Business dealings!

Well, maybe that is a bit much.

I don't suppose that it is really business to sell a few things on Ebay. But, I am excited about it and hoping to get some more things listed soon. It is fun to watch the items and hope that I get more and more bids! I had only ever bought about 6 items from Ebay in the past. I was mostly happy with the purchases...only one thing wasn't quite in the shape that I thought it would be in, but it wasn't enough to complain and try to get my money back, so I let it slide.

So, I recently listed some cloth diapers that I have had and am not using. Some of them are "the" diapers to have and sell, so they are doing pretty well so far. I am excited, as, they have mostly just been sitting in a rubbermaid container...actually 2, and I figured I needed to get rid of them, but didn't know if they would do well on Ebay. Well, they are doing well, and I am so excited. Thanks to Jacinda for helping "push" me to go ahead and do it through all her Ebay success. I have lots more to list, and don't know if I will enjoy lugging all these things to the post office to mail them, but I think I will enjoy it when the money starts rolling in (ok, so maybe that is a bit dramatic...it probably will be more like a trickle, but hey, it's money!)

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Saturday we had some friends come over. It was a bit chilly and just a little windy, so we were having the kids put on some jackets and hats so that they could go outside to play. Alora was so excited to get to dig some more holes and play in the dirt in front of the house! That is her favorite thing. I think she really needs a sand box for her birthday.

So, I was putting a little fleece hoodie on her and kept the hood up for her to go out to play. She starts telling me "I don't want the hood. I don't! I don't! I don't! I don't!" I have been working with her and trying to talk calmly and rationally with her in order to curb some of her yelling and frustration. She is doing much better and is throwing fits and yelling a lot less frequently. I just have to answer her yells with a calm voice...sometimes saying "Let's not yell at each other, it isn't nice to yell at each other, we will talk nicely to one another." I think it helps her for me to own up the fact that I do yell at her too and that we are both going to talk rationally. Anyway, she is "I don't! I don't! I don't!" yelling at me (maybe not a yell, but certainly not a calm voice or tone) and I just told her calmly, "If you go outside you have to have your hood on." She immediately says...same tone and voice "I DO!" and turned with her hood up to head outside. Our friend, Adam and I all just laughed and laughed at her. It was so funny. And I was so proud of her for "deciding" to not throw a fit about it. She is really doing so much better!

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I am debating cutting Alora's hair a bit. I know that she is young and all, but her hair is really really long. It doesn't look like it is since the curly makes it come up above her shoulders, but it is almost to her waist! I think the combination of the curl and the length make it tangle terribly, so I have been thinking of cutting a few inches off to keep it from tangling so much. I think it also might help to even out some of the lengths she has going on, since she is not quite 3 and there is a lot of new growth that is shorter. If I decide to go ahead, I promise to post before and afters!

Is this a joke?

What is wrong with this thing?


Aralyn with Alora's baby doll's bottle.

Magic

The other day Aidan was sitting on Adam's lap and they were watching tv. I was in the kitchen cooking and all of the sudden, Aidan looks up and says, "Momma, magic is real! It is!" I have told him before that magic is just pretend, or tried to explain some sort of "magic trick" he has seen. So, I am really interested in why he thinks magic is real now.

There had been a Disney World commercial on...the one where the mom tells the little boy to go to sleep and he is giggling and saying he is just too excited to sleep (since there is a pending trip to Disney World) and then the dad can't sleep either cause he is too excited too. Cuteness abounds in the commercial and at the end it says something about Disney World being where magic is...or something like that.

So...he says to me, "You just have to go to that Disney place and that is where the magic is." It was so sweet!

We recently saw the commercial for Disney World where the parents are dressed up like superheroes from the 70s. (Love the pregnant mom one the best!) "You can be a hero too!" the television says to me with a quote for a family of 4. What a deal, only $1500! LOL

He loves heroes and all, so of course his face lit up when he saw that one too! He says to me, "I have never been there..." I told him that I had never been either. He promptly says, "I think we should go there. We haven't been and we should go...it is like magic and so fun."

Maybe it will be in the cards for us to plan a trip there...I want to go too! And I have always wanted to be a hero! LOL

Go Aralyn Go!

