Kelly's Kapers

Home Organization

2011-09-06T07:40:00.002-05:00

On the schedule today is taking the kids to school, the usual housework (laundry, floors, putting away), making a bag, baby sitting, and my "MUST DO" of the day is get together a daily/weekly/monthly Chore List/Schedule for myself and the children. I feel like I just never have it all together. The bathroom rugs need to be done or the sheets need changed or my desk needs purged . . . AGAIN. So today I will make a master list of tasks and organize them by the day, week, month and year.

Anyone who wants to chime in with their cleaning schedule and purging routine, I would LOVE to hear it!!!

Happy Tuesday!

Bus Visiting

2011-09-03T08:02:00.004-05:00

After 8 months of Daniel not being a bus captain . . . . . . . WE'RE BACK!!!! This is our third week back on visiting the bus and I'm GRATEFUL!

I think we needed the break. I think it made us both appreciate the bus ministry more and appreciate the fact that it is a privilege to work the bus route, not a duty. We have found the joy again and its GOOD! We are also now picking up children from 3 different houses where we used to pick up the parent on the bus.

If you are so inclined, please pray we'll be able to get those parents to come back to church and back to God.

So with much joy, all 8 of us are getting ready this morning and loading up to go visit all the bus kiddos! Praying for a big day on the bus tomorrow!

My Version Of Chicken Pot Pie

2011-09-02T07:00:00.000-05:00

Made some home made pot pie the other day and took pictures so for those who are interested, here goes.

I used to boil my chicken in water and use the water to make the gravy for the pies but I don't do that anymore. I start by frying my chicken on top of the stove (in some butter but you could use coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil) until mostly done.

While frying the chicken I boil potatoes that have been peeled and cut into bite sized pieces.

Once the chicken is mostly done, add flour until all the butter and juice from the chicken has been absorbed and makes a thick paste. Stir the chicken and paste to slightly brown the flour paste.

Once you have browned the flour (maybe 3 or 4 minutes of constant stirring), add milk. I don't know how much. Once you add the milk, you can add more if its too thick or add more flour or
cornstarch if its too runny. This creates a "gravy" of sorts for the filling of your pot pie. You want
it to be on the runny side because it will thicken up as it bakes and you don't want it to be too dry
once its done. Add salt, pepper, and some garlic powder. You can also add onions or onion powder to taste.

At this point, add all your fillings. I cheated when I made mine last and just added a bag of frozen vegetables, cheese and the cooked potatoes. I LIKE to do fresh carrots, celery and whatever else you like but I was in a time crunch. Stir it all together and spoon into a pie crust. I usually home make my pie crust but I bought the roll out crusts from the store this time, again, to save myself some time. Very busy day.

Place your 2nd pie crust on top and trim the excess dough from around the sides of your pie tin.

At this point you can pinch your edges to create that fancy fluting but I've never been able to master that so I use the edge of a fork to seal my edges.

I then cut 4 slits in my top and use the excess pastry and a cookie cutter to make a cute embellishment on the top of my pie. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown. Usually takes about an hour "ish".

Unexpected Blessings At Unexpected Times

2011-09-01T09:15:00.005-05:00

There are some who are going to think this is an awful post but this isn't so much about me as it is about bragging on my God.

When I found out I was pregnant with Malachi, I wasn't excited. Then Daniel started a new job where he was gone Monday-Friday, sometimes working Saturdays and I REALLY wasn't excited. I was basically raising 5 children on my own and I was already overwhelmed. I didn't get married and have children to do it all by myself. Add into that a "new" house that needed to be unpacked while I wasn't allowed to lift anything and trying to train and discipline 5 children . . . well, all I could see was another thing to do with a newborn. Breastfeeding is time consuming. Getting up in the middle of the night for feedings is exhausting, especially when you are driving children to and from school 3 times a day, including half day kindergarten.

I did NOT want this baby. At all. Sure, I knew I would love this baby but I was completely unable to see any joy forthcoming with his arrival. I already felt like I was drowning. How was I going to add a newborn to the mix?

The pregnancy was really difficult. I don't know if is because my body was just coming off a twin pregnancy or if it was because I'm getting older or because it was my 5th pregnancy or just a combination of all those things but it was the hardest singleton pregnancy ever. Falling flat on my abdomen during my ninth month while taking out the trash in the rain didn't help. Neither did the fact that my husband was 7 hours away when it happened. How in the world was I going to do this?

Then it came time to give birth.

With all my previous children, I have requested they be cleaned up a bit before they are given to me immediately following birth. For some reason, I didn't even think about this with Malachi. So upon his arrival they sat him on my chest. I'm so grateful I forgot.

I was in love. This screaming, icky, squirming, slimy little thing was mine and he needed me and it was wonderful.

Since his birth, he has brought inexpressible joy to our home. We NEEDED this baby. I NEEDED this baby. He is so happy. He is delightful. He is well loved. And God is good.

Since he has been born, Daniel's work schedule has changed and he is home more. I have more help with the children and I did need that. But even if he were still on that horrible, crummy schedule, I would still be grateful for God's foresight in giving us Malachi. He is a fabulous nurser. He is a good sleeper. He is content to watch the older children running around the house like idiots. I'll check on him in his play seat and he'll have dosed off only to check on him a few minutes later and he'll be happily watching all the activity again. He has enriched our lives so much and I can't imagine our lives now without him. The only word I can use to describe Malachi is "happy".

The only word I can think of to describe Malachi's Mommy is grateful. I'm grateful for Malachi. I'm grateful for a God who knows what we need before we have even considered it. I'm grateful for unexpected blessings at unexpected times.

Phoebe's Surgery

2011-07-22T21:56:00.006-05:00

We found out on Friday the 15th that Phoebe would need surgery to release her trigger thumb. This wasn't a surprise as Elijah had his trigger thumb surgically released when he was 18 months old. We scheduled the surgery for Thursday the 21st. I did great with the whole thing until about 8 PM on the 20th.

Then I started worrying. Such a minor surgery but to go under anesthesia and take those risks? WHAT IF SHE NEVER WOKE UP?

At 3:30 AM the morning of the surgery, I finally climbed into bed with Phoebe to try and get some sleep before 6 AM. Every time she flip-flopped around in the bed I would pray that God would allow us to have her back when the surgery was over.

We get up around 6 and give her the required pre-surgery bath.

We had taken the me-me (pacifier) away about 5 days ago but Daddy went and bought her a new one at WalMart the night before. We couldn't bear to send her off to surgery without her me-me.

Then I dressed her in my one of my favorite dresses before we headed off to the hospital around 7:50.

We arrived at the hospital right on time to find Preacher had beaten us there and was waiting for us in the waiting room. We fellowshipped a bit and everyone was having a good time (even Malachi) until they called us back to get her ready for the surgery.

Preacher prayed for us, Phoebe and the medical staff and said his goodbyes while Daniel took Phoebe off to the surgical unit.

She was so cute when Malachi and I were finally allowed to join them. I loved her little surgical gown and new socks!

She was happy with her new "pretty bracelet", coloring, and watching TV.

While holding her, I realized Dr. Muhammed (Dr. KERMIT Muhammed . . . .cracks me up) had already been in to mark her thumb to insure he operated on the correct one! YEAH for double checking!!! (Dr. Muhammed had also done Elijah's trigger thumb release.)

The nurse, who wasn't very good with children, came in a short time later to give her an oral sedative/relaxer. After just a few minutes, she was VERY relaxed. No more playing for her!!

Next came the anesthesiologist to see if we had any questions. I loved her!! Her bedside manner completely made up for what was lacking in our nurse's bedside manner.

The anesthesiologist carried Phoebe away as we walked the opposite direction to the waiting room. I had a difficult time when she started crying. She had been SO GOOD to this point. But off we went.

It was about 40 minutes from the time we left the pre-op area to the time we met with Dr. Muhammed after the surgery. It was maybe another hour before we were actually allowed to see her which scared me to death. I just kept waiting for them to let us know she had come out of the anesthesia. I think that was harder for me than the surgery time. Eventually they called us back and she was happy to have Daddy hold her.

She was also very happy to get some juice after fasting from dinner the night before!! She sucked down the entire sippy cup full without stopping for a breath.

She wasn't so happy when we tried to take the cup away and give her a cookie!!

Eventually she settled in and watched some Word World until it was time to take her home.

We kept asking her questions such as "do you want a drink", "do you want a cookie", and "do you want to watch tv" while in the recovery room. She kept shaking her head "no" until we asked her if she was ready to see Sofie, who had spent the night elsewhere. At that point she verbalized and said "uh-huh"!!! The longest they had ever been apart was about an hour and half so they were both VERY happy to see one another after about 16 hours of separation.

She is doing fantastic 2 days post surgery. We've already had to take her to the surgeon's office to get her soft cast re-wrapped. (Keeping bandage DRY and on a 2 year old is no small task!!) Thankfully, they didn't wrap her all the way up to the shoulder this time. They put a shorter one on her and she has movement at the elbow and fingers, although its somewhat restricted at her hand.

I'm thankful God protected her and guided the doctors . . . . . . . . and I hope we don't ever have to do this again with any of the other children!!! I don't think Mommy can deal with it!!

Back On The Wagon

2011-07-06T23:42:00.004-05:00

I'm back on the running wagon. Took a 2 month hiatus which I feel badly about. But we're back on. Still hoping to run that 5K in October but I'm truly terrified I'll fail. That is why this is so important for me. My whole life I've avoided situations where I wasn't confident I would succeed. I didn't major in music on college. I didn't run track in High School. I didn't take advanced math in high school. I didn't play volleyball in high school. I look back and see many things I avoided due to lack of confidence and fear of failure. At the age of 34, I'm using this 5K training to TRY and prove to myself I can do "it". Anything. Its very difficult. The running isn't so horribly difficult. That gets better every day. Literally. But the mental training is much more difficult than the physical.

This probably sounds silly to others. That's okay. I'm trying to overcome worrying about what others think, too. So today my time and distance was 1.71 miles in 28 minutes. Week 3 Day 5 is Done!!!

Yard Sales!

2011-05-19T15:45:00.003-05:00

I love yard sales. Really love them. Its probably an unhealthy obsession except having to drag along 6 children pretty much keeps it in check.

I had some time to kill after I dropped the kids off for school and before I had to be back for the elementary play so I decided to go to some yard sales to look for a baby swing. Malachi loves motion and we don't own a swing so I wanted to find one.

They had a swing at the very first yard sale I went to but she wanted $25 for it. Now, this isn't a bad price for a swing but I just didn't want to pay that much. I only had $10 cash on me although I was willing to put that down as a deposit and go get more money if I found a really great swing.

Anyway, I got back in the van and asked the Lord to provide a swing for the $10 I had in my purse. I went to several more sales but had no luck. I finally go to what will have to be my last sale before returning to the school. They had a swing but there was no price. I ask the lady what she wants for it. She asks what I'm willing to pay. I tell her I have $10 on me and she tells me she'll take $5!! $5! YEAH GOD!!!!

I also got this piece of fleece for $2 for a sewing project for myself.

All these clothes for Elijah and a pair of shoes for Lydia . . . $1.85. The outfit on the left is a suit for which I paid $.50. Oh yes, $.50 for the whole suit. Seriously. You can't beat that with a stick!

I got this Darth Vader costume for Elijah to play in around the house for $1.

Anybody wondering why I love yard sales? Have you found any good deals lately?

Diaper Give-A-Way HEADS UP!!!

2011-05-17T11:15:00.003-05:00

In my cloth diapering journey I have been on the look out for buying good cloth diapers on the cheap. I have found THIS give-a-way and purchased one of these diapers from Comfy Rumps. I'm excited to try it!! And if you have considered cloth diapering, head on over to Cloth Diaper Contests & Giveways and enter to win one yourself!!

Week 3, Day 2

2011-04-30T10:32:00.002-05:00

Run is DONE!! 1.81 in 30 minutes. Not setting any records today but the deed is done. I wonder why some days it feels good and other days its so hard.

Cloth Diapering Progress

2011-04-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

Why did I switch to cloth diapers especially when my husband is more than will to pay for disposable diapers for the twins and Malachi? I don't really know. They have intrigued me ever since I started looking at them about 4 years ago. I had decided to try them when I was potty training Lydia but when I found out my next child was actually twins, I decided against it.

But a few weeks ago I decided to take the plunge.

How is it going? WONDERFUL!!!

I was skeptical. But when a friend offered to sell me her stash for a great price, I decided to do it. If I hated it I wouldn't be "out" much. But I really love it. Its so easy and its really isn't that much more work. I'm using fitted diapers with vinyl panties as covers for the twins. I have a couple pockets diapers that I like and 3 Bumkins All-In-Ones that I really love. But even using the traditional pre-fold with a water proof cover is really no big deal and I can't believe the money we are saving!

What about the poop? Well, there is a good and bad. Poop is never fun. And I don't know about you but my twins blow out their disposables very regularly. A disposable doesn't really absorb runny feces very well. Basically a disposable just tries to contain it, of sorts. But a cloth diaper actually absorbs the runny feces leaving only the solid waste that gets dumped into the toilet. No MORE BLOW OUTS WITH CLOTH DIAPERS!! And with a breast fed baby, their poo is water soluble and there is no need to even dump anything in the potty. That is the good side.

The bad side is that poop is poop is poop and its just a part of life. So to compensate for dumping poo in the toilet, I'm going to buy a sprayer that attaches to the toilet so I can spray the poo off the diapers. Problem solved.

Is your washer stinky? Not at all!!! I do a pre-rinse, wash and then another rinse . . . DONE!!! Some cloth diapering mommas leave their diapers sit for 2 or 3 days before they wash them but I'm just doing one small load of diapers every evening before bed, stick them in the dryer and they are ready to go again by morning.

Why didn't I do this 6 children ago?

Whew!

2011-04-29T14:54:00.004-05:00

Today was a good run! I know I said I wasn't going to obsess about time but I felt like pushing myself today. (I know. For some of you veteran runners this is nothing to blog about!) BUT I did 1.9 miles in 30 minutes today. My previous best was 1.82. I'm REALLY ready to do 2 miles in 30 minutes. Today my first mile was completed in 15:48. I would like to be able to do the first mile in 15 since it includes my 5 minute warm up walk which is basically the first quarter mile. Today it was .26 in the first 5 minutes. So I'm doing 3/4 of a mile in about 10 minutes. I'm good with that.

I would love to know how far I ran the very first time I did Couch to 5K. I don't think I quite made it to a mile that very first time. I know this might not be a big deal to some but I'm just so excited that I'm getting healthier! Its exciting to SEE results, especially since I don't own a scale and have no idea if I'm losing any weight or not! And every time I run my children are fighting about who gets to run on the treadmill when mom is done. I'm so encouraged to think that they will grow up thinking exercise is normal and something you just DO. I HOPE when they are grown they are striving to be healthy.

