Pictures!

Here are some old pictures and some new pictures!

Carving pumpkins with Papa!

Making Christmas cookies on our Ice Day!

Isaac's Christmas Party at School.
Chris went and helped make Gingerbread Houses.

Jake's International Christmas Program.
He goes to the International Studies Magnet school, so it was a very educational
program! We learned how people in other countries celebrate Christmas.

Jake and Wesley after the program. Jake has to wear that jacket
everywhere because it is "so cool". Orange jacket with his great
red Christmas shirt. Yep..real cool.

I'M BACK!!!!!!

Hello friends! It has been a long time, but I am finally back! We moved back into our house last weekend after being out for 6 weeks. Wow...what an adventure we have had! They always tell you to count on twice as long as they tell you it is going to be and that was exactly what happened to us!

Lets start from the beginning....My eye surgery went very well and they say that I am doing great. I underestimated the seriousness of the surgery and how much it would hurt. I guess I thought, "it is your eye, how bad can it be". I was badly mistaken! I was in the bed for days and it hurt bad!!! It is over now, though, and things seem to be going well. I have gone back twice for check ups and he says that it looks like it is healing wonderfully. I go back in Jan. and they will then decide when to take out the oil bubble. My vision is still really blurry, but I don't notice it much anymore. I think your body helps you deal with things like this.

I had the eye surgery on Wed., Oct. 29th and we moved out of our house on Sat., Nov 1. Living at Mrs. Perkins house was not bad at all. The boys loved it and had a great time running around in a huge empty house. The first few weeks felt like we were camping. The last few weeks we thought we were going to go crazy. Going back and forth got really old and not having things when you needed them was hard too. But, all is well and we are back. Now, we are not all put back to together, but we are at least in our house. I still have a lot of painting to do and organizing, but it has given me a great opportunity to go through things and throw a lot of stuff away.

We have been too overwhelmed and too stressed to do a lot of things we wanted to do this year. We ended up staying in Jonesboro for Thanksgiving instead of going to my sisters new house. We were at our breaking point and we needed to make lots of decisions for our house that week. We were really disappointed, but I think that if we went we would be in Mrs. Perkins house for Christmas. I do not have one Christmas decoration out. Not even a tree. We are leaving on Sunday for Nashville and I could not bring myself to putting everything out for 1 week. The boys are too young to remember this Christmas anyways, right?! Oh well.

We have made it out alive and we are praying that 2009 is a little less eventful than 2008. I nice boring year would be great!

Blessings

Well........... Some of you know how crazy our life has become over the last few weeks. I thought I better give an update. I think I better just make a list!

1. I woke up 2 weeks ago with blurry vision in my left eye. Didn't think too much about it, thought it was just sinus.
2. Ended up going to 3 different doctors. Found out I have an optical pit that I was born with that is now leaking spinal fluid behind my eye. Gross, I know.
3. There are less than 100 documented cases of this condition in the world. I am a freak.
4. I have to have surgery Wed. Oct. 29.
5. We have another water leak under our house.
6. They are going to did a trench through my bedroom and through 2 walls.
7. Chris has a raging sinus infection.
8. Isaac was up 4 times last night throwing up.
9. Had parent-teacher conferences Tues. and Thurs. nights until 6:30.

To say the least, our life is a little out of control! The crazy thing is, God is a part of all of these things and there are blessings in every one of them.

1. My eye is seriously crazy, but one of the best retinal specialist in the world lives in Memphis. He has patients that come from all over the world to see him. He called me on the phone the other day! "Hello, world famous Dr. Meyers! How are you today!" His office has been fantastic and has gone above and beyond to take care of me. Granted that is probably because my eye is kind of a freak show, but still. I am going to be in research books and everything. He writes the books! So, my eye is going to be famous!

2. Our house is going to be "under construction" for at least 3 weeks due to the concrete, dry wall, painting and new flooring, but we have a place to live! Mrs. Marion Perkins is letting us move into her old house. She has it up for sale, but it is sitting there empty so she is letting us move in for as long as we need to. It is right around the corner from us which makes it incredibly convenient. The insurance company would have put us up in a hotel, but that is a long time to be in a hotel with 2 small boys, plus I have to make Jake's lunch every day because of his food allergies and hotel living is not very conducive to that. We also get to pick out all new flooring which is pretty fun!


3. Just got back from taking Isaac to the doctor and he just has a little cold with lots of snot. Much better than the stomach virus! We probably needed a quiet day at home anyway!


So, to say the least, our life is crazy and unpredictable, but we are hanging in there. Please be praying for my eye. Because this condition is so rare they really don't know what my vision is going to be like after the surgery. I have to leave a "oil bubble" in my eye for 3 months and after they take it out we will see how my eye sight will be. Luckily my parents are able to come on Tuesday, so the boys will be taken care of and we won't have to mess with that. We will keep you updated and I will try to post some before and after pictures of our house!

