Every child needs something to hug

As we drove into Belgrade, Serbia with Trey and Randi, we stopped at a light, and two little kids came up to the window begging for money. It was heartbreaking. We saw all kinds of people trying to make an extra buck in many different ways all over Europe (another blog post), but kids begging was a little different. Randi said not to give them any because they have to give it to the adults in their family who use it for things other than the kids. She explained they were from the Roma community nearby, a group of gypsies basically, who set up camp in parking lots or fields. There could be hundreds of them, and once they are there, the owners of the land can't do much to get rid of them. They build their homes out of cardboard, or pieces of scrap wood they find around. One community had even built a restaurant in their parking lot. She said many of them have jobs and could probably live somewhere else, but because of culture, choose to stay their with their community. I wanted to take pictures of them, but she said many of them think if you take their picture, their soul is taken by the camera, but a snapped a few while we were driving by one day when we didn't see anyone.

The strange thing is, the children were actually clean and dressed nicely. We saw some taking a bath one day at a community water spicket. Some places you see extension cords coming from somewhere into the shacks, so some of them have electricity. The really amazing thing is that the Roma's have the largest Christian church in Serbia in a Southern city. I guess because they have nothing, some of them fully depend on the Lord for everything. Imagine that. There are people sent to Serbia to strictly minister to the Roma's. It was all very eye opening for me.

Yesterday morning I saw a facebook status from Operation Christmas Child, with this picture.

"in SERBIA: Iovana, 3, hugs a teddy bear from her shoe box gift. She lives in a Roma community with her mother and four siblings, in a house with no running water. She loves dolls."

It brought me to tears and yet made my day at the same time, just remembering the sadness I felt when I saw that community, and yet the joy on that sweet little girls face. So emotional. We've made Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child for many years, but seeing a child holding a doll she received when I've actually seen how she lives, makes a huge difference. I can't wait to take my boys this year to buy things for their boxes and turn them in. I highly encourage you to participate. Collection week is Nov. 14-21st. We are collecting them in the preschool area at UBC until Nov. 17th. If you have any more questions about it, check out their website here or ask me. I don't usually buy a stuffed animal for my boxes, but I think this year, I will. Every child needs something to hug.

Choosing the Right Path

I just walked for the first time in a few weeks. I haven't felt well, and walking when you feel like you have 50 lbs on your chest isn't a fun idea. But today I walked, not fast, but I walked. I came upon a fork in the sidewalk and realized that if I took the left choice, it would add on 10 minutes to my walk, and today I took that way. I then saw how many forks there were in the sidewalk, and opportunity each time to make the walk longer, harder and more time consuming, yet a way to push myself harder. How much longer would my walk be if I took the longer path each time? I didn't try that today, but maybe someday.

I was thinking about my new lifestyle of healthier living and how really each day I am given a fork in the road, a choice to make. Do I eat these chocolate chip cookies I'm making for my boys, or take the harder, yet healthier path, and refrain. Do I stop by Sonic and grab a hamburger because I'm in a hurry, or wait 20 minutes until I get home and eat something better for me. One path is easier, and maybe not even a bad path, just not the best.

Lord, help me today to see each decision I need to make as a path in the road, and take a minute to decide which path is the best for me, even if its not the most enjoyable one. Thank you for a minute of clarity on my walk this morning. Thank you for your beautiful creation and worship I enjoyed this morning. Amen.

Psalm 23:3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Psalm 119:35 Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight

Proverbs 4:26 Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.

Book Review of "Sunrise on the Battery"

Sunrise on the Battery, by Beth Hart is the story of redemption for a family soaked in the culture of trying to "beat the Jones" and making sure their children have a better life than they did, no matter the cost. Mary Lynn and Jackson Scoville pulled themselves out of a country life and are striving to live a city life with all the social connections they can make. But Mary Lynn's heart is still sad, and missing something. She attends a Bible study and church occasionally, and one day asks for prayer for her husband. God reaches down and answers that prayer in a big, inconvenient way. Is she really willing to have her husband lead their family spiritually, even when it doesn't fit into their grand plan for the future?

I have read many Christian fiction books where the plan of salvation and grace seems forced into the story. But this story line is completely built around the salvation of this family, so the whole book is a wonderful testimony of God's miraculous changing power. It was also a great reminder to me of the trap the world sets for us of looking good on the outside, even when we are struggling on the inside. I would recommend this book and am interested in reading other books by Beth Hart.

I was given this book for free by Booksneeze for an unbiased review.

Who is Reading This?

I periodically check my stats on my blog. I like to see how many people read each one to know which types of posts get the most reads. Who am I kidding? It boosts my self esteem when I get a good number. Of course, my highest read post was "Hurt Feelings". What does that say about blog readers?

But every once in a while I look at the stats that say where in the world my readers are. And just this week I had readers in Latvia, Russia, India, Balarus, Israel and Trinidad and Tobago! What? I have been to Latvia, but it was 11 years ago, so I don't know if people there actually know me. And I know who my readers are in India, the UK, Serbia, Brazil and France. (Hello friends!) But the rest are beyond me. I guess its just random people who some how come across my blog. I'm not sure how that works. I spend entirely too much time reading blogs and Facebook stats from people I know, I don't have time to wander around and read from people I don't know. But I think its neat! It makes me realize in some sense how small the world is becoming and yet how big it really is. I didn't get email until I was out of college and just to see how much things have changed, how I can communicate with people all over the world in the blink of an eye, is crazy to me.

