A Collection of Stories by Aaron

As promised....I have taken the time to sit down and copy Aaron's stories that he make up for creative writing. He placed 6 in UIL for one of them. He is such a great writer for being in the 2nd grade. They are given a piece of paper that has 5 pictures on it and they must write a story based on one or more of the pictures. I hope you enjoy them!
A Ghostly Tale

A ghost named billybob tried to scare me. This is what the ghost did. One night when I was trick or treating I went to A haunted house someone locked the door behind me. I went farther into the house. Then, liveingroom. He showed up!and then he said...BOO! and I fainted. He manged to wake me up whith slime. And then. I went home.

This is Aaron's first story....I am typing them just as he wrote them. You can really start to see how much better he gets with punctuation and spelling as he writes.

Accident With My Backpack

It all started on my way to school this mornig. Lane and I were sitting together the bus. The bus stopped at Meanie Jim's house. All the kid's were scared. As Meanie Jim got on the bus he was going down the isle knocking our backpacks on the floor. The bus driver didn't even notice what he was doing. My backpack was open and everythig spilled onto the floor. Land and I tried to pick up all my stuff but a little kid stepped on my waterbottle. The little kid hit her head and cried. We asked the bus driver for help. Meanie Jim had to go then princapal's office when we got to school.

Hard Math

Today at math class my math teaher "Mrs. Day" was handing out A hard math quiz. It was twenty-four plus, fourteen. I asked Mrs. Day what it eqals. Before I could ask her what it was it was time for lunch. I grabed my lunchbox and ran to get in line. When we got in the room I took a guss. It was thirty-eight. When we got to class the next morning she handed them out. I got it right!

Wizard Adventre

There once lived A teacher who lived in A cabin. Her school was small but big in heart. One day after school she walked outside. A talking owl spoke to her and said, Follow me you are in great danger. And so she followed the owl. When they got there the teacher said, "WOW! that is some castle you go there owl." Oh, that's not my house said the owl that's my owner's house, said the owl. Then an ugle old which swooped down on her broom and took the teacher. A wizard came up on a water brethig dragon. Up came the water and it hit the wich with A...SPLASH! Down went the which with a ....Plop! and when the which got up she said I'm melting I'm melting! And the which died.

Airport exspress

Jose V. and I went to the airport on Friday. We packed our bags and went. when we got there I asked Jose V. if he had the Astralia tickets. He looked in the pocket. And he said "Yes". And then we took off. When we got in the airplane we said "Hi" to the driver. We took our seats. And then we heard a thumping sound. THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! and then we took off. At seven o'clock the y gave us a bag of peanuts and two bottle of soda. They were delicus! Finlay Jose B. went to sleep. When he woke up we were at Astralia! We were so happy when we climbed up Ayers rock!

(For those of you who remember we did Boomerang Express this year at VBS and I know he remembered Ayers Rock from there!)

Ballon Bash

There once was a girl named Melody. Here mother's name was Zoe but they friends just called her Zo. One day Zoe went to drop off his son Mike. But on Mike's sholder was his pet inchworm named Smart Smity. Smart Smity could talk but nobody knew he could. One day his mom Zoe let him walk to school but on the way there a air ballon showed up right under them! They said YIKES! Mike tried to get down but it was to late. They were in the air. But in the basket was food. water.rope and a picnic quilt. Smart Smity had a idea. He told Mike to buld a paruchute and put him in his backpack. Together they made a paruchute. And when they got ubove the school they jumped off! Mike screamed AGGGGH! And landed on the roof. And they jumped again. And landed on the grass. And met his friend.

Fireman Raising

There once was a boy named Victor. Victor wanted a fire helmat for Cristmas. And Sristmas was almost there. It was December twenty-fourth. It was Victor's favorite time of year. Because he loved to see Santa Claus in the mall. that night before he got into bed his dad Brain brought him to the mall. Because Grampa Miller needed a presant from the familty to Victor got Grampa a poket knife. And a hug from Santa. It was three o'clock and it was time for bed. That day Victor woke up and saw a frie helmat. He was so happy he jumped up and down in his pajama's. He grew up to be twety-five. And became a fireman. But he was ingered. And quit his job. And he game his son the fire helmat and the air tank. And took his place in the fire department.

Night of the Raccoon

There once was a raccoon named Sly. Sly was nocternal so he could see in the dark. When he was walking around he saw a trashcan. He jumped on the lid into the trashcan. When he was in it he saw a bag of peanuts. Sly loved peanuts so he gobbled them up. But once he got out SPLASH! He went into the steam. And he hit a rock in the stream PLOP! He opened the lid into the tree stump and he went. Once he got in he climbed out. Then he noticed he climbed out of this house! And got back in. Then everyone jumped out of nowhere and scared him. They he fogot it was his birthday. So he got in and at some cake and played and played until it was day. And went to sleep. With his teddy raccoon Sly Junior.

Barnyard Bash

There once was a girl named Rosie. Rosie was four years old. One day at school Rosie went to the farm. Rosie met a farmer named Bob. bob owned the farm. "Framer Bob" Rosie yelled. Rosie was in the sandbox Farmer Bob owned to. Her freind Kelly and Jenna were making sand castles. Then Farmer bob yelled "over here" so they came over. Farmer Bob said "Were goint to play a game" in a whisper voice. "We have to find one thing" he said. "We have to find a toy helicopter" he said. So they set off to find the toy helicopter. First, they went past the cow pen then, they went in the barn. Rosie yelled "I found it!" she picked it up and took it. She retemered it. And rosie, Jenna and Kelly got a sticker that said "Good Work!" and they went home.


I hope you had fun reading these! He did a great job! I think Night of the Raccoon was the story that he entered in the competition. Hope you have a great new year!

Love,
The McGuire's

School is Out!

Yippee! Yahoo! School is out for 2009! Two whole weeks to play and do nothing....OK maybe not nothing but it's going to be good! What have we been up to since my last post in October?????? Blowing and going! Caleb rounded out his junior high football career and promptly started basketball. They only lost two games in football and did great! However, basketball is not going to be so lucky. They have one of three games so far. Caleb sits on the bench most of the time until someone gets in foul trouble. He is having fun but is starting to rethink all of the sports stuff. He is figuring out that he has to practice just as hard to sit on the bench as they guys who play. Anyway, he has already mentioned dropping everything in High school except for Band. Band was fun this year. He got to go to all of the football games and march, plus UIL competitions and all district try outs. Plus, their band director, Mr. Bro, has an annual Halloween party and Christmas party that are fun. Also, he got to go the the Sand Dunes of Monahans for a fun trip with the band. During the middle of all of this, Caleb also was in the junior high one act play and did a great job. They won a lot of point toward UIL competition. Caleb also, did UIL Science in Winters in December and placed 8th in district. We are very proud of him.
Jared has been busy with UIL also. This year he was a part of the Art Smart Team and placed 5th in District. He had to memorize 40 paintings and their authors plus know how to spell them. He worked on them every night and did great. However, I think next year he is going to try something different. Learning to spell, "Fantasy View with the Pantheon and Other Monuments of Ancient Rome" by Panini was pretty hard and that was only one of the 40! He also won the kids of Character Award for December for his 4th grade class and was on the "A" honor roll this whole semester!
Aaron was also able to do UIL competition in creative writing. He placed 6th in district! However, he didn't get to go to Winters because he was only in the 2nd grade so they write their story and sent it in. His teacher was so proud of him and let him call me from school to tell me the good news. I think he did awesome!
The boys are loving Miles and loving a small community. We love the fact that homework is so much easier out here. They don't have a lot of extra work and their AR points required are much less! They have loved being able to spend time outside and working with Brian on the pump house.
Brian has been working on home improvements around the new house and has just finished the new well house. It will protect it from the weather and keep my water from freezing! Our "town house" in San Angelo still has not sold. We are in need of a God miracle soon. Our loan is due on January 15th and we must have a contract on it before then. We had a contract for a month and a half but it fell through 6 days before closing because they could not get the loan. It was so disappointing! Now we are back to square one and we only have 26 to sell it. I know God can do this! Please, please join us in prayer that a buyer will step forward.
I have been busy with parents gifts, kids crafts and kids gifts to finish off the year at St. Luke. I have a great class this year and it's much easier than last year but, all the stress of the house and finding a new church is making life seem a little harder. I just try to rest in the fact that God will answer our prayers and that we just need to be still and listen. We have tried many churches since leaving Hillcrest and have even been back to Hillcrest a couple of times. I don't know what God has in store for us still but, will continue to seek him. I know he will never leave us or forsake us and that is enough for now. I hope you and your family has a very blessed and wonderful Christmas! We are blessed and I give thanks for my family and my friends! God Bless!

