What a weekend

This was an eventful weekend. On Friday night I though the kids had gone to sleep so quickly and queitly, I got a little worried. When I went to check on them this is what I found:


On Saturday we had our first brownie troop meeting for the year. Eight of the nine girls showed up! We had such a great time! We accomplished almost everthing we wanted too and everything I had planned. We have a diverse group of girls! But it is great! While Emily and I had our meeting, Josh took Jacob to Academy to get some new soccor shorts because the hand me downs of Emilys were too big:

Then they went to get his soccor pictures made. Even though our first practice is today, pictures were on Saturday. Here is is practice pictures and one of Emily "instructing him on how to take the pictures:


Do you see the disdane and frustration in my daughters eyes? She is going to be SOOOO much fun as a teenager!

After all the excitment of the soccer pictures and the Girl Scout meeting the Jehovahs Witnesses came a knocking, but we sent them on their way--- no need for crazy talk here!

Josh took me and dropped me off at my MIL's house and we went to a craft fair at the Dell Diamond. It was so much fun! We enjoyed ourselves and sent more money that we should have and sweat ourselves silly! While I was there I found a quilting square that had been framed and the frame was weathered and I loved it, but I though to myself, my mom is in Kentucky visting the grandparents, and they are all quilters maybe she can pick me up an old discarded quilting sqaure that I can frame and weather the frame and put in my kitchen. I have been looking for something for a spot in my kitchen for a few months and thought that would be just the ticket. Well, my Mamagrand peiced together for me a quilting square and my Daddygrand is making me a frame. I can't hardly wait till my mom brings it to me on Wednesday! Here is a picture of the square:


Isn't it beautiful?? Thank you Mamagrand!!

While I was at the craft fair Emily was giving her father a run for his money in the nap department. So... she had her first "puppy nap":



Aren't they cute?

Now I am exhausted and would rather sleep my weekend off than be at work.

Look where we are going!!! We are going on a church-wide Family Retreat next weekend! I am so excited about this retreat, we get to go on Sat. and stay over night and come home Sun afternoon. I am so excited to get to know some of the people in the church a little bit better and a retreat is the way to do it. It is also great because it is not going to cost a bundel and it is only about an hour from the house, so no long car ride with the kiddos!

We will wake up early, go to Jacobs soccer game and head out to the beautiful camp site. Too bad it is still a week away!

It wouldn't be me with out TV

This is the time of year that I like best. Kids are in school and new TV begins. I appreciate that the networks churn out some new stuff in the summer so it is not so full of re-runs, but I appointment watch so much and I am excited about several shows this year.

In no particular order:

Prison Break
7th Heaven
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
The Class
Project Runway
ER
Greys Anatomy
Desperate Housewives
6 degrees
The Office
‘til Death
CSI (Las Vegas and Miami)
Kidnapped
Brothers and Sisters
Friday Night Lights
30 Rock
Heros
Life with Brian

Some are old favorites, some I want to try out.
I have already knocked Vanished off my list. It just doesn’t hold my attention like some of the others. I want to like Lost, but never got into it, and now I can’t catch up, plus Project Runway is on Wednesday on the new CW. I never got UPN and could never watch it, and now I can.

My parents introduced my husband and I to CSI and we are hooked. I don’t like New York, but I will watch it for lack of anything else. I already love ‘til Death and Studio 60. And I am so glad 7th Heaven is back. I am afraid that several of the characters will not be back and that makes me sad, that one is on a bit of a trial run for me. I have DVR’d Kidnapped- it looks intense, I am not sure I will be able to get through this one.

I am so excited for tonight, I will never be able to watch it all, but that is what I do on the weekends and Tuesday nights—catch up. But tonight The Office and Greys Anatomy and CSI and ER. I am so excited, plus my husband has to work, so I get to control the remote!
I will report back in a month or two to see what I actually continued to watch after a few episodes.

The list

I was reading on another site about lists. You know the list of things you want to do before you die. I thought to myself, I know of a few things, but let me sit down and really think about it. Here is what I have come up with:

• road trip, coast to coast in a convertible
• travel to all the continents
• become better with photography
• travel to Paris
• learn Spanish
• donate hair to locks of love
• complete the cruise/motorcycle/baseball tour with Amy
• take a sailboat
• go to New York City
• own a mustang
• not be afraid of public speaking
• dance at my children’s weddings

So there you go. I think I want to travel, not like with my job, because that is work. I want to travel to see sights and to visit places that I overlooked when my parents took me there in middle school. I would have such an appreciation of it now that I just didn’t have then.

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On a side note, I want to kill my van. The radiator hose popped off and the car started smoking and argh! Luckily I had just pulled up to the restaurant where I was meeting the family and his dad and new wife when it got all crazy. So they were able to eventually fix it (with rain water from the side of the road) and Josh is going to drain the radiator today to get all the bugs and grass out while replacing the water with the clean kind. I just don’t know. This car is about to kill me, but we can't afford to replace.

Girls, Girls Girls

At our church we are involved in a baby-sitting co-op. We watch 9 kids for 4 hours every 4 months and in return we get 3 months of nights out without the kiddos. Last night was our turn to have the kids at our house. There were 3 girls and I could hardly get them to keep their clothes on. They loved playing with Emilys dress-up clothes and Sunday dresses. Here are some pics I snapped of the three girls. This is Emily Ann, Emily and Hannah.

One tough chick

For all those folks who might have read the previous post and thought, "Wow she really is over reacting to a headache. " You don't know my daughter. She is one tough girl.

When she was 18 months old I was in Florida, working at Disney World for an internship needed to graduate from college and my parents were helping keep an eye on here while my husband worked. Well while she was hanging with the 'rents she steped off a matress that was on the floor for company that was visiting my parents. We are talking about a 6 inch height off the floor. She jumped/fell/walked off this matress and hurt herself. My mother, being completly over-protective and worried that we would sue her for hurting my child took her to hospital. She WALKED into the Emergency Room, limped once (which a nirse happened to see) and went to waiting. The nurse that determines if you have a "true" emergency decided she was not hurt and they could go see her regular doctor in the morning, but the nurse who happened to see her limp thought it would be best to have an X-ray. So they did and she had a broken leg. She WALKED on a broken leg, and didn't cry or fuss about it at all. So....when my child says something hurts we take her very serious.

