Monday, August 31, 2009

Never Say Never (Part 1)

How many times have you heard the quote Never Say Never??

This summer that quote became our families life quote.

I am a planner. Everything is calculated, planned and scheduled.

One thing I don't do well is CHANGE the plan.

And my life's plan was to:

1. build a house we would live in until our children were grown with children of their own
2. attend a church close to home that we LOVED
3. send our kids to a Private k-12 school

I had succeeded in implementing my plan and I had no intentions to change or alter that plan EVER.

It worked. It was comfortable. It was safe.

And *my* plan ran like a well oiled ship.

My world revolved within a 7 mile radius and it was RARE that I went out of that radius. I *LIKED* my plan!!

The Lord however, had other plans.

He slowly began reveling His plan to me at the end of May. It was subtle at first though so I quickly dismissed it.

In early June He became louder and a little more persistent.

I was sure that I was hearing the Lord wrong or misinterpreting the message so I began to fast and pray and seek council from 3 trusted and deeply admired friends.

The more I fasted and prayed, the more God spoke, and the more He spoke the more angry and frustrated I became.

He wanted to CHANGE *my* plan.

He was asking me to withdraw my kids from the small (everybody knows everybody) private school that I had intended them to be in until they graduated. A school where the Gospel is taught in every subject. A school where Chapel and Bible are part of the curriculum. A school where they prayed openly. A school where Christ was the center and the focus. A school where I *thought* He would want me to send my kids.

And the worse part He was asking me to do this without explanation, without reason, without justification.

All He would say was "trust me".

I cried, I pleaded, I ran from God. I wanted to be disobedient. I was angry.

I wanted answers, I wanted to know why and I wanted a plan...

(more tomorrow)

Saturday, August 29, 2009

#9


#9 ~

Yeah, He's Mine!

And we're proud :-)

Game Time

Today was our Jamboree for the PSLAA football league and when I say it was a 1000 degrees out I'm UNDERexaggerating.

I think today was the HOTTEST day in the world EVER!!!

But the kids had their game face on and nothing was gonna stop them from a great day kicking off a great season of FOOTBALL.

Check it out:






Friday, August 28, 2009

School Lunch

Today I decided I would have lunch at the school with the kids.

It's been 17 years since I have eaten school food and the temptation (sadly) got the better of me :-).

So at 9:55AM I got in the car and headed to the school to eat lunch with my Growing Garcia's at 10:15AM.

My mouth had been watering for the old school classic ~ PIZZA.

Yeah, let me just say school pizza is NOT what it used to be. Or maybe my standards are just MUCH higher these days.

Thankfully the company I had join me for lunch was outstanding!!!


My Girl, Madison and I

My Boy ~ he might kill me for taking this picture later


The BCF (Best Cousins Forever :-)


My sister and beautiful niece

5th Day of School

TGIF!!!

We made it through our first week of Public School ;-).

Its no secret that I had a lot of anxiety and stress over the monumental decission we made this summer to pull our kids from their small private school and send them to the wide open world of Public School.

(I do intend to blog about that journey and share what the Lord did in my heart this summer)

But for now I am just rejoicing over a great week and having great kids!!

I'm telling you - he IS taller everyday!!!

Sadie ~ LOVES that she can wear jeans!!!
How do they know to pose with their hands on their hips??

Happy Friday!!

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Me Bag


For Homework this week Sadie had to put together a "Me Bag"

The bag was filled with items that told a little about her

These are the items she chose:

1. Her journal ~ to show the notes she and her friends have written.
2. Her sea shells ~ to show what she like to collect.
3. Her Ace Bandage ~ to tell all about her many injuries and her hope to be a doctor.
4. A picture of her un-repaired cleft palate ~ to show what her mouth used to look like
5. Her Bible ~ because she believe its import to read the word of God every day. :-)

4th Day of School

And still going strong!! :) Thank you Lord!!!

All three of the kids are really enjoying their new school, loving their teachers and making new friends.

They have made this transition (for me) VERY smooth and VERY positive.

Here's another day and another round of oh so cute pics of my Growing Garcia's.

Is it me or does he get taller with each passing day?



Thinkin' the girls are getting rather comfortable in front of the camera...


I can't get enough pics of these guys together ~ LOVE IT!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

3rd Day of School

And here we are...

The 3rd day of school...

So dang cute ~ working on the hair ~ but she is 7 and is adamant she CAN do it :)


Have you met "Hollywood"?

My little man ~ looks more and more grown up every day :-(

I hope they never grow old of posing with one another.

DIVAS

Need I Say More???




Tuesday, August 25, 2009

2nd Day of School...

Today was the 2nd Day of school.

And once again the kids woke up bright and early (6am!) and eager to get to their new school.

Check 'em out:

Miss Madison ~ pretty in pink

Tall, proud and HAPPY Sadie

Doggone Handsome Ethan!!


The Growing Garcia's together

I am SO happy to report all is going well. WAY BETTER than I had expected. What a sweet gift from the Lord after a truly hard journey getting here.

*More on that later.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Mom's Morning Out...

SO what do all the moms do after they drop the kiddos off at school?

Go out to breakfast of course.

1st Day of School

Today is the first day back to school for my kiddos.

I'm not sure if I am happy or sad but one thing is for sure I AM PROUD!!!


Madison off to 1st grade
Ethan too ~ is off to 1st grade

and Sadie is a big girl in 2nd grade
The Growing Garcia's ~ excited for the first day.

A little car decorating
To welcome the kids back to school

we are looking forward to a GREAT year!!!