New "baby" and new scent...

We got a new "baby" today. Michael has been wanting a Boston Terrier for years (since before I knew him) and since we were once again down to one dog, we decided to get one this year with our tax money. Sooooooooo we would like to introduce our newest family member:

Shooky Doo




He is a 12 week old, full bred male. He is already crate trained and partly paper trained. He is fitting in really well! :-)

Secondly, I am so excited. I, FINALLY, after many years, have a perfume! Michael and I couldn't agree, ever, so I haven't had a "signature" scent or even anything I wore on a regular basis. Today we went and smelled some together and the first two we tried we BOTH agreed on. That was AMAZING. For YEARS we haven't agreed!!! LOL. Anyway, then we had to pick which one and I finally decided on Black by Kenneth Cole. This is how it is advertised: "Black For Her is delicate, yet dramatically feminine and absolutely original. It is a modern, dreamy floral that opens with the unexpected paring of black violet and radiant white hyacinth with a cool contrast of citrus, exotic white flowers, sensuous musk, sandalwood, and sweet amber. " Whatever that all means!!! LOL Anyway, I am TRULY excited...I smell good!!! ;-)

Tomorrow I am speaking in a homeschooling seminar and I am VERY excited. I am speaking about scheduling and organizing. My favorite subjects...well, at least organizing! :-) I was gone from Kaedra 1/2 of today and will be gone all day tomorrow and I hadn't realized how hard that is on me. I REALLY missed her today. It was Michael and my first chance to go out together since she has been home. Sherria came and spent the afternoon with the kids and he and I went out to eat at our favorite restaurant: El Tequila and then went to try perfumes and then got the dog. By the time we came back I couldn't WAIT to hold Kaedy. :-) I am excited about speaking tomorrow but not looking forward to being away from her all day. I haven't had a chance to realize how "attached" I am, now that she is home. (being that I usually only leave the house once a week for a few hours - on Wednesday nights for church)

Well I am off to work more on my speech, Many Blessings!!!

Baby Steps

No no no, not Kaedy Baby Steps. Not quite yet. I will let you know!!

No, I am talking about my baby steps!! WOOHOO!! I am on the right track. I have gotten up at 7am every morning this week, taken a shower and gotten dressed (without the shoes, for you flybabies! LOL). I have made my bed before coming downstairs and picked up the bathroom and bedroom. Then, as I come downstairs, I have been sticking with my morning schedule with the girls. I am so excited!! I still have more work, of course, a whole other half of the day, to be precise....but baby steps, baby steps!! YEAH!

Today I am working on my schoolroom. I have big plans for it, but the big plans would take money so I have to wait on those. Instead, I am going to be boxing up a lot of the books in my schoolroom that I don't need (It was VERY hard for Sherria to convince me that I don't need my middle school and high school books out all the time! LOL), getting rid of a behemoth of a file cabinet, switching tables with the kitchen table (I want a square table in the schoolroom now, so it can go up against a wall, instead of the oval one in the center), putting the computer on the table and putting away the side table that the computer was on, and organizing all my other books. WHEW. I am tired. Can I quit now? ROFL!

Well Kaedy is scheduled to go to San Antonio March 21st for her next rib surgery. We are also on a waiting list in case they have a chance to get us in sooner, which means we are basically "on call" right now. We need to be able to leave at a moment's notice!

We ended up not being able to get the pool. It was going to cost us $1500 to get it moved and get it a new liner (which everyone that could move it said we would need). Michael didn't want to spend $1500 on that right now. I understand but I am very disappointed. I had already envisioned our summer by the pool this year. :-( I am not giving up yet, though. God gave me that pool within 24 hours of me saying I wanted it, I don't think he is going to fail me now. There is some kind of provision out there. :-) Anyone an expert on moving pools out there? And levelling land? and setting pools up? C'mon I know you are out there....Angels....go get these people for me!!

My cute kids

Starting Saturday, Kaedra made up a new game.  She waves her hands in the air (as if she is conducting music).  Those of us who are with her wave our arms too.  When she stops, we stop.  When she starts, we start.  She thinks it is hysterical.  It is even funnier when you keep going after she stops.  She gives you a look like "what is wrong with you?  We are stopped!"  She had the whole family doing it last night at dinner.  She would even occasionally hit the table and we would hit the table, too.  It was making us all laugh really hard, it was so cute.  Now she starts "conducting" us, even when she just sees us at the door! 

Emily was praying tonight for Kaedra.  She said "And I hope her foot is healed soon so she won't have the trach anymore."  When she was done praying  I asked her if I had heard her correctly and she said, "yes, her foot."  I asked what was wrong with her foot and she said "well she has that red thing on it (the pulse-oximeter) and when she can get that off she won't have to have her trach anymore."  Well……I hadn't really thought of it that way! 

Brittany kept spelling the word "science" wrong today.  I first had her write it 3 times and write it in a sentence.  She spelled those 3 times and the sentence wrong.  Then I had her write it 6 times and a sentence.  She only spelled it correctly 2 of the times.  So, finally, I told her to write it 12 times and write a sentence.  (by the way, her sentence each time was "I love science."  I thought for sure by the end it would be "I hate science!" LOL)  She wrote it 12 times and her sentence and came to show me. I was teasing her about it saying I hoped she had it correct this time and she burst out in tears!  I asked her what was wrong and she was soooo upset that she had to write the word 12 times.  She thought she was being ROYALLY punished.  LOL!!! I told her that Christian Marshall just recently reminded his mom of how she made him write a word 100 times!  Twelve is nothing!!! 

