I'm back - I think...

It came out of nowhere... a big obstacle...
feelings of such hurt,
a desire to become secretive,
not to let anyone know anything else about my life

A lonely path,
one I needed to walk on my own.

And then I chose another path,
throw that hurt off the road

and enjoy the journey...

"Lord, we are all going to have moments of hurt. Moments when we don't want anyone to know anything about our lives because it just feels safer to not share. Thank you, father, for being completely trustworthy. Thank you, Lord, for being able to remove the ancient boundary stones and the places long ago devastated. I pray, Lord, that you would protect our family in the days to come and that you would help us to fully accept and love all of those around us. Please use us for your ministry, Lord, all of us - James, Austin, and especially me in the days to come."

Go Rays!

Austin and I enjoyed a wonderful weekend in Florida this week. We were there to celebrate the wedding of my brother, Adam, and his new wife, Sharon! Adam absolutely loves his Uncle Adam, and now believes that every time we pass a police car it is Uncle Adam at the wheel!

While we were home, we were able to celebrate the winning streak of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team! It is only fitting that Austin now has some baseball lessons!

The Alphabet Quiz

Something fun... and you might learn something new about your daughter, sister, or friend...

Alphabet Quiz
_
A. Attached or Single? Attached.
_
B. Best friend? Alison Ashley
_
C. Cake or pie? Chocolate cake... yum...
_
D. Day of choice? Friday!!!

_
E. Essential item/items? A Sharpie marker and wet wipes

_
F. Favorite color? Red

_
G. Gummy bears or worms? too sweet, i crave salty
_
H. Hometown? St. Petersburg, Florida
_
I. Favourite indulgence? Enchiladas Veracruz from Cantina Loredo
_
J. January or July? July
_
K. Kids? 1 - Austin
_
L. Life isn’t complete without? dreams... hopes... wishes:) and out loud laughter!
_
M. Marriage date? August 2
_
N. Number of brothers and sisters? One sister (Jenny) and one brother (Adam)
_
O. Oranges or apples? Oranges - I'm from Florida
_
P. Phobias? Heights and fairs - I think fairs are creepy, isn't that weird!
_
Q. Quotes? There isn't anyone you can't love once you know his or her story - Mr. Rogers

__
R. Reasons to smile? Orange Sherbet
_
S. Season of choice? Autumn and it's here!!
_
T. Travel Dreams? Greece
_
U. Unknown fact about me? I think I might have double jointed toes
_
V. Vegetable? Corn
_
W. Worst habit? Coca Cola! I love Coca Cola!
_
X. X-ray or ultrasound? I don't think I've ever had an x-ray, but have had an ultrasound...
_
Y. Your favourite food and restaurant? see above... Enchiladas Veracruz at Cantina Laredo
_
Z. Zodiac sign? Sagittarius- but I don't fit any Sagittarius descriptions:)

Now it's your turn! I want to know you from A-Z! Have fun!

Mommy's Photo Shoot!

I blog in mass amounts, can you tell?
Weeks can go by and I haven't written anything and then all of a sudden, four new posts. This is because all conditions must be write for me to post.

1) I need new pictures
2) I need to have something to say
3) the camera needs to be in my possession instead of the trunk of my car
4) Austin needs to be napping
5) the house needs to be clean (ha, ha, that is making me laugh out loud!)

Anyway, these pictures have been sitting on my camera and I wanted to share a story.

I don't know if it is the metabolism of a 30 year old... I don't know if it is the stress of a PhD... I don't know if it is just the fact that I love food... but none of my clothes fit right now. I decided that the time was right to change things, so I have been going to the gym several days a week and trying my best to eat right. After all, who has money to buy a new winter wardrobe??? As I see it, due to Texas heat, I still have a month or a month and a half before I even need to open my tubs of winter clothes, so I am hitting the gym.

The other day, Austin asked me if he could have a lesson on using the camera. How could I resist? I am the mother of a one and only son, this child can have anything he asks for :) (not really!) So, I taught him how to take pictures and here they are. A photo shoot just for mommy.

He stood back, looked at the camera after taking these pictures and said,
"Mmmm... you are beautiful, mum!"

What did you say, Austin? Did you just say the word beautiful?

"Yeah, mum, BEAUTIFUL!"

Forget the gym, I'm eating those bbq chips I hid away and wearing sweats all winter! My son says i'm beautiful:) How cute!

God's Still Working on Me!

God's still working on me
To make me what I ought to be
It took Him just a week to make the moon and the stars
the sun and the earth
and Jupiter and Mars

How loving and patient He must be
'cause He's still working on me!

That song was one of my all time favorite childhood songs to sing, and I love teaching it Austin now. When I saw him wearing this construction hat the other day, the song kept replaying in my mind. I am so thankful that God is still working on me and my family!

Happy Birthday, dear Truxton

The Birthday Parties have begun!

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!"

Some days are easier to "be glad" than others! I love birthdays. Absolutely LOVE birthdays! I believe that the entire month should be spent celebrating a person's birthday - especially mine:) After having been through the experience of birth, I now take birthdays even more seriously. There needs to be cake - a big cake! There needs to be presents... and there should be a party to celebrate that precious life that God has created and sustained.

So, when we received two birthday invitations for this weekend, I was thrilled! I know my limitations and my son's limitations, however, so we only said Yes to one of the parties!

Below are some pictures of Austin at Denton's version of a bounce house party place.

We were surrounded by bounce houses, bounce slides, bounce fire houses, bounce pirate ships, etc. etc., and Austin decided he wanted to ride a tractor for the first hour of the party!

Austin on a tractor

Hour 2 of the party, Austin finally decides to try a bounce house - look at the pride on his face for conquering his fears! Good job, buddy!

Singing Happy Birthday to Truxton

Drinking juice and wearing that precious party hat!

When we got home, I asked Austin to tell his daddy about the party. This video shows his response!

"for He who promised..."

When I was in college, I came across Hebrews 10:23... "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful."

He is faithful. When I am faithless, he is faithful.

This morning I have been thinking about something that makes me sad - it doesn't matter really what it is, we all have those things from our past and present. Those situations that we just don't understand and every time we think about it, we just feel sad. We wonder why things turned out the way they did... etc... why we lost that friend... Well, you understand.

Today is going to be a fun and busy day, and I really don't have time to sulk, so I decided to think about all the things that make me "oh, SO happy."

First of all, there is my boy.

and then there are simple things like bulletin boards. This is a picture of one of my sweet students, Kati, but I want you to look in the back. This week, I have been putting up a new bulletin board. The other teachers tell me that I change my bulletin boards too much. I do. But, how can I refuse... I am a teacher through and through and just walking through a teacher supply store gives me oodles of new ideas for bulleting boards.

Anyway, with the weather changing, I really wanted an autumn bulletin board. I asked my coteacher... "Is there a Bible verse that talks about autumn?"

Now, back to this morning... this post is so jumbled!
Feeling sulky, I decided to go to Bible Gateway.com to look up some verses to claim today. There was a verse written across the bottom of the page - the verse of the day.

“Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.”- Joel 2:23

Oh, he does bring the autumn! and he does bring the showers! The rain comes from him, and I can choose to look at it as an abundant opportunity or a reason to sulk. Today, I choose the opportunity.