Jonas' baptism

It was a party, here on Earth and in Heaven! It was great to have over 100 people at the baptism celebration. Not all for Jonas, of course, as 3 other kids were baptized, but everyone rejoiced equally for each of the children. Not sure if you can hear it in the video, but Jonas was so ready to be baptized that he didn't even let Cameron finish his questions to affirm Jonas' decision. Yes, I cried, and so did Craig (Carleigh did too, but only because she couldn't get in the pool when it was over....)

Two of the other kids, Trey and Chase, are in the Sunday school class I teach at The Springs. I teared up for those guys, too. I absolutely love being a part of the spiritual growth of my children and of the children at The Springs!!! Thank you, God, for bringing us to the Bay area and for leading us to The Springs!

Jonas wasted no time in evangalizing our cul-de-sac. We met two of the other neighbors and each one of them was informed of Jonas' baptism, why he was doing it, and they were invited and encouraged to join the celebration. All by Jonas. I have to catch up!

So much to say

Wow- what a weekend. I have so much to blog about, but no time this morning (I am playing catch up at work since I missed Friday). But coming soon-

• Dolly's effect on the Valley and people I love
• Our new house
• Jonas' baptism

Our God is so BIG!

So far with this move, we have dealt with a realtor. We knew the owner of the house had moved to another neighborhood in League City, but that was the extent of that. Today I met the realtor and the landlord. Tammie is nice and very sweet and we had a good chat. While we were talking, she described where they now live. "So you live next door to the Simmons?" I asked. "Yes, how did you know that?" And I explained that they now live NEXT DOOR to my pastor and his family!!! How crazy! To think that they moved out of the house we are now living in to live next door to Cameron and Elizabeth! I couldn't feel more at peace about what we are doing, now more than ever.

FULL weekend ahead! (and Dolly went to visit my parents)

My parents live in the Rio Grande Valley and are sitting through probably their 15th hurricane ever. So far Dolly has been "less eventful than most Northers" says my mom. Good to hear! We had some good rain last night that may be an effect of Dolly, but no complaints here. Jonas, who has always been spooked by thunder, ended up in our bed around 4:00 and Carleigh woke up at 7:00 oblivious to the whole thing.

Friday starts our crazy wonderful weekend. We are going to load up a UHaul with the biggest stuff Friday evening (we're meeting at the apartment around 5:30, for any of you who want to help- you will be fed!). We will unload that truck as soon as we can at the new house, and anything that doesn't make it on the truck will be moved over the next week in our own vehicles. That's a very nice thing about having a week of overlap- no real rush.

Saturday morning Jonas has his last swim meet on the other side of Houston, so we can write off 6 hours of Saturday. Craig works Saturday morning, so no one will be in either house until after 1:00! Then the boys are going to a Monster Truck Rally Saturday night, and Carleigh is going to a Hannah Montana party. That gives us about 3 hours on Saturday to do anything involved with moving!

Then Sunday--- blah blah blah for most the day- I'm sure we will make a few runs from the apartment to the house, and we will unpack a few boxes, put a few beds together. But the most important thing of all happens that evening. Jonas is being baptised! It'll be a wonderful end to a busy weekend. I can't wait to see it, and I will definitely post pictures of that!!!

The Mag Seven, er, Five, Ride Again!

Ahhhh- can you hear the relaxation in my typing? It comes from 2.5 days of no work, no kids, a few adult beverages, good food, tons of sun, and the best friends I've had since I was in 3rd grade. We call ourselves the Magnificent Seven (alas, two did not make it this year- Jenny and Christy) and have attempted to get together at least once each year. This weekend was spent on Galveston Island with Jodi, Sara, Julianne, and Genevieve. We stayed at a friends' beach house and only left to eat out Saturday night. Julianne is pregnant with her second son so we had a built in designated driver (and the irony is no one drank when we did leave the house!) but it was nice to know, just in case. We laughed so much at old stories and new adventures my face hurt by the end of Sunday afternoon! We are now old enough to be comfortable enough around each other that there are no taboo subjects. Yes, we passed around pictures of our respective kids and pets, but that was the extent of outside intrusions~

I thank God for these women. I don't know a lot of people who can say they are still in touch with 6 people they went to grade school with, much less spend a weekend together ever year. I know we are blessed.

