The Langham Christmas ‘09

It was a fun Christmas at the Langham house this year.  We had Grandma Lynn and Mamaw here with us again this year, which the kids loved (and so did the grandmas).  We had our big dinner Christmas Eve so that we wouldn’t have to cook any on Christmas Day and could just enjoy our toys and our leftovers.  We woke up Christmas morning, as did the rest of NWA, to a white Christmas and it was beautiful!  What a blessing! 

Ok, prepare yourselves – there are a lot of pictures ahead.  I know!  You’re in total shock right now, aren’t you? :)

The bird… “before”…

 

The Christmas Tree

 

The stockings – hung by the chimney with care…

 

 

…and three stinkers that could barely hold it together for one good picture out of about 175 tries.

 

 

See what I mean?!

 

Reading the Christmas story out of Luke 2.  Didn’t Daddy do a good job being all creative in his picture taking? :)

 

Getting Santa’s cookies ready.

 

Rachel leaving the reindeer a little snack of oats.

 

Busting through the paper tapped over the door on Christmas morning – rushing to see what Santa brought.

 

See!!  I got tools!!!

 

One of the many looks Tanner had while saying “OH YEAH!”

 

Rachel was excited about her purple lounge clothes.

 

Porter loved his drum… he plays it a lot.  I’m so excited.

 

Opening his guitar.  The last time he wanted to play an instrument, he got a starter set for the bagpipes.  BAGPIPES, people!!!  I don’t think so…  We’ll see where this takes him.

 

Mike was very excited that he got peanut M&M’s from Granny rather than the lotion he expected was in that bag.  He HATES lotion! :)  Good job, Gran.

 

Over all is was a wonderful Christmas.  We’re all looking forward now to what the new year is going to bring!

Drumroll Please.....

We are officially able to be public with our news.....



WE'VE DECIDED TO ADOPT!!!



Adoption is something that Mike and I have talked about since before we were married. I think it's something we always knew we would do "in the future". Well, friends, the future is now. We have 3 healthy children that we totally adore and yet, our family doesn't feel complete. I knew I wouldn't be birthing any more babies - I'm soooo over that. So, obviously, adoption was a very definite option for us.

Sunday, November 8th, was Orphan Sunday and we had a big program that night at our church centered around Esther's House Orphanage and the Kennedy's trip to Malawi. That morning started off not so great. You know how the devil always tries to get his foot in the door on Sunday mornings? Yeah, he'd pretty much invaded our house that day. We were late for church and I ended up not singing in the choir, which is very unusual. Pastor talked that morning about how there's no clearer picture of the gospel than when adoption takes place. We are 'adopted' into God's family through our acceptance of Jesus, and what a beautiful picture of that when a family adopts a child. Adoption was very much in front of us as several of our friends have adopted and are currently in the process of adoption. I think subconsciously, it was something we knew was getting closer and closer for us, we just hadn't really talked that much about it and certainly hadn't made any decisions yet. Once the invitation was given on that Sunday morning, part of what Pastor called the people to pray for was whether or not it was in God's plan for them to adopt. Mike grabbed my hand and off to the altar we went to pray. It was a special time of us asking forgiveness of each other because of our attitudes that morning, but even through that, we felt God's stirring in us regarding adoption. We came home that afternoon and began to discuss what we felt like God was telling us and then had our Esther's House program that night, which just helped to solidify things even more. That week, we knew for sure that we were supposed to adopt.

But where were we supposed to start?

We pretty much knew international adoption was out of the question, purely for financial reasons. My heart has been tied to Africa since I was there in 1999, so if we were to adopt internationally, it would be from there. However, we really didn't feel like that's the direction we were supposed to go, financially restricted or not. We began looking into all of our options on what we could do. Like I said, several of our friends have gone before us in this process, so we had lots of resources for our questions. We looked at an agency that some friends have used and is a trusted agency. We looked at another local agency that does domestic adoptions. We researched just about everything and talked to just about everyone trying to decipher where we felt like God was leading us. We were blessed that some friends at church put together an Adoption Q&A meeting shortly after our decision to adopt. It was a very helpful resource for us as well. We contacted the AR Department of Human Services and requested some info from them as well. We learned they were having an informational meeting on December 3rd regarding foster care, fostering to adopt, and adoption through the state of AR. We went to that meeting as well. Once we left that meeting, I think both of us were very clear on what we were supposed to do.

