Church Fall Festival

Last night we had our Fall Festival at church. The kids played lots of games, ate a truck load of junk, drank liters of coke, won several prizes, and brought home gobs of candy. I had to work a booth at the Fall Festival, but someone else did take my camera around for a few minutes and get a few pictures. Some of them are blurry, but they are better than none at all.

Abbie, Hannah (Chloe's friend from school), Chloe, and BryslynnJustus got a football painted on his face. Asher fishing at the Go Fish game.

Raul walked Justus around since Aaron and I were both in a booth.
The girls doing the Cake Walk. Chloe won some cupcakes. Abbie and Hannah brought home cookies.

Look at Justus' face. He is thrilled about all of the candy in his bag.

After the festival, Chloe had a friend spend the night. I popped some popcorn, and they watched movies in the living room. There were sounds of giggling girls until about 4 something this morning. This is what the living room looks like first thing this morning.

Today we are going to Pensacola to visit Kayla at PCC. We are going to take her out to eat, go see the Lighthouse, go bowling and go ice skating at the Sports Center. There will be more pics soon.

Guess What I Saw

They do exist down here in AL. They are just few and far between. But I got a rare sighting! I am thankful I got to see some fall leaves. I took a picture just in case no one believed me. :)
Here are a couple of shots of Justus too.

Typical Day

The weather is absolutely beautiful down here right now! It is bright and sunny outside with a little breeze. The temperature is 75. It is gorgeous! I am trying to enjoy it. Unfortunately I have had a tendency here lately to be negative about the weather rather than enjoy it, because it is not very fall like. I LOVE the crisp fall air, and I have been missing it. BUT.... I need to not focus on the negative and see the positive. I am thankful that we are not freezing down here.

My praise for the day is that Justus seems to be much better! He has had a very good day. I have only heard him cough one time!!

We are doing the usual stuff around here today. I went to school. After school I went on a few hospital visits with Aaron. We grabbed a salad for lunch. I am going to go get the kids from school. Then I will get some more work done for the children's play at church. Tonight we will go to church.

Pictures That Should Already Be Posted

Justus' 2nd Birthday Dinner at O'Charley's with some friends from church. Notice that all of my kids have food hanging out of their mouths.Justus really got into the birthday cake.

At home he kept sneaking into the cupcakes and eating them. Look at how happy he is though.

However, by the time we got around to the singing at home, this is all that was left of the cupcakes--some crumbs.

Justus loves playing his new piano.

Justus opening his new preschool computer.

Later on, this is how I found these two. They had grabbed pizza without asking and decided to just lay on the couch and eat it. What were they thinking? They aren't allowed to eat in the living room. I am sure that this is the first of many more pics to come in the years ahead of my two boys on the couch eating pizza and watching t.v.

The girls in their new monogrammed church dresses.

I got a great deal on these--only $20.

The girls with their friends from church. Kirsten, Abbie, Chloe, and Bryslynn.

A week ago there was a bad accident in our neighborhood. This is the view of the helicopter from my front porch. Even though it was a tragic event, it was the neatest thing to have a helicopter land in our front yard.

JUSTUS

Justus had a pretty good night last night. He only woke up once! I sure do hope that this means we are coming to an end of this fight with RSV. I am thankful that he is much better. It was scary for a few days. RSV is not something to mess around with.

Today is suppose to be a plain and normal day around here. I am going to school this morning. We have a special games and chapel week at school this week, so I don't even have to teach today or Friday. I just get to go and to watch the kids be silly and to listen to the preaching. Then I am coming home to just be home and to do mommy/wifey stuff. Those are the best days. As long as nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to post some pics on here today.

Eventful Monday

Today I started my first week of not teaching the Geometry class anymore!! I am sooooooo excited about that one!! I am an English teacher not a Geometry teacher. A math teacher finally became available to take the class off of my hands!! No longer will I be studying for an hour or more each night just to go in and teach the next day's lesson. Plus, I am now home everyday by 10:30. NO MORE GEOMETRY is what I am thankful for today.

After I taught my classes today, I went to a big children's clothing sale with Cate, a lady from our church, and out to lunch at a local diner. I enjoy going to diners. The food was so good, and there was a lot of it. Aaron kept the kids for us while we went shopping.

I am tutoring again also. I tutor for one hour on Monday and one hour on Thursday and an occasional extra hour. I make $20 an hour for tutoring, so it is a little extra spending money each week. I am using it to buy the kids' winter church clothes and some Christmas presents.

One thing I haven't mentioned on here yet is Justus' sickness. He has had a rough week. Last Wednesday night his fever shot up to 106. He got to a point where he wouldn't wake up and respond to me. We took him to the ER. He tested positive for RSV. He also has tonsillitis. His fever stayed up around 103 until Friday night. He was also vomitting and having awful diarrhea. He is now on some breathing treatments a couple of times a day. He does alright during the day now, but the nights are rough. His breathing is more labored at night. Today has been a good day for him though, so maybe tonight will be too.

Tonight Aaron is at the Saints Monday night game in New Orleans. He went with Joe, Cate's husband. I am at home with all of the youngins. Aaron rented a carpet cleaner for the day, so I am off to clean some carpet. Have a good night.

