Testing Big Pictures

It's Official... I'm a reader

I have official dubbed and knighted myself as a reader.  This may come as a shock to many of you for various reasons.  Some may think that everyone reads...Some may think that I never read.  And if you think the latter then you would be correct.  It's sad to admit but until sometime after college I had never read any book that wasn't assinged reading.  The few books I read in high school (Mr & Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, Where the Red Fern Grows, etc) were good books and I remember a lot about them but still all were assigned reading.
The first book I remember reading with joy and excitement was The Client by John Grisham.  I remember thinking wow, these people that read know what they're doing.
But frankly it still took a lot to WOW me and make me want to read something.

During the last 13 years I have read most of the Left Behind Series and most of the John Grisham books.  I stopped with JG when I was sorely disappointed in The Painted House...but that's another story

Anyway, last summer and this summer I have read every spare minute I can.  It almost upsets me when I finish a book and don't have another one ready to go.  But I just finished some really good books, so I thought maybe I'd share them with you.   In case you want something good to read.

Summer 2009 - present
Same Kind of Different as Me - Ron Hall & Denver Moore
The Shack - William Young
Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers
And the Shofar Blew - Francine Rivers
A voice in the Wind - Francine Rivers
An Echo in the Darkness - Francine Rivers
The Last Sin eater - Francine Rivers

(do we see a pattern here with the Francine Rivers)

Last Light Series by Terri Blackstock (ALL 4 of them)
One Tuesday Morning - Karen Kingsbury

But the two most recent books I have read that I am most excited about
The Help - Kathryn Stockett
and
A Bride Most Begrudging - Deanne Gist

The last two I just flew through...I loved both of them.  So go ahead...call me a bookworm, I am a READER.

Trail Ride

At Beaver's Bend there were so many fun things to do. The kids most Favorite was the morning we went horseback riding. The trail ride was about 45 minutes and it was full of exciting events. Some of which left me wondering if we should have had helmets on.

The horse Mia and I were on apparently didn't get along real well with the horse ahead of us, Ty's horse. So at one point our horse tried to take a little nibble of Ty's horse and his turned and kicked. The horse wanted to kick our horse but kicked me instead.

David's horse had a mind of it's own and would much rather forge his own path. It took a lot of work to keep him in line and away from the front of the pack. David ate a few tree branches but eventually got a good grip on him.

Ty and Trent's horse stopped for a break and then when they realized they were far away from the group, sprinted quickly ahead. That surprised all of us but especially Trent and Ty. I thought they would be scared but Ty just laughed and laughed.

We also saw a few deer grazing in the forest and that was really neat to be so close to them.

The last "event" was waddling back to the camper and Mia's scream of panic. When she finally calmed down enough to talk we realized she had a tick on her stomach. It was quite the adventure getting that tick to let go, If I was the tick I think I'd have let go just to avoid all the screaming...good times, good times...

THE BIKES

We stopped a few times on the way up to make sure the bikes were still securely fastened (as opposed to being scattered along Hwy. 59)

But He and Zane did a great job and all seven bikes made it successfully to OK and back.

Pedal Boating...which is not aptly name. Should be called "Extremely Painful Calf Exercise Boating"
After a few yards Zane and I decided it was not as easy as it looked and we turned around and exchanged our pedal boat for a canoe..... Much easier to operate.

Nope not Cracker Barrell....couldn't find that kind of restaurant..but it was a restaurant and I wasn't cooking...best BBQ I've ever eaten

Taking a break at the visitor center, waiting for the rain to pass. It rained every morning we were there but thankfully it kept the heat down.

Bear ATTACK!

The scenery was beautiful and the kids loved skipping rocks in the creek. The water comes down from the mountain and the water temp felt like 50 degrees.

On our first Day we went swimming, fishing, and geo-caching. We caught more trees than fish but the kids had fun throwing the line in.

We found lots of interesting bugs. The mosquito population was not a problem at all, however we did find lots of ticks. In one day's time we counted 10 ticks on 4 different people. After that we started doing routine tick checks.

