Merry Christmas!!

Hello everyone!! I just wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas!! I hope you all make great family memories and eat way to much! Last year my family started a tradition with the gift of service. We as a family really wanted to show the kids what Christmas is all about. It's not about presents it's about giving!! So last year my mom had the great idea of going to the children's hospital in Lubbock and giving sick children toys. So my mom bought all the stuffed bears that played Jesus Loves Me. So we put Santa hats on the kids and led them to each room and one my one they would give the child a Christmas bear and say a blessing...They ended up saying Merry Christmas and feel better soon and then they would run out of the room. After the first room they each had the confidence built up and would say more. But I really think for Lucas and Reagan it really hit home for them. So this year it is James and my turn for the service project. We were in Target about three months ago and looking around and James found these piggy banks that were knight helmets. James picked them up and started thinking what a great service project for this year. We are going to read about the armor of God and explain the helmet of salvation. So the idea is for each family to have a helmet and put any spare change in it and then at the end of the year we would come together as a family and make a donation to a children's ministry. James and I have it narrowed down to two. One is to help build a water well in Indiana for families who have to travel a long way for fresh water and the other is an orphanage in Africa. So we will let the kids decide which one. I'm really exited that my family has grasped this for the children and for ourselves. This is what Christmas is all about. To help someone else besides yourself that is in need!! So here is a challenge for you and your family...you can start out small but let's teach our own children, nieces and nephew's about the REAL meaning of Christmas!!

Oh This Is Funny!!

I was thinking about our trip and I was reminded of a very funny part of this trip. Of course this was NOT funny at the time. We had to change airports in London. So we flew into one and caught a bus to a different one. So we just left Poland and we were bundled up to the hilt. I'm talking tons of layers!! We get on the bus and the bus was so nice and toasty!! But after ten minutes we were dying of heat!! I mean we were in Hell on Earth! I have never had a panic attack or been claustrophobic. It had to be 95 degrees!! I'm not joking...just ask James. I know I can be dramatic but I promise you it was that hot!! We were on the bus for over an hour and a half. I have my face on the glass trying to cool off and nothing is working!! I tend to get a little vocal and let me tell you I could not handle my tongue! I was telling James to move and he was yelling back at me "Where am I suppose to go?" I don't care just MOVE!! He was taking all my oxygen and I could not breathe. I was just on the verge of tears when I look over and see Dawn taking clothes off. What a great idea!! If she can so can I. I started off with one layer and not good enough and then came another still not good enough!! I got all the way down to my cami and was begging James to let me take it off and I could just sit in my bra!! He wouldn't let me...can you believe it!! I was begging him...the less clothes the better and he said no!! American's have a bad enough name as it is we are not adding the bra less America on a bus to the group. So fine then just move away from me. So after my temper tantrum Drew decides to ask the bus driver to turn down heat. So he does and nothing happens with the heat but instead he added a clicking noise to the bus. So now I'm burning up AND being tortured!! So for one hour I have hotter then hell and click...click...click...click. I just start praying and telling God thank you that I'm not going to hell!! I finally talk myself into sleeping and calm myself down and and we FINALLY get to the airport and I have to put my clothes back on and run off the bus and feel nothing be blessed cold air!! This was definitely one of the many funny stories we have from our trip. I'll think of more and share later.

Albania

I have to be honest with you I was really scared about going to Albania. I had heard so many negative stories about this country. I knew that it is a third would country and heavily ran my the mafia and I had alot of fear going into it. While we were in Austria there was word that we might not be able to go because they had had rain for for the last three days and it was causing flooding. There was not running water and no electricity. So this was my way out or so I thought. The day we left the rain stopped and we were able to go after all. Ok God change my attitude and I'm doing this for you and not me. So we arrived in Albania and I was totally blown away. The poverty was so hard see. We were driving to the hotel and I was just looking at everything and I could not handle what I was seeing. There are buildings that are not completely built and families are living there. With no water, no heat and a family hanging up their laundry. The building only had three walls and they're ok with this? This is not safe for a family. So my eyes were truly opened and I was totally overwhelmed!! We started the school and this topic was spiritual Fathering/Mothering. Again another great topic. We met some really great people who are truly on fire for God and desperate for Him. I was sitting there looking at all the people and just praying for them. They have to truly live by faith. Pray for work, pray for food, pray for health...this is everyday for them. My heart was broken for these people and I have so much respect for them. It really put in perspective for me what really living by faith means. We of course have some really funny stories. One is when we got to our hotel there is no heat. The building was built without ANY heat. So it is really cold and raining. We were ready for bed and had no blankets. We had one sheet and you could hold it up and see through it. So needless to say I have never slept in so many layers and I still froze!! I had thermal, fleece pj bottoms, fleece pullover, wool socks, gloves, a scarf and head band for my ears. Here's a picture.


