Thankful Thursday

"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."
Psalm 103:2

This week I am thankful for:

1. Roasted pumpkin seeds, candy corn, and Reeses Peanut Butter Pumpkins - YUM!

2. God's provision.

3. The right to vote - even if I don't like my choices!

4. Good news from the orthodontist. Kenna had another consultation with the orthodontist, and he wants to wait at least another 9 months before doing any work. He said her teeth actually look better that they did 9 months ago - she'll still need work, but he's confident we can do it in "one phase of treatment." We haven't been charged for any of the consultations - the bills will come when they start to do work, but at least we have a little while longer to save for that!

5. Encouragement from a friend, just when I needed it.

Carving Time!

On Tuesday we had our annual pumpkin carving. As is our tradition, we made a bit of a party out of it, although this year we kept it really small and simple - just a couple of friends coming over after school.

Cullen did some of his own de-gutting this year, but you can see by the look on his face in this picture, he wasn't really enjoying it.

Camden let me do most of his de-gutting, but he was very interested in what the inside looked like:

In addition to carving faces, we always use a variety of supplies for decorating our pumpkins, such as pipe cleaners, candy, marshmallows, and pretzels. I'm always amazed at the kids' creativity.

Here's the crew with their finished creations:

Pumpkin Patch!

Yesterday we took our third annual trip to the Pumpkin Express pumpkin patch with the Woods family. This year's trip was extra special for a couple of reasons. First, even though the Woods only live an hour away from us now, with our busy schedules, we've only seen each other a couple of times since they moved this past summer. Second, they had Adiah with them this year! Two years ago while we were at the pumpkin patch, Amy received a call that all their adoption paperwork was together and their documents went to China that week. Last year they had received their referral a few days before our trip to the pumpkin patch, and had a picture of Adiah that Emily held in the pictures that we took of the kids. This year, they had precious Adiah in their arms - what a blessing! Hope you enjoy these photos:

Camden, Ridgedon, Cullen, Natalie, Adiah, Emily, and Kenna

Princess Fen Fang Feng Yang Yong Yin Ying Kai-ying Qingling

Kenna turned in her first book report/project yesterday. She read Molly Moon, Mickey Minus, and the Mind Machine. One of the project options was to make a model of one of the characters and she chose this princess with a very long name. Kenna paid a lot of attention to details from the book, from the fact that the princess was sitting on a swing, to her pink plastic dress, to her beehive hairdo with a question mark on top. It required a little bit of parental involvement to pull it off, but the creativity was all hers! Great job, Kenna!

Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch

On Thursday Cullen's class went on a field trip to the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch, and I went along as a chaperone. It was a great place for a field trip - large enough that they had a good variety of animals, but small enough that they only do one field trip at a time, so we were the only group there.


The day started with a Safari Tram ride to see camels, horses, zebras, and several other animals. There were large buckets of food hanging from the outside of the tram, so when we entered a habitat, the animals immediately came right up to the tram. The camels were especially eager:



We then saw smaller exotic animals in their barns. We saw a monkey, sloths, and several types of lemurs. We also saw kangaroos, some of them albino, in a fenced habitat. After that, we got to see a baby albino kangaroo up close:

Here's Cullen's class, with his teacher holding the baby kangaroo (Cullen's on the back row, two to the left of the teacher):

At the end of the trip they brought out some of the lemurs for us to pet:

I've been on a lot of field trips with my kids and this was definitely one of my favorites!

Thankful Thursday

"In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:18

This week has been a little rough (nothing major, just a lot of little things getting to me), and I considered skipping my "Thankful Thursday" post; but, I am reminded by God's word to give thanks in everything. When I do, I find that I have so much to be thankful for!

1. Robert comes home tomorrow from working in Odessa all week - we are so ready to have him home!

2. The kids have all decided what to be for Halloween and I have all the parts and pieces gathered and purchased. This has been a major source of stress for me this week, which really seems rather silly - stressing over such a minor thing in the grand scheme of life and eternity.

3. God's patience with me. I really thought I had made progress in the "not stressing so much over small things" department, but this week has proved differently. I'm thankful that God's still working on me and is abundantly patient and forgiving of my failings.

4. Today I went on a field trip with Cullen's class to a wildlife ranch - it was great!

5. Fall weather is finally here! It remains to be seen if it's here to stay, but I sure enjoyed wearing jeans and long sleeves today!

What Do You Want on Your Tombstone?

So, I was at the store with the kids yesterday and they were of course drawn to the all the "lovely" Halloween decorations. Camden spotted a tombstone and says, "Look, it's one of those recipe things!" Umm...I think you mean "Rest in Peace", but that's close!

Hiking at Ray Roberts Lake

On Saturday morning we went hiking. Robert had bought hiking sticks for himself and the kids last weekend in Arkansas and had promised to buy medallions to add to their sticks whenever they hike at least the shortest trail at a park. So we headed up to Ray Roberts lake and took this nice wide trail through the woods.





Camden got worn out pretty quickly, but managed to make it most of the way (I did end up carrying him a little at the end).

