Sydney is 10

It is hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Sydney came into this world and changed our lives. Not only was she our first child, but she was also the first grand baby. She has made a pretty good guinea pig for us all.

Today should be a fun day for her. She has field day at school today. She is very excited about this even though it is raining. They are moving the games indoors and she is fine with that.
Tonight she has a meeting for her summer drama program. She will get her script and music and have to learn it before she starts rehearsals in June. After her meeting we will probably take her out to get a quick dinner.

Tomorrow night she is going to have several of her friends over to spend the night and have a spa party. She is very excited about this. And so we are not outdone by my sister Heather, we are going to have yet another party on Saturday with the family.
I better go....I have a lot of shopping to do and a few cakes to bake.

Proverbs

I love Proverbs. Most are thought to be written by the wise King Solomon (son of David). The Lord appeared to Solomon and told him that he could ask for anything that he wanted. Solomon asked for wisdom. According to the Bible the Lord made him more wise than any man. Here are a few Proverbs that stood out to me while I was doing my reading this morning.

17:12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

17:15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent - the Lord detests them both.

17:28 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.

18:2 A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.

18:9 One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.

18:13 He who answers before listening - that is his folly and his shame

18: 22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.

New one for the Red Neck Dictionary

I was driving the kids to school this morning when I noticed that Kenzie was wearing some old sandals. They fit just fine, but the front of them are scuffed. She has brand new white sandals that she could have chosen, but oddly enough she likes wearing her sisters hand-me-downs. I told her (in my best redneck accent) that her shoes were tow-up. Sydney asked me if that meant they were to small. She thought that toe up was a way of saying that shoes are too small.

TOE-UP \ˈtō - ˈəp\ - adjective -Toe length exceeds shoe length

Me and Winnie - the - Pooh

One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries."--A.A. Milne,author of "Winnie-the-Pooh"

Spring Break

This is spring break week for my kids. You would think we would fill it with a bunch of fun activities to reward them for all of their hard work in school. Well instead of that silliness I decided to schedule Sydney's ear surgery this week. She needed both of her eardrums repaired. Her left ear had a small hole and her right ear had a large hole. The left ear was simple to fix, they went into the ear through the hole that God gave her and put in a patch. The right ear however, was a little more difficult. They had to get to her eardrum by cutting behind her ear. It is hard to watch your child be wheeled away from you and know that they are about to put her to sleep and preform surgery. This is where, as parents, we have to realize that God is always with them and he loves them even more than we do. Two hours later Dr. Shirley came in and told us that the surgery went well and that she would be in the recovery room for about 30 minutes. Just like clockwork, 30 minutes later she was wheeled down the hallway to her room. When she got in there she was in terrible pain. They had maxed her out on Demerol in the recovery room and she was still in excruciating pain. She just laid there looking at me with tears running down her face waiting on me to help her. If I thought letting her go to an operating room by herself was bad, this was 100 times worse. There was nothing I could do except hold her and wipe her tears. They eventually gave her some Lortab which helped tremendously. She was finally able to relax and sleep for a few minutes. This was an outpatient surgery so right when she fell asleep they came in and said that we could dress her and take her home. She wasn't excited about the car ride, but she was ready to get home. The evening was tough, she was still in a lot of pain but she made it through. She has been recovering the rest of the week, slowly adding some activity to her life. Today is Friday, 4 days after surgery, I thought it would be a good idea to get the kids out of the house. But after her surgery and medicine, we could not afford to do much so we took a picnic to the park. I thought Sydney would be really bored because she is not allowed to do much so I brought the camera with us and she took pictures the whole time. I think she really enjoyed it! Well that is the end of our spring break. I hope next year's spring break will be a little more fun for all of them.

I also want to say thank you to everyone who prayed, called, stopped by or brought her a gift. It truly meant a lot to her (and me) and made her feel special!

