Ivy League

Be Back ... Later

2012-01-09T13:58:00.001-06:00

I have debated for about two weeks now how to write this post. You see, I am not one for cliff hangers. In fact - I HATE cliff hangers. I'm that person that is just angry at the end of every season when all the good shows leave you hanging so that you'll be sure to watch the season premiere. I don't like the "not knowing".

However, that is what I'm going to be leaving with you with today.

If we're friends then there is a chance you already know what is going on in our lives and I would imagine (hope anyway) that you totally understand why I will be walking away from the blog for a while. However, if we don't know each other (like some of the followers on here ... or some of the lurkers who don't comment or follow, but who my tracker logs for me) then you aren't going to understand.

I cannot blog right now.

I do not know when I will be back and while it pains me not to record some of the fun stuff the kids are doing and write down my feelings and post my pictures that I always love looking back on, it is what has to be done right now.

I'll be back .... .... .... later.

Turkey Day 2011

2011-12-10T08:32:00.000-06:00

Since it's almost Christmas, I figured it was time to get my Thanksgiving post on here.

Thanksgiving was weird this year. Not bad - just different. We don't necessarily have a Thanksgiving tradition. I mean, we seem to be in a different place at a different time every year. Last year we were at a family reunion. The year before that we went to Dallas to Medieval Times to celebrate Craig's birthday and the end of football season. I can't remember back any further than that, but it seems we don't really have any set schedule or tradition for Thanksgiving and as sad as that sounds (or looks) ... it sure is freeing at times.

Some years you just really want to spend the entire holiday season with friends and family and parties and cooking and baking. You have all the shopping done a month in advance and everything is wrapped and instead of stressing about everything, you're making hair appointments. That was last year.

And then there are the other years.

I don't really have a point in that above paragraph other than saying that our lack of traditions at Thanksgiving is always really nice right after football season when I don't want one other stressor in my life.

So, this year - our plan was to drive over to Waco to Rick's sister's house and have Thanksgiving with them leaving in time to make it to College Station to attend the ATM vs UT game and then drive home. Then, rest up on Friday and drive down to Gonzales to have Thanksgiving with my parents and brother and his wife on Saturday. And while it was slightly weird (2 Thanksgivings, a football game in CS, etc...) - it worked.

It started on Wednesday when Rick and I spent 12 hours in the kitchen (count 'em folks - I'm not making that up) making our gluten-free, egg yolk free, nitrite free, sulfite free ... I don't feel like typing all the other "free"... Thanksgiving meal. However, for a post about that you'll have to wait a few days and then visit the other blog (http://www.romans6-13.blogspot.com/) where I'm going to share that story in detail.

Thursday morning we got up and packed everything - an ENORMOUS amount of food for one day complete with ice chests and Whole Foods bags and drinks and extra clothes ... We rolled Julie's hair Wednesday night so she was all dolled up and gorgeous. (I know this because she told me so.)

Everyone got to my sister in laws (M.A.) house about 11 am and began putting together the meal. This is my sister in law Katy (and me). It is the only picture I am in THE ENTIRE THANKSGIVING WEEKEND (other than the family shot). When my children grow up and see that I am never in a photo on the holidays, I hope they understand it is because I was BEHIND the camera.

The boys were watching some ~~pointless~~ football game while the women did all the work. (My brother in law Shawn is not a redneck - although this picture leads you in that direction doesn't it?)

We got an almost family picture right before everyone had to jet. It's missing some people so you can't call it an official family picture. However, it does serve as a reminder of who was there and where we were and what we did.

We headed over to College Station for the game and Rick and Craig attended while Julie and I hung out at the movies.

They had a great time, but had to stand for the entire game as the stadium was packed and their tickets were standing room only. Obviously, Craig sat at times. But, Rick stood the entire time and is still having back pain because of it. (Seriously.) (We originally were going to leave the kids at Mary Alice's and Rick and I were going to make a date out of the game. However, it got too complicated with travel plans, so we x'd that idea. THANK THE LORD!!! Can you see me standing for four hours in a wet, cold stadium surrounded by obnoxious football fans with no snacks and a husband who won't visit because he's footballing? Oh. my.)

Julie and I enjoyed our movies: The Muppets and Jack and Jill. However, the late night was torture. Me and the Juju are NOT night people. So, waiting until 11 p.m. to pick up the boys from the field was agony for us. But, we did it ... and then we made Rick drive us home and we all promptly fell asleep before we hit the city limits sign.

We ventured down to Gonzales Saturday where these two caused constant trouble.

They were up to entirely NO GOOD in that photo. I'm glad they get along, but one of these days I'm thinking they're probably going to need me for bail money. I love them, though. And this photo of both of them with their heads thrown back cackling at their own jokes makes me laugh.

The boys played a little football in the backyard. What's Thanksgiving without football, right?

The kids started on their Christmas ornaments and got two painted before their attention spans ran out and and they were off to wrestle down a grandparent or an aunt or uncle.

And Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete if we didn't shoot something.

Here they were having a contest to see who could hit a can the most times with the bb gun. You never know though when you walk out the door if it will be a can or a bucket or some innocent squirrel or frog or something. I kid you not - I have walked out the backdoor before to find them shooting at an emu.

We enjoyed a great meal together and then hung out for a few hours before heading back into town to get ready for Sunday. (That's how you know you either grew up in the ministry or have family in the ministry .... On Saturday night, you "get ready" for Sunday.)

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving 2011 and we were immensely grateful for the time with family ... the laughter, the jokes, the fellowship. I hope your Thanksgiving was thanks-filled and wonderful as well.

Funny Kiddo's

2011-11-18T13:57:00.000-06:00

My kids have made me laugh quite a bit lately. I thought I'd share some of their "finer" moments with you ...

~ Julie came home last Friday and told me "Happy Veterinarians Day, Mommy!" and then proceeded to tell me all the ways they had celebrated and studied veterinarians that day at school. The one part she couldn't figure was why they honored this little girl whose entire family had been in the Army. What did that have to do with Veterinarians Day?!

~ I found these chocolate donuts at Sprouts that are gluten free so I got them for the kids for breakfast one morning. They came frozen, so I stuck them in the oven for 2-3 minutes to thaw them out and loosen them up a bit. Then, to make sure they tasted good and weren't cold in the middle, I bit into one. The kids came down and gobbled them right up, but commented on how I had taken a bite out of one of them. Julie also mentioned her stomach hurting after she finished breakfast. (It's no wonder - you ate three donuts, child!) I thought nothing of it, but noticed my stomach began to hurt about mid morning while I was out on a photography job. Then, picked them up from school only to learn Craig had dealt with upset stomach all day. So, we began to discuss in the car how we probably had caught a little bug and not to worry about it. It would be gone soon. Nope. They convinced themselves that it was the donuts. Nothing would change their minds. Rick never got the little tummy ache and their opinion is that this is because he never ate the donuts!

~ Julie had to change clothes at school the other day. Rick dressed her after I left for work and put her in a pair of ratty denim, play shorts that had holes in the butt. So, obviously - she got to school and they were appalled. Well, a few days later, Craig put on a pair of jeans for school that had a worn out (very in style looking) hole in the knee. I asked Rick casually if we should make him change so that he didn't get in trouble at school. Rick said no - that the holes just couldn't be in inappropriate places. Craig overheard the conversation and then proceeded to tell us (and show us) all his inappropriate places.

~ I picked up the kids from school the other day and they had decided with some of their friends that they are going to ride their bikes to school from now on. If you know where we live and where their school is, you're already laughing. If not, let me just tell you - it is over six miles from our house and takes fifteen minutes to reach by car. Can you imagine a 6 year old and 9 year old on bikes hiking it across town crossing major highways and the busiest intersection on the tollway at 6 a.m? I tried talking some sense into them, but nothing would do. So, I drove the route with them and showed them that more than 3 miles of it contain no sidewalks. "NOT AN ISSUE, MOM! We can ride our bikes in the grass!" (By grass, they mean pastures.) I asked them about cold weather and rainy weather. They informed me they like it. So, once football season is over, we're running a little experiment with them. We're loading them up on their bikes and then following them in the van to see how far they make it. I'm placing bets on the two mile marker. ;)

No Blog Award for Me :(

2011-11-16T14:23:00.000-06:00

Surely I've blogged between now and my last post, right? I mean - what kind of blogger would go 2 1/2 months without some sort of post?!!

That would be me.

I guess I'm not winning the award for consistency this year. (And boy, has it been a year!!!)

However, I will update you on where we've been and what we've been doing. (But only because my friend Corrie texted last night and threatened me.) ;)

Craig got off to a really rough start in school. By rough, I mean - they called us and threatened to revoke his transfer. There was MUCHO drama. Long story short, we adjusted a few of his meds and then after 3 more weeks had them change his teacher. He has done FABULOUS with the new teacher. I am absolutely amazed at the difference a teacher can make!

We celebrated his 9th birthday by allowing a friend to spend the night with him. Rick took them to Jumpoline, to the movies and to buy new video games for the Wii. I made cupcakes that were safe for all of us to eat and we all had a great time.

Julie is rockin' along in first grade. She is an amazing reader, but her math skills are like her mama's. She adores her teacher who is raising four boys and thinks Julie is a nice change from the testosterone at her house. She has lost both her front teeth which has made for some awesome pictures these first few months of school. They are growing in very slowly so it seems we'll be waiting awhile for a big tooth-filled grin.

She still has trouble with her "r" consonant and we are waiting (and waiting and waiting) on this last speech impediment to make it's grand exit. (All the others have ... )

Rick is in the 2nd week of playoffs right now and is moving ninety-to-nothing at all times. He has lost a total of 50 pounds now and is feeling great. He wants to start working out when the season is over and turn everything into muscle. I think he looks amazing.

He is still teaching IPC (Integrated Physics and Chemistry) and only asks me occasionally for help. (ha, as if) He is the only one teaching it at his school so he has the advantage of getting to do it how he wants but the disadvantage of having to do it all himself.

His birthday is in a few days and he's turning old. (When did we get this old?!)

I am still working my photography job but loathing most of it. :(    I enjoy having the camera and being able to do stuff on the side. However, the company I work for is the pits and they drive me insane. They're very unorganized and flighty. They have sent me to the wrong address, sent me hours early/late, lost my paperwork, etc... I don't hate the early mornings or the dragging around 100 lbs of equipment. However, I cannot stand their lack of preparation and professionalism. I attempted to talk to my boss about it and he in turn cut my hours and began sending me to the schools that were farthest from my house. So - that went over well. I'm praying God will provide something else so that I do not have to do this next semester.

In other news ....   We are headed to Waller Saturday for the second game of the playoffs. (They couldn't find anything further away, I guess.) If we lose, we're out and football is over. (I could cheer for that.) If we win, we go to Dallas (the only place further than Waller) next weekend for Game #3. (They're hoping to rent out the Cowboys stadium for that one.) (I could cheer for this one too.) I guess you could say that I could be excited about either outcome. One brings my husband home. The other is tangible evidence of just how awesome he is and furthers his career. (Not to mention it's exciting and he loves it!)

I am stressing BIG TIME about Thanksgiving this year. It will be my first time to pull off my own Thanksgiving dinner.   I have never cooked a turkey or dressing or any of it. NOT ONLY THAT - but I've got to figure out how to do it gluten free, egg-yolk free, dye free, salicylate low, artificial sweetener free, nitrite free, and sulfite free. Shoot me now. If we win Saturday, Rick will actually have football practice on Thanksgiving day, so that will throw a mild wrench in the plans. If we lose, we are supposed to travel to Waco for the day for Thanksgiving. I have no idea how to transport an entire Thanksgiving meal a few hours east and still have it be awesome by the time we're ready to eat it. STRESSING!!

Our latest bit of excitement came yesterday in the mail. I had been watching the bank account waiting on the rent check to come through. We always pay it around the first of the month and then they usually cash it by the tenth. Well, here it was the fifteenth and they STILL hadn't cashed that check. (It was ticking me off.) So, I asked Rick to call them and just see what was up. He called, left a message and they never would call him back. What the heck? I came home from work to open the mail and find an EVICTION NOTICE telling us we had to vacate within 24 hours or face criminal charges.

I know you think I'm calm, cool and collected :) but   I      P-A-N-I-C-K-E-D.

Called Rick screaming. Scared the kids half to death.

Long story short - the leasing company had filed our check in the wrong place / misplaced it. After Rick called and threatened them telling them we would be willing to prove that we paid using their own video surveillance system, they decided to look for it and (WOW!!!!!) they found it. They issued an apology and promised to shred the eviction notice. Too little, too late geniuses! You already caused heart failure!

I don't like that statement "alls well that ends well" because just between you and me - my stomach is still turning a bit from the drama yesterday so even though it ended well ... all is not entirely well. Rest assured that I will be requiring a receipt each time I pay our lease now .... a receipt written in blood!!! (Insert evil laugh here.)

Ok, just kidding. I will be inquiring what we can do to make sure this never happens again though.

So there's your update Corrie ... and anybody else that decided to come back over for a little Ivy League. I have done a mildly better job of keeping up with the other blog if you want to venture over there as well. (http://www.romans6-13.blogspot.com/) And order you a Craig's Meal or two. They're a hot commodity right now! (Not to mention that they might be my ticket to getting to quit the unorganized photography job.)

The Why Behind the What

2011-08-30T07:59:00.000-05:00

We haven't just taken away every single favorite food our children have ever loved. We've shared with them WHY regarding each and every single food. We turn over every single package and show them why they can't have it. Sound mean and heart wrenching? Probably does.

However, in teaching them they WHY behind our eating habits and lifestyle, it has enabled them (educated them) to be able to examine foods or products offered to them when we are not around them and the ability to decipher whether or not they should consume it or use it.

Take Julie's run-in with her school nurse yesterday. (Who would've known the school nurse would be our arch-enemy in all this?!!) I wrote about it on our other blog. And, the next time you think your kid isn't old enough to make wise decisions, remember this little six year old fire cracker who took on her school nurse! ;)

Go! Fight! Win! Panthers!

2011-08-26T08:00:00.001-05:00

Well here we are ... embarking on the first KICKOFF for the 10th consecutive year. If you've been around for this whole journey, you know where we've been ...

First we were Tigers. Go Maroon & Gold!

Then we were Broncos. Go Blue & Orange! (Who thought up that color combination?!?!)

Then we were Lobos. Go Blue & Silver! (which later was switched to black just to tick off the principal)

Now we stand as Panthers. Go Blue & Gold! (my favorite color combination thus far)

Tonight is the first kickoff of 2011.

I am excited. And nervous. And looking forward to it. These are all normal feelings for the first game. (And nauseous, dreading, and weary are all normal feelings for the last game of the season.)

I remember when Rick switched his major in college and decided he wanted to be a coach. (I married him cuz he was gonna be a doctor and then he pulled a fast one on me.) I'll never forget the "normalcy" of it. It was almost as if we all knew that was what he'd eventually do anyway. It just seemed (and felt) right.

The thing I like best about his coaching is his strategery (if I may borrow a word from my beloved Bush). He is "normal" until you count his strategy factor. He is always one step ahead of the other team. He NEVER just gets lost in the game. He's always got a plan. (He argues this way as well which absolutely unnerves me. I argue by yelling as loud as I can with no plan at all in place.)

Football season always brings with it sets of challenges. It was particularly draining when the kids were babies as I would reach the end of my rope quicker and not have anyone to fall back on. However, the challenges are different now and I would venture to say slightly easier now that the children wipe their own behinds and bathe themselves. (If they would just learn to clean up their own vomit ... )

Granted, not seeing my husband until 8 each night during the week and then not seeing him at all Thursday morning through Saturday dinner is rough. However, I've said it before and I'll continue to say it (until I find a job harder than staying at home) - STAYING AT HOME WITH YOUR KIDS IS MUCH, MUCH HARDER THAN GOING TO WORK. And - with both kids in school now and me working, things are tiring at times, but not near the challenge they were when the monkeys were 3 and 1.

So, I'm not real sure what this season holds. And the thought of playing all the way up until the last week before Christmas is seriously scary. However, it's hard to be a buzz-kill about your husbands passion in life (unless you're like the worst wife ever, which I'm not ... .... ..... anymore).

So, with slight trepidation but mostly pure excitement, I say "Go Panthers! Beat the Bulldogs!"

Part Vampire?

2011-08-25T08:00:00.001-05:00

Garlic anyone?

Sometimes you gotta learn your lessons the hard way, you know?

I'm not certain Craig has ever learned a lesson the easy way. However, some people are just like that. I'm one of them.

I refuse to just take your word for it. I need to try it. If you tell me something won't work, I will try it out just to prove you wrong. And - sometimes I find that people were wrong. It actually WILL work! And then other times I find out that people (my parents) actually knew what they were talking about. [sigh]

Craig got a little of this tenaciousness in his sweet spirit. So, last night when he decided to "help" me cook dinner, I knew there were would be an adventure somewhere in there. He didn't disappoint.

I put him in charge of the stinky job - peeling garlic. He LOVED it. He is all boy and he loves garlic to boot! So, I asked him to peel me 3 garlics and he peeled me 5 telling me all the while that he felt like if 3 was good, 5 would be even better. (Thankfully we were making spaghetti so his reasoning was pretty spot on.)

When we had chopped up the garlic and added it to the meat, he noticed there was an extra clove left on the counter.

"Mommy, can I eat this?"

I informed him that he wouldn't like it.

Notice I didn't say no?

"But, can I eat it?"

I told him that it tastes terrible when it isn't cooked.

"But, I can eat it, right? I'm going to eat it."

To which I replied, "You might better have a glass of water ready."

I'd like to tell you it ended pretty. However, you've probably tasted raw garlic. You know the bite it has.

Craig now knows as well.

First Day of School

2011-08-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

It seems like just yesterday that I had two little ones at home under my feet. And now - here they are ... 3rd grade and 1st grade.

They headed back to school on Tuesday.

Excited doesn't even begin to cover it. They were ready.

I'm sure one of these days we'll hit the "I don't want to go to school anymore" mark, but so far, we just love school. (That's good considering they have at least 13 more years of it!)

We got them up around 6:30 am and I made gluten free peanut butter toast with bananas. Craig immediately sprang from the bed excited to start his first day. Julie rolled around stretching for about five minutes. (Normal.)

Rick and I went together to drop them off. (In the future, he'll take them because I'll already be at a school taking pictures.) Craig walked about 20 feet in front of us through the entire school and promptly found his room, got in his seat and immediately went to work. Julie was a little more tentative hanging very close to Rick, but she definitely wanted us to drop her off and leave. Rick was slightly on edge all morning as they have changed to block scheduling and he is fit to be tied about it. (He's been a real joy lately, let me tell ya! If he didn't look so hot after just losing 40 lbs, I'd make him live at the school during football season.)

Thursday night we went to Meet the Teacher so they could get a feel for their new room and I could lay eyes on their new instructor.

I was uber-happy that football practice was at some crazy morning hour (like 4 a.m.) so that Rick could attend with us that night.

Having dropped off all their school supplies Thursday night made Tuesday morning a cinch!

They are riding the bus this afternoon for the first time EVER to after-school care. Mama's nervous!! However, it's either the bus or don't eat. I'm thinking I chose the lesser of two evil's here ...

Express Yo'Self

2011-08-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

We had the privilege of ~~suffering through~~ no, ~~enduring~~ no, going to a Round Rock Express game Sunday evening. I LOVE the Express stadium, but I was once again reminded of why I am good to go with only one game a year. It was 106 degrees when we climbed out of the van and headed to a little carnival they had setup in the parking lot for the kids.

Don't let those blowing flag trick you. The wind was NOT blowing .... at least not near enough!

They had set up these cute little inflatables and a trackless train to entertain the kiddo's before the game started. Our kids played for about 15 minutes and couldn't take anymore of the heat.

Rick says "Go Express!"

I say "Go Clock!" (or whatever it takes to end this sucker in record time)

The train was right up Julie's alley

Craig? Not so much. He just wanted to get into the game.

And when we finally got in, there were all kinds of fun characters to play with.

I snapped this picture before the game started. I think he's practicing his cheerleader high kicks.

This is my favorite shot of the whole game. (Maybe it's because this was the only time he sat with me. The rest of the time he spent chasing the kids ... )

Here's a little action shot for ya in case you're feeling left out. Given the position of that right arm, I think I now understand why they stretch before the game.

If you've never been to the Dell stadium, they have this fantastic kids area with a playground, a basketball court, some inflatables and a rock climbing wall. This is where the kids spend ALL of their time.

Recognize him? You shouldn't. He's just some cute little boy I was practicing my photography skills on.

Overall, we had a great time. However, the next Express game I attend won't be until 2012 and I plan on going when the temp is below 95. :)

Failure

2011-08-18T08:00:00.002-05:00

The kids are working through a chore chart right now. It is for this week only and includes things like feeding the dog, maintaining a clean room, and picking up toys in the backyard. It also rewards things like saying please and thank you (without being prompted), not whining (I'll let you guess who struggles with this one), and sharing.

They understand that they earn money for each chore that they do and that at the end of the week, they get to collect and spend. This time we promised a trip to Toys R Us.

We're the weird family that has never taken their kids to Toys R Us. Yep, that's us. They didn't even know it existed.

So, they were uber-excited about the reward this time. Therefore, today when I picked them up from camp and informed them we were going to go "scout" Toys R Us, they were beyond thrilled.

I realized I had 2 $10 JCPenney reward cards that expired TODAY, so I knew we were going to have to run over to JCP after camp. And - to get the kids to agree to the trip without sighing loudly or complaining, I decided a scouting adventure to Toys R Us would be in order (since it's right beside JCP).

We zipped through JCP in less than 20 minutes and raced over to Toys R Us. I saw a huge sign out front that said they were having a 70% off sale. SCORE!!

I had prepared the kids for how the whole store is FULL of toys and it's so awesome and bla, bla ...

And then we walked in ...

BLANK WALLS. BLANK SHELVES.

They were freakin' going out of business. No, not kidding.

They were completely sold to the walls except for the last few shelves at the front of the store. They were even trying to sell the little fridges that keep drinks cold up by the waiting lines to the registers and all of the shelving units.

The looks on my kids faces was priceless ... in a really bad way.

They searched through the few toys that remained and hunted around for anything that might interest them. However, I'll be honest with you - there was only trash left. (You know, the toys no one wants because they're no fun to play with.)

