more to this life

My new best friend....& link to the outside world...

2009-11-08T19:56:00.007-06:00

FACEBOOK

If he could see her now....

2009-10-25T11:31:00.009-05:00

This is Erin and Harper Richie, my cousin Steven's wife and only little girl. He was killed in a car wreck a year ago september 13. Erin was expecting w/ his first child when he passed away. Unfortunately i wasn't in as close contact w/ him as i should have been so his death was pretty tough to take. and i've been thinking about him a lot lately. i've become "friends" on facebook w/ his wife. I can not imagine having to live the rest of my life w/ out the love of my life. if you want to read more about him go to my blog archive...2008...then the entry in September about him.

Steven.

how unfair life can be. i have lost 2 special people in my life in the passed year. i still question why. why did the Lord take them.

David, Sue, Brian, and Ryder

Brian's mom passed away 4 months ago. her bday is thursday. i don't know if brian will want to go to the cemetary or not. don't know if i should even bring it up.

the last thing that Sue said to me before the evil cancer took her "mentally" away was this one sentence on Mother's Day...i was hugging her good-bye it was just us in her bedroom...(knowing i was gonna have another baby) she said, "you tell that baby i love her".

it's not fair.

We spent friday night and all day saturday on Britt Hill. Since SueSue's gone i get to be "woman of the house" when we go there. i must say i get angry. there's no candle burning filling up the house w/ it's goodness. there aren't any seasonal decor up unless i put it up. her and david were seperated for 2 yrs before they got back together. and unfortunately she was sick the entire 6 months she was "back" before the evil cancer took her from us. she got to put some of "her" back in the house but it's still kinda cluttered. i don't know if David gets upset w/ me or not when i rearrange things and clean up. but i do it anyway. i guess i'm being selfish. poor me. i have to clean and cook isn't that terrible (sarcasm). i used to just get to hang out and be spoiled...sue would take care of the kids and cook for us when we visited. i love to cook for my family but it's just that i miss her. the house misses her. we miss her.

and here she is....Miss Audrie Rain!

2009-10-07T08:22:00.009-05:00

Audrie Rain Britt...born Sept. 28 '09 1:52pm 8lbs 4oz 20" long!!!

The impact of a teacher....

2009-09-16T10:50:00.003-05:00

Mattie and I were sitting on the swing this morning waiting for the bus. She, out of the blue, says, "Mrs. Wallace was mean to me". She was mattie's first grade teacher...the first time. Mattie told me the teacher would yell at her when she would get her work wrong and that it would make her - Mattie - so mad. i asked her why she didn't tell us and she said that she did. i said that she had told us a year later not while she was in her class. lets just say Mattie did not do well at all starting from the 3rd six weeks on that year. When she did her 1st gr again w/ a very sweet teacher who didn't yell at her, strangely enough she made A's and B's on her report card ALL YEAR and was always on the A or A/B honor roll. Now in the 2nd grade she's still making A's and B's. Now if you were to ask Wallace why this is i'm quite sure she would quickly say that those teachers are just too easy. i know this b/c she made reference to "other" teacher being a lot easier than her while mattie was in her class.

Sometimes i think teachers forget how they can impact a child's life...negagive or positive. I can freely say that cuz i taught before getting married.

i'm sad today. sad that i couldn't protect my child. let's just say this will not EVER happen again.

vaca '09 etc...

2009-08-18T10:54:00.017-05:00

The Davis' and the Britt's...they invited us to go on vaca w/ them...we had an awesome time! Blessed to call them friends.

we love our Matt Girl

brother and sister

Dad and son!

yeah he's mine!

Mattie's first day of 2nd grade!

my new hair do and growing stomach...

2009-07-08T07:36:00.003-05:00

me and brian...being silly!...at Fuge Camp

me, hannah, and sarah!....at Fuge Camp in Jackson, MS

me, seth and scott at Fuge Camp!

15 weeks

2009-06-25T17:59:00.003-05:00

that is how long she "fought the good fight" and the Lord finally took her home. cancer is evil and it took a special person out of the lives of brian, me, our kids and our family.

thank you friends for your encouraging words thru this time. it meant so much to brian to see faces from his past and present at the homecoming of his mom. she was so young. there were friends from childhood and high school..friends and teachers, friends from our church in texas and friends from our church here. the visitation started at 4pm and when me and my sis and parents left around 745pm people were still filling the church. wow.

in a way i feel relieved that the suffering is over then i look at my growing stomach and my two kiddos and feel they've been cheated.

on another note....brian and i are off to camp sunday and will return friday. the kiddos are going to aunt connies...u might want to send up a prayer for her an levi..heehahaheeheehaha:)

Sue Sue Britt...went to be w/ jesus Friday morning...

2009-06-16T08:03:00.002-05:00

Sue Sue's Song...also known as "Sissy's song" by Alan Jackson
Why did she have to go
So young I just don't know why
Things happen half the time
Without reason without rhyme
Lovely, sweet young woman
Daughter, wife and mother
Makes no sense to me
I just have to believe

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

Loved ones she left behind
Just trying to survive
And understand the why
Feeling so lost inside
Anger shot straight at God
Then asking for His love
Empty with disbelief
Just hoping that maybe

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me

It's hard to say goodbye
Her picture in my mind
Will always be of times I'll cherish
And I won't cry 'cause

She flew up to Heaven on the wings of angels
By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees
And she walks with jesus and her loved ones waiting
And I know she's smiling saying
Don't worry 'bout me
Don't worry 'bout me
Don`t worry 'bout me

Mattie's Class and busy as a bee...

2009-05-28T15:32:00.004-05:00

double click on the pics! they are funny:)

Mattie's '08-'09 1st grade class II :)

the Mrs. Green! we love her:) and her "B" Honor Roll student

First thanks to my friends who gave me crafty ideas:) i didn't read the use of glitter in anyone's comments so i figure that probably isn't a "safe" item to put in my craft box:) oh and it could be because the kids got into a bottle of it yesterday and my livingroom/dining table is all nice and sparkly now.

now "busy as a bee"...
tomorrow:
surprising mattie by: taking her to lunch and a matinee w/ two of her friends.

then 2morrow evening...
we are having her 8th birthday party early. it's a swim party sleepover! 13 girls were invited 2 can not come and 2 will come later tomorrow evening. oh and i haven't heard from 2. i was a little nervous about only inviting a few b/c there's not much room for the "unable to attend". but all is well and she's super excited!

next week/first week of june is open
2nd week...VBS
3rd week... brian will be a leadership camp w/ the high school students and me and the kids are traveling to my parents then to my sistas! cant wait. I LOVE spending time w/ family:)
4th week... open
last week/first part of july...youth camp! woohoo!!

WHEW! i'm tired already.

oh and just for the fun of it...ryder was throwing rocks last night in the church parking lot. unfortunately the tahoe...which coincidently belongs to brians dad...got in the way. and....$215 later. yes thats what its going to cost to replace the back driverside window. fun times i tell ya fun times.

Moms out there....any ideas?

2009-05-26T07:53:00.003-05:00

Just wanted some ideas:

i'm making a craft container for the kids and want quality stuff in it...NO "ROSE ART" stuff. i've tried it but that brand isn't good quality. so what are you thinking......

enough already

2009-05-21T23:37:00.002-05:00

w/out being able to go into much detail...sorry friends...we've had a rough 36+ hours. nothing to do w/ me, brian, mattie, ryder, #3 or any family member. only to do w/ friends. satan is having a field day. not sure what that means i've just always heard that saying. if you would please pray for our church right now. our church family is and will be going through some difficult days ahead.

also keep in your prayers: Melissa and Bentley's little Annie had another scan today. all melissa has "twittered" is the tumor is the same. sooo thankful its NOT any bigger. pray wisdom, peace, comfort.

whew. i'm mentally done. next.........

I'm not ready.

2009-05-19T21:58:00.002-05:00

We went to a high school graduation tonight and i looked over at my two kiddos....i want to see them graduate. maybe i'm looney tunes but i'm not ready for "Him" to come back. call me crazy. i want to see my kids learn to drive...have sweet 16 parties and proms and graduations and fist day of college and weddings. i want grandkids for golly sake.

call my crazy.

Anne. Anne w/ an E:), Double Date, and Love Comes Softly Series:)

2009-05-18T07:16:00.011-05:00

all of my friends commented about the GrEAt, wonderful, so glad i own them now!!!!, movie...Anne of Green Gables, from my last post. i LOVE this movie. love it. several of yall commented about when Matthews dies. if you think watching it is bad....try reading it. Oh. My. Gosh. heart (w)renching. i loved matthew. sooo sad when he died. i just love Anne. Anne w/ an E. i'm going to get mattie to watch it w/ me and hopefully ryder w/ watch but not sure...you know boys:) 'course brian has been known to watch it w/ me, oh and meeechawn's joel watched it or read the books when he was younger and liked it so i bet he'll like it too. on a side note i'm kinda worried about the 3rd movie that was made in '03. i've read all bad reviews about it....it doesn't go along w/ the book...it's about Anne and Gill after the marry. i HOPE that the 3rd movie in my box set isn't that one but i'm afraid it is. hhhmmmm hope its not toooo disappointing.

my next hunt i'm on is for the book, Double Date. this wonderful book was written in the '50's and is a great little book. i read it in high school. i just found out after googleing (sp?) that there are 3 more books about the 2 twin sister, Pam and Penny! cant wait to get my hands of them! even though i've read the book umpteen times i still am gonna read it again:)

Love Comes Softly....ok I LOVE this series too! i HATE...refuse to watch them again.... the movies that Hallmark made about the series. they did a horrible job...did NOt go along w/ the book...well somewhat but not good enough for me. you can't trick me. i've read these books several times and i know what they missed or "edited". anywoo, read the books...it's a very good read!

i'm done w/ my "reviews" now:)

birthday fun:)

2009-05-17T13:15:00.012-05:00

My Birthday Celebration...
AFter dropping the kids off at our friends, The Henkels, we were off....

we ate at Olive Garden..yumyumyumyumyum i ate stuffed mushrooms first then manicotti...which i had the left overs for lunch today:) the sweet tea was sa-weet!!

after we ate a scrumdidlyuptious meal..i wanted to go wonder around Lifeway bookstore and came home w/: Love Come Softly and Dare to Discipline...watch out mattie and ryder....heeheeheehee

i had a couple of choices for my present but i chose Anne. i love the books and especially the movies. so brian took me to best buy and i picked out the Anne of Green Gables trilogy!!!!!

