And So the Party Begins...

Merry Christmas!! in just a couple of days anyways. I just wanted to give a little update. We had a chicken pox run this past week. Joshua had them all over his chest and belly. Thankfully they did not spread beyond that. They are all gone now and we are looking forward to the holiday weekend. Andrew and Aria have not shown any spots and we are praying that it's all over.
Tomorrow starts our annual several day Christmas party. After our morning service at church Nathan's family will be coming to do our gift exchange. As I've mentioned before we draw names so it should be very interesting to see what everyone gets.
After our gift exchange we will be going to our Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. Nathan's family is going to join us this year. It's usually not long but very enjoyable with readings and carols and of course....candles.
Afterwards the hilarity begins. My family will be exchanging our gifts at Mama Lily's house. These gift exchanges are NOTORIOUS!! There are always gag gifts included in with our presents and we just enjoy being together and having a good time.
Christmas morning we will do presents with the children at home. We just got them something little to open and a family zoo pass for their BIG gift. It will be something that we can use all year.
Afer presents we will go to Castalia to have brunch with Nathan's family. This will be the first time we've gone to their house on Christmas day. After that we will go to my parents house for Christmas dinner. Auntie Linda and Mom have been planning this for awhile. It will be amazing with prime rib on the menu. It will definitely be a busy day.
Merrry Christmas everyone. I'll be back after Christmas!

Thursday Thirteen

Here are 13 things that I love about the holidays.

1. Christmas music playing everywhere.
2. Decorations on anything and everything in my house. I love lights.
3. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?"
4. Buying presents.
5. Wrapping presents.
6. Unwrapping presents.
7. Getting cards in the mail cause you never know who you'll get them from.
8. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?" again.
9. Lights on houses...although I'm pretty picky about how they should look.
10. Spending time with family.
11. Playing in the snow with my kids....by the way...where's the snow???
12. Making cookies and other things that just smell great.
13. Getting asked, "Is it Christmastime yet?" AGAIN.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to Wordless Wednesday or to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Special Christmas Ornaments

I've decided to share some of my special Christmas ornaments that I cherish. This little reindeer is made out of pipe cleaners. I made him in the third grade. He's been on our tree every year since. In fact, last year we used him as an example for our Wednesday night children's group and they made some interesting reproductions.

This is my other little reindeer. I've had him for as long as I can remember. You can sort of see where he's been broken a couple of times. Much sobbing was done on my part. My dad has glued him back together each time. Thank you daddy. Now that I look at him it sort of looks like he has chicken pox. That's pretty funny.

This little bear has been in our family for a long time. I'm not sure how I ended up with her but she's really cute. She makes me smile.

This ornament is older than me. It's one of several that my mom has had for years. Each of us kids have some from my mom. They are funky colored with glitter on them with cool designs.

This was taken when I was 1 year old. It also makes me smile.

This is one of two little Nigerian men that my parents brought back from there. I always remember our Christmas' on the mission field. He's hand carved and playing a drum. I love unwrapping them each year.

These are just a few. I'm saving the whole tree for the tour of homes in a few days. Stop back by.

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY JOSHUA!!

Two years ago today, on Pearl Harbor Day, our second son JM was born at 3:03 a.m. They were going to induce me later that morning but sometime around midnight my water broke. YEA!! Our little man was born just 3 hours later. As always my helpful sister was there to coach and of course my husband. He was just a bit green when it was all over.

When JM was almost 2 months the Lord gave him a special cousin who was just 3 days younger than him. The two of them have grown so much, even though they are small for their size. Joshua has always been faster until recently. Our theory has been that he's trying to escape from Little Buddy.

JM has a great gift for humor. He loves to make people laugh and seems to be pretty good at it. He's very adventerous and can definitely hold his own with his older brother.

Happy Birthday JM, Mommy and Daddy love you very very much.

Oh The Hilarity Continues...

This was by far the most hilarious thing I think I have ever seen. Thank you so much Sister for putting this on your blog. Remember to keep your eyes on the mama bear. there is no exagerration in compairing this to me...lol. none. at. all. Me as a panda baby. This almost might make me reconsider my beliefs about reincarnation.

Ornament Exchange

I joined an ornament exchange over at Stranded in the Mountains. I got paired up with Tammy in Alaska. Here are the two ornaments that she sent me. I LOVE them SO. MUCH. Thank you Tammy. The first is two little Eskimos doing an Eskimo Kiss. And the other is a moose wearing butterfly wings holding a little flower. Thank you so much!

