A Mixture of Things

Well, life around our house is just never dull. With 4 children how can it be? While most of the time we revel in the fact that there is always something going on; occasionally I dream and drift off to a place where no one would call my name, where I'd have no laundry to do or a kitchen to clean or paperwork to fill out or bills to pay. Ahhh, wouldn't that be heavenly? But quickly I'm pulled back and life is just that.... life!

School started well or at least we thought it was going to start well. Turns out our oldest son, Max was in for a big change. Seventh grade was not shaping up to a great start at the public middle school and it became very apparent very quickly. Like the first day! We tried to make it work for three more days before looking at other options and thankfully one quickly presented itself. Max switched schools and started at a local Catholic private school the next week. He has been enjoying the new school and told us this week that he really didn't feel like he had changed schools since he already knew so many kids from baseball. He was already in uniforms so that wasn't a new adjustment, just a little different in selection and he is remaining in percussion and honors classes. Ella is the only one who will allow me to photograph her on school premises anymore.

Mark is the temporary Scout Master of the Troop he restarted at our church and they recently took another camping trip. They go camping about once a month and are really enjoying seeing different parts of the area. They took a 5 mile hike last weekend and found several of these beautiful spiders along the route. At one point Max walked through a web and several of his buds quickly realized that the spider had landed on his head. His head! Needless to say, Max screamed and threw his ball cap off and his trusty pal, Benji proceeded to stomp the life from the spider. While they may not have adhered to scout rules of preserving wild life I'm pretty sure I would have done the same thing.

Before the kids started school Ella got a special treat. Our favorite babysitter, Kristin, asked Ella to spend the night with her before she went back to college. She is starting her second year at the University of Texas. Last year when she went away for the first time Ella just cried and cried. She could not understand why Kristin had to go to college. Kristin took her to Chuck-E-Cheese and they had a great time!

And last but not least what would life be like without a trip to the ER? Mark Thomas was running home from a friend's house on Wednesday and slipped and fell, cutting his hand on something in the road. I could tell when he came running in the house that he was panicked. He had surgery three times as an infant so his pain tolerance is very high and for him to really cry about something tells us immediately, something is not good. So as soon as I saw him and saw the blood on his t-shirt I rushed him to the kitchen sink and quickly saw way more of his flesh than I would have liked and we jumped in the truck and headed to the hospital. We were there from 7:30 p.m. until 4:00 a.m. Yes, that's right. 8.5 hours!!! Seven stitches later and we were headed home. The two of us slept until 1:30 that afternoon and I spent the rest of the day feeling like I had been hit by a truck. I am way too old to stay up that late.

Challenge

The kids found out who they'd have for teachers yesterday and it had our house buzzing. It's fun now that the kids know more people and teachers and by the end of the year they all knew who they wanted for this year!

We've had a full summer, trips to Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Pennsylvania, and smaller excursions to our beach and other local favorites; but now it's time to get ready for school again. Ella found out that she has Miss McBride, a mega favorite in our house. MT had her when he was in first grade and it was so funny when we went to see her class room yesterday and she saw MT again. He is only about 6-8 inches shorter than her and she looked right at him and said, "you are just not allowed to get taller than me" and hugged him. Just wait until Miss McBride sees how well Ella can read. Chapter books all summer long!

Mark Thomas has a new teacher, Mrs. Castle. The verdict is still out but we're praying it's a good match. MT is so flexible it would take a complete tyrant for him to get flustered so let's just pray she can handle his enthusiastic zest for life!

And drum roll please....Benjamin was put in a CHALLENGE class! We were so excited and proud of him! I had heard a little bird tell me earlier in the day that her sister who is a teacher saw Ben's name on the challenge filler list but I quickly told her, that can't be. Well, it sure can. When Mark took the kids to see the list posted at the school there was Ben's name in Mrs. Johnson's class! You could see it on his face when we went last night to see her that he was smiling inside. What a huge accomplishment for our little Benji who struggled and really still continues to learn differently. When his teacher from third grade saw him yesterday she went straight up to him and told him how proud she was of him. She looked right at me and said, "he is ready for this. He is so gifted."

