Productivity

It's 9:24 Monday morning, and I have already been super productive.

It was a great weekend. We had dinner with some new friends on Friday night. It was a fabulous evening of connection, time both Mike and I needed!

Saturday night was the big surprise party for my friend JoAnna. Another great opportunity for Mike and I to connect with others. We even stayed to listen to Dick Dale, surf guitarist, for a bit before heading home.

We pulled into our house that night, tired and ready to fall into bed, when I opened the back door and heard this strange beeping noise.

Hmmm.

I walked down the hallway and soon realized it was the washer. I had never heard this odd insistent beeping noise it was emitting.

I opened the laundry closet door, or tried to open it, when I realized the door to our front loader was ajar, and being held partially closed by the closet door. I reached in and tried to shut it but there were clothes spilling out and I really had to push.

I finally got the washer door closed enough to open the closet door, and that is when I realized there was water EVERYWHERE!

Apparently, the locking mechanism on our washer door decided that in the middle of a wash cycle was a good time to stop, well, locking.

So instead of going to bed we were cleaning up water. The funny thing is that the washer is still acting like it is locking, and doesn't seem to think it has a problem, so I have no idea how long this has been going on.

That was my first order of business this morning. I called those Whirlpool guys and made an appointment for Thursday afternoon. This family of 6 will have to take our chances on the locking door, because a week without laundry isn't going to work here :)

Also, this morning I sent an email to the local Magnet Arts and Tech. high school, to see if they are willing to accept a part time student. Faith is very interested in attending part time in the fall, and I would love some help with some of these subjects that aren't in my skill subset.

While all of that was happening, I was making sure all the kids were started on their assignments for the day, figuring out dinner for tonight, and answering neglected email from the weekend!

If only I can be this productive the rest of the day :)

Kristen

Troll! Troll! Troll!

Well, we just ended a week long visit with my best girlfriend Paula and her three boys. We had a great time and had a ton of adventures. One of the most memorable was our trip to Disney.

It was a beautiful day, 80 degrees and sunny. We had to do some convincing to get Sam and Luke to ride the rides, and with some coercion, they did ride a few.

At dinner time we decided that since they had never had In and Out Burger, that it was a must. So we left the park and hunted down one of these fine establishments. It was a hit. Everyone enjoyed it and we headed back to the park.

Now, if you have ever been to Disneyland you will hear the voice on the tram tell you to please keep your parking ticket for re-entry to the parking garage.

Which we did.

Mike was in the car in front of us, since we had ten people in our party, we couldn't make it in one vehicle.

Mike pulled up, showed the man his parking ticket, and pulled on through.

I pulled my van full of boys up to the parking man, and showed him my ticket, his response was, in a gruff voice,"Where's your Disney pass?"

This is when I realized that my parking pass was obtained because we had prepaid one vehicle on my annual pass.

Uh Oh...

So I calmly tried to explain to the man, that I have an annual pass, but it was with my husband in the vehicle in front of us, so I can't show it to him. By this time Mike had slowed and pulled to the side, but the other parking attendants started yelling at him to move on!

It was at this point that the parking attendant, not so kindly explained to me that without it he would not let me in, and slapped a bright pink "EXIT" sign on my windshield and told me to leave the park!!!

I wish I could say it was at this time that I calmly smiled and dealt with the situation in a mature adult like fashion.

But, I didn't.

I rolled up my window and as I drove away, I, well, lost my temper just a bit. It is also possible that at this time, I may or may not have called the man a Troll.

Yes, I realize this isn't my most shinning parental moment. And I also realize that with this one slip of the tongue, every uplifting and encouraging thing that I had ever said to these five boys, sitting in the back of my van, flew out the proverbial window.

There arose from the back seat a chorus of Troll slurs that you cannot even imagine! I looked at Paula and we both realized that it was going to be a long time before we were going to be able to undo this misdeed.

I calmly explained to the boys, that I had made a grievous mistake in calling that man a Troll, and I apologized to them. I told them that he was a creation of our God, therefore not a Troll, but an individual, we should respect. Further, I explained, that as Christ-followers we should not let our temper get the best of us, as I had, and we should always try and treat others with respect no matter how they treat us.