Here is a picture of my Emily when she was 18 months old with a cast. How sad is this, she wore a hole through the heel of the cast. What is more sad, I missed the whole thing. She was broken and healed while I was away.

Update on Previous Post

The doctors office just called me with the results of her blood test. Nothing is wrong, poor girl is just dehydrated. We have been pouring the liquids down her like crazy! I think she kinds likes it, because the doctor told her no candy, no chips, no soda—but lots of water and Gatorade. So we have bought some and she is drinking that stuff down like crazy. And her brother can’t have any of it, I think she likes that part the best.
On another note, it is almost picture day, hopefully I won’t forget like I did last year with Emily. It is next Wednesday, and both the kids are way excited. Of course, that means I dished out a pretty penny this morning to buy these pictures they are going to have made. I thought it was supposed to be cheaper when they got out of “pre-school” and into real school!

What is one of the most traumatic things a mother can watch her daughter endure?

The first time her daughter has to have blood taken.

I am SO glad that is over.

She is growing up!

WARNING!!!!

If anybody speaks of this to my daughter I will physically hurt you!!! She trusted me and I do not want her to think she can’t tell me things in confidence!!! Keep your mouths shut!!!!

But it is SOOOOOO cute!!


Last night Emily comes into the living room when she is supposed to be sleeping. She has this look on her face that I just can’t quite describe. She looks shyly at me and asks, “Mom, what would you think if I had a boyfriend?” Immediately after she says this she throws her self down on the couch, very much full of embarrassment. I say, “Well, Emily, do you have a boyfriend?” She looks up at me very dramatically and says, “Yes” and throws herself back onto the couch. I am giggling at her because of her dramatic answer to everything, plus she was soaking up the attention. I ask her his name for which she replies “Isaiah” and I think, I know that little boy. He lives down the street, far enough away that they are not allowed to play together but close enough that you pass his house to get to ours. I ask her if this is the boy and she tells me that it is. I ask her if she has kissed him and she enthusiastically replies “NO!!” I ask her how long has he been her boyfriend and she says “Well, on the second day of school I told him he was my boyfriend.” My, my, my. What am I going to do? She begged me not to tell anyone and especially not her daddy.

So, it is all of our little secret. Shhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Sneaky Jacob strikes again

While at the store yesterday with Josh and Emily, Jacob decides to “sneak” a treat without asking. He opened a package of Starburst and ate a few of the little candies. Emily discovered the problem and quickly notified her father of his actions. Josh took the candy from the boy, paid for it and then required Jacob to take the candy to the little lady at the register (it was the self-checkout line, as that was all that was open-but that’s another story) and throw the remaining candy away. I was so proud of my husbands good parenting skills and so disappointed in Jacobs deviousness. However, the lady at Wal-Mart told Josh she had watched the whole incident “go down” and was impressed with Josh’s parenting as well.

Quite a far cry from when the lady at McDonalds threatened to call CPS on us.

Looking Good

So what do you think? I changed things up today… trying on a new look. I really think I like it. I may mess with it a little bit, but overall I am very pleased. Some of the links don’t work yet, I need to do some “research” for the site addresses again, and then they will be up and running.

Josh is having some issues at work. Seems that the guy who is leaving is giving him a hard time, and because he is a supervisor, he can and can get in minimal trouble. At least Josh’s main supervisor can recognize what is going on and removed Josh from the situation, which could have been harmful to Josh’s career, and now he is back on kitchen duty. Ugh. But on a different note, he will have an interview with the RR Police Dept next week, so keep your fingers crossed.

Last Saturday I spent the morning with MIL and ran some errands so that Josh could sleep. We ran to the movie store and the library and before too long my sweet, beautiful, loving son decided to become the span of the devil. He was screaming in the stores and crying uncontrollably. Plus, none of my usual tactics to ensure that the behavior would stop would work. So… we took the MIL home and suddenly he stopped and became the sweet, charming son that I have come to know and love. (I am 99.8% sure the his behavior was not the result of the MIL as the kids fought in the car all the way to her house and were so poorly behaved prior to picking her up that the chance to see a movie was taken away) So we decide to hit up one last place prior to going home and inevitably waking the husband up from his slumber. We drive down the YMCA in order to sign the kiddo up for fall sports. Josh had tried to do it a few weeks ago, but he was to early. So now registration is in full swing and as soon as we enter the door the nice lady looks at Emily and says, “ Are you here to sign up for cheerleading?” Well the answer was NO when we walked in the door, but Yes by the time we left. What have I gotten myself into? She wanted to play T-ball or baseball but that is a spring sport only if you are over the age of 4. So her only other choices were volleyball or soccer. We had played soccer before and she wasn’t all that into it, and I tried really hard to turn her onto the idea of volleyball, but I had no luck and so cheerleading it is. Plus the cheerleading sign up sheet was pink and volleyball was green. Evil YMCA! So $117 lighter on the way out the door (and we were only supposed to pay for uniforms if they picked a regular sport, but that is not good enough for my baby) She is now the owner of a pink YCheer practice shirt, she will be measured for a “real” cheer uniform and we picked up Jacob’s soccer shirt while we were there. I love being a parent.

Josh just texted me and said that the guy who got the training Sergeant position in February that he wanted so bad and I wanted so bad (so I could stay home) is leaving the position to go to patrol! I don’t know what this means for Josh, because it has been longer than 6 months he will not automatically receive the position, but it could mean big changes!!!! We will wait and see. I would be so happy for him if he could get this promotion.

The Round Rock Express Game

Last week we received tickets to the Round Rock Express minor league baseball game from our church. The tickets had been donated and whoever wanted them could get them, so I enthusiastically picked up 4 for our family to go to the game. Here are some pics of the great time we all had!

We enjoyed some cotton candy.

