Riding Too Hard

Caden has been riding his plasma card so much and so hard that we have officially ripped two huge holes in two pairs of tennis shoes and now apparently this...

Relay For Life

My sister emailed me last night and I want to share it with you. It was a generated email from Relay for Life. I read it quickly and realized she was walking and wanted me to support her. That would have been pretty easy for me to do and I was happy to do it...

but the more I read about Relay for Life the more I wanted to get involved again. I had walked this relay in college and I remember our sorority raising some money and it was fun. I haven't done anything since then. I have wanted to do a Race for the Cure for the longest time, but it hasn't happened.

Anyway, I digress again! I know there is a Relay for Life here in Woodward at some point, but I want to do this with my sister. I think we can walk together in memory of our families members who have lost the battle with cancer and also in honor of those who have won! We have several cases of several types of cancer in our family. So now is my chance to make a difference.

I am reminded of a Sunday School lesson on Nehemiah several weeks ago. We studied Nehemiah the entire month of March...good stuff by the way. But the author of the lesson pointed out that Nehemiah taught us that when we have had enough of a wrong we should stand up and take action. Nehemiah had enough of the wrongs being committed against the people of Jerusalem. He first got angry then became compassionate and did something. He took up matters with the people causing the problem and made them a part of the solution. (Nehemiah 5)

I am not going to find a cure for cancer...I gave up my dreams of doing medical research long ago (biology 2 my junior year of high school was a little more challenging than I anticipated) but I can support cancer research. It would be too easy for me to write a check so I am walking this year and getting involved. I plan to continue this, not just with my sister, Jana, but also here in Woodward!

Please consider joining me in this fight by either walking with me at some point or donating to my cause! You can go to my page to support me or my sister's page to support her.

Thanks so much for fighting this disease with me!

Aunt Jana Got Us Some Cool Gifts

Jana went to DC over spring break and came back with presents! She got Caden this amazing book entitled, "600 Black Spots". It is a really cool pop up book with lots of spots on each page...Caden loves it!
She got Carter a great puzzle of the painting Starry Night by Van Gogh, he loved it too! He is right in the middle of that puzzle phase the Reid boys seem to go through so it was perfect!

I love that my sister exposes them to art and culture and reminds us to do so! Great gifts Jana - you are the best! Cole didn't get anything, but really in the end the best thing...play time and loving from Aunt Jana!

The other part of the gifts...while Jana and I were at Wal-mart we saw this 3-D chalk...she was smart enough to get them a package with 2 pairs of the 3-D glasses...way to go! We had a blast with it this morning!

Momma and Carter modeling the glasses!

Caden decided to ride his car and draw at the same time - what a multi-tasker!
Of course...monkey see, monkey do! Momma showing off her art work! I had so much fun with this!
Caden had to have a hopscotch thing - what do you call it, a board, game, who knows. Anyway, I apparently drew it wrong the first time so I had to draw another one! He is obsessed with this game!
Pops got creative drawing their names and tried to make them 3-D. He started with Carter and put his whole name. I started Caden's but decided Montgomery was too long so I just wrote his first and last name :) I was getting lazy and it was too windy!

Pops is showing Carter how to draw a fish!

Caden took it up a notch and drew a boat with a fisherman inside!

Thanks Aunt Jana! The chalk kept us entertained all morning! We love it! Sorry you had to miss out...we will keep it here at Gigi and Pops' house for next time! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Look Mom, No Training Wheels!

These are pics I just found on my camera from the last time my dad was at our house. We took Caden's training wheels off and he learned to ride his bike without them. He did pretty well in the driveway but got scared when we took him out in the street! We are getting there though!

Adoption

I have been thinking about adoption lately. I know lots of people who are adopting internationally right now and it just causes me to think. We have friends in Houston that have adopted from Guatamala, others we know from Houston that just arrived back from Ethiopia with their two new children, another couple waiting to get the call to go to Russia to get their daughter, and yet another friend I reconnected with waiting for the call from Rwanda. I also know at least 4 couples that have adopted domestically...remember my post about Promote Oklahoma Adoption! Anyway, this just causes me to think about all those children in the world that need loving homes and that sometimes couples need help and encouragement to bring those kiddos home!

