This was our

attempt at going to the fair this year. As soon as we got there it started pouring rain and lightening. They kept the fair open but closed the rides so we decided to go on Sunday since Aaron and Jennifer had decided to get unlimited rides with armbands. Macy was not too happy and would not smile at us. Then Sunday the girls could not get along for some reason. I told them if they weren't nice to each other we would stay home but they continued to argue over every small thing. It was a hard decision for us but we know that discipline is sometimes inconvenient. We have had other times where we had grace on them and you can't do that too often or your kids will not take you seriously. Aaron and Jennifer were dissapointed too but I know they had a good time without us.

A couple of weeks ago the Natalie and Macy got to post for the pledges. This was the first time because they had to wear their vests to do it. It has taken them awhile because we moved here after the start of Awanas. Then it took us a few weeks to find a church so they were a little behind when they started. It will be wonderful to not have to start behind in everything for the next few years. Asher's move cycle falls just after school starts so maybe I will have to move ahead of Asher the next time. We'll see.

One of the things I wanted to do after buying a house was to plant a garden. This is not the right time of year to do what I want so I have settled on planting a herb garden. We were planting Sage, parsley and Basil. Basil is the tall one. The process was very fun but messy as you can imagine with five children clamoring to have a turn. I like doing activities like this because it teaches my children to take turns and be patient when it is not there turn.






Cheese!


This is basil.

Serenity was dancing for us while we worked.

Ewww! Dirty hands.

Here is the completed product. The girls were proud of what they had accomplished.

You ladies are so sweet. I honestly thought that nobody read my blog anymore and if I ever wanted anybody to read it again I would have to email everybody and let them know I had posted something. I love you all so much! Since you have been such a loyal readership I feel you deserve an honest answer as to why I have not been blogging. I cannot seem to keep a camera to save my life. I had one camera and it fell off of the stroller while the family was on a walk. And then another was in my purse that got stolen out of my van in OKC. With that one we were living in Wichita Falls but we were getting ready to move to GA so we went around visiting some old friends. We had plans to go to the pool with my friend Tegan but she had a new baby and it was taking her a long time to get ready so we decided to drop in on friends and old neighbors. We went back to our old street and visited different people. The girls got visit some of their best friends in the whole world, Katy and Anna and we spent some time with Grandma Ann. She could hardly remember us, but that is okay. I hope she can continue to live in her house alone but I suspect she will not be able to much longer. I really think it would be good for her to move because she seems so lonely. We went to see a few other people and then we dropped in at the Siddiquis. We only intended to stay there a few minutes but ended up staying a few hours. It was good to see them again. I thought I had taken my purse in with me but I had left if in the van and it got stolen while I was in the house. I am pretty mad at myself for leaving it there. But needless to say, Asher has not wanted to run out and spend another $200 each time to get a camera. Now I have another one and both Asher and I have been keeping an eagle eye on it. I have been taking lots of pictures.

Tonight when Asher came home from work he played a new game with the girls. They love Uno so I decided to try this Uno Attack. I was in the kitchen cooking up some dinner while they were playing. I love the sound of my children laughing and it was great because everytime it was Daddy's turn they would all let a loud peel of laughter because the machine kept unloading cards on him. I decided it was just one of those simple everyday moments that I needed to capture.

Sery was doing great with potty training in TX but now not so much. This is about as far as she wants to sit on the potty.

1 Corinthians 10:13

"So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

This is our current memory verse. We usually take a verse that we want the girls to have ready in their hearts as they get older and recite it before bed almost every night. All the children love it. The older girls know that they are obeying God by hiding his Word in their hearts and the little children love to copy their sisters. Last time they memorized Psalm 23. The littles had a hard time with that one because it is so long, but they have this one down almost perfectly. Even Sery insists on saying it every night. There a few words that are easier for her like, eat and drink. I think I will try to get them on video. I think that will be something they will like to remember when they get older.

Other verses they have memorized are Eclesiastes 7:9 "Do not let you spirit rush to anger, for anger abides in the heart of fools." There was another one but obviously we did not memorize it too well because I can't remember what it is.

Field Day is a highlight of the year for public school kids. It is pretty much like the Homeschool Olympics that Diane Taylor does in OK. I love the PE teacher, Mrs. Wiersma. She is a sweetheart of a lady and does a great job with the kids. She was struggling for volunteers but everything went smoothly and without a hitch.



Macy and Bethany were so excited to come to Field Day. They love hanging out with their cool older sisters.











You can hardly see Natalie. She is just poking out behind Macy and Bethany.

The girls wanted to do a picture by themselves. But Keelan couldn't help himself, those are his arms sticking out behind Grace.

