Goings On

What's going on around here?????

prefixes and suffixes
cursive writing
ham and sweet potatoes
a weekend garage sale
care and share
friends for supper
a dsi in the washing machine
a car in the body shop


So that doesn't leave much time to blog! Promise I will try again soon!

Homeschooling, Birthdays, New Baby & More

We have been pretty busy around here. Homeschooling is still going good. We get more done on some days than others. I guess regular school is like that too (just without the Mama guilt). The boys are doing well in their studies. Lauren is so eager to learn and she gets tired of waiting her turn!
Ethan and I have both celebrated another birthday. He is nine and me...well...I won't tell. We did have special birthdays though complete with special family celebrations.
















I have a brand new neice!!!! Sara Beth was born a couple of weeks ago. She was 8lbs and 9oz! I am so proud!!! We hate that she lives a couple of hours away and we can't kiss on her as much as we want to!











We had a wonderful few days of autumn weather but now it is 90F again this weekend:( Still we are enjoying this season of football, pumpkins, and getting ready for hunting season (at least the boys are). We had our first weiner roast of the season last week (before the burn ban) and the kids loved it. I love it too. Nothing is easier for supper than that and everyone is happy! Thad and I had our first date since he has been home. We ate at our favorite place and then went to Target. You know you're old when your date nite looks like that. We had a relaxing evening and enjoyed it.

More to Come!!!

Disney Family Pics

Lauren's favorite Prince and Princess: Aladdin & Jasmine















Time out for some lovin'

















Me & Lauren in the Nemo Ride




















One of the kid's favorite things- digging for fossils at Animal Kingdom!!

















Aaron enjoying his root beer float!

Got an idea???

















How about now??


















This princess has been asking to go here since she was two!!
(Can you believe I couldn't turn these around?)




















MY GANG!

(Just tilt your head a little to the left....more....now- see what a good pic!)

















Brotherly Love! (I love this picture)

Nothing is better than getting away when you need to just GET AWAY!!! We have some sweet friends that let all six of us crash at their house. They live just five or ten minutes away from this:




















The kids love the beach. Everyone is happy doing their own thing! Aaron was having a blast building this and not too bothered by the hurricane that was making the waves almost five feet tall.





























Teamwork!






















Daddy burying Lauren's feet while she holds on to his hat.






We had such a nice time relaxing and visiting. They also live close to somewhere else. More pictures on that next.....

Can You Guess Who Had a Birthday???

I will give you a hint: Lauren picked out the cake!










Lauren and Brendan putting in the candles.

















The Birthday Boy blowing out all 37 Candles!!!!

Summer Photos

Brendan is in the very top of this tree. Click on the pic to see if I uploaded the right picture.











Lauren decided that my Papaw needed a makeover with two different pair of sunshades and a little purple eyeshadow.











I guess the tiger was about to attack the lincoln log/card cabin.














This was just one of the forts they made. They dove over it onto a mattress on the other side.












Lots of miles put on the razor.

We are Homeschooling!

That's our big news for now! I will be homeschooling a 3rd grader, a 2nd grader, and my preschooler! This is something that I have always wanted to do. This year it just became a necessity or what we decided was way better for our kiddos! We are all excited to see what this year brings. I pray that it will:

-bring us closer together
-give us a freedom from most of that "school stuff" that took up a lot of time/$
-give my chilren a chance to get stronger in their weak areas
-give us more time to study God's Word together
-allow the boys to spend more time with Dad doing things they love

We are planning on joining our nearest homeschool group so there will be plenty of time for play with friends(as if having 3 other siblings isn't enough). We will also be at the mission to work two days a week. These will be days for the boys to do some "on their own" type of work. I do know that this won't always be the easiest thing but I think it is the best for this year.

Our oldest will continue to go to school for now. Seventh grade is too much for me at this point. I would love to have a year under my belt with just the younger kids.
So, I will try my best to keep you updated on all of this. Please pray for us as we embark upon this new adventure this year!

