Vow Renewal

These are some pictures that were taken at the vow renewal by Ben, Terri's husband. I'll upload the pictures the photographer took when we get it in the mail!

Me & Kennesha goofing off...then we fell afterward, but I didn't include that picture!! LOL

This is Pastor Mike and his wife Debbie who performed the ceremony.

Me & Terri (my friend from high school)

And I just love these two pics. (Thanks so much Ben!) These are our God-children. I so wish that our kids could've been apart of our renewal, but I'm hoping that we can ALL go back in two years when Larry & Kennesha renew their vows at 10 years.

Ok, so look for part two of the vow renewal sometime next week!

10th Anniversary

This year marked 10 years that we have been married! Can you believe it??? It's been awesome. We've had our ups and downs, just like everyone else, but the fact that we never threw in the towel and have learned so much from God and each other is just amazing. I thank God for this wonderful man that he has blessed me with. I am watching him transform this year and I'd have to sit for a long time if I wanted to write it all down. Since I will not be doing that today.....lol....I will share the wonderful surprise of my anniversary gift this year.

In January I started getting excited about our anniversary and would just bust out with, "10 YEARS!!!" and spirit fingers!! (because I was a cheerleader of course!) And because I have learned from my marriage that I need to clearly communicate what I want, I made sure that Wendell knew I wanted to do something really special this year. So while he was deployed he started making plans to surprise me with a trip to Hawaii and by the time he got home, he only had a few weeks to get some final arrangements for our trip and vow renewal that he was coordinating with our friends, Larry & Kennesha (who are stationed in Hawaii). We were blessed to be able to have Ivana come to our house for a week to watch our kids while we were gone, so we had no worries about the kids, and that was great.

Unlike last time we were in HI, we got to see the residential side of the island, which is very different from being a tourist, but guess what? I still love it. I said to Wendell two days ago how much I missed and loved Hawaii and can't wait to go back. Anyway, I'm going to talk too much and you really just want to see pictures, right? Okay okay. Here you go:


These are pictures taken from the balcony of our room at the Sheraton downtown in Honolulu. We were on the 30th floor (out of 31 floors) so it was pretty sweet. (Thanks LBJ & KB!!!)



My next post will have some pictures from our vow renewal, but I didn't want to cram it all into one post. I just wanted to share that we went down, saw our friends, our beautiful God-children and I even got to see one of my friends from high school, Terri, and meet her husband, Ben. We reconnected on Facebook and her husband is stationed down there in the Navy, so they came to our vow renewal too. It was really nice. Something else special while there was that we got to see Caleb on his first day of Kindergarten. It was emotional for me because I'm a sap, but also because I remember going to San Antonio to help Kennesha after Caleb was born. My babies are all growing up....

Next is Vow pics and HOMESCHOOL!!!

While You Were Out....

Now that Wendell is home, I can safely post these pictures up here! Every time he deploys I try to do something to surprise him when he returns (other than the house still standing, kids dressed, fed, and hair done, and of course, my sanity!)

So the first thing we did, which he did know about, was replace our front door. Because its an inch shorter than stock, the previous purchaser of the door had it cut down and how ever they "secured" it--it failed. So even Wendell had to muscle it to open our front door. So here is our new front door and storm door. (Yes, our front door is primed. I'll let him pick the color but let's hear your vote too!)

The other thing I did while he was gone was to make some changes in the girls' bathroom. It started out as a painting project (which he knew about) but once I asked my neighbor to come over and move the toilet so that I could paint behind it, it snowballed after he offered to move the sink and vanity to paint behind that too! I don't think I have a before picture of the bathroom, but if you've been here, you remember the ugly wallpaper that was up there. I had that stripped a few months ago so we were just trying to decide upon the color. We chose to keep it the plain cream that's all over the house in case we ever try to sell the house, but agreed to give the kids bright colors since we all hate "white walls." Working with the shower curtain that was given to us last year, we had our inspiration!





















I also got a little creative and bought some candle holders that were black. I spray painted them cream and bought the 4 colors in the shower curtain and mixed them around as the trim on the circles. I think they turned out great and impressed myself! lol
















So now with these pictures I see that the bathroom isn't all together, but this was all a surprise, so ......I had to be creative with my spending and haven't purchased the outlet covers and I'm going to let him put in the matching hand towel holder and TP holder.

Today was a good day

(I know this is long, but I wrote this instead of an email update to my husband!)

