Zach goes to doctor tomorrow

Zach and I will be going to the doctor tomorrow. We'll find out how they plan on removing this growth on his tongue. Some people think they will do it in the office. He will have to hold out his tongue for a long time, so we'll see. The growth is on the underside of his tongue, I can't imagine him having it removed without some sort of sedative, I guess I think it'd be hard to hold your tongue out long enough to take care of it. I'm sure the doctor will run tests on whatever it is, and let us know. I would appreciate prayers concerning this matter. God is faithful.

The case of the missing coat!

Okay, my middle son is extremely "hyper". He gets lost on the way to the bathroom to brush his teeth. No exaggeration--Honest! Here is the story. On Thursday (the 16th) he somehow lost his new coat. Now, we just bought it in maybe November, so this was a little aggravating to his mother. Well, I went to every place we had been that day. He had come to my work, looked there, no coat. We had eaten at McDonald's, looked there (2 times), no coat. We even checked at school on the next school day, no coat. I had CLEANED their bedroom, not a sign of the coat. I had given up on ever finding the coat. Luckily he had last years, and it fit, it just didn't look very nice, so he was wearing it. I had even told Jordan, because he wondered about it also, "well evidently if we left it somewhere, and someone took it they needed it much worse than us, so whatever." Well, Friday I worked until 4 so Rob picked up the boys and took them back to work with him. They went to their usual favorite place to play at Dad's work. The upstairs in the garage. Lo an behold, there was Austins coat. Funny, I had thought of looking there, but couldn't remember him ever going up there around the time of the "disappearance", nor did he remember. Well, I am thankful for the found coat, this means, hopefully, we'll get one more year out of it.

Shepherding a Childs Heart

I just started reading my new book. Shepherding a Childs Heart by Tedd Tripp. I've only read the forwards (there are 2 since the book has been revised) and the Introduction. WOW!!! I'm already totally blown away and convicted at my parenting. I kept reading my husband pieces of the book, and he said "I may even have to read that book". Now that we understand the gospel this book makes sense (well what I've read). See, about 4 years Rob's aunt gave us a copy of this book to read, however, we never read it, now I know why. We didn't understand the gospel, the book did not make sense to us. We would have never wanted our children to believe they were sinners in need of grace, because we lived above sin. UGH!!! I thank God that he has revealed the gospel message to us. I've had to stop reading tonight, our I'll never go to bed, and I need to.

I have a BIG mouth

Okay, interesting statement. Anyone who knows me knows I'm loud. I can't help it most of the time. I jut talk loud. It was interesting, because at my Grandmother's funeral, I realized where it came from. My Mothers entire family is loud. I guess you could say "I get it honest". When my husband and I watched "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" we said how much it reminded me of my family. Okay, the bad part, my kids have a tendency to be loud also. Tonight I found myself talking extremely loud, and then the kids started in, so there was 4 of us talking loud. And you know how that goes, you have to keep getting louder to just feel like you'll be heard. WOW! My poor husband, who almost talks in a mumble, yells "WHY ARE WE ALL YELLING?" Oops! Sometimes I'll ask my son, "why are you talking so loud", his response is "I don't know Mom, I think I get it from you". UGH!!!! Kids! My prayer, Lord please help me not to talk quit so loud.

Day spent with my hubby

Today Rob and I had the day off together. We've not had a day like that in forever. We enjoyed the day. We went to the Christian Bookstore, we bought a Selah cd--Greatest Hyms, and Shepherdinga Childs Heart. I am looking forward to reading the book. I've heard such good things about it. The cd is great. Listening to the old hyms, wow, the people who wrote them had such an understanding of the soveirgnty of God. Then, we went to Shoebilee. We bought new shoes for Jordan. He has been such a trooper about the shoes he's been wearing since the Christmas incindent. Not one complaint. They were my old ones, (don't fear they are masculine looking--blue and grey) and they were not the greatest when he started wearing them. Well, I tried these shoes on that we bought him, they fit me, and when we had him try them on they are borderline too small, therefore, we will be exchanging them for the next size. He thought that was funny. What I thought was so wonderful about this shoe story is, today when he tried them on, first he kept saying "wow these are awesome" and he didn't want to complain that they were a little tight. He is such a thoughtful kid. Okay, back to the day. We went to lunch at a mexican restraunt. It was really good. We came home and watch a movie, and it was just so nice to have alone time together.

