My First Car

Since Phillip posted the car he wants to get on his blog, I thought I would post the kind of car I want to get......again.



When I was 16, I got my first car. It was a 1974 Chevrolet Caprice Classic 2 door. It was awesome. It had power windows and locks, cruise control, and nice vinyl interior. It had been owned by some old lady who kept it in the garage and rarely drove it. It had the original 8 cylinder engine. Mine was not the color of the one in the picture. Mine was a kind of grey/green color. And the one above is a convertible, which mine was not. I think it had under 100,000 miles on it when we got in '94. We paid $1,000 for it. Quite a steal.....

And I had no idea how truly cool that car was. I just kind of thought it was some cheap piece of junk and I took horrible care of it. We ended up having to replace the original engine with an 80's Malibu engine and after that it ran like crap. One time in high school I ran it through some really high water over in front of Girouard's in Freeport. The water was a couple of inches below the bottom of the window. It had rained like crazy that day and I decided to ignore the detour because I thought I could get through it. Water got all inside the car. My friends were freaking out like they thought we were going to drown or something. Anyway, after it sat for a couple of days, it started right up. This was before we had to replace the engine. I think the standing water, the donuts on the beach, and the fact that I never changed the oil caused the engine to eventually blow. After the whole flooding incident, it smelled horrible. I ended up selling it to my cousin a few years later for a few hundred dollars.

Man, that car was cool. I had people asking me all the time if it was for sale. And I thought they were crazy. I just didn't realize it was kind of a classic. An ugly classic, but a classic just the same. I would really like to get another one someday. I can't even describe how fun that thing was to drive before I blew the engine.

Ministry Opportunity

Lately Phillip and I have been hoping that some opportunities would arise for us to lead worship at some other churches. We have done some of that here and there since we got married almost six years ago but it's been pretty sporadic.

We've been talking to a pastor of a church in Pearland lately and it looks like we might be going there to lead worship on a regular basis. It is a new church that is just getting started. Their plan is to be a multi-racial church. This could be really great experience for us to start easing our way into music ministry. We are going to be visiting and leading there the first two Sundays in June. If we feel like that is where we are meant to be, we will be leaving our current church and hanging out there on Sundays. We have not committed to this church yet. We are going to check things out before we commit. We will still remain connected to our current church. I will still be working in the church office for a while and we'll probably both be helping out with Saturday night services sometimes. In a way it will be hard to leave, but we've been feeling like our time there has been drawing to a close.

I'm excited about the possibilities. I'm excited to be singing every week.....and I'm scared to death to be singing every week. I'm looking forward to working on worship stuff with Phillip every week. And I'm also a little apprehensive to be working on worship stuff with Phillilp every week. We don't always see eye to eye on things, but I think this could be very enriching for our marriage. Knowing that we are probably going to have a multi-racial family, it is very appealing to be part of a multi-racial church.

So if you're part of the BPF family, you'll be seeing Phillip and me on stage this Sunday. And you possibly won't be seeing us up there again, atleast not regularly. I'll keep you posted of our final decision. Please pray for discernment.

Foot Cleaner

We went up to the church office earlier this week so I could do some work. Maybe it was last week...I don't know. Doesn't matter. Anyway, I told Jackson that his feet were really dirty. So a little while later I caught him "washing" his feet. He was licking his hands and rubbing the dirt off of his feet and then re-licking his hands and rubbing more dirt off. It's funny to be around a kid that is particular about his hands and feet being clean but has no real concept of germs. Like if he's eating at the coffee table (which he does sometimes at lunch) he'll wipe his hands on the floor because he doesn't want food remnants on his hands. I always provide a napkin or two for him to use but I guess the floor or his clothes are more convenient.

Makes absolutely no sense.

Nepal Blog

A couple of friends of ours, Tommy Stunz and Danny Crocker along with some other guys, are currently in Nepal on a mission trip. Those guys along with their wives here in Texas have started a Blog to document their experiences. It would be a great idea to check it out.

The Way to Nepal

We're home

The Conference was good. They really cram a lot of information into a weekend. The wife of one of the speakers spoke in the women's session. She has given birth to EIGHT children....all by c-section. In addition to that, she has had SIX miscarriages. She has been pregnant a total of FOURTEEN times in the last 17 years. And she still wants to have more children. Wow. She homeschools all of their children and she still seems fairly sane.

I took a few pictures that turned out kind of interesting. They are actually of me in the bathtub. I know, I'm sure you would be perfectly content to live your entire life without having to see pictures of me in the bathtub, but here they are anyway. And if you're reading on bloglines, don't worry, they're clean. No pun intended.

Weekend to Remember Day:1

Phillip and I are at a Family Life Marriage Conference. We have been married for six years in June and we have never been to any kind of marriage conference. Since Phillip's dad did our pre-marital counseling, I'm not sure that really even counts. So, anyway, it's a wonder we're still living under one roof. Just kidding. No, really, just kidding.

