Spelling Bee Champ

A couple of weeks ago RCS held a Spelling Bee for the older grades. The second graders were allowed to watch it, but wanted to participate. So, the second grade teachers decided to have a second grade spelling bee. There are about 50 students in the second grade classes, and most were very excited about the upcoming spelling bee! M had a list of about 150 words to study to get prepared. So, the day finally arrived for all the second graders to go to the library and in front of their parents participate in a spelling bee. M was nervous more so about the parents being there to watch than actually having to spell the words. Spelling has been one of M's strongest points in school. He loves spelling, reading, and history. So, this spelling bee was really important to him. He studied the words everyday for almost 2 weeks. We found it funny that he was this into the spelling bee that he felt the need to study everyday considering he has not missed a word on a spelling test all year including the bonus words. When the spelling bee began there were around 5o students. Oh, just to add another side note L was sick so T was at home with her. So, we were texting every minute updating M's progress in the Bee. First I told him M made the top 20. Next, M made the top 15. Then, M made the top 10. Oh, but wait he wasn't done yet. Next, top 5. At this point M seemed to be getting more confident, and I started getting more nervous. I could not look at him while he was spelling the words. I knew how much time he had spent studying the words, and how important it was to him. So, the fact that he had made the top 5 was exciting. Then, he was in the top 4, 3, 2. Holy Cow! He was one of the final two! He and another child went back and forth almost 20 times spelling words. The other child misspelled a word and M got it right to WIN THE SPELLING BEE!!!! He was so excited and I was texting T as fast as I could to let him know that M WON! All that time he spent studying had paid off. I am one proud mommy. Just to add one more side note while the first 30 students had four and five letter words for their first round. M's first word was grandparent. This may not seem like a big word to some but when everyone up to this point has had a short word to spell this kind of word surprised me, but M stepped forward spelled it without hesitation, and stepped back to his spot. I am so proud of him.

M waiting to spell his final word as the rest of the second graders and parents look on.

I don't know if he was more excited about winning the Spelling Bee or the fact that he won a book!

Just to Catch Up

October was a very busy month for us. So, instead of writing about what all has been going on with us. I am going to do a picture update. Most of the October was spent on the ballfield with M and L.

L down and ready.

Batter Up!

M catching. This is his favorite thing to do.

This was a special picture for M. As soon as I had taken this picture M hit the ball to the fence for a HOMERUN!!!!!

L's pumpkin. This was the first year she was interested enough that she helped carve the pumpkin not just cleaning out the guts (which by the way is her favorite part of carving pumpkins)

M's pumpkin that he carved himself. He was so proud of his carving of a bat. It looked really neat at night.

TRICK-OR-TREAT! My beautiful princess and the cool Darth Vader on Halloween.

Is it just me?

Okay so the past several weeks I have been dreading Sundays. I love going to church. I love my church family.I love all the family members that we are at church with. I love that my children get to sit with their cousins on Sunday mornings which helps keep their bond strong. But, lately I have been dreading Sunday mornings because I am tired of going to church. I am going to try my best to explain this so that everyone can understand it and it does not sound completely horrible. I have been feeling like when I am getting up on Sunday mornings to go to church I am just going through the motions. I feel like when we are singing the songs at church that the closeness with God is slipping away. I stand and sing but I am not really feeling the words. Has anyone else ever gone through this? I feel like when I am there my mind is shifting to other places. Is it Satan working against me or am I just doing something wrong? I feel like lately I am losing my bond and closeness that I have always had. When I talked to T about it he just said that he did not know what was going on but that he does not feel the same way that I have been. I feel like lately I am just going through the motions because that is what I am suppose to be doing. I teach Sunday School. I love teaching Sunday School but I feel like if I try to say that I don't want to do it anymore that I am being looked at like something is wrong with my. Like that is my duty since I signed for it a few years ago. I feel like I am losing my place at the church. I felt like I use to have a closeness with God when I was there. Now, I just feel like I am there and I am no longer needed in the areas that I use to be involved in. I hope this is making some sense as I am just trying to work through my feelings. Don't get me wrong I love my church and I love going to worship. So, my question is when you are getting into a funk where you just feel like you are going through the motions how do you find your way out? I can tell that I have started to withdrawl myself from things going on at church and it makes me sick that my children are seeing me do this. I was dreading going to church last week and L came into my room and said mommy arent you so excited that we are going to church so we can read our Bible, and hear about Jesus? It was like a punch in the gut. Why am I not that excited about going to church? I hope that I have explained this well enough for it to be understood while I am venting to try and get some sort of a better understanding of what is going on.

