BTL Graduation

 For those who did not see my facebook post, this is Larry and Jack. They are best buddies at the City Rescue Mission. 

We met Larry last March when we started working in the kitchen and gained a new friend (actually several) in the process. Jack talks about Larry all the time and is always excited when we see him. Larry recently found employment and will be moving out of the Mission to be reunited with his wife (who also graduated from BTL a few months ago).

Last night we went to Larry's graduation from the "Bridge to Life" (BTL) program. It is about a year long (self paced) rehabilitation program through the Mission. Larry is special, as are the other graduates. He really did accomplish something great!  Larry was one of the speakers last night and shared with us his story. He was a drug addict for 27 years (meth, heroin, etc  - just about everything), in prison for 23 years, prison escapee, etc. He hit rock bottom last year on a high speed chase from the cops through OKC. Because of the City Rescue Mission - and most importantly the Lord - his life has been restored and he has hope. His slate has been wiped clean and we are privileged to call him friend.

The BTL graduation was the best graduation I have ever attended and I hope to attend many more while we live here. It was filled with celebration, worship, prayer, scripture, and personal stories. Not too many dry eyes were there last night. The Lord is working miracles in the lives of His children - it's an awesome thing to witness. The people we have met at the Mission have enriched our lives in innumerable ways. We don't bless their lives with our service, they bless ours!

Black Friday

We had the most awesome Black Friday this year! It was actually the best and most fun I've ever had Black Friday shopping. We went prepared and that made all the difference in the world. Fortunately we didn't get anything big - I think that helped a lot too. We only had a shopping cart at one store.  Being able to maneuver in Walmart and Target without a shopping cart made a huge difference and contributed to our speedy checkout.

Here's a little timeline -

6:00pm - Dropped Howard off at Toys R Us and he waited in line. Lisa and I went back to her house to get the kids ready for bed and finalize Black Friday lists
7:00pm - Got in line with Howard, Levi watched the kids
9:00pm - We were in the first group of 50 people to enter the store. Howard waited in the checkout line while Lisa and I shopped. Picked up 5 items, out in 10 minutes.
9:10pm - Howard went to Target to wait in line, Lisa and I drove to Walmart.
9:30pm - Waited by the 1 item I wanted (legos) while Lisa browsed a few items. Out about 5-10 minutes after the 10pm sale started.
10:30pm - Joined Howard in line at Target
12:00am - Howard worked his way to electronics while I got the toys on our list. He had to wait in the electronics line in the store, so we didn't get out until about 12:40am.
1:00am - Our list was complete, but we browsed the mall a little. Picked up some boots at Macy's for myself.
2:00am - Back to Walmart for a price match
2:30am - Back at home in bed.

Favorite stories -

- A food food truck pulled up to the front of Toys R Us and Howard and I were able to enjoy some hot chocolate together.

- Met some awesome ladies in line at Target! I wasn't able to get an item at Toys R Us, so I asked Walmart to price match. They wouldn't. One of the ladies knew the Walmart manager personally and put in a phone call to him and fixed the problem. We didn't even ask her to do it, but are glad she did! The best part was that instead of getting the sale price matched for $24.99 (leapster) we got it for $15 because the box was damaged. Once again, we didn't even ask for it, but that's what they did.

- While at the mall there were male models in swim trunks in front of one of the clothing stores. Naturally we're shopping for swim trunks in November (haha). Anyway - they looked exactly like the models that are on the posters in those stores. I heard one lady squeal "Oh My G--, they're real!" yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking, but I didn't say that out loud. I was in the middle of a conversation with Lisa and Howard, but when we saw them I went speechless. That's never happened before to me. It's pretty funny in hindsight. The picture below is a similar representation of what we saw at the Columbia, MO mall.

Jack's Birthday Celebrations

 Jackson had his birthday several weeks ago - October 25th to be exact. Howard has been either in the field or TDY for the past month and was home for a brief 16 hours the weekend prior to Jack's 5th birthday. We celebrated early with presents and cupcakes so Howard could participate.