So, after only 10 minutes of looking, we sulked to the car where I explained what happened and promised them that by Saturday that I would have them a Toys R Us that was fully stocked. All they needed to worry about was doing their chores so they had money to spend.

Toys R Us, if you're reading ... Beware. We're headed your way Saturday and we're expecting awesomeness. Oh - and a sign out front if you're closing the other store also would be greatly appreciated.

Out With the Old

2011-08-17T08:00:00.002-05:00

Sometimes this blog is for you - whoever you are. Sometimes my posts are strictly for the grandparents as I know they get a kick out of seeing the first day of school pics, the musical pics, the missing teeth pics, and hearing the stories of the funny things the kids do. Sometimes my posts are for friends who are going through a tough time and I will write hoping I can lift them up in some way or point them in the right direction. Sometimes my posts are for my kids to find years and years from now and know how I felt about them starting Kinder, getting over a major life hurdle or simply changing as they grew. And then sometimes my posts are all for me.

That would be the case today.

You're welcome to read it, but it's for me. It's for me to understand a little better and close some doors. It's for me to put a few things to rest and leave a few things behind. It's for me to kick out some old and bring in some new. It's for me to get my hands a little dirty and my clothing a little dusty as I clean up some junk and make things shiny and new.

And that is precisely what I just finished doing yesterday. I just unpacked my office.

Huh?

Hopefully none of you pay enough attention when you're at my house to the eight Coldwater Creek bags at the top of the stairs in the game room to know what they are (other than an eye sore!). They are/were my office books. They contained every single children's ministry book and published work I've completed and collected over the last fifteen years. Remember when I wrote about leaving my last church? (If not, you should read it. It's the most read post on my entire blog by over 100 hits. (Which probably means my former church staff read it. Words travels fast in church.)) Well, I walked in and promptly put the bags in the game room and there they have stayed. (Until yesterday.)

I can't tell you exactly what prompted me to do it ... it just happened. One minute I was moving some picture boxes out of the corner and the next I just began unpacking the bags and didn't stop until they were all empty.

And I can't tell you the good it did me. I mentioned in a post on our other blog last week that our chiropractor had warned me that I was harboring some grief and needed to let go. I didn't put alot of weight on it until I had finished cleaning out those bags and realized I felt like a weight had been lifted from my chest.

It brought tears to my eyes as I went through all of the papers and decided what to keep and what was trash. So much of my heart was on each and every page and to have it end the way it did was heartbreaking.

I saw one of my former teachers on Sunday in a random encounter in South Austin and she informed me that the program is actually being canceled after this year because they can't find a director or fill all the positions of teachers. (I would imagine that yes, that is hard after you can your last director. What did you expect?) It's supposedly as secret so sshhhh, don't tell anyone.

We interviewed with a sweet church about a month after all of this happened back in February. We attended worship there and just fell in love with the people and the staff. Two members of their personnel team (and their pastor) who interviewed me knew our history and told us they loved us anyway and wanted me to come on board as their Children's Minister. Two weeks later they sent us an email saying they were parting ways, but wouldn't give us a reason why.

I've been in church work long enough to know that they made a few phone calls and heard something that scared them away.

I have applied for church positions such as children's minister all the way down to part time wedding coordinator and the answer has been the same the last six months. Thanks, but no thanks. And I guess it was about three weeks ago that I realized that there probably isn't going to be another church position. I mean, yes - God could intervene ... and to be honest ... that is exactly what would have to happen. God would have to perform a miracle because no one is interested in someone with as many red flags as I have on my resume.

So - where does that leave me?

Well, about three weeks ago, I think it might have left me in a mid-life crisis of sorts. I mean, I'm all about being optimistic, but seriously, no one in "secular world" is interested AT ALL in what I've been doing the last fifteen years. And church work holds ZERO similarities to work in the "real world".

So, I'd love to tell you that I've got it all figured out. However, all I can tell you today is that I have a photography job that I love and a clean game room. Now what?

Toothless Wonder

2011-08-16T11:23:00.000-05:00

Guess who visited our house last night?

Julie lost that top tooth yesterday at camp. (She and the Craig-man are attending camp all week while I'm working. They're having all kinds of fun going to the movies, swimming, tae kwon do, making pizza's, visiting the fire station, etc...) I walked in to find my little toothless wonder grinning from ear to ear. She's been working on this one for awhile now.

As you would guess (because it's me and I rarely do anything the normal, simple way) - there's a story behind this one. Since she lost it (pulled it) at camp, the counselor put it in a tissue and into a ziploc bag. Julie got it out of my purse last night and while I was out of the room tucking her brother in, she attempted to get the tooth OUT of the bag and tissue instead of just putting the entire thing under her pillow. {Insert exasperated sigh here.} Therefore, (as you can imagine) she lost the tooth somewhere between my purse (where the bag was) and her bed (upstairs).

I didn't feel like looking for a needle in a haystack last night so I told her I'd find it after she went to bed. I'm sure I don't need to tell you that I didn't look hard. (Ok, so I didn't look at all.) Rick simply slipped the money under her pillow and she woke up believing I searched high and low for that tooth.

One of these days we'll find that stupid thing somewhere in the house and I'll need a cover story. But, for right now we'll just enjoy the toothless grins.

Practice Equals Not So Perfect

2011-08-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

Julie and I have had more fun playing with my camera. She calls it "modelling". I call it "learning how to work my fancy shmancy camera". To each his own, right?

This afternoon I set up the entire shabang ... lights, backdrop, tripods, sensors, white balance, etc... You name it ... (It took up the entire living room.)

Julie had a few little friends over so I enticed her to let me practice on her by telling her I'd play modeling with all of them.

I was looking for pictures like this: (Well, maybe minus the princess dresses!)

You know - normal ... cute ....

Things that a normal person might actually buy (provided I could find a background that I liked) (This background is not it.)

Julie and the girls had a different idea ...

So I ended up with these kinds of shots ...

Random ...

I thought things couldn't get any "worse" and that's when the boys got involved. This was their idea of "helping":

Um, thanks. (I think.)

New Toy

2011-08-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

Remember that new job I mentioned? Well, it comes with a new toy. A super-monster-unbelievable camera and all the equipment. SCORE!!

I've got light stands and umbrella lights, sensors that make them flash when my camera clicks, 2 backdrops, and a laptop synched to the camera

Do I know how to work any of it? Well .... no.

However, I'm learning - slowly but surely.

Tonight, Julie and I took the camera out for some practice. She was the "model" and I was to be the photographer. (Thanks for clearing that up for me, Juju.)

If the girl had combed her hair before this shot, it wouldn't be half bad!

Models are too busy to comb their hair, though. And apparently too busy to get it out of their faces!

Bubbles wanted nothing to do with the camera. However, I like to tell myself she's laughing here instead of wincing.

J-Dog informed me halfway through that she needed a wardrobe change. Really? I thought we were finishing up ...

This one might be my favorite. Granted, it was her 3rd wardrobe change and I knew we were almost done, but still ...

I knew I was in trouble when she invited her friend over to join us. "We're playing modelling! Come model with me and my mom will take our pictures!"

Monkey see, monkey do. If our grass wasn't dead, this would be a keeper. His eyes are incredible. And that smile .... oh that smile! Melt my heart!!

Are you sure you really have to turn 9 in a few months, little guy?

I am thoroughly enjoying my new job. Granted, I've only been there three days which means it's still part of what I affectionately call "The Honeymoon Phase". At a secular job, the honeymoon phase normally ends two weeks in. (At a church, it's normally two months in cuz they can fake it longer.)

I'm looking forward to more "modeling sessions" and getting my feet wet on a few fun projects. Anybody want to be my guinea pig?

If you Give a Girl a Camera

2011-08-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

"If you Give a Pig a Pancake"

"If you Give a Mouse a Cookie"

"If you Give a Moose a Muffin"

"If You Give a Cat a Cupcake"

All great children's books. However, I will be requesting that the author add one more to her repertoire titled "If You Give a Girl a Camera".

I know. I doesn't exactly fit in with the whole alliteration thing she's got going on, but it so fits in with her little themes. (You know - the theme of "give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile".)

We recently took a day trip (me, Mom and the kids) to Waco to pick up a couch and see my brother/s-i-l. (As a bonus, we got to see my husband's sister unexpectedly at the church.)

We visited and went out to lunch. The kids played on Bo's Xbox and keyboard while we discussed their upcoming cruise. Then it came time to load what we'd come for in the first place. I never miss an opportunity for a picture, so I handed Julie my camera and asked her to snap a few shots of us loading the couch into the truck. She must have heard something different ... like .... "Julie, please begin snapping and don't stop for the next 30 minutes" because I ended up with a million photos all taken from the perspective of a 6 year old.

I posed for a few

It wasn't until we were driving home and I began scrolling through that I realized she'd taken so many.

This is what it looks like from the angle of a person that's only 3 feet tall.

We discovered Bo "moves" like my father. He bangs everything around and nearly kills those trying to carry the heavy furniture with him. Thus, here he is heaving the ottoman by his lonely self.

Time to go and Julie is still snapping ...

Maybe I should've signed HER up for this new photography job!

WHERE have you been?!?!!!!

2011-08-10T20:49:00.000-05:00

Well, I hope you're happy. You missed my birthday, July 4th celebrations, our anniversary and our family vacation. What have you to say for yourself?

Ok, fine. Maybe I should be the one apologizing for my long extended absence. However, in my defense .... ok - truth be told - I have no defense. I simply cannot blog and keep a 40 hour/week job (that I hate) and a family running. (Make sure you read that correctly. It's the job I hate - not the family.)

I have much to catch you up on and I can't do it all in one night. So, I figured I hit a few highlights and then tackle a different area day by day until I get them all knocked out.

For starters, I have recently been blessed with a new job. I no longer have to work at Tarjay (THANK YOU, LORD!) and will be working as a photographer now with a local company. It pays more and has better hours.

Rick has some new "stuff" going on as well. He is no longer coaching the defensive ends. He is now on the opposite side of the ball coaching the offensive line. He's working alongside his best friend and seems to be enjoying it.

Craig is doing well with his diet and food. We continue to see improvement provided we make each and every one of our chiropractor appointments. I read recently that it takes two years to change the flora in the gut. So, we're almost halfway there!

Julie is adjusting to her diet and food and seems to be doing better with her adrenal glands. Her energy levels seem to be getting better and we are noticing the dark circles under her eyes do not come around as frequently.

Here's what I've failed to blog about so far this summer ....

Over the July 4th weekend, we met my moms extended family on Lake LBJ for a little fun in the sun and water.

(A very interesting tidbit .... Craig began throwing up after we left the lake. I had a HORRIBLE, massive allergy attack and went to bed for lack of anything better to do with my hacking, sneezing self. My cousin's son awoke with horrible nose bleeds. I later learned (3 weeks later) that this lake is known for it's bacteria and that a little boy actually died a few years ago after ingesting some of the water accidentally. I am still researching, but I think we may avoid this body of water in the future. However, it was good to get some answers on what was going on.)

We went camping the middle of July.

My dad hauled his camper to a spot on the Guadalupe and we thoroughly enjoyed 3 VERY relaxed days on the river. We even ventured over to Schlitterbahn one day.

Rick and I celebrated our 12th anniversary July 24th with an evening/night alone.

My dear, DEAR friend watched our kids while we went to Pappasito's for dinner and then played at Dave & Busters. Then, she was gracious enough to have the kids stay the rest of the night for a slumber party while Rick and I had our own slumber party at a downtown hotel. Thank you again, Lachelle. I'd hug you but you won't let me touch you. ;)

Rick got the award for Husband of the Year when he took the kids to his parents house and left me alone for 48 hours.

My inlaws were thrilled to see their son and grandkids and I was THRILLED to have 24 hours to myself. (I had to work one of the days they were gone which is what prompted him to go without me in the first place.) However, for 24 GLORIOUS hours I did not have to cook, clean or take care of anyone but myself. I was ready to see my family when they got home, but I thoroughly enjoyed a few hours of alone time.

My mom took me and the kids to Galveston for some fun on the beach at the end of July as well.

We stayed at Moody Gardens and played in the water more than anything else. It was a very laid back, relaxing trip. The kids loved that Mom got in the lazy river with them and let them shoot her with water.

My Dad opened a nutrition club in Gonzales called A New Weigh.

He and a buddy redid this old (oldest building in G-town) business and turned it into a shake-makin' club complete with workout facility in the back. It's been fun to watch. Right now they serve breakfast and lunch and have about 20-30 people that come each day for one of those meals. They've only been open for a month so it's growing rather quickly. So exciting to see!

Some of our favorite people came to visit: The Avedikians.

Oh how I love this family. I could go into all the reason I love them and what they mean to us, but just suffice it to say - they are dear to us.

See what all you've missed? No fears though. I fully expect to have you caught up by next August!

Mini Vacation or a Train Wreck - You Decide

2011-06-15T11:35:00.000-05:00

There's a mental hospital here in Austin called Shoal Creek. I am considering checking myself in. This ride just keeps getting more whacked out with each stop we make. (Ok, actually that's not funny as I had to visit a friend there once. However, my mental abilities (which were lacking anyway) are fading fast with each hour as things just spiral downward.)

If you're still keeping up with this train wreck, we're at our new residence. It's a lovely Spanish style abode. We have servants and a jacuzzi. Breakfast is served to us and I don't have to cook which is lovely. We have a pool and a hot tub which we have tried out extensively.

Ok, actually we're at the La Quinta. It is our home away from home while the rental company fixes our a/c. We got here yesterday after temperatures in the house reached unbearable heights. I tried running the a/c for a few minutes just to get it bearable; however, it began knocking and screeching in the closet and pictures fell off the walls (no, not kidding). Then, it made a "dyeing noise" and it ... well ... it went to a/c heaven. (Actually given all the trouble we've had with the thing, it probably went ... )

This particular La Quinta takes pets, so it got a big thumbs up and a "we're on our way!" from us. We checked in and took the kids swimming.

Then, we decided to unwind (and be bad) and eat at Chuy's. They have a gluten free menu that is safe for Craig. (I wish I had eaten it with him.)

As we were leaving, we spotted a dollar movie theatre across the street and decided to spring for Gnomeo & Juliet instead of listening to the kids argue for two more hours in the hotel room.

Rick and Julie don't mind 3D movies ...

Me & Craig HATE 3D movies ...

We got back to the hotel room and threw everyone in the jacuzzi in our room. (Hey - since the management company is paying, we got a suite.) We got in bed early since Rick had to work today. Bubbles couldn't figure out why we were having a slumber party at the La Quinta and kept roaming from room to room looking for more dinner and her toys.

Rick got up before the sun this morning and went by the house to grab a few things. However, boy was he SHOCKED when he couldn't get in. Turns out the a/c company had broken the front door lock and we were officially locked out of our own house. (????!?!?!?!)

Thankfully, I had left the garage door unlocked when we left yesterday JUST IN CASE. (I'm also the one that made Rick pull the water hose through the back door and all the way up the stairs just in case the a/c caught fire. Some of my ideas are brilliant; others - not so much. I'll let you choose which one of those above ideas was brilliant and which one got me cussed at.)

I dropped the kids off a VBS - mainly so I could figure out our current situation. (That's right - I'm using VBS as a free babysitter this morning. Don't judge me.) I ran by the house and was able to get in through the garage; however, they broke the front door bad enough that it will not open even from the inside. Therefore, they cannot return to actually fix the broken a/c because they can't get through the front door. Geniuses I tell you! I'm working with people that have the I.Q. of a goat.

The part that makes me the maddest is that they didn't tell us they broke it. They just left it for us to discover. And - as of 9:15 this morning when I was telling them exactly what I thought about all that on the phone, they still hadn't called the management company we lease from to report their blunder. Therefore, there hadn't been a work order issued to come fix the door so that they could get in to fix the a/c.

Don't get me wrong. I like having a jacuzzi in my bathroom and a pool in my backyard and a maid. However, I have to work the night shift tonight and that takes a little of the sparkle out of this mini-vacation.

Sucktastic!

2011-06-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

I normally save that kind of language (in the title) for when Rick & I ~~fight~~ discuss things. There's no fight with Coach today (yet ... ha); there's just suckiness EVERYWHERE! For the love of Pete, it is just one of those times when things are falling apart.

Where do I being?

It started with the taxes being due. This is the first year in our twelve years of marriage that we've actually owed. We have ALWAYS gotten a return. However, the four months that I worked last year cost us (more than ever if you know the whole story - can I get an amen??) and we ended up owing this tax season. Normally that really wouldn't be that big of a deal. However, going completely organic and adding Craig's medical bills on top of all of that, we have nothing left at the end of every month.

So, we sold one of our vehicles and cancelled and cut out everything that wasn't a necessity. However, we realized after a month of trying to live that way that it wasn't enough.

In the middle of trying to figure it all out, I got a ticket for my inspection sticker being out. However, when I went to get the car inspected to get out of the ticket, it wouldn't pass inspection because the engine light had come on. To get the engine light to go off, it would cost over $1000.

Kick me now, please.

I'll spare you the details on these other things, but immediately following:

~ the brakes went out in the Cruiser

~ the a/c went out in the van

~ we discovered Julie's adrenal glands were shot

~ the house a/c broke

~ the house hot water heater broke

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

I. am. weary.

This should be a blog post about how I'm holding my head high and trusting God to provide and how you should to. But, it's not. I'm weary. I'm dang weary. I'm stressed. I'm worried. I'm miserable.

After much discussion, Rick and I agreed I was going to need to grab a job to get us through this rough patch. (Lord in Heaven, let this just be a rough patch!) I couldn't find any pianist jobs and Dancing With the Stars was already booked, so I just ran down to "Tarjay" and got a little job answering phones.

Kill me now.

I'm working 35 hours a week in night shifts and hating every bit of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful that they were hiring - but I am tired, I'm grumpy, and I'm making minimum wage after working my hind parts off to get a college degree. (Don't get me started on my college degree right now. To me, it is a completely useless piece of trash. WHY IN THE WORLD did I get a degree in music and church? And where were all of you people who watched me do it and why didn't you talk some sense into me?!)

So, here we are slowly climbing out of this hole, but paying dearly for it. Things are so tight right now that we can't afford to take a vacation this summer and we're concerned we may not even be able to take the kids to Schlitterbahn like we try to do once each summer. I realize vacations and Bahn's aren't needs and they certainly don't define anything about our life. However, they are the rest and relaxation that we look forward to each summer. And they're our last family "hoorah" before we embark on another football season. I hate the thought that there won't be fun outings and adventures for this particular summer (movies, jumpy places, new toys, etc...). Given that I only have them (the monkeys) for 17 summers, I hate to lose even one. I also hate the fact that we're completely debt free and yet struggling so hard. It's familiar territory (the struggling) and I don't like it.

So forgive me for not blogging more. However, there isn't much time right now and when there is, I'm exhausted and irritable. (Not exactly what you're looking for in this blog I'm assuming.) And there's not a whole lot exciting to fill you in on - you know - unless you want to know the newest thing that's broken. Check back in about six months - maybe we'll be back on our feet then.

2011-05-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

We have a cute little park with a creek here in P-Town and our friends invited us to join them for a fun Saturday afternoon exploring it.

The kids loved exploring the creekbed for "critters" ...

And they enjoyed seeing their friends that we don't see all that often anymore. This is Julie and her friend Madison.

Craig found some random boys to hang out with ...

And since Rick was good, we let him play on the playground for a bit.

This next weekend, they're having Deutschen Pfest 2011 in the park and we're looking forward to seeing what all that has to offer.

Spring Fling

2011-05-16T16:06:00.000-05:00

Friday night was Spring Fling at the kids school. (It's just like Fall Carnival .... just in the Spring time.) We hauled Goofball and Miss Talks-Alot up there for a rockin' good time.

They had many, MANY booths for the kids to enjoy. Rick and I had the best laugh watching Julie on this one:

It was called the Beach Ball Toss. The goal was to bounce the beach ball off your head as many times as you could. You could use the gym wall as a spring board. Craig was able to do it four times. Julie? Julie was never actually able to get her head to connect with the ball. However, if I'd had a video camera - we could be AFV winners!

This was Craig's favorite booth:

Soda Bottle Toss. The goal was to get a ring of tape to land around the lid of one of the bottles of soda. We explained to him before he started the game that if he won, he wouldn't actually be able to keep the bottle of soda given that we don't drink that stuff anymore. However, this didn't seem to be a problem for him. His entire focus was simply on showing his teacher (sitting close by) that he could do it.

They had a few inflatables and this one turned out to be the funniest to watch. It's the Velcro wall for those of you not familiar with it. You put on a Velcro suit and throw yourself as high as you can onto the wall sticking wherever you land.

Pretty funny to watch.

They had rope climbing ...

And hockey ...

And face painting ...

And the ever present Cake Walk. (I had no idea what we were going to do with a cake if the kids won one. Thankfully, we were never winners!)

It was a fun outing for a Friday night and one the kids thoroughly enjoyed. The weather was GORGEOUS ... in the 70's and it was just crowded enough that they saw many of their friends, yet never had to stand in line more than five minutes.

The only booth we didn't take advantage of was the Jail Cell where you could pay to lock up your friends and family members. I'm still considering how we could implement that booth here at home!

One Mostly Adorable Black Golden Retriever For Sale

2011-05-12T08:29:00.000-05:00

I don't know if it is Golden Retrievers in general or if it is just our Golden Retriever. However, regardless of whether it is a common trait in the breed or just a character flaw in our own girl - Bubbles does NOT sleep.

Well, wait. That's not entirely true. Bubbles does not sleep at night.

We had hope when we first got her that she was just "adjusting" to her new surroundings. However, three years later, either the girl is still adjusting or we got a lemon when it comes to sleeping.

So, last night when she woke me up roaming through our bedroom, it didn't surprise me. But it did TICK ME OFF to no end. I laid there for ten minutes listening to her roam and stop, roam and stop, roam and stop until finally I couldn't take it. I snapped at her - which is our sign for "stop whatever you're doing" and she did stop roaming momentarily, but she took it back up again after 30 seconds.

Since Rick was snoring beside me, I was fairly certain she wasn't bothering him at all. So, I decided her could have her. I gently got up and grabbed two pillows and made my way downstairs leaving Snory and Roamy to enjoy each other's company.

