Riding to Work

Well, today was so nice outside that I decided to ride my bike to work. I think that it was the best 45 minutes of the week! It was so awesome! It is only about 6.5 miles one way. So, it was a good little ride, but not too far. There really was not much traffic taking the back way. There WAS more traffic on the way home, but I just listened to my ipod and had a great quiet time. Well, seems like my little one is calling my name.

BAD

Ok...So, I really try to keep up with this blog, but I am realizing that I am just BAD at it! Between work, Abby, church, ministry, washing clothes, cleaning house, and other various activities...when I have a free moment, I just want to sit down and watch tv. Is that Bad? Ok...here is the latest on our family.

Robby: he is still without a full time job. He is working at the church and still going to seminary full time. He lead part of worship at our church last Sunday and did AWESOME! I am so proud of him!

ME: I am teaching still...it has been a crazy year with the hurricane and still trying to get back in the swing of things. I got a new student last week and I will get another new student on Wednesday. It makes every week like the first day of school. That is fun for some and stressful for other students. Me...I just go with the flow. For my birthday I got a bike.

This is kind of a long story. I have had a LOT of problems with my left side. At the beginning of the school year they thought that I Had M.S. or Lupus. But, with many hours of testing, found out that I do not have either of these. YAY! Well, now we are looking into some other possibilities. Then, I went to the doctor last week, because I thought that I had a UTI, but the office called and said that my results came back negative and that they needed to see me. So, I went in unaware of why. They did several tests and it seems that my PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) is getting much worse. My doctor told me that a normal ovary volume is 7 and my right ovary is now at 14 and my left is at 10. She told me that if we want to have more children then we should start trying within the next year. Now a quick reminder...ROBBY STILL DOES NOT HAVE A JOB! So, that is put on hold. She also said that after the second baby, that they will probably take at least the right ovary out and possibly both.

OK..with all of that said, I asked for a bike for by birthday since I cannot run anymore or use the eliptical because of my left side. It will just give way and stop working. strange...i know. Well, it is sooo awesome! I go riding with Abby every day when we get home and it is soo much fun! It is so freeing. I have not ridden a real bike since college. It is so fun! I have decided that when I get good that I am going to ride it to work on the days that Robby takes Abby to Joann's. Last night I rode about 6 miles. It was soo fun! Well, that is about all that is going on with me.

OH... ALL OF YOU OUT THERE WITH GOOD IDEAS...I AM TRYING TO PLAN A COST EFFECTIVE 2 YEAR OLD BIRTHDAY PARTY. HELP!!!

Abby: She is doing so good! She amazes me everyday with the things that she says and understands. She is talking in 4-5 word sentences most of the time and some are 8 or 9 words, so it is fun that she can tell me what she did at Joann's during the day. She is constantly talking to someone or to something about anything. It is a constant conversation in our house! Also, it is fun to know what she is thinking and her perspective on things. Today, she was trying on my shoes and put them on the wrong foot she said, "oops, wrong foot, silly Abby, switch it" Amazing! She pretend plays with her dolls and it reminds me of when I was little...I LOVED my babies. Tonight she was playing with her babies and this was the conversation..

me: abby, how many babies do you have?

abby: abby has 1,2,3,4,5 babies. Babies sleeping, shhhhh. nope...babies snorrrring. Wake up babies. Babies hungry, eat cereal bar...nope silly babies, cereal bar for breakfast...eat dinner.

me: abby, what do you want to eat for dinner

abby: hummm (with finger on lip), ask baby...(hold baby) baby, eat dinner want what? (turning to me) baby want mac and cheese, applejuice, orange, hmmm all done.

WOW! She is amazing! It is so fun to watch her grow!

Here are some pictures from this past weekend. We went to the cyfair college fall festival. It was so much fun. Abby is still talking about riding the pony!

Abby on the fire truck...she was not so sure about this!

the famous pony ride!

OK...TEACH ME ALREDY

This is abby doing her "shy face" I am not sure what she is doing with her hand, but it is very silly!

