Sleep in Heavenly Peace

My head is usually the last to hit the pillow at night, and that means I get the unique privelege of looking at each one of my beautiful family, including Travis, peacefully sleeping. I go to each one and kiss them and pray for them in the quiet. I am overwhelmed with a feeling of love for my family and gratitude to God for them. God has such big plans for their lives and has gifted each one with very different, but awesome gifts.

The four pictures taken in the dark was after everyone was in bed for the night. I took the picture of Travis and Jillian after Travis had read her a naptime story. She was cashed out before he finished reading the story. She always wants to "pick one" [a book] and we read her at least one story to tuck her in for her nap. She is such a light sleeper, so when Travis got up to leave the room after she had fallen asleep, she woke back up and stayed awake for 30 more minutes before falling back asleep!

Our New $XX,000 Radio

Well, it happened. We had to trade our minivan in for a new one if we were going to get any money out of it at all. It was about to tank! I knew it was bad when Justis said, "The vans doing it's shaky thing, open your mouths!" At his cue, the four of them opened their mouths and said..."Aaaaaaa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a." The shaky van made their voices have the best vibrato I've ever heard. Leave it up to kids to find the positive in ANYTHING!

That was a week ago and within 5 days Travis and I decided we'd better not drive it again until we were ready to go trade her in. We weren't sure it would make it to Baton Rouge, where we chose to buy our "new" vehicle. It barely made it. Now it's not our liability anymore.

We did our research before buying this time. We failed to check reliability on 2001 Chrysler Town & Country minivans before we bought ours in 2004. You live and learn. The van has been without a radio for close to a year and has also been doing its shaky thing for that long. Water leaked up through the front passenger side floorboard two times in the last two years. Despite attempts from three of our best mechanics and numerous other people to figure out the problem, nobody knew what made the mystery shake (which made the engine light glow).

We decided about two months ago to take a look at vans so we were prepared when the day came to choose our next vehicle. We chose a Toyota Sienna as target vehicle because of its used reliability ratings and good gas mileage for its size. Plus, we've had a Toyota before and WE had to part with it at 213,000 ONLY because our family outgrew it! That's reliability. We went to the internet after we knew the features we wanted to save time. Our search narrowed to the three Toyota dealerships in Baton Rouge because of the competative market there and, therefore, low prices.

Have you ever gone car shopping with four kids? Have you ever gone car shopping in Baton Rouge when an LSU game is playing IN Baton Rouge? Some of you may have answered yes to that first question, but it's doubtful your car shopping has been effected by an LSU game. Here's the deal. A sweet lady named Miss B. got a sweet sale yesterday afternoon becuase she was on the lot waiting for her next customer instead of sitting in the brake room watching the LSU game. The experience was pleasant for all of us and we got a great deal. There was no rough talk haggling or urgency in the deal. On top of the great price they offered us, Travis also bartered an upgrade to leather seats for free! We also chose to have a DVD player put in.

My favorite thing about the minivan is the peace of mind that comes with owning a Toyota.

The kids' favorite feature is the RADIO! They kept telling the sales people we talked to, "The ONLY thing the matter with our van is that it has no radio. It's a bummer!" The kids also love the sliding door mirrors that roll down. Since when did they start making automatic sliding door wi ndows? Cool!

"We have a new radio!" the kids excitedly exclaimed as we went to load up in our used (but new to us!) 2007 Toyota Sienna. Travis gave us a treat, took us out to eat at Raising Canes, and we cruised smoothly back home from Baton Rouge, enjoying our new "radio." I bet that's the most expensive radio we'll ever buy!

Obama, a BAD word!

I am teaching an Exploring America class at our weekly afternoon home-school co-op. I teach 1st-3rd graders and PreK/K children.

We went over voting rights Tuesday and things got interesting when I asked if the students knew who this election's presidential candidates are.

"There's a democrat and a republican!"

"George McCain and John Obama!"

"No, no! It's JOHN McCAIN and, ummmm...something Obama...I forgot."

"The democrats are the donkeys and the republicans are the elephants."

I was listening to them talk amongst themselves as they figured this whole candidate thing out. I was, as always, impressed at what they knew. Then the comment came that was the highlight of my whole day!

"Obama is a BAD word at our house!"

Oh, I had to stifle my laughter. Kids are brutally honest and have no reason to be politically correct about anything.

We'll be talking about the media and the elections next Tuesday. That could get interesting.

I am not pleased with either candidate. However, I AM going to vote. Honestly, since I do not believe either are the ideal candidate for president, I had to pick the most important issue to me and choose the candidate that holds the same view on that issue. The issue is recognizing the sanctity of life. McCain chooses life, so I'll have to say NObama this year. To me, the decision is simple. I like Obama's personality more than McCains hands down, but I have to go with my beliefs. One thing I can be confident of however. God, if He so chooses, can take any president (republican AND democrat) and use him to make positive, honest changes in our nation. Whomever wins, the next four years are going to be interesting!

Go vote! Decide what YOU want in our next president and vote accordingly. That's what democracy is all about! I thank God we all have the right to express our beliefs and choose the direction of our country, instead of just having someone tell us how it's going to be. Isn't the U.S. cool? I think so!

Vrooom, Vrooooom!

And he's off!

Justis learned how to ride a bike two days ago! Justis is a very cautious young man, and he was fully aware of the risks of Daddy finally letting go of the bike.

Justis is taking a class at our home school co-op called "Contenders of the Faith." It is a Christian boys club that is much like boy scouts, and my friend Candi teaches the class. One of the badges they are working for this semester is bicycle safety. The boys brought pictures of themselves and their bikes to co-op a couple of Tuesdays ago and they shared with the other guys about their bikes, which piqued Justis's interest about giving bike riding another try.

