Home From Disney!

We survived our trip to Disney World and made it home safely! I started to feel bad yesterday and today have a sore throat and stuffy head. Yep, made flying lots of fun! I will fill you in on all our fun in a few days, once I recover from my vacation! One interesting thing, we ran into not one but two old friends while we were there, no telling how many people we knew were there but our paths never crossed!

It certainly is "A small world after all, it's a small world after all, it's a small, small world" Come on sing it with me......



Note to Dee-actually ran into David G. while at Disney World, what are the chances of that happening! Unfortunately, I did not get to see Becky or Daniel, they had already left the park that day. I was so surprised to see him, that I really did not get to catch up with him much but it was sure good to see him and get a hug from him!

The Lion King!

Hubby and I were able to enjoy a wonderful night out last Friday. We had tickets for the Broadway production of The Lion King. We made dinner reservations at a little place close to the theatre and were told we were given the best table in the house (not sure why but it was nice!) The show was great! The sets were just incredible. I of course could not understand a lot of the dialog but thanks to my darling daughter I have pretty much memorized the story of The Lion King, so I was able to keep up with no problem. It was nice to hear the audience laugh and enjoy the show so much.

If this show comes to your town, be sure and go, it is awesome. This is the second broadway production of a Disney classic we have seen. The other was Beauty and the Beast, we saw that at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. It was magnificant too! Can't wait to see what they adapt next!

Hope you are all having a good week, it is the last week of school here so we are all busy, busy, busy! Blessings!

Watch Out World!

My passport arrived this week! My daughter has also picked this week to try my patience sorely. The A/C is not working (not acceptable in TX in May--got up to 100 here yesterday!) So far hubby is still in my good graces! But they better watch out, the only thing standing between me and a hammock on some island is my conscience!!! I guess one could argue that my hubby could threaten the same escape (except that he doesn't know where I hid his passport-tee hee!) (Hey someone has to stay home with the child!)

I am only joking, I am not going to dessert my family! It would be more fun to take hubby with me (jury is still out on darling stinker, I mean daughter!) No , I would never leave them here alone with the non working A/C, the mountains of laundry, the bills to pay, the house to clean! No , I would NEVER do that!




or would I?

Lovely Mother's Day

My Mother's day started out with breakfast in bed. The two K's brought me a tray with a cheese and bacon scone and coffee. Then I got to open my mother's day gift of a James Avery Charm. I have a charm bracelet but whenever I get a new charm I wear it on a chain around my neck for awhile before I have it sautered (I am sure I did not spell that correctly) to the bracelet. My husband gave me a cute card complete with two cotton balls (it had a snoring joke referrence!)

We enjoyed a great day of worship at church today. It was sad too because it was The Beasley's last Sunday with us, they are moving to MS to be with their grandkids. The church here always gives Mom's flowers on Mother's Day and my daughter made me a pen with a silkflower attached to it (Maybe I won't lose it so easily with the big purple iris attached, which is my favorite flower!)

We had a good meal out and a quick visit to the Christian bookstore, then home for phone calls to the grandmothers and a wonderful nap! Darling Hubby took darling daughter swimming while I napped! Later, DH figured out how to use the audio portion of Instant Messenger so that I could talk to my Mom and she could type back to me. I think that was her best Mother's Day present, she said she really missed the sound of my voice (since I can't hear her on the phone anymore!) That is one thing that I really miss too is hearing my Mother's voice! Now, I am going to stop writing about it because it is making me cry.

It was a wonderful Mother's Day and I hope that yours was as well! I have said it before but it bears repeating, "Oh what a blessed woman I am!"

Story of my Rings!

I was reading a post by malia about Engagement Rings and a show about them she had seen on Oprah. This is the comment I left for her and I thought it would make a good post for my blog too!

