Christmas Breakfast

We went to Davids Uncle's house for Christmas morning to have breakfast with them. The kids had a lot of fun, and we really enjoyed the fellowship with all the family and friends.

Grandaddy and Sophie



Amanda and Sophie



Caleb



Noah, I think he might have been caught doing something he shouldn't have!! ;-)



Dawson



Nathan and Amanda



Arlo and Lesley



The rest are some fun shots of the whole family





Uncle Rossy pretending to kick Caleb down the steps. He's a nut!!!





I like this one. This is my mother-in-law Janet, her husband George and Uncle Rossy!!

Sadie & Sophie

This is the sweetest picture I have ever had the pleasure of posting :) . This is Sadie and her second cousin Sophie.

"Cheese" cake

Here are some real cute pictures of the kids.

This one is Caleb and a plate of his favorite "cake"



I guess Dawson was dressing to impress in this one ;-)



So apparently the story was that Caleb got a banana and gave the peel to Sadie and she went to town. :)  Yummy!!



Dawson loves his baby doll!!



Caleb told me the other night that he needed his "blue" I said "what do you mean?" He said "my blue, I get it." So He ran upstairs and a few moments later he came downstairs with daddy's boxers on. Normally I would be reluctant to put my husbands underwear on our blog but this was very funny!!

Noah's new glasses

Finally the costume pictures

They aren't the best quality. I think I need a new camera. The pictures just aren't coming out good at all these days, but they are very cute.

Noah's a photographer!!!

I am really behind in posting pictures. I just uploaded about 3 months worth to my computer and found some real cute ones I will share over the next few posts. In this one I am gonna post 2 that Noah took at Thanksgiving. Who knew he had a talent for taking pictures ;-)

My mother-in-law Janet or at least a portion of her :):) hehe!



My brother Josh. The lighting isn't so good. I suppose you have to start somewhere right :)

I Love Him....

31 years old tomorrow. A remarkable example of Jesus' love for his bride. Unconditionally loving me and his babies, humble, generous, kind and amazingly patient. All of these things describes the man I am so privileged to be married to. He is the man I dreamed about for so many years as a little girl, as I often thought of my wedding day, as a teenager longing to find the one man to love me, and as a young adult desiring to find the one God had for me.

Today David I want honor you for so many things, but most of all I want to say I love you, and thank you for loving and excepting me just the way I am. For being a true Godly example of what a man, Husband, and father should be to me and our children.

Happy Birthday!!!! (A day early. I couldn't wait to post this and wasn't sure if I would have time tomorrow)

Crazy, Nutty Night

The big boys won't go to bed. Noah is stripping. They keep screaming for juice. I think Dawson has the Croup (if that is how you spell it). He wants to sleep in Mommy's bed and isn't taking NO for an answer (I don't really have the fight in me right now to make him get in his and b/c he is sick I think I can let it slide). On top of that he isn't really going to bed anyway, in fact as I am writing this he has come down the stairs and started to play with his toys again. AHHHH!!!! David and I have migraines. The dog just threw up. Sadie won't stop screaming and we can't figure out what she needs. My house is upside down.................. BUT.......... I cooked dinner:):):)

On a side note Sadie did something really cute yesterday. She was really into jumping so I stuck her in the Johnny jumper and she went at it for like 30 minutes solid. After That I realized I hadn't heard her in a bit and looked over and she had played so hard that she knocked out cold. It was so cute. I captured a few pictures. Here there are:). Enjoy!!

Student of the Month

My sweet Caleb made "Student of the Month" in his class at school. I was so proud of him. They had a ceremony on Thursday up at the school where they honor the students. They serve ice cream sundaes, and hand out a certificate. He was too shy to go up and get his picture taken with the Principle :(. It was such a fun afternoon. In the main hall at the school they have all the pictures of the students that made S.O.M. and a little write up about their favorite color and food and what not. Caleb's answers were so cute. They were:

Q: favorite color

A: purple

Q: favorite food

A: apple

Q: favorite sport

A: basket ball  (he doesn't even know what basket ball is so I don't know where he got that answer from hehehehee)

Anyway, It was so good to see him excited. I was proud of him. The reason the teachers gave for him receiving the award was due to his caring heart, and the fact that he is a great listener in class. They said that if one of the other kids is sad or hurt, Caleb, without being asked is the first to go over and console them and ask them if they are okay. They said he will run and get tissues for kids when they sneeze and he just has a big, big heart. That makes His Dad and I very pleased to hear such wonderful things coming from an outsider. As Parents we do the best we can and we rely 100% on the Lord to guide us. When we hear news like that, I guess we must be doing something right:):)

GOOD JOB CALEB!!!!! You sure are growing into a wonderful young man!!! We love you!

