LIfe

Life sure happens everyday. There are definite ebbs and flows, ups and downs...The past two days have been the kind of days you wish you didn't have to be an adult! Yesterday was the hottest day of the summer so far (the bank marquee said 105) and the air conditioner on my car broke around 5:00 in the evening. The kids and I had been running errands and I knew I was hot but I attributed to the stifling heat outside. When both kids started crying, I realized hot air was blowing from the vents and the arrow on the dashboard was pointing towards the "H." I called Ty and he said to meet him at the mechanic. We left the car there, changed the car seats to the truck, got a loaner car (we have a very nice mechanic), rushed home to make mashed potatoes for life group, made it to life group only 15 minutes late, and took a breath. After a nice time at the Daughtery's, we came home to put the kids to bed when all the lights went out. I called the electric company to find out a fuse had blown in our neighborhood. They fixed it about four hours later, but it was hot getting to sleep!

Today we went down to Texas Children's to meet with Dr. Heinle, Jake's surgeon. It takes about an hour and a half to get there and find a parking spot. We got checked in, they took Jake's vitals, put us in a conference room only to find out Dr. Heinle was stuck in surgery so we would need to come back next week! Then the mechanic called to say our car would be ready tomorrow about $800 later...somedays you wish you could be a kid again.

BUT, then I look at look at Jake and Grace and realize how blessed I am to be their mom and how glad I am to be in this place in my life. There will always be broken cars, power outages, and missed doctor's appointments which in the scheme of things really aren't too important. I just need to take a deep breath every now and again and be so thankful for my extremely blessed life that I do have! 

Old Friends

This month Ty and I both had visits from our college roommates. Ty's roommate Jason came a few weekends ago from California for a couple of days. They met up here and then went over to Louisiana to see another college friend of theirs. It was great to meet Jason and get to know him a bit. He and his wife just found out they're expecting their 4th child! We'd love to go to California sometime to visit them and take the kids to Disneyland. Jake is definitely in love with Mickey Mouse these days...he can't get enough of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

The next week my dear friend Randi and her husband and three boys came to visit for a few days. Its always so wonderful to catch up with Randi. She's the type of friend that you feel like you've never left because its just so easy to pick back up where you left last time. 

Randi and I got to know each other at Harding because we were youth interns together one summer in Yakima, Washington. I wish I had a scanner to show the picture of us leaving for that summer together. We barely knew each other and were awkwardly hugging. By the end of the summer we were lifelong friends. Randi and I were such a great balance to one another. She's the friend who taught me to wear boot cut jeans (remember it was 1997 and that was just becoming cool!). She convinced me to buy this lime green mini dress with bright flowers which I just loved (I since cut it off as a shirt to wear on hippie day at school since I'm definitely not my college size anymore!). She introduced me to Christian music--the only tape we had to listen to that summer was Jaci Velasquez  and we wore it out in our little maroon car.  We learned to drive a stick shift together...the church gave us an old standard to drive and neither of us knew how. We learned in Yakima which has so many hills! The kids would hide in the backseat because they were embarrassed to ride with us when we stalled at lights. We explored Seattle together and went to a giant fourth of July celebration at the Space Needle. We met several of the Seattle Seahawks players and campaigned door to door to keep the team in Seattle. We painted our faces and everything. Seattle voted 51% to 49% to keep the team and we really felt personally responsible for that! I still cheer for the Seahawks! Randi definitely brought me out of my shell that summer. Our senior year we lived in an apartment together with our other friends Sallie and Rachel and had a blast.

Its been a blessing to stay in touch since college and be in each other's weddings and now discuss our children. Next time we get together though we've decided to leave the kids at home and have a real girl's weekend so we don't have to end every sentence with "don't touch that!" or "be careful" or "don't hurt your brother!" :) It was wonderful to see my dear friend!

Jake, Braxton, and Bryce at the fountains

Jake, Grace, Braxton (6), Bryce (3), and Brady (1)