It's Been A While

We have been busy lately and I haven't taken time to post on here like I like to. I started working last week at Bath and Body Works in the mall through the holiday season. I am really enjoying it so far. It is just in the evenings and weekends so Jonathan is home with the kids while I am working. I was just wanting to do something and thought that would be a fun change. I think it is good for me to get out of the house a little. It seems to be helping me organize my time better when I am at home and I don't seem to want to run around as much during the day.

Jennah did get a solo and a duet in the Christmas musical she is also in a little scene as a cheerleader. Jack is in the musical also. It is not really his thing but I wanted him to give it a try. He said he would as long as he didn't have to speak or sing by himself. The performance is on Sunday the 14th of December. Everyone is invited to come. We are also in the process of getting Grandma Janet's piano that she and Jonathan grew up using. Jennah and Jonathan are very excited. I can already see us all sitting around it while Jonathan plays Christmas songs. Okay maybe that's dreaming but it's a nice thought.

I am trying decide on a perfect background for our annual Christmas card photo. As you all know that can be a huge task. We got our first card in the mail today so I need to get on that. I am half way finished with my shopping already and I hope to be finished before Thanksgiving day.

We did our own family Thanksgiving dinner Saturday night and put up our Christmas tree. It was really good. I think we are going to make it an annual thing the weekend before Thanksgiving. The kids made turkey pictures and colored them. That is one of my favorite memories as a child was coloring turkeys for Thanksgiving. Then they made pilgrim hats. I was able to remember my Grandma Kelley's stuffing recipe that she taught me how to make probably ten years ago. It tasted just like Grandma's and it brought back so many happy memories of her and our times together. I cried.

I am challenging myself this year not to get stressed and fully enjoy the holidays. I don't want to worry about anything but enjoy my family and friends. One of the things we have decided to do between now and Christmas is watch a classic Christmas movie every Friday night. Last Friday we got Home Alone. The kids loved it and can't wait until next Friday night. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fashion Police

Jennah is my little fashion expert. She keeps me looking my best even when I don't think it's important. The other night I had to run to Target for the third time that day and it was right before close so I just threw on some old jeans. These jeans don't look so great and Jonathan affectionately refers to them as my "mom jeans". I really didn't care and was ready to walk out the door when the fashion police caught me. She looked me up and down and said, "Mom! What are you wearing?!" I asked her what she was talking about. I was just wearing jeans and a sweat shirt. She said, "That is not your style!!" She is so funny. Jonathan and I were cracking up. So beware all you frumpy dressers if you are around Jennah she will let you know exactly what she thinks about your attire.

Nothing Big

We had a great Halloween this year. The past few years we have done the week long celebration and it was a little crazy. This year we decided to only do one night of craziness, until I got a random call from someone I have never met before. She told me her name and said she was a friend of one of my friends from Ft. Gibson. She had called in to channel 6 and won four passes to Discovery Land's Cute and Spooky Carnival. She didn't have children or grandchildren and called my friend Janet to see if she knew anyone that could use them. Janet thought of us and told her to call me. The only thing was she called at 4:30 and the tickets had to be picked up by 5:30 and they were only good that night. I called Jonathan and to my surprise he was willing to go. He usually doesn't go for spur of the moment things like this. Anyway we all had a great time and it was a great alternative the the traditional trick or treating.

Last week Jennah and Joel had their first sickness of the season. They started off with an allergy cough and both developed a sinus infection and Joel also got a double ear infection from that. Joel ears didn't clear up with the medicine the doctor prescribed and we started a new one on Friday. Hopefully this one will clear them up or it will be back to the chiropractor for him.

Jack is really enjoying chess club and I think Jonathan is enjoying it just as much. He will also start basketball in a few weeks. Jennah has auditions for our churches Christmas musical Wednesday night. I'm very excited for her and she is too. Joel also gets in on the singing. I'm crossing my fingers that he gets his daddy's singing voice like Jennah did.

The kids and Jonathan played in the leaves this week. I've never seen kids enjoy a pile of leaves like my three. They would come home from school have a quick snack and head straight out until dark playing in the leaves. Jonathan's grass has finally sprouted and he is very proud of his bright green grass. I never knew he had such an obsession with grass.

We are all doing well and are excited about the change of season and the holidays to come. Have a great week everyone.

Pumpkin Carving

Last night we carved our pumpkin. Jack and Jennah really enjoyed helping carve the pumpkin. Joel did not enjoy the gut cleaning part. He couldn't keep from gagging every time he looked at the pumpkin or our hands. The pumpkin and the pumpkin seeds turned out great. Jennah was in charge of pictures and this one of the pumpkin turned out the best.

