One of the most creative friends I have

Here is a Ronney Joe Webb busy at work during Upward season. Ronney Joe is the Minister of Family Life and Missions at First Baptist Shreveport. He is very creative. He is also not afraid to try a thing and can do just about anything. I think the man has learned 1001 different trades in life. Most of my best ideas in ministry came from him- thanks for letting me "borrow" your ideas. We have a lot of fun talking shop together. Just talking to him jump starts my brain into being more creative!

Here is Ronney Joe as Elvis. I know he has also been Superman. He has quite a few costumes. Have I mentioned he is a lot of fun.
I am going to tell you one of my favorite Ronney Joe stories............
Ronney Joe was doing hospital visits one day. He was called to go to the hospital that one of the senior adult ladies was not doing well. Ronney Joe rushed to the hospital and made his way to her room. As he got in the room, his pager went off (this was before cell phones). He noticed it was the church and decided just to silence the pager and call them after he went and tended to the situation at hand. He went over to the lady and noticed she was unresponsive and the nurse was doing some things. He went over and placed his hand on her and began to pray. He asked God to intervene and help her during this time. After praying he stepped out to call the church. The church asked if he had been to the hospital to see Mrs. "X". He said yes I just prayed with her. They begin proceeded to tell him they were paging him because they had been notified she had died. So as Ronney Joe begins to realize he just prayed over a dead lady- it then dawns on him why the nurse is looking at him so strangely when he was with Mrs. "X".
Too, too funny. I promise this is a true story. If you knew my friend Ronney Joe you would realize this is just Ronney Joe! I had a great week at Rec Lab- thanks for all your hard work Ronney Joe!

Friends

This is my friend Myrna. Here she is riding a motorized cooler. She had fun riding it all over the hotel. Matter of fact she had so much fun the hotel staff wanted to take it for a spin too! Notice she took Yertle for a ride too. Myrna works in Upward's Global Development. She is passionate about sharing Christ. She does this on mission trips all over this globe. She also is instrumental in others being able to do so by the work in writing, training and doing the groundwork for teams to go all over the world using Upward sports to share Christ. She is a woman who truly loves God and follows after Him. It was an awesome week to learn from her and have a lot of fun with her!
This is my friend Jenny Hemmer. She is an amazing lady. She is the Recreation Minister at Judson Baptist in Nashville. She seeks to help others come to Christ through recreation ministries. She as taught me a lot as well. She has a passion to help others realize that we the church need to do things with excellence as we serve the cause of Christ. She wants others to realize that status quo is not enough. As Christians we should strive to give a little more, work a little harder and do things to the upmost. This clip she shared with me explains her passion really well. I encourage you to watch it! 212 degrees

Both these ladies are incredible women of God. They love God and He is their life's passion. I am so thankful to have them in my life. They are two of the reasons I look forward to Rec Lab each year!

My Car is officially dead

My car is officially dead. I drive a Ford Contour and it is old. The Lord provided us this vehicle many years ago while we were in seminary- yes I have driven it a long time. I mean it is literally falling a part and after putting $600 in it this week- it still needs $700 more we find out today. Well we have decided it is just not worth it. So we are asking God to lead and guide us as we once again find a vehicle.

It also made me a little sad. We were waiting until we adopted the girls to buy a new vehicle. Well since that fell through we have just put off getting a vehicle. However, here we are at that juncture and I have no idea what kind of vehicle I want or need. I mean before I knew no question- I was getting a mini van. Now that this is not a necessity I have no idea what to purchase. Matter of fact I absolutely detest looking for a new car. I dislike the whole car salesman stuff- so all those praying friends out there pray, pray, pray. I know God once again while lead and guide us. I truly believe He cares about all the details in our lives- even what car I need. I just wish He would send me an email and tell me. Now that is a thought - an email with the sender listed as "GOD"! That is for sure an email I would read!!!!

What kind of vehicle do you think I need?

Yertle Meets Jay Schroeder

Tonight Yertle and I got to hear Jay Schroeder speak and got to get our picture made with him. For those of you who are not up on football trivia- Jay is a retired NFL quarterback. He retired after 11 years in the NFL. He won the Super Bowl while playing for the Washington Redskins. He was our banquet speaker tonight- for you see more importantly than being a former pro football player he is a Christian. It was neat to hear his stories from his pro days but also hear how God allows him to use that as a platform to share Christ.
Everyone was wearing his Super Bowl ring in their pictures and what did Jay do- take his ring off and put it on Yertle. Isn't that sweet - he didn't want her to feel left out. Look real close and you can see- yes Yertle is wearing the ring that cost $12,000 to make at that time. Also on a side note- I did win a door prize. It was a silly animal and here at Rec Lab they throw the prizes. So I was toward the back - so they asked Jay to throw me my prize.......... yes I was nervous I was going to drop it- but here comes my spiral across the banquet room and YES I caught it! So thanks dad for teaching me to watch the ball into my hands (glove) so I didn't drop this catch!

