Saturday, September 29, 2012

Only the Word

Over the last couple of months I have spent a lot of time awake at night.  It's during those times that I realize, I am a brilliant writer!!  I write the most lovely blog posts, thank you notes, and speeches for my children.  Somehow when the dawn breaks, all my brilliance fades like the shadows and I once again sound like someone that doesn't have a college degree.  That being said; I had an epiphany in the middle of the night.  Hopefully I come across sounding half-way intelligent.
Anyhow....recently I started reading another Christian self-help book.  If you know me well, you would know that I am a self-help book junky.  I love to read how to be a better wife, mother, Christ-follower, ect.  This one is supposed to help me overcome my bad reactions to raw emotion. You know; the kind that sneaks up on you and has you yelling at your kids before you even know what hit you.  Then later you're full of regret for how you acted!  The book is Lysa TerKeurst's Unglued.  I must say the book is wonderful.  Lysa is funny and full of true to life stories about how she has blown it and what she is doing to overcome exploding in the moment.  As I lay in bed last night thinking about this book and the many others I have read, it occurred to me:  There is one common theme in all of these Christian self-help books.....read the Word, know the Word, apply the Word.  So simple, yet seemingly so difficult.  Why do we find it so hard as believers to do what the Word says?  We say we believe, but then we don't listen to the verses that are there to help us overcome our issues.  Be sure that I am not pointing the finger here; I struggle with this too!
So the conclusion I came to in the night was that while the stories and steps to freedom written down in all these books are helpful by showing us we're not alone; the thing we really need is to listen and apply what our Creator has so lovingly written to us!!
Praying that I will dig deeper into His Word every day for strength and freedom to be more and more Christ-like. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I am still here!!

I know it's been a long time since I have written in this blog!!  I am still here!!  For awhile I have wanted to give a baby update, but was a little scared to do so.  The closer my due date came, the more frightened I became that everything would go wrong in the end.  I did start to have a few health problems at the end of my pregnancy that renewed my fears.  My mind raced, and even though I knew if everything were to go terribly wrong I would make it with the help of the Lord; the fact remained that delivering and burying a full-term infant would be much different than delivering and burying a 16 week old baby!  Holding two babies that literally fit in the palm of your hand is not something you ever forget.  It has a way of getting into your soul and mind and never, ever leaving!  That being said; I never fully believed that I was really going to have a baby.  I stayed emotionally distant from my pregnancy, but that came with consequences.  I spent most of my pregnancy being irritable and snippy to my family.  If you had asked me if I was worried, I would have told you that I really wasn't too worried, but it showed in ways that were beyond my control. 


Fast forward to August 30, 2012....my fears were relieved when I delivered a healthy baby boy and heard his first cries!!  Again, the Lord shows me that He is trustworthy and I am confident I would be able to say that today even if my fears had come true!!!  Beautiful little Allen Christopher has joined our family and we know that we are blessed!!  Praise the Lord!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Update in Pictures

Swimming with cousins

Father's Day 2012

Olivia helping Isaiah make cookies

My princess
We flew to Destin with some of our Bible Study group

Big and pregnant on the beach

Great friends

Good food at Pompano Joe's

Emma went to Big Splash Adventure in French Lick with friends

Enjoying the lazy river with great buddies

Just a week later our family went to Big Splash Adventure and had a great time!!
Having fun waiting for the city fireworks!
Praying during our 1 year celebration of Family Bible Church
Enjoying cake and cookies after the service


First night in the new bed!!  The girls were so excited to share a room and have a bunk bed!!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Pensacola Beach 2012

I realized it has been a long time since I have updated the blog; so here it goes!!  We recently finished school and we decided to go on a family vacation before my pregnancy got too far along.  So a couple of weeks ago we went down to Pensacola Beach, Florida and stayed a week.  Our family really needed the time away to just relax and enjoy each other.  I think it will be easiest to "tell" you about our trip through pictures!!
View from the condo





Fort Pickens



National Aviation Museum








Ryan caught a crab on the beach

Monday, April 23, 2012

In a Jam

Today we decided to make strawberry freezer jam.  Last year in May we made some and it has lasted us all year; I just finished the last bottle yesterday.  They kids always enjoy helping, although they usually end up deserting me half way through the project!!
We bought two flats of strawberries.  I thought that might be a little ambitious but it didn't make as much as I thought.


The "fruits" of our labor!!

