I have been meaning to post this for a while now. I mentioned some time ago that we had a week of servalution at our church. For seven days, the church did one or more outreaches each day. Bret and I had only a little part in it. We served in three outreaches, but it was very moving nonetheless. It is so nice to finally be a part of a church that wants to serve others! Bret and I have been looking for this kind of church our entire marriage. Hopefully, we will able to continue to get more involved.

The first outreach we did was a block party for the families in one of the projects here in El Paso. It was a lot of fun. We took Abby with us because we thought it would be a good way for her to see just how blessed she is. She had a blast running around playing with all the kids, but I do think her eyes were opened just a bit. I spent most of the day painting faces. This was a first for me so those poor kids didn't get the best art on their faces. One little boy asked me to draw a Sponge Bob. I barely knew what Sponge Bob looked liked, but I did my best. When I was done, the little boys brother looked at him and started laughing hysterically. Poor kid. There was a bounce house, face painting, loud music, pinatas, water balloons, and soccer. At the end of the party, we fed them a spaghetti dinner. We also boxed up food for the kids to take home to their families. It was so touching to see these kids with so little be so happy. I got more hugs and sweet smiles than I could count. A lot of the kids didn't speak English, and most of them walked to the park with no shoes on (despite the fact that their was broken glass everywhere). A lot of them were there by themselves. I am talking 3 and 4 year old children too. Some of them had to walk a couple blocks to get there. I met one little girl who was 12. She brought her two younger sisters, 3 and 12 months, to the park by herself because she didn't want them to miss the fun. Isn't that amazing! She walked around and helped them participate in everything. I never saw her get impatient or act upset about not being able to run around with the other kids her age. Her selflessness at such a young age was really touching. I just wanted to put all three of them in my car and take them home.

This is a picture of Bret at the block party. After the pinata, there were two big bags of candy left. The kids went crazy over the candy! They were hurting each other trying to get it off the ground. Pastor Buck, took one bag and Bret took the other bag. The idea was to open the bags and throw the candy out to the kids, but the mob that surrounded them kept that from being very easy. Buck tried to run, but the kids tackled him and brought him to the ground pretty fast. All you could see was this pile of children and candy flying into the air. It was hilarious. Bret, did some sort of spin move and got away from the kids. Then he tore a whole in the bag and just left a tail of candy behind him. That got rid of some of the kids right away. He is such a stud!

The second outreach we participated in was feeding some family in another not so great area of town. We delivered cooked meals to some families and uncooked beans and rice to others. There were a lot of volunteers for this outreach, and Bret and I came really close to leaving because there wasn't enough for everyone to do. For some reason, I felt like we needed to stay. At the end of delivering meals, Bret said the person we should be giving food to was the man in the nearby dumpster. I had not noticed him. Someone else from the group may have seen him, but Bret was the only one who said something. The few of us that were there agreed, so I ran down the street to where we cooked the food to make him a plate. Neither of us speak Spanish so we don't know exactly what was said, but as the rest of the group returned we began visiting with this guy. He told us that he had been in the dumpster, digging, praying, and asking God for dinner. Right then, I knew why we were supposed to be on that outreach. Bret was there to see that guy when no one else did, and I was there to run down the street and get some food. It wasn't that big of a thing, but to that guy, it meant fresh, hot food.

The third outreach we participated in was a free water giveaway. This one was during the day so it was just me and Shelby. We were giving away bottles of water at the base of a mountain many people climb on Good Friday. I tried to explain to Shelby a little bit about serving God by serving others. I don't know if she understood, but she was very excited to be giving out water. To make a long story short, we had to leave early to go pick up the girls from school. When it was time to leave, Shelby got hysterical and threw herself on the ground. She said we can't leave mommy, there are still humans who need a drink.

