Out of Routine!!!

OK I am being a slacker again when it comes to my blog but this past week was crazy!!! We had school events, sports and church mixed in with new job schedules. So here is the post I started on Friday and never posted and then today's post :)

Post I started on Friday:

This has been a long week and out of routine and some faith growing challenges.

This week I started working at The Zone on a regular basis, Daniel started his new job and Andrew started baseball practice that lasts pretty late into the evening. And Christopher started his travel baseball team practice. I definitely like a routine and we don't have one anymore. I know we will figure out a NEW routine and we will get in a groove again. We are all tired from not enough sleep. Christopher and Kevin are both sick and losing their voices.

I just picked up Andrew from school and watching him workout with weights and running. Daniel has the other boys at The Zone getting ready for a really busy weekend of parties and rentals. The Zone has really become busy these days and we are feeling so blessed :)

Then Daniel and I are heading off to a fundraiser for Andrew's baseball team. It includes a steak dinner, dancing and a auction. I am looking forward to some quality time with Daniel after this crazy week.

Life is good with it's challenges but nothing a little rest and prayer won't fix.

Just keep my boys in your prayers as they learn to grow and meet challenges of life and encounter those who don't have a very good moral compass. In fact please pray for those they will come in contact with. I know my boys need trials in their lives to grow spiritually. But it is so hard to see them in the trials. Prayer and trusting God we are doing! All is good and all grew in maturity this week :) I am thankful for trials and so glad to see the strength and resilience in my boys!

Today's Post:

Last weekend Kevin had Pinewood Derby and did really well!  He had the fastest car in his Den (which is all first graders) and the Pack (which is 1 - 5 graders). He was so excited and so was his daddy :)

Kevin's car is the black one that just won!

 Kevin is smiling and enjoying the races!

Here is Kevin's Louisiana Tech car! It looks dirty because of some kind of powder they put on the wheels to make it go faster.

 Kevin receiving his trophy for the over all winner of the 2012 Pinewood Derby!

 I had to share this picture of Andrew helping with the race. Daniel had to leave early and go with Christopher to baseball so Andrew jumped in to help.

Last Monday, Daniel started his new job. There were days when he had to go in early or at a time he normally doesn't work because of meetings. So this week should be a little better with his normal hours that  he will be working. I started at The Zone last week and was totally out of routine and dragging all week. I didn't get any kind of workout in. I am going to work hard at getting back to the gym this week. I am off work on Monday's so this is my day to catch up on house work! Andrew was so sweet this morning picking up after his brothers and helping with breakfast! I think once we all figure out our NEW schedule it is going to be good for the whole family.  My dogs are glad to have me home today :) They are both by my feet as I am typing on the computer. I think they missed me :) I have clothes in the wash, dishes in the dishwasher and the house has been vacuumed! I am starting this week off much better than last week.

Here is Gabby and all the toys she has brought me while I have been on the computer typing this post.

She makes me smile :)

Yesterday, Daniel received a basket from our Women's Council for setting up for their Women's Winter Weekend. It was so nice for someone to show appreciation for his hard work! It has been awhile since someone told him they appreciated what he does for them. This was very unlike his last two jobs!!!! A Bible verse that was in the basket is hanging in our kitchen. It says, "Be strong, don't be discouraged for your work has a reward." 2 Chronicles 15:7  I was so happy for Daniel. It was like God telling Daniel that he had made the right choice in his new job.

The boys had a great weekend with sports! Andrew "tried out" as a pitcher for his baseball team. He did a great job! Christopher had a basketball game and they won! And then Kevin had a basketball game at the same time as Christopher. I went with Christopher and Daniel went with Kevin. I missed a really good game! Kevin's 1st grade team was playing a 2nd grade team from his school. They were losing at halftime. Then they tied up. With 24 seconds left in the game, Kevin got a rebound and dribbled it down to make a basket to win the game 10 to 8!!!! Kevin scored 8 points out of our 10. What is so neat about his age is he really doesn't care if he made the baskets or his teammates. He just wants to win as a team! I hope he keeps that attitude as he continues in sports!

