Trinity's Piggy...

Meet Piggy...Piggy is Trinity's new play pal that I brought home from the store today!! As I have said and posted on here before, Trinity is a thief and one of her favorite things to steal are my children's stuffed animals off their beds. She gets in trouble for it ALL THE TIME!!! And it doesn't matter how much she gets spanked and told "NO-NO!" If one of their doors are ever open (which she checks often), then it's on because of course she also does this so the kids will chase her all around the house as she proudly prances around with a victim hanging out both sides of her mouth and the children screaming all the way. To Trinity, this is the one thing that's worth getting into trouble for. She just doesn't care of the consequences because it's so much fun. So, I thought today I might try getting her very own stuffed animal and see what she does.


However...
I fear that Piggy won't last long due to the size of Piggy versus the size of Trinity's teeth!! But this was the best Walmart had to offer. A trip to Petsmart is in the near future.


What's neat about Piggy is it has a secret velcro compartment that will hold a regular size empty water bottle. Trinity loves playing with water bottles but when she got too big, we couldn't let her do it anymore, she was tearing it up and eating it within five minutes!! Also, just recently we've had to throw away THREE of her "puppy" toys because she is just too big and has bitten their plastic heads off, etc....I don't think plastic is good for the diet. Anyway, I thought she would like Piggy because of the crackling noise from the bottle inside of it.

When I got home earlier, their first meeting took place and OH MY GOODNESS, a 9 month old Great Dane puppy can really get excited. If she could talk, her expressions were saying something along the lines of...

"Oh, is this for me?", "Really! Really! Really!!!", "Is this mine?" ,"Oooh! Oooh! Wow!! Oh I'm going to have so much fun with you!", "Is this really mine Moma?", "I can have it and I won't get in trouble?", "I'm not going to drop this piggy!!" You get the picture...


"Now I'm in the living room and it's still mine and you can't have it!!!!!"


"It's MINE!!!!!!!!!! ALL MINE!!!!!!!!!!"

I know this is dark, I didn't have time to flip all the lights on but watch and you will still get the point!!!"

I hope Piggy will last a while....he's really cute, isn't he???

Good Luck Piggy!!!

Sweet Puppy...

Trinity just turned 9 MONTHS old this past Wednesday on Sept. 24th. We are guessing that she weighs some where around 90 pounds - we can't really weigh her ourselves anymore! I will be taking her to the vet in October for a check-up so I'll be able to report her exact weight then. She continues to entertain and amaze us with her growth, her personality, her quirks, her intelligence, her sense of humor(yes, she has one!), and most of all, her love!!

God Speed Car Show

The God Speed Car Show took place yesterday! We had a great time! Some very cool cars, trucks, motorcycles, and lots of Northsiders from church!! James really enjoyed volunteering for the day. Wanted to share some of the pics and clips I took while there:


This was one of James' favorite cars out there yesterday - very nice and a pretty red!

Ahhh...this is actually what Thomas wants to drive, right now if he could!! This is a BOSS Mustang and he says it has to be yellow like Bumble Bee, the Autobot Transformer!!

Here's the kids going for a golf cart ride with our friend, Dustyn.

This yellow ride is really cool.

Here's Shelby getting a temporary tattoo on her arm...Thomas would NOT do it!!

It's a cool looking cross...

This truck tire is as big as my kiddos!!

Here's Shelby standing by a Shelby Mustang. She liked that her name was spelled out on the back of this car. HA! It belongs to our friend, Tommy, from church.

Here's some of the motorcycle guys...some of these cycles had the coolest paint jobs. This red and black one is painted like a fire ant. You can click to enlarge to see the pic better.

Here's the kids painting with some of their church friends.


Motorcycle Stunt guys...Thomas liked this!!


More motorcycle dudes...

Shelby and Thomas going for a ride...

Familiar Sights Lately...

It's been TWO WEEKS since IKE hit us, but Friday night, on our way to dinner with Gramms and PawPaw, I snapped this picture of a church parking lot we were passing where a sea of work trucks were sitting. A lot of people, not just along the coast, but right around us, are still without power! Still amazes us!! There is still much work to be done. We are so blessed to be pretty much back to normal but, please, continue to pray for all of the people still being affected by that terrible storm.

Swing Set - Monkey Bars Added!!

Well, Gramms and PawPaw were able to come for a nice but quick visit this weekend and we were so grateful because they helped us get the monkey bars built on to the new swing set and it looks GREAT!! Here's some pics of the process:

James and PawPaw going to work:

You can see the two posts with the monkey bars all put together and propped up:

James and Gramms - the "holding up crew":

PawPaw drillin' while the hold-up crew is "holding up":

Thomas trying it out for the first time: (I like this action shot)

Belle's turn (she actually was a little scared to try it out at first!) Then my brave girl returned.

My two monkeys on the monkey bars...how appropriate!! :-)

A short clip of Thomas monkeying around...

Belle getting cheered on...they both LOVE their new monkey bars!!!

A BIG Thank You to Gramms and PawPaw for helping out! We couldn't have done it without them. Next up, we will be attaching the canopy/fort to the top, over the platform area!! And then the swing set will be complete! Yipee!!

