October Wrap Up

Since I'm a bad blogger I'm going to wrap up the month of October.

Ethan wrapped up his first season of baseball.

David's on the far left in this picture and Ethan is the second kid from the left.

He had a rough couple of weeks once the season ended.

He definitely went through many stages of grief:  denial, anger, sadness.

Not long after the season ended, we had Fall Festival to distract him.

Take it from me,

nothing distracts children quite like sugar and costume.

Except maybe bounce houses.

I know you've seen it before but here's Abraham Ethan.

(as i like to call him)

Here he is again with his two best friends - Darth Vader and UPS guy.

UPS guy looks pretty sad in this picture because he was

just informed that after the picture

he was heading home. 

It's not often you see a president, evil over lord and an average joe hanging out.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

We also celebrated Ethan's 7th birthday.

Studied the book of Ruth.

Went to the True Woman Conference.

Celebrated Aunt Lexi's 10th birthday.

Celebrated cousin Arick's 20th birthday.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

On a totally different topic...

Tonight I'm going to do Jillian's 30 Day Shred.

I promise.

Hold me accountable.

K?

Hello, Saturday!

Guess where I am blogging from!

Our NEW laptop!!!!!!

FROM HOME!!!!!

The Lord is so good!

After 7 years of marriage, we have finally gotten a computer.

We were GIVEN an older Dell laptop and we couldn't be more excited.

Hello, Saturday blogging!!

The Lord's meeting our needs in ways we never expected!

Now I must get away from our new toy and get ready for the dinner party I'm hosting tonight.

Hope the True Women of North Euless BC are ready for a good time!!

My turn!!!!

1. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A horse trainer/barrel racer and marine biologist.

2. Who influenced you the most when you were a child?

My cousin Justin.

We always got in to all kinds of trouble.

3. Who influences you the most now?

She totally doesn't know this but my boss's wife.

I don't see her in person often but, following her status updates

and blog posts, she really inspires me to be sold out for Jesus, love my husband more and teach my son to be a godly and selfless young man.

4. Describe yourself in three words or less.

Outgoing, caring and easily distracted.

5. Have you ever met someone famous?

I met the guys from the bands BBmak and Eve6.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Check out these two songs.

They are amazing.

It amazes me that the God of the universe would care enough about little ol' Amanda and David to put two wonderful and fitting songs in my path as my husband and I walk together through a tough patch.

The One who created the universe and everything in it is so merciful and sensitive to our needs as lowly sinners!!!

This is one of my new favorites. I found it through my friend, Denae, she actually knows this couple - I'm so glad she shared it with me!

If I had an iTunes account and the money to spend I'd buy every song this lady has on there!

This song was posted on Karren's blog yesterday. It's such a great reminder of how love, even during the tough times, is a gift from the Almighty God.

His Last Hurrah! (lots o' pics)

I know you all (all 3 of ya) have been waiting for E's back to school pictures for so long - I've finally got them uploaded to the computer and on this here blog.

The weekend before school started was SUPER busy for Ethan.

We packed in all kinds of activities for Saturday and left Sunday wide open so he could rest and get ready for school.

Our first stop Saturday morning was Ol' South Pancake House in Ft. Worth.

If you're ever in the area stop by there and get the German pancakes - delicious!!!

Bonus: They're open 24 hours!

Here's Ethan's gigantic up of hot chocolate.

As evidenced by the whipped cream around his mouth, he loved it!

Then we headed off to the Hunter's Extravaganza.

My hubby is a hunter and E is looking forward to the day that can also be "a real hunter".

Here's E posing in front of the rattlesnake pit.

There were two men just hanging out inside, I guess to wrangle them...?

Whatever the case, you couldn't pay me enough to set foot in that place!

No way, no how!

Then we moseyed our way up to Denton, TX for the

North Texas State Fair and Rodeo.

This is a family tradition.

The fair, not the rock climbing. It's the first year I remember seeing the rock wall.

David made it to the top, Ethan only made it half way.

Anyway, back to the tradition of going to the fair...

It all started when David and I were dating.

He brought me out here and the only things I remember are that the cowboys did all the events on mules - the barrel racing was a riot; I sat in gum in my favorite J. Crew pants; we saw the Bellamy Brothers in concert.

Oh, and that I was totally, 100% in looooove!

The petting zoo is always one of our favorite stops.

They typically have deer, goats, kangaroos, chickens (like the curious fellow below) and a very cranky mule.

I just love this chicken.

He followed me around most of the time we were out there.

Then came the rodeo.

I love the rodeo.

It's one of the MAJOR perks of living in a southern state.

I love how patriotic they are and the North Texas State Fair's rodeo always starts with a prayer and it always brings tears to my eyes.

