Wonderful!!

Tonight was WONDERFUL!!

Thank you to Brother Jeremy, Ms. Sabrina, Miss Kina, Pastor, Julie, and Pastor Petrick!!

Aren't we cute??

The lovely couple that did SO much work! Sabrina you look beautiful!!

One of the many fun games! Congrats Brother Jonathan and Ms. April.

My favorite man right after the toast... I was paying attention to him doing the toast to me, so I didn't take a picture of the actual toast.

Pastor Petrick gave a wonderful talk about love.

Valentine Party

Here are a few pictures from the Valentine Party!

Kyle and Beth really had a good time. Thank you Pastor and Julie for all your hard work and the time you spent to get this organized. I am so grateful for you both.

The real reason Kyle wanted to go to the party...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Shopping

Hey All

I have the best news!! I found a dress today for the Valentine Banquet on Friday.

This was an answer to prayer for a couple of reasons:
1. I had to find something with limited time
2. I had to find something that was modest and pretty
3. I wanted to find a real bargain

So, my answered prayer goes like this: I found the dress in less then 2 hours, I like it, and it was originally 100.00 but I got it for 19.95!!

THANKS GOD!

Egg-citing!

Today we learned that heated air expands and when it cools it contracts; the above is the result. Since God made things to be balanced, the egg is pulled into the jar to equalize the pressure!

Too Cute

After dinner today we had some left over fried potatoes and Kyle and I started eating them out of the pan (I know, we are bad...sorry).

Anyway, Beth saw them and asked, "Oh, can I have some"?

And my answer was, as Jayne I and often joke with the kids, "Do you have five bucks"?

Beth replied, "No, but I have a fork!" and she started eating.

I laughed and told her that was "blog worthy".

Just Stuff

Lets see... what should I tell you all.

We have been busy just doing things. The kids went to chapel yesterday morning and they really enjoyed that (as always). We went to Jayne's after that so we could start on our skit for the Ladies Conference..we didn't get really far, but it was an enjoyable time. Jim and I had our night our last night which is always nice to just spend time together. Today Jim and Kyle went to the Men's breakfast, the soul winning class, and soul winning. I joined them for the class only because I took Beth to Dr. John's as she was complaining of ear pain again. So, it seems that her pain is not from her ears, but from her jaw; in medical language, she has inflammation of her temporal mandibular joint (TMJ). Basically, we just keep on eye on her and at least now I know how to tell the difference between the two types of pain (obviously before it gets to where she is just laying around in terrible pain!) Tonight we are just hanging around. They played a game, I fixed a pair of Kyle's pants, and we read our Bible. Such an exciting post, but that is life. Have a good night.

Good Morning

Good Morning All!!!

I just had the best time with the Lord this morning!

While I was praying this song, "Thank You Lord" by Bruce Frye, came to my mind.

Thank you Lord for giving me peace, for saving my soul
Thank you Lord for changing my life, for taking control

I will love you with all my heart
With all my soul and with all my mind
Thank you thank you, Lord

Thank you Lord, for giving me hope, for family and friends
Thank you Lord, for loving me so through trials that you send

I will love you with all my heart
With all my soul and with all my mind
Thank you, thank you Lord

Thank you Lord, for bearing the cross, forgiving my sin
Thank you, Lord for the promise you gave your coming again

I will love you with all my heart
With all my soul and with all my mind
Thank you, thank you, Lord

I will love you with all my heart
With all my soul and with all my mind
Thank you thank you, Lord
Thank you thank you, Lord

http://www.brucefrye.org/

I have been listening to all three of these CD's since Mr. Frye came out to our church and they have been such a blessing to me!! The Lord used these songs to bring me closer to Him and I find them very encouraging.

You can hear a little bit of them here: http://www.brucefrye.org/discography.htm

or you can actually see him at different churches if you rather http://www.brucefrye.org/schedule.htm.

I absolutely love what Pastor said last night about having a choice and we decide if something is going to discourage us.

But of course there are times when we are discouraged and there are three things to do:

1. Take the responsibility for it your self
2. Acknowledge my dependence on God

3. Go to the Bible to be encouraged

So, my post for today is all about encouraging yourself.

The only thing that will make a difference is GOD.

Mother & Daughter Time

Today we didn't have school... it was a "snow day". Jim and Kyle were working on snow removal here and at another home until midnight, so the principle gave us (Kyle) the day off.



