Hello to our Fans!

We are here! We are here! We are here!
Okay, so I have been reading "Horton Hears a Who" lately. But thought I would let you all know that we are still here and doing well. Thanks for all your emails and encouragements.

After arriving our computer decided that it was tired. I read a joke this morning that says this...
Q. How do you know a computer is old?
A. It looses it's memory.
Well our computer didn't loose it's memory, it just got a mind of it's own. So it is good for very little and we had to embark on the road of new computers. I hate buying new gadgets. Okay - except the cricut. I guess I am to lazy to take the time to figure out how to make them work. Something that is supposed to make my life easier - makes it harder. Well we decided that with all the Vista junk and upgrades and $$ spent with virus protection, memory, blah blah blah - we would leave the world of PC and cross over to the land of MAC. It is a happy place. We plugged in our Mac and that is all we needed to do - instantly we were on our way to do whatever we wanted. Didn't have to load internet / email and didn't have to deal with all the excess junk that comes on a PC.

I told you all that so you will understand that I have been learning all the fun stuff in Mac land and have neglected this blog. I am in the process of starting a new website throug Mac. This will be better for many reasons. I can have a link that will take you directly to photo albums and not have to wait insane amounts of time to load them on Blogspot.

So please continue to stand by. We love hearing from you and would hate for you to give up on us.

hugs & misses to all!
jen

They CHANGED THE BIBLE!!!!

Last Wednesday the girls started AWANA on base. Morgan is now a Spark and Madison is in the Hiker book. On the way home we were helping Morgan with the Sparks song and a few of the basics. As Madison was reading out of her book and talking about how she was going to do ALL of section one the first night she paused, gasped and said - oh no. I asked what was wrong and she said "What is 'begotten" mean?" Then before I could answer she was frantically reading out loud and said "Mom, THEY CHANGED THE BIBLE!!" I assured her that they didn'tchange the Bible but that she must have a different version than her last AWANA book. When we got home we saw that she has a New King James version and hers from last year was a NIV. Poor baby! I know she will do fine learning a new version. But had to share her first observation and experience with translation change.

Saturday I had the privilege to join a group of ladies to begin the process of adapting boxer shorts for our soldiers who are injured down range. Some of their injuries leave them wearing large braces or prosthetics that make it difficult for them to wear normal clothing. Sew Much Comfort is a organization that has begun to adapt clothing to help our Soldiers have more options other than hospital gowns. The website is www.sewmuchcomfort.org. There you can learn about the organization and the different ways you can help.

This was a great way to serve "on the home front" and know that my few hours will mean that someone needing these garments will save time getting dressed. The Officers Spouses Club here did a donation drive of Boxer Shorts - over 200 were donated. Now the process of sewing and altering the shorts has begun.

What a great way for any group who is looking for a service project. The website has all the details and contact information. You don't have to sew. There are plenty of steps that require NO sewing - cutting, ironing, pinning are all critical parts. All important because of the accuracy needed. The items are inspected before they are distributed.

I intended to take some pictures but forgot the camera and was to busy sewing anyway. Maybe next time. It was humbling to be a part of this project. Thinking of all I personally know who have been or are currently serving our country down range. It could be Mark. I was reminded to be in prayer for our troops and their families. I would like to encourage you to do the same.

Kindergarten...Already?

Today is the day!! Morgan is officially a Kindergartner. She has been counting the days - especially after her home visit with Mr. Watts.

The visit went well. He sat on the floor with Morgan and they talked about numbers and letters on a pad of paper he brought. She was so quiet and studious!! We spoke with the assistant - Mrs. Correa. Morgan is in good hands and God has answered our prayers for the perfect teacher for Morgan. Mr. Watts, seeing Morgan's CEO qualities, asked Morgan to be his personal helper and line leader the first day of school. I thought, "Morgan, in charge, boy did he win her over!" So then the count down began.

