Dean posted this. See what he's up against?

This is Zoey.

Oh What A Saturday!

Saturdays are traditionally my ONE day to sleep in during the school year. And I usually do sleep in. Not today. For some reason I was awake before 6 ... as in AM! Maybe because I am getting a cold and beginning to feel miserable. Maybe because I knew we had a ton to do. Maybe because I have to get invitations done for a cookie exchange. Who knows. Anyways, I was up early and hit the ground running. Highlights of our day were ...

-Going to Target. Got the rest of the things needed for Torrey's "bin" for the play. She puts all of her items in the rubbermaid bin and then it won't get lost. Needless to say her bin is pink. We also found a small Christmas tree to put up on the guest bathroom ... we are so looking forward to having my parents here this year!

-Went to Hobby Lobby and got a pack of paper for 66% off along with a Gooseberry Patch cookbook for 66% off ... SCORE!

-Took Torrey to Ulta to get makeup for the play. Overwhelming for a girl who doesn't really wear makeup. Torrey has been begging for makeup FOREVER. So, when she sat in the girl's chair for a makeover (and a tutorial for me!) she was thrilled. We were supposed to get fake eyelashes, but, little girl has enough eye lashes for the state of NY, so we are going to pretend we have them and not say anything. She did look cute ... here's hoping I can recreate the look for Thursday night!

-Went to the grocery store (with Torrey in full makeup ... she was mortified and asked more than once if I could bring her home!)

Somewhere in the course of all of this, we made the decision to get another puppy. You read that correctly! Little Zoey will be coming home to our crazy zoo on November 30th. She is a black and tan Cavalier that we were offered at half price because of Zack's hip problem. Call us crazy. Or stupid. But, she so cute. And, we are suffering from amnesia because we can't remember what it was like when Zack was an itty bitty puppy. Now ... how to tell the cats.

Tonight Torrey has a pink party and Dean and I are going out to dinner and to work on some Christmas shopping. I am pleased to say that the box to Florida will be leaving on Monday ... I am so proud of myself!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I will try ... I still have to finish up report cards and lesson plans.

Not My Choice ... But He's My President

It's been a week since the election and I have meant to post this sooner. I am not ashamed to say I did not vote for President Elect Barack Obama. He was not my choice ... but, on January 20th he will become my president (Happy Birthday Dean! Just what you wished for!) I am thankful for a country that has a peaceful transitioning between presidents. I am thankful for a country that gives me the opportunity to vote for who I want and not tell me who I have to vote for. I am thankful for a country who says anyone can be president regardless of skin color (we should be so proud as a country for this moment in History) I am thankful that as a woman I was allowed to vote ... 100 years ago that was not the case! I am thankful. With the priviledge of voting comes responsibility. Just because "my guy" didn't win doesn't mean I now get to sulk for 4 years ... oh no. My job for the next 4 years is to pray, pray, pray for our president. I am especially praying that he surrounds himself with wise counselors. I am praying that the enormity of who he became on November 4th causes him to seek God with all his heart. I am praying for his safety. Oh how I am praying! If God could take Saul of Tarsus and turn him into Paul ... just think what he could do with our president! All Christians should be praying for our president ... and asking God to send our country another Ronald Reagan for 2012!

Seriously, I Don't Make This Stuff Up!

Torrey has a part in the Middle School play, "Bye Bye Birdie". Yesterday at lunch 4 of the cast members came at the end of lunch to perform "One Boy" for the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd Graders. It was so good ... until the kiss. Imagine if you will an innocent kiss on the cheek in front of 5, 6, 7 and 8 year olds. I'm sure you heard the gags from where you are. My class was especially grossed out ... Beautiful Bella was seen rubbing her eyes and proclaiming "My eyes! My eyes!" Seriously. Some days are better than any comedy routine. Such is my life!

Um, I Know I am a Day Late!

Not sure what happened yesterday that I didn't get around to posting this past weeks tidbits ... there really aren't too many to post.

-Torrey's days on the swim team were short lived. It really was too much for her/us with the play. And, there are practices every day of Christmas break ... my parents will be here and then Mike and Jess ... we would like to see our family at some point!

-4 nights of play practice this week. Until 6pm. With Houston traffic, that means we don't get home until 7pm. Good grief.

-I am committing myself to walking every night to help relieve some of the stress of a certain friend in my class. Otherwise I will be "committing myself", if you know what I mean.

-I have started gathering recipes for Thanksgiving. Every year at this time I think wouldn't it be smart of me to type out the recipes and keep them in one binder so I am not searching through every cookbook I own for the recipes I need. We will see if it happens this year!

-The check is in the mail ... for the repairs to the house. The roof damage turned out to be non-existent and the rest of it will be a pretty easy fix. Someone is coming out to the house this week. Sorry Kelly, we won!

