In a nutshell...

1. Thanks so much for those of you who continue to lift up my sister and her family up. They were supposed to arrive at DFW today. I was feeling sick at heart this morning as I prayed, I am well aware there are far worse things that could be happening in our family, and yet I also now see us living out Proverbs 13:12, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick. " The Message nails it with , "Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around."I am still holding on to the thought that they will get a phone call this week that says...You are a go. That sudden good break has got to be around the corner. Somehow, someway it will happen...You will hear a loud cheer and praise to the Lord when it does.

2. There is no better way to ensure that your child will develop problems with potty training than to announce on the WWW that they have got it down. As we were enjoying lunch with our friends sweet Benjamin said, "Excuse me mom, do have any other clothes for me?" As soon as I saw his face I knew what he had done. I promptly picked him up (quite gingerly) and carried him to the parking lot where we were given a diaper (Thanks Eli) to put Benjamin in. While I was giving him the baby wipe bath in Cracker Barrel parking lot Benjamin said, "Do you think this is funny?" I said, "No, not right now..." He said. "Thats ok mom, we can just laugh about this later."

3. Over Memorial Day weekend my dad and Tony decided it was time to tag and castrate some of the spring calves...We decided to go watch, not knowing that watching meant you actually got pulled into the whole process. The boys loved cheering on their dad, but one of their highlights was when they saw their Precious get in there and start mixing it up. (Don't worry, Suzy did not castrate anything, just helped hold the gate.) I was happy to just be in charge of taking pictures. By the way, Benjamin is going crazy missing his Precious (we are too, the rest of us just are not as vocal.)

4. Swim Lessons...we have made it through 5 with 3 more to go. This morning Payton walked in,looked around at everyone, and said, "I am really feeling nervous this morning, I don't want to be here, I wish I knew how this would go..." No one but me was listening...and I had to smile...Payton is many things, but no woman will ever accuse him of internalizing his emotions. Both boys love the water, just not the feel of going underwater. Baby steps...everyday a bit closer. My brother reminded me today we were in jr. high before we stopped physically holding our nose and I think we turned out ok.

5. My dad got back in town just in time for Father's day. We were all ready to see him. We had a good time laughing and eating together...so thankful for all the men in our lives who have shown us what being a dad is all about. I could not be more thankful for the dad I have, the dad he had, the dad my mom had, the dad my brother-in-laws are to my nieces and nephews, the dad my brother is,the dad my husband has, the dad my husband is...they all model the Heavenly Father's love in such a beautiful way. We celebrated them all yesterday!

6. Our neighbor asked us to keep her cat...(at this point everyone who knows us well groans) I said, no problem...All we had to do was feed her once a day, it was only 3 days, she said I would probably never even see the cat, NO problem. We literally had a 2 minute conversation about it. Then later, (At approximately 11:30 at night later) she calls back and explains to our answering machine (everyone knows the Brooks family has not seen the other side of 10 since we put our wedding rings on.), that she forgot to mention the cat is free bleeder (WHAT?!), that sometimes it gets into fights (WHAT?!), that I need to walk their back yard several times a day to see if I see any large pools of blood and if I do find the cat, she will probably be really angry, (Sure) and get her to the hospital in Southlake. (At which point Tony paused the answering machine to say "Not in one of our cars.") We did make it through the weekend with no blood anywhere. I have never been so happy to return a box of cat food in my life.

7. The other day we were at Chick-fil-a when Payton ran out of the play area and said , "Benjamin is really stuck this time." Assuming he meant in one of the tube slides I walked in to talk Benjamin down. What he meant was he was literally stuck. Somehow (our boy is a monkey) he had been climbing on top of the tube slide fallen and gotten caught between the tube slide and the plastic grate that keeps the kids from going under the play equipment. I could see his little feet dangling on one side and see his head on the other. I could not move him. Thankfully Tony was there to pull the tube slide to the side so I could lift Benjamin out. He was also able to deliver the "let's use the slide the way it was intended speech" with a little more oomph than me.

8.Yesterday I talked to my niece Bailey who has the cutest voice I have ever heard...We had a great conversation that ended with her saying,

Bailey: "Hey Aunt Becky?"

Becky: "yes, Bailey"

Bailey: "I am a lot cuter than you remember."

My other favorite Bailey quote is when she was talking to Emille (her mom) about her sister Brylee, (who is one) and said, "I sure wish I knew Spanish so I could know what Bry is saying." I love being an aunt.

9. Tony and I got a gift card from my brother to Del Friscos for Christmas. We used it this weekend for the best dinner ever. We had so much fun laughing and talking about life. Nights out always remind us we should do that more often. Its always hard to leave our kids, but we always come back to them better parents, for the simple reason that we are reminded of why we fell in love with each other in the first place. Sometimes a reminder is good, even when you don't really think you need it.

10. While Andy was in Pakistan we prayed for him constantly. Both boys would join in often through out the day. Not really knowing geography (We are working on it :))they do the best they can. We loved how every night Payton would close out his prayer with , "and Lord, we ask that you would always help Andy to remember to pack his stand."