The Boys

More Pool Time

Wheel Barrow Racing!

Pool Party Plannin'!!!

With our pool party coming up only a week from Saturday (eek!) we are busy planning and preparing! And praying for warm weather..... So far it's gorgeous around here - 90's this week!! Thanks, Lord!

This little swim center has become very dear to our hearts in the past year. We've watched our children grow and flourish in their excitement to learn something new, and we've made some very dear friends. We can't wait to celebrate and fellowship with you!

Solving Problems Like Maria and Other Random Tidbits

(The title of this post will make sense later. Keep reading.)

Yes, I realize that I'm 19 days early with the "fall" celebration, but I loved the leafy background! I've always been one of those people who love the change of every season, but after a couple months I'm quite ready for the next one! And since fall is my favorite time of year (and we really didn't have too much of a summer around here) I decided to celebrate early... :)

Thanks to an "out of whack back" this weekend, I'm up a little early. Can't take another minute of lying down, so I'm up and about! I'm not usually a morning person at ALL, but there is something very nice about being up in the stillness of the early morning, watching the day unfold. I would never refer to the busy "goings on" of my day to day life as "clutter" because those goings on usually involve my little people and all the noise that they naturally bring with them, but I do think there's something to be said about creating a time when God can reach the quiet places of your heart without distraction. And it would seem that it's mornings for me, when all I hear are the snores of my husband, Rea talking in her sleep, early-morning-birds chattering, the yard sprinklers going off, and the low rumble of the ice maker in the frig. Yes, even with all that, it's still much quieter than usual!!

The latest excitement in our house is that my sister, Mandy and her two kids are coming out for a visit! They'll be here in 3 weeks and 2 days, not that we have a countdown going or anything, but our calendar is definitely all marked up!

The anticipation is just ridiculous. Especially for the boys! Levi (my nephew) is 2 months older than Ya'shar, and boy do those two have plans. I keep reminding them that 5 days isn't very long, and remember you still will have school during the day, but the list of adventures they hope to accomplish is growing by the nano-second!

My sister and I aren't much better.... "Ooooh, let's do this!" or "We HAVE to take them here!" (sigh) There simply aren't enough days!!! After all the running around, the thing we most hope to do is just sit still and be with each other and have "sister chats" and do nothing but love each other more and more.

And shop. (Let's be real.) :)
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Allow me to jabber a little bit about couponing!!!

You may or may not remember a post from several months ago about my discovery of the TLC show "Extreme Couponing". It's definitely a show that highlights the EXTREMISTS of couponers, but the general idea and inspiration to save where you can and not be wasteful is intact.

My husband sent me a link from some financial site on CNN or something that was just totally bashing the show - it was VERY entertaining! He ranted and raved about how the show idolizes crazy people who go dumpster diving just to find a $.35 coupon or how they steal their neighbors' Sunday paper, or how they used to feel good about saving $10 but now they're mad if they have to pay more than $10 for a grocery cart full that's worth $1500!!!! All very true.

But I would venture to say that the intent of the show is to inspire people to think about easy ways they can save and be conscious of the huge amount of resources easily available to them that will allow them to do so. At least that's what it's done for me. I am for sure no where NEAR the dumpster-diving side of things, but I do love to clip some coupons and I watch the store fliers like a hawk! I have cut our grocery bill in HALF or less in the past 4 months, and it feels reeeeaaalllly good!

If I take an hour 1 or 2 nights a week to sit down with my children, let the little ones practices their scissor cutting skills and the older ones practice some "math and reading" while we sort coupons and match up deals with sales, and talk and jabber and plan what we can do with the money we save, or how we can bless someone with the 10 bottles of almost-free laundry soap we're gonna buy, then I think that's a pretty good investment of my time. Clip on!!!