Lake Murray '08

We had Jonathan's family reunion at Lake Murray this weekend. The weather was nice during the day and cool enough at night that we all enjoyed the fire. It was a great time of the year to go on a road trip seeing all the fall colors this time of year. Not all the leaves have changed but just enough to get me excited about the beautiful weeks to come. The kids had a great time playing with all their cousins. Jennah even cried when Emily left.

Kids of Mogote

This is the day Will and Jon built a bench for the church building they had an audience all day. This little church is overflowing with people, a great problem to have! They packed about 150 people in the tiny building on Sunday. Amber teaches the kids class about ages one and a half to twelve years in a room about 20x12 this Sunday she had 69 kids in that small class room and until four weeks ago it was just her in there. Now she has Rachel to help. She is quite a woman! These kids just melted my heart. While Will and Jon built the bench Rachel and I walked around and handed out goodies to the kids and played with them. As we walked Rachel told me some of their home life stories that made me break down and cry, but they are so strong. I wish I could bring them all home with me! This little girl with Rachel is Marla she is the youngest of twelve. She loves to be held and just craves affection. After playing with the kids for several hours I did some manicures on some women.

Mogote

This day Amber had to be in town and we were going to work in Mogote so she dropped us off at the edge of town and we had lunch at Pollolandia (Chicken Land) it was really good. One of my greatest fears going to Honduras was getting food poisoning and I knew William had already been sick two different times since he had been there only four weeks. My theory was to eat as much yogurt as I could stand. My thinking was that the good bacteria would counter act all the bad. I don't know if that is what kept Jon and me from getting sick or not but we never got sick.

These are some of the pictures of the "road" we walked up this day to get to the church building. This town only has two toilets one at the church we worked with and one at the Life church. The living conditions there were pretty rough. As I'm sure you can see from the pictures. The picture with the little boy was taken from the church building looking across the street.

Views from the Jesus Statue

The days seemed so long and since we have arrived back home they are all starting to run together. So one of the days we went to do some sight seeing. Amber's sons took us to the Jesus statue as I said earlier it poured down raining on us the entire trip there and back. It was definitely worth the rain drenched ride though. It was so beautiful up there. We had about five minutes that it stopped raining so we could take a few pictures.

I don't know where to start. We had a wonderful eye opening trip to Honduras. As soon as we exited the plane we saw guards armed with what Jonathan called an AK47? (big scary gun) Will and Rachel had warned us this was the norm in Honduras but you really have to see it to believe it. Not only were there armed guards at the airport but also outside all restaurants and stores. Every building and home had barbwire all the way around it to keep thieves out and if they got past the barbwire there were bars on all the windows and doors to keep them out. The house we looked at with Will and Rachel that they are going to rent not only has the barbwire but also a high voltage electric fence all the way around the house.

Like I said in previous posts we spent a lot of time in the bed of a Ford Ranger truck so most of the pictures I took are from the moving truck. Honduras is such a beautiful country with lush mountains in every direction. I kept saying there is nothing like this in Oklahoma.

Where to Start

We are having a great time visiting. I have tried to post pictures now three seperate times with no success so that will have to wait until we return. Thursday started out with a scary back of the truck ride to Mogote. We then hiked up the mountain to the church where Jon and Will made a bench while babysitting about ten kids and Rachel and I played with kids and handed out all the goodies our great church group sent with us and then I was able to do some manicures for some of the ladies in town. The best was a 89 year old lady who had never had polish on her nails. We told her she didn´t have to have one if she didn´t want to but she said she would so she would have a memory of me. So sweet.

Yesterday we visited the Jesus statue and almost got struck by lightning! Jesus protected us both figuratively and literally. It was up on the top of a mountain and we could see for ever. It was pouring down rain the entire time including the 40 minute ride to and from in the back of a truck.

Today we went to the a river. I mentioned before it was raining all day yesterday and the river was very high and rapid. It was a little scary at first but I wanted to experience as much as possible so I jumped off a huge cliff GO ME! It was pretty fun. Jon didn´t join me in this experience. I can´t wait to share the pictures.

We haven´t gotten sick on the food yet at all. The no flush thing isn´t as bad as I expected it to be. My biggest fear here now is the dreaded truck rides. Friday night I cried three different times out of fear on the trip up to Mogote for church. The people here drive crazy. They drive on the wrong sides of the road on one way streets including the car we were in! I won´t miss the driving here at all.

