Our Day…

…today is Raymond’s & my birthday and to top it off, we got married on this day as well….keeps life simple and is always a good topic of conversation around this time of the year. We really had no control over any of this, we couldn’t help that we were born on the same day (but different years, he is older), and the year we got married, this was the only day in June the club house was available, call it fate, call it destiny, or even answered prayers, but whatever you call it, it is what it is and one thing is for sure, he will never forget my birthday or our anniversary!

As usual it seems to fall during the week, and this year we started a day earlier celebrating a cake with friends, thanks to the Farrell’s! We headed to their house with 6 teen boys who helped moved some furniture around for them; we enjoyed some burgers and dogs with all the fixins. After they were done moving everything around everyone joined around the kitchen table and sang happy birthday to us (and Mrs. Stacy too, her b-day will be on July 3^rd). It was a great time to fellowship and hangout, thanks again to Mike, Lori, & Carson who know how to show love and appreciation and make friends feel welcomed in their home!

This morning was again just another Monday, the only difference was, I am taking the week off, so for me, I was able to sleep in. Raymond on the other hand, was out the door before 5:00 a.m. He is working close to home, so he came home for lunch. The fun really started when he came home at the end of the day. Robert babysat Emma so that Raymond and I could enjoy a "grown" up dinner at On The Boarder…thanks to birthday/anniversary well wishes and recent thank you gift cards, dinner pretty much was paid for! We usually love to do dinner and a movie; however we had a late start and well, by the time we were done with dinner it was pretty late, so we headed home and took a dip in the pool. We seem to be taking late night dips lately, the weather is hot, the water is warm and well the sky is clear, not much more is needed, the atmosphere was perfect for a romantic evening in the back yard. We have also, enjoyed being able to lay back and do some star gazing these past few weeks and tonight was no different, with a quite still night the stars were brighter than ever, it was yet one more reminder of how small we really are in this big world.

Tomorrow will be just another day, but today is ours and to be able to spend it with the one you love, there is no better gift. As I hold on tight to 29 year after year, and Raymond is in denial of 40 something, one thing that keeps us young, other than trying to keep up with Emma, is knowing that at our age our parents were already grandparents. In regards to our anniversary, one of the best quotes I love about marriage is: "A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person." Here is to falling in love all over again and again and again, after 20 years, 3 kids, we wouldn't trade any of it for anything in the world, here is to leaving a legacy that we hope and pray our children will be proud of!

B12 = Week 4…

...seems like yesterday Lori, Stacy and I were sitting around the table talking up the plans for this group and now we have completed week 4. I guess the saying is true, "time flies when you are having fun"! These past 4 weeks/meeting have been great, they have past any and all my expectations, I guess that is what happens when God blesses and approves what you are doing! We have covered topics like, "gossip", "integrity', and "influence", these didn't seem as powerful when we were selecting them a month ago, but now that we have covered them, oh my! How powerful, impactful they have been, and how blessed we were to be able to touch on all of them.

The group seems to get bigger every week, tonight we had 17 with at least 2 more with prior commitments who will be back at our next meeting and still others who have showed interest and want to come out. We will pray that schedules, fears or whatever is holding them back will clear up and work out so they can join us. Today's topic of influence was a big one, as parents we seem to think that other teens have the most influence on our teens, but after preparing for tonight's discussion I learned from two different sources that this is not the case.

1^st source – on line research showed me that a majority of teens say that their parents are their number one influence, the reasons that they do what they do or don't is based on the "conversations" that they have or in some cases don't have with their parents. Kind of scary, some of us feel or preach, say as I do, not as I did. Actions do speak loud, but when our kids get to their teen years they are looking for us to talk to them, share with them, how else will they learn from us, good or bad?

2^nd source – B12 kids, our ice breaker tonight was to pick a shoe from a basket, figure out whose shoe it belongs too and ask that person two questions: 1. Who was your biggest influenced as a child, and 2. Who is your biggest influence now? Although we had a good mix of answers, the number one answer to question 1 was: mom, dad, parents! The number one answer to question 2 was: mom, dad, parents…who would have thunk it!

