Results from 03/20/2008

My hCG continues to be zero. I also had a check up today and my body continues to be fine and cancer free. Thank you for praying our family through this! It has been seven months now since my d&C...only 5 more months to go until I'm 100% in the clear and we are allowed to get pregnant.

The next step on our garden

Yesterday Eric and I continued the planting process and added 5 William Penn Berry's. These were strategically placed because they have thorns. The owner of Coulter Garden's joked with us that they "keep your daughter in and keep the boys out". We also planted 5 Hawthorne's. Eric wasn't thrilled about this because I got them from Home Depot and replaced another shrub that Coulter Garden's had recommended BUT they are prettier in my opinion! I also planted 50 gladiola bulbs around our Viburnum. We lack a birch tree, two yews, three hollies, and some assorted ground cover THEN I can add the actual flowers...that is if we have any money left! Here are the latest pictures too.

Easter 2008

Every year it is my desire to honor God and teach Mali the real reason for this day of celebration. It is hard to do with all of the commercialization of Easter as well as our desire to let her have a fun day. This year was the year I've "tried" the least and it has worked out the best. We got up and got ready for Easter. While we ate a nice breakfast I read her the Easter story and we talked about what Easter is about. While I got ready, Eric talked with Mali about Easter too. Mali, Eric, Brandon and I all went to the Sunday service, came home and let Mali open her Easter baskets from Nana and Grammie. I was glad that the first focus of the day was on Jesus and teaching Mali that, but she still was able to open her baskets. When Mali's MeeMee and Papa stopped by, Mali told them that we celebrate Easter because "Jesus died but then he growed up again." I corrected her, "rose up again", and SHE corrected me "growed up again". Tonight Mali and I are going to bake a carrot cake (maybe that can be our tradition) and I'm already trying to think of how to incorporate that into the Easter celebration.

Birthday and Projects

This was the first year where I spent my birthday celebrating with just my family. Eric was on spring break and I'm several hours away from most of my friends. Eric woke up early to bring us (Mali and me) coffee and donuts. Then we ran some errands and ate lunch together. Eric and I spent the afternoon working on yet another project, extending our patio in the backyard. It was an enjoyable day.
Today we continued our project and birthday celebration. My dad and Terry left for Israel today so we met at Cracker Barrel for a birthday breakfast and then I took them on the airport. While I did that, Eric and Brandon had cement poured in the back and worked on getting that just right all afternoon. We also purchased more shrubs for the flowers beds. I think Mali is having the hardest time with all of our projects, because she has not been the center of attention. So, after we cooked hamburgers, we took her to Jump N Jive and let her have fun with her Uncle Brandon!



The pictures are of our concrete in the back. Eventually we will work towards adding a covered patio, but this was just step 1. The other picture is of our most South flower bed section were we added three shrubs. I love the 3 in a group. They are called Viburnum and smell really good. We also added 3 other shrubs on the other side but I couldn't get a good picture of them.

Spring Break

Spring Break this year was very busy for us. It is really the first time in a few years that Eric has had it off since he was coaching baseball. We had a family ski trip planned to go to Wolf Creek to teach (or rather expose) Mali to skiing. I learned to ski when I was 3 and had also thought my daughter would too. The day before we were supposed to leave, Eric got a call that his Grandma Gomez wasn't doing well. So, to simplify the story, we went to Dalhart to be with his family during that time. Eric's dad was supposed to drive to El Paso to pick up a Harley that he was buying from a friend from California that would be in El Paso on the 15th. He had planned to drive down and back in one day, but decided he would just have to pass on picking up the motorcycle because of his mother's health. So, Eric decided to do it for his dad. Again to simplify, Mali and I ended up going with Eric too, but turned it into a family vacation so that we still had a trip during spring break. We left Dalhart at 6am on Saturday and stopped in Albuquerque to go to the zoo. The zoo was great and Mali really enjoyed it. The drive to El Paso from Albuquerque was so long and drawn out though. We picked up the motorcycle without any problems and headed back to Albuquerque, it felt like we kept driving and driving and driving. We had told Mali we would stay at a hotel and swim. After an hour of driving around, and calling different hotels (I had thought I was prepared by printing out a list of hotels before the trip), we could not find a hotel with a.) an indoor pool b.) a room due to the state boys and girls basketball tournaments. We finally found a room and went to bed around 11:30. The next morning we headed out for our 3 1/2 hour trip back to Dalhart. We were making great time, Mali was doing great watching her new DVD (101 Dalmatians) when 15 miles east of Santa Rosa the check engine light went on in Rory's pick up (we took his dad's pick-up since that is what they had planned on taking to begin with). Eric pulled over and went to add anti-freeze, but discovered a belt was off. After several phone calls, we had a tow truck on the way, a break for Mali out of the car, and Eric's parents best friends on their way from Dalhart to get us. No road trip seems to be complete without a break down, and especially a road trip over spring break. It is almost a given that I will break down in some form over spring break. There have been several years where the bus broke down on the way home from Mission Trip. 3 hours later Joe and Lori Garcia picked us up from Santa Rosa along with the truck and the motorcycle still in the bed of the truck. We had a great Mexican food meal at Joseph's (we'll never pass through Santa Rosa again without eating there) and hit the road AGAIN! We were so tired of traveling, but so thankful to be back in Dalhart (I think that was pretty close to a first for me!) We came home to a drizzly, foggy (or soggy as Mali said) day, that appropriately fit the spirits of Eric's family as his grandmother, Anastacia Gomez, had passed away that morning at 3am. (Eric wants to blog about that one of these days when he gets a chance.)
We finally made it back to Amarillo the next day. Tuesday we went back to Coulter Gardens (We are pretty sure they are tired of us) and bought some more of the shrubs on our list. We then headed back to Dalhart that night for the services for Eric's grandmother. We came BACK to Amarillo late Wednesday night. On Thurdsay, the Dallas family came to visit and we went to the zoo and out for lunch. It was really fun. We are so thankful for their friendship. Mali still LOVES her Zachy and Calyn! Tim helped Eric plant our shrubs and Beth and Abby Gray and I got to sit and talk some. It was a good afternoon.

