Anna plays with iPhone at the lake September 11, 2010

We're lucky she caught it!  Mom and Dad get caught up in watching the "firsts" and forget to pull out the camera.

October 10, 2010 The last few weeks...WHEW!!!

Just a quick note to update...  Rhoni was kicked by a horse 2 weeks ago tomorrow.  The kick lacerated her spleen and she spent 7 days in the hospital while the doctors watched her blood counts, blood pressure, and heart rate.  All of that has remained stable and this past Friday she received a glowing report from her doctor... so now we just wait, keep her from running, jumping, climbing... anything else that might jar her abdominal cavity or have the possibility of causing blunt trauma to that area.  BUT, if we maintain all of that the spleen will heal itself and by Thanksgiving, other than some scar tissue, her spleen will be as strong as the day before the accident...

WOW.

I am still blown away by how AWESOME this body is that our Lord designed, created, and provided us with!  How can an organ that was so badly damaged (and if you had seen the horror on the Dr.'s face after he saw the scan...) heal itself with nothing more than rest and good nutrition??(things you do anyway)

Like I think I am over it and then I just see how great she feels and again am overwhelmed and I guess I just needed a public forum to say, "WOW!  You have AMAZED me again Lord!" and "Thank You, thank You for Your healing hands, for Your marvelous creation that is my child, for the body of Christ that showed up in person in that hospital room with gifts and snacks and gifts and..., for Your unwavering faithfulness to us, and for Your love!!  A love so deep and so suffocating that it is almost crushing and yet is so uplifting that you feel like you might float.  Thank you Lord for loving us, for loving me, and for showing up with the face of so many.  I LOVE YOU!!"

Today, September 14, 2010

This has been a rough day for the ladies of the Ray family.  We had to drop the kittens (or the woowoos as Anna calls them) off at the vet this morning to be spayed.  Anna cried all the way home, alligator tears.  They appear to be doing well this evening, but are still a little groggy...the cats are doing well also:0)

Art today was salt dough ornaments.  Rhoni made one in the shape of..... TEXAS!?!

This is what I found when I was putting the sheets on Anna's bed today.  Her mattress had gotten pushed to one side and revealed this masterpiece.  She more than just looks like her Uncle Jeremy!

I tried to get a close up so you could see the pawns the girls were using for the board game that they made with their Daddy a few weeks ago. Only my girls...

It has been a great day.  Ron played on the church's softball team in their first game tonight and we all had a big time.  There is no telling what tomorrow will bring.  Goodbye, for now.

September 5, 2010

WOW... life is going by at a frantic pace... so new format on the blog.  I will catch up the past 3 weeks (hopefully), but will tell you about today.

Ron and the girls and I got up before daylight around 5:14 a.m. and were at the church by 5:30a.m. to help set-up the tent and make coffee for Common Grounds which is where our church gives away free coffee and donuts on Thursday mornings September thru May.  Anna was sooo excited that the child, who you can't usually beat out of the bed, hopped right up as I rounded the corner into her room.  "Is it time yet!" and off we went.  The girls had a GREAT time.

Ron surprised us by taking the day off for "our" anniversary.  So, we have had an AWESOME day just hanging out together and running around town.  The girls ate dinner with Brother Brian and Trinity while their Daddy and I went out for tortilla soup at Posadas.  It has been a great day and I'm sure we will all crash early!
 Sorry that their are no pictures, but my favorite moment from the day is looking out from the front of the church with the sun barely lighting the sky to see my two"big" girls sitting on the church steps, waiting for "customers" oh so patiently...  a beautiful site.  They love to serve.

Week of August 16

Sunday

Aren't they beautiful...

Sunday after church we went out to lunch with all of our buddies.  Anna had to change real quick into something fancy.
We all had a great time and then came home and piddled around most of the afternoon.  When it cooled off we rode over to the church parking lot to do a few laps on our bikes.  The girls really wanted Ron and I to race, but that just wasn't happening.  He claims to be out of shape, but he's still fast!






Monday
The horses were excited to see us this morning.  Corona came running up to us.  Rhoni called and whistled and walked around looking for Frio and finally started brushing Corona.  Just as we were about to leave, Frio see us and comes running and whinniing as if to say, "Wait!  Don't forget about me!"  Rhoni was tickled.
Monday night was the men's meeting at church and a short rainstorm blew up.  When Ron came home, the girls and I had all of the lights out in the house except for a few candles and we were having a campout... while watching the food channel!!

Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day.  I was pretty impressed with Anna's dedication and enthusiasm for reading during her independent study time and then I walked in and found this:

Th rest of the week is sort of a blur...

But everyone seems pretty worn out.  Notice Fat Boy's feet under the bed -he is asleep under the bed on his back!?!

Savanah's rabbit.

This is a Savannah and Micah.  little girls from our home school group.  They werer teaching the girls to two step.

