Follow the star

Follow this link to watch Ashley's show on the PBS website:

http://pbskids.org/scigirls/video2?asset=show110&pid=yVQ75IE9qyzWcI3MwE0N4Z0gBtS8PWAl

My superstar had a great time at the show's debut showing on campus. Everyone who was involoved in the show showed up to watch. It was a party complete with ice cream and cake. The girls and Dr. Murphy were then on the front page of the paper the next day. I heard that most of Sam Rayburn watched the show at school, so then everyone there was telling her how much they liked the show. Ahhh....the life of a star!

I failed you my friends. Her show aired this past Sunday at 10:30 in the morning and I failed to give you the notice. But good thing....you can still watch it online!! It's really cute, and short. I hope you enjoy it!

My girl, the SciGirl

Ashley was able to be a part of an amazing experience back in September. She went to a casting call for a PBS show called SciGirls. This show is set to start airing next year and is about girls and their interst in science. Her science teacher called me and told me she was asked to recommend girls that were interested in science. She told me she thought Ashley would fit the bill and that it would be great if she could try out. So she did, and she made the cut.

The episode that she was a part of was about Rescue Robots. They worked with Dr. Robin Murphy at the computer science and engineering dept on campus and did most of their filming there.

They also got to spend the day at Disaster City. All I know is that it's some type of training facility for emergency personnell. And rescue robots!

Being on this show wasn't all fun and games. The whole group filmed and worked for 7 days straight, 9am-6pm. All this filming was for a 30 minute show! It was serious work!

So serious that Ashley desperately tried to find a quiet spot to think.....

But since she's famous now the papparazzi found her.....

They even followed her to our living room......

These were her best friends for those 7 long days...

The show is set to air sometime next year. And when her episode comes up you know the date will be announced quite loudly by this proud mom!

Baptism

On Sunday, September 27th my sweet boy was baptized. I can't tell you the joy it brought to see him make that profession of faith.

He accepted Christ in his heart on June 16th at pre-teen camp. The night he did this he called us, and it brought me to tears immediately. You see, I had been praying for this to happen. Not in the sense of how I pray for all my kids to one day accept Christ. But in sense of urgency that the Holy spirit placed upon my heart to pray without ceasing....for months. Months before this happened I prayed specifically for him, that God would reveal Himself to my son, that my son would see who God was, what Jesus did for him.

He had only asked a few questions in the years before actually making the decision. He asked what baptism meant, what the Lord's supper meant. But never any deep convicting questions. He's not even the type to be deep in thought. He's more the happy, laughing, joking all the time type. I wasn't sure what was going on in that mind of his. But God wasn't working on his mind. He was busy preparing his heart. He told us later that he had been wanting to make this decision for a while but just hadn't done it yet.

I wish I had been there when he did accept Christ, but God made sure that someone else dear to my heart and his heart was there.....his big sister. She said she prayed for him, was moved to tears when she saw him walking towards the front, and congratulated him with love and hugs. Ms. Brittany was there to pray with him and ask him all the right questions. God is so amazing!

And if you watched the video, yes, he actually did shoot a kangaroo. On his birthday last year. The roo is now a decoration in my living room.

Embracing the belly

News flash - this summer has been hot. Really hot. Now add in that I'm carrying around a bowling ball and that makes it ....well..... just a little uncomfortable.

It took a little while to get used to seeing myself with a pregnant belly again. I'd walk past a mirror and have to do a double take. I'll put my hands where my waistline used to be and find there's no hips there to put my hands on. First thing in the morning I'll want to jump out of bed like I normally did, and I find that hurts. Oh, yeah, I forget that my muscles are ripping apart.

The other day I lifted up my shirt to show my kids my belly. Outburst of laughter erupts. Ok, ok, a little laughter is expected....but come on...uncontrollable laughter? They then proceed to parade around the house with different items under their shirts mocking my pregnant belly. "Look, I'm mom!". Even my sweet baby girl joined in.

All that said, I have to say, I'm loving this belly. I'm embracing the very last pregnant belly I will ever have. This will be the last time that I will ever feel a baby move and grow inside me. The last time I will ever stare at an ultrasound picture and think of who the baby looks like. Dream of who he will be. The last time I eagerly go to a doctor's appointment with the anticipation of hearing a baby's heartbeat for a moment. The last time I search through piles of books... and tons of online sites...and the bible for a baby name. Last time I search for that perfect bedding, theme and colors. The last time someone gives up their seat for me. The last time I can use that special "Expectant moms" parking at the gym. The last time I'll take my vitamins with such devotion. This list can go on....

