Thursday, July 31, 2008

Job Update

My bosses told me today they were going to talk to the "power that is" at our company and see about buying out my employment contract with the agency. Please pray that they offer me a wage that is descent for the amount of work and responsibility this position comes with. I really like working here and hope it works out for the long term. I should know something on Monday or Tuesday, I hope!

Mark is still looking for work and doing a home repair job for our pastor. He is really enjoying it! I hope he gets some referrals from this to keep him busy till the perfect job comes along.

I just whooped Marks butt in Scrabble. I beat him 248-193! :-) I rock, I know....JK

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

$3.69

How much did you pay for gas this week? Thats right! I paid $3.69 a gallon. Can anyone beat that price? If so where do you live?

Cartoons

Here is the latest fun conversation between Marcus and I:

M: Mom, can you wake me up at 5 in the morning? (smile on face)
A: You are 9. Why do you need to be up at 5 in the morning? (BIG eyes)

M: Because I want to watch transformers and that is the time they come on. (smile on face)
A: I am not getting up to wake you up at 5 in the AM. Are you crazy?? ("like hello" look on face)
M: Well, do you have an extra alarm clock I can use to wake me up? (arms on hips)
Dad: I have one in the garage. (laughing at us)
M: AWESOME!! thanks Dad (running to his dad)

So we gave him the clock and set it to wake him at 5. Can you believe that he really got up and watched his cartoons?? He even woke up his brother to watch with him, how nice of him!LOL. He was dressed for camp and ready to go when we woke up at 6:30. I wonder how he will be feeling (tired?) when I pick him up from camp this evening. Mark had to go get Zachery already today because he has a fever! I will keep you posted.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Weekend Full of Fun

Saturday was a day of yard work. They always are! But this day we found this moth looking bug on one of the trees. It was big and creepy but it was a beautiful green.





And of course Marcus was on the lookout for more bait. He found this worm. Yes that is a worm in my kitchen. He went and filled a bag with dirt, put a little water in it, then in went the worm. He fished with it on Sunday. In the middle of the hot day Mark took the boys fishing and I got to stay at home and watch tennis with Bella. Marcus caught three fish today! He is so excited about it!




This is Mark with Bella after the fishing trip. He needed some puppy love and she was more than willing to obliged. Yes, that is the bed he has his feet propped on.







This is Bruce and Kim. They are a couple that go to church at Calvary. They invited us to come over to their house for pizza. So after tennis and fishing we drove over. Had we known how close they live to us we would have walked. They have a beautiful home and three girls.
After we ate, the boys went out side and played in the back yard. All around the back yard are horses and dogs from the neighbors house. Kim gave the boys some carrots to feed the horses, but you know my boys and that was not good enough. They took the carrots and pulled a bunch of grass and made a salad for the horses. It was pretty funny, and thoughtful, and the horses loved it. It was a great evening out of the house and now we can say we have some friends. We all had a great time! Thank you Bruce and Kim!




Friday, July 25, 2008

Friday Night at the Funches House

After a long hard week at work for me(not really hard), energy draining week at camp for the boys(please, they were swimming & having fun, & OH fighting!), and a home improvement week for Mark(ok, he really did put in some work), this is what we did to enjoy our friday night after eating pizza from Sams's Club. I think I may have the next TobyMac in the making. My boy is gonna make me rich one day :-) or at least have alot of fun trying! Marcus did not want to be on camara! Maybe next week he will loosen up.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Welcome to the south



So when we moved in here we had a few friends. I figured that they would go away. I was wrong. So Mark being the wonderful husband he is, bombed the whole house and then sprayed the WHOLE outside perimeter and the ENTIRE inside of the house. Do you think that helped?? NOOONNNOOO it has not. Marcus says, "Mom, its OK, I can use them as bait for fishing!" Who can guess what I said next?? I said, "Great! They are free, and I can save some money on buying bait." Now even though I HATE the bugs and can not get rid of them, I am embracing the idea that Marcus is now in charge of bug capturing and I am saving money. Hopefully he does not get to save too many of them. YUK For now he is putting them in a baggie and freezing them. I have to remember that God blessed me with BOYS to raise and bug capturing is part of it. BTW: I was very embarrassed to share this issue with the world but then I saw that Heather in Georgia has the same problem and blames it on the south, so I know it has nothing to do with my cleanliness!! Can someone please confirm that this is a usual thing in the south?? Mark says we just sprayed and so they are running but that they will start to lessen and lesson as they die. Did I say YUK!