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Ma-lak: I just love this little man. Did you know he has lots of freckles??!! :) I'm so proud of how well he's been doing in school this year so far! The challenge for him has not been understanding the work or grasping a new concept, he's doing great in that area. But it's soooo hard for him to sit still for very long and focus and concentrate. He gets a little bored and stir crazy and then lets himself get distracted and then mayhem ensues. That was last year. This year we had some pretty good heart to heart talks about how he was to conduct himself in class and use his recess time to "get all the wiggles out"... :) His teacher is really great and I truly think that has made most of the difference between this year and last. Funny story - a couple days ago he brought some papers home and he had written "MEKS" at the top. Those are his initials, and apparently the new nickname he's decided he wants to be called. Daryle has called him "Meeks" every now and then, because of his initials, and I guess the name stuck and he really likes it! :) Funny guy.... But no more nicknames on homework!

Rea: My little sunshine is an amazing help to me in the kitchen, she and her sister both. She LOVES to help me make dinner, and if she hears me in the kitchen she races down the stairs and grabs her apron and jumps right in. I never have to ask anyone to unload the dishwasher or do dishes, it's always already done! She loves to sing..... ALL the time this girl is singing, and I love it! It breaks my heart that there are NO music programs in their school. No plays or musicals, no band, no concerts through the school year, no learning of the notes or ANYthing... I asked her if she'd like to join a children's choir somewhere here in town and she thought that would be awesome, so I'm looking.... In the mean time I may be starting them with the basics here at home. I was so fortunate and blessed as a child to have such a great music teacher!!! Thank you, Mrs. White!!!

Ni'ke: Daryle calls Ni'ke our little hillbilly.... "She is SO country!" he says all the time! She does make us laugh with some of the stuff she says. It's usually leaving the "g" off the end of words, like, "Good Mornin' Mama!" or "What are we eatin' tonight?" Hilarious. Ni'ke is also one of those little people who is full of surprises. Constantly shocking me. (Usually in a good way!) She came to me the other day with a deck of Children's Bible Trivia flash cards and wanted me to play with her. I said, "Well this isn't really a game, but we can go over some if you want." I kept flipping through the deck trying to find some of the easier ones, like "How many days was Jonah in the belly of the big fish?" - things that I was sure she knew. She kept saying, "Why are you skipping them all?" I told her I didn't think she knew very many of them. She kept insisting that she did, and even had tears in her eyes because she thought I didn't believe her. And I didn't. And do you know what?? That child had memorized EVERY SINGLE ONE of those cards, including the scripture references that the trivia came from!!!! ALL 50 of them!!!! (Oh, Lord..... Open my eyes!!!) She educated me REAL good that morning. I could barely even remember who Bartimeus was, but she was happy to tell me. :) So I am now going back over the whole stories behind the trivia tidbits with all the kids again. LOVE those flash cards!! (Thanks, Grandma!)

Ya'shar: Well, where to start? We can hardly wait to hear what story this child will come home with everyday. He's just that entertaining. (More on that in a minute...) The first day of school, his teacher had all the kids sit in a circle and then go around and say their name. Part of the reason was for the children whose primary language is Spanish to get comfortable saying the words "My name is...." Some of them were so scared that first day, not understanding anything going on around them! A little girl named Maria was sitting next to Ya'shar, and she whispered, "My name is Maria" in this timid little voice, like all ten children before her had done. And then it was Ya'shar's turn.... At the TOP of his loud voice, he announces, "My name is Ya'shar-Sha'phat T'sedeq Mish-pat Smith!!!" The look on poor Mrs. Corwin's face.... "Do I have to call him by his WHOLE name??!!" I was laughing so hard.... I assured her that "Ya'shar" would be fine. His name means "righteous judge, upright ruler" and before the end of that first day of kindergarten God reminded me that this bossy, loud, in-charge little guy was very aptly named.... (sigh)