This is a little girl that I have been mentoring since the first of the year. Awhile back my church let us know about a need for volunteers to make a commitment to take on a child and be their friend through a mentor program. That is how I met Destiny. She is such a sweet little girl. She is very bubbly and outgoing. Most of the kids at Scotland Park are from poverty stricken homes but she seems to be better off than most of the kids. Some ladies in our church actually pack meals for many kids at the school otherwise they would not have anything to eat over the weekend. Destiny has a mom and dad, siblings and a large extended family. Last week was the first time that she really opened up to me. She told me that she was having a hard time with some of the other kids in her class being mean to her. Kids in third grade don't always have the best social skills and sometimes the process of developing them can be difficult. She shared about in incident involving a girl who was her friend's friend. This other friend was doing something annoying and Destiny told her it was annoying and now both of those girls are mad at her. There were a couple of other girls that she did not get along with also. I really never had to deal with that silly girl stuff since I was homeschooled. I had friends but they just didn't pull that. Is there anyone out there who has been through this and has some advice? I just told her to not take it personally, as hard as that is. Girl's feelings can change on a dime.



That was last week. Today the girls and I went to go have lunch with her and the other kids in the lunchroom told me that she had changed schools. Apparently last Friday her mom got her hair up her navel about something and decided that Destiny needed to change schools. I told the mentor coordinator about it and she said that was not the issue. She did not share the reason and I did not ask. She seemed pretty upset about it and said that Destiny did not want to go. I am going to follow Destiny to her other school and still be her mentor. Hopefully she will have an easier time making friends at her new school.

It looks like I need new running shoes.

I have been really trying to get into running for a while. I have been training myself to do a 5k but when I run my knees really bother me. I have a lot of motivation but knee pain really puts a kink my pipes. I don't care about the pain so much but I don't want to destroy me knees for future use.

I few weeks ago I was getting to run a 5k and I went to the gym and ran 2.5 miles. The next day I really felt what I had done in my knee. I think it was probably good that I got the flu and couldn't run in the race.

I have been wondering what to do about this problem when I asked for prayer about it during my Read through the Bible class. It seemed like a silly prayer request but they asked. Today I was talking to a lady at the gym and we were talking about running marathons. I mentioned that I was trying to but my knees where bothering me. She told me that she used to have the same problem but she went and got custom fitted for shoes. I have fancy shoes right now but they were certainly not custom fitted. I did some research on the internet and if you go to a speciality athletic shoe store they will put you on a treadmill and watch you run to see what type of shoe you need. Apparently many people are pronators which means they don't use their feet correctly while running. The right running shoes will correct the particular way that you run and align you and you should be. Very interesting. I am excited and I want to go this weekend to get new shoes. Oh, that would be wonderful to be able to just run and not worry about damaging myself.

The thing is that Wichita Falls does not have an athletic shoe store so I guess we will be visiting OKC soon. I would like Asher to go and get some new shoes also because he has a tendancy to get shin splints.

Cute moment I want to remember.

Tonight Sery was saying, "Mommy, pobby (potty)." She says it often and I usually ignore her because it usually does not get anyone anywhere. She just likes to sit on the toilet and pretend. But tonight I responded by asking her if she wanted to go potty. She said, "Yeah, mon (c'mon)." So I tagged along. We got to the bathroom and she surprised me by grabbing the stepstool and seating herself. That was no small feat mind you because the stepstool was halfway under the toilet and she gave me a small heart attack because she almost went topsy-turvy during her ascent. My arms were held out protectively but it was still unsettling to watch. Here is the funny part. She was sitting on the toilet and told me that she wanted to wipe. I told her that she could not do that until she went pee. (My proverbial carrot.) I was helping Bethany into the bath and I realized I was hearing a shhhh, shhhh, shhhh sound. Ha, ha, ha. She was pretending to pee to get her "carrot."

Sery just turned two a couple of days ago and she is our baby. I will always treasure sweet moments like this one because they go by so quickly. So here is one that is idelibly written in the ink of my blog. Good times, good times.

Hey, I just wanted to post this new audio Bible that I found. It is so easy to listen to. I found it on half.com for $15. What a great deal. I ordered it for the girls to listen to. They like to listen to cds while they are going to sleep and while they are cleaning their rooms. What a great time to instill scripture in their hearts! I think Asher will be relieved that they will not be playing that Johnny Cash cd over and over and over...

http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Product/ProductDetail.htm?ProdID=com.zondervan.9780310926313&QueryStringSite=Zondervan

I tried to put a picture up but I can't seem to find any that will copy over.