We ended the evening w/ a drink from Sonic then headed home. I had a great evening:)

My tribute to George....

george...i will see you some day soon:) brian is going to take me to see george! if you know brian in the least little bit you know that he HAtEs loathes and despises CouNTrY mUsIC so for him to even attempt to even google the name "george strait" then to look at his concert schedule meant a lot to me:) taking me to see george is on his bucket list...a list of things that he wants to accomplish in his life...wow.

we're gonna die we're gonna die.....hahahahahahaha

2009-05-15T21:14:00.003-05:00

please..... if you do not regularly read my sisters blog begin doing so immediately. things happen to her and her family that are tooooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny. man so funny. you can click on the side under my blog roll under "spying on the swinneys".

this quote, "we're gonna die, we're gonna die......????????? and then we're gonna die." i can't remember the middle part but i've heard this somewhere. not just from jules screaming this as she's running down the driveway into the street in her hoochy mama outfit w/ big sis close behind but i've heard it on tv or a movie.

trying to think of something funny thats happened to our family but nothing comes to mind just yet. i'll keep thinking.

poor kid

2009-05-12T09:26:00.004-05:00

after ryder first saw the commercial..."how many licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop...the world may never know".....and seeing the owl eat the kids tootsie pop....his response was, "poor kid". genuinely uspet for the little boy. the second time he said...."thats not fair"....and lately whenever it comes on he doesn't even watch it. he just walks away.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i love this little boy.

my moms day '09! early

2009-05-09T23:58:00.005-05:00

Outback and a kitten. brian and the kids took me to Outback..yum! and then we headed over to our friends, the pattersons, who have been keeping a little kitten for mattie and ryder till she was big enough to leave her momma. well, today was the dahy...a kitten which has escaped from her new owners 2x's in the first 2 hours we had her. not sure of a name yet. spent too much time looking under a buiding at church for this sucker - mattie crawled under and got her. then get home and she runs off under the couch and we spend bout an hour trying to find her. she eventually got out and ryder rescued her. picture a dad down in his back and a 5 month pg mom trying to find this creature.

and she isn't an inside cat nonononononononononononono NOT gonna happen. nonononononononononononono way jose'. no discussion. period.

b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l.

2009-05-08T23:39:00.002-05:00

thats the word i would use to describe my sister and levi's home. love it love it love it. i didn't take any pics cuz she wants to wait till its "put together" a little more:) it is perfect for them. just perfect. great neighborhood. landscaping appears that it will not be too difficult or costly to keep up. lots of trees. fenced in backyard. 4 bedrooms, formal dining used as office space, spacious kichen and living room, breakfast area, lots of closet space - one for her crafty items another for her holiday decorations and another for a tornado closet and if you live in that area you know how bad the weather gets. his and her closests. their bathroom is the size of the kitchen in their apartment:) the girls room is awesome. love it love it love it. soooooo proud for them. they got out of debt then began saving and after 8 yrs in a two bedroom apartment this is exactly what they deserve.

now after helping her get things going its my turn. mattie and ryder are switching to different rooms. we're gonna paint first hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

i gotta get to work....ready. set. go....maybe tomorrow:)

things to do! things to do!

2009-05-04T09:44:00.011-05:00

Ryder got a new cut...he wanted to be able to "stick it up" like his dads:) and he didn't want his picture taken but finally got a smile outta him. first i must say... i love this man. seriously. i love him:

before

after

i plan on going to my sisters....NeW BeaUtIfUL home tomorrow to "help" get her home in order. i use the term "help" loosely cuz i secretly want to go to just hang out w/ her and her fab fam:) ryder is coming too. i reckon i help too:) mattie is gonna stay and hang w/ dad and go to school. i'm not telling her we are going. brian can break the news to her later. just wouldn't be fair.

here's what i gotta get done before i leave tomorrow morning:
straighten up house
lay out matties clothes for wed, thurs, and fri
cook up a couple of meals
pack our bags

ready, set, go!

To: Ms. Nena, Ms. Marilyn, Ms. Gayle, and Ms. Francis...and other saline ladies:)

2009-04-29T07:30:00.002-05:00

Thank you for the love, support, and food you have been bringing to sue and david over the past few weeks. Cindy (sue's sis-in-law) is leaving to go back home this weekend. she has been here for over a month and been cooking in between meals that aren't brought to them. she commented last night, "david can't cook. he just can't." :) thank you for ministering to them.

Sue's spirits are good. she has really good days then really bad days.

just wanted to put this out there. not sure who all from saline wonders by my blog but i just wanted to say "thank you":):):):)

okie dokie

2009-04-28T07:58:00.004-05:00

our girl #2 in 3D!!

don't click on the pic b/c it's not clear. thats the best i could do:) well, ryder immediately cried and mattie immediately cheered. after about 5 minutes ryder warmed up to the thought of his new sis:) well maybe 10 min. he took it pretty hard. brian and i are sooo excited!

and just on the off chance that you were wondering...the scale at the dr.s office is broken. it's always broken. i never beleive what it says. it's the spawn of satan. my scale at home, on the other hand, is always correct. it reads 10lbs less than than "the dang one". i weigh 151 lbs i do NOT weigh 162 lbs. LIES LIES LIES i tell you. LIES.

now for a few more pics from Brock and Auny's Freedom Experience. well not "theirs" but you know what i mean....

mattie being comforted after the second time she hurt her arm. the first being when the skateboard rolled out from under her and she "jammed"/"fractured" her arm.

mattie being comforted by jacob. her new friend:)

now for some fun times!

2009-04-20T08:54:00.010-05:00

me at 4 months. didn't take long to put almost 15 lbs back on:(
muddy ryder
me doin' the "spidey"
matt on the dang dirtbike. this is for you Nick, Tanya, and Trent:)
matt and ryder

Brian and Matt before the Father/Daughter Banquet

i have someone to blame and blame i will

2009-04-17T08:14:00.003-05:00

seeing a once vibrant laughing active woman reduced to a slump in a wheelchair is hard to take. especially since it hasn't even been two months since they first told her the cancer had spread to her spine and spinal fluid. 2 months ago she was driving goin' and doin' within a few days...i'm talkin' days here....she couldn't walk. now she cant even hold on to david as he picks her up to put her in bed. he can't do it by himself anymore. she had 10 rounds of radiation head to back and thank the Lord the pain is gone. don't know for how long. sad sad sad.

see i blame and this is the hill i will die on..the eye cancer doctor specialist in memphis. back in the summer her bad eye was hurting her so badly. this is the reason why she wanted the eye taken out. i beleive that that pain was cancer. i believe that the doctor didn't do his job. after the eye was taken out she was still in pain. we go back for a check up and he suddenly begins studying her chart. i thought that strange. then we go to the hotel and he calls her and wants her to get a sonogram done immediately when she gets back to s'port. and why didn't he want her getting one while she was there under his care...hmmmm i wonder is it because he didn't want to be faced with the truth? that the cancer is back and he missed it and now its spreading like freakin' wild fire in her body and he knows whats gonna happen? i begged her and brian to have it done while we were in memphis but that didn't happen. she gets back and gets a call that she has missed her radiation treatment. radiation treatment, where the heck did that come from. well, the memphis doctor says he told us while we were there that the cancer was back. excuse me! dont you think we would remember if someone says the cancer has come back a 3rd time in your eye. HELLO dumb dumb dummy head. sue asked brian, "did he tell us the cancer had come back?" ummmm NO. we were all there in the room. she didn't ever meet alone w/ him we were always present. sue couldn't get him to call her back or respond to her at all. sounds kinda fishy to me.

so that was back in october. so the evil cancer has been eating away at her bit by bit for the past 4 months before it was found in her spine.

you know what i want to do. i want to take a picture of sue who sorta kinda looks like herself and send it to him and say...this is what you did. you could have prevented this. he should be held responsible.

she knew there was a possibility that if the eye was taken out cancer could spread. but she was reassured it was ALL gone. we were there we heard him. and last i checked i could hear real good. real real good. so good that when ryder even takes a deep breathe in the next room i can hear him. i got mommy hearing!

so here we are. hospice has been called. not good. one doctore gave her 2 months. that was 7 weeks ago.

this is the kind of mom i am. and sue update.

2009-04-16T10:16:00.003-05:00

i laugh at my precious offsprings pain. it's true. if they fall i laugh. one of them fell out of the booth at a restaurant recently and i laughed. i laughed then i made sure he/she didn't have a broken arm or concussion. another one of them got a jump rope - being used as a rope that was used to rope a horse-stuck in their belt loop. they stood there for 10 min trying to get it unstuck. it wasn't that funny but i laughed - totally tried to act like i was laughing at the tv he/she didn't beleive me. i had tears in my eyes. oh i also -literally- snatched a piece of easter candy - the circus peanut kind that they make into pink and yellow bunnies for easter - connie knows where i'm coming from:)- out of my childs hand. i'm serious. i said he could have it then snatched it out of his hand popped it out of the wrapper and crammed it in my mouth. he cried. brian was shocked. i laughed for 10 min.
this will come back to haunt me one day.

SUE...is supposed to come home to saline today sometime. she isn't in any pain in her head but having strange pain in her big toe. she keeps fussing at David for stepping on her toe. kinda funny but not. he just plays it off. asking her if he's off of it now and if it feels better:) boy have they come a long way. they've been stuck in a hospital room for 2 1/2 weeks. they be goin' a little stir crazy. she was sleeping a lot and really drugged up the first week but the last week and a half has been a lot better. she doesn't have much upper body strength. hospice will be there when they get home so i feel a lot better about that. auny cindy (sue's brother virgil's wife) has been here for over 3 weeks and is staying. she's been good company for sue:)

ok lots goin' on...

2009-04-08T08:26:00.003-05:00

first...my friend Melissa Beene Ford...went to etbu w/ her...found out yesterday that her 2yr old Annie has a brain tumor. wow. put her and them on any and all prayer lists available.

sue...doing better, as "better" as you can w/ cancer eating you up...sleeps lots bc of radiation but isn't in as much pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thats all for now.

the past 48 hours of just plain ole down right fun. ha.

