Summer Vacation!

We had a super fun summer vacation! We were blessed to be able to spend 3 weeks at home in Oklahoma with our family. We visited The Blue Hole outside of Tulsa, went to Great Wolf Lodge, Medieval Times, the Texas Ranger game, Frontier City, White Water.  I think we spent most of our vacation in water.  The time was way too short, but we were excited to see our family! Here is a little video Hudson made to commemorate our trip. Enjoy!

Have Thine Own Way....

I love hymns. I can still remember clutching the pew and singing loudly. I don't know what it is about getting older, but the truths of these songs keep getting sweeter and richer to me all the time.

This morning in our worship time we sang the chorus of the hymn "Have Thine Own Way".  I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with how often we live our lives with this sentiment phrase on our lips, but really in our hearts we finish the phrase with ".....as long as it easy and costs me nothing."

"Have Thine Own Way" - The words this morning are so contradictory to what we as a culture and a people live.  We want everything to fall into place for our benefit. I couldn't help but look at my own life and wonder if He is truly having His way.

"Thou Art the Potter, I am the Clay" - This is one of my favorite metaphors. He is crushing, shaping, and molding me into His will and plan, I don't mold Him. I don't change Him. I don't reinvent Him into something that is a little more convenient to the way I want to live my life.

"Mold me and make me after Thy will" -  I believe this gives Him license to change us. Freedom to make us vessels that He can use for His glory and not our own.

"While I am waiting, yielded and still" - I find it so interesting how difficult it is to be "quiet" before the Lord, to be still and listen to Him, yielding ourselves to His plans and His leading.  There are always so many distractions, so many reasons not to be still, not to listen, not to wait for Him.  Some of them are valid and sometimes we are just lazy.

This morning I was refreshed and sang as loud as I could....some things never change.

To blog or not to blog......

After a 7 month absence.....I show up again today.

Has life been crazy?  Yes, to say the least.
Have I had time to blog? Maybe, but not much.
Do I have things to share? Too many, and I think that is the problem.

So to catch up.....
We moved 5 months ago.  Move from a place we had lived and worked for many years.  It was not an easy move.  It was very hard to leave the people and the work that we had labored with for so many years. So many prayers, so many hours on the bus, so many people.  And yet, there was no question we were supposed to go.

I feel like this move was comparable to a move from Gotebo, Oklahoma to New York City.  I can't tell you how many times we have felt like country mouse going to see his friend city mouse and having to stay.  Our little town had one main stoplight, this city has buses, highways, and a subway....and starting in June, you will be able to fly non-stop to the US from here.

I think in my last blog I mentioned Rob had gone to find us an apartment. On May 15, we moved into that apartment, site unseen......and he had done a FANTASTIC job.  I love that I have lived with this man long enough that he truly know me and knows "us" and what will work for our family.

Hopefully....there will be more tomorrow!

Marriage, Trust, and House Hunting

The O Fam is moving. We have about 7 weeks until the big relocation, so now has become the appointed time to find an apartment in our new city.

The title of this blog implies that perhaps I will talk about some deep aspect of a trust issue in our marriage, and yes, maybe I am.  But, really it is all about the fact that I am trusting Rob to pick out the apartment the our family will live in for the next years.....all.by.himself.

Now some of my friends have already made these comments, "oh, my husband would have us living in a cracker box" or "my husband wouldn't dare!"   If you know my husband and I at all, you will know that he is a lot pickier then I am about most things, and he is a very detailed person. I am not.  So I think it will work out.

What I love about my guy is that all day yesterday he was sending me texts about what he was looking at, then before dinner he emailed me pictures of his favorite apartments so I could come up with a list of questions for him.  Then, after dinner we sat on the phone until after midnight looking at each picture, talking about the pros and cons of each place and if it was what we wanted.  I truly have a GREAT husband!


 So the question of the day is would I rather live 30 floors up with spectacular views (and throw up a little every time I look out the window or venture out to the balcony) in a bit of a fixer-upper...

or do I want the one with a kitchen that is teeny tiny?

We will see what he finds today!  To be continued...........

