The Saenz Family Rawks

Perserverance Builds Character!!!

2010-01-20T20:52:00.002-06:00

I can't believe after MONTHS of trying, I FINALLY got back into my old blog! Elated might be the word that drifts into my mind, but after months of trying and failing, hope turned into frustration, frustration into anger, anger into morning, and morning into acceptance that all was lost. BUT what is lost doesn't always stay lost and as I was organizing the bill binder for 2010, I stumbled upon an old e-mail address that might, just might be the password to this blog. Shockingly it was. Yes, the Lord is continually teaching me about patience. It's a good thing that He's a career teacher, because I am going to need a lifetime to learn the eternal lesson of patience. So what's going on in the life of Saenz you may ask? Here's the scoop from youngest to oldest.

Kalea: Just turned 5 last Thursday. I just wrote about it last week in my 'poor man's Mary' of a blog. She will have her big Chuck E Cheese party this Saturday. I am hoping that 10 friends will show up, no more, no less... She's getting big. As I dropped her off at school yesterday, she ran to her normal group of BFFs. They were all clad in their winter boots, jeans, hot pink splatter paint shirts and headbands in their shoulder length hair. Cookie cutter clusters of girls all chatting and giggling; comparing boots and tacky shirts....a fashion that I will never understand. One would think that my once sweet baby is perching on the throws of teenage-hood with her persistence and longing to look just like her friends.

Nathan: Keeps growing and growing. I keep seeing him and wondering 'who IS that kid?' He is very analytical and will be stuck on a thought for hours. When we went to the Log Cabin Village, for example, he was quite distraught about the water fountains. We showed him the what the real water fountains looked like back then, but for some reason he was obsessed with the modern day ones forgetting that they were in themselves modern. He asked me if the water was so good after sitting there for hundreds of years. After I explained to him that that the water was indeed good, he spent the rest of the afternoon pondering where the water comes from. While I come up with wild theories such as the pipe from the water fountain leads down to an underground cave where wild rabbits perpetually squeeze cactus water into the pipe as punishment for stealing carrots; Nathan seeks more logical truths.

Me: My goal for this weekend is to put in my application for my Master's at Liberty U. God is teaching me about patience in every facet in my life. Our family is doing 365 Days of Target. It's been pretty fun making videos.

Steve: Is still in Seminary working on his Masters. He will be cleared for the military soon. He is getting pretty restless, so it will be interesting to hear about God's plan for him.....once again, I will soon be dying of impatience... He has found a group of pals at church who he frequently plays football and watches movies with.

2008-12-17T21:09:00.002-06:00

Twas' the Week Before Christmas by Sarah Saenz

T'was the week before Christmas and all through the house
the appliances started breaking and we spotted a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
in hopes that by morning dry socks would be there.
While Nate in 3 blankets and Kalea in just two
took their vitamin C to ward off the flu.
When out in the car there arose such a clatter
we popped up the hood to see what was the matter.
With the fridge being broken, the dryer not drying,
I held my cold breath to keep me from crying.
It's the drive belt they said, it may last some time yet,
(but in this cold weather it may break soon I bet).
With two days to go, our God we do know
will give us the greatest gift of all.
Three days in the car, it's not very far,
to the very best place, a cold front we will race,
to have a Merry Christmas with you!

It's been pretty funny in a not funny way the way everything has been breaking. After waking up to a broken refrigerator and freezer we've joked all day about how we will have extra storage. "Mom, have you seen my mittens?" ....."Yes, dear, did you look in the fridge?" or "Momm, where's my backpack?" "It's in the crisper where you put it!" Who needs a fridge, really? Colonists lived without one for hundreds of years. Kalea is extra excited because it means that she gets to eat "noonles" for her bedtime snack every night.....and I had a really good excuse for not having a dessert for the school luncheon today. I also thought about if the dryer is cold and the fridge is hot, then why can't we switch their functions. Wet clothes go in the freezer while we keep the milk in the dryer. Would milk in the dryer make a milkshake? Could we make homemade butter if we added some cream? How long does homemade butter last in a cold dryer? How long would it take the kids to notice that the food and clothes were switched?
I just read the Book of Esther and found it really interesting about how God used a bunch of tiny things to a huge event that changed history. Perhaps these small inconviences will amount to something great. Perhaps when we get the repair man over in January, we can share the gospel with him and have an even greater reward than just a cold fridge and hot dryer. Great things are happening...
Anywho, have a Merry Christmas!!!!

Zig-Zag

2008-11-14T22:10:00.002-06:00

While I was helping Nathan with his homework yesterday, he told me that I made him feel "zig-zag." The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I made myself feel zig-zag too. Things have been upside down and crazy over here....but in a good way. Steve took his Officer Test for the Navy and passed with flying colors. He is well on his way to become a Navel Officer this April/May. I had my 45 minute observation from my Principal and had a great review. I was also observed by a woman who sees thousands of new teachers a year and she said that I was well beyond my years and displayed techniques that she had never seen and was highly impressed by them. Our band is playing at Deep Elm in Dallas, Texas, thus fulfilling a lifelong goal of mine. After struggling with our 'new' church for the past 9 months, we changed back to a Southern Baptist church and fit in better than we could ever imagined. Nathan has started bringing his Bible to church 'because it is the right thing to do, mom!' instead of bringing it for the prizes that were offered at our previous church in Grand Prairie. Kalea is said to be the brightest in her class after she was put into a class full of children who turned 4 in June (Kalea will be 4 in January). Although I live with the strong desire to be back in the church, I am finding a much greater mission field at my school. My first graders are struggling with far worse things than any child should ever face and we talk about God on a daily basis. He who never abandons is a comforting concept to those who have been taken away from their moms, abandoned, and not valued. I am able to give these kiddos a far greater gift than just a good education. We are busy saving to visit my parents in Virginia over Christmas and are getting pretty creative with our spending. As you can see, I am pretty zig-zagged and all over the place....

Marching on Like Turtles

2008-10-07T20:44:00.002-06:00

Being a mom of a wiggly-don't-like-to-do-work boy, I've come to dread parent teacher conferences. I've decided that it is much the same as going to the dentist. You brush, floss, rinse and, if you're like me, you spend more time on your teeth than any other part of your body. You do everything you're supposed to do and go in hoping that all of your hard work paid off...you hope for good news....but dispite of all of your hard work, the dentist's report is never good. Nathan has decided that the teachers have conspired to give him 2nd grade work in 1st grade, and 3rd grade work in 2nd grade. I have no clue why he believes this, but he tearfully tells his teacher everyday that she is giving him the wrong work. The odd thing is, however, that although he refuses to do his work, he is reading at a close to 3rd grade level and is getting tested for GT next week because he knows all of the answers already.
We had both Nathan and Kalea's conferences almost back to back. After Nathan's showdown with his teacher, I was filled with a sense of dread as I walked up the paved path to Kalea's school. How much bad news can a momma take? We signed into Kalea's school and were led to a tiny closet equipt with faded artwork and a tiny table and chairs. We waited for what seemed like eternity as Kalea's 9 month pregnant teacher waddled into the room with her soon to be promoted co-teacher, Kalea's idol and shinning star. They showed us Kalea's mad phat cutting skills, her knowledge of numbers and letters, her ability to sign her name, and her 'first' picture of amobea like people (now she draws bodies, clothes and hair with massive detail.), and told us about Kalea's blosomming social skills. Because Kalea's shinning star of a co-teacher is getting promoted into the next room, I was really worried about how Kalea would take the news. We were saved great heartache, however, when they told us that Kalea's teacher didn't want to promote without Kalea, and starting Monday, Kalea will also be promoted into the big four year old room which is essentally Pre-K. They have been testing her out all week in the big kid room and she absolutely shines in there.
As far as Steve and I go, we are both having a great year teaching. I realized that teaching at a Title One school is more of a mission field than any other place I could possibly be right now. Most of my kids are broken and hurting and I have discovered that 90% of my job is feeding them emotionally and physically. I started bringing food for them during the mornings and I have never seen a child more greatful for a dry piece of bread. I give and receive more hugs in a day than I have gotten or given in a life time. I dry tears, counsel moms, and fight for the students rights on a daily basis.....and we even talk about God every day. Enough about me, are you ready for the big news or what?! In the mist of my falling in love with teaching, Steve has actually been called away from teaching. He got the calling in mid-August and we have been praying about it ever sense. After 11 years of wondering through the desert, Steve has actually found his true calling in life. I have prayed intently for the past year and a half for Steve to find his place and he finally did. He is going to be an Intel Officer in the Navy. Yeah, crazy. He started working out for the first time in his life. He has been losing a lot of weight and really watching his diet. He spends every second of his spare time doing Navy stuff and is set to leave as soon as school gets out for the summer. The bad part is that he will be gone for 9 months. I am not excited about that part, but I know that because this is God's calling for him, that we will be taken care of as well.

Defining Our Family

2008-09-27T17:47:00.003-06:00

Steve is on this great big workout kick. He has lost 10 lbs already and is trucking along nicely. He works out almost every night at all hours and is, for the first time in our 11 years together, working out with me. The other day we were working on our abs and Steve started to giggle about just how puny my abs were. As I was slowly crunching along, I began to really think about this tummy of mine. My tummy has housed a thousand virus', had a trillion meals flow through it, gets poked, stepped on and tackled on a daily basis and has carried my two babies. Without my tummy, our family wouldn't be what it is. (For starters we would have two black babies, because if I were to ever adopt, we would get African orphanage babies.) My mind wandered to all of the things that define us as a family.
We are the type of family that is extended in a million different ways. On Friday, I had two sons because our school hosted a Donuts with Dad Day, and most of my students are fatherless, so we decided to adopt another son for a day. When I told the small boy that he would be a Saenz, he smiled all week long and was floating on cloud nine the morning of the event. All morning he looked admirably up at Steve every few seconds like he just couldn't believe that he was eating donuts with his 'adoptive' dad. When we travel, we eat at hole in the wall diners where we inevitably end up with another little hungry tummy at our table. When we watch movies in the park, I always notice two little extra feet tucked under our warm blankets, and we always bring an extra baggie of popcorn or two for our new little guests.
We are the type of family who shops at Half Price Day at Goodwill so that we can provide school supplies to our students in our classes. We provide tennis shoes to the kids who get into trouble every day at PE because they cannot afford good shoes to wear to school. We provide "Morning Bread" to the kids whose meager breakfasts just don't carry them through lunch.
We are the type of family who tries to do a Community Service project every Christmas Eve to make our kids thankful for the gifts that they receive.
What defines your family?

I can't write our updates until next weekend because we can't share our "BIG NEWS" until Steve tells his parents face to face......no, I am not pregnant. :o)

Saenz-speak

2008-07-11T12:59:00.002-06:00

Questions I've been asked this week....
How do T-Rexs wipe the blood off of their mouths after they eat an animal?
How much does a duck weigh?
What would happen if we didn't have any spit? Would we die?
Why do babies in their mommy's tummy have to eat through their belly buttons? Why not their ears or their mouths?
What if we didn't have any DNA?

New vocabulary introduced this week:
SPLAT- Usage: Mommy, there's a spat on the floor!!! Definition: A spoonful of ice cream.
MCDONALDS, TEXAS- Usage: I came from McDonalds, Texas. Definition- Upon visiting family in Virginia, Kalea proudly told my sister that we live in Texas, McDonalds, Texas. Later on my dad asked Kalea where she came from and she explained that she came from McDonalds, Texas. Later on a story developed that Kalea was actually found in a Happy Meal a month and four days before Nathan's half birthday.
BURGINIA- Usage: My Grandma and Grandpa live in Burginia because it snows there every day and I have no clue how they get food or go to work. Definition- Nathan thought that Virginia was like the Arctic and that it was actually called Burginia because it was so cold there all of the time.

Summer Fun

2008-06-24T19:24:00.005-06:00

10 fun, free things we did this week!!!

10. We fed and petted singrays.

9. We dug for dinos!

8. We had the entire zoo to ourselves.

7. We walked, crawled, and jumped through a giant mouth.

6. We met the clowns from Barnum and Bailey Circus

5. Nathan transformed into a firefighter and he and his friend saved the museum.

4. We got to crawl through tunnels like ants.
3. We went to Cirque de Cabrilla

2. We made bubbles of all shapes and sizes. Some as big as Kalea and some as small as a mouse.
1. We watched hotair balloons light up the sky.

There's No Charge for Awesomeness....

2008-06-16T20:45:00.003-06:00

View from our Retreat Center

I am not really in a bloggy sort of mood, but I feel like I should probably write something.....

Steve and I just came back from a Capturing Kids Hearts Conference. It's all about how kids don't care about what you know until they know that you care. It was pretty good, but what was even better was the fact that Steve and I got to spend three days straight together without our beautiful babies. It's been 4 years since the last Steve and Sarah Retreat, and just being together without the constant diversion of our kiddos was amazing. The thing that really bothered me though was the amount of people who told me in the stillness of secrecy that we were an inspiration to them, that their marriage was on the brink and that they were just about to give up. I got whispered complements, scribbled down notes in my bag telling me that out of everything taught at the conference, Steve and I were what inspired them most, and people cornering me in the bathroom to ask me marriage advice. It really made me think about our 8 years of marriage and the rapid growth and change that we've gone through within the last 5 and a half months. The change didn't happen over night, it took me changing everything about how I thought about love and marriage and most of all my commitment to Steve. It took me forgiving Steve and tossing away my mara/bitterness and recommiting to that promise I made to God a million years ago. I didn't try to change Steve, Steve changed in reaction to God working through me and the changes that he saw in my life. While we are not perfect, we are working on setting a good example for our children. Something that made the biggest difference was the journal that we now keep. Every night before I go to bed, I write Steve a love letter affirming who he is and why I love him. Every morning he wakes up, reads it, and writes to me with words of love and affirmation. The words he has said and the gift he has given me through them has carried me through the toughest times. I may be a girl without friends up here, but I am a girl who is loved by a man and that means so much to me.

Hippoblababob

2008-06-07T20:27:00.004-06:00

My band at field day 2008 Austin, Texas

A super, super, super zippy quick update. As I am typing I am getting two kids ready for bed and reading them books.

Nathan: Just finished up his last day of school on June 4th. His teacher had an awards ceremony in his classroom and gave him his award last. She said "where's my boy?" and Nathan jumped up without a moments hesitation with a huge grin on his face. She proceeded to tell everyone about how funny Nathan is and even demonstrated how they did the pledge every morning (Nathan stands really close to her and she knocks him out with her hip, so he zips around to her other side where she knocks him out with her other hip. This continues throughout the pledge.) I think she spent the most time talking about Nathan. He went from a DRA score of 4 in December to a score of 20. His success and growth in 1st grade had been amazing and I think it's mostly because his teacher is amazing.

Kalea: Kalea started "Princess School" back in April and was placed in a 4 year old class (she was barely 3). I don't know if she already had it in her or if it was being held under 4 year old expectations, but her maturity and verbal development has expanded greatly. She wants to learn how to read. It's been the source of all fits lately because she only wants to learn at bedtime when she is way past tired. I started doing phonics boot camp with her so she should know all of the letters and their sounds by the end of this summer. She's been working really hard and has this insane drive to learn them.

Steve and I: We're doing good. We played a show last night and the booking agent liked us so much that we've been invited back to play with a lineup of bands that are all signed and on tour. The turn out for these bands has been up to 500-600 people per show. Apparently there have been about 60 bands who have requested to be in this lineup, and ours was chosen. Yea!

Thanks so much for reading my blog. I am sorry that I have not kept it up-to-date. I started teaching the 1st grade a while back and keeping up with my new class and trying to keep things together on the home front were exhausting. I'll be so happy when I get back into the ministry (no, I won't be there anytime soon, but I know that I was called to be there a long time ago, it's a long story, but I know that I will be back there after a stint in the educational world.).

Honest to Blog.....

2008-04-20T20:44:00.003-06:00

Not snow......it's hail from our storm!!!!!

A BIG thanks to those of you who called to check up on us when you saw the big black dot over our heads on the weather radar. I think we realized that we might be in trouble when the sound of the rush of the wind drowned out all other noise and the lights went out. By the time the hail started flying at our windows at a million miles per hour, Steve had grabbed the kids and I and tucked us safely away under a mattress tent in the hallway. The hail sounded like BBs hitting the windows and it seemed very likely that they would break any minute showering the rooms with splinters of glass. I was reading my Bible when it all started, so I finished my daily reading out loud to the kids while Steve tried to keep up with the phone calls. It was out of Psalms about how God is our rock and our fortress. Finally Nathan asked if we could stop reading and just pray. Seeing how scared he was, I took him in my arms and realized that we were both shaking. I can't say if we were shaking out of fear or cold or both, but we began to pray together, and as we prayed the winds died down and the hail turned to rain and we became safe once again. In the mist of all the drama, we only had minor damage from hail. The trees around us were stripped bare and the leaves covered the sides of our cars and houses, but thankfully, it could have been a million times worse. God is good.

Prayer Request

2008-04-13T21:08:00.002-06:00

I lost my social security card!!! EEEK! So if you have a chance, please send a prayer up to God for me. It would be 'sweeeettttt' (said in the way Crush would say it on Finding Nemo).

A VERY Thankful Thursday

2008-04-10T12:30:00.002-06:00

I have had the great honor and privilege to stay home with Kalea since the last half of December. At first I was worried about not being able to find a job, but after a good quiet time, I realized that God would get me a job on His timing. So I've waited, prayed, and really enjoyed spending time with my beautiful daughter. April has come quickly and we are just about out of savings and wisdom has come knocking at my door telling me that the time has come to finish out the school year working. I tried to become a substitute, but alas it's too late. I tried to become a Teaching Assistant, but alas all the positions have been filled. I tried everything on my own, so when my options ran out, I tried God. (Another duh moment in the history of Sarah. :o) ) It was a Sunday morning and I asked God to reveal to me at church what I should be doing. God works very quickly, because before I realized it, I was being asked by my future principal to teach a small class of 4-5 children with another teacher. I tried to be excited because I knew that this was God's will for me, but the desires of being a mommy clouded the blessing. Kalea and I had looked at Preschools back in December and they all looked bad. How could any mom leave her child in the places I've seen? I spent Monday cleaning and praying and cleaning and praying, and I found an advertisement for a preschool that looked super fun. I showed Steve and his first reaction was, 'we can't afford that place. They offer computers, Spanish, a library, music, yoga, and hot meals." I didn't want to be discouraged, so I e-mailed the director and the school not only withheld the super crazy high standards that I have, but they fit into our budget. Kalea and I went in early the next day for a tour. Kalea was super excited. The school looked like I was leaving my child at the Houston Children's Museum and to my surprise, I even saw happy kids! Everything fell into place and I was ready to work.
This morning, I talked to the principal and found out about the pay periods and when we were done with our conversation it hit me that I would be paying for $900 worth of daycare before I even saw my first paycheck. I was shocked and slightly queasy. I packed Kalea in the car and we drove to my school to talk with the principal. I explained our situation and thanked her for the job offer. She said that we would try to work things out, but I could tell that even she was doubtful. I drove Kalea to the preschool to see if I could at least reserve a spot for Kalea in the fall, and to my shock they said that everything was taken care of for the supply fee and the first week. I was confused and pretty sure that they were talking to the wrong person, but I gratefully thanked them, turned in my paperwork and fled. Later that afternoon my principal called to tell me that everything was taken care of and not to worry about the daycare situation. I was so shocked that I cried. She said that she really wanted me to take this opportunity to get to know the campus before I got my own class next year and that she was really excited to have me on board. I am soooo very thankful that God, once again, has answered my prayers far beyond anything that I imagined. I am thankful for my new principal and that she has a child at the same preschool. I am thankful that Kalea will get to play with her new friends for 7 weeks before she gets three more months of mommy time and I am thankful that I get to share this with you guys. God is good.

....the Rest of the Story

2008-04-07T13:40:00.003-06:00

The train ride that changed our lives...

PRE-JOB INTERVIEW-

LAST MONTH- After Steve told me that he wasn't going to teach ever again, I went into Bible Hibernation. I stopped watching my afternoon soaps/playing on the Internet/cleaning and started writing in a prayer journal and studying the Word every afternoon (in addition to my regularly scheduled nightly quiet time). I prayed every day that Steve would find his place where he could honor God and shine. I prayed for our hearts to match and that we wouldn't end up moving again with no real direction. I prayed for wisdom on how to be a Godly wife. One day I found myself in the library and got Steve several books by Billy Graham, Max Lucado and other Christian authors who focused on helping people find direction. To my surprise, Steve read every word of those books and his heart began to change.

SPRING BREAK- Steve began reading "Purpose Driven Youth Ministry" on his own. I became increasingly curious......

We went to Houston for Easter and I walked in on a very quiet, very serious conversation between Steve and his dad. On the way back home, Steve announces that we are moving back to BCS and at first I am thrilled, but then uneasiness sets back in and I knew that is not what God had in store for us.

When we got home, Steve went into our bedroom for some God time and came back out the most excited I've seen him in a very, very, very, very, very long time. He said that he's made some changes to his classroom and was super excited about going back to school. (This was beyond weird because Steve had been dreading school and had come home every day broken for the last few months.)

POST SPRING BREAK

THE LAST WEEK IN MARCH- I could see a renewed sense of joy in Steve. He came home every day from work happy, relaxed, and a totally different person. He was actually as excited as I am about teaching.

BUILDING RESERVATIONS- As I was working on my certification, I began to realize that the only way that I was going to get a job was through God. Everyone in our program said that if you were certified in EC-4 then you would not get hired. They said that they had people who went through the program last year who refused to get certified in other areas who were still looking for jobs. I tried to study for the Special Education and 4-8 exams, but knew deep inside that those were not the jobs for me....so I waited and prayed.....

THE MYSTERY DATE- Our new Sunday School class goes on Mystery Dates every few months. Steve earned some extra money while in Houston, so we decided that this would be a good thing for us to do. At 6PM on a Saturday night we boarded a train with 13 other couples and headed for a mystery destination. Because we had just joined the class, we knew no one and quickly found ourselves struggling to keep up with who was who and found ourselves on the outside of every one's conversations. We were not having fun..... At dinner we were assigned seats with other couples and ended up sitting with some very nice people. They were nothing like us, but how many couples do you know that play in a punk rawk band? After supper we boarded the train again and ended up with another set of couples who we didn't know. They ended up being the fun group. While we were laughing the train ride away, the other couples sat and talked quietly. Somewhere in conversation we ended up discussing careers and discovered that one of our funny new friends was actually a principal at a school that needed a First grade and a Fifth grade teacher. We jokingly said, "hey, hire us!" and she jokingly said back, "well... you passed the pre-interview." We ended up with her number and e-mail address and agreed to call her sometime that week.

THE FOLLOWING TUESDAY- I walked into Steve's classroom and he announced that we had an interview on Thursday. I was partially mortified that Steve had contacted her that fast (they had been writing since Monday) and partially thrilled at the idea that we could be at the same school next year. (I found out after the interview that the principal had actually contacted Steve first.)

TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY- Steve and I worked like crazy gathering information for our portfolios. We are immensely competitive so we kept trying to outdo the other one. He ended up doing cover page at midnight on Wednesday night that put mine to shame..... I was so mad. :o)

THURSDAY- I am rarely nervous about interviews but this one made me all twittery. Steve ended up working late and we found ourselves racing to our interview. He didn't put the school's address into the computer when he googled it so we found ourselves at the dead end of a street that was SUPPOSED to lead us to the school. We nervously drove aimlessly around until we found ourselves at another elementary. Steve ran in to ask for directions. I've never seen him run so fast. It turned out that the school was right around the corner and we walked through the door right on time. By this time, I was a mess. I was sweating from the stress of potentially being late, nervous about the interview, and extremely hot from wearing my dress suit on a hot day. The principal greeted us and asked us which one of us would like to go first. Not knowing whether I would get more nervous or calm, I volunteered just to get it over with. The only way I could describe it would be for you to imagine being a squirrel walking into a room full of bunnies trying to explain that you have all the characteristics that would make you a good bunny. I couldn't even fake the answers to some of the questions they asked me and my brain was all fuzzy for the ones I did know. I kept a sense of humor about it all and we ended up laughing and joking through most of the interview. One of the teachers told me she loved me and practically tried to hire me half way through the interview! I was finished after the fastest and slowest 45 minutes of my life and then I had to wait for Steve to interview. It took forever. After both of our interviews, we were shown around the school and then offered the jobs. We are both thrilled because God not only answered all of my prayers but He blessed us beyond that. We are super excited about starting school next year and are even more excited that we have been given 4 months to plan. Steve's teacher friends have already started giving me supplies to start my new classroom with and Steve's mom offered to take me shopping for 'cutsie' things to hang up. I have three more classes and a Harry Wong seminar in July then I am done with certification school. YEA!!!!!

This past weekend.....

2008-04-04T20:01:00.003-06:00

This past weekend we......
Saw Alvin and the Chipmunks Live in Concert
Ate a cowboy lunch on haystacks while 'real cowboys' sang to us. A kid Nathan's age sang to us and played the guitar. I looked at Nathan and said, "Wasn't that cool?!" Nathan said, "YEAH, his guns were HUGE!"
Rode horses!

ALL FOR FREE!!!!! We love free.

God really answered our prayers this week by giving us both jobs for next year at the same school. I'll write more about that later when it's not bedtime. :o)

Spring Break Madness

2008-03-28T13:11:00.005-06:00

Kalea Bowling

Nathan's Golden Egg

View from the cliff

The Swing

Here are pictures of our Spring Break Highlights
I know that it seems like I've fallen off of the face of the earth, but I am still here. Things are very crazy in the Saenz household and I've spent the last few weeks trying to get me in order. I have so many things that I want to blog about that I've spent many a night just blogging in my head. If only I could hook a USB port to my head and podcast Sarah thoughts onto my blog.
We had an amazing Spring Break. It was filled with family breakfasts, a ton of bowling (we scored free passes from the school district), and a trip to Katy equipt with another midnight hotel fire drill. I can definitely say that we are now hotel fire experts. Families could pay us for the knowledge and skills we have acquired for getting our kids up and out the door when that hotel fire alarm starts ringing. I have so much to write about spring break, that I think I'll break it down by each child's highlight.
Kalea- Kalea's highlight was definitely bowling. She is a very free spirited bowler. It was beautiful. I think my sides were sore for days from laughing so hard. She was so excited when it was her turn to bowl. She would grab the ball with both hands, waddle and slide out onto the wooden floors in her clown shoes (they didn't carry shoes her size so they were at least an inch or two too big) and she would chunk the ball with all her might. Sometimes the ball went down our neighbor's lane, other times it would go BETWEEN the bumpers and the gutters, and still other times, it would just come back towards the couches. Steve would go running after the ball while Kalea would spin joyfully in the spotlight with one toe on the ground and the other foot lifted up pointing to the heavens. She would throw her head back and sweep her arms out and yell, "YEA!!!!" like she had just made a strike. Every turn was celebrated with spins and dances all across our lanes and our neighbors lanes. To Kalea, it didn't matter where the ball went, what mattered was that she threw it and for that, she was thrilled. All of our neighbors would stand back and laugh at Kalea's outward joy. We were blessed that no one really cared that Kalea's ball didn't always stay in our lane.
Nathan- Nathan's highlight was the golden Easter egg. We went egg hunting at the YMCA in Katy along with our 1,ooo best friends. The announcer spoke of a golden egg, and that was all that Nathan could think about. The buzzer went off and the kids torpedoed out to the field. The one golden egg that we had spotted was grabbed up immediately, so I found myself on the ground tossing eggs into Nathan's basket while he stood sulking that his golden egg was gone. I realized how ridiculous we looked so I stood up to give Nathan the pep talk about how the hunt was about having fun, and not about getting the golden egg. The field was cleared and the eggs and kids were gone before I could convince Nathan to at least pick up a few eggs, and that's when I spotted it. The golden egg was sparkling in the sun in a tall patch of grass right next to us. Nathan grabbed it up and inside was a whole dollar bill. Nathan was stoked. He carried it around the entire day showing everyone his prized possession.
Steve and Me- Our highlight actually started 10 years ago when we worked for the Boys and Girl's Club. Every summer we would take the kids to picnic at a park. When everyone was done eating and settled in on the playground, the staff would sneak off in groups of 2 or 3 (depending on how many of us there were that day) and we would go to this swing in the woods. We would stand on a cliff about 30 feet in the air, hold onto a rope swing, and would swing off the cliff. It was scary (and dangerous) and fun all at once. It was sort of an initiation for all of the staff members. Steve and I always joked that we would take our kids there when we were old and gray.....well, on Spring Break, we went hiking and found ourselves at that very swing. It was still there, only there were about three more ropes tied to the ends of where the original swing had broken off. We didn't allow our kids to swing off of the cliff, but we did have the opportunity to share some Sarah and Steve history with them and let them do mini swings on the ropes. It was just amazing and awesome that we had stood in that very spot 10 years ago, dreaming about what our future children would be like and then (bang) there we were with our perfect family on a perfect day talking about what the past was like.

A VERY Close Call

2008-03-09T20:15:00.002-06:00

On the snow day that wasn't a Snow Day for the school kids, Nathan and Steve were driving very carefully to school. Steve was a bus driver so I am pretty confident in his driving (even on icy days). They were traveling very slowly on a very icy overpass when some high school kids tried to pass Steve and attempted to cut him off. On their way around Steve, however, they hit an icy patch and flew out of control spinning wildly in front of Steve's car as he frantically tried not to hit the twirling kids. The high school kids ended up facing Steve (and oncoming traffic) about a quarter of an inch away from rail, while Steve slid past them and onto dry road. God was watching out for both Steve and Nathan and the high school kids. As Steve drove down to safety, he watched the two, newly cautious kids, turn slowly around and off the bridge to school. I am sooooooo very thankful that no one got hurt. Afterwards, Steve witnessed about three wrecks on the half mile stretch of highway leading to his school. School should definitely been cancelled that day.

Snow Day

2008-03-07T10:44:00.004-06:00

The weatherman said that it would snow at 5PM, so in joyful anticipation, we pulled open the blinds and waited for that first blessed snowflake to fall. The entire evening revolved around the exposed window. We did Nathan's homework facing it so we could sneak glances outside; we ate our dinner with our chairs carefully rotated just enough to see out the window; and when each of us thought that the other was not looking, we would open the door just enough to peer outside into the dark, cold night.....but alas no snow. Steve and I took turns racing back to the computer to check the newest update. 5PM passed, 6PM passed, and at 7PM, we put the kids to bed without a single snowflake. At 8PM, the weather station changed it's forcast to snow at 11PM, but Steve was not convinced. He was confident that the snow just was not going to come.

Kalea woke up crying at midnight. I normally would not answer her midnight call, but we took away her nighttime pullups for the week and I wanted to make sure she was still dry.....plus I wanted to check for snow. Both Kalea and the ground outside were still dry, so I went back to sleep in my warm bed thinking that maybe Steve was right. At 5AM, Kalea was up again, and this time, to my surprise, the ground was covered with a white blanket of snow! Steve and I sat in bed and waited for our ISD to be flashed on the TV screen with the other school closings.....but alas, our anticipation was broken and so were our hopes of a snow day. Steve and Nathan went off to school with their heads hung low. I felt bad, but not bad enough to waste a playdate with the snow. Kalea and I got dressed and went out to play. Kalea didn't know what to do at first, but after she warmed up to the idea, she made snow balls and watched them explode as she threw them on the ground. We played until the sun came out and began to melt all of our powdery fun. I put a snowball in the freezer for Nathan and cooked up a can of chicken noodle soup for Kalea and I.

UPDATES- Nathan got 'Lonestar of the Week' at school. He has caught up in reading and is expected to exceed expections by the end of the year. He really likes school now. (This is a first in the history of Nathan.) Now that he is completely settled and has friends, we found out that he can't go to that school again next year because Steve won't be teaching. Back to the ghetto school he goes. :o(

Kalea is now 100% potty trained both during the day and at night. She rode her first horse at Huntsville State Park on Saturday, her first roller coaster on Sunday and made her first snowball today. She proudly tells me that she is "strong and big."

Steve is looking into all sorts of interesting jobs.....no leads yet......

A Week N' Saenz

2008-03-02T15:49:00.003-06:00

I heard a statistic that most Americans spend 2.5 hours a day on the computer, and less than 15 minutes a day in their Bibles. Did you know that it only takes about 15 minutes a day to read the Bible in a year? Me being the world's slowest reader can accomplish this. Anywho, here is the long awaited blog. I hope that it doesn't let anyone down. It's been a crazy month and this has been the first time that I've been free to do nothing. First of all, I passed my TeXes exam!!!! Secondly, I really, really, really enjoyed seeing a lot of you a million Sunday's ago when I came to visit. It made my heart sing to hear from you and to know that you read my blog. Soooo without further ado, here is what is up with the Saenz family:
Sunday- We started this week off in Galveston at a family reunion. There is no better way to wake up than with your family by the beach. It was a lot of fun. Kalea had to stop every couple of miles to go potty, making the trip home be the world's longest, but it was well worth it.
Monday- Steve had a meeting with his principal and learned that not only is his teaching contract not getting renewed, but that he will be unable to teach any where in the district. When he told me, my first thought was; "I JUST LEFT EVERYTHING FOR WHAT?!!!" I was mad but wanted to be a loving, supportive wife, so I said nothing. I said nothing to him for three days, because I just didn't know what to say that would be loving and supportive......and I have no friends here, so I had no one to talk it through with over Starbucks (which usually solves everything).
Tuesday- Kalea and I spring cleaned the house.
Wednesday- We have crazy schedules on Wednesdays, so I don't get to see Steve until 7 at church. He brought me Starbucks and after the service and our marriage Bible class (Marriage Matters is the world's best class for couples.) we finally had a chat about the future. He has decided that he's done with teaching and is going to change jobs altogether. As for what that is, he has no clue.
Thursday- I went in for a teaching interview for a private Christian school and they loved me. I will be called in for a second interview with the pastor sometime either next week or the week after. With the discount, Kalea's tuition will be about $250 a month cheaper than day care, and she will get to wear a super cute uniform.
Friday- We drove to the Woodland's area to play a show at the largest Christian club in Texas. It was super fun and the most entertaining part was that there was a professional photographer who took a million pictures of us and would superimpose fans into our pictures as a souvenir.
Saturday- We spent Friday night at the owner's house and spent the day at Huntsville State Park. We spent forever going on the trails because Kalea had to 'clean' all of the pine needles off with a stick. Steve said, "hey look kids, there is a turtle!" We all crowded around and at first glance, I knew that it was not a turtle, but three foot long green snake!!!!"

Thankful in the Cold

2008-02-01T10:11:00.000-06:00

Steve's class went on a field trip today to Austin at 6:30AM, so I was back on single mom duty. As I drove Nathan to school in our nice warm car; passing all of the icy cars and ice covered roofs, I had to take a moment to be very thankful.
1.) I am thankful for our house, (yeah, yeah, yeah pictures will come). When I was small we lived in a house where it got so cold that our hamster froze to its water bottle. I am so thankful that our kids are blessed with so much more.
2.) I am thankful for our garage with an automatic garage door opener. We unpacked and got rid of enough stuff so that our garage is actually a garage and not a storage room. No more scraping ice off of our car windshield with a CD case......
3.) I am thankful that I get to bring Nathan to school for the first time since our move. I've missed our special time together.
4.) I am thankful that Nathan's teacher is back. Her son got into a car wreck last weekend and she has spent the week in the hospital with him.
5) I am thankful that Nathan's teachers love him and Kalea.

The Recycling Bin that Went to China

2008-01-30T10:19:00.000-06:00

When my older sister and I were young we would spend hours in front of the TV watching the old movie, Calamity Jane. We watched it so much in fact that we not only knew all of the words, but each dance and movement by heart. If you were here with me right now, I would jump up on the bar and sing "Just got back from the windy city......" OK, maybe not a bar persay, but perhaps a table. It was SOOOOO windy yesterday that every time Kalea and I went out, she would yell, 'HOLD ON MOMMY!!!' After I explained to her that Mary Poppins blew away on a windy day, she started yelling "HOLD ON MARY POPPINS MOMMY!!!!" We went to Tom Thumb and Kalea blew away in the cart when I was trying to unlock the door. I could hear her laughing and out of the corner of my eye I saw her blowing away. Much to her delight, a bag boy saved her before she traveled too far. Then we went to Walmart where the wind was so fierce that it blew the powerlines down. Kalea and I shopped in the dark and were amazed that generations past are still programed to stop talking when the lights go out. The store was filled with silent shoppers united in the effort of a one stop shop. Kalea and I got half way through the store when I heard yelling and everyone heading for the front of the store. The employees in an effort to close down the store, had all gathered in the back and were slowing moving forward life guard style, herding us towards the front to 'check out and get out' as the gruff smoker of a lady told me. I got to the end of the isle and looked to my right at the mile long line of people checking out and then to my left at the much needed milk just sitting there staring back at me from the back of the store. The 'road' looked clear and I decided to make a run for the milk. I got half way towards it when about three Walmart employees jumped out from the isle and tackled me to the ground. My purse went flying and Kalea and the cart crashed into the chip display sending it crashing to the ground! Ok maybe not.....but the three Walmart employees did pop out of the isle and yelled at me. No milk for my babies....... :o( When we got home, we found that our garbage can full of trash had blown away as did our Recylcing Bin and all of it's contents. The can mysteriously made it back to our house, but our recycling bin is no where to be found. Perhaps the wind will change direction tomorrow and our bin will return from it's adventure.

The Princess is Down

2008-01-24T10:48:00.000-06:00

Nathan in Steve's shorts about three years ago......

My mom bought Kalea a treasure chest full of princess costumes for her birthday. It arrived Tuesday night before bed time. It's arrival goes something like this:

Steve: Was that the door?

Me: I don't know, but don't answer it. (I am slightly paranoid)

Steve: It's some guy.

Me: Don't answer it if he has a gun.

Steve: .......But I am curious......OOoooOOo he left something!

Me: Is it a gun?

Steve: I dunno, but I am curious.....

He opens the door to find the arrival of costumes and toys. The kids don't have much time to play before they are shipped off to bed, so the next morning I awake to find a fevered princess on the couch decked out in full princess gear from crown to high heels (with PJs still on and peeking out from underneath her dresses). I could tell she didn't feel well, but HAD to put on her costume before she collapsed onto the couch. I spent most of the day holding and rocking her and trying to teach her how to blow her nose. I tried everything from a very mom-like demonstration, to telling her to pretend to blow her birthday candles out with her nose. I never saw a single drip. It all got sucked down into her tummy. She'd make a good vacuum.

Updates:

Nathan- is doing very well in school. He actually likes it. Steve can't go down the hallway without another teacher stopping him to tell him how hilarious Nathan is. Everyone wants to adopt him and take him home. We did find out that he is 4 levels behind in reading, so all of you who have kids in Bryan schools, beware. He was right on target in Bryan.

Kalea- is a princess down. She has been sick for two days, but by the time the boys come home, she has gained new life and is suddenly fine...... Nathan has been keeping her in a box as his pet mouse and feeding her snacks that he snuck out of the kitchen. She happily squeaks and pokes her head up occasionally to be petted.

Steve-had plans to start working out and we all know that when you have plans to work out, you get sick and that's exactly what happened. He went to school anyway to spread all of his joy.... I mean germs to the rest of the school. Other than being sick, he's doing well. His classroom drama is better than the show Passions so it's been fun to hear all of his stories after school.

Me- I got offered two jobs this week and turned them both down. One of the jobs seemed really great and the pay would have been abundant, but the hours would have made it so I wouldn't be able to see Nathan at all during the week. I can't give up the privilege to raise my own children. Since being unemployed doesn't pay much, I up'd my game as a wife and our marriage has been amazing. Steve even started making the bed and cleaning his side of the room on the weekends! Thanks to a generous donation from my parents, I am currently working on my teaching certification. I take my TExES test in Bryan on February 11th (there were very few testing sites here in the big city, and the available testing dates didn't fit in with my schedule), so I may come by and say 'hey' to everyone.

Happy Birthday Kalea!!!!

2008-01-15T13:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my sweet baby's 3rd birthday. I can't believe that she is three already!! We got busy potty training a week ago and yesterday was the very first day that she was 100% accident free. She helped me make her cake and the entire time she kept saying, "I am making my birthday cake!" It was almost like she couldn't believe what she was doing. She picked carrot cake, as my kids always do. As much as I try to pursuade them otherwise, they seem to be under the impression that all birthday cakes should be carrot. After the cake was finished, she took a two hour swim in our garden tub. (She even got out to go potty and then splashed back in when she was finished!) After her swim, I fixed her hair and we ate lunch together and then she went down for her nap. I had to wake her up to pick up Nathan from school where Kalea excitedly told all of the teachers that it was her birthday. After daddy got home, we went out to eat at "the Barn" (a themed resturant that is shapped like a barn and has both an indoor and an outdoor playground) where Kalea asked random mommies to take her picture because it was her birthday. It was embarassing but some of the moms actually had Kalea pose with their children in their pictures. I could just see them at home saying, "...and here's the one of the ramdom kid at the chicken place....." After supper we went home for cake and presents. We got Kalea a few things that she had been asking for all winter, but she lacked the 'wow' factor. It wasn't until she opened the package of princess panties did she crack a grin. Who would have thought the panties would be the highlight of her night?! We're going to have a 'real' party for her in two weeks.

The Stranger in My Kitchen

2008-01-14T09:36:00.000-06:00

Why we don't have guns in our house.....

The other night I heard some strange noises over Kalea's baby monitor. It sounded as though someone were in our kitchen, but I passed it off as new house paranoia. Not long after the noises began, Kalea started to cry. She never cries at night, so I got up pretty quickly to check on her. On my way down the hall, I noticed a light on in the kitchen. I was about 100% sure that I was the last one to bed and that I turned off all the lights, so I stood frozen in the hallway, my mind racing and soon my worst fears were confirmed. A shaddow of a man crossed in front of the source of light and before I knew it my feet were taking me away from my crying daughter back down the hall to my husband. I threw open our door and whispered, "THERE'S A MAN IN OUR HOUSE! SOMEONE'S HERE!!" Much to my horror, our bed was empty and Steve was gone.
Now this is the point where most people would realized that the man in the kitchen was actually their spouse, but not me, it was go time. I was high on panic and running around the room looking for a weapon. Could I poke him with a ball point pen? Whack him with a coathanger? Perhaps I could knock him out with a guitar (not mine of course, I would use Steve's). I decided to size up the situation and check out whether or not the stranger was too tall for me to use a guitar on him. I tip toed back down the hallway and peaked into the kitchen. I saw the boxer-clad stranger clearly now. He was sitting on my couch drinking a huge cup of my baby girl's milk. I went to get the guitar...
Ok just kidding, that is when I realized that the stranger was actually Steve. He was having trouble sleeping and decided to watch TV so that he wouldn't wake up the entire house. Little did he realize that everyone was now wide awake with the exception of Nathan who could sleep through a rock concert. Kalea needs breakfast, but I'll do a family update later.

Readjusting K-Mad

2008-01-07T11:42:00.000-06:00

The picture is of me 7 months pregnant with Kalea with my assistant teacher 'Mamana' and one of my students.

On a bright and cheery Saturday morning, Kalea and I were doing the dishes while the boys were running around the house playing Hide-and-go-seek with their newly unpacked walkie talkies. As Kalea rinsed the dishes and I loaded them into the dishwasher, it occured to me that Kalea and I could go the entire morning in contemplative slience while the boys could hardly stay silent long enough to hide in their game of hide-and-go-seek. In fact, we've spent most of the week nesting in silence....
We've been so busy exploring our new town that Kalea did not miss her school until the boys started up again this past Thursday. I could tell that she missed her friends so I put a Dr Jean CD into her CD player where she parked herself in front of for the entire morning. As I peaked in to check on her, she looked up long enough to shout, "MOMMY, MY FRIENDS ARE IN THERE!!!" and then went straight back to rocking back and forth on her knees dancing to the music.
We had our first dinner guests this past Saturday and Kalea was super excited about showing them her new room. Upon inspection, our guests noticed the picture collage of Kalea and her pal, A.L. They pointed to it and asked Kalea who her friend was. Kalea very happily jumped up and down and proudly shouted, "That's A.... (said real name), she's my sister!"
I think that it's easy to say that Kalea and I are both super excited to be blessed with a great new town, big new house in a quiet neighborhood, and are so happy to be with daddy, but we are also very homesick for our church and friends.

Fun With Dick and Jane

2007-12-22T10:13:00.000-06:00

"Fun With Dick and Jane" is one of our all time favorite movies. We seem to always be one step away from taking showers in other people sprinklers and robbing the coffee shop for that amazing muffin that is just out of our reach. Today we woke up super early on a Saturday morning so that we can be the first people into the library to check our e-mail. (I just got the "10 minutes left warning" on the computer.) If it weren't so funny it would be quite pathetic. :o) Steve got Visa gift cards for Christmas from his students and my parents so we are going to get internet for two full months!!! This should give me time to find a new job. Please be in prayer for that, as I might end up working for Cosco. 8 minutes left....
I am sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to most of you. I had a million things going on inside my head of what I needed to do and they just got sort of mixed up. We will be back though on New Years Eve to play two shows, one at the Junction and one for SOS Ministries. We'd post them on Myspace, but alas, the library has banned that site. We love you guys and miss you so very much. Mansfield is awesome and we hope that you guys can come and visit us someday. Have a merry Christmas.
Oh and if you e-mail me your addresses, I'll send you a Christmas card!!!

A MILLION THINGS TO SAY!!!!!