Today started nicely with a pancake breakfast while listening to our new Patch the Pirate CD. After that the fighting started. He did this, so she did that, and since he did this, she did that.... SO, what is any mom to do. Send one of them to their room while I got ready to go out to get dog food and...


take the said "she" from the above story and treat her to a date with Mom. Now, I don't usually take either of the kids on "dates", but I try to spend some amount of time with them individually; which unfortunately hasn't been happening much lately, nor do I usually reward negative behavior. However, I have noticed a little trend lately with Beth, so I thought that is was time she got me all to herself.



So, after we went to get the dog food, we stopped at the library for about 45 minutes, just working together picking out the books she found using the computer and sitting talking for a few minutes. During that talk, she told me she really didn't want to go home just yet. At this point it was 1:20 and didn't really want to go eat, but she wanted to do something... so, I thought Dunkin' Donuts. I had a gift card, so I used it to get myself some hot chocolate and Beth got not one, but two donuts. We sat and talked about girl stuff and I pulled out my Bible and gave her a couple of verses that I think we all need to learn:


1Timothy 2:9-13
In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

and

1Peter3:4
But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.



Why do I think that she needed to learn this at the age of 9? Well, I can answer that with another question....is it ever to early to teach her to be in subjectin to authority?



I can see that over time, as Kyle has more authority and responsiblitly to be the one who watches her while we are out, Beth has more of a need to be in subjection to others. Why? Simple because that is what life is all about!


Shocking as it may seem, she didn't think the fight was really her fault. So, I stopped and took the time needed not only to spend some time with my not so little, little girl but also to help her see her part in the problem and Who we go to when things aren't the way we would like them to be.


As I was getting to this part I was thinking of some wonderful way to end this.... Then it hit me, tell them how they just had another little tiff. Well, Beth got upset by something Kyle just did and I could see the fire in her eyes. Kyle walked off and I asked Beth to come talk with me. I asked her what we talked about while we were at Dunkin Donuts. The reply, "I don't know". Hmmmm does anyone believe that?! So, I reiterated what I said and mysteriously she remembered it. She went off to pray and I spoke to Kyle about the situation and a few minutes later, Beth was happily playing with a toy. I asked her how she was doing and she just looked up at me, smiled, and said, "good".

It was such a blessing to have her actually do what I told her and our ever faithful Lord is there to help us as He says.

My husband is Wonderful

My husband is just wonderful.

I just wanted you all to know that.

Last night was not anything extra special, but we went out to dinner and talked. How does that make him wonderful you might be wondering? Well, it is the very act that he takes the time to spend with me every week. Honestly, we may miss a night here or there, but often if we miss the night, it will get moved to the next night.

Why am I posting this on this particular week? It was something he said last night. I wanted to be prepared for our day tomorrow, so I asked him if he had the shirt that he wanted (there are two white shirts in there... but I never know if that is the correct shirt... he has a pattern...but I often don't get it, they look like white shirts to me! It's just his way).

Anyway, his response was, "Of course I do, you take such good care of me".

He didn't say this with any tone; he just said it as he has said it before. He doesn't say it all the time, but when he says it, he actually means it.

This is the part where I tell you why he is so wonderful:

He is so wonderful because I try to take care of him, but get behind, overwhelmed, tired, or just lazy, but you wouldn't know it. As a general rule, he doesn't tell me the negative things I do. It would seem that he lives with blinders on at times!

So, as I was thinking about this, I wondered: does he say this just to say it or make me work harder to do what he wants done. The answer.... I have no clue. If I ask him (of course I have in the past) he simply response with all the things I am doing right which of course proves his point ;).

As I was thinking about this... I thought it probably works better than anything else. Why wouldn't I want to try to do things better? And you know, even though there are slow changes, there are changes for the better all the time.

So, why is he wonderful? Just because he loves me and makes me feel like I do everything right just for him.

Organizing

Today we had Ryan and Bradley over for a few hours, and while they all played, I was able to do some organizing. I worked on an area that really gets dumped on... or am I the only one with one of those? Anyway, I clean it up and got it looking like a normal place and then I tackled the file cabinet. The file cabinet was so full, that nothing else could be put in there, so I knew it had to be worked on...and maybe the papers that were stacking up on my desk might have been another clue, but.....

The next area will be my kitchen. I am moving stuff around too much for everyday stuff and it is driving me crazy. Since this is a big project I am not sure when I will do it and I have something for church that needs to be worked on, so that takes top priority, so it will have to wait a little longer, perhaps next week.

Well, that's all for me. Have a great night.

