The Latest...

To be a stay-at-home-mom with an only child and a semi-part-time business.....I am soooo busy! I love it all, but it seems like each day---the minutes just get shorter in the hour! Also, I was feeling a bit wonky about life in general last week so blogging wasn't even remotely enticing.

Here's part of the low-down from the past few weeks:

1. Our children's choirs and activities are in full swing for fall and PandaGirl enjoyed singing for the opening call to worship this past Sunday with her friends. We are blessed to be led in worship by the kids every six weeks or so. Love it!

2. This is from the spring when we kept PandaJoy for that long stint. Just got word yesterday of some news that at first was GREAT for us....the big mountain we prayed God would move, was moved. Then there was the second bit of info that changes everything. I cannot talk about it here, yet. No matter the outcome I will explain it later after all decisions have been made. Complete and utter dismay and continued frustration with "the system".

I'll leave it at this piece of Truth: The wisdom of the world is foolishness in God's sight...1 Corinthians 3:19.

3. PG and PandaDoggie gettin' all cuddly on the couch. He's wearing his fall bandanna to help usher in my favorite time of year!

OH---the dog.

I have had remorse, remorse, remorse for making a hasty decision, but my track record is FULL of hasty decisions that I later find some way to change. Not this time. We are stuck with him and I do believe that the Lord is giggling a bit knowing that I helped make this decision and am living with the consequences.

Like,

*having a honkin' huge metal kennel in. my. bedroom. Very romantic.

*the constant "watch" of when he needs to go out to do his business

*the times he doesn't make out to the yard to do said business

*the playful chasing of the cat that the cat has lost fur over from puffing up in fear and anger at the cheerful leap PandaDoggie takes at him

*having to leave an event early to let him out to do his business---WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS ONE BEFORE NOW!!!!???

However, he is so super sweet, loving, cuddly, always by my side, LOVES PG and she LOVES him, PandaPop is head over heels for him and he walks perfectly on a leash. He's a good addition to the fam.

4. Our church hosted Tim Hawkins the other night.

H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S.

If you've never heard his comedy sketches then you have truly missed out on one of the BEST things this side of heaven, because he is downright funny. And clean. Check him out.

5. Awe....how could I NOT love this adorable little guy. His deafness often redeems him and endears me to him on a daily basis.

6. Finally had our foundation repaired. If you aren't familiar with this process, then come to Texas. Sometimes the ground is perfect for building a house and other times the developers build very quickly on farm land. Then it get super HOT and DRY, the ground shifts and moves causing your house to literally break. Cracks in the tile, brick, drywall. Unsightly and eventually unsafe. As part of us buying this house, the previous owners had to pay for the repair. Just had time to do it a week or so ago. They dig very deep holes, add cement cylinders to something and then literally jack it up like changing a tire. AMAZING. The workers then put all the dirt and plants back from where they came and by the time it was over the only evidence that they'd done a foundation repair was three places where they had to break the concrete in our driveway and porch and re-poured it. Unbelievably, moving the house and inch or two made ALL our doors fit perfectly like they were made to be. Who knew?

7. My 2nd grader looking cute in a darling top that her Gram bought her.

8. PandaDoggie is so gentle and sweet.....until we have to put him in his kennel when we leave.

Pandora's box opens.

He HATES it!!!

We came home to this lovely display of his handi-work after church on Sunday. The next picture shows what we have to do now.

9. LOCK. We have to put a LOCK on the kennel door so he won't eat his way through like the other tying mechanisms we tried.

Determined little dude.

10. We enjoyed going to the Lego Castle exhibit while we were "home" for Labor Day weekend. Before we even knew about this, PP had started doing all his event promos for the children's ministry with awesome displays of mini legos. So cute!

11. Oh so close, yet still quite not "there" as friends. A few sniffs have been exchanged, but not much else. Miao has been brave enough to go up and grab a few sniffs of PandaDoggie's paws....while he's sleeping.

12. More of the Lego exhibit.

13. The Cotton Crop Photography is really picking up. I have about 8 shoots to do in the next three weeks! LOVED doing this family last Saturday. Wait....I LOVE doing all my shoots!

14. Downright adorable picture. Sweet baby is using his tongue as a pacifier. Awe.

15. My friend took me for a pedicure for my 40th birthday. She's the one I'm going to NYC with in the spring. I would not have chosen blue polish normally, but she usually chooses a dark green/teal color so I thought for fun I'd go a little "wild". It totally reminded me of my cheerleading days and Friday night football because my school colors were this same royal blue and one game we girls wore polish just like this and our sponsor FREAKED out and told us never to do it again. My, my how times have changed.

16. When I was feeling wonky about life last week, PP had me get out of the house and DO something that would be productive and let me see a finished product of my efforts. We planted some flowers for fall and I got to purchase my PUMPKIN which always makes me smile! The work WAS good and I was thankful for it.....and him. ; )

17. My man is just so good. He never ceases to amaze me with his joy and vigor for life.

18. Again with the cuteness. I don't know what came over me, but I allowed him to get on the couch and just spray it everyday with Pet Odor Control Febreze (don't you agree that Febreze should be spelled: Febreeze?)

