Happy 3rd Birthday Caleb

August 17th marked the 3rd birthday of my little guy, Caleb! I can't believe it was 3 years ago that this little man came into our lives. From the day he was born he was such a relaxed baby. He never really liked to be rocked or cuddled, he liked to do things on his own from the very beginning. He can be a little ball of fire, which goes along with his red hair - but just as quickly as he gets mad he's telling you he's sorry and that he "wuvs you". I remember at his second birthday I was a little worried because he wasn't talking much, well we don't have that problem anymore that's for sure. Caleb always has something funny to say! He loves to irritate his brother, but he also wants to be JUST like him and likes to copy him every chance he gets. He is still in love with baseball and anything related to sports. He likes to surprise you with his knowledge - I worked with him for weeks trying to get him to learn his colors and he was just not getting it (at least that's what I thought) - then out of the blue he can point out all the colors with no problem, count to 15, say his abc's, and who knows what else he has in his pocket! Caleb has a smile and a sweetness that just radiates and infects all around him! Happy birthday my sweet little man!

Here's his baseball cupcakes at his small little party. We just invited a couple of friends to simplify the party, and we all had the best time!

MMMM! Pizza!!

Cameron, Olivia, and Caleb playing on the video games at Jump N Land in Sherman.

Caleb and Gus hoopin' it up!

Hello!! Jonah having a great time on the bouncy obstacle course!

Even Hannah enjoyed the party. She climbed and crawled and tried to stay up with the big boys! She is definitely not afraid to join in on the fun!

Olivia - isn't she sweet?

Caleb & Gus having a conversation - wonder what that was about?

This was a gift he got from Mama Gina and Papa John. It's a SuperHero headquarters. He has not stopped playing with it since. I think he enjoyed looking at the box as much as the toy!

These are the baseball cupcakes for the party! My first try looked like a 2 year old did it - so this was the better version. Of course we had to have baseball cupcakes!

