The Sisson Sect

We're back!

2010-09-27T22:40:00.000-05:00

So I feel like I've said this before but.... I'm going to try and keep this blog a little more up to date!
I think that all of you should know this by now but just in case, we are living in Paupa New Guinea. We are currently living in Madang, PNG and we are going through a 14 week language/culture school. Weft the states on July 17th and will be done with language school in mid November and then our plan is to move to the Eastern Highlands Province. Our purpose in coming is to church plant among the unreached. If you have ANY questions about our ministry you can check out toeverytribe.com or email us anytime at kelley.sisson@toeverytribe.com or alex.sisson@toeverytribe.com.

What made me start blogging again was Graham. Today he asked some very interesting questions.
He had just laid down for an afternoon nap and I heard him call out for me. I went in and asked what he needed and he just sat up and asked me,
"mom are you a Christian?"
"yes, I am G"
"am I a Christian mom and what is a Christian?"
"A Christian is a person who believes in God." Before I could say anymore he said, "and a Christian is a person who loves God too."
He went on to ask things like; Where is heaven? Where do we go when we die? WEHRE DO THOSE WHO DON'T BELIEVE GO? Will they be there forever? Does God make us have boo-boos? Why does God let hurricanes kill people? He asked so many very detailed questions. I sat him down and tried my best to answer his questions as well as I thought a 3 year old could understand and he seemed to totally understand!

Alex then sat him down and totally shared the gospel with him. How awesome is it that God works through a crazy little 3 year old??

2 more little quotes from the conversation-
I asked Graham how people who have never heard of God still believe and he look at me and said, "thats why we have the bible" I then had a great opportunity to tell him just why we are here!

second quote-
I was telling him how Hell came to be and I started with telling him that there was an angel named Lucifer and he stopped me and said "mom, the good teachers back in our church in Texas told me all about it and how he did not want to do what God wanted him to do so God kicked him out of heaven. Mom, they are good teachers there" thanks Divine Providence and Mrs. Ruth!!!!

the pesky neighbors came back

2010-03-12T23:30:00.004-06:00

Last week the Poppe family came for a visit. We had a blast!

Natalie & Haley
(I have no idea why Snow White HAD to be in the picture)

Iliana & Elaina at church
It was great to have them back at Divine Providence.

Jude at Haleys soccer game.

Hannah playing at lunch.

Graham & Elijah played so well together. It made the departure even harder!

sweet, sweet Keri!

big baby nate

2010-03-11T00:34:00.003-06:00

well he may not be huge to you but for a kelley and alex baby he's HUGE!
he weighs more than haley or graham did at a year and he is just 6 months.

He is the most snugly and sweet baby ever!!

and we now have a 6 year old

2010-02-18T23:20:00.003-06:00

Well if turning 30 next month does not make me feel old enough, having a six year
old does the trick!

Haley had a great birthday and thanks for all who wished her a happy day!

Alex made her mini pancakes and bacon for breakfast and to celebrate we went bowling. She requested a princess cake this year. She also requested a "tan" princess b/c once we move to PNG she will have a good "tan" so she thought it would be a good idea.
I love how children think :)

2010-02-17T00:17:00.004-06:00

Happy 6th Birthday Haley O'Neal

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

Alex off to Haiti

2010-02-06T21:27:00.008-06:00

Well Alex leaves in about 6 hours…tomorrow will be a very long day for the team. They leave McAllen (an hour from here) at 6:25 am and fly to Dallas then Miami then to the DR. The will be in a hotel Sunday night and then make the drive to Haiti Monday morning.

Please add Haley O to your prayers. As some may know she had a VERY hard time when Alex went to Mexico this summer. One mistake we made this summer was not telling her in advance that Alex was going. This time we’ve been talking about it for a few weeks and she seems to understand why he is going and has been okay with it. She did great tonight but when she got in the bed tonight the tears started. Please pray that this time away from her dad won’t be too hard for her.

We would like for there to be round the clock prayer for the team while in Haiti. There is a spreadsheet on Google that will allow you to sign up if it is something you are interested in doing. There are MANY available slots. Feel free to use up all of them!!! The days are at the bottom of the sheet.

In an effort to keep everyone updated I planned on updating our blog but thanks to the Sanders (Jeremy and Kandy) a blog has been created for the team. This will allow contacts of everyone on the team to go to a central source for updates.

http://gfbc-haiti-2010.blogspot.com

2009-11-22T15:12:00.003-06:00

Its been a while since the last update. Life with 3 has been great, but BUSY! We have been in Alabama for the past few weeks and will be here till the beginning of December. We have stayed busy with friends and family and really enjoying our time at home. We have been on lots of play dates with friends, dinner with supporters, camping as a family, birthday parties, "fellowshipping" and lots more!

Nate is growing SO fast. He will be 11 weeks in just 2 days. Where has the time gone???? He is sleeping through the night (thank goodness) and is smiling and talking all the time. He is loved by his big sister and big brother (is it possible to be loved too much?) and has become a very flexible baby. Don't get me wrong, he still has his fussy moments where he just wants to be left alone but for the most part he is a happy little one!
Graham will be 3 in just a few weeks. He is as cute as ever and is still into everything. He loves any and all super heros and is also into "cars" of any kind. He loves to watch Alabama football with his dad and a Saturday does not go by where he is not dressed in his football jersey. He keeps us laughing all the time and still keeps me on my toes!
Haley is becoming such a big girl. She has her first loose tooth and is just waiting for it to fall out because her Uncle Mark told her the tooth fairy would bring her money. Sure hope that Uncle tooth fairy delivers! We have not been doing school since we have been home but plan to jump back on as soon as we get back to Texas. She is enjoying being with her friends and has loved all the play dates. She is still a little mama at heart and is so helpful with Nate.

chunky monkey

2009-10-08T21:50:00.003-05:00

Who would have ever thought that we would have a baby that weighed 9 lbs at a month??? Haley and Graham both weighed 9 lbs at their 3 month appointment!!

bath time fun!

2009-10-08T17:41:00.006-05:00

Here is one little tradition that we've been doing!

HALEY O'NEAL

GRAHAM ALEXANDER

NATE COLIN

CINCO!

2009-09-18T12:13:00.004-05:00

Well here we are. A family of 5! Nate has been a true blessing to our family!

Haley and Graham can not get enough of him!

Nate Colin

2009-09-09T18:42:00.006-05:00

Welcome home Nate!

Well after 38 1/2 weeks we are proud to announce that Nate Colin Sisson is here!

I went to the Dr yesterday morning with no intentions of being induced and left the appointment with these instructions, "get your hubby, eat some lunch, farm your kidos out and head to the hospital".

During the appointment I was telling her that "the baby" (we had not settled on a name yet) had not been very wiggly so she set up a test to monitor his heart rate and then did an ultrasound. She said there was no good reason for him to not be moving like mad (he was the wiggliest baby ever) and she also could not see where the cord was so she felt like it would be best to go ahead and get him out. While I really wanted to go into labor on my own she felt like it would be best to induce. I was induced with both Haley and Graham and to make a long story short-it made my labor very long! I was not to thrilled to have another long labor kind of day.

The short story-labor did not go as long as the other 2. It took about 6 hrs. I made it with only taking something for nausea and something to take the "edge" off. That's correct-No epidural!
For those who know me, that's a BIG deal! Nate arrived after only pushing for a short while. The cord (like the Dr thought) was wrapped all around him and that's why in some (or most) of the pictures his face looks kinda blue. Most of the color is from where the force combined with the cord, caused bruising. After getting the cord untangled, he let out a loud scream and all was well!

Mom, dad and Nate are all doing great. We will leave to go home tomorrow to be with big sister Haley and big brother Graham! They are so excited to see him. With the flu being so bad here they wont let kids under 12 back to see the babies. They did get to see him through the nursery window.

38 weeks and counting

2009-09-04T13:56:00.003-05:00

So as of this Sunday I will officially be 38 weeks pg. I was supposed to have my 38 week checkup today at the dr but it got canceled. So with that being said I have no idea if there is any change or not! The suspense is killing me!

I'm not one to post pg pics on the blog (or anywhere for that matter) but thought that the friends and family might enjoy!

I feel like a nerd standing there while Alex takes a picture...

Just the belly. For the most part I'm the same size I was with H & G.

Haley jumped in the pic. Speaking of Haley, she has become VERY attached to Anna. I never thought it would get worse but I was wrong. Anna sleeps in the pack n play, drinks from the bottles, sits in the car seat, likes the boppy and gets nursed every few hours. This should only get better when little man arrives!

Well we couldn't leave Graham out, undies and all!

Baby Showers and Play dates!

2009-09-04T11:45:00.003-05:00

Our home church here in Texas threw us a great baby shower last weekend. Divine Providence has become a very special place to us! Thank you DP friends!