I have been looking for healthy snack recipes and I found these wonderfully delicious cookies.

They taste so yummy you might expect them to be bad for you. They are naturally sweet on their own but just a little bland so last time I added 1/2 cup of brown sugar to help the taste and it seemed to do the trick. These really are very good. I got this from allrecipes.com. If you bake these make sure that you cook them long enough. When they are properly done the bottoms carmalize into a thicker texture. Make them small too. They do not spread out so you have to press them down flat.

Healthy Banana Cookies


INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
3 ripe bananas
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup dates, pitted and chopped
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Stir in oats, dates, oil, and vanilla. Mix well, and allow to sit for 15 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown.



Here is another recipe from quakeroats.com. I haven't actually tried these yet but I have made a similar granola recipe and these look like they would be a lot better. It was hard to get the other ones to stick together. I am going to see if I can make them with the girls this week.

snackin' granola bars
ingredients
3-1/2 cups Quaker® Oatmeal, toasted
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped nuts
2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup honey, corn syrup, or molasses
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
preparation
1. Combine all the ingredients; mix well. Press firmly into well greased 15-1/2x10-1/2-inch jelly roll pan. Bake in preheated moderate oven (350° F) about 20 minutes. Cool; cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container in cool dry place or in refrigerator.

notes and cook tips
To bake in 13x9-inch baking pan, bake in preheated oven (325 degrees F), 30 to 35 minutes. To bake in 13x9-inch glass baking dish, bake in preheated oven (300 degrees F), 30-35 minutes.

variations
Add 1/2 cup flaked or shredded coconut. Substitute one 6-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate pieces for 1/2 cup raisins.
Substitute 1/2 cup sunflower seed for 1/2 cup nuts.

Today is Thursday so I went to the school to volunteer. As I was sitting in Mrs. Whaylen's class (Caylee's teacher) I was thinking to myself that this seemed like the perfect school situation for my girls for right now. Especially for Caylee. First of all I do not worry about secular influences penetrating into her thoughts too much because I have gotten a strong feeling that she and I are on the same page as our beliefs. We have not had a formal conversation about it because there is always so many other things to discuss. But I have picked up little things here and there. One instance I saw a bag of candy in the back of the class today and asked her if we were going to have a haloween party and she said yes but it won't be celebrating halloween. I like that she puts a stong emphasis on Thanksgiving just like Christian Heratige Academy does. We are planning to put together a play coming up pretty soon.

Caylee is learning so much and Mrs. Whaylen is filling in gaps that she had. Caylee reads great but needs extra work in math. Also when she first started she was probably the slowest person in the class. Their were a few that were close contenders but I think she would have earned that title. In homeschool she was used to going at her own pace and didn't have any incentive to go faster other than Mommy nagging not to mention it made it more difficult to get alot done. Even the timer did not work too well. But now if she does not go fast then she has to work while others are reading books and she has extra homework. It took about 3 or 4 weeks but nowI am proud to say that she can keep up with the class quite well. Part of the reason that she was slow was because I was a bit of a stickler on handwriting (due to my training at CHA). I have noticed that it is not quite as important at Sheppard as I would like it to be, but I can't have everything the way I would like it.

Another reason that I like Caylee's class is that there is more socialization. Some homeschoolers will deny it fiercly to the end. But homeschooling families, unless they live in a neighborhood with a lot of children, tend to get isolated because they are busy doing school at home. Do they still get enough? I would say usually yes. I am not saying that homeschoolers don't get enough, I am jsut saying there is more in a public school setting usually. The reason I am bringing this up is because Caylee spends alot of time with the children in her class. Of course when any group of people spend alot of time together, what happens? Conflict. It is usually the girls. Caylee had one of her friends say they were not friends because Caylee did not obey this girl's orders. She mentioned it too me at home and we had a talk about how girls say things like that to manipulate each other and they don't really mean it. Well, the next day everything was smooth again and Caylee learned a good lesson. Caylee never seemed to have conflict with her other friends in Oklahoma so I think she is having some valuable experiences.

Natalie is doing very well. She knows how to sign all the letters of the alphabet. Her teacher uses it adds is in when they are working on spelling and she uses it as a quiet game whenever needed. Natalie is great at math. We got her report card yesterday and she recieved all A's and one B in reading but I know that will improve with practice.

Oh, My WORD!

This Osage Land Company will not leave me alone. They keep sending me letters saying that they want to buy the oil mineral rights to our old house in Del City. That is not our house anymore but even if it were I would not sell the rights for $13.73. Mind you that is not a monthly or yearly fee. You sell those rights and they are gone. I need to call them and tell them that I am sorry but I just would not want an oil pump in my backyard. What person in their right mind would?