It also makes me realize that even though I don't have a huge following, each person that reads this blog for whatever reason, God may have brought by for a purpose, and I need to take seriously what I am writing about. I want His name to be renown. So even if my most read post this week was on couponing, maybe those sweet people stuck around for a minute and read about Him and what He is doing in my life. That is my prayer.

Psalm 96:1-3
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples

Potty Training, Take Two

So we've been potty training in our house now for a few months, and I thought we had made great progress. I thought we had #1 down to a science (we won't talk about #2). But we've had lots of accidents this last week or so, simply out of laziness in my opinion. I made the mistake this morning of telling my sweet one that if he had an accident at school today, I would have to come pick him up, hoping that would scare him into submission. Nope. Ten o'clock got a call. Now what? I really wish I hadn't said that, but I did, so I have to follow through because I'm really big on that, so back up to school I went. He was not happy. I was not happy. It was a wake up call for both of us. For him, because he realized this is serious. And me, because I realized I haven't been consistent enough. We've both been lazy. So we are starting from scratch. We headed for Starbucks for me, and then to Dollar Tree for him. He picked out a little notebook, some star stickers and some Blue's Clues stickers. When he goes #1, he gets a star sticker for his notebook. Three star stickers, and he gets a Blue sticker. So far, so good. I have to be consistent about taking off the pull up after nap, and being willing to take him every 30 minutes if that's what it takes. Now #2 is another story. We have toys waiting for when that happens, and a promised poo-poo dance, which I will make up on the fly. I can only dream of that day!

New Mercies...

I had a really rough day yesterday. So first I called my momma, and she talked me through it and her last words were, "Remember His mercies are new every morning!" Thank you for that. Then last night, I saw my sweet friend Cari was on FB, so I dumped my day on her for a minute (love friends who let you dump your day on them), and her last words were "Remember His mercies are new every morning!". Well, thank you for that! So I went up to bed and thought I might like to look that verse up to read it for myself. When I found it, I almost wept with just an overwhelming sense of His sweet love and faithfulness! And I slept wonderfully! And yes, today is a new day filled with His wonderful love, grace, compassion and mercy for me. Hope these verses help you today!

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”

The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3:22-26

European Foods Part 1 - Budapest

I thought I would write a quick blog post with pictures about some of the foods we ate on our European adventures. But after going through my pictures, I realized it would be way too much for one post. So here is part 1. Hope you're hungry!

Budapest:

We didn't actually eat this, but I couldn't help but take a picture of this lovely item we found in the local market. We laughed about it for days!

This was an amazing pastry we found at the market. Basically a hotdog made with a pastry, and two kinds of cream on the inside. Trey, Randi, J and I all tried to share it, but it was oozing out all over, so we were laughing hysterically while trying to enjoy it.

And this was the sweet girl who sold it to us and then laughed hysterically at us trying to eat it. We came back another day to get another one, but alas, the market was closed. Very sad.

Pictures do not do this justice. We found this restaurant and ordered. The table next to us got their food first, and we were shocked by the serving sizes. Then our food came. The four of us could have shared one of our meals. It was all delicious, but crazy amounts of food. People were stopping walking down the street to take pictures of every one's food.

This was Jason's shish-kabob. He did a fairly good job of eating it all.

Waiting

I was reading some scriptures the other day about waiting on the Lord and started thinking about all the things we have to wait for in life. There are the minor things, like waiting in line at the drive through, in line at the grocery store, waiting for that guy to call, waiting for bedtime, waiting for the cookies to be done. There are the middle ground things, like waiting on a ACT test result, waiting on him to propose, waiting for a vacation to arrive, waiting for your husband to get home from a long trip. And then there are the major things, like waiting on a lab result, waiting on a loved one to pass away, waiting to get pregnant, waiting for the baby to be born, waiting for a college acceptance letter. Lots of opportunities to wait.

I was thinking about how most of the things we wait for are out of our control. We feel like we are waiting on a person to do what they have to do so we can get our results. Or are we are waiting on the hand of God. These are some of the verses I was reading.

Psalm 5:3 In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 33:20 We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.

Psalm 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.

Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

Psalm 130:6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Isaiah 26:8 Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.

Isaiah 30:18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!

These are only some of them! I know if you read the context, some of the verses are referring to us waiting on the Lord to return, but most are just waiting on Him to move in some way. And I realized most of those things listed above that we wait on, we really aren't waiting on a person. We are waiting on the Lord. If He wanted us to have the result sooner, He could have that person move faster. The timing of getting married and having children, when we trust Him, that is entirely in His timing. Waiting on getting test results or getting job interviews or college acceptance letters, I am believing that those things are in His hands too. We aren't really waiting for people, we are waiting for Him to allow those people to do what they need to do. I don't know if this makes any sense. I just had joy when realizing that nothing that comes to me hasn't already come through His hands first. His timing is perfect, even when I am impatient. I can wait on things expectantly, with hope, patience, strength and desiring for His name to be renown.

Some of my New Favorite "Lifestyle Change" Foods

I'm going through "Made to Crave" by Lysa TerKeurst with some of my coworkers at church. Its a great book, and although I'm not 100% diving in, I am making small changes in my lifestyle. I've realized that by making a lifestyle change to live healthier, it works much better for me than being on a diet. If I'm just living a healthier lifestyle, then when I splurge, its just a splurge, not failing at a diet. So I've been eating lots more fresh vegetables, walking more regularly, and eating healthier snacks instead of sugar. So here are a few of my new favorite "Lifestyle Change" foods.