Mali can write!

So maybe Mali isn't the 18 month old that can read (from Lubbock no less AND a fan of Signing Time like Mali was), but she can write her name! Yesterday I took Mali to story time at the library. After the story, they were able to color. Mali colored three sheets and I looked down and she had written her name. I never said anything to her about writing her name, she just did it. So I just had to share this. You can make out the A, L, and i with a dot over it. At the very bottom is an M. She did this all on her own! I was so amazed! So I just had to memorialize it by posting about it! It is one of the first things that I know I've worked with her on that she can now do. So, we will keep working on writing and letter recognition. Watch our pre-k, here comes Mali!


Also, a week ago after BSF (bible study fellowship, it has an awesome Children's program while the mom's go to their own bible study), we were eating lunch and Mali said "Do you know what is missing from my heart?" I said "no" and she said "Jesus". I'm so thankful for the seeds that are being planted in her heart. And, I did think, Yes Jesus is missing from your heart, that is why you poop and pee on the floor when you get mad!

Curb Appeal

We kept ourselves pretty busy this weekend with our latest project. I guess we are just in that phase of life, but we have never done this many house projects before. A few weeks ago, we stopped in at Coulter Gardens here in Amarillo to ask how we should go about putting in flower beds. The owner was amazing and sat down with us for about 45 minutes and drew out a sketch of what we should do with plants/shrubs, etc., etc. Eric and I were so excited about this. I can't believe how helpful the owner was (side note: his dad and my dad's dad (my grandpa Red), Red White, were best friends and both started their nursery businesses at the same time. I thought that was a really neat story too). I decided this was what I wanted for my birthday. So anyway, we were excited to get started and finally started this weekend.
But before we could start, Mali had a princess party to go to. It was amazingly princessy. I was a little overwhelmed when we left, but Mali loved it! Mali got to dress up in princess clothes, have her fingernails painted, makeup, have a princess parade, meet the Birthday princess, eat pink cupcakes, and celebrate her friend's birthday.

So to balance out the princess, we came home and worked on the flower beds. My dad came down and helped Eric and I too. Mali was a great help. We got the first stage accomplished; digging out 2" of soil/grass, adding 3" of stinky top soil and installing steel edging. It has turned out really great and we were so proud. We are so thankful for my dad's help and his gift of the steel edging. We also got 2 shrubs/trees put in. We put in an Alberta spruce up next to our porch and a Washington Hawthorne (it has red berries in summer, blossoms in spring, and red leaves in fall) at the north end of the flower bed.

After we finished this part of the process we still made it to church on time (Saturday night at 6pm) and the sermon was entitled "Curb Appeal". Eric and I both just laughed. The pastor spoke about what our curb appeal as Christians should be. It really was a great word picture for me after just working so hard and diligently at the curb appeal for our house. As much effort as I put into digging out sod, wheelbarrowing and dumping dirt (I did not like that job), dumping in and racking out stinky top soil, and pretty much just immersing myself in this project, I need to do the same as Christian. I need to work hard on my appearance as a Christian, and start with my heart, through putting God's word in my mind and allowing it to permeate my being (just like the gypsum, fertilizer and top soil we put in will make our expensive tress/shrubs grow beautifully and not waste away and die and be a waste of money and time.) There is just so much I can apply between my life and what we did with our flower beds. Who wouldn't have thought that we would have been able to apply this lesson? It is not every day that you hear a sermon on yard work the day you do yard work!:) Only God!

The always changing world of coaching

Well, it is official, now that I have gotten used to Eric's new schedule as the Athletic Director/Head Coach at Bonham Middle School he will be moved up to the high school next year. He is going to be a Freshman football and track coach and hopefully baseball. Even if he doesn't do baseball, he will assist, like he does now without that stipend to make him an official coach. I'm very proud of him and how he has moved up the career ladder. He was so tired of being at the middle school level and not just at the varsity level, even though he has helped with varsity/high school ever since he began coaching! So, out with the Bonham blue and in with the Golden Sandies! Last time we used our Levelland red to paint in, so maybe we need a paint project!

http://www.amaisd.org/ama/index1.htm