Crazy Isaac!

We went to see Dr. Matthews last week for Isaac's 4 year old well baby visit. He is so big! 46 pounds and 46 inches! Dr. David said he is well on his way to being 6'8!


Here is another funny little story from dinner last night:

Setting: Sitting at the dinner table eating breakfast for dinner. (yum)

Isaac: "Mom...people make houses, but God puts in all of the toys."

Jake: "No Isaac....people make the houses and God helps us arrange all of the toys in the house. "


Another one of Isaac's crazy sleeping position! His purple dino has to be on his left and the orange one has to be on right every night!

Halloween Preview

Can't wait for Halloween!

Disney World!!!!!

Hello! Sorry that it has been so long since my last post. As you can probably imagine, our life is spinning out of control and most of the time we don't even know which way is up. But, the real reason I haven't posted is because I have wanted to blog about our Disney present and Chris' appreciation dinner, but have found no good way of expressing our feelings and gratitude.

Most of you know that Chris has transitioned from youth ministry to associate minister this past month. The church held an appreciation dinner/pot-luck in honor of Chris and the ministry he has done in the youth ministry. We really thought it was just a laid back pot-luck on a Sunday night. Didn't think too much would happen, probably the elders would get up and pray over us. No big deal, right? We were way wrong! We walked in to the gym to a completely decorated appreciation dinner. There were tableclothes and luminaries on every table. The luminaries were made out of copied pictures of all kinds of youth group pictures. There were old ones, new one's, family photos, etc.. They were wonderful and so much fun to look at. We looked so young! They had a special table for us in the middle of the room with a beautiful flower arrangement that had been put in a glass cookie jar for us to keep. We all ate and then Abbey got up and started introducing speakers. Ashleigh Givens spoke first. She was great and so funny. It is always fun when you can make fun of Chris! She was the female youth minister when we moved to SW. Her and Chris worked together for 5 years. Lots of funny stories! Next came Jerry Cobb. He gave the perspective of a parent of a teen. He was very gracious and thanked Chris for everything that he had done. Third was Jared Winters. Jared was a senior when we moved here and he and Chris have become the best of friends. Jared and Chris have gone to Honduras together too many times to count. Jared made us all cry and thanked me for more than I deserve! Abbey spoke last and made us cry again! She was great and thanked Chris for ministering to her and teens. As she finished up we started hearing music! It was the music for George of Jungle from WOW! Out came George! He was looking for Chris to give him a "secret package"! He found us and and presented us with a certificate for an all expense paid trip to DISNEY WORLD!!!!! We were in complete and utter shock! Actually, I think I am still in shock! Church families all donated to send all of us to Disney world! I really thought he might get a gift-certificate to Gear Head, not a trip! They completely surprised us. We had no clue! We couldn't even talk about it all evening. Every time we started, we would both start crying!



It was an incredible, once in a life time night. I can't even begin to thank everyone that put it together. Abbey worked so hard and made a perfect night. Thanks to Ashleigh, Jerry, Jerad, and Abbey for all of their nice words and encouragement. The funny thing is, we truly feel like we should be thanking everyone for allowing us to be here. We can't imagine being anywhere else. We love Southwest and everyone that is a part of it. We feel so blessed that God has let us be apart of the ministry that happens here. Thank you for loving us and blessing us! We are so excited to go to Disney!!! We are going Spring Break!

Weekend

Here are some pic's from last weekend. We tailgated before the ASU game with our Bible class. Big Fun and great weather!

Isaac and Ms. Melinda at the game.
She bought him 2 big packages of starburst and he ate all of them!

Sunday was promotion Sunday at church. They did a little ceremony for the Kindergarteners and moved them up to the Big 1st grade! They got a new Bible and got to move to other side of the building. I was cute and Jake was so excited about his new Bible. We have read it every night! I have been so tired this week, but you can't say no when your child asks you to read the Bible!!!!

Jake and his new Bible.

Wesley getting his new Bible.

Silly boys!
Fletcher, Jake, Wesley, and Carter

Quote of the day

Oh Jakers!

He was telling me the differences in the word "sweet".

Jake: (his hands and arms are moving the entire time he is talking) Mom....the sweet like a piece of candy is just "sweet", but sweet like "really cool" is "sweeeeeet". You say it longer.

Me: Thanks Jake. That is really great to know.

Thankful Tuesday

WE ARE ALIVE!!!! We have successfully made it through the first 2 weeks of school. It has taken much adjustment on all of our parts, but we are making it! I actually think that we are doing pretty good! Here are some pictures from the 1st day of school!

