Whatnot Wednesday

-The predominant thing on my mind today is the crazy weather we've got coming our way. They are saying tornados, hail storms and the like. So, now I'm wondering if I am going to have time to get to the library in time to get a new book because you know the real tragedy would be me not having a book to read in the storm.

-I had a man tell me the other day that if I had asked Jack's pediatrician to split up his immunizations or if I hadn't given them to him at all, he wouldn't have asperger's. I get that there is a theory that immunizations cause autism and the like and I'm not completely sure yet where I stand on it, but it really matters not. What was really strange about the conversation was that it seemed he thought he was being helpful to me with this information. Unfortunately, I don't have a time machine, but maybe he legitimately thought I did. Who knows? (Honestly, Jack's so cool, I'm not sure I would use the time machine if I did have one:)

-For Jack's 4th birthday, Ben and I sweetly gave him.... a ten hour car ride. That's right - we are fantasticly loving and generous parents so we drove him all the way home from Houston on his birthday. He's such a great kid that he really thought this was a real treat! He kept saying, "We're not at Jack's house yet!!" like this was the most exciting thing - not getting home. Like I said, he's really cool.

-Because we were driving 10 hours on his birthday, we got birthday "surprises" at every stop along the way, i.e. ice cream, a book, etc. If you read this post, then you're already aware that my child has a unique fascination with advertisements and specifically beer commercials. He's just over the moon about beer:) Please don't judge me as a parent, but on the way home I found some root beer in the glass bottles. I got him some for a birthday surprise and he has been talking about his "birthday beer" since then. I think he liked it as much as his swingset from his grandparents.

-I'm in a small group right now that is studying the book Radical by David Platt. Everybody I've heard from that read the book or took the small group in my church LOVED it and just went on and on about how great it was. I gotta tell you though, I'm about to start chapter 3 and it scares me to keep reading. Seriously... and I'm a little concerned that I may be the only one with that reaction.

-Speaking of books, I'm up to 20 on my list. I'm going to update the list on the blog soon. I realize that I'm still not going to make it to 100 in a year and have set that pipe dream aside but it did help the cause that there are a few movies coming out soon that were based on a book. I can't watch a movie before I read the book (if I know there is a book). Literally, I can't do it - I've tried.

-I'm attending a training Friday and Saturday on autism. I have to attend trainings all the time to get continuing education units for my social work license, but this one, I'm actually excited about. Unfortunately, several of the speakers have written books and I haven't read any of them so I assume the having to read the book before the movie doesn't translate to other areas.

That's about it. All these whatnots seem very boring looking back on them. But really, if my biggest thought is getting to the library before it closes, how much could you really expect?

Easter Brings Me Back

I've been meaning to blog all week and I just never got around to it. I still need to post more about our Houston trip and some other things. But I did want to post a quick picture of Jack on Easter. He looked so handsome (even though he REFUSED to let me take a decent picture!)

And then he had fun hunting eggs with Brannon this afternoon!

I hope everyone had a wonderful time today celebrating the life of our Savior! Be back soon...

The List

I read on a blog several months ago about a challenge to read 100 books in a year. I thought that I probably did that anyway so I decided to keep a list this year and just see. About a month in, I realized that 100 books in a year was A LOT and as a mother of a three year old, that probably wasn't going to happen. Then, I went several weeks without reading at all and in the end, I'm really embarrassed by my lowly list of only 13 books right now {hangs head in shame}.

Anyway, a couple of you ask yesterday what books I have been reading, so I thought I would share my small, shameful, embarrassingly short list with you here. I'm going to keep adding to it (or try to remember to) just to see how many books I read this year. You will see that I've been on an Elin Hilderbrand kick lately. I do that a lot with authors - find a book and then read all of that author's books. I'm reading her books right now for one reason - they are all set in Nantucket on the beach. I am a SUCKER for a beach read especially in Spring when beach weather is upon us! So, that's why a lot of hers are on the list right now (that and the fact that my public library has all her books).

I'm no book critic (although I think it is a job in which I would excel:), but I'm going to rate the books on a five star system {*****}. I'm doing this because I don't want you to think that just because I've read a book means it is a good book. Really, I read bad books ALL THE TIME!! So, anyway, here is my little list.... that I am hoping gets a little more impressive as the year passes!

