Create in me a clean heart

Hebrews 3:13 "but exhort one another daily, while it is still called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."

My kids are constantly asking, "Why are they bad?" especially when referring to a movie or cartoon character. "What made them bad?" Interesting question. Besides just the simple and correct answer, "Sin."

In the past, I've talked of parenting, but I realize it's possible for godly parents to have ungodly children. Sin is the choice of the child. This verse in Hebrews is the verse I need to come back to.

We are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Period. Anyone is capable. O Lord, create in me a clean heart.

Family photo in a flash

Doug was looking for a photo of us to let the church use in a VBS slide show. He came up WAY short of anything decent, so within 30 minutes, we asked a friend if she could take our picture, we rushed to throw clothes on, and headed over to her house right before sundown.

It took about 15 pictures for Caleb to cooperate, and when he did, the girls were fidgeting, but I'll take this over anything that Doug had originally found. They were pretty scary, let me tell you! Thank you Russell and Celeste for your patience with us!

Lazy day - playing with Mom's camera

We've lost something

Today was a long day for Kylie (and the rest of us). At lunch, she bit into some bread, and when I rushed over to see what the screaming was about (yes, screaming), I saw that her tooth that had been loose, was completely twisted around backward.


Yes, that is the back side of her tooth you are looking at.

Well, she was traumatized because she likes her lose teeth just to "fall out" on their own. This hanging-thing stressed her out most of the day. She didn't want anyone touching it, and I can sympathize, because I was the same way.

She worked on it, albeit slowly, with her tongue all day, and tonight...

eating a cookie...

the tooth turned itself back around!

Crazy!

She finally said, with a red, tear-stained face, that I could pull it out. I reached in, and it practically fell into my hand. It was only held in there by suction (and spit, if you will).

She is a happy girl with swollen eyes
(and so are we..minus the swollen eyes).

Time in Yoakum

We've been hanging around Yoakum the past couple of weeks doing
a little of this


and a little of that



and some of this


and some of that
(back left - only Kylie took this class)


and not to mention, this
(with new haircuts)


I haven't updated because the annual Yoakum Tom-Tom parade, cheerleading camp (two different ones), backyard VBS, and a new kitten found that was dropped on the side of the road, aren't really that interesting to those who aren't involved.

I could, however, exaggerate, and make up some pretty good stories if you like, but for now, we'll stick with the above description of our recent past life.

We are back in Katy, getting ready to celebrate Father's Day, have a week of VBS, and then travel north of Waco to student camp for another week.

Last day of Pre-K and Mother's Day Out

Karis and Caleb had such a good year in their pre-school/Mother's Day Out program at our church. Bear Creek Baptist Church really does a fabulous job! Three cheers for Karen Crook and all her teachers.

I helped out with the last day, themed Splash Day.





















Here is Caleb with one of his teachers Mrs. Candace (Mrs. Emily wasn't there until the afternoon),





















and she invited Kylie and I to eat lunch with Caleb's class.













What a fun, sad, happy day.

First family camping trip

We went camping this weekend with three other families at Huntsville State Park. We figured we better try camping on this continent instead of tackling it fresh in Africa.

Soon after arriving, Caleb and I went down to the dock to look at the water. We got a surprise visitor after not too long.














He had his right eyeball missing, so I'm guessing he's quite a fighter. If you could see the dark part of his tail, you could see he's about 6 feet long. It was pretty cool except for when Caleb would crawl up on the railing to look over. I didn't like that too much.



After all the tents had been set up, Kylie said, "There is nothing to do," and I said, "I know. Isn't it wonderful?!" She got in the groove not long after that, and she and all the kids ended up having a lot of fun. Kylie was the oldest kid there. We had three five year olds, a three year old and three under two. It sounds chaotic, but the kids really did play well and enjoy running around.

We roasted hot dogs, had smores, and visited late into the night. Here, Kylie, Karis and Abigail are showing off their glow in the dark jewelry (thanks, Heather, for bringing so many).



In the morning, I woke to obnoxious bird noises, but it had been a cool night and not normal Texas humidity levels, so I can take a few birds squawking. Not to mention, this was the view from our campsite!


















