Asbell Roadrunner.... Finally!!

This is the face of a VERY PROUD Kindergartner! All summer long all I heard is how much she wanted to go to Asbell and How much she wanted to have an awesome teacher and how much she wanted to ride the school bus and sit where ever she wanted to. Today is the big day!

This is the LAST first day of Kindergarten ( as my friend Charity ) has pointed out. The last time that any of my kids will be so small and innocent.... :(

We completely won the teacher lottery ( they don't really have a teacher lottery ). Mrs Jackson was Imanni's 1st grade teacher and was AWESOME! She is the most amazing teacher and she truly LOVES the kids she teaches! I was hoping and praying for Mrs. Jackson to be Kiannah's teacher, not that the others are bad... Mrs. Jackson is a family favorite!!!

Mrs. Treece has been working at Asbell for over 20 years. She was there when I went to school and has worked with all of my kids. I am thankful that she is there to help Kiannah. She is an amazing aide to all the kids at Asbell... but luckily most of her time is with Mrs. Jackson's students!

Asbell does a balloon launch. After a quick explanation of policies and procedures we all went to the front of the school. After hugging and kissing, the kids were given balloons to release. A symbol of their parents letting go and sending them into the world to learn and grow. I am super excited that Kiannah is an Asbell roadrunner and look forward to all that she will accomplish this year!

Scout Camp 2011

Johnathan turned 12 in May so he was able to go to scout camp this year. He was super excited to learn that the scout troop was going to go to Eastern Tennessee for 6 days. During the 6 days they would work on some merit badges, have the chance to attempt a high ropes course, hike a portion of the Appalachian trail, Swim in the Great Smoky Mountain streams, and go White Water Rafting. If they ever need a camp mom to volunteer to go... I will be the first in line! He didn't start off too well. Johnathan has a problem with motion sickness, let's just say everyone in his car had fair warning! From what I hear it rained a lot! We are lucky to have someone in our ward that works for the Coleman company. You know the ones who make all the awesome camping supplies. So the boys from our ward were well equipped! The stories I heard include a 10 mile hike on the Appalachian trail to Charlie's bunion, white water rafting and getting hit in the mouth by his own paddle and busting open his lip, getting thrown out of the raft, ATTEMPTING the high ropes course, and having lots of awesome memories. This was his first ever road trip without his family around, his first ever camping trip that lasted for more than one night, and his first ever time white water rafting. I am glad he is home. I am glad he is safe. I am glad he had fun, I just wished he hadn't put all his wet stuff in with all his clean stuff and sealed it all up so it can cook in the heat and mildew. I wish he had used the deodorant that I had sent. I wish he had washed the puke out of the pillow case instead of letting it sit for a week. I wish I could have gone and had a blast too!

Awesome leaders and great friends

Johnathan during the hike on the Appalachian Trail

Lessons learned at a young age

For those who are not of my faith, we believe and practice the law of Tithes and offerings. It is a commandment from our Heavenly Father that was first given in ancient times. Tithing is explained as being 10% of all of our income. We CHOOSE to follow this commandment! As a family we have sat down and decided that first and foremost we would pay our tithes. We know as a family that we need help. We struggle financially, we struggle putting food on the table and pay for gas. We are the NORM! We also know that the Lord promises to bless us:

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith … if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10).

There has been times where we have had to choose between food or tithing, gas or tithing, but we do know that everytime, every week, every day we have been blessed. Examples??? We have plenty... I will share a few.

First and foremost, Davone was going to school last year. He has always been horrible at math. He bought the fancy $100 calculator that was suppose to be the magical answer and that didn't help. I then started praying and making sure that instead of stressing about finances while he was going to school that I did my part by researching ways to be frugal and making sure Tithing was paid NO MATTER WHAT. He passed! To this day he knows nothing more about math. He will tell you that even though he took the math class twice and struggled and studied and got tutored by an awesome friend from church, that the ONLY reason he passed was directly linked to paying tithing.

Most recently I, myself had my testimony of this commandment strengthened. We were struggling to gather supplies for our son to attend a week long Boy Scout camp. The list was LONG and we wanted to make sure he had all he needed. The week before we had just bought stuff for his sister to go to camp and the week before that the youngest went to Little Rock to visit a friend. Needless to say finances were NOT looking so good. It was only the middle of the month and we only had $50 left for food and NO extra money for any supplies. But we are still faithfully and willingly paying tithing. As I was out at a dollar store looking for supplies for camp a prompting came to me to look at the envelope at home that was under a magnet on the refrigerator. So once I got home I found the envelope and inside was $50. $50!!!! It isn't a treasure chest filled with gold but to me it was. It brought a tear to my eye and I knelt in my room to offer a prayer of thanks to my Heavenly Father. It was JUST enough to pay for the last supplies we needed for camp, cover my bill I was worried about paying, and put some gas in the car!

