Highlights of the week

As I said in the earlier post David and Malaya went to their very first Daddy/Daughter dance. I picked Malaya up early from school to go to Sweet N Sassy to get her hair and nails done. We met some of our friends there that were also going to the dance. We weren't too sure about their picks of hair styles but it was their night!! So we decided this was not a battle either of us mom's were going to fight. This friend, Ryleigh, and Malaya have dreamed up that they are going to open a store one day called Sassy Trends. They have drawn up their designs and everything so keep your eyes open for this great store in about 15 years:)

They had a great time! Then we boogied home to get dressed and ready to go. Here are some pics from the evening. David was so good to capture the evening for me. He kept me updated through text messages all evening.

They enjoyed a carriage ride, a limo ride, LOTS of dancing, and great daddy/daughter time. I was so excited for them! This will be a life long memory for Malaya.

I also got to enjoy dinner with my college roomies. Man, these girls always amaze me with their spiritual depth, their passions and the way they can make me laugh! We have some great memories together! It was so great to catch up with them!

From left to right - Summer, me of course :), Holly, and Kayla. Kayla is expecting her first baby in April! So, we are all wives and mommies! I LOVE these girls. Thanks Kayla for flying in to have dinner with us!! I LOVED catching up with you! Can't wait to meet Baby Cansler!!

To wrap up my highlights - Valentine's Day. I got home very late from dinner with my roomies. I came home to a rose on the floor at the front door. It had a note on top of it that led me on a scavenger hunt around the house to find a total of 12 roses!! The last one was yellow from Malaya. So fun!! The next morning started with breakfast in bed fixed by David and Malaya (Waffles and kolaches, b/c Malaya knew those were my 2 favs!). Then starting at 7 am, I began getting "love" emails at the top of each hour all day. It made my day!!

Malaya's Valentine's Party was yesterday. I was going to blog some pics of her and some friends but not so sure how legal that is???? (to post other kids, especially when I don't know them well! ) Who knows! I will be safe! So here is a pic of my "precious one", that's what Malaya means in Hawaiian, don't know if I have shared that before:)

Have a great weekend!!

1st Valentine's

Well, Malaya got her first Valentine yesterday ( not one that was given as a group). Here is the contents of the Valentine's:
"You have really nice hair. You are so so so so sweet.
drawing of 2 hearts

To: Malaya
happy Valentine's Day"

Gratefully, Malaya thought it was a really nice thing for a friend to do.
Hopefully, things will stay this innocent until she is about 30:)

David asked another lady on a date Friday night - Malaya! He took her to their first Father/Daughter dance. More details and pics on that to come. They had a blast. I know Malaya will remember it forever! He made her feel very special!!
Happy early Valentine's day!!

Just some stuff...

I have gotten really bad with this blogger thing. I am sitting here with my hub and daughter watching a movie we have seen a billion times so I thought I can blog and still "be with the family". :)
Here is 13 things I have experienced/learned the past few weeks:
1. God offers us such undescribable peace if we just accept it.
2. Romance truly does exist and it's fun!! (even it is help from a silly book) No comments here, family.
3. Daily, devoted, heart pouring and open prayer TRULY does change my life.
4. Malaya learned her first "cuss"word at school. Thank goodness she is still at an age she isn't scared to ask us about it and we could tell her what it means. No, I am not telling you what the word is:)
5. I am obsessed with doing laundry.
6. I said last year in a blog that "all I have to do is be still and let God do the work on me." Though I still find this to be true sometimes, I do not believe this is true for a lifetime. I believe there will be seasons that I can rest in God's peace but there are times that takes some activity on my part. Sorry, if I misled anyone. Maybe I should add a disclaimer to my blog stating that the contents in my blog are not always factual and are J. Biz's seasonal opinions based on her growth! That's a mouthful!
7. I am a LITTLE dog person:)
8. I do not know how to style hair. I know some of you are thinking, "she is just now realizing this???" . I really do not know how!! That is why 98% of the time you will see me with my hair up. The little I do know how to style my hair, I am too lazy to spend the 2 hours getting it "right"!
9. I think about bad things happening to my family too much. Too much of a worrier!
10. Working out releases major chemicals in my body. Days I don't work out I feel depressed, sluggish, lazy, and ready to check out of life. Days I do, I have energy, joy, endurance! It's amazing the way God made our bodies!
11. I LOVE the music of John Mayer. I got a CD from my brother and sister in law for Christmas and I am hooked. I love his sound and that he writes his own stuff (that's a big deal to me!)
12. I have a desire to travel more!
13. David and I volunteered together for malaya's class last week. He worked with them on Math and I worked on Reading. David was a big hit. I think having a dad up there was unique and some of the little boys really hooked on to him.

