We're home

We had a fun time in Arkansas for Easter with our famiy and friends. Aaron had a really fun week playing golf, basketball and being with his college roommate, Justin Thomas, who lives in Memphis. While he was in Memphis for Monday night and Tuesday, we went to the zoo with my mom (Nana) and the fun Arkansas heat!

 
Nana had lots of stories to tell about camel rides when they lived overseas. Grace just loves hearing them all! I was just thankful to have her there to push Susie in the stroller when I got too tired!

 
It was so hot! We sat under this mister at the zoo for quite some time. Susie didn't like it, so we pushed her out and stood there for a little longer!

 
Here are Nana and the girls on the train ride. They closed the train after we got off because they said it was too hot on the Engine! After the zoo, we went shopping for a while and then met Aunt Jess, Uncle Cliff and Daddy (Cliff and Aaron played golf that afternoon) for a super dinner at the Villa in Little Rock. If you haven't been there, you are so missing a great Italian meal!!

 
Here are Aaron and Daisy in the car on the way home. He put her up there and she stayed for a little while while he drove. We had a fun trip, but now it is time to get ready for the baby to come. Only 10 weeks left and we will have a new member of the family to love! 

More pictures!

 
Here are Dad and Aaron cutting into the living room wall with Mom's steak knives so that they can put in speakers for Dad's new and quite fancy TV! All those little white specks on the photo (you can click on the pic to make it bigger) are flying pieces of drywall!!

 
Monday, after a fun weekend of Easter activites, Grandma Hogan came over and took us girls out to lunch. Afterwards, we came back to Nana's house and they had a "Bubble, coloring, and pool party" Everyone had to blow bubbles and color. Those were the rules, according to Grace.

 
It was so hot on Monday in Arkansas (of course, it was even hotter here in Graham, 101, but we weren't here!) that we went out and bought a pool for all the times that we come to visit Nana and Papa this summer!! If you are in Searcy, feel free to drop by Nana and Papa's pool, it is much bigger than it looks!

 
Here are the girls coloring during the party. They don't have on their swimsuits because we didn't think it was going to be warm enough to swim. 

Easter pictures

 
 
 
  

Easter

Well, we have survived another Easter. This year we are here in Searcy, Arkansas at my parents house for the celebrations. We drove late Friday afternoon and got here around midnight. The girls were so excited that they could hardly stand it and they didn't go to bed until who knows how late!!!! Then last night we went to Spring Sing (it's a big musical production that the college students put on every year) at Harding and the girls were up until 11pm. They both took naps today after all the Easter egg hunting and candy eating and STILL went to bed tonight on time at 8 pm. They were just soo completely beat and I am about to join them!
We had our same group of friends here at Mom and Dad's house that have been doing Easter together for over 31 years....we all go to early church at 8:15, bible class and then everyone comes over here for a big potluck and then all the kids go on a big hunt in the back yard. It was lots of fun and the girls got so much candy and lots of little toys and goodies. I'll try and post some pictures from my Dad's office tomorrow.

?????

Okay, I'm not too good with people that leave posts on my blog and then when you want to find out who they are, you hit a dead end and can't find their blog. Chuck2222 left an interesting story below on the comments and I'm going to leave the story up for you to read and comment on, but why can't people just leave an honest link to their page so that we can comment back to them? Also, while I'm at it, I don't like it when people comment and you have NO IDEA who they are. That is their right, I just think if they are going to make a comment, we should know who it is from. Thanks for the comment, chuck2222, whoever you are. And from now on, I will try to stay away from blogging on politics. Except for the fact that I'm a proud American and I think if people want to come to our country, they should do it through the legal channels, learn the language, and fly OUR flag!!!

A letter to the President

I got this in a e-mail today and I just had to post it....



Dear President Bush:

I'm about to plan a little trip with my family and extended family,
and I would like to ask you to assist me. I'm going to walk across the
border from the U.S. into Mexico, and I need to make a few arrangements. I
know you can help with this.

I plan to skip all the legal stuff like visas, passports,
immigration quotas and laws. I'm sure they handle those things the
same way you do here.

So, would you mind telling your buddy, President Vicente Fox, that
I'm on my way over? Please let him know that I will be expecting the
following:

1. Free medical care for my entire family.

2. English-speaking government bureaucrats for all services I might
need, whether I use them or not.

3. All government forms need to be printed in English.

4. I want my kids to be taught by English-speaking teachers.

5. Schools need to include classes on American culture and history.

6. I want my kids to see the American flag flying on the top of the
flag
pole at their school with the Mexican flag flying lower down.

7. Please plan to feed my kids at school for both breakfast and
lunch.

8. I will need a local Mexican driver's license so I can get easy
access to government services.

9. I do not plan to have any car insurance, and I won't make any
effort to learn local traffic laws.

10. In case one of the Mexican police officers does not get the
memo from President Fox to leave me alone, please be sure that all
police officers speak English.