That doesn't mean I would want to be pregnant forever. I want October to be here already. Because I want my baby in my arms. Oh, sweet day....

But until that day is here......I'll be embracing this belly ...

Flip this House - Lopez Edition

This blog is a long time coming!

Last summer this time we were working on our 2nd flip house. I was scrolling through pictures and found the befores and afters, starting thinking about this amazing journey and decided to post.

If you can see to the left of the picture there used to be an enclosed garage. It had a wall unit that stuck out towards the driveway. And you could literally move the wall with a gently push. We decided to turn it back into a garage.

I was so proud of this flip. While this home was more challeging, it was the most rewarding. We turned what was an eyesore in this neighborhood to a fine home.

Check out the fireplace. This picture was taken from the living room looking towards the dining room & kitchen. The fireplace is angeled. In the middle of all the rooms, directly next to the front door. Needless to say, we felt it had to go.

This picture was taken from the same spot in the living room.

We cut back that entryway wall back about 1 foot to expand the entryway. We also cut back the L shape counter back about a foot for the same reason. This house felt too enclosed.

These are the exact same cabinets. They were solid wood, not particle board. So we decided to sand them down and give them a new coat of paint. Which I sanded myself, thank you. We added new hardware and the results were beautiful.

The hallway bath:

It took us about 6 weeks to complete this makeover. It was no small task. It was exhausting and stressful. But exciting at the same time. We'd do it again in a heart beat. Lots of prayer went in before each house and during the process. And lots of praise afterwards. One of our flips sold in March of last year and this one sold in December.

Now you might not think this would be a testimony for us, but it is. With both houses we know God has His hand in every detail.

I went to this house, walked through it, prayed through it, and told Alex I was sure this one was the one. I had already looked at 15+ other homes. He walked through it, we prayed some more and put in our bid. We were told that someone else had outbid us, so we didn't get the home. It felt strange, because I was so sure, and questioned whether we had bid it at a fair price. We felt we had went through our figures correctly and couldn't of bid more. So we let it be and didn't look at any other homes. About a month and a half later we received a phone call letting us know that the deal didn't go through with the first contract, and if we were still interested in purchasing the home at our original bid. God meant for it to be ours, but we just had to wait.

Our first flip we looked at we put in lots and lots of prayer. It was our first and we were amateurs. We looked it through, and I just knew it was a good purchase price. I knew the neighborhood. And most importantly God had already given us the peace. But others thought we were crazy. Even our inspector took one look at it and told me I had been watching too much of those house flipping shows. He said there was no way we would make money off it and we were crazy to try. The AC was shot, the heating unit wasn't working, the foundation was shifting, and it was just plain ugly. But this was a HUD foreclosure and there was no way out of the contract. They did however allow us to submit another lower bid, which they quickly accepted.

First thing I did was call a foundation specialist to come give us an estimate of the damage. We were prepared for the worst. To our surprise, he said there had been some shifting, but it had already been repaired and there was already piers and beams all under the house. Seriously?

Next, we had a good friend ac guy come over and inspect the shabby unit. He worked on it and said the AC wasn't even old, maybe 3 or 4 years. And he had that heater going in no time. The only problem was some ducts needed repairing. No way...

Once all the remodeling was done and we got a contract on the house, we had more problems that God took care of. Even though we disclosed everything in the contract, the guy eneded up pulling out of the deal. He said he just didn't trust the house. With those words we felt he said he didn't trust us. That hurt. Didn't he know us? We tried to negociate, to no avail. We were devasted. More prayer and a month later we got another bid, higher than the first. Their inspector found a spot on the roof that needed to be repaired, and at that moment Alex decided we would pay the entire amount of replacing the roof. I got a little upset, and told him that the inspector didn't require us to replace it, just repair it. He said absolutely not. We're replacing it because it's what we would want done. After hearing that we were willing to pay to replace the roof instead of just repairing it, the buyers offered to pay half. No way.

These things didn't just happen. God happened. God worked. Our part was to pray and wait until He told us to move.

There are no coincedences with God. He cares about every detail of our lives.

Our next task at the moment is to work on a home for our own, whether it be that we build it or find a home suitable to makeover for us. At the moment we haven't found such a home. But we have no problem with waiting.

I'm constantly on the lookout for our next flip. And I'm hoping we just might make our way to our own edition of "Flip this House". I can see it now......Alex mumbling something in spanish....me with a baby strapped to my back sanding down cabinets....older kids hauling lumber and bricks complaining about child labor laws.....all the makings for a great show!