Ben continues to excel and just takes things at his own pace. From the time he was super little to now, he does things when he wants to. We thought he was color blind for years because he would never tell us his colors correctly but he knew them, just wanted to freak his parents out. In first grade we thought we'd have to hold him back because he wasn't learning to read as quickly as the other students but now we can hardly get him to put books down. Trying to get him to do chores, come on, that's still a struggle but see him walking around the house with one of his many notebooks and sneak a peak at a story he's writing and you'll be blown away by his detail and plot. He is Ben and that is fine by us. Most of the time, but I'm just being honest now. I would like him to do his chores more willingly but we're continuing to work on that.

We're thrilled that Mrs. Johnson will be shaping him this year before he goes onto Middle School next year. She is a wonderful teacher and neighbor I might add too. She and her family happen to live right across the street from us. Definitely helps out when there are homework questions. Max would walk over there from time to time when he was in fifth grade. She told me with confidence that Ben was chosen to be in that class. Based on his IQ scores and his other skill assessments. God is good, to provide this boost of encouragement for a little boy who compares himself way too much to his older brother. Look out fifth grade, here comes Ben Keffer!

Grief

Grief. It's something that I know very little about personally and yet it seems to surround so many people I either love or care about and even some who I have never seen and probably never will. Tracy is a friend of Mark's and mine from college at the University of Alabama. The pictures below are of her, her children and her husband, Brian who passed away on Monday after fighting cancer for several months.

Our lives are so short and we never know what might be around the corner. An accident that happens within seconds, an illness that we never saw coming or the loss of a child that shakes the very foundation of who we are and what we believe in. Another blog I follow is of a family that lost their newborn baby daughter this past week. She lived only a few days and the strength and courage I've read in their words brings me to my knees.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

I have heard this scripture quoted many times over the last few years and I clearly remember the first time someone I very much admire quoted it. The Rev. Dr. Bill Harter, spoke these words at a funeral he presided over that I attended nearly 15 years ago. I remember coming home and telling Mark that I had never heard the passage before and how it so moved me to know that our Holy Spirit would interceed on our behalf when we didn't even know what to pray for. And not just interceed but with "groans that words cannot express", the pain, the agony that truly words cannot even begin to convey. Those are the emotions that our Holy Spirit communicates to our Father for us.

This scripture was posted on the Rowe's website and I have said it so many times in my head this week as I prayed for Tracy, Hailey, Alex and Skyla. Please commit them to your prayers, through the coming days and months to come. They will need support to get through this journey, without a husband and a father. When I think of our family and the strength we draw from Mark I cannot even begin to phathom what our lives would be like without him.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Romans 8:26

Pray for Kate

Prayer. It can often seem like such a small thing, that is until you see it unfold a miracle right before your very eyes. I did not even know what a blog was two years ago but since moving to Texas I discovered several of my friends had blogs and I loved checking in on their precious families. I started this blog shortly after we moved to update people on our family of 6 and to chronicle our desire to have Allan move to the states and join our family. Sadly that did not come to fruition despite countless prayers but that does NOT change my perception of prayer.

I have become entrenched in the lives of many women across the country who I have never met and more than likely won't ever meet but I count it a privilege to be able to pray for them and lift them up as they struggle with things I simply cannot imagine. The blogging world is one big web and once you're snagged you're caught. I love checking in periodically and seeing how God is moving in families across the country.

So for the first time I want to post a link to a website dedicated to the struggle of one little girl, Kate McRae. She and her family live in Phoenix, Arizona and she has recently been diagnosed with a very serious malignant brain tumor. Please take some time to visit her site and lift this family up in prayer. God is listening and wants to hear our petitions.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mcraekate

I have been wanting to write about so many things on this blog lately and my words just don't seem to come as easily as they often do. My heart yearns for things I do not fully understand and I hope to share more of that later. But for now, know that prayer is powerful. Prayer ties us to each other, fellow believers, and non-believers. What more of a powerful testimony can you have than to let a non-believer know that you've been praying for something they can tangibly see in their own lives? Our God is a powerful God and he still performs miracles! Please pray for little Kate.

