Praise You In This Storm

Saturday afternoon I started really thinking about this song Praise You In This Storm by Casting Crowns. It's one of my favorites! I have it on my phone for whenever Scott calls. Everytime I hear this song it makes me realize how much I have to be thankful for. I'm so glad God gives me storms to go through! See how much he trusts me! I've heard that saying "God doesn't give you more than you can handle" like a thousand times. It's so true! I know right now I'm struggling and not having very much fun with this whole thing, but I know God has a plan for me and He is going to make a way for us! But let me tell you, sometimes I wish God would let me in on His plans! It would cut back on the amount of tears and stress in my life! I'll just keep listening to this song though!

Life

For the last couple of weeks I've been in a really good. Everything was going great, I was getting a handle on my finances. I was in a good place in my life. Better than ever before. I had to buy new tires for my car unexpectedly, and I was still OK financially. I knew I needed to buy at least one tire which I expected to be about $50.00, but I really needed to replace all four tires. That ended up being $265.14. Way more than I anticipated spending, but I was able to do it and take care of my bills. It made it a little tight, but hey I was OK and I didn't have to ask my Mom for help! I was super pumped about this. I knew God would provide for us. I totally didn't have any extra money to do anything. Well that same weekend, my Mom gave me $50.00. God was so at work there! That gave us some extra money in case we wanted to go watch a movie or get an ice cream or just whatever. I had forgotten about a bill, so that made things even tighter. But we were still OK.

Then on Wednesday when we were at Nelson Park waiting to watch the fireworks, Anoe had to go to the bathroom. So I took her over there. And who did I see? Jason! Alexis' dad. They haven't seen or called Alexis since her birthday! And that was almost two months ago. I know he saw me because I could see him looking at me out of the corner of my eye. I didn't talk to him because I'm a little irritated with the situation. It's been two months and they haven't even called to make sure she's doing OK. I know they're having a hard time, but really they've never had 50 cents to call in the last two months? Yeah I seriously doubt it. I know I'm totally not acting very christian with this, but darn it she is worth a little effort on their part! I've gone way above and beyond what I should to help them. After seeing him I kind of got in a little funk.

On Thursday Jennifer came over for a little while to visit. We talked about my attitude towards the situation some. She's probably right, I should take a more Christian approach to it. Needless to say I was not in a very good mood Thursday. Then on Friday when I was leaving for work I noticed that the "battery" light was on in my car. Everything was working fine though. The battery just got replace late last year too. So I thought maybe the light was just messing up or maybe a fuse or something. Of course the only thing I know about cars is where to put gas. So my diagnoses of course is not very accurate. Well, Friday evening I was taking the girls to the drive in to see Ratatouille, well when after my headlights were on for awhile the lights on the dashboard stopped working. The gauges weren't working either. So I pulled over to see maybe if it was just a fuse. (By the way, Anoe's dad was with us because he was supposed to be taking the girls to the movie. And he can't take them without me being there. I totally don't trust him alone with my kids. Not that he would do anything to harm them. But his idea of what is OK for my children to hear and see and my idea of what is OK for them to hear and see are totally different.) So he replaced a fuse and we thought everything would be OK. I was just going to take him home since I was having problems with my car and I was going to go home then take my car to Auto Zone in the morning so they could test the battery. That didn't happen though. We didn't even get out of the parking lot before the car died. I called my brother and he said he would come and get me. We got it started again, but only went about a block. My brother said he didn't know whether it was the battery or the alternator. I praying it's just the battery. So I had to park my car at Harbor Freight for the night. My brother gave Scott a ride home, then took the girls and me home. He let me use his car today so I could do whatever I needed to do while he's at work. When he gets off at noon we're gonna try to get it to start and take it down to Pep Boys.

I was talking to Jennifer earlier and I told her that I haven't felt the way I'm feeling right now in a really long time. I'm having all these feelings of hopelessness and just yuckyness. I do not like feeling this way!!! All I want to do is lay in my bed and cry. I really need prayers!



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Oh I almost forgot this part! We found out yesterday that my brother and his wife are expecting a baby!!! That was one good thing to happen. And I get to paint and decorate the babies room! I'm really happy about this!!! So I guess not everything is going bad right now!

The 4th of July!!!

