Car Problems

So far the end of March and the beginning of April have been interesting. It has been a month of car trama for me. It all started with a hefty sized speeding ticket I received probably about 5 weeks ago. I was on my way to take one the kids to the doctor, and was going 66 in a 50. Now let me just explain that everyone speeds on this road, but apparently the police officer decided the mom in the old minivan deserved the ticket. So I sucked it up, paid my fine and am going to attend traffic school. If only I had stopped there. Probably 3 weeks after that, I was in an accident. It was my fault and I got another ticket, for failing to yeild. It was a pure accident and I was just so thankful me or the kids weren't injured. And only if it had stopped there. The accident totalled the van, (which was a total blessing in disguise, because we got a lot more for it than we thought.) So last week I was at the auto shop in my rental car cleaning out the van, since we had to hand it over. Well...it is hard to explain what happened. Basically there were these poles, and cement blocks, and a very tight spot, and you can guess the rest. I clipped the rental cars bumper on the cement block that I couldn't see in my mirror and pulled half of it off of the car. :( It was a sad sad sad day for me. I was hysterical, and so humilitated. Needless to say these last few weeks have not been my most shining moments. Chris was very understanding of the first two "incidents" but by the 3rd, he wasn't quite as understanding (which is totally understandable.)

Well, it just so happened that the rental car incident occured about 2 hours before we were supposed to leave for Dallas to look for a new vehicle. I ended up getting a new rental car, and went home to face my angry husbands wrath, and we started a very silent drive to Dallas. About a quarter of the way there we started talking again, and by the time we got there, we were almost laughing about the ridiculousness of our current situation (almost, but not quite laughing yet...) We ended up finding a great car. It is a 2005 Nissan X-terra, and we love it! It has really low miles and is super clean and we got a really good price. We almost feel like we are driving a brand new car, which is a pleasant change after driving my old van for the past few years.

We ended up having a great time in Dallas. We hadn't made a reservation for a hotel, and didn't start looking for one until about 8 in the evening, but found a nice place for a really great price (yeah for military discounts!) plus the guy working at the counter was feeling generous and upgraded us to a suite with a kitchen and living room and bedroom. It was great. We ordered a pizza from room service and all watched America's Funniest Home Videos. It was a really fun night, and a much needed happy note on a bad day. For those of you who are family and haven't yet heard the rental car story, it is because I have only just now started talking about it. I was too embarassed. :)

So hear is a picture of our new car, that I am VERY cautiously driving. I also included a picture of the front of the house, just so those of you haven't seen where we live could!

March

My mom came out to visit in March, and I was finally able to learn how to sew. Chris's parents bought me a sewing machine for my birthday in September. My mom gave me an intense lesson and these are a few of the projects we accomplished while she was here. I even made a matching shirt for me and a dress for Cailey. I haven't gotten up the nerve to wear my shirt when she wears her dress, but I think it is really fun anyways. I have worked on a couple of things since mom left, but am afraid to tackle another pattern on my own. I will probably stick to blankets and curtains until I get another lesson in patterns.

My Grandpa came out the last week my mom was here and we all had a good time. We went to the rattlesnake round up in Sweetwater. A very interesting experience to say the least. It was fun though, and we got to eat some horribly greasy, but delicious food while we were there. That was my highlight! In typical Texas fashion, there was fried everything.

Blessings in barf.

On Monday night we went to life group, and we started a new study on 1 Peter. We started talking about how trials in our life produce more faith, and to praise the Lord in ALL circumstances. Also I brought up the fact that sometimes I almost look forward in a weird way to trials coming my way, because from past experience, my faith is always so much stronger afterwards and I am always thankful for the trial I had to go through to get to the place I am now. Without trials there would be no growth. So I am trying to change my attitude to praise God in the midst of ALL things, good or bad.

This is something really small, but I got something out of it, so I just thought I would share. Yesterday I woke up feeling really sleepy in the morning, and just kinda off. But I got up and put on a smile and headed to work. I felt ok all day, I just seemed really hungry and the leancusine I brought for lunch just didn't cut it. I just felt funny. Well, after work I decided to hit the gym. I have really gotten off my regular gym schedule and I was determined to get back on, so even though things were starting to feel funny, I forced myself to go, even if it was a short workout. By the time I got home, I was beginning to wonder if my tummy was ok, you know the feeling, I can only describe it as questionable. I have been putting off cleaning the back yard, the poop from the dog was really bad, and the puppy had also gotten a whole roll of paper towel one day and tore it all to shreds in the back yard. So I decided to tackle it. I was able to get everything cleaned up, I had dinner on the stove, when Chris got home. I greeted him and then ran up to my room and stayed there for the rest of the night. I won't go into detail, but it wasn't pretty...AT ALL. I tell you all of this, because I found myself thanking the Lord. I mean it couldn't have been better timing. I was able to get pretty much everything done that I needed to, and Chris was home, so I could just worry about myself and not the kids. Also, although the time alone was less that enjoyable, I got to lay there and catch up on all the tv I had been DVR ing. So all in all, I was thankful that the Lord allowed me to get sick at the best possible time. The throwing up even stopped about 11:30, so I got a relatively decent nights sleep, and although I will probably just be laying low today, I am so thankful I am not throwing up anymore, that I am actually in a pretty good mood. So although this is a small small thing, I just thought I would share how God used my barf to bless me!


1 Peter 1:3-7

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope throught the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance tha tcan never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

The last couple of months

February is here!!! Ahh...the month of love, and kisses, and hugs, what could be better! We have had such a busy time since Christmas, I have finally found a moment to sit and think over all we have done this last couple of months.