Anyway, we got to the hotel and waited in line to check in. The couple in front of us spent 10 minutes or so (ok, maybe not that long) griping to the check-in lady because they had reserved a King sized bed and were getting two doubles. They did lots of complaining and threatening to talk to the manager and all that stuff and still ended up with two double beds. So when we finally got up there to check in, we smiled and graciously accepted our two doubled beds even though we reserved a King because we saw their fruitless efforts. So last night, at a marriage conference, Phillip and I slept in separate beds. We have a King at home so we're used to not touching each other during the night while we're sleeping. We felt like June and Ward Cleaver. But like a friend of ours at the conference said, "You only need one bed for a few minutes anyway." Ok, Debbie, I'll stop there. I know you're reading this.

We thought we were getting a good deal because they put us on the Concierge floor and they have complementary breakfast on these two floors.....Mon-Fri. So much for that.

We sat next to a pen clicker and her husband. I tried and failed to steal her husband's book on accident. I don't know why click pens even exist. That is one of my few pet peeves. Well, there are more than a few. Pretty much any kind of repetative noise drives me crazy very quickly. So pen clicking falls into that. Also, half of what Jackson does in his daily life falls into that category also. I think today before we sit next to anyone I'm going to ask to borrow their pen. If it's a clicker pen, I'm either going to pretend to use it, give it back, and sit as far away from them as possible or I'm going to throw it across the room and run away. Not sure which yet.

We ended up sitting right next to people from our church. We were going to try and avoid anyone we knew, but it was cool. During the prayer me and my friend from church were making sex jokes. We didn't know the guy was praying until he said "Amen." We both thought it was pretty dang funny.

Anyway, that's it for now. I think we're supposed to learn something about conflict resolution today so that should come in handy.

Uncertainty

It seems that right now there are many things in our life that could change over the next couple of months. We are excited and a little scared.

Phillip is looking for a new job for next school year.

We are going to start pursuing foster/adopt processes very soon. New baby possibly by the end of the summer!!

And we are not sure what we are supposed to do about church stuff. We have both been wanting to get into worship leading stuff and it looks like an opportunity may be surfacing. We need to try to figure out where/when God wants us to do what.

Our life as we know it right now could be very different in just a few months. If only I had a crystal ball....

He actually did it!

Today was Splash Day at Jackson's preschool. They had this really big blow up slide. Most of the kids couldn't wait to get on it. But just as I thought, Jackson was aprehensive. I encouraged him a few times to get on it and he just said he didn't want to. Then he finally told me why. It is because there was some mud at the end of the slide that that you climb up. He didn't want to step in the mud. He was out running around in the grass barefoot, getting in and out of little pools filled with grass and dirty little kids. But he wouldn't go down this awesome slide because he didn't want to get mud on his feet. Unbelievable! So, I helped him to get onto the slide without having to step in the mud and he loved it. Then he went down it two more times and tried his darndest (sp?) to avoid the mud. I can't believe our kid is a clean freak.

Spiderman goggles

Some family friends bought Jack some Spiderman swimming stuff for his birthday. It came with Spiderman goggles, flippers, and glove things that shoot water out like webs.....what will they think of next? Anyway, Jack really likes the stuff and just wants to wear all of it around the house and out in public. The house, o.k. ...public, not o.k. So, here are a couple of pictures of him in his Spiderman goggles. Enjoy.

Mother's Day Pledge

I will love you unconditionally.

I will love your daddy more than any other person on this planet.
I will love myself so that I will not resent the other people I love.
I will try to teach you the things God is teaching me.
I will notice and point out when you do good things.
I will teach you to respect women.
I will always try to see you for who you are and not just who I want you to be.
I will pick my battles.
I will fight for you if you are not able to fight for yourself.
I will hug and kiss you not matter how big you get.
I will be safe to talk to.

I will not let you get away with being lazy.
I will not let you be one of those kids that adults dread to be around.
I will not let you take advantage of people.
I will not foster in you a sense of entitlement.
I will not always be there to catch you.
I will not let you be a quitter.
I will not do things for you that you are capable of doing yourself.
I will not let you lie your way out of trouble.
I will not be your friend.
I will not be a pushover.

I will not be perfect.

Change of Plans

You've probably read previous posts on this blog about our plans to adopt from Korea. Phillip and I are now seriously reconsidering that plan. I have had some feelings of doubt lately about if this is really the right thing for us to do.

I called a friend of mine the other day who works for CPS to see if she could give me any kind of information. We just wanted to atleast look at some other options before we get too commited with Dillon International. I kind of thought that she could confirm my thoughts that trying to adopt through CPS was not the best thing for us. But much to my surprise, we have come to realize that it just might be the best thing for us.

I spoke with a lady who works at The Arrow Project, which is an agency in Angleton that places kids through CPS. She told me that there are many healthy newborn infants that come through their agency that need permanent homes. The child would start out as a foster child then after six months, we could move to adopt. It is a little more risky because there is always a chance that a member of the birth family could want to reclaim the baby. And that is a little scary. But they do not place infants with families wanting to adopt unless they feel as sure as they can that they will not be reclaimed by birth families. It is very sad but many of these babies are abandoned and no one in their biological families can take care of them. It sounds like this process could move rather quickly if we decide to go in this direction. She told me that if we will adopt a child of a mixed race that we could have a newborn straight from the hospital and that the wait would not be very long at all. Also, there is absolutely no cost to us.

