What does the Tims family do when we get together? Play cards! UNO (Colorado style) is my personal favorite, with Spades being a close second.

(L to R - oldest brother Joey, nephew Joel, older brother Troy, nephew Jonathan and younger brother Tony)



The Tims' by marriage (aka in-laws) played Scattegories after we SKUNKED them in UNO.

2 sisters in law + 2 nieces + 2 of my 3 kids + 1 nephew = LOTS OF FUN!

We made it to Fort Worth, only stopped once and made it in 6 1/2 hours. That's my kind'a trip!

Well.... here we go again. This time, I'm afraid it's gonna be more like Hurricane Rita.

We'll be leaving here in the next few minutes and praying for an easier drive. We are going a "different" way, one that is a little out of the way but usually has less traffic (it took us 9 1/2 hours to get to Fort Worth and back for Gustav). At this late hour, hopefully the kids will sleep and the adults can stay awake!

We made it home safely and it only took us an extra 2 ½ hours...

We have to evacuate... please pray!

Been up since about 1:30 this morning preparing to evacuate. Cooking food from the fridge so we don't lose it AND so we can limit our stops on the way to Fort Worth.

I am hoping we can be on the road around 10:00 am, which is still 2 hours ahead of the special needs and voluntary evacuation. When I left for Hurricane Rita, I left a few hours after the voluntary evacuation notice and it took 3 1/2 hours longer than usual to make it home. We're a little further south, but ahead of the evacuation notice so pray we can still make good time.(3 active kids + long time in the car = NO FUN!)

In addition to praying for traveling mercies, I would ask that you please pray for our church congregation and especially our Pastor. Our Pastor's grandmother passed away earlier this week and we were scheduled to have a Memorial Service this morning at 11:00, with a burial in Georgia Wednesday morning. In addition to "Maw Maw's" passing earlier in the week, we lost another Senior Saint last night. Our church building and the homes of many church members suffered pretty good damage from Hurricane Rita so it makes this evacuation even more emotional.

P.S. I guess Hurricane's would be another "con" for that list I spoke of in my previous post!

Living "on the right side of Texas" has it's pros and cons....

Aside from misisng my family and friends back home, HUMIDITY 360 out of 365 days of the year is a big one on the "con" side

Aside from my awesomely wonderful church familly, I'd say visions like this get a great big check on the "pro" side!

Yep.... just 20 minutes up the road to this vision of lovliness. Another 30 minutes (and one ferry ride) we can be in Galveston!

Can you believe it? We are ALREADY in the last week of the summer break! Weren't the kids just counting down to the last day of school????

Teachers report Wednesday morning at 8:30 and while I will be in attendance for the meeting, it will not be as a teacher. To say that I am a little torn about it would be an understatement. However, I have absolutely NO doubt it is the right decision. (I will miss the students.... I was even going to teach a Jr High Class this year...)

The last year of our life has been a bit trying, to say the least. I will still be serving in areas of ministry at church, but will be spending much more time at home getting things in order. I am extremely excited about spending Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y time at home! Cooking, cleaning, preparing... you know... things I used to do. (if I could just get coupons in this part of the world like I did back home!)

I am also eagerly anticipating AND completely terrified about some training that will be taking place here on Elm Avenue. My kids are AWESOME. But to my shame, lack training in a few areas. You see, I have this problem..... I'm a bit of a control freak.

(Working everyday + being a control freak = results less than ideal)

When Saturday morning is pretty much the only significant chunk of time you have to clean house and do laundry (that is... on those rare Saturdays when you don't have a party of some sort to attend) it's hard to invite "helpers." I KNOW, I KNOW... I'm doing them AND myself and injustice.... believe me... I know. It's just easier to (say it with me my fellow control freaks) "do it myself."

Now don't get me wrong, they help set and clean the table, take the trash out, put away clothes, things of that nature. But they should be doing more. MUCH more. And I'm not talking about breaking any child labor laws or anything, I'm just talking about stepping things up a little and being a real contribution to the daily happenings here on Elm Avenue. And actually, its more about developing their spirit and character while helping around the house. But as most of us know, there's a lot of difficult territory that has to be covered to get there!

So... there's a brief update. School supplies, back packs and lunch bags have been bought and labeled. Come on August 27th!

Until next time~

Don't really have time to write at the moment, but wanted to share a quote....

"Life is like photography... we develop from the negatives."

And speaking of photography, pictures coming soon... (On the verge of being disowned.... gotta do something!)

Until next time~

The Friday before Christmas we opened a gift early (High School Musical 2), wrapped up and had "dinner and a movie" on the trampoline under the stars.

Yes... the screen was tiny and it was incredibly cold, but we had lots of fun and it's something I'm sure we'll never forget!

Funeral of our 13 year old beagle Bailey...

I LOVE to write... really... I do. It's just that 3 young children, teaching and being active in church don't allow for much of it. It may be great therapy, but a priority it is not.

So much has gone on since my last post, so I'll start with one of our more recent events; the passing of our 13 year old Beagle.

We are fairly confident he got into antifreeze a few houses down and his last day and a half was very difficult. We eventually took him to the vet and had him put to sleep because he was definitely suffering!

I was so worried about how the kids would handle this. We've buried a fish and a cat, but they remembered getting each of those pets and bringing them home. On the other hand, they've not known life without Bailey.

The kids handled things well. Mom on the other hand... not so much.

There were a number of things that really frustrated me about Bailey. The fact that he wanted to dart out the front door and run off if even the slightest opportunity presented itself.

Or the fact that he would steal food from the kids ~ especially pizza! That dog was willing to deal with the consequences to get himself a good slice of pizza!

But 13 years and 3 kids later, that ole hound really became a part of us and our day to day life!

2 weeks later I still catch myself beginning to sound the alarm to the kids "don't walk away from the table with food on your plate.... you know Bailey will get your food!" "Make sure you clear your spot so Bailey doesn't get your plate."

I still find myself adjusting the blinds before we leave for school in the morning so he can see what's going on outside.....

But what I absolutely miss the most about Bailey.... bedtime. I could tell him "it's time to get the kids in bed" or "go get in bed with the boys" and off he'd go. He was the best sleep aid for the boys!

As usual, we had a "funeral." Bailey left the vet’s office in a box that kind’ a looked like a coffin so the boys wanted to be his pallbearers. They carried him from the truck to his final resting place and helped dig the hole where he would be burried.

Emily and a friend from church picked flowers from the backyard and we had a special time laying him to rest.

Some may feel this was a bit strange or unnecessary.... but I would have to disagree. All too soon we'll have to bury a family member or close personal friend. I would rather they learn about death from our "pet funerals" and be somewhat prepared or at least familiar with the "process."

Until next time...

Rebecca