As most of you know we went to Kauai right after New Years. We spent 10 days there with my family, Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother in law and 2 nieces. We had an absolutely amazing time, and wish we were back there pretty much every day.

We returned home and got a surprise visit from my Grandpa. So we got to spend about 5 days visiting with him, and enjoying his company. The weekend after that we got the opportunity to go to San Antonio and see Chris's brother Jon graduate from basic training. We also got to visit with the rest of the Ingram family, mom and dad, sister Ali, Grandma, and Aunt Trish, Uncle Mark and the cousins. It was a really fun three days, and really special to be able to be with so much of the Ingram family. The kids were attached to Auntie Ali and Uncle Jon, and we had a great time all around. We were able to go to the River Walk and do some shopping. It was really fun!
Let's see other milestones this last couple of months...Cailey just turned 5.
We still are having a hard time believing we are parents of a 5 year old. We had a birthday party for her in Hawaii, and then we celebrated her actual birthday in San Antonio. She was very blessed this year to be able to celebrate with so much family. Now that she is five she has decided that she doesn't want to sleep with her blankie anymore "too babyish" she says, and she can blow a bubble, she is quite bossy to anyone younger than her, and is SO excited to start kindergarten next year. She is a joy and we are very proud of what a sweet and kind little girl she is turning into.

Caleb hasn't really hit any major milestones lately. He is still fascinated with cars, he ALWAYS has one in hand, and sleeps with one everynight. He is a sweet, sweet boy and is very easy most days, and content with life.

That's about it! Life is going fairly smoothly and we are just trying to enjoy it. These last few pics are of Valentines day. Chris was very sweet and sent me flowers to work. We had a great day on Valentines, took the kids to breakfast, and Cailey went to a birthday party. We just enjoyed each other and were very thankful for all the blessings and love we have in our lives. God is good. Of course I had to include one of Honey (our sweet 5 month old lab). I know that was long and there is total picture overload, I decided to get caught up all at once! Love and miss you all.

Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving day, and decorating for Christmas. We let the kids decorate however they wanted and then when they went to sleep Chris and I adjusted the decorations slighty. :)

Happy "sniff, sniff, cough, cough" Thanksgiving

So November brought the Ingram family many things. Let me try and list them, strep throat, strep throat, horrible head cold, strep throat, a yucky virus that makes little boys get sores all inside there mouth, and more strep throat. Tis the season to be sick and sicker. Since returning from AK we have been bombarded with illness in our house. It has been less than fun, but since I am sitting here sniffling, and holding a very cranky little boy, I thought I would be productive and update our blog. We have had a busy month this month, but as I look back I am not 100 percent sure what we have been doing besides getting sick and working. All I have to say that we are looking foward to Hawaii with a passion right now, and have 37 days to go!!!! So hopefully we will get all the sickness out now before we leave.

One other thing that Novemeber has brought us is a new addition to our family. A very sweet puppy we named Honey. She is about 9 weeks old, and a yellow lab. She is as sweet as can be and so far is an awesome puppy. She hasn't had any accidents in the house, and we couldn't be happier with our impulsive decision to get her. She was given to us, and we couldn't pass up the offer (we are suckers for cute things.) Here are a few pics of her and the kids, with I am sure many more than you care to see to come. We hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!!!

November

It is about time I posted another blog, I have had a hard time finding a moment to sit down and write.

I can not believe it is already November (really I am having a hard time believing it is November, since I was just out yesterday mowing our lawn in the 80 degree weather.) Although it is almost Thanksgiving, fall has really not yet arrived here in TX, but I can tell there is a crisper feeling in the air. Things have been going pretty smoothly, I don't have a lot to report, which is probably a good thing.We just got back from AK a week ago, and had an absolutely fabulous vacation (thanks mom and dad.) The kids did great, and had SO much fun playing with cousins, and Grammy and Papi, and Auntie and Uncle. It was so nice to be able to go with Chris and get to see our friends, and enjoy a lot of date nights, (which are very rare for us) and just relax and enjoy being "home." The kids were once again super travelers. I counted and this was Cailey's 11th trip on an airplane, which is not counting the times in my belly, and Caleb's 4th. They are becoming little jet setters. Our next big adventure is our trip to Hawaii...we have been spoiled rotten by my mom and dad this year. My entire family will be traveling to Kauai on Feb 2nd, for 10 days of fun and sun to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. We are all very excited and are counting down the days. So now we are just looking foward to the holidays, and doing our best not to gain a bunch of weight durning this time, because we have to be in bathing suits in 2 months!!!

The kids are doing great. Cailey has been doing really good in pre-school, and is making a lot of friends. She is getting very excited about turning 5 (she still has 3 months, but talks about it regularly.) She seems to think at times she is 13 instead of 4, the attitude is definately coming out, but all in all she is a sweet ,bubbly, extremely talkative little girl who we are very proud of.

Caleb is doing pretty well in pre-school, but has had a few naughty notes sent home with him. His favorite word is "mine" right now, and has a tendancy to steal toys from his friends, and then run away with a big grin on his face laughing. Having a boy is a very different experience from having a girl, but a huge blessing also. He is so sweet, and cuddly, and is just so cute that all the little naughty things are pretty hard to get mad at. He has a great laugh, and is generally a happy little boy. We are working on being kind, so hopefully this phase will pass quickly.

That's about it for us! Hope this finds all of you doing well also. We love and miss you all, and hope to hear updates from all of you soon also.

Blessings

Chris and Christina