HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Now today marks the day for not having two four year old in the same house anymore. Ryan is 5 years old today!!!
You are a GREAT boy and we love you so much! You keep us on our toes with some things, but you always seem to make up for it with your heart felt worship and thankfulness for so many things. Thank you for reminding us daily to lift up Jesus and praise him, and keeping a spirit of Worship alive in our home. We are proud of you and everything you are accomplishing your first year of school, and with the Bible Quizzing. You are doing a GREAT JOB!!

4 YEARS OLD

We officially have two 4 year olds in the Isom house! Breann had her birthday on Friday November 7th and she is now 4 years old along with Ryan. Despite all the sickness that has gone around to everyone in our house I think Breann had a special day. We went to eat at Pizza Hut Friday evening, then came home and let her open her present from us, then we made cupcakes!
Breann you are a very special little girl to me and your daddy! You are just the girl we always wanted. You are beautiful in many ways and we LOVE you very much!

GOD BLESS AMERICA

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE

KIDS WILL BE KIDS

There have been post about the election and I'm sure numerous emotions and thoughts, so I figured I go a different route with my post. I will say though, God is in control and he is still on the throne, and when you think about that it is really just enough to make you want to shout in the midst of where America may stand or may not stand. We must keep our eyes on who really matters, God!

Okay, so now the small "kids will be kids" story! Tuesday I had bathed Breann and got her out. Then Ryan and Colten were next in the tub. So I left them in there a while, then went and got Colten out. Put the lotion on, the diaper, then the jamas! I put him down from my bed and he takes off. I get the things together and head down the hall to find Colten practically jumping in the tub with water still in the tub and his pajamas still on! It is like he already knew what he was going to do before I ever put him down from my bed. I was not very happy this time seeing how he did this a few weeks ago and I told him it was a no no. The problem that time was that I thought it was so funny I got a picture of him in the tub with his clothes on and laughed about it. So here he was doing it again. I did not laugh at the moment it happened this time, but I laugh now! Kids will be kids, and you never know what they are going to do or say!

ALL IN ONE POST

It looks as if everyone went home from the Fun Fest and posted on their blog, so I thought I should just knock mine out too. Our internet has not been functioning properly for the last month so my online happenings have been limited. Sometimes I don't understand how life is really just so busy! About a month ago we made a trip to the park. It had been a long time since we had done this as a family. In the end while our three oldest were digging in the sand, Colten decided he would just keep putting some on his head! They had fun just being kids and getting dirty.

We just finished up our first nine weeks of school and had a Halloween/End of quarter party! It was just at the house, but the kids loved it! They iced cupcakes, made goody bags, hunted candy, ate pizza, and played pin the nose on the pumkin. They thought it was great!

Our Bible Quizzing is getting up and running. We have had our first two practices and the kids are picking up fast on what needs to be done. We are truly proud of all the kids who have learned any number of verses. No matter what the number is on the amount of scripture learned, it is just that much more of God's word that they had not known before they started quizzing. As for our own children, I must say it is going well with Ryan. Mom and Dad just have to keep reminding themselves that he is only 4(almost 5) and we can not expect the same thing out of him as Haiden. So believe me it is a challenge for us to be patient and understanding! Ryan does have 38 verses memorized though, and when I say 38 I mean he can quote them word for word without mistakes, he really knows them! Haiden is on about the 110th verse I think. So as usual he is moving right along. We are making him have all his material learned before the first tournament in January. Somedays we spend 2 hours reviewing verses, the Word of God, but one day it will be worth it all!

Our Fun Fest at the church was EXCELLENT tonight. Brother Todd, Sister Julie and all the helpers did a fantastic job and THANK YOU all for the FUN you made possible for our kids and our visitors. I have limited pictures of this fun night due to the breaking of my camera, OH NO!!! When I picked Colten up from his chair to put him down after he ate, his foot caught it and knocked it off the table. It has been a great camera for 4 years, and I had been wanting a new one anyway. The thing about it now is that I'm not sure how we can manage to buy the one I want before all these holidays get here. Oh well, this is just life, and life is GREAT!! Hope you all have a great weekend!


TRIED TO CATCH RYAN

A few weeks ago during play break at school Ryan was really preaching his Bible Quizzing verses. I tried to hide my camera behind a plant to catch him, but he saw and of course calmed his acting down. He still did one verse!