We even took Dixie along and Kenna took this picture of us:

We stayed on the beaten path for most of the hike, but decided we would take a "short cut" back and follow the shoreline around the lake, towards where our car was parked. It turned out to be not so much of a short cut and several times the shore all but dissappeared and we were cutting a path through brush and mud. At one point I heard Kenna say, "I'm glad I'm getting a badge for this, or I sure wouldn't be here!" After we made it through the rough part I took this picture of everyone:

They earned their medallions and Robert nailed them to their sticks last night.

"Just Ducky"

At the kindergarten assembly on Friday, Camden received the "Just Ducky" award. Each teacher chooses two or three students from her class to receive this special award. Here's what Camden's teacher had to say about him:


Camden is "Just Ducky" because he is a friend to everyone. He always puts a smile on my face for his great attitude. Camden also always has a smile on his face!!! He is a great kindergartener. He is great at coming up with ideas and solutions to problems. He is a fantastic thinker. I am so proud of Camden!!!


Congratulations Camden for being "Just Ducky"!

Field Trip to the Zoo

Today Camden and I went on a field trip with his class to the Fort Worth Zoo. Somehow we ended up in a group with three little girls, one being his good friend, Elisabeth. He received a couple of teasing comments about being the only boy in his group, but it didn't seem to bother him a bit!







They all climbed up on this horse and Camden called out to me, "We're ready to have our picture taken!"

Mrs. Wallace's Kindergarten Class

Thankful Thursday

"...always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father."
Ephesians 5:20

So much to be thankful for:

1. Parent teacher conferences last week. All the kids teachers had great things to say about them. Conference time each year is always kind of a pain, since the kids get our early from school all week, but it's always good to hear nice things about your kids and get a glimpse into what they're doing at school. Also, the early release on Friday gave us a headstart on the weekend.

2. A wonderful weekend with my husband!

3. My wonderful husband who planned the weekend!

4. My wonderful in-laws who kept the kids for the weekend!

5. Going on a field trip with Camden's class today to the Fort Worth Zoo. I love being a "stay-at-home" mom, even if I don't stay at home very much.


What are you thankful for?

A-MA-ZING!

I can think of no better word to describe this past weekend - it was simply amazing! Robert arranged for the kids to stay with his mom and stepdad in East Texas and rented a cabin for us for three nights at Lake Catherine State Park in Arkansas. This getaway weekend was just what we needed - God is so good! We had such a great time and took a LOT of pictures, so if you're planning to stick with me until the end of this post, settle in ... it's going to be a long one!

Here's a picture of us in front of our cabin:


We actually stayed in two different cabins because they didn't have one cabin that was available for all three nights. As we were gathering up our stuff Sunday morning, I told Robert that I'd rather be packing up to move cabins than packing up to go home. That extra day was wonderful!


We arrived after dark Friday night, so we didn't get to see much of the landscape around our cabin. We woke up Saturday morning just as the sun was coming up. I looked out our bedroom window and watched a beautiful sunrise over the lake. Our cabin was in the perfect spot for viewing this picture that God painted - I believe just for me (even if some other people might have enjoyed it, too!)

After breakfast we went on a hike. We share a love of nature and enjoying God's creations together is always a lot of fun for us.

Robert got to practice his photography on a variety of subjects (caterpillars, mushrooms, and much more - believe me we when I say we took a lot of pictures!)

The midpoint of the hike was at this waterfall:

Saturday night we dressed up a little and went into Hot Springs (about 20 minutes away) for a fabulous dinner at the Hamilton House:

On Sunday we rented a little flat bottom boat and had a great time riding around the lake, taking more pictures.

I thought this turtle was so cute. When I looked at the picture later, it seemed to me that he was enjoying the fall foliage:

I have to include this duck picture, even though it's out of focus. It will probably prove to be the most expensive picture we've ever taken. I had spotted this line of ducks and Robert moved in a little closer so I could get a good picture. We were still a ways away from the shoreline (his camera has a really long zoom lens), but the lake got really shallow really quick and we were suddenly startled by the horrible noise of our propeller hitting rocks. The motor didn't work quite right after that and we limped back to the marina. The guy at the marina had no idea what was wrong, but said they'd have to take it to "the shop" and they'd send us a bill - can't wait to get that! Anyway, I got a couple of other pictures before this one that were in focus, but this was the one I was taking when we hit the rocks...hmm...maybe that's why it's not in focus.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out at our cabin, enjoying the animals.

We had been feeding this squirrel some almonds, and after finishing one he looked right at me as if to say, "Is there more?"

Sunday night we enjoyed a candlelight dinner on our screened porch, looking out on the lake.

On our way home Monday morning, we stopped by Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs.

They've recently built a chapel at the gardens and it was beautiful:

While we were enjoying our romantic weekend, the kids were having a ball with relatives. They stayed and played at MeMe and CeCe's, went to Michaels for craft time, ate at McDonald's three times, got to be there for their cousin Lexie's baptism, visited with Granny, saw their great uncle Steve and his miniature horses, and went to visit Granddaddy Joe. Kenna got to spend one night with Lexie and Aunt Tonya took them to get their nails done. They kept pretty busy! Tonya shared some of her pictures with me:

Apparently Granny pointed out this nursing horse and our kids were immediately enthralled:


I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband who arranged this amazing weekend and fabulous in laws who took such good care of our kids. Thank you all!