The First Day of School (A week late)

The first day of school. I went in and woke Emily up this morning and she looked up at me and grinned like it was Christmans morning. She has been antsy for school to start for a few days now. She got up, took a abath, got dressed, ate her egg in a hole that daddy made and smiled pretty for the camera. I had to drag Jacob out of bed, my bed, and dress him in two sets of clothes. The first pair of pants we put on were too bib. Thanks mom and dad for the clothes, hopefully someday he will have a waist that will fill them. My son ate a "healthy" breakfast of Fritos and cake and smiled pretty for the camera and it was off to school.

Jacob was a little bit anxious to walk into the room, but once he found his seat andstarted doing the lacing project that was laid out for his table he could have cared less if we were there.

Emily was also the first one to walk into her room and was excited to find her place to sit and started in on her work. She looked so grown up in those desks that actually hold the school supplies as opposed to the tables she has had for the last 2 years.

They both looked so grown up when I left them, I really didn't want to leave.

Meet the Teachers

Met the teacher night went off without a hitch! Jacob is in fact in Mrs. Smith's class! We couldn't be more pleased! He seemed excited and nervous about going into the classroom. Well that is until he found the building blocks. Then he didn't want to leave.

Emily is in Mrs. Ainsworth's class. She seems like a very nice, sweet teacher. Emily was very nervous at first, until we found the Magic Tree House books. Then she got excited! Plus, we already have homework! I think I will ike this teacher! So I think it will be a good year for all involved.

I also added the links to their "pages" to the sidebar. I think that they are not updated from last year, but that way I can find them for this year.

Jacob is sneaky and we are ready for Christmas

I don't recall if I have spoken of my sons sneakiness on the ole blog before. But now I will. Jacob is by far the sneakiest kid I have ever known. He does things; I believe just to see if he can get away with it. Well his world has come crashing down around him as the husband and myself have finally put our foot down with his sneaking.

Now the boy sneaks all sorts of things. He is an all-encompassing sneaker. He sneaks food. I always find rotten strawberries under my couch, because he will sneak them and as I come into the room he will throw them under the couch as to not get caught. (I only find them after the house begins to have an interesting aroma and I have to hunt it down.) He ate an entire bag of cookie dough that had been in my house for less than 48 hours. I had intended to make those cookies this week, but because I did not so it immediately after purchase, they were gone.
He also sneaks for the fun of it, as I call it. Sneaks finger-paint, permanent markers and scotch tape. Unfortunately my poor house is often on the receiving end of his sneakiness. So now I will show you some of his "work."
Here are pictures of his train that he drew on the wall as pictures that includes the fingerpaint stain which he snuck while he was supposed to be taking a nap and the train tracks he drew down his train table and across the floor. The tracks on the floor are difficult to see in the picture because they are orange, and it has been a few weeks and they have started to fade.

On another note***********
Tonight we have Meet the Teacher night at the school and find out who the kids teachers will be and where the classrooms are. Yesterday I recieved a call from the coveted Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith was Emily's Kindergarten until they had to disband her classbecasue there were too few kids. She went and taught first grade that year. We loved Mrs. Smith. She is what a Kindergarten teacher should be. She called yesterday to make sure I knew about Meet the Teacher night and that we would be there. She remembered Emily ( I am not sure if that is good or bad, but --) and she asked if Jacob would be coming. I REALLY, REALLY hope this means that he is going to have Mrs. Smith for his teacher. I would be SO happy! And I would know that Jacob would have a good year with her as a teacher, as opposed to the teacher Emily ended up having for most of Kindergarten and was less than perfect.

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Last night we went to Mackenzie's birthday party and on the way home I was telling Emily and Jacob that Mrs. Smith had called, but I said, "Emily can you guess who called me today?" Knowing full well that she did not know I was curious who she would guess. She guessed "Santa Claus?"

We ended up having a conversation about Santa, and if nobody has seen him, how do we know what he looks like? I had no answer to that. She concluded that some kids must have seen him at some point, and they told us that he wears a red suit, black boots, a black belt with a gold button and glasses, sometimes. But then Jacob said, "Emily! We have seen Santa-at Wal-Mart" She asked if that was the real Santa, I said "Sure!" She was thrilled. It was the first time that I think she really gets it. The magic is still alive! But she is questioning it. She said she wants to stay up and see him put the presents under the tree. I don't know if we will get to that point, but she is totally into it. She is ready for Christmas, and all that fun.

The library card

On Saturday I was looking for something cheap and fun to get the kids out of the house while the husband slept and we took a trip down to the local public library. Now I had been to the library back a few years ago when we first moved to Round Rock. I had checked a few books out and my dumb dog, Cookie, chewed one of them up. Well since then, we have owed the Round Rock City Library $30.00. So I swallowed my pride, paid the fine and entered the world of books once again. Well, as we were paying the fine Emily asked if she could get her own library card. I said sure, lets do it. So after I filled out a short form they issued Emily her very first library card. She was so excited. She had to sign her name on the back of the card.

I think we need to discuss what her name actually is. She signed Emily And Sumpter .Oh well, I always knew she was special.

Nothing new to report, just working and praying that the summer will end so that school will start. I can not wait for school to start, I am so ready for my poor kids to have a routine again. They are having a pit of a rough time not having one at the moment. Only three more weeks until school is in. We are excited! Or maybe I am …

Amy

The stars know a shine no greater than that of a true friend
The ocean knows a depth no more unfathonable that that of the warmest touch in the coldest moments
There never was a mountain tall enough to equal true compassion in majesty
In all of nature's glory, there is nothing that can claim the same treausres as a gentle kiss blown in the harshest of winds
Friendship cannot be meausred in quanity nor can it be measured in volume
It is one of the indescribable pleasures of this life that can only be known when the heart is open and the mind is unaware
--Amydodd, 1997 or 1998

I was cleaning, I know, everyone can pick theior mouths up off the table, and ran across my folder of important letters, poems and cards I have collected from my friends over the years and found this poem that a dear friend of mine gave me back when we were in the early stages of planning our cruise and helped me in during some very difficult times. She was still Amydodd at that time, thus the refrence to her in that manner. She lived in the next room when she wrote this poem and now she lives less than 5 miles from house, and I enjoy her any time I can.