Can you tell what that is under my bleacher seat?

It's a calf.
We sat right above the holding pen. It was fragrant to say the least! Haha!


Best cowboy hat of the night!


Blurry photo of a buckin' bronco. It's very difficult to get a picture of them, by the way.


I LOVE this next photo!!! My husband was really in his element!

He's always so joyful when we're out there!!!

He felt pretty out of place this year, though.

Usually, he's decked out in wranglers and boots but this year he was in cargo shorts and a Gap polo.




Once the rodeo was over, we let Ethan choose one ride (it was 10:30 at this point) to go on and he chose the "Superman Ride" - that's what he called it since they lay on their tummies and fly through the air.




This is one of the best things about living in DFW!




What a fun day!!!



Sunday was just a lot of church, laundry, cleaning and relaxing!
Despite the fact that I had a migraine, Sunday rocked. I love a lazy Sunday.


Finally, here are Ethan's 1st day of school photos!!!


He was SO excited about school but most of all to FINALLY use his Scooby Doo lunch box!





Here he is getting settled into his classroom!




I'm so glad he's still in love with school!!



Hopefully he'll still love it March!!

Pop Quiz

Outside of our amazing sense of style,

what do Donnie Wahlberg and I have in common?

The winner of this here Pop Quiz will get mad props and braggin rights.

We love the Rangers!

One thing that's great about living in the middle

of the DFW metroplex

is being just a hop, skip and a jump away

from things like Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor and the Texas Rangers!

My husband has been a fan of the Rangers since he was a child

and I have been a fan since high school, you know, when Gabe Kapler played for them.

Anyway, we consider it our duty to raise

Ethan with a strong love for baseball.

Especially Texas Ranger's baseball!

If you look REALLY hard you can see our family's FAVORITE baseball player:

John Hamilton!!!!

(check out his testimony)

This was Ethan's very first professional baseball game.

He even got to go with one of his closest little friends, Caleb.

Caleb and his dad, Lance, are MAJOR Astros fans.

It's a fun rivalry between our families!

Here are Ethan and Caleb after the game enjoying the Friday Night Fireworks!

Oh, and let the record show that when the Rangers get to the World Series and WIN it that we are not fair weather fans!

I know He has a plan but...

I've gotta be careful posting today.

I could really let out some bitterness and tears if I get too carried away.

My heart's hurting for my husband...

for our family.

He found out last night that the job we had hoped and prayed for

was given to another candidate.

So it's back to searching the want ads more ardently.

(we never stopped, we just slowed down a bit)

I know the Lord is in charge.

I know He has a plan.

But this...

...this is getting old.

(by the way, that guy's hair is CRACKING me up!)

I'm tired of pinching pennies

and selling our stuff just to make ends meet.

I've got to remember that by the rest of the world's standards,

we are rich beyond measure.

And to quote Jerry Bridges, "We are blessed more than we deserve."

Just gotta keep repeating that to myself!

Thanks for letting me be so real and honest about this - it's humbling to say the least.

* * * * *

Note: David does have a job currently.

He works 65-75 hours a week

and we still struggle to make ends meet.

That's why he's searching for a new job.

Also, this song is speaking volumes to me today...

The Latest

Last time we chatted about what was up at our place,

I told you all that David was going to enlist in the Army.

While he has a high regard for the military and still has dreams of joining one day,

we worry about the extended amounts of time he would spend away from

home and the toll that would take on Ethan.

We've come such a long way with him and having a

consistent father figure/spiritual leader is a MAJOR contributing factor in his success.

David's dream after the military was to sign on with a local police force

and serve our community through local

law enforcement.

We're praising the Lord for the opportunity that we have stumbled across recently.

Our local community college offers a program/employment opportunity for men and women, who have no previous law enforcement experience, to work for the department while going through the academy and other training sessions that they are required.

We put David's resume and application in online and now we're hoping and praying he'll get hired on and be able to go through the academy!

Today we got the first piece of good news, the Applicant Personal History Statement!!!

He has until Monday to research and get all of the information that is required and turn it in. I'm super excited about the timing because David will turn his in on Friday morning

- well before the deadline {which always looks good!} -

since he's taken that day off to spend with some friends.

If he hadn't taken that day off we would be scrambling to figure out how to get it there!

Would you all mind continuing to lift us up in prayer in this area?

David's 75 hour work weeks and minuscule earnings (at least in comparison to the number of hours worked) are not nearly worth the amount of time he's missing out on at home.

Redeeming Love

I have a confession.

It's no secret that I'm a bit of a reader but I avoided fiction like the plague.

