Thanksgiving

We didn't get a vacation this year, unless you count Haiti as a vacation, so we decided to do something different this year and go to Myrtle Beach for Thanksgiving.  We arrived around lunch on Wednesday and then came home late Saturday afternoon.  We enjoyed a lot of outlet shopping and some Black Friday shopping too.  We woke up Thanksgiving morning and did a 5k Turkey trot and ate out for Thanksgiving dinner.  We also went to a Christmas lights drive thru.  It was cool because they had a Santa's village with a gigantic slide, petting zoo, Santa, ice skating rink, zipline and a place that you could make smores.  It was really fun and I wish they had something like that in our area.

busy busy

Sometimes I wish I could just sit back and just breathe.  Things are so crazy with work and extra stuff.  I wouldn't trade my kids schedule for anything, but I just wish I could maintain things.  Basketball is back in full force, and as busy as it is, I love every minute of being a basketball mom.  There is just some sort of pride that comes over me to see my kids out on the court doing what they love to do.

I work Monday-Friday for early morning care from 7-8 am.  On Tuesday-Thursday, I then work at a preschool from 9-1:15 working with 2 year olds.  I have 9 of them (except Wednesdays we only have 4) and I love them, but they completely wear me out!!  Once I am done with that, I pick up a friend's daughter at 2:40 and take her to the middle school to her mom, who works at the middle school campus.  On Mondays and Wednesdays I do aftercare until 5:30-6.  The days I don't do that, there are either basketball games going on or I take Jenna to practice from 5-6:30 near down town Raleigh.  Most of my Mondays and Fridays are taken up by subbing or if not, I get a head start on my cleaning job.  I clean the church for Southside church usually on Fridays, but if my schedule is too crazy I do it on Saturdays.  I also vacuum the middle school on Friday afternoons.

So you can see that some nights are very crazy.  I am so thankful that the kids have started going to the grocery store for me on Wednesdays and Jenna also cooks dinner on Wednesday nights.  I don't know what I would do without them doing this for me.  I am also strongly considering giving up the preschool after Christmas break.  I love the kiddos, but the pay is crazy awful and taking too much of my time.  I am hoping to find more opportunities to sub.  I don't want to have nothing to do, but I do want to breathe, so finding that balance is the key right now.  It will be hard for me to tell the director if I do decide to quit.  She is a personal friend of mine who gave me the job....her kids go to Southside.  Her son is in Jacob's class and plays bball with Josh and her daughter plays bball with Jenna.

visit from a friend

The weekend before we left for Haiti, I got to spend time with my college roommate, Julie.  Her husband, Kevin, and one of her sons, Brett, was also able to come.  Her sister moved to Wilson in June and is teaching at Wilson Christian Academy.  She came to see her sister's new house and spend time with her, so we were able to catch up for the day.  We ate lunch together and then went to the state capital (she loves to visit as many state capitals as possible) and to the museums. We were in each other's weddings and

 I am so thankful that we have remained close throughout the years.  I hate that we don't talk much or see each other much, but it was nice to see her and feel like we had never been apart.

room re-dos

Back in June (yes it has taken me this long to post) I wanted to go to Lowes to dream.  Big mistake.  I ended up finding this cheap flooring to replace our bathroom.  Jack gave me the ok to do it and said he would help me.  Well, as we were ripping up the flooring, we found this rotting spot near the tub.  This was something that my handy dandy husband could not fix, so we called in help.  Come to find out, there was a leak behind the shower wall.  They would have to gingerly tear into it to fix it.  While they were doing that we decided to go ahead and just replace the shower.  A $50 project ended up costing us close to $1500!!!!  In the process of tearing out the shower, a hole was made which went into Jenna's room.  That was easily repaired, however it would require painting.  She has been wanting her room painted since her comforter that she has for 8 years did not match the purple walls.  I ended up having to paint her room and the bathroom.  It was a project that went on forever (especially painting her walls) but the outcome looks great.  I am so happy with both rooms. It is hard to tell from the picture but the bathroom is now grey.

We love Haiti

It's been a couple of weeks since we returned from Haiti.  We all miss it so much.  It does my heart good to hear my kids say they want to go back, do we have to wait 2-3 years, how much the miss the kids.  All three of them have expressed this to me in different times.  Quite frankly, I miss it too.  I would go back again over any vacation.  I can't help but think of Jessica......a little girl Jenna and I fell in love with.  Her mom died and her dad has mental issues, so she stays with Pastor Solomon (the pastor we worked with) and is also his niece.  One great hope I have, but no guarantee, is because she spends time with Pastor Solomon, is that she will hear the gospel multiple times.  I pray that she accepts Jesus so that I can see her again one day.


I loved seeing Jacob play guitar one day for the service.  I loved having the girls braid my hair.  I even ended up with corn rows!!  I loved that I never had to prompt my kids to go get in the mix.  They just went and served!!  The last picture shows Jenna and Hudson.  It touched my heart to see them at the gate telling goodbye to all the children as they walked home.

 My Jessica!

 Jessica

 Jenna giving her testimony

haiti surroundings

Most of these shots are taken either when we went exploring or on our way back to Port a Prince.  More action shots to follow