The Great Icestorm of 2009 & Other Wilson Happenings!

I stole that title (The Great Icestorm of 2009) from our local news here. I thought it was so funny that they kept using that title as they talked about the ice we got here last week. But before I go there let me catch you up on some other happenings.

Way back on Friday, Jan 23rd Christian finally got to have his sleep over for his birthday. We had 4 sixth grade boys join us from 4:00 pm on Friday until 11:30 am on Saturday. This was the easiest birthday party I have ever hosted. As long as the kitchen was open and full of food they were happy!! I had gotten 3 large pizzas, several different chips and dip, couple of bags of cookies, and an ice cream cake and basically said here you go. No rules except you can't take any food out of the kitchen!! Seriously I went to bed around 10:00 pm and never heard a word from them. Craig came to bed around midnight and said the same thing. They said they all stayed up until 4:00 am playing rock band, video games and on the computer. By the time I came out of my room on Saturday morning Christian had already cooked them cinnamon rolls. He had a great time and WHEW we are done with birthdays for awhile.

We started last week with Joel being sick. I took him to the Dr. on Monday and he had an ear infection AND strep throat. The sore throat is what was bothering him the most and thankfully because we caught the ear infection before the ear drum ruptured he didn't have to have the dreaded ear drops!

Tuesday Joel & I sat by the TV all day waiting on them to cancel school early. I was convinced they would let the kids out early although no precipitation was falling at the time. Our subdivision is divided right down the middle with 2 different school districts. One did not have classes on Tuesday but ours did. I wasted most of that day because they NEVER did let school out early. They did cancel Christians band concert that night but that was it.

We anxiously awaited Craigs arrival home that night from work because by that time a lot of North Dallas was seeing ice. He made it home and just said that the bridges were a little slick but that was all. About 8:30 that night I began to hear the ice hit the windows. My ONLY concern was when our electricity started blinking. I was praying that the electricity would not go out - and it didn't!!

We got up Wednesday morning to an ice covered scene. Craig was off on Wednesday and of course school was canceled so we had a great time here all together! Joel and Caleb ventured out into the ice but it was too hard and not enough to really make snowballs so it didn't hold their attention very long!

Thursday EVERYBODY went back to school - YEAH! And we once again braved the Elementary School fundraiser night at McDonald's. This is where your whole school (K-5th grade) show up at the designated McDonald's to watch your teachers serve. Can I just tell you that there were MORE kids than I could count running and screaming through that McDonald's. We ordered, eat and LEFT!! And even with that quick time I still had a headache when we left!

We went to a Superbowl party on Sunday night and had a good time. The boys had a blast playing with all the kids and Craig and I enjoyed some awesome fajitas! Unfortunately the kids were not ready to go back to school this morning and Craig didn't want to work either!

A Day With Caleb

Out of all 3 boys - Caleb is the least demanding. Christian is not really demanding but because he is older it is easier to do more things with him and there is more opportunity because of his school events, etc. Joel is demanding so he REQUIRES a lot of attention. But Caleb is so laid back and easy going that sometimes I think he might got overlooked.

So this week when Tina came in we went to IKEA. We didn't realize that you would need HOURS to go through the store. It is very contemporary, which is not my style, but they have a lot of great ideas that you can use no matter what. So while we were there I got quite a few things for Joel's room but did not find anything for Caleb's room. Joel's room is done in cars and primary colors so it is pretty easy to get stuff for his room. Caleb's room is done in camouflage and finding wall art and accessories is a little more difficult.

So Caleb kept asking me, mom when are you going to find some stuff for my room. So, since they were off on Friday from school I asked him if he wanted to go with me to look for stuff for his room. His eyes lit up and he said YES, I want to go.

I decided that he and I would spend the day together. And spend the day is what we did! We left at 10:00 am and didn't get home until 4:30pm!! He was VERY TIRED and at one point he said, "Mom I am DONE with shopping!" Ha, ha.