In the beginning I thought we were planting seeds, but I have since learned, they are the seeds and quite frankly there is nothing wrong with them; the seed, but the soil in which they land, it is my prayer we all continue to provide "good soil" for them to grow as described in Matthew 13.

I have always been grateful for the close relationship that Raymond and I have had with our boys, but after being a part of B12 and all that is has done to enhance those relationships even more cannot be expressed in words. Can't wait to see what July brings!

Michael, Liz, Carson, Katrina, Paige, Roxanne, & Elsie...smiling for a pic and showing off the shoes they selectedVadal, Austin, me, Catherine & BrandonKatrina & Vadal, showing off how “BIG” & “ small” the shoes they picked...it's hard to relate to someone until you walk in their shoes...or at least pose in them...this was a great icebreaker!RoxanneBailey & LindsayRobert, Ty, & D.J.
Catherine, Brandon (as usual, any opportunity to flex is a good one) and Caroline

D-Day ’09…

…a.k.a. Daddy, Papa, Abuelo, Father, or whatever you call your dear old Dad.

For the Contreras family today is Raymond's day. Being that it falls on Sunday and this is his normal day of rest, our day was uneventful; we did all the things he likes to do, which again on Sunday's isn't much, but relax and enjoy each other's company.

We started the day with our usual plans, breakfast, church and then nothing! However in addition to the usual breakfast we prepare for any typical teen guest we tend to have over, we also had a more traditional meal to serve big Raymond's palette. He had "huevos rancheros" (over-medium eggs with salsa), scrambled eggs for the kiddos, instead of our typical Jimmy Dean sausage we had "barbacoa", it's been a while since we had some of this, it was not San Antonio style but it did the trick! For a breakfast like this or any week for that matter we had our ranch style pinto beans, and even though I made biscuits for the kids (okay not all of them just Brandon, maybe Robert ate one or two), everyone else enjoyed the change up and ate up the "tortillas" (even Emma)…it was all yummmooo!

Saturday and Sunday morning breakfasts/brunches are one of our favorite times with our little family and their friends. I love it the most because Raymond is usually in the kitchen helping me cook up all this good food. Once it is done we usually will either wake up the clan or have then slowly come down as they smell the food and gather around our table for 8 and sit and enjoy each other's company. This is the time we get to catch up with everyone and see what the week has been like, what is coming up and what everyone is going through. Usually the only time we are all together, which as you know is not often enough!

So after a late start today, and our wonderful brunch, we headed to 12Stone for the 1:00 pm service, as usual Pastor Myers, did his thing and even though the message was aimed at the men, I still left inspired and grateful that I was able to sit in service with my husband on one side and my boys on the other, all 4 of them needed to hear these words today (Raymond, Lil Raymond, Robert & Brandon), we don't do this often enough as a family, so even though it was Father's day, it was a great gift for me!

After service we headed home and did what we love to do best on Sunday afternoons, read the AJC, watch movies, relax and reflect on the many blessing we have. A very uneventful, yet impactful, meaning full day!

This was from last night...just a typical Saturday night, grilling burgers and dogs for all the kids that we seem to have over during the summer...just one of the many reasons we all love him!

O-Line Camp…

…this morning Robert was off for a week of football offensive lineman camp! It's gonna be hot in Middle GA, but at this time of the year, I think it's hot anywhere and even hotter if you are doing anything with football. As I stated yesterday we went to Wal-Mart to "stock" up on some snacks for him to take. According to the boys, Coach Cutt says, a lineman should "Live to Eat" vs. "Eat to Live", or at least those that are not a big as Alexander, Millsap, and a few others. They get fed great while they are at camp, but it's between those workouts that the extra food comes in handy! So he packed two duffle bags, one for clothes and the other for food.

This will be Rob's second year at "Hodges" camp but that doesn't make it any easier to send him off to Middle Georgia. It's great to know folks like Coach Alexander, who isn't a HS coach but coached the line with Raymond back in the day when Rob played "GFL" is on the trip. He drove the boys down there and gets to stay and hang around, having a personal friend down there gives you a better feeling!

