Thurs Aug 14 (day 75)

Tonight, we took the kids out to celebrate the end of their summer reading program.  You'll remember that earlier this summer we made the choice to do a reading program at home instead of participating in the library's program.  We have enjoyed the library's reading program each summer for 5 or 6 years now, but decided to do something different this year by creating our own program!  Each of the kids was able to decide on their reading goal for the summer & then earned 1 sticker for each book they read.  We told them early on that we'd take a trip to Chuck E. Cheese to play games at the end of the summer if we saw that they really made an effort & tried to read to their goal.  If they reached their goal, they'd get a $10 gift certificate to a store of their choice!!  (Trust me, this is ideal in comparison to the prizes & gifts they would've had to choose from at the library's prize auction.)  Savannah's goal was 100 books & she hit her goal exactly!  Samuel's goal was initially 90 books, but by mid-summer, he realized that he'd set that number a little HIGH & reduced it to 40 books.  He ended up the summer having read 35 books.  Sarah's goal was 60 books and as of today, she had read 63.  This is the poster we've kept track on all summer long.

And so, tonight we went to Chuck E. Cheese as promised!  The kids had a blast while Larry & I sat at the table & talked.  (Thank goodness for good C.E.C. coupons!!)  This is about all we saw of them for the hour or so we were there.

And of course, when they were done, each of the kids cashed in their tickets for some valuable prizes.  Chuck E. Cheese is the emporium for classy plastic crap ya know?  This was what Samuel chose to 'purchase'.  He actually wore them to Casa Ole...and wore them through most of the meal.  LOL!  The waitress got a kick out of it & we had lots of giggles as people passed the table.  The goober!

You may notice a slight drop in my posting this weekend.  I'm sure some of you (most of you?) are shouting for joy that you won't have any little email alerts telling you that I've posted for a couple days.  ha ha!  I won't be around to post because I'm off to meet my buddy Bethany!  (& Chris and Mindy, too!)  As always, I won't post any details of where I'm going or anything like that til I get home.  Gotta be safe, ya know!!  See ya when I get home!!!!  I'll have pictures & stories to tell I'm sure!

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post #2

Just a quick post, but I had to share this!!!

Tonight, on the way home from church, somehow the kids' conversations turned to Andrew & Kourtney.  We don't talk about them as much these days as we used to.  I don't avoid talking about them with the kids, but they just don't bring them up as often.  Larry & I still talk about them and heaven knows, they're on my mind frequently.  Anyway, up until tonight, I have yet to have a positive conversation about their time with us with Savannah.  She, being the oldest and the one who was most profoundly effected by the negative stuff while A&K lived here, has had the hardest time forgiving & moving forward.  And while I don't blame her for being hurt and angry, at the same time, I have spent countless hours praying for God to help her move out of that and into a time of mercy & forgiveness.  Tonight, we had just such a breakthrough!!  The kids were talking about something entirely different & out of the blue, Savannah started laughing.  When I asked her what she was laughing about, it was about a funny thing Andrew used to do.  It stunned me because it came so entirely out of the blue.  We talked a while & everyone had more sweet memories to share.  In the end, the conversation moved to what I believe is best for Andrew & Kourtney for their future.  We talked about how they are in a good, safe, healthy atmosphere now and that I feel like it's best for them to get to stay there now.  The kids all listened intently & seemed to really understand.  I was able to point out that while I was sad that they couldn't live with us anymore, I was happy that they are in a stable home where they're taken care of.  We talked about the Scripture that tells us to take care of the widows & orphans, about how we served God in that way for a while.  It was a season of our lives that we were able to help a child of God and then the season ended.  All three kids were quiet & respectful during that conversation.  In the past, Savannah would've scoffed or rolled her eyes or commented on how glad she is that it's over.  Tonight, she just listened.  Hallelujah!  That's progress!

The kids don't know, but A&K's dad's parole is up for review again.  Meaning that in a few months, he could be out.  (Feb 10, 2009 will make 3 years since the wreck that sent him to prison.)  Several months ago, Larry received a letter from his brother, 'forgiving' him for all he'd done wrong.  While neither Larry or I feel like we did anything that needed forgiving, we chose to write back & forgive him as well.  Larry felt like it was important for him to make peace with his brother.  That doesn't mean he'll let his brother get out of prison & walk all over us, but he didn't want to live at odds with his brother for the rest of his life.  Larry told him that he would not oppose his parole when the review came up again.  (meaning he won't write letters trying to beg to have him stay in prison)  While this is very hard for me, I respect Larry's feelings and will back him up on this.  We got the letter a few days ago stating that it's time for the annual parole review.  It gave instructions on where to write/call if you wanted to respond to the parole review board. 

Please pray that God's will is done here.  And praise Him with me for the change I saw in Savannah's heart tonight!!