Jacksen, Jennah, and Joel we love you and miss you guys! See you Monday night.

First Full Day

We slept very well last night. We were going on three hours of sleep in the past 48 so I think we would have slept well anywhere. Yesterday we got to go with Will and Rachel to look at a house they had not had much luck the week before finding suitable houses. We were their good luck charms and they are signing a contract today for the one we got to look at. It is a very nice house and I can´t wait to visit them in their new house. This afternoon we are going to Mogote to help Will build pews and play with the kids. The days here seem SO long. It is 1130 here and it feels like 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

We´re Here

We made it to Honduras with no trouble at the airports. We ate at Church´s Chicken for lunch and rode in the back of a truck to Amber´s house. I saw my life flash before my eyes several times in that short five minute drive. Will told me to get used to it because that is how we will be getting around all week! These people drive like crazy people! Lord protect us.

This and That

Jack's new favorite thing is chess. Jonathan is so excited for him to be old enough to play with him. They play at least one game every evening. Jonathan said he is getting pretty good. He came home last week with a paper to join the school chess club. One of the things it said they would do was learn to beat your dad. Jack is so excited about it. He also got to go this weekend with Grandma Janet and Papa Joe to Elk City for the weekend. He had a great time!

Last Thursday night Jonathan got free tickets for the soft opening of the new SpiritBank center. The finalists from Nashville Star performed. We watched a little of the show and Coffey was our favorite. He was definitely the best performer. The kids were so excited about going to their first concert. They didn't last too long after the first performer they were so tired from a long day that Joel fell asleep and Jennah and Jack were laying across their seats. We decided from now on they should only go to concerts on Saturday nights so they have a good nights sleep and get to sleep in that day.

Jennah had her first sleepover this weekend. It was a friend from church. These people went all out! It was crazy. First of all the girls were to come in princess attire and it was at the Hampton Inn. They went way overboard with everything. There was a chocolate fountain, a punch fountain, crazy cake (that the mom made herself), jupiter jump, and much more. Jennah LOVED it! I had to explain to her that we would not be having a party for her like that!

The Rest of the Story

So, my last post was on how big Jennah is getting and how she lost her first tooth. Well I guess that two dollars left under her pillow was a little addictive for little Jennah. I must stress when telling this story that she was NOT under our supervision when she came up with this brilliant idea.

Jonathan and I had our last Spanish class last night and my parents so graciously offered at the last minute to keep the kids for us. It had been a very hectic weekend and a busy Monday as well and we had forgotten all about getting a sitter for the kids during our class. My parents had Joel they were bringing home and decided they could keep the kids so I could go to Spanish class with Jonathan. I decided Jonathan needed the practice much worse than I did. He was still throwing in a little french with his Spanish. We called it "Franish". Turns out that night we found out Jonathan wasn't the only one speaking "Franish" as Lita in her final conversation with the instructor threw in a little "Franish" as well. Anyway that's beside the point. So, I called home to let them know we were on our way and my mom told me Jennah had a little problem. She went on to tell me she and Jack went to get some dinner and Papa, Jennah, and Joel stayed there. While she was gone Jennah decided she wanted to pull another tooth. Even though there were no loose teeth in her mouth. Sneaky Jennah took some dental floss up to her bathroom tied it around her tooth and then tied it to the bathroom door and slammed the door. The next thing my dad knew she was coming down the stairs just bawling. First of all the slamming door didn't remove the tooth but it did make her tooth hurt and now the dental floss was wedged into her gums and she couldn't get it out. My mom quickly returned to help my father remove the floss with no success. So for an hour Jennah sat in the living room with a foot of floss hanging out of her mouth and whining. When we finally returned I was able to remove the floss in about five minutes. She was so glad to get that floss out of her mouth and I don't think she will attempt this again loose tooth or not!

Don't let that sweet face fool you, she is my mess. This doesn't surprise me at all. She is always coming up with something. I am sure she even waited until Jack was gone to do this because she knew Jack would tattle on her. She always has us laughing and it's never boring with her around. Fun times!

Little Jennah

Little Jennah is getting so big. She lost her first tooth Friday night. She was so excited. She has been having me check every few days for about the past year to see if any are loose yet. Finally about a month ago Aunt Amy and Uncle John were keeping the kids for us while we were at Spanish class and when we returned Jennah proudly announced she had a loose tooth. Amy and John told us Jennah told them if the tooth was really clean she would get $20 for it! I don't know where she came up with that one.

