Hello from sunny Florida!! I take no responsibility for the randomness of this post as I officially have Beach Brain.

First of all, my sweet husband surprised me on the beach Thursday with champagne and the news that he had been officially offered the job he was hoping for. I screamed, my friend screamed, I cried, and then I drank champagne. It was a moment I will remember forever. It is oddly bittersweet for me as the 4 plus months of unemployment come to an end. It has been an incredibly bonding and intimate time for Scot and I and the boys. It has been wonderful to watch God provide for us in ways I could have never imagined. My heart is so tender about my relationship with my Lord that I find I can not even put into words what the last 4 months have done for me spiritually. I pray that doesn't change.

The big news is that there is a 90% chance we will be moving to Singapore next summer. The percentage is probably higher, except I know very well how much things can change in a year. We would live there 2-3 years and then return to Houston. We did break the news to the boys....and pretty much got the reactions I expected.

G is ready to leave next week......no turning back.

N was more emotional with his initial fear being that he wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone there. He felt much better when we told him most speak English. He has asked a lot of questions, is concerned about where we would live when we got back, etc.

Overall, we are excited about the adventure of living overseas. The board had to agree on Scot's employment based on us living there so it looks like it will happen. Between now and then, I'm going to have to find some kind of love for Chinese food and stock up on as many pants from The Tall Girl store as I can!!

I have some fun beach pictures I would love to post, but I am having to borrow a computer just to post this and have no way to post pictures. I have been given the opportunity to stay two more weeks...........still trying to decide if I should shun all responsibilities at home to stay. Seems I am more controlling about those things than I thought!! (Scot, stop rolling your eyes!)

It was important to me that I fill you guys in on the news since several of you have been an incredible prayer support for me and my family. I do not take that for granted at all and appreciate it more than you'll ever know!! I have missed keeping up with everyone's blogs.....I informed Scot that it would be a tremendous help to me if I had a laptop to keep up with what my bloggy friends are doing when I'm on vacation. I will spare you the details of his reaction! Suffice it to say, I don't see that happening any time soon!

I miss you all........I'll be back after the 4th!

We are outta here!

In a few short hours we are loading up the family car and headed East on I-10 to Florida for a week. Lord, make our car sprout wings so we can get there quickly!

Just so you know how perfect God's timing is.........Scot is 90% employed. All that's left is signing on the dotted line. All discussions have been had, with both sides agreeing on all the fine print, it just needs to be made official!

I know you are all expecting me to be jumping up and down....and I am, I promise. The jumping is a cautiously optimistic jumping until the dotted line is signed. BTW, why do we say "dotted line"? I don't think anything I've ever signed has ever been a dotted line.

Ok, focus Keri. It's midnight and I'm one of those freaky people that can not leave on vacation without a clean house so I have a long night ahead of me. And for any of you reading this who know where I live and see this as a perfect opportunity to play some not-so-Christ-like pranks while we're gone?? The big dog and my sister will both be here so Beware!!

Back to the point of this post. God's timing is wonderfully perfect because Scot can go with us this week and truly enjoy the vacation. This new job will require Scot to be in China as early as mid-July with many, many, many trips to Asia to follow, so we are going to soak up every single minute of him that we can!

I have many more exciting details regarding this new job to share, but not yet........suffice it to say, it's going to be a wild ride for our little family!!

Recovering

I went shopping for a new swimsuit today.

That's it.......I got nothing else to say. I'm still getting over that 2 hours in my life I'll never get back!

He's Back!!

Never mind the fact that G came home from California looking 5 years older than when he left...

He also had an incredible chance to bond with his Grandma and PaPa.

Learning how to skip rocks.

There is a part of me that really wishes school was still like this. Without the Dunce hat and ruler whacking, of course!

Hanging out at a train museum with a new friend. G takes after his dad who will spend 17 hours in a museum reading EVERY SINGLE plaque. Don't get me wrong, I love a good museum, but I can make it through one in an hour flat.

Veteran's War Memorial

Getting the chance to model how they amputated in the old days. My mom looks like she's ready to jump in at the first sight of blood. They promise me all the instruments were dull. I'm still wondering if any of the onlookers were scarred for life after this!

Zip line......understand that my child is deathly afraid of heights. This was a HUGE deal. He overcame his fears and loved it enough to go twice!

Panning for gold. This is Miner John helping G find gold. He did not find enough to pay off our house, but he came home with a few specks!

One of many souveniers. This jaunty 'ol cap looks so cute on him!

G, I am happy to have you home!! I missed your sweet smile. What a great opportunity to travel alone to visit your Grandparents. There's a whole world out there to explore! I can't wait for your next adventure!

Liar

Apparently there's been some drama lately in Bloggerworld. A couple of blogs that are very popular were somewhat involved, and you can read about it here or here.

