Flashback Friday - Texas

I haven't posted on my blog in two years!  I was looking around and discovered blogs aren't even what the used to be!  What they were isn't even "in" anymore!  My posts won't change a whole lot though.  I don't care about being "in" and the purpose of this blog stays the same - a diary of our family life.

We moved to Flower Mound, Texas late summer 2005.  The first day of school followed quickly.

Levi looks pretty confident and pleased that Micah's off to school for the whole day and he's not!

Uncle Blair had helped us find a great house in a great neighborhood.  It was close to green space with a path that led behind the middle school, through a park, and to the elementary school. Devon rode bikes to school with the boys sometimes on his day off.  Our great house however, had yucky carpet and wallpaper.  By the end of August, we started rectifying that situation.  The boys scraped the wallpaper off their bathroom walls almost entirely on their own.

They actually learned home projects starting in ABQ.  They've used their acquired skill on mission trips and to earn money.  In this picture you can see in to the boys' room.  They shared one bedroom and used one as a playroom for awhile.  Later, this room became Levi's and the one to the left of the bathroom was Micah's.

Our previous house was a new build.  This was the house we started a tradition.  Any time we redid floors or walls we used sharpie to write - here, our names.  Future projects included our favorite Scriptures.

First grade and Forest Vista was the beginning of Cub Scouts for Micah (Levi officially joined two years later).  We were blessed with a wonderful den and pack full of friends for Micah and parents we enjoyed.  One of the first den meetings was at our house where the boys practiced their cowboy skills with knott tying and "cattle" roping.

Although we're not pleased with the direction Scouts has taken - those 11 years we were a part were meaningful to our boys and our family.  Dev continues today his friendship with hiking buddies he met in Oklahoma Scouts.  We are blessed and thankful.

Albuquerque Flashback

So, I was looking through some ABQ photos and I found some gems!  These were in a Sept. - Nov. file.  By then, of 2003, we had settled in quite nicely.  Micah started a Mother's Day Out at a local preschool.  He went only on Fridays for a few hours and loved it!  I loved it because it gave him time to play with other kids.  A few of those kids were in his kindergarten class the next year.

September and October were busy in Albuquerque.  We went with Grandmomma and Grandpoppa to the fair.  This must have been our first time there because we have a lot of fair pictures from a different trip.  This one rained.  We spent a lot of time dodging showers, taking cover, and doing activities when there was a break in rain.  It was fun to be together though!

We had actually been to Balloon Fiesta before and since we lived here now, we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn for everything.  Aunt Winna took this picture!  I'm not sure how the timing worked out for her with school, but she's in another picture from this batch.

The following picture is from an early zoo trip.  The boys did discover the jumping area right away. I love that we went to the zoo so much in ABQ.  We had an annual membership and we used it well.  Levi and I would sometimes go there on early release (school) day and he even had a birthday there!

Picture proof that we did do pumpkins and costumes with our boys!  Again, this was our first year in ABQ.  The other year, I found matching spider sweaters at a second hand store and Aunt Winna made spider masks out of black paper plates and pipe cleaners!

That Little Tikes car got a lot of use!  The black truck (from Gigi - it had belonged to cousin October) and gas station were added in Kentucky.  The infamous duck boots are in these pictures too!

These kinds of pictures were pretty typical of M and L's early years.  Fairs, special events/places, visits from Aunt Winna, pumpkins.

A final shot - M's beginning of photography. (At this point, I don't think I had even considered the boys would be taking pictures on their phones one day!)

Albuquerque Flashback

In April, 2003, Hubby and M flew from Kentucky to Albuquerque to find a home for us.  They chose well in a new neighborhood on the west side - Ventana Hills.  Our goal was to be some place new in order to meet new people and invite them to church.  You can see in the second picture that we didn't even have across the street neighbors yet.  The backyard pictures are to show what we did first thing - Hubby put in sprinklers!  We were doing this on our first weekend there - and we even invited people we met for the first time at Rio Vista Church to come help.  Of course, anyone willing to come into the mess inside and out were obviously going to be great friends!  And the Hendrixsons were - from day one to Jen being one of the last ones in our house to clean when we moved - a large part of Albuquerque memories are of them.

All that sod had to go in too!  We hauled it in the blue van (because we didn't have a truck) and that's where the "sod knife" came from.  Hubby used one of the knives from our kitchen set to cut the grass.  The knife is in our kitchen drawer right now and has been used on sod at every house we've lived since!