I leave you with a quote that I love.
"If our petitions are in accordance with His will, and if we seek His glory in the asking, the answers will come in ways that will astonish us and fill our hearts with songs of thanksgiving." J.K. Maclean
"I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving." Psalm 69:30

Blessings to you, blog readers!

Okay, so I'm a HORRIBLE blogger...

Everything got a little out of order so just go with it please!! My computer has been a whip tonight!! Sometimes technology is my biggest enemy!!

I know this is very dark!! But... I must share this!! I was doing dishes tonight when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to this which if you look closely you can see a heart made by Hershey's kisses and 2 roses in the middle!! The hershey's kisses continued on in a path that led out to our driveway, around the cars, down the sidewalk, and up the path to our neighbor's porch ( no one has lived there for a few months. As I turned towards their front door there stood my incredibly hot husband with a rose in his mouth (if your husbands are my hubbie's friends please no teasing;) and he asked if he could "kiss me" and of course I said YES!! I love him!! This was so much fun!! (The funny thing is I thought David was in the office working the whole time so I never knew he snuck out!)

Malaya giving me some beautiful earrings!! You also see here Mom and Dad's new dog that is getting a lot of talk lately. There's little Molly!

(This was my opening paragraph to this blog before everything got messed up) Sorry readers for the confusion!

But I do have some fun (at least to me:) stuff to share. Here are some fun Christmas memories. We celebrated with the Biz's down in Kerrville this year. It is so beautiful down there. We stayed in David's great aunt's ranch house. Malaya got to feed deer out of her hand. The antelope roam freely ( sounds like a song:). All the kids went out in the morning to have all this fun while I helped make breakfast so there are no pics. Bummer...

Here is Malaya and 2 of her cousins, Chloe and Annette. They are the closest in age of all the cousins.

To the right is David's youngest sister, Mandy and her husband, Jace. We love them!!

This picture makes me laugh!! This is David's oldest sister, Dina, her hubby, Mark and BABY KATLYN, who just got her first taste of a lemon. Dina is laughing one of those laughs as if she can't believe she just did that and Mark is coming over to the rescue to help his tortured daughter:) We love these guys!! Constant laughs!!

Here is Malaya on Christmas Eve night with her letter to Santa and her plate of cookies and an apple b/c our Santa is pretty health conscious:) Somehow in true Bizaillion fashion-it has become a tradition to leave Santa a chewed piece of gum so if you look close you will see that disgusting eye sore:)

My Mom and Dad spent the night with us on Christmas Eve so Mom and Malaya slept on the blow up mattress in the office so they wouldn't see or hear Santa;) Here's the eager girl on Christmas morning. We wouldn't let her come out till everyone had their teeth brushed (now that's a Ross thing;)

Though we have not done "official" Christmas with my fam yet (yes, you heard that correctly but we are still Christmassing it this weekend:) . Malaya and Jed did open up some gifts that Santa left at "Grammy and Grampy's" house. And they opened up most of their gifts over there. They had a great time.

Here is my precious 6 and a HALF, which she will make sure and tell you!! She got this new robe from Grammy and Grampy for Christmas. She wanted me to put her hair up like I do so here we are. She looks WAY to big!

Hope you all had a great holiday! I will have more fun to share I am sure after this weekend! Blessings!!

We've been up to bunches!

We have been partying like crazy around our house! The past few weeks have been pretty constant with tons of fun!!

Two weeks ago we had a reindeer run at school. Malaya had so much fun! She made it around the "path" 5 times! I was very proud of her. I attempted to walk with her but I thought my little friend and I were going to get trampled so we chose to sit on the sidelines and cheer on her and her class.

A few days after that we went to Nordstrom's Breakfast With Santa with our friends Stephanie and Rainey. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who has never been. There were probably 100-150 there. They open up the whole store for ticket holders only. The tickets were very cheap!! We ate a yummy breakfast of french toast, eggs, sausage, fruit and a few other things and any juice imaginable. While we ate, magicians came around to each table and there were elves walking around on stilts. After breakfast you got free pictures with Santa ( no line I might add). Though Malaya informed me this year that she was too big to still sit on Santa's lap. I informed her that she has at least 6 more years she must still do this. No questions asked!! :) There was a station that the kids could write a letter to Santa. (Malaya already got a return letter from Santa.) There was face-painting. And a goodie bag for all the children with lots of fun crafts in it. I was very impressed!

This past week I took Malaya out of school for a day and we made a fast trip to Houston to see the Rockettes! My mother in law asked for her 50th birthday present to take all the girls in the family to see them. We had a blast!! Malaya and I both LOVED the Rockettes. Their show is spectacular! And of course, Malaya was in heaven getting to spend time with her cousins who she adores!!