POSTING FINALLY

Well I have finally made myself take the time to make a post once again. Life has just been busy around the Isom household since school and Bible Quizzing have started back up. I seem to not get on the computer much anymore and when I do it is just to skim through email, blogs, and bank accounts. Sometimes I can get carried away trying to do to many things at once. So lately that has consisted of teaching, cleaning, ironing, painting walls & picture frames, organizing closets and tubs of clothing, Bible quizzing, cook, buy groceries, take pool down, put trampoline back together (to find out we need to spend about $400 on replacement parts if we choose to keep this one), and whatever else I find to do spur of the moment. Next year I plan to have someone clean house for me, and someone keep our yard for my husband. So I'm looking forward to that! Anyway, school is going really good, and I'm still enjoying it very much. The children seem to be learning daily and understanding it all. We have fun during school and I've got some fun parties and trips in the planning for the rest of our school year. Ryan and Breann wish they had school everyday, and want homework for their dad to do with them every night. It is mostly review not homework, but they love it at this age! As for the Bible quizzing in our house, Haiden is obviously not having a problem and learning the verses well and quickly. Ryan is doing excellent as well with this being his first year. Don't get me wrong we have had some very ruff days with him on this, but I think we finally got through the worst of it and he realizes we are not playing around and it is not a game. Ryan has 25 verse memorized and is actually a few days ahead of schedule. Howie came over last weekend and we got to spend some time reviewing him and I want to say that he is doing a GREAT job with his verses. Life may be busy but God is still in control and I'm thankful to be serving him. I love the Lord and desire to be pleasing to him in everything I do. Until next time posting God bless all you bloggers!


Hello Blogger World!

I know this may suprise many of you. I must first of all thank my wonderful wife for keeping this page going even though I initially talked her into doing it (2-years ago) and told her that I would help with it. So here I am!

I have enjoyed many of your postings and comments as I have "watched from a far", but the time has come when I feel that I could no longer remain silent.

It is TIME TO UNIFY our great nation. With our presidential election now only 8-weeks away. This is an election that will decide the next President of the United States. The person elected will be the president of all Americans, not just the Democrats or the Republicans. To show our solidarity as Americans, let's all get together and show each other our support for the candidate of our choice. It's time that we all came together, Democrats and Republicans alike. If you support John McCain, please drive with your headlights on during the day. If you support Obama, please drive with your headlights off at night.

Many of you may have seen this before, I will endeavor to be original with my next post. I just thought it was too funny this morning and wish I knew who to give credit for this idea.

posted by Chris Isom

GOOD 1st WEEK

Our little school got off to a good start and I feel like we had a successful week. You know I have thought so many times what if I can't do this or what if they don't learn. How am I really going to teach my children? Lots of questions run through my head, so to see the difference in the children from Monday until today makes me feel good. Ryan, Breann, and Abigail have all had a successful week! They are already listening to stories more closely and answering the questions correctly. They mastered the Abbie Antelope letter sound, and mastered connecting dots to make circles and straight lines. This of course doesn't seem like much to those of us who are older, but when you think about it in the fact that if before Monday we would have given these kids these same papers they would have had no clue what to do with those dots. My three kids are very good students and it really is going well. I'm enjoying it very much! I am very thankful to have Abigail being a part of this as well, and it is such a blessing to have Michelle take Colten so we can totally focus on our schooling. I love what I'm doing!

READY TO START SCHOOL

I finally finished up our little school room. Everything is set and ready to go for Monday.

JUST STUFF

Well I am finally making my self sit down and make a post. Things have just been busy and non stop since returning from Branson. Just to let everyone know I have seen and read your post and enjoy them as always. I just never made time to post comments, sorry! I have been trying to get everything ready for the kids for schooling. Getting Haidens things ready is no biggy, I just have to get his books for him and he pretty much does his work on his own. However, I am going out of my comfort zone to try and home shcool Ryan and Breann this year. Ryan is not suppose to start Kindergarten until next year, but I didn't want to wait until then in case it doesn't go well then he will not have lost anything by us trying. On top of teaching Ryan it just makes sense to get Breann in on it as well. They are both very excited about it! I have gone all out in Breann's room in decorating and making it as much of a classroom as possible. We have the ACE letters and number train on the wall, a couple of posters with shapes and signs on them, dry erase board, and a calendar that we will change out every month. There are still a handful of things left I need to do before we are all ready to go. They have their own little table desk and chair. They have decided this week they are going to go ahead and start calling me Mrs. Teacher, lol! I'm excited about the challenge set before me, and I hope it all goes well! Here are just a few random pics put together for a slide show. It may be a while before I get around to another post again.

