Praise Him In The Storm

When it rains it pours.

Have you ever heard that expression? Well, it was definitely true for me today. Satan tried to drag me down today. While I may have shed some tears and had my heart fall into my stomach, I steadfastly hold on to the promise that God is in control. Not only is He in control, but He is also good. After an agonizing day He gave me this sweet reminder in the gift of song. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

The storm may be raging, but I will continue to praise Him!

Birthday SURPRISE!!!

Joel got me a few things a couple of weeks ago for my birthday, so I told him NOT to do anything on my actual birthday - and I really meant it. I was planning on just taking it easy at home, enjoying time with family, and getting ready for our first week of our new school schedule.

He didn't listen. He had his own ideas.

After church he sent the girls away with his parents to spend the night and told me to get in the car and we were on our way. He took me to Arkansas to a very secluded, peaceful, romantic, and beautiful cabin on Beaver Lake. This lake has significance to us because it is where he brought me over 12 years ago to propose to me!

Beaver Lakefront Cabins are absolutely wonderful and I'm sure we'll be back when we can spend more than one night. Each cabin is beautiful and spacious with a huge king size bed, double jacuzzi, oversized shower with multiple massaging heads, full kitchen, fireplace, 42" HDTV with surround sound, enclosed porch, and a large deck overlooking the lake.

Cabin's Private Entrance

Screened Porch

Deck overlooking lake

Lake View

Kitchen

Fireplace, TV & Lounging Chairs

Jacuzzi

Rustic Log Bed

Bathroom complete with robes and slippers for both of us!

I recommend this place to anyone needing a couple's getaway. It is perfectly peaceful and beautiful.

Thanks, Honey, for pampering me for my birthday! What a treat!

I Love YOU!

Baptism

Zora was baptized Sunday night at church. This was already a very special event, but it became even more special because she was baptized by her Papa Donnie who is ordained. It was his first baptism to perform and he got to experience that with his own granddaughter. What a blessing for our family!

Zora had many people come to our church to share this special time with her...

Papa Doug & Nana Betty
Papa Joe, Jennifer & Jake
Papa Donnie & Mamma Dee
Ryan, Shoulaunda, Keno & London
Gina, Nathan & Alli
Jamie
John & Betty
Nancy "Griggs"
Kristy
Joe & Kari
Jeremy

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to share that special moment with Zora. It's a moment we will never forget!

Video of baptism

Fabulous Friends

I truly have the greatest friends in the world. The moms that come to playgroup are so very special to me, and this past Friday they showered me with numerous blessings. They presented me with this huge basket of all kinds of wonderful things that I love! There was so much stuff in it that I was literally overwhelmed.

The basket is beautiful and I can't wait to find the perfect spot for it in my house. I became a little suspicious that they had been snooping around my house when I was unaware, or maybe even had some hidden cameras in my house because they filled it FULL of everything that I love! They knew what kind of shampoo & deodorant I use, the candle scents they picked were perfect, and even the colors of nail polish they gave me is what I would have picked for myself! There were so many things in that basket that I can't even begin to list them all! I realized that my friends are very special... they take time to go out of their way to notice the little things that make someone feel special and selflessly give! What a blessing :-)

So, THANK YOU! to all of my playgroup moms who participated. You truly are a blessing in my life. You and your children are precious to me and my family. Thank you for pampering me on my birthday... I can't wait to use all of my stuff!!!

My Famous Family

You may not have known this, but my family has recently become famous!

Several weeks ago my dad was on TV (FOX News) for a back-to-school story. It was a live feed video, so I cannot locate it online, but he was interviewed at a local Reasor's for the back-to-school supply drive.

Then, this past week, my husband and brother were stopped by News Channel 8 to be interviewed for another story about the risks involved for people who work in the heat. My brother actually was the one they interviewed (which is funny because he only works for us on occasion), but Joel's business name is mentioned and if you watch really closely you can see Joel in the background mowing while they are talking with my brother. I think my brother did a great job in the interview! See what you think!



I think I will be the family agent from now on, so if you'd like any autographs just let me know :-)

Zora's Birthday!!!

This past week we celebrated Zora's 7th Birthday! I cannot believe it has been seven years since she was born. Instead of having a big party this year she chose to keep things simple and then do something special just as a family. Here are some highlights of our different celebrations this week.

Birthday morning opening presents

Modeling her new hat

She chose to go to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch on her birthday. Here's Zora & Lily watching Chuck E. Cheese sing.
She was allowed to invite one friend to come along for lunch and she chose Aubrey. As you can tell all three girls loved it!

