Good times in Bham

We got back tonight from Birmingham. Our old church had asked me to come and sing a particular song for a program, so, because I hardly ever turn down a chance to sing, we went for the weekend. We also never turn down a chance to see friends!

It was a great "friend" weekend. Drew's mom was just asking me if we wanted to move back to Bham, since we had such a fun weekend. I told her no, we're happy here. It's just super nice to be able to go back and visit with people who we love so much, and who love us that much back. Although we've made great connections and friends here in Tupelo, you can't compete with 11 years of friendship building.

We stayed with our friends Curt and Tammy in their new house. Their kids are around our kids age, so they all had a great time being crazy. We also got to spend some great time with Heather and Barry and their 3 kids, and our kids were in heaven. I know they appreciate their old friends, too.

Drew let me leave him and the kids early Saturday morning and meet with my old "Grace Group." Those women have walked with me through thick and thin, and I miss them terribly. It was a great time of lots of laughs, and of course a few tears.

Thanks C and T for letting us take over your new home. We love you!

Below and above are pics of our girls and their friends. (I forgot to get a "grace girls" pic! Dang!)

Disappointment

Do you all remember what it feels like to be disappointed? Not in others, though that's really bad, too, but disappointed in yourself? It's just a yucky feeling, a big old feeling of regret.

Today, I saw my little E be very disappointed in herself. I understood how she felt. I felt it when I was in 2nd grade and forgot about picture day, and took my picture in a red sweatsuit with unbrushed hair. I felt it when they had Annie auditions, and I chickened out of trying out. I felt it when I wrote out dozens of recipes for the Bham Junior League cookbook, and never got around to entering in any of them for a chance of publication. Disappointment. And it feels crappy.

But today, I realized, after holding a sobbing E, that witnessing my child be disappointed hurts even worse.

It was a simple thing: She had to bring a toy to school today to give to "baby Jesus." These toys were all going to a daycare of underpriveleged children. E picked out a fancy Barbie horse, all by herself. She was so excited. After I dropped her off to go to her class, I took the toy to the front desk at the preschool. Well, in all the excitement, E never connected with her gift. And had no gift to give to Jesus. As she cried and cried in the car this afternoon, I felt anger. Anger at myself, anger at her teacher for not recognizing what happened...it just makes me nauseous thinking that my little girl missed out on something special. And I want to fix it! But I also know that disappointment is part of life. Human beings are broken, weak, and let each other down. But as God told Paul , ..."My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (then Paul says)-Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.(2 Cor. 12:9-10)

Man, oh man, it's hard to delight in my own child's hardships. I want to fight for her, soothe her, make it all better. But that's not always my job. Sometimes, all I can do is hold her, and let her taste the bitter tears of her disappointment. Then maybe one day, she'll find her Saviour in her weakness. And perhaps hold her little girl one day, too.

Great FREE! educational website

E starts Kindergarten next Fall, and I want to make sure she knows what she needs to know for next year. I found out about this awesome website and thought I'd share it with everyone. Since we found it, she has been on it constantly, and I can tell she's learning!

Just click on the graphic and go at it!

Genie, the good ole elf

Guess who arrived at our house Monday? Genie the good ole elf! Now, I'm not big on adding ONE MORE THING during Christmas to do, since it can get stressful already. However, it is just so hilarious when we find him in the mornings! Yesterday, he had gotten in the Halloween candy (okay, I admit, I STILL haven't thrown that out), and gotten a sucker. He just threw the wrapper down and littered, can you believe that?

Welcome, Genie. You make our lives brighter around here!

So Thankful

Well, I hate to do this, but I've got a WHOLE LOT O' PICTURES from the holiday, so I must post one FAT blog of pictures. This is not my favorite way to blog, since you don't get good snapshots of each moment if you post the pictures in one big chunk, but if I don't get all of these up, I just might panic and want to give up on this blog thing. So, for those of you who were present in these pictures, these are for you to enjoy, and for those of you who were not present, my apologies for a very random blog.

Making Stuffed Pork Tenderloin before our Lifegroup Thanksgiving dinner(recipe posted at end of blog)

Using my rarely-used china for creative Thanksgiving presentation

Lifegroup Kids (minus 5, who were sitting elsewhere)

M and her boyfriend Grish, pounding the ivories

O and E unpacking Christmas decorations

Drew and M "bejeweling" the Christmas tree

Drew and O "Decking the Halls"

O and her cousin Hannah waiting on Thanksgiving Dinner at Nana and Papa's

The Love Grandkids Christmas card attempt, #671...can you guess who's trouble?