Tina & Zori made us this cute cake. Not only was it cute, it tasted yummy!

As you can see I am running out of room to hold Graham. It looks kinda awkward...

On Tuesday we had a great time at the Children's Museum with Tina, Zori and all the kids!

Graham Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2009-09-04T11:09:00.004-05:00

Well as most of you may know Graham had a very hard weekend last weekend. We are very thankful that our new addition has not yet arrived. I can only imagine how crazy the weekend "could have been" had he graced us with his presence.

The weekend started by Graham dislocating his elbow. After a few hours in the ER, some pain meds and very uncomfortable x rays it was put back in place and had a splint and sling for 3 days. For those who know Graham, this was not going to slow him down one bit! He still ran, played, jumped off furniture, etc. He is glad to have it off now. I think the hardest thing for him was the fact that he could not get his cars into his pockets with the splint.

When we did not think the weekend would get any worse, Haley woke up sick Friday night (and by sick I mean all over Grahams bed, the floor, wall, you get me?). So now we are STUCK inside with Graham and Haley. We were trying to keep Graham calm all weekend so no more damage would be done to his arm.

On Saturday afternoon Graham fell off the recliner and landed head first on the tile. Normally this is no big deal b/c Graham usually bounces back but this time he cried and when Alex looked at his head I knew this was worse than normal. Just take a gander at the pic. Need I say more?

The bump is slowly going away (1 week later) and his forehead is still bruised. We were sure this would slow him down now. WRONG! He is still just as crazy as ever. I sometimes wonder where this boy came from...

Mom asked me the other day if Alex was like Graham as a kid. "Really mom? Have you seen all the scars on Alexs head? Have you seen how he acts as an adult?" I was kidding myself wondering where Graham came from. He is so Alex that there are days its scary. Maybe number 3 will be just like my brother Andy Man :) Calm, cool and collective!

BaBy ShOwEr!

2009-08-15T08:49:00.005-05:00

Some great friends threw a 3 mom baby shower a few days ago for us. There are (or were) 3 moms here that are all prego and due very close together. Ruth was due next week, but ended up having her baby girl the day of the shower, I'm due in Sept and Leanne is due in October.

We had a nice dinner followed by games, YUMMY cake and then presents! Little man Sisson now has some cute new clothes, bath time stuff, bibs and the best part DIAPERS AND WIPES :)

I think my favorite part was the cake that Belinda made. 3 peas in a pod. 2 peas were blue for me and Leanne and the pink pea was for Ruth!

Oh, I cant wait to see this little man in person! BTW, we still don't have a name and it's driving me crazy!!!!!Belinda and her Yummy cakes!!!!
Me & Leanne

Cokes and Canvas

2009-08-15T08:40:00.004-05:00

The ladies at the CPCP, here at To Every Tribe, had our 2^nd ladies painting night. The last time we painted a vase with tulips and this time we painted a “funky cross”. We are doing the same paintings that I’ve done back home at Sips & Strokes. This time we also invited all the older daughters. They had a great time. Here is a picture of our crosses.

GRACE.

2009-07-28T11:27:00.003-05:00

I just finished talking to my sister Grace and we were giving each other a hard time about not updating our blogs so I'll be the better sister and update :)

It just show happens that this blog has a title of GRACE for 2 reasons. One being that it shall be dedicated to Grace my sister...2nd reason being that God has shown his Grace to Haley and I over the past few days.

Alex left for Mexico last Saturday for a week long mission trip with To Every Tribe. Last year we (the kids and I) got used to him being gone for a few weeks here and there but this year when he went to PNG, things changed. Haley and Graham had a very hard time being away from him. Graham woke up every night crying for Alex and Haley would cry at the drop of a hat. When he came home I told him that we needed to wait a good long time before he ever left like that for a while.
Well I don't think that we even thought twice about Alex going on this trip till the morning of. Haley started crying, not just a little but major crying early in the morning and it only got worse as the day went on. After Alex left it continued on through the night and then continued on throughout church. At this point my pregnant hormones must have kicked in b/c I could no longer keep it together either! We both sat through church crying and then came home and cried. It was miserable. I finally called Alex and told him something had to give. Either he came home or we were going to come to him. Again, I think that my pg hormones were going CRAZY.
Alex talked (I just listened b/c I was still crying) about how this could be a great opportunity to teach Haley more about Gods Grace, Gods Comfort, truly leaning on Christ, not leaning on dad or mom or things of this world. After his "talk" he told me that he thought that it would be best to stay at home, work with her and talk to her in depth about what it means to suffer, I agreed.
After getting of the phone and praying LONG and HARD, God truly showed Grace on me and changed my hard heart to one that wanted to suffer for Him. The neat part-He did the same with Haley! I sat her down, told her that dad was not going to be coming home early and that we were going to stay here and how we have to lean on Christ in times of being scared and afraid and she just looked at me, stopped crying and said, "yep, that's right mom". From Sunday till today there have been no tears in our home. We have prayed for Alex without crying. We have had several talks about what Grace and Mercy are. The Lord is opening up her heart more and more everyday to be filled with Him.
For those that prayed for Haley, thank you. This will truly be a time when we look back and see Gods hand at work in our lives.

funny stories

2009-07-05T20:20:00.003-05:00

It seems like a day does not go by when Graham does something that makes me question if he has any of my DNA or if he is ALL Alex.
I've been meaning to post a few funny Graham stories but keep forgetting. Enjoy!

Story 1.
The other day I was in the restroom when Graham opened the door (no knock, or "mom may I come in) and ran right up to my face holding something. When I asked him to step back so I could see he said, "look Mom, its a frog!"!!! For anyone who knows me knows I HATE FROGS. All I could do was scream, then yell at him to get out, and then panic that he would just drop the bull frog in the house. I should have known that he would never drop it b/c when he holds these nasty frogs he holds them so tight their eyes bulge from their heads. BTW, I should have also known that Alex was sitting outside and knew what was going on the entire time :)

Story 2.
I took Graham to Target with me yesterday and I wanted to try on a few skirts so we both went into the dressing room. While I was trying on skirts he said look mom what I found. Like the good mom that I am I just said, "I see Buddy", only problem was I really did not look. Well should know better with Graham b/c when I did look he had a HUGE frog again. Now this time the frog was dead, and someone had stepped on it so all its insides were coming out of its mouth and Graham is just holding this "thing" like its no big deal. What was I to do? I'll tell you what I did, I screamed, told him to put the frog down now and just stood there totally grossed out. After using a half a bottle of hand sanitizer and listing to other people giggle in the dressing room, we left, told the manager and went about our business.

Boys really are so so so different from girls.

Story 3.
This story really proves that kids say the darndest things.
About 2 months ago Haley informed me that her bottom could fit in the hole of the potty seat and that mine could not. She "reminded" me that mine goes over the potty seat. Thanks Haley. Today, we were putting away laundry and my undies were in the basket and Graham asked if they were Haley's. I said "no buddy, they are moms" he said "ohhh, yours big big?". Thanks Graham.

pics with friends

2009-06-25T14:53:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures that my friend Rachel took of the kids. The first one is from a trip to the zoo. Clearly I'm not too impressed with Graham here. He truly is a character from the Little Rascals.

We also had a play date at her house and the kids just played in the sprinkler.
Graham had a blast with Hayden and Haley had a great time with her bf Ashlyn.

The kids loved being back in our home church (Philadelphia Baptist). The kids went with my mom since we were in Louisville but from what I heard, Graham gave "big" hugs and this is how it turned out. No shock there...
Alex also got the chance to play basket ball with some guys from church. The kids played in the gym and had a great time. They even worked on running relay races. We ate dinner with Josh and Rachel and Haley made banana pudding for us! The boys loved licking the bowl.
Haley, Graham & Hayden playing a little ball. Trying to get 3 kids to look and smile at the same time is not too easy.

Gulf Shores 2009

2009-06-20T21:36:00.005-05:00

We ate with Tommy (Grace's man) and his parents at the Hangout the first night. The atmosphere was great for the kids. Thanks Stantons for dinner!

Sisters (Grace)

Sisters (Abbie)

Graham and Grace share a Twizzler!

Graham loves his Aunt Abbie. I love this pic!
Abbie had the idea to put this on his head and it worked great to keep his shaved head from burning and he just looked way too cute!
Haley O and E!

Haley playing in the sand. She loved the "white" sand vs "brown" sand at South Padre.

Tommy took some great family pics for us! I can't tell you the last time we took family pictures like these! Thanks for your awesome picture taking skills Tommy.

On the road again...

