PTL!!

I have been praying for my dear, sweet husband because of all the hours he has been working! He is really tired....and I know the pressures of his "manly" work here at home are piling up on him.
He came straight home from work tonight (didn't stop and have dinner) after working 14+ hours today and went outside to cut the grass. Well, let me just say....PTL! Our neighbor came over with one of those fancy zero turn do-dads and helped my husband finish our yard! Isn't the Lord amazing!! Thank you, thank you, thank you...not only to the Lord, but to the lovely gentlemen who sacrificed his evening to help my man!

Fellow Cruise Mates For Our Upcoming Vacation!

Hubby, Me, Myself, and I...plus the kiddos

Sherry and Doug
Sharon
Jim
Grandpa (Alan)
Aunt and Uncle (Alan and Cheryl)
Cousin and his girlfriend (Alan and Anita)

68 days and counting.....wonder who we will plan our next cruise with??

What Should I Do First?

It is going to be one of those days. Normally, I am very organized (lists pre-made with time allotments), but today I have been up since 5:00 a.m., and do not feel that much has been accomplished! I have really been just walking in circles, not getting anything done, but starting several projects and finding others that need to be done....the workload is piling up! I don't like it when I do this to myself....AHHH! So, I have decided to finish unplanned projects that I have initiated this morning and just strictly stick to my list...not starting anything else today!

OCD, why ya have to be so mean to me some days??

Today is a busy day....! Come on vacation....sixty some days till take-off....then somebody else can cook for me and clean my room....haha!

Another VBS And A Busy, But Sad Week!

We are doing our last VBS of the year. This is our third one and Braydon is loving them all! The first two were themed "High Seas Adventure" and this one is themed "Rainforest".

Busy week this week for us!

Tonight: Teen Court.
Tomorrow: VBS, Friends going away party,Dentist appts, David's friend's bday party.
Wednesday: VBS, visit with friends...hard telling what else!
Thursday: 4H Day, VBS.
Friday: VBS only thus far....still early in the week/maybe VBS program??
Saturday: Pick up Andrew!
Sunday: Our good friends will be moving away....very sad to see them go.

Had a great day at church yesterday. We were blessed by helping a young girl financially so she was able to go on a missions trip! I love to see young ones serving the Lord and it just feels so good to help them along the way! Thank you Jesus!

It's Done.

I have finished opening our YouTube account! So just click the link that says Smith Family Theatre and you can view our movies. I have quite a few to add to the group, so I will be adding only a couple of them daily because of the amount of time it takes to upload them! So check in every couple of days to see more of the infamous Smith adventures!!

Enjoy...

You Tube.

I said that I would never get a YouTube account, but I have reconsidered. I am going to set one up so my friends/family can keep an "eye" on us. Flickr, Shutterfly, and the blog do not allow me to upload more than a two minute video without paying or some sites I am just not allowed to upload the size of the file! So...stay tuned! I will put a link on the side of my blog when it is completed...some of the movies are quite comical!

It's Hot!

Why, oh why, July heat do you have to hate me sooo much?? The pool's chemicals have been off for a while....spending the cash today to get it chemically balanced!

Gonna take the Nestea Plunge later on today! Ahhhh....hope it is as refreshing as it looked in the old commercials!

Television Go Bye-Bye!

Well, we have made the transition! The cable is completely gone. We went from thousands of television channels to extended cable (hundred or so channels) to basic channels (abc, cbs, nbc, pbs, etc.) to now....nothing! I don't really miss it other than the pbs channel for the little one. We have just found other things to do.

We do; however, subscribe to netflix for less than ten dollars a month and have a huge selection of t.v. shows and movies to pick from. This is really a neat option that the entire family enjoys. When we feel like watching the television, it is like having a movie store in your family room....search for something you like, select it, and voila!...you're watching it!

The kiddos are allowed to pick one program per day that they want to see and also are allowed to watch a show with Daddy if he turns the television on in the evening after work. They really love all of the options and I really love the cheap ticket price!!