The beautiful big-girl cousins

Sucking chocolate syrup through a straw...you know, everyone's traditional Thanksgiving dessert! (Only at Nana's would this happen)

At Mimi's for Houston Thanksgiving...I "Heart" cousin Matt!

Cousins putting on the critically acclaimed play, "The Safe Houses and the Bumblebee"

My Mamaw (who likes to embarass me at Chik-fil-et) handing out goodies at Greenhaw Thanksgiving/Christmas

My Great-aunt Laura Mae, who is 91 years old!

STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

1 Pork Tenderloin(the kind that is split into 2 pieces in the package)

Lemon Pepper, Seasoned Salt, Garlic Salt

1 Bell Pepper

1 Onion

Bacon

1 Cup of Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup of worcestershire sauce

1 Stick of Butter

Liberally coat tenderloin in lemon pepper, seasoned salt, and garlic salt. Roughly chop bell pepper and onion and lay between the 2 pieces of tenderloin. Wrap in bacon and secure with toothpicks. Melt brown sugar, worcestershire sauce, and butter in a saucepan and baste during cooking. Bake on 350 for 1 hour. You can serve the remaining sauce on the side, if desired.

Dancin' with the Folks

We had a fun night at O's school last week. They had a "Dancin' with the Folks," where the students learned a lot of group dances at school, and then took the opportunity Thursday night to teach and perform the dances for the parents. It was so cute! O was quite the dancer, and knew exactly what to do in every dance. Mimi, Nana and Papa got to come and watch, also, and we all enjoyed a hot dog dinner before the performance. The best part of the night was when O picked her Daddy to dance with her. I'm not sure she got her dancing ability from him. (and I'm not sure it came from me either!)
O, Kaylee Beth, and Merritt.

Papa, M, Daddy, E, and Nana-Mimi was there too!

O and her partner, Fuller. Neither one of them look really comfortable, do they?(Look, buddy, you should feel HONORED to dance with my daughter! She is AWESOME!)

Drew and O, tearin' up the dance floor.

I'm a Little Indian

"I'm a little Indian on the go;

Here is my arrow, here is my bow.

When I go out hunting hear me shout:

BEAR AND BUFFALO BETTER WATCH OUT!"

We've had some fun Thanksgiving preparations around here lately. I am truly in the spirit after going to E's preschool Thanksgiving program. It was so great. FYI-I am the music teacher! And the music was great!(I'm not biased or anything, huh?)

Anyway, it was all really cute, and my little E (who's becoming not so little anymore!) was an Indian. Isn't she a cutie? Something I love about E is that she loves to sing. She sings all day long, and usually songs that she makes up on her on. A fun game we like to play in my family is, "what kind of song can E make up for THIS. (fill in any sort of situation--Daddy's haircut, M tee-teeing in the potty, a cold day, etc. etc. ) It is ALWAYS entertaining. I may dedicate a post one day, just for this, with video to prove it. The precious part of it is that there's always a part in it that says something like, "Oh, God, I love...." or "Hosanna," or "God, you're so special.." so I like to think her heart's in the right place!

I am thankful for my Indian E.

Happy Birthday Mimi!

Okay, mom, so I know that I'm a week late, but I am finally blogging about your party! My mom turned 60...I mean 50...I mean...uhhhh....sorry Mom. I truly am just so dang impressed, because you SERIOUSLY do not look 60! Not that that's old or anything.....okay, moving on, since I'm putting my foot in my mouth...

We celebrated my mom's b'day last Saturday with dinner at Danver's (hey, it may not be fancy, but it's a place that small kids running around doesn't offend as much!) and back at our house for cake and karaoke. Now any of you who know my family know we love a microphone. And for those of you who just know me, should know that I get my microphone hogging honestly. And, seriously, I'm not even the biggest hog in the family. That honor would probably go to Blake or my Dad, and may be passed on to E pretty soon. She couldn't get enough of that mike. Sigh. That child is TRULY mine.

So we had good times together, and laughed a lot, and celebrated Mom, and our family. Does it get much better than that?

Anyway, I just wanted to honor my mom on here, because I love her! I am so thankful for you mom. Thanks for loving me unconditionally(even though I have a big mouth and am REALLY stubborn), and thanks for the blessing you are to my girls. I love you so much!

Happy Birthday Hot Rod!

