Bartley Family

February Snow Days!!

2010-02-13T10:32:00.008-06:00

We are loving all this Texas Snow. We had 2 snow days this week - no school on Thursday or Friday and I'm so glad because I don't think the kids would have learned to much with all this snow outside to be played in! So apparently a snow fall record was set this week - we got about 8-9 inches here in Prosper. On Thursday, once it was clear that we would have no school, we got a last minute group of families together in the park behind our house to come and have a snowball fight/snowman building. We had a BLAST! Kelsie and Joy came home for some hot chocolate and lunch and were right back out in it building stuff in the yard.

This is the snowman Joy and Kelsie wanted to kids to build by themselves. They did a lot of it all by themselves with Charisse's help getting the snowman body on top of the bottom. This is the finished product.

They are stalking someone.

Here's Braydi putting the head on the "kid" snowman.

Here are the guys lifting the body on the 12 foot snowman the big boys made (started by Koleman Kennedy's giant snowman bottom). They had to try several times to lift it - took lots of them. You can see the video on my facebook page.

Here's most of the crew in front of the 12 foot snowman.

Who can I get?

The bottom of the "kids" snowman.

Kensey, Joy and Kelsie - you can see from these pics how much snow we were getting.

Look at Jarrett aiming at me! I couldn't keep up between Kelsie, Joy, Jarrett and Landon.

Wayne threw this snowball at Kelsie and it landed inside her pocket. Bet you couldn't do that twice.

The snow fell all day Thursday and by the time we woke up on Friday morning it had really piled up. In Texas that means NO SCHOOL!!! We sent out a church e-mail saying FBCP family snow day at the church (there is a big field behind our church). We had lots of families show up and snowball fights, igloo and snowman building, snow football game (very competitive) were going on. Love how we do life together here - great memories for us and our kids. Here are some pics:

Little Chloe did not like the snow. Kelsie was trying to help her have fun!

A "friendly" snow football game.

Both trying to get Justin.

Shona, me and some little helpers making a little igloo. Turned out to be a little tiny play house for some of the girls.

Kelsie's measurements showed 7 1/2 inches.

Kelsie out first thing Friday morning starting a snowman in the backyard.

Daddy went out to help! They made a BIG one.

Kelsie with the finished snowman! Isn't he cute?

The Prosper Fire Department built this snow fire truck in front of the station. So cool!

Weather Day!

2010-01-07T14:14:00.002-06:00

We have been hearing for days about the "Winter Blast" or "Arctic Front" coming to North Texas and last night it arrived. Now for people in the Northern part of our country, it seems silly to get all worked up over wind chills of 4 but to Texans - bbbrrrrrrrrr. When we got the call this morning at 5:45 a.m. that school was cancelled due to icy road conditions, I was the happiest I have ever been that early in the morning. It's not that I didn't want to be at school with my little babies today but it was more about NOT wanting to get out of my warm bed and go outside where the wind is miserable. We have enjoyed the day at home - a little extra vacation. Kelsie and I stayed in our pj's drinking coffee until almost noon and then Wayne came home from lunch and now Kelsie is babysitting here at the house while I work on lesson plans for February. If you got the opportunity to stay home today, I hope that you enjoyed it! I know we have - now back to regular Texas winter temps please (mid 50's)!

The End of 2009 and New Beginnings

2010-01-04T20:56:00.005-06:00

As you can see, it is 2010 and I have not updated since July. As you can imagine, alot of things have happened since July's post so here is an overview of the 2nd half of the year.

August:

Family Mission Trip to Lytle, Texas with our FBC peeps. We had a great trip - you can see details of that trip on the FBC Missions blog. It was a great trip (very hot) and we became even closer to our Prosper families doing ministry on this trip together. When we got back from our trip it was time to move. Our new house was complete and we moved in over the course of our anniversary. It was worth it - we love the new house and it was great to be all moved in by the time school started at the end of August. Also, I started my new job teaching 4 year old preschool 4 days a week. I have 10 precious little ones and I love it.

September:

The beginning of football season - which is BIG in Prosper. FBC did our away game tailgates which are always fun (even though some were a little soggy). The highlight of September is homecoming. The whole town shuts down at noon for the parade and it's just a fun day to be with family and friends and watch some home town football (we won!). Also this Fall we began LIT (leaders in training) with our 4th and 5th graders at church. They began several service projects and had a great semester just learning more about God and serving other people.

October:

Kelsie's birthday month - she turned 11 this year. I can't believe how big she is now and grown up she seems at times. She is in that cute stage of being a little grown up but still enough little girl to remind us she's still our baby girl. We hosted our families at our house for her party and had a good time visiting and eating Kelsie's bday choice of cherry pie instead of cake. Kelsie made the broadcast team at school which means she gets to do the video announcements (with a partner) for two weeks for the school. She loved it! In LIT, they delivered Fall goody baskets to our Sr. Adults and it was such a blessing to see these kids interact with our older adults who were so thankful for the Fall baskets. Halloween was a little different for us this year too. Kelsie was Nancy Drew but didn't really want to attend any carnivals or anything this year, just trick or treating with friends. So, we went to the Jones house for dinner and pictures, the large group of kids broke up into smaller groups to trick or treat and we ended up with everyone back at our house for snacks and playing. I stayed home to hand out treats and gave away ALOT of candy! It was so fun.

November:

This month started off with Kelsie's 5th grade program at school and she had a little solo in it and so did her friend Kensey. They were both so fabulous - I was so incredibly proud of both of those girls, they are talented. The LIT kids made fleece blankets to take to a little nursing home here in Prosper. The 9 residents loved seeing the kids and were appreciative of their homemade gifts. The kids also took the lead doing Operation Christmas Child - they made posters, made announcements in Life Connection, collected items and stuffed boxes. So proud of their servants hearts. FBC had our annual Day of Thanks and Turkey Bowl at church - so much fun! Worship was sweet, we had a family meal and played some not so serious flag football! Kelsie started out playing football but quickly gave up on her team in favor of babysitting some of the little kids. The weather was great and we had such a great time playing - our team won the first game and then lost our other 2 in OT. We still had a BLAST and loved getting to know so many new people. We hosted Thanksgiving for Wayne's family at our house this year - Kelsie had a little extra time with her cousin Brittany during the holiday. We had a family from church join us too and it was fun having a house full. Our family played the Jones family in a friendly game of touch football after lunch - we lost but had a good time and maybe worked off a little of the calories we consumed. The day after Thanksgiving we went with MaMaw and Joy to see "Ice" at the Gaylord Hotel. It was amazing how colorful the ice was - it was the Grinch theme. Very neat to see and experience - including the ice slide.

December:

Kelsie made the UIL oral reading team and so she had her competition. She didn't make the finals but we were so proud of her making the team and working hard to practice. The 2nd week in December, the Rucker 5th grade went to Camp JOLT for 3 days. Kelsie had a blast and even though it was super cold, she seemed to love it and learn a lot while she was there. Wayne surprised me the Thursday night she was away with tickets to the Meyerson "Cheer" concert - it was a great concert and we enjoyed the evening out on a date. Another big treat for us in December was we got to go to a Dallas Cowboy game (played Chargers) at the new stadium. All 3 of us got to go and we were all amazed by the stadium and the screen - we were there for the first ever 3-D game - epic fail! After the game, we wanted to see more of the stadium so we wandered around enough after the game we got to see some of the Cowboys like Marion Barber come out and walk to their cars. December means basketball practice has begun and Kelsie has enjoyed getting back into that. Our church passed out food baskets to people in our community for Christmas and I was proud of the kids as they were singing carols and helping fill baskets - they really enjoyed serving. Of course, December means Christmas and we all enjoyed our time off from work/school and spending time with friends and family during the season. We went to Waco and San Angelo for time with family and we had time at home together which was much needed. We even had a white Christmas Eve and Day and then another snow after we got home from San Angelo. We have enjoyed the Texas snow since it's enough to play in but it's gone the next day and it doesn't mess up your life!

So - there's the overview of the remainder of 2009. It was a blessed year but also had it's challenges too. This summer was difficult as our church faced some challenges and changes but God is faithful to prove Himself as defender, protector and provider. We end 2009 not looking back but looking ahead at the things God has laid before us - people He has chosen for us to serve for His name's sake. I look at our church and I am continually blessed at their generous hearts, willingness to serve, and the love they show us and each other. We are blessed to be a part of the FBC family. I hope I am better in 2010 at blogging (with pics) and I will commit to try and post once a week - it's just a discipline I got out of the habit of doing. Keep us posted with you and yours! Love keeping up with everyone. More soon....

Summer Post

2009-07-08T20:25:00.008-05:00

I know I am a complete slacker since it's been a month since I last posted and I really have no excuse since it's summer. However, our summer has been busy but filled with lots of fun! So, where should I start? I guess, where I left off last time would be a good place, which means get ready to read.

The House: We were supposed to close on the house Monday, July 6th but we are still in the farm house so that means we didn't close. Our new close date is July 21st but that is not a definite. If it gets rescheduled, we will wait until after we get back from our mission trip in August to close since it would really be pushing things to do it all at once. The carpet was laid in the house yesterday and we have our first walk thru next Tuesday afternoon. Here are some pics from today.

Outside front flower bed.

Mudd bench right outside the utility room.

I'm so ready for this to collect stuff instead of my kitchen table!

Kelsie posing in her room. We had the chair rail put in because the design for her room is that it will be dark pink above the rail with stripes below.

We will have to paint this after closing. She is super excited.

Outside back porch. We are ready to sit outside and enjoy the view!

This is the breakfast area right off the kitchen. I love all the windows. You can see from the picture that we decided on privacy wood fence for the side yards and iron in the back so it makes the yard feel bigger and opens it up.

The view of the island and kitchen looking from the family room.

Family room, Kelsie posing on the hearth.

Powder bathroom

This is the front entry looking from the family room.

Formal dining room, looking from the study.

A close up of the study paint, wood trim and carpet - I love the way this room turned out.

Kelsie standing in the doorway of the study.

Media room upstairs.

Stairs leading up to bathroom, game room and media room.

Master shower - I love how the tile turned out.

Master bath vanity.

Built in drawers in master closet.

In addition to the house building, we started the first week of summer with VBS at church. We had a great week going every morning on the "Boomerang Express." I helped with first grade which was lots of fun. We had a larger group every day and they were just such a sweet group. Overall, the kids donated over $500 to be used for our family mission trip to Lytle to buy t-shirts for the kids attending the sports camp. God just blessed our week with new families and sweet fellowship.

Kelsie has already spent two weeks away this summer. The week after VBS, she spent 5 days in Waco with Wayne's family and had a great time going to the movies, visiting the museum, shopping at antique stores, swimming and hanging out with Mamaw and Joy. The last week of June, she went to San Angelo to spend time with my family and had a blast there visiting Grammy, EE and Eddie, Hailey and Nana. They did lots of craft projects, cooking, shopping and playing. We picked her up on July 3rd, just in time to enjoy the 4th of July festivities with us. We went to Bedford to spend time with the Griffs and see the Bedford fireworks from our usual awesome spot. We had a great time cooking out, swimming and just catching up. Sunday was spent celebrating Tom's birthday in Burleson and we had a great time with his family - especially the chocolate/peanut butter cake. Yum-o!

The summer of golf - Wayne found a great deal to join The Golf Club at McKinney so we have been there a lot enjoying the pool as well as Kelsie and Wayne playing golf. Kelsie has really progressed in her game this summer and moved up to ladies clubs because she kept breaking the US Kids clubs she had. Our summer routine has been that about 2-3 nights a week, we go to the club around 4:00. Wayne and Kelsie play 9 holes of golf and then meet me at the pool to swim. We have all enjoyed the club and I even attempted to play a few holes when I went out with Wayne one night while Kelsie was gone. This week she is doing a morning golf camp at Gentle Creek here in Prosper and is doing well. I hope it's something she and Wayne can do together over the years.

So, next week the packing begins for the move. Kelsie will head to Camp Copass in 2 weeks and may luck out and miss out on the all the moving. We are all looking forward to our family mission trip to Lytle, Texas. We leave Aug. 1st through the 7th and will be leading sports camp in the mornings and doing renovations (church kitchen remodel) and painting for FBC Lytle in the afternoons. We are excited because our kids will be doing a lot of the Bible Story teaching, serving, teaching crafts, and just really interacting with the kids. We have about 13 families going and we are anxious to see what God will do there as we seek to serve Him along side FBC Lytle. Pray for us and keep up by looking at the FBC Missions blog (link on the sidebar).

I will try and keep you posted on the move. We are getting excited about being in our own home after living in the farm house for a year now. We never thought we would be here this long but it's been a blessing and has been in God's timing. Even if we have had the occasional run in with "wildlife" - I guess they will make for good stories to tell! We all need those, right?

I hope you are having a good summer spent with family and friends. I know we are enjoying our time together and with other people. Keep us posted on you! We love to hear from you any time. More soon!

Summer is HERE!!!!

2009-06-02T16:44:00.007-05:00

Yay! Summer is here! We were officially out of school on Saturday and we ended the week with the awards assembly for our last of school. Kelsie received an award for being in Rucker Honor Choir, one for her whole class for participation in field day (her class came in 2nd place for 4th grade) and an award for A/B honor roll all year (maintaining all A's and B's for the whole year). We were very proud of her this year - it was a transition from private to public school but she did so well adjusting to new school and friends.

The house is coming along so quickly and we are now scheduled to close July 6th. We are super excited and starting to count down the days. This week they have installed all the outside lighting (except for the one that broke), some of the inside lighting, the cabinet for the powder bath, completed the stone around the fireplace, poured the patio extension, installed the A/C units and thermostats, put in all the light switches and outlets, installed the garage door openers and keypads, put in the sprinkler system, did the first grade of the yard, and finished up all the tile. We met with the landscaper on Friday and got the plan yesterday so we were very excited about the plants and trees we chose - lots of perennials and color like knockout roses, crepe myrtles, dwarf hawthorns, blue salvia, red salvia, texas sage, daylilys, loropetalum, boxwoods, dwarf yaupons, giant liriope, soft leaf yucca, chinese pistachio and maple trees. Very excited to see how it all comes together. Here are some pics of the progress but it's slower now so there aren't a ton of updates. They still have lots of painting and tweaking to do but I know their goal is for most of it to be done by June 13th for inspections to be done by the 20th. I will keep you updated!

The coach lights by the front door.

Front elevation with the uplights installed. Landscaping will go here.

Front elevation

Completed fireplace stone surround and mantle.

Pendant lights above kitchen island.

Cabinet for powder bath.

Front door entry.

Back patio door with coach light.

Have a great week!

Memorial Day and the Museum

2009-05-26T21:48:00.007-05:00

We had a great Memorial Day weekend. Saturday we went to see Night at the Museum 2, which was a pretty cute movie and like all sequels, not as good as the first one. Sunday's worship was sweet and Kelsie had a friend over for the afternoon spent the night - they had a great time playing and we just had a relaxing afternoon hanging out at the house. Monday afternoon we had our Bible Fellowship class out to the farm house. Wayne smoked ribs all afternoon and everyone brought their favorite Memorial Day food which meant that we had WAY TOO MUCH food. It was a blast to hang out with everyone and the kids all seemed to have a ton of fun just being outside and playing together. The Jones' brought the go cart out and the kids just played on the $9 slip n'slide, trampoline and swing. We roasted s'mores later in the evening and the ones who were left at dusk caught fire flies. I didn't get tons of picture because I was either running around doing stuff or visiting. Here are a few I managed to capture.

The go cart was fun at the farm house - the kids (and adults) took turns riding and driving it.

The slip n'slide quickly turned into a mud pit but was visited often through out the hot day.

Wayne, the grillmaster, at work.

The line waiting on the go cart. They waited patiently in between the trampoline and the slip n'slide.

The tree swing was fun!

So was the trampoline.

The girls had some girl talk inside to get away from the heat for a while.

Little Jillian - don't take my picture!

Today was Kelsie's 4th grade field trip to the Dallas Museum of Natural History. It was a fun museum and we got to see the exhibits as well as an IMAX movie. Some pics:

Kensey, Joy, Kelsie and Caroline waiting patiently to begin the tour.

Kelsie's classmates - Abigail, Alyson, Alyssa. They had a good time.

Watch this.

OOOOoooohhhh. This sneezed on me!

Lunch time before the IMAX movie. A GREAT day!

House Update - we found out today that our closing on the new house will be Monday, July 6th. We are very excited! Over the weekend, they finished the stone on the fireplace and installed the front door. Today they put in all the toilets, sinks, faucets and fixtures as well as the air conditioning compressors and thermostats, all the light switches, plates and plug covers. YAY! I will take some pics later in the week as progress continues to be made. Hope you have a good week. This is our last week of school and we are ready for SUMMER!!!!

House Progress and Other Pics

2009-05-23T19:14:00.009-05:00

The house is coming along so fast! The last few weeks they have accomplished so much. They have stained all the wood cabinets and handrailing/step of stairs, completed all the brick and trim paint, installed all the countertops, installed all the tile including the shower surrounds and kitchen backsplash, began the rock fireplace surround, poured the back porch patio, and did the first grade of the yard. Our builder is saying first part of July- we are getting really anxious for it to all come together. We have enjoyed many parts of the farm house but we're ready to have our own home.

The front with the trim paint completed.

Downstairs tile before grout.

Kitchen cabinets, countertops and backsplash.

Partially completed stone surround for the fireplace.

Master shower tile before grout.

Rucker Rocks - I told you last week Kelsie got the Rucker Rocks award for the week. We went to the morning assembly and took a few pics:

Kelsie being called up on stage from her class.

Kelsie and her friend Miranda who also got Rucker Rocks that week.

Kelsie's Texas History project. She had to write a paper and make a guy from a 2-liter bottle. This was completely Kelsie's idea to use clay. We found this really light weight modeling clay that dries and hardens. Kelsie did this by herself with the exception of drawing the shape of the tie. She did so well on this, I had to share. She got an A on the project.

Field Day - Rucker had field day on Friday. The weather was beautiful, warm with a cool breeze. We had a good time watching the 4th grade classes compete against each other.

Kelsie's class taking a class photo right before snack and break.

Kelsie and Miranda

This was a hilarious game called the "team walk" The kids are standing on a ski and they have to step at the same time to move forward. They must work together and it is hilarious.

Here is Kelsie's team crossing the finish line first. They got the hang of it "One, Two, Three, Left.....One, Two, Three, Right" Very cute!

Roughrider Game - our friends have season tickets to see the Roughriders at the Dr. Pepper Ballpark in Frisco. They could not go to the game on Friday night so they let us have their tickets. The seats were super close to the field and we had quite a few foul balls over our section. It was a great night for baseball. Around the 7th inning, it started raining but since it was just a quick rain storm, they kept playing. So, we stayed under the awning and waited for it to pass and then finished watching the game. It was close but at the end, we lost by one run. It was a cool night and a great fireworks show after the game. We just had a great night at the ballpark!!!

A beautiful night at the ballpark. Kelsie waiting in line for Dippin Dots.

A great fireworks show after the game.

Wayne and Kelsie enjoying the game.

Hope you have a great Memorial Day weekend. We are looking forward to our last week of school. We are squeezing in 2 field trips, end of year party and awards ceremony so it should be the most fun week of school all year! I'll share pics soon.

Recognition All Around

2009-05-16T15:16:00.006-05:00

It was exciting this week that Kelsie received Rucker Rocks award for the week. It is basically a good citizenship award that is given to students who are nominated for something he/she did to make Rucker a better place. So, Kelsie's teacher nominated her because she saw a classmate sitting alone at the playground and went over to ask her to come play. So sweet! We went to the assembly on Friday and it was fun to watch the kids get to go on stage and be recognized. Wayne was also recognized this week at the Town Council meeting for his leadership in Serve Prosper. He and several other people who lead out in this effort, got a certificate and appreciation from the town.

The house has been pretty fun to watch this week. They finished all the brick with the exception of a small space around the master bedroom but it was because they ran out of brick. More was delivered yesterday so hopefully, if it will ever stop raining, they can finish that part next week. The garage doors are in and they have also completed the stain on the hand railing and starter step as well as the kitchen cabinets and study doors and mouldings. It looks REALLY good and it is starting to look like a livable space more every day. All the other door casings and mouldings have been caulked and are ready to paint - I assume this coming week. I did see today that they were installing the stone around the fireplace so I am excited to sneak over there tomorrow and take some pictures. They also started painting the outside trim - they began in the back and it looks really good. It's always a little scary when you are picking these things from small swatches. I always hold my breath and hope we made a good choice - so far so good - I really like the stain color we chose as well. I hope to post some more pictures - I need to dump them on my computer from my camera first but I promise I will share.

The rest of our week was pretty quiet in the evening for once. I was completely buried in the Twilight series. I began book one on Sunday afternoon and finished book 4 last night. Those books are so addictive and I loved reading them. I guess it's time to start thinking of my summer reading list, it was pretty ambitious last summer and I didn't finish everything on the list. This was my last week to teach music, all that's left is leading a song and poem at the 4 year old "graduation" on Tuesday afternoon. Summer is right around the corner and we will be busy the next few weeks at Kelsie's school with field trips, Field Day, and end of year luau. I am ssssooooooo ready for summer - sleeping in, staying up late, reading by the pool, being outside at night enjoying the breeze and stars, casual time with friends, cooking out. I hope you have some fun summer days planned. I will try and post pics of the house soon. Have a good week.

Mother's Day and other weekend events

2009-05-10T17:13:00.006-05:00

Today is Mother's Day and I am a lucky mom - blessed to have Kelsie as my daughter. She set her alarm and got up this morning to fix breakfast. Wayne had already gone to church so she did everything on her own. Blueberry muffins, coffee and grapes laid out on a plate spelling MOM. So cute and thoughtful, she did this on her own and worked it out with her daddy the night before. She made me a card at school and one at church along with the flowers and chocolate she gave me on Saturday afternoon. Tonight, Wayne and Kelsie are cooking dinner and have not allowed me to do any housework! What a relaxing day it's been.

My Sunday Mother's Day Breakfast. The grapes spell MOM - how creative.

Today we went to feed the ducks at Willow Ridge after walking through the house.

This weekend started out on Friday night with a surprise for Kelsie and her friend Allie. They both love Tim Hawkins, a christian comedian they watch on YouTube a lot. So, we got tickets to see him at Collin County Community Church. We didn't tell the girls at all but at the beginning of the week they knew we were going to do "something fun" but they didn't know what. We went to Chili's first for dinner and then we pulled up to the church. They were stumped and we told them this was the place. Their faces were WORRIED but we handed them their tickets with Tim Hawkins face on it and they were surprised and excited. The show was HILARIOUS! He is sooooo funny - we were all laughing so hard! After it was over, we purchased his new DVD and got his autograph and a quick pic of him with the girls. So fun - they loved it and so did we.

Allie and Kelsie with Tim Hawkins.

Saturday was a glorious day - nothing planned for once and so we slept in a little and then went to friends house for coffee on the back porch. The kids played and we got to visit and just chill! Saturday night we went on a date to the Silver Fox. This was our first time to go there and it was DELICIOUS, such a huge treat.

House news - the house is coming along. I was so disappointed all week because there didn't appear to be a lot of work going on except Friday and Saturday they got busy bricking but still did not finish yet. I think they only have about 2 days though and it's been tough to complete because of all the rainy weather we have had. Well, today we went over to walk through because we hadn't been through since last Sunday. We were SHOCKED to see they did do a lot. The walls are textured, most of the mouldings and doors/framing are in, and cabinets and built ins are there. It is looking so good - I was so excited to see the kitchen cabinets and bathroom cabinets. Here are a few pics.