Hey everybody.

Sorry for the long hiatus. Been a bit busy and blogging everything that has happened seemed to be overwhelming. But I am back now hopefully with more regularity.

Things you may have missed are that I moved to Sheppard AFB in Witchta Falls, TX and I have put the girls in public school, bought a new dryer. All very exciting and different.

Moving down here was extremely stressful. Especially in retrospect. You know how when you are going through something you just do it because you have too . Then you look back later and wonder how you did it. But I can't say it was all bad either. We had some excitement and fun in the middle of everything. Asher was able to be with me when the moving company packed and loaded our stuff. It was wonderful to have him there. We stayed with my parents for a week to finish last minute stuff like painting and caulking and spackling.

Then we made the two hour trip down to Sheppard. Asher had a head scratching time with the military housing leasing office because they were insistant that his orders were that he was to spend three days at Sheppard then off to COT (Commissioned Officer Training) in Alabama, and then he was done with his commitment to the Air Force. So therefore he would not be needing a house. Fortunately Asher left before I did so I did not have to wait the whole time 3 or 4 hours he was trying to deal with them. Asher was finally able to contact a higher up at the dental clinic to explain exactly how to read orders.

Asher was able to spend three days with us here getting used to our new house. There is no carpet in most base housing and we had no furniture yet so the girls ran around alot sliding in their socks for fun.

Sunday afternoon Asher left and Monday morning our stuff arrived. It just kept coming and coming. I had hoped that because I was moving into a house with more square footage there would be as much or more storage. No such luck. My eyes kept getting bigger every time the movers brought something in. It got to the point were I just had to say with some things, there is no room for that it is going to stay out side and get donated. I am relating to my newest neighbors who moved in a few weeks ago and are going through the same thing. It is good though. I think as Americans we tend to accumulate more than we need and moving helps one to streamline. I have gotten rid of so much. I think moving next time will be much easier. I think often about how I can make the next move go smoother.

Some of the bright points in the move was when my two friends Tegan and Michelle came to visit me. They came seperately to spread themselves and be a better help. Isn't that sweet? Tegan came first and she was like a locomotive getting boxes unpacked. She had a mission and it was going to get done. I had been able to get most of the kitchen unpacked before she came but my children had just gone through a major life change and Daddy was gone so they needed so much of my attention. Bethany was having the hardest time but they were each acting in their own way so I needed to give them attention to keep family order. So when Tegan arrived we really went to it. I am so grateful to her because she helped me start to feel sane and like this was my house. Fortunately I was able to put the girls in VBS that week so we went shopping and did girly stuff by ourselves for a little while. Then Michelle came and brought peace to the house. She helped me organize some but most of it was just stuff that I had to do so we mostly chatted and ate chocolate. She brought me such sweet fellowship.

Then Tegan and Michelle both surprised me and came back for seperate visits. Those were wonderful also. I felt like they were lifelines back to my old life. I hadn't gotten connected yet to anybody and I had only met one person briefly whom I felt like could be my friend so their visits were just what I needed. When they were here it just felt so natural for both of them to be here. So warm and perfect. I will always cherish their ministry to me. I think that situations like that make a person more aware of meeting the needs of others around them because it was so wonderful to have one's own need met.

Tegan asked me to write my side of this story in my blog. Tegan this is for you.

While Tegan was here the second time she mentioned that she thought she might be pregnant. I internally rolled my eyes because I have heard that same thought from friends so many times. Women are always freaking about this so I didn't pay much attention to it but then she started describing her symptoms. When she told me about the cramps in her lower abdomen I perked up. "You are probably pregnant," I said. Her eyes got real big and she immediately went from trying to convince me that she was pregnant to how she was not pregnant. She kept stopping and saying,"Do you really think I might be pregnant?" I loved that we got to share that moment together. Tegan went out with Caylee to get a pregnancy test and Oreo's during nap time. Tegan came back and did not waste time in taking her test. When she came out she was quite confused about the results of the test. She told me that she thought it might be positive and I agreed that it was. That did not sink in, I could tell. I had to tell her several times and show her on the box in detail how the plus sign matches the positive sign on the box. It was amusing to see my self'-assured friend so discombopulated. After the information finally penetrated there was lots of happy hugs and tears. Then of course she had to call Mike and share. He was overjoyed as expected. The rest of the day was spent in shock calling all of Tegan's relatives to share the good news. It was a happy day and I am so glad I could be there for you Tegan. I love you!

