Happenings. . .

Hi, friends! Lots has been happening around here the last few days. Here's a run down on all the activity. . .

*Last Thursday: Madison's 1st grade field trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. We had a blast. The 5 little girls in our group were precious. Maddie and I can't wait to take Stephen and Jackson and Hope back to the FW zoo this summer. The craziest thing we saw was a white tiger pacing back and forth just inches away on the other side of a piece of glass. Jackson and Hope stayed with Miss Jenny (Travis) while I was gone. I got home at 2:30 pm. and then. . .

*Thursday night: Miss Kathleen came at 3:15 to keep all 3 kids while I went BACK to Fort Worth for a Smith Band date at the seminary. This was a huge blessing. . .John, Aric, and Stuart were with us for a college conference. Lots of Sagemont people were in leadership, and they did an awesome job. Vodie was the speaker and was amazing, of course. We didn't get home until 9:30 or so. . .boy, I missed baby Hope!! I've never left her ALL DAY like that! She did great, but it was hard on me! I do thank God for an easy baby girl who can go with the flow!

*Friday morning: I got the big kids off to school and then the guys came to Irving (I missed the morning session). We all went to eat Indian food for lunch. They headed back for the afternoon session (which I also missed), and I headed to Stipes for Madison's field day! This was a non-competitive field day where the kids moved around from station to station playing games. They had a ball!

*Friday night: Miss Jenny was back to stay with all 3 kids while I headed to FW. We went to eat at the Mellow Mushroom (YUMMY)! Ya know, it's a treat to go out to eat with just grown ups!!! :) The students were really responsive at this session and it was a blessing to be a part of the evening. Thanks be to God.

*Saturday morning: Miss Kathleen was back to stay with M, J, and H while we went back to FW for the final session. We finished strong! The speaker, Jim Henderson, really challenged me with this question: Do we try to impress people with our own abilities and strengths or do we try to impress people with GOD's might? Do they come to our churches to see our personalities and hear and see how great WE are or do we point them to God with what we do and say? This was on my mind Sunday morning. ..

*Saturday afternoon and evening: We all took a huge, long nap and then went to La Madeline for supper. Our kids actually like going there! It's all about the huge cookie you get with the kid's meal! I had this very yummy crepe with shrimp!! Tooooo delicious! Those of you with kids know that the pre-church/Saturday evening ritual takes a while. .baths for THREE. . clothes laid out. . bags packed .. . coffee maker prepped. . .house picked up. . .to bed.

*Sunday morning: I led with Stephen at our 11:00 o'clock service. This was a blessing because I haven't led with him on Sunday since the middle of March (pre-Hope). I was so glad to be back! :) My friend Alicia sat with Hope in the service and she slept the whole time, of course. She sleeps A LOT! I'm not complaing or anything, but people are always shocked when they actually get to see her with her eyes open!

*Sunday afternoon/evening: The kids and I went to Taco Bueno to grab some lunch ( I'm absolutely addicted to beef muchacos--not good for my weight-loss goals!) and then ran Madison home to change . . and then took her back to church to get ready for Donkey Tales, our children's spring musical! Stephen and I both had a parenting moment where we realized just how much she is growing up! She is so responsible and actually helpful!!! She helped with set-up and then they rehearsed at 3:00. After Jackson, Hope, and I had naps, we were BACK at church for the big performance!!! Madison and the kids did GREAT!!! She actually had a lot to remember. One great thing about our church is that it's big enough to do a full-on musical, but small enough that every kid has a few parts.. . so Madison had 3 big parts. . she rode on a wooden donkey and had to lean LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT through the song on the beat. . . she was the "preacher" in a song that told the story of the good Samaritan. She had on a red robe and carried a Bible.. . .and she also did "foot work" on one song. Why do they call it "foot work" and not "dancing"? I really do not know! Maybe so some boys will participate (though none did). It cracks me up!!! They basically did the grapevine-to-the-left and grapevine-to-the-right through the whole song! It was awesome! :)

Okay, so that's our weekend. We've got more excitement to come this week with Jackson's school program on Tuesday night and Madison's gymnastics program on Thursday.. . stay posted for more pics!

Have a blessed Monday. . oh, and check in later to find out if Melody is having a boy or girl!!!!! They have the big ultrasound at 4:00 which I will be attending via my mom's cell phone!! We are soooooo excited!

Star

Oh, and please visit Amber's blog and/or http://www.hisvoiceforsudan.com to hear about their current trip to The Sudan.




Madison with Savannah, Esmerelda, GiGi and Jeannie.




The pacing tiger.




Jump roping at field day. I actually jumped a bit, too! It was fun!