4TH PLACE AT NATIONALS

Well some know already and some do not, so here it the latest update from the Bible Quizzing Nationals. Our boys placed 4th out of 43 beginner teams! This is beyond awesome to me, and we are so very proud of them both. I've said this already but I must say again the boys played very good team work. One could not have came in 4th place without the other, and they did GREAT working together. I think this is the most awesome way for them to finish out their time of quizzing together. They have made a special memory that neither of them will ever forget, and have made a wonderful team for the past four years now. As I say every time though, the most important and wonderful thing about all of this is the word of God that has been put into their hearts. Nothing in this world can compare to what these boys have gained from the word of God. Also, at nationals Haiden made the all tournament team. He actually received a 2nd place trophy for the highest individual scorer from the top eight teams. There were about three other quizzers who had a higher average score than him on the all tournament team, but the top two are picked from the top eight teams. Yes, we are so very proud of him for this. He had a few bad games with very low points so we were not expecting him to get this 2nd place trophy, but even with the bad games, he played well in the others which must have made up for the bad ones. Haiden and Austin have done a great job!

After the awards on Friday, we went to a nice restaurant and let Haiden get whatever he wanted. He picked ribs to eat! His daddy told him don't get used to that kind of meal now, LOL! Then there were a few shops I wanted to go to before leaving town, and Haiden still wanted to play a game of Putt Putt. Needless to say we did not leave Branson till a little after 7pm and arrived home at 4am Saturday morning. What is crazy is that it did not seam like we were in the car for eight hours. My husband and I talked about Bible quizzing for 2009 a lot and this helped us both stay awake. Thank the Lord for a safe trip home and a wonderful week!

ON A WINNING STREAK

Okay, the boys are doing totally AWESOME! They won all their games today and are now gauranteed no less than 4th. They are doing so awesome as a team, I have just been amazed. They are playing the best team work I've seen here yet! I'm sure there are others as I have not seen all games played, but our boys have done the best team work that I have seen. I love this for them so much seeing how this is there last year to quiz together, and what a way to end their quizzing together. They are making a huge memory for themselves by playing the way they have played. I'm so proud of them both and we are going to hate to see them seperate as quizzers, but time and places does have a way of changing things. We love Austin and have fun with him, and we will miss the quality time we have had with him during quizzing. WE ARE VERY PROUD! Oh, and we attended the Noah Musical tonight and thought it was wonderful. I was so amazed at the props they have for this drama and how fast they changed the scenes. I would say it is a must see for anyone who comes to Branson! Also, want to say a huge THANK YOU to anyone who helped support Haiden coming to Nationals. With you support he has been able to have fun, but at the same time be serious and play to best of his ability during quizzing. Thank you all for your help!

WEDNESDAY IN BRANSON

On Wednesday we actually got to sleep in due to the boys not having to play one single game that day. The boys watched a few other teams play, and we did a little practice in the room. We enjoyed lunch at Shorty Smalls and it was very good! We talked to the little ones during lunch and it made me cry. I miss them and hearing their voice on the phone just made me miss them even more. Breann asked me, where are y'all and for whatever reason I just started crying. I guess I had not really had time to think about how far away we are from our children. That evening we enjoyed our dinner and show and The Dixie Stampede. It was a lot of food! Oh, and the South won for those who know about this show. That was it for Wednesday!

TUESDAY UPDATE

On Tuesday the boys started off that morning playing a game. They lost this game down to the last question, but I hear they played great. I didn't feel too well Tuesday morning, not sure if I had bug or what. So, we headed out to the Kirby magic show that day at 2pm. We enjoyed that very much, and continue to wonder how they pull some of those things off. It was neat to watch! After that we ate at The Pasta House, which was good! Then we headed out to Shepherd of the Hills for that drama. We really enjoyed this, and Haiden said it was awesome after watching. Then we stopped at the Lumber Jack and rode a couple of go kart rides to finish off our evening.