We had a lot of fun tonight................! One really funny thing during question and answer time. Someone asked Jay who had hit him the hardest during his playing time. Without hesitation he said, I don't know. He went on to share he had numerous concussions so he truly doesn't know or remember (if you don't get it- he was knocked out so who knows!).

People who have impacted my life

This is my friend Bobby Shows. He was honored at Rec Lab with the Pogo Lifetime Achievement Award. I am so thankful to him for ALL he has done to pour into my life. I have attended classes he has taught at Rec Lab for more than a decade. He is a true man of God and is amazing. I am so glad he was honored tonight.
Ronney Joe Webb is presenting John Garner with a leadership award at Rec Lab. John is another man who has really impacted the type of minister I am today. He was my professor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He taught me so much and continues to do so. He has given his life to teaching others. It was great to honor him tonight. He is no longer at Lifeway Christian Resources full time so we had a night of "roasting" John. It was absolutely hilarious. The Rec Labations shared, as did a puppet friend from John's past years in recreation ministry and Caz McCazlin the founder of Upward. It was a great night.

I am so thankful to God for those who give to help others learn. Father, may I always be teachable.

Meet Yertle the Turtle

I realized after posting pictures of Yertle in San Antonio, that I have never properly introduced my turtle friend to you! Our Childhood Ministries has two turtle friends who are traveling turtles. Their names are Yertle and Mertle. We had a naming contest to come up with their names when they first became our friends. We also have two monkey friends- Milo and Millie the Mission Monkeys. The concept is to have children take a traveling turtle when they are going on a trip that requires travel. Milo and Millie go with individuals, families or teams who are going on mission both locally and globally. You are to take pictures of them while they are on their trip............ We have done some neat things with our friends on these trips. This fall the turtles went to England, Germany, Nicaragua, Hilton Head, Bike trips to Virginia, Disney World, and many other fun places. The monkeys have been to Nicaragua, Turkey, Greece, Kosovo, etc.

Other than to have fun and help us stay connected our families we are teaching children the following truth- "Your life can be a testimony everywhere you go!" I mean when you are taking a picture of or with one of these cute little creatures it most always draws attention or curious questions. Guess what? This is an awesome opportunity to lead into sharing about our faith in Jesus Christ. For you see when you tell someone this is something your church does you then often will have an open door to talk about spiritual things. So meet my friend Yertle- we are in San Antonio (as you may have guessed from earlier pictures).

Yertle is in San Antonio

Students who attend Rec Lab pose with Yertle along with the one and only Dr. Bill Buchanan (OBU). This group has been fun to have at Rec Lab. Students are a vital part of the lab experience- many, many ministers who come to Rec Lab- first came as a student- including me. During my studies at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary I took Rec Lab as a J-term. We attended lab, read books and did a week of class time.



Yertle at the River Walk in San Antonio- sorry I forgot to turn the picture around- goofy me. Today / tonight it is the coldest it has been in San Antonio in 12 years according to our own Rec Lab weatherman Bob F.
Yertle at the Alamo.............
Along with Jim F. (Birmingham), Kenneth S. (New Orleans), me, Yertle, Myrna G. (Brandon, MS), David M. (Fort Walton Beach), Debbie M. (Baton Rouge), Rhonda (Amarillo) and Jenny (Nashville). We had a lot of fun today even though it was cold and a little rainy. We went to the Alamo and yes Jim, now we can ALL say we have been- YEAH! We also walked along the River Walk, did a little bit of shopping, laughed a WHOLE lot, and then ate at the restaurant Mi Tierra! Have you ever heard of a Mexican restaurant open 24 hours? Well now you have! I had been here before and all wanted to return. Mainly for the atmosphere and the bakery. The food is just okay but the atmosphere is festive and a lot of fun! You can check them out at www.mitierracafe.com ! The pralines there are unlike any I have ever eaten. My friend from Rec Lab Jay F. (Albany, Ga) introduced these to many of us here 3 years ago- thanks Jay! We have missed Jay this year at Rec Lab. He and his wife just returned home from China with a new little girl - Congrats!

