Happy Easter

Easter is one of my favorite holidays. I love what it stands for, the newness of Spring, and the fun we have, as a family, getting together. I'm traveling to Ozona tomorrow for Ryan's birthday party and then we will have our normal Easter lunch and egg hunt Sunday. I'm so excited about seeing everyone!

I hope all of you have a very Happy Easter!

Love,
Steph.

Happy 30th Anniversary Twylah and Tony!

On March 23rd Twylah and Tony will celebrate 30 years of marriage. What a wonderful milestone! Lacretia and Melonie hosted a dinner celebration Saturday night in Ozona. We had a yummy dinner of brisket and all the trimmings and lots of fun! With 4 boys around it is always entertaining! Melonie had a beautiful cake made, which Ryan could not wait to eat. He talked about it all day. It was great to use as incentive (not bribery) :). "Ryan if you smile for the camera you can have cake", "Ryan if you eat your dinner you can have cake", it worked every time! :)

It was a great day! I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the love these two wonderful people share. Twylah and Tony, I hope you have a wonderful anniversary Monday! Love you!!

The beautiful and tasty cake.

30 years looks good on the two of you!

Ryan, Mel, Tony, Twylah and Lacretia

Ryan, Mel, Steph., Lacretia and Twylah

Twylah cutting the cake.

FINALLY! I get cake...mmm

Ryan with his piece of cake.

Ryan loves his cousin Coltyn! Either that or he's beating him up, who knows!

What cute brothers! Coltyn (8) and Anthony (10)

Poor Riley had an earache and didn't feel well.

Ahh...this is what I call relaxed!

Ollie's favorite sleeping position...

Cracks me up everytime I see him sleeping this way!

Have a great weekend!

Things we keep...

I received this forward the other day and thought I would share it with you, my friends.

Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a housedress, lawn mower in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep. It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that re-fixing, renewing, I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew there'd always be more. But then my mother died, and on that clear summer's night, in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any more. Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and goes away...never to return. So... While we have it... it's best we love it.... And care for it.... And fix it when it's broken..... And heal it when it's sick. This is true... For marriage.... old cars... children with bad report cards..... Dogs and cats with bad hips.... And aging parents... And grandparents. We keep them because they are worth it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a best friend that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.There are just some things that make life important, like people we know who are special.... And so, we keep them close!

Since losing Mama and Papa, I understand this better! I'm so grateful to have friends and family that will care for me, love me, fix me, and heal me. Just wanted to let you all know how special you are to me and how much I love you!

Steph.

Worry no more...well, at least not all the time!

Most of you that really know me know that I'm somewhat of a worry wart. I worry about everything! I even worry, when I don't have anything to worry about. I love to watch the show Jon and Kate Plus 8. At one of my outings to Target the other day, I found their book, Multiple Bles8ings (yes, the 8 is supposed to be there). I love it!! As most of you know, TJ and I have been trying to get pregnant for some time now. It has been very frustrating! I've gone through so many emotions: excitement, worry, sadness, frustration, anger. Now, I think I'm numb to it all. Or, maybe I'm just figuring out that I have absolute no control over our situation. See, along with worrying about everything, I like to be in control of everything! Maybe the worrying issue and control issue go hand in hand, who knows. One of my biggest fears is the unknown. I'm not a fan of surprises, I need to be in the know! Well...maybe not about everything, but everything that is going to affect my life. So many times people have told me to let it go, God's in control. I know He is, I do, but I just have a hard time letting things go. Now, I really think I am letting go. Maybe I'm not numb, I'm just finally giving my worries, about not getting pregnant, to God. So, back to the book, Kate quotes bible scriptures all through the book. Many of the scriptures she quotes while describing her fears and frustrations of trying to conceive have really comforted me. It is a great book and I recommend it to all. One scripture really caught my eye and made me realize that I need to live for today and today alone:



Matthew 6:34

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own"



I'm not going to say that I won't ever worry, because I will, but I'm going to focus on today and enjoy the gifts that God has given me. I have hope that He will bless TJ and me one day with a beautiful son or daughter. Until then, I'm going to open my heart to Him more and listen to what He has to say and really try to let go of what I can't control, like the unknown...



I'm sure I've bored you with my ramblings...sorry! It makes me feel better to share my thoughts with you, my friends! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Welcome Home President and Mrs. Bush

In January of 2001, President and Mrs. Bush's last stop before leaving for the inauguration in Washington D.C. was Midland. It was my second year teaching, the Principal decided that they would send a group of students. I really wanted to go, but being the low man on the totem pole, I didn't get to. Well, when I heard that he was coming "home" to Midland after the inauguration last week, I wasn't going to miss it. Lucky for me, MISD decided to have an early release day allowing students and teachers to have the opportunity to go downtown to see "W". A friend that I teach with and I left school a little before 2:00, stood in line to go through security for about 10 minutes, and then we waited and stood and waited and stood some more. I didn't wear the most comfortable shoes, so you can imagine what my feet and legs felt like, but it was worth it! We had great entertainment: the high school bands, a couple of church choirs, the Gaitlin Brothers, Lee Greenwood (hearing him sing "Proud to Be an American" was amazing!), and Rodney Atkins. Then around 3:30 or so, the emcee announced that Air Force One (not named that anymore) was going to do a fly over so that the President could see the crowd of 30,000. Oh my goodness, that was the most awesome thing! To see a huge plane fly over you, going so low was heart stopping! It gives me chills just typing about it. :) Before President and Mrs. Bush arrived we heard speeches from local politicians and Governor Perry. The President and his entourage showed up around 5:30. He spoke for about 20 minutes. I'm very proud to say that in his speech he mentioned Sam Houston Elementary. This is where he went to elementary school and is where I currently teach. When I got to school the next day, my students were so excited that he mentioned Sam Houston. They were even able to quote exactly what he said "This ol' boy who went to school at Sam Houston Elementary has spent the night at Buckingham Palace". I was impressed! It was a great afternoon, a once in a lifetime experience! Maybe not though, maybe I have taught, am currently teaching, or will teach a future President. You know George still keeps in touch with his Second Grade teacher...

I've posted a few pictures below. My friend Jennifer, who has a blog "the Yeager's", has some awesome pictures. She had better tickets than I did and was actually able to sit in the bleachers behind him.

If you look through the tree you can see Air Force One

Pictures from Christmas in San Angelo

Here are pictures from our Christmas in San Angelo. Can you tell who our weekend revolved around? But how could we help it, Thayne is precious and so much fun!

Thayne and Uncle T.J. not so happy about the
Tech game.

Sweet Thayne

Wow...doesn't he look like he is in awe?

Hmm...I wonder what this is?