Still Here

I have had emails and comments from friends wondering when I would blog again. Since my last post was about going to the beach for a little vacation, you may have wondered if we had returned. Well, we did return, in time to start the new school year. We haven't stopped since.

Hannah is in the fifth grade. So far, this year doesn't seem so bad. Fourth grade was a complete adjustment phase for us, so this year we already know how she needs to study. Our school is trying to get a football program going, so Hannah is now a cheerleader for the Pee Wee football team. I will post pictures of her as soon as I remember to take my camera to the football game. We had the jamboree this past Saturday and the first game is tomorrow. At some point Hannah will be part of the running club at school and I hope will be able to play basketball with the middle school team. One of the newest things for Hannah is taking allergy shots twice a week. Hannah has had a horrible cough all summer and it is still lingering. Her lung function tests have not been great, but they have not diagnosed her with asthma, yet. Her doctor told me that allergy shots would hopefully keep her from developing asthma, so I decided, along with Kevin's approval, that we would begin these as soon as we got back from vacation. We have to go twice a week for 8 weeks and then it will go to once a week. So the afternoons are a little crazy. I hope by the time we get to the end of the 8 weeks that her symptoms will improve. I think Hannah is enjoying this year. I can tell a difference in her maturity level compared to last year. It blows my mind that I have a 10 year old.

Alli is in the second grade, so she has moved to the upper campus with her sister. She seems to have made the transition without too many problems. We have left our homework at school one night and misplaced our agenda. I think this is all part of learning to be responsible. We learn from our mistakes. Seems like every time I look around Alli is reading a book. I will say that my girls have my love of reading. Alli and Hannah are taking piano again this year. Before I tell you something about Alli, you must understand that my kids love to watch old shows, such as "Andy Griffith", "I Dream of Jeanie", and "Gilligan's Island". I am all for this because these shows are great clean shows. One afternoon I picked Alli and Hannah up after piano. Alli ran to the car with such excitement. She said, "Mom, guess what song I am learning to play." Of course I had no idea. You got it, the theme from "Gilligan's Island!" Nothing could have pleased her more. She continues to be my butterfly and sometimes I gently have to pull her head out of the clouds so she will pay attention to me. I love that she enjoys life so innocently. One of the things I want my kids to learn now is the love of exercise. Our school has a running club, so Alli will begin this soon.

That brings me to my four year old, Aaron. I could easily see someone criticizing me for putting my son in preschool when I am at home all the time. But preschool, five days a week, full days, has been the best for him. He is having a great year so far. I love it when he brings his papers home and I can see where he is trying to write his name. He writes two big A's, two little r's, an "o", and a "n", followed by the first letter of his last name. I am not sure where he got the extra "r". Maybe he thinks since he has two a's, he can have two r's. We had a practice session last night. I am trying to get him to write his name in the correct area of the worksheet. He is growing up so fast. He will continue to have speech class every Wednesday. Aaron has made great strides in this area over the last year. He is talking clearer than ever and uses words that sound so big for him. One of the things I want to remember about Aaron at this age is the way he gives me kisses. Aaron loves to snuggle with me and give me sweet kisses. However, he has taken on a new way. He now asks me to close my eyes. I close my eyes and always wonder where he will plant his kiss. It's usually on the nose or cheek and it's so sweet! His big brown eyes will melt your heart!

So there you have it! This is what we have been up to since vacation ended. And I didn't even mention church on Sundays and Wednesday nights, choir, and Awana.

Kevin has been busy working. We still have our old house for sale and we have had to go clean the house in the past week, even though we have someone living in it. I am to the point where I just pray for God to show us what to do. I trust that He knows His plans for this area of our lives. It has been on the market for a year and a half.

As for me, I am enjoying a few hours to myself during the day before I run my shuttle in the evenings. Those few hours don't seem to last long because they are full of housework and laundry. My mind and heart have been preoccupied lately due to a Bible study I am involved in. Perhaps this is why I haven't blogged in a while. If you ever have a chance to participate in a Kay Arthur Precept Upon Precept Bible study, I encourage you to do so. There's lots of homework, but is worth all the time you put into it. Our church is currently offering her newest PUP, Isaiah. Living in the times we are living in, Isaiah seems so scary. But God offers so much hope at the same time to those who live for Him. Several times when I was watching the Olympics and I would see a medal ceremony where we had won the gold and our anthem was playing, I would cry. This was not my usual sentimental "I love my country" cry. It was a cry for a country who has turned its back on God. God is still God. He has never changed. If He will judge His people who continually turned their backs on Him, will He not do the same to us? I am a continuous work and God is using Isaiah to show me some things in my life that have not been right. I truly want to make Him the focus of my life, to love Him with all my heart, soul and mind.

I may go back and write a post about vacation, but in case I don't, here are a few pictures to enjoy from the trip.

Cousin Time

My brother and his family got to spend the night while they were visiting at my mom's. On Sunday morning we had some play time with the cousins. My brother has remarried and so I now have a new nephew and niece. Will's daughter, HJ, usually does not have much to do with me when we are there, but this time she loved on me and wanted me to play with her and tickle her. For the longest she would not let me take her picture, but I grabbed her and asked my brother to take our picture. I was successful in my endeavors as you can see.


We really enjoyed getting to know his new wife and her two sweet children. They make a beautiful family. We wish them the best as they begin their new journey as husband and wife and as a family.

And last but not least, I must share a picture of our three dogs who traveled with us all the way to see Nana. Aaron is not asleep in this picture. He just doesn't want me to take a picture of him. I want him to remember when he is older how much these dogs meant to him as a child. He will probably try to deny it!

A Moment of Thankfulness

As I said, my next post for the trip will be totally dedicated to Aaron's enjoyment of his first fishing trip. I wasn't sure if he would get into it or not. He enjoyed being outside, but he did not have the patience to wait on the fish to bite. He walked around on the pier a lot. We were all together as you can see. Aaron is beside my mom trying to get a cricket in this picture.

Several moments later my brother moved off of the pier to the bank to fish with his two daughters. Without me realizing it, my brother had moved to a different pier. He was on the smaller pier you can see towards the front. We were still on the pier that's farthest away in the picture.

This picture shows Aaron's boredom with fishing and it also indicates he was leaving the pier where we were. He is holding his fishing pole by the wrong end and he is dragging it along.

Well, little did I realize, Aaron had moved to the pier with his Uncle Will. All I remember was hearing a big splash in the water that came from the direction where my brother was located. I turned around and saw Will laying on his belly and watched as he pulled my son out of the lake. I dropped my pole and ran to the other pier. And this is how the story goes.

Aaron was fishing next to my brother. You must understand what Aaron does while he is "fishing". He watches the cork as he pulls it along in the water. The pier they were standing on does not have rails. It has a piece of wood that raises the edge of the pier just a little. As Aaron was pulling his cork along, he forgot to pay attention to where his feet were going. Will said that all he saw was green Mickey Mouse crocs in the air and Aaron going head first into the water. But my baby came up swimming and he never let go of his fishing pole! The worse thing out of the whole ordeal for Aaron was the fact his clothes were wet. If you know him really well, you know he doesn't like to be wet(unless he is truly swimming with swim trunks on) or dirty. I had no change of clothes for him. He has really come a long way because he continued to dry out without too many complaints.

Even though I had poor reception for my cell phone, I had to call Kevin and tell him the several hundreds of dollars we have paid for Australian swimming method swim lessons the last three summers has finally paid off. Thank you to Mr. Richard! Thank you to Will for acting so quickly to get him out of the water. Most of all, I am so thankful to my Lord for taking care of Aaron that day. It could have easily turned out different. Life can change so quickly!