It has been a VERY long time since I last updated my blog, so I figured it was time. Life has been super busy! I know that life is just a busy situation for everyone really. The day to day, in and out, come and go…zoom, zoom, zoom…at least that is how I feel. I have been going non-stop since we returned from our summer vacation in Texas. We returned to the Land of Sand with school quickly beginning after we landed. This meant school events, homework, and friends for the boys, and work for me. Up next, the beginning of baseball season (Ball is life in this family…LOL!). As I mentioned before, baseball season is November to April for us because this is the coolest time of the year. All the while I am taking cake orders for every weekend, which actually means I prepare and plan all week. So as you can see we have been busy, busy…… Let me expound on even more of what we have been doing over the past few months.
Joshua and Denver both took class trips during the school's Week Without Walls (WWW) unit. This is a unique opportunity that we have been blessed to have been a part of since we moved here in 2013. It is tied to the grade level curriculum, and in the weeks leading up to the trip, each student is researching-studying-preparing a project/speech that is tied to the history/culture of the place they will travel to. Joshua's 8th grade class traveled to Thailand for a trip over the history and culture but also with an added element of community service. Denver's 6th grade class traveled to Greece, which made Joshua a little jealous since his 6th grade and 7th grade WWW trips were to Turkey. Joshua was a little miffed that they changed the trip options after his class had moved on….LOL, who hasn't been through that in some way in their life?
Clay has also made his third service trip since being in high school here. His 9th grade year he went to Nepal, 10th grade to Tanzania, and then this year he went to India. The India trip was with Habitat for Humanity. They were to build homes while in India but huge storms impeded that process. It flooded the area and they were unable to do any construction work, so the service portion turned into relief aid service. They bagged 400+ bags of rice, and then delivered them to the people their in the town. The airport was also flooded, so in order to get back home, they had to take a 9 hour bus ride to another city with an airport. Then they flew to Mumbai to catch another flight to Abu Dhabi. They saw lots of the countryside of India, but was glad to be home and glad not to have to eat rice for another meal.
I made the decision to take a break from taking on more cake orders. Clint was so glad when I made this announcement. He would never have asked me to do this because he knows this is something I enjoy doing. He and I had just had a conversation about why he had recently decided to put some of his personal goals on the back burner. His motivation for making this decision was realizing that our boys are growing so fast. These are years that we will never get back. He decided he would rather be here now in the present, enjoying as much of our boys' lives as possible before they venture off on their own. This is coming all too soon actually….Clay will be a senior next school year!! So I thought about what he said, and realized I could totally respect that decision. I took inventory of how things were progressing for my own life and realized that I was occupying a lot of my free time with cakes for other people. I do enjoy making others happy, and getting to be creative with their birthday or celebration cakes, but I was missing a lot of Clay's baseball games. I don't like missing my boys' games. The boys play on the weekends and that seems to be when most people need their cakes. I told my closest friends here that I would do occasional orders for them but that I would not be looking for new customers for a while. Life is too short to fill it with things that over shadow your most important assets…your children and your spouse! (It does feel a little strange to not have cake orders on the calendar….)
We hosted our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving dinner for Clint's office co-workers. I cook traditional southern Thanksgiving food for everyone, and what is so neat is that it is a multicultural mix of people. We had the privilege of sharing our home with families from Hungary, Venezuala, India, America, and Columbia. I believe it is a true form of Thanksgiving, sharing what you have been blessed with, with others. We deep fried two turkeys and that is always a hit with everyone. The deep fryer always impresses those from other countries that have never heard of deep frying a whole turkey. Our home was filled with the laughter of friends and children. It was truly a day of being thankful for friends, food, life, jobs, family, and opportunities. God has blessed us!
It is now December, and Christmas will be here in just a few days. The tree is up, and sparkling in all its glory! We are about to begin the Christmas break from school….three weeks of relaxation! As we begin the break, Clint, Joshua, and Denver will take off to Bangkok, Thailand for a baseball tournament. (I told you ball is life in this house!) I still marvel at all the amazing experiences we have had since moving here. Baseball tournaments in Kuwait, Phillipines, Thailand, Qatar, and Dubai….Amazing! They will return a couple of days before Christmas day, and then we will spend time together enjoying a small Christmas dinner in our home celebrating the birth of our Lord!