Avast, me hearties!

This is for all fans of Johnny Depp and/or the Pirates of the Carribean:

Captain Jack Sparrow is back!!

I just saw news that

Johnny Depp has signed on for a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean installment.

Not sure of a release date yet, but will keep my eyes and ears open.

We love these movies!!

NOOMA Series

When James and I started attending Northside Christian Church and got involved with the Sr. High youth group, we were introduced to Rob Bell and his short film series called NOOMA. There are 21 NOOMAS so far and we own them all. They range from around 11 minutes to 13 minutes. Brandon, our Sr. High youth minister, shows these to the youth anytime a new one comes out. They are short, sweet and usually power packed with scripture and a unique way of looking at things in the Bible.

This is Rob...he is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grandville, Michigan, one of the fastest growing churches in American history. He lives with his wife, Kristen, and their two boys in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rob's first book Velvet Elvis is available here. His second book entitled Sex God was released in the spring of 2007 and is available here. And yes, we own both of these books - they are awesome!!

The name NOOMA is an English phonetic spelling of the Greek word pneuma, which is commonly translated to “spirit” or “breath”. Pneumatology refers to the study of spiritual beings, particularly the interactions between humans and God.

The short films have communicators that really speak to us. Compact, portable, and concise. Each NOOMA touches on issues that we care about, that we want to talk about, and it comes in a way that fits our world today.

If you haven't seen one of these NOOMAS, we highly recommend you do or you can just come to our house and have a NOOMA party and watch all 21....make that 22 come November...we've already pre-ordered it. :-)

Don't Forget!!

Fireproof starts today!!!

Check the tickets and theater link on the website:

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

*Update* - Friendship Bread

For those interested or wondering about my Friendship Bread we were given at church a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to let you know that the Friendship Dough didn't make it. Thanks to Hurricane Ike and our power being off for too long, I had to toss it in the trash. Ho hum! I was really bummed. I wanted to try it out. Oh well, maybe next time.

Emily is 13 Today!!!

Our niece, EMILY, is 13 today!!!



Welcome to the Wonderful World of being a TEENAGER!!!!!!!




Happy Birthday Emily!!

We love you,

Uncle James, Aunt Karen, Shelby and Thomas

Church Building Update...

Several people have asked how the property and building fared through Ike. The building is fine, and work has resumed. We did, however, have a few trees go down around the property. All in all, we really need to thank God for sparing the building and the many trees that are still standing.

The building is looking good! You can actually see what it will look like on the walk from the parking lot as they begin to finish the outside. The closer we get to completion, the more I think about the tons of people that have never been introduced to Jesus, yet they will be worshipping God with us in this building. That’s what this is all about!

Stay tuned...more posts and pics to come about the building progress!! It's getting exciting!!
Peace,
Karen

Back to School...again!

This morning felt like the first day of school...again...for me and the kids. We had a hard time getting up and getting ready so early again but we managed and our tummies were a little tied in knots from nervousness and excitement. After almost two weeks of being out of school it felt like starting all over again! Very strange! Please say a prayer for them today if you think about it - that their first day back will go very smooth.

Thanks!!
Luv,
K

First Day of Fall!

According to my calendar, today is the first official day of Fall!!! You wouldn't know it here in southeast Texas yet. It's humid with a high today of 90 degrees! But, I can now look forward to outdoor festivals, cool breezes, grass turning brown so we don't have to mow for a while, leaves changing, lounging outside watching the kids play without melting, less humidity, not having to constantly fight mosquitoes after a hurricane, wearing light sweaters, pumpkins, fall decorations, any kind of dessert made with pumpkin, trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving, turkeys, parades, and did I mention cooler weather and pumpkins?? :-)
Fall is probably my favorite time of year so I'm just glad I can officially say, "HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!!"

Church at The Space!

Due to Hurricane Ike and the closing of schools here, we have been unable to hold church since we meet in one of the local Jr. Highs while our church is being built. Last Sunday, we didn't have church at all, but today we held church in the parking lot of The Space, which is where our current church offices are located. It began at 9:30am and while I thought the mosquitoes would be bad, they weren't. I thought the heat would be bad, but it wasn't. I thought a lot of people wouldn't be able to come, but they did. It was awesome!! And when Dave asked those still without power to raise their hands, about half of those that showed up, raised their hands! Once again, makes me and James feel so, so blessed! Everyone we spoke to today, especially those with damage and/or no power had the BEST attitudes. Very inspiring and I'm sure makes our heavenly Father very proud.

Here's a shot of the band warming up - actually it was just Jeremy and Jimmy on guitars and Kenny with one bongo drum. The music out in the open air sounded very nice and soothing and every now and then traffic going by would honk at us or an ambulance with sirens would go by, which is a constant reminder of what has happened the past 9 days here. The music was great today!

Here's Dave - he spoke for a few minutes, we sang about 3 songs, had communion, prayed and thanked God for his protection over all of us. Although a lot of damage was done and trees are on homes, there was not one person injured in our church.