Saturday was the girls carwash at the church to raise money for their dulcimers for the Christmas program.  After the carwash was the big "PARTY" that the girls have been planning for weeks and ALL of their friends came over.  I did not take one single picture:(

Week of August 9, 2010

Monday--  Happy Birthday Beeby... sorry that our scanner didn't work, but we will hand deliver your birthday cards next week!
Monday was our first day of school and the girls decided that their "stuffies" needed some educating as well.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday we went to Mr. Pool's and brushed his horses.  We did this first thing in the morning to get our day going.  That and with temperatures over 100 degrees all week we had to get out there early if we were going!

I'm not sure who is enjoying it more the girls or the horses!?!

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty laid back  just school and church.  We helped cook for Wednesday night supper and had our first "brisket" experience.  Boy, is it delicious!!

Thursday we rode with Ron to Tyler to see a Sports Medicine Doctor and got GREAT news that his supraspinatus tendon is not completely torn.  He has 3 weeks of physical therapy in office and then he can do it at home.  No skiing or golf until after PT.   Other exciting news for Thursday...our pumpkins sprouted!!

Friday the girls and I test drove, negotiated, and bought a truck.  They were very much a part of the process and very excited!

When we got out of the truck at the grocery store on our way home from the dealership, Rhoni said, "Three hot girls in one hot ride!"  I think she likes it.

Friday night we net up with the local home school group at the putt-putt course in town.

I don't think everyone was ready for the picture.  The girls had a great time and we already have a play date set up for this week.

Saturday we got up VERY early and drove to Shreveport to ski with Dr. Andy.  The girls really skied hard! 

Even Huck was exhausted!

Week of August 1, 2010

Sunday--- 

First, we walked to church (across the street)... don't they look pretty.
Then to Mr. Bill's for a cookout with some fella's they work with.  Mr. Bill makes the BEST hamburgers.  We played some horseshoes, swam in the pool, and visited.  We couldn't stay long though because we had FAMILY FUN DAY at our church.

ALL of the "kids" had a great time!  The little fella that Ron is holding on the right is Landon.  He would ask Ron to hold his water balloons so that he could get on the slide.  Retrieve them from Ron and then hit Ron upside the head with them.  It was precious.  Colton is not pictured, but is about three and as I was taking hotdog orders from the girls he told me, "Only mustard on mine."  I wasn't sure he was even big enough to eat a hotdog.

Monday--

Monday our first try at couponing!!!!  We had several errands to run and then we headed to Kroger.  Kroger will allow you to stack coupons meaning you can use more than one coupon for a single item and they double coupons up to $.50 and triple up to $.35.  We saved $72 in coupons, but we also bought a lot of pre-packaged snacks that we don't usually purchase, but with a sales price of 50% off and a coupon it was worth a try.  The girls have enjoyed them. 

These are the photos of the kitty fashion show that Beazor and Lucky put on after dinner.  They were both winners!

Tuesday--

We started the day off with a bicycle ride and walk around the church where our friend Trinity joined us.  The girls decided that she should bring her American Girl doll, Molly over for a tea party.

Anna made the brownies all by herself.  Please notice the two guests on either side of the arm chair (Beazor and Lucky) using their best manners :)

The girls finished up the afternoon in the playroom turning cardboard boxes into trains, airplanes and rocket ships...  this picture is from Saturday night when the construction started.  Yes, these are the last two boxes!!

Tumbling was canceled this week, but we got home early enough to go for another walk at the church.  We met the neighbor from across the street who has all of the horses.  I offered Rhoni and Anna as laborers so I will let you know when we get that adventure planned!

Wednesday--

Today started out hot!  We were not deterred and went to the church to walk & ride, but then had a pretty quiet day at home.  I don't think I have mentioned that we are fasting from television this week.  We are wanting to become more aware of how it can become part of our routine and the time that we lose that could be devoted to things that are more fun!  Overall, the girls haven't checked up.  On this day during time they would have normally plopped down to veg in front of the t.v, they played "dolls" with their kittens.

Wednesday is also dinner at church which to the girls means play in the gym until we have to come eat, eat as little as required as fast as we can, and return to the gym until time for a lesson. 

Thursday --

We are just getting started on the day, but it has already been eventful.  Rhoni taught Beeby how to chat online.  We went for a short walk/ride at the church, but everyone has some sinus issues so we are going to have a slow day hanging out here...we will see how that goes.

Well, slow is relative in the Ray household...Trinity came over to play, ice cream was delivered by her daddy Brother Brian, a tea party was needed to make it through the day, and Daddy came home with a surprise outting planned for the afternoon...

He had arranged for us to go brush horses at Mr. Ed Pool's.  This was actually just a training session so that the girls and I can go out during the week!  Rhoni was SOOO excited.  Anna got a little bored with it , but did enjoy climbing the gate.

