I'm baack!

Oh, my goodness, I can't believe it has been a month and a half since my last blog! That is unacceptable and I apologize for my forgetfullness, laziness, and all of the other excuses I can come up with! I don't know if it makes you feel any better or not but, know that I think about my blog and what to blog about all of the time...I just haven't written anything. I keep waiting for THE story or topic to write about and it just never comes...or, if it does, it doesn't seem good enough or long enough or funny enough...you get the picture. So I will now take the advice I read yesterday from the brilliant Pioneer Woman and "just do it." Just write!

I've been away from my blog for so long, I guess I need to catch you up on all that has been going on at the Simpson House. Let's see....um......hmmm......no, really, something has happended, I'm sure of it.....it'll come to me in a sec.... Maybe I should make a list.

1) We have had quite a few visitors in the past month or so...in fact, I think we had more visitors in the 2 months we have been in Bartlesville, than we had the entire 3 years we were in Borger! It was great, though, seeing family (The Dugas Girls and my mom) and friends (DJ and her girls, JLew and Ava, and the "Joshua House in OK" reunion). God has truly blessed us by putting these amazing people in our lives.

2) We did NOT get to see Demi Lovato and The Jonas Brothers in Tulsa. We found out the DAY of the concert that it had been cancelled....3 days after I bought the tickets! Still a teensy bit bitter about that!

3) School started! The kids LOVE their new school and their new teachers and they are both doing very well in their studies. They have been in school less than a month and Mackenzie has already finished reading the first two Harry Potter books and she started the 3rd last night. She is sooo proud of herself and I am proud, also. In her words, she is "totally geeking out on Harry Potter!" This really isn't a surprise....she started watching the HP movies when she was 2 or 3 years old and, when she was 3, she declared that Harry was her boyfriend. She would even say his name in a British accent because that is how they say it in the movies! In her 3 year-old preschool class, she befriended a boy named Thomas. Her teachers would always tell me how cute Mackenzie and Thomas were together. When I met Thomas for the first time, I couldn't help but laugh to myself. Thomas had black hair, green eyes, and wore glasses....just like Harry Potter! It was too cute! More about HP later...
Jack has been reading up a storm, too. Thank you, Teachers, for making your students read for 25 minutes every night for homework! Most nights, after the timer goes off, my kids want to keep reading and I love it! Our house has never been so quiet! Jack started off reading Bakugan books but is now reading The Hardy Boys and Goosebumps. In fact, he read 12 chapters just last night! I know it's not War and Peace but it is a start!
The kids have also started taking karate lessons. Tonight will be their second class. They love it. What's not to love? Their sensei is an extremely talented and qualified teacher who, in order to teach them how to block a hit above their heads, chased them around the room, hitting them on the head with a soft, mallet-looking, thing used for sparring. I've never heard so many giggles in a karate class before!

4) I am still not working....I don't think I'm being a complete bum, though. I am not sitting on the couch eating bon-bons all day, I can tell you that! Bella, our precious bulldog, would not allow it, I'm fairly sure, unless I shared with her. I spend my days on the computer...cleaning....taking the dogs out.....bringing them back in (this happens a lot throughout the day).....shopping (groceries)....eating lunch with Scott (but not every day)....cooking....waiting an hour in the school parking lot to pick up the kids..... You can see that my days are very full indeed. I am loving it but I feel it is time to do more. I still need to take a test to be certified in OK but, before I can do that, I have to find out what test it is, where to take the test, and what to study for the test...all very hard and time-consuming things, I assure you! I also need to start subbing but I am dragging my feet. I'm not sure why...oh, yeah, I LIKE being a lazy bum, that's why! My desire to travel (and being able to afford to travel) is winning out, so I must start making some extra dough. Also, Scott wants to buy a boat in the spring and he says I have to pay for it! As if!

5) We still have not found THE church for us. We visited one last week and it was nice, but I don't think it is the one. There are a lot of churches around here for us to try and I know we will find the right one. I pray that God puts us in the church He wants us to be in and I hope we find it soon. I miss my church family in Borger and I miss my church family in Katy, too. We were fortunate enough to be able to go back to our church in Katy for a memorial service a couple of weeks ago. The service was for Emma Claire Key, the 8 year-old daughter of our friends, Steven and Sherry Key. It was wonderful and terrible all at the same time. It was wonderful seeing how God worked through a young girl like Emma. It was wonderful seeing all of the love and support being poured out on the Key family. It was wonderful being at Kingsland Baptist Church again and seeing our Joshua House family. It was wonderful wearing our red shirts again. (Our Joshua House shirts.) It was terrible seeing our friends grieving. It was wonderful being able to hug my children after the service. It was terrible knowing that Steve and Sherry can't hug Emma right now. It is wonderful knowing that one day soon, they will be able to hug her in Heaven.

6)Back to Harry Potter...When we moved into this house, I told Mackenzie that we would completely redecorate her room when she was old enough to decide on something that she would be happy with for many years. She seems to think that time is now and she wants a Harry Potter room. I am ok with this but I am making her wait until she turns 10, which is only 4 (gasp!) months away. I want to see if she still wants a HP room in 4 months before I change anything. Plus, that will give me time to get all of the "stuff" that will be needed for the room. So, if you have any creative ideas, please send them my way. I've seen some great pictures of HP rooms online but I don't think I am that creative. If any of you can paint, come on over, and I will put you to work! I'm sure I'll be blogging about this process for a while and I need to figure out how to add pictures to my blog, so I can post before and after pics.

Ok, I think I've brought you all up to date. I promise to write more often even if it is pure rubbish!
Love you all!