Aub & Zora

Later that night we had cake as a family and sang to her. Then on Friday our playgroup friends celebrated with her as well with a breakfast brunch. They sang to her too!

Friday night we took her on her special day that we had promised her in lieu of a big party. We went to Siloam Springs to a steakhouse and then spent the night at a hotel. Then on Saturday morning we went to Flint Creek and played in the water all day long. The girls had an absolute blast! They enjoyed trying to catch fish, jumping off cliffs, and playing in the waterfalls. We also had a little cookout there at a campsite.

Girls in the water

Jumping off the shorter cliffs


Lily taking a break with Daddy

Zora seems to make friends wherever she goes. She also usually tends to take charge of any situation. This trip was no different. She quickly made friends with some other children playing nearby and they all worked together to catch a fish. Although she was one of the smaller children in the group she had no problem delivering orders!

Catching the fish

After they caught the fish lots of other children decided they wanted to join in on the fun. That poor fish!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET ZORA!!!
WE LOVE YOU!

The Best Decision of Her Life

The day your baby is born is definitely a day you don't forget. You remember everything leading up to the time when you hold that sweet baby in your arms. You also remember important "stats" about that day like the date, time, weight, length, etc.

Well, my sweet Zora is having a birthday in just two more days, and all of those memories have been coming back to me these past few days as I've prepared for her celebration.

But now we have an even more important date and reason to celebrate.

The day she was born into the family of God!

Zora fully surrendered her heart to the Lord tonight after a long discussion that she initiated just before bedtime. She began asking a lot of questions and I answered them according to what the Bible says. I also have a book that I HIGHLY recommend called "Everything A Child Should Know About God" by Kenneth N. Taylor. The book really puts the Bible on a child's level and makes difficult concepts easier to understand.

I will never forget the sweet time we shared together as we discussed everything snuggled up in her bed. I will also never forget the precious prayer she prayed as she asked Jesus to come into her heart and to help her live as she should every day. And I will help her to never forget the day she made the BEST decision of her life.

One of her concerns was what would happen if she "messed up" or "did something bad". I just reminded her that no one is perfect and that's exactly why we needed Christ to come to die for our sins. Just because you become a Christian doesn't mean you will live perfectly from there on out. It just means you can hold onto the precious grace and mercy that God so freely gives to His children.

And that's exactly what she is now...
HIS CHILD.
Adopted into the family of God.
August 16, 2010 at 10:49 pm

American Idol Tour 2010!

Our whole family loves to watch American Idol. It probably has something to do with the fact that we all love music, but more than that it is so exciting to see someone go from "Jane Doe" to "Super Star" in a matter of a few months.

This season was no exception. We watched just about every episode and cheered for our favorites. So when I saw that the tour was coming to town I decided to get tickets as a surprise for Joel's birthday. His birthday was actually at the end of June, so he just got to open the tickets then, but last weekend we finally got to enjoy the show!

Waiting for the show to start
(I just realized that we both look REALLY TIRED in this picture. That's because we were!)

I forgot to charge my camera battery that day, so I was working on an almost dead battery. Also, because of the stage lighting many of my pictures turned out very strange. The only pictures that really ended up looking good were the pics of the screen BEFORE the singers came out on stage. So here are the pictures of the pictures of the stars :-)

Katie was much better performing LIVE than she was on the show.

She's got some pipes!

Speaking of some major pipes...
Siobhan Magnus

...and YES she did her famous unbelievable note! It was great. She is definitely an incredible singer and performer, but her personality is a little too "dark" for my taste.

Aaron is just a sweet, innocent kid with a lot of talent and an adorable little face.

Michael is as big as you think he is. HUGE. But such a talented singer.
And he did a love song to his wife and baby girl.
Precious.

Casey James, in my opinion, was just an "okay" singer, but he can play the guitar like no one I've ever heard before! It was amazing!

Casey and Michael doing the duet they did on the show...

"Have You Ever Loved A Woman?"

Crystal Bowersox definitely had the best performances of the night. I truly think she should have won the title of "American Idol". She is a better musician, performer, and singer than Lee and she totally stole the show that night!

Here is a short video clip (remember my camera battery was almost dead!) of one of Crystal's performances "Come To My Window". She is so talented! The sound quality on the video isn't the greatest, but she is playing the guitar and the harmonica and then sings the ending of the song.

Lee did good too, but he still didn't hold a candle to Crystal!