Everybody's Fine!

We are doing fine here....well.....as good as you can do in 102F heat! Man, was I really dreaming of summertime? I can assure you that if I was-this is not what I had in mind! So we have been doing all we can to beat the heat. Staying indoors has been the most popular thing to do :) So we have been keeping ourselves cool by playing video games, watching movies, and working at cns. Lots of work to do up there and we have been doing that all week. We are opening as a thrift next week. It is mind boggling all of the things that have been done so far. I am so thankful that there has been plenty of volunteers up there all week to get the job done. My kids are sick of being there. Poor things!
WE are so proud of daddy! He is working hard flying that airplane. We do miss him and I think he misses us too. He is spraying corn at the moment. What state are you in now?? Its hard to keep up. And send us some pictures too so I can post them.

Thanks for checking in. I'll post some kid pictures and airplane pictures as soon as I can.

Horses Must Eat Too!

Can you guess who was responsible for this feeding?

Rolling on the River

We went to spend some time with Thad this weekend. We took the kids down the river on a raft. They has so much fun. Lauren was unsure about this at first.













Breaking for lunch and watching some of the other people go by.










Brendan was testing out the freezing cold water before we all got in.








Aaron figured out a way to stay cool but not get in yet. One leg in- one leg out. Notice our trusty boat driver doing all the work in the back.











We managed to not turn the raft over. The kid's favorite part was when the water was shallow enough to walk beside the boat as we drifted downstream. It was so hot we all jumped in. They had a great time and loved doing something new.

More Pictures

Wanted to post more of the birthday boy. He had a good time but not sure that he is used to it being all about him.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

I can't believe my baby boy is seven!!! He asked to go out and eat at a place where they would sing to him. This is what he did when that happened.











The whole family at Olive Garden












He had a pool party and had so much fun. That's him in the royal blue shirt.












Lots of fun in the pool.This was a very easy party.










He chose a Super Mario ice cream cake. It was a hit and also very pretty.

Pictures for the Airplane People

We went to see Thad last week. This is him headed straight for us.









Ethan watching Daddy spray.












Landing on a nice runway...

Summer is Here

Oh my!!! It has been so hot here. Summer came in two days. It no longer possible to sit beside the pool to watch the kids. We are talking July weather here!!! Soooo not ready for that considering that we have had such mild weather so far.

We finished school yesterday with awards day and end of the year swimming parties. The kids basically stayed in the pool all day yesterday. Then we had a birthday supper for my Grandpa last nite! Wheew! Lots going on here.

We will be headed north to visit Daddy while he works. Maybe I will have some cool pictures to post when we get back.

There are some cool things happening at CNS! Lots of changes and that is going...well...like changes usually do..not without friction. So pray for all of us there. Pray that we will seek God's will for this mission and not anything of ourselves. God is moving around here. It is so visible lately and that is exciting!!

Signing out for now....

Surprises.....

We got a surprise this weekend. Thad was able to be home for Mother's Day. He came to the food pantry where Lauren and I were and surprised us! We were so excited to see him. Thad put down his belongings and gave us hugs. While he still had Lauren in his arms, I picked up his backpack and flight bag and put them in my car. We visited a few minutes then he helped fix a problem with our huge dumpster. Such a good thing because the trash couldn't be picked up and he fixed the problem quickly. Yay! A Blessing for sure. We grabbed a bite for lunch and it was on the way home that Thad realized he did not have his iph*ne. We retraced all of our steps and could not find it anywhere. He remembered that he last had it when he came in the food pantry. He had left it on the table but it was not there. I remembered the family that was in when he arrived and I gave them a call. They had picked it up and was honest enough to admit that they stll had it. We went on our way to retrieve it. As we drove up, I realized that I had never seen a house look like this. Things were falling down all around. Lots of chickens between the two structures where more than two families lived. About eight children gathered around us to see what these strangers where doing at their house. I forgot that I was still in the US. It reminded me of things seen on mission trips and I was only fifteen minutes from my house. God showed me lots of things that day. I can't believe that a family has enough food because their clothes are nice. I can't believe that they are not really hungry because their car is nicer than mine. We did get the phone back with only one or two calls to NYC :-) on it. It was turned off and in great condition. We exchanged grateful hugs to the lady that gave it back and were on our way. I am still learning from all of this...mostly how surprised I was that it was given back when it could have been sold to buy food or other necessities. I should not have been surprised how loving on someone changes everything.