Thank goodness that Pauly gave us a heater to plug in but the funny thing is that the electricity went off in the middle of the night so it was really cold. We walked down to the beach and the neatest thing was that we were told that the apostle Paul walked on this same beach. How cool is that, but wait!! Pauly took us to the old town wall that surrounded the city and there is an old coliseum there. And guess what Paul preached at this coliseum. We got to stand where Paul preached!! How cool is that!! What an amazing experience!! Another is that we were invited to eat dinner with a pastor and his family at his restaurant. He served us lamb. It was so sad!! I know where our meat comes from but I don't see the cows. He took us to the kitchen and show us our full lamb cooking. It had the head still on with eyes and the tongue was hanging out. And all I could think was I'm eating a BABY sheep!! I did it but I didn't like it. I'm just glad James sat between me and the pastor because he could not see me eating just a very small part of the lamb.

Well we had a great trip and our lives will never be the same. Thank you for all your support and prayers!! We could not have done it without you!!

James and me at the beach where Paul walked!!

The coliseum where Paul preached

Graz, Austria

After the school in Poland we went to the school in Graz, Austria. All I can say is WOW!!! It was absolutely beautiful. I'm sure Poland was pretty as well but we were not able to see Poland because school started early and then by the time we finished it was totally dark outside. In Europe it gets dark at 4:30pm. So in Austria was a great time of rest and thank you Abby for praying that for us because we really needed it. We were able to spend one whole day before the school started so we got to take hikes in the woods and just really look at the country side of Austria. This was the last session for the school and they were graduating. So this topic was spiritual warfare. What an amazing topic!! Both James and I learned so much. I know that especially over the last year we have been in a battle for our family. The enemy has stolen two of our children and we are on full battle with him. And WE WILL WIN!!!! So while we were there Gerlinda asked us if we wanted to go to the opera. I of course said yes and let me tell you James was so excited!! (wink wink) We went to the Magical Flute by Mozart. The opera house was so beautiful. I mean I have never seen anything like it before. I didn't take my camera because I wasn't sure if they would let us take pictures and of course they did. So you will just have to take my word for it. The Opera house is over two hundred years old!! So of course I did not pack any opera wearing clothes so I had to go shopping. So Gerhardt took me shopping. That was quite a funny experience! This man was taking me to stores and handing me black pants and telling me where the dressing rooms were. The only thing is they were the wrong size and I didn't like them. So as nicely as I could I would look at the pants and say there nice pants but let me look around. So he finally got the hint and let me look by myself. James was entertained just by watching this go on. So Gerhardt walked us around the city and was showing us all the history. It was amazing as well. Just the city was over two THOUSAND years old. So we had a great time with Gerhardt. He really blessed us in so many ways. He is a dear dear man of God!! So at the opera ( in was in German) during the intermission Dawn, Drew, James and I looked at each other and just started laughing because we had no idea what was going on. Drew fell asleep during the first part so we were talking about what we thought was going on and he said "I never saw that", that's because you were asleep!! We had a great once in a lifetime experience!! We met so many incredible people and left absolutely blessed. Marina was quite a special lady. James took one look at her and she reminded him of his great-grandmother. She was Austrian so that was really neat to see some of James' family heritage. She is the lady who runs the house. She is in charge of cleaning and cooking for all the guest so she has a very busy and big job and she did a awesome job for us. This part of the trip for James and me was purely building relationships and boy we made some lifelong friends!! Here some pictures of Austria enjoy!!

This is the house we stayed in and it's called BLAST Hill





This was a hill that was famous because it is the only place Napoleon did not conquer.


James and Gerhardt enjoying a hot drink

Gdansk, Poland

So this is the first leg of our trip. We left Thanksgiving day and arrived the next day. We had about two hours before the school started so we tried to get settled in and then we were served dinner. At the Poland school the topic was "Hearing the Voice of God". It was a really great topic and I learned so much as well. We traveled with Drew and Dawn Brown with Prepare Int'l. Drew asked James and I to speak at this school. James did a great job on how to listen to the voice of God. During the sessions Drew would have them do different activities so they could listen to the voice of God. The first night we had them sit and pray and then just sit still and open their heart and just listen and then write down what was on their heart. It was really amazing to see everyone's reaction. There were so many people who were truly touch by the exercise. The next day Drew asked me if I would share my testimony. So I started sharing how we had been trying for over eight years for a baby and how last year we became pregnant and how we lost the baby and the we got pregnant again and then I just really heard God to tell me to stop. So I stopped and did not finish my testimony. I sat down and James looked at me and said "You didn't finish." I know I didn't finish!! But I knew that I had to be obedient and I was. Right after the session was over a couple made a bee line toward me and said "You did not finish your testimony". I looked and James and smiled and told them no that I did not finish and they said to me that they heard God tell them that they were suppose to pray for us to have a baby. So I know that God spoke to them and that I had heard correctly!! That was truly an amazing experience!! So the next day James preached at a church and the sermon was Building on the Rock. Building deep so when problems come your way your not blown off the Rock!! It was a great sermon and then James told the story about when my family was at the lake and we capsized our boat and how Satan tried to kill our family and he did not win and how through a very scary time we were still able to give God all the glory. And then he asked me to share our story about us trying to have children. This time I was able to tell the whole story. So after the pastor was giving the announcements and asked for prayer requests. One lady stood up and was saying that on the way to church God told her that she need to pray for a ladies womb to be opened!!! This of course is all being translated to us so when our translator Anna told us this James and I just looked at each other and smiled. God is so good!!! James had a really great conversation with a young guy that was a new christian. He was struggling to share his faith with other people and James really got to encourage him! So after church we were invited to have lunch at Anna the translator and Richard's house. We enjoyed a great lunch there and had wonderful conversation!! We were truly blessed and encouraged by them. I would love to tell you more stories but this blog would be very long. So if you would like to hear more about the trip to Poland please just ask me!! I will write about the rest of the trip later. Thanks for all your support and prayers!! We could truly feel the power of prayer. If you will still continue to pray for us, we are still on the sleeping schedule in Europe. I tried to not take a nap yesterday so I would sleep all night and I lasted til 8:30pm which is pretty good but was wide awake at 5:00am. So that's not bad, but I came home and I have a terrible cold!! So pray for rest and healing on our tired bodies!! Here are a couple of pictures of James and I speaking in Poland and a few pictures of the amazing people of Poland.

