Same Kind of Different As Me = Fantastic

At the recommendation of some friends, I just read Same Kind of Different As Me. For those of you, who like me a few weeks ago, know nothing about this book because you are not up on books, it is a true story about two men from very different worlds who meet and become lifelong friends through the encouragement and faith of an incredible, strong woman. It is a story of God's power to overcome heartache and pain that seem impossible to overcome.

For me, it was a story of the blessing and encouragement I can be for my husband, especially, but also for others. If it was not for this woman, this friendship would not have taken place. It was through her forgiveness and loving encouragement that her husband was able to become the man he became. It was convicting! It was through her courage and conviction that so many lives were touched. I pray I can leave a legacy (in my own way) like she was able to do. I hope I am obedient and the woman of God that I am called to be. I hope I am in touch enough that I can hear or see when God points me in certain directions so that I can leave the legacy He has called me to leave.

I can't recommend the book enough!! And, aside from the tears, it is an easy read!!!

The Holidays

I know I'm a bit late on this one . . . but we had a fabulous holiday season, so late or not, I want to share!!!

For Thanksgiving, we traveled down to my aunt, uncle and grandmother's. I don't think I actually took any pictures. We spent the evening before Thanksgiving at Disneyland, then we had Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle's and spent the night there that night. It was nice. The kids enjoyed their second cousins, and we enjoyed my first cousins.

Christmas was just wonderful! We started off the break from school with our last trip to Disneyland. It was such a great year with season passes, but we had pretty much decided we would do something different for 2010, just because Disneyland passes are so expensive. So we enjoyed a night and day there. The biggest excitement that night was that David was finally tall enough to ride California Screamin'. He has been waiting for this moment all year long, and I wasn't sure he was going to make it. He was a little freaked out, as was I. I'm still not sure he was tall enough, no matter what the sign said! But he loved it and rode it several times! Here are few pics of our two days. The first is of Sarah on the Ariel Carousel while the boys were on the roller coaster.

The next is of David and Sarah on the main Carousel in Storybookland.

Then we have Sarah comparing shoes with Mrs. Clause . . . they were very similar.

I didn't get any great pics of the older boys, at least not any that are on my computer.

I spent the next couple days cleaning the house and preparing for Christmas. Dad flew into San Diego and picked up my grandmother. They arrived here on Wednesday. This was our first Christmas since leaving Bartlesville that we were with family. I was so excited to have them here!! We have done fine the last couple years, but I was really dreading not having family with us this year, so I was so happy when Dad said he was coming and then when Grandma asked if she could come, too. Among other things, she was great help in getting prepared for Christmas Eve. We invited everyone from the church over, and we had about 40 come. We sang carols, read the Christmas story and just enjoyed company. We had a lot of finger foods. When everyone left, we attempted to get some family snapshots in front of the Christmas tree. I got a couple of decent ones of the kids and the kids with Dad and Grandma, but none of the six of us.


We woke up Christmas morning and opened gifts, followed by a nice breakfast (a rare occurrence in our house)! Then Brent put together Sarah's kitchen while I finished the food for lunch. Everyone watched Up. Then at about 2:30 our friends Scott (our new strategic pastor at Kaleo!!!) and Amberly and their children, Judah and Josiah, and our friend, Susan, came for dinner. We had a HUGE amount of food. It was delicious! Clean up was followed by a short nap and playing of games.

Dad and Grandma stayed until Wednesday morning, at which time we all went to Escondido (Northern San Diego County) to my aunt and uncle's to spend New Year's Even and surprise Grandma for her 90th birthday.

New Year's Eve was celebrated at my cousin, Cindy's. The kids swam while the adults played Wii. Even Grandma had her turn batting and golfing, as did Aunt Mary, who is blind. Yes, she batted, swinging when the crowd told her to, and proudly, she scored better than her husband, my Uncle Jim, whose sight is perfectly fine!!! It was a blast.