Marked down

WARNING CONTENT BELOW IS VERY PERSONAL

In most stores the defected product is marked down and stuck on the shelf to be sold at a discount. After a couple of weeks if it isn't purchased it is marked down further, and further until eventually it is thrown away never again to be seen.

I am a mom of four beautiful children, and I am married to the most patient and most amazing man there ever was. However,  I am not any of those things. I happen to be the marked down, defected product that needs to be thrown away so the new product that is new and improved can come along and do the job right.

I had expectations. I had dreams. I wanted to be a wife and a mother. That was it. That was my goal in life. A pretty good one I think. I read Proverbs 31 and hid it in my heart. I prayed and sought God and asked him to make me a good and useful wife. I had a dream that I would rise before my kids and my husband and spend time with him, and then prepare the day for my family. I would then keep house and play with my children and do all of those wife and motherly duties. Instead. I am sick. I have a disease that has distroyed my muscles. I can barley lift my children. I have to take about 15 pills a day just to keep myself going. I spend most of the day wishing I was in bed because the pain and or the weakness/fatigue has taken me over. I sit and wonder if I will make it through the next diaper change. Not just the one diaper change but all three. I cry because I can't play with my kids, most of the times I struggle just to get off the couch, let alone make lunch and smile. I would kill to do crafts and homeschool, and color, and do all of the normal fun stuff that mothers do. I wish sometimes that I could be tired like other mothers from cleaning my house, but the truth is I can't clean my house. I wish I could say I am a help meat for my husband but I am not. He takes care of me. I am a failure as a mom and as a wife. Instead of me getting up in the middle of the night with the kids. David does. Instead me getting up in the mornings with my babies and putting them on the school bus. David does. Instead having dinner cooked every night for my husband like my heart yearns to do. Most nights we have soup or sandwhiches or something simple. I do cook. Just not enough to meet my standards. Instead of David coming home from work and taking it easy because he just worked so hard all day for us. He can't. After spending the day with the kids I am usually pretty worn out and very sick and very weak so David has to take over. He tells me he loves me. He tells me he doesn't mind. He tells me that I will get my healing.

I think David and my children deserve so much better. I can't do what I was created for. I am defected. I am marked down. I need to be taken off the shelf.

(please don't think I am writing to get sympathy from anyone I am just writing this because I needed to get my feelings written and this is truly how I feel about myself.)

#27

27 is one of those numbers that looks prime, but it's not. The fact that it's 30 minus 3 gives it away. In fact, the number is actually pretty close to 90% of 30, about as close as a number can get to 90% that is. Isn't it funny how we are always using whole numbers to quantify things that really pretty inexact. For example, our ages...we always round them down. People who are about to get to their 40th birthday say they are 39 right up until the exact second of the anniversary of their birth.

This brings me to an interesting point. My dearest Sarah is turning 27 today, which sounds a whole lot younger than the 31 I'm turning in 2 weeks and 3 days. For the next three years I can still grin thinking I'm an old 30-something with a hot young 20-something wife. When that's over I'll have to wait 6 more years to do more grinning of that sort, at which point our children will be 10, 9, 8, and 6, truncating of course.



That being said, Sarah, with whom I was in love for a bit over 6 years (more like 6.34 years if you are counting) before she actually married me, has been my wife for 5 years, 2 months, and 12 days (5.1995 years). That means in about 1.14 years, we will have been married for more than half our relationship.

I'm not sure if that means much to anyone else, but that sure means a lot to me. I really love my wife. May I get to love her for another 11.5395 years. And another after that. In fact, may we be together for a thousand more 11.5395 yearses!

