Thursday, July 30, 2009

Pray for our Campers

The bags are almost packed and mommy is telling the kids how to make their bunks, where to put dirty clothes, how to use a community bathroom, and all the behaviors they are to be expected to put forth! !!!!! Because tomorrow we leave for Camp KIDJAM! WOOO HOO!

Last year my daughter and I went and we had a total of 9 kids and 3 leaders. But this year Zander gets to come along.... along with A LOT OF OTHER GREAT KIDS! We have 25 students going and 5 leaders (30 total)! WOW! Talk about getting excited! As a mom, children's minister, and teacher I can't explain how excited I am!

We leave tomorrow at noon and will return midday Monday! I know I have already begun the praying for this group (for the students, leaders, camp staff, and myself)......but I do ask my blogging friends to pray for us too! Pray that our travels are safe, pray that the message is heard, pray that friends are made, and pray that camp is a blessing to ALL who participate in some way this weekend!

I can't wait to blog about our trip! STAY TUNED!!!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Zander is EIGHT!

Today is Zander's 8th birthday! He is spending his day with his Grammy and Gramps right now and the next two nights he gets to spend the night out at Nana and Paw's too! We aren't celebrating his birthday until next week.

Zander is my middle child and my oldest son. Over 8 years ago when I found out I was pregnant with him, I was immediately disappointed! In matter of fact, I remember throwing my pregnancy stick at my husband and it bouncing from wall to wall! At the time, I could NOT imagine having another baby yet................

But he has been such a blessing to my life! He was the easiest pregnancy, easiest childbirth, and the easiest child period. He is a huge help, very sincere, very kind-hearted, and just an amazing kid! He seems to make friends easily and keeps them too! He is the peacemaker and rule follower out of the 3 children I have! He LOVES God, sports, and food! HAHA!

I am so excited about what Zander's future holds! I know he is going to be an amazing adult some day!!! I am so blessed to be his mom!

Happy birthday Z!!!!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

A Big Week!!! A Big Year!!!

This week was a very big week for me personally! Yes, this was a the week that our Children's Ministry put on our annual SMAK (Summer Music and Activities for Kids) Program, and yes I have been busy busy busy the last few weeks, but that is not what I am really referring to right now.

I am actually referring to the fact that it has been a FULL YEAR since I took on the role as a Children's Minister for our local church at Grace Bible Fellowship. This week I have sat down several times looking and listening to these kids and admit that I have felt teary eyed some. Even though in the last year I have spent several days of preparing and teaching (along with some other very dedicated friends and co-teachers)these same kids, I believe I have actually grown more spiritually this year than the kids!

It's a lot like a teacher's first year of teaching, I believe! But way better!!!!

I am so proud of these kids...not just because of the SMAK week but because of our whole year together! I can't help but to love them ALL! No doubt, they are all different, with different personalities, different family backgrounds, different experiences, etc.... But we all share a very special bond thanks to the good Lord!

It has been a busy week! But it has been a great week to reflect, as well...............

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Swimming in the Dark

Last month we finally purchased one of those pop up pools from Academy. We had one a few years ago and loved it! But we didn't want to purchase another one until Gabe was swimming.

Well if you have been following my blog, you would know that Gabe spent two weeks last month in swim lessons. In matter of fact, he hated swimming so much that we bribed him with telling him we would get this pool if he learned how to swim. Long story short, two weeks later we had ourselves another swimmer!

So now we have a pool! We have spent many hours in the pool so far, but last night we took the kids out to enjoy a NIGHT TIME SWIM! They had not swam in the dark yet! It was so much fun! The night time sky was dark and full of stars. So we swam and looked at stars, located satellites, a few airplanes, and picked out constellations.

I was amazed at how Zander was so fascinated with all the stuff we were telling him about the stars and the sky!

I believe we might spend many more nights out there locating more constellations, satellites, and hopefully some falling stars!

What a great way to finish off a night!!!

A Wednesday Pet!

Wednesday during the summer it seems I spend most of the day at the church along with my kids! We usually get there around 8am and don't leave until 2pm. The first hour is spent doing boot camp (workout) on the church campus, the next couple of hours is set-up and clean-up to prepare for GATHER (our children's summer program),then we have GATHER and last we clean up and chit chat:-)

On Wednesdays we also have a youth student join us to help out with the day's activities! His name is Matthew. Gabe has become Matthew's shadow each Wednesday. Matthew is so good to play with Gabe, but also very good to let Gabe feel as though he is helping Matthew when Matthew has jobs to do!

Well this Wednesday was a bit different. I had seen these two boys doing a search around the church...thinking they were playing some hide and seek game. But about an hour later, Gabe came to me to show me a special new pet he and Matthew had found. Gabe was so proud of his cute habitat he and Matthew had made for his new special friend. They made his pet a home made of a clear plastic cup, grass, paper towels, tape, clear plastic wrap, and water. He has been carrying it around since then!

We now have a new pet name "CROAK"...... He is our newest addition to the Turner household! And he is a CRICKET!!! HAHAHAHA!

Gabe is so proud of him but he also knows that he won't live forever! He keeps telling me, "Mom, Croak is still moving! He is not dead yet..." LOL!

Think the cricket will make it much longer?????

Friday, July 10, 2009

Family Fifth of July

In small towns, the Fourth of July celebration usually starts a day or two early and last beyond the fourth.... Well maybe that is just the way my family has always been! And this year we were still celebrating on the fifth of July!

Growing up in a small town, some of my greatest memories were BLOWING UP things with fireworks! HAHAHA! What is it about those little poppers that you throw and those black cats that you fireoff? Suddenly you feel the need to blow up anything around you! Well, not everything but you do want to get creative.

This year was the first year we have actually let our kids light black cats! It was so much fun watching them have a blast with it too! We blew up soda cans, clumps of rocks, pc pipes, dog poo (I know, gross but good boy fun), and even flat old tires!

Got to love being country! Here are some pictures of our great evening on the fifth (My granddaddy and his wife Paula were in town visiting too).






Recapping!!!

I have alot to catch up on!!! So much to say but so very little time! I will try hard to pace myself...but first I will start this blog off with some 4th of July pictures from the big G-Town!! We spent our 4th here at the Gunter City Park. I am pretty sure out of the 33 years of my life, I have probably only skipped about 5 of these local celebrations!! HA! But this year's was great! The weather was shockingly pleasant for a Texas July day! The city did a fabulous job with having a band, vendors, food, cow-poo bingo (only in Texas), and waterfun slides for the kids! I also was blessed to have my sister in law and my niece and nephew in town this year! So if you see some kids that somewhat resemble us but yet the count is great than 3 kids, know that they are Reagan and Tex (from California). And to top of the night, we had some great friends join us in the park and it wasn't even planned!

Enjoy the pictures!!





Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Kids are BUSTED

Addison has this "thing" with playing with our camcorders and we often find random videos each time we download...but this one it priceless. Check out this one we found recently! You have to watch it TWICE....
Let me give you a little background. I was at Gabe's private school to pick him up. I think the weather was a bit chilly or something so I let the older two stay in the car while I ran in to check Gabe out. To be safe, I locked the car (which means it will sound if someone opens the door). In the meantime, Addie is playing with the recorder and they are planning to play somekind of joke on me. However, things don't go as planned and see what happens. The emotion on Zander's face is so funny...and listen to "Mother Addison" preach in the background....

ENJOY