Well, we had a blast of a weekend! For one, we all took a step back in time to the 80's. Doesn't really seem that long ago, does it? If you're wondering what in the heck we've got on, we were dressed for a birthday party for my brother-in-law, Rodney. It was 80's themed, complete with 80's karaoke, and 80's music to dance to. Needless to say, we probably got a little too excited about the dressing up thing. (as usual!)

I must confess, I didn't look much like this in the 80's. I was much more conservative, and much less attractive. I favored the sweater vests, walking shorts, and Dexter look much more the the Molly Ringwald look. But, of course, my secret desire was to BE Molly Ringwald, so I had to fulfill this here. I also had a huge crush on Corey Haim, so my hubby kind of went for that look.(cute spikey hair......recessed of course)

Other people featured in these pics are my sis-in-law, Leigh, who isn't afraid to sport a side ponytail, my brother Blake, who looked just like John Cusack in Say Anything, and my sister, who just looked plain "hot."

O just said I looked like Sharpay. Maybe Sharpay isn't THIS trashy looking!

There's nothing better than having a great time with your own siblings.

Oh, and by the way, it isn't a PARTY until somebody shatters the crowns on their front teeth while doing "The Worm." Glad you got it fixed, Chuck.

E can ride a bike!

Drew's worked with E for months on riding her bike without training wheels. She just wouldn't commit. She'd stop pedaling, or not watch where she was going, but we kept feeling like she could do it if she really wanted to.

We were correct. She's so much like me in many ways, and one of those ways is that she is really motivated by others. So, when her best friend Sage learned to ride, E was READY. She learned that very day.

I'm proud to say, I'm the one who taught her in the end. Which makes me feel good, since Daddy usually gets that privilege. Right now, he taught O, and I taught E. We'll have to see who gets to M first. I'm planning on working on it with her this afternoon. Ha.

New Camera!!!!

I got a new camera! What do you think?

Eyewitness

All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. Acts 4:32

I had the privilege of being an eyewitness to one of the most beautiful acts of kindness that happened in the world today. Today, our pastor preached on giving. I know some of us grow to dread the "stewardship" sermons that come up once a year, but our preacher did it with his typical freshness and authenticity.This was a sermon in a series of 3 about giving. One thing I love our pastor is that he preaches biblical truth, sometimes truths that are hard to swallow, but preaches them with an amazing attitude of brokenness and grace.
As he preached about giving to others, he said we are responsible for the downtrodden-the widows, orphans, poor, etc. etc. He went on to say that in this economy, we have many that are struggling to make it without jobs. He pointed out 1 family in particular, and showed a video of this church member talking about the journey through unemployment. This particular man is a true servant of the church. You constantly see he and his wife serving diligently, with much passion. He has been without a job for many months, and has 2 children. In the video, he spoke of how good God is. He spoke of how independent he was of God before (when he had financial security) and how dependent he is on God now (with no financial security). This has caused a radical tranformation in him. After the video, our pastor, with much grace, (as usual) asked for an offering for this family. Now I have never been in a church that this was done. I've seen some wonderful behind the scenes stuff, but never an open asking for offering of an individual. And some of you might be critics as to whether or not it was appropriate. But I would tell you that the Holy Spirit was moving so strongly in the room, appropriate-ness was not even a question. This family has needs, and the church wanted to move. And oh, did they ever move. I was on stage helping with the music, and to observe this action was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had. Very quickly and enthusiastically, people got up from their seats and started laying money at the altar. As they went up, they either layed hands on this family, prayed with them, or hugged them. This wasn't just 25% of the church, 50% of the church, or even 75%. This was the majority of the church on their feet, moving to bless this family.
I don't believe I'll ever forget this day at church. I can't wait to see all of the ways God wants to move, if we'll only step out from behind our pride and let Him.

Seven Daily Prayers

On one of my favorite blogs, the author challenged her readers to pray 7 prayers a day for 7 days for our children. I am sometimes speechless as to how to pray for my girls, and feel they can be so repetitive and cliche. And although I have an attitude of prayer for my girls at all times, I am a moody prayer, spitting out a passionate, pleaful prayer during some sort of emergency with the girls, or I can rush my girls through prayers, when it is late and we're all ready for bed. I needed some structure, and these have seemed to really do the job. I printed them out, and have been using them. (as often as I can keep up with what my children are doing during the day!) Praying these scriptures so far have deepened my prayer time with the girls, and are definitely reminding me to pray ALL through the day for them! If you haven't done this before, give it a try this week! (I've been praying them outloud also, like the author)

