Yea! I Got a Job!!!

Yep, I'm working outside the home again. Or, I will be soon. I'll be working at HealthCareFirst in Ozark Missouri. Snap! We are so excited to be moving back to Missouri. We have made the decision to move without selling our Greenville house - YIKES. That goes completely against my financial mind - but I'm trusting God and in my husband that he is seeking God when making decisions - both of which I have complete peace in doing!!!

Did I ever tell you the story about when we bought the van - well I was completely against it - because we already had 2 cars and didn't need a 3rd. If it would have been up to me I would have waited until we sold a car. However, I listened to the still small voice that said "trust in your husbands decisions - I'm leading him" So, I did. Well guess what. After we got home that day with our 3rd vehicle. Marc was upstairs posting our 97 Accord. He sold the stupid thing in like 5 minutes - literally. He said he wasn't even sure the cars.com posting had finished and the phone was ringing. So, I will trust Him and Marc!!


My Silly Kids:

Sunday our kids were hilarious. Josh and I had been lounging on the couch, he stretched up to kiss me. So, I kissed him on the forehead. Then he got up to go find Trey - as he got up I saw him wipe off his forehead. It really didn't bother me. But he turned around and said "Mom I was just drying your kiss to me!" What a sweet thing to say.
That same night I was explaining to Trey what was up for the week. Basketball Camp for T. He looked me square in the eye and said "Why do I need to go to basketball camp, I already know how to play basketball" Like he's MJ or something - remember he's only 7. I think he got schooled while he was there - he's been exhausted!!!

Have a Blessed week.

Our Prayer List

-Greenville House would sell
-We can be in a house in MO before school starts on Aug15th.
-My health and my witness while I return to work full time.
-Marc as he seeks Gods will for our family

Magic Kingdom - Where DREAMS come true..

Really, what dreams would that include? A zillion people, long lines and HOT!

Anyhow, we survived. It was a great day. At the end of it Marc and I both felt like we would need a vacation after we got home from vacation....

We spent about 13 hours in the park that day. This time we took the bus from the hotel, much easier than driving and parking. Once we were in the park, we noticed that most people were headed to the right and you know us, we refuse to conform, giggle. We headed left! We thought about riding Splash Mountain first then changed our minds when the current wait time was 70 minutes. We headed for Pirates of the Carribean ride.

I took this pic while waiting in line..

Then we rode the Jungle Safari, followed by the Aladdin Magic Carpet ride. While Marc and I were eating lunch (we fed the boys first). Josh tried to tackle Bulls Eye during the Toy Story parade...

I really thought Bulls Eye was going down.


We headed back to Splash Mountain and guess what - the wait now was 110 minutes. Wow - we should have ridden it first! We waited in that line, Josh took at nap. We were soaking wet coming out of it! I was not pleased. But I did eventually get dry.

After that we headed over to the kids area, where Mark E. from Upward joined us for the rest of the day. We are truly blessed to know him and have him join us for the remainder of the day.

We drove Race cars, rode It's a Small World, and Peter Pan. Then we cruised back to ride Buzz Lightyear - we would ride it multiple times. It was such a blast.
The ride was so fun, you sat in that car, the car spun around and you shot at Zurg and all the LGMs It actually kept score for each of you.

The boys captured with Zurg!!! AHHH

Marc, Mark and Trey headed off to ride Space Mountain, while Josh and I cruised off to buy gifts and get a good spot for the 9pm parade. Josh and I shared this while waiting..

Yep, it's a MICKEY shaped Rice Krispie treat. It was ymmy.

The 9pm parade was incredible. They turn out all the lights and everything in the parade is lit up. We were immersed in the parade when this headed straight for us...

She scared the daylights (or the nightlights) out of the little girl sitting next to Josh. I'm thinking it was the wicked stepmother from Cinderella, but I've been wrong before.


I wish I could post all 20 pics I took at the parade, it was really cool.

These only cost $15 each..
The light up Mickey ears - not the kids. Hey - it's getting late....