It's Got My Funny Bone

In the spirit of extraordinarily humorous things and Christmas, you all much check out this link to something really funny. It's just too funny.Make sure you watch all the way to the end.

Holiday Meme

I've been tagged for my first meme. Mama Lily tagged me. This one looks like fun too. So here goes.
1. Eggnog or hot chocolate? Defnitely hot chocolate. Sarah brings home eggnog shakes and I think they are disguisting.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just set them under the tree? Same as Mama Lily, Santa doesn't visit our house. We wrap the presents ourselves. It's very funny when Nathan kicks me out so he can wrap my present. He doesn't even like to put it under the tree in case I guess what it is.
3. Colored lights on the tree/house or white? Well, I grew up with colored lights and always thought that trees should have colored lights. Until I got my own tree that is. We do all white lights inside now. White lights are for houses. I'm very picky about my outside lights. Icicle lights are my favorite.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? This is the first year that I've had mistletoe up. It's caught some people by surprise. It's very entertaining. It's not real obvious where it's hung either so some people will have to hunt for it.
5. When do you put your decorations up? I start putting things up after Thanksgiving dinner. This tradition started a few years ago when my husband's family all went home right after dinner one year. Andrew was in bed and Nathan and I didn't really have anything to do. So he got out the tree and we started putting it together. Now every year I like to get my tree up soon.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish, excluding dessert? I have to agree with Mama Lily again. Defnitely Cranberry Relish and sweet potato souffle.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? This answer kind of takes care of two questions. When I was little my brother's best friend played Santa at the local mall. I knew that Santa was just a story and he wasn't real. The whole family went to the mall to Santa Bob, as he was called. Fastforward to Christmas eve, I had been in bed a long time, I think I was 4 or 5. Bob's parents called and asked if they could bring Bob over to see me. He had been at a party in his costume and they had some presents for me. My mom got me out of bed and I remember sitting on the love seat in front of the fire with my sister,Shagga Bear. The candles on the mantel had dripped way down, almost to the floor. Next thing I know, in walks Santa. I SCREAMED and ran into the other room. I knew it was Bob but Santa was in my house on Christmas eve. I kept jumping up and down and peeking around the corner. I eventually sat on his lap and I even remember what his parents got me for Christmas. I got a box of crayons, and blank pad of drawing paper, and a couple of small story books. I still have one in my chest in the attic. It's called Teddy Bears Love Hugs.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?That goes along with the last answer. I do remember when I got in trouble for telling my cousin that Santa wasn't real. Aunt Kathy called my mom and fussed at her. I think I was 5. I just thought everyone knew that he wasn't real. Oops. Sorry Kacy! :)
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? When I was little we always waited until Christmas morning to open our presents. Now that I'm older we all draw names, sibblings and sibblings in law. We usually have our grown up time on Christmas eve. We have a party and sometimes there are gag gifts. My husband's first family Christmas was QUITE memorable.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I use white lights and lots of blue ornaments. I also have some "vintage" ones from my mom, and all the ones I made growing up. I put ribbon around my tree also.
11. Snow! Love it or Dread It? Both, I love to watch it falling and everything covered in white. I also do not like going out in the snow. Hopefully this year I will finally get to go sledding or intertubing.
12. Can you ice skate? Yes I can. I haven't been since I was in the eighth grade. We should do that sometime.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? One year I got a puppy for Christmas. Her name was Candy, short for candycane, because I got her at Christmas. Another Christmas, in Nigeria, I got a puppy. His name was Rebel. He was a great dog, and a real big baby.
14. What is the most important thing about the holidays to you? I love traditions, doing the same thing every year. One of those is our family advent wreath. Our Christmas eve candle is always the best.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Ya know, with so many things I can't eat and things I really really don't like, like pizellis, I really don't have a favorite dessert. Auntie Linda's creme horns are the best.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Christmas eve with the whole family.
17. What tops your tree? A beautiful bow made out of the same ribbon wrapped around the tree. 18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I love giving presents. I love picking them out and wrapping and seeing facial expressions when they're opened. I also love getting a present. Who doesn't?
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? I like all the old carols. I think my favorite is O Holy Night. Shagga Bear sings an amazing version of this song at our Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. I hope she does this year too. hint hint hint
20. Candy canes! Yuck or Yum? Yuck...no two ways about it. I think they are gross.

