Only in Oklahoma

The kids wore shorts to school on Tuesday, and here we are two days later with a nearly 50 degree difference and ice, sleet and snow! No school today, and probably tomorrow! The kids are LOVING IT!

Ouch

That hurt. We just got back from the ORU/TU basketball game where we got clobbered. Don't know the final score, but it was ugly. The experience wasn't as horrible as it has been in past years when the fans literally harrassed us. They were for the most part, just excited fans, not rude or classless. But losing like that just STUNK. It is painful to watch the players so dejected and look at my husband on the bench, knowing he is feeling so terrible.

However, as I tried to explain to Kami, this is the life of a basketball family. You can't get too high (when you beat Kansas) or too low (when you get hammered by TU). Winning and losing goes with the territory. It's hard for a competitive 8 year old to understand that (heck - it's hard for me to keep it in perspective at times,) but we are learning with each basketball season, and we continue to walk in faith believing that HE rules the earth and everything that goes on inside of it. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever"

This Never Happened When the Girls Were Little

NOTE: I have received a couple complaints that this picture is hard to see. It is a picture of Tom's grandmother's bookcase that was handed down to us a few years ago. The big black spot is the hole in the glass that Luke caused by throwing one of his little Matchbox cars through it.

I guess that it's the price we pay to have a wonderful, fabulous, active, impulsive, strong, willful, energetic, creative, fun, wild, BOY in the family. I'm sure Tom's family, with 4 boys, had many moments like this. If you look closely, on the second shelf, you can see the upsidedown tanker that caused this accident. Luke actually had some remorse about this one. He went to his room without protesting and told me he loved me about 10 times.

DeLIGHTful

Rhema Bible College - Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Every year, when we visit here look in awe at the zillions of twinkling lights, we recount a funny story. When Kami was about 3 and Ellie was just a baby, we went to see the lights on a frigid, freezing night. Frosty the snowman was there and people were taking turns saying hi to him. Kami, who was absolutely terrified of Eli the Golden eagle and other large mascots, wasn't too fond of Frosty. Tom decided to "encourage" her to be friendly to Frosty by (jokingly) telling her that if she didn't touch Frosty's nose that he would throw her in the frozen lake. So, little Kami not only touched his nose, but she grabbed it and pulled it until it came OFF! All of Frosty's support staff gasped. Frosty's fat, stuffed, carrot nose was sitting there in that 3 year old brat's hand! We, being mature adults, all hightailed it out of there as quickly as possible. Later, we saw Frosty shuffling to his trailer, head down and very dejected. Sorry Frosty, for defacing you, but it did leave us with a funny memory! By the way, Frosty didn't make it to Rhema this year. I wonder why?

No Snow Required

One of the kids' favorite things to do when their uncles come into town is to go "sledding" down the big hill at Minshall Park. As you can see, they ALL loved it - they stayed for over 2 hours. We are really thankful to see both of them. It has been several months since we have been able to spend time with them. And as they are both just big kids themselves, they are game to do just about whatever the kids want. We miss Uncle Matt who is in Arizona with Gretchen, Sam and Kelly. But we are glad that Jon could get here from Arizona and we welcome Zach from New York. See Zach's scary shark commercial here: http://www.fugly.com/videos/1253/fushark.html

A Great Family Outing

I read about Letterboxing in Family Fun magazine and never really thought it would be something we could do right here in lil' ol' Tulsa, Oklahoma. I thought only places like California would have letterboxes placed. When I logged on to letterboxing.org, though, I was amazed that there are about 15 existing boxes in our city alone, with dozens more in surrounding areas. So we got our supplies together, followed the clues, and searched, truly searched until we found the well-hidden boxes, one near Hunter Park and the other near ORU. The kids, especially Kami, LOVED it. It was a real treasure hunt, and the reward was stamping our books with the discovered stamps. This first picture shows the squirrel stamp we found at our first stop, and the praying hands we found at the second stop. If you have NO IDEA what I'm talking about, (I had NEVER heard of such a thing myself) you can find an explanation of it here. It is apparently a 150 year old activity and has really become popular in America in the last few years. I'm sure the internet has a lot to do with that. But our whole family enjoyed it; even Luke got into the action, stamping his notebook. We are thinking about planting a letterbox of our own somewhere. But we'll never tell where.... you'll have to follow the clues!!!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

God has smiled on us tonight! We have been waiting for this one for eight years, and tonight, we got it! A big win over a nationally ranked team... the Kansas Jayhawks. It was so exciting to watch the game with Kami, who is quite a basketball analyst. Our neighbors must have been worried as we screamed and clapped our way through the game. We jumped up and down as the buzzer expired and the phone started ringing off the wall!!! Way to Go ORU Golden Eagles! We are unspeakably proud of our coaches and players. (Yes, I took pictures of the TV. Maybe I am a big nerd, but this is a special night!!!) ORU 78 KU 71

Thankfulness

We made turkeys tonight, and wrote on each feather something that we are thankful for.
Here is Luke's list (completely created without suggestions from anyone):

1) Pop - his imaginary bug friend who he's had for over a year. Pop is a "very tiny black bug" who likes to ride in hot wheels cars. He often is driving right behind us on the road. Sometimes, Luke says that he and Pop are going to take a trip together to a big cabin.

