Big-time picture update

Finally got all those photos onto a cd so I could share! Hope you enjoy!

My daughter is into black people, particularly children and babies. Most of you know that. She's also into special needs stuffed animals!



This is a teddy bear my mom found in some of my grandmother's stuff. We think it belonged to my uncle (who is now in his 50's). Brooke fell in love with this thing and brought it home to be "doctored".


This is her working on him...


This is him after his many "operations"!



Some pictures from Dylan's tapping ceremony (into the National Honor Society)







Some pictures of the last few dance classes...they are taking turns pretending to be Mrs. Michelle while the REAL Mrs. Michelle tries to get the blasted cd player to work right!





This is Jeff's best friend, Brian, back in April at his own 40th birthday party! He got these glasses that make him look really "old" and we were having fun cracking jokes with them! LOL



A picture of us at the same party...



Sometime this past school-year, Dylan took the PSAT which is a preliminary to the SAT and is the measure used for determining the National Merit Scholarship. He did VERY well! So well, in fact that he scored in the top 100 for Jefferson County, as did 16 other students, including some sweet friends from church, from Clay-Chalkville. They had a big ceremony at Birmingham-Southern College.




Picture from the American Girls class field trip to American Village:



You know it's getting close to summertime when it's warm enough to play in the hose!




Our newest neighbors, the Robin family:





Six Flags Fun:







Before the first ever ride on a roller coaster (the Scream Machine--which is the only one we could coax her onto!)...



After the first ever ride on a roller coaster...



Nashville fun...










Dance Recital fun...

My grown-up working man!

Check out my baby with his first REAL paycheck!



He was reluctant to take this job--I think he was afraid of going into the "family business" of daycare/teaching/tending to other people's rotten kids (his thoughts, not mine, necessarily--at least not all the time! lol) but I think he likes it. It's a gravy job for him really. He gets paid to play sports and keep a bunch of kids entertained--how difficult is that?

And his bosses (my bosses) just love him! They told me they are glad he's there that he has a great work ethic and interacts with the kids very well, etc. etc. I guess Jeff and I have done something right. Thank you, Lord for my son. Thank you for sending him first because if you'd given me either of these girls first, chances are, he wouldn't be here! LOL

Speaking of girls, some beautiful young girl celebrates becoming a teenager. I just don't know who it is....could it be....KAYTI????

Yes, it is! This Wednesday (at 10:08 p.m. to be exact) she will officially be a "teenager" though she has been acting like one for quite a while now!

She, too, has been working at the daycare this summer, though not "officially". She tags along when she feels like it and helps me in my classroom with whatever I need. She's helped me do bulletin boards, clean, fix lunch, read to kids, be an extra pair of hands and eyes at the playground, etc. etc. And I have paid her well out of my own paycheck. I enjoy having her around and I'm so blessed that she still wants to spend some time with her old mom!

She has decided NOT to have a big birthday party because she wants to save for an iPod. She's had a few cheap mp3 players and they always seem to tear up somehow. And I know it's not her--she's VERY careful and particular about her stuff. So she asked if we could take whatever we would spend on a party and just give it to her so she could save it towards her iPod. I thought that was a very mature decision. I am going to take her and let her get her toes done next week and either she and I will go out to lunch or we'll go out to dinner as a family. It's not something we do very often so it will be a real treat for all of us.

Speaking of mature decisions, my youngest made one as well. I was torn about whether or not she would do the dance team again this year. She really enjoyed it and I could tell a HUGE improvement in her dance. We enjoyed it also. It was a lot of fun and gave us and excuse to travel a little. And even though the expense is not that great since I am graciously given the opportunity to teach to help offset some of our dance expense, I discussed with her taking the year off. Take a year off to let mom & dad catch our breath from this financial mess we have dug ourselves into for such a long time. Take a year off to do some things as a family that we've been wanting to do but couldn't. Take a year off to focus on Dylan for a bit before he goes off to college in two years (we thought the first 16 flew by fast--I don't even want to blink for the next two!) I mean, for the love of Pete, she's only 11! She still has PLENTY of time to do this kind of stuff. But I wasn't sure what her reaction would be to all that so I left it up to her and to my surprise she "thought about it" for a few days and then she agreed. She's excited about going back to a regular class, even though she will definitely miss Hannah, and she's excited about maybe taking pre-pointe with Lauren. Sometimes your kids just blow your mind! You think they are rotten to the core and then they go and do something that just leaves you speechless--but in a good way!

