Rules of Murder - A Book Review

Rules of Murder was a delightful book set some time in the first half of the 1900's.  The setting reminded me of Downton Abbey with an estate, owners, guests and subsequent servants with their stories intertwined.  The biggest difference was that Rules of Murder was a mystery.  The author  loosely based many of the events off a book that was written in 1929 with a list of "rules" for mystery writers.  She used those rules and wrote the story around the fact of breaking all of them or bending those rules.  The result was several little twists at the end that I'm sure not many will figure out until the end.  I thought the beginning of the book may have been a bit slow, but then again mysteries require a lot of background and information before all of those little pieces can be reassembled to unravel the true story.

I received a complimentary copy of Rules of Murder by Julianna Deering from Bethany House Publishers.

A Brief Snapshot

Last night, we took in the annual local rodeo.  We always have a good time and this year was no different.  In fact, I think I enjoyed this year the most and I believe it was because we went Friday night (Family Night) instead of Thursday night (Military Night).  Those late Thursday nights make for a long Friday!  Anyway, after quite a hot day, the evening temperatures and slight breeze made it really comfortable and it's always fun to spend it with friends.  As you may be able to tell from the pictures, we were close to the action! (maybe too close....)

 Taking the in the action with friends

C.L.O.S.E action...in fact, we could have probably touched them a couple of times and I actually got hit in the face with a small clod of dirt at one point

Since it was Family Night, they bring the kids age 12 and under out into the arena and also release 3 calves.  The first three to grab the ribbons from their tails won a bike.  None of our trio won one, but it sure was fun to see the cowboys try to organize this group and the ensuing chaos.  I'm just thankful that we got all the kids back that we went with!

It's That Time of Year When...

... the longhorn cattle have a drive through the base!  When I think about this, it kind of makes me smile, it kind of makes me laugh and it's one of the reasons that this has been a unique base assignment.  To my knowledge, there is no other base that has a cattle drive each year with base leadership riding along on horses.  We have made it out each year and each year, it's fun to chase them around base.

This year was just a bit different.  Hannah's first grade teacher had asked us to help keep track of her class.  Chris has a night flight so we actually both got to go over and help out.  Let's just say, it was little different, but the kids did great.  It was H.O.T, but I only heard a couple of times that they were thirsty and they didn't complain about waiting to go inside.  Several of the horse riders brought the horses over to let the kids pet them.  Of course, they asked to ride them...  Most of the kids wanted to pet them, but there are a few that are just struck with fear.  They were really close!

Now, we wait for a much anticipated trip to the rodeo tomorrow night!

 Just moseying along...

 Waiting!  They'd only been outside about 5 minutes here and their little faces are already red!

 My one (not-so-great) token picture of Luke - he told me I need to get more at the rodeo tomorrow

 Andrew watching with his class

 Controlled chaos = nearly 400 students + teachers + parents + young siblings + cowboys + news people + longhorn + horses + base security + street cleaners + one clown!

 Part of Hannah's class petting Preacher

 The cattle.   There were so many horses this year that it was easy to miss the cows.

That's all folks!

Change of Plans

Wow! What a week.  The beginning of school is always exciting and fun, but at the same time stressful and emotional because so much is unknown.  What will the teacher be like?  Who is in my class?  Who will I sit by?  Who will I play with at recess? etc.  This week was made even more interesting, though, when Luke came home on day number two declaring he had bad news and that he was was getting a new teacher.  That pretty much stopped me in my tracks.  So, Luke has now been in school four days and by day number three had a new teacher and I had been in the school three times in four days.  Crazy!

It's somewhat of a long story and one I don't think I know all the details to nor do I need to know all of the details.  However, there were three classes involved with the teacher shuffle - 1st grade, 2nd grade and 4th grade.  Thankfully, the shuffle occurred on day number three and thankfully, Hannah was not included in the shuffle as well since there was a first grade class (but it wasn't hers).  Also, I'm thankful that Luke got to stay with his entire class. 

