Life before children.....

I know my postings get pretty wordy so I am going to try to imput photos, but none are recent as I still after 9 months can't find the camera cord. I have 800 pictures to get off my camera! So here are some very old photos.

Every year before we had kids, we had pumpkin carving contests. I was going to post all of them but Justin felt shamed out by some of them and said this one from 2004, I could show. I of course won EVERY year. Oh the hours of taunting eachother about who was going to win and trying to sneak peaks at what the other was doing. I smile and feel and am filled with warm fuzzies. Good times. As we gear up for our marriage course that begins this weekend, I am excited to just have a scheduled day everyweek to give my full attention to my spouse. It gets difficult to prioritize and keep eachother right at the top under God. Some times those two sweet boys try to trump dad, but I am on to their tricks.

Here is a photo of the front of our house, thank goodness you can't see the garage. It's a good house and you know what the $20 faucet from home dept that is in our sink actually functions. I thought you had to spend at least $550 to do that. Those of you that know about our idol, I mean home know exactly what I am talking about. Thankfully after our last home, I feel like we have learned a few things. Let me share some of the MANY lessons learned:

1) Wholeheartidly consult God first, he may say no and if he does, we advise you listen.

2) If you have a budget, buy everything as under the actual budgeted cost as you can. If your budget is $100 for doors, ask to see all the $60 doors first and NEVER, I repeat NEVER look at $110 doors.

I am using doors as an example but if could be anything on your budget.

3)Don't work full time jobs and have your first baby while trying to learn how to be a plumber. Scratch that, don't try to be every type of building expert needed to build a house (ie: electrician, carpenter, framer) if you are doing any of first things listed previously. Some times the education, ie school of hard knocks, is actually more expensive than having the real deal come and complete it the first time.

4) Cheap light fixtures, cheap faucets and cheap carpet actually do, do the job. Who knew?

Idol in the rough.....This is Oct 2004. This is before we melted all our gold down to make the calf. I am compelled to thank all of the WONDERFUL family and friends who came out and helped us and loved us during this time. And the Thanks be to our heavenly father for delivering us through it, you are to merciful. For some reason I have no photos of the completed calf from the outside. Here is one from the kitchen and it's 9 foot island...
This one is from the loft outside the master bedroom french doors. Can you see those sconces? I am shamelessly going to tell you this, they were $800, hand blown from Italy and shipped over on a blue whale! They hyped up how beatiful the accent lighting would be, in reality the plexiglass ones would have had the same effect, shipping back to italy on a blue whale was too expensive! Oh how sad and wasteful!



Here is Steven when he was 2 days old. AHHHH, his nick name until he was about 14 months was 'Mr skinny guy' and after that he is known around our house as Peeky, but he prefers Steven.

Andrew at 2 days old, Steven 11 months and now ....my shining moment. I had been eating lots of Chinese. LOL

I am procrastinating taking care of some things but the trip down memory lane(old photo files) has been fun!

I propose a change...

Everyone one knows the song..."Go tell it on the mountain..." I believe we should change the words to sing, "Go show it on the mountain." If we don't live our lives to reflect the truths we profess to believe, our words will lack integrity and authenticity. Tricky deal, even when just playing mommy at home. I hope everyone appreciated the 'playing mommy', I am trying to think like Andrew as his way seems more fun. He is always so joyful. He wakes up wanting to 'play school'. I am glad they enjoy home preschool so much it is like play.

Who has done something messy and tactile stimulating with their kids this week? We made homemade noodles for the chicken noodles soup yesterday, that was fun. As I cleaned the dried putty, I mean dough, off the bathroom sink today I was smiling remembering the good time we had. I am noticing that when my kids are engrossed in an activity that is engaging their senses so vigorisly, they are so focused and can verbalize and cognitively reason through things. We did some role playing and I loved how while they worked their minds were processing and you could see them formulating their responses.