So the second day of school rolls around and the kids come home. Ya'shar announces that he made two new friends today and one of them was a girl and she was really pretty. Her name was Maria. (Remember her?!) We chuckled. (Oh BOY.) A few days later, Daryle and I were laughing about what he had said and Ya'shar walked into the room, and D randomly said, "Hey Ya'shar, what ever happened to that little girl you were telling us about?" Without missing a beat Ya'shar goes to the frig to get a drink and casually throws a comment over his shoulder, "Yeah, that's not going so good." ?!?!??!!?? What?? (Insert lots of stifled "laugh into your napkins" here.) Daryle said, "Um, you're FIVE. Why is it going anywhere at ALL?!" Hilarious. Apprently Maria taps his shoulder a lot while Mrs. Corwin reads to them. Fast forward to this past Friday when Ya'shar walks in the door after school, throws his backpack on the floor and announces, "I am NEVER EVER going to marry Maria!!! She kissed Raul AND Isaac!!!" Oh dear..... And if I wasn't laughing enough already, my husband turns to me and says, "How do we solve a problem like Maria??" Really, this family is too much. When we asked (with bated breath) "Did Maria kiss YOU??" he quickly replied "Oh, no. And I am NEVER going to marry her." So after a little discussion about how school is for learning and making new FRIENDS, and not for kissy nonsense, he agreed that was probably a good idea.

Can't wait to hear what happens next week...

Happy Labor Day to you all! Hope you're having a wonderful long weekend!!

Dwindling Motivation

"Now you wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I could run like the wind blows! From that day on if I was ever going somewhere I was running."

Well, it would seem that I do not have Forrest Gump's passion for running. Understatement of the year. I really wish I did, and that is why I am extremely disappointed in myself... I will not be running my marathon tomorrow, or the half-marathon that I down-graded it to a month ago, or the 5K that I could sign up for in its place. And I feel relieved. And frustrated. And did I mention disappointed? But honestly truly... Mostly relieved.

Just not prepared. Haven't been running. When faced with the opportunity to either go run or do something - anything else, I have chosen to do the something/anything else. Not that they were bad choices!

I picked sleep, making meals for my family, working an extra shift to pay for a root canal, sleep, and just relaxing.

I think I really like the IDEA of running. I like how I feel AFTER I run (certainly not during.) and I did feel like I was accomplishing something. I had goals and I met some of them! And now here's a goal that I did not meet because frankly I lost my motivation to get prepared for it. I do NOT like that my knees hurt and that my hip is now feeling weird and that I feel like I let someone down. When my husband asks me "Just who do you think is disappointed in you besides you?" I have to honestly say, "No one." And then he says, "Exactly."

But I guess I'm my own worst critic.

My mother is relieved probably more than me because she thinks it's incomprehensible to CHOOSE to run somewhere that would take you more than half an hour to DRIVE to.

But what an accomplishment! To say that I've done it, at least once. How great that would be!!

I would like that big shiny medal at the end of the race and the goodie bag with all the free stuff and the massage that I would treat myself to the next day because of course I would be deserving of it. I would have loved it all. But especially DOING it.

But I would have hurt. And maybe I would've injured myself worse or maybe not.

But here's one thing I do know: I WILL RUN A MARATHON!!!

It just won't be tomorrow... :)

A Beautiful Day in San Jose!!

Saturday morning we left bright and not that early for San Jose. Daryle was doing conferences all day at church on Saturday, and then preaching Sunday morning, and since I had a 3-day weekend, which is rare and therefore cherished, we decided to make it an overnight trip! We found a great hotel that truly caters to large families, so we packed up the kids and set off for a great adventure! (We need more of you, family hotels!!)

The kids and I stayed for worship and the first session, then took off to get some lunch and explore the area a little bit. And let me just say, San Jose is really cool! I had planned to take them to a really great children's discovery museum that I'd heard a lot about, but time didn't really allow for it, so we're saving that for another day. I discovered an amazing shopping center full of inviting stores called Santana Row, but sadly my children do not have the "skills" it takes to enjoy shopping. (And by skills I mean the fortitude to calmly walk around and NOT destroy every neatly displayed stack of whatever they come across in the afore-mentioned stores.)

We did find a gorgeous park that was just calling for the Smith kids to come romp around in it, and they were more than happy to oblige!! We went back to church for the last session and closing worship and then went out to eat. WE LOVE TO GO OUT TO EAT!!!

