My baby's first High School Dance...
The Happies at his house!
Someone commented on facebook to leave room for Jesus...LOL
Cute huh?
And really pretty flowers...I think it gave just the right amount of UMPH to their sharp black and white!!
Here's Curtiss...sweet, cute, short, funny, and so far, we love him!!
I have learned a lot these past weeks. I have learned that if you love someone with your entire heart, it's devastating when that heart is broken. I found myself curled into a ball on several occasions since Jack and Brie broke up. I found solace in a couple of my friends, I found discord with people I love, and I found peace within myself because my God was here. I have learned that I will not get so attached to the next boys to come along, or girl in Joseph's case, but I will love them and allow them a place in my heart. I will be able to let go a LOT easier than I was this time. I hear one friend tell me that I am completely demented, and he meant it, because of my feelings for Jack, and then I have another friend tell me that it makes sense because he was a part of my family for 2 years...a kid who raided my refrigerator, did his homework, played video games with my son, cried on my shoulder, and loved my daughter in my home 3 or 4 times a week. And he loved me...a lot! So how is it that I wouldn't get attached? I didn't appreciate being called "demented" but to some degree I agree. It really is ludicrous to still be hurting when both the kids have moved on to other people, however, my youth pastor told me that my empathy and my sometimes over-the-top feelings for the kids are why he needs me to be a leader in the first place. Apparently I have something none of the other leaders have...I have a unique ability to bond with the kids, listen and feel their pain so that I can understand it in order to help fix it, even if it causes me pain. OK, that's weird. I don't know if I like that. So, my question is...is this pain I feel right now mine or theirs? I hope it's mine...I don't want them to be hurting like this! Anyway, I have found peace and strength finally and I have even cleared out a place in my heart for the new boy...Curtiss...he's a champ of boys. The manners he has are impeccable and he is a true gentleman and funny as can be. I love him already, but at a distance...for now.
I was once confronted about my blog and told that if I can't write something positive, then I shouldn't write it down. Well, I haven't felt positive in a long time. I've tried...I guess I can say there is some positivity in my life because, with all that keeps happening to us financially, I haven't fallen apart like I have in the past. So that's something! Right? OK, so...I'm going to write down the bad stuff now because I want to document the way God gets us through it! As you know, or may know, we opted to let our house go back to the bank back in April and we moved into a tiny duplex. A 3-bedroom with 6 of us...Joseph doesn't have a room of his own since my grandma lives here, but he's been really great about it. The price tag is less than half of what we paid at the house...BONUS! We were doing great for about 6 weeks...then Erick lost his job at American General :( What a devastating blow. He found a job he likes right away, though, but for a huge pay cut. Steadily we have fallen behind again. Our church has helped us, he has had some promising opportunities arise, but only to be over-qualified for, or too far away to commute, or whatever reason they give. His most recent opportunity seems to be a great job, with a bad shift, but good pay and the opportunity for benefits later on! We'll hear something next week. God has helped us tremendously through our church, our friends, anonymous gifts, and the gift of time. Erick's original contract for this job he's doing was August 31st...it has since been extended through Thanksgiving! Giving us more time to find the job he needs, wants and loves. God is amazing and will see us through this trying time, even if we have to file bankruptcy, which is very certainly looming as things keep popping up and creditors keep wanting all we owe right this second and are not compassionate, which isn't their job and I understand that they do have this job to do. But, I've not lost hope...God will prevail and through Him, so will we!
Since I get on Facebook every single day, I find I ignore my blog more than I used to, so here is kind of an update...
The first 3-day week of school has been good. According to the earning levels mandated by the state, we do qualify for free or reduced lunches and textbooks, so that'll help, especially with a freshman, and the instituting of the account system a few years ago helps keep that anonymous, so there's no embarrassment. Normally I wouldn't care and my kids have pretty much told all their friends, but we go to a stereotypical rich kids' school and there has already been some things said about the size of our new place as opposed to the house, sooo...I'm happy with anonymity.
Band is starting up with an 8-hour Saturday practice tomorrow, and the next Saturday, and the next...then I think the 12th they have practice AND the Central Invitational...sooo...lotta work for this! She seems to like it, but is still on the fence. Guess we'll see how she feels when they start their major winning! LOL
Olivia seems nervous. She doesn't have any classes with friends and doesn't make friends easily, so lunch is a time of relief and comfort for her. I think she'll be more focused when she doesn't have her very best friends in her classes, but we'll see.
And Joseph, no complaints from him, he's always joyful and loves his teacher already. Of course, his teacher adored his big sister when she was dominating on the Spell Bowl team, so she may already have a soft spot for the Shoup family!! :)
Church is going great...still teaching Sunday School to the Middle School class and running the occasional Wednesday night RIOT and Sunday night Refuge. Might be fully in charge, along with Jimmy, on Wednesday nights while Dave teaches a marriage class for several weeks. Still in prayer about that. Got some cool things coming up with the youth, including a retreat that band will most definitely interfere with, but we can go part of the time...
