Student For the Week

This week I became a student again. Brent and I "switched places" and he stayed home with the kids for the week and I went to class. I audited World Missions with Mark Young. Wow. What an incredible week of learning, studying, thinking, engaging, and rethinking of missions. I know that I have learned a ton and am so thankful to have had the opportunity to "dive in" for the week. It also gave me a new perspective of the intensity of the classes that Brent is taking each semester. I think it will be helpful in my understanding of the enormity of the tasks and the work that is given to him...I think I may be a little more self-sacrificing from here on out on the demands I sometimes unknowingly (and knowingly) place on his time.:)

The kids had a great week with their daddy. I must say though, that sometimes (like today) when they met me for lunch at the dining hall, I have wondered what he was thinking when he dressed the girls.;) (I'm just teasing honey!) Brent and the kiddos did projects, played, swam, played baseball, ate some junk food and got to hang out all day together! I think that each of us gained a better understanding of the fatigue that we face. The tiredness that I felt this week was a lot different from the fatigue I feel when caring for my kids each day...but honestly sitting in class all day I was just as tired. There's just so much information to process and think through, that it wore me out mentally! Thank you Brent for giving me the opportunity to take a class this week! I missed you all like crazy!!

Hot Pink Toes

From Left to Right: Me, Lizzy, Abby

My Running Buddy

Date. In our house this word has many definitions. Here are some of them...

The day or date that it actually is that day.

The time that something has happened.

A special event in the future, "save the date".

A special night or afternoon out for mom and dad.

A fruit that my grandma and mom put in cookies.

A special time set aside to hang out with each of my kiddos "one on one".

As you may have guessed by the title, the last definition applies to this post. Brent and I try to rotate and take each of our kids on dates. On their dates they get to choose what we do. The dates usually involve eating of some sort and an activity.

Last Sunday it was Drew's turn for his date with mom. He wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory, Barnes and Noble, and running with me. I loved this idea! So we went and had a piece of cheesecake, he chose Oreo Cheesecake and I had a Apple, Brown Suger, caramel, yummy kind. Then we headed to Barnes and Noble to look at books. This is truly one of my families favorite places to go. We all love books! Finally, we stopped by our apartment to change into our running clothes and headed to the gym to run. We ran 1 mile together on the track outside and 1 mile together on the track inside. Drew said he would like to do this every Sunday from now on! When we can I think we will. What a fun thing this was to do together, I let him set the pace and we ran about 10 minute miles. Not too bad!:) Here's a picture of me with my running buddy when we got home...


Thanks Drew for the fun date...I can't wait to do it again!:)

Lego Trouble...

We had a little Lego Trouble at our house this morning. Drew was building and playing nicely in the kid's room, when Lizzy arrived on the scene and began to "pester" him. She dumped out the container of Lego's and began her search for the "little Lego's". These are the Lego's that make tail lights, headlights, and siren lights for little cars, trucks, helicopters, and emergency vehicles. This is what she does every time the boys get out the Lego's. Well, she and Drew were having a disagreement of some sort and Lizzy was screaming about it all. We have been working on the screaming, so I came and got her for a "time-out". She was sitting on the kitchen chair right next to where I was doing the dishes and she started screaming. I looked over at her and she had her finger all the way up the right nostril of her nose. Immediately I thought "Did she put one of those little Lego's up her nose?" and sure enough when I asked her she wailed "YEAHHHH, I did."

I tried having her blow her nose. That didn't work. I looked up her nose. I didn't see a thing. She kept wailing and saying "My nose hurt, my nose hurt", so even though I couldn't see anything, I was pretty sure a Lego was lodged up in there. So I called our pediatrician. It was 9:15. They could see us at 10:15. I was fine with this, because I don't think we could have gotten there any sooner anyway!

We got ready as quick as we could and the 5 of us hopped in the Honda and headed to the doctor. Upon seeing him, he took one look up her nose, could see the object jammed up there and said he thought he would be able to get it out in the office. If not, he would send us to an ENT, where she could be sedated and they would take it out. He had me hold her arms and body, a nurse hold her head and he tilted her little head back and grabbed the lego with a long tweezers. Lizzy did so well...she didn't even cry or flinch. I was very happy to see that little red lego and very thankful that this was the end of the adventure.

I had my camera, so I got some pictures of us leaving the doctors office. And I also got the idea to measure the little lego from my friend Kristi who recently had her little boy stick a rock up his nose...so there is a picture of that too.