She is finally crawling...and by crawling, I mean up on all fours and going forward. I have to distinguish, because for the longest time, she just sort of sat and moved her legs and she would cruise around the room. Not quite sure how to explain it, but she would just push one leg behind her (you know those babies and their amazing flexibility) and then she would push with that foot from behind and then swing it back to the front and she would have moved about 4 inches. It was slow and painful...well, not really painful, it just looked like it was.

Well, then she moved to getting on all fours, but she would just go backwards. If she wanted something that was near to her, she would get on her belly from a sitting position and then walk her hands forward and lay on her belly. If she couldn't reach it...meaning it wasn't within 12 inches from her, then she couldn't get it and the yelling would begin. She would be so upset that said item wouldn't be caught. She just didn't realize/didn't have the power to move her legs and go forward.

Well! We have finally figured out how to move forward. Just this morning she crawled to get a clothes pin and had to go forward just a little ways. She was happy to have the clothes pin, but I don't really think she understands the freedom that she has just found. She still won't try to get anything that isn't fairly close to her.

It is so sweet to see these new skills and how she figures all this out. I know from my first 2 children, that this time will fly past us and be only sweet memories before I can capture them all.

God, thank you for these sweet times. I know that they will pass and I just hope that I can cherish them while they last and hold the memories in my heart for the rest of my life. Thank you for the blessing of motherhood.

Here's my list (I reserve the right to add to it!)

Next time someone asks my opinion when they make mothers, I have a few things that I would like to request.

Ears that automatically cut out the whining. I could then say that I can't hear whining...and not have to listen to it either! I don't know how many times I have to tell Alora that I can't hear her when she is whining. I just can't understand half of what she is saying...and neither can anyone else.

Hands! Oh more than just 2! I need a pair to hold a baby with and at least one more set if not 2. I have never quite understood how any one can believe in evolution since mothers would have at least 3 or 4 arms by now!

X-ray vision for looking through walls, seeing inside our children to see when they would be hungry next, or when they need to eliminate (think potty training time), or when they are sick in order to see what is wrong.

Metabolism that just stays nice and high. This would give us more energy and keep us from having to have extra room in our drawers for our "fat" jeans!

A force field. Not to harm any one or anything like that, just to keep the kids at a nice safe distance. We could go to the bathroom by ourselves with them safely outside the force field and we could even sit down without someone crawling or climbing on us or touching us.

A nice little place in our minds with all the right words for our kids...and while we are at it, we could use this tool for our friends and husbands too.


Thank you God for all the things that you bless us mothers with. I love all the attention and love that my children want to demonstrate to me. I know that mothering is a struggle and a challenge sometimes, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love knowing that you think I am special enough to have blessed me with 3 of your children to love as my own. What a wonderful show of love that you would give me these beautiful little lives to know in a deep wonderful way.

Nice place!

See my new look? I wasn't intending to change the way it looks around here when I got on the computer yesterday. I was having trouble with my template, or at least that is what I thought was the problem. I was going to add a name or 2 to my links and then alphabetize them, and when I went to do it, something locked up and I decided not to do it. Next time I looked at my blog, my sidebar was gone.

So, I decided to try to fix it...looked in the template and it looks fine (this isn't saying much cause I know absolutely nothing about html or code or whatever you call it.) I then decided that maybe I had deleted something the other day when it locked up. I didn't really think this had happened, but stranger things have. So, I decided to change templates, and lost all my links in the process. Oh well! And guess what? It still wasn't fixed. ???? So, then I decided to scroll down to make sure the rest of the page was correct, and what do I find? My sidebar, moved all the way to the bottom. Hmmmm? And the body of my blog was messed up right in the post where I had put a long line to separate 2 thoughts in a post. The line was messing everything up since it had to be wider to accommodate and pushed the sidebar out of the way. So, I changed my blog totally when all I really needed to do was edit a post!

Maybe I will change things up more often. It was that hard! Except, I had to re-do all my links. Next time I will cut and paste them before changing anything.

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See...this time it won't do it cause the line is short!

Day 3 of FLYing is going pretty well. Getting dressed wasn't first on the list cause I wanted to clean the shower first and didn't want to get dressed before I did that. (I can't clean the bathroom or wash dishes or do anything that requires more water than it takes to brush your teeth or wash your hands without getting totally wet!)

Where are my wings?