I wish I could say that Morgan had a peaceful morning, rising with the sun ready to embrace the day. but I can't. All she was ready for was more sleep. Good thing Mom was driving to school - we would have never made the bus. First was the debate of waking up, then the debate about what to wear. We did pick out an outfit that we could agree on last night - but she wasn't feeling it this morning, so we switched to one of the first things we picked out last night. How female is that? Then the hair - then breakfast - shoes - and I skipped the teeth - it was time to go!

Pictures taken outside the front door - our tradition for the first day of school. Then we loaded up in the van - and we were on our way! We are on the road and I ask what music they would like to listen to. I expected Morgan to blurt out HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL but instead I hear - "Can we praise Jesus?" You bet!! We threw in our Travis Cottrell CD and sang the Sanctuary song- whew! What a song to get your morning going - after that we listened to Toby Mac until we pulled into the school.

Morgan was such a big girl. The last 5 years flashed before me like a bad dream sequence. I saw her face the first time I held her. I saw her running around the house naked laughing at me trying to catch her. I saw her waddling to me for a 'nuggle. Thought about her holding my hand. Her face singing praise songs. Then it hit me - Kindergarten isn't just the beginning of something, it's the end of a time never to be captured again. This was my baby girl, a big girl now. SO independent. Hanging up her jacket, Mr. Watts called her in and showed her where he wanted her on the carpet. Shoulders back and head held high she sat criss cross - apple sauce. (We used to call it Indian style, but I guess that's offensive now). I wanted to stay. Will she mind her manners? Will she make a friend? What will she learn? Will she be okay on the bus? Mr. Watts gave the parents a 1 minute warning. Okay - I'll take it! As we were leaving Morgan asked if she could give us one more kiss. My heart lept! YEAH! Hold it together mom!

I left and decided to go get some coffee. I cried the entire way there. I prayed that God would watch over my baby - that the teacher would see Morgan for the sweet girl she is. Then as I pulled into the parking lot was the most special rainbow I have seen. The colors were vibrant. I smiled and chuckled out loud. When we see a rainbow we always talk about Noah and how God promised that he wouldn't flood the earth again. But today when I saw that rainbow, I thought not only about God's promise with Noah, but all the promises he gives to us. And how he keeps each one of them. Would Morgan be okay in kindergarten? YES! I know she will. God is with her. I know He is because I asked Him to.

As I write this I am listening to KLOVE radio (http://www.klove.com/) and playing is Nicole C. Mullen singing My Redeemer Lives. Love this song. Especially loved when Kristen Pratt sang it at our church in LA. She is a Fabulous singer - only out done by Mike Ogletree lip syncing to the song! I miss them! Sorry - mind went on a tangent there.

Hope you enjoy the pictures! Hugs to all!

Madison P. ... First Grader at last

Today was the first day of school for Madison. At 6am I softly walked into Madison's room. I watched her sleeping, precious, and so innocent. Is she ready for First Grade? Am I ready for First Grade. Her teacher, Mrs. Pittman, is nice. She has a class of 20 students and is the only first grade class that is a multi-age class mixed with 2nd grade. We are excited about that but a little apprehensive. there are a lot of positives - but some legitimate concerns. We prayed for the right teacher and the right class, so all we have to do now is trust. I need to wake her, but I can't. Why? i have to pull myself together first! This is harder than when she went to Kindergarten! Will the other kids be nice to her? Will she make plenty of friends. Will she thrive or will she get lost in the shuffle of 1&2 graders in the same class.


When we were in Italy Madison's nursery was in Paddington Bear Nighty Night. We found a wall lamp in the shape of a crescent moon. Since we are back in Europe we can use it again. It is hanging high in her room. The light sends me back to the many nights I spent rocking her, trying to figure out what in the world I was doing with a baby! Now here we are 6 years later getting ready for 1st grade.

I rubbed her back and said softly, "good morning my first grader". Expecting her usual "please mom, just 2 more minutes" imagine my surprise when she jumps up and shouts "Today I go to first grade...Wahooo! Let's go!!!" In about 3 minutes she was dressed and eating breakfast!

