First Days

Bethany wouldn't do the whole video thing, she was too nervous about this being her last year at Maryetta.... So enough of that. So anyway she wasn't up for the video. Here she is her first day of 8th grade. She wasn't happy about me taking her pic the first day of school, thought it was retarded. But I at least got a smile outta her. Her new haircut makes her look more grown up.

August 6, was Chase's first day of Kindergarten, he was excited. He wants to be 6 so bad and he knows starting school comes first. He's wanting to grow and in a hurry so he can ride the Hulk ride at Universal. I took a little video with my camera of Chase's so hopefully it turns out. I tried to get him to talk about what he would do before school, but he wanted to do his Power Ranger Moves. Which is too funny!

Chase

I got bored and was looking through some pictures. I noticed that in this picture Chase's face and body is so thin and skinny. This was taken a few months before his surgery. This was taken last week while we were on vacation. His face is a little more rounded. Mostly I notice in his legs and arms that he's filling out. He was about 43 pounds before the surgery and now he weighs 49 1/2 pounds. My little boy is growing so fast, of course he's gotten a little taller as well. He's got a little tummy on him now. He likes to eat and likes snacks, although he's always asking if what he's eating is "healthy".

Bad Omen??

Sunday morning July 20, we leave out around 6am headed to Florida on Vacation. We are on AR 59 close to Natural Dam area and its very foggy so we're not going very fast. I close my eyes and lay my head back, cuz its too early for me and I've got a sinus headache. When I hear OMG and then a Bang. We hit a deer (thank God I wasn't driving) hit headon with the bumper, spun around and hit my right fender flare (I think that's what its called..). As you can see below. But the real kicker is. It just knocked it loose along with the rubber piece along the front bumper. Gordon made the attempt to put it back into place. We get to Florida, drive around all week, went to Cocoa Beach etc... The following saturday/ early sunday morning we are just north of Little Rock and hear something. Gordon pulls over and tries to push the fender flare back into place, we get back on the interstate and we see it pop out and then whooosh it was gone. I'll admit it I cried. Have I mentioned that I love my Jeep??? Ok well I cried thinking why God does something have to happen to a vehicle that I really like? Am I being punished, have I been to vain?? All of these really retarded thoughts are going thru my head. So we stop at a gas station to fill up and I had to take a pic.

Ok, well we get around Monday and got an estimate, so my baby is in the shop getting fixed insurance covering the majority of it. So I wont get back until Tuesday, apparently Jeep parts are hard to get in. I did get some good news as well. Not too long after we got the Jeep, Gordon was mowing and threw a rock and hit the drivers side door putting a dent in my door. Well the body shop has bonded and sanded it and my door will be like new. So I gotta give thanks for my blessings.

I know that the damage to my front end could've been much worse so I'm grateful for the tank that I drive. :D

None of this put a damper on our trip, we had a great time. Thankfully we didn't let this little incident get us down and we had a great time.

Beauty

This is my daughter, she's beautiful. She has these gorgeous brown eyes, thick lashes that'd I pluck out of her if I could and attach them to mine. She's got a thick head of hair that you can fix several ways great complexion and a smile that can melt your heart. She's has a sweet, lovable personality. There's just one thing I can't get through to her. She has the lowest self esteem I've have ever seen. She doesn't understand why or even thinks that a boy would like her.

I asked her to just look in the mirror and she keeps saying she don't see it. I asked her to pick just one thing about herself that she liked.....Nothing she said. It breaks my heart to hear this. I know I've always mouthed about how ugly or fat I am. All these years the only thing I've accomplished is to make my daughter feel she's not thin enough or pretty enough.

How do I fix this? How do I get her to really and truly look at herself and be happy with the person looking back at her. Am I the only one who can see how beautiful she is. The beauty she has on the inside can be seen in her actions. She's the most mature young lady I've known.

Maybe the only thing I can do is to change the way I see myself and show her that being happy with yourself is about growing and changing. If you don't like your hair change it, body.... maybe we should do something together.

I just don't really know what to do. To me she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. God help me to help her see what a gem she is.

If ain't one thing its another.....

I was sitting at home today after church boiling chicken for supper and could smell something burning. Now to me boiling chicken stinks, but it wasn't the chicken. So I check the computers, printers, look to see if something is plugged up. So the smell leads me to the laundry room. OMG the furnace sounded like it was grinding. I opened it up underneath and could see water, I got down on my knees and looked up and cound freakin see sparks...... I nearly panicked so I called Gordon, who of course was on the lake working. So he told me what repairman to call and told me to turn off the air conditioner. I did. Thank God it turned out that there was an internal filter that we didnt know about so after 8 years the thing was pretty nasty, it froze and caused water to pour out onto the wiring. Thank God it doesn't burn out the wiring or caused my house to catch on fire. He cleaned the filter let it dry out and we had air.
So after snakes and no air conditioning I am so ready for vacation. Let the countdown begin. 4 days left to work.........

Faith of children

After our little ordeal with the snake, the kids weren't too keen on going back down to the pool. So the other night with Chase we said our prayers and asked God to rid our yard of the nasty little creatures. Chase asked if God would do and I said what do you think and he said I believe it. So he told his dad that there would be no more snakes because we asked God to get rid of them. I know that God didn't give us the spirit of fear, its something we instil in our kids and make them afraid of things, more for their saftey than anything. Then as they get older we want them to be brave. I don't want to be afraid to go out into my own yard.
I know that the snake was close enough to have bit me and I also know that I am under God's protection. Without him I wouldn't be here, I know this. I'm am trying to have the faith that my son does. You tell him that God can do it and he believes it. No doubt. So that is my goal to have the faith of a child.
Chase has been to Childrens Crusade these past few days, they have puppets and he loves it. He's had so much fun and has even attempted learning a couple of memory verses, he repeats the prayers at church. I am so proud of him and of Bethany who was asked by the youth paster to help the kids in the alter.
I am a good mom because God has blessed me with a great love for my children. I know I need to share that love with others and hopefully someday I'll be able to that.

Another Day in Stilwell (BOO is my HERO)

Today we decided to go for a little swim....Notice Chase in his life vest. The kids jumped into the pool, I notice my floating mat on the ground, I pick it up shake it and decide its too nasty to go into the pool so I threw it down, just happened to look down and this is what I saw.......
Here's a closer view... after I screamed like a little girl and jumped back. So stupid me, I go into the house to grab the camera, needed a picture just in case I was bit. Still screaming and nearly throwing up.
So I grab the shovel, climb up the steps into the pool holding the shovel, I jump onto the edge of pool. I'm short so that's a jump, I have trouble reaching the stupid thing, meanwhile it sees me and is watching the shovel. Did I mention that I'm freaking out..... So Bethany is on the edge of the pool as well, I have trouble reaching so she takes the shovel. It straightens out I yell at her to get it, she chops...screams....chops again...screams....chops again....screams....chops again (you get the picture) I yell at her to cut its head off. She cuts the head, I still see its nasty mouth opening and moving, I grab the shovel and cut its head completely off and tossed it away from the body. I know they can't reconnect but still why take the chance.

As you can see its mouth is full of sand, that was done during the chopping and then flipping it with the shovel away from its body. Ok so I freaked out, but I know a couple of guys who would've left the kids in the pool and took off running into the house.
I think between the two of us we freaked Chase completely out. After it was over he wanted out of the pool. I told him after that ordeal by gosh we were going to have a good swim.
So after all that excitement I think I just need to go to bed.