Life in the Land of the Lanes

Raw{e} Desserts

2010-07-16T14:05:00.000-05:00

I'm joining Sailor and Company for the Raw{e} theme of the week Desserts!

I have participated in this before on my other blog, Because He Gave, and even posted a picture this week.

But, as I was going through getting ready to edit our 4th of July pictures I ran across this one and I am wishing I would have used it instead.

So, I decided to post it on this -almost forgotten- blog.

Record breaking Winter wonderland!

2010-02-12T12:59:00.002-06:00

Did you expect this post?

If you're in the Dallas area you could pretty much assume that I would have to blog about our record breaking snow fall, right?

The Weather Channel reported that the DFW area got over 12 inches of snow!!! Breaking all records in the past 111 years that records have been being kept for the weather.

So cool!!

Yesterday when the girls woke up to the winter wonderland outside they were dressed and playing outside before 8 am!

When I went upstairs I found them all sitting on the window seat in their room staring out the window at the beauty!

Audrey said 'look mommy! Ice!'

I said 'ice? oh you mean snow. Thats snow, Audrey!'

Audrey 'Oh, snow!!'

Here are the pictures from first thing in the morning.

Then, when Grandma and Grandpa got home they went down there and built a snowman with them!

After all the fun from yesterday we woke up to MORE snow having fallen!

As we're looking outside and watching it all start to melt away, we're trying to remember to soak all this in because there's a good chance....this will never happen again in any of our lifetimes.

And-because I just can't resist- I wonder how Obama feels right about now about that whole Global Warming theory...stuck inside the White House with over 3 feet of record breaking snow fall there in DC. Ha!

6 month ago

2010-01-30T22:16:00.000-06:00

6 months ago today our lives were forever changed.

Out of the mouths of babes...

2010-01-05T11:21:00.000-06:00

My friend Peggy reminded me that I needed to be making a written record of all the cute things my kids are saying, or doing, these days. We'll be able to look back and have a good laugh when they're older. For now, I usually just put them as my Facebook status updates. Here are a few from the past week or so....

this morning: Audrey was sneaking a piece of candy. When I saw what she had done she looked at me, gasped and turned her face the other direction,lol. Then I said 'Audrey did you get a piece of candy? You have to ask mommy first' she turned back to me and with candy drool pouring out she said 'mommy i ha pee cany pee?' who could resist that request?!

Yesterday: since I cant laugh about this outloud, I'm putting it on here. :) Audrey was upset I wasnt letting her do something so she said "youre mean mom!" (something shes heard her sisters say to each other, as much as try not to let that happen) and I looked at her and said Audrey... ready to scold her and she scrunched her ey...es and said "no! no!" knowing that is what was about to come out of my mouth.

Dec 30th: Audrey: Mommy, Bubby tuck. Me: Huh? Audrey: Bubby tuck!! I turn around to see Owen has gotten himself stuck under the dining table.

Earlier that day: Me: Girls what is Owen playing with? Girls: Jesus

Dec 22nd: Whew! back from finishing Christmas shopping with all 4 kids! They were all great, the 2 year old being the best. Go figure. We saw (from the food court above) Santa and Audrey was all into seeing him but when we walked past him downstairs she freaked out and covered her eyes saying "I cared! (scared)" good thing we ha...d no plans to actually pay money and visit him, lol.

Ok, so this one isnt out of the mouth of a babe, (well a baby at least, I call him a babe, LOL), but here is one about Derek...

Dec 4th: I think Derek has lost track of time. Earlier he said 'If I fell off your parents roof I would be fine. Im a skateboarder.' First off...my parents live in a very tall 2 story house. Secondly, I reminded him 'yeah, you were a skateboarder....LIKE 10 YEARS AGO!!!!' bwahahahahaha! What a hard dose of reality, realizing youre getting old!

OMGOSH! Just walked into my bedroom to find that Audrey had climbed into Owens crib where he was playing. Didnt know she was capable of that....yikes!

I think....

2009-12-29T23:35:00.000-06:00

.....we're crazy. Yep, I'm pretty sure we are. What do you think?

Our Challenge

4 months already!?!

2009-12-09T23:21:00.003-06:00

Where has the time gone?! Mr Owen is already 4 months old!! Hes getting so big! Hes rolling both ways. We're not used to this because none of the girls rolled over from their back to their bellies for a really long time. They were all too fat I think, lol. Owen is big, they were fat. Within the past week he has started scooting everywhere. Its the weirdest thing because hes still so young. I put him down on the ground and the next thing I know....hes scooted somewhere else. I don't really think he realizes what he's doing quite yet. Other then turning himself around, I do think he does that intentionally. The pushing himself backwards across the floor, not so much. Hes also sitting a lot more securely now as well.
At his check up he weighed in at a whopping 17 lbs 6.5 oz and was 26.5 inches tall. He's still a big boy. And ohhh sooo cute! I could just eat him up. Most of the time ;) Hes full of smiles and has the greatest personality. I think one of my favorite things right now is when Audrey wakes up in the morning and comes in our bed and she asks to hold 'Bubby' (as he is affectionatly called around here). The funny thing about this...hes almost as big as her! She only weighs 5 lbs more then he does!

My little sitter. Isnt he just the cutest thing!?

We're getting ready for Christmas around here. Dont forget to check out our new blog about what else we're up to!

We're giving Christmas Away!

2009-12-01T16:41:00.001-06:00

Check out what we're up to this December. We're giving Christmas away!

Laundry Day!

2009-11-16T11:00:00.002-06:00

This week my goal is to get completely caught up on laundry. I would say clothing, in general, is my biggest 'issue' in this house. First, I can never stay on top of it so its constantly overflowing. Second, when I do get anywhere close to being caught up there is no where to put everything! Derek and I are sharing 2 child size dressers with Owen and Audrey. That in itself is a recipe for disaster. Elisa and Ava have a dresser in their room that they share as well. But, in all honesty, the could each use a smaller one of their own. So, finding places for all this clean laundry is a task in itself! Also, we do not have enough closet space to hang a wardrobe X's 6 anywhere in this house.
Once we get a new master bedroom added on (which would have been lovely if it had been by now) we'll invest in a dresser for just Derek and me. We are also planning on making a HUGE closet in our room. Possibly a 'family' closet so everything goes to one place. That would be wonderful.
In the meantime, I have to figure out what to do with it all right now!
So far this morning I have 1 load folded, with help of my 2 big girls. Two are waiting to be folded. One is washing and 1 is drying. I have about 10 to go. Yeah, dont judge me :) Wish me luck!

While writing this I cant figure out what the rule of thumb would be on writing out numbers vs using digits. I know that you're supposed to stick with one method but starting out a sentence using a digit doesn't seem to be the proper way either. Thats why I mixed us the words and the digits at the end. Anyone want to correct me??

Look what I can do!

2009-11-13T17:53:00.006-06:00

At 3 months 2 weeks, to the day, look what Mr. Owen can do! We were sitting in the nursery this morning at our homeschool co-op and I sat him up and realized he could do it on his own! I didnt have my camera then so I took these pictures once we got home. Dont mind the naked bum...he was airing out. :) All 3 girls sat up early too. Oddly enough, each of them at 3 months 3 weeks. Guess Owen had to show them up ;)

One of my favorite baby stages is when they start grabbing their toes! Owen has been doing this for a couple weeks now. He hasnt started putting them in his mouth yet...I think thats a pretty cute too!

4 cute kiddos!

*Disclaimer: most babies dont sit up at 3 months. For whatever reason my kids all have. I always hesitate to share when my kids do something earlier then most other babies their ages. Out of fear of someone thinking Im "bragging" but mostly because I would hate to make someone else, with a baby the same age as mine, feel bad because mine is doing something theirs isnt yet. All babies are different. There have been different times over the past 8 years that my kids havent been doing something someone elses kiddo has. I always remind myself 'all babies are different and do things on different timelines.' Just wanted to throw that out there!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

2009-10-17T21:19:00.007-05:00

I have 3 days events that I need to post pics of and blog about so I'm gonna start with today and work my ways backwards over the next few days. Wow, that was a long sentence!

We went to the pumpkin patch today with some friends from our church.
Its the same pumpkin patch that we went to on Audrey's 1st birthday last year. I cant believe a week from tomorrow our baby girl will be 2! We would have never dreamed on that day that a year from then we'd have 4 kids and our 1st boy!

Thought this was a funny pic. Didnt realize Ava was hanging in the background until I looked at the pictures on the computer.

Ava having a blast swinging.

I think I can reach it...just a little further....

Daddy and Audrey

Showing me her tiny pumpkin

Elisa having fun swinging

Family. I think this is the first family picture since the hospital.

All 4 kiddos! Amazing theyre all looking in the same direction!

Headed to the maze. Elisa and Ava are such great big sisters. Always taking care of Audrey. They never mind her tagging along and actually encourage it!

O-man wasnt a very happy camper, but still O so cute ;)

Ahhhh....a full belly makes all the difference in the world!

All is Vanity

2009-09-22T13:41:00.003-05:00

Derek and I posed a question to ourselves last night.

'If we knew we only had a certain amount of time left with life as we know it would there be anything we'd change?'

Its amazing the things that quickly become so unimportant when you put them in perspective. Our number one thing we'd do differently would be to read the Word more, learn the Word more and teach the Word to our kids more.
Another top thing would be to stop wasting time on the Internet. *confession* He doesn't as much as I do but we realized we just replaced TV with the Internet.
If anyone has been reading this blog since back in January you'll remember we did away with the TV for 3 main reasons. 1) We didnt want to spend the money on it anymore. Working towards becoming debt free makes you rethink the things you spend money on. 2) Whats on TV isnt what we want flowing into our home. Even if you just watching the 'harmless' things, like say preschool cartoons or documentaries, there are still commercials promoting lifestyles and values we dont want our kids being fed. So, why PAY for it to be in our home?! And finally 3) the time we'd spend watching TV in the evenings or on the weekends or even during the day was time spent away from spending time as a family together. (On a side note: not all TV is bad and if you choose to watch TV we dont think youre bad.....necessarily ;) )
But, we've realized the time we would have normally been spending watching a TV show we now spend online.....seperately (for the most part). So, we've gotten rid of one thing and replaced it with something different. Kinda defeats the purpose of that. So, wasting time online is another big thing we'd give the boot to if we knew we only had a certain amount of time left with life as we know it.
Some more things we listed were what we find value in. Things like clothes or eating out or spending money on things we want would be quickly thrown off the list. Its amazing the things we think that are important but quickly find unimportant when life changes.
Derek and I got new Bibles this past weekend. (I found small little ESV Bibles on sale at Family Bookstores this weekend so I could justify it. Besides we've been needing an ESV since thats what our church uses in corporate worship.) In these Bibes are a 1 year reading plan so we thought that would be a good thing to start reading together at nights. It would give us some direction in our reading. Something seperate besides family devotions.
So, last night Derek opened it up and read the passages it listed. Can I just say one of the sweetest sounds to my ears is hearing my husband read the Word to me and to our family! The Old Testiment reading was Prov. 31-Ecc.1. I think its funny how the Lord will direct you to exactly what you need to hear right at that moment. Lots of Christian women look to Prov 31 as a way to live. I've read it a million times but last night this stuck out in my mind:

27 She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

The Lord has been dealing with me on wasting time and 'eating the bread of idleness' so to speak. How appropriate for that to be one of the scriptures we read!
Then on to Ecclesiastes 1. All is vanity. Wow. How true that everything is meaningless and pales in comparison to Jesus! Just reinforcing what Derek and I had been talking about! Our relationship and walk with God and extending His Kingdom is what our life should be about. Yet, we replace it and fill that need with stuff. Stuff to distract from what is really important.
God is so good and just continues to show us how real and powerful He is! I can't help but stand amazed at how He shows us how much He loves us. Just directing us to scriptures we need to hear is such a sweet gift!
So....I ask you to ponder this:

If you knew we only had a certain amount of time left with life as we know it would there be anything you'd change?
Shouldn't we be living everyday as though it were our last?

Children of Caesar

2009-09-17T11:43:00.003-05:00

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before but I was watching it again today and thought it needed to be posted again. LOVE Voddie Baucham!

In the meantime

2009-09-15T22:10:00.006-05:00

I have something I really would like to blog about but Im praying for wisdom and the right words to say what I want to say. Something thats very heavy on my heart lately but something that everyone does not see eye to eye on. So, in the meantime here are some pictures of my driving force :)

Weird expression on Audreys face but this is her 4th of July outfit I made her. While uploading these pics I realized I never posted about our 4th of July!

Elisa's 4th of July shirt.

Super Ava

Audrey and Owen....I cant believe how much they look alike in this picture!

Ava dressed for a tea party we had a Mimi's house.

Sweet little Audrey face.

Mr. Smiles at 5 wks

Little cool dude dressed just like Daddy. From the pearl snap shirt to the Vans on his feet!

He's a hoss!

2009-08-27T21:08:00.004-05:00

Owen had his 4 week check up today. This is the first time we've ever been to a 4 week check up. Normally its 2 weeks and then 2 months...from what I remember at least, lol. We also did Elisa's 8 year check up. I think it was pretty much pointless but since we're going to a new pediatrician I went ahead and set up a well check with Owen's so she would be considered an "established" patient next time I need a sick visit. I hated switching Pedi's since we had been at our old one for so long and they had literally watched the girls grow up but since we made the decision to stop vaccinating and they didn't agree or respect that decision it was time for a change. I found a non-vaxing or delayed vaxing friendly Dr (these are VERY hard to find) about an hour and 15 mins away. She also will treat naturally first before jumping to prescribe antibiotics or other meds. Since we live out of town thats a drive but we have to drive everywhere we need to get so its not too bad. Today we saw the nurse practitioner and I actually liked her better than the actual Dr. So, I wont mind seeing either one of them which is a good thing since its pretty hard to get an appt at this place. (But still worth it since she lets you make your own decision on your childs health without making you feel guilty if you choose something thats might not be the "norm")
Enough about the Dr aren't you dying to know Owen's stats??! ;) hehe Well our big boy just keeps getting bigger! LOL He weighed in at a whopping 12 lbs 4 oz and 23 inches. So, hes gained just 5 ounces shy of 2 lbs and grown an inch....in a month! Actually hes gained 2 full lbs since they lose some weight after birth, which he did. Hes in the 98% for weight and the 92% for height. But, if you've known any of our other ones as babies you know we make fat babies. I guess I should say my milk grows fat babies, lol. Our old pedi once said to me (when I was nursing Audrey) "Man Lindsay you dont make milk you make cream! You could nourish an entire 3rd world country!" LOL I thought that was pretty funny!
Whats funny about having such fat babies is around 2 or so they start to thin right out and become a normal weight kid. Elisa didnt pull such big numbers. But...we knew she wouldnt. Shes pretty little for her age. She came in at 2% for height. Apparently shes gets to be short like me...and my mom, lol. We keep telling her shes gonna be just like us and to be prepared for Ava to be taller. Which we're pretty sure is gonna happen. On the other hand, I think Audrey may be even littler than Elisa!
So, there ya have it. The big (har har) news about Owen at 1 month.

My beautiful children

2009-08-26T13:04:00.008-05:00

My good friend Lauren at lwnphotography.com took these pictures of the kids at the Dallas Arboretum 2 weeks ago. Its taken me this long to post them! I'm so thrilled with how they turned out! The kids did awesome despite a little bit of fake smiles by the oldest 2, lol.

Notice what happened in this next picture.......

Owen pee'd! All over me and on poor Audreys head! She wasnt too thrilled.

We have smiles!

2009-08-20T19:00:00.003-05:00

Here is Owen smiling. He started smiling last Friday at 2 weeks old. Yes, I know thats really early but let me reassure you...this is my 4th baby and I know the difference between a gas smile and a real smile. ;) Although this isnt the best picture its the only one Ive been able to capture so far. Everytime Mr Man smiles and I pull the camera out from hiding to snap it he stops and is too distracted by the red light to continue smiling at me. Now whenever he wakes up from sleeping as soon as he sees me smiling and looking at him he just starts grinning away! Its so sweet! I love this little guy!
So, for now, here is the picture of Owen smiling :)

2 weeks old!

2009-08-14T10:13:00.005-05:00

Ready for a picture overload?!?!

Owen is now 2 weeks old and I realized I havent updated this blog with pictures since his birth! Im sorry to those friends and family who arent on Facebook bc I always forget to update this bc I figure most people have already seen the pics over there. (on FB) I'll try and get better so yall can keep up with the goings ons in our lives better!
Owen is such a great baby! Rarely cries and sleeps wonderfully! Hes only waking once a night to eat. While I would never recommend letting an infant sleep that long to someone whos trying to breastfeed, bc it can affect your supply, I figure since I was so still so recently nursing Audrey my milk is still pretty much established. And...letting him sleep hasnt affected my supply so yippee! I get sleep! :) Hes also a very alert little guy. When hes awake hes just looking around or focusing on whoever is holding him.
I think one of the most asked questions is...how is Audrey doing? Audrey is doing really well actually. Shes handling not being the baby anymore great. She hasnt shown jealousy towards the baby and loves being close to him.
Elisa and Ava are HUGE helps. Honestly, I dont know how I would manage having babies 21 months apart if I didnt have my 2 big girls to help. They'll grab me diapers and wipes when I need them or hold the baby when I need to run potty and hes fussing. They never complain about being helpers and are always ready to help with happy attitudes. (well when it comes to helping with baby stuff at least! lol)

Owen Matthew has arrived!

