Last Day of Residency!!

Well today is the day. I can't believe I'm actually saying that! Last night I just laughed and laughed when we were talking about the fact that this day has arrived! Today Brian finishes his medical training. Its been a long time coming and he worked SO hard! We even added a year and half recovery from his car accident in the mix! Congratulations, Brian!! I'm so proud of you...and us! (We also found out last night that Brian passed his board exams! Go Brian!) Thank you, Lord for seeing us through. Thank you for the path you've taken us on. All of this is for Your Glory!
P.S. I have to tell this funny story about what Ridgedon said last night when were talking about this. I told them that today was daddy's last day of "school". Ridge said "His last day of school? You mean....that was just school? Whats he going to do now?". I told him he was going to start his new job and he said "Is it going to be forever? Oh man, not again!" He cracks me up!

My baby boy going off to his last day of school! Notice how I placed him where I take pictures of the kids when they go off to school!! Thanks for humoring me, Brian!

Lazy Days of Summer...gone!

I just love summer! I really do! I love the laziness (sort of) of it. Sleeping a little later than normal, swimming, no homework. Well, today we got back to organized schedule days. Not that I don't love a good schedule! School started this morning and I officially now have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, and 1st grader. Could it be? We celebrated our last day of summer vacation yesterday by sleeping late, going to IHOP for a late breakfast, shopping for school food(if your a mom you know what I mean), and then topped it off with gymnastics practice and meet the teacher. I am very happy with all of their teachers this year! I think its going to be a good one! This morning was fairly calm going to school. Lots of anxious nerves but everyone did well! Except for mom! Geez, what is my problem? I cried again this morning when dropping off Ridgedon in his class. First grade is just so different from kindergarten. Lots more expectations and learning! But everyone had a great first day! I'll leave you with a quote from Emily telling me about her day...."switching classes is so unbelievably cool!"

My first grader!

My 3rd grader!

My 5th grader!

I love these kids!!

The view that made me get teary this morning. I know!!! He's just coloring but he's my baby!!

Happy Anniversary!

Today I have been married to the man of my dreams for 13 years! Wow! That sounds like alot! There are times when I look at our lives and can't believe we are not the 20 year old kids that started this journey together. We were babies! Yet we've done some of our most important "growing up" together! We learned what it was like to live with the opposite sex which is a huge deal! Toilet seats up, crying fits about...everything, learning to eat the meat loaf even if you hate it. Everything was an event. But now it just seems as if its been this way forever...and I love it! We've learned how to be parents together. Which again, is no small thing. Bringing children into this world and being responsible for every need they have. Physically, emotionally, spiritually. And watching the man you love become the most incredible daddy is breathtaking. We've screwed up quite a bit but we're learning that its okay...its just okay! We walk under an umbrella of grace! We also learned about the true meaning of "in sickness and in health"! When Brian had his car accident and he was laying in a coma in the hospital, I didn't know how I would go on without him. Just typing that last sentence made me cry so I won't go on and on about that. But coming home and dealing with the months/years of sickness and healing together made us stronger that I could imagine. I trust him with everything that I am. Which I did before but the bond is different. Its...in a word...intense. We've also learned how to enjoy life together! One of the pieces of advice I got from a lady at my church before I got married was "Make sure you laugh with each other. Laugh alot!" You know, for so long we just didn't. Life became crazy with babies, med school, and stuff that I'll confess, I didn't do alot of laughing. But we've entered into this time in our marriage and life where we do now. I enjoy being with Brian...and the kids! We laugh alot! He can make me laugh like no other. Anyway, I just wanted to say Happy Anniversary to the best husband ever! Brian, I love you! I'm so thankful that the Lord blessed my life with your love. I love that we get to keep doing what we're doing! And heres to many more years of laughter, love, and keeping our eyes on the One who brought us together!

Then....

and now!

Horse Camp

Emily finished her week at horse camp this week and she had SO much fun!! She began taking Tack Up lessons about 3 weeks ago at Flower Mound Equestrian Center. When one tacks up their horse they are actually grooming and putting all the "stuff" on the horse. There is so much involved in that process. So she took 3 tack up lessons and then did a week of horse camp at the same place. They basically learned more about tacking, veterinarian stuff, dentist stuff, horse shoe stuff(there is a name for it but I forgot it), and riding. Now she gets to start weekly lessons there and she can't wait! Em has been dreaming about and researching horses for several years now. For Christmas we gave her a week at horse camp this summer so that is how she did that. Here are some pictures of her show off day on Friday.

Emily and her horse for the week, Tinna!