We will foster to adopt.

The information we received in that meeting just about brought me to tears. In fact, it did the more I thought about it later. There are so many children, just in Arkansas, waiting for a Forever Family. And the statistics on what happens to these children if they are not adopted - it's devastating. The more we thought about it, the more we were certain to our bones that this is what God was directing us to do.

We are in no way assuming this will be an easy process. We know there will be challenges along the way and that there will be difficult times ahead. But regardless, we will not back down. We know that this is what God has called us to do, this is His will for OUR lives, and where He leads us, He alone will give us the strength to endure what He has purposed for us to do. And we know that in the end, we will have another member of our family, which will be worth it all.

So for now, we are just about finished with all of our initial paperwork and have a visit scheduled with a case worker on New Year's Eve. She will come to our home to "inspect" it and make sure that it's an appropriate place for a child. She will pick up our paperwork and then we will start some training classes. We have to go through about 6 weeks or so of classes and then proceed from there. I'm not sure yet of all the details, but of course, I'll be posting on things as they come up.

Our desire, and what would work in our home at this time, is to have another boy that's under 5 years old. We know that God has the perfect child ready for us. Please begin to pray that whatever child that comes into our lives will feel loved and accepted and that the transition would be smooth.

I will keep you updated on things as they occur. As for now, thanks for reading and for praying.

Most of My December - Cliff Notes Version

It has been entirely too long since my last post. To say we have been busy is a HUGE, I mean MASSIVE, understatement!

Since I last wrote, we traveled to Oklahoma for Mike's granny's funeral. It was a very bitter sweet time, but like one of the ministers said, there is no doubt whatsoever that Granny is in heaven with Jesus. It was nice to see all the family and get to visit with them for a few hours that day.

That same day, I learned that our music minister and his wife, Kim & Suzanne Noblitt, are leaving our church to go to a church in Florida. I cried more when I got that email than I did the whole day of the funeral. I love, love, love our music minister! I can't even think how to put into words how much I love Kim and Suzanne. When someone is as involved in the music ministry as I am, it means a lot to have a minister that you really enjoy, and I truly have enjoyed Kim. He has allowed me to grow as a person and a singer and has been such an encourager to me, and to so many others. I can't imagine someone replacing that position, but I know for a fact, no one will replace HIM. He is one of a kind and I'm beyond blessed to have gotten to know him and Suzanne in the time they've been with us.

Through all of that, we've had lots of rehearsals for our annual Christmas program, "Repeat The Sounding Joy". Even though we knew Kim was leaving, we still had to press on and put on our performances. It was a GREAT program this year and we all really enjoyed it. It was the first time EVER that I've gotten a chance to sing on the praise team during a performance like that. I was nervous about it, but SOOO honored that I'd been asked to do that. I was also able to do a smidge of acting in a video that the awesome Zach Kennedy put together. That boy has more talent in his pinky finger, I swear. He and his team put together a video to the song "A Baby Changes Everything" by Faith Hill and it was amazing. I loved being a part of that as well. In fact, you can click HERE to watch the video on Zach's blog. Rachel was also able to be a part of the program for the first time. She was a marshmallow in the song "Hot Chocolate" from the Polar Express that the kids performed. She was pretty excited about being able to be in the program and then during the first performance, she was a bit upset because she wasn't able to be the "main marshmallow" that got to go up in this gigantic mug of hot chocolate. Oh, my child. She loves to be in the big middle of everything. Wonder where she could possibly have gotten that?

This week, we also had our first ever Kids Day Out Christmas program that I directed and our little kiddos performed for their families. It went SO well!!! I'm so over the top proud of all my kids! We'd been working on Christmas songs since October with all of the classes from the older 2 year olds through the Pre-K class. The oldest class was our cast of biblical characters and everyone else got to wear their Christmas PJ's. It was super cute and all the parents that I talked to were extremely pleased with it and thought their kids were all rock stars, which of course they were!

