IF YOU HAD A BUNCH OF BAPTISMS YOU COULD CALL IT "CASH FOR DUNKERS"

These pictures are Shelby and Abby getting baptized by Pastor Mike. They were baptized the day after Trevor's graduation. See how far behind in blogging I am??? See those three people in the background, standing down on the stage? I love those guys~the couple to the right, The Coopers, are on their way to Laos today!! Lynsey said she is never standing there again for a baptism because she could see me and I was crying so she was crying. It was a wonderful day:)

FROM SNOW TO SPRING IN 5 DAYS

We did get a little snow on Sunday which made everything look lovely.

We didn't get as much as I was hoping for but I'm not complaining.

The last few days have been wonderfully Spring-like. We have been to the park and outside a lot.

So, now I am ready for Spring to be here and stay.

Abby turned 7 on Wednesday and we had a good time surprising her.

She is my little worry wart. She asked me a bazillion times if I had bought her birthday present yet. Each time I assured her that I had everything under control~she continued to ask a bazillion times more. See~she's a worry wart.

I know this about her and yet I mentioned to her last night that she and her sister have dr appts for their 7yr and 9yr check ups. Oh my word~that sent her to the edge. She told me all evening she wasn't sick and didn't need to go to the doctor and over and over again I told her it was just a check to see how much she weighs and how tall she has gotten.

I should kick myself in the head. If that was actually possible for me to do~which it isn't.

I finally got her fears calmed when 20/20 came on about mean dentists that hold their little patients down and do all sorts of scary things in their mouth.

Here we go again~where was my head last night???

Obviously not attached to my body!!!!!

Did I mention we have cleanings scheduled for Monday?

Yes~we do.

Pray for us.

TRYING TO SOW SOME SEED

The other day while riding in the van I decided that it would be a good time to go over the girls' memory verse for the week.

So, I asked Shelby to say it and she did.

Then I asked Abby to say it and she said, "What she said."

I cracked up!!! It was so funny.

Then I made her say it. And she did.

RAINY DAYS AND MONDAYS ALWAYS GET ME DOWN

Not really. Not usually.

How can I be down when I look out the window and see this precious sight???

They wanted to go outside in the rain and I obliged.

When the rain started getting harder and it started getting cold they decided they were done.

Tonight is my book study and as much as I love it, I would rather stay home, eat the chili I put on earlier, and snuggle up with my hubby on this cool, rainy evening.

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not."~~~Emerson

FABULOUS FRIDAY

These pictures are from last summer. Abby looks so cute in the bathtub and I love the picture of them at Chuck E Cheeses. They look so tan and summery:~)

We passed a fender bender today on the way home from Target. Abby said,"Look that car got it's face smashed in!" There you have it, folks!! Hope your weekend rocks!!!

OPA!!!!!!!

We went to the Greek festival today after church. We ate lunch there and it was soooo good!!!

We decided to bring our dessert home because Mike needed to go to bed. He had been up for over 24 hours. I honestly do not know how he does it!!!

We had Baklava (of course!!), flogeres, kataiffi, and saragli. They were all delicious! The bread is Tsoureki~Easter sweet bread.

They had olive oil soap for sale that was $1 a bar. I will use them in gift baskets (and keep at least one for myself). The ingredients are simple: olive oil, citric acid, aqua. It says on the the package "Pure Traditional Soap". I am intrigued and can't wait to try it.

Abby drew me this picture on the white board and she titled it, "God's Love".
Sweet!!!!

BIG GIANT CRAYONS!!!!

Let your teenager loose with your camera and two willing participants and here's what you get:





Those blocks are the Math U See blocks. They were supposed to be doing their school work but as you see they were goofing off!!

FOR MY MOM

Abby with her newly purchased fan on her first day of enrichment class.

Shelby on her first day.

The new building for Shelby and Trevor's music school. This is the library.

This is the beautiful performance hall. The lights were off but you can see how pretty and big it is. I love it!!

The waiting area. It is so much more luxurious than the hand me down couches we have sat on in a tiny room for 4 years at the old school:~)

The reception desk~~no more signing in at a table in a tiny corner of above mentioned room.

This building made me cry the first time I saw it at the open house. It is so wonderful to see an organization that works so hard to provide music lessons for students that would otherwise not be able to afford them get to enjoy such a beautiful facility after years of being crammed into two very old houses. (sorry for the run on sentence~~I can't help it:~) They deserve this and more.

