mixers and pans

i have been told by lonnie that i should probably let everyone know that i also received a pan for valentines day. he said that just makes the mixer gift even better.
i told some people about the mixer and the first response is, oh no, but then i have to explain that i was totally excited and love it.
he is not in the dog house at all. seriously the perfect gift for me.
if he had spent the same amount on a piece of jewelry to sit on my dresser i would be not very happy.
like i have said before, he gets me.

Love

Yep, he loves me. I was so excited, I almost cried. He got Ry out of bed to come see how excited Mommy was.

Love It!

10 LOOOONG YEARS!

(I know these pictures aren't the best, sorry)
Us a few years ago.

Us in high school, before all the kids and life and such

Wedding Dance

Look at how young we were. Can you believe it?

The summer before my senior year in high school, a new family moved in down the street from my best friend. We spent a large amount of time trying to get a look at their teenage son with out being obvious.

Finally I got bored of that, said oh forget it, and walked up their drive way to say hi. He was annoyed as he was working on a car and these girls were in his way.

I managed to convince him to go to home coming with me later that year, and then prom later.

When he went off to the Marine Corps, it was really hard. Shortly after that we became engaged.

We were married in a pretty small wedding on February 20, 1999.

Later that evening we had a lot of our friends meet us at his parents' house and we opened presents, then it was off to Lone Star for dinner. It seemed much easier than trying to plan a meal for everyone.

Then, since Lonnie was in town for such a short amount of time, we went out with some friends of ours who came home form college for the affair. We actually went to the movies, and saw Varsity Blues. Not the best movie, we don't even own it, but that is what we did. We then went and stayed the night at a great little bed and breakfast in town. Then a few days later Lonnie was heading back to where he was stationed. It was a few months before I was able to move with him. It was kind of weird, being married but not being together.

The Marines sent Lonnie to a special doctor in San Antonio, Texas, so on of the men in his unit made the arrangements and told him to have me meet him there, so we had an unofficial honeymoon on the Marines dime. It was fun.

Now here we are 10 years later.

We have been through a lot together.

We have grown up together.

I think I like who we have become.

Some of it was surprising.

God definitely had a plan that we couldn't see. We look back and laugh at all the plans we had and how we thought everything would be. There have been some things I regret. There have been some things that I would have changed, or at least done better.

But I would not trade this life, with this man, for anything. I love him. He loves me. And he gets me, I mean really, really gets me. I can't describe the feeling of know that no matter what he will understand and be there. I adore him. (When I tell him that, he always says "I a-window you") We have a great friendship as well. There is no one I would rather just hang out with. Either by ourselves or with friends, family or kids, it is always him.

Happy Anniversary Lonnie. I love you.

Nasty Comments

Ok, so first things first,
If any one thinks that I am somehow passing judgement on the people at my church or thinking I am better in any way than them, that is completely not the case. I love these people and am constantly challenged by them. Sometimes daily.

I have had several conversations with several people about the woman in CA. Every one has a different opinion. There is no clear cut answer. I don't have one.
Also, I hardly think the situation with the 155k dog is the same as children. They are not the same and not equal.

But the biggest point is this.

This is MY blog. I can put what ever I want to on here. It is my opinion. Written as a keepsake for my family and children, and as a place for my friends and family to read and keep updated. If I don't personally know you and you choose to read here, that is perfectly ok with me.

However, as with any public or semi-public forum, if you don't have the balls to sign your name to what you have to say, then maybe you shouldn't be criticizing people.

You chose to read this, no one is making you. So if you aren't happy or don't like it, don't read it again. If you think I am an idiot (believe you are not alone) simply don't come back

If anyone would like to engage in a conversation about any opinion or belief posted here, please feel free to do so, but to simply leave anonymous comments that are harsh and rude in nature is uncalled for.

Grow a pair and sign your name.

Everyone else, love you guys.

Date nights

On Saturday, Lonnie and I got a special treat.
A small group of middle school girls was offering free babysitting for couple to go out for Valentines.
We aren't dumb, we said yes, and left as soon as we could. :-)

We went to the wood fire grill in Dav. and had a fabulous dinner. We got to hang out at a coffee shop for a little bit, went for a walk on a sky walk, and then finished off the evening with a trip to Borders.
It was a great time.
We were talking about past valentines, and where we have been and where we are now.
I can honestly say that I am more in love with him today than ever before.
It was a wonderful evening and it was nice to come home and know everything was taken care of while we were gone.

Then last night a friend of ours offered to watch our kids while we went out to dinner with some other friends of ours for a special little celebration.
It was great and the kids had fun.

We are really blessed to have such friends around and we appreciate every one of them.

Unleash?

Last Sunday I found myself sitting in a Sunday school class. Before the class started, there was some light discussion going on around the room. People were discussing the woman in CA who had just had the 8 babies, making her have 14 total.

