This Just In..

Kayleigh has been at summer camp since Monday morning. So far, she's had lot's of candy, sno cones, fun, and yes, a broken arm. Apparently she fell off a top bunk and landed on her arm, breaking it just below the elbow. She's in a soft splint until she gets home, then Monday we go to her DR. to find out if a hard cast is needed. Our church volunteers have done a great job keeping her spirits up. We pondered whether or not we should go get her (my mother was about to head out for Oklahoma herself), but she hasn't requested it and the dr. didn't mandate it, so we're going to see how it plays out. She'll be home tomorrow. In the meantime, she's soaking up all the attention, and playing it cool (with her iced down elbow.).

That's the news. Good Night.

Until I get a cute, sad, picture, this will have to do.

Camp Picture Deliciousness

Cowboy Up...

Why Tim McGraw is one of my Favorite performers...(when I'm in the mood for usin' my spittoon)



He saw the dude hit some chick and took matters into his own hands...

'Tis awesomeness.

Just the pictures for now

I have plenty to say about my weekend with my female Clark counterparts,but for now, enjoy this feature presentation.

H-town

I will be floating amongst America's finest rednecks this weekend. My sister, mom, dad, (hopefully) and I are headed to the Spring River in Hardy, Arkansas. I don't believe we've all been together there since Kristen graduated high school in 2001. (we've all since relocated) It's going to really be a time of reflection on where I came from (I could spew on about what I usually tend to think about my hometown, but I'll skip it for now), and I'm sure we'll go down memory lane. And hopefully I'll have some pictures of the awesomeness. My parents and I leave tonight to go pick up my kid sister (ha).

Pray for Baxter. The girls and he are hanging out all weekend!

thoughts

just want opinions...

Foreign policy architects could benefit from studying Winnie the Pooh and Star Wars, according to a Barack Obama adviser who is set to attend a meeting of the Democratic candidate’s national security work group Wednesday.

Richard Danzig, former Navy secretary under President Clinton, drew several creative and unusual analogies to explain the challenges America faces overseas during a foreign policy conference in Washington, D.C., last week, according to an article in the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

In arguing that the country should back off a policy that causes too much pain, Danzig said, “”Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”

He read a section from the children’s book where Pooh Bear hurts himself going down the steps because he hasn’t stopped to think of another way.

During his address to the Center for New American Security, Danzig also said much can be learned about the motivations of terrorists by looking at, for instance, soccer fans who become absorbed by violence or even the Star Wars movies.

According to the article, Danzig said a terrorist from the 1995 Tokyo nerve gas attack once told him: “We have been raised on a theory of superheroes. We all want to be like Luke Skywalker.”

Danzig argued that anyone who leads a “mundane” life and loses his or her ambition can be tempted by the promises of an extremist group or leader.

Danzig was expected to meet Wednesday as part of Obama’s 13-member Senior Working Group on National Security. It includes former members of Congress and high-ranking Clinton administration officials


FoxNews.com

i feel bad for laughing

Big Daddy Bax

Here's a few reasons that I think Baxter is an awesome Dad...

* Baxter is the one that gets up the most in the middle of the night. He rarely complains, although grumbling can be heard every once and a while.

* He takes the girls on "daddy dates", so that he and his girls can hang out together and give me a break. Their favorite places are Chilis and (you guessed it) Chuck E. Cheese.

* He doesn't cringe at dirty diapers. He'll jump in and take it without me asking.

* He'll be silly for the sake of the girls. If it means giving a ballerina class, or dressing up like a cowboy for birthday parties, he'll do it.

* He sings along to high school musical, and Hannah Montana

* He climbs on top of the refrigerator during hide and seek.

* When reading stories, the girls can always count on him to do the funny voices. I especially like his impersonation of cinderella.

* He disciplines with a firm, but loving hand.

* He supports me as a mom. He knows my limits, and when to step in. He also encourages me when I need to have some time for myself.

* He works extremely hard to support us. Most weeks he puts in at least 50 hours at his full time job, 12 or so hours within our ministry, and still prioritizes time for his girls.