I parked it on the couch with a quilt and turned on the Golden Girls. (Can I get an "Amen"?)

However, just thirty minutes later she woke me up again bumping into stuff upstairs and stepping on parts of the floor that creak or groan. And really - I could type you another five paragraphs about how many times she woke me up after that flopping and rolling and roaming around upstairs with Mr. Snores-Alot. However, just suffice it to say that that is how the rest of the night went. I'd fall asleep, she'd wake me up. I'd fall asleep, she'd wake me up.

Little did I know the poor girl had an upset tummy. And - let it be known that that is the only sympathetic statement you will hear regarding Hairy in this post.

The next thing I know Rick is running down the stairs. (That is NOT my idea of a peaceful way to wake up.) I glanced at the clock and realized he was getting up twenty minutes late. That must be why he's running; he must not have heard his alarm. He let the dog outside and then started rummaging around in the cabinets. "Awe! He's gonna make me some coffee! Sweet ol' guy!"

However, his rummaging was an attempt to locate any and all materials needed to clean up ...

[are you sitting?]

[do you have a barf bag?]

[if you're squeamish, you should probably just quit reading ... ]

8 piles plus a running trail of ... well .... seriously .... Do I really have to say it?

[I'll wait here til you done dry heaving.]

Ok, at this point you might have some questions. However, I'd like to stop and ask a few questions myself.

#1. How the heck do you sleep in a room with a dog that is "dirtyin' the carpets"? (I've been sitting here for ten minutes trying to think of a way to say it that doesn't involve any words that might need an *asterisk to spell on here.)

#2. Why in the world did Bubbles not feel compelled to whine or bark or - shoot, I'd have been okay with her biting Rick if it meant she'd have made it outside to get sick?

So, this morning - instead of a slow-paced, peace-filled, lovely morning of seeing my family out the door, I was working on brown carpet stains and smells that should never be emitted in a house.

You know, Rick and I have begun discussions about having another baby. However, this morning reminded me that while I can handle vomit, I don't handle poop well. Granted, most children don't leave 8 bloomin' piles and a skid mark on your carpet while you're sleeping. But - you never know! We might get "that child!"

I have now shampooed twice and set up the Wind Cyclone. (I learned on TLC one day that when houses are flooded by hurricanes or flood waters, the restoration people put a fan in each corner of the room and create a "wind cyclone/tunnel". For some (scientific) reason, it helps dry everything faster.) So, every fan that we own is upstairs in that bedroom creating a "tornadic" wind effect so that my carpet dries quickly on this very humid day.

Today the dog doesn't know it yet, but she will be fasting. (I may join her as fun adventures like those of this morning tend to take my appetite.) She might be fasting all weekend. It will depend on how fast forgiveness comes. (Mercy has already been freely given as she is still breathing.)

Happy Thursday! I hope yours started a little less disgusting than mine!

Need a Baseball Update?

2011-05-11T09:05:00.000-05:00

Monday night was a game just like all the others. We were playing the Oreos - you might know them as the Orioles.

We had played 3 innings and our coach had gotten pretty comfortable at knowing which of their batters we needed to watch out for. Therefore, when he noticed that one of their all stars was coming up, he took Craig off of third base and sent him to center field.

This use to offend Craig to no end. However, after he discovered that he is the only kid on the team (so far) that can throw the ball clear from deep center field all the way home - he claims the territory as his anytime Coach puts him out there. (It's also important to know that he usually claims left and right field as well while he's out there. Hey - if you gotta get stuck in the outfield where's there's little to no action, why not just field ALL the balls, right?)

Here he is coaching the left fielder:

And here he is dancing for my camera. Thank you, Son.

But, that's where the silliness ended.

Their all star batter was up and hit a line drive that went clear to the fence. Craig raced for it, grabbed it and rared back ...

That ball was on home plate before the kid ever reached second base.

It. Was. Awesome.

Craig seemed to think so also.

Go Braves!

Happy Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-09T16:50:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I hope your day was super special.

Mine was mostly great, complete with something NEW, something SCARY, something SWEET, and something DELICIOUS. (I tried to make all that rhyme somehow, but it ain't happenin'!)

THE SOMETHING SCARY

Julie Ann gave me heart failure for Mother's Day. Ok, actually - she and Craig gave me a beautiful necklace and matching earrings. However, I almost never got to wear them because I nearly died in Walmart.

That's right - you can see the obituary now: Mother of 2, Wife of Handsome Football Coach Dies in Walmart of a stroke when she Loses Her Only Daughter to a ferocious Kidnapper.

Julie wants to be independent. She wants to do everything Craig can do. However, the truth of the matter is that a) Craig is older and b) Craig doesn't care if you like him. Now, that may sound mean as his mom, but actually - it's a trait I admire in him (and in my brother). Julie is a people pleaser and if the kidnapper says it will make him happy if she'll climb into his van, she'd gladly do it. If the kidnapper asked Craig to climb in his van, Craig would very likely spit on his shoe, kick him in the shin and scream and run.

So, when Julie asked to go return the cart at Walmart the other day, I hesitated, but then said yes. I mean, we were in the self-checkout lanes which are right beside the door. How much trouble could the girl get in returning the cart just 20 feet from me?

ALOT. (Or none, depending on how dramatic you want this story to be.)

I looked down for half a second to help Craig scan the groceries (his favorite thing to do at the store) and she was Gee Oh In Knee - GONE! I turned to Rick and asked where she was. He glanced up and towards the door and I could tell he didn't see her either.

You don't have to tell me that I have a flair for the dramatic side. And in most cases, I will apologize for bringing the drama. However, when it comes to my kids - no amount of foolishness will be apologized for.

I dropped the bag of groceries and ran over to the door. I stood there looking all over her for what seemed like an hour, but I'm sure it was only 10 seconds. Then - IT HIT ME.

I lost her on Mother's Day. She was taken from me on Mother's Day. Mother's Day!

That's when I was convinced she had been kidnapped and I went from completely calm (as calm as I get) to beyond hysterical in two seconds. I ran out the door and began scanning the parking lot and listening for her screams. I only spent about 30 seconds out there before I decided that I was shutting down Walmart.

I went back inside to tell the doorman to call a Code Red (or whatever code color a kidnapping is) and Rick spotted her.

Where?

Returning the cart .... at the OTHER end of the store. Actually, by this point she was skipping happily back to where she had left us waving at strangers and smiling like she didn't have a care in the world.

People were staring at the crazy lady screaming "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!" so Rick sent me to the car. He didn't want to see what I was going to do to her if I got my hands on her. He must have told her to get in the car and not open her mouth because that was the quietest car ride home we've ever had.

THE SOMETHING NEW

We did something "new" this Mother's Day that I thoroughly enjoyed. Remember how our car was in G-Town with Mom & Dad? Well, the work on it was finished and we were going to meet up to give back Mr. Lincoln and get the Cruiser. However, we found out my brother was free Sunday night and decided to make a dinner celebration out of it at my house. (It's the halfway point.)

Bo showed up mid-afternoon and played Go Fish with the kids. (Courtney spent the weekend with her mom at the beach for Mother's Day. I'm slightly jealous, but I think I'm hiding it well.)

I set the table as fancy as I could (given that I have no interior decoration skills).

Then we all sat down and had dinner together. Rick and Julie were present for this dinner, but Rick was taking the pic and Julie got cut out because he was in a hurry since we were all starving. Craig was angry because he'd just gotten in trouble so he refused to acknowledge Rick. Happy times, happy times!

THE SOMETHING DELICIOSO

Rick grilled up some fantastical pork chops.

I made a Cornbread Salad, a green salad, some garlic ciabatta bread, asparagus and baked potatoes. The entire meal was organic, (mostly) healthy and tasted A-. (Hey - you gotta leave room for improvement, right?) (The potatoes never got eaten because they didn't make the cutoff time for dinner. Then, to add injury to insult we left them out all night on accident and had to trash them this morning.) :(

The desserts were anything BUT healthy or organic. I couldn't pull it off. Mom requested a Chocolate-Cherry Dump Cake. That sounded super disgusting to me so I made it for her, but then made Tres Leches Berry Shortcake for me. (Yes, that's a totally made up dessert. I was attempting pound cake, but it didn't turn out pretty. Yummy, but not pretty.)

After dinner, there was a little baseball ...

THE SOMETHING SWEET

Technically the desserts could go here (under the something sweet); however, I was referring to the gift we gave Mom. It was Courtney's idea to get her a commemorative book of our trip to Disney. She put it together and I helped by adding snide remarks and telling her what I didn't like. It was a group project. ;)

I forced everyone to take a few pics afterward which they were THRILLED about, let me tell you. At one point, Julie's hair got caught on the button of Mom's jacket. It took us a good 2-3 minutes to get it untangled. I love this picture ... Julie peaking out just grinning ....

It was a great Mother's Day complete with newness and scariness (ok, I could've done without that part), sweetness and deliciousness. And I give all the credit to my precious mother.

No, she didn't cook it or gift it. However, we celebrated HER.

My mom is the best mother a girl could ask for. She has been (and continues to be) the example Proverbs 31 talks about for a Godly woman. She continues to teach me how to be a better wife and a mother. (She's usually taking Rick's side when she does this, but I try and overlook that.) She shows me how to be a better friend and a better care giver. She reminds me that my home is not a show house for others to marvel at, but is intended to be functional and care for my family. She sends me surprises in the mail just to brighten my day. She sends me emails to help me with things I'm researching or struggling with. She gently suggests changes when she sees I'm headed in the wrong direction.

Mom, I couldn't have asked for a better mother or best friend. Thank you and I love you.

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T17:33:00.000-05:00

I'd love to write you a post about Easter 2011 that contains eggs hunts, pictures with the Easter bunny, and a fancy Easter meal with family & friends. However, that's not what I have for you today ... ... because that's not really how Easter 2011 has gone.

Don't get me wrong - it hasn't been a "bad" Easter. It's not like anyone nearly drowned in the Guadalupe. However, as some of our Easters have been typical and others have been a welcome breath of fresh air ... this one was completely different.

We decided that we didn't necessarily have a plan (or a preference) for Easter this year. The only thing we said was that we did NOT want to travel. (We only got Good Friday off from school and the thought of spending the entire weekend "away" as we try to wind down this school year just seemed like alot more than we banked on at the end of track season.) However, as I sit here on the couch late in the afternoon on Easter Sunday, I find it somewhat humorous that there are now 480 more miles on our vehicles than when we started the weekend. ("Humorous" is the term I'm convincing myself I want to use here.)

It all started on Monday when I drove the van all over town running errands and realized that the a/c had officially gone out. It has been on the blink working sometimes and not working others - but really it hasn't been hot enough yet to really put a hitch in my get-along. However, on Monday the temperatures were in the mid '90s and by the time I finished all my errands and then picked up the kids from school I smelled. I smelled like I'd worked out and yet I'd hardly say that a trip to the grocery store, the bank, the AT&T store, the chiropractor and the gas station constitutes working out.

So, being the diva I think I am, I informed Rick that if I was expected to run errands I would no longer be able to drive the van. He'd have to give back the Cruiser. (Ok, actually I begged until he relented.)

This is what happens. It is social justice. Or poetic justice. Ok, it's some kind of justice. This is what happens when we think we are entitled to things that frankly - we are just not entitled to.

I am not entitled to air conditioning or even to a vehicle that works for that matter. As spoiled Americans, we think we are entitled to these material possessions, but in reality - they're all just gifts from God. We rarely see them that way though.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I got pulled over on Wednesday and the policeman that got me happens to be one of the handful of people that hate my husband.

WHY?!?!?

If you know Rick, you know he is easy to get along with. There are only a handful of people in this world that dislike him. He smiles all the time. He's generous. He's polite. He's a team player. I mean, there's just not much to dislike about the man. However, at some point he didn't play one of his JV football players enough and he completely and totally ticked off this kid's daddy.

And by ticked, I mean this man got ANGRY. Seriously angry. In fact, he got angry enough that Rick warned me to watch out for him. (Why you gotta go and tick off a cop, honey? Tick off a librarian or a pastor ... but a cop??????)

I've been able to avoid him for over a year. However, he found me on Wednesday. (I think he thought he was pulling over Rick and he was ever so cheerful about it.) He wrote me a ticket for my inspection sticker being out. I played all the normal "cards" to get out of it, but he was having none of it. (Although given the size of his gut, he's been having more than "some of it" at mealtime each day.)

So, Rick sent me to the Kwik Kar on Thursday to fix the inspection sticker. (See, this is what happens when you don't work. You get all the "ugly" jobs. You know - inspection stickers, package mailing, teacher conferences, and toilet cleaning. ... Wait. Maybe you get all those things working on not when you're a woman.)

I will save you the drama of everything that happened at Kwik Kar, but suffice it to say that the Cruiser didn't pass inspection. There were some events after we left that led to some tears, some snot, and some very panicked phone calls to my husband that caused him to have to leave practice early and go deal with the Kwik Kar people. However, that's another blog for another day.

We took the car bright and early Friday morning (a rare day to sleep in, sniff, sniff) to Christian Brothers where they told us that it needed $1400 worth of work. (!!!!!!!) They said it was unsafe to drive which really complicated things for that evening. We were supposed to be in Burnet Friday night for a family gathering to watch Rick's nieces dance their Highlandette Spring Show.

As of 4:30 Friday afternoon, we had one car that had a/c but couldn't make it to Burnet and another car that drove perfectly but had no a/c. We had a problem.

This is when our Easter plans changed. I like how my dad said it: "Sometimes the ox is in the ditch." (I personally think our ox was in the ditch and had been run over repeatedly by a scorned woman and then attacked by angry wolves.)

We were determined to see Rick's family. The times when we are together are few and far between. So, I packed an ice chest full of frozen water bottles and ice packs and off we went. We smelled when we got there, but no one complained ... ... that we heard.

(Rick's oldest sister Kathryn and her family.)

We enjoyed the show immensely and the time spent with the family was wonderful.

(Rick's parents with the stars.)

(Julie, Sandy, Becky)

(All the girls)

(All the boys)

The drive back was tolerable since the temperature had dropped into the '70s. However, with Rick's family, nothing ever ends before midnight. (Our families are polar opposites. With my family, the days start at 4 a.m. and end about 7 p.m.) Ok, slight exaggeration on both accounts. However, we didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning Saturday.

So. tired.

We had decided that our best option was to haul both vehicles to my parents house and let a mechanic we trust work on them. So, off we went Saturday morning working on 5 hours sleep to G-Town.

When we got there, my sweet mother had stuffed a million eggs (with money - no candy allowed here) and my precious brother and sister-in-love had hidden them all over the yard.

Since we hadn't known we were coming until the night before, we hadn't planned a fancy Easter meal. So, we threw together a meal that my mother called "embarrassing for Easter", but had a great time eating together as a family.

Rick & Dad tinkered with the vehicles all afternoon. We ended up leaving the Cruiser for some repairs, but since we need two vehicles (with Spring football practice lasting until 7 or 8 each night right now), Dad gave us his "loaner".

Dad's loaner is known by many names. My brother calls it a Pimp-Mobile. Rick calls it Ghetto. My mom is convinced she'll be shot at if she drives it around town. My sister-in-love calls it The Hoopty. And Dad? Dad loves it.

It's a 1986 Lincoln and it drives smoother than any car I've ever been in. It apparently belonged to a woman that didn't drive it much and it was kept in a garage in pristine condition. In fact, it only has 86k miles on it. Everything is in great condition. It is a beauty .... you know - if you are into antiques. ;)

It's only missing one thing: a pair of longhorns to go on the front.

So, we are currently driving the Lincoln around Austin and I must say - the uppity Austin folk are staring. I want to put a sign on the back that tells them that I admire their fancy Lexus, but I'd drive this Lincoln til the day I die to avoid their fancy Lexus car payment. However, that sentence wouldn't fit on the back window.

We got home early evening Saturday night and still had to prepare Easter stuff for the kids. (No rest for the weary ... ) We stuff 80 eggs with loose change, army men, necklaces, mini-erasers, and stickers and then set out a few small gifts for them.

They fought Bubbles for the hidden eggs and found all but one of them. (?) One of these days we'll find that last egg. Rick complained that he wasn't able to get the yard mowed yesterday (with our unexpected travels) so I can't show you too many pictures of the egg hunt as they look like we live in the jungle.

We then got them dressed in their new Easter attire and headed to our favorite Austin area church.

I have not been to a service this good in years. I'd try and describe it to you, but words just can't do it justice. I had forgotten what it was like to have excellent music and well thought out / planned services. There's just no substitute for smooth transitions. I could go on and on, but just suffice it to say that I would not have wanted to be anywhere else on Easter Sunday morning. My expectations are hard to meet and BBC, you far exceeded any expectations I could have ever had for Easter Sunday worship.

Overall, this Easter has been unique. I would not say bad although if I dwell too long on the fact that we have no church home, both of our cars are broken, we're borrowing a vehicle, our son can only eat four things without behaving like a monkey on crack, and our summer vacation plans (thanks to our vehicles) have been reduced to hanging out at the neighborhood pool - I might could get a little depressed.

However, on the flip side of that coin are some beautiful things ....

~ We are free each and every weekend to come and go as we please and to visit any church we want. We have only had that freedom 6 months out of the entire 12 years we've been married.

~ We have family that is willing to help us out when we are in need.

~ Our son's severe food allergies have led to the birth of a new ministry (not to mention a new way of life) that is helping people each and every day.

And ultimately - Easter is not about what I want. Easter is about a Saviour who died for each one of us ultimately redeeming those who put their trust in Him. I've adopted a verse as my key, my motivation, my REASON for our new ministry - Body, Soul & Mind - as I believe it describes perfectly what God did for us in leading us to truth with Craig and what I want to give back as a grateful response.

"Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness." Romans 6:13

Happy Easter from our family to yours.

Vitamin D - My Own Happy Pill

2011-04-17T15:53:00.004-05:00

(((Please apply disclaimer from March 1st post to this post as well. No lawsuits or frivolous complaints please. I neither pretend to be a doctor nor play one on TV.)))

As a freshman, I had the privilege of being a part of the Crane Golden Crane band. They needed an oboe player and I needed another elective. At that time, they were ranked fourth in the state and one of the annual rewards was a trip to State Solo & Ensemble combined with a Schlitterbahn visit. For kids that lived in the dry, arid dessert sand dunes (also known as West Texas), Schlitterbahn was a water wonderland. (This was also before Schlitterbahn went BIG and was featured on the travel channel.)

I'll never forget riding home (on the chartered buses - not those nasty yellow dogs other schools had to use) (oh, how spoiled we were) and hearing Barbara barfing her lungs up in the back of the bus. Word trickled forward that Barbara had thought it would be a bright idea to start her summer tan at Schlitterbahn that year. So, she'd gone the entire day at the waterpark without sunblock.

Obviously, Barbara made a stupid decision and we all paid for it the entire way home.

However, at what point did her sun exposure turn catastrophic? If she had only stayed out half the day without sunblock, would she have had the same reaction? What about an hour?

We've been brain washed into thinking that if we're going to be outside then we need sunblock. If our kids are going to be outside for longer than it takes them to get from the front door to the minivan, we slather sunblock so thick on them, we could no longer catch them if we tried. They'd slip right from our grasp.

With everything that has happened with Craig's diet and the changes we've made as a family, I am SMACK DAB in the middle of sunblock and pool research. See, sunblocks contain millions (slight exaggeration) of synthetic ingredients that Craig can't put on his skin. And pools? Chlorine is no longer an option for my little one either. Granted, we will probably venture to Schlitterbahn or Seaworld once or twice this summer. However, we won't be hitting up the neighborhood pool on a daily basis like we did last year. I'm looking for alternatives - like salt water pools, rivers, or possibly a backyard pool. (That last option comes with a groan.)

However, I've come across some very interesting findings regarding Vitamin D as I compare sun exposure with mineral veils combined with astaxanthin.

We all know we get Vitamin D from the sun and probably the majority of us are on a Vitamin D supplement (especially in the winter months). The first thing I would recommend is to check your supplement for Red Dye #40. Sound ridiculous, but a good friend just informed me that her Vitamin D she's been taking for the long winter months in New York contained red dye. (I could just scream!)

Secondly - how much do you need? Well, this is where it gets interesting. Vitamin D comes in a variety of sizes and strengths. On the back of the bottles, the daily recommendation is usually only 60 units (IU's) per day. However, recent research has proven that larger amounts provide enormous protection from auto-immune diseases, Parkinson's, colds & flu, heart disease and stroke.

I increased my Vitamin D intake to 8000's units a day after research that indicated that it would boost my immune system and possibly help with depression. I don't think I've ever suffered from true depression, but sometimes negative thoughts seem to get the best of me. (I tell myself I'm entitled to a few negative thoughts given everything that has happened over the last year. Allow me this disillusionment, please.)

I have been amazed at how my energy levels have sky rocketed and how negative thoughts come around alot less frequently. If depression, negativity or just a general sense of "down-ness" has ever been a problem for you, I would highly recommend increasing your Vitamin D intake.

Obviously, however - the best way to get Vitamin D is through a little bit of healthy outdoor time. Again though - how much? How long?

I recently came across this website that calculates how many minutes of sun exposure you would need where you live to equal 1000 units of a Vitamin D supplement. For me, living in Austin and with it being April, I would need three minutes of sun exposure on my face, arms and hands to equal 1000 units. Therefore, since my daily goal right now is about 8,000 units total, 20 minutes in the sun is just about right. Look yours up and see what would work for you.

An Oink and a Moo and a Cock-a-Doodle-Doo!

2011-04-15T14:07:00.003-05:00

Julie's Kinder class recently went on a field trip to Crowe's Nest Farm. This was one of the better field trips I have attended. It was well organized and came off without a hitch. We began the day by loading up buses. (I followed in my mini-van. Mama don't do buses.) When we got there, we ate a quick lunch. There was a mix up with Julie's lunch, so yes - that's a nasty, preservative, gluten filled corn dog in her hands.

The weather man said it would be in the 70's. He was oh-so-wrong. I am so stinking glad I had her winter coat in the van. She needed it!

The official part of the field trip started in this tiny classroom where they showed a video and explained the rules.

Julie's favorite part was the hayride...

I'll spare you pictures of each and every animal that was on the tour, but I must include this one. ;)

Here is Julie and her friend watching how they milk cows. Quite informative and slightly disgusting.