Last night was our very first "Merry Christmas Springdale" program in which we honored all the city employees of Springdale. We were able to have a dinner for them and then our choir and orchestra performed a few songs, along with some pretty adorable kids. As Kim said, it was a dream come true for him that we were able to get outside the walls of our church, as a choir, and do ministry in the community. It was a really neat night and it seemed like everyone there really enjoyed themselves. Hopefully it'll be a tradition that continues each year.

We're heading over to my dad's tomorrow for our Christmas time with him and my stepmom and then we'll be finished traveling for the holidays. I don't have anything on my calendar for the next couple of weeks and I'm ecstatic about it!! I'm excited about sleeping in (or not setting an alarm), not having to BE anywhere, and just having time to hang with my family. I'm so excited about Christmas and getting to see the reactions of my family when they open their gifts. That's always more fun for me than opening presents for myself. I know I've done a good job when they are excited.

Some exciting news is coming up in the next couple of days, so stay tuned. I promise it won't be that long until I post again.... for those 3 of you that actually read my blog. :)

Holy Werewolf, Batman!!

For those of you that know me, you know that I am a lover of the Twilight Saga. Loved the books. Loved the first movie. LOVE New Moon!!

Tanner and I went to see it Saturday in KC and I was beyond excited to see it. I couldn't wait until I had another opportunity to see it in the theater. Today, I get that opportunity... with some of my mom friends! When we saw it in KC, the theater had a pretty even mix of young girls and older moms. I, in no way, felt out of place. In fact, I may have been one of the younger moms there.

I loved the movie. It had been such a long time since I'd read the book that I'd forgotten several of the details of the story, which was probably a good thing, that way I wasn't too critical of the things they did differently for the movie. I loved Mike and Jessica in the movie. They had some really cute, funny lines. Mike's character was a hoot and I loved the banter between him and Jacob. But let me say, throughout the book series, I was wholeheartedly on Team Edward. No swaying over to Team Jacob whatsoever. Even after Twilight came out in the theater, still my loyalty was for the vampire. Then I sat in the theater and watched Taylor Lautner portray Jacob... I do have to admit that my loyalty was swayed for a good hour and a half. Mercy. But then.... there was the last 30 seconds of the movie. Oh. My. Gosh. If ever there was a scene in a movie that screamed there would be more to follow, that, my friends, was it! I'm pretty sure my mouth hung open for a good 5 seconds before I realized where I was and that I was not Bella and Edward was not..... Well, you'll just have to watch it to really get it.

I'm off to see the love triangle on the big screen again. Can. Not. Wait!

Actually Writing... with a pen

I'm a way faster typer than I am a writer. I kind of gave up on "traditional" journaling because it just takes so darn long to do it. Blogging is a much faster way to keep up with stuff. And Twitter/Facebook is just lightning fast compared to actually getting a pen and paper.

However, I'm going back to the traditional paper and pen journaling for a while. I haven't actually started, but I'm going to. I really am. Not everything will be sent to the paper journal, but I'm starting it for a specific subject. I'll eventually put it all online, but for now, I have to actually pick up a pen and write. Should be fun. :)

All is well in the Langham house. We had a great Halloween. We went to a few houses to Trick-or-Treat, but not many people were home. Somehow, even though we didn't get to as many houses as last year, we ended up with WAY more candy. I'm still rather perplexed about that. It could be that I bought four bags of chocolate at Target the day before Halloween. Because I wanted it. That could be the reason for all the candy. But I'm not totally sure. Rachel and Katie were cheerleaders and Porter recycled his lion costume from last year. Tanner stayed at our house and passed out candy with her tie-dyed hair. The kids ended the night by going to Grandma Lynn's to spend the night. G'ma did it up something special with her costume. I'm not sure how I didn't get a picture of that, but she had on a metallic green mullet wig, freckels painted on her cheeks, and a set of those rotten looking teeth. Real nice, my friends. Real nice. Porter was a little bit leary of her at first, but got past it pretty quickly.

I will update with pictures soon. The little picture uploader thing doesn't like me this morning and I have to move on with other items on my to do list before I feel completely unproductive for the day.

