Freedom

 One of my favorite worship songs!

Our Hope Endures

Natalie Grant has a way of putting real life issues into her music and speak to me at just the right moments.  This is one of those songs and I'd like to share it with you all.

One Word

The Survey~


(You can only use one word to answer)



1. Where is your cell phone?  table

2. Your hair?  messy

3. Your mother?  homebody

4. Your father?  miserable

5. Your favorite food?  ethnic

6. Your dream last night?  weird

7. Your favorite drink?  tea

8. Your dream/goal?  homeowner

9. What room are you in?  bedroom

10. Your hobby? HA!

11. Your fear? flying/jumping bugs

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? homeowner

13. Where were you last night?  home

14. Something that you aren't?  easily moved

15. Muffins?  banana nut

16. Wish list item?  debt-free

17. Where did you grow up? Montgomery

18. Last thing you did?  coffee

19. What are you wearing?  pajamas

20. Your TV?  Music Choice (Sounds of the Season)

21. Your pets? n/a

22. Friends? best

23. Your life? so-so

24. Your mood? happy

25. Missing someone? yes

26. Vehicle? green

27. Something you’re not wearing? bra

28. Your favorite store? Walmart

29. Your favorite color? blue

30. When was the last time you laughed?  today

31. Last time you cried? other day

32. Your best friend? wonderful

33. One place that you go to over and over? Walmart

34. One person who emails me regularly? Shannon

35. Favorite place to eat? Moe's

Halloween 2009

We went to Uncle Andy & Aunt Christiane's for Halloween this year.  Since Andy has retired from the Army, we have spent a lot of time at their house, and thankfully so because for the last 20 years, he has lived out of state and out of the country serving our country, which I am very proud of!  So it seems that we are making up for lost time and it's wonderful.  My boys will actually be able to grow up with their cousins on my side of the family, and they love going to Uncle Andy's.  So this year was our first year observing Halloween with them and here are some of the pictures from that night.

Vada (top), Coby (middle left), Kailey (middle right), and Caleb (bottom)

Me and Emily (Meeeoooowww)

Vada, Stephen & Kailey

Vada, Stephen, Kailey & Caleb

Coby

In their front yard

Also in their front yard

The first house we encountered

Jason (I think?) and a hideous Joker

We had a lot of fun trick or treating.  It was nice to go back to the way we did it when I was a child.... walking door to door, people jumping out of bushes to scare you, everyone hanging out in the neighborhood having fun.  Most places have Harvest Festivals and Fall Fall Festivals instead of the traditional trick or treating, and we have done those too, but I'd still rather do it the traditional way.  Hope you all had fun!  Now let's get ready for the real holidays - Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!

Pumpkin Patch

Last Sunday (10-25-09) we went to the Grand Ol' Pumpkin Patch in Clanton and had so much fun!  We will be prepared to spend some money next year. They had helicopter rides for $20 per person, in which we did not participate because I didn't take money for something like that.  Had a moonwalk playground... I mean regular moonwalks, sliding moonwalks, maze moonwalks... $5 for all of it!  Now that we could handle. Then we got a snack.... I got homemade pecan pie and chocolate chess pie (hey, with all those delicious homemade pies, I couldn't decide on just one). Coby had a vanilla ice cream cone and Caleb just had a Dr. Pepper.  They played in the hay bales, then we took the ride down to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins.

Beautiful Sunflowers were everywhere

Coby with his big pumpking

Caleb with his 1st pumpking

Coby wasn't going to let his pumpkin out of his sight

Caleb decided to go for a smaller pumpkin

Coby's feeling the pain now, lol

Caleb with his and my pumpkins

Coby's like "whoooaaaa, I'm about to let this baby go!"

Coby & Caleb on the trip back to get ready to leave

And Coby was not happy about that,

hence the reason he is not in this picture :)

All in all, we had a really good time!

Play-Doh Cars

It's a normal Tuesday evening at home.  The boys have finished their homework and now playing... specifically with their Play-Doh.  I'm in the kitchen fixing supper.  I walk into the living room to see what they are doing and am amazed at what Coby is making. 

I ooh'd and ahh'd over what he'd made, which made Caleb jealous so he got upset and whining that he could not make one ... which he seems to do with alot of things.  Instead of trying to do something, he'd rather whine about it saying he can't do it.  Much encouragement is poured into him!  So Caleb asked Coby to make him a Play-Doh car, which Coby was very much willing to do. 