HA!

10 Things that I am Thankful for Today!

1. Chris has become SUPER DAD! He is in charge of getting the boys up, ready and to school everyday. He is also spending every Friday with Isaac and has had to take Jake to 2 different doctor appointments. He is doing a FANTASTIC job and the boys are loving it!

2. Isaac is adjusting great to his new school and to going Monday -Thursday. His favorite part of school is getting to eat in the cafeteria and going outside!

3. School is going good for me! No one has cussed me out yet and I haven't had to send anyone to ISS yet either.

4. We just got back from a wonderful Labor Day weekend in Branson. My parents meet us there and we had a great time just relaxing by the pool!

5. Jake loves his new school too! He has made 2 new friends in the 1st grade and is learning so much every day. He is already reading chapter books!

6. Jake loves that he gets to eat lunch and go outside everyday with Wesley!

7. This Sunday is Chris' last Sunday as a youth minister. What a blessing and what a ride we have had!

8. I haven't cooked very much in the last 2 weeks! Yippee!

9. Jake has a doctors appt. tomorrow at AR Children's to check on his asthma. He hasn't had to use his inhaler since June, so I know that it is going to be a great appt.!

10. Chris is changing jobs, I have gone back to work full time, Jake started 1st grade at a new school, and Isaac started pre-k ....We are all doing great and the Lord has been so good!

Isaac is 4!

My baby boy is 4 years old! He has been waiting so long to be 4 and it is finally here. His birthday was Wed. the 13th, but we had his SHARK party today. Big fun! I am a low-maintenance party thrower, so we just had it in the back yard with a few house church friends. Kiddy pools and a slip and slide. What could be better for a 4 year old?! Here are a few pictures from the day.

What a great kid! Wearing his Shark hat!

Kellen hanging out on the slip and slide!

Milk free, egg-free, nut-free cake! Actually, pretty good!

Jake and those silly Brooks' boys!

Peyton and Kellen swinging.

This is the best I could do at a group picture!

Happy Birthday to the BEST 4 year old EVER!

Quotes

Setting:
Jake, Isaac, and me in the car.

Isaac: (random) I am not going to get baptized.

Jake: I am because you get to eat that bread and that grape juice.

Isaac: hum...

Jake: I am going to get baptized when I am 12. Can I wear my goggles, Mom?

Me: Of course my love!

Thankful Tuesday

Thankful Tuesday!

1. Chris is home and had a great trip!



2. I made it through New Teacher Orientation alive!

3. Made some new friends that are new teachers at MacArthur!

4. I found Jake new Pottery Barn queen sized sheets for $25! They are Monster trucks!


5. Chris is home!

6. We got to meet Jake's new teacher yesterday and she is great!

7. Thursday is our anniversary. 9 years of wedded bliss!



8. I am not doing anything school related today and it is wonderful!

9. I have some praise and worship cd's playing very loudly all over the house this morning! Dancing for Jesus! Great Day!

10. CHRIS IS HOME!!!!!

Gigi!

Well, today was our last day at "Camp Gigi". :( My mom was able to be here for the last 3 weeks to help us out with babysitting. I have had to be in class for 3 weeks and you can't pay a babysitter with a credit card! Gigi came through in the pinch! The boys have loved having her here and I can't even explain how much she has helped me! She has cleaned, cooked, took care of the dogs, etc, etc... I have been able to do what I needed to do without worrying about the boys at all. THANK YOU GIGI!

She isn't going to be able to be here for Isaac's birthday on the 13th, so she decided to take us out tonight to celebrate. We had dinner at Chili's and then went Putt-Putt Golfing. Big fun in the 100 degree weather! Not only did we play 18 holes, but we decided we needed to play they other side of 18 too! 36 holes of golf and covered in bug spray! It has been a great night! Here our a few of our pictures!

What a crazy summer!

What a crazy summer we are having. I thought I might recap June and July.

Polly:
June started with me getting a new job! I am the new FACS (family and consumer science) teacher at MacArthur Jr. High. My dream job, but one major problem....I don't have a teaching license. Luckily, there is this wonderful little program call the Non-traditional licensure program. I have a degree in FACS just not the teaching part. The NTLP allows me to start teaching while getting the teaching license. I am in the program for 2 years. 3 weeks this summer and 3 weeks next summer. Then, one Sat. a month for the next 2 school years. There is a ton of work that goes with it, but it is better than going to school full time for a year and not getting paid. I am pretty worn out, but excited too. There is another small problem with this whole FACS thing. I don't know how to sew! My focus in college was family relations, not sewing! I may need a few of you to give me a crash course this fall! This week I am cleaning out my classroom and trying to figure out what I am doing! PRAY!