Actual Words

Wow! It's been a while since I sat and wrote actual words on my blog. Lately, I have been living thru pictures because that is all I have time to do. I take pictures, upload them and am off and running again. I knew when Caleb decided to do band and football that our lives were going to get crazy. That statement has been so true but, it's a good crazy. We love chasing him around and getting to spend time with Jared and Aaron while we are chasing. We have been to Christoval, Roby, Menard, Mertzon and Rotan so far. We ditched Albany on Friday night because #1 it's 2 hours away and #2 they are one of the top rated 1A teams and we didn't want to see the blood bath! Instead, we stayed home and had a great time chilling out until Caleb came home at 1:30 a.m.! Ok, we set the alarm and woke up to go and get him. Are you kidding me...who can stay up that late anymore! I figure with a cell phone on him I don't have a worry and set up all night. I can call him anytime I want to make sure he is OK. What did parents ever do before cell phones????? Caleb has only two more home football games on the 22 and then the 5th of November so if you want to see him play drop by. The games start at 5:30 on Thursday nights and are over around 7:30 or so. He marches with the band at home on the 16 and the 30th. The 16th is Homecoming. It should be fun. This next week is homecoming week and the kids get to dress up everyday. Tuesday is PJ day, Wednesday is Blast from the Past (wear retro clothes), Thursday is Nerd Day and Friday is Spirit Day. I will take lots of pictures of the kids dressed up. They are going to be too funny. Jared tells me that he is getting older and is now in 4th grade so he WON'T be doing PJ day because he is too old to wear PJ's to school. However, the same kid has his nerd outfit all picked out for nerd day! I ask you......how can you be too cool for PJ's but REALLY REALLY excited to dress like a nerd????? I think he is too funny!
Well, other than chasing Caleb we have been also battling the swine flu. Aaron came home from school on Monday with it. We went to the doctor on Monday afternoon and they did a flu test on him and it was positive for Type A...........so that meant the H1N1 virus. We declared war on the flu virus right after that and kept Aaron away from everyone and used Lysol and hand sanitizer every time we went in to take care of him. They started him on Tamiflu and we kept fluids and fever medicine in him. All in all, it was pretty mild. His fever was always run down with medicine and his cough was not very bad at all. He didn't have any body aches at all but did have an upset tummy for the first 24 hours. Apparently, that is one of the big signs of
H1N1! We really think that Caleb was sicker with the regular flu last year than Aaron was with the swine flu. So far, no one else has caught it. Caleb had a scare with a sore throat one day but, it was just the cold front that blew through. I was a weird thing. This is the first experience we have ever had where people would not come around us. People are so scared of this flu (and I don't blame them) but it was funny to see how people treated you when you told them you have a sick child at home. They didn't want to hang around you at all! Aaron was out of school from Monday to Friday but was able to go back on Friday. The only rule is now to be fever free for 24 hours. We kept him home an extra day really just to be sure. He loved staying home with Mom and Dad and loved being "home schooled" because his teacher sent all of his work home.
Speaking of school...the boys first report cards are out at Miles. Aaron had all A's including three 99 grades. Jared had all A's and Caleb had all A's except for the C in Math. However, believe me when I say that the "C" in Math is as welcome as the A's are. I was so worried that he was going to flunk. He just doesn't get Algebra and that is what they are doing right now. Have you ever tried to teach a dyslexic child Algebra????? He flips numbers, leaves off signs, and starts to randomly multiply numbers whenever he forgets what to do! It's sooooooooo hard for him! I just hope he is able to pass this year and pass the stinking TAKS test! I can't believe I am already worried about it! Yuck! The boys love Miles though and they are doing so great! Caleb loves going to school and love the extra things he gets to do.
Our "town house" still hasn't sold yet. Please keep it in your prayers. We are getting an extension on the bridge loan and really need it to sell. We have dropped the price like 4 times already. They have a lot of lookers but nobody with $$$'s! It would be driving us totally nuts if we had any control over it whatsoever. However, we know God is in control and we just have to pray and seek Him over it. I know we are were we are suppose to be and we will be patient and wait on Him.
Well, I need to wrap it up. I could go on forever really but, my fingers are cramping! I'll do my best to keep you up to date!

Love to all
JJ

More pictures of the Bulldog Band in Uniform!

Caleb on the move. He is the first row at the bottom right. He is really having fun moving and playing this year.


Caleb and the Bulldog band at competition at San Angelo Stadium this week. It was fun to wach them. I love the hats!!! Hee Hee He is the third one from the left!


Caleb 1st time in this band uniform. This is on Friday night.

The happenings...........

Jared goofing off at the first football game!



Aaron being goofy in the stands at his first Bulldog game.



Here is the sight that awaited us on Friday night as we headed to Roby to see Caleb march with the band on Friday night. The heavens opened up and dumped rain the WHOLE game. We sat in the car for the first 2 quarters and then decided that we didn't have to stay because Caleb and the band were not going to march or play in the rain. So we left and came home instead of induring the down pour. Caleb made it home two hours after us at 12:30 a.m. soaking wet and freezing!



Caleb's first band performance with Miles. The have 28 in the band which is a record number of band members for Miles.



Caleb's first play on defense. You can barely see him. He is playing nosetackle. He is lined up right across from the ball. He made the tackel on the running back on this play. In his words, "I ended up at the bottom of a big dog pile!"



Caleb walking at half time. He got in on three plays during this game. One kick off and two plays on denfense. Coach Wilson said he had planned to play him in the second half but the game was stopped.



Caleb's #73. I didn't get a picture of his face because I thought I would have time later in the game. However, the game was stopped in the 3rd quarter because of lightening and Caleb ran off the field before I snapped a picture of his face.



Caleb's First Junior High Football Game! They are about to run through the sign. He's in the pack somewhere. We were walking up late to the game because the two little ones were getting their homework done.

