Hello World

I have thought at least a hundred posts in my head and they have been discarded before my fingers hit the keyboard. I've been feeling very vulnerable and some of the topics for my would be posts were too personal. I kept thinking, well I really don't know if I would want this person finding out I wrote that, or thought that. I've been really praying about family situations that are once again too personal for public display.
Another thing is that Rebecca is now a toddler and walking and getting into everything. She has a co-conspirator in crime too, he sure does egg her on. They get into some rolling wrestling matches and I'm always amazed how she can hold her own against John. All that doesn't exactly allow for uninterrupted thinking and blogging time, but even that might not matter if I didn't want to just log in to Facebook...
Maybe I'm just trying to make up excuses for my laziness and procrastination.
It has been nonstop since we returned from our trip to Canada. We are currently doing a PE program at the Baptist HealthPlex. Cynthia, Jesse and John are rotating between the pool, court and Energym room. I had thought I could walk on the track but I was kicked off because of Rebecca in my sling. When they said no children on the track, I wanted to say, but she's not on the track, she's on me. Oh well! A friend was sweet enough to give up the comforts of indoor walking to walk around the parking lot with me.
Rebecca has her top front tooth coming through, she's now 17 months old and has her third tooth! Rebecca and I stayed up at the church Friday night with the Youth LockIn. Teenagers + coffee + sugar = very little sleep, but I think they had a fun time. We woke up in the morning to find one of the back rooms flooded in the church, not fun.
Being called away, nice chatting with you.

Revival

TIMES OF REFRESHING

Homecoming/Revival October 19-22, 2008

AT DANIEL MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH

3784 Terry Road

Jackson, MS

601-376-4100

Services Monday through Wednesday 7 pm.
Dinner on the grounds Sunday 12 Noon
Refreshments after each service
Youth Fellowship: 8 pm Wednesday

Nursery provided for children four years old and under

Former pastors and worship leaders are coming back

for a time of spiritual uplifting and fellowship.

Sunday AM - Lawrence Baylot
Sunday PM - Dennis Smith
Monday PM - Gary White
Tuesday PM - Steve Potts
Wednesday PM - Youth Emphasis with Byron Lee Malone

First Tooth

Rebecca has her first tooth! One of her bottom front teeth appeared through the gum on Monday. Exactly 13 months old and she has her first tooth!
We drove to TX Friday and came back Monday night. We sat on I20 in traffic as the bridge across the MS river was closed for over 2 1/2 hours. The children mostly slept through it but we didn't get home until 3:30am, can you say caffeine needed!?
I have a sick child today, stomach virus, and I'm praying it doesn't go through the whole family.

sounds of falling...

I don't think I'll ever get used to the sound of a tree falling. I have goosebumps on my arms as I type this. A huge tree just fell across the street in my neighbor's yard, thankfully it missed the houses! I'm going to try and get pictures tomorrow. Loren went over to check it out with my neighbor. He said that he hadn't seen such a large rotten center.

Computer woes

As I type this from dear husband's borrowed laptop, I'm waiting for someone to come and look at our lifeless computer. We think it is the power supply, praying that I haven't lost any data! Friday afternoon i was scanning something and had to go outside with the children. When I came back in the computer was dead!

Fire Ants

We've had our first big fire ant attic. John's little foot is covered in dozens of bites (I want to say hundreds but that would be exaggerating). it just seems like hundreds with him screaming and how much cortisone was applied. We had arrived home from doing a quick banking trip, John had spilled yogurt in the van and on his leg and foot. I set him on the ground and urged him to go inside the house while I got the mess cleaned up. He got distracted with his tricycle and the next thing I knew he is screaming saying his 'bike hurt him'. I'm thinking he scraped his foot on the pavement. I looked and it was red but I didn't see anything, no ants, no blood. I remember him trying to get me to kiss it and I said I would blow a kiss because his feet were too dirty!
About an hour later he is crying and I see welts covering his entire foot and up his ankle. Poor little guy. It was then he told me about the ants. I don't remember him saying anything about ants. But something could have been lost in the screaming.

