Counting my Blessings

Well we made it through the week and now have a three day weekend to recoup before it all gets going again! Although we do have....you guessed it MATH homework for the weekend along with some science. Can't we just have a little break? I had a friend give me an article today out of the Dallas Morning News about homework. Wish we could rise up as a group of parents and get some changes made on the amount of homework if any! Okay I'll get off this soap box, but not before giving God the glory for all the neat ways that he has answered my prayers this week through so many sweet people in our life...

1) My baby sister Amy who happened to call right in the middle of our first night of math homework!
2) Jody Clark-our new math tutor, and happens to KNOW Jeffrey's math teacher.
3) Friends who have offered wisdom, and ideas, and prayers for us.
4) New friend made today in bible study, Cheryl and her 7th grade son who loves to helping his peers with math!

It has been so amazing to me that God has worked out all the details to get us through this little challenge, and I just love it when he cares for us in the ways that we don't and can't even think of. It's all gonna be okay!!!

On a different note I have had to miss a couple of days of working out with Marv being out of town and my busy schedule, but tomorrow I will be meeting up with a group from the gym and running (well walking fast mainly) a 5K with them all. Ron had shirts made up for us to wear as a group and will help give him some advertisement for his fitness program. It should be fun, and hopefully easy compared to the 1/2 marathon that I did a couple of years ago!

HELP

I needed help in a bad, bad way...and I got it today! It always amazes and humbles me when I am in dire need~over my head~and bless my own stinking heart just feeling crazy cause for some reason with everything going on...Marv out of town for the entire week, boot camp can not be missed, school and schedules, and oh my gosh the 6th grade math homework EVERY night without fail! Today and this week is one of those times and I have just been literally shaking knowing that Jeffrey would come home with the unbelievable homework that I didn't do until high school and college...and just barely got through then! Marv had planned on having me fax it to him, but he had to hob-nob (or something like that) in Austin with the realator types so I was pretty much on my own when out of the blue my precious baby sister who just happens to be the mensa queen and got ALL the brains of the family calls me up and with all the patience and love in her heart helps me help Jeffrey through some crazy- type math. I just lost it with her on the phone, and all three of my babies starring at their basic math- kinda momma trying to understand why it mattered that Bob ran 8 kilometers...and how long did it take him. I DON'T CARE BOB!!! I would like to ask why it mattered that my child has up to 4+ hours of homework every night and how much longer do they expect him to make it at this rate....do that math,K! Sorry I have just had it with watching my amazing 11 year old come home each day grab a quick snack and then muster up the most amazing God given diligence I've ever seen and watch him try to dive into his homework every night. He has no free time to climb trees, ride bikes, or even read a book for fun. I'm so thankful to be in a top notch school district, but it seems like the teachers who have no children of their own yet just don't get what it is like to have this stress and pressure each and every night.

The other precious friend that helped me out today was my friend Nicole, who I handed off the pta presidency to~bless her heart! : ) She offered to have my kiddos come spend the night so that I could get up and go work out and be back in time for the Clark girls to get here in the morning. She also offered to try and do some of her mathmagician type voodoo to help me with the homework tonight. I just feel so blessed, and am TRYING not to feel stressed since God sent these two angels to step up and stand by my side through this craziness of homework and schedules. It's hard to not have family near by, but with friends like these it's all most just like a family. It takes a village....and I'm just thankful that they can help this village idiot be the best mom I can try to be! Can I get a witness in here?

Happy Fall Y'ALL!!!

I don't know if it's today, or tomorrow, or maybe it was yesterday.... I do know it feels like fall today with cooler temps and a little rain. Praise the Lord and thank you God for it! I love this season and time of year all most as much as the spring time! It just feels fresh, and cozy. When I start seeing the brown, yellow, and orange colored wreaths on the doors popping up I know it's Fall! When I see the scarecrows, pumpkins, and mums I know it's Fall. Unfortunately it will still be a while before the real trees start showing their fall colors IF they get around to it before the first big wind and freeze come through. When my friend Kim moved to Virginia she sent me real leaves off of trees to show me what Fall colors really were like in the real world. They were purple, red, orange, and yellow. Just amazing and so beautiful! Here in the Great State they are pretty much brown, yellow, and crunchy DEAD brown! I still love it though, and hope to someday travel up North, or East during this time of year and see what real Fall trees look like! Anybody want to join me?