Well...I am deciding to give flying a try. Well, FLYing to be precise. I know that I will regret telling anyone, since then I am under a microscope and if I fail it is a public failure. I need to tame the chaos and get into a routine of some sort. It is needed badly! (Please, Adam, don't comment, you can't take it back! LOL)

I started yesterday. All I had to do was to shine my sink. I did it and proceeded to clean out a few more cabinets in the kitchen. With packing up things that we don't use very often, I had already gone through 2 cabinets, and was able to cross off 3 more from the list. Sometimes you just don't realize what you are keeping, and how disorganized it is. I moved some things around so that they would be in a place that makes more sense and wiped them all out with Clorox wipes....love those things. I also cleaned my stove and shined it up! Makes you feel really good to get something out of the way.

It felt good to get it done. Today my task was to get dressed first thing, and I accomplished that. It was quite easy since I had playgroup today. So, today I got dressed and I had a clean sink! Two days down and so far so good. I figure the baby steps are a good idea, and while it doesn't seem like I have accomplished much, if the baby steps were much bigger, I wouldn't have gotten this far.

So, looks like day 3 will be tomorrow and we'll see how it goes.

New noise

We watch too much tv. I will freely admit it. I think it is just habit...There has to be some "noise" in the house for me and it is easier to push that little power button on the tv than to try to find a CD that I want to listen to. I suppose it wouldn't be much harder to turn on the turner and just listen to the CCM station on the radio....But I just haven't made it a habit....Yet.

I know that there are only about 2 or 3 shows on our 5 channels that we like to watch at night. Of course during the day is PBS, but we don't need to watch that all day, every day. So, last night was a night that I knew nothing came on that we wanted to see. So, I told the kids we would read a book of their choice when Daddy got home. We had about 15 minutes to wait on dinner when he arrived, so they all plopped down on the loveseat and started "the intrinicles of Narnia" or better know as The Magician's Nephew. We are loving it! I have read the series before, but Adam never has, so it is fun for him too. He even snuck the book to bed to read ahead a bit last night. Starting with this book I think will be fun for Aidan, as he has seen the movie, and will be able to "see" the links between the books. He is really loving the book and I think that this reading time at night is a good thing for all of us. We usually read a few shorter picture books before bed and prayers at night, and I think this is a good addition. I don't think it will take us very long to get through the books, as we are all enjoying them and we read almost half of the book last night.

I think after these we can read our E.B. White's: The Trumpet of the Swan, Stuart Little, and Charlotte's Web, but then we will just have to venture into some other books. I love reading and I hope that my children always love it too.

And anything that can keep the doors on the tv cabinet closed all night, is a definite winner. Hopefully this will become our new habit.

The Truth....And nothing but the Truth.

Blue Like Jazz has been a good thing for me. I feel like I have really been challenged to take a look at several aspects in my life and re-evaluate.

I am in a place where I am praying to God for things for things that I need personally. I feel like that is maybe one aspect of my prayer life that has been missing...And the fact that I don't pray nearly enough.

I tend to pray for others. Pray for friends and family to heal from sickness, for my children to grow in wisdom and knowledge of God, pray for my husband to be strengthened in his walk with God and his faith to be renewed, pray for those hurting that I learn about from the media--Katrina, 9-11 victims, missing children and their families. My list of things that are purely personal things is very small, maybe even non-existent. At least, it was.

I am really trying to focus more on what I need to grow closer to God. I know that I can't earn my way to God, but it is sometimes hard to humble myself enough to accept His help to get there. Accept His love for me, me who is so unworthy and who doesn't appreciate and value such a gift enough. May God continue to soften my heart and humble me so that I can fullly partake in the wonders that he has in store for me.
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Somewhat related to that, is something else I have been mulling in my mind for a few days. It probably isn't fully ready, but I thought it might help to get it out somewhere to "look" at it.

I was touched in the book by the confessional.

background for those who don't know...

