I’ve really been thinking a lot about the subject of my last post. It’s been on my mind a lot. So, I was taking Kyra to school this morning, and I think God sent me a message through the radio. Now, don’t think I’m getting all Twilight Zone on you or anything. Hear me out. So, I was listening to Christian radio. They were having a telethon to raise money for the station, and I was kind of tuned out. I wasn’t paying attention to what was going on, because they were talking about the money they needed to raise. I was lost in my thoughts about being of service to God, and the guy on the radio said, “God doesn’t care about your ability. What he’s concerned about is your availability.” Wow. I don’t know what the guy was talking about, in context, but I heard that part. It was like God was answering all of my ponderings. He doesn’t care about my ability in and of myself. He just wants me to make myself available to him. If I lack in the ability, He’ll make up the difference.
Wow. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, Lord. I appreciate it.

I want to be better than what I am. I guess everyone does. I want to be a better person all together. It sometimes seems daunting to think of it as one big thing, but I guess it’s small steps…the little choices we make every day…that lead to a better person.
For instance, I can say I want to be a better mother, but that’s a very broad statment. If, instead of just purposing to be better all around, I decide to make a small change and stick to it every day, it will lead to the end result of being a better mother. I can say “I want to be a great mom.”, or I can say, “I want to put my kids to bed every night with a bedtime story, a hug, and a kiss.”. Both are true, but the second one is something that I can actually do every day.
I want to be a better person. I really do. I often think of things that I think would be something good to do. Most of the time, though, I just acknowledge that they are worthy ideas, and forget them. Recently, though, I was thinking that a Children’s Choir at church would be a good way to have the littlest of our church family participate in the service. While thinking about that, I thought that having the teen girls work with the little ones would be a good way to get the girls involved in service to the Lord. For once, though, I didn’t just think about it, but I also asked the Pastor if it would be okay for me to get it going. He gave me the okay, and the girls were all willing to help out with it. A lady from church agreed to help oversee it with me. We had our first practice last night. It went well. All of the little ones were cooperative, and they learned fast. The girls all stayed after church, and helped. I felt kind of…inept. I maybe picked a bad song for such little kids. It had verses that were a hard for kids who can’t yet read to learn. I just didn’t think it through, because I was concentrating on the chorus. Thank goodness for the lady who is helping me. I have zero experience working with little kids (outside of mothering my own kids), and I really didn’t know what to do. I am not a natural leader by any stretch of the imagination. It’s hard for me to tell other people what to do, because I second guess myself all of the time. This lady is wonderful with little kids, though. She sat down with them, helped them learn the words, and knew how to do it. I felt kind of dumb afterward, but I guess the end result was exactly what I envisioned. Everyone cooperated, everyone was involved, and the kids pretty much learned the song.
So, I took my small step, and I plan on taking a few more. I don’t know what the Lord has planned for Chris and I, but, seeing as he has been called to preach and is now in seminary, it’s not that “out there” to think that we may someday be in full-time ministry. Maybe my fledgling attempts at helping out at church or following up on an idea will help prepare me for that. I might mess up. I know other people can do it better than me, but, if I don’t try, how can I expect to learn? I have already learned by taking my little step that, if I do try something that I feel is hard for me, it may just all work out okay. Knowing that, I think I’ll keep taking little steps, and have faith that God will help mold me into the better person…the better Christian…that I want to be.

I’ve been trying to write this post all day. I would write a sentence, and then the baby would cry. I would tend to him, come back, and the phone would ring. So, it has taken me all day, but, finally, here I am.

