Matthew 7:24-27

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

I won't lie. I really wanted to title this blog something along the lines of  "Bite Me, Harvey". I guess it was a God thing that right as that thought entered my mind the scripture followed immediately.

On August 29th (Happy 8th Anniversary, Robert! Ha!) Hurricane Harvey's flood waters invaded my home. My home that sits in a 100 year flood plain & therefor does not have flood insurance. The water rose to 3 feet inside the house and stayed for 3 days. Over 48 inches of rain poured over our house in just 4 days. Unreal.

For the last few weeks my emotions have run the gamut. I think I've probably felt everything you can possibly feel. Sometimes all at once & sometimes up & down. Sorrow, hope, dread, helplessness , thankfulness, joy, peace, the list goes on. Maybe the only thing I haven't felt is patience (definitely not my strong suit!)

I keep circling back to the thought that R & I have been married for 8 years. We have spent those 8 years working towards many things, one of those things being a home we could really be proud of. Nothing extravagant, but we were finally turning a house into a home with matching furniture, rooms that made sense, even a rug here & there! It felt good to know that in a few short months we would see our hard work pay off. Harvey took that away in one 4 day rain storm.

But you know what? When it comes down to it, that doesn't matter. I mean, talk about "First World Problems"!! I have so many thoughts floating around & feeeeelings that I need to get out. I want to look back and really remember this time. So hopefully I can utilize this little blog to write some of these things down and look back on them.

I feel like this is going to be a process I want to remember. I have so many things to say, so hopefully there will be more posts to come.

Easter 2015

So I got a surprising text message today. A friend of mine let me know that I 'suck at updating' my blog. Apparently there are actually a few people out there that read this silly little blog of mine. I had no idea! I was pleasantly surprised to get that text & decided to make a new post tonight. Once I got the kids situated in the tub, happily splashing away, I sat down to share some pictures from our weekend. An hour later the kids are out of the bath, one is asleep & I'm still trying to get my photos from my phone onto my laptop. GO FIGURE!!

R & I had a really nice reprieve from our seriously busy work schedules this weekend. Some friends of ours came to visit & celebrate Easter with us. They came in on Friday afternoon & left Sunday afternoon. I did, sadly, have to work on Saturday morning, but I got it out of the way by noon so we could enjoy the rest of the day together.

Friday evening we went to eat at Al-T's & stopped by the park in Winnie afterwards to let the kids run around a bit before it got dark.

I don't really know what went on Saturday morning, but when I got home from work we ate some hamburgers from Kampus Korner (if you're in the H-F area & haven't tried them out, DO IT! so good.). After lunch Rebecca & I dyed eggs with the two older kids while E ran around the yard. Both of the kids loved it. I think B would dye eggs every day if I would let her.

When the egg fun was over we put the kids down for afternoon naps/quiet time & Rebecca & I took some much needed momma-time to get our nails did :) That evening we just enjoyed each other's company & filled the Easter baskets before turning in.

Sunday I took the kids to church & then we grilled at Mom & Dad's house, had an egg hunt for the kids & then said goodbye to our friends. Saying goodbye is never fun, but we'll see them again soon! I'm hoping to make this Easter weekend visit a tradition with them!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! He Is Risen!!

Pumpkin Patch

This past Sunday afternoon our family visited our local pumpkin patch. We have yet to go to one of those super fun places with all the animals to pet & swings & whatnot. Nope, we just head down the road to the Methodist church. Is that just a regional thing, or is it all Methodist churches everywhere? Now I'm curious... Not the point.

We drive by the pumpkin patch evvvvery morning & evvvvvery afternoon & B almost never fails to point out the pumpkins. "PUMPKINS, MOM!!!" It really amuses me that she is so excited every time. You would think the novelty would wear off. Nope.

I was really impressed with our little Fannett, TX pumpkin patch this year. They always do a good job, but I feel like this year they went above & beyond. There were numerous different places to take pictures, a little tunnel for the kids to run through & lots of scarecrows, etc. B had so much fun running from one thing to another. E, again, is still a little too non-mobile to have a great time, but he did enjoy banging on the pumpkins & playing in the grass.

I wanted to get a good family picture while we were there, but who am I kidding? I got a couple real great ones of B, but E wasn't into sitting still.

Stay tuned for pictures of our carved pumpkins. Robert really got creative this year. There may have been a drill involved :)

& It Begins...

October means hunting season around these parts. I'm not an expert, but I do know that in the last 3 weeks my husband has been duck, dove & deer hunting. This past weekend we packed the family up & headed to our lease for a couple nights. We left Friday around 7pm & stayed until early Sunday morning, when we piled back into the car & rushed to make it to church.