A win, A lesson, and A little pride

OK I know people will start saying all I talk about is baseball. Because this is only the second time I have blogged and both times were about baseball. As I just told Jamie about 10 minutes ago baseball is pretty much all that is on my mind right now. But anyway on to last nights game. I had been anxious about the game all day yesterday because we got spanked Tuesday night 16 to 1. Our team is much better than that, but we were in a slump hitting. Not taking anything away from the other team, even if we would have been hitting, we most likely would have still lost that game. That team will most likely be the best team we face all year. Moving on…. Last night started with us having to pick up a kid from the other Leeds team. I was very thankful that there was someone willing to play with us. We were home team so we had last bat. We were doing great and holding the other team and scoring when we needed to, but the other team was hanging in there. We had a little bit of a lead and it was getting late in the game and as my team has done a couple of times in the past, got relaxed and just didn’t make some plays starting the fifth inning. We went into the 5th inning with an 11-10 lead. After making many errors we were going in to the bottom of the 5th with a 16-11 deficit. So I was like ok we can come back from this no biggie we just have to hit the ball. Like I said earlier we have had a couple of kids in a slump hitting, so we went up to bat. My first kid got up to bat and got a base hit. My next 2 hitters two of my best hitters (ones in the slump) both struck out. The ump says time is out on the clock, so this means that this is our last chance. We don’t get to play our 6th inning because 1 1/2 hours have passed. So now I have 1 runner on base 2 of my less consistent hitters still in the lineup, 2 outs and a 5 point deficit. My heart sank. I was thinking here we go we have held the team, and been in the lead the whole game and now we are about to walk away with a loss. The next batter comes up third pitch gets a base hit. Now we have runners on 1st and 3rd. Next hitter comes to hit gets a double 2 runs score we are down by only 3. I am still not felling a comeback yet, because I have a kid coming up who has struck out more then he has hit. Oh and I forgot to mention the catcher on the other team was a talker. He had some of the kids really rattled and the one coming up to bat was really easy to get shaken up. Ok 3rd pitch he hits a base hit. 1 runner scores, down by only 2!! OK I’m feeling a little better now. The kid I picked up, the last batter in the lineup comes up to bat. I am thinking if I can just get past him I will be at the top of my lineup. He gets up there gets a base hit, another run scores and we are down by 1. Top of the lineup, Alex my son comes to bat. He has not hit that great the rest of the game. He has hit a fly ball for an out, and a couple of infield base hits tonight. He comes up to bat I look at him and I said this was his turn lets win this game right here. He looked at me and said yes sir. First pitch he smacked it. I turn to see the ball sailing in the air. I think it is gone… Going… going ….. going…. Hits the top of the fence about an inch from his first home run….. The kid on base scores!!! Alex is rounding 2nd and the ball is still in the outfield. He gets to third, they are throwing the ball in, we send him…. He gets home well before the ball got there. An In the park homerun!!! We win the game 17-16. I was so proud…. I was proud of all of the kids, but as a Dad I would be lying if I said that I was not overly proud of my son. Because I was!!!! He came in and got the job done. I learned a lesson from this game though. And that is the point of my blog today (well with the exception of bragging on my boy!!!!!) I gave up when we were down by 5 had 2 outs and only 1 runner on base. Not giving up is something I preached to these kids every practice and every game for 2 months now. And I did exactly what I told them not to do I gave up. Fortunately the Kids did not. They fought, they hit, they battled back and had a big come from behind win. I am so proud of all of those guys, and I will never give up again.

More Than Enough

My heart has been burdened for my brother-in-law and his family. It seems like things in their lives are falling apart all around them. His father is in the final stages of cancer (my brother-in-law, Matt talks about this in his blog http://www.whostheman-mattd.blogspot.com/). If that wasn't enough,they are now dealing with other battles in their life. I know God never gives us more than we can handle, so I know this will only make them stronger.
I was church Sunday thinking about the pain Matt and the whole family must be feeling when we started singing a song by Chris Tomlin - More Than Enough.