These pics are on the bus heading back to the hotel - remember it was 13 hours of excitement filled FUN!

Friday the boys and I met Zetta and kids at Blizzard Beach Water Park. It was so fun, we rode the lazy river, the family raft ride and the 4 kids played in the slides, iceburg walk, and the Tbar zip line - T had to be saved by the lifeguard the 1 time he rode the T bar - the thing flipped you out into the water. I'm glad that I wasn't there to witness it. Josh took a 2 hour nap in the middle of the water park - Zetta made sure that we had a spot in the shade, it was a nice restful time for me too.

T was so tired, we had to force him to get into this picture - he refused to eat lunch because he didn't want to sit out for an hour (we were there 6 hours) .

Vacation is over and we are back home preparing to sell our 5th house in 8 years. We aren't sure where we are headed, but we do know WHO knows and that's all We need to know. Please continue to pray for us and that God's Will, will be abundantly clear to us and quickly, or you know, in HIS time.

Ok, it's really late, I hope you enjoyed the vacation posts. Luv to all, Jen and the Backes Boys.

Vacation Happenings - Whew!

Well, we survived Orlando. Anyone preparing to go, should start working out in a major way.

We left home on Monday morning, it's about an 8 hour drive from SC to Orlando. It was a good trip.

We arrived Monday night, and had dinner at Olive Garden, YUM! We stayed at the Embassy Suites by Universal Studios.

Tuesday we headed for Universal Studios. It was Marc and the boys first visit to an Amusement Park. They were all very excited.

We caught this pic right after entering the park.

Our first greeting to Universal Studios was this guy...



Josh was so excited to see Curious George, it was our first of many experiences of chasing him through a crowd of people!!!

The very first ride we went on was the Jimmy Neutron ride through the Nick shows. It was awesome we were on a rocket with Jimmy and flew through Sponge Bob, Fairly OddParents and many others that I don't remember right now!!!


Don't be surprised in December if you see this photo again!!!


Later we were in line waiting and waiting for the Earthquake ride (Josh did not like the ride) when we spotted this...

Our sons do not know the meaning of the word stranger and this was no exception to the rule - Josh helping folks understand the whole Universal Studios park. The 3 of them spent about 20 minutes going over the map, with Josh giving them a big "You are welcome" at the end.

This was fun..

Then we hopped on over to Islands of Adventure. Where we experienced Suess Land. It was incredible. The boys and I rode '1Fish 2Fish Red Fish Blue Fish' then we all rode the Suess Land Trolley, then the Cat in the Hat ride. I loved Suess Land. This pic doesn't do it any justice...

We were totally exhausted leaving Universal - we spent about 11 hours there. Oh yeah, if you go to Universal and actually drive yourself - pay the $5 for the preferred parking!!! When we finally got back to our van - there were only about 20 cars parked further from the main entrance than us! The walk back to the car was awful. ;-)

Wednesday we decided we need to recooperate from Tuesday so that we could to go Disney Magic Kingdom on Thursday. We had moved to a new hotel - the one where we actually had the 'deal'. We were at the Hilton in Downtown Disney. It was an incredible room. Wednesday we went exploring Downtown Disney - it's mainly shops but they were fun shops..

Janci, this one is just for you.. the boys as captain Jack



We actually took a nap on Wed, and then went back to Downtown Disney where we went to Disney Quest, it's a 5 story arcade with many virtual reality games. It was so fun, we wish we would have spent all day there...


Ok, I'm afraid that blogger is going to freak out on me and not let me save this. So, I'm going to put Magic Kingdom in a new post!!!!

CATCH UP

Feb 4th to May 4th. I'm sure a ton of stuff has happened in the last 3 months. Let me take a gander through my calendar and see what I come up with.

Feb:
We joined Grace Church on Pelham Road - we are very excited and I'm starting to get involved and Oh yeah - meet people.

Feb. 20th we had Upward Basketball Awards Night where we saw the crazy and incredible Mark Lippard perform/speak. Always a blast!