I love the entire 4th of July holiday. I love everything about it. What it stands for, what we're celebrating, time off of work, paid time off of work! I really try to make a point of telling the girls why exactly we're celebrating. Not just because it's a Wednesday and we get to sleep in. But the real reason. How lucky we are to have the freedom we do. And how many people have died and will die to give us this freedom. I want my girls to grow up loving and appreciating what they have. All to often we take for granted all the freedoms we have. I think in part that is why I'm so interested in the war and other countries that don't have our freedom. It makes me even more thankful for what I have.

Now, onto another note. I so want to know what everyone is doing for the holiday. My girls and I are going over to my friend Cherry's house for an all day swim/BBQ party. Then in the evening we might go to Nelson Park to watch the fireworks. Not really sure about the evening yet. Oh and we plan on sleeping in and doing a little happy dance! We get to sleep in, hang out with friends all day, and I'll be getting paid for it! This is so the life for me!!!

NRH2O

This past Saturday my kids and I went to the North Richland Hills water park. It was so much fun! It was way family friendly! The girls had so much fun. Anoe's favorite "ride" was the Endless River. I think she liked it so much because she was able to swim under water with her sister. Alexis' favorite ride was the Accelerator. It's a type of slide where you lay on a mat and race down to the bottom. I didn't personally go on it but both of the girls had great big smiles on their faces when they got off. Jennifer and I are planning on going August 11th. I called my brother and hopefully him and Katie will also join us. My awesome friend Cherry and her family might also come. It's going to be so much fun! Now I have something else to get excited about!!!

Vacation

Oh my goodness! I LOVE the beach! It was so awesome. Words don't even begin to describe how beautiful and awesome it was! OK now that I got that out of my system, let me get down to all the details.

DAY 1: TUESDAY
We had planned on leaving Tuesday at noon. Jennifer was going to get off of work at 10:00 to finish a few loose ends and I was getting off at noon. My boss let me leave at 11:00! (Have I mentioned that I have the best boss ever?) OK, so we're getting ready to leave and Jennifer's car won't start. It ended up that her battery was dead and just needed to be charged. We took it down to a local mechanics shop here in Clyde to make sure it was OK. He said it was fine so off we went. We ate at What-a-burger and we were on the road at 1:23! (I was really hoping to be on the road by 1:00 so leaving only being 23 minutes late isn't so bad for us!) So we took TX 36 down to Houston. It was a really beautiful ride! The kids were super good and we made awesome time. My Mom met us in Houston so we could just follow them down to Crystal Beach so we wouldn't get lost or confused. Let me tell you, my Mom's directions suck! So we were pretty confused most of the time. Going over the bridge from Houston to Galveston was amazing! We ate dinner at some place called Saltgrass I think. I don't really know, I was more interested in getting to the beach. By the time we got to the ferry it was dark. I thought we should just stay in the car but nobody else thought so. We went to the top to look out over the edge. Well everyone else did, I kind of clung to the walls. I was totally scared! After the ferry ride from H-E-double hockey sticks, we went to the beach house. It was wonderful! My Mom, Symantha, me and all of the kids went down to the beach. It was dark of course but we could hear the waves and we did get in just far enough for our feet to get wet. It was so much better than I remembered it being.

DAY 2: WEDNESDAY
I had wanted to wake up before sunrise so Anoe and I could watch the sun rise together but that so did not happen. When I did wake up (7:30) I woke up Anoe and asked her if she wanted to go to the beach. She popped right up and said yes. We woke up Alexis and quietly got dressed. I didn't want to wake Jennifer and her kids up. We went down to the beach and it was even better than the night before! We played in the water for awhile and just had fun together. My Mom and Symantha had bought everyone boogie boards so that was a lot of fun too. All of the kids had life jackets so the boogie boards were only for fun. We went out past where the waves were breaking and would let the ocean take us back in. My cheeks were hurting from all the smiling and laughing! Later in the day when it was Low Tide Jennifer and I took the kids out again. We went way out! I don't know how far exactly but when we would look back at the car it was really small. We were able to stand up still! Then all of a sudden the water got really rough and we couldn't stand up anymore. We agreed that we needed to get back in. Well instead of the ocean taking us back in, it was taking us farther out. It was so scary! Nobody even knew we were out there. My Mom and Symantha had gone looking for crabs or something. Just imagine Xander playing with the boogie board like he's riding it or climbing on Jennifer's back or mine. Anoe's wasn't feeling very good and the medicine was wearing off so she was just kind of there. And every time we tried swimming towards shore with the waves, we got pulled back out more. Yeah I was a little freaked out. I found out later Jennifer was scared too. So anyways, we obviously made it to shore and are OK. We learned our lesson about going out to far.