This is just another reminder that we are in full swing of preparation for the '09 season, they will go down there, do their thing, get some team building done, get to know the coaches better, work their butts off and come back and keep the rhythm going. It is so amazing to me the time and effort that goes into our football program, but when you are part of a 1^st class program, there are no short cuts, there are no easy practices, workouts, and camps; it's all hard work. I can't wait for Rob to come back and tell me his stories, I remember last year the "syrup makers", which would be Cairo HS, gave them a hard time, it worked both ways from what I remembered, Buford can dish it just as well as they take it, great thing is they can back it up as well, on the line or anywhere else for that matter. That is what happens when you have top tier programs meet for camp during the same time, the competition comes out in all of them (and I guess in us too).

The house is gonna be quite with Robert and Brandon gone, but it will only be for 5 days, I think we will be able to manage some piece and quite around here. Here a few snap shots I took of them this morning…hope you enjoy!

Loading the bus, notice Brandon here, we can't seem to take a picture of him without him flexing, not even random ones...he said he wasn't flexing, just scratching his elbow...you decide!Emma doesn't want her "brudder" to go......at least not without her!This trailer will haul all of their personal belongings…clothes, snacks, fans, TV’s, and anything else they could load up......It's a Lineman Thing!

Summer time gatherings…

...B12, cookouts and all those things in between. As I stated in my last posting, we had nothing plan for this weekend, so what turned out to be nothing, turned into a great time with friends! In preparation to get Robert & Brandon packed for "O-Line camp", the Cheatham's and the Contreras' went to Wal-Mart Saturday afternoon to load up on "Snacks". As we are shopping, Brandon, who always comes up with ideas for us to do, asked, "Can we have another cookout tonight?", don't you just love teens, they have all the plans, all the ideas, they just need/have us to fulfill them, so it seems and feels that way these days.

Let me back up a couple of days and catch you up; Thursday, we had B12 at the house so we had about 13 teens, not to mention the others who already live/stay at the house, and the adults who dropped off/picked up their kids who came in for a bit, even though we did not have a cookout Thursday, we still had company and it was a great evening. Then Friday night was Raymond's day to grill dinner, so the boys (Robert & Brandon) did their thing, and invited a few friends to come over, well a few turned into: Austin, Cole, Catherine, Caroline, and Sammy who was already here from last night, Mrs. Stacy even came over and hung out, remember we have Christina staying with us for the summer, and well Emma, is just Emma J Raymond grilled up some burgers and chicken, Mrs. Stacy brought some fries for a side and well that's all anyone needed, everyone had their fill, oh yeah, forgot to mention the Elmo Cupcakes Mr. Murray gave us. That was Thursday & Friday, so by this time we are looking forward to a relaxing, non-eventful weekend; did I already mention that we had "nothing" planed?

So back to Wal-Mart, while we were there we ran into: Patrick, Robbie, & Travis Hefflinger, what's the big deal you ask? We met the Hefflinger's through little league baseball, Robbie and lil Raymond played ball back in the day. We have know them from the time the boys were 6 years old, not much has changed between them, in regards to height and stature, Robbie was bigger then and well he is bigger now. This past Wednesday Robbie was drafted by the Atlanta Braves! I know can you believe it, we are so proud of him and his family, funny thing was, he was shopping for "Snacks" too, he is leaving for "Rookie Camp" first thing in the morning! He was there with his 2 brothers as they helped him "load" up on snacks and other things needed for the camp. His dream has always been to play in the big leagues and now that journey will begin. His father and brothers are so proud, his mom would have been proud too, she passed almost 2 years ago. They are a great family! After we said our hellos, gave hugs and well wishes, we continued to shop, since Raymond was with me and head Brandon mention a "cook-out", our shopping adventure went from buying snacks to adding items to grill. Raymond even left to run to the local meat market to buy already seasoned chicken and fajita meat. We all met up at home and that's where the fun unplanned long evening began.