Birthday

My Jesse turns 6 today. Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! It seems unreal that just 6 short years ago he was my little (big) 9 lb baby. He's grown in so many ways. He is kind and considerate, although we do have some sibling rivalry at times. He is my cuddle bear, lovable on the inside and out! He loves his family but most importantly he loves God! Jesse, grow strong physically, intellectually, morally and spiritually. I'm proud of you.

Good News

Loren called me at lunch excited with good news to share. He had a manuscript accepted, with minor revisions, to the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. This is good news as he is working on his application for tenure. It has also been quite a few years since anyone in the Department has had an article published in this journal. I'm so proud of him.

Other good news, I am in the process of transferring my volunteer financial responsibilities. The process is a lot of work and once it is finished I'll breathe a big sigh of relief and look to new horizons.

Rebecca, my little one year old, is holding onto my fingers and taking steps. Oh, she's growing up so fast. I'm beginning to wonder about how many comments I get that she is SO small, I think she's just perfect. Everyone has their opinion.

coupons

Things that make you go hmm. I had an interesting trip to the grocery store. The store was sold out of the reusable bags, so I had some unhappy children as I put back the 3 bags of Doritos. Pepsi had a deal where you bought 3 products you got a free bag in honor of Earth Day.
At the checkout I also discovered that my Kroger doesn't accept computer printed coupons any more. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but the clerk really made me feel like a thief. Funny how different tones make words sound different. We can not accept THESE coupons. My first thought was, WHAT, I *know* I checked all the expiration dates. I've had no problem on past trips. I asked the clerk if it was a new policy and she said, "Our company has never accepted THESE type of coupons." I was tired and in a rush trying to get back so Loren can keep the children and I make my dental appointment. I had hungry cranky children (remember the ones who were not happy about the Doritos..) Plus there were 2 church members in the store in nearby lanes. Must keep my Christian witness. Looking on the positive side, I guess I will be saving myself some ink. There are really a lot of good coupon deals online like here and here.

Update on my dental visit, Loren had a meeting that ran late so I ended up taking all 4 children with me. Rebecca started crying when the receptionist offered to hold her so I ended up nursing Rebecca in the chair while the other 3 squeezed onto the bench and colored. Guess what! The crown did not fit for the third time. I almost wanted to cry, Rebecca cried for me, she really didn't like them messing with my mouth. Loren did arrive at the clinic and took the children. Good thing because the dentist had to really work at getting it to fit. I'm still not quite back to normal, hopefully I'll adjust to it soon.

Blogs I read

I discovered this blog a couple of months ago, Be Thrifty Like Us, and have it in my blog reader. They are a husband/wife blogging team who blog about being thrifty and various free or rebate items they discover. It takes a lot of legwork out of searching for deals. Today is their Bloggy Giveaway and I'm linking to them to enter :-) It's always fun to get freebies.

A Weight Lifted

A big volunteer job I've held for the last 3 1/4 years is leaving my plate. I made my decision official today in a committee meeting and guess what, someone stepped up to the plate. I was honest about the job and how much work it entails. We also found someone who'll do the conference treasurer job, I've been doing both for the past 2 conferences and really they are 2 big jobs. I've burnt out on conference and even though it is going on right now and for the next 2 days, I've not even made plans to attend any sessions. I'll pop in and out to do deposits and socialize a bit, but that is as far as I'm going. One of the attendees was almost jumping up and down in excitement at hearing our speaker, and I'm just so unmoved. A weight has been lifted and I feel so good.

Taxes filed and tree pictures

Ahh, the feeling of relief. We did a final review of our taxes and filed last night and we are getting a refund from Federal, but we owe a bit to the State. It works out positive in the end, so it's a happy ending. We'll be paying down our credit card debt that was acquired in the need to remove that mammoth oak tree in the yard last fall. After the straight-line winds and tornadoes of last week, I am so very glad that tree was gone.
I'm finally uploading a few pictures of the tree removal. Cynthia had fun taking pictures, we have a minute by minute update of the tree (almost 300 pictures), especially the stump grinding. Although I have to admit the process was pretty fascinating, half my neighbors stood outside and watched. When the top 8 feet of the tree came down the house shook, they said that section weighed about 2000 lbs. When the last 20 feet came down my neighbors down the block said their house shook too. Can you see the clouds of dust in the picture?






