Responder or Reacter?

As I've mentioned before, I've been going through a Bible study by Cindi Wood called Victoriously Frazzled. This week is all about controlling our responses to situations or people. So far it's talked about being a responder instead of a reacter. A reaction is more knee-jerk, saying whatever comes out of your mouth. Responding is stepping back, taking a breath, and saying what God would have you say. I think I'm pretty much a responder. I hate confrontation, so I typically don't say the first thing that comes to mind. A lot of the time I don't say anything, or I'll say, "I'm sorry you feel that way." or something like that. Then I hash it out with Shaun! So I guess that's what I need to work on...being able to respond in a godly way. Especially the older Cayson gets!

Also, during each week, we have a defrazzler to do. The first week was a great one: a spa day! We were supposed to take a day, afternoon, hour, whatever to pamper ourselves. That was awesome. The second one was harder. I had to pick a circumstance to give God control of and document my progress during the week in my journal. This week, I have to practice greeting people in a joyful manner and have a response prepared just in case they ask why I'm so happy. This is so hard for me! I am not very good at talking to people I don't know. I tried it out tonight on the lady that checked me out at Walmart. She seemed a little taken aback. I hope I sounded sincere, because I really was, however this makes me feel a little self-concious. We'll see how it goes this week.

Well, it's time for me to do my daily fitness test on the Wii, so I have to go. Have a great day tomorrow!

The Rules of the Game

As I sat here this morning, eating my Frosted Flakes, I started thinking about last night's Wii session with my dear husband. I could tell he was getting a little confused as to what the rules are for playing games with me are, so I thought I'd make a list, just so he knows in the future.

1. Do not beat me at everything.
2. Do not let me win.
3. If you do beat me, do not do it unmercifully.
4. Do not take it easy on me.

Yeah, I know these contradict themselves. That's how we women are sometimes. Or, at least, how I am. I hate losing. But, I hate it when someone takes it easy on me, or lets me win. I guess I can take losing as long as it's close. I hate being blown away. Especially on the Wii! My thing was bowling. I was really good at it. Unlike my husband. Now these roles are reversed in real life bowling. But on the Wii, I was really, really good. Until last night. My dear hubby beat my high score of 279. I was not happy.

Well, there's my rules. I hope he figures out how to not break them! ;) And now, I must go practice.

24

Who likes 24??? I do! And the season 7 trailer premiered today at Times Square. Click here to check it out! Looks like this season is going to be great!

Break Fast

No, this post isn't about my Frosted Flakes, which I love. It's about my fast. The reason I haven't been on the internet for a whole week. I decided this time last week to fast from the internet for a whole week. I had become addicted. I was spending way too much time on here and not enough time with my husband and child and most importantly, God. (Thanks to my husband for making me realize this by the way.) So I gave it up for a whole week. The first day was so hard. I kept thinking about the blogs I was missing, or the facebook comments I wouldn't be able to reply to right away. But I got through it. And, I have to say, this was an incredible week. I spent the time I would have been on the internet praying, studying, cleaning, and playing. We went outside. The weather was awesome so we raised the windows and cut the air off. My favorite day was Tuesday. It rained all day and the sound was so soothing.

I started a new Bible study at church called Victoriously Frazzled. I really didn't think it would apply to me, but boy has it!!! The day after I decided to fast, my daily study was called "Time Management"! Talk about affirmation!

This week has been even more amazing. It's been hard though. God has really been calling me to trust Him. I thought I did trust Him, but I found out that when control is taken away from me, I have a really hard time. You know how when God is trying to teach you something and that "lesson" turns up everywhere? In your daily quiet time, at church in the music, the sermon, the Sunday school lesson, etc. Well, that's happened to me today. I'm really starting to see what it means to truly surrender all to God. I thought I knew, but I didn't. Or maybe I did, but it was all I was capable of at that point in my life and now God wants me to go deeper. I just know I'm in the middle of a huge turning point in my relationship with God and I'm excited and terrified all at the same time.

Anyway, now I'm back. But I'm going to work at limiting my time on the internet. I can't let it dictate my thoughts and actions like it was before. Tonight has been hard since I had tons of emails and blogs and stuff to wade through. And I'm not really going to check it all tonight. I've dealt with the stuff that needed to be dealt with tonight. I figure the rest I can catch up on as I have time.

This was also week 3 in our family emphasis. Tonight was "Meet a Family" night. We were supposed to invite a family over that we haven't had a chance to get to know very well yet. It went very well. We invited our multimedia tech and his wife and 2 kids, one of which is in my Sunday school class. Shaun grilled some BBQ chicken and I fixed some sweet green beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and rolls. Afterwards, we showed them how to play the Wii. It was a great time of fellowship!

To my hubby

Thank you so much, sweetheart, for watching Cayson today so I could go to my Bible study. Thank you for being a great dad. Thank you for straightening the living room and vacuuming when I didn't even ask you to. You helped me so much today. I love you so much!

