My New Blog

Well........I have to say that I am a little nervous about this but it is something that I have wanted to do for awhile now. This blog is easier for me because it is about my children which I could write all day about boldly and proudly and not worry about what people think but my new blog is about me in the most humbling way possible if that is even possible. It is a place for me to put my thoughts, and a place for me to be me. So here it is if you like: http://meditatewithme.blogspot.com/

You really freak me out............

Eli is currently listening to:
Group: Weezer
Album: Make Believe
Song: You Really Freak me Out















City streets at night
Can be so intimidating
I'm not the toughest guy
I gotta keep my eyes open
You came out of nowhere
Man you really freak me out
I'm so afraid of you
And when I lose my cool
I don't know what to do
I know you don't mean no harm
Your just doing your thing
But man you really freak me out
Did I hurt you?
Are you okay?
Can I buy you a drink?
Ohhh what's the world coming to?
You came out of nowhere
Man you really freak me out
I'm so afraid of you
And when I lose my cool
I don't know what to do
I know you don't mean no harm
Your just doing your thing
But man you really freak me out
I'm gonna try to improve my manners (manners)
Everyone, yes everyone, is my frienddd![instrumental]
City streets at night (city streets at night)
City streets at night (city streets at night)
Til the morning light (til the morning light)
City streets at night (city streets at night)
Man you really freak me out
I'm so afraid of you
And when I lose my cool
I don't know what to do
I know you don't mean no harm
You're just doing your thing
But man you really freak me out..[instrumental]



This is Eli's most requested song at the moment. I am not sure what it is about and I know that he doesn't either.......he just likes the rythym of the song and the lyrics are pretty easy. It is really funny here is how it goes.............in the car he will ask to put on the cd that we listened to yesterday which I know is the Weezer song You really freak me out. So I will put it on and adjust my rear view mirror so that I can see him in the back seat. From beginning to end he sits back there singing every word to this song. It is so funny cause I can not hear him and so it looks like he is lip singing................I just crack up, of course he doesn't even know that I am watching him. Today on the way back from his dentist appointment we listened to it 5 times in a row and he sang it 5 times in a row with facial expressions and all. (If you have not heard this song you can go to the Diary of the 80's Truck Driver blog to hear it)

Smile Eli and Kai

This is one of my favorite pictures of Eli and Kai together. They both look so serious with their little precious expressions. This was taken on September 11 2004 for Ricks birthday present. I remember how hard it was to get both of them to cooperate. If Eli was smiling and looking at the camera Kai wouldn't be and if Kai was looking at the camera Eli wouldn't be, it was a lot of work. Kai was a job all in its selft cause to get him to smile I had to make all kinds of funny noises and faces and then when he would crack a little smile I wouldn't beable to get my camera up and ready in time! Anyway, when I was finished taking the roll of film I didn't think I had gotten any good pics but when I got them developed I saw this one and a few others that had turned out good but I just love this one. Evertime I see this picture I can imagine what a future pic of them would look like, maybe they won't be like that. I hope they will smile in their pictures unlike some cool people I know (Jason Maricelli).Anyways, I just wanted to share one of my # 1 pictures of Eli and Kai. Have a blessed day in the Lord..................keli.

Mud Splashin Fun

I love this picture.............can you guess who this could be? Right on........my Eli splashin in the mud puddles!! Everytime it rains he asks to go play in the puddles. Here in our new house we don't get that many puddles like we use to at our apartments. We use to love for it to rain because of the puddles that would be waiting for us after the storm. After pretty much every rain we would put his little boots on and go stomping through the puddles in the road. I remember how he layed in one one time and said he was making a puddle angel..........it was so funny. I have a picture of that some where.........now I am going to have to find it. I can't imagine wanting to go play in the puddles..........now I freak out if I get a single drop of mud on me.......why........................................I really don't know. I am getting uptight in my getting older ages! Anyways, here is somemore pics of Eli (in his underwear like he likes it) splashin away in his yucky but super fun mud puddles in our backyard:

Pouring Down Fun

Well, today Erica came over for lunch just to hang out with the Harper Mama and the Harper Boys. It was awesome conversation and laughter! We love Erica. When Erica was going to leave it started raining........well Eli asked me if he could "Please go play in the rain..." I think......ugh....he will get all wet and then I will have to get a towell and dry him off and then I will have to wash his clothes and when Kai sees him then I will have to deal with him also............what have I turned in too an old no fun mama! Eli awaits my anwser standing there with a pitiful pleading face..........finally I decide he is to cute and why not......."Go aheah crazy!" He was so excited. He ran out into the rain like a crazy man yelling and turning in circles, it was so funny. Kai was sitting by me and when he saw his big brother out in the rain playing and having fun he decided to caustiously venture out of the carport and into the rain..... and to my surprise he loved it! I thought he would cry because of the water in his face. They both had a blast............and to think I almost let them miss all this fun together. I would have missed Eli do his Rain Dance:












He is so hilarious...........he has watched his daddy dance to much.....he he he.










