Still Here

I will finish "My Story" soon but just have not had a chance to get it on here. The last few weeks have just confirmed to me that life in America can be crazy and feel like a rat race. Some days we are home and playing with the girls and other days it seems the list of things to do never ends!

What have we been up to? Well, we have spoken several times this past week in different Bible fellowship groups. Marc is the speaker of our family. I get so sick and nervous. Ugh. We have spent lots of time with my family (i.e Basketball games) and Marc's brother's family which has been so fun. I've started going to a women's Bible study at church and we've made lots of trips to Sonic.

What is coming up next for us? We are having a Valentine Party with my sister-in-law and the cousins this week. The girls have heard and read about V-Day here in the states but this year they wanted to make cards and eat American candy. *grin* We are having Addison's FIRST Birthday party on Sunday, the 14th because that is the only time we can do it! We are going to Beaumont, TX to speak the next weekend, then Addison's actual birthday is on the 22nd, then Marc and I leave for South Africa 4 days later. So we have lots to do!!! We are very excited about going to see Marc's family but also sad about leaving the girls for 12 days. We've never left them for that long and so help me if Addison takes her first steps while I'm gone. I might not recover. I'm trying to focus on the fun we will have- us, Marc's brother and sister-in-law and Marc's parents- no kids for 12 days touring J-Burg and Cape Town, going on a safari and just enjoying being together! (Please Lord, don't let Addison take her first steps or let me be okay with it if it does happen. Amen.)

After our big trip to SA we will have one more trip to Atlanta, GA to see some of Marc's family and then I think we are staying put! These 6 months are sure going to fly by!

I'm so tired, I'm not even sure if any of this makes sense or has correct grammar and punctuation. I'm sorry.

My Story, Part 1

As a ten year old girl sitting in GA's one Wednesday night, I prayed God would not send me to Africa. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, in fact, my Grandpa was a Southern Baptist preacher. My parents made me go to GA's each week even though I protested. I learned about missionaries all over the world, prayed for them and even made little craft projects but I still never thought in a million years that God would ask me to live overseas. It never crossed my mind. I was quite happy where I was.

I met several MK's (Missionary's Kids) during my college years at OBU. I always thought they were interesting people. Not at all like me. They were well-rounded (well most of them) happily adjusted (yes, most of them) and they seem to have a bond which each other that I would never understand. One MK in particular caught my eye. I knew of him and sat near him in the cafeteria. The first thing I learned about him was that he was an MK ...from Africa. Did he live in a grass hut? (I'm not even kidding, I seriously wondered this!) I wondered what God was up to. Didn't He remember that I had prayed that prayer in GA's 9 years ago? Not Africa, Lord, not Africa.

His MK friends teased me mercilessly. This was an interesting group of people- and I felt like an outsider many times. They had their own private jokes and they would speak in French (or Spanish). I was just a girl from Dallas working towards getting a teaching degree. In spite of all this, I fell in love with this MK from Africa but still never once considered the thought that we would live overseas. Oh wait, there was one moment where he told me about traveling through the UK when he was in high school and saw a need for youth workers. I thought that was so noble of him and yes it would be so romantic to live in the UK. Rolling hills of green lush grass and hot tea. Sounds lovely. But it'll never happen.

You are Amazing God!

This morning we were in need of some loud praise and worship in our home. Ahem.

So, I turned on Chris Tomlin's Indescribable and the girls started dancing. It was so precious. Then, I scooped up chubby Addison and started twirling her around and just as the phrase played "you are amazing God" Addison threw her head back, belly laughed with everything in her and all I could see was her chubby cheeks and big teeth, and I was overcome...all I could say was "YES, you ARE amazing God, thank you!"

Wherever you are today, know that your God is amazing, He knows the names of the stars and He loves you.

I hope you get a good belly laugh today.


Siesta Scripture Memory Event 2010

I'm still trying to soak in all that happened this weekend in Houston. I really enjoyed everything- from the driving back and forth with Marc to hearing Beth Moore speak in person.

We arrived in Houston Friday afternoon and went straight to our hotel room, changed clothes and then we walked around The Galleria- that is some mall y'all! We also ate dinner there but I could hardly eat a thing because I was so nervous. I met my dear friend, Tracey, at the church just before everything got started. Tracey was my mentor (although we never called it that back then!) during college and she led me in my first in depth Bible study at FBC Arkadelphia. She was also with me when I went to my first Living Proof Live back in 1999. So, it was fitting and so special for us to participate in this event together! We both started memorizing scripture in January this past year through the Living Proof Blog but it was not until later summer that we both realized the other one was participating too! I think it was back in August that we agreed to meet in Houston for this event!