2009-04-01T07:28:00.003-05:00

here's a tiny window into our world from the past two days:

Monday:

*found out how much we owe the daggum irs by april 15 or we can set up a plan and get charged lots of extra money. we never owe we always get money back but not this time. ha
*dr's off calls says we owe xxxx amount and it's due at the end of may. hahaha
*find out sue was put in the hospital sunday night, need to get over there that afternoon. no "ha".
*go to lunch w/ a youth, pull out of the parking lot and hear this really strange sound coming from the engine. stop immediately brian checks it out and we barely make it across the street to the gas station/garage. hahahaha
*brian calls to tell me the other wonderful things that are wrong w/ the car, they told him it could probably make it to s'port (an hour away) but not sure. hahahahaha
*sitting on the front porch watching brian pull in on his motorcycle and notice him slow down then watch him walk the motorcycle in look over at me and shake his head. the front wheel/brake had locked up. hohoheehee
* call tanja P. she gets her husband jeremy to come over and take brian to get the car. pay xxx amount. :)
* don't make it to s'port to see his mom.
*talk to his bro and dad. bro tells him he can get parts for cheap and they can fix the car:), dad says we can borrow a vehicle till the other is fixed.:)

Tuesday:
*travel to saline, get all our stuff in his moms car, pull out, go a little ways, then the car just stops going forward. heeho. ugh.
*turn the car around barely make it up the big hill on britt hill, brian checks out the car for over an hour. cant drive the car.
* put our stuff in the truck add oil and on our way.
* make it to s'port. finally.
*his dad comes home to take a shower and stuff checks out the car and its fine. huh. hee. ho.
*his dad gives us help to put towards the baby doctor. :):):):)
*find out his bro can get car parts for a lot cheaper. :):):)

go to bed.

whew.

britt baby #3 and update on sue sue

2009-03-31T07:23:00.005-05:00

well, we are expecting our 3rd child!!!! surprise!!! due october 5th...c-section..fun...that part no but another baby yes. ryder has already chosen the name cougar. no wait he quickly changed it to cheetah. or vise versa.

update on sue:
she was having a really bad day on sunday so david took her to the hospital in schreveport. the nausia pill she needs to take is hard to swallow so she was trying to dissolve it and is just wasn't doing the job so she got dehydrated. she's doing better. we were headed over there ...well, thats a long story...we are going today. shawn called last night and said that there is a possibility that they can do radiation on her back and she could possibly walk again. she hasn't walked in a month.

fun times i tell ya fun times. :)

my son. he does the "phoebe" when he runs

2009-03-21T08:31:00.002-05:00

yes, i know another "friends" reference and strange enough i didn't watch this show much if at all. anywoo, remember the scene where rachael and phoebe are running in the park. well, phoebe has a most interesting running style. so much so that her good friend rachael wasn't too sure she wanted to be associated with her while they ran.

well, my son runs like phoebe. it's true he does. he kinda kicks his legs out hunches his shoulders up and sorta flails his arms...not all around but definitely not in a normal running "style". toooooo funny. i love him he's soooo cute.

just thought i'd share this. trying to find the humor in life these days. and obviously at the expense of my son:)

update on sue:
she's just hanging out at home with david. enjoying dozens of daily phone calls and friends bringing food by. her spirit is good, her health isn't. continue to pray for her and david as they journey though this together. together. wow. thank God they are together.

i have a "monica closet". do you?

2009-03-13T21:04:00.002-05:00

any of you watch friends "back in the day" or do you catch re-runs of it on practically any channel these days?

well, one particular episode featured "miss perfectly organized" monica's teeny tiny 'achillese heel' (sp?)-not even sure if that's the correct usage of the word but i don't care:). her closet. it was jam packed w/ stuff. everything else in her life was in its perfect place except in that closet.

well, i have one and i'm proud of it. brian's side is nice and neat and organized but not mine and i dont give a flyin' rip flip 'bout it. it's so freeing to just have something that is mine that i can keep just like a want it....messy or clean.

love it love it love it.

so here we are...

2009-03-11T05:35:00.004-05:00

sue's spirits are high. we brought her a wheelchair and she scoots around the house doing this and that. she has lots of medication to take so sometimes she's pretty sleepy. we visited on saturday and had a great visit. the kids think the wheelchair is the coolest. they just know that she's very sick. no need to go further at this time. if you know brian you will know that he pretty much is happy all the time unless: i'm mad - he hates hates hates hates it when i'm mad; he's sick; or tired. he doesn't hide his emotions well under those three circumstances. so if your wondering how he's doing....fine. i think he just takes it one day at a time.

and...
ryder and i made a trip to the walmarts and bought some flowers. i cleaned up the front and side porch and rearranged the flowers till i liked what i saw. i love flowers. they brighten my day.

then...
waiting to hear from my sis. they found a house that they like and might have made an offer but i don't know yet.

well...
mattie is not a good speller. i've come to realllllize that she'll never be the winner of a spelling bee. i'm just glad that you don't have to pass spelling to get to the next grade. up until this six weeks she had done really well... but whoa mama not no mo.

finally....
we've been getting "7 movies for $7" at blockbuster. i rented "stranger than fiction" and i really like that movie. thought i'd share that.

oh and thanks to everyone who has left comments. your continued prayers, care and concern means so much during this time. thank you.

they said...

2009-03-07T07:04:00.003-06:00

there's nothing they can do. sue and david got home last night. when brian talked to them sue said that she can't walk. her legs hurt, they feel like they are asleep. david is retiring from the phone company to take care of her. brian and his dad are going to buy her a new bedroom suit next week. she wants a new bed. she wants as much company as possible. i think we'll be going over there today.

guess we gotta let the kids know something. their mawmaw wont be runnin' around playing with them anymore.

dang.

i'm going to walmart. i need plants and flowers.

thank you and nothing new

2009-03-05T07:07:00.003-06:00

thanks so much for the encouraging words. we love our friends. we are blessed.

as of this morning all we know is:

***they have done a scan on the brain and another one on her spine.

will update when we know more.

i honestly would like to post something besides updates on what's going on but don't have much else on my mind.

an appointment

2009-02-28T19:34:00.002-06:00

right now this situation seems to be all thats on our mind.

sue has an appointment at 1pm on monday at md anderson.

pray for strength and healing.

thanks for your continued prayers.

the ugliest word i know

2009-02-27T07:16:00.003-06:00

cancer.

brian's mom has been battling this disease for over 15 years-eye cancer. it returned another time in '03 in the same eye. in october she had the eye removed, shortly after she learned that cancer had returned - third time. went through 5 weeks of radiation. recently her back began hurting. she played it off as "down in her back" and was going to go to the chiropracter. she first decided to go to her doctor first. they did an mri and took fluid from her spine. we learned yesterday that it is melanoma in her spine/spinal fluid - this fluid flows from her spine to her brain. get the picture. they are possibly sending her to md anderson on monday. her options are chemo and/or radiation or whatever houston has to offer. she does not want to do chemo. the radiation will only possibly slow it down.

so here we are. sue and our kids have a special relationship. well she has one with all the grandkids. i'm most sad for brian, his bro, and his dad.... and the kids. the kids don't know. they just know she's sick.

how do you tell them?

(and i just learned that the mom of my GOOOD friend has cancer.)

added some things to my random list. check them out.

2009-02-20T06:55:00.002-06:00

25 randon things about stephanie earp britt

2009-02-18T07:36:00.003-06:00

1. crowds scare me. upon entereing a room w/ lots of people, i usually just put my head down and discreetly find someone i know quickly or find my seat.
2. i genuinely dislike the "meet and greet" time at the beginning of church. i would rather poke myself in the eye than walk around and "meet and greet". if your not sitting in the pew in front of or behind me i probably wont come near ya. and yeah my husband is a youth minister.
3. i can count on one hand the number of dates i had in high school: tom reynolds - brought me flowers then got a ticket on the way to burger king; bryan austin - i was 17yrs old and he was 21 yrs. old...crazy; aaron catoe - fun.; jeremy - camp boyfriend; ben archer - nice guy. i went to prom with bob colwell but i don't really consider that a date.
4. i love to cook. and i'm getting better at it:)
5. my mom and i found my mawmaw hours after she had had a stroke. 30 days later, mom and i were in the hospital room when she passed away. and i envy her ability to be positive, no matter what.
6. i hate loathe dispise cant stand to do: laundry and clean the bathrooms. hate it.
7. cheated on a tennis paper final in college. yep sure did. erin fry (dement at one time) is who's paper i cheated off of...she didn't know. hahahahaha
8. was a baseball/basketball groupie in college.....aaahhhh yes... melissa my partner in crime. oh, and yes, they noticed us. how could they NOT notice a couple of babes like us. hahahahahaha
9. tell white lies....itty bitty teeny weeny itsy bitsy can't hardly call them "lies".
10. don't read my bible as often as i should.
11. could sit on the couch and watch tv ALL day.
12. usually stop the microwave on an even number if at all possible.
13. have too much credit card debt. it's like a huge stone is sitting on my chest.
14. send my little girl to school in uniform pants that aren't that dirty.
15. secretly check up on the show, "rock of love". scarey i know.
16. gave my friend the bird in high school in mcdonalds in line waiting to order....that friend was todd gail. he just laughed at me. well, acted shocked at first because goody two shoes "stephanie earp...daughter of a preacher" did such a thing.
17. know more hollywood trivia than i know scripture.
18. have an obsession w/ cabinet doors: must be shut; lights in a room must be turned off upon leaving it.
19. got a guy fired from pizza hut for "talking inappropriate"
20. upon being dared by my two uncles: paul and jason, i took a dip of skoal in jr high.
21. vaguely remember my grandmother.
22. envy my sisters creativity and gift of encouragement and my father and grandfathers ability to talk to others about Christ.
23. argued w/ a police officer about getting a seat belt ticket and ended up getting 3.
24. wish i could pay someone to do homework w/ mattie.
24a. must add this...watched my first rated r movie when i was a senior in high school at michele's house...oh and she was my partner in crime during that time:)
25. knew i was going to marry brian the first weekend i spent w/ he and his family.

a commenter i'm not and cruise...

2009-02-11T07:38:00.006-06:00

just a little disappointed for the lack of comments on my blog...BUT after checking out my sitemeter i realized that lots of people check out my blog. so i feel a little better. how can i get upset when i rarely if ever comment on other peoples blogs. so and "makeover" posts arent' that exciting. haha.

if you want to check out our cruise pics check out my facebook under photos. we had an awesome time and are soooo grateful for our friends brock and auny who invited us:)

updates and a menu!

2009-02-08T17:49:00.003-06:00

the under $200 living room redo....
We have been crazy busy this weekend!!! brian and i (and the kids:) ) painted in the living room, hung new curtains, and threw out our new throw pillows on our couch! it's so funny what new paint, new curtains, and pillows can do to a room. we love it! a friend is coming over tonight or tomorrow to help rearrange our funiture. i am waiting to post pictures until i get our family pics back so i can hang them on our freshly painted chocolate brown wall. we ordered 1 family, 1 of brian and i, and 1 of the kids...."stretched canvas" so i don't have to buy frames! so excited to get those:)

i've kept my sink clean all week...miracle.

i wanted all our redecoratin' to be done with by tomorrow and it looks like its gonna happen:):):):) for these two reasons....we are starting a new thing in our youth ministry, "maincourse". this is where we invite different groups of 5-6 students to our house 2x a month to eat dinner and hang out. this tuesday is our first night. i really think this is gonna help to grow our youth ministry. and my parents are coming this weekend.

the menu for the week:

shrimp, chick, and sausage gumbo, rice, and crackers (ok ms. debbie help!!!)
sweet n spicy meatballs w/ jalopeno potatoes
chicken and gravy w/ peas and rice
tacos w/ chips and dip
eat out

the weekend:
tangy pulled pork (sandwiches) w/ bbq beans and corn-on-the-cob - crock pot
beef tips and rice - crock pot
soup...either chili's chicken enchilada, taco, or potato soup
sandwiches

Sunday Lunch Solution (i hope).....
leftovers from the week

the menu...

2009-02-06T07:51:00.003-06:00

i got this idea from my sister. i've commented on several of my friends blogs asking it they were interested in this....

posting our menus for the week!!!! if we are intrested in a recipe just comment and ask for it. this would so help me and us in our quest for new cooking ideas.....

ready, set, think.....

still at it.....