DAY 3: THURSDAY
We went to the beach again in the morning! Then after lunch we rode the ferry to Galveston. The ride was much better this time! My Mom and Symantha went to do something and we took the kids to do something else. We parked on Seawall and walked down to the beach there. It was so different than at Crystal Beach! We were within 250 feet of a pier so we couldn't get in the water. But that was OK. We walked up the shore line a little and found some crabs. We also got to see some sand flees! Not really exciting but in my world it was. Jennifer had bought Kalista some flip flops at the store earlier in the day but they were way to small! So went walked across the street to buy her some shoes that would actually fit her. We also picked up a couple of souvenirs at the store. We went back across the street and thought we would walk out on a pier to look around. Before we could even make it to the gate we were assaulted by the worst smelling crap ever! I don't know what it was but it was awful! It was a pier to fish off of so they charged. And since we had absolutely no interest in fishing we didn't go after all. On the way back to Crystal Beach we stopped and Ben & Jerry's. I got the best ice cream ever made! It's called caramel chunk I think. It was amazing! It was so good I think it must be the only ice cream offered in Heaven! Yeah it was that good!

DAY 4: FRIDAY
My brother, Joey, and his wife, Katie, got in Friday morning sometime around 2:30. Joey, Katie, and I walked down to the beach so they could put their feet in like we had done our first night. When we woke up again, Joey, Anoe, Alexis and I went down to the beach to meet my Mom and Symantha. Joey and I went in with the boogie boards and when the waves would come in we would slam into them. It was so much fun. After awhile Katie, Jennifer, Kalista, and Xander came out. It was so much fun playing with everyone. For lunch we all went to this place called Stingarees. It was so neat there. They had a sign saying that alligators were present! As it turns out the alligators are only there during March and April, but still it was cool. We saw a jelly fish there too. And Xander found a crab on the grass. That night all of the adults played a couple games of Skip Bo. (Katie and I ate some heavenly ice cream!)

DAY 5: SATURDAY
Once again we started the day off at the beach. My Mom got in on the wave action this time. There was a lot of sea weed so Anoe was a little freaked out and wouldn't go in the water. She stayed and played in the sand with Symantha. Alexis came out with us a couple of times but the waves were really strong and it was hard for her so she only stayed out for a little while. You could see the storm coming. It was crazy (in a good way) looking. Symantha, Anoe, and I went up to the house to make lunch. While we were gone Katie actually saved Kalista's life! The waves started getting really rough and Kalista didn't have her life jacket on because her and Alexis were playing close to the shore. I'm not sure exactly how it all happened because I wasn't there, but somehow the waves were hitting Kalista and she could get out from under them to breath and Katie went and saved her! Another major reason I love Katie so much! That afternoon I had decided I had gone long enough without a Carmel Marchiatto. I usually have one 2-3 times a week. And I was going on 9 days without one! Yeah it's an addiction. So Jennifer, all the kids and I went to Galveston in search of a Starbucks. Joey and Katie were on they're way also so we met up. We went to Starbucks which was located in an awesome spot! We walked down a block and all of us took a buggy ride through the historic district. The tour guide was crazy! With the kids right there he was cussing at the horse and calling it stupid. It was bizarre! When he said stupid Anoe turned around and said "He said the "s" word." (Stupid is a bad word in our family) And Xander repeated the part the guy said about the horse having it's head up it's butt. Except the guy said a different word for butt. We (the adults) were trying to hold back our laughter. It was just the craziest most bizarre thing ever! When we were almost done with the buggy ride we saw some people gathered and we thought someone was break dancing because of the music. But it was this guy that was spray painting! I've seen one on the internet before and it was so cool. I bought one of the paintings! Joey is going to make me a frame for it! It was so awesome. It was pretty late when we headed home, but we had a lot of fun!

DAY 5: SUNDAY
We woke up to the chairs on the porch being blown around. The storm that was coming in was beautiful to watch. We hurried down to the beach so we could get some pictures before we left. On the way back to the beach house it started to rain. I started to walk faster so I wouldn't get to wet, oh no that's not how it worked out! It started raining so hard so fast it looked like we all had just jumped in the ocean with our clothes on! It was crazy. It takes the ferry about 20 minutes to make it from one side to the other with maybe a 5 or 10 minute wait. (Longer if after 10:00 p.m. when there is only one ferry running) It took us 2 hours to get across! The line was crazy. I think they were backed up because of the storm that had just come through. I don't know for sure but it took forever to get off the island!