March:
Mar 8th - Josh decided to play Star Wars on his bed, with his Light Saber. Needless to say Luke Skywalkers shouldn't jump on their beds. He fell off - after 3-4 hours in the ER they determined that he dislocated his right elbow. Here is a pic of him the next day with his splint and sling. He screamed and beat on the doctor when the doc set the elbow - then the doc pulls out the sling - suddenly Josh was fine and said "Cool, is that for me". Whatever!

April:

Spring Break we traveled to Missouri and Kansas. We had a great time with family. We colored eggs, hunted the eggs and then had an egg throwing party!!

Trey started Upward Soccer. It's the first time that he has played a sport and Marc has not been his coach.

I was elected Treasurer of Trey's school PTA for next year - YIKES!

April 28th - Trey received his 2nd, or maybe it's the 3rd, black eye of his life. A kid slammed his knee into T's eye at Chik-Fil-A. On Sunday he lost his first tooth. We never did find the thing - must have swallowed it with some cheetos. Rough weekend for T.

May:

May 1 - Josh started swimming lessons. The teacher tested him on a few things to see how much he knew about swimming. Then she took his float belt off and I saw her motion for him to swim to her. He let go of the side then sunk clear out of view. About the same time my heart started beating again instructor gal grabbed him and pulled him up. Ok, sweet heart - leave the belt on him please!!

After swimming lessons we stopped at the grocery store. I was scanning my items at the self checkout - which I love - when i heard Josh screaming. I turned around to find him on the floor with the cart on top of him. He was screaming - did I mention that? So I got the cart off of him and tried to stand him up - he just kept screaming 'I can't stand up". So the little chickie running the self checkouts comes over and says "Hey little man, do you want a balloon?" Suddenly - he is able to stand and the screaming is over. He is my child that "Redirection" works for!

So, here we are May 4th. Marc is out of town, Trey is at a birthday party, Josh is playing Lego Star Wars. The only thing I can hear is the keyboard clicking. It might be a peaceful weekend!!

Oops! forgot one thing. I made a little trip to the Bob Jones Campus this week. They have a Press where they make books and homeschool supplies. I found some great reads and some summer schooling workbooks for T. Those of you that know me, know that I have the whole summer planned on a spreadsheet!! Now I just have to excute. It's called my 'Sanity plan'.

7 Years Old

Trey turned 7 on February 3rd. We had a busy weekend. Friday night we took Trey, 2 of his friends - Nick and Darian, to Gatti Town for Pizza, bumper cars, video games and air Hockey. Josh went too!!

Here is Trey playing Air Raid Command.

Saturday morning we had a 9am Upward Game. Trey scored 3 baskets.

This pic is right after he scored the 1st one.

After the game we went home - had some Chik-Fil-A, then had some cake. The momma played a little trick on the rest of the family. They were relight candles. Freaked Trey out. I was afraid that he would pass out, he was blowing so much, and the room was filling with smoke.

We are so blessed to have great kids. They are healthy and happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREY

100th Day of School Project

I found these really great noodles that were different shapes and colors and I thought they would look great in some sort of pattern for Trey's 100th day of school project. Trey started out by counting 10 piles of 10 - that equals 100, just for those of you not willing to do math during a blog!! I told him that I thought we could do his name with the noodles, thinking it would be a small little thing in the corner. I was messing with the glue gun :( when i turned around this is what I found all layed out and ready to go. Well, we added the 100 in the bottom left corner and the face inside the 'e'. Other than that, it was all him. He is too awesome.


MOM - I'm sitting in chocolate!
That was Josh's very funny statement while sitting in this "chocolate" brown chair!!

Do you think his eyes could get any bluer?

More Pics

This is one of my fav pics of the boys.

Cousin Mary and I at ages 7/8

Grandma Virtue

Grandma Davis and Trey

Ok, here's the pics to go with the previous blog!!!

Here's my sister and the boys building a Gingerbread House. This was so fun! I've been scared to build one, but we had a blast.

This is my awesome niece Janci and her new Letter Jacket, She is a Varsity Cheerleader. She's the "flyer" which has increased my prayer life.