Jordan came home from school and first thing asked Rob, "so Dad have you heard anything about your job?" Rob told him, "no, I think that I'll find out Friday" and Jordan proceded to say "Dad, don't worry, God will take care of us" He was deeply sincere. It is so wonderful for an 11 year (that was raised in a works based religion for his entire life) to understand the soveirgnty of God. I truly believe he understands.

After school I had to take Zach to the doctor. He has a growth on the bottom side of his tongue, it has been there for a few weeks. The doctor reffered us to a ENT doctor. We go next Wednesday. He said he was not real concerned about it being cancerous. Please be in prayer for this. Zach has already had to have 2 surgeries to remove growths/lumps from his neck. I know God has everything under control, so I'll just have faith that he will take care of this also. He is faithful , even when we are faithless. (2Timothy 2:13)

Tonight was an meeting at the school about the ISTEP+ testing. It was very informative. They explained more about the test, and how it is scored. They also gave you a booklet of your childrens test along with the results of their individual test. Jordan was one of only 3 in the 5th grade that got a 5 out of 6 on his writing prompt. Way to go Jordan. They boys both passed the test.

Enough of my ramblings, I'm tired and going to bed.

80's heartthrob

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Michael J. Fox

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

These things are funny. I find myself doing them, and then of course chuckling at the response.

Weekend

Rob preached at Spartanburg Christian Church on sunday morning. It was nice. I have to admit that it was fun to hear his testimony again. Okay, technically I hear it all day everyday, but little details that God used to "remove the scales from our eyes" was fun to hear. On the way to church we heard one of the area churches on the radio. It was a great message. My favorite part of it was a simple illustration he used. He talked about being in the military and the flashlight they use, one they cand change the lense on. Well, he said one night they were practicing (or whatever you call it) and it was dark, he had to use his red lense, and then evidently he had time to just sit and wait in the dark. He pulled out his Bible and was reading. He realized any of the red letter words were not able to be seen throught he red lense. He said that is how we look when God looks at us through the blood of Christ. Okay, I realize that may not be profound, however, it was a great reminder. When we've accepted Christ as our savior, when God looks at us it is through the blood that was shed on calvary. Isn't that great. Okay, that is enough for now. My friend says it is funny to talk to me or read my blog, because I "talk" about the gospel all the time. The ironic thing for her is that she is around when I tell my husband to stop, because I'm not exaggerating when I say that is all he talks about. Actually my friend and I are of the same upbringing, and we've all been on this journey toghether, and it is so exciting.

This weekend. Lets see, pretty uneventful. Didn't do much on Saturday. Rob worked pretty much all day. He ending up working 60 hours last week. We only have one car at the present time, and so I just stayed home all day, that way I didn't have to get up and take him to work just to keep the car. We ended up watching a movie with the boys in the evening. The movie was National Treasure. We weren't going to let the boys watch it, simply because Zach is so young and tends to still have some night time fears, but he spent the night with his cousin. The movie was good. Jordan and Austin really enjoyed it, as did we. Austin had an overnight guest last night. That was something I was a little concerned about. Austin tends to be our most "hyper" child. In fact he couldn't sit still all day and I know it was anticipation about Ethan coming over. The boys were wonderful. Ethan went home about 3:30 this afternoon. It was nice, the boys played so well together. They included Zach in everything they did. That was good. That was a big fear also. Last night when they first all got together they had to set the "territorial bounderies", so it was a little iffy at first. Thankfully it was a wonderful day for all the boys. I cleaned and they played ALL day.

