Trick or Treat!!

Smell my feet...give me something good to eat!



Have a H A P P Y H A L L O W E E N ! ! ! ! !

Josh and Agness...

Josh is doing really well in Zambia...he made it safely to Lusaka with all of his luggage! Praise God for that. On Sunday he spent some time at the Tree of Life Children's Village with Agness, who we sponsor so she can live there. Agness was very excited to see Josh....but I think Josh was even more excited to see Agness. She's just precious....

If you would like to sponsor a child, go here to read more about it.

Dallas Farmers Market...

Yesterday Ali and I visited the Dallas Farmers Market. It was my first time to experience the greatness of my local farmers market...and I LOVED IT!!! Picking pumpkins was so much fun! Here are a few pictures from our trip....and the final product in my front yard!

I didn't end up purchasing a "normal" looking pumpkin...In my opinion, the funkier the better! Kaci and Chloe agree! :)


So, the two things I said I wanted to do this fall are checked off my list!

Back from Branson...on the way to Zambia!

Since we walked in the door on Sunday evening from our weekend in Branson (A recap of our Branson trip is for another post!), we've been busy getting Josh ready for his 2 week trip to Zambia. It's been a crazy couple of days, but we got all of the errands run, laundry done, 4 suitcases packed and Josh on a flight bound for Africa! If you have some time, your prayers would be greatly appreciated while Josh is away. I know God is in the details, so here are a few specific requests that we need covered in prayer over the next 17 days...

1) For safe travels to and from Zambia. He arrives in Lusaka, Zambia on Thursday at 6:20am (11:20pm central time on Wednesday).

2) For good health and safety while he is there.

3) For protection over me (and our home) while Josh is away. I get a little nervous about sleeping by myself in our house....I need to get over that! :)

4) Josh is taking a lot of very important ministry tools with him, so please pray that they all arrive safely (that nothing would get stolen or lost in transit) and that he doesn't have any problems getting through customs when he arrives in Lusaka, Zambia.

5) Josh will be assisting in setting up the new Zambian Family Legacy office in Lusaka....the office has doubled in size over the past few weeks to accommodate the Zambian staff, so please pray that everything goes well with the office set-up, specifically with all of the computers he will be installing.

6) The most important task Josh has to accomplish is synchronizing the Irving and Zambian databases so that they can share basic child information and letters/photos between the Irving and Zambian offices more efficiently and effectively. I don't know everything that is involved in this process, but I do know that it involves a lot of details and all of them need to go smoothly in order for everything to happen the way it needs to. This synchronization will be one of the biggest and most imperative infrastructure changes within the ministry at this time....it is vital to the growth and improvement of the ministry. Please pray that everything falls into place and that all of the hard work that Josh has put into this project over the past year pays off. Pray that if issues arise that he is able to troubleshoot them quickly.

7) Josh will be training the Zambian staff how to use the database while he is there, so please pray that they are able to understand the information quickly so they can effectively use the tools after Josh leaves.

Thanks SO much for your prayers!

I've been meaning to share this slide show from Camp LIFE 2009 for awhile now...it's amazing! Enjoy!

Silver Dollar City...

Not sure what "Silver Dollar City" means...but Josh and I are headed that way to find out tomorrow morning with the Family Legacy staff for a little weekend retreat. I've never been to Branson before, so here goes nothing...it should be a good time and a {funny} new experience. I'm really looking forward to spending some quality time with all of the Family Legacy crew and their families...and hopefully running into Yakov Smirnoff once or twice while we're there!

I usually don't share my secrets...

My mom always tells me not to share my wardrobe secrets, especially when I get something fabulous at a great price! But these finds are just too good to keep secret. I LOVE a great pair of flats. I'm just not a stiletto girl....too uncomfortable for me...I've finally decided that the pain is not worth it! I recently purchased the following flats with some of my birthday money. Killer steals, great looking and COMFORTABLE....can't beat that combo!