I was answered by Luke who simply said,"Mrs. Jones, it wasn't your fault, that Troll should have let us in!"

Great.

So, Mike had to exit the park, and brought me my card. We re-entered the parking garage with a chant of "Troll! Troll! Troll!" coming from the back seat, which we quickly quieted as we approached the parking troll, I mean man, who, if I might add, was just as rude the second time around as the first.

We made our way back into the park and enjoyed the rest of the evening, with only a few more mentions of the parking troll.

Kristen

Listening...

This journey we are all on is an unpredictable one.

I am finding this statement to be more and more true as the days go by.

If we think we are in control, even for a second, we are fooling ourselves.

Another true statement.

For about the last six months Mike and I have been wrestling with God. He wanted us to step out, make a change and trust Him.

We were comfortable.

We were fighting Him, because the change He wanted would take us out of our comfort zone. It would mess up our plans and make us rely more on Him.

We were miserable.

Miserable because when you fight God's will, you WILL feel conflicted.

You will feel unsatisfied.

You will feel discontented.

And until you give in and listen to Him, those feelings will not go away.

This is where Mike and I found ourselves about six months ago. After several months of not understanding these feelings we finally gave in and told God we would listen and obey.

He moved quickly.

Once we agreed to follow His will, there was peace where there was conflict.

There was satisfaction.

There was contentment.

Even in the midst of the change, which is heartbreaking, overwhelming, and scary there was this amazing amount of calm.

Now as we find ourselves leaving our friends (who are really our family) we are sad but hopeful. We will miss The Orchard, the people who have loved us, and those who have worked with us in ministering to God's people. Those people will be in our hearts forever. We are not just friends but so much more and distance can not destroy that.

Even though we are sad to leave what has been our home for the last five years, we look forward to what awaits us on the next leg of the journey.

Kristen

Making an Impact with Your Super Power

I've been thinking a lot about what my impact in this world is. What am I doing today to make tomorrow better. What steps am I taking to make this world a better place? I don't just want to be one of those people that see the starving children, or the abused women, or the hurting underdogs and say, "Oh, isn't that sad!" Then quickly change the channel.

I want to make a lasting impact on this crazy world. And I know I am just one little me, but I know that God has something incredible designed for me. I just don't know what it is yet.

Oh, and before I go any further, I know being a mom and wife is important. And I love it. But I am talking about something bigger than all that.

I was talking about my good friend Todd the other day. If you knew him you remember his super power.

Yeah, I said super power.

No he couldn't leap tall buildings or stop a bullet with his eyes, but he could encourage you like no one's business.

I mean this guy had the most amazing gift for encouraging people. And not fakey-make-stuff-up-to-make-you-feel-good, type of encouraging, but honest, sincere, thoughtful, encouraging.

He was really incredible at it.

If you were ever encouraged by him, you didn't forget it.

I miss that.

I could use some of his encouragement today.

I am getting off my point. My point is that Todd did a lot of stuff in his life. A lot. But what comes first to my mind every time I think about him, is his encouragement. He was given this huge gift and used it to the fullest.

What is that gift that you have you been given that you are using, or should be?

I am struggling with this right now. My heart is being pulled in the direction of those who need help. I feel like God wants me to act. He wants me to do something, possibly something that seems extreme to some. I don't know what it is, and I don't know what my gift is. Not in regards to this.

All I know is that I can't be a silent observer. I can't just sit her and witness injustice. But I don't know what I am supposed to do.

Any ways that is what is on my mind right now. Don't know if it all makes sense, and it doesn't have to, because it's my blog!!! :)

Kristen

To Mow Or Not To Mow

It happened about seven years ago. It was spring, our family had moved to North Carolina the prior fall, and the 1/2 acre of grass that surrounded our house was beginning to grow. I was pregnant, and Mike was working about 168 hours a week.

We had no mower.

