Sometime

I talk about a whole host of things on my blog (when I'm blogging which may not be too regular!) ranging in topic from my husband to my kids to trips and where we live. I talk about being a Christian and that I love God. I just want it to be clear, in case it hasn't been, about what I believe and I wanted to commit it to paper.

I believe in God and that He created the world.
I believe He sent His son Jesus, born from the virgin Mary, into the world to save us.
I believe Jesus lived and breathed and walked this earth and led a perfect life. I believe He died on a cross and then rose again 3 days later. I believe He is the savior of the world, not just a good or great man. I believe He is the only way to receive Salvation.
I believe in Heaven and Hell.
I believe that Salvation is the act of repenting and believing and accepting God's son.
I believe the Bible is God's holy word. And I believe it to be truth.
I believe that Jesus will return some day, sometime and gather those to Him who have believed in Him.
I believe that the Holy Spirit lives in believers even though I don't understand exactly how that works, or how the trinity works for that matter. But it doesn't make me believe any less.
I believe I am forgiven.
I believe I am to tell others.


I don't know what you believe or where you are in your life. I don't know what you think will happen to you when you die. But I want you to know as simply as possible that there is a God and He loves you. Your life is worth living.

Take care,
Julie

There's something so very terribly wrong about this picture

We came upon this rest area somewhere on our recent trip to Iowa. I'm not exactly sure where we were...Oklahoma? Kansas? Missouri? It really doesn't matter, the point is these were the only available toilets to use at this rest stop! Are they serious?! Do you see the snow?! Who in their right mind would want to do their business while outside in the freezing weather?! Oh my word! Needless to say, I skipped this stop. But my husband? He didn't care. A little old thing like a port a potty didn't stop him from doing what he needed to do. :)

Take care and Happy Monday!
Julie

Math student of the day

On Tuesday I spent the day observing in each of my kids classes. This is something the school requires each semester but even if they didn't I would sit in their room anyway. Observing your kid in class gives you such an insiders view into how they spend the majority of their day. I've learned a lot when I've sat in their classes.

I got to Ellie's class in time for Math. Since I was there, Ellie was chosen to be the Math student of the day. (this means they get to lead the class in various math related activities like the calendar, weather, time, counting, etc.) I immediately got my camera out to start snapping pictures of her shining in Math. After I took this picture of her she gave me "the look" and mouthed "No!" to me! :) I had to laugh since it's classic Ellie, not wanting any attention drawn to her no matter what.

Have a happy weekend!

Take care,
Julie

You know that cold I was talking about?

When we left Iowa Saturday morning this was the temperature outside...-22! By the time we got home to Texas on Sunday it was 58 out and it felt like a heatwave!

What's the weather like where you live?

Happy 2010! (Better late than never)

Hey there! Happy New Year!
Last week we were in Iowa with John's family bringing in the New Year. Can you believe all the snow? And don't get me started on the cold! The kids, however, could care less. They had a blast playing with grandma and grandpa and their cousin who's closest to their age.

Hope that 2010 is all you would want it to be. May you find peace, love and joy in all you do throughout the year.

Take care,
Julie

Merry Christmas!

From our family (including Rosie) to yours, a very Merry Christmas!
Enjoy!
Julie

Luke 2:11: "Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord."

Scenes from Christmas Eve

Take care,
Julie

Family Night

Last Friday was the first time in a long time that all of us were home together. We let loose and jammed for about 90 minutes! Jack brought down his amp and microphone and everyone took turns doing karaoke and picking out songs. We listened to Taj Mahal, Johnny Cash, U2, Audio Adrenaline, Super Chick, Black Eyed Peas, Herbie Hancock, Carl Douglas, Cornershop and Dave Boyer. The kids were sweaty from the frenzy they worked themselves into playing air guitar and jumping off the couch. It was what we needed for bonding as a family. The kids have already asked when we can do it again.

I know that weekly family night is a healthly, relationship building event. Whether it's game night, or movie night or open mic, spending time together, everyone, as a family is great. I highly recommend it!

Have a great weekend! We are officially on Christmas break! No school till 2010!
Take care,
Julie

Happy Birthday John!

Today is my sweet husband's birthday. In honor of him I'd like to take a moment and wish him a very happy birthday. The kids and I are so fortunate to have such a wonderful father and husband who lovingly provides and takes care of us so well. He's my best friend and I would be lost without him.