Warming up the horses for the show

Emily and Tinna in the stall. She is getting ready to take everything off of her.

The awards ceremony. They each received a blue ribbon and a nerds rope candy! I think the symbolism there is they hung on to their ropes...hhhmmmm??

Pregnancy and Bills

Tricked ya!!! No, I'm not pregnant but if you notice the ticker at the top of the page that shows how long we've been logged in to China...I should have given birth by now. Big sigh....hopefully it won't be another 9 months before we can bring our daughter home!

Brian and I sat down last night to work on our budget. On August 31 Brian will complete his training in anesthesia. Literally its taken us 12 years to get to this point. He will begin working for our new employer on Sept. 17th. Northstar Anesthesia. Anyone heard of them? Anyway, our income will go up but we still have massive amounts of debt to pay off so we are getting our numbers together to take to our "money guy" so we can get a debt payback plan going from the get go. The reason I'm telling you all of this is so I can show you this picture. Look closely...notice how it takes us two screens, one bottle of pills and a glass of wine to get through it!! Just kidding about the bottle of pills! I was very proud of Brian and I as there were no tears last night! Way to go, Brian! (hee-hee!)

1st gymnastics meet!!

Today was Natalie's very first competitive meet in gymnastics. She is a level 4 gymnast which pretty much means a beginner. I need to tell a little about Natalie's history in this sport and a tiny bit about the transformation that has gone on around here in the last couple of years for you to appreciate this, though. When Natalie was about 18 months old we noticed that she just seemed to be a bit....what we lovingly called clumsy. It seemed like she and gravity were having a battle every day and gravity was winning. From the very beginning we would "tease" her and poke fun at the way she would always fall and sometimes hurt herself. We would speak that identity over her. Have you ever looked back on things in your life and wish you could take it back? Well this is one of those things. Things went from being funny to being a little more serious when she would fall. At one point she fell on a humidifier and got a severe burn on her arm and still carries that large scar to this day. She has had near misses with motorcycles and flying skateboards coming within inches of her face. Yet, we continued to speak this identity over her without even realizing what we were doing. We began to notice that she would say these things about herself too. She would say things like "I always do things like this. I'm so clumsy". It broke my heart. So we signed her up for gymnastics to see if it would help with some coordination. Not so much. So she quit. Well, one day the Lord grabbed me and rocked my world. A very long story for another time! But a transformation began in my life. Lets just say this. I always believed in and loved God. But now I had a deep relationship with Him that changed EVERYTHING in my life. I live different. I parent different. I love different. Everything is different. And I have a peace and a freedom like never before. I know....another time. Anyway, one of the things He allowed me to realize is that Satan loved the fact that we opened Natalie up to being "accident-prone". He loved the fact that she doubted herself and had little confidence. So Brian and I vowed to never speak that stuff over her again. I also had to repent of it. So there were nights that I would go in her room after she was asleep and cry and pray and speak a new identity over her, her true identity! That she is precious, valued, confident, etc. We told her that mommy and daddy without knowing it were hurting her and asked for forgiveness. So...fast forward to January of THIS year. Yes I said this year! Natalie asked if she could try gymnastics again. We said yes. So she did and I came home and told Brian that she really was different this time. She would pick things up quickly! After that session was over the coach came out into the hallway and asked if I would mind bringing Nat to a more advanced class the next day. Just to see what would happen. Sure! So she went and after that class the coach came out and said these words. "Natalie is really good. When I give her instructions she does them and does them well. I think she is ready to try being on team...if she wants to." WHAT???? Wow! The Lord totally restored us! Natalie has a confidence that comes from the Lord. Totally!! He gave that to her! And so many other things I could go on and on about. So she joined and has been training this summer for 10 hours a week! Thats alot but she loves every second of it. And she'll keep doing this as long as her heart desires. Gymnastics is NOT a cheap sport either but everytime a payment has come up...the Lord has provided!! Praise Him!! Today was her first meet and she did really well! We were very proud. She got pretty good scores for a first meet too, but she didn't care. She was most excited about the medal she got and the candy bag someone brought!!! Wow, this is a long post! Sorry! I can't help myself when it comes to the new things the Lord is doing in our lives! Here are some pictures of today and our little gymnast!


Warming up for her floor routine!

Most of the Level 4's being really bored waiting for their teammates to finish!

Natalie waiting to begin her floor routine

They all got to pose up there after they received their medals!

The very nasty, very loose tooth is GONE!!