Chris:
Chris is on his last official youth mission trip right now! He is spending the week with the Dry Bones ministry in Denver. It is the perfect way to end his youth ministry career. He loves this trip and this ministry. June began with the announcement of Chris' position change at SW. He is moving to Associate Minister in September. This was a really big decision that was prayed over for months. He loves youth ministry, but has been struggling with God calling him to a different ministry. His gifts have changed over the last few years, but God has been telling him to wait and be patient. I truly believe that God has prepared Chris for this position and prepared the church for Chris to be in this position. We are both going to miss youth ministry so much. It is all we have known as a married couple. The great part about this change is that he isn't leaving youth ministry because he doesn't like it anymore. He is leaving because God has prepared him for something else. This is Chris' tenth summer as a full time youth minister and in that time he has made a enormous impact in God's kingdom. I am continually amazed at how he allows God to work in him and how he allows God to change him. Please pray for him and for the teens. We have been praying for God to bring us a great new youth minister!

Jake and Isaac:
Bless them! They are hanging in there and probably have no idea how their lives are about to change. My mom (gigi) has been here for the last 2 weeks helping out with babysitting. I really don't know what we would have done with out her. The boys love when she is here and they have hardly noticed that we have been crazy. Please pray for them this fall. Isaac is starting the pre-k center. This will be his first year to be in school full time. Jake will be in the 1st grade at the International studies magnet school. I am so excited about their schools and know that is right where they need to be. Pray that they get great teachers and find some good friends!

We are blessed and are excited/nervous for what God has in store for us this year. We already told Greg Brooks that we are probably going to need our 4 free sessions at the Better Life Counseling Center! :)

Thankful Tuesday on Thursday

Thankful Tuesday!


1. Only one more day of my 3 week class!!!!

2. I passed all of my tests!

3. Chris leaves for Dry Bones on Saturday. I am not excited for me, but very excited for him. He loves this trip and loves the Dry Bones ministry. This is his last youth trip and he is taking the kids that have been at our house for huddles all year.

4. Isaac decided to have a Shark birthday and I found shark stuff at Deal's for $1!

5. Casual Friday in class! I have had to dress up every day for the last 3 weeks. I know that really isn't a big deal, but I used to wear jeans and t-shirts every day to work!

6. I stopped at Chick-fil-a on the way to class today and got chicken mini's. Special Treat!

7. Gigi is still here and doing all of my "mom" duties! Yeah Gigi!

8. My husband is just so cute! What a guy!

9. Because I am teaching, Isaac is getting a discount at the pre-k center!

10. God is good!

WOW!!

Here are a few pictures of the boys enjoying WOW!

Love the WOW t-shirts!

Hi! I am well rested and feeling a little more normal today! We are starting to recover from another fabulous year of WOW. For those of you who don't know what WOW is, it is VBS on steroids! Four nights of crazy Jesus fun! There really are no words to describe how huge and how wonderful it is. WOW is for everyone. Birth-80 years old! I think that they said that it took over 400 volunteers this year to pull it off. There is drama with full sets, activities, crafts, singing, etc...! Big fun!

This year the teens had to move to Jonesboro High School auditorium because we had completely out grown the teen center. It worked out wonderfully and averaged 200 students each night. It was a great year and I am so proud of Chris and all of the work he put into it. It was definitely an emotional week for him, because this was the last big teen event for his youth ministry career. I think he went out Great! A big thanks to Abbey for the video that she made. She taped about 40 teens thanking Chris for everything that he has done over the last six years. It was great and was a real testimony for the legacy that he is leaving. I think that subject will require its own post in a few more weeks!

blogging

I really wanted to blog today. But friends....I am just too tired! The class I am in and WOW have worn me out. I need sleep. Lots of sleep. I shall be back with you later in the week. Good night friends!

Quotes

Quotes from Isaac:

"Jake, your hair makes you look like a Dude!"



Isaac - after he just got in trouble:

"I wish I lived somewhere else! Like Kansas City!"

Hanging out in the playroom watching Star Wars.

4th of July

We headed to Nashvegas for the 4th this year. Our good friend Debbie Cook has always wanted to be in Nashville for the 4th, so this year Chris and I and the Brooks went with her. If you know Debbie, you would know that she has had an amazing year and has accomplished things that most of us would never even try. Click on her link to check out her journey. We are so proud of her and are feel honored to be able to journey with her this year. GO DEBBIE! Here are some pictures of our weekend!

Chris is having a lovely time!

Debbie having fun trying on some cowboy hats. Trying to find her a cowboy!

I tried to get Chris to buy these for us. I think that we looked pretty cool!

Greg and Carolyn....they are just so cute!

Waiting for the fireworks on the Shelby Street bridge with 100,000 other people. Yes, I did say 100,000 people!