Something about "reading for fun" has always seemed like a waste of time to me. Once I was out of high school (and my short stint in college) I stopped reading fiction. It just seemed ridiculous to read something that would make almost no impact on my life when I could be reading theology, biographies and Christian living.

Redeeming Love ('RL' for short) by Francine Rivers has proven me wrong.

I started to read RL two or three times now but the prologue was far too difficult to make it though. The last thing on earth I ever wanted to read about was the horrors that this young girl had to endure. Finally, after my fourth-ish attempt I was able to finish the prologue. Then I stopped reading the book all together.

Fast forward 2 years.

My sweet friend Jennifer started a book club for our church called Redeemed Readers. Our first book was called Splitting Harriet by Tamara Leigh. This book would serve as my introduction to CHRISTIAN fiction. I had never read fiction as an actual believer - let alone Christian fiction.

I was so surprised by 1.) how fast I read and 2.) how much I related to the characters that I jumped right into reading a second book (Faking Grace) by Tamara Leigh. Once I finished Faking Grace, Jen announced Redeeming Love as our next book club read.

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this book is. Take it from this nonfiction-to-fiction convert - it will dig it's hooks into you, make you laugh, make you cry and make you stay up until ungodly hours because you just can't put it down.

Since I don't want to get into the story line too much I can let you know that it's set in the gold rush era and has very strong ties to the book of Hosea. You will fall in love with it's characters - Francine has an amazing way of making them so real. Sometimes I find myself wishing there were more to read or even - don't laugh - wondering how they're doing.

My favorite thing about this book is how it's changed me. It made me realize things and open my eyes to things I had been blind to. It helped me realize that I don't honor my husband the way I should. It tested my faith. Most of all though, it made me fall more and more in love with my God's redeeming love despite how many times I run away from Him.

Gone Fishin'

I'm taking a bit of a break from blogging {except for tomorrow's post on sharing your faith} but while I'm gone feel free to admire my son's sand bass. You should have seen his face when he pulled this guy in!

See you guys soon!!!

The Best Mother's Day Ever

First off, Happy Belated Mother's Day to all of the moms out there!!
I hope your day was as special as you are.

My Mother's Day weekend was phenomenal.

Nothing went the way I wanted it to.

I wanted to wake up late on Saturday. Spend the morning garage saleing. Have a delicious lunch at a cute cafe. Get a pedicure and take a nice long nap. Afterward, we'd head over to my husband's family's place for a couple of hours to celebrate Mother's Day then head home to watch The Blindside with my hubby.

Instead, my husband went fishing all night (Friday) three hours

away and didn't get home until 9:30 Saturday morning.

Ethan woke me up at 6:30am hollering about some experiment he just did with his chocolate milk (he apparently made himself) and wanted to know what channel the History Channel was on.

I left all of my Weight Watchers stuff at work so I couldn't go to my last meeting.

Went garage saleing with Ethan who got in trouble no less than four times.

Came home.

Cried.

Sobbed that this was "the worst mother's day ever".

David got home, we cleaned and cleaned.

Then everyone from church showed up for the

Apartment Ministry cookout - which we "hosted"

without having a choice in the day or time.

I bet you're wondering how this was the best mother's day ever.

Here's how...

The cookout ended up being a lot of fun.

We met some neighbors.

Had some great food.

Got to see baby Addie.

Visited with church family and the kids ran circles in the yard.

Afterward we took a very short nap and RAN to my husband's family's house (we were late of course) for a Mother's Day cookout. I had only intended to be there a short amount of time: dinner, cake then home by 9.

The Lord had a MUCH BETTER plan though...

David's mom, grandmother and cousin sat on their front porch and visited with me for HOURS. We talked about all kinds of stuff and REALLY bonded!!! It was great but..

The best part though: I got to share Christ with them!!!

David's mom has been "working" on them for quite a while but through His divine wisdom, He delayed our leaving so that I could boldly share the Gospel.

I couldn't have asked for a better Mother's Day present!

A Great Date

The Hubs and I don't get away for a date very often so when David's parents offered to take Ethan to Great Wolf Lodge for the night we took full advantage of being foot-loose and fancy free!

As soon as we dropped Ethan off with Nana and Poppy, we high tailed it to Six Flags Over Texas' Holiday in the Park (we went the day after Christmas so it wasn't busy at all).

I couldn't tell you exactly when I was at Six Flags last but I am pretty sure it was when I saw 98 Degrees and Pink in concert, long before I met my beloved.

This time was MUCH more fun since I got hang on to my hubby for dear life when the rides got to be a little more than I could handle. Oh, and for the record, I was very brave and rode Tony Hawk's new ride Big Spin.