From left to right is obviously Malaya :), Alyssa and Baby Katlyn (isn't she precious; everytime I look at her I amazed at God's miraculous way to heal!) and her big sister Alyssa (Malaya LOVES her!! ) They are both Dina's (David's sister ) daughters. Next is Chloe (Jon's daughter). And then Annette, Dina's middle daughter!

We had to wait a while to get in the doors so we were playing lots of games to keep these ancy girls occupied!

We headed back to Keller after we had dinner at an amazingly, nice restaurant that I can not remember the name of :)!

I came back home and began to clean, clean, clean and bake, bake, bake!! We had our KidStand staff over for a Christmas party last night! We had such a good time! I made 4 appetizers and 3 desserts!! I don't mean to brag but anyone who knows me very well knows that this does not come out of Jenny B very often! David make fajitas and his famous salsa! He was such a great help this weekend! I could not have done it without him. He made (what seems like) 6 trips to the store for me:) Malaya loved entertaining! God has blessed KidStand this past year. David lead us in a challenge for 2007 and we had a time of prayer over KidStand! It was so much fun!

We just recently got the contract to be in charge of the whole kid's area at Celebrate Freedom!! Our theme is beach party!! Mark your calendars and come see us on June 29 and 30. Celebrate Freedom has teamed up with the Luis Palau Festivals so it will now be a 2 day event!! We are so excited and we are in full planning mode! We are also having a fundraising dinner at Texas Motor Speedway in March. We have got some potential, maj. celebrities. I will post more on that when we have confirmation!! I am very excited! So there is all the KidStand updates!!:)

Tomorrow is Malaya's school party so I must go work on that stuff but...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Being that my blogging time has dimished I will post more next week!

Blessings!!!!

Thanksgiving continued...

They are working!! I will try to keep adding but here is some more highlights!:)

6. ONE of my favorite parts of the past few days was getting to spend time with Jed. I even got to spend a couple of hours alone with him on Friday while Jenn went out for a bit. We had a great time.

7. I also loved getting to hang out with my brothers and SIL's. My SIL's are such wonderful women. They are kind, compasstionate women. My brothers could not have chosen better life partners. My brothers always keep me laughing! I was attacked a few times with some tickling monsters. And we even brought back old memories of a game we used to play when we were traveling. We would take turns putting our heads behind each others backs and we would push on each other's head until we the person surrendered. We used to think it was the greatest game but as adults we realized that it really hurts. No comments please about that being what is wrong with us Ross kids:) Here is a pic of my brother Jonathan proving he is still the baby of the family!

8. Jed is being introduced to baby foods. When I kept him on Friday I was feeding him and I could not stop laughing at his funny faces! This wasn't the funniest but it still made me laugh!

9. Malaya was WIPED by the end of the week. We were sitting around talking REALLY late one night and Malaya just could not go any more! She found her perfect spot in Grammy's lap where blissful peace is experienced! :) She has been asleep the past two nights by 8:00!

10. On Saturday we got down and dirty with Christmas decor!! Malaya and I turned up some Christmas CD's VERY loud and went to work. I made my FIRST Christmas wreath EVER! Though it needs some work, I was excited that I tried something new, which is not very often for me. Today we went back to Mom and Dad's and David helped my dad hang up their Christmas lights. Malaya and I helped in the house with Mom though I did take about an hour break to nap:) I enjoyed spending time with my Mom this past week too. She did such a great job cooking delicious food. She prepared quite a spread. We will be eating on the food for weeks to come! She works so hard for our family. She is a wonderful Matriarch!

11. I bought Malaya a little tree for her room which she is very proud of.

12. David is hanging Chirstmas lights on people's houses for a side job this season. He did this last year also. Both years I have waited to get that phone call that he has fallen off a roof or been injured! It happened yesterday! Though he did not call...When he walked in the house last night after work, I saw a face covered in blood. He had fallen off an 8 foot ladder. He has a scraped up cheek and very swollen eye. It could have been much worse. My "dare devil husband" has no fear. I am grateful for his hard work to provide for our family and I will be excited when Christmas tree lights are all hung up on all houses within a 30 mile radius!

13. Malaya reminded me earlier that I have never posted a pic of Princess so I just took one of our black lab pet. She has been a great pet. Though her tail is a weapon of mass destruction and knocks over anything that gets in it's way! We love her!