And it starts with Mom.

No one will tell me it can't be done. No one will convince me they CAN'T exercise, barring any legitimate physical hindrances. I have 6 children ages 8 and under. I have a newborn. I have 22 month old twins. My husband isn't home Mon-Fri. It CAN be done and I WILL DO IT! My laundry might be in a pile but I will get healthy!

First 5K in October!!

My Review of Seven Slings LLC

2011-04-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

I recently received a coupon for a free baby sling from Seven Everyday Slings at www.sevenslings.com. I was excited about this because a baby carrier of some sort has become an absolute necessity since Malachi was born. Its impossible to keep my hands on the twins AND carry Malachi when I am out and about in public so I've been looking into slings. I thought this coupon was a God send!! All I had to pay was shipping and handling. Cool.

Or not.

I get to the website and the slings are cute. And then I notice there are sizes for these slings. How do I know what size to order? Someone was very clever and included a tape measure that you could print off and even explained how to measure yourself so you would know what size to order. I did this and meticulously followed the directions and selected my color of choice in the appropriate size. I get to the "checkout" and I'm shocked to see that shipping and handling is $11.95!!! Seriously?! You could ship a sling to Japan for less than $11.95! But I decided to go ahead and order it because $11.95 is cheap for a sling . . . if it works.

Then I notice you can't return your product if its the wrong size unless you pay extra. Really? Well, I decided to pay extra. I little voice in the back of my head is telling me this sling isn't going to fit but I kept arguing with the voice because I used THEIR tape measure and followed THEIR directions!!

I was super excited when I promptly received my sling in the mail as promised. I pulled it out and noticed the exchange directions on the packaging. WOW!!! You needed a PHD in rocket science to accurately return the product if it didn't fit. And, of course, when I put the sling on and tried to put my newborn in it, it didn't fit. Great. So I do my best to follow the myriad of directions so they'll accept my return and requested a sling 2 sizes bigger than their measuring chart said I needed and I crossed my fingers hoping I did everything correctly.

Miracle of miracles, I received an e-mail several days later stating that my return had been accepted and the exchanged size would be shipped out shortly. Wonderful!!

Maybe not. I get the new sling and its still too small. And even though I paid extra to return it and paid $11.95 for shipping and handling for a scrap of material, the return policy states you can only exchange your sling one time. So I paid over $15 for a sling I can't use.

My advice, do not order this product. Its too expensive. The material is very stiff and looks like something I could whip together in 25 minutes on my own machine. The return policy is incredibly complicated and the sizing chart is WAY OFF. I promise, you can NOT have breasts and use this product.

Thumbs down for Seven Everyday Slings. :(

Week 2, Day 3

2011-04-26T21:50:00.003-05:00

Is been hard to find time to run. I was three days between runs this time. I hate that. I try to commit to myself that I won't go two days in a row but we spent 5 hours at the zoo Saturday and then left at 8 AM Sunday and didn't get back home until 9 PM. Yesterday was insanely busy. I think I had two hours between 7 AM and 9 PM that I wasn't doing something for somebody, running here and there and doing this and that. I was zapped by the time I fed Malachi at 9 last night. So I had promised myself I wouldn't go to sleep today until I got my run in. Its in!!!

When I started Couch to 5K last year in June (I think) my goal was to simply complete the program. Then I decided I wanted to actually run in a 5K race. I still want to. But then I started obsessing about time and running faster. Let's face it. I've carried 6 children within my body. I've had thyroid problems. I'm overweight. I'm trying to squeeze in a running program along with running my home without my husband Mon-Fri. I'm probably not going to be a fast runner. I probably need to set my sights back on just finishing. So today I decided to do my run at a comfortable pace, pushing myself a little but allowing myself to enjoy the run for what it is instead of trying to run farther each day than I did the day before.

It was good. And when it was over, I still ran 1.75 miles in 30 minutes. I'm okay with that. This time last year I couldn't run even a half mile. I'm healthier. I'm down 50 pounds from this time 2 years ago. There are a lot of moms that don't exercise at all.

While I still am going to keep track of my progress, I'm going to refocus and cut myself a little slack. I'm going to complete my running program and do my best to run every day. If I miss a day, it isn't the end of the world and I'll try not to miss 2 days in a row. But I'm going to be content with that and let the rest come as it may . . . or not.

October 5K . . . watch out because this momma of 6 just might run with a baby strapped to her back!! LOL

Week 2, Day 2

2011-04-22T22:09:00.002-05:00

I didn't run last night. Hate it when I do that but I was zapped. Its so hard to find time to exercise with the twins and Malachi. Harder than I thought it would be. And by the time I do everything I need to do, I'm too tired at night. But I committed to myself a while when I started this last year that if I missed one day I wouldn't beat myself up. But I will not miss a second day in a row. So it was run tonight or else! (Or else what, I do not know . . . .) Tonight was HARD. I ran the shortest distance since I started last week and it was just super hard. So, no more slacking. I'm running every day whether I like it or not!!! And I HAVE to run before 5 and 6 PM. I will run my first 5K this year!

Week 2, Day 1

2011-04-20T11:10:00.001-05:00

So today the training programs bumps up a touch and I still did 1.83 miles in 30 minutes. My first mile was done in 16:15. YEAH ME!!!!!!

Scarecrow Scramble in October!

Coming Toward the End!!

2011-04-20T07:44:00.003-05:00

The school year is coming to a close! Do you see me crying? NOPE!!!! This half day Kindergarten is for the birds!!! An hour and a half in the van every day and $60 worth of gas getting back and forth to school assuming I don't drive anywhere else! Yep, I'm ready for summer vacation and then next year we get a year break from half day Kindergarten! YEAH!!! I will be doing half day Kindy every other year for the next 6 years, assuming we have no more children. Don't you wish you were me?!

On a completely different note, I have been on the search for the perfect baby wrap/carrier since Malachi was born. It isn't possible to take him and the twins out in public without having my hands free and I just can't find anything I'm really happy with. I have a front carry Infantino and its okay just a bit awkward to get on. Plus, having him directly in front of me means I can't see what I'm doing all the time. I just ordered a sling online and I'm anxiously waiting for that one but we'll see. One review I read of it was awful so I'll write my own review once I get it and use it. I do have directions to make my own "moby" sling that I'll be posting at a later date. I need to buy some jersey material for that.

Today will be busy . . . back and forth to the school 3 times, a piano lesson, running, church and the "usual" taking care of the kids. Have a great day!!!

Week 1, Day 6

2011-04-19T22:05:00.003-05:00

1.82 miles in 30 minutes!! Felt good! I can see why this might get addictive! And I can't believe what a difference it makes being in a little bit better shape than I was last time!!

I drove to the east side of Indianapolis to meet mom and dad yesterday then I had two music lessons as soon as I walked in the door. Then it was homework, chores, dinner . . . you name it. I finally sat down around 8:30 and I was just ZAPPED so I didn't run yesterday. I didn't beat myself up because Couch to 5K calls for a day off between every run, I just chose not to do that. I'm afraid if I take a day off I won't jump back in. So I was determined to run today since I missed yesterday and I was really dreading it. It felt great. Hoping to break the 2 mile mark tomorrow. That is the goal.

5K in October . . . if not before!

Getting healthy, losing weight and setting a good example for my kiddos!

No More Poo!!!!

2011-04-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

The other drastic and making a little weird thing I'm doing is I've stopped using shampoo. Yep, no more poo for me!!! So is my head stinky and dirty? Not at all! Here is what I do.

Mix approximately 2 Tablespoons of Baking Soda into about 2 cups of water. When you get in the shower, use your fingers to scrub your head a bit and lift the hair so it isn't plastered to your head from the water. Slowly pour some baking soda water onto part of your head and massage your scalp and work into your hair. Do this until you have washed your entire head and hair. Then use another 2 cups or so of water with a few tablespoons of vinegar added to rinse your hair. NO POO!!

No, your hair does not smell like vinegar when you are done. There is a faint vinegar smell while your hair is wet but it completely vanishes when your hair is dry. I had heard from those who had done it before that your hair goes through a crummy period and then softens up but I haven't even had that. My hair has been very soft since the very first wash.

Let me know if you decide to try it and what you think about it!

Week 1, Day 4

2011-04-17T09:13:00.002-05:00

1.7 miles in 30 minutes. It felt good today so I'm not sure why I was down .04 miles. But its done and I rather enjoyed it. (Somebody say I didn't just type that!!)

You're Making WHAT?!

2011-04-17T07:00:00.000-05:00

One of the things I'm trying in my efforts to go a little more "natural" at our house (not sure what else to call it) AND save money in the process is making my own deodorant. Sounds strange, doesn't it? That's what I thought, too. Then I tried it. WOW!!! I'm impressed! Here is the recipe and instructions.

First, clean out an old, empty, store bought deodorant tube or get a small jar with a lid.

Mix together 1/4 c baking soda and 1/4 cup corn starch.
Work in 2-3 Tablespoons of coconut oil. (You can get 32 ounces of coconut oil at Walmart in the cooking oil section for less than $6.)
Once these 3 things are thoroughly mixed together and smooth, add 3 drops of tea tree oil and 5-10 drops of the essential oil of your choice.
Once thoroughly mixed, spoon mixture into your deodorant tube and then store over night in the refrigerator.
It will harden up in the frig so when you apply it to your underarms, apply it slowly to allow the coconut oil to soften just a bit.

VIOLA!!! Its saves money, has no harsh chemicals and IT WORKS!!!! Let me know if you try it and how it worked out for you.

P.S. It even holds up after a run!!

Week 1 Day 3

2011-04-16T20:02:00.003-05:00

1.73 miles in 30 minutes!

I'm so happy about that. I remember the very first time I did Week 1, Day 1 and in those 30 minutes, I don't know if I even went a full mile. And tonight when I ran, it felt good. There was a point about 1/3 of the way through where my entire body went warm and the excursion just felt good and it felt good to the end.

On the road to my first 5K!!!

Changes Changes

2011-04-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

Now that I'm getting back in the swing of things, I've decided to make some changes around the house. A couple changes we are making is eating a whole lot more fresh fruits and vegetables and a lot less meat. Another change is WAY less sugar which is really tough on me. In addition, I'm doing ZERO eating out during the week when its just me and the kids at home. This is really tough because its difficult to force yourself to cook dinner when your husband isn't home and equally EASY to stop by and get something off the dollar menu when you pick up the kids from school. A week ago today I also started giving Elijah Barleans Omega Swirl and I've already started seeing a difference in his behavior. So I think between the dietary changes and the Omega 3 fish oil, he is being helped. I know its helping me!!

Looking forward to healthier life!

Getting Moving

2011-04-15T15:01:00.002-05:00

After being cleared to exercise after the birth of our 6th child, I restarted the Couch to 5 K program and my goal is to run my first 5K in Lisle this year. Its easier this time around after only a 9 month break instead of a 33 year break! Not EASY by any means but better!

Day 1 - 1.6 miles in 30 minutes
Day 2 - 1.64 miles in 30 minutes

While I'm not setting any records, this is way better than before when I couldn't even jog for 60 seconds straight without thinking I was going to die! It took me a long time to build up to a mile of walking/jogging.

So I'll be keeping track of my progress here and before I die, I'll run that full marathon!!

Christmas BREAK!!!!

2010-12-17T09:33:00.004-06:00

I'm thankful for Christmas break! Today is the last day of school before Christmas break starts and I KNOW I'm more excited than the children. We'll have more than 2 weeks off before they go back to school again on the 4th and then back to the grind for mom. It was no small task getting them motivated to get ready for school this morning although thoughts of their Christmas parties tended to keep them moving along.

To all you moms of school age children . . . . enjoy the break . . . . the CHRISTMAS break!! Wooohooooo!!

2010

2010-12-16T08:45:00.001-06:00

I love living in 2010!!! I'm thankful I wasn't born in the 1800's. I love modern conveniences. We have gotten quite a bit of snow in the last week and we have wonderfully paved roads and prompt snow removal in addition to "salt" that melts snow. Back in the day, we would have been snowed in for weeks. I'm glad God chose for me to born during this time period instead of years past!

I'm Forgetful!!!

2010-12-15T22:03:00.002-06:00

Oops. I didn't remember to create a "thankfulness" post yesterday. I hate that. But I'm determined to have 365 things that I'm thankful for by the time next year rolls around so it looks like tonight is a two for one deal.

First, I'm thankful for books! I love to read!!! But I'm kinda a bad reader. I like fiction. And I pretty much want it to be fluffy fiction. I don't want to have to think. But I truly can't imagine not being able to read and the joy missing from the lives of those who are illiterate. I'm thankful for books.

Second, and I can't go into any detail on this one but I'm thankful for something done for my parents, especially my mom, this week. They received a package from Alaska containing Christmas gifts. I'm thankful for that.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!!

2010-12-13T09:37:00.002-06:00

Snow Day!!!!!! Woohooooooo!

I'm thankful for snow days and having my kids home with me today. There are days I'm happy when they walk out the door to go to school. Any mother who wouldn't admit to enjoying a little less activity in the house every now and again is lying!! But, today, I'm happy to have them home and NOT heading out into the cold, and it is VERY cold.

Compassion - Making a Difference

2010-12-12T15:30:00.001-06:00

I'm thankful that our guest evangelist for Christmas preached on compassion this morning. Not only do we need compassion for the unsaved, but we need compassion toward the brethren. It was a wonderful message.

Oops

2010-12-11T18:09:00.002-06:00

Well, I didn't manage to put my two thankfulness posts on my blog yesterday so we'll do it right now or I'm certain it won't happen today, either.

Today we went to our local nursing home where my husband preaches once a month. We didn't go last month because we were moving that day so we were all ready to go this month. I have a couple very special residents I'm always very happy to see.

We held the service in a different room this week. While my husband was preaching, I left the room to wheel the twins around the hallways in their stroller. They were tired and I knew keeping them moving would sooth them. As I walked out of the service room, I walked past a relatively small room with a whole lot of laundry in it. In the midst of these mounds of laundry was one woman, folding and hanging all the linens, towels, and clothing of the residents of the home. WOW. And I think I've got it bad with my 7 family members and all our laundry.

I've never thought about whoever takes care of the laundry for that facility. Have you? Who else have you over looked in the places where you go? Do you notice the maintenance man or the person who took the time to spread salt on the icy sidewalk?

Illegal immigration is a big issue in our country right now and you often hear people say that illegal immigrants are the only ones willing to do "those jobs" that Americans aren't willing to do. But today, I saw that isn't always true. There are Americans still willing to do "those jobs", unnoticed and unthanked.

My second "thankful" post goes hand in hand with my first.

I really hate laundry. But I really love my washer and dryer. After having a washer and dryer for only 1.5 of the 15 years I've been gone from my parents' home, I'm so grateful and happy to have my very own washer and dryer. I don't have to feed them quarters and I don't have to lug all my laundry outside my home to get it clean anymore. YEAH WASHERS AND DRYERS!!!