I found this horse at a garage sale for $5.00 YAY! She loves it

OK...So I have not blogged in a long time. It has been CRAZY this past month. Robby STILL does not have a job and I start back to work next week...this means that we will not have any EXTRA income! YIKES! Also...the last week in July, my car broke down (my awesome friend Kim came and rescued me), so thank you JESUS....my parents had just bought a car and had not sold their old one so they had an extra sitting in the driveway. So, Robby's mom came down and we met my mom in college station to get that car for me to borrow (Tuesday) I drove it Wednesday and then on Thursday the AC went out in my mom's car!!!! Well...perfect timing since I was leaving to go to camp on Friday and would not need it. So, we dropped it off at the mechanic on Friday morning. It was ready to go on Tuesday. We had my car towed back to my house. Robby put some lubricant in the ignition when we got it home. One week later...works like a charm! WOW! How did Robby get to be so smart?! Thank you Jesus for Robby! Now we are at the first week in August. We are going along and yesterday, our Washing machine brakes! So...this morning at church I said..."God, Teach me already...PLEASE!!!" Whatever it is that I am supposed to learn...please teach me quickly! So, today I spent my afternoon at the laundry mat with some VERY shady people doing our laundry! BUT! Robby calls me 15 minutes before I am done and he somehow fixed the washing machine! AGAIN...Thank you Jesus for Robby! So, we are starting our work week next week. Please...all of you pray that nothing breaks...PLEASE!

Sorry that it has been so long since I posted, but I have been very overwhelmed!

This is a picture of Abby in her tutu! OH...we went to the doctor today for her 18 month shots (even though she is 20 months!) The doctor said that she is going to be tall! Probably 5'9" or so! WOW! That is funny since I am definately NOT tall. She also said that she is "has very advanced language and speech" YAY!

WHEWW

Well...it was a very stressful day. Of course her appointment was not until 3:40, so we had to wait ALL day. Her doctor was wonderful! When we got there they sat and talked with us about what to expect...probably that made it worse for me. Then, they told us that she cannot go swimming or get water in her face for 10 days. WELL...that is NOT good. Tomorrow, we were supposed to go to Kemah with Robby's parents and play in the water at Rock the Dock. So, that trip was cancelled. Then on Saturday, we are going over to Robby's aunt's house for a little get together and are supposed to swim. He said that she could still go swimming as long as she does not get water in her face.

So, we go in the room and she gets VERY quiet. She is a smart cookie. Robby was holding her and she started holding on VERY tight. Then they tied down her arms and wrapped her up in the papoos(sp) to hold her to the table. Then they wanted me to hold down her legs while a nurse held down her head. Of course, she is SCREAMING the whole time. The whole procedure took longer than they expected since he had a hard time getting the probe down the duct because it was so blocked. This was about the size of a VERY thick needle without the point and they were shoving it down the corner of her eye! I CANNOT imagine going through that as an adult. She was a real trooper. He finally got the probe down the duct which means that it pushed through a big part of the blockage. Then they put a seringe on the end of the probe and flushed saline through the duct to try and finish cleaning it out. After that. She was all done. I grabbed her up and she said "Daddy hold you." :( of course! So, Robby held her and she immediately calmed down. Robby says that "mommy's are what makes the world go round and Daddys make it safe." Pretty profound. I guess that is why it is SOOOO important for little girls to have that Daddy relationship. It makes their world feel secure and safe. Thank you God for Daddys.
Then, we battled 5:00 traffic for almost 2 hours and then had to go to 2 pharmacies to get her Rx antibiotics, but we are home now and I just put her to bed. Hopefully she will sleep well and without pain.
Thank you for all of your prayers. It has been a rough day, and only time will tell if it completely unblocked that duct. But, hopefully the hard part is over and we will never have to do it again.