Happy birthday babe! I love you lots!
Take care,
Julie

The Mud of Japan

Last spring Pete's Mom's Day Out class held a program. As it was getting closer to the day of the program I would often hear Pete singing some of the songs as he would go about his day. One day I listened carefully and started cracking up once I realized what he was saying. The song he was supposed to be singing went like this:
"There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb." He changed it to: "There is power, power, wonder working power in the mud of Japan!" I think I could use some of the mud of Japan! How funny!

The other day the kids sang the song "O come let us adore Him" in their school Christmas program. On Sunday in the car on the way to church Pete sang it like this: "Do not let us annoy Him!" and another time he sang it like: "Do not let us ignore him!"

Love it!
Take care,
Julie

Christmas Recipe

I don't know about you, but I love to bake desserts and candy, especially during the holidays, if time permits. A few weeks (maybe a month?) ago I bought Martha Stewart's "Holiday Sweets" magazine containing "100 recipes for the season". There is some great stuff in those pages! Cookies, cakes, pies and candy. If you haven't bought a copy and you love desserts (what woman doesn't?) go out and buy a copy. I'm sure you can find some if not all of the recipes online as well at www.marthastewart.com . Here's one recipe I can't wait to try:

Pecan-Sour Cream Pralines:
(page 79)
2 tbl unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tbl granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tbl packed dark-brown sugar
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbl sour cream
1 tbl bourbon
1 1/2 tsps pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups pecans (about 5 ounces), toasted

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Stir in both sugars, salt, and sour cream. Raise heat to medium-low, and cook, whisking frequently, until sugar has dissolved. Raise heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently and scraping sides of pan with a heatproof flexible spatula, until mixture reaches 240 degrees (soft-ball stage) on a candy thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Remove from heat. Carefully stir in bourbon and vanilla (mixture will spatter). Let cool, without stirring, 2 minutes. Add pecans, and beat vigorously with a spoon until slightly opaque but still creamy, about 2 minutes.

3. Drop spoonfuls onto prepared sheet. (If mixture in pan begins to harden, stir in 1 tsp hot water, as often as needed; if it becomes runny, stir until firm.) Let stand until set, about 30 minutes. Pralines can be stored up to 3 days, between layers of parchment, at room temperature in airtight containers.

Enjoy!
Julie

Dad of the day, Christmas program and the ballet

Hey there!
Lots going on around our home, although I'm sure it is like that everywhere. (on a side note...I accidentally wrote "lost" instead of lots a minute ago and that reminds me...I saw my first preview for "LOST" last night. You know the one with Willie Nelson singing "Amazing Grace"? Is it technically a preview if they don't pre view any of the upcoming season? It really doesn't matter to me. I'm just excited to know when it will be on!)

Last week found us at school for the kids Christmas program. Pete was a cute thief. Ellie was an adorable Christmas tree and Jack was a great looking present. The show was fun and the kids did a good job. The school was also hosting an auction for a fundraiser. Jack won the chance to follow his P.E. teacher around for the day. Nothing could have made him happier!

Friday found Ellie and I at the "Nutcracker" ballet. I must add that thankfully it was a condensed version of the ballet. Did any of you think of soup when you saw the word condensed? I did. Maybe I'm just getting hungry. Anyway, the ballet was fun and the kids were very well behaved.

Friday also found John at school in Ellie's class as the dad of the day. He came in and talked to the kids about being an ER doctor. The kids were hilarious with their comments. Somehow the phrase, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" came up and the kids thought it would be funny to change it to things like "1,000 apples a day keeps the doctor away 1000 days" and stuff like that. You would have thought it was the funniest thing ever. John gave each of the kids a tongue depressor so they could pretend to be a doctor and check each other's throats. Fortunately no one threw up their lunch from sticking a tongue depressor too far down their throat!

That's all for now! More to come!
Take care,
Julie

2 Christmas Traditions

The holidays are a great time to introduce family traditions. One tradition we started at our house involves Christmas books. At the end of the season when I'm packing up all our Christmas stuff, I find all our Christmas books. I wrap them in left over Christmas paper and pack them away in a box. At Christmas time the next year I pull out the box and put all the wrapped books around the Christmas tree. Each day for the month of December the kids each take a turn picking a book for the day. They open the book and then we read it together or the older kids who can read will read it to us. It's so much fun when we're getting out the Christmas decorations to see a whole box of wrapped books! We have no idea which books are where (a year is a great thing when it comes to forgetting!) and it's exciting for the kids to open up a book. I might get a new book through the season and wrap it as well. This is an inexpensive way to fill your tree with gifts you already have and provide specific reading time at night!