2009-06-19T22:36:00.004-05:00

Well after less than a week of free time we hit the road again. My dad left on Saturday the 6th and we hit the road for a LONG road trip on the 10th. We left on Wednesday morning and headed to Gulf Shores to meet my mom, Grace, Abbie and Andy for a short vacation. We made the trip in two days with an overnight stay in Lafayette, LA. We stayed in a hotel and Alex took us to a fun restaurant called the Blue Dog Cafe. The idea was great-we love Cajun food, but the food was just not all that. We (Alex and I) were so excited to eat gumbo and etouffee but when the gumbo tasted like peanut butter and the crawfish etouffee had canned Rotel tomatoes we were not too impressed, not to mention a pricey bill. Anywho, enough complaining.

Day 2 was going to be a shorter day till we decided that the Garmin did not find the fastest way and we thought we could "beat the system". We did not understand why the GPS had us going through Mobile, AL and not just down to Dolphin Island and driving over "the bridge" into Gulf Shores. Wanna know why? THERE IS NO BRIDGE. We thought that we would be able to cut off about an hour of our trip by going this way so we headed south to Dolphin Island. Once we got there, we found no bridge(because there was no bridge) and ended up waiting 45 min to catch a ferry that ended up costing over $20, took 45 min and ended up being an hour and half late and wasted about 30 bucks. Go Team!

We spent the next few days in Gulf Shores and had a blast! We stayed in a small condo, I say this b/c there were 8 of us, and just played on the beach and pool. We also had the chance to go to our favorite restaurant (formerly Zekes, now Wolf Bay)! A big THANK YOU goes to my Uncle Jimmy for the meal!!! It was way yummy.

The next stop on our trip was home to Birmingham for a few days. We spent time with friends and family and then left the kids with our parents and left for Louisville, KY on Thursday the 18th. We are still here now and its been a great trip. We have the privilege of speaking at Auburndale Baptist Church (Alex is struggling with the name) and To Every Tribe also had a booth at the Rebelution Conference. I'll post more about the events of this weekend in a later blog.

We go back to Birmingham tomorrow, we are ready to see the kids, and then we are on the road back to Texas Thursday the 25th. We will be stopping by Hattiesburg, MS to visit and spend the night with Alex's brother and sis-in law, Travis and Michelle, and then we are driving to San Antonio to speak at a church for the weekend. WOW, we have lots to do over the next week and we will be ready for some much needed down time!

A visit from the Collins Clan

2009-06-19T22:11:00.003-05:00

The day after our Orlando trip my Dad, Angi and brothers came to visit us in Los Fresnos! We had a great time! They stayed at Isla Blanca Park (its on South Padre Island) so we spent lots of time at the beach. We also ate a the taco stand (YUMMY), went to Schlitterbahns water park, Alex and Dad played 27holes of golf, visited the zoo and spent a day in Mexico! It was a fun filled week for sure! Angi took lots of pictures but I can't find them! Once I do I'll post more!

Orlando fun!

2009-06-06T22:39:00.006-05:00

Memommy and Dodaddy (Steve and Dinah) took us on a family vacation to Orlando a few weeks ago. The ENTIRE family went. Steve and Dinah, Spencer and Brett, Travis, Michelle, Cam and Cole...and us! We had a great time. The condo has lots of cool pools and slides. We also went to Bush Gardens one day. The kids had a great time with there cousins! Thank you soooo much Dodaddy and Memommy!!!!!!

We went to this restaurant that had a guy who walked around and made balloons for people. He could make ANYTHING. Haley wanted Belle and Graham wanted Lighting McQueen. He did an awesome job. He also made a ladybug, tree, a diamond ring, and a Zeke balloon.

Haley and Graham ready for a day at the pool!

Haley loved the slides at the condo. It was all good when she had her ring on but when we "made" her take it off she went crazy. Alex was there to catch her but she is just not the risky type.

Now as far as Graham, he would go down with or without floaties!
No fear!

I tried to get a family picture but I could not get EVERYONE to look and smile at the same time.

And we are not even in PNG yet!

2009-05-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

Last night, around 11:40 for those who are curious, we were relaxing watching some TV when I looked down and saw this!

I have no idea how it got inside! All I know is that I totally freaked out! For the record it was not a small one! It was a little smaller than my hand!!! Alex put a container over it and then went to throw it outside when the thing jumped out and went under the couch. Again-I freaked out. At this point my fear was that it was going to go into the kids bedroom! After about 5 min or what felt like 30 min, Alex was able to get the thing again and throw it out.

Okay, the scary/creepy part-2 nights in a row this week Graham woke up in the middle of the night screaming that there was a big spider on him! Alex went in both nights to calm him down and we both assumed that it was just a nightmare. The question is…was it just a nightmare or did the poor thing really have a HUGE spider on him???

For the record we cleaned the house today VERY good. No more spiders for us :)

Grahams Latest Injury

2009-05-18T21:09:00.002-05:00

A few days ago we went to a new park that had a rock climbing wall. The kids had a blast. Not only did they have a cool rock climbing wall they also had lots of BIG cool slides. Alex had just climbed the wall and was sitting at the top helping Haley and of course Graham just could not wait for his turn. I was helping Haley from below and somehow Graham started climbing. He got about 3 “notches” up and fell. On his way down he hit is eye on one of the foot notches. I knew it hurt, not only did I hear him hit I could feel him hit! I picked him up immediately and comforted him and he stopped crying. I noticed that his eye was red and assumed that he would have a black eye. As always he cried for about 5 seconds and was ready to go again. So I started to help him climb (and remember Alex is on top) and all of a sudden Alex told me his eye was bleeding. It was way gross. It was kinda like a boxer who has been punched but did not break the skin. Well apparently there was small cut that slowly ripped open and the blood started flowing. We ended up taking him to the ER but never going in. They might have put a stitch or glue but the wait was way too long and with swine flu crazy here it just was not worth the wait! He is much better now :)

The last picture is Graham the next morning. When he woke up the first thing he said was "my eye is fine"!

only Graham

2009-04-21T22:51:00.006-05:00

Here is what happens when Graham gets a hold of Haley's lip gloss...

Tennis with dad

2009-04-17T23:15:00.004-05:00

Alex bought the kiddos tennis rackets and is teaching them how to play!
This is a pic before their first lesson.

Unfortunately for Haley she seems to have my athletic abilities :)
But she still takes cute pictures!

This is Graham in trouble. I could not resist taking this picture!

pictures, pictures, pictures...

2009-04-12T15:13:00.010-05:00

Happy Resurection Day! I'm usually the mom that has the kids taking pics all morning but this year I have to blame my no picture taking mood on being pg. Alex was getting the camera ready last night and all I said was, "Don't worry, Rachel already took our Easter pics". Kinda sad.

My friend Rachel took 300 pictures back in March of the kids and they were sooo good there was no way I could top them off. This morning they were wearing the same thing so...I did not feel preasured to take any new ones :) Now that I am thinking back a family picture would have been nice, but oh well, maybe next time.

Here are some of the pics that Rachel took! Thanks again Rach and thanks Aunt Grace for Haley's dress! I should also thank Alex for letting Graham wear that handsome pink shirt!

Get ready for LOTS of pictures!

hair or no hair?

2009-04-07T21:14:00.006-05:00

Just thought this was a cute comparison.

NOV 2008

March 2009

Graham "MAN"

2009-04-07T20:58:00.005-05:00

As most of you know, Haley is a girly girl and Graham is all boy.

Today when Graham woke up Alex was outside changing the oil in the car and looking at the brakes. It took Graham about 5 seconds to spot Alex. He went straight over and started "helping". It was so cute to see him want to be just like his dad. Let me clarify, its only cute to see him be like Alex when Alex is doing good things, not doing things like burping and pooting. Graham is also "learning" bad skills from Alex. He now tries to burp to make you laugh and when he does poot, he thinks(and by he I mean he and Alex) he is hysterical. haha.

a good laugh

2009-04-02T11:54:00.006-05:00

Whenever something funny, or neat, or special happens I find myself saying, "this is blog worthy" but yet I don't always blog. I could not let this one pass me by.

This post is an embarrassing moment of mine that should be shared with others so they can laugh with me, not at me :)

Yesterday the entire family went to the zoo, Sonic and then Walmart. When we were walking in Walmart Alex and I both needed to go to the restroom. He went first while I did a return and the kids just stayed in the buggy. When I was done I really need to go to the restroom (and a pg mom just can't wait) so i decided to just take the kids, buggy and all, into the restroom. For whatever reason I was kinda nervous about taking the kids and the buggy in. There is a sign on the door that says "no items past this point" but I wondered if a buggy counted? There was a worker woman outside the door and she did not say anything so I assumed it was fine. I went straight in and luckily the handicap bathroom was open. As soon as we entered the stall Haley started asking questions as usual. "Mom this bathroom is not very clean", " Mom what's that seat thing?" (it was one that you could strap your toddler to so you can go potty). And just before I sat down to go, I hear, "Kelley, is there any reason you are in the men's room???". I about died at this point. It was Alex. I guess out of shock I said, "What are you talking about?", "Are you serious?", "Please tell me your kidding!", all he said was "either you are in the men's room or I'm in the ladies but I see urinals, so...." As quickly as I could I asked if anyone else was in there and then got out as fast as I could! Did I mention that theses are the restrooms in the front of the store? Once Alex was finished laughing and drying his hands he came out asking why my face was so red. I think I am still embarrassed.

love haley o and gman

2009-03-19T12:07:00.004-05:00

just for you dad

2009-03-19T11:52:00.007-05:00

Hey Pops! We love and miss you bunches! Hope you are having a great time!