Football and other things

OK if I don't write this stuff down I know I will forget it. I always want to remember it because it is priceless. Caleb has started playing football this year. He is so funny. I love to hear the stories he comes home telling everyday! Ok on Monday they didn't do much except watch a UIL video on safety and get helmets. UIL requires them to wear helmets for 3 or 4 days before they can put on pads. So Caleb gets his helmet and says, "Mom, you always said I had a big head and really an X-Large helmet doesn't fit right. I guess you were right!". The next day, Tuesday they put on the helmets and worked out. He said, "they just told me to follow the guy in front of me and do what he was doing....I got so dizzy I almost fell down". I don't have a clue what the guy in front was doing but Caleb wasn't understanding it at all. I think they must have been doing drills, grapevines, and such. He said he keep crossing his feet and getting all mixed up. He cracked me up. My consolation to him was that, "Caleb honey you have size 10 1/2 men's feet, you are a big kid, and you are going to play on the line, kids your size DON'T grapevine very easy!" OK so today he comes home from the third practice and can hardly walk. His thighs are killing him! I just laughed and gave him some Motrin! He then reported he is getting better on the drills part and actually did them good today. He also said he got to hit the tackling pad today that a kid was holding up for him. I said well how did it feel. He said, "It was much more cushy than I thought!" He also said he knocked the kid backward so I guess he did OK for his first time hitting anything! I can't wait to see what the future holds for him. I think he may really like football. If not, then at lease he is having fun and meeting people. He also told me, as a wrap up of the day, "we did drills, hit the tackling dummy, learned plays, and THEN they made us run a WHOLE lap on the track! Three people threw up MOM!" I asked if he was one of them, he said no but he did drink 5 gallons of water after that!!!! He cracks me up. I wish you could see him tell about it!
Jared is doing very good after a rough little start. He is playing kick ball on the playground everyday and loves it. He is liking the whole "no homework" for the first week of school. I think he has always had it before.
Aaron is having fun but did get into the nurses office already. With a country school you get massive weeds. Well, the school cut the weeds down before school started but left the huge roots and stalks. Aaron fell right into a clump of dried weed stalks and poked holes all in both knees. He looks like he has a skin disease. He also fell off the seesaw! Oh well, what's a little blood when starting a new school! At least he is having fun!
Well, I'll run for now. More football posts to come! Caleb plays every Thursday night at 5:30 for the next two months starting on the 10th of September. Come check him out! It will be a hoot!

Love to all!
JJ

First Day of School at Miles!

The first day as Bulldogs!

The night before......

Hi everyone....I'm sitting here on the big night before.....you know the night before school starts. The boys are a nervous wreck. They are always nervous though! Jared is the biggest worrier. He is really very shy and is always worried about meeting new people. However, after the initial shock of meeting them he quickly becomes their best friend within about 10 minutes. He is so funny. Caleb is the least worried. That is funny to me because he really is going into a hard situation. He's in 8th grade, hormones are changing, boys are weird, and he doesn't know a soul hardly! Here you go son...have fun! No, but really he isn't worried. He spent all last week playing with the band and preparing for the new year. Did I tell you he gets to march with the high school band this year! That is one benefit of a small school. He is one of 3 alto sax players and is having a blast with it. He will march with them every Friday night and will get to go to all the games. He can't wait! Also, a double perk is that he doesn't have to fill out and turn in band logs this year. He loves to play in the band but really hated the band logs he had to fill out. He would rather just practice when he gets a chance and go for however long he wants to. Caleb is also looking forward to playing junior high football. I went with him to by cleats the other day. Let me say, I have NO IDEA about how to buy cleats! I just picked a pair that was his size and made him run up and down the aisle at Academy. It was quite funny really! Right after the selection of the cleats the High school football coaches from Miles walked up. Kelly Granzin is one of them. He talked to us for a while and met Caleb and approved the shoes. He was funny. I think they really were happy to meet such a big kid! I saw football stars dancing in their eyes. Hee Hee
So for the next 2 1/2 months we will be on the road every Thursday and Friday nights. Caleb plays football on Thursday and then plays in the band Friday. I need a raise just to pay for gas! Boy we will have fun and broke all at the same time. Caleb will be so busy with after school practices and homework we will hardly get to see him. I have a feeling it will be a very good year for him though. He needs this. To feel contected, to feel important, to feel alive and free to get some space and have things of his own. He is growing up so fast and I know that we need to let him experience everything he can. However, you know that Brian and I will be right there for the ride. I don't want to miss a single beat of it! They will be gone far to soon to miss anything!
Well, I feel like I am wandering and not making much sense, so I will close for now. We went to the Women of Faith conference this weekend with the girls and I am still brain dead from lack of sleep. The stupid hotel pillow tried to smother me all night long. I will NEVER go on another trip without my own pillow! It was a blast though! I'll post more on it later!!!

Love to all,
JJ

Finally time to post...

Good morning everyone! I am sitting at home on a Sunday morning finding time to update my blog. Why am I home on a Sunday morning you ask???? We are always at church during this time! Well, once again fate has caught up with the McGuire's. Yesterday afternoon, I was peacefully enjoying a nap after having to be at a seminar all day long, when Brian woke me up to come and check Jared's arm. Yep, sometime during my nap Jared fell off the top bunk of his bunk bed and broke his arm. I don't have a clue what the child was doing. Neither does he! From what we can tell, he was sitting on it one minute watching TV and the next he was falling through the air 6ft below. In my mind I think he was concentrating on the TV so much, that he didn't realize he had perched himself on the rail of the bunkbed. I've seen him do that before. You know sit on the matress, then slide up to the rail and slide back down to the matress. He hooks his feet around the ladder and just does it over and over. Anyway, at one point I guess his bottom just slipped off and down he went. After it happened we iced it down and watched it a while to see what it was going to do. It wasn't a bad enough break to tell it was broken (thankfully). After about 30 minutes the swelling started pretty good and we knew he had to go in. He was very calm through the whole thing and only cried a little while then just looked at us and said, "yep, this time I think I broke it". He broke his wrist when he was 3 years old so he thinks it felt the same way. Hee Hee, he was so tiny back then I don't think he remembers anything about it but this one he will remember! Anyway, at the ER we were the only ones there and we were in and out in 1 1/2 hours. The doctor stood and talked to us forever and even showed us the X-ray. We think he broke it right at the elbow. You know the long bone in your arm right before it connects to the elbow anyway. They couldn't really see the break all that well on the X-ray but we saw the swelling and the brusing around that area, big time. He is referred to the orth doctor for an appointment next week to get the cast on. He has a splint on right now and wrapped in an ace bandage with a sling on. It didn't hurt too much last night but today it's very painful for him. He is on pain medicine as seems to be doing OK for right now.

So that is the excitment around here now. What else has been going on....? Well, the kids went the Harriett's VBS and had a great time. There VBS is at night and by Friday night they were wiped out and and stayed home. It's so funny to see how a night VBS can do this. Caleb helped with recreation and I even helped with a group for a few nights. We met a lot of good people and had fun there.

Speaking of Caleb, he is enjoying some time with my brother Evie, my sister in law Cathy and their son Curtis in San Antonio. Cathy temorarily lost her mind and invited Caleb and her great nephew to spend 10 DAYS with them. Caleb is in Heaven! Cathy has been taking them to walk and hike everyday on different trails around the area, as well as swimming, going to the movies, to church, and has even planned a trip to Schliterban next week. She is doing a really cool thing and sponsoring a back to school 5K walk/run and party next Friday for their community. They are getting in shape now to make it on the 5K walk. It sound like a blast and I know Caleb is loving it. He has really been trying to workout and get in shape because he has decided he wants to try football in junior high this year. I took him to get his physical for it the other day and he is 5'8" and is 185 lbs. Really though he was wearing shoes, and his 5 lbs pair of shorts though so he is a little lighter than that. He really wanted to do football, basketball, and maybe baseball next year so I think we will let him try everything he wants. He never wanted to even try in middle school the last couple of years because he was afraid he wouldn't make the team. I don't know why really but now he wants to try so we are going to let him.

Well, I guess I will run for now. I'm still enjoying my summer and have now started my 12th book. I don't want to go back to work at all right now. I have had several seminars lately but that as much as I have thought about it. I don't have to go back until the 31st so I have time to work myself up for it!

Love to all,
JJ

What's New???

Hey guys, what's new with you???? We have just finished with a week of being on the Boomerang Express at VBS. The kids loved it as always. Caleb was able to run the sound booth and video all week long and really loves it. He did a great job. I ended up with between 8 and 12 kids in my 3rd grade class all week. We would join up with the 4th graders to rotate to music,crafts, rec., and snacks. They had about 8 kids in 4th grade so we had about 20 with us most of the day. We really had a great group and only had a couple of kids who we had to knock over the head! Hee Hee!