I don't enjoy drama.......it's just not my thing. In fact, I run from it as often as I can. That being said, I find this situation very interesting. A brief synopsis.......there was a woman who was blogging about her pregnancy with a terminally ill baby. I never read the blog or knew anything about her, but apparently she was a pretty gifted writer and had established quite a following. Many good-hearted people were invested in her life and prayed steadfastly for the life of her unborn child.

She gave birth to her baby and blogged about her baby's precarious health, igniting a chain reaction of prayer across the globe. Soon after, it was discovered that every single thing about this lady had been a hoax.

A complete lie. All of it......the pregnancy, names of doctors, midwives, husband, etc. All fictitious.

I was very intrigued by the whole thing. I felt horrible for all the people who had devoted a lot of time in the last year praying for this baby. It made me sad that someone would stoop to this level to gain attention and notoriety. Honestly, the part that left me aghast was the complete web of lies that defines this whole situation. How could she?

How could I?

What?? I have never created a completely fictitious situation to get attention.

I was quickly reminded that although I have never lied to that extent, I have certainly stretched the truth to appear as something other than I am. In God's eyes, one is no worse than the other.

Now, most of my offenses include:

Taking 10.....or 20.....pounds off of my weight when renting skis along side my 90 pound friends in high school.

Telling a friend she looks great when I should say nothing at all because horizontal stripes are not at all becoming on her.

Telling someone I had received hundreds of phone calls in a situation where I had, like, 12.

Claiming I had plans when all I was doing was staying home to watch the latest episode of The Bachelorette.

You know, minor offenses, and the list could go on and on. Nothing as extreme as pretending to be pregnant with a terminally ill baby.

The reality is that in the same way this woman was creating a life for herself.......a certain persona......what I do in my little ways to pretend I am something I am not, is no different. I was forced to really think about the way I present myself on this blog, on Facebook, in emails, and even in person.

Being the authentic me can be hard when the exaggerated me is so much more interesting! It begs the question, "Who am I really trying to impress?"

If I claim to want a life that reflects Christ in everything I do, then I should not strive for anyone's approval but His. I know that I will get His approval by living a life that's honest and true..........transparent so people can look through me and see Him. And for an approval junky, that can be hard to do!!

Flying Solo

*UPDATE*

G was on the plane ready to go when I got a text from my dad. Apparently they had overbooked the plane.......surprise, surprise.......and were giving a $350 voucher to anyone willing to give up their seat. My thumbs were in overdrive as I texted back....TAKE IT!! So, G is scheduled for a flight tomorrow where he gets to ride in first class PLUS he scored an extra day with Grandma and Grandpa. Now the only question is, who should get the voucher??

This morning I said good-bye to G and off he went to the airport for his first solo airplane ride. He went to California to hang with the Grandparents for 6 days. It's what you get to do around here when you turn 10.

I already miss him like crazy. It's the knowing that I won't see him for days that's just killing me! I am super excited for him.......my parents have a ton in store for him and it's going to be an incredible experience. They are living in Sacramento right now, in a loft apartment, in the downtown area. My little boy is going Urban for the week.

Apparently there are plans to go panning for gold. N suggested that if G strikes it rich, he could pay off our house. Hmmmmm.........

Then there is the zip line, capitol building, the movie Up, a train museum, the farmer's market......it is tough, tough, tough being G right about now!

The up side is that we get N all to ourselves this week. He has 2 sleepovers planned with friends and is going to a Father Son Camp-In at our church this weekend.

His morning started out like this:

Then off he went with Scot for his summer haircut:

Again, this summer, he is wanting blue tips on the mohawk.

The ladies at my Bible study tonight voted, much to my surprise, to

allow the blue tips........I don't know that my Grandmother could stand it!

On a final note. Two friends and I decided to start a summer weight loss group. Accountability being key in these things, we weighed in together last night. No, we didn't go as far as sports bras and spandex shorts channeling our inner Biggest Loser, but it was almost as bad. I had weighed myself at home earlier in the day so I wouldn't be shocked. Well, that backfired BIG TIME when I weighed a whopping NINE pounds heavier on my friend's scale.

NINE.......POUNDS.

It is what it is and I am now doing something about it. Just looking at this bowl of fruit and veggies makes the weight fall off! If only it was that easy!

Summer Lovin'

I am an affirmation girl.  

It's my love language.  I enjoy gifts and quality time with people, but nothing means more to me than some sort of "atta girl".

Since it seems that I have been on a roll lately of just letting it all hang out on this blog, I will take it a step further and say that I have to really keep myself in check so my intentions stay pure. You know, so I don't do things in order to receive compliments or praise.

Hello, my name is Keri, and I am an affirmation addict.

I found myself laying down the Summer Law with my boys Saturday.  The whole "we are going to have fun this summer BUT......." speech.  My expectations are pretty realistic.