Another highlight from the weekend was meeting and visiting with Amanda- Beth Moore's daughter. She is every bit as sweet as you would think she is! I just wished we could have talked longer. Her and her husband spent some time in England and so we shared that common bond and our love for PG Tips tea. Thanks Amanda!

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Another funny thing was that as I took a picture with Amanda, standing right there was Big Mama- or Melanie. She was real sweet too and I got to snap a quick picture. Her blog is one of the first three I ever read back in 2006.

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All of that before I even saw Beth Moore, y'all! Ha. We got to worship with Travis Cottrell just before Beth spoke to us, which was wonderful. I was so thrilled to be seeing her in person and not on my computer screen! She spoke from Psalm 119 and it was just what I needed. I'm not kidding when I tell you that just before this at dinner with Marc I said, "I just wish I could hear from God tonight, you know, something that I KNOW He is saying to me" and then said something similar to Tracey just before it started. As Beth was speaking that night, Tracey leaned over to me and "She's all up in your business Charity!" No joke. He did have something specific for me and on Saturday at the end of the conference, I could not stop crying. It was just such a neat time.

Ok, here's Beth. All my other pictures are too blurry. There was a meet and greet on Friday night, but who knew that the other 500 women there wanted to meet her too! Ha. So, this was as close as I got, but I'm cool with that. I was seriously just happy to be in the room.

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And, the whole reason we were there was to say our scriptures that we had learned throughout the year. We memorized two a month, so that would be 24. We had to say a minimum of 10 to be there and I said just 11. I know, I know, I could have done much better and Tracey knew all 24 of hers of course! Beth asked this weekend if we felt like if anyone ever found our little spiral of scripture that they would know everything about our year. I did feel like that, because of course we choose verses that pertain to what we are walking through. Mine were a lot from Isaiah and Psalms and all had something to do with fear and God's help. Here is a picture from the church's courtyard area where we all paired up and said our verses.

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And finally, me and Tracey. I just love her. Her sweet Arkansas accent just blessed me so much and I just loved sitting next to her all weekend. Thank you Tracey for meeting me there!

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This weekend will most definitely be a highlight of our stateside time! Thank you Amanda, Melissa and Beth Moore for inviting us to memorize scripture with you and all of her staff for putting this wonderful event together!

The View

Driving to Houston- Sonic drinks and going over my verses! I also did some singing along to some old country songs that I found on the radio. Marc just laughed at me, but it sure was fun!

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The huge, wide open, BLUE sky of Texas...love it!

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I'm! So! Excited!

Houston

So, tomorrow we will drop the girls off at my parent's house and drive to Houston! 4 hours (or so Marc says) of un-interrupted conversation with my man, hopefully a Sonic drink and lots of fun!

This past year through Living Proof's Blog, I participated in memorizing 2 Bible verses a month- you can read about it here. There is a celebration event at Beth Moore's home church in Houston and I am very excited to be going- it's perfect timing since I'm here in Dallas otherwise I would not be able to attend! I once heard Beth Moore speak back in 1999 while I was still in college (university). She did a conference at First Baptist Carrollton back then and it was really neat.

The celebration event will be tomorrow night and Saturday morning, so not long, but I am still excited about some alone time with Marc. I know the girls will have fun with my parents so I don't have to worry about them either! Also, can I just say that I'm feeling rather ugly and not cute? I know everyone in Houston will be all precious and cute and I feel frumpy and don't have cute clothes. Yes, I know there are way bigger things in life, but it's nice to feel cute every once in a while. Everyone seems to be wearing cute jeans and boots- well I won't be wearing my boots. I dress practically in Wales- waterproof gear and waterproof boots. There is no way I'm walking into that church in my big ole wellie boots! Ha. We are going to over to my sister-in-law's house tonight for dinner so maybe I'll go shopping in her closet and find something cute to wear this weekend. But anyway, it will be a nice weekend regardless of cute clothes or not.

I'll update once we get back! Have a great weekend!

We've Been Busy!

I feel almost ridiculous for posting such a trivial post while there is so much devastation and hurt going on in the world: Haiti. I'm almost embarrassed. But this is for the grandparents. So you don't have to keep reading.

