Happy Birthday Justin

Happy Birthday to the man I love most.

"Happy Birthday Fathers Day"--Georgia

"tiyoahe" jones "Happy Birthday Daddy"

We love you,
Leslie, Jones, Georgia, and Annie

Lubbock

We stopped in Lubbock to visit friends and eat lunch. Thanks Carrie and Missy for bringing your kids to eat and play with us. It was fun!

on marriage and friendship

Topic #1: Tomorrow is our sixth wedding anniversary. Seven years ago I had no idea that Leslie even existed and now we have 3 kids and a mortgage together.

Topic #2: I spent last weekend camping out with eight of my closest friends: Aaron, Brant, Joel, Keith, Kyle, Mark, Ryan, and Scott. I had more fun than I've had in a long time and it was the first time I had been together with that many of my college buddies all at once since my bachelor party.

How the two topics are related: I remember having a conversation with my wife when she was still my fiancée. We were looking at what to put on our wedding invitations when we came across the ones that say, “On this day I will marry my best friend etc….” I remember vetoing those and telling her that we were getting married and I loved her, but that she was not my best friend. (Yes, I was/am an insensitive jerk at times.) I told her that there was a group of guys who had lived with me longer, knew me better, and had more shared experiences and memories with me than she would have for quite a while; that it was my sincere desire that we marry and she become my best friend, but that she wasn’t my best friend. At least not yet.
Six years later……
My wife has become my helpmate. She takes good care of me and has become the person I share more with than any other; spend more time with than any other. I depend on her and she depends on me. Our daughters depend on the both of us. She has become THE best friend in my life.
My friends are still my friends. We still share those common experiences and continue to make more memories on the rare occasions that we can get together.

Six years ago Leslie and I vowed to be husband and wife until death parts us. When it does, I expect my friends to shore me up if I remain or to be there for my wife and daughters if she remains here on this earth. As I often do, I ask that you click on the song/video below. I believe in songs, and once again this one says it better than I can.

“Lord, when all my work is done
Bless my life and grant me one,
At least one,
Old Friend.”

San Angleo

Jazbo and Mimi's Pre 4th of July Party.

Happy Father's Day

I love you, Justin!



jdhyeyghfjjjgjjghgyghhbvbf (Jones)
Happy
ddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd(Georgia)
Father's Day, Daddy!











The shirt the girls made for their daddy.


Happy Day to Jazbo, Grandpa, and Papa too!

My Husband Rocks

MHR is celebrating their one year on the blog anniversary. They had a topic M-F this week along with prizes. I picked out three that touched me this week.
~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash: Let's Talk Commitment
A big thanks to Justin for loving me when I am not lovely or deserving at that moment, day, or week(surely it's not longer than that, but if so, I am asking for forgiveness now). Thanks for being my hero at the end of the day and my sunshine in the morning. I am honored to belong to you these past almost 6 years.
~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash: A Husband's Covering
Justin's covering for me is safety and protection. He keeps me safe and is head of our household. He protects me physically, spiritually and intellectually(most of the time he enlightens me :)), and emotionally(..you see, usually when you get three women together....).
~ My Husband Rocks! ~ Birthday Bash: The Battle We Face
In the last three days I have been hit with three different scenarios that all tie into this post about marriage, my unending love for Justin and why he rocks.

Wednesday night: Beth Moore's Esther video
It made me think about the need to continue pursuing our relationship with the "what aspect" and not the "how aspect" of our love. The main point that hit me this week study was Esther was called to obedience, not to figure it all out, not to figure out how to do it. I am called as a baptized Christian to be obedient and faithful to God, but also in my marriage commitment I choose to be obedient and faithful to Justin. I am responsible for "what" I am to do, not the "how". That is God's amazing release for us. He will provide the how.

Thursday night: Kirsten came over with cookies and tea and we watched He's just not into you. It's ok, it had funny parts, it had many parts that really could have been left out, but over all a B chick flick. There were so many different couple scenarios that made me pray, Thank you for my marriage and keep Satan away from my marriage, I love Justin. But, then that made me think that I was thinking pretty high and mighty of our relationship, and of course we have our share of problems, but we have stayed the course and I don't want fleeting thoughts to even creep into our household for our girls. They need the best example we can give them of marriage and men and women. Thank you , Justin, for being a dad and husband that is a good wholesome example.

Friday: I had just read a part of this book online and then MHR had a part of it on her post too. hmmm
Shannon Ethridge says in "Every Woman's Battle," "While avoiding unhealthy emotional connections and relationships is important, it's not enough to guarantee success in keeping our hearts guarded against compromise. The secret to ultimate emotional satisfaction is to pursue a mad, passionate love relationship with the One who made our hearts, the One how purifies our hearts, and the One who strengthens our hearts against worldly temptations. The secret is to focus your heart on your First Love."
Matthew 22:37-38 says "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment."