She's been having so much fun at ASAP this summer, too. Don't ask me what ASAP stands for (besides "as soon as possible") but it's the name of our school-age program at the daycare. They go to the library, the movies, swimming and have all kinds of fun. She's also been to VBS at Northpark and Crosspoint as well as a few days at the Academy. They all did the same "boomerang australia theme". Baptist churches. Go figure.

Clearview always does something different for VBS but with me working I couldn't arrange transportation this year. Tina took her last year and I didn't want to ask her again and no one else volunteered so we missed it. That's okay as I am about vacation-bible-schooled OUT! It's always rough on me working for the Academy the week they have VBS because...well, let's just say it's unorganized and chaotic and leave it at that. I want my posts to glorify God as much as possible and not be a whine-fest so I won't say anything negative. But it's been a VERY challenging week. I will be so glad when next week, everything is back to normal. I have two new kids in my class that I just adore and I'm looking forward to getting to know them and them know me in my somewhat "normal" state.

That's about the extent of my excitement. I've been reading a lot since we have no idiot-box whatsoever anymore now that everything has gone digital. What was that about anyway? I have a difficult time believing that with all the problems our government is faced with, digital tv was a priority. Must have been about some money somewhere but I don't know what or where. I've heard the military had something to do with it but I don't know what that has to do with everyone else just watching their televisions. If someone could explain it to me, I'd love to hear about it. I guess. Well, I really don't care. TV is something I can definitely do without, I'm quickly discovering. And yes, I realize I've had a long time to get ready--I'm not asking for any "sympathy". Like I said, tv is not a priority, not for the Quick family. It really makes me sad to find out what a priority it is for some people. We like to watch what we like to watch when we're able to. But I'm certainly not going to plan my life around it nor am I going to run out and spend a bunch of money just because someone says I have to.

Anyway, I read, I plan out my curriculum for the Fall, we do puzzles (I'm becoming a sudoku whiz!), we swim, fish, etc. etc. Just a typical summer!

How is your summer going?

Blessings!

Oh the power of prayer!!!

When you ask God for His infinite wisdom, He is always faithful to share it with you! I don't know why I always forget that but somehow I always manage to do just that! I should remember about Solomon, huh? LOL

Anyway, we decided to hang onto the van a little while longer even though since I last updated, the window on my sliding door shattered (Thanks kids!) But it should be an easy fix as soon as we have time to do it. I will fix that, put new tires on it and my dad and brother-in-law's father are going to look at the a/c (soon, I hope! until then, we have "natural" air conditioning!) But I really don't want anything else on my credit right now.

The house we were thinking about trying to get got a contract on it already so until God shows us something else...we'll remain where we are.

But another thing that has happened since that totally convinces me about the power of prayer is that last Sunday, Jeff's jeep died. He was on his way home from an errand and it just went dead for no apparent reason. He and my BIL tried to get it cranked and couldn't. Then they tried to tow it themselves and couldn't. So we called a towing company and had it brought home until we could figure out the next step and I had to take him to work and pick him up all week.

I didn't know what else to do but pray! I'd just decided that I didn't want to buy a new car right now--was God trying to tell me, 'oh yes, you do'???

So once again, I ask for His direction. Friday, Jeff is reading through the owner's manual and checks the list of fuses. Low and behold, there is one that is blown that runs the powertrain (whatever that is). Total cost for him to replace it? $5.00 for a box of several. I guess if you do the math it would come out to about $0.75! Is that not funny how a seventy-five cent part can shut down an entire JEEP for the love of Pete? But I'm counting it as an answered prayer! Thank you, Lord!! Keep answering me, please because I'm going to keep asking!

Just had to share!

On the note of sharing, please check out my new sections--favorite devotionals that I have found along the way and also other "testimonies" of my own. There are some new stories that I added recently and some more to come as soon as I get a chance! Thanks for reading!

Who wants to see.....

Easter pictures!!!!


Hey, it was only two months ago! Gimme a break, I'm still dealing with the no camera cord situation, which will soon be no camera as my mom has quite sharply requested that her camera be returned to her asap! Hopefully, she'll forgive me if I "forget" about it for a few more days. I GOTTA have a camera for Brooke's birthday party, don't I?

