A Bittersweet Christmas

As our family celebrates Christmas this year, there will be no way around thinking about the chair that will be empty. I have thought a lot about my dad in the last few weeks. About how he enjoyed helping Mom shop for all the grandkids during December and finding the best bargains in every store. He was notorious for waiting until the very last possible minute to buy the gifts that were just from him. Sometimes that made for some interesting presents for Mom! :)

One of my favorite ongoing memories of Dad at Christmastime is his famous "SAVE THE BOWS" followed by laughs everywhere and his putting all the bows he could find on his bald head. Heaven forbid we throw away a bow! We could use them for next year's gifts! :)

This year we will be doing things a little different and a little the same. We are going to spend part of our time together at a fancy hotel and do some special things together. Then we will go back to Grandmother's for our traditional gift opening time. Although Christmas will never be the same for us, we are looking forward to some special memories in 2007.

The blessing of family should never be taken for granted. It is truly a gift.

Pictures from Christmas 2006

Grandaddy helps Megan with her yo-yo

Grandaddy and Halle tell Brent something

Grandaddy opens his presents

More Birthday.... A Little Late!

Happy late birthday to my wonderful husband and friend! No, I did not forget, but we were out of town on his birthday, so I did not post on Friday. I am so blessed to be going through this life with such a wonderful man who loves me and is the perfect father for our children.

Birthday Time at Our House!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JONATHAN!!!

My baby is 10 years old today! It is hard to believe, but it's true! I am so proud of JP and all he is and all he is becoming. JP is a great friend and lots of fun to be around. We had a fun party on Saturday with some friends from school and church, complete with lots of silly challenges they all had to complete! (10 to be exact!) We will be celebrating at the restaurant of Jonathan's choice tonight. He can't wait for his presents!

Tag -- I'm It!

I've been tagged twice with the same questions, so I guess I will comply!

MY MAN!

1. Who is your man? Ken

2. How long have you been married? 16 1/2 years!

3. How long did you date? We dated for 12 months, then we were engaged for 9 more so a total of 21 months!

4. How old is your man? 38

5. Who eats more? Ken does, but he is always finished eating his second helping before I am finished with my first.

6. Who said "I love you" first? Ken

7. Who is taller? Ken

8. Who sings better? Definitely Ken! I am blessed to have him as my worship leader every Sunday.

9. Who is smarter? This is an interesting question, because if we are talking book smarts, we both help the kids with different subject areas of their homework. I pretty much help with Math, but he is always the better choice with history. He has an unbelievable memory for the smallest details and current events. I would have to be diplomatic and say that we tie in the day to day living smarts. We are a good balance for each other.

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine :(

11. Who does the laundry? I do most of it now that I am at home. But I learned early that even small children can sort their dirty laundry and put it up when it's clean!

12. Who takes out the trash? Our sons! (I love that they are older now)

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. It's funny, but in both the houses we have lived in since we've had kids, I managed to be the farthest from the door, so if the kids come in our room during the night, they go to Dad first! (Maybe I am the smarter one.)

14. Who pays the bills? I pay, but we budget together. (Thanks, Dave!)

15. Who is better on the computer? I guess we are about the same.

16. Who mows the lawn? Ken does a beautiful job with our front and back lawns. He takes a lot of pride in the outside appearance of our home.

17. Who cooks dinner? I usually do, but in our house whoever cooks does not have to clean the dishes, so I don't mind too much.

18. Who drives when you are together? Ken

19. Who pays when you go out? Ken

20. Who is more stubborn? Me :(

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Ken, almost always.

22. Whose family do you see most? Mine

23. Who kissed who first? Ken kissed me first in Nelson Park, but I knew it was coming!

24. Who asked who out first? Ken asked me out and cooked for me on our first date!

25. Who proposed? Ken (I'm smiling) What a great memory!

26. Who is more sensitive? Ken is more sensitive to others than I am. I probably take things more personally, though.

27. Who has more friends? I don't know, probably about the same, I guess.

28. Who has more siblings? I have a brother and sister, he has a sister.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Ken

30. Who is the biggest pushover with the kids? Ken. I definitely am more strict as a parent, but we have learned to show the kids a united front!

How fun this was! I can't believe I put it off! I tag AMY G., Erica, and Brooke!

What to Write?

I have been such a slacker when it comes to posting on this blog! I really want to write, but there is nothing there. Honestly, my days are like a roller coaster. I am having a great day, then the blahs hit. I know this is perfectly normal for where I am in life now, but I have hesitated to write because I think I feel this pressure to write something profound or uplifting, neither of which I have been given lately! (You may be thinking since when has she EVER written something profound or uplifting :) !

