Happy Thanksgiving!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving this year. Brian's grandparents and brother and family came over and we cooked up quite a feast. Janelle brought over her signature apple pie and sweet potatoes, Brian fried the best turkey, and we also had mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, stuffing, fried stuffing, pumpkin cheesecake and pecan pie. Wow, was it all really good...especially after eating beans and rice for three days!:o)

The kids had a ball playing with each other, of course:) We had such beautiful weather that most of 'em stayed in the backyard play fighting. Christopher and Anna are forming quite a bond and love playing with each other...so sweet:) And Caitlin and Anna are starting to play somewhat with each other... (In this picture Anna is flinging her hair around in the background and Caitlin put on every single necklace she owns)
Grammie and Papa...
And this picture says it all....it's what we all did when it was all over:o)...
Hope everyone else also had a great Thanksgiving:)

Bless West

This weekend we went to West Dallas to help clean up the community. The boys really enjoyed picking up 'treasures' like broken cell phones and flasks. They hit the jackpot when they came to one corner and there were bottlecaps galore!
After the work they had a celebration for everyone with lunch and bounce houses for the kids. Of course the boys enjoyed that too!
Bye Caitlin!

Beans and Rice challenge!

It's that time of year again for beans and rice! Last year during a sermon our pastor talked about how he and his family cultivate thankfulness and compassion for others in their hearts...a week prior to Thanksgiving all they ate was beans and rice....a reminder of how most of the world eats. It was pretty inspiring and humbling so we did it too. But not for a week. I wasn't that brave. We did it for 2 days. And ,wow, it was just 2 days and it was hard...probably harder for me than it was for the kids....I couldn't just pop open a can of diet coke when I felt like it or snack on some chips or, my favorite, eat dessert/candy after my meals.
Though it was just a measly two days it was a very humbling experience. I won't even try to describe it because I know I won't do it justice. But it does something in your heart. And I love how God works because not only is He working on my heart, He is also working on my boys' hearts. I couldn't believe it when the other day I was reading them this story about a boy in Africa who's parents died and so at the age of 12 he was taking care of his 3 younger siblings and they ate once a day and after we prayed for them Caleb asked when were going to eat like Africans again.:) He is actually looking forward to it! Wow. I confess I'm not. It is hard...which probably shows how spoiled I am...but I know the rewards that come in my heart afterwards. We are going to add another day this year and do it from Mon until Thanksgiving.
So if you also desire an experience that brings deep joy, peace and thankfulness then join in with us and see what God does in your heart. More than likely there will be times that will be hard, your stomach will growl or you just want this or that. In those times, pray. Pray for those who are also hungry and hurting in this world, and like I said before, see what God does in your heart.

West Dallas fun

West Dallas is becoming a familiar place for our family lately. Almost every Friday the kids and I, and sometimes Brian, have lunch with Dajia at her school. And today Mercy St held a 'Country Fair' for all mentors and mentees and we met Dajia, her mom and brother there. They had lots of games; such as,

'Roll in the Hole'...

'Ring Toss'...'Knock the Pins'...and 'Bowling with tires'...Dajia and I went on a horse ride, which was Dajia's first time to ride a horse...And they also had face painting but there were so many kids that wanted to be painted and only one painter so we decided to take it upon ourselves and I painted a fairy/butterfly on Dajia's face...
Brian painted a cool design on her brother, Treveon's face...And even Caleb painted some cool designs on Teveon's arms....(While Caleb was painting Treveon said that Caleb was his new best friend:o)It was a fun day of making some memories with Dajia and at the end Treveon jumped on me (again:o) and said, "I'm comin to your house. Can I come? I can go momma right?" He is one wild buck. He adores Caleb but I don't think Caleb knows how to respond to him. Treveon tackles Caleb when he sees him and tackles him when he leaves. Hopefully next time Caleb will tackle him back, I'm sure Treveon would love that.:o)

Why we love the fall...

Endless hours of outdoor fun...

Halloween Party!

Hands down this is probably one of our favorite Halloweens...

The party was a hit, even though we made efforts to scale back and made homemade games; such as...

'Pin the spider on the web'

'Bobbing for apples' (and leave it to Christopher to find a way to get soaked head to toe)'Guess how much candy's in the jar''Guess what the goo is in the box'

And the funnest part for the kids...the pinata!And we never do the party without the potluck(something for the parents to look forward to!)....Afterwards, we left as a herd, yes a herd, to go trick or treating. I think we may have given our senior neighbors mini heart attacks because when they would try to push the door forward with mounds of kids pushing on it they'd hear "trick or treat" screaming in their ear. Poor neighbors. But it was fun:)...We loved going around with all our friends and family. What a treat!Hope everyone else had a great Halloween!