Weekday getaway

The kids were out of school a couple of weeks early, so we decided to take advantage of that extra time. We surprised them with a trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine.

This place was amazing. It was so much fun, yet small enough that we felt safe in letting the 2 oldest go have fun on their own. We could still see them going up the stairs to every ride they went to. They even said this was as fun as Disney World!

This was Annaliese's hangout for most of the stay. She could have stayed here the entire time.

At check-in we were upgraded to a cabin room for free!! The kids loved it. It had a bunkbed and twin size, just perfect for us! They even had their own tv. We'll definetly get one of these rooms again the next time we go.

I should also tell you that I hate, absolutely hate waterparks. They seem dirty, the bathrooms smell, and I hate walking around barefoot, and I don't like water rides. I have gone because my kids enjoy it, but that's it. But this place is really clean, smells great, and I walked barefoot throughout the park.

They had this neat story time hour. All of what you see behind the kids is animated, and at a certain hour the scene would come alive and there was singing followed by a story.

We went to the Rainforest Cafe which was right down the road from the lodge. And to our surprise, not only was it family night where all kids eat for $1.99, but because we were staying at the lodge we got free appetizers. Score!!

One of the best things of the trip....since it was the middle of the week and most schools were still going....there was hardly anyone at the waterpark. It was awesome.

After 2 days at Great Wolf we scooted over to Fort Worth where we met up with some cousins that took us to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We had never been, and that was a sight to see. Of course I liked the shopping the most. Ashley got herself some nifty new boots that she loves.

We came home around midnight Friday, and Saturday hubby and I made our way to an Astros game. Sad day though, they lost to the Rangers.

But just being at a game is always a lot of fun.

So that was our last week. It was such a fun filled getaway for all of us. We like to use the excuse that it's all just for the kids. :)

It's confirmed

Without a doubt.

My first ultrasound was a little early so I didn't want to say for sure. But now after my second ultrasound and seeing those pictures there's no mistaking......Baby Lopez is definetely a boy!

Which also means that Annaliese was right. And she probably really does have conversations with baby. Really sweet in a wierd kind of way.

We were worried about what little Alex would say. He took it well. When he asked me what we were having, I took his little face in my hands and told him "You're going to have a little brother." I think he likes that idea. But he probably won't like the idea that he and little brother are sharing a room if we don't find another house.

Which by the way, we are house hunting. Unfortunately though, there are not many 5 bedrooms for sale that we like and are in our price range. So we may be faced with the challenge (and blessing) of building our own home. But I'd so much rather find a home that we like already built. So if you have one for sale, or want to buy ours, talk to me!

Saving the Earth

I watched a show on Earth Day about saving the Earth. I can't explain to you how eye opening it was. I had no idea to what extent we are destroying our Earth.

Just the amount of trash alone is unreal. I will never look at my trash the same again. Have you ever stopped to think just how much trash your family creates? A typical family creates 29lbs of trash per week.

Did you know that there is a trash pile in the Pacific Ocean twice the size of Texas? Eighty percent of it is plastic. There are places in the ocean that this trash pile reaches 90 feet deep. Most of it came from us...on the land.

Now I'm not a granola eating, recycle my every bit of trash, not brush my teeth to save the water, turn off the lights and AC kind of person. I just really want to keep doing the little bit I can and a little more.

There are a few things we were already doing, and some of these started with the effort to save money at first. I stopped using paper towels was one thing. We only use cloth napkins. And I don't use paper plates at all. We recycle our newspaper and aluminum cans. As light bulbs go out around the house I change them to fluorescent. The kids take timed showers. Sometimes they go faster than the time given because they race each other. No running the water while brushing teeth.

But I'm wondering....what else can we do? There has to be so much more.

I'd like to recycle more of our trash. But what? And how?

I want to start actually using those reusable grocery bags I've bought but don't know where they are.

I need some ideas that will work well for a busy family. Or any other energy saving ideas. I'm always looking for energy saving because that = money saving. And who couldn't use a little more of that?

Boy or Girl?

Lately Annaliese has done nothing but talk about this baby. Talks to the baby, reads to the baby, sings to the baby. Apparentely she and baby even have conversations. She'll ask the baby questions, and she'll tell me what baby said. Must be during one of these conversations that the baby let her in on a little secret....that baby was a brother.

She insists baby is a boy. I try to talk to her that while this is possible, it is also possible it might be a sister. She insists firmly.....no....it's a boy baby.