Hopefully I will not be as long between my blog posts as I was this past week. We are thrilled with Daniel's new job and all the benefits that go along with it. I am enjoying being up at The Zone and putting a few girly touches to it :) And I am proud of my boys and the decisions they are making. With the past 6 years we have had some really tough times and overcome the challenges by the grace of God. Daniel and I both see God showing us glimpses of why we had the challenges we had. It is so peaceful to see God working in our lives.

Andrew has walked every step of our 6 year journey with us. We talked with him through the challenging times and tried to show him that God has a plan and that these attacks on Daniel are being allowed for a reason. And one day we will come out stronger!! Last night, I was talking to Andrew about teenager issues. We were talking about the power of prayer and knowing God's will for our life. And Andrew told me that God has given him some challenges over the years because He is preparing him for something too. So cool to see Andrew understand how God works! My oldest is really growing into a man and making some really great decisions. So proud of the Godly man he is becoming! Andrew is praying for open and closed doors for his future and what he wants to do. But he also realizes he wants to do what God has willed for his life. I will definitely be lifting that prayer up with Andrew!

Daniel and I have also come to realize that our 6 year journey may not have been about us at all. Maybe it was about our children and them watching us react to certain situations and learning how to overcome adversity. My boys have seen some really ugly spiritual attacks and have also seen us come out as survivors. So even though Daniel and I think God has been preparing us for something, He may have really been preparing our boys for something. I'm not sure what God has been up to but we are all walking in faith and leaning on God's wisdom not our own! "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Last week was a little Zoned Out but I am looking for an In The Zone week this week!

NEW Journey!

When God put the word NEW on my heart ,He knew what 2012 was bringing for me! I have thought about walking the Susan G. Komen 3-Day 60 Mile Walk for a couple of years now. I helped a friend train for this a couple of years ago. I love to walk - not run! I can walk and walk and walk. But I do not like to run. Another friend put on her Facebook page that she had just registered for the event. I was so jealous because I didn't have the nerve to register. After commenting on her post that I was chicken to register, she invited me to join her team and begin training. I looked at the 24 week training schedule. I was already walking the suggested amount to begin. So I have registered and will now begin training and my fundraising campaign. Please view my NEW Susan G. Komen Personal Page. There is a blog at the end of the page that I will try and keep updated on my NEW journey!

http://www.the3day.org/goto/pamrobinson

It's Friday!!!

Nothing big happening at our house today except that it is FRIDAY!

Kevin gets in the car after school and says "Yay! No homework!" First grade is definitely not what I use to teach. His vocabulary words this week were struggling, captured, mercy, compatible, amiable, relax. On the test he has a sentence using the vocabulary word in context and then has three choices of what the word means in that sentence. His spelling words were: always, by, Cow’s, join her, fur, turn, bird, girl, first, nice, please, room, quit, when, name, work, second, third, fourth. 20 words! His bonus spelling words were his vocabulary words. Amazing what these kids can do these days! Plus he has to study for his timed math test and sight word test. Lots of studying and homework during the week for Kevin. But proud to say he made straight As this past nine weeks!

Andrew is raking leaves and trimming trees with a friend for a widow. Someone asked at church on Sunday if they could come after school on Friday to help.

Christopher and Kevin are both ourside playing and enjoying our 82 degrees weather. I think we skipped winter here.

Daniel went to his new job today to get the tour, paperwork and keys. He will begin on Monday! He is now headed to pick up Andrew so we can go up to The Zone.

Tonight, we are going up to The Zone to clean inflatables and make sure everything is ready for lots of  birthday parties this weekend. We also have rentals going out tomorrow. We will make a fun family night out of it. We will order pizzas and watch a movie while there. The boys love being up at The Zone!

Tomorrow, Christopher and Kevin both have basketball games. Andrew has weight lifting and running. Daniel and Kevin will finish the pinewood derby car for the big race on Sunday afternoon.

Not too much to report on today except that we will be gearing up this weekend for our NEW schedules next week. I know eventually it will get a little easier when we are in a routine. But for now, I definitely will have my menu planned for dinners, clothes washed, lunch items stocked up and my calendar opened to avoid any potential hiccups for next week.

The Power of "I Can"

I am reading my Made To Crave daily devotional and love this thought: The Power of "I Can"
The verse for the day is "Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial" 1 Corinthians 6:12

This is so true! God gives us choices but our way is not always beneficial. After reading the devotional, I walked into the kitchen and saw this.