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Fun times



The last two days have been work, dinner, reading, some TV and then bed. Back to the grind of life. Exept now we are in TX and not Cali. I am still enjoying my job, today I spent the whole day reconciling a dental bill that has over 600 employees on it. Nightmare! When my boss told me that the bills where the most challenging part of the job she was not kidding. Today I got a taste of it. But it is better than trying to figure out the payroll journal entry for this many employees. Mark is still looking for work. In the mean time he is making good progress on the little things around the house. This week he is focusing on getting quotes for the roof so we can get it done; Hopefully before he goes to work! We are still letting the boys grow out their hair. Can you see how long it is? Mark spiked it up for them yesterday morning before they went to camp, they loved it. Can you see the yard in the back round? That is part of the front yard.

Monday, July 21, 2008

I borrowed this quote from someones blog!!

Friends are like butt-cheeks. Crap separates them, but they always come back together." LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell me that is not funny!

First Day of Work



Was great!! These people are so nice and make you feel so welcome, whats not to love?? My boss is great and very patient with the questions and training. Today I just got the computer up and running and got familiar with the desk and the files and making heads and tails of the office. They had a lot of turnover in this office because of the "never getting ahead" feeling since there is 140% turnover. I understand that is a lot, but enough to create the drama that would make you want to quit your job?? We will see. I have 11 benefits statements to reconcile and balance each month and my first attempt at it will be next week. I am excited for tomorrow because I actually have things to do and employees to get back to with answers. So far so good.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Church #3



Today we went to Calvary Chapel of Texarkana for church worship. We spent an hour last night on line learning about this church. We were very excited about what God in store for us today. When we got there, everyone was looking at us because they knew we were the "newbies." What shocked us was that they only looked at us for 5 seconds before they are started coming up to us and introducing themselves and asking us who what where when and why!! We felt loved and welcome! We met every person that walked through the doors. Guess how many people that was? 30!!! There are only 30 members to this small church. I cant believe how awesome these people were and how young the pastor was. He reminded Mark and I of Pastor Matt immediately. When church was over, we got in the car and instantly Marcus asked so do you like this church better that the others?? We told him that we feel like God can use us in many ways in the small growing church and that we can have many ways of serving God and his church. We agreed that as a family this was the best church for us so far. We are supposed to go to another church next week, but I am feeling that we don't need to. I feel like this is the place the Lord wants us. The best thing is that I felt like I was in small group. You know that warm and fuzzy feeling you get when you walk into small group and you feel surrounded by those that know and love you? That is how I felt this morning. I have not had that feeling since my last small group time and I really have been missing that. At least 8 people we met are from California and either went to Harvest or CC of Cost Mesa. So we feel like we are with friends from home, in a way. Anyway here are two pics of the building. They rent a space in a commercial building and have done an amazing job inside of making it feel like a church. I am excited!!

Oh! they dress like we do at Sandals! Even the pastor! LOL

Friday, July 18, 2008

Celebration Time

Today after I got home from my interview I cooked Mark and the boys a full breakfast with pancakes, bacon, and eggs. Then it was off to the pool for me and the boys cause Mark wanted to work in his garage and on his model fighter jet. This pool is part of the SportsPlex that we joined.














Then we went to the movies and saw Wall-E. That was a great movie and they boys watched the whole thing!! After the movie it was dinner time. I asked Mark where would he like to eat at and he said the BBQ resturant by our house. SO that is where we went! It was not all that :-( I dont think we will find anything like Lucilles. Can someone please overnight us some pulled pork and beef briskette? I would say that Mark had an enjoyable Birthday, at least I hope he did.....


Interview update 2

20 minutes later and I have the job!!! I start on Monday at 8. Stacy (my boss) told the agency that "the interview was great!"

Interview Update

Interview went really well and this company would be a perfect fit for me. Lots of room for growth and challenge. Now I wait for the phone call. I should hear today. I will keep praying for God's will.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Marcus's B-Day gifts





To those of you that gave Marcus a gift card to Toys-R-Us here is part of what he got with them!

Oh! Stan and Karen gave him a gift card to Target, he bought his fishing stuff that was in the post a couple of days ago. More toys to come in the next day or two.