Leaves are Falling, Falling Down

Well, since the leaves have turned, it's officially Fall. Funny thing is, I didn't even notice it! I was inside "straightening up" (aka, picking up a thing or 2 here, and sneaking in a read of my newest book-will post on that soon!) and the girls ran inside with their leaf bouquets, screaming, "it's Fall, it's Fall! Look, mom, I'm a bride!,"etc, etc. I can't tell you the joy that welled up in my heart at that scene. If I could freeze those moments and pick them from the air to watch again at any given time in the future, those snapshots of a joyful life would be the most valuable thing I owned.
I couldn't help but remember on that day(election day) that in all of the craziness and confusion and fear in life, God is still the Great Creator, who delights in creating beauty for his children to live and breathe in.

Scooby Dooby Doo

As many of you know, Drew and I are really big nerds when it comes to dressing up for Halloween. At our church in Birmingham, we always dressed to try to win the adult costume contest. Drew has been undefeated, for Peter Pan and for the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz. Though some of you may have "macho men" who wouldn't dare dress up, I love my adventurous husband. This means at almost every birthday party for the girls, we can always count on some creative dressup from Daddy. Who wouldn't want a daddy like that? I love that about Drew.
This year, our new church in Tupelo had "Trunk or Treat." Although there was no adult costume contest, Drew and I just had to pull out all of the stops for, I must admit, our own self-gratification. What other chance during the year do you have to be someone else? So, we decorated the mini-van like the Mystery Machine, and dressed up like Scooby Doo characters. The van didn't turn out as bright as we hoped.(We ran out of paint-spray chalk, totally washable, by the way). But our costumes turned out PERFECT, I thought, and I got it all for less than $20 at the thrift store. We recruited another couple (of suckers!) to be Velma and Shaggy, and we were Daphne and Fred. Thanks Valerie and Michael! We owe you!
I think we made a fine group. Its been rumoured that because of our "over the top dressing up," there may be an adult costume contest next year. We welcome any and all suggestions for next year!


Queen E and Monarch Butterfly O.

M (my little strawberry!) after 3 suckers, 2 bags of M and M's, and still wanting more. Sugar can make a monster out of some of us.

O for President! Part 2

I wanted to post this separately, because I believe this paper that O wrote truly reflects her heart. I am beyond proud of her.
The assignment was to write what you would do if you were president.

October 27, 2008
If I were presedent I would give people money to buy stuff if they were poor. I would let them stay at my house for a few days and I would give them food. Also I would lower gas prices. I would make McDonalds happy meals not coust that much too.


What more could a parent ask for than that their child's heart be like this?
O, I am so glad you are my daughter. I can't wait to see what God does with your life! You are a blessing to Daddy and me. We love you!

O for President!

At O's school, they've been studying about the presidential elections. I've been surprised at how much she's soaked in! I'm really proud of her for being semi-informed for the elections. Too bad she can't vote. She's probably more informed than half of America.
Anyway, they had a mock election and she told me she voted for McCain. Here's our conversation. Forgive me if this offends anyone, but I have to say, she's only 7!
Me: O, who'd you vote for?
O: McCain
Me: Why'd you vote for McCain?
O: Because he's a Christian and he's white.
Me: (Silence)
Me: Uhhh, is Obama not a Christian?
O: Well, I don't know. On our fact sheet, it just said McCain was a Christian, not Obama.
Me: Okay, that's great that you want a Christian president! Just an fyi, Obama says he's a Christian, too, okay?
O: Okay
Me: Why do you care if the president is white? Do you think we could have a black president, too?
O: Yeah, I guess, but I just wanted a white president because I'm white.

I was hesitant about posting this, because I didn't want to portray my daughter as racist! She never hears any kind of talk like that around our house. O has black friends, and has had some over to play before. She has never seemed to care or notice, and I pray she always treats people who are different from her just the same. However, I think she's of an age where she's noticing differences. It's Drew and my job to help her perceive things the way Jesus would perceive them. To treat others with grace and dignity, and to never think she is better than anyone else. I am so glad we had the conversation, because I believe it was a reminder to me that O is away from me for at least 6 hours a day, and it is up to me to help her filter all that goes on around her when I am not with her. It's also our job to pray a lot!

Carving Pumpkins 2008

We carved pumpkins yesterday. Correction. I carved pumkins yesterday. Although the girls get credit for cleaning the gunk out of their own pumpkins, they picked a template and I had to carve it. E picked a pretty easy one, but O's was complicated! After breaking 3 tools carving, I wanted to bust the pumpkins on the sidewalks, but I figured Drew might get ticked about the mess.