Campbell is not a Baby Anymore

I was in Rome on Aug. 9, so I missed my baby's third birthday. He didn't know the difference, but I did. I had extra gellato in his honor. And so I didn't get to blog about how wonderful he is. Better late than never.
Campbell is very funny. Its not really one liners that I can post on facebook, but just his expressions, responses to things and the way he interacts with his brothers. He just makes me laugh. His new things is "squeeze hugs" which I have shortened to "squgs". We moved him into a twin bed last week, and he was so excited. I was afraid he would be sad about giving up his crib/toddler bed, but he wanted to give it to his cousin Luke in Virginia. So sweet.
He is bossy, not unlike my other two at this age. He wants things done the right way, and will tell me and his brothers where we are supposed to be and what we need to be doing. He's usually right. He loves to carry his lunch box and "puppy" with him to school. He's still a great napper, but we have to wait until he gets home from school, so he sleeps from 2:30 until we wake him up for dinner at 5. Then we put him back down at 8:30. He usually lays there in bed and talks to himself for an hour, but I don't care. He's quiet. His favorite song right now is "Big House". I heard him singing it in the bath the other night, but he just kept singing "Big, big table with lots and lots of food" over and over. That's my boy.
We are still potty training. He did number 1 on the potty the week he turned two and I thought this would be a breeze, but here we are a year later, still working on it. At his two year check up the doctor was a little concerned because he wasn't talking much. NOT an issue. That same week he finally said "ma ma" and hasn't stopped talking since. He is very polite, says "excuse me" when he burps at the table and then laughs at himself. Ha.
He loves to play tackle football with his brothers. He also does fairly well tagging along with me to watch football and baseball games. So I can't wait to see how good of a football and baseball player he will be in four years after all of this practice and observation.  He is very opinionated about what he wears, unlike my other two. Takes a little longer in the morning to get him dressed. He still loves Blues Clues and Wiggles, but will watch other things sometimes. On the days he's home with me, its hard to get anything done because he has to follow me all over the house. If Cade is home, he'll follow him instead. So he is in preschool 4 days a week and loves every minute of it. His two best friends are girls and no one else can be friends with them. He's very loyal. He will eat all day long if I let him. He's a grazer. Here are some pics of my angel. I am so thankful for him!

Bacon Ranch Chicken Recipe

I love this new blog, www.crockpotgirls.com.
I tried this recipe tonight and everyone loved it!

Bacon Ranch Chicken

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 tbsp real bacon bits
1tsp minced garlic
1pkg ranch dressing mix
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
egg noodles

Combine bacon, garlic, ranch dressing mix, soup, and sour cream; mix well. Pour over chicken in the crock pot. Cook on high 3-4 hours. Shred the chicken and put back in the pot and add the egg noodles; mix together.

Doors

Most of the cathedrals we saw in Rome had amazing, beautiful doors. And one was always more beautiful than the rest. "The Holy Door" is only opened during the "Holy Year", the Jubilee year, every 25 years. It's bricked up on the inside.
From: 'St. Peter's - Guide to Basilica and Square'
The last door on the right is the "Holy Door". This door is bricked up on the inside. On the first day of the Holy Year the Pope strikes the brick wall with a hammer, and so opens the door to let in the pilgrims who come to make the most of the indulgence. It will be closed by the Pope himself at the end of the Holy Year. The Holy Door represents Jesus, the Good Shepherd and the gate of the sheep pen: "I am the gate. Whoever enters through me, will be safe. He will go in and out, and find pasture" (Jn 10:9).
They have carvings telling the stories in the Bible. I could have stared at them all day. Here are a few.

Psalm 24:7 Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.

That's the verse that would pop in my head every time I saw one of those doors. I can't imagine the entrance that Christ will make when he returns. Won't need a door!

My Feet

If you are one of those people that will read this and say "I can't believe she was on a wonderful trip to Europe and is complaining!," then just don't read this one. Towards the end of our time in Belgrade my little toe on one foot began to hurt and I realized I was getting a blister. No problem. Put on a Serbian band aide and kept going. Then we hit Rome. Mostly Rome has cobblestone streets. Someone on our trip said that when you see cobblestone streets, you know there is something cool up ahead. Very true. However, most cobblestone streets I have walked on have big cobblestones, rounded off at the edges. But Roman cobblestones are little squares, and are pointed on every corner. By day three I felt like I was walking on nails. Both of my little toes had huge blisters, and at one point I'm pretty sure I pulled a muscle in the arch of my right foot. I only had two pair of shoes with me, so I traded out the shoes so different parts of my feet would hurt, and wore two pair of socks, but by the end of the day, I couldn't take another step! I asked on facebook one night if anyone could tell me how to watch American shows on our laptap, and more than one person commented that I shouldn't be watching tv when I could be out on the town taking in Rome every minute, and I totally agree, but I'm telling you people, I could not walk! I had promised myself before we left that I would not complain on our trip, so I tried really hard. But eventually J would notice I was limping. I apparently have messed up feet. He said his feet never hurt.

