger Bot" for pictures doesn't allow it) -- Stacy: "David, do you know who this is?" (showing him this picture). David: "You?" Stacy: "Yep!" David: "When did you do that?" Stacy: "Before I got married." David: " Then why did Daddy like to play golf?" 

Nostalgic Fear

OK, another fear post.

When I was in junior high school, I caused lots of trouble for the cheerleading/dance squads when it came time to pick our uniforms. The reason is because my feet were too big for the shoes that were available. I needed men's shoes and it was nearly impossible to find cute cheerleading shoes that had similar (we weren't even looking for identical) styles for both men and women. (I guess surely things have improved now with the popularity of co-ed cheerleading). One year we pitifully PAINTED some white tennis shoes to look like saddle shoes! UNBELIEVEABLY UGLY!

Needless to say....it was terribly embarrassing.

And today, as I get ready for a MOMS group at church, I have a little of this nostalgic fear. We're supposed to bring our own (thankfully) black flip-flops to decorate for the summer. I have to admit that I'm VERY nervous about others seeing the size of my GIGANTIC, men's black flip-flops.

The positive thing is that hopefully I can make them real cute so that when I wear them, no one will be able to tell that they're men's!

OK, I'm off to get David and the Hud-man ready to go! They LOVE going to MOMS group because they get to hang out with their friends and play and eat snack.... I like it because it's a multi-age group so Hudson gets to enjoy playing with big kids like he's used to. Hopefully the rain won't keep their friends away.

If you don't want to hear it...

If you don't want to hear anything about how much I love Mannatech, you might as well just x-out right now.

Today was AWESOME! GORGEOUS weather!

And I was able to enjoy it!

And when Donnie got home....he cut the grass....and I STILL enjoyed it!

You see, a few years back, I would have been SICK just from the idea of Donnie cutting grass. And with all this yellow pollen all over the place, my eyes would be itchy and swollen, I'd have a miserable nose, and a tickly cough that annoys the heck out of anyone nearby. But NOW that I have Mannatech in my life, I don't get bothered by my allergies when I'm outside in the springtime. Nor do I have to hide out inside when grass is being mowed.

I played outside with the kiddos today, pushing Hudson in his swing, helping David turn a backflip on the trapeze bar, laughing at Shayne and Harris Anne as they conducted their own VERY creative obstacle courses. And because of the time change, we even had time to go walking on the nature trails after Donnie got home. Ahhh, so awesome.

Put on your seatbelts for a super-fast topic change...

Napolean Dynamite.

Loved it.

Quirky and weird, but I still thought it was extremely charming. Donnie and I laughed several times.

Irrational Fears

I'm sitting here with a familiar sickness in my gut. It's a very faint feeling this time, and I'm thankful for that, but it's still a feeling I have now, nonetheless.

It's that feeling I get sometimes when I'm standing on the balcony of the condo at the beach and someone else is holding one of my children and I get sick to my stomach thinking, "Ohmygosh....if my child lurched forward, they'd go over the edge and....."

Or that feeling I got when I was standing in the Sears Tower in Chicago a year after the 9/11 attacks and I thought, "ohmygosh...those people in the attack....there were some up this high and they saw that plane coming...and there were some that fell from this height....and there were some who jumped...."

Or that feeling that I have fought quite successfully in the past couple of years but is on the verge or re-emerging since all the flooding we've experienced this week....that "what if we crashed over the side of this bridge? How would I get all of the children out and to safety?"

Ugh.

This feeling started tonight when Donnie and I were watching Conan O'Brien and the news ticker broke in and scrolled along the bottom that a police-involved shooting had occured in East M......... on A...... Highway. UGH! What if it's someone we know? Ohmygosh... one day my children are going to be driving on A...... Highway..... What if an idiot causes harm to my children who were in the wrong place at the wrong time? What if my children make terribly dumb decisions that result in horrible consequences?

And would you believe that I got nervous wondering if Shayne was OK just because she's spending the night at a birthday slumber party tonight? I think I'd be a lot sicker if the home where she is was in East M........ Thankfully it's on the other end of town.

Isn't that irrational? She's definitely not out on the streets yet, the idea crosses my mind...."what if?" and it gives me a sick feeling in my stomach.