Our Big Weekend

So I know this is coming a couple weeks late, but I wanted to update about our trip that Mike and I took with our friends earlier this month. And prepare yourselves... there will be pictures!! I know!! You're gasping in shock right now, aren't you.

**and just on a side note - does anyone else besides me ever find themselves spelling words that they've known for years in a totally wrong way? For instance, just now, I started spelling the word pictures like this... picksures. REALLY?! Does this mean I'm getting some sort of brain disease? Because I never really think about how to spell stuff when I'm typing. I think of the word and it just hammers out without too much effort. But picksures?! I'm worried! But I digress...

Our weekend:

My mom and granny came over to stay at the house with the kids and Mom and Mike's mom, Grandma Lynn, were in charge of babysitting for the weekend. The kids were excited about getting to spend time with the grandmas. I think the grandmas were even more excited to spend time with the grandkids.

Mike and I headed out Friday afternoon with our friends Darrell and Heather and were on our way to Tulsa for the Dave Matthews Band concert. For those of you that don't know, my husband LOVES the Dave Matthews Band! We've had these concert tickets since the minute they went on sale. We got to Tulsa and checked in to our hotel and headed out to dinner. We wanted to eat at sort of a dive type place, and boy did we find it. It was this little Mexican place and when we walked in, there was not a soul there that we could see. And they served organic foods that were mostly locally grown. Mike's not big into "organic" type stuff and actually asked to have non-organic items. He's just annoying like that. But the food actually turned out to be amazing! And before we left, the place was packed and there was a line! There's something to be said for going to the Early Bird dinner. :) These old people have a good idea! We did find out right before we left the place that there was apparently a whole extra section in the back that was full of people. We had to pass all those people to get to the weirdest, most odd excuse for a bathroom I've ever seen! I seriously should have taken a picture. You talk about a "hole in the wall". Yep. That pretty much described it.

We then headed for the BOK Center and got there as Willie Nelson was beginning his opening act. He was... well... Willie. I can tolerate his recorded music, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I never heard him sing in person again. I can't stand it. But it was kinda funny when he started singing "On The Road Again", which is one hilarious song to watch my husband play on Guitar Hero. I literally cry laughing. He did redeem himself by singing "I'll Fly Away" as his closing song. It was actually not horrible.

Here's a pic of the stage when good ol' Willie was out there. You can sort of tell just how far away from the stage we were.

Here's a picture of me and Mike as we were enjoying DMB. There was no flash on my camera phone, so the best I got was when they brought a little more light onto the stage and even then, I got my arm shadow in the shot. Oh well.

Dave on the stage. My husband was just a wee bit more than excited to be there.

It was a fantastic concert! I enjoy DMB, but they aren't a band that I will go out of my way to get on my iPod. However, I would go to another one of their concerts in a heartbeat. I seriously sat there and bobbed my head the whole time. It's just that kind of music. You can't help but move. However, there was this one couple sitting in front of us that didn't move an inch the whole time we were there. Didn't even remotely come close to breaking out any kind of even a head-bob type move. Nothing. They sat like lumps on a log. HOW do you do that?! Especially with Dave?! I loved it and would go again. I hope we get to soon.

The next day was the K-State/Iowa State game at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. Last year, we went to this same game in Manhattan and got to tailgate with Heather's family. Her dad is the ULTIMATE tailgater. I mean, I have never seen anything quite like it in my life. His name is Walter and this is a picture of his trailer, "Walt's Wildcat Wagon". That man has everything down to a science! He would be ready to take that thing out anywhere anytime. Any other tailgating will seem like it's in vain after experiencing Walt's type of tailgating! In this pic is Mike, Heather, and Darrell enjoying some award winning baked beans. DELISH!!!

Our seats at the game were awesome! We were on the 5 yard line and so close to the field! It was crazy fun! Here is a picture of a guy going in for a touchdown. I have no idea how I captured this on my phone, but I was excited about it!

And just in case you couldn't see it in the picture above, I zoomed in a little for ya...