Donald Miller and several other Christians at Reed College in Oregon decided to make a confession booth to have set up at the end of year festival Renn Fayre. This festival is described as a wild, crazy party full of alcohol, sex, drugs and all kinds of exotic things. In the midst of this immoral atmosphere, they set up this confessional, not with the intent for their fellow classmates to confess to them, but so that they can confess. Ask forgiveness for the way that God and Jesus have been misrepresented over the years...Crusades, conquering of the Native Americans here in the US, and also, to apologize for all the ways that Jesus is misrepresented today. It is quite touching and moving and just amazing how they were touched in doing this and how their fellow students, even though some or most of them were probably drunk were receptive to this heartfelt outpouring of grief over how our wonderful savior has been used to create terrible things, to justify evil.

I don't think that we carry the guilt of our predecessors in all this, but Donald Miller brings up a good point.

Whether or not we like it, presenting ourselves as Christians to the world carries some ugly baggage. One person you approach might only know of Jim Bakker...The famous, or infamous televangelist. Or you might approach someone who only knows the Jesus of a strict Catholic upbringing and no longer want anything to do with organized religion, much less the people involved in it. Or how about someone who has only heard the harsh hell-fire and brimstone words of a conservative church-goer from the deep south, and never the love and acceptance of the Jesus of the Bible. All of us have a set of religious baggage. I know from my conservative...Very conservative church of Christ background there is more than enough for me to drag around. Adam has his fair share to add to mine too. Some of my family have a goodly amount of Baptist baggage. I don't think anyone is immune to it.

It is some heavy stuff. How do you go into the world without it? How do you present nothing but Love, Truth, Light, Life....Nothing but Jesus? Is it possible to just go out and show and tell people of Jesus and how much He loves them? Can we just let everyone know that Jesus is Jesus, without all the politics and rules and regulations?

It is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately. I think that there is a great barrier that we must get over in order to reach people where they are.

This is no where near a complete thought, but just a jumping off point and somewhere to start from another time.

Hurry up and wait

This past holiday season I was up at my parents' house a good bit. I remember my mom talking a few times about sending off for my younger sister's Chickasaw tribal citizenship card. Good idea, I thought! I could go ahead and do this. I would love to have them on hand just in case we ever need them. There are things that we might be able to take advantage of, but we wouldn't be able to fully do that without proof of citizenship for them.

Well, I had Adam print out three citizenship forms for me, I was going to mail them off immediately. Well, then I read the form and realized that I would first need to obtain a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood number for each of the children from the Bureau of Indian Affairs office. Fine, I found that form and had Adam print off 3 of those. I would mail those immediately...Well, maybe not. I read the form and it stated that I needed to send in the children's birth certificates. A birth certificate issued by the state of birth that shows parentage, the so-called "long form".

Aralyn was born just 7 months ago. She was born at home, and there were other things on my mind at the beginning other than ordering a birth certificate. I filled out the form and let it sit on the desk waiting to mail it off with a check for $12. So, Aralyn's can wait, I can mail the others.

Then I realized that I didn't have Alora's either. Well, when Alora was born I was given the same form. I had her at home too, and there were other things on my mind then too. (Isn't that odd?) I must have forgotten to mail it off, since I found the filled out form in the "junk" drawer in the kitchen just yesterday.

Well, I would mail Aidan's then...

No, I won't! I didn't have the right birth certificate for him. When Aidan was born we were given a sheet of paper to fill out in order to get his birth certificate. It was a short form with some simple questions... Name, state of birth, parents' names, etc. When we ordered his birth certificate, I ordered the short form that SC offers. I thought that it would be fine that the short form didn't show parentage, after all, he won't be getting married for a while, right? I even ordered 2 of the wallet sized certificates, $12 for the first and $3 for any additional copies.

It is a good thing that I am so slack about things. I would have ordered the short form when I ordered the girls' certificates. I might have even spent $30 on 2 copies for each of them too!

So, now I get to plan a trip to the DHEC office in hopes that they have birth certificate order forms there for me to fill out.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day mentioning my troubles. She basically tells me, that she was just telling my aunt how long a process it had been. How she had to order my sister's state issued birth certificate, as the one she had was county issued and that wasn't the right one. My mom says that the entire process took about 9 months for her to accomplish. I only wish that I had talked more with my mom about it while I was home visiting. I would have at least known what I was getting into ahead of time.

I guess I can look forward to 9 months of forms and mailings in order to get their information in the right places. It's a good thing I started early!