God: the Ultimate Provider

Today has been a good day. You won't understand how good unless you know a little bit of background.
Two years ago when Jonah was 3 years old, Adam and I began praying about what kind of schooling we wanted to do for our kids. We discussed homeschooling, public schooling, private schooling, all the usual models. We both come from public schools (I taught in public schools) and feel that both of us received a good education from public schools, but we felt that God was calling us to do something different educationally with our kids, but what? We agreed that the "ideal" situation for us would be a school that had a challenging educational program, a chance for frequent socialization, but still have more time to spend as a family and instilling the values that we desire for our kids to grow up with. This sounded ideal, but we had never heard of such a thing.
As I began researching school models, I came across a model called a University Model School. I spent hours looking up different schools. It was a relatively new idea that developed about 15 years ago in Arlington, TX. The model involves the best of all the educational worlds. Kids go to school and receive instruction from a trained teacher 3 days a week in a Christian environment and the other 2 days they are homeschooled and receive one-on-one instruction based on lessons that the teacher sends home. As they get older they move to more of a college type schedule and mindset. As I read about all of the successful schools, this model intrigued me but most of the schools were in large cities so I just put the thought aside and just prayed about what the Lord wanted us to do.
When Jonah was 3 we went to visit a local preschool, but just didn't feel like that was the direction we needed to go. One day we were getting our oil changed at a local Bonham Quick Lube and there was a sign advertising Forerunner Christian Academy. It was a new school in Bonham and I grabbed the flyer and told Adam we should check it out. We laughed about how it was probably a bunch of crazy people and how could a good Christian school ever pop up in Bonham. Oh ye of little faith. I went to the website and it looked pretty good so we decided to attend a parent meeting.
Skeptical, we walked into the parent meeting, which at that time the school was being held in an older church in Bonham. The people were so nice, we left feeling good about putting Jonah in preschool there.
Jonah started preschool there almost 2 years ago. We just fell in love with the ladies who started the school and their heart and passion for what they could see this school growing into. It was such a leap of faith for them - all 3 founders had very small children and growing families but they listened to what the Lord told them to do. Since then they, and many others, have spent countless hours, unpaid might I add, to make our school what it is today. Adam joined the board back in January and we have been so blessed to be apart of watching God bless our school in countless ways.
One thing that makes our school such a challenge is the heart that we have that no child should not be able to come to our school because of lack of money. Most of the students in our school (their parents) are on a Work-Study program working off hours to pay for tuition. Many teachers volunteer their time. We still have to pay many positions out of necessity, without much money coming in each month. Many months have been a step of faith, praying and seeking out the funds that we were in need of - and lo and behold a check would come in randomly or someone would help us out in some way. God has kept us going and God ALWAYS provides.
So now we come to about 6 weeks ago. Our school has been meeting in a local church and we were informed (8 weeks until school started) that we could no longer meet there. They were very clear that it was nothing that we had done, they just had some internal problems in the church that were making it impossible for us to be there. We were stunned and wondering, what was next? We were too big to fit in most of the churches in Bonham and really did not have much of an option from there. After leaving that deacons meeting, the board decided not to go and try to fix the problem, they decided to be silent about the situation and pray for 7 days before talking about it. And they did.
At the end of the 7 days of prayer, one of the founders of the school, randomly remembered a building that someone had told her about two years before. She called up the board and asked them if they wanted to go and check this building out. They walked in this vacant building and it was amazing! It was like it was made to be a school - classrooms already set up, an abundance of space to grow, gym space, cafeteria space, it seemed too good to be true. Then we were told that the building was owned by a very prominent Christian man in town. Maybe he would give us the building or let us use it for free. This had to be it, so they set up a meeting.
The next day they met with this man - and he informed them that he would be glad to help them with the building,---- if he only owned it. He had sold it several years back to GE and he pretty much said good luck with that one. This was crushing news, the board was sure that this was where God was leading, what now?
They went to GE immediately and thought it wouldn't hurt to ask them about it. Amazingly the man they talked to seemed pretty open to the idea and said to put in a proposal and he would have to push it through to the CEO's. This was GE!! We just kept praying that God would provide for our needs, whatever the outcome.
Three weeks went by and we had still not heard anything. We had placed a proposal for GE to allow us to lease the building rent-free or for them to donate the building to us. -- In the meantime, we find out that the man we had been in contact with from GE had actually looked into our school at one point and come to a Parent Meeting. He was really impressed but his family had chosen to homeschool. God placed him in the right place - and he was pulling for our school. This has been such a test of faith, more than you know. We pushed school forward two weeks as we waited for the news. Our whole school and extended families had been praying that God would open the door.
Today we get a call from GE saying that the CEO's had approved for us to use the building rent-free!!!!!!!!! We are still waiting on the paperwork to get all finished, but God had favor on us and in His lovingkindness provided this school for us. We have been praying at home for this for weeks now, when we got the news today Jonah's immediate response was "Isn't God a great God!" And He is. He would be a great God even if He had not provided this for us, but out of His grace and mercy He showered blessings on us! I wish you could understand what a relief this is for our family and to know that we have an awesome space for Forerunner Christian Academy to call its own. This will also open up doors for our school to grow in numbers, being in our own facility and able to fulfill some of the educational dreams that we have all envisioned. I could go on for days about the vision that we all have for Forerunner, but that's another day.
I just wanted to praise God and share with you my testimony of His provision. I have to admit that there have been days that I didn't know what God was doing this time, but I just kept hearing Him whisper in my ear, "Trust Me". And now we must trust God - with furnishing a building, paying for utilities each month, paying teachers, and much more. We are in the process of some major work on establishing a donor base and getting the funding that our school needs. It is a daunting process, one that none of us has ever even attempted, but we KNOW that God is with us and has set this school here for a purpose! We have a huge list of things that we need in order to furnish the school and we have 3 weeks in which to do it and no money! We know that God provided this building, so we are going to trust Him and work very hard to glorify Him in our efforts. Please, please, please pray for us in these next few weeks and year to walk in obedience and honor Him in our school.
Okay, I'll stop rambling - I feel better now! If you want to check out our school go to www.forerunnerchristianacademy.org !