Quite cool, right?! That game was so fun! K-State ended up winning 24 to 23 because of a blocked extra point in the last minute of the game. My husband literally turned to me, picked me up, and started jumping up and down with me when the guy blocked Iowa State's kick! It was so funny! It was a GREAT game to have been at this year. It was exciting til the end. I love those... but only when the team I'm rooting for wins. :)

That night, we met up with Mike's brother Andy for a late night dinner and stayed there in KC. We came home that Sunday and were zapped, but had such a wonderful weekend. I loved just spending time with my hubby. We don't get to do that too often, so we certainly cherish it when the opportunity presents itself.

So, there you go. Pictures and everything. Don't get your hopes up for that to come again soon. It's taken me all day to get this one done. :)

And Then There Were Three...

My white chunky boy puppy just left this evening. And I'm sort of sad about it. I'm glad he's going to the home he went to because they have a boxer already and seem like they will really love our puppy. Some friends of ours adopted another one of the girls today, too. I'm so glad she went with people we know. That's what we want. We want good homes for our babies with people that will really take care of them as members of their families. But I really sort of hoped no one would take my big white chunk. He's been my favorite since he was born. We bonded. :( And I'm sad he's gone.

Now there are three remaining puppies. They are having to snuggle a bit closer tonight since they are two less tonight than they were last night. I'm almost to the point of considering letting the remaining ones come in the house to sleep. We have a heater out there with them in our sunroom, but I just hate for them to be cold at all. They're just still so little.

I'm praying for the other three families to come quickly to adopt these three that are left. Not because I want them to leave (although I will NOT miss the poop smell), but because I know they will be so happy and so spoiled in their new homes with the families that will care for them.

Check out www.langhamboxerbabies.blogspot.com to see pictures of our babies and to see which ones we have left. There's one boy and two girls.

Wonder how long after these are gone that we'll be itching to have more babies? There will have to be another mama for that to happen though. Don't tell my husband, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings to get another female to breed. I will be super picky with the next dog we get though. Now that I really know more about boxers, I know more of what I'm looking for and what will be a good dog. But that's down the road a bit. We still have Zoe and as long as our sweet little mutt is a part of our family, there will be no more big dogs at the Langham house!!

Blue's Clues

My son is obsessed with Blue's Clues. He LOVES Blue. He gets really, really upset if we have to turn off one of our dvr'd episodes before it's over. Any time he sees any sort of paw print, he yells, "A CLUE! A CLUE!" It really is pretty cute. He sleeps with a stuffed Blue and asks to watch it every day. And let me take this opportunity to give a big shout out to Noggin for playing that show so many times so I can have a variety on my dvr. Whew.

But I've got a dilemma. I've got all kinds of "Cars" stuff for his birthday this year. I found it on clearance last year and thought I would just steer him toward "Cars" for this year. I never figured on him loving Blue as much as he does. So now I'm torn. Do I use the stuff I have or do I try and find Blue's Clues stuff, which I'll have to find online because there is nary a store that carries that stuff anymore.... believe me. I've looked.

Let me also say that my son, who will not be two for another 3 weeks, pooped on the potty last night. That's right, folks. He POOPED on the potty! WOOHOO! He was standing in the kitchen and I had JUST put a new diaper on him. He said, "Poop?" so I immediately grabbed his hand and said, "Let's go poop in the potty!!" He was ok with it at first and then he wanted down. I let him sit there for about 6 or 7 minutes and then all of the sudden, there it came. Of course I hooped and hollered and he got excited because I was excited. Although I'm sure he didn't know what I was excited about. He was just glad to have an opportunity to clap and squeal for something. I'm pretty sure this will be a one time thing because he doesn't quite get the concept yet of "if you do this, I'll give you this" yet. And until that point, you just can't bribe a kid to go sit on the potty. But by golly, if he says poop again, don't think I won't be grabbing him up and heading to the potty!

Lastly, check out our puppy blog. I'm posting some new pics of our puppies. If you know of anyone that is interested, please send them our way. We're in the process of looking for good homes for our babies. We have 10 to place - 6 girls and 4 boys.

www.langhamboxerbabies.blogspot.com

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Dinner conversation tonight:

Rachel, out of the blue: "I broke up with my boyfriend today." she said, totally nonchalant like it was part of every day conversation.