It started out seeming like it was going to be awful. I had plans to go to the store first thing in the morning, but I had forgotten that Miracle had to get her allergy shots at 10. So we pressed and tried to go to the store before her shots, but I was wrong in thinking that they opened at 9. I decided to get her shots early, but the kids just weren't in a quiet mood today and Gabi was doing A LOT of screaming today. Although it was her naptime when we left the doctor's office, I thought I could fit the shopping trip into our morning.... ha ha ha. It was a loud trip. I wanted to get in and out, but Brianna brought in her journal and wanted to stop and write down everything she wanted to buy for Miracle's birthday.......which is 5 months away. So I was pretty frustrated when we left there.

My nap was unsuccessful due to an angry child that did not understand the terms of her discipline and that we don't operate in military time (she wanted to know what time she could leave her room AFTER 12 o'clock. Mind you, it was 12:56 at the time of this meltdown and I told her 2pm.) So I got up and had my second cup of coffee. And from that point on, everything changed! I got 3 projects done, a load of clothes washed & dried, dinner made, and we were getting ready to head to baseball practice when we got the dreaded call.

Joshua's practice was canceled! His coach had to work late and couldn't make it. He was pretty upset so i decided to take him and see if another team would let him practice with them. That worked out and then he was able to practice with the girls teams because they were missing some players and their two teams combined. So he got to practice for 2 hours and got to play coach-pitch! (Yes of course he hit the ball! My boy rocks!) The girls are doing so much better too. All 3 of them get to play around the pitchers mound and 1st base. I don't think they've ever been on 2nd or 3rd. And pardon my lack of baseball terms. I'm sure there's a name for "around the pitchers mound!" LOL The director of sports is Miracle's coach and I know that he likes the kids and gives them extra attention after practices, so I'm not sure if they play those spots because they're really good or because he likes them. Actually, I just realized that I don't really know if those are good spots! LOL They do well there.

The coach knows that I'm going to homeschool the kids and we've been talking about having PE at the Y and he told me tonight that if the group doesn't come, he'll just play baseball with the kids. He loves to work with Josh because Josh reminds him of himself when he was little. ALWAYS wanting to play baseball. I honestly don't know what is going to happen in 3 weeks when Tball is over. I've started to prep Josh for it now, but he literally talks about baseball every day about 10 times a day. So maybe we have a ball player on our hands. I just hope he likes fall sports too!

Enough sports. After practice I was talking to one of Brianna's coaches and another lady who just happened to be at practice tonight. It was all a set up because the person she was coming to meet didn't show up. But the 3 of us stayed at the field until 9pm talking about church, faith, and speaking in tongues--and Bishop was JUST talking on Sunday about one of things we were talking about tonight. So I was able to invite the coach to church since she's looking for someplace new.

The fun part (for the kids). They got to play on these gravel mounds while we all talked. I've done good at keeping them off the mounds this whole summer...but not tonight. So when we were doing baths I noticed sand in Joshua's hair. Then Brianna's hair. Then I was really glad that they hadn't picked up the Kirby yet because I remembered he said there was a scalp massage tool with it! LOL Did he make that up, I don't know. But we sure used it as one tonight to get the sandy gravel out of their hair! (And it felt good because we all took turns!) yes, I still have to wash their hair, but I got most of it out.

Ok, that's a wrap for me tonight.

Devotions

I think I wrote before that we're trying to get consistent with daily devotions. One day I'll record Josh as he "reads" his devotion; that boy is hilarious! Obviously this is becoming routine enough that the other day Gabi decided she was going to participate as well. So she marched up with her brother and read her devotion as well.


While her devotion was spoken in a tongue unfamiliar to our ears and we did not have the gift of interpretation that evening so we could discern it.......Josh's devotions ALWAYS include, "When we bless God, He blesses us. God blesses us when He blesses us!"

My Kids

I just looked at the pictures we took at Picture People last month and I just want to publicly say that I LOVE having 4 kids! I really do. I actually wish we had a few more heads in that picture, but maybe one day we'll get dogs--they're just like kids, right!?!? If you haven't looked at the pictures online yet (since I haven't mailed them either) go check them out. I'm not sure how long they'll be on their website.

http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=efef7b74-4e27-42f9-90a0-e01115c23aed


I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!! For those family and friends who don't have a google account and want to leave a comment, in the drop down box, just select anonymous and then sign your name. If you have a google account (gmail) then just select that option.

Good News & Bad News

Like most people, I'll do bad news first.

Today was going to be the beginning of my super "vacation" from my 3 older kids; it was going to be just Gabi and me all week from 9-noon while the kids were at Vacation Bible School! I had big plans. Well, actually I was just going to run a lot of errands without so much complaining from the kids who know how to use their words.