Well, this weekend we said goodbye to my dear Aunt Elizabeth. Her funeral was on Saturday and we really enjoyed getting to be around family and friends and getting to see everyone. All of my brothers and their families (except Crystal) got to come and we got to visit. Elizabeth had a great life and lived to the age of 84 years old. She was my daddy's oldest sister. I remember so many things about her because she was always around and doing everything with us. I don't remember a time in my life that she has simply just not been there. She was active in everything and was really a huge part of the community. Clint said at the funeral home the other night, "man I can't believe all these people knew her!" It was funny to me because in all reality she knew so many MORE people than that. She had always been a part of everything. I would love to know how many VBS's she helped with. I bet if you counted them all it would be over 50 if not more. She taught God's word more years than I have even been alive yet! She was always working in the church and had a awesome testimony of how not to give up and "retire" in the church. So many people think that when they reach a certain age that God is through with them and they are excused from serving him. Elizabeth was not one of them. She was teaching and leading in bible studies all the way until the end of her life. I loved looking at pictures today at Aunt Irma's today. Many people don't have a lot of pictures from when they grew up but, my Daddy's family was not one of them. They have such great pictures of all of them growing up and moving to Texas. Family trips and Easter Sunday's were all documented well as well as snapshots of them playing and everyday life. They were great. My Daddy was so handsome! I love seeing him grow up. Everyone needs to riffle through all the pictures in Aunt Irma's box, it has great treasures!

This week hold rest for us. I plan to sleep to an obsence hour in the morning and just rest. We also are going to take the kids to the local Harriett Baptist VBS at night. It had a kick off party tonight. The kids played games and won prizes while we walked around and met new people and talked to some old friends. The run about 25 kids in VBS over the week. They are praying for 40 this year and passed out 120 invitations to people. We are hoping the kids will meet some other kids that will go to school with them this year. So far no luck. All the kids we met are in grade over them or under them but not with them. Caleb volunteered to help out and they are going to let him do the sound booth for them during worship rally. It really is a very small church but, I know they are good people and the kids will have fun.

Well, I guess that is all for now. I am going to upload some pictures from VBS to the computer and will post them soon. Have a wonderful week!

Love ya all
JJ

Aaron's baptism. He was so cute and so happy!


Down he goes in the water. Buried and raised into a new life!

Aaron answering the question "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as Your Lord and Savior and do you desire to follow him all the rest of your days?"


Here is is curling is toes around the brick at the bottom.


Aaron is standing on a brick on the bottom of the baptistry. This is where I thought be might get the idea to splash the choir!

What's Up!

Hey gang, as promised, I am checking back in. I have not picked up another book yet, except of course for the VBS materials. It's VBS week at Hillcrest and this year we are prepared! Last year we had more kids than ever before and had to go into full blown panic mode. I had 25 in the 3rd and 4th grade class that I taught. It was nuts! I was literally stepping on kids because they were so packed in. This year, however, we decided to break up into individual classes and I am only having to teach the 3rd grade. I had 10 yesterday and 11 today. So much better! They can have fun and really get to learn much better. If you have 25 in a class NO ONE gets to asks questions or input but with a smaller class you get to actually see them learning (you know what I mean). You see there wheels turning and see how they are processing the information. Anyway, it's been fun so far! Aaron was selected as student of the day for his class today. He got to get his hair spray painted and pick a toy. His teacher tells me he is so good and helps her keep on track. She says he is going to be a teacher one of these days. His mission teacher also made a comment about how he is so good at answering questions and is really eager to learn. I can see him turning out to be a teacher one day. Since he asked Jesus into his heart at Children's Camp this year (did I blog about camp??? I don't think so...man I'm behind) and was baptized he has really started learning tons. He reads his Bible a lot without being told to and is wanting to study more and more.
OK let's see.....I'll just go through family and tell you how everyone is doing.
Brian....is Brian....what can you say. Since we have moved to the country I don't hardly see him. The man is a country boy at heart. He is the biggest piddler, neighbor, tinker'er, I have ever seen. You know the type...my Daddy is one. The type that likes to stay outside, working on stuff, visiting with the neighbors, running down the road to talk to my brother Mac and goof off at his huge vegetable farm. He LOVES living in the country. His Mom always said that after they moved to Miles she never saw him much except at night because he would stay outside all day long. With Brian's 40th birthday sneaking up on us in August, I think he is in his second childhood and loving the country life! Other than that, he is is working and trying to sell the old house. NO we have not sold it. We have had one offer that was lower than we needed it to be. We tried to nogotiate but it didn't work. Anyway, we have lowered the price and have had a lot more activity around it lately, but no offers. We praying and know that God is sell it in His timing so we are not worried. Until He sells it He is providing the money we need to make the interest payments on it so we can't complain. It's so out of our hands it's not even funny. There is no way we can do this at all!
Me....well you know what I have been doing. I've read all summer. Last week I went to a workshop with all the girls from St. Luke. It was a lot of fun and not near as boring as it couldn't have been. I liked getting to touch base with all of them and talk about the new year. I don't have to start back until Aug. 30th so I have a lot of summer left still!
Caleb....is going to be 13 years old on Thursday! I can't believe it! Where in the world does the time go! I will offically have a teenager in the house this week. We let him pick out a new phone for his birthday today. I know it's early but, come on you can't get a phone they will like unless they are standing right there. He has had his other one since 6th grade and has not lost it, broken it, or forgot it once! That is pretty amazing for a kid I think! He doesn't use it all that much right now still (he's a boy and doesn't have much to say)but, I have a feeling that when girls hit the picture all that will change. Yuck! I am so not looking forward to that! Caleb is excited about being a Bulldog this year. We went up to the school and the high school principle (Merl) took us on a tour. He showed Caleb all his classes and showed him his lockers. He has to walk about 50 feet in between classes and has 5 minutes to get there. He is in Heaven! At Lee, he had to go a block in 3 minutes and up a flight of stairs, while carrying a 30 pound backpack! He is really looking forward to it. Please start praying now for Caleb to have friends and to really enjoy it. I know it might be really tough moving in your 8th grade year.
Jared....is also loving the country. We bought him a brand new BB gun for his 9th birthday(also a post that I am behind on) in June. He loves shooting at things. He loves going outside and just roaming around. He's a lot like his Daddy and usually goes with Brian visiting the neighbors. One funny thing the boys decided to do was to bury a time capsule. Right after moving here, the discovered that we would let thme dig holes. I don't know why they like doing this but, they have always liked digging BIG holes in the yard. Anyway, they had already dug one hole and then the next day wanted to do another one. I am in the house taking a nap during all of this, sadly or I might have some pictures. Anway, I wake up and they drag me out to a freshly covered hole with a big rock over the top of it. On the rock, Aaron wrote in marker "X marks the spot", "Do not remove for 1 year". I laughed like crazy! Under the rock, is a butter tub with treasure inside for a time capsule! I don't know what is all in there really. I guess I will find out in a year! I love boys!
Aaron...well you have heard a little about Aaron already. His big thing is that he accepted Jesus as his Savior during Children's Camp in June. He was a part of Bro. Rody's group and he stuck to him like glue all during children's camp. After the sermon on Monday night, Aaron raised his hand and said he wanted to know more about asking Jesus into his heart and life. The pastor talked to him and then told them to think about it a while. The next morning Aaron was up bright and early and was on Bro. Rody's heels. He looked and looked for him. Finally they squatted down in the middle of the driveway and talked about Jesus. Soon after, Aaron and Bro. Rody came to find Brian and I and took us into the prayer room where Aaron prayed and asked Jesus to come into his life and live there forever. Brian was crying, I was beaming and Aaron was just too cute for words. I love that little boy! Two Sunday's later, he was baptized at the church. He was so cute going into the water. I was very afraid, as Rody talked to the congregation about Aaron's decision, that he was going to splash the choir on the other side of the baptistry. I was hoping Rody would go ahead and dunk him and get him out before it crossed his mind! I could see it in my mind, Aaron playing with the water and then flinging into the 1st row of the choir loft. Hee Hee! Of course, HE DIDN'T do it and everything was beautiful.