Jennah is such a girly girl. She walks around the house humming "Here Comes the Bride" all the time. I keep telling Jonathan that we better start saving for that wedding now because she is already planning it. Jonathan officiated a wedding Saturday night and Jennah loved it. On the way home she told us her wedding was going to be outside and inside. Jonathan asked her if she wanted him to perform the ceremony for her wedding. She quickly answered back "No Dad you'll be to old!" She always has us laughing.

Dry Gulch '08

This is our second year to attend Park Plaza's family retreat to Dry Gulch, USA. Again it was such a neat place and the fellowship and family time was a much needed break from the last two crazy months. We stayed in an apartment again this year. I felt kind of bad getting one. They are reserved for families with young children and the elderly. Everyone else stays in dorms girls in one boys in the other. Joel really isn't small enough that we needed one but we all wanted to stay together and it is much easier to pack only one bag instead of splitting up all our things. This will definitely be the last year I feel like we can stay in the apartments unless we have another baby. We did tell them we didn't want to take an apartment away from someone that needed it so if there wasn't room we would stay in the dorms, but we lucked out and got one. We got to ride the train this year. The kids loved it. We came back refreshed and ready for the next couple of months.

My Little Brother

Monday morning at 6:00 am my little brother William and sister-in-law Rachel will be leaving for a two year mission trip to Honduras. I am so proud of them. They have definitely inspired us. Jonathan and I have always been interested in missions but the path God led us on seemed to keep us here. They have reminded us of our passion to do something like this. We may not be able to do this type of work now but we can support, encourage, and pray for them. We know this is the roll God wants us to play in mission work right now. We are going to go and visit them in October and have started a conversational Spanish class to prepare us. I am excited for the work God will be doing through them. Please pray for Will and Rachel. Will had a heart surgery when he was young and still has to return yearly to a specialist but is doing fine; however the insurance they have applied for (and have been waiting on to leave) has denied him coverage. They have some other options but this was definitely the best option for them. Saying their goodbyes and hearing of this news has been an emotional roller coaster. Please pray Will can get the coverage he needs to protect him in this foreign land and that they will be successful in their work.

Mr. and Mrs. Antrikin

Sean and Madison got married this weekend we started out with a great rehearsal and dinner from Famous Dave's BBQ (one of my favorites). Jonathan officiated the wedding and Jennah was the flower girl and Joel and one of Madison's nephews who is a week younger than Joel were the ring bears. Jennah is an old pro at being a flower girl and she took control of the younger boys, it was so cute. This was Jack's first wedding to be an usher. He did a great job. Everything went very smooth and it was a beautiful wedding.

I also celebrated my 28th birthday on Wednesday.

Joel's 3!

I'm a little behind on posting. We have had so much going on the last few weeks. After getting the kids off to school starting on the 14th that Saturday was my mother's family reunion and Joel's birthday. So we had a very busy day and the next weekend was my youngest brother's wedding. Joel's birthday party went well and the weather was just perfect. He had a great time and thanks to everyone that came. I can't believe my baby Joel is a big three year old.

Back to School

Today started Jack and Jennah's 3rd and 1st grade years. Jennah was very excited, but Jack not so much. This is always a hard time for me. I have trouble letting them go. Jack made it harder on me by deciding at the last minute he wanted to ride the bus to school today! I wasn't prepared for that and really didn't want him to but Jonathan said he thought it would be good for his self esteem. Jennah has no trouble in area of self confidence, but Jack on the other hand is a little like his mom and dad. So reluctantly I agreed to let him ride the bus. I did okay until the bus drove off. No tears just a teary eyes and the realization that he is really growing up so fast and the responsibilities of the kids getting older runs through my mind and heart. All the things we need to be teaching them as they are getting older and how to be Christians set apart from the world but still living in it and how to deal with that daily. How to influence others with the kindness they show. I pray for these beautiful gifts God has given us and I pray He gives us the wisdom and knowledge to raise them to be soul winners for His kingdom. Having babies is such a special time in life and I never thought there could be anything sweeter than holding a newborn baby, but this feels just as sweet. I am able to send my children out into the world and know that they will be just fine because I have taught them what they need to know to be successful. We still have a long way to go, I know. I am sure these next ten to fifteen years will be hard at times but the things they will accomplish and learn will be so sweet. I'm excited for this new chapter in their lives and what new things they will learn and new friends they will make. So here we go!