Daddy snapped his head over toward her and I know I did a double take!

Me and Daddy: "WHAT?!"

Rachel: "I broke up with Jonathan today."

Me, as Daddy stares at her like she's just grown three horns out of her head: "What do you mean you 'broke up' with your boyfriend?"

Rachel: "I broke up with Jonathan because he wasn't listening to me when I was talking to him."

Me: "What does a boyfriend or girlfriend mean?"

Rachel: "You know. You play on the playground together and you do your stuff together."

Mike, steam coming out of his ears: "What STUFF?!" he said, with nary a crack of a smile on his face.

Me: "Do you mean like stuff in class together?"

Rachel: "Yeah, like homework and centers and stuff. But, actually, he was talking to another girl and not talking to me, so I broke up with him."

Me - TOTALLY DYING trying not to laugh: "Well, you can be friends with boys but you're not to have a "boyfriend" or to be anyone's "girlfriend". That's just for big people, ok? But you can still be friends with boys and that's ok."

Rachel: "Ok."

Lord, help us. My mom says I'm paying for my raising. I'm pretty sure it was in Kindergarten when I had my first crush and I had that same crush all the way through 6th grade. Then I went to prom with him my 10th grade year. He was a senior. Dream come true, right? It was the yuckiest night EVER. Gross!! What in the heck was I thinking when I was in Kindergarten?! :)

When a Mom Isn't Watching...

Earlier tonight, I was on the phone with my friend Angela getting some English homework help for Tanner. Angela is an English major, so I figure she's the perfect person to ask... and I was right! Thanks, Ang! Anyway, while I was on the phone with her, I hear her daughter yelling, "Jeb Alert!! Come quick! Jeb Alert!" and then I hear her husband yell something like "Oh NO!" and then Angela... bless her sweet heart... relays a story to me of what she has just witnessed. I can't even explain it and do it any kind of justice, so you just need to go to her post here and watch for yourself. I have seen the video at least 5 times and I'm still laughing about it! It's too funny!!

Noises

Currently, my son is pushing a plastic kids chair back and forth across our kitchen floor. It makes a completely annoying noise. And he keeps. doing. it. He also enjoys pushing it on the concrete floor in the sunroom. That's even worse. But again - he keeps on.... and on.... and on.

Why do boys just love to make noise? And the more irritating, the better, it seems.

Now he's carring said chair over his head, sort of bent behind his back. Yeah, I don't see anything that could go wrong with that!

A Whole New World

My baby is in Kindergarten! And yes, I'm one of the moms that cried. I heard today about a teacher that gave each of her Kindergarten parents a package of tissues and a tea bag! Now that is too cute! Could have used those today for sure!

Isn't she a doll?! She was super excited this morning. Even up to the time when we walked into her classroom. Then she got a little nervous and clung to my leg. But a friend from church came up and talked to her and she went right on in the class and never looked back. I, on the other hand, lost it when I walked away from her room. It was a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand I'm so extremely excited about her being in kingergarten and knowing that she'll learn SOOO much this year. On the other hand, my baby girl is entering a new stage in her life. The baby stage is gone. Not that it wasn't gone about 3 1/2 years ago when she started talking in full sentences and letting her opinions be known with a bit of attitude, but still. We've entered the "school age". We're in a new era with her. It just hit me the other day that the only days she'll be home with me are on school breaks. BOOHOOO!!! But she's going to have so much fun and her teachers will soon be falling in love with her, I'm sure!

This has been a day of tears. I shed some at Rachel's school this morning and then once I got over that, I thought I was done. That is, until I got to choir. Holy cow. First thing when I sat down, I got some sickening news about a friend. That put me in a funk. Then, we had a prayer time for the Kennedys who are leaving for Africa Sunday. It's so exciting what they are doing, but sad at the same time that they will be away for so long. I gave them each big hugs before they left from choir, but heavens. That was a tear jerker. THEN, Kathy Ferguson spoke to our choir... there isn't even space or time to relay what all she talked about, but it was so good and so sweet and I was crying again! And then at the end, that stinkin' Kim Noblitt talked about meeting Katie Rowe out today and how she gave him a big hug and said how much she appreciated her church during this difficult time after they've lost their baby girl. Tears again. I don't remember the last time I've cried this much in a day. It's been a while.