I’ve been so busy lately. I think several times during the day, “I should blog about this.”, but there usually isn’t an opportunity to actually stop and blog. It’s a good thing, though, because we’ve really been having a good time lately. It’s been busy. We’ve taken the kids to the movies, went to a revival service at our old church, went to a church fishing outing, played tennis, went out to eat, taken the kids to see a movie, had a yard sale etc. It’s fun. It was really neat when we took the kids to the movies, because we were the only people in the theater. We went on Tuesday night to see “Everyone’s Hero”…an animated movie about a little boy who finds a talking baseball who helps him recover and return Babe Ruth’s stolen bat. It was really cute. Since it was Tuesday, and we went to the theater at the mall…there weren’t a lot of people there. We got free popcorn because it was Tuesday, and then we had the entire theater to ourselves. I nursed the baby, changed his diaper, Chris changed Elijah’s pull-up, and the kids talked out loud. It was okay, because it was just us. We had great seats, too. Fun, fun, fun!
So, busy is good right now. Tomorrow evening, we’re going to a fish fry at the fish farm for a church outing. I’m really looking forward to it, even though it’s supposed to rain. It’s always a good time. It is so beautiful there.
I’m going to try to blog more. I have so much to write about, and I never take the time to really flesh out my thoughts about deeper things. I didn’t intend this to be a daily diary of what I do, but it’s somewhat intimidating to put your inner thoughts out there for all to see. I’m gonna try to do more of that, and less of the recounting of my days. We’ll see how that comes to fruition.
Right now, I’ll continue killing time on the computer while I’m waitng for Chris to finish his test. After that…grocery shopping!

Most people take pictures of the kids on the field. I prefer photographing the kids in the stands.

Which is why Mommy won’t let me drink it, usually. At Uncle Seth’s ballgame, though, Mammy had a bottle of it, and I just helped myself. Thirty minutes later I collided face first with a concrete bleacher. Maybe I shouldn’t have drank the Dr. Pepper. It does seem to make me crazy.

Owen is getting so big. He will be three months old in only four more days! Where does the time go?

Kyra was so tired when we got home Tuesday night that she fell asleep on the stairs on her way in the house.

We all remember what we were doing five years ago…September 11, 2001. Chris and I were at home, in our old apartment, asleep. We woke up to the sound of Chris’ mom knocking on our door. We got up to answer it, and the first words that she said were, “We’ve been attacked.” I’ll never forget the look on Chris’ face when she said that. Her next words were, “Will you have to go to war?”. My heart sank. Chris was in the Army Reserves at that time, and, with no information yet about what she was talking about, I felt the dread settle in around me.
The next few hours were spent watching the news. We had to hook up a t.v. in our apartment to watch it. We just sat there, watching the footage, over and over. It was hard to believe what had happened. It was surreal when I had to go to work that afternoon, like any other day. For, on that day, our lives as Americans were forever changed.
Kyra was conceived just a couple weeks after that day. It was a different thing to bring a child into a post September 11th world. You feared the world, and what marks it would leave on her. Would they attack us again? Would we be ready next time? Would her Daddy be here when she was born? Would he be deployed? What would happen? No one knew.
Life got back to normal again. American’s realized a patriotism that we hadn’t experienced before. American flags popped up everywhere. People put United We Stand stickers on their cars. My brother joined the Air Force to serve his country. People stepped up, and tried to do better and be better than we were before.
That’s what I hope that we will never forget.
September 11th was a turning point for our country. Don’t let it be in vain. Don’t forget those who keep us safe. Our local police, rescue workers, and firefighters serve and protect us every day. Don’t forget our service men and women who are serving at home and overseas. My brother just came home from Iraq, but lots of other peoples brothers and sisters and moms and dads, sons and daughters…they are still there. Lift them up in prayer, and don’t forget to ask God to bless America.

Here are a few pictures from the zoo on Saturday. Chris had his company picnic there. We had a good time, as always.

Elijah rode a white tiger on the carousel.

Kyra just rode a horse.

Kyra was seeing if her wings were as wide as the condors.

Looking at the turtles.

Kyra got her face painted.

Since the older kids were going on a field trip to Crown College for a tour, Kyra and the other younger kids went on a half-day field trip to Hardees for lunch and to the park. Me, Elijah, and Owen went with her. They had a lot of fun. Even though it was just a very simple little field trip, Kyra was very excited about her first field trip.

Kyra on the teeter totter.

Kyra playing with Emily and Taylor on the merry-go-round.

Me and Owen.

Kyra and Bro Mike on the teeter totter.

Kyra had dropped through the jungle gym several times already, but she apparantly forgot that she knew how to do it. She looks scared here, huh?

Me and my boys.

Elijah was a little monkey!

Bro. Mike pushed Elijah in the swing. Elijah was pretending he was flying like Superman.

Mrs Tammy and Mr Magoo

The whole gang!