The finished product:

And here's the masterpieces together:

Tooth Fairy visits Caleb

He was scared to death for me to pull that one little last string that was holding this tooth in.  It was so loose, it was laying on his lip.  All I did was push the tooth inward and that last little string popped loose.  He was about to scream but then realized it was already out and started laughing. He was so cute, lol.  So the tooth fairy visited Caleb and left him a dollar bill and lots of change (sorry, wasn't prepared).

Catching up

It's been a while since I've blogged.  Just haven't been in the mood to write anything, although I made notes to write about this and that.  So this is to update on what's been going on.

July 31, 2009
WE MOVED
We moved to a new apartment today.  Moved from a 2 bed/2 bath to a 2 bed/1 bath, but it's bigger and almost $300 cheaper!  Who wouldn't go for that?  Only drawback... we are upstairs, which is a first, and I have rambunctious boys!!!  Can you imagine what the lady downstairs thinks about moving from upstairs to downstairs now, lol.  I try to calm them down when they get rowdy, but I also remember that we live in a multi-tenant building and that's one of the things you have to deal with, plus I cannot contain all their energy by saying "be quiet, don't jump, don't throw the ball, don't be loud, etc."  That's not fair to them.  We are gonna be here until I can pay off some debt, get my credit somewhat decent and buy a house.

August 8, 2009
BEADS DO NOT GO IN YOUR NOSE!
It's a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  The boys and I are were out doing a little school shopping, heading down Atlanta Highway to find Coby some shoes.  Caleb calls my name real quietly from the backseat.  I turn around to find these huge tears in his eyes.  Fear gripped me.  I said "what's wrong?"  He said "I got a bead in my nose."  I pull over into the Walmart parking lot, get out and go around to his side and look in his nose.  At the very top is a little black bead, about the size of a english pea, is stuck in just the right place that I could not get it with my fingernail.  My mind is racing... what do I do? Do I take him to Pri-Med or to the ER? I buckle him back in, about to head somewhere and still not sure where yet. As I'm pulling up to the stop sign to get on McLemore Road, I remember I have some tweezers in my console, so I pull over into Burger Kings parking lot. I commence to find my tweezers and attempt to do surgery on my son's nose.  If this didn't work, we would be at the ER next.  He saw me coming towards his nose with these little silver clamp-like things and he was scared saying "no, no, no".  I said "Caleb, if you don't let me try, we're going to have to go to the hospital and they'll have to cut your nose off".  Yeah, that was a little dramatic, but I had to convince him to let me try, lol.  He was crying and sniffing and I was saying "don't snifff cause it you may swallow it".  The bead was right in the crook of his nose where if he sniffed too hard, it would go down.  I was thinking "heck, if it did all that would happen is that he'd poop it out at some point", but the unknown if that would happen for sure had me worried.  After about 5 minutes, I hit the bead just right and it popped out.  We celebrated and hugged alot in that Burger King parking lot.  For the next week probably all I heard from Caleb was "I'm not gonna put another bead in my nose, cause the doctor might cut my nose off".  Even when we went to Andy's house the next day and was telling him what happened, he told Caleb the same thing I did about the doctor would have to cut his nose off, lol.  So I think he understand that beads do not go in your nose! Oh... and we did find Coby some cute little Nike shoes to look cute in for his first day of Kindergarten.

KINDERGARTEN AND 1ST GRADE
Coby's in kindergarten and under the Red Apple system, where you start off with a red apple each day, which is what you also want to end up with.  However, if you break a rule, you get your apple color changed.  Coby got red apples for the first 3 days of school.  For the next 7 days of school he got every color of the apple system I think.  Can't keep his hands to himself... wanted to touch the books, the toys, this or that.  He pushed a little girl in P.E. one day, and I asked him why... he said "ugghh, mama, she was tieing her shoe and wouldn't move".  LOL... ok the way he was looking was like "mama, you don't understand... she was tieing her shoe and holding everybody up in line behind her".  Inside I was laughing because I can imagine what was going through his little mind and so I guess he felt like he should do something about it to get the line moving.  Patience... I must teach patience!  When I ask him why he did something, he will tell me "cause I'm bad".  Now why in the world would he say that... more so, WHERE did he pick that up from.  I know exactly where it came from... Mimi's house.  And whether it's been said directly to him or if he heard someone saying it to some other child in the house, he will not ever ever think he is a bad child. 

