Black Friday MADNESS

Well, I did it. It was my first time shopping the day after Thanksgiving…holy cow…it was so much fun! Becky and I decided a while back that we were going to go together. She is a pro and does this every year, so she walked me through the 101 of Black Friday shopping. We registered about a month in advance to receive the secret ads via email, so we had been planning our adventure for several weeks. They came over for Thanksgiving and together with my family, including Grandma and Thomas, we made a feast. We had an 18-pound turkey, butternut squash casserole, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green beans, cranberry sauce, home-made apple cider, biscuits, gravy, stuffing, pies and other desserts, and more I cant even think of now. It was great! Leftovers galore! Later that evening, we went to Brad and Becky’s. The kids and Scott spent the night there while Becky and I shopped. We left at midnight to hit the outlet malls (this was a last minute decision…we didn’t know they opened at midnight…woo-hoo!!) We were shocked at the amount of people there…it was unreal! Trying to find a parking space was nuts! But, God was looking out for us because just about every place we went, we got a great parking place! We hung out at the outlets for about 2 ½ hours to kill time before Kohls opened at 4 a.m. We ended our early morning there at Ruby’s diner with some fried zucchini and hot cocoa. We arrived at Kohls about 10 till 4, hopped in line and waited for the doors to open. They did and we were off…to find everything on our list before someone else snatched the last one up. Amazingly, we got everything we wanted and then some. After waiting in-line FOREVER to check out, we were on our way to Target. All in all, we caught the early-birds at Kohls, Target, Penney’s, Linens-n-Things, Wal-Mart, the Rack, and Ulta. We finished our shopping venture around 3:30 p.m. totally satisfied and surprisingly still feeling alive. I went to bed at 8 p.m. and slept till noon the next day! Ha! It was so much fun. Becky…we are definitely on again for next year!

OUR FIRST NEW CAR!

God is SO good. We had connections with the owner of one of the largest dealerships here in San Diego and he HOOKED US UP! We were able to purchase a 2008 Acura MDX. It is black with black leather interior. Scott even surprised me and bought the navigation model (which comes with GPS and a back-up camera). It is beyond perfect for us! My favorite part about it is the 3rd row of seats, allowing for 7 passengers. It feels so roomy inside, yet really doesn’t look that big from the outside. We have yet to name her. Hayden calls it our “Batman mobile.”

A WHOPPING 6 MONTHS LATER...!

Wow. I know. Where to begin.

For starters, we have moved back to California! Home again, home again… Oh God, please let this be it! I am so tired of moving, and the sad part is, there is another move in our foreseeable future. Our sweet little home is for sale in Arkansas. The market is TERRIBLE and we are just praying God sells it for us soon. Until then, we are shacking up with the ‘rents. Okay…that sounds bad. We are living in my parents’ guesthouse until we can sell our home in AR and find one of our own to rent here. Their “backhouse,” as we call it, is small (just one large room…a mini-kitchen, closet, bathroom and bedroom all in one). We have made the most of what space we have, using my dad’s old office cubicle walls to make bedrooms for the kids. We are rather fond of our little place and are quite content there. The only problem is we are far from where we need to be. We have moved back to this area to launch a new church called Cross Church San Diego in the ever growing and popular Carmel Valley area!! God has done an amazing work in our hearts and has called Scott and I to team up with our new awesome friends, Brad and Becky Graves. Together, we will begin a new work that we believe God will use to transform the hearts and lives of San Diego’s North County area! We have hardly begun and are already seeing the fruits of God’s blessing on this church! Check out our website at www.crosschurchsandiego.com!

I’ll try to fill you in on a few key things that have happened since I last blogged (a really, really long time ago)…

Hayden cut his hair. So sad. I loved his long hair, but it is no more. Scott found him with the scissors and a large chunk of his hair missing. I tried to cut it without buzzing the whole thing, but he cut it right to the scalp. So, we buzzed it off. He thought it was cool and told everyone, “I’m a buzz!”

Delaney is walking like a pro and has 8 teeth! (Four on the top and four on the bottom.) She has such a beautiful smile!

The road trip/move to San Diego was pretty uneventful until the last day. We went to Disneyland!! It was so much fun and Hayden ate it up! We bought him a Disneyland book so he could have the characters autograph it for him. He got Mickey’s, Pooh’s and Buzz Lightyear’s signatures. He loved the Buzz Lightyear and Dumbo rides and he went on his first roller-coaster (in Toon Town)! I was so nervous because I thought he would be too scared. It goes really fast! But, he loved it! He wanted to go again and again! It was SO cute! I was a proud mama!

Scott’s birthday was a great day! We decided to go see a taping of the Dr. Phil show because it was an audience participation show. They were looking for audience members who had “strong views on everything from politics to religion.” That is so my husband! We filled out the request form on-line and they called us right away to say they wanted us to come be a part of the audience. We decided to go up the night before and staying in a dump of a hotel (that cost us over $100!!). Early the next morning, we made our way to the studio and got our VIP tickets. While we were sitting waiting for the taping to begin, a guy named Chunky B was revving up the audience and giving away prizes. He heard it was Scott’s birthday so he led the entire audience in Happy Birthday to Scott and then he gave him a Dr. Phil mug. Ha! The show was on extremely judgmental people. There were six in all and they have now become the new “Dr. Phil House.” During the show, Scott got a chance to speak to young woman named Kimberly, who had a very harsh way of sharing her faith. Here is a quote from the Dr. Phil newsletter (the ‘man in the audience’ is Scott)…

“A man in the audience addresses Kimberly. “Of all the attitudes I hear up here today, yours makes me most sad as a pastor, because I think that you fuel all the stereotypes that [Jason] has about people who follow God. They think they’re a bunch of airheads and just follow blindly, because of your judgmentality,” he tells her. “I just want to say that if you would exemplify what Christ intended, that people would be more receptive to your message.” 

“You don’t really know me,” Kimberly says. “

Yes, my amazing husband is a star! I was so proud of him! This show aired on Tuesday of last week. The Dr. Phil house continues on Monday and Scott will more than likely be featured again. So tune in!

Of course I have to include pictures of the kids from Halloween. They had fun dressing up! Laney knew she was cute and loved showing off her little costume! Hayden had a blast being Buzz. They went trick-or-treating and helped pass out candy too!

Well, I guess that's it. I'll leave you with a few more pics. Love you all!