 On Jack's actual birthday he was able to bring snack to pre-school. We made mini-cup cakes. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (from a box, and tub) Yeah - I'm a great homemaker that way. Ha Ha!

It was so cute watching his class sing happy birthday. A class full of 4-5 year old children  are so cute!

 The Saturday following his birthday was his big birthday party. Since it was so close to Halloween, we dressed up in costumes and decorated the house in spiders and cobwebs. The kids had a lot of fun and I was relieved when it was over since I was doing it solo.

 

We also had a spider cake with eye ball cupcakes. It's safe to say after having cake for 3 days within a week, I'm still not ready to eat a bite of cake.

Myriad Botanical Gardens

After the Taylor Swift concert on Saturday night, Erin and I walked through the downtown Myriad Botanical Gardens before we went to our car. The gardens had been closed for a long time due to renovations, but just reopened. I was so impressed with it I had to take the family back ASAP!

Here the children are waiting for the wave fountain to splash water on them.

Get ready...

Get set...

Go!

I tried taking cute pictures of each child, but they are in that awkward photo stage. 

I love Jack's goofy face.

While I was snapping away at the kids, Howard asked a passerby to take an impromptu family photo. Turned out the passerby was a photographer scoping out the place. Lucky us! Too bad not all the kids are looking, but at least Luke isn't hiding and everyone has their eyes open. I've really lowered my standards to what is acceptable photography with 4 children.

Luke rolling down the hill. If only he had made his legs straight, then he would have gone much faster.

Gorgeous view of the gardens!

This may seem random, but my Okinawa friends will appreciate it! The renovated bathrooms have this hand dryer which actually dries your hands. These are all over Japan.

It spells GROW.  This was in the Children's Garden area.

It's amazing how a random piece of metal art can be so entertaining. I have so many pictures of the kids doing crazy things on this.

My stud muffin!

I had to keep yelling at the kids because they kept putting their hands in the photo or jumping in. We were loosing daylight fast and Howard was having difficulty with the camera settings.

The Crystal Bridge changed colors throughout the evening. There were also lighted rectangles embedded into the sidewalk as well as lighting under benches and along the walk paths to light your way.  There were a lot more interesting things, but not enough time to blog about it all.

The temperature dropped fast tonight and the winds really picked up. I can't wait to go back!

Father Son Camp Out

This weekend while Erin and I had our lovely girl time, the boys were able to go on the church's father/son camp out.  They went to Red Rock Canyon State Park, and Howard said it was even better than the Chickasaw Natl Rec Area.  As soon as we have time time and good weather (who knows when that will be?) in the same weekend, we will go back as a family.  Since Howard had to leave right after work on Friday, I was in charge of packing. I did great except for one thing - I forgot to pack pillows. Sorry boys! Erin and I are looking forward to more father and son outings, we enjoyed the peace and quiet!

 Luke was camera shy.

 Howie loved the rock climbing. According to Jackson, they "climbed a mountain".

Howard assisted with another boy. The boy's father was up the wall on the other side keeping everyone safe. If you notice carefully, Howard is doing it without ropes or anything. Maybe not the safest thing to do, but I was impressed.  Although, it's only impressive AFTER he did it and told me about it in the safety of our home.

 

 This is what you get when a 9 year old is in charge of the camera. (Plus 20 more of these poses.)

Brotherly love. They may fight and tease each other until I cry, but I know they love each other very much.

Concerts

Last week Erin and I were able to go to a concert on top of the Union parking garage at OU. I parked right under the concert and when we walked up to the top level, we were surprised to get a close preview of Phil Wickham rehearsing. We arrived early since it was a free concert and we wanted to make sure we had good seats.

It was a benefit concert sponsored by "Wishing Well", a non-profit org promoting awareness and activism in supplying people with clean drinking water. 