Speaking of, my baby *tear tear, sniff sniff* turned 11 yesterday! Her party is this weekend, though. I still cannot believe it. I have no little ones anymore except for all the ones at the daycare. I'll always have them. But I miss babies. It's time for someone close to me to have one....hmmm...just don't know who I could be talking about. Could I mean... Mia!?


Yes, I do! But alas! She got a dog this weekend instead. A great dane of all things! They named her Lola and I'll share a picture ....well someday! I told her she was nuts! Doesn't she know the bigger the dog, the bigger its poop! Hello?

But anyway, back to MY baby! Happy Birthday, precious! I know you are looking forward to your party. She has requested her own cell phone. We're *thinking* about that. But the other thing she asked for was a cabbage patch doll. Now she already has one that she's had for a few years but this one is different. This one, she wants to be black!

That child is obsessed and crazy about people of color! All her favorite kids at the daycare (with the exception of a few) are black or Indian. My mom just got a new baby at her daycare from Kenya and Brooke is in LOVE, I kid you not. That is her goal when she grows up--to adopt a black little girl! The darker the better and she wants it to have the nappiest hair! (is it okay to use the word "nappy"--I don't know, I guess I will have to learn all this pc stuff if she ever DOES actually get a real black child!) So we are currently searching for a black baby doll, which if I'm completely honest--I think that's cool!



Okay, so onto Easter pictures...

Dying eggs...





check this egg out! Dylan left it in the "cammo" dye overnight just to see what it would do! Looks gross doesn't it?



hunting eggs (with money inside!)




posing for a family pic...




My awesome parents...



Hope you enjoy!

Not much time...

for blogging these days. Dylan's last day of school is tomorrow. The girls have been done and I began packing up the Discovery Room today. No sniffles here, though. I am VERY excited about the summer and the upcoming school year as a 4K teacher! God just confirms every morning to me that that is exactly what He wants me to do! I love it when He makes the path so clear! I just thank Him for the opportunity to work with such fabulous people, especially my boss. She is just so awesome--there are no words!

Summer work schedule begins next week but there will still be time for what I make time for and that includes Brooke's 11th birthday and Jeff's 40th birthday coming up in the same weekend. Also looking forward to the Nielsen's weekly pool parties and just everyday summer fun.

Jeff got great news today--his company got a contract to build a bridge in Massachusettes which means two years worth of work for the company and some significant overtime for him. We are not sure when that will start. It could be next week, it could be a few months. But it is definite. God provides! And He sustains and that's basically what we're doing right now.

We are starting to feel like it's time to move again. We are just outgrowing that ltitle house. But we want to be very careful and prayerful about when and where. The house we're in now--it was a total God thing, the location, the timing and everything and I'll have to share that sometime. And we have been so blessed to have wonderful landlords. In fact, sometimes I'm overwhelmed by God's blessings in the people he surrounds us with--landlords, bosses, friends, dance teachers, family, etc. And I have been feeling for awhile now that it's time to move but the urgency lately is just impressing upon me that I know I must remain faithful in prayer that God will lead us to the house he has picked out for us. Until then, please pray that He will sustain us where we are and help us maintain the space! LOL

My van is another thing that's been worrying me lately. It's still going good and that's yet another testimony that I need to type up and share sometime--another God thing! But it DOES have over 300,000 miles on it, is 16 years old and the wear and tear is really, I mean REALLY starting to show. I have really enjoyed it and I have really enjoyed not having a car payment for the last 5 years (we got the van 3 years ago--about ready to go into debt for a car again when it was practically dumped in our laps by some more wonderful friends!) I am so not looking forward to more debt (sorry Dave Ramsey, I've tried and continue to try and stick to your plan but it just aint for normal folks like us! Maybe when I get my first book deal! lol) but I'm afraid the time is quickly coming upon us. I would love for the van to hold out until God puts us in our next home but honestly, I'll be grateful if it makes it through the summer! And what a hot summer it will be--did I mention it has no air? No big deal, throw my hat on and roll down the windows. I've done it before!

Nonetheless, Lord, I will STILL praise you! You are awesome and wonderful and all those words that I just don't have right now. I am so thankful and so humbled for all that you do not just in my life but in the lives of those around me.

And to all my lurky-lous out there that NEVER comment---I love you, too and hope you find God's blessings this week!

My latest read...

The Duggars: 20 and Counting!