2009-08-01T21:59:00.005-05:00

Well Owen has finally made his entrance into the world!! Heres a birth story to let you know how everything went. Hopefully this isnt too long and full of too many details. I'll try and limit the TMI. :)

I went in Thursday morning at 42 weeks to have a low dose induction so I could have a VBA3C. I was started on a very low dose of pitocin, which wasnt how I had planned on going into labor. But given that I was 42 weeks and nothing was happening we just all felt it was the best option. My other option would have been a repeat c/s which I did not want.
I started out dilated to about a 1, but this was with the Dr forcing that. Baby was about a +3 station and I was about 50% effaced. Not the greatest news being 42 weeks but oh well. I labored on the Pit for 11 hours before the Dr checked me again. He wanted to give me all the time he could to make some progress. The nurse I had was AWESOME and they honored my birth plan as much as was possible considering it was starting out not being the natural labor I had hoped for. I changed positions as much as possible to help things along and stay comfortable.

After 11 hours the Dr came back and checked me. I had made absolutely no progress after contractions that were 3-4 mins apart. NONE. I had wondered why my internal checks were always so uncomfortable (well theyre NEVER comfortable) and it seemed he had to go really far up to check my cervix but just thought thats how it was supposed to be. At this point he sat down with my hubby, me and my mom (who made it up there just in time to help us make the decision). I didnt have our doula with us at this time bc I kept waiting to see how I was making progress before having her come sit and wait it out with us when nothing was really happening even though she kept reminding me it was her job. I still felt like it could be a waste of time. So he gave me 3 options along with reminding me he was a patient man and we'd do whatever I wanted to.

Option 1) go ahead and do a c/s bc of the lack of progress through 11 hours of laboring on the Pit and being 42 weeks pregnant.
Option 2) break my water (at only 1 centimeter) and see if that helped anything along
Option 3) go home, wait a few more days and see if anything happened.

At first he didnt give his opinion, he wanted us to make our own decision but after much hounding he gave in. He said Ive labored a long time and made no progress, which is not what we wanted and not a good thing considering I was 42 weeks. He then said that I have a tilted uterus and the babies head was on the wrong side of my pelvic bone, which is why his head wasnt engaging and helping to open me up. He was hoping that labor might reposition things. He also said thats why it was so hard and painful to reach my cervix. With the option of breaking my water he could then push his head up and over my pelvic bone and into the birth canal but there was no guarantee it would stay that way. And we could be back in the same spot 5 hours from now after more labor. He also said he felt nothing prompting his spirit to continue on with this VBAC, as much as we and he wanted it to be successful. We really trusted his opinion bc of his strong faith and the fact he reminded us often that he prays for wisdom and guidance in these births. So, as much as I wanted to VBAC we decided in the end a repeat c-section was the best option. Now I know this is exactly what happened with Elisa as well. Why that Dr never figured out the problem I dont know. Although my Dr didnt tell us before this time I think he knew since he checked me at 39 weeks and was just hoping that the end of pregnancy it would move into the proper position. I appreciated the fact that he allowed me to labor to see if that made it get into position without just discouraging trying and sending us straight to the OR.
So, with that decision made we were prepped and ready for a c/s within abut 45 mins. I was very nervous about the surgery even though I had already been through it 3 previous times. I felt nauseous while they were giving me the spinal so he put some Zophran (sp?) into my IV. That helped. Then during the surgery there was a certain point in my belly where I could feel what was going on. It wasnt awful pain but it wasnt only tugging, pushing and pulling like it should have been either. So, he gave me some medicine through a gas mask to make me sleepy but not asleep. I did not like this feeling at all and did not want to be out when Owen was finally here. I remember fighting falling asleep and the loss of control. I was holding Dereks hand and I remember my hand going limp in his and thinking Please Lord dont let me fall asleep Im afraid I wont wake up. Of course that wasnt true but for some reason at the time with the loss of control I was having the thought was there. I remember the anesthesiologist saying "Lindsay are you ok? Lindsay?" I finally managed to wiggle the mask off my face, lol. Derek told me afterwards that when all that was happening he was kinda scared as well.
Finally Owen was born, at 8:10 pm, to which everyone commented "Omgosh Hes huge". This was the exact same things I heard when Elisa was born. The anesthesiologist also informed me had had kidney function bc by the time he was taken from me to the warmer he had already sprayed 2 nurses :)
Derek went to the nursery with him to make sure they followed our wishes on no eye ointment and no Hep B shot and of course no bottles. Well, he also went to be there with Owen ;) The nurses in the OR couldnt resist anymore and called the nursery to check his stats.
10 lbs 9 oz
21 3/4 in long
15.5 in chest and
14.5 in head.
He was a big boy!
They finished closing me up and wheeled me to recovery. I was told I had to stay there for an hour but as long as baby was doing fine and maintaining his temp they would bring him in to nurse. Once in recovery they began the Pit to help shrink my uterus back. I was so glad that Hannah, my doula, was there with me in recovery while Derek was with Owen. All of a sudden my heart started racing and pounding. I told the nurse and she agreed that my heart rate was fast. It was normally in the 90s and was currently between about 145-160 and wouldnt slow down. She told me to take deep breaths and relax so I tried. BUt that didnt work. They brought Owen in and she thought sitting up and nursing him would help me to calm down and slow my heart rate. As she sat me up I was getting light headed and told her I wouldnt be able to hold him (for fear of dropping him bc I felt weak). So, she layed me back down. They called my Dr in and he looked concerned watching the monitor and my heart rate not going down. He told them to turn down the Pit and then asked if I had seen my baby yet? THey told him what had happened and he said well lay the baby next to her and let her feed him, she needs to nurse her baby that will help her relax. (Can I just say what a great Dr!) So thats what they did. It did help my heart rate to drop the 140s and 130s consistently until the Pit was stopped.
Owen latched on and nursed like a pro. Considering his size Im sure he was already hungry, lol.
We finally got to go back to our room and introduce the girls to their new brother. They fell in love and were so excited he was finally here! Even Audrey was super excited about "baby brober."
The nursing staff at this hospital was awesome. They let me have jello and juice right after surgery, every other time Ive had to wait until the next day. That in itself made me feel so much better since i hadnt eaten since about 6 am.
Owen has continued to want to nurse constantly but Im ok with that bc hes a big boy and I know the more hes nursing the quicker my milk is going to come in and then he'll be satisfied! The discharged us and let us go home less than 48 hours after the surgery, which was awesome.
Even though I had all my ideals going into this labor and birth and really nothing went as planned Im so grateful that the Lord brought me to a Dr who allowed me to try as hard as I did for this VBA3C. He let me go to 42 week and let me have a trial of labor which most Drs wouldnt dream of doing esp if they thought I'd still end up with a c/s in the end. Im disappointed but Im at peace with it all, just like I prayed I would be if it didnt go "my way". I must also admit being somewhat small framed, 5'1 and about 110 lbs pre-preggo, the thought of a 10.5 lb baby with a 15.5 inch chest coming vaginally makes me wonder how much damage I would have suffered. Also, the nurses made the comment he would have probably had shoulder dystcia bc of his size. Whether or not thats true, the thought that he could have is scary!
In the end we're home with a big (literally) beautiful baby boy blessing all to the glory of God!!!!

Yes, Im still pregnant

2009-07-17T21:37:00.003-05:00

As much as I would LOOOOVEEEE to not be pregnant anymore, and have little Owen here with us, I am still pregnant.
Although Im *only* 40 weeks 2 days at this point I am getting very anxious and impatient. My last 2 pregnancies didnt last past 38 weeks and I only went 2 more days (than I am now) with Elisa before being induced. I am trying to trust in the Lords timing.....but am constantly reminding Him that I really am done being pregnant ;)
We walked over 2 miles today. Doesnt seem like much but when youre this pregnant and 50+ lbs heavier than normal you'd think that that much walking would do something. But, as soon as we're done walking any contractions Im having tapper off. UGH!
Please pray for me to endure the rest of this time being pregnant. God is good and I know Owen will come in His perfect timing, I just dont feel I can wait much longer! LOL

Happy Birthday Elisa....the dangers of Pit

2009-07-10T09:41:00.002-05:00

Today we're celebrating the birth of our oldest daughter Elisa. It was 8 years ago today that she made her entrance into the world and forever changed Derek and my lives. To look back and see how God has used the birth of that little baby to transform our future is truly amazing. God is good.
As I sit and think about her birth day, other than getting to FINALLY have her here with us, I cant say I recall that great of a day. I was on day 4 (yes you read that right) of a failed induction done much too early when my body obviously wasnt ready. After being prepped with cervidil and pumped with Pitocin all day Friday we were sent home because nothing was happening. We were told to come back on Sunday afternoon July 8th (Dereks bday) and we would start the process all over again. So, the cervidil was inserted again and the pit was started...again. By Monday afternoon (yes the next day) I was showing no signs of progress so they decided to stop the pit and let me eat to regain some energy. By that night I was back on the pit. By early Tuesday morning I still was making very very little progress even with all the uping of the Pit they were doing. So, of course *rolls eyes* the logical thing was to break my water....that should get things rolling. By this time poor little Elisa had had Pitocin contractions off and on for 4 days. When they broke my water it wasnt clear (it had merconium). So, that signaled baby was in distress. The next step was a c-section.
First, let me say this. When someone found out which Dr I was using and the fact I was on Medicaid the comment was made "oh you;'re using him? he loves doing c-sections for Medicaid patients" to which I replied "uh I dont think so. I will not end up with a c/s". Little did I know.
I was so uninformed and uneducated about everything childbirth related that I didnt realize the dangers of being induced. I just trusted this Dr blindly. Ugh.
Well, once it was decided that I would have a c/s I was whisked away to the OR and given a spinal block to which I was NOT told what they were doing. It wasnt until I felt a "bee sting" in my bottom that I jumped and was told to be still, they were putting a spinal block in. Gee..thanks for telling me. I guess thats the treatment you get when you're 18 and giving birth and your husband isnt allowed back there to support you. Derek was finally allowed back there once I was strapped to the table...crying bc I had never envisioned myself getting a c/s. Elisa was eventually pulled out, which of course I couldnt see bc of the sheet hanging, to which everyone in the OR was exclaiming "omgosh look at those feet, looks at those hands, shes huge!" "No wonder she wasnt coming, her head is huge". All Im thinking is WTHeck have I given birth too!? They held her over the sheet and I fell in love with that short, fat little baby girl :) (for the record she was 9lbs 2 oz and 19 1/2 inches long)
After that quick glance she was taken away for her APGAR reading and whatever else they deemed necessary to do to her while I was taken to "recovery". I was in there for a loooong time...shaking and itching the entire time. Finally I was allowed to be taken to a room and eventually (we're talking about a total of 3 hours later) Elisa was brought to the room so we could finally meet. Along with Elisa came an entourage of other people. So, Derek and I never got the opportunity to bond as a family....just the 3 of us, right away like is said to be so important right after birth.
After all of these people being in my room for awhile my mom and I finally decided it was time to give nursing a shot and shooed everyone out of the room. She was a pro! Finally one thing went right that day! I am so blessed to have never had nursing issues with that sweet little baby. Even after our prolonged meeting.
In hindsight I see everything that went wrong and was done wrong over the course of those 4 days. Its a miracle I ever wanted to "give birth" again! But I did and I went on to have Ava and Audrey via re-peat c/s bc of course I was told it was "too dangerous" and my babies were too big to have them vaginally. What a bunch of horse poo!
After my recovery from my 3rd c/s with Audrey being so bad I knew that if we had anymore kids....things would be different. So, I started educating myself on VBACs (Vaginal births after c-sections) and VBA3C (vag birth after 3 c/s) in my case. I found out that the chance of uterin ruputure is only .05-.2%. THATS IT! I also came to the conclusion, through reading birth stories and talking with others, that its very rare that God will create a baby in a women that she cant birth herself. Makes sense, doesnt it?? God doesnt make mistakes!
So, here I am 8 years later...to the day of all that mess but ultimately recieving our first blessing, waiting on our fourth blessing to arrive. He will come into this world in a completely different way. In a way that I have planned and doing things through birth that are my wishes...not just blindly allowing a Dr to make all the calls. And, in the end if everything doesnt go exactly as planned I know that I have given it all to the Lord and whatever happens is all in my best interest.
I thought it was appropriate today to link to a post by Jenn over at Knitted in the Womb. Shes from one of my yahoo VBAC support groups and has shared so much wisdom and info about VBACing and natural childbirth, and has a great blog to help educate others on these things.

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY ELISA!!

3 more weeks?

2009-07-09T12:47:00.003-05:00

Just thought I should start off clarifying that the pregnancy ticker on the right side of this blog is incorrect. I wish I only had 3 days until my EDD but in actuality I have 7. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel at this point! The most I have left is 3 weeks from today!! So.now.we.wait.
Since I'm trying for a VBAC3C I can't be induced. It raises the (very very slight) risk of uterin rupture when you pump the artificial hormones (pitocin) in to induce labor. So, we have to let it take place completely naturally. I was getting really discouraged bc while I had mentally prepared this entire time to go to 42 weeks and have a 10 lb baby (and anything less would be great!) everyone around me keeps making the "theres no way you can make it to 40 weeks" remarks. So, I started thinking hey maybe I'll have this baby early. But, so far...no such luck. We even went walking one night last week at 7 pm when it was still 103 degrees outside. Talk about desperation. We walked a 1.25 miles in that heat! Well the girls rode their bikes, Derek and I walked. Anyways, no amount of walking, evening prime rose oil or anything else seems to be kicking me into labor.
I was kinda discouraged the other day after my Drs appt, (I mean c'mon who really wants to be scheduling their 40 week appt?!?) but as Derek and I were talking the Lord suddenly (ha) reminded me of Phillipians 4:6-7.

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I love how the Lord will remind you of the most perfect scripture at the most perfect times! Ive been listening to everyone else and letting the anxiety of when labor will happen creep in. But here the Lord reminds me not to do that. To trust in Him, pray about it and His peace will fill me. I'll take it Lord!!! So, now we wait...patiently. Remembering that we gave this pregnancy to Him in the first place. Knowing that when I got pregnant it would be in HIS perfect timing...so why would I think that this baby wont come in His perfect timing as well?! I guess if that means I'm pregnant for another 3 weeks then so be it. I guess that also means that I trust that if Owen doesnt come in the next 3 weeks and I have to end up with a repeat c-section the Lord is still in control and knows best. He knows that there are man made laws my Dr has to abide by even if he doesnt think theyre right. I think that would officially fall into the "not wanting to trust" category for me though. But, God knows how bad I want to VBA3C, so I'll just trust.....and wait.

Apparently I'm a slacker mom as well....

2009-06-25T20:36:00.002-05:00

This is what happens when you're a slacker mom and you're busy blogging. Your 4 yr old asks if she can heat her pizza up in the microwave and you say "yeah sure" not really listening to the question. The next thing you know you smell smoke and turn to see the kitchen filled with smoke pouring out of the microwave.

Label me a slacker blogger

2009-06-25T18:32:00.006-05:00

Well apparently its been 2 days shy of month since I last posted on here.
PATHETIC.
Yes, I know.
I guess Ive been busy. Its been quite a month. Ive entered my last month of pregnancy (woohoo!), lost one of the closest relatives in my life and have been trying to let the girls enjoy as much summer activity as possible before Owen makes his appearance.
On June 2nd my closest aunt went to be with Jesus. She had suffered over a year with the return of breast cancer and we were really relieved that she was finally healed and in the presence of the Lord. And shes getting to be with her mom and dad who both died within the past 6 years. But at the same time so sad that we were losing her here on earth. She left behind her hubby of 34 years and my 2 precious cousins, Megan and Mandy, who are 24 and 22. Much too young to lose their mom.
I'm currently 37 weeks pregnant. In the end stretch!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! I cant wait to finally get to meet little Owen!! The big girls are super excited to be getting another baby and baby brother!!!! And Audrey knows that my big tummy has a baby in it. Although, let be honest....shes in for a surprise here in the next few weeks. Poor thing. Fortunately shes fascinated with babies so thats a plus.
My Dr yesterday confirmed what I already figured to be true. Owen will be big. He said he already has a big head and is probably around 7 lbs currently. So, by 40 weeks we're looking around 9 lbs. Which is what we expected. So now Im praying he'll come before the 40 week mark so I have a greater chance of a successful VBA3C. The biggest hindrance in my case is how small my frame is and how big my babies are. So Im just trying to remind myself that the Lord doesn't make mistakes and He wouldn't create a baby in me that I can't birth the way He intended.
Since life will dramatically change in the next few weeks (with a newborn, 20 month old, *almost* 5 yr old and *almost* 8 yr old) Ive been trying to let the girls do as much as possible. I know once Owen gets here I wont be able to get out and about as much by myself with a newborn and busy 20 month old. My big girls are such HUGE helps but I still am thinking it will be difficult. I know in time I'll get the hang of it but probably not before the end of summer, lol. Just thinking realistically here!
So, here are some pics to show what we've been up to in the past month.....

Here is the crib bumper and sheet I made for Owen's crib. I just need to finish the crib skirt and it will be complete!

A few weeks ago we attended a family reunion at a local lake for Dereks side of the family. Here are the girls, in one of the cabins, with their brand new cousin Lane!!! Audrey just kept petting his little head saying baby baby.