Right outside the back door Hubby and the boys built a deck (that's where he first let them use power tools!).  We left the part on the side dirt/sand for the boys to play in.  The swing you see int he picture went on the deck along with the grill and eventually a better patio table was there too.  We had many snacks and played many games there.  From the swing looking north you could see the Sango De Christo Mts.

We spent a lot of time outside at this home in both the front and back, walking in the neighborhood (Hubby taking Jazzy out in the undeveloped area to chase rabbits), and at the nearby parks.  Another great reason in choosing this spot was that it was down the street from the new elementary school.  I was even part of the neighborhood meeting that chose the school mascot  - the Roadrunners!

How is it possible that so much fun and playing went into two short years?  We had a small plastic square table at the end of the kitchen counter.  It was perfect because when you were at it you were in the kitchen, dining room and living room - we had a "Great Room"- the fireplace was at the center.  Although M, didn't actually have formal preschool, I made sure he went to school with a good foundation.  Well, except knowing what a needle and thread was and thinking ice cream was a nutritious snack (those were two things he missed on a kindergarten testing situation)!

In this picture you can get a better glimpse of the table the boys used constantly and can almost see the beginning of the fireplace (to the right of what was our bedroom door).  It was in front of this fireplace where we would act out Bible stories.  One of M's favorites to do was Samuel.  He would lay down and I would call his name.  After doing this a few times he would say "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening."

Weren't the boys lovely bandits?  (Nice transition from Samuel, hu?  Their pretending ran the gamut!) They have cowboy hats from Grandy.  Oh, M & L were the best of friends!  They spent countless hours pretending and playing together.  I hope they remember that and forge a friendship one day as adults. (The pictures of the boys are actually from May 2004 - almost a year after coming to ABQ and a few months before M started Kindergarten. L was 3.)

More ABQ flashbacks to come.  We were finally digital!

December in Pictures

The boys got in on this batch of holly wreath cookies.

Hubby and I tried a batch earlier in the month, but I did have any red hot candies.

Dinner, yes.  But, do you see the salt n pepper shakers?  Hubby got them as a white elephant gift.  They aren't so to me - I love them!

Just a dusting.  December 17.  Later in the night when it was so bitterly cold, we got a visit from a dog from the neighborhood north of us.  I dried him off and petted him by the fire while we waited on his owner.

School is out for two weeks!!

My sister treated us to drinks and treats for my Aunt's birthday.

Life with Lucy and Cyrus.  He was pretty serious about his new bone.

A new spot for the tree.  We considered a taller tree for the living room to go with the high ceilings.  I just can't bear the thought of using a different tree.  We've had this since the year before M was born.

Waiting to leave IHOP.  I was sad that it wasn't decorated for Christmas this year.

Aunt and the boys in front of a random house.  At 10:30 on Christmas Eve the temperature was still in the 50s!

Selfie in front of the same house.

It was tricky to find a service on Christmas Eve that worked with M's work schedule.

We got EVERYONE in this Christmas Eve picture.

Hubby has almost perfected his cinnamon roll recipe.  My Dad used to make them Christmas morning.  He perfected his in the Air Force.  Hubby has been working on his at Church Camp!

She was snoring about 15 minutes into opening presents!!

Quick visit from Hubby's Mom.  This was just to see the plane - maybe a flight another time!
2017 is the year for me to fly again!?!

A Great Reminder or "Read This If You're Missing Someone"

This year felt Christmasy as soon as Thanksgiving was over.  Hubby put lights out front, we've been on track with baking, shopping, parties and such.

However, about a week ago, I told Hubby that the one thing I wanted for Christmas I couldn't have - I wanted a visit from Mom and Dad for Christmas.  My best remembered Christmases as an adult were the ones Mom and Dad (and then Dad after Mom was gone) came to visit.

I've dwelt on that this week even to the point of being quite a Grinch to my family.

So, yesterday I visited them. My sister and I took silk poinsettias to the cemetery for the vases on Mom and Dad's headstone.  We didn't linger there.  I've never felt it necessary since they aren't there.  I know others spend time at the graves of loved ones and that's fine.  Everyone grieves differently.