We had a blast!

Rec Lab

I have been in San Antonio, Texas since Sunday afternoon. I have come down here to attend a conference that I come to every year. I believe this is my 15th or 16th year. It is amazing time each year in my life. Amazing because I am able to attend so many practical classes and seminars that apply to my life, family and ministry. Not only that but the worship is geared specifically toward those who minister. This week our worship leader is Dave Hunt and our pastor is David Uth (who is the Senior Pastor at FBC Orlando). More than anything it is a feeling of a family reunion. Each year you get to catch up with friends in ministry and meet new people. There is a sense of family among this group. Sometimes some of us get to see each other during the year and others it is just once a year at Rec Lab. Despite this we are a close group. We have prayed through so many things- marriage, children's birth and adoption, illness, death, divorce, wayward children, broken relationships, hurts in ministry, etc. It has been a good week to be together.

I have already been to some great classes, the sermons have been incredible and recharging and the hanging out with friends has been just what I needed. After having such a rough end of 2008 (surgery, failed adoption, and the grief that accompanied these things) the Lord knew this is where I needed to come at the beginning of 2009. I am so thankful to the Lord for providing this opportunity!

I am off to classes, worship, lunch and then to the River Walk!

Parent's Night Out

Tonight was our monthly Parent's Night Out (PNO)! It is a night where parents in our church and community can sign up to have a "night out". Sometimes our Sunday School classes (or small groups) have fellowships during this time too. Tonight we had more signed up than ever before- we had a few that did not come for various reasons- here is what we ended up with 101 children in the Babies - Fours and 57 in Kindergarten - 5th grade. We were way up in preschool and a little down in elementary ages. I am so thankful for the 40 workers who helped us pull off tonight!

This year in PNO we are taking a "road trip" throughout our country. Last year we went around the world. Tonight our focus planned long ago was on Chicago. For our missions in elementary aged classes they watched part of the inauguration of President Obama. They also wrote letters to him or a member of his family. Of course many wanted to write the Obama girls. I wish you could all read the letters- they are precious.
They also made a prayer sheet we will send them- here are few of those prayer list requests-

They all listed 10 but I will list some of my favorites. Okay I couldn't leave any out - so I posted them all- sorry it is long but very sweet!
I encourage you to make a list as a family of prayers you have for President Obama and Vice President Biden and their families. This is a great teachable moment- right here at the beginning of a new Presidential term.
One of our PNO kids in first grade actually got to meet former President Jimmy Carter this past week- that is so cool. I am so excited for you F.H.

From the Kindergarten class........... (for the Obama Family)
1. We pray you have good food.
2. We pray you will be safe.
3. We pray you are healthy.
4. We pray you have good ideas.
5. We pray you have friends.
6. We pray for the White House.
7. We pray for your family.
8. We pray for church... the one you go to.
9. We pray your new dog is good.

From the 1st Grade class (for Vice President Biden)
1. We pray you have enough money to buy food
2. We pray that you are healthy.
3. We pray that you stay safe.
4. We pray you will be a good Vice-President.
5. We pray you have a happy life.
6. We pray that you love God.
7. We pray you have a great birthday.
8. We pray for you to have a good year.
9. We pray you take good care of your wife and kids.
10. We pray you will read the Bible.

From the 2nd and 3rd grade boys (for President Obama)
1. We hope God blesses you and your Presidency.
2. We pray God blesses you in every way.
3. We pray that you make good laws.
4. We pray God keeps you safe everywhere you go.
5. We pray that you are doing okay.
6. We pray that you do not have any problems.
7. We pray you do not have much paperwork.
8. We pray you keep America clean.
9. We pray that you have a good time being President.
10. We pray for your family's safety.

From the 2nd - 5th grade girls and 4th and 5th grade boys (for President Obama)
1. We pray that you remain safe.
2. We pray that you do a good job.
3. We pray that your family has good health.
4. We pray that you make good decisions.
5. We pray that you enjoy being President.
6. We pray you help keep our country safe.
7. We pray the girls do well in their new schools.
8. We pray for your leadership of the military.
9. We pray you make good decisions for our schools.
10. We pray your daughters would make friends.

Here are the verses our mission's teacher - Ms. Kelly- shared with them! We wanted them to know tonight that we are to respect, follow and pray for our authority (regardless who they wanted to win the election).

I Timothy 2:1-2 "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone- for kings and all those in authority. "

Hebrews 13:17 "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority."