Kung Fu Fighting

2009-03-07T12:58:00.005-06:00

Grahams new favorite movie is Kung Fu Panda. When the movie comes on he does this...

Birthday Party Number 2!

2009-02-22T15:58:00.006-06:00

Sorry for the wording earlier...Haley had her 2nd birthday party today. We celebrated with all the families and friends of the CPCP. She also shared her party with 2 other Birthday Princesses.

Bradley(will turn 5) and Grace(will turn 2) on the 27th.
We ate pizza, had 3 different cakes(each princess needed their own) and played games. The kids had a blast. Here a few pics of the fun times!

Gotta love the pinata!

Haley turns 5!

2009-02-18T15:08:00.006-06:00

I can't believe Haley is 5! It kind of makes me feel old. At least Alex will always be older than me! Any who. Here are some pics of Haley and her Birthday!

Memommy and Doodaddy got her a new bike. She was very excited. We had it sitting out so when she woke up it was there! She is getting so big, she can even ride it without the training wheels!

These are the gifts from us! We got her a new baby doll, her very own calendar, a new "big girl" bible, and cute new swimsuit!

Here she is after walking into the den to see her surprise!

Thanks Memommy and Doodaddy!

Here they are in their new bathing suits. Graham got to open his up with Haley. He was not too happy to not have as many gifts as she did!

She has not had a "party" yet. We will be doing a combined party with two of her friends (Bradley and Grace) here this weekend. We did have a "pot luck" with all of the students and some other guest so we made cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday. As far as she knew, she had a big party with 50 guest!

Haley, Bradley & Elizabeth

Haley & Graham being Haley & Graham!

acts 29

2009-02-10T20:10:00.002-06:00

Wow what a crazy week we (Alex and I) have had. It started early on Tuesday when we had to be at the airport at 5:30am! We left to go to an Acts 29 Bootcamp. Acts 29 is a network that people/pastors can join (by qualifying) to help in the efforts of planting churches in the states and overseas. It’s an awesome network full of young Reformed Christians who are eager to plant churches. The “bootcamp” was for people who had already planted, were getting ready to plant or people who were just interested in getting the gospel out. Our reasoning for going was twofold. One we wanted to go for the teaching but also to assess. We are looking(and have applied) to be a part of the Acts 29 network. With a lot of paperwork, and many hours we were assessed on Friday morning and should know something in a few weeks. The network is available for many reasons, mostly to help assist church planters physically, spiritually and some financially. We are looking for all three. Mark Driscoll, Wayne Grudem, Danny Akin, were a few of the key speakers. Kacey Grudem (daughter in-law) also taught a class for the wives. Here is a picture of the guys during a Q & A time.

weekend getaway

2009-01-23T22:38:00.006-06:00

This past weekend Alex and I(along with the kids too) went to Kerrville, Texas to speak at a church. We stayed with a wonderfull family,
the Vinyards, and had the most relaxing weekend. We spent Saturday afternoon at a local park and the kids had a blast.

Graham and Belle

Haley with her baby "Natalie Elaina"

For those who know Haley, this is here favorite past time!

The New Year

2009-01-20T20:12:00.011-06:00

Well as you can see, I did not hold up my end of the bargain... I just simply have not had the time to post. Life for us has been great but VERY busy!
Where to begin...

Haley went to the local school up until the Christmas Holidays. She had been asking me to "home school" her once we came back from Alabama and Alex and I talked about it and decided that it would be a good fit for her. We started homeschooling 3 weeks ago and so far so good. We are taking it slow but so far she is doing great. We are working on days of the week, months of the year, letters, numbers, simple math, science once a week, scripture memory and other random school stuff. Some days she has a hard time, just because there are lots of kids here(11 others)and she wants to play!
We know she will do great!

So speaking of 11 kids-crazy huh? This year there are 4 other families
(3 new and 1 graduate),
4 singles (2 new, 1 graduate and 1 new staff member)
and one family that is living here short term.

It has been a blast getting to know all of the new students and their families. Haley misses her friends from last year, but she is also excited about making new friends. Not only is she excited but I am very grateful for all the new moms. Each mom bring something new to the table and it's amazing to each ones gifts.

We went on our 2nd annual group trip to the zoo.
All 5 families (without the dads) went and we had a blast.

Haley acting like a tiger. I so did not tell her to make this face!

Our first attempt to get a group pic.

Haley with the giraffes. We always stop and take a pic here for Aunt Grace.

Graham and Haley feeding the birds.

So these next few pictures will be used for blackmail in Grahams future but until then,
we shall just enjoy!

I walked into the kids bedroom and graham was just standing there in Haley's dress up shoes. I could not resist! Btw, Alex is not happy with these pics!

Graham loves to do WHATEVER Haley does!

We had Bradley spend the night a few weekends ago. The girls had a blast. Our friend Elijah came over to watch a movie with us!

Here are the Pretty Pretty Princesses!

happy fall

2008-11-01T22:26:00.008-05:00

It may be fall, but it sure doesn't feel like it here in Los Fresnos. We are still having highs in the upper 80's and today the news said that next week it should be going up to 91! These are the days I miss Alabama!

This past week in school has been "Be Drug Free". The only thing I can really say is "this is just another reason why parents home school their children". Alex and I have been very happy with the local elementary school so far, that is until this week. When we got a note home last week that this would be drug awareness week I kinda wondered what they would do with the 4K but then I just let it go. Every day the kids were to dress up for some some cute reason to help them remember to say NO TO DRUGS. At this point I'm still fine. On Monday Haley brought home her vocabulary sheet and one of her new words was DRUGS. It had a picture of a can of beer, a bottle of liquor that said "whiskey", a package of cigarettes that said "smokes" and a syringe. When I asked Haley what the picture was she just "oh, I don't know". I had to tell her, in the most innocent way what drugs were. I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS!. After Monday nothing else was said until we picked her up on Wednesday. Alex and I were standing at the door when the kids were released, when she came out with her eyes all puffy and we both could tell she had been crying. Not giving the poor girl a break we both thought that she had gotten in some mega trouble. Wrong! After 45 minutes of hysterical crying we found out what happened. Here's the run down.

She went to an assembly in the lunchroom (along with all the other grades) and listened to a police officer talk about drugs. The officer also had his drug dog. He told the kids that his dog could smell drugs and if you were found with drugs in you backpack you would be put in cuffs(or as Haley says, those silver bracelets). Well at that point, when she heard this all she heard was "the dog will find drugs". For the next 8 hours whenever she thought about it she would burst out into tears (not just a few tears, sobbing) that the dog would find drugs in her backpack. She did not understand that there were no drugs in there and that she did not have drugs, that we did not have drugs and that she did not need to be afraid! It was a VERY long night!

With all that being said here are some pictures of this week!

Be a king or queen. Stand up and say NO to drugs.

As far as what Haley thinks-crowns at school, fun!

Wear yellow for drug awareness. Haley's thoughts-I get to dress like an Indian!

80's day. Leave drugs in the past. Haley loved dressing like mom when I was her age.

Put a sock on drugs. Haley got to pick out what she wanted me to put on her socks.

Be a hero. Just say NO. Thanks Mrs Keri for her dress! Haley still loves it!

Boo at the Zoo

Thanks Mrs Rachel for the material! It was perfect!

Haley took both of these pictures! She is getting so good at it!

blogger not picture poster

2008-10-28T22:21:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I must confess I’m not the best blogger. I’m what I would call a “picture poster”. When we started this blog I (we) were going to blog about our life here in Texas. We did that for a few weeks and then we (I) just started posting pictures of the kids because that’s all people ever ask about. The kids do so many funny things and they go unseen to family and friends so I wanted to catch you up on a few. Don’t worry pics will be back very soon!