NERVOUS

OK...well, We are down to crunch time. This was the first payday that we are only going on my check! PRAY!!!! Also, Abby is having her tear duct surgery/procedure tomorrow. PRAY! I was talking with my friend Tara today and her son had a kidney test done where they had to strap him to the table as well and he fell asleep. That was encouraging! I will tell you all about how it went tomorrow. I am DREADING tomorrow. It is one of those feelings..."I can't believe that I am going to drive my daughter to a place where they will scare and hurt her and I have to make myself take her." Robby is going to go with me, so hopefully that will help calm my nerves. I am sure that everything will be fine. PRAY!!! :)

From the Mouth of a child

OK. So, it is amazing the things that children say. I really began to understand what it means to have childlike faith tonight.
Well...let me go back a few days. Last week Robby was laid off from his job and we are looking of course for another job. So, needless to say...just a little bit of stress. He DID get a two week severance package, but two weeks is not very long to find a job, start a job and then already get a paycheck from that new job. YIKES!
Our pastor has been preaching a sermon series on faith. He is AMAZING! I love our pastor. Anyway...we have been looking at people in the bible whom GOD said had faith and what their lives looked like. This message series could not have come at a better time. We are really trusting and putting our faith in HIS WORD, not blindly. We are claiming HIS promises over our lives.
Tonight, the same as every night, Abby and I were saying her night time prayers before she went to bed. This is always a very sweet time and Abby LOVES it! When we finish praying she will take my hand and say, "again pray" so we will pray for something else. When we say "amen," she will take my hand and say, "again pray." This continues until finally I just have to put her into bed. Usually we will go through our prayer cycle for about 30 minutes. SUCH a sweet time and she LOVES praying to Jesus. Well, tonight as we finished praying and I said, "ok..it is time to go night night." Abby looked up at the ceiling and said "night night Jesus" in her sweet innocent voice. What an amazing God we serve! He knows exactly how to touch even the most tender heart. Thank you Jesus!

Dresses

OK. So, now that I actually have some time, I have decided to make Abby some summer dresses. I thought that it could not be THAT hard and actually they were pretty simple, but it just took time figuring out how to make them and making the patterns. I think that they turned out pretty cute. Now, it is 12:39am and I am going to bed.

long time no blog

Well...I am sorry that it has been so long since I have blogged about anything. I have so much catching up to do. It was a crazy end of the year and I am just now getting back to the old me. YAY!

Abby: She is pretty much fully potty trained except at night and nap times. She wears big girl panties all day and is such a big girl. You would not believe the things that come out of her mouth. Last Thursday, we went to Kemah with her and she played in the water (star that shoots up water in the middle of the center) and rode the train. She was sooo excited and made a lot of new friends. I am surprised how she will attempt to make friends already. She will go up and talk to anyone. I am amazed daily at the concepts that she understands and remembers. This weekend we are headed to Oklahoma for our family reunion. It should be a fun time, but a long weekend. She is spelling he name and matching shapes and colors. It is amazing how quickly se picks up things. She is putting 2 and 3 words together...this morning she said "love you daddy!" How cute is that! She is such a girl! I bought her some of those dress up shoes for little girls that go with the princess dresses. She saw them in the car and immediately said "pretty on, pretty on, pretty on" When I looked back there, she had her shoes off and foot straight in the air wanting me to put the dress up shoes on her feet. So, when we got home, I put them on her and she walked around for the rest of the night in those high heel hot pink shoes saying "pretty, daddy ook pretty" It was hilarious! If you will notice in this picture...she has her "pretty sticker" in her hand for going pee pee in the potty. We are ready for bed and she is procrastinating as long as she could.

She does not want shorts anymore, she wants "pretty ess (dress)" so I have had to go buy her several sun dresses. Her new favorite activity is the splash pad that we bought for our backyard. She would be in it ALL DAY everyday if I would let her. Check out the picture. It is so cute...It has a slide and several activities on it. So fun!