Early Morning Musings

Well, now that I've started this post, it's not that early anymore, to most people anyway. But it is to me! Cayson kept us up a lot last night. He has a tooth coming in and it's really hurting him. The last time he got up was about 6:15 this morning. I gave him some teething tablets and he's finally resting comfortably. However, now I'm wide awake. Normally I would have relished holding my sweet, sleeping child, but hunger pains lured me out of bed this morning. Now a couple of slices of cinnamon toast and a glass of milk later, here I am.

My day is kind of busy today, so I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning. Why don't I do this every morning? Because normally I have a hard time getting up! Anyway, today I am starting a new Bible study! Our women's ministry coordinator at church has started leading a Bible study this week on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights. Since both of those times were impossible for me (I'm a Sunday school teacher and I help with the students on Wednesdays), she's meeting with me, our children's coordinator, and our pastor's wife during the week for lunch. Normally it will be on Thursdays, but this week it's today. The study is called "Victoriously Frazzled".

Then later today, about 2:45, I'm giving a flute lesson at home. Then sometime today I have to go grocery shopping! We're scraping the bottom of the barrel for diapers!

Well, the sun is up and my husband should be up soon so I'm going to get off here. Thanks for letting me share my morning!

Family Emphasis at First Southern

*Update* I wrote this yesterday, but I didn't have the graphic I wanted with me at home so I waited to publish it until today!

Well, it's October and it's Family Emphasis month at our church, First Southern Baptist Church. This has become an annual event; one that our church members enjoy. Today, we kicked off the month with a Church Family Picnic at the Park. One of our church members--who is an awesome cook--grilled a brisket, some ribs, and some hot dogs for the kids. The Bible study hour classes provided drinks, salads, desserts, and breads.

We met at the park at about 5 and ate first. Then, Shaun and some of the other adults challenged a group of collegians to a game of volleyball. (The collegians weren't there with us.) I think the collegians thought they had it in the bag, but our folks stomped them 3 games to none. As our 20's Bible study teacher put it, "They looked the part, but we played the part! I like it!" We got a chance to invite them to church as well. All in all, tonight was a great success. We had a great turnout, great food, and great fun.

Next Sunday night is Family game night. We're supposed to spend the time with our family and play some sort of game. If anyone has a suggestion for something our family can do to involve Cayson (13 months) please comment. We thought about going to Chuckie Cheese, but it's been so long since we've been, we couldn't remember if there is anything he could do.

The week after that is Meet a Family night. The idea is to invite a family that you don't know very well over for dinner. This was a huge success last year. I think we are going to invite our sound technition and his family, plus a family that has been visiting for a while.

The last Sunday night in October is Date night. Some of our singles are going to have Wild and Crazy games at the church for the kids so that the married couples can go on a date. I'm super excited for this one...last year we were the only married couple who did not have an opportunity to go on a date as we took care of the students. This year the students are going to help with the kids. I don't know why we didn't think of that last year!

On Wednesday, October 31, we are having our Fall Festival. We do Trunk or Treat where people turn their trunks into carnival-type games. We are going to bring our Nintendo Wii (yes we got one!!!) up and let them box or bowl or something. Also, there is a chili cook-off for the adults and everyone dresses up. Cayson is going to be a monkey!

And finally, even though it will be the first Sunday in November, we are going to have a movie night. Outdoors! We're going to show "Facing the Giants". I think this will be an awesome time!

Cayson looks more like...

Holy Matrimony

On Live with Regis and Kelly this morning, they called a man by the name of Alonzo Sims who was celebrating his 80th wedding anniversary. How amazing!

Kitchen Update

No pics yet, but I thought I'd update everyone on the kitchen floor project. It's been almost a month, but we're making progress. We've ran into several obstacles, or it would have been finished now. The latest obstacle was our fridge. As Shaun was moving it back into place, it a leak in the water line. So Shaun fixed that today and finally got floor laid all the way to the back door. Now all that's left is the carport entry and the laundry room.

In other news...we got a Nintendo Wii! It was a spur of the moment thing. We bought it used (practically brand new) for $160 and 3 extra games for $10 more. So for $170 we got the Wii, an extra controller, and 3 extra games. That's a really good deal! And it's soo much fun! We have an xbox, ps2, and gamecube, but they were mainly for Shaun. We've always been on the lookout for games that we could play together (and I would like), but hadn't succeeded until now. And it's good exercise, too! And I'll just have everyone know, I'm a pro at bowling! I just can't win at anything else. It's so cute, when I play tennis, Cayson likes to swing his baseball bat when I swing the remote. And on bowling, he claps when I get a strike!

Well, that's all I've got for now. Hopefully, the kitchen will be finished soon and I'll have some pics.

I Remember

I woke up at about 7:45 that morning in order to be at class by 8:30. I had music technology, one of my favorite classes that semester. This was my first semester in college; I was a music major. We had class as usual, my professor was his usual self. After class, I left for Second Baptist Church, where I was helping babysit for the women's Bible study. We had gotten out of class early, so was on the road by about 9:10. I turned the radio on to my usual station, expecting some music, when I heard a news report. A plane had crashed into one of the World Trade center buildings. I was stunned. A moment later, one of my classmates from Music Tech called me to see if I'd heard the news. I got to the church and my friend, who was helping to babysit, already had the tv on. It was on every channel, it seemed. We sat in stunned silence, trying to make sense of it all. At the time, we didn't know the who or why of it all.