Well, I think this is blog worthy even if nobody else does. Actually my mom will be quite thrilled to hear this.
Ridgedon finally lost his top tooth! It was way over due for coming out and thanks to Brian it is out tonight! I think I may have said this in an earlier post but I really can't handle wobbly teeth. My stomach starts to hurl. So this week has been a true test for me. The tooth was so loose even I tried to pull it just so I wouldn't have to look at it. But to no avail. This morning was it though and Brian said he just wanted to wiggle it. All I heard was Ridge say..."Dad its not ready yet. I told you!". And then Brian say..."Oh really?" The tooth was in his hand and Ridge was so happy!! So was mommy! There is just something about that top tooth being missing that makes your baby look so big. I'm happy for him and happy for me so I can quit heaving everytime I look at my son! Congrats Ridgedon!! Now go to sleep so the tooth fairy can come....


The tooth!!

Date Night

Brian likes to take the kids out on date nights every couple of months or so. Just to spend some one on one time with them. Well, last night was Ridgedon's turn. The kids get to decide what they are going to do with him and you can almost always guess what Ridgedon will choose to do. It usually involves Chuck E. Cheese or Walmart....I know, right???? Anyway, this time he chose Chuck E. Cheese for dinner and then bowling for the activity. These were the souvenirs they came home with. I will cherish them forever! I just love my boys!!

Emily's 10th birthday party...2 months late!

Well its 6:20 on a Saturday morning and for some reason I can't sleep. So I thought I'd get up and blog about my daughter's very late birthday party we finally had for her last night. It was originally planned for June 16th, her actual birthday. But the weather did not cooperate with us and we had to postpone her friend birthday party due to the fact that it was a swimming luao party. We went ahead and had a family gathering which was great. But when you turn 10 you sort of want to celebrate with your friends. The weather this summer has been crazy here in Texas. So much rain!! Finally, Emily said..."Mom, school is about to start. When are we having my party?". I know, I know!!! So we sent out the invitations once again and prayed for good weather. Well, the Lord provided because yesterday was beautiful!! Not as many of her friends got to come but it was still a good time!! Happy Birthday, Emily! I love you so much and am so proud of the young lady you are becoming. You are compassionate, funny, sensitive, and you love the Lord. Thank you for making my life so full!!

The birthday girl with her friends!

I had to post this one of Emily's twin friends, Kevin(left) and Andy(right). They have been in Emily's EXPO(gift and talented) class since 1st grade. Andy has been in Emily's actual classroom since 1st grade also. The 3 of them together crack me up because they are so smart! Last night Emily said "Natalie can eat like 6 hot dogs in 5 minutes."(which she can...I don't know where she puts it). Kevin quickly began to calculate in his head how many seconds per hot dog that would be. They got the answer right but I had to come home and use a calculator to figure it out. Its 50 seconds.

I can't believe my baby is 10!!! Where does the time go?

This is Emily on her actual birthday in June. Happy Birthday Em!!

Day Seven-Last Day of Camp Woods

Well....all good things must come to an end. So is true with Camp Woods! Its now 10:25pm and I'm wondering where the week went. You know when you are in the middle of something and you don't realize how quickly it is passing? That is how I feel right now. Where did the week go? The day started out slow. My mom came and picked Natalie up and took her to gymnastics for me. She had to be there at 8:30. So I woke her up at 7:30 to eat breakfast which started a domino effect. Hampton was next with the boys following close behind. The smell of bacon cooking was what woke Emily up. After a yummy breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and cinnamon rolls(I know...random) we layed around some more. We all went to get Nat at noon and headed off to Pump It Up. I'm sure most of you have heard of it but its like a warehouse filled with all sorts of bounce houses. Fun, fun, fun!! The kids played and sweated until about 2pm. We then went to McDonalds for a late lunch and played some more! Brian was sleeping today so I was trying to find activities to keep them out of the house. By the time we returned Brian was up and the kids got to work preparing for Doug and Kimberly to arrive. We hung signs, decorated microphones, showered, and did hair and make up. D and K got here about 8:45 and the talent show(sort of) began. The boys did an Underdog "skit" and sang their version of Life Is A Highway by the Rascall Flatts. The girls then sang their song which was So Long. Very cute!! They all did so good and of course as Camp Director...I couldn't be prouder!! I know the kids all had so much fun this week just being together! I will miss you Hampton and Rees!! This chick is heading to bed now!! And I think we will all sleep late in morning!

All of the kids sliding down a slide at Pump It Up. That place rocks!!

The sweaty gang after playing at Pump It Up.

Rees and Ridge...Good Buddies!
The girls preforming for Show Off Day

Doug and Kimberly enjoying the show!!