Double Duty

2010-12-10T06:49:00.002-06:00

I had in my head my thankfulness post all day yesterday and just never got a chance to post it so I'll post 2 separate ones today.

As a child, getting mail is a huge thrill. But not so much as an adult! Now days I wish my mail would get lost, never to rear its ugly head again!! But yesterday we got an unexpected blessing.

The school tuition bill came. Paying tuition isn't easy but its important. I'm not cut out for homeschooling and we aren't willing to put our children in the public school system for various reasons so we're grateful to have a good, small, Christian school ministry through our church.

As I was looking through the itemization, at the bottom was an entry of "Tuition Gift $100". Someone anonymously paid $100 on our school.

I'm thankful for our thoughtful, anonymous donor.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

2010-12-08T21:29:00.003-06:00

I hear my children laugh. I hear music. I hear the words "I love you". I hear sorrow in the voices of those I love. I hear happiness and joy. I hear a train and footsteps. I hear the first words of my babies. I hear whispers in the night from my husband as we lay in bed and talk. I hear a sigh. I hear the rain. I hear sounds of warning. I hear falling leaves and lawn mowers in the Spring.

I hear.

Thank you, Lord, that I can hear all the joys and sorrows of life.

A Forgiving God

2010-12-07T20:55:00.003-06:00

I am but dirt. My righteousness as filthy rags. There is nothing good in me. Yet, Christ came to earth so that I could become royalty. I'm a joint heir with Jesus. That's pretty special. I do not consider the Christian life to be burdensome, most of the time. (Just being honest.) Most of the time, I consider it a joy and the least I can do for my Savior who suffered so much for me. But I fail so much. I am so weak. My sin is great. I lose control of my tongue. I am rebellious. I have a bad attitude. Sometimes, like the wife of Lot, I look back. I have doubts. I have little faith. I'm frail and unworthy.

Yet God forgives. He keeps loving. He looks at me in pity and continues to wait for me to come back to myself, thus, returning to Him. Why leave? Our church choir sings a song that I used to do as a solo. It fits my life so well.

Your love endured the cross, despising all the shame
That afternoon when midnight fell your suffering cleared my name
And that sin swept hill became the open door to paradise
Because you paid much to high a price.

Your grace inspires my heart to rise above the sin
And all the earthly vanity that seeks to draw me in
I want to tell this dying world of love that truly saved my life
A life that paid so high a price.

You paid much to high a price for me
My sin, your blood the pain
To have my soul just stirred at times yet never truly changed
You deserve a fiery love that won't ignore your sacrifice
Because you paid much too high a price.

The price my Lord paid for my soul was too high especially as I fail Him time and time again.

Yet He forgives again and again and again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A House . . . A Home

2010-12-06T16:38:00.002-06:00

I haven't posted about this particular "thing" for which I'm thankful because I'm deeply emotional about it. Unless you've been in my position I don't think you can completely understand and I doubt I'll be able to make you understand in this post but . . . today I'm thankful for our house.

For the last 6 years we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment. It was a nice apartment. When we moved in I was pregnant with our second child, Elijah. It was more room than we NEEDED although it was an adjustment moving from a 4 bedroom farmhouse to a two bedroom apartment. I was devastated when I had to get rid of my grandfather's secretary to move into that apartment. I think I'll always regret that. But anyway . . . .

The apartment was what we needed at the time. Little did I know, we would be there for 6 years. But after having moved 8 times the first 2 years of our marriage, I told Daniel I didn't want to move again until we moved into a house. Then Lydia came. 3 children in one bedroom. It was tight.

After Lydia was born, I had a very tough 18 months. Daniel was on a horrible schedule and I really struggled with depression. Elijah was incredibly difficult. And then Daniel started talking about wanting another child. I refused. I knew I couldn't do another baby, alone 90% of the time in that apartment that seemed to be shrinking as each child continued to grow. During this period we also only had one vehicle. It was very difficult.

Eventually the Lord worked on my heart and I agreed to have another child but there was absolutely NO ROOM for a 5th child in that apartment! We HAD to move and soon. Lo and behold, I got pregnant with the twins. What do you do? We made it work. It still boggles my mind that we made it work. I often prayed that the Lord would make me content with what He had given us, a 2 bedroom apartment and 5 wonderful children and one vehicle. It wasn't easy. Yet, I was tired of the criticism from others. Comments such as "what are you going to do with another baby in THAT apartment?" and "how are you going to do it?" and people reminding me of how small our place was. As if I didn't live there every day with the knowledge of our space constraints in my face all the time.

But aren't we supposed to be content in whatever state we are in? Are we not to be grateful for all things? Even that tiny apartment and one vehicle? God gave us all our children. Its not like we PLANNED on twins or could conceive them by our own design. Neither did we plan on an economic downturn or pay cuts. Life happens.

Then the Lord gave us this house to rent. I'm thankful and I'm grateful. I didn't realize how very much God was answering my prayers to help me be content until we moved out and I didn't NEED to be content in that apartment anymore. The extra living expenses, the increased rent . . . its all worth it. We have some space. We don't have a massive excess of space but there is room for us all now. We have a yard. I have a washer and dryer. Someone commented on my facebook page about loving how I appreciated the small things, like my washer and dryer. Go without them. Its not a small thing. Not with 7 family members in the house. 13.5 years of the last 15 years of my life have been lived without a washer and dryer. Its not a small thing.

So, today, I want to thank the Lord for the beautiful gift of this house. Words just aren't enough.

My Pastor

2010-12-05T22:06:00.001-06:00

I praise the Lord today for a pastor that preaches the truth in love regardless of the consequences. Not all are so fortunate.

Daniel

2010-12-04T20:01:00.002-06:00

I'm thankful for my husband. We were married 10 years in August. We've been together for almost 14 years. It hasn't always been easy. The last 2 years in particular have been difficult. But I love him. God gave me a good man that I didn't deserve at a time when I would have been okay with no man at all. Its been fun and its been . . . not so fun. But its always been good.

Piano

2010-12-03T11:10:00.002-06:00

I've played the piano since I was 7. I feel like I've played the piano my whole life. Life before piano lessons is fuzzy. I don't remember my first lesson although I do vaguely remember my first teacher. Seems like I've just always played and music has always been a part of my life. I can't imagine my life without music and being able to play the piano. On the rare occasions when I allow myself to be paranoid, I fear losing my ability to play due to arthritis or some sort of accident and it strikes panic in my heart.

I'm thankful the Lord gave me musical abilities. I'm thankful for the love of music and piano in my heart. It has brought much joy to my life, and by the grace of God, the lives of others every now and again.

Day . . . . whatever! Day "Next"

2010-12-02T18:24:00.003-06:00

Thank you, Lord, for our Christian school that our children attend. They had the day off school today and I'm reminded of how much I love my children, yet, how much I enjoy the quiet when they are at school for a few hours. :)

In all seriousness, I'm grateful we have a school where our children can get a good, Christ centered education free of many of the stresses that come with the public school system. Our teachers are qualified and dedicated. I appreciate their time and efforts to insure my children are academically prepared to enter the world. I know the school is a drain on our church, yet, the Lord provides and we are privileged to have a place where we can feel comfortable leaving them to have their little brains filled with knowledge, knowledge we know is full of God's wisdom and not the wisdom of men.

Thank you, Lord, for my children's school.

Day 3

2010-12-01T10:52:00.002-06:00

Its officially December 1st!!! The year is flying by! Yet, living it day to day seems to go so slowly.

I drove the children to school this morning in snow, our first real snow of the season and it was great. Its fun to see all the different reactions to the snow from all my Facebook friends. But today, I'm thankful to live in a region of the world where we have 4 seasons. I think winter is my favorite! I love the cold. I love the snow. I love bundling up in sweatshirts and warm fuzzy socks under a blanket watching television or reading a good book. I'm happy that we have cold, snowy days when we are putting up our Christmas decorations. I would hate to live in an area where you decorate your palm tree for Christmas! That just wouldn't be right!

Thank you, Lord, for the 4 seasons!!

Day 2

2010-11-30T10:11:00.002-06:00

Today I got up to get my children ready for school, loaded up all 5 children and headed out. I dropped Elijah and Abi off then ran errands for a couple of hours. Came home. Going to give a piano lesson at any time then I'm going to load the twins and Lydia back into the van to go pick up Elijah, drive back home, and then do it all again to go pick up Abigail at 3. This is a typical day. Its busy. Its crazy. Its also frustrating at times.

But today I'm thankful for my vehicle.

We've been married for 10 years and for almost half of those years we had only one vehicle. That's hard. It was especially horrid when Abigail started school and I was forced to depend on others to get her back and forth to school every day. But that is a whole other story.

I'm grateful to be able to take my children to school and pick them up every day. I'm grateful that I'm able to lug all the kiddos to the post office or Walmart when needed. I'm grateful to be able to run Abi's lunch to the school if she has accidentally forgotten it in the van or at home. I'm grateful that I'm ABLE to do all these things because of the vehicle the Lord gave to us.

And on those days that the "crazy" and "busy" gets overwhelming, I remember what it was like to sit at home in frustration, unable to do all those "things" for myself and my family.

Day 1 of My Year of Thankfulness

2010-11-29T17:13:00.002-06:00

Many people on my facebook page have been posting daily this month a note of thankfulness. It has inspired me to try a challenge . . . a daily journal of thankfulness for 365 continuous days, starting today.

I have to start my journey by thanking God for his hand of protection and guidance even when I wasn't seeking him or desiring to serve him. There was a time in my life when the last thing I wanted was God. I was engaging in destructive, potentially dangerous behavior. Yet, through all of it, God protected me from myself. I don't know why. I could have had children out of wedlock. I could have been an alcoholic. I could have alienated myself from my entire family and been stranded in a distant state, abandoned by a man, deceived by empty promises. But, none of those things are a part of my life.

God knew he was going to bring a rebellious, self willed Baptist girl from a tiny town in Southern Ohio to a Nazarene college 350 miles from home so that she could get into a good Baptist church and change her life. He loved me when I didn't love or want him and protected me from myself to work a greater purpose in my life.

Today, for this I am thankful.

My "Mommy Moment"

2010-05-14T09:32:00.005-05:00

Abigail is 7 and she had her very first piano recital last night. She did very well.

We started piano lessons with Abigail sometime in February. I didn't want to give her lessons but Daniel is insisting I give all the children lessons. He feels it is wasteful to pay somebody else to teach them to play the piano when I'm a very capable pianist. In a way he is right. I just don't want to give my own children lessons!

When we first started, it was very hard for me!!! I've been been playing the piano since I was 7, so to have to THINK about all those basic and try to explain them to a 7 year old was no small task for me!! But once she had the basics, it went better. I'm pleased with how well she seems to have picked it up. I have students who have been taking lessons longer than she who are still struggling with some things she has already nailed down.

She was very excited about the recital. Memaw and Pappy couldn't come this time so Memaw sent us to JCPenney's to buy Abi a new dress to wear. Last Saturday I had her play her song for the residents of the nursing home where we volunteer and she did very well. I wanted her to have SOME experience of having played in front of people before the recital!! How very intimidating to go on the platform in front of all those people (possibly 100?) and play that giant black piano that mommy plays all the time!!

At the recital last night, she trotted right up there, sat down, and played her song from memory with minimal mistakes. She kept saying "I played the 'C' twice". Cracked me up. But it was kinda difficult to leave "teacher" mode and enter "mommy" mode for the recital. Plus, I'm such a perfectionist myself that I wanted to say "it was ALMOST perfect". I bit my tongue and congratulated her. As we were leaving she was already talking about what song she wants to play for her next recital! LOL She has no clue how much better a pianist she is going to be in the next 6 months or a year. She is so happy with her current accomplishment that she can't see past it to realize that by the time the next recital rolls around, she is going to think these beginner songs are silly!

A Little Blessing

2010-05-11T07:43:00.002-05:00

God has given us a little blessing! Yesterday evening I was taking Abigail shopping for a new dress for her upcoming, first ever, piano recital (thank you, Memaw) and when we walked outside, there was a rabbit sitting in the grass in the yard. I tapped on the window to have Daniel bring Elijah and Lydia upstairs so they could see the rabbit. It was so close and so still!!! All the children were enjoying looking at her and then Daniel told them they could chase her.

Once she moved, I noticed the grass was disturbed so I walked over to look. Initially, I thought Elijah had taken his toy shovel and dug somewhat of a hole but then it occurred to me that the rabbit had been digging that hole. No doubt, "it" is pregnant! I yelled at Daniel to tell the children to leave her alone as I was confident she was burrowing to be able to birth her babies soon! All the children came over to see her "nest" (not sure of the proper word for a rabbit "nest"). Daniel and I then discussed the possibility of her coming back to the hole since it would be surrounded by our human scents.

Upon returning home from our shopping trip, Mommy Rabbit had returned and was digging again. The children had to go upstairs and look at her through the window one more time before bed. I was hoping there would be baby rabbits this morning. I don't know. When I look outside, Mommy Rabbit isn't there but the hole is still there covered with all the grass. So I'm dying to know if she birthed her babies last night but I know better than to go check!!! I'm off to google the birthing habits of untamed rabbits!!!

Thank you, Lord, for our little blessing!!! Please keep the landscapers away for a few days so their mowers don't kill the babies!

Monday Musings - Its Been a While

2010-05-10T11:59:00.002-05:00

I've neglected my blog lately. I don't know why. I enjoyed it for a while and for some reason just stopped. So I'm off again.

I'm quite moved by a book I read recently called The Son Of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of the founders and leaders of Hamas. Truly, a phenomenal book and story. I'm currently listening to an interview with him on Interfaith Voices where Yousef is TRYING to tell the interviewer that Islam is NOT a religion of peace. He has given her chapter and verse from the Quran, yet, she won't listen. She keeps arguing with him that no other Muslim she has ever interviewed as ever stated that Islam is a religion of violence.

Religion is not measured by how well its followers adhere to its teachings. Religion is measured on the merits of its holy books. If one claims to be a Christian, yet they don't adhere to the teaching of the Bible, they aren't a Christian no matter how strenuously they CLAIM to be a Christian. We don't measure Christianity by how well one follows the Bible. We measure Christianity by THE BIBLE. Its the same with Islam. Islam is not this watered down religion of "peace" we see in the United States. True Islam is the murdering of the infidel, defined as any person who does not believe in the god of Islam, who is NOT the God of Christianity. There is a key point in this issue of whether Muslims and Christians worship the same God. My God, the one and only true God, had one begotten Son. The god of Islam never had a son and does not recognize Jesus as God. Thus, the god of Islam and the True God of Christianity are not the same.

I strongly encourage all to read his book and listen to this interview. It is eye opening and the truth about Islam.

I'm Doing IT!!!!! FINALLY!!!!