I drove her to school, don't remember the drive because I was listening to her sing and catching a glance of her in the mirror looking so grown up.

She rode the bus home. Morgan and I walked to the bus stop and wouldn't you know the bus was about 10-15 min early!!! She was all alone. The others from her stop had walked home, but she stayed. Good girl. She told me that she thought about walking, but remembered that there was a road to cross and she shouldn't do that without me. Good girl!!!

I missed the picture opportunity of her getting off the bus, but took a picture of the bus and the German driver anyway.

Morgan starts school on the 4th. She is thrilled!!! We met her teacher Mr. Watts today. He will be perfect for her! !

Yes we are alive....

Sorry it has been so long since blogging - please keep the "where's the next blog" mail away. Things have been a bit crazed... time is not in abundance... so, here are the highlights

VBS finished up - and was FABULOUS!

Our things arrived in Germany, but we could not get a delivery date until the 20th. Bummer huh? They told us to call on the 13th to see if we could move up the date. They did! To the 14th!!!!! Great right? Well, in a way - FMO (those incharge of our loaner furniture) could not come until friday, so Mark and I were up till the wee hours of the morning lugging it down 3 flights of stairs.

So we are swimming in boxes!!!

Morgan is ill - dr says nothing wrong - so I guess it's okay that she hacks all the time - no one is sleeping and we are all miserable and tired.

Commander wife stuff is becoming a reality - obligations and such - that's a novel blog for later.

Found a church - lots of scrappers - all wanna be my friend b/c of the cricut :-) nice church - more to come there...

Computer is dying a slow steady death - we are trying to get a new one.

Movers dropped TV - mover dude got cut & bloddy nose - picture is distorted - learning to file claim - looking for new TV ;-(

Saturday is our Squarden picnic - looking forward to it!

School starts the 27th!! LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT too!!!

Morgan starts 4 September.

FMO (loaner peeps) will be here in about 10 minutes (7:30)

More to come later! Miss you all!

Ciao!

Offerings...

Today the girls went to VBS at the church we have been attending, Trinity Baptist Church in Metterich. They have been excited for days! I felt a little weird about sending them to another VBS, but thought this would be good because they would be with children their ages and who attended our church.

When I went to pick up the girls, just as I walked in the door a lady comes to me and says "Are you Morgan's mom?" I tried to read her face to see how I should answer... But I couldn't so I said "Yes, why?" She then told me what a delight she was and how even though she just had her for snack - she really touched her heart. Hmmmm, that's GOOD! I wondered what she had done, when 2 other workers came to ask if I was Morgan's mom. I paused, but the secret was out, apparently Morgan had made a big impression on them also.

At the end of the program they announced that there would be a contest, Girls vs Boys to bring in the most change. The money raise would go to support Missionaries in Poland. On the way home the girls were talking about VBS and the fun they had. Then Madison and I had a conversation like this:

Madison: Mom, you know how I wanted to do something really special with the money the tooth fairy left me?
Me: Yes
Madison: Well I know just what to do! I am going to give it all to the missionaries - I was going to use it for a toy - but I have other teeth that will fall out and I can use that money for toys.

I of course began to tear up feeling pretty blessed that my girls were so precious and thoughtful and that maybe we haven't ruined them after all! Even after spending the past few days fighting and carrying on with each other - there was a glimmer of the sweet side of them. I wanted this generosity to carry on all day! Madison also told me how Morgan was the only one to raise her hand during snack and offered to say the prayer!! go Morgan!!!!

Now we are home and they are back to fussing with each other. Only a few weeks till our things arrive and school will start and they can have some independence.

What they think...

The girls are upstairs right now playing sargents. I am hearing a series of "sir, yes sir" bellowing down the stairs. I run up to get a closer look to see what is happening and Morgan is instructing Madison how to march. This is what I hear...