It was getting pretty jungle-y, and I was starting to freak out. We didn't have the money to buy a mower and even if we did, who was going to do it?

I remember so clearly praying, and being pregnant- crying, asking God to please send us someone to help us with this yard.

I was very overwhelmed with everything in our lives at the time and the yard was just the tip of the iceberg.

The next day there was a knock on my door. It was my neighbor Venessa. We had never really spoken much, just hello and goodbye, not much more. The conversation went kind of like this:

Venessa: "Kristen, God wants me to mow your yard!"
Kristen: "Oh, Venessa, no! I couldn't let you do that! We will figure something out!"
Venessa: "Kristen, I am not asking your permission, God wants me to do this, I am being obedient to Him! I am going to mow your yard for you I am just telling you."
Kristen: "Oh, well, I guess, okay?"

Venessa, continued to mow our grass for about two years until we got ourselves on our feet and bought our own riding lawn mower. We also became best friends, our kids became best friends and our yard lines became blurred, as we worked on them together. I often wish she was here to help me make some landscape decisions :)

This story comes to mind as we are dealing with an issue in our neighborhood, and I need to apologize for my heart and attitude.

Our neighbor, nice young couple with two small kids, up and left their house about 8 months ago. Don't know what happened to them, they didn't say, just left.

I have been worried about the abandoned house throughout the winter, and Seth did see them return once and they told him it was their second house that they would be back when it got warmer. Hmm. Don't know how accurate that is coming from a 8 year old.

Anyways, as it has gotten warmer their grass has gotten longer and longer and weedier and weedier. As we returned from our time in Az this last week their grass is almost as tall as Joshi! All I could think about was, I needed to report them to the home owners, to get this fixed!

Yeah.

So yesterday as Mike got the mower out to mow our yard he began to mow their yard as well. And at first I thought, "What are we going to mow their yard every time we mow???"

And a voice in my head said,"Maybe."

That is when the Venessa story came rushing back to me. Oh my. What a hypocrite. We don't know what the situation is for them, they may really need the help right now, and regardless, shouldn't we as a community care about the people and environment we are living in and around?

It was a wake up call to me. Thanks Nessa for being a great example to me, once again.

Kristen

Big Salads and Big Shopping!!

Paula and I got to celebrate yesterday!! With a delicious lunch and great time of shopping we got to celebrate surviving my first semester back to school!

We met at Portillos and enjoyed their garbage salad and yummy lemon poppy seed muffins. Yum!! Felt so nice to sit outside and talk and munch. I appreciate my P. hanging in with me through these last few months. She has been a bit neglected by me, while I tried to figure out my new schedule. It was great to just slow down for a bit.

Then we hit the stores, me with the goal of spending my birthday money, thanks Paula, mom, mom Jones, and Gma Bolles :) Paula had a different goal. She decided that since I was a college student I needed a bikini. Yikes!! I humored her and tried one on, but quickly took it off and tried to erase the image from my mind!! We compromised and I got my little black skirty bottom and a bikini top.

It was a good day. I thank God for putting my sweet friend in my life. I don't know what I would do without her!!

Oh, and now that I have a break, I can finally read a fictional book again!!!! P. gave me a bagful. Last night I started reading "Belong to Me" by Marisa de los Santos- only read three chapters last night and it is already fabulous!!!!

Kristen

Okay I admit it, facebook is taking over. It is just so much easier than blogging. I am ashamed.

I just posted a ton of pictures of our fun cooking decorating time together with Ms. Jen and Mr. Brad. But I will post them here too, for all of you who are not on facebook yet.







Ms. Jen set up a great assembly line with rollers, flatners, and sprinklers.









Like a fine oiled machine.








Then came the rice crispy treat houses! Yummy! Much better tasting than ginger bread houses and much, much easier to work with!





Kylee's finished house!







Seth asked Mr. Brad to help him with his house. This house had everything from a car port with a monster truck, to a satellite dish up on the roof top.











Here is the completed creation. It was very, creative.







Daddy and Joshi worked together on their winter wonderland.






Great job guys!