The outside brick is coming along.

Kitchen cabinets

Family room mantle over fireplace (will be stone surround) and crown.

Study doors and mouldings.

I will keep you updated on the house progress. We are 2 months away so a lot has to come together and it should be very fun to watch. Hope you have a good week!!

National Day of Prayer

2009-05-07T08:14:00.004-05:00

This morning a group of people from the Town of Prosper gathered in recognition of The National Day of Prayer. It was the first gathering in Prosper like this and it was a sweet time of prayer and community. Warren Samuel spoke briefly and various leaders and ministers in town prayed for people in our community, our kids, town officials, and our nation. There were 2 things I noticed this morning. One was that we declared our NEED for God as we raise our children, as our community grows, and for wisdom and guidance in our country. Another, and more important, an admission and recognition that it's not about us in this life - it's all about God and His purposes, His glory, His agenda, His kingdom. How refreshing! In a world where it tends to be all about where we live, where we work, what we accomplish and even what our church looks like or whatever measure you choose to measure "success," we needed a word that it's all ABOUT God and FOR God. What a great way to start the day (and I'm not a morning person) to be with people in our town coming together and saying we love God, we need God and we want our lives to be about God.

On a political note, it's sad that President Obama is not choosing to recognize this day - to take a little time out to pray for wisdom over all the problems in our country and world. I know people say he prays privately and I can't judge that, but I think there is a red flag when you have a day set aside for prayer and you refuse to come together with others and ask God to give you wisdom, acknowledging and agreeing together that you need God. He certainly had time to fill out the NCAA basketball bracket - could we take time to have a prayer time on National Day of Prayer? Just a thought - I'm not usually political on this blog, I just found that very odd.

Quick House Update

2009-05-05T19:09:00.004-05:00

On Friday, the started bricking and finishing the sheetrock process (tape and float?) - whatever it's called, they filled in the seams of the sheetrock and made the pretty rounded corners. It rained so much on Saturday, they obviously did nothing. Monday they completed even more brick and now have about 1/3 up all way around the house including now the porch and the little wall in front of the driveway. Today they were cleaning and taking away all the trash from the sheetrock process - it was a HUGE mess!!! I hope they will finish the brick this week but with rain off and on, we will have to wait and see. Here are some pics taken with my phone.

Back porch

Kelsie got in a mess picking up a white ball of "stuff" which then got all over her - it wasn't dry.

Inside, looking from the living area to front door. Starting to look like a house.

Lots to Share

2009-04-30T21:21:00.010-05:00

I have tons of stuff to tell you and pictures to go with it so here we go, grab your favorite snack or beverage and get comfy - this is likely to be a long one.

Easter Weekend - We had a great Easter weekend spent with meaningful worship, great fellowship and good family time. We started Easter weekend on Friday with Kelsie only having a half day of school so we were able to all go to lunch together with some families from our Life Connection group. Friday night we had a worship time at First Prosper, it was a simple and very meaningful service, filled with scripture and the reality of what Christ did for us. Kelsie even got teary eyed at the end and said she was sad that her sin made Jesus have to die. It was just a good time of focus and reflection. Saturday started with festivities for the kids at church - an easter egg hunt for the little ones and Kelsie went early to help out but between us, I think she really wanted to hunt eggs and used that as an excuse. (No, she really loves to help out the little kids and they LOVE her) . After the little ones finished, there was a hot dog cookout and the Prosper Fire Department came so the kids could see the fire truck then the AmazinGrace for the bigger kids. That was a BLAST. They were broken up into teams, paired with a driver and given instructions. They had to get clues and race all around Prosper where they would read a portion of the Easter story, complete the activity, get a souvenir and a clue that would lead them to the next place. Kelsie's team was in a close first and second most of the race until close to the end - they guessed a wrong clue and went to the wrong place which put them in 6th place - still pretty good. They had such a great time though and got to read the Easter story too. Sunday was a GREAT day of corporate worship - what more can I say but the Spirit was there and Jesus name was lifted high. Sunday afternoon we had a yummy lunch (all of our traditional favorite dishes) and after lunch we dyed eggs together and just hung out together as a family. It was so nice to have the whole afternoon. Here are some pics from Easter:

Kelsie and Allie made this cake and decorated on Saturday after the AmazinGrace.

They are so creative and it was yummy.

Kelsie and Baby Keeli, she is so good with little ones!

Some of our eggs - can you tell Kelsie and I like pink.

Sharpie Party - The Monday after Easter, we had a sharpie party at the new house. We started in the driveway with a prayer asking God to bless our time in this house. Armed with the word and some sharpies, we headed in to write God's word, personal blessings and messages on the studs of the walls. It's neat to know what's behind the walls are messages of love, hope and blessing. Here are some pics of that night, there were too many to post here but it will give you the general idea:

Todd and Melissa writing in the breakfast area.

This message is on the back porch - they're talking poker!

I thought this was neat - Wayne wrote this on the post by the door he will enter in from his garage (the house has split garages, 2 car on one side and 1 car on the other).

I liked this one - Valinda (our pastor's wife) wrote this on the framing around the master bathtub.

Kelsie and Jarrett writing on the studs in the master bathroom.

I really liked this - some of the kids wrote this all the way up the stairs. I will always remember this walking up and down these stairs.

Loved this - Kelsie wrote this in her room.

Loved this!

This gives you an idea of what was left all over the house. Some wrote the scriptures out and there were these big black references all over - I loved looking around and seeing these bold statements all over the house.

Roughrider Game - On Sunday afternoon (the 19th), Kelsie got to participate with the other district honor choirs in singing the National Anthem before the roughrider game. They had to be there to rehearse pretty early, but they got to see the facilities and meet some of the players - Kelsie got an autograph on the hat they gave them. After they sang, we stayed for the game and since it was Prosper night, lots of Kelsie's friends were there and so we spent much of our time at the playground area. The ballpark is a great place to spend Sunday afternoon and we had a blast. Here are some pics of the group rehearsing.

The field from our seats.

The group rehearsing on the field.

Good looking Prosper choirs.

Serve Prosper - This is an initiative our church began as we partner with community leaders, other organizations like Rotary and other churches in town to clean up areas of Prosper that need assistance getting their properties up to code. Last Saturday was our second time out and we were in the downtown area. I did not take my camera but Mrs. Patrick (a local photographer) took some great pics and they are on the Serve Prosper site (a link in the sidebar) if you want to see them. Kelsie and I worked on a team cleaning 4 houses - all owned by an older man and some of the areas were overgrown with weeds, garbage, old sheds, dog houses, etc so we got to do lots of demo, which was fun. It is absolutely amazing what can be accomplished when so many people are working together. When we first walked up to the houses we thought it would take ALL day but we were finished by 2:00. A guy from our church cooked, chopped and served briskets which were so delicious! It was much needed after all that work. Kelsie had a treat after working so hard and got to go over to a friends and swim. I personally thought it would be too cold with the wind but they did not seem to mind at all and swam for hours. A good day topped off with dinner at the Riley household (where Kelsie was swimming)!

TAKS Week - This week was TAKS week at school for Kelsie - she had Math and Reading tests this week. When I picked her up the first day of the test and asked her how TAKS was, she said "like being in jail." Apparently, both days they finished at 11 and just had to sit there and read or whatever all day. Also, she was bummed because the field trip they were supposed to go on Wednesday to the Dallas Museum has been postponed because of swine flu. I think they needed a day out of the classroom!

House Update - We had our frame stage walk through last Friday with our builder to check the location of outlets, light switches, fixtures, etc. There were only a few minor things to change but it was great to walk through with him as he explained everything about what's being done with the house. They were scheduled to install insulation, sheetrock and brick this week but because of all the rain, they have not been able to brick yet. They did complete the insulation and started with the sheetrock. We walked through last night and having the walls up really changes it, making it look more and more like a house. It's been fun watching the progress. We are still on track for July, we are hoping early July as our builder said he thought that was attainable. Let's hope the rain doesn't delay it. I will keep you posted.

One Year - Monday (the 27th) was the one year anniversary of our first Sunday at FBC Prosper. Wow! What a year. When I look back on all God has done, it's amazing. God has been so good to us, even when I was doubtful many times about the whole thing. When I was stressed about the sale of our house - God sold it just at the right time before the market really crashed. When I was concerned about Kelsie leaving her best friend and her school - God gave her a GREAT teacher at Rucker and she has made friends and adapted so well. When I was starting to get discouraged about finding a house in Prosper - God showed favor on us by giving us the great deal on the house we are building (looking at prices initially, I never thought we would EVER be able to have something new). When I was sad about leaving my friends and starting over again - God put us in this amazing Life Connection group that has grown and turned into this great big loving family. When I was concerned Wayne would be bored in his job because it's a much smaller church and ministry - God has continued to give him vision for things like Serve Prosper, things outside the "programs" of the church which is how he has always wanted to do ministry. When I was discouraged about the changes from a big church to a much smaller one - God has shown me over and over that where His Spirit is, those things don't matter, people don't need to be impressed - He draws people to Himself. I really could go on and on with the list but the bottom line is that God called us here and He has shown Himself faithful in the whole process. There have been moments of doubt, stress and tears but looking back over the entire year, we are so blessed at what God is doing here and that we get to be a part of it. I hope you are in a place where you are serving God where He has called you. Have a blessed weekend and I hope to post more often as we have tons of stuff coming up in the month of May.

Serve Prosper

2009-04-14T16:30:00.004-05:00

Hey all - Easter was great and I will post about that along with some pics soon. We also had a sharpie party last night at the new house and I will explain and post pics of that too. But, this post is about Serve Prosper. There is a new promo video up for the next event - which is April 25th - and it's hilarious. The road kill collector is played by our student minister...enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BONIx2VWBKg

Happy Easter Weekend

2009-04-10T07:22:00.003-05:00

We started our Easter celebration last Sunday night with a demonstration of a traditional Seder meal (Passover meal). We celebrate this Easter with a Good Friday service and then a fun event called AmazinGrace (patterned after the Amazing Race) for the kids tomorrow afternoon (I hope to post pictures tomorrow) and then Easter worship service on Sunday. I look forward to our worship and celebration times this weekend and pray that the most unbelievable and unimaginable thing God did for us, by laying down His son's life as a once and for all sacrifice for sin, not be taken for granted but that it changes us - keeps changing us to be more passionate to live for God's kingdom and purposes. I know I have a tendency to get accustom to living with this miracle and taking it for granted in my life, but then I am jolted into a new awareness and I need that! I hope this Easter season is that for you. If you are a long time believer, may the Holy Spirit awaken your spirit to more of His purposes for you in His kingdom and if you are not a believer, may the Holy Spirit call you and that you will answer.

House news - the house is coming along quickly. In this past week, the house has been completely framed, the windows have been installed and yesterday the roof decking and outside walls were going up. It is starting to actually look like a house now. I hope to take some pictures this weekend and post them so you can see the progress. More soon.

This Week

2009-04-04T21:05:00.007-05:00

This week has been topsy turvy for our family. We started the week out with our normal schedule but on Wednesday morning Wayne had to go to Waco for his dad's surgery so he left extremely early to be there by 7 a.m. and then Kelsie woke up early throwing up at 6 a.m. YUK!! She hates to throw up but luckily only did that once but felt miserable and nauseated all day with fever so she pretty much stayed in bed and watched TV. Thursday and Friday she kept getting better but progress was slow and she was pretty lethargic from not eating anything but applesauce and jello. My little 3 and 4 year olds had their Spring Training program Thursday night and Kelsie was able to make it to that and sit in the sound booth with Wayne. The kids did great and they were super cute in their baseball attire!

Saturday morning (today), Kelsie woke up feeling 100% well! YAY! Our life connection group were scheduled to go and play Bingo at Victoria Gardens Nursing Home this afternoon. We had a great time playing with the little ladies and they enjoyed getting their prizes. We paired each child with a resident and they helped them hear the calls of letter and number. It was funny to hear their conversations and play bingo. After that, we came home and got ready for the daddy/daughter dance at school. Kelsie looked so pretty in her new dress and shoes. She is growing up fast. Wayne bought her a pretty wrist corsage. After the dance, we went to dinner with the Alfords at La Hacienda Ranch - yum! A fun night and we were so glad Kelsie was well to enjoy it - she was worried earlier in the week that she wouldn't feel like it. They had a good time and laughed a lot.

House News - they are almost finished framing. They have made a lot of progress this week. It's exciting to see it change every day. There are some pics below of the house and of Kelsie and Wayne before the dance.

This week's thankful list - 1. Kelsie is well and was able to go to bingo and the dance today and that we did not get sick. 2. Watching our kids minister at the nursing home - it was so sweet how willing they were to pass out cookies, help the ladies in their wheelchairs to the prize table, repeat letters and numbers so they could play and just generally love on these ladies. 3. Wayne's safe travels to and from Waco as he went to be with his dad for surgery - that the surgery went well and seems to be successful so far. 4. The bad weather in the area bypassed us - I don't think I could've handled any other drama this week. 5. The beautiful weather we had on Friday. Wayne and I sat on the porch for hours just reading and soaking up the sun. We are looking forward to celebrating the week of Easter. I hope you have a time set aside to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Christ and remember that it is His sacrifice that allows us to stand before the Father. Thank you God!!!

Kelsie in front of the house.

Coconut Juice - really? Does anyone drink that or was in Pina Colada Friday?

Kelsie and Wayne before the Daddy/Daughter dance.

Kelsie growing up fast!!! Can we stop time?

House Progress

2009-04-01T17:05:00.013-05:00

The house is coming along and we are starting to see some progress. We still have a few decisions to make but they should be finalized by the end of the week. Today was the beginning of framing - very exciting. Kelsie was home sick with the stomach bug but she was ready to get out for a second so we made a trip to Sonic for a powerade slush and to drive by the house. The last pic was the one from today, they had framed the front part of the downstairs. Exciting! Sharing the progression with you....

Stage 1 - sold sign on the lot.

Stage 2 - Port-o-potty has arrived - meaning the lot is functional to be worked on.

Stage 3 - Forms are laid for foundation and sidewalk.

Foundation, sidewalk and driveway are finished!

The beginning of framing - today.

Spring Break, 2nd Half

2009-03-31T09:18:00.007-05:00

Here are some pics from Tapatio Springs, which is located outside San Antonio in Boerne. It's a quaint little town and a very quiet golf resort. The area has been in a drought so a lot of the streams were dried up but Wayne and Greg said the golf course was in good shape and they really enjoyed playing. We also played tennis, swam at the pool and enjoyed all the wildlife - especially deer. Enjoy!

Cute girls - they took this of themselves at Rainforest Cafe.

The porcupine we saw as we were driving the golf cart trails one evening. It waddled away pretty quickly but Wayne got a pic of it's backside.

The view from our balcony (I think hole 9)

A cool picture Kelsie took of the shadows on the golf course as we drove around one night.

Wayne and Greg on the most challenging hole.

Kelsie and Allie standing outside the entrance to the Cave Without A Name.

Lunch in Boerne at Little Gretel. Funny story - they moved 3 times to get away from the bees that wanted their Dr. Peppers.

After trying a variety of solutions, they gave up on Dr. Pepper and drank water.

Spring Break Pictures- Day 1 & 2

2009-03-28T21:49:00.007-05:00

I finally got some of my pictures downloaded to the new Mac. So, here is part of day 1 and day 2 of our Spring Break. This cold, nasty weather makes me wish for those sunshine days while we were there. It seems like this trip was months ago when it was really just last week.

Kelsie and Allie playing at the park in downtown San Antonio while we waited for the guys to meet us for IMAX and dinner.

The girls shopping at the Market Square.

Market Square

Dinner at Casa Rio - a great night to sit outside by the River!

Day 2 - The Alamo (and it's St. Patrick's Day, can't you tell from the green?)

Wax Museum - Kelsie on Oprah!

Kelsie and Allie at Wax Museum.

Making Wax Hands at the wax museum.

The BIG tire at Ripley's Believe it or Not. This place has weird stuff but we all loved it!

The tallest man (Ripley's Believe it or Not)

In the World of Mac

2009-03-25T21:25:00.002-05:00

Since being introduced to Apple products (InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator) a few years ago working at FBC Aledo, I have wanted a Mac. Wayne got one for work when we moved to Prosper so I have played on his but of course it made me want one of my own even more. Since our HP was still functioning well enough to cause us to continue to use it, we just kept putting it off until......YESTERDAY!!! I finally got a MacBook. The HP struggles more and more every time we load pictures or more music on itunes and so it was time. I haven't had a ton of time yet to play with it or move content over but as soon as I do, I will share all those pics I have been meaning to put up here.

Everything else is going well with us. Nothing really new to report - back to school and work and going to the gym has all been painful this week but we can't be on vacation forever. The house is coming along - the inspection before the foundation is poured was today or will be tomorrow. We had a builder's meeting today and got even more decisions made so we are getting closer to being finished with that stage of things. It will be fun to watch the progress happen so quickly because he told us once the foundation is poured the framing goes quickly. Gotta go for now - catch up more soon.

A Great Spring Break!!

2009-03-20T22:13:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful Spring Break trip to the San Antonio area with the Alford family. We left Sunday afternoon and had to stop over in Frisco first to take Raider to the doggie hotel (boarding). It was his first time to be with a boarder b/c we have always had a house sitter but no one was around during Spring Break so we had to take him to a boarder. We were finally off to San Antonio but of course got stuck in bumper to bumper on I-35 around Waco to Austin. So, we all stopped off at Hula Hut in Austin for dinner and a much needed break from traffic. We were ready to get back in the car all the way to San Antonio. The first part of our trip was really work - we were there to check out things for the family mission trip we are taking to Lytle, Texas in August. We stayed in the extended stay type hotel we will be staying in during the week of the trip and went to the church in Lytle on Monday to meet with the pastor, Grady Summers, and get a feel for the work we will do this summer. We had a great visit, prayer time and tour of the buildings on Monday morning and the Summers took us to lunch at a quaint place in Castroville. After lunch, the girls went to San Antonio to do some shopping at the Market Square and the guys stayed in Lytle for more meetings about the remodel project. We made it to the Market Square area downtown (after driving around a while for a parking spot) and enjoyed walking through all the little stores with the girls. They had a great time looking at all the stuff and then we took them to the park for some running and playing - the weather was absolutely beautiful and we loved the sunshine. The boys soon joined us and we walked to the Rivercenter area and went to the IMAX to watch The Alamo movie and then we were headed to dinner at Casa Rio and then took the riverboat ride last thing that night.

On Tuesday, we went back into a packed San Antonio and intended to take the girls through the Alamo but the line to get in was around the block. So we opted for the wax museum and Ripley's Believe it or Not instead. It was fun to walk through and the girls got to make wax hands to take home. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe on the riverwalk and after that we were tired of the crowded city so we headed out to our next destination of Tapatio Springs in Boerne. Once we got there, we took the girls swimming while the guys played tennis and then the girls wanted to play so they had their own little doubles match going for a while. We then went into town to eat at the Hungry Horse, which was a yummy little cafe. It was so nice to be in the quiet surroundings of Boerne.

Wednesday started early for the guys but since their 7:30 appointment was a golf game, they were happy! The girls all slept in and met up with them after 10:30. We headed into town for lunch on the patio of the The Little Gretel and some local shopping in downtown Boerne. We got pedicures and then headed back to the resort for some swimming and relaxing. The guys played another 9 while the little girls swam and the big girls laid by the pool to read. After swimming, the guys wanted to show us some of the pretty parts of the course, so we got some golf carts and drove around for a while. We saw all kinds of deer and even saw a porcupine. It was such perfect weather and a beautiful, peaceful place. We ended up staying there for a late dinner at the resort restaurant and lamented that tomorrow was the day to travel home. So, Thursday morning the guys played golf early and we met up with them after breakfast to pack up and get back on the road toward home. We did stop at The Cave Without a Name which was really cool and worth the stop off. We ended up in traffic again near Austin on I-35 but figured out a way around until north of Waco so we took it and it was a breeze. We got home with little traffic aggravation. We headed straight to pick up our little baby from the boarder and he was happy to see us!

So, now we are back to reality but today was fairly low key and we got to celebrate Jimmy's birthday tonight with everyone. We enjoyed seeing everyone and helping him celebrate his 29th (again!!). We were so blessed this week with fun times, great weather, safe travel, restful moments and good company. I am excited to go back in the summer and see what the Lord will do with our families as we serve Him there in Lytle. Hope your break was good. I am hoping my computer will load and post some pics but meanwhile will keep adding to the Mac Fund for my new Mac.....stay tuned.

Basketball Season Ends

2009-03-09T23:03:00.004-05:00

Our basketball season officially ended on Wednesday with a loss in the tournament. The girls played really hard and wanted to win but the game just got away from them in the 3rd quarter. This was the last game of the season since it was single elimination. Way to go Long Shots for a great season! Kelsie really learned a lot this season and wants to continue to play so we will see if there are any summer clinics to keep up learning and practicing the basics.

This weekend was a quick trip to San Angelo to see the fam. It was a whirlwind trip but it was good to see everyone. Unfortunately, as soon as we got back on Saturday, Wayne was headed straight to Care Now with fever and body aches. He has strep throat and has been in bed for the last couple of days but is feeling better today after a steroid shot and a couple days of antibiotics. Thankfully, we have an awesome praise team and they led worship and did a great job.

Okay, I want to warn you that for the next few months you will be updated quite often on the house progress. It's really exciting for us but might get very boring for you. So, read at your own risk......

Progress is being made on the house. The forms for the foundation are laid and they have started laying the plumbing today. The builder's meeting was today and our builder was great! He was extremely accommodating with the changes we wanted to make and so now we just have to make some final decisions in the next few weeks. Our first walk through will be at frame stage in just a few weeks. It is fun to see it all coming together.

On to the thankful list:
1. The pretty woodpecker I see every day on the property. He is so interesting to watch and beautiful with a bright red head. Also the blooming trees and flowers on the property.
2. The time change - I love it when it's lighter longer.
3. Kelsie's heart to serve - she was so attentive when my ankle was hurt. She loved helping at Serve Prosper and this weekend has been attentive to her daddy, always asking me if I think he needs a popsicle. She even made KILLER smoothies on Sunday night!
4. Our basketball coach - so patient with the girls and a good teacher.
5. Sunday afternoon shopping with Kelsie. We left the house to get out and let Wayne sleep and so we did a little Spring Break shopping and we had the best day out. Had lunch together and did the girl thing So fun and great memories!

Hope you are having a blessed week - I pray you see God in all the little blessings He has given you with the people in your life and the things around you. Spring is a great visual reminder of new beginnings for me. I hope you are inspired by God's handiwork. Let us hear from you.

Weekend Update

2009-03-02T11:56:00.003-06:00

I wanted to take a second to fill you in on the weekend. Kelsie's bball team played a much anticipated game against the number one ranked team in our league. The girls played SO well, at half time the score was tied 5-5 and they played great defense, just shut them down. Unfortunately, the game got away from us in the end and it was 15-5 but we were proud of our girls for playing so well against this undefeated team. So, our record was 6 wins, 3 losses and we begin the tournament on Wednesday night. Keep you posted!