Nothing special about this picture except the subject ;)

Some clowns from the Ringling Bros circus made an appearance at our local library to promote the reading program. The girls have to read 5 books and they'll earn free tickets to the circus!

Watching the clowns with their friends Colin (cant see him) and Ellie, next to Ava (who has the clown nose on).

Summer fun swimming at Mimi and Papa's house.

Cousins in town from Thailand. Always special when they're in town!

Cousin Jayla, so cute!

Audrey and Jayla playing in the baby pool. They look the same age but theyre 5 1/2 months apart, lol. Audrey is just still so little. And obviously bald babies run in my side of the family!!

Elisa and the girls friend Katie having fun swimming!

It doesnt get this cheap even at Wal-Mart!

2009-05-24T15:49:00.005-05:00

I just had to blog about these great deals I got this weekend!! Carters is one of my favorite places to shop for my kiddos because they have such cute and comfy stuff but also because I always have a coupon and they run such great sales!! I got a coupon in my email last week for 25% off a purchase of at least $40. Usually the coupons they send are 20% off a purchase of $50, so the coupon they sent this week was even better than usual! Plus they were having their Memorial Day sale and everything already clearanced was an additional 30% the clearance price.
I was planning on just picking up some outfits for Audrey since shes FINALLY starting to outgrow her 6-12 month clothes. (Yes, you read that right. My 19 month old is just now outgrowing her 6-12 month clothes...but thats a whole other topic in itself.) So, she needed some summer outfits that fit. I guess I had already sold all of Ava's old 12-18 mo Summer stuff because we just *knew* we weren't going to have any more girls.....hardy har har. Anyways, so there were no hand-me-downs waiting to unload from a bin.
As I was checking out I noticed a boys diaper bag marked down to $7.99!!!! A brand new Carters diaper bag for $7.99! Even if it wasnt exactly what I wanted or envisioned for my first BOY diaper bag...for $8 I was getting it!!! Then, since it was on clearance it was an additional 30% off plus my coupon brought it down another 25% off. After all the discounts I paid $4.47 for a brand new Carters diaper bag!!! Did you read that?!?!

$4.47 for this NEW diaper bag!!
I dont think I could get that great of a deal at a garage sale or at Wal-Mart!

Then, while I'm still looking at the diaper bag Derek and the girls start going through a bin of boys shirts marked down to $3.99 with an aditional 30% off. After seeing those 2 great deals we asked her to suspend our transaction and headed to the boys clearance racks.

This is what we ended up snagging for $26.78!!

3 pairs of pants

5 shirts

3 jackets

The total cost of these pieces from the same "collection": $8.92!!!

This complete outfit total cost: $7.81

I can say I'm mighty proud and excited about these awesome deals!!! I didn't pay more than $4.47 for anything!
I think its pretty cool at how the Lord blessed us with these great deals! If you knew me even 2-3 years ago you would know how OBSESSED with kids clothes I was. Gymboree was my FAVORITE place to shop and actually pretty much the only place I shopped for the girls. I can't really say we could afford it but I would justify it because I only ever bought stuff on sale, always took advantage of Gymbucks and then re-sold the clothes when they outgrew them. There were several seasons that I made MORE money back on their used clothes than I actually spent on them. I got really good at making great looking ebay listings that would make good money. BUT...then the Lord started dealing with my heart on materialism and my literal addiction to Gymboree. So I prayed and prayed he would take away my desire for their clothes. I know that sounds silly but I literally had an awful Gymboree addiction. I would day dream about outfits and wouldn't be settled until I got to buy them for the girls. So, I finally got a job there to recieve the discount and low and behold thats what God used to break my addiction! I got so sick of their clothes and lines that I stopped shopping there almost altogether! I used to not be able to go in there without spending money and now I can walk in there and if its not say under like 10 bucks....I'm not buying it! That is a HUGE change for me! I still think the quality of their clothes far surpasses most brands. And Ava still wears the hand-me-downs from Elisa and they still look brand new. But Ive been delivered from that addiction and learned to be a better steward of the funds that the Lord has entrusted to us.
So now I can get super excited about great deals like I find at Carters and save LOTS of money!

1 Dozen Donuts for only .99 at Krispy Kreme!!!!

2009-05-22T22:00:00.002-05:00

When I saw this I was just so excited I had to share with anyone who doesn't read the frugal blogs out there. (Since this was posted on most of them)
Tomorrow, May 23, Krispy Kreme is offering 1 dozen donuts for only .99!!!!!! The closest Krispy Kreme is 45 mins away so we wont be taking advantage of the deal :( But I know lots of my friends live close to one so I really think you should indulge!!!!
ENJOY and eat a few for me! :)

Can I tell you what drives me crazy?

2009-05-22T11:30:00.003-05:00

It drives me crazy when people who have done NO research and made NO attempt to educate themselves on the subject of VBACs try and tell me how "dangerous" it is. And to "be careful". Or respond with "well I never attempted a VBAC bc its just too risky". I want to say...oh really? And you base this on what information? You've read what studies and books to base your fears on?? The response is oh well my Dr wouldnt let me do one bc its too dangerous. Well my friend, did you bother asking your Dr what information s/he is basing that on??? Has your Dr even educated her/himself on VBACs or is there fear based solely on legal fears??
I'm in the middle of reading Silent Knife and I am constantly stopping and having to read excerpts to Derek bc I am/was sooooo clueless on all of this! I have spent the past yr or so (give or take a few months) educating myself on this subject so I can be totally prepared and make an educated and informed decision on how Owen makes his entrance into the world.
I learned this week that having repeat c-sections are MORE dangerous than a VBAC!! Get that?! MORE dangerous! The risks associated with repeat c/s are far greater than those associated with VBACs. That the current stats we have on the risk of uterine rupture (which is what most Drs will tell you you have a HUGE chance of happening) are actually incorrect bc they're based on studies where instances were classified as uterine rupture but were actually not uterine rupture at all. And that women who have NEVER had a c/s also have a risk of uterine rupture. There was also one study I was reading about that pointed out that of all the women participating in the study NONE, let me repeat that...NONE of the women having or attempting a VBAC suffered uterine rupture but 2, yes 2, women who had never had a c/s experienced uterine rupture. Interesting. And since the risk of uterine rupture with a repeat c/s LESS than 2%....Im willing to take that risk over the risks associated to me and the baby with having a repeat c/s.
My mother in law had an OB she used to work for tell her I had this HUGE chance of uterine rupture and it was so dangerous and if it happened there would only be 14 mins to save mine and the babies lives. Again....UNTRUE!! And this is an OB!??!?! Ugh, just sickening how these people we trust to help us bring our babies into the world are they themselves so uneducated!
It drives me absolutely crazy when people just buy into information without doing the research themselves!!!!!
So, before you try and let me know how dangerous attempting a VBAC is.....please be prepared to show me what you base that on. :)

Dallas Arboretum

2009-05-05T18:50:00.006-05:00

A couple weeks ago my friend Crystal and I took the girls to the Dallas Arboretum to take some pretty Spring pictures. Crystal took her good work camera and got some gorgeous pics but here are some of the ones I got with my point and shoot. This wasnt supposed to be the "Audrey show" but I guess because shes the baby we naturally take more pictures of her. I figure since shes getting the shortest time to be the baby of the family then any of the girls so far, then taking more pictures of her right now is ok. Only 10 more weeks and her role as baby will be taken over by Owen.

Wheres the bird Audrey??

Audrey ran off in the grass and started spinning in circles and singing. Im guessing she was singing Ring Around the Rosies bc she fell down and started cracking up......

........She then did this. Silly girl!

e
p

I cant believe how old my biggest little girl is getting. :(

This was Ava's very own pose. She plopped herself right down on the walkway :)

This is Audreys 'official' 18 mo picture. She was 10 days shy of turing 18 months old.

My 3 sweet girls. What a gift to have 3 girls!

On a journey with cancer

2009-04-28T13:34:00.002-05:00

A couple months ago our old pastor was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma Cancer. He has been video journaling his journey. Its such an encouragement to watch his faith remain strong through this life changing event. If you have some time I highly recommend taking the time to watch all 7 entries (so far). They can be found at Livingway Church.
Also, will you take some time to lift up these people in our lives currently battling cancer?
My Aunt Gail, my closest aunt, has been battling breast cancer, that has returned and spread, for the past year now. Please pray for peace for her right now and we'll always take complete healing!!
Pastor Ted...mentioned above
Tom Shirey- this is the father of a family in our homeschool group. They have 8 kids, the youngest being Ava's age (4). Their 2 girls are part of a girls group Elisa and Ava attend and although we dont know them all that well they appear to be a family truly serving and following the Lord. He was diagnosed with Lymphoma last week and is undergoing very intense chemo every 12 hours. Yes you read that right, every 12 hours. Pray for complete healing, peace for his wife and kids and for his kidenys to function properly so they can continue the aggressive chemo.
My moms uncle was also diagnosed with cancer about a month ago as well as Dereks moms cousins husband. That sounds like my friends brothers sister in laws dog, but its part of the family even if its not super close. Pray that if they dont know the Lord he would bring them to Him should the cancer win.
Cancer pretty much just stinks!

Ive been sewing lately

2009-04-23T08:57:00.004-05:00

I havent blogged in awhile...oops!!! We've been pretty busy lately. It seems between now and when Owen arrives we dont have a spare second. Whether thats good or bad Im not sure. I got a sewing bug this week so the past 2 days Ive been sewing. The house is a disaster but here is what Ive made :)

This fabric is probably some of my favorite Ive ever bought. I had to figure out the perfect outfit for it. Now Elisa wants a skirt and shirt from it and Ava wants a dress! Im excited to go buy some more!!

This is the back of the outfit I was trying to get pics of Audrey modeling above. I LOVE the ruffles on the back of the bloomers.

Elisa didnt want a matching outfit with this fabric. So, here are Audrey and Ava's outfits.

Silly girls!

Audreys dress and bow. It didnt look crooked before the pics...hmm.....
Ava's skirt and bow

8 Years and Counting

2009-04-08T21:32:00.002-05:00

Today Derek and I celebrate our 8th wedding anniversary. Guess we made it past the 7 year itch....lol. Actually there was never really an itch, I just wanted to say it. :) Anyways, I look back on the past 8 years and I am just in awe of how amazing God is and how blessed we are. To have started out not on the "right foot" so to say, its so cool so see how God has taken our situation and turned it for good! Just like the Word promises! Its also awesome to sit back and look at the past years and see how far God has taken us in our faith as a family. He's been faithful in giving me the desires of my heart because theyve turned into desires that glorify Him. I'm so blessed to have a husband who sees the importance of me being home with our girls and not working. He's willing to make big sacrifices materially so we are only a single income family. Unlike most guys in our generation who would rather be driving a nice car, living in a nice suburband neighborhood and having lots of "toys" to play with. We're blessed that he sees the importance of keeping our children home and teaching them here, rather then sending them off to a stranger for 8 hours a day. We are blessed because he truly loves being a dad and a husband and finds the value in his role as provider and shepherd to our family! I just thank the Lord for blessing me with the past 8 years with someone like Derek who is the love of my life and my best friend.

Busy Busy Busy

2009-03-29T18:42:00.006-05:00

I am now around 25 weeks pregnant and feeling pretty good these days. Praise the Lord! I was so exhausted this first half of this pregnancy I could hardly function. Seriously. Only the basics of life survived during that period. There were many days when the girls ate cereal for breakfast, lunch and sometimes even dinner! Only the basics of school were accomplished.
Now that I actually have almost normal energy again I feel like I am doing my job around here much better! I am providing healthy meals for my family, keeping the house clean (most of the time!) and we're back to adding more things into our school day.

As far as school goes, we're learning about history. We're learning Biblical history, American history and our family history right along side of each other. Its so neat walking through the beginning of Genesis with the girls and learning that Noah outlived his grandsons to the 3rd, 4th and even 5th generations! Its cool learning that 1 of the main reasons Christopher Columbus wanted to cross over to this New World was bc he wanted to spread the message of Christ to the strange dark skinned people Marco Polo described in his writings. And the only reason he was given the funding to come was by the help of a Monk who believed in that mission as well and by Queen Isabella giving up (pawning basically) her crown jewels. Something completely unheard of being done by a queen at that time. As for our family history we have been blessed with a book written by my Great Grandpa's cousin recording our ancestory back to the 1700s when they came to America and including many fun stories of those past generations. We learned that we have a relative who died in the battle at Gettysburg and our great great great great....whatever (we are still trying to figure out exactly what the relation is, I think its a grandpa) actually came as 1 of 10 men to America from Ireland with a General under George Washington during the Revolutionary war! Some other relatives, 2 brothers, served as guards to the White House during Presidents Lincoln's term and were invited inside by the President himself one night during a terrible storm. Its really cool to be able to read these stories to the girls and be able to point out events in American history at the same time these events with our own distant relatives were taking place!

One other thing that I did this week was started sewing again!! Yippee! I havnt had the energy to sew this entire time and the thought of sitting down at the table for any extended period of time was very unappealing. So, when I saw some fabric and got inspired I knew I had to take advantage of the renewed passion! Here is the first thing Ive made since before Christmas.

I also got some new fabric to make dresses for Audrey and Ava and hopefully a skirt for Elisa. If I can get them all done in the next 2 weeks these will be their Easter outfits. Eventhough Ive already got their Easter dresses this year I stuck with really plain dresses they could wear any other Sunday and wouldnt seem overdressed. I also got some fabric samples for Owens bedding. I decided Im going to make it for a couple reasons. 1) It'll be cheaper than most bedding sets 2) I havent been able to find the exact bedding that I want (it probably doesnt even exist! LOL) and 3) I know I'll have such a great feeling of accomplishment once its actually done! Here are the fabrics I'm going to incorporate into his room (or space in our room if we dont get a room added on before he arrives).
The fabric in the lower right hand side is actually brown leather (well fake leather) but it turned out dark in the picture. The fabric in the top middle is dark denim. This combo is exactly what I was looking for so making it myself is the best route so I can get what I want!

This week Im getting back into being a wise grocery shopper, bc I have the energy to again! Ive learned that menu planning for 2 weeks and making out my grocery according to that is a huge way to save money. I also price match at Walmart with all the other local ads and before I lost all my energy to function I had started doing the CVS and Walgreens deals and started couponing too. So, this week I'm jumping back on that bandwagon! Im excited to see how much I can start saving again!
Im so glad Im getting back to normal life :)

This explains so much!

2009-03-25T22:22:00.003-05:00

Don't know if this is actually true or not....but I got a kick out of it :)

In a Seattle Washington college classroom, they were discussing the
qualifications to be President of the United States. It was pretty
simple the candidate must be a natural born citizen of at least 35 years of age.
However, one girl in the class immediately started in on how unfair
was the requirement to be a natural born citizen. In short, her opinion was
that this requirement prevented many capable individuals from becoming president.
The class was taking it in and letting her rant, but everyone's jaw
hit the floor when she wrapped up her argument by stating, 'What makes a
natural born citizen any more qualified to lead this country than one born by C-section?'
Yep, these are the 18 year olds that just voted for the President of the United States.
This explains so much!

My First Babystep in FLYing

2009-03-24T15:19:00.003-05:00

I've heard about FLYLADY for a loong time. But I've never ventured over to her site to check all her stuff out. Well, a thread about clutter came up on one of my yahoo groups and FLYLADY was brought up again and again. Since clutter is a HUGE (that doesnt even begin to describe it over here) issue in our house, I finally gave in a checked out her site.
She has 31 days of Baby steps, one each day. So, I decided today was the day! Hopefully by the time Owen makes his arrival we'll have a house thats clean and organized on a regular basis!

Her first step is Shining your sink. She gives you step by step instructions but the first step includes filling the sink with hot water and bleach and letting that sit for an hour. We dont use chemical products in our house so the bleach wasn't really an option so I just used what I had and some elbow grease and I'm pretty darn satisfied with the results!
Here are my before and after pics. Keep in mind I'm being very open here, so dont judge me for my messy sink full of dishes! You know you're sink has been like this before!

Before

After

Soooo much better!! Because the sink is stainless steal it had rust spots in different areas. I used some Shaklee stuff a friend gave me....and it got the rust stains off!!! I'm so excited for Derek to come home and see my shiny sink!

The Desires of Our Hearts.

2009-03-22T16:17:00.002-05:00

I just wanted to share this with everyone because I really had to examine my own heart and motives on my hearts biggest desire right now. So, I hope this will be an encouragement to someone. I wrote this as an thread discussion on a VBAC support group I am apart of. For the most part I'm copying and pasting it. But I wanted to share on here whats on my heart.

