LOTS of new posts

I used to be really good about keeping up with the blog, but now I seem to fall behind. I caught up tonight so make sure and look through all of the new posts. :)

Out of the mouth of babes

Hudson enjoys watching Daddy's memorial video. We hadn't watched it in awhile and so the other day he asked if he could watch "Granddad's song". His video is set to the theme song to Man From Snowy River. :) Anyways, the first picture that pops on the screen is of Dad with his pack on and the mountains in the background. Hudson looked at it and said "Is that Heaven?" We have tried to explain Heaven to Hudson, but it is still a little abstract for him. He kept asking if Granddad was going to get on a plane to come to his birthday party. I told him that one day, if we love Jesus, we would get to see Granddad when we go to Heaven. He said, "but I can't fly". I told him that when we die, if we love Jesus, Jesus would take us to Heaven. He finally just said, "okay, Mommy". :)

In one of the previous posts, I mentioned the Tunell family who is dealing with brain cancer. Read what a friend wrote about a conversation between Kellie and her her 5 year old son:

Earlier this week Kellie, her friend Lisa, and Nolan (age 5) were in the car going to hospice to see Mark. Nolan said, "Mama, guess who's coming with us today." Kellie asked who, and Nolan said, "Jesus is with us. He's going to see daddy." Kellie told him, "yes Nolan, Jesus is always with us." Nolan responded, "No mama, he's coming with us to heal daddy...see he's right there" as he pointed to the seat next to him. He continued to "see" Jesus as they got to hospice. I know children see things with different eyes than we do, and I think we all need to continue to pray that the awesome and powerful yet personal God that we serve can and will heal Mark!

My mini me :)

Do you see the resemblance?

Boys will be Boys - MESSY!!

The boys are loving playing outside with the nice weather. Landon cries when I make him come in. On this particular day, Hudson decided that he should put water in the sandbox to make mud and then of course Landon felt the need to sit right in it. :) Every day last week, we had to have emergency bath sessions after playing outside.

Learning to Fish

We are going camping in a few weeks with friends from church. Hudson is SOOO excited and anxious to go fishing. He and Landon decided to put water in a big Rubbermaid tub and use sticks to pretend they were fishing. When Ben got home from work he showed Hudson what real fishing rods looked like and they started practicing. :) To see more pics go to http://picasaweb.google.com/brothermclain

Girls have a Love Hate relationship with my boys :)

The first 2 pics are of Landon and the last is Hudson when he was 2. Two weeks ago, Ben picked up Landon from Sunday School (I was gabbing with friends) and found out that a girl had bit him. The parents were so sweet to stay and wait on Ben to apologize. The nursery workers took good care of him and put ice on it. The pic I took was a day later and it was already looking better. When I first saw it, it looked like someone had permanently kissed him plus some of the skin was broken and his cheek was swolen.

Now onto Hudson. When Hudson was 2 a girl clawed him while he was in the childcare during Ladie's Bible Study at church. Unfortunately this church didn't handle it as well. Apparently he was screaming and they didn't even come and get me and they didn't seem to take good care of the wounds. When I picked him up I was horrified and even found out that this little girl had clawed people before.

So it looks like my boys have a long road ahead of them when it comes to the ladies!! :)

A Fallen Earth

Some days it seems as if everyone around me is sufferring in one way or another. I am more keenly aware of this since Daddy's diagnosis. Today I have become aware of two Believers who are sufferring with sickness. Mark and Kellie Tunell are friends of a friend who live in Tyler (where I grew up). Mark is 33 and a father to a 5 year old son and twin boys who are 3. He was diagnosed with a brain tumor(the same as Daddy's) in November. Through surgery and a special diet the tumor left, but a week and a half ago it came back and has now penetrated his brain stem. He is in Tulsa tonight awaiting treatment to help prolong his life and ease his pain.


The other family I found out about through the blog, Bring the Rain. The little baby's name is Stellan and he is 4 months old. He is sufferring from heart problems and is in the hospital. To read more about this precious life go http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Please be in prayer for these families. Just when I think I am beginning to understand things I hear of more people in pain. I KNOW that God is sovereign and in complete control, but it is still hard to comprehend why.

An era has ended :(

Today I put in my 2 week notice at Pottery Barn Kids. I started working there when we lived in Denver. We moved to Denver in July '02 and I searched for a teaching job for months. I tried to sub, but there was a freeze on subs in many public schools. Since I didn't know anybody and Ben was working long hours, I started looking for other jobs. I was in the mall, Park Meadows, and noticed Pottery Barn Kids. It was the neatest store and they needed a Customer Service Associate. It was 40 hours a week and I didn't have to work the weekends. I LOVED it!! I was in charge of all the backorders, Gift Registry, and customer service issues. After working there a year, I was promoted to Nursery Manager. I loved the people I worked with and loved working with the customers. I had a lot of great opportunities, because of the store. After 2 years, we moved back to Kansas City and I transferred to the KC store as a part time associate because I went back to teaching. I was at the Plaza store which is actually on the Missouri side. The people I worked with were WONDERFUL! When Daddy got sick, they allowed me all the time off that I needed. They were so compassionate and willing to change the schedule if I needed to make a trip home. Since Ben's parents lived 10 minutes away, they would keep Hudson during the week so that I could work and then Ben would keep him if I worked on the weekends. Then a year and a half later the company opened a new store in Town Center which was on the Kansas side and closer to our house.

After we moved to Houston, I transferred to the Highland Village store. Since we don't have any family in town, the burden has been on Ben to keep the boys when I work. Even though, I usually only work on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays, Ben has had to sacrifice his weekends. He loves being with the boys, but he is limited on what he can do and has to do things around nap time. I am so grateful that he has been willing to sacrifice his time so that I can do what I enjoy. Now that the boys are getting older and we are getting more involved in our church, I have been having to ask off a lot at work. Plus some Saturdays I would enjoy sleeping in or doing things that I want to do, instead of working. It has been a hard decision to make, because I truly ENJOY working at Pottery Barn Kids but I think it is the best thing for right now. When everyone is in school all day, maybe I'll go back to working a couple of days during the week. I'm going to miss my 40% discount, but I'll live. :)

Rodeo Day and weekend at BB's

Several weeks ago, Hudson's school had a rodeo day. The Houston Rodeo is a BIG thing around here. Ben and I went to the opening night with our friends the Hood's and saw Rascal Flats perform. It was a blast!

Okay back to the point of the blog. :)

So Hudson had to wear his cowboy costume to school that day and he looked so cute. After I picked him up, we headed to Tyler to spend the weekend with BB. We had a great time of just hanging out and enjoying one another. We were able to see Nanny and Granddad Charles, as well as, spend time with some of my high school friends and their kids. To see pics from our trip go to http://picasaweb.google.com/brothermclain

I am so blessed to have a mom that I enjoy being with and am close enough to share with her things that are on my mind. The Lord has been teaching me A Lot lately and I felt compelled to share certain things with her, because I knew that (since we are similar) she probably struggled with them, too. It was such a rewarding experience to talk about our weaknesses together and seek God's wisdom. We talked for many hours and a couple of nights we saw the next day. :)