Graham-
Graham is really living up to his nickname that our dear neighbor gave him “Dennis”. He is so sweet and loving but he gets into everything! His favorite thing at the moment is markers. Haley was not the kind of kid to draw all over stuff. She did it ONCE. Graham-oh he does it every day! If he gets a hold of anything with ink (or lead) he goes to town. BTW, if he does not have paper, table, floor, couch or refrigerator, he just uses himself! He is also into balls. If he has a ball and wants to play toss and you’re not looking, he will just peg you in the face and say “catch”. He also loves to jump. He will jump off anything no matter the height. A few months ago he jumped off the couch, belly buster style onto the hard tile (with a thin rug as protection). He got up, kinda made a face and then went to jump again. This time he looked at us and said “catch”. He is still a bad eater. He loves anything with sugar and that’s about it! Food that he dislikes he will put in his mouth and push it to the side and then eat the food he likes and then when it’s all said and done, spit out the food that he first ate. Very sneaky that one. That about sums up graham :)

Haley-
She is a big girl now. She has been in school for about 6 weeks and is doing great. She loves her classroom and has made lots of new friends. She told us she can’t always remember their names because they are too hard to say :) From what we can tell she is a good student. She has been on blue(that’s the best she can be on)every day. Notice I said has been. Yesterday she got on RED. That’s the next to worse thing (blue, green, yellow, red, and then black)! When I read her behavior color the first thing I said, and it was kinda loud, was HALEY O'NEAL SISSON! That kinda scared her enough! When Alex talked to her about what she had done it was kinda silly. She said that when she was at lunch a boy was hitting himself in the face so she thought that she would join in! So, she just slapped him in the face! We still don’t know what she was thinking! Other than that one incident, things have been great with her. She has learned to read a few words and is writing up a storm. She is also learning how to use the computer. We underestimated her. She has been working on computer skills at school and we had no idea she could even use a computer! Little miss is growing fast and is just as excited as we are about moving to PNG!

Kelley & Alex-
We are great. It’s quiet here. We were so used to having lots of adults and kids and now it’s just us. We do have a family that is staying upstairs (they are hurricane refugees) so that’s been nice. They have 2 girls, one of which goes to school with Haley. Alex has been spending most of his time working on logistics for Puapa New Guinea. He has also been working very hard on our monthly, yearly and one time PNG budget. As far as me… there is so much that I want to do, but still have a hard time finding time. When I do get free time I try to help out with office work or work on my latest project, inventorying 6 apartments! Even though we are not working full time corporate jobs, working to be launched among the nations takes a lot of time and work! Please pray that God will be glorified in all we do!!

back home!

2008-09-25T22:17:00.006-05:00

BACK TO GOOD OLE LOS FRESNOS

We have been home for just a few days now and things are starting to feel like normal. We had a great time in Alabama and I wanted to post a few pics of some great times!

We were home(alabama) for 3 1/2 weeks and stayed busy every day and night. We spent most of our time with family, friends and supporters. The plan (as of today) is to stay here in Tx till December, come and visit for the holidays and then back here for the 2009 school year. Alex and I will be doing LOTS of work for TETM over the next several months along with getting everything ready for the big move (PNG for those who are out of the loop!).

Thanks to everyone who served us back home! We love and miss you all!! Enjoy the pics!

Uncle Spencer gave Graham some boots. WOW, Graham loves them and wears them everyday!

Haley went to her first day of school today! She is in the 4K class at the local elementary school. She had a great time! She only goes for a 1/2 day but that's enough for me. I almost cried when I had to drive off. Actually, the teacher told me I had to go...

My little girl is not so little!

Haley and her BF Ashlyn!

What mom would not love this one?

Graham and Hayden

DooDaddy found this turtle in the yard and Graham loved it!

It's that time again!

2008-08-30T22:13:00.003-05:00

ROLL TIDE

summer update!

2008-08-11T22:35:00.011-05:00

Well things have been pretty good down south. Since Disney, things have been kinda crazy. We had a few weeks of rest but soon we would be entertaining family for a few weeks. We took a few trips to the beach and Alex just had class as usual. BTW, he only has 1 more week left! For a quick update, we plan on being back in Birmingham August 28 through September 22.

Ok, so my mom and Uncle Andy man came to visit us for a week and we had a great time. We went to the zoo, the beach, Mexico for the day and lots of other fun stuff. 3 days before mom left (Andy had planned on staying for another 1½ weeks!) we found out that there was a tropical storm due to hit us later in the week. We prepared somewhat for the storm. I went to the store 2 nights before the storm and it was crazy. It was like I was in Alabama the night before it “might snow”! I bought what staples I could get. They had no water or paper plates, but plenty of junk food and Dr. Pepper for Alex and Andy.

The tropical storm ended up turning into a category 2 hurricane. It hit Los Fresnos hard, but we were grateful that we did not have any bad damage. We had a good bit of water in our apartment, but we have all tile so it was not too bad! We were also happy to have a generator that we (along with other families) took turns using. We did not loose anything in the refrigerator or freezer! We were out of power for almost 2 days, so not bad at all!

Our hurricane boards. We only had to board the bedroom window.

We had to sandbag the school-we should have sandbagged but didn't!

AFTER THE STORM!

This was the main hwy (HWY 100)!

Of course Alex HAD to drive through. I was sooo nervous!

This is the windshield! WITH THE WIPERS GOING!

Alex's parents were due in on Friday but the airport did not open back up till Sunday so they came to a crazy mess. We had a great time with them as well. For the most part we did the same stuff with them that we did with my mom but we also went to an awesome water park! I'll post those pics in a few days.

Well that about sums up our summer. We have enjoyed Texas so much that we plan on staying here till next September! We will be coming back here after our visit home in a few weeks. We will be helping TETM get ready for a conference they are holding in Austin in October. Check it out!- toeverytribe.com
We should be home for the Christmas holidays and then back here to Texas. We will be spending the next year raising support, building our PNG team and helping where we are needed at the school. Please pray that we will have wisdom in all that we do over the next year!
Thanks again for all you do! We love you all!!!

our sweet kidos

2008-07-14T14:28:00.004-05:00

Haley and Graham love to take pictures. They also love to be silly. Here are a few pictures of this week. We saw these shirts on sale the other day for $2 and Haley was so excited to have matching shirts with Graham.

They are such goof balls.
Here is what they each do when I say "make a funny face". Graham will do ANYTHING that Haley does!

Graham had his first ice cream cone the other day. Sure he's eaten it before, but never had the chance to hold it and walk around. He was in heaven! Haley had fun with her ice cream mustache.

Graham after his ice cream!

Haley walked out the door on Sunday morning and said it was way too sunny to go to church without her sunglasses. She is so a little me. She even put them on her head when she was done wearing them!

disney 2008

2008-07-10T10:52:00.006-05:00

WOW-We had a great time in Disney-that is the one day we could go. We were sick 6 of the 7 days there! Where to begin...first lets have a code name for throw up(**), because it was done a lot!

Alex was in Mexico when we left for Disney so I got up and got a shower and went to get the kids up and I noticed that Graham had ** all in his bed. Not the best way to start the day. After doing it 2 more times, one on me that made me change clothes, we went to the airport. He only ** once on the plane! Oh, did I mention that it was all over me and him!!! OK, so he is better once we get there and then the next morning, Haley goes at it. Then on day 3, I have it! Great time had by all I tell you. Well let me make a note here, Steve and Dinah and Aunt Rachie (they are the ones we were with) were awesome. This was their vacation too and they helped me the entire time!

Alex was due to fly in on the 3 night(around midnight) and at 11:00 Graham started ** AGAIN! so once Alex finally arrived -2am we settled in for the night. We rested and tried to recover from being sick on day 4, and by this time his aunt and mom were getting it :) Finally on day 5 we were well enough to go to Disney. The kids had a great time. Haley was so excited to meet the real princesses. Graham was not to happy to see any characters up close, but from a distance it was all good. We could not thank Doodaddy and Memommy enough for the trip!!!

So on to day 6, we were all well and wanted to spend one last day at the pool in the sun. About 2 hours into our lovely day GRAHAM STARTS AGAIN!!! No joke!!!! And the next thing I knew it was the next day and we were on our way home!

So that's our story. We really did have a great time, minus the **! It was good to get away and spend time as a family!

Enjoy the pics!

she can swim and he thinks he can...

2008-06-12T23:14:00.010-05:00

Ok, so this is not the best quality, but it will do. This is Haley and Coach Sosa. You may not think this is a big deal, but trust me, IT IS. The first video is her swimming to coach for the first time. The second one is her just jumping off the side and swimming to the steps. She was a little to far and had a hard time making it back to the steps, but with a little help she made it!

Ok, well here is Graham. He is not afraid of ANYTHING! He likes to jump in without any help, but this time I just wanted to see how he did with Haleys water wings. Please take note of what happens to the water wings.