In case you've never heard of geo-caching, it's a scavenger hunt in the woods using GPS coordinates. Before we left home we looked home some "caches" on the internet and got the coordinates. Then once we were in OK we were able to enter the coordinates in the GPS and hunt in the woods for the "cache" A cache is a small box or jar with a log book and pen in it. You simply write your name and date that you found the cache. Sometimes there are small trinkets inside to trade.

This one was located right near a place that you stop to take pictures of Beaver's Bend lake. We scrambled through the woods, for a few yard before finding this one.

In fact Zane found this one.

Zane loved Geo-caching.(so did Mom) Ty on the other hand did NOT.

In fact, after the first time out hunting...he said, "I do not like Geo-caching" Then later he said "the day after this day are we going Geo-caching again?"
Hiking in the woods is not his favorite activity. It became a joke all week. When Someone would ask what are we doing next everyone said "geo-caching" just to see the look on Ty's face.

Vacation

For Vacation this year we rented a RV and took off North to Beavers Bend State Park. It's in SE Oklahoma, just over the Texas border. Along the way the kids played DS, colored, read books, played cards, took naps (wait that was me)

It was nice having everything at your fingertips. No stopping for bathroom breaks or snack breaks. Because unless the road was really curvy or bumpy we could cook and eat right here in the kitchen.

We took the bikes on the back. Yes ALL seven. I have a picture of that somewhere. It took an engineering genius to get that strapped on. The kids enjoyed having their bikes where they could go riding without worrying about lots of cars.

This was the view from the front door of the RV...Very beatutiful. It made for a lot of nice peaceful mornings, drinking coffee and having quiet time. (at least until someone noticed I was missing and came to find me)

more pics later

Happiness

Oh Happy Day!

Today has been a fun day!!!
We returned from vacation last night and I was dreading all the washing, washing, and more washing....

but I remembered something......

David and Danyel are in Brazil adopting their 3 precious children!!!

I've been away from internet, cell service, texting, and civilization for 6 days

so I ran to my computer and commenced to bawling in front of it,

when I saw their precious faces...with...their NEW MOM AND DAD

you can go there also and follow along

www.uandmeplusthree.blogspot.com

Then if that wasn't good enough.....I called our friends Jay and Paula from Westlake, LA.(our hometown) They are traveling in TEN days to meet their new little guy in CHINA.

Paula has set up a blog and you can follow along with them as well

www.thejourneytowill.blogspot.com

To think that both of these families started their process four years ago and are now traveling in the same month....and that David and I got a chance to share our heart for adoption with both of these families four years ago. AND now 4 orphans have forever homes!!!

A Happy Day....... INDEED

What it would look like if we had SEVEN kids.....

Makes you stand back and contemplate it afor a minute....Then you think to yourself The Duggars have this picture TIMES Three....

Actually I love this picture...The girls have two really good friends who happen to be sisters too. We love having them over and usually when friends are over our own kids get along so much nicer. There's enough people to play Clue, PIT, hide n go seek, kickball or cards.

Blowin Bubbles

The Big SIX

Mia Turned six a few weeks ago. She was so excited about her birthday...you would have thought it was a national Holiday. She wanted to put her two cents into every aspect of the party. But making it all about her is the goal anyway.

Several months back she had decided she wanted a glitz and glam party and I was all set for that. But then she decided maybe she wanted boys at the party too. After a lot of explainin' why boys don't like glitz and glam she changed to a swimming party. And I figure she won't be to old for glitz next year.

So we had lots of Kindergarten, Church, and girl scout friends over for a fun Saturday afternoon.

And my oh my was she excited about the presents! Exicted is an understatement....

I'm sure she's already planning next year in her head....

Before and after

Hurricane Alex has brought several rainy days...So, I took full advantage and did something I've been putting off for a long time (two years, but who's counting)
BEFORE

The best part of these curtains is other than the rods they were virtually free. A while back we were visiting at a friends house and she had finished making her window treatments and had extra fabric and trim. She asked if anyone could use it. I took it because we were moving into the new house and the trim was really cute.
AFTER

My only expense was the black fabric ($2.88) and the time it took to sew them.