More Family Fun

Two of my nieces are in town from Texas, so we have been engaging in lots of fun family activities. On Sunday we took the whole crew to the lake. This is Emma with three of her cousins.


Last night we went to the community pool where we swam and had a picnic.



Those same three nieces spent the night and today we went to the county fair with some friends. It was super HOT but we had a great time! And yes we did ride the camel at $4 each.

Life is full of "shoulds"

Ever feel like there are things you should do, but don't for some reason?! Right now I am thinking of lots of things I should be doing instead of typing. I should be taking a nap, cleaning the chipped polish off my toenails, folding laundry, making the wedding reception cards I volunteered to do, looking up some Bible references for my small group, ordering home school supplies for pre-k...the list goes on. But for no better reason than I just don't want to, I blog instead.

It's not that easy with bigger more important decisions. I've had this internal struggle for the past couple of months about taking Emma back to AWANA this year. Although I believe it is a great program overall, the one at my church just isn't run well. Last year I was a volunteer leader and it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to stick with. I came home in tears or pulling my hair out more times than not. If it were just me, I'd say I'm not going back and that would be the end of it. But Emma loved AWANA. I don't want to withold something good from her...but how good was it?

To make a long story short ~ I've been in prayer about this decision for quite a while. This weekend Tim asked Emma what her favorite part of AWANA was...she said "games." He asked her what her favorite Bible verse was...she quickly quoted Ephesians 6:1 - the first verse I ever taught her (she was 2). I began to realize that maybe I was making more of an impact on Emma with Scripture at home than AWANA was doing. And God began to form a plan in my mind and gave me tremendous peace about not going back to AWANA - this year.

All along I have felt like I should take Emma to AWANA because...well for lots of reasons. But in the end God has shown me that there other options. Since I will be home schooling Emma for pre-k, I plan to incorporate weekly Bible verses for memorization along with Bible studies and applications that truly reach her heart. And I am anticipating this to be a really FUN year for us.

My hope is that Emma will rejoin AWANA once she starts elementary school, which means we will be under new leadership. Hopefully I will be able to lead again, with joy and peace and a glad heart. Thank you Lord for delivering from that should.

A Couple of Greats

Emma is really blessed to have 7 great grandparents living right now. This weekend we got to spend time with two of them ~ both of Tim's grandmas. One day we took Grandma Betty Lou to the lake with us ~ along with most of the Wright clan.

Four Generations of Wrights




Another day I took Emma to Grandma Gladys' house ~ along with Tim's mom ~ to pick raspberries and blackberries. Sadly the only picture I got of her was this one. I'm sure she will be thrilled.





And just because it's so cute, I am posting this picture.

Can you believe it?!

I believe I was the recipient of a miracle yesterday. I had this marble-size ganglion cyst on my foot and was scheduled to have it drained today at the doctor ~ with only a 50% chance of that actually working. Well let's back up...

I haven't felt very well for the past couple of months. There have just been several health issues (the cyst being one of them) that I have been dealing with. Well I went to my naturopath in Denver on Tuesday, and she quickly identified the problem and put me on a liver cleanse program. She also said I would benefit from an ion foot bath. Lucky for me ~ my friend Bethany owns one of these machines. So I went to her house yesterday to have a ion foot bath to help detox my liver. It was really cool but nothing spectacular happened...or so I thought.

Later that night I sat down to take a look at the cyst on my foot and IT WAS GONE! All of it! Completely gone! Mind you ~ this wasn't a little cyst. So I wasn't missing it. It really was gone. I called my friend Bethany and she said she had never heard of that happening but she did believe it possible because the foot bath is so powerful to heal! I'd say!

Of course I give GOD all the credit. My naturopath also said I would feel "sicker" for the next couple of days, but the truth is I have felt better the past couple of days than I have felt in months! It has to be a God thing. I was so excited and praising God for this healing that Emma caught the bug and did a "praise the Lord dance." Now that was cute!

I called my doctor's office this morning to cancel the procedure and said, "You're not gonna believe this but..." They were somewhat surprised and said my body must have reabsorbed it. Yeah right! Emma was glad I didn't have to get a needle in my foot. Me too!

Speaking of Emma
I have been away from Emma overnight only 4 times in her 4 years of life. It's just not something we do. Due to the procedure I was gonna have, Emma was gonna spend the night with my mom. Well of course she was too excited for me to tell her that we didn't need to do that anymore. SOOOOOOO ~ I dropped her off this afternoon for a slumber party at Nanny and Papa's house. It was hard for me to leave her. Her parting words were, "I just wish I could stay here several nights." WOW ~ maybe she should get away more often. Sorry baby, I just don't think Mommy can handle it.