My ankle has improved to the point that I can hobble around today without crutches. There is a little limp b/c it's still sore but it's not nearly as swollen and I can step down on it which I couldn't do on Saturday. It's still ugly - very black and blue. Hoping for continued improvement this week and be back to normal very soon.

Serve Prosper on Saturday was GREAT. Over 100 people showed up to help even though it was super cold with the wind. I didn't get to participate b/c on Saturday I still couldn't walk without crutches. Wayne and Kelsie had a good time though and they cleared lots of dead limbs, brush and trash. I can't wait for the next one so I can participate. Kelsie and her friends found a nest of baby squirrels that fell out of a tree that was dead and being removed. After doing some research on the internet, we found out that the best thing to do with a fallen nest is to keep the babies together and return the nest to a close vicinity to the original nest site as possible so the mommy can find them. It said mommy squirrels do not reject their young with human scent like some animals do. So, they did that and when they went back later to check the babies were gone. So, we are happy they were okay and back safe in a new home. It was exciting and educational for the kids. I think there will be pics soon uploaded on the Serve Prosper site and there are some on facebook - check out our group. I love that our church is so missional. It was great to come along side so many different people in the community and reach out to people that really need help.

That's it for now. I am trying to catch up on cleaning today and this was my ankle rest time. Hope you have a great week.

Basketball Injuries

2009-02-27T19:02:00.007-06:00

We were unlucky enough this week to have a couple of basketball injuries in the family. On Saturday, the girls played a GREAT game and won 16-8 but Kelsie had a very bruised up arm after having it stepped on in a pile of girls fighting for the ball. Way to be agressive! It bothered her for a few days but there wasn't any swelling and very little bruising. Her coach (who is also a personal trainer) said he thought it was a possible muscle bruise and to watch for swelling and/or radiating pain. The soreness lasted until about Wednesday but nothing a little ibuprofen couldn't handle. This coming week is our last game of the regular season and we play the best team in the league so we decided to have a little extra practice time on our own. So, Monday night we met the Alfords at the church (outside concrete court) to run some drills with the girls and play 3 on 3 - Bartleys vs. Alfords. We had a great time playing and we all laughed about how tired we were going to be that night! On Tuesday we thought it would be fun to play again on Tuesday night so we met up at the church again to play. This time it was the moms and girls scrimmaging and Wayne was the ref. After a pretty little lay up, I landed half on the concrete and half on the ground and couldn't get my balance (getting old!) and twisted my ankle. It was sore at first but I didn't think it was that bad until I felt like I was about to pass out. After that passed, I moved to a spot to sit out and watch and felt nauseated again. I knew something was wrong, the ankle was immediately swelling and bruising. So, we went to Care Now to get it looked at and after an x-ray (and a few more waves of nausea) it was not broken or fractured. They wrapped it and sent me home with instructions, crutches and drugs! I was a very good patient on Wednesday - doing everything I was told in hopes that the next day everything would be back to normal - didn't happen. It is getting better but I still can't step down on it so I am still on crutches which is a HUGE pain! I guess that's one way of getting out of doing the laundry. Kelsie and Wayne have been great - they have been spoiling me! I think the plan is to see an ortho if it's not better by Monday but I think it's getting better every day - even though it looks pretty UGLY right now.

On a more positive note - the house is coming along. This week we got a port-o-potty on the property, which means that it's now suitable for working on. Today was the day we did our initial selections. We still have a few more things to decide on but it was super fun to pick from all those choices. Also today the forms were there today for the foundation so progress is being made! YAY! It's so nice to live close and watch the progress every day.

This Saturday is Serve Prosper (see link on sidebar if you want to know more). We are excited about how many people and sponsors have gotten involved. How exciting to see our community coming together to serve each other. Should be fun.

Thankful list for the week:

That my husband and daughter love me enough to tend to me with mercy and compassion (that is not my strong thing so I appreciate it in them, even if it is hard to receive).
My little 3 and 4 year olds singing "Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes, Yes, Lord" - they are so cute and I love that they are so willing to sing out to God at such a young age.
The celebration choir we had last week (we did a choir last week for something fun and new - we sang "Cover the Earth"). It was truly worshipful and lots of fun!
Good friends - we loved having the Kemners last weekend even if for a short time. We love catching up with life long friends.
God's healing grace - several friends came through surgeries this week with flying colors. Thank you God for being our Great Physician.

I hope you have experienced the presence of God this week. Love to hear from you! More later.

Progress is Being Made

2009-02-19T20:39:00.003-06:00

Well, progress on the house has officially been made with the arrival of the construction port-o-potty today. I guess that means that the site is now fit to be worked on! We meet with the designer next Friday to make our first round of selections, still no builders meeting which should happen here pretty soon. Since Monday was President's Day, many furniture stores around had sales so Patti and Emily took me to Weir's Furniture while Wayne and the guys were playing golf. I had never been there before but heard several people saying they had good stuff. We had a fun day shopping for furniture (we were all looking for different things) and running around town, finishing up with lunch at Lucy's before school pick up. When Wayne got home, we all 3 went back so I could show him what I found that day and ended up buying a couch with matching chair and a half that was on sale. I did find 2 accent chairs as well but they were on back order and so we put 25% down to order them but the next day I had buyer's remorse because they weren't on sale and I wanted to live with the other pieces for a while first so I called to cancel. The other things will be delivered this Saturday. Let the decorating plan begin!

Basketball - Saturday was Kelsie's team day to play 2 games back to back. They won the first game 14-6 but lost the second game 12-4. They all played so well as a team but just ran out of steam in the second game and it got away from them. We were proud of them - they played hard. Saturday was Valentine's Day but we had already officially celebrated so we did a little shopping and out to eat after the games.

Not much else to report - just normal life going on here. So, on to the thankful list..... 1. The yellow daffodils blooming all over the property - they are so cheery and pretty to look at every day. 2. We have all stayed relatively healthy, no flu - YAY! 3. Our life connection group - we love them! 4. Electric blanket we got for Christmas (thanks Mawmaw), I love crawling in a warm bed on a cold night. 5. Chocolate - I have to be thankful for chocolate in the month of February, right?

Also - on the book list update. I finished Karen Kingsbury's new 911 book, "Every Now and Then" that I got for Christmas and I look forward to her new series coming out - "Above the Line" I also just finished this week John Grisham's "The Appeal." While VERY different, they were both good reads. Better go for now. More soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-12T22:54:00.003-06:00

As you can see by my blog, I am wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Hope you feel loved today by your family and friends but more importantly, think of it as a day to thank God for the love He has expressed to us and keeps showing us through His grace. We celebrated tonight by going to Outback with Kelsie - we didn't want to brave Saturday night, yikes! Kelsie has a party at school tomorrow so that should we interesting. Valentine's Day, co-ed 4th graders don't mix too well. EEEwwww boys, eeeewwww girls......you get the picture.

House news - not much is happening right now. They are in the process of permits, etc. We have our first meeting to pick stuff in 2 weeks. That will be fun, we have been driving around looking at brick choices. They all start to look the same after a while.

Basketball - Kelsie is doing great. Last week they won their game 12-6 and she had 2 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists. Great team player!!! They all played so great as a team. We were very proud.

We have had a busy few weeks (the reason for the late post). Kelsie didn't have a game weekend before last which worked out b/c she went to Fort Worth to spend the weekend with Morgan for her birthday. She got to go watch Morgan play bball and then to her party and as tradition dictates, to the rodeo with the McLelland family. Sunday night was the Superbowl and we had a GREAT time with our life connection group at the Alfords. We had so much food - fried cajun turkey, ribs (smoked by Wayne, they were fabulous), smoked brisket and lots and lots of snack food and desserts. The party was made complete with a visit by the police. One of the kids accidentally called 911. Pretty funny but embarassing for him - the kids were going crazy. This last weekend was eventful too. Friday night was girls night out for our class so we went to see "Bride Wars" a definite chick flick and we had fun. Kelsie and Wayne went to bball practice and then home to eat pizza and watch "Space Buddies" (her valentine's gift). Saturday was K's basketball game and then we had a wonderful dinner with the Marshall's. We had such a good time and Kelsie LOVES their dogs (golden retrievers) and enjoyed sitting in the hot tub after working so hard at the game. After that we had a late night appointment at the Kennedy's house. The middle school girls wrapped our houses last summer so this was pay back. It was D-Now weekend and we got word that the girls were planning to wrap the Kennedy house. We were prepared and waiting with shaving cream, water buckets, water guns, and water hose. We got them GOOD!!! They were not expecting that at all but unfortunately they came back and wrapped their house even later. I guess we're too old to stay up that late. Sunday was a great day. We had our family mission trip info meeting and had lots of families there - we hope to take 15-20 families. Exciting! Then, our life connection class did our service project - which was to collect food for the local food bank, Bethlehem Place, and we delivered it after lunch. The cool part was that our kids were carrying in the food, stocking shelves. They were so excited to help, really into it. It was such a good picture of WORSHIP. Our kids really understood I John 3:16-18 and we were blessed that day!

Hope you are having a blessed week. Happy Valentine's Day! Love from the Bartleys

We Have A House!!!

2009-02-02T08:42:00.003-06:00

Yes, you read right - we FINALLY found a house. Actually, we will not move into it until July because it has to be built first. We had such a hard time finding a house that was a good size for us. Mostly everything we looked at was too big and since we are just 3 people we didn't feel like we needed 4,000+ square feet. So, we ended up with a new build from Highland Homes. The really fabulous part is that we thought we were going to have to settle for a neighborhood that was just okay and they gave us such a great deal in a neighborhood (Willow Ridge) we LOVE and have looked in for months but couldn't afford. They agreed to build this smaller (3122 ft) house on a lot they still had in phase 2 (they are currently finishing that phase up and going to phase 3) they needed to finish out. We have some modifications to make to the floorplan to make it work but they are doing those too. We have already met our neighbors - they seem super nice. Hopefully we will be able to share the process with you as we take photos of the progress. The projected date is July 1st. So, it looks like we will be in the farm house for the Spring which should be fun to see everything bloom again and we will hopefully be in the new house before school starts so we can get settled and enjoy the community pool. We are excited and thank God for His provision for us in the interim and giving us this new house.

Ice Day

2009-01-28T12:34:00.001-06:00

Today we had a minor ice event so school was shut down for the whole day even though it's sunny and crisp outside now. Kelsie and Allie are out playing in it with little warm ups inside and then back out again. I am completely content staying indoors watching movies (catching up on LOST, I am only on Season 3). In other news, we are meeting with a couple of builders this weekend to see where we are on price, time, etc. So, stay warm if you are in this icy blast part of Texas.

I've Missed You!

2009-01-24T20:46:00.004-06:00

Wow! Has it really been since October? My sincerest apologies for those of you who kept checking or looked at your sidebar to see that I STILL have not written. Hopefully you haven't given up on me forever. I got so super busy during the holidays and then it seemed overwhelming to fill you in on everything that has happened (you know I LOVE to give the details). I have a ton of pics to share too but waiting for my really slow computer to process all of that gives me a headache to consider.

So, here is a run down to sorta catch you up (this might get long, I will try and condense)

The holidays - We went to San Angelo to be with my family over Thanksgiving and it was good visiting with everyone, lots of little kids now which is fun. Of course, we did our traditional EARLY morning shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Kelsie had the entire week off so that was really nice that we got to be home for a few days before traveling. Before Thanksgiving we had "A Day of Thanks" out at the barn. It was so much fun, had good worship and a good word from the Lord and we all enjoyed a meal and gave a thank offering. In the afternoon, we had a turkey bowl (flag football) and our life connection group had a team called "Team Calibration." We came in second place and it was a blast practicing and playing the different teams. What a great day!

December was filled with good things leading up to Christmas. The first week of December was the Ladies Progressive Dinner, a special night to prepare our hearts for what Christmas is all about - Christ's birth and why He came. Kelsie's honor choir sang at the Prosper Country Christmas event downtown and that was a fun festival to attend complete with a parade featuring Santa! We also had a fun family outing before Christmas - Wayne, Todd and Greg planned a night out for us girls and kids to go and look at Christmas lights around town in a limo. The kids thought it was so great to drink soda from a glass and we drove around town in style looking at the various lights. Of course, we did our traditional Holiday at the Park with the McLellands and Shirleys - fun as usual and ended up at Trail Dust Steak House for dinner, the kids loved the slide. At church, the kids in Acting Up performed "Christmas in Reverse" Kelsie had a narration part and a little solo and we were proud of all the kids - they did great! Christmas Eve was "Christmas at the Barn" and it was so much fun. We had tons of people from all over the community there to celebrate with us. Kelsie loved not having to get all dressed up but it was a really special family time. Christmas Day was spent in Waco with Wayne's family and the next day we came back home and my mom and nana came for a quick visit. We had such a relaxing holiday, off the week between Christmas and New Year. Wayne was off the entire week and it was so nice to just sleep in, hang out with Kelsie and not have a schedule, Morgan came and stayed a few days with us too. Wayne got a smoker for Christmas and several days it was nice outside and we just smoked meat, watched football and had a fire in the pit at night out on the porch. It felt like a vacation! New Year's Eve was spent at the Boyers house with our life connection group, we had a blast and rang in the New Year with our kids and a house full of joy! We spent New Year's Day celebrating Wynette's birthday and enjoyed our day with them so much.

As many of you know, during most of the holiday season Prosper Eagles were still playing football. Our church had committed, as an outreach to our community, to host a tailgate party at all away games. All the playoff games were on neutral sites so we were doing football every weekend in various places, thankfully none too far away. It was a complete BLAST to host these parties. We had some expert tailgaters cooking and we just got to serve people and meet new people. We stayed for every game and the final state playoff game was at Texas Stadium where we fed over 1,000 people brisket, hot dogs, nachos, funnel cakes, etc. The band was there, cheerleaders, parents, etc. To top it all off Prosper won state! The whole town was there I think - that is fun!!!

Kelsie - She is doing very well. Made all A's on her last report card - we are so proud of her hard work adjusting to a new way of doing just about everything. We are so blessed that she is our daughter. She is still in Honor Choir and they will be singing the National Anthem with other Prosper choirs in April at the Roughriders game. Kelsie is playing basketball right now for a team called The Longshots. They have played 2 games and are 1-1. Their coach is great and the team is learning alot, improving every week. They are off next week so they have a week to refine those plays they are learning.

House - We are still house hunting. We are meeting with a couple of builders this week but at this point are still keeping all options open. Living in the farm house was fun during the holidays with all the things going on and it's a blessing right now to have the luxury of taking our time to make the right decision on a new house.

Job and Church - I am currently teaching preschool music very part time - 2 mornings a week. I like it and have been blessed not to be in a position to find a job right away. I am hoping (about 95% sure it will happen) to teach preschool (4's) next year Monday - Thursday as our First Friends program is expanding to full time. Church is going great! We love our Life Connection group and were so blessed to join that class in its inception and meet everyone as they have come in new like us. We have grown to love each other more and more. This weekend we had our Deeper Worship Conference. Words can't describe the presence of the Lord this weekend but it was just such a sweet time of worship, diving into God's word, fasting, praying and listening to what God is saying to us individually and collectively. We were blessed by Steve Hardin and Billy and Cindy Foote. They are men and women who walk in the Spirit, prophetic worshippers and proclaimers of the word. WOW! I am really looking forward to tomorrow. Wayne loves the men he serves with more and more every day, they have such a mutual respect for one another and a belief that God has uniquely placed each one there on a team for a purpose of Kingdom growth in this place! So exciting to see the passion they have.

So, as you read - know we are blessed. My thankful list is just that God has richly blessed us with family and friends like you. Some of you are friends that we have walked with a long time, shared great times and icky times with - prayed over many things, helped us make tough decisions and vented frustrations. Some of you have loved us when we have shown the worst sides of ourselves or during times we were so depressed we weren't fun to be around. Some of you are new friends, we have barely begun sharing our lives with you but we know as time passes we will share many experiences. Times of joy and celebration, grief, deliverance, changes and seasons. All done in the presence of God as He guides our steps. So, tonight I go to bed thanking God for my family - my sweet daughter, my Godly husband and you!

Okay - now you are all caught up. I will try and post more faithfully from this point forward so don't give up on me!! Love to hear from you too!

The Six Month Mark

2008-10-27T21:16:00.004-05:00

First off I will tell you that Saturday, Kelsie's HSM3 birthday party, was lots of fun and I will tell you more about it and post pics later. Today's post is dedicated to the fact that Wayne has been on staff at First Prosper for 6 months yesterday. Sometimes I think the time has flown by and we've barely begun and in other ways it feels like we have been here forever. The last 6 months have been a major growing time for me personally just learning more and more about letting go of the control I want to have over my own life and turning it over to God's purposes. It's been difficult at times but it's also been a testament to God's graciousness as He has provided for so many of our needs - selling our home and giving us transitional housing, Kelsie making friends so easily and a great school district...the list goes on and on. (Just a side note - if there is something you are struggling with God about, I want to encourage you that there is blessing in obedience).

Sunday was a HUGE day for me as I looked up on stage during worship and saw the beginnings of Wayne's vision coming to fruition. He has always wanted to be a part of a church where he had the freedom to train up young people and give them real life experience and opportunities in ministry - leading worship, planning, team building, etc. All for the purpose of carrying out kingdom work and on Sunday morning Colin led part of our worship and did so great. Just knowing that in God's timing he will be launched into a new chapter too - can't wait to see what God does with him. I believe God will continue to bring more and more to be trained up and sent out. I see the church's passion for that - expanding God's kingdom and doing it together along the way.

So, as we mark this small milestone - 6 months - we thank God for our pastor who is steadfast in the word, he is just consistent in his pursuit of being true to God's word. We thank God for a staff that is united and more than that - they are friends. They just become closer friends and have more respect for one another the more they are together. We thank God for a church with a heart for missions - from community outreach events to personally talking to someone about Christ to missions trips and missionary support all over the world. We thank God for so many people who have just loved us and invested in us in the short time we have been here. We thank God for His presence in our worship, how He is just continuing to teach us more about Himself here and given us a family to do life with as we grow. There are still things and especially people at Wedgwood I deeply miss. But, I pray that God will continue to grow our love for Prosper just as He did while we were at Wedgwood. Pray that God will use us to expand His kingdom for His name's sake while we serve here and that we can have a part in being used to teach about having a lifestyle of worship. We are blessed!

Finally, it's Fall!

2008-10-23T21:34:00.003-05:00

I am so glad Fall is finally here, I have loved the cooler weather this week. My husband, on the other hand, is a summer person and doesn't love the colder weather like I do. I did make him appreciate it a little more tonight by making his favorite soup (taco soup) for dinner. Once again, this week flew by us and this was the first night we were home all week. Looks like that is becoming a trend, Thursday nights at home - I like it.

Kelsie had her first honor choir rehearsal this week and she learned that they would be singing something special for their Veteran's Day program. She enjoyed rehearsal and seemed excited about things to come. Her last birthday party (thank goodness, we have birthday partied all month) is Saturday. We are taking 8 of her friends to see High School Musical 3 (much anticipated). It should be fun. Morgan is coming from Fort Worth to spend the weekend too which is a huge treat for all of us b/c we haven't seen her in a while.

There is not a whole lot of news to report - we stumbled on a house that we really like but it is not officially on the market yet. We saw a house that was an obvious foreclosure - the backyard was literally a wall of weeds waist high with absolutely NO landscaping in the front. We called the realtor on the sign and she told us it was a pre listing and the price had not been determined yet. The next day we noticed that people were clearing the backyard and cleaning the inside so we asked the contractors if we could walk through. We loved the floorplan and the location but the house was stripped down by the people that left - no appliances, doors taken off and light fixtures missing. It's a mess, but has possibilities especially for the right price. So, we will wait until it officially comes up on the market - the listing agent is suppose to call us the day before so we can have a heads up. So, we are continuing to watch new listings and monitor the few we still like as well as pray and wait on God's timing. The good thing is that we are not in a hurry and we are not tied down to rent or another mortgage. So, here is this week's thankful list:

1. Pumpkin bread Kelsie made after dinner tonight - yummy!
2. The cool weather we had this week.
3. The sweet blue birds that I got to see this afternoon out the window.
4. A hilarious episode of "The Office" tonight - the funniest one of this season so far.
5. Girls Night Out - Tuesday night out to eat with the girls and our wonderful husbands who watched the kids. It was delicious Kobe and the company was better.
6. A question that Khris (our pastor) gave us last week to ask ourselves - "What is the thing that will bring God the most glory?" That has caused us to think about houses (and other decisions) in a new way. I love that we are challenged every week by our pastor.
7. Kelsie being so sweet to little kids - they love her and she is so caring and patient with the

Hope you have a good weekend - I will hope to post pics of the Saturday party next week.

A Great Weekend

2008-10-20T08:55:00.005-05:00

There are some weekends that fly by because you are so busy going from here to there that on Monday you can't believe the weekend is over and you wonder why you had no time to recuperate in between busy weekday/weeknight schedules. Well, that has been our weekends for a while but this weekend was a restful weekend mixed with quality family time and fun. I loved it! It started on Friday afternoon, Wayne and I got to spend the whole day together. We did spend the first half of the day with our realtor looking at some houses and taking him to lunch but the rest of the day we just hung out and then picked up Kelsie from school. That night was the Prosper/Celina game - a good game with a better outcome. It was a blast to be there and see this year's team win this huge rivalry game. Saturday morning we all slept late and then watched college football and capped off the day with Kelsie having a friend and a babysitter over while we met the Griffs at Babe's in Carrollton for dinner - we had a lot of catching up to do with them. Sunday worship was great, it never gets old seeing how many men come to the altar every week to pray. It always sets a tone for worship. After lunch, we came home to watch the Cowboy's play (I love having a DVR, we didn't have to watch commercials) and that was disappointing and UGLY. We squeezed in a quick nap and then took Kelsie to Prosper Party Place for Allie's birthday party. They played laser tag and games. Wayne played one game of laser tag with them - they broke up into teams of 6 and he was his own team. After the party was over, we came home and made a fire in the fire pit because it was a chilly night. We ended up roasting hot dogs for dinner and we all said we felt like we were away somewhere - it was dark, quiet, the stars were bright and we were sitting by a fire on the perfect night roasting hot dogs.

So, today is Monday and we are back to our normal busy schedules. Kelsie is off at school, Wayne is spending his day off site to do mega planning and I have a huge to do list that is typical for Monday, cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, bill paying and errand running. This week I think we have something going on every night but this weekend was fabulous and we can hope for more like it! See below - a few pics taken with my phone after the game on Friday night.

People starting to rush the field when the game was over.....fun!

From top - Joy, Sarah, Kelsie, Karis, Kensey and Caroline after the game.

Prosper Wins!!!

2008-10-18T13:22:00.005-05:00

Wow! What a game last night - Prosper beat their biggest rivals, Celina, last night 33-7. It was a huge win since Prosper hasn't beat Celina in 24 years. We had a blast at the game. Hope you are having a good weekend. We are enjoying a lazy Saturday with Kelsie working on some craft projects and Wayne and I watching Texas Tech play A & M. Love days like this and we look forward to worship tomorrow. Will post some pics later.

Thursday Already?

