Hale Household

We had a pretty restful weekend....Abbey and the Purple Pandas had their second game. The were tied 6-6 at the end of the four quarters so we had to have a free throw shoot out. My dad's words from high school kept running through my head..."How important are your free-throws???" Over and over... Well, the pink team made all three free throws and the Purple Pandas made one of theirs. So, we lost 9-7. They played a great game and have already shown great improvement.

After the game we came home so Will and his brother Walt could get ready for their 20 mile run. Will's going to try another marathon in February and this weekend was his LONG run. While Will and Walt were out running, the girls and I took a picnic lunch to the other side of our property. There is a dried up tank on the other side of our land, so we hiked over there and had our lunch in the bottom of the little tank. It was lots of fun! We found an old tennis shoes and lots of shell fossils. We also found an old metal seat. The girls and I had fun just being outside after many cold days inside. We then had to take Will some gatorade and power bar about halfway through his run.

As I was reading in Psalms this weekend, I came across this beautiful verse... Psalm 55:6 "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. " WOW... Restful days like this weekend make me feel like a bird... out in the country... far away from it all... in touch with my Lord and his creations.

Ok... this may turn out to be a random post... but here goes. Last night, we had a girl's (mommy) evening out. Four friends and I went to eat dinner at our nicest restaurant in town last night, we had a wonderful time just being together and relaxing and visiting without kids. Any way, I missed all of Grey's Anatomy except the last five minutes. One thing that they said at the end of the show has really stuck with me today... "The unexpected is what changes our lives!" I immediately agreed... Unexpected things happen everyday. Not all unexpected things change our lives, but the things that seem to change our lives the most we dont see coming. For example, the birth of all three of my girls. Not planning or expecting any of them. The birth of Abbey took me from my plans of teaching while Will attended grad. school to both of us going to grad. school at the same time her first year of life. The birth of Lainey (unexpected once again) caused me to make the decision to stay at home full time and not go back to teaching Kindergarten. Then fourteen months later the birth of sweet Emiley. These were all unexpected and have caused us to venture from our original plan in life, but I wouldn't change a thing. Then when I had to have a partial hysterectomy at 28... I was so thankful for the unexpected births, my pregnancies, the deliveries even though they were C-sections and the great blessing of being able to have children. Then there are the unexpected illnesses that bring perspective back to life... like cancer with so many loved ones. We are about to face things head on with Will's mom and her recent cancer diagnosis. It causes us to draw closer to loved ones and more importantly closer to God. The unexpected things cause us to stop and give thanks to our Lord for all he has done and to plead with him to heal those in need and be by our sides as we walk into lives of unexpected events. People face unexpected accidents, illnesses, deaths, joys, births, friendships everyday. Life is a list of unexpected situations! With all the uncertainty... it is great to remember that God is a constant. He helps us daily through a life on this world of unexpected things. Our Lord is awesome and will hold our hands as the unexpected things change our lives. With our Savior by our side... those unexpected things are easier to deal with and often turn into such blessings! As this new year has begun... I have started a prayer journal... Today I thanked God for those unexpected events that have made me who I am today and I asked him to continue to bless me with unexpected things that will make me a better Child of God.

What a weekend we had... 24 students from Texas A&M came to our church with Aggies for Christ this weekend. The arrived on Friday nights and stayed with various families in our church.
The girls were so sad to see them go. Emiley cried most of the afternoon, because she wanted Kara to come back. It was an incredible weekend.! These young energetic college kids brought life to our church and we are so thankful for them and the work they do. Our God is so GREAT!

My baby... had her first basketball game today. Reality hit again...she is growing up really, really fast. She has played soccer and t-ball in the past and has done great in both of those. She was a bit more nervous about basketball. It is tougher and requires some skill and coaching. She did a wonderful job. (By the way, she is #2) Abbey's team is called the Purple Pandas. This is also the first time they have all girls' teams. Her team lost 20-7, but they played great for the first game. Abbey scored 2 points and her best friend Ashlee scored the other 5. The other team had two really tall second graders that scored all of their points. I have decided basketball is going to be a bit more stressful to watch than the other sports have been.