Anyhoo, I'm still here and plugging along! Today is my date day with my hubby, then movie night for us because the kids both got invited to do something with friends tonight! Life is good!

Pass It On

Have you ever noticed that when you are pregnant, all you tend to see is pregnant women? Or if you get a certain new car, you see that car everywhere you go? I had a realization today. Since my family and I are going through a time of hurting and heartache, I notice hurting people. I'm sorry to say I'm not sure if that is usually true. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a cold-hearted person that doesn't usually care about people, but things are different now. It's almost like I am put in situations where I run into hurting people. It happened today. I was in a store and saw a friend who I knew was hurting right now. I knew I had to go to her and listen, not out of duty, but out of understanding of a hurting heart. We stood in the aisle and talked and cried as she told me of her situation. Hopefully I was encouraging to her as I shared some of my struggles, but mostly listened. Pain has a way of drawing people together. Maybe it is because you know that person will understand and not judge.

God has given me such comfort in the last few weeks, through other Christians and directly from Him. Today, God knew I needed to be on the giving end. Thank you, God, for an awesome opportunity!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Cor. 1

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Jonathan and his buddies were getting a briefing from the coach on how to be an all star water boy! They did a great job of making sure the team stayed hydrated!

Brent played starting QB among other positions last night. He did a fantastic job! We were so proud of his football abilities and of his leadership abilities on the field and off.
Brent passed for lots of yards. He had great help with blocking, which gave him plenty of time to find someone who was open downfield.
Brent and his seventh grade teammates and friends. They put on quite a show. Even though the scoreboard didn't show that we won, I was so proud of the way our team played and the attitudes of the players and coaches afterwards. This is going to be a fun season!

Lunar Lunatics!

Who gets up at 5:30 to stare at the moon? We do, of course! Who gets their children up well before they have to so they can stare at the moon? We do, of course! Picture this. Up at 5:30. Sitting in chairs on our driveway. Staring at the sky. Trying to be quiet so the dogs won't wake everyone in the neighborhood. Not successful:( Eating Poptarts in the dark. Discussing with our kids why the moon moves in the sky the way it does. Getting eaten up by giant mosquitoes. Moving our chairs periodically so that we can still see the eclipse through the trees. Reminding our kids to be quiet because most people don't choose to be up yet. Being ready to leave for school on time. Priceless!

Overwhelmed

So many times when I hear the word overwhelmed, it has a negative conotaion, a feeling of despair or stress. But recently, I received an email from someone I do not even know well who let me know she was praying for us. Her specific prayer was that we would be overwhelmed with God's love and peace during this extremely difficult time. Those words brought me such comfort and it is evident to me that God is answering those prayers.

I don't believe I can think of a time in my life that I have felt so overwhelmed, but in a positive way. People have surrounded us with God's love in ways large and small. Many may even shrug off what they have done, saying it was nothing. But it has been everything to us.

I am going to attempt to list some things people have done to show their love. This is by no means an exhaustive list because I still can't remember the last two weeks very well, and I know many people have done things for us that we will never know about. My purpose in doing this is to remind myself of the blessings God has lavished on us even in difficult times, but it is also to remind myself that all things done in the name of Jesus are a blessing to others and give glory to God for who He is. I encourage you to think about little ways to give God glory by serving others. I know I am thinking about it constantly now that I have been on the receiving end of such blessing.

So here goes: praying, calling, sending cards, making food, sneaking in our house to clean it while we were gone (this included our kids' friends cleaning our bathrooms!), mowing our lawn, writing phone numbers in cards so that we could easily call if we needed people, driving our kids to school, picking our kids up from school, out of town friends sending restaurant gift cards because they couldn't be here to make us a meal, feeding our dog, sending flowers and plants, sending cards two weeks after the accident to my mom to let her know she is not forgotten, teachers watching out for my kids and helping them remember things they should remember on their own but can't right now, principals giving my kids permission to come to their office anytime of the day if needed to get away, doing our laundry, coming to my mom's house to organize the large number of food dishes and making sure we were all eating (this sometimes got forgotten in the stress of the days after the accident) then cleaning up the kitchen and putting the food away, staying at mom's house and answering the phone while we were making funeral arrangements, watching children while their parents were preoccupied with arrangements, far away friends listening to our tears on long distance calls, blog posts about my dad, attending the visitation and the funeral, taking our car to fill it up with gas so that we would not have to stop to do that, coming to our home to get all the clothes we forgot to bring because we were so frazzled with the news, driving those clothes to us (2 hours away), sending a gift bag full of goodies for the grandkids, sending "letters from home" from our church family to encourage us (one for Ken and I and one for the boys from their youth group), sending memorial donations to great causes in the name of my father, sweet emails to encourage us, people who didn't know my dad allowing us to talk about him and share his life, people who knew my dad telling us things they loved about him, people at church stepping up to teach our classes, and the list could go on and on!