I thought there was an Army, Navy Store in Frisco and we drove up and down highway looking for it before I called information and they said there wasn't one in Frisco. We went to Target where we found new curtain for Joel's room (oops!) and NOTHING for Caleb's. We went to a couple of small stores that had nothing camouflage, the Mall and ate lunch, when I finally said let's try this Wal-Mart. We found him a pillow, small blanket and 3 pictures at Wal-Mart. Feeling like we had struck gold I said lets drive back to our Wal-Mart in Frisco and see if we can find some more pictures! But our Wal-Mart didn't have any more. After getting him some ice cream from Sonic I talked him into one more store. Our final stop was Hobby Lobby where I bought 2 pictures for the game room and Caleb's favorite purchase of the day - a camouflage tank!! Sherri brought me a shelf yesterday that he really likes so we have that up. We still have one huge blank wall but it is looking better and I think more importantly he enjoyed a day all to his self!

Christmas - Let's try again!

Wellll, if you read the below post you know that our Christmas didn't quite go according to plan. The virus was a nasty bug that took most of us almost 7 days to get completely over. As you know we had planned to have Christmas with my mom and dad, brother and his family, my grandmother, and my aunt and her daughter the day after Christmas. That had to be postponed due to the sickness.

So on Tuesday of this past week my brother and Austin came back to visit. They needed to get my old refrigerator before the 1st so we didn't have to pay another month of storage. New Year's Eve Craig was off and we all had a great day just hanging out, installing a new kitchen faucet, and the three adults all went out to eat that night. None of us stayed up past 10:30 to "ring" in the new year but we had a great day!

New Year's Day Craig had to work but it was also my dad's 60th birthday party. We decided with all of the kids it was easier for mom and dad to come to my house. We had chick-fil-a for lunch, cake and gifts. Everyone had a great day!

Friday I geared up to clean my house and start cooking for Saturday when everyone would return for Christmas. Craig was scheduled to work and ended up canceling his shift - which in the end was a HUGE blessing. As I was in the middle of cleaning I got a phone call around 10:00 am from my mom that my great uncle in Henderson had passed away the night before and the funeral was (yep you guessed it) Saturday at 2:00 pm (which was right in the middle of our Christmas celebration). I thought okay we are not supposed to celebrate Christmas this year! We decided since Craig was off we would go ahead and have it on Friday. So what ensued was a lot of mad dashing as I cleaned and cooked. Thank goodness my husband was off and actually cleaned the entire 2nd floor as well as peeled potatoes and made a quick dash to Wal-Mart when the mixer wouldn't work!! (THANKS HONEY!)

Everyone (minus Leanna & Baby Nicole) arrived around 4:30 pm. Leanna was driving in from Austin and due to Nicole being fussy the whole way didn't get here until around 8:30pm. We eat A LOT (my granny makes a mean roast), opened gifts and laughed so hard I had tears running down my face! (Mainly thanks to Austin! Christian had a project for band where he had to play 5 songs for 5 different people and have them sign a program before they go back to school. Every time he started playing Austin would start singing loudly!! He is not 2 yet so he doesn't really form any words so it just sounded like a bunch of hollering but it was HYSTERICAL)!

Everyone left by 9:30 in order to get up early Saturday morning and travel to Henderson for the funeral. Despite all of the changes in plans I think everyone had a great time. One thing is for sure we will NEVER forget Christmas 2008!

A Very "Sickly" Christmas!

As I was getting ready to type this post I realized as I looked at the date that one year ago today Joel asked Jesus to be the "boss" of his life. It was such a testimony to me of God's faithfulness. I had asked the Lord at the beginning of 2007 for 2 main things - for Christian to be baptized and for Joel to be saved. Christian was baptized in May and then with only 3 days left in the year - Joel was saved. A true testament to the faithfulness of a loving God.

