Watch Dog Dad Day

Today Charley was a Watch Dog Dad at Kylee's School. Kylee woke up at 6:15 this morning. She was so excited. Charley and Kylee left a little early so he could help right away with car drop off. It is cold and rainy today so I know they were happy to have extra help today. I know Charley will be helping with little odds and ends but Kylee will be thrilled just to know her daddy is there and helping out. They also get to have lunch together. Kylee came home so excited from school because Charley got to read a book to her class and play the games with the kids at PE. The smiles on Kylee are priceless and I know this is setting a lifetime of good things in my little girl.

Superhero Day!!

Katie has been so excited about Superhero Day at Preschool today. She has asked every day for 2 weeks if it was the day. I love the way the are having this day. Katie told us this morning. Jesus Saved Us! He is Our Superhero!! In Chapel they are celebrating Jesus being our Superhero. I loved that Katie knows this and was boldly stating it to us! I can't wait to hear all about her day.

The Dog

Today was an interesting morning that I really want to document mainly for my kids. We took Charley's car in to get an oil change and when they called for us to go pick it up I got ready to go to the gym and I was going to drop Charley and the girls off at the car place and then go to the gym. On our way out of our street, we saw this cute little black dog running after this old man and his dog. The little dog probably weighed 5 lbs. The old man did not like this dog and we watched him kick in several times. I kept thinking and saying we need to go get this dog but we kept driving and that is when Kylee just kept saying we need to go back over and over. Side note-We have been talking a lot about listening to the holy spirit and when he prompts you to do things you should listen to him and do them. We are trying to teach them early to listen to the spirit. This may not have been the spirit but since we don't want to squash this innocence we went back to find the dog. He was still following the "mean" man as I call him now. He wasn't doing anything but following him and seriously he is a 5 lb. dog. Finally I get the poor dog and the old man rolls his eyes at me. The minute I pick him up I feel funny like my throat hurts and the dog has a weird smell. So we roll down our windows and go to the vet by our house to see if he has a chip. The girls are happy and laughing at the dog. I did have a small box that the dog sat in on the way and he was adorable. When we get to the vet I get him out and he is really smelly but I take him in and they find a micro chip on him and say he is in good condition he must have just got out. I start to feel burning on my nose, lips, cheeks, so I tell them I have to leave something is wrong with me. They take my number and say they will call me when they find the owner. Anyway, when I get in the car Charley says I think he was pepper sprayed. That "mean"man had pepper sprayed this little 5 lb dog that only followed them. We watched from the start of the whole thing. Anyway, I immediately came home and showered and felt better. We got to have a really good talk with the girls about how he had an owner and that it was kind to find the owner and listen to the spirits calling even on little things like this. Well an hour later they called and had found the owner. I was thrilled and they agreed that the dog had been maced. The owner called me later and said the dog got out last night (he is an escape artist she said) and they had spent hours looking for him and posted on dog sites, neighborhood sites, craigslist looking for their dog. I was so happy for them. I could tell they loved their dog. The dog lives in the neighborhood across the street and they even have a child in the school we go to so it may be being somewhat maced worth it. What really made it worth is teaching Kylee and Katie kindness to others, listening to our hearts, and even though I wanted to go to the gym (which I never got to) taking care of others is the most important thing.
Jesus replied: "Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.
Matthew 22:37-40

MLK Day

This past Monday, Charley took the day off work because Kylee had the day off school for a family fun day. Unfortunately Monday morning I woke up not feeling so good so I had to go to the doc and I found out I had strep throat (UUUGGGHH). I didn't feel horrible so I decided to keep going and we would do what we had planned to do. So we went to the eat at Panera Bread, Forest Park Mini Train by the zoo and rode the train, yogurt at Menchies (yummy and really helped my throat), and then back to play at the park. We had a blast. Katie hadn't been on that train since she was 1 and it was a while for Kylee too. We also had a blast at the park. Charley and Kylee played frisbee golf and Katie loved the merry go round. It made me sick watching it spin. We had a great family day and I was exhausted when we got home and went straight to bed.