Sarah: Well, I am fully into summer and teaching 2 days a week. This is pretty fun so far, but I am learning that it is difficult to make doctor's appointments for some reason for Wed-Fri. Strange. I never had this problem before, but today I was trying to schedule a specialist appointment for Abby to have a procedure to unblock her tearduct and I have to drive to the medical center instead of I10 and Gessner because I need it to be on a Wed-Fri. Crazy! Also, my dentist said that the only open appointment to get my teeth cleaned is in August because they only do cleanings on Tuesday! Yikes! What is going on???? It has been really interesting...I am teaching summer school (ESY) for one of my students that I taught last year. He lives in a really low income trailer park. The first day that I went to see him...he was the saddest little boy. His mom said that he only sits in front of the TV all day and she can't get him to do anything else (he is profoundly DEAF! and mom only speaks Spanish!) Today when I went, he seemed really happy to see me and we were able to get a lot of work done. He is such a sweet little boy and mom is starting to pick up some signs and began to communicate with him. YAY!

Robby: He is taking "turbo Greek" this summer for summer one and the second part for summer II. It is CRAZY! I have NO idea how to help him when I have NO idea what the cards say. He seems to be doing pretty well. He made an 87 on the midterm, but is really stressed out about his final exam on Friday. YIKES! Keep him in your prayers.

BIG GIRL!

Well...Abby is well on her way to being fully potty trained! Tonight we were getting ready for her bath and she said, "potty!" I rushed her to the potty and she went pee pee AND poo poo on the potty! YAY! We did not even have her potty seat...I just held her on the potty. That is only the second time that she went poo poo on the potty! Last night, she told me "potty" and I thought that she said something else...she then continued to go potty in her pull ups. She told me BEFORE though! What a BIG Girl! We had her checkup on Saturday and she is in the 35th% for her weight (22.12 lbs) and the 90th % for her height. The doctor also said that her verbal and language skills are of a 2 year old! YAY! She is ahead of the game!

I am VERY ready for summer vacation! Only 12 more school days left! YAY! I just have SOOOO much paperwork that I need to finish in those 12 days! Yikes! I do this every year...I know what paperwork needs to be done by the end of the year, but I always wait until the very last second to do it! WHY??? :)

I am excited about church...I met with the youth pastor and he asked me to be the "coordinator for the youth leaders." Basically, I will help choose the curriculum, encourage the small group leaders, make sure that they have their curriculum and basically be the behind the scenes person that makes it tick. This will be a new journey for me and I am excited to see what God is going to do!

Update

Well...A friend of mine did a family update...I thought that was a great idea...so, here ya go...Thanks Jenn for the idea!

Robby: He is a man of many hats! He works full time for an oil company, he is in seminary full time and is working at our church part time! WOW! Did I mention that he is a GREAT daddy and husband in the mean time??? He also just made all A's on his final exams for seminary... WOW! I am so proud of him! How does he do it?

Abby: She is CRAZY! She is running everywhere, up and down stair, sliding, climbing...CRAZY! We are still working on the potty thing, but there is not much consistency between what we do at home and what is done at the sitter, so I think that we will just hit it hard this summer. She will pretty much tell you what she is thinking, so watch out! This morning she said "git my milk (bilk)" please(in sign)! Her new few words are "hold you," "rock," "Kilie" (a girl at Joann's house. She will make all of the animal sounds such as "meow," "mooo," "ruff ruff," "baa," "quack, quack," "oink." As well as "vrrrmm" when she sees a car or bus, "burr" when she is cold, "hot", "waTer(emphasis on the T) haha" "up" "down" "eat" "yummy" She is a talker! She can stack 4 blocks and make a tower, and match the circle, square and triangle in the shape sorter. Her favorite toys are her tent that Granna and Poppa bought her for Christmas and her big Ball for the moment...it seems to change daily though. :)

Me: I am READY for summer vacation! I will be teaching babies doing Parent Infant Training this summer for two days a week. I am working with our youth group at church as the "leadership coordinator." Basically, I get to encourage the parent volunteer leaders for our small groups, prepare their curriculum and make sure that they have everything that they need. We will really start hitting it hard this summer, so I will let you know how that goes. Right now, I am in a women's bible study on Thursday nights. Other than that...I TRY to work out, but not as much as I was there for a while..STILL have those 7 lbs left to lose...YUCK! It is hanging on for dear life!!!! That is about it for us! I hope that you are all doing well!