Now, here is our sad Christmas story. This Christmas has had a "different" feeling from the get go. I chalked it up to the fact that we moved 2 weeks before Christmas and I had not been able to really decorate and enjoy the season like years past. As I made my last trip to the Dollar Store on Christmas Eve I was beginning to get very excited. Christian was spending the night with my mom and dad and would arrive early Christmas morning with them. So Joel, Caleb and I anxiously awaited for Craig to get off work and come home. We had been planning to go look at Christmas lights as soon as he got home. As soon as he got here Joel came down the stairs an said his stomach hurt. I thought "oh no"! We had some guests at the house earlier in the week whose children had been sick with a stomach bug. I sent up a plea to the Lord that he would not get sick. We all loaded in Craig's car and headed out. About 30 minutes into seeing lights (10 minutes of which we spent getting gas) we had heard enough of Joel complaining about his stomach and headed home. We pulled up in the driveway, got out of the car, and Joel began vomiting. YUCK!

My next big dilemma was where to let him sleep. I didn't want him way upstairs with all of that carpet between us so I decided to make him a pallet in my bedroom with towels leading to my bathroom. He was so sick. He vomited or dry heaved EVERY 15 minutes from 8:30 pm until 6:45 am Christmas morning. As I came out of the bedroom to text my mom and dad that he was sick (remember Christian had spent the night with them and they always come over very early Christmas morning to be with the kids) I noticed I had a text. Curious I checked it first and it was from my dad at midnight. It said Christian & your mom vomiting. YIKES. I text back that Joel had been up sick all night and wondered what we needed to do.

Craig drove the 2 hour round trip drive to pick Christian up from my moms and around 11:00 am a very "subdue" group minus my mom and dad decided to open presents. We opened presents then Joel went to sleep, Christian went to sleep and I tried to sleep. It was not a very fun day. As we went to bed that night I asked the Lord to please let me have a full nights sleep after being up the previous night with Joel. I slept good until around 7:30 am when I got up and got sick. Craig came into the bedroom and informed me that he had been up all night sick. I was sick ALL day the day after Christmas. As I took my first sip of water around 7:15 pm that night Craig came in to tell me that Caleb was now vomiting. I thought well thank God he is at least the last one in this household who could get it.

We postponed our Christmas with my mom and dad, my brother and his family, my grandmother and my aunt until next Saturday so hopefully all was not lost. We will ALWAYS remember Christmas 2008!

Maybe New Year's will be better.

WELLL, were moving on up!!!

We made it!! For those who don't want all of the gory details of the closing/moving process just skip down to the end and enjoy the pictures. For those of you who do..stay tune!!

As most of you know we were scheduled to close at 9:00 am on Friday, December 12th. Now, Craig and I have NEVER had a closing go smoothly and much prayer had been sent up that we would break that streak. PLUS, Craig was actually working on Friday so I was going to be signing all of the paperwork using power of attorney. My mom graciously came on Thursday and helped me back the apartment and then was going to go with me to the closing early Friday morning. The first hing of problems came around noon on Thursday when they called from the school for me to come get Joel who was sick. Have you ever tried to pack (and throw away) items with a 6 year old - not fun!! Then, on Thursday around 3:30 pm I received a phone call that due to some computer problems our closing was going to have to be moved to 2:00 on Friday. I was getting nervous. Friday morning I call the title company at 10:00 am to get the final amount of money I needed to bring to the closing. They said they did not have my paperwork - YIKES. After several calls back and forth the paperwork arrived at the title company but because of their backup that day they didn't call me until 1:00 and let me know the amount. So, I headed off to the bank to get a cashier's check from our savings account. The bank very sweetly informed me that my name was not on the savings account and I could not withdraw ANY money. I was like you don't understand I HAVE to close on my house in 1 hour and I HAVE to have this money. I made a frantic call to the hospital and had Craig paged. He was able to transfer the money from savings to checking so that I could get the check. We arrived at the closing and was told that some of the paperwork still had not arrived. Finally we were able to go in and start signing. Every piece of paper I had to sign my name and initial and then for Craig's name I had to sign Craig Wilson by his agent and attorney-in-fact Adana Wilson and then for his intial part I had to write CW by AW, AIF. Can I just tell you it took forever!!! We knew going in that we could not get our keys until the house funded. As I was signing the lady said funding could take anywhere from 2-4 hours or until the next business day (which would have been Monday). We prayed and told her to please do everything they could to get it funded. As soon as I was done signing I called my mortgage lady and they stayed on top of the Title Company to get it funded. I also don't think it hurt that my mom and I sat in the lobby believing God that it would fund on Friday. At 5:02 pm on Friday the lady came into the lobby with my KEYS!! Oh, happy day. My mom and I felt like we had run a marathon that day.

