Prayer Request

Jason and Dawn need our prayers.  If you read this, please pray for them.  We've known them since we were first married, and we remain dear friends with them to this day.  Their two children our our god-children.  We just love them all so much.  

Anyway, yesterday while ice skating, Jason fell and fractured his face in multiple places.  Dawn said it was like one whole side of his face was sunken in.  He suffered short-term memory loss, but is doing better as of this morning.  He will require surgery obviously.  

Here's the kicker.  He just got back Sunday from a 7-month deployment with the Navy.  They had only had a few days with him when this accident happened.  He has a love of flying with the military.  It's truly something he enjoys doing whole-heartedly.  Because of his injuries, they're very concerned that the surgery could very possibly affect his vision and/or his sinuses to the point where he won't be able to fly anymore.  This possibility is very disheartening to them and scary.  

So please keep them all (including their two sweet kids) in your prayers.  Pray specifically for them to be able to see God's hand in their lives despite the chaos and uncertainties they're facing.  Pray for God's divine will and healing.  Pray for them as they deal with the very frustrating red tape of military insurance.  And pray however else the Holy Spirit leads you.   Thanks.

Have I mentioned I don't like coming up with titles?

Megan had her first Kindergarten program Tuesday night.  All the Kindergarten classes stood up on the bleachers and sang around ten songs for all the parents.  It was great fun!  She enjoyed it and of course, did a good job.  Afterwards, we came home and watched the video recording on TV, which she thought was fun. 

Here is her new little friend that lives in the neighborhood and is in her class.  

Here is her class waving hello to all the us proud parents.  

Sweet Becke', a friend I've had for years wrote something on one of my blogs about how it seems a little sad that Megan's face was missing from the pictures when I took Anna to the fair.  I felt the same exact way.  Because they ran the special again today and Jason was off, we decided to take Megan out of school for a few hours this morning and let her have some "fair fun" too.  We had a great time, but after about an hour, she said she was ready to go back to school.  That little stinker.  At least she loves school!  

They're waiting for the pig races and hugging away.  Isn't that cute?  They were especially sweet on each other today until ....

We let Megan win a prize, but we told Anna no since she'd already had her turn and gotten her prize on Monday.  You can tell by the look on her face she was not happy one bit.  

Here we are at the animal place again.  This sheep/goat/whatever it is cracked me up.  I don't know how it saw anything with all that curly hair. 

And that old camel got Megan this time.  You can see her ducking after it reached down and got her.  She thought it was funny.  Anna told me when we first went to the animals that she was staying away from that camel.  :)

Going to the Fair

What says fall is in the air more than the fair?  It's such a wonderful time of year.  Cooler weather, trees starting to change colors, pumpkins, cinnamon candles, and the fair!  I just love it all.  Yesterday was Anna's actual birthday.  She's officially 4 years old!  Hard to believe.  So we made the most of her special day by going to the Arkansas State Fair.  They had a special yesterday for kids 6 and under.  So, the timing was perfect.  And if any of you reading this live within close distance to LR, they're doing it again Friday too (rides are free, admission's free, parking's $1 all from 10-12).  

There was a petting zoo where Anna got to get up close and personal with all kinds of animals including zebras, pigs, turtles, and exotic animals too.  I loved the camel.  I've got to share the story.... Anna was busy trying to pour her food into a little shovel.  The shovels are tied to each cage.  The idea is that kids can stick the little shovels through the cages so the animals can eat out of the shovels instead of their hand or little cup with all the food in it.  Anna is such a perfectionist in certain areas that it takes her a long time to do certain tasks.  Pouring the food into the shovels was one of those time-consuming tasks.  Picture with me a little girl trying to get the perfect amount poured onto the shovel without spilling any.  If she got too much, she'd use her little pinchers to put some back into the cup until it was just the perfect amount.  That in and of itself could take a minute of two.  I'm not exaggerating at all!  Then if she put too much back, the whole process started again.  It was cute to watch.  Anyhow, she's standing in front of the camel's cage trying to get the shovel ready.  Her head is looking down at the shovel with only that on her mind.  Well, the camel walks up to her and reaches its long neck down right into her hands to start eating.  It probably got tired of waiting!!!  She got scared half to death.  She spilled all the food in her shovel and jerked away.  I don't think she knew exactly what had happened.  When she realized that the camel was literally two inches from her face, she panicked!  She didn't know what to do.  Her face looked like she may start crying and you could definitely tell she was scared.  But I just died laughing.  It was hilarious!!   And the camel just kept dipping down toward her again and again.  Finally, after getting plenty of distance away, she got a little, and I do mean little, grin on her sweet face and gave me a look that said, "This is serious.  Stop laughing!"  It was so funny!  I'm laughing as a write this.  