I think it's time to go to bed and shut down this emotional day!!

Memory Lane

You know how with just a word, you can take a trip down memory lane? Yeah, that was me today. I found out that my boss (and dear friend) is really good friends with an ex-boyfriend's wife! I hesitate to even say "ex-boyfriend" because I don't know that we ever really declared that we were boyfriend/girlfriend - but we were more than friends. He was that "bad boy" that I didn't need to like but couldn't help myself from loving. And like I told my friend today, since we were never really boyfriend/girlfriend, there was never really a breakup, so to speak. So that finality, that closed chapter, didn't really exist for us - at least not that I remember.

The last time I saw him was after I had Rachel. We were in Kohl's and I came around the corner pushing Rachel in the stroller and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him, his wife, and a baby in a stroller with them also. His wife was so, so nice. I remember she sort of went about her shopping and left us to chat for just a second. That takes a good woman to do that. And it was VERY weird to know he had a child. It was one of those meetings where you almost didn't need to say anything. And what was there to be said. He was married. I was married. We both had kids. We were in the spots we were supposed to be. It's not like we wished things were any different, I'm sure. But it WAS weird...and good all at the same time.

I hear now that he's going to church with his family and is a "good family man". Honest to God, I prayed for him so much to be saved and to be a church-going, God-fearing man - and told him that on lots of occassions. And I was glad today to hear that my prayers had been answered.

It's funny how God works sometimes. I shared about Christ with him several times, bought him a Bible, and brought him to church for some events I was in (since it was the only time he would come). Maybe I was just supposed to be that breath in his life for a short time to nudge him in the direction of finding the Lord. I hope I was able to do that - even just a little...

Africa Bound

My friends, the Kennedys, are moving to Africa for two months to be interim directors for Esther's House orphanage and to film a reality show while doing that. I'm so excited for them about this opportunity, even though I'm sick that they won't be here for two months. They just adopted a precious, beautiful baby boy from Ethiopia last year and he's about the same age as Porter. They are buddies and have fun playing together in the nursery.

Their heart for Africa tugs at MY heartstrings because of the ties I have from my mission trip to Zimbabwe 10 years ago. So many times I've wanted to go back, but at the times our church was sending people, it just hasn't worked out due to pregnancies, nursing, etc. There are some times coming in the next several months that teams are going back to Malawi to work with the orphanage that our church has started there and my heart has been gripped. I'm praying about a time when I could join one of our teams to go. The only "fear" I have is that I'll get there and be with those babies and kids at that orphanage and either won't want to leave or want to bring every one of them back with me.

Take a minute to read the Kennedys' blog post about their upcoming travels. It's exciting stuff!

Moving To Africa

So Many Thoughts...

There are so many thoughts running through my head as I sit here typing. There are some things I wish I could wright about in this venue, but I cannot. I think I may come up with a pen name and just write a bunch of stuff, just to get it out, but no one would know it's me. I wouldn't even care if anyone read it. It would just be nice to "say" it without worry. I'm thinking about it...

New Candidate...

I just finished reading the website for Mark Darr. He and his wife are friends of mine and I sing with them at church in choir and on the praise team. Mark has decided to run for Lieutenant Governer or Arkansas. I know Mark and when I first heard he was going to run, I thought he would do a great job. After reading his website, I'm even more inthused. Take a minute to look at his site. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future brings for Mark and his family as they campaign.

http://markdarr.com/

Too Much To Say...

Gosh, I have been so lazy about updating this thing! I make sure to keep up with everyone else's stuff, but haven't been so good about keeping up with my own blog.

There's so much to update about that I'm almost overwhelmed. So, I'm not going to do it right now. At least this little post will make me feel better that it hasn't been a hundred years since I posted something, bare though it may be.