OK now you are up to date kind of... I know I have missed so many things. I will try and go back and post some pictures soon. One thing of note about our lives is that our pastor Brother Rody has resigned from our church shortly after baptizing Aaron. It was a shock and a loss that we are still trying to reocver from. I may try and post more about it soon but right now the thoughts just won't come. They are still all over the place. However, I know my God...all things work together for GOOD for those that love Him. And I know I LOVE Him so things will work out! I trust Him and yes even "thank Him" for the trails we are going through. We will come out more refined and more precious for it! His will be Done!

Love you all,
JJ

A confession!!!!

Ok many of you have wondered...what happened to the McGuire's???...did they move and fall off the face of the map????....are they so busy they haven't blogged in two months???? are they still alive???? O.K. here is the confession....we moved...we worked and set up the new house...then I started a new book series!!!!!!! If you know me at all...you know that when I pick up a book all life stops as we know it until I am through with the book. I don't clean, don't cook (much), don't do anything until I am finished. Well, the problem is I was given by Amy (yes it's her fault again, she leads me into so much trouble Hee Hee) at whole series of books 7 in all called the Mitford series. So for the last month I have live with Father Tim and his wife Cynthia in Mitford! It was a great vaction in my mind (which is all we can afford this year!) So now I am finished with reading the 8 books (oh and I of course had to go back and reread the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Price book too, so that I can critize the movie coming out) and I am back among the living. Well, I did pick up one on Sunday, again which is the sequel to the Mitford books but there is only one of them so far and I finished it today (Tracy is to blame for that one). So now you know my confession and know where I have been the last couple of months. The confession is out! Sorry all of my blog friends and loved ones. I hope you haven't missed me too much!
Well, my husband just called to say he is coming home for lunch and I have to cook! Yuck! I promise to post more later on!

Love to all!
JJ

The McGuire's Are Moving!

Hey guys!

We are rounding up and moving out FINALLY! The McGuire's are heading out to the country officially on Saturday at 9:00 a.m.! If you feel the urge to moving something heavy, put up pictures, arrange a kitchen or make beds come on out and help. We need all the help we can get. Believe me we have been in this house 19 years and we have more stuff to move than ever before. The good news is that we have already taken out soooooooooooo much stuff. I cleaned out all the closets today and moved all the clothes. The amount of stuff that is going to the garage sale pile is WILD! I found
4T clothes in the boys closet. Now....look at my boys and tell me...when was the last time they were in a 4T????? 3-4 years ago maybe????? I don't know how they have hidden so long in the closet. Anyway, this weekend we packed up everything we could carry and started hauling things away. Mainly, we only have the BIG items left to move plue my whole kitchen. I am going to work on packing it tomorrow. My cabinets still need to be finished before I can work on that. The guy we hired to do them does AMAZING work on an AMAZINGLY slow time table. He is the type that will always do what he says but it takes him a while to get r done. Anyway, I mainly have things already sorted out from the "getting ready to sell the house" clean up I did a couple of months ago. The rest just needs to be packed and put back in the cabinets. I went today and finished picking out all the stuff for my walls. I love being able to buy new decorations. I have had the same old things for a very long time now. I also found a comforter set at Target that will go great in my bedroom. I found the boys new ones at Wal-Mart the other day when I ran in to buy a birthday present. Don't you just love that kind of deal! It's unexpected and perfect and you didn't have to put a lot of leg work into finding it. Now, I just have to find something for Caleb's room. It's sooooo orange! I'm having a hard time figuring out what to put in there. I think maybe a solid brown and be done with it.

Which reminds me....I have several things that won't fit in my new house and would love to sell/give away/get rid of. Does anyone need a computer table.....a child's dresser with 6 drawers...pantry....metel book shelves...wooden book shelves...dresser with mirror....headboard for a Queen bed to match the dresser (needs some TLC)...rocking chair....and who knows what else. Anyway, really if you want to look at anything I have feel free. Most everything is an oak color. Anyway, let me know and I will be happy to let you have a crack at it before the big garage sale someday in the future!

Well, it's time to say prayers with the oldest of the clan. I'll leave it for now. Come by on Saturday and say hello and take a load of junk to my new house with you! Hee Hee

Love to all,
JJ

The Last Week

Hey everyone how is your life? Ours is good and tiring. We are pushing hard to the last weeks of school and summer is teasing us. You know the feeling....summer is just out of reach and just calling you to slow down, sit, relax...all the while you are running 100 miles an hour finishing up the rest of the year.
Friday night the Jared and Aaron got to enjoy the boys camp out at church. Brian and a group of brave men souls at the church took about 27 boys camping at the State Park. Some of the the boys lasted all night, some of them didn't. I called Brain at about 11:30 p.m. and asked him how things were going. He said his group had been asleep for about an hour! Meanwhile, me and 23 girls and brave women souls are "locked in" at the church and the party is just getting started. We stayed awake until about 3:00 a.m.! Well, we put a movie on about 1:30 a.m. and I had to stay awake to make sure no one wandered away. Most of the girls passed out immediately but I had a few that kept popping up during the movie and running back and forth to the kitchen. They stayed awake the whole time. The funny thing is...it's usually the little girls who stay awake. The 4th-6th graders usually pass out while the 1st-3rd graders giggle away into the morning. What do we do with a group of 23 girls for that long you ask??????? Here's a run down: Manicures, eat pizza, make bridal gowns from toilet paper, bible study, crafts, play mystery game, snack time, play murder in the dark, movie time and off to bed. It takes a lot of time to do all that!
After Friday's night of fun, we came home Saturday and passed out! I slept for about 3 hours and then got up and worked on my end of the year photo colleges for my kids. It took FOREVER. I did 12 individual colleges for my kids with pictures I had taken all year long. They turned out cute but I wish I had done them bigger. Some of the pictures are little bitty. Anyway, I will perfect them one day. I did them on Wal-Mart photo. It's very easy to use and it's fun. They now have scrap book pages they will print out and you can stick them in your books. I might be able to do it that way. I'm soooooo not one of those who cuts individual scraps of paper to make things cute. I just don't have the will power.
On Sunday, we went to church and then headed home to do a much needed scouring of the "selling" house. Still not much in the way of bites on selling the house. Everyday there are fliers missing from the box but not many lookers. I don't know what to think about it really. All is know is that Brian and I have a peace about it given to us by God and He will sell this house in His time. I think that's why you don't see more desperate posts and pleas from us. And let me tell you....for Brian not to be worrying about it selling is HUGE! This is the man who didn't buy me a cell phone for 3 months because he was worrying over the decision and checking out EVERY possible option. I rest in his peace and the peace God gives me also! After the cleaning, we headed out to the new house to spend the night! I still just love it there. We worked on electrical outdoor lights, and fixing the pulls on the ceiling fans and setting the toilette in the boy's bathroom. Brian got up and went to work on Monday while the boys and I slept until 9:30 a.m. We had stayed up late watching the movie "Bolt" so we slept in. Amy came out and ate lunch with the whole Herd, including the new puppy Hershey. Hershey was the calmest of the group. He slept on the kitchen floor the WHOLE time. He's the cutest chocolate lab. She brought me a computer table that I need for the new house. The one I'm using now is just too big and won't work. So I talked her and Tom out of the one they were using. It will work really well in the space!
Well, this is the last week at my school. On the schedule is water day, pizza parties, and two early dismissal days. Whoo Hoo! I'm so excited and kind of sad at the same time. I hate to think I won't see these kids anymore. Some will stay in kindergarten at the school but half of them will spread out into every elementary classes in town. I'll be sad to see my monkey's leave. I think I need to do a monkey theme next year in my room. I end up calling every class my monkey's. OK I'm officially rambling and too tired to type! Hope you have a great week! God bless and love to all!

Love,
JJ

Life is good!