Fees are enormous for band, with the regular fees and Grand Nationals, but oh well. It's an honor for them!
Tonight is the 24 hour prayer vigil at YHOP...I plan to be there part of the time. Time to connect with the Lord in a major way. Cannot wait...speaking of which, I had better get my errands ran and nap some...will be up LATE LATE LATE! Take care all!!
...we now have 2 teenage girls in our home!!!!! (as of July 24th when my Olivia turned 13) I'm scared...and excited...but mostly scared LOL. I have had it easy with Brie so far as a teenager, but Olivia is a whole different person with a completely different personality and way different feelings. I do look forward to seeing how differently I have to deal with her issues though, no matter how scared I am. Briana turned 15 on July 5th, and, sadly, I left that day on a missions trip. She had a pretty big party, at least for a place this size, capped off by the Newburgh fireworks that were delayed a day due to the rain and a sleepover...no pics of the party were taken however, because I had the camera and nobody remembered we have camera phones...LOL I did snap one shot on the 4th when we gave her our gifts though. Her friends who came included: Alyssa, Hayley, Michaela, Allison, Curtiss, Jake, and, of course, Jack. Her sissy and bubby were here too :) as well as Daddy, who had to play chaperon, much to his delight...LOL ;) Olivia had a party as well. She had 3 girls, Rachel, Sami, and Jordan and her sissy and bubby too, but she had me here, too. Daddy was here long enough to get birthday cheesecake and see her open gifts before he took Joseph, Joseph's friend Trevor and our favorite little babysitee, Ben to an Otters baseball game! The girls went to a movie, The Proposal, then came home for junk food, watched some TV, watched a DVD that they made, and just goofed off in her room, plotting their next adventure...I think they had fun! 
Brie was the recipient of a new Ipod and an Itunes card from us. Her old one was passed down to me :) Now I'm hip, happenin' and groovy!! Jack was the poster boy for gift giving...he had previously spent a wad of cash on her at St. John's summer social, a movie and dinner, but then he and his family surprised her at the pool on their way out of town(Florida) with a basket full of girlie goodies...a bottle of Bath & Body works body spray (Midnight Pomegranate, which is purple), yummy smelling candles from there and a cute owl candle holder, a really cute, purple "helifino" (lol, it looks like a hippo, elephant, and a rhino), much candy, and a pair of purple earrings...do you see a pattern? Purple is her fave color! It was just very thoughtful of all of them! Alyssa got her a gift card to a music website, Allison got her a Target gift card, and Hayley and Michaela got her some bangles, earrings, and some other stuff like that. Curtiss gave her money, which of course, was the best gift of all...LOL JK All in all, she was very happy I think.
Here are some cuties...Sami, Olivia, and Brie at Livi's party.
Sami and Livi watching the DVD that Livi, Rachel, Jordan, Joseph, and Rachel's brother Jacob had made...it was pretty hilarious!!
Rachel, Jordan, Sami, and Livi goofing off!!
Livi opening gifts...we got her an Ipod for graduating 6th grade, so for her birthday we got her a $50 Itunes card as well as 2 pairs of new shoes (some nikes and some chuck taylors baby...way cute), Wal-Mart gift card, and the movie for all the girls...I think she was happy with that stuff. Her guests got her an array of stuff, especially earrings since she just recently got her ears pierced. Birthdays are good for loading up on earrings when you only have a couple pairs...lol She also got money, a Wal-Mart gift card, and a Twilight tote bag that I have tried to steal a few times, getting caught red-handed each time...lol 
...and her birthday cheesecake, with a couple extra pieces since there wasn't a strawberry piece in the one we bought! She's nice to her sissy! And there you have it...the tale of my two teens! I love you girls very much and am so glad you had wonderful birthdays!! Well, I realize now that I didn't take pictures of us actually WORKING...lol. But we did! In fact, I think I didn't take many because I actually was working the entire time other than the required water breaks, etc. So anyway, here are some random pics of our missions extravaganzas!!
The beautiful Smoky Mountains as photographed at Cades Cove National Park during the Middle School missions trip..beautiful scenery!
Jimmy and his farmer's tan in a stream in Cades Cove...it was cold and I still wasn't allowed to swim, so I stayed on dry land :) Yeah, that was my excuse!
Tom Cooney and me. He was our surprise speaker during the MS missions after lucky Dave and I also had the great fortune of spending the previous week with him. We we just beyond excited when we heard he was coming! We love Tom, he's just the most amazing man!!
