Possible Being Captured In Pictures

Possible and DoLo work together. Their boss shared these pictures of the two. One was Possible putting up the TX flag at his pool and the other was at a fundraiser. DoLo's dad offered Possible a ticket and she went with her friend. These girls are so cute and have such big hearts!

Random

Jumba leaving for a game.

Kiddos dressed for Mass.

Cutie Twin Beautiful.

Equally cute Twin Adorable.

Dad and Adorable

The week between getting back from NOLO and my birthday was a bad one for me. I had a high fever, felt tired but J was in traveling so much that I still had to get up and drive the kids around. It was only bad at night. One night I took some ibuprofen and found not stop the chills. I shook in bed for about 25 minutes. Finally the fever broke and then I was just tired. I felt much better the next day and after picking J up from the airport I took the weekend to recoup. He was in charge and I rested. 

Regular Days Look Like This

These two are always getting "caught" helping each other like this.  I am always amazed at their willingness to get down to let their sister do what ever is necessary.  I love their twin-ness.    

One of the reasons I don't like Houston

It is always so humid here.  My hair got this crazy after 2 days without conditioner. Humidity and thick wavy hair do not go hand in hand.  I accidentally purchased two shampoos of my special hair products that I use to control this mop.  I didn't realize my mistake until sitting in the shower and shampooing for the second time instead of conditioning.  It took me two days and an 11:00 p.m. stop at the store to get my hands on the much needed conditioner.  I only wish the picture could capture the matted nature of the hair.  I lost about an inch in length and "poufy" became the word best used to describe it. 

I would say that "I hate my hair" but that isn't completely true.  I like my hair most of the time.  I hate my hair in Houston (and I hate living in Houston).  I did get my hands on some conditioner and with much products my hair is manageable again.   

He loves me

"It is just a tree, mom."

Sugar states on her facebook page. I know she doesn't get it, but she couldn't farther from the truth.

You see when I was little growing up in the midwest I heard my grandfather, Papa, tell me something very special about the colorful Fall leaves.

"Look at all the colors on that tree. God painted it just for you. He painted it to let you know how much He loves you."

I am sorry baby doll, it isn't just a tree. It is a gift from God just because He Loves Me.

So go out there and find your gift.

Super Mom or Super Crazy

I do so much in a day and yet at the end it looks like nothing.  I have older kids that think I never clean the house and younger kids that wish I was gone more often.  If I am out shopping someone needs me at home but if I am home then complaints are heard that I never go shopping.    I am not complaining mind you.  I love my life and my family.  I just don't think anyone ever realized how much I do unless I don't do it.  I know I never thought my mom did much. 

Well I am posting to just say hello, I still have lots to say and many pictures to post.  I miss writing out my thoughts, it always helps me to see the big picture.  For now I am back to the car to move children around again, pick up a car from the shop, pick up a bike that was left somewhere . . .all while being thankful for dad preparing dinner.  Oh I think I will also call my mom and tell her thank you for all she did for me while I lived in her house.  I might not have seen it but now I know that she worked hard.

Tip for moms

In so many ways I am not the best of mothers. I am tired and lazy so much of the time. I would much rather type than clean and often do. Right now I need to pay the bills and make our money stretch and I just don't want to, it is too depressing. My kiddos are very smart but I should push harder. I haven't grocery shopped in days and we are close to running out of just about everything. The toilet paper is almost gone, so no more waiting. I let them sleep in and stay up late. I find that to be one of the biggest advantages of homeschooling. I struggle with being "normal" like everyone else and being comfortable with how God made us.

Our formal studies are on hold this week. We are still working on religion and reading but with two funerals in the middle of two of our biggest days I knew it would not be the week for lots of work. We are just enjoying the time together. We are talking, watching TV, crying, cleaning, and anything else that pops up. Call it out Fall break if you want.

This week I have received about five private notes speaking to the kind of mother I appear to be. While I am honored that anyone would think that I have it together, I beg you to ask my children what they think. They are more likely to tell you how lazy, unorganized, and unmotivated I can be. I do love my family and I try. I fail most of the time but that is being human I think. I did stumble upon one important trick that allows me to feel close to each child everyday. It is worth sharing for those that want to know their children better.

As I fall asleep at night and I begin my night prayers, I try to recall each child. Now I must point out that too often I have stayed up too late on the computer and fall asleep before praying. I am trying to be better at this. I know God deserves my first thought of the day and my last thought at night. So pray for me that I get better at this.

I have tried to form myself to recall each child in some activity that they have done in the day. I make myself call to mind a scene from that day in which I can offer God my thanks for that child. I have found that if I do this in prayer I am much more honest. It is my inclination to find the negative in a child. I must force myself to remember a positive scene of that child's face from that day.