Rob didn't go to work today, and is planning on staying home tomorrow. He is using some of his "sick time" before he looses his job. He never calls in sick, even when he is sick. Well, I can't say he called in sick, he told his boss that he was staying home today (and now tomorrow), as long as they weren't swamped. I was able to trade my work day tomorrow with someone else, so we could spend a day together. What will we do? Not much, just spend time together. It is looking like he'll loose his job soon. We found out today that the funeral home has been sold, they signed the papers today. Some of the men from the corporation are coming out here either Friday or Monday to talk to everyone. Hum! We'll see what happens. I'm trusting that God will see us through this. Honestly, it is hard, since I always have to be in control of my life. I know that God has a plan. We keep telling each other "how can our faith be tested if life is always easy?" A few of things I'm thankful for during all this. #1. God is soviergn and he knows the future, and we are in his hands. He will carry us through this. #2. That we do not currently depend on 2 incomes. So we don't need a fortune to survive. However, if he has to take a cut in pay (which is inevidable) I can work if need be. #3. We don't have to worry about a place to live since we no longer live in the funeral home apartment.

Reminder of why!

Today my husband has had to work. He has worked about 55 hours this week. He is tired. He is preaching tomorrow morning in a church around here. He was asked to share his testimony of the "revelation" God has given him. Okay, he has been a little worried, because he is not sure how the church will accept the message. The Gospel, believe it or not, is not always accepted by christians. It is our passion to share the TRUE GOSPEL. At any rate, he was on his way to Mucnie to pick up a body. (He works at a funeral home) He was trying to call his Grandma, and accidently called his parents. Okay, no biggie right. Well, his Dad starting laying in on him about how bad the decisions that we've made are. UGH!!! Well, after lots of other things, Rob told him "I am no longer a oneness pentecostal" and that evidently made him mad, and his response was "well I just can't talk to you any longer", and gave the phone to his Mom. WOW!!!!! His mom got on the phone and he tried to tell her, you know I did not call to argue about this, (we really don't try to talk about it--to not cause problems), and proceded to tell her he believes "we are saved by faith alone, not by works." His mothers response was "well, I believe it is both". Well, that was evidently what Rob needed to hear because is now more than ready to go and share the gospel message tomorrow. He said he felt the phone call was needed to remind him of why we left. God is so good, and knows what we need, when we need it. I'm thankful for the phone call, not for the negative, but the positive, it has made Rob passionate again. You know sometimes, I think you can get "used to" the Gospel, and just be comfortable. Lord, help me not to get comfortable in my faith, help me to grow in grace each day.

Is is the heart matters that are important

I was considering the new title I used for my blog. "Free in Christ". That is so true. I realized this, when I think of where God has brought me from. I was in an extremely works based, legalistic religion, and totatlly miserable. I couldn't never be good enough, and I sure hope that Christ did not return for his bride when I was having a bad day, or I'd not make it. That is an awful feeling. It makes your life absolutely horrible. Now, I realize that I am "free in Christ" life is so different. It is now that I realize that it is almost "harder", yet in a different way. You can't just look right on the outside, and do the "right things" and avoid the "wrong things". It all starts with the heart. The closer you are to Christ the more you want to please him, not to please man. It is not a set of "rules" to live by. It makes me think when Paul said, "should we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? God forbid." Does this mean we will never sin? No! God's grace is their for us to rely on. So, you mess up, get up and start over. What I am learning is the heart issues are a much greater calling than any list of rules out there. I can't seem to express what I'm feeling, and trying to get across. I hear someone say, the way to judge your spiritualy maturity is this way. "The distance between sin and repentance". The closer you are to Christ the shorter the distance between sin and repentance. I've also hear it said, in your spiritual walk you may take one step forward, and 2 backwards, 3 steps forward, and 1 step backwards, and so on, as long as you are making progress forward, don't worry about how much. God is still working in your life. (Okay, I probably really butchered that one, but the concept is there). Just a thought I've been thinking.

