Just checkin' in

Hello friends! 

Just thought I would check in with the 'ole blogger today.  So, whoever is reading...hello and I'm glad you stopped by.  :) 

My laptop battery is dead.  So, no pictures today.  I was thinking about a Wordless Wednesday because its easy.  But, no.  I am on our house computer and the pictures I have on there are from 2009.  While, cute..they are a little old.  I was going through them earlier and got a little weepy.  My kids have grown so much in 2 years. 

We went to Splashway with the family yesterday.  We had so much fun.  Splashway is a little water park stuck in the middle of nowhere...Sheridan, Tx.  I have no idea how I got there...I am just thankful for my good 'ole GPS or I would still be riding around.  Anyway, we all got a little too much sun, ate way too many dippin' dots (which I wish I would have invented) and enjoyed floating around all day.  The Lazy river was my favorite...that and watching the kids have a blast.

Our house is coming along great.  We have a meeting with the builder tomorrow and then they should start sheet rocking.  We are so excited and feel so blessed.  It has been so awesome watching it go up.  Those builders are so fast!  I love watching the kids run in the house to see what they have done in their rooms!  They already have their rooms picked out and Macy already knows that she wants a pink room.  Girl after my own heart.  :)  We are going to really appreciate our home even more when we move in after being stuck in this little apartment all summer. 

We are having a good summer so far.  What are y'all doing to stay busy this summer??  Do tell...

Finding Treasures...

I have found some really great things while packing up my house.  I have almost 10 years worth of love notes, letters from friends and family, articles and pictures that I have saved.  I consider myself somewhat of a clutter bug.  There are somethings that I just can't part with.  I saved some of the fun things I found and thought I would share them with you!  Some are funny, some are sad and some will make you go, "Why did she keep that?"  ha!

Today's treasure is one that I found way, WAY down in a drawer that was something I got YEARS ago.  Reading though it, it does sound a little outdated.  But, its still rings true for teenagers.  They have their own ideas and as a parent we need to let them soar...as hard as that is and will be for me. 

I am sure Mom saved this article for me when Reid was 3.  She's good at clipping articles.  And now...years later...I need it.  I can't believe that I have a teenager....he's a great kid and I hope as a parent, I do right by him.  I am so proud of him and hope that I always let him do the things that will make him a great man, like his Dad.  Anyway, I thought this was a great read....especially since it comes from the teens point of view.  It's a little long...so bear with me.  :)

Teenagers Bill of Rights

1.  Stand by us not over us.  Give us the feeling that we are not alone in the world, that we can always count on you when we are in trouble.

2.  Make us feel that we are loved and wanted.  We want to love you, not as a duty, but because you love us.

3.  Train us by being affectionately firm.  You will really achieve more with us through patient teaching than by punishment or preaching.  Say "no" when you feel you have to but explain your rules-don't merely impose them.

4.  Bring us up so that we will not always need you.  Teach us how to take on responsibility and become independent of you.  We will learn this faster and better if you will let us question you, your ideas and your standards.

5.  Don't act shocked when we do things we shouldn't.  It is going to take time to learn how to grow into life properly.

6.  Try to be as consistent as possible.  If you are mixed up about what you want from us, why shouldn't we be mixed up, too, in what we give you.

7.  Don't try to make us feel inferior.  We doubt ourselves enough without your confirming it.  Predicting failure for us won't help us succeed.

8.  Say "nice work" when we do something really good.  Don't hold back the praise when we deserve it.  That's the way to spur us on.

9.  Show respect for our wishes even if you disagree with them.  Respect for you will flow from your respect for us.

10.  Give us direct answers to direct questions.  But don't give us more that we ask for or can understand.  When you don't know...say so...but find someone for us who does know.

11.  Show interest in what we are doing.  Even though by your standards our activities may not be important or interesting, don't reduce them in our eyes by your indifference.

12.  Treat us as if we were normal, even if our conduct seems peculiar to you.  All God's children have problems;  that doesn't mean we are all problem children.

13.  Sometimes all of us run into emotional difficulties.  Should that happen, obtain for us professional counseling.  It isn't always easy for boys and girls to understand themselves or know just what they want.  That's why there are specialists in personal adjustments and vocational selection. 