He is such a character! It was really fun to watch Eli and Kai have so much fun in the rain. It is funny sometimes.....things that would be more work for me are usually the most fun for them. I can't believe I almost said no to all of this fun, as a parent I have never really thought about how sometimes I am so selfish and just becuase I don't want more work I will miss these wonderful moments of their lives. I hope that the next time I think like that I will remember that the joy of watching my two boys laughing and playing together far outways the work that comes afterwards! Praise God for the Rain that brought so much joy into our day.

Eli's Victory

Victory at last! Eli rejoicing in his accomplishment! For the last three weeks he has been diligently practicing riding his bike with out his training wheels. It all started when his friend Layton from across the street came over riding his bike that is identical to Elis with out his training wheels on. Eli was amazed and immediatly convicted to to take his off too. So over the next 3 weeks Eli would on his own take the intiative to go outside and practice trying to ride his bike all by himself(with us). Layton would come over showing off peddling fast and then braking to make a skid mark........Rick and I just watched in amazement at this boy who is a few months younger than Eli ride so fearlessly and recklessly! It only pushed Eli to practice more. I am telling you he had such determination in doing this. Rick at one point suggested to put his training wheels back on but Eli didn't want to. And this past week when I would hold his seat I started to let go every now and then to see how well he was doing and on Friday when I would hold on to his seat I decided to let go longer and to my surprise he would ride for a good period with out my help. Anyway, today we all went outside because Eli wanted to practice riding his bike again so we did and I was doing something with Kai and Rick was watching Eli when Eli shouted so happily "I am doing it!" and I looked up and there he was riding his bike all by his little self!!! We were clapping, wistling and yelling I just know that our neighbors were wondering what was going on. It was crazy excitement to watch my boy accomplish something that he strived so hard for. He never gave up because it got to hard, he just pushed himself until he got the results he wanted. I pray that he will keep this determination, endurance and patience in his life with Christ. Rick and I am so proud of our little Eli and his first big accomplishment. Yes!

A Lesson in the Box

Kai sitting in his favorite box and reading his favorite book. How sweet! He loves this darn box so much. It is amazing how content children can be with such a simple object. This box was given to us by his Papa Pat. It has advantage stickers all over it and at first I was just using it as storage for less used toys and then I decided to bring it out into the living room to store the toys he plays with most. Well, everyday I put out this silly box full of his toys and everyday he empties the toys and gets in His Advantage Box and sits in there. He loves it, why I am not sure but I don't care so long as he is having fun.

We could so learn from little children. Here he is day in and day out playing in this box totally satisfied with it and not desiring anything more. How many things do I look at through out my day with disatifaction. To many I am afraid and not only is he content but he has found joy in this box. Obviously or he would not go to it laughing pull up on it and then look at me with a big grin and then proceed to play with it. Hebrews 13:5 says ".....to be content with what you have........" Am I content with what I have, on the surface I would say yes but take a look inside am I really. Do I find joy in my contentment? if not then am I really content. How could I be satisfied with something if I did not find joy in? Contentment I think has been misused greatly. Often I think we use it when we are not satisfied with something we are told to be content with it. What does that mean? If you don't like what you have just settle for it. Is that what god tells us, settle with what you have because it is all you have and you can't get anything else? No, He says to be content, to be satisfied, and to find joy in what you have. To be continued.......so let's do just that, be content. Let's be like little babies and find joy in such simple things such as boxes. When we look around let us be content, happy and thankful for what we do have and let's praise God for giving them to us.


~keli~

Yeah.....

I am so excited! My Eli is home from his Nana's house. I missed my little booger so very much. It is amazing how different he looks everytime he is gone. He always looks enormous when he comes back home. And it is so warming to my heart when he walks in the door and sees me, I can see his whole face light up as he says "MOMMMMY" and runs at me. It just makes my day to know that he missed me and was filled with joy when he saw me. It is refreshing and uplifting. I can't believe how big he is getting! It seems like yesterday he was doing his crazy look at me dance in the middle of our floor in our old apartment bald headed and wearing only a diaper. He is asleep in his bed right now right next to Kai and tonight I can sleep with the peace of knowing my family is all here and well.

Thank you God for the many blessings you have bestowed upon me. You are awesome and I am in awe of you. I pray that I will show my family the love that I feel for them, I feel like I would lay down my life for them God like there is nothing I wouldnt do. Please put in me the desire to show them this selfless love everyday and in everyway. amen.

~Kelli~

~His work in the past year

Today is July 5th, 2005 and I would like to kind of recap what God has done in my families life over the past year. This could get pretty long depending on how well I am able to express myself and how long my Kai will allow me to write. He is actually throwing a fit as a write so it might not be as long as I originally thought it would be. You know what, I think they have this radar that detects when Mommy is going to sit down and have a little me time. Oh okay He is distracted so I will begin.