Love you all!

YEA!

Well...today was a BIG day! Joann called this morning and said that Abby went poo poo on the potty!!!! YEA! It was so funny, in the backgroud I could hear Abby say, "poo poo potty" hahaha! We are on our way now!

Diaper

OK...so this will be short, but funny! Robby was watching Abby tonight so that I could go to Bible study. After the study, I called and he said that Abby came up to him holding a diaper and he said "oh...do we need to change your diaper?" her response, "Dora (the character on her diapers) wet" he grabbed the diaper that she was holding and realized that IT was wet??? He lifted up her dress and SHE had taken off her diaper HERSELF! Hahaha What a BIG girl!

New Potty

Ok...So, I went today and bought Abby this really cool new potty. So far we have been using the seat that you put in the real potty. Well, I always have to put her up on the potty and I thought..."if she is going to be potty trained, then I don't need to have to pick her up and put her on the potty everytime" PLUS...we left her potty seat at Mimi's house and have not been able to work on it this week. SO...as you can see the "Safety First Smart Rewards Potty" has lots of bells and whistles. It sings a little song when she sits on it, then if she "makes a deposit (from the directions) it lights up and plays a little fanfare song. Then when she flushes it plays another song and stickers shoot out the side! WOW! Well...the problem is...Abby wants to play WITH the potty not USE the potty. So, she has figured out the if she puts her hand on the sensor inside the potty then it thinks that she went pee pee and plays the fanfare and she can flush the potty and get a sticker! AHHHHH! She is too smart for the POTTY! We will have to see if day 2 is any more productive...it may be back to the big potty.

She is getting over being sick. She is cutting her top molar teeth and so I think that is part of the problem. We have been giving her the antihistamine/decongestant benadryl and that seems to be helping. I however had a very strange thing happen to me this week. I have been going to chiropractors for almost 10 years and have been to some really good ones and some really bad ones. The one that I am going to now is AMAZING! Well, I go every Monday. This Monday I went in feeling pretty good and left feeling pretty lousy. Strange. Well, as the day progressed into night time and the next day, I was feeling worse and worse. I was really dizzy and my left neck, shoulder and back hurt sooo bad that I was in tears. Then, last night my left arm went numb! So, I called the doctor and he said that it was possible that when he adjusted my neck, that he adjusted me too far the other way!!! SO...now I have to take 4-5 motrin and a vicadin just to be able to sleep! So, I went back today and he adjusted it back and I felt great again! Strange how such a small thing can cause so much pain and suffering. Well...he said that probably my muscles would pull it back out of place since they were so tight and...IT DID! So, we are back on the heated neck wrap and meds until Friday when I go back. He said that I probably would not feel better for 3 or 4 days! That is a very painful mistake!!!! I was NOT impressed. But, I still trust him and he has helped me more in the last few months than others ever have.

Friday Fun

Well...I think that my friend Kim has too much time on her hands at work since she always sends me these things...but here ya go...this one is for Kim

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

• Oh how embarrassing!! I was in high school

2. Five things on my To-Do list today:

• 1. Work
• 2. Play will Abby
• 3. wash clothes
• 4. wash dishes
• 5. hang out with my hubby

3. Bad Habits

• 1. eating too much sugar
• 2. Biting my nails when I am stressed
• 3. Not working out (I'm with ya on that one)

Five places I’ve lived:

• 1.Houston, Texas
• 2.College Station, Texas
• 3. Bryan, TX
• 4. Lorena, TX
• 5. Nacogdoches, TX

Five jobs I’ve had:

• 1. Teacher
• 2. Interpreter
• 3. clerical secretery during High School
• 4. curves for women personal trainer
• 5. Hallmark

