Lady the gecko hunter

So here is our little Lady.

Actually she is not as little anymore. She is up to 17 pounds. She was a mere 5 pounds when we got her the first week in December.

But at 10 months they say she is practically full grown. Still so puppy like, we just love our Lady. She is the sweetest dog. But lately Lady has a new fascination. GECKOS. She is obsessed with them! Barks at them from the inside if she see them on the windows outside then begs to go out. Once outside she thinks she can bark them down. She watches their every move just hoping one will come low enough for her to reach.I'm afraid of what would happen if she did reach one...it wouldn't be to lady-like I'm afraid! Poor gecko.

Some day I'm gonna get that gecko!

If you have small kids and want a great dog, I highly recommend Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. Such a sweet breed that is just active enough to keep up with our crazy house but not so active that it causes harm. We have only had lady since Christmas but we can't imagine life without her....in fact all of us are a little nervous about leaving her for a week when we go to the beach. We love our little gecko hunting Lady!

While I was Facebooking...

I had already stopped blogging regularly before Facebook, but Facebook was the nail that sealed the blogging coffin for me for a while.  However, after a year or so of one sentence status updates and facebook marketing spam, I realized I really missed blogging. I'm now trying to make a blog comeback not so much for anyone else but me.  I need somewhere to record thoughts, and maybe get some feedback.   BUT in coming back to blog world, I have discovered that while I was facebooking blogs in general have become bigger, more business like and a whole lot more organized!  The blog world of my past centered around my little Mommy blog, Mike Copes' Blog, blogs of my friends, and the blogs of friends I met on other friends blogs. We were a blog family back in the day.  I love that blog family still. But blogging has really changed.

For instance...I was one of the first of my friends to link to Ree, the Pioneer Woman. Now a few years later her posts have thousands of comments, she has written a cookbook, a novel,  and they are pitching a movie of her life in Hollywood with Rhee Witherspoon playing her! WOW!!! Blog world has come a long way baby!!!

The blog world I have come back to is home to more professional, specialized type blogs for very subject under the sun.  The pro-blogs have HUGE readerships, give-a-ways, ads and post several times a week. The pro-blogs I love center around decor, design, DIY stuff and crafty things.  My favorite is written by a local friend of a friend, Kristi of Addicted 2 Decorating. (I haven't met Kristi yet but I feel sure we would be fast friends! :)  These more professional blogs are a great source inspiration, ideas and direction and they are just a few clicks away 24/7! LOVE THAT !!! So I added a new blog roll to the right with some of my favorite pro-blogs. Warning though, you can get lost on these sites for HOURS so click with caution.  ENJOY!!!

The Summer Project

So... I'm sort of  a project junkie.

It's like an addiction. I can't stop. Even when I want to stop, the ideas, they just pop in my head and haunt my dreams.

I always have a project or 12 going AND I seem to have a hard time with something they call finishing???

But let me be clear. I don't actually enjoy doing the projects. I love thinking them up. I love having them complete. The doing and actually making it happen...just a means to an end.

So until I can afford to pay someone else to do my bidding on my crazy schedules and whims, I'm a somewhat reluctant DIY'er.

This summer there has been only one big house project so far~ redoing the hall bath. And let me tell you folks, it was not just a fru-fru redo.  I forgot to take before pictures, (I'm really bad about that) but the wall paper was peeling off the wall...in fact it was gone in a few spots. And it was so Sandra. (The woman who had the house built in 1996 who sold it to us in 2002) It was not at all me, or us. We HAD lived with it like that for almost 9 years...so it was time!

Soooooooo,  one night after a date when the kids were gone Rob and I went crazy and tore all the wallpaper down. ( Isn't that how you and your spouse go crazy? :) Literally. At 11PM on a Thursday night we stripped the walls of the hall bath making our house 100% wallpaper free! Free, Free, Free at last!!!!! No more wallpaper and no more Sandra in my house!

But back to the bathroom... I had hoped to have the whole unplanned spur of the moment project completed  in 48 hours. Yeah. Rrrr-hight! Will I ever learn?  Once we ripped all the wall paper down,  I decided to change up the color scheme. Once the colors changed, well, everything had to change or be changed to fit. But, I wasn't scared. After 9 years of striped jewel toned wall paper, I was up for it!  But then, I got strep throat.  The kids came home. Ella Kate got it too. I had a major curtain crisis, and color issues, a hanging mishap, a few measuring mistakes, some shrinking hem lines... summer life picked up and well... My weekend project is almost complete, just two weeks later!!!

Below are the after shots I just took. There will probably be  more after shots and then maybe some  post after shots as I tend to have a hard time stopping. It's an addiction I tell you!

Notice EK is still in her PJ's and it's way, way after lunch. It's been one of those days! I will try to come back and explain some of these pics later.