I'll be honest. When I first heard about this family several years ago, I thought the same thing as everyone else--they must be nuts!! But after a few years of watching them on Discovery and TLC, I have fallen completely in love! And everyone is entitled to their own opinion about having lots of children. But I believe they have more business having 20+ kids than some people in this world have even having ONE kid! I love Michelle Duggar's (and hey, she's got my name, that's in her favor!) sweet spirit. How I wish I'd been blessed with such a disposition.

A lot of what's in the book is repetitive of what you would learn from their shows. But there is a lot more detail about how things were when they were first married, more from their own childhoods and where they've learned the various things they practice today--spirituality, frugality, etc. I love hearing other people's stories, particularly what makes them who they are. I find it gives me a much deeper appreciation for the vast differences there are among us all. And I always try to take something away from each person's story to incorporate into making myself a better person and believe me, I found a LOT in this book to take!

I don't pretend to believe that our family would ever completely mirror theirs (or any other family) nor would we want to (no insult intended) But they definitely have some great ideas and some fresh approaches to accomplishing harmony in the home. Actually, it's probably NOT fresh. They get a lot of what they do from the Bible. It just seems fresh because most of us--even those of us who love the Lord--don't or are not always successful in putting those concepts into practice.

One thing that really struck me was their belief about obedience. This is definitely something I have had difficulty with in my lifetime--being obedient to my parents and being obedient to God and I think it's something a lot of people struggle with. We are born wanting to do what we want to do and we don't always understand that sometimes, what we want isn't what's best for us or that the world doesn't revolve around us (shocking, isn't it?) If we're smart, we learn early that obedience brings about many blessings. I'm obviously not very smart. That's not to say that I haven't been blessed. I have been blessed far beyond what I deserve. but I can definitely look back and see that I have missed out on a lot of what God had for me because I refused to heed Him. I don't spend a lot of time looking back though. It's pointless. Id' rather concentrate on using what I have learned to press on. I just pray that my kids don't have to learn this the hard way like I did! That is why we are going to try and incorporate some of the methods I learned in this book to try and emphasize obedience to our children. Now, it's not like I've let them run buck wild up until this point. But it's always been more of a "do what I say because I'm the mom" kind of thing without rhyme or reason. We are going to break it down further and discuss more instead of having everything be either totally lax or totally authoritarian. We are going to discuss the four points of complete obedience--instant, cheerful, thorough, and unconditional. We've already begun having some great discussions and teachable moments.

We've also come up with a baseline of family goals, though when we have this discussion I'm sure the kids will probably have some to add. I call them goals instead of rules because to me, the word "rules" just seems to set us up for failure. And we will fail. Even Jeff and I do not behave appropriately 100% of the time because we, too, are fallible human beings. But we can still have GOALS--something to strive for. much of what I've come up with so far is common sense. But the wording I did get from the Duggars and it seems more positive than "Do this, not this or don't do this" and I've long been a fan of positive discipline and positive attitudes, my whole life really (why dwell on the bad? I just don't get pessimistic people!) but particularly since I read Karol Ladd's book, The Power of a Positive Mom years ago.

Also included in this wonderful book, as I alluded to earlier, are tips on being frugal including many wonderful frugal recipes. I have copied a few to try but of course, my rule is they don't become part of my "collection" until they have been "tried and true" by us personally. So check back in my cooking blog later to see what's been added.

And for us homeschoolers, Michelle has included many of her homeschooling resources and character training tools. Many look very interesting and I'm in the process of checking those out myself and just like with the recipes, if I find anything I plan to use, I'll be sure and share it with you.

I definitely recommend this book, even if you, like I used to, think they are "nuts". I'm positive you will find it a great read and hopefully you'll be able to take something away from it for yourself just as I did.

Blessings,

Our weekend...

God answers so many prayers for me and I am so unworthy that it always, always blows my mind how good he is to me and my family.

We have been struggling a bit this year more than ever, actually, even though we've been long sufferers of financial issues as I will share about some other time. It's actually a HUGE part of my testimony that God is indeed great and I have it on my blog "to do" list to share more about our financial woes and wonders.

But this year, for whatever reason has been even more challenging. It seems the more we try and cut back, the tighter everything gets. How is that? When we first moved to Clay almost 6 years ago, I'd just left the bank to follow God's call to become a teacher. That cut my salary by 3/4! (yes, I once made the big bucks! Hard to believe my little thrift-store shopping self ever had such a much higher standard of living) and we still had a car payment, cable bill, two phone bills and so many other things that we thought were "needs". Now we have no car payments, no cable and only a cell phone. I sew a lot of our clothes, I cook and clean frugally and have cut out so much from our "spending plan" (I've always hated the word budget because for us no two months are ever the same so it's hard to create a "budget") and still from week to week it's such a stretch! And then when something unexpected comes along like a trip to the ER or an outrageous cell phone bill (thank you, my lovely text-crazy daughter!) it blows us out of the water.