Another tradition at our house involves the Advent Calendar. (On a side note... has anyone else noticed these are getting harder and harder to find each year? Please tell me stores aren't doing away with the calendars!) I probably have almost 10 advent calendars from the past 10 years. We save them and use them each year. The kids enjoy each picking their own calendar for the month. Each morning before school (if there's time) they'll open up their day and read it to us. If it's too chaotic in the morning, and it frequently is, we'll read it at night.

I know we have lots more traditions than just those two...decorating the tree, making and decorating cookies, gift for their classmates that we make, watching certain Christmas specials, etc. but these are two I really enjoy.

Take care,
Julie

It's Christmas! I've got a lot of catching up to do!

I knew there had to be something to pull me out of my blogging absence. Don't get me wrong, I love blogs. I love to read blogs and I do , daily. It's just that I've had trouble keeping up with my blog. I guess I just haven't figured out the balance of 3 kids, husband, house, school stuff, activities and how to blog consistently. So I haven't. That's me...all or nothing. But Christmas? That's something different entirely. I love Christmas. Love the decorating, love the shopping, love the wrapping of gifts, love the music and I love all the TV specials I get to sit back and watch with the kids. Ultimatly, that's what did it. I want to write about the season and our lives and that is what I plan to do. I guess I'm not sure how to capture the last 7 months into words, so I won't. I'll just pick up where we are today.

It's a List:

1. We got our tree on Thanksgiving day. I would have gotten it sooner, but it's south Texas and we do a real tree so that means waiting til there out. I don't want to brag but I think this is our best.tree.ever. Why? It's huge and fresh and from Oregon. What more could you ask for? The man who sold us this tree was the owner of the tree farm in Oregon. It took him 21 days to travel from Oregon to Texas and get settled and set up for the season. He was so kind and even though he technically wasn't opening until Black Friday he met our pleas of "Can we buy our tree today?" with a gentle smile.

2. Thursday night our kids have their Christmas program at school. I need to go out and finish getting the items needed for their costumes. Pete's preschool class is dressing up as theives. (I know...what kind of Xmas program involves theives? Ours I guess) He has to dress up in all black with a bandana across his face with holes cut out for eyes. Should be amusing. Ellie's class is Xmas trees. They're wearing green t's all decorated. Jack's class is presents and they're wearing big bags to look like presents.

3. I was in a craft store the other day, unfortunately, trying to find items I need for ornaments the kids want to make to give to their classes. (I'm sure I looked completely overwhelmed because I was...the bright lights, shelves overflowing with "stuff", etc!) I happened to see some stuff for scrapbooking and the thought that came to me was...if you take the s away from scrapbooking you're left with crapbooking and I started to giggle and it's all I could think about for the rest of the day! No offense intended for those of you who love to scrapbook. I don't.

4. I was at Target the other day and they have the cutest Christmas pillows. One pillow is red with the word "joy" across it and the other one was light green with mittens. They were even on sale. I love Target. Speaking of which, they are the only store I know that sells the seasonal collection of fresh vanilla trashbags by GLAD. Have you seen these? I picked up 4 boxes and may go get more. They smell so good. Check them out.

5. Strange things happen whenever I go away and leave the kids with John. A couple of weeks ago I went to San Antonio with a friend. We went shopping, got massages, ate great food and spent the night at La Cantera Resort. It was perfect, except for the fact that lightning, yes, lightning struck our yard and knocked out our power. What are the odds of that?

6. Next week I'm getting braces. I don't have a lot to say about it except that not very many 38year old women have braces. I'm ok with it though. I'll have them on for about 12-14 months. Maybe I'll post pictures next week. I'm using it as an excuse to revert back to jr. high behavior. Hence, my fascination with...

7. The Twilight Series. Yes, I am and I'm admitting it. I've read the first three books and saw the movie "Twilight" (I rented it on DVD) and I've seen "New Moon". Oh my word..."Eclipse" was great. I read it like a crazy woman just to see what would happen. I have "Breaking Dawn" and I can't wait to read it either. It's fun though. See, my older sister is into them as well so I'm sending her the books when I'm done and then we read and talk about them! Hopefully we'll be in Ohio when the movie comes out so we can go see it together just like all the other teenage girls!

8. On Sunday our pastor preached an incredible message from Isaiah 11:6-9 about Jesus our Prince of peace. His main points were that Christ brings peace to all creation, peace from the ancient curse and peace on earth. It was such a timely message and reminded me that even though terrible things may be going on around us, all is not lost. We have hope. And today? Jesus is my peace from my past...my words and actions that I regret but have been forgiven from. He's my peace in the present when I'm surrounded by crises and disturbances and He will be my peace for the unforseen future. It's a comfort I can't afford to be without.

