Reading Books

"Just hanging out, catching up on our reading, Mom"

Cute Things Kids Say

Peyton:  "Mommy, I was in your belly and Raegan was in your belly?"
Me: "Yes, you were in my belly and Raegan was in my belly when you were little babies."
Peyton: Contemplates that for a second, then says, "Mommy, are we still in your belly?"

Ha!  Not quite kiddo! 

Raegan Sings

"Friday" Thoughts

Yes, I know it's not Friday, but to me it is.  In less than an hour, I begin my Spring Break.  It's really nice to work at a university!  Below are some random thoughts for this beautiful "Friday" afternoon.

1. Love, love, loving this weather!  Come on Spring, bring it on!  I have enjoyed going outside at lunch the last few days and reading my book.  Which leads me to #2....
2.  If you have a baby girl, toddler girl, bigger girl, or adolescent girl in your household, you need to pick up a copy of James Dobson's new book Bringing Up Girls.  I'm only on chapter 7, but this book offers some great tips to raising up godly young women, including teaching them manners and how to be a true lady.  Now I'll be the first one to admit that I'm not exactly a graceful delicate lady.  In fact, I've been described before as being "rough, fast, and not gentle or delicate."  This book, however, has opened my mind to feminity, and the importance of teaching your girls to be a lady.  Of course there's a lot more to being a lady than manners, but it's a start.  Well, I digress.  I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say once I finish the other chapters.  It's a great book though!  Get it and read it!
3. Are you having a hard time adjusting to the time change?  I am.  When you have to get up at 6am, it really feels like 5am to your body.  That's rough.  5am was not meant to be experienced by human beings.
4. Why can't baby teeth just all come out at once?  I mean, COME ON TEETH!  Let's just get it all over with at once and be done with this.  This is for you, Raegan.
5. I'm loving American Idol this year.  Granted, I think Jennifer and Steven as judges are useless, but I like several of the performers this season.  My faves?  Casey, Paul, Scotty, and James, in that order.  Sorry girls, I'm just not feeling any of you this season.  I liked Kendra, but the judges cut her out.  Boo.
And now on a more serious note...
5. I am saddened by the recent events in Japan, as I'm sure you are too, and how it seems that a lot of people are really experiencing some rough things right now.  I've started devoting my commutes home to praying for people I know personally and the people of Japan.  I can tell you that we have a lot to be thankful for, don't we? 

Cute Things Kids Say

Last night, we went and saw the African Children's Choir at our church.  The African Children's Choir is one of several groups of kids from Africa who come and put on a "mini concert."  They sing, dance, and play the drums.  Halfway through the concert, one of the directors went up on stage urging us to sponsor a child from Africa, to help pay for their education, food, etc.  There was silence as she talked.  She then said in conclusion, "You can help Africa one child at a time."  We were sitting on the second pew from the front.  Peyton looks at me and says, "Mommy, ONE.CHILD.AT.A.TIME.  Not all of the child's.  ONE.CHILD.AT.A.TIME."   It was hilarious.  I don't think anyone heard, suprisingly, but if they had, the whole place would have been rolling in the floor.  She was dead serious. 

Two Kids in a Box

Kids, like cats, love getting into tight little spaces.

Five Years Ago

I realized yesterday morning when I woke up that it was March 2nd.  This day is significant to me because it's when I started at my job, five years ago, back in 2006.  I can't believe how time goes by so quickly. 
Five years ago, Arnold and I came back to New Orleans relunctantly.  We had adamently decided after Hurricane Katrina that we were NOT going back there.  God had other plans.  He flung open the doors for us to come back while every other door was slammed shut.  So we loaded up the U-Haul and came on back.  Arnold had a job lined up.  I was searching.  But then one day Arnold went over to the student center to grab him a drink and ran into a girl named Christine that we both knew.  After catching up for a few minutes, Arnold told her that I was looking for a job.  She said, "Well, we're really looking to hire someone, so tell her to come over and talk to my boss."  I didn't really want the job because I thought I was going to get hired on at Enterprise, which paid a lot more.  Fortunantly God knows a lot better than we do.  So after praying and agonizing, and no offer from Enterprise, I decided to go for the William Carey job. 

I came to my new job and sat at this desk.

 We had no internet and no phones.  My phone was a cell phone that I answered.  If someone wanted to talk to one of our employees, I had to physically get up and take the cell phone to them.  As the city s-l-o-w-l-y started to get on its feet, we eventually got internet and phone service.  I tried to get to know each of our students personally, as we only had 100.  And so that is how it all started. 
Now here I am five years later.  I have two nice windows to look out now and I know the job a little better now than I did then.  Things aren't quite as "rustic" now.  We have over 300 students and everything works properly.  I like to think that I've seen everything here and know everything about this place, but when you work with people, there are always still surprises.
I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I could say, "Yeah, I've worked there five years." 
But then again, like I said earlier, God knows better than we do.