"I think engagement rings are very important. They are an outward symbol of an inward commitment. My engagement ring and wedding band have a great story behind them.
My husband and I had been looking at rings for a long time and we had found a set in a jewelry store in Plano, TX (where the in laws live) that I just loved. However, my hubby(to be at that time) was dragging his feet a bit. So we did not buy the ring and went back to Houston and continued to do the "we are getting married but don't know when dance" Long story short, he finally asked me to marry him two days before Thanksgiving and one day before we left to go to his parents house for Thanksgiving. We went back to the jewelry store the day after Thanksgiving, just knowing the ring would be gone. It was there, sweet hubby told the clerk "that is the ring we want" The clerk said "don't you even want a price for it" and hubby said "no, that is our ring, it was meant to be" The clerk gave him the biggest smile and said "Well, that ring is half off today! The ring is beautiful and everytime I have a jeweler look at it they remark on the quality of the diamonds and the beauty of the settings. But it is special to me because Hubby wanted me to have it with no thoughts to the cost!"

That my friends, is the true story of my engagement and wedding rings! I guess I could have them upgraded to bigger diamonds or a flashier setting but why would I want to. They are the perfect symbol of K's love and committment to me. He loves me completely with no thought to the cost!

Oh what a blessed woman I am!

Busy Monday!

It was an overcast, dreary Monday morning but there were errands that needed to be run! I must have hit 10 different stores (or businesses) today but I managed to get most of my jobs accomplished. I guess it is good to combine them into one days worth since that saves time and gas. I will be glad when the trip to Disney gets here, all this planning is wearing me out (I will need a vacation from my vacation!) Nothing too exciting going on around here, just wading through these last three weeks of school. It is good to have Hubby back home again and things feeling more normal.

Blessings to all of you, hope you have a good week.

Home Alone but Not Really!

Darling daughter and myself have been on our own for the past 4 nights as darling hubby has been in Salt Lake City at a conference. He will be coming home tonight and it will be so good to have him back home where he belongs.

We have been doing fine here all week, nothing traumatic has happened but things just don't feel right. I miss his presence. I miss the security of knowing if something happened that he would be there for me in a matter of minutes (not hours). I miss adult conversation. It is harder than usual these days because I can't hear him on the phone and have to rely on emails, text messages and my daughter translating his phone calls. I miss his voice! It is really like a piece of me is missing when he is away, I just don't feel complete.

I wonder if this is how God feels when we wander away from him or fail to include him in our daily lives. I would imagine He longs to hear our voice when we fail to pray. One thing that has really helped us this week is that every night as I say prayers with my 8 year old, we ask God to surround us with his presence and to keep us safe. I have felt His presence this week, watching over us and keeping us safe.

I usually have a hard time when hubby is away because of my hearing. I think I hear things and I wander around the house at 2 am checking doors and my child. This is the first time that I slept soundly all night (except for the two occassions when darling daughter climbed into bed with me at 3 am, but we both went right back to sleep). I know this is because I made a conscious decision to ask God to be with us and he did not fail me. What a comfort to know that all I have to do is ask and he will be right there beside me. That is not to say that I don't believe bad things can happen, I know for a fact that they do happen (even to good, God loving people) but it is easier to bear when you are surrounded with love.

Thank you Lord for surrounding us with your presence and thank you in advance for bringing my sweetie home safely to us. There is a little girl here who really misses her Daddy and a big girl who really misses her husband. Thank you for the blessings you have given us, may we always be grateful. I pray that each of you who read this will feel the loving presence of God in your lives and if for some reason you don't feel it, just say a little prayer and ask for it!

Back From The Beach!

We are back from our short(2 night) trip to the beach. Althought time on the beach itself was short, only a couple of hours, we still had a lot of fun. The place we stayed was very nice, it had recently been updated and was very clean. We were in a one bedroom condo at Port Royal at Port Aransas. It was definitely not cheap but very nice. They were doing construction on one of the pool areas so we did not get to used the water slides and had to make do with only three pool areas (I know, I know, poor us!) The condo had a full kitchen, nicely stocked and a full size washer and dryer (so I did not have to haul home a bunch of sandy stuff)

I wish our condo had been a little further away from the elevators, it was right outside our bedroom window so it got a little noisy. The weather did not totally cooperate, it rained some and was very, very windy. Darling Daughter got to swim quite a bit in the pools and play on the beach for a few hours, so she is a happy camper. Hubby cut his foot while we were there but fortunately it did not turn out to be as bad as we originally thought and he still had a good time too! The place was very pretty. The pool area was nicely landscaped with lots of hybiscus and other tropical plants and flowers. Everyone was pleasant and helpful. Even the 4 bus loads of high schoolers were reasonably well behaved. Most of the other guest were like us, parents with kids. We would definitely go back, it was great!