This is my favorire picture of my GMAN! He wants to do whatever Haley does. I had just bought her a new pair of swim goggles so Graham had to have a pair too.

my little nerds

2008-06-12T22:54:00.005-05:00

Long day at the pool with the kidos. too much sun for haley o!

graham thinks he is "hot stuff" now that he can

play at Chick Fil A
my big boy!
haley wanted me to fix their hair alike... goobers...
...now they look like normal :)
they love each other sooo much!

little fish

2008-06-03T23:42:00.008-05:00

We have been swimming almost every day! The kids are doing a great job, but we really wanted Haley to learn to swim without water wings. I just signed her up Sunday and today was her first day. She did soooo good. Coach Sosa said that she will be a great swimmer if she would just RELAX. He claims she is a little high strung and talks a lot-SHOCKER. Anyway, its just been one day and we have 7 more to go. Haley and Coach Sosa

Our little swim queen

Haley can hold her breath for about 7 seconds. This is her working on her floating abilities.

This is just Haley being a goof. She loves her goggles :)

Ok-for anyone who knows her, this is a BIG deal.

*Beware-the volume is very loud!

hello all

2008-06-03T23:19:00.007-05:00

I know I've not sent an update in forever, but i really don't have a good excuse. Here are a few pics of the kids and friends. We are all doing great and still LOVING life in Texas with TETM. Alex is on his way home from a trip into Mexico and will be updating everyone soon.

Enjoy the pics!

This is my great friend Kerri Poppe. They are our neighbors and have become very close and dear friends to all of us. They have 4 little ones and their daughter, Natalie is Haley's best friend here. They are so cute. We were out on a "bowling date" and of course the guys won.

Haley loves to help whenever she can. This is her "teaching" Graham how lick a ice cream cone. *notice where she is smashing onto his chest...

Our Graham Man

Natalie spent the night last Saturday and the girls wanted their hair done alike for church. The only problem is Natalie has 5x the amount of hair Haley does.

Natalie, Graham, Haley & Elijah doing some school work!

vandalism in los fresnos

2008-05-22T21:50:00.005-05:00

yes, its true. we have a vandal in our town. she...i mean "they" crept in during the day and vandalized our car and screen door. our car was decorated like we had just gotten married (even though we just celebrated our 7th anniversary) and our screen door and some hard core truths. check it out...

*rumor has it she misspelled my name on purpose!
if anyone has any idea who could have done this horrible thing, please let us know and you can collect an award!

La Barra Update

2008-05-02T18:03:00.008-05:00

hello friends & family
we are now home from La Barra and it to be honest it feels kinda nice. don't get me wrong, we had a great time but when you are camping in 100 degree weather with kids, it doesn't take long to get tired!

we went with one other family along with several singles. It took us 4 days to get there, we were there for 5 and 3 days home. Overall it really was good. Please let us know if you did not get our email update so we can send you one.

i just wanted to post some of the funny/fun things about the trip.
haley was a hoot. she had a great time and played mostly with her friend from here, natalie. she made friends with the little girl whose house we stayed at, but it was hard not speaking spanish. i know that if we had stayed longer she would have picked it up quickly.
girls this is for you-do you remember in high school or even now we have "inside" jokes that all it takes is one word and you start laughing and remembering the old times. well i will never forget the way i felt when i saw my daughter and one of her great friends come up with her first "inside" joke. OK, heres how it goes. The families house we stayed at had lots of chickens and it did not take long for haley and natalie to find one that looked quite silly. it was kinda skinny with real long neck, kinda gangly like. every time they would giggle and say "skinny chicken, skinny chicken" it was soo cute. maybe you had to be there, or just be a goofy girl.

graham was great as well. i can not tell you how dirty he stayed. i have never seen a child so dirty. what was hard was that i had no control. i would put him down and not 30 seconds later he would be sitting down, drawing in the dirt or picking up dirt and watching it fall like rain through his hands. if he dropped his food, he'd just pick it up and eat-no worries! after about 2 days i finally threw my hands up and just waited for a good clean bath at home.

anyway. my kids did great, and so did my hubby. God is doing some awesome awesome work in La Barra. it might take some time but i know He is working.

we are way excited to see where we will be "sent" next. alex only has 4 more months of school left and we have so many options on the table. Our family has become so well adjusted in Texas and even though we don't know when or where we will be next i know i will miss my family here as much as we miss our friends and family back home.

there are some days i really miss home but i thank God for what He has given us now.
WE LOVE YOU ALL.

Haley and the Hospital
she was sick for most of the trip but it was not that big of a deal. she ended up having an urinary track infection and we had to go to a local mexican hospital (more like an after hours clinic) on our return trip. after finding out about her infection the doctor gave us 2 bottles of antibiotics and on bottle of pain medicine for free! how awesome is our God! she was a real trooper in the doctors office. i did have to bribe her with a new "polly pocket" but hey, she is 4.

getting ready

2008-04-12T23:35:00.002-05:00

Well, we leave for La Barra, Mexico in 7 days! I am so excited. It will take 3 days to get there and we will be camping for 7 nights and then 3 days back home. The plan as of now is to stay in tents, but from what I can tell, there's really not a “plan”. Alex and I bought a cool new tent that hopefully will keep us somewhat cool at night. Its no bigger than our old one, just a different shape and with more windows. Alex and I will be on a cot, Haley is borrowing her friend Bradley's cot and Graham will be in his pack-n-play. As far as what we will be doing is still undetermined. For the most part we are there to continue building christian friendships. I am really excited to be a part of this trip. One of the hardest things about the PNG trip was not being there to fellowship with the believers.

No new updates from the home front. Haley and Graham are growing up too fast. Graham is walking fast now and kinda has an attitude... he must get it from his dad. Haley is working hard at “school” and she is doing great at her writing. Alex is working hard in class and I get to attend class next week. David Edgington is the speaker next week and his topic is Biblical counseling and Teams. The moms were encouraged to attend so my plan is to attend every afternoon. I love going to class with Alex!

We miss y'all!

Move over Dorshinko

2008-04-02T22:18:00.002-05:00

Just to let the ones of you who know "Dr. Dorshinko", or know who I'm talking about, this should be good.

Last week I started a crash course dental training school. It's a one week school (with lots of volunteer hours) that teaches you how to fill cavities without using a common tooth drill and without using local anesthesia.

So far the class has been great. Due to some family needs I missed the last 2 days of class so I'm having to make them up, but its still mucho fun! If I can get enough hours in this week I will get to work in/on some real mouths!

I'll keep you up to date!

we're back!

2008-03-31T17:19:00.015-05:00

Graham playing on Elijah's bike!

We are so sorry for the lack of post. Our home computer crashed 3 weeks ago and we are just now back and running.

Wow-lots to talk about. I'll catch you up on the kids and Alex can tell you all about PNG.

First off...We are so excited to have dad back. We all managed great, but missed him dearly. Alex was gone close to 5 weeks and that just can't happen again :)

Since the last post, things have been pretty calm for the most part. We made it home (Texas home) safely with no complications. *subject change...When Haley does something that makes us laugh or is just too crazy we call it a "haleyism". She had a cute on the way home. We had to fly through some windy weather and when we the plane would have turbulence she would put her hands in the air and say "wee, mom its like a roller coaster"! it was cute.

Grace came to visit 4 days after we came back and we had a great time. We cooked lots of good food and I took her to all the "popular" places. When we went to the beach we stopped by the turtle sanctuary. It was way cool. You can check it out at seaturtleinc.com ... We also went to the zoo. For the most part we just hung out and relaxed. We did one more thing but you'll have to ask us in person:)

Alex came home 4 days after Grace left. His plane came it at midnight and we all were waiting for him at the gate. The kids responded great. Graham was kinda fussy but it was only b/c he had been woken up from his peaceful sleep. He missed his daddy and when he saw him the next morning-it showed. He was so happy! Alex did look kinda different. The kids did not seem to noticed, but i did. He was tan and thin! jealous...anyway.

We spent the next week just catching up. We all spent lots of time together. We went to the beach for the day and had a blast. The beach was crowded-spring breakers-but both kids had a great time. Graham is a hoot a the beach. He acts like the sand is grass. He rolls around and smashes his face in it. The sand never bothers him. Haley and Graham still don't like the water, but I can't blame them. For one, its FREEZING. The waves are what really scare both of them.

The next thing on our calendar was Easter. We(Belinda)had a great egg hunt for the kids. Haley really got into it. Graham on the other hand, not so much. He had one egg in his bucket and just liked picking it up, putting it in his basket and then throwing it out. One new thing we found were confetti filled eggs. They are real egg shells, dyed and filled with confetti. The kids could crush the eggs in there hands or on each others head and confetti would fly everywhere. They had a blast.

Well that brings us to April. One last "haleyisim"... tonight we were talking about animals and how we eat them for food(we were talking about the 10 plagues and we were on the one when God kills the Egyptian livestock)anyway, she said "mom, i know where chicken come from", "where" I asked..."fish!" she answers?????? don't ask. Alex and i just sat and stared. he is so goofy sometimes.

back to the land of the living!

