Jesus and the Baseball

We don't do the "Santa Thing" with our kids. We decided to just explain it to her from the begining that Santa is not real. He is based off of a man named Saint Nick, etc. The real reason for the season is the celebration of Jesus' birth. So every year instead of leaving out cookies and milk for Santa we make Jesus a birthday cake for Christmas Eve.
Today we started talking about what kind of cake we should make for Jesus. Esther immediately puts in her opinion.... "Jesus wants a Baseball Cake!"
I said, "How do you know that?" and after a little more questioning I got the entire story of why Jesus wants a baseball cake for his birthday this year.

The Nativity Story Up Until Now as told by Esther Ekpo
"Back when Jesus was born these guys came up to him with their backpacks that look just like mine, except they were for boys and they gave him presents that were pretty and smelled good. Then when He was 10, Jesus got to play baseball and he really liked it! On his 603 birthday he was living in Texas and God gave him a baseball for his birthday but NO cake! Because God doesn't make cakes. So this year, I think we should make a baseball cake for Jesus; he likes baseball and has never had one of those kind of cakes before!"
The End!!!!

the Simple Life

Okay, I have done it! I have discovered the secret to a happy life! The simple things!!!! Take pride in what you do, take joy in what you do, and do everything for God's glory! Who cares if your house is spotless all the time? No ones kids are going to be happy all the time. They are going to fight, they are going to cry, they are going to mess up. So are you!
If you want to have a good day no matter what try this.....
No matter what happens, don't yell.
No matter what happens do something for your spouse that you KNOW they will make them smile and go the extra mile on it.
No matter what happens, take some time to play with your kids, dog, whatever you have.
No matter what happens, take some time for yourself. (Take a bath while the kids are napping, or eat some cake or pie and watch your favorite movie)
No matter what happens read the Bible, even if it is only for five minutes.
No matter what happens call a friend just to catch up. Ask their day is and ask if there is anything you can pray about for them.
Go sit outside for a bit and just listen to the birds, bugs, and soak up some vitamen D, or feel the cool breeze, or smell the rain. Then say a prayer of thanks for the gifts from God that he has given to you.
Sing your favorite hymn while you do the dishes.
Try it and I pray that you have a wonderful God filled and God blessed day!

Changes

Well, life rolls along as it always does. We have moved and are getting settled into a new routine. We are now in a house with three bedrooms and a HUGE backyard. The kids seem to enjoy their own space ALOT. I am enjoying having my own space a LOT!
Lloyd got a new job and now works for the state of Texas! It is a Monday through Friday job with vacation time, benefits, ect. We are truly blessed by a faithful God! He sure does know when to let you suffer a little and when to releve you.
I have noticed lately that I have been feeling more tired than is normal for me. I am not sure if it is just aging, lack of sleep, or what. I know that I feel less stress than I have in a long time. So, I really don't think it is entirely stress related. (maybe a little stress)
I am also anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 2 new nephews. Logan and Nathan. My brother and sister-in-law are pregnant with twins and are due in October. I can't think of anyone in the world that would be more excited about having kids born around Halloween than him! I can't wait to meet them and love on them and show then how much their Aunt Julia loves them SO much! Also their cousins Esther and Micah ask everyday if they can look at pictures of Nant Natalie and the babies. They also pray everyday for their cousins.
"Dear God, thankyou for Nant Natalie, Uncle Todd, and my cousins, keep them safe and let them have fun. Please let me share my toys with them and be nice so they won't cry. "
Another developement which I am sure is no surprise to anyone that knows me, I have decided to homeschool Esther and Micah, at least for now. The plan is to home school them until at least I graduate with my bachelors or masters. Basically if things go well with homeschooling we will keep it up, but if we feel the kids would do better in a school atmosphere AND we can afford the private school of our choice we will put them there. (Any suggestions of schools that we can look at this coming year?)
We are also with out a car.... technically. We have our Explorer and it is still running but we never know when it taken its last trip. We are currently borrowing Lloyd's sister's car and we have it for another 3 weeks. So we have 3 more weeks of having a car and currently no chance of getting one before that 3 weeks is up. I KNOW that God will provide as He always does but I am interested to see how it is going to work out.
Well I hear a cring 2 year old so that is my cue to end this post. May you all have a very Blessed Day!

We're MOVING!!!

We are moving into a house in Burleson! I am so excited! We will officially be moved out by July 1st. We have begun packing boxes, cleaning, and trying to get this place presentable for our landlord. Have you ever felt like you are going to burst just because you can't start something that you know that you need to start and it is going to take a LONG time to get it finished. We have to scrap the popcorn off of the ceiling, repaint the cabinets, touch up paint in all of the rooms, repaint the master bedroom. Plus packing here, cleaning here, and spraying for bugs here. (God bless our new landlady, they are having the new placed sprayed and professionally cleaned before we move in!)

