When we were registering the girls at open house a couple of weeks ago, a lady mentioned to me that they were signing up girls for peewee football cheerleaders. I laughed and said that neither of my girls would be interested. Reagon wouldn't be caught dead in a cheerleader outfit and Kendall was too much of a cowgirl/tomboy type. Well, I was wrong. Kendall said she would like to try cheerleading and that was all I needed to hear. I practically raced to the sign up table and bought everything they had on display...hair ribbons, cheer socks, megaphone bracelets, etc. Josh just stood by and shook his head in disbelief! LOL Now, two weeks and 5 practices later, Kendall LOVES cheerleading and I am in hog heaven! She looks so cute practicing all her routines.

Do you know how happy it makes me to write these little notes for her teacher?

Practicing their cheers for the first game

Little Olive Oil trying on her suit.
Their first game will be at Centerpoint on Sept 6th at 10am.

We had such a great time at Ava's make-a-wish party on Saturday. Check out her blog for some great pictures!

(blog address in my sidebar)

Bare with me, this could get long (or you could just skip to the good part...the pictures).

Lots of changes are going on in our home. For starters, as I have mentioned in a previous post, Josh is now the pastor at Aly Community church. For those of you who don't know the area, Aly is about a 1 1/2 hr drive from our home. Taking this position was somewhat of a surprise to all of us. By that I mean, we were in a great church where Josh helped with the music ministry and I taught childrens church, we love our home, the kids have a great school, and we were doing better financially that we ever were before. In fact, we were scheduled to break ground on a new chicken house the week Josh took the new pastor position. Ok, let me back up even farther. Josh was the pastor at Aly a few years ago. We loved the church and loved the people but the long drive was somewhat of a strain on our family. After much thought and consideration and prayer, Josh decided it was time to resign and take another position closer to home. I don't know that the decision was out of the will of God, but I do know that things got much harder (spiritually speaking) when we left Aly. It seemed like our spirit was dying a little more each week that went by. After a year, we moved to another church/to another church/to another church trying to find a great place of worship and a place we could work. By work, I mean work in the church. We are by no means "pew sitters" and never will be. God had placed on our heart a strong desire to further His kingdom and we will never be comfortable "just sitting" anywhere. We were excited to find Glenwood AofG church where we fell in love with the people there and most importantly, the spirit of God was ever present. Josh said to me on several occasions "a preacher can only sit for so long. A preacher is called to preach". I knew that he had a burning desire to do what the Lord had called him to do. Josh began to seek the Lord like never before and asked that the Lord lead us wherever he wanted us to go. After a couple months of praying this, the Lord revealed to Josh in a mighty way the plan he had for us. The word from God was so strong that Josh had no second guesses. He knew what the Lord was telling him to do and he was convinced that he was going to do it. Now, he had to convince us. For those of you who know me personally, you know that I am a planner. A big planner. No really...you have no idea! LOL I plan everything, detail everything, love goal setting and order more than the normal person! =) About once a month, Josh would sit with me in the office of our home and go over budget plans, goal plans, things we wanted to do with the kids, vacation plans for the next 5 years...stop shaking your head, we really did this..I told you I had OCD! Anyway, our meeting went something like this:

Me: So, doesn't the new back patio look great? I can't wait until we can get a new pool! The girls will love it. The patio will be perfect for our 4th of July party this weekend. Don't you think?
Josh: sure
long pause
Me: Well, what do you think about this plan for our room addition. And what do you think about this corner tub I found a Lowes. And what do you think about two walk in closets in our new room.....etc etc etc
Josh: that will be fine
long pause again