14.  Teach us by example.  What you are speaks louder than your words.

15.  Treat each one of us as a person in his own right.  Children are people, not carbon copies of grown-ups.  Treat all children in your care fairly; that is as of equal value to you.  That is how we will learn to respect the rights of other people and treat them fairly.

16.  Don't keep us young too long.  We want a chance to prove what we can do as soon as we are ready to give proof.  Don't hold us back by love which over-protects and paralyzes.

17.  We need fun and companionship.  Help us share our interests and happy feelings with groups of friends.  Give us time to be with them and make them welcome when they come and visit.

18.  Make us feel that our home belongs to us.  We are at least as important as the furniture.  Don't protect things at our expense by making us feel like intruding bulls in a china shop.

19.  Don't laugh at us when we use the word love.  The need to love and to be loved starts early (and never ends).  We have the eternal desire to want to belong to someone and have someone belong to us.

20.  Treat us as junior partners in the firm.  Democracy starts at home.  If you want us to be worthy successors to you, take us into your confidence, and let us help you in managing our family, our school and our community.

21.  Make yourself an adult fit for a child to live with.  Prove to us "it ain't so" that parents are the worst persons in the world to have children, or that teachers are precisely the people least suited to teach.  Show that home and school are not simply places where children learn how to get along with disagreeable adults.

22. .  Find out what we can do or want to do before you force us beyond our capacity or make us become what you want us to be. 

23.  Give us the right to a major voice in our own lives.  Decisions that will affect our whole future should be made with us, not for us.  We have a right to our kind of future.

24.  Let us make our own mistakes.  To make wise decisions takes experience.  That means we have to try ourselves out and find out for ourselves.  We can only learn from our own actions...not yours.

25.  Permit us the failings of average children, just as we permit you the failings of average parents.  Let us both break the rules sometimes.  We can grow only at our own rate, which means in easy stages.  We want to become the best we can become, but we would not be human if we were perfect.

"How to Be Happy Though Young"

George Lawton

     

All moved in and so thankful....

We are done.  We are in our sweet little two bedroom, one bath apartment until the end of August or beginning of September.  That is when our house should be finished.  Our cute little home on Oak Chase Dr is no longer ours.  Of course, I cried when we left the driveway and I cried all the way to the closing.  It was so sad.  Driving away was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  We will miss that house and all the memories that we made there.  Even though we were ready to move and ready for more room....when it came down to it, I wondered if we had made the right decision.  Was I really ready to leave my comfort zone?  Was I really ready to leave the neighborhood and all those that know me?  Was I really ready to leave MY house?

That house is where my babies have grown up.  Where we brought Macy home from the hospital.  Where they learned how to ride their bikes without training wheels, rode their scooters and pushed baby doll strollers for hours.  Where the sidewalk chalk was plenty and pictures of smiley faces and footballs stayed on my driveway for days.  Where there were numerous lemonade stands with friends and making $5.00 to them felt like a million bucks.  Where the neighborhood kids played basketball in the drive,  Reid played wiffle ball in the yard and Macy walked to Jaycee's house about a zillion times.  Where we loved our schools so much and the friends that we had there.  Where Mandi, Jaycee and Macy would play for hours and where sleepovers were crazy fun.  Where we had block parties until all hours of the night and bonded with friends.  Where Cassie and I would drink our coffee while the girls rode their bike around the cul-de-sac.  Where my sweet family grew and where we loved and laughed together.  It's where birthdays, anniversaries, and all kinds of celebrations were made.  It's where at times there was fighting, maybe a little discipline and yelling but where love ALWAYS prevailed.  Where we loved each other and loved and served a God that is ever so faithful to us.  Where we always felt protected and secure.  Where the fondest of memories were made that I will hold forever in my heart. 

I know that our new house will hold many special memories as well and I am looking forward to the new chapter in our lives.  As long as I have my loves...my precious family...it's all good.

So, now we are on to enjoy our summer and the apartment pool.  Let me tell you...that has been nice!!  The Girl Scout camp, baseball camp and summer baseball games have started and we are loving every minute of it.  Never a dull moment with us.  :)

"Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, REJOICE!" 

Philippians 4:4