Here's Brandon speaking before communion and telling about his own ordeal during Ike and with the tree destroying their house, but that through it all, God is good.


Here's a little clip of one of the songs we sang today, "How Great is Our God."

Who says we need a building to have church service or be a church??

8 Whole Days!

This is what the kids looked like when we got the call early this morning from Klein ISD saying that classes would not resume until Wednesday, September 24th...this means the kids will have missed 8 whole days of school courtesy of Hurricane Ike!

Have a great Saturday!!

Brandon & Mandy's House!

These are pictures of Brandon and Mandy's house that live about 3 miles from us. Brandon is the Sr. High Youth Minister at church. They have/had a huge tree in their backyard that fell directly onto their 2-story house during Ike. You may remember we were just at their house a couple of weeks ago for their youngest sons birthday party - I even posted pictures from it and I believe you can even see this huge tree in my photos. Thankfully, they were all okay, but their house is not. They are staying with one of Mandy's uncles that lives nearby until the house can be repaired, which is gonna be a while.


Master Bath:

Master Closet:

Right-side of backyard where part of their fence blew down:

What Mandy calls, "their new swimming pool!"

Sorry for so many Ike posts, but this has been our life around us for the past week. I pray that I have better, happier things to post about in the coming days. :-)
Peace,
Karen

Crystal Beach - Before & After Ike...

Below are pictures of the same exact spot on Crystal Beach, Bolivar Peninsula near Galveston, one of the hardest hit areas by Ike. It is amazing to see Before & After pics. Click on them to enlarge and you can clearly see the devastation. It almost doesn't even look like the same beach community.

NOTE: The red arrows in the pictures are pointing to the same house that was left standing. Everything around it is GONE!

Post-Ike Update

Here's some updates we wanted to share:

1. Slowly, we are hearing that more and more friends from church and in our small group are having their power returned. I also just heard last night that my good friend down in Pearland just got their power on last night! That's a praise!

2. James will not be going to the Men's Retreat tomorrow like planned. They are actually still having it but most men, including the minister staff, are not attending. They have decided to stay here and organize a work day for Saturday to help clean up debris from people's homes within the church. James feels compelled to do this as well. So, he will be doing this part of Saturday and he is still planning to take off tomorrow so we can get a lot done around here.

3. On Sunday, we will all be meeting at our church office parking lot, called The Space, to join together for a family type service where we will check on each other, praising God for his goodness, sharing communion, and coffee time. This will start at 9:30AM. Since Klein Schools are still closed all this week, we are not allowed to hold church in the school where we meet every Sunday.

4. The kids and I are going to venture out this morning and see what we can find, mainly some more groceries would be nice. The last time we went was Monday and there still was hardly anything. I've been hearing from neighbors that our Walmart and Kroger have been restocking so we'll go check it out today!

5. Also, say a prayer for the kids. As far as we know, they will return to school on Monday. They were just into their 3rd week of school when this happened. They had just gotten settled in and used to the routine. Now, we have to start all over again! Please keep them in your thoughts as they start back this next week.

6. Lastly, I leave you with this thought that came from our Senior Minister, Dave Garrison, "We need to thank God for his protection during the storm. The Bible says, “Disaster strikes like a cyclone, whirling the wicked away, but the godly have a lasting foundation.” Proverbs 10:25 (NLT) "

I love that verse now. So true.
More updates to come as they happen.
Peace,
Karen

Funny Kid Sayings...

I haven't done one of these in a while so here goes:

At the putt-putt place a few days ago, Thomas asks me for a piece of gum out of my purse. I said, "Sure" and he says back to me..."Yeah, I need it Moma so it can help me be confident"!!

The other day while Shelby was showering the drain got a little stuck in the tub so the water started filling up....she calls out, "Uh, Daddy, we have a situation in here!!" Cracked me up. I think Shelby needs to work for the government or NASA or something.

When James was outside picking up debris from IKE, Thomas was watching from the window and he said, "Moma, Daddy is such a good citizen!"

When Thomas got up last Saturday morning and looked out the window, the first thing he said was, "Is that Ike out there?"

And my favorite saying of the week was...

Shelby telling me during the hurricane that, "It's okay Moma, God will make Ike behave!" How true that was, at least for us.

Have a great day! More funny sayings to come...

The Coon Hound Chase...

To take a break from all the Hurricane posting I've been doing, here's a new Trinity and James movie. This is a new version of an old game they play. Instead of tag or chase, I am now calling this one, "The Coon Hound Chase". Take a listen and you'll see why!! We love our moron dog! Enjoy!!

Movie Clips of Ike...

Here are two of the best movies I was able to take from our front porch Saturday, September 13th around 10AM - keep in mind it was still going this strong almost 4 hours after the eye had passed us. This is the back end of Ike - still gusting up to 75mph here.

Minor Neighborhood Damage...

Here's a few pics of our neighborhood that we took this morning...

You can see loose shingles in this photo...

This is the bottom right side of the house being built behind us:

Bottom left-side of the same house:

The construction workers will not be happy, their porta-potty blew over...

fencing blown down...

Like I said, we are very fortunate!