At Gramma's House

As I mentioned, we took a little road trip.  Wednesday afternoon, we headed toward my mom's house.  We made a stop along the way to get haircuts.

Yeah..I know sounds crazy, but I have been going to the same hairdresser for 20 years.  I love that I can go in and she knows exactly what I need.  Bette is amazing as she changes up my style just enough to keep it fresh and stylish without making me work too hard to keep it that way.  It is also nice to have someone who knows your history so they can talk to you with ease.  She was so excited to meet Zaira.  I am sure she will one day be trimming up her hair just like she did for Amanda.

It is so hard to believe that this how we first met so many years ago.  Actually, Bette had been cutting my hair for about two years and then we had a problem!  Amanda (young pre-schooler) decided to cut her own hair and Bette had to fix her trim job.  It was quite an ordeal and Amanda ended up with a bob-cut!  Bette managed to make her look adorable.  We have never left Bette for more than a hair cut or two in all of the years since then.

Since I was getting a haircut, the boys decided to follow suit and found a local barber shop to get their own hair trimmed.  No bonding story for these guys, except the fact that the barbers have been cutting Aggie Corps of Cadets for many years.  It took them a while to make the rounds with only tow barbers on duty to cut five heads!

We also made a side trip to see introduce Zaira to some long time friends of ours.  It turned out our impromptu stop was not possible because they were all sick.  Only Kimberly was able to step out of the house to cooing over her from the side of the car!  She is such a good friend that we were still able to spend an hour talking to her.  She also promised to gather up all her girly clothes and have them for us the next time we were in town!  It is nice to have such a good friend!

We finally made it to Mom's around 10pm and we all went right to sleep...EXCEPT Brendan who had slept in the car most of the evening!  He decided to stay up playing beside my bed with Army guys!  Around 2am I finally told him the soldiers had to go back in the toybox.  He told me no every time he put a toy in the box and managed to fall asleep beside Michael!

We enjoyed Thursday with my Mom.  Michael had to do some military training and took the car.  I think Zaira was glad that we did not have an excuse to go some where.  We just had the time to relax and talk.  My Mom also introduced Zaira to her new 'doll friend.'  This doll is a 3 foot tall cloth coll with yarn hair.  She wears a purple dress with butterflies and Zaira will have a matching dress when she is a little older!  Mom made the doll because I mentioned it would be nice to have a stuffed animal to take Zaira's picture throughout the years.  Mom decided that a doll was a better choice.  I think we will name the doll Rose.  Amanda and I both have similar dolls that we cherish. Maybe we can all take pictures with our dolls when she comes for a visit!

Today is an even slower day.  Michael left for his second day of training and Mom had to go to work.  It is also raining here...flash floods throughout the area!  We are enjoying being lazy with old TV shows and computer games.

We did have a visitor for lunch.  My brother Adrian stopped by and ate with us.  It was nice for him to get to meet Zaira.  It was a good visit where we were able to catch on the last few months.  Zaira decided that she would sleep through the visit!  I still managed to get a picture of Adrian with Zaira.  One day (all too soon) she will remember him for his nickname...Uncle Rootbeer.

When Michael came home we loaded all the children in the car and took them to the park.  It was in between rain storms so the boys were able to play and get rid of some of their excess energy.  We stayed until it began to rain again.  Zaira slept through this event as well.  She woke up as we got her back in the car...I am sure she thought we were crazy as we tried to make it back in the car without getting wet!

The day ended with a leisure dinner and watching another round of old TV shows.

I cannot end without sending a birthday message out to my brother, Christopher.  He probably will not read this blog but just in case...I wanted him to know he was not forgotten.  The children call him Uncle Bubbles and sang a greeting to him on his answering machine...maybe we will still talk to him later in the night.

40 Days for Life

I have not written a lot about our family involvement in pro-life efforts.  I guess with our new bundle of life we have been more focused on this then our community outreach.  We have stayed strong in our commitment to life and assisting our local pregnancy help center.  In fact, we have gone many times over the last few weeks to give little donations of diapers, wipes, and clothing.  I even sorted through my maternity clothes before packing them up in order to try to give some of the outfits away.