Back to work and school now. We have about 4 more weeks of school, it sure has flown by as I am sure the summer will too. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a wonderful week too!

It's Official

The deposit has been paid, the plans are made: Hubby and I are going to Hawaii! Our plans have changed a little since the other post but not much. The hotel in Maui is going to be the Kaanapali Shores instead of Kaanapali Beach. We will still spend two nights in Oahu and then 5 days in Maui. Darling Daughter has her nose bent out of shape because she is not going. Too Bad, So Sad! I don't even remember going on a vacation until I was 10 or 12 and that was just to Six Flags. We usually did not have the money for big vacations. She will have more fun if she stays with her Granny and Papa (and so will her parents)! I can't even imagine what it is going to be like to have 7 days of just the two of us. We will miss the little princess but it is going to be great to reconnect with Hubby. What better place to reconnect than Hawaii!

Hawaii, Watch Out Here We Come! (okay, so you have a few months to prepare for our arrival!!!!)

Saturday

I wasn't at all sure what type of day it was going to be. I did not get much sleep last night, I had trouble going to sleep (too much Disney planning) and then toss and turned and had lots of dreams. So I was not a terribly "happy camper" when my daughter woke me up this morning in a rather obnoxious way! However, I did get up and get a shower which helped my mood tremendously and off we went to drive some elementary school kids to a Kids For Christ Rally, they said they did not need us to stay, just to drive and pick up, so that meant 4 glorious hours alone with my hubby!

It was great! We went to Starbucks and had coffee (Toffee Nut Latte for me!, plain Latte for him!) and a blueberry muffin. We met with a travel agent and got some info about Hawaii. We are considering two nights in Oahu ( go see Pearl Harbor) at the Wakiki Beach Marriott and then five nights in Maui at the Kannapali Beach Hotel. (Anybody have any opinions about those places they want to share?) We went to Costco and picked up a beach umbrella and cooler for our trip to the beach. We had a most romantic (well maybe not!) lunch at Sonic and then on to the bookstore. I could not believe we got so much done in just 4 hours and were still early to pick up the kids.

Darling daughter went to play with a friend and I got a lovely hour long nap while hubby got to play a computer game (heaven for him!) Later, hubby and daughter went to the pool while I read and fixed a good dinner. Now hubby and daughter have gone to the store to pick up a few things and I am reading and posting on the blog! I know I am boring but this has been a Good Day!

I need Good Days like this every now and then to keep me charged up for the not so good days. Thanks be to God the Father for all the days that we have together! I pray that I will continue to be thankful for my many blessing including my sweet blogger friends who encourage me when I am down and rejoice with me when good things happen. What a blessed woman I am! May you all enjoy your weekend and may your Sunday be spent worshipping the Almighty, the giver of all things!

Just Call A Travel Agent Already!

I feel like I am a travel agent as I am trying to work out everyone's schedules for work travel, school vacation, stays with grandparents this summer and the 4 solid weeks of church activities that darling daughter (DD) has this summer.

It started out that we would take a weekend and go to the beach just about DD's favorite thing to do, once that was scheduled we moved on to a business trip for darling hubby (DH) and then we progressed to family vacation this summer and a special trip for hubby's 40th birthday! I think we have just about got it worked out and while I have no hope that everyone will be thrilled with ALL the plans, I think the majority will be happy with most of them.

It looks like we will go to Port Aransas and have a nice weekend on the beach, then hubby will make a business trip to Salt Lake City. Whole family will make a 6 day trip to Disney ( got super great airfare)(BTW Disney is DD FAVORITE thing to do!) and then DD will have two weeks of church activities before going to grandparents for a week or so. While DD is with said grandparents, DH and Moi will be flying off to Hawaii for some long overdue alone time. We will get back just in time for DD to start second two weeks of church activities.