2007-12-16T19:58:00.000-06:00

If I were to wake up tomorrow and realize that this has all been a dream, I wouldn't be surprised. This is has been the craziest week EVER and if I had all the time or words in the world, I wouldn't be able to truely capture it for you, but here is the shortened version. Take a deep breath.....
Monday- Got mostly approved for our rental house.
Tuesday- Sherry and Myrna took me out on a surprise shopping trip. It was the greatest, most thoughtful, most awesome thing anyone has ever done for me. Every time I put on my new clothes, I can't stop smiling because I know without a doubt that I am loved.
Wednesday- Got in my first fender-bender in 12 years!!!!! I was distracted by the U-Haul people (will most likely never rent a truck from them again) and merged into a college student's truck and lost my mirror. THEN I found out that it would take a week to get water and electricity in our new rental house.
Thursday- Mimi got lost in our crazy mad rush to pack the U-Haul. Kalea went to sleep about 11PM crying for Mimi. My eye started twitching and Steve and I were both running on severly high amounts of panic. We found Mimi close to midnight in the back of Kalea's tricycle.
Friday- Entire body twitching in our mad rush to pack and clean. I wish we could have cleaned more, but we ran out of time in the end. We signed the papers to close on the house and found out that our morgage company hadn't paid our taxes yet so we had to pay twice. Our Beta fish had to ride in a Sonic cup to Mansfield as we drove in the wind and the rain. The kids SCREAMED the entire time and Kalea cried for her best buddy A.L. all the way there. We got to our rental house and it still had electricity and water on and is the most perfect house for us. I LOVE it! Steve drove the U-Haul straight into the mud, got it stuck and had to block the entire street until he and my brother could unload it enough to make it light enough to move it out of the lawn and into the driveway. I am so thankful that no one got hurt during the loading and unloading process.
Saturday- We spent Friday night at the nicest people in the world's house. After a super good breakfast, we made a mad rush to finish unpacking the U-haul (in 30 degree weather with an artic wind blowing everything over) before 12 so that we could return it. We took our lease to the library and got our cards (YEA!!!). We unpacked, rearranged the boxes and started setting up our new house.
Sunday- We visited a new church with the people whose house we're staying at. It's pretty cool. They have three computers in their Preschool and Children's department. You type in your phone number and it prints out your labels for you (one for you and one for your child). Kalea's room had the special window so you could look in on the kids without being seen. She was very sad without her best pal, but her teacher was super good. She was a volunteer who had eleven 2 year olds all by herself and they were all seated on the floor reading a book when we came by to get Kalea. She was clean, dry and well taken care of.
We are not planning on getting internet until I get a job, so it may be a while. I miss you guys already and will check my e-mail as often as possible.

No news yet....

2007-11-30T17:26:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd put that first, because I am sure that's exactly what you were wondering. :o)

I realized yesterday that I've wasted this week being 100% grumpy when I should have been 10,000% thankful. Ever have those weeks?

Warm Bed with a Side of Hotel Fire

2007-11-25T21:54:00.001-06:00

So it's the night before Thanksgiving and I am busy being thankful (with my eyes closed) for the hotel that my in-laws paid for us to stay in so that we could spend a few days in Katy with them. It's a brand new hotel and the bed is so comfy and my kids are so tired that for the first time in a few months I find myself sleeping through the entire night. This is a moment of special lights and angels singing because sleep is a true gift and blessing for a tired mommy such as myself. At 5:30AM, however, all of the special lights turn into those flashing fire lights and the angels turn into orb like alarms screaching a melody that no mommy wants to hear, ever. Barely awake, Steve and I jump out of our warm bed and into action. We don't even think to turn on the lights so we are groping for coats and shoes in the dark. I grab Kalea and Steve throws Nathan's shoes on him and we take off down the hall and down the three flights of stairs with our new best pajama clad friends. At the second story, the smell of smoke hits us and in his panic, Nathan takes a tumble down the carpeted stairs. There are so many people that a pair of pajamaed legs breaks his fall and he is up and running in an instant. As we step out into the crip early morning air, the bite of the cold weather takes a delayed moment to hit us. I can feel Kalea trembling in my arms as we take the que from other families and run for the car. Fumbling in the cold morning air, it takes Steve a while to get it unlocked and started, but we were super grateful for the warm air that poured out of the vents. As we settled in, the horrific notion hit me that I left Kalea's beloved Mimi in the hotel to be cooked by the flames. As Kalea's shaking subsided, the fire trucks arrived, and Steve and Nathan giggled as the pajama clad Chief jumped out of the truck and into the hotel with his fully dressed companions. After almost an hour, we were able to head back into the hotel and back to bed. Kalea and I snuggled in and went back to sleep greatful that Mimi (and ok, I guess the hotel too) was ok while Steve and Nathan chatted excited about the morning's event. We never did find out exactly what had happened, but in the end we were all thankful that no one was injured or killed by the fire.

Nathan's funny sayings for the week:
At the Gem and Diamond exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science- "Mom, people can't wear these, they're just rocks."
On the way out of Walmart on a super cold day- "I don't need Germ X, the germs already froze off my hands."

Test

2007-11-19T11:52:00.000-06:00

Here's a true test to see who actually reads these...... a very nice family has decided to buy our house and if things go well, then we should close on December 14th (the same day that my parents will be closing on their house to move to Virginia). We are both terrified and extremely excited about the next three weeks. We are fully aware that whatever happens from here on out is completely in the hands of God. Please pray for us through the inspection and through the other family's financial process.
Every young girl wants to marry a rawk star, but the trade in is that rawk stars are great with guitars but really bad with home repair work. I may be needing to trade my hubby's guitar skills for your hubby's home improvement skills if the inspection warrents. Thanks so much for your prayers through this crazy process.

Sitting instead of cleaning....

2007-11-19T08:23:00.001-06:00

Get a Cash Advance

Blog-tas-tic

2007-11-18T22:25:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to say that I am feeling better. A big thank you for those who prayed. We have a definite 'maybe' on the house and have had two people look at it this weekend. Go figure that the one weekend that I don't feel well and that Steve is gone, is the one weekend that people actually want to look at the house. I was at the bottom of the well on Saturday when the agent called about showing the house. I gathered every last bit of energy I had to clean muttering "I can do all things in Christ Jesus who gives me strenth" under my breath and while I cleaned, the 'un'children uncleaned. It took me a while to realize what was going on and when I finally realized what my beautiful children were doing, I had to take a 'come to Jesus' minute. If I had been feeling better, I might have killed them, but since it would have taken too much energy, I just made them sit on the couch with the 'No No Spoon' at eye level while I continued to slowly make my way through the house. While we waited for the house to be shown, we went to the mall where we did a driveby Santa visit. Peeking through the white gate, Nathan whispered "Mom, I think that one is the real Santa." (He has issues about taking pictures with 'fake' Santas.) When I asked him if he wanted to go say 'hi,' Nathan shook his head no. Nathan has never liked taking pictures with Santa. We gave up trying when he was 3. I don't think wives of Educators were meant to get Santa pictures of their children any way. It's funny how Educators help to develop great talent and academics in this world, and they get paid the least and have the worst insurance.

"Grubby"

2007-11-15T22:08:00.000-06:00

When I was pregnant with Kalea, I temporarly worked fulltime at a day care so that we could afford her birth. Because I was in a church, my super cool, super large classroom shared space with a Sunday school class. On my first day of work I noticed a small fish bowl sitting solitarly in the corner of the room filled 2/3s full with green murkey water and a moldy looking fish I dubbed "Grubby" for obvious reasons. Sharing space with a Sunday school class, I assumed that Grubby was part of a Sunday school experiment gone terribly wrong. I am not a big fish person, so every day I hoped that Grubby would go to the big pond in the sky, but every day Grubby kept on swimming in his earthly disaster of a home. Months went by and the water grew greener and greener and much to my displeasure Grubby just kept on living. As I waited for my class to come, I spoke to Grubby every morning, encouraging him to go towards the light, but the moldy fish never did. By late November, a new teacher joined our ranks, taking half of my class with her as well as my pal Grubby. She only showed up every once in a while to clean Grubby's bowl and to yell at the kids, and after a miserble month or so, she was asked to leave. As much as I was hoping she'd take Grubby with her, she left the small, smelly thing behind. Christmas came and went and pretty soon it was time to have Kalea, so I gladly packed my bags and left my job leaving Grubby to the mercy of his Sunday school pals. Surprisingly enough though, not long after I left, I learned that my pal, Grubby, did not belong to the Sunday School class after all, but to the teacher before me. Poor Grubby had gone months without being fed or cared for and had somehow survived. He had adapted to living with nothing. After I left, a good pal had taken Grubby in. She cleaned his tank until it was sparkling, fed him, talked to him, and most likely given him a good name......needless to say, it wasn't long before Grubby went belly up. The poor girl killed him with love.
It's a good thing that people don't die from too much love, because then my children wouldn't have made it past their first few months of life. It's not just us who love them, but we have an entire church who loves them and cares for them. About two weeks ago, we received an envelope with enough money in it to pay for our car to be fixed. It was an enourmous debt that weighed very heavily on our hearts, and someone loved us enough to pay that debt for us. No one, especially us, deserves such a gift as that. As a general rule, we never deposit gifted money into our account until we write a thank you note, but our gift was without a face. I placed the envelope on our kitchen counter and every time I passed it I got so overwhelmed by the generosity and love and the unworthiness we have for it, that it brought me to tears several times. Since the car broke down, I had been begging to see the face of God, to at least feel His presence during this time away from Steve, and He was there all along. He was in the faces of everyone at church, of everyone who loves us and has been praying for us. I am so thankful for whoever gave us that gift and I pray for them every night before I go to bed, because they opened my eyes to remind me that God is not so far away.

Prayer requests- I have denied being sick every way possible, and somehow I thought that refusing to talk about it would make me feel better. I feel like the world's worst mommy because I am all my kids have and I am so sick that by the time night comes I absolutely cannot care for them. I think it's just the strain on my heart, but I am walking around with my hands completely numb and the entire world swimming around me willing myself not to pass out. My pal Jenny has been a HUGE blessing for me, but we're on our own this weekend, so if you could please, please, please pray for me, I would really appreciate it. I feel like we're jumping from one crisis to another and I am really sorry, I am really not that kind of person who has a different emergency every day of the year. Once we make it out of the desert, we should be fine. If you could just please pray for my heart and God's healing for it, and for the safety of my children that I don't pass out while caring for them, I would really appreciate it.

Mood Rings and Giant Squids

2007-10-23T20:28:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite bands, Relient K, wrote a song about mood rings. The chorus goes a little like this-

"And i've contrived some sort of a plan to help my fellow man
Let's get emotional girls to all wear mood rings
So we'll be tipped off to when they're ticked off
Cause we'll know just what they're thinking, just what they're thinking"

As funny as that is, it occured to me this afternoon how much easier life would be if we all wore giant signs around our necks proclaiming to the world how we were feeling. Just think about how much heartache (or headaches) we would save ourselves from if people had signs that said things like "Does not play well with others" (inspired by my mother-in-law), "GOSSIP" or "Talks for hours about themselves." Our kids would stand in the pick up lines after school with signs that read things like, "Needs 15 minutes to unwind before initiating conversaion," "CAUTION- low blood sugar" or "HUG ME!" How much easier would life be if we didn't have to do the after-school-moody-kid-dance and were just able to provide our babies with exactly what they need?! Marriages would be a breeze if wives wore signs like "needs flowers," "break needed," or "if you love me, you will clean the house and watch the children." I was thinking about what my sign would say. Unsurprising, my sign changed quite frequently throughout the day. I came up with everything from "if you'd just stop crying and do your homework, we'd be done by now" to "NEEDS chocolate/candy corn/Sonic/coffeeeee" to "single mom, needs (MY) hubby," but my sign kept coming back to the same thing, "very tired, very, very discouraged super mom in great need of Starbucks and a chance to just sit in two minutes of childless quiet."

Update- Steve got his car back (PRAISE GOD!!!). Steve told the car people our story and they fixed our car and are allowing us to pay how ever much we can when we can. God was really in that entire situation.
Nathan is really struggling with his faith. He thinks that because God did not answer our prayers on our timing that He does not exist. I am really trying to work with him to help him understand that God's timing is perfect timing.
Kalea has been very grumpy. Her teachers are even starting to notice a change in her demeanor. If I can just get her to sleep a little more at night without fear of monsters, then I think she might feel a little better. Ironically, the monsters only come when Steve is gone.
As for me, I sought out a job in Arlington that as it turns out, was posted on the internet in DECEMBER 2004 and the page was never changed!!!! Boy, is my face red.

Secrets From a Work-a-holic

2007-10-15T12:35:00.000-06:00

So now I am officially working for ALL of the ministries preschool has to offer with the exception of children's choir. MDO took me on last Wednesday to 'float' for two hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. I am quite sad to give up my only two hours of quiet a week, but even sadder when those two hours were filled with the frantic-scurry-no-money-dance. I am going to think of it as an extra opportunity to plant seeds of faith for a future relationship with God, because the thing is, no matter how cool, bouncy, funny or creative you are in the preschool department, in a few years when the kids are off doing big kid things, they aren't going to have any clue who you are, but they WILL remember the things you said and the seeds you have planted inside their hearts. Isn't that what it's all about?! It's super-cool to think that one day, one of my Cubbie lessons or Wiggle Worship crafts will be remembered by someone once small, and will be a part of what will eventually lead them to Christ.

K-Mad just ran into a wall. It's nice to see that she inherited all of her grace from me. :oP

Update- My adventurous husband went to Mansfield last night with no car and no place to stay. He ended up at the Minister of Music guy's house from the church he helps lead worship at. We're still working on the car-side of life, but once that is fixed, he will go back to his cousin's house in North Richland Hills and commute from there to school each day. I realized that the reason why we love the "Vacation" movies, and "Little Miss Sunshine" so much is because the randomness and unpredictability of it all is totally what would happen to my family. Can't you just see us driving around in a yellow van with a broken horn and a door that keeps falling off, with the entire family having to push it to get a running start with Kalea at the wheel?! Such is the Saenz family and that is the very reason why we rawk. :o)

The Drama Queen

2007-10-12T10:45:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we were eating dinner when Kalea yells "OH NO!!" all eyes turn towards her....she jumps up in her chair and yells "I feel a song coming on!!!"

Here is a tribute to her...

All things are Popsicle

2007-10-08T15:10:00.000-06:00

Nathan's song quote for the day!

Jamee lent me her truck so I thought I'd post a picture of it. :o) Just kidding....but seriously....On Sunday afternoon, Steve and I were scurring to get everything taken care of that we possibly could to prevent further bus riding. We did all of the grocery shopping, book returning and all of the extra stuff that usually gets done during the week. As we drove around, Steve said that we won't sell our house until we have completely hit rock bottom. The entire time my head was thinking, "YES! The kids are healthy, we both still have jobs, one of the cars works, we have some food to eat......" But my heart was the still small polar bear. In my heart, we not only fell into the bottom most depths of the well, but we were quickly sinking into the mud. I cried most of the day and sucked it in long enough to say goodbye to Steve and then cried some more. I wasn't planning on going to Cubbies, but D.H wasn't letting me out that easy, she drove way out to the ghetto to pick me up. It was at Cubbies that an angel in the form of Momma Brick offered me her husband's truck. I would have cried if I wasn't so happy. Steve sounded on the verge of tears when I told him over the phone. Her family's generosity was our saving grace for the week and we are so very thankful!!!!! So here are the reasons why we love the Bricks.
1. For lending us their truck for the week.
2. For always making us laugh. i.e. clothes pens on the pants.
3. For their funny spawn- the midde Brick told me that a good place to scream is in Mexico.
4. For their Momma Brick's blogs.
5. For kicking me off the link list for not writing. :o)
6. For Art Camp inspiration....
7. For introducing me to Angel Food
8. For splash pad parties.

I could go on, but Nathan has 24 spelling works to work on. 24!!!!!!...as if I don't have enough stress.....

Thanks so much for all of you who offered us a ride. You are all a blessing to our famly.

Car update- Steve's car needs a new fuel pump which will be $450. We don't have it and won't have it until we sell our house or get our tax return.....I wonder how much children are worth nowadays.... Anywho, if you could pray for us. I am so stressed that I popped a blood vessel in my hand.

A "Real" Blog :o)

2007-10-05T20:43:00.001-06:00

My new favorite past time.

Normally my Fall is filled with making teacher gifts to sell at Steve's school and playing shows on the weekends, but this Fall, I am as upside down and backwards as Nathan's bat mobile. Yes, we are big Halloween folks. Not for it's normal connotation, but for the whole idea that for one night, you get to dress up as someone else, and everyone gives you free candy for it. How cool is that?!!! This year however, between the crazed rush trying to keep the house clean, and keeping my kids feeling loved and valued, I just don't have any time to do some things that I really love....thus the creature sandwiches. One of Kalea's teachers said that she really enjoyed lunch because it was so exciting for her to see what shape Kalea's sandwich would be that day.

As far as our family goes.....wow. We are so thankful that we are all healthy and that Steve has been safe driving to Mansfield and back each weekend. His new job is awesome and he is really having a great time at it. They are going on a really cool field trip in charter buses and each child has to pay $67 to come!!!! Nathan made a 100 on his first spelling test and a 110 on his second one. He refuses to study, but I think my annoying spell-chanting over breakfast and in the car makes it's way into his head somehow. Kalea was potty trained for a WHOLE WEEK, but then it seemed to leave her like the small puddle on the floor. Arg. the bad news? Steve's car kicked the bucket and went to car heaven on Wednesday night. We don't have the money to fix it, or even get it looked at....seriously. Steve is taking our family car to Mansfield for the week, so Kalea, Nathan and I will become official bus riders. I am going to tell the kids that it's our own new and exciting adventure. Nathan will take a school bus and Kalea and I will be off on the city bus. The bus will only take us as far as the Physician's Center, but hopefully we will find a car pooler with an extra car-seat to help us get the rest of the way. I get very panic-y on buses, so if I look green and disheveled at work, it's not my costume. :o) We are thiking about turning off our internet/cable so that we can use the much needed $60 per month on things like food and gas, but we'll see. Steve is pretty against it. Yep, so that's our update. I really wanted to wait and write about great and wonderful things, but that seems to be a much longer wait than anticipated. Someone is looking at our house tomorrow from Assist to Sell, so send out a big prayer for us!!!!!

Music of My Life

2007-10-05T11:00:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

The soundtrack of my life....

Can you hear the anegels sing....

2007-08-31T14:25:00.000-06:00

Last night Nathan began to cry soft, quiet tears. When I held him in my arms, I asked him to tell me why he was so sad. Very softly, between quietly suppressed sobs he told me, "Mommy, I am so sad because I can no longer hear the angels singing."

2007-08-22T22:07:00.000-06:00

Guess who got a ticket for the first time in 10 years?

Blog Soup

2007-08-21T21:12:00.000-06:00

For those of you who could and did make it to Nathan's party, I just wanted you to know that it means so very, very, very much to me that you came. I appreciate it a lot, a lot, a lot. We are working on Thank You Notes this week. Nathan is very wiggly, so it may take a while, but I wanted you all to know how much I appreciate you being there. All of your gifts were Nathan's favorites. We've spent hours/days playing with them.

Poll answer- Steve has only taught for 4 years, not six. You should ask him about speaking in the foreign country, it's quite a tale involving a lot of chocolates and a big tummy ache. His daddy won nationals in model rocketry. NASA allows him and all of his friends compete in their area and I think hosts the events themselves.

Friends, I have quite a tale to share involving Nathans fish, a pair of chopsticks, the garbage disposal, and most disgustingly, my hand. It's super late, but check around Friday night and I'll blog about it.

Praise, Praise, Praise

2007-08-16T20:58:00.000-06:00

I was really worried about baking Nathan's b-day cakes today because it makes the house unbearably hot, but God must have known what I was up to because He kept it nice and cool outside the entire morning!!

I went to pick up Nathan's meds. this afternoon and our non-existant insurance covered two out of the three meds we needed. I think it was God. We are still working on trying to get the third, but we are so very, very, very thankful for the two we got!!!

What Makes the Grass Grow?

2007-08-15T23:22:00.000-06:00

In some weird co-in-sa-dence we keep ending up at parks right as they start mowing the grass. It happened everyday last week. Nathan, being my allergy child, is allergic to grass. It's the oddest thing that a child of mine would be allergic to grass. It's like being allergic to air or water. Usually Nathan doesn't have any problems but when the grass is getting cut, it brings out a new wave of impulses to his brain that tells his allergy censors to strart freaking out.
Last Saturday morning, we were at a park super early in the morning and our new friends, The Mowers, were out as well. After being 'spider hunters' on the playground, we venured out to the lake to say 'hi' to the ducks and to play 'Sink or Float' with the sticks and leaves around the pond. As we were crossing the freshly cut grass, Nathan began to itch. "Mom," he started breaking the morning's silence, "I have those bugs in my hair." When I asked him to explain, he told me that they are kind of like fleas, but you have to wash them out. The itching continued down his arms and to the tops of his legs as I led him to the areas with no grass. This is when his nose kicked in. He started itching it and wiggling the small thing back and forth with his index finger. I asked him if he had tickles in his nose, and without a pause, he told me very matter of factly, "NO MOM, that's where the fleas live."

Prayer Request- We found out today that we currently have no health insurance!!!!! Nathan needs his meds filled NOW. I am going to go to HEB tomorrow and pick up what we can afford, but we're going to need some help from God to get the other two. Please pray that we will somehow be able to get the others.
The praise part of this situation is that Steve found out about BISD cutting off our health insurance today, so he called MISD and today was the very last day that he could sign up to start getting health insurance on September 1st. So we are all signed up and will be getting medical coverage in about two weeks. Thank God!

Heavenly Treasures

2007-08-13T20:58:00.001-06:00

We got an offer on the house and on the exact same day, Steve found what he exclaimed to me over the phone, "the perfect house!!!!!" The problem? The offer was way low, and the 'perfect house' is $93,000. This may not seem like a lot to pretty much all of you, but with Steve being a teacher, we've never been approved for a loan over $75,000. Although nothing is impossible with God, we aren't sure that Steve's new raise will bear much more fruit on the home loan lending tree....and we're ok with that. We are great with that because we know that God will give us what we need when we need it. On the flip side, however, Nathan has seen pictures of the house and heard us talking about money, loans, and all of the things grownups talk about. He WANTS the house. He loves the house. He is our tiny polar bear in the backseat of the car, and yesterday, he finally said it....."Mom, I wish we were rich...."
I know longing. I longed for things for at least 20 years of my life before I realized that Jesus is all I need. Hearing Nathan long for money sent my mind spinning. What do we tell him? Do we say that God has chosen us to be poor? No, even that depresses me. Do I tell him that being poor has allowed us to see the true sufficiency of God's grace? No, because how do you explain that to a soon to be six year old? My mind raced as fast as the cars were passing us on Hwy 10, and then God gave it too me. The green eyed answer. The 'what's in it for me' answer. The Truth. Before my mind caught up with my mouth, I began explaining to Nathan about the riches that God has stored up for him in Heaven. I told him what Isaiah tells us about the priceless rubies, and what Revelations says about the mansions. Before I knew it, I had painted Nathan a detailed picture of what Heaven would be like, and he was not only satisfied with my answer, but I have no doubt that I planned a precious seed in his heart so that one day, he will accept Jesus as his own, and that made my heart glad. We many not get that perfect house, but there is an even better one for us in Heaven.

Prayer requests: Please, please, please pray that we will sell our house super fast. Steve will be for the most part moving out on Thursday. :o( Please pray that I can keep my head as a single mom. I don't do well alone at all, esp alone and trying to get our house sold. Please pray for our financial situation with the added expenses of Steve driving back and forth to Mansfield on the weekends and him having to eat out a lot. Please pray for our next Broker that we can get a good loan and find a good house. Please pray for our next church that it will at least be close to what we have now.

Another Polar Bear...