2009-02-04T14:03:00.006-06:00

messy fridge!
nice and organized fridge!
cluttered living room wall
nice and clean living room wall!

i'm thinkin' i forgot to say "thank ya" to my sis who, when she was here a few weeks ago, went to the walmarts and came back with a few bags of goodies for my kitchen. she also bought me a simple laundry sorter bag. it has 3 big compartments w/ a shoulder strap that i can easily carry to my laundry room inistead of the laundry baskets. nice! gonna be usin' that thing today. seems my family would like some clothes to wear. ha.

i'll be painting this week and next. and i ordered 3 of our family pictures. instead of framing them we ordered (hopefully if its not too expensive) the stretched canvas look. melissa is getting back w/ me tomorrow w/ the price difference.

well, i'm off to do some laundry.

two new posts and....

2009-01-30T06:46:00.002-06:00

brian's parents are back together. praise the Lord. i might have mentioned this earlier. cant remember but i'm saying this again b/c we are moving her stuff out of the front bedroom and redecorating it. now it's going to be a room w/ many jobs....guest room, gun room, office. now please keep an open mind. im married to a gun owner and we have a little boy who loves guns- ryder has toy guns people, im not nutso. so there. my husband is going to be able to reload his bullets in our home. obviously the guns and reloading .....stuff...will be locked up b/c we have small children and my nieces come often. so connie, if you ever need to shoot an intruder while visiting, you will be stocked w/ options.

cruise pics next....woohoooooo

idea help needed and before pictures of my living room

2009-01-30T05:58:00.016-06:00

about the kitchen window treatment: should i take down the shorter one and put the longer one up? hhhhmmmm. i do like natural light coming in the kitchen and it's pretty much blocked out with both "curtain pieces" up.

and if you go to the previous post check out the picture w/ the silver clock. does this need something. paint around the red? shelf? what?

my living room before.......

notice the colors in my couch. im going to go with two to redo my living room/alcove: chocolate brown and orange-burnt orange sort of.

new window treatments: chocolate brown
wall w/ t.v.: chocolate brown
alcove: orange/burnt
pillows: orange/bunt

my parents are coming in two weeks and tanya paul and i are having a "mini progressive dinner" for michawn and family before they go back to brasil and i want the above improvements done by that time ....so i got lots to do:)

ready. set. go!

befores and afters.....:)

2009-01-21T07:03:00.014-06:00

first let me begin by saying thank you to brian...who makes me feel like i'm the most beautiful girl he's ever met no matter what size i am. and...for not really having an opinion about the house and its decor. unless i just have a nutsy idea or something he pretty much will say, "what about this or that" then let's me do whatever i want to do. and in the words of chris pace..."do what you want to do 'cause that's what your gonna do anyway". hahahahaha

second thank you to my sis, connie, for all her help and ideas with the house and kitchen and words of encouragement, weight and other things:).
well, thank you to all my family and friends who's words of encouragement helped me to keep going till i reached my weight goal...still not quite there but thats ok:)

now for the fun part......

Me......

This lovely picture is from summer of '06 at youth camp:) rough weight estimate: 155lbs

I love this picture ....look at Jules...cute cute cute:) Connie took this last week. my current weight was 131 lbs.:):):):

my kitchen......
before:

after...or in the middle would be more like it.......

notice the dry erase/cork board just waiting to be put up by my sweeeeeeeeet husband...hint hint hint

2009-01-16T09:39:00.002-06:00

These precious 3 are coming to our house this weekend! she's bringing chicken n spaghetti woohoo! i have roast, brown sugar meatloaf and gggghhhhooouuuullllooosssshhhh - hamburger w/ rotel and pasta but i'm gonna add some cheeeese - on the menu. so we should be good.

connie and i will be attending our youth girls ministry Chocolate Fest which i am sorta in charge of. i have everything organized so we won't be up at the church all day on saturday. my house is clean. still gotta get some clutter out of the front room where connie and jules will be sleeping.

i really want to go see "mall cop". i know. weird huh? brian is taking care of the kids while connie and i go to the choc fest. gasp gasp choke choke. nah just kidding he's a good husband, dad, and uncle. he might even take them to see "hotel for dogs". not sure if he's brave enough. hahaha

anywoo...until next time...........

you are not gonna believe this...oh and a few pics!

2009-01-12T16:17:00.004-06:00

me and my sis at christmas!

me, connie, and mom

i have done the following things today:

1. Got out of the house. had to take brian to work but first we went for coffee - i did NOT get my usual frozen caramel frap with extra caramel and extra whipcream and that is an abosolute miracle - seriously you just dont understand my relationship with this simply deeeelish frozen concoction) and beneigts (sp?). then had to run back home and ryder got really mad at Powder because she grabbed her bag of 3 remaing beneigts as he was walking into the house:( as he put it he's really mad at her and is not going to play w/ her- she's our golden retriever. i seriously doubt she cares.

2. since i was out of the house, ryder and i ran some errands:
* cleaned out the car
* paid for a ticket...i seriously was NOT going 85 in a 70 no way no how.
* took bags and bags of old stuff to charity
* took ryder to McD's for some chicken nuggets - which he did not eat.
* spent a couple of hours at "the walmarts".
* came home
* ryder said he would LIKE to take a nap. i of course let him
* proceeded to put up the bags of stuff i got out of the car as i cleaned it out. another miracle. usually when i "clean" out
the car i just leave the bagged items i removed from the car in the bags for as long as possible.
* cleaned up the house
* watched a little bit of vh1's "rock of love bus". i know isn't that...well, i have no words for that behavior. i obviously
need prayer and i need to repent.

i'm in the process of.......cleaning the "mud room" and putting away what i bought at the walmarts. tomorrow i will let ya know what i'm gonna do to my kitchen. when i figure out what i'm gonna do. my sis is coming for the weekend "muhaahaaahaaa" - you have to say it like Rico off of hanny montanny. seriously. or it just doesn't work.) she's a creative one i tell ya and i'm fixin' to abuse my sisterly privileges. heeheeheehee

hope she reads this....the color i'm feeling is red....a deep red. hhhmmmm.

motivation. hmfff.

2009-01-10T12:02:00.002-06:00

since plans have changed for the day brian wants to clean off the back porch. this is going to force me to go through boxes of papers. he's all motivated. great.

boxes of papers....here i come..... get ready to burn.

change

2009-01-09T10:30:00.002-06:00

change. little word. big meaning. there's always good and bad when change is made. depending on the circumstances i'm not a huge fan of change. this particular subject has been a theme in our lives lately. and i'm trying to "roll w/ it". hard.

we get to see michawn and her family tonight! oh and goals.

2009-01-08T10:07:00.002-06:00

gonna cook up some deer chili and take it over to them this evening then hang out and let the kiddos play. ryder is sooo excited he's driving me nuts as to when we are going to go:) fun times.

Goals for today...
1. continue decluttering front bedroom and our room
2. go through mail which i haven't touched yet
3. continue doing laundry
4. clean and organize matties room
5. play with ryder!

i have kept the living room and kitchen clean everyday...and i've cooked everyday too:) so i'm feeling pretting excited about my accomplishments. but gotta keep on going.

Goals for today...

2009-01-07T10:10:00.002-06:00

I accomplished all my goals from yesterday accept the mail and the laundry...that's gonna be a week long process!

Goals for Wed. Jan. 7, 2009
1. clean and organize ryders room
2. continue w/ laundry
3. continue decluttering front bedroom
4. organize mail
5. play w/ ryder!

Enough. Here are m y goals for today...and no i don't have a handy dandy ipod touch so this will have to do! :)

2009-01-06T10:41:00.005-06:00

ok enough of the blahs. i have my family who loves me and my health. brian has a great job. i get to stay at home. now its time for me to take care of my home. i must say, for me, i feel better when i "write" out how i'm feeling. i post for my sake. i feel better, sometimes, after i get things "off my chest".

Goals.....
Daily
*keep sink clean
*keep dining room table cleaned off
*keep living room clutter free
*keep bar clutter free

Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009
1. declutter kitchen and living room
2. put christmas stuff up in the attic not just in the hallway
3. put up clean laundry where they go. not just in a neat pile somewhere
4. go through mail
5. play w/ ryder when he asks but accomplish my goals for today.

there. now i'm off.............

warning....this post isn't the most uplifting.

2009-01-05T20:24:00.002-06:00

this holiday season wasn't what i expected it to be. i don't know what i expected but it just didn't happen. i had grand plans of "thinking of others" but it just didnt happen the way i wanted it to. thanksgiving was a mix of good and not so good. i loved cooking the dressing and ham but i didn't love other things that happened on that day. but it ended up good. then the christmas season came. we put up the tree and i put out other decorations but i didn't set my village out until the week before christmas. brian usually puts lights up outside but i ended up attempting to put some on the porch but half of them went out and they werent fixed so we didn't plug them in after the second time. something really great that we thought was going to happen didn't and that really set the tone. the christmas boxes turned out really cute. the postman loved his. but mattie ended up getting sick and the goodies we had fixed for her class....took 3 hrs to make....didn't get passed out. the little homemade ornaments didn't get passed out to her class. she missed her class fun days. since she got sick the bus didn't stop by our house and we didn't get to give the bus driver her box. we had two christmas's w/ brians family. one w/ his dad and one w his mom. still can't get used to that. i made cinnamon rolls that were intended for the neighbors. it got crazy around here and i didn't get them passed out. i did take some to my parents house and mom took some to work. then mom, mattie, ryder, and i passed out two pans to my parents neighbors. so that was good. mom had the house decorated really cute w/ old homemade christmas decor connie and i had made in our elementary years framed and set out through the house. so that made it special. christmas eve was good. then christmas day came. the morning was great. when i woke up that morning i new something wasn't right. then i progressively got worse through the day. i didn't get to help mom and connie in the kitchen. and the worse part was i didn't get to go to my grandaddy's for our big christmas family get together that night. dad stayed home w/ me. i was so nausiated i couldn't even talk to my dad much. i was so looking forward to seeing my cousins and uncles and family....especially since this was the first time i'd see them since steven's death. i knew it was going to be tough on my family and really wanted to be there. michael and danny called me which i loved that!!! but it still hurt that i wasn't there. they had a tough time. stevens wife and step-daughters were there and of course had a tough time. danny called again later that night and his mom - our "aunt" - wanted to see connie and i and our kids but we just couldn't do it. there's a lot of hard feelings w/ her and what she did when they were growing up. i pray to God danny isn't mad but we just couldn't do it. anyway, i started feeling better the next day and we went to the mall and ate at roadhouse as a family. then we rushed home saturday and i crammed in a surprise bday party for brian...which was great. our friends..chris and tori pace and their kiddos got to come...and had a great turn out from church. the youth parents and some friends really helped me so much w/ the party. then we headed to colorado and had a good time skiing. and now we're back. and mattie has swimmer's ear and she's in a lot of pain. her ear is stopped up and that really irritates her. my mominlaw cleaned the kitchen and living room up while we were gone so that was great to come home to a clean house....well at least those two rooms. brian took down the christmas tree last night which irritated me. but he says he doesn't pay any attention to me after 10pm i get delirious and mean. now i have to get busy on the other rooms. but i just don't have it in me. not right now.

connie i'm trying to fly but my wings are stuck in neutral. come to my rescue.

random pics

2009-01-02T23:21:00.008-06:00

ski trip and such!