Wild and Crazy Week

While Daddy was gone on Mission Trip this week to Del Rio, we had a wild and crazy week (emphasize wild and crazy!) First we went to visit my mom and dad for a few days and then we were off for the Grandparent Trip! I felt about like these glasses look by the end of it all!!! We had such a fun time - but I'm very thankful for a hands-on Dad and very thankful for him to be home!


All the grandkids at the Dallas World Aquarium. That place is awesome! It's kind of like a zoo/aquarium/jungle all combined. The kids loved it! We saw three toed sloths, jaguars, penguins, GIANT alligators, sharks, you name it we saw it. Caleb absolutely loved the otters. He ran back and forth in front of the glass tank just giggling and acting just like the otters. I think the otters thought he was one of them!

This is Hannah riding the carousel at Incredible Pizza. We used a lot of money on this one, because she was just so happy when she was riding it! Every time she went around she wouldmake a little high-pitched squeal and do her version of clapping (which is more like her hands grasping together and moving up and down). You can see Myka on the side (my niece). She is about to be 13 years old and she is such a great help with all of the kids! I told her I was going to call her my Myka Nanny!

My camera was set on the wrong setting so this picture turned out blurry. Here is Mama Gina and the grandkids. You can't see it very good, but they are sitting in a tunnel that is made of glass and there are swordfish and sharks swimming all around and above them. It was so relaxing to sit in that tunnel ( as relaxing as it can be when you're watching 3 kids). I think I need to get one of those installed in my house!

Right before Adam left for the Mission Trip he took the boys out to the Bonham State Park to go fishing. They went on a little adventure and found a "mysterious" fort that they were in awe about . It was pretty neat, just sitting in the middle of the water. Of course Jonah had all kinds of ideas and stories about how it could have gotten there.
They rowed around the lake - I dont' think they caught any fish, but they sure did come back with great stories.

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream........

A beautiful picture of my girl!! I call her my Nana right now, which evolved from Hannah Banana to Hannah Nanna, and eventually just to Nanna! She is into EVERYTHING.

No, you're not looking at a flashback picture. The other night some girl friends and I had a '80's night out. Here we are all decked out in our greatest '80's fashions. If you can call any fashion in the '80's great? Don't you love my biker shorts and mini skirt on top. I even found some Keds in my size at Goodwill! My favorite part was the gobs of hairspray I put in my side ponytail and in my tall swoopy bangs! Good times! It's weird to have been a part of a decade that is now considered part of the oldies. Life sure does pass by quickly.

My sweet kids - just a fun picture!
This was at McDonald's yesterday. This was immediately following an interesting experience. I was getting in my car at Target. It was probably 105 degrees the kids were hungry for lunch and I had already been to 2 stores that morning (getting 3 kids in and out). I had just changed Hannah's diaper and I needed to put the basket away, but the cart thing was too far away and I didn't want to leave the kids in the car. So, I opted to leave the basket in safe place next to my car, where it wouldn't hit anyone else's car. As I was about to back out a lady who was parked next to me came up and got the basket that I had parked there. I didn't really think much of it and I continued to back out. The lady came up behind my car and stood there with her hands up, saying aren't you going to say thank you and a few other choice words too. I gave her a little wave like to say thank you, but she was still not happy. She came up beside my window, still yelling ugly words and was still wanting a big thank you I guess. I just looked out my window and mouthed thank you. I didn't really want to at that point, but I did. She was still ranting as I drove away. People never cease to amaze me...This was followed by Caleb tee-teeing all over the floor at McDonalds!

Jonah was helping Daddy hang some shelves in our house. He wanted to be JUST like daddy. He changed clothes to look like dad, he fixed his hair like dad, and he had tools just like dad. There was only one thing left in Jonah's mind. He was gone for a while and when he came back this is what he had - he wanted his armpits to look like Daddy's too!! priceless.