She needs to be aware though that her older brother is seriously praying against this. Seems life has been good to him being the only boy for 9 years. He said he doesn't want to have to carry around a baby while he and dad go hunting. Because dad would want to take him hunting....so another sister would be great for him.

Big sister could care less one way or the other. She said she's known what it's like to have both a baby brother and sister, and while having a little sister has been more fun, whatever God chooses is good with her.

Well put!

If only Annaliese could feel this way, too.

I asked her yesterday that if the baby was a girl, would she still love the baby.

She said "Yes, I will still love the baby....

....like a brother...."

Going through the motions

**Update at the end

"I don't wanna go through the motions

I don't wanna go one more day

Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,"What if I had given everything,

Instead of going through the motions?"



Lately the lyrics of this song have consumed me. I repeat the words over and over in my mind.

It's not the tune in my head. It's the words.

I say the words. Then pray. Ask God what He's trying to tell me.

My mind goes back to when I first became a Christian at the age of 20.....

The passion....

The love I felt overflowing in my heart...

Wanting everyone to know this God I knew....

Sharing my testimony to family, friends, strangers....

It was what I was called to do.

From the moment He called me to be His.

What happened between then and now?

I can't remember the last time I helped someone to accept Jesus.

What happened?

That wasn't me 10 years ago.

Me 10 years ago was alert to every opportunity.

Last night I got a call that an uncle passed away. One I haven't spoken to in years.

I prayed.

I cried.

My heart ached.

Very heavily ached.

Not only because he passed away, but because I didn't know.

I didn't know.

I prayed that he did know.

That someone braver than me had shared with him who Christ was.

I feel he did know. From what I've know about this amazing man...I feel he knew.

He was was a peaceful, loving, caring person, and said he believed.

My mind then started to think of the many others that I didn't know about.

There were those I knew didn't know. Or chose to not know.

And I prayed.

Lord...don't let me just go through the motions of this life....

Help me to find opportunities to tell others about you...to seek them out...

And not just wait for them to come to me.

I don't want my heart to ache for a soul I could have helped, but didn't.

That is the purpose we are here.

We are not meant to just our lives day in and out.

I know I'm not meant to share with everyone.

But please send the right person into their lives that will do it.

Let us all go and tell what the Lord has done for us!


"I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us...." Isaiah 63:7

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts." 1 Chronicles 16:8-9

**After writing this I ran across this blog post, which tells so much more eloquently what I meant to say: http://traciemiles.blogspot.com/2009/03/when-time-is-no-more.html

A little poetry

I do not have a face to see


Or put inside a frame


I do not have soft cheeks to kiss


I don't yet have a name.


You can't yet hold my tiny hands


Nor whisper in my ear.


It's still too soon to sing a song,


Or cuddle me so near.


But all will change come October 12


That's when they say I'm due.


I'm the newest Lopez baby


And I can't wait til I meet you!


Introducing Baby Lopez ~ 10 weeks old :)

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.." Jeremiah 1:5

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13

What a wedding

Annaliese was in a wedding this past Saturday. Her pal Julia's wedding. And I don't say this just because she's mine....but I think she was the cutest flower girl ever!

She and the ring bearer bonded......

a little too much.

At the end of the wedding when they finished walking out he gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her "Good job!". I didn't know I needed to keep an eye on the handsome lad.

They were both so excited about their shiny new shoes. They wanted me to be sure to take a picture to capture the moment.

And check out these nails....

Is that the cutest french manicure you've ever seen?

And what's everyone so stressed about anyway?

Just grab your Nintendo ds and chill out.

She was so excited once it was actually time. I could hardly keep her still. She said everyone was waiting to see "her". After all, this whole wedding stuff was all about her and her flowers.

My son decided he would never have a girlfriend because then that would require he get married and have a wedding. Which he NEVER wants to do. Weddings are boring. Except for the food part.

A Huntin' we will go

So Alex and I just got back from an exciting pheasant hunting trip in Hanston, Kansas.

A pheasant is a type of bird.

I didn't know that.

Did you know that pheasants live in the ground? They dig holes in the dirt somehow and bury themselves in these holes.

The hunting dogs (which cost $10,000 each!) sniff the birds out and the hunters shoot them as the fly up to attempt to escape. They are beautiful dogs.

I will admit, I had no interest whatsoever in going on this hunting trip. I told my husband that driving 10 hours to go hunt was to me like asking him to drive 10 hours to go shoe shopping. I didn’t want to go. But being that it was a business trip in which he insisted that I had to go I gave in, and made the best of it.