2007-08-07T21:42:00.000-06:00

Woe is meeeee, for I am a Polar Bear who cannot swim...

Cute, Fluffy White Polar Bear from "Balto"

When I was 16, I fell suddenly ill with heart problems and spent some time at Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth having numerous, uncomfortable tests done on my heart. During the long tests, a doctor or nurse would turn on the TV where the movie "Balto" was most always playing.....ok not most always, ALWAYS playing. I had to have seen that movie at least 15 times. My favorite character was a small, fluffy polar bear who couldn't swim. He spent the entire movie saying in his cute, British accent, "woooeee is me, for I am a Polar Bear who cannot swim." When I met Steve some time later, I showed him the movie, and he quickly picked up the famously cute line. When one of us is down or feeling sorry for ourselves, we metamorphasize into that small, fluffy polar bear and focus on the bad. "Woe is me...." we begin to say. Being the funny guy that Steve is, he'll dramatically drape his arm across his forehead, whip out the 'I am a cute British Polar Bear accent' and say in a cute high pitched voice, "WOE is me, for I am a Polar Bear who cannot swim..." It makes me laugh every time and it reminds me that God has given us so much to be thankful for, that it probably hurts His heart when we turn into mornful baby polar bears who cannot swim.
We've had sort of a rocky week with this house selling business. First our garbage disposal died and then our air conditioning...to be honest I've probably spent about an hour or two in my polar bear outfit, feeling defeated/sad/frustrated about the entire situation, but then I remembered an important lesson that God has spent the last 28 years trying to teach me. God is in charge. He has a plan for all of this, and most importantly, He has a plan for me and my family. Without God, there is no hope. Nathan keeps asking me when God is going to sell our house (mostly because he is tired of cleaning his room and living at the mall playground), and I can look him in the eye and tell him that even though we don't know, God does, and God will take care of us. Even if we are polar bears who can't swim sometimes, at least we are polar bears and polar bears are pretty cute.

Lost Sharpie

2007-08-02T20:41:00.000-06:00

....I lost my Sharpie while labeling boxes, and a few minutes later I found a blue baby... hummmmm......

On a less blue note, because our band tours and we have public exposure all over Texas, we do not feel safe putting pictures of our babies over the internet. This makes us sad because we really do want to share our lives and our family with those living far away. Due to our most recent adventure (our soon to be exodus into Mansfield), we decided to create a private myspace. Our new site will be www.myspace.com/saenzfamilyrawks . I know it will be some what confusing this site being thesaenzfamilyrawks and the other site lacking in the word 'the' but you can blame my hubby for that. I am going to Austin this weekend on a girls nite out event, but when I get back I will put all sorts of good photos on our new mypace!

One more thing, we had a 1 family look at our house so far, and I woke up that morning so positve that we would sell it that day.... anywho, we talked to the agent who showed the house and he said that the family loved the house but not the neighborhood. So close.....

And the Results are.....

2007-07-31T23:03:00.000-06:00

The results from our survey.....the Saenz Family has never toured the White House. :o)
We got to swim with sharks at Disney World, we decorated the Dr Pepper Float for the Rose Bowl Parade and we saw a new born dophin at Sea World on a behind the scenes tour! Thanks for voting, stay tuned for next week's survey question.

A Lady in Waiting Day 1

2007-07-30T15:58:00.000-06:00

We put out house on the market today, (YEA!) and as we were admiring our super huge sign, we noticed that the bushes needed a trim. Steve volunteered, but I had to deny his claim, because of his severe allergy to bees. It's almost comical though, me standing to one side with the Epi-pen and Steve, giant sheers in his hands, snipping a one foot portion, running from the bees, and then running back to the bush for another assalt. I explained to the inquiring kids why it was a bad idea for daddy to cut the bushes when Nathan told me matter of factly, 'if Daddy dies, we'll just get another one!' No problem....we'll just get another one.... :o) Needless to say, I'll be cutting those bushes tomorrow.

God is All

2007-07-28T16:59:00.000-06:00

I just got back from the training at our church and I am so tired that all I want to do is cry. Now I know how babies feel. I never understood why they cried.....lol and now I know... As a personal Sarah Saenz policy I don't ever keep track of how many hours I work, but curosity got a strong hold on me and after refusing to let go, I just HAD to count. My little sister used to say, 'my arm made me do it.' I worked 35.5 hours this week at church and then come home to paint/clean/pack until about 11-12:00 every night and then wake up early and start all over again. Nobody made me work that much, but I am so driven.... I am tired, exhausted, and too wound up to sleep at night, so I sit. I think of the Israelites and their adventure to the Holy Lands. I am sure their feet hurt and they were just as exhausted and tired as I am. While I have my soft bed to toss and turn in, they had sand. After an eternity of wandering around, they crossed the Jordan with Joshua as their fearless leader. As they crossed the river, the high waters gathered at one side to allow God's people to cross safely. Reluctantly, they crossed, children most likely close to their parents sides, pondering on the "what if's" of their strange journey. Once safely across, one member of each tribe gathered a rock from the empty riverbed to place on dry land as a reminder of what God has done for them. We may not have rocks from the river bed, but our house has given us 12 reasons to be thankful.
1. We are thankful that we even got the house. Because Steve's income is so small we only qualified for a $50,000 loan. We tried everywhere, but no bank or institution was willing to give us much more. Finally, we went to God, and God gave us Angel who gave us the gift of a loan big enough to buy the house.
2. What, what? After our agent reassured us we were good, we were given 3 days to come up with $1,000. No dice for us! God gave us Steve's cousin who loaned us the money and was super patient with us as we paid him back.
3. We are thankful for our Sunday school class moved us out of the apartment and into our home, and helped us to clean the apartment.
4. After a few months living on cold cement, Sam and Angela Brown put carpet into our new home.....and we still can't thank them enough.
5. We are thankful for my pal Jenny who made our house a home by hanging up our pictures and decorating our house for us.
6. We are thankful for Kathy Suel who brought us meat and food from her garden when our cupboards were bare.
7. We are thankful for all of our old youth who came over weekly for a hot meal and warm hearts....and the Sarah Saenz laundry service.
8. We are thankful for the lessons we've been able to teach Nathan about God through all of the ways our house has blessed us.
9. We are thankful for being able to teach others about God by welcoming them into our home and giving them things they need.
10. We are thankful for Mr Burleson who fixed our air conditioning.
11. We are thankful for all of the great memories we've had in this house, for Kalea learning to walk here and for all of her teeth she cut on our windowsill. We are thankful for the nights Nathan has spent on our couch learning how to read and for the million games of hide-and-go seek we've played.
12. We are thankful that we will be able to pass this house on to another family who will be blessed with a big house for a small price. Perhaps they will be like us, unable to afford a different house, but so thankful and so very blessed by this brick house in the ghetto.

I'm sore.....heartdeep

2007-07-22T19:53:00.000-06:00

This was actually the name of someone else's blog, but I thought I'd steal it. It's in no way a bad sore, it's more like a, "I've just been hiking on a beautiful mountain" sore. We are so blessed that Steve finally has a job, we are excited about the adventure that lies before us, and most of all, we are thrilled that God is giving us direction and reveling to us a small portion of His plan for our lives. The heartache comes with what we are giving up in order to follow through with that plan. I was sitting in church this morning after an awesome sermon (as always) and I felt called to share with Steve the desires of my heart, the very essence of what I've been praying, (1) that we would follow our calling for God, and not our own desires, (2) that if we HAD to move that we would sell our house super fast, and (3) that we would find a church home in our new location. Steve and I have been praying the first two together for what seems like forever, but number three is the prayer that got snagged upon my heart and dangled there precariously. When I shared it with him, it felt like my heart broke in two and I was left open and exposed. It's one thing to write it, but saying it out loud made it real. We would both rather give up anything and everything in BCS than lose our church family. You guys have become everything to us, our friends, our family, our neighbors, our world. We still laugh about our first day there because the fit was so perfect that everyone in the Sunday school class we were visiting assumed that we'd been there forever, and it seemed like we had. We got a million months worth of diapers for Kalea, food and friendly visitors after she was born, help when Steve was in the hospital, and the church ultimately became our life raft when my heart started acting up. We are so blessed by most everything about Central that when I am inside the walls and surrounded by such great a love and kindness, I am now prone to spontanious tears. Tears of joy from all of the love we have received (and given), tears of sadness of what I am leaving behind, and tears of hope in what God will provide for us in Mansfield. I just felt so called to tell you this, to share this with you, so that if you see me in tears, it's not a bad thing, God is good and He's blessed our family in so many ways through all of you. Thank you....

Whirl Wind or Weekend?

2007-07-21T22:54:00.000-06:00

This has totally been one of those weekends that has been a complete whirlwind. We went through the house and made a 3 page list of everything that needs to be done by Monday, July 30th (the day we hope to have our house on the market) and got to work. We've painted and cleaned and had our first successful garage sale. My hotmail has been down for 4 days now, but we managed to get by on no friend to friend advertisment. It was almost comical, me half awake, still in my PJs, trying to bargin in spanish while our kids started their own 'Kid Nation' in the house. There were a lot of 'que?!s' and fun ackward hand motions while random screams would sporatically erupt from the baby monitor that only sometimes works....perhaps we should have sold that too.....:o)
My father-in-law randomly showed up this afternoon during the garage sale....awww the joy of surprises.....and stayed most of the day.....
The very best part about today though, was that some of our old youth (I used to be a Youth Minister in my past life) showed up after my father-in-law left and visited with us for a while. We had a show at the Venue so our youth came and played a small set before our band went on. I don't like playing in our hometown very much, but I have to say that we had the best crowd we've ever played for in Bryan. They sang, they danced and they had a great time. It was awesome.
Our poor babysitter fell through so our kids had to tag along and for the first time ever, Nathan was really able to see what we do. After we played, he came up to me and said breathlessly, "mom, your band really is good!!" He wrote it in chalk on the Venue's table to make it official.

Raining inside and out

2007-07-19T12:44:00.000-06:00

Today the rain began to pour down dramatically outside. My class was busy looking for animals among our "African Safari" outside when the clouds and rain came rolling in. We were immersed in what the giant African spider would say to us when we bumped into him in the long, long grass when one of my more wiggly and involved kids shouted "Ms SaRaH, it's raining on me!!" The other kids quickly joined in the chorus yelling that they too were getting wet. Extracating myself from all of the tangled arms and legs of the children, I parted the waters to see literal (boy I wish I had spell check) water pouring down the large window and into my classroom. It was very exciting.
Exciting seems to be the very theme of this week. Thanks to all of your awesome prayers, we managed to finally find peace on Monday, get a good nights sleep, and then start all over again on the crazy bus, driving furiously foward and without headlights or a rest stop insight, except now we know the location, the final destination for our saga. Steve got the call on Tuesday. We are on the bus to Mansfield where Steve will be teaching 4th grade. It is super exciting and I am soooo thankful he has a job. I am also thankful for all of you who prayed for us and stuck by us as I crawled back and forth from under the bed to under the computer desk to finally blogging about it, to back under the bed. It is much akin to swimming though, where you take a breath, enjoy the view from your island of thankfulness, but then realizing that you have yet to swim the rest of the way. As excited as I am, I have some very specific things that we need some prayer on. I both know and trust in not only the power of God, but the strength of friendship and prayer in numbers. If you guys can hang in there with me and please, please, please pray for these things, I would appreciate it SO VERY MUCH......
1. We are putting our house on the market on not this Monday but the Monday after next. From that point we have 28 days to sell our house and get to Mansfield. Please, please, please pray that our house will sell super, super quickly. God can create the earth in 7 days, I have no doubt that He has the power to get our house sold.
2. Please pray for the entire process of painting, packing, moving and unpacking. Nathan and I don't do well with change.
Thanks so very much guys!!!!! I am so happy that Steve has a job and that we have you praying for us!!!

Saenz Family Secret....

2007-07-15T18:57:00.000-06:00

Here is our Saenz family secret.....Kalea learned how to count to 10 through playing family games of hide-and-go-seek several times a week. Our favorite way to play is when the hider jumps out and scares the seeker. It is so much more fun because you have no clue where the hider is going come flying out from. We don't do this for Kalea for obvious reasons, but Nathan LOVES it.
Today we played and Steve wedged himself behind our file cabinet in the office. It would have been ok if it weren't for the shelf with all of the office stuff on it. Somehow it all came down on Steve and he got stuck. Nathan was laughing so hard that he fell over. Being the good, loving wife I am, I grabbed the camera and took a picture.

Barbinaska

2007-07-14T21:22:00.000-06:00

Unless you have a child in the youth group, you probably have no idea what "barbinaska" is. If you get a chance, ask one (a youth that is) or me to explain barbinaska in all it's glory.
I just got back from Baylor (yea!). I packed my I-Pod and prepared for a weekend with my closest pals all packed up in that tiny box. I was ready for boring lectures and a night of people snoring. At Methodist children's conferences, it's a day with a bunch of ladies who are preaching last years lessons and internet ideas that have been recycled over and over and over again. There are the plain-jane, semi warm boxed lunches of ham sandwiches, old mayo, a stale cookie and dry pickle. This conference, however, was amazing. The future teachers and assistants I went with were amazing and fun (and a little lost at times :o) ) The speakers were amazing and for the first time ever, I really and truely feel fully equipt to teach music. I have so many new ideas and theories that I cannot wait to try out. I am just exploding with the joy of teaching, because this will be the first year that I will really and truely feel comfortable and prepared in what I will be doing in both Day School and AWANAs Cubbies.
This is also the first time ever that I have left Kalea overnight to do something that's not band related. It felt so great to crawl out of my tired mommy skin and just be a real person for two days. I love my babies so much and missed them terribly, but it sure was great to have a good long break. Steve couldn't handle having the kids for much longer, so he ended up meeting me at Bayor after the conferene. We used our zoo passes to go to the Cameron Park Zoo for a quick run through before it closed. Nathan was so sweet and allowed me to hold his hand the entire time. Kalea was acting like a two year old, but that was ok too, because she won't be two forever and someday I'll miss it...ok not so much the screaming and kicking and trying to be in control of EVERYTING, but the rest of it.
Steve got a promising e-mail after an interview he just had. Pray hard ladies, because he may have a job by next week. :o)

Top Ten

2007-07-11T16:04:00.000-06:00

Top ten reasons why I am thankful:
10. Free lunch and breakfast at the school by my house keeps my kids bellies full and going there has become the highlight of their summer days. What kid wouldn't want to eat random food like donuts and cheese pizza for breakfast?!
9. All of my pals who keep all of me in forward momentem.
8. My job and the fact that it is so family friendly. It also allows me to serve God in such an awesome and fun way.
7. Our church/Pastor Chris' wisdom and all of the people who have become our extended family.
6. Our house. It may only look like a red brick building in the ghetto, but it reminds me everyday of how much God loves us and answers our prayers.
5. My band and the endless joy we get from playing shows and telling kids about God.
4. Nathan's medicine that keeps him breathing.
3. Our car that works and has air conditioning and a CD player.
2. My family and their joy, health, love, silliness, and values.
1. The Scripture.
What are you thankful for?

If at first you don't succeed, parachuting is not for you

2007-07-10T22:25:00.000-06:00

Ok, so I haven't blogged in FOREVER, and the reason why is because I have been hiding under my bed....no really. When things get bad, that's where I go. I curl up in the safety of "let's pretend things are good" and sit quietly until things get better.
I just paid the bills and we are a few hundred dollars short, oddly enough I am thankful. I am thankful that we bought the kids medicine BEFORE I attempted to pay the car note, and I am thankful we had money to pay for what we did. As most all of you know, Steve has no job as of August. He has spent a million nights filling out applications, a million nights praying, and a million hours on the road interviewing and getting let down. We prayed that we could stay here, but as of July, all of the principals in Bryan stopped hiring and took off for their month long vacations only to return in August with their jobs still intact. While Nathan is busy making lists of things he wants for his August birthday, we are making mental lists of things we will give up to stay in our house after the money stops coming in. The feeling that lies in the bottom of my stomach is of so much hope in God accompanied by the constant ache and bother of the unknown. My body is on Code Orange, ready and alert; unwilling and unable to rest until something, anything happens. My heart hurts from the strain and yet I am unable to give up this burden and trust that God will take care of us and this situation. I am drowning in my own weakness; Bible in one hand, children and husband in the other. If only I can just hide under my bed until it's all over with.

From thumb sucking to nail biting

2007-06-02T20:05:00.000-06:00

Wow, I have so much to write about. Nathan has graduated from Kindergarten, Kalea had her first trip to the beach (in a swimsuit), we've rotated bedrooms once again, and Steve is doing the wild mad turkey job scramble dance. The problem is that he is on the computer night and day searching for a new job (you wouldn't believe how many ISDs there are in Texas!!), and I will get into trouble if I am caught writing. I can't write well under the dim secret light of the office lamp with my ears listening sharply for the slightest sound of Steve padding down the hall on his velcro like feet. My knee pops when I walk so sneaking up to anyone is completely impossible, but Steve on the other hand, is quite the sneaky one when wearing socks.
So much to write!!! When Nathan started school, he sucked his thumb all of the time. It was a blessing when he taught Kalea when she was only a few months old, but when you're sending your child off to a public school, sending a thumb sucker is like pinning a "kick me" sign to the small child's back. We started making him aware of his addiction the summer before school, but at times of trouble, he would resort back to the comfort of his habit. As school went on, Nathan started a sort of social awareness. When asked to do something silly, Nathan would reply, "noooo, everyone will make fun of me." Even when everyone included just the members of his own family. Thumb sucking soon gave way into nail chewing. Arg, I hear the velcro coming down the hall.... I will try writing again later!!!

Please pray for Steve's job interview on Monday. It is in Waller ISD on the Prairie A&M campus.

7 YEARS!!

2007-05-19T11:52:00.000-06:00

This Sunday will be mine and Steve's seven year anniversary. I already did my top ten reasons why I love him, so now I have no clue what to write. Yea, 7! Sooooo, here's a history of us in 7 minutes:

August 1997- We met. God told me that I was going to marry Steve and I told God that He would have to get us together, because Steve was TOTALLY not my type. A few days later, he threw pine cones at me and I was even more convinced that Steve was NOT the guy for me.

October 1997- We started hanging out. We convinced everyone that we were brother and sister, but on October 31st that backfired when we fell in love. Ooops!

January 1, 2000- Steve proposed at the count down to year 2000. Y2K. It was a formal ball in New Orleans and I bought a (fake) diamond crown to be random. Everyone thought that I was a real creoe princess and took many pictures of me, with me, and of me and their children. It was too funny to pass up the opportunity so I just played along. :o)

May 12, 2000- I graduated from Texas Wesleyan University. (yea!!)

May 20, 2000- Steve and I got married at my parents church in Mineral Wells, TX. To this day, parents come complaining that we set the standard too high. Every kid there wants a wedding as beautiful and perfect as ours was, and thus far, no one has been able to reach it. For the past 7 years we hear, "the wedding was beautiful, but not as beautiful as Sarah and Steves." :o)

August 18, 2001- Nathan was born at barely 37 weeks. 7 lbs 2oz, 18 inches.

October 2001- We bought our first house.

April 2004- Sold our first house, and lived with the inlaws.

August 2004- Moved to Bryan

January 14, 2005- Beautiful K-mad was born at barely 36 weeks. 6 lbs 2 oz, 19 inches.

June 14, 2005- bought our second home.

YEAH 7 years!!!

....and the good prevail

2007-05-14T15:31:00.000-06:00

I just want to take a time out to brag about my husband. He has spent the entire school year under the watchful, critical eye of a very (unable to come up with a word.....bitter, perhaps?!) lead teacher. She has yelled at him, written dirty e-mails to him and about him on a weekly basis, and created an environment where he just couldn't win no matter how hard he tried. Through all of this he has kept his head down, his Bible open, and just silently took her daily attacks. While all of the other teachers have bad mouthed her, Steve has stayed Godly through this entire year. Steve just got his TAKS scores back and his class's scores were among the top scores in the 4th grade. They were the second best in writing by a mere two points and they far out shown the lead teacher's scores. It just goes to show that although the lead teacher tore Steve down outwardly piece by piece, he didn't change inwardly and thus proved that he is a great teacher. I am so thankful that Steve was able to focus, and teach through this year and that his kids did amazing well on their TAKS scores. God's hand was really in Steve's students achievement.

Job Search Update- We had a long talk a few nights ago and Steve has decided (against my judgement) to apply in Houston, CyFair, and Waller ISDs. I would much rather curl up under a rock, eat worms and die a very slow and painful death in hot pink spandex, than move back to Houston, but he has agreed that if he gets a job there that he will live with his parents and communte for the first year (or two). Because I am submissive, I will move back to the horrid, dreadful, evil, fat city when he feels well suited and comfortable in a new school. He has already scouted out houses!!! From our last experience living in Houston, he knows my distaste for the pre-saved Ninevah...uh, I mean Houston but he knows that I will support and follow wherever he is called to go. So please be in prayer for us!!!!!!!!

Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere

2007-05-10T17:58:00.000-06:00

Nathan's class participated in a school-wide clean up day today. He proudly showed me his sticker and excitedly told me all about it. He appraoched mid-paragraph (yes, he's a talker) and his little face dropped. "I have very sad news...." he pre-empted his story, "we were NOT allowed to pick up glass OR dead animals..."

Torn

2007-05-09T06:51:00.000-06:00

This morning Nathan was banging two wooden blocks together trying his very hardest to keep the beat to a song. "Look mom!" he proudly exclaimed, "I am keeping beat!" The first thought that popped into my mind was 'awwww my baby is going to be a bass player!!' (It has become very evident to me that all bass players who are any good in their field cannot clap to the beat if their lives were dependent on it.)

I try to avoid reading blogs in which the writer types like they are thinking out loud, but since you guys are my friends and family, I thought I would share our delimma with you. For the last few months our band and family has been touring to every major Texas city every weekend to play shows. We stay with friends and family to cut the cost and we eat a lot of PB&J sandwiches and popcorn. We even go meatless one or two meals a week so that we can have gas money to tour. We LOVE our house, our church, and city. We love everything there is to love about where we are, except for the music scene. When we play in major cities and the kids sing along to our music, they mosh and have a great time. There is a single moment during every show that I hear at least one gasp and someone shouts one of my favorate things to hear in the entire universe, "oh my gosh, this is my favorate song!!!!" When we play in our city, however, not a single friend shows up. The crowd is new and different every time, but we can't draw them in. They don't dance, or sing. It's like a naked dream. You know what I am talking about... When everyone is staring at you and you realize that you somehow left all of your clothes at home.
All this to say that Steve does not have a job next year. He has no friends in our city, and other my love and passion for being here, has nothing to keep him here. We both love this city and all of the great (free) things to do here, but as our Dallas manager pointed out last Saturday, we're not even here to enjoy them. Do we stay here for the great family environment, or do we move on for the sake of the band (and better schools)? My plan is to stick it out at least for another two years until we are completely debt free and then move. Steve's plan would look really bad if I wrote it down, but it has a lot to do the things that frustrate me and it would mean moving soon. I know that everything is in God's hands and that we will submit to whatever God plans for us, but it sure is hard when Steve doesn't have a job for next year.

10 Reasons...

2007-04-13T08:39:00.000-06:00

Top ten reasons why I love my hubby.....