This is a little bear that Rhoni made all by herself.  She drew out the pattern, traced it, cut it out, sewed it together, and gave it a face.  She finally found someone worthy of his love and gave him to Trinity.

Thursday night I was able to meet up with a group of home school moms at IHOP and got the scoop on some of the activities in the area.  There is a business meeting next Friday so I will post details then!!




Friday---
Friday was a slow day.  Both girls still feeling a little under the weather.  I finished cutting the grass (Ron had gotten all of the back done while I was at my meeting) and the girls played inside.  Ron came home a little early and we rode to Lufkin.  I don't remember now if it was Thursday or Friday, but our neighbor who teaches 4th grade in town brought by some of his project ideas for writing.  This makes it even more exciting when I tell them these are what Mr. Chad's children do at school:)


Saturday--

HOT HOT HOT  Ron and our landlord, Gregg, and his son, Josh cleaned out the shed beside our house and made a run to the dump.  I had gone downtown and rented a tiller so after Ron got me started, I began working to get our garden spot ready. 

Isn't it beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday also came with a HUGE surprise.  Our good buddy Trinity had her appendix removed around 9 a.m...................WHAT??????????  She began having pain about 9p.m. Friday night that progressively got worse.  We had to go by the hospital to see that she was okay and take her a few goodies to make her recovery time more enjoyable.  Dad treated us to Cane's chicken fingers and we made it home just in time to catch the new Phineas and Ferb (Saturday night's at 6:30).

Monday - -
The girls and I rode with Ron to the airport to catch his flight to Birmingham and then we were off to the Houston Zoo. 

 

This was the policeman that greeted us as we walked through the parking lot to the entrance of the zoo.   The girls were psyched.  "In Texas, they have policeman on horseback!"..Rhoni 

The petting zoo.  This is one spoiled goat.

The girls were worried because this monkey looked "so sad".  They came up with several scenarios as to why he might be sad.  It was a great day and an awesome zoo!  The reptile exhibit was one of the best I've seen and the girls really enjoyed watching the fruit bats eat.  The girls were also mad at the pigeons that kept trying to steal the prairie dog's food.  It was kind of pitiful :(

We had to hit Academy on the way home because everyone had out grown their tennis shoes (bought in March)!  Then, we got started turning over the dirt in our little garden.  That is going to be a job with 2 shovels and a manual cultivator:)

Tuesday --

We started off the day by heading to the library for their last summer program.  A group of students from the SFA Kinseology department had about a dozen different games set-up and the girls played hard for about an hour and a half!

Tuesday night is Power Tumbling down at the Rec center from 6 to 7 p.m.  The girls LOVE it!  Right now they are working on front and back handsprings, roundoffs and more! After tumbling we met some friends from church at the soccer field to watch Ms. Melissa (Gavin and Avery's mom) win the championship for their league!!  It was over 5 seconds too soon just as Melissa was lining up to make another goal.  Oh well, no need to pile on in a shut out.

Wednesday ---

The girls were upset that they couldn't play with Trinity (their buddy across the street) after the soccer game so she came over to play!  What a great day.  Three little girls that play so well together.  We got some errands done and posted signs for Trinity's cat.

We ate dinner a church and the girls got to play dodge ball in the gym after the program.  It was a BIG day!

Thursday --
Every day is an adventure and Thursday was no exception!  Mr. Tony Dawson allowed us to visit his farrier business (horse shoeing).  The girls had a grand time! Mr. Tony always has popsicles on hand for any "assistants" that may come by!  We even went to the Expo Center to the sale, but didn't find any goats that would fit in the back seat of the Camry!

Mr. Tony even made the girls a horseshoe and treated us to some fantastic cheeseburgers. 

Friday --

No pictures from Friday.  Ron got home after midnight Thursday night and was then off to work Friday.  The girls got to see him before he left and they were dressed and ready wanting to do some more work in their garden before it got to hot.  Then as the day warmed up, we went in search of pumpkin seeds.  Success!!  Now to get the ground ready.  Dad got home a little early and we all went to Lufkin for dinner at Chilis and a trip to target.  Finally, over to Ms. Amy's to get ready for the big yard sale on Saturday.  The girls cleaned out their toys, closets, dressers... it was amazing how excited they were.  They even planned ahead and bought supplies for a lemonade stand.

Saturday--

The yard sale was a huge success in that nothing came home not so much in money earned!?!  The girls lemonade stand was a hit and they earned over $11 (wasn't it nice of Dad to donate the supplies).  Their day was full of lemonade sales, scooter riding, and Brother Brian pulled out the water slide for a test run before Family Fun Day tomorrow.  Sure to be another great day!

I just wanted to let you know what all the girls have been up to and that they are not as bored as they claim to be when you call!