* He's an encourager. When the girls need someone to make them feel like the only girl in the world, they look to their daddy.

* He's probably seen the Barbie movie series about 200 times, but he watches it every time they ask him to.

I'm so blessed to be lucky enough to co-parent with this awesome, goofy, man of God. And I'll keep thanking the Lord every day for the privilege of being this man's wife.

An overflow

This is going to be a longer post tonight. We arrived home today from an incredible week at teen camp. So, if you're busy, please come back later. I want you to be able to read this all at once. (if you care, if not, read on my peeps)

I've never been to a teen camp before, not even when I was a teenager. Well, I take that back, I went to band camp. Not quite the same thing. We talked about tuning and pitch, not salvation and grace. So, this was all a new experience for me.

There are so many things I want to share, and now, while it's all still fresh in my head. This week was an amazing experience for me. I can't even describe it.

When we started out, our group of kids were just 11 kids who knew each other, some are siblings, or brought friends but there was no cohesiveness to the group. We left Sunday, and I'll say I was pretty anxious about getting to know some of these kids. There were girls that I hadn't ever really talked to, and now I had to hang out with them and make sure they had a good time for a whole week. If you know me, I'm not a conversationalist when you first get to know me, so this had me pretty much freaked out.

So we get there, and meet our cabin mates. Most were from Oklahoma (it was their state camp, after all), but there was a small group from Houston. Apparently our churches hang out quite a bit at these functions, but as we're the newbies I didn't know it. So, we became the Texas bunch and pretty much did everything with them the whole week. Luckily for us, they didn't smell too bad. No, I'm kidding. They're quite a group of awesome people. There's Rosa, in particular, the servant hearted, creative, woman of God, whose laugh has the frequency of a jet engine. We're going to be like Laverne and Shirly, or Abbott and Costello, maybe. She lifted me up this week, and I can't thank her enough.

This week, I worshipped like nobody's business. I have to be honest, it's been a while since I've connected in this way. On Tuesday, I was struggling with this. I just couldn't get my head there. So, during my quiet time I just flipped open my devotional bible and here's what it said for me to read...

Psalm 150
Praise the Lord
Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the clash of cymblas, praise him with resounding cymblas. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

This just shook me up. Not only was this just a random "i'm going to just pray and flip open the bible to what God wants me to read" moment but here it was staring me in the face. I have to recognize what and who God is, and respond to it. I got smacked up side the head, and I liked it. Sometimes, we're all just waiting for God to come down and say "hey, look it's me". We don't have to do that. All we have to do is just take a minute, look around for Him, and he's there.
So, here I was, ready to worship in a big way. They got Michael Boggs for worship this week, and it was exactly what I needed. If you can, check out his myspace. He's good.

I'm going to talk about what happened for the kids this week, but my words really won't do it justice. You're going to read it and say, "wow, that's really awesome for them", or "cool", but there's nothing I can say that'll be right for the way it was.

I saw fragile friendships develop. And I know God planted those seeds himself. It had to be Him. They prayed together, and I'm sure shared more than just air space. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out now that we're home.

I saw a student (that does read this blog) behave as an example of the Christ's light. He stood up in front of 100 or more kids and spoke of the Body of Christ. He made them think, and taught them. I'm so proud of him, and I hope he knows that he shines for God.

You know how sometimes, when people are let down one time after another, after another, they build of a giant wall around their hearts? And for some teens, no one expects anything good out of them, so they just don't even try. I saw God break down walls this week. When you are worshipping and you hear God's voice in your head saying "Pray for him, Pray for him" and you know exactly who he's talking about with no idea why you know? This is life changing, people. And then you watch this kid go from a guy who cuts up and talks and texts during worship, to a guy who closes his eyes, and gets down on those knees to tell God something you know he so desperately needs to say, you can really just not even contain yourself. My knees were shaking, and I spent quite a bit of time just awestruck. I've been moved. And I can't go back.