Thanks for being my best friend Amy.

The Reunion

Here are some pictures I recieved from the reuinon, becasue none of the ones I took came out very well. The first picture is of Myself, David Mosley and Meleia. A group that probably never would have been together in highschool, that is why I loved my reunion! I was friends with both in school, but I don't know that they knew each other, but we had a great time together!! You can also see on Daivd's right hand his Final Four ring, he was so very proud, and showed anybody that would look. In the background is Luke Porter, another basketball player, also very nice at the reunion.
This second one is of David, Serina, Kelly Nelson, Annika and myself. I love how we all have to look up to talk to Daivd! He has to be one of the nicest, funniest guys I know. He won most sthletic at the reunion, but that was not really any suprise, as he plays international pro-basketball in Venezulia. As I look at this picture, it is funny to me...I have known David since we were like 3 and I have known Annika since the 2nd grade, so when we were 7 we were playing on the playground together, making up plays, she always allowed me to boss her around.
At last, is one of myself with Bill McCamley and Tito Armati. Two guys I never hung with in school. I do beleive Tito is the most changed since school. He used to have this big, crazy afro-on a white kid, and now he has short hair. He is that guy that is still in college, becasue he likes it. Because he likes the younger girls, and the ability to buy liquor. Bill is a city councilman. I don't know that I beleive in his politics, but he did get some personality over the last 10 years, something he lacked very much so in high school.

Over all it was a great time. I am so glad I went and I am thankful that Heather did SO much work to get it together, she deserves a metal!

It's been a while

I haven’t updated my blog in…too long to count. I enjoyed looking at “my” mountains every time I opened up the page. But alas, much has happened since the trip to New Mexico.

The reunion was fabulous. Everybody was well behaved and nice to each other. People talked to me that NEVER would have said hello to me in high school. It was a nice time. It was great catching up with everybody and I enjoyed spending some down time with the family.

The week after we returned, Josh and I were children free. We did nothing exciting. We did eat out together twice and enjoyed the conversation that adults have without crazy kids running a muck in a restaurant. The kids returned home on Friday with my parents in tow. Waiting for them was Josh’s cousin, Shaylyn, whom is 14 and one of the sweetest kids I know. She has her moments, as does everyone, but it has been a pleasure having her stay with us. On Saturday we had Jacob’s birthday. He had a train party, because, he loves trains. We let all the neighborhood kids come over and go swimming and have cake and ice cream. A good time was had by all. Jacob received several toys that he loves and loved the piñata.

The next Saturday we all (Josh, Emily, Jacob, Shaylyn, Pam and myself) went to Waco to go to the zoo. I love the Waco zoo. It is great! It is just the right size for kids who are not old enough for an 8 hour day at the zoo. After the zoo we went to the Dr. Pepper museum and took Shaylyn to have her first ever Dairy Queen! Those crazy folks out in California don’t have DQ, I don’t know what’s up with that.

I picked my parent up from the airport on Sunday, they spent the week in Nicaragua and were glad to be home, where we have running water and electricity. The took the kids shopping for school clothes (which I am having a hard time keeping Emily out of) and we enjoyed seeing them for a day or two. The fourth was nothing to special for us. I spent most of the day with Amy, who is very special, and her kids. We went to Target and Goodwill and had lunch at Chick-fil-A. It was so fun to hang with her and her kids. All the kids got along fairly well. After all that shopping we went back to our house and went swimming and the grown-ups just chatted. It was nice to talk to her, in person, not through the phone. After some swimming and some time watching Thomas the tank engine Josh brought home some fireworks and we set of all the noisy ones and I took Amy home. We had a cook-out and had Josh’s mom over and watched a bit of TV before going to bed early. We are such losers.

However, I have come to a decision. I am going to be checking out the opportunity of getting my teachers certificate. Whenever I am unhappy with a job I start to think about trying to get my teaching certificate. So I know What I am doing now is not what I want to do forever. I do not have a passion for it, and this job requires a passion. So I start to think about what I want to do, and the idea of teaching comes to mind. I think nothing of it and push it back down inside me. Then I am looking at the paper on Sunday and there is an ad for a school to get your teaching certificate. I go to the web site and decide I am going to call and setup a meeting to see if this is something I can do. So I maybe going back to school for a year, 2 classes in the fall, 2 in the spring and 2 in the summer. From what I understand they meet once a month, and do the rest on-line. So keep me in your prayers that I can actually get his done, and it is where I am suppose to be.

Greetings from New Mexico!! Here is one of the few things I really do miss from this area of the nation, the great Organ Mountains. A beautiful backdrop to this otherwise fairly boring town. The trip here was fairly uneventful, just 10 hours in a car with two kids, enough said. We did leave earlier than expected and missed our "talk" with the JW's. I figure they will be back before too long. Well the planning for the reunion is going well. It looks like we might have a decent turn out, we wer not sure that more than 10 would show and now we have over 70. So it should be a realative good time.

The first thing we did when we got into town was head down to the local Burger/Taco joint and have us some good old fashiop Mexican food. We ate Mexican the day after as well, and now we are waiting a few days, as Josh and I forgot it has been a good three years since we had real green chili and our poor tummys are feeling it.

The good thing about coming back is the way it helps you remember why you left in the first place. I forgot how very poor, and expensive it is here in the grest Las Cruces. This is the fifth porest county in the the nation. People are POOR, and yet houses are almost twice what they run in Round Rock. It makes no sense to me, but then again, it doesn't have to. Plus it is HOT!!!! It was 104 on Monday. That is just crazy!!!! I feel ill from all the heat. But I love loooking at the Mountains and eating the hot authentic Mexican food.

Another thing about this town, I have run into someone almost everywhere I have been. Now, I was not that popluar and I did not know that many people when I lived here. It is just that small. I have only run into one person in WalMart in Austin, I have run into 5 people here so far.

