Monday Sayings

I think I'll try something a little new. Every Monday I'll try to post a new saying. It might be fun. It might not work. But we'll try it. :)
Here's today's saying:
We often fear the very thing we want the most.

Sayings

You know how sometimes there is those sayings, that make you stop to consider them? Well I've been saving some of the ones I liked the best. Crazy I know, but it's been fun. So here are a few that I found...


When one door of happiness closes another opens; but we often look so long at the closed door, that we don't see the one that has opened before us!


God won't protect you from what he can perfect you through.


Disappointments are just Gods way of saying: "I've got something better for you." <3


Be grateful when God answers your prayer. But be more grateful, when God makes you the answer to someone else's prayer.

 So hope you can enjoy some of these like I did.

Today is the last day of school for 2 1/2 weeks.
 I'm going to enjoy the break while I can. :)
 Saturday we are going up to OK. for a friends   
 wedding. We'll just go up there for the wedding  
 then come home. Sunday is a cleaning day. 
 Then the next weekend is camp.
 I CAN'T WAIT!!! I'm REALLY looking forward to   
 camp this year. Hope I can be a great example to  
 those around me. Well anyway hope you all have  
 had a good week, and enjoy your weekend. 
Britt       

Work, School, Meeting, Working Out

They aren't necessarily in that order, but that's what my life is like right now. The problem I have, is knowing when to stop doing those things and just slow down. This weekend was a nice kinda slow pace. 

Saturday, Parker & I went to Shawn & April's for dinner and had a great time, as always. They were getting ready for family pics and Chili Cook-Off, so we worked, talked, and laughed. 

Sunday was Chili Cook-Off out at Sam & Brenda's. The theme this year was Nautical. It was lots of fun as always. 

Elizabeth & I were talking, when she reminded me about something that happened last year. April, her, and I were sitting on the porch swing talking about me possibly moving to CA, to help my Grandma out. Well, a year later I'm still in TX. ;)  

I am trying to hurry and finish school. I have 2 more classes this semester. Once that's done I'll have 2 more semesters. Then I'll have to decide, what I want to do from there. 

I'm trying a new Boot Camp and enjoying it so far. I know... how can I say I'm ENJOYING a BOOT CAMP. I'm getting my rear kicked, but it feels good. 

Work has been slower then I thought it was going to be. So I have more time to do school AND work out.

I'm hoping to get a little traveling in but, I don't know when I'll do that. I'm looking at plane tickets and waiting.

Well that's all that's going on right now. Hopefully I can continue to make changes and grow as each day goes on.

Britt 

        

This Weekend

This weekend was our anual girl's camp trip. It was a smaller group then normal, but just as much fun. There were lots of great talks and chances to help out. Since my dad was recuperating from surgery he couldn't make it this year, which was sad. Meghan & I followed someone down to where we were camping. Then followed someone else home. We got to the State park and were told there were no showers. :) Some of the girl's weren't to happy about that. I didn't really care since we still had LOTS of water around. Plus what's the fun of camping, if something happens you didn't plan for? Lucky for all of us, they got the showers back up and running by lunch time on Saturday. So we didn't go the WHOLE weekend without shower's. I can't wait till next year or the next time we go camping. Here are some pics from our great weekend.

                                                                     Brittney
                                                 

Changes

As I look back at this summer... there are sooo many things I wish I could go back and change, but I can't. I am going to use this summer as a lesson, and hopefully not make the same choices again. It's amazing looking back, how you think you'll never do something. Then when your in that place you don't see it. How you can trick yourself into thinking it's the right thing. Even when everyone you love, is telling you it's not. I am learning that if I trust in the Lord & in the ones who really care about me, I am safe. I have thrown myself back into my life, and have gotten more out of it in the last 2 weeks, then I have in a while. I'm so thankful we have a forgiving God who is still there, even when you turn away from him. I'm so thankful for the ones who cared, and kept after me even when I didn't listen. For the times I knew I was hurting them, but they were still there. I am going to keep changing and I pray that in all of this, I keep the Lord first in my life. I want to keep growing and keep learning everyday. If I ever start to forget, I pray that I stop to remember the lessons I am learning right now.