We rushed back to the apartment picked up the boys and her truck and headed to the house. We had packed the back of the expedition and her truck FULL of things that we could unload in the house. I had, had my final walk through with the construction manager on Thursday at 4:30 pm and everything was PERFECT. They had fixed all of the paint nicks and had shampooed the carpet. When I walked in Friday night at 5:30 pm it was a different story. Someone had come in during those 24 hours and had re-textured over 58 places in the house. There was texture on the floors, tile, bathtubs, etc. If you can imagine after the day I had had trying to get the house closed and was expecting the immaculate, perfect house I had seen the night before to walk in and see that mess was devastating. I immediately called the salesman and he informed me he didn't know what had happened and they would take care of it but he would have to talk to the construction manager who doesn't answer his phone nor work on the weekend. I was NOT A HAPPY CAMPER. We unpacked our cars and headed back for our last night in the apartment.

Saturday looked brighter after a day of rest and realizing we were LEAVING the apartment. The movers we had were AWESOME. They had been recommended to us by our Children's Pastor at Northstar because all of their leadership had used them. They did a fabulous job. My mom and dad came early with us and while mom lined shelves and unloaded my kitchen my dad HUNG most of my decorative pictures and other odds and ends. WHAT A HUGE BLESSING TO HAVE THEIR HELP. My house would not look anywhere near as good as it does now if it had not been for them!!! The dish guy showed up to hook us up to dish. (You may recall we tried to get dish in the apartment so we could watch the Astros and they couldn't do it and in the meantime I bought rabbit ears to watch the olympics.) Wellllll, the dish guy couldn't get it connected because of a bad line so guess what - thank goodness for those rabbit ears!!!!

Sunday morning I put all of the closets together, finished organizing the kitchen, and the boys rooms and unpacked the last box (YES - the last box; Mom and I worked really hard the day before). They came back over and finished hanging pictures. After lunch I headed to clean out the apartment. My mom had cleaned ALL of the baseboards, ceiling fans, oven while she was there on Thursday. I was so tired that if she hadn't done that I think I would have just let them keep the deposit. But because all I had to do was clean the bathrooms, kitchen, mop and vacuum we left the apartment in great condition!! I collapsed on Sunday night and we got ready for the new week!

Monday morning brought the construction manager and answers to all of the previous problems. Somehow the texture guy had got the wrong house. In came the painters to fix all of the spots and then they had a cleaning crew come in yesterday and clean the house for us!! After almost 4 hours the dish guy gut us satellite TV and then after 3 days dealing with internet problems Craig got the internet working this afternoon - YEAH.

So, we are loving the house. Settled in and looking forward to spending Christmas here. Thank you to everyone who prayed us through this process (it has been long) but as always I can now say it was worth it!!

Craig and I have new cell phone numbers for the Dallas area. They are Craig: 214-901-8843; Adana: 214-901-8842. Our new address is 2313 Evening Song Drive; Little Elm, TX 75068

Happy 12th Birthday Christian!

Today is Christian's birthday. WOW - 12 years. It is very hard to believe. Christian was a very, very, very long (40 1/2 hours) and hard delivery and then when I finally had him he was not breathing because the chord had been wrapped around his neck. Not a very "easy" entrance into the world. But despite a hard beginning he hasn't let anything stop him. He is a very good brother, helps me when I need it, is an excellent A student and we are learning is a very talented trumpet player. He really enjoys school and LOVES band. I know the recent transition of moving was harder on him then he ever admitted to any of us and yet he has adjusted very well. Both Craig and I are extremely proud of him.