Here's Marc's Brother Mike and family - Kim, Clayton (on the right) and Justin.

This is an image that we saw a lot of at Christmas. Gifts everywhere. This just happens to be the Nerf Dart Guns that 'all' my boys got. Of course, I was the first to get shot in the eye. Marc shot me at close range.

These are the 8 living children that my Grandma Virtue raised. They are an awesome bunch!!

This pic is of my cousins on my Grandma Davis's side. Margaret and Mary with my sister Ruth and I. Mary and I in true form - thinking alike, wore Bright Green.

Sorry this is of your back Margie. Check out the next pic to see Margie's beautiful face!!!

More pics to follow. I have to scan some!!!

I know, I know, it's been months!!! Well, our life has been rather hectic since the end of September. I promised myself that I wouldn't blog again until my house was clean. So, now you know what I did all day yesterday!

My grandma Virtue passed away September 28th. She was a great lady who raised 10 kids. She lived with my parents the last year - Marc, Trey, Josh and I got to know her very well. I'll never forget the Christmas of 2005 when we all sat down to Christmas Eve dinner and she ended up between my brother-in-law Brian and Marc - her comment "I'm not sure if I'll get anything to eat - sitting between these two" After her comment soaked in and we recovered our dropped mouths - we laughed hysterically. She kept us on our toes.

We had almost recovered a routine and I had caught back up at work when my grandma Davis passed away November 27th. Josh and I made the trip to Kansas City via air. It was a special week of Celebrating her life and reuniting with cousins that I hadn't seen in about 10 years. It was also the first of a lot of winter weather for the area. Josh loved seeing the snow. Grandma taught us all a great value in "work ethic", she could fly a kite like no one else I've ever known, until about 5 years ago she could shop until I dropped, and she loved cats! I will miss her and our monthly phone conversations dearly. She always called me "dear".

We hadn't recovered at all when suddenly Christmas was here and we were off to Missouri and Kansas again. Praise Jesus for the Honda van he gave us in November. We had a wonderful time of Christmas celebration, quality time with family and new traditions. Marc's dad married Janice in July so we had new family extensions to celebrate this Christmas. We had a blast getting to know all our new family members.

We were home barely home a week, when we received a call that Marcs mom had passed away. We made a zooming trip back to Jefferson City Missouri where we celebrated Helen's life. It was a very emotional week, our God worked in big ways in the lives of many. We spent a lot of quality time with Marc's brother Mike and his wife Kim and their boys Clayton and Justin. Whew! When all four boys are together, it's a blast! Helen loved her kids and grandkids very much and prayed for all of us. She was a giving lady, who volunteered at the Samaritan Center and the local Hospital.

On our long trip home this time, I found myself reflecting on all we've been through. I'm so thankful that my house is built on the ROCK of JESUS CHRIST. There were many times since September where I felt like everything was falling out from under me, but suddenly I felt the rock hold steady. He is my redeemer first and foremost, but lately I've felt Him so strongly as my counseler and my healer. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that these 3 women live with new and perfect bodies. Grandma Virtue no longer has to deal with the disease that was starting to inhabit her brain, grandma Davis has new eyes that can see her savior and all the glories of heaven and Helen has been healed for all time.

We are so thankful for our families and our friends. Thank you so much for your prayers, the cards and your gifts of kindness.

We don't Learn anything...we just DO stuff

This was Trey's response last night at dinner when he was asked what he learned at school today. I didn't laugh out loud, just smiled and asked "Ok, what did you do today at school". To which he replied "Recess".

Josh didn't get treats at school today because he apparently punched his friend Zen. Long talk today about how we treat our friends and how it's different than when we wrestle with daddy!!!

Today I started reading Max Lucado's Cure for the Common Life, although I don't feel that my life is common at all. Not with the 3 men I live with.

Tonight we have dinner at Red Robin with friends, never heard of it? It's the place with the bottomless fry plate - I must get to the YMCA tomorrow!

Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the flowers around my house, the azalea's are beautiful Fuscia!!!

GO CARDINALS!!!