A Day of Thanksgiving

Well I hope that each and everyone of you had a great and memorable Thanksgiving. I sure did. We woke up that morning and started making our deviled eggs, and mini candied apples.( which was a task in itself) and Chase and Kori watched the parade and fought most of the morning. At about 11am we packed up our car and headed out to the country to my granny's house and joined the 53 other family members to our yearly Thanksgiving meal. We had about 11 pies, 2 turkeys(1 fried and 1 regular), 1 ham, 2 broccoli cheese and rice casseroles, stacked salads, fruit salads, millions of homemade rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, 2 gravies, stuffing, and cranberries salads. I am sure that I forgot somethings but you get the point. Finally at sharply 12 noon- when everyone arrived we stepped outside on the beautiful day that it was got in 1 big circle and had a short devotional- in which one cousin read a few scriptures, and then started to talk about what he was thankful for. Very sweet little talk he did. Then after that we sang our 3 songs that we always sing as a family "Count Your Blessings," "Gods Family,", and "Bless Be The Ties." Then we had the prayer and then got in line the older and wiser ones first, then the handicapped ones went next,( I have 2 uncles who are brothers, who are paralyzed) and then the rest of the clan. All of the kids 12 and under ate outside and the rest got to enjoy the AC. It was a great meal which everyone enjoyed thoroughly.

After lunch my brother went and got his 4-wheeler, and his mini-bike., there was a smaller 4-wheeler for the younger kids, about a dozen bikes ,and a wagon. There was basketball, volleyball, and lots of conversation. My sister and my cousin went around taking pictures of the family and great memorable shots. We then tried to get together in between the okra in front of the field for the grand kids, great grand kids, and kid pictures. There are 6 kids which have then gone on to have 20 grand kids, which have then gone on to have 21 great grand kids. Although we were short 4 grand kids, and 8 great grand kids, it was a great day. Here are some pictures of everyone and some others if I can get them.

Here is a picture of me and Reef .

Here is a pic of all the grandkids and great grandkids.



Here is a picture of my granny and papa with their kids.

My sisters and I and Reef.

Here is a picture of my Dad and Reef.



Here is Clint on the Mini-bike.

My Heart Aches

This blog is just me venting about a conversation that I had last night on Face book. My mind is at a complete loss for thoughts and words about two people who were once so strong in the church can fall away so far and not realize the lives that they are living is so against God's word. And I just wanted to add in that I was not perfect in any way, right after I moved out of my parents house I fell away, and got tangled up in the world, but the whole time I felt so guilty, and I was looking over my shoulder the whole time wondering if I would get caught in any way. I am so glad and so thankful that I came back to God before it was too late. OK back to the story- It started out about one guy joining a group to "overturn prop. 8" which then was replied by someone asking him why he would join something like that. In which he returned saying that everyone should be able to love whomever they want even if it is someone of the same sex as them. Which of course sent me into a fury of why this person would even make a comment such as that, and by midnight last night there were 57 comments in which that guys brother and cousin got in on it and my 2 sisters and a cousin trying to show book, chapter, and verse in the Bible all of passages about homosexuality (which these 2 bothers know these passages b/c they were raised in the church and their dad is still an elder at one), but they seemed to be unfazed by it and thought that we were small minded and the reason that bigotry, and hypocrisy were still alive. I feel bad for their parents who are still very strong Christians in the church that their only 2 sons have fallen so off of the path. One went off to California to become an actor which was probably his first mistake, getting mixed up in that worldly lifestyle. And ironically enough the other brother went off to preaching school at Southwest- then got mixed up in a lifestyle that he shouldn't of and is now going into the military to try to turn his life around or so I thought before last night. I pray for both of these brothers every night that something would prick their hearts and turn them back to God before it is everlasting too late. What makes me even sadder is that I grew up with both of these guys and the one is my age and we were the best of friends. I remember being in bible class one time( I think it was in junior high) and the teacher told us to look around and that only about 1 out of 5 of us would stay strong in the church- and we looked around and there were about 10 or more in the class and we laughed b/c we couldn't imagine that that would ever be true and now today there are 4 of us that are still in the church and the rest have fallen away. And now as a parent I look at my kids bible classes and it makes me think of that and it makes me instill God's word even more into my kids head, and hope and pray every night that they will remain good, and strong Christians for the rest of their lives and that they will find a good, and strong Christian mate that will help them go to Heaven. I know that there will be some rough times to go through but as long as we follow God's plan for us then we will be fine. OK I feel better now that I have said all of this- sorry if this is not one of my best.