Faith worked alone. She did a great job. Love the logs on the side of the house!






Putting on the final touches on the roof.







And of course, Jasmine was ready and available to lick the frosting off of any one's hands when they were done!




Kristen

Week Off

I'm back.

It's been kind of quiet around here this last week. Mostly because Mike took Wednesday-Sunday off this last week!

It was an unexpected surprise, and we all enjoyed it very much!

What did we do with our time off? Nothing!

It was awesome. Most days we were all in our pajamas until late and only got in clothing to go out and do something fun.

The kids still had school. I had not planned for them to have a break last week, but this week, and I wasn't about to give up my week-off-for-Thanksgiving.

But it was good, dad got to teach a bit, we got our two book dates that we owed completed, Mike and I went on a date, we all played a TON of Shang hi and we even got to go to the Orchard together as a family Saturday night! How fun was that?!

Last night Mike left for the Orchard-year-planning-overnight- trip. Today the kids and I will do the thanksgiving shopping for Mitchell/Jones Thanksgiving feast and take all the stuff to Paula's in preparation for our great day together.

Still waiting on snow. Real snow. We have had cold and flurries, but we need real snow. The kids are going crazy and unless there is snow on the ground there isn't much playing outside when it is this cold.

So, Please let it snow!!!

Kristen

November! Yikes!

Lots on my mind so hold on to your seats.

Having a hard time adjusting to the winter temps. Partly because we were having lovely fall weather and then all of a sudden had a weird warm front come in and then went from 70's to 40's in just a day. Yuck.

Busy week this week ending with Feed My Starving Children on Friday. I am excited about it, even though the set up of it was not that easy. I am finding that, unfortunately, setting up field trips for home schoolers isn't always easy. But the people at the actual center have been fabulous and very kind. The kids are really looking forward to it. We have really been wanting to get more active in the community and volunteer more, but it is hard to find a place that will let little guys volunteer.

Thanksgiving is just a couple weeks away!!! Weird. Paula will be out with the boys before Thanksgiving so I will be doing the thanksgiving dinner shopping alone. Sad, but so glad she is getting away. We will be cooking and eating together. It is going to be a sad day for us all. But I am so glad we will be together.

Still hoping our annual Black Friday shopping extravaganza works out. Paula and i love to plan and stratagize, and have such a good time dodging and weaving through the crowds! Very fun. We never go into it thinking we have to get anything, just some fun ideas of stuff we would like to get our hands on and if we get them, cool. Whatever. And how fun is it to price match every item you have at Walmart? The cashiers love us :) Oh and another fun thing is calling across the country and to other states to our friends and family who are doing the same thing as us at that very moment! It is a true bond.

Mike and I are planning relational gifts again this year for our family. The Orchard started this last year and it is such a great idea. Instead of spending so much on toys that break and garbage that no one really wants we were encouraged to put thought into our gifts and buy relational gifts. Things you can do together as a family. It means so much more! Then with the money you save do something meaningful for the community or the world.

So last year on Christmas morning, our kids opened up gifts from relatives and Santa. Then Mike and I had booked a stay at a water park in the Dells and spent Christmas and a couple of day after, there with the kids. We swam and played, ate and played and swam. It was very fun, and none of us had any regrets. It was the best, and the kids want to do it again this year.

And what happened to the money we saved in not buying a bunch of garbage toys? We donated to help drill wells in places that needed clean water. Very cool.

Okay, that is it for now.

Kristen

Shanghi Tournament- Halloween '08

Ok, so until I can figure out how to post pictures on facebook, I will just have to post them on here. But I will figure it out. Here are some pictures of our Shanghi tournament/costume party.

Mike was a joker (as in cards joker not scary joker) and I was the queen of hearts.





Here is the joker on his own. You can also catch a glimpse of a shark, but you will have to wait another week to see the kids in their costumes :)












The blues brothers were at the tournament, and Elwood even took the much coveted shanghi trophy home.






Here is a whole family of cards. This queen thought she was more important than the queen of hearts, but we know that isn't true!