2009-01-01T23:14:00.004-06:00

We are presently "hittin' the slopes" at Wolf Creek near Pagosa Springs, CO! We are here w/ our family: me, brian, mattie, pawpaw, bailey, uncle william, "aunt" leigh ann, statton, cole, john michael! and several families from church. A blast has been had by all. well, not all - altitude sickness hit one and some people just didn't care for skiing. but we've all had fun whether we were just hanging out or skiing. brian's hair has changed colors three times in the past 48 hours. he bleached it which was a bad idea. he did it while i was asleep...w/out my help. i wake up to yellow hair. that happened tuesday night. then last night i bought a root touch up kit and another bleach kit. we opted for the root touch up. there wasn't enough color in the kit to cover so he ended up w/ a bronzey color....toned down the yellow. well, i jump in the tahoe make a mad dash to the market before it closed and get a medium golden brown color. well, the end result is an auburn color. it kinda takes you by surprise like "whoa" and you take a step back then you adjust your eyes and get used to it. it's not bad just not brian. as one mom siad today, "it's not brian. he doesn't stand out enough". we will be calling his hair lady first thing when we get back.

i'm living w/ the guilt of "tricking" my son. he has no idea that we are on this ski trip that he was supposed to be on. my sis is keeping him and they are having a blast. but on the first day they had all our ski boots sitting out w/ our names on them...and there sat these itty bitty boots w/ the name Ryder B. on them. :( we just couldn't do it. we couldn't bring him. he's tooooo little and toooo whiney. we started mattie skiing when she was 3 but she's just a tad bit different than ryder. he will get his turn next year. mattie on the other hand....kicks butt skiing. she is hardcore. hates to wait on people who don't ski as fast as she does.

hopefully i'll have some pictures soon. oh, we forgot our camara. figures. so i've had to borrow camaras.

off to bed. there's no sleeping in on a "brian britt ski trip". sleep who needs sleep. sleep when you get home. we are here to SKIIIIIIIIII.

tadaaaaa!

2008-12-23T09:45:00.007-06:00

Go down to the "cooking scaredy cat" post and start there!

They said they were good. I think they were good. guess they were good:)

just kidding....i'm goin for it........

2008-12-22T19:56:00.001-06:00

I"m a cooking scaredy cat. seriously i have a problem.

2008-12-22T19:15:00.004-06:00

don't laugh but it took me days to actually get out my ingrediants and actually make to items for the "christmas boxes". why? i don't know. scared that i'm gonna fail..... that's it. scared that i'm gonna waste all the ingrediants cause i didn't read the recipe close enough. remember when Lucy and Ethel were baking bread and Lucy mistook a crumb for a 1 and used 14 cakes of yeast instead of 4 cakes? hahahahaahaaa gotta love me some lucy.

well i finally got around to doing to baking and all turned out well. now i'm on to my next baking adventure.....

Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.....they look scrumdiddlyumptious. Melissa baked them last week for her neighbors and i have yet to find out how they turned out...hint hint wink wink....

well i finally got all the ingrediants. went so far as to get the pot out of the cabinet didn't even have the door shut and put it back. all the ingrediants are sitting on my counter staring at me saying..."scaredy cat scaredy cat". i hesitate to make them tonight b/c i'm going to take them to my neighbors so i don't want them sitting around getting all hard and stale.

ok i'm gonna do it. i'm gonna get all our washing and packing done tonight....wake up bright and early and do it. yes, that's what i'm gonna do.

tune in tomorrow to find out if it was a success or disaster.................

Such Goins On, Such Goins On!

2008-12-21T16:13:00.015-06:00

Our Christmas Boxes......from the mess to the finished product And Gingerbread Time.....

Gingerbread Time....

to the right to the right look to the right and participate.

2008-12-18T16:25:00.003-06:00

Look over to the right of my blog page....i want to know who's following my blog...help a girl out and follow me!

Missed it by tttthhhaaatttt much...maybe

2008-12-18T10:01:00.003-06:00

Well, update on the House of Sick. Mattie woke up around 2 am with "it". My husband whom i love more than life itself let me go to bed and he stayed up w/ her. she "got sick" every hour until 8 am. I got up around 645 am to releive him. I feel soooo sorry for Mattie. Today was "Polar Express Day" at school. we bought her a new pair of Hannny Montannny pj's just especially for today. they got to wear there pj's, slippers, and house coat to school and they were gonna watch the movie. we spent about 3 hours making goodies to take to her class so they could munch as they watched the movie. well, those "goodies" were not taken to school and neither was Mattie. she helped me make 'em so i didn't think it wise to infect her class right here at christmas. i also was supposed to help a friend clean two houses and watch one of my other friends little girl - Melissa THE photographer - while she did a bridal shoot...but all the above got shot to heck.

and i'm pretty made about it.

little brother is feeling better so now he's back to his usual impish self and mattie isn't putting up w/ it.

to my fellow moms out there w/ sickness in the house....i feel your pain.

oh and all those christmas goodie boxes are on hold till after new years. i can't afford to infect my friends, mail lady, and ups guy.

darn it all.

We is baaaaddd sick

2008-12-16T09:26:00.002-06:00

Brian and Ryder have a bad stomach virus. Please pray that they continue to recover and that me and Mattie do not get sick. I haven't washed so many loads of towels and blankets and pj's and sprayed so much lysol in my life. i hate the smell of lysol but it if keeps me and mattie from getting this mess i won't be hatin' ..... I LOVE YOU LYSOL!

Family Christmas Craft Ideas....Kid Friendly!

2008-12-13T12:13:00.011-06:00

Gingerbread House Kit
*Wal-Mart $9.96
*We did this cute craft last night as a family (this isn't our gb house but similar:)). Took pictures w/ our new camara....will post soon.

Snowy Balloon Ornaments
Go to www.marthastewart.com homepage, find the "Christmas Ideas" on that page, then click on "handmade ornaments", then thumbnail view and you'll find Snowy Balloon Ornaments.

Old Fashioned Salt Dough Homemade Ornaments
2 cups flour
2 cups salt
1 cup water

Begin by stirring this mixture, and when it becomes to firm to stir, then knead it a bit with your hands. The resulting dough should feel moist and smooth, but not stick to your hands. (Knead in a tiny bit more flour if it's sticking to your hands.). . . And if you like, take some smaller balls of this dough and color them with food coloring. If the food coloring makes the dough a little too sticky, just knead in a tiny bit more flour. (Note: if you don't like the food coloring approach, then you can always paint your ornaments after you bake them.)

I recommend that you store the dough in an airtight container, so it won't dry out.

Now, get a cookie sheet, and your favorite holiday cookie cutters. And also, you'll need something to roll out your dough with. You can use your rolling pin, but since we'll be working on our cookie sheet, you might want to use something smaller.

Roll some dough out to a 1/4" thickness. We're going to make our ornament on the cookie sheet, so roll this dough out on the sheet, right where you want the finished cookie to be. Press a cookie cutter into the dough.

And then, pull away all the dough from around the cutter. You can re-roll this to make new ornaments, over and over. Then, remove the cutter.
Now you can decorate your ornament however you like. The salt dough sticks to itself beautifully, so you can press different colors of dough onto your cut-out.

If you roll your dough thinner, like 1/8", then you can stack cut-outs of different colors onto each other. (Your finished ornaments should be no more than 1/4" thick.)As a last step, make a hole in the top of your ornament, for hanging. You can use a drinking straw for this.

. . . Or, a toothpick. (Just make sure to twirl that toothpick around a little, so your hole is large enough for a bit of ribbon to pass through.)

Make as many ornaments as you like on the cookie sheet. And preheat your oven to 250 degrees.

Bake your ornaments until they are hard. The baking time will vary, but start with 20 minutes, and then keep checking them every 10 minutes after that. They're done when they feel hard all over, but don't let them get brown.

After your ornaments have cooled, seal them all over with some varnish. I like the spray-on kind best for this salt dough. Water-based, brush-on varnish has a tendency to re-soften the surface of your ornament.

And as I mentioned before, at this stage, you can also paint your ornament, or add some glitter, if you like.
When the varnish is dry, poke a 6" piece of narrow ribbon through the hole in the top of each ornament, and tie the ends in a knot. Now they're tree-ready!

I'm a winner i'm a winner of the dirtiest sink!!!!

2008-12-11T16:57:00.002-06:00

My super cool sis had a blog give away! she challenged her blog readers to send pics of their sinks as is first thing yesterday morning. sadly i won the "dirtiest sink award". BUT i won this super cool timer from the Container Store!! the goal of this challenge was to encourage us to clean our sinks and keep it clean. i did just that and have pretty much kept it clean... pretty much.

yay me!!!!

things that make ya go hhhhmmmm.

2008-12-11T07:54:00.003-06:00

*your children actin like a fool in front of, well, anyone.
*asking your 3 year old what he's eating after he has just walked out of the kitchen w a sucker hangin out of his mouth and he answers, "nothin".
*members of your family that start makin rediculous decisions based on feelings. feelings are fickle my friend.
*people that wear clothes that fit in all the wrong places.
*credit cards.
*sittin on the couch all day watchin the boob tube, playin on the pooter, wastin the day away.
*forever friends when ya dont deserve 'em.
*my beautiful husband that loves me. doesnt matter what i do or dont do, say or dont say.
*my family and kids that love me even in all my "me"ness.
*Gods neverending love for me.

Where are they going....

2008-12-09T20:16:00.002-06:00

In an earlier post i was telling about how our family is going to do Christmas Goodie Boxes this year, for who i wasn't sure. Well, Brian and i were talking and since our church is giving all members goodie bags....the staff and spouses baked different items and bagged them up to be passed out to all the families of our church today (Brian and i made up 920 chocolate covered peanut clusters)....we thought it would be a great idea to give out our boxes to "them". "Them" being...Mattie's bus driver and her different teachers at school, the mail lady, the UPS guy, and some of our neighbors whom, sad to say, we've never met. My goal for the above activity to be accomplished is next week.

As far as the "12 Days of Christmas family", i just dont know who we're gonna do it for. we want to pick a family "in need". in order to get this done before we leave on the 23rd to "go home for Christmas" we gotta decide ASAP. so still not sure 'bout all that.

God has a weird sense of humor.

2008-12-09T06:32:00.002-06:00

not able to get into details but our hopes were dashed last night. we had thought that some really awesome things were happening in our family....not brian, steph, mattie, and ryder family...but other family. seems God was just joking. i'm trying to not let it ruin my holiday but it's hard. i'm not blaming God. i'm just mad. mad that something really neat could have happened but it looks like it's not going to. not wanting to give satan ANY crredit but he had a little to do w/ this too, i think.