What's in a name?

Yesterday I had the rare indulgence of a pedicure! It was so wonderful. I have to admit though, one of my favorite parts of the whole experience is picking out a color of polish based on the fun names that the people at OPI come up with. Up until yesterday my favorite color was "Don't Socrates Me" ~ a vibrant orange color. BUT yesterday I discovered "Chick Flick Berry" and I had a new fave. I loved it for the name, of course, but it is a great shade of red.

While enjoying my foot massage I kept imagining sitting in my theater room with lots of girlfriends, laughing and crying at a great chick flick, eating pizza and ice cream, and painting our toe nails "Chick Flick Berry." I had a conspicuous smile on my face that I'm sure made the nail tech wonder what was wrong with me. Or maybe she sees enough stay-at-home moms and knows how sweet it is to be free for that hour. Speaking of her ~ the nail tech ~ I hope I didn't seem rude. When I get a pedicure I always take a book or magazine. It is one of the few times that I can get in some uninterrupted reading. The other ladies are so chatty ~ but I like to keep my thoughts to myself, sink into that big chair with the massager kneading all my pressure points, and dream about the future.

I always think I should do things like that more often but then again ~ would it bring me as much pleasure if I did it all the time? That time away is just long enough to make me miss Emma, so I was excited to pick her up and show off my new color. She gets very excited to see my new toenail colors although the name is lost on her. She was the closest thing I had to a girlfriend yesterday, so after I showed her my toes we played with play dough instead of watching a chick-flick.

Can you believe I got all that just from the name of my polish?!

Crazy Deer

We find deer in the oddest places around our house. The other day the neighbor informed me that she had seen a deer chewing on my hammock and drinking out of Emma's swimming pool. OK ~ so drinking the water I can understand but chewing on rope?! That's crazy!

Here's a shot of a deer in Emma's sandbox. When I told her about it, Emma acted so dumbfounded. I wish I had a video of her response. It was priceless. The deer around here are so comfortable that you can't hardly run them off. I had to throw rocks at this one to get it out of the sandbox. And now Emma can't play in it until Tim replaces all the sand. I have this healthy fear that deer might carry some strange bugs or diseases. YUCK!!

The price we pay to live on a beautiful hillside ~ pesky deer that most people never get a chance to see up close. I try to enjoy the fact that they are around but it makes growing any kind of flower pretty futile.

Fun was had by all

We just got back from our week at Lake Navajo. What an awesome trip!! The water skiing was awesome, the wake surfing was a blast, the swimming was thrilling, the fireworks were exciting, the trip was an overall blast. I am just gonna post some pics from our trip and let them do the talking.

Nine years and counting...

Today is our 9 year anniversary (happy happy joy joy) and we leave this afternoon for our favorite water ski spot: Lake Navajo. I can't believe how time flies. It seems like yesterday that we were walking down the aisle, or moving into our first apartment, or building our house, or having our first baby. I feel so blessed that God gave me Tim. We have so much fun together, and I would truly rather be with my man than anyone else. Isn't that what being in love is all about?! Knowing that every experience is better when spent with the one that holds your heart?

We will be celebrating our anniversary trip with the other love of my life - Emma - and my younger brother Tomy (you're awesome brother man) and our dear friends Pat and Stacy who love water skiing as much as we do (you rock)! This anniversary day is just another reminder of how blessed I am. If this were all there were to my life, I'd be as content as can be. BUT I know God isn't done with me yet. I can't wait to see what comes next.

As a shout out to my incredible water skiing hunk of a husband, here are some pics from our water time last weekend.




I included one of me and Emma on the tube because I love our expressions.


Happy Anniversary honey! You make it so easy to be a submissive wife. I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much!

Not Again!

I got hit with another stomach bug over the weekend then Emma got it last night. It's bad enough seeing your baby sick and trying to take care of her while you are sick, but this came just as we are preparing to leave for vacation tomorrow. Five days on the lake won't be any fun with a stomach bug. I've been praying like crazy! And I realized ~ Emma has complete faith when we pray that Jesus will heal her. I pray and think about back up plans in case we don't get well. No wonder we are supposed to have the faith of a child. So today I am trusting that God knows what we need and will help us heal so we can enjoy this long awaited vacation.

On another note, Emma has recently learned to play computer games. One day she just asked so I sat down to show her how it all works. Within 5 minutes she had it figured out. Now ~ just a few weeks later ~ she can navigate PBSKids.org on her own! That is amazing to me! I didn't learn to use a computer until 7th grade. Well I have to go because it's Emma's turn to use the computer and she has been waiting so patiently. :)