Kindergarten!!!!!!

We have officially entered into a new phase in our lives. My munchkin has started KINDERGARTEN!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I can't believe it! As with all parents these days are bittersweet...but mostly sweet. We absolutely MUST praise God for this time because He has provided for us to put Josie into a classical school.

If you are anything like I was about 7 years ago you're asking, "What the heck is classical school?" Well, I found out when I was hired several years ago to teach P.E. at a classical school in Austin. The more I learned about the teaching philosophy the more I fell in love with classical education.

In a nutshell, it is old. We're talkin' ancient--literally. It's methods are extremely similar to the methods used with people like Socrates and Plato. Yes, I mean old. Of course it's developed since then but at it's foundation it is the same. It uses the developmental phases of children to their educational advantage.

For instance, little ones are considered "sponges" so the aim is to allow them to "soak up" everything they can. Middle school ages are called "Logic" students. This allows those tween and teenagers to ask the questions and the teachers embrace the questions...teaching the students how to think for themselves. Finally high school is called "Rhetoric". Here they take all the knowledge they have, combine it with their ability to think things through and then articulate their ideas WELL...even defend them...much like debate.

The extra-super-fabulous thing about this school is it is Christian, so high school students learn how to defend their faith in a world that thinks it can't be proven....in other words, they are learning to love God with all their "hearts, strength, and MINDS" just as the first commandment instructs us to. (And how often we forget the MIND part of the commandment!)

Realistically, we have no idea if our kids will go all the way through the school. We are doing our best to stay open to God's plan for our EACH of our kids. What we do know is this has been a dream of both Wesley and myself and God has allowed it to come to fruition today.

Seeing her cousins made the whole morning even better!!!

I loved picking up a happy girl at the end of the day!!!

So what do Caleb and I do on the days we're home together? Well, here are a couple of ideas for ya.

He asked my mom for one of these for Christmas.

Need I say more?

BLORA

A few weeks ago we had a chance to go see one of my friends who lives near Ft. Hood and enjoy the perks of military life. She took us "on post" and we had a chance to play at the lake, their small water park, and even a really great pool there on the base. Here are a few pictures from our super fun day!

Who said sunscreen couldn't be any fun?

Popsicles during the life guards' break at the lake.

I was honored to introduce Ashley and both of my children to the joy that is Freebirds.

Happy tummies...proof that they are my offspring.

Caleb was fascinated by all the tanks, cannons, helicopters, planes, and people in uniform. He loved seeing all the equipment. At one point he said he wanted to be a superhero. I took the opportunity to tell Caleb that the men and women all around us in the uniforms were real heroes....like Ashley's husband Josh who is currently in Iraq. So, thank you to all our heroes who protect us! Praising God for your courage and your sacrifice!

Dreaming

This summer we went to my family's home in Lake City, Colorado. This is (in my opinion) the most beautiful place in the world. My family has been going there for over 60+ years, and we laugh because during the summer the city is crawling with my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles, great-aunts and great uncles, 2nd and 3rd cousins and all their friends, boyfriends, and girlfriends....I think you get the idea.

But LC is not only special to my family in general, it is a very special place for Wesley and me as a couple. It's special because it is a specific place that we MAKE time to dream with each other--not just ordinary dreaming like: what kind of house do we want to have, what kind of job do I hope to have, when do I want to retire, what sports will our kids play, what university will they go to...I'm talking about BIG dreams--God sized dreams.

Part of that kind of dreaming does include to plan (in pencil) for our family, and pray for God's glory in our family. It's not that we don't dream at home, because we do; but there in the majesty of God's glory and the peace of his beauty we find ourselves more refreshed, more inspired, and more purposeful in our dreaming.


We first realized the importance of dreaming and planning (in pencil) as a couple a few years ago from another family at our church. We learned about finding the purpose and vision God has for our family; clearly establishing a mission statement; making a list of specific values which we will use to create the atmosphere of home and even finding specific verses from scripture that define all of this. In fact, during our original planning of all this, we chose 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 as our "Family Verses"(--which explains the verse at the top of our blog).

I'd seen mission and vision statements in businesses and churches, but I never thought of applying that to a family. But why not? They give businesses and organizations a clear picture of the direction they are headed, and if an opportunity arises that doesn't fit the vision, mission, or values then the decision to avoid it should be easy. So, again, why don't we do that with our families?