This was a picture at Tootsie's last Friday. Tootsie wasn't able to make it Jonah's birthday party, so she had a special one for him. We swam in the pool, ate yummy cake, opened presents and had a great day. Here's Hannah with a crown on - fitting isn't it?

She didn't know what to think about all of this?

Tootsie gave special birthday massages to the boys. She has an actualy massage table. It was so funny how much they actually loved it!

Here's how Caleb came out the other night when he was getting ready for bed. He is totally pott-trained, but he wears diapers at night. I guess he decided that this was a great place for "Cold Bear"!

I took this picture because it was the first time an actual bow, without a headband would stay in Hannah's hair. She is growing up so fast - she is even almost fully weaned. It's a sad day for Mom, but Hannah is so ready. She also said her first word the other day "Momma!" She said it only because I was holding another baby and she was jealous, but I'll take what I can get. She has also said "quack, quack" in the bathtub when she sees the little duck in the bath. Hannah still slithers around everywhere, still hasn't caught on to the crawling thing, but actually does just fine dragging herself. She has been pulling up to standing already and loves for you to hold her fingers while she tries to walk. She HATES diaper changes now, it's too much sitting still! The boys are still so in love with her and she feels the same about her big brothers.

I think this is representative of how Hannah has Jonah wrapped around her finger. She kept grunting and tackling Jonah, and of course he just giggled!

Veggies and Vacation

Here's our first zucchini from the Barker family garden. Jonah was so proud - he just kept running around and saying "We're gonna eat it!, We're gonna eat it!". We fried this zucchini up that night and Jonah and Caleb gobbled it up. It's amazing how much better vegetables taste when they are fresh like that... One look at their faces and you can see how hot it was outside!

We went on a little mini vacation on Sunday - Tuesday to Glen Rose Texas. We went with some of our very good friends here in Bonham. Up above is a picture of the boys doing the fossil dig at Dinosaur World.
He doesn't look too concerned about being swallowed by a T-Rex!





Help!!!!

From left to Right top: Jonah, Adam, Michael, Caleb, Cameron, Mandy, Elizabeth, Hannah, Olivia

We call it our Bebarkation! (Bebers and Barkers)

Fossil Rim Wildlife Park in Glen Rose. This is our second time to visit and it is so awesome! I would recommend going at a cooler time of year, but it was still so much fun! The giraffe eats right out of your hand!

Funny story with this one - The ostriches were very aggressive. They would take your bag of food if you had it in plain sight. Adam was feeding one ostrich through the driver side window, while Jonah, Caleb and I were watching intently...I looked over and there was an ostrich staring at me about 2 inches from my face. Needless to say, I screamed and grabbed onto Adam (while Caleb is just sitting there staring at our very close animal friend). I kept screaming because the ostrich just kept coming inside the window. Adam was having the best time watching me scream and be terrified that he was going to bite me or something. Looking back it was a little dramatic, but it's how I felt at the time!...So I kept telling Adam to roll up my window, because he has controls to my window on his side. He just kept laughing, and I kept screaming "Roll up the window!"...Finally, I decided he was having too much fun and he was not listening to my request so I resorted to violence! My instant reaction since my head was buried in his chest was to grab his nipple and twist it so he would know I was serious! I know, I'm awful. He still thought that was funny too...eventually he did close the window. I think he would do it all over again, just to watch me act like a crazy person...and just so you know no one was seriously injured in the process of our vacation!!

Isn't this little baby zebra cute!?

Caleb & Jonah brushing the goats at the Petting zoo at Fossil Rim. Hannah and I watching!

Adam and I posing with the dinosaurs at Dinosaur World. It was probably 103 degrees out there - we did a double time tour of Dinosaur World!



Okay, this is how close the animals get to you at Fossil Rim. This Zebra kept trying to eat our windshield wiper controls! Slobber, slobber everywhere!