Oh well, I am excited for the time I will spend here, but I am excited to come back home as well.

I can not wait until Monday!!! We are traveling to New Mexico to visit my parent and to go to my 10 year high school reunion. I am so excited. I am excited because Josh gets to go, and we get to have a “real” family vacation! We are going to go to White Sands and we are going to take Jacob to the Toy Train Depot and I get to see my mommy. It is going to be a good week and I can not wait to be away from work for a day or two or seven.

"It's just a growth?"

Well, everyone will be happy to know that it is official, I do not have cancer. Or at least skin cancer.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Over the last couple of months, about once a month a nice lady from the Jehovah’s Witnesses comes to our house. I think they might think they have a chance to “convert” us, because Josh will talk with them for a bit…so they keep coming back. Well, they dropped by on Saturday and left a pamphlet with us and made an appointment to come back next Saturday. Usually we just throw the leaflet they leave us away, as Josh and I have a faith and a religion that we believe in. We usually will chat with them for a minute or two to humor them. Well, Josh took the kids swimming after they left and I stayed home. While I was tooting around the house I opened this pamphlet they had left. Now, I am one who believes that everyone has a right to there own beliefs and their own faith. But man, I had no idea how much the Jehovah’s witnesses do NOT believe this. So in case you all are wondering what I have planned for them after we invite them into our home, these are my thoughts:

• The pamphlet states: Is Jehovah a Trinity-three persons in one God? No! Jehovah, the Father is “the only true God” (John 17:3). Jesus is His firstborn Son and he is subject to God. (1 Corinthians 11:3) The father is greater than the Son. (John 14: 28 The holy spirit is not a person; it is God’s active force-Genesis 1:2; Acts 2:18. Now if you all will remember my light bulb moment a few weeks ago (just scroll down a bit) when I really realized that God is Jesus and Jesus is God. One in the same. Let us look at John 17:3 that they quote: “And this is the way to have eternal life-to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” It says nothing of the trinity. Now lets look at just a few chapters before at John 14:10 “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of what you have seen me do.” Plus, later in the leaflet they say that Jesus is the word, well, if I can remember John 1:1 correctly…
• Secondly, as you may already know, Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that their religion is the one “True Religion”. They base this on John 4:23-24; Ephesians 4:4-5 and Matthew 7:13-14. Both the scriptures referenced in John and Ephesians do in fact mention that there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism. However, they do not mention one religion. Does this mean that even though I believe that Jesus is God’s Son, and he came to earth to sacrifice himself for my sins, and I confessed this belief in public and took on baptism BUT I worship in a church of Christ that I am not going to Heaven? I know better, but these poor souls just don’t know.
• Lastly, because my lunch break is almost over: there is not one mention of God’s grace. Not once does it mention forgiveness, or a grace filled God. It just repeats over and over again about how you need to live a clean life, because that is what God would want. Your house must be spotless, your clothes must be clean. The whole idea of “you may never sin again” is daunting and it is no wonder that so many people who do not share the faith that I do think Christians are crazy. But I know and many others have been blessed to understand about God’s grace and that while we may not be perfect and mistakes will happen, He will still love us.
  
  
  I think that this is the first time I truly have ever run into anyone who has taken scriptures so out of context. I have heard it spoken of throughout my life, but have never witnessed it myself. Now that I see how people twist God’s words to help fit their agenda, and to omit scriptures that might speak against what they are trying to teach it is so incredibly frustrating.

Girl Scouts

Last weekend Emily had her closing ceremony for her Brownie troop. In her hands are all the patches that she earned this year. I think it is a total of 16. She is also wearing the hat, skort and belt that she bought that morning at the Girl Scout shop using her cookie credits that she earned while selling cookies this year. She has such a good time and loved girl scouts so much. So much in fact that becasue her troop leader is moving and the assist. troop leasder was turned in for bad behaviour that I stepped up and volunteered to take over the troop. So now, Josh and I are troop leaders, to a troop of 2. But we were told we would get any new girls that signed up, so at least we are confident that our troop will grow. I am excited about being the troop leader, I wanted to volunteer to be the assistnant leader, but crazy lady jumped on it before I could. So, now I am it.

We are proud of our girl, and that she has finally found somethign she likes to do, for more than 2 or 3 months. Now Jacob wants to be in Boy Scouts, but he has to wait until 1st grade.

A new family member

We have been looking to add another member to our family and last week we finally found someone who seems to have fit the description. He is playful, and rambuncous, but lovable and snuggly as well. He has a bit of a cold as you can tell from the pictures, but none the less we love him. Weclome Brownie to our family.


He is fairly potty trained, we still have accidents, but 90% of the time we go outside or on the training pad, which is amazing as neither other dog ever would use the pads. He gets along with ALL family members. He chews on Oreo and Biscuit a bit, but otherwise we fell like he is a nice, and final addition to our family.

The CLAW

Pictures, for my Dad, of the CLAW. The CLAW has taken over our home. The CLAW is used to eat dinner, to put things away, and to attaxk the animals in our home. I do not know where the CLAW came from or when he will be leaving, but for now, he keeps life interesting.

They found the jerk not guilty.

February 2003

Today Josh is in New Mexico. He is there to testify in the trial of the man who assaulted him over three years ago. This person already has a life sentence plus ninety years, meaning the absolute earliest he could be released would be after he served 93 years. I don’t think he is going anywhere, but the DA needs to make a statement that it is NOT ok to assault officers. We have been down this road before, this trial has almost happened half a dozen times, but it appears that it is actually going to happen today. I truly am thankful to God that it is finally going to be over. We can finally close this chapter in our lives. This assault is the reason we live in Austin, it is why we moved.