But I'm really doing OK. I have that funny pit in my gut but I'm not in a panic. I'm concerned and curious but I'm really OK. I'm just reminded of those 'what if' days because the faint 'ick' I feel inside me is all too familiar.

I'm VERY GRATEFUL that these irrational panicks have diminished over the last several years. I give God all the glory because He answered my prayers when I asked for more faith. I gave God my fears and told Him I believed He was in charge and that I trusted His decisions and that I trusted Him to guide our paths. I also got serious about wanting to follow His will so that I would not be the cause of any consequences.

I also praise God for pulling me out of the start to a very bad depression. At the point of post-partum depression after David's birth, I was at my worst spot. God saved me from it. Thank you, Lord.

So my fears now are better than they used to be. But I'm still sitting here, staying up way too late, hoping I can find out a bit of info from the Internet or TV about what happened tonight. I just want to know before I go to bed.

God is in control.

Hallelujah!

Oh yes they call him the streak!!!!!! 

Ball season is upon us and with 3 playing this year, we are spending mucho hours at the ball fields. Hudson is enjoying wearing ball caps now that he sees all of his big brother and sisters wearing them. 

I'm sorry to brag but....goodness....I have gorgeous children :) 

Hudson is 2 now (sniff). He had a "planes, trains, and automobiles" party with family and a few close friends. It was fun! 

Our friend Luke at Hudson's birthday party. 

Vanity

The girls have enjoyed the vanity in the master bathroom. Ray is attempting to straighten Indie's curly hair with a flat iron. It's not an easy task. 

Leave It To Indie

Pitiful, isn't it? This is my first post in weeks even though there have been massive amounts of things I should be writing about. But, I guess maybe it's because things have been so gargantuan that I haven't had a chance to write.

We're all moved in. We're not all unpacked but we're all in. We're not completely furnished with the things we'd like to have and were without a couch or any seating places in the "great room" for about a week, but we survived and will continue to survive. Committment to cash-only purchases definitely requires us to practice the idea of delayed-gratification.

Anyway, as the title says, leave it to Indie to bring me back to blogging. She said the most hilarious thing at Wal-mart tonight and I just had to make note of it.

We were walking by the pajama/loungewear section and there was this terrible little t-shirt that had a picture of Pebbles from "The Flintstones" on it. She was crawling in her diaper and looking back over her shoulder so that her diaper was the most prominent thing in the picture. The caption read, "Baby Got Back." I saw it and kinda moaned over the ickiness to myself. Indie went right up to it and said, "Does this mean the baby went away and now the baby got back?"

ROFL!!!!

I just said, "You're so funny, Indie, " and let it go with that.

Okey dokey....it's late and I'm still pooped from MannaFest (Fort Worth with thousands of other Mannatechers including He-Man!!). I'm so glad to be home with Henry and the big kids. I missed them so much. I hope that one day we can ALL travel together ALL the time. I don't like being without them.

TTFN.

Dependability

I KNOOOOW that I'm not the most dependable person in the world and I've done my fair share of optimistic planning only to not be able to follow through but after this week, I'm going to work EVEN HARDER at not saying I'm going to do something if I don't know that I can.

Why?

I've been on the receiving end of no-shows.....or as the eBay world calls it.... "non-paying bidders."

3 out of 5 completed auctions I had listed on eBay turned into non-responding sales. 3 out of 5!!! I wanted to get this stuff OUT of my house ASAP and now I'm having to deal with stuff AND no money AND going through the eBay process to dispute the claims (eBay charges for listing the items and then charges a % of final bid. One of my items sold for over $100 so it's a significant charge for it!)

And then I sent out an email trying to sell some other things that were a little too good for regular old yard sale fodder and I had a couple of requests (commitments in my head) only to have those to fall through, too.

Sigh.

I'm truly not grumpy...it's been a really good day! In fact, it's my birthday :) I have forgotten this fact numerous times during the week and even a couple of times during the day. It's amazing how age has made me less focused on birthdays! I think I have confused Rocky pretty bad. I told the kids this was the year that I started going backwards in age and that I was 29 again. David believes me and tells everyone very matter-of-factly that I'm NOT 31!

Prayers are lifted for our house closings to go through smoothly tomorrow. I did post where they were postponed, right? Yeah, I think I did.