Daniel Baptist will be holding their Vacation Bible School on July 13-17 in cooperation with New Vineyard Church. The theme will be a Judean Village. We were supposed to be out of town, but we are currently trying to rearrange our schedules to be back in time for VBS.

Good Cause

I had an interesting experience going through the drive thru of Trustmark today. I was depositing a reimbursement check for the La Leche League conference and the teller thanked me then raised her hand in the air like a victory sign and said "Good Cause! Have a great day."
I left smiling and had a great grocery shopping trip at Kroger, except I left without my 1.00 coupon from the catalina. Oh, well, I still saved 41%.

Providence

I'm crossing things off my to do list and getting caught up while Rebecca is napping, I've had this post on my to do list all week.
Last Sunday we arrived at church with a few minutes to spare before Sunday School. We parked on the side of the church closest to the playground because the children wanted to go in down the stairs, most people park behind the church which has wheelchair access. We realized that we left the package of wipes sitting on the high chair in the kitchen. Loren had used the last one in the diaper bag on a diaper change on Wednesday night while I was in choir practice. Our church nursery doesn't have wipes so we were wondering whether to drive home and get our package. We only live 3 miles, instead of nearly 20, from church but we didn't want to miss any Sunday School either. It was a matter of, do we take the chance of not needing wipes on 2 children for 3 hours? I had just said to Loren, if you really want to get them go ahead, it's your decision (put it off on hubby teehee), when.... this car appears beside us and Ms. Peggy is motioning me over to the driver's side and she handed me a bag. Inside the bag was a package of size 3 diapers AND a small package of wipes. God truly cares for us and watches over the smallest details of our lives.
It amazes me over and over how He shows up in our lives when we are watching for Him!

Farmer's Market

Oh, Spring is in the air and I have Farmer's Market fever!
Cynthia and I headed off just after 8 am to have a girls morning out. We first stopped at the Mississippi Farmers' Market on High Street. They are a producers only market and I love supporting local farmers. We've been buying produce from Ric for a few years now, although I really haven't been going the last year. Not that I've really been home alot in the last year!
Ric is selling free range eggs, beautiful flowers, unique bags of spring lettuce and edible flowers and the best jams and jellies I've tasted.
We also bought beets and "free-range" lettuce from Steve of Hixon's Farms ( I believe). I had to know the story behind that marketing slogan. I've heard of free range eggs but never lettuce.
We also sampled different types of Humus by Pattie and came home with Roasted Eggplant, and a Black Bean Humus for running a favor for her. Pattie lives in the neighborhood and we joked about having to go to market to chat. Pattie has this sauce called "Come back" it has quite a bit of kick to it, and I see it could be very addictive.
Cynthia and I stopped by the Belhaven Market but we didn't buy anything as I spent my fresh produce budget at the other market.
Well, we are off to the NatureFest at the Natural Science Museum where we are going to test drive a kayak from Buffalo Peak. See you soon, maybe a bit wetter too!!

Yeah!

Only a mom will understand my excitement that my John is potty trained (ing?). I had despaired that he would give up diapers, but really how many college students need diapers? He decided Monday morning and we've only had 2 accidents since then. He tells me every time and I'm just so excited and proud.
Last night we went on a slug hunt, wow, I knew we had a slug problem as my garden was disappearing but I didn't realize how many slugs you could collect. The children and I had cups of bleach and flashlights, John got pretty excited when he found one. The biggest ones were actually near the cat food dishes.
We drove to a breastfeeding support meeting tonight and I drove through some of the storm damage. The children were oohing and wowing over the massive trees still on houses. Old Canton Road is lined with piles of debris.
Rebecca is taking a couple of steps while holding my fingers, can you believe my baby turns one next Saturday? Where did the year go? Oh yeah, I spent most of it travelling in AZ and Eastern Canada.
Next week is our big conference, Breastfeeding: The Gold Standard with Dr Nils Bergmann and Dr Rebecca Saenz. Thursday night they are showing The Business of Being Born
from 10pm to midnight, a $5.00 donation is suggested for the general public, but it is included in registration for conference attendees. On some levels I'll be happy for the conference to be finished, it is a lot of work.

