Oooooh.....HI!!!

Well hello there, bloggy land! Being at home over the summer with an incredibly demanding 4 year old leaves VERY LITTLE time to blog. Let alone very little time to pee by yourself. Haha...who am I kidding. Every mom knows that you never get to pee by yourself when you have little kids at home.

Jack started his second year of special education preschool this Monday. And I could not be more excited. Neither could he. He loves school, loves his teacher, and LOVES the bus. All he talks about is the bus. When I ask him how his day was at school, he talks to me about the bus. When I ask him who he played with at school, he tells me about the bus. When I try to find out what he had for a snack today, he goes on and on about the bus.

Jack had an autism evaluation in the beginning of September. It went really well and we really liked the psychologists we met with. Long story short, we walked away with a medical diagnosis of autism. Hearing that comes with a lot of mixed emotions. On one hand, we were relieved that they saw "it" too...that we weren't crazy and we aren't just bad parents. On the other hand, it's never easy to hear that your child will have extraordinary challenges throughout life and that there's something that makes them "different" from all of the other kids. The word "AUTISM" just never seems to lose it's weight. On that day, it hit us like a ton of bricks. They suggested that Jack receive clinical speech therapy and occupational therapy. So, we have an appointment at the end of this month with a pediatric rehabilitation center that offers speech and occupational therapies. They will do another evaluation, to see how much therapy he'll need and then we'll go from there. We'll be driving about an hour to each appointment...so I'm not looking forward to that, but I would drive much further than that if it meant doing something that helped Jack!

More Jack news - he has his first dentist appointment this afternoon. Yikes! I'll take pictures and share how that went. I am praying that we both hold it together and can reward ourselves with some Starbucks when it's all said and done.

My FABULOUS husband surprised me for my birthday (29....ahem) and got me a first-class ticket to visit friends in Sacramento. I am so excited to spend time with girlfriends and have a chance to relax. I also think that the time Jack and Lonnie spend together will be good for them. They'll have fun just being boys and hanging out while mom's gone.

Speaking of my fabulous husband - he decided a couple of months ago to take up running and start eating healthier. He has been doing awesome and I am so proud of him. Check out his running blog here - Fat People Run Too!

This year, I am involved with our local MOPS group as the Hospitality Coordinator. Yesterday was our first meeting and it was crazy! Crazy, but absolutely wonderful. It has been so much fun to prepare the theme, decor and "feeling" of the room this year. We went with a spa/relaxing-type theme and it is wonderful. I love all of the ladies that I am serving with and I am excited to be a part of this ministry.

Speaking of ministry - Lonnie and I are currently involved in starting up a new church in our city! It is called NewLife, and it's a campus of LifeChurch in Oklahoma City. It is involving a lot of time, energy and prayer...but it is exciting to see what God is doing here.

Do you see why it's been a challenge to update this thing? Life has been a little crazy around here! Hopefully with Jack in school, I'll have a little extra time to dedicate to the blog. Hopefully.

8 years ago today, I went on my last first date. It was a blind date, at that. Well, semi-blind. I had seen a picture of him, but he hadn't seen a picture of me. How trusting of him! We met online...back in the day before meeting online was "normal." No dating service, no matchmakers. He was searching for people from his hometown through the instant messaging profiles. I popped up. We didn't go to school together, but we had lived close to each other. He sent me an IM and we struck up a conversation. Over the next week, we talked online and on the phone. We were both very interested in the other. So, we went on a date. He picked me up at my parents' house and met my mom. (Why in the world did my mom let me go out with a guy I met on the internet??? This baffles me. But, I am glad she did.) We went to see a movie and have dinner. We saw this movie. I would not recommend it. At all. Especially for a date movie. Then we had dinner at Olive Garden. We waited for 50 minutes for a table. We sat on the bench in the front of the restaurant, waiting for a table and I remember thinking, "Is he going to hold my hand? My hand is right next to his. Is he going to hold it?" He was wearing khakis, a white button-up shirt and a tie. A tie with Looney Tunes on it - another thing I wouldn't recommend. I was wearing a red blouse with black pants. (Looking great, I might add.) We talked all through dinner and all the way home (to my parents' house). Once we got home, we just didn't want to say goodnight yet. So we went inside and watched SNL. We laughed. We talked. We kissed. (shhhhhh....) We said goodbye. I went to bed. I held my breath. Would he call again? I was almost sure he wouldn't call again. Needless to say, he called again. And again. And again. After only 3 months of dating, he proposed. After 3 months of being engaged, we were married.

8 years ago my life changed forever. Because of that date, I have an amazing husband and a wonderful son.

Thank you, God, for bringing us together on that first date. Your plans are sometimes much different than ours, but they are always greater. :)

(Sorry, I don't have any cute pictures on the computer from when we were dating. I'll see if I can get something later!)

Our first "big" snow

So it begins. Our first "real" winter. We got about 6" of snow today, on top of the inch or so we got yesterday. In Washington, this would be BIG news. We would hear about it for days...it would be the only thing on TV...the only thing on the radio...the only thing people talked about...the power would be out for days...stores would run out of batteries and other essentials...they would call it "Winter Storm '07" or some witty name. Here...not so much. It's snow. It happens. Yes, it was on the weather and they talked about it a little. They let us know what was coming. And, it came. After the snow fell, the rain fell. Freezing rain. I always thought that freezing rain was rain that was freezing as it fell (like hard pellets). But, my meteorologist husband has let me know that freezing rain falls as regular rain, but it freezes once it hits the ground. I have been corrected. :) And...here's proof...

See how nice and shiny the snow looks? And how there's a little shine on the sidewalk too? Yep, that's ice folks. Ice from freezing rain. Lonnie went out and tested the slickness of it....like any 12 year old boy would do. :) Speaking of my husband, check out what he GOT to do today...

Our (well, HIS) first shoveling experience. Like any good wife, I greeted him at the door with a cup of hot cocoa when he was done. But, then I learned that shoveling snow makes you HOT and HOT cocoa isn't necessarily the best thing to drink when you're sweating. Maybe next time I'll greet him with a cup of ice cold water. :) He's the best. Shoveling snow. What a man, what a mighty good man.

My husband ROCKS

He went to Wal-Mart last night and bought a new computer. So I could stay sane this week.

He spent more than 2 hours trying to set it up last night.

He spent time this morning (before 4:00 am) setting it up.

He got it set up before he left for a business trip.

He gave me lots of hugs and kisses before he left.

He rocks. :)

I love you, honey!