I got this song from a friend of mine and it's SO were I'm at. 
Brittney
        

1 Week

Well this is my last week at my summer job, and I for one am looking forward to school starting. It will be good to see all my favorite kids again. That's one thing I miss when school gets out is the kids. I'm hoping once school starts, I will be able to get some of my own schooling done. Haven't done a whole lot this summer :( Parker has been enjoying his job, and Meghan is ready for school to start. I'm ready for life to slow down just a little bit more then it has this summer. I might be dreaming on that one though. Life never seems to slow down once school starts. Well I'm sure a lot of you already know but I got a new "niece" last week. I got to see her the day she was born, and then went and saw mom, dad, brothers, and baby yesterday. She has changed since the first day, the only thing that hasn't changed is how cute she is! I can't wait to spoil her some more!! Well I better go. My dad is taking me out to dinner tonight so I need to run. Hope you all have had a good week, and that the rest of your week goes well.


Brittney   

It's been awhile

Sorry it's been a bit since I posted anything. Life got a little crazy after school got out. :)
I got a job at the rec. center in our town, as Summer camp counselor. So I get to work with kids even though schools out. I really like what we do. Every week we go on a field trip to different places in the area. Then we have guest speakers from the businesses in town. Along with playing games, swimming, and being together The kids all seem to enjoy what we do. Some kids give you a run for your money but it's worth it.

There are 6 counselors total, 2 for each group. We have 3 groups split into older, middle, and younger campers. We all get along really well, so that makes it nice. I haven't done a lot of school, so I have to play catch up with that. I had great intentions of doing school work everyday, but that didn't happen. Well other then that life has been great. Sorry I haven't been keeping in touch as well.
Hope you all have a great week.

Brittney

Check It Out

http://www.thefoundary.com/invite/britj20

LOTS of cool things on here for everybody!

Pottery Barn For Cheap

Okay, so I know that is an impossible thing to say about Pottery Barn but, I did it!  I was on may way back home from taking Parker to work and running some errands, when I saw a garage sale sign. For those of you who know this little fact about me, (my mom), I don't enjoy going to garage sales. I'll go every once in a blue moon. Well something sounded kinda fun about going to see what they had. Don't ask me why. Well I pulled up and saw a few neat things, but the thing that caught my eye was a black shelf that looked like one Pottery Barn sells. So I got out of my car, (that's AMAZING!!) and saw it was the shelf from Pottery Barn. I was like "man I don't have any cash." So I asked if they would take a check. Lucky for me they said yes. :) I couldn't wait to get home.

    OH and to boot they only  
         wanted $30 for it!
Normally the shelf cost $119
       without shipping so,
 I was REALLY excited!!
I had the perfect place for it in
         my room and love it.
So yeah that was my fun thing
               for today.

               Brittney

What would we do without...

So I got to thinking... scary I know. 
What would we do without certain people in our lives. Just as a example. I have a friend April, whose husband Shawn, is a mechanic. She has been wanting me to have him look at my car for awhile. Because of a couple things she noticed while driving my car, back in December. So yeah, I kept saying "NO" just because I knew he was busy. Well Wednesday a week ago my car took it out of my hands. I had gone by their house to drop off some stuff after our Bible study that night. As we were outside talking, I kept seeing this little puff of smoke. The more we talked the bigger that puff got. Well needless to say, it didn't go away. So I turned my car off and April went and got Shawn. It was a coolant hose. Great! So he's already looking at fixing my breaks, and now I have a hose that split right in front of his house!! I have the best luck! Well... it ended up being a good thing he started working on it. When Shawn got working on my breaks he saw that my break line had a leak. SO needless to say, something that was going to be a small job turned into something a little bigger. I'm sooo glad he caught it though!! I don't want to think what would have happened, if I had been going down the freeway and all of a sudden didn't have breaks. Sooo yes I can now say I should have asked him sooner but, it wouldn't have been so much fun if I had of. :) Thanks Shawn, and April. ;)
I don't know what I would do without you guys. 