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You are my supply My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward worth living for
And still more awesome than I know
All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You’re my sacrifice Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You’re the coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know
More than all I want More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than all I can say
You are more than enough for me

God is more than enough. This is true for all of us not just someone dying of cancer or the family left behind. We must all look to God to supply our every need.
Please remember to pray for the Davis family.

Shane's Day Off.....Well Sort Of

Yesterday was an eventful day with the weather, wasn't it? Our day started just like every other Friday. I took the kids to school, came home and then got Jackson ready for his nap. He has gotten so very mobile lately that I can not get anything done while he is awake. After his bottle, I placed him in his comfy "bed" in Alex's room. His bed consists of a blanket placed under Alex's desk. I did a few things around the house and got in the shower. And that was my morning. About 10:30 SURPRISE Shane came home from work. He had taken off most of the day to spend a quiet afternoon with me and the little kids. We picked Kenzie up from school at 12:00 and decided to go to Santa Fe for lunch. We were having a nice time visiting and watching Jackson. He has gotten to be such a big boy lately. He sat in a highchair and ate a little from the table, I am not entirely sure that Shane did not slip him some tea while I took Kenzie to the bathroom. Yes, the four of us were having a fine time! Then the phone rang.
We found out that the schools were letting out early due to the weather. I called Heather and asked if we needed to keep her boys...and we did. We met her at Adam's daycare and got him. Kenzie was so excited to see him. While we were there Dawn called and told us that she needed someone to pick up her girls from school because she was driving to the eye of the storm oh I mean Anniston to get ready for her schools prom. Shane volunteered to go and get them while I took the others home and waited on our kids school bus to get there and Heather to bring Jake. By 2:30 I had a house full. If you lost count, That was 8 kids and only 2 adults. We were heavily outnumbered. Luckily, they did not realize this so we did not have a hostile takeover. The afternoon went pretty good, as good as it could with this many people in one house.
I don't know how glad Shane is that he took of work yesterday, but I sure was happy to have him!
Again.. a wonderful day filled with family time! Lots of family!

Baseball, Bushes, and Banjos

Yesterday was Opening Day for baseball here in Leeds. We started with Kenzie's team pictures at 7:30 a.m. and finished with Alex's ballgame wrapping up at 4:30 p.m.

Although it was exhausting, our day was a lot of fun! Between all the games and pictures, the kids played on all the inflatables that were at the park. There was also an auction to help raise money for the park. I don't usually bid on much, but this time I found a painting that I really like, and guess what..... I Won!!!! Now I just have to find somewhere to put it in my house. It is like a sidewalk cafe in Paris, but I don't have room for it in my kitchen (although I think it would look good there) so I think I will put it in my bedroom. I need a new comforter, so I may as well get one to match it.

After we left the ballpark we got cleaned up and went to see our friends the Key's. We haven't seen them much lately. They have been on a 7 month long field trip to Chattanooga, TN and now they are back in Hoover. We had a great visit. Elizabeth who is a vegetarian, although she will prepare "flesh" for my family to eat, made tacos for dinner (did you know they make a vegi product that looks and tastes just like ground beef?). It was great to see them I hate that we had to leave so early (Shane was falling asleep).

Today we worked in the yard. Shane cut the grass and I edged the yard, trimmed bushes and

and pulled weeds. Then we put out pine straw. I don't really understand the point in doing that. I spent a lot of time getting leaves and weeds out then we pay for pine straw and spread it all over our flower bed?! After we finished that project, we were on to a new one. Sydney has had 2 weeks to work on an instrument project and of course being our child, she waited until the last minute to do it. She chose to write about the violin. The report took several hours and a few breakdowns, but alas she finished writing it. Next, we had to make a violin. We cut, we glued, we colored, we burned our fingers and then.........

It may not sound great, but it looks pretty good.

All and all we had a great weekend filled with family time (doesn't get any better than that)!

