Jambalaya Time

It's been several days and my family and I are still reliving the terrific meal our good friend Matt prepared for us. Our oldest son holds among the finest things in life to be anything edible, so when Matt and Kristy offered to treat us like royalty and make us the jambalaya, Cole especially was thrilled. At some point in the evening I begged/threatened that he might need to live with them for awhile since it's so hard to finance his feeding frenzies. Matt replied that until he becomes 'corn fed' we'll probably have to keep him. :) THANK YOU, MATT AND KRISTY FOR A VERY FINE MEAL AND AN EVEN BETTER FRIENDSHIP! We love you, and I mean that in the healthiest and cleanest sense of the word...(only you will get that one, I hope).
Cooking the jambalaya in a dutch oven over coals.
Oh, yummy!!!!!
Will and Austyn enjoying.
Oh, yea, here's my sweet little angel. or not. Where do they get their manners?!

Kenosis in Photos...

Her birthday

Our little drama queen celebrated her 12th birthday on Friday. It amazes me that she can possibly be that old. It was a joy to know that she hasn't set aside some of her tomboy ways completely since she chose to go drive go-karts for the day.

We stopped off for a specially nutritious breakfast on the way... The bakery was so awesome and had the best looking doughnuts and rolls I've seen in a long time.



The slick track rocked and she totally won the contest in regards to how many times the workers had to bail her out. :)

A quick mother/daughter moment before she was off to the bumper boats.

This is the only photo I took of the bumper boats since the kids insisted they needed a target to ram into and I ended up going too.

Happy Thoughts

My dear husband recently read the blog and stated that I needed to add some 'happy thoughts'. Mind you, we are at the tail end of a packing nightmare, very involved with several activities, celebrating our daughter's birthday, and a few other not so fun aspects in life. But, because I love him and I found some nice photos of him, and because I am willing to do almost anything to keep me from more packing, I decided to run with it and add some 'happy thoughts'. So, here are some of the happy thoughts I found while I was quickly looking through old photos. If you don't have a strange sense of humor like I do, they might not seem funny or even happy to you, but I sure laughed and I pray they bring a happy thought or two your way as well.

I think this photos was taken in 2003. And yes, I'm wearing a bun in my hair! :)

hehe...monkey head...

Jungle boys and the swinging snake...

Apple of my eye and keeper of my heart!

hehe...son took down dad in leg wrestling...

the things we do for love (or craziness)...

And here's my favorite...
Who are those people???

P.S. My daughter just informed me that at least some of these photos are not happy but sad ones. She said whoever those people are in the last photo have a very sad sense of fashion. No way! Those glasses rocked on whoever that girl is!

How Did That Happen?!

At least 12 hours have passed and in that time, I have countlessly questioned myself. I'm still wondering how 'it' happened? I'm totally perplexed, I tell you! Which, if you know me well, you understand that I have been perplexed for most of my life about at least one or a dozen things. But back to the biggest current question... How did that happen?! How is it that I, a total non-sport participating person, actually started to like playing softball?? What was it that tipped me over the edge? In all of my 42 years, I have never enjoyed playing sports. And now, even though I ran like a turtle, got numerous outs, and am more sore today than I was after all three of my children's births put together--honestly, I really and truly enjoyed myself.

Last night, the team played a double-header. Never mind that the opposing teams were literally half our age, we had a great time and almost won! Dirk got a home run and ran it like a pro! The last game finished with a 7-10 loss but all I could see was a bunch of winners...which brought me to tears. Both of my 'surrogate' sons came up to me and told me I did a good job. Now we all know the truth, I wasn't very good, but their words hit me in the heart. Dirk thought I was crying because I struck out. (Mind you, I'm not that into the game!) I will miss my team more than words can say. People always say they will visit and all that stuff when a person moves but we've moved around enough to understand the most well meaning words are rarely acted on. So when I walked off the field and realized that I actually liked playing softball, I now realize the reason I most likely began to like it was because I love the people I played with...and I will miss them so very much.

Sista Time...