Tina Morgan Hall Benefit

Several years ago my family was blessed enough to meet the Hall Family. John, Tina, Levi, and Gauge. Right away we knew that they were going to be a great family to be around. John and Tina loved each other so much, they loved their family, and they loved the Lord. Levi and Matthew got along very well and loved to play on the same baseball team. Gauge and Leann enjoyed having a friend their own age to play with during Levi and Matthews games. Several months ago we found out that Tina's brain tumor had began growing again, and treatments were not helping. Tina recently lost her 8 year battle with cancer and now leaves behind a husband (John) , Levi (age 9), and Gauge (age 4). This is a family who now needs our help. On Friday September 18, 2009 from 11:00 - 7:00 pm there will a benefit at Red Cross Baptist Church. The Christian Cooking Convoy is preparing BBQ Chicken Plates. A $7 donation per plate is requested. You can eat in or take out. There is delivery available with a minimum order of 5 plates. If you would like to purchase a ticket for a plate of BBQ Chicken to help out this family please let me know. You can email me at doublemlm@yahoo.com. This has been a very tough time for John and his two sons and they could really use your prayers also. Thank You Again.

Time Flies!!!

I have some posts that I am hoping to have up tomorrow. Leann turned five last Thursday! My baby is starting kindergarten tomorrow. The kids are excited to be going back to school, but not excited to be getting up early in the morning. I will post school pics as well as birthday party pics soon.

Which way do I go?

I guess this is going to be first actual post about something. I have had a rough week and there is are some issues weighing on my heart. So, I thought I will blog about it as a way to vent. I have been in college working towards being a teacher for several years now. I was originally scheduled to do my student teaching this fall. Actually I was suppose to start on Wednesday. I have been really excited and looking forward to this. However, there were some things that happened over the summer and as a result I received an email last night telling me that I am most likely not going to be able to student teach this semester. As a result graduation will also be pushed back a semester. The past 24 hours have been a roller coaster of emotions. I have been angry, frustrated, disappointed. One minute I am crying and the next I am okay. I did not get much sleep last night. I have prayed a lot over the past several hours. Here is my thing I am a control freak. I know that I am and I am okay with that. What I am having a hard time with. I know that my creator knows everything that is going to happen in my life. I would just really appreciate an outline or something. Why is it so hard to turn it all over to God? I know that God has a plan for me. Last night I finally decided to take a step back and try to give it all to God. I woke up this morning and left for school. I did not really talk to Travis about anything that was going on until I completed the exams I had this morning. It was the strangest thing. I woke up with this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. As I drove to school a peace came over me like nothing I have ever felt before. I keep getting this feeling like someone is telling me over and over the timing is not right for what you are wanting to do. I have been so upset about not being able to student teach but now I think I am okay with it. I keep feeling like I am being told to be patient, not yet, and I have a feeling in my gut like there is something else in store for me that is going to need my attention more. When I left school I called Travis to tell him I was on my way home. He asked how my test went. Before I could tell him anything about the feelings I was having he said I have this strange feeling that the timing is not right for you to do student teaching. He said something does not feel right about it. I then proceeded to tell him about the feelings I was having. I am in total shock. Some of the phrases he said about what he felt he was being told were the exact things I was feeling. While I was on the phone with him I just lost it. How is it that he had no idea about me staying up and turning it all over to God, the feelings I was having, any of it. I had not told him any of it. Yet, he was getting the same answers I am getting. How AWESOME is my God? I am not sure what is in store for my future right now because there are a lot of things going on. I can say though that I am excited to see what God has in store for me. There are a few ideas that I have been throwing around in my head for a while now and maybe one of those ideas is what I am supposed to be pursuing. I know this is a lot of rambling but I needed to try and get this off my chest.

In the Beginning

I am still learning how to do this whole blogging thing so bear with me this may be a rough ride. This is a little more confusing than I was hoping it would be. Thank goodness I have a great SIL who is still willing to answer her phone after all the questions. Thanks Brandy. So, I guess I will just wait and see where this blog takes me. I promise I will try and get this thing figured out before too long.