IT'S NOVEMBER!!!

First, yes, I must address the fact that I haven't posted on here in over a month. OH MY!! It has been a long time. I have been really busy with our life at home, church, and school. There are so many things to catch you up on that I don't even know where to begin, so I just won't right now. I will post some of the pictures that you missed out on--like Justus' birthday. I can't believe I didn't post any. I will try to be-no, I will be- much better from now on. I will at least post once a week. I use to be good about posting every day. So let me do this.... I will post something everyday. I will at least post one thing that I am thankful for everyday.

I really enjoy the month of November. The weather is cool and crisp--Well, sort of. Down here in lower AL that is questionable. I bake lots of yummy goodies in the kitchen during November and December. It is the one time of year that I really get into the baking. I already started this past week I made cute little sugar cookies in fall shapes, miniature pumpkin pies, and regular pumpkin pies. This coming week I am going to make pumpkin rolls and some more sugar cookies. We eat lots of the goodies ourselves, and we give some of them away as gifts.

I have already started the Christmas shopping. I want to have the majority of it bought and wrapped by Thanksgiving! However, the rest of it I will get during those really good sales after Thanksgiving. I am also making a few gifts for Christmas this year. Those homemade ones are the best anyway--more thought, time, and effort goes into those.

My thankful thought #1-I am thankful that I got to turn my calendar to November today!!

Having Fun in Lower Alabama

This past Sunday night I had nursery duty, so I snapped a couple of shots (not good ones) of Justus and his nursery buddies. Justus is the oldest. The other boys are all 15-16 months old.
We also squeezed in a family mall trip. The kids rode the carousel.

Everything is business as usual around here-busyness! We have many upcoming events at the church. Several ladies' and I are attending the Deep South Ladies' Conference this Friday and Saturday. I am looking forward to it. It is being held at our school's home church. There will be about 300 other women there. The theme is "Under Construction." In a couple of weeks I have another ladies' LIFT meeting. My theme this time is "Turn Up the Heat." The focus will be on not being a lukewarm christian. The decorations and food will all be chili peppers/Mexican. The other events coming up mostly have to do with the holidays--from Fall Festival to Thanksgiving Service and Meal to Christmas Pageant to Choir Cantata to New Year's Watchnight Service to Valentine's Banquet to February Missions Fundraiser to April Missions Trip. WOW!! What a list!!

School--I had one student slap another student today in my homeroom!! The thing is it wasn't a girl that slapped someone. A boy slapped another boy. Then we had a student have a seizure during chapel today. He is fine and doing well. He has had problems with seizures for sometime. Needless to say, it was an eventful day!!

Progress reports came out yesterday. Chloe did alright she had 4 A's and 3 B's. That is not her best. We found out that her B's (other than penmanship--she has terrible writing) are due to her not completing her homework. She also received one "Needs Improvement" check and the rest "Satisfactory" on her conduct/participation/attitude. She has lost her t.v. privileges until this improves. We have 3 weeks until report cards come out. Abigail did very well. She got all A's and all Excellents in her conduct/participation/attitude. The results from the progress reports are sort of ironic to us, because we have lots of problems from Abbie at home right now and hardly any from Chloe. :)

Enjoy your week!

Do You Like Rats?

I was greeted with that question by a female student the other morning.

My response was: "Do I like RATS! Well, not particularly."

She then handed me this and said, "I saw this while I was in Houston, and I had to buy it for you."

It is a little chocolate cake made to look like a rat.
I ate the yummy little rat. It was a chocolate covered cherry flavor! DELICIOUS!!

Now, I am still questioning: "Why did she see this and think of me?"

I have shared my love for chocolate and cherries together and my love for Dr. Pepper with the class. Maybe that is why...maybe...

Some Serious Fans

So, I remember while we were attending Crown College in Knoxville that UT had some crazy fans. However, I don't remember ever seeing a gas station dedicated to the football team. This is where I buy my gasoline and a bag of YUMMY boiled peanuts. I brought my camera along, so I could share it with you.
This is the lady's car that she keeps parked here at all times. They do move it for games and parades.

I didn't take any pictures of the inside of the gas station. I didn't want to alarm anyone. But.... it is filled with memorabilia. If you want to buy a black and white checked Bear Bryant hat (I know about those thanks to my Papaw's collection of stuff) or an Alabama Roll Tide jewelry box or anything in between, this is the gas station for you. They have a WIDE variety.

Picture Review

Friend and Family Day at Church

We enjoyed a wonderful morning service of singing, preaching, fellowshipping, and eating.

This is Mrs. Melba, our church pianist and our adopted grandmother. She is so kind to our family. She spoils us all. Every week she brings the kids a big bag of individually wrapped M&M's for their lunch boxes. So, everyday they get a little bag of M&M's from Mrs. Melba.

That night we had a good old-fashioned singin' time. We had over 15 specials. The kids (minus Justus) sang with Aaron and I. This picture is actually of our practice time before church. Asher did sing with us during the service. We sang "Here Am I, Lord." We are trying to have them sing with us as often as possible.