Recently, a couple of my sisters and mom were able to slip away from our lives and get away for a day. In arranging the event, I made it seem like they needed it as much as or possibly more than I needed it. Truth is, even tho I knew they all needed it, I needed to be with my sisters and mom--or at least as many of them as I could--for a day. And it was good! We had a hugely successful time and I can't remember when I laughed so hard. What a blessing my sisters are!

I found this quote about sisters... She is your mirror, shining back at you with a world of possibilities. She is your witness, who sees you at your worst and best, and loves you anyway. She is your partner in crime, your midnight companion, someone who knows when you are smiling, even in the dark. She is your teacher, your defense attorney, your personal press agent, even your shrink. Some days, she's the reason you wish you were an only child. ~Barbara Alpert

For me, it's all true except for the last sentence. I've never found myself wishing I were an only child...even when one of them was sitting on me so I couldn't attempt to beat the thunder out of her. God truly blessed me with all four of my sisters...and all six of my brothers too.

Another Monday At The Ball Field...

I decided it would be best to blog about our latest softball game now, when the pain is at it's peak and before my brain gets too fuzzy...

So, this week I played catcher. Not a bad thing at all. Stand behind the batter and pretend to look like I know what is going on. No problem! Less running and all that means a lot to a girl like me--one who runs about as fast as a turtle. All was going well in this position until I accidently threw the ball and it bounced and hit an unfortunate location on the pitcher. Oopsie, to say the least! I got a couple of hits but was out before I got to first base--it's the turtle thing again! Ugh! My shins started hurting about the second out and just kept right on getting more intense as the night wore on and on and on... Dirk also played tonight as pitcher and third baseman. (By the time I made the little throwing error, Dirk was playing third base. whew!) He did get a nasty scrape on his leg from sliding in to third but he looked really good doing it. I mean really good!

After limping home and once again realizing, I could almost be the mother of most of my teammates, I ran a warm bath and sank into the blessed warmth of relief for my aching muscles and miscellaneous body parts. Unfortunately, the warm water only lasted so long and then it was time to not so gracefully get myself out of the tub and onto dry land.

My friend just called and informed me that we left the game too early since the next team playing was short three girls and I could have played another game... I can only ask, "How can you not believe there is a God when He alone was able to get us out of the ball park before that catastrophe?" Thank you, God! And not just for the fun I'm having, but all your love and mercy too!

Pressing On...

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Phil. 3:12

I believe taking the road less traveled does make all the difference...

This road we are traveling now will take us to our next home.


...and God will still be the leader of our home and the keeper of our hearts.

Fourth of July Family Style

We took a quick trip to visit Dirk's family and had a great time celebrating our freedom!

It Wasn't So Bad After All

Yesterday a couple of friends sent me into sheer panic mode. I knew it was something that could possibly happen at some distant point in time but it wasn't something that I was preparing for. Then out of the blue, the call comes in from my chuckling, mischievous friend. "Oh, by the way," she says. "Atheena can't play ball tonight so you have to take her place." Yep, those were her words. Never mind that my head began to spin and my eyes dialated. She just smiled and continued saying some things that I can no long remember because my thoughts were stuck on the movie going through my head of me taking a major hit in the face with a ball going 100 miles per hour. So for the rest of the day, I prayed that Atheena would show up after all. I even talked to another friend/traitor/girl on the team and told her to pray for an actual sportswoman to come take my place. This 'friend' just laughed and basically told me to suck it up and take one for the team. She also told me I owed it to her for moving away. Ok, so they asked for it and they got it.

Here we have 'friend' #1 who started this whole heart palpatation thing. And on a MONDAY, no less! (that's me in the background looking clueless.)

Here is 'friend' #2 in the back ground behind Coach/Actual Sportsman Matt.


And here is me, the hopelessly bewildered player who thanks to her son's prayers--and only because of her son's prayers--was able to hit the ball and help with an RBI (which I have no idea what is). I was out both times at bat but I didn't strike out, which they tell me is a big difference too.

It was at this time that I found out another girl on the team is moving away so they will need a permanent full time player to finish the season. There were a couple of so-called friends who were giving me the eye and chuckling deviously again... I think I'm going to start stretching now in case I have to play next week. Well, maybe I'll do it later, staying in my pajamas till noon and venting in this post is more important right now.