I'm in the Army now

I started the Ron Lyon's Ultimate Fitness program (a.k.a. BOOT CAMP) on July 3rd. It is an intense workout program of weight lifting, cardio, core training, and nutrition. I go every morning at 5:30-6:30 except for Sundays. It has been life changing already, and I'm just in the 11th week. I will be through with my 22 weeks December 3rd.

The week that I started my best friend Kim Voiles and her family were visiting from Virginia on their summer vacation. It wasn't gonna be easy to stay up late every night getting our visiting in and be able to get up at 4:45 every morning, but I made it. It also was difficult to eat right since we were celebrating and eating out mucho, but I made it. I'm so glad Chris and Kim were there for me that first week. It was comforting to know that they would be up when I got home wanting to hear all about it, and do my measurements! I had been praying for God to help me be morning person and it's happening! Now don't get me wrong I still love my sleep and love being up at night, but I get so much done now earlier in the day. Now I didn't do this to become a morning person...I did it to loose weight! As of today I have lost 181/2 pounds and lot's of inches. In fact it's been something new to have to get used to is not worrying so much about the scale moving as how my clothes fit. Since I'm gaining muscle the scale isn't going to move as much. I still have a long way to go, but I didn't put this on in 22 weeks...more like 12 years. Earlier this week Ron made us go around to each of the 15 people in the group and shake their hand, look them in the eye, and say..."I WILL SUCCEED!" This was VERY meaningful for me, cause I've tried so many things, so many times to get healthy. This is it finally for me, and I feel such a freedom to be able to be doing this right now.

Last year I was PTA president and just running crazy with all of my stuff and kid's school and activities going on. Marv and I sat down and realized that we weren't living life with purpose. So I stepped down from my pta position, and didn't sign up for anything else so that I could make getting healthy my key purpose and job this year. I love my sweet husband for supporting me, and allowing me to get my STUFF together! I also love, love, love my 3 biggest cheerleaders Jeffrey, Jacob, and Julia for their enthusiasm for letting me know when they think my bottom is getting smaller. They remind me what IS and ISN'T healthy to eat, and maybe they do have a little incentive (a pool) if I loose the 80 pounds that I need to loose. "PUT DOWN THE DOUGHNUTS MOMMA!!" It's been fun, and truly humbling to know that my family still loves me no matter what size I am, but how much fun is life when you have the peace and freedom of living in a healthy body! I will post some pictures soon to show progress, and for sure show the before and afters one day!

Too Blessed to be Stressed

"I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!"

I received this quote in an email from Marv's cousin today and it really just hit home with me and made me smile. How true this is for all of us here in America...even if things aren't going the way WE planned in our life~God can have a greater plan for you than you could have every thought possible. It doesn't always make sense, or seem to be as easy and nice as we would like it, but isn't it neat that even when our lives seem such a mess from our own doing, or from the card that has been dealt to us that God can work literal miracles and in our weaknesses HIS strength is stronger than anything in our life.

Satan loves to rob us of our joy by lying to us and getting us all worked up to the point of being so stressed and freaked out over what is going on in our lives at the moment. But WE ARE TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED. This doesn't mean that certain set backs, or tragedies in life aren't stressful, BUT we can decide to look at the blessings once we can get over the shock of the situation and then give God the glory for HIS perfect PEACE that comes in and takes over our nerves, heart rates, and blood pressure. It's easy to be disappointed when things just don't seem to follow our lesson plans that we have for our lives, but I have learned that when God's anointing falls on your life and you accept Him and make the decision to let him be the LORD of your life...not just going through the motions and being all religious and spiritual, but truly let HIM be on the throne of your heart then you can have a trust in God that will supersede anything this world has to offer.

I don't want to pretend that many of you reading this blog aren't experiencing some tremendous hurts, disappointments, grief, or straight up despair straight from the pit of hell. I've been there too over the last 36 years. I want to pray for you, and lift you up to the Lord. So that you can experience the amazing healing that only God can bring into your life. Hope this quote blesses someone today as it has me!

