New Braufels or bust!

The kids and I left Thursday for New Braunfels. Cindy Medema and her daughters Rachelle and Samantha were already there. We looked at the maps and decided to venture to Landa Park the following morning. The kids watched a movie together Thursday night. It was a great sleep over. Cindy and I stayed up late catching up and sharing what the Lord was doing in our lives. It seems we never get a chance to do that very often and so it I will cherish our time. Saturday we traveled the long route to Landa Park because we a little lost. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and building castles. Kara got her wish to go on a picnic and after lunch the kids play more on the equipment. Cindy had a women's ministry event on Saturday so they headed home. After they left (we wished they could have stayed), we went swimming in the outdoor heated pool. The kids loved the idea of swimming in the winter. It was a treat and I even swam! We watched TV together that evening. On Saturday, we ventured to Gruene pronounced green. Our favorite place was Buck's Pottery. Mommy loved it as much as the kids. The owner showed the kids how to make a bowl using the potter's wheel and gave them clay to play with. He made them whistles in the shape of birds. He was so kind to them. I loved his work because he made useful things. I got a berry bowl, a tortilla holder, and a pie bird used for baking pies. We toured the town. The kids other favorite stores sold fossils. We spent at least 11/2 hrs. in there. Christian got a shell shaped fossil and Ethan got a orthaceras. It was an awesome store. After shopping, we headed down to the riverside. There has been a major drought out west and the river was very low. We enjoyed our stay and are grateful to our friends for inviting us.

visit

Granny and Grandaddy came down for Mr. Mercantel's funeral. We had lunch with them at Panda Express. It was nice seeing them even if for only a short while. We played with Brooke while they went to the funeral. Steph and Jeremy spent the night with us and they headed back Thursday.

Fun Day

We got to see Daddy via the webcam this morning! It was really late at night for him and early morning for us. He has been busy training and preparing for the exercises that begin on Friday. Thursday he has a day off so that they can visit Tokyo. He wants to ride the bullet train. We are taking a road trip on Thursday as well. Off to New Braunfels.
Today we got to spend time with Brooke so that her parents could prepare for the funeral. We then were visited by the Green's for a playdate. It was fun. We love catching up. The kids have grown so much and they didn't even disagree. Kara and Asa gave into temptation to feed Baby Alive food. Warning: Baby Alive food stains. I got most of it out of the carpet :)
After sending the Green's off with waves, we got dressed for the viewing. The flowers were so beautiful and the neatest part was the arrangement his wife made him. It was made out of vegetables!

Wow!

Our regularly scheduled home school week took a dramatic change! Jeremy's Grandpa died Sunday night at 9pm. Steph and Jeremy are headed down here for the viewing and funeral. We will watch Brooke as they take care of everything. Ange called saying she may be able to come down Tuesday or Wed. to support Steph and Jeremy. That means we get to see her and the twins!!! I'm sad about the loss but thankful to see family. Mom and Dad are coming down on Wed. We will definitely be blessed to see everyone this week with Albert being gone.

Our day

We went to church and heard a sermon on Genesis 19:15-29. The verses describe Lot being taken by the hand by the angels, he and his family, before judgment comes to Sodom. Pastor Renfro keyed in on the fact that Lot hesitated. He reminded us that we are reluctant at times to leave behind the world and its stuff. He used the family situation Lot was in and showed how fathers must do a better job than Lot in shepherding their wives and kids.
We stayed for lunch afterwards but I felt out of sorts (trial #2) being the new person not knowing many people and with Albert being gone made me much more sensitive.
This evening Christian shared with me his fears and how he misses his Daddy (trial #3). It was very touching. All I could do was agree with him and pray for him. We snuggled in my chair and he got better. The other two wanted some reassurance too so they took turns coming to see me. Ethan wanted it to be two Fridays tomorrow. Kara planned a picnic for us all to go on when Daddy comes home. I sure cherish those sweeties.