We enrolled the boys in the summer camp program. Zachery and I went swimming at the SportsPlex this evening, had FUN! I went to the agency today. I have a job interview tomorrow with Southern Refrigeration Transport for a benefits administration position. We will see how that goes. Still nothing for Mark.... Keep praying please

Tomorrow is Mark's 35th Birthday! Please give him a call and let him know he is loved and not forgotten. :-) Thanks

Interview #1

I have a job interview tomorrow at Southern Refergeration Transport, Inc. at 8:30 am. Say a prayer for me, that if it is God's will I will know or not! Thanks

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Being real with myself and others

http://www.mintonssportsplex.com/0/Summer-Sports-Camp.html

Dont say "I told you so!" but I think I found my sanity here today. I am going back tomorrow at 10:00 am to see for sure if they have it! Then it is off to look for work. I can not stay at home with the boys all day every day. They have way too much energy for me to try and manage. I found this place today and we went and checked it out and it is REALLY COOL! I will have some pics tomorrow but check out the link and you will see that this is the perfect place for the boys and our family.

Bank and Library


Today we went to the bank to open an account with the credit union. Seems that there are no credit unions in TX that are part of the Co-Op System. So we need to move banks. Good news is that we got the boys bank accounts too. Now they can start saving money. So please feel free to send them some LOL! They are really excited to have bank cards.We also went to the library. We became members, borrowed some books, played on the computers and had a good time. I think we will be spending more time there!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Wright Patman Lake












Today the road took us to Wright Patman Lake! We thought Lake Bringle was nice, this is so much bigger and has camping! This lake is 10.5 miles from our house. Fishing is F-R-E-E. Launching your boat is F-R-E-E. Use of the lake is F-R-E-E. Full hook up camping is $20 a night! Sounds like a future vacation spot to me. Next stop??? The boat store! But first its off to Pizza Hut for all you can eat pizza. Kids eat F-R-E-E!! LOL

You asked for them, here they are part 3

Here is a video of the back yard. I figured it would be easier to make a video then take a bunch of pics. I took this video from the porch. Hopefully you can see the fence outline to show you how large the back yard is. Our back yard is about 1/3 of an acre. The front yard and the house is the other 2/3. I will make a video of the house and front and post it soon. Let me know if you are not able to view the video and I will post some pics.

Day of rest


Yesterday Mark went to three interviews in the AM. One was at a hotel, apartment, and an agency. Today he has two more appointments with agencies. Hopefully one of them will have work for him soon. Please keep praying for him.


When Mark got home yesterday the boys asked him to take them fishing. Mark is so thoughtful, he took them and let me stay home and have some quite time! It was much needed. I have not had any quite time with nothing to do in a long time. I sat and read my book for three hours! It was so relaxing and peaceful to just read in the silence. The book I am reading right now is Blink of an Eye by Ted Dekker. Christian book- Great story, worth you money to buy or if you want I can send it to you when I am done with it, probably tonight or tomorrow AM. Let me know.


40 more days till the boys go back to school.......LOL

Sunday, July 13, 2008




I was sitting in the living room reading my book and noticed that is was getting dark. It was only 4:30 so I looked outside and saw the clouds. I ran outside to help Mark put the tree trimmings on the truck while he finished cutting tree into smaller pieces. Just when were done loading, the thunder and lightening started. I asked Mark if he wanted to tarp the load and he did. So we rushed to do it. The rain started pouring!! I was afraid of the storm having hail so Mark said we should move the car. I asked where to cause the garage is still a mess. Next best place??? The back porch :-) I think that qualifies as country living. LOL Look at the rain pouring down.....

1 tree down 10 more to go





The big tree was taken down some years ago but the stump was not ground down. This other tree started growing and looks like a mess. Mark got out there with the chain saw his mom gave us (she must have known we would need it :-) ) and cut it down. Now we have to load it on the truck with the other yard waste and take it to the dump tomorrow. Truck load #5! We have 10 more trees we would like to have removed. Two will cost us $1100 and the other $1800. This is being added to our future wish list. Until then, we can trim the branches back and keep them away from the house!

Church #2




First Baptist Church of Texarkana is where we went to church today. It is a beautiful church with a great pastor. The only problem is that it is a traditional baptist church that has Sunday School followed by the worship service and the kids attend this service with the adults. Most of you know that this is not going to work with our boys! And we did not make it to Sunday School.
Last week we went to Church on the Rock of Texarkana. We all LOVED this church. The kids had a great time and Mark and I felt very welcomed there. They have many areas that I can get involved with and they have a mens programs if Mark wants to get involved. We are going to try out two more churches and see what they have to offer. Hopefully we will be able to call a church "home" soon.