Our last night in Rome, we were walking down a different street, only a few blocks from our hotel, and came across a museum. The museum was at the top of a hill, and water was coming from somewhere up there, and ran down this trough down to a fountain. All around the fountain was another trough of running water. People were taking off their shoes and soaking their feet in the water. I almost danced with glee! That water felt so magical! I was almost praying it was Italian holy water that would somehow heal my feet. It didn't happen, but those 10 minutes we sat there was amazing. After a traveling day to London and another day of church and resting, I was ok to go back to site seeing. I'm not sure what I could do differently if we go back to Rome again. But here is the picture of the magical Italian water trough. If you go to Rome, I can give you directions to it.

The Color Blue

I was flipping channels today and passed PBS doing a whirlwind tour of Europe. They talked about Rome for 5 minutes and it got me inspired to go through my pictures. I dumped three camera cards full onto my hard drive, 1,410 pictures, 770 just of Rome. It may take me awhile to go through them, organize and then give you just the best. But it inspired me to try to do a blog entry or two. Life has been so busy that my free time at night has been spent curled up in bed. So here is my attempt to catch up a little.

My favorite color in the world is blue. Maybe that's why God gave me three boys, I can't stand pink. I have blue and white china all over my house, a blue couch, and blue comforter on my bed. And at our house in Plano, I picked out blue carpet. I loved it. It didn't go over well when we went to sell, but I enjoyed it the 6 years we lived with it. But my favorite shade of blue is the color of the sky on those beautiful spring days when you just want to sit outside all day. My European adventure brought me lots of shades of blue that I wanted to share with you.

The world wide language of McDonalds and Coffee

It seemed wherever we were in Europe there were two common things, coffee and McDonald's. J is not a coffee drinker, but I cannot go without at least one cup a day, usually more than that. I drank way too much coffee our one day in London trying to stay awake. Then in Hungary and Serbia, sharing a conversation with our friends over a cup of coffee was wonderful. Right outside the lobby of Trey and Randi's apartment was a coffee shop where I had the best mocha ever. I would definitely be an addict if I had that right downstairs from me. In Rome I had wonderful cappuccinos, a little stronger than I am used to, but still great. And in Greece I indulged in Greek frappe's, a cold coffee drink with foam. I had to buy a can of it to bring back and had to look up the directions online the other day since I couldn't translate the Greek on the can. And back in London, after church on Sunday, everyone gathered in the lobby for a cup of coffee or tea. I noticed there were two reasons people were drinking coffee, no matter what country we were in. Either they really needed some caffeine or they needed a conversation. One morning we were at a coffee shop in Rome and noticed more than one person coming in and drinking a shot glass of espresso and heading out the door. They really just needed their caffeine fix I guess. But mostly we noticed people making a connection with someone over a cup of coffee.

Back at home, we try to avoid McDonald's if at all possible, but not on our trip. We experienced first hand what our friends living in foreign countries have told us, some days eating at McDonald's is just the best thing ever. Some days we were so tired and stressed from trying to follow a map or understand a foreign language that seeing those golden arches just made us smile. Some days we were so overwhelmed with how much food cost that ordering a cheeseburger, fries and drinks for two for under $10 felt like such a relief. And some days, eating there made us think of our kids, and feel a connection to them. We noticed in Rome that they would post signs with arrows and an estimate of how long it would take you to walk to the closest McDonald's. Their estimates were sorely underestimated, but once we had that in our heads, we were willing to walk miles to find a McDonald's. My favorite McDonald's memory was at the airport in Athens maybe? (They have all blurred together) I just had the sweetest moment of connection with my husband over a cheeseburger. And at the table next to us was a father and daughter. He had gotten her a happy meal and just sat watching her eat with such joy. They were speaking another language (not Greek) but even though I couldn't understand them, I could understand that he loved her, he was proud of her and she was loving her chicken nuggets and fries. I also loved that at many of the McDonald's we visited, they had a McCafe, but not like ours in the states. These were full blown coffee shops with pastries and so many different kinds of coffees in real mugs, not paper cups. It was the best of these two universal languages put together. Thank you God for coffee and McDonald's.

"One Call Away" Book Review

One Call Away by Brenda Warner is a touching story of God's faithfulness, even when it feels like He isn't. Warner's life is full of one struggle after another, which leads her to being a single mom of two on food stamps. But even in the midst of her trials, she knows she can somehow depend on the Lord to take care of her. Then a handsome college quarterback enters her life, and begins the long journey of becoming the supportive wife of NFL Superbowl Champion Kurt Warner.
I was blown away by the strength, determination and courage of Brenda as she dealt with so many tragedies in her life. I loved reading about her blossoming relationship with Kurt, and how the Lord used her to reach his heart for God. There were times when their family wasn't living the squeaky clean life we expect, but in that the Lord was still moving, teaching them about his grace.
I loved this book, and would recommend it to men and women, believers and nonbelievers, sports fans or not. I will wait until my children are older before letting them read it because of some choices that the Warner's made early on before letting God lead them, but I know at some point my boys will learn great lessons from this family.
I received this book for free from Booksneeze in exchange for an objective review.

My favorite thing about our trip...

Everyone asks if we had a good time on our European adventure, of course we did, and then asks what our favorite part was. I like when someone asks me separate from J and I answer, and they say that he said the same thing. Our favorite thing wasn't a tourist site, although most were amazing, or a church, although again, amazing. Our favorite part was just making connections with people. Our favorite memory is playing cards with Trey and Randi, walking along the river cracking jokes, having ice cream at a park, or going to the grocery store with them. We love that we have some inside jokes that no one else will think are funny. We loved having an English light supper with our London friends, or hanging out at the pub after church. We loved our conversations sitting around on a Sunday afternoon by a pool at a BBQ, or just having a sweet talk over a cup of coffee. I loved talking over some deep issues with my hubby over a cheap McDonald's meal and talking about our kids over a cup of gelato.