Prayer request

Please keep my sister, Stephanie, and my brother-in-law Jeremy in your prayers. He and his family are losing his grandpa, Jesse Mercantel. On the blog previously, I had lifted him up. He has not had dialysis in 4 days because his heart is too weak. Please pray for salvation and for the family to cope with his death. Stephanie is 7 mos. pregnant and is at home with Brooke who will be 14 mos. on the 9th. They will coming down for the funeral some time this week. Please pray for traveling mercy.

Sunday

We heard from Albert. He arrived in Toyko after 13 1/2 hr. flight. He finished a whole book on the flight. It was 7:20 am here and 10:20 pm for him. We saw pics that he took with his phone out the window over Siberia and Japan. He had a great shot of a snow covered volcano. We read our morning reading which is Exodus 27-28. We are thankful for technology! We blew each other kisses and he went to bed and we began our day. I'm baking bread pudding to take to church this morning for our afternoon service fellowship we have each week.

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Old song, new verse. Albert left today for Japan. After struggling emotionally and receiving healing from old wounds, I was joyful this morning. I can honestly say, I had peace and joy. Our past, in the military was bad, I mean horrible. Separation tried our marriage in so many ways. When he decided to continue in the Reserve this summer, I first denied the situation. I had thought we would be traveling with him and experience the benefits of home schooling. However, the reality set in when he was scheduled for a two week duty in Japan and we weren't going. I felt betrayed and I feared the change because of the past. Thankfully, God's promises are ALWAYS true. He was working all things together for the "good" as described in Romans 8:28. Issues in our marriage came out that we needed to overcome. I was called to "trust in the Lord" as Proverbs 3: 5-6 says "with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding in ALL my ways acknowledge Him and He will direct my path." In the middle of my fit pitching, my friend Carrie took me to Mardel's on FM 1960, a great Christian gift/book store. I found a book titled "Finding God's Path Through Your Trials" written by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth George. She is well known for her godly instruction for women and is the author of "A Woman After God's Own Heart". I read that book back in 2006 and it changed my mind on priorities and responsbility. It is a hard read because it is SO convicting. So if you need the counsel of a wise older woman who has been in your shoes read that book. Back to the trials, Elizabeth George was back to training me in this one too. I realized how spiritually immature I am. I moan, complain, and gripe about my circumstances. After crying my way through the book, I decided to try James 1:2 which says "my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." I wanted to see what the Lord had in store for me in the circumstance of Japan, the Navy and two weeks of separation. After all, He has never disappointed me when I waited on Him. His blessings have been painful but valuable. In the words of C.S. Lewis " He is not safe but He is good." My attitude changed and my behavior was not punishing towards Albert. I really chose to be excited about the opportunities afforded us both in the weeks to come. So that leads me to this morning at 5am as I dropped him off at the airport. I was definitely missing him but I wasn't devastated. I had confidence in a Holy God who is still on the throne.
He called me from Dallas and we discussed the morning Bible reading and we had JOY. We didn't miss out and we didn't moan, complain and feel sorry for ourselves. It was neat!
My first trial came in the way of my son, Ethan. We had a waffle brunch and he wanted more syrup. We've been instituting table manners for the last month. His brother, Christian reminded him to ask for the syrup. He however, got stubborn. That boy is part donkey sometimes. He refused to ask for it. He waited a few minutes and then hopped down from his stool and grabbed it off the table. He even said "now I've got it" with much contempt. I had already warned him if he didn't say please and ask that he would have to go lay on his bed and miss the movie the other two were watching after brunch. He then made a smart remark "I'll lay there all I want". Well, that cost him more than a missed movie.
After some time, I sent for him to come see me. He came down the stairs with his eyes shut. He wasn't going to "see me". Rebellion when you look at it is quite awful. I know he comes by it honest because I am the SAME way. I called him out on it and proceeded to remind him of the 4th commandment and then prayed for him. If you have a difficult child, lay hands on him and pray for him. I got that from Peter Fuhler from the Newsboys who said he was a handful as a child and many people laid hands on him (in more than one way!). He turned out to be mighty servant of God so there is hope. I spoke to him about repentance. I offered him the choices he had. It required a lot of patience on my part but I can't help but remember how much patience I have received from the Lord. He has and is waiting on me the same way in so many areas. I chose to have this go on in the rocking chair in my room. It is soothing spot and was used to nurse him when he was a baby. He, despite trying to maintain stubborness, layed his head on my chest and snuggled up to me. He finally said he was sorry and bounced off to play with Kara and Christian. I love forgiveness. Thanks, Lord for trial #1.