Where I have been...where I'm going?

http://www.world66.com/myworld66/visitedStates/statemap?visited=ALAZARCODCFLGAKYLAMDMIMSNMNCOHOKSCTNTXVAWV

I have been to all these states. Doesn't seem like much when you see how much white there is. I have only been through some of these states on way to other places...like my trips to Detriot or Washington, DC.

I have only been through a small part of Oklahoma on the way to Colorado from Texas, but would like to remedy that this summer. My mom is planning to go to Oklahoma this summer for a meeting of the Chickasaw tribe members who don't live in the nation. I would love to go also. Maybe Adam and I can take the kids and show them some parts of the country they haven't ever seen and also give them a little bit of their Native American culture/heritage too. I know that I would love to be more knowledgable of the nation and all. I think it would be a great trip for our family.

Of course, you can't look at a map of where you have been without thinking of where you would like to go. I would love to take a trip up to the great northwest. I have an uncle and aunt up there that I would love to see and they say it is beautiful up there. I would also love to go to Hawaii, but then who whouldn't? And Alaska...I have family there too. New York is also on my short list, but mostly so that I can see a Broadway show. There are lots and lots that I would love to see, but price wise it would have to be limited to 1 or 2 I am sure, so it would be hard to narrow the list. And going further up the eastern seaboard would be great...and the neighborly thing to do!

That is just my US list, as I have a list longer than my arm of places that I would love to visit outside of the US. Maybe one day our lives will lead us some of those places...only God knows.

God, thank you for the opportunities in our lives that you have given us to view your wonderful creation. Thank you for eyes to see what wonderful things you have prepared for our enjoyment. What a great and wonderful Father you are to give your children such awesome gifts!

Current reading

I have been reading a lot so far this year. I started Sophie's Choice, but can't seem to get into it really well, so I put it aside.

Someone had loaned us a copy of The New Dare to Discipline. I had never read it, or the old one for that matter. I think all parents need a little boost of energy and assurance from time to time, so I thought I would read it. It was a bit disappointing. I don't know if I was just expecting more of a "how-to" or what, but I was just expecting more substance. Of course a lot of the parts that were directed at parents of older children (older than 5), didn't apply, so it wasn't useful to me yet. I did think that it was a great book for someone who is struggling with how they should discipline and when. Or, someone who doesn't think that discipline is good...I don't quite understand that view point, but I know from the way some kids act, that there have to be plenty of parents who don't discipline.

Adam received Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller for Christmas from my mom. I had told her that he had been looking for it and so it was part of his present. I didn't want to start it until he had had a chance, so, until a few nights ago, I couldn't touch it. He finally started it one night, so the next day, I read while he was at work. I let him have it when he is home, but in the car and during the day, it is mine to read. I finally finished it, but can't even really discuss it with Adam, as he hasn't had the time to finish it yet. I found it to help explain a lot of the questions I have been having in regards to the "emergent"-whatever. I don't know if you call it a movement or just a viewpoint or if it is something else. I know that people who are considered emergent like to not have baggage attached and stereotypes, so maybe trying to define it is the wrong thing to do anyway. Oddly, I didn't really find anything in the book that I didn't agree with. I am not up on the liberal/conservative/postmodern/etc. Kinds of labels, so I guess I just didn't know what to think at all. I suppose since I am a Church of Christ-er and living in the South, that I assumed that I would more than likely fall into the conservative crowd. Finding that I don't has opened my eyes a bit to a different way of thinking and seeing and all.

I guess one of the main things that I felt while reading the book was a conviction to do something in a missionary field. Not necessarily overseas, but not counting that out either. I had lots of revelations about myself and they way I think while reading about how Donald talked about his life being all about him in the chapter about community. I feel like that sometimes and know that there are many good things I could be doing with my time and money and energy while here on earth that are way more important than making sure that my house is nice and big and decorated and all. Not, to say that I don't think about those things, but I don't know that those are the things that I shouldn't be focusing on so much. I guess when Adam gets finished with the book we need to talk and pray and read more on some different subjects and see where we need to be and go and what we need to do.

One other thing that resonated with me was a part of the book where Donald is talking about belief. It reads:

Andrew doesn't cloak his altruism within a trickle-down economic theory that allows him to spend fifty dollars on a round of golf to feed the economy and provide jobs for the poor. He actually believes that when Jesus says feed the poor, He means you should do this directly.