9/11

I remember turning on the t.v.-not a normal morning routine-to check the weather. I had a meeting at Jeffrey's elementary school at 10:00 and needed to see what to wear. All of the sudden I saw the Today show switching to live coverage and talking about something weird going on at the twin towers when shortly after that I saw the second plane hit the building. Marv had just come back home from dropping off Jacob at preschool. I ran out in my robe telling him it was like a nightmare and we just sat there watching t.v. wondering what if anything we needed to do. I didn't get out of my robe the whole day until I had to go pick up the boys, and Marv worked from home that day trying to get some things done, but just sick to our stomachs of what this meant for our country. It was so hard to sleep and every time we would hear a plane, or anything I felt myself ducking. I went to the grocery to store to get some bottled water, and canned goods...just in case. Looking back on it now I just had Y2K in my mind and thought I had to do something to get ready for what I don't know, but I felt like I had to do something.

Going to New York this summer was eye-opening to see that it was real, and that people all over the city would share with us where and what they were doing on 9-11. I can't believe it's been 5 years. It seems like a life time ago in some ways, but I'm thankful that we have not had a repeat. Here are some pictures that I have from our day that we visited Ground Zero. The fire station right across the street had the memorial from the men they lost that day. The cross made out of the steel beams landed that way and they haven't moved it since. It is just a huge hole in the ground, and so many of the buildings (around 10 I think) around the towers are having to be torn down due to damage from that day. An interesting thing was that the church across the street wasn't hurt at all. Not even one window was broken. It was a place of rest and refuge for many rescue workers for months.

Curtsinger Spirit Rallies

We love our kids elementary school. It is so neat to see God's hand in bringing us to this wonderful place that has been such a blessing to us. The Spirit of the school is all most so tangible you can feel it in the air when you step onto the campus! It is just contagious and gives me chills when I get to be a part of it. We used to have Good Morning Curtsinger EVERY morning before school started, and spirit rallies EVERY Friday, but now it is just a couple times a month. Coach Beeler and Coach Morgan do an outstanding job of teaching the kids all about school and town pride. It's amazing to see close to 800 kids and 1,000 people total (teachers, parents, grandparents, little siblings) come and join in on the fun! It's loud, energetic, and just plain fun!



On Thursday my kids came home saying they needed to get a bowl, spoon, and a rabbit to help make rabbit stew since we were playing a team called the rabbits in football Friday night. All the kids and teachers wore aprons and made chef hats to show their spirit. What fun! Our counselor even had a fog machine and MADE some rabbit stew of her own!

On a sad note Jacob ran for student council, but was beat out by two of his good friends. He wrote his own speech and made his poster ready to win, but it just wasn't meant to be. He said he wasn't mad, or sad, just very disappointed. He said, "Mom you win some, you loose some!" So true even though it hurts to see them try so hard and not get it. Next year little buddy!

DeDe's 2nd birthday

Happy Birthday to our little 2 year old Boston terrier! DeDe (a.k.a. Deeds) is our favorite pet ever! We've been through several dogs to get to her, but it was worth it. She does still have a barking issue with STRANGERS, but we're working the Ceasar's Way method with her and she is getting soooooo much better! Marv and I did not grow up with inside pets of any kind...well there was that one fish that I fed too much because we were leaving for vacation and I didn't want it to get hungry. Needless to say there were so many flakes on the surface of the water that the fish couldn't even float when it died much less get air! You live and you learn right? Anyway Marv and I had a dog named Jake our second year of marriage...we forgot to feed him, or he was stolen...not sure what happened there. Then we got a HUGE mut dog from the HEB parking lot in Cleburne for $5 named Chester (for our friends in Virginia). He was awesome and beautiful, but each time I would take him to the vet they just kept saying what kind of dog is this? He was 70+ pounds with in the first few months. Chester I'm pretty sure was really a horse. We had to give him to a family who had a 100 acre place out in the country when we moved. Shortly after we moved here we bought our first EXPENSIVE/pure bred dog....Oscar the miniature Dachshund. Oscar, oscar, oscar....what can I say. It was our first attempt at house training and crate training. It just didn't go well, and he liked to bite my kiddos. Should've known better to buy it from the place we bought it...but again you live and you....Oscar went to stay with Aunt Michelle while we were away on vacation and well let's just say that she had to remove him from their property due to a freakish episode during a thunderstorm, etc... and we haven't seen him since. The kids were some what relieved and you know I was! Thanks Michelle for doing my dirty work!

