Mardi Gras!

This weekend there was a big Mardi Gras celebration in Jefferson, TX. Jefferson is an adorable, quaint little town here in East Texas. It's one of those places where you can walk the town for hours shopping at all the little shops and boutiques. I know because we have.

But this weekend we went for the Mardi Gras parade and for the yummy food. We ate at this great restaurant where all the sandwiches are made on cornbread. Yummo! We'd eaten there before and just had to go back. You know I love some food and eating at this place alone makes a trip to Jefferson all worth it to me. The boys said they thought grabbing beads at the parade was the best part of the day...I said eating at Kitt's was the best part of the day. Then again, eating is usually the best part of any of my days. :)

So, here's Phyllis, me, and KB after the parade. The weather was rainy at first, but turned out to just be chilly and nice after all.

Here are the boys with all their beads. People love to throw some beads at the kiddos. Who ever knew there were so many assortments of beads??

Some of my favorite floats. Look at those cute bug legs on the VW bug. Fun!

KB and her family went home and Phyllis and the boys and I stayed to walk around and we made it over to the carnival portion of the festivities. We went to ride this giant slide and ended up buying tickets and riding some good ole carnival rides.

While there, I convinced Jake to ride this spinning contraption of a ride with me. He agreed, maybe a little bit hesitantly, but he got on with me. We got on and the ride took us up a little ways and stopped for other people to get on and our car thing stopped going around but it continued to spin in place. I looked at Jake and he looked all pale and I asked him if he felt sick and he said that he wasn't sick, just scared. That is about when I knew this was a very bad idea. Then it started up again and we were off. That sucker was spinning so fast as it went around and Jake looked at me and said with wide eyes, "I want off!" Then as we kept going faster and faster he said a bit louder this time, "I WANT OFF!" and then he started saying, "IwantoffIwantoffIwantoff....!" So I started yelling at the carney guy that we need off, but the problem was that when we went by him we were spinning so fast that he couldn't hear me. So, I started screaming at Phyllis, who was below us taking pictures and smiling and waving. No clue that her son was now saying, "mommymommymommy" over and over in a soft voice, which alarmed me almost more than the screaming. I started telling him that we are okay and there is absolutely no way we can get hurt on this thing and that I am trying to get them to stop the ride. Then I said a quick prayer that God would not make a liar out of me and that he would keep this squeaky carnival ride in one piece until I can get this boy back on the ground. Finally I get the canival man's attention and let him know that WE NEED OFF and he stopped the ride and let us off. Whew. Crisis mostly averted.

I felt so bad for Jake! The good news is that he was laughing by the time we finally left and made it to the car. Now Jake and I have this special memory together of the horrible, awful octopus ride at the Mardi Gras festival.

Here we are on the ride. You can't see Jake, probably because he is crouched down in the seat, praying for his life. And I look like I am having a great time, but if it weren't so fuzzy, you could see that I am pleading for dear life for someone to stop the stupid ride!!

It was such a fun day...even with the little hiccup of a carnival ride gone bad. Good food, good friends, good times!

And 30 just got even better....

Have you ever been so surprised by something that it brought tears to your eyes instantly? I have. A few times actually since this year started...

One of those times was my birthday weekend when I opened my front door to find some of my dearest friends awaiting my arrival, arms wide open, yelling "Surprise!" at me as I walked through the front door.

SURPRISE!

I was so shocked to see Trisha's face (since I haven't seen her in a while and knowing that meant there were more of my friends inside) that I backed right back out of the door!!

See? Instant tears.
Still shocked that everyone was here!

Let me back up though to where it all started...where the tangled lies began...

My mom was coming to town last weekend to celebrate my birthday with me. Keysha told me she was going to try to make it for the weekend, then told me she couldn't because Michael had a work conference and couldn't keep the kids. So, KB, Phyllis, Mom, and I were going to get pedicures on Saturday. That was the plan. Well, KB said she had to work and so she was out. Saturday morning comes and Phyllis bails on me too saying that one of the kids was sick. So, Mom and I decide to go see a movie and get pedicures and eat lunch. A nice leisurely day. Courtney (supposedly) had gone with my dad to Arkansas and was golfing and hanging out with him for the weekend.

I had talked to KB quite a few times during the day to try to arrange for her to meet mom and I after she got off work. She had quite a few convincing phone calls with me about driving to another bank to get more money, going home early to cook Lute dinner because he got back in town early, and the lies went on and on. Although she was quite convincing so I never thought another thing about it.

Then there was Phyllis who actually said she was calling me from the doctor's office and at one point said, "Oh hey, I gotta go, the doctor just came back in..." so we got off the phone.