MONDAY FUN

On Monday after the boys won one game and we watched a few other teams play we headed out of the hotel for a little duck adventure. We took a ride on "The Ducks" in Branson! These ducks start off on dry ground, drive us out to the lake, and then drive right into the lake. Ride around the lake a little bit then the duck drives right back out of the lake. It was neat, but hot!

PICS FROM 1ST WIN

Here are some pics from the boys first winning game! They lost there second game played in round one, so they are now in round two. They play their first game in round two tomorrow morning bright and early!

THEY WON 1ST GAME

Well today was the boys first game in the Nationals and they won there game. They played awesome as a team! I have pics but the internet seems to be running slow and I'm tired, so maybe tomorrow!

1st DAY IN BRANSON

We made it to Branson today and headed staight for Silver Dollar City. We had a nice fun filled day and enjoyed ourselves there. I actually got on two roller coasters, LOL! I was a little worried cause I had not been on one in 10 years and sure didn't know if I could still handle it. Haiden loves roller coasters and he enjoyed the rides at Silver Dollar City. I think our favorite was this one water ride that totally drenched us all! We had fun, but I did miss the little ones not being with us somewhat. Just wondering how they might would react to the rides and stuff makes you miss them. Michell, tell them we said we love them, miss them, and will be bringing them back a few suprises! Check out http://texastripletts.blogspot.com/ for more.

THE WAY TO BRANSON

Well we had a nice trip today. We actually just drove to Springfield and we will drive on to Branson in the morning. It didn't seem to take us long at all due to the book on cd we listened to, which even the boys were all in to it. It was fun listening to it, and we look forward to finishing it on our way in the morning. Tomorrow we are all going to Silver Dollar City!


THINGS THE KIDS HAVE SAID

Last Tuesday night on the way to clean church, Breann asked, "whats that place?" Told her it's the John Deer Place. We pass this every time we head into Wichita and it is the first time she ever mentioned it. Well nothing else was said until on the way home! Which we are now on the other side of the highway and she states, "that place is silly." I ask why? She proceeds to tell me, "cause they don't got no windows and doors on those cars." I just started laughing and told her they were tractors not cars. So then she tells me, "that place is gonna close cause we don't go there." I was laughing! Then on down the road she ask me, "why did the police put you and daddy in chains." I'm like what are you talking about. She tells me again, those police had you and daddy in chains. I'm asking her about this one and she could tell me no more just ask me the question. I don't know where that one came from, LOL!

Last Wednesday night I ask Haiden if he had asked Brother Andrew & Mandy for a donation for his quiz trip and he tells me no. So I'm like why not, and he tells me, well let me say he looks at me crazy "like mom" don't you know, "because they have been gone so long and I just figure they probably don't have any money, plus they are going to Sea World in a few weeks." He may have said, "if they have any money they probably need it for Sea World." Can't really remember what else he said for sure but something like that.

Last night after church we went to Walmart to buy water and snacks for the Branson trip. Before we ever went in Walmart the kids were saying they were hungry and "starving to death" as Ryan always says. So we told them they could have some of the snack stuff we get for the trip when we get home. We let them pick out stuff and my husband and I picked out stuff. Just want to say that we don't usually buy much snacking food much less keep it in the pantry. I just figure if I buy it I'm gonna eat it and I don't need to eat it, LOL! So we get home we are all having a little of this and a little of that and the phone rings. It is Austins mother, and he says, "guess what we are doing, we are gluttoning." He continues on to tell her Pastor Holley preached about gluttoning and how it is like sin and we should be holy and modest in everything we do. My husband and I just look at each other and laugh! We told him it was a good thing we didn't do this kind of stuff in our house all the time or we really would be indulging ourselves.

Tonight I was sitting in bed talking with Ryan. He likes to talk a lot! He tells me that Chad and Cameron pick out there on clothes. I'm like, okay! I still pick out his clothes so I know what he is thinking. Then he says, jeans and black shoes look tacky. I said, "you think so." He tells me yeah! He then says Cameron just wears black shoes and jeans and it looks tacky. I just laugh! Then he tells me if I could wear black dress shoes and jeans I would. I ask him why you just told me you thought it looks tacky. He says, "I know but I would just do it if I could pick out my clothes like Chad and Cameron." Talk about being influenced! No offense to Chad and Cameron for their style clothing, this is all from a 4 year old, who obviously has two new role models in mind, LOL!