I am so excited about this upcoming season!! I have made a vow to try some more new crafty things and to do a lot of attempted baking this season! I am going to attempt to be as healthy as possible being that my doc keeps close tabs on my diet:) I borrowed a few cookbooks and craft ideas from my Mom. I can't wait to get started!! Last night as we were saying our prayers together I had to remind myself and Malaya about what this season is truly about. I so easily get caught up in all this fun, seasonal stuff that I too easily forget about what it must have been like for God to make the decision to send his precious son down to this earth and to know from the get go what Jesus's purpose and goal was! I hope God will teach me ways this season to refocus and be remind me and my famiy about what and why we celebrate!! Happy Holidays to you all!!

Thanksgiving 2006!

Well, we have had a great last few days! We enjoyed being together. Here is some highlights!
1) Here is a picture of the whole Ross clan. We are growing!! Jed was our wonderful, miraculous miracle this year! And Ross the Boss Junior is on his/her way! Kayci is a beautiful mother to be! And of course, Josh can not wait to be a daddy!
2. As you can see, Mom and Dad made another new addition, Molly, a long-haired chihua (sp?). She is Malaya's new toy! The dog as been held and pulled in every way imaginable!
3. We had a huge blessing!! Right to the last minute, we were not sure if my grandparents, B and Papa were going to be able to come. Jonathan and Jenn brought them up. And it was so good to have them there! We had some late night talks and they have found a house in Decatur that they LOVE!! They have put a bid on the house. Hopefully we will get them up here very soon!

4. Malaya's favorite part of the day was getting to play with her cousin, Tabitha who she adores!! Tabby and I have always been very close. David and I kept for a week after we had only been married 2 weeks. She slept right on the middle of us! She was about to start Kinder. Now she is in 7th grade and is a wonderful example and friend to Malaya. It is neat the way God cycles His blessings through generations!

5. It was also great to spend time with my other 2 cousins. Tiffany is a Junior and A&M and Hutt is a senior in high school and is hoping to go there on a baseball scholarship!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things Malaya and I love about Thanksgiving:
1) Giving thanks
2) eating pie
3) the food
4) watching girlie movies (American girl movies, Cutting Edge, Sabrina, these seem to always make it out during the holidays)
5) spending time with family
6) listening to the men yell at the tv over football
7) no school
8) being at the table with full plates of delicious, "hard worked on" food and having to wait to eat it while the generations before me take a BIZAILLION pictures
9) playing with cousins, Tabitha, Hutt, Tiffany, Jed, Alyssa, Marky, Annette, Chloe, Katlyn, and the list is growing!
10) playing with nieces and nephews :)
11) playing games
12) playing "Mofia"; The Biz's are addicted to this game. We are all quite good! That may not be a good thing:)
13) Loving each other.

We can't wait! Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday Thirteen!

13 things I love about kids:
1. Their laughter and the way they make me laugh:)
2. Their genuine hugs and kisses
3. Their innocence/purity
4. Their dependency
5. Their quickness to forgive
6. Their quickness to love and to love unconditionally
7. Their toughness
8. Their endurance/perseverence
9. The way that ANY spritual question has the answer of "JESUS"!! Isn't that really the answer to all things!!
10. Their eagerness to learn and be challenged.
11. Their willingness to try new things and be adventurous.
12. Their "radar"/sixth sense to know what people are truly about.
13. The unexplainable way they just simply make my heart melt!

Bad Blogger

Okay, I am a bad blogger! I have such fun things to blog about but my pics won't work. Hopefully I will have them ready to go for Thursday!
Papa is back in the hospital. Please say a prayer for him and my grandmother.

Just wanted to say hi to the blog world! I must go to bed. I have been cutting out Flat Stanley's tonight. If you have ever worked in a public school you know what that little thing is! We did it in Kinder too!

Out...