Yesterday, we began our local prayer campaign (40 Days for Life).  This is a time of prayer and fasting for the end to abortion, as well as community outreach.  This has become an international effort started by our good friends in College Station.  Here are the highlights of what has happened since its beginning in 2004 (straight from their website):

• 1,894 individual campaigns have taken place in 440 cities
• More than 525,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
• More than 15,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Reports document 5,928 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones we know about
• 69 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
• 24 abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
• More than 2,100 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs from coast to coast ... and overseas
• Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery
• After so many years of legalized abortion, many people of faith are experiencing a renewed sense of HOPE!

Tuesday night we had our Kick Off Rally at the Lutheran Church.  We had a wonderful guest speaker, Rev. Larry White from Houston, speak to us about the gift of life as we are God's creation.  He spoke about how we were made in God's image and should not take this gift for granted.  He related our plight in America (and around the world) as equivalent to the Holocaust in Germany.  Just as the devil, the master of deception, eased his way into the life of the German people through Hitler, we have allowed the lies of abortion to enter into our society.  Just as the German people look back on the atrocities of Hitler's reign as evil, we will one day be able to look back and see the gradual shift in our society and know that it was wrong.  We must stand in front of the evil and cry out for God to assist us in our fight.  Just as the German Christians had the opportunity to stand in front of the trains, risking their lives, to prevent the Jewish prisoners from going to their death, we must take a stand.  Will we be like the Christians in Germany who chose to look away and deny the atrocities?  Or will we take that stand and fight the good fight against all odds?

The pastor gave us this challenge, not only for these 40 days, but until this battle for life is won!  We are called to be here for those who can not speak for themselves.  We are asked to pray and give of our time to end abortion in our nation.  We were asked to sign up to pray at the Planned Parenthood to witness to those who go to the clinic.  We gladly took several times to pray.



We spent our first day praying in front of the Planned Parenthood.  I was there with Zaira, Brendan, Edward, and Henry.  We arrived to find our coordinator, a pastor from the Lutheran Church, already praying.  He kindly stayed and prayed with us through our hour of prayer as well.

I had decided to use our Morning Prayer for the basis of our time praying.  I was so pleased to see that the readings were all about God's gift of life and mercy.  These were easily discussed as we prayed and talked about the need for both of these gifts in our lives.  I love the way we were able to spontaneously bring to reality the prayer that was in our little prayer book.  It is always a joy when our prayer time is real and not just words being read from a book.

I really felt like this time was filled with special graces.  We were able to talk and pray about all of our needs.  We did not pray as if we were judging those at the clinic.  We saw our own need for forgiveness and mercy as we prayed for our nation and our community.  Although we were there at the Planned Parenthood early in the morning before they opened their gates for business, we felt like our prayers were being lifted up for a greater purpose then we could understand.

We ended our hour of prayer singing and praising God.  Then closed with the St. Michael's Prayer for added protection from "the wickedness and snares of the devil," directly in the surrounding area of the clinic.

We hope to spend many more hours in prayer at the clinic.  However, we had to leave our vigil to go out of town for the remainder of the week.  We will be taking Michael to the airport on Sunday so wanted to spend a few days focused on our family.  We will continue to pray each day for the efforts around the world and return to the vigil on Monday.

I encourage everyone to find a local campaign and sign up to pray.  There are also daily prayer emails that you can sign up to receive at their website.  This is a unified effort that does make a difference.  The prayers are very focused on different aspects of the abortion issue.  The focus is on change of heart and conversion.  Take some time to pray for the end of abortion!

Serving the Lord

After a long week at the festival (which we thoroughly enjoyed-see 4H post), we had a nice day of rest that included an altar serving training at our campus mission church.

We actually planned a day that we could enjoy sleeping in.  Then we made a big breakfast with time to enjoy before dressing for church.  We arrived in time to settle into our pew and say a little prayer before Mass began.  Believe me, this was a nice change from our rushed frenzy over the last few weeks!