I hope you enjoyed this meme. I shall now tag the following people. Jenn, Heather, Stacy, and Joe and Amanda. Have fun guys.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 minutes for mom.

A Few Updates About This and That

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family. I thought that I would give you a little update about all that's been happening in our lives.
Tabitha picked a dress!!! Her wedding dress is beautiful and unfortunatly I can't post a picture because her fiance reads my blog. However, it is hanging in my closet waiting to go get altered. She also picked the bridesmaids dresses. I'm so excited. They are also beautiful and I can't wait to wear it. They are TEA LENGTH ( Thank you Lord) and strapless. They are a soft lavender color with two strips of cream at the bottom. It's really coming together for them.
And now, the Christmas season. :) Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love giving presents. The more I can give the better. This year my husband and I are really struggling with our budget. We want to be faithful but we are also part of a family and we draw names. I've been creative with gifts in the past and am trying to do so again. Any brilliant ideas would be welcome. I have visited Kisses of Sunshine for some great homemade gift ideas. It will be an interesting year, that's for sure.
Here is my verse for today.
"The Lord gives His people strength, the Lord blesses them with peace." Ps. 29:11
"Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again- my Savior and my God!" Ps. 43:5

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll!

Enjoy your family today. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Peanut's fan club! For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

My 50th Post

Subtitle: OWW MY BACK!!!
This is #50 for me. That's so amazing to me. And now I will press on to 100. In the mean time, Saturday night after our party several of us went bowling. I haven't been in awhile and I'm sure that I used muscles that aren't used regularly. This afternoon at lunch time I started noticing a sharp pain in my lower back. My helpful husband tried to rub it and the rubbing made my right leg go numb.
I've known people that have had serious back problems before but this is my first experience. I'm not pleased AT. ALL.
It really really hurts. And I definitely can't bend over. I've used the heating pad all afternoon and tried to stretch it out but it really hasn't gotten any better.
That said I was supposed to be in a fashion show on Sunday and if this doesn't get any better I won't be walking down the runway in a semi-ugly dress. :)

YEA OHIO!!!

So Ohio won yesterday!! Go Bucks!! We had a huge party and it was a blast having all these people in my house. My mom and husband enjoyed watching me get ready.
I love parties!
I love going to parties!
AND I REALLY LOVE THROWING PARTIES!!
And my big opportunity to throw a great marvelous stupendous party has come. As mentioned in a previous post my sis-in-law is now engaged to Scott. Their wedding is being planned for May and I've been asked to be the maid matron of honor. (sounds old for some reason). However, this is my BIG opportunity to throw an amazing party.
I'm so excited. As the matron of honor I get to throw the Bridal Shower!!!! You have no idea how exciting this is going to be. I've been thinking about it for awhile and Tabitha is going to be amazed. My partner in planning is Sarah who is also a bridesmaid. I've been mentally planning this event for awhile. She's have a spring wedding so I get to have a spring shower.
Won't it be fun??!!??
And elegant??!!??
I'm super excited. It's my opportunity to do it up right!!! It will certainly be one for the books. More details to follow.

I've sworn to wear whatever she picks but, "Dear Lord, please let her pick a tea length dress"...hopefully the subliminal small type will work its way into her head. :)

The Big Game

OHIO STATE ROCKS!!!!!! BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF Michigan!!!!
Today is the big rivalry between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Michigan Wolverines. Honestly, in a matchup between a buckeye ( a nut off of a tree) and a wolverine I would pick the wolverine. But since I live in Ohio and a large number of fans are coming to my house I think I will just dress my children in red and gray and say, " GO BUCKEYES!!!"
We've having a party to celebrate this rivalry. We had trouble digging up our token Michigan fan but I believe that one of our guests is bringing his friend who roots for the blue and yellow.
I honestly don't really care about this particular game, but it's a chance to watch football and party with friends. I don't need much more of an excuse than this. My husband and I love to have our house full of friends. We have an open door policy. I'm excited cause I love to host parties. Hopefully it will go well. Check back later for an update.

GO BUCKS!!!!