2010-02-24T08:50:00.003-06:00

For years I've threatened to purge out the children's clothes and go down to "X" number of outfits for play and church to streamline the laundry process around here. Well, I'm done threatening and I'm actually doing it!! As I stood in my house looking at an excess of 18 LARGE baskets and totes of laundry, I just had to start somewhere. It was insanity. I'm about half way done and I've donated 6 garbage bags of usable clothing to charity thus far. That doesn't include the clothes that were too stained or worn to pass along that ended up in the garbage can.

I also donated to charity all of my bigger clothes that I can't wear anymore. Well, I could wear them but they are just too big to be any kind of flattering. So I broke down and took them all out of my closet. This serves 2 purposes. First, it makes more room in my closet because I'm not wearing them anyway. Second, it forces me to not go back into those sizes. Mentally, I needed that. So, out they go!!

I still have 9 more baskets to do. That is the project for today. After having spent 5 hours with Abigail on Monday getting my bedroom in shape, the living room and remainder of the laundry is next on the list.

Things will get more streamlined around here if it kills me!!! I have to find a groove for this growing family of mine. God has entrusted them to me so I need to do the best I can to make our home happy for all.

Purge, purge, purge, ladies!!! When is the last time you performed a solid purge at your house?!

Clever Little Inventions

2010-02-11T08:17:00.004-06:00

Have you ever thought about the things we use around us all day and that moment where somebody came up with the idea to create it? You know what I mean, that little piece of plastic on the end of your shoelace that makes it easier to lace your shoes or the key ring. Stuff like that. Well I have a new favorite. I saw this the other day in the store and picked one up for the kids.

What kid isn't going to love eat his very own dinosaur sandwich?! Especially since they can eat the head first. Its the little things in life that keep the mundane fun. Do you have a favorite "thing" you can share with me?

Missions Conference is coming up at church. It starts this Sunday. Daniel will be singing an original song for the special that morning and I'm excited about it. He has written a couple other songs but I think this is his best so far. As soon as I get my midi cables from the store where we bought my digital piano, I'm going to arrange it and send it in to Bible Truth Music to see if we can get it published. I would love nothing more than to write and arrange music with him, be a blessing to churches and make some extra money in the process.

I'm also praying about what the Lord would have me do for the missions program out of my piano lesson money. I would like to get some more students but if that doesn't happen I would still like to give out of my piano money, I just don't know how much. I've never kept any students long term so its scary to make a financial commitment when I'm not sure if I'll have an income.

How are you doing with your decisions and goals for the new year? One of my goals was to be in closer fellowship with God and I think I'm accomplishing that. I pray more. I've seen answered prayer. I'm not doing as well in my Bible time but I'm not going to give up!! I must have fellowship and if I can't get it here, I'll get it with Him. You know, that sounds awful. Like God is second best. Hmmmmm, that is convicting. God shouldn't be our last resort when we can't find fellowship on earth. He should be whom we are seeking FIRST.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

So I'm seeking him but my motives are quite convicting. Maybe as I seek him, my motives will become my love and desire for Him, not the absence of fellowship below.

You Asked For It!!!!!

2010-02-09T15:43:00.005-06:00

So I'm getting it!!!

Everybody around the country is getting inches and feet and MORE feet of snow and I want me some snow!!! We missed the first couple of storms here in Chicagoland but our snow started last night. I call in "magic snow". Its so fine that you can't see it with a glance out the window. You must look closer and its this very fine mist of snow coming down steadily for hours upon hours. We are supposed to get 8-12 inches. Not so very much in comparison to others around the country but "enough", I guess. Abigail didn't have school today and yet I've still managed to accomplish NOTHING around the house today. Or yesterday. Lazy, lazy, lazy. Shouldn't happen that way. So as I write this, I look around my house, I hear a child pull open the refrigerator door as Curious George squeaks and grunts through the television and I know that I must start on the laundry soon.

I've lost 4 pounds in 3 days!! YEAH!!! It has been 5 months since last I was losing weight and I'm well past needing to have gotten started again. I have another 12 pounds to go to be back at where I was 5 months ago. I'm frustrated for allowing myself to gain any of the weight back. But, it has been good for me. It was so much easier to do everything having lost 61 pounds and I realized how much harder it was on my body to have that excess weight. Then I put 16 pounds of that back on and I could really tell the difference. It was eye opening. It has been impressed upon me in a new way how important it is for me, my family, and my health to get all this weight off. I need to lose another 84 pounds and I know that I can. I think that is the biggest thing in this weight loss journey - the realization that I CAN do it if I try.

But eating anything and everything you want is simply not an option - not for me, at least. I am learning to eat some things in moderation. I took the children to a pizza buffet after Abigail's doctor appointment last night and I loaded up on salad, minored on the dressing, then had a water based soup, one piece of pizza and one bread stick. I was satisfied, didn't feel like I deprived myself of anything, yet, my calorie intake was still very reasonable. I'm doing it. I'm also learning that some foods aren't worth the calories. Chocolate chip cookies - not worth the calories. Full fat Ranch dressing - not worth the calories.

Now about exercising . . . . . . . . . . . .

Monday Musings

2010-02-08T08:22:00.003-06:00

Back on the weight loss wagon again as of this past Saturday. I had done so well. I was down 61 pounds and then I just hit a wall. Previously I was counting calories and exercising some but I got a little obsessive about the calorie counting thing. I had decided to go with a smaller plate and don't get any leftovers but that wasn't working. So I scrapped that and decided to go back to calorie counting. My clothes are getting snug and I feel heavier and I don't want that. My goal is to be at my goal weight by the end of this year so I must get started if I want to realize that.

The best thing about this is that my husband had actually started watching what he was eating before I did. He is letting me track his calories on Livestrong.com, too. I had tried to get him to let me do that for him when I was losing weight before but he didn't want to. After lunch yesterday and seeing how many calories are in certain foods, I think his eyes are being opened a bit to how bad the food is that he was consuming. Not that my consumption was much better but it always helps to see exactly what you are putting in your body. This is just one example of comparing foods. 64 ounces of sweet tea has fewer calories than one 20 ounce bottle of Mountain Dew. So if you like both, which do you choose? Easy decision!!!!

My 2 largest weight loss obstacles are exercise and late evening eating. I can do really well all day long and then once 8 or 9 comes along, I want to eat EVERYTHING. And I think its more of a mental thing than an actual hunger thing. Plus, I just hate exercising. I really do. I have my Wii Fit Plus and my Jillian DVD for the Wii. I have Shred and a Leslie Sansone walking CD so I have no excuses whatsoever. I just hate it. So I'm going to have to get victory in those 2 areas. My metabolism is such that I'm going to HAVE to get in the habit of exercises. Besides, my goal is not to JUST lose weight. I want to healthy. I want to feel good. So exercising is a must if I want to actually get in shape.

I hope everybody has a great Monday and if you have any low calorie meals or snack suggestions, please post them for me!!

A Thought for Friday

2010-02-05T14:03:00.004-06:00

Nothing much to say today.

I just want to mention that I love my laundry fairies.

I have 2 teen girls that take piano lessons from me in exchange for helping me around the house for 30 minutes each. It works out. While one girl is taking her lesson, the other one works and then they swap for the second girl's lesson. Most of the time I have them hang laundry for me. But today I had them matching socks. I HATE matching socks. I'm sure it wasn't fun for them either but they worked hard for a solid hour and I have a huge basket of matched socks sitting in my living room.

I just want to mention that I love my laundry fairies.

Still Can't Believe It!!

2010-02-04T07:48:00.004-06:00

I've wanted a digital piano since I was about 14 years old. I remember walking into the studio where I took lessons and my teacher had purchased a digital piano in addition to her grand. I was hooked from that point on.

My desire for a digital piano has been enlarged by owning a computer program that allows you to hook your piano up to the computer and print out music you've played on the piano. Given my recent opportunity to arrange music and submit it to a publishing house, a digital piano was important. The way I have to do arranging now is extremely time consuming. Honestly, I just don't have time to do any arranging and haven't submitted anything to the publishing house. I don't want to miss the opportunity to try to get some of my work published and sold.

So Daniel and I had gone to Veronda's Music last night to order a new Tenor Saxophone case. Mine had been destroyed about 6-9 months ago. While ordering the case, I was perusing (that is code for "drooling") on the digital pianos when I came across one that was marked down by more than half. I mentioned it to Daniel just in passing and as a joke. To make a longer story shorter, he took the money he had planned on using for our 10th anniversary this year and bought me that digital piano. I'm so excited!!!! They are going to deliver my digital piano on Saturday morning and take away my acoustic. And not only am I getting a digital but I'm going to donate my old piano to the nursing home where my husband preaches once a month. We have been going there for more than 10 years and their piano is just horrid. Its nice to have it for the song service and we've been grateful for it all these years but my old piano is in much better condition than their piano. I've been wishing for years that I could get them a newer one.

Thank you Lord for my husband who does the best he can to take care of us and give us the things we need and want. Thank you for my new piano. Thank you for allowing us to give my old piano to the nursing home.

The picture is my piano except the one I'm getting is black.

What Do You Do?

2010-02-03T10:00:00.002-06:00

Laundry at my house is a nightmare. Now, there are several reasons for this.
#1. We are a household of 7 people, and short of creating our own nudist colony, clothes just must be worn by all.
#2. I really hate doing laundry so I'm not consistent about doing it every day like I should.
#3. We have to pay to do laundry and I don't always have laundry quarters.
#4. Everybody has waaaaaay too many clothes.

So, out of the above reasons, I can only do something about numbers 2 and 4. But before I can fix #2, I have to get caught up. While in the process of catching up, which I do periodically, I want to work on #4. I'm getting rid of clothes.

You know how it works, everybody wears their favorite out fit then its dirty. So they move on to their second choice. Then its dirty. Then they move on to their 3rd, 4th, 5th choices and on down the line until eventually people are wearing clothes they don't really care for because the clothes they really love aren't clean. Sooooooo, I'm going to get rid of the 3rd choice on down and only keep the clothes everybody loves. This will force me to keep up on the laundry and will eliminate the excessive clothing situation. I'm considering 4 church outfits and 10 casual outfits for each child. Do you think this sounds reasonable? How do you do things at your house?

If You Want Some Photos Edited, Restored, Placed Into a Collage . . . . . . . .

2010-02-01T09:11:00.006-06:00

Please contact my friend!!!

I had taken some snapshots around Christmas time of my children's great grandparents. I have a friend I met on cafemom who is a professional photographer and I asked her if she would take my snapshots and arrange them into some sort of collage type "thing" so that I could print it out, frame it and give it to the great grandparents as a gift. I think she did an excellent job. As an enhancement to her local professional studio, she has added an e-business division. I highly recommend her. Below is a little bit of what she has to offer. You don't have to live close to her in proximity. Everything can be done via e-mail and I was extremely pleased with the results of my e-consultation and the end result.

Many people love to get behind the camera these days... who doesn't? You can hire a photographer, sure, but it's not always conducive. Well, I wanted to meet the needs of those who want to use their images and spruce them up with a collage or photo template! SERVICE ONLY SYNOPSIS You supply your photo, we discuss your needs and I will photo-process it for you (professional photo-editing of your image) and place into a template of your choice. The other option is SERVICE AND PRINT Here we do the same things I outlined in services only, but with service and print, you can opt to place an order of high quality prints in the sizes of 4x6, 5x7, or 8x10... or you may be interested in front and back prints on beautiful card stock, sized 4x5.5 with envelopes to send to friends and family! Check out my www.willowoakphotography.co m, under the new tab, e-Willow for more details!

Here are the snapshots I sent.

Finished product. I had it printed in an 8X10 and it was even more beautiful than this preview.

Monday Musings

2010-02-01T08:31:00.005-06:00

I have so much I want to talk about today!!!

First things first. We sold the car!!! Yipppeeeee!!! I had listed it at $500 in hopes of getting $300 and that is exactly what the guy offered. He showed up in his own tow truck so I'm fairly certain he was in the business of buying cars and fixing them up for resale. Good for him! One less thing I have to worry about!

And . . . . . . . . . we bought a used Honda Accord! For the first time in 2 years, I now have a vehicle. I've never been so grateful for transportation and every time I want to complain about having to do "something" I'll remind myself of what it was like when I COULDN'T go do anything. The car is so much nicer than anything we thought we would be able to get. I'm happy for Daniel that he now has a decent work vehicle and I'm thankful to God for answering our prayers in such a very specific fashion. Maybe some day I'll post how we came to purchase this specific car. Daniel and I are confident that this is the exact car the Lord wanted us to have.

Now, about this Tebow "pro-life" advertisement scheduled to air during the Super Bowl . . . . . it is a sad day in our country when anyone would object to the endorsement of life. It isn't an "anti-abortion" advertisement. It is an advocacy of the preservation of life. We see those types of advertisements all the time in regards to children in other countries. You know the commercials. The ones with the filthy children with swollen bellies and the extra clean, white man holding them and talking to the camera about how they don't have food or an opportunity for education. Then he is begging for money to preserve their LIVES. How about the commercials to preserve the lives of animals? We're inundated with those. There is one out right now with a Willy Nelson song in the background flashing visual images of pitiful dogs with huge brown eyes suffering in abusive situations. Again, you are supposed to send money to preserve the lives of those poor animals. The preservation of life. Yet, we have an organization spending thousands, possibly millions of dollars to get out the message of preserving the lives of those who are unborn and there is outrage! They aren't even asking for your money!!! Outrage. Over preserving life. Seriously.

Supposedly this abortion argument is about the issue of "choice". "Its my body - its my choice." So why is it offensive that one would CHOOSE to preserve the life instead of snuffing it out as if it had no more worth than the kitchen garbage? Its about "choice", isn't it? If one truly supported "choice", an advertisement advocating the preservation of LIFE wouldn't be offensive. Those on the "pro-choice" side would be celebrating the fact that a woman had a choice many years ago to preserve the life of a little one who would eventually entertain millions by his ability to throw a football better than most. The fact that there is so much outrage over a commercial advocating LIFE tells the nation exactly how sinister the agenda is on the "pro-choice" side. It isn't about choice.

And in celebration of life, this is what I saw when I walked into my children's bedroom to wake my oldest for school. They've always been great buddies but I thought this was especially sweet. Evidently Elijah needed some comfort at some point in time during the night. But I loved how they were lying in the same position.

I'm thankful for the children the Lord has entrusted to my care. I feel so lucky that He chose to give to me, my husband and I, these beautiful, wonderful little people. I hardly think that when He chose to give life to my womb, that He intended that I would over ride His judgment and take their lives before they had a chance to begin.

Our nation has thrown away the wonder and sanctity of life. It is sad.

The Craigslist Adventure

2010-01-28T09:03:00.004-06:00

I'm not one that does a lot of buying and selling online. I've dealt on E-bay a little bit and I've dealt with Craigslist a little bit but not much. All my transactions on E-bay were a good experience. I had a bad experience on Amazon.com but that was partly my fault. And twice now I''ve tried to sell our car on Craigslist.