House of Sickness

Well we have had 3 sick kids and I am soooo tired. It started about 2 weeks ago when Chase had a fever and then a rash. Well it was confirmed that he had strep throat that had gone into Scarlet fever. So we got through that OK. Well on Monday the real fun began. Reef had a rash on his bottom so I made an appt. for him and a follow-up appt. for Chase. After I made the appt. Kori was running fever and screaming that her throat was hurting as well. So i thought since I was taking 2 of the 3 that they could see Kori as well. See our co-pay for Dr. visits are $20.00 a child. So it was $40.00 to see Chase and Reef. Well i get to the Dr. Chase is fine, Reef has a fungus (Yeah!!!) and when i asked the lady to look in Kori's throat she told me no, b/c she did not have an appt. Well lets just say I wasn't very happy and Kori was more irritated b/c the Dr. ignored her. ( and she let her know it). So I let it go and went and made an appt for Kori for the next morning. Well so we went home and Kori continued to have fever and couldn't eat anything b/c of her throat. That was all Monday.
Tuesday morning we go back to the Dr. (another $20.00 just in case anyone was keeping up) by now Kori has a rash all over her body as well. Kori had strep throat which had gone to scarlet fever . Of course it was another Dr. that i saw and so I went on to complain to him about the lady who refused to see my daughter. she wouldn't have scarlet fever if she was seen yesterday when i had her in. They apologized so I guess i was happy but Kori was not b/c she had to get a shot. We come home and right before bed last night Reef wakes up all stuffy and then wakes up at 1am with fever and of course I am out of Tylenol so Clint had to go to Walmart to get some. Gotta love him. About 3 we got back to sleep with no fever. Wake up Wednesday morning with fever again, and a very stuffy nose so I guess thinking that 3rd time is a charm I make another appt. ( up to 80.00 now) Go to see the Dr. (the same lady that wouldn't see Kori) and Reef thank goodness just has a cold. So in 3 days I spent about 3-4 hours in the Dr.s office ( mainly waiting in a little room which I hate) and $80.00 + Kori's antibiotics cost- to find out that Chase is fine, Kori has scarlet fever, and Reef has a fungus and a cold. Yeah!!! love sick kids.
I also came to find out that Reef is not a very good sick baby. I don't know if it is b/c i have 2 others that are sick, or b/c I never had one this young be sick before but he has been whiny all day long- wanting me to hold him. Very hard to get anything done. Anyways I will be very happy when everyone in the house is 100%. And hopefully me and Clint will not get sick from all of this. Sorry if this was a little boring- felt like i had to get all of this off of my chest. Still a little angry at the lady who refused to see Kori. She is really not my favorite person right about now. So all of you parents or future parents start saving up for Dr. visits and medicines. It is so much fun- now on to a much needed rest.

Happy Halloween!!!

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween. Mine was very good as well as exhausting. The kids were very excited about dressing up and going to get the candy from everyone. Chase was a pirate, Kori was a witch ( go figure), and Reef was a skeleton again. For those who don't know what I mean last Halloween me and Clint went as skeletons to a party and that is how we told everyone we were pregnant b/c I had a baby skeleton on my belly. Anyways we got all dressed up and we had made some cookies b/c we went to a couple of nursing homes and passed out cookies to the old folks that lived there. Also b/c one of the nursing homes is where Clint's grandma lives and the other one is where my great uncle lives- so we had to go and see them. We then got in and out and in and out and in and out ( you get the picture) of the car to about 6 or 7 houses and stayed and visited with all of the relatives and took pictures, and got way too much candy. I was goign to let them walk up and down the streets, but by the time we got to the last house I was way too tired. I didn't realize how hard it is to get 2 kids and a baby in and out of a car until it was too late. But we had fun and Reef fell asleep at the last house- he had had enough. So anyways I am trying hard not to eat all of the kids candy and trying to monitor how much candy they have a day. I think I am going to have to hide it somewhere where they or me can't find it. So I hope you enjoy the pictures that I put up- the other one of them is at the pumpkin patch that we went to also on Halloween- trying to cram to much into one day.

Sea World

This past weekend we took the kids to Sea World and to the Zoo. We went with Chris and Katie and their 3 kids and had a great time. Chase and Kori rode on their first big rollercoaster and loved every minute of it. There was hardly anybody there so they rode Journey to Atlantis about 4 times in a row, in the very front of the roller coaster. I am so glad that they like rollercoasters and not afraid of them, since me and Clint love them. Except by the time that I got to the Great White I wasn't feelilng much for it and really should have not gone on it, but i promised Rig that I would ride it with him. Anyways we had a blast watching the Shamu, Beluga, and Sea Lion shows, feeding the dolphins, and spending time with family. Holly and Paul and their kids even came down and we got to spend a little time with them at the hotel.
The next day we went to the Zoo which was a little hot for me but the kids had a blast there too. Reef slept the whole time- so his first zoo experience was I guess exhausting for him. We had planned on staying through Sunday but we decided to come home early. We are in the middle of a gospel meeting right now with Tom Bright, which is why we came home we didn't want to miss any of his sermons.
We are going to be very busy this week. We have the gospel meeting till Wednesday. The next day me and Kyla have to go up and decorate for the kids costume party that we are having that night. Make skeleton cookies for that. Then on Friday Chase has his Halloween party for his school that day and then that night its on to trick or treating around to everyones house. And sometime in there we have to carve our pumpkins, go to a pumkin patch for pictures, and so much more. Yeah!!!!! Well try and do the carving tonight after the meeting, but who knows. I will try to work on putting pictures up but I'm not very computer smart so we will see how that goes. I will keep you posted on pics from Halloween

Here we go!!!!

