Happy Anniversary

Today is mine and Clint's 6 year anniversary. Wow how time flies by so fast when your having fun, and in love. We went out to eat last night and Clint asked me what my favorite moment of us was. I couldn't think of just one I had about 500 in my head. I had 3 from each one of our kids birth- 2 from finding our I was pregnant with our children( Kori was a big surprise), when we sold our house, when we moved back home to be with our family, when Clint got his job here in Corpus, and I could go on forever. Then he said take the kids out and just my favorite moment with just the 2 of us. Well I still couldn't just pin down my most favorite, so he told his favorite was when I told him that I loved him. It was very sweet. We have know each other for 10 years- we talked about when we first met which was at church. His dad had just moved down here for a new preaching job and we went over to introduce ourselves and he told me that I had nice teeth and that I needed to meet his son. He then called his son over to meet me and told Clint to look at my teeth. We met up later and I then asked him out first to my senior banquet at church, and then went bowling after that. I knew the moment that I saw him the very first time that I was going to marry him. We eventually lost touch with each other, went on to do some stupid stuff in our lives, and somehow about 3 or 4 years later we got our lives back on the right track and found each other again. He took me out on a boat to a little island thing in the bay to ask me to marry him( I guess he took me there b/c if I said no he could just leave me there.) And 4 months later got married. A very fast wedding since we and everyone else had to leave to get to my brother's football playoff game.(which he lost.) Went to Hawaii for our honeymoon, which was absolutely beautiful and we have said that every 10 years we are going to go back. Our first house was our fourplex on Spring Loop in College Station. We met great people there which formed into great friendships that we have to this day. Clint is the perfect husband, and father that I could of asked for. He is there for me physically, emotionally, spiritually, and anything else that I need. He is a great Christian example to me and is the perfect helpmate for me. He has given me absolutely everything that I have ever asked for: 3 beautiful children(hopefully 4 one day), trips, houses, cars, and he sacrificed by leaving a great job so that we could move back home so that I could be closer to my family(which turned out to be the best thing that happened to the both of us)- and most importantly he gave me the ability to stay home to raise our kids which was a very big issue for me. He has made all of my dreams come true and I couldn't ask for anything else. So in these very short 6 years we have moved 3 times, had 3 dogs, 3 kids, and 6 cars(perks of working in the car dealership). So I just wanted to let y'all know how these 6 years have been. Sure there have been plenty of ups and downs but that is what a marriage is. And I wouldn't change any of it. So if Clint reads this one day then I will end on telling him Happy Anniversary and that I love you so much and thank you for everything that you have given me. It has been a great 6 years and can't wait to see what the rest of our lives has in store for us. "Forever and Always-Grow old with me and the best is yet to be." A quote I got from a sign in Hobby Lobby. I loved it when I saw it.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Yesterday was my mothers 50th birthday. I can't believe that she is 50 since she looks nothing like it. I hope to look that good when I am her age. I love her so much and hope and pray to be just like her. She is a great example of a strong christian women- who stands up for God's word no matter what- and lets people know what they are doing wrong in a very loving but stern way. She is a great wife to my dad which will be 30 years this April. And of course lets not forget how wonderful of a mother she is to me and my 2 sisters, and my brother. She quit her job when she had me and stayed home to raise all 4 of us- which I appreciate so much. she was always there for us when we needed her, brought us our lunch or homework to school when we forgot it, drove us to all of our softball, baseball practices and games. Which after doing Chase's first year of soccer this year and waiting at his practices I now realize isn't any fun at all. So thank you mom for doing that. Always had dinner on the table for us when my dad came home from work, clean clothes to always wear, rooms and house was always spotless- which I still work on, helped us out with our homework, did projects with us, and so on. And I am most thankful for her instilling in us daily God's word and for spanking us especially me when we needed it. If it wasn't for her discipline I don't know where any of us would be. If I can be half of the wife and mom that she is I will be OK. So a very happy birthday to you mom- I love you so much and hope that there are more wonderful, and happy years to come. Lord willing. So to my mom I call you Blessed from Proverbs 31. b/c you really are the Virtuous women that I strive to be.

A Fun Filled Month

Well this month for me is filled with numerous parties, taking pictures to get just the right one for our christmas card, and trying to get every ones presents in time for christmas. I always start out this month with my aunts annual cookie and ornament exchange party. Always great to spend time with christian women, and also without the kids (although this year Reef tagged along) I made about 5 1/2 dozen Pumpkin Chip Cookies which I might add were very good. We get there about 9am and eat breakfast together- then Katie has a few christmas games that we play which are getting harder every year. And then we sit around for the ornament exchange and lastly gather around the table to get cookies from everyone else. My aunt also makes a cookbook of the cookies that were made that year- so we go home with a cookbook of all the cookies that were made that day.
I finally got a great picture of my kids the very next day out at my granny's house, in a wagon, with their Santa hats all on. They are actually all 3 looking and with big smiles on couldn't of asked for anything else.
This Thursday we have the party for couples from the church- which will be yet another fun party filled with presents and good christian fellowship. Then that next Monday we have the annual ladies christmas party at the annex for all of the ladies in the church. (another party without kids), this is always fun b/c it is such a good mixture of old and young at the party- great food, and great fellowship as well. We sing a few songs, and do the present exchange which is fun in itself- trying to watch the elderly ladies steal presents from other people. (enough said)- I think the oldest ladies will be 90 and probably the youngest will be 19. So a great mixture of people.
Finally right before christmas we take the kids from church around caroling to the ones in the church who are elderly, can't get out or are in the nursing homes- this is our second year to do this and I think the kids really enjoy it. And afterwards we usually go back to someones house for cookies and hot chocolate.
In between all of this I have to find time to get presents for my kids, and other family members. So let the fun begin

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.