Mass was such a joy as the boys all sat in a nice row and actually participated in the prayers of the Mass.  And, Zaira actually tried to sing for us today!  She, also, stayed awake throughout the Mass distracting the sweet elderly couples who sit behind us with her smiling and cooing!  Not to mention their joy in seeing her brothers' spontaneous kisses to her head!

No this was not a dream, but a reality that is seen rarely (yet more increasingly) at the Reynolds' pew on Sunday.

We then made our way to the student center for a quick bite to eat before the altar server training.  The three older boys went to the training.  For Sean and Henry this was a refresher course after many years of serving.  However, Edward would be learning the needs of the altar for the first time.

Now, I must tell you, Edward was very nervous at the idea of being an altar server.  He told me that he would rather stay with me in the pew.  However, I explained to him that it was a great honor to serve on the altar. Also, it was a good idea to always be prepared to serve the Lord.  I strongly encouraged him to go through the training so he could be ready if he was ever needed.

So, Edward reluctantly made his way to the front of the church.  The training lasted most of the two hour block of time.  Then the children were given a special ice cream treat.  This was followed by a unique experience.  All of the altar servers, even the college crew, posed for a book of do's and don'ts of altar serving.  They posed in reverent positions that would take place throughout the Mass and then the alternative prankster motions that might (I hope never) be performed by a 'bad' server.

The boys had a great time with the photo session.  I pray they did not get too many crazy ideas from the experience.  It was nice to know that even in the midst of these chaotic pictures, the group still remained very reverent in their motions before the tabernacle.  Our boys (and all the servers) would pause to genuflect to enter the sanctuary as well as at the tabernacle before hurrying to their poses for the photographer.  It was silly to take these pictures but all of them knew that they were still in God's house.  It was a good time for everyone.

And what did Edward think of it all?  He enjoyed the experience and wants to be an altar server now!  Praise God for giving me the wisdom to not push to hard but give the nudge in the right direction.  I know he will do a great job serving the Lord by assisting the priest.

Turkeys and Elephants

Today the boys were up early and out the door faster than we could get out of bed and rub our eyes!  Yep...that's right!  We had something fun planned for them today!  We were heading to a local ranch for JAKES Day!  A fun-filled day outdoors learning about turkeys, guns, fishing, archery, and did I mention guns!  I know...we are so East Texan, right?   Do you want to learn more about this part of the day, along with a trip back to last week's event location?  Well...sorry...you will not read about it here.  You will need to go to my 4H blog!  Even though it is technically not a 4H event, our county 4H runs an archery booth at this event each year so it had to go to that blog.

However, that is not the only fun we had today.  We also headed over to the opening of our local Republican Party Headquarters in their new location.  We enjoyed a free hamburger supper and the opportunity to spend some time with our elected officials and a few hoping to meet our needs after the next election.  We also had the state chairman of the party available to say a few words. We even took a few yard signs home.  Here are some of the highlights we heard tonight:

Steve Munistreri (State GOP Chariman)-Imagine that you give a person a job with stated requirements to be met, and then have a review at the end of a year to see how the goals were met, and none of them are met.  What would you do?   We all know that person would be fired.  We need to do the same with our current president.

Trent Ashby-We need to know what we stand for...looking at both parties...Republicans are not afraid to show their love for God and country.  The Democrats took three votes to finally decide to accept the word God in their platform and were then booed!  It is pathetic!

James White-When you have a job to do, it does not matter how nice you are or how good a husband or father you are...you have to measure them by their job performance.

So much more was said...too bad I have a poor memory.  But be assured, the mood was strong of pride for this country as we prayed and sang throughout the event.  We had a great time visiting with some friends we see every day and those who we rarely see any more.  It was a great time to just enjoy the inspiration of the dedicated conservatives in our area.

The Past Few Days

Well, I have not posted in a few days...Did you miss me?  LOL...just joking.  I am sure I gave a much needed relief from our crazy family antics.