Keysha sent me text after text telling me about how she was on her way to get food and rent a chick flick since Michael was out of town...then I called her house and Michael answered!!

I later find out all these phone calls were made from my living room!!

So, Mom and I walked in from being out all day and there was a huge group of friends waiting for me for my surprise party!! My husband, with the help of Keysha, with the help of KB and Phyllis set up a Fiesta party just for me! I was greeted by Keysha and some of best friends from high school-Trisha, Kari, April, Destiny, and Natalie-who had all driven in from quite long distances to celebrate with me as well as Phillip and Amy, KB and Lute, Phyllis and Brandon, and Brett. My mom brought tons of pictures of me from being a baby all the way through graduating high school. Courtney had gotten a karaoke machine and so the fun began. It was such a great night!

We ate great Mexican food, sang karaoke, had a LOT of laughs, and made many, many memories. One of the best moments was when Brandon and Phyllis were getting ready to leave and Brandon said, "Just one more song, Phyllis..." and he raced back to the karaoke machine to sing. He started the night out saying that singing karaoke was one of the worst things he's ever had to do in his whole life and ended up stealing the show with his karaoke skills! It was hilarious! We all pretty much made fools of ourselves!

the girls

my hs crew

I am so grateful to have such amazing friends who would come from so far to celebrate with me and such selfless friends who would work so hard to make this day special for me and for such a sweet husband who would make sure this happened.

I love you girls--all of you!!

At one point in the evening, I just sat back and looked around and thought about how lucky I am to have the people in my life that I do. Not just because they would throw me a surprise party, but because they are all such fantastic people who will see me through anything I have going on in my life. Anything. I am so blessed to have them in my life.


PS--Girls, I did not have my camera (not sure why since we were at my house) but once you all get pics uploaded, send them my way!! Thanks for these Nat!

30's not so bad...

Today is my 30th birthday and I had a fabulous day.

Started off at 7:15 with a sweet phone call from the Warren boys...nothing like hearing Happy Birthday sung to you by an 8 yr old, 5 yr old, and a 2 yr old. Except Phyllis told me later that Cade (the 2 yr old) just sat there smiling as the older boys sang to me. So sweet! Then more early morning birthday phone calls made my day! At lunch, my team had mexican food for me for lunch. That was a fantastic treat! Courtney sent me flowers, which was a nice surprise. My students were so excited about my birthday. You know that a birthday is the biggest thing ever to nine year olds, so they made it extra special for me. I wrapped up the evening with friends and Courtney at Olive Garden, my favorite place ever, and so it was just a really nice day.

Turning 30 really didn't bother me at all.

One of my co-workers brought up that I am no longer in the under 30 bracket anymore, but that's okay with me...

My kids played a guessing game for my age today. One of my girls really wanted to do this so she cut up little slips of paper and the kids all wrote down how old they thought I was. Then she drew it out of a bag and if they had the right age, she is bringing them a prize tomorrow. Too funny! The point of that story is that one of the kids said I was 36, which offened me much more than the kids who wrote that I was 86...niiiice.

And for an even funnier story...one of my kids sent me an e-card last night, so when I logged on this morning, it was waiting for me.
The card opens and there is a big ole hot dog standing there wearing a crown and it says, "Birthdays are a lot like wieners." (!)
And then it goes to the next screen and it says, "Well, not really, but there aren't nearly enough cards that say wiener."
Then on the next screen the crown wearing hot dog starts to dance with all these pelvic thrusts and repeats over and over, "Wiener, wiener, wiener."
Now that is pretty funny, but the best part is that I opened it with all my students around (I figured it was from a student, it's got to be appropriate) and so now all my students are cracking up and dancing the pelvic thrust dance around the room. It was so wrong!!

I could just see the dad of that student saying to his son last night, "Yes, son, send her that one...that's a funny one." wink wink.

Calm my anxious heart.

Please pray for our dear friends, Brandon and Phyllis Warren.

Brandon was diagnosed with colon cancer that spread to his liver about 18 months ago. During their last visit to Houston (MD Anderson) 6 weeks ago, the doctors told them that they might need to explore the possibility that the spots still left on his liver are just scar tissue since there had been no new growth and he hadn't been on chemo for 16 weeks. Obviously this was just the very best news. Unfortuantely they went back to Houston this last week, and got the news that they found new growth on his liver and a new spot on his lungs. He started chemo again today. After having such a good report the last time, this has completely blindsided all of us. We just knew it was gone. We just knew it...or at least really hoped for it.