2008-10-16T09:46:00.007-05:00

I can't believe it's already Thursday, this week has flown by and so I will start with this week's thankful list:

My Sunday School Class has been a blessing to me just watching them really do life together. They all step up so many times when there are things going on in each others lives. They are a GREAT group of friends!
Pumpkin Spice Limited Edition coffee pods for the Keurig that I found at Bed, Bath and Beyond - yummy! My very own starbucks at home (cheaper and less fattening too, a win/win)
Time to sit down and eat breakfast with Kelsie several days this week. I love starting my day with her.
Our dentist (Dr. Toney) and orthodontist (Dr. Jensen) - both professional and exceptional in their field and generous men of God. Kelsie has been relaxed and comfortable with both of them which is so important to me!
The cooler weather - it's been nice to have the rain and the cooler morning today. Fall is my favorite.
Market Street's Chicken Tortilla Soup. Yum!
Karen Kingsbury's "Sunset" which I am reading now. I have to force myself to put it down at night so I don't stay up until 2 a.m.
Watching all the bunnies, birds, and especially the hawk at the farm house - it's fun to have nature all around (as long as it doesn't include snakes and mice - so far they haven't come up to the house but I know they are out there).

Monday night we went to look at some vacant/foreclosed houses. Even though our plan is to wait until after the first of the year to move, we learned that foreclosures take a while to work out and close so we decided to go and look. There were a few we liked, nothing we loved yet. We have a few houses that we are watching but don't want to see yet because people live in them and we know how it is to be given false hope by lookers that aren't serious. We will wait on those until Nov/Dec. It is fun to look at houses though and it gives us good ideas of what neighborhoods to narrow our search to, so it's useful even if we aren't making offers yet.

Tuesday night we ordered On the Border for a Deeper Worship Conference meeting at the farm house. I love the team that is working on this project! God really has assembled such a talented team and we all have such different strengths that we work very well together. It will be an incredible weekend-don't miss it! Wednesday we had our first visit to the orthodontist, Dr. Jensen, who was fabulous. We loved him, he was great interacting with Kelsie and explaining stuff to us. We left with a good understanding of what we need to do now and the long term plan for her future smile. Right now, we have to see a specialist for a root canal on the malformed tooth so there won't be decay later and they can shape the tooth further. After that is done, the tooth next to it (a baby tooth) needs to be pulled to make room for the impacted tooth that is not wanting to come down in the right spot. All of her other teeth (she still has 7 baby teeth) look like they are coming in correctly. So, we get those things done and see him in one year to take another x-ray and see where the impacted tooth is and how the other teeth have come in so we can go from there straightening the turned tooth and whatever else they need to address. Kelsie enjoyed looking at the x-ray of all her baby teeth and perm teeth that are in there - I think she was counting the tooth fairy money!

So, tonight kinda starts the weekend for me - the first night we haven't had plans this week so we can actually sit down to dinner together and spend some quality family time. On Friday, Wayne and I get to hang out together - I am looking forward to spending the day with him. Then we have Friday Night Football, Prosper plays their biggest rivals Celina this week so it's a huge game and should be fun! Okay, if my weekend is to start tonight I better get busy on finishing up laundry and stuff. Have a great weekend!

Birthday Celebration Weekend 2

2008-10-13T10:10:00.008-05:00

This weekend was Kelsie's birthday celebration weekend #2 with Wayne's family. Normally, we have one celebration for family and one for friends but typically in the same weekend but this year ended up being a little different and will expand almost the whole month of October. I'm sure Kelsie doesn't mind getting gifts all month. So, this weekend was kicked off on Friday morning with Rucker Rocks at Kelsie's school. She was recognized on stage with the other birthday kids and they have to do a little dancing in front of everyone. Luckily, Kelsie had a friend from her class (Miranda) that went up with her and a little girl (Emma) in Kindergarten that she knows from church was up there, so she was a little more comfortable but I think still a little embarrassed.

Kelsie on stage, getting ready to dance. Miranda in black and pink and Emma in white and blue standing with her.

Kelsie's class made a sign to show school spirit so they could win the gold rock for the week.

4th Grade won!!!

Kelsie and Kensey before it started. Kensey got Rucker Rocks for the week (an award that is given out to kids who do extraordinary things that week - see Kennedy Krew blog for details)

On Saturday, we had everyone out in the afternoon to celebrate (after the Texas/OU game). We always let Kelsie pick the menu so she wanted to cook outside hot dogs and roast s'mores. We purchased a small fire pit to have an open fire so we could cook out hot dogs and s'mores. It was nice weather outside so we all enjoyed sitting outside on the deck and the kids had a good time playing and exploring. We had a great time getting together for Kelsie's birthday!!

Kelsie got lots of webkins from her cousins.

Kelsie and "rattlesnake" she got - look closely....Aunt Joy is so creative.

Wayne, the fire starter.

Christopher, Brittany and Wayne roasting marshmallows.

Posing for a silly pic - they didn't want a sweet, smiling, serious picture.

An unconventional Birthday Cake - a s'more without the graham cracker...????

Made a wish!!! Happy 10th, my big girl.

Kelsie and Brittany both like their s'mores without graham cracker. A Gooey mess!

Hey - watch the hair!

As you can see, we had a fun weekend. Hope yours was good....more later.

I See Some Dentists in Our Future

2008-10-09T21:01:00.004-05:00

We had a good visit with Dr. Toney (our wonderful dentist and elder at FBC) yesterday for Kelsie. She has a tooth in the top front that is turned slightly so we went for a little repair before our trip to the orthodontist next Wednesday. After some x-rays and investigation, he saw some things with that tooth (technical names I don't get) leading him to believe she needs to see a root canal specialist to fix it so it doesn't decay. YIKES!! Also, another tooth is impacted and not growing the right way to replace the baby tooth that is loose. So, we have some dental work in our future and we will know more next Wednesday. However, because he had to do some repair to that tooth and look at it closely, she had to have the top part of her mouth numb. It was so funny b/c she was shocked at how big her lip felt and that she couldn't talk or anything. She also hated the feeling that she couldn't swallow so they just gave her the little wand that sucks out the fluid from your mouth. She did really good being still and doing what they said, we were proud of her b/c she hates anything done to her mouth. Also, once we got home, the tooth that was loose she pulled so the tooth fairy brought $5 which made it all worth while in her eyes.

This is a pic that Wayne took with his phone because she was trying to smile...funny.

THIS WEEKS THANKFUL LIST:

Wayne is home this week and got back safely from Ecuador. The stories and pics are great - can't wait to continue hearing more from everyone that went.
Cooler weather - each morning and evening has been beautiful. We have enjoyed spending time outside on the deck.
A 7 minute commute to Kelsie's school.
Kelsie making friends at school and church - she has already made such sweet friends at both school and church. Everyone has welcomed us with open arms and I am thankful for a smooth transition.
The new iphone apps - love the grocery list maker and the balance sheet.
Harvest Candles (Yankee) - my favorite.
Praying friends and family - we love you!!

Random Stuff

2008-10-08T08:03:00.003-05:00

Kelsie's Birthday - On Monday Wayne took the day off because he had been gone to Ecuador all week and was tired and starting to feel a little under the weather. So, we took lunch to Kelsie at school. It was the first time we had eaten lunch with her at school and we enjoyed meeting some of her little friends. It cracked me up how the kids immediately separated into boys at one end of the table and girls at the other - I know that won't last much longer but it's cute that they are like that still. I asked Kelsie if any of the girls ever mix it up by going down there and sitting with the boys and she gave me a definitive NO!!! When we picked her up from school at 3, she immediately opened her gift and then we let her choose where to go eat that night - she chose JinBeh, a favorite for all of us! She said the kids in class counted down her birth time (12:04 p.m.) and said Happy Birthday to her in class - how cute!! The celebration continues on Friday with Rucker Rocks - I hope to post some pics of that later in the weekend.

Microwave Fire - Tuesday morning I was heating up some bacon in the microwave for Kelsie's breakfast and I put in a Happy Birthday plate left over from Grammy's house this weekend. It went up in flames - big flames. Apparently you cannot put paper plates in the microwave if it has little foil sparkles on it! YIKES.

Margaret was kidnapped - While I was at my mom's house, my gps (Margaret) along with Kelsie's portable DVD player and my iphone car charger were stolen. My mom's neighborhood is rear entry garage in an alley and I must have left my car door unlocked at some point and it presented a nice opportunity for someone to help themselves. I am thankful there wasn't a "break in," no broken glass or anything like that to deal with and they did close the door back so the light didn't stay on and run my battery down. Of course, Kelsie was upset b/c it meant a 5 hour drive with no movie but I assured her she would make it - after all, what did kids do before portable DVD players? She didn't know and didn't care! She did find some things to do like read and draw, listen to her ipod (which was in a bag and not stolen, thank goodness) and then we practiced "Christmas in Reverse" which was a good thing for both of us to do. It wasn't that bad but will all be replaced. I am LOST without Margaret. JERKS!!!!

House Hunting - Before Wayne left for Ecuador, we had been house hunting on the internet and narrowing down our search to 3-4 houses that we were going to look at once he got back. Now with financials and credit the way it is, we have decided to hold off a little and have more cash when we make an offer on something. So, we are back to our original plan to wait until after the first of the year and hope that things settle down. We are anxious to have our own house for sure but living at the farm house has been fun and it's really great when the first of the month rolls around and we don't have to make a house payment. We know God has the perfect house for us (within our budget) and His timing will be perfect just as it was when our house sold. So, we will keep praying, sorta looking and wait for "our" house.

Well, I have finished my cup of coffee and I need to get busy with some household chores and errands today. Talk later.

Happy 10th, Kelsie

2008-10-06T19:46:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, Kelsie. Since you are 10, I thought I would make a top ten list of the things I love about you (in no particular order):

You are sweet to other kids, especially little kids.
You use your gifts in music to praise God.
You love to cook and help in the kitchen.
You like to help me pick out jewelry and shoes.
You like to go and play golf with your dad.
You love animals and are so responsible with Raider.
You are not afraid to tell people about Jesus and your relationship with God.
You have a heart for people in different places all over the world, especially kids.
You are a leader.
You are a good daughter and a good friend.

We thank God for giving you to us. We love you and can't believe you are 10 years old! We are so proud of the young lady God is shaping you into. We love you! Mom and Dad

Surprise!!

2008-10-05T18:54:00.004-05:00

Wayne and the Ecuador team got back yesterday afternoon around 6 p.m. He was not expecting us to pick him at the airport but SURPRISE!! we were there. Our original plan was to go to San Angelo on Friday and come back on Sunday but when we realized that the team was getting back so early, we decided to pick Wayne up at the airport and surprise him. So, we went to San Angelo on Thursday after school and went straight to the airport on Saturday. Wayne was very surprised when he came through the door and saw us standing there. He wanted to go to Sonic and get iced tea with ice (b/c they couldn't have ice all week) and so we drove through and came home to eat and look at all his pictures from the trip. It was nice to have him home again and we enjoyed looking at all the pics and hearing about his days in Ecuador.

Monday is Kelsie's birthday, she will be 10 - I can't believe it. We went to San Angelo this weekend to celebrate with my family since my grandmother cannot travel right now due to having her surgery a few weeks ago. We had a great time visiting with everyone even though it was a quick trip. Kelsie requested grammy's mashed potatoes so we had grilled chicken with all the fixins including funfetti cake. We will celebrate with her tomorrow by taking her lunch at school and opening presents after school is out. On Friday at school, she will get to dance on stage at Rucker Rocks so we will be there to see her do that. Next weekend, Wayne's family will come out to the farm house on Saturday to cook out and celebrate and then she will have a party with her friends a few weeks later when "High School Musical 3" opens. So, I guess this year we will have a month full of birthday celebration which is okay for double digits.

Other good news is that Kelsie made Honor Choir. We got the letter on Thursday and she was really excited about it. They get to sing at the town's Christmas event as well as other events throughout the year. It should be lots of fun, we are proud of her!

Thursday's Thankful List

2008-10-02T08:08:00.011-05:00

First, we are doing well - thanks for all your e-mails, phone calls and facebook messages but especially thanks for your prayers for us and for the Ecuador team. You can read the missions blog to find out some of what has gone on during the trip and see a few pics. They did not have internet service last night but hope to have it today to post again before they begin traveling back on Friday. Our week at home has been busy with our regular school and church stuff going on and this weekend we will travel to San Angelo to celebrate Kelsie's birthday with my family.

Last week, I said that I felt a need to have a weekly thankful list as a matter of discipline instead of just a "Thanksgiving" season thing. It's been good for me all week to just think about the things I am thankful for, when you start doing this you realize how blessed you are by God. Psalm 30 says :

"I will extol You, O LORD, for You have lifted me up, And have not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried out to You, And You healed me. O LORD, You brought my soul up from the grave; You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing praise to the LORD, you saints of His, And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. Now in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.” LORD, by Your favor You have made my mountain stand strong; You hid Your face, and I was troubled. I cried out to You, O LORD; And to the LORD I made supplication: “What profit is there in my God, When I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O LORD, and have mercy on me; LORD, be my helper!” You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever."

My Thursday Thankful List:

Friends that pray, support and encourage us
Kelsie's sweet spirit toward others
Coffee - this week I needed it EVERY morning
Facebook chatting - we got to talk to Wayne using this without paying a gazillion dollars to talk on the phone
The fact that we are healthy
The opportunity for me to be room mom and volunteer at Kelsie's school and be home right now
During this financial mess - that our house sold before all this stuff happened

Hope you have a good weekend. What about you, do you have a thankful list for the week?

Girls Weekend

2008-09-29T09:04:00.005-05:00

Saturday morning, our Ecuador team left and we had a sweet prayer time before they left early on Saturday (too early for a Saturday morning if you ask me). Wayne was able to call for less than a minute last night just to say all is well, travel was smooth and everyone on the trip is feeling good (no illness). They are going up into the mountains today. He said they were hoping to have access to phone and internet at the base where they are staying tonight so hopefully we will get to talk to him and they will be able to upload their photos on the missions blog.

Saturday morning, Kelsie, Allie and I were signed up to serve at the First Prosper booths at the Prosper Arts and Music Festival. The festival was originally set for early September, but it was the same weekend that Hurricane Ike came through so because of the wind and rain, it was postponed. We had two tents set up near the kid's area and we had a kid's craft to do along with a community, active art project for everyone to contribute to as they walked by. It was lots of fun and we worked from 10 to 1, the girls had a good time and we had a steady flow of people visiting us. I love that our church is so willing to do things out in the community, to support the community and to meet people. There was no gimmic for getting names or any secondary agenda like that - just serving. So, after our shift was over we got to walk around and see the artists that were there and visit the kids area. The girls got to paint pumpkins, jump houses, ride a horse, pet animals in a petting zoo and then shop. There were many good artists, we ended up with necklaces from a jewelry artist. After coming home to rest a little while, we decided to go to a movie so we went to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth" in 3-D. It was a good movie and the girls were ready for bed when we got home. Sunday worship was good - we prayed for the Ecuador team and celebrated the fact that the vision to train up others and send them out was visible as so many stepped up to serve in the absence of most of our staff and other leaders on the trip. We had a sweet time of worship under the leadership of Colin.

Necklaces the girls picked out.

Kelsie and Allie working hard getting the craft project ready and helping kids do theirs. They were hard workers and did great!

This week will be busy, but we are counting the days to Kelsie's 10th! She can't wait to be double digits. Growing up fast. This week at school, her class is on safety patrol morning duty and her day was today. We are hoping to find out about Honor choir some time this week as well - we will keep you posted.

Pray for our Ecuador Team

2008-09-26T20:32:00.003-05:00

Please pray for our team going to Ecuador, they leave in the morning. See our FBC Missions blog under my ministry links for updates this week. I will also try and post pics from Kelsie and Allie working with me at the Prosper Arts and Music festival tomorrow. Should be fun helping the kids make art projects and checking things out ourselves when we are done with our shift. Keep you updated - have a good weekend!

The Rope Swing

2008-09-25T07:57:00.007-05:00

Kelsie posing on her new swing.

Out at the farm house, there was a broken rope hanging from a tree close to the house. Kelsie and Allie had moved the trampoline under it so they could reach it and swing on it. It gave Kelsie the idea while we were at Home Depot to buy a new and longer rope. So, MaMaw and Joy splurged and bought her one and then on our way out of the Wal-Mart parking lot they spotted a peice of board on the side of the parking lot entrance that would be perfect for a swing seat. So, Wayne got out and picked it up. On Tuesday night, Wayne and Kelsie had the project of hanging the rope on the tree and then attaching the board as a swing. Kelsie is such a little monkey and loved climbing all over it. The perfect homemade project especially fitting for the farm house which I am sure will provide hours of fun. Who needs a rainbow swing set?

This was a picture taken with Wayne's iphone camera of Kelsie looking out the big barn doors at sunset. I want to go back and take another with my camera so you can get the whole perspective but too many wasps right now.....eeeekkkkksss

Kelsie on the swing. (This is the view at night from our back porch)

Other news from Kelsie's world - there were auditions on Wednesday morning for honor choir at school. She and Kinzy (her friend, our pastor's daughter) were the only 2 that didn't sing Happy Birthday - good for them for being more creative! I will let you know the outcome when we find out. She finally earned enough money in class that she paid to sit with a friend at lunch so she got to sit with Kinzy at lunch yesterday. I was thinking that meant she was now broke but she said she still has $200 (Klinenberg Krones) to buy other things if she wants to later. I'm glad they got to enjoy lunch together and proud of her for her money management skills (although she's not quite as frugal with our money). Also yesterday, little Ms. Caroline came over to play after school. Caroline is 4 years old and has grown attached to some of the older girls, thinking she is their age. It's so cute! So, as a big girl, she came home to play with Kelsie after school. The cutest part was that in the car on the way to the church, Caroline was already lining up more plans saying that Kelsie could bring her pajamas and come over to spend the night at her house. She is just so precious and she loves Kelsie. I'm so proud of Kelsie for being such a sweet girl and loving people. She is just a blessing to us!

In honor of this week officially being Fall, I must continue my tradition of having a "thankful" list. I did this last year a couple of times during Thanksgiving but now I am thinking as a discipline that it should be a once a week thing - not just whenever I am "feeling" thankful. So, here goes this week's list:

Pumpkin Spice Latte - and a friend that brings them to me from Frisco since we do not have a Starbucks here yet - Thanks Patti!
Sitting on the back porch at the farm house enjoying the quiet and the breeze.
Watching Kelsie walk from school to the church with her friends and being there to pick her up to hear about her day over Sonic happy hour drinks.
Shane and Shane worship songs revisited this week while cleaning house.
My husband who is allowing me to take my time in figuring out a balance between work and home (and also that he is my best friend who listens to all my crap that is important to me but he could care less about, like the jewelry I ordered or how much I saved at the grocery store).
Listening to Kelsie hum and sing in the mornings when she is getting ready.
Keeping up with friends from everywhere on blogs and facebook - I love technology.
That my nana is still recovering well from surgery and doing better every day.
That "The Office" premiere is tonight!

List disclaimer: This does not encompass EVERYTHING I am thankful for but it's this week's list. Please read my lists knowing that some stuff seems stupid and it's not all spiritual stuff. No, I am not leaving God off the list but my thankful lists are done with the knowledge that without God's grace in my life I would have no blessings and that the most important blessing is a security for the future in heaven with Him and the security of now that I get to participate in His kindgom building while I am on earth. So, I am not excluding God from the list but everything I am thankful for comes from God. I owe Him my very life. I hope you have a long thankful list - love to hear yours! Have a good weekend and check out the new FBC Prosper Missions blog and pray for the Ecuador team who leaves this Saturday.

A Monday Off

2008-09-22T17:59:00.004-05:00

You couldn't ask for a better Monday! The Cowboys won last night and we got to stay at friends to watch, not to worry about school the next day because Kelsie was out for Teacher/Parent Conferences. Kelsie ended up spending the night with a friend and Wayne got up early to go and play in a golf tournament so I got to sleep until 9 a.m. and it was great. We did have Kelsie's conference with her teacher this afternoon and it was all good. She is doing well and adjusting well - her teacher said she is social in class (meaning she talks in class) but it's not a discipline issue and she is doing well academically. We are very proud of her! After the conference we ran some errands together and then Wayne was off to play softball (the first one of the season). By the way - Wayne's team did win the Prosper Open but he was disappointed in the prize which was a "Showroom Detail" at a car place. On the up side, he did get to play the country club course which he doesn't get the opportunity to play that often and his car will be extra clean.

This weekend was busy but fun. Friday night was an away game so we did our community tailgate. Those are lots of fun as people from the community stop and eat with us before the game. Prosper beat the Frisco fighting Racoons easily - we left at the end of the 3rd quarter because it was 36-6. On Saturday, Mamaw (Wayne's mom) and Aunt Joy came for a quick visit. We gave them the Prosper tour and just grilled out and hung out at home catching up and playing with Kelsie. Unfortunately, the faucet at the kitchen sink broke so after 3 trips to Home Depot, Wayne was able to fix it - a pain. Worship on Sunday was good but the best part of Sunday was our Connect First class (a class for new members). We had lots of new people and we had a great time getting to know some of them better. We are looking forward to the next one. It's always amazing to me to hear the testimonies of people coming to Prosper, they are all unique stories of God's grace, His provision and how He moves people to accomplish things in His kingdom. We are humbled that God uses us to build His kingdom and we see His hand so clearly at work in this body in Prosper. Exciting days are ahead as we grow together into more family. Have a good week, more soon.

Adventures at the Farm House

2008-09-18T21:47:00.004-05:00

We have lived here now for two months and have experienced things that make living in the farm house...um, let's say interesting. First you should know how blessed and thankful we are to live here in the farm house and how generous First Prosper has been to let us live here after our house sold. At first it was a necessity because there was no way we could have 2 house payments but they are letting us live here rent free (only paying utilities) for 6 months. It's the only time in our marriage we have not had a rent or mortgage payment and it allows us to save, save, save for a new house and pay off some lingering debt. So, as I describe the interesting, things that have happened to us living here please know none of it is a complaint - it's just life that happens and it has happened to us here. So, now that my disclaimer is done, here's are a few stories about our adventures at the farm house....

We have had our washer overflow (thank goodness it's all tile flooring) and once the plumber came on a Saturday we learned it was a major clog (septic tank - yuk) which called for the real deal kinda plumber, not the guy on the weekend that can do minor repairs. What made this difficult was that we were in between events in our household. We have just moved and Kelsie had returned from camp with several loads and we were scheduled to leave on Monday for a week in Austin and San Antonio. Several people offered to have us come over and do laundry but we had so many loads it would have taken all day so we went back to college! Yes, we visited the laundromat near UNT. Kelsie loved it and we got all the laundry done quickly - those machines are HUGE. So, while it was inconvenient it worked out that we all pitched in and did the laundry together and were entertained at the same time!
We got struck by lightning. Seriously! There was a huge antennae on the front of the house the previous owners used I guess but we never thought anything of it until the morning we heard the huge boom sound. Wayne was getting dressed for work and I was still in bed (it was still summer and only 7:30 a.m.). Kelsie and Kinzy (her friend) were in the guest room sleeping. Of course it woke us all up and then Wayne smelled smoke and the smoke alarms went off. We got out immediately and called 911 so the fire department came. Thankfully it hit the antennae and fried all the phone line wires in the attic and blew out the phone box and phone jacks. Weird and yes, the antennae has been taken down.
We have seen lots of wildlife and bugs. The bunnies under the deck, we see a lot of bunnies every night. We have seen a racoon, squirrel, armadillo, green snake, preying mantis, hawk (a separate story), possum, stray barn cats, mice in the field, many varieties of bees and wasps, cicada, very large spiders on ginormous spider webs and lots of different kinds of birds.
We have two hawks that frequent the farm house property looking for food. It's actually really cool to watch them. They are very large and I will admit that it's a little unnerving to see one of them so close to the house looking for food and walking outside with prey on a leash (Raider - Needless to say, he is never off his leash outside because we have heard there are also bobcats out here but we haven't see one yet.) Anyway, we have watched it stalk bunnies and squirrel and swoop down to pick them up, it's amazing to watch the process. One morning we walked out to see it sitting on top of a victim having breakfast - Kelsie and Wayne got out the binoculars. Does this make us country-fied or what?