What is in you heart?

I found this story on the web. I hope it touches you like it did me. The question I ask myself. "What will you find in my heart?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A heart surgeon tries to explain the procedure to a brave boy, but the boy has a surprise for the surgeon.

Tomorrow morning," the surgeon began, "I'll open up your heart..." "You'll find Jesus there," the boy interrupted.
The surgeon looked up, annoyed. "I'll cut your heart open," he continued, "to see how much damage has been done..." "But when you open up my heart, you'll find Jesus in there."
The surgeon looked to the parents, who sat quietly. "When I see how much damage has been done, I'll sew your heart and chest back up and I'll plan what to do next." "But you'll find Jesus in my heart. The Bible says He lives there. The hymns all say He lives there. You'll find Him in my heart."
The surgeon had had enough. "I'll tell you what I'll find in your heart. I'll find damaged muscle, low blood supply, and weakened vessels. And I'll find out if I can make you well."
"You'll find Jesus there too. He lives there." The surgeon left. The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from the surgery, "...damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant, no hope for cure. Therapy: painkillers and bed rest. Prognosis:," here he paused, "DEATH within one year." He stopped the recorder, but there was more to be said. "Why?" he asked aloud. "Why did You do this? You've put him here; You've put him in this pain; and You've cursed him to an early death. Why?"
The Lord answered and said, "The boy, My lamb, was not meant for your flock for long, for he is a part of My flock, and will forever be. Here, in My flock, he will feel no pain, and will be comforted as you cannot imagine. His parents will one day join him here, and they will know peace, and My flock will continue to grow."
The surgeon's tears were hot, but his anger was hotter. "You created that boy, and You created that heart. He'll be dead in year, Why?" The Lord answered, "The boy, My lamb, shall return to My flock, for he has done his duty:
"I did not put My lamb with your flock to lose him, but to retrieve another lost lamb." The surgeon wept. The surgeon sat beside the boy's bed; the boy's parents sat across from him. The boy awoke and whispered, "Did you cut open my heart?" "Yes," said the surgeon.
"What did you find?" asked the boy. I found Jesus there," said the surgeon.

New look!

I changed the look of my blog. I just like to change things occasionally. Hope you enjoy.

The value of things has change for the boys.

Recently I posted that we were going to start giving the boys an allowance. We all get a certain amount of "fun $$" for the week, now it is not much, it is $32 between the 5 of us. Well, Rob and I were talking and have decided that we think it will save us money--probably already has. Here is why. Yesterday the boys and I were heading for a long overdue visit to the library. I have this "addidction" to fountain pop, so we stopped at the convenient store that I work at (I get my drinks cheap there), I told the boys on the way there, "I am going to buy myself a pop with my allowance and you all have your money with you, if you want something you will need to get it yourself" Okay, sorry if that sounds mean, but, every time we go into a store they always find something that maybe only cost $1 or so, but I won't buy that stuff all the time--yes occasionally I will. Now, would you believe that none of them bought anything. I found that quite amusing, because if I'd been paying they'd all have been begging for a candy bar or some of the crazy novelty candy. I told them that is why they've been given allowance, so when they see something they'd like to purchase, they can and have there own money to do so. Now when they see a toy or something they just can't live without, they have to decide whether it is worth spending their money or saving it for a later time. It is fun to watch them make the decisions, and they are learning a lot with this. They are constantly figuring, "now this cost this much, I have this much, it will take me xxx weeks to save the money".