-Our church is hosting the Texas Southern Baptist convention. On Tuesday night, they will be commissioning their largest group of missionaries ... over 300. I did not realize that if you go out with IMB, you do not have to raise support ... Southern Baptist churches give to take that burden off of those who have been called to go. Dean leaned over to me and whispered "They are babies" when the group of them stood up. Perhaps. Or, maybe we are old. I will go with them being babies!

-And, another neat thing occured at church today. Travis Cottrell was there and he lead worship with our new choir director who is finishing up seminary or college in California ... he doesn't commute every week, but he was there today. The choir and Travis did an amazing special music. Goosebumps. So, today our worship leader was from Tennessee, our choir director from California and the choir from Texas ... how did they do what they did? Only God. Only God. Who, by the way, had to have been worshipping with us today. Seriously ... He was there!

-Dean and I watched "Get Smart" ... thought it would be funnier. Not so. Stick with "The Office" Steve Carrell. Stick with "The Office".

OK, I guess that is it. We did get to talk to my parents on the phone yesterday which was an unexpected surprise. They are loving their time in Israel. We do miss them terribly, however! I need to make a video of Torrey to post on the blog ... I am so stealing the idea from Jen!

Did 'ja Vote?

In most campaigns on election day, Dean is heard to say (often!) ... "If you vote my way, vote early and vote often! If you vote the other way, vote Thursday!" We learned in the 2000 election how important our vote was ... we were the deciding vote after all! (Hey! I waited in line for over an hour, with a 4 year old, at a water reclamation plant that smelled like raw sewage and was attacked by mosquitoes. Don't say it wasn't our vote that won the election!) Tonight we are on the eve of the election ... and I am not nervous of what tomorrow holds. Why? Because God already knows the answer. God already has THE plan figured out. God has chosen the man who will lead our country for the next 4 years ... for better or for worse. Our church published a list of things that WILL happen no matter who is elected President tomorrow ...

10. The Bible will still have all the answers.
9. Prayer will still work.
8. The Holy Spirit will still move.
7. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
6. There will still be God-annointed preaching.
5. There will still be singing of praise to God.
4. God will still pour out His blessing to His people.
3. There will still be room at the cross.
2. Jesus will still love you.
1. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him!

We still pray for God's perfect person for this time in our country. Love or hate George W. Bush, no other man could have stood on September 11th and kept our country from crumbling. No one else could have stood on top of a fire truck or on a baseball mound and brought hope to this country. He was God's man for that time in our country. We pray that no matter who it is, that he would be so humbled that he would seek God's wisdom. We pray that whoever it is will be wise enough to protect our country and wise enough to lead our country ... fairly. We selfishly pray for wisdom in the area of taxes. We pray that whoever would continue to stand behind Israel ... tonight my parents are there and we pray that the world will continue to see the arms of America hugging that patch of land tightly. We pray that this decision will not drag out for months ... but rather that there is a clear winner (tonight it was predicted that it could be a split of the electoral college ... which means that the Senate would decide our president ... a Senate that is divided in half ... which would give the deciding vote to Dick Cheney. Perhaps poetic justice?!) For 2 years we have waited for tomorrow ... I think I am ready for the longest presidential campaign in the history of the world to be over! Until tomorrow!

Saturdy Tid-Bits #1

This will be a new weekly post ... full of "life" moments from our week designed to keep our parents in the loop of "us". FYI ... my parents leave in the morning to begin a 5 month stint (with a break at Christmas) at The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. As in Israel.

-Gas in our neighborhood was spotted at $2.25 last night ... we have heard reports of it getting as low as $1.99. We hold our breath and wait!

-Both Dean and I early voted this week. People who waited until yesterday to early vote waited in lines for up to 2 hours to cast their ballot. Might sound ridiculous to have to wait so long, but then you remember how many people throughout history have had to die to give us the right to vote and it doesn't seem like such a big inconvenience after all. Now we wait for the results. We hold our breath and wait!

-Linda and Paul are home from a 10 day trip to Germany. We haven't seen or talked to them ... I did call once, but I think they were in bed (jet lag) and they are both sick.

-Torrey was home sick 2 days this week. She bounced back in time to go to the retreat. We are heading into 3 weeks of play rehearsals that just may send me over the edge ... we just got an email saying Thursdays rehearsal will be until 7pm ... which means I have to stay at school until 7pm. I am really missing home these days!

-I am beginning to read cookbooks/magazines looking for good ideas for Thanksgiving/Christmas ... anyone else with me? I am sorry to say I tried a different roll recipe at Easter which was a big mistake. The tried and true recipe will be reappearing at the Thanksgiving table.

-My little friend at school is still a challenge. Precious one minute a stinker the next ... praying Monday will be a smidgen better.

OK ... that's it for this week. I will keep better notes for next week of any hillarity that comes our way!