"Mommy, pigs stink."

This picture is for my mother. That's a peacock in the background. She loved the blasted peacocks that would cry "HELP!!!", "HELP!!!" at our house in Early.

How exciting! The llama came right over to the fence and demanded to be petted. So, all 20 kids got a hand on him. They also all got their giggle boxes turned over when he pointed his hind parts at them and tried to get them to scratch those too. When they ran away giggling he resorted to scratching his honkus on the fence.

It finally warmed up enough about 2 p.m. for Julie to take her big winter coat off. However, she had on a wind-breaker under that and she never would shed it.

We're thinking about venturing back some Saturday as a family. Craig would love the vast array of animals and the hayride as well. And I'm hoping for a closer look at their organic garden.

Could I Get Some Cheese to Go With My WHINE?!

2011-04-12T10:05:00.002-05:00

Humor me.

Just for a moment.

It doesn't have to be all day, all morning, or even an hour.

Just humor me for a moment.

Yesterday I spent the entire morning cleaning the downstairs. I picked up every else's clothes, shoes, toys, junk, etc... and put it where it belonged. (or in the trash)

I felt accomplished.

I felt good.

Why? Because my family was going to come home to a clean house.

Yes sir!

After I finished my sweat fest of cleaning, I drug out all the Easter decor and decorated the kitchen table, t.v. console, and stairway for the Easter season.

Not. one. family. member. noticed.

Did you get that? No one noticed the eggs that light up on top of the armoire. No one noticed the color coordinated eggs in the color coordinated baskets on the stairway. No one noticed the Easter napkins or the precious Easter vase on the kitchen table.

And worse?

They all promptly left their socks, t-shirts, shoes, baseball gear, new track shoes, homework papers, breakfast dishes, and coloring papers out all over the downstairs again.

Repeat.

One of these days I'm going to let them live in their own filth and see how long they last.

I'm off to drown my sorrows in some Sweet Leaf Peach Tea before I embark on another round of cleaning up the same things I did yesterday. If you want to help, forget the afore mentioned cheese (for my whine) and just send Chipotle guacamole. It always hits the spot.

Whacko Coffee, Sedatives & Cantaloupe

2011-04-11T13:28:00.004-05:00

Not having a church home right now does have a few advantages. (Not many, grant you, but a few.) One of those is being able to travel on weekends uninhibited. Being in ministry (and growing up with a father in ministry), it is very rare that you can just pick up and go somewhere on a weekend. So, if nothing else during this season, we are enjoying the freedom of being able to attend our loved one's churches and travel on the weekends.

That is precisely what we did this past weekend. My wonderful sister-in-love, Mary Alice (Rick's youngest sister) (the blond, as some of you know her), offered us some furniture for Julie's room. So, we made a trip over to Whacko (Waco) to visit any family we could find and pick up the furniture. Granted this trip was only made possible by my sweet daddy who let us borrow his monster truck. :)

We got there Saturday afternoon and stopped at my brother's apartment to play and visit. Julie informed us that Uncle Bobo and Aunt Coco live in a hotel. (It looks like a hotel to her because the apartment is tucked away into a storage unit complex. They are the "guards" (so to speak) of the property.) Craig informed us he was only attending this weekend outting so he could play Uncle Bobo's Kinect.

And play he did.

In fact, we all tried it out a bit.

Here I am downhill skiing. (It was more like downhill fence destroying ... )

That night, we broke our strict eating/living rules and went to Chuy's. It was bless-ed! Ahhhhh .... creamy jalapeno.

We brought along safe chips for Craig (since Chuy's fries their chips in the same oil used for other things therefore they contain gluten through cross contamination). He is able to eat their salsa without a reaction. Then, we ordered him the cheese quesadillas made with corn tortillas. We are aware that he probably gets a few preservatives and additives. However, as long as we are careful leading up to the trip and directly following, he tolerates it well. (And it's a nice break from our routine.)

Bo led worship Sunday and it was a joy to be there. Courtney sings in the choir and can be seen here cutting up. ;)

I was able to get him to pose for this picture right after the service. My mom didn't appreciate my pushy side growing up, but boy does she value it now as it gets her pictures of her son every once in a blue moon! (His smile is totally fake, but it's ok. I know the joy, joy, joy is down in his heart.)

I then forced everyone to jump in for a group shot. They were all giving me the evil eye right before this photo so I'm glad the shot turned out so well.

After church we high-tailed it out to China Springs (suburb of Whacko) to pick up some beautiful furniture for the Juju. We enjoyed a wonderful brisket lunch with M.A. and her family and then visited for hours before hitting the road back home. Surprisingly I-35 was only packed instead of "oh my goodness, shoot me now, we're never going to make it home" crowded. So, we were able to make it home in only two hours (and that includes getting lost on China Springs country roads twice).

We could not have asked for a better weekend. It was relaxing and fun and yummy! :)

However, we learned a few things (noted a few things) along the way:

#1) When traveling with a child who happens to be on a very strict diet, his food takes up more room than our actual luggage.

#2) Cantaloupe does not travel well.

#3) Three meals (18 hours) of "cheating" is all it takes to make us feel like we got hit by a truck.

#4) After eating mostly gluten free and preservative free for so long, gluten and preservatives make me very irritable. (Rick, would you like to add anything here? .... other than a resounding "amen" ... )

#5) My children never traveled well when they were little. (Always hard to get them to sleep and they wake up super, SUPER early.) Nothing has changed.

#6) Never travel again without coffee. I awoke Sunday morning at 5:58 to two giggly kids whispering in their sleeping bags on the floor. I figured I'd be sweet, let Rick sleep in and I'd get up with Goober #1 and Goober #2 and sip my coffee while they watched cartoons. Bobo and Coco are not addicted to morning java like Kristen is. :(

Next trip, we're packing the coffee, a few sedatives for the kids, and less cantaloupe.

Play Ball!

2011-04-10T07:43:00.003-05:00

I didn't realize that "playing baseball" meant "baseball takes up 3 bloomin' days out of the blessed week"! Why didn't one of you explain this to me? We practice once during the week, play a game on a weeknight and then play a game on Saturday. It's baseball mania! Guess who doesn't mind a bit? Seriously speaking (all baseball exhaustion set aside) - we are fast becoming little league experts with our new found past time. For example, I can tell you after six games that our coaches are not high maintenance. We have played some SERIOUS little league teams. Their coaches yell and throw things and make the kids cry at times. Craig confessed to me that "the coach of the other team said that bad word during the game today." He was referring to the saltier version of "dangit" and he probably knows good and well what he's talking about considering he plays third base most of the games standing right beside the opposing team's dugout.

We've also been amused at the parents. Our team parents are not high maintenance either. They bring their lawn chairs or sit in the bleachers and clap when we do good. However, I rarely hear any "badgering". I wish I could say this was the same for every team that we play. I didn't realize how seriously some of these parents take it!

Julie is figuring out the game too.

She has learned to pack a bag (or two or three) for each and every game. She packs books and snacks and candies and dolls and blankets and markers and papers and craft supplies ... This list could go on forever. She then parks herself in her "Julie-size" lawn chair and entertains herself. The only time we have a problem is when she needs to potty. (Gross, nasty ballpark bathrooms!!)

I'm figuring out this baseball mom thing too.

For example, I've learned that Craig is not appreciative when I coach from my Longhorn lawn chair. I have learned to not give my camera to Rick during games while I try to video. (The man is in love with the zoom feature and all I get back are blurry shots.) I have learned that snakes sometimes hide in the top of the dugouts. I have learned that Craig MUST go to the bathroom before we leave the house for the games or he dances a jig as he plays. I have learned that no matter what the weather man says, that I will ALWAYS need a jacket at the games.

While the learning curve is always fun (and entertaining), my favorite part of the season so far has been watching Craig's shining moments. He's had one or two moments each game where he makes a play that required no thought - it just came from natural ability. I don't mean to say that we've got a professional career in baseball - I just mean that every once in awhile during a game, he does something that catches us (and him) by surprise.

For example, this last Tuesday at his game he was playing an inning at first base and the batter hit a line drive straight at him. Without having time to think, he stuck his glove out to the right and SLAP!!!!! the ball went right into it. It happened so fast none of us knew what to do for a minute (him included).

Then, just yesterday he was playing Center Field. He was HIGHLY offended that he had been "demoted"; however, he was paying attention and was ready when the batter hit the ball straight to him. He grabbed it, took a look at the action on the bases and chunked (yes, that's the official baseball term) that ball like his life depended on it. The other team had seen where the ball went and already sent all their players home. Well, they got two runs out of it, but the batter that hit the ball that far? Craig threw that baseball from deep center field all the way to home plate to get him out. It was incredible.

He's tried out third, pitcher, first and center field and we've enjoyed watching some surprise action/talent at each new position. We don't need him to be the next Nolan Ryan, Craig Biggio or Jeff Bagwell. We're enjoying the little league player Craiger ... The Craig-Man ... Jeffrey Craig Ivy.

Introducing "Body, Soul & Mind"

2011-04-07T12:55:00.004-05:00

(Drum roll please ...)

I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family:

Body, Soul & Mind!

It's a ministry my dad and I started as a direct result of this journey we've been on the last decade. Our mission/goal is to help other people, families and churches understand better that:

a) what we eat directly effects our behavior

b) food can heal or food can make you ill

c) our bodies were designed to heal naturally

No, we're not medical professionals. No, we don't have all the answers. No, we're not super hero's (although my hair is pretty super hero-ish).

So, what do we have? We have a few key elements that led to the beginning of a ministry that we hope changes your life forever.

#1) We have two "out of the ordinary" testimonies. You can go here to read Craig's story. Dad's story (in a nutshell) is that he was diagnosed with a severe case of Rheumatoid Arthritis almost a decade ago. The doctors originally put him on all the "normal" R.A. prescription drugs. However, while we were researching how to help our son, Dad was doing his own research into R.A. treatments and what he discovered was that if he didn't find a more natural approach - they were (in his words) "soon going to be naming buildings and monuments after" him. His research led him to discoveries that weren't pleasant regarding the treatment or the side effects of the treatments. So, after much consideration he decided to go with a few treatment plans that were a little less "by the book". In fact, they were so far out there that his doctor refused at first.

Most of the statistics that you read regarding Rheumatism tell you that the person suffering from the auto-immune disease will usually be immobile within 5 years. It's a terrible, TERRIBLE disease. However, here we are almost a decade later and guess who just walked the ENTIRE 4 parks at Disney World in December keeping up with the rest of the family (and sometimes even leaving us in the dust)? Guess who just played the guitar in church two months ago for the first time in seven years? Guess who has taken back up golf after being told he'd never play again?

#2) We have another key element though that we're pulling out of the bag for this ministry. Our testimonies/stories are the main part, but it's important that we get this truth into the hands of families that are struggling. Therefore, while we are primarily speaking at churches (the seminar contains a lot of Scripture), we are broadening the scope a bit and trying to get into schools, clubs (lions, auxiliary, etc...), and co-ops as well.

#3) There are many churches and schools that are seeking quality information on health and would gladly pay a fee to have us come in. However, with our desire to keep this as a ministry and to be available to help as many families as possible, we are opting to offer our services free of charge as long as the Lord provides. The first seminar we led, the Lord blessed us generously afterwards so we are believing in faith that He'll provide the funds for each area of the ministry.

Will you join with us in praying that God will open the doors for us to be able to share with churches and schools all over Central Texas and beyond and that He'll use our testimonies for His Glory? We're believing that He allowed us to go through these trials for such a time as this and we covet your prayers as we seek to lift Him higher through Body, Soul & Mind.

Spoiled

2011-03-31T08:09:00.003-05:00

This post could take a number of directions with that title. For instance, I could tell you how incredibly fast organic food spoils compared to non-organic food. (I can keep organic pears and bananas for a max of 4 days and then if they haven't been eaten, they're too mushy and nasty. Their non-organic counterfruits used to last until someone ate them.)

Or - maybe that title is describing Bubbles the 65lb Black Golden Retriever who is currently snuggled up next to me on the couch because she's cold. (If Rick was here, he'd kick her off the furniture.)

We could even use that word to describe my children at times. (Gasp)

However, that title is for no one other than yours truly today. I have decided that I am spoiled. Now, this is the point where you thank your lucky stars that your reading a blog entry about my spoilage and not having a face-to-face conversation with me because it could get awkward here.

I mean, I'd say I've determined that I'm spoiled and you'd say you know and that you've been meaning to talk to me about my excessive shopping trips to Sam Moon. This is the point where I'd realize you and I were not talking about the same kind of spoiled and a hushed, awkward silence would fall over our conversation. (Then, we'd probably decide to grab some Chipotle for lunch and run by Sam Moon ... )

You see, after yesterday, I have determined that this new way of living (organic, extreme food intolerances, salicylate build up, etc...) has spoiled me.

We began this (extreme) journey on January 26th of this year when the entire family switched to only organic fruits & vegetables, only hormone-free, grass-fed beef, only free-range organic chicken .... you get the idea. (Craig had already been egg free, dye free and gluten free for a few months but we went extreme in late January to test for the salicylates and sulfites.)

I will admit that in the beginning it was (soooooo) hard because we were so limited and because I was having to make every single thing that we ate. We weren't eating out. (my absolute favorite thing to do!!) We weren't able to buy anything already prepared. My work load significantly increased. However, once we began to see results - the work load didn't seem to matter anymore. Remember labor? Once you get the prize at the end, the work of the actual labor and delivery are significantly diminished in size. Results fuel our hope! What about the last diet you were on? (No, the one that worked.) When you were actually losing, you probably didn't care what you were having to go through to see the numbers decrease. As long as it's working, we can usually stick it out.

Once we began to get our son back, the constant (and I do mean CONSTANT) work of trying to stay one step ahead on his food, the never ending trips to Whole Foods, and the lack of creativity in our diet didn't seem like so much of a burden.

Then, something really weird happened. Are you ready for this? They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. I don't know if that is true - but at some point - this new way of life became a habit. At some point it began to feel normal. I like the way Rick put it when he informed me that we can no longer say that "the weird people shop at Whole Foods". When I asked him why, he said it's because we ARE the weird people now. We ARE the Austin tree huggers. We ARE the hippies. (Ok, maybe I took it too far there.)

That's why yesterday was so hard. You see, we've gotten used to our new kid. We have to work our backsides off to make sure he's eating correctly, but in exchange - we get a new son. I've already told you what a joy he is to be around now and I'm sure you're tired of hearing it, but when you go 6-8 years of "enduring" your child instead of enjoying your child, you tend to bask in the joy for a while.

However, lest I think I have this thing under control (a.k.a. - that I know it all, a.k.a. - get prideful) every once in awhile we have a day like yesterday. When I drove up in the carpool line yesterday at school to pick them up, I could tell by the look on his face that he was "reacting". (Reacting is the term I have coined (ha) to describe how Craig behaves when he has ingested something disagreeable. That's a diplomatic way of saying: When he's acting half-stupid again)

I had the joy of witnessing all kinds of temper tantrums, yellings, and just general irritations yesterday from the boy. He couldn't sleep last night (which is another sign he's reacting) and I fully expected him to wet the bed (yet another sign) but it seems we were spared from that one. (Whew!)

However, I realized in experiencing it all over again yesterday that I have become very accustomed to the new things in my life. #1) This new way of eating (while alot of work) has become our new "normal". #2) This new boy that I live with now has so many "good days" that the bad days seem all the more bad. I don't mean that in a negative way. I also don't mean it to sound ungrateful or snarky. It's just that we've had so many good days now that when a bad one rolls around it is completely out of character and it catches us off guard. (That's a diplomatic way of saying: It makes us wish we could crawl under a rock and hide.) So what do you do with a day like yesterday? Well, I don't know how you're "supposed" to handle it. I mean, as of yet, no one has written the Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dye-Free, Salicylate-Free, Sulfite-Free Handbook. But, I can tell you what we did:

I throw the t.v. rules out the window. I don't know how it works in your house, but over here the kids are encouraged to play outside or with their toys in their rooms. (That's a diplomatic way of saying: we keep the t.v. off as much as possible until the kids are in bed.) However, on days like yesterday, I throw rules to the curb and turn on Disney. Craig vegges in front of the TV and the world is a happier place. This keeps him away from the Wii (which angers him when he's reacting), away from his sister (who angers him when he's reacting), and away from me (who gets angry when he's reacting). :) Ok, seriously speaking - it just works for us. And I could get all bent out of shape about him watching 2 hours of t.v., or I could realize that it's one day and he's probably not going to be any worse off because of it. (Grace is a beautiful thing, you know?)

I put him to bed early. It's not a punishment although it feels that way sometimes to him. However, I try to keep in mind that any time I feed him something that causes him to react, his body has to heal (yet again) after that encounter. Our bodies heal when they sleep. (Particularly in the first two hours we are asleep.) So, more sleep equals more opportunity to heal. (It also enables him to have some quiet moments in his bed with nothing to yell at, throw things at, or attack. That's a win-win for everyone!)

I give a few extra supplements. Some of the supplements that he takes are to help him digest foods better. Some are to help with liver function (which I think I've mentioned was weakened because of too many years of poisons). Then, we have some that are specifically to help with allergens he encounters in his food or environmentally. When he's having a rough day, I give a few extra of those. Sometimes we see a direct result. Sometimes we just grit our teeth and get through the rest of the day without a result.

I go back to the bare basics for at least 24 hours. Bare basics means ABSOLUTELY ZERO eggs, gluten, salicylates, dyes and sulfites. (If you'll recall, we are slowly adding back in a few salicylates a little at a time.) So, while Craig has been recently having an apple and an orange in his lunch (because he's been tolerating them well) and then enjoying a berry smoothy when he arrives home from school - today he will be enjoying none of that. No fruits. Very low salicylate veggies. What if it's not the salicylates he's reacting to this time? Well, until I know everything and can read minds, I have to err on the side of caution. If it's not the salicylates and he's simply reacting to an environmental allergen (like the mold count or cedar), that will run it's course and he'll return to normal. However, if it IS the salicylate and I just continue to feed him those, they will build in his system only making things worse. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of gal. I'd rather pull out all the stops and get him back to our (new) normal than tinker around with ideas and notions and eventually land on the right one.

I read and re-read (and then read again) the food journal. (Rick will tell you he despises the amount of reading I do in the food journal when Craig is reacting. It drives him insane.) When he reacts I look at everything the child has ingested for the last 5 days. This particular time, I realized that Craig has had an apple, an orange, and a handful of strawberries every single day for at least 5 days. That is an ENORMOUS amount of salicylates. While I knew this in packing his lunch each day, I wanted to know how many days he could go before he "filled up". You see, salicylates accumulate in your system. They build up. That is why one orange may not be the trigger, but two oranges might do the trick. When we first started this, Craig couldn't even tolerate one apple. However, now - after 64 days of doing this, he can handle 5 days of salicylates. What does that mean? Well - it means his body is slowly healing. And - the mommy hope inside of me hopes that it means that eventually he will be free from all of these restrictions.

So, here I sit today ... spoiling. (hee hee) I'm incredibly thankful for the good days as one year ago there were no good days (in reference to food allergies). However, I'm also incredibly thankful for the bad days because they remind me how far we've come.

My First Rodeo Experience (Plus a Little Kevin Fowler)

2011-03-28T16:19:00.004-05:00

I know. It's a little embarrassing that this was my first rodeo experience ever, but it was. Rick is a big country music (gag) fan and an even bigger Kevin Fowler fan, so when he heard Mr. Fowler was going to be at the Austin Rodeo - we just had to go. When he told me he had bought us "tickets to the rodeo and concert", I assumed he was taking me to a carnival and a concert. I mean, everyone on Facebook had talked about going to the "rodeo" and had then posted pictures of their kids riding carnival rides. So, while I was raised to call a carnival a "carnival", I just assumed that must be what other people call it: a rodeo. And sure enough - there were carnival rides there. However, what Rick meant when he said he was taking me to the Rodeo was that we were going to see a real-life, professional cowboy, true to definition RODEO. We weren't going to ride carnival rides. We were going to see cows and horses and dirt.

We got there about 6:30 p.m. and made the hike from our parking spot to the front gate. I had the idea to stop someone and ask them to take our picture. Turns out we stopped a person who wasn't real adept at picture taking. This picture took longer than 2 minutes - my mouth was aching I'd struck the pose so long: This picture was supposed to have the blue Rodeo Austin sign in the back. Hey - at least he got the bottom 25% of it. We gave up and headed to grab a bite to eat. This is my turkey leg Rick is chewing on: The actual rodeo is held inside a big expo center. The music and lights were great. The video production was ... (ahem) ... a nice try.

We watched the Bucking Broncos. If these guys don't leave every night with whiplash, it's a miracle.

My least favorite event was - Take Down the Baby Calf - where they jump off their horse and twist a baby cow's neck until it breaks and the calf goes down. (Ok, maybe it doesn't snap, but it sure looks that way.)

This one seemed a little cruel and unusual as well. Two cowboys chase a baby cow that's scared out of its' mind. One ropes it's head, the other it's feet. When the cow can no longer move, the cowboys are declared the winners. (I provided commentary for this event to Rick which I think he enjoyed immensely.)

The Rodeo Austin mascot came over so I snapped his picture.

This event (and the barrel racing) were my favorite. The cowboy ropes the scared little cow and then ties three of his legs together while his horse drags him around in the dirt.

I will say that was one thing that continued to amaze me throughout the night. The horses were so incredibly smart. I will also say that the staff was very prepared and it was run so efficiently.

When they were done torturing all the cows they could find, they brought in a revolving, round stage and set up for Ol' Kevie. (I'm sure he'd let me call him that if we ever met.)

Rick loved every song he did. I enjoyed watching the "behind the scenes" action and actually liked one or two of the songs.

I couldn't take anymore of the metal bleachers toward the end, so I snuck out with all of the tokens Rick had bought me (for snacks and games) and began selling them to anybody I could find at the carnival. I was able to sell back fourteen of them before the concert ended. This is a very good thing as Rick had threatened to make me ride the scary, flipover, make-you-vomit ride if I had any tokens leftover after the concert.

Rick and I agreed that this was a completely new experience (even though he's attended rodeos before) for us, but one we completely enjoyed. However, we also agreed that we were in no way, shape or form prepared for the incredible "People Watching" we encountered there. On more than one occasion, I got caught up watching the people walking on the walkway in front of our seats instead of the actual rodeo or concert.