These are a few of the things we experience out here. It's fun and because we have a large deck we did a few nights of what we called "coffee on the porch" for people to come by and visit so we could get to know some families better. We had a great time getting to know everyone that came by. I hope your week was good, ours has flown by but we have had a great week. Kelsie got a little solo part in the musical the kids are doing in December. The cast list has been set and the kids are doing so well on the music and choreography. Tonight was the first night in a while that we were all home, no company and no plans so we spent the evening together just hanging out and it was fun! Tomorrow a football game and tailgate in Frisco which is always fun and then Wayne's mom and Aunt Joy are coming for a quick visit on Saturday and Sunday. Hope you have a good weekend and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather.

Solitude and Silence

2008-09-17T08:25:00.002-05:00

This week I am reading "Intimacy with the Almighty" (Charles Swindoll) as part of a team I am serving on at church for our Deeper Worship Conference in January. Okay - stop - I need to plug this event before I go on.....DON'T MISS IT!!! This is going to be such a great time of worship and teaching, Steve Hardin from The Village Church and Billy and Cindy Foote - wow! The planning team God has put together is incredible - everyone with very specific giftings and talents. This will be a great time for personal growth and family bonding. Okay - plug over. So as I am sitting on the back porch on Monday morning reading about the importance of solitude and silence before God, I realized that even though it was a still and quiet morning, the birds were chirping and it was beautiful weather that I am still not completely quiet and still. My phone was dinging - an e-mail and then a text, a different text, the dog needed my attention, I was taking notes, another e-mail....you get the picture. I realized that even when I am having a "quiet time" I was busying myself with other stuff in the middle of it. I realized I do this alot - I think I'm being quiet because noone is home or there is no music or tv but really I am still multi-tasking. I am cheating myself out of quality time with God by giving Him just some of my attention. Even in praying - I seem to "pray on the go" - praying for people and situations all during the day - which is good but no real time to just stop and listen. So, as our Life Connection Group leader has asked us to read and have quiet time 7 days out of 7, I am realizing for me that means more than just reading - it means being QUIET and STILL!!! I'm still thinking through a realistic solution (getting up at 5 is not realistic for me) for this - to set aside a completely quiet time with God, no phone, no people, no dog, no computer, no music - this will be a learned discipline.

As you know, we were suppose to be on a cruise this week. Instead we are maintaining our regular routine here, which is fine. Wayne was planned ahead so it's good because this gives him a chance to work on some longer range projects and he was able to pick Kelsie up from school yesterday and go play a little golf. They had a good time. I worked in the 3 year old class at First Friends yesterday (they are so cute) and then was able to go and do a little shopping since Wayne and Kelsie were busy. I was thinking yesterday how much I love that I can be at Sam Moon and Stonebriar Centre in 20 minutes! For the first time, I went to Sam Moon and didn't buy anything (I was looking for a specific thing they didn't have). Usually when you drive over an hour to shop there you stay for hours and buy whatever you find that you like because you won't be back for 6 months.

On a family note - my 76 year old grandmother had neck surgery yesterday to repair 4 disks...ouch. She did really well and is doing well today. I know many of you were praying, the whole family was a little nervous I think about future nerve damage and other complications that come with that kind of surgery but she did very well and is on the road to recovery, I think scheduled to go home as early as Thursday. Thanks for your prayers and e-mails. More soon.

No Cruise

2008-09-14T22:35:00.003-05:00

At some point today, Carnival got the news that Galveston was closed so they cancelled the cruise. We will get a full refund so we can rebook. I think Kelsie is secretly glad because she is hoping when we reschedule, she can go with us. On the upside, it gives me more time to say I'm going to lose a little weight before the cruise.

On another note, lovin the cool weather tonight on the back porch. We sat out there after a meeting at church tonight and it was almost cold. Lovely! Worship was so sweet today and as we sang, read scripture, prayed, gave and dove deeply into the word, the Spirit of God was present in our worship-encouraging, convicting and healing. I am thankful for the body here to worship and serve alongside. Stay tuned for adventures at the farm house......

We're Back!!!!

2008-09-13T22:06:00.005-05:00

Yay! We are back in the REAL world!! Yes, we finally got internet service late on Thursday. You already know the nightmare so I won't recap that but let me update you on a few things. Wayne (because he is the patient and polite one) has been working with Wendy here to get an order through the abyss of AT&T and get a tech out here to hook us up. We found out Wednesday that her 13 year old daughter has cancer. We are just convinced that God ordained for us to meet her so we could pray for them and minister to them. She was so thankful when Wayne offered for us to pray over her daugher and told her we would be praying for them and touching base to see if there was anything they needed. So, we ask you to pray for Jaime in Little Elm. Pray for her healing both physical and spiritual and for her family as they take this cancer journey together. So, I was reminded once again that all this is not about me and my perceived needs but that God has bigger plans for His kingdom. When will I learn that? Anyway, the technician that came was super nice and even stayed to make sure our wireless router worked which wasn't his job since it's not AT&T equipment. We are super thankful to have internet service now. It's unbelieveable how many things (besides blogging) we use it for like paying bills, getting school information, looking up a variety of things like recipes and weather and of course there is Webkins and Club Penguin. Kelsie was convinced that all her Webkins would be dead. They weren't so it was a happy day.

This weekend was Homecoming in Prosper and we have not been a part of a Homecoming quite like it. All week was different dress days at school, Monday was pajama day and Kelsie couldn't wait to wear her pink, fuzzy slippers to school. Of course, she had to take tennis shoes for P.E. but she mentioned she was so comfy she wanted to sleep during a test. I think it's more a state of mind and the fact that she goes non stop, but funny. Tuesday was jersey day, Wednesday was favorite color day-Kelsie of course wore pink. Thursday was wacky dress day and that was lots of fun and Friday was spirit day and it was early release at noon. Yes, the whole town shuts down for the Homecoming parade and so after we ate lunch we got to our spot on the parade route and Kelsie got to meet up with some friends. It was really fun, the weather was warm but with a breeze and the floats were very creative and the kids favorite part was the candy they threw off the floats. After the parade, Kelsie went swimming with Allie at her house and we met up early for the game so we could get a good seat for the packed out game. The game was really close all night. The Prosper Eagles really fought hard but had too many penalties to get the win and we lost by 6 points to Bridgeport. The game was exciting until the very end unlike the other two games we attended where the eagles dominated and the score was a blow out by half time. Saturday morning was so cloudy and dark we slept in - so nice - and then this afternoon took Kelsie and Allie to the mall so they wouldn't be stir crazy stuck inside b/c of all the rain. We were going to ice skate but it was closed so we ended up at Dave and Busters for games, chips and salsa and a chocolate fondue plate - it was cute to watch the girls pick and choose what their favorite was and we decided we need a fondue pot at home. The girls discovered "Deal or No Deal" game and won lots of tickets and we all had a good time - Wayne could be found playing Ms Pacman or basketball. We all had fun, even the big kids. Tonight we just relaxed at home, watched a little football, hurricane coverage and played games.

School Update - Kelsie still really likes her teacher and she has earned almost $200 is Klingenburg Krones which she can use to buy lunch with a friend, free homework pass, etc. We continue to be so impressed with Prosper ISD as we attended curriculum night this week. It has been easy to get involved, I worked in the library this week and attended room mom meeting Thursday. It was fun meeting some new people and getting plugged into the school. Kelsie is going to audition for the honor choir and we should know about that by the first of October and she also signed up this week to take pictures for the yearbook.

The Cruise Update - some of you may know that Wayne and I are booked on Carnival Cruise leaving from Galveston on Monday, September 15th. Well, if you have a tv, radio or internet then you know Hurricane Ike hit Galveston very hard but nobody has told that to Carnival and they are still planning to leave on Monday. We will not be there! I am not about to drive down to South Texas and get in all that mess. So, here are 10 reasons why Carnival is oblivious to reality:

1. The Governor of Texas has told people to stay out.
2. IH-45 connecting Houston to Galveston is heavily damaged by water, debris and road damage. People have to currently leave Galveston by helicopter.
3. The NFL cancelled a football game - you know it's bad when they are willing to lose money.
4. No electricity or fresh water....so, we go potty in a toilet that doesn't flush and in the dark?
5. Galveston is mostly underwater or blown down-pictures say it all.
6. The people that will dock at the Port of Galveston coming in from the cruise that left on Thursday will have no cars to drive home in.
7. A million people evacuated, do I really want to sit in traffic with them when they all return?
8. There is no airport - again, an industry that doesn't like to lose money.
9. The mayors of Galveston and Houston say stay out.
10. There isn't a dock and their terminal is flooded - I guess they could float up to the road and we can hop on.

Seriously, we are hoping they will change the itinerary to New Orleans and we can reschedule. We are going to try and pick a date so Kelsie can go with us. We will keep you posted. More to come, including the many adventures of the farm house. We love you, let us hear from you soon.

Still in Technology Hell

2008-09-02T14:24:00.003-05:00

If you have seen my facebook profile you have seen that I refer to my situation at the farm house as technology hell. I say that because on July 10th, AT&T was suppose to transfer our home phone and internet service to the farm house from our Ft. Worth house. The technician showed up on time but said all he had was a phone order not an internet order and after calling to get the run around we were told that it would be a week. A week later, we still did not have service. So, without telling you all the gory details of the numerous phone calls made about this issue we still do not have phone or internet service at the farm house. The weird thing is that the Executive Pastor who lived there before us had AT&T internet and phone. The excuse given is that for some reason the order goes through and then gets dropped by the provisioning department due to no service available which is CRAZY!!! Even the technician is frustrated. We have finally been in communication with the local supervisor and she has put a lot of minutes on our phone bill to reimburse for the many minutes on the phone about this and we will probably get internet service free for the next 6 months IF they can ever get it going. We are about to resort to a mobile card.....so if it wasn't for the iphone I would not be able to update facebook and get e-mail. So, enough about that - on to other updates.

Kelsie's school - she started school last week with Mrs. Klingenburg. She really likes her teacher a lot. We have worked out her walking from the school to the church (there is a sidewalk that connects the church and the school) so we don't have to get in the monsterous car line. There is a separate, shorter car line at the church where I pick her up and she enjoys walking with the group that gets picked up there. Her favorite part so far has been the class job selection process. They had to choose a job, fill out an application and this week will complete their interview for the job they want. They get paid in Klingenburg Krone money for the job they do as well as for other good things they get caught doing and they can buy privileges to sit with a friend, etc.

We had a good Labor Day weekend. It started Friday night with the Prosper Eagles football game. By half time the score was 56 to 0 Prosper winning - a blow out, we left right after half time. Kelsie spent the night with her friend Allie and we were exhausted so we just went home to watch a movie and go to bed! Saturday morning we picked up Kelsie and another 3 friends to take them to a little girl's birthday party. Caroline was turning 4 and wanted the "big girls" to come and do make up, hair and nails. They were so cute being the big girls and so sweet watching the little girls do their tea party. While we did that, Wayne went to a work project with some men from church and he said they got a lot accomplished, I know he loves the ministry and fellowship of those kinds of things. After that, the girls went swimming and then we spent Saturday night just cooking out and hanging out at home. Sunday we had some wedgies visiting us at church and went to lunch with them. Sunday night we had Isabel's birthday party at the Gaylord so Kelsie had her friend Sara spent the night at the farm house with a babysitter. They had a great time and so did we. It was good to see everyone at dinner - it was a surprise party and we almost got caught. Wayne and I were going into the hotel lobby to get to the restaurant and there were the Shirley's and McLelland's standing at the elevator. Luckily, Isabel did not see us so we didn't blow the surprise. We ate at Ama Lur and just had a great time catching up with everyone. Happy Birthday Isabel! Monday we slept late and then went to the Griff's to swim and cook out. We all had a great time and it was good to just relax and visit with them.

We are looking forward to a busy week. I am substituting at the preschool here at the church this week - four year olds. It was a good day, a fun class. Friday night is our tailgate party since Prosper has an away game this week. Saturday we are headed back to Fort Worth for Stephanie's wedding and looking forward to that and Sunday marks the first day of Cowboy football season. Busy weeks ahead but fun and exciting, I will keep you posted as I have internet service in Wayne's office. Right now I must go pick up Kelsie at the sidewalk so I'd better get going - more soon.

Where have we been?

2008-08-20T19:06:00.003-05:00

Blogging friends! Where have we been you ask? Well, we have been in a foreign land called the land with no internet connection. As you know, we moved to Prosper on July 10th (I have no excuse except getting ready to move between June 20th and July 10th) and since we have been in the farm house here we have not been able to have internet access. Because of the iphone, I am able to get and return e-mail as well as do limited stuff on facebook but it won't let me post anything here. Right now I am in Wayne's office writing you - I have really missed you!!! Here is a brief report (more details coming as soon as we get service, we are hoping for next week).

The house: We have a contract on our house and the option period for the buyers was up yesterday. We are currently scheduled to close on Thursday, August 28th, however we heard from the title company today and they believe it may be a few days sooner than that at this point. We are excited to be selling and got a decent price so that all we owed at closing was a small portion of our property taxes so praise God we didn't sell the house at a loss. We were able to sell high enough to cover all our realtor fees, the warranty the sellers wanted, title insurance and closing fees and the pay off on the mortgage. Our closing costs were minimal because it was a cash offer/transaction so we didn't have all the normal fees associated with someone who is getting a mortgage which also makes for a smooth and quick closing.

Where do we go from here?: We haven't really been seriously house hunting yet. We have moved into the farm house on the church's property (will post pictures eventually) and we are settled there for now. Kelsie will begin school at Rucker Elementary (right next door to the church) on Monday the 25th and so our focus for now will be getting her settled. We are planning to begin looking seriously in November so we can time the move into permanent housing sometime after the first of the year. It also gives me some time and freedom to decide about job opportunities.

FBC Prosper: Church is going well. Kelsie went to Camp Copass with the kids here and had a blast. She has already made some good little girl friends and has adjusted well. Wayne loves the guys he works with and is into everything from Rotary Club to golf to going to Ecuador in September - you know him. I am getting involved as well, singing on one of the praise teams and gearing up to lead the music portion of "Acting Up" on Wednesday nights - which is the kids choir. We are doing the musical "Christmas in Reverse" and it should be fun, begin on Sept. 3rd. I look forward to getting involved in Kelsie's school and whatever other ministry opportunities God has in store. We are all getting adjusted to where things are (especially me since I am directionally challenged) but are learning to love the convenience of Frisco and Plano with the peacefulness and no traffic of Prosper. We are meeting new families each week as people continue to visit and join - it has been an exciting/growing place to be.

Well, I know that is not the detailed account you are accustom to with my writing and I really hope to get back to that very soon. I plan to do some graphic work for Wayne up here the first week of school so I can write more then if we don't have internet at the house yet. There are many stories to tell. Love you all - let me hear from you!

2008-06-20T09:31:00.002-05:00

Wayne shared this in morning worship on Sunday and it has come up several times this week for various people so I thought I would share it with you. May God give you a peace in knowing you can rest in Him and He will hear your prayers.

Psalm 5 says:

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. 2 Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, for to You I will pray. 3 My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up

4 For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. 6 You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple.

8 Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; Make Your way straight before my face. 9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue. 10 Pronounce them guilty, O God! Let them fall by their own counsels; Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, For they have rebelled against You.

11 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. 12 For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Lovin' the Summer

2008-06-18T10:08:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I have had some moments to post anything, we have been pretty busy so here is a quick update and I will fill in more details later with pics. I love the freedom of summer!

House - nothing new. We had 2 showings last Thursday and both gave feedback that they liked the house and the floorplan but they found something else. I guess the good news in that is the house shows well enough for people to like it but the bad news is that noone has signed on the dotted money line yet. So, we wait and pray for God's timing to be revealed and ask for patience in the in-between time.

Camp - Kelsie got back from camp yesterday and she had a great time. She was completely exhausted yesterday but today is playing with Morgan, we are about to head to the pool and to ride scooters. Fun day.

This week should slow down a little, I am going to start packing b/c our move date has been set in July and I need to at least start cleaning out and packing up closets. I haven't decided if I'm up for a garage sale - I hate them! We will see how much junk we have collected in the 3+ years we have been in the house. Well, that's the overview for now -much more to share but wil have to continue with that in several posts over time. Have a good week enjoying your summer.

Like Sisters

2008-06-08T18:01:00.004-05:00

We started out our weekend going to Conner's grad party on Friday night. It was fun to see everyone and meet some new people that we have heard about in the McLelland's household over the years. Stories of past vacations and holidays. The girls instantly became glued at the hip playing together. We slipped out a little early with Kelsie and Morgan to go to the dive in movie at our pool but disappointingly they had cancelled it because of the wind. The girls still had fun playing and the ended up staying up until after 1 a.m. even though we went to bed and the were up by 8 a.m. The next day we went to the pool first thing and stayed there much of the day then met the rest of Morgan's family at Outback for dinner. The girls hadn't seen each other so they wanted to spend the night again and since Kelsie and I were planning to stay home instead of making another trip to Prosper we agreed that would be okay. By Sunday around lunch time, they were fighting like sisters. I guess they had enough - just girl stuff, bickering over who crossed the line on the scooter and went too far - we're talking inches people. But, by the time we were taking Morgan to her house they were great again and wanted to play more. Of course, we thought it wise to separate them for a while and pick up again later in the week for more swimming. So, Tuesday we will have several of the girls over to the pool to swim. Should be fun especially letting them reconnect a little before heading to camp on Friday. So, since we spent so much time at the pool, I finished "Mountain Top" (Robert Whitlow). It was pretty good. Also, I forgot to mention that I finished "Baby Proof" by Emily Giffin and it was okay but not as good as "Something Borrowed" and "Something Blue" I read last summer. I can't decide what to start next...probably something from Karen Kingsbury.

House Update - please continue praying. The people that were so interested in it last weekend bought something else in Benbrook. None of the other showings we had last week have given any feedback. We are hopeful because we have had many more showings but no offers yet. We are expecting a market analysis report from our realtor so we can see if our asking price is in line with others or if we need to lower the price significantly. We will continue to pray for God's timing to be revealed and patience while we wait. As I mentioned, we did not go to Prosper today but Wayne said the services were good and we are praying for all of those who are going out tonight to make contact with those families who were interested in finding out more about God and us. We also pray for the 10 who accepted Christ this week, that they will be discipled in their young faith. We are blessed to be in a growing body who love to "do life" together.

We're Back

2008-06-06T10:32:00.004-05:00

We have been in Prosper this week for VBS and we got back last night. The week was really fun, we stayed at the farm house all week and while I am glad to sleep in my own bed again, it was too busy to sit around an empty house. Every morning was VBS until noon, my job was one of the rotation staff for 3rd grade. I say one because we had about 36-38 kids each day so we had 3 rotation staff for them to make sure we could keep up with them, especially the very active boys in the group. It was a good week though as 3 of our kids accepted Christ and our group won the competition for bringing the most missions money for the upcoming trip to Ecuador in September, the money went toward buying shoes to give away and overall the kids raised $1200. We also had 40 kids who are not affiliated with any church at all and whose parents said they would like more info about First Prosper. I had pictured quiet afternoons at the farm house after VBS but we were much too busy for that to happen. On Monday Kelsie and I got invited to swim with some girls in Kelsie's class and so we did that and then went over to the Lillard's house for dinner. Craig was in our wedding and he is now married with 2 precious kids (Malin is Kelsie's age) and lives in Plano so we had such a good time over there - the kids got along great and we laughed ALOT. Tuesday afternoon Kelsie and I went shopping and my gps led me astray looking for the new Mardel close to our house which it apparently doesn't know about b/c we ended up 15 miles into Plano. We still got to a Mardel though and it got us back to the farm house eventually. We still had fun stopping at different places to shop along the way. Tuesday night the Executive Pastor's wife, Melissa, was having a Premiere jewelry party so I went to that and so Wayne graciously took Kelsie and Kensey to Gattitown for dinner. They had a good time and the jewelry party was fun too. Wednesday afternoon I did get to relax a little. Kelsie was invited to swim with some other girls in her class at a Allie's house so I got to stay home and read a little. Allie and Kelsie came back to the farm house around 4:30 in anticipation of the mud dodgeball tournament for the youth. They dug a HUGE pit at the property and filled it with water to play mud dodgeball. The kids could not wait to get in it. So Wednesday night there were lots of people on the property watching mud dodgeball - it was hilarious. The kids did eventually get REALLY muddy but they had a blast! Thursday was the last day of VBS and I was totally exhausted so we went to Randy White's Hall of Fame BBQ restaurant for lunch and then went to the farm house to take a nap. Last night was family night at the church to cap off VBS and the highlight of the night was the staff dunking booth - pretty funny and Kelsie couldn't wait to dunk her dad! We headed home around 8 and the wind was brutal driving back but we made it home and today I am doing massive amounts of laundry. Wayne's birthday is tomorrow so he is playing golf today with his dad and Kelsie before we celebrate graduation tonight with the McLelland family.

Updates: House - we had a good showing on Saturday, they were going to come back early this week to look at it and possibly make an offer. We have heard NOTHING! Have no idea what is going on so our realtor is going to try and make contact today. We had 3 other showings this week which is good news b/c it looks like things are picking up a little, but no feedback from these yet. Keep praying that God will bring the right buyer soon so we won't miss the summer activity.

Book List - finished "Oceans Apart," Karen Kingsbury - good but a little predictable. Also finished "Bleachers" by John Grisham - liked it a lot, he is not predictable but it was a different style than his other mystery writings. A good read though. Started on "Mountain Top" by Robert Whitlow - a Christian version of John Grisham. I haven't read much yet b/c I didn't have a ton of time later in the week and I was too tired to stay up until 1 a.m. reading. Hope to finish it this week at the pool. I purchased Karen Kingsbury "Between Sundays" and "Just Beyond the Clouds" and the prequel to the O'Malley series, Dee Henderson this week. I also have "Hidden Riches" by Nora Roberts that my mom gave me. So, I will let you know the progress. I look forward to being home this week and with Kelsie at the pool each day. More soon (with pictures).

A Quick Update

2008-06-01T16:03:00.004-05:00

So, here is just a quick update on things....

The House - please pray! We had a showing yesterday morning and the feedback was really good. The realtor said they loved the house and want to come back on Monday evening with their girls and will consider making an offer then - they wanted to know why we are moving. So, we are waiting on contact between our realtor and theirs and the second showing tomorrow to find out more. We had another showing this afternoon, no feedback yet from that one. We are also hoping for a showing later this week as a family from Atlanta is relocating and have seen our house online and want to look at it so they are coming with our realtor which is a good thing b/c we will get instant feedback. Of course, none of these things are guarantees but we are so hopeful that one of these families is our buyer. We are especially hopeful since our house has been on the market 60 days today and until yesterday we had only 4 showings and this weekend we have had much more activity. I am trying not to get my hopes up b/c I know that nothing is done until the papers are signed and money is exchanged but I am hopeful with the possibilities. I know it's all in God's timing and He has graciously provided us with a place to live in the interim and we are so thankful.