This is Mrs. Pearl. I had to throw her picture in here too. She is in her 70's and usually just this quiet little old lady who sits in the back of the church. BOY! Can she really play this bass!! She is part of a group called "Gloryland Singers." She surprised us all.

The church surprised us with this gift on Friend and Family Day. It was beautifully displayed for all to see. I wasn't able to get a picture of that before it was all taken down that night. We now have it hanging above our piano.

I Can't Believe It Has Been So Long!!

Oh my goodness!! It has been about 4 weeks since my last post!!

There is lots going on, I just haven't gotten to post about it yet. I did change our background. This is birthday month at our house. Aaron turned 32 last Sunday the 13th; I turn 32 this Sunday the 20th; and Justus turns 2 on Sunday the 27th. The church threw a big surprise birthday party for Aaron. We had a good time with lots of scrumptious food.

For a quick overview of what has been going on: SCHOOL, SCHOOL, and more SCHOOL. We have been busy with just everyday routines of school and lots of volleyball games and football games. I am overloaded with this Geometry class. I really don't like having to study so much each night just to be able to go in and teach the next day's lesson. I really wish that we would just do the A Beka video class and let me monitor it rather than this route we are currently in. It has just been way too long since I have done a math class. I am having to refresh myself on everything. It takes up too much of my home time. I love teaching my English classes. That is my subject. That is the subject I have done for years. I can easily teach a great Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling, or Literature lesson. All four of those are wrapped up in the A Beka curriculum as English once they hit the 7th grade.

Everything at church is going well. I just saw that the last time I posted we were about to have our Friend and Family Day at church. We had an AMAZING day!! We had 165 in church that day. That is the highest attendance that Crossroads Baptist Church has ever had. Everyone was so excited. How did we do it? Good, old-fashioned door knocking--Contrary to popular belief-it still works!!

We are currently going through a transitional time. Due to some issues in his home that I am not going to talk about, our youth pastor had to be let go, so Aaron and I are now also taking care of the teens. This has added a lot more to our plate. Aaron is now driving the van routes. We are teaching the teen Sunday School class. Also, we have moved the Wed. night teen club to Thursday nights, so that we can teach that. It is also a time of recovery for our youth group and our church. With the Lord's help, we are pulling through. Our church is a little more than an hour away from PCC. Aaron went this week and interviewed an intern. More than likely, we will have a PCC intern start this Sunday!! He will then be helping us with the van routes and the youth. We are looking forward to the help.

Life With the Smiths

Still we are busy.... I know that it is coming. It has to be. What is it? It is some calm and some routine. We are halfway there. We do go to school everyday. :)

This past weekend was just crazy. We had several unexpected things to come up at church on Saturday and Sunday. Monday, I just don't even remember it. It already seems like so long ago. Yesterday, Tuesday, was busy. I had to teach my classes in the morning, shopping and errands in the early afternoon, teacher's meeting after picking the kids up from school, an hour at home, errands to run for church, teen club at church, and then finally home very late last night.

Today, Wednesday, isn't going as planned. During my 1st hour class the secretary informed me that I had to take Chloe home from school due to a high fever. I left school early. I called the pediatrician to get her an appt. The earliest appt. wasn't until 6:40 p.m. So, I took her to the urgent care center. We had a 3 1/2 hour wait until we saw the doctor. Then we had to wait another 45 minutes for the test results. She has strep throat AGAIN! This is the 3rd time in 4 months. Yes, I am thinking that her tonsils probably need to come out. Usually the doctor tells us that she can go back to school 24 hours after the 1st dose of medicine. This time he said she can't go out until Saturday, which means she misses 3 days of school this week. It is only the 2nd week of school!

Thursday and Friday I am going to teach my classes. All of my other plans are cancelled, so I can stay home with Chloe.

We are planning a big day at church on Sunday. It is our Friend and Family Day. We have lots of guests coming Sunday morning. We lunch at church that afternoon. We have a 5th Sunday Sing (lots of special music from whomever wants to sing and lots of congregational music) that night. We are really looking forward to it.

A True Heart Award!!

Thank you so much to Pilar for giving me this award. This award means a lot to me. I know that I fail the Lord everyday, but I want His light to shine through me. I want to live my life in a way that glorifies Him. I want to be able to hear the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." I am so thankful that the Lord saved a sinner like me!
What does this award mean:

"Those that receive this award are of the sweetest nature. They are kind, fun, friendly, loving, and eager to share their love of Jesus with others. They are brave with their efforts to reflect Him in this darkened world. They are the kind of folks you are blessed to know, even if it is only in the blogging world."

I pass this award on to:

Miranda, one of my greatest friends and encouragers

Becky, who has had a rough battle with her health but keeps trusting in the Lord through it all

Corey, my sister-in-law, who has 5 little girls and is starting to homeschool this year

Kristy, a college friend who is faithfully serving the Lord with her family as missionaries to Canada

STUDY????

How am I suppose to study? I can't keep this crazy cat off of my books. He plops himself down on my books everytime I sit down to read. Seriously....when I move, he moves. When I sit down to read, he lays down on the book.