Kylee's Biggest Cheerleader!

Kylee's Biggest Cheerleader is KATIE!! That girl loves her sister and is such a cheerleader to her. I just listened to them upstairs playing Wii and Katie saying Sister you did so good. Sister that is great! Sister Way to go! It is like this a lot whether it brushing her teeth, getting done with her homework, or getting eye drops in her eyes she is cheering her on. It really is sweet. Of course they fuss. I am definitely not writing a blog to brag on my perfect children because they aren't nor am I. This just so happens to be something that is such a sweet personality trait in Katie and I love it.

Random Act of Kindness

I have been meaning to post this really neat thing that happened to our family during the holidays. The Monday before Christmas we did our traditional get hot chocolate at Starbucks and go look at Christmas lights. We went through the drive-thru and waited a while then when we got up to the window the lady said the people in front of you paid for your drinks. We were speechless and then she went on to say well the people in front of that car paid for their drinks so they paid for yours. So we decided to pay for the people behind us. We drove away feeling really blessed by our little treat of seeing a line of people acting kind to people they don't know, didn't even see, and wouldn't even receive a thanks. We really wonder how long the line went of people blessing each other that night. We really felt blessed that evening with a feeling of human kindness and love and a huge glow of the Lord's spirit. I really think we may have to keep this as part of our traditional Christmas light looking night.
The cool thing is our small group is really focusing on generous giving this year, whether through monetary, time, effort, or any way that shows giving. We have been asked to show someone a random act of kindness over the next 2 weeks. I am praying that God will show us a way to show his love through an act of kindness that will honor him.

I'm A Razorback

This past Saturday night The Razorbacks were playing in the Liberty Bowl and Charley wanted the girls to show their support with him and wear their new Razorback shirts. Charley's mom and dad got them for all their grand kids. They are super cute and say I'm A Razorback on the front and We Are Arkansas on the back. Kylee was pretty funny because she kept saying why does it say We are Arkansas because I am really Texas. I tried to explain it to her but thought it was cute. Anyway the Razorbacks won the game so it was worth the team spirit!

Happy New Year 2010!

Happy New Year 2010!! I am finally back to blogging. I plan to catch up on the last 2 months eventually but right now I am ready to think ahead and be excited for the year 2010. I really can't believe we are in a new decade and looking back on the last 10 years it has been terrific. We welcomed both our precious girls into our lives and this year Kylee will turn 7 and Katie will turn 4. How is that possible?? Charley and I also will celebrate 13 years of marriage this year. I love him more today than I did the day we got married. This year I have this strong desire to listen for the Lord's calling and open my eyes to the plans he has for us. I have no idea what that may be. I really desire to be more flexible with our life and not so overwhelmed by busyness. I really want to open my home up more for family, friends, ministry and whatever God has in store for our family and home. I really want to have a open door policy-stop by anytime type philosophy. We just spent the holidays with Charley's family and stayed at his grandparents house and they are great examples of this. You are always welcome at their house anytime. Everyone is invited in. They don't worry about everything being perfect even though it is always nice. I don't want to worry about my house being perfectly clean or picked up when you stop by. If someone spills something, fine!! we can clean it. If something breaks, oh well, guess it was meant to break (and honestly should we have anything breakable within reach of our kids, seriously!!!). If the playroom is a complete mess, Surely it can be cleaned, we have 4 capable bodies in my house. Obviously this is something I have thought a lot about and I plan to have lots of dinner parties, play dates, and gatherings in our home this year!! If you are in the area, stop by and visit. You may see a sink full of dishes, laundry being folded, and us enjoying our family but stop by and have fun with us. So I guess that is a new years resolution for our family this year. But also the most important one is following God's plan and somehow I feel it involves opening my home more. We will see what is in store for this year and I am very excited to see it unfold. Praying for blessings on you all this year!!