Prayer

something to think about...
P.U.S.H.
P-----pray
U----until
S----something
H----happens

How many times do we become discouraged when we don't get the answer we want, or in the time frame that we want?
I have a CD by Brian Barrett, and there is one song called "One Prayer Away" where a mother has been praying for years, but she keeps on praying because she could be 'One Prayer Away" from seeing Heaven move.
There is also a song by Greg Long of Avalon called "Fifteen", it talks about a person needing 15 times hearing about Jesus before they believe and what if I'm 15?. That is convicting to me, how many times am I so afraid and timid of what people will think that i let fear silence my tongue. Then I've also entwined or wrapped myself in volunteer organizations tow the party line only say what they want you to say, don't offend... hmmm, some more things to consider..

Wild Game Dinner

My church, Daniel Memorial, is holding a Wild Game Dinner on April 20 th at 6:00pm. Tickets are free but you need to have one to attend to insure enough wild game for everyone. We are encouraged to bring a salad, vegetables, or dessert and a friend. Want to come?
I've been updating their website, and just started a blog to keep up with church activities, let me know if you have any comments :-)

Faith

"Worry looks around, sorry looks back, Faith looks up."

I'm tired of looking around and looking back, from now on by faith I will look up.

Little Girls and Sleep Overs

Cynthia slept over at her little girlfriend's house last night, oh she's getting so big, and tonight they are giggling up a storm in her room. We haven't decided if her friend is going home before or after church. We don't want to miss church! It's been way to long since I've been this excited and content in attending a church. God is Good, He knows the desires of our heart.
My Jesse lost his first tooth today. Poor little guy was excited and devastated at the same time, since he lost it as he was biting into a S'More and he swallowed it. He was so upset he said he stomach was sore, and of course he was blaming the tooth for the upset. I told him he would still get money for his tooth, no worries. We'll have to go read Moose's Loose Tooth again tonight.

Updates

Life is moving so fast, my children and growing and stretching me in the process too. I think I'm going to really ration the Easter candy because they've all been a bit irritable lately.
Cynthia has 2 more loose teeth on the bottom, number 5 and 6 that have been loose so far. I'm concerned about the spacing of her bottom teeth, there just doesn't seem to be room for them all and they are crowded. The Dentist wasn't so concerned though.
Jesse has a loose tooth also, his First and he's only 5. We can already see the tooth coming in behind his baby tooth. He's also going through a growth spurt and seems to be a bit clumsy. It could be that he is just being more daring and adventurous. I'm trying not to smother him. He recently got his training wheels off his bike and he and Cynthia are pedalling their bikes all over the back yard.
John keeps reminding us that he is 3. We were memorizing a Bible verse in John 4 and he would stop us every time and say, "NO, I'm THREE" We are still waiting on insurance for his teeth, we are looking at about $3000.00 in dental work on his teeth. Don't ask me how I feel about that, mommy guilt supreme! John is in a really nice cuddle stage right now.
Rebecca is now 11 months old, she is a FAST crawler. She pulls up and then will let go and can stand alone by herself. She has a really sweet personality and is such a joy. My sweet home birthed baby. She is working on her first teeth now too.
Can you tell I'm a bit obsessed with teeth in this post? I went to the dentist on Tuesday and was supposed to get my crown. I say supposed to because the crown didn't fit. You see I wasn't able to keep the impression in for the required 4 minutes, I only managed 2 before I majorily gagged in the garbage can. I know, too much information. Soooo, I had to redo the impression. I used labor coping skills to get me through, plus they had me leaning forward and I had to keep a foot raised. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on breathing, with a nasty tasting foreign object in your mouth while keeping your foot raised and not swallowing?
I was such a the thoughtful wife and made Loren an appointment right after mine at the dentist, share the joy right? He had 2 fillings, and they didn't even have to numb him. This in itself is a miracle, he has needed from 3 to 7 shots to be numb enough!
My home is half a mess, the living room is presentable, the kitchen table has school papers all over it and I have a big stack of drying dishes. The Pastor and his wife will be coming over for Dinner tomorrow night, and I'm trying not to stress. We've also received a Sunday lunch invitation, for ALL 6 of us. She made sure we knew it was for the whole family. I really love my new church family. I feel so blessed that God has placed us at Daniel Memorial. You can check out the website if you want, www.danielbaptist.org I'm doing updates on their site now. It was very lonely with a lot of outdated information. We have some plans and I'm excited about the possibilities.
Loren is away tonight at class,I need to have a better attitude about him doing what he feels God wanting him to do. After all, my mom managed all 4 of us every night alone because my Dad was milking cows at the farm or away preaching.