My Cast of Characters

Well, seeing as it's Friday night and I've spent way to much of it alone, my husband has to work late, I thought I would make a cast of characters. :)
Starting with me.
Rachel- I'm the mom of three beautiful children, wife to one amazing man, and landlord/sister/friend to two great girls who rent our guest bedroom.
Nathan- He's an amazing husband. He works in computer engineering and is on the intercessor team at church. All the other members are ladies who are older than him. I call them his "older women". I think it's great that he's a part of the group. He likes to ride his bike and fix things, although it sometimes takes him a loooooong time to fix things.
AJ- He just turned 4. He likes trains, race cars, and not taking naps. He's getting really big and longs to go to school like Puk Puk.
JM- Mister Busy is what we call him. He likes to be in the middle of whatever his older brother is doing, usually involving a train track under construction.

Peanut- I call her "little peanut", cause she's so tiny. She's hilarious, she smiles and laughs. She has charmed Sarah's boyfriend and his friend. She's got them wrapped around her little finger.
Tabitha- My sis-in-law, 21, recently engaged, sooon to be married. She's funny but very busy with school, work, and Scott (her man.)
Sarah- My sweet friend, 19, busy with work and school. Spends most free time with her boyfriend Mike. She loves the kids and spoils them.
So these are the people that live in my house and quite frequently have posts about them. :)

Tabitha's New Ring

need I say more...

Works For Me Wednesday

This is my first Works for Me and I've been thinking about what Christmas tradition I should share. The one memory that is the same for every Christmas. My family has always done an advent wreath. Our wreath is different from every other one I've encountered though.
We start the wreath on the first Sunday after Thanksgiving. The first candle is red and it is for the prophets. My dad reads the scriptures in Isaiah and Micah about the coming of the Messiah. Then we sing a few Christmas carols and pray.
The second red candle is for John the Baptist. Dad reads the story of Zachariah in the Temple and the birth of John the Baptist. We sing "Prepare Ye the Way" and pray together.
The third red candle is for Mary and Joseph. Dad reads in Luke about the angel appearing to Mary and Joseph, and their willingness to obey God. We sing a few Christmas carols and pray together.
The fourth red candle is for the angels and the shepards. Dad reads the scriptures about the shepards out gaurding their flocks and the angels telling them the Messiah is born. We usually sing "Angels We Have Heard on High" and the first "Noel." Then we pray together.
The last candle is white and it sits in the middle of the wreath. This candle is lit on Christmas eve and it stands for Baby Jesus. We read in Luke about Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem for the census and there being no room in the inn. We read the whole story and then sing any Christmas carol that someone suggests. Lastly we pray together and then let all five candles burn down together. It's very pretty to see them all at different heights.
This works for our family year after year. If anyone would like the printout version with the scriptures and everything let me know and I will email it to you.
For more great Christmas ideas head over to Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more great Christmas ideas.

Something Some People Will Find Helpful...I Hope

During our discussion time this morning at our MOPS group Heather over at Fantastic Four told me about little Natalie moving the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs during the day and escaping. Her persistance was not wavering. I told Heather about the most awesome baby gate ever.
We used this baby gate in our first apartment. The stairs that led to our apartment ended in our hallway right by our bedroom and the living room. It's a hands free gate that takes a decent amount of pressure to open. The gate swings both directions making it work just about anywhere. AJ was 1 1/2 when we started using it. Our 6 year old neice and 3 year old nephew couldn't open it by themselves. There older siblings could. We loved it and when we no longer needed it we passed it on to a family that needed it. It's very sturdy and holds up to constant use. It was definitely worth what we paid for it. You might be able to find it at Target cheaper.

Thank you to all who have served and are serving. May God bless you.

Thursday Thirteen

For today's 13 I thought I would give you a list of books that I have always loved. And so, without further ado... (hee hee I love that word "ado")

1. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clany ( one of my all time favorites, along with most Tom Clancy novels)
2. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder- all of them. I think that Little Town on the Prairie is my favorite one though.
3. Margaret's Story by Eugenia Price
4. Vienna Prelude by Bodie Thoene and the rest of the Zion Covenant books
5. The whole Abram's Daughters series by Beverly Lewis. I hate waiting for the books, I like to read them all through one right after the other.
6. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
7. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montegomery
8. Little Women by Lousia May Alcott
9. September by Rosamunde Pilcher
10. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
11. Anything by Agatha Christie, especially Hercule Poirot mysteries.
12. Most of Mary Higgins Clark's mysteries and Sue Grafton's series, A is for Alibi
13. And last a guilty pleasure...Star Trek the Next Generation novels too. I like science fiction.