We had a nice trip back. Everyone was tired and ready to get out of the car! This vacation was just what I needed in my life right now. I was able to spend a lot of time with God when I was just floating around in the ocean. It was humbling to just look at the great ocean he had created! And the beautiful storms coming in off the ocean were beautiful to watch.


I'll post pictures as soon as I get them!

My OCD

Anybody that really knows me, knows how much I love for stuff to have a pattern. When I used to work at Becker's Loft my sister and I would literally argue over what menus should be on what table and in what order. All of the menus were identical except for the color of the paper! She so did not care if a table for four had two yellow, one pink, and one orange menu. That so did not work for me! There had to be some kind of order. They all had to be one color, or there could be two of each color or, well, you get the point. There had to be order!!! I'm like this with everything. My DVD's are in alphabetical order, my kids clothes are all hung up with a pair of shorts/pants and shirt on the same hanger. I even went so far as to separate all of Anoe's panties once. All the pinks were in a pile, the whites in a pile, the ones with designs in a pile, and then all of the pastel colored ones with no design in a seperate pile. (These piles didn't last long once Anoe went to get dressed.) It's just craziness. I've gotten a lot better about the DVD's though. I would be in such a bad mood if the movies got out of order. Now I'm just happy if Anoe puts them back with the title showing! Whenever I get really stressed though I still re-organize the DVD's.

Now, what I meant to write about here was my upcoming vacation. We are leaving June 12th at noon to spend a week at Crystal Beach! (Down by Galveston) I'm so excited about this. My kids have never been to the ocean. (This next part Jennifer can never know about. I know she reads this, but I'm just going to pretend that she doesn't!) I have made so many different lists for this vacation it's crazy. It's almost getting on my own nerves! I have a list for what each child will wear each day, what she will sleep in, what shoes go with what outfit. I have a list of exactly where we will stop on the way down there to eat/gas up/stretch our arms and legs, and how long we can spend at each place. I even have printed out three different maps on how to get to where we're going. I have a detailed list of what we will eat for each meal, when we will eat it, and when I need to start cooking so the meal is ready on schedule. Of course I have some other lists for the bedding and toiletries, but I think you get the point of how detailed my lists are. But these lists are necessities, right? Why can't I just let go and enjoy this? In my last post I wrote how much I enjoyed going on "adventures" but I can't just let myself not plan this! When I first started my lists (about 3 months ago) Jennifer told me to stop. She said we would just stop when we needed to and get there when we got there. I mean come on! I NEED order!!! I strive off of order.

I have this major problem with control. Obviously! So, when I get home tonight I'm going to throw away all the "major-can't-live-without" lists! I'll let the kids pick out a couple of outfits, I'll pack them up and not worry about forgetting something. What's the worst that could happen? I mean OK, even if I forget to pack panties or a toothbrush, shampoo or whatever, there's going to be a store right? Right. I'm gonna do this and this vacation is going to be so much fun!

So if anyone wants to pray that I'm able to actually throw away a list or two, that would be great!:)

Adventures and chasing the rain

You know how sometimes you think back to your childhood and you actually remember something fun. Well most of my good childhood memories involves us "chasing the rain" or going on an adventure! Sometimes my Mom would pack all of us kids up (usually whenever she got in a fight with her boyfriend/husband at the time) and we would just go away for the weekend. We called these adventures. We never knew where we were going. We just left! It was like for those few days we got to live a different life almost. I'm not sure if my brother and sister remember it the same way or not, but in my world, we became people we only wished we could be all the time. It felt like people would look at us and say to themselves "Look at that loving family. They're so lucky to have each other." Chasing the rain was a lot of fun too. Growing up in El Paso we didn't really get a lot of rain. But sometimes when we could see rain off in the horizon, we would all pile up in the car and try to find where it was raining. We did this a lot when we lived in Alpine. It was so much fun! About a month ago when I was leaving the block party that was hosted by the Methodist Church here in Clyde, I could see where it was raining off someplace far away. It made me think of my childhood. I want my kids to have those good memories of us doing fun stuff together. So we set out to find the rain. It was a lot more fun than I remembered! The girls were so excited. We turned off the main highway and were going down some back roads somewhere, when I noticed that the road was muddy and not asphalt anymore. So I tried slowing down but we just kept going. The girls were laughing hysterically! We kind of got stuck, but we were able to get out without any help. Which is good since I have no clue where we were. We weren't able to find the rain, but we sure did have a lot of fun. Anoe still asks if we can chase the rain when she sees clouds in the sky. I love making good memories with my girls.