Grace and Race

Adventures of Tejano Safari Man: Grace and Race
You might want to check out this recent post by my husband Loren. This year of 2008 is full of personal challenges and exciting goals.
We have been obedient to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and recently found and joined a church near our neighborhood where we can reach out to our neighbors. It is exciting to see the unfolding plan and how God is moving.
I finished reading the book "Stop Dating the Church" by Joshua Harris, and it has changed my heart. I want to be more and give more, no holding back for fear of being hurt or disillusioned.

Thoughts on my Christian Walk

Did you get your clock changed and make it to church on time? We did, although my 3 year old John was a bit upset because we parked on the 'wrong' side of the church and used the stairs. He didn't think we were at 'his block church'. He loves the nursery *with all it's many different types of blocks* and Ms. Jean.
God is using many sources to speak to my heart. I've been blessed by so many and I need to take the opportunities to reach out and bless others, in a more intentional way. I'm really bad about only having good intentions.
We are in the middle of a series about the seven sayings of Christ from the cross. Pastor Lawrence closed his sermon today with a question, "Is my Christian life worthy of the suffering that Christ went through on the cross?" When I peer into my life, then no, it is not worthy. Pastor said he did not ask this to make us feel guilty, but for us to make it our goal and to seek to become more like Christ. To be Victorious in Him.


Then I negotiated the computer away from my husband and was catching up on blog reading, this post over on Biblical Womanhood about the book "Stop Dating the Church: Fall in Love With the Family of God" really spoke to me. (I tried going over to the library site and doing a search, but Hinds County doesn't have any copies.... so I decided to buy a $3.00 copy at Amazon.)

All of this alsdo ties in with a dicussion our Sunday School class was having this morning. I wonder what is in the next chapter of life?

I'd better close this post and rescue the house, they are using dolls and doll accesories as weapons. The children are on a chocolate high! They had an Easter Egg hunt by flashlight last night at church, over 500 eggs were hidden!

Happy Leap year

I just can't resist posting a quick hello and Happy Leap Year! It's not often that I'll get to post on Feb 29 th.
Have you enjoyed your day?
We've celebrated with a pint of Blue Bell Strawberry ice cream, yummy.

Setting Limits

How do you set limits on activities you and your family are involved in? I've really struggled with this and tend to overload my plate. I find that my home is in better shape when I'm not on the road. We don't go to every homeschool event or we would never get any homeschooling done.
I've recently cancelled a breastfeeding support group meeting. At first I felt guit, but the strain on my family was too much. Plus the fact that I've had to cancel numerous times due to the illlness of one of my children. There are just some things you can't plan like 2 am stomach virus on the day of a meeting. I just cleaned out the shelves we had at the meeting location and I just felt relief.
I want to have time and a desire to do the things God wants me to do.