I was getting dressed, applying my make-up (ironically enough, Mary Kay) and attempting to dress my two children for Sunday school. Emily had just turned 4 and Jacob was only 18 months old. My phone rang downstairs and I did not hear it. I was probably drying my hair. The phone rang another time, again I did not hear it. It rang a third time and I ran downstairs to answer it. Something already told me something was wrong, because nobody calls on Sunday morning at 7:30. When I saw that it was my mom my heart relaxed. I though to myself she probably want to know when we will be to Burger Time for our weekly tradition of burritos and donuts. She loved to see those kids and was probably anxious for us to arrive. But when I answer her breath is short and her words are sharp. “We will be at your house in five minutes, get ready to go, Josh is at the hospital” My heart felt like it might explode. I think I am going to be sick. I really did not know what to think. I don’t remember who came to the house, or if I dropped my kids off at my parent’s house, the next thing I remember is driving into the hospital parking lot and my phone ringing again. I answer it this time. It is the prison, the person on the other end says, “Susan?” I say, “Yes, that’s me” He says, “ Your husband has been assaulted, you need to go to the hospital.” I then tell him I am already there. As I drive around the parking lot I see the prisons big white van. My heart stops again. I take a deep breath and park my car. I get out and walk inside. I try to talk to the person at the reception desk, but she doesn’t seem to understand the urgency I have in my voice. How did she not understand, I had received THE call. The call I had feared receiving since the day Josh took that job. I feared for him as he drove to work everyday. How could she not understand? I finally calmed down enough to ask my question slowly enough for the lady to understand and the big, wide doors to the emergency room buzzed opened and I walked through. I turned left and walked down the hall and found my husband.

He was sitting on the hospital bed, looking like I have never seen a man look before. His eyes where black and red and he was visibly shaken to the core. There were two or three other officers in the room, all doing their best to raise his spirits, calm him down and just be there for support. I knew at that moment our lives had changed. Our lives changed when my husband got up early that February morning and went into work. Our lives changed when a convicted murderer decided to pound on my husbands face for no apparent reason, other than it might be a fun Sunday morning activity. Our lives changed as I was changing my son’s diaper that Sunday morning. Our lives changed when I received that frantic call from my mother. Our lives would never be the same again.

And they weren’t. Josh had been changed. He did not return to work for several weeks, maybe even months. He dropped his classes at NMSU, he had nightmares, he was not the same person anymore. He was not the funny, goofy man I had married. I tried to be upbeat and cheerful. He did finally return to the prison, he was put on light duty. Which meant he had no inmate contact. That was probably for the best. He struggled with the job, he was told horrible things to his face and horrible things were said behind his back. He struggled for a long time with what to do. He loved his job. He was striving for excellence. He wanted to be the best officer they had. But then this happened. I really just tried to be a loving and supportive wife.

But then I decided enough was enough. The prison did not want to pay his workers comp claims and they kept “loosing” his paperwork. That can only happen for so long. We decided that we needed to leave. He needed to leave his work at the prison, and he was never going to find a good a paying job with no college degree in Las Cruces and we couldn’t afford to have him take a lower paying job. So we closed our eyes and leapt. We allowed God to make a way for us. We decided to move to Austin, I knew my friend Amy lived here and it was a big city with lots of opportunity.
Josh is back in corrections now, and sometimes it is hard for me. I still worry when he goes to work, but he has a passion for his work that I don’t have. I am glad to see that he has healed enough to do the job he loved so much in New Mexico. But now he is back in New Mexico facing the person who decided to have fun with his face, his ego and his manhood. I think I might hate that man. He changed our lives forever.

What I learned in Sunday school

So, Sunday school blew my mind yesterday. I am still trying to wrap my brain around the whole idea.

We are studying the book of John. In John chapter 8:56-58, Jesus tells the crowd, “Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad.” The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “The truth is, I existed before Abraham was even born.”

Now how could he? It is a new way of thinking. I have always known the trinity, father/son/holy spirit, but to think that it was Jesus who talked with Moses and Jesus who caused the flood and Jesus who was the stern God in the Old Testament and the loving, tender Lord in the New Testament. It was amazing, to see how the Bible says it, and how I truly knew it all along, but in my human brain believed it to be that Jesus did not exist until he was born from Mary. But he was alive and walking with his father before the world was in existence. And that angels do exist. I mean, I knew they did, but that they always did, the devil is a fallen angel, for goodness sake. Angels also walked in the time with God and Jesus before the world was created. WOW, a world does actually exist that is not our own, and I would love to be there walking next to Jesus, holding his hand.
I know my thoughts may be jumbled, but… there they are.

Biopsy

I went to the dermatologist this morning and she looked at my moles and the spot on my back. She said my moles are fine, nothing to worry about. She was more than happy to remove them, if they were bothering me, but they don’t. One itches every so often, but I told her that and she said unless it becomes an issue, no big deal.

However, she did say that even though the spot on my back has gone down in size and isn’t nearly as scary looking as it was, that because it has changes so much so quickly that she is going to do a biopsy. So I have an appointment in three weeks to have a sliver of my back removed and sent off to a lab somewhere.

She did also look at all my back, face and arms to see if anything else was funny looking, but nothing else seemed to bother her. So I get to have my teeth filled and have a biopsy on my back on the same day. That will be fun.

So Josh has to return to New Mexico next week to attend the trial of the jerk that assaulted him while working the prison over three years ago. This just sucks. This is worse than when he did not get promoted because every time we seem to be moving on from this horrible event and the effect it has had on him during the last three years this happens. Now it could come to be that the trial is cancelled. He has had flights booked before and been told the day before that the trial has been postponed. I really hope that doesn’t happen. I wish I could go and be with him, but I know that is not possible on so many levels. I hope this thing actually happens this time so that it can be done with. Now don’t think that this is happening because Josh is pushing for it. The ONLY reason he is going is because he has been subpoenaed and HAS to go. He would be happy never to deal with this stuff again, but you have got to love how the DA in Las Cruces wants to waste money trying a trial for a man who already has 3 life sentences. What a waste.

This week we had Emily's parent teacher conference. I love mrs. O'Nan. She is such a good teacher. Emily is 1 level above grade level in reading now! She will go to the second grade!!! We are so excited. If only we could get her to loose the attitude we would be doing great. She is just about crazy!! I am about to pull all of her toys and give her three outfits and hide the rest of it. She is so disrespectful of everythign she owns. We can't find any of the new summer clothes we bought her becasue she stuffs them in her closet, and they are never to be seen again. She has one last chance, this weekend she has to clean, and clean good.