Deeds has been the first dog that we have successfully house train, taught some commands, and have really just loved as a true part of the family. She's doing well to be in her teen-age years. We look forward to many more happy memories with her! Marv wishes he could teach her to bird hunt, but I don't trust him around her with a gun! He would love to have a lab! Not really! Marv loves DeDe more than all of us put together! The pictures are of Dede as double dip eating a pooch cone for her birthday. She such a great little traveler...it's all most like having 4 kids!

Invinceable

Went and saw the awesome movie Invinceable last night with the McAfee family. It was really a fun movie to watch even though our guys weren't with us. At one point I wanted to ask everyone around me if they knew how the game turned out cause my heart was just beating so fast I didn't think I would make it to the end! We will for sure go back and watch it with the guys again~it was that good! I just realized that the guys name is in the title...well that is if I actually spelled it right! It was fun to look back in time and remember how everyone dressed and how things were back then.

I'm so thankful for a little break after these first few weeks of school. It's nice to be able to take a breath before diving right back in to it all. I heard from Marv and the boys last night and they are up to 8 birds now and having a grand time. Julia Sage and I are gonna meet up with my sister and her girls for some girl time later on today...Michelle told me this morning that she has taught Gabbie a new phrase to say to Maggie when she is getting a little out of sorts...Gabbie says,"Maggie stop being passive-aggressive!" That's just like my sister to teach her baby girls to tell it just like it is! Too funny to think about little red-headed Gabbie saying that in her cute little angel voice! Gotta go shower off the boot camp and start a Saturday siesta a little early!

Taking a step back

I have kept a little girl, Emily, for the past couple of years since she was a baby, and now she is old enough to go to a mom's day out/preschool. She is now joined this year by her baby sister,Taylor, who is five months old. They are so fun to have the 4-6 times a month that I have them. It's really neat to see how my kids interact with them. When Emily is here it's like she is a part of our family and all of the sudden I have 4 kids. She has her own chair at our table, and just fits right in. My kids pretty much take over once they are home from school and I don't even realize she is here. This has been good for Julia to experience what it would be like to have a little sister, and to get some practice so that when she becomes a momma she will have some idea. Now that Taylor has joined her it is even better because all my kids are older and so helpful. Last week they came over and it was my first time to take Emily to her preschool. Man I felt like I had stepped into a time warp that slung me back to the mom's day out/ preschool days! It was a little unsettling and felt like I was taking a step back, but I did just fine! For those of you out there who still have little ones...it's true...don't blink cause they grow up fast! I just thought that was a saying that people said like when asked, "How are you? we say.."Fine." even if it's not the truth. But they really were telling the truth when they told me how fast it all happens! In many ways I'm so thankful to be out of that stage of life with the diaper bags, blankies, change of clothes, snacks, etc...but since going back with Emily it just makes me a little sad that it's over. Kinda like the way I was sad that our wedding day, and the birth of our children were over. You can't ever go back. It's fun to see others going through those passages of their lives, and to remember your own experiences. It's not so much fun for others to have to sit and listen to all your detailed accounts...when I had MY babies....back when we got married... I guess I feel very surreal most days, and have learned to really try and appreciate each and every moment as they happen cause it's just gonna be over before you know it.

Man is this so deep and serious, or what!!!?

I'm so grateful to God for all the blessings that this family of mine has brought in my life. I never would have dreamed as a child/rebelous teenager that he would have this for me in my future, but I'm glad to be able to be living this life the way that I do. Even if it doesn't always work out...I know his plan is perfect and in the good and bad times God is faithful to sustain and provide just what I need to make it through and learn what I need to learn so that I will be able to help others through when it's their turn.