In our Bible study class on Sunday mornings we're going through the book of James. This morning we focused on James 4:1-6. While those, on a whole, have nothing to do with the desires of your heart there is one verse that does. Starting at the end of James 4:2 and continuing through verse 3 here is what it says: You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. We then discussed Ps 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart
So, firstly it tells us to ask of the Lord what we want. He wants us to petition Him. But then it says you ask and do not receive bc your motives are impure. In other words if your asking for something and its purpose is not in glorifying the Lord then your motives are impure. The Word also tells us EVERYTHING we do should glorify the Father. As an example, we want a new car. When we're asking bc we just want the new car for a material reason, or to feel better about ourselves or to keep up with the Jones' those are impure motives. But if we're asking bc we need a new car or bc we want to give our existing car away to bless another family who needs it, those are pure motives. Theyre not self focused motives. That is what vs 4 is talking about. But, like Ps 37 states when we delight ourselves in the Him He will then gives us the desires of our hearts. First we have to delight in the Lord. THat HAS to be our main focus, then when we petition Him our motives should be pure. Bc we delight in Him our heart has the desires that He has. Make sense?
So, how does this have to do with VBACing you ask? LOL Here is where/how It spoke to me. We can claim Ps 37:4 all we want, but if we're claiming it and not intending on glorifying the Lord with the outcome we have impure motives. If we're claiming it but refuse to have peace about the outcome, knowing its all in the Lords hands, if it doesnt happen OUR way, then we have impure motives. Now, thats not to say we wont struggle with the results, that is where our flesh can take over. But as long as we're truly desiring Gods outcome then we have the right motives.
So, I had to really search my heart to find the true reason of why I want a VBAC. Is it bc I want to feel like a "real" woman and give birth vaginally? Is it bc I dont want to mess with the long recovery time? Is it bc I want more kids in the future so every time I'm having a c/s that could be my last and I dont want that? Those are just some of the motives that come to mind for me. Or is it ultimately bc I want this whole process, whatever the outcome, to glorify the Lord? I want to be able to have a successful VBAC and be able to say " Look how awesome my God is!!! He allowed a successful VBAC when the odds were against me medically! They (others, not my Dr, lol) said my babies are too big and Im too small I cant physically have them. They said I couldnt have one bc its too big of a risk after 3 c/s. But look what my God did!!!" or even be at peace with saying "I brought my petition before the Lord. I prayed for His will to be done and while I didn't get the VBAC I wanted, I can fully trust in the Lord knowing He heard my cry and had what was best for me and the baby happen. I can have peace in this outcome." Both responses would be glorifying the Lord, ya know?
Anyways, I just wanted to share that with yall and hopefully be an encouragement to everyone or someone (the Lord knows who needs to hear it) bc after our discussion this morning and examining my heart I felt so at peace with everything.

I needed a happy post

2009-03-20T20:03:00.009-05:00

Since my last 2 posts have been a bit intense I decided I needed to post a happy post. So, here are some pictures that make me smile :) Thank you Lord for my girls!

Galveston July 2008

Moody Gardens
Look how fat she was!!!! Look at those thighs! This makes me smile not bc she looks so cute in it but bc she looks hilarious!

This is July 2007....Audrey was still baking at this point. Elisa would still wear bows and theyre each with their lovies!

Audrey found the girls laundry basket. I love her expression!

I took this the other day. I was aiming for a cute posed picture. This is what I got. Hilarious.

Audrey was sick and so she cuddled with Ava to watch a movie. She typically wont lay down and watch a movie for very long.

What is happening here?

2009-03-20T13:27:00.008-05:00

I wont get into everything...that could get long. But I wanted to touch on a few things happening right now in American politics. Why is this important to me? Because this is our great country and we are losing it right before our eyes. We have to start standing up for what we believe in for the our children and our childrens childrens future and save the great nation of America as it was founded by our fore fathers. If we just sit back and do nothing we will lose what our ancestors fought so hard to achieve and protect! That is why its so important.
Derek and I decided to take TV out of our house so the news and information we get isnt based on left wing liberal mass media outlets like CNN or MSNBC. Even the local stations tend to fall into the mighty worship at the alter of the left wing liberals, so they're slanted as well. We keep ourselves informed through internet news outlets and radio talk shows, which are much better information outlets than any cable stations.

First, up for nomination for the Secretary of Health and Human Services is the Governor of Kansas Kathleen Sebelius. If you dont know anything about Gov Kathleen let me inform you a little bit. She has one of the most radical pro-abortion records of any elected official and a longstanding relationship with a late-term abortion practitioner. She vetoed a bill last April that had been approved by the legislature that would have strengthened the state's limits on late-term abortions. She meddled with an investigation in the death of Christin Gilbert, who died from a botched abortion at Tiller's Wichita clinic in January, 2005. And in 2007 she attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser on her birthday in May, where CEO Peter Brownlie led a conga-line dance in her honor during the party. Mr Brownlie's clinic was later charged with 107 criminal counts of conducting illegal late-term abortions. So, its more than obvious of the close relationship she has with the abortion industry and those in the abortion industry. Do we really need or want someone who is that pro-abortion in charge of the Health and Human Services of America??
Please take a minute to go to this link and send an email to your local reps and let them no that you do NOT want this lady in that office.

http://www.pointofview.net/site/PageServer?pagename=Block_The_Appointment_of_Sebelius

Secondly, have you heard that Obama wants our injured Veterans to pay for their own treatment?!?! Yes, you read that right! The new President wants our veterans who served this country and sacrificed their physical health or limbs or mental health to pay for their own treatment. Mr Obama has proposed that private insurance companies pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases. He says he's trying to generate $540-million through this proposal. So Mr President let me get this straight you are proposing nearly 3 TRILLION dollars in spending but you want our injured Vets, who willing served our country to pay for their own service related injuries so you can generate money back to the government?!? You want to help people who aren't paying their mortgages by giving them money and helping them to catch up, but you want our own vets to pay for their injuries?!?! The same people who got mortgages way out of their price range based on future incomes and to keep up with the Joneses, but somehow its the mortgage companies faults only and so those people get "free" money. Here (click the word here for the link) is an article about the American Legions strong opposition to this proposed plan.

And I'll stop with this.....did you know Obama has disarmed our airline pilots?? After 9/11 pilots were given the right to carry concealed handguns as protection for themselves and the flight. But now President Obama has quietly taken away that protection. The article about this can be found at, surprisingly, the Washington Post. (click there) (Whos side is this man on!?!??!?!?!?!!??!

The First Step...Mind Control

2009-03-19T11:01:00.007-05:00

*****Warning if you're a strong supporter of America's public education system you might be offended if you read any further. My suggsetion would be to STOP here. :) **************

Derek and I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas last night. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Its a very sad movie but worth the watch.
As I was watching I couldn't help but see what could be the future of America. I know I know, it might seem far fetched to some. So, let me help you in understanding what I mean.
First, with the current administration and with the control the NEA seems to have over them there is a fear that one day homeschooling would become illegal. The President has said he would like to see that all people teaching children must be accredited. Well, this might sound harmless and even good on the outside but think about it. The implication is accredited in every subject they teach. So, as homeschooling mothers unless we're "accredited" in every subject required by law to teach we wont be able to teach our children. I dont know one homeschooling mother who would be "qualified" under that new law to teach their own children. (The children they themselves birthed mind you!!) And since when is it the govnts place to tell ME I can't teach MY own children!? And to take it a step further...think that private and Christian schools would be safe? Nope, because the govt will decide what the terms of accreditation are and so subjects like Bible would then be in control of the government. Seems like an oxymoron to me. So, basically every avenue of learning would be under the control of the govt.
So, look at it like this. If I'm schooling my children at home, and they're not under the schooling of a government funded and controlled education system then that same system really doesn't have control of what my children are being taught. If they dont have that brainwashing, I mean controlling ability then they can't guarantee the loyalty of those children not under their control. Make sense?
In Nazi Germany it was illegal for children NOT to be enrolled in a govt run school. Why would this be so important? Well, they couldn't indoctrinate the children with Nazi brainwashing if they didn't have control of their minds and what they were being taught. They wouldn't be able to brainwash the German children into thinking that all Jews were evil and weren't even human if they didnt have control of their learning environment (at least) 8 hours a day. They wouldn't have been able to "teach" them that they were "regaining their fatherland" by riding Germany of all Jews. Basically, they wouldn't have been able to brainwash the future and upcoming German population into obedience and support had they not had the minds of the children!
The earlier a controlling force (be it a government or whatever) has control of the minds of the children the better the outcome of their plans. The last thing that controlling force wants is the children to be kept at home, with those children's own parents morals and value systems being instilled in them. So whats the best plan of action that controlling force can take? Make sure the kids CAN NOT be kept out of their education system and get control of them as young as possible!
This whole subject really does scare me. I know we have not been given a spirit of fear but to think that in my children's lifetime they will be forced to be under the mind control and education of a government who I disagree with....well that's just scary!
As a side note. Did you know about these detention centers already built here in the US? You can also google detention centers and get different articles. They were built under the guise of controlling a mass crossing from the Mexican border into the US. But many sites also mention use of them during a natural disaster or a point in time where martial law needs to be enacted. Think of all the other possibilities....what about using them to "house" a portion of population with contradicting and opposing beliefs then the current administration? That's what the Nazi's did. Just a thought.....
Now go rent The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. :)

This is delish!

2009-03-17T20:46:00.006-05:00

Those were the exact words that came out of Elisa's mouth when she tasted this yummy treat!

What? It doesnt look good to you!? Ohhh but it is ever so tasty! Want the recipe? Well here ya go!

Fruit and Oat Bars
1 C all-purpose flour
1 C uncooked quick oats
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/4 t ground cinnamon
1/3 C margarine or butter, melted
3/4 C any flavor fruit preserves (we used strawberry)

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Spray 9 inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

2. Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in medium bowl; mix well. Add margarine; stir with fork until mixture is crumbly. Reserve 3/4 C crumb mixture for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Spread preserves onto crust; sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares.

Can be stored individually wrapped at room temp up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month!

ENJOY!

Away with the ugly hair!

2009-03-15T17:00:00.004-05:00

So, its been too long since I posted...and I dont really know what to blog about. It needs to be something "light". While I would love to get into something political, I dont really feel like it right now, lol.
So I decided to show my new hair. First you should know that I got my haircut back in Dec. It was grown out from being the cute little angled bob that every other lady in America had (or still has). Since the sides were so much longer than the back I told her I wanted it even all the way around, keeping as much length as possible with slight layering throughout to add volume. I paid about $50 for the haircut, so it wasnt a cheap place, so I expected her to be able to "create" what I wanted. Well, instead I got the Rachel cut from 1994. Ugh!!! I can usually just go with haircuts that arent what I envisioned, but this was just AWFUL. I call it the awful mom cut, and to make matters worse (in the haircut sense) Im pregnant so the first area to gain weight is my face. So I dont need a bad haircut framing my ever growing face!!! Then, no one (that would be my dear hubby or my sweet mom or close friends) told me how awful my hair color was!! I had it highlighted with my cute bob, but had since done an all over brown. Well that had faded so I had darkened highlights twd the bottom of my hair along with a faded dyed brown section and then my natural brown roots. Nice. Just call me the lady with the bad roots. (Thats an inside joke for Derek)
Well, since the hair stylest cut one layer around my face right to about my chin I decided it would be best to wait a month or two and let it grow out, live with the awful haircut and then once that layer was a bit longer...go back and get it recut. Since one of the benefits of taking prenatal vitamins is faster growing hair, I knew I wouldnt have to wait too long. So, I decided today was the day to finally end my hair misery!! And as icing on the cake my parents had a coupon for half off a haircut at the place I usually go. Score! So, here is a before. (Please dont judge me by my awful hair)
The left side gives you the best example of the cut. Seriously just remember the super popular Rachel cut from the peak of Friends. I promise thats exactly what it was like!
Here is my new haircut! I also dyed it brown again last week! Ohhh I like it sooo much better!!! Its amazing how a silly little haircut can make you feel about yourself. Lets just say I feel MUCH better now!

And the best dad of the year award goes to.....

2009-03-03T21:15:00.002-06:00

What do you get when you send your husband to the grocery store after work?

This morning I was complaining about having to go grocery shopping once Derek got home. So, my dear, sweet hubby offered to go on his way home. (what a sweet guy!) I emailed him a list of things we needed for the next few days and included "get something sweet" That would be singular, correct? Anyways, we NEVER keep junk food around the house. If its here we'll eat it. So why even keep it around? If theres no option of chips and cookies then the girls wont ask for it. Instead they are happy to eat fresh fruit and veggies for snacks. So anyways, Derek walks in the door with a bag of groceries. Ava goes out to help him get some more bags while Elisa and I start unpacking the bags already in the house. Ava comes in super excited about the Capri Suns she saw in a bag. (in his defense I did include juice boxes or capri suns bc we have to take our lunches places the next 3 days) Then we start unpacking the rest of the bags. As the girls see whats inside the bags they get more and more excited. They were screaming "youre the best dad in the whole world!!" "Thank you daddy!!!" I was laughing so hard bc Im lthinking yeah now theyre gonna want you to do the shopping from now on, lol. So my one sweet item request turns into all of this JUNK!!! We gave up cokes only to include that stuff in our diet?!?! I dont even want to know how much I will have gained at my next appt!

Now...off to feed my sweet tooth ;)

For the love of Ice and Dr Pepper!

2009-02-27T21:14:00.004-06:00

As much as I'd like to blog about what a *insert your choice word here, mine would be idiot* President Obama is, I am going to refrain. All I can say is this country needs prayer. Where we're headed I dont think we can even imagine at this point in time. With whats happened in the first month of his Presidency I can not imagine where we'll be 3 years in to this awful mess!
And now...moving on.....
Well, we've made it through another week! Ive been feeling really tired this week and Im wondering if my anemia is coming back. When they drew my blood at the beginning of this pregnancy the Dr said all my numbers were great. I was a bit surprised but thats great since my last two pregnancies Ive been anemic. Other than major fatigue the big sign that clues me in to my iron level is my NEED for ice!! Sonic ice to be specific! I only ever crave it while I'm pregnant and my iron is low. And when I say crave I mean I buy bags of Sonic ice and it only takes a matter of days to devour it! Its actually a disorder (for lack of a better term) called Pica. Pica is a craving for something non-food I guess. Anyways, ice falls into the Pica category, even though it is edible. The Dr who delivered Ava told me what it was called and said I should be thankful Im only craving ice. He said some women, like in the backwoods of Tennessee and Arkansas crave dirt! Can you imagine?!?! So anyways, the past few days along with feeling really tired again Ive started dreaming about Sonic ice. Oh the thought makes me want some right now! And the closest Sonic is at least 20 mins away!!! Oh well....I need to move on :)
Im ending day 3 of NO Dr Pepper (or any cokes for that matter). This is a big thing for me. Let me rephrase that...this is HUGE for me. I am majorly addicted to Dr Pepper. So, even though Derek and I have never been apart of a church that practiced Lent we decided a couple of years ago that we would give something up every year. Its a good time of reflection and a good time of drawing strength from the Lord to overcome the urge for whatever we've given up. Every year we give up cokes. :) And I am NEVER successful. :( But this year I hope to be successful and go the entire 40 days (and hopefully beyond) Dr Pepper free. It might sound kinda silly but the past few days as Ive craved a DP or gotten in a mood where I "needed" a DP Ive prayed instead. Ive continually told myself I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!! That might sound silly to some to have to draw strength from the Lord to fight a coke (that would be soda or pop for you northerners!) addiction but trust me I need His strength here! And, of course, so far its worked! Ive even prayed about my moods and not being grumpy with the girls while Im going through the caffeine withdraws. It actually hasnt been that bad. I did get a caffeine headache last night but it wasnt nearly as bad as ones Ive had in the past. So, pray for us as we go through these next 37 days until Easter. I will succeed this time!!!

My Sweet Girls

2009-02-22T22:46:00.008-06:00

Last Friday we took advantage of the wonderful weather and met some friends at the park. This was Audrey first real time to get to "play". The days of sitting content in her stroller watching and not insisting on running around are over. At least theyve lasted this long! Now, when we go fun places we get to chase her :)

These next 3 are completely off center and unedited. I took them while we were driving so thats why theyre so off center. I didnt feel like editing them before I posted them on here.

Halfway there!