Next week I'll to a Thursday Thirteen of books that Andrew and I like to read together. Happy Reading!!

My Personality

I agree with Jenn that I feel kicked in the stomach after last night. My dear husband and I are still reeling somewhat. But there is only one thing that we can and must do. We must pray harder and longer for God to change the hearts of the people who were elected. God can and we must believe that he will. And so today...even though I'm down I thought I would post this fun quiz. It's a five factor personality test. I thought mine was pretty accurate. :) I don't know. Be sure and post your comments. I've also enabled it so that people who don't have Blogger ID's can comment too. (hint hint Jodi and Nathan. ) :D

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion. You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party. Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences. But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness. You're generally good at balancing work and play. When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done. But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have medium agreeableness. You're generally a friendly and trusting person. But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism. You get along well with others, as long as they play fair. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism. You are very emotionally stable and mentally together. Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly. Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is medium. You are generally broad minded when it come to new things. But if something crosses a moral line, there's no way you'll approve of it. You are suspicious of anything too wacky, though you do still consider creativity a virtue.

The Five Factor Personality Test

Take the test and let me know so I can come to your blog and check it out. :) Have a blessed Wednesday. Oh yeah, I saw this quiz at Kisses of Sunshine.

There Are No Words

At approximately 10:30 pm Ken Blackwell conceded the Ohio gubernatoral election to Ted Strickland. Strickland supports abortion, gay marriage, embryo stem cell research, higher taxes, and all things evil and unrighteous. After much labor, prayers and support this current election is over. May God forgive us and have mercy upon us. You who are intercessors, and those who stand for godliness and righteousness, rise up and pray.
Jesus I plead Your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God end abortion and send revival to America.
Jesus I plead Your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God end abortion and send revival to America.
Jesus I plead Your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God end abortion and send revival to America.
This prayer is going up in front of the Supreme Court daily and I ask you to join in that prayer.

Civic Duty

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE!!!!!!

As Christian women of God we have a responsibility to get out and vote our values and morals. This election is very important. The Senate and Congress that will be decided will either approve or not the next one or possibly two Supreme Court Justices. These judges will make decisions that will affect the lives of your children, grandchildren, and for some of you even your great grandchildren. Please GET OUT THE VOTE!! Vote values and morals.

P.S. as a pet peeve...if you don't vote then I don't want to hear any complaints for the next two years. :)

Leaves

Thursday night we went to bed with the two trees in our backyard still covered in leaves. Friday morning we woke up to a 3 inch carpet of leaves from the back door to the back fence and from side to side. All weekend long I kept looking at those leaves thinking that the first opportunity we had to rake them all up that it would probably be pouring rain. Well, PRAISE GOD!! it didn't rain yesterday afternoon.
I raked and Nathan scooped and carried out to the road. I forgot to take a before picture. Here is my hunky hunky strong man carrying all the leaves to the road. I think he made at least 15 trips from the back yard to the street with two trashcans each time.
Here is what the tree lawn by the street looked like when we were done.
And here is the yard when we were all done and Nathan mowed. I haven't seen it that nice in months. I love getting things done, especially when my husband helps.

Happy Birthday Andrew!

I understand what Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is talking about now when she says she composes her posts while in the shower. :) This morning I was thinking about AJ and how much he means to me. He's my special little man. Four years ago today, after 24 hours of labor, at 7:05 pm my sweet little boy was born.

I wasn't alone, my mom and sister were there. In fact, Mama Lily cut the cord. But AJ didn't have a father present. I was a single mom trying to get my life back on track with God. Becoming pregnant with him was the main thing that brought me back to my family. I had been running for awhile and when I found out I was pregnant I knew exactly what had to be done. I started the long road to getting my life back in order. The day he was born was very difficult. Towards the end I was fighting against the contractions. I couldn't handle it. My sis told me that although I have forgiven the birth father that I needed to do it again. And I needed to forgive his family as well. After that it got better and then he was born.
AJ has caused me to grow so much, sometimes daily. I love him but somedays I have to remind myself that he's only 3, 4 now. He's so curious about everything and has a million questions. Some days he wears me out. He so loving and caring. He always wants to help take care of Peanut and JM. His big thing now is to go to school. He really wants to go like Doodle Bug and Puk Puk. I certainly can't imagine life without him. He's my little man, the big boy of the family. Here's Auntie and AJ. They have always had a special connection.