Dwelling on the Word of God

Every since Sunday I have found myself dwelling on the word of God that was ministered to us in Sunday School and Sunday night along with the incredible move of God that we had. Brother Andrew did an awesome job talking about the parable of the sower, and asking us, "what kind of ground are we?" Pointing out that we can make the decision before we go into the house of God what kind of ground we will be for the word of God to fall on. It just has me thinking about it all in a new light. Then Sunday night our pastor encouraged us to stretch forth for the miracles and harvest God has for us. Anyway, with me finding myself dwelling on the word of God we heard, I must say it was a total battle on Monday. Doesn't it seem to be for most of us, LOL? Monday was an awful day for me. If the kids could be bad and in as much trouble as possible they did it on Monday. The little ones pushed me in every way possible it seemed, and it felt like I was getting on them every time I turned around! The day did not go the least bit like I imagined it would go. Plain and simple it was just a bad day for me. I was even emotional, LOL! The thing that I kept thinking about this was, that it was stupid, I had not felt like this since I was pregnant with Colten or right after having him. I asked myself several times where is this coming from. Somehow, through it all I found myself dwelling on the word from Sunday every moment I possibly had to do so. Then last night lying in bed, I thought, this is exactly what the devil wants to do to all of us. If he can get the first day of our week totally off focus from the presence and word of God we here and feel on Sundays then he is happy. He doesn't want us dwelling on the word of God we hear on Sunday because this then means that the seed fell upon good ground, because the more we focus on God's word it is going to grow in us and make us bear fruit. We must all strive to be good ground and be ready to fight on Monday anything the devil would throw in our day to distract us from the word of God we hear on Sundays. This same thing applies for Thursday as well after hearing the word of God Wednesday nights. Satan wants us to be distracted every moment possible from the things of God. We must be ready to fight to keep our minds on the word of God, and what he wants to do in our lives and in our church. We can not let him distract us!

LATE NIGHT

Every once in a while I will stay up really, really late cleaning house. With little ones it just seems easier to do at this time. However, also there are those once in a blue moom times that I let the kids stay up late with me. So the other night was one of those nights! They wanted to help with some desserts so I let them. After that was over I got to cleaning my kitchen. Haiden went on to bed, Ryan and Breann kept telling me they didn't want to go to bed, but I knew they were tired. They were being good and we were just talking while I was working so I didn't make them go to bed. I don't remember how late it got before this happened, but next thing I know Ryan had fell asleep in the kitchen floor. Then a little bit later Breann climbed in Colten's highchair and was looking at books, but that didn't last long and I found her asleep in the highchair. Just thought it was funny and cute!


GIVING PEOPLE IN BURKBURNETT

I'm just blown away and very thankful for the giving neighbors in Burkburnett. Since the boys qualify to go to Nationals in Branson they are both having to raise the monies to help fund the trip. Our goal is for them to each raise enough money to cover all expenses for each family and for the boys to be able to do some fun things while there. So the past two nights Haiden has been at it. He knocked doors for about two hours Monday and Tuesday night and both nights received one hundred dollars. He has only knocked about fifty doors and we have not gotten far from our own house. I've just been amazed at the peoples giving! I pray every time for the Lord to bless them for their giving. I do not like making Haiden knock doors and ask for money, but when there is only three weeks to raise monies you must do whatever possible. I know also that it is good for Haiden to work for the money. I don't ever want my children to think things come easy and are just handed out with no efforts involved. I thank God for the peoples giving in this city and I know his hand is upon this fundraising process.

MORE INFO ON STATE FINALS

Well everyone knows the boys placed 5th and are qualified to go to Nationals in Branson, Missouri. We are very excited about this. Just wanted to share a bit more information from state finals. We are very proud of Haiden who came in first place with the highest individual score on his average points per game. He averaged 112 points per game with this being the highest average score out of every child that participated in the state finals. Then we are proud of Brother Triplett who recieved the award for coach of the year. He does a great job with all the children at these tournaments. He always goes out of his way to talk to the bible quizzing children and to the coaches. He has a way of showing himself friendly to everyone and making the children feel special. Congratulations to him and we are happy for him! Enjoy the pics!


 

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