This week has been non stop. I can not wait until it is over. Last night was the only night I did not have something going on, and that is because I chose not to go to church. I wanted to go, but I needed an earlynight.

Reunion stuff is in high gear. So much to do, only a little over a month to do it! ACK!

Josh might try to go a different direction with his job. There is a greivence officer position opening up. It would be 8-5. M-F with high visablility, which is what he needs right now. Not the hurry up and wait routine we are getting with the training officer position. We shall see what happens.

Thats it. So busy, busy...

We are boring

I ahve nothing exciting to report. I went to the dentist and I have 2 cavities. My very first cavities. I have to get them filled next week. But they said for not having been to the dentisit in forever, I had pretty ok teeth. So there Mom! But also thank you for always making me go growing up, thus ensuring I have some decent habits. I have to start flossing, but otherwise I am ok.

This weekend was our last boring one for a while. We have something planned for almost every waking hour this week and every weekend for the entire month of May. Plus work is full, I am procrastinanting like a pro right now, but I believe I do better under pressure, so here's to pressure.

We are in the process of trying to get our cousin on Josh's side to come out for the summer. SHe is a great girl who needs some positive attention and a positive, unbaised enviroment for a while. AWe have talked her mom into a couple of weeks, but we were working for the whole summer. You see her parents are in the middle of a NASTY divorce and she is going to be a sophmore in high school and she is having an abnormally difficult time with her mom. I am a bit suprosed that her dad was all for it, but her mom was the hesitant one. I really thought it would be the other way around. I would love to bring her out here and just show her how and average family runs. We have very little drama and I know she would love being with the kids and Emily still talks about her. They were great frinds when we were out in California last year.

Sorry for the run-on sentance.

So keep this situation in your prayers. I want the very best for this young girl, I hope maybe we can provide it for her a little bit this summer.

Mary Kay

Okay, so I am trying to get this Mary Kay business up and running. I have been thinking about doing this for more than a couple of years, and I decided to give it a go and see what happens. Now I am really excited about this and I need to sell some products right away in order to buy some inventory. So, if you are at all interested in purchasing something from me I have to raise a lot of money fast and would love to sell you some make-up. If you don't know what you want you can go to my directors web page, because I don't have one set up yet. Go there and look, but don't buy off the web site, email or call me and I will order it for you. Please help me get started, I would be so appriciative.

My website is www.marykay.com/susansumpter

We had some good news yesterday… Emily has been taken out of her extra reading help, because she is on target for her grade level!!!!! This is great news because around Christmas time it was questionable if she would promote into the second grade, but we have worked her hard and we can tell the difference. I think she was a little sad because she had to give back her special bag and books that she used while participating in the extra reading activities, and Ms. Garza was very nice to her, but, she is reading!!! She loves to read, and she reads her books to Jacob and he loves it as well. I am so happy!! That was the only good thing about yesterday, Ugh, I hate how much medical care costs. It total sucks! I wish we could all just go to the doctor and be taken care of and not have to pay, but then I wouldn’t live in America if that were the case.
Oh well at least my daughter can read, which does have its down sides, Josh and I can not spell words out anymore, because she can figure out what we are talking about. Lots more to talk about after the kids go to bed than before. J

Full of Doctors

Well, it has been a while because I was out of town on business. Doesn't that sound so cool. Ha, not really.

Just a few things, Emily fell this weekend and chipped a tooth, and adult front tooth. But fear not, she is at the dentist right now getting it fixed--in addition to her appt next week to get the sealant in order to protect the poor girls teeth, she is so prone to cavities. Thanks Josh!

************************UPDATE*********************************
Just found out it is going to cost $167.00 to fix Emily's tooth, Ugh

I have a dentist appt next Monday, and I am scared!!! I haven't been in a while, like a long while. But I have no excuse. I have good insurance and need to just do it. While I was looking up Emily's doctors phone number yesterday, I decided to just go ahead and make myself an appointment as well. I am NOT looking forward to it.

Next, I had a doctors appt this morning because I found a "thing" on my left shoulder. Not really sure what it is. It looks like I have been branded by Target, because I shop there so much. I have been referred to a dermatologist and have an appt in 2 weeks. The doctor this morning just said, well, I am not sure what that is, but I am pretty sure it is not ringworm. Yeah... So now I have some thing on my back and I have to wait 2 weeks to get it looked at. However, while I am at the dermatologist I think I will have her look at my moles. It has been a few years since anyone looked at them, and it is probably time to have them looked at.

Jacob looks like he has the chicken pox, he is so covers from head to toe in ant bites. I feel bad for the dude because he scatches without even thinking about it and now some are the size of a quarter. Ugh, how do you tell a four year old not to scratch. And why won't they listen?

On another note...

I have decided to become a Mary Kay lady. I know, I know a crazy MaryKay lady. But I am a little excited about the possibilities and will be hitting everybody up for Skin Care parties soon. Plus if you want to loan me some money so I can buy some inventory, that would be great too.
Seriously, you want to loan me some money? I will pay it back, I promise.

Anyway that is a quick update in our crazy lives. Hope you are all well.

GOLD!!!! Or something like that

Boy, when I think about it we did alot last weekend...so much that I am still reporting on it and it is already almost this weekend.

While waiting for Bevo, we were about 30 minutes early, we thought about going into the cave, but when we went in to pay it would have been over $50 to take the four of us into the cave. I think you can see Carlsbad Caverns for cheeper and based on the pictures posted outside InnerSpace Caverns and the fact that it is right off the freeway, I think we will wait for Carlsbad. Anyhow, to pass the time we decided we would pay the $5 to buy a bag of "sand" which had all sorts of "precious stones" in it. You then go outside and "pan" for these "precious stones". It will keep the kids happy for thirty minutes. So here are some pictures of Emily panning, Jacob showing what he found and my hand full of the "precious stones" that we discovered in our bag 'o sand.