Here is a pic I snagged of Robbie from "Access North GA"

The boys did there thing, we ended up with Carson & Catherine coming over, I did my thing and invited the Forrester's, so Derek & Tammy came over, later their boys; D.J. and Devin joined us, of course Mrs. Stacy was there, and well Raymond can't seem to have any kind of event, planned or otherwise without having BC around. Then we had a pleasant surprise, Terry came over, that would be Mr. Hefflinger, Robbie's (as well as Patrick & Travis) dad, the boys would have come but they were already in bed, you can imagine, they have had a very crazy busy week with the signing of contracts and all that stuff that comes with being drafted by the Braves. The Farrell's even stopped in, Mike & Lori stayed a bit longer than they expected, the came to pick up Carson & Catherine and ended up staying a while, it was great and our pleasure to spend the time with great folks!

I wish I would have taken pictures to share, but sometimes you are just having too much fun to think about Kodak moments!

This day reminds me about that master card commercial, we all know it well:

Propane tank for grill…$20.00

Snacks for O-Line camp…$50.00

Food for cook-out…$100.00

Seeing, fellowshipping and laughing the evening away, with old and new friends….priceless!

Saturday Morning Drives…

…are one of the best times Raymond and I have…or any other time we get to drive the "Mustang". Today we woke up with nothing on our plates; nothing planned for the day, just thought we would sit home and relax. That lasted as long as any other time we try to take a "break", I don't think we know how to do that. Ever since I can remember we have always been on the go and well as we sat their thinking about relaxing he looks at me and says; "What time does lil Raymond have to work today?" That's all it took, he didn't need to go into till later, so the mustang was free.

The mustang is almost a year old and is one of my Raymond's (both of them) pride and joy. We bought it for lil Raymond before he went to college, more of a "YEAH" you are continuing your education vs. congrats on just graduating HS. I remember getting the phone call from Raymond saying, guess what I found and think we should get our son, it took some convincing but when it was all said and done, it all fell into place and before you knew it the mustang was in our drive way. Now you know that whenever you give a gift like this, especially when it's your kid there are some rules in place, and well Raymond's number one rule was, this is for you but "I get to drive it from time to time". I'm still trying to figure out which Raymond we really bought the car for! But to hear it from Emma, well it's really "her car", or at least that is what keeps the peace at home. She thinks she is sweet and nice so she "lets" her big brudder "borrow it"! At this time I would share how silly she is and if she only knew, but for some reason with her it always seems that the joke is on us, so it may be how silly we are, it really may be her car!

We took off in the morning and didn't make it back home until the afternoon, and lil Raymond ended up driving my truck to work. When you go from driving a truck on a daily basis, which Raymond and I do, there is something special about getting in that little red shiny car. Taking it down the express way, turning the radio up, there is not a real good way to explain, the feel and ride of the car itself, but it's a piece of heaven from our everyday drives. The other thing that probably makes it a "real fun" time is that we have a "RULE" about the mustang whenever Raymond and I are in it together! We can'targue, disagree, agree to disagree, dispute or anything else for that matter that will make the "mode/atmosphere" other than happy. We pretend we are in the first dating cycle of life, you know the one where you do all you can to impress that special someone, and nobody ever really disagrees or argues until you say "I do". Everyone who is close to us and knows this laughs at us and thinks we are silly, so when they see us in the car, they say here comes the "boyfriend and girlfriend". We try to do this every chance we get…keeps life interesting, fun and exciting! Lil Raymond likes it too; he typically gets it back washed and full of gas!

We don’t have too many pics of the mustang, but here is a good one of Raymond and Heather…the other “boyfriend and girlfriend” who enjoy it on a daily basis!

Running the Rails…

…Buford Style. So today, Robert and I participated in our 1^st ever 5K, and I must admit, it was FUN! Stacy and I have been working on losing weight, becoming healthy, getting fit, and we have been walking for months now. Although not regular walkers, it gave us time to exercise, motivate, and hold each other accountable. Two weeks ago, I proposed that we sign up for this 5K, so for the last two weeks we have been walking, working on our time and trying to get better. Now the truth is 2 weeks is not really enough time to train, but I have to admit, we worked our butts off and did the best we could with the time we had. Between school getting out, preparing for graduation events, soccer camp, getting ready for B12, and all other things that come with being a wife, mom, employee, living life, it's been crazy busy, so we squeezed in the time to get our walks in. In the end it all paid off, today we jogged/walked the 5K…one our goals was just to finish…or as the mom of lineman, we say "finish the drill", and well we did that and so much more! The accomplishment I felt cannot be explained in words.