I looked at my kitchen counter and thought to myself, "It is all permissable and it is my choice." Do I choose brownies, my absolutely favorite cookies, doughnuts or the apple? OK so you are probably saying why is all that stuff in your house? I have three very active boys that need calories. They drink their milk. They ate their dinner. Now here are their treats and "fun" stuff. These have been sitting in my kitchen in my sight. I have not touch one brownie, doughnut nor cookie. And by the strength of God, that I have prayed over and over for, I am not craving these. About a week ago, I would have probably caved into the cookies. But I made a decision to get my mind focused on a spiritual journey with my eating healthy and exercising. Absolutely amazing! I have not craved these this week. Tomorrow may be different but I am going to focus on my scriptures, read my devotional and keep my mind on the fruit of the spirit - "self control".

Today's devotional tells me to concentrate on "I can" instead of  "I can't". I have an example of this from the other day. We went to Applebee's for lunch after church. The boys got chips and salsa. I knew that I would not be able to sit peacefully and watch them dip and eat while we waited on our food. So I asked the waitress to bring me some cucumbers. I took my cucumbers and dipped them in the salsa :) They were crunchy and my mind heard "I can" instead of "I can't". I gave myself permission to dip and eat like everyone else. I just made a different choice of what "I could" dip! I am a dipper :) I love to dip food into something. It is so relaxing to dip food!

So the lesson I have learned is to tell myself  "I can" instead of "I can't". It is so much more fun to tell yourself something positive instead of negative.

I can have a bottle of water with sugar free Kool Aid.

I can have vegetables and dip and be able to be a "dipper" with my food.

I can go out to eat while I am doing the Jenny Craig program. I can eat a salad with chicken and croutons (my starch) and enjoy eating out with my family.

I can make healthy choices and workout to make my back feel better.

I can have my mind in scripture to gain strength for my weight loss journey! Thank you Lord for giving me choices and the ability to CRAVE You and not the doughnuts, brownies and cookies. You made me to CRAVE your love and strength not to crave food.

I can one day have my sweets in moderation when I reach my weight loss goal :)

I can have my servings of fruit and be a mom of 3 on the go! It is so hard to eat fresh fruit when you are in and out like I am. I found a NEW drink that is 100% fruit juice and carbonated like a soda! It is so good that I have to hide them from my children so they don't drink them all. They are called The Switch.

 

So when I am tempted with food or daily life choices, I will remind myself that everything is permissable but then ask myself is it beneficial? This journey of eating healthy and exercising is just like life! You have choices! Are you going to follow God's path and make the choice that is beneficial for you? Or are you going to do what is pleasurable at the time and not so beneficial? I am going to pray and stay in my scriptures and devotions so "I can" make the beneficial choices.  "I can Do All Things With Your Strength!" Phillippians 4:13

Just a little side note of good news - Christopher won 1st place in the Science Fair! He is also the only 6th grader from his school moving on to Regionals!!! That is very In The Zone! Last year when he was being interviewed at Regionals, they asked him how he could expand on his project for next year. He wasn't real sure at the time. He told them he could compare a wood and metal bat to see if their sweet spots were the same. But during baseball season, Christopher's bat cracked and he had to get a new one. When he got his new bat he wanted to know the sweet spot of his new bat so he could hit the ball farther. Finding the sweet spot of his old bat was last year's project. This year he compared the data from his old bat to his new bat. That's where this year's project developed. He thought about the sweet spot of a bat from a batter's perspective and a pitcher's perspective since he is a pitcher too. He interviewed Scott Baker, Minnesota Twins Pitcher, and got a better understanding of why a pitcher needs to understand the physics of the bat. Scott Baker goes to our church and has a son Kevin's age. This was a fun and informative project for Christopher.  Here is this year's project - "The Sting In The Swing - Comparing The Bats"

 

 

Good News!

I have good news to post today! Daniel has accepted a position that will supplement the income of our family business! The business is doing great but we want a secure steady income that we know is coming in each month and the benefits. We have prayed about how we could grow our business. Well, we need to spend money to make money.  But we needed to stop taking out so much for our personal expenses. And this is were the NEW position comes in!