Nonetheless, even in today's economy, (are we in a recession or not? All the republicans still keep saying it's media hype but I gotta tell ya, if we're not in one, it certainly feels that way!) there are things I am indeed grateful for:

1. My husband still has his job. His overtime may have been cut out but so many at his company have been laid off indefinitely. Thank you, Lord that not only does he have seniority, he also has the skills that keep him in demand and right now I'm tahnkful that he's even getting a full 40 hours!

2. I have a job. And not just any job but a job that I love. A job that I'm good at and a job where I'm appreciated. I don't make much money right now but it will get better when my hours increase and God has even worked it out for me to continue to do what I love (homeschool my girls) while I help contribute to our family's income.

3. We have health insurance. Even though I sometimes complain about what it doesn't cover, I am glad to be able to whip that card out when I need to when so many people do not have that small luxury.

4. We do (or we did, lol) have some small savings in 401k and we still have Jeff's pension which is very, very good.

So we're not completely desolate. I hated having to pull money out of savings to keep us going but I'm glad it was there for us to do so. And getting back to what my post was originally supposed to be about--the check came just in the nick of time for us to pay some bills and take a little much needed mini break for some good family time.

Friday, we went to Atlant to Six Flags for homeschool day. It was dope, dude! (like my Randy Jackson impression!) I was a little apprehensive about going because even though it was such a good deal (for $24.50 you got admission, lunch and a return ticket) I'd heard it's always so crowded on homeschool day. It wasn't. I've been when the lines were MUCH longer. The weather was good and we spent the whole day with some good friends (the Nielsens) and had a blast!

I am still coming to terms with the fact tha tmy children are growing up fast and are no longer my babies. And also that it's not in the cards for us to have more children. I am missing my mommy-of-a-small-child days and though I'm thankful for friends who are willing to share their little ones for a few minutes at a time and for my job that allows me to be around little ones, I'm still struggling with the increasing awareness I have of my children's shortening childhood. So I try to comfort myself by looking for joy in the smallest of places, trying to embrace the positive things about having older kids. Like the fact that I didn't have to push that stroller around all those hills at Six Flags (sorry, Donna!) I didn't have to worry about changing diapers or running to the potty every five minutes (except for myself!) and having kids who are big enough to ride the big rides! Well, sort of...

Brooke is still a big weinie! We weren't able to get her on any coasters that went upside down (maybe next year) but we did get her on the Scream Machine, Wyle Coyote and the Dahlonega Mine Train. Kayti was my daredevil! She rode all those, plus the Georgia Scorcher, Goliath, the Ninja, Batman, Superman and the Mindbender! It's funny how when you think you know your kids and then they wind up being the opposite of what you expect. I would have expected Brooke to be the daredevil and Kayti to be the weinie! But whatever...

The weather was outstanding, too. It was overcast most of the morning but it never rained and there was a nice breeze, even when the sun did come out later in the day. No problem, we just hopped on the Splash Water Falls and got cooled off quickly!

We'd planned to get up early the next morning and head for Nashville (for Brooke's dance competition) and go canoeing but Nashville had so much rain the last few weeks and the water levels on the river was too high for a canoe trip. We'll have to make that up another time. So we just took our time going up there, galivanting, stopping when we saw something interesting. We had lunch at the Rainforest cafe (big mistake--$75 for hamburgers? Are you kidding me? I don't remember the one in Disney's Animal Kingdom costing that much!) and then we walked around the mall--the one they tore down Opryland to build. It still blows my mind that Opryland is no longer there. That was a HUGE part of my childhood and I miss it terribly. But even though I'm not much for shopping we still had a good time walking around the mall before going to the hotel for some rest and pool time.

The team did great at competition the next day--hi gold on everything and we had a nice ride home, even though Jeff came down with some kind of sinus infection that was making him nauseous causing me to have to drive the whole way.

So not a bad Mother's Day. I can't think of a better way to spend it unless my own mom had been with us. And like I said, I do realize that we are tremendously blessed.

Blessings,