This was a Big Week...

Our oldest daughter E had the most amazing week! Her first soccer practice & game, Kindergarten, Awana's Bible Club, her 5th Birthday & Cinderella birthday party! It was crazy busy but a great week! I will let the pictures speak for them self...if I don't I will not be able to stop crying. They are tears of joy, but nonetheless they are tears. A great week...a hard week! Praise God it is over! Now S starts preschool next week...oh my I get to do this all over again! Lord, help me! I need Your strength!

Sisters saying goodbye...I'm going to miss you!

Her cubbie!
Ready to go!

Precious moments!

Have a great day and my silent prayer "God take good care of her!"

Fun dress-up from Aunt Jenn and Uncle Jeff!

Mommy and the birthday girl!

Wow...I'm 5!

Birthday Dinner with family!

My American Doll; she name her Twinkles!

She got a matching dress for her and Twinkles!

Scoring her 1st Goal...she made 5 total!

It was so fun! We were so proud of her!

Look at that form...future Mia Hamm

Prince Charming and Cinderella (yes-she has brown hair)

The Cast of Cinderella with the Birthday Girl and friends!

Waiting for Cinderella to start!

Birthday Party at the Theatre!

A Blur....

Oh my goodness this summer honestly was a blur. What went from being a low key summer to a tornado! I honestly don't know what happened from July 10- August 3! I am still recovering...it was that much fun! In a nut shell our summer consisted of: Hubby getting a new job, Girls riding horses, Swimming, Hubby and I weekend away to Colorado Springs, Road Trip to Texas, Beth Moore Conference, Spending time together as a family, Cousins Cheri & Bella came for a visit, Getting ready for Kindergarten and our devotion to God was mixed in all Summer long!

Crazy Sisters!

Sweet Sisters!

My Cousin Cheri came for a visit from California and it was a treasure of a time. She brought her 3 month old baby, Bella, who is just precious and totally reminded me of E when she was a little one! We decorated the loft, went shopping, took her to our church and enjoyed eating yummy food!

The girls with Cousin Cheri
The girls with Bella (cousin)
Oh, can I have one?

Sweet girls

Look dad we need a little sister or brother :)



These are our sweet friends from Austin kiddos! The precious and have one on the way...a boy!

S, Addie, E & Emma

We stayed with Pops & Shervin when went to San Antonio and saw a ton of family! My cousins that live in Austin drove down for a yummy Kabob dinner! We were able to tell stories about Mom and Grandma and their parents, too. It was great fun to watch our children play together and have so much fun.

Steve blowing out his birthday Pie


Maggie reading a book to the girls

Cousins
S, Mary Jewel, Zada & E swimming!

Getting spoiled by the chef!

The Lord blessed him with a wonderful new position at CHS and he is looking forward to teaching in the classroom and assisting basketball and golf. Honestly, the Lord is really stretching him and changing his career. Hubby has to wear a shirt and tie to teach in. Seems a little crazy- especially for the culture around here. His school is brand new and AMAZING! He thought AHA last year was cool..no way this compares. It is like a small college! The shower tile in the coaches shower even shows a lighting bolt when it gets wet. Very cool!

Hubby and I traveled to Colorado, Springs for a conference and a little get away! The girl's had a blast staying with the Pastor's family again! Karen is a gem and a huge blessing! She loves on them just like I do. It is always great to have someone like that watching your kids when you leave them. We enjoyed some site seeing and early celebration of our 11th Wedding Anniversary! We saw Harry Potter and ate at one of our favorite BBQ restaurants Famous Dave's! Totally disappointed in the movie compared to the book. The book was incredible! That's ok it was a movie after all. We enjoyed a tour at the Olympic Training Center and just missed Michael Phelps. We climbed and walked the trails at the Garden of the Gods! It was so fun, we were almost like kids trying to see who could get to the highest point. Of course, hubby won! I am deathly afraid of heights. I did challenge myself but only a little. Both hubby and I were making new memories; the last time I was there I was with my mom and the last time he was there was with his family. All he could say was I remember Buzz (his brother) saying, "I'm so embarrassed." Now we have a sweet memory of us! We also made it to the Air Force Academy. That was incredible. We enjoyed reading all about the training and what happens at school. Hubby is a big fan of their basketball program but we could not go in the gym. We did see the Chapel, which was beautiful. We purchased several books from Focus on the Family bookstore, too! We really packed a lot in to our 4 day weekend. We enjoyed our conference, too. That was the whole reason we went.

The Chapel at Air Force Academy

You can't tell but I am really high up there...it was fun but scary!

Garden of the Gods

Olympic Training Facility

I attended the Beth Moore Conference and that was truly uplifting. Now I am really looking forward to the Women of Faith Conference! Hope we can make it work! I am thinking girls weekend!!!