Romans 13:1-2 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against authority is rebelling against what God has instituted."

Titus 3:1 "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good."

2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

P.S. If you have NOT signed up for the coupon class for February 5th (First Baptist Church Cleveland, TN) please do so. 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. classes for whichever fits your need (childcare at 10 a.m. only). We have over 80 signed up now- so it is filling up fast! Read the past post to see how to sign up!

Coupon Class for Cleveland

After talking about saving money and being frugal at one of our mom's group, several people commented they wanted to learn more about being Frugal. The economic crisis of our country is definitely having an impact on most family's budgets. I was also amazed after mentioning this in one of our Cooking Live (cooking class) events- the number that responded they were interested. Saving money is something everyone wants to do!
I came to the realization after reading blogs while off from surgery for almost 9 weeks that even though I thought I didn't need to clip coupons - that YES I did! For me it was simple, as a follower of Christ I know I need to be a good steward of what God has given me. I also realized being more frugal in the how I spend money on my grocery budget allows me to give more freely to others. I also am able to work on paying off my debt.
For some it is a way to show their spouse how thankful they are able to stay at home or work part time. For most it becomes a challenge. One example of that is in this story I share with you:
As I stood before the mom's group and shared how little I had paid for an item - a mom looked at me and politely said - I got 12 of those for free last week. At that moment it was "ON". I mean how did I miss that. Some of you are thinking I don't need 12 of those- but with this particular item (cake icing tubs), donating them to a food pantry is a great option. This type item is a "luxury" in a food pantry- or at least it is in my church's Manna Ministry. I mean for those of us who are competitive that meant we "LOST THAT GAME!"

So know that I have been on my soap box, here are the details.

Thursday, February 5th First Baptist Church Cleveland, TN
- 10 a.m. class (childcare provided with a reservation)
- 7 p.m. class (no childcare provided)
- the class is for men, women, ages- high school and up, all size and types of family units - single, married with or without children (wanted to clarify since some have asked)
We are asking you RSVP for this event- to sign up leave me a comment or for those who know me- you can email me! The class is the same both times we are just trying to offer so everyone who wants to can attend.
You will learn how to get the most savings without spending a whole lot of time! Look at it this way- if someone could show you how to save just $10 a week all year- that is $520. I can find some other things to spend $520 +++++ on can't you?
Ladies who have been doing this and can teach you how to become more frugal will be sharing.
Okay, as usual I got wordy......... but sign up and share with others! All are welcome to come- as always- our events are open not only to First Baptist members but our community as well!

Praying for our new President

I want to encourage everyone to join me in praying for our new President. President Obama, his family and the others who lead our nation need our prayers. I encourage you to go to The Presidential Prayer Team and join in! This is an organization that will give your prayer guides and other prayer resources to help you pray specifically for our leaders. You can find specific prayer requests for individual leaders.
On Friday night the elementary aged children will be challenged to pray for President Obama. They will write a letter to him letting them know we prayed for him and his family during our Parent's Night Out. I want our children to know that it is important as Christians to pray for our leaders.
More than anytime in our nation's history (in my opinion) we need a President who seeks God's help in leading this great nation! As our country faces economic hardship, moral crisis, wars raging all over this world, environmental concerns as well as other things that plague our nation ; we are a nation who needs to turn back to the one true God our nation was founded upon. We need to put our differences aside- regardless of who we cast our vote for this past November- this is the time to stand together. We need to work together but more than anything PRAY together. Will you join me in praying for our new historic first family?

Meal Plan Monday

Okay- hopefully I will be back on schedule for a meal plan beginning this week!

So here is my plan...........

Monday - lasagna, salad, fruit and garlic toast
Tuesday - Pork Loin, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli, Fruit
Wednesday - Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich and Fruit
Thursday - Crunchy Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese & Peas
Friday - FAMILY GAME NIGHT- mom bringing chili, me hotdogs, chips & condiments (including slaw)
Saturday - Leftovers
Sunday- BBQ Chicken Wings, green beans, corn, bread

Okay- I am admitting I have never made Slaw............ I know, I know how awful is that! :) So I need a suggestion for a slaw recipe that is good to put on hot dogs. I will be honest I am tempted to purchase slaw from a local restaurant, so someone please tell me I can do this and it is not as hard as I think it is!

So, anyone else working hard on a meal plan this week?
You can check out other meal plans over at Meal Plan Monday

Lunch Tote Give Away on $5 dinners

You can go to $5 Dinners blog and enter her give away for a FREE lunch tote. You can also check our her dinners for yes, you guessed it $5! She posts her recipes, too ........... check it out!