2009-02-21T22:15:00.003-06:00

Well here I am....1 day away from being halfway through with this pregnancy. I really can't believe it. To think a year ago we were only wondering when the Lord would choose to bless us with another baby and here we are...expecting our first boy! This whole pregnancy is really exciting for us because we know everything is God ordained. We prayed that the Lord would bless us with another baby in HIS timing. Then we prayed (yes selfishly) for a boy. And now my last prayer, (other than a healthy baby of course!) is for a successful VBA3C. (Vaginal Birth After 3 C-sections)
After having such an awful recovery from my c/s with Audrey I really started looking into VBACs. Prior to this I was very *brainwashed* into thinking once a c/s always a c/s. I have big babies and Im a small person, it didnt "work" the first time so it never will. What a lie from the pit of Hell honestly! I came to the realization (duh) that as women God designed our bodies to birth babies! Now, there are circumstances that c/s are medically necessary, so those are not what Im referring to. Im talking about the c/s done day after day that are for the convenience of the Dr or even the mom. The c/s that are done bc the mom is told she "cant" have the baby on her own....for whatever reason the Dr can come up with. Women are scared into these c-sections, thinking that if they dont follow the commands of the all-knowing Dr that they are somehow bad moms. Or the c/s done bc they (like me) thought they couldn't have a baby vaginally bc they were induced when their body wasnt ready to birth that baby.
So, on my journey of educating myself on this issue I discovered some very startling things. First, I was surprised to find out that studies have proven that the risk of uterine rupture during a VBAC is only .7%. The risk after multiple c/s only rises to .9% chance of uterine rupture. That means that you have a less than 1% chance of that happening with a VBAC. (Or as my Dr put it, you have a 99.1% to a 99.3% chance of having a successful VBAC without uterine rupture!) So why on earth do Drs and other sources spread the lie that the risk is soooo great. That by attempting a VBAC you're possibly taking your life and the babies life in your own hands. That you're a selfish mother/woman for trying the natural way other than the surgical way. Hmm....I would say to add that to the books on the powers of the almighty dollar, if you ask me. (And since youre reading my blog you get my opinion :) ) The risks with having a c/s actually outweigh the risks with having a VBAC. So, I just dont understand why most Drs wont even allow their patients to have, or attempt, VBACs.
Once we found out we were expecting I began my search for a VBAC friendly Dr. First I thought my only option would be to find a midwife. Since we live so far out in the country, away from a decent hospital, I knew I didnt want a homebirth. I dont think I could live with myself if I fell into that less than 1% of women who have uterine rupture and I was an hour away from a good hospital. So, I searched for a midwife with a birthing center. The 2 that were even halfway close wouldnt accept me as a patient. After 3 c/s they didnt want to take the risks *read: liability*. One I talked to referred me to 2 Drs in the Dallas area who preform VBACs. I felt something in my spirit lead me to call one over the other. Then, I posted on one of my yahoo groups and asked about a VBAC friendly Dr. This same Drs name came up and was talked extremely highly of. Then the icing on the cake was talking to a friend I used to go to church with who went through midwifery (sp??) school. She also shared this same Drs name with me. So....I figured I had found my Dr! The only problem was he was an hour and a half away! I went ahead and made the appt and at the first appt was convinced I was in the right place with the right Dr. Despite the drive. Turns out this Dr is an awesome Man of God whose faith directs him through these VBAC births. I feel so blessed to have been led to him and every appt I am so encouraged about the outcome of this birth!!!
I guess in the end I just felt like I was missing out on a big piece of bringing life into the world by not getting to experience a normal vaginal birth. So now, we are praying that God allows us to experience the birth of our first son the way He intended life to enter the world!
So, halfway through this pregnancy I am so excited about every pain and uncomfortable sensation (well ok, Im trying to be!) I feel bc I know in the end we will see an awesome picture of the hand of God working in every area of this prenancy.

Picture overload!

2009-02-16T08:03:00.005-06:00

Here are the promised sono pics and some of the girls. Enjoy :)

Its DEFINITELY a boy!!!! YAY!!!!!

Sweet little profile pic

He's raising his arm saying "Yeah!! Im a boy!!" Or as my friend Crystal said...looks like hes rockin out! :)

Getting ready to go to a Valentines Day party.

Almost the same pic as above but the face Audrey has is just so classic! She makes this sweet face all the time!

Super Ava

Sweet little Audrey. I love this picture. She was so pleased her sister let her hold the Valentines card box. She didnt want to let it go!

IT'S A............................

2009-02-11T20:09:00.001-06:00

BOY!!!!!!!!

That's right...I'm growin' an Owen!!!

I'll post the sono pics later :)

You will gain life

2009-02-09T21:09:00.002-06:00

Lately Ive been worrying alot (Im sure too much) about everything going on with our govt and whatnot. There's fear of losing our freedoms as Americans and as Christians. With issues being snuck into bills that could threaten our way of life as Christians here in America, I can't help but worry. With the news out recently that the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child is being urged to be pushed through Im out and out scared for our future. What does the future hold for our families and the raising of our children? But, as a Christian I'm told not to worry....numerous times in fact. This is easier read than practiced Im afraid. How wonderful to serve the God I do!

It seems as though we're getting closer and closer to the end. But as a Christian the end is actually the beginning for us. I have such a hope in my future that while the world seems to be falling apart and turning upside down all around me....I have been given hope! While I relish the hope we've been given through Jesus, my flesh is afraid. We've been given some insight through scripture what the end of this world will be like. Scary stuff! But I know I have not been given a spirit of fear. I try and remember the 1st century church and the awful things they endured while refusing to deny their faith. Is our future on this earth similar to that of the first church and the countless others who lost their lives due to their unyielding faith in past centuries? Will my family and I have a strong enough faith to withstand what might happen if we dont deny our faith?

All these thoughts have been rushing through my head lately. Where do we draw the line and stop fighting against what is bound to happen? But then I am reminded had the church of America stood up for truth in the past 50 or so odd years we might not be as far gone in America as we are today. Not having as many battles to fight for truth as we're faced with right now. So, if we still have generations left on this earth....shouldn't we be fighting tooth and nail to save what is left of Truth in our country and world? Surely we cant just throw in the towel now and let the future suffer for our lack of opposition and willingness to stand for what is right. Right??

Where is the balance though? Where do we say enough is enough...I cant be consumed with this anymore? Where is the balance between being wise to prepare for what is inevitable and over reacting?

I see part of the Church with their eyes wide open, seeing the future for what it is. Preparing our lives (spiritually and physically) for it. Then...there is this other half, still sleeping. Eyes shut tight and not wanting to acknowledge what is obviously taking place right before us. Or, worse yet....encouraging, accepting and being "tolerant" of the evil that is seeping in. Im reminded of the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Some were ready for the bridegroom, others were not. The ones who had prepared ahead of time got to enjoy their bridegroom while the ones who didn't prepare were shut out and excluded. While this talks of salvation I can't help but wonder if it means preparation in other ways as well.

All of that to say that I have been in need of peace about all this. As I was reading my Bible tonight I ran across Luke 21:8-19.

8He replied: "Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not follow them. 9When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away."
10Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.
12"But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17All men will hate you because of me. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By standing firm you will gain life.

WOW. What a wonderful hope we have. While the end can seem so scary, and so near, we are told not to worry! When I wonder what I would do if worse came to worse and I were to be faced with denying my faith I am told HE will give me words and wisdom! Some will die and we WILL be hated (we see this already starting to happen because of our faith and stance for Truth?) because of our following Jesus but WE WILL NOT PERISH! We wont die!!!! By standing firm we will gain life!!

Thank you Jesus!

What nonsense!

2009-02-02T14:31:00.003-06:00

I was reading another blog I follow and she posted a link to this article.
What nonsense!!!!!!! We (Derek and I) have some pretty strong convictions when it comes to our family size (and birth control...or lack thereof) so I know we're not the "norm" even among Christian families. But give me a break!!!! Our world is NOT overpopulated! Countries like Germany, Italy and Sweden are dying populations. The only reason those populations will survive at all with their current birthrates are because of the (muslim) immigrants. (Thats a whole other can of worms....SCARY!!!) Its only going to take 3 generations from now....THREE, for Germans to be the minority in Germany. In other words, in 3 generations Germany will be a muslim populated country out numbering true Germans something like 6 to 1.
Ohhh how I wish I could get into this topic. I guess I will a little bit :)
Can you imagine what the world is going to be like with the muslim population taking over most of Europe. Theyre having, on average, 6 children per family to the less than 2 children per family most European families have. The Europeans cant even maintain their population rate, much less grow it, with birth rates that low. Countries like Italy and Japan (yes I realize thats not a Euro nation) are actually paying their citizens to have children bc their population is a rapidly aging one. Japan is sending workers home early in hopes theyll have sex to help along their population problem. Read this! Italy offers hefty incentives to have MORE children bc their population is aging so quickly. And they still cant get people to have more kids!
Although I cant say I blame most of Europe. I dont know I would want to be raising my kids in a country that has ratified the UN Rights of a Child either.
If you really think our population is out of control I suggest you watch Demographic Winter if you want the truth about our worlds population. It used to be on google videos to watch for free, but I cant find it there anymore. You can search youtube but you mostly get the trailers. Anyways, what a bunch of nonsense it is to try and tell us our world is overpopulated!!!!
I'll just continue to trust and obey God when He told us to "be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth".

The week in review

2009-02-02T09:34:00.004-06:00

I dont know why I haven't posted in the past week. Theres been many "blog-worthy" things to post about. Lets see....where to start.

Well, a week ago either Weds or Thursday night we decided to night wean Audrey. (Finally!) Actually it wasn't such a conscious decision but just kinda happened. I had a really bad cold Weds and was very achy so Derek delt with her every time she woke up in the middle of the night that night. She actually did ok and didnt give him too hard of a time not getting to nurse. So, we thought...we should continue this. The second night she did just fine too. She only fussed a little when he would pick her up and tell her mommy wasnt gonna feed her. She whined but eventually took the paci. By the third night she was only waking like 2 times!!!! Now, this may seem like a lot to some people. I always have to laugh inside when people complain about their 3 or 4 month old waking up once a night. Im thinking I have a 15 month old who still wakes up, on average, about 5 times a night. Anyways, I cant tell you how good I started feeling. It was amazing the difference I felt!!! By the end of last week she was down to either just waking once and Thursday night she SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!! I rolled over and looked at the clock and it said 5:45.....I was like omgosh! I nudged Derek and said "look at the clock...now look at the bed...its empty!!!!!!" I could hardly contain myself, lol. I cant believe we've waited this long to night wean...considering how easy it was!

Friday night the girls went to a "real" babysitter for the first time. Theyve only ever been watched by family or really close family friends (Crystal and Shannon). Well, we wanted to go to dinner with my parents, kids free, so we asked some girls from our homeschool group and church to babysit. They do it at their house, so their mom is there to supervise....just in case. They have 2 younger sisters, one a year older than Ava (and in Ava's Sunday school class and co-op classes at our homeschool group) and the other a year older than Elisa (and in Elisa's class during our Bible study class) so that was an added bonus. The girls had soooooooooo much fun. It was more of a playdate for them then going to a babysitters house, lol. Audrey seemed to do great too. She had 2 young teenage girls playing with her the whole time, so I dont know how she couldnt have! Anyways, it was just overall a great success, and blessing!

We (FINALLY!!!!) got a new digital camera!!!! Now I can start documenting life again. And posting for everyone to see!!! Saturday I finally found some maternity jeans that fit decently, so that is GREAT! I got 2 new maternity skirts too....which Im excited to wear once the weather warms up!

Another great thing was that God totally showed Himself faithful about something I had been praying about. I dont want to get into it but the answer was very obvious and just reminded me how much He really does love and care about us!!!!!

I guess I should post some pictures :)

Tuesday/Weds we had an ice storm. This was one of those mornings. It was pretty creepy looking. All the trees were iced and there was major fog.

Random picture of the girls. Ignore the messy table.

We never buy chips or junk food for the most part around here. My mom sent these chips home with us one day. Audrey and I had been snacking on them while Elisa and Ava played upstairs. I told Audrey they were all gone and to go throw the can away. She walked it to the trash can but had her own plans. This is what I found..... The camera doesn't do it justice. There were chip crumbs everywhere. She was determined to get every crumb possible out of that can!

This is my toothless girl. She has lost 3 top teeth since the begining of Dec. The last 2 were about a week too late for her to sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth". Too bad, would have been cute!

Here is Ava's silly face. Notice the red ring around her mouth? Its her kool-ade ring. But...we dont drink kool-ade around here. Shes been licking her lips and now we're waiting for her to stop and for this ring to go away!!

And here is a picture of me at 17 weeks 1 day. Im making a crazy face :)

16 weeks

2009-01-26T21:16:00.004-06:00

Well Im 16 weeks pregnant so I thought it was about time to post a belly shot. This is the first one Ive taken of this pregnancy *gasp*. Ava insisted she show her growing belly as well. LOL And Audrey soon joined in all the fun....see her head? Its not a very good picture so I'll have to take a better shot before the week is over. But here it is.....

Here are some other random pics. Since I havent posted pictures in waaay too long. We still dont have a digi cam, but that should change here in the next week or two. (woohoo!) For now, these were all taken with my MIL camera, which for the record has nothing on my old camera. I miss my camera........

Here we are playing Rock Band at Dereks sisters house. Yes, I know. Awful music selection for little ears. We went with the least offensive songs for Elisa to play along with. She actually got really good by the end. Notice Audrey singing with me :)

Concentrating on those drum notes.........

Girls being silly with Daddy.Here is a random Christmas picture of Audrey. I was trying really hard to get her in her pretty dress. She would not stay still! I thought the ornaments would keep her occupied...no such luck. Where did my mad photography studio skillz go???? I never got a picture of all 3 in their dresses...bad bad mommy. I still might take them somewhere to get "Chrsitmas pics" done :)

Praying for a.......

2009-01-22T14:57:00.004-06:00

boy? Well I have to admit it’s not much of a secret that we would LOVE to be blessed with a little boy. Obviously, another girl would be a blessing too but how about just a healthy baby regardless of the gender? Seems like an obvious prayer request of a parent, right?
For whatever reason in the past week I have ran across 2 separate blogs, through separate ways, that are chronicling or chronicled the journey of sick babies. Last week I began reading the story of little Audrey Caroline. As I sat reading her story I was consumed with the ugly cry. I don’t know if it hit so hard because we have our own little Audrey or if it was because I’m pregnant or because they already had three girls. For whatever reason, the blog just struck a chord with me.
The faith of Angie and her husband (who happens to be one of the singers in Selah) is just amazing! What a strong woman of God she is! Reading through this story made me stop and think….shouldn’t that be our main prayer? Just a healthy baby? And shouldn’t we be just as overjoyed with another girl as we would be with a boy? Judge me if you want but I can’t honestly say that there wouldn’t be disappointment if we go next month and are told that it’s another girl. (Talk about being brutally honest here!) We didn’t plan (or rather allow God to plan) this baby in hopes it would be a boy….just having a boy would be a big perk! I am settled that it may be another girl, what else can I do!?, so I am constantly praying that the Lord prepares our hearts for whatever the gender of this new blessing turns out to be. I am also praying, more than before, for a healthy baby. I’m praying for a heart of excitement (I would have eventually gotten to this point) as soon as the sonographer tells us the gender of this baby. And a heart of gratitude was we find out I’m carrying a healthy baby.
I just assume that I’ll have healthy pregnancies, I’ve never had otherwise. But, when I run across these blogs of other families who have had to experience the pain of something not being perfect, reality hits.
So, if you have some extra time check out the faith of this family in the blog

.

And please please begin keeping this family and little Harper in your prayers.

I had to come back today and ad this blog to the list of babies to pray for. I cant imagine what they are going through.

Seriously!?

2009-01-21T19:39:00.002-06:00

So I just had to get on here and blog about this.
We were on our way home tonight and hit a giant raccoon. We couldnt swerve bc it came out of nowhere and going 70 miles an hour, didnt want to take a chance of flipping off the road. So anyways, we hit a raccoon. It was a loud thud that we could feel under the car. Keep in mind this is a Yukon XL (GMC version of a Suburban) so its not like its close to the ground. We get home and Derek starts examing the car. It knocked a flood light out, busted off some under panning and busted part of the underneath part of the bumper. SERIOUSLY!?!?! This is almost getting comical the random things that keep happening! Derek went back to search for the underpanning in hopes that it hasnt been hit and smashed to pieces and can be repaired. We shall see........

Faith builders!

2009-01-18T19:59:00.003-06:00

I just had to take a minute and blog about our day. God has shown Himself faithful and its so exciting to see Him work! First, Thursday night was family skate night at the local skating rink. Derek wasnt feeling well and Audrey has had a nasty croup type cough at night (only at night) so they stayed home. That left me, Elisa and Ava. We rarely get out just the 3 of us so they found this time to be a treat. The girls skated for a little bit and then we grabbed some food for dinner. I planned on getting them something for dinner at the skating rink but the place only took cash! No credit/debit cards. Weird. I rarely carry cash bc I always use my debit card. Fortunately they let me write a check. So, I had no cash for the snack bar. They were troopers and held out until after skating to eat.
We stopped at Taco Bell on the way home. I was craving a Taco Pizza (mmmmm....sounds good right now!). The girls normally hate Taco Bell and Derek isnt a big fan either. So I normally just go by myself. That night though I convinced the girls to try some nachos. They love nachos at home when I make them, so I figured they'd like Taco Bells too. They did :)
Well Friday night (they ate the nachos Thursday night) Ava woke up crying that her head, legs and arms were aching. I knew what that meant. She was having a dairy reaction to the cheese on the nachos. Dumb me! I cant handle that cheese so of course she couldnt! Let me tell you though....the body aches from a dairy reaction are some of the most painful things Ive ever experienced. This coming from a mom who's had 3 c-sections mind you! So, I knew she was in alot of pain. I gave her some tylenol and rubbed her legs until she fell back to sleep. ALl of this at like 3 in the morning.
She woke up Sat with a headache still. We just assumed it was from the reaction but we could tell she wasnt feeling well. We ran some errands and went to my parents house for a late Christmas with one of my brothers (well everyone was there) and his family. They had been visiting my sister in laws family in Roatan Hondoras. (aka tropical paradise!) Anyways, while we were there she started running a fever. Poor baby. Elisa, who freaks out about anyone being sick immidiatley started panicing about getting sick. So, my parents prayed for Ava to recover quickly and everyone else to be protected from sickness. That put Elisa at peace. Ava went to bed with a fever and.....woke up 100% completely well!!! Praise God!!We still stayed home from church though bc we didnt want to risk taking any sick germs and sharing them throughout kids church and the nursery. Good thing we can listen to the sermon online bc I HATE missing our Pastors teachings. It was so neat to discuss with Elisa how God answered her prayers so quickly! What a way to help build a little girls faith! !
Then, Derek had been looking online this week into more about his car and the timing belt issues. He ran across a website that instructed something to be aligned differently then the manual they had been going by did. So, today he and his dad worked on his car...again. Derek and I have been praying about the car situation everynight. We are fine with only 1 car. Its almost been nice not being able to get out of the house everyday and been forced to stay home. But the gas in a Yukon XL vs the gas in a little Mazda protege is a big difference!!! Plus we hated putting 80+ miles a day on our new car. So, after realigning whatever part it was...the car started!!!! Praise God!!! They drove it around a little and it seems to be doing fine. The only problem that remains is the oil light keeps coming on, eventhough Derek just changed the oil. Other than that...his car works!!! Thank you Lord!!
And...to top the day off I did our taxes. This is the first yr that we've ever gotten a W-2 back before Jan 31st, so that was a nice surprise when Derek brought it home last week. We always E-file through Turbo Tax bc it walks me through everything and bc our returns are really basic. Well, our return is MORE than I had anticipated!!! YAY!!!!! Sooooo excited about that! We can pay down some debt PLUS add on our master bedroom and bath like we were planning. We were just going to get the bed/bath started but now we'll be able to almost complete it, if not completely finish it before the baby gets here!! Im so excited!!!
Once we find out what we're having (Feb 11th) I can decide how Im gonna do the nursery (our exsisting bedroom). It will be sooooo nice to have 3 bedrooms instead of just 2. Audrey and the new baby will share a room together until Audrey is big enough to move into the "girls room" upstairs with big sisters. The baby will be in our room at first anyways. Well I guess I should get real...the baby will be in our room at least the first year, lol. Maybe this time around we'll get a baby who will sleep through the night quickly and wont rely on nursing to fall back to sleep. I wont be holding my breath though :)
Well, so much for this being short! I just had to update about all that God has done for us this weekend!!