It's a simple life at the lease. B colors, dances & plays on the swingset. Poor E just 'hangs out' as you can see :) Hopefully he'll be running around soon!

Around lunchtime on Saturday the weather had gotten pretty warm & E was way overdue for a nap. We though maybe a drive in the car with some AC would do the trick so we took a little trip over to R's hunting lanes to check the feeders & whatnot. R got my mommy-mobile stuck & I had to drive while he pushed. This was the first time I had done this & I consider it a success because no one was angry by the end :) Oh, and E never fell asleep... so there's that.

Thankfully we are on our lease with some sweet friends. Carly doesn't have any kids of her own yet, but she is so good with ours. E loved swinging with her & sister.

After what seemed like a 48 hour day, the kids finally went to bed & the adults got to spend some time around the campfire with a pretty great sunset backdrop.

We had a great time & I'm actually looking forward to going back. Just looking forward to the day when my kids can play with each other & don't need 'momma entertainment'!

Softball Tuesday

I have a love/hate relationship with Tuesday nights. I'm hoping as the kids get older it will turn into more of a love relationship. Most Tuesday nights, I load the kids up & go to the ballpark to watch R play recreational softball. I love to watch him play & B has a blast. Having a small child who can't walk yet isn't ideal. Also, the earliest we get home is 9:30... which is wayyyy past everyone's bed time. Including mine :)

With all that said, we have a ball. Except maybe E, who is only happy if he gets to crawl & cruise the bleachers. That makes me cringe, & I'm not even a germaphobe like the typical mom these days. But even I have to admit, ballparks are gross.

                

Last night R's team won both their games. That was exciting!! E passed out during the second game (thank the good Lord!).

It might be a little crazy & dirty, but we love our nights at the ballpark cheering on Daddy & his team.

TRF Weekend

This weekend was the annual Texas Rice Festival in Winnie. If I'm being honest, I've never been a huge fan. I'm more of a South Texas State Fair girl :) I guess that's because I grew up in Beaumont & not the H-F/Winnie area. To me, the Rice Festival is over-priced & doesn't have enough rides, especially when you have a 3 year-old. BUT we live in Fannett & Robert grew up going, so we go :)

And Brylee had a blast. She rode rides & got her face painted. She loved all of the different 'fun-houses'. She called them playgrounds :)

Of course Easton is only 1, so there wasn't much for him to do. Okay, there wasn't anything at all for him to do. He was a trooper riding in the stroller, though. The weather was absolutely perfect & we really enjoyed our time in the sunshine. So much so that we went TWICE, Friday & Saturday mornings :)

 I couldn't leave this post without showing y'all Brylee's adorable western wear. Robert's mom got her a few sets of Wrangler shirts/jeans & they are just too cute. My little cowgirl :)

Facebook

It's really kind of embarrassing to admit that I've gotten to this point. Admitting I have a problem is the first step, right? HA!

It has come to my attention, partially on my own, but mostly at the urging of people I respect in my life, that Facebook has become a large distraction in my life. I check it first thing when I wake up & last thing before I go to bed. I even go so far as to sometimes browse through it after I have been woken up by one of my children in the wee hours of the morning. I use the excuse that it helps my mind to relax and drift back to sleep, but who am I kidding??

I find myself zoned out in front of my phone far more often than I would like. While the kids play on the swing-set. While I ride in the car with my family. While I 'watch a movie' with B. It has become an addiction. I know for a fact I'm not the only one who struggles with it.

I'm quickly realizing that the phrase 'The days are long but the years are short' is so true. My kids are growing up before my eyes & I'm glued to a silly website watching what everyone else's kids are doing. I have to ask myself, when did everyone else's lives become more important, more captivating, more worthy of my time than my own children's lives?? Y'all. I'm ashamed.

And the worst part is, I'm seriously struggling with just getting rid of it. I have family literally all over the world. Russia, Australia, England, Canada, sometimes Korea just to name a few**. I love that I can hop onto Facebook & see what is going on with them. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do about that. Deleting Facebook all together means that I won't be able to see pictures of my family or hear updates about what is going on in their lives.

Anyways, the point to this big long rant is that whatever happens, I do plan to stop posting on Facebook & hopefully make 1 or 2 posts a week here on the blog with photos & updates. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can cut the probably close to 20hrs/week I spend on Facebook down to a couple blog posts. Only time will tell if it works out :)

**Disclaimer: I purposefully didn't list India because my brother doesn't have a Facebook, so India doesn't count in this case. I didn't forget my only brother!

If you've made it this far, I'll leave you with some pictures of my awesome kids as a reward :) :)