A few moments caught this week

Racing towards Momma, not because she loves Momma

but because she loves the SOCKS Momma has!
She's found a new delight at ElRancho.
Reaching for Daddy's wallet already!!!

Getting ready to go to her slumber party with Oma and KaaKaa

Ordering at El Rancho (we only went 4 times this week)

Momma's heart divided in two. How cute are they?!?

Ty and Rebekah checking each other out on the way to church.

School Babies

-A New School Motto-

and a few pictures of my kiddos

A rare moment of peace and everyone paying attention at the same time!

Last week, they saw paint. I had to promise to let them paint.

So I developed a sneaky sneaky plan. We watched two

super short videos of a little boy. Then we talked about them.

Next, I broke the "horrible" news to them: They had to write about the videos.

Then I made them a word/picture bank of the board.

And sent them to their seperate tables to write.These are their little sentences. They show much improvement since August.

Our handwriting is not great but I didn't ask them to have perfect handwriting,

I asked them to write a sentence and they did.

And their reward for obedience with no tears was PAINT!

They painted pictures to go with their sentences.

These pictures show much improvement as well.

They were in heaven.

We might start doing this every other week.

I was amazed at the peace and orderliness during the paint time.

God answers prayers.

The new blog I found

Yesterday I wrote about the new blog I found. It is written by a handsome and wonderful guy. And I got permission to share the address with you...http://bigmanrun.blogspot.com

For B,D,T & K....my school babies

So...I got a little video happy tonight. I haven't posted a video since November. And like I mentioned in the previous post, I'm doing it for the kids.

If you've talked to me one or two times since August, you'll know I haven't been as thrilled about my job as I have been in previous years. It has been hard being a wife and a mom and a teacher.

But God gave me an attitude adjustment over Christmas break that has recently been reaffirmed by the following quote...

Here's a radical idea: next time you're tempted to complain about your work, praise God for it instead. -Mark Buchanan

I have been doing a few things very differently. I've been praying and talking with God about work a super lot. I've been setting small short term goals at work, so I can leave there knowing I accomplished something (because I got to check it off my goal list) instead of feeling like a failure. And I've been trying to have a God-consciousness (thank you, Priscilla Shirer)...you know working like God is looking over my shoulder, and He actually is. He put me in this job for a reason and I need to do my very best at it to bring him the glory. All these things are really affecting how I deal with my sweet school babies. And they are sweet even when they are driving me up the wall!

That said, we still need your prayers. We have 13 weeks of school left and A SUPER LOT A BIT to accomplish.

And I found a new blog, it is written by this really handsome extremely wondeful guy... whoever is married to him is super blessed and I bet she is proud of him too. And I bet she may have permission to share his blog address with you very soon.

About once a week, I show my students the blog.

They always want to see videos.

They let me know that it has been TOO long since I put up the last video.

I'm trying to appease them.

Only because I love them.

And after they watch it, I will make them write about it.

And they will probably whine about that.

They will survive.

Here she is:

Today's Assignment

It is hard for me to narrow down chores to one least favorite. I have a couple. But my very very least favorite has earned that title because of how often I have to do it.

My least favorite chore is emptying the dishwasher (thanks for passing that one on Mom.)

Emptying the dishwasher is very necessary. I do it begrudgingly at least three times a week.

If I stopped doing it, several things would happen. Our kitchen would begin to smell pretty awful. Our available kitchen counter space would dwindle away bit by bit. We would have to buy paper or plastic dishes which when used would drastically up our grocery bill and the amount of waste our household produces which in the long run may result in the end of the world. Anybody else want to complete the assignment for today?

On another note, tonight was the third session of "Anointed, Transformed and Redeemed" bible study. AND it was awesome. AND I am so blessed to have a God that has chosen me and loves me despite myself and chooses the most awesome ways to show me more of Himself.

And on another note, if any of you are looking for things to add to your prayer list, I would love for you to pray for me and my students as we finish out this school year. We all need a little more patience for each other and a little longer attention spans and a lot more Jesus in our interactions. Ok? Ok, thanks.

Last night was yucky, but today has been better

Long story.

Yesterday, Rebekah was a real fuss pants at lunch.

She tends to be Miss Fuss at lunch on Sunday's since she's missed her morning nap.

After lunch, we brought her home and put her straight to bed.

She slept and slept and slept.

And I'm not one to wake a sleeping baby.

And her long nap gave me plenty of time to catch up with my blog reading.

J.R. got her up after about 3 hours.

He tells me she feels hot.

I feel her, he is right; imagine that.

Her temp was 102.4. Baby girl was H-O-T.

I consult the book and decide its time to go to the doctor.

Problem? Most definitely.

Children's Medical is definitely not open on Sundays after 5.

Lake Serene Clinic isn't either.

We head to the After Hours Clinic.

Never again! BIG BOO on them!

I walk in with hot babe in my arms.

They ask if she is a new patient.

She answers by hosing me with vomit.

They reply with "we aren't taking anymore new patients today".