10. He currently brings home the bacon.....

9. In his anger, he does not sin (unlike me)

8. He challenges me.

7. He makes me laugh.....ALL THE TIME!!!

6. He is SOOOO talented at all things musical!

5. He introduced me to the bass.

4. He IS the music in my house, my life, my heart and my soul.

3. He gave me two beautiful children, two not so bright cats, and a perfect, red brick house.

2. He loves me unconditionally for who I am.

1. He loves God.

Easter

2007-04-08T14:11:00.000-06:00

After a long drive on Thursday night, Nathan wakes up to pools of sunlight streaming in from the 'wall of windows' in one of the living areas at my parents house. To say that I love that house would be an understatement. Nathan dances in the light thrilled to be there and I too smile at the day ahead. This will be the first time in about a year that all of my sibblings have been together. We all start to wake up, pancakes are being mixed, showers being taken, when the phone rings. It's my sister, she called to say that she got into a car accident. Thankfully, she was fine, but the car was totalled and she needed a ride back home. Yet, another reason to be thankful, I think inside my mind. We spend the day together, as a family, and seeing my brother and older sister home gave me the feeling you get when you're a kid and you get to take that first swim of the summer on a very hot day.

The next morning was anything but hot. Nathan woke us up early Saturday morning announcing that it was snowing outside!!!! Sleepy-eyed and not quite awake, we stumbled out of bed to be greated by giant, soft, white snowflakes pouring out of the sky. "God answered your prayers!" I exclaim excitedly to my faithful five year old who prayed for snow through the winter and into the spring. Nathan and Steve throw on their coats and run outside to play in the mini spring blizard that is pouring down and resting on their bare heads and in the folds of their clothing. They build Nathan's long awaited snowman, spin in circles and try to catch the delicate flakes on their tongues. It snows all day. Inside the warm house, we have an Easter feast, read the Easter story, hunt eggs, exchange gifts and get ready for our long drive home. By 3PM, it is time to go. On our way to the car, Nathan and my dad engage themselves in a full on snowball fight. Dodging balls to get Kalea into the car, Steve get's hit by a stray snowball and before I know it, he too is involved. "RETREAT INTO THE CAR!" Steve yells to his troops. Dodging still more balls, Nathan and Steve jump into the car and we pull out of the drive way with snowballs making a perfect arc over the drive way and plowing right onto the windshield and roof of our car.

The drive home was surreal with giant snowflakes still pouring out of the grey Texas sky. We pass snowcovered fields, trees with leaves frosted with fluffy white, and the white roofs of the houses scattered across the frozen landscape. The kids sat quietly in the backseat soaking in all of the sights. This Easter, I realized that God not only gave us the gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, but He also gave us the gift of family and most surprisingly, SNOW!

50 Hundred Million

2007-04-04T14:14:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon I found myself soaring "50-hundred-million" miles above the ground in an airplane slightly resembling a blue, pint sized bunk bed with Nathan, Kalea, Frankie the sky walking snake, twins named Franklin the Mummy Cat and Franklin the Mummy Dog, and an assortment of animals all named Frank with the exception of one named Can. Nathan was giving me the tour as we floated through the clouds. "Don't go on the left wing," Nathan advised in his most adult voice, "it is full of dust bunnies and will climb into your nose and make you sneeze a whole lot!" Living in the left wing was the assortment of animals all varying in their gifts and talents. My favorate was Franklin the Mummy Cat who laid eggs all day long. I asked if she smelled and Nathan explained that she smelled like cotton candy because she had spent her day at the Cotton Candy Factory before boarding the airplane. Franklin's claim to fame was that she had cat babies if she ate cat food and puppy babies if she ate dog food.

Saenz Updates:

Steve: Steve's interview at Jane Long went well. Steve said that one of the ladies interviewing him volunteered with him in the Jr High Department at church. He has another interview at SFA on Monday.

Kalea: Kalea went to the ENT Doctor yesterday and he said that he would hold off on surgery (at my request) and that we only need to come back as needed.

Nathan: Has track and field day tomorrow and is the most excited boy in the universe.

New Teeth, new teeth, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah

2007-03-29T14:36:00.000-06:00

Kalea got her new teeth today. Thanks to all of your prayers, everything went smoothly. We kept her up late eating and playing in hopes that she would sleep late and not think about her lack of breakfast. Unfortunately, our plan failed when Nathan woke her up at 6:30AM with the fresh tunes of Boys in the Sink. We ended up spending the morning with Kalea sitting on my lap watching TV and asking for juice between each show. I would tell her ok, and then distract her with other things. We got to the dental office at 8AM and after Kalea drank her special "kool-aide' we had to wait until 9:30 in the small waiting room. We sat by a stripper who talked 'shop talk' to her stripper friend on the phone. She said that Kalea and I were both beautiful while her husband and Kalea made silly faces back and forth. After an hour and a half, they took Kalea to the back. They worked on her for almost 2 hours and then gave us the report. They said that she did not cry at all and that she was a very good girl. Her teeth were worse than they thought so she ended up getting a root canal on her front two teeth, got the first four teeth capped, and her two back teeth sealed. They ended up charging us $244.00 more than we were prepared to pay so we are going to have to figure some things out. The good part is that she did very well and that she is beautiful with her new teeth. I am so thankful!!!!

Other good news?! Steve got a call today for an interview at Jane Long Jr High. It was his first choice in schools, so I am really excited. His interview will be on April 3rd at 9:45AM so please be in prayer about that. Also on April 3rd, Kalea will be going back on the ENT doctor to find out whether or not she will need to have surgery to combat her 3 month long sinus infection.

MIA

2007-03-28T15:48:00.000-06:00

There a comic that has a picture of a dad with a brief case (obviously just coming home from work) and a little boy sitting in a chair in a corner. Above the boy, there is a caption of the boy saying, "Mom is in the kitchen reminding herself that I am a gift from God."

THIS IS ONE OF THOSE DAYS!!!! Today they seem more like a gift you would get from your mother-in-law than from God. It started with Kalea in the morning and is following up with Nathan. He was so mad that he gave himself an asthma attack on the way home from school. As I was praying myself through the afternoon it occured to me that perhaps I just grabbed the wrong children somewhere and that my real children are lost and alone on the street. I thought I'd take the time to describe them to see if any of you have seen them.

Nathan is the sweetest, most helpful big brother that I have ever seen. He is always taking care of his little sister and loving on her as if she were his own. He dislikes church, but he loves God and asks questions about Him on a daily basis. He witnesses to his teachers and friends and his childlike faith is a large part of who he is. Nathan is the greatest monster drawer who ever lived. He draws them in all shapes and sizes at the request of his mommy and teachers. Dispite his dislike for school, Nathan is a great reader and has mastered everything but cutting.

Kalea is my sweet, snuggly one. There is nothing she likes to do more than to sit on your lap and snuggle her head into your shoulder. She is passionate. She is our musical child who loves to sing, but will cry if you sing "Twinkle, Twinkle." Kalea LOVES animals and spends most of her time playing with her Fisher Price Noah's Ark animals. They ride on the bus, train, and play on the amusement park and castle....but not the ark. Kalea could live off of "cheesh" and can smell chocolate a mile away.

These are my sweet children. If you've seen them somewhere, let me know. I accidently took the wrong Kalea to MDO and her perfect reputation was ruined. If you'd like to claim the snarky children who are currently in my house, please let me know, I'll be happy to trade them for my perfect gifts from God.

Things Unseen

2007-03-26T15:35:00.000-06:00

A few months ago when Kalea and I were praying together I noticed that she had to pray with her eyes open in order to thank "Jeesh-us" for the things around her. She was unable to thank Him for the things that she could not see at the time. Noticing this really made me think about faith and the ability to trust in things unseen.
The month of March is a really hard month for us as a family. March is the time of year where our loved ones usually pass away and if either of us is going to lose a job, March is the month to lose it. March is always ridden with illness and great amounts of sadness. I not only lost my brother-in-law in March (2003), but I lost a ministry that was very close to my heart (in the same year) because I was 'too Baptist in my faith' (thus the reason why I became Baptist and am truely blessed because of it). March is a month where I completely shut down (socially...thus no blogs) and focus on God's plan for my life and serving and honoring Him in whatever ministry I find myself in. It's the blind faith part that gets me through the month of March. Faith that God's hand is in whatever comes our way whether we see His hand or not. This year we've not only lost someone we love dearly, but my husband did not get his teaching contract renewed. It does not matter that his students made the highest grades out of all the 4th grade classes or that he is a Godly man dealing with fatherless boys bringing knives and most recently a gun to school. What does matter is how we deal with the challenge ahead. It's the blind faith that will allow Steve to pack up and leave his school in May without a hint of anger or bitterness. It is the blind faith that will carry us through the summer knowning that whether we live in our beautiful house in the ghetto or in a cardboard box in the Brick's backyard, that God is with us and loves us with the same love and passion that created the world and all of the things in it. We've lived a year without internet and will do it again if we have to. Because of the month of March, we are able to pray with our eyes shut knowing that whatever comes our way, God will be able to carry our little family though it. Our circumstances may change this summer, but our hearts will remain focused on our Lord and Savior and that is all that will matter.

Adventures to Petco

2007-03-26T15:19:00.000-06:00

Kalea and I went to Petco today and she managed to become every pet's worst nightmare, but she was sooo cute about it. We pulled up to the store and she began yelling "puppies and kitties!!!!" She could barely contain herself as she ran into the store grabbing the first mini cart she could get her little chunky hands on. With her cart in hand she took off through the door. BAM!!!! She runs straight into the mouse cage sending the mice scurring to the corners and under their mouse bedding. "HEllllO moush!" she calls out to them her voice dipping down on the 'Ls' and going back up on the "o!" She spends a few minutes looking at them with her big greenish eyes most likely sending chills of horror into their little 'moush' bones. When she tires of the mice, Kalea rams her cart into the bunny hutch. The bunnies squeal and hop into their plastic igloo homes turning them over in panic. "HellllllOOO baw-eee" she calls into their hutch. She watches briefly as they tremble and try to hide behind their fallen homes. We move on to the 'mamsters,' 'nakes,' 'ishys,' and 'bogs' sending eat running in panic as the rams her cart, body, or hands right up against their cages sending mini earthquakes into their peaceful worlds. Trying my hardest to keep Kalea's cart in check, I am perpetuall running and squashing myself between her cart and the cages, but Kalea is determined to make her presence known to the animal world. We weren't in there too long before I noticed an audience of employees giggling at Kalea's joy and enthusiam as she greated each and every animal. We noted noses and tails, beaks and ears. We took stock of each animal's 'juich, juich' (juice) and eats. We said 'HellOOO' to each and every animal and when all was said and one, Kalea had one more memory of God's creation stored in her beautiful little head.

Valentine's Day

2007-02-16T14:36:00.000-06:00

Nathan was sitting at the kitchen table opening up his Valentines from all of his friends. This is first real Valentine's day party so it was really special. With the sunlight pouring in on him from the kitchen window, Nathan looked up questionally and asked me why all of his Valentines had hearts on them. Not wanting to miss a teaching opportunity, I quickly dove in the explanation of Saint Valentine and paralleling that with the story of God's love for us. Nathan quickly dropping his Valentines as if they were poisonous snakes yelled, "LOOOOOVE?!! I hate love!" and just as soon as his small paper cards fell to the floor did Nathan realized that with Valentines day came candy. Grabbing a piece of chocolate, Nathan decided that perhaps love was an ok thing.

Mimi

2007-02-02T07:52:00.000-06:00

"Mimi, whewe awe ewe?" my two year old, Kalea, whimpers. This is the second time Mimi has gone on an adventure of her own and it's not even 8am yet. As we search the house, Kalea frantically calls out for Mimi in such a desperate call that even I half expect Mimi to spring up from her hiding spot squeeking "here I am" in a small soft pink bunny voice. I don't know how one could even sound pink, but if anyone could, it would be Mimi. Mimi is Kalea's best pal. They've been together since birth. When Kalea was barely coordinated, she would throw Mimi over her face with her soft baby hands and hide beneth Mimi's smooth delicate folds. "Mimi, whewe awe ewe?" Kalea cries out again bringing me out of my large mental book of mommy memories. I follow a clothing trail in my search for Mimi. As I go, I pick up with the thought that if the house was clean, then Mimi would be easier to find. I pick up socks, little boy underwear, a pair of jeans with holes in the knees, and wonder how one gets naked without being noticed while making a beeline to the play room. The trail continues; some shoes, a jacket, a uniform some-what white polo. I wonder if when the school board made the rules for polos if the board was made of all men or were there mommies who knew that when they mandated white polos that by mid-year the white would turn into some-what white. Mother of Pearl, perhaps. "Mimi, qum bacc....." Kalea cries out. The trail of clothing ends and I decide to search another room, the kitchen perhaps. I dump the clothes off in the nearest dirty clothes basket and follow another clothing trail to our kitchen. This time it's baby girl pj's, socks and slippers. Picking up the pink and white pajama pants decorated with sporatcally placed pastel puppies I remember Christmas and how big she looked when she first put them on. There's nothing like warm winter pjs to make a baby girl look big. On my way to the kitchen I spot Kalea's pink backpack that her brother Nathan helped her into this morning. Could Nathan have had the thoughtfulness to put Kalea's Mimi in her backpack? A blurred before school conversation pops back into my head. I was packing Nathan's lunch and he was having a conversation with Kalea about school today. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was the only one who would be going to school, so I allowed him to get Kalea ready. What did he put in her backpack? A frog....and what else? Then it hit me. Nathan did not want Kalea to forget Mimi so he packed it in her bag for her.
I reached down into the bag and pulled out a crumpled up Mimi. The rattle in Mimi's head sounded and hearing it as though it were as loud as an atomic bomb, Kalea came running out of the livingroom. As the two united in a giant, almost two sided hug, I couldn't help but be a little jealous of the bond that Kalea and Mimi have.

Damage Control

2007-01-25T17:52:00.000-06:00

The reason that I haven't been able to blog at all since December, just turned two years of age and has kept me on my toes twice as much as any ballerina. Her name is Senoria Destructa, aka Kalea the terrible. It seems that I now spend my days doing nothing but damage control following in her hurricane-like wake that would make even (Hurricane) Katrina jealous. She is on the counter, in the cabinets, and pulling the DVD's out of their cubbie all at the same time. I tremble with fear at the thought of checking my e-mail or going to the bathroom. I zoned for two seconds and found that the tiny Picasso had scribbled not only in red, but blue, green and orange, all over the "kid's wing" of our house. All over it. She is all of the forces of nature mixed and smoothed into an angelic face with beautiful hazel eyes and a smile that could win anyone over....who would even guess that behind that facade could be such a force that would make any baby-sitter sake in their Converse. Even as I type, she is hiding away in the garage filling her diaper and eating finger paint while trying to reassure me that it is 'yum.'

Starbucks

2006-12-17T20:15:00.000-06:00

Steve had a staff party that he didn't know about, so on the way home from church tonight we stopped by Starbucks to pick up a gift card for the present exchange. Not being able to resist the yummy goodness of a Decafe Pumpkin Spice Latte, I ordered up a tall cup of heaven to go with the gift card. As I opened the door to the car, Kalea looked up and yelled out with great delight, "COFFEEEEEEE!" Horrified, I looked over at Steve who cracked up laughing. "She's soooo going to be addicted to coffee when she grows up," Steve said between boughts of laughter. Unfortunately, her tastebuds remember and her heart rejoices at the tasty treat that I give her every Friday morning. Decafe of course, and paid for by her Grandma's generous gift card, Kalea LOVES her weekly coffee. What is this world coming to? Stunted and cafeene driven, Kalea's generation is going to know and love high calore, over priced coffee, and it's nobody's fault, but us tired mommys who crave coffee and a break from the everyday world, so much that we invite their small children into the world of yummy coffee.

ARCHIVES JUNE

2006-12-16T19:41:00.001-06:00

Friday June 30, 2006
On The First Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Meeee......
Today started pretty early before the sun was even up. Nathan decided to crawl into bed with me and chat the darkness away. He talked until the sun was nearly all the way up and then he dozed off only to be awaken by Steve. We had a pretty busy day today. Steve took Nathan to my inlaws to spend the weekend. I miss him already. After that he picked up a kid sized plastic gazebo from our friend's house and brought it home for Kalea. Our friends are a family of four kiddos and they out grew the gazebo so they decided to give it to us. It is so cute. It is pink, yellow, and white and has a sink (where Kalea loves to pretend shes washing her hands), a door and two windows. Kalea and I did not waste any time cleaning it out. It was filled with about 1000 spider eggs (way gross) and they were all in the really hard to reach spaces. I spent at least two hours taking it apart and cleaning it. While I was srcubbing it down, Kalea would go into the gazebo just as I was spraying the soap off and scream as the water went tinkling off of the roof and into her hair. It wasn't one of those 'I am mad, you'd better stop scream' but more of a 'I am a girl and you're getting my hair wet, oh dear scream.' She'd cover her head and giggle as she ran out of the small pink door. After hours of scrubbing, I cleaned Kalea's room and set it up in the corner under her hanging dragon flies and butterflies. I am going to paint that tiny corner of her universe blue with clouds and grass so she can pretend like her gazebo is outside. I think I am even going to get those little astro-turf carpets from Ikea to put on under it when we have some extra money.
After lunch, Steve went to a meeting and I cleaned out our garage. When he got back, he was a little fussy, so we went to Lowes and got some paint for our kitchen. I've been waiting over a year to paint so I am soooo excited. I can't wait to see how it will turn out!
Posted by at 23:13 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Thursday June 29, 2006
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Today I don't have much to write about. Steve's mom broke her toes on one foot right after having surgery on the other so she is quite torn up. We drove to Houston to see them and we ended up going out to eat for supper. Kalea ate a ton of some mysterous green mexican pica sauce. After stuffing her belly, she began to choke on a chip. Her down fall was not the actual choking, but her sticking her whole hand down her throat to retreive the chip. What happened after that was much like the movie "The Exorcist." Her head began to spin and she threw up green goop all over the place.....ok so I might have exaggerated about the head spinning part, but it was definitely the grossest thing I've ever seen. THEN no one would help us clean it up so after we used all of the napkins to clean up the visible part, we had to eat our entire meal with the green goop all over the floor by my shoe. It was nasty. I will never eat green mystery mexican goop again. Never. Poor Kalea had to be stripped down, and of course, I have emptied the diaper bag of all but the essentials, so she extra pants but no shirt. In fact, she just waggled by me still topless from our resturant disaster. I guess I should dress her. (In kase yew havent notissed bi now, I stell kan't spell properlee.)
We went to Sams the other day and Nathan got a hot wing at the sample booth. He took it from the lady and inquisitively asked her if hot wings came from hot chickens. She laughed and told him that, yes, they came from chickens living in Texas in June.
Anywho, I need to make an ammendem to yesterday's writing. SaRaH, Amber, and Sonya are also three female friends which I spent a great, great amount of time with that our friendship didn't end poorly. In fact, Sarah, Amber, and Sonya got me through those crazy months of no sleep and spit up. They were awesome pals and I miss them dearly. They are the only things I miss about living in Belton, that and being close to my yutes, but they have all gone off to college in other cities.......and yes, I know that writing about how girls always tell everyone but me when they have a problem is just as bad as them writing about me, but nothing was behind this girl's back. She knew how I felt, and I wrote our problem out to cyberspace out of 'dramatic irony' (Emperor's New Groove). So long for tonight good friends.
Posted by at 22:57 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Wednesday June 28, 2006
Blue Like Sock Monkeys
So I came into my daugher Kalea's room today and strewn everywhere were kitty parts. Yes, Kalea massacred her pop up kitties so that she could play with them outside the book. Kitty tails and heads everywhere, but it was nothing compared to her Aunt Emily's endless desire to tie her stuffed animals and barbies to the legs of the piano, but it was pretty close.
Today was Nathan's last day of school. He came home with those funny plastic teeth that go over your own teeth to make them look rotten. All afternoon he would put them on his teeth and I would exclaim, "OH NATHAN! YOU NEED TO SEE THE DENTIST!!," and he would collaspe laughing, then pull himself together just long enough to dramatically rip them out to show me that they were just pretend, and then collaspe laughing again. Incidentally, he brought home his journal and in the back was a picture of him and Violet Incredible holding hands with a note that said, "when I am older, I will marry Violet."
Now to blue like sock monkeys. When I was little, my best friend was a sock monkey. His name was George and went with me everywhere. One of his adventures was to the zoo where the real baby monkey behind the glass saw George and tried frantically to grab at him. At that moment, I realized how much I loved George, for I would never let a baby monkey or anyone else take him away. Today my daughter Kalea carries him around the house. If I had known then what trouble friends were, I think I would have kept his spirit around a little longer. I think my pal, Bridget, is my only female friend who I hung around with for a long time, and didn't hurt me. No, this is not a poor SaRaH letter, but as I write this now, I realize how great a friend Bridget was and is. For me having female friends and actually hanging out with them is much like Nathan and the light bulbs. When Nathan was 2 and 3, we spent our weekends looking for a house. There were several houses we toured where a small light dangled from the ceiling over what should be a dining room table. The houses were new, and not yet equipped with furnature, so the lights just hung. Our first experience with Nathan and the lights was on a hot summer day in Houston. We were touring the house and talking with the agent and Nathan, seeing the warm glow from the low hanging light could not resist grabbing the small oval bulb. Immediately small blisters began to form on his baby hand and his cry, oh his cry was horrible. He cried for hours and his small baby hand looked just as bad as his shrieks of pain sounded. It was beyond horrible.
A couple of months later his hand healed and we were out looking at houses on a warm Sunday afternoon. Once again we were in an unfurnished house looking around the dining room when Nathan was drawn to the warm glow of the oval light bulb. Forgetting the pain it caused, Nathan reached for it. This time I was prepared and immediately pulled him away. This is how I feel about female friends. They have a problem, and instead of saying, "hey, SaRaH we need to talk," or "hey SaRaH, let's pray together about this," they vent it out for all of the world to see and hear, and the worst part is that I am always the last to know. I am a great friend. I won't lie. If I have a problem, I will confront you lovingly with it. I don't understand why girls can't do the same. It's the same everytime and when I fall apart to Steve, he always shakes his head and says, "you knew this was coming....." I stayed up through the night praying about it, and for the first time ever, my friendship did not end as all the others have. I was able to talk it over without word vomit or crazy girl feelings errupting. I was able to think clearly and explain why I was upset about it. God was with me. He gave me words. He held back my crazy girl emotions. He told me what to say and how to say it. AND for the first time, my friend was able to cooly explain her side. She did not yell. She did not slander me, she just told me in her own cool way like making a grocery list of reasons. I think we are both hurt, just like the sharp sting of touching a hot lightbulb, but I think we may just get through this. I just don't understand why girls are like this. Even in the day of e-mail you'd think that if someone had a problem with something they could just e-mail you. Perhaps I'll stick to sock monkeys, my e-mail friends and, of course, my friends on I-tunes.
Posted by at 22:23 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Tuesday June 27, 2006
....so tired that I coudn't even sleep....
It's going to be hard to open the door to our lives without actually letting you into our house. I know the dangers of the internet, and yet I feel like I would be cheating you by not allowing you to see just a bit of who we are and what we stand for. I am not an internet junkee. In fact, I think that by having internet I am cheating my family of all of the love and attention I could be offering them; however, I am drawn to it. Let's see... Something that really defines us as a family is that we are Southern Baptist. I know that turns a lot of people off to us, and believe me, about 6 years ago, we detested the Baptists, but an odd turn of luck, or God, brought us here. I guess I should start with that and then you will see into the upstairs window of our souls.
We started out in Belton. I was a Youth and Children's Minister there. I put my heart and soul into it, and yes, Jenny, it did define me. I worked at it perpetually. My office and my home smerged into one. Sleep was the only thing that made my home a home and my office an office. I had this boss who was the Pastor of the church. He was verbally abusive and hated me and my ministry. The youth and children's department were growing while church attendance and adult ministries were dying off. No pun intended but everyone was really dying off. My Youth were coming from different churches so their parents didn't attend our church and needless to say, it made the pastor look really bad. As our ministries went on, it became more and more evident that he was completely void of God and not called into the ministry. He created lies and built up an army against me to get me fired after three years, I was asked to leave. I was devistated. Youth and Children's Ministry was my world and it was suddenly ripped away from me leaving me with nothing. As I sat on the bottom of the pool I had drowned myself in, I worked to recreate and define myself. I was finally a stay at home mom and all I could do was hideaway from church members and those who might judge me more harshly than I had judged myself. I was nothing. In the mist of my heartache, I had a mother of one of my old youth call me up to check up on me. She was Baptist and she was the only adult who reached out to me and she slammed me with one question: "how has God bless you this week?" It got me thinking very quickly on the spot just how much God had blessed me. I can't for the life of me remember what I told her, but I will never forget that conversation. After that, Nathan and I started attending a Baptist church, and suddenly that void inside my heart was filled. It was a real and true relationship with God that I was missing all along. God has always been a member of our family, but after that point in my life, God because the leader of our family, and He is who defines our family and what we represent. God has done some awesome things for us. He healed my baby girl's eyes, He provided us with a house when we thought we could never afford one, and He has been with us and provided us with help when we've most needed it. God is our everything. He gives us hope and joy. Finding God was like being lost in the dark and suddenly having the lights turned on to reveal something beautiful. I could go on forever about God and what He means to us, but it's getting late. I'll blog on tomorrow! Please leave a note! Hope you'll come again.
Tags: Daily LIfe
Posted by at 22:40 Permanent Link Comments (1)