A couple of the guys made scrambled eggs and deer sausage so we could have breakfast tacos. This was definitely not "roughing it" to me.

After cleaning up a little, we headed to the "beach area" of the lake to swim. Yes, this is the same lake I saw the alligator in, but I was hoping he might get full before he got to the beach front.

Anyway, the kids had a blast trying out their new swimming skills. Karis even put her face in the lake water. That's pretty big-time in my book! Just two weeks ago, she didn't like putting her face in bath water.

After getting good and tired, we headed back for sandwiches and final packing. It was a short trip, but we all needed to get back for church. It was a lot of fun, and I can't thank the Lord enough for the perfect weather, good friends, and for my mattress when I got home last night.

Hiding God's word in our hearts

We have attended three AWANA clubs this year in Baton Rouge, Yoakum, and Katy. After having a sporadic fall with our attendance because of moves, we finished strong in the Spring. I was very proud of Kylie and Karis for all the work they put in memorizing scripture, and Caleb did great in my book for attending Puggles every week with a smile on his face.

As a matter of fact, Caleb has been learning some scripture here at home. One of my favorites in "Calebese" is Psalm 119:9, "How can a young man keep his one poor? By living according to your word."

It reminds me of two Easters ago when Karis was repeating a verse she had learned at AWANAs. It was "He is not here. He's in prison." She has it all down now, thankfully. I'm just thrilled they are trying so hard. God will use all this scripture one day when they learn how to trust in Him.

Moving on to Kindergarten

What every mother likes to see when referring to their five year old.












WOW! This kind of threw Doug and I for a loop. We started thinking about Kylie being Class of 2020 and Caleb Class of 2024. Kind of makes my head spin a little, but I know it will really go by faster than it sounds.

Karis did a great job performing with all 45 four and five year olds. They did a lot of songs with sign language, and I was impressed how well they all did.













It was a fun night, and we had fun celebrating with Karis.

Cookie cake for breakfast

If you ever do decide to give your kids
cookie cake for breakfast, beware of
the side effects.


































































It reminds me of Bill Cosby's old comic routine, "Chocolate cake for breakfast," when his kids are chanting:

Dad is great!
He gives us chocolate cake!

Cosby justifies it as a good breakfast because there are eggs, flour, and wheat in the cake...don't know so much about what the Great American Cookie Company puts in their cookies.

Oh well, it didn't affect them too badly, so...


The next day, after church, we took in a little NASA.






















And what could be better than being there at the same time as George Lucas' exhibit.



Thanks for taking all our family photos, Stefanie.

We have a 5 year old in the house...again.

During the time of our busy swim classes, we celebrated a birthday. Karis turned five on May 22nd.





















This is Karis the day before her first birthday. It doesn't seem like that long ago, but we have moved four times and added another member to the family since this picture was taking, so I'm guessing it's actually been a little longer.












This was even before that. One of my favorites.



















She chose to eat at Double Dave's for lunch. We took her friend Jenna who is in her class at school.













Since they serve chocolate chip pizza on the buffet, there was no reason to eat her chocolate chip cookie cake yet.












We treated the family (and Stefanie Kellum who was in town to visit for Memorial Day...yippee! Caleb snapped this in the car)

to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. After dinner, Stefanie bought Karis a volcano cake, so we didn't need the chocolate chip cookie cake yet again...
Karis wasn't too excited about being sung to, so she's just pretending they aren't there. I don't blame here.













It was a long, fun day, but we had too much sugar, so the cookie cake will have to wait until tomorrow. Sounds like a nutritious breakfast to me. Guess we'll go home now.

Swim class

We started and finished swim class. While attending class for nine days, we celebrated a birthday, graduated from Pre-K, got AWANA awards, and finished pre-school for the year. It's been busy around here with the washing of towels and suits everyday and getting from one event to another, but we have lots to show for it.

Kylie can successfully swim doing the crawl.


Thank
you
Mr.
Rudy!











Karis is no longer afraid of putting her head underwater. She swims pretty well, and can successfully dive for rings. Thanks again, Mr. Rudy!

















And Caleb can float on his back without assistance, dive for rings, and swim a little, too. Thank you, Kurtis!














Caleb likes his goggles so much, he wears them in the car.