The move came out of the blue and as a complete surprise.  This was not easy and I'm not sure he is completely over it, but he is doing better (so is his Momma - it's hard to see your little boy sad).  This just added so much more uncertainty to all the stress/emotions of the beginning of the school year.  HOWEVER, this has actually been a really good thing in terms of Luke learning a life lesson and learning to trust in God.  God's ways are so much better than ours and often beyond our understanding.  It's been a wonderful lesson of trusting God.  That, by far, has been the best thing about this change of plans.  Also, in my mind, there have only been positive things from this move.  Now, I think I'm ready to say that the Robey family is ready for a wonderful school year.

Game On!

The kids have recently become really interested in games.  In the past, Candy Land and Uno have been at the tops of their favorite lists.  It's been getting fun, though, now that they are playing some more thought provoking games.  The unfortunate part is that only two people can play them, but we've been playing them quite often.  Their two favorites are Othello (the game they're playing the picture) and Battleship.  They really, really like Battleship.  I have to say, though, that they're pretty good at it.  Luke and Andrew have both soundly beat me in the last few days.  Let me just say, they love to win so some hard lessons have also been learned about losing, but I have to say, they are getting better at being on the losing end.

Convicted to Trust

Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. 

Corrie ten Boom

This morning found me in tears sobbing about the upcoming school year.  It took me a moment to figure out what the problem was.  The last several days (ok, maybe a few months) I have been unsure about this school year.  We've had two really great years.  What would this year look?  I thought Meet the Teacher day would calm my nerves and ease the uncertainty, but it didn't. This morning I was convicted that I really needed to trust God on this one.  I have been praying for these teachers for most of the summer and that they would be a good fit for the kids.  This morning, God reminded me that I had indeed prayed and He had answered my prayer with the three teachers He'd given them.  It was now my job to trust Him that His answer was the best.  Our school year may be great and it may not, but I must rest in the trust that God has my kids and that I can indeed trust Him with them.

I think that's what it boils down to.  I have a really hard time trusting people with my trio if I don't know them well or at all.  In addition, I have really high expectations for those that do care and teach them.  The combination of this lack of trust in people and not trusting God's answer has been a big realization that I really need to trust this school year to my known God.  So, thankful for the peace that followed.  Yeah, I did shed some tears later in the day, but that was more sentimental....

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

In all your ways acknowledge him,
and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

(btw, there are A LOT of verses in the Bible on trust!)

Short Conversations

I had a couple of conversations with the kids today that just put a smile on my face.

Luke:  Mommy, how was your day?
Mom:  I said something along the lines of fine, busy and quiet
Luke:  So, did you talk to yourself a lot?

Mom:  Did you tell your teacher that you could count to 100?
Andrew:  I forgot to tell her that I could count to 500!

Just a side note: The funny thing is that he could probably make it to 500.  I just don't know if she would have the time to listen to all of that.  On that same note, he later said he could count to 1000 and did it last night when he went to bed (I'm thinking he probably fell asleep before he truly got to 1000).  Luke has also been giving him lessons each night on counting by 2's.  Andrew made it to 26.  I thought that was pretty good since they don't do that until 1st grade here.

First Day of School

Today was an emotional and really good day.  Today, the trio headed out the door for their first day of kindergarten, 1st grade and 2nd grade.  They were so excited and really wanted to start last week after they met their teachers.  I started my day crying (ok, sobbing), but I ended up having a delightful day and did quite a bit (cleaning, spending time with friends, running errands, going to a doctor's appointment).  I loved it that they each indeed did have a fun day.  Luke couldn't think of his favorite thing because it was all fun.  Hannah just loves her teacher and friends that are in her class.  Andrew was proud of his accomplishments.  If you know anything about the clip charts for discipline, he got to clip to the top and no one else did (this is a good thing!).  When asked if he wanted to go back tomorrow.  He emphatically said, yes and he wanted to go back today "a 1000 times today". 