Oh yes, and don't forget our metrosexual vampires. And if you don't know what metrosexual is, google it.

There were a few friends that missed my camera shots, like Smarty pants (Paula), Doug and Joni, and Terri's Dad, sister and brother in law.



And there was lots and lots and lots of card playing. Four tables, 4- 5 people at each table! It was very fun!







Here is the punk rocker. Again you will have to wait till Friday to see the whole costume. Very cute! Also a very good Shanghi player.










Mike had to wash off the make up and take off the hat, he was scaring little kids! But he did find one of the vampire's wigs and make use of it. He was reliving the old days :)










For those of you who didn't know him back in the day.


Kristen

Happy Birthday Todd

Kind of a strange day.

I have had lots of emotions today, and have been unsure of what I want to share.

Tonight I celebrated my friends 43rd birthday with his boys and his wife. He should have been with us.

Paula and I took the kids to Chuckie Cheese, where they had spent Todd's last few birthdays.

While there, Kylee and Jackson, such good friends, were paired off. They found a game that they had found a way to get A LOT of tickets out of. I didn't feel bad that they were bending the rules of the game a bit to get a lot of tickets, because let's face it Chuckie got his money tonight.

But here is the thing. After Kylee and Jackson got all of these tickets, and there were a lot of tickets, Jackson asked Kylee if they could take these tickets and go around to some of the little kids who don't have that many and give them away. Kylee said sure!

That is what they did. They gave every last one of them away!

You know who that is?

Todd Mitchell.

Oh my gosh, I just wanted to cry. That is Todd's legacy, he imparted to his children how to be generous, by living a generous life.

I am so proud of them and I know he is too.

Kristen

Saturday Fun

Recently found this movie theater in the area that has free kid movies every Saturday at 10 and 11 a.m.! They are older movies but since our dollar theater went away we have been seriously missing the movie theater experience, and you really can't beat free! So Paula and I took the kids (minus Kylee because she is in Michigan with friends this weekend) to see the Pirates who Don't Do Anything and then we took them to Philips park to run off their popcorn.

I wanted to snap some pictures of the kids while they played. Not very good with action yet. Seth was thinking he was a squirrel and was on a mission to find as many nuts as he could. He left them as an offering at a hole that he was sure was a squirrel hole.

It wasn't too hard to get a good picture of Joshi and Sam. They were pretty willing subjects.

What great friends!







Adorable! Luke was good for a pose or two. Why is he so cute?









All three boys moving across the playground. Too cute!







Yes, Seth is a ham. I liked this picture because of the green in the background and his shirt, he was almost camouflaged!











Jackson was being elusive, so all my pictures I had to sneak. He was probably running from me in this picture. Shh don't tell him I took it, he will be really mad at me!








And our only girl who kept everyone in bounds. She is our helper and I don't know what we would do without her most days! What cracks me up is that she had the most skin exposed and got no bug bites while I came home sporting three giant swelling masses (one on my face). What's up with that?

Kristen

Tagged- 6 Random Things

My brother-in-law tagged me.

1. Post these rules on your blog
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of you post (I’m making this optional to relieve any guilt, including my own for continuing this).
4. If you get tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.
5. If you don’t do it, I will be crushed emotionally and will probably never recover from the rejection. Okay, maybe I will.

So here it goes. Six random things about myself.


1) I like mayonnaise on my french fries not ketchup.

2) I love to read but have no patience for unimportant details in a book and will skip pages to avoid them.

3) If I am going to wear open toed shoes my toe nails must be painted. No chips or cracks!

4) I love the smell of my little boys when they have been playing outside.

5) I joined the tennis team in high school not because I was good at it (because I really, really wasn't) but because I really liked the little tennis skirts.

6) Since taking typing in high school, I type constantly. Like when I am watching a movie, I will type lines over and over again on my leg. OCD? Maybe.

And one more just because I like the number seven more than 6. (That fact kind of makes it eight though doesn't it?)

7) I love to throw things away. It actually gives me pleasure. Sometimes I get in trouble for accidentally throwing away important stuff, like car titles. OOPS!!!