Unfortunately, when I picked them up my friend came to me and told me that Josh couldn't come back because he was too young. So naturally I thought he was just misbehaving, but in actuality they changed the age requirements but it was not on the registration form, nor the information board (and I'm not quite sure how or why they checked me in this morning after saying he was 3!) So I had to break the news (and I keep having to break it to him) that he's not going back to VBS because he has to be 4. His response is that he IS 4 now. We'll see how that works out tomorrow morning!

In addition to that bad news, Brianna's teacher marched her over and said, she doesn't feel good. I knew Brianna's stomach hurt in the morning, but she managed to eat a cereal bar, so I thought nothing of it. But she was warm after VBS and throughout the day her temp has crept up to 100 degrees. She was able to eat a piece of toast and some water, but she didn't like the taste of the pedialyte I tried to make her drink....said it tasted like a baby drink. Now I didn't realize that my kids were sick until Miracle told me that Brianna didn't eat snack at VBS (which is one of her favorite snacks--Cheetos) and ate crackers instead. And then Josh didn't want to eat lunch or dinner and only drank water today. His temp has been close to 102 all afternoon. So between my always hungry, high-energy kids not eating and BOTH taking a nap today----my babies are not well! LOL

So my good news! I made good use of my only 3 hours alone with Gabi, we went to the commissary and she fell asleep on the way back (because they ALL woke up at 630 this morning). Once I put her in bed I unloaded all the groceries and decided to straighten up our garage because we haven't been able to park in it for about 2 months. I was highly motivated by the rain that lasted about 7 hours today which led to another cancelled baseball practice. Within 1 hour I had boxes somewhat sorted and stacked so that I could pull the van back into the garage. YIPPEE!!!!!

Maybe my good news doesn't seem so super for a blog, but it's a big deal to me. Especially because I did it and I normally don't even like to stand out there while Wendell works in the garage. So I hope Wendell reads this post!!! LOL

Side note-- you know what I love now? This may sound silly, but God has blessed us with 3 baby bunnies that spend a lot of time in our yard. When we first saw them they would fit in the palm of your hand they were so tiny. Through the weeks I have watched them grow and i think it is so neat how wild animals inhabit the same territory and are unaffected by each other. Earlier I watched from the kitchen window how the bunny was scratching his ears while a lightning bug flew all around him and a robin was looking for food. When the robin flew off abruptly the bunny didn't even flinch--just kept going about his business. It just makes me think about how silly we are as humans. We're ALL humans and yet let ourselves get affected by even the smallest movement or change by another person. If we could just stay focused on what God has called us to do and not get so distracted by the people around us. It just got me thinking.....all this to say that I love to watch our baby bunnies grow and mature in our backyard and I'll miss them when they're full grown and I can't tell them apart from the older rabbits.

here are my babies! Aren't they so cute?!?!? It was so hard not to try and pick them up. Wendell wouldn't let me! But for a few weeks we had to be really careful cutting the grass because they were so small we couldn't see them at all.

Thursday Play Day

Well, today was a success in regard to the house and children being ready for company. However, no one came! I didn't realize how upset the kids would be about no one showing, but maybe next week!

Gabi's First Popsicle

I'm going to do the baseball and recital stuff tomorrow....ha ha....we'll see....

But I wanted to show you this video of Gabi eating a popsicle today!

Ok I just watched this and I apologize--I didn't realize how loud the music is and that's Miracle giggling in the background!

Hard and Soft G (Electric Company) performed by Brianna and Joshua

Well, if you don't know by now, The Electric Company is back on the air and my kids LOVE it. In fact, EVERY time we get in the car I hear Hard & Soft G, Hard & Soft C and throughout the day I hear all the other songs, raps, and beat boxes performed on that show. (is that how you'd write that?? Beat Boxes? looks funny!)

Now I know in this rap you can't always understand what he's saying, so here's the link to the one they're performing Hard & Soft G by Lyn Manuel and Shockwave

Okay, I've got to go to bed!

Link to our Picture People photos

Check out our family pictures we took last week; this way you can see some of the pictures that made it on their wall! YES.....I AM going to mail them.......eventually!
Family Pictures

Working on baseball updates now....

Catch up time!

Hey all. I know it seems that I'm not getting any better at this! Now that I'm getting more active on Facebook I do at least think about how I should be updating the blog at the same time...

So time for a quick update:

• Gabi turned 1 in May and I'm still sad even though I'm so proud of all the new things she's doing.
• School is out! Yea!!! Homeschool--here we come!!!!
• Friday we took family pictures at the Picture People and we made it on their wall as displays. How cool is that!?!?!? (YES, I'm actually going to mail these out!)
  