After posting my quick note on Tuesday, I went to bed glad for the much needed rest.  I woke up the next morning feeling a little achy but nothing too serious.  Henry and I started spaghetti sauce in the crock-pot for serving the college students tonight.  Then, we headed out the door quickly to make it BACK to the dentist for another round of fun.  This time Brendan and Sean had their annual cleaning done.  Edward had the second half of his mouth worked on...more caps and fillings.  Michael stayed with these boys, while I took Henry to his nature art class.  Of course, with Zaira along for the ride!

We arrived at the park in time to enjoy the quiet of the park before Bruce arrived to look around and choose the trees of the day.  Once Henry was settled in his chair to draw, I went in search of costumes!  NOT for Halloween!  If you have been following both of my blogs, you know we are gearing up for a food contest next week.  We decided on a patriotic theme a few days back.  I was trying to hunt down the Lincoln and Roosevelt costumes.  Unfortunately, I did not fare very well!  I am going to have to break down and buy them online.  I hope we do well after all of this trouble and expense.  I have already told Michael and Henry they will need to wear their costumes around town for the costumes to be worth it!  Brenda suggested that the boys use their costumes to compete in the fashion show later this year.  Hmmmm...that just might work!

Zaira and I headed back for the park and enjoyed the rest of the morning watching the group draw.  I am amazed at how well they are doing.  Bruce continues to be a great teacher.  He has so much knowledge about the trees, which I found the most fascinating.

Then we picked up the rest of the group.  Michael even managed to get his own dental visit scheduled.  Before heading home, Michael was able to stop and pick up a passport picture to renew his passport before heading back to Afghanistan.  Not to mention stopping at our favorite burger spot for lunch.

We arrived home just in time to eat lunch, rest a little while and then back out the door again.  Sean had his speech session.  Then we went to the church to prepare for dinner.  We do this every Wednesday evening along with men from the local Knights of Columbus group.  By this time, I was really starting to feel tired and achy so I just made the salad and left the rest for the two men in charge.  I even had a little help making the salad from Brendan.  He 'convinced' the carrots to get chopped up for the salad  He does have an imagination!

We went to Mass and I began to get a little chilled, which is funny because the church is not cooled unless in use, so it takes a while to cool down the building.  We then went to the social hall and that was the end for me!  I began to shake uncontrollably and could not get warm.  I was trying so hard to stay because we were going to make announcements are Pro-life events in the area.  Twenty minutes into the meal, I had to leave the building...thinking that the outside air would help.  It did not!

So, I had Michael make the announcement and we headed home.  I decided to have Michael check my temperature (I never have a temp!) and I was hitting 103-degree temp!  I sat in the recliner and begged Zaira to nurse to relieve the pain!  You see, if you read my blog a couple of weeks ago, I talked about mastitis and how much fun it is to be in pain.  Well, I think my body was telling me that I never really got over that last round of fun.  Also, I needed to solve this issue soon before Michael headed out for Afghanistan again.

This is the problem as I see it.  Zaira likes to hold her poop for three day intervals.  This is not unusual for a breastfed baby...BUT Zaira decides that she is not hungry by day two and she stops nursing.  I have to beg her to nurse!  So, what I need to try to get her to do is nurse even on these off days...so any suggestions are gladly excepted at this time.  The way it is going I am looking to begging again tomorrow if this cycle continues!

Needless to say I was wiped out again yesterday, so we cancelled all our arranged plans...a big deal in our house!  The boys did schoolwork and kindly let me rest.  The only time they even left the house was to go to the VFW lodge who graciously donated to our 4H club.  I will tell more about that on my other blog along with our hushpuppy adventure for the day.

This morning I woke up feeling so rested but still wanting to make the day as easy as possible for us.  I could not have planned the phone call from a dear friend, Vicky, any better.  She was looking forward to meeting Zaira and bringing a homemade dinner for the evening meal!  Praise God!

That meant the only thing we had for the day was the hushpuppies mentioned above and a quick stop into Wal-mart.  Then we could come home and finish up the school week with some testing.  I could not have planned that better!