ARCHIVES JULY

2006-12-16T19:39:00.000-06:00

Monday July 31, 2006
If You Walk a Mile in Someone Elses Shoes Then They'll Have a Whole Mile to Run to Beat You Up
(Offical Edit. I pulled a girl, and it was wrong, so I am taking it out. :o) )
Ok, so I have to stop here because Kalea just brought me a retractable telescope. She showed me how fun it was to tract and retract it open and close and proceeded to hand it to me for a try. I opened it, placed it on my eye and say "I see you!!." Kalea smiled, took it from my extended hand, opened it up and put it on the tip of her nose and said "Iseeyou!!"
Posted by at 09:25 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Saturday July 29, 2006
A Moment to Brag......
Today Kalea and Nathan got certificates, free books and metals from the Mayor for their participation in the (Name of City With held) Public Library Reading Program. Before we left, I added up the total number of hours we've spent reading and listening to library books. This does not include the books we own and read to Nathan and Kalea, nor does it include the books that Steve read and returned to the library before I could write them down (I am guessing about 4 hours of Steve and Nathan books). OK so here are to totals.......*drum roll please.......*
Nathan's total number of library book hours- 69 hours and 18 minutes
Kalea's total number of library book hours- 69 hours and 9 minutes (I know it's more but I didn't count the million of times during the day that she brings me a book, crawls into my lap, and lets me read her her favorite stories.)
Kalea wore her metal for the rest of the day. :o) It was bigger than her and went all the way down to her knees.
Posted by at 23:19 Permanent Link Comments (1)
This Week in a Nutshell...the LONGEST BLOG EVER!!
Fear is defined in Webster's Dictionary by "to be afraid or apprehensive" or to " expect with alarm ." This week I've conquered all sorts of fears that have defined me as both a parent and as an individual. The first was on Tuesday when I found out that a co-worker had what sounded like the equivalent of the Rota Virus. Now I am immensely stomach virus phobic, but Rota is a whole different level of phobia. When I found out, I washed my hands at least a million times per minute, prayed over my children, and went into a panic attack everytime my stomach so much as gurgled, and when my kids so much as cried, I would run to their rooms expecting to find a pool of vomit by their little heads. Gross, I know.....moving on.
The only thing worse than getting the Rota Virus, is traveling alone with a baby and getting the Rota Virus which leads to fear number two....getting deathly ill while on the road. Every long trip we take, I feel queezy and begin to panic. My skin gets all pale and clammy and Steve gives me glances out of the corner of his eye debating whether or not I am really ill or just in a state of panic. On Wednesday, my handsome husband and beautiful son drove down to Galveston leaving Kalea and I to fend for ourselves. Which leads us to phobia number three. I'll come back to two in a minute.
Phobia number three....being home alone and being violenting murdered in my bed, going to heaven while my sweet baby starves to death in her crib. In case you ever wondered whether or not I am crazy, now you know! :o) So on Wednesday morning when the sun was up and the world was beautiful, I began to pray. I prayed until the sun went down and the shadows began to grow. I was alone to care for my sweet baby. During my devotional Wednesday night, I opened my Bible to see what God says about fear. I wrote down several verses, but here are the two that changed my heart the most.
"That night the Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 'Do not be afraid, for I am with you..." Genesis 26:24
"When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose Word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" Psalm 56:3-4
Upon writing down these verses, my heart realized the validity of what God was really trying to say to me. He is with me, and my job is to trust in His Word and not to be afraid. I closed my Bible and went to sleep. I slept with a calm and peaceful sleep and I NEVER have when I am home alone with my baby.
Now back to phobia number two. After a crazy, but blessed day of work, Kalea and I got in the car to drive three hours to Galveston. Now remember, I don't travel well at all. I popped in a book on CD and drove from the Heart of Texas to Galveston without a single panic attack or pang of fear coursing through my heart. It was an awesome trip! Kalea slept most of the way and only cried for about 30 minutes (and I don't blame her, she was probably scared of all of the crazy drivers. We almost died twice!!!...Ok so I may have exarggated a bit, but there were some close calls in Houston.). After we got to Galveston, Steve's parents took us to the Pyramid Aquarium. I can't think of the real name, but the aquarium was amazing! We saw all sorts of animals and Kalea and Nathan loved running down the ramps and peeking in the huge, glass windows to see all of the different sea creatures. After we got all fishy-ed out, we went out to eat at Fish Tales. The resturant is amazing!!! We always split the Hot Combo. There is stuff on there for everyone. Kalea and Nathan ate their weight in popcorn shrimp and I ate shrimp wrapped in bacon with a side of ranch dressing and guilt. It's hard going from a weekend where my mom is angry at me because I am too tough on Nathan to going to my inlaws where they lecture me by telling me that I am not hard enough on Nathan. It really brings a Mommy down to know that she's not good enough on either side of the rainbow. Anywho, so after that we went swimming at the beach which brings us to phobia number four.
Phobia number four....viral, bacterial, and any other way to die of an infectious disease. Nathan did not get to actually swim and have fun at the beach until he was about 4 years old. It took me four years to be comfortable with the idea of my baby boy swimming in a pool of germs and whale poop, sea urchants and jellyfish. Determined to conquer my fear and put my trust in God, I put Kalea in a swim suit and walked the long, hot walk to the beach with my boys. Steve and Nathan went straight out into the ocean to swim and body surf, while Kalea and I tentitive walked to the water's edge. Kalea loved the feel of the water on her toes, and the first good wave wiped her out. I held her hands as she was sloshed this way and that and finally settled on sitting far enough on the beach for the water to sweep up and tickle our toes. The boys came to check on us, and laughed as Kalea squished her hands in and out of the sand. As the sun began to come down, the tide got higher and higher and, once again, the first good wave that hit us sent Kalea up and packing. She told that wave "bye, bye" and crawled to higher ground where she grabbed my shoes and was ready to go. Steve came back and convinced her to stay while I went out with Nathan. Nathan and an older boy were laughing and giggling, and Nathan, wanting to be cool followed the boy deeper and deeper into the ocean. We went so far out that the water came up to Nathan's chest and the waves so high they would lift him off his feet and send him giggling towards the shore until the wave broke. Nathan was having a blast, but my motherly fear kicked in quietly and unexpectedly. What if Nathan got sucked down into the water of germs never to be seen again? What if I lose my baby? My hand that was perpetually out to spot him, went instantly down onto his hand. Protesting with every wave, I held tightly to his hand as the water gently carried us towards the shore with each rise and fall of the water. Finally, panic took over and we walked back to shore to "check on Daddy and Kalea."
Our day trip ended with a trip to the Rain Forest Cafe to both watch the volcano explode and to eat one with my InLaws. It was a very yummy meal and I actually got to sit and eat the entire meal because Kalea was engulfed in such terror of the moving and roaring animals that her soft cheek stayed glued to my head. Towards the end of the meal, Kalea released her grasp on me and stood up in the boothe to color her picture. Not two minutes into her coloring did the ligts dim, the animals roar, and the 'rain storm' began. Poor Kalea.
After our meal, we rode the Rainforest Ride that takes you through a jungle of animals. The ride is awesome for those of you who have never been on it. Kalea tolerated it very well and even took the time to admire the 'kitties' before they roared their verocious roars. When the ride ended, so did our trip. We made the fatal mistake of going to Sonic before going to home. It's too late to make a long story short, but let's just say that we wasted more than 30 minutes getting.... or should I say, attempting to get our drinks and left angry. The ride home was a very long trip, but as God assured me earlier, He was with me, and my only job was to trust in His Word. So now we're home. The kids are well. Rota never invaded our systems neither now nor on the road to the beach. Life is good. God is good. Praise be our God!
Posted by at 23:08 Permanent Link Comments (2)
Wednesday July 26, 2006
Cats in the Cradle
I went to get my baby girl out of her bed this morning. and instead of a baby, I saw my big toddler standing there. Where did my baby go?!!
Nathan rode the bus this morning to another school for free breakfast and then off to class with his daddy. All my babies are growing up too fast. :o(
Posted by at 10:01 Permanent Link Comments (3)
Sunday July 23, 2006
Deep in the Heart of Texas is Family
This weekend we were able to drive up to North West Central Texas to visit my folks. When we pulled up to their house after a drive that took many years off of my life, we found that my mother's playful exaggeration was actually true and growing right before my eyes. My parent's entire garden and a portion of their yard was filled with fairytale-like giant, green leaves in the shape of frog feet were sprouting from a giant vine with spindles and, yes... a giant pumpkin. It was amazing. My mom always jokes about only being able to grow things on accident. I think I inherited her brown thumb. We always joke about how my house is the plant hospice, the plants go in to die. This pumpkin vine, however, was doing more than fine, it was fantastic and glorious beyond what any plant should be.
I dunno it it was the pumpkin vine, or being out of our house, but Nathan picked this weekend to enjoy nature in the buff. Yes, my maked (Nathan for naked)-phobic boy has decided to let loose and be maked. His first attempt was while he was playing in the sprinkler in my parents yard. He joyfully let the water squirt up his shorts, and upon deciding that it just might feel better maked, he let his hair down....or should we say he let his shorts down. My mom caught him right as his shorts were down to his knees before she called out his name and he hastily pulled them back up again.
Nathan's second attempt at his natural freedom was a canoe trip out with the boys. Nathan, Steve and my dad were all out in the canoe and as soon as they skimmed across the water to the other side, Nathan announced that he had to go potty. Being a gang of manly men, Steve and my dad convinced Nathan to pee on a rock. Nathan has gone almost 5 years without enjoying the manly feeling of communining with nature in a way that only men can truely appreciate. I'll never forget how my little brother enjoyed this freedom. He liked it so much that one day after chuch, we were playing in my parents van, waiting for them to come outside, and my brother decided that nature was calling his name. Doing something that only little brothers can do, my little brother rolled down the window, stood up on the drivers seat and peed out the window in front of all of the leaving church goers. I was horrified.
Posted by at 23:21 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Wednesday July 19, 2006
Goldfish, Goldfish Everywhere
...So Nathan stayed with Steve's parents for the week, and Steve's dad decided that it would be ok if Nathan just didn't take his asthma medication for the ENTIRE WEEK, so now Nathan is really sick. Yeah, thanks Sam. Nathan was up ALL....NIGHT...LONGGGGG *Said very dramitically!!!* !!!!!! I woke up this morning sore and exhausted from climbing up and down his bunk bed ALL....NIGHT...LONGGGGG *also said very dramitically.* Instead of getting up extremely early, I went ahead and slept in until about 6:50AM and then took my shower. Kalea started freaking out towards the end of my shower so I jumped out, threw on a towel and ran to her room. Both her feet were stuck in the slits of her crib. I gently pulled her out and took her to the kitchen for her morning 'juice juice.' When I got to the kitchen, I found Nathan on the floor. My abandoned child couldn't wait until 7:00AM to eat breakfast, so he had climbed to the top of the pantry, pulled out the rationed box of goldfish, poured the entire box onto the floor and sat contently eating it until I decided to get up and be a mommy.....I can tell it's going to be a grrrr-eat day!
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Tuesday July 18, 2006
SaRaH the Inappropriate
SUNDAY:
Going to the Watermelon Festival brought back my high school days when I had to go through initiation for Thespians. (Yes, I was a drama freak for a week to get the eye of a certain hot guy....and FYI I got him!) I was in the auditorium with a whole bunch of Seniors (I was only a Sophmore) and one of them picked me out of the crowd and threw me on stage where I had to belt out an embarassing rendition of the Watermelon Song not just once but several times (the first five times weren't loud enough). I will NEVER forget that song....EVER!!!!
Just plant a little watermelon on my grave and let the juice (slurp) slurp (slurp) through,
Just plant a little watermelon on my grave, that's all I ask of you.
Well a preacher has chicken and I think that's fine,
but I would rather have a watermelon vine
Just plant a little watermelon on my grave and let the juice (slurp, slurp)
let the juice (slurp, slurp) let the juice slurp through.

Today at work the Preschool Minister snaped at me and I was so shocked, that I just busted out laughing and I couldn't even stop laughing to tell her what I needed. She just stood and glared at me. I think there's something wrong with me. :o)

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A Little Cha With the Choo/ Just Plant a Little Watermelon On My Grave
SATURDAY: Ok so I am a little behind with my posts. I have no clue what I've been doing, but I sure know I've been busy. On Saturday, we went to the Watermelon Festival in Hempstead and the on to ride the trains in somewhere, Texas. Kalea LOVED the Watermelon Parade. Everyone agreed that she was much cuter than Little Miss Watermelon. We'd enter her into the competition except for the fact that when she hears the word, 'cute' she immediately shoves a nubby finger up her nose and....well....you can imagine the next not-so-cute thing that she does.
After the sun sucked all of the fun out of the Watermelon Festival, we drove on Southward to the Steam Train Association. It was about a million degrees outside and we waited in line with about 100 other smelly, hot, sweaty people. Just when I thought I would pass out, it was our turn to ride the trains. Nathan sat with his friends, and Kalea sat with her daddy, so I was alone and kidless. I randomly adopted a girl about 8 or 9. We talked the whole way about wild animals and such. The ride was about 30 minutes and Kalea oooo-ed and awwww-ed at all the right points and would randomly shout out "CHOO CHOO!" Steve said that she was really cute and had a lot of fun. The ride was actually a lot more fun than I imagined. We sat on elongated box car things front to back hugging the middle of the train with our legs. I was worried about Kalea bailing ship, but she sat still and enjoyed the ride.
Saturday night we went to a wedding reception for Steve's friends. I knew NO ONE. It was really weird but the food, oh the food, was awesome. I imagined that I was a wedding crasher and randomly met new people and acted like I'd always known them. I met a lady about my age who'd recently divorced her husband after a short attempt at marriage; a newly married couple who fought the entire time; a lady who left her husband at home but claimed to be happily married; and an entire table of married men talking about when they graduated from A&M and where they worked now. Needless to say, Steve and I left early to walk around Target in our nice dress up clothes eating popcorn and drinking Dr Pepper.
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Saturday July 15, 2006
At the Show....
So our band was practicing today, and our sweet baby Kalea decides that being maked (naked in Nathan language) is much cooler than being clothed, so she slowly sneaks into the kitchen to shed her unwanted layers. The problem?! Kalea is a woman of 18....months that is, and she is not quite as coordinated as she thinks she is. Not long after she sneaks into the kitchen does she come running out with her white spanish shirt stuck over her beautiful baby face and her blue jean skirt stuck half way down. Steve and I were cracking up so bad that we dropped our instruments to help Kalea out of her delimma. Much to her disappointment, we redressed her and she immediately went boneless.
Our band played a show in the grand city of Houston, Texas, and as soon as we got off the stage, a crazed fan ran up to Steve with a sharpie. Anyone who has seen Steve on stage knows that he goes from little brother silly to hot rawksta that no one can resist....so needless to say, I am used to crazed fans running up to him with Sharpies. The girl ran up to Steve and said breathlessly "will you sign my..." This is the point where Steve's eyes grow huge and the other guys nod their knowing macho-you're the man nods...after a dramatic pause the girl says, "....jeans!" There was a wave of disappointment over the guys, and a look of extreme relief on Steve's face. It was funny, because I always wondered what he say if the girl asked for him to sign something inappropriate.
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Wednesday July 12, 2006
Singed Eyebrows and Purple Cows
"Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful, where Your streams of abundance flow, Blessed be Your name. And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place, though I walk through the wilderness, Blessed be Your name. Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise. And when the darkness closes in, Lord, Still I will say....Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be Your name. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be Your glorious name. Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me, When the world's "all as it should be" Blessed be Your name. And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering, though there's pain in the offering, Blessed be Your name. You give and take away. You give and take away. My heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be Your name." Blessed Be Your Name by Beth Redman & Matt Redman
We went out to eat today with Steve's dad (who is staying at our house for the week). Kalea was crazy and squirmy and protested very loudly. Dispite all of the games and toys I brought, both kids had a lot of wiggles. When the food finally came, Nathan ate the garnish, then threw it back up all over the table, shouting, "expensive lettuce is gross!" I was thinking how great it would be to, just once, be able to go out to eat and not have someone throw up on the table. Just once. Then I thought about our day at Sea World after we just found out my brother-in-law, Andrew died. How, no matter how I tried, I just couldn't seem to catch my breath. How I felt that I would be broken forever and that I would give anything to get him back. He was the one person every holiday who knew how it felt to be an intruder on the Saenz family celebrations and always made me laugh with whispered jokes making fun of them. He was so nice and so funny and most of all he was Kaela's husband. They were supposed to grow old together and have a million stylish, lankey kids. Then I thought about how going out to eat would feel, except without Andrew, it was without Steve or Nathan or Kalea, or even Steve's dad. After all the resturant Nathan threw up in, was the very place we announced our pregnancy with Nathan to Steve's parents. At the time, I thought I was going to throw up on the table while telling them the news. I am so blessed to have my children and my husband alive and well. I am so blessed that I can wake up tomorrow morning and see Nathan's beautiful brown eyes, and Kalea's silly grumpy faces, and Steve asking me "watcha doin'?" even though it is something obvious like putting Kalea's socks on her grumpy morning feet as she goes boneless with anger. I am so blessed with their lives, that looking back it almost makes me giggle that Nathan thought that garnish was really expensive lettuce, and that he's probably perminately ruined on lettuce. I can't wait to tell his kids and all of girl friends what a silly boy he was.
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Monday July 10, 2006
WEDNESDAY
On Wednesday, we went to a carnival at the library. Nathan went around and played all the games while Kalea went around and ate all of the food. When Nathan won more than one of the same item, he would give the other to Kalea without even being asked to! When we finally made our way to the back of the library, a girl with a curly mullet (Steve guessed that she must have been homeschooled to have hair that bad) announced that they were going to play musical chairs. Trying to look excited, I asked Nathan if he wanted to play musical chairs. He looked at me with an expression of seriousness painted all over his face, cocked his head to one side and said, "isn't that the game where they play music and then they take away your chair?" I laughed and tried to think of a better way to explain it, but before I could answer, Nathan said, "I don't like that game, it's mean to steal chairs." He ended up playing anyway and as the fist kid got out, Nathan threw his head back and let out the loudest evil laugh to ever be heard in a library. I waved my arms and tried to give Nathan a no no look, but in my head I was cracking up. He wasn't trying to be mean, he's not a mean kid, but he lacks knowledge of what is appropriate and what's not. He stayed in for quite a while and when he finally got out, he walked out giggling with pride that he had gotten as far as he did.
Losing gracefully is a learned art in our family. Steve is not very good at it, and Nathan tends to pick that up from Steve. Nathan got second place in a game earlier that day and his prize was given to the wrong kid by accident. Because the prize was a free burito I thought Steve was going to pop which caused Nathan to be upset, which caused Nathan to squint his eyes and shake his fist (a gesture we do in pretend anger when we are playing around, but are apparently going to have to stop because our child is now doing it in public in real pretend anger). I ended up having to pull both kids (Steve and Nathan) from the game and talking to them about good sportsmanship, all this while Kalea was stuffing two oreos in her mouth at the same time.....it's hard being a mom of three..... :o)
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Wednesday July 05, 2006
A Day Late and a Buck Short
Welp, the 4th of July was a hit yet again! As parents, Steve and I try really hard to set up traditions that the kids will begin to look forward to each year for both comfort and heritage. We got our Old Navy flag shirts, made red, white and blue beaded necklaces, colored paper flags, and looked up all of the area parades. When the sky opened up and began pouring down rain, however, we resigned ourselves to the idea that, perhaps, the 4th of July would be nothing but the 4th. Like the 4th of May is not any more special than the 4th of October. We went to the mall and walked around in our matching outfits, got a bit grumpy and then decided to call Steep Hollow Baptist Church to see if, perhaps, there was no rain over there. Our pal, Kathy said that she talked to God and He said that it would be clear over there by the time the party would start, and yes, ladies and gentlemen, she was right! We went outside and blue skies filled the area around SHBC and gray ones shaddowed everywhere else. We packed up the kids and drove down the long, country path to the church. Nathan and Kalea made themselves at home the second they got out of the car. SHBC is one of those churches where they take to heart the saying "it takes a village to raise a child." Everyone is friendly and all of the kids run wild being watched from each corner of the open field by Mrs. So-and-so while Mr. So-and-so patrols the middle of the chaos warning the kids to watch out for fire ants and untangling the kids from the soccer goals (yes Nathan was one of those kids). There were old fashioned games like sack races, over and under and the hula hoop relay. Kalea and I won the Cake Walk after several...ok a lot... of failed attempts. When the sky finally darkened, we sat in our row of four and lifted our eyes to the Heavens. When the fireworks first started, there were a few pops and fizzes to the music. Kalea stared up in a mixture of excitement and horror. Nathan snuggled into Steve for the show and Kalea sat frozen in her chair. As the tempo of the music increased rapidly, so did the pops and explosions of the fireworks overhead. Kalea, finally deciding that the firewords were more scary than fun now let out a paniced cry. I threw down the remains of our snowcone, popcorn, and whatever else I had collected in my arms and grabbed up Kalea into my arms. She gripped MiMi (her bunny) and snuggled into my arms where she continued to watch, in horror, the beautiful colors that danced into the sky perpetually changing and moving. She finally gave into the urge to sleep, or hide (I am still not sure which) and she snuggled even farther into me and fell asleep. Afterwards, Nathan was so excited that even words failed him. He stuttered and made sounds but nothing real seemed to want to come out. The night ended a 'bang.' :o)
Nathan-ism for the night- Before the fireworks were set to go off, Steve asked Nathan if he wanted to go potty with him before the show started. Nathan said, "no daddy, you're 27, I think you're old enough to go alone."
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ARCHIVES AUGUST