July

Imagine my surprise today when I went to download some pictures and discovered that someone had taken their own photos. It seems Ella decided to host her own private photo shoot.



Bringing the troops around the parking lot.

Max and Cody preparing to lead the parade at church. They sounded so awesome!!

Ben with Whiskers. They missed each other so much when Ben went to camp.

Our bounty after a few swim meets! All four kids are swimming. We had a few white ribbons but what the heck I can photograph only the red and blue if I want to. The Keffer 4 rock in the water!!

Mark getting ready to take the boys to camp.

Second year campers! They're pros now.

Austin

We have been back over a week already but we had the best time! Max enjoyed swim camp, got a little homesick but it made his Momma happy to know that he still needed her. So he and I texted often at night. He's had his own cell phone for months now and I know sometimes it can be a pain but the texting is something I really enjoy. It's a form of communication with him I am thankful for and I know he texts me things that he often would not tell me in person.

My Dad arranged for us to get a private tour of the capitol with some of his work associates and they were so generous. They spent so much time with us showing us around and we even got to sit in our own State Senator's chair, Tommy Williams. The kids loved all the artifacts and I can honestly say there is not another capitol in the country that is as proud as ours. Every inch was covered in stars, after all we are the Lone Star state.

Mark asked for private lodging during his stay at seminary and while it was nice and private the bed cracked me up. Mark is 6'6" so his tiny little twin bed just did not cut it. I suggested he move the other twin bed horizontally at the foot of his bed but he said he was used to his feet hanging off. Such a trooper, my giant.

The kids and I stayed in the DoubleTree suites downtown. It was FREE because of some air mileage I had converted to Hilton points in case anyone is interested! The pool was fabulous. It was outdoors and the cities high rise buildings were all around us. The kids and I ate the breakfast buffet one morning and we certainly took the return as often you'd like to heart, clearing out the bacon faster than the server could replace it.

I took the kids to the BlueBell Creameries in Brenham on the way to Austin and we had a yummy time. We got to see how they make the ice-cream and learned all about the process. Did you know that it takes the milk of 10,000 cows to produce one days worth of ice cream in the factory? We all chose our favorites scoops at the end of the tour and paid homage to my father, a loyal Blue Bell consumer for years!

So Austin, we will return hopefully soon to visit more of your local gems.

Max leaves for UT Swim Camp

We always pray as a family before anyone leaves to go on a trip so we were all outside ready to pray and MT ran out with his Darth Vader mask on and said, "Let's join hands." So we did. Keffer craziness with boys in boxers and masks. God has to love it.

Ella bought this cute little orange at the church yard sale on Friday and decided to send it with Mark. He left today for his two weeks in Austin to continue working on his doctorate. She said, "Like the AT&T commercial, you can take pictures with him Daddy."


My oldest headed off to the big city of Austin for swim camp. There will be 9 Olympians there and the Olympic head coach is running the camp.

A good friend posted on my facebook page that he was sad Max was going to a college other than Bama. So I had to reassure him that Max left with his Bama hat on. No divided loyalties in our house. He was born in Alabama and nothing would thrill us more than for him to head to Tide country. We're just going to have to beef up their swim program!

Swim Season Begins

We had our first swim meet of the season yesterday. It was typical South East Texas heat, so we were covered in sun screen and sweating up a storm but we all had fun. This year all 4 kids are swimming. Ella decided if she was always going to be at the pool she might as well be in the pool and we were so excited to see her first race. She swam the freestyle relay and was the last swimmer. Our team was behind a little when she dove in but she quickly caught up and passed the other swimmers. When she got out she said, "I beat that boy." She sure did! She also swam the 25 freestyle and the 25 backstroke.

The other boys are professionals now so they were pumped to start. Mark helped run the computers and I am now the volunteer coordinator so it's a full fledged family event. We're excited for a super fun season!