We Are Back From Europe!!

Hey everyone!! We just made it back from Europe today and we had a great time!! I have so many stories to tell you so I will write in a couple of days to tell you all about it. Thanks for all your prayers and we are VERY glad to be back home!!

Thankful!!

I have always loved the holiday's for as long as I can remember!! We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family on Sunday and we of course had a great time. James and I had to run to Wal-mart and we were walking through the bakery...oh my this is just one of many reasons I love the holiday's...FOOD!! So I must say that this Thanksgiving I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for my wonderful husband, James. What an amazing man of God I have! A wonderful family and wonderful friends. Being with my entire family does not happen very often so when we get together we don't really want to leave each other. Every spouse that is married into this family is such a great blessing, LaJuana, James and Lance. Thanks for choosing to be a part of our family. We love you guys very much and can not imagine you not being apart of the Caroland clan!! For so long James and I have both prayed for good Christan friends and wow God has been really faithful to both of us!! So this Thanksgiving really give thanks. So here are some family pics from Thanksgiving with my family.












To end the celebration we celebrated James' birthday as well. We will be in Europe for his birthday so we thought what a great time to celebrate when my entire family is in town. Happy birthday James!!

Tag, I'm It

Eight TV show I watch
Gray's Anatomy
Project Runway
Private Practice
Desperate Housewives
Dr. 90210
Jon and Kate Plus 8
Dancing with the Star's
Amazing Race

Eight Favorite Restaurant's
Ruby Tequila's
On The Border
Olive Garden
Logan's
McAlister's
Pei Wei
Mama Rita's
Chili's

Eight Fun Things that Happened this week
Holiday Happening
Getting ready for Europe
Seeing my entire family Sunday
Took a long nap
Had coffee with Kelsey
Planning coffee with Abby
Had lunch with a Missionary from Guatemala
Sorry buts that all on that one

Eight things I'm looking forward to
Europe
Christmas
Seeing family for the holiday's
James birthday on Dec 2nd
Tech football game
Getting debt paid off (Almost done!!!)
Staying home
Having a baby

Eight Things on my wish list
Baby
Stay at home
Out of debt
New clothes
Bigger house
15 pounds lighter
A new truck for James
To feel rested

I tag Abby and Kelli

Stressed!!!

I don't even know where to begin!! We are leaving next week for Europe and I have so many things to get done and not enough time. We were told last night that we would be speaking about "Hearing the Voice of God". What a great topic. I think it finally hit me though that they want ME to speak as well. I'm really freaking out about this. I'm great about James speaking but not me. Last night when we got home I started reading the teaching manuals and there is so much info. Give me someone one on one and I love it, but not 75-100 people. Also to add to the stress...we won't have any down time when we arrive in Poland. Usually we are able to eat something and go to bed and start classes the next day, not this year. We fly for a full 24hours, step off the plane and two hours later we start teaching the classes that night. I know that God is stretching me and I know when stretching happens it's for a great change in me. Another stress is we have no clothes. Poland is VERY cold and Lubbock does not sell any real winter clothes. So my goal this weekend is to find real winter clothes. And we were also told last night that we can only take a 22inch suitcase a piece with a 30pound limit for two weeks!!! I'm really stressed about that. If anyone has any packing ideas I could really use your help. Thanks to Abby for letting us borrow your space bags for packing. Did I mention this also includes our toiletries and linens as well as clothes and coats!! Ok Father...calm me down...This is all for You and your glory not mine!!! Remind me of this everyday!! James and I both have a ton of work and I know that James will be working late every night to get everything done. He has all kinds of reports, budget meetings and payroll all before we leave. So I guess the best way to pray for us right now is for good quality time and great time management. We also need prayer for the trip. We usually start getting attacked by the enemy before we go and they are on full blast right now!! So pray for health, supernatural strength and peace of mind. Thanks for your prayer's and support. I will let you know before we go if we need anything else prayed for.

Blood and Guts or Poop??