After I left the church, my mom called me to see if I'd heard and to tell me to go and fill up the car. It sounded like a good idea at the time, not knowing what was going on. However, the gas station was PACKED. I was very fortunate to even get gas. Most of the gas stations around town sold out. I think I ended up having to get the premium.

That night there was a candlelight prayer vigil at the Monticello courthouse. I will never forget that night. We were all scared and everyone was praying. Afterwards, the director of the MBSF at UAM, Rob Leonard, spoke to several of the college kids, right on the steps of the Methodist church.

September 11, 2001 is a day I'll always remember.

My little musician!
Taken at our Awana kickoff a couple of Wednesdays ago. His lips are red from a sno cone...not lipstick. LOL.

Pics of Cayson's room

I finally took some pics of Cayson's room. Here's his door.

This is the wall where his crib is. And those are baseball pennets on the wall.
Those cords aren't usually there. They are attached to his camara for the video monitor and the lamp. We hadn't found a home for them yet, when I took this pic. And he needs a toybox, as you can see.
That baseball mitt on the wall was Shaun's growing up. His grandfather made it to hold his baseball, glove, and bat. And Shaun's mom made the curtains and his linens.
That wreath was on my door at the hospital.

And this is his dresser. Notice the crooked plaque! HA. I better fix that! Well, that's pretty much it. Sorry about the yellowish light.

Kitchen Floor Remodel 6 Days and Counting

Before. This is on Sunday afternoon. Notice the linoleum peeling.

Here's our big stack of new floor.

The demolition begins! There are 4 layers of flooring. Yuck!

The actual kitchen floor is completely removed. Shaun went ahead and laid the floor in the kitchen area so I would have access to my kitchen. However, when he got to the fridge, he hit a snag. When he tried to move the fridge back into place, it kept moving the NEW floor with it. So we're waiting for some help in moving the fridge before we can go any farther. That was on Monday. But the kitchen looks good. I haven't taken a picture of it yet...I was waiting for the finished product! I'll keep you updated...

Becoming...

Cayson's First Birthday

Happy Birthday to my baby boy! I can't believe it...this year has gone by so quickly. Today is his actual birthday, but we had his party Saturday. It was a lot of fun. He didn't want to eat his cake at first. We had to put his hand in it to get him to eat it. It was like he was afraid to get his hands dirty. But after that, he really dug in!

Today, we didn't do much, just hung out around the house and played. Shaun had to work. We did take our boy to get his first haircut, however. You can see the before in his birthday picture. I thought I was done with the emotional stuff after he turned 11 months, but the minute we walked out the door of the salon, I burst into tears. He looks so much like a little boy now. I miss that long, shaggy hair already! But, he does look cute. Especially in the red pumas shoes we bought him today! Here's the after picture.

Our camara has bitten the dust, so you'll have to bear with us for a little while, until we can get a new one. I'm using my cell phone camara for now, or depending on relatives. We are hoping to get his 1 year old pictures taken sometime this week.

I'm back

Well, it's been a while since my last post. A lot has happened since. First of all, the reason for my brief leave of absence from the blogging world: we moved! We found a house in Barling to move into. It's only about 5 minutes from the church and about 5 minutes from Fort Smith. We were living in a 2 story town house. It was pretty nice, but we had no privacy and Cayson's room was on the 2nd floor. We didn't like that. This house has a nice fenced in backyard and is all one story. And Cayson's room is right next to ours. Anyway, because we moved, it took almost 2 weeks to get our cable installed. And we got the phone, internet, and cable bundle so that meant 2 weeks without internet. Now, to fill you in on other things that have happened. Cayson now has 4 teeth! And he's walking!!! It's so exciting. He isn't walking all the time yet, but he'll walk back and forth between me and Shaun. And he's learning so much! He can say ball and he knows what it is. I think he said "thank you" today. I've been working with him on it. He's really eating a lot of table food now too. Still nursing, though. I'm dreading the end of that. It's such a wonderful bond between us. I'm just thankful he isn't biting me with those new teeth! My parents are visiting us this week. Today we took them to Mt. Magazine. It was so pretty, but very hot! I think we're going to Branson on Monday. And my brother moves into his dorm at OBU next Saturday. I think we're going to try and go help. And Cayson's birthday party is the next Saturday after that! Yep, my baby is turning 1 in less than a month. Where did the time go???

We're Moving!

Again! But, this time, we're not moving to another church (my husband is in the ministry, if you don't know), just to another house. We found a house in Barling, which is closer to Fort Smith. We're still going to be renting, but it's a one story house with a back yard. Right now, we live in a 2 story town house with no yard. And no privacy. We are super excited...except we have to move this weekend and we have VBS all week! And we haven't packed up one thing! So pray for us this week as we have VBS and move! Once we get settled, I may post some pics.

Our group picture at camp. See my little camper?