I know that during this time in our lives and our economy that it is difficult to follow such a principle, but I myself think that it would be more dangerous to NOT follow this commandment. This blog is filled with such a personal and simple testimony of the law of Tithing, I write this not for friends ( although I know they will read it ) but for my kids. So that they might understand how our Heavenly Father works and how he helps with little things. I know that we don't have a great amount of wealth, we still struggle with our budget, but I pray for JUST enough for us and some to share and we have always had that. So for my kids I pray for you to take away from this blog post the knowledge that Heavenly Father knows us all and hears our prayers and our concerns big or little, and that no matter what, no matter how much you think you don't have don't be selfish. EVERYTHING Heavenly Father gives us is for you to use AND share. My children know what I am talking about as I am constantly reminding them of these principles.

The lessons that I learned at a young age still apply today... They just make more sense now!

With lots of Love and sadness we say Good-bye!

A grandmother is a little bit parent,

a little bit teacher,

and a little bit best friend.

-- Author Unknown

Davone's Great Grandmother passed away yesterday and she will be greatly missed!

Little House On the Prairie

Because of our LOVE for anything that has to do with Little House on the Prairie... Angel being the most awesome friend EVER bought tickets for the LHP musical at The Walton Arts Center.

The Cast couldn't have been better! I LOVED it!! It truly was Amazing!!!

*Family Updates*

It has been a while since I have last blogged. I promise I am working on a few of them! So I figured I would take the time to get our family and friends up to date with all the new happenings.

Kiannah- is 3. She will be 4 in January. She has recently developed a major fear of Swiper. I don't get why or how but I suspect that it has something to do with some older kids I know teasing her about Swiper being in the closet and that he will steal her. What ever it is ... She wants NOTHING to do with Dora movies until they take Swiper out of her movies! She is doing well. She is in Sunbeams at church this year and will repeat it next year. Since her birthday is so early in the year they gave us the option of another year of Nursery or two years of Sunbeams... She HATED Nursery. She has the absolute most awesome Sunbeam teachers and she is happy. She told me the other day that the girls in her class don't like her though! :( She is growing fast and is learning a lot.

Johnathan- is 10. He is attending his last year at Asbell Elementary. He is still participating in the scouts at church. He is a little behind on his badges and we are working on getting caught up. He is doing well in school for the most part. He is struggling a little with Math but the teacher is confident that if he studies a little harder and applies himself more that he can and will be just fine. He is wanting to learn more magic tricks and jokes. He loves watching Sci-fi movies with his dad and is working on developing a Sci-fi comic book.

Imanni- is 11. She will be 12 next month and go into the Young Women group at church. I am excited for her to make more friends at church that are struggling with the same issues she is. She definitely has her own style. Her most recent pictures she has taken of herself is of her wearing "nerd glasses". She loved them so much she would wear them to school. She killed them the other night when she stepped on them. She was sad! :( She is in her first year of Middle school and is doing decently. Her science grade was a little low but again .. She just needs to study! She reads all day long. That is her most favorite thing EVER!!!

Davone- is currently attending school at Northwest Technical Institute in Springdale Arkansas. He is LOVING it! He is learning a lot and doing rather well in his classes. He still rides his motorcycle when he can. He is going to school full time and working part time so he is tired a lot of the time. He is eagerly anticipating Thanksgiving break where he can have a few days to just rest up. He spends time with us as often as possible. We have recently started a family movie night and the whole family loves getting into their pajamas and then dragging all the blankets into the living room while we all watch movies together.

Me (Sherry)- I am still trying to unpack everything after we moved. I have misplaced a few really important things and that has added to my slow efforts around the new place. The new place is actually smaller and has less storage but we needed a new change for many different reasons. I hope to find a small table soon to set up my sewing machine and work on a few quilt tops for friends. I have been exercising more since we have moved closer to the city trail system. I drag Davone with me so I won't be alone on the trails. You can blame that on my mom wanting me to watch Rescue 911 with her when I was little and then also watch a lot of Unsolved Mysteries ( I do miss that show ). I am a little paranoid! ;) I am looking forward to visiting with my Best friend Angel in December when she comes back to this area for Christmas and then Kiannah and I will travel back to Virginia to hang out with her for a few days too.

Overall we are just still trying to adjust to the new place ( if you need our address for your mailing lists just message me and I will get it to you ) and make it through until the school year is over. Please continue to say prayers for Davone and his studies. He is doing well but it is still stressful on him. We have a lot to look forward to during the Holidays and we are excited that 2010 is holding a lot of fun and new adventures for us!!!

Some up and overs, circles and sticks, some arms and a dot all put together spells....

I bought a couple dry erase boards the other day. I am wanting to do a Home school preschool for Kiannah this year! I don't really know where to start so I am researching some ideas.

I showed her, her name and then an easy way to write it and then let her try! She did AWESOME for her first try!!! I am so proud of her!