The kids had a great time and we will probably go back, someday, when we have hit the lottery. And yes father, I know it is a tax on the stupid.

Just for my Mom

Yesterday I wore a perfume that I just pulled out of the closet, nothing special. When I was at work someone asked if I was wearing "Happy" by Clinique. I said no, it was Curve. I did not think anything else of it until I got home last night and Emily cuddeled up to me on the couch and took a big wiff of me and said, "Mom, you smell like Memaw." All my mom wears is "Happy" --So Mom, know that the my kids know your smell, and can scout it out. I just hope they never run into some lady at Wal-Mart wearing it and try to go home with her, thinking it is you :)

While waiting for Bevo this weekend, Jacob discovered a love for insects. In the past the only insects we have had around us have been ants, spiders, an occasional grasshopper. But because Bevo was late (tied up in traffic) Jacob found some lovely little worms. They were green and small. I think they are the tree worms that come to attack the area every year, but I have only lived here for 2 and a half years, so I am not sure. But he loved them. He brought one home, which got squished in the car, but he wanted to make it a house and to love it. He gave it a leaf to eat and thought it was fun when the worm would “shake his booty” in order to crawl up his arm. My kid, he loves the outdoors.
Also, his shoes are so caked in mud from this weekend, they are still not dry enough for me to clean yet. He has had to wear his church shoes to school everyday this week. My family is a mess.

Showdown at the OK Corral

It was a showdown at the Sumpter corral last night. In trying to get Jacob to at least try new food, we have decided that he will at least try what we are having for dinner before he gets to choose something else to eat. Well last night we had lasagna. Now the boy likes spaghetti, but refused to try the lasagna. He cried for about an hour and a half straight about not wanting to eat it. But we stood firm. He was testing us and gosh darn it, we won. We put him to bed with nothing to eat. I think he believed we would never do that. But the kid is starting to eat cereal and some other things, where he is not SO skinny anymore that if this is what we have to do , it is what we have to do. He came out of his room about 10 minutes later saying he would try it. If he tried it, he was going to get some chocolate milk, which Emily was drinking at the table with him. She was trying her best to persuade him to eat a bite of lasagna so they could share he glass of chocolate milk. He came out, and after about 3 minutes of trying to convince me to try a smaller bite, he tried it. He said it taste good, after he gagged and spit it out. He hd worked himself up so much, I don’t think he could have eaten anything at that point. He got 2 bog swigs of chocolate milk and off to bed. And the amazing thing was he did not get up in the night for a snack, as I thought he would. So tonight we are having grilled chicken, we shall see how this goes.

BEVO!!

Since we live in Austin, it is almost a law that you like the University if Texas. I could really care less, but Josh has jumped on the bandwagon and they brainwash the kids in school so our family is mostly a UT family. So on Sat. we had the opportunity to get our pictures taken with BEVO, the UT cow, oops I mean mascot. So here are some pictures of the kids with the longhorn and a few good shots of Emily's new hairdo. (We cut off 6 inches on Friday)

My baby is not so much of a baby anymore

Can you beleive my child, my little baby boy will be in Kindergarden next year? I went yesterday morning to register him at the big school so he can attend in the fall. Josh and I also made the decision that he will go to YMCA camp with Emily this summer. It cost the same, will only require one drop off and pick up and will allow us to not have to pay for the two weeks he will not be in camp, like we would have had to pay the daycare to keep his spot open. Anyhow, I can not beleive it, I will be the parent of two school aged children!

Our Weekend

What a busy weekend. It was pretty non-stop and with the help of the farmers, I am so tired I am worthless at work today. I am trying to actually get some things accomplished and I can barely move I am so tired. I hate day-light savings time.

To start of we went to our friends house, sans children on Friday night. They stayed the night with Grandma. She seems to be a little lonely, and suddenly wants to be best friends with all of us again, rather than getting out and making new friends, but I digress….
The kids spent the night, so we “partied hardy” on Friday night, we got home late and were awaken at 7:50 am to come get our kids. Then we got up and started moving, slowly. The kids went to bed late, Jacob at 9 and Emily at 11 (even though she knew they were fighting off a cold) and Josh and I were up past midnight. After we all woke-up/showered we went to the Home Depot to pick up some concrete to help the dog stay in the yard. Not to put the dog in, but to make it so he can’t get out. Well, we just happened upon the first Sat of the month at Home Depot. They have a project for kids to do…for FREE. So we said sure and I even marked the next one on my calendar, so we can do it again. Jacob built a race care and Emily built a bird feeder. It was so fun. And then the kids let us browse a bit, because they were happy for a minute. We found a rug I like, to cover the iron burn mark that Jacob helped make two weeks ago and bought our $3 bag of Quick Crete. Then we went to the animal shelter. I have been having a yearning for my wiener dog again, so went looking. They actually had two there this weekend, but they were on hold, so we could not even take them out of the cage to see how they would interact with Biscuit. So, we may be back later in the week, or we may just chill on the second dog idea for a minute.
After all this we all went home and took a nap YEAH!!! Then Emily and I went to Mother Daughter bowling with Girl Scouts and had a great time. We had the bumpers up, so I scored a 94! The best ever! We all had a great time, and Jacob and Josh went to see Ice Age 2, and they both really seemed to enjoy it as well. After such a busy Saturday we did NOTHING on Sunday, but because the farmers need extra time or whatever, the kiddos and me were beat all day long. In fact Jacob fell asleep about 5 pm during/after throwing a fit about cleaning his room. He woke up about 2 hours later and we fed him and put him back in bed, and he still gave me grief this morning getting up. Oh well… Next weekend we have a make-up yard sale, because that didn’t happen this week and Girl Scouts. Hopefully, much less exciting.

Here are some pictures of Emily and her sock puppet. We will not even discuss what some of the puppets looked like. I am almost ashamed to admit that I made her sock puppet and it looks like Jacob made it. Oh well, she was happy and so I was happy.

Old Western Photo

We LOVE to have old western photos made, we have had one a year made since our honeymoon. Here is our latest photo.