Just a few pictures from our Disney World experience the last few days:

The girls and Sleeping Beauty

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Cinderella

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We went to Storytime with Belle, and she was hands down the best princess ever. She was so sweet, so kind and actually made you feel like she really wanted to talk to your children. I got all misty-eyed. Weird, I know.

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Waiting for the parade! (It had been a long day!!!)

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Yesterday we went to Animal Kingdom, it has changed a lot in the last 12 years- we were there on our honeymoon and it had just opened and it was our least favorite park because it had only a few things to do. I think we actually left and ended up at a water park that day.

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I'll post some more later. I need to get everyone ready and get our things packed up. We fly back to Dallas tonight. We had a great week last week at a conference with other people who do what we do. :) It was so encouraging and fun. We have also had some great family time in Orlando. We have stayed with some friends of ours and they kept Addison for us while we did all the parks. It was so great to be just us 4 for the day and ride everything together! I could tell the girls were just soaking up Mommy and Daddy time!

I'm able to attend a special conference in Houston this weekend with Beth Moore and I have not let myself get too excited until NOW. I had to get through last week and this week, but now I'm ready! There will be about 500 people there, which is smaller than her normal Living Proof Live conferences, so this should be FUN. Marc and I are driving down there Friday morning and will be back Saturday night. I'm looking forward to some alone time with Marc while we drive! (And I think he's looking forward to some alone time while I'm at the conference, especially after our conference this past week, Disney with us girls and then driving to Houston....I will try to keep my words to a minimal.) Should be fun!

Please keep praying for Haiti.

Birthday Celebrations

Did I mention I got a leopard print Snuggie for Christmas? I LOVE IT. Yes, I know it's dorky and I made fun of them at first, but they are warm! It's like 18 degrees right now in McKinney, wind chill of 9. It's very cold and I'm very thankful for my Snuggie.

This morning the girls and I had a playdate at a friend's house- a girl I went to high school with and her 2 girls, and another girl from high school and her little boy. We had a fun time and it was nice to catch up on their lives! (Hi Jenn!)

Tonight was my Birthday dinner and while we were thinking about doing something really fun- nothing was coming to mind. But doing something big and crazy is not us at all really, so we chose an Italian place, Maggiano's for dinner and then went to my Dad and little brother's basketball game! It was the perfect night, a special dinner with my man, a stop at Costco for diapers and wipes, and then on to the game with family! There was no other place I'd rather be tonight than sitting next to my mom cheering my Dad and brother on! Sadly, they lost by 5 points.

Here's Caleb before the game-

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Maggiano's- YUM

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Sorry these pictures are out of sequence- on my actual birthday, the 7th, while I was at the doctor with Addison my mom and the girls made a cake for me.

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I love it!

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Happy 33rd To Me

33? Really? Let's move on.

Today was Addison's turn at the doctor! What a lovely birthday present, spending 2 hours getting her check-up done and shots and bloodwork. She did great, cried a little for shots and a lot for having bloodwork done. Poor baby girl.

Here are her stats at 10.5 months old :

Length: 29.5 inches, 80%
Weight: 19 lbs. 14 oz., 50%

I'm a little shocked at her weight and was slightly alarmed, that's only a few ounces since end of October. What the heck? But our doc was very reassuring and calm and was not worried. I even weaned her onto formula (long story for another day, and yes I'm slightly sad about it, but slightly happy) 3 weeks ago- just as we were moving here, not good timing folks. Anyway, I thought for sure that formula was bulking her up, she even felt heavier! And she's eating pretty much anything you put in front of her, so who knows. What I do know is that she is crawling all over the place, pulling up on everything and never, ever sits still. So she must be burning those calories right off as fast as she can.

As I was saying on my Facebook tonight, I win wife of the year award because I was okay with Marc going over to my parent's house to watch the big football game tonight...leaving me alone on my birthday. It was fine though, seriously, I needed some alone time anyway.

After Addison's appointment today we had lunch at my mom's and then had some birthday cake that they had made while were gone. It was yummy! Pictures to come soon! I got a new robe from Bath and Body Works from my mom along with some new kitchen things! Marc got me my favorite Bible study ever, it's been updated- it's Breaking Free by Beth Moore. I did this when it first came out 10 years ago and God used it in a huge way to set me free from the stronghold of fear. I've felt it trying to creep back over this past year, so it's exactly what I need right now! When Marc left tonight I listened to the introductory session, sitting in the recliner by the fire, it was perfect! Tomorrow night we will be going out to dinner, still not sure where yet, too many choices!!! Then we will head to my Dad and little brother's basketball game...sans kids!

