Birthday girl

Today is my dear friend Stacy's birthday. She and I have been friends since junior high. We have gone through high school, college, boyfriends, husbands, children, secrets, new jobs, new homes, and one half marathon and are still going strong! (FYI we are traveling to Charleston, SC in 5 weeks for a girls-away vacation.)

I had an opportunity to see her last week and was struck once again by how beautiful a person she is, both in her appearance and her personality. She is the total package -- Christian, pretty, smart, fun, thoughtful and most importantly Stacy lives to be the best mother and wife she can be.

I am so thankful that I have been a part of her life and can't tell you how much her friendship has been a blessing to me.

Happy birthday girlfriend!

Easter Sunday

Our Easter was filled with faith and family. We attended the early church service and I was so blessed by the worship and Pastor Hartman's message. Our Redeemer Lives!
Rebekah has begun to notice that she has friends who attend churches that are not Baptist. Her questions have been about their church practices and mainly, are they going to heaven? I tell her what I have believed throughout most of my adult life given my own personal experiences with various denominations: when we stand before God I don't think He will ask "Did you go to the Baptist church?" But rather "Did you know my Son?" (Coincidentally our pastor addressed that in last week's message.) One can sit on a Baptist pew every week, kneel at a Catholic mass or sing in a Presbyterian choir and still have never accepted Jesus as Saviour. That act of faith is what determines where we spend eternity, not the church denomination we select as our place of worship.

In the early afternoon my step-mother and her fiancee came over for lunch. Then we hid the Easter eggs for the kids. The remainder of our afternoon was spent in the glorious weather outside with neighbors.

Happy spring!

Spring Break

We had an eventful spring break. On Monday the kids and I met my friend Stacy and her son Cody at the Houston Children's Museum.

This is Alex listening to the newly hatched baby chicks.

Emma did this face painting herself!

Here is a rare glimpse of the three kids playing together.

Emma spent the night with Grammy on Tuesday, Thursday we joined the Jacksons and the Gabinos at Chuck E. Cheese, and Friday Jeff took a vacation day and the family went to Kemah Boardwalk. Yummy food, LOTS of people!
Our weather was so perfect this week that we spent alot of time outside in the front playing and chatting with neighbors. Hope your week was just as wonderful!

Rebekah comment

For dinner tonight the family went to a local Mexican resturant. As we were leaving I spied someone I wanted to say hello to so the kids and I went over to him. I chatted for just a minute and when we left I asked Rebekah if I had anything on my face. Her response? "What? Do you mean like wrinkles?" No, I meant like food! Can you believe that ?! I'm only 36 and am proud to say that I do NOT have wrinkles. She seems to think I have them on my nose and cheeks. What do your kids think you have that you clearly do not?

If I were President

by Emma

If I were President I would do these things. Like make sure the earth is clean, give kids cats and dogs if they want one, throw a party, let people go on t.v. without paying, make sure nobody gets cancer, tell people to do good stuff, make everybody go to church, they have nice manners, eat well and be healthy, help people with stuff, help people drink healthy water. the end.

I couldn't agree more with her!

To you this looks like a red drinking pitcher. To me it is my childhood. This 2 quart plastic pitcher is what my mom would put the Kool-Aid in for me and my sister. Whenever we saw it in the refridgerator we knew the contents.. KOOL-AID! Not water, not iced tea, not juice... KOOL-AID! This was a big deal, if memory serves me correctly, because Kool-Aid was not an everyday consumption. It was a real treat.
I would guess that the pitcher is 30 years old. Even at its cleanest there still exists a sweet drink scent. Several years ago I asked my mother if she would let me have the pitcher. I have continued the Kool-Aid tradition with my kids and when they see it in our fridge they too know the contents... KOOL-AID!

Typing test

85 words

http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com">Speed test

Ear Piercing

Saturday Rebekah had her ears pierced. Her Grandma Bonnie came over and we took Rebekah to Claire's Boutique. She selected her birthstone, "diamond", for her starter earring.
Jeff had the rule that the girls must be 10 years old to have ears pierced. She is just 2 months away from that so we decided to have it done. She was pretty brave about it all. The pictures are first of her waiting, then 2 Claire's girls cleaned each ear, marked them and readied to pierce, and the third picture is of the exact moment they pierced.