My Doctor Appointment

Well, I am very happy to report that everything came out looking good. There is no sign of cancer, which was a concern given my history. I will see the doctor in 3 months and see how things are going and make any decisions from there.

Thank you all for your prayers; they are greatly appreciated!!

Sunday Pictures

Some pictures from tonight at church:

As the announcement said last week...a heart shaped cake with two shades of green because you can't make camo with one shade of green. I just had to make this... I know I am silly.

Due on Wednesday, but Pastor is saying 2am tomorrow!!
A big hit of the night!
My wonderful helpers... a little camera shy.

Science Fun

We have been working on a unit titled "Deceit and Illusion" this week. We have been talking about people in the Bible who were deceived or deceitful and used optical illusions to show that you can't always believe your eyes.


We got this idea from a neat book called "It's Not Magic, It's Science". We cut the bottom of a milk carton and taped a plastic bag over the end. Lite a candle and blow out the candle by using the smack on the bag to force air out. The point was that even though we can't see the air, it is still in there and we can do something to make the air move and get the result we want.

No Results

Okay, I know I told you all I would tell you today what the results were, but after getting to the doctor's office and waiting a while; he had to go deliver a baby! So, what does that mean? It means I have been rescheduled for next Tuesday and then I will let you know.

Everything is going well with my health. I don't have any pain or anything at all for that matter... it was the easiest surgery I have ever had. I am very grateful for every one's prayers because I know that is what has made all the difference.

Just Hanging Around

Today I have been just hanging out: I read my Bible, took a nap, watched/showed Kyle how to give the dog a bath (training myself out of this job), watched Sarah, Plain and Tall: Winter's End, and worked on a skirt for Beth for a little while...basically I did a lot of nothing. Thanks to another family at church we had another great meal tonight. I don't have any pain and therefore I am not taking the pain medicine. Isn't God so good!! Now, to complete my busy day (ha ha) I am off to bed.

Post-Op Update

www.clipartheaven.com

Hi everyone!

I am feeling good at this point without any pain, of course the large dose of ibuprofen helped I am sure. I feel "out of it" still, like I haven't sleep in way too long or I slept way too much and my head just feels cloudy. I was taken to the OR at 11:30 and they tell me I was in recovery about 12:15. I spent the most time in the recovery room because I apparently don't wake up really well and my nurse wanted to keep an eye on me a little longer. (I talked to my Mom when I got home and she told me I woke up the same way when I had my wisdom teeth pulled.) I made it back to my pre-op room about 2pm, had to drink and get medicine and got sent home at 3:15. I basically won't know anything until I talk to my gyne next week; he wants to see me Thursday or Friday.

We had a wonderful dinner made by one of the ladies in our church and it was so good! She made stuffed cabbage and fresh homemade bread and we ate almost all of it!! Our church is such a blessing!!

Thank you all for your prayers; they are greatly appreciated!

Homeschool Meeting

Well, we got some stuff together tonight at WalMart for an "afternoon box". It sounds like a wonderful idea to us! I was so excited when Jim suggested that we go shopping tonight for some items. It was wonderful and very encouraging to me!! I can't wait to see how our days go. I think this is something the kids will really enjoy. It is just like Julie said, the box isn't full of anything "special", but of ordinary things they will like to do. We got some plaster animals to paint (they were only 44 cents each or a box of 6 for about 2.50!) small cardboard boxes to paint, clay, alphabet stamps, paint brushes and stickers.

Thanks Julie for working so hard for our home schooling families. Thanks also for the CD!!

Just A Thought

I was just looking at Beth's 4th Grade Comprehensive Curriculum book and I saw the life cycle of the tadpole. At first glance I thought it was a page teaching something about evolution, which of course is a lie I don't want her to learn, so I almost crossed the page off. I looked at the picture again, not quite like this, but the same concept and I started to wonder....

If it took "millions of years" for every other animal to change to it "present day form"(which I DON'T believe), why does the tadpole change in just weeks to a frog!! Do you think God made this certain cycle to show everyone how fast he can change one animal and show us that evolution is really foolish????




Genesis 1:20-21 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Our Week

Hi again all!

Well, we made it through our school week very well. It was really nice to get back to a routine; I function so much better with a routine. It is strange how I never had one before home schooling and when I go off it now, it messes me up. Kyle is back to his regular workbooks and Beth and I gave the Alpha Omega 4th grade books a once over, and I still think it is just too much for her.