When it rains.....

2009-01-13T10:46:00.002-06:00

.............it pours.

What an interesting past week and a half it’s been. Surely God is doing something and we're just trying to see what He's trying to teach us. Since my last post about some goals for 2009 Murphy (as in Murphy’s law) came for a visit. Dave Ramsey always says that as soon as you get gazelle intense about getting out of debt Murphy will pay you a visit. It only took the second week of 2009 for him to come knocking on our door. Nice. It all started last Fri. Derek was on the way to work when I get a call from him saying his car finally gave out and he was stuck on a median in the tiny town of Parker. It took the local police no time to get there and inform him his car had to be moved....NOW. Because we're becoming more and more frugal we didn’t want to think about hiring a tow truck. He was about 40 mins from the house so the thought of that cost well, we didn’t want to go there. After trying to get a hold of his brother to see if her could *ghetto* tow the car home (That would be hooking it up to the back of his brothers truck with a rope and pulling it that way) we realized he (his brother) wasn’t going to wake up. So I was then on a mission to find a tow truck who would tow Derek’s car all the way home. After calling several places and being told they don’t go that far (we live out in the boonies remember) I finally found one. They quoted me a price that was much less than I anticipated (thank you Lord!) and sent a truck to retrieve Little Pooter (as we've so fondly named Derek’s car, the girls love this name mind you). Derek gave them directions back to our house (fortunately the guy had actually heard of our town and knew where it was) and my mom went to pick him up and take him to work. For some reason without Derek escorting them home I just knew they’d get out here and try and pull something on me. Being a woman and all. So I prepared myself. Sure enough the guy pulls up and sits in his truck on the phone for a few mins. I’m thinking he’s planning his ploy to tell me how far it was and they didn’t expect it to be this far out. He gets out with his first words being something to the affect of "yeah, didn’t know it was gonna be this far out". To which I responded by telling him that the guy I talked to on the phone knew exactly where our town was when he quoted us the price. After going back and forth with the guy he finally said they were going to charge us $50 more than I was quoted but they’d knock $30 off of that. Gee...thanks. But whatever, I wasn’t in the mood to argue anymore. I signed the paper and sent the guy off.
The next day we check our bank account to realize some very unexpected transactions had taken place. I was not very pleased and after talking to the bank and the company who completed the transactions settled in my heart it wasn’t a battle worth fighting. So, we're now out around $700 we hadn’t budgeted for or expected that pay period. I guess now it was time to rely on God :) Since that money was a good chunk of what I had budgeted for gas and groceries and we aren’t willing to go into debt (remember we've begun The Total Money Makeover) I prayed (ok and cried) the whole way home asking God to take care of the situation and at least provide a way to get groceries! In the back of my mind I was excited to see what God was going to do to prove himself faithful. When I got home I opened up an envelope with a gift card to Target!!! Derek had taken a survey through our insurance company before Christmas and earned that gift card. I didn’t realize he had selected what store he had wanted it for yet, much less had them send it yet. I was supposed to take the survey too but hadn’t yet. We had decided we were both going to use our gift cards twds getting a new digi camera (since ours broke at the end of summer). Anyway, all of that to say that opening that gift card was such a blessing at just the right time!!! YAY God!!!! I just knew that was one way He was providing grocery money for that pay period. It wasn’t nearly what I budget for groceries, but hey I knew I could get creative and make the money stretch into decent meals for 2 weeks. I was just excited to see God work so quickly!
So, I prayed before making our menus for the 2 weeks, prayed for wisdom when shopping and went to the grocery store. I walked out of the store only spending $10 more than what I had on the gift card!!! YAY for me!
All of that took place on a Sat. The entire day Derek had been working on his car. He and his dad determined that it was the timing belt that needed to replace. Fortunately Derek is not one to pay someone else to do a job he can do! (In this case we saved probably $500) So, he got the timing belt from AutoZone and spent until dark Sunday night putting it on. They finished, went to crank the car up and.....nothing. That’s right, nothing. How discouraging! So, needless to say I was going to be without a car for the week. That was ok, we were still (ok we ARE still) trying to get back into the routine of school for this semester. So, maybe being stuck at home all week was really a blessing in disguise. Friday was the only day we got out of the house. We took Derek to work and spent the day with my mom. We haven’t spent an entire day with Mimi doing nothing in a really long time, so that was nice.
Saturday we had very full day going to 2 birthday parties and a late Christmas get together. We were gone from 9:30 until about 11 that night. Fortunately my energy kept up otherwise I would have been dead by the end of the day. Sunday we had a wonderful service at church and came straight home. Me and the girls really wanted Cicis but my wonderfully frugal husband said no, we aren’t spending money like that anymore. So we settled with a $5 pizza from Little Caesars. Savings: about $15. I guess those things really do add up. And if we continue making those $20 purchases here and there…we’ll never be completely debt free! After lunch Derek and his dad started working on the car again while Audrey and I took a nap. After working on that for a few hours they gave up and couldn’t figure out the problem. I suggested that maybe we should take it into a shop of professionals who could at least diagnose the problem with the motor rather than continue to waste time (and energy) trying to figure it out themselves. I don’t know what Derek has decided though. We’re still praying about whether we should put anymore money into that car or just save and pay cash for another one. That will be awhile though. After we have the Dr and medical bills paid off for this pregnancy. So, we’re looking at late summer before that will even happen. Being stuck without a car until late summer?!?! Ugh. But…thank you Lord for one working new car!!!!
This is getting super long. I doubt anyone is still reading. But if you are you get to hear the rest of the story  Lucky you.
Sunday after Derek was done working on his car we were down at his parents’ house. Ava had found a coin on the bathroom counter and was happily announcing to everyone what she had found. Somehow in the bouncing around the coin ended up being swallowed. Needless to say…I was no very happy with this child. How many times has she been told the story of the past TWO times she swallowed coins as a baby!?!? Did she seriously do it again!??! We figured it was a nickel and it would just pass. She kept complaining that it hurt but we figured it had just irritated her throat. We came home, and she was spitting up phlegm up until bedtime. She didn’t want to eat so we didn’t make her. We laid her down for bed but she came down one more time to tell us her throat hurt. As Derek was taking her back up to bed she vomited everywhere. I went downstairs and googled signs that a coin was lodged. Vomiting was listed a sign to go to the ER to be x-rayed, that a coin was most likely lodged. I called the on-call nurse at their Pediatricians office and was told if she was vomiting she needed to be taken in. As bad as this sounds we didn’t want to take her to an ER that night. That would be an ER co-pay to the tune of $100 plus whatever fees accumulated from whatever they had to do. We just wanted to go to the regular Pedi the next day and have the x-ray done then. We decided (stupidly) to have her sleep with us and wait until the next day. Derek went to get her and I insisted she take a small drink of water before she lay down. I wanted to see if that would stay down. She took a small drink and as soon as it went down….it came back up. Ugh. Ok Ok that was enough to know we needed to take her in. We decided we weren’t going to the closest ER bc, well if you know what hospital that is you know why we didn’t go there. We decided to take her to Presby Allen, 45 mins away bc we’ve always had great service there. It was also closer to my mom who was going to meet me up there. Derek stayed home, as much as he didn’t want to, bc Audrey is still nursing and waking up at night. We didn’t want to subject anyone else to her screaming fits we knew she would have bc she didn’t get to nurse when she woke. (spoiled breastfed baby, lol) So, off we went to the ER. My mom met us up there. I wanted someone else with me plus I knew they would have to x-ray Ava and since I’m pregnant I wouldn’t be able to go in with her. We got there about midnight and to our surprise there was no wait! Woohoo! We got right in. They x-rayed her and sure enough, something lodge at the bottom of her esophagus. We all guessed it was a quarter. Yes, a large quarter. They said they wouldn’t be able to do the retrieval (endoscopy) there, that we were having to be transferred. I knew what was coming next (remember we had been through this, embarrassingly, 2 previous times when she was a baby!). She would have to be transferred by ambulance. CHA-CHING. I debated the nurse insisting she was fine for us to drive her to the other hospital. They told us the Dr wouldn’t sign off on that bc of the risk of something happening in transit. READ: they couldn’t risk the liability if something happened. The nurse told us that when we got the bill for the ambulance if the insurance didn’t cover the ride to fight it. Bc that hospital couldn’t do the procedure and we had to go to another hospital it wasn’t a voluntary ambulance call. It was transfer between hospitals. So, now we wait for that bill. Last time this happened the ambulance ride was $1,000 for our part. So, we get a nice ride in ambulance to Presby Plano. We get there and fortunately they were ready for her! The Pedi gastro-something or other (lol, yes that’s the Drs official title) was already there and they were prepping for surgery. Oh I might add they started an IV at the first hospital in prep for the ambulance ride and surgery. Ava didn’t even cry. She was such a trooper! I was so proud of her. Anyways, right before surgery, at about 3 am, Ava finally fell asleep. This was in-between vomiting spells. Every time she moved at this point she threw up. So, they took her to surgery asleep. This was a total blessing so she didn’t have to go through that scare. The whole surgery process took 4 mins. They let us go back there while she was waking up. It was indeed a quarter. A very very expensive quarter. We ended up finally getting home at 6:30 am. Elisa never woke up and so she wasn’t able to worry about her sister the whole time, praise the Lord! Ava is totally fine now. Hopefully this made a big enough impression on her that no coins will ever go close to her mouth again!
After doing the math and thinking about it. I can add another $750 (individual deductible), $100 (ER co-pay), 20% of all the procedures done at both ERs and the surgery, plus the ambulance ride. I don’t even want to think about the grand total. Let’s just say Murphy has made one expensive visit over the past week. Now we trust that God will provide the money to pay everything off! Dave wasn’t kidding when he said the minute you decide to get serious with will start to rain. Guess that why you have your emergency fund in place. I’m thinking that emergency fund wont take care of all of these expenses though.

Another great clip

2008-12-29T19:35:00.000-06:00

Since Im in the mode thought I would post this :)

Are you a Christian parent? You NEED to watch this.

2008-12-29T15:26:00.001-06:00

A look fwd to the new year

2008-12-28T22:20:00.003-06:00

I know I know, I havent blogged in a long time. I believe this is the first time in Dec at all. This month has been busy, a good busy I guess. Im so greatful for the blessing of Christmas but with all the hustle and bustle Im always glad for it to pass. (Is that bad to say?) (On a sidenote: Maybe thats an indication we're not fully dumping the commercialism of CHristmas and fully embracing the true meaning. Something to think about I guess) Anyways, Ive had several people comment on how theyve looked at this blog and were sad to see I hadnt been posting. Honestly since the election I just lost the taste for blogging. I dont know if that makes any sense but I have such strong convictions and feelings about many of the issues raised that when the *bad* side one I just had to take a break from blogging for fear of offending many of my "friends". Hmmm....maybe offending over certain issues isnt actually a bad thing. (something else to ponder I guess). Well with that said Ive been thinking about what I should write about when I decided to get back on here again. Ive sat through several teachings at church with thoughts racing through my head thinking man if I could only write all these down in my blog that would be great. I want what I write to let everyone know how we're doing but also to be an encouragment to others. Life can be hardbeing a keeper at home and mommy, and since I love going to other moms blogs and taking at peak at their daily lives I want to pass that on to others as well.
With all that said Im ready for the new year!!! We will be welcoming a new blessing to our family in July. This is exciting bc this baby was totally given to God. Derek and I prayed that the Lord would chose to bless us with another baby in HIS perfect timing. We know that when He gives us the blessing of another child He'll also provide for that child. So while sometimes *we* and others wonder how on earth we can afford another baby we just go on with the assurance that God keeps His promises and His word promises to provide for His children. Of course that means that we need to be good stewards (in all areas) of what He gives us. This is one thing we're working on for 2009. Being better stewards in all areas esp our finances. God has blessed Derek with a wonderful job surrounded by many believers and has blessed us in other ways that has allowed me to stay home and live with the worry of not having enough money to buy groceries or gas (although there were times when gas was close to $4 a gallon!) eventhough he makes less than most people we know. But we know we still spend foolishly and havent fully surrendered the area of finances completely to Him. We have full intentions but we know when we make bad/stupid money decisions we're obviously not trusting God. With all that said....we're so excited for this next blessing and even more excited that s/he was created and will come in Gods perfect timing! No, we're not worried about how we're going to afford another baby. God will provide!! And yes....we are selfishly praying for a boy. Can you blame us???
The new year also brings on new challenges. If you know me well you know my best quality is defiantely not being organized. Thats with things or time or anything that needs organization. I used to be really good at putting on a front. My girls (at the time just Elisa and Ava.) would always be dressed to a T. Perfect clothes with perfect hair and perfectly matching bows. (this dates this time bc Elisa would still actually wear bows!) I looked like I had it all together but pa-leeease dont come knocking at my door bc our house looked like a tornado hit it. And that was pretty much all the time. I will say my kids looked much less put together when we go out now but my house (on a whole) looks a little better then back then. So where do my new challenges come in you ask? Get to the point...I know. With homeschooling and being pregnant and still nursing I am just wiped out! I have such little energy to get the basics done that anything considered a little extra seems unattainable. So anything above and beyond is going out the window.
We're starting with dance. Much to Ava's dissapointment we're giving up dance. This goes along with making better use of our time and being better stewards of our finances. While the studio that they take dance at isnt expensive in comparison to some, its costing us more than we're willing to pay anymore. Besides the monthly tuition the costumes for the recital we're going to cost $80 each!!!!! Thats for each girl. So we'd be spending $160 on costumes they would wear once for their recital and then play dress up in. In other words, those are some expensive dress up clothes. Elisa said she really didnt care about giving up dance (just another way God is working bc Ive been praying about all of this) but Ava didnt like the idea. All her little friends from preschool last year are in her dance class and she cant imagine not seeing them every week. Poor thing...she goes from seeing them 3 days a week last year (preschool and dance) to one day a week in the fall, and now none. She'll adapt....this is life.
Another thing we've already given up that helps in many areas of our life is we've given up our satelite TV. Actually TV in general bc we dont even have an antenna up to get local stations. Its been so nice. We talked about doing it at the end of summer but went ahead and kept the satelite but now we know we're not supposed to have it anymore. Besides the money we were wasting on it every month (Derek and I sat down maybe a couple hours a week to watch it), when we did watch it it was full of filth and such a time waster. When we originally decided to keep it we decided that we would record any shows we wanted to watch and then fast fwd through the commercials. (Prime time commercials can be just as bad as soap operas now!) So while we purposely watching the filth we were still seeing it in the commercials. We said the same for the cartoons the girls were watching. We were going to record them and FF through commercials so as to cut out all the "I wants!". Well we never ended up only watching recorded programming and relized that the TV really is just a waste of time. So instead we're reading more and spending more time as a family (as corny as that might seem). I know I know, seems kinda radical...giving up TV and all. But hey its actually been a total blessing so far! Oh and now that I'm pregnant with #4 and people so rudely ask if we have a TV (theyll ask it for sure with 3 kids and a pregnant belly since they asked it with 2 kids and a prengnat belly) I can respond with a smile and laugh and honestly say no :) (well we own one but we dont watch it)
Well I think Ive rambled long enough now. I dont even feel like going back and proof reading before I post. So, if I dont make sense in areas, please forgive me. Im tired and pregnant and should be in bed :)
Happy New Year!

I have the BEST girls in the world!