So hope you all have had a good week. On Monday I went with Shawn, April, and the boys to the Ft. Worth Stock Yards. Just to hang out and take a couple family pics. We also took Flat Stanley along with us for their cousins school project. I had a good time as always. If I may say so we got some cute shots. Then today I went to April's Pampered Chef party and had a blast!! I had never been to one before so it was something new. I decided to book a Catalog party off of hers so, now I get to have some fun! One more day left to this work week and I can't wait! I'll be doing a Pre-K class tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. Well I better get going. 
PTYL 
Britt   

Update

Okay so I said on my last post I would let you know what the surprise was for my parents. Well I got busy and forgot until a friend asked what they were. Surprise 1 was a new dryer for my mom. We got a washer that you could stack a few years ago, and have wanted to get the dryer to. So one day Parker & I ran all over TX it felt like trying to get the dryer. Needless to say we finally got it home and set up. I must say I like how it looks.
Next we got a shed for the lawn mower, weed whip, edger, and all other lawn cutting things.
The shed was a pain because we got one size thinking it would work... and then it was too small. By that point the trash service had already taken the box so, we weren't sure if Lowe's was going to take it back. Needless to say we ended up taking it back and after LOTS of problems, we got a bigger shed. It looks nice having the garage empty of all that stuff.
Another exciting thing... I PASSED MY FINALS!!!! I'm soooo happy about that. Now on to the second semester. :) 

Goals For The Week

Well with my parents being gone this week, I had a few things I wanted to get done BEFORE they got back. So here they are. :)

1. Have a garage sale Friday & Saturday.

2. Buy the first surprise for my mom.

3. Buy the second surprise for my mom & dad.

4. Clean the house. (which is kinda hard to do when you have piles of stuff to sell.)

5. Get the surprises set up so they can see them when they get home.

6. Don't go stir crazy with all the messes in our house.

7. Not eat Shawn & April out of house and home while my parents are gone. :

8. Learn to relax a little bit more.

9. Trust that the Lord is in control of everything.

10. Rest.

I must say I've gotten some of this list done but not all of it. The surprises are bought AND set up. So far I think Shawn & April still have food. ;) If not I can go shopping for them. Tomorrow is 1 day closer to Friday. Then I can clean the house before Sunday when the parents come home. So yeah I might get it done. :) The last 3 will take a little bit longer to change, but I'm working on it.

Hope you all have a good rest of the week.

My prayers are with each one of you.

Brittney

P.S. As for the surprises, I would tell you what I got but, my Mom reads my blog so I can't tell you guys. When they get back I'll let you know what they were. ;) 

Finals

Well today I took my finals. I was SO nervous!! I got started around 3:36 and had 2 hours to finish 2 tests. With a 15 min break between each one. As I started I felt like I was going to get it done sooner then the 2 hour mark. After I read the tests I wasn't so sure. I got the the first test okay but, when it came time to start the second test I was trying to find the answer's in the wrong book. :) Once I realized what I had done I rushed to finish the test. I was so frustrated at myself for making that mistake. I had wasted time trying to find the answer's in the wrong book! Well once I was finished I was a bundle of nerves. Now the wait to see how I did. After I finished I headed to our meeting hall to help with the meal April was doing. Yummy Chicken Salad sandwiches with fruit salsa and chips. Dessert was very good chocolate chip cookies. It was sing night but April didn't want to take the boys since it was going to be at the Bradley's house. With the boys being sick so much right now it wouldn't be good. So she came over to our house. :) I'm just hoping that I get a good grade on my finals!!! Daddy's in CA right now so we are praying for him while he's there. That everything will go smooth and someone will quit being a pain. 