All of that goes to show you that the most important parts of life can happen wherever you are. I don't have to go across the ocean and spend money on airlines or hotels. But living day to day life and trying to get those connections in takes a lot of work. You have to be intentional, schedule it sometimes, or it won't happen. Life gets busy and the unimportant parts take over. That's the good part about vacations, the unimportant busy parts aren't there to distract you. God talked a lot to me about being intentional about life. Its good I'm blogging about it to remind myself of those lessons because the business of life has already crept back in. Its a goal at least. Anyone want to go for coffee?

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17
"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones." Proverbs 16:24

Has God ever told you not to spend time with Him?

Its an honest question I'm asking myself today. I finally sat down today to spend some time with God for the first time since we got back from our trip 10 days ago. I was so mad at myself and questioning why I hadn't spent any time with Him. We had a wonderful time on our trip, sweet fellowship with my spouse, our friends and with my Father. So why would I not want to pick right back up with the good habit I had of sitting at His feet every afternoon? Partly exhaustion maybe? I really haven't had time to rest from our trip, jumped right back into the business of life. Got out of the habit? I don't know. But I sat down and was journaling about some thoughts and questions I was having. And then I turned to the chapter that I left off on weeks ago in 2 Timothy, and the passage answered exactly my questions I had just written down. The Lord spoke loud and clear. So now I'm wondering if the Lord tells us its ok some times to not spend time with Him because He's waiting for the right time to show us something? If I had been doing it the way I thought I should be, I would have read that passage last week and I don't think I would have been at the place that it would have spoken to me so clearly. Do you think God gives us a pass sometimes because He wants us at a certain time? Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on that.

St. Peter's in the Vatican City

My most favorite site that we visited was St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. We actually visited twice because its free, so why not. The first visit we paid for a small tour through the Vatican Museum first. Our tour guide told us if we looked at every piece of art there for only 15 seconds, it would take us three years to look at it all. Crazy. J and I aren't really art people, but just the age of some of the pieces was amazing, and the stories behind some of the art work by Raphael was interesting. That led us to the Sistine Chapel, which I had high hopes for. But as I discovered in many sites we saw, if we could have seen it by ourselves, it would have been an entirely different experience. If I could have laid on my back in that room for an hour or so, I certainly would have been brought to tears in appreciation for Michelangelo's work. But being pushed through there with 300 other people, shoulder to shoulder, was not an inspirational moment. And they asked for quiet, since it is a chapel, but people couldn't help themselves from talking, so every 5 minutes a guard was screaming "Quiet Please!" in English and Italian. It kind of takes the holiness out of the moment. But I am glad I can say that I have seen it.

So then we were able to go into the Basilica. That part is free, after you go through a long line of airport type security. But when I walked in, my mouth dropped open. You just have to stand there a minute and take it all in. It is the biggest church I have ever seen. And the most beautiful. There are just not words to describe it. We walked around in awe for awhile. Surprisingly you are allowed to take pictures there, so there are some below. Although, you are not allowed to use flash, and surprisingly my little camera did a much better job of pics than my big one. But either way, pictures do not do it justice. Our tour guide took us around and showed us some of the more interesting parts, and then our tour was done, so we stayed a while longer.

We came back our last day. Jason went up into the cupola and took some pictures, and I took my Bible and journal fully intending to have some worship time. But in all its glory, unless you are participating in a mass, there is no where to sit. I found an out of the way place in a corner and sat down to journal. I kind of thought that wouldn't work, but tried anyway. Five minutes in, I was asked very politely to stand up. No explanation why. I assume because they consider it disrespectful to sit on the floor there. I wanted to, but did not, ask the man why I was being disrespectful, while the people walking around talking on their cell phones, or posing for pictures next to dead popes were behaving correctly. I was just trying to have some time with the Lord.

There were so many people there! I think there were two different groups of people. One group was strictly there because when you are in Rome, a good tourist just visits there. Lots of tour groups walking around with their headsets on listening to their guides. But the other group of people were there to truly worship. There were people sitting at confessionals, participating in masses, or praying on their knees in chapels. I supposed I could have pretended to be Catholic so I could go pray in a chapel, but I was afraid it would be obvious I was not. Although just being in there, I wanted to do the sign of the cross out of respect for the millions of Catholics who have come there in history to worship. You can't help it when you see a precious nun who has sacrificed so much to worship her Lord.

But as I sat there, taking in the grandeur of this amazing place, a question popped in my mind. Is this really what the Lord wants in a church? Does a building like that, decorated in precious metals and art by the top artists of the times, huge in not only size but scale and design, does that truly bring glory to Him and for Him? Or would He prefer a tent or a shack in the woods, but full of people who are down on their knees worshiping Him? It did bring me to a place of worshiping Him, but I know many people in that place were worshiping what man had done in building it, not our Father that it was created for. I also know the history of the building, that many parts of it were built by popes using money taken from indulgences and built to bring attention to themselves, not the Lord. I don't know the answer to that, but I did take the opportunity to sing praises to Him in my heart, thankful that I can go to His throne wherever I am.