Andrew is the one who taught me that what I believe is not what I say I believe' what I believe is what I do.

I used to say that I believed it was important to tell people about Jesus, but I never did. Andrew very kindly explained that if I do not introduce people to Jesus, then I don't believe Jesus is an important person. It doesn't matter what I say.

I realized that I have done a lot of saying and not so much the doing part. And saying isn't belief, belief takes action and I have been sorely lacking in the action department. I know that many people lack in this department, and while knowing that helps me feel less alone...Knowing that there are others out there that struggle with the same things; I can't let that feeling move me into a place of feeling that I am no worse than anyone else, so why try to get better and improve. It is a fine line to walk. At church, we have been talking about moving from thinking about the here and now to thinking and doing in regards to the eternal. This fits in perfectly.

There are several other things that I will probably blog about later that I have been mulling over in my head. I guess reading this book will lead to other books about the same subjects and to lots of prayer and ultimately action on my part.

God, help us to use the words that we read and knowledge of how we could be better disciples of Jesus in a way that you will call us toward. I know that you are calling us to action and to change. Help us to hear your voice and listen and do what you ask us to do. It will lead to happiness and joy in our lives and in the lives of others. It will lead to more of your children calling you Father and that is our purpose here. Help us to remember that we aren't here to get the nicest car and house and clothing and out-do everyone else. We are here to show your love to others, to love you and worship you and to prepare for our eternal lives with you. May we have the strength and wisdom and courage and faith to go where you lead us, to do what you call us for, to be set free from the worldly things in this life. Thank you!

Sunday

Sunday's are usually not my favorite day. I have a HARD time getting excited about worship time lately and while I know it is wrong on some points, it can't be helped much on others. It isn't that I am not excited about learning more about God and all, because, I do enjoy digging deeper into the Word and learning new things about my creator. I do enjoy hearing Adam's thoughts on things...when I get to hear them. It is just hard to know that I am going to have to miss most of worship in order to take care of my 3 children by myself as I don't want to disrupt any more than necessary. I also am starting to feel a bit burdensome as the same lady has been teaching my children's bible class for the entire time we have been attending in Bamberg. While I know she would love a break from it, I don't know that I want to be the one that takes over for her. And, yet, I know that I will...I just haven't gotten up the courage and the materials to do so yet. It will mean even more, that I will struggle with being excited to goto Bamberg, but it is something that I know needs to be done...and I can do it.

We just don't have much support. Adam's parents are about the only people we know who understand fully what we are going through and they are going through it with us, so it is hard to discuss sometimes. Others understand on a very primative level. It makes it really hard to answer questions about how things are going. What are people wanting to know? Do they want the truth, the whole truth? And if so, then why don't they come and find out?

Well, Sunday we had some people come and find out what our Sunday's are about. The Living Church in Williston came to visit with us. Not all of their members came, but 13 of them came! They more than doubled our class size (also adding some children to our children's bible class, which is SOOO nice for Aidan and Alora) and almost doubled our worship attendance (3 more of our regular members showed up for worship, so we outnumbered them by 2.) It was so nice to have someone come by and see what we are up to and how things are going and let us know that we are supported. It is nice for our regular members to see that others care that they are here and trying to do some good in a neighboring county.

Thanks to all of them for coming...it was nice to have you there, Rachel. Hopefully we will be in the position to return the favor soon.

Hail, the conquering hero!

I took calculus in high school. And yet, I still can't figure out the math here.

At what point is is the nap no longer worth it? You have a busy morning, you have a busy afternoon, and get home right around 2. They should be tired...you are, and would love a few minutes to rest for yourself. You lay them down and tell them to go to sleep. Even after getting in trouble, getting spankings, checking on them in between a nursing session with the youngest and a cat nap for her and changing a few diapers, they still won't sleep. You can't give in, or you have lost the battle. Next time they won't sleep either. You have to win!

So, around 4:30 they still aren't asleep and all you can see is that you will be having to wake them around 6:30 to eat and be awake long enough that they can sleep through the night. It is going to be a late night (but hopefully better than the long night that would have occurred with two cranky children who hadn't had a nap at all.) You lay down with one of them, and miraculously they both fall asleep.

No nap + cranky kids + cranky parents = one Long excruciating night that ends around 9.