Marriage, Trust, and House Hunting

The O Fam is moving. We have about 7 weeks until the big relocation, so now has become the appointed time to find an apartment in our new city.

The title of this blog implies that perhaps I will talk about some deep aspect of a trust issue in our marriage, and yes, maybe I am.  But, really it is all about the fact that I am trusting Rob to pick out the apartment the our family will live in for the next years.....all.by.himself.

Now some of my friends have already made these comments, "oh, my husband would have us living in a cracker box" or "my husband wouldn't dare!"   If you know my husband and I at all, you will know that he is a lot pickier then I am about most things, and he is a very detailed person. I am not.  So I think it will work out.

What I love about my guy is that all day yesterday he was sending me texts about what he was looking at, then before dinner he emailed me pictures of his favorite apartments so I could come up with a list of questions for him.  Then, after dinner we sat on the phone until after midnight looking at each picture, talking about the pros and cons of each place and if it was what we wanted.  I truly have a GREAT husband!


 So the question of the day is would I rather live 30 floors up with spectacular views (and throw up a little every time I look out the window or venture out to the balcony) in a bit of a fixer-upper...

or do I want the one with a kitchen that is teeny tiny?

We will see what he finds today!  To be continued...........

Pretty as a Picture

And while we were away.....there was a lot of Daddy/Daughter time. One day Rob and Hannah went to the government square where there is some beautiful scenery and took pictures, went to a new museum, which incidentally had little to nothing in it, and enjoyed a beautiful day. 

This might be my favorite picture, ever.   

Here is Hannah with her best tragic face, confined by the perils of life. 

 And then just my sweet girl enjoying the view.

I am pretty sure, while Hudson and I were gone, there were many documentaries watched, lots of work accomplished, and good, intellectual discussions.  However, we were all happy to be home and together again!

Fun in the Sun!

A few weeks ago, Hudson and I had the opportunity to go to Thailand for a homeschool conference.  Sadly, Hannah and Rob couldn't go, so my boy and I had a week to ourselves!  I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have a son to travel with who carries my luggage, pushes the cart, knows how to read maps and can lead me places, etc....  It's a little bit like traveling with his dad. :)  So, I carried my purse around the airports and Hudson led me around pushing the luggage cart, he carried the heavy bags up the stairs to our hotel room, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Yippee!!

We arrived in Bangkok with some good friends, and spent the evening with them at a new mall having a great time before the conference started the next day.

The mall had a Tony Roma's which was GOOOD!!! Here is Hudson having his obligatory Thailand hamburger, which he exclaimed was the best burger he had ever eaten! Wow!

 This mall was brand new and each floor was themed as a country.  This floor was the Japanese floor.  It was truly beautiful!

 Also the Japanese floor.  Picture with me turning the corner and directly in front of you are these bigger-than-life sumo wrestlers, clad in their sumo outfits.  We all got a little tickled at the sight.  Hudson posed with the statues for this picture.

 This is the Great Britain themed level. Hudson - playing it cool. Maybe feeling a little tired of my pictures.

 Sweet friends.

 We had a great time at the mall walking around and enjoying the views.  As always, our mall visit ended in the grocery store as we stocked up on things we might need (snacks) in our hotel room for the homeschool conference.  Thankfully they had a lot of good snacks that we can't find where we live.

Once we arrived at the conference we had such a good time seeing old friends and meeting new ones.  This picture below really makes my heart happy.  We have known this sweet girl since she was a baby.  Now she is in the 1st grade and growing up so fast!

 Each year there is a big project that all the kids prepare before coming to the conference.  This year focused on literary elements and was themed Story Book Characters.  Every child picked a book and had to dress up as a character in the book.  One night we had a story book parade, where everyone told who they were and what book they were from.  Hudson dressed up as King Tirian from The Last Battle (the last book in the Narnia series)

 Hudson's project was to decorate a cereal box with instructions on what to put on each side.  It was basically a book report on the cereal box.  One night he displayed his cereal box and all the parents, and kids not in his age group came around and asked questions about the chose book.  Here is Hudson telling about his project to some onlookers.