Let me just say that as posted in my last update, Mike and I are still going to the gym. We are on week three and I have been to the gym 5 days a week each of those weeks! Go me!! Sadly, I haven't lost hardly any weight. That's a bummer considering how much sweating I'm doing on that darn treadmill at 6am every day! And let me just put it out there that I HATE the elliptical machine! HATE. IT. But my shins were hurting so badly this morning that I only did a mile on the treadmill and thought I'd suck it up and give my shins a break on the elliptical. Good. Lord. First of all, that sucker is a beat! I get winded in a hurry on that darn thing. However, I did learn that I burned a crap load of calories quick! Woohoo! Maybe I should do that more often. Then again, maybe not. I do need to get back to Body Pump. I know that will help with the calorie burn and with my muscle tone, because Lord knows I definitely need that! I tried on a bathing suit a couple weeks ago and let me just say, that was not a pleasant experience. I got a suit that had a little skirt covering the booty, because let's face it - no one needs to be exposed to this booty in the shape it's in! That's what I keep reminding myself when I'm doing my short little sprints in between walking - cottage cheese booty!! Keep moving!!

Oh - I'm reading Angels & Demons. I've already seen the movie, so I'm not totally surprised with the turns in the book like I would have been had I not already seen it, but it's really pretty good. It took me forever to get in to the darn thing, but now it's hard to put it down. It's as long as I don't know what, so it's taking a long time for me to read. But it's really good.

Porter is sitting in his high chair watching "Icky" and "Onald" (Micky Mouse Clubhouse) and I just sneezed - he said "Bess You!" four times. So precious! I love how he's learning so much! Gosh, that kid is cute!!!

And here I said I wasn't really going to post anything. I know some of you want pictures, though. Those are coming. Sometime.

Mini Update - Bullet Point Style

*Tanner is on her way to Beach Camp in Florida. She didn't fare well when they were leaving, but once they were on the road, I think she was fine. I'm so anxious to see what this week brings. If only my Twitter people would update more! :) And all I have to say is thank the Good Lord for unlimited texting!

*Rachel had her first T-ball game on Saturday and did really well. Daddy's coaching is paying off. She was SUPER cute and loved being out there! I've got tons of pics and will try posting some of those tonight or tomorrow.

*We had a good Father's Day here at the Langham house. Mike got a new charcoal grill and is anxious for the weekend.... because apparently, that's when you use charcoal grills. Whatever will he choose to cook first for me?! Mmmmm!!!

*Mike and I are starting a 40 day challenge at the gym. There are prizes we can get if we go 40 times to the gym from today until August 22nd. Wonder what my body would look like if I actually stick to that? We shall see. Zumba tonight and I might get REAL crazy and go to Body Pump in the early am. HA! Yeah - don't hold your breath.

Bears - A Tutorial. By Rachel.

Out of nowhere, Rachel started telling me what you have to do if you meet a bear in the woods. Here's how her story went:

Rachel - "Ok, Mommy, you have to remember - bears are very simple. First thing, do not play the clarinet. Do not wear big red shoes. Do not wear a pink skirt. And never, ever wear a sombrero. And the last thing is, don't wave your flashlight back and forth really fast. That's really true. It was on Sponge Bob. And then draw a circle around yourself cause the perimeter makes the sea bear go away because they stay away from circles. Don't draw an oval or a diamond or anything like that. Only a circle. And that will get into it's conscious - that's what's inside the bear's heart."

Me - "Hmmm. I never knew that. Let me write that down so I don't forget it."

And then I came to the computer to publish that little jewel for all the world to see and for me to embarrass my daughter with in a few years. :) So I wrote down all that I remembered and then had her tell me again, just to be sure. Gosh, I love that child's imagination.

Flowery Surprise

Mike came in from work yesterday carrying these. Needless to say, I had a big smile on my face. It was very unexpected!! I hadn't gotten flowers from him like that..... maybe ever. He used to have it on his calendar to get me flowers every so often. I told him I didn't want to be a part of his to-do list. Those would always be shipped. And they were nice. But still. I felt like it was just another thing checked off his list. Yesterday was an exception. He came in the house carrying nothing but the flowers. I LOVED IT!!

Thank you, Honey!! You're the best! And yes, I do like those more than roses!!