Does HE Have a Remote Control?

This is a little conversation Ben and I had this morning while getting ready for school.

Ben: how hot it was going to be today?

Me: around 62.

Ben: why can it not be in the 70's?

Me: because God is in control and he makes those decisions

Ben: does he have a remote control?

Me: no, baby.

I got lucky on that one because he could have easily asked why and I am not sure what I would have said. Don't you just love the way our kids think. Pretty good thought process though. We control our TVs, toys and gaming systems with remote controls, so why not think that God controlled everything with a great BIG remote control.

Ben's 1st Report Card

Ben received his first report card this week. He had all O's (outstanding) in every "subject" except penmanship he got a S (satisfactory). He must of got that from his daddy. lol We are so proud of you Ben!!! Keep up the great work.

Christmas.... Better Late Than Never

This year was a little different.......we didn't have to travel!!!!! Tim was on call so everyone came to us. It was kinda nice but we did miss seeing alot of family that we usually only see once or twice a year. Hope you enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed making the memories!!! Some how in all the fun opening gifts I didn't get a pic of mom. Sorry mom!!!

Love this pic of Ben & Brooke

This photo op didn't work out quite like we wanted it to?

MeMe & Paw Paw with the grands. Pretty good I must say!!

Brooke so enjoyed holding Julianna!!!

Don't ya just love it!! Not sure what kind of smile that was from Ben?

Brooke trying out some of her dress up clothes

Ben trying out his green machine.

Modeling his new hunter attire

Our best efforts at making gingerbread houses!! The kids had so much fun.

Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!

Christmas and the New Year was great. Time spent with family and friends was even better. Hope everyone has had a blessed and happy New Year.

We took the kids to see Santa this afternoon at the Bass Pro Shop. On our way Brooke was all about Santa and giving him a big hug and telling him she wants a pink bicycle. It was our turn and she immediately changed her mind and began to want me to hold her. She and Ben both sat in his lap but she was not to happy about it. Her eyes filled with tears and would not give him a second look. Our little man proceeded to tell him a long list to goodies he wanted for Christmas.

We got our picture (which Brooke was pretty much in tears...Ben was grinning from ear to ear). We got a little treat ourselves. We got 2 kids eat for free coupons to Islamorada (spelling) in the Bass Pro Shop. It is a great restaurant with delicious food. A good ending for the night.

Ben 1st Arenacross Race

On Saturday, Ben raced in his first arenacross race. When Tim and Ben first got there Ben got cold feet and nervous. The bigger kids were practicing and going really fast and jumping. He finally meet a kid his age and begin to get more comfortable. Once he started, he loved it!!!!!

We thought they were going to have practice that morning and then race later that night. Well after 3 practice rounds and a qualifying round, there was only a couple hours before the main race. It turned into an all day affair.

Ben did great for his first race. He came in 3rd. He would have finished 2nd but he wrecked in a rut. He didn't get hurt or anything. He pretty much just got stuck and fell over. He also caught some air a few times. Not intentional by no means....but those hills were pretty big.

We are so proud of Ben. He did great. For more professional photos, you can go to ohcropphotography.com. Look under galleries, then arenacross, then Autaugaville Arena 12-18/12-19. His photo numbers are 12_19_0041, 12_19_1042, 12_19_1084, and 12_19_1085. You can also go under my wall on facebook and look at the complete album.

Brooke watching her big brother!!!!

Ben #99 and his friend, Elijah #60, waiting to line up

One of the really big hills

Ben and Elijah

Remember Those That Are Less Fortunate

Bear with me on this. It it's a little long. About 2 wks ago I put my old Christmas tree on craigslist to sell. I immediately got a response from a girl, let's call her "Becky". Within our second e-mail exchange she began to poor her heart out about how her husband had lost his job last year and they did not get to celebrate christmas and they have 2 young children. Both are under 6. My heart ached for them.

When I shared the story with Tim he warned me to be careful of scams. The girl said she would like to get it after Thanksgiving, maybe over the weekend. I said that would be fine and provided my cell phone # for her to contact me. Well come Friday after Thanksgiving, she sent out another e-mail and said she was not going to be able to make it because she did not have any transportation and they had to use the money to pay there power bill. Continuing along the way to share stories of how their car had been in the shop for the past 3 months. She had to take her 6yo out of school because she couldn't walk him to school anymore in the rain with her 14 month old.

By this point I was wandering what was going on and wandering if I was being scammed. Not following my heart I reposted the tree again and began to get several phone calls wanting the tree. Another lady was going to be in town on Tuesday and was going to come get it. All this time I had not received a phone call or another e-mail from "Becky". Come Monday afternoon I get an e-mail from "Becky" wanting to know where we could meet so she could get the tree. I responded letting her know that I had another lady coming to get it tomorrow. I immediately get a response from her begging me not to sell it. She had already cleaned out a spot for the tree and told her 6 yo they would have a tree this year. And if they didn't get it he would be heartbroken. Plus her dad had already rearranged his day to come get it. I mean come on people.......have you ever told your life story to someone you had never meet. So, I told her to call me Tuesday morning so we could make arrangements. "Becky" finally called at 11am on Tuesday morning and we made plans to meet. She told me that she would be with her father and he drove an "old brown looking mater truck". I finally got to meet "Becky" and she appeared to be all that she had been telling me about. They were very poor looking and it was an old mater truck. I didn't want to take her money for the tree but she insisted.

On the drive home I felt terrible not believing any of her story and plus I had just taken $30 from her. I sent her an e-mail when I got home. Hoping she didn't take it the wrong way or be offended, I asked her if I could give her some clothes for her boys. I also offered her some toys. She sent back an e-mail overwhelmed at the offer and said she did not think it was offensive at all and very thankful. She even sent me a picture of her 2 little boys and they are the cutest things. Next week I will be going to their house and taking the boys clothes and toys. I am also going to give her back her $30 in a form of a gift card from Wal-Mart.

The whole point of the very long blog is to get everyone to remember those that are less fortunate this holiday season. Just the smallest act of kindness can make a huge difference.