13 Updates From the Biz's

I will try and be creative next week and think of something more interesting. :) But for now you are left with some family updates!
1. My detox was over Monday!! :) I really can not believe I did it! I could not have done it without divine intervention. It was such a blessing to have my sister in law do it with me. We were in prayer for each other and knew what each other's battle was. The even weirder thing is that I have had veggies for lunch the past 3 days. I have actually WANTED them!!
2. To fill some readers in---I went to see a holistic doctor. She is also a Christian! I loved visiting with her. She is passionate about getting her patients to their utmost health potential. She immediately put me on a fruit/veggie diet for 21 days. On day 11 I could add in 4 oz. of meat, 2 times a day. My main goal in seeing her was to get my body more healthy. And of course, another reason was to make another attempt to see why my womb remains closed. I also was doing saliva testing every 3 days to test hormones. I got those mailed off and I should have the results of those in a few weeks. We shall see... No high hopes on this end. Been there, done that, results in depression and major lack of motivation.
3. The first night of the detox I was having such bad reactions to lack of caffeine and my blood sugar plummented I passed out in the bathroom floor. Hubbie was not home so Malaya called her dad and grammy. She did a great job of handling it. I could hear her and what she was doing, I just could not respond. I just felt like it was a dream. David returned home quickly, got some Advil down me and sipped some Coke and was up and about after about an hour of laying there. Advice for future detoxers--SLOWLY WEEN yourself off the caffeine. Cold turkey is not real good for the body:)
4. My Papa is doing really well!! He just keeps us on a roller coaster! They have their house on the market and are hoping to move to Decatur with my parents ASAP! They are a little sad about that b/c they have so much history in East Texas but they need to be closer to Mom so that she can take care of them. And selfishly I am excited to have more babysitters!!:)
5. KidStand is going really well. Jessie just returned from Africa where she visited many schools and night shelters in Uganda. Thousands of kids and adults heard the message of Jessie through her and the group she was with. She taught the kids some of the songs off her CD, Pump Up the Praise and she dressed up as her characters and the African children loved that! She has some amazing stories. We will be in Houston on November 12th for a concert! I am looking forward to that. We had a meeting a few nights ago and the KidStand team is building. We all went away from the meeting so pumped and excited about the future of this ministry!
6. Malaya is such a great reader. She really has a passion for reading. She is also quite an artist. She LOVES to draw and paint. I really see her gifts beginning to be developed and see where her niches are.
7. Malaya is taking gymnastics at Texas Tumblers. She has really improved with her skills. The last few weeks, on nights David is home, our living room becomes a gym. They do stunts, practice cartwheels, backbends, flips, etc. I attempt skills occasionally. Why can I not do a backbend and Malaya can. I truly cannot get my head off the ground. David just stared at me and said, "Are you kidding?" At first I thought this might hurt my feelings but then I could not stop laughing! Oh well. Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don't. :) It is neat seeing them have so much fun together and it brings my heart joy to see them have such a special bond.
8. Malaya is quite the dancer too! As she always has been. But she really has special rhythm. Last Friday night we had on the new gospel network channel, which is amazing by the way. They had Christian videos on for 3 hours straight. We took turns with each video making up choreography. She was really good and serious about her skills. She really impressed me by her moves. I on the other hand....well....:):)
Sometimes in church she will get to going and I have to gently put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down a bit. Why do I feel the need to do that? Another topic, for another day:)
9. Business is going well. Still making LOTS of transitions as a family. There have been some tough times but we have to start each day fresh and be resilient. David has hired 2 new workers so that has helped so that he can be more of a supervisor and not the actual labor guy. We are just praying for steady business, especially with the holidays approaching or family members may be receiving candy bars for Christmas:)
10. I am finding joy in my day to day life. I love the activity that comes my way each day. God has been so good to give me gifts of His love every day through people, opportunities, and activity. Surprisingly I have found joy in victory over my sin. A couple of years ago I started praying that God would make me aware of the sin in my heart. He has been constantly, faithful to do so. ;) The ugliness is ugly and He still redeems me and loves me so perfectly. Absolutely astounding to me!
11. Malaya just came in to me and told me that she did something today that would "not have made God happy". She told me what it was, which was not a big deal at all. But she was broken hearted over it. I love her sensitivity but yet she still has such a boldness and confidence about her that is an example to me. I pray that God sustains that in her...
12. I find myself pleading with God for Malaya's purity of body and her spirit. Our world has already begun to strip her of it and truly prayer is the only weapon I have to fight it...so frustrating and overwhelming at times but I am also very grateful that we have the option of prayer.
13. God has been stirring in me for quite a while now about some changes I need to make in my life. When am I going to choose to be obedient? Why am I such a stubborn soul?

Until next week... or maybe I will actually blog before next Thursday??!! Love to ya'!

Thirteen Random Thoughts!