I am so encouraged after writing this. I hope I can overwhelm a few people with God's love today.

Dad's Last Public Prayer

My dad was a praying man. I don't remember his prayers being especially wordy. I don't remember them being flowery and formal. But I do remember them being straight from his heart. Not long after arriving at the hospital where my dad had been taken, my mom told me that Dad had said one of the prayers at church the day before. In that prayer he said a phrase that he spoke in almost every prayer he prayed publicly. It went something like this. "We long for the day we can worship you, our Creator and Savior, forever and ever." My daddy had no idea he would be doing that in just 36 hours. I am so happy for him!

Today I took a two mile walk and listened to some music and tried to process what was happening in our lives right now. On my MP3 a song that I have always loved came on and brought me tears of joy at the thought of my dad worshipping around God's throne right now. It is a Chris Rice song entitled "Circle Up." If you have never heard it, please find it and listen to it. It paints a beautiful picture of our future in Christ!

My Dad

I never thought I would be blogging this post, at least not now. Last week began with a terrible phone call telling us that my father had passed away in an accident. The week has been a total blur and my thoughts and feelings are still reeling from the shock. My mom, my brother, my sister and I and all our spouses and kids are grieving terribly, but we have hope!

My dad was a beautiful person full of God's love for others, willing to give of himself until there was nothing left. This was evident in the almost 300 visitors to the family visitation at the funeral home and the 444 people at the funeral (in a church that is full at 300!). We have heard so many stories of how people were touched by my dad's life in all kinds of ways. Some we knew about, but some are a total surprise. You see, my dad served others in a perpetually selfless way. There was nothing about him that wanted attention or recognition for his acts of service. That's just the way he was.

If you are a regular reader to my blog, you may get tired of hearing stories of my dad, but there are so many things I want to tell about him. I just wish everyone could have known him like I did. I am so blessed.

An Organizing Adventure!

The kids are away, the carpet man is here, and I am home all day. What's a girl to do? Well, organize, of course! I have already done a lot of organizing that is visible to no one but me, like paperwork, etc. My next organizing adventure will be in the boys' room. (Oh, they will be so thrilled when they get home!) Right now, their room is piled high with everything from Kendra's room since she is getting new carpet today. (I'm sure she would be thrilled if she only knew!) When it is ok to move everything back, I will begin the transfer of stuff from boy world to the land of pink! Then boy world will get a nice tidying up! It's so much easier to do it when they are gone! Shhhhh! Don't tell them... I want it to be a surprise!

So Blessed!

I have spent the last week being totally spoiled. I spent the first three days at my parents' house relaxing, touring the museum, and shopping with just my mom and sister! (Dad kept 4 kids and did a beautiful job! Thanks, Dad!) Then my husband came and whisked me away for three days with just him. We did a whole lot of fun stuff in the big city with responsibility for nothing and no one!

Now, I'm home with a lot to catch up on, very tired, but feeling great! I am truly blessed!

God's Artwork

I have a husband who so enjoys working outside in our yard. He does such a great job at making it beautiful for us to enjoy. He also loves to work in his garden as is evident by the baskets of vegetables in the first picture we have given away this weekend! Our freezer is full, and we are eating them as fast as we can. It is fun to share these with others.

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One of my favorite flowers in the yard is shown in the second picture. It is called a passion flower and the picture does not do it justice. It grows on a vine with beautifully interesting shapes and curly-Q stems on them. Then every now and then there will be a bloom. When it opens fully, you can see the interesting shapes and colors all throughout the flower. It is truly one of God's best works of art, in my opinion.

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Take some time today to notice God's beauty around you. We serve a creative and generous God who shares his creativity with us in many unbelievable ways!

Random Confessions!