I love my husband VERY much but sometimes you just have to make fun of them! So James please please please let us have fun at your expense. I know that you have threatened me that if I did this post you would delete it. Please don't make me change my password and not tell you!! So there are not many things that freak my husband out. He can kill bugs and snakes and never flinch. I on the other hand will freak out at just about anything. Especially if a bug wants to fly around my head. I promise you do not want to be near me when that happens. It can be dangerous!! So back to James. He can gut a deer and never get sick. I asked him last night how old was he when he gutted his first deer. He said that He was around 10 or 11years old. So I know that deer guts smell but what I don't understand is if he can handle blood and guts why can't he handle throw-up and poop? Just talking about it wants to make him hurl! But the funny part is that every time we go to church we sit around a mom who wants to breastfeed right in front of him!! The mom won't cover up and the child is usually to old to be doing this! There was a mom feeding a two year old once and James was so grossed out. So now it has become comic relief for me. This last Sunday we didn't have a breastfeedrer but we did have a mom lay the baby down and check for a dirty diaper and the dirty was on her finger. I of course have to point this out to James and he just looks at me and turns bright red and wants to gag!! And another time was when, I think it was my nephew Brincent, had just had a bottle and turned around and throw up all over Shawna. James had to high tail it to the other end of the house to keep himself from throwing up. I thought about Madison on Monday night. She did this very same thing to Kelsey. I went home and was telling James about poor Madison and he stops me in the middle of my story and says..."I really don't want to hear about Madison's puking. I think she is adorable but I don't' want to hear what color and texture it was." Ok...Sorry. I just can't wait to see him change his first dirty diaper with our children!! He keeps telling me that he won't ever be on diaper duty but I know that I will have to go to the store one day and James will have to do it!! This makes me laugh that my big strong tough husband can handle blood and guts but can't handle a little poop! Love you babe!!

Truth or Lies??

Just a warning this is going to be a rambling blogg. So most of you know that James and I have tried for years to have children and have come close a couple of times. I know that one glorious day God will give me the deepest desire of my heart. We have lost two babies in nine months and all I can say is what a blessing!! At the time it sure did not feel like a blessig but it was. There are so many times through the week when I see children that sometimes my heart just aches so badley and other times it's great birth control. That makes me laugh! I learned a long time ago to never say my child will never...that comes back and bites you in the butt!! So anyways, there are many times that I ask God to just send someone to encourage me and everytime I ask He does. And even when I don't ask He sends someone. Like this morning at church. During the song "Break Free" Fred Watson came up to me and really blessed my heart. He is the sweetest old man you will ever meet. All Fred said was that a verse of that song says "We are holding on, holding on to your (God's) love." Fred said that the Lord told him to tell me to keep holding on to God's love and not to give up. And that I had started to believe that my womb was barron. And God is telling me that my womb is NOT barron but infact VERY fruitful!! So stop saying that we can't have children and get ready for them to come. What an amazing encouraging word. It always blesses my heart when I feel so desperate that I feel my God right next to me, but when I "feel" fine and not at a low moment He is still encouraging me. So needless to say I feel it in my heart and my soul that my children are coming very soon!! I just can't wait to see what kind of men and women of God these kidos will be. So enough rambling for me and sorry if this makes no sense for you but it makes perfect sense to me!!

Go Tech!!!!

Wow what an awesome football game. I had the privilege of taking my nephew, Lucas to the game with me. Lucas is a HUGE Texas fan so we had a great time together. It was so loud and we stood almost the entire time so I think Lucas got tired of standing and all the noise was bothering him but he did have a great time. We have this tradition between the two of us. Who's ever team wins the game for the year the "loser" has to wear the winning teams shirt at Christmas. So last year I had to wear the stupid Texas shirt and this year Lucas gets to wear the Tech shirt. I can't wait for Lucas to put on that Tech shirt. I can already picture him putting up is horns sign. Oh how I love rivalry!! Thanks Lucas for being my date to the most amazing game ever!! The second best part of the night was that I got to see Matthew McConaughey!!! Man is he hot or what!!

Happy Halloween!!

So all of you know that I have the cutest dog in the world...Roo. I have always wanted a small dog to play with so last year's Halloween was so much fun. I dressed Roo up for Halloween as a little pink pig. This was quiet a chore!! So this year I was looking for a costume for Roo and James put his foot down and said no. It's so sad!! She is so much fun to dress her up and she hates it so it makes it even better. So here are a couple of pics from last year's Halloween. I took her to the church fall festival and she even had here picture taken and made the church news letter. James was not happy about that!!

Fun Weekend!!

What a fun weekend!! James and I went to Dallas for the weekend with some very dear friends for Kelsey's birthday. So Heath and Kelsey and Jantzen and Abby and James and me were off for a crazy weekend. I have never literally shopped til I dropped but I sure did this weekend. The girls went to Grapevine Mills, Southlake Town Square and Frisco Mall and the guys went to Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's and PGA Golf Store. We walked so much that all three of us girls were complaining of something hurting. Kelsey's feet, Abby's feet and hip and my hip's. My hip's hurt for two days from all the walking we did but man was it worth it!! We all came back with fabulous stuff. James was so proud of all his hunting stuff and I was excited that I found a nice heavy coat for Europe. We laughed a lot, ate a lot...actually way to much. I can't go to Dallas and not eat at our favorite places!! I think Kelsey laughed the most...she was trying to jump and touch a beam in the covered parking lot (You had to be there) and I was laughing at Abby. Just watching her is quite entertaining. She locked herself out of dressing rooms and would have to crawl under so that was quite a site!! We had more fun just being girls. So, happy birthday Kelsey!! We would love to go on a shopping weekend with you guys anytime!!

Ready for Hubby!!