Thank you AJ, for being you. I love you so much. ~Mommy

Blackwell Visits Norwalk

I am very passionate about politics, as some of you know. Today was a very special day in Norwalk. Ken Blackwell, candidate for Governor of Ohio came for a visit at Berry's Restaurant. He spoke about the values of rural Ohio and how he is the right man to lead Ohio. Peanut, with a Blackwell sticker on her back, and I got our picture taken with him. I like to say that she is organizing the campaign for "Babies for Blackwell." I think Daniel originally came up with it. Here we are. Peanut is reaching for his NRA member patch on his jacket. Smart girlie!!

It's really late

My husband is working on a project on the computer. So I'm sitting in the chair next to him on Sarah's laptop. I found this cool thing while surfing around some other blogs. I got a kick out of seeing how many people in the U.S. have my name. I wonder where they all live?? And how many of them have it as their married or the maiden name?? Interesting......

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 261 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Tackle it Tuesday

Well, laundry is a problem in our house and since I spent over a week without a dryer it has really piled up. This is the living room right now.

And here is the kitchen.
This is my project for Tackle it Tuesday. I will post later and show you how well I did. :) For more Tackle It Tuesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom.
2:19 p.m.- ALL DONE!!!! Here's the proof!!!

Yeah!! It's all done! Praise God! Now I can go back to one load a day. :)

Mondays really FEEL like Saturdays....only they aren't!

Today was Monday as I'm sure you know...however it is the one day a week, besides Sunday, that my husband has off. So we kinda treat it like a Saturday.
We totally overslept this morning until about 9:30. I'm not really sure how that happens cause my children wake up so early. But sleep we did. And it was glorious. Until we awoke to 3 very hungry children. They always wake up hungry, imagine that?
My dear husband was amazing today. He helped me clean the house up because our realtor was coming this afternoon. We his help we set the timer for 15 minutes and got the upstairs done, vaccumed and all. Then we went downstairs and did the same thing. 30 min and my house was looking pretty good.
Our house is now on the market, again. We have been struggling financially and feel that we need to investigate all our options to see what door the Lord opens up. We do love our house and we know that God specifically told us to buy it but now might be the time to sell it. We don't know. But we're praying and waiting. If it's not time then I will perpetually have a clean house for the next 6 months. :) Won't that be nice??
This afternoon we spent a fair amount of time working in our yard. It absolutely amazes me each year that all the leaves in the neighborhood blow onto our side of the street. But it's true. I keep telling Nathan that we should take all our leaves and dump them in our neighbor to the north's yard because every Monday he has a company come do his lawn with leaf blowers and the whole nine yards. Our neighbor would never know and then all our leaves would be taken care of. He didn't go for it. Darn! I tried.
I enjoyed reading all the posts about the Dallas blogger meeting. It's fun to get together with other girls. We enjoyed going to the MOPS convention.
It's late and we've decided that we really should start getting up before the children wake up. Maybe then we won't find toothpaste behind the bathtub and lotion under the rocking chair. I'm really not kidding about those last two!!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Love About My House

1. The lead glass windows in the front room and the front door.
2. The hard wood floors downstairs that all have a different pattern.
3. The fenced in back yard with climbing trees.
4. The very old lilac tree in the back yard that blooms dark purple. (I foresee a WW this spring)
5. The funky stairway that goes to the office and to the kitchen.
6. The stained glass windows in the dining room and in the bathroom.
7. The enormous amount of closet space in a 116 year old house.
   
8. The wide front porch that will one day have a swing on it.
9. The ceiling fans in all the bedrooms and in the upstairs bathroom.
10. The full size attic that will hopefully one day be finished.
    
11. That the playroom is out of my sight in the front room.
12. It's a blast to decorate for Christmas.
13. The wonderful neighbors next door who collect cats and love my kids like grandkids.
    

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

This is somewhat impressive

I found this surfing around You Tube. I just had to share. I just want to know if he won anything.