LTC and the ER?

So, the last couple of weeks I have been getting increasingly sick, so have the kids. In fact Esther missed her first soccer game because of high winds, chilled air, and a SERIOUSLY bad cough. Last week, the I couldn't talk or hear. I chalked it up to a really bad sinus infection. On Sunday of last week, my LTC groups had their last practices before the big event. I could barely talk but the did good job. I was starting to get a little worrited about my drama group because some of my kids still didn't know all of thier lines. On that very same night, my ears started hurting. Hurting worse and worse and worse until I was in such pain that I had not experience since childbirth. It was as bad or worse, I was actually crying and vomitting from the pain. I didn't cry during childbirth, and I have had enduced labor which is AWFUL! and natural labor with a 10 lb kid! So, around 1:30 in morning my husband suggests that I go to the emergency room. Well our kids are asleep and I don't want to wake them but it really hurts so, we call my mom. She comes and gets me and takes me to the ER downtown. After waiting for hours in agonizing pain to get a room, I go in, and they start testing me, x-raying my lungs, and all that mess. They even have me in a mask so that I don't get others in the ER sicker than they already are! They are testing me for things like strep, flu, phenomia, ect. Things I didn't think I had, but of course now I am trying to not panic and worry that I have. So a couple more hours later, I am exhausted and I actaully fall asleep with my ears hurting. By the way the temp in my room is like 50 degrees and I am in a winter coat and have 3 blankets on me, and yes my ears still hurt. The doctor finally comes in and says well, you have a cold, sinus infection, and ear infection. Here is a prescription for a pain med, mix that with some ibprofen, (no clue how to spell that) an antibotic, and an antihistimean with an expectorant, (not sure how to spell those either). Anyway so, we leave the hospital and went to get the prescriptions filled; by this time it is 8:00 or so in the morning. Of course no pharmacies are open until 9, we finally make it to Wallgreen's (their pharm is open that early), and it turns out that one of the prescriptions that the doctor gave me isn't even made anymore. The FDA pulled it!!! So the closest thing I can get to the prescription is Mucinex-D longlasting 12 hour formula. So we spend $80 on prescriptions and go home. Docs orders bed rest and LOTS of sleep. Lloyd took off work that day, and I sleep. I started feeling better by the Wednesday or Thursday.
On Friday, we pack up, clean up, and I drop the kids off, pick up Lloyd from work and we are off to Dallas for LTC. (Can't wait until next year, Esther will be old enough to take with us without any trouble, maybe Micah too.) We get there and one of my drama kids hasn't shown up yet. Kids are starting to panic, we go on in 10 minutes and no kid. 5 minutes and no kid. We ask the coordinators, and they said they weren't sure if we would get docked points if I read for the boy that didn't show up. So, Dallas (one of the kids in my group) says give me the script! and in 3 minutes he learns all of the missing boys lines. The performance wasn't as smooth as the practice we had right before they went on (with me reading lines), but considering the stress they were under due to the missing person, and that aside they did WONDERFUL!!!
Later that night, Lloyd and I went to watch the Jr. High drama group practice because we were going to miss their actual performance on Saturday. So on saturday, we watched the 3rd and 4th graders large chorus (that is the age group that I had for drama and puppets). After that we had puppets. The kids did a wonderful job on puppets too. A quick lunch then I was off to judge puppets for the next hour and a half. Some of the puppet skits were so funny, and and they were all done well.
I have to say though, things are done a lot different than when I was in LTC (a long time ago). The puppet groups had backdrops! Something our group didn't have. I felt a little unprepared, even though our group had already gone. So, now I feel better prepared for next year! Another whole year to prepare for LTC!!! Got back on Saturday afternoon, picked up the kids and watched Luke (one of Esther's friends) for a couple of hours. They are pizza, blew bubbles, and colored Easter eggs. I took pictures and will post them later. Started feeling sick again late on Saturday night, and really bad on Sunday again. (Relapsing after that wonderful eventful weekend.) So today is Monday and it I am coming full circle and going back to the doctor today, because my ears are stuffed up and hurt again!!! Oh the joy of my life!!! I wouldn't trade it for anything! Have a blessed week.

Storms and Soccer

It has been storming like CRAZY on an off for the past couple of weeks. I guess we are practicing for April. Anyway, here are some pictures of some pretty weird looking storm clouds!
So, Esther is now playing soccer! She had her second pracitce yesterday and what can I say? 4 year olds playing soccer is about the funniest thing ever!!! They had a scrimage against a team the had older kids on it and we were smashed!!! It was so cute! Our kids practice on half of the feild and so they kept running back towards thier practice goal instead of the their shooting goal. But I still hold out hope. I think our kids were faster than thiers anyway. LOL
How are you today?