Happy Birthday, Granny Mary

Today is my Granny Mary's 79th birthday. Granny is a very special woman. Next to my mom, she has influenced my life on how to grow up and be a good wife and mom. I spent my summers with her and we would shop, go to movies, cook, weed in the garden, and do things at church. In college, I would receive a letter once a week from her. Oh how excited I was to get those letters. Thanks for all the wonderful memories. I love you, Granny

"Today I met the boy I'm going to marry..."

Seventeen years ago, I had just moved to Austin and was lonely. I went up to Temple to spend the weekend with my aunt and uncle, where my uncle was a pastor. On Saturday, my aunt told me that they were having a revival starting Sunday morning. Following the morning service, they were having a church-wide lunch.

On Sunday, I went to Sunday School and then went to the worship service. As the service began, a young man got up and began singing "Almighty". My first thought was "Wow, he has a beautiful voice!" As I continued to listen to him sing, I began to wonder if he was single or had a girlfriend. After the service ended, everyone was invited to have lunch. Since my uncle was the pastor, we were going to host the revival preacher and music leader at our table. The preacher sat down directly across from me and the music leader sat one seat down. During lunch, the preacher asked me all kinds of questions - where was I from, what things did I like, etc. I was hoping that the music leader would ask some questions, but he was fairly quiet. I learned that he was a music/youth minister in Marlin and that he was single. At the end of lunch, the two men left to rest for the afternoon. As I drove back to Austin that afternoon, I was still thinking about how I wish that the young man with the beautiful voice would have asked me for my phone number or asked if I would be there for the night service. But I couldn't do anything to change it, it was all in God's hands now.

Little did I know what God had in store for us. The young man with the beautiful voice would soon be "the man I'm going to marry!" I love you Paul. It is hard to believe that it all began 17 years ago today.

Craft Show...Enchiladas and Cakes!!!

Every year our church youth group has one fundraiser. We turn our gym and the bottom floor of our adult and education wing rooms into booths for crafts. People come from all around Texas to sell their wonderful crafts. The way we raise our money is selling breakfast tacos, lunch and dinners to the crafters and buyers. We make homemade enchiladas, chocolate cake, chicken salad sandwichs and soups. We also sell frozen dozen enchiladas and chocolate cakes.

It all began last weekend when we began rolling the enchiladas to freeze. Then starting on Thursday, we began making chocolate cakes and the "to serve" enchiladas. On Friday we began the official craft show. There were breakfast tacos to make, enchiladas to cook, and oh yeah, cakes to make. On Saturday, we began again. Breakfast tacos, enchiladas and MORE cakes to make. We had a great time .Since the parents and youth work together many hours in the kitchen, you get to know one another very well.

Paul is the expert "rice maker". He taught Karen how to make the rice for Saturday's lunch rush.

Debbie and Debbie were our fearless leaders in the kitchen.

Good friends, crafts, and chocolate cake - what a weekend. We even taught the boys how to be cake makers.

6th picture in your 6th folder...

A teacher friend posted the question, " What is the 6th picture in your 6th folder of pictures?" Here is my picture. This is one of my favorites. This picture was taken on Will's first birthday. He had received the wagon as a gift and the girls and Will couldn't wait to get in and go for a ride. It seems like it was yesterday that the kids were that little. William is 1, Emily is 2 and Sarah is 4!

Everything I learn...I learn in Kindergarten!

Everyday I have the priviledge of teaching wonderful kindergarten students. As I am teaching them everyday, they teach me or remind me of how wonderful life is when you are 5 years old. Recently, the students in class were to go around the room and find words that either began with the letter "a", had an "a" in the middle of the word or ended with an "a". We had brainstormed and came up with many words for each section. I left all the words on the board for them to copy and they could find more. I looked at one student's paper and they had filled their paper with nonsense words, but had followed the letter "a" criteria. As I was calling this child over to talk with them about how we needed to fix their paper, they asked me "Are the words TOO complicated for you to read, Mrs. Smith?" Lesson learned - 5 year olds are adorable! Check out my class website to see all my wonderful kids. The link to the website is http://classroom.leanderisd.org/webs/jodena.smith/

Blissful Chaos?

OK, so I have finally given in to "peer pressure" and created a blog. I told my friends in order to start a blog - I needed a good title to have. Laura came up with "blissful chaos". I liked it when I heard it and thought that it does describe the life of the Smith's right now. We are pretty busy with trying to keep up with everyone's schedule, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I enjoy seeing my children do different things. Whether it be football, basketball, theater or choir, life is blissful and sometimes chaotic. For instance, we are now entering into the week of "The Craft Show". Watch for later posts about "The Craft Show"