I'm not still in Rome

So sorry to those of you who were reading my blogs from Europe, which apparently was more people than I thought because I heard about it today. I did not fall off the wall of the Colosseum or anything. I just got tired. Walking around Rome wore me out, and we would get back to the hotel room, I would check email or facebook or skype with the kids, and I was done. I also thought I might be boring people with a play by play report of our days or a boring slideshow of our pictures. So I just stopped blogging. I did post some pictures on facebook, but I just didn't have the brain power to write about them. But I am going to blog about the trip, more topically then chronologically, that way you'll get the really good stuff. We got home Thursday afternoon, and jumped right back into football practices and scrimmages, baseball scrimmages, laundry, dishes, school starting and teacher training, so I haven't even had time to sit down and go through the 800+ pictures I took. This may be a long process, but I made a list of things that refresh me, and blogging was on it, so I will begin! Tomorrow maybe?

Rome Part 1

We said goodbye to Trey and Randi yesterday and the wonderful country of Serbia. It was sad. We both feel like we will be back again. I could write a whole other blog entry about the things I learned in Serbia, but that will have to wait.

Because now we are in Rome, and I am so tired! But we are skyping with the kids in 45 minutes, so I have to keep myself awake. We arrived in Rome yesterday and our first experience was realizing that all European drivers are crazy. It wasn't just Serbia. Our hotel driver scared me to death. But we arrived safely, and on the way were immediately struck with the beauty of Rome. We dumped our stuff and walked a little to get the lay of the land. I was overwhelmed with the size and majesty of buildings here, some that are thousands of years old. They are just mixed in with the rest of the city that is "new" as our driver told us, only built before WWII. Its all unbelievable.

Today we went and saw the Colosseam, Arch of Constantine, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. Jason and I are not really history buffs, except for Biblical history. So some of it was just old buildings. But we were fascinated by an exhibit at the Colosseam about Emperor Nero who has always been taught to us as an evil man who used Christians as his scapegoat and as torches. The exhibit never mentioned anything about the Christians, and made it sound like he wasn't near as bad as history has made him out to be. No mention that Christians were used as targets in the Colosseam entertainment for the lions. Very interesting to us. Our favorite thing was the Arch of Titus at the Roman Forum, which commemorates the Roman victory over Israel in A.D. 70. Not that it was a happy thing, just the main piece of Christian history we saw today.

We came back to the hotel and rested for a few minutes and then walked to the Vatican to make sure we knew how to get there because we have an early tour scheduled tomorrow. Well, we realized its too far to walk in the morning, so we are calling a taxi. But there and back, with a long detour to find a McDonalds, was probably five miles, so my feet are angry at me right now. But we ended the day with chocolate gelato in front of the Pantheon, so hopefully they will forgive me soon and work properly in the morning for the Vatican tour.

Oh yeah. And what red head forgot to pack sunscreen? That would be me. And it was a beautiful cloudless 95 degree day today. My skin isn't happy with me either. Next doot to the McDonalds was a drug store where I spent entirely too much on sunscreen and aloe vera lotion, but it was a dire necessity for the rest of the week.

Belgrade Part 2

We have been loving our time here in Belgrade. Lots of new experiences! Yesterday we went to another open market, really hard to describe. Like a mix of a flea market and an outdoor Walmart. Do you want a kitchen sink? Go through the maze until you find a sink stall. Do you need a curtain rod? Wander around until you find a curtain rod stall. Not sure stall is the right word either. A tent? A booth? Blue jeans, tools, kitchen supplies, man bags, and food. Whatever you need. Just wander around until you find it. Some clothing stalls are just piles of clothes, but some look like a Dillards under a tent. Nicely organized, hung on fancy hangers. Food here is really cheap, but clothes are highly taxed so they are expensive. Jason's been looking for a man bag so he can fit in with the European men.

Then we went to another mall and had KFC for lunch. Real adventurous aren't we? Had some coffee, came home and had dinner, and we taught Randi and Trey how to play Polish Poker. Then we walked over to another neighborhood and went to the home of some American friends of Trey and Randi's. We taught them how to play Polish Poker (glad we could introduce a new game to the country of Serbia) and talked and laughed for hours. I have laughed more in the past week than I have in months. I don't think its because I don't have funny friends at home, just no time to go hang out with them. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. We Skyped with the boys last night. It was great to see them, and only made me a little sad. Campbell looked so big. He's not my baby anymore!

Today we rode the public transit across the river to the Fortress, a huge park like place surrounded by parts of a real fortress. Parts of it were built during the wars, but there are parts of it that are Roman ruins. It was warm here today (not like Texas, so we weren't complaining) so we took our time and rested and snacked along the way. Then we shopped at some little carts along the sidewalks around. I bought some beautiful doilies from the cutest little Serbian lady named Milana. Serbia isn't known for much, but I have fallen in love with the little ladies here, so I really wanted something they make. After dinner, the boys went back to the mall to hang out and Randi and I have had a girl's night. Painted our toe nails, ice cream and a girlie movie.

We leave tomorrow for Rome. Belgrade isn't the prettiest city I've ever been to, but when you look for the good parts you can find them. But more than that, I will miss our friends. We have had a wonderful time visiting, catching up and laughing. And now I know how to better pray for them when I am back home. All in all, very successful trip!

