New Coyote Blue

Post from C girl!
Well as some of you know I was going to try out for Rio a club soccer team. Tryouts were yesterday and I was very nervous. I hadn't slept well for the past couple of nights,so it was kinda hard. When we got there it was very windy. It was the very first time I had gone to tryouts. It was also kinda crowded. There were 3 coaches to get on a team. 18 girls were at the tryouts for my age group. Only 11 would make it on the 3 teams. So I guess you want to know all I did at the tryouts right? Well the 3 coaches warmed you up then they put you on 4 teams to play a little game of soccer. They had to see who works well with each other. Well after tryouts one coach talked to the parents and said thank you for coming out. After that I was a little disappointed because they didn't tell us who made the team. We might had been at home not more than 10-15 minutes that the coach called us and said that I made it - now I was very excited to know that I made it.I am on the Coyote Blue team.

Broken In REVISiTED

Well - yesterday, Brent's birthday, was a hard day for me. Not so much for the kids, but definitely for me. It just seems that some days the reality is a little much. Anyway - I had been on the edge of tears all day. We made our cake and picnic and headed down to the cemetery to meet up with Brent's parents. But before we got there - AND while we were stopped at a red light - some woman REAR ENDED us! OOOH did I forget to mention that we were in the NEW car! IT didn't really do any damage - and we heard it more than we felt it - BUT it was just what I needed to go ahead and push me off the edge and into the tear ZONE! I cried so hard that that poor lady didn't get the nice ME at all. She got to know all about how new my car was and just where we were heading! BUT the crying did feel good and I woke this morning alot lighter than I awoke yesterday!

Anyway - Megan thought that the last post titled Broken In was going to be about my NEW car in an accident instead of just getting stuck in the mud - SO, glad not to disappoint this time!

Happy Birthday My Love

Jeff Probst

"Dude! It's Jeff! Jeff Probst!! Right there - right in front of you!!!" said jumping up and down!

I absolutely heart God's sense of humor and his freshness! I stole this pic from Kandid Kiwi's blog - in order to get the wholeness of this you MUST go over there and READ her blog.

Of all celebreties for this particular group to see - this is the perfect one! Who would have ever thought. For those of you that simply don't get it - we have hosted Survivor parties for the last 8 years every Thursday night! Brent sent in 2 audition videos - we have decided that the reason he never got called in was because his job title was just too boring! AND these are some of the Survivor Gang! The ones that weren't there are quite JEALOUS!!!

They told Jeff all about Brent and he seemed genuinely saddened. They chatted Jeff up for quite a while AND then managed to get the group celebrity shot!

First Day of Summer Vacation

So much for warmth and sunshine on the first day of summer vacation. At 2pm - PM mind you - it was 43 degrees. We had NorthWEST weather with lots of thick clouds that hung over the city and sometimes sleet with some thunder. However, this was God's hand and our land is in huge need of this kind of weather. BUT the proof is in the picture. On our way to our picnic tonight this is what we saw - a FULL rainbow. Full in form and color! It was absolutely AMAZING and I made A stick her head out the sunroof in the rain to get this picture. (I said, "do it for the blog!") It looked like you could find the pot of gold at the gas station at the end of the street! It was so beautiful and this made this weather day sooo worth it - not to mention the sunset it caused at the end of the day! Thank you, God for giving us little gems like this - help me to be more aware of these gems!

Word for the Day

Has anyone noticed The Word for the Day in the side bar? I am really digging it - some days are sooo perfect. AND I am hoping that the days that aren't so perfect for me are sooo perfect for you! ENJOY my new little blogging toy!

The Prince

Tonight for our date night (A and me) we are going to see the long awaited Prince Caspian. We have both read ALL the Chronicles of Narnia Books and although this is not my favorite book (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - which is the next book in the series after Prince Caspian) I am still excited to see this one!

(Edited to say - IT was fabulous and my friend's husband totally took his family and went to London for 6 months to work on it! You should check out her blog)

Broken In

Well - today was a big day in the life of my new car. It got a chance to get on the highway and RUN in the RAIN! It performed fabulously and I loved it! Then when we got to Santa Fe to the El Rancho de las Golondrinas it WAS MUDDY muddy muDDy! I couldn't even get out of the car it was so muddy. So, when trying to leave my BRAND spanking NEW car got stuck in the mud (oh wait - did I tell you it was MUDDY!) So, some nice parking attendant fellow got the tractor and hooked my nice NEW car up to the tractor and pulled her out! She is officially broken in. She got messy and had a tow and now she has 300 miles. Maybe I will just trade her in! (hee hee not really!) Here is a picture of the mud - it is from my phone so it won't do it justice BUT it was realllllly SOGGY muddy. I ended up taking C and we went to the outlet mall and lunch instead.

Gilmore Girls MADNESS

Mrs. J suckered me into Gilmore Girls and now I can't stop watching it! She loaned me season 1 and for some reason I am trying to make it through the season in record time. Although Lorelei and Rory try to make it through each episode with record amounts of words! Do you have any idea what I am talking about?! Go ahead and help me to feel better about myself and let me know if you ever had the GG bug!!!

And NOW...

This is what I spent the day doing yesterday! It was sooo time for a new car. My old Mazda had seen its day for reliability! It had an affinity for overheating on long car trips. AND with our touring schedule for the summer - well, we needed something that was dependable and well, sporty! 2 claps for sunroofs!

Big Announcement

Check back for a big announcement - hopefully later today! Just waiting on the picture!

Cancer - what cancer?!!!!

There is just no other way to tell you - here is my parent's report from the doctor!