2008-02-28T22:39:00.010-06:00

We are finally well! Graham is still having some breathing problems, but that’s normal for him. We joined 4 other moms at the park today for a “play date”. The kids had so much fun. Even though we’ve only lived in Texas for short while, our bodies have already adjusted to the warm weather. The temp in Birmingham has been in the 50’s and for us, that’s freezing!

Graham and his friend, Hayden Meredith!

Our time in Alabama is coming to an end. We leave to head back to Los Fresnos in 5 days. We are sad to go, but ready to be back at our home. I want to thank anyone and everyone who has helped make this trip back home great! Even though we were sick most of the time, it’s still nice to be in a familiar place while Alex is away.

Speaking of Alex, I've not heard from him in about a week but the last time I talked to him (the one and only time I’ve talked to him) he said everything was going great. God is doing some amazing things in Papua New Guinea and he is doing some awesome things in our family. Since Alex has been gone God has given me gracious amounts of patience with the kids. The first thing that Haley told Alex the other day was “dad, I’ve not gotten one spanking since we’ve been in Alabama”. It’s true; Haley and Graham have both been real troopers!

Please continue to pray for the team in New Guinea and for the other team from TETM (in La Barra, Mexico). Also, please pray for the families that are at home. While our husbands are away, satin has a way of attacking us constantly. We are always on the battlefield for Him!

Birmingham Update

2008-02-26T15:21:00.002-06:00

After a great time at Delta Flight Haley, Mom and I headed to Troy to visit Aunt Grace and Aunt Abbie. Grace had a leading role in the play The Misanthrope and she was AWESOME! We stayed in her house and had a chance to meat Tommy’s parents (Tommy is Graces man) and we also had the “pleasure” of seeing Abbies dorm. It is so much fun getting to spend time with girls. That is one thing that I miss a lot-seeing and spending time with my sisters!

Monday night (the night in Troy) I started feeling under the weather, but I just assumed it was a cold setting in. On Tuesday Graham also stared feeling bad so I took him to the doctor and she said he just had a virus so I just needed to treat the symptoms. At that point she also listened to my chest and said I probably had the same thing. Graham soon stared feeling better but I just got worse. After 5 more days of feeling like crud, I went to an after hours clinic (on Sunday) and ended up with strep. I’ve now been in bed for a week and am about to go CRAZY!!! After lots of antibiotics and over the counter meds I’m finally coming back to life.

We only have one more week left in Alabama, yet so much to do!

so far, so good

2008-02-20T23:22:00.001-06:00

Well we made it safe and sound to Birmingham. I am very thankful that the trip was uneventful. The kids did great flying (as always)!

Alex also made it safe to PNG.
Here is a clip from him.

Things are going well here. We are currently in Wewak. It is 3:00 in the afternoon, and we are waiting on David and Rod to join us this evening. We will finishing up getting supplies tomorrow and head to Chambri late thursday evening, early friday morning. Sometime between midnight and 3 am. We have a 5 hour truck ride to get to the river, and then we will get on the canoes and it will be 2 to 4 hours depending on the water level. I am not really sure why it could be such a big difference, but that is what they tell us. We have met several local people all ready and spent much time with them. It has been really great. Their english is much better than I expected. We have almost no problem communicating with them. I don't expect the same in Chambri, but for now it is great.

Not too much went on Friday in Alabama. Since we were up so early for the flight, we just stayed at the Sissons and rested then headed to church for Delta Flight. For those of y'all who don't know what that is, it's our churches disciple now weekend. Alex and I grew up going every year we were in the youth and it has been something that we have been helping with over the past few years. The kids and I stayed at Lee & Michelle Tindals house and as always Haley had a blast with Matthew and Justin. She is so cute to watch when we go back to church after being gone. Her excitement gets the best of her! The entire weekend went great!

We don't have too many plans for the rest of our time in Alabama. I spoke to some of the women at our home church tonight about our life in Texas and TETM. It went great. Thanks ladies for the time! More updates soon! We love and miss our Texas family!

D Day

2008-02-16T08:59:00.003-06:00

Well, the time has come for me to head to PNG. We will be leaving Los Fresnos in about an hour. We will drive an hour or so to McAllen. We fly out of McAllen, and go to Houston,, and then on to LA. We have a 5 or so hour layover and the we move on to Fiji. We have a short layover in Fiji, and then we finally get in to PNG. Once we make it into PNG, we have one more domestic fligt to get to our first destination. So basically we will leave the apartments at 10 this morning, and arrive in PNG on 5:20 monday night local PNG time. Kinda crazy huh? I thought so to. We will be back in Texas on Monday March 17th around midnight. I doubt I will be able to add anything during this time, but maybe we will get lucky and find an internet cafe somewhere.

3 days until Papua New Guinea (PNG)

2008-02-13T00:51:00.005-06:00

I have added a couple of things to the blog. On the right hand side you will see a list of books I have read in the last couple of months, maybe you will find that worth looking at. I will also be keeping you guys up to date with what we will be studying in class on a weekly basis.

While this week may seem a little think, I assure you it isn't. This week we have been honored to have Dr. David J. Hesselgrave with us. He was a missionary in Japan in the 50's and from there he went on to be a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School from 1965 until he retired in the 1991. From there he has probably done more than most people do in a regular career. He is now 84, and this is the last time he plans on teaching. I wish I was as sharp now as he is at 84.

Well PNG is only three days away! I have been very busy this week between class, and preparing to leave. Kelley and the kids will be flying home for a couple of weeks on Friday, and I will head out on Saturday and will return a month later on March 17th. More to come on PNG in the next day or so.

great weekend!

2008-02-04T22:23:00.000-06:00

We had an awesome weekend!

On Friday all the moms went to the zoo. We had so much fun. Here are a few pictures of the kids and their friends...

Erin, Hannah, Isa, Luke, Lydia, Natalie
Haley, Bradley & Elaina

The girls.
We bought all the girls matching pants!

Now here is the ENITRE group. the babies are
Alaina, Lola & Graham. Elijah is also in this one, he did not want to get
in the other one.

These are my wonderful children... they could only hold still for so long.
If you can just imagine Haley’s face when she told Alex why she could only sit for
a little while, "well you see there are these pointy things on the alligators back and they kinda bump on me..." that’s her reason for crying here.

THE RODEO

Then on Saturday or neighbors the DiIulios took us to the local Rodeo. It was awesome! We went in the morning to scope everything out. We had a chance to watch the hog judging... interesting, and we also saw all the other animals that were being judged. Haley was excited to get to see a pig like "charlottes web" but when we went to the pigs she started to gag b/c of the smell, she is so like me. Afterwards we stayed for the parade. It was mostly horses, local school bands and beauty queens (or to Haley, princesses) but there was this funny group of older people all dressed in kitchen attire. It was too cute.

After going home for naps we returned and started with the fair. They had some great rides. The Faulkner's met us there and we all rode rides together. Haley and Graham even rode a few. Graham loved all the rides and Haley was kinda a weenie and only wanted ones that didn't leave the ground. Anyway.

Then it was time for the rodeo. If you have never been to one-GO! It was great. We saw all kinds of things. The kids loved it too! We saw bucking horses and bulls, cowboys jumping off their horses onto baby bulls, roping, barrel racing, the whole nine yards. It was so dark that most of the pics did not turn out but watch the video. This is just one of a billion we saw!

and last but not least, the stars of the show!

The Conclusion to conversations with confused people

2008-02-02T12:21:00.001-06:00

My books arrived a couple of days after my 3rd conversation with my Mormon friends. I went through the books, and studied as much as time allowed. I took many notes and made a couple of charts that showed contradictions between the bible and their beliefs. My charts included specific references to where their views were stated, as some were in the Book of Mormon, some in their Doctrine and Covenants, and some that were various sayings of Joseph Smith. I also printed up all of the changes that have taken place in the Book of Mormon, that they claim haven’t taken place. I was as ready as I was gonna be, now it was just a matter of getting some time to meet with them. They came by a few times when I was out running errands so I missed them. We finally hooked up and made some time to chat. They day we were supposed to meet they called and said they would be late. They never showed up. We then scheduled another meeting; to which they stood me up a second time, only no phone call this time. Another couple of weeks went by, and they came by my house when I was sitting down to eat dinner. We scheduled another time to meet, and they actually kept their end of the agreement. So they came over, only it wasn’t the same 2 guys I had met with before. Elder Hunt was there, but they had moved Elder Fellows to another city. I can’t remember the last name of the other Elder that replaced Elder Fellows. So we have some small talk, and eventually began to talk about things. Elder Hunt start out by wondering what he is doing here, because he thinks that I don’t really care what he has to say. I kinda of found this funny, since he came anyway. I told him I was interested in discussing our differences, and reasoning out why we believe what we believe, and what is the grounding for these beliefs. So after going back and forth on some differences I think he finally had enough. And one point in time while he was laughing he said “Did Joseph Smith really say that”? At another point in the conversation, he said “I have never heard that, where did you find all this stuff”? I told him I did my research. :) So by the end of our meeting I made zero headway, other than perhaps to let him know that there are people out there who believe differently from them, and have good reasons for it, outside of a subjective feeling. He basically told me he didn’t see the benefit at all for people to sit down like he and I were doing, because it was unfruitful and pointless. I respectfully disagreed with him, and we agreed to disagree. I did 2 more things before they left. I got them to tell me their first names, Adam Hunt, and Chad ?. The other thing I did was pray for them that the truth would be revealed to them. I haven’t seen them since, but I continue to pray that they will find the truth, and flee from the lies they believe.