School Girls

I can't believe this school year is almost over! Truthfully, I am glad. It is so nice to have a break from all the driving (30 min each way), homework, and busyness that come with having kids in school. More than likely, I will be saying the exact opposite at the end of the summer, but for now I am looking forward to a little non-scheduled time with my girls. I am not one of those mom's who looks forward to getting a break from my kids. I'm not saying I don't enjoy a break every now and then or that there is anything wrong with looking froward to having your kids in school. Personally though, I have always had a hard time sending my kids off anywhere. They drive me crazy at times, but I love having them with me. So I am really glad that summer vacation in almost here, just two more weeks! Here are the girls school pictures we got today. I can't believe that in a few short months I will have a second and first grader.

Just something I want to remember

This won't mean much to anyone else, but it is something I don't want to forget. Every time the girls say or do something funny, my mom will tell me to write it down. I intend to, but never seem to get around to it. Hopefully I will be better about it with my blog.

Bret and I were in bed Saturday morning when I woke up and heard Macey and Shelby playing Barbies outside our door. Macey's Barbie was obviously the teacher and Shelby's was the student. This is the conversation I heard.

Macey (or Macey's Barbie): Did you know that Jesus loves you so much?
Shelby: Yes, I know.
Macey: No, I mean he REALLY loves you, even when you sin, and you sin a lot Shelby.
Do you know what sin is? A sin is when you break a rule and then you tell everyone
you didn't.
Shelby: I don't sin.

At this point, Macey kind of forgot Shelby was there and went into a speech.

Macey: Jesus loves you so much and saved you from your sin by dying on the cross.
He had to get splinters in his hands on that cross. THAT'S how much he loves you.
He loves you so much that when you sin, He doesn't even let the
angles come arrest you.

No rest for the weary

In case anyone was wondering, we have not slept yet. Shelby threw up and was sick Saturday night and Sunday. I ended up taking her to the doctor where they had to do blood work. She was not happy about that, but she was brave and didn't even cry. Abby threw up all night last night. Shelby's stomach is better, but she still isn't sleeping well. My guess is it will be Maceys turn tonight. As my friend Keri said, there is nothing like bodily fluids in the middle of the night!

My poor baby after her blood work.

Shelby's new friend

We recently met and became friends with a family from church. It was such a blessing meeting them as I had been praying for more opportunities to meet people and get connected. As I have said a hundred times on here, moving is hard! Our new friends have two boys. The younger of the boys, Josiah, is almost two. Shelby and Josiah are becoming great friends. Shelby didn't call him by his name for a while. She just referred to him as the baby. I think she felt really big not being the youngest for once. These are some pictures of Shelby and Josiah on their last play date. I used my cellphone, but I will make sure to take my camera next time.

Riding the merry go round.

Shelby and her BFF Josiah

Relaxing

She spent the whole morning walking around with her hand on her hip. It was so funny. I never did get a good picture of it though.

Look how strong I am

Just a cute picture from tonight. Macey really thought she was holding her Uncle Davie on her shoulders.

Sleep

Whoever told me (and I know someone did) that once your baby hit about six months you finally got to sleep again, lied! My babies are 7,5 and 3, and I will tell you that not a night goes by that one of them doesn't wake me up. Abby and Macey will wake me up to let me know that they had to go to the bathroom or got a drink. Then there are those nights where they hear a noise, have a bad dream, or simply can't sleep. Shelby goes through spells of waking up every couple of hours for no reason at all. Two things they are consistent about are they always wake me up instead of Bret, and they always want me to tuck them back into bed. Oh the joys of being a mom. :) Truthfully, I love it. Maybe I don't love all the middle of the night visits, but I love being a mom. It is the most exhausting and rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I also know that once those middle of the night visits stop, I will miss them because it means my babies are that much closer to growing up.

All of this talk about not getting sleep was brought on by an especially bad week of sleeping. Shelby has not been feeling well which meant lots of middle of the night comfort, Tylenol and even a shower (after she threw up all over her bed). Nothing beats cleaning vomit off of sheets at two in the morning. Abby and Macey were also up several times for various reasons. I even caught Abby in the office playing the computer at 3am! She insists that she thought it was morning, but I think I have a little computerholic on my hands. Needless to say, computer time is now limited.

I have pictures to post, but I have not had a chance to go through them yet. It has been a busy week. I will leave you with an old picture of my beauties. I love this picture of them, but it makes me sad to see how much they have grown up in two years.