2) My Dad - Tom and Luke are best friends. The second Tom walks in the door, Luke asks him to do something outside. Whether it's playing catch, kicking the soccer ball, hitting golf balls or riding the bike around the neighborhood, they do it together. The other day, Tom arrived home after a four day road trip. As usual, Luke immediately requested to go out and play. I kind of felt bad, knowing Tom must be tired out from his long trip. I said to Tom, "do you want me to go out with him?" and he said back, "There's nothing I'd rather do."

3) My friend, Lauren

4) hotwheels.com

5) My Spiderman back pack

Luke Kneviel?

After having a boy for 3 1/2 years, I still am not used to how different they are than girls! The risks! The noise! The jumping! The smells! The wildness! Here is Luke on the scooter doing his latest "trick."

It's That Time of Year Again?

Wow... It seems like we just finished up with basketball season and here we go again!

God has blessed our family with an exciting, active and fun occupation. . . we are thankful for ORU and the opportunities we are given because of Tom's job as a basketball coach. One of those opportunities? Hanging out with Eli the Golden Eagle. The girls also enjoy all the basketball camps. Kami loves getting better at basketball, and Ellie... well, she loves meeting people. People like Lei the cheerleader and our friend Jourdan, pictured below. Luke (also below) likes shoveling enormous handfuls of popcorn into his mouth.. and me? Well, I enjoy the competition of basketball. I like getting to know our players . I appreciate the faith that is being built within me as we go through our season.... winning AND losing. It's always hurts to lose. But it's part of where God has us right now and how he is shaping us. And winning one (or 25!) for ORU is awful sweet.

-"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11

Halloween Through the Years

As I was putting away the Halloween decorations, I came across this baby picture of Kami. I just had to giggle when I saw it. I remember this crisp, clear day like it was yesterday. My first child and her first Halloween. I couldn't have been any more excited to be a new mom or proud of my little girl. Nana had found the perfect pumpkin suit and hat, we had carved a celebratory jack-o-lantern (that was the year Barry Hinson hired Tom on at ORU), and we propped the poor little girl, not even four months old, up against the pumpkin. I guess we were oblivious at the time that she wasn't enjoying it as much as we were. It's now pretty obvious by the look on her face. 8 years later, Kamryn Rae Hankins has grown into an absolute treasure. Here she is as a 50's girl. It's safe to say that she enjoyed dressing up for Halloween much more this year! (click on the picture to get a close up look of Kami at 4 months old.)

School Stuff

Kami and her classmate Gabrielle were asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at the Jenks School Board meeting tonight. During the pledge, they were looking at the flag, which was on the other side of the room; as a result, I did not capture the actual moment that they said the pledge. (bad mom!) Here they are right beforehand. By the way, can you tell what the style for an 8 year old girl is?

After that, we went to an open house for the Reflections contest at Jenks East. Kids enter stories, drawings, photos and songs in a PTA sponsored contest. Here are pics of the girls with their entries. The theme was "My Favorite Place," and Kami and Ellie both wrote stories about... Alaska. They loved that trip (which was one year ago this Thanksgiving.) The project Kami is holding she called "Trojan Pride," and Ellie's is "At the Pumpkin Patch." It was really interesting to see what all the kids created. What I didn't get a picture of was Luke sneaking up to the refreshment table and eating cookies with both hands. I think the damage was about 6 cookies for the time we were there.

She Didn't Grow Feathers

When Uncle Jon found out that Ellie had the chicken pox, he asked her if she was doing the chicken dance and if she was growing feathers. He then suggested that a bowl of chicken noodle soup would cure her sickness. (Ha Ha - Uncle Jon - The kids love your silly jokes and songs and can't wait to see you in 3 weeks!) Despite a bit of concern that she might grow feathers, Ellie is now quite pleased that she has been given the OK by her doctor to go back to school. Here is a shot I took of her this week, sitting in her window seat playing with her guinea pig. We spent A LOT of time together this week. Now that she's in kindergarten, she's such a busy girl. So, it was actually nice to slow down and hang out together. A couple of friends dropped off special gifts to keep her busy (Thanks Carrie and Jill and Nana of course!!!) and I thought that was really thoughtful. And nice. And it made me feel as good as it did Ellie. Noone likes to see their little girl covered with spots and feeling bad. But now we are back in business!!!