House pictures

Please don't mind the mess that we still have in the pictures!  We leave for children's camp in 3 days AND I will be sharing at the ladies luncheon this Sunday...so I'm going to be busy.  I thought I better put up a few pictures for my family before I forgot!

Our Entertainment room.  This room was an addition to the original house.  I am standing at the entrance to the rest of the home.

The dining room.  The door on the left is the entrance to the entertainment room.

Kitchen!!!

Dining room view from the other side.

The original "living room" that we will use for school and my craft stuff. (Pardon the mess).

Casey's room with all his music stuff, computer stuff and school stuff.

 Not pictured is the boys room, our bedroom and the two bathrooms.  :>)

Happy 4th!

We've had a really great day together with just the four of us.  We had thought about going to the kid parade and firework show at the High school tonight, but it is 103 degrees and still climbing this afternoon.  We may be able to see the fireworks from our house though.
We played some croquet this morning around 10am and it was already pushing 90 plus degrees.  I made some amazing guacamole.  Casey said it might be the best batch I've ever made.  :>)  I also made some hamburgers.  They would have been better cooked on a grill, but we don't have one, so I cooked them on my griddle.  Ethan said, "Thanks Mom, that was a great burger."  Then, the finale was home made ice cream!  I cooked up the base yesterday so all we had to do today was scoop the ice in and turn it on.  It was the best ice cream we have ever had.  Seriously!  The ice cream base was very easy to mix up.  Definitely a keeper. 
We are continuing to get our house in order.  Slowly but surely.  We put up most of our pictures and frames yesterday and today we are continuing to unpack and set up the "stuff."  We have a mouse that is going to drive me over the edge if we don't catch it soon.  I'm tired of washing all my dishes and utensils before we use them (just in case) and of course after we use them too!  GRRRR...  We are going to set up a bunch of traps tonight and pray that the Lord will deliver this mouse into our trap.  (I want proof it's gone!) 
Casey went down the road to the grocery to pick up a few things and saw a large solid wood entertainment center with a "take me" sign on it.  Our tv and stuff has been sitting on the floor since we moved here, so it was a great find.  It is huge (like 6 ft. tall by 4 ft wide) but it actually doesn't look so big in our big "entertainment" room.  Our neighbor/land lord saw us trying to unload it (I have no idea how Casey got INTO his truck all by himself!) and came over to help. (I was mostly standing trying to figure out the best way to help without getting hurt when he came over.) They are really nice and I think we are really going to like it here. 

We've moved!

We thought we'd throw a move into our summer plans because we just didn't have enough going on already! 
We finished cleaning the apt. and turned in our keys and now it's just trying to get everything put away.  In our little apartment of 900 sq. ft. there was not really a choice about where to put certain things.  This house is more than twice the size of our apt. so we've got lots of options...which means it's taking longer for us to figure out where we want everything.  The house is great, but it definitely has some quirks. 
So, that's all for now...got to finish unpacking! 

Something special

Have you ever been given a gift or a word or encouragement JUST when you needed it?  Like maybe somebody new what EXACTLY you needed.  I did, today!  I've had a rough week.  I've complained (a lot) the last couple of weeks.  Maybe not always in word, but definitely in attitude.    Well, I think the Lord had enough of my grumbling and successfully revealed that to me this morning.  This past week we started a new series for Bible Study on Jacob, the deceiver and manipulator.  Through the week I've seen where I try to get my way (hello manipulation!) when I don't like the way things are going.  Sure, I'm not trying to steal a blessing or birthright, but I can still dress up like the best of them and wear false smiles and hide behind "religious" activity (hello deceiver!).  Anyway, I love how the Lord takes what I've been reading and studying and wrestling with during the week and then just kind of knocks me down a bit with His word.  No, it doesn't exactly "feel" good at the time, but then again it's the best "feeling" I know. 
Have I lost you yet? 
Maybe I can explain it this way.  The God of the universe, who created all things, and controls all things, who sees and knows all things, who holds all things together in the care of His hands, this great God loves me enough that HE knows EXACTLY what I need AND He gives it to me.  God gives the best gifts.  Sometime that best gift is a little bit of discipline through correction.  Today I needed a bit of an attitude adjustment...and let's just say I got it!  Our pastor said this morning that we can live in 3 different ways:  in Egypt (bondage to sin), in the wilderness (where we see God providing every need and yet we constantly complain and grumble and MISS God's best-that hit a little close to home), or in the promised land (where we face giants and do battle, but have abundant life because we are walking in the Spirit).  I'll take what's behind door #3.