Morgan: I am the commander so I am the boss and so you have to do all I say right away or you will be beheaded!!!
(obviously they have heard their daddy at work)
Madison: I think you need a mustache like poppop.
Morgan: But I am a girl! there can be girl commanders you know, you don't have to be a boy.
(that a girl! Break through the barriers! Be all you can be!)
Madison: Yeah I guess that's right, but who would do the laundry and clean the house?
Morgan: My workers! I am the boss! The bad worker boys would have to clean my underwear! Madison: well, I think I don't want to be a commander. Daddy is a commander and he has a lot of work to do and it makes him tired.
Morgan: Well I am a girl commander! I don't want a mustache! And my bad worker boy will clean my panties! March!
Madison: I think I will be the commanders wife.
Morgan: What will you do? You won't have any worker boys.
Madison: I will be busy. I have to sweep the house every day and pick up after my messy kids and then when I go to the base I have to put on lipgloss and smile at people I don't even know. AND I have to help daddy so that his boss will think he is a good worker and will give him a thing for his costume.
(ah military politics, and I think she means a ribbon for his uniform)
Morgan: Don't forget you have to call all the boys SIR!!! Now I am the commander and I say lets march!! (marching) Left, right, left, bow, and clap! Left, right, left.....

I was laughing at this window of wisdom from our military babies. And trying to remember seeing our airmen march, bow and clap!!! Where do they get this stuff? Worker boy?!?! Oh my heavens!

Thai for us

Here is a post I wrote a while ago - before we had our computer up and running - which now mine isn't really running - when it wants to work it will, when we want it to..nah.

Monday, 9 July

Tonight we went to one of our Sponsor, Tim’s favorite spots. The Thai restaurant down the road. THAI ORCHIDEE. I have never had Thai food before and can’t say that I have ever really had any desire to, but I was hungry, had nothing here to cook, and figured why not. So off we went. Tim having 2 daughters himself was up on what to get for the girls that wouldn’t be to freaky. Since Madison has been traumatized pretty much at every meal, we were going for simple on her part. She had the ???? which was some sort of chicken on a stick and you dip it in a peanut sauce. I think she liked it more than she led on. I know she was loving the sauce, I saw her dipping her finger in more than once. Morgan was a bit shy at first, but then was getting dibs on what Madison didn’t eat. Morgan also had a chicken and rice thing, but didn’t like the “dirty rice”, so Mr. Tim and daddy fessed up some of their white rice. I tried the Thai Tea. Yeah…didn’t care much for that. I passed it on to Tim. After getting my meal, I wish I had waited. I think it would have complemented it well. Next time.

So to recap, in our first 6 nights we have had American, Italian, fast food German, traditional German, and Thai. There is supposed to be an outstanding Mexican & Greek place close by too.

Here's Sluggo....

Okay - I have gotten numerous emails asking for pictures of Sluggo and family. Today it has been raining so we went go outside to see if we could find some slugs. We stepped out the back door and had a few to choose from without leaving the porch. The only problem was when I tried to get something by them to give a reference as to their size (per Kelly's request) they would suck in super tight... I took a picture of one by a leaf and then measured the leaf. Here he is...

He is not one of the bigger ones, but average anyway. Here is another of a bigger one!

Paranoid - or need CAFFEINE?

SO- this week the girls have been going to Vacation Bible School at the Chapel on base. We thought that it would be a good oppertunity for the girls to meet some other children that they would be going to school with. It had been our experience that VBS was broken up by grade. Well, not the case here. You had to register by "grade going into" so naturally we assumed that Morgan would be with children going into Kindergarten and Madison with those going into 1st.

Well, Madison was in a class with children 1st through 4th. They said they did this so that the older ones could help mentor the younger ones. Hmmm, okay. Then Morgan was lumped in with pre-schoolers! She is the only 5yr old and the rest are 3. WAIT! Pushy mom is not crazed by this idea. Next, Madison is usually the one who is hesitant about new situations and Morgan goes full throttle into most every situation. As we enter the church I felt like I was smack dab in the movie freaky friday! Morgan freaks out and swears she does not want to go - she is scared, and just does not have any interest in going. Madison is telling Morgan what fun it will be and on and on. I know I had to have a rather curious look on my face.