Finale - Top 10 American Idols!

Super Savings!!!

For the record, I DO NOT LIKE TO SHOP! I know, that's weird but it's true. Shopping is probably one of my least favorite past times.

So ask me why I chose to shop on the CRAZIEST shopping weekend other than Black Friday? Because I got some MAJOR deals!!!

I didn't buy a ton of things, but every store I went to had sales, plus I had coupons, and then it was tax free weekend!

If I had paid full price for everything I would have spent
$362.37.

Instead I only spent
$135.15.

WOOHOO!!!

That's $227.22 of savings!!!

Now that's a reason to smile after a long day of shopping :-) And I have to brag on my children (who hate shopping as much as I do) because they were very well behaved in the midst of all that madness and they were super-troopers!!!

Weekend Getaway: Sightseeing

After leaving the family reunion Sunday morning we decided to spend a little bit of time together with just the four of us. Summer is such a busy time for Joel, so he needed a break and we needed some time with him! On the way out of Texas we stopped at Cabela's. I had never even heard of this store until we visited our friends in Arizona last year and Daniel took Joel to the one there. Joel told me it was better than Bass Pro Shop, so I was excited to get to visit one and so were the girls. They loved it. We didn't buy anything but we enjoyed seeing all of the different wildlife they had on display there.

Entrance

Huge Moose

Leopard (one of my favorites)

Rhino & Zebras

Lily, Daddy & Zora with the elephant!

Hyenas (these give me the creeps!)

Artic animals

I loved the forest room. The scenes were beautiful and peaceful and the animals looked so graceful.

After leaving Cabela's we drove to Norman and got a hotel for the night. We swam in the pool until it closed and then slept in a little the next morning and caught the complimentary breakfast just before it closed! Then we headed off to the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History on the OU campus. It was our lucky day because it is FREE admission if you go on the first Monday of each month! We didn't know that going in, but we sure appreciated that!

There were many wonderful things to see there. We explored the dinosaur bones, the Chocolate display, the hall of Natural Wonders, the Oklahoma People room, and so much more! The only section we completely AVOIDED in the museum was Evolution. In all honesty, my only complaint about this museum is that all commentary in the museum was from the scientific view-point of evolution and there was NOTHING about Creation. While my kids thoroughly enjoyed all the sights and activities, I was very glad that they had no interest in stopping to read in depth about the things there. So, now off my soap box and on to a few fun pictures...

Look at the skull on this thing!!!

Two of the largest dinosaurs in the museum

This elephant statue was huge and the girls wanted to pretend like they were getting squished

An up-close getting-ready-to-be-squished pic

This section of the museum was very interesting. There were many Native American artifacts and the history there was abundant.

The girls sitting in a canoe

With the buffalo

The girls really enjoyed seeing - and TOUCHING - the skins of different animals and trying to guess what animal it once had been.
I think Zora and I enjoyed the Chocolate display the most because the history there was familiar to her from some of our history and geography lessons from last year. However, I couldn't take any pictures in that area of the museum because it was not allowed.

All in all I would recommend this museum - it is relatively cheap admission (and FREE on the first Monday of each month) - BUT if you believe in Creationism - as we do - then don't take the time to read all of the commentary.

Weekend Getaway: Family Reunion

Last weekend we enjoyed a nice little get-away to the Dallas/Fort Worth area for a family reunion. We gathered with my mom's side of the family for a day full of fun and lots of delicious food!

Pool time

Mike and Jamie having a man-to-man

My cousin Micah with his son baby Micah

Zora with cousin Erin

Daddy & Lily

Zora, Paige, Theresa & Fred doing drawings for door prizes

My brother and hubby :-)

Uncle Jack and my step-dad singing together

We're not sure who invited this guy, but he showed up ready to party. I'm not sure what kind of spider this is, but he looked like an octopus up-close and he was about 5 inches long. Too big and scary for me!

Joel & Lily playing Wahoo with cousins Cynthia, Greg and Jill

Beautiful sunset from the balcony of my cousin's home

Although the reunion was at my cousin Theresa's home, we slept at my cousin Cynthia's house. She is such a gracious and FUN hostess! She made us some yummy chocolate chip pancakes and she loved to spoil my girls just a little. On the morning we left she let the girls each take their favorite sea shell out of her collection as a little souvenir.

Thank you Mike and Cynthia having us in your home!!!

And I also want to say a big thank you to Fred & Theresa for hosting the family reunion at their beautiful home and for the wonderful food. We had a memorable and sweet time with family!