One late nap + waking kids up for dinner + not so cranky parents = one long night that ends around 10 or 11 if you are lucky!

Which is better? Am I really the winner?

Look at Alora!!

Well, here she is....my little ball of energy. She is such a little character and is always making us laugh! She has her own little personality and opinions and all and still needs lots of training on how to control her urges! She is doing so much better lately though...I remember the days when playgroup was torture for me because she was sure to scream and cry and yell several times and just be totally upset. It is not perfect now, but so much better that sometimes it seems perfect.




If you notice the group of little animals that ALL had to accompany us this particular trip. Aidan always had one or two small matchbox cars and Alora has a stuffed menagerie! I just couldn't help but laugh to see them all lined up and ready to ride!












Here is Alora at the Christmas party eating the pretzel antlers for her nutter butter reindeer. She is her father's daughter and loves pretzels, so her reindeer came home pretty naked.
















Here we are acting shy at playgroup. There are times when you can't get her to be quiet and still and she runs around like you just let her out of a cage, and then other times you couldn't make her talk if you offered her candy (her favorite thing). She is a fickle child sometimes, but we love her no matter what her mood.

Look at Aidan!

Aidan is becoming more and more of a little man lately! He is so good at taking care of Aralyn and loves to watch her and play with her. He is just a good helper to me and I love him!












Aidan and Kai playing while they were home for the holidays! We haven't been around them much, so they don't really "know" each other, but what boys can't have fun with a remote control car and a little bit of running and jumping?!

















Here is Aidan helping my dad and brother dig a hole in the backyard to look at the septic tank over the Thanksgiving holiday. He always gets to help Poppa do something "boyish" and loves the responsibility and the work. I love that he feels special in that way.

Look at Aralyn!!!

Here is a shot of Aralyn sitting on the activity table. She thought that she was such a big girl while watching Aidan and Alora play tea party.


















This is how Aralyn fell asleep the other night. She was just laying in the bed and Adam and I were talking while she was playing and the next thing we knew, she was sound asleep with her arms over her face. So cute!












Here is she is pretending to teethe. She has been acting like she is about to get a tooth for about 5 months now, and still no teeth to show for it!


















This is my favorite person holding one of my precious babies! Aren't they just so sweet! I love those guys!

Conversation with a man...

"Our mail lady's car was on fire."

"What?"

"Our mail lady's car was on fire."

"WHAT??"

"OUR MAIL LADY'S CAR WAS ON FIRE."

"I heard you, I just want more details."

"Her car caught fire, what more is there."

"Well, you know, did it explode, did you put it out, did you save her life, did the mail catch fire, or the woods, is it still on fire...you know, details."

"Well, it caught on fire, we got the mail out of her car and then I put some sand on the fire to put it out, then her husband showed up."

"Oh, now I see."

Why do we try to communicate with them?

A new year and lots to consider

It is a bit odd that at this time of renewal...at least in most general sense of the word, Adam and I have lots of decisions that will need to be made. We have been looking at a job change and waiting on some answers in order to know what to do next. This is an exciting time, but also quite stressful. I have been trying to pack things that we just don't use on a regular basis...pictures and movies and decorations and some linens and things. Christmas ornaments and such have been added to this list, as Christmas time is over and we will hopefully be somewhere else before another Christmas comes our way. I am slowly filling up one room with all the things that are being boxed up and it is a bit of a hassle to have them there. I know that I will appreciate having done the little bit that I have done when the time comes to put the house on the market and move and all, but for now, it is just a bit inconvenient.

The past 18 months have been full of lots of growth for us. We chose to change where we were worshipping and attend another congregation of less than 1/10 the size that we were attending so that Adam could be more involved ministry-wise and get his foot in the door, so to speak. It has been hard on us all, and more than a little frustrating, and yet full of good for us too. It has helped us to know more of what we will look for in the future as far as what kind of church we would want to join. It has helped us in lots of ways, and leaving these church members will be hard on us and them too, we are sure.

Being at this stage where we know that a change has to be made is calling us to look and make sure that we are making a choice that we should be making. There are several choices that could be made right now and several of them are really hard. This job that Adam is looking at would not move us immediately into the ministry. It would actually lead us away, as he would be under a poor schedule for attending services on a regular basis. However, it would lead to a greater family life for us all and bring up an opportunity to return to school and finish his ministry degree. A finished degree would ultimately be a good step towards finding a church to work with full-time in the future, or possibly getting a job as an AET and working in a loosely missionary-type job overseas somewhere.