So James has been out of town for a pastor's conference and I am so ready to have him back home. I am so bored!! I did not realize how much fun I have with him. He does aggravate me when he's home but I really miss it. I don't miss the unmade bed, his shaving stuff left out, his staying in bed while I have to be at work (that one just makes me jealous, it's just not fair that I'm out of bed so he should be as well...except on Fridays when it's my day off and I get to stay in bed and he has to go to work...I like that day). But I do miss his "Hi honey I'm home...what's for dinner." I miss his warmth in bed. I have a really big COLD bed. I miss him feeding all the dogs..I'm not enjoying this at all. I miss his jokes and his laugh. So all you ladies out there who's husband's are home give them a hug and a kiss and I will be glad when Wednesday gets here so I can hug and kiss mine!!

Way to busy!!

So tonight is my first night home with James in about three weeks. I know this is ridiculous but it's true. So my mom has been on my case (this does not sound very good...sorry mom but keep reading) about staying home and resting. So I had a dr's appointment this eventing in Levelland to talk about baby making and we did not get finished until 7:30p.m. We were suppose to be at our college service tonight but on the way home we both decided that we were both really tired and really wanted to go home. So we called in pizza and ditched the college service. Sorry Paige but we really need a night home just resting. So I was looking at my calender for the rest of the year and it is crazy. James leaves for a confrence with church this weekend and then we leave for a weekend getaway that is much needed with friends. We have a lot of upcoming meetings scheduled for the rest of the year and then we leave in November for Europe for 2 1/2 weeks. We have a ton of things to get done before we leave and no time to do it. Anyways the whole point to this blog is that I have got to learn to slow down!! I have way to many meetings and not enough family and friend time. So I will do my best to learn the little word n-o and have more time with James and my family and friends. I was thinking today I have not seen my nieces or nephews in a very long time. I saw Reagan, Brincent and Quinn for the first time in a month. I have not seen Kate, Corey, Abby, Lucas and Annika in over a month. Lucas and Annika are coming to town on November 1st and Lucas and I have a date for the Texas Tech and Texas football game and I am so excited about this!! That is not being a very good aunt!! I miss these kids! I miss how Kate runs to me and yells Jennifer!!! I miss Reagan calling me Aunt Fiffer..yes Fiffer and I love it. I have missed ballgames because I was way to busy for my own family. It's only going to get harder when I add my own children to the mix. So for now I will take baby steps and stay home for one night and learn that staying home is ok and much needed. So I am watching the hunting channel with James and its kinda creepy...watching animals die is not my kind of fun but James for some reason loves watching this so I will sit and watch and cover my eyes!! And I will not complain because James watched the finale of Project Runway with me last night.

Ten years together!!

Well actually it's been 15 years together. I started dating James when I was 14 years old and he was 16 years old. Wow have things changed. So we celebrated our 10year wedding anniversary in April and then I turned the big 3-0 in June. So then I started thinking the last time we had pictures taken was our engagement photo over 10years ago. We look a little the same just a little more grown up and a little plumper. That is one of the many things I hate about looking back at wedding pictures is man I was skinny!! Oh well, I've always heard when your happy you get a little extra weight and boy am I happy!! I just wanted to share a couple of pictures with you. James would not let me post any of the engagement pictures so sorry but here are the new one's. The photographer's name is Tanna with Beyond the Studio and her web site is beyondthestudio.net
Here are just a few of many that Tanna took.











James thanks for being an amazing husband!! I can't wait for another 50 years with you as your wife. Love you!!

Oh miss Roo!!

A lot of you know we have this adorable puppy named Roo. She is full grown and four pounds and has a ton of personality. I would not ask James' opinion of Roo because you might not want to hear what he has to say about her on most days. She is my dog but she really loves James' lap. I try to keep her on mine but she always goes back to James' lap. Sorry honey! So my question of the day is how can some tiny little dog tear up so much. We always put Roo in the bathroom to feed her, I know its weird but its the only place she has not figured to get out of yet. So if you leave her to long she loves to tear up tissue and anything on the floor. For example my very nice brand new bathroom rug. And it was not cheap. I like the finer things in life and I love when my wet feet touch the VERY soft rug. So here are pictures of her latest revenge.
Sweet little innocent Roo.


My bathroom rug




Needless to say I think the bathroom rug lost.

Tag I'm it!!

Thanks Leslie for the tag!!

Here a couple of James' favorite thngs

Prague


Tech football


Skiing (He asked me to be his wife on top of the mountain in Anglefire, NM)


lake



And last but not least HUNTING!! Are you shocked?!




So I'm tagging Amanda and Liz

Great weekend!