2008-11-20T21:04:00.002-06:00

Last night was a long night for Derek and me. Audrey screamed pretty much all night so we got little sleep. Mostly me, bc I am usually the one to deal with her since Derek has to get up and go to work in the morning. She finally relaxed enough by around 5 this morning to get into a deep sleep. Elisa and Ava woke up before Derek left for work at 7:15, so early. He told them to play quietly upstairs with the Littlest Pets so Audrey and mommy could get some sleep. My sweet girls were as quiet as can be so I could get some more shut eye until Audrey woke up for good. Around 8:30 I hear 2 sweet little voices come into my room and wake me up whispering "mom, mom we made you breakfast". My 2 sweet girls made me toast with honey and gave me an apple and a cookie (bc I like sweets they said) with a big glass of orange juice. What sweet girls I have. They were both very into serving each other and Audrey and me all day and I pointed out that they were having servants hearts like Jesus.
Audrey has been very whiney and not herself the past week. Last week she was sick but its like she still hasnt been back to normal since then. Shes been screaming and throwing a lot of fits, has been really clingy and hasnt been too into eating. Shes been chewing on her fingers like shes been teething but I hadnt noticed anything obvious popping up. Well tonight when I put her in the bath I stuck my finger in her mouth to see if she was getting her molars in and sure enough all 4 of them are coming. Poor thing! The top 2 have already poked through and the bottom 2 are just bulging. To top that off shes getting the tooth to the left of her bottom middle tooth. So the count for teeth coming in right now....FIVE! Yikes! Lets hope theyre all through before Monday night when we leave for Ohio. Otherwise thats going to be an even loooonnnggger 18 hour drive!

Well....

2008-11-04T21:37:00.003-06:00

Well here we are. Although Im not quite sure how a state can be "called" based on 12% of precincts reporting, but apparently they can. If BO, er I mean Barak Obama, does indeed win we have a loooonng 4 years ahead of us. As someone who goes completely against pretty much everything I believe this is a bit scary. Its not just the economy or taxes or anything like that. Its the fact that this man is PRO infanticide, PRO gay marriage, PRO socialism/marxism that scares me. With a democratic majority in every area of govt it seems we could easily lose hope. But maybe just maybe this will make us (that would be conservative Chrstians) even stronger. There wont be room for being luke warm anymore. Its either hot or cold. Take a stand for what you believe in.
Im actually astonished at the "Christians" voting for Obama. How can you vote for a man who votes in FAVOR of leaving helpless babies to die in closets after botched abortions and claim to follow Christ? Even many who claim to be pro choice think that is taking it too far. The Bible gives the life issue loud and clear. Life begins at conception. Not at week 10 not at week 32 but at the moment of conception. To take any life, even life created in incest or rape, is MURDER. Period. I wont back down on that view. Praise God He is forgiving and full of grace and mercy and more than willing to forgive these moms who make the choice to have abortions. But until they seek forgivness theyre guilty of murder. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but thats the truth.

In the past week Obama has decided to drop the middle class income cap down to $120k something, not $220k anymore. That means those that make that $100k that was between $120k and $220k will be considered upper class and guess what.....GET A TAX INCREASE! Are all you rich celebrities still lovin your man Obama? Hes gonna start taking LOTS AND LOTS of your money and spreading the wealth to all those lazy people who love to follow you!!!! I think its time the govt stops supporting lazy people and they start being forced to get up off their rumps and work! How about that for a change? ANd all those small business owners. Hes going to require they provide insurance for their employees. Do you know how expensive that is? Most of those businesses wont be able to make it anymore. Or how about Obama saying if you dont provide health insurance for you child they *the powers that be, the govt* will come in and take your children away from you along with fining you and if you still dont provide insurance youll be thrown in jail. Will we lose our right to bear arms? Or what about our right to homeschool and choose our own childs education? WOW, sounds like a promising future we have ahead of us.

Christmas outfit numero uno

2008-11-04T08:14:00.003-06:00

Here is the first (well actually first complete) Christmas outfit I have made. I listed this on etsy so visit http://www.homegrownbows.etsy.com/ if youre interested! I think it turned out well. Pretty much how I envisioned it :) Shes a cute little model, although she didnt want to stand still while I tried to take pictures. Now that shes getting the hang of this walking thing theres no standing still to be heard of!

Happy 1st Birthday Audrey!

2008-10-25T20:49:00.008-05:00

Today the baby of our family turned the big 1. I cant believe shes already a year old, my how time has flown this past year. Instead of having a big party we decided to take a trip to a local pumpkin patch with our friends Crystal, Danny and Exie. Crystal took some wonderful birthday pictures of Audrey and we had a great time!

Derek decided to wear his hat instead of doing his hair. Nice :)

Me and the girls. This was the closest to perfect we got. Audrey was done by this point.

My girls and Exie.

After the pumpkin patch we went to get ice cream. This was Audrey's first time eating ice cream. Lets hope she doesnt have the dairy intolerance Ava and I do! (she didnt eat all of that. She was sharing mine)

Here she is opening the present from Kiki (Crystal), Danny and Exie.

Look at her big smile, she loved her new toy.

Visit me on Etsy!

2008-10-17T19:26:00.002-05:00

I just added more stuff to my Etsy site. Go check it out!
Like my new logo? Thank you Crystal for creating it for me!! Isnt she awesome!?

Love this guy!

2008-10-16T10:23:00.001-05:00

Just one more reason....

2008-10-13T13:55:00.003-05:00

THAT OBAMA SHOULD NOT BE OUR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!

After reading this article (http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08287/919582-470.stm?cmpid=MOSTEMAILEDBOX) I just feel an even stronger outrage for Obama. Its one thing to enforce a draft with the young men in our country, but dont tell me that my girls are included in a draft. God created men and women differently, with different roles. With different strengths and weaknesses. I dont care how hard the feminists kick and scream WE ARE NOT CREATED EQUALLY! I couldnt have built our house like my husband and father in law did. I cant go out and chop a tree down and cut up the wood for winter. I guess I can do these things, but I was not created to do these things. Just like my husband cant carry and birth a baby. He cant give our baby the very best nourishment through breastmilk like I can. He wasnt created for that!!! WE ARE CREATED DIFFERENT!!!!!! We were not created to do the same things and have the same strengths. To think that we may face a time in the near future when a President will stand up and tell me that my of age daughters are REQUIRED to sign up for a draft makes me so angry! Stupid feminists! I am so sick of them affecting my life! Thats fine if they want to spew their equality on their own children but dont force it on mine!

He listens

2008-10-11T22:17:00.004-05:00

On the topic of prayer I thought I would add 2 little stories. Unfortunately bc of whats going on right now we dont really want our girls playing outside without either one of us being right outside with them. (Our house is in the country and usually I can just let them play outside and peek on them every few mins and still feel safe). Anyways, the other day the situation arose where I needed the girls to come inside but I also didnt want it to look obvious I was making them come inside. So anyways I started thinking "what do I do? How do I make them come inside without it looking obvious that Im making them come inside right at that moment". I walked down the hallway and basically begged the Lord provide a way where I could get them inside without it looking like I was making them come inside (if that makes any sense at all, lol). So I walked back down the hall and as I made my way to the door that lead outside it started raining!!!!!!!!!!! I called the girls in really quick bc of course it was raining and they couldnt play outside in the rain! LOL It was sooooo awesome to see God move so obviously so quickly!!!!! He took care of the situation within seconds of asking! So I ask myself....why dont I do that desperate prayer more often!? Hes always so faithful.
My second prayer story happened yesterday. Audrey hasnt been too bad about putting stuff in her mouth (not like Ava was anyways) so I dont always worry about her choking. Well the girls have this bingo game that has little place keeper things (like that descrition?!? lol) that are about the size of a penny. I had just picked that game up and put it out of the way. Well I was on the phone and doing dishes while the girls were playing in the living room. I hear the girls scream "mom Audrey is choking on something!" so I run in the living room. Audrey is on the first landing of the stairs with something obviously lodged in her throat. She can breathe but something is stuck. My first instict is to stick my finger in there and fish it out. But realizing its in her throat not her mouth I knew that wouldnt work. Her little eyes are watering and shes trying to cough. Now the only thing going through my mind is the 2 awful times Ava swallowed a penny and had to have them surgically removed. What an ordeal those times where! So I call my mother in law to see if shes home. Shes a nurse and I know she can do the himlick (sp??). SHes not home. Then is dawns on me, eventhough I had been thinking Oh Lord what do I do, I realized I needed to pray. I hadnt even prayed yet. So I pray for God to give me direction in what to do and get this thing out! As soon as I finished my prayer/thoughts (it happened very quickly and paniky, lol) Audrey threw up all over the floor! Out game a little yellow place keeper for the older girls bingo game. Once again, the Lord showed me his faithfulness. After reassuring Elisa and Ava she was ok and it wasnt their faults (they were feeling so bad since it was their game) I thought...why one earth was it not my very first response to take a breath and pray?! Why am I not programmed to instinctly do that!!? Im getting there....Im much better at it then I used to be, but look how quickly GOd took care of the situation. It was just so awesome! Poor little Audrey was scared though but after a little cuddling and some mommies milk she was good to go!

Fun Foto Friday!

2008-10-03T23:06:00.005-05:00

Excuse the corny title....I couldn't resist ;) I had some pictures I wanted to post and they all didnt fall into the same category or event, so I thought I'd just smush them all together into a Friday post with pics!

We went to zoo yesterday for homeschool day. We all had a great time and got to know some other people from our homeschool group a little better. And since we were going to they all had to wear their zebra outfits :)

Here are some other random pictures.

We all look a bit rough in this picture but oh well.

We had a tea party at Mimi's house. We all dressed up in old dresses, and Elisa and Ava in hats, and had "tea" (actually it was passion fruit juice) and buscuits (cookies and oyster crackers). We even dressed up Audrey but this was my cameras final day working for us, so I didnt get a picture of Audrey dressed up before the camera decided to stop working.

New outfits!

2008-09-24T20:35:00.003-05:00

Yesterday I finally started and completed an outfit I had been promising Elisa. She just loves zebra print and hot pink right now, so this is just perfect for her! She would blend in perfectly with her bedroom, lol. When it (finally) gets cooler we'll place black leggings under the skirt and black long sleeve shirt under the top....and add some pink converse...how cute will that be?!!? I made a matching bow, but of course she wouldnt wear it. What was I thinking, lol

Here is Audreys new outfit. I think this is one of my favorites by far. It coordinates with the dress I made Ava last week. Im in the process of making Elisa a matching tunic shirt to match with them as well. I saw the brown material and fell in love :)

I'll pray for you

2008-09-23T14:06:00.002-05:00

I was talking to Derek the other night about that common phrase. "I'll pray for you", how often we say it and just go on with life never giving another thought to the issue of which we told the person we'd be praying for them. One day it hit me, how many times have I told someone I'd pray for them, and then never done it? I wasnt lieing, at the time I had full intention of praying for their issue, but life gets in the way and I would just forget. The Lord began to show me how Ive done this so many times and how my words need to hold more value then I was giving them. Its so important to the person asking for prayer that people are actually praying for them, so why do we (sometimes) give so little thought to speaking that phrase and then never giving their prayer request another thought??
I *mostly lurk* on some yahoo loops and other forums and daily there are threads asking for prayer on issues. Ive gotten in the habit now of not even opening the thread and reading it if I dont have full intention of stopping what Im doing right at that moment and taking the time to present my prayers before the Lord on behalf of that person. Its so nice knowing that I am not reading their prayer request in vain without any intention of praying for them. When the saints cry out to God it changes things. Our prayers are so powerful and we so often just loosly say "I'll pray for you" with no intentions of doing it.
So I guess I ask....how often do you tell someone you'll pray for them and then forget to present the request before the Lord on behalf of that person?

She speaks

2008-09-19T15:20:00.004-05:00

Its finally the end of the week...yay! I love Fridays bc I have the excitement of having Derek home with us for the next 2 days. The girls love Fridays too, for the same reason. Its nice knowing I have the next 2 days of "help" and Derek has been taking the girls outside to play on Saturday mornings and letting me have some uninterupted time to read or sew (my new favorite pasttime).

Audrey said her 4th word. Yes, I know shes not even 11 months and already talking? If I didnt hear it myself I wouldnt believe it either. But its true. Her first word was hi. She said that very very young. If I told you how young, you wouldnt believe that either, lol. But we (read: our family) werent the only ones who heard her say that. Then she learned new skills and stopped saying that and moved onto new things. Next came dada. At first, like most babies, it wasnt just referring to Derek but instead just babbling. But now she says it towards him. If she sees him pull up through the window she gets really excited and says DADA! while bouncing herself up and down. (Shes our biggest daddies girls by far). Next came bye. She started saying that within the past few weeks. Of course she wont always do it on command (ever notice how babies wont perform) but she says it at the appropriate times. And last, and most excitingly she says Uh-Oh. Its soooo cute!! We thought she was saying that earlier in the week but I just dismissed it but then yesterday while we were out she dropped and toy from the basket and Elisa said Uh-oh and picked it up. The next thing we heard was Audrey saying UH-OH, as clear as day. So cute! So we kept saying it over and over just to make sure thats what she was really saying....and it was. A lady walked by and heard her and commented on how cute it was, so that confirmed it wasnt just us trying to hear something that wasnt there. Since then shes been saying it constantly and at the right times. I cant believe how much shes "talking". Our earliest by far. We were at Chick-fil-a after our homeschool co-op today and Audrey dropped a ketchup packet and said Uh-Oh and Ava (who was sitting by her) said "Good job Audrey! Now can you says ketchup?!" Me and Elisa just laughed and laughed!! Funny little Ava.

Ive also done a little more sewing lately. So, of course I have to post pictures. :) Unfortunately I think Ive let it get the best of me and my housework has started to suffer. So, I really shouldnt be online blogging but instead cleaning. I'll get right on that....as soon as this is posted.

Ava in a dress with leggings.

Looks like shes praising the Lord, hehe.

This was originally suppossed to be her birthday outfit, but I left the ruffles too long so I just kept it as a Fall dress. I want some little pumpkin robeez (actually knockoffs) to go with it. How cute would that be?!?!

BOWS BOWS BOWS

2008-09-17T12:27:00.002-05:00

Ok moms.....Im not sure who or how many people read my blog but I need some input. I'm thinking of starting a home business of selling bows and outfits, (like ones I've posted). SO here is where your input comes in. As a mom, or aunt or friend of a little girl.... would you purchase bows or cute custom outfits online or at booths (such as at craft fairs or flea markets) for the little one in your life?? Just leave a comment to let me know :)THANKS

2008-09-14T17:48:00.003-05:00

God is good!

2008-09-14T17:34:00.002-05:00

The weekend is almost over and tomorrow will be the start to our 3rd week of school. I still need to do my weekly research and preparations but instead I sit here and blog. :) I finished a fall dress for Audrey (I'll post pics later when I can borrow my mother in laws camera again. Ours is still broke) today. Originally it was going to be a top for her birthday outfit but I left the ruffles too long. So, I just kept it as a dress. I was definately not going for Halloween (bc we dont really celebrate that) look so Im hoping it looks Fallish enough. I had wanted a orange and brown look but the material I found was a black background and so I went with that. Its cute though and Im sure she'll get lots of use out of it. I still need to make her a bow to match.
We have been praying for months now to find the place (read: church) where God wants us and where we can grow in our relationship with Him and with other believers. Today we tried out a church in Greenville for the second time. The first time we went we really liked it. A lady from our homeschool group told us about it. There are like 12 (or so) homeschooling families there, including the pastors family, so thats exciting for us. Its so great to find a church were there are lots of other families with the same views on education and spiritual training as us! The girls will also be able to get to know other kids from the homeschool group by going to church there. The praise band is GREAT (and by the looks of it have the same "style" as Derek) and the elder that spoke today was really really great too. His message was right in line with what Ive been feeling and thinking of lately. He refered to *probably my favorite* verse, Matthew 6:25-34.

25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[b]?
28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Anyways, it was a really great message. Another thing we love about this church is all the younger families!!! It is soooooooooo awesome to have found a place with other couples our age who have kids...and lots of them!!! What a blessing it will be to get to know the families there and devolope friendships with people who are after Gods own heart! We are very excited God led us there. Thank you Lord! He is so good!

Employee of the month

2008-09-08T22:14:00.003-05:00

I just had to say how proud I am of my hubby! He was awarded Employee of the Month today. He was chosen from everyone in the entire company! YAY Derek! Guess his hard work last month, with the company in Dublin, paid off.

Days of Creation

2008-09-08T21:59:00.005-05:00

Our first week of school we reviewed the days of creation. We read Genesis 1 and then each girl drew a picture of what happened on each day. Today they finished their project by glueing them on a posterboard to display. They both did very well and got creative in their drawing. Elisa has always been a great artist but this project showed us just how well Ava can draw now too. They were both really proud of themselves. (And so are we).

Ava was our little Vanna (sp?) White. It looks like shes wearing a wig bc I had just taken her hair out of a ponytail.

This is Elisa's project

Ava's project

I LOVE this little outfit!

2008-09-06T21:25:00.003-05:00

I made another outfit for Audrey today. I used the leftover fabric from Elisa and Ava's pillows in their new bedroom decor.

I also started her Christmas outfit. Yes I said Christmas :)

Heres the completed one though.

The Israelites cross the Red Sea

2008-09-04T21:56:00.004-05:00

In our family devotional we read about Moses parting the Red Sea and the Israelites crossing. So here is our re-enactment. I tried to put the Jell-o on a cookie sheet but I couldnt get it to slide out of the casserole dish without breaking. Oh and the Littlest Pet Shop figures represent the Israelites. (had to get creative there)

(Elisa, lol) Parting the Red Sea

Crossing the Red Sea

Those poor Egyptians. Guess they shouldn't have messed with Gods chosen people!