Well, after resceduling three times because of the crazy weather, we were finally able to have the first grade spelling bee. Because of time, they were only able to complete one full round. So everyone that was left after the first round was the WINNER!!! Abbey spelled her word correctly.... YEAH!!! There were about 20 kids left. Since we had studied so much over the last month I was a bit disappointed that we didnt go into more rounds. They never even got to the real hard words like "vampire" and "picnic" that were near the end of the 250 words. It was great practice for her. Once again I was so proud!!!

Well, we are dealing with the winter weathter once again... at least today it is the fun stuff, SNOW. Since last Friday we have gone from 70 degree weather to 30 degree temps, rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow. We are out of school once again today!! The girls have already enjoyed the snow this morning and are now inside having oatmeal and hot chocolate.

Just had to share this email that I got from my sister-in-law, Gina... It was great!

Well, this Saturday was a bit of a disappointing day. We had made plans for over a month to go to Abilene on Saturday to see High School Musical performed by the Abilene Civic Theatre at the Paramount. We had a mother/daughter day planned with Gay and Ashlee, Betsy and Katie & Abby, Me and Abbey, Lainey, & Emiley, and Amy and Kate, Kooper, Ashlee, Krista, and Kaylan.... But, since the weather was horrible we were unable to make the drive and spend the day. The girls were so sad. The understood the dangers of driving two hours with icy roads and the potential for worse roads in the day, but they really did not want to talk about it. So instead, we went to the movies. It wasn't the same, but it was fun... I guess! We never get weather like this... it had to happen on a weekend with MAJOR plans!

Abbey has been working on a "book." This is the beginning of it and I thought I would share it with you all! She is so funny!!! She is really growing up and I think that Lainey and Emiley do annoy her sometimes... it was just cute to see her type her thoughts on the computer.

Holly tagged me, so I guess I will comply and answer the following questions...
1) Do you like the looks & content of your blog? The looks may have some to be desired, but since I am not too computer savvy... i think it is OK. The content is just what I had planned...to share the lives of all those in my family for a record book for me and so those who live far from us and be "in the moment" with us.

2) Does your family know about your blog?Yes... and they say they love it.

3) Can you tell your friends about your blog? Yes

4) Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? Yes, I read their blogs and blogs from comments on their blog... it is so addicting!

5) Does your blog positively affect your mind? This blog thing has been great for me! I love doing it and it gives me a way to vent, share my feeling, and express the events of my day to others.

6) What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? I have no idea... i don't know if I have ever even noticed how many visits my blog has had.

7) Do you imagine what other bloggers look like? Of course... I often check out their profile and if there is no picture, I scroll through their blog to find one!

8) Do you think blogging has any real benefit? Not sure if they are real benefits, but it does allow my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends a way to see my kids grow up since they don't live in the same town we do.

9) Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand alone community seperated from the real world? I guess it could be, but it definately is not for me.

10) Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them? I haven't really visited a political blog, but I dont think they would scare me.

11) Do you think criticism of your blog is useful? I am all for a little constructive criticism, but I am not making a profession out of the blog thing... it is just for fun.

12) Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog if you died?No... I'm sure it would die too.

13) Which blogger had the greatest impression on you? ???????

14) Which blogger do you think is the most similiar to you? No idea????? I have something in common with all of my blogger contacts... that is why they are my friends.

15) Name a song you want to listen to. Tim McGraw... "My Little Girl"
Ok... Julie and Vaness its your turn!
Have a great day..................