1. These pasts few days I have become obsessed with The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I had never seen them before and really was never quite interested in them AT ALL. My sister in law talked me into watching the first one and after 10 minutes I was addicted and I have stayed up the last 3 nights till 2 and 3 am to watch them!!
2. I plan on staying up tonight watching the behind the scenes of Lord of the Rings!! I won't give my opinion of these movies but if you haven't seen them I really recommend them!!
3. Malaya, Mom and Dad enjoyed a day at the fair today. I chose to back out this year b/c of lack of being able to eat ANY of the delicious, sinful food there!
4. I have 4 AMAZING sister in laws. David's youngest sister came to stay the weekend with us and I loved hanging out with her. I got to spend 3 days with David's other sister. She challenges me and her conversation focuses on God. I got to eat a dinner with another SIL and loved watching her mother and wife my brother and nephew. She is a beautiful woman. I missed getting to see 4th SIL but I love her very much and can't wait to hold the Ross baby that she is carrying!
5. Both of David's sisters have gone through this "Detoxing" thing with me! I am so grateful for their committment, accountability and dedication.
6. Speaking of this detoxing thing, I have grown to really enjoy eating squash and zucchini. I have not developed a taste for eggplant or mushrooms. I just can't bring myself to enjoy them.
7. Baby Katlyn is almost 4 months old and is precious! It still amazes me to see her now! She is beautiful!
8. Baby Jed is 4 months old!! He has developed some thickness to him and I love it!! He is so cute! He loves staring at his Mom and Dad. And he is rolling over and starting to scoot!
9. My CD player in my truck has been out for a few months now and I am really missing my CD's. I really need to take it in to get fixed. Just need to make it a higher priority.
10. It has been funny listening to Terrell Owens defend their loss to the Eagles. Poor guy!
11. I love the crisp weather outside tonight. It is so nice and refreshing!
12. Malaya LOVES to read. She is reading chapter books. We love to play school together! She loves spending time with her cousins! She loves cuddling up with her daddy. She loves giving her uncles a hard time. She is a joy to watch grow.
13. Did I mention that Lord of the Rings is awesome!!!!! :)

Thirteen Things I Loved About Our Trip to Glen Rose!

First off----My Papa goes home tomorrow!! To think, a week ago, we weren't sure if was going to make it through the day! Praise God!!

Now for my list:
1. Getting to be with my 2 most favorite people in the whole world!!
2. Getting to stay in a fun cabin/bed and breakfast with them!
3. Getting to go to Fossil Rim Wildlife with them! This was such an amazing experience!! I HIGHLY recommend this for your family! It is pricey but SOOOO worth it!

As you can see the animals get right into your car with you:) Malaya thinks these pics of me are so funny! David and Malaya were much more "friendly" on their side. I was a little more apprehensive especially when the animals are so close to your face they could kiss you!

4.Going hiking and biking in Dinosaur Valley. We had so much fun! We have determined we want to try to more of a nature family:) We loved it!

5. In the back yard of our cabin we had a 1/4 mile walking trail with dinosaur replicas everywhere. We walked this at least a hundred times. Here are some pics--

6. A Christian couple owns this set of cabins and she makes breakfast for all the guests each morning. First morning we had quiche and fresh fruit and fresh orange juice. The second morning we had a breakfast cinnamon cake and a breakfast casserole. It was so yummy. She also had gifts each morning for Malaya. One was the mask you can see in the above pics, which we all enjoyed:)

7. We enjoyed so much just getting away and relaxing.

Not quite sure who needed to relax most:)

8. Malaya and David wrote out a worship service for us to do Sunday morning. Malaya designated herself as the worship leader (don't worry, we won't let her do it any more after she is 10:). David was the preacher and I filled in when needed with prayers and communion thoughts and family announcements. We worshipped in the garden behind our cabin.

Here is Malaya leading us in worship!

We used crackers left from dinner the night before and purple Gatorade represented Jesus' blood. Hey, it's the thought, right:)

9. It was so amazing getting to see hundreds of REAL dinosaur tracks in the river bed. The water was very low so God gave us a great gift and we were able to walk and follow the paths of several dinosaurs. We followed their dragged tail tracks. It was just so amazing to imagine ourselves walking RIGHT WHERE DINOSAURS walked! This was really cool!

10. Watching Malaya and David climb some really steep walls of some of the hills! It freaked me out but they had a blast, the little dare devils!

11. Getting to snuggle as a family at night!

12. Not watching any tv. We played gamed and worked puzzles. Our cabin had an old record player with records. So at night we played those and danced. Malaya is a really good dancer in case you didn't know:)

13. MY FAV thing of the whole trip was on Sunday afternoon! We decided to go hike the biggest mountain. 3 miles!! We talked, sang songs, encouraged each other to keep going, helped each other up and down tough parts! It was great! And the best part was when we got to the very top of this hill it started to POUR rain. I don't just mean sprinkle. I mean POUR!! It was beautiful. I had never experienced something so wonderful but it did make things extra slippery! We tried to pick up the speed a bit b/c of the rain. We got to a cliff that was a straight drop down that we had to climb down. David got Malaya down safely and he was telling me step by step where to put my feet, my hands, my rear, etc. I missed one of the footings and slipped and fell quite a ways onto my rear and scraped up my back and rear. I only stopped b/c David caught me. I was scared at first and then started dying laughing as the rain poured over us. I really don't know why I found such joy in that fall. Maybe b/c I have painful reminders of our great time. But it was so great. To hear Malaya's sweet giggle as the rain just drenched down her face. Or seeing David look so hot and sexy all soaked :). I don't know, it was just fun!! We did make it down after a couple of hours and we were soaked!!

