2 AM Visitors

That's right! At about 2am we received a knock at our door. Who could possibly knocking on our door at two in the morning!?!?!?! Well, believe it or not, it was the Redlands Police Department! Someone in our apartment complex called the police because there was a HUGE disturbance coming from our apartment. What was that disturbance, you ask? Well, that would be a little 9-year old boy that goes by the name of Tyler.

So, here's the story....
If you can believe it, this ALL started on Monday morning. I dropped Tyler off at school at 7:40am (school starts at 7:45am) and Tyler did not finally get to his class until almost 8:30am!! What was Tyler doing during this whole time, you may be asking? Well, he went throughout the campus running in and out of other teachers' classes, he lied to pretty much everyone he came across that morning, he pushed a kid down on the way to the cafeteria, he went and disturbed the librarian, was seen briefly going in to the custodian's closet, and when his teacher caught up with him finally he was in the nurse's office with an ice pack on his wrist "claiming" that his wrist was hurting (totally a lie). And that is the short version of that morning. As a result of this morning, Tyler has had a massive amount of homework. Included in the homework assignments were about eight apology letters that Tyler had to write for everyone that he disrupted that morning. Well, all week Tyler has been absolutely refusing to write these apology letters. So, when we got to the weekend, he has not been able to do anything except sit at his desk writing his letters. The only time he was allowed to come out of his room was to eat meals or go to the bathroom. He had this plan that he would just sit there not working until about 7pm every night and hope that he could just ask to go to sleep and and then he would be done with it. Well, every night (since Friday) we have told him that he can not go to sleep until he finishes the letter that he was working on. Well, that's when the screaming would start. He would scream and yell and tantrum that we would just eventually let him go to sleep. On Friday night, he was so loud that people were actually yelling at him through the window to "Shut Up!!". He fought it until about 10:30 that night and then wrote his letter. On Saturday we didn't hear anything from the neighbors even though he was just as loud. This time he fought it until about midnight before writing his letter. Then last night (Sunday) Tyler battled until 2am. And the ONLY reason he stopped at that time was because the police knocked on our door. I guess the neighbors skipped telling him to "Shut up" and just went straight to calling the police. But for the rest of the time he did not make a noise and just finished his letter. So, that is pretty much how our night went. The sad part is that all the screaming and crying was absolutely fake. I video taped it but have debated about putting it on my blog because it's pretty sad how far he will go to get what he wants. So, PLEASE keep us in your prayers! We NEED it!!

Is There A Moose In Your Marriage?

That probably sounds pretty weird, doesn't it? Did she really write "a moose"? Yes I did! "Is There A Moose In Your Marriage?" is the title of a book that I have started reading. It was given to me by one of the ladies in my Bible Study group this past Wednesday. I just started reading it last night and I already see why God has impressed it upon her heart to give this book to me - the short version.... I'm selfish in my marriage! I've only read through the first chapter and I already have that feeling that i DO NOT want to keep reading this book. Why? Because it is convicting!!!! I'm pretty scared of the chapters to come. Here are the chapter titles just so that you have an idea of what I am in store for:

PART 1: A Wife's Role
Chapter 1: Given By God
Chapter 2: Choices

PART 2: Laying The Foundation
Chapter 3: Forgiveness
Chapter 4: Abiding in Christ

PART 3: The Job Description
Chapter 5: Order in the Home
Chapter 6: Godly Behavior
Chapter 7: Holy Beauty

PART 4: Family Relationships
Chapter 8: Reclaiming Your Priorities

PART 5: The Motiviation
Chapter 9: Marriage is a Ministry

PART 6: The Results
Chapter 10: Triumphs and Testimonies
Chapter 11: A Speechless Husband Speaks

So, I am in PART 1, Chapter 1. A wife's role given by God. That already sounds pretty brutal, right? Well, I would say that I am not fulfilling my role that God has given me. God's job description of a wife is to be a helper. Being a helper is not supposed to be something we DO; It's supposed to be who we ARE. "The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.' " Genesis 2:18. How do you feel knowing that you are called to be a helper to your husband? My selfish flesh says "Why do I have to be a helper to him. Why can't he be a helper to me?!?!?!?" See! I told you guys that I am selfish! It's so sad, isn't it? Some of you thought I was this person that is alwsys wanting to serve and help others and today I am shattering that image and letting you all know now that I am a SELFISH person. (Some of you already knew that). But a very interesting thing is that I DO like to help people. When people call me and tell me they need help doing something, I am almost always ready to help if it is at all in my ability. But sometimes when Taylor, MY OWN HUSBAND, asks me to do something (that is usually really simple), the first thought that goes through my head is "Why can't you do it?" And then I begrudginly do it for him but keep track in my head and compare the difference of how many times I have helped him and how many times he has helped me. How horrible am I?!?!?!? (Feel free to answer how horrible I am). Well, this book is about the road blocks (the moose) in your marriage. In chapter one it talks about how if the wife (ME!!!) has not embraced her (MY) role as the helper, then she (ME again!!!) IS the road block in her marriage. "Would your husband say that because of you, your life is more pleasant and bearable? OR Would your husband shy away from making even the simplest requests fearing your reaction?" My husband would more than likely be in the second category. I am not AT ALL writing to convict any of you in your marriage as I have seen you all be servants and helpers to your husbands. This is purely sharing my convictions from reading this book so far. I am re-learning my role as a wife and God has called us wives to be a helper to our husbands.
"What a challenge....
What a privelage...
WHAT A CREATOR!!!!"