Baby Goats

We experienced the miracle of birth. My good friend lives about 30 miles east of here and was anxiously waiting for her doe goats to give birth. She was praying for twins and for more does to grow her little herd. On Feb 5, the first doe had twins, one male and one female. On Thursday I was talking to her in the evening around 8 and she tells me that she thinks her second doe is in labor and asks if I want my children to see the baby goats being born. Having grown up on a farm and having practically a midwife to cows and sheep I thought, you know that would be really neat for them to experience.
I left a note for Loren since he was at his first evening class up at Wesley Biblical Seminary. I packed up the kids in the van with jackets and some snacks and by 9:00 I am pulling in my friend's driveway. The baby goats still have not made their appearance but the mama goat is definitely trying to push. There seemed to be too much distraction, the older babies kept jumping on her when she would lay down so they got seperated. Literally in the dog house!
Soon we see a little head, my friend's son is in the pen with a towel helping. It looks so cute, and odd, just this little head sticking out. Then the mama goat got up and nearly hit the baby goat's head on the wall. She was distressed and her contractions stopped. I started asking some questions and trying to direct the young attendant but then I realized why it looked 'odd'. There were no front legs visible. My friend looks at me and later she said she knew something was wrong by the look on my face. A million thoughts raced through my head, what to do, how not to scare all the children watching and how to turn it into a good outcome. Then the baby goat started gasping and going into distress. I said "There are no front legs out, there's supposed to be legs." The next minutes are suspended. My friend ends up in the pen and I have her camera, I thought she was going to jump over the wall but she used the gate.
She had to reach in and find the legs, one was twisted at a weird angle and she said later she thought she was going to break it. The entire time she is trying to save this baby she is praying outloud and her son is standing over her shoulder. I ended up holding a few of my friend's rings, I know the mother goat was appreciative of that fact! The baby finally arrived, alive, and it was a little buck.
Afterward her son just kept saying, "Thank you momma." Over and over. My friend is shaking so hard she can hardly stand up. Later she said that at one point she was wondering why she didn't grab my baby and let me go in after the goat's legs. I've done it with a cow and I'm really not sure I want to repeat that experience.
Soon after the first baby arrives, the mother has another one, this time it is a doe. My friend calls her family to update them on the birth and then I notice the mother is not finished. I said, There's another one coming. My friend threw her phone in the hay and they had to help the mother get the sack off the baby doe. It's been a long time since I've seen a sac that tough.
My friend ended up with Triplet goats!
She had been wondering about what to do with her animals and had prayed to God for direction. She was amazed, again, that He cares about the little details in our lives, including her animals. What could have been a bad outcome turned into a blessing on so many levels, especially faith renewed.
Also on the plus side, my children had a very interesting biology lesson, not to mention a very late night. It was after midnight by the time we got back home.

Possibilities Are Exciting

We joined Daniel Memorial Baptist Church yesterday. The children (and us) have been so excited and felt so welcome at this church. We feel that this is the church God has a place for us to minister in and reach out to our neighborhood with. We have met a few times with the Pastor, and the possibilities for ministry are exciting.
I know of at least two other home schooling families attending the church. We also saw more young families at church yesterday. We are expecting big things from God!

I am functioning on limited sleep today. Rebecca had a rough night with gas, she got a few too many new foods at the Love and Laughter Banquet last night. The only position she wasn't screaming in was with me standing and holding her close with my hand pressed on her stomach. You can only stand for so many hours! I treated her for thrush just in case since we have just finished antibiotics for her ear infection.

We are enjoying a quiet evening while our oldest 2 are on a Children's Night Out with the church.

Map for JSU Meteorology Weather Lab Tour

One year ago..

One year ago today we made a hospital stay with John, viral croup. Very scary experience I don't want to repeat. We had tried our usual hot steamy shower and it wasn't working. His whole chest looked like it was about to cave in from his desperate intake for air. His little feet were blue when we got him to the hospital, and it is only 5-7 minutes down the road. It was the hardest thing to watch the nurses working on him. The oxygen mask made him look so tiny, he was just 25 months at the time, and then they wanted vein access so they put in an IV.
A lot of the past has been relived today as my sister took my niece, who is 15 months, into the ER. Her fever went up and when I called to check on Lily I could her the barking cough. I asked if they were taking her in because she sounded just like John did a year ago. I've been praying for the past few hours waiting to hear news. Of course these things happen at inconvenient times. My sister is supposed to be in another hospital 2 hours away tomorrow morning at 6:30am for dental surgery on her oldest daughter, Hannah.
They live in Canada, and have been waiting since October for this appointment.
Okay, the spell check isn't working, forgive the typos please.