We got back to the truck. Put on dry clothes in the truck. Drove out of the park. And drove straight to the best place you can after a good hard day of hiking--Subway. And then got home right in time for bed!

It was a weekend I will never forget! I feel like I have left out so many great details! Oh well! It was refreshing in many ways and such a blessing for all 3 of us!! Maybe there will be more Bizaillion hiking stories to come!!

Update on Papa

Thanks again blogfriends for your prayers for Papa! What a miracle in him this weekend! On Friday, we were told at one point that he had kidney failure,was in ICU with cong. heart failure and a few other "not so hopeful" things. Today he is off his ventilator, kidneys are fine, no fever and in a normal room!! I am so grateful that he is doing well! The docs do think he had a slight heart attack and we are waiting for results about that. I can't wait to give him a huge hug myself!! Thanks so much for lifting him up to the Lord!!

On a much lighter note--we just had the greatest weekend EVER!! We have never been on a trip (vacation that is, okay maybe mini vacation) just the three of us! We had such a fabulous time!!!!!! We went to Glen Rose for the weekend. We had such a great time just being together in nature and enjoying creation/rain:) We were relaxed and revived in many ways. I feel like I am thanking David with every breath! I can not wait to give details and show pics but that will have to come tomorrow!! I can not wait to share our trip with you!
Hope your weekend was good!

My Papa

Will you please lift some prayers up for my Papa today? I got a call from my Mom about 8:30 this morning that they were calling an ambulance to come get him. About an hour after that, they lifeflighted him to Tyler where he would have better care. They have determined that he has pnemonia (sp?) and he is running a temperature. His blood pressure is 80/50! (Which he always has bad blood pressure.)
He is coherent now and is joking with the doctors and nurses. I am sure he has found someone to talk politics with:)
Please pray that he will be stabalized.
My Papa is a very special man. Us kids spent most of our summers at B and Papa's house. The majority of our childhood memories have them in it. He is a man full of wit and a devoted love for God.
Just please pray for him.

Thirteen things that make me laugh!

Okay, so my creative brain is dead so here goes...
Thirteen things that make me laugh: (in a very random order!!)

1) Malaya's giggle (It is just so cute! I love her belly laugh!)
2) David's silly jokes (you just got to laugh sometimes)
3) A good Wayan brothers interview or acting.
4) The movies Meet the Parents and Meet the Fockers (I roll everytime I see these movies!)
5) When my grand mother clips my grandfathers toe nails and Malaya gets so giggled as the nails fly threw the air.
6) A baby giggling!
7) My brother Josh! He just cracks me up with his impressions, his humor, his "Amy" role, and so many other things. He is just a funny guy!
8) My brother Jonathan! He has the funniest wit. He cracks me up even though I am the front of most of his jokes. He just cracks me up!!
9) When people get hurt. Okay, I inherited this from my mother. Serious injuries are NOT funny!! But.... every once in a while a good fall or slip or bumping into things is just funny. I can share a million family and friends stories here but I will refrain:)
10) Hearing stories about funny things kids do! They just make me giggle!
11) Morning talk radio can get a pretty good belly roll out of me:)
12) Listening to family and friends laugh. Sometimes you have no choice but just to join in.
And lastly...13) the person I laugh at the most is myself!! Sometimes I will think a thought or do something really stupid and just die laughing at myself!! I just amaze myself at the silly things I think, say, and do.
Sometimes you just got to laugh. Now, finish reading your other blogs that will have much more meaningful content:)

Thursday Thirteen and a Fun Surprise!

First thing's first!!! We have another cousin on the way!! My middle bro and sister in law are expecting their first baby in May!! They will be such great parents!! I can not wait to share some more auntie love!! Congrats to Josh and Kayci and little baby "Boss"!! Love you already!

My 13 most favorite tv shows/movies when I was growing up:
1. Reading Rainbow - It was really good when it first came out.

2. Little House on the Prairie

3. Jem - I know there are other fans out there for this one!

4. Dukes of Hazzard - Friday nights spending the night at my great-g-parents we would watch Dukes, then Falcon Crest, then 20/20 (and sometimes Dallas).

5. Saved by the Bell - Yes, I was one of the millions of little girls that was going to marry Zack. I did cry though when Zack and Kelly broke up.

6. Happy Days and later Joni Loves Chachi

7. Speed Racer

8. The Cosby Show (I think we have seen every episode. Every Thursday night after brothers baseball we would go to Mr. Gatti's with friends and watch it on the big screen.)