It's interesting...Lizzy is the only of our 4 kids to not have had a neurosurgery...but she has seemed to keep our life full of "crazy" things in a different way!:) What a funny, sweet, unpredictable little girl. I never know for sure what she might say or do next! I certainly hope that now it won't involve sticking any objects anywhere again!

Oh, the life of a mom!:) What a daily adventure it truly is!

Thank you Lord for your grace and care today. My patience and calmness was a testimony to me of your presence in my life. And Lizzy's calmness was an answer to prayer! And so was the other kids' patient through all the excitement. Thank you.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

Baseball. Just the word stirs excitement in our house and in the minds of our boys! Drew and Sam grow to love this game more all the time. In fact, this summer if you don't find them in the pool, you find them swinging a bat or pitching a ball. They play baseball out in the courtyard at least 1-2 hours each day. Their friend Elijah usually joins them and the 3 of them have a great time together.

My boys have their moments of having to work through some attitude issues (usually with each other) but this takes as much practice as batting and fielding and they are getting better! This morning they both signed a baseball contract that states they will be a friend, encourage one another and have a good attitude and that they will go the extra mile and consider others more important than themselves. I am excited to see them "practice" this too! They implemented their own "3 strike rule". 1st strike you sit for 10 minutes, 2nd 30 minutes and 3rd strike your out for the day...we'll see how it works!:)

Drew is loving baseball so much, that he has added checking the scores and stats for each Major League Baseball Team to his morning routine. Brent watches over his shoulder, but each morning Drew gets on the computer and checks the current standings to see how each team did the day before. He has even gotten Lizzy asking to see "Boston" and the "Onkees". It is pretty cute. He also plays his own "games" of baseball when we are inside. He makes official scorecards on a piece of computer paper, carefully drawing the team emblem or design for whatever 2 teams he has chosen to play each other. He then disappears into the kiddos room with his piece of paper and his bat and "plays out" pretend games. He loves to have Boston and the Yankee's play each other, because Boston is his favorite team and the Yankees are mine...so he is constantly running out of his room to give me an inning by inning score check...and he Loves my animated reactions. Fun times.

On Monday night we had the opportunity to go to a Rangers game with the  Tower again. This is so great of the seminary and was so fun. The boys were SOOO excited. They really have become Rangers fans. The Rangers are Sam's favorite team...Brent and Drew have hung in there with Boston being their favorite...but the Rangers have become a close 2nd. Josh Hamilton is their favorite baseball player. He is a believer and has quite a story of an amazing turnaround. Drew and Sam both have Hamilton T-shirts and often when they play ball outside they will put on their Rangers T-shirts and baseball pants. Again, it is pretty cute.

The Rangers lost the game we went to 9-6. Drew predicted that this is what would happen before we left. He said something like "Mom, I like the Rangers, but there is no way they are going to win tonight the Angels have a much better record." He was right this time, but it was a fun game to watch...6-7home runs, lots of hits and lots of action. Whenever a Rangers player hits a home run, fireworks are shot off!! Here we are at the Rangers game...



And here is a picture of their favorite player, Josh Hamilton, batting...




Thank you Lord for a very fun night! We hope to have the chance to go out to ball game again soon! It is fun, because it is something our WHOLE family really enjoys!:)

Happy 4th of July!

Hey Y'all! Happy Fourth of July!:)

There are so many things that I have been wanting to sit down and write about...but that chunk of time just has yet to come my way! We have and are coming up on a lot of year anniversaries, so hopefully I will be able to write about some of these events soon. For now, I will just share some recent photos of what our summer has looked like!:) The boys have been loving swimming (lessons and play) and the girls have as well...not much else that we would rather do when it is 95-100 every day!:) Although, Drew and Sam do spend a lot of time playing baseball with other kids from the building...I am hoping to get a photo of this later today!







I am sure today that there will be many more opportunities for photos like these! What a blessing it is to have this pool right here in our "backyard"! It makes living in our cozy 2 bedroom apartment a little easier!:)

Last night we went to a Fireworks display in "Kaboom Town". It was really neat. During the airshow I was overwhelmed Watching the bombers and such from WWII flying overhead, thinking of the sky being filled with these and men parachuting out, many perishing before they ever hit the ground. It is an incredible price so many people have paid with their lives to protect our freedom. I have so much to learn about this and feel badly that for so much of my life I took it all for granted. As you celebrate today I want to encourage you to pray for our nation, our leaders, our military, their families, and thank God for the freedom we have! Happy 4th Of July!!:)