The NEW benefits are perfect for our family. I am praising healthcare and retirement benefits right now!!!! Owning a small business and having affordable healthcare do not jive. It literally was like paying another house mortgage for health and dental insurance. Now it is almost nothing!!!! The income will be nice too but I am smiling from the benefits! The hours are flexible so he can still be a big part of the business. I will work during the week for the Open Play hours.

This is an answer to prayers of wanting to follow God's will for our life and business. Now, we will not have to take out for all our personal expensives and can put money back in the business to help it grow and most importantly to give us a peace of mind.

Life is good in the Robinson house. Everyone is heading to church for the evening activities. Andrew and Daniel are first attending Andrew's baseball eligibility meeting and then will go to church.

We are considering today an In The Zone day! Except Daniel had a few Zoned Out moments from thinking about this NEW position today. He came home to get the key for work that he left this morning. He took the key off the keychain and put it back in MY car that he drove this morning. But then he decided to take HIS truck. Guess where the key, that he came back to get, was? In MY car! I had to go meet him in my pajamas to give him the key out of my car :) 

The other Zoned Out moment was when this man kept driving back and forth to my front door and driveway. Then he finally knocked on my door after driving and driving. I did not answer the door with a strange man (who had been driving around my house) there and me at home by myself. So then he goes to my mailbox and looks at my mail :( Not Cool! He then drives around my street while talking on the phone. Parks in front of my neighbors house and then comes back to my driveway and opens his trunk. What in the world is this guy doing???? He then takes a box out of his trunk and takes it to my neighbor's door. Come to find out he was from a printing company and was dropping checks off to my neighbor. You had the wrong house buddy! And scared the fire out of me in the meantime. And stay out of my mailbox! That is a federal offense!

It was a good In The Zone day with a few Zoned Out moments that messed up our schedules. But we are all well and looking forward to a NEW position, NEW healthcare benefits, NEW income and NEW peace!

Robinson Happenings

I need a vacation to rest from my four day weekend with family! I was dragging this morning and had to have an extra cup of coffee :0 I finally got going when I met Daniel at the gym. I walked 3 miles and I have felt great since! Daniel got a call today to go meet with someone about his new opportunity. So hopefully I will have some good news to post tomorrow!


This weekend was relaxing but full of activities and fun. Daniel and Kevin spent a lot of time together this weekend building his pinewood derby car. Kevin and Daniel had trips to Home Depot, Academy and Hobby Lobby getting everything they needed. Kevin came home with lots of Icees and snacks that his daddy bought him on their several trips to the stores. I think you could say they had a "boys" weekend of bonding. Here are some pictures of the start of the pinewood derby car.

I got a picture of Andrew working out this weekend. He is working out with a trainer that use to do some workouts for the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Andrew came out of this workout sweating!!! He is standing on a half ball balancing as he lifts weights. Tomorrow he has weight lifting at school. The Byrd football coach will do the training with his baseball coach. A baseball teammate, who played football this year, told Andrew to be ready for an hour and forty five minutes of pure misery tomorrow!

Then we had an ongoing ping pong competition between Daniel and Andrew. Neither one wanted to let the other win the most games. Whenever they can sneak in a rematch, they will. If  you can't find them, look in the garage :)

We didn't see a whole lot of Christopher this weekend because he went off with his friends. Here are a few pictures of Christopher at his friend's grandpa's house. They gathered pecans and road "machinery!"

Yesterday and today, Andrew had baseball practice. He wanted to get there early to hit in the cages before practice began (he sounded just like his daddy!). My dad pitched from behind a pitching screen and then put the balls on the T for Andrew. Check out this picture of my dad sitting in his walker putting the ball on a T. My dad is not letting his nerve damage keep him from enjoying his grandsons!

Tomorrow, Christopher will have his Science Fair against the projects that were chosen by a panel for each grade. He will now compete against the winners of the 6th, 7th and 8th graders at his school ( a school of around 1200) to see who moves on to Regionals.

We are calling it an early night with Andrew lifting weights early tomorrow morning and Christopher competing in his Science Fair. The boys are already in bed! It is 8:30pm :) Daniel and I are heading to watch our shows on the DVR! Maybe tomorrow will not require as much coffee!