We are probably going to be putting out some resumes. Mostly for churches that at least in the description of what they are looking for, don't mention that the applicant "will have a degree" or "at least 5 years experience". I can understand why they would want to make sure that an applicant does have those things, but it sure is frustrating and just sits poorly with my idea of the early preachers and teachers of the gospel. Maybe we haven't really been looking at this option enough, but I feel like God is leading us to at least put in a good effort to move towards a full time ministry position. Maybe it took really looking at a job change of another type to get us to this place...or maybe we are just focusing on the wrong things and trying to help God out to much and not trusting Him to put us where He wants us to be.

Sometimes the hardest thing is knowing what God is saying. We know what we have been called to do, in the most general of ways, but knowing in what way we are to fulfill such a calling is another thing all together. It is harder yet to choose a path to follow when they all seem to lead to a Godly end. I find myself wondering if Jesus would tell me what he told the rich young man in Matthew 19:21 "....go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." or if I would receive an answer more along the lines given in Mark 5:19 "...Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." I feel like I would love to settle down in one place for the rest of my life and have a "home place", and yet that seems so silly. THIS is Not my home. It never will be. And yet, I can see the good that can come from staying in one place and living the gospel in your daily life in your one place. I can see how that could be good for your family and for your hometown and for the church in that area. And yet, every time I hear about missionaries and church planters and ministers (who more than likely will move from one church to another several times in their "career"), I am intrigued. I can just imagine the wonderful fulfillment and joy and good that comes from sharing the gospel in "far off" places. Of raising children in a non-westernized, non-americanized church and how much that would be a freeing thing for them to not have God placed in the boxes that our culture tends to put Him in. I am not quite naive enough to think that that sort of life would be easy, but it certainly isn't bad. And I think it would be freeing to not be tied down to this world by possessions and to live in a way that you have to depend on God and his people to provide for your needs...it certainly would be a different way to live than the way that I live right now.

Finally!

I have had the worst time trying to log in to blog. I was going to blog about our Christmas adventures while I was at my parents' house, but for some reason my password wasn't working. I tried and tried the password recovery and it would never send me to the page to change my passowrd, just always back to the log in page. It was terribly frustating. I just spent another 20 minutes going through the whole thing again, and finally it worked! I don't know why my password, which hasn't changed, wasn't working, but now I am finally back and able to blog and leave comments.

I have been tagged, so I guess I should start with that.

5 weird things! Should be easy to come up with, as Adam and I are always joking about how weird we are. I guess it is more a generalization than something that can be pinpointed by 5 things in particular, so here is the best I could come up with.

1. I can't go to sleep without brushing my teeth. I don't know why, but even if I am really tired and sick or something like that, I just can't do it. I have been known to get out of a nice warm bed and go to the cold bathroom floor to brush those pearly whites.

2. I eat paper. I don't eat nearly the amount that I ate when younger, but on occasion I will still eat some. I like to eat a DumDum sucker every once in a while. When younger I would consume the whole thing, minus the outer wrapper. I would eat the stick. Now, while I don't eat the whole stick, I will sometimes eat the part that the sucker covers up. I usually break off the stick from the top and just pop the sucker in my mouth and eat it like a piece of hard candy. Occasionally, I will go ahead and eat that small part of the stick that was inside the candy. That is about the only paper I eat, although as a child I remember eating other kinds.

3. I always have to have a book that I am reading. Usually it is more than one, usually when one is boring and I start another one and am just not really "into" either one. However, I have been known to read up to 5 books at one time. Just for you information, it is much easier to read 5 books at once if they are all very different in subject.

4. I burn myself. I guess ever since I was a kid and burned my hand with an iron that fell on top of it, I have been prone to burns. I burn myself probably in at least some minor form or fashion at least once a month. It is probably more than that, but I don't really want to think about it. the oven and the clothes iron are my 2 main problems, but food and such are not to be underestimated.

5. I call my husband almost everyday and mostly more than once a day. I am sure that it annoys him, but the good man that he is, he doesn't say so! Most of the time I don't even have something to say.