I really don't know how to start this blog. I have written the first sentence three times and deleted it three times..so here it goes. This past weekend we had a wonderful conference for the ladies of our church. We had a couple of break out sessions and they were amazing. Kelsey I just want to tell you how much you blessed my heart on Saturday when you were telling the story of Heath and Madison. Heath comes home everyday and tells Madison who is seven months..You are the most beautiful girl in the world ok? ok! And then Kelsey said that is what our heavenly father tells us everyday so why don't we believe it? So after Kelsey's talk she had face paint markers and we went around the room and shared with the girls about what we see in them and their beauty. I can't describe the feeling that you have when other girls tell you how special you are to them. And then to turn around and tell them how special they are to you. What a blessing and a very small way to see how your Father loves you. And then later that day I went to here Paige talk about marriage. That was great as well. I know how much James loves me and I know how much I take him for granted as well. Paige just made me really think about the struggles that all marriages have. And how I compete with James. Here's an example...James might say that he was busy at work all day and then I would turn around and say...well I was busy as well and I didn't have a lunch!! So just realizing that I don't need to compete with James but I need to encourage him. That is not one of my strength's as his wife and I really want to change that. It was really neat last night I was sitting at Kelsey's house waiting for her small group to start and Heath came in and said "James is my hero"!! It made me realize that James is a hero and he is not only my hero but his friends as well. What an awesome husband I have!! After the workshop's the ladies had a ministry time. We were able to pray for them for whatever problem they were having. Just so you know this makes me a little nervous. I don't know why but I'm not very confident when it comes to praying out loud for people. I don't mind praying for you all day when I'm by myself, so it just touched my heart that ladies wanted ME to pray for them. And then on Sunday morning Pastor Jackie asked church leaders to come and pray for people who needed prayer. I have always had James pray for everybody because he is just amazing at this. But on Sunday morning I had two ladies come up and wanting prayer and for the first time I felt like I wanted to pray for them. I usually just make James start and then I might finish but that day James took the back seat and just prayed softly while I prayed. After we finished praying I turned around and James was behind me and he just winked at me. I love him!! So all this to say what an amazing weekend.

Laugh or Cry?

We had a very interesting weekend. We went camping with our college group Zoe. There were around 45 people who went. What a funny weekend. We started off by putting up tents for everyone and three hours later we had enough for everyone. The worst part about the whole weekend were those dang biting flies!! I have never been so frustrated with flies in my whole life. We could not escape them. The first night James and Heath built a nice fire for everyone to enjoy. So on our way to our "tent" (we slept in trailer) Heath told Josh and Paige that he and James might come by later and scare everyone. So the next morning Paige asked Heath if he came by the camp site or was that a real animal they heard. It was a real animal!! All we could figure out was that it was a coyote and it caught a rabbit and the rabbit was screaming. So that kinda freaked some of the girls out. Then we heard a couple of the girls decided to sleep outside by the campfire. Do they not know that there are wild animals and they will attack you? There are snakes that look for warmth and will craw into your sleeping bag...I'm glad I slept in a travel trailer!! We had a great time, I think God really spoke to everyone there. I know He spoke to me!! I love it when He tells me that this weekend was just for me and everything that was spoken was just for me. It makes me feel so special!! The funniest part was going home. Have you ever just wanted to get home so badly and then everything goes wrong? Well that's what happened to us. We knew we were getting low on gas and James was watching for everything, the gas light was not on yet and it also tells you how much gas you have left. It said we had 23 miles left before empty. We were two miles away from a gas station and the truck dies and we had ran out of gas!! So we got to make some phone calls for help and James' dad came to the rescue. After we finally filled up with gas we went home and unloaded the trailer to take it back to Levelland to James' parents house and at Smyer a tire blew on the trailer!! I was following behind James and was calling him to pull over. When I saw him he just started cracking up laughing!! That is one of the many things I love about James. He can find humor in almost anything!! We finally got home around 5:30 when we should have gotten home around three. What a weekend!! Here are some pictures of the weekend.



This is the waterfall everyone was jumping.


My very first smore!!


James changing the tire on the trailer

Don't be a whiner!!

Have you ever had a day that you just want to whine?? Well mine is today! I am sooooooooo tired and I don't feel good. I don't know if its just allergies or I'm really getting a cold but my throat hurts so bad. I have been on the go for so long now that I could not tell you the last time I had a good nap. You know the one where you sleep for four hours and you try to wake up and you just can't so you sleep for another two. That's what I need!! My throat started hurting two days ago and I didn't think anything about it until last night. We worked at the church's corn dog stand at the fair and by choice we were out to late. Enjoying the nice cool air and watching the bears do their little tricks and getting attacked my mosquito's that are on steroids. So when we do finally get home we just crash. I mean it took all of me just to shower last night, let me tell you, if I hadn't smelled like a corn dog I think I would have passed on the shower. All last night, every time I would swallow I would start choking...to the point that I was getting very frustrated. I was hoping not to wake James because he is such a light sleeper but then I remembered he took a benadryl, smart man!! So at 2am I decided to take allergy medicine. And at 3am I decided to try to sleep with a Hall's in my mouth. So at 4am I was begging God to let me have just two hours of sleep. Have you ever wondered if Jesus begged for sleep? Did He get sick? Did He have allergies? Did He ever throw up? I know that's random but just wondering. I'll stop whining I promise. And I love when I don't feel good and everyone asks "Are you ok? You don't look so good." Thanks, like I already didn't know that I look like crap, but thanks for asking!! I should just be glad that I can get out of bed in the morning. I should be glad that I have all my arms and legs...for the one's who watched Oprah yesterday...The lady had no arms or legs AND had a new born!! I won't whine anymore...I'll just enjoy my thumb print cookies from Ms. Camps that I am not sharing and be quiet..but thanks for listening.

Friends!!