Caleb is really enjoying 1st grade and learning rapidly.  His mind is like a little sponge, but I've noticed that he has a bad habit of saying "I can't" alot!  Don't know where he gets that because if I don't do anything else, I encourage my boys to learn and try new things without fear of failing.  But also if they don't get it or can't do it, to try again until they do.  Can't is not an acceptable term in my house.  He's doing pretty good as far as behavior, but he likes to talk alot, and he'll tell me he was talking to Brandon. 

TATTOO
OH... and I almost forgot.. I got my first TATTOO!!!  Me and my best friend Shannon got tattoo's alike. 

Hurt like hell!  But it I kept the A&D ointment on it and within a week it was pretty much healed with hardly any itching like some people were telling me was going to happen.  Some say "gosh you went big for your first one".  Might as well get what I want if I'm gonna do it!  Aren't they pretty? 

Carlos got his tattoo redone and it looks 100% better with all the detail.  Go Gators!

The boys spent their days at the YMCA every day and loved it.  Swimming at the Y and being at Andy's almost every weekend helped them become really good swimmers.  We've also been to Alabama Adventure, which was totally fun. The fall is coming upon us and I will be signing them up for basketball this winter to see how they like that. 

The reason Michael died ... a 6 year old perspective

Let me set the scene...

The boys and I are in checkout at Winn-Dixie. Caleb sees Michael Jackson's picture on US magazine. Here's the conversation that followed:

Caleb: "Ohhh mama, he died".

Me: "Who, baby?"

Caleb: "him"

Me: "Who is him?"

Caleb: "Michael ... ummm... Jackson".

Me: "Who told you Michael Jackson died?"

Caleb: "Gabriel"

Me: "Well why'd he die?"

Caleb: "Cause he was singing too much!"


LOL... don't ya just love it!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Most anywhere I go and anything I do with the boys is bound to be an experience waiting to happen that will not soon be forgotten. Going to see "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was no exception.

We went to the 4:15 show and did not leave until right at 7:00... loonnngggg movie. Caleb was fine, he sat there in a trance the entire time. Coby, on the other hand, is my hyper child and he was ready to go about half way through it. We had two bathroom breaks so that helped with Coby's "ants in the pants" somewhat. But the second bathroom break was the kicker.

I let them be big boys and go in the boys bathroom by themselves... usually I will take them in the womens bathroom with me, just so I know they aren't playing and creating a mess. Well wouldn't you know it, both had to "boo boo". Caleb can clean himself, but Coby has not gotten the hang of this just yet. We are missing the movie, I'm trying to get them out of the bathroom, yelling through the door that he's going to have to wipe himself because I can't come in. After about 15 minutes, I go and get someone that works there to let me go in and help Coby. By this point, he's crying and refuses to even TRY to wipe himself. I go in, wipe, and it's a 'clean' wipe (we are mothers here, so you know what I'm saying). All that crying and yelling for me to come in there and there was NOTHING on the tissue!!!

I can't help but laugh at these experiences in life. One day your girlfriends will read this!!!

Raging River

My Dad decided he wanted us to spend the day at the river with him since he would not be in town Fathers Day Weekend. He wanted his kids and families to be there, however my brother and his family were busy packing for the trip to Germany (wife and kids) and moving into their new house (my brother would be doing this by himself since they will be in Germany... well with our help I'm sure).

I get up Sunday morning, fix my coffee, relax for a bit, got on the computer for a bit, and even checked the weather since we would be on the river most of the day. It said something about partly cloudy with clearing skies for a mostly sunny day, about a 20% chance of rain. So it looked to be a very nice day... family, food and sunny skies. What else could you ask for!?

So I cooked the boys and I a little breakfast... hasbrowns, cheese eggs and bacon. They hardly ate any of theirs because they were ready to go. We got dressed and got our bags packed and headed out the door at 10:15. The boys wanted their football flags on their windows (Coby is an Auburn flag and Caleb's is an Alabama flag). Going down I-85 at 60 mph, I roll down Coby's window so he can throw out his gum, then rolled it back up. About a mile further I realized that Coby was trying to tell me that his flag was gone... flew off the window! He was heartbroken, so I was trying to cheer him up telling him we'd get him another and I think he finally was ok when I told him that we'd get him another one that was all orange (the one we had was navy with orange letters). I couldn't turn around and wouldn't anyways because I'm not stopping on the interstate to try to get a flag.

