Bike Ride Home

Jachin rode his bike all the way from school to the house! Andy took his bike up to school to just see how far he could go. He followed him in his truck, thinking Jachin would tire out quickly. But he kept going. What a strong little boy!

Swimming in Nana and Papa's new Pool

After many months, the pool is finally finished! The kids had a blast swimming. Bo has to warm up to the idea. The first time he swam, he jumped in immediately following Jachin’s cannon ball. Bo popped up out of the water screaming! It was freezing! That’s what you get in September. So ever since, Bo has been a little cautious.

Consider Helping Haiti

The hurricane that hit Houston was horrible, but Haiti is in bad shape. They have been hit with every hurricane, or the surrounding rain. The country did not have time to recover from one hurricane before another hit. The people are poor to begin with, and they live in shacks. Food is hard to come by anyway, but with the flooding, the little food they did have was ruined. Crops were destroyed and houses demolished. Please consider helping this country.

www.worldvision.org

www.glahaiti.org

www.handsandfeetproject.org

Houston Hurricane

Andy’s parents live in Houston. After the Hurricane, they lost a 30 foot tree (which thankfully fell in the street, and not on their roof), and had a small leak. Part of their fence fell down, but otherwise, not much damage occurred. However, they were without electricity or water. You don’t realize how much you rely on those things until they are gone! So they came up to Oklahoma to stay with us. They were here a week, and everyone had a great time. While they were here, we put them to work. We sanded and stained the gigantic playground/fort in our backyard. We had started this project at the beginning of the summer, but had never had the time to finish it. So now the fort looks gorgeous!

We were so happy that the timing worked out for Andy’s parents to take supplies down to Baytown. One of Andy’s friends, Dave Branham, is a youth minister near Galveston. They have turned their church into a make shift shelter. Andy called Dave and asked him what he needed. The Acteens that my mom directs and I “help”, put together ziplock bags full of soap, deodarant, toothbrushes, candy, bible verses, etc. Andy’s parents took them back with them to Houston to deliver to Dave. It was so neat to watch the girls work so hard to help others.

Proverbs Wisdom

Ok, so I have been needing some wisdom lately, and I thought I would share. My mom reminded me of this verse, and it has been helpful this last week.

Proverbs 14:4

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,

but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

or

An empty stable stays clean, but no income comes from an empty stable.

So quit fretting over your dirty house, and be grateful for your kids. I definitely need that reminder....

Flag Football

Jachin is playing Upward Flag Football--The Colts. It is so cute watching them run around, having no clue what is happening. Basically if they aren’t quarterback, they don’t pay attention. Jachin loves being quarterback when it is his turn. He can actually throw the ball quite nicely. In his last game, he caught a ball! That is amazing as he has his mom’s hands. Every game most of the scoring is accomplished by handing the ball to the fastest player who runs the entire field. This happens on both teams. So the winner is usually the last team to score. I hope Jachin continues to like football, because it is my favorite! :)

5 kids in the house!

I have been babysitting two little girls, twice a week. I have kept one of the little girls before, about 2 years ago. Now she has a little sister. So I have a house full of kids on Mondays and Wednesdays. Jachin is at school most of the day, but he is home for the last hour. So when we go to pick him up from school I have a 6, 4, 3, 2, and 0 year old in the car! It is so cute to see them all piled in.

She's Gonna Blow!

I have been reading a wonderful book. I never knew I needed this book until I became a mother, and more specifically an adoptive mother. But this book has been so dead-on in relating to me, and is hysterical. Basically, it has helped me identify my anger problem, and helped me deal with it in a biblical way. I highly recommend this book! So all of you mothers out there that think you are alone, be encouraged.

She’s Gonna Blow! by Julie Ann Barnhill