All in all, this was one of the best dates we've ever been on. It wasn't your typical "dinner and a movie" and although I can't see us doing this each Saturday night, it sure was fun to experience once!

Why the Public School System is in More Trouble Than You Know

2011-03-25T17:53:00.002-05:00

It doesn't matter if your children are home schooled, private schooled or public schooled. Chances are, you've heard of the public school crisis.

It's been an especially hot topic in my family because (as I've told you before) we come from teachers and preachers. Every single person in our family is either a teacher or in ministry. (Ok, that's a slight exaggeration, but not much of one.) Our entire immediate family is in ministry or the teaching profession (or retired from them).

So, the public school crisis hits close to home for us. Granted, I've been predicting this (a public school meltdown/crash) for about 5 years now - but I had no idea it would hit so soon or so hard. I predicted 10 years out. Maybe it was more wishful thinking than anything else.

We are currently waiting to hear if Rick has a contract for next year. His district is "laying off" more than 100 staff members. It's been touch and go for weeks now. (I'm speaking of the job situation ... but it's been touch and go in the house as well just in case you were wondering!) One day he comes home and tells me that they held a meeting and they're going to need to get rid of another science person. We hold our breath for a few days and then he comes home and tells me they changed their minds and decided to go another direction. Then we repeat the process again a few weeks later. It's very ... um ... ... (ahem) ... character building.

We're not the only ones in our family being affected. We've gotten heart breaking emails and phone calls this week about what our loved ones are facing.

It is sobering and humbling and depressing all in the same breath. And while I would say I'm probably one solid step away from being a complete conspiracy theory fool, I don't think I'm stretching it too far when I say that this could have only been expected with the government being so hands on with our schools.

I know we like to think that as long as they have a good teacher and she's a Believer that our kids are safe and we don't really have much to worry about. She may have to teach evolution, but truth will prevail because .... well .... because I'm the room mom. (What? You haven't had that thought?)

We got our first real dose of just how cleverly the government has seized control of any and all aspects of our public schools when we needed Craig to be allowed to take a few of his supplements during school hours. He has a few whole food supplements that directly counteract allergens he comes in contact with in the environment and in food. While he gets both of these in the morning before he leaves, they have worn off by mid day and he begins to react slightly. While it is not near the behavior problems he was once experiencing, it still causes disruptions to the class from time to time and gets him sent out of the classroom. (For example, the last time it happened - he was throwing his cucumbers up in the air, catching them on his eyeballs and then trying to bounce them into his mouth. You can imagine trying to teach with that circus act going on. However, when he's reacting and you ask him to quit, he loses his temper and makes a scene.)

So, we began experimenting and talking with his chiropractor and soon figured out that if he could just have another dose of his supplements, he could finish the afternoon like a champ.

AWESOME!!

However, what I soon realized is that this is considered illegal.

We contacted the school to let them know Craig needed to take the supplements at school and asked what forms we needed to fill out. They sent the forms, but in reading through them we realized that the district had VERY strict guidelines regarding what the school nurses were allowed to give. Upon further investigation we discovered that it wasn't the district guidelines near as much as it was the states.

Even with a doctor's note, Craig was still denied the pills he needed.

The school nurse is allowed to dispense antihistamines, antibiotics, injections, epi-pens, and a whole host of other meds, but she cannot go near supplements.

The premise for this is steroids. (Or is it?) (I told you I'm just one hop, skip & a jump away from my own Conspiracy Theory.)

Supplements are likened to steroids in that they are not FDA approved and could affect the performance of a student ... or more importantly (in their eyes) an athlete. If the school nurses (and trainers) were allowed to distribute supplements, they could beef up their players before the big games. This is the reasoning they have on paper. (I'm not convinced.)

I'll save you my long, drawn-out Theory and just suffice it to say that if schools were allowed to give herbs, supplements, whole foods and vitamins instead of poisons (a.k.a. medications) - we would not be seeing near the cases of ADHD, ADD, diabetes, autism, etc... (However, the flip side of that is that the pharmaceutical companies wouldn't be making a killing off of the medications either. The love of money ... )

Yes, I know what I just said. I also know the research I've done since we began exploring other options for our son and I know where it's led us.

My children will never again receive another vaccination in their lives if I can help it. (If we have more children, they won't be vaccinated.) There is too much research that proves the links to autism.

My family will continue to eat organic, hormone-free, dye-free foods and do without in other areas (clothes, cars, etc...) for as long as we can without declaring bankruptcy. There is too much research that proves that the preservatives and additives in food are killing us.

We started this journey originally to help our son and it's turned into a life changing ordeal for our entire family. We won't ever be the same. We can't go back.

I realize that may sound a little dramatic (and yes we all know I can bring the drama) - but it's true. What we have learned in the last year regarding health, wellness, and food has taken us to a place of no return. (This is the part where you sing Phantom of the Opera's "Past the Point of No Return". Or, like Rick, you just roll your eyes and move on.)

Seriously speaking, this is a big enough, life changing ordeal to me that I am in the midst of beginning a ministry that centers around bringing truth on this very subject to families. I want to be able to go to churches (because getting into schools with this information will be banned) and speak to parents and show them how we found help ... point them to truth. However, that is a blog for another day.

Teacher layoffs, bigger class sizes, lack of freedom to give children medications they need ... It gets better.

I talked to one of my family members recently who informed me that her principal told them to no longer teach two of the subjects to their classes because they aren't going to be tested on them on the Taks test coming up in April. No need to learn history kids - it won't be on the Taks!

One of my other family members recently informed me that they found out that there is a poisonous "substance" in their school and the children are coming in contact with it each and every day, but that they are choosing not to do anything about it because the school doesn't have the money to fix it. And the most pitiful part? The teachers were sworn to secrecy and not allowed to tell the parents.

I don't know what the future holds for our schools. I don't know what the future holds for my husband's (and other family members) line of work or my children's schooling. (We all know I have no business home schooling them! I just taught Craig on Tuesday the "wrong" way to do subtraction. Oi vey!)

So much of all of it doesn't make sense to me. However, I don't have to have all the answers or have it all figured out. And - I don't have to worry about what the future holds. Furthermore, maybe the Lord put me in this place at this time in these circumstances "for such a time as this".

There's No Crying in Baseball!!!!

2011-03-24T14:10:00.003-05:00

Oprah describes something called the "Ugly Cry" on her show sometimes. (I have lots of time to watch Oprah because the life of a stay at home mom is only made up of bon bons, hair appointments, and lunch dates.)

Her definition of the Ugly Cry is something to the effect of just losing it and breaking into that cry that comes complete with sobs, snot, and semi-convulsing. You've been there - you know what I'm talking about. It's the cry you save for when you're all alone. It's not the pretty one you do at church or in front of your kids. It's the one where you look half alien.

This is the cry I have been on the verge of this entire day. So far, I have maintained control. However, I cannot guarantee that I can keep this composure much longer.

Today is Craig's first baseball game.

If you were wanting something a little more earth shattering there, you're going to have to come back another time. Or - keep reading and I'll explain why his first baseball game IS earth shattering for this family of four.

Today is such a monumental day because I think some where deep down inside, I never thought it would happen. There were times when that child was four and five that I wondered if we'd ever be able to do anything "normal" families do.

Yes, we attempted things that normal families do - but so many times, it ended in disaster. Craig's behavior would escalate until the family outing was no longer fun for anyone involved. Sometimes it would be during a simple dinner out at a restaurant. Sometimes it would be while on vacation at the beach. Sometimes we'd be with friends & family. Other times we'd be alone. However, rest assured ... Craig would bring the drama.

Knowing what we know now about his food allergies and what we were feeding him, I know that he simply couldn't help it. That makes me feel like a complete FOOL as his mother. It also makes me feel incredibly sorry for him.

The older he got, the more he was able to tell me what he was feeling. I remember in Kindergarten when he told me that his brain "was just telling [him] to do bad stuff". That's heartbreaking to hear as his mother!

And in reality - he nailed it! Because he was ingesting things that were essentially poison for his body, his brain really WAS malfunctioning. (At this point I'm going to lose some of my readers that don't understand just how much food plays a role in human behavior. That's ok.)

All of his friends started playing t-ball when they were four. Craig would come home and talk about wanting to play baseball and we'd just look at each other. How in the world could we enroll him in baseball when we couldn't even leave him with a sitter safely?

Then came the questions from friends and family about why Craig didn't play organized sports yet. Those were fun to field! (No pun intended.) We heard multiple times about how his dad was a coach and so he HAD to play sports. And yet, living with Craig 24 hours a day, 7 days a week - we knew he wasn't ready. (Granted, we were wondering if he'd ever be ready. But, we just knew he wasn't ready then.)

So, here he is - the end of his second grade year - 8 1/2 years old and we are finally letting the child participate in his first ever organized sporting event: baseball. To say he is thrilled in an understatement. To say we are thrilled is only half true.

You see, we are thrilled. However, we're so much more. After 8 years of searching, we finally have answers and we finally have a son who can participate in the "normal" things of life. Don't get me wrong. It's not that I want this kid to be involved in every sport offered or to fill each of his afternoons with a different lesson. I just wanted him to be able to experience what every little boy seems to yearn for at some point growing up: The American Baseball experience. And knowing that there was a time in his life when we wondered if he'd ever be stable enough to experience it makes us appreciate it all the more.

He may be like his mom and run from the ball his first time up at bat. He may do just like I did and beg to quit tonight after the game. He may hate baseball by the end of the season. But, at the end of the day what we have is a little boy who actually gets to try it instead of a frustrated, angry, irritated son who doesn't understand himself or life around him.

Tonight we do not care if he misses the ball each pitch. We don't care if he drops every pop fly that comes his way. We don't care if he never gets on base or if he throws the ball to the wrong person each time he fields. We just care that God led us to truth which led us to a delightful son who is funny, caring, and incredibly thoughtful. His Word is true when it says that the truth will set you free. That's exactly what has happened for us.

So, tonight I may yell "Go Braves!" and I may scream "Yea Craig!". And I'll mean every bit of both of those regardless of the performance or the score. However, so much more than my outward enthusiasm will be my inward heart which will be overflowing with gratitude to the One who has shown us so much truth and has redeemed a dear little boy's life so that we can enjoy precious moments like first baseball games.

To Him be all glory & honor!

Fancy Nancy Birthday Ice Cream Soiree

2011-03-23T15:43:00.007-05:00

Happy Birthday, Julie Ann!

Ok, so today isn't her birthday - but today is the day I'll share with you what we did for her birthday.

I got my best "are you sure you don't want this?" speech ready and tried it on her. You know - the speech where you already have in mind what you want them to pick and you try to convince them that that's what they want also? I pulled out all the stops too trying to convince her that a party wasn't what she wanted. What she really wanted (take the bait, take the bait) was to take a trip with her family to San Antonio and play and shop.

Nope. She's no dummy.

She wanted a party and she wanted Memommy there. (Can't fault the girl for not being specific!)

So - I caved and we threw her a Fancy Nancy Birthday Ice Cream Soiree. (That's fancy for a pink and purple ice cream party with lots of jewelry, makeup, and boas.)

We decorated the house all ... well ... fancy ...

We had to make sure not to forget the front door!

Then I printed up cute little signs in French to go all over the house. Here's a few:

As guests arrived, they placed their gift on the gift table:

And then headed upstairs to get "fancy". (Ok - in reality - the little girls were the only ones that did this. Everyone else in attendance (family) just hung out downstairs or went outside to play football.)

We served ice cream in home-made chocolate ice cream bowls. (I got the idea searching the net for party ideas. However, please know that out of 36 attempts, there were only 7 usable bowls. I'll have to get much better at this before I open an ice cream shop.)

And we served pink and purple cupcakes. They looked adorable, but Rick and I sampled one after all the guests left and they tasted WRETCHED! (I made them from scratch and then used store bought icing and spray food coloring. Super easy, super precious, and super nasty.)

I was absolutely PASSIONATE (ok, maybe that's a little strong of a word) about having a cupcake stand. So, after many failed attempts at buying one for a price I could live with - I made this one out of paper cups, ceiling tiles, and some wrapping paper. (Yeah, you read that correctly.) It took about 30 minutes to construct.

I also made each of the girls a fancy little cup complete with their names and some jewels. I asked Rick to help me and he sent back a cup with this chicken scratch: "Fancy Brenna" (sans jewels). He was promptly fired and as punishment I bejeweled his cup and told him he was going to have to carry it around at the party.

Julie had 7 little girls that were able to make it to the party (along with 27 other various friends & family members).

Her boy cousins didn't mind eating pink ice cream with pink sprinkles and drinking pink punch out of pink cups as long as they got some! (They were good sports. I was proud of them. They even crashed her bedroom at one point and donned boas and jewelry in an attempt to earn ice cream early!)

Sweet Girl opened many a gift and has played with them all week. She especially loved her new Fancy Nancy Travel Pillow. We keep trying to convince her to put it in the car, but instead she's sleeping on it every night.

Her little female guests were also super sweet just "oooohing" and "aaaaahing" over her gifts. They were precious to watch.

I can't believe she's six. It seems like just yesterday we were "ooooohing" and "aaaaaahing" over her in the hospital room.

Julie Ann, Mommy & Daddy love you so much. You are such a joy! What an incredible little girl you are and we can't wait to see the amazing things God has planned for you life.

Truly Texas

2011-03-22T16:16:00.004-05:00

Hey y'all! Meet Cowgirl Julie. She prides herself on looking super fashionable even in western attire! ;)

On Friday, her school had a Kindergarten Rodeo and I must tell you - this thing was done up right. (That was western slang for "they put the rodeo together well".)

It started with the P.A. System at the school popping on and the most annoying, (clearing throat), I mean - western sounding music came over the speakers. The entire Kindergarten then grabbed their horses and went riding out before the whole school. Every class came out to watch and cheer them on. (Craig would never have gone for this, but Julie ate this up!)

After they finished their ride and put their horses out to pasture, they were given 10 stations to choose from. They were allowed to work their way through each station at their own pace. You would have thought this would have led to chaos with 80 Kindergarten kids running all over the Kinder hallway. But, surprisingly, they enjoyed it so much no one was getting into any trouble.

There was the Campfire / Story Station where they read The Three Little Javelina's (a western takeoff on The Three Little Pigs):

My personal favorite, Square Dancing with the Pro's:

One Julie really enjoyed, Cow Milking:

Hunting for Gold in the Sand & Looking for Animals in the Hay:

Making (and eating) Kabobs: (complete with Cactus Juice (pineapple juice died green))

Western Movie Watching: (We only stayed here for about 30 seconds. Glad I grabbed the shot while I could!)

Western Portraits:

Julie's personal favorite: Face Painting (She got a heart that covered up the last of her gigantor face bruise from the skating disaster.)

Horse Racing: (Julie won when she pushed this precious girl down to the mulch as she passed her by.)

There was lasso/roping as well. However, Miss Priss got cold and so we didn't stand in line for that one.

This weekend, Rick is taking me to the rodeo and the Kevin Fowler concert. I'm fairly certain I'm going to encounter some cow dung, some spittin' cowboys, and some twangy music. However, as long as I don't have to milk the cow, kiss the cowboys, or like the twangy music - I can suffer through the dung, spit, & twang for a night out with my man!

For the Love of Pete!!!

2011-03-21T15:10:00.003-05:00

Sorry for my absence. There has been illness and birthdays and Spring Breaks. (More on all that later.)

My dad will love this post. He enjoys reading about my blunders (and writing about them). I don't know why he finds my difficulties so entertaining at times, but his favorite blog posts have been times when the children barfed in the middle of Walmart, pulled down paper towel displays at HEB, or when I lock myself in a room of our house accidentally.

I have a knack for excitement. (I think it's my spiritual gift.) It follows me wherever I go. Sometimes I try to hide from it, but it always finds me.

Take today for instance: I had a leisurely morning after everyone left for school. I exercised, read my Bible on the back porch with a glass of iced tea, and started 3 different kinds of chili's to freeze for later. I sifted through the huge stack of mail and put away a few more things from Julie's party this past weekend. It was a slow paced but effective morning.

However, that's where the peace ends. (insert angry face here)

Since it is Julie's birthday, she asked me to bring cupcakes for her class. This seemed a bit ludicrous to me because I worked my hind end off on her cupcakes for her party Saturday. However, the girl doesn't ask for alot and I know it's special to celebrate at school - so I told her I'd be there at 2 pm with cupcakes in hand.

This should be an easy task - except that I was out of ingredients to make cupcakes and I certainly couldn't make the icing. (Haven't mastered that one yet.) So, this would mean we would need store bought cupcakes. This is frustrating on a number of levels. #1) You don't know what's in them. #2) They are FULL of artificial ingredients. And #3) They are uber-expensive (for what you're getting).

However, I resigned myself to it and planned to leave around 1 p.m. to grab cupcakes and head to her school.

The first problem arose when I climbed in the car and realized Rick had left me with no gas. I was leaving about 15 minutes later than I had planned so I hadn't left myself time to get gas. No problem! I had the brilliant idea to take the other car. (Right now we have 3 cars trying to sell 1.)

I ran back in the house (upsetting the dog) to grab the keys. We always keep them on the "mexican table". However, (you saw this coming didn't you) - they weren't there. I texted Rick an angry message about how he never puts anything back in it's place and frantically raced for my sunglasses (which I'd also forgotten to grab the first time). It was by my sunglasses that I found the car keys and also had the realization that I was the one that left them there about 2 weeks ago - the last time I drove Car #3.

Rather than lose time texting my husband an apology, I raced out the door and sped to the store. I found the cupcakes quickly; however, I was mortified to discover they only had "boyish" looking ones. If it was Craig, I could bring pink cupcakes and he'd never say a word. In fact, he'd probably love the pink. However, Julie? Um, no. The girl is a little fashionista so boy cupcakes were not going to cut it and no amount of explaining would help me out of that hot water.

"Why didn't I cupcake shop this morning?!?!"

I looked at my phone and realized I had 20 minutes to find another store with girly cupcakes and get clear over to the school - a good 10 minutes away. That was the second time the thought occurred to me: "Why didn't I cupcake shop this morning?!?!"

I ran (which looks odd to (and scares) other shoppers, I will tell you) to the car and sped out of the parking lot. I got to Store #2 and went running for their bakery all the while telling myself what a dufus I am for not taking care of the cupcakes this morning when I had time.

It didn't take long to figure out that they had cupcakes, but only in massive quantities. I don't need $22 worth of cupcakes!! I think it was at this point that I began to panic a little. What if I did Little Debbie cupcakes? Or Oreos? Oreos are birthday-ish, right?

On my way around the aisle I spotted them: iced cookies. They weren't pink, but at least they weren't blue with brown and black sprinkles. So - I nabbed them before anyone else could and ran for the check out.

It wasn't until I was in the car and on the feeder that I realized WHAT car I was in. Car #3 is our only vehicle without a toll road tag. That meant that I had to get 10 minutes up the road using only back roads. UGH, UGH, UGH!!! (If this makes no sense to you then deal with the Austin Tollroad Authority a couple of times, and you'll be in the know.)

Why didn't I cupcake sh0p this morning?!?!

While I was navigating the back roads, I got a text from my husband letting me know he didn't have the keys to Car #3. (Thank you, Dear.)

I was sweating by the time I pulled into the school parking lot - Reason #1 to get rid of Car #3. And, I was late. (I HATE to be late.)

So, to have my hands full and realize that Car #3 was going to choose that particular moment to not unlock the driver side door was NOT what I wanted to hear. I banged on it and hit it a few times, but it wasn't unlocking. I threatened it. Still nothing. So, I grabbed my iced cookies (half of which were melting from the lack of air) and crawled ever-so-ungracefully out the passenger side door praying no one was watching out the school windows.

The computers were down in the office so it took longer than usual to get signed in and to her room. (I figured this was par for the course at this point.) By the time I got to her room, I was fit to be tied. Thankfully, they were taking a few extra minutes at recess and didn't know I was 10 minutes behind. By the time they got inside, I had the melted iced cookies ready to go. I served them up and the kids got ready to sing Happy Birthday. It was at this point I realized my camera was missing out of my purse.

Are you kidding me??!?!! What else could go wrong? And why didn't I cupcake shop this morning?!?!

So - they sang Happy Birthday, she beamed from ear to ear ... and what do I have to show for it?? NOTHING, because I'm a goofball!

After school when we got back to the car to go home, I found the camera. It was sitting on the front seat where it had apparently fallen out when I had to crawl out ever-so-awkwardly. However, Car #3 still hadn't forgiven me for pounding it with my fists and it refused to unlock so I was forced to crawl back in whence the way I came. This event was doubly horrifying considering other parents were present picking up their children as well. (I'm going to take a belt to that car later.)

We got home and Julie promptly dropped her snack plate on the floor scattering yumminess everywhere for the dog to devour. So, I threw my hands in the air, yelled "For the love of pete?!" and decided the only thing left to do was for all of us to sit down and play with her birthday toys.

Why didn't I cupcake shop this morning!??!

An X-Ray Alternative

2011-03-03T13:15:00.005-06:00

I saw her fall. One minute she was pulling herself along on the wall - her first time roller skating. The next minute she was going down. I could only see her shoulders and head because the walls surrounding the rink were so high. So, when her head slipped below the ridge of where I could see, I knew she'd come back up in tears. She'd already fallen a few other times and landed right on her backside. (She's not like her mama - she doesn't have enough fluff back there for it not to hurt.) So, I knew when she got up, she'd be crying.

So did Rick. That's why he headed her direction to pick her up off the floor. However, by the time he could bring her the 15 feet to where I was sitting her face looked like this:

Yep - that goose egg (with the blueish hue) appeared in less than 30 seconds. One second is wasn't there and then WHAM - it appeared. I was convinced she'd broken her cheekbone or jaw bone or maybe cracked her eye socket.

I could tell she was hurt pretty bad because she kept telling me her head hurt and she wanted to go home. Ugh ... a sickening feeling for a mom. Hate it!

I wanted to take her to the E.R. immediately. However, Rick is nothing if he's not sensible and level headed. (Well, most of the time!) He's had multiple players break bones and/or get concussions so he began looking at her eyes/pupils and drilling her on phones numbers and math problems. He's the one who thought to put ice on it immediately. He's the one who told me not to let her go to sleep. It's good to know somebody was thinking because all I wanted to do was vomit.