Don't Leave Me Here....Part Deux.

This week Braydon is going to another vacation bible school. He has so much fun at these! Last night David and I went to Teen Court in Texarkana, so Daddy had to drop Braydon off. Braydon is normally a child that will run out of the car into a building and forget to tell you good-bye....not last night! Chris said that he cried, held onto his leg refusing to let go, and just had absolutely no desire to stay. Chris was finally able to leave and Braydon had a wonderful time with everyone. First thing this morning he was ready to go back!

He has done this at some other places lately....hmmmm. He was really Mommy's boy when he was about two, but when he grew out of that.....he had NO fear of leaving Mom behind!

At the ripe old age of five he is having another bout of separation anxiety!!??!! Seems so strange for his personality, but I suppose that is just the way it goes sometimes....we can never predict what our kiddos are going to do, can we??

Happy 10th Birthday, Andrew!

I cannot believe you are 10! Just seems like time goes so quickly! You take on so many different identities....king one day......then.....


a BALD wild man the next! This is what you wanted for your birthday.....a big bald head! You are a kid that isn't afraid of standing out! That's another reason we love ya'. Don't change!


Cheeeese! You're a great kiddo and I love the way you make us all smile. I hope you have a really great birthday and that you remember to put sunscreen all over your newly exposed head...haha!


Happy Birthday....love ya,
Mom.

My Nightmare!

We ate at Chili's a couple of nights before we were to leave Indiana. I had one of my favorites, chicken fajitas! We had an enjoyable time and then much later in the middle of the night.....something happened....an abnormal rumbling in my belly. To spare all of the "lovely" details, I will just say that I became one, sick gal.

It was time to come home on Sunday, and let me just say...that was the single most maddening event of my life. Almost fifteen hours of jostling around in the truck and feeling like an accident could possibly happen at any moment...it was not the best of times. I prayed the entire way home, "Lord, just let me get home, and then, together, we can handle the rest." Well, that is exactly what He did for me. As soon as we hit the driveway to our home, I ran into the house...after hurdling past the poor sleeping children in the second row.

Once in the house, I made it to the back of the house where my bathroom and bedroom awaited me and that is the ONLY part of the house that I saw for the rest of the night.
At about 3:30 a.m., I called for Chris from the facilities by compiling all of the energy I could to slightly tap on the wall and produce my, what it seemed as, whispering yell....he came, he heard me, Thank you, God! I was dehydrated from all of the "fluid expulsion" from the past fifty some hours...I was sick! The sweat was pouring out of every inch of my body, I was blacking out and I didn't think I was going to make it. In fact, I told Chris that I didn't think I was going to make it and shared my concerns that I wasn't going to be able to say good-bye to the children. My chest hurt, my blood pressure felt like it was bottoming out, I was having a hard time breathing, and I didn't know whether to sit on the throne or to hover over it! The pain was worse than anything I had ever experienced. I was scared and told my hubby that I needed to go to the E.R. He knew that I was serious after these moments. He placed a wet cloth on the back of my neck and it gave me the shivers, so I decided to lay down and cover up.

I don't know if I blacked out or just fell asleep, but when I woke up, we went straight to the hospital after Chris dropped the kids off at a dear friend's house that agreed to help us without as much as a flinch! Thank you, Lord, for such great friends that we are blessed with.
Chris said in the waiting room at the E.R. that I was diving in and out of consciousness...I don't really remember. When they rolled me back to be seen, my blood pressure couldn't be found, it was so low. They immediately started pushing fluids through an I.V.

The blood tests came back positive for campylobacter, which is food poisoning. They admitted me and I stayed overnight with a bolus of fluid as my dinner. I was starting to feel alive again!
I am home now and feel immensely better, still do not have all of my energy back, but I will take what I can get. I am just thankful that we made it to the hospital when we did. God is good and He was with me and my family through this entire catastrophe!

My hubby says pretty soon I will be back to my old sassy self! haha
Thanks to all that helped us out, prayed for me, called, and visited me in the hospital.....! Love you all!