Toilet Trials Part 4

Last week I told you that I had taken down the wall paper in the upstairs bathroom. Well I left the chair that I had been standing on in the bathroom. The other morning my charming almost 4 year old son got up to go potty first thing. HOORAY!!! We've only had a couple of nighttime accidents unlike Boo Mama. However as you can see this is "Part 4" of the trials. I obviously didn't name it that cause we don't have an accidents, cause we do. Just ask Sarah about Mc Donald's on Sunday...or Sunday night for that matter. This one was no accident though, let me tell you.
The aforementioned chair had been in the bathroom for several days. On this morning however AJ decided to pull it over to the toilet and stand on it while he peed. In walks my sister-in-law Tabitha and GASPS!
She says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
At that point the pee is no longer going in the toilet...it's going all over the floor, the wall, the chair, the rug, the toilet. Needless to say he must have drank a lot of water last night after dinner. That morning AJ learned how to clean up pee when it goes all over the place. Hopefully next time he will NOT use the chair, which by the way, is no longer in the bathroom. It got cleaned too.

Saturday

Today has been a very interesting day. And its not over yet.
Let's start at the beginning. 2:00 a.m. My darling husband got up to go lead his part of the all night prayer watch our church had last night. He came back around 6, slept for an hour and then left to go to work.
I got up with the kids around 8:30 and we just had a laid back morning. The heating element in our dryer went out a couple days ago so I thought I would just run a load over to my mom's to dry it. There didn't seem to be anyone home, so I started the dryer and left.
My next stop was Drug Mart to buy a baby shower present for this afternoon. I ran into a friend from church and this is how our conversation went.
Me- "Hey! How are you?"
Her- "Good, how come you aren't at the race?"
Me- "The race isn't til this afternoon."
Her- "I thought your dad was running this morning at 9?"
Me- "MY DAD'S IN A RACE?????????"

Needless to say somehow in the last few weeks my mother had forgotten to tell me that my dad was in a 5K race this morning and I missed it. I would have been out there cheering dad!!! However he did get a gold medal for his age group. (Maybe I shouldn't mention that he was the only one in his age group to run. )

Move on to noon. Someone was coming at 12:30 or so to stay with the boys while I took the baby to a baby shower. (previously mentioned above) I went to open the fridge to get lunch ready for the boys and AJ had quite obviously been in there. The merischino (sp??) cherries fell out and exploded everywhere. It was a HUGE mess. I forgot to take a picture. It took Tabitha and I 20 min to get it all cleaned up. Now I'm running around in a tank top, Peanut was crying and I was trying to get ready before the sitter came. It was quite chaotic.
I did get out the door about 10 min late but the shower didn't start on time so all's well. The shower was lovely. It was for the daughter of a friend. She's due in three weeks and disguistingly amazingly small. They don't know if its a boy or girl, they want to be surprised but she got a lot of cute outfits.

I came home and let the sitter make a quick exit. Then I helped Tabitha finish getting ready for her night at the orchestra with Scott. They left in a flurry of activity and Blogger won't let me add my great pictures to my post. Don't worry Tabitha..that picture will get posted. Maybe I'll save it for Wordless Wednesday. :)

Now I'm just waiting for Nathan to come home and then this evening we're off to Leader Discipleship with our church leadership group. I'm sure it will be interesting cause it always is.

More Mops Notes

Awhile ago my sister asked my to blog a little bit about one of the seminars I attended at the MOPS convention in Nashville. I did a couple of posts about it here and here. The one that she was asking about was "Daily Discipleship: Intentional Spiritual Development of Your Child". So here are a few of my notes on the subject.
The speaker opened with a few statistics.

• 27% of churched youth have experienced either family devotions, prayer, or Bible readind in the home.
• 29 % of churched youth have experienced a family service project.
• 40% of churched youth view their mom as being "very religious".
• 28% of churched youth haved talked with their mom about faith.

"Most certainly father and mother are apostles, bishops, and priests to their children, for it is they who make them acquainted with the gospel." - Martian Luther. As moms we need to reinstate the home as the chief place where faith is to be nurtured. We are to model our faith to our children.Some practical ways we can do that is

• share your stories of faith with your children
• remember God's comfort
• celebrate God's coincidences
• discuss tangible examples of faith
• make your home a house of prayer
• pray around regular events, meals, bedtime, leaving for school, ect.
• let your children here your sponatneous prayers
• pray using the Bible as a guide.

There are lots of opportunities available to use as a spiritual lesson. Anytime you are in the car listen to praise music. When they are sick pray with them. At bed time ask them questions and even crawl in bed with them and talk. Use stuffed animals to tell stories from the Bible. Use your vacations to help others in need.