A Week in Prosper - we are here in Prosper for the whole week this time. Wayne has been able to come and stay during the week so he has had the opportunity to meet with people but Kelsie and I have only been here Saturday nights and Sundays to this point. This week is VBS so we will be here all week. We got here last night and unloaded and then went to a dive in movie with several families from the church at their community pool. There are lots of girls Kelsie's age and around her age so the group of them had a good time. The movie was the "Bee Movie" which we hadn't seen but it was cute. I did bring my camera this time so I could take some better pictures of the farm house and things around town to share. (Sorry I didn't have time to download any pics last week - but next week when we get back, I promise). At the farm house, the carpenter bees are still there but there were only a few this time instead of a ton of them and so we are going to spray again and plug up all the holes. I am hoping to take a picture of them so you can see that I am not exaggerating when I say how giant they are. The really funny thing about the property now is that the youth minister had someone dig a HUGE hole for the youth to play mud dodgeball on Wednesday Night. Kelsie is excited about that - should be lots of fun to watch. Also this week while we are here, I have a lunch with a realtor here in town that is anticipating needing a person to work in the office about 20 hours a week. I wouldn't call it an official interview, but just an initial contact. I have always been interested in real estate and this would be a good way for me to see if it's something I would want to do slowly by working in the office at first. I do know that for a while at least I do not want a full-time job

Family Reunion

2008-05-28T10:31:00.002-05:00

Memorial Day weekend was our family reunion in San Angelo, my mom's side of the family. We had a good time seeing everyone, 2 cousins that I haven't seen in 10 years and one baby (13 months old) that we had never met. Everyone came from places in Texas, Arizona and Colorado. The kids were so cute, most of them little which Kelsie loved b/c she LOVES kids. She and Jarrett are the oldest and all the others are 5 years and under. Saturday night we cooked out and let the kids swim at my mom's house and Sunday we were at the lake - it was hot but a good breeze all day kept it pretty comfortable. On Monday, the girls went and got pedicures and did some shopping while everyone else either played golf or hit the road going home. We came home on Monday night but Kelsie stayed for her week at Camp Grammy. She spends time there every year by herself and loves being spoiled at Grammy's house. We will pick her up on Friday for a week of VBS in Prosper, we are looking forward to that. I will try and post pics later this week.

I finished "Like Dandelion Dust" while I was there and started "Oceans Apart" which I am hoping to finish today (both Karen Kingsbury). Both are good reads and they are stand alone books - I have discovered I like the series books much better. Since I completely wasted yesterday and half of today, I better get busy on some laundry. Hope to post pics soon, took some cute ones to share.

A day at The Colonial

2008-05-22T20:48:00.004-05:00

Today was the day Wayne and I got to go to The Colonial golf tournament. The weather was perfect! It was warm and overcast with a breeze - actually it was pretty gusty at times. Probably not good for the golfers but it kept the temperature comfortable. We walked the course following various golfers, mostly Corey Pavin, all morning. We sat down at noon for lunch and then decided to walk to hole number one to see some of the big guys start off. We sat at the green and watched Phil Mickelson and others come through. He birdied hole one - it was fun to watch. After noon it was beginning to get pretty warm so we stayed under our big tree at the first hole until it was time to go. We left the golf course and had to stop by Target before we picked Kelsie up from her last day of school. We decided since she had such good grades and had been such a good student, we would surprise her with a Razor electric scooter. She got in the car and saw the big box and was so excited. Of course, we went straight home so she could play on it for just a little while before going with Wayne to his last basketball game of the season at Wedgwood. Unfortunately, they lost tonight but only by 8 points. Once they got home from the game, Kelsie was back on the scooter. I am not sure who liked it more - Wayne or Kelsie but they both had a great time riding it. Congratulations Kelsie on a great 3rd grade year!!

Other updates: Tomorrow is my last day at FBC Aledo and it's Kelsie's turn to go to The Colonial with Wayne. On Tuesday, the office had a going away lunch for those of us that are leaving (there are 3 of us moving) and gave us cards with gift cards in them. While I have enjoyed my job, I am excited to have the summer off with Kelsie. I plan to work on my reading list and be at the pool with her. We actually have a lot of things planned this summer beginning with VBS at Prosper the first week of June, Kelsie's two camps, golf school, a family trip to Austin and 2 family reunions. I guess it's a good thing I don't have a job this summer, I wouldn't have time. Nothing new on our house - keep praying for us that it will sell. We are hoping for more lookers after the holiday weekend and the summer move season starts.

Recently I heard a Hillsongs worship song called "None But Jesus." Actually, it's from the "Mighty to Save" CD so I have heard it before but for some reason recently in the car I listened to it with new understanding.

In the quiet, in the stillness
I know that You are God
In the secret of Your presence
I know there I am restored

When You call I won’t refuse
Each new day again I’ll choose

There is no one else for me
None but Jesus
Crucified to set me free
Now I live to bring Him praise

In the chaos, in confusion
I know You’re Sovereign still
In the moment of my weakness
You give me grace to do Your will
When You call I won’t delay
This my song through all my days

All my delight is in You Lord
All of my hope, all of my strength
All my delight is in You Lord Forevermore

At first, I really had to ask myself if the lyrics were true in my own life, especially the part about acting on God's call without refusal or delay. I tend to be a thrasher - you know, the kind of person who goes back and forth with God presenting excuses and arguments before finally giving in to accepting that God is sovereign and He is in control. God's sweet voice reminded me that it's the act of obedience that is important - not how I feel about it. True with moving to Prosper. It was hurtful to leave Wedgwood, hard to pick up and start over, leaving people I love. God said the important thing is that we surrendered and did it - He reminded me that He could heal the hurt part - giving us grace to obey. God has been so faithful through this entire process to show us over and over that He is guiding our steps. I am getting more excited about living in Prosper and see how happy Wayne is working with the team God has placed there. We are blessed!

Weekend Events

2008-05-19T21:14:00.006-05:00

As I mentioned, we saw Prince Caspian on Friday and we all loved it, including Kelsie but on Friday night around midnight we see Kelsie's flashlight in the hallway. She was having bad dreams about the scary witch creatures in the movie. So, we played musical beds and switched around so someone could sleep in the guest room with her. Poor baby, I felt sorry for her b/c she was truly scared.

Saturday morning started off with Wayne and the guy who bought the Rainbow play structure taking it apart in pieces and loading it on his trailer. They started at 9 a.m. and finished at 1 p.m. and as I suspected, Kelsie was sad to see it go. She got over it pretty quickly once we reminded her she was getting a trampoline and that we wouldn't be taking it with us to Prosper anyway. She had fun taking out glasses of water and helping with little things. She was a big helper inside too as I cleaned, putting up her laundry and packing for Prosper. After all of that, we left for Prosper. The Griffs were in Denton so they came over to see the "farm house" and we went to Frisco to eat. Church on Sunday was good but Kelsie's mind was definitely on getting the trampoline. We had a first impressions lunch after church and as soon as it was over and we got out of town, we went to get the trampoline. We got home in time on Sunday night to put it together and by the time we were cooking out for dinner, she was jumping.
I am including a few pics of the farm house that I took with my phone - I will try and take some good ones with my camera to post. Our friends said it wasn't what they were expecting b/c they were expecting old carpet and gold appliances. It is a nice house with tile floors, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with a living room, a formal dining room area and a breakfast area off the kitchen. The very best features of the house are the deck on the back of the house and all the trees in the front. It is very peaceful and quiet out there. On Saturday as we were waiting on the Griffs, Wayne and Kelsie hit golf balls while I sat out and watched them with Raider. I enjoyed watching a blue bird and the squirrels - very restful. Right now of course the house is somewhat vacant except for beds and a few basics to live there on the weekends so it's not quite home yet and won't feel that way until we actually move which is projected to be July. We also must get rid of the bees. We did find out that the gigantic bees around the gazebo are carpenter bees. We found out how to kill them and that they don't sting (except the queen). So, hopefully we can get that done the week we are there for VBS.

Nothing new on the house selling, we seem to have several people to pray for that are relocating and needing to sell a house recently. So, we are praying for God to take care of these details as He moves people to accomplish His purposes. Kelsie's last day of school and my last day of work are quickly approaching! YAY! She gets to have a splash day in PE on Thursday and she is excited about that and the fact there is free dress this week. Her last Science test is tomorrow and she is that much closer to finishing out 3rd grade and still has all A's.

The front of the farm house (side view)

The view from the front porch, the front yard is full of trees.

The view of the barn from the gravel drive way where we park.

Kelsie hitting golf balls - this part of the property is to the side of the house where there is a clearing of trees. She is hitting balls out in a field and then we walk Raider and go pick them up.

A Fabulous Friday!

2008-05-16T19:48:00.003-05:00

Today was a great day. We got up and finished school fairly quickly (we still have reading to do) and then off to the movies to see Prince Caspian. We went to the Movie Tavern which was great b/c it was the 11:15 movie and that meant we could eat lunch there too, especially since the movie is a little over 2 hours long. I won't say much about the movie (because you will want to see it) except that it was really good and the time went by so fast -it's engaging. Kelsie was so funny, she kept leaning over and pointing out when they skipped over certain details that are in the book. Of course, if they had included all of that it would be a 5 hour movie. The book is really good (I think too hard for her age - we have read it together) but we have not read the last chapter yet so it will be interesting to see how it matches up to the movie.

After the movie was over, we came home to clean out our garage. That sounds yucky but we all worked together and it didn't take that long. As we were outside, we saw a few bunnies and found some of Kelsie's old stuffed animals in the attic as we were making our garage sale pile. It was fun to look back at those - we put them back in the attic for keeping. The evening was turning out to be so nice that we decided to eat dinner outside and then Wayne and I pulled weeds, especially around our blackberry bushes. Kelsie found about 8 blackberries that were ready to be picked so she did that part. There are lots of little green berries and flowers about to bloom - hope to have lots of them this year - we to stake the 2 plants that have gotten really big this year.

No house news - we have not had any looks this week. We are hoping things will pick up after school is out. Of course, we would like the house to sell but we are okay with staying in it for a little while. We are looking forward to enjoying the pool at least for a month or so. We know it's all in God's timing and we are blessed to have "the farm house" in Prosper to stay in on the weekends and if our house doesn't sell, that we can live there for a while. God is an amazing provider and FBC has been so generous to us by offering us that option. Tomorrow we take down the Rainbow Play Structure in the back yard - we sold it and the people are coming to move it in the morning. Kelsie is sad mixed with happy. She says she will miss it (even though she doesn't play on it) but is very happy to be getting a trampoline - which was one of the reasons we sold it in the first place b/c we told her she couldn't have both. The other reason being that we didn't want to move it when we move to Prosper. We put it on Craigs List to see what would happen and it sold the next day. We will see how she reacts tomorrow when it's being hauled off. Maybe I can keep her busy helping me clean house....??? Well, to finish off my perfectly lovely day, I am headed to a bubble bath (with my book) and then to settle in with my hubby for a movie. What a Fabulous Friday!

Kelsie's School Program

2008-05-15T22:05:00.003-05:00

Tonight was the Fine Arts show at Kelsie's school. Kelsie has been enrolled in Computer class all year and this semester they wrote, filmed and edited their own little mini-movies. They created, filmed and acted in small groups but each student got to edit, add music and type the credits on their own video. It was a cute program along with the fabulous art displayed. Kelsie acted in her own movie of course along with a couple of others - she was so cute. We are proud of our little drama queen! Here are some pics to share of her History Fair Night when she researched and displayed facts about Japan. No pics tonight b/c it would have been pretty difficult to take pictures of short films.

Also, tonight I recorded the season finale of "The Office" and once Kelsie was tucked away in bed and Wayne was off to his basketball game - I watched it. It was very funny. Most of this season there weren't any new episodes because of the writer's strike. When they did start coming out with new ones, they were okay but not hilarious. The new episodes kept the story line going but they were missing something. Not the case tonight - I was cracking up. Tomorrow we see "Prince Caspian," do some school work and clean out the garage. We're that much closer to the end of school and work which means FREEDOM!!!

Summer Reading List

2008-05-14T22:46:00.003-05:00

Okay, I have compiled my list for summer reading. What made me do this was our trip to Half-Price books today. I was looking at book titles and couldn't remember titles I had seen or heard about that I want to read. So, I came home to look at a few author's websites to refresh my memory of what I have and have not read and then entered the authors and titles on my iphone just in case I run across a book somewhere (I will add here that I am really going to miss Wedgwood's fabulous library this summer!) So, here is my list (pretty ambitious) but since I won't be working this summer and hope to have lots of time at the pool, maybe I will have a chance to read most of these (plus we have the cruise in September). By the way, if you own any of these titles and are willing to lend it to me for a short time, I would love it!

Karen Kingsbury (I thought I read most of hers but apparently not even close so I want to read everything b/c I love her writing):
Oceans Apart (purchased today)
Like Dandelion Dust (purchased today)
Between Sundays
Where Yesterday Lives
On Every Side
When Joy Came to Stay
Divine
A Time to Dance and A Time to Embrace
A Moment of Weakness and Halfway to Forever
A Thousand Tomorrows and Just Beyond the Clouds
Sunset (released Sept, 08)

Terri Blackstock:
Second Chances Series #1-#4
Restoration Series #1-#4

Dee Henderson:
O' Malley series #1-#6

John Grisham:
Bleachers

Francine Rivers:
The Atonement Child

Robert Whitlow:
The List
Mountain Top
Deeper Waters

Angela Hunt:
Doesn't She Look Natural and She Always Wore Red

Emily Giffin:
Love the One You're With
Baby Proof

Nora Roberts:
Hidden Riches
Tribute (released 7/8)

Allison Pittman:
Ten Thousand Charms

I can't WAIT!!! I am almost finished with Ever After by Karen Kingsbury. I will let you know how the list is coming. Still counting down the days to SUMMER!

Sharing Old Pics

2008-05-12T21:38:00.006-05:00

Okay - these pics are a little old but I wanted to share some of them with you anyway.

Butterflies in the Garden at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. What a fun Friday.

American Girl Doll Store on Spring Break:

Happy Mother's Day and Other Random Stuff

2008-05-11T20:12:00.006-05:00

Happy Mother's Day! We had a great day, hope you did. On Saturday, Kelsie and Wayne gave me cards and flowers. Kelsie bought me a cuddly pink teddy bear with her own money along with a $15 gift card for itunes. What a sweet little girl. We went to Prosper on Saturday night and headed over to Wal-Mart in McKinney to purchase some necessities for our weekend stays at the farm house so we wouldn't have to keep packing stuff like shampoo and soap. We had some down time after that at the house, Wayne watched a basketball game, Kelsie colored and I started reading "Even Now" from Karen Kingsbury. I wasn't going to start until summer but I just couldn't help it - I have lots of books on my list for the summer so I just got started a little early. Church was sweet with 5 babies being dedicated and worship was good. After church, we went to eat at JinBeh, a japanese hibachi steak house, in Frisco and then went to the Stonebriar Mall to do a little shopping. After walking around there for a while, we went to get Sheridan's frozen custard. This was a first for me but Wayne had been hearing about it so we decided to go and try it. YUMMY - it is smooth like frozen yogurt but tastes more like ice cream. It was a beautiful day so we took our time sitting outside to finish our yogurt. I have to admit, it's really nice for Wayne not to have to be back at church at 3:45, it gives us the whole day to spend together. We came back to Fort Worth and back to life with Kelsie reading the next chapter of "Prince Caspian" in preparation for Monday's work. Have I mentioned we are ready to be done with school?

Random Stuff:
The house - we had a last minute showing on Thursday night. We didn't get any feedback from the realtor that showed it so no news there. What was funny about it is that since Wayne has been gone during the week to Prosper, Thursday nights have turned into family night. We have been cooking out and just hanging out at home together, playing outside with Kelsie and having dinner together. So, after work I went to Central Market and picked up a few things. Once Kelsie and Wayne got home, we started preparing everything and just as we were about to grill the chicken but had started on everything else, the phone rang and they were giving us about 20 minutes. We were all running around like crazy. Wayne vacuumed while I shoved stuff in the frig, the oven and the diswasher to clean up the kitchen. Kelsie straightened her room and took care of getting Raider on his leash and in the car. We were out in record time with candles lit, lights on and clean carpets. It was a pretty funny sight, I'm sure.

Our adventurous walk - Friday night around dusk, it was such a nice evening that Kelsie and I decided to take Raider on a walk. We have been trying to do this so that he will get enough exercise to be tired at night and sleep through until 7 a.m. - it works. Anyway, we could see the lightning from the storm in the Waco area and the wind was cool but not cold - just a pleasant night. As we turned the corner, we saw a bunny hopping across the street and then we saw why - a cat was in a pouncing position on the sidewalk where it came from. The cat looked harmless so we passed by but it arched up and hissed at us so we walked a little faster, dragging Raider along on his leash. The cat followed us, just stalking us - freaked me out so I started running and Kelsie was running behind me just cracking up laughing. She couldn't believe that I was running from a CAT! She laughed so hard but even when we looked back, the cat was at the end of the sidewalk watching. Then to top it off, we turned the next corner and at the same time a man came out of his house yelling at his daughter on the playground across the street - scared me to death! I just jumped and he apologized for startling me. I explained that I was just jumpy b/c of a cat stalking us and I'm sure he thought I was nuts. It was just funny. We saw one more bunny and lots of frogs - it was just one of those every day things turned fun.

I am planning to upload pics tomorrow so hopefully I will post some recent pics.

The Countdown

2008-05-07T21:54:00.002-05:00

As you can see, we are on the countdown to the end of school. We are all so ready! Kelsie does have some fun things coming up at school - free dress and Chick fil A at school next week and a trip to the movie theatre next Friday to see Prince Caspian since her class is finishing up reading it. Wayne and I are looking forward to the 22nd (which is the last day of school) b/c we are going to the Colonial. Wayne and I are going on Thursday and then he will take Kelsie on Friday as I finish up my work at FBC Aledo (literally, that is my last day). So, as things wind down we are looking forward to the summer, the pool, time off, reading, VBS, camp, family reunions and just having time to hang out. Hope you are looking forward to a good summer.

A Huge Treat

2008-05-04T21:29:00.003-05:00

Friday night the McLelland's and the Shirley's took us out to dinner to celebrate our new ministry (although Deana made it clear that we were NOT celebrating Wayne's new job, but rather celebrating our friendship). Anyway, they treated us to Texas De Brazil and Taylor and the big kids (Conner, Hailey, Andrew) took the little girls to Mayfest. We had such a nice dinner - if you have never been there just get ready to eat meat. My favorite was the pork tenderloin, so tender and the salad bar (more like a gourmet appetizer bar) was full of yummy stuff - smoked salmon with mustard dip, grilled provolone, goat cheese on crackers, etc.... After dinner we went to 4 day weekend for a show. The ironic thing was there was a church group there for the Methodist convention and a choir - they were a hoot and had a lot of interaction time with the performers. The show was very funny, improv - I have no idea how those guys think so quickly off the top of their heads and make anything hilarious. After the show, we went back to Texas De Brazil for dessert. Most of our group wanted creme brulee but Wayne and I shared chocolate mousse and got coffee. What a huge treat Friday night was - a great meal with good conversation and the best company, we really had a good time.

House update - no lookers this weekend. We are lowering the price on Monday so we will see what will come of that. After yard work and laundry on Saturday we went to Prosper and out to dinner with Todd and Melissa. We went to a restaurant in Plano and apparently it was prom night which proved to be entertaining as we waited for our table b/c Melissa and I got to "judge" all the dresses. It was a good way to pass the time and we saw some gorgeous (and not so gorgeous) dresses. Sunday worship was good, this was Wayne's first Sunday to lead. I must admit it feels strange to sit out in the congregation, but since I am unable to attend Wednesdays rehearsals it makes it very difficult to lead on Sundays. So, for now I will be an attender. Ironically, my quiet time on Sunday morning was the book of Malachi and it was also the sermon text today, so it was neat how God was already preparing my heart to hear some things. After church we went out with some couples for lunch and then just drove through a few neighborhoods to get an idea of areas to live in. The "farm house" that we stay in is still a little rough b/c it doesn't have a frig yet and we haven't done a great job planning for things we will need. I have a big Wal-Mart list for next week of things to take and leave there and Wayne is getting a frig from the Griffs to borrow for a while. Pretty soon we will be set up there for the weekends. We came back from Prosper to celebrate birthdays with the Shirleys at their house. We let Kelsie take her swimsuit for the hot tub but she and Morgan ended up swimming. I can't believe they weren't freezing but they had fun.

I will say here - God has so blessed us with a home here in Fort Worth while we finish out school and work and provided us a place to stay in Prosper. We are blessed with good friends and a loving family. God is so true to His word as our Jehovah Jireh! So, while I continue to pray for God to protect my heart during this transition, I also praise and thank Him for His amazing provisions - unearned and undeserved. That is our God and I am in awe!!!

A Gentle Reminder

2008-05-01T19:59:00.003-05:00

God has been reminding me lately that I'm NOT "all that" in many different ways (that is a different post completely) but last Sunday the pastor at Prosper (Khris) preached on Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us," He talked about the sins that are acceptable, the little things we do that we can justify but we know it's not pleasing to God. Well, I know that my thing is the need to be in control. Most people would say that you have to be in control to keep things going, stay on top of stuff or that maybe it's just your personality, etc. But, I know that often times I trust myself to be in control of things instead and before I trust God to be in control. So today I had a tangible reminder of that.

Wayne was in Prosper and so I took Kelsie to school. The plan was to come home, change clothes and get to my eye doctor appt at 10 and then off to work. When I got home, I opened the garage door and when I got to the door that goes into my house it was locked. It's never locked! My key is in the lockbox on the front door for realtors and Wayne has the other key - again in Prosper. I walked around the house and all the doors were locked. I was locked out of my own house. I tried to pick the lock, that didn't work. I called our realtor who is in Grapevine and he ended up calling a Prudential realtor on this side of town to come and open my door for me. She was very sweet to come and we ended up talking on the porch while her keypad was powering on. Once we started talking about housing, prices, showings, etc she mentioned that she had a client who is interested in a one story house. So, I offered for her to come walk through and look at ours and offer any suggestions if she had them. She said the floor plan would be great for these people and she was going to call them and see if they wanted to come look at it sometime over the weekend. She said the house showed well and made a suggestion to put Bath and Body Works wallflowers in coffee or cookie smell around the house (which I purchased today). Anyway, you never know what will come of it - they may not even come and look at the house but it was a reminder that God works ESPECIALLY when I'm not in control. He is in control and He was sweet today to affirm what I was already being convicted of Sunday. I pray that I learn more about resting in Him during this process.

A Few Pics

2008-04-30T21:16:00.004-05:00

Here are just a few pics from my phone. I took additional ones with my camera but I haven't uploaded them yet to share so here are a few we took to send to Wayne b/c he is in Prosper. These two are pics of Kelsie showing her awards. We took these after bath time to send to Wayne but I thought I would share them with you.

Also today we took the day off and went to the Fort Worth Zoo. We didn't completely skip school, we did some work last night and then this morning so we could spend the day out doing something fun. We got there around 11:30, just about the time the field trip kids were pulling out their sack lunches and getting ready to leave. The entrance was crowded when we got there but not for long and later in the day we felt like we had the place to ourselves. The weather was perfect and we had the time to leisurely watch the animals. We had such a great day being together. I will share more pics and stories later - especially the bee story. Afterward we went by and picked up Morgan to come over and play. The girls rode bikes and then played outside, we had a good day. As I mentioned, Wayne has been in Prosper this week - busy meeting with people and getting things set up still both in his office and at the house we will stay in on Saturday nights. We look forward to him coming home tomorrow afternoon. Keep praying for us as we are in transition - there are many details that we are waiting on the Lord to reveal.