Well, there is MUCH more that has gone on, but for the most part this sums it up. We are gearing up for our fall preteen retreat, I am trying to lose weight as ALWAYS, reading a fabulous book by John Ortberg, working on uploading and tweaking my "real" website for TCCP, playing games with PandaGirl, approaching my 3rd week of study with this Bible Study and waiting around for word about PandaJoy.

Another Day?

I want to post a ton of things, but there is just no time today!! At least I got a new look for fall, right? ; ) See you tomorrow, hopefully with some of the latest scoop on PandaGirl, the new PandaDoggie and all the happenings around here!!!

Until there's more minutes in an hour.....

I'm Coming!

Been busy and not really in a blogging mood, but I am coming back as soon as I can take some pics and change my header to fall! For now you can check out the family photo shoot I did on Saturday.

Sweet friends from church! ; )

Dazzling Baby Blues

I did a quick photo shoot of this precious little girl on Saturday while in my hometown (funny to say hometown when I haven't lived there since 1993!! lol!!). I met her mommy when I first started blogging several years ago. This little girl wasn't even two yet and now she is six! I just knew those dazzling baby blue eyes would make for some great shots. I had a blast with her and her sweet and sassy (in a good way!!) personality. You can see the rest of her gallery here.

Saturday Just Came & Went

I can't believe that, as much as I love to blog and posts pics, that I am JUST now getting around to posting about my own 40th Birthday!

I have now joined the ranks of full-fledged.....drumroll.....ADULT.

To a child, I am a real live grown-up. To a teen, I'm like a mom. To someone in their 20's I'm just plain.....old. To those in their 30's I'm like a big sister. To those who are around my age...we just stare at each other in disbelief that we aren't 20 anymore. To those older than me I'm still a little kid to them, but they've lived long enough to know that I am truly a grown-up now and have no intention of letting me forget it.

I even feel different. Not that I felt it overnight from Friday to Saturday like magic, but over the course of the last year I have felt it day by day physically, spiritually and emotionally. Just different than before. I have adored all my birthdays and thought somehow the Big 4-OH would be some huge shebang, but it wasn't.

No fireworks.

Not a ton of cards in the mail.

No party.

If not for Face*Book I'm not sure if anyone would have remembered. (That was SUPER fun to get like a gazillion birthday wishes on there!!!)

I am NOT having a pity-party. Trust me. I am so blessed I can't even believe it. I am just realizing that everybody moves on and has a life and my birthday, be it the fortieth one or not, is just not high on the priority list of things to do. And I was totally OK with. Well, maybe not totally.

I told PandaPop to NOT do anything over-the-top because my big gift is to be my trip to New York City with my friend and I know I will want some bucks for that little adventure. However, the wonderful trip we want to take in the fall....in NYC...{{{swoon}}}....will now be in the spring. Details just didn't work out for a lovely fall trip. We will celebrate our 40th birthdays when I'm 40 and a half. I'm OK with that. The trip is free. No complaints here.

I had a great weekend with family and our new puppy dog who is at this very moment attached to my feet. Where he stays. So sweet. Oh!---and he stopped barking his ever-lovin' head off. Whoop!

I have had a pretty great first 40 years of life with joys, bumps, bruises and blessings beyond measure. Here's to the next 40+ to be filled with the Grace of God.

Happy 40th Birthday, to ME!

He Came From a Land Down Under

Have you ever gone to the store for one thing and came out with another?

Of course you have unless you faithfully follow a list on every. single. trip. you make.

Clearly, we have issues with sticking to a list.

After going to a Home & Garden show last Saturday just to get ideas for our house, we ended up "adopting"....term used loosely...this adorable 4 month old Australian Cattle Dog. ( I hate that the only word for adopting a pet is "adopting". Doesn't really hold great meaning to it when my "adopted" daughter is hearing everyone at the Humane Society table talking about adopting the dog. Really? Makes her equate her own adoption with that of an animal. Maybe I'll start a new word for adopting animals so that the word isn't associated with children and animals so interchangeably.)

Did you catch the word up in the collage: deaf?

Yes, this sweet little guy is totally deaf. As in hears NOTHING.

His gorgeous blue eyes just sucked us three right in and lo & behold, before we knew it we had done the papers and were taking him home. He has some kind of mutated gene that makes him white, ice blue eyes and deaf. Believe me, the real Aussie cattle dogs are, pardon me....butt ugly and I'd NEVER own one.

Puh-leeze.

What the heck are we going to do with a dog....in the house...who can't hear a blessed thing?

I certainly had buyer's remorse on late Saturday afternoon, but as of today I have fallen in love with this silent partner.

Let's rephrase that. He is silent at all times until he is put in his kennel and we leave the room.

Barkity-BARK-BARK-BAAAAAAARRRRRKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!

Poor thing is gonna loose his vocal folds and then be a mute. Oh wouldn't that be nice? A dog that is deaf AND mute. Just sits around looking cute all day.

He follows me (us) EVERYwhere and is a great little lover-dog. So sweet and innocent. If he isn't looking straight at us, then we can forget trying to communicate. I just bought him two cute little metal tags today so that they'd "tink-tink-clink" on each other so we'd know where he is. We LOVE that he is so mellow and lays right on top of us wherever we are sitting. So cute!

We named him Rookie because we are ALL new at this training-a-deaf-dog-thing.

Our cat, Miao is not too thrilled, but he'll come around.