Since we've been here, Brandon has not been on chemo. For all of us, Brandon has had cancer and we have been praying like crazy for him, but we haven't seen any physical side effects of it. He has the most positive attitiude of anyone I have ever met. Now it is becoming quite real to us and I will be quite honest, it has shaken me to my core.

Let me tell you though, God is moving and working through this (as you will see in her post below).

Phyllis and Brandon and their three precious children are a truly amazing family and have become people who Courtney and I are lucky to call our friends.

Lucky.

Please commit to pray for them with me. They are so precious to so many people. And by the way, their three adorable kiddos are the ones playing in the cabinets in this post.

Below is Phyllis' post on their caringbridge page. I thought I could not say any of this any better than her, so I will let her do just that.

Okay guys...I'm going to try this, but let me warn you...the last week has been pretty emotional.

On Tuesday, Brandon spent the day at MD Anderson having all the usual tests. On Wednesday, we met with the doctor. I can honestly say that I had absolutely no anxiety about the report this time...maybe that should have been a warning. Anyway, the doctor went through the usual questions...How have you been feeling? How's your appetite? Any pain, fatigue, nausea? He really seemed to be stalling and I think that is when I first had that uneasy feeling about what was to come. Then he told us that there had been some growth. Several spots on the liver were larger and there was also a new spot on the lung. He said that they were not certain that the spot on the lung was cancer, but he called it a nodule. Last time there was a question about a spot on the lung, he called it a cloudy spot. I think I prefer cloudy spot. His recommendation was to go back on the full force chemo for a 4 treatment cycle and then come back to reevaluate. So...Brandon went in this morning for his first treatment in Cancer: Act II.

That’s the nuts and bolts of the whole scenario. Now I’m going to attempt to address the emotions. I felt like someone had hit me in the stomach...full force...no warning. I honestly thought I would throw up. I think for Brandon it was more of a feeling of fury. He just seemed so angry that he would have to do this all over again.

That was then, though and this is now. The thing that keeps running through my head right now is how blessed we are. Our community, friends, family, church, and STUDENTS are amazing. Within hours of our doctor’s appointment, there were text messages and phone calls literally “flying” around Queen City. Friends and family prayed and called each other to find out what they could do. Students gathered at each other’s houses to hold prayer meetings and make signs of encouragement to greet Brandon at school on Thursday morning. Friends organized dinner for us on Thursday night. The Lord made sure that there were people (angels) in place to take care of us. I have turned this all over in my head a thousand times since last week. Of course I’ve asked why, why, why. I even tried some heavy duty bargaining on the way home from Houston, and I’m pretty sure I could not have kept up my end of some of those promises I was making. I just cannot wrap my brain around the whole situation. Then…just when I least expected it…that song I wrote about a while back (Count Your Many Blessings) came rushing back. Cancer stinks, but WE ARE BLESSED.

Brandon and I had this conversation a few weeks back about how well our basketball team was doing, how hard the kids were working, and what a great job Coach Christenson was doing. Brandon made a comment about how it’s easy to be positive when you ‘re winning, and that he hoped our kids would be able to stand together and continue their hard work even through the tough times. Everybody loses a game here and there. Does that mean that suddenly the coach isn’t any good or that all the players are just a bunch of lazy kids with no work ethic or desire to be successful. It made me think…Just two short weeks ago, Brandon and I (and most of the rest of Queen City) were singing God’s praises. More than a few times I have heard people refer to Brandon as a walking miracle. It was easy to be positive when we were winning, but what about now. Is God any different today than last Tuesday when we didn’t yet know that the cancer was back? Is he any less faithful or good? What if all this is a test for us? Can we sing God’s praises through the good times AND the bad? God is God. He is good and faithful ALL THE TIME, and I thank him for that. I thank him for you all, for 6 months with no chemo, for the doctors who hopefully caught this early enough to treat it successfully, and for a community who is not afraid to say “We are praying for you!” Praise God …we are surrounded by a community of Christians.

I am going to try to add a new picture to the website. It is a picture of one of the signs the kids hung at the High School on Thursday. It covers the whole front window, and you cannot miss it as you walk up to the school. I want you to notice the scriptures written all over the sign. High school aged kids gathered together with their Bibles and looked up scripture that they felt would be meaningful and appropriate to Brandon. I thank God that we are blessed by the students we teach and coach and that during this difficult time, they chose to go to the Word of God for support and answers and comfort. On Thursday morning, one of our students prayed over the intercom at school and during activity period a large group of students gathered at the flag pole to pray again. During this age of “Political Correctness”, does it simply amaze anyone else the way God is working through this?