Trials

Wow, I just read the Spurgeon--Meditation for the morning for today. These seem to be so timely for me. God reveals to me something new each day. This is just what I needed at this time. With the thought of Rob loosing his job (possibly--more likely than not), as much as I try in my own strength to be positive, I need to remember that God will "contend" with us through this time. He is so faithful, even when we are faithless. It reminds me of the scripture;

2 Timothy 2:13--If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he can not disown himself.

My prayer is that I put my faith in Christ, because he CAN and he WILL carry me through this time. He is always here, even when we fail to recognize that. I'm so thankful that we are not saved, or made righteous by any work of ourselves (been there done that). I'd be in a mess. I'm so very thankful for that "imputed righteousness" that we are given at salvation, and for the faith he gives us just to believe on Him and the work He did on Calvary.

February 18 - Morning
"Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me." —Job 10:2
Perhaps, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star—not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children's graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, "Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith." Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?—for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?
"Trials make the promise sweet;

Trials give new life to prayer;

Trials bring me to His feet,

Lay me low, and keep me there."

http://blueletterbible.org/morneve/02/0218am.html

I almost forgot to tell you all my wonderful husband bought me chocolate from
Ghylsain Chocolatier here in UC.

http://www.ghyslain.com/

It was a nice surprise.
What a guy. :)

My personality is: Guardian

***Your Personality Is***
Guardian (SJ)
You are sensible, down to earth, and goal oriented.Bottom line, you are good at playing by the rules.
You tend to be dominant - and you are a natural leader.You are interested in rules and order. Morals are important to you.
A hard worker, you give your all at whatever you do.You're very serious, and people often tell you to lighten up.
In love, you tend to take things carefully and slowly.
At work, you are suited to almost any career - but you excel in leadership positions.
With others, you tend to be polite and formal.
As far as looks go, you are traditionally attractive. You take good care of yourself.
On weekends, you tend to like to do organized activities. In fact, you often organize them!

The Three Question Personality Testhttp://blogthings.com/threequestionpersonalitytest/

Lesson revealed to me today.

Okay, now this may be nothing new to someone else, but God showed this to me. Let me start by saying, I am a very independent person. I can take care of myself, and my family by myself, I don't like to ask people for help, I can do it alone. Do you understand, I'm independent. I have taken "pride" in that fact. I have always been one to do it alone. I used to think that it was because we lived so far from family, and when the boys were really young, I just had to do it that way, because I didn't have a "support system". Okay, WRONG!!!!! Like I said earlier, PRIDE! God revealed to me today that my "independence" was a sin to me. Don't get me wrong "independence" in and of itself is not wrong, but the fact that I took pride in being tht way was wrong. I didn't not let other people, or God for that matter help me. UGH!!! I shared this with my husband, who by the way is 10 times worse about asking for help than myself, and he said, he had been thinking the same thing only a little different. His reasoning was that he didn't want to "have" to help others, just in case he was too busy or something. So for him it was that he was being selfish. I'm so thankful that God continues to show me things in my life each day. Now, the test is to let God work a change in my life. (I started to say, "work on it", but again, I have to put my trust in God, not myself). You can work on things yourself until you are blue in the face, but it all falls apart unless God does the work in you.

Let me share one more thing about this independence thing. The other day when I had to go to the dentist, as I was trying to figure it out all by myself. My appointment was at 2 the boys get out of school @ 3:10, and I wasn't sure how to get this all accomplished without sending the boys to latch-key (after school childcare). So, I get it all worked out, and my dear friend Ronda calls and says, "hey do you need me to take you to the dentist tomorrow, I'm available?" I almost turned her down, because of course "I can do it alone." She ended up going along, and driving me home, which yes, I could have done, but it was nice to have her along. She then took me to the pharmacy to get my meds and got our car to Rob so he could get home without me having to pick him up. Austin's friend, Ethan, called the night before and invited him over, so that was worked out (he has serious problems with going to latch-key for any reason), and then Jamie, Ethan's mom brought Zach home so I wouldn't have to worry about him, and Jordan could walk home since he is 11. I ended up being home right around 3:15 or so. See, God has supplied my need for this "network" of people, I just have to be willing to accept the help. God is so good.