Andrew David - kindergarten

Hannah Elizabeth - 1st grade

 Luke Christopher - 2nd grade

Back-to-School Bash

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to host a back-to-school gathering at our home the day before school started.  I had promised the kids a water balloon fight and thought it'd be more fun with other kids.  And it was!!  I have to say, the water balloon filling was fine, but it took a long time.  Maybe that's because Chris and I filled around 600 balloons, but I did want it to last longer than a few seconds.  So, 600 it was!  We had a great time.  Yes, I got really wet, but I sprayed all of them with a squirt gun so I quickly became a target.    Let's just say, some of those young men can throw kind of hard.  Another mother told me that one of the fiercest throwers was my very own son!  It was all fun, though.  We finished our time together with hot dogs and just playing.  We are thankful for friends that we can celebrate the end of summer with and look forward to the coming school year as well!

Laying the ground rules

Egg toss water balloon style (it's comforting to know that other's children can't catch very well either!)

Luke was intense!

Some of the action

Not sure what Andrew was doing here.  He wasn't close to the action...maybe he was excited that he had been missed...

Lunch time!

Meet the Teacher

I really like how they do the beginning of the school year (ok, that's one of the many things I like about where they go to school).  They begin the year with a "Meet the Teacher" and then don't have open house later on.  It's usually really easy going.  The teachers tell a bit about their expectations and how things operate and the kids get to bring in their school supplies, find their seats, figure out how to get to their classroom without getting lost and most importantly, meet their teacher for the coming year (or take pictures like this Momma!).

In the first two years of having kids in school, we had two amazing veteran teachers (Luke and Hannah had the same kindergarten teacher).  We loved them and they truly still love our kids.  This year, we're trying something new.  All of their teachers are in their first year at their building and two of them are first year teachers.  However, Andrew's kindergarten teacher has taught kindergarten for 21 years and is just moving to the community.  Hannah's teacher was Luke's student teacher last year and Luke's teacher also did her student teaching at the school.  I guess it makes me feel better that their mentor teachers are still teaching alongside them.  Just for the record, I was a first year teacher once upon a time.  We all have to start somewhere and I'm sure it will be just fine.  All three ladies were friendly and easy to talk to.  I'm sure God has a great year in store for us.  So, with no further ado, here are our newest kindergartener, 1st grader and 2nd grader!

 Andrew - Kindergarten with Mrs. Miranda

 Hannah - 1st Grade with Mrs. Hughes

Luke - 2nd Grade with Mrs. Hodge

Blood and Bone - A Book Review

Blood and Bone is the third book in a trilogy about archeologist,  Jack Hawthorne.  I had previously read and reviewed the second book, Serpent of Moses.  However, it quickly became evident after that book that it was imperative that I read the first book for any of his future books in the series to make sense.  Reading these books in order will greatly benefit your understanding of what is going on.  Otherwise, the book could be quite confusing.  I still found the book somewhat confusing, though.  Maybe that confusion is due to my lack knowledge of ancient history.  Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm not able to visualize and understand the clues that take them around the world in search of Elisha's bones.  The book also doesn't deviate much from the storyline of the first two books.  There is an event that sweeps them into following clues, followed by some sort of close call in losing their lives.  This story structure is repeated throughout the book.  In this third book, Jack now has a family and something happens to the two boys.  I would have liked to have seen them more involved in the book and a larger sense of urgency to get life back to normal.  Instead, it seemed like they were just conveniently mentioned a few times throughout the storyline to remind us that they were part of the story. 

I received a complimentary copy of Blood and Bone by Don Hoesel from Bethany House Publishers.

Happy Anniversary!

photo courtesy of Luke Robey age 7

Today we celebrate 11 years!  I'm so thankful for each one and each year has been an adventure and journey all of it's own.  It's good to be on this journey of life with Chris.  Our lives as a military family sometimes proves just a little crazy, but I'm sure each of us has moments that are just a little crazy.  God gave me Chris, though, to steady me and make the way seem not so wild.  I'm thankful for the last eleven and look forward to spending the next adventures with my dear husband!

What Do You Think?

It is no secret that our trio definitely resembles the Robey side of the family.  Luke and Hannah, however, resemble more their grandparents than even Chris.  Andrew is a different story - at least in my opinion.  I've often thought that he resembles Chris.  Today, Hannah was looking through pictures of Chris when he was a child.  I pulled out this picture of Andrew and was really struck by the resemblance.  What do you think?  By the way, I don't think it's just his physical appearance.  I'm thinking he's also going to have a knack for numbers just like his Daddy.