folsom family

why the bumble bee flies...

2009-12-14T17:41:00.020-06:00

my mom loved the bumble bee and what it stood for. over the years i too have been captivated by it's mystique. i have shared it's story with my band students many, many times. as mom told me, and as i pass on to others, scientists have proven that it's impossible for the bumble bee to fly...it's body is too heavy; it's wings too light - but the bumble bee flies anyway. i try to apply this principle to my own life...to not see 'impossible'. i find that it is usually not easy - but always worth it. because when you do the impossible you get to fly.

so in recent days i have been pondering the question - "why does the bumble bee fly?" i know that it's impossible for him to do so, but he doesn't know that. the bumble bee doesn't get up and think "ooh, big day today...i guess i need to try this flying thing...a little scared of how this is going to turn out." no, he just flies because he is pursuing life. he has flowers to see, pollen to gather, things (or people) to sting...you know, life. he lives to his full potential - what GOD created him for - everyday. nobody is waiting around to remind him that this is impossible to do. no one is telling him that he should be doing something else. we just allow the bumble bee to fly.

the bumble bee flies because it is what GOD has purposed for him to do. and i pray that i will always live my life in pursuit of what GOD has for me.

"success is when this life is over, you have done those things GOD purposed for you to do." - gail marco (my mom)

outing with winston

2008-09-06T18:10:00.003-05:00

so this weekend chri is out of town. jonah spent the night with a friend so this morning was just winston and i. we decided to go to the mall. winston usually loves the mall because it's 'going somewhere'. he loves to 'go'. well, when we got the mall and i opened the trunk the stroller was not there. now those of you who know my sweet winston know that allowing him to walk the mall with me would have been like letting a small tornado have it's way at opry mills. so i rented the mall stroller (for $5!). this turned out to be one of the greatest things ever. it is shaped like a car and even has a steering wheel (that doesn't really steer, thank goodness). winston was in heaven! he loves cars and this was just the greatest thing ever. he 'drove' us all around the mall and never complained or asked to get out of the stroller. so i think i may start budgeting $5 for every mall adventure from now on.

olympics

2008-08-16T09:22:00.004-05:00

I LOVE the Olympics!

I haven't been able to watch as much of it as I would like as I have had band camp this week. However with the modern advancement of the DVR, we are able to sit down at night and watch a good 4 - 6 hours of Olympic events in about an hour or 2. Anyway, my very favorite to watch...Michael Phelps (and all swimming) and gymnastics.

So, Phelps = Superman. He has been amazing and exciting to watch. I mean one day he beats the world record by like 5 seconds and leaves everyone in his 'wave' and then last night he wins by only one-one hundredth of a second. He's just keeping us entertained.

The women's gymnastics was also interesting. Nastia and Shawn did so well and really should have had higher scores...but I was not asked to judge Olympic gymnastics this year, so we'll take what we get.

And I also love the Olympics because of the 'weird' events that you think should not really be an event. This morning we are watching some "Race Walking". What? This is technically a race to see who can WALK the fastest. That's crazy. Just run! We've watched some "Table Tennis" (Ping-Pong) and I can't wait to watch some of this so called "Pentathlon". This "sport" involves the 'athlete' completing 5 events: pistol shooting, swimming (200M freestyle), and equestrian jumping -all against the clock, fencing (fence each other for points), and then their standing after the first 4 determines their starting position for a 3K cross country run. "What the world!" Where else could you see such a spectacle.

All that said, I LOVE the Olympics!

way down upon the suwanee river

2008-07-18T21:01:00.003-05:00

well, we have been 'campin it up' for a couple weeks here in FL on the ole suwanee river. it's been lots of fun. chri works pretty hard and does an awesome job not only with the praise band, but all of the other audio/visual/tech/video/photo stuff that is needed throughout the week. the boys and i do a lot of following him around and playing at the pool.

this week jonah and i were given a job. we were in charge of 'cabin inspections'. we would go into the cabins every morning and check out how clean they are and then report the winners and such. it was pretty fun and it was something that jonah and i could do together every day.

and my friend emily and i have worked out almost every day this week at the retirement village exercise facility...yes, i have some stories that i may share at a later date. they don't have an elliptical - imagine that - so i have begun a love/hate relationship with the recumbent bicycle.

but one of my favorite parts about being here at camp suwanee is the river. i just love the view - (from afar, because it's really kind of brown and murky up close). even so, it's peaceful and beautiful to me. and now that camp is over, we will spend a few more days at the folsom river house and really enjoy 'relaxing' together on the suwanee river.