Easter Sunday

Sydney, Alex and Kenzie

Being a Dad

You know I love being a Dad! But it is probably one of the most challenging things that I have ever done in my life. I have wanted children for as long as I can remember and I have enjoyed every moment of being a Dad. But the question I always find myself asking is, am I a good Dad? Balancing your time between work and a loving wife is hard, but when you add three Kids to the mix each with their own schedules and activities it makes life even more complicated. I coach Alex's baseball team and I get great enjoyment out of doing this, but I am so hard on him, so much harder then I am the other kids. Its only because I want him to do good, and succeed. But I too often leave practice thinking it is just a game, why am I so hard on him, why am I making something that is supposed to be fun seem like something that is so important when its really not. I pray often that my passion for my faith and me teaching my child that faith would become just as important to me. And I am ashamed to say that all to often its not. My beautiful girls mean so much to me too. Baseball takes up so much of my time right now, I feel like they feel neglected for Daddy time. I try so hard to balance my time with them, but again this is something that I all too often feel that I don't do very well. So Sydney, and Kenzie if you are reading this just know that I love you so much and I am sorry that I am not able to spend much time with you right now. Anyway I just thought I would share with you the latest thing I am stressing about. (Something I seem to do all too often.)

Shane

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow, what a week! I feel like I have been going non - stop this week. It is nice to be able to sit back and ponder ( I like that word) and sort through my week, if I didn't I would just see a blur of activity and not the blessings within it. Monday, my mom (Mo) decided to call her doctor about some chest pains that have been getting progressively worse over the past month (or so). Well of course she was sent to the ER and spent the day there doing tests and finally being admitted so that they could do more tests on Tuesday. Our Monday ended with Alex and Kenzie having baseball practice until 9:00, this made our week start out with everyone tired and grumpy. Tuesday was very hectic, I chaperoned Kenzie's class (with Jackson in tow) to Leeds First Baptist to watch the Bham Children's Theater do Jack and The Bean Stalk. It was a very cute production. That night Sydney's girl scout troop had the honor of saying the Pledge of Allegiance at a PTA meeting and Shane called a batting practice for Alex's team because what in the world would we do if we had one night without baseball. This was also report card day the kids did great!!! I am very proud of them and how hard they work. Well I told you that Tuesday was test day for Mo. They tested her from head to toe and by that night they finally decided that they needed to do an arteriogram on Wednesday because she may have blockage in one of the arteries in her heart. This was no fun for her to hear, but I think she was happy to have a plan of action to figure out why she was in such terrible pain. Wednesday Kenzie had an Easter program, It was so cute. Whenever I see her on stage singing and having a great time, I think of the Thanksgiving program (2006) when she had a broken ankle and could not stand. She looked so sad and wouldn't sing I just sat in the audience and cried. It was such a blessing watching her with her hands raised singing and smiling (and standing). After her program, I left her at school for my mother-in-law to pick up after she hunted eggs and had her party. Heather and I headed to the hospital to see Mo (Dawn was already there). When we got there she was just coming out of surgery. They told us that they had to give her a pig heart and that she should be fine soon. We just ask that you say a prayer for Sal and his family, we are saddened that the pig had to die so that she could have his heart. Of course I am kidding although it sure was fun trying to convince her that she had a pig heart while she was coming off of the meds from surgery. Actually they did find a blockage, and put in a stint. They say she should be feeling better soon and in fact they want her to go back to work on Monday (her Bday). It is funny that some of the best visits you have with people are in hospital rooms. We had a good time hanging out. Heather and I left in time for her to pick up the kids from daycare (before they kicked them to the curb). That night Shane had a baseball meeting (probably fabricated since there was no practice). Thursday Mo got out of the hospital and went home to rest (her earthly home). Sydney and Kenzie had gymnastics and Alex had baseball practice. After gymnastics we changed Kenzie in the car and rushed her to her practice baseball game. Of course we could not leave empty handed, Jorden (Sydney's friend) came home with us. Friday, the kids were out of school for Good Friday and we also had Adam (my nephew which was nice-I don't get to see him much). We hung out here half of the day and then we picked up Mo and went to Heather's house. We had a nice visit. Friday night Alex's jump rope team performed at the AL vs AU gymnastics meet. So we travelled to Tuscaloosa and watched that. They did a great job. That brings me to today. I am cooking a pineapple upside down cake for Mo's bday party tonight at Heathers' house and I am also cooking for our Resurrection Day celebration tomorrow. Shane's mom (Linda) will be coming over to celebrate with us. I am sure she will dye eggs with the kids, she usually does this because that is one of the things I really don't like to do but the kids love. Well this has been my week in a nut shell (pretty big nut). As you can see it was full of blessings. My mom is alive, my Kenzie can walk, my oldest 2 are hard working, smart children, and my husband loves his son and wants his baseball experience to be a great one. Most importantly, God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die and be resurrected for our sins!!! Praise Jesus in all things!!!!!!!