I didn’t whine when there wasn’t a town within 50 miles. I didn’t whine when I didn’t have cell phone service for 3 days. I didn’t whine when we had to share a cabin with 6 other adults in a 3 bedroom 2 bath, approximately 1000 sq. foot house. And I didn’t whine when he wanted me to get up at 6am in 20 degree weather to out into the field to hunt with him and the group. Talk about some serious time in prayer. You just can’t image. Or maybe by this point you can.

As I was making the best of it I decided to bring out my camera and start shooting some pictures. I realized as I was going that this wasn’t so bad after all. I was never bored.

I talked a lot with the 3 other women. And each one of them, all separately, asked me something about my faith. Some questions were deep, like about sin, and whether divorce was forgivable. Other questions were more simple, like questions on baptism. I didn’t mention beforehand what church I went to, or that I attended church, or even that I was a Christian. It is such a relief to know that as much of a failure I feel like sometimes in my walk with Christ, He is helping me do something right.

I was so thankful that God allowed me the opportunity to share His word with these wonderful women.

He had to take me 10 hours away into the middle of nowhere to do it.

Where my cell phone wouldn’t ring,

where there was no shopping trip we women could plan,

and we were squeezed in a house so small that we couldn’t turn around without seeing each other.

And the pheasant didn't taste so bad either ;)

Roscoe is home!

Our sweet puppy (who we ended up naming Roscoe!) had been lost for about a week and a half. Or so we thought he was lost....here's the story:

He went missing Saturday night after Annaliese's birthday party. Sunday after church is when we realized he didn't come when the kids put out food for him, and he wasn't in the fenced in dog area. We started going house to house with his picture looking for him. A few days goes by and nobody has seen him. Friday one of my sweet neighbors calls me to tell me that she saw Roscoe on Craigslist in the pets section.

I email the person immediately and waited....emailed her again with cell phone numbers...and waited....emailed her with pictures of Roscoe with my kids and told her I would bring her the $100 reward...and waited...nothing. My sister emails her as a person interested in buying him and she emails her back immediately and tells her she can have the dog for a $50 rehoming fee. By the time my sister emails her back our Roscoe had been sold.

I call the sheriff's department and report a stolen dog. After a little research I find out this person has several other dogs for sale, 3 of which she offered my sister. I put an ad in Craiglist offering a $200 reward plus whatever they paid for anyone that bought our dog, along with pictures verifying that he is in fact our Roscoe. My sister gets an email on Monday from this person that had our dog saying that the dog had been returned to her if my sister still wanted to purchase him.

She set up a time to meet, and I called the sheriff's dept again and a deputy went along with us. He stayed down the street until the purchase was made and then he came up to her home. We got our money back, but she still said she didn't steal our dog. But she did say who gave her our dog. I was appalled....

It was our neighbor that lived directly in front of our home!!! I don't even know what to say...but that I'm glad they are loading up a moving truck and moving. We had signs posted on our stop signs that I know they saw every time they came and went. They saw him in our yard with our kids. They took our dog. I'm just.....MAD!

Please keep a close eye on your pets, and your neighborhood. This whole ordeal has been terrible for us. One of our neighbors stole from us while another one helped us get him back.

What's important now is that we got him back.

Merry Christmas!

Party fit for a Princess

We had Annaliese's birthday party this past weekend. All she has been talking about was having a princess birthday.

And a princess she was...

With her princess attire....



With a princess pinata....



And a princess castle cake....

A princess moonwalk

And a princess attitude!

Happy 4th Birthday little Princess Annaliese!

It's that season

Not Christmas.....

It's deer hunting season.

I don't get it.

I don't like it.

I have enough deer heads in my house. I'm to the point where I just do what any loving hunter's wife does.....roll my eyes, sigh and point to what wall the next one will go on.

But I did want to understand hunting.

So I decided to investigate it a little.

And here's a few things I learned:

You have to dress the part.

Boys are drawn to a fire and they never outgrow it.

A campfire is a VERY important part of hunting.

As is the rough housing and the jokes aimed at others expense.

Hunting is relaxing and exhausting at the same time.....

and you could sleep anywhere.

Another important thing I learned.....

To spot that deer

and have him at the right position

the right distance

and then you pull the trigger

and you know you hit him

is an amazing feeling.

But to know you shot

that perfect deer

and not being able to find it

can make a grown man cry.

Happy Hunting