WE DID IT!!

We actually sent in our adoption application today!!! We are supposed to hear from the agency with in 5 business days after they receive our packet.

We have a few other friends who have adopted or are in the process of adoption. You can check out their blogs:
Kristin and Gregory
Tanya and Jay
These blogs are also under our friends list.
Tanya and Jay's blog is called "A Chair to Spare".

DiscipleNow 2009

Well, we had our first DNow at church May 1-3. Not West Point's first DNow, but the first one that Brent has planned here at this church. It was so great. Algernon Tennyson was our speaker. He's really great and has a great passion for the Lord and the Word.

Here is his website: http://www.awakenintl.com/

We met him back in Texas through some dear friends, Kent and Jane.

A local church provided music for us and did a wonderful job!

We played Couch Wars on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to Chris W.

We loved our study leaders, April, Ben and Adam, Jodi and Matthew! They were fabualous!

Here are a few pics from the weekend:
Junior High Boys Couch Wars

Junior High Girls

Senior High - they burned their couch at the end.

Next up: Summer Camp!

Weeks of Fun

The past two weeks have been so busy. Here are a few snaphots:

One day was craft day. I've been doing a Bible study with one of our youth and it was the last day of the study so I planned a little project for us to do to end the study.

Then Brent decided he needed to push a dead tree down in our yard!

Ready! Set! Down!

Then my family took a day-trip to Auburn. When Mike and Britt arrive to pick us up, they both got out of the car and shut the doors, when Britt went to open Destin's door - the car had locked itself! Thankfully the car was still running with the AC on. Fortunately this car has OnStar. My parents left the day before, so Brent called my parents - to get a pin number while Mike called OnStar - in a matter of five minutes OnStar unlocked the car - from wherever they were! Sometimes you've got to love technology! Once that fiasco was over we were on our way!

It was a fun day. Since part of my childhood was spent in Auburn, it felt like going home for me.

We hiked to the rock to take a family pic, visited an old neighbor, and walked around the campus.

Destin waiting calmly for the door to open - thank goodness he likes to play peek-a-boo!

Everyone needs 2 passies! haha

(i don't have the picture with my mom and dad in it)

So that was week 1, the last week and half of April, this was a quick catch up!

Week 2 is last week which was DNow - this was a fabulous weekend! Pics to come - I'm about to have to head to church - maybe one day I will be caught up.

Speaking of catching up - Christy I think that I am not the only one in need of updating her blog!!!!! LOL haha.......

Lots to post - but I'm out of time right now.....so check back later! Thanks!

Chickens, Eggs, and Wicked

Those are the three words to sum up our weekend. We went Friday night to see WICKED, the musical. If you aren't sure the play is about how the witches in the Wizard of Oz came to be. It was fabulous! I will never watch the Wizard of Oz the same again.

The Saturday we went to the Chicken and Egg Festival. Really. Brent wanted to enter in the hard-boiled egg eating contest, but his tummy prevented him from doing so. There were lots of interesting things to see. If we had kids it might have been a little more fun, it's very kid-friendly, but we don't and we did have some fun. They had face-painting, horse rides, a jumping machine, guitar hero (really how is that related to chickens and eggs??), they had a chicken clucking contest - that was hilarious! They had an egg tossing contest, tractors to look at, all kinds of arts and crafts, including make your own pottery. Lamas - Tina wasn't there though - They even had a wonder goat - but I'm not real sure what he did. There were a few blacksmiths there and of course chickens. Oh and they had food - we did not eat any, but they did have chick and egg on stick! Below are a few of the sights we saw:

6 Words

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I went to a Beth Moore conference in March with Julie, Amy, and Jill. We really had a great time. At the beginning of the conference Beth referenced a blog that her daughter, Melissa, had written on the Beth Moore blog, Living Proof, a few weeks prior to the conference. Melissa's post is called Sum Up Your Life In Six Words. Click Here to see the post.

So, for the conference all of Beth's points were done in the Six Word Summary style given in the blog. She challenged us to sum up our life in six words - no more and no less - and then at the end of the conference to do sum up why the Lord brought you to the conference in 6 words.
One that I remember from the conference that one lady said is: "Came in Pieces, Going Home Whole." Isn't that great?!