We have returned from the doctor’s office this afternoon rather in shock. The area that was biopsied last week shows to have no live cancer cells in it and has, in fact, over the course of the two weeks we have been here, gotten significantly smaller (although we have received no treatment). The doctor says that the area of concern is dead cancer cells. He indicated that he had no explanation other than we should trust Gary’s body is apparently healing itself. The doctor said (with a big smile) we should continue to trust and have faith. He wants us to return in six weeks for another scan. It looks like we may be returning to Houston on a regular basis for sometime for him to follow up and closely monitor Gary. But as he said, no treatment is needed for there is nothing to treat. Isn’t God good!?!?!?

We have been lifted up by you (all of our family and friends) and it is evident to us that the Lord has intervened at this time. Your prayers and love have been felt and are deeply appreciated. This battle is not being fought just by Gary but by you, his prayer warriors, as well. Thank you, thank you.

Gary and Toni

Prayer for MY DAD!

Monday my dad goes in to see the doctor to find out the results of all the testing that he has just gone through these last 2 weeks in Houston. Please keep him in your prayers all day. I have KNOWN first hand the power of prayer and the peace and comfort God brings with it - please join me in praying unceasingly for my dear sweet DAD!

YUMstinkinEEEE

Here's to you, Sixbit!










Guess what tomorrow April 30 is? Did you happen to guess 31cent night at Baskin Robbins! Whoo hoo can you believe all the cheap ice cream!

Guess STINKIN What!?!

Tomorrow, April 29th is FREE CONE DAY at Ben and Jerrys! GO! GO! GO! - But don't get in line ahead of us!!!! We are going in honor of the man who introduced us to Free Cone Day - Sixbit, himself - who never EVER missed a Free Cone Day once he learned of its existence! So, here's to you "Never miss a Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's" man! (doesn't that sound a little like those beer commercials?)

God has such a beautiful way of showing Himself to us. He is in the Words on the pages of the Bible, He is in a well timed song on the radio, He is in the beauty of the sunset, He is in the unexpectedness of the day, He is everywhere and He wants you to look for Him. He says that those that earnestly seek Him will find Him. It used to be hard for me to recognize God in my day. I even tried exercises to help me see Him - like every night before bed I would write down my "God Stops" (for those of you that have never done Beth Moore's Believing God bible study - God Stops are moments in your day that you recognize God working in your life). I know that I am still missing much - BUT He is here and ALIVE and working powerfully in my life. I see Him everywhere and I see His hand in my life in virtually everything. I think that this is a glimpse of what Heaven is like -

(is anyone sick of my Maui pictures?)

Shout Out

YAY for FRIENDS! A big FAT shout out to all my friends - I know without a doubt that I take advatage of each of you. You guys have helped me through these last few months in such a HUMONGOUS way. You have swept my floors, made us dinners and DESSERTS (yummy!!), cleaned our potties, cheered at soccer games, sent so many letters of encouragement, prayed for us, laughed with us, cried with us, brought us prizes, and many other things - to numerous to name. But it makes me want to jump right in to a "Friends are Friends Forever" chorus. Mrs. J where are you when I need you?

I love each and every one of you - and there are alot of yous. I appreciate all that you have done for my precious dear little family. I know that I haven't been great at sending thank yous BUT I do appreciate all the things you do both big and small.

Also, a whopping big shout out to my special family - all sides of my family. You are each so dear to me and I know that this circumstance has brought us all so close - funny how things like this can do that.

Cast! What Cast?

B got his cast off - FINALLY. He has ONLY had it for 10 weeks. AND there is only one word for what we saw - DISGUSTING! The cast remover guy said that B definitely won the award for most sand inside a cast EVER! IT was amazing that there was any sand left on the playground and that his leg isn't completely exfolitated OFF! The dr said that he still must take it easy for another 3 weeks. Baseball season is pretty much a wash at this point. Oh well - he is still pretty happy to be a part of the team even if he has only warmed up with them ONCE! Isn't it great to be a kid.

My dad has started his week of testing at MD Anderson. It doesn't really sound all that fun - but I have been reassured lately that some of the most rewarding things spiritually AREN'T always FUN! Keep him in your prayers and I am still praying for "Cancer! What Cancer?"

Saturday, April 19

WE are super duper excited to see our friends from There's Treasure blog. Her and her little boy are coming for a visit - they get here today. She is so fun and we all miss them very much. They moved away almost 2 years ago - wow! has it really been that long?!

C has her last soccer game of the season today and it is a beautiful day for a last soccer game. The weather here has been so weird - Thursday we woke to snow flurries when the day before we were all talking about being hot! And then on Friday it went back to short sleeve weather. If you know me at all - then you know that I would much rather it be warm than cold. So bring on the beautiful weather.

Please pray for a "no cancer" report from the drs on Monday for my dad. He is headed to Houston to MD Anderson to get started with this next phase of treatment. AND God is definitely able to make this prayer a reality.

Have a GREAT weekend! I know we will!

Object Lesson

I was sitting out front playing with the kids the other day and God brought this lesson to mind. My garden has always brought me happiness and has been a source of growth but somehow it has never been exactly how I want it to look. I WANT loads and loads of color and blooms. Since we have moved in I have made minor changes and added plants here and there - but have never really done anything drastic.

The above picture is what Brent and I did to the garden this time last year. We stripped it bear (except for the bushes). We dug up all the bulbs and plants and I rearranged and replanted the plants where I wanted them. We also bought some new periennals and added them to the garden. The picture below is what the garden looks like this year - a mere one year later.

My point here is that God can and often does take drastic measures with us so that our true colors will SHINE forth. The process can often be painful - but painful doesn't mean worthless. We all but destroyed the garden to get it to be a masterpiece - and next year it will be even prettie. God wants us to be the people He wants us to be - He is continually shaping and molding us (sanctification). I am not there, yet - but am striving and looking forward to the beauty that comes from drastic measures.