Daryle had been wanting to go to Tony Romas for awhile, and we'd never been to one, so we were pretty excited to find one just down the road from the church! Ribs, filet medallions, shrimp scampi, loaded mashed potatoes... The.Perfect.Meal. :)

We went back to the hotel room and had every intention of hanging out, doing something fun, but we were soooo exhausted!! I last remember looking at the clock and it said 8:38... Pathetic!!! I beat my own children to bed.

We love you, San Jose!!! Can't wait to visit again!!!

If You Build It, They Will Climb It!!

Swim, Swam, Swum

Can you tell my kids LOVE to swim!? Here's the horrible part - I almost didn't pack their suits! Terrible, I know, but I just thought 78 degrees would be too cold to even think about hopping in the pool... I know, sounds ridiculous even as I type it, considering they swim outside in January when it's 35 degrees.

Anyway, Sunday morning dawned very overcast and chilly, like every other day in the Bay area, and we went downstairs for a delicious breakfast buffet, grateful for the fact that we had requested a late check out at 3:00. We thought we would just relax in our room for a few hours, maybe I would go out and get a paper, clip some coupons, watch a movie... But THEN! Here came the sun in all it's glory!! And my gaggle of children were now BEGGING to go out and swim! (sigh) So I left my still sleepy husband in a quiet dark room to take another nap before church, wrapped myself in a blanket and headed out to the Arctic. (Have I mentioned that I really only like to swim if it's HOT?!?!!?)

Well I guess 78 feels a lot warmer than it sounds. It felt warm and lovely out, and I put on my 50 spf and even splashed around a little bit!! After an hour and a half we headed back up to the room to get cleaned up and packed up to go. Ya'shar fell asleep almost as soon as he got out of the shower!! That swimming stuff is hard work...

It was a long day but an incredibly fulfulling one! Our love for our friends and church family at Joshua Generation is multiplied every day. It's a beautiful thing to see the body of Christ functioning in unity and growing together in their common purpose. Daryle and I were talking recently about how "fellowship solidifies unity" and how having that time together to just "be" and enjoy one another is just as important as worshiping and serving together.

So because of this love for fellowship, we have been planning a pool party for several months for some close friends and neighbors and our church family, and Daryle announced it yesterday at church! We reserved the community pool up here where our children practice for a Saturday in September, and boy are we excited! We know that it can be difficult to make a long trip (2 hours each way) so I was so concerned that not many would be able to come or would even want to try to make the trip. When he asked for a show of hands for how many thought they might try to come, we were thrilled to see so many! HALLELUJAH!!! We're gonna have us a shindig!!!

We have lots of planning and preparing to do, but my heart is full of joy!! I feel as if this gathering together is just symbolic of so many promises of God coming to fruition. When I married my husband 9 years ago, I was elated at the thought of being a minister's wife. I wanted nothing more than to be a help-mate for him and serve along side him, but the picture I had in my mind did not include a 4 hour round trip on Sundays, or having to learn another language in order to effectively minister!

Thank you, merciful God! For showing me again and again that my ways are not yours and that yours are oh so much better! How dare I try to put my limitless God in a neat, concise little box that looks just like everything else, when all God wants to do is shatter molds?!

I just have to chuckle... God hasn't done anything "normal" in my life in the past 9 years, why do I keep looking for normal??!! What God would take a black man, put him with a white wife, and plunk them down in the middle of a Hispanic church?? OURS WOULD!!!!! And I'm so grateful He did!!

So here's what will be happening with me in the next couple months... God, again, in His infinite wisdom, has opened a door for me to take some Medical Spanish classes through my work (which are FREE!!!) and this will start in October. Between now and then, (and after) I will be making every effort to utilize ALL of my resources, and praise God that I have a lot of them, to learn the language enough to be able to converse fairly effectively. The need is there equally for me to learn at my job as well as for our ministry, and I'm delighted for the opportunity to improve and excel in both areas!

I am around the language enough and hear it enough and am comfortable speaking it, that I know that this is something that I can and will do, but not by my own strength! Please pray for us as this journey continues!!! We'll keep you posted!!

Dios te bendiga, Amigos!!!