Dentist Visit

I just got back from the dentist. It wasn't so bad. My appointment was at 2:00 and I was out of there at 2:30. He is a very gentle dentist. He is a Christian, which is nice. The office staff was also very nice. I guess if you have to go to the dentist, you might as well find a good one. I am praying to not have too much pain, since I have a nice evening planned with Rob and the boys.

Rob is preaching at a church in Lynn this weekend. I think it is a non-denominational church. I really couldn't tell you exactly. The pastor is taking a much needed weekend away, and the congregation has requested that Rob come and share his testimony. We live in a small community. Rob works at a funeral home, so he meets lots of ministers other than the ones here in UC. He has a good relationship with this pastor, and then one of the members of the congregation works part time at the funeral home. And get this, this man that works with Rob, his daughter is a teachers aide in Austin's class. Isn't that funny. Today, when I was taking the treats to Austin's class, Lyndsey (the aide) asked if I was coming with Rob on Sunday. I am excited about the avenues that God has opened for us to share our testimony. Just the other day I was in the christian bookstore in town, and shared with the owner and the UPS man some of our testimony. It was great. Her question was "who showed you this", the best part was being able to say "GOD" That is the honest answer. No one could have showed us this, we wouldn't not have seen it except that God opened our eyes and understanding. He is so wonderful. I love being able to share the testimony with others, sometimes I have to make myself stop. The neat thing about the UPS man is that he was raised in a similar background, and the church that his family attends had gone through the same thing. They were bigger, and they just left the organization they were a part of. He shared how he has just started going back to church, because God just won't leave him alone. WOW, it was great to talk with him. Keep us in your prayers please, that we would do the work God has called us to do. I know that he didn't show us this just for ourselves, but so that we could set others free.

Enough for now, see I can ramble on and on.

Jordan and his giant cookie and stuffed animal for Madison

 

Jordan and his Valentine, Madison

This is my boy. Isn't he handsome. This is his "girlfriend" Madison, with the giant sugar cookie he made for her. She really like it, I guess. How fun. 

PAIN!!!

Okay, I just posted about my dentist visit. Well, I have a wisdom tooth that is going to be "extracted" (yikes) becasue it has chipped, and that is because it grew too far down since I don't have my lower wisdom teeth. At any rate, I was just at the dentist, made my appointment for next wednesday, you know, no big hurry, no pain or bother. YIKES!!! I was in maj0r pain this weekend. I didn't even get to church. It started Staurday evening, then I hardly slept all night, I was taking ibuprofen and it wasn't doing much at all. It was awful. Then Rob took all the boys to church, thank the Lord for that, and our pastors wife who is a nurse reminded us to take tylenol also, every 2 hours or so. Well, I didn't have tylenol, so I took Nyquil which has it in it. I needed to sleep anyway. So, basically I stayed in bed until about 5 pm yesterday. Jordan went to a concert with some friends, and Rob took the boys to church in the evening. What a yucky day. I couldn't hardly eat, I forced my self to eat some creme soups, so I'd have food in my stomach, since I was constantly taking meds. Today the pain has subsided, but I am going to get that one tooth taken care of tomorrow. Sounds fun. UGH, I just realized that would be valentines day. We'll figure that out later I guess.