I found this great quote while searching the web. "A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." It is so true!! When I have a problem with my life I know I can always depend on my family. They are going to love me no matter what because their my family. A couple of years ago James and I were really praying for good christian friends. We wanted friends our "age". At our old church we were the only young married couple. We were both so lonely. If your a girl you know this can be painful at times, don't get me wrong family is great but we needed friends!! We started going to church at Church On The Rock and all I can say is wow!! We have been truly blessed with all kinds of friends. God is so good!! I was given a challenge last year to be a better friend. Let me tell you this has been the best thing and the hardest thing I have ever done. To be able to share the true me is very hard for me to do. There are all kinds of hurts, current and past. The best thing for me to do was just for me to release those hurts. What a relief to let those go. I never realized what would happen to me if I let those hurts go. God has put so many amazing ladies in my life to minister to me, young and old. I have discovered that it's ok to make the first call. It's ok to pursue a friendship and to be pursued!! So this blog is to all the amazing friends that I have. Thank you for loving me for me. It's really hard for me to give all of me but I am trying. I'm trying to be a friend as well and that's not easy either, but you know what? Your worth fighting for!!! I was watching James the other day and my heart was overjoyed. He has amazing friends as well. It's so funny to me, but at least once a week he has lunch with some of his guy friends and they talk about all kinds of guy stuff and he loves every minute of it. We are both truly blessed!! Thanks to all the amazing ladies who have let me cry on their shoulder and all that have cried on mine. My shoulder is always available!! God did not intend for us to be alone but to be surrounded by friends!! I've also learned that you can't have to many friends!!

My sleep number is 50!!

This is a very random blog but bare with me. If you know me at all you know that I can sleep!! It does not matter where or what time I am anointed to sleep. I LOVE sleep. Let me say it one more time I LOVE TO SLEEP!!! It makes me so happy. My favorite is crawling into bed when it's cold outside and the sheets are freezing cold. I love to put the blanket up to my neck and lay on my favorite pillow. Just to let you know...no one touches my pillow!! I hate it when I come in the room and James is laying on MY pillow. I usually tell him...Get your own pillow that's mine!!! I don't want your smell on my pillow. Sorry I know that's real mature but its my pillow!! The whole point to this blog is that James and I got a new bed and its a sleep number bed. All this means is that on James' side of the bed is firmer or softer to his liking and mine is different from his. In our old bed we were both uncomfortable and now we get to choose how soft or how hard our side of the bed is...so mine is 50. I love it. I already have a hard enough time getting out of bed and now my bed really holds me hostage!! Sunday's are my favorite nap day. We go to the early service and we are home by 1:00 at the latest. We don't even let the dogs out, we go straight to bed and sleep for at least 3 hours. I just pray that my children will love Sunday naps just as much as we do because we do not want to give that up!! Anyways I think it's time for another nap!!

Thanks Leslie!!!

Thanks Leslie for for the pictures of your kitchen floors. Since I saw your kitchen it has inspired me to do mine. I loved your black cabinets and thought they looked great and wanted mine the same. So I've been looking at black paint and new counter tops. I found the paint and counter tops and even a new sink. I must say James is not real happy about this because he redid our counter tops this spring and I'm already changing them. Sorry honey!! But I will say it will look amazing when I'm all done. I started out with repainting the front bathroom and I love it. I took before and after pictures for you to see. So once the bathroom was finished I got a wild hair and decided to paint my coffee table and end table the black that I'm painting my kitchen cabinets and I REALLY love it. But before I painted the cabinets I painted my entire kitchen and dining. It was a dark maroon and know it is a nice khaki that matches the rest of the house. The kitchen will be done in phases so phase one is complete!! James you need to have your wisdom teeth taken out more often. I can convince you of almost anything when you are on drugs.
Bathroom before
Bathroom after


Kitchen before




Kitchen After (phase 1 complete)



So phase one is complete in my kitchen and now all we have to do is new countertops, new floor and new sink and the kitchen is done!!! Yea for the Fortner's!!
Just a little note...the layout of the pictures are not correct but I guess blogspot is smarter then me but you get the picture.

James' foot...sorry honey

Many of you know that for the last four months James has been fighting a horrible foot infection. It started out small and then got really big. I mean BIG. It started growing, from the top of his foot and all the way down under his foot. It got to the point where he couldn't walk on it and it was very painful. So for the first three months James thought he was just treating athlete's foot. Then he went to the lake one weekend and he came back with his foot all blistered. It was really gross. It had blisters and puss...very nasty. I was worried that this foot fungus thing was contagious and I wanted no part or this!!! He got back from the lake on Sunday and we were leaving again on Monday for a week. So I made him go to the doctor. The doctor told him it was bacterial and here is some antibiotics. I made him sleep with a sock on so I didn't get this foot fungus because I did NOT want this. So a month later and it is still the same, but I went to refill his prescription and I asked the pharmacist how much longer on this medicine. The pharmacist said...when treating a staph infection it could take a couple of months...WHAT?!! Staph infection, no one told us this was a staph infection. So then I decided James need a second opinion and thank goodness I was right. I took him to see a dermatologist and all it was was a skin inflammation and here is some cortisone. Thank goodness!!! I wish I would have take pictures some pictures of James' foot but he would not have any part of that. Sorry honey for making you wear one sock for a month...but I do love you.