Christmas Goodie Gift Box...this is what i'm putting in it:)

2008-12-05T11:59:00.004-06:00

Chocolate Covered Peanuts

Almond Bark - Chocolate flavored
Jar of Salted Peanuts
melt 1 square of almond bark in micro...(at a time b/c if you melt too much it will harden before you have used it all) CAREFUL NOT TO SCORCH!!! add as many peanuts to the melted chocolate as you like...less peanuts means more chocolatety taste! repeat process till you have used all your peanuts.

Tiger Butter

1 lb. Almond Bark - vanilla flavored
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter - crunchy or smooth
6 oz. chocolate chips - not the cheap kind...won't work!

melt bark and mix in peanut butter. spread in a medium sized cake pan. Melt choc chips and pour over the peanut butter layer. spread till smooth. You may leave it in two seperate layers or, w/ a butter knife, drag it through the two layers from one end of the pan to the other to make it swirl together. Do blend too much. Refrigerate just till i's solid. Using a butter knife, cut in to small pieces and store in an airtight container away from heat.

Spicy Pecans

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. Worceshire sauce
3/4 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
3 c. pecans

Combine first five ingredients in large bowl, stirring well. Add pecans, stirring; coat well. spread evenly in 13x9x2 inch pan. bake, uncovered, at 300* for 20 min, stirring after 10 minutes. let cool completely. store in airtight container up to 2 weeks.

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pecans
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
1/4 C. firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 c. pecans

Can also add:
1 Tbsp pecan praline flavored coffee 1/4 tsp. red pepper

Melt butter in large skillet. Add brown sugar and stir. Add remaining ingredients excetp pecans. stir well. add pecans; coat well. spread pecans on greased cookie sheet. bake at 325* for 15 min. stir every 5 minutes. cool completely and break nuts apart.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Bag of pretzels (mini)
Almond bark - vanilla and chocolate
Christmas sprinkles

melt 1 square (at a time b/c if you melt too much it will harden before you have used it all) of almond bark in microwave- DO NOT SCORCH. dip pretzel in either flavored bark, let cool, then drizzle other flavor over pretzel and sprinkle w/ sugar sprinkles while still warm so it will stick to bark.

Our family pics are ready for viewing...woooohoooo!

2008-12-05T06:56:00.001-06:00

Go to

www.melissabreedlove.com
click on client proofing
click on Britt Family

She did a most excellently awesome job!!!!!

Cute Christmas ?aire...

2008-12-04T10:00:00.004-06:00

1. What's your favorite Christmas carol?
Joy to the World, Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful....

2. Is your tree up AND decorated?
Yep!

3. Is all of your shopping/creating gifts done?
sorta...waiting on our family pictures to be online so we can proof!!! Go Melissa Breedlove - you're AWESOME!

4. What is your most treasured family tradition?
decorating the inside of the house for Christmas w/ the kids. Brian is in charge of the outside...and we're still waiting:)

5. Will you go to a candle light service during the Christmas season?
not sure

6. Staying home for Christmas Day morning or will you be visiting family?
Family

7. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Christmas Day...well mom always let me and Connie open one on Christmas Eve and we carry on that tradition:)

who wants to play? If you're game, i added the last 2 ?'s and it would be neat to see what ? you have to add.....

Stephanieness...

2008-12-03T11:51:00.010-06:00

**Brian emptied the dishwasher, put up the clean dishes, put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher...and turned it on. All during his lunch hour. This isn't my husband...Brian is a hottie.

Last night Brian ordered our new digital camera from Best Buy w/ a free big memory card w/ free shipping all for $124. Thank you Jesus. Ours was stolen this summer while of vacation.

i get really irritated when little kids tell my kids that Santa isn't real. Thats fine that we all believe differently but they should tell their kids not to ruin it for those that believe...believing in the spirit of Santa...giving. i'm not interested in anyones opinion on this matter...we agree to disagree.

I bought these really cool Martha Stewart compartment cookie boxes that you can put goodies in at walmart. it looks similar to this. the kids and i are gonna fill the compartments w/ choc covered peanuts and pretzels, spicy pecans, and tiger butter. these items are very easy to make and kid friendly.

Christmas Time....The most wonderful time of year!

2008-12-01T10:08:00.004-06:00

if only this were a pic of louisiana.

I love Christmas time. and it sure feels like Christmas right now....love the cold weather. at the moment my house is a wreck. the kids and i cleaned up before we messed up yesterday after church. every year it happens. my house gets wrecked out for a few days while we're trying to decorate. i'm babysitting 3 days this week so i gotta get lots done in between working. PRAISE the LORD for the extra money. He provides. we have friends from texas coming in saturday for the Christmas Festival in Natchitoches, so i gotta get all me decoratin in this week. i have a secret sis reveal party 2nite. oh and i've been a crappy secret sis so i'll never do it again. i'm gonne have to apologize for my laziness. i'll make it up to her during the Christmas season - she's even my neighbor how sad is that - sad sad sad. we have church wednesday and a staff party on friday night. so i basically have this afternoon and evening till 7pm, tomorrow, wednesday, and thursday night to get my act together.

since i'm so tired of not having a digital camara...i'm getting one this week.

Thanksgiving was good. hope all had a thankful thanksgiving. everyone raved over my chicken n dressing. i thought it was good but everyone else did too. i thought it was so good i gained a little over the holiday. back to the straight and narrow. i've lost 20lbs. so i'm thinkin i can lose 10 more.

Meeeeechawn and her kiddos are coming back to the holy land. not sure if joel is coming. anywoo, her family is soooo excited i'm sure. will definitely have to get together. they will be in the states till the end of february.

our family pictures will be online at the end of the week...can't wait.

random post

2008-11-25T21:01:00.002-06:00

since i've been at home a lot more lately i've been watching a lot of tv unfortunately. here are a few of my new boob tube shows...

BBC...
"How Clean is Your House"
"Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares" - lots of cursing...lots of bleeping
"You are what you eat" - some times

HGTV...
"Design on a Dime"
"My parents house"
"Carter Can"
"Decorating Cents"

Food Network
"Good Eats"
"Paula Deen" - when i'm in the mood
"unwrapped"
"The Secret Life of"
"Barefood Contessa"
NOT Rachel Ray...can't take it.

135.5 lbs...."do i hear a what what! throw your hands in the air and wave 'em like ya just don't care"

2008-11-25T08:33:00.005-06:00

the scale reads.....135.5 lbs. blood, sweat, and tears. my latest journey started in march or april. my beginning weight was 155 lbs. after a series of ups and downs i finally started a consistant downward roll. don't ask me what i do cause i just do not eat. well, i eat but not much. low low calorie. but i give my metabolism a booste and eat whatever every few days. i lose more after my day or two of "whateverness". i don't exercise. should though but i don't. i also drink 2 to 3 bottles of my secret potion....'crystal light...peach mango'. it puts my hungar at bay. no lectures on eating healthy please....this is how i do it. like that statement is gonna stop any of my friends w opinions!!! ok ok ok michawn...meredith...i know it's not healthy but it works for me.hahahahaha

family pictures are today. will put a link to them as soon as possible.

Maw Maw Sue

2008-11-20T09:30:00.002-06:00

Brian's mother found out yesterday that cancer has returned for the 3rd time in her eye. this is the same eye that was taken out 2 months ago. the cancer is in the optical nerve. there is contreversy between us and the doctor...him saying he mentioned this at the last visit ....don't think so. we would have remembered that. who knows. all we know is that she has to take 5 radiation treatments. crazy. never know. you just never know what the Lord has in store...

The Britt's Christmas '08 - thinking of others

2008-11-18T07:13:00.006-06:00

I always think of these neat things i would like to do for someone or that our family would like to do but that's as far as they go....in my head. So i thought that if i put them on my blog it would be more permanent, ya know? Anyway, here they are....

* bake goodies - easy and simple goodies - to be given to neighbors and friends...bake together!
* actually send out Christmas cards - we take family pictures on Monday!
* help the kids make simple gifts for friends and family - craft stores have easy things that kids can do.
* "12 Days of Christmas" - this is where you do something special for or gives something special to a family - friends or not - for 12 days in December.

so now its out there!!! Let's get to it!!!!!!

4 am ramblings

2008-11-12T04:09:00.003-06:00

It's 4am and i can't sleep. i fell asleep on the couch after Brian had tried to convince me to come to bed earlier in the evening. i explained that i wasn't tired and wanted to watch tv. well i shortly fell asleep on the couch forgetting i had stayed up bc i wanted to read the next chapter in Ree Drummonds book "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". her blog is on my blog roll - "confessions of a pioneer woman". It is the best blog!!! she has everything from cooking to photography to book writing to everyday life on a ranch in rural america. i try to read it weekly. she's got me hooked right now on whats going to happen next in her retelling of her and Marlboro Man's love saga. love it! anywoo, i woke up around 245am ish got in bed but kept hearing sounds...tossing and turning...then i finally gave up sleep around 330ish got outta bed, turned the boob tube on, logged on the the internet and here i am.

i was thinking back to why i quit posting a few weeks ago. i go thru bouts (sp?) of "there's nothing going on in my life so why blog". and in reallity we are so stinkin busy in the evenings that ryder man and i just hang out at home during the day. mattie rides the bus to and from school so i really don't have a need to get out of the house. we are saving up for christmas, annual ski trip, and plane tickets to get us from lousyana to florida later in january to get on a christian cruise boat w/ brock and auny - free by the way!!!! so i have no need to go about town. and yeah we waited till october to start saving. one word...STUUUUUUUpid. we have 3 deer at Dowlings Deer Processing...2 were given to us and 1 Brian killed on Friday. needless to say we are stocked up on venison for a while. we love deer meat. so that little bill is gonna cost over $200 which i wasn't expecting but it'll be worth it in the end.

well, im not tired but i know i'll regret all this when the sun rises....i'll have more to share later...

want to know what i did?