Love being back in blog land, but taking baby steps...and I have to find a faster way to upload pictures! :)

P.S. Last night I decided I needed something more in that bathroom. I needed it to be something I could make (translation= no $ for this something but still feel I need it so I will resort to being crafty cause that's my best option.)  for the bathroom. I wanted this something to be a little formal but also kid friendly since this bath is used by kids 90 5 of the time.  So here is where I am on this project.  Basically, I'm wallowing in a sea of great options but drowning in  indecision AND I'm still in my PJs, at 3:30 PM! Gotta love SUMMER!!!  Project completion pictures will be coming soon.

P.P.S. Oh yeah! My day was not a total loss! I finally got around to putting something in the set of four glass add-your-own-photo coasters I gave my Mom for Mothers day. These 3 little profiles and then this cute little saying that I adapted from  a cheesy grandma frame I saw yesterday at Kirklands. :) She loved them!

The Birthday Princess

Ella Kate's 4th Birthday started out with the breakfast of her choosing.. Daylight Donuts!

She got to go to Build a bear and create her new friend Amy Elly witha gift card from Kolby & Rhett.

That night we had a little family party withthe five of us, Sari, Mama K and Papa!

She loved her birthday!

The next day she got to take princess crown cookies to celebrate her birtday at MDO.

That night was her big birthday party at The Jumping Party. Lots of Pink going on here!

After Jumping we had pizza and cake.

Kolby Sam and Abigail were great sports and big helpers!

The Pull string pinata...the jumping place was not thrilled with this but the kids sure were!

PRESENTS!!!

Ella Kate had a fantastic birthday! The next day came her big present from Sari...

Ella Kate with her new Hot pink suit case!

The Bat Boat

The Zelker Express

Bowling

Kissing frogs, 4ths, and kids....

I honestly can not remember the last time I sat down and blogged. I will blame it on Facebook but really it's just that life got a little crazy about the time I burned out on blogging. But I miss having this place to sit and write out more than a half sentence status at a time. So maybe I will come back to blogging.  At least for tonight I will pucker up to this blog and hope it becomes a principle in my days again. :) (Maybe I should add a cornball warning?)

As I type on this the eve of the 4th of July 2010, my mind is running back through the  4th of July's in my past. I remember so many in San Angelo at the church lake house watching fireworks, wet with lake water, eating homemade ice cream and hanging out with our church family. It was one of my favorite nights of the year. I have always LOVED fireworks! As a teen I remember spending the day on different friends ski boats in that lake. In between those times I remember quite a few fun family reunions at Lake Brownwood at the Sandy Beach Lodge on the 4th with my big family and the Stewardsons. We slept on bunk beds, played in the lake, some years we boated,  always heard lots of family stories, played cards, cooked and cooked... very fun times! I remember two 4th of July's in Nairobi, Kenya both spent at Gringos and then the Boldins playing spades. Then Rob, baby Kolby and I had a few Ranger game 4th of July's. When I was 7 months prego with Rhett we sat outside the Ranger game by some railroad tracks with the Jenkins to see the fireworks...Mark and Rob were convinced a train was going to get us..but it didn't! Remember that Susan? There have been lots of fun family fourths in China Spring. The one I am remembering right now is the one where I was trying to stay rested and cool while waiting to go in to the hospital the next morning to deliver baby Ella Kate! I blogged the night before. One of my favorite things about my pregnancy with Ella Kate was that she was my blog baby! So many of my memories of that pregnancy were blogged here and from time to time I love to look back on them! Ella Kate has changed the tone of my 4th of July celebrations as now I'm also getting ready for a birthday party!

Hard to beleive that in 48 short hours our Ella Kate will be 4, although most people say "you mean she's just 4?" Ella Kate is bigger than her age...and not in size! She is just bigger than life. She exasperates me faster and is by far my hardest child to deal with in many ways, yet she is also the funniest and makes me laugh more than any person on the planet.  I have a very hard time keeping a straight face around Ella Kate. I find myself quoting EK quite often and telling EK stories!  (Oh no!  I have turned into one of those Moms!) Ella Kate loves people. She loves her family,  her siblings, her friends, her dog, her teachers, her friends. Ella Kate is so happy to see people who are "in her world' as she calls it and is known for her "tight hugs."  When I asked her who to invite to her birthday party she literally tossed out about 40 names! How many almost 4 year olds do that? It is no secret that Rob and I weren't really planning on Ella Kate...but I am so glad God gave us Ella Kate! That girl is something else. She has blessed us all.  

