Storm update!

Mom, Cathy, Kevin and other out-of-towners......this is preview of Hurricane (what we call "Himacane") Gustav. Some of you have been wondering about our weather. Here you go....
This is our house about an hour ago. Looks safe enough.... These are the trees in our front yard that just may give us some trouble......

These are the clouds in our back yard. Fluffy, but looks are deceiving......This is our neighbor's house. Looks like they got out of town! No kidding. They taped up the windows and ran for the hills! (we may wish we had!)

We decided not to evacuate so we are prepared to stay home. We have two generators and plenty of fuel. We have a portable air conditioner so when we lose power we can still be relatively comfortable. We have a pantry full of food and plenty of bottled water but one thing that got used before I noticed.....Diet Coke! I completely ran out of Diet Coke. Here we are in the ninth hour before a major hurricane, dubbed the hurricane of the century and I'm out of Diet Coke. So, off to the store I go......this is what I found.......my local Winn Dixie - storm doors closed!

My local Wal Mart! All boarded up!

Overpriced convenient store - boarded up, but open! Whew! And I thought this was going to be a rough week! I'm ready now......

We will probably lose power sometime during the night, but I will keep taking pics and post them as soon as possible! Much love to you all! Prayed for the best but prepared for the worst.

Melissa's Birthday!

Today we had a surprise birthday party for my girl, Melissa! SURPRISE! Mine was on the 25th and hers is on the 30th.....so we are just a few days apart - oh, and a year! Ha! She's older, but wiser!

Here are a couple of pics.....

Melissa getting all surprised.....

Me and Melissa...

It's my birthday....

Ok, so today is my birthday. I'm 39.... Just another day, really. Mike's off to work, kids are off to school and I'm off to the laundry room. It's all good, though. I have an amazing life. (dysfunctional, but amazing!) This past weekend, the boys (Mike and Trent) loaded up and headed to the Bristol race. So, Paula and I loaded up the kids and headed to my favorite place to visit, San Antonio, TX! We had planned for the beach, but with TS Fay coming to visit, it just didn't make sense. So, with some quick planning, we headed west. I love SA. Everything about it. The people, the river, the food (definately the food!). But it was great. I got to see my Uncle Stanley and Aunt Diane. They are awesome. I was hoping to hook up with my birth father, but he was out of town with his church. I did get to meet my new nephew, Neil. I got to go by for a quick visit that was just enough to make me want to go back again. Neil is so precious! He was quite the snuggle-bug, too. Congratulations to my brother, Kevin, and sister-in-law, Laurie. I can't wait to see you guys again!
Saturday, we took the kids to Schlitterbahn Waterpark, as Kevin puts it, "to get in touch with my German heritage". Being adopted, I'm not sure what I am sometimes. I know its good, but I'm also pretty sure its all mixed up! It was fun, but it rained almost the entire time. Its fine because we were wet anyway, but it was cold. After saving about $40 by purchasing scalped tickets from some girl in the parking lot, we played for a few hours, then headed back towards Houston. We dined at Outback Steakhouse that night for dinner. That's where the picture is from. I was craving cake, so for my birthday, the waiter brought out a huge hunk of death by chocolate. It was good and big enough to split with all six of us. So the birthday weekend was great (Thanks, Paula for treating me like the Queen for the weekend!)

Servolution 2008

We attend the absolute coolest church on the planet. Today, my offspring and I, along with about 900 of our fellow church goers put on our red "Serve" t-shirts and headed out into the streets of Baton Rouge to bless the community with stuff. All kinds of stuff. Some teams went to schools to paint, or clean up. Some went to Winbourne Avenue for a huge block party with burgers and fun. Some went to the inner city and to nursing homes and just loved on people. We basically just went out and met the people where they are. Our team, dubbed the "Mean, Green, Car-washing team" headed over to Siegen Lane to Chic-fil-A. Now let me tell you, if you are going to do any kind of outreach, Chic-fil-A would have been my pick! That, or Gambino's bakery. But....anyway, we setup an "Absolutely Free Car Wash". And that it was, absolutely free. No donations, no gimmicks, just free. Almost everyone that came tried to give us something. But, no....it's free. One lady that I remember was really nice. I went to wash the back of her car and noticed something. She had this ugly GT sticker on the back window. You guessed it. This girl was a Georgia Tech graduate! OMG! I tried to scrub it off but it was stuck. I apologized to her for not being able to get it off her window and then told her that we will keep her in our prayers... :) So another precious lady and her son came up. Here is the conversation that she and I had as she was pulling in....

Nice Lady: "How much is the car wash?"

Me: "Nothing, its free.....pull on in!"

Nice Lady smiling: "Are you taking donations?"

Me (smiling back): "No. It's free."