Here is a quick prayer need for our family. My husband could possibly loose his job. We aren't too sure yet, it looks pretty positive. He has worked at a funeral home for almost 10 years, last year they became corporate owned, and now the corporation is looking to sell, well, it doesn't sound like the new owner will be keeping any of the staff. I'm trying to not get too worried about it, I know God has a plan. I would appreciate any prayers concerning this matter.
thank you in advance.

shopping for valentines day

My oldest son has a girlfriend. Funny! At any rate he wanted to get her something for valentines day. At first it was candy from Ghyslain Chocolatier. http://www.ghyslain.com/ check out the website for this place, it is here in Union City which is a nice attraction. Okay the chocolates are handpainted french chocolates, and cost like $1.10 each. I told him I thought that 5th grade was a bit young to spend that much money on a girl. Rob buys me these chocolate like once in a while and only 3 or 4 of them. WOW! So at any rate we went shopping for something. He was quit limited on his money so we picked a small stuffed animal and he is going to bake her either a heart shaped brownie or cookie. That was Rob's idea. Jordan likes to bake brownies, and so Rob thought that would be a good idea. Wow, the whole time we are doing this shopping thing, we were saying, "are we really ready for this?" UGH!!! I guess we don't have a choice in the matter, it is here. Rob is going to take Jordan on the "growing up trip" here in the next few weeks. We bought the "Preparing for adolescence" from Focus on the Family. It is pretty wild to see my boy changing like this, we are definately in a new relm of parenting. It is fun to hear him talk right now, his voice is extremely deep and sometimes startles me, and then it will crack. What a blast.

Chicken Little

We took the boys to see Chicken Little at the $1.00 theater last night. It was a really cute movie. I thought it was one of the better animated movies in a while, there wasn't much if any rude/crude humor. It seems children pick that up so easily, well mine do at least. We all enjoyed the movie.

Dentist visit

I went to the dentist the other day. It was a just wonderful--do you sense the sacrcasm? I haven't been in a while, simply because I don't currently have dental insurance, not because of a fear of dentist. At any rate, I left crying. Now you have to know that I'm not a cryer--at all. I totally surprised my husband that day. He said "wow, you're never like this". Well, he is the reason. I have to have some dental work done to the tune of $800. YIKES! I am considering trying to find a dental school around here, and maybe getting the work done there. We'll see. I will have to do some research to find where one is. I considered putting off the work, however, I think of the fact that my mother has had complete dentures since she was my age, and my sister has just recently had to have most of her teeth pulled, and is getting partials here soon, she is younger than I. You can see soft teeth run in our family, and I guess I'd like to try and keep mine, which I still have them all--minus wisdom teeth. Well, anyway, just thought that was an interesting tidbit to share. I am praying that this all works out well for me. Please if you remeber pray about this situation.

I've been challenged.

4 Jobs I've had
Cashier/receptionist at a car dealership
Banker (lots of jobs there)
Cashier at a convenience
Homeschool teacher/stay at home mom

4 places I've lived
California (Dad was in Navy)
Sandwich Illinois
Indianapolis Indiana
Union City Indiana

4 Favorite Movies
The Notebook
Cheaper by the dozen (reminded me of our crazy home)
In Her Shoes (this was a little risky of a movie, but the main theme reminded me our my sister and I--how our relationship is, and why it is this way-don't know that I'd recommend it or not.)
Robots (lots of 80's stuff in it)

4 Favorite TV Shows
Little house on the Prairie
Design on a Dime
The Waltons
Not much of a TV person

4 Favorite Foods
Chicken Strips
Sugar Cookies--the gooey kind not cakey
French Fries
Brownies
(I'm extremel healthy can you tell)

4 Places I'd rather be
Heaven
Someplace warm
By the ocean
Vacation


4 First names of old boyfriends
David
Didn't have many

4 Music groups I've seen
Twila Paris (long time ago--in junior high)
Larnell Harris (again, in junior high)
Wayne Watson (in high school)
The McGruders (they were big in our former faith family)

4 books I've read
Why ADHD Doesn't mean disaster
Love you forever
Focus on the Family Complete book of Baby and Child Care
Titus--NIV versions

4 books I'm going to read
Breaking Free by Beth Moore
Chronicles of Narnia: The lion, the witch and the wardrobe
Intimate Issues
The Discipline of Grace

You are a Boston Creme Donut

***You Are a Boston Creme Donut***
You have a tough exterior. No one wants to mess with you.

But on the inside, you're a total pushover and completely soft.