It all seems to good to be true. We have not burned any bridges yet with Dillon International, but we are really starting to feel excited about this change of plan. It is very possible that we could have a new baby as soon as the end of the summer. We are going to an orientation meeting early in June and we'll just see where we go from there.

If you're reading this, thanks Pennie.

That's sick

I went into the playroom today to pick up a few things and I saw this:



Elmo chopping on a large helping of Nina Turtle.

Bubbles

Josh and Ashley got Jackson some giant bubble wand thing for his birthday. It's pretty cool. I took a few pictures but most of them didn't turn out very well. Jack was popping the dang things before they were barely in the air.

Party Pictures

Here are a few pictures from Jackson's birthday party. We had a good turnout. I ordered 20 pizzas and gave about 7 or 8 of them away. He had a good time and got lots and lots of stuff.

Jackson couldn't seem to make up his mind what he wanted the "theme" of his party to be so we decided on "Jackson's favorite things." I think the cake turned out pretty cool.

Jackson got a kick out of Yoda having icing on his feet.

Jackson got really mad because he wanted to take a big bite directly out of the cake and I wouldn't let him. It took mean ol' Nanna to hold him back. I like Kylie's face in this picture. She looks shocked at his horrible behavior. And so was I.

Flash Back

Tomorrow our baby will be four years old. Everyone told me that it will fly by and it really has.

He and I had a conversation the other day about him getting older. He said, "After I'm four then I'll be five and then six and then seven and then eight...." And I said, "Well, I don't want to think about that. I want you to just stay little." And he said, "But Mom, that's just the way it is. People just have to get bigger."

In some ways it seems like he has been here my whole life. So in honor of his birthday, here are a few pictures of Jackson when he was new to this world. I'm sure I'll be posting birthday party pictures tomorrow evening.

Birthday Party Plans

It looks like the rain is not going to stop....




So we're moving Jackson's birthday party to tomorrow afternoon. I e-mailed some of you that are coming but I thought I would put the info. here too just in case. We will be having it at the Shy Pond south pavilion at 12:30. I will get things ready during the second church service so hopefully people can come right over after church.

I think I left a lung at work

I've been coughing my head off today. It has gotten really bad in the last couple of hours. It's driving me crazy. I'm popping halls throat drops one after the other. I read on the package a little while ago that excess consumption may have a laxative effect. Great! That's just what I need.

Side note: Jackson's 4th birthday party is scheduled for tomorrow...outside. There is a 60% chance of rain tomorrow. No back up plan by the way. We would just have to cancel.

Adoption App. Part II

We received our formal appication or Application Part II from Dillon International today. Just for those of you who may be curious how extensive the process is, here are just some of the things we have to send in with our completed application.

- 3-4 page autobiography written by both adoptive parents including significant life experiences
- Medical forms on each family member
- Photographs of our family, and pictures of the inside and outside of our home
- Copy of birth certificates/marriage licence
- Last year's 1040 Tax form
- Financial statement
- Copy of last three months bank statements
- Letter from employer stating length of employment, security of position, and salary

We will also have to think of 4 people (couples) that we've known for atleast two years who we trust enough to write reference letters for us. Hmmm...who have I not made too mad in the last two years....just kidding (sort of). We will also have to be fingerprinted within Brazoria County. I think initially they run a local maybe statewide background check and then further down the road they run a national background check. Good thing I've never been in the back of a Police car....except for that one time at the preschool when the L.J. police came to show the kiddos all their cop stuff. We also have to sign a form stating that we will not use physical discipline. Jackson doesn't get spanked very often, but he does sometimes. So, I guess we'll have to think of some other disciplinary tactics to use....sorry James Dobson.

Once this is complete and approved, we will be able to begin the Home Study process. Once we have an approved Home Study, we will be placed on a waiting list. The wait from that point for the referral is 8-10 months. There is usually a 3 month wait from the time of referral to the time those little feet land on U.S. soil.

This process will certainly not be easy. And it shouldn't be easy. I hope we're up for it.

Go Ahead

Go ahead. Scrutinize. Take a look at me through a microscope. I can tell you what you will find.

You would find that I am...

A friend and an enemy
I am fearless and terrified
I am meek and vicious
I am arrogant and humble
I am devious and honest
I am amusing and subdued
I am beautiful and I am ugly

I am all these things and more. I go through daily mental gymnastics to think, say, and do the things that are pleasing to my Creator. I am a slice of humanity. I am so far from perfect that I have a difficult time imagining what perfect looks like. But I am adored because of and inspite of all the things that make me who I am. I am adored by God even though He sees the filth that dwells in me. So examine what you perceive to be my life. I don't mind. He is who I answer to. He is who I seek to please.