I know that this is long and that I am rambling, but I want you to know that we serve an AWESOME GOD, and he is working in our lives every day. We want your prayers, appreciate them, and consider them one of our greatest blessings.

Count your blessings, name them one by one…That is what we will continue to do here in Queen City.

I promise I will update again this week and let everyone know how the first round went. Thanks for your prayers and keep ‘em coming.

Phyllis

Totally Awesome 80's Party

Courtney turned 30 on Saturday! I decided a few months ago to throw him a surprise 80's themed party. Through this process I have learned two very valuable things about myself. 1) It is tough for me to keep secrets from Courtney, and 2) I am a terrible party-planner.

There is no way I could have gotten this party together successfully without the help of many friends here. I was such a spaz about everything and had trouble getting anything ready or planned. Thanks Phyllis for helping me make many to-do lists and grocery lists. Oh, and for the tiny little part of making ALL the food! And then there is KB, who made the cakes for the party. I am glad that you enjoy making cakes and they turned out so FANTASTIC! Thanks Kristy for letting KB work for so long in your kitchen and for helping with the cakes. Will and Philip made sure Courtney didn't come home too soon...stall, stall, stall! So many friends came out to make this night so special for Courtney. It was a great time! Chrystel and Chris and Tommy and Anthony made the long drive from Dallas to hang out with Courtney. So special.

Courtney knew nothing about it. I cannot believe I was able to keep it a secret. He really had no idea though!

Decorations: We splatter painted black sheets with neon paint for tablecloths. I cut neon posterboard out into geometric shapes and put 80's phrases on them (Totally, Where's the Beef?, Gag me with a spoon) and hung them, I hung posters of 80's icons (Michael Jackson, Ronald Reagan, Wham!, Alf, ET, etc).

Entertainment: We played 80's songs all night long and I played 80's movies on mute on tv. KB let me borrow their Atari (pong is awesome!) and we played 80's Trivial Pursuit.

Outfits: People came decked out in 80's prom dresses, jeans tight-rolled, stone-washed denim, leg warmers, scrunchies in hair, big neon earrings and bracelets, stirrup pants, jellies...it was 80's horrible fashion in all it's glory.

on the mirror in the guest bathroom

Cake #1

Didn't we all love Pac-Man?

the food table
We should so bring splatter-painted items back!

Cake #2
The Rubiks Cube
(do you love the cassette tapes on the table?)

Cheap decorations -posterboard and streamers

The big moment - SURPRISE!!!

the outfits
I had his ready for him to put on

the girls
Atari and one OLD tv

the boys had Atari wars
The Warrens thought Courtney needed some camo...I mean, we do live in East Texas. So, they bought him his first camo piece of clothing. Looks good with the acid washed jeans, huh?

Happy 30th Courtney!

You're one year farther away from the 80's!!

525,600 Minutes

How do you measure a year?
In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee...
In pictures, in miles, in laughter, in strife...


Those words to the Rent song have me thinking... how do I measure a year--this year?

I think I will measure this year by thinking of the amount of time I spent looking at the stars, the amount of time I spent laughing with friends and family, and by the amount of time I spent enoying life.

I will not measure it with my failures, but with my accomplishments. I will not measure it with my tears, but with my laughter. I will not measure it with have nots, should nots, or would haves, but with dids and haves.

Here's to 2009! Hope your next 525,600 minutes are blessed!
Happy New Year!

Not Me! Monday

Check out this blog to find out more about Not Me! Mondays. I love to blog hop and this is a great way to do just that!

And now, for my Not Me! Monday...

I did not leave the dishes out all night last night, promising to get to them today. They are not still sitting in my sink. No, that would be gross.

I did not put off going to Wal-Mart all day today and then waited so long I was not late for my hubby's basketball game.

I did not wait until 3:00 today to do so much as brush my teeth! No, because that would be gross too! and lazy! Sheez. Good thing that wasn't me!

I'm glad I have not put off Christmas shopping until 2 days before Christmas. Gosh, if that was me, I would probably feel all panicky right about now.

I did not think bad thoughts today when the other coach said something rude about one of my husband's players. That would make me no better than him, so I am sure I did not do that!

I did not have to clean out my dog's crate in the freezing cold outisde today because he had an accident in it over a week ago and I chose not to take care of it on Friday when it was 70 degrees and now we are going out of town and need to take said crate with us on the trip. Not me! That would make me such a procrastinator so that was definitely NOT ME!

:) Being brutally honest, one Monday at time! Enjoy!