That's it for now. I want to post about Christmas traditions, recipes and music later on! It feels great to be back writing!

Take care,

Julie

My Spring Break Break

Hey there!

So I noticed it's been two weeks since I last posted. My oh my time flies when you're living life and tired at night and having a hard time fitting in any writing. I will be back at some point here once spring break is over and my husband is back from the Dominican Republic.

Take care,
Julie

LOST

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't watched Wednesday's episode of LOST, don't read any further.


Is three years long enough to forget someone?
Absolutely NOT!

Just curious, hypothetically speaking, if someone watches LOST with a notebook and pen and takes lots of notes furiously does that mean they are a bit obsessed or just trying to stay on track and not get any more confused than necessary?!

All this three years earlier and three years later has my head hurting.

Here's what we can conclude. When Locke time traveled off the island he caused Sawyer, Juliette, Jin, Miles and Daniel to stop time traveling leaving them stuck in the 70's. We find out that they end up being able to stay on the island and become a part of the Dharma initiative since Sawyer saved one of the Dharma's, named Amy, from the Others.

We also learn that in the 70's women can have babies. Oh yeah, and by the way, Juliette and Sawyer have hooked up.

Oh my.

Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer. He had some of the best lines tonight.
"Zip it"
"Until Dan checks in"
"Thanks anyway Plato"
"Jins a nice guy and all but he's not a hell of a great conversationalist"
And now apparently Sawyer has stepped up into the leader role we all knew he was very capable of doing.

What an ending to tonights episode, no matter how predictible it was. We now have Jack, Hurley and Kate reuniting with the group and by the looks of next week's episode it looks like Sayid and Sun are soon on their way to catch up with everyone. Speaking of looks, how about Sawyer's long look at Kate?

Questions:
Amy's baby...a boy...hmm...what does that mean?
We've seen Horace before. How does he die?
Now we can make sense of the episode where we saw Daniel working in the Dharma initiative. How do they (Jin, Juliette, Daniel, Sawyer and Miles) end up being able to stay on the island with the Dharma group?

I can't wait for the next episode in two weeks! Any one know why we aren't getting a new episode next week?

Take care,
Julie

The Perm

One day in 7th grade I told my mom I wanted to get a perm. I had thought about it a lot and decided what my short, naturally wavy hair needed was the work of a perm. I envisioned the perm giving me perfect ringlets of curls surrounding my head. The kind of curls that would bounce when I walked. My mom said ok to the idea and a plan was set in motion. Around my house getting a perm meant two things:

1. The perm would be purchased over the counter at the grocery.

2. My grandma would be the designated perm giver. She owned the rollers necessary for a perm and she had a tall, sit under hair dryer. Pinkish, if I remember correctly and I loved drying my hair under that dryer. I would sit on my knees in a chair until my head was completely encased in the dryer, inches away from the heat that would blow through.

Will you humor me here for just a moment before I finish the story? I need to get something off my chest. Please hear me out. Are there any parents out there? Any parents of a girl or girls out there? Any parents of a girl or girls who think it's unnecessary to spend "large" sums of money on hair cuts, perms and salon stuff? Listen to me carefully...for the sake of all things good and noble in parenting take your daughter(s) to a professional every time she needs or wants something done to her hair. Just because her bangs only need a trim and "it's only bangs" is no excuse to tape her bangs to her forehead and trim them leaving one side inches shorter than the other because your daughter has a widow's peak and you are not a professional. Don't take your daughter to a barber, yes you read that right, a barber, to get her hair cut even if it's cheap and the barber is a girl. Just don't do it. And don't think that saving money by doing a perm yourself is a good idea. Ever. Trust me, it isn't and it never will be. I don't care if you are a follower of Dave Ramsey and he suggests that this is an area you can save money in. He's a guy and I believe he's bald. Just start saving your money now. Your daughter will thank you someday! :)

Moving on now...the designated perm Saturday arrived and I found myself at grandma's house with a head full of rollers and a nose full of toxic chemicals, eagerly anticipating a head full of curls. Soon enough it was time to take out the rollers and rinse my hair in the sink. I remember seeing a fair amount of hair in the sink but I figured it must be normal.

It wasn't until my hair was dried and combed (and majorly frizzy) that I realized to my horror that on the top of my head I was missing rows of hair! Every other roller of hair on the top of my head was GONE!

Just let that sink in for a minute: 12 1/2 year old 7th grade girl and bald patches on head.

It was not a pretty sight. I cried and cried and begged my parents to let me stay home from school forever. Needless to say my grandma felt horrible. Apparently the rollers on the top of my head were rolled too tight and the chemicals just killed my hair causing the hair to fall out.