We did enjoy the day also.  Zaira had the first joy of experiencing rain, which was so needed in our area!  She even had a drop fall on her sweet head as she leaned back to see it better.  She was a little startled but I think she enjoyed it!  I do not know what she would have done had it fallen into her mouth.

Soon after that she actually managed to get her thumb IN her mouth...although it was really just the side of her thumb, she was content.  It is so funny to see a baby discover themselves.

Earlier this week, I talked about our 4H photography photo session with our family.  We got the proofs in last night.  They are so wonderful!  We were told we could choose 20 but we had such a hard time.  I am so thankful we chose Natalie to do this for us, and that she was willing to work with our little group of photographers.  If you ever need a photographer, she would be top on my list.

So another awesome day in our house, thankful for God's blessings.

Quick Note

I thought I would pass on posting tonight, but realized that the boys had too much fun with their science experiment to miss blogging about it.

First, I have to brag...the boys finished all of their school for the day BEFORE lunch!  I love days like this!

This included Edward having an experiment to demonstrate water pressure at the bottom of the ocean.  With just a 2 liter bottle, balloon and some air, he was shown what would happen to a lung if it was under that much water pressure!  Pretty cool!

Since we got school done early, we got to relax this afternoon.  We left a little early for our 4H meetings to take a much desired picture of Zaira at our welcome sign outside of town.

Then the regular Tuesday 4H meetings filled our evening.

We are home now and I am heading to bed before 11pm!  WOW!  I love it when a plan comes together and ACTUALLY works!

An awesome day and now much needed rest!

School and Speech

We got a late start this morning.  No one seemed to want to get up...most likely because of the fun the boys had star gazing last night!  Michael pulled out our telescope and tried to peak past the clouds to see the stars.  He will watch for a clearer night and try again later this week!

In spite of our late start, the third school week began...and we started out with a little bit of redo from last week.  The boys hate spelling all around so it is not surprising that their scores from last week are not up to par.  I am going to need to get creative with this subject.  We also got behind in history and science...those afternoon courses that get away from us!  BUT, thankfully, the boys enjoy these subjects so it is never too hard to get caught up.

So, the game plan when these things happen in our school house, is to bring the student to the subject as if we were on track... in other words, stay in our regular routine.  If we are behind in a subject we try to double up on assignments until we are caught up.  This is not always possible but it usually works.  If we are redoing tests that do not relate to the next assigned lessons, I have them continue the current week's lessons.  Then when they have time, in between subjects, they are given time to review the topic and re-take a given test.  This is their responsibility and any grade recorded stays in the books until they decide to re-take the test.  However, if the subject matter effects their next week's work, we review and re-take tests before moving to the next lesson.  It seems to work well for us.  Sometimes we still get behind but I would rather have them learning then rushing to the next lesson.  It all seems to work out in the end.

The boys did get through the lessons today without too much trouble even with make up work.  The older boys were especially excited to have another science experiment.  Today we focused on air, which led to the understanding of the percentage of oxygen in the air.  I knew that there was more nitrogen than oxygen in air but I never knew how important it was to have this type of percentage.  Today we learned that the air has about 20% oxygen and if this percentage was at a higher level it increases the risk of fires.  This also would cause our bodies to increase the ability to burn energy!  This was demonstrated in an experiment in which we increased the oxygen in a jar with a burning candle.  The boys really enjoyed this experiment because they were convinced something might explode!  Thankfully, this did not happen and we got to have fun seeing the reaction of the candle to this oxygen increase.

We finished this experiment just in time to send Sean out the door with Michael for his speech session.  We have been very blessed with the program at the university.  Graduate students who need experience working with clients are assigned a student each semester.  These clients come from the community and there is a waiting list each semester.  We have been able to take Sean the last two years and he has made a lot of progress.  We have learned so much from the director of the program as well.

Michael and Sean met the rest of us at the park for our first 4H photography meeting.  To learn more about this adventure check out my 4H blog!

We got home in time for Sean to try his skills in the kitchen making Eggs Benedict!  I wish I had taken pictures!  He did a great job!