what an inspiration!

He's playing football... aaahhhhhh!

My baby is playing football! Well, okay - I know he is not a "baby" anymore... but he will always be MY baby. And now, I get to watch him get hit on the football field. He is playing for the CCA 6 man team - and he LOVES IT! All this time of practice toward the end of summer - it's been difficult to make myself go watch. I squint my eyes while he leans over to get in a tackling position for offensive lineman. I just have such a hard time watching him run head first into a group of guys ~ knowing that it's inevitable ~ he will most likely be going down to the ground... HIT. OR... he will be pulling someone else to the ground. Last week at practice ~ he came home telling me how he tackled the best player on the team! This year he is on the second string - as are all the 6th grade boys. These second string boys are getting lots of play time... and scrimmaging against the first string players a lot. He was proud to share how ~ he just held on tight and wouldn't let go ~ until the other guy (the "best player on the team") was down on the ground. (one of the other mom's let me know later - he was a little rattled afterward, because he hit HARD with this other kid). I was such a proud mom - as he shared his experience with me... BUT, I need to wear a restraint suit to the game... so as to not run out onto the field to scoop up my baby and take him back to the bleachers ~ We love Coach O'Conner... and this past week ~ CCA won our first scrimmage against Fort Worth Academy. GO CRUSADERS! I guess it gets easier as the season goes on... I'm just glad he is LOVIN' life!

I love my new life - God has just simply blessed me...

Well, I am just really getting the hang of this whole "family" thing... It's just been Logan and I in our "home" for so long... it's different to stretch things out to 5 people instead of 2! I love how the boys want to hang out together and do boy things - how Logan loves to teach Spencer how to flip the end of his skateboard up... how Grant runs along behind the other two - trying his best to keep up... and just watching those three enjoy each other. It makes my heart full!

an added note... pray for a decision that Scott & I are trying to make regarding my career. As you know - I am in school getting my Master's in counseling - and I know that God has called me to this - NO DOUBTS... but, I just had someone make a suggestion to me that really seemed to make some sense & Scott & I are throwing the idea around in our heads and praying about what it would look like for us:

With the type of work I have done since I received my bachlors degree in Psychology... I would be able to sit for my Licensed Social Workers (LSW). Some of you know - how I have a really hard time with my current type of job - because it is so political & such a downer - when you have to fight to keep other agencies from stealing your patients and you have so many other players that don't operate with the same set of rules - they have no integrity... It wears me down - and really makes me border on a low level of depression - because I can't do what I truly feel called to do - which is focus on the patient and HELP THEM... The problem with changing jobs (again) is that there are few j0bs that have a comparable income - that wouldn't require a lot of schooling, etc. After visiting with one of my contacts - she suggested - why don't you just sit for the Social Workers exam... and then, you can get a job doing what you love -

The income is comparable - and there are ways to make the hours flexible enough to stay in school and have time for my family too... pray that if this is what God is wanting from me - that he will open those doors easily - and show me the path... and that it will fit perfectly with the plans that Scott & I have for another small business we are looking to start... Thanks guys - love you all!

Our Honeymoon...

Well, it is back to reality... I really did not want to come back - but, I guess Pangle Paradise is not such a bad place to come "home" to. Although, the brilliant beaches were most enjoyable - it's time to come back to Granbury. After our amazing wedding, Matt & Debi took us away on a fabulous boat ride across Lake Granbury. Once we got to the boat dock across town - we were racing off to luxury. (Well, as it turns out - it was a 30 minute nap we raced off to - awaiting our flight to Cancun Mexico.) We had an amazing time... enjoying each other - with no distractions of little feet running through the living room, no crumbs to sweep from below the kitchen table and no verbal warnings "no wrestling in the living room! and I mean it..." It was just the two of us... and incredible sunsets over the beach - crazy trips to the Downtown Cancun laundry mat... scary bus rides - with lunatic Mexico drivers... and lots of humidity... and rest - LOTS AND LOTS OF REST... (oh, and two UNBELIEVABLE MASSAGES!)