The rest of the week's updates.

Faith's volleyball season is almost over, and she has come a long way. Having never really played volleyball before, she had to start from the ground up. One of the things she really had to get comfortable with was serving. The first several games her serves never made it over the net, and despite her efforts to be a good sport about it you could often see the disappointment etched on her face. But she has been practicing, and has finally become almost one with the ball on her serves. Last week it was her turn to serve during the last volley, which left earning the game point up to her. I could read the nervousness in her demeanor, but when that ball sailed over the net, and her team got that final point, she just lit up. Her teammates swarmed her, and I was just so happy for her. I didn't have any pictures of that, but I made sure the camera was ready for the next game.

She began the game by serving first for her team, and proceeded to serve five points in a row. It was a bright, shining moment for her. You go girl!



They ended up winning that set of games, and here they are cheering afterwards.

After the game I took the girls to McDonalds so Faith could redeem her free ice cream cone pass.
I think this will end up being the last bowl of salsa from my garden. It is a variety of bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, Big Boy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and jalapenos.The tomatoes seem to be done, although I still have about a hundred jalapenos and peppers out there. I will probably end up dehydrating those for future chilis.

There is a baby hamburger in the next door pasture who likes to come over and play in our tall grass. Yes, our back yard is calf-high again. All the rain this year had our acreage growing faster than we could deal with it with one little riding mower and both of us working. Therefore, we are growing majestic hills of hay, and are not really sure what we will end up doing with it. Our neighbors all have so much hay already that they don't need ours. Maybe this little guy will corrupt enough of his herd-mates into breaking through the fencelines to come chow down on it.
My friend Roberta calls this a Willy Worm. I assumed it was a caterpillar of some sort, but I really am not sure. They keep hanging out on our doorstep for some reason. Do you see its knife-ish mouth on the right side? I really hope that thing is just for cutting leaves, but I am not willing to let one crawl on my hands to find out if it is carnivorous.

Oh yes, I need to update you on Chet's run for Student Council. I am terribly sad to report that he was defeated. By one vote. That isn't the biggest kicker, though. He lost by one vote, but he didn't vote for himself. He says he thinks it is selfish to vote for himself. I was flabbergasted, and yet so proud of him for deciding what his own honor code is and sticking with it, even though it really did cost him this time. I told you he would be a good candidate for Congressional reform!

The kids and I are on our own this weekend. Jack and our friend Nathan have gone on an Emmaus Walk and will be back on Sunday. I don't know how I didn't notice Kevin giving Jack bunny ears when I took this. Jack and Kevin are both six feet tall, but they sure look short next to Donnie and Nathan, don't they?

I have one more story to share, then I am going to finish up the housework, chase the kids to bed, and relish being able to stay up all night and scrap. Kyle brought home a note from the nurse. (I will scan it on Monday and post it here.)Did he have a fever, you ask? No. He wasn't coughing, didn't have a headache, and wasn't in any pain. What caused him such distress that he was sent to the nurse's office? I quote...the "stomach" box is checked, and in the notes it says "shirt on backwards, said it was choking him." Do you think the nurse had a straight face as she wrote this?

A whirlwind weekend

It was a busy, but rewarding weekend. On Friday afternoon Jack and I started detailing the inside of the truck to get it cleaned up. After he went to work, I took it down to a drive-through carwash to get the outside clean. (Our white truck was orange with all the clay-dirt on our road.) I really didn't realize how stubborn that orange dirt is. I don't usually wash the truck - that is why I have a husband and six kids. But I needed it cleaned for the weekend, and so I went through the carwash. Well, that didn't clean the truck, but since I paid for the fancy schmancy wash, the fancy-shmancy sealer included in the price finished gluing the clay to the truck.