 
Here are some of her prizes.  She's very proud of the dolphin.  She won that at a fishing booth which she used some of her birthday money to play.  She has played with it ever since.  Unfortunately, for me, it's got a very loud squeaker in it that she squeaked the entire way to McDonalds, which is where we met Jason for lunch afterwards.   As long as she's having fun, right? 

This is a pig race.  It's the first thing we watched when we got there.  She thought that was really fun.  They race to consume a single oreo.  This is some serious stuff.  I might race if there was an oreo laid out in a plate in front of me and three other people too!!! 

This is a show Anna wanted to watch.  I'm so frugal minded that I think if there are free rides from 10 to 12, then that's what we need to be doing. :)  But she saw them getting ready for the show and wanted to watch it.  So, we did.  It was 30 minutes of fun.  She loved it.  It was geared to little ones with some funny stuff.  I'm glad we watched it.  Aunt Sharon called Anna to ask how the fair went this morning, and Anna said that the show was her favorite part!  

Here she is enjoying some rides.  We had a great time, and I think she had a very memorable birthday!

Just For NaNa

Here are some pics of the special treats you gave the girls.  Thought you'd enjoy!  By the way, don't you think Megan looks just a little tired!!!   :)  I guess after two games and a birthday party she deserves to be a little tuckered out!  

This Weekend #2 (Anna's Birthday!!!!!)

Today we also celebrated Anna's 4th birthday.  I thought the party went well.  We had lots of neighborhood kids come and one little girl from church was able to join us too.  Plus, lots of family came.  They were able to watch Megan's game and come to Anna's party so it worked out well.  It's been a very busy day to say the least.  Here are some pics from the party.  

This weekend #1

This weekend has been packed with activities.  There are a random assortment of pictures. They all pretty much tell their own story....

-Megan's been playing softball and loving it.  Today she had two games and did great.  She hit the ball every time and made it home twice.  **Notice there's no tee she's hitting off of.  We were proud of her!  Most of the family came to watch her so that made it doubly special.  The softball here is taken very seriously.  It's taken me a while to adjust to that, but Megan has adjusted as if there's been no change at all.  As long as she enjoys it, then we'll let her play it!  At least she's learning a lot of skills.

-Anna and I went to the pumpkin patch with a group from church yesterday and had a blast!  She really enjoyed it, and you can see some of her new friends that are in all her classes at church.  What a beautiful day we had to enjoy the pumpkins!

-Last night Megan's school had a fall carnival.  The girls had a blast!  The picture of the rock-climbing wall is both of them, one on each side.  They each made it to the very top.  It was exciting.  I was quite surprised that Anna was willing to give it a go.  Sometimes she's so reserved with new things, but obviously not with that.   They had face painting, tattoos (the picture with Megan and her teacher), zoo critters, jump inflatables, and tons of kids games.  

Update

Last weekend my family celebrated my mom's 60th birthday by meeting up in Branson and renting a 4 BR cabin.  It was really a great time all together.  We went swimming, played games, watched TV, went to see Noah, went out to eat, and went to SDC together.  It was great!  I love times like that.  I wish we could do it more often.  It just didn't last long enough.   I wish we'd had more time to visit and shop.  The weather was great while we were there too.  I forgot my camera bag again, so I don't have any photos to share.  But I'll always have the good memories!

Then the good times came to a quick halt.  I've been having problems with an umbilical hernia that I had surgery on two years ago.  Unfortunately, I ended up having it operated on again Tuesday.  And I'm just now coming out of the daze it's put me in.  I've had a really hard time coming back into reality.  But I remember it taking me almost a full week last time too.  The anesthesia is just hard for my body to handle.  At least this time I didn't puke my guts out for a week!  So, that's the update on where I've been.