SWEET SUMMER HAIRCUTS

We took the girls and got their haircut today. Shelby decided she wanted hers short for the summer and Abby needed a cut badly. They look so cute and they are FULL of themselves tonight. Every time they pass a mirror they have to take a look and run their hands through their hair. Take a look at these beauties:





Mike goes to the doctor tomorrow and he has to be there at 7:30 a.m. 7:30 a.m.!!!!!!!!!!! That means we have to get up wwaaayyyy early to get the girls to my friend Ruthie's house and then get downtown AND did I mention that the CMA Music Fest (aka Fan Fair) starts tomorrow~~~~that means traffic, traffic, and more traffic. Oh well, maybe we will miss the traffic since we have to be there at the crack of dawn.

Pray that Mike gets a good report and he the cast on his arm gets taken off permanently. He wants them to tell him he can start putting weight on his legs. We'll see.

DO WE TRUST HIM???

I have been thinking and reading about trust and how we can trust God even when things are not going right in our lives. WE CAN TRUST HIM!! He has not abandoned us. He has not forgotten us. He is there and we can trust Him~~we REALLY can.

Even when we are angry, frustrated, raging against our circumstances, filled with uncertainty, positively numb, unable to express anything at all~~He is right there, never changing, never faltering, never surprised, never withholding His love from us. He is right there holding us in His loving arms like a mother holds her child. He loves us so much and He knows our wounded hearts.

I love Him more today than I did before April 9, 2008. Praise His Holy Name!!

Here is a link to a video I watched today. It is worth looking at. If you want to read about their story click here.

Yesterday Trevor had to go to training to be a junior counselor at music camp. What fun he will have week after next when he is practicing with the Jazz Band and Show Band. They have a recital on the last of camp to show off what they have been working all week. It is always a wonderful performance.

One of the things I love about Abby is her sense of style. She is rockin' these shoes!!

Those long, slim fingers belong to Shelby. They will be perfect to play the piano with. Hopefully, her dream will match mine:~)
If not this is what she has to look forward to~~~~~



JUST KIDDING:~)

T.E.A.M.W.O.R.K.

My sister has hi-jacked my vacuum cleaner since she moved here last month. We have been making do with the Shark and it has brought out teamwork in the girls. One holds the vacuum while the other goes over the floor with the hose part.


I have no idea why Abby is wearing a bucket around her neck. It is funny though!

Mike is out of town on a preaching trip. It is just overnight but if you know us in real life you know Saturday night is sacred. It is the only night of the week Mike is home. All night. And we get to wake up together. Just one night a week. I am bummed that we will miss it this week but I know that it is good for him to go on these trips. Still, I will miss him tonight. And, yes, I typed that with a little tear in my eye.

I failed to mention another tidbit of info in my previous post. Not only did Mike make the Dean's List but he was also awarded a $1500 scholarship 2 weeks ago. He was so excited. Gosh, I love him. He is such a hard worker and I am honored to be his wife.

Hope ya'll are having a good weekend!!!

PICTURES THAT I PROMISED

Abby going down the slide at Chuck E. Cheese. We went there for Shelby's birthday yesterday.

The Birthday Girl

Getting ready for their games.

Shelby playing.

Abby is over by the goal.

I GOT A MAKEOVER BY A 6 YR OLD

My baby turned 6 on Tuesday and it has been busy around here.

My parents and sister got here yesterday morning so things have been kinda hectic.

Today was Mike's last day of Bible conference and now he is officially on Spring Break. WOO~HOO!!!!

I am so glad he doesn't have class til March 17th.

SWEET THINGS

Here are two sweet things that made me smile today:

My youngest daughter in pink striped tights. I could absolutely eat her up in them!!!

The braids my oldest daughter asked me to put in her hair. I like to do her hair when she asks me to do it!!!

The weather has been quite yucky today but these two sweet things helped the day look brighter. I love having daughters!! (and a son:~)

HERE WE GO~~~

*update~~We survived and the girls did pretty good during their evaluations. They were more concerned about what number would be on their jersey and what color it would be. Girls~~they are worried about the important things:~)

The girls are going to play soccer this spring. They have evaluations today.

This will be our first experience with any organized sports:~)

They have assured me they REALLY want to play. So, here we go!!

I'll let you all know how it goes;~)

BUT I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL, MOM!!!