What's in the box

I got my All Clad pots and the box they came in proved to be entertainment for my kids. They took turns being mailed by Mom and Dad. The simple things...

Bunny's new home

Last week we received a blessing from the Foster family. I had posted a request for a rabbit hutch or cage and an aquarium to buy from anyone on my home school groups. I got an email saying we could have one that the previous owners of their house had left behind. Albert and the boys pulled the trailer over and picked up. The spent the afternoon power washing it and getting it set up. I am very thankful that the new home is now located in the garage. The wood shavings were everywhere!

Dress up and play date

Our friends, the Centilli's had a trying week last week. Mr. Grandpa, the elder Centilli was hospitalized after passing out at work. He has since returned home with no explanation as to what happened. At the same time, Cody Centilli went for an EKG after complaining of his heart hurting and experiencing rapid heart rate. We watched his younger brother Justin while he went for the exam. They finished early from St. Luke's and returned to play. Mrs. Carrie, who is also Kara's AWANA director, got to get her hair done and play doll house.

Animal rescuers

We had quite an exciting afternoon yesterday. The kids were eating popcorn for an afternoon snack when Christian raced outside to rescue a green goldfinch. He was in the paws of our cat Pony. We tried to let him go in the front yard but he was stunned. After putting him in the pet carrier, I tried to find out what type of bird he was and how to care for him. I looked on the TX Wildlife website and found an animal rehabilitator in The Woodlands. We gave her a call and then head her way. In route, the bird escaped out of the pet carrier and into the car. I pulled over and had Christian look for it. 20 minutes later, we still couldn't find it!! A man stop by us to asked if we needed help. I just said no thank you thinking how crazy it would be to say I've lost a bird in my Toyota Camry!!! We decided to continue towards the lady's house even though we didn't have the wildlife we rescued. We spent another 15 minutes searching the car, taking out car seats, in search of the little bird. Finally, Christian found him under the steering column hiding. Sherron, the bird lady, took him and settled him in a cage. She showed us the other animals she was caring for and her two personal birds a finch who is 12 yrs. old and a parakeet who is 13 yrs old.

I told her of our wildbird in HI who was a house finch named Chicken. He only lived a year and died when we went to see Mama Elkin in TX as she was dying. Although our neighbors cared for him, he missed us too much and died. It was very sad especially after returning from a funeral.
I called her today and found out he didn't make it through the night. The kids were comforted knowing he was in Heaven with our other pets.

How fast time flies by

These last few weeks have flown by!! So much going on. Last week we took Bunny to the vet for a check up and to get her nails trimmed. I got to be apart of Heart to Heart a ministry weekend for teenaged girls to learn about God's love for them. I was in the footwashing room and was blessed to pray with Ally, Jennifer, and Tetiana. It was a wonderful time of ministry. This past Saturday we celebrated the CPS birthdays at the Vineyard Church with the Back 2 Basics ministry. There were over 100 kids involved in the life changing message delivered and 25 kids were celebrated. Stephanie, Jeremy and Brooke were in town for a funeral so Kara and I got to spend time with Brooke. She is such a lovely child. We enjoyed our time with her Saturday afternoon. Sunday was our 2nd visit to our new church Grace Family Baptist on Spring Cypress. The after service meal allowed us to meet Roger and Pat who shared with us their home school journey.
Corinne and Jon got the keys to their new home today!! I called to check on her to hear the good news and she was touring the house with Katherine. Blessings to them!!
Saturday is my sister Angela's birthday. Happy Birthday Sis!!