At the time I could not think of anything. Occasionally, I am not very good at coming up with things on the spur of the moment and that conference was one of those times. I hate it when the speaker gives you an assignment and you can't come up with anything. So I have been pondering this thought for the past few weeks, pretty much determined to come up with something. I mean 6 words, how hard can it be!! My life in 6 words. Hmmm......
Well last week I finally came up with the answer! But in all honesty it truly is not a summerization of my life, but rather of how I feel at this moment in time.

What I came up with was: I am a toy without batteries. My friend, Bashan, words it for me as: I am a toy without wires.

I don't know how much you are supposed to share of yourself on blogs b/c when you blog you might as well open your home to the entire world, you never know who is reading, so I only try to share things that I would tell or share with anyone. I finally decided that this was okay to share, because I would be interested to know how YOU would sum up your life at this moment in time in 6 words. If you need help check out Melissa's post on the Living Proof Blog.

Let me know what you come up with!
Leave a comment or two. :)

Have fun!

I AM SECOND

I was searching our former church website - just to see what was going on there. When I came across this website listed on their site. The site went public just before we moved, or maybe a month after, I can't remember. The pastor of the church part of the site. I had forgotten about it until today. The excerpt below explains the site. Click on the picture below. I think you will like it.

"I am Second is a movement where significance in life is a shared value among people of all kinds. Actors. Athletes. Musicians. Business leaders. Your next-door neighbor. People just like you. Their authentic stories provide insight into dealing with typical struggles of everyday living. You'll meet people who overcame destructive lifestyles. Plus you'll discover those who've tried to go it alone and have failed, yet still found a life full of hope, peace and fulfillment.
I am Second is designed to help people discover their purpose in life. Have you discovered yours?" - summary taken from

www.fbceuless.com

Hurley and Cody

Cody and Hurley. These dogs have added a lot of adventure to our lives for sure! Just 2 Sundays ago, I left for choir practice and only noticed one puppy, Hurley, in the yard. I did not think much about it. However, when Brent was ready to leave to come to church Hurley was sitting at the edge of the yard staring across the woods to the neighbor's backyard.

These are the same neighbors that I visited on the night that was I locked out of the house. Cody must have decided that it was time to go back for a visit. Brent and his dad jumped in the truck and headed to to their house. When they arrived, Cody had treed their cat! He saw Brent and took off running. Finally Brent was able to get close enough to swat at him, when Cody took off again, only this time he jumped into the pool - that is still covered - he gave Brent a look that said "come on, just try to come get me now! hahaha". Meanwhile, Hurley who must have been feeling left out of all the fun came tromping through the woods and sat at Brent's side and stuck by the him the whole time. Hurley is still scared of new things. Now when I say tromping, I mean it. Brent could hear him coming, he said it sounded like a buffalo! I'm sure that is an exaggeration, but Hurley is a big puppy! Both puppies were finally put in the back of the truck and put in the fense until we arrived home from church.

~Cody~

~Hurley~

Well I am sorry to say that this week was not as interesting as the last. But it has been more frustrating. I have not heard from the job interview. They said I would receive a phone call by Monday for a second interview or if I didn't get the second interview, then I would get a letter in the mail, but I have received neither. So I am assuming that I did not get the job, but I'd like to get the letter they promised. One thought that someone gave me, was that it is possible that they only interview for legal purposes and had people in mind within their system to promote. This is really frustrating for a few reasons:
# 1 - I was really excited about the possibility of this job, but now it has been dashed into the
ground - LOL hahahaha
# 2 - Then it was a complete waste of my time and theirs
# 3 - I may have missed other jobs in which I did not apply for because I was waiting on them.

Well I guess I can just carry on with my life.

It has also been frustating b/c I have been very slow at getting our house unpacked - so this week I have got to get on the ball. It is also frustrating for me with this new house - because I think I should have all the updated new house items to decorate with or to use. I do not need these things, I just think that I do. For some reason I have begun to think that everything has to match. What is this about???
It was a little easier when we had less and less space - (amazingly enough). And when we were in an area where material looks and things did not seem to be a competition, well at least for me anyways. Now that we have moved, I kinda feel like I am having this secret competition with other houses to see whose looks to the best. Where is this pride coming from!?!?! AH! I get so annoyed with myself. God has amazingly blessed us with a house, in the first place, in a time when it's hard to buy a house, it's been remodeled a bit on the inside, we have 6 acres of land with tons of trees, and it has a red front and side door - this house was made for us. But I keep thinking I need "more things". I have had to work on this each day. It is a struggle - although I haven't bought anything extra - but I keep wanting it. What is the deal???