Five books I’ve recently read:

• Hebrews
• psalms
• Isaiah
• "The Strong Willed Child" by James Dobson (not finished with that one)
• "Actively teaching a One year old-daily activities" (not finished this one either)

NO I AM NO KIDDING...I don't really have time to read much else other than the Word...you will notice that the other NON bible books are not finished yet. :)

SICK

Well, Daddy has learned what it means to take care of a sick baby! Abby stayed home with Robby yesterday. She was still running a very high fever and throwing up. I called the doctor and they said not to bother bringing her in because they have received 75 calls that morning already about the exact same stomach virus. So, she called in a Rx for the vomiting if we needed it. She seems to be better today, but was still running fever this morning. So...THANK YOU MIMI! She is staying with her Mimi and Pop. It was so cute...this morning when she was eating breakfast I said...are you ready to go see Mimi and Pop? She looked at me and said "mimi...pop" as if she was saying...REALLY???? Then I reminded her about Sophie the cat and she said "meow" hahaha. She is so funny.

I hope that she is better by Monday so that she can go back to Mrs. Joann's house again. Joann said that they miss her... "she is the life of the party!" :)

FEVER

Well...Abby has fever AGAIN! I think that it is just teething though. She has her bottle molars, but I think that she is trying to cut her top. When I picked her up this afternoon, she felt warm. When we got home, her temp was 102.8! So, I gave her some motrin and took it again in about 45 min and it was down to 101.6. So, all of you fellow bloggers out there...please pray with me that it is ONLY teething. I really don't want for her to really be sick...we cannot afford for me to stay home with her. PLEASE pray that the motrin will continue to bring down the fever. Her ONLY symptoms are a clear runny nose, cough and fever...all symptoms of teething. PRAY...PRAY...PRAY!

FUN WEEKEND

OK, so I am sorry that it has taken me so long to finally post. I have been having computer issues and I still can't use it. I think that it is on it's last leg. I am using my school computer for now. :) This past weekend was so fun! On Saturday, we went and met my mom and dad at a park in College Station. It was SO much FUN! Abby loved looking at the ducks and mastered saying "quack, quack, quack" over and over and over! Then, on Sunday our church had our 35th anniversary picnic after church and that was fun, but she was so exhausted after Saturday that we did not stay out long and play.

She is so funny! She has started putting 1-2 words together. Yesterday, during our morning prayer before leaving to go to Joann's I said "Are you ready to pray to Jesus?" Her response, "uh....(long pause) amen." I guess she was done with her prayer. hahaha! Also, when you ask her "how big are you?" she will say "BIGGGG! WOW!" When she wakes up in the morning she will say "happy Abby" :) There is not much better to wake up to than a "happy Abby." I have been trying to teach her to spell her name. She will say "Abby---A-B-B-B" It is so amazing the things that she can come up with.

On another note...At my Bible study last week, Beth Moore said a very profound thing. She was talking about when they visited Rawanda and did some work with feeding the hungry. The guide there said that they have a hard time because they will give the people seed to plant for a harvest so that they will have food to eat for months and the people EAT the seed instead of planting it! WOW! Most of us would think that is CRAZY...don't they know that if they planted it, they could have a whole crop of food?! Are we not the same way concerning the Word? We listen to sermons and are spiritually full...we might even cry, get emotional about God's truth and his promises. We will say...wow! Praise God. He is so good! But, when we leave or close our Bible...we are unchanged and it does not have a PERMANENT affect on our daily lives. Don't we know that if we "planted"God's word daily. Invested that Word in others and waited for the harvest...WOW! What a relationship we would have with our Heavenly Provider. What peace we would experience on a daily basis. How we could apply the truth of God's promises to our own lives DAILY! My prayer has been this week, "God show me how to sow your word. Allow me the privelege of waiting for the harvest that you promise. I want to read your word and never close it unchanged FOREVER. Reveal to me truth in your word that I can plant and give me the patience to wait for the harvest."

