A Time For Every Season....

I have it stuck in my head - repeating over and over again. Reminding me of what I want, what I have already obtained, what a treasure I have been entrusted with. "Holiness, its what I long for, Holiness, its w hat I need, Holiness its what you want from me. So, take my heart and form it, Take my mind and transform it, Take my will and conform it, To Yours, To Yours Oh Lord ...." I've been humming it and thinking about it since the Bible Study on Covenant last night. I've been a Christian for a long time, yet so in awe today as the God of this Universe, my Covenant Keeping God, rolls back another layer of Himself and reveals Himself to me. "If only others knew, if only others were sitting here learning and studying here tonight...", their relationship with God could be so deep and spirit filled - not lifeless, powerless, and sick from imitating the world instead of our Covenant Keeping God. I've always been taught that I need to be changed, I need to lo...

The day has begun, I woke up late (but the kids slept in too!) I actually made my bed (which is rare) only to discover that the boys had taken the bed sheets apart and were enjoying using the bedding as a trampoline and the comforter as a landing pad. I've had a lingering headache for 16 weeks, mornings and evenings are the worst. Today I can tell will be a pounding headache day. We're out of Q Tips and my ears itch really bad. I made the boys yummy oatmeal and blueberries for breakfast... only they decided they weren't hungry and I'll probably get to hear "I'm hungry" 100 times before lunch. I'm still in sweats and I'm not planning on changing until this afternoon when I actually have to leave my house. I e-mailed some things out for work, only to discover a few hours later the VPN wasn't on so all the mail sat in my Outbox. My marriage isn't perfect (funny how some days I really believe it is perfect), in fact we went to bed angry last ni...

It was a perfect Fall day! It was in the 60's and windy for most of the day, I left my windows open in the house and it cooled to 68 degrees. We've spent the week thus far working on Fall projects. First John and Drew spent time together in the garage making a paddle boat, then the boys and I made all natural clay and finally we made dough ornaments out of Fall cookie cutters. All we have left is some painting. I just love Fall, its an end to the hot muggy weather and a beginning of the harvest season - a time for long, dark evenings at home sipping cocoa and reading books together. I love sitting in the yard with a blanket watching my breath or preparing the garden and flowerbeds for winter. So much fun things are in store! It also means the Home Makeover at church is about to begin and then our Fall camping trip to Dinosaur Valley. Gabe is enjoying the Fall weather too, he is painting with us, playing with brown clay and enjoying all the new Fall books I just brought out.

We've had a week to adjust to the wonderful idea of having a little girl joint our family! She is very active these days, enjoying kicking and flipping around. I weighed myself yesterday and almost fell off the scale - at 19 weeks I have only gained 10 pounds! With the boys I'd gained 20+ by this point. I guess my metabolism likes the petite little girl inside, being sick for 16 weeks probably is the culprit, so now that I'm feeling better I'd better watch out! Our week was spent nursing our sick cat Winston, he has kidney stones in his bladder and they blocked him from going to the bathroom. Three days at the vet and a catheter has allows him home on a special, low stress diet. Goodness! He is still not in full control of his bladder so we've confined him to the laundry room! I'm so tired of doing laundry, between the cat, two kids and a husband I'm working on 10 loads a week these days! We'd been saving for front end loaders, but the lovely vet bill to...

We're so excited to welcome a little girl into our clan of boys! We went in today for our gender test and came out glowing with excitement. My placenta previa is no longer! The uterus has moved and the placenta is now 180 degree's from where it was two weeks ago... weird I know. I swear that two nights ago when I got up from bed, after some serious cramping, I looked bigger. My thought was, maybe I had a tipped uterus which is why I haven't really shown much? I wondered what today would show, I'm so excited that I don't have to worry about a previa! The placenta is now perfectly where we want it! The lady also noticed some hair growing on our little girl's head, she asked if our other children had lots of hair because she typically doesn't see hair at 18 weeks. John and I both laughed since both boys have had tons of hair and I had a ton of indigestion! I also received my first progesterone injection on Friday ... thanks to my wonderful husband who volunte...

Drew asked me while driving to Preschool this morning, "Mommy, does God have a remote control that tells our car where to go?"

My lesson for this warm Thursday was, " Say "yes" as often as possible - God uses all opportunities to reveal himself through life's daily circumstances. The day began as any other, I awakened my sleepy eyes too early for my liking, calls of "Mama" from the other room drew me to reality, and Drew's excited voice jumped to the euphony of classical music -- my day had begun. We hurried through breakfast, packed lunches, and I sent oldest child ahead to dress and brush his teeth before school. When I arrived upstairs, I sighed and persuaded, "Drew. why are you wearing jeans to school? It is going to be hot and sweaty today, your not going to enjoy wearing pants." Believing I had won my argument I went into his drawer to find a pair of shorts to match his already worn shirt. "But Mommy I want to wear jeans, their comfortable and I like them!" I glanced at the clock, almost time to go, no time for Drew to argue with me. Then I heard a s...

Well, we're done. I think this was the hardest fasting month we've ever experienced. We've decided to move the fast next year to September when hopefully less is going on! This week we spent 89.50 on groceries due to the fact that we were adding extra food and such for our company and the bill posted a few days into the next week! . Other than that we enjoyed our media fast and time reading books. Drew loved Little House in the Big Woods - as did mommy! I did buy John some new clothes for work and the boys had to have new shoes for school, so that set me back about 75.00 but I used a lot of coupons and saved around 75% on everything I purchased. We also needed a new mattress (John's back has been giving him some issues and the mattress had to go) so the time we spent not buying things was spent researching a new mattress. We'll see if john ends up liking the one I picked out it arrived today! I didn't get as much growth and contentment as I expected this fasting...

The boys were so anxious this morning to get to school! Drew insisted on wearing his new "Cars" shoes which light up when you walk. Gabe insisted on taking his nighttime bear and blanket with him. Drew refused to eat breakfast this morning because he said, "I'm so excited I can't even eat! I'll have patience mommy and wait to eat my lunch with the Tinkerbell fruit snacks that you let me pick out." Drew's new 4's class is a step up from last year, instead of Drew being an older student we chose to go with a class around the same age as him. So far it appears to be a great fit. He has some very organized and structured teachers who love to play and teach the children using lots of hands on materials. Both his teachers are wonderful, though he still says that "teacher Andrea is his favorite." Drew ran right into his class this morning and wasn't shy, he even made a friend named Abby! Gabe wasn't so eager to go into his class. The...