More celebration

Ethan has really been blessed this year by so many. His Aunt Angela and Uncle Tom sent him a Walmart gift card and he bought the iDog. It wags it's ears to the music. Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jeremy sent him a gift certificate from Walmart and he got a knife and a sword with a sheath to wear on his belt. Aunt Dion and Uncle Nick got him educational items from US Toys and brought them to him. Thanks family for your love and support of Ethan.

Ethan's birthday celebration

Ethan turned 6 Friday! I can't believe my baby boy is so big. He is learning to read and growing so tall. He wanted to go to Incredible Pizza. The place was not busy and basically had it to ourselves. We enjoyed laser tag. They even let Kara do it. It was so much fun. He wanted real tools for his gifts and he got a crowbar, sledge hammer, electrical tape, tape measure, screwdriver set and wrench set.

Catch me, catch me if you can...

Speaking of the gingerbread man, a great book is Marsupal Sue and the Runaway Pancake by Jon Litgow. It has a CD to listen to and read along with the book. Montgomery Co. Library system has it to borrow.

Anyway, this year Kara received a gingerbread house for a Christmas gift from her Dad. We all spent the evening working on it. It was a lot of fun.

Tea Party

Rachelle had a tea party and the girls got to dress up for the event. Laura Evans came over too and helped the girls with their hair and make up. Cindy did a great job with the tea party food and the girls had a great time.

Lights in Montgomery

Sunday night we ventured up to Montgomery to Grand Harbor off of Walden Rd. Two homes in the gated community joined together for a light show. It was well done and fun for the adults and kids. To take a look at their site for next year visit www.dearingdazzle.com. Dion and Nick told us about it and they met us up there and we all had dinner afterwards.

Praise

I just heard from Barbara from Back 2 Basics and the Lord provided for over 300 teens in CPS with gifts and blessings. May the Lord richly bless each person who prayed, gave time and money to be apart of this as instructed in James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

Williams visit

The Williams visited us today. My sister was a day off on her trip so they waited to come down today and leave tomorrow for Colorado. We got to perform the play for them and baby Brooke was quite entertained. She was giggling :) We shared some cake with Uncle Jeremy and then they left headed to the hospital to see Jeremy's grandpa. He is in a rehab center off of FM1960. It was nice seeing them again. I hope they have a fun filled trip and enjoy snow pics of
Brooke!!

Afternoon celebrating

At 3pm, we were visited by Grandpa and Grandma, Aunt Maria and then Uncle Nick and Aunt Dion arrived. Christian received another Spike the Dinosaur from his grandparents but he graciously gave it to Ethan. We even told him he could take it back and get other things but he wanted Ethan to have one too. That was such a blessing to see. The kids received many nice gifts and were so excited to perform our Christmas play for the family.

More celebrating & Baby Alive

I made Albert a photo book this year. It was of all the pictures of him with us over the last year. It turned out nice.
Kara got Baby Alive, a Hispanic baby doll who goes potty. She speaks Spanish. That was a bit of a challenge for us all. Kara couldn't wait to feed her and give her a bottle. We ran out of diapers right away. It is a great doll but the green peas stain clothes!! I had to go to Target the next day and get preemie diapers for her. I can't believe I'm buying diapers again! And for a doll.

Christmas Play and Birthday party

This year we had our 1st Annual Christmas Play. It included shepherds, an angel, wise man, Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus. We even have a program printed. The kids did a great job and were quite entertaining. We concluded the reenactment with a prayer of thanksgiving and "Happy Birthday" to Baby Jesus.