This, btw, is the oldest picture of Sarah for which I have a digital version. This is from 1998. I'm sure I could scan one from Sarah's old pictures, but this is the only thing close to a decent picture I had of her for a long time (SNIFF).

Happy 27th Birthday Sarah!

Please pray!!!

Tomorrow David and I take Noah  in for a consultation with a GI specialist. There is a possibility that he has Gardeners syndrome. I don't know if anyone has heard much about it, but it can eventually be quite serious and fatal for him. I am believing the Lord for a good report. I will leave a link to it here. I don't have a lot of time tonight to go into how it came about that we are getting him tested and exactly what is happening with him, but I hope to sit down some time this week and fill you guys in. Please if you guys have some time or think about it pray that the report will be a good one. We are believing God and we know he is faithful!!!

Yummy dog food!

Awhile back my dad took some funny pictures of Dawson enjoying a nice bowl of dog food with molly (his dog). I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!!!

I never thought......

23lbs!!!!!!! I have lost 23lbs to date. I am so excited and feel so good. I just thought I would share in my victory. I have 52 more pounds to go. A long haul I know, but I am well on my way. I never thought I would get this far. Praise God!!!!! He is so good!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Caleb!

Today is my sweet Caleb's birthday. He is 4. I can't believe how time flies. I am thankful to God for this precious gift in my life. He has been a great joy to me, and many others. He is a great big brother, with a big heart that cares for those in need. He is the first to ask if I am okay if I sneeze or even cough. He cares for his brothers and holds a very big special place in his heart for his baby sister. I am in love with my first born Son. He is a beautiful boy inside and out and I am excited about what God has in store for his life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET, SWEET BOY!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!

Again....

 I posted not to long ago about my lap-top's hard drive breaking after dropping my computer. Since then it was fixed and we were back to normal. Last week things began to get a little crazy again. I got really sick, and David was getting a bit worn out with working all day and having to pick up the slack where I was lacking :(. I hate it when I am sick. I don't like seeing my husband and family worn out because mommy can't be mommy. It breaks my heart. However, During one of our crazy moments in the house David went to grab his laptop and it slipped out of his bag. Of course the hard drive went. To put some icing on the cake, the day before he dropped his laptop he decided to empty his external drive, which of course had everything back upped on it. He was updating something, and was going to back everything up again the very next day. Crazy stuff huh? Who would have thought. Well, we thought everything was okay because he had just loaded all of our photos and stuff onto my computer and that was really the most important to us. When I checked my computer just to make sure it was all there. We realized something had happened in the transfer and I didn't get all the photos put on mine. So.... we were very sad and thought we had lost them all. I of course started crying at the thought of losing all of my babies pictures. Well to make a very long story short we worked it out so that David could keep his old drive. Apparently there is a place that can retrieve the data from a broken drive. It's very costly, but one day it will be worth saving the money to have done. The catch was that he had to buy a new drive and install it himself. Even though he has a warranty on his laptop that allows him to get it replaced and fixed for free. If he was to send it in and let them fix it they would have kept his old drive and wouldn't give it back.

Not two days later I dropped mine again and my hard drive went. This is just nuts. Luckily we had just backed up everything on my computer so still have everything. Yeah!!!

I just hope we are done with this dropping of the laptops.

Stay tuned I have some cute costume pictures I will post this weekend :-).

Brother sister bond

Since the day I found out I was having a baby (Sadie not a new one;-) ). Caleb has been attached. From asking me if my belly is okay. To touching my belly and kissing the baby goodnight. He even told me it was a girl. When Sadie was born he was so helpful and always by my side seeing what he could do. Now that she can play and laugh he always wants to sing to her and kiss her and talk to her. He gets so excited when she responds to him. There is a connection between the two. God definitely has a plan to use these two as brother and sister to do something I don't know what yet, but I do know I see something in the spirit. A bond that is very tight. A team, something that won't easily be torn apart. I know the devil hates unity so my prayers are constant for this. Like I said I don't know what this plan is, but I know there is something different about these two and their connection, and I believe God is going to use that in a special way.

Update on potty training....