2008-11-11T06:15:00.004-06:00

Thanks to my sister, i've been on a "get rid of the junk" kick for a while now. Ryder's closet was redicalus (ya gotta say it like my dad who also calls Oprah...Ofrah and Al Denson ...Al Dennison-old school christian artist..."will you be the one to take His light into a darkended worldddddd? tell me will you be the one?"). There was so much stuff in his closet that i would literally open the door throw something in and close it real fast. seriously. so after going to Connie's to help her get reorganized. and let me say this, she is VERY organized. EVERYTHING has a place. down to her crafty stuff and gift bags. too cool. mia and jules and i were cleaning their room and all i had to do was give them something and they knew exactly where to put everything. so after being around all that organization i came home and started organizing - takin it slow mind you - my home. back to ryder's closet...my mother-in-law was here for a couple of days so i took advantage of the extra help and just dove in. i started pulling everything out and put it in our bedroom. i should have taken a picture but it would have been too embarrassing and i'm serious about that. i was watching hgtv organization shows in between unloading the closet so that gave me even more encouragement and inspiration. well, ryder now has a nice organized closet. i repurposed (that's a neacy nash from Clean House phrase) his dresser that was in two pieces. now the drawer part holds his imfamous blue jeans and if you know him, which i think only connie does out of my readers, he has to wear blue jeans with buttons and zippers. he's tries to talk me into cutting the sleeves off of every t-shirt he owns but i have to talk him out of it. he has a pair of camo shorts that i have to peel off of him to wash. we have regular melt downs if he cant wear his camo shorts or blue jeans. remember they have to have button up and have zippers, oh and pockets. you think i'm kidding. occasionally i say "this is rediculous" and make him wear other stuff. stress occasionally. but we refuse to let him tell us what he's wearing so he doesn't have as much control as i'm letting on....ANYWOO....back to my story. the shelf part of the dresser w/ doors holds sheets, blankets, and toys. his shoes are on a little shelf that sits on the floor, all his shirts are on a hanger and toys that used to clutter up his bedroom floor now sit on the shelf in the closet and the shelf in his room. sue and i "flipped" his room which now gives him more floor space. chasing another rabbit...today we are going through his toys and he's picking out the ones that he doesn't play w/ and giving them to "toys for tots". i'm trying to instill (sp?) the spirit of giving and i believe he understands. ok well all the stuff that was in his closet is now junking up my already junked up bedroom so yesterday ryder and i pulled everything....everything out of my room and under our bed that wasn't a part of our bedroom set. our room kind of echoes now. our backporch now holds all the junk and i get to go through it this week. i feel like just tossing it in the back of brian's dads truck and taking in to the dump but there's some good stuff amidst the junk so i'm going to go through everthing. i'll take some pictures for yall later.

on another note....i've been battling weight gain...loss...gain...loss for 3 years now. i know that some may think its vain of me because i'm not that big but when all the weight sits on my gut and i get mistaken for a pg mom it gets a little upsetting. last year i got down into the lower 140's gained back up to the 150's (let me interject here... i cant stand it when other people "down" the weight that you think is too much for you. for example some would say, "i'd kill to be 140". well that's you and your situation. don't put me down or make me feel like my weight isn't an issue bc it is to me) now that that's off my chest. and i must say i've been guilty of doing that myself just last week.) well, in the spring i started on my weight loss journey again and got down to 141. then through the summer august and september i gained back up to 146. i was sick about it. too many caramel fraps w/ extra caramel and whip cream. so i just cut back and lost 4lbs then gained 2 lbs. so basically i was 146..141..143..and now i stepped on the scale this morning and it read under 140. i'm thinking i'm 139.5 but i'll take it. i'm sooo excited. i can see the light at the end of the tunnel. saying all that to say that hopefully my battle/journey will encourage some of those that read my blog to "keep on keepin on" if you are battling w/ your weight.

how's that for a post!

March against Abortion, Brock, and Halloween!

2008-11-09T07:15:00.007-06:00

i just made two ping pong balls disappear!

enough already

2008-10-26T14:59:00.003-05:00

i've been AWOL for a while. not sure why. i'm here. i'm alive. just haven't felt the need to blog, facebook, or "compute". maybe i'll change my mind soon. not sure. so till then..

Road Trip!! and Report Cards

2008-10-03T07:40:00.002-05:00

I'm leaving in just a few minutes to go on a road trip w/ a friend from church. I'm excited.. just me and a friend getting away!!! Brian has the kids till tomorrow night. he'll be fine i'm sure. i'm not worried at all. it'll be good for him, right. yeah it will:)

Mattie made 99's in all subjects. She's on the A Honor Roll for the 1st 6 weeks. Can i get a "oh yeah" from the crowd-ya gotta say it like Peggy Hill off of the tv show "king of the hill"! wow. that's about all i can say. oh and THANK YOU JESUS!

haircuts!

2008-10-02T04:17:00.008-05:00

Dad....

Son...

An apology

2008-10-02T04:09:00.002-05:00

I had to apologize to Mattie Monday night. She immediately forgave me and said, "Thats ok". immediately. not a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades...immediately. it's a very freeing experience to have to ask your child for their forgiveness and admit you were wrong. if only i could do as she did. yesterday, Ryder and i were in the car and he kept saying i did something the i didn't do so i explained to him in a rather loud voice that i didn't do it. he said, 'stop yelling at me mom'. later he did something and told me he was sorry...out of the blue and on his own. i immediately felt convicted and said i was sorry for 'yelling' at him.

if only we as adults could follow in their footsteps....hhhmmmm.

pumpkins and Christmas trees...

2008-09-29T08:36:00.005-05:00

There's only 3 more months till Christmas!!! Better start shopping now! ok ok ok "stephanie", you're saying, "can we at least get through halloween and Thanksgiving first!"

i just love fall and i love Christmas. These next few months are my fav. We are going to be taking family pictures sometime in October. We haven't taken family pictures since mattie was 1 1/2 years old....so sad i know. my mom and mominlaw are ready to kill me. brian is sooooo excited words can't express how he feels about this....SARCASM!!! i have a goal...a weight loss goal...i've kinda regressed during september. not too bad but i gotta get things under control again. my goal for the family pictures is...130lbs. it wont be too hard. i'm 143lbs right now. i've gained about 3 lbs. but thats not too bad. These family pictures are going to be Christmas gifts. a friend i go to church w/ is going to take them.

anywoo, just thought i'd remind everyone that's the "gift giving season" is fast approaching:)

Fireproof The Movie!

2008-09-26T08:35:00.002-05:00

opens tonight...go see it.

Why is it that....

2008-09-25T13:53:00.003-05:00

first this is not a husband/man bashing post, it is a legit..."too legit too legit to quit hey hey"..sorry had to get that out...question. Why is it that we have to tell the men in our lives just exactly what we want them to do. how many times have i heard him say this, "why didn't you tell me to....or ask me to...".

am i the only woman that has this issue going on in her life?....

Thank You!..."i'm just sayin"... and Matt girl

2008-09-24T07:26:00.005-05:00

THANK YOU to all my friends that have given me words of encouragement through this hard time. continue to pray for my family...especially...Gary-Steven's dad...Diane-his mom...Danny-his older bro...Michael-his middle bro...paulandjana-they helped raise those boys through the high school years...my grandaddy...and all steven's friends-they loved him very much and were greatly affected by his love for them and his friendship to them...erinandgirls-his wife, two step daughters and the little one that is on the way.(Michele...erin is KC Ashebrenner Deal's little sister. by the way KC and Joey Deal are married w/ kiddos if you didn't know already)

"i'm just sayin"
that's my new phrase i say ALL the time..."i'm just sayin". i usually say that after i've pured forth words of 'know it allness' when talking to brian about something.

Our Matt girl is making straight 100's!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm just sayin and that's all i'm gonna say. well,i'll add this...she's making straight 100's.

Steven Wilhelm Richie

2008-09-22T09:31:00.006-05:00

My cousin! I love him and miss him!

this picture was taken of him was when he was fishin w/ our uncle paul a few weeks ago. see paul doesn't really feel like our uncle, he's more like our cousin. he's just 4 yrs older than me so he seems more like a cousin. anywoo, paul and steven had been fishin all day and he hadn't caught "the big one" and was disappointed. so he threw his rod out one more time and brought this big sucker in. paul said he was so excited.

memories. they're good for the soul. i have a lot of regrets when it comes to steven. i've had his cell number for almost a year and not once did i call him. course he didn't call me either:). but this loss has caused me to take stock of some things in my life. i'm going to stay better connected w/ my family and friends. our next breath is not promised.

i left the funeral w/ one question in my mind.....what will be said of me at mine. i know i know how morbid can u get stephanie. but seriously what will be said of me and my life, my witness, my friendship. it's a very sobering thought.

why?

2008-09-19T08:13:00.003-05:00

i went to the funeral of my 29 year old cousin yesterday and i'm pretty mad about it. Steven had battled w/ an addiction to drugs and alcohol since jr. high/high school up until the past few years. steven had lived a life of second chances. he lived w/ many different people and families through out his life. see his mom and dad split when he was about in the 5th or 6th grade. his mom left he and his two brothers. she moved away. their dad worked out of town so they pretty much raised themselves for a while. He was in and out of jail different times in his adult life. almost went to prison. my grandfather and uncle paul had a hand in him not going to prison. about three years ago he got saved. and as he put it he got saved from the top of his head to the tip of his toes. see steven had many many many friends. everybody loved him. he was easy to love. when he got saved he started witnessing to all his friends. memorizing and quoting scripture to them. asking them what he could pray for them about. he had just gotten married this past year to a very sweet girl that loved him and he loved her. he had just started a business power washing oil rigs. his business cards had just come in. his wife is expecting their first baby, a girl. he was just starting life. he was on fire for the Lord and the Lord took him. why? he had so much to still do. i don't understand.

when the family walked into the church for the funeral i was blown away by the amount of people that were in that church. it was full. it was overwhelming. the pastor that did the funeral laid out the plan of salvation. told anyone there that he would be available to anyone who wanted to get saved. there were praise songs played. preaching. his brothers read a letter from a good friend that is in jail who steven had witnessed to and i believe led to the Lord. the letter just told about how much steven loved the Lord and how much he meant to this guy.

what saddens me the most is that he's gone. he'll never see his little girl. he won't get to live the life that he deserved. well i guess none of us deserve anything but you know what i mean. i just don't get it.

Is this really happening in America...Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness...

2008-09-04T20:23:00.004-05:00

You probably won't here much of this in the mainstream media, but thank God for Fox News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xVYW-_0jVU

God help us...My friends this man is evil. no other word could better describe him. You better begin and end you day in a prayer that God spares America from this evil man and his evil evil evil evil beliefs.

1. How can you go to a church for over 10 years and be under a man that "preaches" hate and NOT believe it. you can't.
2. How can you start your political career at a man's house who is a KNOWN terrorist...Bill Ayers
3. How can your wife say she has "never been proud of America till now" and not apologize for that horrible remark... our hope to
God not "First Lady" and i use that term loosely.

Here just watch this....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIlS0_rArks

i ususally do not watch videos on other peoples blogs but please watch this and pray my friends, pray.