It was then that Josh told me the plan God had revealed to him. I do want to say this before I go any further, I never for one single second doubted what Josh was telling me. I know my husband and I know that he tries to follow the Lord's will for his life and our life as a family closer than anyone I have ever met. Hundreds of things ran through my mind. This is the first thing I said to him, still holding my 5 year journal planning book in my hand "What about our new patio?". Brilliant, huh? I looked down at my book and flipped through some of the pages "2nd chicken house 2008 plans " "pool ideas 2009" "bedroom addition layout 2009" "Disney World budget/plans 2010" "Hawaii anniv trip 2012" with tons of notes and plans that *I* had made for us. Immediately Jeremiah 29 came to mind "for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future". WOW! When you hide the word of God in your heart, He really will reveal it to you as you need it and boy, did I need it at that time! I titled this post "the page ripper" because that is just what God began to do with my journal that day. I was forced to rip out "my plans" and go strictly on faith that God will take care of everything. I won't say that it has been easy the last 6 weeks because that would be a lie. Satan has done everything in his power to discourage us from doing what God has so plainly told us to do. But God has also worked in our lives and our hearts the last 6 weeks. We knew in order to do what He was telling us to do, we would have to stop the building of our new chicken house, put our farm up for sale, find a new home near Aly, move the kids to a new school, move my business, find Josh a part time job, etc. At times, it has felt like a lot to bear but the Lord just keeps picking me up and moving me forward.
Fast forward to today....
The girls started their new school this week and let me say that the Lord was ever present in this situation. He absolutely did a work in their hearts and they stepped out of the car on the first day like they had attended this school all their life. I haven't heard one single negative word out of either of them. Every day, they are full of smiles and funny stories about school. God knew that I needed that. As a mother, nothing is more important to me than my children and I couldn't bare it if they were upset. I didn't sleep a wink the night before their first day at Mt Ida. As I walked them to class, I prayed under my breath for the Lord to just intervene and take over because I could feel myself nearing a meltdown. After they were in their new classrooms, I basically sprinted out to the car. Josh and Jed were behind me doing everything they could to keep up but my legs were in high gear and I was bound and determined to make it to the car before bursting in tears. After a good cry and the loving support of my wonderful husband, the wait began. 8 hours later the girls came out of the school with smiles from ear to ear! It was almost as if I could hear the Lord whisper to me "see, don't you trust me?".

I would like to ask each of you who read my blog to be in prayer for our family. Pray that the Lord will keep working in our lives and that we will be open and willing vessels for whatever plans he has in store for us.


ENJOY THE PICS

Kendall ready for her first day of second grade....
Kendall meeting her new teacher Mrs Black at open house
Reagon meeting her new teacher...Mrs Jill

It's my blog and I can be 29 again if I want to!! =)

So, Saturday was my birthday and we decided to celebrate by spending the day together in Little Rock...yard sales, shopping, eating out, taking the kids to the zoo, etc. About 5 minutes on the other side of Glenwood I decided that Hot Springs was a much better choice. Unless you call listening to a 20 month old wale from a car seat like he is sitting in fire ants fun. Josh and I thought the kids would love to see the new movie "Space Chimps" while we enjoyed a nice large tub of extra buttered popcorn. We were both a little disappointed when they screamed "mini golf". Mini golf it was! The kids had a great time although Reagon was tired of going back to the club house to get more golf balls...Jed kept picking them up and throwing them in the waterfall. After golf, we were ready for lunch. My birthday lunch..HELLO CHINESE BUFFET!!! The kids were less than thrilled about my choice so we celebrated at Ryans. Not Red Lobster, not New China, Not Don Juans...Ryans! Oh well, the kids love all the choices and I ate an entire basket of hot rolls and honey butter to drown my sorrows.

For the third weekend in a row, there were no yard sales to be found. What is wrong with you people!! I need yard sales! I am addicted and I need a fix! LOL With $300 cash from my birthday loot ($100 from Roger/Teresa, $100 from my parents and $100 from my boss) burning a hole in my pocket, I was on the look out for any sort of fluorescent sign taped to a pole so I could dig through other peoples junk to uncover a perfect find. Didn't happen. So, I asked Josh if we could go to the Hot Springs Goodwill store. I think he misunderstood me and thought I asked him if he would pull the car off to the side of the road and cut his arm off with a pocket knife because that was the look he gave me. A look of pure pain. Since it was my birthday, he finally agreed. This was my first trip to the Goodwill store in HS, but let me just say...I may have a new hobby! Just kidding. I left the goodwill store with $299.70.......I couldn't leave empty handed and everyone needs a gravy boat in their cabinets. All in all, it was a great day and I so enjoyed spending time with my family.