We ended up taking her home and watching her closely. Other than the normal complaints you would expect from hitting your face on the floor, she was behaving normal. So, we gave her a little ibuprofen and everyone went to bed. I got up 86 times during the night to check on her and fully expected her to be in my bed at some point, but she actually slept great.

However, the next morning when she got up, it was more swollen and it had begun to turn her eye black. At this point, Rick said it was time to go see the doctor. Well, I had every intention of taking her to the doctor, but when we stopped by our chiropractors office to grab some supplements for Craig that we'd run out of, he offered to take a look at her. Considering we trust this man implicitly, he's a fellow believer, and he always opts for the "less is more" in regards to treatment and my pocket book - I was more than willing to let him give me his opinion before I took off to the clinic.

He did all the normal examinations - checking her pupils, asking her to relay information back to him, pressing around on the area gently to feel what he could. However, he then surprised the hound out of me when he grabbed a tuning fork. He explained that before x-ray machines were invented, that doctors would test for broken bones using a tuning fork.

Here's why/how it works: The doctor slaps the tuning fork against his hand or thigh making it vibrate. He then holds the end of it against the part of the bone believed to be broken. If it is indeed cracked or broken, the tuning fork will vibrate the broken piece causing significant pain. If it is not broken, there is no pain (other than what is already there from the original mishap).

He tested each inch of her cheek bone and even her eye socket and Julie simply looked at him each time he touched her face with the fork. Needless to say, within two minutes we were fairly certain that the girl had not broken any of the bones in her face. He also shared with me that if the cheekbone was broken in two that her face would be sagging on that side (not to mention that she'd be in alot more pain). So - really we were just checking for a hairline fracture or crack. He shared with me that if we had gone to get an x-ray, that hairline fractures usually do not show up for 8-10 days. So, the hospital/clinic would have wanted to do a CT scan of her head to look for breaks/cracks. Can you see where this is going?

I realize the hospital has to protect themselves by making sure that they don't miss a broken bone (especially in a face); however - I ask you ... If her cheekbone had a hairline fracture, what would they have done for her? You can't cast it. You can't wrap it.

Fracture or not fracture - the treatment would have been the same. Ice it. Take it easy. Eat some ice cream. (Okay - maybe the Dr. Mom in me added in that last bit of treatment.)

So, instead of a $1500 bill for an x-ray and doctor attention and then a $3000 bill for a CT scan not to mention whatever else they could add on .... I was able to determine whether or not my daughter had broken her face with a simple (and age old) technique that was no more than the cost of my current copay.

I love me a good deal and I love the lack of radiation in my daughter's face! Now if we could just get her face to quit turning such pretty colors:

How to Kill Strep and Flu Without Antibiotics or Tamiflu

2011-03-01T19:07:00.004-06:00

Each and every day Dave Ramsey and I go pick up my kids from school. Granted, Dave doesn't know that he's along for this ride, but he is. He rants and raves on the radio and I laugh the entire drive over, the entire wait in the pick-up line, and then part of the way home (when the kids let me listen).

I always get tickled at his disclaimer that plays around 3 each afternoon. It says something about how the host of the show (Mr. Ramsey himself) should not be listened to when it comes to finances and that you should seek the advice "of a competent professional". I realize that Dave (I call him by his first name as if I know him personally) has to have a disclaimer to protect himself legally. However, truth be told, I would trust him before I trust any "competent finance professional" for advice. To me, he IS the competent finance professional!

However, he has to protect himself by using a disclaimer for all the nut jobs out there. Therefore, before I move any further in this post:

Disclaimer: The information in this blog post is not intended or implied to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content contained in or made available through this post is for general information only. The author/s of Ivy League make no representation and assume no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information available in this post and you are encouraged to confirm any such information with your physician. NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY SEEKING MEDICAL TREATMENT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU READ IN THIS POST.

Now that we've got that out of the way, I will share this with you: Yes. It is true. I have killed strep (my own) without an antibiotic and I have shortened my flu duration by what I believe to be half. (And one last disclaimer for the real coo-coo's out there: While I am comfortable using each of these methods on myself and my own sickness, I have never used them on my children and I make no recommendations as to what you do with your own children.)

Travel with me back to 1998. I was a freshman in college and was studying vocal performance. That means I sang from sun up to sun down. That means my mouth was open 24/7. (Yes, I sleep with my mouth open. I'm that kind of attractive.) I caught strep four times that year. This was the beginning of what seemed like a never ending cycle.

I caught it another 6-8 times before I graduated 4 years later. Then, I began a yearly cycle of catching it every single Christmas. This went on even after I started this blog. (2007, 2008)

And every single time I would catch it, they would treat it the same way: antibiotics. They'd slap a prescription on me and away I'd go. However, around 2004 I noticed that every time I had to get on an antibiotic (which was usually only at Christmas when I caught strep) that I then got a yeast infection as well. (I realize that's more information than you wanted, but some woman out there is thanking me for that.) While antibiotics are great for killing the infection inside you they throw off every other part of your body - your stomach (why most people get diarrhea while on antibiotics), your taste (ever noticed that?), your intestines, etc...

It wasn't until 2009 that I learned a way to kill it without the use of antibiotics.

It's called Agrisept. You can google it, but for those looking for a simple answer - it's grapefruit seed extract that works like an anti-fungal medication. It has been proven to kill herpes, influenza, candida, parasites, and yes, even strep.

I would not pretend to know the best way to go about killing strep with Agrisept. However, what worked for me was dropping 5-6 drops into 6 oz of water and then gargling for two or three minutes (spitting out and getting more after 30 seconds). I continued this for 4-5 days and the strep was gone.

As a side note, I would want you to know that if you gargle with Agrisept before going to see a doctor - the Agrisept will throw off the "in house" strep test. It will come back negative and the doctor will just assume you have some other throat fungus. It won't be until they get the test results back from the lab they sent off to that it will show positive.

Also, on one other side note (before I move on to my flu testimony) - I would want you to know that Agrisept is available through one of the websites that my coffee sells through. This blog entry is in no way, shape, or form an attempt to get you to buy Agrisept through me or from me and I am not being compensated for this post. However, in an attempt to be authentic it is important that you know that technically you could buy it on my Asantae website. In all honesty though, many times you can google the city you live in and "agrisept" and find stores or people who sell it locally.

Moving on to the flu ... I believe I shared with you that I caught it about five weeks ago. To answer the question I know is forming in a few minds - no, I did not receive a flu shot this year. I personally think it would be safer to inject myself with rattlesnake venom than with a flu vaccine, but I digress.

I felt it coming on on a Thursday. I got that achy, tired, "something is wrong" feeling. I stopped by Target and grabbed two products that now I would NOT recommend, but they are part of the story (unfortunately). (We'll laugh at my stupidity together.) One was called Cold-Eeze - I got it for the zinc. The other was Emergen-C - got it for the high levels of Vitamin C.

I began taking both of these products that afternoon around 3 p.m. (However, my tongue kept going numb using the Cold-Eeze. I just kept telling myself a numb tongue was better than flu.) That night I had an obligation I had already committed myself to and needed to follow through on and it kept me out from 7 until midnight. (I agree that this was not the smartest move as it lowered my defenses and exposed 4 other people to the flu.)

That night I woke up around 2 a.m. running fever and with chills. It was ON like donkey kong at that point. I emailed our chiropractor and he recommended three KEY things: Vitamin C, Calcium Lactate, and Zinc.

The Vitamin C is obvious - it boosts your immune system. The Zinc has been proven (although controversial) to lessen the severity of flu symptoms. However, the Calcium Lactate was a new one for me.

Apparently, when we have low amounts of calcium in our blood, the white blood cells (the ones fighting sickness) cannot do their job. This is why you get fever. Fever increases the body temperature to heat up the bone thus releasing calcium from the bone. The fever is pulling the calcium out of the bone so that it is available to the white blood cells.

So Friday morning, I began taking Calcium Lactate and Vitamin C every hour on the hour. (The Zinc I threw in the trash can because frankly - I like to be able to feel my tongue. You form your own opinion there. I also threw the Emergen-C in the trash after discovering it contained an artificial sweetener. I switched to plain Vitamin C tablets.) After running fever all night, my fever was gone after 2 hours on the Calcium Lactate. My symptoms (extreme fatigue, achiness, headache, etc...) lasted for 3 days.

Our chiro said that when my body had enough Vitamin C, it would let me know because I would have diarrhea. While this sounded like more of a nuisance than a great "get over the flu" plan, I went with it. However, after taking more than 10,000 milligrams of Vitamin C, I still was not having any stomach problems. So - either my body was extremely low on Vitamin C or I've got abs of steel. (I'll let you draw your own conclusion.)

By Monday morning, I was back at work. Granted, I was still slightly "off" - but able to function normally. And by Tuesday, I was back to my normal self. (whatever that is)

I wish I could say the same for my 3 friends and their kiddo's. They did not get on the Zinc, C, or the Calcium Lactate. The flu took them OUT along with several of their family members and each one was down for 5-6 days. Do you see what you're missing if you and I aren't friends? I'm a giver!

So, how is that different from Tamiflu?

I'm not interested in arguing over which method of treatment you should choose. My mind is made up. However, I would offer two insights into Tamiflu: #1) It is synthetic - chemically produced, man made, and #2) It only lessons the flu by .5 - 1 days (according to their statistical information). My experience with pushing the before mentioned items seemed to lesson mine by at least 3. (Feel free to draw your own conclusion here.)

In summary, what have we learned today? We've learned that I like to sleep with my mouth open and that I'm a giver. However, I hope more than that that you take away a few nuggets of wisdom to use the next time you're feeling a little under the weather.

Stay tuned! Tomorrow I'm going to tell you why you don't need an x-ray if you think your child has broken her face!

Zygomatic Skating Adventure

2011-02-28T16:02:00.002-06:00

When Rick was three, he fell from a loft in a barn and broke his collar bone. There are precious (all be it sad) pictures of him riding his little tricycle around with his arm in a sling. Not long after this, he ran smack into a pole at Wendy's and busted his head open. He still has a beautiful scar near his eye from that one. At some point in all this, he decided to see what would happen if he stuck his finger into a fan. He found out that it would chop his finger off and despite great medical care, his finger bends oddly to the side to this day.

I think it goes without saying that Rick was a bit of a clumsy child. (Although if you've seen his baby pictures, you know he was the cutest, clumsiest child!) I think we can draw this conclusion seeing as how none of his sisters had this many trips to the emergency room. However, I digress.

Our daughter inherited his hair, his eyes, his skin and his temperament. And apparently his childhood clumsiness as well.

We attended one of the fundraisers for their school that was held at a local skating rink yesterday. For being the most athletic one in the family, it was fairly obvious within the first few minutes that she has no future in Olympic skating.

While the kids have practiced in those cute Fisher Price skates and have even shown some success, they were not prepared for how "slippery" real skates are. Julie hadn't been on the floor 30 seconds before she landed right on her backside.

However, her worst fall was broken by her cheekbone. :(

We watched her for signs of concussion all Sunday night, but she didn't have any of the symptoms. She slept great through the night (which was impossible for me because I got up every 37 seconds to check on her).

This is the sight that greeted us this morning at 6:30 a.m.

The sour look is more from her growling belly than her swollen face.

We took her to the doctor this morning to make sure she didn't crack her cheekbone. She would like you to know she's thrilled it's not broken.

However, the later the day gets, the darker her bruises get.

The doctor said we can expect to see less swelling, but many more colors in the days to come.

I kept her home from school today just to be on the safe side. However, her facial injuries have not slowed down her mouth and my ears are hurting after a full day of exercise. Therefore - back to school Miss Talks-a-lot, back to school for you.

Go Ahead! Make My Day!

2011-02-26T17:48:00.003-06:00

A typical Saturday at your house might look like what today has for me. However, today did not FEEL typical to me. Today felt weird. You see, just six short months ago, we wouldn't have been able to do what we did today. In fact, I would never have attempted it.

Track season has started, so Rick was up and gone before the sun even considered making it's debut this morning. Six months ago, I would have waited for him to get home around 7 p.m. and then gone out to run errands. (Because there was no way I was hauling Craig around town waiting for him to erupt or run off.) However, we've come far enough along in our food allergy journey that I locked both monkeys in the back of the minivan and took off this morning.

Our first stop was to a hotel in South Austin. My dad was attending a seminar there and he had something I desperately needed: Craig's Food Journal. (I left it at their house last weekend when we visited.) When we arrived he was in the lobby, so we sat down to visit with him. I was able to visit for 30 minutes while the kids played (almost) quietly on the couches beside us. Six months ago this would have NEVER happened. Craig would have run from the hotel at least 3 times. He would have attempted to climb the pillars at least twice. And I could have counted on him taking at least one part of his clothing off.

Our next stop was to the downtown Whole Foods. Today, not only did he push the buggy for me, but he read food labels and picked out appropriate items on his own. Six months ago he couldn't have walked through the store - he would have run. He would have talked incessantly the entire trip and at some point, he would have stomped his feet and jumped up and down when not given something he wanted. To the average "passer-by", he would have looked like a spoiled brat. However, we haven't changed anything in our discipline techniques. We've simply changed his diet. (Still think every other kid in the public school system needs to be on Ritalin?)

After a morning of shopping and errand running, we arrived back home and everyone napped. I made a gluten-free, egg-free, dye-free, salicylate-free, sulfite-free dinner and the kids ate at the table while I sat down on the couch for a moment of silence. (Yes, I realize this a cop out and the lazy mom's approach to a Saturday night. However, save your judgements for church tomorrow; Mama was tired.) When Craig finished his dinner, he raced his plate to the kitchen sink and then made a run for the backdoor. (He had a baseball game to finish.) Right as he was fixing to slide through the door, he turned around, looked right at me and pointed, saying: "Mommy, that was a great dinner".

I looked behind me to make sure he wasn't pointing at someone else. Then, I pinched myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Also, I searched the house for liquor to see if I'd been drinking. However, upon further investigation I discovered something beautiful: The child was talking to me!

Six months ago I'm not even sure he knew who made him dinner, much less that he could thank me or tell me he enjoyed it. Talk about making his mom's day! :)

Either Drink Your Coke or Take Your Vitamins - But Don't Do Both!

2011-02-24T15:46:00.004-06:00

Wow. That is all I can think. To say I struck a nerve with you with my last post is an understatement! I cannot believe the amount of traffic this blog has gotten in the last 48 hours. I cannot believe the number of times my link to it on Facebook has been reposted on someone else's wall. I am astounded at how many people have contacted me regarding information. To say that people are hungry/interested in this topic is the understatement of the year!

Why are people so hungry for it?

Well, for some I think it's just genuine curiosity. For others, it's their love for my family that made them read and ask questions or make comments. (Thank you for that.) For others though, they're struggling (or their children are struggling) with health issues that seem to be linked to their food intake. And the more our Food & Drug Association adds to our foods, the more these problems will grow.

I'm sure you've seen Super Size Me, Food Inc., and other documentaries that highlight how much our food is being altered. However, as autism, ADHD, and even cancer cases rise, relatively few people are looking at food additives and preservatives as causes. We're "walking for cures" and "running for cures" and raising money at various other fundraisers and while that is all commendable, we're not paying near as much attention to what goes into our food and therefore into our bodies.

And - when we do pay attention to what goes into our body, sometimes we don't understand the chemical reactions that can take place after we ingest something. (This has especially been true in our son!)

For example - we've all heard that sodas are bad for us. If you are health conscious at all, you probably limit yourself to one or two a day (if that). However, did you know that an ingredient in your cola, when mixed with Vitamin C actually produces a known carcinogen that causes cancer? It gets worse. It has now been proven that this same ingredient in your soda causes DNA damage and that there are a number of diseases (including Parkinson's and neurodegenerative diseases) that are tied to DNA damage.

It's called Sodium Benzoate. Wikipedia defines it as "the sodium salt of benzoic acid and exists in this form when dissolved in water. It can be produced by reacting sodium hydroxide and benzoic acid." It is a preservative that kills fungus and bacteria. Therefore, it is useful in food/beverages so that they have a longer shelf life. However, it is only useful in acidic foods like sodas, salad dressings, pickles, jams, and mouth washes. (They have to use other preservatives in less acidic products.)

Although manufacturers had been using Sodium Benzoate for a century, the FDA finally got enough pressure put on them in the 1990's to "urge" companies not to use it in products containing Ascorbic Acid (another name for Vitamin C). However, in the 2000's, they realized that "urging" hadn't cut it and many companies were still using it. A lawsuit filed in 2006 forced Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and other soft-drink makers to reformulate affected beverages. I'll leave you to research the rest on your own, but I think you may be surprised at what they consider "affected" beverages. Let's just say there's a good chance that soda you're sippin' on still has Sodium Benzoate.

So, let's take it a step further. Nobody wants cancer, but what about a kid who's bouncing off the walls? While that's not as serious as cancer, it's serious enough if it's a chemical reaction taking place inside your child. (I am not comparing cancer to hyperactivity. Cancer kills - hyperactivity doesn't. I'm simply stating that this is one other reaction. No hate mail please.) In 2007, the UK's Food Standards Agency discovered that when you combine Sodium Benzoate with certain food colorings, it produced hyper activity in children.

Let's break that down ... You pack your child a "nutritional" cereal bar in their lunchbox. Let's say it's NutriGrain just for the sake of this illustration. Alongside their sandwich and their carrots, you place a sweet little juice box. Unbeknownst to you, you have packed your child a cancer-giving, hyper-activity-inviting lunch. Inside that cereal bar (yes, the NutriGrain one) is Red 40. (Hard to believe, huh?) And inside that juice, there is Sodium Benzoate. (Not all juices contain it - but some that are marketed to children do.) Or maybe it's breakfast. That precious toddler has some Fruity Pebbles and some apple juice. Same results.

Now - as a disclaimer - the FDA has assured everyone (smirk) that the levels of benzene that are released into the body are so low that they are not enough to cause cancer in humans ... just the animals they are tested on. Also - I'm sure that it would comfort you to know that in 2008 the FSA called for a voluntary (did you catch that?) removal of colors. It is interesting to note that they did NOT call for a voluntary removal of sodium benzoate.

So as long as I read food labels I should be safe, right? Sure! As long as you can memorize the multiple names of every food additive. Yes, you read that correctly. I will not attempt to draw conclusions as to why the FDA would allow preservatives and additives to have multiple names, but they do. Sodium Benzoate can be declared on a food label as Sodium Benzoate, E211, and Benzoic Acid. What makes it even harder is that they are constantly changing the names and adding to the list of what Sodium Benzoate can be called on a label.

Are you ready to pull your hair out yet? (Don't bother - just keep drinking the sodas and it will fall out. pahahahha! I missed my calling as a comedian.)

If you'll remember in my last post, I shared with you that there were 267 items on our original NO List (and only 94 on the YES). This is precisely why. Every additive and preservative has multiple names. The food colors/dyes are the worst. Most of them have multiple names and multiple numbers. The Red 40 I mentioned above is the one our son reacts the worst to and it can be labeled as Allura Red AC, Food Red 17, C.I. 16035, or FD&C Red 40.

The last thing I'll point out today is this: In the research I have done (and in what I hope you'll read after you finish this post), I have found that the majority of concern over these additives and preservatives that have been allowed for so long (many of them since the 30's and 40's) has only recently come to light. We are only discovering the effects that these additives have now ... 50, 60, 70 years later. All of the controversy has only recently erupted - within the last 20 years. If we liken this to what happened with cigarettes, we're on the same course. Remember when cigarettes first came on the scene? Good Housekeeping published an article recently about how doctors actually recommended smoking! That sounds ludicrous now given everything we know. However - my question is - will we be saying the same thing about these additives and preservatives in 50 years?

The Water & Cardboard Diet

2011-02-22T17:16:00.005-06:00

I have mentioned before that Craig is on a very strict diet. However, it has been awhile since I have mentioned it and so I thought I'd update you today. For most, this will be the most boring post you've ever read. However, I've tagged it with a couple of key words that might bring another searching parent to this particular post and in turn help her out with her journey.

You already know that our journey started because of severe behavior problems. We suspected when Craig was two that there was something going on - something triggering his behavior. At the time, he was going to work with me everyday and was drinking oodles and ooooooodles of the juice there. My mom suggested looking into the juice to see what it was made with. We discovered an artificial sweetener (aspartame to be specific) and took him off the juice. I cannot say that we saw dramatic improvements in his behavior. However, we did see dramatic declines when he would accidently ingest aspartame. We began to discover all the different products that contain aspartame and slowly (through a process of elimination) realized that Craig not only reacted to aspartame, but to ALL artificial sweeteners. Sugar did not effect him, but artifical sweeteners sent him over the edge.

His pediatrician wouldn't listen to me. The preschool minister at our church called me in and told me Craig had "mental issues". Some of our friends diagnosed it as a parent problem and told us to man-up on our parenting techniques. No one would babysit him. No one wanted him in their class. To say we were struggling is an understatement.

However - as he struggled through preschool and then through Kinder and then through First Grade, we kept seeing that one day he'd be an angel and the next day a bear. We'd have three days of absolute bliss with him and then he'd make us pull our hair out for a week. We couldn't figure it out. We put him to bed earlier. We took away his toys. We rationed t.v. time. You name it - we did it.

Then - by God's grace - we discovered a chiropractor who did allergy muscle testing and learned that he was suffering from severe food intolerances. Specifically, the kid was allergic to eggs, all food dyes/colors, fungus, and gluten.

When we removed these key triggers, we saw an AMAZING change in our son. In fact, most allergists, nutritionists, and medical personnel will tell you that you should not expect to see any difference in behavior for six weeks. However, we were an exception. We saw immediate differences and our trip to Disney was actually saved because the gluten intolerance came through just 3 days before we left town. We were able to thoroughly enjoy (along with the 4 other people with us) the entire trip because our son wasn't reacting to foods. (And yes, Disney does a superb job with food allergies.)

I'll be honest with you - we could have stopped there. Our friends and family were commenting on the huge change they had seen in Craig. His teachers at school had seen it. People at church saw it. We could have called it a day and just kept the child away from gluten, eggs & dye the rest of his life. However, in my mommy heart I knew that there was still something going on. While we weren't struggling as much, we were still struggling. To only go half-way in our journey felt somewhat like cheating. I didn't want to cheat my son out of a full diagnosis - a full healing/recovery.