Dove season

I think this time of year is bitter-sweet for me...I grew up in a family full of gun-slingin' hunters, but it's just hard to know my babies are out there killing precious innocent doves with their daddy! I'm so glad they are having their male bonding time...getting all grubby and stuff out in the wilderness. Marv got a couple of other dads and their 11 year old sons to join them, so I'm sure they are gonna have a ball at the Cisco Motor Inn! Julia and I are loving just staying home and catching up on some chick flicks. We got a call this morning saying that they got 7 birds this morning and that Marv wouldn't let Jeffrey claim the one he SHOT OUT OF THE AIR (WOW SON!) until he picked it up all bloody and twisted it's little neck to make sure it went quickly! Jacob hasn't actually shot yet, but Marv taught him how to help the bird go to heaven too! How is this okay? We don't NEED the meat cause we've got a freezer full of deer and hog meat from last season...any takers? We have a pair of doves, or should I say a dove couple, who live in our landscaping. I hear them coo and everything and just see them hanging out there loving life. If I can just keep them from flying across the road to the country then hopefully I will have saved at least these two little peaceful creatures!

Why Flying Freckle?

We always seemed to have the newest Dodge van when I was a kid...I remember a green and white one, then brown, and then I think the last one was blue. My Dad got the whole month of July off since the boys ranch closed down for that month. That's when we would load up the tents, canoe, and later on the travel trailer and head out towards some of our cousin's homes. We would always stop off in Ft. Worth at my Daddo and Mommo's house to have a send off of turkey sandwiches for the road. My dad loved to drive and would even drive all night long some nights while crunching ice chips to stay awake. Mom loved to read books with both feel planted firmly on the dash of the car. I am the oldest of four and we would rotate seats. There were two bench seats and then a bed type platform in the back of the van that my dad made. On some trips before the bed we even had a porta-potty back there complete with curtains that my dad sewed himself! (Watch the bumps DAD!) We were fancy and ready for traveling thousands of miles! Growing up none of us had cell phones, much less t.v.'s in our cars when we traveled, but the one thing we HAD to have was a CB radio. My dad even got high tech later on when he rigged up a speaker just for himself that was closer to his ear so it would be more quite when we were sleeping,or when the language got colorful he could hear while protecting us from it. The cb radio was a truckers pre-cell phone way of communicating to each other for weather updates, traffic reports, and police sightings. It even helped us find cheaper gas-who doesn't need that now days! We loved listening to all the different truckers to hear what was going on in the world of highways and byways! We liked to use it for entertainment often asking the truckers questions, and we would sing to them songs like Jesus loves me! I'm sure that kept them awake! We would even sometimes be talking to them and end up passing them so that we could wave and pump our arms trying to get them to blow their horn. Man what a rush! Well after talking on the cb for a while you begin to start talkin' real countree like and askin' 'em questions like...."Whatz yur handle good buddy?" and "10-4 good buddy...come back?..." We had to get our own cb names, also know as handles so that we wouldn't give out TOO much info just in case..... Well mine was....can you guess it? FLYING FRECKLE!!!! I was covered in them, skinny, and big ears flying down the road in our get up towards the nearest, or farthest destination!

Those were the good old days! (I know I'm getting old when I can use that phrase!)

Now when we take our thousand mile trips we have cell phones, game boys,and dvd players for each kid WITH headphones and remotes! Our best friends from Virginia even got real high tech on their last trip to Texas this summer and had a computerized gps type system on their lap top computer that told them what exit to take for gas and food. It also kept up with how many miles left, etc.. to their destination! Now THAT is fancy!!! We didn't get to drive to New York this summer due to scheduling conflicts. Most would think well yeah isn't flying faster, easier, and better? Well not when you don't get to SEE what's in between here and there, and not when your kids miss out on the open road experience. I'm not gonna lie and say that's it's always pleasant to travel miles and miles, but it's sure worth it! Next summer we hope to head West. You can be sure that we will at least turn off the movies and game boys just long enough to teach our kiddos how to do the arm pump and get those truckers to honk their horns! "10-4 good buddy....this is the flying freckle...what's your handle....come back?!"