So we proceed to our destination... Cooters Pond. Daddy and Peggy were there with the boat already in the water. We got our stuff on the boat, then Emily and Greg got there a few minutes later. Everyone's on the boat and we're heading to our little private island on the river. We get there, set up the chairs, grill and all the stuff necessary to spend the day at the river. We get in the water... which was a little chilly, so you just have to jump in and get it over with. The sun seemed like it was trying to overpower the clouds, and did for a while. About 12:30, Peggy takes the boat back in to get Mitzi and Braeland.

Meanwhile, the radio had an emergency alert come across that there's a "severe thunderstorm warning" in the area. We are looking and can't see anything remotely serious and figure it must be bypassing us. I even look at the radar on my Sidekick and it show the storms are north and northeast of us. So we continue swimming. Daddy lights the grill to get the coals hot for when they get back. Looking north we can see the sky getting eerily dark. Its coming towards us. We look at radar again. Now there's storms west and north of us coming directly to us! Where'd they come from? The winds pick up. I make the boys get out of the water. They help grandaddy get all the toys up.

The rain starts falling.
The wind is getting stronger.
There are waves in the river... and they weren't small... it was like a freakin' ocean!

Coby is freakin' out... "mommy, I ready to go" while crying. Thunder. Lighting. An entire tree fell on the opposite side of the 'littl' island, which could have possibly hit us had it fallen our way. We finally see Peggy coming back. It's POURING by now. She passes us. She finally comes back and tells us the current took her down the river and she couldn't turn. I love storms so this wasn't bothering me, but my son was scared so that of course did bother me. We notice the rain isn't going to slack up much so we go ahead and load up the boat and head in. It slowed down somewhat and pretty much stopped by the time we go back to the docks... go figure!

The boys and I went to Aunt Emily and Uncle Gregs house to get a shower and some dry clothes on. I... being mommy... got the boys something clean and dry, but thought nothing of myself. I can wear some of Emily's clothes... except for a bra! I ended up wearing a tank top with a built in bra and it was actually pretty cute on me. We went to Dad's house to finish our day with him. Ate, enjoyed family and they gave the boys their outfits for their birthdays. They had to put them on before we left.

This was a long and eventful day!

"The Climb"

This song by Miley Cyrus describes my life's journey perfectly... probably for most people. There's always some mountain to get over, and it doesn't matter what is on the other side, it's how you get there that makes the difference! Just when you think you are comfortable and complacent in life (work, children, house, relationships, etc.) up pops another mountain for you to climb. Make the best of it and climb it with grace!





I can almost see it
That dream I´m dreaming but
There´s a voice inside my head saying
You´ll never reach it
Every step I´m taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking
But I
I gotta keep trying
Gonna keep my head held high

CHORUS
There´s always gonna be another mountain
I´m always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Sometimes I´m gonna have to lose
Aint about how fast I get there
Aint about what´s waiting on the other side
It´s the climb

The struggles I´m facing
The chances I´m taking
Sometimes they knock me down but
No I´m not breaking
I mean I know it
But these are the moments that
I´m gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going
And I
I gotta be strong
Just keep pushing on

Cuz
CHORUS (2x)

Yeah
Yeah
Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith
Baby
It´s all about
It´s all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith
Woho

It's Over!

T-ball 2009 is over! I am glad because it's getting hot, but mostly because it just wasn't as fun as it was last year. I was in the dugout during many of the games keeping the boys organized, along with some of the other moms. I really enjoyed meeting the moms and the boys. Seems like at least half of the moms from our team are single moms, so we had lots in common. We ended the season #2 in our division. So here's a few pictures to end our season. Hopefully when we have our team party Saturday, I can get pictures of the boys with their moms (and dads for those who aren't single). Without further ado, here is W K Upchurch Construction t-ball team.


The boys waiting for their trophies

Caleb Reese (what kinda smile is that!?)

Nick Garrison


John Mark Mackall


Shaun Dorch

Coby Reese (that's a hard smile!)

Davin Clinkscales (pronounced like David)

Ethan Binns (won the Sportsmanship Award)

Knowlton Ivey

Raif Sullivan

Brennan Binns

Coaches Matt Binns & Paul Ivey

Coby & Caleb with their trophies

The boys are restless and ready to go now

Caleb & Tio (or Tonio or Antonio) - cousins

So long... farewell 2009! We'll see you again next year.