Nice Lady: "WILL you take donations?"

Me: "No, ma'm. It's free. Free means free."

Nice Lady: "No, usually it doesn't."

Ok, she had me there.....so I said, "You're right, but today it does."

She and her son pulled in. They got out and walked to a nearby store and did some shopping. We washed their car and when she came back she came up and asked me, "will you take a tv?" Now, this lady was good. She was going to give me something! She wanted to give me her son's tv!! (it was cool though, he was getting a new flat screen!) I laughed and told her that she could contact the church office and they would be able to assist her with the tv. She was so precious and so thankful that we blessed her with something as simple as a carwash. It was an awesome day. (even when we got half way home and realized Cj had left his shoes.) Oh well.....Thanks Lisa, for taking care of his shoes. love ya! a few pics from today....

Carly and Cara (bff's)JP giving an awesome "pep talk" (Cj thinks he is what God looks like!)A new friend outside who is ready to serve! He was so cute!Carly and two friends holding a "Free Car Wash" sign - how could you say "No" to them!?

Cj helping out with the washing....playing mostly in the water! (pre-shoe disaster!)

Check out Pastor Dino's blog for updates.......craziness in Baton Rouge while serving One.

School Time!

Carly trying NOT to have her pic taken. But she's my angel. I just HAD to!

Today was the big day. The kids are back in school. We have Sam in high school (a junior), Carly in middle school (8th gr) and Cj in primary school (3rd gr). All teacher introductions went well yesterday. Cj's teacher told him she really has a fondness for red hair. So this morning when I reminded him he needed to be on his best behavior, he politely reminded me that it's ok, his teacher likes red-heads. Apparently he thinks he's got this one in the bag. It's going to be a great year!

He and Carly ride the bus and both have new bus drivers. Cj's is very, um... thorough! School starts at 8:20 and she picked him up this morning at 8:30. Then she didn't get to our house to drop him off until 4:55. (he typically gets home at 4pm) I took a picture of the clock to prove it! She's going to have to pick up her pace a little bit!

Praise God they finally decided what to do with Brett Favre! Poor darling....just playing tug of war with his little soul. I was really beginning to worry!

Tonight was fun. We headed out to Pennington Biomedical Research Center for the big Hot Air Balloon championship. That started up today. We sat and watched the balloons take off and it really was beautiful. The US Army had a tent set up where you could play a video game to rescue a hostage. Cj tried. He did really well....until he shot the hostage. Needless to say, they gave him a nice departing gift and sent him on his way. All in all, a great day. (um, except for the hostage!)

Graduation

Last night was graduation for the summer interns at our church. Carly didn't participate because of our already ever so busy summer but some of her friends did. We went to show them our love and how proud we are of them. There were about 120 of them, but don't worry, I don't have pictures of everyone...just a few that are extra special.

Me and my bff Paula

Fabulous feet of the evening - Gracie thought it was funny that we all had on black shoes.

Carly with Gab - such an amazing young lady that I love and am SO very proud of!

Carly and Cara - another of Carly's bff's that is just incredible!

Carly's great friend, Zoe. She is beautiful inside and out! She looks like a super model! love her!

The way to Cj's heart is through his stomach....

See, Thursday evening I made a chocolate pie. Easy, pudding in a pie shell kind. Cj loved it. Said it was the best pie he'd even eaten! Last night, he and I were finishing off the last piece and we were talking. He casually mentioned for me to remember the recipe for this pie, because when he gets married, that's what he wants served. So we sit and talk and plan out his wedding. "Lord, please help the girl that falls in love with Cj!"

See, about a year ago, Cj asked if he could set up his own eHarmony account. You know, just to browse the 'net' for chicks. You never know who might be out there looking for you! Anyway, we didn't let him, but suggested he just stay within his playgroup at school and church. He still hasn't found anyone in particular (which is ok since he's only 8) but he has got the wedding planned. (at least the reception.....)

The menu consists of chocolate pudding pie, nachos, crackers with cheese and Twizzlers. The entertainment will be a nun-chuk performer who, at the end of the performance will tear off his mask and it will actually be Cj! (quite exciting). Then at the end of the evening a large man dressed in a flannel, plaid shirt and jeans, a hockey mask and carrying a chainsaw will come in and scare everyone to death so they'll leave.

His fiance' is so lucky that Cj already has it all planned out. All she has to do is show up! Love this kid!!

Sam's home!

Woohoo! Sam spent 12 days touring Italy and wow! The pictures she brought back are beautiful and amazing! We all got together Thursday night to look through her pictures and hear her stories of the places she visited. She had an amazing time and can't wait to go back...her dream is to go back there to live! I can't wait to see her dreams come true! She is so awesome! Love you, Sam!