These were some of the suggestions that were shared as ways to help your child develop spiritually. I'll leave you with this verse from Deuteronomy 6:4 "Nurturing faith begins with the heart of the parent."

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

Cedar Point

This past weekend of friend of mine from way back when and his new wife came for a visit. Their names are Joe and Amanda. We had a blast getting to know Amanda and it was great to be around another young married couple.
On Saturday we went to Cedar Point in Sandusky. Nathan and I have never been together. It was soo much fun. We left the kids, including my little peanut , with my parents. She did beautifully, didn't miss me at all. :) This is Mike and Sarah...Sarah is one of the two girls living with us...we love her. The lines were long and it was a bit crowded with college kids but over all we had a blast. It was fun riding the roller coasters and puke rides as my sister calls them. We rode the Raptor, the Mantis, the Iron Dragon, Ocean Motion, Disaster Transport, the Sky Needle, the Millennium Force, and the all important Swings. :) I've been waiting to ride the swings since the county fair. It was a very cold day and riding those coasters at over 50 mph sure made it colder. It was nice to get out with my husband. This is the view from the Space Needle. On the left, way up high, is the Millennium Force. Congratulations Sarah on your first time!!! Hope it was worth it. :)

Thirteen Random Things about Today (Thursday)

1. Only two days until I get to go to Cedar Point!!
2. White out on a computer monitor is hard to get off.
3. It started snowing outside just a little while ago.
4. There isn't any wallpaper on the walls in my upstairs bathroom anymore. :)
5. I've done 2 loads of laundry.
6. I've changed 3 poopy diapers.
7. Made macaroni and cheese for lunch.
8. Cleaned macaroni and cheese off the floor after lunch today.
9. My upstairs bathroom floor is covered with wallpaper. :)
10. Speghetti is on the menu for tonight.
11. I've read three blogs and not posted a comment.
12. My husband has yet to have lunch and it's after 2:30.
13. I'm looking forward to watching Survivor Cook Islands tonight.

Wordless Wednesday

For more Wordless Wednesday go to 5 Minutes for Mom.

WHAT???

Can you believe this, I just saw on a news bulletin on television that there is a possibillity of SNOW!!!!!!

Wow, what a weekend!! I can't believe that it's already Monday. Thursday was a colosal laundry day because Friday morning I hauled my family, kit and kaboddle, over to my sister's house. She was leaving for a retreat with some other members of our church and I was looking after all 7 of her kids. Wow!!! There were 10 children in the house, count them. DA, Belle, JR, Thadeuss, Doodle Bug, Puk Puk, AJ, JM, Little Buddy, and baby Peanut. Boy did I have my hands full. I swear I vaccumed the family room twice in one day. :)
The older ones stayed up and I let them rent a movie and have friends over. I was told by a family friend that I was a 'cool aunt'. While watching the movie I pet the cat for awhile and forgot to wash my hands. For those of you that know me well you can imagine what happened. My eyes swelled up, got red and watery, and all kinds of loveliness. As a result DA decided that poor Fuzzy, the aforementioned feline, would get a bath...right then. He tried to wrangle some help from JR's friend DW but he said, "No way!" DA and JR were attempting to do it alone, with the rest of us watching in great amusement, when I had sympathy on Fuzzy and made my husband help hold him. It was really funny to watch. You'll have to wait until Wordless Wednesday to see the great pictures. :)
Saturday at Mama Lily's house is truely a logistical wonder. Everyone running here and there was tiring for me and I didn't even have to do the driving. After preparing the biggest quantity of food that I ever have for one meal that night I was ready to pack it all in and go home to my nice kingsize bed. :)
They were all great and did well together and apparently I got good reviews. It definitely gives you admiration for Mama Lily and all she does. And yes, I still would like a large family even after all that. So does Nathan. The only time they were all together in one room was during dinner on Sat. night. And now you know why it was Monday afternoon before I posted.

Wordless Wednesday

This was last summer before our move.

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 Minutes for Mom

Forever Family

Today it was finalized!!! AJ's name is now AJ Webb. He now "legally" is the son of Nathan. Both sides of our family are so excited. Here they are at the courthouse waiting for our hearing.
Thank you to all who prayed for this day. We are now a forever family.