Let's see I need to try and tag people that I have not seen this on their blogs, okay how about, Mike, Mandy D., Mandy C., Leeanne, Jen b, and I would love to tag Renee but she did it only a bit ago so I won't make her do it again.

Kristen

Wow! What a Gorgeous Day!

79 degrees. The kids are all playing. Girls down the street, boys in back yard. It's really quiet. I am trying to motivate myself to go and do some MUCH needed yard work. But just haven't cared much lately.

This week was super busy. Mike was away at Innovate '08 so the kids and I were on our own Wednesday afternoon-Friday evening. I never like it when Mike leaves. But this time seemed especially hard. Lots of reasons.

The kids and I got to go and take care of Paula, her mom and the boys on Thursday night. We made a ton of breakfast food for dinner and devoured it all. I am talking- a whole pan of sausage gravy, close to 20 home made biscuits, 28 pancakes, 10 eggs scrambled, one tray of lemon bars.

We definitely made a dent in it! There is nothing like comfort food and good friends.

Then Friday we finished up our school week, weekly cleaning of the house, went to the library, and music and then to a friends house to help with some moving stuff. Got home just in time to greet Mike at the door at 7:30.

Popped pop corn, cracked open some movie candy, and watched Bee movie as a family.

Slept great for the first time in a few nights last night!

Tonight, Mike and I have been blessed with some tickets to Mama Mia. Long story about the tickets, but lots of mixed feelings. Definitely excited about spending the evening with Mike.

To the person who gave us the tickets, you know we love you, and are going to have a good time in your honor.

Kristen

Floods

Wow, so the kids down the street called this morning because they wanted to play.

Their school was canceled because of flooding.

I don't know where the flooding occurred that canceled their school. The school is just down the street from my house and nothing in my area looks flooded.

My kid's school was definitely not canceled because of flooding.

I think they were a little sad about that.

Now, yesterday, the second service at the Orchard was canceled because the streets all around it were being closed because of flooding. It is right next to the Fox River, so that I understand.

Fortunately, I got to spend the day with Paula and the boys on Saturday and we all went to church together Saturday night so we didn't miss out!! It was a great service!

Kristen

Move Over Ulrich

This is Joshi playing his new DRUMS!!!!

During our time running back and forth from the hospital with Todd we had lots of great friends help us out with the kids. I will never be able to thank these friends enough. They were a blessing to our lives. They allowed us to be with Paula and with our friend till the end.

One of the nights we weren't expecting to go back to the hospital, we had just returned home from the hospital, when we got the call that Todd had been air lifted to a hospital in Chicago. Mike and I, of course, wanted to meet Paula there, so we called Ms. Jen up and asked her if maybe her and her boyfriend Mr. Brad would come and stay with the kids, we didn't know how late we would be. They came, no questions asked, just came. What a blessing.

We got home really late, don't remember even what time it was but it was late, or early however you want to look at it.

The next morning Joshi jumped out of bed ran into our room and announced that he was going to buy Mr. brad's drums.

Hmmmm.

I asked him to tell me what he was talking about. He told me that he told Mr. Brad that he wanted to buy drums and Mr. Brad told him he had drums for sale.

One thing led to another and the next thing you know Joshi had offered to buy Mr. Brad's drums.

For four dollars.

Because Jen and Brad are so sweet they didn't tell him, that wasn't enough money, just that he was almost there.

In his mind, he was really almost there. He began telling everyone he was buying Mr. Brad's drums.

Well, last week Mr. Brad called Mike and was so excited, he found an old set of drums for Joshi!!

Mike came home and told Joshi that Mr. Brad had found him a set of drums!!! Then he told him he would have to pay for them though.

Joshi looked at Mike and said,"you will have to help me...." when Mike said,"they are four dollars!"

Joshi screamed,"Hey, I have four dollars!!!"

Very excited.

He loves his new drums. He thinks they are the best things ever.

I just thank God for the sweet people in our lives that love our kids, love us, and continually bless us.

Thanks friends!