My Epihany

Can you believe I'm posting just 2 days after I said I wasn't going to be posting often, funny things happen. I'm sitting in front of the computer with my cup of hot tea. I guess that I'm still not Southern enough to really enjoy sweet tea, besides there is just something about holding a mug of hot tea on a cool day.
My baby is tucked in her sling sleeping. I'm wearing a MamaBaby sling today, similar to a MayaWrap but uses brushed cotton. I'm finding that you don't have to adjust the rings as muchas on a Maya Wrap. I need to get a few sold, maybe I'll post what I have on an online auction since I don't have my shopping cart set up for MamaBaby slings, (yet?).
My children are playing chess, or trying to. I just got a Starting Chess kidkit from Usborne. The directions are pretty good, but this is coming from a complete newbie, haha.
As I was cleaning up the sticks in the back yard I was thinking about God and how He reveals sin in our lives. When you look at the yard you can obviously see the big limbs that have fallen, as you get closer to clean them up you notice the smaller branches. As you keep cleaning, the smaller twigs start to bother you, and then the layer of pine straw and leaves needs to be taken care of. So it is with sin in our life, it is the big ones that God takes care of first, then as we are obedient in dealing with those sins, He draws our attention to the smaller things.
The new Pastor at Daniel Memorial Baptist Church had a sermon a few weeks ago that really has me thinking. He said that sometimes we chose a church because it will minister to us, and sometimes God places us in a church so we can minister to them. We've been searching for months for our place and I believe we've found it. The children really love going there, it is the same feeling we got when we found our church in Arizona.

The Writing on the Blog

My silence on the blog has a few reasons behind it. Yes, I was enjoying getting to blog frequently back in the fall but I still had a nagging feeling. My two month retreat from technology gave me a lot of thinking room, well at least when I wasn't helping out getting my parents home ready for winter.
I have unsubscribed from a lot of the blogs that come into my feedburner, I do not need to be tempted to spend anymore time on the computer. Maybe in another season of my life when my children are older. I have kept a few that are on frugal living and coupon shopping.
I have chosen to stay home, so my children shold get the best of me, not just what's left of me.
Homeschooling takes time to do a good job, and I feel I should put more creative energy into it.
My volunteer responsibilities have become more of a burden and I am slowing trying to untangle myself from the weight of responsibilty.
I will pop in occasionally, but this blogpost is my way of freeing myself from self-imposed guilt!

Life's like that...

Wouldn't you know, we would have actually been on time for church but we had a flat tire! It took a little over an hour to change the tire, and I'm not very impressed with the jack that comes with the Kia Sedona. Loren split the knee on his pants, that's the third pair in the last month that have worn out, I know what he needs for his birthday!
I am very thankful this did not happen yesterday. We took a family drive down the Natchez Trace, Did some hiking near Rocky Springs and continued over to Fayette. Loren got to drive on some very narrow dirt roads. John had a 3 hour nap on the drive, so he was up quite late last night. He can be quite a night owl with Loren.
My thoughts and prayers are with Bathurst, New Brunswick community and Bathurst High School as it is mourning the tragic accident were 8 were killed in a collision with a tractor trailer. I pray the Lord will give His peace to the survivors of the accident and to the families involved.

I'm back

I have been out of email contact for almost 2 months and haven't felt like I've had the energy to much past the basics since arriving back home.
The children and I drove almost 2200 miles in 5 days, Jackson, MS to Bathurst, NB Canada. Our big road adventure! I have so many pictures and thoughts I want to get written but I'm also trying to limit my online time. We'll see how things go once I get caught up, (I will get caught up right?) and I finally get the cat urine smell out of the house. Can you believe the cat got locked in the house when Loren flew out? Thankfully we have good neighbors (with a key) who take good care of our house and pets.
Cynthia lost her 2 front teeth, Rebecca is crawling and pulling up, she is getting quite vocal too. Jesse is reminding me more of Loren in his mannerisms, and John is 3 today, we are having some potty training issues, to say the least!