My new creation.

2008-09-04T21:51:00.004-05:00

I saw this material and fell in love with it. I originally bought it with the intention of making a dress. But since its already so close to fall I made this outfit. I'll place either a cream shirt or a pink shirt (if I can find a matching shade) under the top for cooler days. I know the bow doesnt match. I didnt realize how much it didnt match until I saw these pics :)

Summer is over. School has started.

2008-09-02T21:06:00.005-05:00

Yesterday officially marked our last day of summer. Today officially marked our first day of our second year of homeschooling and our first year of homeschooling 2 at a time! It also is our first year using The Weaver, which is a Bible integrated unit studies cirriculum. This year we'll be weaving through Gensis. Im very excited about this and my excitment has boiled over into the girls! We are going to learn so much and dig so deep into scripture I know I'll be learning right along side the girls. Derek has decided he'll be teaching science when he gets home from work on our science days. The girls are also really excited about this too. This will allow him to be apart of our schooling experience and know exactly what theyre learning. Having him be involved is such a blessing...a total answer to prayer. I had been reading a book and it talked about the importance of having a dad involved in the homeschool experience rather then just a bystander looking in. I decided rather than nag or pressure him into getting involved I would just pray about it and let God take care of stirring his heart. I kid you not, I quietly sat on the couch, silently asking the Lord to put helping out with school on Dereks heart, one evening while Derek was talking to me. Within 2 mins, out of the blue, Derek says "I was thinking maybe I could teach the girls one subject when I get home from work". I got a big smile on my face and Derek asked why that was so funny. I then told him about how I JUST prayed God would put that on his heart! How cool is that?!?! I think it is so awesome when God instantly answers our prayers! So it was decided science will be his. We'll be doing science 2 days a week. The girls are really excited about getting to do experiments and projects at night when dad gets home. How blessed these girls are to have Derek as their dad!
Wow, I really went on a bunny trail there.

Well today we woke up to our new school routine. If you know me very well you know its very hard for me to be on a schedule. I just never can seem to get the hang of it. I cant imagine that having to do with the fact that I havent had a full nights sleep in the last 8 years though, lol. I went to bed around 10 last night with the intent of waking up at 6:30. I would get to spend some time with Derek before he left for work and get in some quiet time reading my Bible and praying. Well Audrey decided last night would be a great night to wake up every hour and a half. Oh the joys of having a nursing, co-sleeping baby. (And I wouldnt change it for the world!) Anyways between these 1 and half hour stints of sleep Ava woke up twice and came in our bed to snuggle. One time she said she had bad dreams that bugs were biting her in her room. Poor thing. Anyways, needless to say I got very very little sleep last night. BUT I was awake at 6:30 and we have had a wonderful day. Both girls woke up excited to start the first day of school. Ava was SUPER excited. Jumping up and down realizing she was going to be doing school (pre-k) with us. We ate, everyone showered and got dressed and had all morning chores done by 9 o'clock. (this is an amazing task in this household, lol). We had a wonderful morning starting review of last year for Elisa and going through the days of Creation with both girls. I'll post pics of the girls project theyre working when they complete it on Friday. I am just so blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and have the opportunity to teach them in the way they should go.

Picture overload!!

2008-08-25T09:24:00.011-05:00

Well for some odd reason my camera decided to work again last night. Briefly at least. It took the pictures I wanted and then stopped working again.

Dereks company gave him Friday off bc of all the hard work and extra hours he put in the past couple of weeks fixing a problem with a company in Dublin. Since their in a different time zone (obviously) he was working crazy hours. So the problem got fixed and they wanted to show their appreciation so gave him a free day off. It didnt come out of his PTO but was paid for.We were going to go to the homeschool bookfair in Plano. I really wanted to hear Dough Philips from the Vision Forum.

The girls ended up spending the night at my parents house Thursday night and my mom surprised them on Wednesday by getting them the bedding they wanted from Target. We found it at Target last week and it was exactly what they've been wanting. Ever since going to Dereks Aunt and Uncles house and seeing one of their cousins bedrooms they've wanted a zebra and cheetah print bedroom with hot pink and lime green. So when we saw the bedding it was perfect! Derek said we needed to wait until we could really justify spending the money on it.....boo on being wise with money (JK of course!) , so we didnt get it right then. But thank goodness my mom did bc we really wanted (well, me and the girls did, lol)! I got some fabric at Hobby Lobby and made some throw pillows for their bed.

I think they turned out really well considering Ive only been sewing since May!

Well since we didnt have the girls (well older 2) that night we decided to surprise them by painting their room. We painted one wall (the one you can see in the picture) hot pink, the side walls lime green and the opposite wall light pink. Boy were they surprised and excited when they got home!

We didnt end up going to the bookfair. I was a little dissapointed but oh well it was worth not going and surprising the girls.

Friday night Farmersville hosted a movie on the parkway. They set up a giant screen in a field and played Horton Hears a Who for the town. It was completely free and they even gave out free popcorn and teddy grahms (yum!). The girls had a great time! Audrey was even entertained...for a little bit at least, lol.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to Derek starting his first brisket. My parents got him a smoker for his birthday day and he hasnt been able to use it yet bc we've been so busy every weekend up until now. So he finally bought a brisket and spent all day hovering over it, making sure the temp and everything was perfect. Our good friends Crystal, Danny and Exie came to visit that night and share in the yummyness of the brisket! Derek did an awesome job at his first go at a brisket. We all really really enjoyed it!! I think he was pleased.

Since Crystal works for a local sports magazine she has a really nice camera. She is the one who usually takes Audreys pictures but we havent had her take them since Audrey was like umm....well I guess since Christmas, so little. She brought her camera and we got some REALLY adorable pics of lil Audrey. Im going to call them her official 9 mo pics...eventhough she was only 2 days shy of 10 months. Here is a glimpse of what we got.

They're somewhat dark and still need a little editing but you get the idea! Crystal did a great job!

This is what happens when a 9 mo old should really be asleep in bed and you make her sit still and take pictures instead of playing with the other kids. LOL But look at her cute little tooth she FINALLY has!

Well I think Im all blogged out now. This is the start to our last week of summer. Next Tuesday we'll be starting school. Dance also starts back up and we'll be starting co-op with our homeschoool group. At least Ive had about a month of a peaceful summer. Im kinda ready for the routine of the school year to start back up though.

We're still alive and kickin'

2008-08-18T13:22:00.002-05:00

I know I know, I havent updated this in awhile. But life has been busy and my digi camera died. Apparently the problem is common with Canon Powershot cameras and costs around $150 to fix. So we may as well just get a new camera. Im so sad. Now I dont even want to bother with another point and shoot and just get a DSLR. Maybe for my birthday/Christmas. (hint hint mom and Derek) So for now I'll be using my film SLR for any pics I want to take. But hey sometimes its nice to actually be surprised by the pics and get to actually hold them when you view them for the first time.

Well my gossip free for 8 days went pretty well...and by fast. Now Im implementing it as a lifestyle. It should be anyways. In scripture gossip its listed right up there alongside murder and fornication. Obviously its pretty offensive to God! The Bible says that The tongue has the power of life and death......(Proverbs 18:1). So through our speech we can literally bring life and death into a situation. Now thats powerful stuff (thats for you Andrew Womack fans ;) ). But seriously it is! Ive viewed this time and again. This summer God really gave me a perfect opportunity to be a light in the darkness and guard my tongue in a situation. I feel I failed miserably. No, actually I know I did. In hindsight I can see how He provided the perfect sitation to cling to His words and watch what I said, but I chose to indulge the flesh and join in. How sick the whole situation makes me feel. Fortunately I know we have an awesome Father in Heaven who has already forgiven me. Now I have the rest of my life to head His word and guard my tongue!! As a female and having this as my weakness I know I'll have to totally depend on His strength in this. Thankfully the Lord is willing to hold my hand in this. So watching my tongue is going to be the area that Im giving the Lord to work on at this point in my life. That along with patience and endurance to get through the days ;) LOL

Theres more to write...but I'll have to save it for later. Life is calling.........

Gossip Free for 8 Days

2008-08-08T09:10:00.002-05:00

There is a pastor who is challenging his congregation to be gossip free for 8 days starting 08/08/08. Which is today! So I have decided to take the challenge! There are so many verses in scripture that warn against gossip and how damaging it can be. I know I fall victim to gossiping way more then I'd like to admit. So for the next 8 days (and hopefully from now on) I will be gossip free. I pray that I can obstain from negative talk in general and if you call me with something you'd like to "chat" about please dont be offended when I dont want to hear it! :)
Heres the link to an article about it:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/423908.aspx

Gods Glory

2008-08-05T19:29:00.004-05:00

The Heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of His hands!

Psalm 19:1 NIV

God's glory is on tour in the skies,

God-craft on exhibit across the horizon!

Psalm 19:1 The Message

When I was a little girl, probably around Ava's age, I had a Sunday school teacher who taught us that when the rays of light shine out of and around the clouds its called God's Glory. All through growing up, anytime I saw the suns rays shining around the clouds I called it Gods Glory, no matter how old I was. Since the time Elisa could begin recognizing her surroundings I woud always point out Gods Glory to her. It always makes me smile when Elisa excitedly exclaims "Look mom!! Its Gods Glory! Isnt it beautiful?" A little earlier this evening Derek and the girls walked down to his parents house to return some things. Once viewing the sky Elisa ran home and threw the door open excidedly telling me "Mom you have to come see God's Glory! Its so beautiful!" (Anyone who knows Elisa can picture her expression when saying this, lol) I immediately put down the book I was reading (some of their school materials Im trying to familiarize myself with) and ran outside with her to see the glory of God shining through the sky! This is what we saw.........

How awesome is that?! I was instanlty reminded of Psalm 19:1. The living Word of God...coming to life!

The weekend is over!

2008-08-03T22:08:00.004-05:00

What a weekend we've had. The girls party was a success yesterday. They had a wonderful time and were blessed with lots of friends to share it with! The stress of party planning is over...well until Oct. THen I get to start planning the big #1 for little miss Audrey. Im thinking a fall festival type theme. Lots of pumpkins, hay bales.....letting the kids bob for apples, have a potato sac race, and a 3 legged race. Just some old fashioned fun doing things that kids nowadays dont do. Either that or do her party at a pumpkin patch we went to last yr out in Prosper. That would be fun. FOr the older kids at least, lol. The people who know me really well know how much I LOOOOVEEEE party planning! I seriously could make a side job out of it. I have actually thought about going into that. I always get stressed out though. I get all these ideas and then I cant find what I need to make them come to life.
Today was Elisa's All-Star T-Ball teams end of the season party. The kids (most of the same friends from her party yesterday) had a blast swimming at one of the girls (from the teams) house. This will be the last time she associates as a team member with many of those girls so it was bittersweet. Im sooooooooooooo glad for this all to be over. Can I say that again? Im SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo glad for this all to be over. I thought we were going to have a nice relaxing summer and its been anything but that. But this was a once in a lifetime experience for her and we'll never do it again. Ever. At least Elisa can says shes been to a National championship game before. But now its back to normal life focusing on our family.

We now have about a month to relax before starting school again. This year Elisa will be in 2nd grade, Ava in pre-K and Audrey will be busy busy busy! Im a little nervous to be honest. But there are tons of homeschooling families out there who manage with great success. So as long as we keep our focus on the Lord, success will come to us as well. Im ready for lots of teaching from Him (for myself) this school year as well. Its going to be a learning experience for us all. Im so excited to see what He's going to do in our family throughout this next year!

Ok, off to bed for me. Audrey is sleeping really well...I should be asleep taking advantage of uninterupted sleep!

We have a tooth....party planning nightmare.....and the dog chewed my....car?!?!?!

2008-08-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

Well what an eventful past couple days its been.

Weds I picked the girls up from VBS and we drove to eat lunch with Derek. We ate at Chick-fil-a and as we were leaving we noticed some really bad damage to our car. Right above the drivers side front wheel there was some markings we couldnt figure out. Literally holes with scratches around them. We thought maybe something fell off a truck as they drove off? After picking up my friend Lisa (who is in town from Orland0) and her mother pointing out that it looked like a dog had chewed on our car. It had rained the night before and Penny is terrified of storms. After our neighbors shooting her she panicks when it starts to rain. We dont let her in anymore after we noticed a tick in the house last time we let her in. We tell her to go down to Dereks parents house under their garage/carport. She usually gives in and goes down there. Well aparently that night she decided to chew on our car. It looks so ugly (I'll post pics of it later). I just would have never thought the fear in her would make her chew on soemthing like a CAR!

After eating lunch we drove all the way out Frisco to Party America I had called the night before to check and see if they carried Littlest Pet Shop party supplies. They told me they do, so off we went after we ate lunch with Derek. We got there and looked around. We looked some more. I started thinking surely I didnt just drive almost an hour and half out here for nothing. So I asked and was told they did NOT have LPS party supplies and they never had. They werent sure why the girl the night before had told me they did bc they never have. I was very frustrated, to say the least. So I prayed for self control while asking the girls what other party theme they wanted. Since theyre sharing a party this yr I needed them to agree. But of course one wanted one thing and the other somethign else. THats why LPS was perfect bc they both love playing that. I didnt realize that I was going to have such a hard time finding it and that I should have ordered it online like a month ago if I wanted it for their party. So we searched Target, Walmart and Hobby Lobby...again. Hoping that maybe those stores in a different city might have the theme. But of course not. We finally decided on theme colors, that went with the LPS stuff. So we're doing that and going to put stickers on things and Im going to *try* and make LPS center pieces. That along with an LPS themed cake hopefully will get the point across. We'll see. Theyll have fun regardless though.

Audrey has been fussy since we got back from New Orleans. She had a runny nose and yucky cough and was just acting like she didnt feel well. She started pulling on her ears so I decided to take her in. They Dr said she was pretty sure it was just environmental (allergies) and nothing else. Thats what we had thought until she started pulling her ears. Well Ive been watching her bottom gums for months now wondering when her first tooth will come in. The ony on the left (her right) looks like its right there about to pop through. So we've kept waiting, but nothing. Well as I sat down to check my email Audrey started chewing on paper (her favorite thing in the world). I put my finger in her mouth to make sure she hadnt gotten any in there and felt somethign shard and hard on the top gum. I thought 'what on earth!?' Then I remembered that Elisa has an extra tooth on the top and that it was the first tooth Elisa got in. This is not normal bc most of the time babies get the bottom 2 first. I pulled Audreys lip up and sure enough a tooth!!! Its in the same exact spot as Elisa's extra one, so Im assuming Audrey will have the same extra tooth. (That apparently my dad has as well). Its out pretty far so I have no clue how long shes had it! I havent felt it while shes nursing, but then again shes not really a biter. (Thank you Lord!) Anyways, no wonder she was so fussy last week! Poor baby. We had no clue she was getting a tooth.....up there!

A girl discovers chocolate

2008-07-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

As I was getting ready to start dinner tonight I decided to eat some cake (that Dereks mom made this past weekend to celebrate Derek and the girls birthdays (that were earlier this month) ) right out of the cake pan. Since I was holding Audrey I decided I should let her in on the delicousness (is that even a word??) and put tiny amounts of cholocate icing in her mouth. I did this twice and went on eating more cake myself. I kept feeling her reaching for something but didnt think much of it bc I was so preoccupied with the yummyness (again, is this even a word??) myself. I finally decided to look over at her and realized what had been going on! She had discovered a place on the side of the cake pan where icing was. She realized she could reach in there and get some on her hand and taste it and go back in for more...without mom even realizing what she was doing!!! Let me tell you, for a baby whos still only nursing (no solids yet) this was a treat!!

Think she enjoyed it? lol

On another note.....Ive been on a sewing binge lately. The dress Audrey has on in my first post I made. I also decided I was going to make a birthday outfit for Ava to wear for her party. I need some brown and light pink thread for the finishing touches but hopefully you get the idea. Im very proud of myself!

Im going to add ribbon along the top of the ruffle. That way you cant tell there the ruffle was sewn on the shorts.

This is what Im waiting for the brown and light pink thread for. I'm going to applique on the cupcake. (You can tell its a cupcake....right?!?)

2008-07-29T12:54:00.001-05:00

Well, here I am again. Being that this is my second post I've officially made it further with this blog then with my last. Yay for me. While we wait for our company to arrive I thought I'd take a min and put another picture on here. I tried making this the little title at the top but bc of our sllooooowwww dial up connection (gotta love living in the boonies) it wasnt working properly.

I just love this picture. I took it at the beach in Galveston 2 weeks ago. I would have loved Elisa to be sitting taller but oh well, at least I got Audrey still long enough to snap it.

The wonderful world of blogging.....

2008-07-28T18:59:00.000-05:00

I attempted to start blogging 2 months ago and failed miserably after the first post. So, here I am, nursing baby and all, giving it a go a second time. We'll see how successful I am this time.

Its always fun to catch up on far away friends lives through their blogs. Somehow I feel like I'm taking part in their day to day activities. So, now maybe some of those same friends can feel like theyre part of our everyday life.

I'll start off this blogging journey with some pics of my sweet lil babe. It makes me so sad shes already 9 months old. Who would have guessed that these past 9 months would have flown by so fast. For her life starting out so rough she sure does look healthy and adorable!