2008!

2008-01-21T14:12:00.000-06:00

First of all, we are sooo sorry for not updating this! I had every intention of doing so each week, but with the holidays and now with school, i just got behind. Every time I sat down to do so, something came up. I promise I will try my hardest to keep it updated this time! If I fail to, please email me for a reminder!

Here is a recap of the past few months. October went by fast and fun. As we finished unpacking and settling in we also became very close to our neighbors the DiIullios. Alex and I took the kids along with Hannah, Ester and Elijah to the zoo the night before Halloween. Fun, but kinda scary. The Zoo here is great! We joined and have been several times since then. November went by just as fast. Alex spent a good amount of time at the CPCP school helping them set up their surround sound, TV, projector and all that kind of stuff. Abbie came to visit for an entire week at Thanksgiving and that was a blast. We stayed busy the whole time with the zoo, beach, mall, Mexico etc. It was sad to see her go but before we knew it we were back home for the holidays. Speaking of holidays, that went great as well but we were ready to come back to Texas. This has been the longest year of our life and we are so happy to be starting school!

Graham learning to walk!

He's loving it!!

Haley and her new friends Natalie and Elaina.

There are 4 families and 2 single students this year at the CPCP. We have had so much fun with all the kids. Haley is in heaven with all the girls. There are 4 girls all within 6 months, And 3 babies all within 6 months! How awesome it is to be living with other believers and fellowshipping everyday! There are days that we wish you all could be here with us (other days, things are kinda crazy)!!

We love you all and thanks again for your support!

No 24?????!!!!! This isn’t funny

2007-11-08T19:21:00.000-06:00

While feeding Graham dinner this evening I was watching FOX News, when Shepard Smith began to report the casualties of the writer’s strike. I wondered if it would be anything I gave a rip about, and then to my horror he said that 24 had been suspended indefinitely. I then began searching frantically online to see what was out there on this. An article on Reuters says the show has been canceled. All I know is that I will be terribly upset if 24 doesn’t air in January. I wonder if these writers have noticed the kind of stuff Jack Bauer is capable of, I mean surely they have somewhat paid attention to the stuff they wrote. I would hate for him to pay them a visit to straighten some things out. If anyone else has a good source of what is going on, feel free to let me know.

If you haven't seen the trailer for 24 you ought to check it out. http://www.24trailer.com/

Reuters Link - http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSN0759614120071108?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Conversations with Confused People

2007-11-07T21:53:00.000-06:00

Conversation 1

For those of you who don’t know, our apartment which is quite nice, is a little on the small side. It has approximately 700 sq ft of room broken down into 2 bedrooms, 1 bath, a small living room, and a small kitchen. While this is plenty of space for us to live, it isn’t plenty of space for a laundry room, much less a washer and a dryer. There are talks of putting up a small laundry facility for us, until then it is off to the Washateria to do the laundry once or twice a week. You can’t tell Kelley this, but I have actually come to enjoy my time there. For one, I can do a weeks worth of laundry in less than 2 hours, and it gives me a little “me” time. I usually spend this time reading a book, or occasionally catching up on a Koukl podcast on my ipod. When I was there last week a couple of visitors came by. The visitors were on foot, wearing dark pants, white short-sleeved button down shirts, ties, and each of them had on a backpack. They also had on name tags that identified them as elders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, big surprise there huh. Elder Hunt and Elder Fellows tried to act like they were looking at the information board as I was moving clothes from the washer to the dryer. They happened to be standing right next to where I had placed my book down. I am reading Piper’s Don’t Waste Your Life for the third time, perhaps I will be able to finish it this time. :) So as I walked up reclaim my seat they decided it was a good time to strike up a conversation. You know me….I never want to miss out on a good conversation. I was actually excited, as I have never knowingly held a conversation with a Mormon. After a bit of small talk, they asked if I had a family, and I told them yes. The ice breaker was for them to recommend some reading to me that could really help my family. I though it a little odd coming from a couple of guys that didn’t look old enough to have a serious girlfriend, but a nice gesture none the less. For the next little bit I played dumb, asking as many questions as popped in my head…other than the “what are you smoking” question, I kept that one to myself. It was getting time to get back to laundry, so I had to go ahead and wrap up the conversation. I told them why I had moved to Texas, and that while I didn’t know exactly what all they believed, I was certain that we had some differences in our beliefs, and that I would like to spend some time talking about those differences on another day. We exchanged information, and I gave them the open invitation to come by the house whenever they liked. We shook hands and that was session one. I went home and spent the next 2 days doing as much research as I could on Joseph Smith and his band of very confused followers. It was difficult trying to sift through everything I was reading, but I did the best I could.

Conversation 2

Saturday rolls around, Kelley and Haley went to see Ratatouille with our neighbors. G-man and I were hanging out doing what we should have been doing on a Saturday afternoon in the fall, watching football. I had just started to feed G some food at about 3 o’clock when Elder Hunt, and Elder Fellows wheel in on there bikes. I welcomed them in and offered them something to drink, to which they declined. I told them I was really glad they came by, but that I was short on time, kickoff was only an hour away. They said no problem, they needed to leave at 3:30 to go to their next appointment anyway. So after a decent amount of small talk we got around to discussing things. We bounced back and forth over a few issues, and finally got around to the Bible, and discussing various translations, and its authority. They made some claims that were completely unfounded, and I let them know that what they were saying was false and gave them my reasons for saying so. I doubt seriously that any of my arguments made any headway, but who knows time will tell. We eventually wrapped up, and I went on to watch a painful football game. After reflecting on that hour long conversation, I knew that I really needed some additional material to take their views head on. I did some more research and ordered a couple of books, and a pamphlet. The website seems to be pretty good, and most of the info that they put out is from ex-Mormons. Here is a link if you are interested http://www.lifeafter.org/. The books have shipped, but haven’t arrived yet.

Conversation 3

My buddies came back again today. They showed up at noon, and 3 hours of interesting conversation later, they left. My brain was just about fried after talking with them. I spent a lot of time probing them, to try and find out exactly where our views depart. I certainly got some answers from them, some were as interesting as my recent research indicated they would be. I told them what I believed, and asked them based on the information I just told them, would I spend eternity in heaven with God. They were quite reluctant to tell me that I would be going to Spirit Prison when I die, but I finally drug it out of them. I countered their views with as much scripture as I could point out to them on why if the bible is indeed true, that I would not be going to Spirit Prison, but I would indeed go on to live eternally with God in heaven. At the end of the 3 hours I still got a blank stare, and the statement that was interjected the most throughout our conversation this afternoon “Well I know the scriptures (Book of Mormon) are true, because I prayed and God confirmed it for me”. There is no doubt that as our conversations continue that I have my work cut out for me. I am not discouraged in the least bit; it was actually fun, and I look forward to our next meeting. Please join me in praying for Elder Hunt, and Elder Fellows. My prayer for them is that they would see the truth, and flee from the lies they are currently believing.

just some pics of the kids

2007-11-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

I will try and put new pictures on the blog every few days.

Here are a few from bath time!

Alex took Haley on her first "real" bike ride.

We took the kids to Chuck E Cheese last night. They had a blast!

things are great!

2007-11-01T11:59:00.001-05:00

Well... where to start... things are great here.

The kids are doing great! The Di Iulio's, another family going to school in January, have 2 girls, 15 & 10, and Haley is having a blast with them. She is outside 75% of the day, it's great. Graham is into everything! He is crawling great and now starting to pull up on stuff, yikes! He has already hit his head on the hard tile several times but only one bloody accident has happened....Haley was in her play oven and Graham was pushing on the door to keep her in, well she decided it was time to get out, so she shoved the door open, which hit Graham in the face and gave him a bloody lip....nice huh.

Alex and I are great as well. The weather has been sooo nice and there is not too much to complain about other than tarantulas! We have only seen 3 but that is more than enough.
Here are some pics of the apartment and the kids. Hope you enjoy them!