Busy Week

 

Well I have been pretty busy this week. Monday I worked a half day for the PE teacher @ Meghan's school. Then Tuesday & Wednesday I worked for one of the Special Education teacher's at Meg's school. Thursday & Friday was the 5th grade overnight field trip to Camp Carter. I went with Meghan and had a blast!! We got to do a lot of outdoor stuff. (i.e: Hiking, Horseback Riding, Canoeing, Aquatic Study, Archery, Skits, Getting Burned, :) and lots of other fun things.) 

Then today we met Shawn, April, Ethan, and the boys at the Fort Worth Zoo. It was sooo cute watching the older 2 boys run from one animal to the next. Logan was interested in EVERYTHING he saw! We packed a lunch so we could eat while we were at the zoo. The boys couldn't wait to get back to the animals. Oh and the piggyback ride thru the zoo. We had a fun day as always. 

This next week doesn't seem like it will slow down anymore then last week. I have to take finals this week plus work so it will make it more fun. :) Oh well that's life.

Brittney

SPRING BREAK!!!

I know for most people Spring Break is a time to rest up, I seem to keep going no matter what time it is. I have enjoyed keeping busy, but slowing down at the same time. Monday I went with the Tarwater's down to the river for the day and had a BLAST!! We ended up going back to their house and my family came over for dinner. We had Sausage w/ Corn Tortillas, Watermelon, and Corn on the cob. It was sooo good after being outside all day. Tuesday was a kinda bad day. I didn't feel like eating healthy so, I had a lot of junk food and then went and got Panda Express for dinner instead of cooking something. So yeah I was lazy. Today Parker, Meghan, and I went to the BRICK for swim class and had a good time. We came home and I got started on my last test before finals, after eating lunch. I was excited about the grade I got since it's a timed test. I'm not sure what we are doing tomorrow but I'm sure we'll think of something. :)
It seems like this week has just flown by, as always.
Hope everyone has had a good week and that you are enjoying the break.

Brittney

Back To The Real Life.

Well I'm back... I must say even though I was dreading going to Switzerland it wasn't that bad.  The Lanes and I left DFW at 5:45pm and flew all night over the ocean. At 10am we were landing in Spain. So yeah a long flight. Some of the flight I slept thru but the majority of the flight I was awake. The guy next to me had his work spread out in the seat between with the light on. So it made it way harder to sleep that night.

We had a LONG layover in Madrid, Spain, about 7 hours which was awesome!! I had my first bus & metro ride while in Spain. Which I will say was kinda neat. It was kinda weird being underground and seeing everything zooming by though. We walked about 10 miles that day, I'm guessing. When we got back to the airport we had enough time to get something to eat before getting back on the plane. From Madrid to Zurich it was probably about 3 hours. So it was really late when we landed.
We took the shuttle bus to the hotel and checked in. I was feeling REALLY homesick already (PLUS overly tired.) so, I bought Internet access at the hotel so I could chat with my family. I wanted to do Skype, but for some reason in Europe it doesn't work. So I just chatted on Facebook with my Mom. When I got done chatting it was 4am. I still had to take a shower and so it was probably around 5 when I finally got into bed. 

We had made plans, when we checked in to meet at 8:30 in the lobby so we could get going to Wengen. So knowing that I had to sleep really fast! Well, I got up at 8 and headed down to the lobby expecting to see the Lanes already there waiting for me. I couldn't have been more wrong. :) I sat down in the lobby and waited for about 3 hours. Lucky for me there was a continental breakfast so I enjoyed the food and the Cappuccino machine. Once they came down we headed back to the airport to catch the train.

Well... one of MANY trains. I don't think it would have been so bad if it wasn't for ALL the bags. It got hard lugging the bags in and out of the trains. When we finally got to Wengen I for one was VERY happy. The Vogel's met us at the train station, and then it was UP to the house we went. We had a light snack then sat around and visited. 
When we woke up the next morning it was snowing!! It looked sooo pretty. That day we went down and walked the "main street" of Wengen. It was neat going into all the little shops and seeing all the different restaurants. The  ski school area was so cute to see. The kids were cute to watch.
The 20th Dany had a Hockey game so we went down to Keisen and saw the Vogel's house.