2006-12-16T19:29:00.000-06:00

Tuesday August 29, 2006
The Moral of the Moral
When Nathan was smaller, I tried to teach him not to touch something dangerous. I would pretend to touch it and then yell "ouch!" I did this a few times to demonstrate how it could hurt him. Finally, Nathan looked at me with tear filled eyes and yelled, "Mommy don't touch it again, it will hurt you!" Needless to say that he never touched it again.
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Nothing, Zilch, Banana
I feel bad that I have nothing to say this week, so here is a letter we received from Nathan's teacher. :o)
I wanted to let you guys know that Nathan has survived 9 days of school with his teacher really having high expectations of him!! As I told you before, we have been working on his "sorry, sorry" and he is now aware that sometimes "sorry is not enough". He told me that himself today...I don't exactly know what happened but I heard him say "SORRY, SORRY" to someone during Math stations and by the time I looked over at him he had his little head down saying "ooh, but I know that sorry is not enough if I want to be helpful". Then he just smiled and kept working with the pattern blocks--which he LOVES by the way. I have made progress;-)My next goal is to work on him putting things in his mouth: his backpack, nametag (which is why his shirt sometimes goes home with orange streaks on the front), fingers, other people's backpack, you name it and he is putting it in his mouth. Most of the time it is not a safety hazard like he is going to choke or anything you just never know where stuff has been (among 43 other sets of hands, feet, and mouths). I know that this too shall pass.He had an awesome afternoon at dismissal. He tends to like to be the "funny guy" acting out and rolling around when he has an audience. They called his name and I could not find him...he was sitting right in front of me just looking around at the other kids and "studying them" with nothing or anything in his mouth, not rolling around, not bothering anyone just sitting and chilling--ok maybe he was sleepy but NOW I know he can do it. When he left I told him I was very proud of him and to let you guys know but I know that most 5 year olds don't care;-) So I wanted to wish you a wonderful weekend and let you know that he had an awesome day! Steve, don't mess him up this weekend. Sarah, he got a little upset when he did not get the Cherrios and pouted a little and ate his animal crackers. When he got to the carpet a friend asked, "Why didn't Nathan get cereal?" His reply was, "are you crazy, it had strawberries in it, I can't have strawberries". Somehow, he did remember our converstation this morning.
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Friday August 25, 2006
30 minutes
I don't know about you but we were one of those families who sat glued to the TV during the winter olympics. Whether you like the sport or not, there is just something about these men and women working their tails off for a passion and a goal. Who wouldn't want to spend all of their time doing something they love?! One thing that impressed us most was after Shawnee Davis won the gold, he said that he wanted to thank his mom for taking him out to run a mile every day before school. I am not sure what was more impressive, his mother's dedication to her son's sports, or the fact that his momma could run a mile every morning. I know I couldn't. So after taking a long look at Steve and my sport's life, I knew something had to change. On Monday, we enrolled Nathan in soccer. It's not the Carebear version either. It's hardcore, three on three, everyone is accountable soccer. We did this because Steve lacks focus and Nathan is following in his Father's footsteps. We want Nathan to find something he loves and is good at and focus on that. I wanted Nathan to try gymnastics first, mainly because he started doing cartwheels and front handsprings in the living room, but he said he'd rather play soccer, so soccer it is.
Nathan is scawny, and lanky but I noticed that my poor child has turned into quite a couch potato. He's still wild, but I think it's because he sits on the couch until he's about to pop and then pops all over the house driving us crazy and hurting his sister. All this to say that Steve and I decided this week that we would spend 30 minutes a day focused on sports. Today was our trial run. We went out as a whole family to the soccer fields near our house. Nathan and Steve did drills for an hour running back and forth between the goals, doing passing drills and taking turns being goalie and the kicker. Nathan had so much fun. Please don't think wrongly of us, we aren't psycho pressure parents, it HAS to be fun, but I also think that within that fun there has to be a small challenge. Nathan took that challenge and not only had fun, but pushed himself a little too. We got back to the house with a worn out, calm boy. It was SO nice. He listens better when he's not wizzing past.
Kalea, on the other hand, did not fair so well outside, so Steve and I made a pact that we would switch out every other day and take Nathan out 6 days a week to play frisbee, do soccer drills, play with the big ball or something that will get him out and running. We'll see how long we can keep this going!!!! I hope that we can keep it up until Nathan becomes the best he can be at whatever he chooses to be. :o)
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Thursday August 24, 2006
Yes...
Everyday Kalea and I walk Nathan down the sidewalk from the parking lot to his school. One side of the sidewalk is lined with bushes that fill the air with the sweet smell of nectur. It is sort of a clean, fresh smell that I've grown to enjoy each passing day. Nathan, however, has a different idea about those bushes. Everyday he yells, "YUCK! MOMMY WHAT IS THAT SMELL??!" then he dramatically plugs up his nose with his fingers as we pass eht long row of bushes. Everyday after Nathan's dramatic routine, it occurs to me that perhaps I just don't bathe Nathan enough, so he just doesn't know how to enjoy the smell of clean. Today was I caught completely by surprise when I walked by a small hispanic girl, dramatically gripping her nose yelling "oy mama! WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!" Aparently I am not the only mom who doesn't bathe their child enough!
Kalea is pretty grumpy about this whole waking up early business. Whenever a toy touches her the wrong way, or a baby doll looks at her weirdly, she shreaks "uuuhhhhh!!!" and pushes it down. During her baths Kalea likes a lot of toys in the tub with her, but now instead of playing with them joyfully, she sits in the tub scornfully and whenever a toy drifts by her and touches any part of her small body, she yells "Mo!" and pushes it away. I tried to just put less toys in the tub, but she just stood by the edge of the tub pointing at the toys yelling "more! batheee more!"
Kalea is also started picking up on the manners we are still trying to instill in Nathan. When you hand her something she now says "dee doo" as a baby sort of way of saying 'thank you!' and if she wants something she will say what she wants and then say "eeeeeeeeese!"
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Tuesday August 22, 2006
Top Ten
Top ten reasons why it's good to live in the ghetto.
By SaRaH Saenz

My taxes are lower than yours!!
You don't need a metronome, you can just keep time to the 'boom, boom, boom' of the bass of the people driving by.
There are so many pit bulls running around that your kids won't pressure you to buy a dog.
The only sales people who come by are the people wanting to mow your lawn.
When the people start coming by asking to mow your lawn, your husband will get the hint and landscape the entire yard.
It's ok to walk outside in your P.J's because your neighboors will always look worse than you.
The police don't patrol the school zones because there are too many pot holes to drive quickly any way.
When you tell people that you don't have any money, they actually believe you.
Nobody will ask you to host any parties for church, school, or other.
You won't get robbed because....
A. You don't HAVE anything to rob.
B. What thug is dumb enough to rob their own neighboor?
C. There are too many pot holes to make a clean get away.
D. There are too many rabid pitbulls running around.
E. All of the good stuff is across town.
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Monday August 21, 2006
The Reason
Today I've discovered that the reason why police don't patrol the school zone around my son's school is that the pot holes are so bad that you can't drive over 20 mph any way.
Yesterday, I discovered that the reason why cats don't count as family members is because they don't share. Kalea had a cookie and she let Steve and I take a bite, then she took it over to Nathan who also took a bite, and then she took it over to our cat, Lola, to give her a bite. I told Kalea "no" and tried to make it over to her in time, but Lola had already delicately taken the cookie from Kalea's hand and ate it. Kalea was so upset. She crumpled to the ground and cried, "mo, mo, mo ookie." (Roughly translated into "no, no, no cookie.")
Last week, I realized that the reason why kids verbal abilities can't be understood to the outside world until they are around 4 years old is God's way of giving parent's time to develop their own lingo. For example when I say "Stop the water! You can't bring this manga into the house, her skirt's so short- you can almost see her knuffle bunny." It means...well... you can figure that one out, but don't think too hard.
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Sunday August 20, 2006
One Sleepy Girl
I haven't blogged in a while. School has started and so has the busy life of a soccer mom. Today's sermon was about how we often miss our calling because we aren't satisfied with the road God creates us for. I don't know how many times last week that I thought about how life would be easier if I actually worked in an office instead of at home and how it would be a million times nicer if we lived close to the church instead of 20 miles away. I thought about all of the other jobs I could do, but I know in my heart that God knit me for the one I have.
Friday was Nathan's birthday. He got to be the king and sit on the 'throat.' His queen was a little girl with glasses named Jessica. She was a cutie pa-tootie. Some day when I am not so tired I'd write about it. Nathan's favorate part about Friday was (not the 44 cupcakes I baked for his class) his party at Gatti Town where he got to drive the bumper cars with Steve.
Saturday we had a Pirate Party at the park. I made a pirate ship cake, eye patches for the kids, and pirate head scarves. I painted mustaches on the boys. The kids when on a scavenger hunt, played on the playground, did cake and then they played on the splash pad. It was a lot of fun and God blessed us with great weather. After that we had a 'big kid' party with family and older friends. Nathan said his favorate part was the scavenger hunt.
Today was church and Nathan said that his favorate part was being able to color during big church.
Posted by at 23:09 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Friday August 18, 2006
New School, new school, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah
I am sitting here in our million degree house at 11 o'clock at night cooking 44 cupcakes for Nathan's school birthday party. I always knew I'd be the type of mom who cooked them instead of buying them, but I never imagined myself up so late barefoot in front of the stove pouring cupcake batter into 48 little cups. The stove is heating up the entire house so that the 106 degree heat outside feets good compared to the 350 degree heat inside the house. So you're probably all wondering about Nathan's first day of school.
Nathan's first day of school started out much better than I expected. I woke up Nathan by turning on his light and cleaning his bedroom. I strongly resisted the urge to sing "Rise and shine and give God glory, glory...." as my mom did for many years until I discovered the alarm clock, but I could not resist the urge to clean up that boy's room. Nathan's cute freshly head poped up from a heap of blankets and pillows and a big grin formed across his face. All smiles, he tottered, not quite awake, to the living room where he started at alarm at the window. "Mommmm," he gasped in a truely shocked voice, "the sun's not even up yet!!" "Yep," I tell him, "that's what it's going to be like every morning." My voice sounds really calm, but in my head, I am really freaking out. Can I really get up this early EVERY morning?! I didn't even bother with the you-need-to-get-dressed-NOW fight. I just stripped my baby down and put on his uniform. He complained about his tummy hurting, but I had to explain that it's just not awake yet and that's what happens to us skinny folk in the mornings. I packed his lunch, got Kalea dressed and ready to go and realized that I hadn't fed anyone breakfast. I was already running on a-drine-a-line, but panic began to set in when I thought about breakfast. Thank God for Carnation Instant Breakfast, because in an instant, my babies were out the door with breakfast in their sippy cups.
When we got to school, the panic grew to cat-a-strop-ic porportions. I had no clue where to drive, which way to drive, or where to park. We circled the night-mare-ish school a million times weaving in and out of cars and kids and buses....ok so maybe just two or three times, but it was horrible. I finally parked in a neighborhood just one street away from the street where all of the drive bys occur, and my babies out of the car and treking to school. Half way to school property, we found a lose dog. It was one of those evil violent ones that attack all of the kids around here but EVERYONE has one. I told it that we didn't have time to be attacked and it left us alone. I guess it figured that we were pretty stringy folk and that it wasn't worth the effort. To get Nathan walking faster, we sung "Flight of the Bumble Bee" and we pretended to be bees, flying to the hive. Even Kalea got into it.
We arrived at the classroom in record time. Nathan's best pal J was sitting outside with his sister looking like a lost puppy. I asked them if J was ok, and his poor sister explained that she couldn't coax J into his new class so I took J under my wing and we went to Nathan's class to check him in. His teacher was there to greet us and all of his new friends were already on the floor watching "Franklin's First Day of School." We found Nathan's cubby, said "hi" to his teacher, and then Nathan went to join his new friends. I am a bolter, I am not one to stick around and coddle my children, so after a hug and a kiss, Kalea, J and I were off. I dropped J off in his class with a quick hug and made sure he was settled with his teacher and then Kalea and I were off on our own.
Two thirty came much quicker than I expected so I woke Kalea up from her nap and plopped her in the car to pick up Nathan. I was very panic-y at first because, once again, I had no clue where to go and how to get there. I got in line and waited FOR-EV-ER!!!! It was 106 degrees outside and Kalea was sweating up a storm. A man came by and put a green piece of paper on our windshield and I thought, "that's it, I am in trouble for being in the wrong line!!!" After about 45 minutes of paniced waiting, I got to the school where I saw a big boy wearing Nathan's backpack look somewhat like Nathan. Then I realized that it WAS Nathan, but a more grown up version. Nathan had so much fun at school. He talked about seeing his friends, and learning Spanish, and getting to see pictures of all the teachers on some sort of mural, and getting to eat his lunch in the cafeteria. He had so much fun on his first day of school. Nathan said that his favorite part of school that day was looking at all of the teacher's pictures.
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Tuesday August 15, 2006
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!!!
Mo Willems is the greatest children's book writer ever!!!
Today was Nathan's first day of school, but I am not quite yet ready to write about it. He is my baby after all.
Here is our my space account for our band. I know that I can get fired for having an in-crim-ma-nate-ing one, but it should be pretty good to the eyes of the Lord. Steve has been working a super long time on it, so please leave a note telling him how great it is!!
www.myspace.com/pcfx
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Sunday August 13, 2006
Church Vs. Nathan
At Nathan's oral proficiency test at school, the teacher read Nathan a story about it raining on a snail and then had Nathan repeat it back. Nathan said, "It rained on the snail because God made it rain, and then a rainbow came because God made the rainbow. It means that He loves us. And then....oh and I am going to church tonight!"
Today was Nathan's first day in the Children's Wing at church. Nathan went to Children's Church and then he was supposed to go line up to be in the Kindergarten parade. I was due to meet him in the hallway, but he had turned up missing. It turned out that Nathan and his pals convinced a teacher that Nathan was supposed to be in First Grade. When I went to get him out of the first grade class, Nathan stood up and yelled, "MOMMMM I AM IN THE FIRST GRADE!!" Fun stuff.
SOOOO tonight, was Nathan's first night in big church. I explained big church to Nathan, got him a special 'church' workbook that he could only play with during the sermon, and then we sat in the Youth section. Sitting in the Youth Section was like sitting in a bird cage. There was much pitter pattering of whispering girls all around us and it dawned on me that the reason why the music minister and his wife moved across church to that section was because she couldn't stop talking either. Nathan's wiggles blended in with the whispers and the little flirty junior high girls played peek-a-boo with Nathan during the music time. Overal, Nathan was pretty good. The only thing I didn't anticipate was communion. Nathan was VERY upset about not being able to take communion. I explained that when Jesus came down into his heart and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior then he could have communion. Nathan said that Jesus was already in his heart (we've been telling him this all his life.) OK new approach. I told Nathan that this was the body and blood of Jesus and his body wasn't ready to eat the body and blood of Jesus. Nathan said that it was because we already drank all of Jesus blood! OK next approach. I offered to go out to get ice cream to celebrate Nathan's first night in big church. Nathan collasped in tears, "noooo I wanted bread!!!" OK, so we went and got him some french fries. They, after all, are close to the bread catergory.
Posted by at 21:25 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Thursday August 10, 2006
Texas
I hate forwards, but this one was too funny. It sums up living in Texas perfectally!!!
Just moved to Texas! Now this a state that knows how to live!!!

Beautiul sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! it is beautiful. I've found my home.

June 14th. Really heating up. Got 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home and drive an air -conditioned car.
What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this.

June 30th. Had the backyatd landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me.
Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat.
At least , it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than expected.

July 15th. Fell asleep by the community pool .(Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do.
I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th. I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning.By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag then popped like a water baloon.

The car now smells like Kibbles and Bits.
I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.

July 25th. The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!!
The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repaiman charged $200. just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th, Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now,$225.000 house and I can't even go inside.. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come. here?
August 4th.Its 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500.00 and gets the temjperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug 8th, If another person asks,"Hot enough for you today?" I'm going to strangle them. By the time I get to work,the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell liked baked cat.

Aug. 9th, Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts,and when I sat on the seats in the car, I thought my butt was on fire.

My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and butt...Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried butt and baked cat..

Aug.10th, The weather report might as well be a recording..Hot and sunny, Hot and sunny, Hot and sunny.Its been too hot to do anything for 2 months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week..

Doesn't it ever rain in this state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700.00 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over.

Even the cactus can't live in this heat.

Aug.14th, Temperature got to115 today. Cactus are dead.

Forgot to crack the window and blew the windshield out of the car..The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?"

My sister had to spend $1500.00 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas.

What kind of sick demented idiot would want to live here.??

Will write later to let you know how the trial goes,

Sue
Posted by at 21:29 Permanent Link Comments (0)
X-Rays and D.J.'s
The kiddos had their well baby/kid doctor's appointment today. Kalea gained 2 pounds in 6 months (4 if you count the two that she lost and gained back after being sick) and Nathan gained 0 pounds in a whole year. The doctor told us to up his fat content. I would up his fat content if he'd actually eat the fat. We are already sneaking in the whole milk (Nathan swears he can taste the difference) and giving him boat loads of Nestles Quick and Ovaltine. Ok so maybe I am drinking it all, but I am not fat either so there! Other than being freakishly small, Nathan's head comes to a point on top. It's always bugged me, but I can never remember to say anything until today. The doctor felt around, said that Nathan looked normal but sent us across the street to get X-rays. Nathan was a very good boy. The first X-ray he was a little if-y about but by the second one, he threw his hands behind his head and looked like he was at the beach. It reminded me of my ultrasound with him in my belly and we couldn't measure his head or his arms because he was reclined in my belly just as he was on the x-ray table. The lady took two more x-rays of Nathan's moppy head, and then we had to wait alone in the starch white x-ray room while they checked out the results. While we were waiting, Nathan asked questions about everything, how each piece of equipment works and why. He even asked me why they put the metal blanket over his part. I told him that it was to protect his belly and he didn't even question the fact that it barely touched his belly. Before Nathan could run out of questions, the lady came back, gave Nathan about 10 "I Was X-Rayed Today!" stickers and sent us on our way. The nurse should call with the results soon.
As far as Kalea goes, the looks she gave the doctor as he checked her out were hilarious! She gave him the most dirty-you're-invading-my-space kind of looks any girl can muster. We got a script to get rid of her diaper rash, and the doctor gave us a fair warning about the terrible twos (I think they're here already!!!). Right now she is changing Elmo's diaper. She has him laid out on the changing pad and has the wipes and medicine out around him. Opps! She's mad now. We have to go meet the teacher night at Nathan's school and then we are playing a show. Fun stuff!
Posted by at 18:18 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Tuesday August 08, 2006
OOPPS!
I spelled a Biblical word wrong (the Veggie Tales guy so nicely pointed it out) and having a degree in Religion, it really bothered me so I went back to correct my 'Spilling the Beans' blog and accdentally deleted it. Edit, delete, they're all the same. I tried to rectify the situation, but alas, you can't get back what you let go. Speaking of Veggie Tales, because I wrote Veggie Tales in my Spilling the Beans blog, I got 24 viewers. So if you ever want free publicity, just type, Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales.
Today we took the kiddos to the (Local College) Aquatics Center where the kids got to look at bugs under mircoscopes, make fossels, touch and feel strange things and the coolest thing.....feed the fish, snakes, sirenes, and turtles. Nathan got to feed small fish to a bigger fish (I think it really freaked him out to hold a fish in his hand), some sort of turtle food to a pool of turtles, and a worm to a snapping turtle. Steve took a picture of Nathan holding the worm. It was so much fun. I love this city. I love how it gives me opportunities to look and learn with my kiddos. I love how it provides me with a 4,000 member church family who prayed for my blind baby, and who daily thanks me for my work for the Lord and who always makes me feel loved and valued
Posted by at 21:38 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Things We've Done This Sumer
Things we've done this summer:
Gone to the zoo 1,000 times
Read 69 hours worth of books...and counting
Met the Mayor
Gone to Shlitterbaun (Steve and Nathan)
Watched lightning bugs
Watch fireworks
Had a few picnics
Gone to a few State Parks
Went to the beach
Had an adventure at the Rainforest
Sat through one wedding
Played a lot of shows
Climbed in Big Rigs
Fed worms to snapping turtles and live fish to bigger live fish
Went to Sports Camp
Watched the Watermelon Parade
Rode trains
Went to a bike rodeo and Nathan won a free bike
Pet Snakes
Visited Moody Gardens
Went canoeing across a lake
Watched a Jungle Jim show with giant bugs and reptiles
Learned Aggie Cheers
Nathan got a new loft bed with a tent canopy
Sarah read the entire Chronicles of Narnia Series

Posted by at 18:56 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Monday August 07, 2006
Sunday Sadness
So this Sunday, I was leaning more towards being sad that Nathan is going to Kindergarten than happy. Because I am a woman, I have the divine right to bounce back and forth and on Sunday I chose sad. I was sitting in my seat in front of the giant TV in the foyer thinking about Nathan's life. First of all, sitting in the foyer is, in my mind worse than sitting in the back row. It is like eating a meal in front of a homeless guy. It just feels wrong. At this point you're probably thinking that your notions about me being crazy are comfirmed. Why do I sit there if I feel wrong? I sit in the foyer because I am involved in a Ministry at my church and my ministry overlaps part of the music time, so instead of sneaking in under the TV cameras, I just sit in the foyer and watch the sermon on the TVs. Ok so back to my story.... I was sad. I was sad, and moody and tired and thinking of my Nathan. A familiar tune brought me out of my meloncholy and I focused all of my attention on the words of the song the church was singing over the speakers. The song is titled "Still" and the chorus says:
WHEN THE OCEAN RISE AND THUNDER ROARSI WILL SOAR WITH YOU ABOVE THE STORMFATHER, YOU ARE KING OVER THE FLOODI WILL BE STILL and KNOW YOU ARE GOD