One more music thing

The new Todd Agnew "Reflection of Something" is AWESOME! It is a little harder than his last album but I like it even better. There are even parts of it that sound very much like Texas Blues, which I love.

New Music

One of Kaedy's nurses, Renee, heard Sherria and I talking about music on Thursday and so she joined in the conversation. She eventually asked me if I knew of James Clay. She really likes him and thought I might like it since I like Bob Seger. She went out to get it from her car and got me that CD to borrow and brought another one by Derek Webb. I listened to them both last night and I like them both a lot. I probably like Derek Webb the better of the two. He is very different from most Christian music which is why I like him and why she doesn't like him as much. She likes one song of his that was on the radio "She Must and Shall Go On." I hadn't heard it on the radio since I hardly EVER listen to the radio unless it is the station my pastor is on. In the car I either listen to tapes from church or my own CDs. Anyway, James Clay is very good, too. I like the first song on the album: "I Still Believe." I first heard it in the movie "Lost Boys" and had it on that soundtrack for a long time. I like it from a Christian point of view. :-) He reminds me less of Bob Seger and more of Counting Crows, but he is good none the less.

I usually listen to harder music than these two. I really like Christian rock: Kutless, Day of Fire, Building 429, POD, TFK, etc.

Glory Babies

I just found out that two of my friends have lost their babies. My oldest friend (I've known her longer than any other friend, I mean, not that she is old) lost her baby in November at 34 weeks, her baby was half of a pair of twins. My other friend just lost hers in between 6-8 weeks. My heart grieves with them and for them right now. I would have done anything for these friends not to have joined that exclusive "club" of those of us who have lost our babies.

Please pray for both of my friends and their families.

Glory Baby by Watermark

Glory baby you slipped away as fast as we could say baby…baby..
You were growing, what happened dear?
You disappeared on us baby…baby..
Heaven will hold you before we do
Heaven will keep you safe until we’re home with you…
Until we’re home with you…

Miss you everyday
Miss you in every way
But we know there’s a
day when we will hold you
We will hold you
You’ll kiss our tears away
When we’re home to stay
Can’t wait for the day when we will see you
We will see you
But baby let sweet Jesus hold you
‘till mom and dad can hold you…
You’ll just have heaven before we do
You’ll just have heaven before we do

Sweet little babies, it’s hard to
understand it ‘cause we’re hurting
We are hurting
But there is healing
And we know we’re stronger people through the growing
And in knowing-
That all things work together for our good
And God works His purposes just like He said He would…
Just like He said He would…

BRIDGE:
I can’t imagine heaven’s lullabies
and what they must sound like
But I will rest in knowing, heaven is your home
And it’s all you’ll ever know…all you’ll ever know…

My love and tears to you both. I would wrap you each in a warm hug, if I could.
I am sure your little ones are surrounded by much family and they are playing with my Jacob, passing the time until we can all be together.

And yet, there is still reason to celebrate... the other twin, Katie, is doing well. A blessed welcome to the world, little one.

Tired of putting out fires!

Yes, Oklahoma has been having many problems with fires. No, I have not been putting out THOSE fires.

I am so glad I have Christ in me and that I can do ALL things through Him. Lately I have forgotten that and been living very reactively. I have been taking care of things at the last minute, when they HAVE to be taken care of. We are supposed to start school today but we can't because we have an exterminator coming this afternoon and there are things that have to be cleaned up before he can do his job. (We have mice...my husband's FAVORITE critter....ROFL.....without him, I would probably catch one and keep it as a pet! LOL) On top of that, I did not have a school schedule planned yet OR even my daily schedule planned. I am such a planner that I can't start my day without a plan. Well I am sure I CAN....I just don't!! And then the day drags on and on without form or substance. NO MORE OF THAT!

I am so excited that I have an opportunity for a fresh start. I am learning so much as I get ready for my seminar. I sometimes think I am the WORST person to speak about this at a seminar, but then again, I am someone who actually struggles with it, so I will be able to help others that struggle. Anyway, last night I worked on some long term goals and fitting them into my schedule. I will be able to finish that stuff up today and start a great day of school tomorrow.

I am no longer saying "I can't" and "I don't know." I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength and I know all things because I have the Spirit within me. (2 Corinthians 1:21 and 1 John 2:20,27)

I am not satisfied with mediocrity, just getting by, barely making it, etc etc. I am ready to live the abundant life that Jesus came to give us! I am not settling anymore! I am proactive and I don't even have fires to put out anymore!!! HALLELUJAH!

Notes from Our Finest Hour

Last night at church was amazing, as usual. Pastor did not preach, but another man from our church, John Exum, did. It was a very moving service for me and God spoke to me quite a bit during it. In fact, I wrote an entire page of notes that were directly from Him.

Anyway, I thought I would share some of the things John preached last night.

Why are we looking somewhere remote for the works of Jesus
when WE should be DOING the works of Jesus?

If you won't preach the word of God wherever you are, why would God promote you?

What is my call and why am I not fulfilling it?

We are not living at the level God wants us to be at because we are not being who He wants us to be.

God is never quiet. If we are not hearing Him, we aren't close enough to Him. (and, if we go by too fast, we hear Him out of context)

There is more to life than what we are living right now.

When we are consumed with knowing the plan, we miss living the plan.

God's plan for me is not JUST for me...it is for someone else too.

Yield to Him! Come back to God and repent. There is no plan "b."

The church's web page has MP3s now of many sermons and of the New Year's Eve Prophecies. http://ourfinesthourchurch.org/