Rosemarie & Solame couldn't come with us because of the size of their car. So it was just Martin, Dany, Paul, Miriam, and I. While we were waiting for Dany to finish his game, we went and had dinner with a family the Vogel's met. When we were done, we went back to the Vogel's to wait for Dany.
On the 21st I got to go skiing for the first time. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I only fell a couple times and each time all I  could do was laugh. That night the ski school put on a show so we came back to the village after dinner to watch. As we were watching, Martin kept telling me to watch them so I would learn how to ski the right way. 
On the 22nd we went up to the Mannlichen. It was really windy up there!

The Vogel's went skiing and we continued on to Grindelwald. We shopped for a few hours, had lunch, and then went by train to Kleine Scheidegg. If I thought Mannlichen was windy it was worse in Kleine Scheidegg. We were 4,571ft. below the Top of Europe. So we were pretty high up. The next day we were heading back to Zurich to head home. We made a stop to see Martin's family. It was so nice to meet them. 

We got back to the hotel at around 10 and went right to sleep. The next morning it was back to the airport so we could fly home. We flew from Zurich to New York then from New York to Dallas. 

The flight out of New York was late because it got held in Dallas, so we got home a hour later then we were supposed to. It was SO nice to see my family when we got the the baggage claim area. I enjoyed my trip but it was nice to be home.    
       

Laura Story - Blessings [HQ]

SWITZERLAND

Well I'm going out of the country soon. To be exact we leave in 19 days. I was given a opportunity to go with some friends of ours, and to be honest I wasn't sure about going. BUT my parents talked me into it. So now I'm going. I'm getting more excited as it gets closer but still kinda scared about going. We will be gone 7 days and so it's not a long trip which is probably a good thing. I have a chance to go skiing for the first time in my life but I'm not really sure I will do it. I will be at 6 weeks recovery time by the time we leave, but I'm not sure I want to risk it. One thing I do know it's going to be FREEZING!!! I know now that I really am a California girl. I don't like being cold. We have a couple awesome layovers. On the way there our layover is in Madrid, Spain and on our way back in New York. So that will be cool too!  Pray for me that I will be a good example and that I will have fun.

Brittney

Update

Well I had my last visit with the surgeon today. He said everything looks good, and released me to do my normal activities. I just still have to take it easy. He said to keep up watching what I eat. So that's nice to know.

Now The Wait!!

I'm home now, yipee!!! I have 4-6 weeks till full recovery, and it seems like that will be FOREVER away!!
But mommy keeps reminding me "one day at a time." So that helps a little bit. :)
The thing that's driving me crazy is the fact that I can't do anything right now. I don't like having to sit all the time.
I could do school but, who wants to do that? I NEED to write a essay on picking out appropriate toys for kids. The words just aren't coming to me and it's REALLY annoying. :p Hopefully I'll come up with something soon. Since I have a lot of time to work on it. OH well!! Hope you all are having a good day. Sorry I'm complaining so much. My Mom would say "3 positive things Brittney." So here they are. 1.  I don't have to worry about what I eat anymore. 2. I have A LOT of great family &  friends. 3. I'm alive!! So there you go. :)

Hospital Visit

In case nobody's heard I ended up in the hospital yesterday.
I had been in A LOT of pain while I was out in Virginia. So I came home early and went to see Dr. Steve yesterday.
He sent me to the hospital and I've been here ever since. I am going into surgery today to get my gallbladder taken out. We're hoping that everything goes well and I can leave by tomorrow. I'm so drugged right now that I keep dosing off. :) Well hope to see you all soon!!!
Thanks for ALL the prayers, phone calls, and texts. I really appreciate it.