I want to share one last thing. I mentioned earlier that I met a friend briefy and I want to say more about that. After I first got here I was at Wal-Mart by myself (the kids were at the first day of VBS) I was shopping for Tegan's visit, making sure I would be able to make her comfortable. I was looking at something in an aisle when a lady and her adorable daughter walked up (or maybe they were there first, I don't remember that part.) But anyway the daughter was telling her mom about her mean friend that does not share and how nobody wants to be her friend. My heart went out to her and she was so cute that I had to get in on that conversation. The lady was a farmer's wife named Cory Thompson. She lives in Burkburnett. She and I seemed to make an immediate connection so we exchanged numbers. I have never met someone at the store before so it was a little wierd to me but exciting because she seemed like such a sweet and wonderful person. Definitely someone worth pursuing as a friend. I have talked to her a few times in emails and I really think that it was a God thing that we met.

I have so much more to say but it is getting late now so I will continue later.

Here is what we are doing today.

Awhile ago I ordered these savings bank from Crown Financial Ministries. They are so cool. There is a compartment for giving, savings and one for spending. I love it because it gives them such an excellent sense of how their money should be divided. They were happy about giving 10% to God and then I explained that 50% was to save for whatever big thing they wanted and the last 40% was money that they could spend on anything they wanted (like gum). Now I need to come up with a schedule of paid chores they can do. I am not going to pay them for cleaning their room because I feel they should do that because they are part of the family. But there are other things like washing windows, putting dishes away, organizing the bookshelves/entertainment center that I have decided I will pay them for.

Bethany got a boo-boo yesterday.


I was out mowing the backyard and all the girls were up on the playset to get away from the lawn mower. It was Natalie's turn to slide but Bethany wanted to go first and was attempting to do so. Natalie put her arm out to prevent Bethany from falling but Bethany took it as opposition to her cutting in line and pushed on Natalie's arm, thus tumbling off of the tower.I noticed that she was favoring her arm and she kept telling me that it was "hurning" Then I noticed the swelling very soon after and my mommy instincts kicked in and told me this was something a little more serious. I knew it was not a bad break because there was no discoloration, she was still using it tenderly and the swelling was hardly noticeable, but I wanted to see exactly what it was.

Asher was at school helping a friend get the rest of his requirements finished. So he came home and took Bethany to the hospital. It turned out to be a sweet time of cuddling for them. He said that Bethany was perfect. She did everything exactly that the doctor and x-ray techs wanted. I think she just liked being there and getting all the attention from her daddy.

So her arm turned out to be a little more than a hairline fracture, but not as bad as a break. The doctor splinted her arm and said she should be fine in a couple of days. I would think that the splint should be on longer but since she is so little and her bones are always restructuring themselves she is going to be able to heal very quickly.

Dr. William Asher Wright, D.D.S



I am so proud of Asher. It was such an exciting moment to see him walk across the stage. He has worked hard and perservered through so much. I was glad that the girls got to watch their Daddy graduate. For most of his schooling they have been pretty disconnected from what he does. He goes somewhere everyday called school and then he comes back. But on Saturday they got to be part of his life away from home.

Our graduation weekend feels like it started on Thursday because that is when Asher's family came to visit. I was excited to have them here because I was looking forward to meeting my new sister-in-law, Jennifer.






While they were here we attempted go to a spray park in MWC, but it was so windy. I found my friends down by the playground but we kept getting sprayed with sand. It was a bit painful actually. We then went to Chick-fil-a for lunch. That place actually is pretty delicious. Whenever I have gone before I have always had the wrap or a salad becasuse I like those. This time I thought I would try something new a get a sandwich. The breading on their chicken is wonderful. Their chicken nuggets are quite a step up from our usual Mickey Ds. Another thing that I noticed and liked is that there are antiseptic wipes by the door for kids to use before playing on the playplace. What a great idea. Those places are always ridden with germs and my kids have actually gotten sick after playing at Mcdonalds before.






Jennifer loves little girls so she and the girls hit it off right away.



While we were having girls time together the guys were all having lunch. Here they are with Allen Fortenberry.





I am going to fast forward a little to the graduation banquet because I did not take very many pictures.

The banquet was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Skirvin Hotel. It was all very nice and grand. I met a lot of Asher's professors and the man who let Asher into dental school.












I wanted to get more pictures of Asher and his friends at the graduation and he wanted it too, but he was dying under his robe and needed to take it off. Also, it was packed in there so he wanted to take off right away. So we only got a couple of pictures after the ceremony.















Here is a picture that I stole from a friend's blog. (Hope you don't mind, Valina.) These are some of Asher's best buddies at dental school. I think the only ones missing are Steve Deming and Allen Fortenberry.