Lost and Forgotten

Over this past weekend, Jeff and I took the girls to see Mamaw (Teri's grandmother) since Jeff had a day off from school and we don't get out to East Texas as often as we'd like to. We were there from Saturday until Monday and had loads of fun while we were there. On Sunday we attended church with Mamaw, which was nice to sing and hear stories about our veterans who gave their lives for our freedoms.

Jeff was able to go fishing a few times while we were there and caught several fish. My Dad went with him after my parents got there on Sunday afternoon. He took a few photos, but we haven't been able to get them off our phones yet.

Aunt Dina bought some bubbles and everyone had great fun with them, but Rachel probably enjoyed them the most.

When we got back, we had dinner with Jeff's parents, and Rachel got to swim in their pool for the first time this year. We think she had a lot of fun. She accidentally dunked herself a few times, but after being upset for a little while, she enjoyed it and had lots of fun. The waterpark in our neighborhood opened over the weekend and we hope she'll enjoy swimming there also.

Rebekah is changing all the time and even laughed yesterday. We got a couple of videos, but we'll have to wait on those because we don't know how to get the tape from our video camera onto the computer yet. Rachel is coloring more and using her utensils more accurately than before. Jeff has only 6 more school days, and we are eagerly anticipating the end of this school year. We hope everyone has a great summer!

Once Upon a Time in a Far Away Land

The other day as I was on my way home from a play date in Allen, I drove by several of our friends' homes. As I drove by, I thought of our relationships with these different people and tried to say a little prayer for them. I drove by the homes of friends from college that we don't see any more, some friends who moved to West Texas and we miss very much, an older couple in the church whom we respect, and some other friends who attend a different church. I realized it made me sad that we don't keep up with friends as much once they aren't around at church or nearby anymore.

Rachel and Eli

Most people will tell you that long distance relationships don't work. In dating situations I completely understand, but in friendships, if you have a close enough relationship you will find a way to stay in touch. It has become much easier in the technology age where you can communicate through email on a cell phone. While we miss our friends who have gone out our lives, we also understand that you have to make new friends sometimes.

Since moving into our neighborhood almost 2 years ago we have tried to get to know our neighbors which has been somewhat successful. We are still working to build better relationships with them, but we are glad that we know their names. We also just started a home team/care group at our church. We know the couples superficially, but are looking forward to getting to know them better. Most of the couples don't know each other either, so we are excited that we are the catalysts in the process.

Please be in prayer for us as we attempt to get our care group off the ground. We have asked to start working with our Junior High as leaders and have been given the green light, so we will be adventuring into that in the next couple of weeks. Our summer is becoming quite busy and we'd like you to be praying for us, just as we would like to be praying for you in whatever is going on in your life.

In Christ's Love,

Jeff and Teri

Lookin' Good

Okay, so I was looking through our pictures to see if I could find inspiration in something to write on the blog and came across this picture.

So, this picture doesn't have any special significance, except Jeff got Rachel to sit on the ball just for the purpose of taking a few pictures and she actually obliged him. The shirt in the picture did remind me of how frustrated I was when we were trying to find a big sister shirt.

It was very frustrating because nearly every store we looked in only had "Big Sister" shirts that started in 2T sizes. Well, since Rachel was only 9 or 10 months old when we were looking, we didn't think a 2T would fit. I thought they should make the shirts smaller, because people sometimes have kids closer together than every two years. Since I was pregnant and all, I was a little upset that we were either going to buy a shirt that was too big or find a shirt in a specialty shop that would cost more money than I was willing to spend.

Of course, in hindsight I realize that I'm really glad we bought the cheaper bigger 2T shirt, because Rachel was able to wear the shirt to the hospital to meet Rebekah. Had we chosen to buy the smaller shirt just for the purpose of telling our families, we would have had to either buy another shirt for her to wear to the hospital, or do without.

Not to get all spiritual or anything, but I really like how my friend Kara thinks. She sometimes tells me that of course she makes plans for her life on a daily, weekly, and sometimes yearly basis, but God's plans don't always match up with hers. Her plans might have been good, but God's plan is ALWAYS better. She might end up going in an opposite direction than she thought she would go, but it's usually the right one.

I was thinking about that in terms of where I am and my life around me. I'm probably not doing what I thought I would be doing, but I hope I'm doing what God has called me to do.

Longing for summer

Okay, so after today there are only 17 days of school left. Now lets break it down. The last 4 days are exams, and 2 days the week before are senior exams, so we're down to 11 school days. If you need to take time to prepare your students for their final exams you should probably spend 2-3 days on that. This Friday Physics is going to Six Flags, with that said there are only 7 days of school left.

We can't wait for summer. We are hoping to go to the waterpark in our neighborhood more than last year and hang out as a family. We are also starting a new care group/home team with families from our church, so we have a little bit of planning to do and will be busier than we 1st anticipated. I will also be doing a Bible study at a friend's house in Sachse on Tuesday evenings that starts after Father's Day. It never fails that no matter how much you think you're going to get to relax during the summer, plans always change and you end up with 2 or 3 times as many plans than you had in mind. I'm sure we would enjoy getting to go on vacation, but we don't know if we'll have the time or the money.

The girls are growing fast. We even took the girls to the doctor last week for their 2 month and 18 month well visit.

Rebekah smiles a lot and talks to you just before she spits up a lot! She will even watch you as you walk by. She weighs 11 lb 12 oz (75%) and is 23.5 in (90%) tall.

Rachel is becoming more of a toot each day. She knows she's cute and still runs away when she knows she's disobeying. She is talking more and it's such a blessing that her 2-3 most used words are "please" and "thank you." She weighs 23 lb 13 oz (40%) and is 33 3/4 in (95%) tall.

Lucky in Life

It's so amazing to have two children. I thought it was going to be extremely difficult. Don't get me wrong, it's stressful at times, because I'm not in control. Not being in control is difficult to admit since I like to be in control of everything. It's something that I am still working on. Things go much better during the day when I realize I can't control when Rebekah sleeps and Rachel decides to throw a fit.

Things around here have been stayin fairly busy, but we're doing well, and hope to finalize some of our summer plans. We are looking forward to the end of school for Jeff to have a break and so that we can spend some time with him. I feel completely lucky to have him home during the summer.

The girls are growing like weeds. Rachel is starting to talk more intelligably, even though I still can't understand most of what she says. She has even learned to buckle things, so she always re-buckles Rebekah's car seat after we get home. It is very sad however that she is starting to only take one nap a day. I'm still not sure of how I want to handle this, so she still gets put down for 2 naps.

Rebekah is growing and changing every day. Rebekah is cooing and smiling at us often. She has even slept from 9 until 7 3 different times, though not in a row. I'm starting to get used to sleeping all night, so it's hard when she wakes up. Well that's all I can think of for now, so from our house to yours, have a great weekend, and don't forget your mothers next weekend!!!