And Lord we just....

Prayer tics. They can make you crazy, they can make you lose your whole Spirit led train of thought. Prayer tics are those maddening words that people run in the ground by repeating 10-15 times during a 45 second prayer. They range from repeating 75 different names for God, as if He forgot you were talking to him, to the ever famous "We JUST want to thank you...we JUST blah blah blah....We JUST...you get the idea. How about this one"Dear Father, dear Lord" These two always come together in fast succession.

I am asking my family to listen intently over the next week and inform me of my prayer tics. I mean really, would I talk to Wayne or the girls and use tics instead of real live words? My favorite prayers to listen to are the ones where the person is really just talking to someone that sounds alot like their friend and surprise it's God! I am peeking up to see if He is standing there in our circle. Don't get me wrong. God is certainly worthy of all our reverence and respect, but don't you think He is smiling at us and thinking" Just quit with all the fancy words and spit out what you want!" After all, my most effective prayers have been when I just cry out to Him what's on my heart. Sometimes crisis takes the polish off your prayers and you find yourself crying out real live words to a real live God.
So what is your prayer tic?

I want to know Him

I want to know Christ

and the power of his resurrection

and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,

becoming like him in his death,

and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:10-11

not just a pretty face

Wayne got the whole package when he lassoed my heart and made me his girl for life. Not only am I the Martha Stewart of frozen pizza, I can know add putting up light fixtures to my repertoire of household skills. Knowing that it would take a long time (by long I mean 3-6 months) for this new light fixture to finally get installed by my husband who, by the way, does these types of things for a living, (ever heard of the shoemaker's wife who had no shoes?) I decided that surely a college educated woman could figure this out. 4 hours later waalaa-- I've never been so proud in all my life. Wayne was duly impressed, although he did turn down my gracious offer to become his assistant. Nobody suffered electrical burns, and so far, the house has not burned down.

It's been more than 20 years...

since I've seen my Aunt Margaret. She lives in Carlsbad New Mexico where my parents grew up. She has been all over the South this last week visiting family, and she ended up at my parent this week. We had such a good time this afternoon. They all came over for a cookout, and we talked and caught up on everything going on with all our family.

I always thought she was really cool. She was a career woman when there was not very many career women out there. She never married, but she always was on the go! It never occurred to her that there was anything she couldn't do just because she was single. She has led a very fulfilling life by herself! I'm glad we got to visit, time really does fly. It seems like only yesterday, we were little kids, visiting my grandparents house in New Mexico. It was always hot as heck! My grandpa always had candy corn in a jar, and my grandma always let us watch "Three's Company" otherwise strictly forbidden by my parents. The trip was never complete until we trekked up to Carlsbad Caverns, and each of us girls usually got a turquoise necklace in the gift shop. Lot's of good memories.... My grandparents were the best!

My little missionary girl

Hey, take a look at what my Leslie girl did in Costa Rica:

It all started with a plane ride.....It's a long ways down!!

I think this was San Jose where they passed out gospel tracts and did street evangelism

She is playing some cool street hockey game

This was "the Hole" ,a Nicaraguan refugee camp.

This was a worship service. Cool how you can worship with people you don't know, in a language you can't understand, but connect with them in your heart, because you are worshipping the same God!

Wherever they go.. these two girls can have a good time
These are good times that she will never forget!

Wordle

Hey check out this really cool website:
http://wordle.net

That's where I made this super cool word picture at the bottom of my page.

Please scroll down to the bottom and look at my Wayne picture since I could not figure out how to put it in this posting!

Reunions

Saturday night was a sweet reunion of the Welch clan! Virginia and I drove home from sunny St. Simons on Saturday morning, got home around 3pm, then met at the church to drive to Atlanta airport with the other moms to pick up our Costa Rica crowd.
I missed them so much!! Are you like me? I want all my chickadees in the nest at night time. That's when I miss them the most.
We got home around midnight, then after listening to tales from the mission trip, and exchanging presents, (I scored a cool wood coffee mug and Costa Rica coffee) we fell in bed around 1 am. Everything felt right in the world when I knew Leslie was back safe in her bed, and I snuggled up next to my snoring husband.
It was so cool to hear them talk about all they saw and did.
I'll post more details about our rainy St. Simons trip and cool Costa Rica pictures soon, for now I'm back to work.

We're outta here

Virignia and I are on our way. We are Big Daddy's truck... but on our way none the less. I am looking forward to shrimp, waves and sun!