Movies I liked to watch with Mom

9. Kramer vs. Kramer

10. Rock in Roll Mom (We watched this so many times!!)

11. All the Beach Party movies with Frankie Avalon and Annette ??? (don't know how to spell her last name)

12. Adam ( when our country went on high alert about kidnappings this movie was very popular)

13. Jaws ( I know a little rough, but I was very fascinated with sharks for a stage of my life. After I watched the movies though I was terrified to take a bath, thinking that a great white would somehow squeeze it's huge body through the pipes and into my bath water. So weird!! :)

That just made me want to look up the Beach Party movies on Netflix and make David watch them with me. Please, do not warn him, I will surprise him!! :)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen jobs/careers I have had or dreamed of having:

Had:

1) Secretary at corporate office of Action Rent to Own. LOVED this job. I saved up my money to buy my first car, a white Chevy Cavalier. I made tons of great friends and those women shared in a very important part of my life! Due to desiring to murder one of my brothers ex-girlfriends who worked there I chose to quit this job. I should probably repent of this...;)

2) Worked in the library of Amberton University for 2 summers. A little boring but it was good.

3) Worked in the ACU library. Greatest job ever. Those people walked with me as I got engaged, married and found out I was having Malaya!! They will always be special people in my life. I loved the late night shifts working with a great lifetime friend. I loved getting to see everybody. My fav was when my cutie husband would come in and bring me a snack or dinner. I was really obsessive about shelving books. In fact, one summer I volunteered to reshelf the whole library and loved every minute of it!! :)

4) Worked at Mesquite dayschool as nursery person, PE teacher (I know my family is cracking up right now! Stop it!! ) and the coordinators assistant! Great job and Malaya loved it.

5)Southlake preschool as nursery teacher!! Oh, how I loved those babies and watching them grow throughout those 2 years.

Jobs I have dreamed of having:

6)Being a mom was always first and foremost. On all my elementary school papers they would ask "What do you want to be when you grow up." I always put, "A Mom, just like my Mom." This dream came true on April 10, 2000.

7) I then always dreamed of being a teacher but my plan was to do that after my kids were in school. Well, obviously I didn't finish college (I know some of you are cringing...) and really don't desire to go back to school at this time so I don't see this one happening any time soon. I was a few hours away from having my degree in Elem. Ed.

8) I also dreamed of being a marine biologist. I LOVE ocean animals. One of my fav places is Sea World!! But I realized that I probably needed to be able to swim without holding my nose so this was put on the back burner:) (My brothers are so laughing at me right now!)

9) I dreamed of being a child's psychologist but WAY too much school for this one!

10) I would love to go back to working in a library some day! I love shelving books, checking in and books, etc. I also love the quiet, I know I am weird!

11) I would LOVE to work in a post office sorting mail or having a route. I know this is weird too! But to me this would be so much fun! Sorting and throwing that mail into piles of zip codes is heaven to me!

12) I have considered working at a grocery store but I am not so good with technology and I think I would panic if I messed up while checking someone out. Same with a bank, considered it but something about dealing with people's money freaks me out!

13) I also had dreams of being a Children's Minister but due to almost everyone in my life working for churches, I think I will steer away from this challenge:)

My Word Cloud

This was fun!! Go to www.snapshirts.com/custom to create your own!!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen things we loved about having Jed with us this weekend (and Jonathan and Jennifer too:):




































1. We loved watching him turnover on his left side. It made him very angry but it was great entertainment:)
2. We loved sitting on the floor and watching him coo and talk.
3. He knows how to copy the "O" sound. Especially when Jonathan does it. I am sure he is going to be a great singer!
4. Malaya loved holding him (as you can see!)
5. I LOVED putting him to sleep and as you can see he put me to sleep also!! I fell asleep 3 different times holding him!! This pic was during a Matthew McConaughey movie!! There is really nothing more peaceful than holding a sleeping baby! You can tell by the hair that it was a gradual falling asleep as I gradually slid down the chair:)
6. We loved watching him smile.
7. I loved watching him recognize his mama.
8. I enjoyed visiting with Jennifer. We had a great few days together!
9. I enjoyed hanging out with Jonathan. He makes me laugh so hard! Even though he loves making fun of me, it still makes me laugh!
10. I loved watching him take a bath. He loved it!
11. I loved the way it killed Malaya that she had to be quiet so much!! She and I have laughed about it!
12. I loved hearing Malaya laugh at his gas. And he had a LOT and they did NOT sound like baby tooties:)
13. We love our little nephew. Jonathan and Jennifer are great parents! Thanks for spending some time with us! I am so glad Mom and Dad were out of town:):)