Having these things in place have been very helpful when making big decisions
(especially in regards to spending money, investing time, parenting techniques, etc.). To be perfectly honest with you, we aren't always the most consistent about using our vision and mission statements as we had originally hoped. But having opportunities to escape into the mountains together is such a sweet time to reorient ourselves on the path God has laid before us and continue to dream God-sized dreams.

'Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” ' James 4:13-15

"This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

Fun in the Sun

Last weekend we had a chance to go to Dallas to see 2 families we absolutely adore! We had a chance to stay at Wesley's Aunt and Uncle's house despite the fact they were out of town.

We ate at some great restaurants, swam almost non stop, and were able to worship with an amazing body of believers in Jesus there in Dallas. This weekend was a much needed period of concentrated fellowship time with friends and our own little family unit.

All I can say is, "Thank you, Father for our sweet friends the Pokludas and the Tippits!!! You know exactly what we need, right when we need it."

Donuts on Saturday morning

Where we spent most of our time:

Some of our friends just moved from our town to Dallas. This was the perfect chance to get together! The girls were in heaven!!!!

The kids were able to squeeze in one last swim before we went to church on Sunday morning.

This is my talented family:

Yay for Clinicals!!!

So, once again, our lives have officially been turned upside down. I have started my first round of clinicals at our local hospital and am tasting what life is like for moms who work full time outside the home. All I can say is, "Wow!"

I've enjoyed it and have been learning a lot! So you won't see me around for awhile--again.

But I will leave you with this: I LOVE scrubs! :)

Just a not so quick thought

The book of James is one of my favorites of the whole Bible. It's pretty hard sometimes to swallow since James doesn't tiptoe around anything. I've loved being able to read it for myself several times as well as hear different teachers/preachers expound on the letter written by Jesus' little brother (who didn't even believe in Jesus at first!).

A certain passage has been coming up over and over in the last few months and I decided to just to throw it out there to you.

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4

First of all, I can't say I "count it all joy" when even small things go wrong. I confess, I usually complain. Why should I consider it good when bad things happen? Apparently, James thinks it has something to do with our faith...and if you know anything about Hebrews 11 (especially verse 6) it's impossible to please God without faith.

I could go into the whole illustration of lifting weights (after all I was a Kinesiology major in college) to remind myself that like our muscles have to be put in distress or tested in order to grow/become stronger, so must our faith. But what if that still doesn't motivate me?

Recently, I started to pay more attention to the last part of verse 4, "that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." God doesn't want me to be lacking in anything! He wants me to be perfect and complete....and lacking in nothing!!! (I am NOT talking about material things!) Why? Because He knows at that point we will finally be able to experience Him in all His glory, majesty, and beauty the way He intended for us to from the beginning, as well as a loving Daddy that we can hug and kiss and talk to face to face.

Wasn't that the first lie in the beginning? The Enemy didn't simply tell Eve, "You should disobey God," right off the bat. He had to make her believe she was lacking in the first place (which she wasn't) and then question God's intentions toward her. He had to make her think God didn't really care or have the best for her and that she had to reach out and take it for herself. And what happened? By doing this she (and the rest of us) did become "lacking" in pretty much everything.

But what do we read in James? That God wants us to lack nothing (again not in a material sense)!!! And He wants to be the One to give it to us...because He's the ONLY One who can. James isn't really the only place we read about God's efforts to reconcile with us...the whole Bible tells us His story to rescue us.

So, how can I have joy in trials? Well, I know when they come it won't be easy, and I know I'll probably whine about them out loud (probably to some of you), but I pray that through those trials my faith muscle will be strengthened and that God would use the perseverance to make me complete and lacking in nothing. I pray.

Do you have experience with this? Please share!

If you want to go a little deeper (okay a lot deeper, and probably makes more sense) in this topic you can watch this video:

Joy in Pain // James 1:1-12 from Breakaway Ministries on Vimeo.

Thanks for letting me process with you!

Cafe Cappuchino, Cookies, Couches and Camels

Here are some more pictures from the last few months:

Breakfast at Cafe Cap with great friends from out of town.

Just a few years ago Josie was the only one around. When Caleb was born Kenny and Martha stayed with Josie while we were in the hospital. Now we have 4!

Legacy Family picnic in the park with sweet friends Mary Margaret and "Big Caleb". Josie was MM's flower girl two years ago.

MM sent Caleb some "Cars" cookie cutters.

Our sweet Whitney came to see us!!

Cutie pie cuddling in the cozy couch.

Kids on the camel at the museum's Egyptian Exhibit.