Wed Aug 13, summer day 74

Have I mentioned that I'm excited???!!!  Larry & I are going on a trip this weekend to see my friend, Bethany, and I couldn't be more giddy!  I'm packing today!!!!  Hooray!!!  This is me today:

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Tues Aug 12, Summer day 73

This morning, Larry & Savannah left bright & early for the Beanfest.  What is a Beanfest you ask?  (I'm sure you were asking that question, right?)  Well, the Beanfest is an annual event that Larry does with our church's youth group.  He is the outreach pastor & therefore coordinates members of the church with various outreach/mission projects.  Some are local, some are far away.  This one is right here in town.  The youth (who can be awakened from their summertime slumber!) gather at the church in the early morning hours & make the trip to a local food pantry our church supports.  They spend their morning bagging up dry beans for needy families, creating hundreds of small 1or 2 pound bags from the giant vats of beans.  Afterward, Larry takes them to eat lunch somewhere & returns to the church for their parents to pick them up.  That, my friend, is the Beanfest.

After the Beanfest, I was going to head to the church to pick up Savannah & let Larry finish his workday, but plans went awry.  Somehow during the time with the youth, Larry had a muscle spasm in his back that made it impossible for him to drive the vanload of kids back to the church.  A quick phone call to one of the other pastors fixed the problem.  Larry came home afterward (thank you Bo!!!) and took a muscle relaxer to get the muscle to release.  After a few hours of laying down to rest, he's almost completely better.  Thank you for the phone calls.  Quite a few of you found out about this somehow & called to check on Larry.  Wow!  Word travels fast, huh?

Tonight, I made these yummy things & put them with some veggies.  Everyone LOVED them & boy did they go QUICK!

Beef Stuffed Crescents

1 lb. ground beef (I used turkey.)

1 can (4 oz.) chopped green chilies

1 pkg (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. chili powder

3 cans of crescent rolls

 

Brown the meat, then stir in the chilies & spices.  Add the cream cheese & stir until it's fully melted & blended in.

 

Separate the dough into 24 individual triangles.  Place about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture on each triangle & carefully roll up to enclose the meat.  (It took me a few tries to get the fold just right to really enclose it so that it wouldn't leak out all over the place.)

 

Place the folded side down on a cookie sheet & bake at 375 for 11-14 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown.

 

YUMMMYYYYY!!!

 

When everyone finished eating & it was clear that Larry could direct their bedtime routine from his recliner in the living room, I departed for an evening of fun-filled shopping.  Well, I'm not sure how "fun filled" it really was, but you get the idea.  Back in the Spring, my class gave me a gift card to Target for a large sum of money. 

 

 

I went shopping at that time & found some denim capris & a shirt, a book that I was anxious to read and a CD.  I was left with about $40 & planned to go back later to spend it.  Tonight was that night!  With a couple of short weekend trips coming up, I wanted to see if I could find 1 more outfit with the remaining money.  I told a friend on the phone tonight that I was in hunt of an outfit that would make me look like a toothpick. 

 

 

While my hunt for that outfit was unsuccessful, I think I procured an outfit that will at least make me look like a small breadstick.  And for that, I am grateful.  ha ha! 

 

 

Let me just say, while I do love Target for most things, clothing for ME is not one of those things I love about the store!  You see, if you are not an itty-bitty person (I am not), the clothing options are drastically reduced.  This is not true in all stores, but in our local Target store, it definately is!  There is a vast array of clothing for the under-size-12 ladies, but anyone who crosses that line is in for a surprise.  While there is something like 900 racks of 'regular' sized clothing, there are only about 5 racks of plus-sized stuff.  Ugh.  Oh well.  I ended up locating 2 pairs of capris at Target (one navy, one chocolate brown).  I sorted through racks of tank tops & Tshirts (no thanks, I was hoping for something a little less casual) but never found anything resembling a button-up shirt or for that matter, anything that wasn't made of cotton knit.  And so, the 2 pairs of capris were my big purchase at Target.  Knowing that my whole purpose for shopping was to find an OUTFIT for my upcoming travels, I decided to drive next door & see if I could find a shirt to go with at least 1 of the pairs of capris.  Hooray!  I did!  While I still don't have a shirt for the second pair, I am OK with that.  At least 1 new complete outfit was found.  I'm sure I'll figure out something else to go w/ the other pair of pants!

 

I left to come home as a happy shopper.  It took me 2 stores & a few dollars in addition to the gift card to make my purchase, but I did it!  :)

 

 

And oh...........a biggie!  We got some RAIN last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

And it wasn't just a little rain!  It was a TON of rain!  After a couple of months without any rain, it was so very welcome!  Tonight on the news, it said that yesterday we were 1 inch under the average for the whole year.  As of today, we're over 5 inches ABOVE the average rainfall for the year!  Wow!  We were awakened about 4:30 this morning by Savannah crawling into bed with us.  The giant amount of thunder & lightening had woke her up & she was a little nervous about the rain, so she came to snuggle with me.  The funny thing is...both of the other kids slept right through it & barely knew that it had rained at all!  It's usually the other way around!

 

And because of that...I'm sleepy & headed to bed really soon!  Goodnight!

Monday Aug 11, Summer day 72

Today, Larry's cousin Marci got married.

Marci is 28.  She met her new husband, Craig, in the Army.  About a year ago, Marci finished up her service & did not re-enlist, but she still lives near the base where she was last stationed.