Kelsie with her A Honor Roll certificate and Principal's Honor Roll ribbon.

Kelsie and her Character Award for Excellence certificate and medal. So proud of her!

A picture of Kelsie that was taken at the zoo today in front of the Hill Country waterfall.

Bragging on Kelsie

2008-04-29T22:57:00.003-05:00

We found out today that Kelsie received some awards this year for her work at school. There was a Saturday morning Awards ceremony this last weekend but we had no idea that Kelsie was getting any awards and since we had Byron Nelson tickets, we decided to skip the ceremony. Anyway, Kelsie apparently did receive some awards and she got them today. She got an A Honor Roll award and ribbon and then a character award for excellence with a medal. We are so proud of the hard work she has done this year and that she has been an A student all year. I know she loves to help her teacher and is a great kid (even though she is a little spunky)! We are blessed to have Kelsie as our daughter.

Updates

2008-04-27T19:36:00.003-05:00

I have several updates to share with you so here goes:

1. The house - we had a showing on Saturday afternoon. The feedback was both good and bad. The good was that the potential buyers liked the house, the realtor commented that it was a great floorplan and was very clean and organized, that it showed well. The bad was that her clients did not like the location, they want to have easier access to I-20 for their commute to work. So, there is nothing we can do about that - we take the positive feedback from the 2 showings that we had and just know that we have done everything we can do to this point and now it's a matter of just the right buyer wanting it. So, we covet your prayers in two ways - one that the house would sell and two that we would wait on the Lord in the mean time and trust His sovereignty.

2. The Byron Nelson - we went on Saturday morning. We got to the course (after riding the shuttle from Texas Stadium) around 10 a.m. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. We walked around a bit and then found a great spot on #17. It's a par 3 so we sat at the green but could watch the tee box too especially with our binoculars. I wish I had pics but no cell phones and no cameras were allowed. The course was beautiful and we had a wonderful day. We did go to the Kids Zone at the end and played a game of putt-putt with Kelsie and we had fun doing that - I had two holes in one and so therefore beat both of the golfers in the family and I am not a golfer at all - beginners luck.

3. The clock inscription - The sad inscription on the back of the clock says From Your "last choir" Wedgwood Baptist Church and then the dates we were there. It's sad b/c it's a reference Wayne made in rehearsal - he told the choir they would always be so special to him b/c they were likely the last choir we would have. But, while that is sad enough - what is really behind that is the fact that we weren't just a choir that meets once a week to sing together. We are a family! We still think of the choir, band, media, etc as that - our Wedgworship Family. We love you and always will - remember that.

4. FBC Prosper - Today was our first day with Wayne being the "Celebration Pastor" at FBC. Wayne did not lead worship today, he spent the morning observing things like greeters, rehearsal, sound during the services, etc. The church honored Dr. Toney (the music interim) for the job he has done filling in - he really has a sweet spirit and has done a great job keeping the team together and moving forward. Kelsie and I only made it to the second service b/c we had to drive this a.m. but they were working on the house today so we could stay there next week and won't have to drive on Sunday mornings. Kelsie found a few of her little friends and they sat together while Wayne and I sat more toward the back together. After church, they had a taco lunch youth fundraiser so we went to that and had a good time visiting with different people. Also, they auctioned off desserts and some went for $200 to which Kelsie was shocked. She thought that was overpriced for a pie or cake until I explained it to her. I'm sure she was sitting there thinking at these prices she was never going to get brownies, cake or pie ever again! After lunch, we went to Ikea to get Wayne a bookshelf and some chairs for his office. We found a book shelf that would work and took it back to the church to be put together at a later date. We had to rush out of there after that b/c the Apple store in Plano closed at 6 and Wayne needed to pick up his computers after they have transferred files this last week. Hopefully we can get his iphone up and running tomorrow and he will be fully functional with computer and phone.

That's the latest. I will keep you posted on the house. Keep praying for us during this transition - it's been a difficult one in many ways. Also, as I mentioned before, just that God would protect our hearts from doubt and weariness and that He would continue giving us the strength to finish strong here - Kelsie's school and my job. More later.

Tomorrow's Showing

2008-04-25T20:57:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, as I mentioned, we are going to the Byron Nelson - we are excited to take Kelsie to her first pro tournament. We also have a showing tomorrow from 4 to 5, I don't want to get my hopes up but at least it's some traffic. I will keep you posted about the Byron...looking forward to the beautiful weather.

The Chiming Clock and lots of Golf

2008-04-24T20:39:00.004-05:00

So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the Wedgworship Family presented us on Sunday night with a beautiful mantle clock. The inscription is too sad so I won't write it here. Anyway, I bought batteries for it and got it all set up and incidentally figured out how to make it not chime during the night. It is perched proudly on my mantle and the first few times it chimed it made me cry. I'm past that part now and on to the enjoying it part. I really love it - the Westminster chime along with the single chime for each hour. Thank you for the lovely gift!

Golf - Wayne loves his new golf club (also given to him by the Wedgworship family on Sunday). He and Kelsie played with Mr. Tom on Monday and Wayne said the new club made him play at a whole new level (whatever that means). Anyway, his next game is tomorrow with another wedgie, Garner. Rain, rain stay away. On Saturday we are going (all 3 of us) to the Byron Nelson tournament compliments of free tickets from a church member in Prosper. We are looking forward to the day - it will be Kelsie's first time to see a pro tournament like that. I think she will love it.

Wayne did go to Prosper this week. His first week was mostly filled with moving boxes, setting up his new office and getting his computer fixed up. He did purchase his iphone today but it won't be operational until early next week b/c his new mac is still at the apple store in Plano getting all of the files from his PC moved to his new computer (apple care ROCKS!). So, we are hoping that by Tuesday he will be completely up and running with his new phone and new computer. He did attend rehearsal on Wednesday night and said it was sweet and they had a good prayer time. He did drive back in the lightning storm on Wednesday night, it was pretty impressive. He is not leading worship this week at Prosper but we will all be there to worship with them. After church, we are headed to IKEA to get office furniture and hopefully finish setting up his office. So, we are still in limbo world a little bit but hopefully we will slowly get back into fitting in somewhere. Pray for us - our house has been on the market for 3 weeks now and we have only had one showing. I am not in panic mode yet but we definitely need more traffic if the house has a chance of selling. We are still counting down school being out - can't wait - only 4 more weeks and then we get to spend our days at the pool. YAY Summer.

Untitled

2008-04-22T09:03:00.003-05:00

I don't really even know what to title this one. I can just say that leaving Wedgwood on Sunday was so difficult, but even more is the day after. The realization that this part of your life is over and you are moving on, like it or not. So, yesterday after going to a printer demonstration for work yesterday in Hurst, I went to North East Mall on my way home for some retail therapy. It was nice to walk the mall and leisurely shop without someone saying "hey, mom look at this" or "can I have....?" I took my time and went into a few stores at my own pace, ate lunch at the food court (by myself - shocking I know) and enjoyed being "away" a little. Last night at home we worked on a project Kelsie had to turn in today for school and just grilled out and had dinner together as a family. Wayne went last night and loaded up all his boxes in his office to take to Prosper today. He said he turned in all his keys (more finality) and the only thing he has left to do is transfer his computer files and turn in his computer which he will do sometime this week at the Apple store (he got a Mac Book Pro - lucky). Today I am having lunch with Barb and Genny and working from home. I still haven't been able to read all the letters yet - Wayne has read every one and relayed a few funny ones to me. Kelsie wanted me to see the notes she got from the kids in choir - they were sweet. I know we will still be "around" for a while but not "a part" of you anymore- that makes me sad. I am counting on "once a wedgie, always a wedgie" being true and clinging to "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way. Though he may fall, he is not utterly cast down for the Lord upholds him in His hand" Psalm 37:23-24.

What a Day

2008-04-20T23:13:00.004-05:00

What a day at Wedgwood. We had a sweet time with our Wedgwood family as this was our last Sunday to lead worship there. It started with the service this morning which was the Lord's Supper. It was hard singing in choir for the last time but as always, our choir family was there and ready to worship together. We will REALLY miss you guys and your heart for authentic worship. Tonight, as the schedule would have it, was the "green team" (the praise team I sing with) and we sang Gateway's "Overtaken." A great song (thank goodness it was upbeat), but the song is all about God taking over and us letting everything go. It was appropriate for me tonight. Worship was sweet tonight including YCAM singing. Wayne told me later that he was ready to say a prayer of blessing over the kids tonight after rehearsal but instead they ended up gathering around him to pray for him. How sweet and I know that was really special to his heart. After the service was over, Bro. Al called Kelsie up on stage along with us and Ms. Sharon presented us with gifts from the choir. Wayne got a golf club (you will have to ask him about that as I have no clue) and they gave our family a beautiful mantle clock along with a gift card to Best Buy and most special was a book of photos and cards/letters. We would not have needed these things as reminders of our time at Wedgwood b/c it will always be special to us but we will think of Wedgwood often as we see these reminders of your love for us and our time with you. In addition, on behalf of the church, Bro. Al presented us with a 4 day cruise to Cozumel. WOW! We were in total SHOCK and really appreciate their generosity. After that portion of the cry fest, we went to the CLC for a reception. Everyone was so sweet to come by and tell us a personal story or a word of encouragement. We appreciate so much every word.

So, now we are at home. We are looking at photos and reading letters. God definitely answered my prayer that today would be a sweet time at Wedgwood. Thank you God for wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ that have a heart of worship toward YOU! We have been so blessed.

Stuff

2008-04-18T21:19:00.006-05:00

Please pray for us as we make this transition. Sunday is approaching and I feel all messed up.

1. Pray for our house to sell - we have had it on the market only 2 weeks but I guess the discouraging thing is that we have only had one showing. The realtor that showed it gave us good feedback and mentioned that it was a "lovely home" but that his buyer was looking for a little larger house that was a true 4 bedroom (our 4th is up front more like a study/playroom). So, while it was good to get the positive feedback, at this rate of showings it may be a while. We are hoping things will pick up. Right now, we are not necessarily in a huge hurry b/c Kelsie is still in school but I know it is going to get old driving back and forth to Prosper well into the summer.

2. Pray that Sunday will be a sweet time as we exit at Wedgwood.

3. Pray for Wayne's safety as he travels back and forth to Prosper beginning next Tuesday.

4. Pray that God will make it clear where Kelsie is to go to school next year and a part-time job for me.

5. Pray that God will give Wayne discernment and wisdom as he begins to build a team at Prosper. That he will be able to see those who are God focused and desire authentic, vulnerable and God-focused worship. Pray that God would continue to draw people to Himself through the body of Christ there in Prosper. Pray our worship is pleasing to God and that His name is lifted high!

6. Pray for the ability to finish strong in our jobs and school - we are a little weary. 5 more weeks of school!!! YAY! I am ssssooooo ready. My last day at my job is May 29th. That is also very sad for me b/c they are so good to me and I like what I do and I love the people I work with.

Okay - I know this is a very selfish list of prayer requests. In 2 years, all of this transition stuff that I'm stressed over will be a memory. I just know that God tells us to ask and also to lift each other up. So, I ask you to stand in the gap for us against attacks like discouragement, weariness, doubt, etc. We know God has called us and we just want to be obedient with a heart of joy and gratitude for what God is doing. Also - let us keep praying for you! Bless us by keeping us posted about your ministries and your families.

A Hail of a Storm

2008-04-17T21:16:00.003-05:00

Wow! Tonight we had a big storm. I do know that the storm on our side of town was not near as severe as other parts of town who got golf ball to baseball size hail. We went to eat with the praise teams and band one last time tonight at Cousin's BBQ. Once we got there around 6:30, it started getting dark and windy. We ate a pretty quick dinner and had a little time to visit but once we saw that things were deteriorating we decided to cut things a little short and head home. Once we got home, it was really dark and the wind was blowing - the girls were getting a little scared (Morgan was with us) and we could hear the sirens from downtown. So, they made a little nest in the bathroom closet with blankets and pillows, got flashlights and were ready to go in the closet at a moment's notice. Then the hail began. We only had pea sized hail but we had a lot of it and it looked like snow had gathered around our curbs when it was over. The storm was really loud so the girls just got in the closet with books and flashlights and stayed there until it was over. Spring weather in Texas! I do have pics but they are not downloaded from my camera to my computer yet. So I will share later.

On another note, this week we have had a great time just visiting with different people during out last week at Wedgwood. Tuesday night we had dinner at Pappasitos with the creativity team. Of course, we stayed too long in the restaurant and laughed alot. We had a good time. Wednesday night's rehearsal was a good one, it was good to be with our choir family one last time and tonight out with the praise teams. We have enjoyed sharing these years with you. We love you all and will miss you. Sunday is our last day at Wedgwood and while we are excited about the journey God has us on, it will be bittersweet. We will miss Wedgwood and will always have such fond memories of you - what a great season of ministry for our family. Can't wait to worship with you on Sunday!

More Baseball

2008-04-14T22:03:00.008-05:00

Sunday afternoon after church at Wedgwood, we headed north for Prosper night at the Rough Riders game at Dr. Pepper ballpark in Frisco. What a great afternoon. The weather was sunny and while it was really windy inside the ballpark, the wind was blocked a little and it was just a little crisp but not too cold. The girls got their faces painted and free balloons as well as the standard hotdog at the ballpark. Unfortunately the Rough Riders lost by one run but at the very end of the game, the kids get to run the bases on the field. So fun and Kelsie has a blast doing that. We had a great time visiting with several different people and just having a relaxing Sunday afternoon at the ballpark. .

Also Monday night we had a great time taking Ms. Sharon (Thompson) out to dinner at The Keg to settle the bet Wayne made with her 3+ years ago. Even though we were settling a bet, we were also thanking her for the fabulous job she has done caring for things in the Music Ministry at Wedgwood. Wayne couldn't do what he does every week without her! I know you guys are in good hands as we leave b/c Ms. Sharon really takes care of so many things behind the scenes. I know she will continue to do so in love and a calling to Worship Ministry at Wedgwood. She also gave Wayne the coolest gift. It was a framed picture of the words to Dennis Jernigan's blessing song, personalized and signed by Dennis. Very thoughtful, Wayne will think of Wedgwood often when he looks at that in his new office.

Enjoy the baseball pics.....

Kelsie's face design.

Kelsie, Sara and Morgan posing after running the bases.

Kelsie and Morgan hanging out to watch the game.

Morgan, Kelsie and Kinzy

Kelsie and Morgan waiting to go in the gate.

Wow! It's windy out here.

Opening Day at the Rangers

2008-04-11T21:39:00.002-05:00

Tuesday morning, Wayne had a nice surprise phone call asking him if he had afternoon plans. Of course, he had the usual Tuesday meetings to attend but quickly took a half vacation day to attend the opening day at the Ballpark in Arlington. Khris (the pastor at FBC Prosper) said they had been invited to watch the game from a box and Wayne was "all in" with that. He had a great time and got to see several people from our college days at HPU. The Rangers apparently got crushed but he still had a good time being there and visiting with everyone.

Kelsie took SAT's this week at school which meant she got out early on Thursday so as soon as she got out of school we got in the car and came to San Angelo. Friday I taught a class at The Heights on communication and using constant contact, etc. We had a good time even though we were "working." Wayne and Cynthia played Quicksand golf course - played 18 and then another 9, it was a GORGEOUS day. The girls had a great time playing at Grammy's house. They played outside, held the week old baby kittens, made mud pies, built a tent in the living room and played babies. Kelsie and Hailey love to play together. We ended the night with a great meal and a chance for everyone to visit. We travel back tomorrow to be back for church on Sunday after we do a little shopping first! Hope you are having a good weekend. More soon.

Pictures

2008-04-09T10:04:00.012-05:00

Monday night was the NCAA basketball final - a very exciting game. We had a yummy dinner with the Kemners at Olive Garden and then Tom came over the watch the game. The game was close and our house was divided - Wayne and Tom going for Memphis and me for the Big 12 team, Kansas. Kansas won - yay! Anyway, we always enjoy dinner with the Kemner family and will miss you guys being able to pop over for the watching of various sporting events (they were our superbowl party this year too).
Okay, here are pics of our weekend getaway to Great Wolf Lodge. It is really just a great little weekend vacation place - we were so close to home but felt like we were off somewhere. The girls also had a great time and so did the adults. On Saturday I got a chance to start reading "Even Now" Karen Kingsbury but haven't had a chance to pick it up since. We all enjoyed the slides and the hot tub, the girls wore themselves out climbing stairs to go on the slides. I think the girls favorites water slide was the tornado. I liked the blue one - we could all ride together and it was fun. A great weekend!

This was when we first got there on Thursday. The girls couldn't wait to swim so we checked in our rooms and let them change clothes to swim - none of us wanted to go to dinner soaking wet but Wayne is one of the kids and couldn't stand it - he put his swim suit on and rode the slides right away with the kids.

After we let the kids (and Wayne) swim for a little while, we went to dinner in one of the restaurants in the hotel. Here is the girls coloring while we wait. The food was not the best feature of the hotel but because the had a "limited buffet" for the full price we got breakfast free the next day.

Outside the restaurant is a HUGE fireplace and seating area. The girls humored us and posed for pics before heading back to the water park after dinner.

Kelsie and Morgan - aren't they so cute?

All 4 girls after the first round of swimming.

This is day 2 - Morgan and Kelsie getting into the wave pool after it started making waves.

Morgan and Kelsie cruising the lazy river.

One of the pools had these lily pads to cross, a floating snake and a basketball area. The girls loved going over the lily pads in between sliding on the slides. I'm sure their arms were tired but they kept going back for more. Joel and Wayne played a basketball game with the girls but it looked pretty competitive between the two guys when we walked by to go to the hot tub.

Morgan crossing the lily pads.

We had a good time!!!

A weekend of surprises

2008-04-07T13:41:00.010-05:00

What a great weekend full of surprises! It began with the BIG surprise on Thursday after school. Thursday morning after Kelsie and Wayne left for school and I left for work, I packed and loaded our suitcases so Kelsie wouldn't see them. When Wayne picked her up at school in the afternoon I made a phone call while they were on the way telling Kelsie that we were leaving straight from home when they got home to go and pick up Morgan and Deanna b/c we were going to meet Joel for dinner at a cool place and it's a little while away so we needed to leave early. Once we got to Morgan's house, I distracted the girls by asking to go upstairs and see Morgan's butterflies in the her room. It worked and Deana and Wayne loaded up their luggage and off we went. Morgan was out of school on Friday so they were asking, "can we swim at the Y and spend the night tonight?" Of course, we played it off with the usual "we'll see" response. So, as we drove closer to the Great Wolf Lodge, we told the girls to close their eyes b/c it was a really cool place. When we pulled up to the front doors, they screamed and thought it was cool but still did not realize we were spending the night. We told them to get their bags out of the car b/c we were spending the night and they were so excited and shocked and screaming! Joel and the Shirley's met us there just as we arrived so we got to check in together which meant all 3 rooms side by side - very convenient. We had a GREAT TIME - I will share more details with more pics later, here are just a few, mostly of just the water park area of the lodge.

The other big surprise this weekend was that Wayne presented me on Saturday night with an iphone! I couldn't believe it. Wayne's dad had originally wanted to use some hotel stay points to buy me one for Mother's Day but when he called to redeem, they no longer carried the iphone. He decided to give Wayne most of the money toward the purchase of the phone anyway as my Mother's Day gift and since I was about to upgrade to the Blackberry Curve on Saturday, they gave it to me early. I absolutely LOVE the phone. I did have a hard time setting up my e-mail but Apple tech support figured it out and we fixed it. Anyway, I am learning to use it and so far I love it - phone, email, texting, pics, internet, calendar, ipod all in one. A great gadget. Thanks PaPaw! Enjoy the pics - more details about the weekend to come.

The big water fort play area and some of the slides. The water fort had this huge bucket that would fill with water and dump on you - fun!

The stairs to climb for 5 water slides - most of the slides start indoors, go outside and end inside. The yellow and green slides are mostly indoors so here they are. This place is HUGE.

The wave pool from our seating/hang out area.

Part of the lazy river looking toward a couple more slides and fort.

Kelsie and Morgan - this is when we first got to the pool area day 1. This was their re-creating the surprise.

The girls in our hotel room right after we checked in and before we got to the pool. We checked in, put our stuff down and changed as quickly as possible for the pool. They are so excited, they weren't sure what kind of faces to make - so cute!

House for Sale

2008-04-03T06:59:00.002-05:00

Our house officially goes on the market first thing this morning. Pray that it will sell in the next 30-60 days. If you know of anyone looking for a house, point them our way. It's listed on the MLS and with Prudential Realty, Don McCall. Thanks for your prayers and support, we love you! Also, today is the big surprise for the girls - will be sure to take pics and share the excitement with you - looking forward to it. On a sad note, it's not such a good day for little Raider. He will be at the vet overnight as he is getting his manhood altered. He goes in this morning and we pick him up tomorrow afternoon - poor baby!

Food and Friends

2008-04-02T09:34:00.002-05:00

Have you ever noticed that food tastes better with friends? Monday night is "Wedgwood Missions" night at Palio's Pizza (btw - if you didn't know that through the month of April, Palio's Pizza is giving Wedgwood 25% of your bill to missions so take a break from cooking on Monday nights and go eat their EXCELLENT pizza, be sure to tell them you are from Wedgwood. I do not like pizza but I get "The Molly" with alfredo sauce and it is soooo yummy!) Anyway, we met the McLelland's and the Shirley's there for a quick dinner and we had good conversation and the kids got to sit together and have fun. Tuesday afternoon Morgan came over to play and at the last minute we decided to have bleu cheese burgers (a Shirley Coleman/Stacy Adams creation) and have the McLelland's over to eat with us. The girls played and played with their dolls and tried to do April Fools - they were cute. Food just tastes better with friend! Also, the girls have NO idea about the weekend - I can't wait to surprise them! So fun.

Update on Baby Allie - She had surgery on Monday for her new port. She is puffy but has not lost all her hair and I think is doing well under the circumstances. I know the family is ready to go home - keep praying for strength for them. My sister, brother in law and niece were here on the Saturday while we were in Prosper and they got to see Allie for her birthday - she turned 2 this week. Allie's grandmother stayed at the hospital and they were able to get Rachel (Allie's mom) out for a quick dinner. She never leaves Allie but it was good to get out with family for a short while. Keep praying!!

Pictures from October

2008-03-31T23:55:00.009-05:00

Okay - here are some pics although not recent. BTW, I forgot to mention that I finished the Kingsbury "Someday" book over Spring Break! I loved it but I won't spoil what happens. It's the next to the last book left in the Baxter Family Series. What will I do when the Baxter family is no longer? I know them so well and I want them to keep on living. But, while I wait for the last one to come out I will start on "Even Now."

Enjoy just a few pics from Halloween.

Kelsie and Morgan - the rock star and the dancer.

Kelsie's messy hands after our traditional carving of the pumpkin.

The trick or treaters and those that dared to dress up. Kelsie really wanted us to this year so we are the hippies. This pic was right before trick or treating the neighborhood and then to the church Fall Festival.