We were pointed to the Feingold Diet and began our research into salicylates and sulfites. (Salicylates are the natural immune hormone in plants that protects the plant against diseases, insects, fungi, and bacteria. Sulfites are preservatives used in foods and medications.) To sum up our findings, we discovered a few things:

#1) There was a very good chance that our son was reacting to salicylates and sulfites (along with the eggs, gluten & dyes.)

#2) It would be next to impossible to go egg-free, gluten-free, dye-free, salicylate-free, & sulfite-free.

However, for the sake of our son - we knew that's where we were headed.

I moped around the house for a week digesting that information. Everything I read said to not go gluten free while trying to be salicylate-free and sulfite free. The researchers said it was way too hard. All I could think was "how could we put our son back on gluten knowing it's terrible for him just to try and figure out the salicylate and sulfite situation?"

In the middle of this, Craig got strep throat and the doctor at the local clinic put him on Amoxicillin. (In case you've forgotten, Amoxicillin is pink. In case you're stupid, pink is made with a little bit of red dye {insert scary music here}.) It took us 4 days to figure out that it was the dye in the medicine and another 3 to get it out of his system. It was a wretched, wretched week.

We took another week or two to get back on track with the gluten, egg, & dye free diet and then we decided we would set a date and make the big jump: gluten, egg, dye, salicylate, and sulfite free.

The first thing I did was start a list. Well, technically - 2 lists. We had a "yes" list and a "no" list. Maybe if I had a degree in nutrition, I wouldn't need a list. Or - frankly - if my memory was better, I wouldn't need a list. However, for the life of me, I cannot remember which big words are good (maltodextrin) and which big words are bad (cyclamate). So - lists are a necessity. (Just as a side bar here, our "NO List" consisted of 267 items while our "YES List" consisted of only 94.)

The second thing I did was scope out the local stores carrying anything organic or gluten free. I was amazed at how much I found once I was actually searching. I settled on using mainly Whole Foods and Sprouts as they both had a huge selection of foods I would need. I even went as far as to have guided tours of both stores so that I would know exactly what I was doing.

Third, I started a food journal. This is possibly THE MOST IMPORTANT step. It is amazing the things my husband and I discovered just by looking at what my son was eating on paper.

We chose to start on a Wednesday evening so that we could use the weekend as a "buffer". We had read that he would get worse before he got better - especially when eliminating salicylates and sulfites. Boy! They could not have been more right on that point! His first dye-free, salicylate-free, egg-free, gluten-free, sulfite-free (D-SEGS free for all future reference) meal was served on a Wednesday evening for dinner. By Friday, we wanted to die.

He was in complete and total withdrawl. He was a yelling, screaming, ridiculous, back-talking, not-sleeping machine. We made it through the weekend with me barely hanging on. I hadn't realized how hard it would be to cook every single one of his meals from scratch and to avoid all the "NO List" foods. By Monday, we were all ready to throw in the towel. However, something inside me kept saying "keep going, keep going".

And on Tuesday, it happened. It was amazing. It was glorious. It was the light in our darkness. It was all the proof we needed that what we were doing was working. Craig and Julie were playing Monopoly and she was just cheatin' the fire out of him. She was infuriating! She was picking and picking on him. I was watching from the computer - pretending to be checking email, but in reality watching to see what would happen. And that's when "IT" happened. For the first time EVER - we saw anger without the loss of his temper. He had every right to be mad at her for picking and cheating. However, instead of hitting, yelling, or throwing things (normal behavior in the past) he told her (emphatically) that he was not going to play with her anymore and walked away.

I. was. stunned.

If you are dealing with food allergies (or any other type) with your own child, you can relate to this story. If you've never dealt with this, I suspect you think I'm insane.

It was at this point that I found my energy renewed. We rocked along for a week like this. This was when my husband came in and sat me down and said he thought I was awesome and beautiful and inspiring and amazing. Ok, so actually he simply said that he thought I was "onto something here" and that was all the encouragement that I needed.

I'd love to tell you that this is the happy ending. However, this is when the train derails again. All of a sudden out of nowhere the child went crazy on us again. I couldn't understand it because we were sticking to the diet like crazy. There was no cheating ... not even a little. However, it was unmistakable - he was reacting again. We had the stomping and the yelling and the screaming and the crying. He began not sleeping again which in turn led to me not sleeping. I was fit to be tied!!!

I'll spare you all the details, but suffice it to say that we eventually figured out (two weeks in) that we had quit giving him one of his supplements and his body had been fine without for a few days and then needed it. We started him back on it and within 48 hours he was a joy to be around again.

We are now in the process of re-introducing foods one by one to see which ones he can handle and which ones he can't. There is no learning curve here ... there is a learning mountain. I have never felt so educated and blessed while feeling so stupid and humbled all at the same time. The more I read (educate) - the more I realize I don't know. The more we discover, the more we realize we are just hitting the tip of the iceberg here. I cannot even begin to tell you how gratifying it is when what we're doing is working. And yet, I cannot even put into words how frustrating it is when we're doing everything "right" and yet he's reacting and we can't figure out what he's reacting to.

As of right now, we have been able to add back in peanut butter, oranges, and tomatoes. However, apples were a bust ... a big bust.

What does this mean for his future? I can't answer that. It's too soon. Right now, we're enjoying the smile on his face that we haven't seen for years. He is (mostly) our care-free, happy-go-lucky kid again. He is a joy to be around. He plays jokes, laughs alot, and has conversations now. He offers to help, empathizes with others, and keeps his temper in check more often. I don't know if I'll still be packing his complicated lunch when he's a senior in high school. However, I know that for now what we're doing is working and we're taking one day at a time.

The McDaniel Book

2011-02-21T07:26:00.002-06:00

I like new things. No, I'm not talking about material things (although those are nice too). I like to try new things. I like to learn new things. There's something about trying a new recipe that is thrilling to me. The excitement I feel working my way through a new craft project is exhilarating. Mastering a new art, conquering a new feat, and triumphing over a new challenge is thrilling on so many levels.

I seem to develop new interests all the time. (Some might call this ADD.) You've seen my jewelry. (Sorry, can't find a link to my jewelry pics right now.) You've seen my musicals - here, here & here. You've seen my recipes here, here, here, here, here, and here.

And last year, you saw my interest in heritage/legacy/family history come to life.

Today, I'd like to share with you a few new stories I have learned.

My mom gave me The McDaniel Book. Now, before you make a trip down to your local Barnes & Noble, let me warn you that it won't be there. This is a book written/compiled by two McDaniel women strictly to preserve the McDaniel name. It is xeroxed and bound with a spiral binding. It's nothing you'd set out on your coffee table ... unless of course you were captured by its contents. I could entertain you all day with the stories it contains; however, we only have time for a few today.

The first takes place in Kauffman County in the 1850's or 60's and involves my great-great-grandmother. Her name was Mary Alice McDaniel and she was married to Pilgrim. Apparently, growing up she lived on a farm with her family and one day her father "hitched up a wagon to go to town for supplies". I don't know how old she was at this time; the book is not clear on that. She says that they had a dog on the farm "that could smell an Indian" and apparently while her mom (Louisa I believe) was washing, the dog alerted that it smelled an Indian near the house. It says she kept an eye out for him all day long, but he never "came forward. That night while the children were asleep, she left the door open. Sure enough, during the night, the Indian came in the door. Louisa was ready for him and shot him dead. She went out and dug a hole and buried him."

Yee haw!!! That's my roots right there! :)

Rick and I laughed the entire drive home from my parents yesterday about my strong family tree and the thought of me shooting an intruder and burying him in the garden. I'm fairly certain this is why he won't buy me that pink pistol I've been begging for.

The second story I'd like to share with you is more just a tidbit of information. However, an interesting tidbit none-the-less. Apparently, my ancestor (great-great-grandfather, Pilgrim) helped to capture Santa Anna. "Santa Anna had traded his uniform for a peons clothes and Pilgrim and a bunch captured these 2 Mexicans and one of them was Santa Anna." Kind of cool knowing your family helped take down the leading villain of Texas history.

To end on a light note today, I thought I'd leave you with the "gem" (smirk) I found on page twenty-four. And let's just suffice it to say that sometimes in researching family history you come across the good AND the bad.

Mary Alice & Pilgrim had a son named Wiley. (Wiley was my grandfathers uncle.) Wiley married Ella and they had a son named Ottis. Ottis married Valarie and they had a son named Melvin. The story begins with Grandpa Mc (Wiley) killing some squirrels and skinning them for Grandma Mc (Ella) to make a meat pie. (Did you just throw up a little in your mouth?) "Melvin & Raymond had them skinned and the skin on their heads like Daniel Boone. Grandma Mc (Ella) had this cat that she had for a long time... anyway, it was not a stray. We were sitting out on the screen porch and it was one of the few times that Granny (Mary Alice) was out on the porch. It was nearly lunch time and it was hot and summer. Anyway, the cat jumped upon Melvin's head. Melvin yelled and threw him onto Raymond, who also had the squirrel skin on his head. The cat grabbed the squirrel skin, Raymond trying to retrieve it. The cat was yelling, Raymond was yelling because by that time, the cat had scratched Raymond in the eyes and face .... mostly scared ... didn't hurt him. There was this great commotion and Grandma Mc (Ella) came running from the kitchen, grabbed her broom and before all of us and with Grandpa Mc (Wiley) saying "Now ma, don't hurt the cat." She literally beat that cat to a whelp. I mean guts and all. She tore up the screen door, chasing that cat, ruined the screen, etc... But that cat was dead. Granny (Mary Alice) looked over to Raymond and Melvin and they had their hands up to their mouths, grinning and delighted the cat was dead. At least they got their squirrel hats back. Granny gave Grandma (Ella) a great scolding because of those brat boys had caused the favorite cat to be beat to death. It was the one time I heard Grandma Mc (Ella) tell Granny (Mary Alice) to go to her room and stay there. Poor ole Grandpa, the great story teller and kind person he was, eased everything along."

Maybe your family history has a little cat killin' of it's own. ;)

Another Gray Jacket for Him, Another Step of Faith for Me

2011-02-18T13:10:00.003-06:00

My phone rang earlier today and it was my husband calling to tell me about a new jacket he had just purchased. He's gone to a coaching seminar (also known as a guys-weekend) right now and they had stopped on their way to San Antonio for a little manly time in Cabela's.

I'll confess. Him telling me that he just bought another gray jacket forced me to schedule him a double counseling session for this next week. The man owns (I kid you not) at least 4 gray jackets. If that were it - the end of the story - I might be able to live with it. However, it's not. He also owns 6 blue jackets and a nice black one. (Yes, I had to go snoop in his closet and count before writing this. That's dedication, folks. And also a little bit of nosiness.)

So, why does the man feel like he needs more gray jackets?! That's the question that was running through my head; however, a marriage book taught me to ask it like this: "Oh, that sounds nice. I thought you already had a grey jacket. I must have dreamed that." (Note to amateurs in the audience - the above 3 sentences must be said with a complete and total straight face. If there is even a hint of sarcasm in your voice, your husband will hear it and will hang up on you. The book must have taught me that too because I'm sure my husband would never hang up on me.)

I wish I could share his reply to my very diplomatic retort above; however, it didn't make any sense. It was something about how it didn't have the Nike swoosh or the Reebok sign mixed with an explanation about the lining on the inside. Suffice it to say, the man was telling me he'd bought it because it wasn't like the other 17 grey jackets in his closet.

And that's when it hit me.

He's buying black shoes!

Ok, no - not literally. However, this is what I could equate it to.

Sitting in my closet right now are no less than 10 pairs of black shoes. Some are heels, some are flats. Some are Patton, some are velvet. Some are shiny, some are sparkly. Some have been worn within the last week - some haven't been worn in the last five years. (kind of like his grey jackets!) However, each one of those shoes has a purpose. If I called Rick and told him I'd just bought another pair of black shoes, the man would wonder what I was thinking given that my closet holds enough for me to go two weeks solid without ever wearing the same pair twice. However, if he asked, I would be able to tell him precisely why I needed the new pair. They would have some feature that the shoes I currently own don't have. Maybe the heel would be thinner or higher. Maybe the toe more pointy or the middle wider. Maybe the material would be more shiny or less sparkly. Whatever the difference, there would be a definite reason that I would feel the need to add them to my ever growing collection.

And this is the same for his newest piece of winter gear. And so this is when I just smile and tell him I can't wait to see it. (Thankfully we were on the phone and he couldn't see me shaking my head in wonder.)

You know - this is kind of what happens in our relationship with God too. Something happens that we don't understand and we start throwing questions at God as if we are deserving of an answer or an explanation.

"Why is this happening?"

"I don't understand this!"

"How long until you fix this?"

I remember one time specifically when we were so disappointed and throwing questions and demands back at God. It was when we were living in Houston and Rick was driving 40 miles one way in Houston traffic to get to work. He had applied to work at a nice high school 2 miles from our house and we were excited. The head coach went to our church and worked in the preschool ministry on Sunday mornings and we just knew that they would hire Rick. Low and behold, the end of February came and they up and hired someone else. We were just crushed. We couldn't believe that we had connections, he had a great interview, the school was right beside our house, the youth at our church went to this school and WHAM!!! - that door was shut.

We had this perfect plan (so we thought) and we were so disappointed God didn't open this door.

It was 2 months later that the church fired me and we left Houston. I will never forget the realization of knowing that God had actually spared us some real heartache by not allowing us to have that job.

My parents tell an equally convicting story from early in their ministry before Bo & I were around. They had gone in view-of-a-call at a church and this church had wined 'em and dined 'em. (Ok, we're Baptists, so by wined and dined I really mean ginger aled 'em and dined 'em.) They had gone to this church and had an incredible time with these people. It was exactly what they were looking for in the next step of their ministry. The church parsonage was on the golf course. They had already offered my mom a teaching position at the elementary school. The salary was right. The people were sweet. It looked like an awesome deal. The only problem (as my Dad tells it) is that the Lord wasn't in it. (When my mom tells the story she always remembers to mention that Dad woke her in the middle of the night to tell her the Lord wasn't in this move.)

So - what do we do with that information? There are times in my past that I have questioned God's timing, his Purpose, his Plan and yet time and time again He proves faithful. You'd think at some point I'd quit questioning. But, no. I have persistency going for me.

If I apply history to our most recent heart break, what does it mean? Well, I still don't know anything. My questions are still just that ... questions. I still don't understand. However, it means that I look up and say ... "ok". I relinquish the right to understand. I let go of the entitlement. I give up the right to see the top of the staircase before I put my foot on the bottom stair.

You know, I don't know that my parents have ever gotten a clear answer on why the Lord wasn't in that golf course church. I'm thankful for the answer, the very clear picture we were shown, regarding the high school by our house in Houston.

However, I'm not entitled to answers.

I may never know why God allowed this most recent heart ache to happen. You may never understand why God allowed a certain event in your life either. But, I think that's where the act of faith comes in.

Will I choose to believe that He works all things together for good for them that love him and are called according to His purpose? (Romans 8:28)

Will I choose to believe that He is close to the brokenhearted? (Psalm 34:18)

Will I choose to believe that instead of shame, that He'll bestow on me a "double portion"? (Isaiah 61:7)

Will I choose to believe that what looks like bad is actually for my good? (Isaiah 41:18)

In one of the Beth Moore studies I did, she spoke about how God restores us. Isaiah 61:1-3 says we were made to "bind up the brokenhearted", to "proclaim freedom for the captives", to "release from darkness the prisoners", etc... And it ends with telling us that we will be called "oaks of righteousness ... for the display of his splendor." In case the religious talk caused you to miss the message there, let me put it how Beth described it:

"The restoration of the people of God is so that they may fulfill their mission."

God restores us (works good from our bad when we love and obey Him) so that we can accomplish what He wants us to. And nothing can keep us from accomplishing that if we are loving Him and seeking Him and obeying Him.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus." Romans 3:38-39.

The Valentine's Serenade

2011-02-16T13:51:00.002-06:00

When I was 16, I was in the musical Annie. Rick & I were just friends at the time (he had a girlfriend) and one night after a performance, we took a picture together. (Him as Daddy Warbucks and me as a Boylan Sister)

My mom happened to see the photo a week later when they were developed and gasped. She looked right at me and said "You two are in love!". Now, being the defiant, strong-willed teenager I was, I adamantly told her how wrong she was and refused to even talk about the matter any further. (I'm sure I even added in some foot stomping to get my point across even further.)

(Obviously you can see how wrong she was ... Rick and I began dating 3 months later and were married in 3 1/2 years.)

I've always wondered how she could look at that photo and tell so much. How could she look at that photo and know what I didn't even know yet?

Well, I think the photos below might answer that question.

Exhibit A: My precious daughter all dressed up for her choir concert at school

I snapped that photo at home before we left. Then, I was able to grab these few before the concert started.

AND IT'S A GOOD THING!!

Because she spent the rest of the concert singing/staring at the boy beside her.

The Prosecution presents Exhibits B, C, & D.

Thankfully, they only laughed and giggled at each other the entire performance. And, I'll admit, he's a cutie. Little blond haired, blued eyed darling. (Taking after her mama with her tastes there ... )

What makes their relationship successful you might ask? Well, I think it's fairly obvious:

She thinks he's funny and he loves that she laughs at his jokes.

I rest my case.

Valentines 2011

2011-02-15T15:24:00.002-06:00

Happy Valentines Day! (a day late, but who's counting?)

We celebrated Valentines this year over the course of 4 days and it was muy bueno. Rick & I started the weekend with a hot date to Chuy's & Dave & Busters.

We love the food at Chuy's, but the games at Dave & Busters. So, we decided to have our cake & eat it too. (except that no one can eat cake after eating at Chuy's)

(The above picture took 7 tries as our two monkeys are uber-eager to work the camera, but not uber-efficient at it.)

The kids enjoyed a fun night of Parent's Night Out at their school and I have to tell you, I have not felt that good about leaving them in a long time. Their school offered it as an American Cancer Society fundraiser. When we arrived, I was worried it was going to be the music teacher watching 85 children by herself. However, I was pleasantly surprised! The school principal was there as well as Julie's Kinder teacher and a whole host of staff. The kids LOVED it and I relaxed knowing they were in good hands. (Have I mentioned how much we LOVE their school?)

The kids knocked out their class valentines on Saturday so that we could get the stupid things done, I mean, have plenty of time for playing the rest of the weekend. Craig chose sports themed ones (big surprise there, huh?) and Julie chose puppy/kitty valentines.

When the kids woke up Monday morning, we had a few little gifts for them. Craig got new Dragon pj's, a little bear, and some hacky-sack balls.

Julie got some new Tink pj's, a little bear and a pen that lights up when you write.

(I fully expect to peek around the corner of her bedroom one night and see it lit up with a big red light from her new heart pen.)

I had shopped all over for cute Valentine shirts for the kids, but couldn't find any that made my heart flutter. They all had nasty comments on them or they just weren't cute. So, I put Craig in a red polo (which he hated) and made Julie a t-shirt & fancied up a pair of her jeans.

They left for school way too excited and giddy. I joined them for their parties later that afternoon.

Julie's class had sandwich lunch in the classroom with chocolate candy cupcakes for dessert.

Side Note: See the precious boy beside Julie? He is a special needs child that is absolutely adorable and while I am not a fan of "inclusion" when it comes to public school classrooms, this child has been assigned to Julie as her special project. She reteaches him all the lessons and helps him write and color. When I arrived to help set up for the party he came up to me and immediately took my hand to hold. (Through his eyes, I probably just look like a giant Julie.) Very gentle, sweet spirit and Julie adores being his companion.

Craig's party consisted of icing cookies and eating a snack of fruits & vegetables. To a child on a VERY restricted diet, this is a recipe (ha) for disaster. This is Craig eating his "party food" - broccoli, peas, cantaloupe & watermelon. Yumo!!!

For dinner, I tried to make things fun and love-y so I set the table with all red & pink, threw some candy hearts on it and then hung some "Happy Valentine's Day" balloons.

As you can see, I'm not an interior designer ... However, it's the thought that counts, right? Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours!

Living Up to His Namesake

2011-02-12T17:02:00.003-06:00

When I go to Whole Foods to get Craig's special diet food that is egg-free, gluten-free, dye-free, salicylate-free, and sulfite-free ... I feel totally out of my league.

You know that feeling?

The first time I walked into our gym and couldn't even figure out how to work half the machines, much less look good while doing it ... I felt totally out of my league.

Anytime I have to be around teenagers ... I feel totally out of my league.

Sometime this parenting things feels totally out of my league!

And today was definitely an example of being completely out of my league!

Today was Baseball Tryouts.

Maybe you're asking yourself the same questions I was this morning? What are they trying out for? Why do they need to try out? What's the point? While I tagged along to many a game when my brother was growing up, I do not remember one actual "try out". Maybe this is some new-fangled thing, I thought. But nope. Rick sat Craig down and explained exactly how it would work. So, apparently I was just left out of these little excursions while growing up. And, I gotta tell ya - I could've used the knowledge to pull from today!

We got to the fields and put Craig in this line:

Rick went to go check things out. That and pace some more. And bite his fingernails. The man was stinkin' nervous! Mainly he was nervous because he didn't feel like he'd worked with Craig enough to prepare him. However, we both were nervous about whether or not Craig is ready.

We specifically have held him out of all organized sports thus far because of his behavior. However, with these new revelations regarding his food allergies, we felt he was about ready for this new adventure.

Anyway, back to that picture above. We stuck him in this line and then I began sweating. They had this massive pitching machine throwing fast balls at their heads. The coaches were yelling where to run and when and how fast. ALL of the kids (except one) were bigger than Craig.

I wanted to vomit. Vomit, I tell you! What have we done?! We've thrown him to the lions!!! He's gonna get killed out there! I'm a terrible mother! We've set him up for failure!!!

This is about the time Rick discovered that we were in line for the P'ville Major Leagues and needed to be at a different field. The "right" field looked like a breeze compared to what we'd just seen! The kids were playing in the dirt, picking flowers, throwing their gloves in the air .... You know - normal 8 year old behavior instead of that crazy decapitating action we were watching on the big field.