1. In the Company of Others by Jan Karon ***
2. Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore *****
3. Her Mother’s Hope by Francine Rivers ***
4. Her Daughter’s Dream by Francine Rivers ***
5. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella *
6. Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond ***
7. The Island by Elin Hilderbrand ***
8. Tales from the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell *
9. Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand ***
10. The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand ***
11. Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand **
12. The Love Season by Elin Hilderbrand ***
13. A Summer Affair by Elin Hilderbrand **

Happy Reading!

Whatnot Wednesday - Houston Style

I mentioned in my last post that I had decided that I should be thankful for our impromptu and forced vacation to Houston (my husband is working). So, in pressing towards thankfulness, I'm going to list all the whatnots floating around in my mind this week of why Houston is a great place to visit.

Whatnots I'm Thankful For In Houston:

- a hotel with room service that serves Starbucks iced lattes right to my door

- Papa John's pizza (and delivery)

- Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3 (a delightful surprise) Ben is just beside himself; work all day and Toy Story at night - all the things a man loves:)

- Schlotzsky's Deli (one of two that I can find still open anywhere)

- The Duck

- Barnes and Noble right down the road

- a child who LOVES to sit in a hotel room all day "working" on his Handy Manny and Cars computers

- time to sit in a hotel room all day and do nothing but read (I'm on the third book of the week now:)

- independent movies (that Ben would NEVER watch with me) for rent right in my hotel room

- Taste of Texas (and the best steak you've ever tasted)

- Jamba Juice

- a ten minute drive to J. Crew

- a ten minute drive to a mall with a train ride in it

- three Starbucks within 5 miles of the hotel... did I mention room service will DELIVER my lattes????

So, how's that for being thankful for this vacation?? `And yes, I do realize that about 90% of those things had to do with food, but let's face it - eating is pretty much my hobby. I have a list of things I'm not thankful for too, but y'all know I'm not a complainer:)

Now, head over the The Wonderful Happens and get your whatnot on too!

The Duck Returns

The Foremans are living it up in Houston -AGAIN!! We (have to) get to come here a few times a year for Ben's work. I was being whiny and complaining about the 10 hour drive, having to come to this town AGAIN, and being here for Jack's birthday (or driving home for 10 hours on Jack's birthday) and then I got over myself. Honestly, if my biggest problem is staying in a free hotel for a week and not having to work a bit and I choose to complain, then I'm a person that even I don't want to be around:) So, I got over myself and have embraced Houston AGAIN!! We are planning to tackle lots of fun things to help Jack celebrate his birthday week but so far all we've tackled is "the Duck." He first made his appearance on the blog in this post. We have no idea what his purpose is, but he is always here - right in the parking lot beside our hotel. Jack loves him - just thinks he's the coolest thing ever!

After visiting with the Duck, we watched Hop last night and got a new Look and Find Batman book. So, as far as Jack's concerned, the 10 hour drive was already well worth it! And, hey, with the bunnies and chicks in Hop and the Duck, this trip is gearing us up for Easter fairly well! More of Houston to come.... AGAIN!

Gilding the Lily on Whatnot Wednesday

I'm so SUPER, SUPER excited that Elizabeth has started a blog link for Whatnot Wednesdays!! I'll say "You're Welcome" to everyone over on her blog now because it was totally my annoyingly, persistent suggestions that got her to do this:) This is a post that I enjoy reading every week and I can't WAIT to read all the useless info floating around in all your brains today, so go link up now!!! No, wait, read my useless stuff first and THEN go link up:)

- First, an update from last week: No package ever came:( Some of you smart ones let me know that it was probably a virus or hoax, so I wasn't too terribly disappointed. It did really cut back on my excitement level for the week though. Also, I feel that I should let you all know that I didn't let Jack continue to yell to get out of clean up time at school... I was impressed but not quite enough to reward bad behavior although Ben did entertain the idea in the interest of rewarding "such great reasoning."

- Since I wrote the word hoax about 30 seconds ago, all I can think about is that there is a movie where a character pronounces that word hoe-ax, but I can't think of what movie it is or the character. I just remember that it's VERY funny!! Does anybody know the movie?