This leaves us with about 3 unplanned weeks for the summer. I am sure that the other set of grandparents will either want us all to come for a few days or at least DD to spend a few days with them. Then there is school stuff to buy and get ready for a new year. I am tired already but excited too.

It seems like a lot to do in one summer and a lot of money to spend (although it is really only costing us our IRS refund) which I tend to think of as our play money anyway (Brett, we give our contribution to church based on before tax income! :o) ) We tend to go months and years without any type of vacation and then we go big, so I guess this is our big year!

All that said, that is the plan! Still need to double check a couple of things and finalize the plans for Hawaii! Jettybetty, I still may not be able to hear the waves in Hawaii but I bet we have a great time anyway. I really want DH's birthday to be special and this is what he wants to do, more fun for me and less work than planning a big party!!!!

If nothing else maybe we will escape some of this Southern heat. Yes I know we are going to hot places but it can't be any worse than it is here. It is supposed to be 101 today (Hello, it's only April!) Hope all your summer plans are shapping up nicely. Enjoy yourselves, your family and the beauty that God has surrounded us with!

HOPPY EGGSTER!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!

When Mommy's Sick

When Mommy's Sick (Children)

Mommy's sick in bed today. Doctor says she has the flu. Sissy's got a stuffy nose and she might get it, too. When Mommy's sick it makes us sad she doesn't feel so good. She's having juice and medicine like the doctor said she should. It's not the same when Mommy's sick, our hugs are all sick, too, and kisses for our boo-boo's also have the flu. Our sads are even sadder so our happy's aren't as glad and when we're being naughty, that even feels more bad. Let's get her better, Sissy! Get some more juice in her 'cause I remember something else, ewwww... Daddy's cooking dinner... C.J. Heck I was looking for something funny to post today about being sick. This seem to fit the bill. Darling daughter has tomorrow off, so let's pray that Mommy gets to feeling better!

Any Old Ags Out There?

I am finding more and more bloggers with ties to A&M, so if you are an "Old Ag" or have a child who is either a student at A&M or a former student at A&M, please leave me a comment below! If you are a former student at A&M and a former member of the "Aggies For Christ" please leave a comment also! Lastly, if you know someone who was in the AFC's or at A&M tell them about my blog and have them post a comment. I would love to hear from some of my old friends if they are out in blogsville! I was at A&M during the 80's but don't let that limit you in responding. Whoop! GIG 'EM AGGIES!

PS> I don't want any posting from "Jim Shorts" Almost every year at church when the new semester started and the several hundred college students placed membership someone would sneak in a card by "Jim Shorts" and Bob D. (campus minister at that time) would read the name out and wait for this guy to stand up. Everybody would laugh including Bob and he'd say "I can't believe you got me again!" AHH, Memories!!!!

Hello God? Is it really you?

We have been studying a book in our Life Group called Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and Claude King. (I tried to underline it but blogger won't let me, sorry!) I confess that I am having a hard time getting into this book. It may be my conservative COC background but often when someone tells me they have been "called by God" to do something, my first reaction is often "are you sure it was God doing the calling?" and my second reaction is "have you talked to someone (psychiatrist) about this?"

I am trying to read this book and keep an open mind about it but it is difficult. A friend of mine recently told me she had been dreaming about Africa alot and wondered (jokingly) if that meant she should move to Africa and be a missionary. I (jokingly) told her "No, it means that you need to go buy that animal print purse and the matching shoes!"

I don't know if I am just not strong enough in my faith for this study yet or what. I definitely believe that God can and does put things in my life to help me make decisions but am just not sure that he "calls" me in a tangible way. I am not confident in my ability to sort through, what is God's will and my want. Also, I worry that it is not God speaking but Satan who puts the thoughts and ideas in my head.

I think I will have a lot of questions for God once I get to Heaven. (or maybe once I get there it will either not matter anymore or suddenly all be crystal clear) For now I guess I will read the chapter for Sunday night and try to participate as much as I can. Even if I don't totally agree with everything in the book, it is a good opportunity to study and ponder God's word.

Anyone have any thoughts on God calling us to do things or go places?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Bummer Day for Little K!