I'm hoping that if you want details, you'll email me. This is just a brushstroke of the picture I can paint for you. It really was a time that I will never EVER forget.

Silly posts about camp to come later.

ConGradulations

Today, I went to the Graduation party of the fabulous Brittney. I've known her since she was 15. I used to think she was quiet, and shy, and timid. Heh heh...
What she is, however, is a creative, talented, generous, wonderful, smartypants.
I'm so proud to have been part of her celebration today. I saw the fruit of enduring love, excellent parenting, and I saw the grace and sweetness of God's love poured into this girl. She's got a rugged,and winding path in front of her. But I also know who laid it all down for her. She's just getting started, and I know that she'll run, not walk, for the goal ahead.

Let us run with patience, the race that is set before us!

Hebrews 12:1


I'm proud of you, little lady!

*p.s. (you better keep your promise!)

Salute your shorts...

"Camp Anawanna, we hold you in our hearts, and when we think about you"...well, if you were a kid of the 90's like me, you know why I won't finish that little diddy.

Tomorrow after church, we'll be headed off to somewhere in Oklahoma for teen camp. This means that it's me, and 5 girls from our youth group hanging out all week. (okay, we'll probably grace the guys with our presence every once and awhile, too). I'm ready. Except, I'm up doing the laundry I should've done this week in preparation for packing. I'm packing five days worth for 2 adults and 3 children (who will be terrorizing my parents while we're gone, kayleigh said so). It's no small task. This is one of the things you really don't think of when you're growing a big family.

So, here's to my trip, here's to the kids, and here's to doing all the clothes all over again when we get back!

Worth a Thousand

my baby's no baby.

Today, my sweet little Kayleigh turns seven years old. She was born on Tuesday, June 5th, at 6:43 p.m. in Fort Smith Arkansas. (After 2 epidurals...)but I digress.

I've gone through all the ropes with her. Bedtime (she slept in our bed until 18 months), tantrums (she didn't have many but when she did, whoa), walking, talking, eating, and, of course, potty training. She taught me how to be a mom.
When I was a first time mom with her, Baxter was busy with school about 50 hours a week, so she was my only real companion during that stage of our life. This little munchkin with these dark, wise, eyes that could always make me feel like I was worth something. We'd stay up late (I'd be watching movies, and she'd be watching me), then we'd sleep late. (this girl is a good sleeper). She rarely left my side. Those moments seem so far away, but I can recall them like they were just an hour ago.

She's my super smart, sensitive, curious, intuitive, talkative, sassy, girl. I think out of all the girls personality, she's got me down. I'm proud to be her mom. I can't wait to see what the next seven years will be like, and I can't believe that she'll be 14 when those next seven are over...

Happy Birthday Kayles!

Space Cadet quote of the day

"Well, the purpose of the surge was to provide a secure space, a time for the political change to occur to accomplish the reconciliation. That didn’t happen. Whatever the military success, and progress that may have been made, the surge didn’t accomplish its goal. And some of the success of the surge is that the goodwill of the Iranians-they decided in Basra when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities-the Iranians"

-Nancy Pelosi

Thank you Iranians,I'm touched by your thoughtfulness. And while we're at at, thank you, Al Qaeda for not ramming any planes into any more of our buildings for almost 7 years. I feel the love.

Some people should just wear tin foil hats on their heads, and their underwear on the outside of their pants, just so we know what kind of nutjobs we're dealing with. But then again, maybe that's what Americans want in their government. Not this American.

Brava, Mrs. Pelosi, Brava.

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Taylor's always been the "girl with long blonde hair". but now after today, she can't claim that title.

She and her best friend took it upon themselves to play beauty shop. (this didn't happen at my house, my friend felt horrible!) Here are the results, via Hannah, miniature stylist, Age 5.









And after my traumatic trip to the salon with my baby girl who had her first haircut today.



Moral of the story: Apparently hair can be flushed down the toilet. I hope. (I guess my neighbor will fill me in soon enough!)

a new woman

she's like every woman after getting a great haircut. she prances around all day, and stares at herself in the mirror every chance she gets.