Summer School

Sometimes they are tough;
Firey brown eyes
Sometimes they don't hide,
when they hug me at the door

They do not know
What I see

Aurora wrote an essay
When I asked about a time
they were afraid . . .
She said she prays for her mom
When she runs outside to hide from her

Yesterday my back was hurting
I joked about going to the hospital
"Will you take me with you?"
It was Renee
But she said the bruises
weren't as bad as the last time

One day they asked me about God,
About the Bible -
What do I know?
But their eyes -
and no one would talk
until I spoke up,
gave an answer
Holding their breath -
I did the best I could
and I felt so sad

I told Daniel
that I would visit him at JH;
"That's what's up," he said,
because he knew I meant it.
He asked, would I bring him some brownies
and a Bible -
those braces, that underbite,
the tattoo of his mother's name -
the kid's going in for aggravated assault
and he wants brownies and a Bible -
said he sold pencils the last time he was in,
and he read 300 pages of the Bible

It's just Houston, Miss.
I won't graduate.
It ain't nothin' to me,
it's just the way it is.

They told me the difference
between being high and being wired,
then they laughed,
even though we all knew
it wasn't really funny

Benjamin said,
"We're just bad kids.
The cops tell us,
and everybody thinks it.
We are just bad."

I told them they weren't.
They weren't bad kids;
Said something teacherly,
something that covered over
something much bigger -
things I can't say,
but hoped they heard it anyway

I got home and hugged my kids
and prayed into their hair
and breathed in their smell
and hoped that they would never need a teacher
to love them for me

Baytown - It's Full of Surprises!

A couple of days ago, we went here.

Find out a little more about it here.

I had known about the trail for awhile and had been wanting to try and find it. Turns out, it wasn't that hard to locate, though it is in a part of town in which we rarely find ourselves (mainly because it is not near WalMart or Kroger). It is a nice paved trail that runs by the water. We found a great area on the trail that had some docks, an overlook, a playground, and some big, open grassy areas that would be great for picnics or playing softball or football.

Come on down and see us! We are finding more and more great things to show you.

More Family Adventure Time

And More . . .

More Adventure Pics

Adventure at the Baytown Goose Creek Stream Trail

No!!!

My cell phone is broken!!!

When did I become so attached to that thing?

I can still send text messages, but I can't make or receive phone calls.

And Scott is out of town!!!

This is going to be a looooong week!

Private No More

I am tired of having my blog private. I'm changing it back. However, I am having trouble loading videos and pictures. Weird! I have never had a problem loading pictures. Any advice? Something I need to download? Anybody? Thanks. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Can I Just Say . . .

. . . how annoying it is to have this blog private? I really don't like it at all. I'll say something else about it later.