Refined for a purpose

Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit [as] a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver...

There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying chapter three they came across verse three which says, "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. That week the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that, in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot - then she thought again about the verse, that He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's the easy part -- when I see my image reflected in it."

I don't usually like forwarded emails but this one is a great illustration of how our heavenly father molds us. I looked up the verse after I read this and I realized that the verse doesn't end there. I think it is important that we not leave off the last part of the verse....
....... that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
He refines us for His glory and purpose, not ours.

My zoo goes on a field trip

Sydney and Alex had their eyes checked today. As with most of my outings with 4 kids (my 3 plus my nephew Jackson) it was crazy!!! It is like trying to take the whole Orangutan exhibit at the zoo through an office filled with rows and rows of eye glasses hanging on the wall. By the way - you touch one and they all go down. I have to say that if you ever need an eye doctor in Leeds I can recomend Dr Pulliam and his staff. They did not seem to mind that we treated their glasses display like dominoes or that my nephew sang and shook his rattle for 2 1/2 hours non-stop (I think they put caffine in his formula today).

Having two visually impared parents has definitely caught up with my oldest two kids. Sydney has been wearing glasses for almost 2 years. I neglected to get her eyes checked last year and apparently that was a mistake, I dont think her current glasses are doing her a bit of good (other than making her look so cute). I know she will be happy to get her new ones, I dont know how she has been seeing the board at school. This was Alex's first eye check. He had a vision screening at school and was told that his left eye was a little nearsighted. We decided that it was because he keeps his hair in his eye all of the time. We even almost had him talked into cutting his hair. Then the doctor had to tell him that he cant see out of either eye and that he should keep his hair (Dr pulliam has a receading hair line). Hey thanks doc!
When they have their new glasses I will have to post a picture of them.

By 12:30 I had 2 of my little monkeys safely deposited at school and my other 2 back at home needing naps.

What I like

All three of my children are talented and unique. It is interesting to see how different 3 people, that have the same parents, can be. Alex likes all sports and Kenzie has just started gymnastics and baseball. Sydney is involved in gymnastics, girl scouts and she has recently started going to a writers workshop at school. In her workshop, Sydney had to write either a story or a poem. She decided to write a poem about herself. I loved it so much I just had to share it.

This is Sydney's poem:

What I Like
by: Sydney St. John

I like webkinz, books, and the computer
I like sewing, but I am more of a dancer
Most of all I like me
I like music and T.V.
I like the beach and the sea
But what I really like is me
I like sushi and ice-cream
I like hanging out with my friends
I like doing things with my family
But now you see what I really like is me

________________________
I like her too.

We are joining the bandwagon

I am happy to say that I am now an official blogger. It looks like everyone is having so much fun with this, so how could I not join in. I don't really have anything profound or earth shattering to say, but I do like to ramble on (as far as I can tell that is all you need to know to write a blog). For the most part I will probably be writing about my children, not because they are so interesting (well, I think they are) but because they and their activities consume most of our time. I hope you enjoy!
Have a Blessed day.
Jamie