The song has held great meaning to me since seeing God's great and awesome hand in Hurricane Katrina, but on Sunday, it brought on even greater meaning. The message is simple. God is bigger than everything that we face. He is bigger than our financial situation, He is bigger than our biggest problems and He will follow my baby Nathan to school. It struck me how sad I was and then I got an even greater wave of sadness that I wasn't IN the worship center worshipping with everyone else. I wanted to sing out those words so badly, but singing in the foyer is like singing with head phones on. I wouldn't be singing with the music, I would be singing above the music. I was overcome with such great sadness that I almost missed it..... The lady sitting close to me was singing very softly in my right ear, and then the lady on the other side joined in. Before I knew it, we were all singing, out loud and to our Lord and Savior. This is my true girl moment, because before I knew what was happening, I began to cry. It was tears of sadness for Nathan, but it was also tears of joy that God is bigger than life. Embarrassed at my girliness, I turned to my right to find that the lady to my right was also crying. At the end of the service, I turned to talk to her and she was gone. She was my guardian angel. I think God put her there at just the right time so that I can and will know that it's ok to be human. To be real. To sing out loud and to cry in public.
Posted by at 23:49 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Nathan Spankin'
In two weeks and one day, Nathan will officially start school. My baby boy is growing up so fast. This week he's surprised me in so many ways. On Saturday, he told our babysitter the difference between boys and girls and this time he didn't say that girls have sweet button noses and soft baby feet. On Sunday, he spent the greater part of the rainy and gray afternoon locked in his room listening to Hank the Cowdog. Midway through the tape, he came out with tears in his eyes pulling himself together long enough to tell me that he is the saddest boy in the world. I took him in my arms and asked him why and he told me all about how Mary D. Cat was crying because she was lonely and all she wanted was some cheese and Hank the Cow Dog was mean to her. I tried my hardest to explain the story to him and urged him to listen to the rest of the tape to unwrap Mary D. Cat's ploy, but Nathan was so heart broken, he could not go on. It was so sad. Nathan, my child who wears his heart on his sleeve and sometimes masks sadness or disappointment with anger, absolutely fell apart at Mary D. Cat's sorrowful meowing.
Yesterday, I bought the very last piece of uniform that we can afford for Nathan. He now officially has three temporarily bight white polos, one shirt with the school's name proudly printed across the front, and one blue shirt supporting the district's high school football team (a must have for Friday's Spirit days), three hand-me down pairs of blue shorts, three new pairs of jeans with reinforced knees, and a blue ball of lent......I mean hooded sweatshirt. The hooded sweatshirt is brand new, but when I went to wash it, it transformed into a giant ball of lent. Sad but true. So now we are offically ready for school. Steve is at this moment whinning about how he doesn't want to go back. I've been preparing for this for the last (almost five years) and yet I am having a hard time letting go. This marks the beginning of Nathan's educational career. The real beginning of his story.
Posted by at 23:16 Permanent Link Comments (0)

ARCHIVES OCT 6-SEPTEMBER

2006-12-16T19:25:00.000-06:00

Thursday October 05, 2006
Soccer Star Nathan's Updates
I was reading the last Blog I did in September and thought I'd update it. Nathan didn't end up playing soccer at his first game. He just stood on the starting line. He never moved a muscle. He just stood. I have great pictures.
Nathan missed his second game because we were at the State Fair.
For Nathan's third game, I psyched him out. I made him a special meal with lots of Soccer Star Food. I gave him a special 'firework' (Christmas stencil) that would help him run fast and make goals, and then we were off to the fields. Nathan and his best friend were the only two there so they ran drills and wrestled on the field until the rest of Nathan's friends trickled in. At the whistle, they were off. Nathan got in there and kicked some good kicks and I was so happy that I almost cired......then Daddy showed up. After Steve's appearence, Nathan the Soccer Star turned back into Nathan the Lump. After the first quarter whistle, Nathan was taken out of the game (they rotate) and then put back in during the third quarter. Nathan started off ok, but not with the zeal he had at his pre-daddy game. After a teammate pushed him, Nathan had had enough and sat on the sideline until his coach pulled him out. Nathan was put back in for the fourth quarter after he randomly ran out durning the game. He assisted in our only goal with made his daddy very proud. Perhaps, Nathan will like soccer afterall.... :o)
Posted by at 16:52 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Nothing, Zilch, Banana
This week Nathan's teacher started handing out a calendar that we receive every day in Nathan's backpack. It monitors his behavior each day with a green smiley face, blue grumpy face, yellow frowny face and a red angry face. Now that we know how Nathan did at school each day, he has decided that he wants to be a Kindergarten dropout. Every morning we have the same conversation:
Nathan: Mom, I don't wanna go to school today. I want to quit.
Me: Why, Nathan? I thought you liked school.
Nathan: No, I hate it. I want to stay home all day and play video games.
Me: NO, if you don't get an education you won't be able to be a _______(whatever career he decided to be the day before).
Nathan: I don't want to be that anymore, I want to be a ball thrower.
Me: A ball thrower? What do they do?
Nathan: They throw balls.
Me: (Duh?!) Who do they throw balls to?
Nathan: Dogs.
Me: Ohhhh how will you feed the dogs?
Nathan: With my birthday money, of course!

Of course.... couldn't we all live off of our birthday money?!

Friday September 22, 2006
Firsts
Things have been very busy in the Saenz household! We've had Open House, Soccer Practice, and Sparks just to name a few. Steve and I have a show tonight and EARLY the next morning is Nathan's soccer game.
This morning Kalea and I had our formal Friday breakfast with real food instead of whatever fits in ziplocks for the car ride to church. After we ate, Kalea found the bubbles. At first she was thrilled to watch them. After a while, she enjoyed popping them with her pudgy fingers. This was briefly exciting until this got old and she decided that it was her turn to blow the bubbles. Kalea wasn't content just to blow into the wand I held in front of her lips, she wanted to do all of the holding, dipping, and blowing all by herself. The first few times she held, dipped and blew no bubbles appeared. To her dismay, the actions weren't enough. She thought a little bit and then held, dipped and blew one more time, and to Kalea's and my surprise, a small bubble formed and few out into the air. She was estatic!
Nathan's first is kind of a funny first. It got chilly this week, so he's being wearing his uniform pants and jeans. Day three of jeans Nathan looks down and says, "Hey mom, I wore these yesterday!" It only took him four weeks of school to realize that all of his uniforms look exactly alike.
I've had a first bad mommy moment in a long time. The worst part is that it has carried through to today as well. Nathan had a soccer practice last night and after one ball bunder, he decided that he hated soccer and didn't want to play.....ever again. I reminded him that he loved soccer and begged us to sign him up. I reminded him how cool his uniform was and how much he liked his teammates. After all of my reminding, Nathan's desire to sit out and never play soccer again was unrelenting. I told him that it was ok if he didn't want to play soccer any more, but he had to come to every practice and game to support his teammates regardless if he played. Nathan got up and walked over to the goal cones and gradully, one by one kicked them over and away from the goal area. After the first two, I shouted over to Nathan to stop. He looked at me and then took down the whole goal area. I walked over to him and he took one look at my "you're going to get a spanking face" and started crying. He threw himself down on the ground and in one swift motion, I picked him up, flipped him over and spaked his little behind. I spanked him in front of his friends. I spanked him in front of their parents. I spanked him in front of the entire Pee Wee Cheerleading Squad and their parents and sibblings. I spanked him in front of the entire Pee Wee football team and their parents. I spanked him in front of God and His green earth. I gave Nathan two big swats in front of everyone! Then this morning, I didn't notice that Nathan's second sheet of completed homework didn't make it to school with him and we were out of fresh fruit for 'bring fruit to PE' day so I had to sent a package if oranges floating in sugar water. I am so discouraged as a mommy. Hopefully Nathan will play at his game tomorrow and all will be well.
Posted by at 11:07 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Friday September 15, 2006
Nathan's Biggest Complaints
Nathan LOVES school, but he does have a few complaints. Here are a few in no paticular order.
1. The girls won't stop kissing me!
2. My teacher is too bossy!
3. The cafeteria is lousey.
4. I don't like going to English, I just want to stay in Spanish ALL DAY.
5. All of the kids in class can't hear because the teacher has to yell at them.
Posted by at 11:53 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Monday September 11, 2006
Kalea go round
I took the kiddos out on the playground after church on Sunday to play while we waited for Steve to get out of his meeting. After playing for a while they both gravitated to the little push merry-go-round. Kalea sat in the middle while I slowly pushed it around to see what Kalea would do. She has never ridden a merry-go-round so I was a bit nervous about what she would do. She sat for a while watching the scenery slowly spin around her. After drinking in all of the colors, she tenitively grabbed the rail and stood up. Here it comes, I thought, Kalea is going to do a wild woman jump off of the merry-go-round while it is still spinning. I braced myself to jump up and grab her. Kalea stood up slowly and after regaining her balance, she let go of the rail, raised her arms above her head and joyfully twirled her body around like a ballerina while still on the spinning merry-go-round. This child is definitely ready for roller coasters!
Posted by at 16:36 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Wednesday September 06, 2006
Kalea's First Day of School
Today was Kalea's first day of MDO (Mother's Day Out) and my very first day of having her in institutional care and not having to work. It was pretty nice. Her new class is located in her old Sunday school room, so she knew the ropes by heart. Mom drops me off and then mom picks me up later. I put her on the floor, introduced myself to her teacher and then tried to leave. There was another family blocking the door so I stood awkardly while they chatted annoyingly not budging from the door. Kalea went over to pick out a toy and her teacher trying to be friendly, tried to strike up a conversation with Kalea. Kalea threw her a dirty look and walked way around her teacher not even trying to be polite. This very thing is why I love kids. They don't even try to be fake or nice. They just do their thing.
When I came to pick Kalea up, her teachers said that she did great. They said that she was the only one who didn't cry and told me, to my relief, that she didn't take a nap. (YESSSS!!!) After I nabbed Kalea, I went around to my hallway friends to find out how Kalea's day really went. Pretty much everyone said they heard her teacher saying things like, "boy, Kalea is fast" and "ooooo you gotta watch that one (while pointing to Kalea)." Yep.....when her teacher gets comfortable with me, I will hear all about the Kalea climbing what what stories. Apparently, she is also a crayon eater. :o)
Nathan got his soccer jersey, socks and shorts last night. We are all very excited about Nathan the soccer star! Pictures will be in two weeks!!!
Posted by at 16:17 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Friday September 01, 2006
Something Old, Something New
Now that Nathan is settled in school, Kalea and I are working to develop a routine of our own. On days I don't work, Kalea and I take the short drive home while Kalea picks old food out of her seat to eat. (I provide good food, but she likes the old food better.) We get home to our big, empty house and Kalea leads the kittys through our front door with a chubby hand on each of their necks. The trio of kiddie and kitties walk straight through the house to the back door where I let them all go back outside. In the backyard a slight breeze always travels through the russling tree branches, through the windchimes and then down to us gently lifting Kalea's hair. Kalea smiles at the feel of it and then proceeds to feed the kitties, making the grown up clicking noise that I usually make giving the kitties notice of the arrival of their food; the self made dinner bell. After that, it is our breakfast. Kalea eats, feeds Elmo and then watches Elmo on TV while changing his diaper in the living room. It's the same every day. School. Kitty breakfast. Our breakfast. Elmo's breakfast. It sounds borning, but there is comfort in the familiar.
Yesterday we introduced Kalea to her 'new big girl bed.' She is neither big, nor sleeping in a new bed. The bed belonged to another kid, then to Nathan and now to Kalea. It is a large plastic yellow car that will be girl-ized when I have time to paint flowers on the back corner. I was unsure about the move, but our first attempt at sleep went better than I could expect. I put Kalea in the big bed for her nap, and after fussing for a second or two, she fell silent. I went in to check on her and she was lying in her big bed grasping the rails of her crib for protection. Mommy doubt always kicks in after a move towards big kiddedness, but safety-wise Steve and I have decided that it was time for the move. I had to work late last night so Steve was in charge of bedtime. Steve said that at 8:00, Kalea grabbed her Mimi and her kitty kitty blanket and laid down in bed and just went to sleep. Unlike Nathan, she slept through the night without any problems!

ARCHIVES December 16-October 9

2006-12-16T19:24:00.001-06:00

Saturday December 16, 2006
Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Tonight as the sun when down and the twinkle stars of night began to wake up, Nathan, Kalea, Steve and I played outside in our drive way enjoying the mosquito free dusk. Nathan and Kalea concentrated very hard on a giant mural they were creating of Nathan and me. As the light faded, Nathan began to draw "tallys" on the ground beside his mural. "They come in groups of five" he began explaining to me. As he drew he placed numbers under each group. "The first group is five," he said in his serious teacher-like voice, "and the next is 10." As Nathan progressed, his numbers grew larger and soon I realized that he was counting by 5's. My baby five year old was on the ground counting by fives. I thought of my Kindergarten education about how the pentulate moment was at the end of the year when we counted to 100, and here Nathan is, halfway into the year and not only can he count to 100, but he can do it in English and Spanish. He is reading, and counting by fives, and displaying an education that would make my five year old private school Kindergarten self blush. Nathan's teachers are amazing and I can tell that they love him almost as much as I do. It's awesome that after five years of praying, God has not only blessed us with great teachers, but given us the gift of a good education for our baby.
Posted by at 19:56 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Monday December 04, 2006
A Little Too Country
I think we officially kicked off our Advent Season with our visit to the tractor store this past Saturday. We've been planning this weekend for months. December 1st kicks off with a snow hill (yes, I know it's hokey but us Texans have to create our own snow!) and sleigh rides in the park. After planning for weeks, we decided to play a show Friday afternoon and then take the kids for the Holiday kick off at the park and from there we planned to party hop all over the city from free celebration to free celebration in a 'snow' filled Christmas extravaganza.....but we hit a snag. In all of our holiday planning, we failed to realize that Advent is about preparing ourselves for the birth of Jesus and for spending time in quiet and in peace, for in peace is our strength and in peace lies our ability to hear the soft whispers of Christ in our lives. I knew this for a while, but it didn't click until I received and e-mail from Nathan's teacher on Friday. The letter pretty much broke my heart. Nathan the tired had a really bad experience on Thursday where he and a bunch of pals were all doing something really bad, but only Nathan got caught and sent to the office for his first office referral. So on Friday, it clicked in his head that his friends are the ones who helped him get into trouble, so he completely alienated everyone in his class and became the sad and alone. He needed some serious family time. So after our show, we cancelled pretty much all of our plans except for a few important ones.
We knew about the Christmas party at the Coufal-Prater Tractor company, but opted not to stop by so that we can spend some time in quiet as a family. The quiet was broken at about 11AM with sounds of hungary children and the realization that we had no food. The Coufal-Prater flyer was still lying on the table and the words "free food" popped out at us, so we reluctantly went just for the free food. What turned into a free food run turned into a day of fun. Nathan the non-participater participated in a Tractor race (he won 3rd place!), we ate hot dogs and sausages and then the kids stuffed themselves with free oreos. We rode a tractor train that went really slow while in sight of others and then blasted off up and down hills and around curves. It was so excited that we ended up having a flat tire. Steve told Nathan it was because Nathan was so fat and Nathan erupted in giggles. The kids ran, bounced, petted, and played the entire day away. It was our first tear-less day in a long time. As evening came, we drove to the Christmas tree farm to pick out the most perfect tree ever and then decorated it while listening to a "Very Veggie Christmas." We finished off the night with a hayride, and some hot chocolate and cookies. It was a perfect day.
Posted by at 17:28 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Monday November 27, 2006
Thankfulness
I am so thankful for the life I have and the beautiful babies that God has blessed me with. I am thankful that Kalea enjoys the soft caress of wind on her face as we spend the day at the park. I am thankful that her eyes saw and her legs rejoiced in the flutter of leaves that drifted past her feet as the wind blew that day. I am thankful that my husband was there to play the monster that ate the unsuspecting kids as they slid quickly down the funnel slide. I am thankful that Nathan isn't yet too old or too mature to enjoy monsters at the end of the slide. I am thankful for his arms and legs that wiggle in perpetual motion and of the delicate feelings he wears on the ends of the sleeves that cover those wiggly arms. I am so thankful for the life that God has given us to live and to learn and most importantly, to honor Him. Thanksgiving may be a time for thankfulness, but I am so thankful year round for what God has given us. He is a good God.
Posted by at 14:31 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Tuesday November 21, 2006
Man Should Not Be Alone
In the book of Genesis, the Bible states that man should not be alone, and this is why. I leave my poor misinformed hubby with Nathan and this is the conversation they had.
Steve and Nathan were walking across the church on Sunday and Nathan spotted the big Christmas tree with Angel Tree Ministry Gifts under it. Curious about the presents, Nathan asked STeve what they were for. Steve answered that they were presents for kids who didn't have families. Nathan looked up at Steve with wide eyes and asked him if those were the kids who got lost at the mall. Steve said, "yes." Nathan pondered on this for quite a while. After successfully walking across the church, they arrieved at the preschool ministry area where they start looking for me in the hustle and bustle of people getting out of church. Nathan asked Steve where I was and STeve answered, "I don't know, Nathan, Mommy's lost." With worried eyes, Nathan looked up at Steve and asked him if that meant that I was going to get a Angel Tree present too.
Posted by at 12:43 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Wednesday November 01, 2006
All Hallows Eve
I was thinking that those of you living in far off lands might want to hear about our Halloween, so I thought I'd spill the beans while it is still fresh on my mind. We started of Halloween festivities a few weeks ago. Living in a town that is so kid focused is such a blessing to our family! We attended lots of area festivals where the kids can play games and win prizes and just enjoy being outside and playing in our town. On Halloween, Kalea was allowed wear her costume to school. I put her in her costume thinking we could go up to the church and have people oo and ahhh over her and then have her teachers change her when she got hot and tired. Boy did I underestimate girl-hood. Kalea refused to leave her costume until 9:00 that night when I had to quickly pull it off like a bandaid and then I had to hide it so she wouldn't ask to wear it this morning. It needs a good washing before it spends 14 more hours on her little body.
So you're probably wondering what my babies were? Nathan was a pirate and Kalea was a damsel in distress. Their costumes even matched, dispite my lack of good planning. I made Nathan's costume after we researched on the internet exactly what a pirate looked like and what elements Nathan wanted to focus on. His shirt turned out really cool with ripped sleeves and thick brown thread peeping out of predetermined slashes and tears in the fabric from sword fights no less. He had a home made blue vest, also torn from pirate life, a stripped cloth belt tied to the side, and some torn blue jeans underneith. The only thing we did buy was a sword that he broke the first day we had it, then I fixed it, then Kalea broke it, then I fixed it again and then Nathan broke it again. (That's one thing I won't buy cheap next year!!!) The last time it broke was during Halloween pictures, so there is one with a broken hearted pirate in it. It was very sad. HOWEVER, Nathan did meet a lot of other swordless pirates at the Halloween party, so I think it didn't completely ruin his knife. Nathan's costume looked a little too good, because after I did his final fitting, I realized how store bought it actually looked. He loved it though, so that's all that matters.
Kalea's damsel costume, was actually a ren-a-saw-sense costume that we bought equipt with soft velvet and gold trim. She wore her Christmas dress under it to give it lots of floof and to make it really puffy. She LOVED it!!! Everytime she fell, there was a mess of dress that would engulf her. After a really good fit, I looked over at her and didn't even recognize her as a child, she just looked like a ball of clothing, draped on the floor in front of the couch.
On Halloween night, we took the kids over to an SOS Ministries Festival. Our band was playing for them that night, and my mommy guilt kicked in when I heard that there wasn't much for the kids to do. I was afraid that they wouldn't have fun or get very much candy to counter act the lack of fun. Boy was I wrong!!! The first thing Nathan did was go straight to the Joy Jump where he jumped the night away. After we finally made him get off, the man attending the booth gave Nathan three giant handfuls of candy that practically filled up Nathan's entire bag. Then we watched a man make kettle corn in a cauldren, went trunk or treating, played a few games, ate some candy and then went back to the Joy Jump where Nathan finished off his night. We played our show while Nathan jummped and Kalea danced and cheered and just had a blast watching us play. Over all it was a great night! I think I broke camera number 2, so the pictures might not turn out well, but I will send them out if they do!
Posted by at 09:17 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Thursday October 26, 2006
Sausage on a Stick, Makes Me Sick...
Today Nathan came home from school and proudly told me that he kissed, "Darby, Emma, and Selena." I asked him why and he said "because I am going to marry them!" I began to explain that he can only marry one and he told me that he was going to marry Selena and they were going to make babies and name them "Fenna, and Nathan." It took a lot of prompting for me to find out where he kissed them. After we played 20 questions, he slyly looked at me and told me that he kissed them on their arms and legs. This is where Daddy lost it and our conversation ended with a lecuture about kissing girls.
Posted by at 17:27 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Sunday October 22, 2006
Nathan's Soccer Adventure
On Friday night, Nathan and his soccer team had the privilege of attending a Texas college soccer game for an undefeated team that was ranked 7th in the Nation (hint: it was either UT or A&M). We watched them play an awesome game from the stands and then during half time, Nathan and his teammates made their way down to the field where they had a scrimmage with the "Screaming Geckos." It was hilarious! There were a million kids on the field kicking the ball into unidentified goals while the college kids cheered them on like they were stars. When kids fell, the crowd gasped and when one would, by chance, score a random goal the crowd would cheer them on. After half time, the kids lined up to give the real team high fives as they ran onto the field. It was a girl's team and Nathan, after touching all of their hands, put his hand over his nose and took a deep breath to smell their girly scent. Only my child would do that. I will never forget the thrill of seeing my baby on a real field.
Posted by at 21:25 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Friday October 20, 2006
Jonaahhhh Whereee Areee Yoouuuu Goinnnnggggg?
Nathan and Kalea are currently in Kalea's toddler bed playing 'Jonah.' Nathan jumps from being God to the men on the boat who throw Jonah (played by Kalea) out of the boat (Kalea's bed) and into the water to be eaten by the whale (Nathan). It is HILARIOUS! I don't ever remember acting out Bible stories when I was little, but I am SO EXCITED that my babies are. I hope these stories stick with them in their troubled years as well as the fun ones.
Posted by at 18:26 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Tuesday October 10, 2006
TorMado
Nathan and Steve had to sit in the tornado position for 10 minutes today to await their fate. When I picked up Nathan he said, "MOMMY! Did you die in the tormado? I had to sit like this (curls into ball on the seat of the car) for 56 thousand too many minutes."
Posted by at 23:09 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Monday October 09, 2006
Super Hero Nathan and His Sidekick Kalea
So Nathan found a lavender spa mask that my mom bought me on clearance in the big sales proceeding Christmas last year. It is one of those liquid filled masks that you put over your eyes to relieve stress and uh....yeah....you know I am not very good at being a girl. So anywho, he found it the other day and asked me what it was. How do you explain girly spa things when you yourself have no clue what they do?! In a boggly sort of mindset, I gave him one of those tired mommy answers. I told him that it was a super hero mask not really imaging that there was any way possible that he would believe me.....well he did. "OH REALLY MOMMY?!" he asked me in shocked disbelief mingled with amazement. "Yess......" I said in a 'please don't believe me sort of way.' In excitement, Nathan put them on his eyes and then at the last minute decided to rest them on his eyebrows so that his vision would not be compromised. He flew around the house in them and has worn them for the last four days. On Sunday he wore them all the way to church and was pretty upset when I sequestered them before he went inside. Nathan is way cute when he flies around the house in them, but I just couldn't stand the thought of other kids telling Nathan that his super hero mask was really a spa mask. I think I'll take advantage of Halloween and get Nathan a real super hero mask....soon.
Posted by at 22:21

Giving this a try

2006-12-16T19:03:00.000-06:00

Blogger seems so much cooler, so I am going to give it a try!!!