- We went to a housewarming Saturday night and Jack entered our friend's son's room (a teen who is so SUPER great to my kid all the time that I choose to LOVE him regardless of his love for Auburn). Jack immediately said, "Mom, look at that ugly Under Armour sticker (the brand of Auburn's uniforms) and LOOK, an Auburn blanket and helmet. Mr. Justin's room is a REALLY BAD room!!" Oh, the pride.... (I know y'all get tired of hearing me talk football but any Foreman whatnot really has to have a ROLL TIDE in there somewhere - I mean, that's always running thru our heads!! We are that ridiculous about it:)

- Jack has started calling me Mom instead of Mama and I am so super thrilled!! I hate to admit this, but I never really liked being Mama. I actually tried to get Jack to call me "Ree" when he was first learning to talk (my nickname that Hannah Grace gave me when she was a baby and that she and several others still use today), but my family had a fit about that idea so I let it go. In any case, I'm really thrilled that he started this whole Mom thing on his own.

- Dancing With the Stars is back and I'm crushing on Ralph Macchio - you know, from "Karate Kid." He's like 50 and he still looks exactly the same, so there is really no good reason for me to crush but there it is nonetheless. I'm also crushing on Lil' Romeo a little bit too... Other than that, I have a whole list of favorites that I won't bore you with. Although, I am a SEASONED fan so my list would probably be considered informed if nothing else:)

- When we were building our house a couple of years ago, I sort of accused my electrician Dad of gilding the lily when he hooked up a generator that will run electricity to our whole house if our power goes out. You know, for the three or possibly four times ALL YEAR that the power goes out for an hour or so. When the storm came a couple of nights ago while I was trying to watch DWTS and the NCAA championship game, I decided that I might need to offer an apology b/c I thought I was going to have to call him over to crank the thing for me. Turns out, an hour can be a pretty long time when there is important television to be seen (well, DVRed anyway). I haven't apologized yet, but I did think about it. I'll save it for when I need it - the power really will go out one of these days and I'm guessing it won't be during the evening news or some other show I have no interest in.

- Rachel Ray says "gilding the lily" in practically every episode of her new show "Week in a Day" but I would just about bet the farm that she never once said it on "30 Minute Meals." I don't know why this intrigues me, but it does.

Well, that's about all for this week. I think I've gotten most of the ramblings of my brain out but thanks to Elizabeth at The Wonderful Happens, I can start storing them up again for next week!! Hope to see you all over there!

A Family of Friends

Other than my family and close friends, there's no doubt that the most important people in my life are my church family. I feel so very blessed to attend the church that I do for several reasons. I have attended this church (with the exception of my college years) my entire life and I'm thankful that God put me here. I have seen such growth in the lives of people around me that is so encouraging and has certainly played a tremendous part in my personal growth in Christ. I'm thrilled to say that this church is not what it was 20 years ago, but God has grown us as a whole to learn how to love Him and love others as a body of Christ more and more. We call our church a family of friends at Hopewell. We are a relatively small, country church.

We are very blessed that God called our pastor to our church over 10 years ago now. There are few people I have met in my life that have such a sincere and desperate desire to live a Godly life. In a world full of compromise, arrogance, and selfishness, it has been such a blessing to have such a humble, servant-minded, and wise leader. He has a heart for the hurting world and a strong belief in the great commandmant and the great commission. This is our pastor with Ben and I at our wedding in 2004:

Our church when it snowed in South Alabama: (you know that when it snows in South Alabama, you gotta ride around the community and take pictures of everything:)

I would say that God is moving in our church in several ways, but there's no doubt that our church (in the last 10 years) has become a mission-minded church. That's probably our biggest growth area. We are relatively small (about 200 people each Sunday) and in the last ten years, I would estimate we have around 50 people who have gone on overseas mission trips (and most of those have been on multiple trips). We have now been to seven different countries and many of those several times. We definitely feel the call of God on our church to reach out to a hurting world. We have been on construction trips, medical trips, prayer-walking trips, evangelism trips and teaching trips. My dad went to Nicaraugua a few years ago to help build a church:

I have been to Ecuador and am going on a teaching trip to Haiti in July (so excited). We have a group that just returned from building a church in Haiti last week. We also have a jail ministry every Sunday night and other outreach programs. I don't say any of that to brag on ourselves, but to brag on what a big, powerful God we serve. We have found that He WILL work through a life that is obediant and willing to go where He calls them and has a sincere love for His people. We like to say that we are a mission command center that God is using to not only reach our community with the love of Christ but the entire world. We're not a perfect church or perfect people but are a people and a church who have experienced amazing grace, unfailing love, and great mercy. The reaction from that is to show others that God wants to them to experience that as well. I love my church and I will always be thankful for the place God has allowed me to serve and worship.

Linked up with Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life - My Church"