Texas, We are here!

Just wanted to let all of you know that the kids and I are in Texas right now. We arrived yesterday with a pretty easy flight, and will be spending the next few days with Justin's family. We will then head to Magnolia to be with my family and have the yearly Rehms' family reunion. I will post pictures as soon as I can, as long as I remember to take some! Hope everyone is doing well.

New Bathroom, we did it!

I am very excited to say that the kids bathroom turned out good. I really like it. It is defiantly not professional, but for my first time of painting cabinets, I was very pleased. It was hard work, but the kids like it! Here are a few pictures:

Before:

This is the only before picture I could find, we forgot to take pictures before we started. As you can see, the cabinets were white with blue doors. There is another cabinet above the toilet, also with blue doors. The mirror above the sink was blue with white splatter painted on top. The walls were just white. (Please excuse my naked boy, but at least his bum is cute!)

Angle from the door when you walk in.

The mirror and light fixture covers are now white. Justin also installed a new faucet in both bathrooms, good job babe. There is also a new light fixture above the mirror that Justin installed.

White cabinets much better.

The green on the walls is a little brighter than I intended, but hey, anything is better than white. There are two different shades of green in the shower curtain, and the color I picked for the walls is supposed to be in between the two. Picking out colors is not easy.

For our first major home project, I am delighted on how it turned out. I am sure we will do things differently next time, but we shall see how well the paint holds up.

Painting, Painting, and a Dirty House!

I am still around, very much around. I am in the home stretch of painting the kids bathroom and bathroom cabinets. I only have a few touch ups left, the walls are green from white, and the cabinets are white, which there are a million colors of white the actual color is called betsey's linen, they were white with blue doors. After two coats of primer and two coats of paint, they look much better, we shall see later today after everything dries.
My house is a mess and it is driving me crazy. Oh, how my friend Lori lived like this for a while while she painted her kitchen cabinets, kudos to her. Tomorrow everything will be finished and the day will be spent cleaning the house. What a wonderful fun activity to do on Saturday!! Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Just a thought to make you laugh, yesterday while painting, Noah ate a mud pie, literally, he also climbed up the ladder to slide down the slide, that is way too big for him. I think he isn't going to be scared of anything! Here we go, eyes in the back of my head!

A review on some of the acceptable sins I have been reading in my book coming soon!

Bowling Anyone?

After getting the Wii, Karis, Justin, and I have been talking about going bowling for real. I am the current high bowler on the Wii, so Justin wanted to make sure he was still the supreme "real" bowler, which he most definitely is!! Karis was so very excited that she talked about it all day. Nancy was so sweet to come and watch Noah for us, so Karis thought it was even more exciting to go somewhere with both of us by herself. Here is a rundown of our fun time in pictures. Hope you enjoy, we did!

Karis and my feet with our bowling shoes on. I was surprised that they had some small enough for her, she was excited!

Karis is picking up her ball to go bowl, she picked it up two times for two games. She wouldn't let us help her at all.

Carrying her ball to the lane, what big muscles she has!

Stopping and looking down the lane like mommy and daddy do before she rolls the ball. We had gutter rails up so that all her balls would not be gutter balls, it also helped me get a few spares!

Bending down to roll the ball down the lane.

Eagerly watching the ball roll SLOWLY down the lane.

Karis watching Daddy's great form, he had five strikes the first game!

Justin admiring his first strike.

My form isn't too bad, and I did bowl one strike.

And the winner is, JUSTIN, who bowled a 160. I bowled a 123, and Karis bowled a 73 for her first time ever.

What a fun time. We realized how much we missed bowling, but I have to say that I prefer the Wii bowling, since I am the champion at that! Of course, it isn't the real thing, but oh well!

True Adoration!

True adoration: Noah looking at Karis so sweetly and listening as she reads him Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Yes, Karis' hair is wet. Hope you're having a great Tuesday!

The Peacemaker

Justin asked me to read five books this year. I just finished the first one, it took me longer than I had anticipated, but I will still have plenty of time to read the next four. The book I just finished is called The Peacemaker by Ken Sande. I thought I would give a few things that I learned from it and maybe the book would be of interest to you.

Here are my thoughts:

1. The principles behind being a peacemaker are much the same as being a parent. We desire to live at peace with our children, but we have to teach them about sin and forgiveness, which is what a peacemaker does.

2. Conflict "encourages us to look at conflict as an opportunity to glorify God, serve others, and grow to be like Christ." (p. 31).

3. "If at all possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Romans 12:18). There are three types of peace: peace with God, (which can only be attained through the cross, by our acknowledging our sin and our need for a Savior and peace being restored between us and God through Christ's blood), peace with others, and peace with yourself.

4. In order to reconcile conflict with someone, I must search my own heart and "get the log out of my own eye." This is so true when I see my own sin in my children, and God uses them to convict me and cause me to repent of that sin.

5. The practical aspects of how to deal with conflict and what to say are very helpful and have helped me dealing with conflict in my own home.

I would defiently recommend this book to everyone. It is a great resource for anyone who desires to do what God has said, live at peace with all, as much as possible. It also brought me to consider my own heart and how I deal with conflict in my home and with others. I know it will be even more invaluable when my children are older and more conflicts arise between them.

On to book number two: Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.

A Lesson in Integrity

Today I went to Target to get a few things. Karis, Noah and I were all ready to leave, they were strapped in and the car was in reverse, when I realized that my bill seemed a lot cheaper than it should have been. I put the car back in park, got out the receipt and noticed that the cashier forgot to charge me for an item. With a small sign, I turned off the car, turned and explained to Karis that we had to go back in the store. This was how the conversation went:

Karis: Mommy, what are you doing, I am ready to go home.
Me: Karis, we have to go back into Target because the I didn't pay for my shirt.
Karis: But Mommy, I am ready to go.
Me: I know, sweet girl, but we have to be honest and if I leave without paying for this shirt, it is like I am stealing it.
Karis: Okay Mommy, but next time just make sure the lady lets you pay for everything.

So, maybe Karis didn't understand what really happened, but at least she got to see what it means to be honest. I didn't feel very excited about having to unload the kids again to go back in, but I knew that I needed to. I am thankful that by God's grace I was able to teach Karis a very small lesson in integrity today. Noah didn't have a clue, all he knew was that he was getting out of his car seat yet again!

Pictures from Texas!

Here are a few pictures from our last Texas trip, like I said before, I did not take many pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Noah going down and up the stop outside my parents house with Memaw watching and helping him. Karis and Papa John behind him doing her favorite thing: reading books.

Noah's first crocs, target brand. He is showing of his chubby ankles and legs, we call them "kankles."

Sorry Dad, but I had to! Karis and Papa John are supposed to be watching a show together, we see who is doing the watching and who isn't! Those grand kids really tire Papa John out!

We got to eat lunch with Justin's aunt and uncle. His aunt is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. She is doing very well and is awaiting her next cat scan. Mike, Canda, me, Noah, and Karis at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Beaumont, REAL MEXICAN FOOD.

Karis riding the lawn mower with Pop Pop.

Noah posing for pictures in Grammy's bluebonnets. Maybe one day we will actually have a picture without a bib! Isn't he sweet!

Karis and Noah watching Praise baby together, Noah sat for all of five minutes!

Sorry about the lack of pictures, I promise to take more when we go back to Texas in a little over a month.