YEA FOR PEE PEE!

I decided to post in yellow today to honor my sweet Abby's pee pee! :) We got home this afternoon and I put her panties on her and told her that "only big girls who go pee pee in the potty can wear panties." Her response, "pee pee panties" as if she fully understood every word! hahaha! I set the timer on the microwave for every 20 minutes and we would go "pee pee" Really it ended up that we went every 5-10 minutes or so since EVERY TIME that she said "diaper" I quickly rushed her to the potty for fear of pee pee on the carpet. This endeavour continued through dinner (which took 1 1/2 hours to finish due to our new adventure) To No avail. THEN... just before we were getting ready to go take a bath the words, "pee pee diaper panties" came out of her beautiful mouth! So, as a good mother I rushed her to the potty and she helped me pull down her panties, as soon as I sat her on the potty...that glorious pee pee sound! We concluded this session with A LOT of praise, clapping of hands, shouting for joy and jumping up and down, and then of course...a treat.

Now...I never thought that I would be one of THOSE mothers who talked about their children's bowel movements...I was WRONG. So, if this talk bothers you...I will title every post of this nature with a telling comment such as "YEA FOR PEE PEE" so that you will have no doubt what it is about and you don't have to go through the agony of reading these posts.

PERFECTION!

Well, I just got back from my bible study! WOW! I am constantly blown away at God's Great Perfection! I do not understand people who believe ONLY the old or ONLY the new testament! When you read and study the old testament you find so many prophesies that are revealed in the new testament. How can you doubt? We are talking about the 3 feasts of the old testament today. 1. the passover, 2. the feast of unleavened bread, 3. the first fruits. God makes a direct prophecy to the Israelites of the Old testament to the 1. death, 2. burial, and 3. resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ of the New Testament! I have a story to share with you today. This will be kind of long...but WELL worth it. I am taking it directly out of our bible study. What a beautiful picture this brings. Thank you JESUS!

"A few days ago I received a word of a group in Cape Town, South Africa, going through the Bible study Breaking Free. The woman leading the study shared that a prostitute wandered in off the stree while the class was underway. The troubled woman was simply looking for a place to sit and rest her weary frame. As our wonderful God would have it, she ended up listening to the entire class, approached the leader and said, 'I can never go back to my old life.' When I heard the story, I wept. That, beloved, is one reason I love Jesus so much! He is the ultimate Prince Charming to every woman, expecially the one who forgot she was Cinderella. he looked with loving eyes on that lifeless woman, knowing all she'd ever said and done. He gazed beneath her sin into the brokenness that caused her to devalue herself so thoroughly. He'd given His whole life for HER and wanted HER to know that she was worth it to Him. Christ, the spotless One and the Righteous King, saw beauty beneath her wounded, weathered exterior and sought to make her His own. As surely as Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, He drew a South African prostitute to the fountain of living water and gave her a drink. Despite her self-destruction, Christ was FOR HER. He was on her side when she was her own worst enemy. That's the way HE is."

WOW! Thank you Jesus that you are ALWAYS "for" us and that you promise that you will conform us in YOUR likeness! (Romans 8:28-39) Help us to Look to you everyday...ALL day...NO MATTER the situation. Help me to seek your face ALONE! First, foremost, without blinking, every second of Every day!

pee pee time!

YEAH! Happy day! Joann was sick today (that is NOT the happy part!) so Kenya graciously agreed to take care of Abby for the day so that Robby and I could still work. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Well, evidently Abby went Pee Pee in the potty at her house! YEA! She is such a big girl! She said that Abby did not act like it was anything different so she thought that she had been using the potty at our house! NOPE! Today was the first time! SOOO BIG! When I got home, I tried to get her to use the potty again...no go, but thanks to Mimi...maybe she should go stay with Mimi for a couple weeks and then she will be potty trained! :) Just kidding...I would miss her too much. I will keep you updated on how the potty training progresses!

