Browser problems

Yes, life has been busier having 3 kids in the house and one that's a teenager learning a new language is not just a traditional jump. But, it's ridiculous, that I'm approaching a year on updating my blog for my kids. So much wonderful has happened!! One of my big issues is that I prefer to use my work computer because I'm so much quicker with it but my work browser is behind the times I'm sure for security reasons. I hope I can find an easy way to get back to giving you regular updates but most importantly, tracking the memories of this short, temporal life for my sweet children.

Egg Hunts or Races???

Ready! Look at the his eyes.....He's got this thing!

Gone!

Lean into the Curve!

The Golden Egg for one Goofy 2nd grader!

Next day for the Pre-K....

Ready!

Gone!

Who knew Ruby would be out of the gates like her brother?

Loving these Spring days......

The life of a coach's wife - College Chalktalk

You would think Jay might be in the proverbial dog house when you read this article but he's not.....

The life of a coach's wife - College Chalktalk

If I told you all this man does for his family, his work, his friends, his Lord.....you'd think I am lying. It's true...there's needs a dern book about his servant's heart.

Thank you for recognizing the stuff we coaches' wives can endure sometimes, Coach Jay! Beat Belmont tomorrow and it will be worth it for another week.

Birthday Month

Birthday Month did not disappoint. With January birthdays and basketball season, this mom strives to to be prepared by Thanksgiving for fear of no plan and the birthdays will be upon us!

Ruby's party was the first celebration. It was her first time to have a solo party with friends. (She's mainly had family parties until last year when she shared her party with Willie since they celebrate in the same week.) For two years, she's been wanting to have a party at Diva's and Dude's. I had no clue to be honest, I didn't even check out the place....she's been saying it for 2 years so I marched forward hoping for the best. I just hoped it didn't disappoint. And all I can say is Wow! Mainly a good wow but I was mostly just wowing the business concept. I'm guessing I should should have thought of this. Anyway, it didn't disappoint Ruby and that's what mattered! (Willie just walked around like he was in twilight zone.)

Our Ruby is a darling little girl. The night before her birthday, she told 4 goodbye literally. She has a make believe friend called "buzzy bee." She LOVES all animals especially her Shizzle. When she gets scared going to choir practice, she asks me to pray with her. She's funny and loves to be silly and laugh especially with Willie. She's courageous enough to go a 7 day trip with her grandparents. She's stylish enough to make up her own outfits like putting a skirt around her neck to create a poncho effect. She's my little girl no matter how TALL she gets.

After her party, Ruby headed off to Disney with her Walton grands and her cousin Riley to celebrate for a full-week. They look really fresh in this departure pic at the airport.





Well, about 24 hours after Ruby's shindig, we hosted 7 boys at our house to celebrate Willie's #8. Because of basketball season and chaos of the schedule, I intentionally choose to do destination birthday parties. But Willie wanted a sleepover complete with laser tag, brownies (no cake please!), and time to just play. After laser tag and pizza....a Big Shout goes out to Daddy for running a 3 hour sports tournament in the basement complete with foosball, billiards, nerf basketball horse and the wii....followed by a session of trading football cards and a movie.....Finally, it's 1 a.m. and all was quiet and Willie was very pleased.

Willie at age 8 thinks he knows everything....much like his mom was. But mostly, I'm just so proud. His world view is admirable to have traveled very little thus far in his life. He is conscientious enough to ask me if "open gym" costs any money. He's silly enough for anyone to know he's got to be 8! He's a quick learner and loves any kind of competition, organization and STATISTICS! He's currently has running count of various car models he sees on the road. During church, he keeps up with whether the preacher says God, Jesus, Christ or Spirit more.......it's a little scary but at least he's listening. My favorite thing about Willie at the tender age of 8 is his tender heart.



After having the chance to care for Cristina for a short period on a daily basis, we have a better understanding of the privilege. I could easily articulate how blessed our children are; but I more clearly understand the privilege I've been given now. It's an honor to pour into these precious gifts day by day, year by year. Happy Birthday, my babies!

LipscombSports.com - Hodzic overcoming early struggles in Germany

LipscombSports.com - Hodzic overcoming early struggles in Germany


And this makes all the recruiting, late-night films, dealing with college kids mistakes etc worth it, stupid losses worth it. As with everything, it's about the journey!

Holiday Favorites

Celebrating Christmas in the DR....

Hugging Cristina.....

Family time at the Grandparents....

Cousins.....

Bulldogs....

Home sweet home....

Holiday Hustle (or Hope)

While we celebrated family time with Wallace’s in the mountains celebrating Thanksgiving week, the Bison’s won their division of the Cancun Challenge. We were all thrilled to reunite on the homefront with an unseasonably warm day to celebrate Thanksgiving coupled with lots of outside play!

December started out under control.....



After a wonderful season of precious programs and parties for PK and 2nd graders, Willie and Ruby were headed to Mississippi for some grandparent time.

Jay was working hard and so adding in a quick trip to the DR to personally deliver Christmas gifts to Cristina and her 150+ sisters:) seemed very doable. I’d probably now characterize as back breaking after you start factoring a bit of unexpected here and there..... but well worth it I can say now that I’m safely here.

As many of you know, we collected DVD’s to give them a decent library of over 80 DVDs. They sat in a circle and cheered as we read each movie title....extra loud for Hannah Montana, Harry Potter, New Moon and Barbie…..the picture tells the rest of the story.

One unexpected opportunity was to visit house converted orphanage for about 30 boys. I was with a SCORE missionary and we were delivering gifts to the boys who had SCORE sponsors. I was totally dumbfounded to learn that only a handful of the boys have sponsors. (So, I’ll be going back there before I leave to deliver some games or something that they can ALL play with. It was sparse as you can tell from the stark white walls below.) If you are interested in sponsoring one of these boys, just contact SCORE.

info@scoreinternational.org
Phone: 423-894-7111
http://scoreinternational.org/programs/sponsor-a-child


These are boys without a sponsor that were there tonight.

Compared to boys with a sponsor...



Once again my eyes get opened...