It's funny how God works through so many channels in our lives that all connect.

Justin is gone on this Father's Day weekend for a guys fishing/camping/hanging out trip with 10 college buddies at Lake Whitney. I know they are going to have a wonderful time renewing their friendship and building one another up til next year when they all meet again! I am so glad he is able to spend some guy time with his friends who are scattered throughout TX and NM and that he sets a good example of being a good friend to me and the girls.

I love you , Justin.

Annie's New Bed

Last night was Annie's first night in her toddler bed. Justin and I were prepared for the long night, but Justin ended up doing the job by himself. Kirsten called about 9:10 and Jason had broken a big glass bowl and was needing to go to the ER. I went to their house to stay there while Madalyn was asleep. When I got home about 12:30 I checked on Annie. She was sound asleep. Around 3am she cried out and I went to check on her. She was on the end of the bed, half asleep. Then she rolled off the bed, cried two little cries, got back on the bed, crawled up to the front and by the wall, and went back to sleep. She slept until 8 and came out of the room by herself. She was so proud of herself!

Signs

I passed a church sign today that said, "Do your best and let God do the rest."
I love the American work ethic, at least pre-O'Bama American work ethic, but there are times that I think it has flawed our theology. Many of us grew up hearing the gospel of this sign. The message was something like, "Try to be as perfect as you can. It is understood that you may only be 80% perfect, but if you try hard enough God will cover you for that other 20%.
I believe our lives as Christians should be in response to what God has done for us through the Christ rather than an effort to earn the sacrifice He made.
If they'd let me edit that sign I would change it to something like, "God has given all and done it all, so give Him your best."

~ My Husband Rocks! ~ but sometimes . . .

I don't tell him, or tell him enough. Sometimes I don't thank him for holding my hand when we walk around the block. But, Everytime I kiss and hug him when he leaves for work, comes home from work, or anywhere anytime in between, my heart is happy that I love him.

Busy Week

On Saturday, after rest time, we went to a splash pad that opened near our house. Annie was not into the water splash pad, but liked the mud. Jones and Georgia liked getting soaked.






There are soccer fields next to the park, so they ran. Jones can do the monkey bars by herself.















Whistle while you work.......On Monday, my wonderful husband and two oldest scrubbed the kitchen floor during "rest" time!















Then we went to the lake!
Here's Georgia:













Here's Jones:













And Annie:











And two more:




On Tuesday, the girls and I went to a "vbs" at Wayman Manor, low income apartment housing, and had a good time spreading love. Jones and Georgia were not happy about wearing light blue shirts, but were over it pretty fast after our little talk in front of the building. :) Here are some of the activites: story time, craft, game and snack. Annie stayed with me in the snack area, she was content :).



















Thursday morning, Annie had her 15 month well check and shots. She weighs 19lbs(10%) and is 29 1/2 inches(25%).

Thursday afternoon. Jones cut her hair!
Jones and Georgia were supposed to be watching a movie during rest time today. I came through the kitchen and found hair on the floor near the table. Willie and Ranger had been in the garage the night before during the storm, so my first thought was that it was Willie's and I had missed it this morning. But, as I reach down to pick it up I know it is Jonesey's hair. She first told me it was Willie's, then she told me she pulled it out, then she confessed to cutting it with the kitchen scissors in the utensil carousel. The scissors have been removed.
It's not bad. I don't have any embarrassing pics to show you. She just cut a little where bangs would be, but it's not drastic.

For tonight's meal we had corn, zucchini, squash and cucumbers from our garden. Yumm









And we thank the Lord for the beautiful picturesque clouds.


Good night.

Instead of complaining.....

In case you haven’t heard Pat Green’s latest single from his album of the same title, “What I’m For”, I thought I’d post the lyrics. One of those songs that I wish I had written. As usual, a song is better heard than read so I encourage you to click on the youtube link below.

What I’m For

I'm for wildflowers in the window
Mechanics you can trust
I'm for crackers in my chili
And leavin' grudges in the dust

I'm for drive thru order takers
Who can muster up a smile
I'm for takin' in that stray dog
That's been hangin' 'round for awhile

I'm for turning off the TV
Gettin' off the internet
I'm for learning all the words
To the Gettysburg Address

I'm for dusty pawn shop guitars
And boxers passed their prime
I'm for soakin' up the wisdom
When an old man speaks his mind.

I'm for laid off factory workers
When the wolf is at the door
You don't have to guess what I'm against
If you know what I'm for

I'm for Texas, margaritas
Gettin' outta debt
I'm for havin' faith in something
That hasn't happened yet

For the shy kid in the corner
Afraid to ask the girl to dance
For the ex-con outta prison
Who just wants a second chance

For the inner city teacher
With her heart stuck in her throat
Can still see God in every child
And never gives up hope

I'm for dusty pawn shop guitars
And boxers passed their prime
I'm for soakin' up the wisdom
When and old man speaks his mind

I'm counting all my blessings
When the wolf is at the door
You don't have to guess what I'm against
If you know what I'm for

My own comments continued from the comments section.....