Today was the first time that my kids have been in a wedding.  Savannah was the candle lighter.  Sarah was the flower girl.  Samuel was one of the ring bearers.  All three of them did a great job.

During the wedding, they lit a memorial candle in honor of Marci's mom, Sandy, who passed away Nov. 9, 2006.  (go back in the archives & read about our sweet Aunt Sandy if you were not here to read about it at the time)

Sandy would've enjoyed the wedding today.  She sure was missed.

Larry did the ceremony today.

We fielded a few 'interesting' questions on the way home from the wedding.  Sarah asked how Craig had a son (the other ring bearer) if he was just now getting married to Marci.  After all, you can't have a kid without being married, right?  :)

Later, Savannah heard us talking about their honeymoon & asked what a honeymoon is for.  We gave a quick explanation that it was for the couple to have a short trip alone to spend time together as a newly married couple.  Later, she asked where we went on our honeymoon.  I told her we'd been to Dallas.  She asked "What did you do there?"  ha ha!  I love kids' honesty & innocence.

And here's the cutest one.  Here is another picture of the 2 ring bearers before I move on.  It'll help with this story.

Andre & Samuel became quick friends today.  They're about the same size (although 2 years apart) and since they were the only 2 little boys there, they buddied up pretty fast.  On the way home, Samuel told us how he & Andre had so much in common.  He said "We even look alike!  If we had the same kind of hair, the same color skin & eyes, people would think we were twins!"    ha ha!

What a great day!

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Sunday Aug 10, Summer day 71

As most of you know, Larry is a pastor at our church.  (www.roseheights.org)  One of the joys of being a ministry family is becoming a part of the lives of so many great people.  Learning their "story", getting to watch their kids grow, and being there for big moments in their lives.

This morning, we had some 'big moments' at church.  Last Sunday, our pastor did a sermon on baptism & then called for anyone in the church who would like to be baptised to come forward.  He talked about those who grew up in a different sort of church where they were baptised as infants, but had never been baptised for salvation later in life....or those who had backslidden & rededicated their life at some point who wanted to get re-baptised....or those who had never followed through & got baptised whenever they were saved....or those who were new Christians who wanted to be baptised.  Altogether, 51 people came forward.  Today was the day for ALL of those people to be baptised.

Larry & our pastor coordinated their efforts & scheduled the service this morning for 4 groups of baptisms.  We sang a little, baptised a few, sang some more, baptised a few more, and so on til all 51 people were done!

It was with a damp Kleenex that I watched so many good friends step into the baptismal tub, make a statement of their faith in Jesus as Savior, and be baptised.  Watching them step in nervous, and walk out grinning ear to ear was very touching.  I am so proud of each one of them.  It was an exciting morning!

And to top it off, at the end, our associate pastor held an altar call for others to come forward & accept Christ.  A couple of young men came forward--praise the Lord!  One of the pastors wives handed him a note stating that she felt like God was telling her there was 1 woman in the building who felt like she was "too bad" & "too far gone for God to accept her".  Our associate pastor read that to the crowd & prayed for that 1 woman to come forward & pray with the pastor's wife who had given him the note.  We sang one more song while we waited for that woman.  And then it happened.  A woman came down the aisle crying & went to the lady waiting at the front.  When they reached the front & embraced, the whole church cheered.  That lady ended up making a decision to follow God today!!  What a mighty God we serve!

It's been a good day!

Saturday Aug 9, summer day 70

I just finished watching a portion of the Larry King interview done earlier this week with Steven Curtis Chapman & his family.  A couple of days ago, I watched the Good Morning America interview, also online.  Wow.  In both interviews, the Chapman family relied entirely on their faith, pointed the world toward the HOPE they have in God and were profoundly inspiring.  Thank you, Chapman family, for being real & true to your faith.  One day, if only in Heaven, I look forward to shaking your hands & hugging your necks.

Speaking of neck-hugging, I'm getting more excited every day about my upcoming pilgrimage to meet Bethany!  It's coming up soon!!!!  Every time I think about it, my stomach does a little flip-flop and I get butterflies.  It has been such a long time coming and I can't wait!!!

On a totally different subject...
This morning, Larry took Sarah on a date.  She dressed in one of her nicer outfits, fixed her hair & even sprayed on a little perfume.  :)  They went to see Space Chimps.  They munched popcorn, slurped sodas & had a grand time.  I am truely blessed with an awesome husband who is a great Daddy to my babies.

While they were at the movies, I took Samuel & Savannah to the grocery store with me.  That's always fun.  ha ha!  They really did very well and didn't beg for everything we saw.  However, they each take a gift card to purchase an item for themselves.  Works for me!  My biggest area of trouble with them is having them watch where they're going & not stand in front of the buggy when I'm trying to turn it or move out of someone's way.  I guess that takes time & practice though.  They don't get much practice because I don't take them shopping very often.  Hmm....ok, who wants to make a donation for some shopping practice time?  Come on...we're talking about some important skills.  Right?  <snicker>