We are off to Richmond, VA on Monday for a week, then Orlando, Florida for a few days, (Shh, we are going to Disney but the girls don't know it) and then Marc and I will be going to Houston for one night- more on that later! Busy month of January!

Have a WARM weekend!

Long and Random...Again

Well, hard to believe we have only been here for 2 weeks! It seems like a lot longer for some reason. We are all moved into the house and we visited the church on Sunday- Here is a random picture from the front of the church-

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The girls, packed into "The Merk"- this car is allowing all of us to practice patience and a loving attitude. It's hard to get them all buckled because the seats are so close together, so it takes me a good 5 minutes to get everyone in. And we are learning to keep little hands and feet to ourselves. Addison needs to learn this lesson soon because she thinks it's funny to get a reaction out Bailey, so she keeps smacking her in the face with her foot and laughing.

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It's been a lot colder here than I remembered. Ha. It's suppose to be super cold this weekend, so we got some firewood and have been enjoying a fire each night after the girls are in bed.

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A good ole Texas sunset from our backyard, love it!

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Ok, this is for you Anna- you know how small our fridge is in Wales, this thing is huge!! I have an ice maker (best thing ever!) and the sweet people that keep this house up even stocked the freezer, fridge and pantry for us! No kidding. The only thing I added was my Blue Bell. :)

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After church yesterday, all 3 girls refused naps for some reason even though they were desperately in need of them! So that evening we drove up to Stonebriar Mall in Frisco to play and walk around. I just love that we can do this. I love the mall. Can I just say that I got fleece pj's for all 3 girls at The Children's Place for $4.99 each. $4.99! Insane. And I found a pair of Lands End jeans that I love for $15.00 on clearance.

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Today was a traumatic day. Although you can't tell from this awesome picture.

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We took the big girls for their check-up and complete physicals. They did great for the check-up part, I was so proud and thought we had made it through without any tears. Until the doctor told us that they needed 6 shots between them and 2 TB skin tests- the kind where they stick a needle under your skin on your arm and you go back to have it read 48 hours later. Oh, and we had to go to the lab for bloodwork. Marc was the only one that had not cried by the end of the day. We separated the girls and I went with Cerys, Marc stayed with Bailey. We could hear the other child crying in each room. It was madness. Bailey did good, she cried but did not fight it. Cerys on the other hand, bless her heart. She's just trying to defend herself, but it's hard to make her realize that there is now way around this! Cerys had to get 4 shots, plus the TB test. After the skin test, the nurse left the room and I was trying to calm her down, she says to me, "Mom, I don't like this, this really makes me want to stick out my tongue at her (the nurse) and kick her." I was trying so hard not to laugh, and I told her that I know it's not fun and it's okay to be upset. I told her we could not stick out our tongue at the nurse or kick her, so if she needed to stick out her tongue or kick the floor to just go ahead and do it before the nurse came back into the room. Ha. I looked at her she was sticking out her tongue over and over while looking around the room. I asked her if she felt better and she just started crying. Bless her heart, she was so upset.

We made it through all the shots and then had to go to the lab for bloodwork. More tears. I had to hold Cerys down while she was screaming NO at the nurse who was trying to stick a needle in her vein. It took a few minutes but we got it done and I just felt so bad for Cerys, so embarrassed, and felt sorry for the nurses. As soon as she was done she just fell back in to me and we both started crying. I made Marc go in with Bailey and she was screaming too, but did not fight it. We got in the car after that and drove to McDonald's for chocolate shakes. Then they both fell asleep in the car on the way home. It was a rough day. Addison has her check-up on Thursday, but at least she will be unsuspecting. Not sure what is worse! I'll probably cry for her too.

Anyway, that was long- sorry. And here are the girls' stats for the grandparents:

Cerys: 45 1/2 inches tall (95%) and 41 pounds (50-75%)

Bailey: 38 3/4 inches tall (75%) and 31 pounds (50%)

Bailey has gained 4 pounds and grown 3 inches since last April when we were here!

Ok, have a good week. I'm going to go recover from this day with some Blue Bell.
Posterous theme by Cory Watilo