High??

I have never been high in my life but I think I might "feel" like it. My fall allergies are already horrible. So last night I had James find the Allegra. I trust my husband to give me the right medication and he did of course, but the Allegra was Allegra D. I'm not suppose to have any form of D. I was awake at 4:00a.m. and I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. My entire body is shaking like I'm having withdrawals. I did have some wonderful quite time with my Father this morning, so that was a positive. In the morning when the alarm goes off I usually hit the snooze two or three times before I finally get up. James gets so mad because his alarm is usually an hour later then mine but not today!! The alarm goes off once and I'm out of bed!! Needless to say James was quite pleased with his wife this morning. Now if I can just get the medicine out of my system I will feel better. I feel so hyper!! I do have to control myself, I am at work. I feel like if anyone wants to talk to me today you probally will not understand me because I am thinking faster than I can speak. Do you ever do that? I do want to say one thing...I can not be held responsible for this blog because I'm way to high to even be writing this so if this does not make sense sorry!! If you only knew how many typos I'm having today you would be laughing with me. I can't type a full sentence with out backspacing. Oh well...good times!!

Ms. Madison

I had the honor of keeping Madison on Friday. She is the sweetest thing!! I had a great "mommy" experience. Madison slept in until 10:00!! Poor thing I had to wake her up. She was just smiling and laughing all morning. After I got her ready for the day we had to take Rockie to the Vet. What an experience. Trying to keep Rockie in the front seat and trying to keep Madison happy was very interesting. Rockie so badly wanted to "see" Madison and check her out and one thing I can't stand is a dog in any one's face especially a babies face!! So keeping Rockie in the front was quite a task but I was successful. While in the car Madison decided to take a nap so she slept a little while at the Vet. She did wake up and of course just smiling and talking to Rockie. At the exam she got a little fussy so I took her out of her car seat and she got to see all of Rockie. Rockie would look at her and turn his head and try to figure her out. Rockie barked at her and she jumped so high. I thought she would start crying because I know it scared her but just started cracking up at him and kicking her legs wanting more. That was fun to see her enjoying Rockie. It is funny...does everyone think that when you have a baby with you that it's automatically yours? Everyone kept saying your baby is so cute she must look like her daddy. And I would just smile and say thanks. I had just a little taste of mommy hood and it was so much fun. Can't wait to have my own!! Thanks Kelsey for letting me keep you little bundle of joy!!

I love the Olympics!!!

I love the Olympics!!! I am so tired but have loved every minute of it. All the stories, all the drama, all the wins and all the disappointed losses. The other night James and I were watching Michael Phelps with his relay team. OH MY GOODNESS! It was amazing! To come from behind and win the race by a finger tip was amazing. We were giving each other high fives like we just won the race but all I can say is WOW!! Then to watch the men's gymnastics was great as well. To have their top two men get hurt before China and to not even be a medal contender and to come back and get the bronze, WOW. Then you have the ladies. The first night they had so many mistakes and then at the team competition it was a battle for the gold. They did great all the way through until the end. The beam and floor were both challenges for the US. As I was watching the ladies get the silver medal I noticed how disappointed they were, you just won the silver!! It's a big deal to even medal. And then to watch the beach volleyball teams to win huge. All I can say is...I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!

We Survived!!!

Wow I had no idea how much work having four kids were. We had a blast. We started off at Burger King and all the kids had the giggles and could not eat dinner. An hour later we finally finished dinner. Off to Joyland. Let me tell you, James was so excited about Joyland!!! WHATEVER! We did all that you could do, all the rides, all the arcades and all the arguing that could happen. None of them wanted to do the same thing at the same time. So my poor dad and myself go and split everyone up. James eventually joined in the fun. There is only so much Aunt Jenn to go around so James had to help me. Here are some pictures of Joyland.





After Joyland it was off to our house. Poor Roo. I knew it would be bad for her and I was right. All four had to hold her and all four had to fight over her. There was only one time I had to get on one of the kids. Brincent was holding her and all of the sudden he threw her across the floor right on her head, so that was a little frustrating. After that it was time for bed. It "only" took me one hour to get all four kids showered and in bed. Morning came and all four were up at 7:30. That's a little early for my day off but I was warned about the early birds. We went to the park and had a lot of fun there.



After lunch and some more arguing we went to the pool. I should not be surprised but Brincent is so brave when it comes to the water and it kinda scares me. Thank goodness he let me put a life jacket on him. He went down this water slide that was really fast. He went forward and backwards so many times that I lost count. We all had a blast. It's really funny to see all their personalities. Lucas is the dad, he wants to take care of everyone. Always looking out for everybody making sure that you hold hands when your in the street. Reagan is the one who will let me know when someone did something wrong. She is the little mama. Brincent is the daredevil. He's the one who tries everything. He's the one who wants to win everything and if he doesn't his little heart just breaks. Annika is the one who is blunt. She told Reagan that Roo likes her more than Reagan. And I did Reagan's hair this morning and after looking at it I wanted to redo it. I told Reagan I didn't like her hair and Annika said to me...You don't like Reagan's hair...you did it. Thank you Annika.
We had a great time with all of them and they are great kids to keep.