Selling the car on Craigslist was a feeble grab at getting something more than $50 for it. My husband wanted to call the junk yard and have them come get the car and then we would get $50 from the junk yard. But the car is worth more than $50 even if we just sold the parts. If nothing else, there are 2 tires on the car that have less than 1,800 miles on them with the paperwork to prove it. So I went to the trouble of posting the car on Craigslist as a shot in the dark to see if anybody would simply pay us more than $50 for it.

The first time I listed it, I didn't post a picture and it was right before Christmas. I had 4 or 5 e-mails about the car but several of them wanted me to go to these certain websites and get insurance quotes for them! HUH?! Why would I do that? Plus, there is no way I can get an insurance quote for somebody else. You have to give out personal information for that. I figured it was a scam to try and capture our personal information. Needless to say we didn't sell the car at Christmas.

So I listed the car again this week only I also posted a picture of the vehicle. The body is in decent condition, tires are good, windshield is intact - there are some pluses if somebody wanted to put an engine in it. I've gotten a ton of e-mails this time around but only 2 people have contacted me and provided a phone number for me to contact them. In my opinion, these are the only 2 legitimate contacts we've received. Again, I had somebody wanting me to get an insurance quote and somebody else directed me to some site where she wanted to negotiate the price of the car based on what this site said the car should be worth. Come on, people!! I specifically state that the car doesn't run and would have to be towed from the property. It isn't worth much! What are you willing to pay for a vehicle that needs a new engine? I'm not negotiating. You make an offer. I'll take it if its $50 or more and you'll come get it.

I must say that my experience on Craigslist as a seller has not been the greatest. There are some weird people out there!!!

Monday Musings

2010-01-25T13:12:00.003-06:00

The in-laws are in Texas this week so they allowed us to borrow their car so I took Abigail to school this morning!! It is no small task getting all six of us out of the house by a certain time. But, it is no joke to say that the highlight of my day will be picking her up at 3:00 PM this afternoon. I'm so excited I just about can't stand it!!!! 2 years without a vehicle. *deep sigh* If you've never been in this situation, you just can't know what its been like.

Yesterday was a good day at church, although Lydia didn't get a nap yesterday afternoon and was emotionally out of control all evening. We made it about a minute and a half into the sermon before I had to take her out of the service because she couldn't quit crying. Poor child. I don't know what I'm going to do with her when she hits her teen years!!

Not much to say today. I'm glad Daniel is working. The kids are being pretty good. The twins are being pleasant and the house is a disaster! Typical Monday!

Have a great week!

Happy For the Hope of Heaven

2010-01-23T20:54:00.005-06:00

The wife of my pastor's pastor went to heaven tonight. She had lingered for some time, yet that transition is always difficult for those left behind. I have great sympathy for her family, for my pastor's family, and their church family, yet we all know that she is in a much better place. How could we even consider wanting her to leave heaven and be on earth when as I sit here typing this, she is looking at the face of Jesus and God our Father?

As a child of God, I'm grateful that in times of great sorrow, we have the hope of heaven. This "hope" is not a sitting around and wringing of the hands and dreaming that some day maybe we'll get to go there. This hope is a confident anticipation of an end that we KNOW we'll see somebody. What a glorious thought of those who have gone before sitting in heaven crying "Holy, Holy, Holy. Lord God Almighty!!"

"Walk on, walk on for Jesus
Walk on in his name
Lifting high His blood stained banner
Walk on in his name"

"Never grow old! Never grow old!
In a land where we'll never grow old!
Never grow old! Never grow old!
In a land where we'll never grow old!"

"Beulah land, I'm longing for you
And some day on thee I'll stand
Where my home shall be eternal
Beulah land, sweet Beulah land"

"And I shall see him face to face
And tell the story saved by grace
And I shall see him face to face
and tell the story saved by grace"

"But just think of stepping on shore and finding it heaven
Of touching a hand and finding it God
Of breathing new air and finding it celestial
Of waking up in glory
And finding it home"

I Corithians 15:54-57
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is they victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

My prayers of comfort go out to the church, family, friends and loved ones of Mrs. D. B.

Has It Effected You Yet?

2010-01-22T09:18:00.002-06:00

Short of goods being more expensive, the bad economy hadn't really directly effected my family. We live on the bare minimum so we haven't had anything to cut back or give up. But we just found out last night that my husband is going to be taking a significant pay cut starting Feb 1st when the new Wal~Mart contract renews. *Deep Sigh* It is what it is. I'm trying not to fret. One thing I've learned over the years, worrying about anything changes nothing. The sun will rise and set whether I worry myself sick or not. So, I'm going about my day as usual trying not to think about it. Its frustrating because every time you feel like you are getting a chance to get out of the quicksand and hit solid ground, somebody pushes you back in the quicksand.

I'm thankful for an omniscient God who isn't surprised by my husband's pay cut. I'm thankful He can see the future and is working even now for my good and the good of my family.

Keeping my eyes focused on Him in 2010 . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Grumpy Gus

2010-01-21T07:57:00.003-06:00

Yep, its me. I'm the Grumpy Gus. I don't know why but this week has been an emotional "down" for me. Always happens when I try to read my Bible faithfully. *Deep Sigh*

I need a reason to read my Bible. Pitiful, I know. But I came up with this idea to have a competition with Abigail to see who could read their Bible every day. Not much of a competition, really. There is no prize if you win. There is no punishment if you lose. But Abi thinks its great that we're "competing" and she says she is going to "beat" me. So I've read my Bible every day this week. Nothing to be grumpy about there.

We also received our W-2 this week so I filed immediately. We are getting back a great return, and will hopefully be able to do all the things we NEED to do with and hopefully some things we WANT to do with it. AND, we should have the money a week from Friday. Nothing to be grumpy about there.

Along the same lines of the income tax refund, Daniel had run across a Kia that was still under manufacturer's warranty at a small dealership by his work place. Daniel really wanted this car. He had decided that we would purchase a second vehicle out of this year's refund and he was praying that if this was the vehicle the Lord wanted us to have, it would still be there once our refund was deposited. Well, the car sold. So, we took that as a "no" from God. Daniel walks in the door a few days ago and tells me that there was a little Honda there in it's place. Back when Daniel originally told me we were going to buy a car with our refund, I had said to him that I hoped we would be able to find him a Honda or Toyota but knew we wouldn't be able to find one in our price range. Well, guess what? This Honda is in our price range. Now, its the high end of what we wanted to spend, but its there. So, we are going to have a CarFax report run, have it checked out by a mechanic and if all looks well, we're going to buy a Honda with our refund. Nothing to be grumpy about there.

I WILL HAVE A VEHICLE. Its been over 2 years since we've had 2 vehicles. I can't describe how difficult it has been, especially with trying to get Abigail back and forth to school every day, doctor's appointments for the pregnancy and the twins, etc. Its really been awful. So, we're getting a second vehicle. Nothing to be grumpy about there.

Nothing to be grumpy about. So why am I grumpy?

Monday Musings

2010-01-18T09:38:00.002-06:00

After a fairly relaxing weekend, I'm ready to tackle this week anew.

I had planned last night to set my alarm 45 minutes early. I was going to work out for 20 minutes (gotta love Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred), shower, then read my Bible. Instead, I ended up getting out of bed 15 minutes later than usual! Oh, best laid plans!!! LOL So today I will find time to do all three of those things.

Today start the new beginning of my weight loss efforts. I had dropped 60 pounds during the twins' pregnancy and the couple months after their birth but I haven't done anything with it in the last couple of months. I need to get going again. Between the Wii Fit Plus, Shred and the Jillian DVD for my Wii, I truly have no excuses. I just need to do it.

I will also be going through my DVR recording settings and deleting some of my shows that I have programmed to record. In my efforts to focus on fellowshipping with God I have had to relinquish my hold on some of the programs so that I can properly embrace him. Until last night, I didn't really see those programs as me trying to serve two masters, which the Bible says is impossible. But if I'm loving something wicked, it prevents me from properly loving (or fellowshipping with) God. So, goodbye Gordon Ramsey and all my dancing shows. There is just too much foul language and too many scantily clad women in those programs. They do not help me in my efforts to have better fellowship with my heavenly Father.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Let me know if there is something in your life that is hindering your fellowship with God so I can find some fellowship in knowing I'm not the only one!!

A Slice Of Quiet

2010-01-15T11:23:00.004-06:00

The house was quiet this morning.

This is notable because it almost never happens. We ALWAYS have something going, be it the television, radio, or clamoring children. With 5 children someone is ALWAYS clamoring for something. But Abigail didn't have school this morning and for the entire past week the children have had very late nights getting to bed. So we informed the children last night that nobody was allowed to get out of bed before mommy was out of bed.

The twins woke around 6:00 AM for their first feeding and I put them back to bed straight away. I read for about 30 minutes and then went back to bed myself. The phone rang approximately 30 minutes later and than again 30 minutes after that. I knew getting to have a lazy morning in bed was going to be out of the question so I got my book and came out into the living room to read before the munchkins got up. I had about 15 minutes of complete silence. I didn't turn on the television to watch something off the DVR. I didn't turn on any online radio stations. It was quiet. I enjoyed it. It was nice. I need to do it again sometime.

Do you ever turn off your noise? Do you ever have time to be with yourself and just think - think about good things, holy things, godly things? I rarely do this. I can't remember the last time I did this. Even if I sneak into my bedroom to have some quiet time, you have the filtered noise of the house coming through the cracks. So in my thoughts during and about my quiet time, it occurs to me that there is no way for me to commune with or hear God if I never have quiet time to try and listen for him. It is no wonder God had to command us to be still.

Psalm 49:10 Be still, and know that I am God:

Do you find time every day to be still in silence? Do you find time once a week? Once a month? Let me know if you have a quiet time where you sit and reflect on God and His goodness.

Our Zoo Trip

2010-01-14T09:15:00.006-06:00

Here are some pictures from our Zoo trip on Tuesday. Some of are the family, some are of the animals and some are of some relatives we found in the Gorilla house! (Just kidding!)

This first little guy is a sea otter. He was in his own tank and kept circling around up close to us at his window.

Daniel and I in front of the Gorilla house. You can see Elijah making snow angels in the background. It is so rare to have pictures of both of us but my sister-in-law came along so I wasn't behind the camera the whole time.

Elijah, Abi, Lydia, Myself, and Daniel from left to right. All we needed was the twins and we would have had our second family picture within just a few weeks of each other! But the girls were asleep so we allowed them their beauty rest.

All the kids monkeying around.

I fell in love with this black and white of Sofie.

Daniel, Abi and Elijah standing beneath the water wall in The Living Coast. Its a clear piece of Plexiglas onto which a bunch of water falls about every 30 seconds or so. It is so loud and you feel like you are going to get soaked but, of course, you don't get wet. Abi was scared but Daniel made her stand there. She liked it once she figured out she was gonna stay dry.

This is Aunt Bekah, Abi and Lydia in the Giraffe house. You can barely see Elijah in the background but he was too busy exploring to pose for a picture.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Because we knew we weren't going to be able to stay at the zoo all day because of time constraints and cold weather, we didn't take the wagon with us so Lydia had to walk the whole time. (No big deal. She can walk.) She kept asking for everybody to hold her and Daniel repeatedly told her she had to walk. The next time I look around, there she is on Daddy's shoulders. So much for walking!!!

Don't yell at me for posting a picture of a snake but I thought this was beautiful. This snake can be found in the Australasia house.

We had such a great time. The temperature was a little chilly but there was no wind which is rare in the Chicago area. We went to most of the indoor houses which is fun because you get to see all the animals up close. Walking from house to house, we would be outside just long enough to start getting chilled and then be able to warm up inside again. We got to see a Mommy Gibbon and her new baby and one of the baby gorillas played with Daniel by mimicking him when he would clap his hands. I was able to watch several trainers feeding and working with the seals at Pinniped Point. And we saw a snake eat a cricket at The Swamp. It was a great day.

For anybody planning to visit the Chicago area or anybody living close by, the zoo is a great family day but if you have a fairly large family, you should purchase a zoo membership. For $108 you get free parking and admission for an entire year plus all kinds of other guest passes, dolphin show passes, discounts and perks. For our family of seven, it pays for itself in one trip and we can go year round for a great "free" family day.

The Need To Be Accepted

2010-01-13T09:45:00.002-06:00

I was going to talk about our fantastic trip to the zoo yesterday but I wanted to post pictures and my camera is in the van at Daniel's work so we get my deep thoughts for the day. (Trust me. My well is shallow so feel free to read on!!)

Why do we feel the need to be accepted by others? In light of yesterday's post about fellowship and having read a blog post about a woman intimidated to meet new people lest she fail to meet their expectations, I've been examining my own need to "fit in" SOMEWHERE. I'm a mother of 5. I'm shaping human beings. I am an integral part of a relatively large music ministry where my opinion and standards impact the spirit of our church. I'm a wife. I'm a grown daughter. Why do I still desire the acceptance of others? God trusted me enough to hand me 5 precious little people to help mold and shape for His will yet I desire to please sinful man here on earth. Its a bit baffling, isn't it?

On the outside, I do and DON'T do all the right things. Yet what does my inside look like when my heavenly Father looks down? Praise the Lord, my sin nature is covered by the blood of Christ. Yet, my day to day sin tarnishes my soul making my window to heaven cloudy, confusing my judgement and my relationship with my Father. As my focus this year is to find my contentment in heavenly fellowship, I'm reminded that my only need of acceptance is to be find in the acceptance of God. Earthly acceptance is temporal and ever changing. But my acceptance by God will give me true contentment and happiness on earth as I strive to please Him and not man.

A Family Day

2010-01-12T07:13:00.004-06:00

Good news and bad news. The bad news is that today is a slow day at my husband's work and he is going to be home all day. The good news is that we are going to take advantage of our zoo membership we got for Christmas and head up to the zoo today!! Woohooooooooo! Abigail is going to take a personal day off school and we're going to run from house to house and see all the animals! This time of year is fantastic at Brookfiel d Zoo because all the warm weather animals like the African elephants and hippos and such are indoors so you are literally standing a matter of a few feet away from these gargantuan, fantastic, fabulous, exotic creations of God. So we'll bundle up and rush from indoor house to indoor house and enjoy a day with the family. The children are very excited and the twins have never been there although they will probably sleep in their carriers most of the day.

We used to get an annual zoo membership for Christmas from the in-laws but decided not to get one last year since I was expecting the twins and didn't anticipate waddling around the zoo much. And after being so anemic and unable to function like a normal human being while gestating, that was a good call on our part!!! So we haven't had a visit to the zoo in almost 2 years!!! (Maybe a year and a half?) I'm not sure who is more excited, Mom and Dad or the kids!!