I heard from Wayne and they are having an amazing time (that work is so overused). He said that Leslie has really connected with teh kids in the orphanage, and that he really couldn't put into words all he had seen and done. That makes my heart so happy! I love it when God just shows off and does more than we were asking Him to!

Well, I feel like maybe I should stay home and suffer some in the interest of missions week at my our house, but God calls some to labor and some to rest, and I feel that Wayne and Leslie must obey the call, and Virginia and I will also bear our own burden.

Checking out--- see ya' Sunday-- We're outta here!

What a day!

Listen, if Wayne ever goes off out of the country and leaves me by myself to deal with car issues I'll kill him! Wait, oh what? Oh yeah, He's doing God's work. Yeah I forgot, and I'm dealing with Satan over here in the good ole USA.
My van,(Honda Odyssey which until today has been incredibly reliable) decided to choke and sputter and all these light thingys kept flashing. Anyways, after the dealership guy tried to talk me into an $800 timing belt, I had a 30 second melt down. Then I quit mentally whining, quit cursing stupid-no-service-in-Costa Rica-Verizon-cell service, put on my big girl pants and made a rational decision. OK I really called my good friend Michelle, who asked her husband Todd what to do, who told me to let them put in new spark plugs and then drive it home and let Wayne deal with the timing belt issue. Thanks Todd!!
Several high points of the day that Sweet Jesus reminded me was under his control
1) I got a loaner car from the dealership so I didn't have to call anyone to pick me up (everyone I know is in Costa Rica)
2)My sweet friend Lauren, who is pregnant, and it is HOT not a good combination, called several times to pick me up, but I didn't need her to. Thanks Lauren!
3) Virginia and I ate her favorite---Japanese. A most excellent PO roll
4) My little sis, Heather wrote this beautiful post on love. Props to her and her blog that is one of my daily cyber stops!
5) In the midst of it all, I realized what a great hubby I have. I love you Wayne, You take such good care of me that I am spoiled and hate to have to deal with things you usually do for me. I miss you!

All the peoples

Psalms 96:3 "Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the peoples."

Having a heart for missions means leaving the comfort here for the love of those that are there. I am praying tonight for Leslie, Wayne and all those with them who, as I type this, are on the streets of San Jose declaring His glory and His marvelous deeds to the peoples through street evangelism.

Just me and Ginny girl

If you've got more than one kid, do you ever feel like the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. got short changed on one on one mothering? Leslie is a little more high maintenance than Ginny. Ginny is so easy going, she just rolls with the punches (figure of speech, I don't actually punch my children). This week while Wayne and Leslie are gone it's just me and her. We christened our girl fest by thoroughly cleaning the house and cutting grass. Well, that's what you get with an ADD and OCD mother. I did help her rearrange her room (she has her mothers genes) which her dad hates us to do. He'll come home to a completely rearranged house, providing lots of nighttime bathroom trip excitement! Now that that is out of the way, the next 6 days will be a girl fest indeed. We are going to sleep in, then go to church and after to Mexican. The highlight of the week will include pedicures and beach time. Most of all, I'll enjoy just chatting with her. Sometimes her hilarious commentaries on life are overshadowed by Leslie's comments of "Ginny, that is so stupid" For this week, she gets Mom all to herself, and she can say whatever she wants. We will eat at all her favorite restaurants, and she gets to pick what to watch on TV. Every girl needs to be the center of attention, even if just for a week!

Friday Night

...means the work week is finally over
....means the entire weekend is stretched out like a blank slate in front of me
.....means I can sleep late in the AM (at least until 8:30)
......means Wayne is taking me out to eat (even if that means Zaxby's)
.......means Virginia and I might catch "What not to Wear" while we eat ice cream in my bed
........means I won't worry about any laundry, dishes, or other housekeeping related tasks until tomorrow
.........means I might take a nice hot tub bath tonight
Friday night is my favorite night of the week. Wayne would argue that Saturday is better, but not me, no, Friday nights are the best!

Baby flashbacks

I love babies! I loved it best when they were wee tiny. I would sit and literally hold them all day, until Wayne got home, peeled them from my arms and steered me towards the shower. I am having lunch with my pregnant friend Lauren today. It makes me think of the days when life revolved around the important things, like sweet baby smell, breastfeeding, andthose smiles from your baby, that made your heart drop.

Actually the closer I look at his picture of motherhood,I can remember things more clearly.....
That smirk on Leslie's face is because she has tried to pinch this new baby no less than 5 times that morning,and she had run away and hid under the bed from her Mema who had tried to dress her.

The baby is sleeping peacefully in my arms, because she was screaming from 3-6 am.