NEW Motivation and NEW Journey

I have been doing Jenny Craig since the beginning of August. I started going to Jenny Craig because I needed help losing weight so I could get the pressure off of my spine that has sciolosis. I lost 20 pounds and then hit the holidays of  Thanksgiving and Christmas. I survived with putting on a couple of pounds and then lost them. However, I am stuck at this 20 pounds. I have had weeks where I didn't get exercise in but ate appropriately. There have been weeks where I exercised but had a couple of bad days with my eating. This week has been a week of exercise and eating well. However, I do not see the scales going down. I am stuck at a weight that I have not been able to get past since I had my third child. I think I am stuck at this weight because I am satisfied with the fact I am back in my clothes and feel better about myself. So I am having to find a NEW motivation besides the way I look.

But here is where God heard my prayer of a NEW start to my weightloss! Tonight, I was at choir. There are 5 ladies and 2 men that are called Choir Sponsors. Basically, we are the adult helpers for the choir director and go on the choir tour to Tennessee this Summer. At the end of choir each Sunday, we have snacks for the middle schoolers. Tonight I brought homemade brownies. One of the choir moms was trying to have self-control not to eat a brownie. Her and her husband just started working out. We all started talking about trying to get back into shape. We came up with a very energizing NEW plan!

The ladies are going to weigh each other on Sunday at choir. We are going to each set a weightloss goal. We all need to be able to reach that goal before we go on our choir tour in June (the middle of the choir tour will my 20 year wedding anniversary!). When we all meet our weightloss goal, we get to plan our Ladies Getaway Weekend. We are going to go to Dallas for a weekend and get a spa package and go shopping!!! I definitely have a NEW motivation! One, being able to go on a "girly" vacation and  having a "girl" trip with some really great Christian moms! NEW friendships, NEW motivation, NEW weightloss!!! But the most important reason is my NEW spiritual journey!

I read a book called Made To Crave and loved it. The book taught me that my weightloss journey is more than being about my weight. It is about growing spiritually. Here is a 2011 blog entry from KLOVE that I love! It explains how weightloss is also a spiritual journey.

Day 2: Overweight Physically and Underweight Spiritually

Based on the Introduction of Made to Crave

Thought for the Day: God made us capable of craving so we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone. Nothing changes until we make the choice to redirect our misguided cravings to the only One capable of satisfying them.


My journey to healthy eating didn’t gain traction by counting calories or obeying rules of the food pyramid. The process began in earnest when I admitted that, yes, I was overweight physically. But, more importantly, I was underweight spiritually. I was spiritually malnourished. Tying these two issues together is what opened my eyes to see God in a whole new way.


I’m reminded of the story in the Bible where a rich young man comes to see Jesus. The young man explains that he is following all the religious rules, but still feels something is missing from his pursuit of God. He asks, “What do I still lack?” Jesus answers, “If you want to be perfect [whole], go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:20–21 NIV).


The rich young man then goes away sad because he won’t give up the one thing that consumes him. He is so full with his riches he can’t see how undernourished his soul is. It’s at this point in the biblical story that most of us start to look at all the rich people we know and think, “Well, I sure hope they get this message. Good thing I’m not rich. Good thing Jesus doesn’t ask me to sacrifice in this way.” Or does He?


Jesus meant His comment for any of us who wallow in whatever abundance we have. I imagine Jesus looked straight into this young man’s soul and said, “I want you to give up the one thing that you crave more than Me.”


For me, I was like the rich young man when it came to eating. I refused healthier breakfast options, such as egg whites and fruit, while filling myself with candy-sprinkled doughnuts. I choose soda instead of water, chips instead of carrot sticks. Even when my sugar high crashed and I complained of splitting headaches, sluggishness, and unwanted extra weight, I steadfastly refused to even consider giving up my daily brownie.


God made us capable of craving so that we’d have an unquenchable desire for more of Him, and Him alone. Nothing changes until we make the choice to redirect our misguided cravings to the only One capable of satisfying them.


Paul wrote to Christians, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better” (Ephesians 1:17 NIV).


I don’t know about you, but to me this one benefit of knowing God better is worth all the effort and sacrifice that a healthy eating journey requires. It’s easy to feel that our struggle with food is such an unfair deal. But I encourage you to see the process today as a path that offers both physical and spiritual benefits.