Have a fantastic Tuesday everyone!!! (I took this picture several years ago during our first year of membership.)

Filling the Fellowship Hole

2010-01-11T08:07:00.004-06:00

A few years ago the Lord saw fit to move 2 of my closest friends many miles away. I have sorely missed their fellowship. And as of today, the Lord has NOT seen fit to fill in that fellowship gap in my life and heart. Maybe He is trying to tell me something? Maybe He is trying to bring to my attention that my purpose on this earth is not to fellowship with mankind but to fellowship with Him. Maybe He is trying to show me that I can find my fellowship by looking up instead of to my right and left. As my Bible lays uncracked, my heart longs for fellowship. I want to "do" things. I want to go places. I want friends. I want a life outside my 4 walls and 5 children. While I love my family, I miss being able to visit with an earthly friend.

I've given much thought to this issue of New Year's Resolutions. I'm not big on making them. I don't ever stick with them and when I fail, I beat myself up for failing. Not a fun course. So I don't typically make them. But the focus of one particular blog I follow has been this issue of fresh beginnings so I've been examining what sort of resolve I would like to make this year. I've considered resolving to lose weight but I've been working on that anyway. I've considered resolving to read my Bible from cover to cover. I've considered resolving to get meticulously organized in my home but given our space constraints and lifestyle I know that isn't practical.

So I'm resolving to fill my hole of earthly fellowship with heavenly fellowship. Maybe if I can find contentment in Him, the rest will fade away and not matter so much.

Our Christmas Vacation

2010-01-07T09:12:00.009-06:00

What a mundane title!!! But our Christmas vacation was far from mundane this year. God allowed Daniel to have off a whole 10 days but only taking 4 days vacation from work. WHAT A BLESSING!!! If we have had 10 days in a row together in the 9 years we've been married, I don't remember it. These days were well deserved for all of us!!!

We drove to Ohio on Christmas Eve, arriving at Mom and Dad's just before midnight, Eastern Time. Despite being exhausted, we stayed up until the children were asleep, set out all their gifts from Dad and Mom and Memaw and Pappy and then filled their stockings with their gifts from "Santa". Only then were all the adults able to go to bed.

Christmas morning was great. The children were excited and I think all the adults were, too. Everyone enjoyed their gifts but I was shocked to receive our "family" gift from Mom and Dad, a Wii and a Wii Fit Plus along with the Jillian Michaels 2010 DVD. For someone with no yard and a teeny tiny living space, this couldn't have been a better gift. (Already the television has been turned off more and we've been playing together as a family.)

Over the days we were in Ohio we visited the Mennonite man that God has used to bless my parents in the process of building their new home.

Mom and I went to a massive thrift store where we found some great deals including a wool coat for me for $8. We visited an Amish community in Southern Ohio. We went to church. We just did "stuff". Nothing important. Nothing wildly exciting. It was just nice. It was a break. It was restful. I'm so greatful that God allowed us this time to decompress and refocus.

Men and Women At Ages 3 and 5

2009-12-11T08:30:00.002-06:00

Men could learn a lot from the exchange that I witness between Lydia (3) and Elijah (5) yesterday. I had them helping me clean up the house yesterday and we were done in the living room but Lydia noticed the box of diapers on the floor underneath my piano so she picked them up and asked me what she should do with them. I told her nothing and I wanted them put back where they were. Elijah walks over to her and tries to take the box out of her hands to do it FOR her. Of course she fussed and whined. After telling her to quit whining (drama queen) I told Elijah to let her do it herself. He tells me he just wanted to help her. Lydia looks at him and says "I can do it MYSELF"!!! He says, "I know you can. I just wanted to help you do it". He then lets go of the box and walks away. Lydia pauses for a moment and then says "Ok. You can help me now." You see, she knew she could do it. She was smart enough. She was strong enough. She had the drive. She didn't like it that Elijah was acting like she COULDN'T do it. As soon as he acknowledged her capabilities, she was fine with accepting his help.

I think that is what a lot of women want from a man. Please know my strength. Accept it and celebrate it! But in the process of acknowledging me and my strengths, work WITH me. Help me. Love me. Don't try to put me under your thumb or under your foot. While I CAN carry that box of diapers all by myself, I acknowledge that it would be lonelier and much heavier without my man. And I want my man to acknowledge my personal worth as he helps bear my load.

Money Matters

2009-11-30T11:37:00.004-06:00

For a long time I've been debating how to teach my children how to save money. I was never taught to save money and its been a struggle so I want to teach my children.

I raided all their saved money and added in "a little extra" that was sent to them by Memaw and saw that each child had enough money to open juvenile savings accounts at my bank! I was so excited!! So I figured out the tithe for each child and put it in a baggie clearly labeled with each child's name. Then I figured out their savings amount and put it in clearly labeled baggies. Now, while I'm doing this, Elijah and Lydia are standing beside me wanting to know why I'm taking all their money. I try to explain to them that they are going to keep half, the bank is getting some and that we are giving back to God the part that is SUPPOSED to go back to God.

Please forgive my naivete, but nobody was excited about this venture with the exception of MOM! I was so stupid!! I thought they would be sooooo excited to have their own savings accounts!!

Ignoring their pouts and moans of displeasure, I load up the 4 younger children to go pick up Abigail from school. Surely my oldest child will be excited to have her own savings account. Wrong again. All 6 of us trot into the bank with solemn faces, the children because they have to give the bank all their money and mom because she is the only one happy about opening new savings accounts!!!

Lesson learned - there are two things you don't have to teach children - how to lie and how to love money!!!

Hoping they will appreciate my mommy being "mean" when they have a nice nest egg in the bank at age 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

An Observance In The Differences Between Boys and Girls

2009-11-09T12:53:00.003-06:00

I've heard "researchers" say that the behavior of boys and girls is a learned difference and not an inherent one. I still maintain that these people have obviously never raised children.

The twins were given gifts by a lady in the church. They were these cute little teddy bears that recite the "now I lay me down to sleep . . . " poem when you push their paw. When I hand a bear to one of the babies, they would cuddle it or chew it. When my older girls saw the bears, they started cuddling them and playing house. Here is what my son did with the bears today when he noticed them.

I'm in another room and I hear "now I lay me down to sleep . . . " over and over again and then my son cheering loudly at the completion of each poem. I don't think much of it until he runs down the hallway screaming "they tied"!!!! It then occurs to me that instead of cuddling the bears or playing with them lovingly, he was pushing the buttons at the same time to see which bear could recite the poem the quickest. It was a competition.

Learned behavior my foot!!!!

Home Made Dishwashing Liquid

2009-11-07T18:56:00.002-06:00

So, I'm trying my hand at home made dishing washing liquid. I figured it would be nice to have on hand when I run out of Dawn or for the family to use as a hand soap. All you need is 2 cups of left over soap shavings OR 2 bars of grated soap. Bar soap is super cheap at the Dollar Tree. Grate it and get 2-3 cups of hot water and mix together. Allow to sit over night. Then add as much water as you need to add the following morning to achieve the desired consistency. Add 1/2 cup of lemon juice or vinegar to help cut grease. Voila! Home made dishwashing soap for all the time or in a pinch! (Talk about pinching pennies!! LOL)

Not Much To Say - Just Some Pictures

2009-11-07T18:23:00.002-06:00

Some time ago, my digital camera died a sad death. It had been a very reliable and trusty camera, purchased for me by my mother approximately 5 years ago. I had publicly mourned the death of my Fuji Finepix and was recently contacted by my "real life" friend, PJAcademy. She had been GIVEN a digital camera that she didn't need and wanted to pass it along to me . . . . . . if I wanted it!! HA HA HA HA !!! Do I EVER?! So I get the camera. Its nicer than the one I had, well, because it was newer! I go buy some new batteries for it. I WORKS. All I needed was the USB cord to be able to download the pictures to my computer. Due to an unexpected refund on Elijah's winter coat (thank you, Mom) I was able to go purchase a card reader today to be able to download some of my pictures from my new, old camera, given to me, ever so graciously, by PJAcademy. Here we go - just cause I wanna brag!

This is Abigail looking pretty just because she can. Age 7.

Here we have Elijah, looking handsome and goofy, as usual. Age 4. He'll be 5 in December.

This is Lydia at bedtime after we realize she had her pajamas on inside out and she was stuck and MAD. (Please excuse her 1980's mullet. She has cut her own hair.) Age 3.

This is Hubby and Sunshine Sofie. (5 months) You might be able to imagine that I love this picture!

This is Miss Sweetness, AKA Phoebe.

And this is Thing 1 and Thing 2 together, holding hands and smiling. LOVE IT!

The First Time Trick-or-Treating

2009-11-04T11:12:00.004-06:00

In my circles, trick-or-treating is a pretty controversial issue. But setting that aside, we were able to take the children for the first time ever this year and we had so much fun!! Typically the children all attend the fall harvest party (aka - a Halloween Party) at the church but this year the harvest party was on Friday evening. Daniel didn't get home from work in time. Plus, Lydia had pink eye. So none of us got to go to the church party which was actually a hayride/cookout instead of just a children's party.

So along comes Saturday and low and behold, Elijah is puking Saturday morning. So I'm thinking no party and no trick-or-treating. Abigail, the babies, and I go bus visiting while Daniel stayed home with Lydia and Elijah just so I could get out of the house. Then we ran some errands which included going to Wal~Mart. I felt badly that the children weren't going to get to do anything for Halloween so I bought a few bags of candy and a bag of apples to make up for it. When I get home, Elijah hadn't puked all day so Daniel decides we'll go ahead and go trick-or-treating after all. This summer I had picked up a Batman costume for $1 at a yard sale just so Elijah could play with it. And I had gotten Lydia a lady bug cape to play with, also for $1. So Elijah dressed as Batman and Lydia dressed as a ladybug. Then, we put Abigail in one of her foo foo church dresses that we have stored back for her because its too big and then I pulled out my old wedding veil so she could dress as a bride. Oh, she was sooooo excited. (I also found out I could still wear my wedding dress!!)

Here are my little munchkins.

They were THRILLED. We had such a good time. It was so hilarious watching them literally RUN from house to house and I was very happy that they said "thank you" at each door. It was fun seeing all our neighbors having such a good time with the children. Elijah was running pell-mell screaming "Batman to the rescue!!!!" and Abi was, of course, a proper princess . . . except for the running. She is always so excited to be "beautiful". We saw Mr. Incredible, Captain America, a bull dog dressed as a bumble-bee. We tried to get Lydia's picture (our ladybug with their bumble-bee) but she was being too shy and didn't want to pose for it. That was okay. We also saw a small house dog dressed as a hot dog. Lydia was also very impressed with the giant gorilla she saw but would NOT touch it . . . until it walked away. THEN she wanted to "pet" him. Everybody was so friendly and we had a great time. Lydia got tired (and COLD) and eventually Daniel was walking with her from door to door holding her candy bag for her. It was a long walk for those short little legs!!! The twins and I led the pack in the stroller and a fun time was had by all. And the kids made out like bandits with all the candy they received.

My Latest "Mommy Moment"

2009-11-01T20:05:00.003-06:00

Today, Lydia was still recovering from pink eye and I had to leave church early so just Abigail, the twins and myself were in the van. So its was basically just Abi and I. We were chit chatting and I looked up in the sky and it was fairly clear and the moon was so bright! I don't know if it was officially "full" or not but it was awfully close to full. And I commented to Abigail that it looked like God was holding a giant flashlight and shining it down onto us and saying "I see you". She agreed and said that it was like God was reading us a bedtime story. I said "Abi, if God were going to read us a bedtime story, what would he say?" She said "He would tell us that God loves us" and it made me tear up. I'm so glad that when my little girl imagines God reading her a bedtime story, that He is telling her how much He loves her.

Speaking of Updates . . . . . . . . . .

2009-10-30T14:21:00.003-05:00

I am convinced Sofie is going to crawl at any moment, literally. She is already skooching backwards all over the living room. And last night, she successfully skooched forward. Today, I'm sitting at the computer catching up on my cafemom, and she is up on her hands and knees rocking back and forth. I have FEAR!!! Once that child gets moving, there will be no stopping her!! This is so fun!! I can't believe how time is flying by!! Crawling at 5 months and before she is sitting up! What a maniac!

Now, while Sofie is working on crawling and being a "mover and shaker", Phoebe is pretty content to sit and observe the world. She can sit on her own but is still working on mastering sitting UP on her own. She still tends to prop herself a bit with her arms beside her but any day she'll be letting go and won't have such a round bottom.

Learning To Be Abased - A Day In The Life

2009-10-30T13:28:00.002-05:00

Phillippians 4:11-12 (emphasis mine)
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have LEARNED, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Yesterday was a lesson in learning to be abased. I think it is interesting that the Lord specifies to us that we have to LEARN to be content both in being abased and when we abound. So, obviously I'm still in need of some educating based on yesterday's happenings.

Lydia needed to get to the doctor yesterday. We have one vehicle and Daniel had our double stroller in the van which he had at work. Our phone was not operable so I had no phone, no ride, and no stroller, and no internet to get in touch with anybody to try and find a ride. I couldn't get in the touch with the doctor in order to set up an appointment but, as pink eye has been going around the church and I highly suspected Lydia had fallen victim, I needed to get her in to the doctor. Deep Sigh. So Daniel calls and sets up and appointment for Lydia and I had to bundle up the twins in the wagon. Its not so bad. Its really hard to get up the stairs and heavier to pull than pushing the stroller but at least I have the wagon. I don't know how I would walk around town with both babies without the wagon.

So we walk to Lydia's doctor appointment. Now, honestly, most days its okay. If I were CHOOSING to walk to the appointment it would be no big deal. But not having a choice, I don't know. For some reason that makes it worse. So here were are out in the damp weather with the babies, Lydia with pink eye and, wonders never cease, an ear infection. (I've never had a child with an ear infection before and didn't even know she HAD an ear infection.) And Elijah, God bless his heart, thinking this is the greatest adventure EVER. While I'm still sick and tired. Nobody had eaten because I had to run out of the house so quickly to make it to her appointment on time.

We then walk from the doctor's office to the pharmacy only to find out it will be a minimum of an hour and a half before the prescriptions will be ready. No thank you. I'll send hubby back later. So we walk on home. We were gone for three hours. And its okay. Really. It SHOULD be okay. So why was it so hard?

Dear Lord, please give me the grace to be content on those days where all I want to do is have a pity party for myself. Help me to realize that things could be worse and be thankful that the weather wasn't too cold to walk, it wasn't raining, and we all had the health to walk there and back. Help me to be thankful that while we don't have 2 vehicles, we do have one which allows Daniel to get back and forth to work every day. Help me to be thankful that he has a job so that the van isn't available to me during the day. Thank you for giving me a doctor that I love whose office is so close to the house that walking is an option. Thank you for the pharmacy for the same reasons. Dear Lord, your provision is more than I deserve. Thank you, that in 7 years of having children, we just encountered our first case of an ear infection and pink eye.