This is not as easy as if might appear when you have more than one child. This trick also helps me stay positive during the day because I need to find a positive memory. I tend to smile at the child that comes crying to me with something that is broken instead of getting angry. They look so adorable when they feel guilty and know they did something wrong. It also keeps me in the moment more. Too often my mind is elsewhere even when I am with my children. I am missing too many insights into who they really are. When I am spending too much time yelling and not enough time laughing with them then I know that I am not being faithful to this form of nightly prayer.

I should try the same approach in the mornings. Asking God to help each child with a character flaw. Giving each day a goal for each child would help form better days. I challenge myself to focus on this for the next week. Each morning a specific prayer for each child and every night thanking God by recalling a happy face. Join me in this if you would like. Let me know if it helps guide your days as much as it guides mine. To my children I beg that you forgive me and know that I adore each and every one of you. Each one of you is my favorite.

Time to get the suits cleaned

Normally that means that things are looking good and that a special event is being planned. Unfortunately we have several events coming up that will require the good clothes but I am not looking forward to them. In a way I am supposed to but in another way I am not . . .



After reading the latest on our friends that are fighting cancer my husband turned to me and said, "I think it is time to get the suits cleaned!" What was he talking about. I am too busy trying to pray, organize things, field phone calls, pray, talk to my children, get the laundry done, pray, do school work with the kiddos, pray and come to some logical understanding as to why young mothers would be close to death. "Honey, I think we will be too busy after your friend passes to remember to get the suits cleaned, let's do it now. If things are in order we will be of better service to our friends as they go through all this. " I know he is right but I don't want to think that way. It felt to morbid to plan for the funerals already.



I told him I would take care of them and then went about my day. I stopped by a friend's house to pick up a few of my children and was told a very touching story. My friend Miss Kelly (that is in her final days with breast cancer) has had a hard go of it the past few years. A group from our church have worked hard to provide for the physical needs of Miss Kelly and her two boys. Benefactors have provided a safe apartment close enough to church so that the family could always visit our Lord. Others provided meals or meal cards.

Miss Kelly is now resting at her mother's home. Her mom is on leave from her job and her sister has moved in to help in the hour to hour care that Miss Kelly is now needing. I was silly enough to think that there was nothing more we could do. I was so wrong. A benefactor came by and picked up the boys. This kind woman took them shopping, helped them pick out beautiful suits, including the matching shoes. I never would have thought of that detail but she did. How Christlike that action was! Miss Kelly would have worried about her boys feeling like they were dressed appropriately. No mother wants her boys to feel out of place. This kind woman knew that. She made sure that the boys will feel special on this possibly sad day. This will help the boys see the big picture. I heard this story and was stunned by the kindness that went into that act.

I took it to heart and dropped off the suits at the cleaners the next morning. I was worried about my Linda because she had seamed so weak on Friday night when I left her. Our friends came to visit from OK. They were neighbors and actually introduced my family to Linda's family years ago. The out of town guests stopped by to visit with Linda only to be told she wasn't there. She had gone shopping to help find the perfect outfits for her children. "Are you kidding me? She was on her death bed yesterday, or at least I thought she was!" Not yet, she told me that she wanted to make sure that her son felt comfortable in the suit that he got and that her daughter knew that she loved the dress that was picked. Her mother told me that Linda sat in a wheelchair while her daughter and Linda's sister picked out the perfect dresses. Her instructions are that they are to be joyful dresses. They can be black if that is what you like but we are not allowed to mourn. We will be dressed joyfully.

OK, OK, I got the message. It is better to be prepared so that everyone feels at peace. Saturday I came home to discover that another young friend died that morning. She was in her 40's with 2 young children 13 and 10. Her husband is left to handle all the details. No one knows why she died but she did. This family wasn't prepared. Much harder I think. Please pray for Lisa and her family.

Please try to remember that your time might end before you are ready. Be prepared. Love your family all the time. Tell your children how special they are at every turn. Never stop letting them know that they are loved by you and by God.

It is time to call hospice!

I know that my time to go to Heaven is not yet here. I find this so sad. I am a young mother and God still needs me here on earth. I am here to do His will. I am here to be Him to those around me. I am here to hold the hands of some dear princesses that are being called to the Kingdom. I know that I am sounding very melodramatic. I am trying to focus on Heaven. I am trying to see the prize. I must admit, though, that my human heart aches. My soul questions why; as my eyes fill with tears.

I have known Kelly V for about 2 and 1/2 years. She is a bright woman. She loves her boys with every once of her life. She has been the best looking, healthiest dying person I have ever known. I was afraid of her at first. It was obvious that she was suffering with fighting cancer. Her chest and her hair were both gone. I am so glad that I was able to see more than what was missing. Her deep brown eyes were filled with a joy of learning about Christ. Her heart sores when she talks about her boys. She is logical, kind, smart, and loves math (I know no one like her, especially the math part). Breast cancer is taking her life but it can not take her spirit.