We enjoyed the wait with perfect weather and a cozy spot on the curb.

Since we arrived early, we were able to sit in the front row - it was amazing. Erin got a little tired, but I was a mean Mom and wouldn't leave, so I let her lay on my lap.  This is how close were were, and I wasn't even using a zoom or anything! The roof-top was packed with people, so we were extra thankful for good seats.

 Our second great adventure was the Taylor Swift Concert on Saturday, Oct 15. The tickets were her birthday present in July.  I nearly cried when Taylor Swift came on.  Not because I was excited to see Taylor, but because I was so happy to so how happy and excited Erin was. It was like Christmas for me!

 The opening act was a guy named David Nail. I had never heard of him, but he was really good.

The second act was the band, NeedToBreathe (yes, I wrote it correctly).  I had heard one of their songs before, and enjoyed them as well.

 

 Erin and I got all dressed up, we curled our hair and did our make-up.  I'm so glad I could go with her!

The venue was very high quality. The video and audio were excellent! Here is Taylor, as seen on the large screen next to our nosebleed seating. Taylor is looking toward our section. I think she was staring at Erin directly! :)

This tree was near the back side of the arena. It was a nice treat for her fans in that section.

 

 

I had no idea she could even play the piano. She is one talented singer/performer! And very quick at changing clothes too! I think she changed about 7 times, maybe more.

During the finale, she sang "Love Story", which is Erin's favorite song. Overall we had a wonderful time! Taylor Swift is a good and tasteful performer, very family friendly! 

My only complaint would be that I purchased our tickets from stubhub.com (NEVER AGAIN!) Our seats were sold TWICE! Fortunately for us, my tickets were scanned first, so we entered the arena without any problem.  The other ticket holders had a problem, had to buy an additional ticket, but made it to our seats first. I wasn't mad, because in reality the seats were equally hers. The arena upgraded the other woman and Erin and I were able to sit in our assigned seats. I'm glad the other woman received an upgrade in seating because she told me that her and her daughter were in tears initially and of all the hassle they experienced. Monday morning, stubhub.com will be receiving a call from me!

Here is a nice playlist of a few of the songs we heard at both concerts. Enjoy!

Air Force Ball 2011

 Howard FINALLY invited me to the Air Force Ball.  Most years I've either been pregnant, breastfeeding, or Howard was deployed.  I'm very grateful we had the opportunity to go.  Our kind neighbor watched the children and even took a few photo's of us before the ball.

 

Navy blue turned out to be a popular color for dresses  (and uniforms, lol) this year at the Ball.  Everyone looked beautiful and I was happy to blend in with all the other girls.  Fortunately no one had the same dress on, they were all unique.  The best part of getting ready was when I got my nails done.  Erin went along with me and also had her nails done.  I love having girl time with her.  Once I had my hair done, I was hands off for the kids. I wouldn't even let them kiss me good-bye.  My kids can really get excited showing affection and I wasn't about to let them ruin my hair or make-up.  They were good sports about it and didn't complain too much.

 

 (My dress fell just below my knees and I had sparkly silver 4" heels and a matching clutch.)

At the beginning of the ceremony, the speaker explained in detail the significance of the empty table in the front of the ballroom.  It represented service members from each branch who are MIA.  I couldn't get through that without crying.  Our table was filled with some wonderful people who were very easy to talk with and dinner was delicious!  Pictured below is our place cards along with a bracelet to remember a fallen soldier.   Each bracelet had a different name, date, and location of battle.

 

 After the dinner and speakers was dancing.  My feet were killing me after only a few dances, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway.  The USAF Band of Mid-America played and we were seriously impressed with their talent.  Howard is not much of a dancer, so I had to fly solo when everyone on the dance floor started line dancing.  Luckily they were dancing the only line dance I know.  That was my favorite part! Luckily Howard danced a few slow dances with me. :)

 Afterwards we went out for ice cream at Braum's and shared a sundae.