Dear Lord - Thank you.
(Picture was taken by me with my Dad within a mile of their home.)

A Twist On Grilled Cheese

2009-10-30T13:25:00.002-05:00

Some of you may already do this but I find it spices up grilled cheese just a bit on a boring day. I always spray the outsides of my bread with olive oil instead of using butter or margarine. I don't know if it actually does any good or not but it seems like it would be healthier to get in some omega 3s with it than using butter. Then I put one slice of American cheese, and 2 or three slices of the this sliced low sodium lunch meat along with a little bit of low fat Miracle Whip. Next I sprinkle some Italian seasoning on the inside and fry as usual. It just shakes things up a bit on that afternoon where you don't want the same old same old but you need something quick.

My Favorite Picture From Lydia's Birthday

2009-10-28T16:14:00.002-05:00

If you read my previous post about combining birthdays, I stated I would post some pictures "later". Well, welcome to "later"!!!! This was taken with my husband's camera phone which is really crummy but better than nothing. Miracle of all miracles, everyone was looking at the camera. Here is my happy brood!

Money and Food Stretching Tips

2009-10-26T21:51:00.002-05:00

Here is a recent food stretching technique I've started using to try and make my meat last longer. One of our local grocery stores will periodically run a sale where ground beef is actually cheaper than ground turkey as long as you purchase packages of 3 (or 5) pounds or more. I try to catch this sale and take advantage of it. When I get home, we will take our 5 pounds of beef and divide it into 6 units making the meat that SHOULD last for 5 meals into enough meat for 6 meals.

Try it. I bet your family doesn't notice the absence of that quarter pound of ground meat and you get an extra meal from it.

You Can't Make Me - I'm Not Gonna Do It - At Least Not Right Now

2009-10-26T21:40:00.001-05:00

Lydia's birthday is today. My "Miss Thing" is now 3. Abigail's birthday was 9 days ago. I had planned on a very small family birthday party here at the house for Abi. No big deal. Just a cake, drinks, and whatever gifts the aunts, uncles and grandparents might want to bring. I was asked a couple of times if we were going to combine Abi and Lydia's birthday "parties" because my nephew's birthday (same side of the family) is 2 days after Lydia's. So, for them, its 3 birthdays in about 10 days. I didn't want to but Daniel decided we would combine and that was okay. I wasn't for it but it wasn't worth fussing over.

WRONG.

We had the birthday celebration last Saturday and it was nice. But I had bought a brownie mix and some frosting to make for Lydia's birthday today. I wanted her to have SOMETHING special just for her on her day. Well, today just wasn't a good day.

It was 3:00 before I realized I hadn't sat anything out for supper. I kept trying to make the brownies all day but stuff just kept coming up. So as I was trying to make brownies around 3:00, I got a call from Abi's school letting me know that she didn't have a ride home. In the process of trying to figure that out, I skip the eggs in the brownie mix!!! DO NOT FORGET THE EGGS!!! I put them in the oven and they just weren't baking correctly! I couldn't figure it out! I kept looking at the box trying to figure out if I had the oven set wrong or maybe they hadn't baked long enough. 45 minutes into what SHOULD have been a 30 minute process, I realized I had forgotten the eggs. So I had this rubbery, greasy, bubbling mess!!! NOW WHAT?! I HAD to have SOMETHING for her birthday because I had tried to sing her "happy birthday" that morning and she told me it wasn't her birthday yet because her birthday wasn't on the table!! (no cake - no gifts) GRRRRRRRR! The three year old had no clue about combining birthday celebrations!! I knew she wouldn't.

Plan B - make a home made birthday cake. This I can do. She wants a pink cake. Ok. STINK! No red food coloring. Plan Bb - ask her to pick either a yellow cake or a green cake. She selects green. No problem.

Now on to dinner! Thaw the ground turkey for spaghetti. Set the water on the stove to boil for the spaghetti noodles - um . . . . . noodles . . . . . where ARE the noodles? No noodles. We had bought everything to make the spaghetti EXCEPT the noodles. Plan B - egg noodles. Crisis diverted yet again.

Dinner goes fine. Not really enough spaghetti sauce. Mental note to self to purchase an additional jar of sauce at Aldi when planning next spaghetti meal. Cake is done. Did not over bake. Allow cake to cool and on to the home made frosting. No real butter. Stink. Must use margarine. Not the end of the world. Mixing the frosting with the mixer when my beaters start clunking and rubbing. I stop the machine. No apparent problems. Start it back up and they started clunking together so loudly it scared me!! Mixer is now officially dead. Had to finish mixing the frosting by hand. Now need a new mixer.

Deep sigh.

I'm so glad she is only 3. I had asked Daniel to stop by the Dollar Tree to get her 2 small $1 gifts so she would have something to open, as AGAIN, she had no clue we had already celebrated her birthday the previous weekend. She was thrilled with her green cake. She was thrilled with her new coloring book, fairy doll, and Dora spinning tops. She was even happy with the birthday card Abigail had made for her.

Lesson learned through all of this - Never Never Never combine birthdays for children. It is their special day celebrating their unique entrance into this world and should remain as such.

Second lesson learned - always keep a spare cake mix in the house around birthday time.

Thank you, Lord, that my children are still so small that they are unaware of the things that are missing in their little lives.

Thank you, Lord, that today is almost over!

Thank you, Lord, for my precocious little three year old who is so appreciative of mommy's efforts.

Thank you, Lord, for all those sacrifices made by my own parents that I never saw or recognized.

(Hoping to have some pictures to add tomorrow if they aren't forever stuck on hubby's phone.)

Frustration On The Homefront And Why I Don't Homeschool

2009-10-22T07:58:00.003-05:00

Elijah will be 5 in December. The boy is just a smartie and he is bored at home. I don't blame him. I wish we had a fenced in yard where I could send him outside to play. But we don't. So we try and work with it.

Monday I decided I would teach him the alphabet and figured I might as well teach Lydia (almost 3) at the same time. So I find an "alphabet book" online that I could print off. They color the "A" and then glue an upper case and lower case "Aa" onto the picture. When they complete all the pages, they color the title page, assemble the book, and voila, their very own alphabet book. I intentionally chose to do this while Abigail was home on Monday evening because I thought she would enjoy helping me teach the other children. It went over fabulously! They loved it. We learned "A stands for apple A, A, A" and they had loads of fun.

Tuesday I was so sick and we didn't do our letter.

Yesterday, both were bored so I decided we would now learn the letter "B". Well Elijah did not WANT to learn the letter "B". He fought me the whole time. While Lydia was learning "B is for boat", Elijah was doing his level best to destroy his coloring page and fight me every step of the way.

So our "school session" yesterday ended with Elijah's "B" paper being thrown into the garbage and an affirmation in my heart that if I had to home school my children they would be idiots!!

Today, Lydia will learn that "C is for cat - C, C, C".

Another Money and Meal Stretching Idea

2009-10-21T10:13:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago we were buying groceries at Aldi and I was comparing the prices of the different cuts of chicken. It was daunting. So all the way at the bottom of the freezer section were the whole chickens. Now, I had never purchased a whole chicken because I didn't really know how to cook them to get a good flavor and I had no idea how to cut them properly. But when I compared the prices, I figured I would figure it out!!!!

I have a perfect glass dish to put the chicken in for baking. I rinse my chicken, cut up potatoes, throw them in the dish and top with about half a bottle of lemon pepper marinade from Aldi ($.99). I bake at 325 for approximately 3 hours with the lid on. When done, there are about 2 cups of chicken stock in the bottom of the dish. I use the chicken stock to create a gravy to make home made chicken pot pie. I accidentally left out the chicken meat a few weeks ago for my "chicken" pot pie but I had used my left over chicken stock and you couldn't tell the chicken was missing!! Use the cut up potatoes for your pot pie, also. That is meal number one from my whole chicken. I then used half of the chicken meat to make chicken salad for the children and I for lunch the next day. For dinner that evening I used the remaining half of the chicken to make a rice, broccoli, and chicken cassarole. You could also use part of the meat for chicken noodle soup. I'm sure you have a gazillion uses for chicken meals!!!

So that is how I get at least 3 meals for my family of 5 (the twins don't eat real food yet) out of one chicken!! Talk about stretching your dollars!!!!

Money and Meal Stretching Tip - French Toast Bites

2009-10-21T10:02:00.004-05:00

My family is a little bit picky about bread. If the bread starts to get dry, they aren't fond of eating it. That's okay. Introducing French Toast Bites!!!!! Take your bread that is getting a little stale, obviously no mold, and tear it up into pieces. Make your french toast mixture. I use eggs, milk, and a touch of vanilla in mine. Then, toss your pieces of bread in your egg mixture until completely coated. Fry on the stove top until done. Put on a plate or in a bowl and drizzle with syrup. Voila!!!! French Toast Bites. My kids think they are the greatest and have no idea that mommy has put to use that "dry bread" that they don't like.

Having a Baby Changed My Life

2009-10-20T11:55:00.006-05:00

I knew having a baby would change our family. I knew having twins was going to be a complete upheaval. I wasn't prepared for how having these babies would change us as a family unit and how much it would change me.

After Lydia was born, 3 years ago on the 26th, I had a very difficult time. I'm sure anybody who knows me personally didn't much enjoy me. I struggled with depression. Daniel's work schedule was very hard. Elijah was extremely difficult to deal with. I was fighting my life. I wasn't content in anything. It was a very hard time. So when Daniel very seriously started talking about wanting a baby, I fought that, too. I didn't WANT another baby. I felt like I couldn't handle the children I had. Throw on top of that being sick every 45 minutes all day with a pregnancy . . . . . . no thank you. But the Lord worked on my heart. And one day He told me that when the time came that I was ready for another baby, I might not be ABLE to have another baby. Wow. Talk about a punch in the gut. So along comes that first, faint, positive pregnancy test.

I'll fast forward to just after the birth of the twins. It was hard. I had to have a 4 unit blood transfusion and that was scary. I felt awful after the birth from being so anemic for so long and the ordeal of the birth and transfusion. I had no idea how hard it would be on my body to have been that low for so long. Adjusting to their births was more time consuming than I had thought. It was a good 10 days before I felt "maternal" towards them. But then it just seemed like things clicked one day and I realized these babies were the greatest thing that had ever happened to me.

All the sudden I was so content in my life. The babies didn't require an overwhelming amount of work. More work? Yes, of course. I was exclusively pumping for both of them and changing diapers and feedings and taking care of the other children was/is truly a full time job. (Praise the Lord we no longer pump. They both nurse now.) But it all just seemed to flow somehow. I'm enjoying my life so much more than I did before they were here. And I don't know if I'm enjoying the "twin" aspect of it. Maybe I would have settled in the same way had we had another singleton. Maybe God knew the uniqueness of having multiples would settle me - I don't know. But I'm having the time of my life. They just "fit". I've never been more settled and content. Someone used the phrase "calming influence" and that is precisely what has been brought to our home with their births.

Yes, having twins is a lot of work. But it doesn't really feel like SO MUCH WORK now that they are here. They are so much fun. And its a truly wonderful thing to watch my older children interacting with the babies and each other. I'm having fun watching them grow and develop. Its very interesting to have 2 babies the exact same age and watching them do the exact same things at the exact same times. Yet they are so different. And its a joy to see some of the character traits that we've been TRYING to instill in our older children coming out in how they deal with the babies. Elijah is so gentle and even Lydia is amazing with them. Abi is the "little mother" that I expected her to be, maybe even more than I thought she would be!

Looking forward to what the Lord has in store for the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yep - I'm a Loser!! (In more ways than one!)

2009-10-20T11:35:00.002-05:00

So I knew to start blogging would be a hit and miss thing with me! I've been "missing" for a while, I guess. Almost a year since I last posted. But to say our life has changed and that I've been a bit busy would be a gross understatement.

The twins were born May 28th. They are now almost 5 months old! Its taken me this long to figure things out and get things situated. We are finally settling into life and some seblence of a routine and I thought I might try blogging again. I'll be posting some pictures from their birth and since then. I can't post any more recent pictures because my digital camera finally died, so sad, so nothing within the last month or two.

I'm currently working on cutting out a doll pattern to hopefully make the girls some dolls. Not that they need any but I would like to see if I can do it.

OH!! And the biggest way I'm a loser . . . . . . . . I've lost 61 pounds since the twins were born! I have about 73-75 more to go! All kinds of weird issues there! I didn't think losing weight and going down 4 (or 8 - depending on how you look at it) would effect me mentally so much. Its a double edged sword. But more on that later.

So I'll get a family update posted here in the next day or two and I hope to start updating my blog several times a week.

Best to all!!

Thanksgiving

2008-11-26T18:13:00.002-06:00

Hoping to leave around 8 PM to go to Ohio for Thanksgiving!! Woohooooooo!! I'm so ready!!!!
May you and yours have a great day!!!

Family Update

2008-11-24T08:04:00.002-06:00

I know. Its been ages since I updated last. As previously posted, I'm pregnant and I just haven't felt up to getting online and blogging so please forgive!!!! And since there are too many things to update, I'm going to condense everything into a family update instead of trying to post for different subjects.

First, we are ALL looking forward to Thanksgiving as we will be driving from Illinois to Ohio to visit my mom and dad. It has been years since my entire immediate family has been able to go to Ohio at all, let alone for a Holiday. We are all looking forward to it. Especially Daniel. He is ready to get away.

Daniel is doing well. Work had slowed down quite a bit but things have picked back up for the Holiday rush. BUT, things will slow back down dramatically once we get back from Ohio for Thanksgiving. I'm very intimidated for how things will go in December and January as that is our "slow" time and things have already been slow leading up to those months but we are praying the Lord will provide. BUT, to help supplement the situation, PRAISE THE LORD, Daniel has several basketball games scheduled. He started officiating volleyball and basketball this year and he is really enjoying it. I know he is enjoying the basketball more than the volleyball but both provide a nice supplemental income for minimal time involvement. As of right now he has 4 games scheduled for December and hoping for more. He is also considering applying for a driving position with a different company. I'm praying that will work out if it is the Lord's will for us.

Abigail is thoroughly enjoying school. She has some struggle with not arguing with her teacher and being too bossy with her friends but she is having fun! I keep telling Daniel, "I would be bossy, too, if everybody obeyed me like her friends obey her!!!" We are trying to impress upon her that nobody ENJOYS being told what to do and that eventually her friends aren't going to want to play with her anymore but I think she might have to learn this life lesson the hard way. She was also struggling a bit with reading but we have doubled our homework time and the extra work is really paying off. She is so excited and is doing much better!!!!!