Spring photos and other news

First, I'll share the other news.  Praise the Lord, I think we finally have a place to live in Joshua!  We calculated recently that each time we drive there it costs us about 2 gallons of gas...that adds up quickly!  Anyway, we have been told that we can rent a certain house (we haven't seen it, but we have heard that it is really nice) but we are not sure when we'll be able to move in.  It seems there is a plumbing problem, not with the house but with one of the lines underground somewhere (which means it might be a city problem).  So, the owner doesn't really want us to move until that gets fixed.  He is thinking at least 2 weeks.  And, guess what we have going on in 2 weeks?  VBS!  So, hmmm....June should be exciting.  But, I'm excited to know that we will be moving!

I think summer is going to fly by.  We've got so many great things on the calendar!  I mentioned VBS in 2 weeks.  I'm teaching Kindergarten this year!  In mid July our entire family is going to Children's camp.  Josiah is not "of age" but since I'm going, he is too.  At the end of July our family is going to Brownsville, TX on a mission trip with our church.  Exciting!  And then, in August we will take a week vacation and then school starts again.  In September it looks like we'll have a visit from the McCarthy's.  Woo Hoo!

Okay, that's all our "news" so here are some more pics of this past spring.

My handsome first born - March, 2011

My handsome baby boy - March, 2011

 We played a little put put golf during spring break.

This is their ninja pose.  They are both working on their own ninja moves.

Ethan participated in the AWANA Bible quiz. - April, 2011 

Was it the right answer?  I don't remember.

The choir that Casey went with to New York had a performance at this UM church in South Lake, TX.  While the choir was rehearsing the boys and I sat out by the "lake" and watched the ducks.  Josiah's favorite past time is drawing, and Ethan's is reading.  

This is his artwork.  The "person" sitting to the left is the bronze statue man that was near us.

He's got the cutest little dimples under his eyes.

Casey is building my new computer while the boys watch.

Ethan helping Casey with the computer.

A few of the kids from the children's choir went to a nearby Retirement home to sing some of the songs from the spring musical.

And finally, here is a little video on some of the storms we've had recently.  This was a Monday morning.  By the afternoon it was clear and sunny and the sidewalks were dry.  The next night is when we had the big storm systems come through that produced the tornadoes (and hail, thunder, lightning, winds, etc.).

Our mini vacation

We took a little trip down to Glen Rose, TX a couple of weekends ago.  We really needed a few days away.  It is called the Dinosaur Valley because they have found lots of prints and bones around the area.  The boys love all things Dinosaur, so it was a really nice time.  
Dinosaur Valley State Park:

Climbing rocks!

If you look at where they are pointing you will see a dinosaur foot print!

Crossing a little river to find some more tracks.

There are some large prints in there, but the water was a little muddy.

The T-Rex from at the State Park from the World's fair.

Along one of the trails of the park.

Dinosaur World is another nearby attraction that has dozens and dozens of dinosaurs along a circular path.  There is also a little playground, store and the best part: a fossil dig.  The boys got to dig through the sand and find fossils like shark teeth.  They were allowed to keep three items and I think they both got some shark teeth.  I can't remember any of the dinosaur names, but I'm sure Ethan does if I asked him.  Enjoy!

I'm back...sort of...

Yes, I realize it's been forever since I've posted.  I apologize to my 5 or so faithful readers who have been left hanging out there. :>)
So, here are the "highlights" of the last few weeks! 

1. Casey has now completed 2 years (4 semesters, plus one summer term) of his Masters Degree.  Only 3 semesters left.  
2. Casey is now seriously considering a Doctorate.  Yep...add 4 more years of school...
3. My computer crashed and my hard drive was completely wiped out...yep, gone.
4. We spent last weekend in Glen Rose, TX (aka dinosaur valley).  It was a lot of fun.  We went to the Dinosaur Valley State Park, Dinosaur World, and the Creation Evidence Museum....we saw lots of dinosaurs.  There is something about boys and dinosaurs!
5. I came home from our mini vacation (Sat. afternoon) with what I thought was an ear ache that went down into my tonsils.  It got worse.  Monday I went to the Dr. and they checked for strep.  The little swab (that they gag you with and make you cry) came back negative.  However, the dr. took a look and said, well, that sure looks like strep.  So, my first strep...it is quite awful and totally changed all the plans I had for this week.  
6. We still haven't found a place to live near our church in Joshua, tx.  So, we are praying about buying again (because of number 2).
7. Casey is not taking summer classes (hallelujah!).  We need a break from school...however, it is looking like he will go to full-time over the summer months at church.
8. Casey went to NY with the school choir and he loved it.  It was a HUGE deal for the school to be asked.  Casey enjoyed NY a lot.  I can tell because he's still talking about it!  Another great thing was that he got some one on one time with a few profs that he really respects and was able to talk some things out.  
9. The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful friend and "partner" in ministry.  Her name is Stephanie.  And, making it even sweeter is that our kids like to be together and get along very well.  
10. I cleaned the tub today.  I know, that's not really "news" worthy, but I couldn't end on a 9.