Blessings,
Terecita

My Birthday

So, yesterday was my birthday. Most of this day was pretty rough until my little birthday gathering. In the morning Tyler was having a huge fit because he was tired in the morning and didn't want to get up. That was a result of him having TONS of homework because of his HORRIBLE behavior at school on Monday. Then during the day Taylor and I did a lot of running around meeting with social workers and such. Then after school, Tyler and I went to his therapy session, where Tyler was absolutely disrespectful to me and his therapist. Then after therapy Tyler was having a huge attitude refusing to do his homework (massive amounts leftover from Monday and still continuing today). So, I then had to make Tyler take a shower SUPER early and sit through our basketball practice (I'm his coach for Upward Basketball at Immanuel Baptist Church) in his pajamas just doing his homework and not participating in his practice. After we got home from practice (6:15) I had Tyler eat and then go straight to bed (6:30). He cried and screamed for a little while but thankfully stopped before any of my friends came over for my birthday game night party.

So, then that's when my birthday gets better. I had a few friends come over which included Ms. Grace, Ms. Veronica, Mr. & Mrs. Becker, and Mr. & Mrs. McCormick. Now, if it was not for these people coming over, I really would have had one of my worst birthdays. I was extremely upset with Tyler and I almost cancelled the party but once they showed up I felt much better. We played this game that is basically mix between Pictionary and Telephone. We shall it Pictephone. Anyhow, it was hilarious. You basically start out with everyone writing a phrase or saying or whatever. Everyone passes their stack of papers to the left and then you have to draw what the phrase that the other person wrote. Then the next person has to interpret your drawing and write the phrase that they think that you drew. And then so on and so on. Here a couple of pictures that were drawn. The first one is supposed to be "Born in the U.S.A." and the second one is supposed to be "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." They got pretty funny after a while.

This picture was interpreted as "I'm having a baby"


This picture was interpreted as "Don't throw out the baby with the bath tub water" "(Good Job Matt!!)

Here are some pics of us at the party (more like a small gathering) We had a good time and my friends being there really made my birthday good.

Me and Bobbi. She's awesome! As a matter of fact I wouldn't even have this picture if she didn't bring her camera cause I was a lame-o and only took a couple of pics. She is one of the most amazing people I know and I truly feel blessed to know her.

Here is Mr. and Mrs. Becker (Beth and Derek). Derek was working really hard on the Pictephone game. Everyone thought it was hilarious.

This is Grace & Veronica. Grace and I have been celebrating birthdays together for 11 years!! Mine is Jan. 13 (yesterday) and hers in Jan. 14 (today). All three of us went to high school together but I did not hang out with Veronica until after high school as we became friends through Grace. Man I was totally missing out on her friendship in high school. She is SO cool and everything is always funny to her so she thought this game was HILARIOUS!!!

Everyone was so gracious with their gifts. I truly am blessed. This was from my hubby. He made this flower arrangement for me. I hope it doesn't die cause I'm not too good with taking care of plants.

So, that was my birthday. We almost played a game of Cut-Throat Uno (mostly for Grace because she is so competitive and Pictephone is not a game where somebody acutally wins) but everybody had to get up early so we talked for a bit and called it a night. I kinda wanted to hang out more but when I got up this morning I was definitely thankful that I didn't stay up any later than I did. So, all in all, I had a truly blessed birthday! Thank you to everyone that made that happen!!

Tyler's Birthday

So, yesterday (Jan. 6) was Tyler's birthday. We decided to have a little get together in honor of it. We weren't sure if we were going to do it at first (at least not actually on the 6th) because it was a school night and the absolute earliest that we could do it was 6:30 because we had our first basketball practice that did not end until 6:00pm. So, we had to rush back and get everything together before anyone else showed up. But everything turned out fine. My parents told me that they would barbecue some hamburgers and hot dogs and bring them over so that i wouldn't have to worry about making/getting any food. And we had chips and sodas... and of course a birthday cake, which I made! :-) Here are a couple of pics from the party. I would have took more but the batteries in my camera died very early in the evening. (** Sidenote: Do not buy batteries from the 99 cent store. They don't last for very long. **)

Here's a pic of the cake that I made. You would not believe how much it hurts your hands when you write on someone's cake!!
Here's a couple of the presents I wrapped. Just wanted to share that cause sometimes I love to wrap presents (when they are perfect squares or rectangles - NO odd shapes) more than gift bags.
Here's a couple of gifts that Tyler got. The first one is a scarf that my mom made for him which I thought was pretty cool. The second one is a "Learn to Speak Spanish Kit" - Can you believe that he actually asked for this for Christmas? The third one is a NERF crossbow (I was definitely not thrilled to see that when he opened it) that he probably won't ever get to use because he has not learned yet not to point it at people. He also got some clothes, a soccer ball, a football, a Lakers jersey, some books, a board game and a few other things. I got all the boring stuff since I knew other people were getting the toys and stuff.
And this is a picture of our friend's daughter, Jasmine. She's 2 years old. All the kids were playing in Tyler's room and when we called them all to eat, somehow she got left behind. Well, while she was by herself she got in to Tyler's markers and did this to her face. :-)

And that's a glimpse of Tyler's birthday! Have a great day everyone! :-)

Picnic in the Park

Yesterday we had a family day and decided to have a picnic at Sylvan Park. Only in California would you think to have a picnic in January! :-) We just got a $5 pizza from Little Caesar's and some chips and had some good family time. We played horseshoes, frisbee, and soccer. Anyhow, here are a few pics of the family at the park. Enjoy!

This is just a view of the park. This is one our favorite parks to go to.

Here's some of the three of us.