Rob and I started off by fueling our bodies this morning at Waffle House…yeah, yeah, I know now, there is nothing worse that eating Waffle House other than not eating at all (where was Carson this morning to let me know this?). It was good, it gave me some one on one time with my son, I was not even able to finish my meal, I was too nervous to eat, and Robert thought I was silly and he was probably right, but none the less, it was what it was. Brandon and Robert…our competitive duo, helped "motivate" us during our training and decided to join us today. We knew when they said they would join us that as soon as the signal was given they would be in "competition mode", with others and each other, and leave us behind….and well they did! Stacy and I were not being competitive with each other or anyone else; we had our personal goals and did what we needed to do to meet those. After Brandon and Robert finished they came back to "motivate" us and keep us on track! It was nice to see all the kids out there, Liz and Carson did their thing…they are in Cross Country, so they are expected to have "good finish times", Brandon and Robert didn't do too bad considering they were the only "football" players doing this, even if it was for their "Moms" and didn't really train for it. I just want to give them a special thank you for being by my side and keeping me on track & motivated! Stacy, thanks for hanging in there and "staying the course", Brandon & Rob, thanks for the "motivation" also know as a "literal push" you gave us during training, Carson and Liz, just a simple thanks for cheering us on, as well as your parents for being sideline cheerleaders from being to end!

Today has been a great day; I hope to be blogging about many more events like this one, just not anytime soon ;-) Hope you enjoy the pics…thanks to Mrs. Lori for the ones you took as well:

Fueling the body, mind, and soul...great one on one time with Big Rob!
Stacy, Brandon, Robert and me before the "challenge"
Brandon, Carson, Rob, Liz, and me before the race...still Smiling ;-)
During 1st mile, still smiling...I got this!
Rob getting ready to cross the finish line and still smiling...to be young again!
Just about to finish...thinking to myself, what in the world was I thinking and telling myself "I think I can, I think I can!" What a great son, Rob came back to "motivate" me to "finish the drill", making sure I made my goal!

all smiles again, after having a chance to catch my breath...Carson, me and Liz...they were great motivators too, whether they know it or not!
Stacy knows she can...what a great son she has too, Brandon went back to help his momma "finish the drill" too!
Rob, Liz, Carson, me, Brandon, and Stacy...feeling accomplished!
Coach Daniel, Rob, me, Brandon, and Stacy

B12…a.k.a.

This summer, Stacy, Lori and I are starting a "bible study" with our kids and their friends. We are all excited and think the kids are excited too…or at least we hope so. This group is targeted to Roberts's age group, which are now sophomores in HS! Wow can you believe it, he is now officially a sophomore. Lori was the mastermind behind the name B12, it represents or is in reference to the "12" disciplines, there were also "12" tribes, in addition to these bible references it also ties into our kids since they are the Class of 20"12". Our 8 week study will challenge them to think Beyond 20"12"…Beyond 12^th grade! But in the mean time, we hope that it also gives them a place to feel secure to share the everyday lives and struggles they face as teens in this world. They are a great group of kids, but this world's cruelness doesn't escape anyone, including our kiddos….with that said, it is our goal that this will give added value to their lives, prepare them for challenges they face, and make for a fun summer. I think other than the privilege and blessing I have been given to share the Word with these kids, I am so excited at the opportunity it is going to give me to get more connected with them and get to know them on a different level. I look forward to a fun filled summer as we all either begin or continue on our spiritual journey! Hope you enjoy the following pics from our kick-off celebration:

Pray for us...we are gonna need it! Trudi, Lori, myself, & Stacy are taking on this task...with many more supporters behind the scenes!
Laying down the expectations, rules and formalities!
Everything I do, I do for you!
And YOU!
And all of you too...we had 14 kiddos this round!