Yesterday, we went to the John O’Quinn Ranch to visit with my granny and papaw. John (my aunt’s nephew) passed away a few months ago, and the ranch is being sold to benefit John’s foundation for more philanthropy work benefiting mankind. We are especially glad we got to visit. It is 7000 acres of the most beautiful land I have ever seen. It sits directly on the Blanco river, and the hills are like mountains.
There is Aunt Pill’s house, John’s house, and my granny and papaw stayed in the Buffalo house. We found out just why it’s called that, too. The buffalo come around dusk to graze and look just majestic. I’m still trying to find the words for it all. There are also several other residences on the ranch for whoever might be visiting. There are some cabooses from the movie, “Wild, Wild West” that have been turned into staying quarters as well. They were so cool! The movie “Lonesome Dove” was also filmed here.We had to literally drive through the river a few times to get to certain places. Maggie waded in the water and the rapids were gorgeous.
The masoleum where John was laid to rest is sitting atop the river where there is an enormous rosewood chair that Aunt Pill said John loved sitting in.
The pavillion was lovely, and we grilled weenies and I got to catch up with Uncle Phillip, Aunt Gayle, Uncle Harold, Aunt Laura, Aunt Shirley, Aunt Sis, and Aunt Pill. It was the first time I can remember in many years that I was with all of Granny’s siblings. I feel blessed to have had this time with them. Scott, Maggie and I were drunk on fresh, crisp air, and we are still in awe of God’s magnificent handy work. WOW!

A New Experience with good friends…and karaoke!

The evening before Easter, Scott, Maggie, and I went to our friends’ house, Simona and Anthony. Simona is from Trinidad and Anthony is from Haiti. We have become such great friends with them through church, and we absolutely love them so much! They have 3 children, Carice, Chara, and Corey. Maggie loves playing with them, and they are so good to her.
None of the Maurices have ever dyed Easter eggs, so we boiled a ton of eggs and brought over all the dying necessities, and went to town! The kids had so much fun, and it was such a joy to watch their family have a good time. I was blessed to be there for there for a “first” moment.
We sang Karaoke and had pizza, too. It was so fun watching Scott sing some 80’s tunes. Hilarious! Maggie even made up her own song and loved the microphone.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to school we go…

Today, Maggie had her Spring Open House for Montessori. Scott had to take her, because I am, yet again, running fever. I went back to the doctor today, and I’ve relapsed with another upper respiratory infection. Hopefully this medicine will do the trick.
Maggie got to “teach” Scott how to work in a Montessori class room, and she was so excited to see Shreya and her mama, Sarah.
It was a beautiful day today, and God has blessed us with Maggie’s school environment.

My friends..oh how I love them.

Lily and MagPie

My beautiful friend!

Us!

Last week, the Bland’s and the Maxwell’s met up for some good Mexican food and some even better conversation and laughs! I am so thankful that my friend is so close to me. I love that our girls are close in age and that they are both such sweetie pies! We had such a great time catching up and laughing about our old college days! WOW…that seems long ago. I love these people to pieces, and I am thankful beyond measure for my friend!

And the beat goes on…

This week: I’ve had the flu, missed two days of work, missed working on my Master Life for 3 days, and spent the rest of the week trying to catch up on everything. Wouldn’t call it my best week of life, but I sure would say that I learned from it. For the first time in my adult life, I found myself craving time with my Master. I wanted to read His word and engage in learning scripture and learning more about myself so that I can be a disciple of Him. Even when I was sick and aching and cold with fever, I had God right there in my heart and mind. Today’s sermon for Palm Sunday was wonderful, and I rededicated my life to Christ at church.
I feel a renewed sense of spirit, mind and body. I know that I will still make many mistakes in my daily walk, and a while ago, I would have just given up on myself. I have finally learned, after 25 years of being a worldly Christian, how to be a Spiritual one. I know that when I fail, no mistake is too great for Christ to wipe clean. I have to just “get back on the wagon,” so to speak.
Scott and I are working on the fruits of the spirit this week and throughout our walk. We are learning how to react when a spontaneous emotion hits us. “The fruits of the spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Against these there is no law.” (Galations 5:22-23) This morning, I was feeling grumpy and tired, and Scott asked me if I’d like a piece of fruit! HA! I probably needed more than one.
Maggie is doing well at school, and I’m so proud at how well she is doing in math. She is doing 1st and 2nd grade mathematics, and she is working on phonics for reading. She’s taking an art class on Tues and Thurs at her school, and she’s becoming a regular little Picasso. 🙂 These are the pictures of her artwork above. She hunted eggs tonight at Kids for Christ, and she had to find all the eggs that spelled JESUS. She had fun, but is still not very interested in singing in the children’s musical. I’m hoping that gets better when she can actually read the words to the music.
We are going to start swimming lessons soon, so that I won’t freak out everytime she gets in the water this summer, like I did last summer. I’m looking forward to summer craft days at the library with her, and our yearly mother-daughter overnight trip to Galveston and Moody Gardens. Can’t wait to see what the summer holds for us.

Another week..

This past week was hectic. Scott started his new job at Trevino, and we are now back to being a 2 car family! Yay for that! I am now taking Maggie to school on my way to work, and so we’re having to get up earlier. But, we seemed to do just fine for our first week. We’re getting the hang of everything. I sure miss Scott being home when I come home from work, though. I got spoiled. Yesterday, Maggie, Scott and I went to a Traders’ Flea Market. It was interesting to say the least. Maggie walked away with a Bubble blowing gun toy. She won’t quit blowing bubbles in Bart’s face, but he’s not complaining. She has battled pink eye since Friday, and it is gone now, but with a left over burst blood vessel. Her eye is really red, so I’m probably going to take her to the doctor tomorrow after work.
Scott and I went to our weekly Bible study tonight (Master Life). It was really wonderful. We both have had to get prayer partner, and my friend Simona is mine. She has a such a sweet spirit, and she teaches school in Katy,too. I have to admit that I’m not ready for work this week. I feel a bit beat down tonight. I am praying for a cheerful attitude and a patient spirit.
No pics to post this time..just haven’t had time.

Teaching

Add Image
//www.youtube.com/get_player Here is a video of me teaching my 6th graders our new vocabulary program called Word Junction. I am really just posting this for my mother and granny to see, because they asked, and it was too big to put into an email to them. So, hopefully it turns out okay. It was an hour-long session that got cropped and edited to about 5 minutes to be used for trainings. I am grateful that I was asked, but I sure do wish I was skinny right about now! YIKES! Where did my 17 year old self go? Enjoy.

A Collage of Happenings

Let’s see…Now I’ve actually gotten this blog up and running and even “decorated” a bit. Yay! Charlene is winning with pictures right now, though, so I’ve got to keep up. At the end of the year, we can submit our blogs to a place that will turn them in a memory book for us. So.. we’re pretty much doing this for ourselves. Can’t wait!

On to other business. Maggie has gone back to Montessori after her stay at Texas Children’s. She is doing much better and is up to her “I don’t wanna listen” self. She is so stubborn! We went to the book fair for her school, and we bought some books for Mrs. Cecilia’s wish list (see pics above). Everyone was glad to see her back, happy and healthy. Let’s hope she stays that way.
Tomorrow I will be filmed teaching a vocabulary lesson to my students, and I am so nervous. I am about to head to school to clean up my messy classroom. Praying for the best. I may not come out of there alive!