The following day we celebrated Grandma turning 90. Her birthday was not actually until the 7th, but this is when everyone could be in town. It was special for all of us who were there. She seemed to enjoy herself very much. She is in amazing shape for her age. I hope I am doing that well if I live to be that age. She will be spending a month on a cruise in early spring . . . a month, yes!!! But I figure, at 90, if that's what she wants, that's what she should do!!! It's great to be close enough to celebrate with her!!! We returned home late that night, or rather early the following morning. I felt so blessed this year at Christmas, with friends, family and church family around. I could not ask for more, except for the rest of our family to be here, too!!!

An Amazing Compliment

I think I received the best compliment I have ever received on one of my children today, and it makes me so proud of him and so thankful for how God is molding my children. I stopped in Jason's class today to take him a lunch. His teacher quickly touched base with me to see how he has been doing. After a couple sentences, she asked me if I remembered what shirt he was wearing yesterday. I did not, so she told he me was wearing the shirt that says "The Church Has Left The Building" (our Gone for Good shirt for church). I nodded, and she said, "I don't think I have ever known a child who was more worthy of wearing that shirt." She then went on to tell me what a great kid he is and how he epitomizes what the shirt says. It brought tears to my eyes. I'm just so proud of who he is growing up to be, and I can't thank God enough for how he is molding and growing each of my kids, but specifically Jason!

How Long Do We Wait?

I have almost finished a book called The Tangible Kingdom, which Brent has really been wanting me to read. It was first recommended to me by some friends, Seth and Callie, who we just love!!! I really like the book. I think the authors are humble in the way they present their way of doing church, which is sometimes hard to find, and I think they bring up some excellent points. We asked another friend to read the book as well, though, and she called to talk to us about it with a few concerns, which got me to asking myself this question . . . How long do we wait to tell someone about Jesus??? Hugh Halter and Matt Smay, the authors of The Tangible Kingdom, make the point that we need to be living our lives in such a way that others want to have life like we do and will ask questions to learn why we are different. My friend's question was, how long do we wait? Some may never ask, and if we love them the way God has called us to love them, we can't wait in case they don't ask because it robs them of their opportunity for eternal life, their opportunity to know Jesus and to be all that He wants them to be. (That's put into my words!!! But essentially that is what I heard her say.)

It's a tough balance, that's for sure!!! And I have pondered this for the past couple weeks and come to this opinion: If we are not living life in such a way that makes people want what we have, then when we propose it to them, they will not listen. However, if we wait for them to ask, my friend is right, we may miss the opportunity. There is this incredible video on You Tube that Brent showed to me a while back of the comedian, Teller, that I think is just incredible, and it speaks to this on some level. Check out the link. Again, this has made me really think. If I do believe in Heaven and Hell, then I sure better be telling people about how they can spend eternity with Jesus. But I also must be living my life in such a way that people are attracted to Jesus.

In addition, I must be doing more to surround myself with people who may not know Him. The other thing that I have concluded is that I cannot do this on my own. And thankfully I don't have to. God has given me the Holy Spirit to lead and prompt me to do and say what He wants when He wants. However, I do have to pay attention and be aware of His promptings. That is where things can get tough. Sometimes it's hard to obey, and sometimes it's hard to get a clear understanding of what to do.

I wanted to quote something from the book, but sad to say, right now I cannot locate it in all of the piles around my house. That is a completely separate blog post that should include lots of tips from the FlyLady, which I receive daily and ignore:( When I find the book, I will find the quote and post another blog!!!! It is a good read and both challenged me and encouraged me as I try to live out the Great Commission.

*Note: I don't really think Hugh Halter or Matt Smay would disagree with this balance. The book just focuses on how we live more than on what we say!!!!

My Kids

Since it has been a while, I thought I would give a brief update on each of the kids . . .