I ran across this picture of my spine from my doctor visit last year. Just another reminder why I want to continue to lose weight.

So far I am loving my NEW One Word: NEW!!!

Now I will pray for my NEW lower number to come up on the scale and show my growth in my NEW spiritual journey!

Tonight, Christopher went to eat with a friend after choir and is spending the night out, Andrew went to hang out with my parents and Kevin is hanging out with us! We have snuggled on the floor watching TV and just hanging out with Kevin. Kevin does not get us by himself much. This has been a special evening with our 6 year old! Daniel and Kevin are having Oreo ice cream right now so I left the kitchen and temptation of ice cream to come type about my NEW motivation :)

Here is one of my verses that helps remind me about self-control.

2 Timothy 1:7
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Saturday Life

Saturday started out with Daniel delivering inflatables and coming home to his lazy family. We were definitely starting our morning off slowly. We didn't have anywhere to be until around 1:30pm and we were taking advantage of our opportunity to sleep in. Andrew later went to the business to help work the parties. He is still there working the last party. He is so fired up about getting to work. He is trying hard to save money for a truck. Yesterday he went to his weight lifting and running class. Here are a few pictures from his workout yesterday.

  The coloring is off on this picture because I didn't have the flash turned on my phone.  

Daniel headed out early with Christopher and Kevin to take Christopher to his game. I needed to take a separate car to because Daniel would have to leave early from Christopher's game to take Kevin to his basketball game. So I took advantage of being home alone for another hour by taking a walk. I walked two miles in the most beautiful sunshine! I turned on my playlist of songs that are on my blog and enjoyed some music and sunshine. I then headed to watch Christopher played some basketball.

Here are some pictures from today's game. Some of these pictures are clear and some are a little blurry. I am researching the settings on my camera for basketball. I had to change some settings for the lighting and the movement of the game. My pictures are better than I normally take during basketball season but I still have some improvement to do. Here are a few of the shots I got at Christopher's game. And I am sitting at the very top of the bleachers so I am pretty far away. Next time I will try to stand on the floor and take some.

Christopher getting some instructions from Coach Jacobs during the other team's free throw.

 Christopher is the one with his arms on his head.

After we left Christopher's game, we headed over to Kevin's game. Kevin was so excited he finally had a basketball game. You will see lots of orange in these pictures. All teams in this league have reversible shirts. One side is white with orange letters and the other side is orange with white letters. So each game you will have an orange team and a white team. Kevin's pictures came out a little better because I was on the floor taking the pictures.

I love this picture of these three boys! The child on the right ( #5) has definitely had a trial in his life. Right before Thanksgiving his dad, who was one of Kevin's football coaches, was paralyzed by a syndrome called Guillaine Barre Syndrome. His dad has been in the hospital since November 28th. They celebrated Christmas in a hospital room. All three of these boys parents went to Louisiana Tech. Go Dawgs! At the end of this blog I have a video that this little boy's mom posted to her Facebook page about a Saints football player and more importantly a Christian that had this syndrome. Please be praying for the Sumlin family.

The other coach with Daniel is Chip or you might hear him called Dr. McDonald. He is a Hematologist/ Oncologist. He and his wife are so sweet and children are just precious! We are so blessed he is coaching with Daniel. We ended our basketball day by catching him up on the latest about our nephew David and his chemo schedule.  You gotta appreciate a doctor with a kind heart!

Praying before the game :)



This was a great relaxing Saturday with family! I love cheering my boys on in their sports. We will end our evening with baking brownies for Christopher's church choir group to eat tomorrow.
Here is the video I was telling you about. Also, I am including a couple of links about two precious children currently going through chemo. Please pray for complete healing for these three families.


David Robinson - Nephew
http://www.sweetlifewithboys.blogspot.com/


Marshall McCollum - Kevin's classmate and teammate
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marshallmccollum


Shane Sumlin - Kevin's football coach and teammate's dad (I do not have a link about them that is not a personal Facebook page)

Powerful Music!

I LOVE THIS SONG! Everyone Needs A Little

I prayed and prayed the word PEACE in 2011 because I needed it! Peace comes from God's LOVE!

I love the Bible verse 1 Corinthians 13:13
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."