Life after "work outside the home"

2008-09-02T21:00:00.003-05:00

So far i haven't had a "normal" week. if there's such a thing. The first week i was "home", i was cleaning house w/out the kids. the second week my sis and nieces came to visit!! then last week we took Brian's mom to Tennessee for eye surgery. she had cancer in her eye twice in the past 10 years. the two rounds of radiation have caused her to loose total site out of it. her eye had been really hurting her a lot, so they removed it. she had a "false eye" made out of coral put in. in october she will get her "contact" that covers the whole front part of the eye that looks just like her "good" eye. she has been here at the house recovering quickly i might add. for those who don't know our "living situation" Brian's mom was invited to come live w/ us last november. uuummmm she stayed for a couple of months then started going back and forth between our house and her mothers house. her mom is 83 yrs old and elderly. she would come on sunday, keep ryder mondays and tuesdays then go back to her moms. well that worked out good. then she just kind of started staying w/ her mom all the time. she'll come stay a few days then leave. frustrating. the kids are confused. we just tell them she had to go stay w/ MawMaw GG to take care of her. i kinda feel sorry for her b/c she doesn't have a place to call her own. but then i think about the reason why she doesn't have a place to call her own and don't feel sorry for her. who knows what's going on. i don't ask. she'll probably leave in a few days. just have to wait and see. then this week the hurricane came through. the Governor cancelled school for most of louisiana on tuesday and wednesday so mattie's been home. maybe next week will be "normal"....i need a schedule. connie and i were supposed to "write one up" while she was here but that didn't happen. i guess i can work on that.

oh and Mattie is having a most excellent year. her teacher is very nice and she's doing really good. When i dropped Mattie off on her first day, her teacher met us at the door w/ a huge smile, shook my hand and introduced herself. said she was excited mattie was in her class. THANK YOU JESUS! her teacher last year was, well lets just say in can't describe her using the same words i used for this year's teacher. we all went as a famiy to tennesse for Sue's surgery. when she went back her class and teacher missed her and let her know it. her teacher wrote a note in her "agenda" book saying she was glad she was back. when mattie was sick last year and out of school for FIVE days, she came home after her first day back and said, "mama my teacher didn't say hi to me or say she missed me or was glad i was back". sad huh. some teachers just don't get it.

God is Good

2008-09-02T20:53:00.003-05:00

New Orleans was spared! but many other counties/parishes were hard hit down south. we lost power for maybe 5 hours. mostly in the middle of the night. some were asking in the comments from the previous post were we live...north on I20 between Monroe and Schreveport. Gov. Bobby Jindal(or Jendal) redeemed the Louisiana "state government" reputation by his quick response and obvious preparedness.

Other Tropical Storms/Hurricanes already on the radar...
Hanna...probably will hit the East Coast this weekend
Ike...who knows...the last radar had him headed for that space between Cuba and Florida...

He's here....almost.

2008-08-31T22:08:00.003-05:00

Well, it's not lookin good. Keep New Orleans in your prayers. Keep louisiana in your prayers and as you can see by the map much of texas too. seeing as though all of my readers, minus michawn and auny- of course they have family in both states, live in louisiana and texas we can all pray for each other.

Gustav...not lookin good peoples...not lookin good at all.

2008-08-28T10:01:00.001-05:00

metal fans and fingers bad combonation...

2008-08-20T13:45:00.002-05:00

this is not an actual picture of her finger but close...
Connie sliced her finger this morning trying to turn off our old antique fan....3 stitches....fun. seeing as though we don't have a camera i can't show yall a picture of it. it's not too bad but bad enough...sorry sis:)

Great weekend....great week ahead!

2008-08-18T11:01:00.002-05:00

We had an awesome time w/ my parents and sis and her family! of all the days in AUGUST for it to be 80 degrees...Ryders bday party was a swim party and it was cloudy and chilly. but fun was had by all!

my sister, mia, and jules are staying w/ us for a few days. Mia is missin Mattie b/c her first full day was today. Her teacher is very nice and seems to be very approachable. Shook my hand and introduced herself to me personally. very different than last year's experience. Mattie is very excited about the new year, new teacher, and her room is even on a new hall!!!

well, gotta go turn a dining room table into a tent...goin old school...forget those pre-made tents that fold up and barely fit 1 child let alone 3!

cleaning, watching movies, cleaning, watching olympics

2008-08-13T12:57:00.002-05:00

that's pretty much what i've been doing this week! Sue, my mominlaw, has the kids for a few days and i've totally taken advantage of this time! it's sooo much easier to clean and organize w/out having to go behind and clean up after the kids.

anywoo, brian and i have gotten to just chill in the evenings and watch movies...and not disney, spongebob, icarly, drake/josh! aaahh so nice.

when they get back, mattie starts her first 1/2 day of 1st grade on friday and my family comes in for ryder's 3rd birthday party that'll be on saturday! that's why i've been cleaning:) new bed times start thursday night...can't wait. i know all my friends already have their kids bedtimes set but things have been a little crazy the past 1 1/2 years. by the time we would get home, we'd want to spend as much time as we could w/ each other so that would lead to late bedtimes. it'll be a different story now:)

better get back to cleanin! oh gotta put my next movie in...

Vaca '08...Pop-Up Camper Style

2008-08-05T08:55:00.006-05:00

Lake Ouachita
Lake Greeson

The Good The Bad and The Ugly....those are nice descriptive words for our vaca!

The Good...
1. Spent quality time w/ my niece...Mia!!! She did everything we did...sweat, sweat, sweat! and didn't complain unlike her aunt.
2. Spent quality time as a family.
3. Spent time at the lake.
4. Got away!
5. Learned things about myself.
6. Ryder started putting his head under water! Started going under to his nose then on the last day went all the way under!
7. Ate steak and baked potato all while camping...mini bbq pit and a microwave!
8. AIR CONDITIONING in the camper!!!!!
9. took a boat ride to a island and brian, mia, and mattie went snorkeling.
10.Overall we had a good time. just wish i had evidence of it.

The Bad...
1. Started the trip off 2 1/2 hours late.
2. Got to the site at midnight and sat up our camper at midnight. all while we hushing and threatening 3 little turkeys that were laughing and giggling and hanging out the car windows as we were trying to sat up the camper in 15 minutes instead of the 30 min it usually takes...at midnight and NOT wake up the whole camp.
3. sat up the camper WITHOUT a flashlight or a knife. but we had scissors.
4. decided after 1 day we wanted to move onto another lake WITHOUT reservations in the SUMMER.
5. drove around for 2 hours looking for another lake that wasn't full up.
6. oh and the lakes were like bath water temperature.

The Ugly...
*Left my keys at the first campsite.
*LEFT OUR $300 DIGITAL SONY CAMERA WITH ALL OUR VACATION PICTURES ON IT AT THE SWIM BEACH - this is the camara we had just found after it had been missing for 3 months.
*lost my temper too much and too quickly.

I'm alive...

2008-08-04T13:20:00.009-05:00

if anyone is still reading my blog...i'm still here! it's been a crazy summer. lots has happened.

brian is hot! oh i mean he's doin good:)and look at those arms! wowsers! good but tired. our youth ministry has been going strong all summer. we started the first week of june at camp and have been doing something every week except 1 week in june and one week in july. time to slow down. and things are gonna do just that.

Friday will be my last day of working outside of the home. i'll be a "stay at home" mom...whatever that means. i am soooo ready to be home again. i firmly beleive that i was where i was supposed to be for the last year an a half and now the Lord has made it possible for me to go back home. the money will be tight what w/ food and gas prices being so high but it'll always be tight. i wasn't doing much w/ the money i made anyway....gas, babysitters, eating out b\c i was too tired to cook. we just got back from our family vacation. i left my keys at one of the campsites and our beach bag w/ our digital camara in the swim area at another campsite. aaarrrggghhh. very frustrating. good times but it was rediculously hot.

mattie starts 1st grade not this friday but the next. she's not real excited but what kid is excited when school starts. she has lost another tooth...one of her front ones. she doesn't know how to stay at home and play. either she has to have someone over or be goin somewhere. living the life that we live...always on the go...she doesn't know any better. she's decided to take dance/ballet this year. we'll see.

ryder is ryder. he is crazy about camo, guns, animals, and trucks. he loves his big sister. he'll be 3 soon! has a pretty short temper. wow! doesn't quite understand why we have to go to the church all the time...that will soon change since i'll be home more. loves to swim...just started putting his head underwater while we were on vaca.

Friday's Feast

2008-06-20T12:07:00.002-05:00

Appetizer

If you could live on another continent for 1 year, which one would you choose?
Africa...just to see how the real world lives - third world countries...we as americans don't have a clue.

Soup

Which browser do you use to surf the Internet?
FireFox; explorer

Salad

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you know about the history of your country? 2 sad to say

Main Course

Finish this sentence: Love is…someone who knows you...really knows you and loves you anyway.

Dessert

Have you ever been in or near a tornado? yes. two weeks ago at youth camp we were evacuated to the to "worship center" a huge cement building. me and the other sponsor...a college girl i might add...herded our girls over there along w/ the rest of the camp. hung out in the cement stairwell for about an hour. brian and the guys were on the other end of the camp not worried a bit. they actually fell asleep while they were waiting out the storm. there were 3 funnel clouds that passed over us. craziness. i didn't fair too well, the girls were comforting me instead of me comforting them.

melissa tagged me now i tag...mer. and connie...yall up for it?

weight loss journey

2008-06-20T11:07:00.006-05:00

Just wanted to share about my weight loss journey this time around. With Mattie the weight was gone in less than 6 months of having her. With ryder it's taken me almost 3 years. i'd start then stop b/c it wasn't going as fast as i had hoped. last spring i got down to the weight i am now then over the winter i gained 15lbs. i think that i lost the weight "too fast" last spring and so i pretty much gained it all back as soon as i started "eating" again...over eating that is. This year i started trying in March. i was 155 lbs. it took me a few weeks and i was down 5lbs. easy. Well, i was stuck at 150lbs for what seemed like FOREVER! i was exercising and eating "right" but it wasn't coming off. then eventually i got down to 146lbs. WOW i thought then i inched back up to 150lbs.aarrrgghh. well, it took a while but i reached 145lbs. victory. then i would continue to yo yo between 141 lbs to 146lbs. When we went on our cali trip i was back up to 145 lbs. i was tired of changing the little ticker thing so i just kept at 142lbs. then we went to camp and well, hello camp food. it was tasty i might add. anywoo, i feel like i've had a break through b/c i've lost 6lbs. in a week and a half and i've kept it off. i'm not exercising sorry to say. i just eat during the day and not at night. if i eat anyghing after 4 or 5 it is very little and low in calorie.

anyway, thought i'd share what i've been going through so maybe those of you who are struggling right now can be comforted that it takes a while to get the weight off.....and keep it off. that's the test now keeping if off.

Yee of little faith....

2008-06-17T12:50:00.002-05:00

just when i kinda lose "faith" the Lord steps right in and restores it. our ministry here at Calvary has been tough this past year and in recent weeks. The Lord has brought us encouragement through the tough times but especially in the last couple of weeks.

financially we are getting "there". the economic stimulus check was off by $600 and when you've already earmarked that money to pay off your vehicle and ya don't get it your set back a little. Well, we filed late for 2006 and just got our return today. it is more than what we had hoped. in fact it covered what we didn't receive from the eco. stim. check. well......after checking our bank account online i noticed that some checks had just come through that i thought already had come through. after looking at our finances and knowing we had just got paid it wasn't looking good at all. i honestly didn't know what we were gonna do. this all happened w/in a matter of 2 hours this morning. hadn't even gotten to talk to brian about it b/c he was in staff meeting. i run home for a minute, check the mail and low and behold that 2006 tax return i was just talking about was sitting pretty in my lap. MORE THAN WHAT WE HAD EXPECTED!

praise jesus praise jesus prais jesus.

just praising jesus. just praising jesus.