1.  Do one chore a day.

2.  Read one chapter a day.

3.  Do one workbook page a day.

You would have thought I had just asked them to pick all the weeds in our yard with their teeth for the way they reacted.  Since there is nothing I detest more than heavy sighing and eye rolling, I then launched into my Attitude Speech.

1.  IF your chores are not done with excellence, I will add another chore.

2.  IF you have a bad attitude and lack quick obedience, I will add another chore.

In case you are wondering, these speeches make me VERY popular!  I have realized lately that as we quickly approach the teen years and all the hormonal fun that entails, I have a tendency to be somewhat fearful.  

What if they rebel.  

What if they don't want anything to do with Scot and I.  

What if *gasp* they don't like me.

What if, what if, what if.

I guess what I realized is that I have to guard myself from letting the lines blur in my relationship with G and N.  I am not going to constantly get affirmation from them, it will often be quite the opposite.  There will be times that I am going to be very unpopular with them because of our rules.  Sometimes they will not like me because of our boundaries.  There will be times, God help me, where they will flat out want to hang out with anyone but us.

I am their mom, not their best friend.  Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love spending time with those guys.  I think they are funny, intelligent, and incredibly interesting, but I am not going to allow my parenting to be motivated by my need for affirmation from them.

I am certain most of you are much better at this than I am, but one thing I am constantly battling right now is letting God's approval of me be enough.  If everyone around me: friends, coworkers, neighbors, and my kids don't like me because I am being obedient to something God has called me to do, it has to be alright with me.  I am just not that mature most of the time!

Ok, so this post took a totally different turn then I had originally intended.  Do any of you have any sort of Summer Law you lay down for your kids or is the rumor really true and I AM the meanest mom on the block??

Babies, Shipleys, and Sonic

I have several things to share, so bear with me here.  I am going to try very hard to keep this short and sweet!

First of all, I just want to thank all of you for your response to the last post.  To say I was nervous about posting it, is a complete and total understatement.  I was totally overwhelmed by the number of you who commented on the blog, on Facebook or in an email.....seems I struck a nerve with that one!  It is nice to know that even though many of you have not been through my exact struggle, the battle with the idea of Perfect is one I am not alone in fighting.  

One response that knocked me off of my feet was from Liz Jordan.  She is a DJ for our Christian radio station here in Houston and we have followed each other's blogs for some time.  This chick is cool!  Every thing about her is cool......she's young, godly, gorgeous, edgy, and she's dating an incredible man.  When I started hearing from some of her "peeps", I went to her blog and found this.  Um, yeah.  You know when someone you admire, but is totally out of your league, gives you a compliment.......or even says "hi" to you?  You know how you say something totally stupid, get a splotchy red neck, and walk away kicking yourself for your choice of words? I was speechless, but very honored by her comments.  Liz, you are way at the top of my list of people I would love to have a great meal with!  Have your people call my people........my people being my boys, but it's still fun to say!  heehee  Oh, and I totally covet that puppy of yours!

This last week has been full.  A little of this:

(No, that is not a tumor on the back of my head......it was very dirty hair and 

a 13 hour old ponytail)

Meet Zane, the most perfect baby ever created!  When we lived in Florida we went to an incredible church and I have the honor of being very, very, very good friends with the pastor's wife. I count it as an honor to be entrusted with her heart.......it can be a tough job being the pastor's wife in a large church.  It was fun to be back and to visit with friends....they have 7 services in a weekend (we only went to 4) so there was LOTS of  opportunity to see people. This weekend was Zane's baby dedication.

Baby dedication outfit of choice?  Ed Hardy T-shirt and jeans.

Zane and big sis, Victoria

Big brother, Charlie.  Got an award for Coolest Hair at school

this year.  He signed an autograph for my boys.

Out to dinner with friends......Deana, me, and Lisa.

I also got to visit with my friend I refer to as Model Misty.  I knew Misty when I lived there, but have enjoyed our growing friendship since I've been gone!  She has a great blog and it has been fun watching God use her in some very exciting ways!

Thank you, Scot, for another weekend away and for being so generous with your frequent flier miles!  It makes up for the many, many, many weeks of being a single mom when he was traveling the world all those years.

Yesterday was the last day of school!!  It started out like this:

Getting everyone all sugared up for the last day!

And ended like this:

Free Root Beer Floats at Sonic after hours of swimming.  We went at 10:00 that night

and there were people everywhere!   We made sure to park on the "cool people" side.

Ok, that's it for now.  I tried to keep it short since experts I know (ahem, Lisa) prefer short blog entries.........

One more thing for those of you who want to ask, but feel bad.  First of all, it never bothers me when people ask about Scot's job situation.  It honestly doesn't!!  Still a couple of opportunities out there......he has another meeting next Wednesday for a job he is excited about.  Keep us in your prayers!  God is good and His timing is Perfect!  I totally believe that.