RAW Fun

I just love modern technology. Even though my hubby and sons are over 3 hours away, I can still keep up with what they are doing. Some of the other leaders have made comments on Facebook, I have gotten texts, and my husband sent me this picture this morning.
This is just one of the many things that happen at RAW!

Comfortable Chairs

I recently found out that my freshman English teacher is retiring. Sister Dichtel was known for her "comfortable chairs" in her classroom. She had these bean bags and other soft chairs around the classroom that we would be allowed to sit in to read our assigned book IF we finished our vocabulary and journal writing quietly. Well, I had a problem with the "Quietly" part. For you see, I liked to talk. I would often be told "Mrs. Miller, NO comfortable chair!" How sad for me. Of the stories that I have told my children about my time in high school, they definitely remember hearing about Sister Dichtel's class. Just in case any of my fellow classmates are interested, I wanted to post this information that I received...

~Memphis Catholic High School will host a retirement reception for Sister Dichtel on Sunday, August 23rd from 2-5pm to celebrate her numerous years of teaching and service to the Catholic Diocese of Memphis. The school invites all her friends, family, former students, and others in the community to join us and honor a person who has impacted the lives of so many throughout her years of service. If you plan to attend the reception or wish to assist in its planning please contact Dani Ray Barton at 276- 1221, ext 22 or drbarton@memphiscatholic.org so we can get an appropriate head count of attendees and can best prepare for the afternoon’s festivities.~

I will try to make it the reception but if I don't, will someone please tell Sister Dichtel that I still love to read and I do it in my comfortable chair...quietly :) Thanks for your MANY years of service Sister D!

Royal Rangers RAW

This morning my husband and our sons left for Ranger Adventure Week (RAW). They will get to swim, hike, have paintball wars, experience the "redneck water slide" PLUS hear the Word of God and get to praise and worship with the music from our friends' band Prayer Warriors.

The guys in my house really love Royal Rangers because they get to do "guy stuff" and grow their relationship with God at the same time. Let your boys be boys! That is how God designed them and the Royal Rangers program allows them to do so and helps them to learn great skills to go far in life. I encourage you to find a Royal Rangers program in your area. If you live in Tennessee, you can visit the TN Boys Ministry Website and find an outpost.

I hope that William, Alex, Andrew and ALL of the boys at RAW have a great weekend!

UPDATE:
About 15 minutes after I posted this, I received a phone call from Karla Collum of the Prayer Warriors band. She was calling to check on my husband because they had just seen him pulled over on the interstate and went to see if they were ok but they were already pulling back onto the road. I called William to see what happend. He told me that they had a flat on the trailer and were about to get a new one in Jackson. Thank God that William knows how to handle trailers and for friends that care enough to check to see if you are ok. They are even waiting around in Jackson to make sure they get back on the road ok. Isn't that awesome?! Keep praying people! This is gonna be an amazing weekend for everyone involved!

Homeschool Party

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is my absolute favorite magazine for homeschoolers. I am not a collector of magazines at all but I have every single copy of this one that I have ever received. They're on my resource shelf because I truly believe that there are so many articles in there that have been or will be helpful in our homeschool journey. They also have it available in digital form but I really like to curl up on the couch and read the articles.

Right now is their annual Summer Bouquet subscription offer. With this offer, you receive 19 free gifts with your subscription. The gifts range in value from $10 -$49 each! What an amazing offer! To top it off, they are offering a discount where you can receive $5 off of a 2 year subscription. Simply go to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Web Site and you use this code: CJSGL5OFF

So, now you know how to join the party...now get to it!

FREE Tea Day!

Oh my goodnesss! I LOVE McAlister's Sweet Tea and today I can go get a cup for FREE! I am meeting up with a good friend that runs the BEST web site for Moms in the Memphis area called Memphis Loves Kids. So, grab a friend and head to your nearest McAlister's for a free cup of tea....and while you are there, eat a Rueben....YUMMY!

Scrapbooking

For those of you that know me well, you know that I am passionate about scrapbooking. It is important for me to preserve the memories that we make in our family. We never know when one of us will be gone. I often think about how my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren (and on and on) will sit with the albums in their laps and see what we did "back in the old days". It makes me proud.
I started scrapbooking 14 years ago but have not been as diligent as I should and so am behind in my albums. I am right now working on our 2006 album. I enjoy seeing how we have changed in just a few short years. Before I know it, my babies will be grown up and have their own families. I will still have the albums to reminisce.
I am excited to say that I am going to start having scrapbooking sessions at my house each month so that I can help other families preserve their memories also. My first crop will be July 31st from 6 PM - Midnight. If you would like to come, bring some pics, your scrapbooking supplies and a snack to share and come enjoy a night of cutting up with other memory keepers. Please RSVP so I will have enough tables set up.
I look forward to sharing my home and passion for scrapbooking with you!

My Sister's Keeper

My mom and I wanted to see the movie My Sister's Keeper together but I had heard that I needed to read the book first so I bought the book and started reading it. It was 500 pages long and I had no kids here so I knew that I could finish it before we went to the movies. I finished it in 2 1/2 days and we saw the movie. I have to tell you that the book is 100% better than the movie. They left so many important things out of the movie that totally changed the whole story. If you have already seen the movie, I highly encourage you to read the book anyway. My mom read it after we saw the movie and she even agreed that the book was better!
I hate when movie producers take a good story and change it to what they think will be better. The book was fine before...they messed the story up!