Life is busy so we must prioritize! We must choose those things that are most in important in life over things that can be postponed or that are not crucial to your survival. Family is more important than creativity or career goals, and memories can only be created if you are present to make them. So prioritize your life, and leave room for memories! I hope to have more to share after the 3 week break….hoping to experience some things here in the Land of Sand that we haven't had the chance to do yet! Stay tuned!!!!
Joshua and Denver both took class trips during the school's Week Without Walls (WWW) unit. This is a unique opportunity that we have been blessed to have been a part of since we moved here in 2013. It is tied to the grade level curriculum, and in the weeks leading up to the trip, each student is researching-studying-preparing a project/speech that is tied to the history/culture of the place they will travel to. Joshua's 8th grade class traveled to Thailand for a trip over the history and culture but also with an added element of community service. Denver's 6th grade class traveled to Greece, which made Joshua a little jealous since his 6th grade and 7th grade WWW trips were to Turkey. Joshua was a little miffed that they changed the trip options after his class had moved on….LOL, who hasn't been through that in some way in their life?
Clay has also made his third service trip since being in high school here. His 9th grade year he went to Nepal, 10th grade to Tanzania, and then this year he went to India. The India trip was with Habitat for Humanity. They were to build homes while in India but huge storms impeded that process. It flooded the area and they were unable to do any construction work, so the service portion turned into relief aid service. They bagged 400+ bags of rice, and then delivered them to the people their in the town. The airport was also flooded, so in order to get back home, they had to take a 9 hour bus ride to another city with an airport. Then they flew to Mumbai to catch another flight to Abu Dhabi. They saw lots of the countryside of India, but was glad to be home and glad not to have to eat rice for another meal.
I made the decision to take a break from taking on more cake orders. Clint was so glad when I made this announcement. He would never have asked me to do this because he knows this is something I enjoy doing. He and I had just had a conversation about why he had recently decided to put some of his personal goals on the back burner. His motivation for making this decision was realizing that our boys are growing so fast. These are years that we will never get back. He decided he would rather be here now in the present, enjoying as much of our boys' lives as possible before they venture off on their own. This is coming all too soon actually….Clay will be a senior next school year!! So I thought about what he said, and realized I could totally respect that decision. I took inventory of how things were progressing for my own life and realized that I was occupying a lot of my free time with cakes for other people. I do enjoy making others happy, and getting to be creative with their birthday or celebration cakes, but I was missing a lot of Clay's baseball games. I don't like missing my boys' games. The boys play on the weekends and that seems to be when most people need their cakes. I told my closest friends here that I would do occasional orders for them but that I would not be looking for new customers for a while. Life is too short to fill it with things that over shadow your most important assets…your children and your spouse! (It does feel a little strange to not have cake orders on the calendar….)
We hosted our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving dinner for Clint's office co-workers. I cook traditional southern Thanksgiving food for everyone, and what is so neat is that it is a multicultural mix of people. We had the privilege of sharing our home with families from Hungary, Venezuala, India, America, and Columbia. I believe it is a true form of Thanksgiving, sharing what you have been blessed with, with others. We deep fried two turkeys and that is always a hit with everyone. The deep fryer always impresses those from other countries that have never heard of deep frying a whole turkey. Our home was filled with the laughter of friends and children. It was truly a day of being thankful for friends, food, life, jobs, family, and opportunities. God has blessed us!
It is now December, and Christmas will be here in just a few days. The tree is up, and sparkling in all its glory! We are about to begin the Christmas break from school….three weeks of relaxation! As we begin the break, Clint, Joshua, and Denver will take off to Bangkok, Thailand for a baseball tournament. (I told you ball is life in this house!) I still marvel at all the amazing experiences we have had since moving here. Baseball tournaments in Kuwait, Phillipines, Thailand, Qatar, and Dubai….Amazing! They will return a couple of days before Christmas day, and then we will spend time together enjoying a small Christmas dinner in our home celebrating the birth of our Lord!
Life is busy so we must prioritize! We must choose those things that are most in important in life over things that can be postponed or that are not crucial to your survival. Family is more important than creativity or career goals, and memories can only be created if you are present to make them. So prioritize your life, and leave room for memories! I hope to have more to share after the 3 week break….hoping to experience some things here in the Land of Sand that we haven't had the chance to do yet! Stay tuned!!!!
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