James started high school this year!!! Oh, my! Seems like just yesterday Brent and I were lying in bed on his 8th birthday. I remember saying to Brent with teary eyes, "We are half way until when he drives. Next year we will be half way to adulthood." We are now a year and a half from driving and 3 1/2 years from 18 and then graduation. It flies, people! It really does. I am so proud of him. As do many teenagers, he drives me crazy some of the time, but he is overall an incredible kid! My favorite thing about him right now is his discipline (in some aspects). He is up every morning (more or less) at 5:30 to do his Bible study, work out and get ready for school. His friend Jacob gets here at about 6:45 and they walk to school together at about 7:15. He continues to have a heart for the lost, and I am both excited and worn out over the number of kids we have in our house on weekends. I want them here, so that makes me happy, but it sure can be messy and loud!!! The best thing is that the kids seem to like to be here, even though we will not leave them unsupervised and even though we probably don't have a coolest house on the block! James is playing soccer for a recreational league right now. He will start conditioning for the Freshman soccer team at his high school in October. He is in several clubs in school, and he is working hard academically. He still has dreams of going back to Oklahoma for college - gives me a lump in my throat to think about him being so far away.

Jason is in 6th grade, which is still elementary here, and for that I am thankful! He is loved by everyone, still a charmer. His teachers love him, and his peers love him. He recently ran for student government at his school. He ran against his two best friends, Jennifer and Ryan. I was so proud of him and the way he handled the whole situation, which could have been hard on relationships. Jennifer won, but the three are still great friends! He had to give a speech in front of the 4th, 5th and 6th graders, and he did a great job. It was a great experience! He is working so hard in school, which does not come as easily to him as it does to his older brother, but he is diligent! He decided not to play soccer this fall. He prefers to have his evenings and Saturdays free. It's much harder to get him to commit to something. He is, however, taking a trampboarding class. This is at the gymnastics center. He wears a foam board on his feet and then jumps and does tricks on the trampoline. In addition to being it's own new sport, it is supposed to help people prepare for wake boarding and snow boarding. He loves it and can do all sorts of flips on the trampoline! He also thinks very highly of his coach. He has really grown in his relationship with the Lord also. He frequently invites people to church and comes home talking about who does and does not know the Lord at school. It has been fun watching him grow and develop in this area.

David started 1st grade, despite our concerns that we might have needed to hold him back. He had such a hard time sitting still in kindergarten, and his fine motor skills were terrible. We had several meetings last year to try to make a determination about 1st grade, and the decision was to move him on with lots of work over the summer on those fine motor skills. Well, our good intentions in the summer fell short, and we did not work with him like we should have, so I was worried. However, there were some interesting things that happened in the summer. First of all, we changed bedrooms around, and David ended up with his own room. He started being so responsible and keeping it so clean. It was incredible! One day Brent asked him why he was keeping his room so nicely, and he said, "God told me to." If only we all listed to God so closely!!! The other thing was that just before school started his gymnastics coach came and talked to me and told him he could not believe the change he had seen in David's attention. He had made a 180 degree turn. His coach also said that his strength and ability were incredible and he wanted to recommend him for a pre-competitive gymnastics team. I was less excited about that than about the fact that he was listening and obeying better. After much deliberation, we have allowed him to do the Rockets (the team he was recommended for) and he is loving it. We will see where this leads. I can't imagine that we will be doing competitive gymnastics for long, but he LOVES it, so who knows. Anyway, even with that knowledge, I was still incredibly nervous about first grade, but he got the teacher we requested, and off he went the first day as excited as could be. At the end of the week, I spoke to his teacher. She said he had been just perfect and was keeping up just fine academically. We are now 5 weeks in and there are no problems. His speech teacher, who has been with him since he was 4, observed him in the classroom and then talked to me. He could not believe the change. It's so exciting, and it is making school so much more pleasant!!! He sits still and listens and has not yet been in trouble!