I'd love to show you a picture of me and my stubbly hair. Actually, I take that back. I don't want to show you a picture of me and my stubbly hair. Truth be told, I'm not sure any picture of me and my stubbly hair exists. They may or may not have been destroyed.

I somehow survived. I think I managed to tease and stretch the hair I did have over the stubble on my head making it less visible to everyone. Whoever said, "That which doesn't break us makes us stronger." obviously never had a perm.

Take care,
Julie

It's Story Time

I've decided to spend some time here on the blog telling stories from my life. Stories that have been floating in my head for awhile. They seem to me like the kind of stories you tell when you're out with your friends. Maybe new friends, the ones who haven't heard every detail of your life. They casually mention some random comment and instantly a memory comes flooding to your mind and next thing you know you're telling them the story about your first crush or when you stopped believing in Santa or how angry you were at your best friend when you were six and she scuffed up your brand new white tennis shoes. Those kinds of stories. I hope you enjoy them or that they give you something to think about.



In 9th grade my best friend at the time, Jackie, talked me into trying out for the gymnastic team. This was quite the accomplishment on her part considering I get dizzy doing a somersault and can't even begin to do a cartwheel. Nevertheless, youthful optimism prevailed and off we went to the tryouts.

Once there we were met by the girls who were already on the team. I guess these were the girls who were on the last years team and therefore were already through and didn't need tryouts. We spent a few minutes doing stretches and then it was time to get down to the serious part- the actual tryouts. Our first tryout task was to run down the lane as fast as we could, jump on the springboard and flip over the vault. Why that didn't have me running for the door? I'll never know. It didn't even cross my mind at that moment that I would have any difficulty completing the task. For whatever reason I stayed, completely unfazed by the reality of the situation...I was doomed. One by one I watched the girls who were already on the team demonstrate how to do this task. I remember being in absolute awe as they seemed to literally float in the air over the vault.

Then it was time for those of us trying out. It wasn't until it was my turn that I became even slightly concerned that this might be difficult for me. I remember in my mind somehow realizing there was no way I could accomplish this, yet my heart kept believing in the impossible.

So I went for it. I took off running down the lane and as I approached the springboard I remember throwing up a last ditch prayer to God. Something like, "Lord, let me fly!" I don't know what exactly I was hoping would happen at that moment. Maybe I figured the hand of God could reach through the roof and float me over the vault or at the very least loan me a pair of wings so I could fly over. Whatever I was hoping for, it didn't happen.

I reached the spring board and froze. By that point it was too late, my body could not stop. Apparently my body hit the vault and fell over in a painful slow motion kind of maneuver. I say "apparently" because I have no recollection of that moment. I remember finding myself flat on my back on the other side of the vault, unaware what had just occured. I knew pretty quickly it was not pretty because all the girls were around me and no one was laughing. Everyone seemed very concerned as to whether or not I was ok. I stood up, hobbled over to the side of the room insisting I was fine. Needless to say, I didn't make the team.

I think back on that story now and I just have to laugh at it. What was I thinking? Chalk it up to youthful optimism or ignorance, either way it's funny.

Take care,
Julie

One of Those Days

I'm writing this at 1pm on Monday afternoon and I just got showered and dressed. I spent the entire morning in my pj's and it was great. Pete, my youngest, and I spent the morning playing a Spongebob game, watching TV and hanging out together. I did get 5 loads of laundry folded, made a couple of phone calls, wrote a grocery list and fixed our dinner for tonight, which is quite a lot for a "hanging out" day. Isn't it funny that as moms we can do 10 things in a few hours and consider it a chilling out day?

What about you? Do you ever stay in your pj's all morning? (or all day) What do you consider a relaxing yet productive day?

Take care,
Julie

You Win Some, You Lose Some

I guess I ended up be right about 50% last night with my Oscar predictions.
1. Best picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2. Best actor: Sean Penn (I thought Mickey Rourke would win)
3. Best actress: Kate Winslet
4. Best supporting actor: Heath Ledger (Anyone else choke back tears when his family accepted his award?)
5. Best supporting actress: Penelope Cruz (I wished I had paid better attention in Spanish class in High school. Maybe I could have understood what she was saying)
6. Best Director: I forget his name, but it was the director for "Slumdog Millionaire" and he jumped up and down like tigger in honor of his kids

Did you watch the Oscar's last night? What did you think? I enjoyed the evening. I felt like it went quickly, which is saying something considering it was 3 1/2 hours long. The stage was beautiful, the music and dance great and Hugh Jackman was perfect as the host.

Take care,
Julie