• The kids are playing T-ball/Baseball for the first time. Seems like its going to be fun (funny too!)
• Dell left today for an overseas trip, so no travel for us this summer.
• Miracle's dance recital is this weekend, so I'll have to put up some pics from that. We're not sure if she's going to keep dancing. She does a great job, I'm just not sure how long we're going to last with the secular music and dance moves and outfits to go with it--you feel me...
• This summer I'm going to have a weekly "Open House" for moms to come over with their kids. My thought is to have the kids play in one room or outside while the moms hang out in another room. I know the kids need a break from us as much as we need a break from them from time to time!

Ok, I think that's it for me. I'll get these pics and videos up here soon!

Here are my hip hop kids....they watch A LOT of the Electric Company!

Brianna's Belly Roll

See? I'm trying to get better at updates! LOL. I just thought I would share this. It always cracks me up and amazes me too! I sure can't do it. Enjoy.

Hey All,

I just wanted to put some pics up here so you remember what we look like or see how we've changed since I don't do so well at updating this! We're hoping to take family pictures soon, so I will do my best to get those mailed out! ha ha. None of you go have even gotten Gabi's 5 month photos and she's 10 months now!!! LOL oh well. I'll send them with the family pics........





Gabi LOVES electronics...go figure. She also loves her sister. These two are just about always together. Gabi leaves us when Miracle gets home from school and only comes around when she needs to be changed or eat--rather, when she needs her food pulled down and warmed up because Miracle feeds her too!



I know this is a bad picture since I cut off her head, but it was the only one she gave me today with a smile and eye contact!


And of course, B-Boy Josh. I'll have to work on catching him when he does his beat boxin or hip hop dancin....sometimes even a little break dancing too! (Oh, I love hand me downs! thanks KB)


I guess I should think of some updates since I haven't talked to anyone in awhile.

• Gabi has her 3rd double ear infection (with no real symptoms, just a mom's hunch)
• The Doc says I have hi blood pressure, but the water pills he prescribed will probably stop my supply (still nursing) so I'm going to hold off until after Gabi is weaned.
• We'll be headed to Ohio in 2 weeks for the memorial service of my Uncle Gene who was my Daddy's twin. Uncle Gene passed March 10, 2009 and Daddy passed March 12, 2005.
• We've pretty much decided to homeschool next year------So pray for us!!!! LOL I'm already feeling God's grace to do it and even getting excited about it, so I think it will be good for the kids....overall....in the long run!?!?!? I'm glad to get them out though because Miracle's friends are into boys and we (Dell & I) are just not ready for that!

I think that's about it. Until next guilt trip.... Jo

I knew it

I knew I wouldn't do too good with this blogging thing. I thought I was going to set aside the time each week to do it, but until I get a real schedule made (which I've been working on for about 5 years) I probably won't write once a week. I'm online wasting time today because enough of my friends bugged me enough so that I finally joined facebook. Because myspace, asunet, alasualum, and every other site i've joined out of peer pressure wasn't enough!! lol no worries. i did find some old friends from Ohio i hadn't found for awhile. but it's still just one more thing for me to put on my to do list.

What's going on here? Dell is out of town for 2 weeks which means we get to eat more pizza!! he finally admitted that he doesn't like it as much as i do! i found out a friend and her husband are from NY and they are perfecting a homemade pizza recipe for REAL NY style pizza. they're going to invite us over when they get it all right. They like pizza so much that the husband wants to put in a brick oven! I can't wait for my invite.

Gabi is on meds for her second double ear infection. Her and josh have had colds for about 2 weeks and my sinuses have been driving me nuts. I finished crocheting my friends baby blanket. It turned out really nice and the lessons I learned from it won't be noticeable to anyone else! I look forward to finding the pattern I'm going to do for the next blanket....and who i'm going to make it for. Perhaps I should finish Joshua's baby blanket--that turned into Gabi's blanket--that is still undone in a bag! It's plain though and I'm not motivated to work on it.

The girls got their report cards and Miracle got straight A's again. And this quarter we did not check any of her homework, so these grades are all her own. We wanted her to understand the importance of checking her work before turning it in. Brianna doesn't get letter grades yet in first grade, but she had a lot more G's and at our conference, her teacher said there has been a lot of improvement, both in her work and her behavior/attitude. So we were very happy about that and praised her a lot for that report.....hoping maybe we could get some improvement here at home.

I think that's all the updates for us for now. love you all!