Finally, my sweet Sarah . . . she started pre-school. It has taken some adjusting. She has a friend at school, and as long as Zoe is there, all is well. She also loves her teacher, so that is good. She is playing soccer for the first time. It is super cute, although all she really wants to do is hold her friend, Holly's, hand and run around. She's not real competitive! She is also in gymnastics and she likes it. However, her favorite thing in the world is babies, and she does not think it is very fair that her three closest friends all have baby sisters. That's not going to change, so we are trying to teacher her how to deal with disappointment:) Her independence continues to develop, and she is very bossy to her brothers at times. She is messy and does not keep her room or any other room clean. I am waiting for God to have the conversation with her that He had with David. She loves to color and cut and glue and other little crafty type things that the boys never cared about, so that is fun!!! She has a bright smile and says the sweetest, funniest things. She keeps us laughing!!!

I feel so blessed to have the family that I have. I wouldn't change any of it. Brent is amazing and such a great husband and father. We are not perfect; we make mistakes all the time, but God is faithful and carries us through it, and protects our kids and grows their character. It's fun to watch, but it passes too quickly!

Blog Update

I have been meaning to blog for a while again, but where do you start when it has been so long? I have tons of cute stories of my kids and great stories of what God has been doing in and through me, but I have just NOT had time to sit down and write it all. Spring and Summer were hard. I really struggled in the spring with stress and sadness that I had never experienced before - I think I was depressed, but thankfully I am doing better now. Summer was good but very, very busy. We traveled more than we have ever!!! It was a HUGE blessing to get to do all that we did, and there are so many to thank for making it possible. My most recent trip was to Palm Springs with my grandmother, aunt, and girls cousins - very fun!!! While there, my cousin, Cindy, told me I really needed to start blogging again, so for the past three weeks I have been thinking about doing that. Now Fall is here, although you would not know that by our 102 degree weather the past week, but it is here. School has started, and our schedules have sort of settled down - sort of! I don't think I can go back and remember all the blog-worthy things in my life, but I can try to start from today!

Tonight I had the opportunity to have a meeting with a group of young moms who have very little support in their lives. About 21 were invited. I hoped for maybe 8 to show up, but only four were there (and one doesn't really count because she came with a friend and is not a mom, but she was really nice anyway). Initially I was a little frustrated because it takes time and energy and money to prepare for something like this, and it is frustrating when people do not come, but it was such a blessing to have the time with these four women. We just talked about parenting issues for about an hour and a half. This was not a church event, but I was able to share my convictions about certain things and talk about how God has used me and grown me through my kids. I was able to facilitate the girls visiting with each other and realizing that there are other people out there in similar situations. My ultimate goal for this, besides an opportunity to mentor and share my life, is to help them connect and be a resource for each other. By the time the night was over, two of them were talking about babysitting for each other, and one of them asked if we had to wait a whole month to get together again. She said she needs this more frequently. Once again, it's cool how God works things out. In many minds, even my own on some level, the small number equates to lower success, but I was thinking as I drove home about how adding to that group could have taken away from the openness and willingness to share and the relationships that were built as a result. I still hope that next time we have a larger group, but I am thankful for how God worked out this evening! It was fabulous! I'm thankful to the ladies who came and thankful that they shared with me and allowed me to share with them.

On a little side note - I felt really, really old!!!

Mother's Day Poem

. . . given to me by all of my kids, written by James. I think it's worth sharing!!!

On this day dedicated solely to you,
I have no gift that is the perfect match.
Nothing I can purchase, make or do
Will be able to fathom or unlatch
The effort you take to try to teach
Those who stubbornly refuse to learn.
No ordinary love could create the patience to reach
Your own blood, your words which they scorn.
So as a feeble, sorry try
This gift we give to thy.
Go on a date.
Stay out late.
We'll get the little ones in bed.
We'll sweep up every crumb of bread.
We love you tons, Mom.

Jason said, "He's a poet and didn't know it. He can rhyme anytime!!!" My kids bring a smile to my face!