A jam packed Saturday

This Saturday was filled with fun!! Tara is home from overseas so we had to get to have a girls day! Tanna found this amazing spa that lets you pick and choose which services you want and you can just relax and have free range of the whole place.  They had spa tubs, pools with jets, saunas, ice rooms, lounge areas, heated floor areas...it was outrageous! We felt like we hit the jackpot and quickly realized 5 hours was not going to be long enough!!

It is so hard to believe that 20 years have passed and we are still the same girls, doing the same things!! I look at this picture and feel the same now as I did then.  We have more laugh lines on our faces and years of experience under our belts and 11 children between us now, but yesterday felt just like we were 16 again!  Our friendship is so rare and truly a blessing that we can go so long without seeing one another, yet pick up right where we left off!  Being with you girls is always good for my soul!  I love you all!!

Richard and I spent the last part of Saturday at the Tech/Baylor Shootout!  It was an exciting game and really cool to watch at the AT&T Stadium!  Tech played hard but couldn't pull out a win this time.  Richard was in charge of purchasing the tickets and as we walked to our seats I saw a lot more green and gold than red and black and sure enough we were smack dab in the middle of the Baylor side.  I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I still cheered loud!  He claims he put in "best available seats", but you can be sure next time I'll be the one purchasing the tickets!!  ;)

34th Birthday!

This past week I turned 34! The years keep going past, but I still feel like I am in my 20's...for the most part.  I have noticed a few more aches and pains; I have heard that after 30 your body starts going down hill.  I wish that weren't so and truly wish I could stay in my 30's forever.  So far, they have been wonderful years!!  The kids are at fun ages, my marriage is young and fresh, I feel like I am wiser than I was in my 20's...I am loving this stage of life!

We went to mom's for the birthday celebrating and the theme was perfect; TEACHING!  Here is the table décor; pencils, Crayola cups, apples, paper clips, and lunch sacks filled with goodies were the name plates.

My red velvet cheesecake!!  YUM!!

The night began with Mrs. Pippen telling us to find our seat and listen for directions.  Our assignment was to draw a picture for grading and, if deemed worthy, then we would be able to go through the lunch line.  Everyone's was different and we all got different grades.  You can see my sight word sentence with a picture of the beach got a check +.  Lol!!

Then it was on to the lunch line, complete with lunch trays and the "lunch lady"...hair net and all!!

Teague commented that this was the best school ever because it had green jello! 

The boys could not stand not opening their sacks so they have to see what was in them.  Like a lunch it had some chips, juice, cupcake with a "have a good day" note in each one and a napkin themed for each person! 

Then I got to open my presents.  I got a ton of cool things; a new curling iron, a huge umbrella to take to school, a car charger for my new phone, a Starbucks gift card, a new outfit and here are my teacher's rock socks!

and an apple with money tied to the stem for shopping!

I love seeing what my mom comes up with for everyone's birthday and I love how it's always personal for each one of us, right down to the smallest detail!  My kids are seeing how birthdays are done around here and I am going to have some big shoes to fill in keeping up with this fun birthday party idea throughout the years. Thanks, Mom!!

Finding Freedom....continued

I have only been blogging about 7 years and started mainly to keep friends and family up to date on pictures and events when my first child was born. Slowly, I found out that I love writing and tend to use blogging as an outlet and a way to process my thoughts. On top of the fact that I print out my blog annually as a scrapbook for me and future generations. In some tough times, blogging truly kept me sane and connected to others I didn't even know, but who encouraged and lifted me up in prayer. I also have tried to stay transparent in my writing and in many cases God has used that to help someone else I didn't know I was helping. I love that God can use me through this blog to reach people so far beyond my immediate sphere of influence.

Several years ago, in my naiveté, I let anyone comment directly to my blog, but now, I have them come to my email first just to make sure they are suitable to post. Mostly, I receive comments that are uplifting and from my friends and family who can relate or just support my thoughts, but every now and then I receive the negative comments. I usually just delete without further hesitation, especially when they come from someone anonymously. But last week, I got a comment that truly took me by surprise. I think my surprise was not in the words, but in how they effected me.  Here is the comment:


"Your church sounds psycho. Are you really that terrified of some evil devil entity that supposedly your God created and can't...or even worse...won't do anything about.
Your god chooses to let him run amock instead of, you know, taking care of the situation. Seriously??? I can't believe adults still believe this mythology. It's borderline pathetic.
Sadly, you have been so brainwashed since birth that you probably think the devil is writing this or inspiring someone to write this. LOL."


I got upset; probably like how most of you reading this feel now, and I wanted to justify and explain. I showed Richard and he and I talked briefly about the kind of person that would write that. Once we talked, I didn't give it much more thought. However, the week has passed and this person has come to my mind several times. I have been convicted that I should not respond out of a need to justify what I believe, but out of love because through loving others is how they know we are His disciples. (John 13:35...thanks Kim ;) ) So, first, I want to the author of this comment to know that I am praying for you. I pray that one day you will come face to face with God's power and enormous love in a way that will touch you so deeply that you can't help but be changed.

Second, I want to apologize if my "Finding Freedom" blog portrayed Christ as weak because He is far from weak.  I think possibly His kindness and patience is mistaken for weakness.  I should have better communicated how great His love for us is and through that great love He desperately wants to be reconciled with each of us, yet loves each one of us too much to force us to love Him back.  My mind can not fathom that kind of love, but I do know that is not weakness.

The Bible is clear that we have a choice, but one day every knee with bow and every tongue will confess (Phillipians 2:9-11, Romans 14:11)  The Bride of Christ will bow and confess willingly to an Almighty King and everyone else will bow and confess from the shear power of the name Jesus.  Revelation 1 paints a vivid picture of  how powerful Christ is and I look forward to the day when I get to see Him face to face and thank Him for everything!

Happy Halloween!

This year we helped out at our church's fall festival instead of taking the kids door to door, trick or treating.  Before we headed out I tried a few Halloween treats for dinner; hot dog mummies, spider web ketchup/mustard and witch hat cookies.  They gobbled them up!

The kids played games, jumped in the bouncy houses and loved the face painting!  It was a great Halloween!!