Remember we are all adopted sons and daughters of God! Ephesians 1:4-6 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." NIV

Anyway, I told my friend Ashley I would also let my blog buddies know about her fundraising efforts...they had t-shirts printed. Here are the details and a link to their blog for more info.

http://racksadoptionjourney.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-months-of-tweaking-ryan-and-i.html
If you would like to purchase a shirt, let me know the size and color (brown or pink). They are $15 each. The sizes are S-L adult then, XS-L child. Please email me ashleysmith@brightok.net.
The back of the shirt says: I'm telling a story with my life, and you are telling a story with your life, and when we are telling our stories, we are setting the compasses of the people around us. Stories are the most powerful way to teach, and we are learning how to live through the narratives of our stories. And God is saying "I want us to tell better stories." -Donald Miller
Here is the design.
I am not promoting one family over the other...I am just informing you about what a friend is doing. I am also encouraging you to encourage those you know who want to adopt or are adopting!

Also the more I got to thinking about this, it dawned on my, I have cousins that are adopted! I thank God for them and for their birth mothers who made a sacrifice so my aunt and uncle could have children, and I could have cousins! Love you guys!

Sorry for the rambling, it sounded all so much clearer in my head at 4am!

Potty Training Update

I decided to try, try again and picked a weekend when we would be mostly at the house. This past Friday when it started snowing, I figured now was as good of time as any. So we began. I am happy to report Carter is doing well! He is mostly potty trained with #1. Poop is a whole other story, but we will get there soon. Any tips from you pro moms out there let me know. When I potty trained Caden he just refused to poop in the pull-up or underwear and would ending up holding all day and doing it at nap time while asleep. Carter is stubborn and will just poop whenever he feels the need, just not in the toilet! I am not complaining, I am just thrilled we have the first part down...our diaper bill was getting out of control!

Another note - we are with Gigi and Pops this week so stay tuned for pictures!

Blizzard of 2009

Here are some pictures I took this morning of all the snow. Cory is shoveling a path for Jack to go to the bathroom and Caden is just running around in it. It is really hard to tell how much we got because it is blowing so much! In the front there are 2ft drifts in front of the garage doors, so we are not going anywhere today :) In the back it is easily up to Caden's shoulders in some spots! Enjoy the pics!

Godly Witness

Last night after Cory's game we headed over to Lotsa Noodles for dinner. There was an ad in the paper for buy one get one free entree so we decided to take advantage of it. I am telling you this because the cashier didn't get it so we had to spend some time dealing with the manager to get our free entree, etc. She was back and forth from our table quite a bit and after the 3rd time Caden leaned over to Cory and whispered, "Dad, give her one of your cards."

****side note****
Cory has these cards that are the size of a business card that say "Is there more to this world that what we currently see?" and on the back it talks about life after death in heaven, eternity, has John 3:16 on it and an email if they have questions. He gives these to just about anyone, cashiers everywhere, waitresses, people in gas stations, etc. You know Cory...our little evangelist!

Back to the story, we weren't sure what "card" Caden was talking about so we asked him. "you know, your card with the earth on it!" We kept asking and he wouldn't say anymore. Finally he leaned over to us and whispered, "you know, your card that talks about Jesus!" We asked him why he wanted us to give the lady that card. He replied that is what Daddy always does!

This opened up an entire discussion on witnessing. We were able to explain why Daddy passes out those cards and why people need to hear about Jesus! It was so encouraging and fun to see Cory teaching Caden about God's great commission!

Thank you LORD for giving me such a Godly husband and father to my children! Thank you for Caden's curiosity as well. May we continue to be an example for him and to continue to share our faith with others. LORD, help me to follow Cory's example and use his cards more often with the people I come in contact with. Continue to grow Caden's curiosity so that one day he will want to tell others about you! Also continue to give him the desire to know more about you! Thank you for the opportunity and responsibility to teach him about you! Be with Cory and me as we teach him!