Belgrade Part 1

We have spent a wonderful two days in Belgrade so far, very relaxing. Yesterday we went to the International Church that meets in a hotel. About 40 people there from all different places, worshipping together in English. Then we went out for "Mexican" food for lunch with about 16 Americans. I put it in quotes because for us from Houston it was just ok, but for these Americans who have been out of the country for a range of a month to two years, they loved it and were very excited to have found this restaurant. Then we came back and took naps, because no matter where you are in the world, Sunday afternoons are made for naps. Then a relaxing time of coffee, ordered pizza and palacinke for dessert. It's crepes with chocolate or fruit filling. And we played some cards.

Today we went to a local "pijaca," a market with wonderful fruits and vegetables. I had the best time taking pictures, trying to get some people without them noticing. Then we braved a Chinese market, a Sam Moon store on steroids. Three buildings, two floors each of everything under the sun. Craziness. Then we had some wonderful pastry type sandwiches for lunch, walked around the neighborhood a little bit, and then went to the local grocery store. I was introduced to meat in a tube. Then we came back and rested a little bit, watched some American tv. Randi cooked us a wonderful dinner, and then we walked down by the Danube. On one side of us was the river with lots of boat restaurants all the way down. The other side was kids carnival rides, lots of booths with grilled corn, popcorn, palacinke and this wonderful discovery "krofnice", these little donuts that taste like funnel cakes with caramel sauce and strawberry sauce. REALLY GOOD! Randi said she had only seen them in Bulgaria, so she was excited to find them too. Now we're watching a movie and hanging out. Here are some pics!

Budapest and Beyond

We spent two days in Budapest, Hungary. I'm not sure the best way of relating all of our adventures. Maybe my likes and dislikes?
Dislikes: Tour of the Parliament, kind of neat, but overpriced, and the "English" speaking tour guide had such a strong accent, it was hard to understand her. Having to pay to use the public toilets. Climbing a "hill" up to the Citadel.

Likes: Beautiful city, good food, great pastries, riding buses, trams, and subways. Boat tour on the Danube, very educational and beautiful. Finally arriving at the top of the Citadel and enjoying the view. St.Stephens Church. Hungarian Marketplace. Paris, TX Bar. (Yes, they had a bar I saw on the map called Paris, TX, so we had to find it and take a picture. Its apparently not named after the city but after a movie, which I have never heard of. For those of you who don't know, that is where J's parents live, where our kids are right now, we thought that was hilarious!)

Today we traveled from Budapest to Belgrade, Serbia where our friends Trey and Randi live. We sat in traffic for two hours along with what seemed like half of Hungary who was leaving on their summer holiday. We stopped in Novi Sad where they used to live and had lunch at a fortress overlooking the whole city. I had chicken salad, not very brave of me, but it was really good. We met some of their friends, Mike and Pam. Pam's mom was visiting too, and she graduated from the same high school I did, only 40 years earlier! How crazy is that! I'll try to post some pics. Tomorrow we will go to the International Church and have some "Mexican" food for lunch. We'll be the judge if its good or not. We're afraid Trey and Randi have been gone for too long to remember what good Mexican food is.

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Day 1 or 2

I'm so tired I'm not really sure which day to call this but I just wanted to give a few quick observations of our flight over.
While waiting for our flight, we observed a Muslim family, a mom, two daughters and a grandson we assume. They took turns in a corner kneeling down to pray. I admired the fact that they were willing to do that in public when people were staring. But I was also very thankful that I don't have to have certain times or postures to pray. In some ways I think it might be helpful if we did. God would probably prefer I have a more respectful posture of prayer sometimes. And I would probably pray more if I had set times.
I was amazed while waiting in the London airport for our Budapest how many different people were there from other countries. All types of languages and clothing. All people God loves.
British Airlines rocks! I had downloaded all these books on J's laptop to read on the flight and didn't read any of them. I watched two sitcoms from the on demand screen at my seat and part of a movie and slept. As much as I love Southwest flight attendants in their shorts and shirts, I loved the BA flight attendants in their suits, neckerchiefs and heels. The ladies took off their heels when the flight started and put on little flats, but the heels came back off at landing. They all looked so professional. Made me feel very safe.
I had been scared to fly, but I could tell people were praying for me because I was fine most of the time. Thanks friends.
We spent the day in London with our friends Martyn and Sara, trying to stay awake. And then we flew to Budapest where Randi and Trey picked us up. It was so great to see old friends, even so far away from home. I'll make another post with pics of Budapest. Lots of fun!

We're hittin' the road....

Well, really the skies. Jason's three month sabbatical starts tomorrow after five years at UBC. We are so thankful for this opportunity. So to start out, he and I are leaving on Tuesday for Europe for 26 days, without children! I normally would be hesitant to tell about our trip ahead of time, but we will have people at our house the whole time, so I will take the risk because I'm so excited about it that I just want to share! I'll try to post pics throughout, or a whole lot when we get back.

We'll fly to London for one day to leave some luggage and golf clubs (priorities) and then fly to Budapest, Hungary to meet our college friends Trey and Randi. We'll spend a few days there and then drive with them to Belgrade, Serbia where they live to see what their life is like there. After a sweet week with them, we'll go to Rome for some religious educational experiences. Then onto Athens, Greece. Jason has been there twice and can't wait to show me the sites. Our good friends from Greece will actually be in the states, but some of them are sitting in my living room right now ironically. We'll be staying in their apartment. Then back to London for a week with lots of ministry friends there. I'm very excited! I'll miss my kids eventually, which will be good. We'll miss Campbell's third birthday, but he won't know the difference. I'll be in Rome crying though I'm sure. We'll celebrate when we get back.

