A Moment of Clarity

I recognized him the moment I saw him. It had been five years, but his face was the same. A flashback from my first year of teaching. An old student. One who had, I'd heard, moved away after that year in my class. I really hadn't thought of him since. He was much bigger now...he'd grown a few inches, had some facial hair, and lots of that awkward teen stuff going on....

He was in a crowd of students at my husband's bible class's youth rally at school. Big large band, lots of kids, noise, and on top of all that I was trying to make sure my Grace stayed in sight and my Sophie didn't eat every rock in the parking lot.

I had been having a rough day. I was thinking that teaching just wasn't worth it, too much TAKS, too little Sophie, too much red tape over the wrong things.....then.... a moment of clarity.

"Hey Mrs. Ferrell..."
"-------! Wow....I recognized you the moment I saw you! How've you been? Where've you been? Give me a hug!" (I'm not the one for uncomfortable silence as you can tell)
"I'm good. I've been in -------, with my dad. Things weren't so great there. So I came back."
"Who are you with now?" I asked
"My mom. Well, me and my two brothers and sister came back to visit her during Spring Break ...I'd only seen her twice all year....and I asked her if I could live with her. I wasn't doing so good there....I was failing all my classes."
"Were you getting into trouble there?" I asked.
He nodded.
"I'm not sure if I'm gonna make it here.....with my classes and all, " he continued.
"-----, yes you are......how's your relationship with your mom? Have ya'll reconnected?"
"It's hard. It's just me and my brothers. She said she didn't want my sister."
Silence.
"It's all tough. I know . -----, I'm serious. If you need any help - any help at all- you come see me. Or my husband at the high school. We'll help you with your classes. Okay?"
He nods.
A quick hug, then off he goes. A boy in a troubled man's world.

That brief conversation stuck with me for the rest of the evening, and is still stuck there right now. I've been so selfish (no news flash there). God gave me this position to affect/help/change kids' lives. For whatever reason, I'm there. And my mission should be, everyday, to show those kids that someone loves them - no matter what. And someone will be there - no matter what.

Clarity.

Who Put The Miracle Grow...

...on Sophie's hair?!?I snapped a few pictures today because as she was eating her dinner (hence the dirty face), I looked over and - wowzers - I realized Sophie's hair covered her ears. A few more months and I'll be able to braid the darn thing!

Grace's hair never budged. In fact, she should be thankful for every inch she has now because it was beginning to look like she would never have hair. I don't think Sophie will have the problem!

(I'm adding this one for laughs...)

The Chronicles of Sisterhood Part 1

Reading Together....Good Friends

Sophie enjoying the moment....
Sophie gettin' a little rough....


Sophie gettin' in trouble...

Friends again....

Part II coming in the near future!

Pan"fried"cakes on a Snowy Morning

Can you see the snow from our porch?

This past Sunday the Lord showed us His humorous side by sending snow - after a week of glorious sunshine. Snow! Again! In Texas! I'll be darned.....it didn't stick, but it sure made for interesting conversation. So after laying in bed with Grace and gazing out the window, I decided to test Pioneer Woman's pancakes. Or should I say pan"fried"cakes.

Yes, that IS butter those suckers are frying in.

Voila...

Now, I have my mother-in-law's verrrrryyy good pancake recipe, so I wasn't looking for something better. And in these? I didn't find better, I just found different. It called for only 7 T of flour. And a carton of sour cream. They were good....different, but good. Boog said (and I quote) "he'd like these with fruit on them, and his mother's version if it's not going to have fruit".

Men. So picky.

Overall....not a bad panfriedcake on a snowy morning. Makes me think of my favorite wintery story, Jack London's "To Build a Fire"......except I'm not about to die, and hopefully my matches would work, and I wouldn't kill my dog....okay, it doesn't remind me of that story at all.

14 Months Today

Look at those eyes!

I remember when I was wondering whether or not God would bless us with another baby. Looking back, all the worries seem so futile...God knew what He was doing. Now you're here and whoa.....you've brought us so much laughter and joy that I couldn't possibly imagine life without you.

You keep us rolling......you "yell" at us whenever we try to put you in the carseat, you love to point your finger and say 'no,no', you still are a picky eater, you love to sleep, you can say the words daddy, momma, dog, woof, ba-ba, and just recently tried to say 'diaper' (yes, you did!), you could stay outside all day, you love to read books and use our fingers to point at things, you adore your big sister, and most importantly, you give the best, best, best hugs ever. I just love those hugs!

14 months has flown by. I'm not sure if you're our last child, but I definitely am trying to savor all these precious, fleeting baby moments.

We love you Sophie girl!

"We Are So Granola!"

Spring Break Day 3 - A Hiking We Will Go!

Boog & I used to have a saying waayyyzz a'back in college when we were newbies in love....we would say, "We are so cherry!" meaning: We're good, we'll be fine, we're okay that sort of thing. (I have no idea where that came from). Anyhoo, we changed that today into, "We are so granola" meaning: We really could just pack it up, head for a granola-type, tree hugger town up in the mountains and live there for a while with our wheat bread, flaxseed, nuts and dewberry drinks. We really could!

For instance, today was "Ferrell Fun Day". As shown in the last post, we've been working hard the past two days, so today - let the world be ours. We contemplated.....and contemplated...... a day at the zoo? Nah....... the Dallas World Aquarium? maybe......the Dallas museum? one day..... use our State Parks Pass and go hiking? YESSSSS.

I wasn't too excited at first. But after a while, seeing how much Grace and her cousin Ella enjoyed communing with the earth, and Boog, well, Boog's Boog. He'll commune with anything as long as it doesn't have the word wii or xbox in it (us granola'ers don't get along with fake golf).