Okay let me start at the very beginning. A little over a year ago my Rick and I had a very rough time with a lot of things that were going on in our lives. I was pregnant with Kai and he was very depressed for some reason. We are still not sure why till this day but it was all in God's plan. After Kai was born some things were brought to my attention that shattered my view of my life. I had always viewed it as perfect and with out any evident evil, well there had been a lot of evil lurking around for quite some time. Through this time Rick and I were able to see God more clearly and eachother. Rick started to come out of his depression and started to have a great desire to become a more godly husband and father. About 6 months later Ricks dear grandma became very ill due to her ongoing struggle with cancer. In December she was hospitalized and went home to be with the Lord on December 23. It was extremely sad for everyone who knew this beautiful woman known as Huzzy to our 4 year old. Rick immediately turned to God and began to see life in a whole new perspective and so did I. God had started His work in Rick. It was becoming clear to us that He was trying to move Rick to make a decision about how he is going to live his life. Rick began to think about how he would like to one beable to see his grandmother again and I believe that this is where it really hit him hard. He realized that he needed to change his ways and that is when God began His work in Rick's heart. A seed was planted in him and he could no longer see himself doing anything else but work for the Lord. Praise God. I can't tell you the joy and shock I had when he first told me he was thinking about going into the ministry! I was going crazy inside with so many emotions, but I didn't want to get to excited cause I was afraid he might change his mind but God was in control and he didn't.

So now let me tell you the road that we have traveled since then. Okay first off I need to introduce 2 other families the Groomes and the Swinsons. The BJ and Rena Groome are the preacher and his wife who are very close friends of ours and Allen and Dena Swinson are close friends of there's and ours. I will start with Rick decided to go look at a school in Dallas which is where BJ is from Mesquite to be exact. It was supposed to be a very good and very cheap school. Now in Mesquite there is a church that would help support a student going to the school in Irving Texas, it was a ministry they had. So we decided to go and look at the school and try out for the position at Meadowview Church in Mesquite. There were 3 other guys who wanted the position as well so we really were not expecting to get it. Well later Rick was accepted into the school and then after a long wait was chosen to intern at the church there! We were in shock. During this time another church had mentioned that they needed a song leader and well we knew of one but he was not planning at the time to go into the ministry, but we told him about it and casually and jokingly Rick told Allen he should come to Dallas with him. Well, a few days later Allen came to Rick and said I think we just might! We couldn't believe it, could this be. Well He also was accepted into the school and the position at that other church who needed a song leader chose Allen. We were all rejoicing and praising God. It is amazing how perfectly everything was going. So, Rick and Allen told their bosses about what they were planning to do and they were both surprisingly calm about it and even happy for us. We put our house up for sale and were all planning what came next. When here came a shocking curve ball that none of expected. The school a 40 year old school was going to close! What! Now what are we going to do. We were a little worried but continued to trust our God and started looking for other schools to go to. Well after a lot of looking and advice Rick found a school in Austin Texas and Allen found one in Dallas. Now, listen cause here is where God is just so amazing! Now we didn't know exactly how we would live in Dallas and Rick would go to a school that was 3 hours away. Well, BJ and rena had months earlier tried out for a preaching position in Taylor Texas which just so happens to be about 40 minutes or so outside of Austin. They were not sure about this and if they would get it or not. Well, a little while after Rick decided to go to Austin and figured out his classes which would be on Mondays and Tuesdays, he would just need a place to stay on Mondays, BJ and Rena got their call from Taylor that they wanted them to come and become their preacher. Can you believe it! There was Ricks place to stay and me and the boys could come down to sometimes. And it just so happens that Eli and Soren which is the Groomes 3 year old boy, are best friends!

Okay, now we have a plan. Rick will go to Austin to school and we will live in Dallas. But, we were once again thrown another curve. We were asked by the church to calculate how much more it would cost Rick to go to Austin than if we had been able to stay at the school that closed. It came out to 11,850 dollars more than what we budgeted! O man, what were going to do now. Where would we come up with that. Well, the school that closed decided to give the student who had just enrolled in the school some money and just guess how much? 12,000 dollars! Almost exactly the amount we needed, Praise God! For He is awesome and wow does He take care of His children. Okay so that is pretty much where we are right now. We just found the perfect aprartments for us last week and they are right down the road from Allen and Dena our friends.

Now the only thing left is to sale our house. No, it has not sold yet, and we are expected to move by August 11. I am trying to not worry and lean on my own understanding, for I trust God and I know that He is faithful and that He is going to take care of us. So, that is what God has done in our live in the past year. He has brought us out of depression, grief, brokenness, hopelessness and a lack of direction and into His illuminating joy, love, fullness and Has showed us His direction for our lives! Thank you God, You are truly awesome and you give me more than I deserve.

*Glory be to God*
~Kelli~