Check it out at $5 Dinners Giveaway !

Swim Party Saturday Night

If you live in Cleveland come join us Saturday Night at our church's Swim Party! The Swim Party is for families (siblings, grandparents, etc.) are welcome to join us! Not a member of FBC- you are welcome to join us too! The Party is at the Cleveland, TN YMCA from 6:30 - 8:30. It is FREE! We ask you bring a snack and we will provide the drinks.

We put all the snacks in the party room and share them! Come join the fun! Don't forget your towel.
Adults this is for you to swim also.............. I know, I know some of you don't like to get in a swim suit in January for LOTS of reasons BUT it is so much Fun. No, you don't have to swim- there are lots who sit on the side and watch BUT know you can join me in the pool! Maybe I should challenge you to join me in the pool........... !
Seriously if you have questions or are able to join us leave me a comment !

Wii Fit

So many of you have asked me did you find a Wii Fit for my husband's birthday. YES! I did! It is a long story but I actually ended up with two. So I am selling one- I think I have someone who is going to purchase it but if not I will let you know in case you are interested. We have only set it up. Boy, am I glad you can LOCK your information. Otherwise everyone could see my weight, BMI, etc. I mean I know you can look at me and pretty much figure out I NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT.............. but you know the actual numbers I am glad you can hide. Don't laugh- I think most of women no matter the size want to hide those numbers. I have laughed at someone who said they were fat and told them okay let me come stand beside you and you can rethink that statement (they were not fat at all). Tee Hee!



We have not done many things on the Wii Fit since hubby just got it. What is really funny though is the above game under the Aerobics heading. I mean how funny is it for a person to be making all these funny moves with their hips / body - I mean think about it - if you can't see the screen and don't realize you are keeping your virtual or on screen hoola hoop from falling it could look strange. Okay it looks strange anyway. But man is it fun. Okay I thought I would pass out after doing the running one.

I will also make a confession. Hubby and I could not figure out why we could not do the balance stuff correctly- I mean we were leaning like the picture said but we just knew something wasn't right OR we were a lot worse off than we ever thought. Well................. we realized we had the board backwards. Too bad our little four year old neighbor wasn't around to "teach" us how to use this like he did the Wii.

Oh funny stuff.

Nativity Sets

This is a cute Nativity Set for children to play with.................
Veggie Tale Nativity Precious Moments Nativity

I am sitting here trying to count how many Nativity Sets I have and I can't. I have a LOT. I love collecting these and have a variety of kinds. I have several from different places and many hold special meaning to my husband and I. The one I have pictured above is a Precious Moments Nativity that was given to me several years ago by my parents. I believe they purchased it through AVON.

I encourage everyone who has children in their sphere of influence (I think that just about covers EVERYONE!) to have at least one Nativity that is child friendly. I love to watch children play with the Nativity. If you are careful you can even see them "tell" the story of Jesus birth. If you have an infant- don't worry they can hold it, put it in their mouth (well the bigger pieces), etc.

I have a new one this year called, "What God Wants For Christmas" , it is a book and nativity. It is from Family Life. I will post more on this later- I read this at our Children's Christmas Party this year. My family also read it on Christmas morning before we opened presents. It is REALLY neat - I will tell you more when I post on the Christmas Party.

Here is one I am adding to a little at a time- Fisher Price's Little People Nativity

Now is a good time to check Christian Bookstores and websites to purchase these at discounted rates- keep checking Fisher Price's website too. A friend told me a toy store had these a LOT cheaper than the website but I can't remember where it is- if you are reading this K.T. please let us know..............or if you know of somewhere you can purchase this one .......... leave us a comment!

So disappointed

I am so sorry if you listened to me about sending Christmas Cards to Recovering Soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington D.C. I sent two boxes and they were ALL sent back as not able to deliver. No real reason was given- I will have to try and find out. Sorry if you did waste postage on this- it was a nice thought anyway.

Anyone know why they would not accept these?

I Confess Another Addiction

I must confess. I have an addictive personality! :0 I am addicted to movies. Don't believe me? Here are the movies I received for Christmas! Horton Hears A Who! is a movie I saw in the theater (which is unusual for me- I normally wait and just buy it and see it then). However, since I have a book addiction too- I had read this book and wanted to see the movie. Someone knew I loved it and now I have it forever. By the way my collection of movies absolutely drives my mother crazy. I am not really sure why, I need to ask her.