I have known Linda T for as long as we have lived in Houston, almost 8 years. I met her at the school her daughter attended and then we became part of the same prayer group. Her daughter is the same age as Sugar and the two became fast friends that first year we joined the swim team. For all appearances she was completely healthy until 3 months ago. She has a heart of gold and is one of the most generous, hard working, involved people I know. She is super active with every thing she does. I relate to that passion. When She signs her children up for a team it means that she will be at every event. She is the one working her tale off. She does it because she loves her children and because she loves your children. Her battle with pancreatic cancer will not be a long one and it can't keep her from Heaven.

Both of these woman had a very hard week. Both were told that their livers are struggling to process the chemo and those that fought these battles before understand what that means. "There is nothing more we can do for you, it is time to call hospice." These wonderful woman each have another few weeks before hospice will be needed but the statement was made. It is so final. It doesn't matter if you have known it was coming for five years like Kelly or if you heard it for the first time last month, it stings and stings hard.

God does not give us death and sickness. We choose it when Adam and Eve picked pride over God. I know God allows good to come from all suffering though. I see it, I feel it, and I trust it. I cannot prove it to you. I cannot explain it to you. I can't even tell you any more about it. Right now when I "should" be doubting a loving god, I am not. I feel His love all around me. I am not happy to be living with all of the death but I am thrilled that Heaven is so close. My two friends get to see God face to face very soon. They get to join in the Communion. I long to join them.

Not yet, I know. "It is time to call hospice" is not a time to be sad, but a time to trust in salvation. Please pray for my friends, their families and their friends. Ask that God grants us the wisdom to believe in the only miracle that really matters in this world. The miracle of God becoming man, walking among us, taking on sin, offering Himself on the Cross, dying, and then opening Heaven for Kelly, for Linda, for you and for me.

Computer and Camera Woes

This past month has been one of disappointment in regards to broken technology. The main computer is the one that I keep the books on. I pay bill with the main computer and I use it for school planning. This computer also holds all the family pictures. A few weeks, as my computer started moving very slowly, J encouraged me to get an external hard-drive with lots of memory. This proved to be a perfect move. I was able to store all my pictures and when the computer completely crashed I wasn't a complete mess.

So I took the now dead computer in to our friend to be worked on. He did his "repairs". I put that in quotes because he replaced tons of things but wasn't able to really repair. Now the computer works great until you turn it off. I haven taken it in several more times with now luck. We are now looking at a computer that will only turn on if EVERYTHING is unplugged out of every port to turn it on. What a pain! I am thinking that we will be purchasing a new apple soon.

None of this even address the trouble j is having with his work computer. His business is set up that everything runs from that laptop. The sad thing is that those laptops are old and crash all the time. He also has an external hard-drive but can not move his information to another working computer because of security issues. The poor guy has picked up a ton of work and now the computer is dead. A dead computer makes it very hard to get his work accomplished effectively. It takes twice as long to get anything done.

My two good cameras are shot. The really good one is completely broken. It was fixed for about 20 hours when it broke again. I figure it just isn't meant to be right now. I will put it up on the shelf and wait until the little ones are a tad older. I love my camera, I really do, but it isn't worth being mad at the young ones all the time. Then the back up, nice camera is cracked right down the center. I sent it off to be repaired. I suspect it will not be worth it or be covered by the warranty. I am very hard on cameras. I use them constantly.

I got myself a very cheap substitute the other day. I need something for goodness sake. I had to do something considering even my back up was broken. UGH! I will probably discover I take better pictures without all that technology. I hope not, cause I love all that stuff. Anyway, enough of my woes.

God is good! I am so glad that He is better to me than I am to technology. Here is to you and your "luck" with computers and cameras. May you have the golden touch and not my touch.

Different Childhood Memories

Growing up we never had tons of money. Every now and then we were allowed to get a treat from the Ice Cream Truck. We all knew that mom and dad were paying way too much for the treat but it was so much fun to get it from the back of the truck. My children will have different memories. Maybe it is all about being this far south in Houston as opposed to St. Louis. Maybe it has to do with being near so many construction sites that employ labor from even further south. Maybe ice cream melts too fast in this heat making an ice cream truck too difficult. The truck pictured below is one that we took the other day. This truck circles around the newer houses in the back of the neighborhood all of the time.

We have never had a meal served this way. The idea of meat being prepared on the go like that scares me a tad. The other issue is that I do not speak Spanish and these drivers do not speak English. My children are growing up in a different world, that is for sure.