So hike we did. Two miles of it. Boog had the hardest job - scootin' monster Sophie in her monster ride up monster hills. Me? I captured the moment of course!

Future Miss Hiker America

The Twosome

A Hiking We Will Go, A Hiking We Will Go!

See? Whad'I Say? Tree Huggers.....

Mother Nature - our "Granola" mother

Future Miss Hiker America Part II

I'm just kiddin' about all the granola jokes. But seriously, I could do with a few more days of mother nature. I love her! Thank you, Jesus, for giving us such pleasure today!

Spring Break Give Us a Break!

Sophie's Room....almost finished!

It's day 2 of our glorious family Spring Break. Boog and I are getting a tiny glimpse of what the future summer holds for us, and if you ask Boog, I'm not quite sure he's excited. I've been working him like a dog!

Day 1 - all of the family partook in the cleaning out the garage. Boog (excited to have his workspace back) tattood the area with his collection of road signs, old corp outfit signs, and whatnot. That took aaalllll day. But it was worth it!
Day 2 - I used my slave..er, husband....and demanded he hang, hang, hang all the stuff that I've needed hung. That took aaallll day. He finished out Grace's room, and I was able to 90% finish Sophie's little room. I even got the window treatments up - and of course - I "mistreated" them Nester style!

Mistreated panels (thanks Nester!)....Rafia for the tie....I love that stuff.

I SO love watching them play together!

Although they're hard work, they're the best work....

Who's Afraid of Craigslist? Not me!

The New Purchase
So we did it. After hearing about the many craigslist sales and purchases my hairdresser/friend had made, I decided to venture on it myself to see if I could find a deal. We'd been wanting a couch to put in our living room, but on our teacher budgets, paying Haverty furniture store prices just wasn't appealing. So I looked.....and looked....and scrolled...and scrolled....and clicked on about a million links to really bad couches until low and behold this one popped up just a short 10 minute drive from our house! A Broyhill beauty for cheap. One phone call later, one trip made by my husband and his bodyguard (his mom), and voila! A couch. For half of what we would have spent.
Probably more than half.

My own synopsis of Craigslist? Three short words.
Addictive. Scary. Convenient.

No Phone Zone Pledge - I'm In!

After reading a friend of a friend's blog here (she lost her husband a couple months ago to a "driving while texting" offender) , that solidified it for me. I've been thinking a lot about Oprah's NO PHONE ZONE challenge.....she's asking everyone to sign an oath to neither talk nor text in the car.......and gosh, after reading that blog above, thinking about what I would do if that were me (figuring out how I would even begin to tell my two dear daughters how wonderful and amazing their daddy was).....I can't even fathom.

So I signed it. My car is a No Phone Zone. Sign here if you will, too.

Florence Ferrell

Yowzers!!!

The induction fee to the Kidney Stone Club arrived in my mailbox the other day. I must say, I find it quite comical. This club must be fantastically bedazzled with 24 karat gold meeting rooms and diamond encrusted chairs because, well, just look.....

Yikes! One day in the hospital!

That's a really nice car to replace my ol' Subu! That's a really nice downpayment on a house! That's almost as much as I make in an entire year (don't get me started....). Thankfully, that same low-paying job of mine pays our lobbyists on Capitol Hill well. Blue Cross Blue Shield ain't wantin' to stir that pot, so - sigh - my part was reduced to around a thousand (whew!). Like I said, I just found this all comical. Thought I'd share....

Meanwhile, on Ferrell Hill, our little Sophie Monster is living up to her name. She's proof positive that each child is different, each child is their own person, and this child....she's a toot already.
A fun toot though ....

My tooter-rooter

Channeling Pioneer Woman

(Hello? PW? You out there? If so, you might want to send me a thank you note. I'm about to give some raving reviews of your recipes....ok. No thank you note needed. Maybe a weekend stay at your ranch full of delicious, ranch cooked meals? That would be niiiicccce!)

A while back, I blogged that I would cook one "Pioneer Woman" recipe a week, if just to spice up my kitchen life a little bit. My culinary skills were beginning to dull. It's been a a few weeks, so I thought I'd update you on some hits and very few misses and (ta dah!) one recipe of my own! PW must be pretty inspiring, I guess!

PW's Meatloaf. I'll say just one thing.
In the words of my hubs:
"Best Meatloaf Ever" Period

Marlboro Man's Favorite Sandwich
I didn't get my own picture (they were gone too quick). After a few touches of our own (adding some mayo and Swiss Cheese), it was excellent. PW's Chicken Spaghetti. Probably my least favorite. (Steph, your mom's recipe takes half the time, and tastes pretty much the same. I'll stick to that one!)

Flo's Own Creation. I don't have a name. Cornbread Sandwich Ghoulash? I have no idea. It's good though. You don't even have to make a side with it.
A little homemade cornbread.....lb of beef....can of tomatoes....sauteed onions..Italian spices....Cheese....
pretty darn good!

I think I'll try one of her desserts next. Thanks PW!

She's All Grow'd Up

Getting Ready....

I never thought she'd do it. She's tough, but I didn't think quite that tough. But on that day, when she came home with all "S's and E's" on her report card, she popped the question, "Can I get my ears pierced?" She was ready.

We promised her it would feel just like a pinch. 1....2....3! Then Came The Tears.
Through them she said, "Momma, it felt like a nail went through my ear!"

The Finished Product


And to put icing on the ever-growing cake, we finally finished her "big girl" room. Well, almost finished. There's still a few final touches, pictures to be hung, etc., etc., but this is the gist of it. Looks way older than her last room. Notice her painting on the wall? It was the inspiration!
(BTW...This room will probably never look this neat again!)

Almost 6 years old. How time flies....