Hey guys, just thought I would check in and type while I have a chance. Life is good in the household and is not calming down a bit. I didn't realize how much easier things would get after the Mother's Day Tea was over. I guess when you are in full swing you don't know what calm is until it's over. We are still working on the house a little at a time. We moved a load of stuff out on Monday night and checked out the garden space my Daddy plowed up for me. Now...you have to understand....when I asked Daddy to plow it and when we talked about where to put it...we just have a silent understanding about what and how big it was going to be. Problem is....no one let Brian in on the plans. I thought the man would have a heart attack when we saw the place Daddy plowed up. I had to just laugh! Daddy and I are used to big gardens! You know where you have about 5 or 6 of everything planted not just a few things. That way you make sure you have something that produces. I'm going to get out there and work until my fingers bleed! I love a garden! I've missed a garden! You can grow anything with city water. (No offense Tom and Amy!:)) Now.... all this being said the critter count at the new house is as follows: Ground Squirrels 1 or more, (who knows they are quick and all look the alike), rabbits 1 or more (see note about the squirrels), fire ants (too many to count), red ants (too many to count), and a small red and black snake living in the flower bed (found by Judy as she screamed and tried to dance her way out of the flower bed while swinging a hoe.) So it's ME and my garden against the critters of the Triangle. Stay tuned to see who will win!

This Friday Brian and I will be working with the church at a girls lock in and boys camp out. We take the girls 1st-6th grade and lock them into the church and scream, play, paint fingernails, do mystery plays, have bible study, and eat...eat...and eat some more. The boys load up and go to the state park for a camp out. Jared and Aaron get to go this year. Caleb is too old (AWWWWW) and has to spend the night at MeMaw's being spoiled rotten. Poor thing! I can't wait to see what Aaron gets into. Jared tried to jump over a cactus last year and fell short! Many needles later....he was fine but will NEVER try it again. Aaron,however, has not learned this lesson and will probablly jump over a cactus! It should be a hoot to hear about. Pray for Brian he is not really a camper outer! He is more a hotel and swimming pool kind of guy! If there was a way to hunt deer in a hotel he would be in heaven!
Well, I had better run off to bed now. Only 6 more days left of my school! I can't wait!!!! Life is good! Very good!
Have a blessed week! Pray for me Friday! These bones will turn 39 tomorrow and it's hard sleeping on the floor!

Love to all,
JJ

The New House Camping trip!

Hey everyone!
Sorry I have been so out of touch lately! I have heard from many of you who want to know what's going on! I love it! It makes me realize that I am not typing into the UNIVERSE! I love knowing people are actually reading the blog! OK so here is the run down.

The Mother's Day Tea at work!
Checked off the "to do" list!
Yippee Yahoo! It was on Friday and everyone had a GREAT time and everything went perfect. The kids were cute, the parents gushed over everything, and the whole thing was wonderful! After all the work, sweat, blood, and sore muscles I'm glad it's over. However, the party diva in me is already planning next years tea, even though we have talked about stopping after this year.

The New House:
We got a wild hair on Friday and after a brief nap after work, we loaded up and headed to the new house to spend the night! It was so much fun. We piled the back of the van full of stuff and went on a curtain hunt before heading out. I found the curtains at Wal-mart and Lowe's. OUCH! Curtain prices are high! Now, I know why I have the cheap mini blinds in the old house. However, I really wanted curtains in the new house so we bit the bullet and bought them. Now.......what comes after buying the curtains. IRONING THE DOG OUT OF THEM! We went down to Me-Maw's house (the boys rode their bikes) and spent about an hour and a half or more IRONING! Yuck! Me-maw then loaned us her air mattress' for the boys to sleep on and we went back to the house the blew them up. Everyone piled in the living room and we watched Indian Jones and had a great movie night. Of course, we had already taken our old queen size mattress set out and set in up in Caleb's room for him, so we slept on that. Caleb is on a twin bed currently and is about to fall out of it. He is about one inch shorter (maybe 5'7 by now) than me and weighs about 165 or so. So needless to say he needs a bigger bed! On Saturday, we watched I Love Lucy tapes and had a quiet morning and then Judy cooked us lunch. After lunch, we mowed, worked on the shower, toilets, and cleaned. So far we only have to fix one toilet that leaks, get the kitchen cabinets finished, and put up a fence for Peanut. We are looking at moving VERY soon. After being out there this weekend, we are spoiled and want to live there. It's quiet and so cool. I opened the whole house on Saturday and didn't turn on the air once! I love windows that open without getting a hernia!!!!!!

Other than wrapping up the end of the school year not much else is going on. I have 2 weeks left and the boys have 3 weeks left. I can't wait!!!! My kids are starting to read now and it's so much fun to watch them sound out words! They give me chill bumps when they start figuring it all out!

Well, I had better run. I will post pictures of the Mother's Day Tea Decorations soon. Right now I need to pull my worksheets for next week!

Love to all,
JJ



Riding to Me Maw's. Yes! Little Bit Aaron did it too! He made it the whole way! Even on the tiny bike. He won't ride his big one for some reason!


Camping on the floor watching a late night movie!


Getting out the air mattress to camp out in the living room floor.


The kid's bathroom. The floor is really cute!



Caleb's Hook em Horns room. No the quilt won't stay. I think it's too much!



Jared and Aaron's bedroom and curtains.



Our bedroom curtains. The ALVACADO room is really a warm color. I like it more and more each time I go out there.



Living Room curtains. No...the room isn't as orange as the picture looks. It's just the camera. It's a tan color.



Curtains over the French Door. I can pull them at night and then open them during the day and see out the beautiful doors.



Aaron playing the favorite game of the new living room "rolling races"!



Jared in the Living Room getting ready to unpack!

Oh yeah!

It took 2 coats of Kilz to cover the BLUE bathroom and two coats of the ALVACADO (inside joke with Amy who LOVING refers to it as poop green)green paint to cover the kilz!

I just decided to replace all the plugs, plug covers, light switches, and light switch covers because the had so much blue and turquoise paint on them! Oh yeah that should have been on the list. Brian finished them up today! Check!

Pant, Pant, Pant.... Whew! It's been a wild couple of weeks!

Hi Everyone,

I can't believe it's been so long since I have checked in. Can you guess what I have been doing? One of the last posts I wrote stated "I have a Key". Well, that key worked and opened up a WHOLE new can of worms. Not really a can of worms but another remodeling project but, this time it's fun and exhausting all at the same time. As I sit here and write this here are the updates....

New House (Formally known as the Triangle House)
Picked out paint and bought at least 10 gallons of it in various shades!
Painted EVERY wall in the house!
Painted EVERY closet in the house!
Painted EVERY shelf in the house!
Watered dead and dying grass and trees until they now are not dead!
Fixed the air conditioner!
Fixed the hot water heater!
Mowed yard twice!
Dug up flower bed!
Piled up bunches of stray rocks!
Filled in holes around the yard!
Scheduled cabinets to be sanded, striped, and restained. (Starts Monday night)
Scheduled all flooring to go down Tuesday!

Old House:
Fixed roof leak caused by removing cable antenna from roof
Painted ceiling in bathroom to cover leaking spots
Kept house COMPLETELY spotless for 1 and 1/2 months!
Had two open houses to show off spotless house! No takers yet!

Work:
Made 12 Place mats for Mother's Day Tea.
Made 12 Invitations to Mother's Day Tea.
Painted 12 presents for Mother's Day Tea.
Made 12 picture frames for Mother's Day Tea.
Still have to make 12 corsages for Mother's Day Tea.
Still have to decorate the stage for the Mother's Day Tea.

Church:
Planning a Lock-In for ??????# of giggling girls. Had 20 or so last year.
Have to paint boats and build sails for the yacht races at AWANA's by Wednesday.
Went to Buncho night to destress from my crazy life.
Planning Children's Camp 2009 to happen in June for 30 plus kids.