The girls attended VBS with all their buddies! It was awesome to see their faith grow. Especially, S! Her prayers changed and she has fallen in a little more in love with God. Jana Alyra, Children's Christian Artist, ended VBS with a concert and the girls loved it! God has really given her a gift and I know our family has benefited from it. The girls favorite songs are: Jesus is the Light, He is God and Treasure Quest. It is fun to worship God with them!

Our road trip to Texas was total spur of the moment! We decided if we wanted to go on a family vacation we better go quick because we were running out of town. We packed up and headed out to San Antonio, Tx. We had a great visit with family and enjoyed seeing extended family from Austin, too. My cousins Steve & Tonya, their kids Mary Jewel & Zada and Steve's brother, David. We also got to see some of our dear friends and their kids that we went to church with we lived their 9 years ago! It was great to catch up and hear about their life! We enjoyed swimming everyday in the pool...the very pool I grew up in. It was so awesome to watch the girls advance to the next level of swimming in the same pool I did. E swam the entire length of the pool and figured out how to float. S started jumping in the pool without holding your hands and going under water. She also started skimming the water. It was very cool! The other neat thing was my Dad opened up a deli. I grew up with him in the restaurant business. One day we went to eat at the deli and the girls were running through the kitchen and getting spoiled by the chef...that was ME when I was a little girl! It was awesome to see some of my same experiences being lived out through them. It was also weird!

What an awesome summer! Thank you GOD!!!!

It's all about self....

Life goes along and sometimes we are caught up in the feelings, emotions of life and I lose focus. This weekend I was reminded that the key to life is self-accountability! (Now don't read into this that I don't think Jesus is the key...that is not what I am saying.) If we are self-accountable then we will be living the Word of God fully. Confessing our sins, asking for forgiveness and changing our behavior, dying to self, serving others and on and on. When we have negative thoughts it is our responsibility to take captive of that thought! Self-accountability requires self-discipline! I am so lacking in self-discipline these days. My wake-up time is not regular, I am eating whatever I want, not keeping consistent with my exercise routine, putting to death negative thoughts, etc. Oh how I need to tighten up on so many areas in my life. Oh Lord help me be self disciplined with my life so that I can serve others and feel complete by You, Lord!

Having Faith...

Praise God...the oven only cost $258 to fix! It could have been so much worse, right? God is so good!

We met with a hurting couple last night and saw God's presence working on there hearts, tearing down walls and restoring their marriage. It was amazing to see God in full glory! I am still in awe. It is amazing to be a part of God's plan!

Tonight and tomorrow is the Beth Moore Conference. I am so excited and my heart is ready to hear what the Lord has in store for me. My heart is ready to hear what He has to say...the things to work on, the things to embrace, deepening my level of grace and receiving His love. It is going to be a great weekend!

Oven Drama...

Bummer news! The oven is broken! The stove works, the broiler works but the oven does NOT warm up to temp! I have been on the phone all day with different services: the gas company, the builder, friends who are handy and many more. At first it was not going to be fixed until Tuesday and Sears called us back and is coming this afternoon! Thank you God! I am just praying that it will not cost arm and leg or better yet...a new range! I will have faith!

Just thankful!

Ever been in that place in life when you are just thankful? Well, that is where I am. We just came upon our one year anniversary of our big move and I have spent the last year in state of thankfulness. Is everything perfect, no, of course not. This year has been full of challenges and tough decisions; however, I am thankful and see the Lord in everything. I see Him so vividly in our children and I see Him making a path for our life. This year has brought many character building moments and I have learned to see God's faithfulness each day. I am thankful for the hard times and the trials as I learn to persevere and trust God more and more. I have learned to see what really matters in life and who will walk along side of you. I am thankful for husband and children and enjoy their company so much. I am thankful for our life; even the hard days. Thank you Lord for blessing us over and over again.

Please keep the following in your prayers:
My sweet sister-in-law Jenn, her grandmother passed away
My dear friend Kam; her mom is having open heart surgery on Tuesday
My sweet daughter S, her ear infections have returned and we may need to put her tubes back in.
My husband's new job and opportunities
My dad is opening up a new deli soon, needs to pass inspection and for success
Our hearts as God continues to open the door for His will
My sweet daughter E as she prepares for Kindergarten; her teacher, her school, her class


Church was good today, especially the music...the message too. Good stuff! I am really thankful for our church it has been a blessing and we have grown tremendously this past year.

Peaches Anyone???

In our backyard we have 5 fruit bearing trees. Very cool! The peach tree was the most producing this year and boy did we have peaches!!! It was so neat to watch the tree grow and teach the girls to be patient as we had to wait for them to ripen. The girls did a fantastic job and finally it was the big day...we got to pick the peaches! That was fun! Needless to say we have been sharing the peaches and eating lots of them, too.