10 Things You May Not Know

Becky wrote this list on her blog and said she would like for other people to do the same. So, Becky, here are 10 things many people may not know about me.

1). I would ride roller coasters for a living if I had a chance.
2). I am afraid of snakes!
3). I love middle school age kids (I've been told I am crazy for this).
4). My husband and my sister-in-law grew up in the same church and knew each other far before they knew us.
5). I have recently lost over 30 lbs and am still losing more!
6). I would love to be a hearing impaired interpreter.
7). I did not go to my senior banquet (christian school and did not have proms) because the guy I was going with was highly intoxicated. I did not want to go alone, so I chose not to go at all. I regret that I did not go alone to this day.
8). I would love to be a college professor some day,
9). I tutored famous country music star's children and went to their homes.
10). I was dating 2 guys at one time when I was a Harding. One was in Alabama and one became my husband. The other guy kept trying to come and visit and I talked him out of it because he had financial difficulties. It was really because I liked Brad much more and I did not want to break-up with the other guy over the phone.

There you have it!

It starts early

We have a friend with a nice above ground pool. Todd and I have gone over there the past 2 Monday's for play group. The kids have gotten in the pool. Todd is very outgoing most of the time but when it comes to water, he is cautious. The first week he had on a life jacket, arm floats, and a ring float around his waist to sit on the steps. No, that was not my suggestion, but he wanted to be safe. This week, I had bought him a life jacket in hopes that he would go out into the water. Well, he literally stayed on the deck the entire time. He threw toys in the pool to the other kids. I tried to convince him to go in but he would not do it. I gave up and went to the screened-in porch to watch. One by one, the kids got out of the pool to move on to something else. Todd was on the steps gathering the toys he had thrown in the water. I went to walk to the other side of the pool to reach things on that side. I looked up and he was half-way around the pool. I did not say a word. I watched as he slowly released his hand from the side of the pool to test and see if he was going to float. All of a sudden, he began kicking his feet and splashing his hands. Finally, he said, "Mommy, look I can swim. You were right!" He was so proud. He wanted to play for a minute more and then he began to try and dive for things on the bottom. We still will need to work on that. After he was done, I asked him why did he wait till everyone was done before he would try. He told me he had to "get brave". He did not know if he could do it. I quickly realized he was afraid of failure. What, he is almost 5 and he already would rather not try than to fail. He missed all of the fun because he was afraid for them to see him not be able to do it. Don't we all do that? I know I do it in all areas of life, even spiritual. I hope that he will feel comfortable enough around his church family and actual family to try things and turn to others when he needs help from drowning.

So Proud

Todd had a soccer game tonight. They are usually Saturday, but they were rained out. Instead of practicetonight, he had a game. It was really hot. He played about 50 minutes out of the 60 minute game. All the other kids were crying and begging to not go in the game, Todd was gladly playing all of their turns. That was not what I was most proud of, though. This league is a christian league. They have weekly memory verses and devos. After each game, they give out stars... best offense, best defense, ect. He got the white star which stands for the most like Christ. He was really wanting the red star (who knows why). I was so proud of him. He was the only player that did not hit, make faces, say unkind words, or cry the whole game. He began to realize that I thought that was important. He was glad to get it but informed me, "I am going to stop all of their balls so I can get the red star (defensive) next time". The ironic thing is he stopped all 3 of their attempts to get a goal, but they were more impressed with his attitude. Oh, well, I he already has the "winning is the only thing" mentallity.

I'm Back

Wow. This half of a month has been so full of ups and downs it is exhausting to think about! God is so good. Why do we ever doubt Him? Why do we question Him? After Brad being laid off, we decided this time around (unlike Ponca City), we were not going to stress and doubt God. We were going to leave this situation in His hands and move on one day at a time. In the Ponca ordeal, we had every emotion toward God ever know except true belief that it would be fine. This time I had a peace that I cannot even explain. I cried the first time Brad told me he had lost his job and that was it. We had money that would last to the end of April and that was it. Not a penny more. At church, the first time they mentioned our situation, we were given a $1000 check by someone. They said they had been in our position and someone did that for them. Wow. That blew us away! That pushed us up to having more time for Brad to find a job. Then, out of the blue, I get an offer to work 40 his a week for what ended up to be 3 1/2 weeks. I was getting paid tutoring money (which is good) to be a secretary, which I am not very good at. I took it and Brad became a "stay at home Dad". I was absolutely exhausted, but this would buy us more time. Then, a week and a half ago, Brad was asked by someone at church about project management. Brad had done some of this but not in an official magnitude. He has always wanted to do it, though. He was asked to go to an interview in Chicago for this company. This past Monday. As of Monday at 2:00 pm, he is employed and getting paid almost double what he was getting paid! He is out of finance and into project management and the health care industry: 2 things he has dreamed of doing for quite some time! The only negative is he will travel to Chicago Monday mornings and return Thursday evenings every week. That will be an adjustment but it is really no different that his job before this last one where he worked 70 hour weeks a lot. Anyway, I know this was a long, choppy post, but I wanted to share the greatness of our Lord with you all. God does provide and is is faithful. Brad, Todd, and I are very blessed and this is just another example of the power of our God!