Satruday's Life on the Ranch: Apple Pies, Football Practices and 1 BIG Announcement!!!!

I feel like its been forever since I have put up a new blog post

and so much has happened in the last week or so.

 

Last week in the girl's cottage after saying our goodbyes to sweet, Shannie, who went off to camp (with the house parents kiddos, Jada and Julian) the girls and I decided to make an apple pie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The girls worked very hard on it and were extremely proud of themselves. It was a good opportunity for them to practice not only their baking skills but also to use more simple skills like following instructions and basic math in the measuring and multiplying for our doubled recipe.

 

The night was also a bit frustrating as one girl decided not to participate and instead had a little bit of a meltdown. Instead, she  ended up going we call OIC or Out of Instructional Control where we have to call program managers in for help. On the surface this was all because I wouldn't let her eat Ramen instead of the baked chicken I had worked on cooking in the crockpot all day.

 

In her defense she is dealing with a lot right now and this wasn't really about the Ramen at all. It was a testing of my limits and an expression of her frustrations with me for beginning to try to treat her like one of the big girls as she transitions this summer into someone who is more ready for middle school in the fall. She fussed and screamed and I prayed and did my best  to keep my cool and in the end we made progress. All was forgiven, she learned a lesson and somehow we managed to make these fabulous apple pies in the middle of it! We kept one for our cottage to eat and took one over to the precious Program Manager who helped me out during all of it after hours via text.

 

 I add this in only to be honest about how our days go. A post that includes only the happy moments of the day where I end up looking like Super Mom baking apple pies and such may make for a feel good, family fun blog, but since the blog I am writing is more about our true life on the ranch and letting folks know where you can be praying for us, I have to share the good, the bad and the ugly.

 

We are learning that days like this are ok, good even. We are learning, really that there is no good or bad or ugly,

just us and the kids and this crazy life we all lead together where grace abounds and even the most bruised apples can turn out to make some of the best pies!

 

 

 

 

 The Little Boys Pee Wee football started up and our guys from C 11 (Alton and Tyler) could not be more excited! The older boys in the cottage have set a good example of hard work when it has come to football over the years and these little guys are eager to show them that they can do it, too. Though the "little boys" are not so little anymore! Tyler is the tallest one out there and both are getting some great comments from the coaches during the pre-season practices that I have sat in the 100 degree heat to watch.

The first scrimmage is tonight and we cant wait!

Life in Texas, where Football is Life

 and it feels so good to be a part of it again !

 

 

And this leads me to our big announcement! After we spent our last four days off in New Orleans once more packing and cleaning and repacking again, we ended up just getting a storage unit down there to put the rest of our stuff in. Cliff's sister and her family are moving into the house down there so we needed to be out, but since we are still singles here we didn't have a cottage big enough to move all of our things into. So, we decided it would be easier to just store it in Nola until we got our own cottage in Texas rather than try to move it the seven hours in a moving truck. It was quite an ordeal and once again we couldn't have done it without my parents' help, but we got it all moved and neatly stored away.

 

I joked with Cliff on the ride back home to Houston that wouldn't it be funny if now that we stored all of our stuff in New Orleans, they gave us a cottage in Houston and we just had to move it again, and sure enough, that is exactly what happened! WE GOT OUR OWN COTTAGE!!!

 

We couldn't be more thrilled!! If you follow the blog you know that we have been praying for this opportunity since we set foot on the BGC campus four months ago. We have loved our time as singles in many ways, and have truly fallen in love with the kids we have served, but we are looking forward to this transition into being the main teaching parents and having our own cottage.

 

As it turns out it was none of the couples that we suspected that might be leaving. In fact, its some of our closest friends here that we have made so far, so that part is a bit bitter sweet, but the husband has been having some health issues that have led them to conclude that this is just a much too full time job for him to pursue at this time.

 

It is a girls cottage, Cottage 3, which is also a little shocking to us as we for some reason were just convinced that we would end up with boys. But we know these girls probably the best on campus because they are the girls that we spent our time with during our preview weekend back in April. They already know and love Campbell and they are used to having a little guy in the house since the couple who is leaving also has a small son.
In fact as I think back on it, this pic of Bug, which was the first taken at BGC back in April when we came to preview was taken on the porch of Cottage 3. That is so like God!

 

 

We will star soon! August 19! In our family nines are always significant somehow. All the women in our family were born on nines, Cliff and I were married, as were my parents, on a nine and so I find it fitting that we found out about our new cottage on July 29, and start on August 19 (also mom's bday!)

 

We are now feeling the anxiety of, oh my gosh! We are doing this for real in less than a month!! Haha

 

But we know that God's hand is upon us and He will both calm our fears and lead us.

 

School starts for our kids on August 24th so we will hit the ground running!!! I already have a Fall Bucket list I'm working on in Pinterest!  I really am so excited!!  



 

This is also a cottage like our one in C2 that had several leave or graduate at the end of this school year so there are three spots open that will be filled soon, but the girls in there who will be our girls that you can begin praying for are Brandi (big sister to Alton in 11 in the football pic above), Selam, Billie, Brianna, Kelly, and Erin.

 

I will finish out this post with a few more pics of the rest of the fun stuff from this last week including the big lego building contest and as always, some Bug-tography as I have come to call it. I will also add our new prayer requests at the bottom. Thank you so much for your prayers which have brought us this far! Keep em up, because they are working!!

 

 

 



Sweet Bug sleeping on the way home from Nola

Tyler pretending to eat the ugly cake I made



Bug playing with the lego guy he made

Yoda, Bug, Spiderman

Bug and his good friend, Royal. I love these!!

 

Lego creations!!

 

This is all the kids who came out for the story time and Lego Creation Challenge this afternoon. In the hot pink on the R is Selam, in the red shirt with arms crossed is Brianna and in the dress and white jacket is Erin. Kelly and Billie are older girls and did not come.



Prayer Requests:

Pray for us as we transition into our new cottage and take on full responsibility!! Eeek!!

Pray for us to wrap our brains around the fact that we have a girls cottage.

Pray for the boys and girls that we have built relationships with so far. We have already seen some hurt feelings and kick back because of feelings of abandonment as we move on from being singles in their cottage. Pray we can continue to foster these relationships and for the next singles who will take our place with them.

Pray for our new group of girls. Selam, Erin, Brianna, Billie, and Kelly. Pray for them as the will be grieving the loss of their former teaching parents who are moving on and for them to accept us as their new ones. Pray for the relationships that we build with them to be strong as it is our desire to be a part of their lives for as long as possible.

Pray for the three new girls who are not here yet that will be e chosen soon to be a part of our cottage. Pray that those who choose these girls will listen to the Lord and bring just the exact right girls who need Cliff and I the most!

Pray for our move and decisions we have to make regarding the logistics of it.