Where Milk Comes From

On the way to take the boys to the Y this morning, I was listening mostly to the music, while the boys chattered away as they always do. I somewhat caught on that Coby was talking about the milk he drinks with his lunch, and here's the conversation that took place next:

COBY: "Mama, chocolate milk comes from brown cows!"

ME: "Oh yeah. Where does white milk comes from?"

COBY: "White cows."

ME: "Ok, well where does Strawberry milk come from?"

COBY: "uuhhh"

CALEB: "Pink cows."

ME: "There aren't any pink cows!"

We all burst out into laughter. And then....

COBY: "We give the cows milk?"

ME: "No, we get our milk from cows."

CALEB: "How does the milk come out of the cows."

oh boy

ME: "You know how when Max (their Mimi's dog) had her puppies and they would go under her belly to eat, they were drinking milk from her."

CALEB: "Oh. And when you get the milk from cows you go ... and he made the motions of milking a cow...

ME: "Yes baby, that's how you get milk out of a cow."

"When Life Gets Broken"

by Russ Lee & Michael O'Brien


Hands reaching out, with no one to hold
You’ve been abandoned, with no place to go
Wounded and wanting, such desperate times
Cold bitter tears are filling your eyes

Get a glimpse of Jesus
For he is right there with you
He knows just what you need

CHORUS
Cause when life gets broken
And you’re in despair
You carry your burdens
When it’s too much to bear
It’s down in the valley
Where He’ll give you strength
There is nothing you have lost
That He can’t replace
He’ll help you start all over again
When life gets broken

You hope God will heal her
But you went home anyway
Now it’s hard to imagine
How you’ll make it through the day
Weeks turn to years
Time’s passing you by
But you’re still holding on
To the how’s and why

Get a glimpse of Jesus
For he is right there with you
He knows just what you need

CHORUS

Healing waters
Heal our troubled souls
Jesus, sweet Jesus
Cleanse and make us whole

CHORUS

Professional T-Ball Coach

We have what we (mother's of the team) call a "professional t-ball coach" coaching our team this year. The first interaction I had with Coach was when he called me regarding the sponsorship of our team (since I got the sponsorship). Within the first 5 minutes of our conversation, I had the pleasure (eyes rolling) of hearing about his lifelong accomplishments in sports, which goes a little something like this...

"I have coached my other sons baseball teams since he started playing at 5 years old, all the way up through college at AUM. I coached football and baseball at the Y for many years. I've coached soccer and my daughters softball team."

My first thought was... "oh, well he sounds like he knows what he's doing, so maybe we can actually be in a position other than last, like last year". Oh, how the mind deceives. Once I met him at the first practice and saw first-hand, his coaching techniques, it was all about him and what he could do and what he knows... hence the "professional t-ball coach" title. Granted he teaches them very well how to stand to bat, how to turn your body when you swing the bat around, how to move from side to side to get ground balls, how to play baseball correctly. But... these are 4, 5 and 6 year olds. Most of them have, at the most, a 15 minute attention span... which frustrates coach to no end, but it's funny to us moms because he takes everything a little too serious. For the most part, he doesn't get upset or frustrated... pretty much stays calm... but I guarantee you, on the inside, he is blowing up!!!

This is Caleb's 2nd year playing, so he already knows what to do. This is Coby's 1st year playing, so he really doesn't have much knowledge of what to do. All he knows is to hit the ball and run, and to have the glove on his hand. During the 1st game, he played all of about 15 minutes and didn't want to play anymore. The 2nd game... we were up last to bat, we have already won the game but the coaches wanted them to finish, just so they can get the experience... Coby was THE LAST batter of the game... standing on deck... it's his turn to go up to bat... he starts crying and doesn't want to play anymore. Everyone was asking "what's wrong" but all he wanted was for me to hold him. When I finally got him by myself and got him calm, he told me he just didn't want to play anymore. So he hasn't. Until last Saturday when he decided he wanted to play again. I told him that if he quit this time, he can't play anymore at all. He didn't. He actually played really well.