My 8 year old is having a total bummer day! First thing this morning, I squashed all her joy by refusing to let her wear her new flip flops to school. I insist on following the tennis shoes at school rule and that makes me a "mean mama"! She was already in a bad mood because she did not get to go swimming on Sunday and it was the first day the community pool was open. She had planned all winter to go to the pool on the first day it was open but because we had out of town company, she did not get to go (so sad!)

She planned to go to the pool today and her Dad took off work so he could take her. She called her friend to go with her and the little friend could not go until after 5. No problem, they decided to wait and go after 5 instead of at 4 like they had planned. At approximately 4 :45 I looked out the window and it was dark and beginning to rain! So no swimming today! There is a dark cloud hanging over this house and I don't mean the rain clouds!

Good Book!

Hello Friends! Hope you all had a good weekend. Ours was rather uneventful (a good thing) Hubby and I were able to enjoy each other's company for almost the whole day on Saturday because darling daughter played at a friends house all afternoon and then we had already arranged for a babysitter in the evening. We were able to go to Costco and browse the whole store with no one saying, "I am bored, let's go home" I love to check out the book section at Costco and came home with a few new ones.

I just finished one of them this morning as I was working my way through our endless supply of laundry (who knew 3 people could produce so much laundry!) "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" by Alexander McCall Smith was a good quick read. It is set in Botswana, Africa. It is a short book (235 pages), so it doesn't take forever to get through it. It looks like it is a series with several other books continuing the adventures of this unlikely lady detective. I can't wait to pick up some of the other books in the series.

Looks like we might be getting some rain, we sure could use it in this area. Here's wishing you a delightful week, full of good friends, peaceful families and all of God's richest blessings!

Spoke too soon!

Things got a little more interesting around here after I posted about a boring week (isn't that how it usually works!) The new (expensive) computer decided to bite the dust. I was working on it and and an error screen popped up and before I could even react to that the whole screen went POP! I tried everything I knew to do to get it to come back up but it would not boot up, it would show the logo and then fade to grey! I was just sure that we had a 90 day warrantee on it and that it was day 91!

Hubby tried to fix it with no success ( he is the computer expert) so I was really sweating it out at that point but we got on the other computer and using the webpage figured out that it was a bad memory card. It will work with only one card (yeah!!!) and the card was covered by a One Year Warrantee (double Yeah!!!!) So now we are back in working mode and a new memory card is on it's way to our house! So all is well once again.

That is enough excitement for me this week, I will take my dull hum drum week back now. Had another remapping done with the CI today. Just have to be patient and wait and see with it! It is in God's hands! Have a great weekend!

Nothing Much Going On Here!

Keep trying to come up with something to post about but this has just been an ordinary week for us. Filled with hum drum stuff that married people and families do! Hasn't been a great week and hasn't been a lousy one! We picked up a new area rug for the family room. K has doctor appt this week and I have a remapping on Friday for the CI.Maybe this will be the week that they make just the right adjustment and everything falls into place.

Thanks be to God for hum drum weeks, they can't all be terribly exciting and thankfully it has not been a bad week! Hubby and I are teaching a class at church on Weds. nights in sign language. We don't have a big group but they seem eager to learn and they provide us with lots of laughs.

All you bloggers out there with exciting weeks, write about them so us hum drummers can have something to read about this week! Taking any trips Jettybetty? Any cute pictures Maui Mama? Have a blessed week everybody!

Home Again!

Hello friends! We are back home again after spending some time with my folks. They celebrated thier 50th Anniversary last week and we gave them a party on Saturday. It turned out really nice, especially considering that it was planned from 300 miles away completely through e-mail between my brother and myself.

Hubby and I stole away for two days to a B&B in Galveston, while darling daughter was spoilt rotten by my parents. The B&B was great and time alone was wonderful. It was called the Mermaid and the Dolphin and it was in a beautiful old mansion on Galveston Island. It was too cool for the beach but we had fun walking along The Strand and just spending time together. The hot tub for two on the private veranda was mighty nice too!

Now, we are back home with a pile of laundry to do and lots of little things around the house to keep us busy. Ah well, it was nice while it lasted. Hope you are all enjoying your week and a Happy Saint Paddy's Day to you all tomorrow!