OK. now you know why I wrote Pant, Pant, Whew! I can't even keep up with myself at this point. I told Mindy, my boss, the other day that it seems like I am living two different lives right now. The hard working employee and the crazed remodeler! I swear if someone asks me to make a decision about paint colors anymore that I will have a melt down and start sucking my thumb! Hee Hee!

Other than the above the kids are doing great. Caleb finished up 3 days worth of TAKS testing last week. He takes the dyslexia bundled test so they spread his Reading test over two days. Jared took his final Math TAKS on Tuesday. He is glad it's over. So am I! I really can't wait for this year to be over. I have so much else going on that school is getting in the way. The boys are so ready for it all to be finished also. However, the homework has gotten better after the TAKS so maybe everything settle down.

We hope to move to the country sometime in May. You are all invited to come! Hee Hee! I would like to move the last week in May because the kids are still in school but my school finishes a week earlier. That would give us a whole week to get set up while no rug rats are around. They have really been helpful though. Caleb busted up several places of stray concrete around the new house and hauled it off. He then dug dirt out of the field and filled in the large holes. Jared and Caleb have also been able to ride their bikes to Me Maw and Granddad's house about 1.2 miles away. I didn't think they would make it. I just knew Caleb would call to have me come and pick them up on the side of the road. They also did it when the wind was blowing about 25 miles an hour! I'm really pretty proud of those country boys!

Well, I had better get some sleep. Friday is the big Mother's Day Tea! I'll need my strength!

Love to all
JJ

PS Hey go check out Amy's website to see the pictures of my new house. She helped paint one day and took pictures. Mine are horrible! Click on her "herd" blog at the side and go see!

Wayne's Surgery

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would let you know about my Father-In-Law, Wayne's, surgery. Today he went in to have his prostrate removed because they had found cancer. He arrived at the hospital at 8:00 and was taken into surgery at around 10:30 a.m. It lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. He was in recovery for about 45 minutes and then moved to room #563 at Shannon. He did very well and the doctor was happy with the surgery. He went ahead and also removed some large lymph nodes around the area and will have them tested for cancer also. However, he thought that they would be fine. Wayne will be in the hospital for at least 3 days. Please lift him up in your prayers for a speedy recovery and fast healing. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers!

I have a KEY!!!!

I have a HOUSE!!! Yippee yahoo! Praise the Lord! I can't tell you how happy, relieved, and excited I am! We signed the papers at 3:00, came home and finished homework quickly, and then headed to our new house! I managed to clean the sinks, started washing the cabinates, and watering our various trees and bushes. Of course, we do live in the country now and of course I kept stopping to visit with all the neighbors, family and friends who stopped by. I guess when they see you unpack cleaning supplies, power tools, and water hoses they know you are coming to stay! We had Uncle Sid, Aunt Betty, Robbi, Tammi, and Shiloh stop by as well as a couple of neighbors. I loved visiting and showing them all around. I know the boys had a blast. They picked up trash around the yard, helped Brian with the storage shed, and found 5 golf balls, a Nerf football, and a plastic spider on the 1 acre of land.
Now we have to get down to business and get the paint on the walls, the flooring pick out and put down, the carpet laid, the dishwasher and fridge delivered that we bought this weekend, and put up a chainlink fence. They only thing I can say for sure is, at least this house won't be so hard to get ready to show since we won't be here much! I can't wait to get everything set up! I have an unnatural urge to call in sick for the next week and go paint. Do you think they would figure me out??? I think so!
On another note, please keep Wayne in your prayers for Wednesday morning for his prostrate cancer surgery. We are praying that all the cancer is removed and that no follow up treatments are needed. We are also praying for a speedy recovery. He will be in the hospital for at least 3 days. Connie's dad was in for 5 days and is doing very well. He should have been able to go home today. He was just surprised how much it hurt to get up or even get out of bed with the large incision.
Well, I guess that is all the news for right now. I will let you know when the painting party is going to be. Saturday afternoon after the garage sale looks promising!
Love to all,
JJ

Will Monday EVER come?????

Hey guys! I thought I would post some pictures of the new house! We are set to close on Monday at 3:00! I can't wait! Today we bought a new dishwasher and Fridge from one of Brian's buddies who has a store. I am so excited. God is really working all the details out. We found out how much we have to take to closing and it's less than we thought. All in all we will be out about $700 for closing costs! Is God great or what? We also got a great deal on the Fridge and dishwasher and saved a ton of money on them. Now don't get me wrong there have been a lot of scares along the way. At one point the bank called and said we would have to pay $700 more at closing. I hyperventilated and had a panic attack. Then gathered myself together and said OK, God will provide. It turns out she looked at the contract wrong and it was a TOTAL mistake! Then on Thursday the bank called again and asked us it we knew there was a lean against our house for $7,500! Turns out that there is another Brian M. in town that has VERY bad credit and owes a lot of people money. They put a lean on our house to get money from him. All we have to do is sign an legal document that says my Brian isn't that one and we will be fine. As the time draws closer to the "close" of this long journey I can hardly breath! It's been such a long process. We have been trying to move out there for almost 20 years! Anyway, I can't wait for Monday at 3:00! I can't wait to start painting and fixing it up! I thought I would post these "before" pictures to show you how much work there is and to guilt everyone to coming and helping!!! Hee Hee :))))))I'll keep you posted when I have a key in one hand and a paint brush in the other!!!!! Come and play!!!!
Love to all,
JJ


My backyard! Full of weeds and mainly Johnson grass right now! OH the work but, I will have a blast every minute!



How many coats of Kilz will it take to get rid of the BLUE bathroom! Vote now!




The dining room and kitchen! Yes, I know it's small but it's perfect for me!




The Triangle House as we call it will be ours on Monday at 3:00 p.m.!!!!

The House was Open...did the buyers see it?

Hey guys! Well, the painting is DONE! Thank you Jesus! Brian and Daddy started the fun when they sprayed the house and Brian and I got busy and painted it in a week. It was wild and wonderful and oh so very tiring. We trimmed the windows out and painted the doors. One day Brian and I managed to spill almost a whole gallon of paint! The first time he was pouring it into my bucket and I dropped it and it splattered all over the garage floor. Then about an hour later he sat the paint down to move the ladder and kicked the bucket! I laughed like crazy and he just tried to not say things he would have to repent of later. I ended up having to go and buy another gallon just to have enough to finish up. On Friday night we cleaned out the pool and got it ready for the open house. I managed to water the whole backyard with the green water at the bottom of the pool. Yuck! On Saturday, I did something that should have caused a major hailstorm, rainstorm or earthquake. I CLEANED MY WINDOWS! I drug out the ladder and hauled myself all around the house and scraped the over spray painting and the drips from the windows. I don't actually think that I have EVER washed the windows of this house. Come on we live in Texas right???? The dirt blows here all the time and I feel a certain pointlessness to the whole thing. I really think this whole "house selling" thing is starting to effect my common sense and judgment!!! Hee hee :)
Well, everything was ready for the open house on Sunday. We went to church and out to eat and then vacated the place for 2 hours and prayed for a buyer. According to Bob the realtor, we had about 8 "groups" of people come through. About 20 people in all if you count them. He seemed to think we had one or two serious ones. So you do the math...I don't have a clue. So far we have seen more people come by and grab fliers out of the box but we haven't really showed it any at all. I'm just glad the work is over and we can rest and get our lives back for a week.
That brings me to the next news. We will close on the house in Miles next Monday. If all goes well we will have a city home and a country home! Hee Hee! I can't wait to start painting and putting color on the walls. I HATE white/antique white walls! That is all we have in this house now and it's driving me nuts. I have several paint colors selected and keep narrowing down the choices. I might post them later and ask your opinions of them. I want color on the walls but I also don't want to get things too dark or over done. Brian would go into shock! He likes "white"! I think he and Amy's husband Tom should move in together and live in a all white house. (It maybe the loony bin after we all get our remodeling done. She is doing her living room right now.) Also, after we close on Monday, Wayne will have surgery on Wednesday. He will go in that morning and be there for at least two days, maybe more. I ask for your prayers as he goes into surgery and for a speedy recovery. Please pray that Jesus would prepare his body for the trauma and allow the cancer to be removed completely. Also, please be in prayer for Judy as she stands by his side and nurses him. Please also keep my sister in law Connie's dad, Billy in your prayers. He found out he had prostrate cancer about two days before Wayne did. He will be going to Austin to have the new surgery done to remove the prostrate sometime soon.