Side note, why is the first day of VBS so overwhelmingly disorganized?? I have not attended / worked a VBS yet that the workers didn't seem like they were in desperate need of a stiff drink 10 minutes into the day! Kids everywhere, parents everywhere and the workers just dizzy from all the people.

After finding the pew Madison was to sit in, her teacher was there encouraging and welcoming each child. Comforting, she likes my girl! She may be faking the whole thing but she's convincing me that my girl will be fine with this group of strangers.

Morgan still glued and climbing my pant leg at this point is not happy about being here. We find her pew. One little boy is sitting there - he's 3 and sucking his thumb screaming for mommy. Hmmm. I try to encourage Morgan to cheer him up. her eyes said to me "yeah right". I stood there watching this lady check off names for the pre-school classes and waiting to have Morgan welcomed and adored by...anyone at this point. I saw other teachers doing this everywhere and the lady I thought may have been a secretary since she checked Morgans tag and the other boys tag 4 times now - well turns out she is the teacher. Hmmmm. Not getting a warm fuzzy here.

I talk myself into thinking that I am over reacting. I say to myself "Be strong mom. Don't give in. If you do you will start a trend...she'll be fine. She is a leader." SO I ask the dizzy lady - "are you the teacher of the purple group" yes she says...So I introduce her to Morgan tell her we are new and that Morgan is looking forward to meeting new friends. Morgan chimes in with "not any more momma". I don't think the teacher cared anyway. The snack lady started talking to Morgan giving the old "just go and she will be fine" theory a shot. Well when I came back Morgan was fine and so the day went on.

Today - Morgan is ready for VBS - excited even. She climb in her pew - excited to be the first one. I take Madison to her pew. Morgan is alone. Hmmm. Teacher is a few pews back. I smile and say hello. She looked at Morgan and read her tag - checked her name off. Then walked away. I waited a minute. Then teacher was one pew away - Morgan was fine so I said bye - and walked out. Next thing I know I am IN THE PARKING LOT and who is crying at my leg...MORGAN!!! No adult with her - no one running after her - she is alone in the parking lot!!!!! Momma bear - flipping out now! Nothing had happened, she just wanted me and didn't want to stay. We went back inside - a worker said hi and asked if we signed in - I said yes and Told her about Morgan in the parking lot - she asked who her teacher was and so I pointed her out. she went to the teacher and said - "one of your children is upset" she says - she did fine yesterday. hmmmm. NEVER came over to Morgan, said hello to Morgan...nothing. I sat with Morgan for a bit and when the singing started I began to leave. Teacher came over and I asked if all went okay yesterday she nodded. Told her how Morgan found me in the parking lot - alone. Her response was "some kids take off like that". Hmmm... Every bone in my body wanted to say a few things, and snatch Morgan up and go. I asked her if she could tell Morgan about the fun they were planning for the day...She was vague - I was apparently keeping her. I left and sat in the van for a few minutes, waiting to see if Morgan would be joining me out there. Cried and drove off.

I was set to meet Mark about 45 minutes later - so I needed to kill time. Guess what I found tucked away, off the beaten path, a secret place...

YES!!! I will have a LARGE Caramel Mocha please!!! I sat at a table with a book and just had some alone time. It was nice. I kept looking at my cell phone to see if the church would be calling, then I met a lady who was working with the VBS. She was a floater and took my cell # and said she would check on Morgan. If she was anything but happy, she would call me. Ahh the sweet java never tasted so sweet! I felt the caffeine go into my body like Popeye eating a can of spinach. Wahoo! Then I went to meet my man to help him look at resumes for a secretary - which he is in desperate need of!