Kristen

This Is Greer

Well it isn't Greer, it is a cabin in Greer. And every year, from the beginning of our marriage until we moved away from Arizona, Mike's family would rent a giant cabin in Greer and we would all spend Labor day weekend there. I think this picture was the last year we were there.

I miss that tradition. We always ate way too much, played lots of games, slept, laughed, and just hung out. It was fun.

So every year when Labor Day comes around Mike and I both kind of feel like we are missing something.

I think that is why Labor Day is such an important day for me to try and fill.

Yesterday we planned a cookout with Paula and the boys, Ms. Terri, Allison, and Ms. Paula's good friend from Kansas, Ms. Rachel. We made a ton of food, Mike grilled (great job honey!) and we all ate and hung out.

The kids played and played and played. And yesterday was hot (yea!) so we turned on the sprinklers which lasted about 10 minutes. Then the kids found the berry bushes. They discovered that when you rub those smashed berries on your legs, arms, face, chest, they look just like war wounds. Yeah, I think you can see where this is going.

It is a shame that I had the camera, but didn't take pictures of the kids and their mess.

Sorry about the front porch Paula :)

It was great being with friends, and just hanging out, but still miss Greer.

***Also I would like to apologize to my beautiful sister-in-law Stacey. I am sorry but this is the only Greer picture I could find that I had digitally. Sorry about the old girlfriend in there. I thought about photo shopping you in :)***

Kristen

Baby Caridee

I need to ask for your immediate prayer.

My sister-in-law, Brandi's, sister had a gorgeous baby girl Friday morning. Caridee Sage Gill.

When Heather, Brandi's sister, found out she was pregnant, the prenatal test came back that their baby had Turner Syndrome. This was very scary, because this doesn't always have a very good prognosis.

Much prayer and nine months later Caridee is a miracle and here!! But now is in the NICU with some unexplained complications. I don't know if what she is experiencing is something common for Turner's babies, but please just pray for her. Please pray for peace and strength for her new, young, first-time-around-parents. Please pray that little Caridee will start doing what she needs to on her own with out assistance.

For more complete updates go here.

Thanks!

Kristen

Park Day Saturday

Went to the library today and got the first set of books that I had put on hold.

Then decided to head to Phillips park to let the kids run around a bit. Phillips park is a great park with a free zoo area and a huge tree covered play ground.

Beautiful day!

Convinced Paula and the boys to come and play with us for a bit. Unfortunately, Paula and I decided to walk over to the zoo portion to late and they were closing so we missed out on the alligators :( Who knew they closed at 4:30 on weekends!

To make it up to the kids we decided to take the kids to the brand spankin' new Sonic. Got there and found out there was an hour, yes you read that right, and hour wait to eat there. There were actually people lined up on the sidewalk waiting to sit at the outdoor part.

Unbelievable.

We went to A&W.

Fed the kids a ton of junk food and 99 cent big honkin' root beer floats.

The kids were all wired. I wonder why?

Kristen

Saturday Night

Really, really tired.

Just got home. We left our house Friday at 12p.m. It is 7:37 p.m. Saturday.

Yesterday the viewing went incredibly well. So many people came to pay their respects. Todd touched so many lives. Their boys were amazing. I was so proud of them and I know their dad would have been. The pictures were hard to look at. Still too sad for me.

Today, I missed most of the graveside time, Faith was feeling faint and nauseous.

The celebration service was perfect. The worship team honored Todd with some excellent worship time. I held it together pretty well. Except when Mike was talking about his friend.

But the hardest part of my day was coming back to the building tonight and going to Saturday night service. I felt like it was all so geared towards me. I have been so angry at God this week, at times telling Him I would never sing to him again, I felt very convicted of my attitude. God is still in control and knows what is going on. He deserves better than what I have been offering Him this week. But during worship time tonight I think I was able to sort some of this stuff out. I was able to praise God again, for who He is and for His love and power. I think maybe that is the beginning to some healing.

So now I am exhausted and I am going to go to bed.

Keep praying for Paula and the boys.

Kristen