Well during practice a couple of days ago, every time Coby was on 3rd, ready to run home... when he ran home, he never made it all the way. About half-way between 3rd base and home, he would veer off and run somewhere else... to get his glove, to pick up his bat... anything but run to touch homeplate. I TOLD the coach that he needed to show him that he needs to run all the way to homeplate. He never did. At the game last night, Coby made it to 3rd base (first time) and can you guess what happened next!? You guessed it, about half-way home, he veered off towards the dugout. Everyone's yelling for him to go touch homeplate and he looks confused (and HE IS). So the coach came over, grabbed his arm and showed him to go to homeplate. He didn't hurt his arm. He SCARED him. Coby was standing ON homeplate, while 2 others behind him came in and just stood there not knowing what to do. He started crying right then and there. Needless to say, that WAS his last game.

The more I thought about all of it, the more pissed I got. Coach didn't even attempt to talk to Coby or apologize to him. NOTHING. Dude... this is t-ball, not minor league!

Oh, and one other thing. He is coaching our team because he has a 6 year old son on the team, which looks as if he could care less about even playing. We think he's living his life through his son.

**UPDATE**
So the Commissioner of baseball was called and it was brought to his attention what happened with my son. Let me say, this was NOT the first time someone has called the commissioner on our coach. He was reported at the beginning of the season of making 2 other teammates cry... one being his own son (the one he's living his life through). So I was told that it would be taken care of before the game last night. I saw one of the league officials come over and talk to one of the moms, and found out afterwards that it was indeed about what happened. Something apparently was said because after the game (which we lost 13-6, so you KNOW he was pissed), he got all the kids to go with the other coach to a cooler where he had carnations for all the moms for Mother's Day. While they were at the cooler, the coach ... I guess in his own distorted mind... apologized to all the parents... here's how it went...

"I want to apologize if I get upset or angry. I try not to show it in front of the kids. BUT... you have to understand all the time and effort I put into your kids, and some of you don't show up for practice and late half the time, and I don't have to call any names, you know who you are. I have a surprise for all of you."

And seriously at this point, I'm not even sure what the rest was about cause THAT, my friends, was NOT an apology! That was an excuse to get past the way he acts. The surprise was the carnations that he gave each child to give to their mom. That was right up Caleb's alley cause he loves flowers. It was beautiful... he gave it to me and said "I love you mama". See, just this past week I was classified as a "mean mama", lol. Anyways, I don't consider what coach did as an apology and he really didn't mean it. Ironic that after every game he asks the team a series of questions, in which the kids yell the answers:

"Who loves you?" - COACH
"Who loves you more?" - PARENTS
"Who loves you most?" - GOD

Yes God loves us above any human ever could... but does he really believe that? Because his actions are far from it!

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

A Time for Everything

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.

The first time I read this was soon after I was born again in November 1998. I was in a difficult place in my life, but was making the best of it. I have always been the optimist, always a positive attitude not matter what was going on… I could find the sunshine through the storm! So in coming across the passage, it kinda fell in line with what I’ve always believed… Everything Happens for a Reason (you knew it was coming didn’t you *wink*).

Joy and pain are gonna come. It’s inevitable. Think of the seasons you go through in life… they’re like a woman going into labor… there is much MUCH pain (thank God for giving man knowledge about anesthesia… whew!). It’s too late to say “oh I changed my mind, I don’t wanna go through with this”. Uh no! Too late. That baby is coming when he/she’s good and ready… in God’s time. But the instant that sweet little baby is laid in her arms, all that pain she went through disappears.

Saying all that to say that sometimes we have to go through painful season, to get the most joyous outcome! I choose to believe that’s where I am right now in life. Going through the storm. Right now I can’t see the sunshine, but in God’s time, all the pain will disappear, and joy will be mine! Don’t get me wrong, I’m still optimistic, just not my usual cheerful, happy self… and I don’t like it.

Easter 2009

Caleb's school had a Easter Egg Hunt for all four kindergarten classes at a park behind the Coliseum Boulevard Library. Here's some pictures of that event.

GO!!!!

Caleb with a few of his classmates:

back row: Ashley

front row: Breanna, Keiara, Caleb, Jamiyah & Anthony

I wonder if all the girls around my baby is a hint of things to come (one eyebrow raised)

J.C., Caleb & Anthony

Darece (prounounced Darecie). This is Caleb's little girlfriend. They've been going to school with each other for 3 years now, and go to church together. She's such a cutie pie and so sweet.



After church, we headed to my brother's house for the afternoon for an egg hunt and hotdogs and burgers on the grill.

Kailey & Coby

Caleb, Kailey & Vada

Coby & Andy

Stephen