I have been reading Set-Apart Feminity by Leslie Ludy.
Oh, I have to go, church is out and Brent and I are hungry and ready to eat....so I will finish this later....

Interesting Week

This has been an interesting week for us. It all started when the dogs ate fire ant killer. The next day Thursday, Brent left to go Florence for a night - he was speaking at several schools and 2 church events Thursday and Friday. So I was all prepared to spend the night by myself and study for the DiscipleNow I was teaching that weekend. About 8:00, I heard the dogs making some noises on the front porch. There are a few cords on the porch and I wanted to make sure they were not chewing on anything they shouldn't. I went outside and closed the door to the house so they wouldn't go in, I saw they were fine and went to open the door when......TA-DA! I discover I am locked out of the house. HA!! I couldn't believe it! It was kinda funny actually. So here I am walking around the house in the dark checking all windows and doors - they were all locked. I was thankful that it was a semi-warm night and that all the porch lights were on and that my car was unlocked. I considered sleeping in the car for about a minute and decided that was ridiculous. I should just walk to neighbors and call my mom and dad - b/c Brent is in Florence. Only it's completely dark outside, I have never met my neighbors, and there is a rapist on the loose in Cullman County. None of these were extremely comforting to me. But then again, I wasn't really scared either. Actually not at all. In fact it was kind of adventurous!! But for some reason I think I thought I should be scared- so after about 20 minutes of wondering around looking for a rope or something to tie around my Cody's neck (the dog) so he could go with me, I found one in the trailor we used to move furniture. Cody and I armed with an iron stair spoke headed off to the neighbors. They were extremely nice and let me and Cody to use the phone. We talked while we waited for my dad to come and discovered we had mutal friends.
Needless to say everything was fine, I stayed at my mom and dad's that night and my dad met Brent in Florence to get the key. The only negative about the whole thing was that I did not get to study much for the DiscipleNow. Although, I had previously looked at the material, I still had a lot to do.

DiscipleNow was alright.

Then Monday I was eating lunch at home and I looked out the window and I see Cody running towards the house - it was as if he was running a victory run. I saw in his mouth was a CHICKEN!!! Well what was left of it anyway - I thought it looked as though the chicken had been dead for a few weeks or so - disgusting! I ran outside and grabbed the rake! I was hoping Cody would drop it and I could rake it away from him. Hurley - the other dog- was not going to miss out on the fun and took off after Cody trying to grab the chicken. It was a sight to behold. Two black labs running in the yard with few week old dead chicken in the mouth and me running behind them with a rake! LOL! :) Go ahead and laugh - I am!
Finally they ran under a forsythia bush and I couldn't get to them. They ate the chicken - it was really disgusting. So that concluded my lunch for the day.

Wednesday, Brent had ankle surgery - so he has been hobbling around in a boot and crutches for the week and will be on those at least till Thursday when he goes back for his check-up.
He started therapy last Thursday - where we discovered that the insurance does not pay for physical therapy. Isn't that lovely? But it won't be too much esp. since Brent has done so much therapy before, he only has to go once a week and I think they cut us deal.

I had a job interview on Friday. It went fairly well. At least, I would hire me! :)
They will call tomorrow if I get a second interview and that interview will take place on Tuesday and I could possibly start Wednesday! So I've just been praying about it. We'll see.

Then this weekend, I went to a Beth Moore conference in Nashville. It was at Two Rivers. I have never been to a Beth Moore conference. It was really good. Travis Cottrell and his band lead the worship - they did an amazing job. His voice is amazing! I thought I could listen to him for hours. I would love to hear he and his wife to a duet. Her voice was beautiful too!
The conference was for minister's wives. So Amy, Julie, Jill and I spent the weekend together and had a fabulous time!

So for us this week was pretty eventful - or at least had some funny events (and serious ones)
Now on to next week! Who knows what it will bring?!

Have an adventure this week.