The Sweetest Sound

I'm the type of person who doesn't like to lay around when I'm awake. It's not unusual to find me up-&-at-em at 3:00 am (this morning for instance). I'm finding that in those mornings when I'm up before every other normal person, there's a reason.

So I'm folding laundry just now and hear this noise coming from the boys' room. Knowing they HOARD sleep whenever possible I slip in to see what' up. I trail the noise to Matt's bed just in time to see his face pressed in the slats of his loft bed ~ a HUGE Cheshire cat smile on his face! That strange noise? Something in Matt's sleep has him tickled. Not the soft chuckle of a good joke, mind you, but the type of laugh that has your whole body moving! You just never know what you'll encounter with my kids!

Thanks, Lord, for giving me such a great thing to wake up to. And just think, if I had slept in I would have missed the sweetest sound in the world!

"God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me."
Genesis 21:6

(If it's good enough for Sarah, it's good enough for me!)

Barely Surviving...Literally

So Matt had his 7th birthday party today, a Survivor one just like his brother. Where everything went right for Drew's in the set-up, everything went WRONG for Matt's! Let's just say that Kara is not the only one in the family to have car difficulties.
I ended up with a flat tire on the way to Matt's party! Yes, a flat. Not a problem, I think, just whip into the nearest gas station and fill it up. First, I don't have correct change. When I went inside to get change, the attendant informed me that the air pump didn't work. GREAT! As I was walking back to my car a very nice gentleman came to my rescue. He just happened to have bought an air pressure pump and it was in his truck. Thank you, Jesus! As he was unpacking the equipment he noticed that the hose was not included. Very funny, God. So I call Brian to see if he can come to my aid. Today is Richland Day and since Brian sells Shelter Insurance in Richland, he had a tent set up and was doing business. Being the loving husband that he is he dropped everything, jumped on his white horse (actually into his white truck), and came right away. By this time it is 2:00 and the party started at 2:00.
I got on the phone to see if my sweet sis can hold down the fort until I get there. Kara, you are a LIFESAVER! Brian shows up, I throw all of my gear and the boys in his truck, and then peel out. I finally get to the party at 2:30 and had a blast! I think there were 17 kids that showed up. We had team challenges, physical challenges, food challenges, buffs, a pinata, cake and boy, do I need an aspirin! Matt had fun ~ that's what it's all about.
I'm sure the angels and the Lord were just sitting around on the clouds, their legs dangling over the edge, eating popcorn and drinking root beer, all having a huge laugh over my dilemmas! I can just see God elbowing his fellow angels saying, "Watch this, it gets better!" One of my favorite sayings is this, "If you want to hear God laugh just tell Him what you've got planned." I think my day was just full of laughter, all the way around!

The loves of my life

"Every child born into the world is a thought of God, an ever fresh and radiant possibility"
Kate Douglas Wiggin

Matt ~ 6

Drew ~ 7

Meg ~ 11

My Inspiration

Many of you have asked me what my husband must be like to put up with a gal as CRAZY as I am. Brian is a wonderful man, extremely hard working (he's a bi-vocational pastor), a man who would do ANYTHING for his family. But, hiding behind that tough, manly exterior is a mate that's perfect for Keli Hill. May I introduce my husband, Brian Hill...

Family Ties

It always AMAZES me when people at school find out that Kara and I are sisters. They are just floored! After the "secret" is out, they can see the resemblance and just chuckle. I wonder how many teachers at school know there's another one out in Texas? Hint...we are birth order. This is my favorite pic of us gals, it brings to mind this verse...Ecclesiastes 4:12 "And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." (New American Standard Bible)

SUPER slide anyone?

I finally found my video from THE BEST VACATION EVER! We went to Asheville, NC (Sliding Rock to be specific) and made some Hill family history. This is the coolest, literally, slide in the world. You would think that in JULY the water temp. would be perfect. NOT! The water was 49 and FREEZING! One man went into shock as he hit the water ~ no lie! Did that stop our adventurous family? No way! Let me set up the scene...Brian is at the bottom right of the screen and is the first one to hit the water as soon as the video plays. Meg is second down, middle of the screen, and gets out of there as soon as she can. Too funny, she breezes by her Dad, not even stopping to chat! Drew is last (he couldn't find a good spot to make the ultimate splash) leaving poor Dad to wait in the water until Drew comes down - got to give my hubby props for waiting in that frigid water for his son, what a Dad!

This is a natural water slide that is part of some nature park I believe. I went down Sliding Rock as a Senior in High School. Back then they didn't have the hand rail on the left to hold on to as you climbed up. The slide now has a life guard on duty, something else they have added since my first sliding days. I kept pumping up this place, telling the kids how awesome it is to slide down this really cool nature made incline and splash into a deep pool...there were even fish swimming around you! How many times can a parent take their child back in time and share/make a memory with them? Precious mental snapshot.

We Survived!

One of Drew's favorite TV shows is Survivor so that became the theme of his party. The setting was the park, the Tribes were Ooga and Booga, the theme was Outwit~Outplay~Outlast~Season 8. We had different colored buffs (bandannas) for each tribe, individual and tribal challenges, rewards, and prizes. And the best part was that 12 kids showed up! Grant it some were siblings to those who were invited but I was not about to turn ANYONE away!

I think it was the perfect balance of organized activities and free play on the playground. Those kids were moving for a solid 2 hours in CRAZY heat but they had the best time! The icing even melted off the cake, that's how hot it was! I don't know who had the most fun ~ the kids or myself!

Thanks, Drew, for being the BESTEST birthday boy in the world! I love you more than you love me and no take backs!

THE BEST VACATION EVER!

This summer our family took our very first non-work related vacation. It was the PERFECT combination of fun and free-play. We traveled to Tennessee and North Carolina and experienced everything ~ Put-Putting in the rain, hiking to a waterfall, staying in a cabin in the woods, white water rafting, you name it...we tried it! I can honestly say that all of us enjoyed every single minute of the trip and are already planning our next adventure! It is so cool to sit down with the kids and find out what they would like to do for fun and then plan it all out.

While in North Carolina we went rafting for the first time. Brian has been before but the rest of us were novices. Here's how it broke down ~ Brian and I had a great time, Meg is terrified of boats but was a trooper for Team Hill, Drew would have imitated Jesus and walked on the water to get to shore, and Matt was mad because we wouldn't tie him to the back of the raft and drag him down the river! I am so glad there was a photographer on the spot to get our reactions!

The Mom Song

For all you mom's out there who need a spokeswoman, here she is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM
I am SO glad she is in our corner!