Notice the forced grin on my face in the picture.

Pumpkin Bread and Best Friends

One day last week, E got in the car so excited that they made pumpkin bread at school. Then she realized she left her bread, and when we went back to get it, it was gone! So, the next day, she had her best friend over and they made the pumpkin bread again. It was delicious, and even better, so was the good time with her friend. I am so thankful that E has Sage in her life!

Sage also has twin brothers who are a day older than M. Here they are "hangin" in the Escalade. Awwwww, yeeeeaaaaah.

Autumn Pumpkin Tureen

As promised, here's the recipe for the "Pumpkin Fondue" as I have nicknamed it. Although the name sounds complicated, and the end result looks complicated, the recipe is not hard at all! This will be a great one for Halloween or Thanksgiving parties. It turns out beautiful and is delicious.

1 pumpkin (4 lb), washed and dried
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz baby Swiss cheese, shredded
4 slices white bread, toasted, crumbled
2 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 pt half and half
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
French bread fingers, buttered, toasted, for dipping (I also add crackers to platter)

Preheat oven to 350. With serrated knife, cut 2 inch slice from top of pumpkin and reserve. Remove seeds and fibers. Blend oil and garlic and rub into interior of pumpkin, then place in a large roasting pan. Alternate layers of toast crumbs and cheeses inside pumpkin. Combine half & half, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and pour over layers. Replace top and bake pumpkin 2 hours, gently stirring contents after 1 1/2 hours. Serve on platter with french bread fingers and crackers for dipping. You can 1 and a half the recipe or double it by using a larger pumpkin.
This recipe is from Come On In, the Jackson, MS Junior League cookbook. I highly recommend this cookbook!

Chili Fest and the virus that never ends.

This morning, O's choir from her school sang at Celebration Village.(A Christmas fair type-thing.) I'm hoping Mimi will send me pics of her so I can post those, because she was so cute, of course, singing. The grin on her face was priceless, especially when they got to sing "Soarin" from High School Musical. I actually cried. Funny-I'm not much of a crier, until I get to watch my children do something, then I'm just a mess.
Anyway, we checked O out early from school, and headed over to Chili Fest on Main Street. They were serving chili and hot dogs for lunch. O and M opted for hot dogs only, but E, our newly adventurous eater, wanted chili. I truly could just eat her cuteness up in this picture, right along with the chili, couldn't you?
Anyway, the chili was pretty spicy, and Drew and I both partook of the cuisine pretty heavily. So, tonight I had a gathering at a friend's house, and Drew had big plans to do fun things with our girls. But he came home feeling queasy. So, in the middle of my cooking my gourmet appetizers, (Autumn Pumpkin Tureen recipe to follow), Drew starts going down fast, and thinking he's going to vomit. Let me backstory for you here. Last weekend, we stayed with some friends who had the stomach bug all week. By Friday, they all seemed clear, so we stayed with them. We didn't escape the bug. M vomited most of the 2 hr ride home, then O was up all night vomiting. Drew, E and I never got it. Wouldn't you think we'd be past it not? Guess not.
By the time I arrived at the party (of course I went to the party, wouldn't you? I didn't want to be around my husband when he's sick!) Drew texted me that he had finally thrown up. I got home a short while ago to find a towel folded up in front of the toilet, I guess to cushion his knees while he vomits. Alright, I may not get wife of the year, but I plan to pamper him tomorrow, okay Nana?
Not sure if it's the same old virus from earlier this week, or the chili, but I'm hoping it escapes me and E!

Fall Fun!

A couple of weeks ago, Drew took the two older girls camping. It's something we've been wanting to do for some time, and the girls were so pumped! Drew grew up camping, so he gets more excited than I do (not much of an outdoor person, you know, the bugs and stuff...) so I stayed home with M and enjoyed a quiet Friday night.
Apparently, the girls were great! They roasted hot dogs and marshmallows(O burned hers, E slow-roasted hers to perfection!) and the next morning, Daddy made pancakes and bacon! Yum! They returned the next afternoon very stinky, dirty, and happy. I think M and I may have to make the trip sometime soon...just make my bed high up off the ground, please, so I won't have any spiders crawling on me!



The day after camping, Drew took O and M to the pumpkin patch with the kids at church. E and I went to her friend's birthday party instead. Again, it looks like I missed out on the fun. M tried to actually KISS a llama! Hopefully, that's the only thing she'll try to kiss in the next 20 years! Ha.