What about Wendy??

Wendy:

- has made some new friends...so excited about that!
- learns something new everyday....or keeps realizing that I don't know it all!
- should brush up her organizational skills...
- is ready for summertime with no schedules..
- can't wait to find out what baby Ezell is...boy or girl
- keeps laughing at all the crazy antics of her kids...and he chaos..well, after the chaos.
- just finished Crazy Love and is picking up a new book today!

Now some of the happenings around here:











Aaron won third place overall in the first grade at field day yesterday.











So proud of that medal!








Aubrey (my niece) showing Lauren the ropes at school.










Ethan at field day yesterday. He placed third in the race that I did not watch.










Brendan running the 800m at his last track meet.

Normalcy

I absolutely hate it. Yes, hate is a strong word but it is the perfect one for this. I have often felt quite guilty for hating normalcy but not lately. I think that this is part of the way that God designed me. It's for His glory that I am here on this earth. He has a special plan for my life and for me and it just doesn't include normalcy.
( This is not a hidden agenda for others that cling to normalcy and love it. I don't believe its a bad thing. Since this blog is what about wendy, I get to tell you about me :))
I am most unhappy with normal. I feel like I am not doing what God has asked me to do when all is normal. God intends for each day of my life to be different and unique. I don't always live up to it the way I would like. It is easier some days to be normal than to be the one that is left out, talked about, looked at weirdly. In fact, its so easy to get caught up in the what others think about me. Then I realize that my focus is me, me, me. When I have the courage to go against normal, I find that my focus is just where it should be....on HIM!

Random

Just an update of the happenings here.....

It is snowing today. Crazy. The second official day of spring and snow. This is the place where it rarely snows and it has snowed maybe 3 times this year. WE are all ready for warmer weather.

Brendan is running track on the JV/Varsity track team. He is running the 1600M (1 Mile). His time last week was 7 minutes and 54 seconds. Not bad for very little training. He enjoys it and will run again this week. We hope to see it get easier every time and improve on his time.

We planted our garden a week ago. Onions, peppers, strawberries, spinach, carrots, and cilantro. The peppers were already not liking our cooler weather we were having so I have a feeling that they will need replacing after this snow and probably a chilly night :-(

Everyone made honor roll (A's and B's) on their report cards last week! Hooray!

We have a few new pets around our house.I will post some pictures soon.

Thad is still flying with a few students here until time to head north to spray.

Thats all for now!

Break my Heart For What Breaks Yours

This really spoke to me today so I thought I would share.....





A Place Called Simplicity: We Didn't Get the Memo

Our Saturday

It was a beautiful Saturday here!! The weather was terrific and makes us ready for spring. We spent some time today with some new friends. The first was this dog, Jake. He was friendly but a little bit of a nuisance in our situation....Ethan was entertaining him.











Brendan having a blast on our new friend.
















Aaron's turn next....















She looks like a pro doesn't she??




















She had the best time loving on this horse. She was completely fascinated by the whole thing. She rode him by herself. She brushed him and even got to ride him again with her brother. We just have to work on not leaning too far to the right. Brendan and Lauren both slid off of the horse and onto the ground. It scared everyone including the horse but no one was hurt and they both got back on and rode him again. Ethan enjoyed riding too but for some reason I did not get a picture of him up there. Thanks so much to Ms Deanna for sharing her horses with us ;)