There is a black guy I work with, from West Texas, with pre-school age children, goes to a church of Christ... but I'd bet that if the HR dept. of BNSF got on a train with us and took our picture, they would use it on one of their diversity posters. It's the ridiculous that leaves me incredulous.

Regarding our most recent Supreme Court nominee. Whether for or against, and even from those who say it doesn't matter, there has been a lot of hype about her "latina" heritage, but think about this:
Justice Scalia, a conservative nominated by Reagan, is actually more "Latin" than Sotowhatshername. His dad came here from Sicily. He's only one generation removed from being from the birthplace of "Latin", yet there was none of this diversity hype about his nomination. Her parents were from Puerto Rico, an American territory. I would venture a guess that her European (Latin) anscestors came over here from Spain more than 200 years ago.
In our political world, if you're grandma cooks lasagna from the old country you're just an old white guy, but if your grandma makes fresh tortillas in the morning then you are a treasure of political diversity.

***Those of you who would rather look at picures of fish or our kids than read about what's making me mad this week stay tuned. I promise we'll have some pictures soon.***

Diversity or Division?

I’ve been intending to do a post on this topic for a while now. Here are my disorganized thoughts on the topic of diversity. If you are so inclined, please share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section.

If you want to keep the special interest groups off of your back, you’d better play their game.
Even the company I work for, who makes money by moving freight from point A to point B, takes every opportunity it can to push the issue of diversity. I recently saw a trainmaster wearing a cap that said BNSF- Safety and Diversity. What does diversity have to do with safety and what does it have to do with moving freight?

Diversity has more to do with skin color than anything else.
I dare say that if you put a white guy from Boston, a white guy from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a white guy from Podunk, Alabama, and a white guy from Pecos, Texas in a room together they would not be considered a diverse group by the goofballs who decide what is and isn’t diverse. However, if you put a white woman from Boston, a black man from Boston, and a Chinese man from Boston who all went to high school together, then you would have yourself a very diverse group. According to the experts that is.

White and Male is now considered the ultimate absence of culture.
A Texas classroom with 19 Caucasians, 2 Blacks, and 1 Mexican would not be considered very culturally diverse, but a classroom with 19 Mexicans and 2 Caucasians would be considered not only very diverse, but culturally rich and wouldn’t learn anything on May 5 because they would be celebrating that culture. Makes no sense to me.

A Look at History
I’m stereotyping and making a generalization here so you can call the ACLU on me now if you’d like, but in looking at history, lands that had diversity forced upon them were/are lands of war and discord. Whereas lands that were culturally homogenous have experienced long periods of peace.
See if you can figure out which list is which:
*The Middle East, Spain, Italy when it was made up of individual city states, Los Angeles, New York City, the border of Pakistan and India.
*Switzerland, Italy after the Renaissance, Maine, Australia, Lubbock.

Real Research
I recently heard of a study which found that communities which were more homogeneous were much closer knit, more likely to know their neighbors names, etc… while residents of communities that were the most “diverse” often remained strangers to each other. You can visit any town in West Texas and then visit a new subdivision in the DFW Metroplex to conduct your own study.

I’m not saying white is right, not saying the whole world should speak English, not saying that I don’t enjoy visiting foreign places and experiencing different things.
What I am saying is that, as Americans of all races and backgrounds, having a false diversity and cultural variety forced upon us because we are assumed to have a flawed culture or even and absence of one will bring division and resentment rather than unity.

Summer Fun!

Every afternoon for the past couple of weeks has been spent in the backyard and in the water. The blowup pool is positioned at the bottom of the slide and the turtle, once a sand box, is now a pool. The sprinkler is going and the girls are soaked and having a blast. I think we will go through a lot of sunscreen this summer!

Jones and Justin's garden is producing a lot of cucumbers and squash. The snow peas were plentiful but have dried up. We had a couple of strawberries. Jones was able to eat one and a half. The birds helped themselves to the rest. The tomatoes have started and are green, so we await those. Here is a picture of proud Jones.


Yesterday afternoon we headed over to Kirsten's house for fun! Her pool was not blown up yet, so we both tried to blow it up. Jones took our picture.








Here are the girls having fun. Annie's favorite activity is to hold the hose and try to take Madalyn's hat off. Jones and Georgia run back and forth to the faucet turning the water up and down. And Madalyn's not quite sure about all the activity, but is excited to be with her friends. She and Annie are sure cute whenever they see each other. The hug til one falls, hug again, and then look at each other not sure what to do next. Hopefully, we can get it on video one day. It's too cute.