On Monday she was uneasy and not very excited about doing her work, which isn't a good thing as you can imagine. Well, I gave her some other papers that I printed off a website http://www.schoolexpress.com/ (very helpful for younger grades, it is pushing it with 3rd grade, but it got us through) and she did them pretty well.

Jim and I talked tonight about what we should do with her and we are getting the "Comprehensive Curriculum for 4th grade". She did very well with the 3rd grade one we finished in December, so we thought it would be a good start to her 4th grade stuff and you can't beat the price...7.89 at Sam's Club.

So, tonight Beth and I went to Sam's and she was just so cute. I picked up the book and told her I was done and she saw this other book about Tigers that has a model inside and as you turn the pages and it shows you and tells you about the parts of the animal as it reveals different layers, and her eyes lit up. She called Kyle and made sure he thought it was a good idea and so we picked up that book too. Then as we walked down the aisle a little more, we saw the same type of book for a castle and she nearly flipped!! So, she called Kyle back and asked him about that book too and after his approval, we picked it up also. So, she giggled, bounced, and skipped to the check-out. I said to her, it is too bad you aren't excited about these new books. She just opened her eyes wide and said how excited she was. When we got to the check-out she asked me to hold the two "layer" books so she could check out the new workbook and as she did she started telling me that it doesn't have a "spelling" section, but it does has a "writing" section and she opened it up and got excited all over again!! It is so nice to see her getting excited about school again rather than stressed out. After we got home and as soon as Kyle got the chance he was checking out the Tiger book.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is one of the books we got.

So, that is it. I am off to bed. Good night :)

Round Up!!!

WOW!! Another great Round Up!!!

A big thanks to eveyone that helped with set up, serving, cleaning and taking down!! Our church is so great when it comes to helping! So many people were cleaning it was done SO fast. Of course a reall big thank you needs to go to all the chili cookers...without them it wouldn't be possible! It was a real treat to hear Bruce Frye also! I really enjoyed his music and the teaching he did.

Running again...still, something like that.

Hi all!!

Just a quick note as I am once again short on time. I have been feeling ill off and on since Sunday with a head thing which has now turned into a cold. I sound like someone else today and hmmm hope I can still talk tomorrow. (sometime I lose my voice completely) I went to the doctor on Wednesday and did some running around for some items for Round Up. On Thursday, I did a little bit more shopping, one stop for church and a couple for hour household things, and a stop at the library as we are starting schooling again next week (how that went by so fast is beyond me!) I made lots of phone calls yesterday and did set up stuff at church today all for Round Up. I can't believe it is here already. Well, I am off to do a "few" more things before bed.

2008

I hope you all have a wonderful 2008. May God bless everyone that follows Him

A Year In Review...With Pictures!

Peaceful Moments

Well, I finally checked everybody's blogs today. I had been so busy I didn't have time to check any... I barely made the time to write mine!!


It sounds like everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I have enjoyed reading what you were doing.


I enjoyed the past several days very much!! This Christmas I can just feel the peace. (you know..after I went crazy and then talked to God!) I have enjoyed time to just read my Bible, read a good book and get a couple things done in my regular routine.

As I looked over the Lego and Playmobile pieces that the kids were still playing with on Christmas day and yesterday, I just sat on the couch enjoying the memory of Christmas. It wasn't really the gifts I got (but Jim did a WONDERFUL job with them and with very little help from me), but it was all it represented. I realize that God has given us a great gift... our family still together. It is amazing to me that Christmas of '01 was so close to being our last one together. God has given us so much to be thankful for.

As I was sitting there yesterday, I asked God to help me focus on this time. Of course, all year long I realize what Jesus did for me personally, that God saved our marriage, and has given us so much to be thankful for. I also know that I have to stay focused on Him. Today I am alone. The house is completely quiet. I am enjoying the moments of quiet. It is easy to focus on God at times like this. Why am I tell you all this? I don't know. I realize how quickly I can take my eyes off of our Lord. I guess this is a post to remind myself to remember and just take time to stop, think and be thankful all year long.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful day like we did! We started with reading Luke 2, opened our gifts, had snacks and a WONDERFUL meal completely cooked by Jim!!! (he even cleaned it up)Jim gave me the best gifts: A basket of massage oils, "coupons" he created, and lotions!, a nail care kit, movie, and candles. Kyle got mainly Legos, one of his favorite things and Beth got a mix of horses and a stable and Playmobil. Jim got a big pot, gift cards, white shirts and ties.