Sprinkler

So, we had a fun adventure today. Abby was still running fever (from teething we think) and so I did not take her to church since she was having yucky diapers as well. I didn't think that they would appreciate that in the nursery. We stayed inside most of the day and then this afternoon it was just too beautiful outside to stay in. So, I dressed Abby in her swimsuit and lathered her in sunscreen (she was NOT impressed) and we went outside to play in the sprinkler in the back yard.

She was sooo funny! She looked at the sprinkler and said "water!" as she was running toward the sprinkler, it started to oscillate. :) She immediately was drenched with "burrrr" water and ran back toward me. I turned down the water pressure and we made the trek across the yard again as she held on to my hand for dear life. She kept saying "burr, burr, burr, water" As we reached the sprinkler, she reached out her hand to touch the water and the look on her face was priceless. I am so glad that I got in a picture (see pic at top.) We continued to play for about 30 minutes as she dodged the oscillating water sprinkler with constant giggles and "burr water."

Then I went and got the bubbles. As she chased them around the yard saying "bubble" she started to get frustrated that she could not catch them. So, she came up to me, took the wand from my hand and tried to put it in the bubble jar herself. hahaha Miss independent!

She has also mastered the art of telling us when she has gone pee pee. The very second that she goes she says "tee tee diaper" over and over and over until you change it. I have changed more diapers in the last 2 days then in the last month I think. Also, I made the mistake of turning on the water faucet in the bathroom when she was sitting on the potty to see if that would help her go in the potty, (to no avail) so now she cannot sit on the potty without the water on. She will just stand and point up at the faucet and say "water, water water" until it is on. Then she will pull down her shorts and say "up" to sit on the potty. So, we are making progress, but not there yet. The funny thing was that when I was using the potty myself, she came in the bathroom and pointed to the faucet and said "water, water, water" until I turned it on for ME to go to the potty. hahaha

Look at these blue eyes!!! Thanks dad (poppa)!

My First Post

Well, This is my first post as a blogger! Kinda scary! :) I thought that this would be very theraputic...I guess. Really, I just wanted a place to talk about Abby and all of the fun things that she does on a daily basis. hahaha!

Only 38 days of school left! I am SOOO ready for the summer! Although, I did discuss going and working 1-2 days a week doing parent infant training again to make a little extra money during the summer. We will see how that goes.

Abby LOVES sitting on the potty and LOVES telling mommy and daddy when she has to go (or has already gone) pee pee...sometimes poo poo. I think that really right now we are just getting her used to the idea. I don't really plan on her being potty trained anytime soon. We will hit it hard this summer. :) NO MORE DIAPERS! I am ready!

On a more spiritual note, I am in this amazing Beth Moore Bible study and wanted to share some things that I thought were great this week! The study is on the psalms of ascents (Ps 120-134). These specific psalms were sung as the trip was being made to Jerusalem to the holy Temple where God dwelled. This was a LONG pilgrimage and they had these 14 psalms that would sing over and over on this journey. God continues to blow me away at how intricately he wove the Bible together...it is PERFECT! One of the parallels that Beth makes is that the Lord says many times that he rejoices over us in singing! What an amazing thought...God sings OVER ME! She says, "a drama movie would not be any good without a great soundtrack. Do we really think that there is not a soundtrack to our lives with all of the songs that the Lord sings over us. I can't wait to get to heaven and get my compilation CD of my life!" :)

Today's study looked at the first verse of psalm 123 "I lift my eyes to YOU the one enthroned in Heaven." As we are FOCUSED completely on HIM, great things can happen in and through us. When you read Acts 3:1-7 you learn of a man who was healed because his focus changed.

Consider this...Where I look--->What I hear---> What I feel---> What I expect

When our focus is on God, and we hear ONLY him (not all of the other places we go to for answers), we FEEL his presence and expect his glory to be shone in our lives! WOW!

My Prayer today is that I will maintain eye contact with the most holy of holies every second of every day and with that will come a peace that no words can express.