NOTE: I wanted to include a picture of our group, but I didn't manage to get more than two people in a picture at a time, and those aren't flattering! Maybe one of the other girls will send some to me and I can upload them then.

My kids- rock stars?

The kids put on a concert for me the other day, and I have to share it with you. Jonas LOVES the Newsboys, as previous posts should reveal. He wants to learn how to play the guitar and we've told him he needs to wait a few years, but he has one he fiddles around with anyway. Carleigh, well, you'll see.

Jonas' first first!

Jonas won first today in the 25 meter freestyle! It's the first time he has ever finished first. So proud!

Maybe today?

I looked at a rent house last night that is wonderful, and available when we need it, and beautiful. We should find out today if they will lease it to us. I really like this house, and it feeds in to a great school, and I pray that it works out. I'll let you know!

UPDATE:
It's ours! We have a place to live! Praise God! I am so happy! Please pray that God will use us in that neighborhood and He will be known through our love for our neighbors. Oh- and if you want to help get us off to a great start, make room on your calendar. We can move in the 25th, and any extra movers will be greatly appreciated!

Our roller coaster life

Maybe it has always been like this, but I honestly don't remember a time in my life that has been this caddy-whompis (no- that isn't a real word, and no, that probably isn't the correct spelling of said fake word, but it works for me right now). Up down, up down. And around and around we go. We pulled the contract on that house, as we just didn't feel like it was worth the trouble we were having to go through. We have made up our mind that we will be renting for at least a few more years. We want to rent a house, though, so we will find one of those this week. Our prayer is that our debt will continue to decrease and that before we know it we'll be ready to jump through all the appropriate hoops to get in to a house we truly want.

I have to tell a story on myself. It made me laugh out loud, but that isn't saying you'll find it funny. But maybe you will. I was putting away dishes a few nights ago and thinking to myself about God's promise to fill our cups until they are running over. There is a song on my i-Pod that says "Fill my cup to the top with running water" and I was humming it, too. I realized that I still had 4 or 5 cups to put away and not enough room for them all in the cabinet. I tried to put one more, and a bunch spilled out. So maybe the song and verse is wrong- maybe it is "my cups runneth over" meaning God promised us more cups than we could ever use!

Yep- it was funnier standing there in the kitchen. But it made me laugh and relieved some of the tension I had been carrying.

What a week

Heavy stuff, lots of stuff, stuff stuff stuff. We put an offer on 2027 Fairfield Ct S, and they have accepted it! But we got the inspection report yesterday, and man oh man- not so sure if what we see is enough to be worried about or not. Getting second (and third) opinions now, and we will see what happens. Best case scenario- we close on 7/24! Worst case- I don't even know what that is. But it isn't a cardboard box on the side of the highway, so I shouldn't have any worries.

Work has been horrible. So many people pulling me in so many directions, and I haven't learned the art of saying "no".

I feel like I haven't said 10 words to Craig in the past two weeks that aren't about the house. He even took his shirts to the dry cleaner and brought them home again, ALL WITHOUT ME NOTICING. This is huge, since I normally take and pick up his shirts. Where was I?

This morning as I drove Jonas to swim practice, there was the most amazing cloud formation in front of me. I drove directly toward it for 90% of the drive, due East, and the sun was rising behind it. Simply breathtaking! By the time I got back in my car and started home, it had broken up, and I was sad. Thank you God for a peek at Your awesomeness this morning. Please give me peace today- remind me to breathe in and out, and focus on You, and not some house or some boss. Let me love my children well, and not lose my temper over small things.