I was surprised at what I heard. These people were all pretty angry, as if she had personally done something to them.
I myself think that she probably has a few mental issues that need to be addressed, but I am not angry at her. I don't even know her. If I did, I would probably be offering assistance and not condemnation.

The people around the table that I was at were of the general mind that her children should be removed from her, since there are so many and she won't be able to support them all on her own.

My question is this, when did being poor make you a bad parent?
Who is the authority to decide who can and cannot have children?
Who is the authority that decides how many children is "enough" for a family?

We have 4. Some friends have 1, other friends have 5 or 6, Who has the job of telling any of us that we have "too many"? For some 2 may push that limit, while the Duggards in AR have 18 and are still going.
I am in no way advocating that everyone have double digit children.
I am not saying that I think she made a necessarily wise choice, but they are here now, so now what?

Taking the children, either the babies or the older six from their mother and farming them off to foster homes all across the state is not the answer.
The damage that would be caused by that would be far more detrimental than that caused by sharing a room with a few siblings as they grow.

It is a very slippery slope that I don't think any off us really wants to start to go down.

Oh, and the funny part, or at least ironic part, is that the class was on "Unleash" Our churches vision statement that " We will be a thriving community of Jesus followers unleashing relentless love to our broken world"

That is not the feeling I got while sitting there. Unleashing relentless love on this woman would be support, prayer, maybe financial, but not condemnation. Not rebuke. Not threats to take her kids away.

Nothing says "Jesus Love you" to the world like "we hate you"

Still Learning

Tyler and Dylon have been fighting all day. Taking toys from each other, screaming at each other, shoving and hitting. For some reason I had my mind convinced that it would be different with these two since they are of the same gender. I foolishly believed that by removing the girl factor they would somehow get along majically.

Wow am I a fool or what?

But they are in bed now, so all is well.

Today I passed the 15 lb mark.

Ty

Bac-ock ((pronounced kinda like how a rooster sounds) is Ty's new word. He uses it all the time, and the definition changes moment by moment. Some days it is friendly and nice, some days he is yelling it at those around him in anger. If you here him say it, don't be concerned and don't try to get him to explain it, because no one really knows.

I have been trying to work with Ty on potty training. After thinking about it I have realized that a large portion of the blame lands squarely on my shoulders. I am going to be working with him and try to be much more consistent. He is smart, he will get it, I just have to stick with it. I have offered for others to take him for a few days and get it done, but so far no takers. So I am guessing it is up to me, so I am going to commit to this.

Ty got one of those little license plates for Christmas that says "Tyler" He was holding it up to me telling me what it said, and he kept pointing at it saying "Ty-Ty" see it says "Ty-Ty" I guess there is no arguing with him on that right now.

So glad to know that with all the things we have going on in our country right now, congress and President Obama have set aside time to make legislation to move the transition form analog tv to digital (that they mandated to begin with) back from Feb 17 to June 12, since the Feb date has been set for over 2 years.
I am so glad they took the time to do that. It si so very important after all.

The story on the birds

Apparently in the blog world you are supposed to post every three days or you lose your audience. So by now my audience is probably my mom and Rebecca. Hello guys!
Any one else who has stuck around, thank you.

So I had a friend in my home the other day who was very surprised that we had birds. I guess the bird really don't get that much blog fame.
She asked "What's the deal with the birds" so here's the deal.
We have an African Grey named Winky. She is beautiful. Grey colored with a bright red tail. The African Grey is the smartest species of birds. She can hear a word once and repeat it. However, she is not a recorder, and therefore there is no guarantee when she will say something. We rescued Winks for a bad home. The man who owned her had died, and after about a year of the woman being mean to her and abusing her, she looked for a different home for her. So, Lonnie and I drove about 2 1/2 hours to pick her up. She is finally starting to come out of her shell and show her personality. She didn't like women when she first got here, as the woman was the one that was mean to her, but she is starting to come around.
She bites, so She has to stay in her cage when Lonnie is gone. Winks is about 4, and will live to be around 60-70.

We also have a Sun Conure, named Tuli. We got Tuli when she was a baby, and she is about 1. Tuli will live to be around 30-50. She is brightly colored, yellows, reds and oranges. There is just a bit of blue on the tip of her tail. Tuli cannot speak like Winky, her speech is more that of a toddler, as she repeats syllables that she hears, but doesn't have the vocal capability to speak clearly. Tuli loves to be held and cuddle. She loves to have new toys and is very mischievous.

They both have very large cages in the living room, and each have a smaller cage in our bed room their "sleeping cages" where they go every night.
Tuli is much more lazy, she likes to go to bed early and sleep late. Winks gets up with Lonnie in the morning and has to wait till he comes home to go to bed.

I don't mention them much because all day long they don't bother me. They are just part of our household, and on the days when they do bother me (they can be kinda loud if they are upset) I don't say anything because of the respect that I have for their owner and how much he loves them.

So that is the story on the birds. They are very pretty and really nice to have around.