And I am very proud of myself for

1) Not being super ugly to them and 2) Not crying in front of them.

Momma start praying.

So we head to the emergency room.

BIG YAY for them!!!

We check in. They take us to the little triage room. We go back to the waiting room. Most precious sick babe in the world vomits on me a little more and gets more and more sluggish. Momma texts about everybody she knows to start praying.

Because prayer works.

Crystal brings Mom and babe clean clothes. BIG YAY for Crystal!

They call us back to a real little room.

She is so lethargic. She doesn't really respond to her name.

She doesn't even say "dada" to her Daddy. And she's done that nonstop all week.

She snoozes on and off. She is hot in her Momma's lap. Mom can feel the heat through her blue jeans.

She still looks like her Daddy's mini-me.

The doctor comes in. He says her ears are fine. Her chest is fine.
Since we don't know the source of the fever, we'll do some blood work and give her some fluids.

The nurse comes in. Momma and a nurse hold the babe down.

She cries. Momma cries. Daddy thinks about crying.

She doesn't like the pretty nurses anymore. And she's not so sure about Momma and Daddy.

They didn't save the girl. She is so tired of this.

Momma too.

Daddy too.

Momma's telephone too, it is running out of juice from all the texting.

Still praying. In my head, I know she will be okay, it is probably just a virus.

But also in my head, I know: The Lord gives and he takes away and He is good all the time.

As my dear friend said this morning "It is hard to hold them with an open hand."

She gets a fluid iv. She perks up when she is awake.

She lets her Daddy know she still knows his name.

She tries to tug at her iv tubes.

Doctor comes back. Her white count is up, so she gets an antibiotic iv.

If she keeps getting better, we can go home after the antibiotic.

Praise the Lord, we're ready.

She keeps getting better. We go home. It is late.

She goes straight to sleep. She wakes up with a fever again, but not quite so high.

She gets a midnight cocktail of pedialyte and tylenol. And rocking with Momma helps too.

She wakes and stirs and mini-fusses several times. Momma prays some more and more for the girl to just feel better and for the enemy to just leave us alone. That God has already won these hearts, so just go away.

We wake up late for us, 6:30. She is not a slug anymore.

She is happy and smiling. We missed that smile last night.

She gets a morning cup of pedialyte and her Momma. Just enough to put her to sleep again, but she fought it.

We rock and sing and Momma can't make it through the song without tears.

"One day eyes that are blind will see you clearly

And one day all who deny will finally believe

One day hearts made of stone will break in pieces

And one day chains once unbroken will fall down at your feet

So we wait for that one day come quickly

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers you praise

With every hand raised Singing Glory To you and unto you only

We'll sing Glory to Your name

One day voices that lie will all be silent

One day all that's divided will be whole again

One day death will retreat and wave it's white flag

One day love will defeat the strongest enemy

So we wait for that one day come quickly

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers you praise

With every hand rasied

Singing Glory to you and unto you only

We'll sing Glory to your name

We know not the day or the hour

Or the moments in between

But we know the end of the story

When we'll see

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers you praise

With every hand raised

Singing Glory to you and unto you only

We'll sing Glory to your name"

Because our God IS good all the time.

After a short morning nap, she is up again.

She is hungry and pedialyte isn't hitting the spot.

How about Cheerios?Her eyes question: "Mom, are you sure? Will they hurt this tummy?" Her tummy answers her questions.
Eating them from Momma's hand is not enough. She needs the bowl.
She is so happy to have the bowl, to eat the cheerios 46 at a time, to throw them on the floor, to cock that big toe up...And Momma is so happy her personality is back.

We talked to the pediatrician. She says Rebekah's bloodwork came back fine, to just observe her, and if her fever spikes again to let them know.

The sweet girl is napping now.

Thank you for your concern and prayers and love.

Love, us

Here lately...

We have been doing and going and doing and going.

Rebekah going to the sitters.

We've also spent lots of time eating... Gnawing on a teething biscuit.

Chomping on a pancake.

We've spent some time just hanging out.

Rebekah waitinig on us to get dressed.Rebekah's sprout of a ponytail.

She is really into her beauty.

She likes looking in the mirror.

Rebekah spends alot of time in my bathroom.

She likes to respect my personal space...yeah right.

One morning I found Rebekah hanging from my bathroom counter.

I got her down before I took this pic.

She really enjoys banging the cabinet doors.The next morning, I found her on tip toes digging around in my make up drawer.Eventually, she got my little bag out and waved it about as if it was a winning lottery ticket.Rebekah absolutely loves bath time but is just as content to play with her bath toys out of water. She has approximately 23,350 rubber duckys.She likes these spotted ones the best.

They light up in the water, kind of like

lightning bugs, but lightning ducks.

This is what J.R. and his friends built Saturday.

And Rebekah's other front tooth made its debut this morning.

So now she has 1/2 a tooth and 1/16 a tooth.

And I painted some this weekend too. For a peek, click here.