11. I plan to fly the U.S. flag from my house top, put flag decals
on my car, and have a gigantic celebration on July 4th. I do not want
any complaints or negative comments from the locals.

12. I would also like to have a nice job without paying any taxes,
and don't enforce any labor laws or tax laws.

13. Please tell all the people in the country to be extremely nice
and never say a critical word about me, or about the strain I might
place on the economy.

I know this is an easy request because you already do all these
things for all the people who come to the U.S. from Mexico. I am
sure that President Fox won't mind returning the favor if you ask him
nicely.

However, if he gives you any trouble, just invite him to go quail
hunting with your V.P.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

More...

On Saturday, Aaron got in at 10:00 am from being gone all night working so the girls and I went to a carnival at the Kindergarden where Grace is going to go next year. They loved it! Their favorite was the train (barrel) ride. I think they rode it at least 4 times! On the slate this week: Dr. visit for me and baby Parker, Grace's Easter egg hunt and party at school, Easter egg hunt at the libary, and then it's off to Nana and Papa's house for Easter!! I'm excited about a busy week, but boy am I going to need a big nap when we get home!

 
 
 
  

We need some days off!

This past week, we three girls were on overdrive...it seems like we had something everyday and it was GREAT! Here are some pictures from some of our adventures.


 
Here are the girls looking at P.C. the police car. The little car talks and tells kids about strangers and street safety...they really like P.C. This picture was taken at the carnival on the square that was celebrating "The Week of the Young Child" They had face painting, storytelling, every emergency vechicle they could spare, and a little train ride. The girls loved it! Grace's class went and Sus and I went along for the fun.

 
The end of the carnival wrapped up with all the children marching around the square in parade style shaking their little noise makers. They all thought that they were big stuff to be in an actual parade!

 
On Friday afternoon we went to the Schlumberger Egg Hunt at the park. They had stuffed over 400 eggs for about 15 kids....Grace and Sus came home with over 60 eggs and WAY too much candy! They had a blast and Daddy actually got to go with us for the fun. After the hot dog roast Daddy took us to see Ice Age 2 at the movies. It was okay, but unless you have kids that REALLY want to see it, save your money.

 
Here are the girls on the slide at the park after the Easter egg hunt. They had fun and kept wanting to go down together....oh, sister!! 

Happy Sunday!

  

Planting seeds...

Now that it is spring time here in Texas (actually this weekend was more like summer, but yesterday and today are more cool and spring like) I have been on a planting spree. My across the street neighbor and good friend, Ann, in Alaska got me hooked last year. People in Alaska have these beautiful (and in some cases, very large) hanging baskets full of flowers. The first summer that we lived there, I bought my hanging baskets all ready done and just hung them up and watered them. Last summer, Ann planted her own and made me one, too...well, we had two hanging basket hooks, so I went and made one myself as well and it was so fun. It wasn't hard, I just had to put out the effort to go and pick out my flowers and my basket and replant them. So, all that said, I don't have hanging baskets here (yet!) but I have 5 planters, 3 mounted on the front of the house and 2 freestanding on the porch. The girls played in the pool on Friday and I planted different kinds of flowers in my little pots and now, with a little water and sunshine, we get to watch them grow.
We have a small group from church that meets here at our house on Sunday nights....sometimes there are 12 of us and sometimes there are 4, but we really do enjoy our group. Lately we have been talking about "planting seeds" and how we as christians can show God's love and spread his Good news by, planting a few seeds. I was reading a friends' blog this weekend and she told of how her daughter and boyfriend had come for a weekend visit. The boyfriend and daughter no longer are going to church and this was weighing heavy on the mom's (my friend) heart. As they were leaving to go home from her house, she says to the boyfriend and her daughter, "I am going to continue praying for you (her daughter) to come back to your first love for the Lord and for you (the boyfriend) to follow her, finding faith in God for yourself." The boyfriend got a little tinkle in his eye and smile on his face and said, "I don't know that I've ever had anyone really pray for me before."
WOW! What a great seed that my blogging friend planted in her daughter's boyfriend this weekend as they were about to leave! Can you just wonder what they talked about on the way back to where they live in the car? How many times have we stepped out of our comfort zone and told someone that we were really concerned about their walk with the Lord and told them that we were going to pray for them and REALLY did it? I made a commitment not long ago and my commitment was to pray. Don't get me wrong, I pray with my children at the table before we eat, before they go to bed and before I go to sleep. But my new commitment is that I will now pray everytime someone asks for prayers. And you want to know where I pray the most? At the computer! Yes, I get prayer requests every day via, the church e-mails, blogs or just friends, but I decided that I was going to just stop and pray right then and there when they asked for them. You should try it, just for a few days....
Have you planted any seeds lately? I'm a big chicken when it comes to doing that, but I sure can pray and I'll keep praying that God will show me opportunities to plant seeds in people, but for now I'm praying that we can all plant seeds and pray for their growth! Let's keep each other committed to praying for one another and see how the seeds grow.