With a deep sense of trepidation, I took the the modge-podged truck to the self-service carwash. There I had to pay again for the pleasure of spraying the truck down one inch at a time with a high-pressure hose. Then I had to scrub every inch I could reach with the foaming scrubbrush. Now this wouldn't have been such a fearsome feat if my arm muscles weren't still a quivering mess from the cruel warm-up and workout the day before. After I spent some more money vaccuuming the truck, I brought it home and let the professionals wash the windows and mirrors.

I needed the truck ready so I could attend a children's ministry seminar with Debbie, Lora, Crystal, and Annette. There was a whole hallway full of different books from Cokesbury that I would have loved to buy one of nearly everything of. I took pictures of lots of them so I could remember them later, but here is Debbie modeling the one I want to get for next year's Children's Church.
We went to several different classes, and got a lot of tips and ideas for incorporating in our children's program. My personal favorite was the class on creating a computer lab in your church. I don't know if I will get to implement this in our church in anyway, but I absolutely loved what this church has done.
In fact, I loved everything about their Children's program. I spent time in the hallway talking to the Sunday School director and was so impressed. The entire Sunday School corridor is all about and completely inviting to kids in everyway. My favorite was the movie room. The movie screen is painted on the wall, there are big movie posters around the room, there is a popcorn machine, and movie chair seating. I told the director I would really love to come spend a Sunday morning there and see first hand how they put all the different rooms to use each Sunday.

The last class I wanted to take had been cancelled, and Crystal needed to go grocery shopping before the storm that Ike was pushing our way hit our area. After a yummy lunch at PF Changs (sorry gals... the pics are all blurry) we walked around the outdoor mall the restaraunt is in. I don't know when the last time was that I was able to spend part of an afternoon just laughing and wandering with friends, but just getting to do it made me realize how much I needed it. I saw this gorgeous set of bowls when we were window shopping at Williams Sonoma. I am not a very materialistic person, but I do get bowl envy when I see things like this!

We finished up the grocery shopping, and headed home. The rain slowed us down, but we made it back in one piece. Then Jack took the boys to town to see Dark Knight.

The rain we drove through on the way home and through the early evening became a huge downpouring storm through the night. I woke up at 3 and saw the rain flying at different angles, and saw trees bending precariously. This morning we woke and found all kinds of chaos on our front porch. The chairs the animals usually sleep in at night were all knocked over and scattered.
One of our porch ceiling fans had a blade torn off and the rest were badly bent.
My birdfeeder was torn apart, and the wind even tossed around Jack's drill battery.

My hanging plants were torn down as well, and the baskets are now empty. We haven't checked the backyard yet to see if any of our trees came down, but lots were down all over the area. A good portion of our residents lost their power today too. These are all just minor inconveniences for us here. I really hope all the rest of my friends in the Houston and coastal areas where Ike really caused problems are okay.

We were 15 minutes late this morning, but we did make it to church. The only row left was the front row, which gave me a clear shot of the pastor with the kids. Unfortunately, my camera has been giving me problems and I wasn't able to get a clear shot. The majority of my photos lately have been blurry, and even the better ones aren't tack sharp. It is driving me crazy.
Right after church we went to Kevin and Debbie's house for a birthday lunch for Kevin, Chet, Beth, and Crystal's son Alex. Their's is one of the houses without power today, so we cooked hotdogs on the grill and served cold food with it. It was a quiet but really fun party. I love when we all spend Sunday afternoons together and get to hang around and visit.
The kids love hanging out outside together. In fact, we never saw Alex after he got on the 4-wheeler, and Matt was gone most of the time too.

I love taking pictures of the kids on their property. There are so many great natural backdrops and pretty scenery for photos.
We had to leave the party early to get Faith to her first volleyball game on time. We came upon this car accident as we left town. (There were no injuries or I would not have taken pictures, and in fact the lady driving the car was laughing.) We found it comical that she drove into a ditch trying to pull into the driveway for the insurance company. We could hear her say as we were waved through "I didn't know that ditch was there!"