Anna, Madeline, Alex, and Samantha at the Karaoke place...the sang "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne...they did great and had fun!
Anna, Morgan, Lauren, and Maddie with Jake and Elwood Blues...lol
Middle School Missions team: Front Row: Madeline, Maddie, Morgan, Mary, Anna, Alex, Chandler; 2nd Row: Jimmy, Lauren, myself, and Marcus; Back row: Dave, Daniel, and Dane (Tom's interpreter) What a crew!!
Anna, Mary (with Team Effort), Maddie, and Lauren...oh...and Marcus...after completing the priming inside Don's house!
High School missions...evening fun!! Evan and Jack on the boards!
My helpers the first 2 days (they ditched me after that to do more glamorous things like build a wheelchair ramp...lol) Alec and Amanda!!
The MT gang (part of them at least)..Jack, Brie, Olivia, Laura, Jake, Alyssa, Hayley, Michaela, Ryan, Emily, and Grace!!Spent the last 2 weeks on the road...first to Anniston, Alabama, then to Gatlinburg Tennessee on a mission from God. Two different, but same missions trips...different in that the first was the high-schoolers and the 2nd was the middle schoolers. The same in that, to our surprise, the most wonderful man you could ever imagine meeting was also our speaker during the middle school trip. We had just spent a week with Tom Cooney, a deaf Pastor from Florida and avid Team Effort member, and we got to again the 2nd week. He taught us about sign language of course, but he also taught us how to become part of the deaf world with laughter, love, and just pouring your heart and soul out. I've never cried over leaving a virtual stranger before, but he was just the best...he told us his stories about how he met Helen Keller, several Presidents, how he became deaf and learned to sign, etc...but out goals for the 2 weeks were to aid those who didn't have the capacity to help themselves. First, in Anniston, we helped out in the Spanish community...2 families, to be more specific, who lived close together in a trailer park. The trailer I was assigned to was owned by Erica, a single mom of 2 little bitty ones, 3 year old Ariana, and 6 month old Gabriel...dolls. Her home was very dilapidated and infested and our job was to clean it the best we could(after they bombed it for 3 days before we got there, and lay some laminate floor in the kitchen and hall. It was only 98 degrees outside with 80 percent humidity and she had no air conditioning, so it was worse in the trailer...I am so spoiled. The work was painstakingly meticulous because what we had to work with was wretched and we had limited time and funds. Ideally we would have replaced the floor before we laid the laminate because it was uneven and broken, but we had to work with what we had, and in all honesty, it looked 5 billion times better than before! I had never laid a floor before, so it was amazing to me! My kids and I did a great job. Some of the crew on the outside built her a new deck and cleaned her trailer with bleach, picked up garbage, and played with her daughter! It was a challenge to speak Spanish, but we managed to communicate pretty effectively...
The second trailer, owned by 26 year old Martin, was assigned the task of building a wheel chair ramp. He became paralyzed from the waist down as the result of a car accident a couple years ago. The day we got finished was his birthday, so he got a really wonderful present...as well as a cake...he was just as giddy as you can imagine!! It was a great time!!
The Middle School missions team was assigned to do some minor repair and painting for a deaf man. We scraped the whole outside, primed, and replaced some of the facia, then primed the interior to get it ready for the next week's crew to come in and paint everything. His house was huge, built on a hill, and it was extremely slow going because of the interesting architecture. The man was deaf, so he could have done it himself mostly except that he was recently diagnosed with diabetes and prone to fainting...not good for all the uneven ladder work necessary! Pastor Tom came along 3 of the 4 days, but the 4th day, we managed to communicate effectively thanks to what Tom taught us and some of my skills...I always knew my signing might come in handy one day! So happy and so empowered now!! Thanks to all who got me involved!! Ok so I have to go but I have pictures...will post later...supper time now! Peace, Love, and LILY...
...I am now addicted to Twilight. I avoided it. I avoided it for a long time and was proud of myself, then the girls rented the movie and it was pretty good...of course, they told me, "Mom, the books are a billion times better...:)" UGH...oh well, halfway through Twilight and have New Moon waiting...should get a good chunk of it finished later today in my sick bed! :)
Dr. Basinski said the surgery was perfect! One can only hope it took 100% and I'll never have another period..however, if they are extremely light, that's ok too. At least they won't rule my life any more :) The thing is, I have an extremely high tolerance for pain, and I am in some good pain. I've been whining like a baby and haven't been able to keep anything down, which means the pain meds have come up, too. I just finished some soup and a special K bar. If I keep those down, I will try for a pain pill so I can sleep...otherwise, I'm happy it's over and hopeful that I will be free to exercise, participate in activities, and just have the general self confidence that NOT saturating my feminine things, undies, clothes, sheets, furniture, etc. will give me! I wanna live life full on...