Well, other than buying houses, surgeries, and the normal homework and kids everything is perfectly normal around here. Any more normal, and I would have to be on Prozac! LOL :)))))

Love to all,
JJ

Bible Quiz, painting, and a whole lot more!

The New Paint Job!!!!! What do you think?????

Wow! Time is flying by and I can't remember being so busy in a VERY long time. I know I usually always complain that I am busy. However, until recently I didn't know what busy actually was! Let's see last week was pretty uneventful. My school is going fine. The kids were a bit wild coming back from spring break. They did fine about Wednesday though and really settled down a bit. I am amazed how much they have learned this year and am so proud that some have started putting letters together and reading. It's a blast watching it all click in their little brains. On Friday night MeMaw came and picked up Caleb and Aaron to take them home for the weekend. (It was only suppose to be Friday night but the little darlings (Hee Hee) convinced her to let them stay one more night. Jared stayed home with Mom and Dad because he and I went to Abilene on Saturday to compete in the AWANA Bible Quiz. OK he competed, I just sat back and tried not to throw up from being so nervous! We took 14kids with us to the competition and about half of them were in my 3rd and 4th grade class in AWANA. This was our first year to go to Bible Quiz and we had NO IDEA what to expect! We just went to have fun and learn about what it's like. Jared did great! He didn't place in the competition but he did an awesome job. The first thing they did was the paddle drill. They get a multiple choice question and they have to hold up the correct (A,B,C) paddle. Jared only missed one out of the 12 questions! I was so proud. I personally had to guess at 3 of them myself (while safely sitting in the audience). He was on stage with 23 other scared to death kids. Next was the written test. He got 20 out of 25 questions correct. That was awesome! Last was the speed round. Basically, the give to you a buzzer and then ask a question. You have to be the first one to hit the buzzer and get the answer right. You really have about a 1 in 23 chance of being the first one to hit the buzzer. He never got to answer a question in that round. I asked him later if the ever hit his buzzer and he said NO! He said he didn't know any of the answers! In truth, I think he was scared to death to stand up and answer a question in front of all those people! I would have been! He did great though and he is hooked on going! We did have two teams that placed in the competition. My group of girls placed 3rd in book one and my older girls placed 4th in book 2. I was so proud. I think they did awesome for their first year! Honestly, they didn't even know what a paddle looked like before they walked in!
The the meantime, Brian was busy as a bee painting our house with Daddy. He and Daddy got it sprayed on Saturday in about 3 hours time. It looks very good. I'm so happy that we were able to save the money and do it our self. Sunday we worked on getting the trim and painted around the windows, doors, corners and everywhere else. My arms and knees are so sore I can't hardly move!!! It really looks good though and we hope it will bring lots of lookers. So far we have only had one. However, from what I can understand, that is pretty normal for the market. They are saying that it takes about a month for people to really notice and get qualified and get an offer on the table. I hope and pray that they are right. Brian and I have been praying non stop over this all and really feel that God is going to sell our house exactly when it's the best time. We feel that He is leading us to buy the other house and so we will close on that house on the 14th of April whether our house has sold or not. It's very scary because we will have two house then and two sets of stuff to juggle. However, it will allow us to paint, put the in carpet, put down the new tile and get everything done before we have to move. I like the thought of not having to rush to get things done. Now know for SURE that we have sought God's face on this and would NEVER do it unless he told us. It's so not like us to take risks and own two houses. God just keeps telling us trust me, have faith in me, I will do what I say I will do. Do you believe me???? Then trust me!!!!! I know that his timing is always better than mine anyway!
Well, I had better run and get my sore bones to bed. I'm tired and we still have about 1/3 of the house left to trim. Yee Haw!

Love to all!
J.J.

PS On a special note please keep our family members, Jason and Michaelle, in your prayers. Jason lost his father today around 4:30. Monroe has been in poor health for a while but he died very suddenly and tragically. The whole family will miss him deeply.

We have a 100% Score!

Congratulations to my truly brilliant middle son Jared who made a 100 on his first ever 3rd grade reading TAKS tests. We got the results yesterday and the child was floating on cloud 9! He called Daddy and Memaw to let them know right away and will tell anyone who will sit still long enough. His comment was, "now I don't have to worry anymore"! Bless his heart he was truly stressed over the whole thing! It was hard to see him that way but also hard to sympathize with him because I knew he was going to make a 100 the whole time. The child freaks out when he gets a 98 for the most part! I don't have a clue where the brilliance comes from (other than God above)but I hope it NEVER stops! For his reward, he has picked a trip to the Abilene Zoo this summer. They always get to pick one "grand" prize for a 100 (shoot for the stars) and then a "runner-up" prize for a commended performance (missing 2 or less) then a "passing" prize. Jared's were the Abilene Zoo, heelies, and a BIG ice cream from Marble Slab. Anyway, I over heard him telling Memaw that he would get to go to the Abilene Zoo this summer "as long as I don't flunk the Math TAKS test in April. Because then I will have to go to summer school and wouldn't have time for the zoo!" He is such a hoot. I have a feeling he will have another 100 on the Math test because he never misses anything on them either. But, he considers Math is worst subject! He is just too funny! Anyway, I am very proud of him and can't wait to go to the zoo!

Love to all,
JJ

The wrap up!!!!

Hi everyone! Well Spring Break is officially over and I am NOT happy. I loved it! I love my time away from all the hustle and hassle of school. The kids are great and I love being around them. They did such a great job with having fun and not driving each other crazy. Saturday we got the house ready for the "showing" and then took Peanut (the dog) and headed up to our Youth Group Car wash. We had a lot of fun and I helped wash about 10 cars. The boys had a blast helping! OK with Aaron and Jared you can't really call it "helping" too much but they were bound to knock off some dirt running around with a sponge. At one point, Aaron was found sitting in a large puddle having a ball! He loved it. Caleb was worn out by the time we made it home around 1:30. He was also slightly burned even though we used sunscreen on him. I, on the other hand, did not burn but had to take Tylenol because on arm was killing me by the time it was over. OK, I am officially using muscles that have never seen action! With all the house fixing and the car washing I am going to get in shape! Hee Hee!
Sunday, we headed to church and had a great worship experience. Our pastor was out sick, bless his heart. However, our youth pastor did a wonderful job preaching. After lunch out with Wayne and Judy we came home and started working. I got my stuff ready for school on Monday, did all the laundry (yes ALL of it), unloaded and reloaded the dishes and then passed out for an hour nap. After the nap, Brian and I got out the power washer that we borrowed from Dennis and power washed the paint off the house. We are getting ready to paint it so all the old peeling junk off the eaves had to go. Man! I love the power washer! I would buy one if I had the money! It's so cool! We did the whole house in about 2 hours! I can't believe how it just blasted the stuff right off. The kids raked the all the paint chips and bagged them up. They did an OK job until Jared climb a tree and fell out. Big,big, big scrape on his side. He was Ok after a band aide and some loving.
Well, I guess I had better run and get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to come very early. I loved being able to sleep in until 8:30! I got spoiled! Have a great week everyone! I will let you know about any house developments! We haven't heard anything from the showing on Saturday. You couldn't even tell they had been here except a door was chained that I had left open. Be blessed today!

JJ