Well, we did it. We finished our very first triathlon! Thank you Laura for committing to do the triathlon with me! Have you ever heard the expression, "I feel like I've been hit by a mack truck"? Well, that's how I feel right now! The swimming was SO much harder than I ever imagined. People were kicking lake water right in my mouth. A few times I had to stop and cough, gag and everything else to get the water out. The biking was hard too. There were some pretty big hills on the course. Then came the running...running is not my thing. I hooked up with this girl named Kristi and we were buds for pretty much the whole 3 miles. We finished together! It was a great experience and accomplishment but I don't see any triathlons in my near future.

Me and Papa on the "tractor"
VBS Backyard Bible School Dexter Church of Christ

Swimmin at Grandma's house

Last night we went to the Luis Palau Heartland Festival! It was extremely hot but we had a great time! The best part was seeing Mandisa, TobyMac, Building 429, Salvador and KJ-52 all for free!! Fischer did not like Larry the Cucumber! Luis was a good speaker too, very straightforward with the young people. The Omaha Police said there was 40-50,000 people and they were only expecting 20-30,000.

We went to a cookout last night and Fischer had a blast! Here are some pics of him swimming with his friends.

It's hard to see, but above is a picture of someone who could not afford a boat!

Ok, so my aunt Sheree convinced us to go out to this crazy neighborhood and watch fireworks! I know I said this last year, but these people in Nebraska are crazy about their fireworks! I didn't want to go because last year I was so scared, however Franklin really enjoys it and so I went. I was a nervous wreck the entire time...watching 6 teenage boys with brains that haven't fully developed(sorry but it's a fact) light fireworks was more than I could handle. I am not looking forward to the day when Fischer wants to light fireworks! Anyway, here are a few pics from the evening.

Ok, so I am just really curious who visits my site from Reston, Virginia. Reveal yourself! When I check to see who has looked I can pretty much figure out who everyone is..except you!

Root Canals are painful! Floss your teeth!

I have given Fischer several home grown haircuts, but he finally got his first "real" haircut. I can't believe how much older it makes him look!

I started my new job this week and I love it! For those of you who don't know, I am teaching low impact and water fitness on Monday and Tuesday nights to adults and teens who have disabilities. This job is so fun it doesn't even feel like work. Working with people who have disabilities has always been a passion of mine and I am thrilled to be doing it again. They are such sweet people that can teach us such great lessons about life and happiness. As I was assisting an older gentleman out of the pool tonight I said, "You have a great week." He replied by saying, "You have a great week as well, all 10,080 minutes of it." I was curious when I got home if there were actually this many minutes in a week, so I calculated it. He was right! They are such great examples to us about enjoying the small pleasures in life.
I am thankful to God that He has led me to this job!

Here is a picture of Fischer with his 5th cousins!!!

Here's a picture of my grandpa and the cousins

This is the Sewell family tree. It got destroyed in a tornado. In the background is the Oak Grove Church of Christ and the cemetary where all of the relatives are buried.

Fischer fell asleep on the way home from a playdate so I put him in bed when we got home. He's not real great about staying asleep after a short nap in the car. So, after about an hour of listening to him say, "No" and "Mine"(Definitely re-living moments at the playdate) I went in to find him like this:

I don't know why he does this but he loves to be in the dark! He will just sit under a blanket, hide in the dark closet and go into the dark bathroom and shut the door!

Fischer is petrified of snakes! Of course he does have good reason, considering he witnessed his grandpa hesitantly catching a snake in our backyard(It was quite a sight)! We have a slight snake problem in our neighborhood. They are just harmless snakes, however they are black and ugly and seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Last night Fischer was playing in his sandbox when he said to me, "Mama...SSSSSSSS.....SSSSSSSS.....Mama.....SSSSSSSS....SSSSSSSSS." Of course I knew that he was trying to tell me there was a snake in his sandbox. So, I went over and investigated and this is what I found:

A small piece of grass that was curled up like a snake!I have tried hard to teach him the difference between real and pretend, but I just don't think he gets it yet. If I even draw a snake on a piece of paper he will cry and run the other way!

Then Franklin went outside this morning and a BIG snake came out from underneath the deck! He called the neighbor boy over and he caught it. We tell him to take them to the field, but I think they are finding there way back here.

So, if anyone needs a pet snake please come over and get one out of our backyard!!!

Here's a few pictures of Fischer at the farm yesterday with the wee-school class!

WHAT A DAREDEVIL!!!!!!!!

Fischer was EXTREMELY happy to be eating this fudgesicle!

New pics of Fischer

It's amazing how fast Fischer is growing up! He can eat corn on the cob, he can count to six and he can swing a baseball bat like a pro! We are looking forward to the summer...I am training to do a triathalon in July(a mini triathalon), and we will spend many weeks visiting family and friends! Nebraska is so pretty in the spring and summer and it makes the long, cold winter worth it! Fischer has made friends with the neighbor kids and they are always ringing the doorbell to see if he can play! I thought we had at least another year before that happened!

What a nice family pic(minus the bunny ears)..FRED!!

Here are some recent pics from our trip to Florida

I've been tagged by Carrie.

The tag instructions...
1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following 3 sentences
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag three people to do the same

Franklin had to explain what tagging was to me. So, this is what the book says,

"In reading the Gospels of the Bible, I discovered that the personality of Christ was such that people who were pagans, cultists, money-mongers, broken, and diseased felt comfortable in His presence. All this goes back to the idea of the lifeboat and how Jesus, outside that system, wouldn't believe one person was any better than another. Apparently this counterintuitive belief system was obvious in the character of Christ.

Searching for God Knows What
by Donald Miller

I tag: Libby, Emily and John

Well, we just got home from snowy Colorado. I prayed for God to surround our car with angels on Friday morning as we drove through a blizzard for 4 long hours. Praise God that we arrived home safely to see our little guy. I posted some pics of our view from the hotel.