To be quite honest, I never was much of an Olympic fan. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the USA and love to cheer on the USA team but just never got involved in the competition. I can recall very few past Olympians, could probably count all of them on one hand....Bruce Jenner, Mary Lou Retton, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Michael Johnson, Greg Louganis..yea that's about all I can think of. This year has been a little different. We all gathered in our master bedroom to watch the opening ceremony together. I was a spectacular event. As I watched all the different nationalities of people walk down the aisle, I remember thinking how amazing it was that God created so many different people. It made me want to go back to Genesis and study about the tower of Babel and how God scattered the people...very interesting study. Anyway, this year I find myself tuning in more and more to see how Michael Phelps is doing and to watch the girls gymnastics team. I will be watching closely today to see if Michael Phelps can make history taking home more gold medals than any other Olympian.

Here is a pic from this morning...our little future tennis player

Is it Tuesday already? This weekend was packed full of activities. On Friday, I took off work at noon to take Jed for his well child checkup. I anticipated stopping at several yard sales on the way, but unfortunately for me we didn't find a single one. We had a couple hours to kill before the dr appt so instead of a quick drive through McDonald's, we opted for Cracker Barrel. All four of us...myself, Kendall, Sasha and Jed ate lunch for $15.00...that is cheaper than McDonalds! After lunch we still had some time so Kendall talked me into going to Petco to look for a monkey. I knew Jed would love the animals and I was pretty sure they didn't have a monkey for sale. We spent half an hour looking at cats, fish, hamsters, and watching a matted up poodle get groomed. Kendall spent the entire time begging me for a ferret. She fell in love with one particular ferret and wouldn't stop until I told her she "might" get one "someday". She read the sign "FERRETS ON SALE $100" and wanted to borrow my cell phone to call Papa Roger. He has been asking her how much she would take for her new horse and she was ready to strike a deal and let him go that day for only $100! LOL Thankfully, Papa Rog was not in cell service at that time.

Saturday evening Josh preached at Mt Gilead's operation backpack service. For such a small church in a small community, they had a great turnout. They ended up handing out 142 backpacks. Josh did a good job with the service and we enjoyed seeing all our friends from Mt Gilead and Community church.

Sunday was our first day back at Aly. For those who don't know, Josh is now pastor again at Aly community church. The service was great and what a nice feeling it was to be back in God's will. We have been moving from church to church and from ministry to ministry but finally feel like we are right where He wants us to be....more on that later...that's a whole 'nother post!! LOL

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We are now enjoying the last week before school starts. As you can imagine, my OCD in in overdrive getting the girls ready.

Here are some pics from Petco.....


Kendall and her "will be my best friend forever" ferret.
A fish would be so much easier to take care of......
Jed enjoyed watching them play...
If only he could have got a hold of one......

The girls and I had a "girls day out" a couple of weekend ago. We left out early on Saturday morning with a pocket full of yard sale cash and hit the road for Hot Springs. We picked up Jurnee and Ashlin on the way through Glenwood. We had a great time and came home with lots of "bargains! LOL

We hit the dollar tree before going home...I gave each girl $5 each and they had a blast picking out makeup/lipgloss/hair barrettes....they played dress up that night with all their goodies.

It was super hot on Sunday but I couldn't resist snapping a couple shots of the girls in their matching dresses! I didn't want to keep Ava out in the heat so I only got a couple but they turned out cute. I can't wait to try for some more pics when the weather is cooler.

You can buy anything online!

I have been busy planning Jed's 2nd birthday party (yes it's in November but I like to plan early) and on my list was some cookie cutters for cookies/sandwiches/cheese/etc for the party. I looked high and low and ended up finding my cookie cutters in Hong Kong! LOL God has blessed us with many things and I count the internet and ebay as two of them!!! LOL

For a grand total of $5.35 I purchased the cookie cutter I was looking for..plus they threw in one for free.
Can you guess what the theme of the party is going to be?
Need another hint? We watch it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY at naptime and EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT at bedtime!
Doesn't our little party boy look happy dressing up for his invitations???LOL