I went to the church early to spy - and there was my girl praising Jesus alone. Her teacher was a pew in front of her with 2- 3 year olds and there was a little boy jumping on the pew. There was Morgan doing her best to see upfront so she could sing. I sat 2 rows behind the class and when Morgan saw me she ran over and sat on my lap. Teacher never looked, or made eye contact. Morgan fessed to being in time out. WHAT?!?! She said that the teacher had a bell and she touched it so she had to sit in time out in the hall. I reminded her that she needed to listen. Then I quickly thought about VBS and how busy it it going from Craft to Game time to Music to snack and thought "how long did that teacher have her that she needed to resort to a time out?". I told Morgan I was not worried about it - kissed her and decided that if tomorrow she says she doesn't want to go - she wont. We'll both go get a cup of Joe. :-)

Change of Command

On July 6, 2007 Mark took command of the 52 MOS Squadron. We were all jet lagged and a bit nervous. Mark was the most nervous, but I think he is fabulous and will be an excellent commander. Mark was a little nervous about his speech and I was a lot nervous about the girls and I sitting still on the front row. We sat in this order - Group Commander's wife, me, Madison, Morgan, Marita (who is the honorary Squadron Commander and is German). The girls have been VERY active and I was just not sure how the day would go. We prayed - a lot!

The girls were prepped that this was Daddy's big day, so we all needed to be extra special, so when we arrived they gave Daddy extra special hugs and kisses.

Col Mosley is the MXG commander and Mark's boss. With a smile like this - he's gotta be a nice guy!

The ceremony is neat because it is such a traditional and symbolic event. The National Anthem of Germany & the United States were sung, the honor guard presented the colors, the Group Commander says nice things about the outgoing and incoming commanders, then the outgoing commander says nice things. Then the Squadron gives a final salute and then the Group commander takes the Squadron flag from the outgoing commander and Mark steps forward to receive the flag. After that Mark receives a salute from his new Squadron. Here are some pictures of that - sorry about the view, I had the camera on my lap.

So here is what we get to see when we go to Mark's work - he is a humble man - but I know it has to make him smile a little - I was smiling a lot!! He is a wonderful man that I am extremely proud of! I just love him to bits and am thankful to be on this journey with him!

Cochem Germany

Our first weekend in Germany we went to Cochem. Pronounced cock-hem with a throaty, about to hock a lugi sound in the middle.

It is a beautiful town north that sits next to the Mosel. We parked and took a nice stroll through the town and then a steep hike to the castle. The castle is about 100 meters above the Mosel River. It was built in 1027 as an imperial residence and was rebuilt in the 1800's. It is said that the castle does not have the history of other castles because of that. They did rebuild it as close to the original lay. It is fully furnished and the tour is quite interesting. There was a tower called the Witches Tower that was the only part of the castle that was original. It was from that tower that the rest was modeled after.

The girls were ecstatic to be in a real castle. And see all the fancy furniture. The tour was in German, but I had a handy room by room guide to tell me the details of the different rooms.

I will plan on scrap booking the pictures as soon as possible so when you come to see us you can see the pictures, or go take your own!

Don't the girls look sweet?

Look like authentic tour guides right? Look at the shoes! This tickled me for some reason. I think I was oxygen deprived.

Uncle Tim & Aunt Jenny

One of the favorite things the girls got to do was spend time with their favorite Aunt and Uncle. Okay their only favorite Aunt & Uncle, but I bet if there were others they would be right at the top of the list! The girls are so happy that Uncle Tim married Aunt Jenny they have their favorite playmate as their Aunt! Tim came home a day before Jenny - I think so that he wouldn't have any competition. Once the girls saw Aunt Jenny, the rest of us could have disappeared! She is the star of their days! Speaking of Stars...

While they had Aunt Jenny to themselves, they made a play of "The Panda Family"

In Madison's words "the play was about a Momma Panda and a baby panda that love each other and then adopt a monkey baby. The kids were hungry so the momma fed them some of their favorite leaves." Here are the stars of the show

Madison as Baby Panda

Morgan as Baby monkey

Aunt Jenny as Momma Panda

And Morgan insisted that Tim was daddy monkey

Favorite Pictures

On Tuesday June 26 we boarded our flight to Baltimore for a quick trip to visit family before heading to Germany. Here are a few pictures of that trip.

Madison reading the plane safety rules to her Hippo - She knows all about the planes we fly!