Elijah is still our stubborn soul of the family but he is coming along. Unfortunately, I think he is transitioning out of nap time which means no nap for Mommy!!! He really misses Abigail while she is at school. She is his buddy. He is still just as affectionate as ever and I love it on the rare occasions that he will sit still long enough to let mom love on him. He crawls into bed and lays down with me almost every morning and has finally learned to lie still so that I can go back to sleep if needed. He has also started asking questions about salvation. He isn't quite 4 so it is very early but it is always encouraging that they are showing some sort of interest in spiritual matters at any age.

Miss Lydia, age 2 and family comedian, is just as ornery as ever!!! She is a whiner and we're working on it!!!! She has very definite opinions about EVERYTHING and wants to control EVERY situation. I think life is going to get tougher for Lydia as she finds out that we truly don't have control of most things in our lives!! Hopefully she'll learn how to surrender that control over to God because its His whether she acknowledges it or not. Anyway, she is completely potty trained but now just can't be bothered with actually putting her pee pee in the potty so we are working on reminding her that going in her underwear is not acceptable. Miss Lydia is also a little cuddle bug and is constantly saying "Mommy, hold me". I think she will have a difficult time adjusting to the new babies.

That's right. I said BABIES. We are having twins. He saw 2 sacs on the ultrasound that confirmed we had not truly miscarried. The ultrasound following that, we were able to see both babies, see one heartbeat and hear BOTH heartbeats. The ultrasound following THAT one, we were able to see both heartbeats. There is just nothing like that. The doctor told me that the babies were developing so well that I could go 4 weeks between appointments this time, I had been going every 2 weeks, so I don't have another appointment until December 9th. We are going to take Abigail with us to that appointment so she can see the babies on the ultrasound.

I'm very intimidated by this whole "twin" thing and I'm afraid I could wax eloquently about all my fears if I allowed myself. I'm working on exercising great mind control so that I'm not constantly worrying about EVERYTHING that can go wrong and all the things that need to be worked out. I still can't wrap my brain around the fact that we are going to need 2 of everything OR that when I come home from the hospital that I'm going to have to take care of 2 newborns along with the other 3 children. I was already intimidated at the thought of having one baby but now 2?! Our biggest prayer request is housing. We are currently in a 2 bedroom apartment and things are already very tight. We were going to make do with a 4th child but a 5th child? In one room? I don't know. We really need a house. It doesn't have to be a fancy house but we desperately need a third bedroom. Plus, with the banking situation and the economy right now . . . . . . . . .

We need a miracle!

Baby Baby Baby News

2008-10-21T08:47:00.002-05:00

Well, after the entire last week of being in mourning over losing our baby, we found out today that we did NOT lose the baby. It was simply to soon to see it on the ultrasound last week!!! Praise the Lord!!! I have another followup ultrasound on Monday just to confirm what we saw yesterday, but there is no reason to think there is anything wrong a this time. I will be very relieved once we see a heartbeat.

Additional Baby Updates

2008-10-20T07:32:00.002-05:00

I go to the doctor again today after a blood test. He'll probably do another ultrasound to compare to the first ultrasound depending on what my hormone levels read. We don't know or understand everything that is happening and wish things could just be done. I guess just pray that we find out today what is going on with me. Things are just weird right now.

Update On The Baby

2008-10-13T17:30:00.002-05:00

I had my ultrasound today and we had a very early miscarriage. Praying that I will pass the baby this week and avoid the runaround of blood tests and future ultrasounds. I want this to be over. Please pray for Daniel. He is devastated. I think it hasn't really hit me yet. I'm a bit numb.

Mom of three on earth and one in heaven.

Yep - Its A Baby

2008-10-09T09:38:00.001-05:00

We have another one on the way!! Not sure on the exact due date yet. I had some weird things going on this month so I have an ultrasound schedule for this coming Monday to check some things out. Pray that everything is okay and that approximately 9 months from now we have a healthy baby!!! #4 coming to a town near . . . . . . . ME!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!

Fundraiser Update

2008-10-06T12:42:00.002-05:00

Abigail is D.O.N.E with her candy selling!!! She met her goal of 22 cases and will get ALL the prizes available except for the "top seller" prize but that is okay. I'm very proud of her for setting a goal and achieving it. I'm also happy for her that she'll get an American Girl doll as that is something that we would not have been willing to purchase for her. GOOD JOB, ABI!!!

Blog Ettiquette

2008-10-03T18:27:00.003-05:00

When somebody leaves a comment on one of your blog entries, what is the proper way to respond? Do you respond on your own blog and assume they'll come back and read it? Do you try to find their e-mail addy and respond that way? How does that work?!

Great Toothbrush For Small Children

2008-10-03T18:22:00.002-05:00

I've gotta show you all this toothbrush which was recommended to me by a friend on cafemom. You can find them at Wal~Mart of somewhere around a buck a brush and my children are THRILLED with them. You push the up bottom of the toothbrush which causes the toothbrush to start flashing a little light. The light blinks for one minute. So, as long as the light blinks, they have to continue brushing their teeth! Wooohoooo!

What a wonderful invention!! OH - and CHEAP, too!!!

So Jaded - My Commentary On The World

2008-10-03T17:58:00.004-05:00

Many of you know that I'm a member of cafemom and I love love love it!!! It has been a tremendous help to me especially when I struggled so much with depression last year, or the last 18 months or so. BUT, I also have to be careful because the negative influence from cafemom can get to be a bit overwhelming sometimes. You can chose to interact with all different kinds of people and really get into their minds with some of the things they "say" there.

So, I made a mistake today. I posted a "question" about the Democrats and Joe Biden and how he feels that it is "patriotic" for the rich to be taxed higher and it is "fair" to tax them at a higher rate and give that money to the "poor" simply because they are "struggling". While that all sounds good and fine, it isn't Biblical at all!!! At least it isn't Biblical for the government to be TAKING the money and then redistributing the wealth. Anyway, I was so disheartened by how many moms out there are not only okay with that, but agree that it SHOULD happen. I'm so sad.

I don't care how "poor" I get in the eyes of this world, I don't WANT those who make more money than I to have to support me. What happened to working hard for a fair wage? What happened to being content with what you have? What happened to the "rich" giving of themselves to the "poor" simply because it is the right thing to do? I know. It sounds like a Utopian society but if the "rich" aren't willing to do those things on their own, they should NOT be robbed!!! Not by me or the federal government!!

It is no wonder Obama/Biden have so much support when they are holding out fists full of dollars toward a people who have no character or scruples whatsoever outside of thinking about themselves. This is not the America that my WWII veteran grandfather fought and bled for! This is not the America that my uncle gave his entire career for. This is an ugly America who has lost sight of what made her great to begin with - God, hard work, and personal integrity. I'm so saddened for the future of our country. She will collapse some day. And yet, I love her.

She Is Almost There!!!

2008-10-02T18:44:00.003-05:00

This is just unbelievable to me. I posted a little while ago about Abigail's school fund raiser having started and how bummed I was that we were going to have to try and sell $2 candy. WELL, my sister in law took it on as a project and has helped Abigail sell (to date) 16 cases of candy!!! WOW!! She was just planning on the doing the minimum, 4 cases, but then she found out that if she helps her sell a total of 22 cases, Abigail gets a $150 shopping spree at the American Girl store. So she is going to do it!!! I'm so happy for Abi and so thankful to my sister in law because Daniel and I would never be able to purchase an American Girl doll for Abi.

Here is what Abigail has won so far.

Fudge bar or ice cream sandwich
bag of chips
can of pop
sundae cone
casual clothes for one day (at school)
pizza party at Chicago Dough Co.
Chicago trip
Chicago trip plus $25 spending cash
Wisconsin/Chicago trip which includes Medieval Times, Jelly Belly Factory , animal farm and more!

In addition to that, she'll win the $150 shopping spree out of the American Girl catalog once she hits that magic 22 case mark!!

16 cases down - 6 more to go!!

The Invasion is Scheduled For TODAY!!!

2008-10-02T07:56:00.003-05:00

The children are coming home today from Memaw and Pappy's house! I have mixed feelings. I'm ready to see them but OH MY SOUL it was so nice having the house to myself!! Boy they just keep you busy.

They did great at Memaw's house all week until this past Monday. Poor mom. Both of them got sick while there were there and she was up several nights with Lydia puking. Plus, they get up very very early at Mom and Dad's house so I know Mom has to be exhausted.

It sounds like Lydia has turned the corner with her potty training adventure and is now wearing big girl panties without peeing in them AND is getting up to go potty at night! Wooohoooooo!!! So, I'm excited at the thought that I may very well be completely out of diapers for the first time in 6 years!! What a wonderful feeling!!

Unfortunately, I was supposed to meet Mom and Dad halfway to pick up the kids on Friday but since our van is out of commission, they are driving all the way here today, staying in a hotel, and then driving back to Ohio tomorrow. I feel bad about that because I know Dad is going to be exhausted driving all day on his days off. But I praise God for such loving and generous parents. I would be lost without them.

Our Week - Deep Sigh

2008-10-02T07:26:00.002-05:00

Weeeeell, it has been an interesting week here so far. I'm ready for the week to be over so we don't get hit by "bad thing" number 3#!! You know bad things ALWAYS happen in threes!!!!

Daniel had a volleyball game he was going to referee this past Tuesday. So, long story short, he took the van to work with him. So, he is driving probably 75 MPH up the highway when the van just slips out of gear. No warning. No nothing. Mind you, our van is only 4 years old and has less than 60,000 miles. So he has to pull over to the side of the highway and we are anticipating the mechanic to tell us today that we are going to have to purchase a new transmission. Very discouraging as we are just getting back on our feet financially. Daniel was a horrid crabby mess and I had to be the "reasonable" one which is frustrating.

But you know what? I'm not worried. We don't have the option to borrow money and we don't have the money to pay to fix it but I am confident it will work out. Daniel and I are doing our part right now and I just feel like I'm sitting here just eagerly anticipating seeing how God is going to take care of it. There is such freedom in knowing you are handling your finances according to Biblical standards. I'm almost excited to see how this is all going to fall out. I'm praying for God to take care of it. He knows what is going on with us, how we are trying to honor Him, and I have the faith of a mustard see that He will take care of it! (help mine unbelief! LOL)

So, I get another crabby call from Daniel yesterday. He received a traffic ticket while working yesterday. YIPPY SKIPPY!!! So that is another $75 we have to come up with in 2 weeks. BUT, again, God is in control and I have no doubt our faith is being tested right now.

I am praying that my faith and Daniel's faith will be strengthened by these things and that Daniel will see the power of God in this. ( ME TOO!)

Praise the Lord for He is Good - ALL THE TIME!

I Knew There Was a Reason I Should Have Had Dogs Instead of Children

2008-09-24T12:04:00.003-05:00

Most of you know my children are at my parent's house for at least two weeks and I'm just loving it! I'm such a bad mom, I guess, because I'm just giddy with all this time to myself!! Abigail is still here but she is at school until noon which leaves me all morning for ME ME ME!!! Everybody I talk to is just astonished that I would allow my children to be gone from me so long but, wow, I'm just having a great time!! Abigail is getting all sorts of special priveledges and she doesn't even realize it. I'm completely enjoying my uninterrupted cafemom time. Plus, I'm getting the work done I planned on. So, why should I feel bad?! The children are having the time of their lives at Memaw's house. Elijah planted a popcorn kernal hoping to grow a "nut tree". He is frustrated that it won't grow! Miss Lydia is doing great going potty for Memaw even though she has on her "big girl" panties, something she wouldn't do for Momma.

So, I guess I'm just a bad mom because I think this extended visit is a wonderful thing all around!!

Organizing - Part 2

2008-09-23T20:34:00.002-05:00

Children's room done! 2 days, 1 room. Ummm . . . . . . . not so good but at least I wasn't on cafemom all day!!! Now about that laundry . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Few Goals

2008-09-21T21:34:00.003-05:00

Elijah and Lydia are staying at Memaw and Pappy's house for at least the next two weeks so I have a couple of goals. The biggest is that I want to get my apartment completely cleaned, purged and reorganized MINUS the two smallest rugrats!!! Goodness they can just tear up anything!! So, I'm going to clean then do closets, purge toys, blankets, old towels, sheets and even stuff on the walls if it is taking up living space!! LOL Who knows?! Then, I'm going to rearrange the furniture to give the children some more playing room in their bedroom. Next, is list my treadmill on craigslist to make room for my Gazelle that Mom gave to me while I was home. (Gazelle takes up less space than the treadmill.) That is a big goal but I have two weeks without Elijah and Lydia underfoot to hinder my progress.

My next goal is to get back to reading my Bible faithfully. For some reason, I was doing great for a long time. I even made it through the Mosaic Laws and Job. Then I hit Psalms!! Can somebody explain to me why I got hung up in the book of Psalms?! I've always been a strange bird! So, I'm recommitting myself to having my Bible time again.

My third goal is to make time to exercise. I have 2 weeks to get myself into the habit before the little ones get back home and I think I'll enjoy the Gazelle.

Fourth, um . . . . . . . . . . , cafemom and blogging!!!!

Kelly's Mexican Mixture

2008-09-18T08:18:00.002-05:00

Anybody that knows me REALLY well knows that recipes are just suggestions and I'm not afraid to play around and create my own food minus the recipe. So, I threw this together one evening and it has become a family favorite. There are a couple minor variations through out that you can play with to suit your family's preferences. This recipe yields A LOT. My family will eat this for a meal one night and then snack on it for several days afterwards.

Cook 3 cups of rice and set to the side.

Brown your choice of meat (I use ground turkey but you could use chicken cubes or beef) adding one package of powered taco seasoning and powdered enchilada seasoning. (Both can be found CHEAP at Aldi) DO NOT FOLLOW PACKAGE DIRECTIONS. Just dump 'em in once meat has been drained. Add one can of drained corn and a small jar of either queso or generic cheese dip also found at Aldi. If you like your food a little spicier, use the queso. Add a large jar of mild, medium or hot salsa per your family's preference. Stir occasionally until warm. Set aside.

At this point I like to fry (no need to add butter when frying) the rice along with a small jar of either diced tomatoes or "diced tomatoes with chiles" if you like more "kick". The rice will brown slightly. When hot, dump the rice in with the meat mixture.

I serve this with nacho chips and use it kind of like a "dip" or hubby likes it scooped onto a soft tortilla.

Let me know if you try it and like it.

Ohio State Buckeyes

2008-09-18T08:09:00.004-05:00

I thought I would post my first recipe of many as the holiday season is approaching. And being an Ohio Girl, I'm posting an Ohio tradition as our state tree is the Buckeye Tree. If this is NOT on your "holiday treat" list, you need to add it. I promise it will become a family favorite!

Mix together 3 cups creamy peanut butter, 1 1/2 sticks melted butter, and 2 pounds confectioner's sugar. (Yeh - I know! Nothing "skinny" about this one!!) Form into small balls. Using a toothpick, dip balls into 16 oz melted dipping chocolate until almost covered, leaving some of the peanut butter mixture exposed on the top. Refrigerate and enjoy.