I'm frugal and proud of it! Yesterday was a great day for me. It began with a "quick" trip to Target to see if we could find some uniform shirts for school. We found the polos and then some. We stumbled upon jeans for school at 75% off, which means we bought 6 pair of jeans for less than $25. (No, I'm not kidding)
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I'm a planner! Anyone who knows me knows I like to be organized and I like to plan ahead. School does not start for another month, but because of upcoming trips and other commitments, I wanted to get the majority of the boys' school supplies bought this week. We began by checking to see what we already had on hand, which turned out to be a lot of stuff. We now have our list to purchase what we need, which we will purchase today.
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My kids play too many video games! Last year, I implemented the "play as many video games as you wish" rule, "as long as you also read for the same amount of time." This plan worked beautifully, and the boys read several books over the summer. This year, we "suggested" the same plan (in my quest for giving my sons a little more freedom and independence to make good choices). It's not working so well. Six weeks into the summer, I'm not sure if either has finished a book of substancial length! So I will be helping them make better choices for the remainder of the summer! But the talk about the excessive video game playing prompted a great idea. My 9 year old wanted to have a sleepover with two of his friends, but he decided it would be a "no video game" sleepover! We began to look around the house and realized all the cool stuff we had to do! His list of things to do at the sleepover is way longer than the time they will have to create so much fun! His 12 year old brother is even planning on inviting a couple of friends, too!
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I read books and blogs about being organized! My latest favorite is here. This lady keeps me laughing and organizing! One of my favorite gifts ever was a labeler that was in my stocking a couple of Christmases ago! I also keep various tubs, boxes, crates, etc. on hand "just in case" I might need them!
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Even though I love to organize spaces, most of my spaces are still unorganized! I managed to clean out a cabinet yesterday in search of school supplies. It made me realize how much I enjoy the act of organizing. Maybe I will be inspired to keep going today. Or maybe I'll take a nap instead!
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Whew! I feel better! Confession is good for the soul!

Life Is Just Beachy!

Beach Bum!
Boogie Boardin'
J.P. and Logan
Cousins minus Brent!

Vacations are just plain fun ... and tiring! When I was a kid, I didn't realize how much work vacations were, but now that I am the one who has to pack, load, drive, unpack, keep the peace, make sure everyone is having fun, etc., I am so thankful to my mom and dad for all the fun vacations we went on as kids!

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J.P. and I just arrived home from a great time in Galveston with my sister in law and her kids, my sister and her kids and my mom. It was so much fun to see the cousins all playing and interacting together and having an all around good time! My sister in law rented a condo for the month and invited us to come down this week. It was so sweet of her to include all of us.

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Now we are back to the real world of unpacking and laundry and paying bills, but it is all worth it for a few days on the beach!

Ice, Anyone?

Life is weird! We have owned our refrigerator for about 13-14 years. In recent years, its ice maker will periodically stop making ice, usually when we are having people over! It's not a big deal because we usually can move the stop bar up and down, hit it a few times, and then it kicks back in.

Yesterday, I kept hearing weird noises coming from the freezer, but didn't pay much attention. Then when we were getting drinks for dinner, my husband realized that the ice machine had a mind of its own! It apparantly has been making ice nonstop for the past couple of days, even though we have turned it off. There is ice everywhere in the freezer! It is an ice machine on steroids!

I guess that is what we get for hitting it when it didn't work! :) Oh well, better too much ice than not enough in the summer! When life gives you ice, make some iced tea!

Unexpected Thanks

While driving home from camp, my 9 year old was discussing different people he met during the week long session. He was quite amazed at some of the kids and their ability to get away with as little as possible. You see, my son is no perfect child, but he has always been a very hard worker. I have memories of him in diapers helping me sweep and mop the kitchen. Anyway, after discussing some of the campers who shunned many of their responsibilities, my sweet son paused, then said "Y'all are really good parents." Was I dreaming? Does this kind of thing really come out of a 9 year old's mouth? I thought kids were at least 30 before they realized that their parents had a few redeeming qualities.

He went on to explain that we have never given him nor his brother everything they always wanted. We have always expected them to do their part in our home. Now our kids are not mistreated by any means, but they do have their chores. I think he realized what spoiled brats and otherwise good kids with little expectations given them that there are in the world. What a great lesson to learn at an early age. He can go back to this camp every year!

Thank you, Father, for the little bits of appreciation. You have blessed us immensely with our family.

Let the Stories Begin

After posting infrequently on my other blog (http://www.adoptingkendrakate.blogspot.com), I decided to create a blog that is more for day to day stories of life. I am a true believer that everyone has a story to tell, but for some reason, we don't share them. Maybe we are afraid or maybe we just don't take the time. Whatever the reason, we have to tell our stories! It helps us know who we are and where we are going and it helps others see that we are all in this thing we call life together!