I no longer felt like I was going to vomit.

I wish I could've said the same for Rick.

I don't think he ever left Craig's side. He was one of "those" dads today. I'll let you in on a little secret: See the hand on the back of his neck? That's the tell all sign that the man is nervous/worried. If he ever rubs the back of his head, somethings wrong. I think he might have just kept his hand there the entire tryout.

Julie? Julie understood this to be a social event. She brought a giant purse filled with books for everyone to read and snacks for everyone to eat. At one point we found her heading onto the field to offer books and snacks to the boys.

We were super proud of Craig today. He batted, fielded some ground balls and then caught some pop fly's. He hustled. He never once lost his temper. And he got a compliment from the coaches for listening well. One of these days when he's in the major leagues, we'll use the pictures and the videos I got for his ESPN story. ;)

Character vs Reputation

2011-02-11T08:28:00.003-06:00

I never put the title on a post until I've finished writing it. I used to sit here for what felt like days trying to think of a great title. Then, I'd start writing and get to the end and realize the title didn't fit the post. So, being an orderly, "things-MUST-be-done-the-"right way" type person, it bothers me to begin a post without first filling in the title.

However, it also bothers me that I haven't blogged since November.

You may have noticed the good ol' blog isn't private anymore. (That is, if anyone is still reading. :) )

I'm sitting here this morning processing. That's where I've been for about a month now ... in the smack dab middle of some serious processing.

I'll spare you the details that I just spent an hour typing out and erasing to say that our church told us they didn't want us anymore and asked us to leave.

Yes, there's more to the story ... there always is. But, the details aren't important because in reality the details don't change anything. And I can't guarantee that the details will not turn a weaker Christian away from this church and I cannot be responsible for that.

Church work is ugly. I'd love to tell it differently, but the fact of the matter is that there are more corrupt pastors/ministers out there than there are good ones. Behind closed doors they yell and they cuss and they slam their fists down on their desks. Then, they climb behind the pulpit on Sunday morning and preach compassion and grace and mercy.

I am hurting this morning because I've been betrayed and lied to. I've been yelled at. I'm hurting because any time we lose my job it most always means we've lost our church as well. I'm grieving the loss of what could have been. I'm grieving the loss of my teachers and the precious families I was serving. I'm grieving over bad leadership.

However, there are little rays of sunshine - little pieces of light - all through this story and I'm clinging to them.

* For example, I love the fact that we tithed more than they paid me. There's something about being able to walk away knowing that we gave more than they gave.

* I love that in my quiet time the morning that they told me I was scum and to get out, that God had led me to read in Luke and the specific chapter was about wiping the dust from your feet when people reject His message through you. (Coincidence? I think not.)

* I love that my husband and I had enough wisdom (from Above) to not become dependent on the money thus making it less stressful to walk away.

* I love that even though they yelled and they lost their temper and they had to leave the room because of their anger more than once, that God enabled me to keep my cool and maintain my composure.

* I love that even though they demanded that I resign in front of all of my teachers in less than 10 minutes - hoping I'd fall apart and not be able to - that the Lord graciously filled me with His Spirit and I was able to minister to my girls even while being thrown out.

* I love that my husband had me start bringing home one bag of stuff from the office each day when he first started seeing signs of trouble. Thus, when they kicked me to the curb I only had to pack 2 bags and I was out. (Oh how I love that man.)

* I love that my husband has fielded all of their phone calls since I left that day. They have called and yelled at my voice mail. They have called and yelled at Rick personally. And me? I've been able to sit back and smile and know that the man God put in place to protect me is doing just that .... he's protecting me.

* I love that I have gotten emails from teachers and parents expressing sincere appreciation for my service there. It does my heart good.

* I love the statement Dave Ramsey said and that God allowed me to hear the day before they asked me to leave. He said to asked yourself when someone is criticizing you "Has this person earned the right in my life for their opinion to matter?"

It's hard not to grow bitter during times like these. However, here are some things that I know beyond all shadows of doubts:

~ I know that my Redeemer lives and that He has plans for my future.

~ I know that God allowed these events to take place and that I did not cause them.

~ I know that His plan for me will be better than what I was planning for future years at this job.

~ I know that somehow this fits in with what He has for me. I can't see the top of the staircase right now, but I'm putting my foot on the bottom step anyway knowing that somehow this will fit in with how He takes me to my next ministry.

~ I know that I walked away with my Character intact. I read a statement just a few days before all this transpired that posed the question: "Are you more concerned about your character or your reputation." I was able to replay that statement in my head numerous times throughout the day to help me keep my focus ... and my character.

And somehow that seems fitting for my title. Character vs. Reputation. My reputation gets worse day after day, but my character? My character gets a little better day after day as He molds me and shapes me and leads me. So, how about you? Are you more concerned with your character or your reputation?

Oh - and one more thing. Stay tuned! Because now that I'm back to just sitting on the couch eating bon bons, I'll have alot more time for blogging! :)

Craig Turns 8

2010-11-29T17:22:00.003-06:00

In an effort to catch up, I thought we'd visit Craig's most recent birthday today. At some point, we will discuss the girl again. But, for now - the boy has been in the news more.

Craig turned 8 this month. When he woke up, I had about 8 of these signs hung around the house. I put them all the places I thought he would visit. (the bathroom, my room, the stove top, the front door, etc...)

We had birthday donuts for breakfast and then off to school he went.

I arrived at his school that afternoon with cupcakes which he got to hand out to his class. We also brought stickers for them.

His teacher had gotten sick earlier in the day and his class had been divided between the other 3 second grade teachers. For our little celebration, they just sent them all out into the hallway. That left me in the hallway with 20 spoiled rich kids and a crying birthday boy who thought he was opening presents at this time.

Once we recovered from that, me and the kids went to see MegaMind. Cute movie.

We splurged and got popcorn and a soda. They tried to sell us some other junk and a refillable mug - but I held my ground and informed them that $10 for popcorn and a soda was plenty. Thank you.

The following day we made our way to Austin's Park & Pizza for some birthday fun. We allowed Craig to invite 4 of his friends to join him and I would just like to say ... This may be the easiest (and funnest) birthday I have ever put on!

If you're not familiar with Austin's Park & Pizza, I don't feel like their website does them justice. They are essentially a mini theme park. Think GattiLand on steroids.

They have putt-putt,

little squirt gun motor boats,

as well as race cars, laser tag, and a huge (huge I tell you) arcade complete with rock climbing wall and bounce machine.

It's around $20 a person (unless you have connections like yours truly) and you have unlimited access to their pizza & drink buffet while you're there. We spent about 4 hours there and the kids had a blast.

Craig opened his presents after we had pizza and then the boys (and Julie) just played and played until parents arrived for pickup.

This was the most inexpensive and yet fun party we've ever done. The only critique I'd give this place would be to make better pizza. Rick and I love Sam's Club food court pizza. We think they should strike a deal with Sam's and start producing amazing pizza's. If they did that, this place would be unbeatable.

It might be a little late on the blog, but Happy 8th Birthday anyway sweet boy.

Poisonous Breakfast

2010-11-21T15:15:00.003-06:00

In an attempt to catch up, I thought I'd tell you about the event - or diagnosis rather - that completely changed our lives recently. We've shared with some, but it's definitely something we haven't broadcast. Mainly that's because we don't understand it well enough yet to be able to answer questions about it.

Two months ago, we came to a point where we were just at our wits end with Craig. We have suspected for about 5-6 years that he has food allergies. However, no amount of experimenting on my part has led to any sort of diagnosis. And - it did not help that most of our family & friends were telling us that it was just bad behavior and to nip it in the bud. See, it's tough when your "challenging child" is your first child. When that's the case, everyone thinks your a bad parent. When your challenging child is number two or after though, everyone smiles and says they have one too.

Well, despite the fact that his past teachers, many of our friends, and most of our family was telling us that Craig simply had a behavior problem, we chose to believe that something more was going on. Maybe it was that "mommy instinct". Maybe it was the Holy Spirit. Maybe it was just hope. (I think it was God spurring us on the entire time.) However, it led us to a friend who is a chiropractor who does natural allergy testing. He told me that chances were slim that he could diagnose Craig because kids were especially hard to test when it comes to the natural testing.

If you've never heard of natural allergy testing, then don't count on my description of it doing it any justice. You'll be more "weirded out" than when you first began to visit this blog! It works like this: the person being tested holds a glass vile of the suspected allergen. (Maybe it's red dye.) Then, the doctor performs a muscle test.

This is where it gets weird. Believe it or not, your muscles are actually weaker when you are holding the vile of the allergen. The doctor will usually test your arm ... attempting to push it down while you attempt to hold it up.

Let me just stop right here and tell you I know how weird this sounds. It's freaky. It's weird. It's crazy. Yes - I know. However, it works. I read about this type of allergy testing about 10 years ago and I've kept up with it off and on. However, I wasn't aware that anyone here in Texas did it. So, to find out that not only is there someone here in Texas that performs this but he's also a good friend of ours was a HUGE HUGE HUGE answer to prayer.

However, nothing could have prepared us for the diagnosis. I'm telling you that NOTHING could have prepared me for the results.

I had already "self diagnosed" (or rather Mommy diagnosed) Craig as being allergic to artificial sweeteners. However, we discovered that he is also allergic to fungus (molds, mushrooms, yogurt, etc...) and to eggs.

I'm gonna let that sink in for a moment.

That's right. Eggs.

Name a food that doesn't contain eggs. There aren't many. The things that don't contain eggs are mostly all natural. And to top it all off - Craig's favorite food in the entire world is ... you guessed it ... eggs!

It gets just a little worse. In an effort to keep him healthy, full, and well, I had been feeding the kid scrambled eggs and yogurt EVERY morning for breakfast before he left for school... essentially poisoning him each morning.

No wonder he was having so many behavior problems!

So what's the cure? How do you fix it?

Well, when we found out about the severe allergies, we also found out that Craig's liver was not functioning well. This is probably because of the HUGE amounts of aspartame he ingested as a 2 year old (in our church nursery where he spent each and every day) and then also do to the eggs that he wasn't processing and were just getting "stuck" in his liver. His body couldn't process any of the needed nutrients from the eggs, so it would tell him to eat more. He'd eat more and it would do more damage and his body still couldn't process the nutrients, so it would urge him to eat more ... and we'd repeat this vicious cycle.

Our chiropractor friend put him on 3 key medicines to help combat some of what is going on. He also started adjusting his back. We have seen the MOST bizarre behavior improvements just from having his back adjusted. He goes from wild child that no one wants to be around to this pleasant, well adjusted (pun intended), amazing kid that you can carry on a conversation with. This is all within 20 minutes of visiting Dr. Chris.

The 3 all natural "meds" are helping as well. He's taking a Spanish Black Root that is helping with the fungus allergy. He's taking an A-F Betafood that is helping his liver learn to function normally again. Then - he's taking a Multizyme (which he'll have to take the rest of his life) to help him break down any egg that enters his body.

For the most part, we are keeping him away from egg products, any fungus food, and then anything with an artificial sweetener. However - we are severely handicapped by the mold in the air. It is forever our nemesis.

Our sweet little boy can be going along having an unbelievable week and WHAMO - we get a high mold count day and he's trouble again. This is the part we haven't figured out how to combat yet. However, it's the same thing that his mama struggles with. So, once we figure out a cure for this particular fight, we're going to kill 2 birds with one stone. I, personally, cannot imagine going months - years - without an allergy attack (constant sneezing, itchy eyes, runny nose) brought on by mold. However, now I don't just have a personal reason to find something, ANYTHING, that works ... I've got my baby boy spurring me on.

How does that make you feel?

(Anybody else think that's the corniest question EVER?!)

Well, I've got mixed emotions. I'm completely and totally GRATEFUL to a dear friend for finally confirming what I've known and been seeking for 6 years. I'm grateful someone finally listened to me and was willing to "go there" with me. I am MAD at myself for not insisting on it sooner. I am disappointed in myself for not being able to help my son sooner. I am angry with those that wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain what I was seeing. I am worried about finding what will help him further. Mostly, I guess I'm relieved that we're "on to something" and that I have found something that seems to be working for him.

This story obviously needs to have the "to be continued" sign posted at the end of it because it is still a work in progress. So - stay tuned. I hope to be able to post that we are winning the fight soon!

Dear God ... Love Craig

2010-11-20T12:29:00.002-06:00

What follows is my 8 year olds prayer at the lunch table today:

"Dear God, thank you so much for my mommy. She's kind of like our maid. She makes us clean and do stuff. Thank you so much for my daddy. He's real nice and plays baseball with me last year and toss and Spot You with me this year ... like he did today. Thank you for my sister who does stuff with me. Amen."

There were tears in my eyes. However, whether they are from the tacky maid comment or the sweetness of him praying for each of us, I'll never tell.

I'm Back!!!

2010-11-15T07:12:00.002-06:00

Did you hear that with the scary music playing in the background or the Halleluia Chorus? Your answer will tell me how you really feel about me.

I've taken a few months off. However, I'm itching to get back to blogging.

You've missed out on some stuff, so I have quite the job of catching you up. You've missed Craig's birthday, Halloween, another snake in the backyard (big black one!), and the entire 2010 football season!

Let this serve as your warning ... I'm back and better than ever!

First Days

2010-08-24T18:06:00.002-05:00

Today was the first day of school. My big second grader:

... And my cutie Kindergartner.

We got them up at 6:15 to get dressed and ready. They were so excited. Both of them jumped out of bed with full smiles. (How long do you think that'll last?)

I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Julie wanted know, "Are they just like Memommy's?" (Sure, kid.) Craig wanted to know if he could have a banana and fruit snacks instead. Halfway through the banana, he realized I was putting icing on the cinnamon rolls. So, he ate the banana, the fruit snacks, AND the cinnamon roll.

Our schedule seems it'll be much the same as last year except that I'll have to factor in time to fix Julie's hair and Rick will have to factor in extra travel time to get them there.

We also realized very quickly that Julie isn't quite as much of a morning person as Craig is. She doesn't want to be talked to (even complimented) until she has had about 10 minutes to herself. Given some of the sassiness we got this morning, we'll oblige. (((She was all smiles when I woke her up. But, once she realized she actually had to get up and get dressed RIGHT THEN ... well - it was a rude awakening. (pun intended) )))

Dropping them off was a cinch. They forgot we existed and before we knew it, we were walking out of the school ... alone. I overheard the principal giving instructions to one of her assistants on our way out the door: "Give me those papers. I need you to go down to the Kinder hallway and pull sobbing Kinder parents off little Kinder children."

Rick went on to work. I came home and got ready for work. Today I figured out the phone, the computer, and got some keys. I also got a letter out to my staff. Other than being completely overwhelmed, it was a good day!

I picked the kids up at 3pm and they talked the entire way home about how much fun they'd had. Julie loved the playground. Craig loved killing a wasp on the playground. Craig loved his steakfinger cafeteria food for lunch. Julie loved her yogurt, strawberries, banana, and chocolate milk. (Only problem - Mommy didn't send chocolate milk!) Julie loved her teacher. Craig loved that his teacher loves the Longhorns. Julie told me all the bathroom rules. Craig told me how they exercised too much in p.e.

We ran through the Chick-fil-a drive-thru for some ice cream as a great ending to a great day. We came home to no homework (yea!) for the kids, but mounds of paperwork (homework) for Mommy to fill out. Boo.

So, they'll go to bed in a few minutes and I'll spend an exciting evening filling out paper after paper ... after paper .... after ... paper ... after ... paper ....... .......

{snore} {This working thing is exhausting!} ;)

Happy Birthday! :)

2010-08-23T19:03:00.002-05:00

We celebrated my mother-in-law's 65th birthday this weekend. (Or - as she will tell you - her 29th) :)

My father-in-law did a superb job of surprising her with all her children and grandchildren ...

...and a luncheon in her honor with countless friends in attendance.

We wrangled the 13 grandchildren long enough to snap this:

The oldest starts her senior year and the youngest is entering Kinder so it may be the last time we are able to grab such a photo.

These two monkeys were inseparable. They held hands. They watched t.v. together. They played together. There was no separating them. Cousin Cuties.

It was a good "last trip" before the season swallows us whole. School starts tomorrow which means late night practices, Friday night games, and working all weekend.

This year we have plans to make it to the State semi-finals so we'll be playing football into December. And by "we", I mean "he". ;) Go Panthers!

Happy Birthday, Joy!

Meet the Teacher

2010-08-20T09:41:00.003-05:00

Both kids had Meet the Teacher last night. It was very different having them BOTH going to the same school to meet their teachers. I've grown so accustomed to taking him to a separate place than her that it felt really foreign and very ... "grown up" to me.

Their school is brand new. (I remarked to Rick it'll be the only time I will set my purse down on the cafeteria floor.)

The school colors are red, white, & blue which will be super fun for school spirit days.

I was so happy that Rick had football practice during lunch and was able to get off work early to go with us.

Big kids ...

Julie's teacher seems very sweet ... very "typical Kinder" teacher. I think she & Julie will get along perfectly.

Craig's teacher has a personality that is larger than life and I could not be more thrilled. Craig may have his work cut out for him if giving this woman a run-for-her-money!

Craig sat me down this morning and told me he was "just ready to go to school, Mommy!" Julie is super excited as well.

Considering I'll be starting my first day of work on their first day of school, I could not be more thrilled either! For those of you that don't know, I have accepted the position of Mother's Day Out Director at our church. We'll discuss that more later! ;)

What a Maze!

2010-08-18T20:25:00.002-05:00

Wow! If you're reading this, then you've worked your way through the system and figured out how to keep up with the Ivy's. We're honored!

We've gotten soooo many questions about why we're going private. So, let me clear that up first.

Our biggest goal in taking the ol' blog private is to make sure that we are not a stumbling block to anyone. I love being able to share our world with you. I love being able to share from my heart about what convicts me. However, to whom much is given, much is expected. There is great responsibility that comes with leadership. Therefore, it is necessary (for this next season of life) to take this particular blog private.

Yes, because of previous posts that might cause someone to stumble. But, also for the protection of our children for the future.

Thanks for your support and thanks for coming with us!

More later ...

Playing Hide-N-Seek

2010-08-16T14:36:00.002-05:00

Hello Sweet Blogland Friends,

This good ol' blog will be going PRIVATE soon. In order to view future posts, you'll have to be cleared through me & Coach. The way I understand it to work is that we'll need to clear you once and then after that you are free to visit whenever you want.

There aren't too many people we'll deny access to (ha) ... On the contrary, we'd love to have you stick around for our future adventures. However, there are some events in our near future that have led us to make this decision.

So - we hope you'll continue on with us. There will be future instructions as to how to subscribe. However, if you won't be joining us - thanks for reading along, it's been a ride! :)

*Kristen & Rick
Craig, Julie, & Bubbles the Black Golden Retriever

Come & Fill My Heart

2010-08-06T12:29:00.002-05:00

Today, I just thought I'd share with you the theme song for my life right now... this season. It speaks to me on so many levels given the road I'm walking right now.

I included a link at the end to hear it on youtube if you feel the urge.

(emphasis mine)

Come & Fill My Heart
by: Avalon

Free, I long to be free
I long for the day I'll believe
That all You say You see in me is true.
That's hard for me to do.
It's hard for me to die to myself
And trust my life to someone else
So come, empty me out
I'm no good without
You inside of me.

Come & fill my heart with hope
Come & fill my life with love
Come & fill my soul with strength to carry on
Because from here the climb is steep the road is long
Come & fill my days with dreams
Empty me of all the empty things that I hold onto
Come and fill my heart - with You.

I need You in my life
Need You like the air that I breathe
You've become the very heart of me
And I, can't believe my eyes
Can't believe the dream that I've found
Lord, Your Love has turned my world around
So come, fill up my heart
Til I'm like you are
So deep inside of me

Click here to hear it on youtube.

Beach Eating

2010-07-30T09:23:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite parts of our vacation was the eatin'. We originally got the beach house so that we could cook our own meals, but we ended up only eating a few meals at "home" and eating out the rest of the time.

One of our favorites was Paradise Key Island Grill.

I have not had a burger this good in a long time. They serve a little of everything, but I would highly recommend their burgers. (Craig would highly recommend their wings.)

We actually went twice. The first time, we sat in the bar. (It is the coolest room in the restaurant.) We had FANTASTIC service. However, the second time we had to sit in the main room. The service was really bad and very slow and it was HOT. I suspect the problem was just a young, inexperienced waitress. However - it made for a sorry second trip.

The next place we ate already had a reputation in our minds. Charlotte Plummers. Weird name - great food. We went there two years ago when we were on beach vacation in Port A. We got great service this time and of course, great food.

They are primarily seafood so it's where you would go if you wanted good seafood while at the beach. (Not a burger joint.) Make sure you get their bread pudding!

Next on the list was Moon Dogs. Bo had tried it before and said it had great views and good food.

Bo was right. They have what I would call a "weird shortened menu" ... meaning ... I felt like their menu was a little limited. And it didn't seem to stick to one area. They had a little of this and a little of that.

However - by the end of the night I think I figured them out. I think they might only put on their menu what they can make OUTSTANDING. I got shrimp quesadillas and I don't know that I've ever had better queasadillas. My sister-in-law got fish tacos and said they were the best she's ever had. My dad got another burger and said it rivaled what he'd gotten at Paradise Key. So, all that to say - I think they stack their menu with things they make extremely well ... and that's okay by me!

While our service and food were great, it's important to know his place it NOT air conditioned and while they do a good job of keeping the air moving with fans and windows and a great beach breeze - it is not cool. So - my recommendation would be to go about 7:30 at night and eat out on their gorgeous deck.

The last place we ventured was The Boiling Pot.
However, let me preface this by saying it was a farewell venture. We will never grace their doors again.

We went because they have one in Austin that used to be our favorite place to eat, but the service and general atmosphere went down hill so bad that we refused to go anymore. (Let me correct that statement ... I refused to go anymore.)

We were hoping that coming to one on the coast would be redemption.

We were wrong.

The food wasn't spectacular and the service was less than muy bueno. We left disappointed with me vowing 2 things:

#1) I will never grace the doors of any Boiling Pot again

and

#2) I will figure out how to make crawfish, shrimp, sausage, potatoes, corn, etc.... the cajun way so Rick can get his fix.

Now all we have to figure out is where to get our oysters on the half shell!