Poor neglected blog

I've not been blogging due to a BUSY, BUSY schedule. I started tutoring on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8am-11am. I'm at my old school and am loving being back (part-time). It has taken a toll on us, though. Getting up really early just get Rachel to mom's house and then zoom on over to the school all by 7:45ish. I am so glad that I don't have to do this every day and it's nothing permanent. I am, though, enjoying seeing all of my old friends from school and just working academically with small groups of kids. I am having so much fun, especially with the 2nd graders. :) They are too cool and make me feel like a young teacher again. ;)
I am also working on Thursdays with Gigglebytes (my computer class) at Castle Hills First Baptist church. That's fun too! I'm meeting so many wonderful teachers and the kids are so cute! They are young, but they are super fast learners. :)

Also, last Monday night I hurt my knee. I wish that I had done it working out or something (yeah right), but I just bent down the wrong way on my right knee and that was it. I was in pain the whole night, by Tuesday morning, I had to call the doctor to check it out. He didn't see anything wrong, except for some fluid around the top of my knee. By that time, though, I had taken some Tylenol for the pain and it wasn't too bad. I got an x-ray to be sure there was nothing else wrong with it. By the time we went to get my prescription for the pain, I was in so much pain again! :( Thank God mom was able to take care of me and Rachel. She drove me around too, because I couldn't really move that rt knee and I do need it for driving! Rachel did super well at each place that we had to go to. She was listening to mom and she was just a trooper (Dr. offices are so boring and so is the x-ray place). ;)

The medicine helped me, but I didn't want to walk too much, so I took Wednesday off (from tutoring) and went to the library with mom & Rachel. I had to get out for a bit. :)
I had been praying the whole time that this injury began for God to heal it or at least give me peace about the whole thing. It's scary when you think about all the pain you may have to live w/ for a LONG time. (It made me realize how many people around us are suffering with severe pain, and they just put up with it.) Well, God definitely gave me peace and really He encouraged me so much through His word. (I receive daily devotionals and each one was like He was talking to me and telling me that He is in control and that I needed to trust Him. I even got an email from the 700 club for a prayer... the heading was: "How can we pray for you?". I sent for more "back up" and asked for prayer for my knee to be healed and for the peace of mind that only God can give. )

Thankfully, God's been so good. I only had to take meds for the first 2 days and by the 2nd day, I was walking with a small limp. By the 3rd day, I couldn't even tell I was hurt (except when I squatted to get down on the floor). I was amazed at how fast that I was able to walk normally without any pain. Rachel and I even went to the zoo on Saturday to walk around and enjoy the beautiful cool weather we had that day. At night, was the hardest, but that too has gotten so much better and I can sleep without pain in my knee. :) God is so good! :)

Well, I have to run. I am going to blog more later and have tons of pics to add to it too! :)

Park Visit & Visiting Family

A few Friday's ago Ben and I took Rachel to "Lala & Papa's Park" to eat a picnic lunch and feed the ducks... here are the pics.




(A cool front had just blown in that day, so it was quite windy and BEAUTIFUL!)


A few Sunday's ago, Rachel and I left the apartment to give Daddy some QUIET study time. It was a GORGEOUS day so we headed over to my Aunt Paz's house to visit with her. She is always so hospitable and makes us feel so loved. She pulled out a cute tea set for Rachel so that we could have a "tea party" (with apple juice of course). She also cut up some fresh fruit salad for us to snack on while she made chicken fajitas on the grill. Desiree and her kids came by and so did Jessica who brought little Daisy too. The time we spent at her house flew by and before you knew it, it was an hour past Rachel's nap time. We had to leave, much to her dismay, and she cried the whole way home! I put her down to nap as soon as we got home and rested some too. An hour and a half later, we were up and ready to go visit Aunt Yvonne for dinner.

Yvonne has her family over every Sunday, so we were delighted to see all of them as well. Rachel got to play with Aubrey and Amaya. She had a blast. I had a great time catching up with all of my cousins. It was so nice to see so many family members in one day.

Needless to say, we were very tired and slept a good night's sleep. ;)

Tia Paz and Rachel sipping their "tea".

Danielle, Rachel & Julia playing barbies and store.

Rachel and Aubrey playing with Polly Pockets.

Amaya smiling for the camera.

Aubrey, Cousin Paul, and Rachel throwing water balloons.

Ramblings for April

Rachel went to our room and found a thick manual for Photoshop and brought it to the couch to "read the bible." She thinks that any thick book is the bible, it's kind of funny! ;)

Last Monday, Kelly and Tara were able to come over again and have dinner with Rachel and I (Ben stays late that night for school.) After dinner, she watch t.v. so the girls and I could talk and clean up. When we were done, we sat down with Rachel and of course she figured that meant we were going to play Barbies. Everyone has their own Barbie now so she was handing them out to the appropriate person. We were laughing because Tara's Barbie has a "friend" that's a boy and we were naming them, so I told her he should be Eric. The reason for that name is because Tara is married to Eric, so she must have her Barbie be "friends" with Eric. ;) It was funny to Tara... here's a pic of her holding "Tara and Eric". :)

After we picked up the toys and were getting ready to put Rachel to sleep, she walked over to Kelly's shoes and put them on. She was so excited because they actually had a little heel (if you know me, I DON'T DO HEELS!!!). :) Here she is showing off her heels. :)