He actually learned to ride Madalynn's bike, since hers does not have the middle bar that is hard for Justis's legs to straddle comfortably enough for him to get a good solid start to his ride. Let me just say, though, that what bike he was riding made no difference when he realized he was doing it all by himself.

Good thing Travis is training for a marathon, because he ran up and down, up and down the street lots of times that day Justis started riding on his own. Travis stayed by his side to prevent any major disasters, but Justis did just fine on his own.

I watched him and he pedaled as fast as he could, because he knew the slower he pedaled, the more wobbly and scary the ride would get!

Justis is growing so much, and conquering riding his bike was so exciting for him (and us!). Good job, Justis!

Eating "Olive" Them!

I caught Jillian one day lying on her belly on the kitchen table picking something out of the leftover bean dip I had put on the table for lunch. She was picking the black olives out and she ultimately ended up getting spanked. She chose to frantically try to pick out all of the olives for herself before anyone else could get some!

I strategically wait until most of her other food is gone before putting black olives on the table now. She sees them, pulls the little bowl over, and starts picking them out, putting them on the ends of her fingers, then popping them into her mouth. Good AND fun food! What more could a little girl ask for?

Our Cousin Stacy, Kansas Photo Artist!

Photography is art, and if Travis's cousin Stacy has not perfected it, she sure is close to perfecting it!

To my friends in and around Hutchinson and Wichita, this blog is for you! Know up front that I am not getting anything by promoting Stacy and her new photography business. She is Travis's cousin and, of course, my friend. She started photography because she has a passion for it, and her passion for it shows in her wonderful pictures. I can't NOT pass this on, because I think God has gifted her at capturing a person's personality with the click of the shutter.

Miss Stacy's business is called Stacy Case Photography. She does simple, beautiful pictures. She's so very creative, too! She has a blog and a web site. She's done lots of senior pictures lately. She definitely has a knack for photographing children, because she practices by photographing her beautiful little girl, Reagan.

Stacy lives on a farm, where she does a lot of her shooting, but I know she has done on-site photography, too. She told me weddings are not her favorite, but she has done a couple of excellent ones. A special note to moms. Stacy is great with kids. For a low-stress, high quality photo session for your little ones, take them to Stacy. She can capture them while they're moving. Again, practice from photographing her little girl has paid off!

She blessed me by watching my kiddos a few times when I lived and around Haven/Hutchinson/Wichita, and my kids love her, too! We just got to see she and her husband, Jeff, and her little girl, Reagan while we were in Kansas over our evacuation/Labor Day Weekend.

Here are a couple of my favorites from her blog. Check out Stacy Case Photography by visiting Stacy's blog at http://stacycasephotography.blogspot.com/. Her web site address is http://www.stacycase.com/.

We love you and we are so proud of you, Stacy. And Jeff, thank you for supporting Stacy in her creative endeavors. We love all three of you!

Soccer Mom Saturdays

Finding the missing uniform sock, making sure the white shirts stay white, soccer balls rolling out of my van and under the car next to us in the parking lot. Now I TRULY know what it means to be a soccer mom!

I have to give credit where credit is due. Travis truly knows what it means to be a soccer dad! He has single-handedly gotten all four kids up, dressed, fed and to the soccer fields a couple of times when I have had ministry team meetings Saturday at 7:30. You go, soccer dad!

This is Madalynn and Justis's first year of soccer. They are both on the White Wolves team together with kids between 6-8 years of age. Their team is part of the STYSA league. They practice Thurdsay afternoons and play one game per Saturday against another local STYSA team.

Madalynn is the team's tallest player. Justis is the team's shortest player. Justis told me after the first practice, "Mom, it's so hard to run as fast as the rest of them because my legs are so short!"

I told both kids they had to make a commitment for one season and stick it out to the end, then they can choose whether it's something they want to do again next year.

Madalynn is the team's unofficial (but indispensable) social chair. She cares more about making sure the bench-sitters are entertained and have a Gatorade to sip on than scoring. Madalynn likes to talk to her new girlfriends on the team, Laney and Paula. She has her back turned away from the ball most of the time it's in play trying to finish a conversation with one of them as they jog off to kick the ball. Paula is probably the team's most aggressive, but she's still all girl. She makes sure to kick Madalynn the ball. Coach had all three girls playing the field and his son guarding the goal this Saturday. Watching the girls work together to do what needed to be done was very entertaining!

Justis has some serious speed for those little legs of his. He's always at the ball hovering, he just doesn't kick it. "KICK IT, JUSTIS, KICK IT!" The coach and everyone else yells. "Number 4" is Justis's good friend on the team. Can you tell he's not as focused on chatting with his friends? He also practices at home sometimes between school subjects. He announces to me, "I'm going to practice my kickbacks, Mom!"

Then there's Travis and Jae, whom have the least clue of all about what's going on on the field. I thought I was safe yelling, "Kick the ball!" to my kids, but I finally put a lid on it. The coach was wanting them to play their positions on the field, but when I would yell at them, they would go across, messing up the whole formation. Neither of us EVER played soccer or have the slightest clue about the rules. Thank goodness for Coach John.

The kids both love Mr. John, their coach. He is so very patient with all of the kids and especially Madalynn and Justis, as it is their first year playing ever.

I think I probably have more fun than the kids. I LOVE watching the practices and games. I don't just enjoy watching my kids, I enjoy watching all of them. There are the jocks, the dreamers, the followers, the leaders, the talkers, the trash-talkers (!? how do they know about this so young), and the happy-go-luckies like Justis. Justis just laughs and laughs as he chases the ball around trying to get his kick at it. Madalynn is mainly there providing verbal encouragement to her teammates at this time, which she is very good at!

Go, soccer kids and soccer moms and dads everywhere!