There are lots of tears here this afternoon. We have received a series of calls telling us they have called off Tutorial tomorrow.

There is a lot of sickness going around so they have decided to crush my girls by not having school:~)

Abby cried big, fat tears and said, "Why can't we go to school, Mommy? I want to go see Mrs. Caldwell." Oh, the sadness of it all.

Shelby is mad because she wanted to play with her "girls" and do more poetry.

Trevor, on the other hand, is NOT sad at all. His writing class is kicking his butt and he is glad that he will have a week of reprieve.

Anyway, I am off to dry tears and make things better with corn on the cob.(Abby's absolute favorite food in the whole entire world.)

SUNDAY

I have a little sick doodle bug. Abby has a nasty cold and she woke us up at 4 this morning. I gave her some fever reducer and rubbed Baby Vick's vapor rub on her feet. I accidentally got some between her toes because it was, after all, 4 in the morning.

She did not like this at all and has since decided to not let me come within 2 feet of her with the stuff. She says, "Mom, I do not like that stuff between my toes.

She and I stayed home from church because we are courteous that way. The whole 24 hours fever free has stuck with me from my wonderful days working daycare. Which I hated, by the way!!

This is what my daughters looked like yesterday while out doing errands. Their dad had pulled out the Disney memento tub and they wanted to wear their hats. It was funny because people thought we had just come back from Disney World and we didn't have the gumption to tell them we went almost a year ago. We just laughed to ourselves.





Which brings me to this picture. We were going to buy a picture frame at Disney to put one of our pictures in but we didn't. I had it in the back of my mind to get one sometime when we were at the Disney store but it never was a priority. I am glad we waited because my lovely husband found this one at the thrift store in mint condition for $3.99. People, this frame still had the Disney price tag on it and some poor soul paid a whopping $20.00 for it. Sad for them, happy for me that they decided to get rid of it. Maybe their trip wasn't all that remember able but our was. So thank you Mr. or Ms. Frame Donator. (BTW-donator is a word despite what my computer says!!)

I will leave you with this wonderful work of art. I found it on the camera and Shelby confessed that it was taken by Trevor. It looks like a flower to me and for some reason I like it. I am glad he took the initiative to photograph his apple peeling and apple wedging ability. Does he have too much time on his hands? No way!! His schedule is more full than mine:~) I think he just saw beauty where there was some. Shhh~~don't tell him I told you that. He might not take anymore pictures like this if I tell him it is pretty.


Oh, one more thing, this secret I mentioned here.

It's not about anyone being pregnant. It is about another life changing event but not that kind. I have to be quiet now. Very quiet.

Hope ya'lls Monday is fabuloso!!!

WINTER SATURDAYS

After a nice warm shower on a cold, cold Saturday night, it is nice to sit down and color with your best friend. Lord, may they always be this close.

And HERE'S what happens when you have a 16 yr old brother that got Guitar Hero III for Christmas! She is so cool. (Trevor dressed her up and took these pictures!)

And HERE'S what happens when your 16 year old brother works at Chicfila and gets the guitar from "the"rock 'n' roll cow and wants you to pose with it. (Notice the cow "arm" on the guitar:~)

I LOVE BUBBLEGUM!!!!!!!!!!!

When I pick up my youngest daughter from Tutorial she always has a HUGE wad of bubble gum in her mouth. When I say HUGE wad I am talking 3 pieces.

See, she gets to go into the prize box and pick any three things in there if she behaves herself in class.

She can hardly close her mouth and it is hilarious. She has this bright pink gum sticking out of her mouth and she is chewing for all she's worth. I say, "Abby, why do you have all that gum in your mouth?"

She says, "I luffff bubbbblgmmmm!!" Translated~I love bubblegum.

I have to remember to take my camera next week and get a picture of this sight.

UNO!!! NO SPEAKING SPANISH 'ROUND HERE!!!!

Mike, Trev, and I played a mean game of Uno here last night and when I say we played a mean game~~I mean, a mean game.

We are not one of those families that let each other win just to be nice. No!!! We play to whoop some butt!!

We had a blast trying to beat the pants off each other.

Mike had gotten out the old video camera and put it on the tripod because the girls wanted to make a movie so they were pretending like they were filming us.

Abby was taking her turn behind the camera when I got to my last card and yelled "Uno!" She looked around the camera and said, "We are not speaking Spanish in this movie!!"

I wonder where she gets such wit!! Hmmmmmmmm