Well ok since Crystal did her blog I guess I need to keep my promise and do mine- I am a horrible writer so this might just be all about nothing. I have been keeping up with Kendra, Theresa, Autumn, Amy, Rachel, and now Crystal- so hopefully I will be able to do just half a good a job as these girls.

There is not much to talk about i am very busy with 3 kids. Chase is in a pre-school 5 days a week and loving it. He is learning his letters and numbers and all sorts of new songs that he comes home singing to me everyday and what he learns about at school- very exciting to watch him learn new things and become a little boy instead of a toddler. He is also playing soccer every Saturday till Thanksgiving. Yeah!!! He is in all niceness very interesting to watch. He doesn't have the competitiveness yet which is a good thing. He would rather be out their socializing with everyone than playing. At one time he had 3 other boys listening to his story while the other 2 boys were running the ball down the field- go figure. Never thought that he would be my social one since the whole time in College Station he was attached to my hip and wouldn't talk to anyone at all. My how he has changed and grown before my eyes. Well Wednesday nights at church they have the little boys go up before church starts and about 3 or 4 boys will go and lead a song up in the front to get everyone mind ready for church to start. Well last Wednesday night Chase wanted to do it- so we practiced at home the week before and told him all the rules (don't be silly, sing the song, don't yell into the microphone)- When it came to his turn he went up there with his open song book, pulled the microphone down and said "Please turn to page 553." and then started singing "Jesus Loves Me" He did such a good job I was tearing up and wishing that I had my camera. I was so proud.
Next there is Kori. Enough said!! Just kidding- she is having a hard time I think being the middle child. She has always been well how should I put it- well mean. She is bossy, stubborn, very aggressive, strong-willed, independent, and loud. And then there are some seldom times when she can be the sweetest little girl in the world and you wonder where she came from, and who this little girl is. Me and Clint have been trying to think of different ways to discipline her since nothing seems to be working. Some people may not agree with this but we spank are kids, we are commanded by God to "Spare the rod- spoil the child"- not that we use a rod but we do spank. Well back to my story the spanking hasn't' really been working, we tried taking all of her toys away and that doesn't work. So we are on to a new thing where I will spend quality time with just me and Kori and give her a little bit of attention and we will see how that works. We are thinking that she is feeling a little bit ignored with Chase and his school and soccer and Reef needing my full attention- so we are hoping that maybe this works please pray for us as we find a result. Now putting the negatives aside about Kori and on to the positives. Like I said she can be the sweetest thing at times- she is very sweet to babies- she can make Reef laugh and talk at anytime during the day. He loves her and is very fascinated with her and everything that she does. She can be very helpful around the house at times. She is very smart.( I know every parents thinks there kids are smart) She is very interested in letters and Chase's schoolwork that he does. She will probably start reading when Chase does. She just moved up to the 3 year old class at church and they have memory verses every Sunday- and she was so excited about having memory verses and learning things that Chase learned. So every Sunday morning she gets up and asks for her memory verse and studies it until she gets to class. She also wants to go up and lead songs with Chase but we have to tell her that only boys are allowed to do this and it is a little hard for her to understand- but she is getting better. Kori is a one of a kind little girl that at times is very very difficult to be around but at the end of the day when she asks you to snuggle with her and kisses your hand and says "Mommy I love you and you are my bestest friend in the whole world" it makes you forget all the bad things.
Last but not least is Reef. There is not alot to say about him. He is 4 months old now and is rolling all over the place. The blanket on the floor started out a very small square and now has grown to a very long rectangle. He is scooting all over and I know when he is crying that he is off the blanket and onto the tile. he loves to sit up, stand and watch people and talk to everyone. He smiles at everyone and is very nosey. He wants to be down on the ground with Chase and Kori and do the things that they do. He is eating cereal now at night and last week started bananas and is eating applesauce this week and loves it. He looks just like Chase did but acts like Kori did as a baby so he is a great combination of them both.
Well that wraps up the family sorry if it has bored everyone on to death- I will wait on the comments or no comments to either stop writing or to maybe try a few more who knows.