This is the Bible verse I put on our family Christmas card because God loved us so much that He gave is only Son for us!!!!





Kari Jobe will be at the Winter Jam 2012!! So excited to see her in person. She was in Shreveport recently but I didn't get the chance to see her. She is a Texan! (Waco, Texas)

Friday Favorites!

 Happy Friday the 13th! Seeing that today is the 13th, I thought I would share some of our family favorites. Of course, our favorite number is 13!

My Favorite sport is cheering my boys (including Daniel) on! My boys love several sports: baseball, basketball, golf, football and cross country :) Daniel's favorite sports as an adult are refereeing football and coaching his boys. And all three boys choose baseball as their primary sport to play but really enjoy anything that is competivite. Even a good game of cards! 

Our Favorite Game to play is Uno and Phase 10. Actually my family laughs at me because I love playing Angry Birds and Words With Friends on my phone :) But as a family we enjoy a good card game! The boys have a game that they really enjoy on their phones and ipods - Temple Run. Another fun game is  Kinect Adventure on the XBox Kinect. They laugh at me playing this game. I am so sore the next day after playing but  I chalk it up to exercise for the day!

Our Favorite place to be is Outside!  We love to throw around any kind of ball in the yard, walk around the neighborhood, play ping pong in the garage and simply just be outside!

 I guess that is why Camping is such a favorite get-away for our family.

We also love a good fire to Roast Marshmallows :0 Whether it is in our backyard or campground.

Daniel and I have favorite ways to Spend Time Together. We love to DVR our shows and watch them when the kids are in bed. We love to go to the gym together. We also love to brainstorm about our family business. Praying is a great way we connect with each other and God. Going out on dates is not really our favorite thing to do. I guess it is the season of our life.  We love finding "dates" and time together at home! It is special to us when we can relax together and enjoy each others company at home and believe it or not we love being at work together.

Andrew's  favorite thing to do is figuring out technoloy and really understanding how anything works. Andrew loves to watch his stocks on his phone App. Andrew loves to play baseball. Andrew also loves being with family. Andrew's favorite part of life is feeling connected to family.  He loves to text, Skype, Facebook and talk to family! And he absolutely loves when we get to spend time with them. He is truly going to be a family guy when he gets older.


Christopher's favorite things are friends, fashion and sports. . . and girls! Oh my this child definitely is strong willed. He dresses his own way and picks his own sporting teams to cheer for. He is not going to go with the crowd. He is going to do what he wants to do. I am told he will be a great adult with this personality. But there is another side to Christopher that only a few see and understand. As much as Christopher wants to be different, he wants to feel loved. In return he will give you lots of love back. Tough on the outside but very loving on the inside!

Kevin's favorite things to do are compete in any sport, play with friends and pretend! Kevin loves to take drumsticks and beat on anything in our house while dressed in some random costume. He loves to go to the garage and beat on the trashcans and ladder.  Kevin's favorite music is from the Christian band, Kutless. His favorite song they sing is, "What Faith Can Do."

Our dogs' favorite activity is to chew on a bone! Oh how we love these family members! Gabby and Gracee love to curl up with us and simply snuggle. You will often find these two dogs sleeping next to each in the yard or on their new pillow Santa brought them.

(one of my favorite pictures of Gabby!)

Our family's favorite music is Christian Music! Our favoirte concert to go to is Winter Jam. This is a concert that has several Christian artists in one concert. We have been for several years now and look forward to Winter Jam 2012!

We are very blessed to be home with each other  on this Friday the 13th! Andrew finished his finals and ended up with a 4.0 GPA for his first semester in high school. So proud!!!  Christopher is moving on to the next level with his Science Fair Project so will we be reviewing for his presentation this weekend. The end of the nine weeks is over. We are out of school today for a teacher professional day and we get off  Monday for MLK Day. We are enjoying each other for four days without too much of a schedule. Christopher and Kevin have basketball games tomorrow. Andrew has weight lifting and running this evening. And then Andrew is going to a movie with. . . a girl. Can you say "GROWING UP"!!!! Daniel and I will be taking Christopher and Kevin to another movie at the same theater. We are counting our blessings and enjoying our Favorite Friday!

Happy Firday the 13th!
This is going to be an In The Zone day for the Robinsons!