Ok... as I am writing this... I am also procrastinating. I am at my wit's end with our old horse, Jasper. This morning was it!!! This morning Will went out to feed and found Jasper INSIDE the saddle house. OK, yesterday Will asked me to load 7 bags, 50 pounds each, into the suburban and take them back to the feed store because they had given us the wrong feed on Saturday. So, I loaded all 7 bags, took them to Micobe feeds, and got 10-50 pound bags of the right feed. I got home and was so proud of myself for unloading the feed into the saddle house for Will. Anyway, I either didn't close the door to the saddle house at all, or didn't close it good enough, because this morning Jasper was in the saddle house and had torn up half of the bags of feed. There is now feed all over the saddle house and poop all over it as well. I am not looking forward to this job at all. Will told me Jasper could die from eating so much. We don't really know how much he ate... I am hoping not much since there is so much on the floor of the saddle house. Emiley gets so mad at me when I talk about her horse, but he really drives me crazy. He acts like a dog or a cat. What kind of horse would go up three narrow stairs to get into the saddle house. Jasper also climbs the five steps to get onto my front porch to eat the dog food. We must feed the dogs and cats at the same time we feed Jasper so that the dogs and cats can eat their food while Jasper is eating his food. If the dogs and cats do not eat all their food... that I have to put on the front porch to sort of keep him away... Jasper will eat it.

(This is a picture of the horse on my front porch just the other day... eating the dog and cat's food.) Jasper also ate the foam out of Emiley's car seat the other day. The girls did not shut their car door so Jasper just stuck his head in the suburban, pulled the fabric off her car seat, and ate the foam underneath it all. I was once again so mad at him. I mad Emiley cry because I hit him on the nose. She came over and started petting him and saying, "You are a good horse Jasper." One last horror story... we use to feed the dogs and cats in the garage. We would leave the garage cracked open so they could get in and out to eat. Well, Jasper figured out how to push the garage door open with this nose. One day, he pushed the door open so hard it fell of its tracks and trapped him in the garage. What to do, What to do... I must now go clean the mess in the saddle house.......................

...not only because I strive to be Martha or Rachael, but because then I could make awesome, perfect, beautiful meringue like at did at the Horton's with Amy's kitchen-aide mixer... This was my best chocolate pie ever!!! My pie always tastes pretty good, but the meringue is always runny and comes away from the sides of the crust. Not this time, and I didn't even have cream of tarter!

Happy New Year Everyone... I hope these first four days of 2007 have been wonderful.


We just returned home from a great visit with our college friends Jason and Amy Horton. Our children miss each other just as we adults miss each other, especially Abbey, Kate, and Kooper. We were there from last Friday until Tuesday. I don't think the kids fought one time... they had so much fun together. We met Will's sister in Childress to give her Lainey. Lainey is staying with her for a coupld of weeks. She has been wanting to do this for almost six months. When I called to check on her she was making cookies and listening to rock-n-roll. I am sure she is loving the fact that she is the center of attention.
Looking back on 2006... I cannot figure out were it went. It flew by like a whirlwind. We stayed busy with Abbey and her school, soccer, baseball, 4-H, and lots of friends. Lainey kept us busy with ballet, art, preschool, and a go with t-ball. Emiley is just busy... she is in preschool and loves tagging along with us to all the girls activities and church. We had many blessings and prayers answered this year. The one that comes to mind is Carly Jo. My good friend Susie had to deliver at 28 to save herself from too much blood loss due to placenta previa. Carly was due on Jan. 6, 2007 but was delivered on Oct. 17, 2006 at only 28 weeks. She weighed 2lbs. and 5 oz. She was in NICU for two months but got to come home three days before Christmas. WOW!! We are planning her shower for Sunday. She now weighs a bit over 6 lbs. God is so good. As I prayed for her EVERYDAY... I kept remembering the verse ... "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." I wanted nothing more than for Bobby and Susie to receive the blessing of this child in their lives. God has answered our prayer. I think this situation with Carly Jo has also taught my girls a lot about the power of prayer. They too prayed for her and thought about her daily. They drew pictures of her and I would take them to Susie at Scott and White who would then place them on her crib. Along with praise and thanksgiving, there is also disappointment that comes along in a year. The biggest shock of my year... life... came when my parents said they were divorcing. I think I cried for a whole month. I felt like a little child whose life was slipping away from them. Everything was changing, everything I had known for the last 31 years. I have prayed and prayed about this too and I am finally finding peace in it all. God is good and has taught me things through this situation as well. So as I look onto 2007, I hope to grow closer to my Lord and Savior through good and bad... in all things I hope to give HIM all the glory in all situations... Happy New Year!!!