 The best part of the homeschool conference is being with friends! These are Hudson's friends, who graciously let me take a picture of them on the last day.

And.....well....... these are some of my friends, celebrating a sweet girl's birthday! 

 Below is where we spent EVERY afternoon.  Wouldn't you?

 As we raced through the airport on our way home, we found we had enough time for an early lunch....and so Hudson got his other favorite Thailand meal.....Burger King.

We were so thankful for this week together and thankful for the opportunity to attend the homeschool conference.  It was a lot of fun and a great week together

Valentine's Day 2013

We had our annual family Valentine's Day dinner this year.  Rob surprised us all with beautiful bouquets.  Hannah and I received roses while Hudson got a special bouquet....completely made of fireworks.  He has been shooting them off the balcony ever since.  I think every 12 year old by needs a firework bouquet! 

 Hannah added to the fun by making red velvet cheesecake brownies for the family.  They were so good! Thank you pinterest!

 My favorite Valentine!

Our table that was decorate this year for our special dinner. 

 I am so thankful for my husband and my kids and the privilege it is to serve them. I am so overwhelmed with the love I have for each of them. I am blessed beyond what I deserve.  There is nothing better than sharing Valentine's with my family!

Mountain Retreat

Last month we took a trip to a mountain retreat city with some of our friends.  It was a great weekend to get away, and have some R&R. It is always so beautiful there, the weather was perfect, and we had a GREAT time! 

 Here we all are at our first meal together.  We ate a place called the Red Star. We had eaten here a few years ago and it had been our favorite place. Not so much anymore.  Maybe they had a change in management....it was really gross!

 My beautiful girl!!

We took a trip on the river at night to take in a little night fishing. This is pretty cool if you have never seen it before.  The birds swim under water and come up with fish in their mouths, and then they bring them to their masters who are on the boat. Sadly....it was too cold for the fish or the birds and they didn't catch anything. We just had a nice evening on a boat, watching birds swim.

Hannah with one of the fishing birds on her arm.

 On the next day we went and climbed Moon Hill, pictured above.

 Nothing better than a little light saber fight on top of a mountain.

 Nathan, Hue, and Hudson

My boys on the mountain!

Hudson enjoyed climbing on a climbing wall at one of the restaurants. He spent quite a while playing here while we laughed and visited.

 This hawk was massive. Hudson said it was pretty heavy!

 Hannah and Hue relaxing on the boat while riding down the river.

 We have had the privilege of riding up and down this river for many years now. I have several pictures of my kids in this pose, standing on the front of the boat with the mountains behind. It is such a beautiful place.

The O Fam 2012

Our family picture for the year of 2012 is below. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family. God has blessed me so much with a loving husband who truly cares for me and my best, but more than anything follows God with his whole heart! I am so thankful to have amazing children who love to spend time with our family, and who are both amazing servants to our family. I am blessed beyond measure!

Christmas....2 months ago

Christmas was so much fun this year! I kicked off the season being the "dorm mom" at Hannah's modular school for a week.  While there we had a fun time making and decorating Christmas cookies.  And then we had an even better time eating them! 

Hannah and Kia having fun cutting out cookies! 

 My cookie creation

 All the girls showing off their creations.

 Hannah, Molli, and Ron Weasley,the cookie.

The girls all got ear muffs from one of their teachers.

 We had two big Christmas parties at our home for many of our friends.  It was a great time of food, games, songs, and the Christmas Story. It is always a highlight of the season to have our local friends in our home.

Hannah dressed up and ready for our Christmas party. She was a great help preparing pictures and power point for the Christmas Story, singing at the parties, and helping me with the food!  I am so thankful to have her. 

 On Christmas morning we celebrated with just our family.  Hudson built and painted Hannah this bookshelf. It matches her room and she keeps it beside her bed for books, and her phone.  He worked hard on it while she was away and was very excited for her to open it.

 We opened presents from each other, from Oklahoma, from Tennessee....all over the world.  We also got to Skype with family and are so blessed to have such a WONDERFUL family!!