You're a traditionalist, and you don't change easily.

You're likely to eat the same doughnut every morning, and pout if it's sold out.

What Donut Are You?http://blogthings.com/whatdonutareyouquiz/

Thanks Heather!

The outside of our house.

 

The master bathroom

 

Our House

The following are pictures of the inside of our first house. God has blessed us tremendously with this house. From the moment I walked through the front door the first time, I knew this was my house. It was everything we'd dreamed of and prayed for in a house. I thank God daily for the blessing of this house. We'd been married for almost 13 years, devouted our lives to the ministry, and we never really thought we'd have a house of our own, well God outdid himself with this blessing. One of the greatest things is that we can easily afford this house with Rob's income alone, which will allow me to stay at home (well, I work 2 days a week-just for extra $$). It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 2 car attached garage newer home (built in 1994 I think). The house has an open floor plan which makes it feel bigger than it is, it has vaulted ceilings in the front room. We now have a privacy fence in the back yard. It is in the part of town we'd always dreamed of living, but never thought it was possible. HAH!! Like I said God gave us the desires of our heart. I took these pictures for Rob's grandmother, who will probably never be able to travel here to see it personally, but I thought these would be fun to post. I will post a picture of the outside whenever I take it. Also, these pictures were taken immediately after I cleaned a room, my house is not usually all clean at one time, you know I DO have 3 boys. The only thing we had to do, well we didn't have to, but we did, was paint the entire inside of the house. It was still the builders paint job. It was all white/off white. I was so excited to get to choose my paints, since we'd never owned a house before that was never an option. One thing I'll say is, I don't think I'll ever paint the entire house at one time again. We sure enjoy it though. 

Our Bedroom

 

Austin and Zach's bedroom

 

Jordan's bedroom

 

Dining room/office view from kitchen

 

kitchen view from door to garage

 

Kitchen view from hallway

 

Boys bathroom/laundry room/guest bathroom

 

Boys bathroom/guest bathroom/laundry room

Thank the Lord for this house. Where we lived before I walked up/down 2 flights of stairs to do the laundry. Needless to say, the laundry was absolutely never done. 

Laundry room/boys bathroom/guest bathroom

 

Hallway

Exciting, the hallway, this is what you see when you walk in the house. You can see the bookshelf at the end. This my husband built, because we have very little storage space, we have to be very creative with the space we have. This is part of his books. None of mine, no room for that. Men, :) 

Living room

Living room from hallway. 

living room

Living room from front door. 

Check this out. Austin thought it was fun to eat the ice cream sandwich. 

Austin and his hanmade MONSTER ice cream sandwich. 

Monster size Ice Cream Sandwiches

Austin's desert. Like I said, Monster size ice cream sandwiches, with marshmallows dipped in chocolate. 

Another boy cooked meal.

This weekend it was Austin's turn to fix supper. It looks like we started something, because now Zach wants a turn. Next weekend will be his turn. It is nice though, because it is just me and the boy in the kitchen getting things ready. Austin's meal consisted of pork chops (couldn't cook on the grill--it was snowing), corn bread (with lots of sugar on top--compliments of Austin--YUMMY), mashed potatos (real ones--carefuly peeled by Austin), corn, and cheesy broccoli. The highlight for Austin was making desert. He chose a desert out of a "teachable moments" cookbook. It was homemade monster ice cream sandwiches, and chocolate dipped marshmallows. He enjoyed making the desert plates look nice. It was quit fun. He was not enjoying helping with the clean up, he said "I didn't know this was part of the deal." I enjoyed the personal time with Austin. We shopped for a few things in the morning, and then came home and cooked. I don't get much alone time with any of the boys, so this is nice for me, and they look forward to the time also. As you may tell, Zach was absent from the meal, he spent the night with his cousin. It was all good food, Austin was quit the chef. Enjoy these pictures.