Ejoying the animals at Fossil Rim: Mom, Caleb, & Jonah

Relaxing in the pool with the Bebers! Hannah loved her first experience in a pool. I think she could have stayed out there all day! Jonah is getting really good swimming. By the end of the trip he was jumping and swimming under water. He was so proud. Caleb is also a pretty good little swimmer. He is fearless - age 2 and fearless is not a good combination at the pool!

All our sweet kids - Jonah, Caleb, Cameron, Hannah, and Olivia

Enjoying our giant hotel rooms. These were the best hotel rooms, because we each had a separate bedroom and giant living area, so we could put the kids to bed and then the adults could hang out and play games. Fun times!

By the way - Caleb is getting very close to being fully potty-trained! Hooray! I've been begging him for 3 months to do this and he was not having it. A few days ago he just went in the bathroom by himself and went! Ever since he's been doing great, not perfect, but great. We even filled up his potty chart with stickers and went to Chuck E Cheese yesterday! Diaper bill dropping as we speak!!

Summer Days

She's gettin' close to crawling. I feel like I've been saying that forever. She can scoot all over the floor, and pick up every microscopic piece of anything that she can find. I guess my cleaning habits are going to have to pick up a little bit!

This is the result of a mobile little sister...watch out ice cream sandwich!

She even pulled up a few days ago - well, to her knees. She's getting so big. She just bounces up and down when you hold her. She's no longer a still baby - look out world here she comes!

Here's a picture of our first day playing in the sprinkler. You can see Caleb in the background with a bucket on his head. He is always doing funny little things like that. Both of my boys are hams - but each in their own little way. Caleb seems to do it and not care if anyone is looking, and Jonah enjoys the crowd.

Jonah's first baseball team getting their trophies at the baseball ceremony. We had a great season, won every game. Jonah really had fun and learned a lot about patience and diligence. When he came home and showed off the trophy, Caleb wanted one so bad. Daddy went up and found a 1987 trophy from when he was in baseball and gave it to Caleb. He carried it around for the next 2 days, and I think he even slept with it.

Here's a picture of the sanctuary at VBS during one of the music classes. I don't know if you can see it, but on the left there is a 15 foot real sailboat! This year, we were crazy and we wrote our own VBS. Treasure Island: Seeking the Ultimate Treasure. Adam wrote the dramas and helped me get an outline for what we would study and then I wrote the rest. It was a lot of work, a lot of late nights, but a lot of fun! It was great because I could customize it to how our church does things. Adam and I always have fun working together on things like this - I don't know if it would be considered quality time, but I'm so glad I have a husband that loves what I love (and vice versa). This is the preschool/kindergarten class. We had over 95 kids enrolled this year. Praise God! We had one little boy accept Christ as His saviour. And everyone, including workers had a blast! You can see Adam and Mark (our music minister) dressed as pirates. They did the drama every night during the opening ceremony and did an awesome job!

Jonah's 5th birthday party - blowing out the candles. I can't believe my baby is 5!! That sounds so old. He's no longer a preschool age kid. Wow time flies!

Playing a water balloon game. The game sounded good in theory, but after one round I realized there were too many age groups for any sort of organized game so we just all got some and threw them! All that work filling up 100 balloons gone in 30 seconds.
Caleb and Asher hanging out having a conversation. Who knows, maybe they were discussing how to prune this tree?!

Jonah and his buddies hanging out. We had a slippin' slide party.

Mama Gina and Hannah hangin' out trying to stay cool. We were very blessed because we were under a big shade tree and there was a good breeze.
MMMMMM! This was only the beginning of his messiness that night.
Too many kids, not enough blow up thingies.

Woo hoo! At first I thought the kids were not even going to like the slippin' slide, but after a few older boys got there and showed them the ropes they had a blast. We had almost 30 kids there! Pheww!
Here' s the monkey cupcakes - we had a Beach Monkey theme.

And the beach cake. I was very sad, because halfway through I realized I had used the wrong kind of icing. I got whipped icing, so it was too runny to decorate with. It was too late to fix it though, so I just went with it. I really love cake decorating. I obviously do not want to do it for a living. But it's a good creative outlet every once in a while!