Not only is the ride super intense but the cart that you sit in spins freely on top of the mechanism that is attached to the tracks...so sometimes you're in the front of the cart sometimes you're in the back. Sometimes you're just spinning out of control. At one point when we were riding it we had our backs to the rest of the track so we couldn't see the HUGE DROP coming up ahead of us. I nearly ripped David's arm off by holding on so tight!

It was AWESOME and worth every minute we waited in line!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole day was simply fantastic!

We ran around acting like kids again....we even ate funnel cake and drank a gallon of hot chocolate (it was in the lower 40s that day).

After running around the park for 6 hours we decided to head out for some dinner and then see The Blindside. Dinner was great but the movie was sold out so we went home and David let me beat him at Wii bowling!

~~~~~~~~~~~

I love my husband....I really hope we get to go do fun things like this more often!

Texas High School Football

I'm not a native Texan but if there's one thing I love...

it's high school football.

A friend of ours coaches for the Pirates (the black team) and he invited us to come out to see his team compete in one of it's playoff games.

I'm serious you guys, the WHOLE town came out for this one.

I wish I would have taken a picture of them all!

They do football up big here.

I mean...these guys ran onto the field through a gigantic Pirate football helmet...and I'm talking about a team from a town with only 4,600 people in it.

Ethan was WAY into the game.

Before it got cold anyway...

Good thing I bought David's coat too big.

Thankful

Thankful for...

Christ and His gift to us all.

Good jobs.

Good health.

Good friends.

Great family!

and, of course, YOU!

(and much, much more!!!)

Have a GREAT Thanksgiving!

I'm taking a couple of days off to eat turkey, annoy my sister, shop at 5am and put up the Christmas decor!

National Adoption Month

The President recently proclaimed November as National Adoption Month. As an adoptive mother and TTC, adoption and abortion are issues that are close to my heart.

I know it's kind of a long shot but I consider Ethan to be an abortion survivor. His birth mom never considered abortion - I don't think - but demographically speaking, I'm surprised she didn't.

Ethan was conceived to a teenage, unwed young woman who was sadly addicted to many different drugs. Her boyfriend (which soon became her fiance, after they heard the news) was also addicted to drugs and out of work. They had no reason to keep the baby.

But, by God's grace, they did! They got married and gave family life their best shot but the drugs and their belief in Wicca had too much control over them. Shortly after a domestic dispute my husband and I were called to pick up our sweet little guy.

The road since we got Ethan has been long and hard but, boy, has it been AMAZING! The Lord has overwhelmed us with His grace. We love our son SO much! I can't even begin to describe how he has impacted our lives.

If you know an adoptive or foster family...give them a hug! Please pray for all of the birth parents out there who have made the life saving and difficult decision to allow their child to be adopted - they need the Lord's grace.

I know Ethan's birth parents do.

Why Do I Love This?

This is my second post today (I just couldn't hold it back). Scroll down for my first one!

Goodwilling

Nothing puts me in the mood for shopping like a cool, rainy fall day like today. So, I'm going to go Goodwilling!!

One thing I'd like to find is a metal *working* lamp base with a cute shape that I can spray paint. I love this one I found on the Flea Market Style blog!

We are in desprate need to new bowls and plates.

I would love to find a mix of good quality white plates and bowls.

Last but not least is this beautiful low-boy chest! It's only $55 on Craigslist!!

Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch

I love fall.

It is my FAVORITE season of them all.

I especially love visiting a good pumpkin patch. I am so thankful we found the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch - it's the best one I've visited since I moved to Texas in '97! I especially love the fact that this place is budget friendly, supports a Christian organization and is REALLY cute!

Parking, entrance, rides and activities are all FREE! The only things you'd have to pay for there are pumpkins and food - if you want any!

We ended up spending $6. $1 tip for the face painter and $5 for REAL kettle corn - it didn't even last us through the weekend! HA!

Anyway...I took LOTS of pictures so you all can see how great this place is.

Pumpkins as far as the eye can see!

Whoever does the artwork for the cartoon character cut outs is

REALLY REALLY talented!

They all looked SO great!

Caleb and Ethan pretending to be Remy and Linguini from Ratatouille.

My little pirate.

Kings of the mountain! ...or, err...hay bale.

Here's Miss Cora in the train. I think I was annoying her with all the flash photography! Still, she's PRECIOUS!

Co-conductors.

The gang and Lance, Caleb and Cora's dad.

Playing around with the camera.

This is the "angry face" shot.

(Mandy has the happiest "angry face" I've ever seen)

(and the last two I thought were too cute not to post)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Update on Caleb:

He's feeling much better but still running a fever and coughing. His mom, Mandy, said that he's getting his energy back and is now fighting boredom. Praise the Lord he's on the up and up but please keep praying that everyone else can avoid the Swine!