Do you see me pale face? Yeah, I was so anemic I got dizzy every time I stood up, my boobs were like watermelons at this point, thus the baggy sweatshirt.

No doubt, some of the best days of my life!

July 4th

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Nothing like being a tad late posting these 4th pics. What with all the creative goingons at good ole VBS, I just haven't had the creativity to post until tonight. I played VBS hookey and Wayne took me to eat Chinese and then go mission trip shopping at Walmart. Yeah, he knows how to show a girl a wild night on the town.

Anyways....

We had such a blast on the 4th. Patricia and Jay, Waynes oldest sister and her husband rented a lake house about 10 miles from us and we had a huge family get together. Here are the highlights.....

Tubing and floating in the lake was the most strenuous activity of the day.

Lynn puts the "P" in party. My nephew Matt is all grown up, but I still think he is adorable.

Wayne and Craig were, of course, the amazing grillmasters and gave us melt-in-your-mouth ribs!

It was one of my favorite 4ths!

Costa Rica, St. Simon Island and other happenings....

Saturday Wayne and Leslie are leaving with about 40 other people from our church for Costa Rica. This is their first mission trip.

I am so excited...and nervous.

I want them to have a maxed out experience. Mission trips do that. They take you WAY out of your comfort zone and surprise you by showing that God is constantly at work everywhere... at all times.. He never stops working.

Virginia and I are going to St. Simon Island. We are going to enjoy a few days of fun on the beach...in the sun...with a book...or two.

Any good suggestions on reading material? I really don't like Christian fiction. I just finished a book by Mary Higgins Clark...Scary!

I will post my July 4th pics later tonight.

I'm off the Walmart (AKA... the Money Pit!)

VBS..not all it's cracked up to be

Can we be honest.. VBS can really suck. I mean I just spent 3 hrs of my life that I WILL NEVER GET BACK! Those 3 hours involved Elmers glue, foam pieces and a permanent marker, and I was only the helper in crafts. There was one kid who never stopped crying "I want my Mama!" for the entire twenty minutes. Two boys fought over the Sharpie marker and frankly I just chose to turn a blind eye as they battled it out instead of risking black marks all over my new red pants. Oh well, maybe tomorrow will be better, we are making snowglobes from recycled water bottles. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Happy Birthday Big Sis

My big sister is well, lets just say... a little older than me today! I'm sure she spent the day being spoiled and pampered by her husband and four beautiful children. Yeah that's code for the kids better have done the dishes after hubby cooked! I was always jealous of her because she had a summer birthday which meant a super cool bathing suit. I never even got the hand me downs because I was generaly about 2 sizes bigger than her little bitty self.

Kathy, I hope that you had a great day. I love you and I hope that this year brings lots of laughter, and many moments of enjoying this season that God has brought you to.

What a whole month???

I read this blog yesterday and it has made me contemplate if I should drink only water for a whole month. That's a long time, but on the other hand, a month is not forever. Wayne has done so well not drinking anything but water for 2 years now. His motivation is kidney stones.
OK, I think as soon as I finish this Diet Pepesi I will absolutely positively start my excercise in self discipline by drinking only water for a month. August 2nd. Does today start even though I am currently sipping this Diet Pepsi? Yes, yes it does. My motivation will be to see if I lose any weight, if my skin is clear and glowing, if I can find a way to be clear minded and not yawn my way through the morning. I'll keep you posted.

Favorite People II

Do you have a friend like my pal Heather? She is definatly on my favorite people list. She is a great friend for alot of different reasons:
1)Look at the picture She is so pretty. She is the kinda girl that is gorgeous with no makeup.
2) She's got fantastic fashion sense. She lovingly guides me through the world of fashion constantly encouraging me to avoid horizontal stripes.
3)She is the godmother to my daughters.
4)Her husband Matt is a big guy with an even bigger heart.
5)She understands most of my mental health neurosis as she is as OCD as I am--especially when it comes to safety and child issues, like how we are scared if our kids swim with dolphins they will really get pulled under.
6) If I don't talk to her for a week, I never worry about hurt feelings, we just pick up where we left off.
7)She makes this ice cream cake thing that with just one bite, you are in another diminsion of taste reality.
8) She introduced me the Starbucks many years ago. that alone puts her in the the inner circle of friendship for a lifetime. Many a tear and laugh have been shared between us over a grande caffe mocha.
9)She is the best teacher in the world-- my daughter is living proof!
10) She really gets it about following Christ and she always encourages me to do the same. She never judges, but rather encourages me.

I love you Heather. You are one of my most favorite people in the whole wide world!!