I love these movies too but didn't have them- THANKS Heather!

Another thing no one really knows about me is I LOVE Reba. I am not much of a sitcom watcher but I began watching reruns of this. It is so funny. Not to mention I love to hear REBA sing. So my secret is out. Thanks to Santa's Helper (Heather) I was given the first four seasons for Christmas! I was so excited since there are only 5 seasons (and the 5th season is not even out on DVD). I only wish it was still running............. wonder why it was ever canceled?

As if my DVD addiction only pertained to DVDs I owned, we might be okay. However, two weeks ago I decided I had read enough about Redbox and I should try it myself. I will admit I had been really leery of it up until then. I wasn't exactly sold on it when I tried but thought hey I have a free code that one of the "elevenmoms" from Wal-mart posted- I will try it. On my fourth night of renting them, hubby looks at me and says, "you are addicted." I smiled and said yes but they have ALL been FREE! I did however pick some real losers in my opinion but hey it did not cost me a dime. I have only paid for one so far and have rented quite a few. Try it- if you are little skeptical as I was- use one of these two codes ....... you can only use it the first time you rent- REDBOX or try DVDONME. You have to put your credit card / bank card in the machine so they can know who to charge if you skip town with their DVD. If you have been renting these and didn't know you can get free codes- just google redbox codes and you will find several sites listing these and can even put in your cell phone number so you can get a code every Monday for free. A code that is working right now is BREAKROOM . Try it- I mean who can't afford a FREE movie.

So there you have it- a movie addict............. Are you a movie addict? Don't be afraid to confess here in my comment box- the more of us there are we will not feel alone! Okay, Okay I am teasing but you can let me know what your favorite movie of all time is................ Mine is "The Sound of Music"!

For those of you wondering what is a REDBOX.............. here it is. You have most likely seen them at a Walgreen's or Wal-mart. Here in Cleveland you can find them at the 25th Street Walgreens, Wal-mart on Keith Street, Wal-mart on Treasury Drive and the Walgreens near the Wal-mart on Treasury Drive. In some places McDonald's are starting to get them. I wish the Walgreen's across from the Wal-mart on Keith Street would get one..... Anyone out there listening? Who do we tell we want a REDBOX at that Walgreens?

I'm Addicted

Well, it is official. I am addicted to GAMES- I have pictured a dart board because this is the game I have played the most on my hubby's new Wii. I got him a Wii for Christmas because we have talked about getting it for a while now. We had said we were going to wait until we got our taxes back but I wanted to surprise him. He is hard to surprise AND there are very few things in life he ever says he "wants" so................ YEAH for me! I surprised him. We have had so much fun playing!

For my birthday this summer I got a Nintendo DS. I love to play games. Matter of fact I drive everyone a little crazy wanting to play. The Nintendo DS helped me survive my 9 weeks in bed after surgery (my surgery was 2 days after my birthday)! This is a fun game - hubby knows I love penguins and sea turtles so he got this game. Speaking of sea turtles if you are ever in or around Ponce Inlet, Florida (right beside Daytona Beach) you should go see the sea turtles at the little hospital and rescue center there.

This is another game I received for Christmas- wonder if hubby was trying to tell me something? :)

This is the game my sister got for Christmas and I have played it a WHOLE lot. Matter of fact I got stumped on it and my 15 year old cousin had to help me out, tee hee! Thanks Garrett!

This little system is amazing! We have had so much fun. My little four year old neighbor taught my hubby and I how to play on Christmas night. I was amazed at how well he did in ALL the games (and how poorly we did)! He was very patient in teaching us how to use the Wii. We had a Wii party the night after Christmas and my family came to play. Last night my aunt, uncle and cousins stopped by and we all played. It was absolutely hysterical. I haven't mentioned that after playing Christmas night my husband and I both could not believe how sore we were- don't laugh- have you tried it?

I am now looking for Wii Fit for my husband's birthday Monday but can't find it. I knew I should have listened to my friend Michelle and bought it when I bought the Wii. Anyway, speaking of being sore- I hear that is quite a work out (and that is why we want it).

My hubby fussed for me spending so much money on him for Christmas - since we don't normally spend that much- but hey I knew we would BOTH really use this present! The other reason is we had also talked about getting it when we adopted the girls. It has been a sad time for us since that adoption feel through and I wanted him to have it anyway!

Anyone know where I can get a Wii Fit in the Cleveland or Chattanooga, Tennessee area? I have called ALL stores and can't find one. HELP!