Our celebration of Christmas

Merry Christmas! We enjoyed our time together and were thankful that Albert was home today. The boys set their alarm for 1:30 am and woke. Albert and I had just gone to bed at midnight. I was so out of it I thought I dreamed the whole thing. It was for real even the tears when they were sent back to bed until morning.

At 7 am everyone woke up. I was blessed because my kids handed me my presents before tearing theirs open. Such self control!! Christian got a new bike with a pterydactyl on it and Spike the Dinosaur. Ethan got the Milliuem Falcon which weighs 20 lbs! Kara got Baby Alive who eats and goes potty and a victorian doll house with all the accessories.

Christmas Eve

The kids were having a dressed rehearsal this morning. They all got up at 7am and said it was time to open their Christmas Eve gift. They are suppose to open it at night on Christmas Eve but they were just a little anxious.

The Donahue's visit

Elkin and the kids stopped by after a day of shopping with their grandmother. We exchanged gifts. The kids were so happy to see them. I was glad I got the sizes right! We ended up at Chickfila before they left to head back to Livingston.

More pics from Grandaddy's and Granny's

Celebrating early

We went to my Mom's and Dad's the weekend before Christmas week. We went up on Friday and opened gifts that night. It was a great time to see all the cousins playing together. We are thankful to everyone for our gifts.

Back 2 Basics

Thanks to everyone who has given. There is still a list of needs for the teens. Check out http://www.b2bminstry.com/ to find out how to help.

Order now so it gets here

I had to race today to get my order in to Walgreens before the shipping cut off. I made Albert a photo book with all the pictures of me, him and the kids over this past year. It turned out nice. It should get here Dec. 24.

Kiwano or African horned melon

I don't know about you but I loved seeing the exotic fruits and vegetables at Fiesta growing up. I was at HEB in Indian Springs Tuesday and I found this beautiful, strange melon. It was pokey like a catcus and bright orange. It said it tasted like banana and cucumber. I brought it home, cut off the pokey parts and saw that it had many seeds and was very watery. It tasted like a cucumber. We all tried some. It has a very unusual taste.

Good news

I got a great belated birthday phone call today from my dear friend, Jennifer. She got married this past Saturday. She and Cody have moved to Iola, TX, to live with Mike, her new husband. He patiently waited for her to finish her 3 semesters of OT school. She is doing fieldwork now in Bryan. Cody will start Iola Elementary in January. Blessings to you Jennifer and your new life!

Natalie's birthday lunch

Monday was my friend Natalie's birthday. She and I serve together in AWANAs and were in Sunday school together. Her husband had to go out of town and he is facing some serious heart health concerns right now. Please keep him and the Holder family in your prayers. Carrie Centilli and I took her to Chili's for lunch to celebrate her birthday so that all that is going on would not overshadow her birthday.

My Birthday

At the Christmas party everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. On Sunday morning, my parents called me and sang to me before I left for church. The Centilli's got me a beautiful cross with the nativity woven in the design. It is lovely. My family let me open my gifts before church and I received a new knife block and a set of wonderful Wusthof knives from Germany. Thankfully, I got the instructional video so I can learn to use them properly. I also got a foxtail palm tree.

The choir performed their Christmas musical and that was a real treat.

After church my family took me to Pappadeaux's. I had the sampler platter with lobster bisque which is my favorite! The kids were put out that they had to wait on their food and the serving manager noticed. She came over and offered us free dessert! We got three things to share which included mint cheesecake, brownie pie, and 7 layer banana pudding. Too yummy!!

Visit

Steph, Jeremy and Brooke came to visit Saturday evening. We had a great time playing with Brooke. She is so much fun and so adorable!

SS Christmas Party

Saturday night we went to our Sunday School Christmas party. Most everyone from the class came. We ate Mexican food and enjoyed the fellowship. We also played Catch Phrase which was too fun. I have to admit I hit the next button quite a bit when it was my turn. We will miss everyone and have enjoyed growing in Christ with them.