My Husband Rocks Friday

I just wanted to join the bandwagon and tell you why my husband rocks. He is so handy. I don't think we have called a service man to come to our house but maybe twice in the 15 years we have lived here. He has added on a two car garage, den, storage building, full covered patio in the back yard, moved a hot water heater outside, made me a walk in pantry, done work on the air conditioner and every appliance we have and put in a floored attic space for us. He is so good and no telling how much money he has saved us over the years by doing it himself. He is not afraid to try anything, except electricity. I am so thankful for him and all the hard work he does around here, even when it means one more trip to Lowe's just before they close. Love you honey!

My girl, the fighter

Emma had her first mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament this past weekend in Shreveport. She had two events she fought in, stand up sparing (like kickboxing) and grappling (like wrestling). She was so nervous and I was too. She was the only girl in her age division. First she did sparing and fought a 10 year old boy, she came in as runner up and got a medal for that. She was so excited that she even did it and got a medal, I did not have the heart to tell her she really had lost. She did not know the difference, we were just so proud of her getting in there and fighting so hard. Next came the grappling match. She fought this real tough little boy who was her size. We had seen him fight before and we worried if she would make it out unharmed. She fought for a little over 1min. and had him in an arm bar (that is a submission hold) and he was not tapping out for anything. I thought she would break his arm before he finally tapped out (that means I quit). She was sooooo excited she had won and we we so proud of her we were crying. (Don't tell Cory I told you that) Then I saw the little boy, he was crying and holding his arm, I was sure she had broke it. They gave her a trophy and they both left the ring. I tried to get her to go over to the little boy and tell him "good fight", but he would not acknowledge her. I think he was a little embarrassed he had lost and lost to a girl. I felt so sorry for him, but so excited for Emma. Our whole team did great, they all got a medal in one event or the other, Emma and her friend both got trophy's in one event and the other girl fought two different opponents for the title belt. It was so much fun. It has really been good for her and Cory to bond through this. Cory really enjoys it and the competitions, I can see how he always wanted a boy to do sports with. I encourage everyone locally to check out longview mma on line at www.longviewmma.com . They have mens, womens and kids classes. They teach kickboxing, grappling, and self defence. Emma originally got into karate for self defence when a boy at school pinned her against the fence and would not let her go. It has been a great confidence booster for her. Mr. Wade is such a good teacher and is a great guy. He teaches them self control and respect for others. He is and ex-policeman, army guy and 3rd degree black belt. Anyway, enough with the commercial, I don't get a cut. Hope y'all have a great day.

Homeschool challenges

Today was a better day. I can't believe it has been 12 weeks since we started school. Since we have been homeschooling I have looked at schools on line twice, this week was one of them. It is not that Emma cannot do the work, she is very smart. We have just gotten into some issues with her attitude toward me as her teacher and what being at home means. This has been such a learning experience for me as well as her. I have learned what areas I have let her slide in and how to deal with her. We are just alike and that makes it hard. Cory has to be the mediator a lot for us. I am so thankful that we are working on these character issues now when she is nine rather than down the road at thirteen or so. I think if I can just change her attitude and character this year I will be doing good. Who cares so much about the grades. I told my friend the other day that, I feel more isolated now than I ever did with they were pre-schoolers. At least I could take them with me as pre-schoolers and they had childcare at Bible study and MDO they could do. Now, I am just stuck here at home and I have to stay here until the work is done. This first year of homeschooling is hard to adjust for all of us, especially when they have already been to school and I had my thing and they had theirs. I just have to keep my perspective and know that this is where God lead us and he never said it would be easy. I know other people have been through this first year and survived to homeschool another year. I hope that will be us.

God is in control

God has many lessons for us to learn in our lives. Mine right now is that he is in control. We have been trying to sell our house since June of this year and are still at square one. We have had three sets of people want to buy it but cannot get funding. We have had several people seem very interested only to never hear from them again. Last weekend I got all my scrapbook stuff out, my six foot table, and my cricut set up in the kitchen. Cory was gone camping and I had nothing on the calender all weekend, so I thought I could get something done. No! The phone rang and someone wanted to see the house Friday afternoon. I said OK, then put away all my stuff I had gotten out Thurs. night that I had only organized, had not really scrapped yet. They came, so, Friday night I get it all back out, work on it a little. Next morning, another call to show the house, then later another call, those people want to come back on Sunday to see it. I did put all my scrapbook stuff back up and in the garage again, maybe another weekend. Anyway, the realtor called Monday and said they had decided it was down to our house and another in LISD so he would call us later. We prayed for Gods direction and will. That night he called . . . . . they went with the other house. Back to square one. We have had two houses picked out to move to, one we had a contract on till Nov. 1st. They have both sold. Now there is nothing really in our price range out there, and Cory has a job interview on Friday in Tyler. Could this be the reason we have not sold yet? Are we moving to Tyler? Who knows, only God does. So we keep waiting and praying for guidance. It is very hard to wait and be patient, but I know from past experience that it will all happen in God's timing and his timing is perfect.

Oval office field trip

I am going to try to start blogging like the rest of yall. I am not good at it yet and still have a lot to figure out. I love to read all of yalls blogs, it makes me feel like I am getting to know you better and maybe my blog will let you get to know me. We went to the oval office yesterday and had a great time. There was a good turn out. We did manage to get out of there without any disasters, although it was a close one due to a tipsy flag pole. Mr. Wade and his wife Laura were so friendly and generous to open their home to us all. We learned a lot and saw some great things. I will blog more later.