We are now going number 2 on the potty, and last night we stayed dry till morning. Praise God!! One down three to go. I think in three years I may them all out of diapers. geesh!!!

I love her:)

The rain is coming!

Have you ever went to bed with a stuffy nose, and had to sleep breathing through your mouth all night? When you wake up your mouth is so dry that when you try to swallow you choke because it's so dry. I hate that feeling. Even when you take that first swallow of water it barely goes down. It takes a whole cup of water before things in your mouth and your throat begin to moisten. Swallowing becomes easier and even your nose begins to clear.

Lately My walk with God has been so dry it reminds me of waking up in the morning after breathing through my mouth all night. On top of that imagine instead of the sip of water I would usual take to help it. It feels like I am taking the driest dirt I can find and shoveling it in. I'm choking. I can't do this. My walk with God is just dry. I don't know what to do.

It feels like sunset. The sun is huge. Bright, big, Orange and yellow. Beating on the Ground (my heart). It is hot, it is scary, and there feels like no escape. The ground is so dry. The cracks are huge, and very deep. I don't know what to do. There are days I just want to disappear, I really do. Giving up seems like the best idea right now. I just want to escape the heat. I don't want to feel like am choking anymore. I don't want to feel so dry. I mean the cracks are so deep that I don't even know if there is any hope in tapping into a well or spring. I don't know if I want to try. I want to give up. Who cares right? I am tired. So tired. I don't want to go on. Don't make me go on. What else is there to do.

Calling on Jesus at this point is all I can do. It is my only answer. I don't get to give up. I have children and a husband and a good life. I need the Lord so what do I do I call on His Name. In desperation I fall at his feet and pray for his living water and refreshing rain to fall on me. I need life. I need Jesus to break up my ground and to begin to water me. I need Him to begin to produce life me once again. I have forgotten what that feels like. I need Jesus!!!!!!

Jesus said he would never leave us nor forsake us. He said he would comfort us, and love us. So I ask him to do that. I had no other choice. Giving up is not option.

Healing Rain from the Almighty is an option.

Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

That is an option

I need the rain. I need to tap into the wellspring of living water and drink. That is an option

I found this scripture which I think sums up everything I have been going through this past two years since I have left my last church and entered this new one. I have been dealing with a lot of hurts and old wounds. I have been trying to heal from a broken spirit. I am getting there. God is bringing his rain. In fact I do not think it was an accident that we have been in a drought here in the natural and just yesterday the Lord brought rain and it has been raining for two days here, and it's suppose to rain again tomorrow. The Lord told me this morning to get up off the couch and take my son Dawson outside and play in the rain with him. I did just that. I felt so free and had so much fun. I got a taste in the natural of what it is beginning to feel like in the spiritual for me. I am excited and I hope this encourages someone else who maybe going through something like this.

Hosea 6

¹COME AND let us return to the Lord, for He has torn so that He may heal us; He has stricken so that He may bind us up. ²After two days He will revive us (quicken us, give us life); on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him.

³Yes, let us know (recognize, be acquainted with, and understand) Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord [to appreciate, give heed to, and cherish Him]. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the [heavy] rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.

And this is my life......

Bethany and Anne did pictures of "this is my life". I figured if I did a series of pictures like that they would definitely be to horrific to post. The other night David had to work pretty late and I wasn't feeling well at all. The kids were acting up, The dog went to the bathroom on the floor, sadie was screaming, the two younger boys were playing in the dog water and food. Then Noah thought he would try and help out by getting the little vacuum out and clean it up. Caleb wanted to wash his hands in the bathroom, but changed his mind and eft the water running, shut the door, and came out to the very messy kitchen and finished washing them there. This was all happening at the same time dinner was suppose to be eaten. On top of all that every toy imaginable was out and strewn about the house. So at that moment I stopped. I decided instead of being stressed and freaking out. I was gonna take pictures. So I am going to post them in good faith that you guys will know that my house doesn't always look like this. I have to say it was one of the worse ever. I had to laugh. I still think I got frustrated and stressed out too. Well here goes with the horrific pictures. Hope you enjoy!!

P.S. I'll will post pictures of a good day at our house later:):)