Mrs. Barbara Bush comes to Yellowstone

We had the privilege of having Mrs. Barbara Bush come out to Yellowstone today. It was such a neat experience. Mrs. Bush wrote a letter to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders a few weeks ago challenging each one of them to write an essay with the topic "The Sky's the Limit." Each student wrote an essay writing about what they wanted to be when they grew up, and the sky was the limit. It was so neat seeing what each of the kids came up with. Our third graders worked so hard on their essays. After they were all completed, Mrs. Bush read each one and then chose a winner from each grade. Today she came and not only presented these 3 winners with an award, but also brought along a children's theater group that performed parts from "The Beauty and the Beast"

Finally, she presented the three awards. She began with the 3rd grade winner, and we had no idea which student had won. She began reading a little bit from the essay, and said that this child wanted to be an artist, and then said his name. Torrean Washington, one of our students who has come so far since he has been at Yellowstone Academy. He walked up on stage, and Mrs. Bush hugged him as their picture was snapped.

Torrean was the perfect student to have received this award. While Torry was in the womb, his mother abused alcohol and drugs (including cocaine). Torry first came to Yellowstone as a 2nd grader last year and that is when our journey began with him. This was his 3rd time to be in the 2nd grade, and you can imagine the challenges he faced with this reality. Torry does not know who is father is, he is one of 7 children, and his mom, who has been sober and clean for a year this May, has been in a out of jail several times. Torry has faced so many trials that no one should ever experience, and he has been through the worst of the worst at his young age of 10. Torrean was blessed with the gift of art. He is an incredible artist, and it comes so naturally for him. When he is in the midst of a meltdown, he will escape with a pencil and a piece of paper. He is such a special student who has been brought from such a low place to a place of confidence and self worth, which is so important for our children to experience. He deserved this award more than any other student, and I am so proud of the progress he has made over the past 2 years.

Here are some pictures from today. I had to use my phone so I apologize for the lack of quality...

weekend of the year

ahhh what a great weekend! i think i could handle my job so much more if we always had friday off. it was so relaxing. i was able to workout, layout, knock out all the laundry, clean, drove the golf cart around while patrick and his dad played golf, grilled out with pt's parents, then came home and concluded our evening with the newest office episode on hulu. saturday we were able to sleep in, work out, patrick went on a bike ride, i made breakfast, packed and headed to the woodlands, ate an amazing hibachi lunch at benihanas for katie's birthday, went to church, went back to tim and katies, had a slumber party with all the the thurmans, watched bedtime stories, woke up sunday and went to church for all 3 services, played in the nursery with 3 year olds, drove home in the monsoon, made white chicken chili, fell asleep on the couch with patrick, woke up, showered, and now it's chili time...

it's not a girl or a boy...yet

we had our 3rd ob appointment yesterday. i asked my doctor if we could find out what we were having and she said, "yeah you can...at your next appointment." blah, not what we wanted to hear. oh well. four more weeks until the big day. other than that, the appointment went well. i had to drink this sunkist drink that tasted just like my favorite orange medicine that i used to take as a kid. patrick kept saying, "chug chug chug chug..." to get the show on the road. after drinking that we were able to hear the heartbeat through the dopplar which was really special. 172 beats per minute...then we had to wait in the waiting room for an hour before the magic orange liquid did what it was suppose to do (it was a test for diabetes...since we have a couple cases of diabetes in our family, they wanted to do it earlier than usual). patrick got in a good nap during this waiting period. then they took my blood and we were outta there.

our next appointment will be with a different doctor at a different facility. i think this is the "big sonogram" where they do all the measuring and so on...supposedly it is about 45 minutes long. we'll see.

back to work...more later : )

seasons of adversity

yesterday i talked to my mom on the phone and she read me this passage from a devotional. it was really encouraging.

"perhaps you are in a season of adversity right now. do you trust the Lord with your thorns, or are you trying to pull them out on your own strength? God is up to something big in your life when He allows suffering to remain, but gives grace to supersede it. cooperate with Him, and exalt in His loving wisdom and sufficiency."

this is very relative to our life right now. we are and have been in the midst of trial for a few months now. everything in our life has been a transition from patrick's new job, the baby, moving, my job that i don't have yet, and more. i have been so confident that the Lord has a plan in all this. i'm grateful that i have been able to hold on to that during this season of the unknown. although i have been holding on to God's promise in james 1:2-4, it seems that i still find myself defeated and discouraged. i have to remind myself that i can't pull each of these painful thorns out on my own. i need God's help.

sitting in the unknown is an uncomfortable place to be, but thats when God can really move in your life if you depend on Him and let Him. he will continue to guide our steps one step at a time. God's grace has been so sufficient during this time, and the renewed strength and provision He has given us has been so sufficient just like His word promises.

thanks mom for that extra boost yesterday...i needed it. : )

it's been awhile...

my blogging skills are still not as consistant as i would like for them to be. lets see...since the last time i've blogged i have been to biloxi, mississippi for a mission trip, made a quick trip to dallas and surprised mom, met my dad in georgia to surprise grandma betty (she was shocked), completed another 4 weeks of school, another 4 weeks of pregnancy, and much much more...

my georgia trip was so relaxing. i flew in on a thursday and came home on sunday. i met my dad at the atlanta airport, chose a rental car (he said i could pick, but already made a decision before i could say anything...oh deddy), and then we made our way to woodville, georgia for the grand surprise. GMB (grandma betty) knew that my dad was coming, but had no idea that i would be with him. so after flight cancelations, delays, bad weather, and traffic we made it to the 200 year old house that GMB lives in. deddy dropped me off on the porch, and he made his way inside. after they said their hellos, GMB went back to the kitchen and my dad made his way back out and told me to come on in. i went to the door and rang the doorbell. the first thing i hear is, "don't tell me i locked you out." and then she realized it was me. she was shocked. (i think she thought she was seeing things) that was the beginning of such a relaxing and enjoyable weekend with GMB and my dad. i was also able to see the tingles (my distant cousins), and grandpa woody and grandma jane made their way to woodville which was great.

tomorrow patrick and i will be going to our 3rd OB visit. obviousy we are excited. we are hoping that they will be able to tell us what we are having. we'll see...i will give an update tomorrow on our sweet baby.