From Payless $24.99

From Payless $16.99

From Payless $22.99 (they have a 1 inch heel...perfect for work)

From Target $12.99


P.S....Payless has their BOGO Sale going on right now...buy one, get one half off!

Overalls...they melt my heart!

Marina and baby Owen made a visit to the DFW Events office on Thursday. It was so great to see them both....we miss Marina at the office so much! Owen is growing so fast...he's just as cute as can be!

I gave this outfit to Owen when he was born...isn't it darling?!

It's only appropriate that I gave Owen his first pair of overalls. For those of you that don't know this about me...I use to be a HUGE fan of overalls. I wore them way longer than I should have...into my sophomore year of college. Embarrassing, I know.

Karen and Owen...

This picture is great...Owen doesn't look scared at all.

Ali and Owen...

Me with the handsome little guy....

Mama Simmons...doesn't she look fantastic?!


Thanks for visiting Marina and Owen! We love you!!

Let there be light...

For my birthday Josh and mom gave me a beautiful new chandelier for our master bedroom....this is something that has been on my wish list for a while now, so I was very excited!! The electrician came on Wednesday to hang it up....I just LOVE it!! It's definitely a nice change and improvement.

Before...(this was a picture I took of our bedroom when we moved in 2 years ago)


After...



Thanks Josh and Mom!!

P.S....For those of you who are gasping at the thought of us not having a fan, don't worry. We DO have a fan...it's a MUST, of course. We have a table-top fan on Josh's bedside table. It's small, yet powerful and makes great sleep noise! I highly recommend it, that way you can have a pretty chandelier hanging over your bed instead of a ceiling fan! :)

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

We finally meet...

Yep, last night was my very first visit to the Texas State Fair! It was so nice to finally meet Big Tex! We had SO much fun eating our way through the fair grounds...I can't wait to go back next year! Here are a few pictures from our visit with the Rectors...

I was so excited to finally try a Fletcher's Corny Dog...it was delicious!

Karen and I tasting the fried butter....it was not as disgusting as it sounds. It's really more like a fried roll with a small dollop of butter inside.

First class signage...

Fried Snickers...

Fried cookie dough...my personal favorite!

Enormous pig...I felt about that large after eating so much fried food!

Pig races...



Riding the super slide with Karen...I won.

I ♥ this picture...read why here.

Semi Homemade...

Happy October from The Rives! I finally finished my "semi-homemade" fall wreath for our front door....I purchased this wreath from Pier One and added a glittered "R" from Paper Source. My mother-in-law gave me the "R" for my birthday (along with some other fun Paper Source goodies!) and I just slapped some glitter on it to give it some sparkle! I think it turned out pretty cute! I'm headed to the Dallas Farmers Market this week to pick out some pumpkins and gourds for our front porch to finish off our fall decor. It really is hard to believe that October is already here. Where has 2009 gone? This year had flown by!

Pallet Night...

Every once in a while at the Rives household we have what's called "pallet night." Pallet night takes place in the back room of our house, the TV room. We pull out the crappy mattress from our sleeper sofa and make a pallet on the floor in front of the TV with lots of blankets and pillows. Sometimes we do it because we want to....like when there is a good football game or movie on. Other times because we have no other choice...like when our air conditioning breaks (the TV room has a separate AC unit from the rest of the house). Our air conditioning broke on Sunday afternoon so pallet night it was!! (Thankfully, the AC was fixed first thing Monday morning and was covered under our warranty!) Pallet night always sounds like a great idea until we wake up in the middle of the night with 2 dogs in our faces and spring marks on our backs....when I say that mattress is crappy, I really mean it! We need an air mattress!!

Getting ready to call it a night...as you can see there is very little room left on that pallet for me!

Chloe and Kaci LOVE pallet night! Please excuse Chloe...she's exposing herself a little too much here.

So, I realize this was a very random (and some what pointless) post....but hey, it's Friday....so here's to randomness! TGIF!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!!!