After one hour of practice last Wednesday, Faith played her first set of games today. I really like this coach and this team. Most of the girls are in class with Chet or Faith, so Faith is already friends with them. I think that made a huge difference in her feeling comfortable starting in a sport she has never experienced before. She gave it her all, though, even though she never did serve the ball over the net. Her coach made her team captain for today, and she took it very seriously. Through the whole game we could hear her calling encouragement to her teammates and cheering them on. She really was born to be a cheerleader.
THis is just a shot of Todd and Beth coming back up the stairs to the balcony that we watched the game from.
WE stopped at Sonic for happy-hour slushies on the way back to town after the games. Can you tell which flavors these guys picked?

We got back to town in time to take the kids to the Awana Club that began tonight at the Baptist church. It turns out they are changing it to Wednesday nights, so my kids won't be able to go every week like they wanted to, but they did enjoy themselves tonight.

Almost all of Faith's bestfriends attend this church, so these three spent the evening being their giggly goofy selves together.

At one point I looked over and realized that Mackenzie had given Faith a purseful of make-up to put on. Although she has been rallying to wear make-up, Faith knows she isn't supposed to wear it out in public. When they saw my lens pointed their way and realized they were busted, they started cracking up. Aren't the best friends the ones you can laugh with like this?

After running all weekend, it was finally time to head home. I saw these cloud formations as we were driving down our road home, and asked Jack to stop the truck for me to take a picture. I haven't been able to check the weather to see if these are a new storm forming, or just random clouds passing through, but I still thought they looked pretty interesting.
I took this a couple of days ago when Beth was napping, but I think it really sums up how I feel. Give me a comfy couch to kick my feet up on, and I could probably sleep very well for a long time if nobody woke me up. Things aren't going to slow down again for at least a couple of months, but I am glad for this weekend of activities. I had a lot of fun, and I needed a weekend like this. Good friends, good activities, family time, a favorite meal I didn't have to cook, and some interesting but non-threatening weather really made for a pleasant state of exhaustion.

Weekend Junque

I have several more pictures from last weekend ready to share, but Blogger hasn't been letting me upload them. I will try again tonight. Here is what I have so far. My friend Crystal N. and her daughter Meghan came over to scrap and play last Saturday. Crystal took me to a new bakery in town, and I am in heaven. They make lots of incredibly yummy baked goods, but the best part is that they have Tres Leche, and they make it really, really, well... almost too well. This temptation is right across the street from my office. Oh my. If you have never had GOOD Tres Leche (milk cake) you really have to do yourself the favor of having some before you die. It is so yummy!

Crystal's dad works at the hatchery and is able to give her the eggs that don't make it through inspection. Some of the eggs are double-yolked (more to come on that later) and some are too small, and then there are others, like this one, that are just comically deformed. (Kyle had been building mudpies, hence the very dirty little hand.)

This is one of my favorite scenes when I am driving home. I love the tree tunnels. This time of year they are really starting to get pretty. The leaves are changing colors, but haven't fallen all the way off yet. I really want to find one of these where it is safe to let the kids walk along it while I take pictures. The corners are too sharp here, though, and the cars come too fast for me to risk it.

Sunday was a busy afternoon as well. Faith signed up for volleyball and had her first practice in the afternoon. She is catching on pretty quickly, and likes it so far. Her wrists are a little sore, but she will get used to it. Several of the girls on her team are in her class at school, so I think she likes it even more because of that.


After we practice we came back home, and Nathan & Crystal brought over burgers and hotdogs. After dinner, Nathan went outside and played basketball with the kids for a while. I was so tired by this point that I wasn't a very good hostess at all. Sorry about that guys!

I just wanted to show you the hamburgers and steaks my neighbors are raising. This is part of their backyard, which conjoins with ours. Some mornings I wake up with these guys right outside my window mooing and hollering. I have learned how to tell when a baby and a mama get seperated. When I went out to take their picture they were all facing me. That big scary camera scares them off everytime, though, and then one always gets brave enough to stop and turn back and try to scare me off like the one in the middle. Don't worry mama cow... I am not going to eat you. Yet.