Morgan's reaction when we tell her we have arrived in Maryland!!!

Morgan discovers she likes Milkshakes!! Poor Poppop.

Make me a milkshake Poppop!!

Oh yeah! That's sooooo good!!!

A night of Louisiana

So the night before we head out of Louisiana, we met with some friends to eat at Shane's. No one could believe that I had been in Louisiana for 2 years and had not eaten a Mudbug. Honestly, what in the name sounds remotely appetizing? So we went and Eddie ordered the little mud dwellers. I tried to convince myself that they lived like shrimp. But no. They literaly live in the crappy mud and people just go pick them up and eat 'em. SO here I go. Kristy picked out the biggest one on the tray, I think Eddie said he was saving that one. Oops!

So after hearing the different methods of eating these beasts, I ripped it's tail off, shook off the poop, and got this little piece of meat. Such a large critter for so little meat. Seemed like a waste. Eddie told me how you can suck the heads. Then showed me. My question...WHY?!?!

The evening was great. I cried all the way home. Regretting that after over a year of saying "lets get together for dinner" we took the LAST night to do so. Why do we do that? Why do we allow our lives to get so busy that we limit ourselves to opportunities to fellowship with those that truly bless our lives. Those friends that are genuine. That do what they say. The ones that when you need a hand they really do show up, and are glad to do so. The ones that rejoice with you and cry with you.

Instead we wasted precious time trying to figure out why the people we thought were our friends disappeared when Mark deployed and why we were no longer "good enough" to be invited over. Why all the promises of help while Mark was deployed were never met. What a waste. If only we had opened our eyes to opportunities right in front of us! We learned that just because your kids are the same age, that doesn't mean that you have found your circle of friends. Okay, before I get ugly I am stepping off that soap box.

Moral of the story - seize the day! I am sure that if you look, you will find one night in the next 2 weeks that you can get together with another family. Go ahead, look, and pick up the phone and call someone. Maybe call someone new. If you don't hit it off - you will know and not waste time trying to figure it out - and you can spend more time will be spent with those who can support you!

Friends are important. I think God made friends as a way for us to be reminded of his blessings. He wants us to have friends to support us. Even in his word he tells us about sending his disciples out in pairs "so that if one falls, the other will be there to lift him up".

There are 3 types of friends. friends for life, friends for a season, and friends for a reason. Friends for a season are those relationships that change as you grow and develop your relationships. friends for a reason are those that come into your life for a specific purpose. This makes me think of a girl I met in Georgia who had endometriosis. After hearing her story, it fit some of the things that were going on with my life. With that knowledge and being able to have a friend I could talk to, I was able to go to the right doctor and make it possible to improve my health and for us to have Madison. Friends for life...there are not many of these. These friends you can go years with out talking and pick up the phone and talk like you have been talking everyday. They know you better then you know yourself. They can tell by the sound of your voice what is going on in your day. You get the idea...

So here are some pictures from that great night...Oh and the Mudbugs were not the only Louisiana experiences. I was given my own copy of Steel Magnolias and some fabulous fleur de lis jewelry!!!

Bye bye bike...

After some assertiveness on our part, they agreed to crate the Bike at the house on Friday. Mark gave her one more spit shine and I think he made have shed a tear. The inspection showed that there was not a scratch on it! The crating was quite the ordeal. Mark rode the bike up into the crate and sat on it until they had it all strapped in. Then they shoved paper all around until it wouldn't budge. We shall see how it holds up! Here are some pictures of the final send off of our stuff.

Packing Day 3!!!!

Well, from earlier blogs you know how delighted I was that the packing company made our move a last priority and there were not enough packers to do the job in the allotted time. The girls got creative and Morgan found pleasure in a roll of tape and an empty box. She wrapped that box with so much tape that I think it's water proof. The packers were so impressed that they told Morgan she could have a job with them. Most would shy away from the opportunity, but not Morgan! She was ready to go! She was slapping tape anywhere they would let her!

Madison found solace in an empty box turned cave for her Polly pockets.