Please pray for us to have a good, restful, inspiring time. And please pray for our parents who will be tag teaming caring for the kids. They will probably need more prayer then we will. I'll keep you posted when I can!

Untamed Book Review

*Untamed* by Lisa Harper is a book full of conviction wrapped in a package of humor and Biblical stories. Harper takes stories about Jesus that we are all familiar with, and finds a nugget of truth from them that reaches down to your core and makes you want to be a better follower of Christ.
I was amazed as I read every chapter to find something new from stories I have read and studied my whole life. I came face to face with my Savior who has been in a box safety tucked away in my closet, and now I want to let him out and let him change my life from the inside out. He is unconventional, devoted, redemptive and loves me for all I am, not because of what I have done or not done. There are questions at the end of each chapter that would make it a great book for a group study, but I got so much out of it without doing the questions. I can't wait to find more books by Harper. She does take the Biblical stories and add funny descriptions to make them more relevant, but I don't think its too far to make it irreverent. The parts of the stories that she brings out that were new to me were mostly based on further Greek translations that I wouldn't have known on my own. I liked it!
I did receive this book for free from Waterbrook Press, but did not have to give a positive review in exchange for it.

Some new fun products at my house...

If you follow me on facebook you have already heard that I am now addicted to vacuuming. I bought a Bissell Rewind Smartclean vacuum at Target on sale for $99, and it is the best vacuum I have ever used. It has a light that turns green when your carpet is clean, and it stayed red a long time in my house. I almost burned it up because I wasn't paying attention and the dirt cup was overflowing before I finished my house. I almost burned it up the second day from vacuuming up a sock. Its called "rewind" because you push a button and it rewinds the cord back up into the vacuum. Oh, yes it does! Awesome.


I have also received free from Vocalpoint Downy Unstopables in-wash Scent Booster. Its these little pellets that you put in your washing machine that just adds a fresh scent to your clothes. I probably won't use it on my clothes because I don't like smells, but I have used it on my towels which can't hurt in a house full of boys. You can use as many or few as you like. I used about 10 which smelled really strong when I put them in so I was scared that my towels were going to smell up the whole house. But once they went through the washer and dryer they came out perfect. I could probably use a few more next time.

I just joined Vocalpoint, but I love getting free things. Here is the link if you want to join too!

Correction

I am a horrible mom. I was looking at the baseball website yesterday and realized Cade and Jason's team did not win the city championship game. I was there. How did I forget that? It all came back to me. They did lose, by a lot. I remember telling Jason if he needed to go out for awhile before he came home to vent and sulk he could, and he said he didn't need to because there was nothing else he could have done. They just had a bad night. I guess that's why I forgot. It was a non-event. But I do feel really stupid and hope my husband never knows I wrote that. They don't get big trophies if they win, they only get pins and there are pins floating all over our house, so I guess all the baseball games became a big blur. I will double check next time before I announce a win that wasn't a win.

Me and My Boys

I love my children, I really do. But I've been with them non stop for a long time now. I don't know how home schooling moms do it! We've had some great adventures the past week. We went to Shreveport to see my Momma. While there, we did the slip and slide and baby pool in their backyard, and the big boys were even brave enough to swim in their pond. We went to Sciport. We saw my sweet PawPaw. We did some shopping, ate lots of yummy food (all my favorites, Padnuh's BBQ, El Chico's twice, and other yummy stuff), and I helped my mom decorate her clinic. Normally at my mom's I get a little break from the kids, lots of time to blog, but not this time. My brother is in the process of adjusting to a new job and moving, so he has left his 7 month old golden retriever with her and that dog is ADD! So it was like having two extra children to take care of. It took all of us to get everyone happy! I did take a quick by myself trip to Marshall and spent a sweet afternoon with my friends Cari and Phillip catching up. Really needed that!

The drive back was an adventure! About 30 minutes before we were leaving, there was a jumping on the bed/split lip incident with the dramatic child, so we left late and left stuff because I was flustered. Then I went a different way than usual and got lost. I don't have a fancy GPS in my car or on my phone. Luckily my step dad answered his phone and got me back on track. About an half hour outside of Houston it started raining, and POURED down rain on me until I turned onto the main highway by my house. Stopped and not a drop to be seen. How does that happen?!

Did I mention that my hubby and parenting helper is at the space shuttle launch in FL, so I have been trying to figure out how to keep them occupied since we've been home. We've made muffins and brownies. Been to the library. Went to Walmart and purchased some more baseball cards, which is a great new hobby that is quiet and clean. (love that). Today we went to Petsmart, otherwise known as the free mini zoo, and the kids took notes on what pet they want in the future. We are talking fish or turtles, not dogs yet. Especially after being around my brother's dog! This afternoon we went to Snoball Hut and got snow cones and played Connect Four. Then we came home and went across the street to our neighbor's house and borrowed their pool for awhile. And we are presently eating some homemade pizzas I made. I had envisioned a big family activity making the pizzas, but there was no interest on anyone's part but mine.

Again, I do love my children. But next week all three of them have a week long camp at church. I can not tell you how excited I am. The big boys are not excited about music/drama camp. I've told them if they go Monday and Tuesday and don't like it, they can stop. That's basically a lie though. They are going whether they like it or not! Momma needs a break!

Here are some pictures of our adventures!

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