travel

2008-07-06T15:06:00.003-05:00

well, as you can see by the 'punch bug' scores...we had some stellar days - at least chri and i. on our big driving day, chri actually got 41 points! crazy! i got 27, but poor jonah only got 4. i think mostly because he sits in the back seat on the passenger side. even when he was paying attention, we always saw the cars before him. anyway, he's a great sport about it and we're all having fun - even though chri is now beating me.

and when we arrived at the river house on thursday - we remembered that aunt mary has a beetle, so it's a race everyday to claim that point first.

a Y story

2008-06-28T11:37:00.005-05:00

so chri and i go to the Y almost everyday to work out - sometimes separately, sometimes together. however, even when we go together, we almost never work out 'together'. so everyday we have a "story". he'll come home and say "there was this guy doing..." or i will have seen a peculiar person using a machine in an unconventional way. well yesterday, i was working out my arms - normal stuff. however i wanted to try some different machines. so with my ipod cranked and much determination to "pump some iron", i proceed to the arm machines. i got to the 1st one and started to sit, reading the instructions and looking at the pictures carefully. it took me at least 5 minutes to figure out where to put the seat and the arm pads and such just to start. i think i actually got in and out of this one about 7 times before being able to use the machine. finally, the workout began. the next machine was way more complicated and awkward than the first, so after about 5 times of getting in and out...i just gave up and moved on to the next one. as i am now on the 3rd machine, getting in and out, looking at it in total confusion and wanting desperately to just work out my arms - chri comes over and says "hey, you're the story today!" so i guess that 'some guy' went home and told his wife about this crazy chick at the gym who couldn't understand the arm machines.

VBS!

2008-06-25T16:30:00.005-05:00

this week is vbs at our church. we have like 500 kids and almost 200 leaders. it's crazy - but also awesome! today was 'tacky tourist' dress up day (and winston's class had pajama day).

chri was such a 'tacky tourist' that he won a prize.

good times

2008-06-19T17:07:00.003-05:00

we're all so excited because chri' came home tuesday from his mission trip in mexico. it's so great to have him back. he seems to have had an amazing time there - and is still speaking spanish.

tuesday night was not only awesome because dad was home, but because the celtics did some whoopin' of the lakers to take the national championship!

then today we had a 'family fun day' at nashville shores. it was super fun and i finally got a little sun. jonah fell in love with water slides and winston had the most fun just playing on the 'beach'.

and since 'dad' is home, he wanted to join our punch bug game. i am going to try to keep up with our scores on the right hand column of the blog. please note that mom is still winning.

punch bug!

2008-06-14T17:47:00.006-05:00

ok, so jonah used to play the "punch bug" game with some of his friends at school. you know, when you see a vw beetle, you say "punch bug" - and i think you're supposed to actually punch, but we don't do that. we are just giving points - 2 for a regular beetle, and 3 for a convertible. we are going to try to keep score for the summer.

day 1 - mom 7, jonah 4. yippie for mom!

it's official...

2008-06-12T16:39:00.001-05:00

we're missing chri'!

big day...

2008-06-10T20:14:00.002-05:00

well, chri' (dad) left for mexico this morning. it is a little hard, but our day was so busy that the 'missing' probably won't set as big until tonight with bed tucking and quietness.

anyway, since i teach lessons on tuesdays, i was in need of help with the boys. christa volunteered and we are all so grateful. jonah wants to tell you all about it...

"so first we went to charlie daniel's park and played. we did almost everything there was to do there. it was very fun. then we went to miss christa's house which was awesome because she has a wii that i got to play. winston was afraid of her dog (max) so he mostly sat on the couch. miss christa then took us by mcdonalds and we all had chicken nuggets...nuggets are delicious! at the house, winston took a nap so i played some guitar hero while miss christa read. she showed me a cool puzzle site (http://www.jigzone.com) so i put some puzzles together for a while. after winston's nap, we went to our school's playground and played for a bit. it was very hot, so we didn't stay too long. soon after that, mom came home. we had so much fun with miss christa."

when i got home we went to the Y and i put in some quality time with some fat burning machines while the boys played in their respective classes. then we all headed to the grocery and back home again. tonight we are just hanging out and talking about our day and keeping up with the nba finals game (go Celtics!).

well, bed time approaches quickly. pray for chri' and our youth community as they spend the week serving and showing love to the people of mexico.

and thanks again to miss christa for sharing your day with my boys.

folsom grandsons

2008-06-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

josh and stephanie were up in nashville with baby eli, so we got all 3 folsom grandsons together for a picture.

summertime

2008-05-31T16:40:00.000-05:00

so it's summer and we're out of school and having a blast. for the past year or so i have kept up with a blog for the band and thought that this summer might be a great time for me to try to work on one for our family. hope you will check it out and see what we're up to.