The Original Three

On a Saturday not too long ago I enjoyed dinner with three of my adult children. I tend to think of them as "The Original Three" because they were our first three biological children before we began the adoption journey. Siblings in our family are spread out from age thirty-nine to age fourteen. (Because some of our children came via adoption, two of our children are actually older than "The Original Three".) Consequently, our youngest children only lived with "The Original Three" a year to a few years before this trio flew the nest. Even today, with families and busy lives of their own, they still remain tremendously committed to our big  family! Thank you, God, for "The Original Three"! My heart is full with gratefulness that I have the privilege of being their mom!

Old Texas House......Happy Halloween

The Old Texas House hails from Gonzales, Texas. While visiting there last weekend, I discovered this wonderful old Texas house all ready for trick or treaters!

Tiny Texas Houses!!

Last weekend, I traveled to Austin to visit with three of my adult children....Stephen, Alison May, and Suzanne. Saturday morning, Alison May, Suzanne, and I drove to Luling, Texas. Luling is the home of a company named Tiny Texas Houses, a totally appropriate name because, well, the houses are Tiny. At least, the houses are much tinier than the houses I am familiar with! Check out www.tinytexashouses.com to read about the vision of this company's owner, Brad Kittel. Basically, the idea is that we Americans live with much too much materially, and our lives and environment would be simpler and happier if we lived with much less. Kittel uses salvaged building materials to construct these tiny houses. This is such an interesting concept to me. I have always been interested in lifestyles that are different from "normal". Settling down in a Tiny Texas House would definitely fit the "different" sort of living bill!
Check out these pictures.

Thoughts on the Midlothian TKD Tournament

This past Saturday, my TKD do-jo held its' annual TKD invitational tournament. Other schools from Texas and Oklahoma participated. I have to say that I am disappointed in my performance.  I just recently learned my new pattern,Choong-Moo. Choong-Moo requires me to perform a 360 degree jump turn. Needless to say, it is going to be several months to a year of persevering before I can complete that turn. So....I didn't perform my pattern up to the standard needed for competition. Next time, I won't enter a tournament unless I know I can perform the required pattern consistent with competition standards. This was my first tournament where I didn't place first, second or third, and I was sad. On the other hand, I left the tournament wiser than when I started. Watching the younger black belts with their crisp kicks and punches helps me to aim higher and farther in my pursuit of TaeKwon-Do.

In All Seriousness

Horribly bad things happen to people. There is no way anyone can escape this fate. Of course, mentally we can understand that it is through pain that we emotionally and spiritually grow becoming better people. But, in the moment, that pain can be an awful place to be. Bad things have happened to me...my husband....and unfortunately, my children. It's quite devastating to watch one of your children suffer. For myself, I've spent all of my parenting life hoping and praying that nothing too terrible would happen to any one of my children. But....it has and will, I'm sure, continue to happen. But......I am a spiritual person and know that God loves my children more than I do. As a parent, I have to trust that He is in control and will be there with us though it all.
In large families, difficult life lessons are bigger just from the fact that there are more people having life experiences. My husband says that large families are a microcosum of society. I don't know about that, but sometimes it certainly does seem like that to me.
As a mom, I hardly have time to catch my breath before something else upsetting happens. But, even though the stormy times seem nonstop, I realize on the flipside, the super extraordinarily happy times are nonstop as well.....and bigger just from the fact that we are a large family.
Thank you God for taking care of us......through the good and the bad.

Scrabble......Thou Shalt Nots....

Last night was my husband, Tim's, and my date night. We had a stay-at-home date, and after watching a short documentary on DVD, we spent two extremely long hours playing Scrabble on the computer. Now, as everyone in my family knows, playing board games with Tim can be daunting. It's no exaggeration to say that Tim wins almost all of the time with everyone he plays!......Tim grew up playing board games; he loves the competition and thrill of the win.....Tim is the Lance Armstrong of board game athletes!!


Now, rarely do Tim and I complete a game of Scrabble in less than two hours. Why, you ask....well, because Tim has to "study" every move and be absolutely sure he is making the best move for the most points possible. I used to threaten to place a five minute hour glass next to him to keep him from stretching the agony of my wait time out too long.


In order for me to continue to play with Tim, I have written a list of ten "Playing Scrabble With The Wife" rules that must be adhered to for continued Scrabble happiness...


1. Thou shalt not hum while playing Scrabble.
2.Thou shalt not be a Smartypants!!
3.I repeat....Thous shalt not be a Smartypants!!!!
4.Thou shalt  not, under any circumstances, laugh or be perceived as laughing at your opponent!
5. Thou shalt not bob one's head up and down.....or sideways...while thinking...
6. Thou shalt not look so satisfied when one is winning.
7. Thou shalt not regard any single gain of less than twenty points as unworthy.
8. Thou shalt not fidget while one's opponent is concentrating.
9. Thou shalt not mentally make words out of your opponent's letters.
10. Thou shalt not say upon winning by seventy points, "That was a rousing game, don't you think?"

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Black Stripes

On August 19, three years after beginning as a white belt, I tested and received my black stripes in TKD! I am so appreciative of my son, Taylor, for being my partner. Taylor is a first Dan Black Belt. He has helped me so much, I can't even begin to tell you! Without his support and the support of my family, instructors, and fellow students, I certainly would not have made it this far. Now, I'm on the final part of my journey to first Dan Black Belt. I'm thinking it will take me a year, mainly, because I want to have a really good test. There's a whole lot to improve on both physically and mentally.