I feel that way about all three of my kids. Biggest blessing to Rob and I since finding each other and loving Jesus. How do they grow up so fast? I think I want to talk a little about my kids.  Is that OK? :) 

Kolby. Miss Kolby is not a little girl anymore. At age 12 she is tall and thin and a master texter!  She wears the same size shoe as I did when she was born.  She LOVES finally being  old enough to be  in the youth group and loves dance.  Her long range dance goal is to be a Goaltender (drill team)  in High School.  Heaven help me, I'm already a bit nervous about that try-out and the fact that it is less than two years away!!! Breathe. Smile... Kolby is a such a great girl! Despite her issues with dyslexia, she  has yet to have a year end average below an A and loves, loves, loves to read. She is really excited about AP English next year. She also loves art but has decided to take choir and speech next year to broaden her horizons.  Kolby looses her shoes everyday. Many times we have to go in and basically shovel out her room. She is getting better at it, but it doesn't come naturally. I get that. Sadly she has also inherited my creative spelling..in fact her's is even MORE creative! God bless her! :) Kolby is a good hearted sweet girl who wants to please people and do the right thing. She wants to please God and is growing in that relationship everyday.  Sometimes I wonder how this girl got here? Where is my baby? Her sister looks so much like her that it's hard for me to believe my first baby is this sweet young women and I have another one coming up behind her. I know that God has great things in store for Kolby. 

And my Rhett, well, he is a boys boy. Loves sports, video games, sports, video games, a few other sports and did I mention games? :) Rhett is my easiest and hardest. He is a self maintaining type kid. Up and dressed before the rest of us everyday. Goes to bed when he is tired, no matter what is going on. Reminds me about things due at school etc. Does his homework when he gets home and doesn't balk too badly on his chores. But oh he has a temper! WOAH! And mixed with his competitive nature Yowza! When he doesn't want to do something, talk about something, or admit something., it's almost impossible to budge him. Don't know where that stubborn streak comes from? But Rhett is good natured 99% of the time and keeps it in check. Rhett loves school and HATES to ever be sick. He is a  very smart kid.  He even won a spelling bee this year~ for crying out loud! That is not in his DNA I assure you!!! Rhett can make friends with a stick, but is very loyal to his best friends and isn't one to go out and seek new people. His feelings are not easily hurt and he isok to let someone else be the star.  He loves his sisters and his family...loves our dog Lady! If he weren't mine, Rhett would still be one of my favorite kids because he is funny stuff. Just ask him to do his Gibby dance or impersonate an alien lizzard! Love that boy!

Man that was fast! I sit down and the words just pour out! But I need to get to bed so that's it for tonight. Nice to be home here in blog world.  Be back soon!  In the mean time Happy Independence Day America and happy Birthday my little Miss Independent! :) Night!

Need to update!

 

 

 

 

SNOW DAY!!!

 
 
 
 

LOVE TRUMPS EVIL

For the last almost 4 years there has been unfinished business in my community. In the last two weeks, that business has been taken care of FINALLY. Over the years I have cried many tears and spent many, many hours wondering, debating and brainstorming the  hows and whys of this case while praying that God would give proof of what we already knew in our hearts.  I, the person who cannot stand bumper stickers at all, have had a blue Justice For Kari sticker on both of our cars, and can't bring myself to reove them. I have blogged, visited true crime blogs, commented, battled mean comments, talked for hours about the details and prayed, and prayed, and prayed some more.  As strange as it sounds, I have seen and felt God's hands throughout this case.  I have gained friends and discovered heroes. My faith in the justice system was sorely tested, then soulfully reaffirmed.  It has been a long journey, even for a virtual bystander like me. To think of the toll this has taken on Kari's best friends and family... I just cannot imagine. BUT Kari's parents are AMAZING people of faith.  I am embedding the last  few minutes of the trial video below because I want anyone who cares to be inspired to get to watch what Linda Dulin says to her former son-in-law. It brings me to tears, makes me want to stand and cheer, and just humbles me that God is so good.  So if you have some kleenex ready, take a peak. Warning though, it will stick with you for a while.

Linda starts at 7.50 minutes in and talks for about 6 minutes. As I said, she is just amazing because her God is amazing!

LOVE TRUMPS EVIL!!!


If you can not see the video, this is what she said:

I am talking to you Matt today. Ok? You have not looked at me in almost four years. Can you look at me today for a little while? OK?

We were so blessed to have Kari in our lives for 31 years. And how she loved us. She loved her brother, me, her father, her extended family, and Matt, Matt SHE LOVED YOU. But more than anything she loved her girls. Her love for Kensi, Kassidy and Grace was engraved on her soul, on her soul. And then you took her from us Matt. You discarded her like she was yesterday’s trash.

You murdered the mother of your children and I still can’t wrap my head or my heart around this. And you left so many other victims. The people in your churches who want to believe that the, the person leading them truly is a man of God. Your family, your, your family Matt, your friends, the people who believed in you… You really can’t look at me, can you?