Friday, April 20, 2012

18 week update

I needed to give a little update just for my own record keeping!!  Right now I am 18 weeks pregnant and all is well, as of Monday.  Everyone keeps asking me if I feel like I'm over the hurdle.  Pretty sure that I won't feel completely calm until I am holding that crying, little boy in my arms.  Though overall, I feel calm and peaceful.  The Lord has given me an overwhelming sense of well-being.  I know that no matter what happens I will make it with His help and that He has it all planned out!!  Monday I will have another ultrasound to check heartbeat and then the following Monday will be the big anatomy ultrasound!  Keep praying that all goes well!!
One another note, we are almost done with school.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I told the kids last week that we had about 5 weeks of school left and they have started doing extra work every day trying to get done sooner.  With all of their hard work, I am pretty sure that by the end of next week all they will have left is math and their online history course!!!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Chore charts and a clean dog

I cannot take credit for this idea, but this week I started using a chore/school chart for the kids.  They were really wanting more independence in their school work and I needed their consistent help around the house.  Don't get me wrong; both big kids are most often willing to help with anything I ask of them, but I get lazy and don't really ask for help.  I am one of those perfectionist moms that if the house can't be cleaned right and all at the same time then I'd rather not do it at all.  When I'm pregnant it's even worse; my motivation is almost completely gone!!  Still, I love a clean house.  To my surprise they have loved having the days work laid out before them in the morning and they are doing a great job keeping up with it all.  My only complaint is I feel like I don't know what's going on each day with their schoolwork.  I'll just have to be more diligent to check their work each day since they want to be independent.
  So this is what the chart looks like for one day.  The schoolwork is listed on the upper left with chores that must be done every day underneath.  On the right side is the "special" chores of the day.  I change these daily so I can have them help me hit the "hotspots" of the house.  On the bottom right I am planning on choosing a character quality of the week, with definition and Bible verse included.  My hope is that by the end of the week they can recite the verse by memory and tell me the meaning of the character quality. ( I got the list of 49 character qualities off the Duggar's website)

In other news, Scout went to the groomer for the first time yesterday.  He looks so much better.  We can actually see his eyes now!!  This trip was in preparation for his surgery tomorrow!!  That's right, it's time for the big snip, snip for Scout!  To bad he has no idea what's coming his way!!!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Just one more thing.....

On January 10, 2012  we found out that I am pregnant again!!  The Lord has a sense of humor and impeccable timing after the topic of my January 4th  post.  I really had given up hope of being pregnant again.  After losing three pregnancies, one tends to think (or maybe even hope) that God will just stop putting you through all that pain.  Even though you still really want another baby and I of course really, really did want another baby.  I knew from the moment I saw the positive test that this pregnancy would not be easy and so far that has been true.  I was 9 weeks yesterday and I have already been to the doctor six times and have had three ultrasounds.  During my first week of pregnancy I was put on blood thinners and aspirin to help prevent the late miscarriages that I have had with my last two pregnancies.  At the first ultrasound the doctor saw a hemorrhage in my uterus. She said I would have to stop the shots to allow the hemorrhage time to heal.  Of course that made me nervous,but praise the Lord, the hemorrhage healed quickly (more quickly than the dr expected) and I was able to start my shots again this past Monday.  For those of you who read this blog I would ask that you would please pray for me and the baby during this pregnancy.  I pray that the Lord keeps this baby safe and healthy.  We can only take this a week at a time and praise the Lord for every moment that we are given with precious child.  My prayer continues to be for the Lord's will to be done and that He will see fit for us to give birth to a healthy, full-term baby that we can raise in the fear of the Lord!!  Thank you all for your prayers!!
"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  Exodus 14:14

There's been a lot going on

I haven't been in the blogging mood lately, but I really need to keep track of all that has been going on around here so I don't forget!!  Starting in January, Isaiah started playing upward basketball and Emma is cheering for his team.  They are both having a blast!!


The biggest news for the month of January is that I have a new nephew!!  He is super cute and we all love to hold him and visit him as often as we can!!  I just love to hold babies!!

At the end of January both of my big kids were baptized at church!!  This was a big decision for them both.  Ryan and I were so proud of their public declaration of faith.  What an awesome day to share with family and friends!!

And finally, yesterday we decorated Valentine cookies at my sister-in-laws house.  The kids always enjoy this tradition!!


That face says it all!!  Miss Olivia is a stinker!!  Well that's what we've been up to for the last month or so!!