Due to the fact that we are still in the apartment we had to alter his birthday plans. He wants to have some of his friends come over and spend the night so we will do that in a couple of weeks when we have moved into the house. Yesterday morning I had sent in a birthday request to our Christian radio station here KLTY. So on his way to school they announced his birthday on the radio. Although he acted embarrassed I know he really liked it!! We got up this morning to go eat breakfast together before Craig had to go to work. He had requested for everyone to give him money for his birthday but I had already started buying him stuff. A couple of months ago he said he wished he would have done his room in Longhorns rather than Astros. Shortly after that I found Longhorn bedding on sale and marked down drastically. On a whim (which is not me) I went ahead and bought him the Longhorn bedding and sheets. Then Grandpa Billy & Jo got him the accessories. I don't think he was quite so excited about the bedding but he did get some cash from his other grandparents and that made him HAPPY. I think once we get into the new house and we decorate his room he will enjoy it all a little more!!

Keep us all in your prayers - baring no unforeseen circumstances we are to do our walk through on Monday and close on our house on Friday, Dec. 12th. We will then move one week from today - YEAH!! We appreciate prayers that the closing and moving would all go smoothly.

Lord did you really mean to give me boys??

My friend Tina is always telling me to write down all these crazy things that my boys do and say. (Like - what color truck does Jesus drive; how do airplanes see; how come God did not choose my dad to be Noah!) I started writing some of them down in a book but I think that book is in storage somewhere. But I was thinking tonight - Lord did you really mean to give me boys. I mean WHY is bodily noises so much fun, and funny and ALWAYS have to turn into a competition. Why must they constantly be hitting, kicking, jumping and wrestling? Why must EVERYTHING be a competition - first one to the car, last one to the car...? Why must we CONSTANTLY annoy each other on purpose???? Why does their bathroom have to smell like a bathroom in a convenience store?!! I read a devotional this morning and it said God is working everything out for our benefit - so I know God has to be working on me somehow -ha. ha.

Here is a few examples of the craziness that is part of our normal routine here. For instance on Saturday as I was in returning the key to our salesman after looking at our house, I am barely out of the door when I hear Joel screaming in the car. Only to find out that he has somehow gotten trapped in the seatbelt. I worked on and worked all the while as he was screaming and could not get him free. I don't know how he did it but this is the SECOND time he has done this. The first time was a couple of years ago and he was in Grandpa Billy's truck. He had to wait until I got home to the apartment and LOCATE the scissors to get him out. Yep, I had to cut right through the seatbelt to get him out. (Don't even want to try to figure out how much that costs to replace).

Sunday as we drove to church Joel is hollering at Caleb to stop. Finally after listening to this several times I said Joel what is Caleb doing to you? Joel replies in a very frustrated voice - Caleb is breathing! I was like breathing - Joel , Caleb has to breathe. Joel said but it is annoying me!!

Lastly, Craig has been working some 11 am - 11 pm shifts recently. This has caused me to flashback to the years when he worked nights and it is causing the boys to revert back to bad behavior of fighting mom at bedtime. So tonight after finally getting Joel asleep, I could hear Caleb talking (now remember they all are sharing the master bedroom in the apartment. They have Christian's full size mattress and Joel's twin size to sleep in so getting them all to sleep takes a miracle!). So anyway I hear Caleb talking, I holler down the hallway Caleb stop talking. He was silent for a minute and said mom I wasn't talking ... I was PRAYING. Oops - I said okay keep praying and add mom to that list as well!!

So although they can't seem to get along when they are all awake - they certainly don't mind all sleeping together!!! As I reflect the fact that Christian will be 12 on Saturday - I see how all 3 of them complete our family and I love them very much!