But the most tragic victims Matt, the most tragic victims are Kensi and Grace, those sweet, sweet babies. You took their mother and then you fed them lies Matt. You fed them lies and then you erased her from their lives. But thank goodness this journey doesn’t end here because this isn’t going to be about heartache. You see Matt you were never going to win this one. You’ve spent your life manipulating and preying on innocent people. But love trumps evil. Do you hear me? Love trumps evil.

And we have God’s promises to lead us through this and remind us that he is bigger than any crime you committed, even murdering our precious child. And Kari’s faith has put her smack dab in the middle of paradise. And we are going to spend eternity with her. And you can separate us for this short time, but I already know what it is going to be like when I see her again. And she is going to come running towards me and she is going to jump in my arms and knock me over and just smother me with kisses and that’s… I can wait for that. And just as Kari’s faith has assured where she is right now, our faith has sustained us. And you see, God’s told us he will never forsake us, and he hasn’t. We have felt his arms around us through out this entire ordeal and no act in this world can take our joy. We still have that Matt. You did not rob us. We have had family and friends and strangers walking with us and we are so very blessed. We are blessed.

So what do we do now? Well first, we thank God for bringing us here to this place, and for this jury. Thank you so much. But next Jim and I commit our lives to Kensi and Grace. To helping them heal. To giving them back their childhood and their joy. We can’t give them back their mother, but we want more than anything else in this world for them to be whole and healthy. You poisoned them and you taught them to hate. But it won’t last. It won’t last. But in order to give them back their love, in order to give them back their joy, then we have to extend that same grace that has been extended to us.

You have to spend many years in prison. What you did was horrific. It was horrific Matt. And I believe you are capable of much more evil.

However in order to heal, in order to point the way for our own granddaughters, in order to show God how grateful we are then we have to step out and forgive. So we do. We forgive, because that’s the only way Matt. The only way that love that makes the way, so that eventually, eventually just as in this case.. LOVE TRUMPS EVIL. That’s all.

The Matt Baker Murder Trial

If I start talking about this it might be June before I'm able to stop. So I'm going to try to keep it short...or shortish. 

The trial started this week. On our TV it is on channel 132. You can watch it live on centraltexasnow.com. The Waco Trib has a reporter there giving updates every 10 to 15 minutes on their news blog... bless her heart. 

The last two days, I have accomplished next to nothing because I have been glued to this trial. But thank goodness for DVRs and minute to minute news blogs, I'm trying to go about my day just checking in from time to time.

Just the fact that this case being tried is a bit of a victory. There were those who said that this case would never see trial. Not enough evidence, too much time had passed, no proof.  Luckily there are enough people in the world who still believe in doing what is good and right no matter what the odds or predictions say!  Now Matt Baker is being tried in front of a  jury of 12 people who will listen to all they are allowed to hear and make a judgment that will decide his fate, and all the fates that were tangled up together with Kari's death. 

I said this was a victory...but to me it doesn't feel that way because it is such a tragic case. I have spoken about this so many times before on this blog. I have had a link to my friend Shanon's blog that is devoted to the case over there to the right for about two years or more. If you have been here long, or know me at all, you most likely know how I feel about this case.

Still I can not capture with words the dulling pain I feel watching this trial unfold. I don't feel anger or indignation anymore when I see Matt Baker. I just feel a deep sad. Sad that Matt took Kari away from her family. Sad that he has hurt those girls by taking away their mother and trashing their memories of her. Sad for Kari's parents who I have come to love and truly admire over the years. Sad for the many family members and friends that will always feel a ting of totally irrational but unshakable guilt for not saying ____ or doing ____ even though it would have been a crazy thing to do or say at the time... The "if onlys" are so overwhelming in this case!!!

I find myself wondering how Matt Baker ticks. How can a man with a masters in divinity from Truett Seminary lie, cheat, harm and just live like he has?  How did the devil get such control of over him? Is there a soul so dark that God can't get to them? I want to say no, but thinking about Matt Baker.... All I know is that the truth will set everyone free... free to heal anyway. I've been praying for him to just confess for years. I'm sorta naive that way.

So this trial is what is taking my mind this week, not to mention a HUGE percentage of my prayers!

Please pray for this trial to end with a clear verdict of truth and for the families involved to be set free to heal.

Back blogs about this:
http://skegreport.blogspot.com/2007/09/no-justice-on-earth.html
http://skegreport.blogspot.com/2006/04/no-man-is-island.html
http://skegreport.blogspot.com/2006/04/thankful.html
Expressing myself on Shanon's blog:
http://dontevengetstarted.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-does-that-little-sticker-mean-to.html

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from our little family to you!