"What should you do if someone hits you?" Think. Think. Think. Steven's response: "It's not a good choice to hit Andrew." I try desperately not to laugh, as I muse that Andrew is the only 'someone' who would ever hit him. Andrew says, "It 's not nice to hit." Steven continues, "I would tell it hurts to hit and say sorry and forgive them." I say, "that sounds just like what Jesus says to do! You remember story about the man that wants your shirt, Jesus says give it to him, and," I am interrrupted by Andrew, "don't hit and turn the other cheek!" "That's right Andrew, you remember" and I finish the story. "Okay how about if you go outside and it's dark out, what can you do if you feel scared?" Steven says, "take a flash light." He is so serious, which makes it more fun trying to contain the laugh. "I am scared," Andrew interjects. "Remember Jew(This is how Steven said Andrew at 1, actually it was 'jew-jew')God is bigger and he says, I am with you ALWAYS," Andrew rushes in with"Matu 28sh:20." "Right and God is right here and we can always just talk to him and ask him to help us not be scared."

They are remembering what we have been talking about and I hope they see it in our walk as well. I have to admit somedays, I find myself confessing to Jesus that he may not have been seen at our house in the morning. We always talk about Him, but sometimes God's love isn't bubbling out and I am sure my kids are going, where is Jesus? It's humbling to have to admit that I am wrong and ask for forgiveness from my kids, and from the Lord but it feels good all at the same time.

My last note is about that go show it comment. If you are having to profess that you are a certain way more than you are actually showing it, you need to put the words into action. Doing what is comfortable for you and easy every week isn't showing much heart. Step out love someone, not by your words but by your actions! I like what 1 Peter 1:22 says, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart." Maybe it's teach a Sunday School class so the preschool coordinator can attend service? Maybe it's praying for and emailing that friend that you are sick of encouraging and who can't seem to stand on her own two feet? Maybe it's telling your wife she's about to do what she rants about everyweek?

More of God's Love

Buy more interstate batteries! That is awesome. Since I have no TV, Christine is keeping me in the know....Check this out:
http://www.interstatebatteries.com/godslove/

Very Cool!

Hamsters can't fly

You may or may not have already known, BUT I assure you hamsters can't fly. Yesterday our 3 year old, Steven, was playing with his hamster. I was supervising for the first 20 minutes but then I decided he was doing such a great job, I would go wipe down the counter tops. So I wiped them down, checked on Steven and Hank(hamster), wiped off table, checked on them. Justin enters house and spends sometime with them and he gets the paint supplies ready for our fence staining project. I clean the toilet, check on them, I am cleaning the sink and I hear "Mom, Hank just died." "What?" I queried. "Hank just shut his eyes and died," Steven responded. Justin was first on the scene, he took the lifeless hamster from Steven and laid him down by his cage. "What happened son," his father asks him. Steven says, "I just threw him and he died." "Can you show mommy how you threw him?" I asked, handing him an oven mitt. For some reason he thought that meant put the oven mitt on and pick up Hank and show us again how he was thrown. "No, pretend the oven mitt is Hank, and show me how you threw him." Steven throws it in the air and it hits the ground.

I am mad beyond belief, mostly at myself but I can't believe the condemnation I want to pull out. I am praying for Grace, forgiveness for my poor judgement, grace so I don't kill my son with tongue lashings. Justin is so wonderful. He looks at me and says, 'the most important thing is the boy.' I have to leave because I am so saddened at how upset I am and though it was mostly at myself, I wanted to take it out on my 3 year old.

Hank is moving now and seems to be stunned but okay, so Justin puts him in the cage and takes the boys to the couch. He talks about God giving us responsibility over the animals and how we are to take care of our pets. He talks about how big daddy is and how daddy is stronger than them and they are WAY stronger than Hank and about how they have to be gentle and kind. They pray for Hank to be healed and Steven prays, "God I am sorry I hurt Hank. I love you Jesus. Please heal Hank." Justin wraps up the prayer. I am in tears listening to my son who understands to be thankful for Jesus because he came here to release us from our transgressions and knows Jesus has the power to heal.

Steven knows first hand about Jesus's miraculous healing power, his fire ant bites went from 20 plus( I stopped counting at 20) to only 2 being found on his whole body at the hospital. We prayed from the moment I hung up the phone with my friend Kelly(whose son is very allergic to fire ants)until she arrived. I am confident that Jesus healed Steven's bites and I am thankful for his healing mercies.

The hamster is doing just fine. We are waiting a few days to handle him but it seems he was knocked unconsious. Every prayer Steven has asked for healing today, so I know it's on his heart. I pray that he knows Grace, AKA Jesus and walks with him. I am thankful for my wonderful husband and his loving way with the boys, I praise God for the balance he has provided me in my mate.