The little group (we are missing Brynn). The cowgirl, the dancer, the camo rock star and the rock star. Aren't they so cute?

It's Official

2008-03-30T21:22:00.003-05:00

I have so many pics to share with you - I promise to start posting them this week. I have not made the time to upload them from my camera to post but I plan to do it this week and share them with you.

Well, it's official (read previous post). We went to Prosper this weekend to meet people at FBC and lead worship today - it's called going "in view of a call." The church then voted at the end of the service and it was unanimously yes. The weekend was full of so many surprises. We realized that we said "that went better than we thought" so many times. We had a mixture of meet/greet times and rehearsals. The meet/greets were the thing I was most nervous about but everyone was very kind. The rehearsals were good, their musicians are talented and we had a wonderful morning of worship today. The very best part of the service had nothing to do with music. At the beginning of the service, the men came up to pray and it was moving. Just men kneeling everywhere before the Lord, humbling themselves in real worship. We were blessed to be there. So as hard as this decision has been, today was affirming to all of us that God is calling us to this local body of Christ and we take the journey with Him.

We are really looking forward to this weekend. Kelsie has no idea but on Thursday after school we are going to the Great Wolf Lodge, the new hotel in Grapevine with the indoor water park. We are going with Morgan's family and the Shirley fam. It's a big surprise so ssshhhhh! I PROMISE TO POST PICS!

No Longer a Secret

2008-03-27T07:59:00.004-05:00

What has been a secret is no longer. Wayne announced to the Wedgworship family last night that we are going to FBC Prosper for the completion of the strange hiring process Baptist churches go through when calling a minister. It's called "in view of a call" and basically that means we will go for the weekend including leading worship on Sunday and the church will then say "yay" or "nay." We tell you before it's a "done deal" b/c we hate secrets - just being gone one Sunday doesn't seem fair and telling a little while lie like, "oh, we are going out of town for a vacation" is really not characteristic of us at all. So, while there is a little risk involved in telling you (b/c they could vote nay), we tell our family the truth so you can walk some of this road with us. Pray for us this weekend, we start with rehearsals and get togethers on Friday.

You should know this has been a painful process, personally. I could not imagine leaving when Wayne first mentioned it to me. I blew it off at first and if I'm totally honest, there are many days I still can't picture myself somewhere else. However, God has taught me so many things about faith and trust during this process. You see, I am somewhat of a control freak - I like to take care of things my way. I like for things to line up in order and be visible as far as my eye can see. I like logic. Admittedly, I do like change but this is not a change I was open to at all. I have done my share of thrashing around with God, arguing, begging, and fighting it but in the end I have learned some things.

Sometimes obedience is painful.
Sometimes comfortable is not a long term place to be the most effective in the kingdom.
God moves people physically to accomplish specific things (Abraham and Moses are good examples).
God goes before His people and prepares things - He doesn't ask you to do things in your own strength.
Surrender is difficult - totally trusting in God alone and my small sacrifices are NOTHING compared to Christ giving up his heavenly throne for an earthly life to be a once and for all sacrifice for my sin. Talk about total trust in the Father.
My flesh doesn't want to trust anyone but me - I am learning how much more trustworthy God is - more wise, more loving, more strategic, more just, more able to provide, all knowing, sovereign......
My personal worship is sweeter in times of greater dependence and brokenness.

One last note - we have LOVED Wedgwood. When we came to Wedgwood 3 1/2 years ago we were beaten down after our last church experience. We came to a church that loves God, understood brokenness, loved our family, accepted us and most importantly has a desire to worship! So, together we took this journey of understanding more about daily worship, learning that being a part of expanding God's kingdom is our calling as worship leaders, that singing or playing is not just a hobby but a calling on our lives for God's glory and for His purposes. We have laughed, cried, laughed some more, made beautiful music, made not so beautiful music, celebrated births and homegoings, shared Lord's Supper, shared difficulties and come together to bear each others burdens and joys. Most of all, we worshipped together! That's huge - so many churches don't corporately get how to do that - how to be vulnerable before God and each other, how to really pray over one another, how to get that up close and personal - but Wedgwood and especially our Wedgworship family, you get it! Truthfully, we have been comfortable at Wedgwood. We love you and it's hard to understand God moving us to a whole new thing and from a worldly perspective it makes NO SENSE - believe me, I have reasoned it to death! But, we believe that being with you has made us better. So, on that note - Once a Wedgie, always a Wedgie. We love you and will savor the next 3 weeks with you! Let's enjoy it!

Update on Kelsie

2008-03-25T09:49:00.002-05:00

Just a quick update - Kelsie is much improved today. Her throat is still a little sore but no fever this morning. She is not going to school today but we are going to get her work and stay caught up. So, things are getting back to normal, thankfully.

Update on Baby Allie - I know many of you have been praying for her. All I have heard lately is that she had a bacterial infection and could not have visitors the week of Easter. They are hoping to move out of the hospital to the Ronald McDonald House for the next few weeks but not until she is over the infection. So, keep praying for her and the family as they continue treatment away from home. Pray for Justin (the big brother), this is hard on him too traveling back and forth and having to concentrate at school while all this is going on. Allie is always really happy when her dad and big brother get to come see her. She is such a sweet baby girl. Keep praying! Keep you updated as I hear.

The Rest of Easter

2008-03-24T08:35:00.004-05:00

Well, as I said previously, Kelsie was sick this Easter - definitely strep throat, we saw Dr. Obbink this a.m. So, because she really didn't feel well in the morning we did not attempt church services but she had a restful afternoon and we just pumped her with fluids and meds so we were able to make it for Night of Praise. Kelsie really wanted to be there b/c Anthony Evans was singing with the choir and she loves his music. Wayne's mom came early to be with her and she sat with them, with strict instructions not to touch or hug ANYONE. When Wayne told Anthony Sunday night that Kelsie was sick and she was so sad that she missed him singing her favorite song from his new CD, he was so sweet and met her "backstage" (in the choir room) before Night of Praise. During his portion of Night of Praise, he even sang "In Christ Alone" and said it was for her since she wasn't able to hear it in the a.m. The rest of Night of Praise was great, we have such a great time praising God together.

So, for the rest of Spring Break. Well, Tuesday was a wash out, literally - tons of rain. Wednesday we decided to go down to the stockyards with Morgan and her family to see the cattle drive. The Shirley's ended up meeting us out there too. I had read about the "herd" and the cattle drive in the paper and we had never been, a very Fort Worth thing to do. It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the wind was a little chilly but light. We lined up for the cattle drive, which consisted of about 12 longhorn steers. It was very unimpressive but hey they were giving away free Vitamin Water. After that we let the kids go over to the petting zoo, they had fun doing that. We did get some good pics so it wasn't a total waste. After that, we went over to Joe T's for lunch and it was pretty nice so we sat outside by the pool. They had heaters out too so that helped and lunch was of course delicious. After lunch, Wayne and I both had to go to work for just a couple of hours, so Deana took the girls to the park for a little while. On Thursday we debated about going to Six Flags but Kelsie's Easter party was Thursday night so I thought it might be a little much for me to pull it all off.

Sidebar - it's a good thing we decided not to go to Six Flags that day b/c a few days later I read in the paper that so many people went that day, they stopped letting people come in. Also some background - every year we host a little Easter egg hunt/party for some of Kelsie's girlfriends and in the past we have done lunch for the mom's too - kind of a girl thing. This year we decided since it was Spring Break, we would cook out for everyone and do it at night so the girls could hunt Easter eggs in the dark with flashlights - they are getting to the age where they need a challenge or it's over too quickly.

So - back to Thursday....Kelsie and I met Morgan and her mom at Sweet and Sassy for them to get manicures and pedicures for Easter. They were treated special and had a good time. Then we took Morgan for the day and did a little shopping. We came home to get ready for the party - the girls were a big help and they helped me decorate a cake, they did so good. It was a chocolate round cake but at the top there were yellow peeps all the way around to resemble a sunflower and then chocolate chips in the center like sunflower seeds. The party started at 7 and we had a great time visiting with everyone, eating and of course watching the girls find eggs in the dark. Everyone had a great time! Morgan spent the night with us Thursday and on Friday morning Wayne and Joel took the girls fishing. They all caught several fish with Wayne catching the biggest of the day - a 10 pound catfish. They were all so excited. Friday night was our church's Good Friday service and we had "The Jesus Painter" at our church - it was excellent, very moving. Saturday morning Wayne and Kelsie went fishing again while I did some shopping at Kohl's. My mom was in town briefly so we joined her for lunch at MiMi's Cafe, after that was rehearsal. So, there is our Spring Break. We had a good week just being together and celebrating Christ's death and especially resurrection this weekend with friends and family. I think Kelsie is on the mend - today we will stay home and rest. After a couple of nights of getting up several times during the night to check on Kelsie, I need it as much as she does. I hope your Spring Break was fun and that your Easter was filled with the knowledge of God's presence in your life and the gift he gave us when he sacrificed His son for our sin, once and for all. Thank you God, I know there are days I take it for granted but I pray that it's never just a story but a real thing in our lives - a thankfulness that makes us want to walk in obedience and praise God in all we do. Happy Easter.

Easter Sunday Sickness

2008-03-23T09:53:00.002-05:00

Well, as I type it's Easter Sunday morning and Kelsie and I are at home! Yesterday afternoon Kelsie complained that she had a headache and sore throat but we thought maybe she had too much sun the last few days (has a little pink face). We went on with our day and she didn't say anything else until we got ready to go to church for rehearsal Saturday night. She said again her throat hurt so on our way to church I stopped at Sonic and got her an slush but not thinking much about it beyond that. After rehearsal when we got home around 8:30 p.m., she wanted to go to bed. We knew something was up then so we checked it out further and her throat was yucky (looking with a flashlight) and she had 100.5 fever. So we started Motrin and amoxicillian which we thankfully had from when we went on vacation and I had been sick so her doc called it in for her in case she started with the same symptoms while we were out of town. The expiration date was August, 08 so we started on that too. After giving her Motrin every 4 hours during the night, this a.m. she is a little better but still had fever and did not feel like getting dressed but she was upset about not wearing her Easter dress - she said she just would wear it next week. She and Morgan got pedicures this week for Easter - hope it lasts all week so her toes will still be pretty. We have Night of Praise tonight with Anthony Evans so my strategy is to let her stay home this a.m. and rest while giving her more meds and then be able to make it tonight. Her Mamaw (Wayne's mom) is coming so she can sit with her and stay away from hugging her friends at church. Poor Kelsie - she said this morning - "why do I have to be sick on Easter?" We are still going to have our own worship time this morning to celebrate what God has done for us - Hope your celebration time was blessed. Happy Easter - more about Spring Break later.

Get out your ARK!

2008-03-18T23:09:00.003-05:00

Rain, Rain Go Away - our trip to Six Flags today was obviously cancelled because it started raining last night and hasn't really stopped yet. So, we changed our plans and Kelsie went to Chuck E Cheese with Morgan and played while Wayne and I cleaned carpets at our house in order to get ready for our Thursday night easter egg hunt with K's friends. We are planning to cook out and let the girls hunt eggs after dark - should be fun - we are looking forward to it. So, even though we were bummed that Six Flags didn't happen today, we still have some other fun things planned. We are going to try and go to the stockyards tomorrow for the cattle drive they do, there are some extra activities like a petting zoo. I am hoping the weather will cooperate - keep you updated.

Update on Baby Allie

2008-03-17T10:42:00.004-05:00

Keep praying for Baby Allie....today is the 15th day of chemo. She is doing well under the circumstances. Pray for her bone marrow biopsy (which they do today) to come back saying they got all the cancer. Pray for her parents, Allie's mom wrote on her care page that Allie was glad to see her daddy yesterday. I know they are all exhausted so pray for their strength. Keep you updated.

Spring Break, Part 1

2008-03-17T00:56:00.003-05:00

Friday was our first day of Spring Break. We slept a little bit late and then went over to the American Girl Doll Store by Galleria Mall in Dallas. It was lots of fun. Kelsie used the money she had been saving from Christmas and grades to buy some outfits for Kit. She got pj's and we bought her the matching ones - so cute. We ate at the bistro upstairs. The menu is broken into 3 parts so you order an appetizer, main course and side item. We all got something different to share. All were yummy! At the end of the meal, Kelsie and Wayne shared a hot fudge sundae and I got a milk shake - delicious. We finished up our shopping and then just piddled around on that side of town and came home. We had a good day together, it was nice to not be on a schedule - just to do whatever sounded fun. Saturday was a lazy morning (I love those) - time to read the paper and drink a cup of coffee. Kelsie and I did some shopping for Easter and then she had a birthday party to attend so Wayne and I did some shopping at Ridgmar while she was at the party. So, it's a good start to Spring Break - hoping to have a restful and fun week together. Keep you posted.

Spring Break is here !

2008-03-14T09:51:00.004-05:00

For us Spring Break is officially here TODAY. Kelsie had no work to do today so we are starting our Spring Break a little early. Today we are headed over to Dallas to go shopping at the American Girl Doll store. I know Wayne will find this an especially exciting way to spend the first day of Spring Break but with 2 girls in the house, there is not much choice on this one. We may try to make it to the JFK museum unless the Galleria mall lures us in with all it's offerings. It was glorious this morning to sleep until 9 - Kelsie and Raider even slept late!

On another note, this week our choir recorded a CD. We met for about 3 hours on Tuesday and 3 hours on Wednesday nights to record our 10 songs. It was a great experience and surprisingly exhausting. The solos were recorded separately during the week and both solo part and choir part recording is hard work! I can now see how a professional will spend ALL DAY in a studio recording 2 songs. It's very tedious to get just the right sound, note, tamber, feel, rhythm, etc. Singing live is very forgiving. You miss a note and you move forward and so unless it was REALLY bad noone notices or they forget when the next few are good. Recording exposes every little flaw in your voice, pitch and rhythm. WOW! I didn't know I sounded so bad. But, thankfully with modern technology our tech, Bob, can make me sound like a pro - love the pitch bend! By the way, the guy that came from Nashville to do all the technical stuff was GREAT! He was so nice, kept things moving along nicely and was extremely professional - and funny - thanks Bob!

A Big Mistake

2008-03-10T22:41:00.003-05:00

I forgot to add that on Friday I made a BIG mistake. My cell phone has been acting up so I went into the AT&T store with Wayne and Kelsie to find out what I could get with my upgrade. Wayne had mentioned the iphone before Christmas but of course I ignored him b/c of the price and the fact that he already has an ipod which is a big feature of it - all if one kinda deal. Anyway, we went into the store and they had iphones you could play with, text, surf the web, etc. That phone ROCKS! It SOOOOOOOOO made me want one and made Wayne want one even more than he already did before. But, since they sell for $399 each, it was a little out of our budget to spend $800 on phones that day. I have resolved now that a different phone will be just fine, that I do not NEED an iphone but I did find myself having covetous thoughts on Friday night as I watched two 17 year old girls sitting at the table across from us in the restaurant playing with their iphones. AH, to be 17 with no bills, no obligations, the freedom to spend my babysitting money on whatever I want! Well, here's to dreaming.

Update on Baby Allie

2008-03-09T12:56:00.005-05:00

We went to Cook Children's to see Allie on Friday night (this is my sister and brother in law's neice). She is doing well and was smiling and happy when we first got there. A nurse came in and she didn't like that very much and she got tired pretty quickly so we didn't stay very long. Her daddy and big brother had just arrived to spend the weekend and she was happy they were there. She is accepting chemo pretty well and hasn't lost any hair yet and she was very alert, happy and sweet as usual. Keep praying for her and this family as they have a few more weeks in the hospital here and away from home. God has already been good just providing the family with their needs day to day and blessing them as they see Allie doing better than what was first thought. We know God is the healer, so we ask Him to heal baby Allie.

Friday we also went to see Butterflies in the Garden at the FW Botanical Gardens. It was really fun, saw many different kinds of butterflies and each had our favorites. Took some good pics (will share later). Saturday night we ate at the Purple Cow with Morgan and her daddy. We had never been there before and it was pretty good - the girls got to sit at the bar next to our booth which they enjoyed. After dinner we went to Casa to see "Junie B. Jones" It was very cute! The girls enjoyed it but so did the adults. Of course, Saturday night was "spring forward" so we were dragging in on Sunday morning but made up for it with a Sunday afternoon nap. We are all looking forward to Spring Break! I am hoping for some Spring weather and a chance to read "Someday" the new Karen Kingsbury book from the Baxter family series. Can't wait! I'll let you know.

Weather, Weather and More Weather

2008-03-06T20:31:00.003-06:00

WOW! Texas weather is CRAZY!!! If you live here, this will just be a re-cap of what you have already experienced but if you don't, read and marvel at the craziness of our Texas weather in March. Last Sunday was warm and then the thunderstorms (very loud ones) blew through ALL NIGHT LONG! Wayne was out of town so it was just Kelsie, Raider and me. We were awakened quite a few times either by hard rain and thunder or by Raider growling and barking at the strange noises. He was really freaking out and if it hadn't been between 1 and 3 a.m., it would have been funny. Anyway, Monday was cooler and by Monday night it was snowing! Not a big snow, just a dusting but enough that Kelsie was out in her pjs and robe with gloves scooping snow off the slide to make a big snow ball. Raider was so cute going outside and coming in with a dusting of snow all over him - he wasn't sure what to do with it. By Tuesday we were back in the 50s again and to Kelsie's disappointment, no school delay. Wayne came back home on Tuesday night disappointed that he missed all the snow excitement. But wait - Thursday it snowed again. Denton (north of us) got quite a lot of snow, we really got mostly sleet with another slight dusting of snow. Not a MAJOR event but enough to give us a taste of winter in Texas. Kelsie had enough this time to build a little snowman and Raider had learned by now that it's wet and cold and wanted nothing to do with going out. We did put his little sweater on him - so cute.

In other news, Wayne's dad had heart surgery last week. He is doing great. The day after surgery he went to get a haircut and out to eat before going home. Also, my brother in law's family has also had some bad medical news. His neice (18 months old) was taken to the doc in San Angelo for high fever which they thought was the flu and when they tested her, she was diagnosed with leukemia. They transported her up here to Cook Children's. She has a good prognosis but a long road of recovery. Pray for this family as they go through the next 6 weeks of treatment living here and that baby Ally would respond to chemo well.

We are all looking forward to Spring Break. We don't have big travel plans but we do have plans to have fun doing things around here. Kelsie is saving her money to visit the American Girl store in Dallas. Tomorrow we are going to the Ft. Worth Botanical Butterflies in the Garden. I am really looking forward to it - we loved it when we went last time. I will try to update sooner next time and maybe with pics.......have a good weekend.

International World's Fair

2008-02-22T22:43:00.002-06:00

This week has been very busy, but the highlight of the week was Kelsie's History "International World's Fair" on Thursday night. Kelsie's class represented Asia and her country was Japan and she represented it well. She had a display with facts about Japan, some yen and other souvenirs that we borrowed from the Bowers, brought Green Tea and she wore a cute kimono that we had ordered online. We all had a really good time walking around and looking at all the different countries and sampling the various food and drink. Kelsie worked hard on her paper and presentation. We are very proud of her! I hope to put the pics on the computer soon and share them with you. Tonight we had dinner with friends, they cooked out steaks and veggies - very mediterranean and delicious! Great food, good conversation and a fun evening. Tomorrow morning is Kelsie's last basketball game, hope to post pics of that too very soon. Have a good weekend!

My Valentine

2008-02-15T15:30:00.003-06:00

Valentine's Day at our house started with the normal school/work routine with the addition of exchanging of gifts. Kelsie and Wayne had flowers and balloons for me, Wayne got a Starbucks gift card and Kelsie "Snow Buddies" movie and then off to school and work for all of us. That night, Wayne took me to the Reata restaurant in Fort Worth. The last time we were there was when the Reata was at the top of the Bank One building downtown before the tornado in 2000. After that they relocated to a different building downtown, it is now next to the 4 Day Weekend Comedy Club. The restaurant had a special Valentine's Day menu and we both (of course) had steak. It was delicious and the best part was the chocolate cake for dessert. It was such a relaxed, elegant and delicious meal. I couldn't ask for more than what God has blessed us with - that after almost 13 years of marriage we still enjoy each other's company. The things I have to celebrate on Valentine's Day are that my husband shares in my struggles and small victories of life, he is a wonderful parent to our daughter (and not a bad math teacher), he still thinks I look like I did when I was 25, and most of all he is a follower of God. Our family is blessed and thank God that we have so much love to honor on Valentine's Day. Happy Love Day to you! Tell someone you love them this week!

Our Family's Valentine

2008-02-12T20:58:00.003-06:00

A few days before Valentine's Day we pay tribute to our family's valentine - little Raider. He has been such a sweet baby and we all LOVE him! He is crazy about his squeaky elephant toy, he loves chewy sticks, he always greets us with wanting to be held and give kisses, he wakes Kelsie up every day by jumping on her bed and pulling out her pony tail holder when she has one in her hair, he brings us socks and most of all he is just got a sweet disposition. His name suits him b/c he raids our closets and Kelsie's toys but we think he is precious.

This is when we first got Raider, he was the size of a large Sonic drink. Now he is about 7 pounds, a growing baby.

Kelsie has a baby bed for her dolls and when Raider was little and tiny, she put him in it. Isn't he so very cute? Our little baby.

Happy Birthday, Hailey

2008-02-10T18:21:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday to my precious neice! We had a great weekend celebrating with Hailey - her big number 5. Friday night was party night at McDonald's and the kids had a great time, we all had a good time visiting and catching up with everyone. Kelsie spent the night at Hailey's house and we all got tickled listening to them crack up when they were suppose to be going to sleep. Eventually we had to "get mean" and tell them to get to sleep but we all laughed saying we remember those days of staying up to giggle. They were so cute. Saturday the weather was absolutely beautiful so the girls played in Hailey's backyard all day. We had a little picnic lunch outside and let the dogs play too. I have a new nephew now, my sister got a puppy. He is so cute, a little Boston Terrier named Peyton. We just fell in love with him and he and Raider got along pretty well after a little biting and chasing. They chased and played so hard, both dogs were exhausted and finally decided to nap in the sun. I have some cute pics so I will post them later when I get them put on my computer. We came back Saturday night so it was a really fast trip, but lots of fun. More soon, have a good week.

Pics to Share

2008-02-07T22:21:00.000-06:00

The week is winding down and we are all looking forward to our quick trip to San Angelo to celebrate my neice's 5th Birthday over the weekend. Happy Birthday Hailey! The beauty of University Model School is we will be doing school in the car - I love that! Well, here are the pics from the past I have to share, getting caught up on posting all these since my computer was out of commission during this time. Enjoy re-living Thanksgiving with me.

This is when we first got Raider and Kelsie liked treating him like a baby. He couldn't jump out of the stroller yet so he was the perfect candidate for capturing to take for a stroll.

Kelsie and Raider taking a walk.

Thanksgiving Day - at the "kids table" they decorated turkey shaped cookies to their liking. They got pretty ornate with them and had a good time. Christopher, Kelsie and Brittany.

It was very cold on Thanksgiving Day but it didn't stop the kids from wanting to be outside to play. Here is Kelsie and Brittany in the hammock.

Brittany and Raider. Since it was snowing, we put Raider's sweater on him to keep him warm when he wanted to go out. He actually didn't mind the cold, he just didn't want his paws to get wet.

Kelsie and Raider in the yard - you can see the snow flakes in this pic.