Prayers also for the numerous children I am hearing about these days with massive health challenges. 4 kids in particular who have cancer. There IS HOPE yet I don't have access to all 4 of these kids to tell them about it. I'm praying about approaching the family of 1 particular child, I've already approached another of the children's parents (to no avail) but 2 of the families are more distant (but local so I'm praying for an opportunity for me or another person to share with them.) I'm really wanting to start a local Manna Relief fund.... I don't have the time, that's for sure, so I'm praying someone who DOES have the time and desire will come forward.

Henry is ready to watch a little bit of our Malcolm In The Middle DVD box set. More later :)

I'm back.

But I ain't in a new house yet. Hmph.

Got a call today that closing must be postponed until Monday.

Double-hmph.

Grrr.

Getting over it.

Indie and Rocky are at Uma & Arthur's for a couple of days. Ray and He-Man are home with us. I hope Ray enjoys her quality time that she is looking for. Hope she doesn't get mad at me for putting her to work.

Back to being grumbly -- there is so much we were going to do at the new house this weekend....grrr.

I'm wearing my glasses again. Did I ever post that I got some? They had one REALLY bad lens that needed a new Rx. At first I was told to just 'keep wearing the glasses and you'll get used to them.'

Nope. They needed a new piece of glass for the right eye. I got it swapped and VOILA...I can see so much better!

I REALLY, REALLY hope there are some folks living close by us that would like to be an accountability/walking partner for me. I really want to get back to walking and I know I won't do it by myself.

Pray for no rain on Monday morning so that Andy's new parents can come get him and so that my yard sale won't turn into a living room sale.

OK. Goodnight.

One last post before bedtime... 

Panting

No, that's not a typo for a title -- although I could totally write an entry about 'painting'. Truth is, I'm PANTING from all this stuff going on these days. Trying to move while life goes on is an exhausting experience. I actually have a teeny bit of HEARTBURN! I NEVER get heartburn....unless I'm pregnant and NO I AM NOT PREGNANT.

Anyway, there's just a bunch of stuff going on. Things are really good, though.

Stuff going on:

• I'm taking Indie and Rocky to Uma & Arthur's tomorrow after school. They will stay there for a couple of days of playing. Ray wants to stick around and help with moving. She also has a bball game on Saturday morning so she needs to be here anyway.
• We're closing on both houses Friday morning. (Kids are out of school for Teacher In-Service)
• We'll start the moving process immediately afterwards. I will also begin removing wallpaper from the girls' NEW bedroom and kids' NEW bathroom in preparation for painting (Happy Birthday to me! I don't have to paint!!!)
• I sold several things on eBay and need to work with buyers to get their stuff over the weekend. I'm worried about 2 buyers from out of state. I haven't heard from them about the auction ending yet and I'm concerned they might be no-shows. I've never had that happen before. I'm curious what will happen.... Anyone know?
• Monday - I'm having a good, old-fashioned yard sale. Cleaning out tons of stuff!
• Monday is also the day Andy will be moving to Alaska. Yes, you heard me right....Alaska. We will be meeting his new owners at a small non-towered airport for him to begin his new jet-setting life with a pair of aviation missionaries. He'll be flying most of the next 4 weeks! Isn't that wild? Long-story short (for those of you who haven't heard) -- Andy has just been too much of a puppy for us lately. We haven't had the time to continue with his housetraining and we're worried for him in the new house. We won't have a doggie door and we'd have to keep him locked up for fear of ruining furniture & carpet. I found this Mannatech couple of has promised he will continue to get his Ambrotose every day! We're going to miss him SO much!
• Tuesday - our sweet painter (lady from church) will start working on the girls' room. We'll also have our water filtration unit moved from this house to the new one and we'll probably plan to get lots of our utility stuff turned on this day. Hopefully the cable/phone folks can come by and help us with our computer & TV.
• Friday-week - I'm going to be doing some volunteer work at the school. I need to remember to get a babysitter for the boys....

And speaking of school.....we've decided to let Rocky go to pre-k next year and then start him at the girls' school the following year for kindergarten. There is no doubt he is intellectually/scholastically ready for 1st or 2nd grade but we think a pre-k will do wonders for him in other areas of maturity. He's not thrilled about this but Henry and I are confident it is the right decision for him. With a June birthday, we'd rather him be the oldest in his classes than the youngest.

I guess that's enough for now. I will probably write my next entry from the NEW HOUSE! WHOO HOO :)