As I was posting our Christmas letter, I was rereading December blog posts of mine and I came across the one I wrote the Christmas after Dad died. It's called "A Different Christmas" (click link to read) and in it I wrote "Emmanuel, God is with me."  Boy am I thankful I wrote that because it's a good reminder to me today!  The post also has a link to something Emily Freeman wrote "For when everything is different".  Grief is always hard, but especially hard at holidays so I hope both these posts will be helpful to someone.

So, my parents won't be visiting this Christmas.  But, on the first Christmas, Jesus did more than visit. He came to be with us and He's never left!  Yet, at the same time, he left to prepare a place.  A place where because of the plan He set in motion several thousand years ago - Mom and Dad (and other loved ones) will be able to spend Christmas together again.

Merry Christmas 2016!

As I stop to ponder what to write for a Christmas letter, what comes to mind first is God's faithfulness.  Through every high and every low of the year, God is God.

2016 was a very full year - In February we got serious about finding a new home and put ours on the market.  It sold over Spring Break, we found just what we were looking for, and moved in mid-May.  We love our new home so much that it took no transition/adjustment time to be here!  We have great neighbors, know people from church and even have a friend from Scouts around the corner.  The boys' rooms are a bit smaller than before and I jokingly told them we were buying the house for the dogs (they have an amazing back yard!) since the boys will be gone soon!

So, Micah is in his Senior year.  This past summer he spent two weeks in Africa where he preached at a VBS, worked really hard painting and building a fence for a Christian school and assisted with wound care in villages.  He moved from working at Baskin Robbins to Chic-fil-a and continues volunteering at church all while starting college classes.  He has completed 17 hours.  Graduation Day is May 18 and Micah has officially enrolled at Oklahoma Wesleyan University.  He'll live on campus.

Levi is a sophomore at Rejoice.  He is amazingly disciplined and competed in a teen Body Building physique show at the beginning of August.  The meal prep stuck and he completely cooks for himself (and sometimes for us!) now.  Levi will be 16 next April so he has begun "parent taught" driver's ed.

Devon has been at Oklahoma Wesleyan for over seven years and I started year 6 for Owasso Public Schools this fall.  One thing we love to do together is travel. A couple of highlights were Buffalo/Niagara and Lavallette, New Jersey (the beach).  Another highlight for me was seeing The Oak Ridge Boys at the fair (I grew up loving them thanks to Mom!). Devon took an (almost) annual Colorado hiking trip with friends during Labor Day and ran three marathons in six weeks this fall (he got a personal record in one of them!).  I know this is much tamer, but sometimes I play Bunco (especially Bunco for Babies, the fundraiser for the Pregnancy Resource Center in Owasso) and go to Book Club.  In the spring I teach at Writer's Workshop or Literacy Fairs for OETA.

I usually end Christmas letters with a Scripture that has been meaningful for the year - this one is definitely it: Isaiah 58:10-11, If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. ESV

I have taken it to heart as I teach.  It seems that each year I have more and more children with greater and more varied needs. I continue to trust God's faithfulness in helping me here (and in all areas of my life and family) and trust He will meet you wherever you are prove faithful to you too.

Keep scrolling for pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Devon, Annette, Micah and Levi

On The Home Front - September 2, 2016

Outside my window… pine trees and a lamp light.  Outside my window is different than any previous daybook.

I am thankful for… insurance and time off – the means and availability to have M’s wisdom teeth out.

I am wearing… really scroungy clothes

Some plans for the rest of the week… It’s Labor Day weekend – take care of M, clean up the house/take recycling to the recycling plant, help L mow.  No plans that I know of for the upcoming week.  Well, besides a thousand meetings at school!

I am hoping … to get adjusted to this new school year quickly.

On my mind… Hubby being in Colorado.

Hearing…. I hear the fan in the family room because M is both hot and cold.  I can hear the dogs barking outside.  Maybe Lucy has treed a squirrel.  At least out here, barking dogs don’t seem to be as much of a nuisance than in neighborhoods with less land.

I am praying for… wisdom.

From the kitchen….. meatloaf muffins, green beans, potatoes and salad.  I need to write a grocery list and plan for next week.

Around the house… a few things from our move that I need to 1) find a place for, 2) put in the attic or 3) just throw away! 

One of my favorite things…. Reading.  Reading whatever I want – Scripture, facebook, blogs, news, getting a new book.  One of my favorite things is also time – time to read, ponder, clean up a few things, rest, whatever.

                                                           

From my picture journal… 
Hmmm - it's December and I wrote this at the beginning of September, but never posted because I didn't have a picture to include....