Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody- I leave you with this verse on Thanksgiving eve:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

mind picture

I have had this mental picture lately and it has really meant a lot to me. The other day while I was driving, Emily fell asleep and just looking at her peaceful little face despite the stress I was feeling made me think of God. We are to just sleep peacefully knowing it isn't in our hands. If we could just have the trust that children do. They sleep in spite of what is going on around them. They are at peace. Abby and Emily don't worry about a thing. How they will get their next meal or where they will sleep. They just know it will be provided for them. That is the security I want in my heavenly Father. Knowing He will take care of us. It was just a great illustration for me at this financially stressful time in our lives. God will provide. It might be different than what we are asking for or expecting. We may lose our house, we may lose our jobs, but we won't lose each other and we won't lose God.
Everything will be just fine!

Grandpa and Emily reading their new alligator book

My girls!

Our dog decided to chew off part of his topper to his kennel. Not smart. I guess he is in for a really cold winter.

The girls playing playdough.

Meet Naomi

My friend Quinn just had her first baby on Monday. They named her Naomi Abigail and she weighed 7lbs 8oz. They were going to name her Abigail Joy-what we almost named our Abby-but after my mom's help in labor we changed to to Abigail Cathryn. After lots of thought and polling the nurse staff they decided she looked more like a Naomi than an Abby. I am looking forward to meeting the beautiful baby the week before Christmas. They are braveing a car ride with a newborn all the way from Virginia.
Congrats Quinn and Jonathon! I am so happy for you and can't wait to meet her. You guys will be great parents!

Auntie Leah is here!

I picked up my sister from the airport on Monday night. She arrived from England and will be here for a couple months. We are so thrilled to have her here.



Me and my little Em- she is such a lover

Auntie Leah and the girls

....

trouble

I had a horrible headache and ended up sleeping in one morning. I learned not to do that. This is what I came downstairs to. Yes that is cereal all over.

The living room wasn't the only mess.....

Random shots

Emily sitting on the toilet- She won't actually go but likes to sit and try.

Me and Emily

My little Emily

Thank goodness for friends- Here they are doing ring around the rosy

Awana Parent Night

We went to parent night for Abby at Awana last Wednesday. She loved having us there. Emily loved being there. She just pulled up a chair at the little table and sat with the big kids. This is Abby doing the song. It was so precious. She is the loudest in her class and several of the parents came up to us asking if we were Abby's parents and telling us how much they enjoy her. That is a so nice to hear. Every parent wants their child to be a blessing to others-- that is what we pray for.

The puppet show

Abbyisms

Tonight on our way home from walmart Abby looks in the sky and says, "the moon is going faster than us, it is going to beat us home."

She is so funny. The whole way there she kept telling us about all her dreams. Eventually we could tell she was making them up because we drove by the lake and she starts talking about lakes. She has quite the imagination.

Song

In the movie fireproof they had the song from Casting Crowns called "Slow Fade" as thier main song. I really like this song. It is so true. People gradually fade from God, and thier marriages it doesn't just happen in one day. What a thing to watch for in our lives. Satan is real and when he sees growth he wants to try to stop it. We really need to protect our marriages. Joel and I have been feeling way more strain than we ever have before and I know it is because we are both growing spiritually. God is calling us deeper and we have been praying together and Satan hates to see that. It really is a battle. I am going to overcome though. Jesus was an overcomer and he already conquered the world.

John 16:33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

What a comforting verse. It isn't our job to take on the whole world. Jesus already did that. It is our job to walk in his footsteps, and lead people to him.
Guard your hearts and keep pressing on!

Proverbs 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Take the time to really listen to song #1 on my playlist. Let the words of slow fade sink in and think about your life. Are you slowly fading? Are little sins that seem like they don't matter entering in and you aren't even realizing it? Pray about it. I have found that in my quiet times when I ask God to reveal things to me half the time I didn't even realize it was a sin I was harboring in my heart.

Faithful

I started out my work week this week with only 20.00 to buy gas and groceries to get us through this week. God knew that- and he sure delivered. I was closer 1 on Friday night and made 120.00 and Saturday night I was closer 2 and made 119.00. We were able to buy gas and groceries and pay for our gas from last week that had to go on a credit card. Each month I keep not knowing how to pay the bills and yet they keep getting paid. God is faithful! We just are truly relying on him. We sold our Impala and bought a older lexus sedan for half the cost. We also believe we have our truck sold. We are just going to try to get by on the Lexus and Joel's old junker for awhile. Eventually when a good deal comes up and we have the cash we would like a van. We will have to get one before we have baby #3. The lexus is smaller than our Impala and we can't fit 3 carseats in the back.
As far as my medical stuff goes I had an MRI lastweek and am just waiting on the results. I am still extremely light headed constantly. I am praying nothing shows up and if that is the case I am going to a naturopath. All these medical bills are sure adding up but I know with God all things will work out. I just keep trusting!

Winter Wonderland

We woke up this morning to snow outside. Abby was so thrilled. She went running to the window and said, "yeah- winter is finally here." We were out playing in it by 9 am.

This is Rocky's first time seeing snow and he loved it. He just kept prancing around in it and eating it.

Abby loved it too. She kept making snow angels.

Emily wasn't so sure what to think. She kept wanting her gloves off and then when I would take them off she would stick her hands in the snow and then cry that her hands were cold but she wouldn't let me put her gloves back on. I am hoping this year will be better for getting outside. Now that the kids are older they should enjoy it. I am ready to put my tree up now. I can't wait. Only 7 more weeks to Christmas.

Help I'm surrounded

I forgot that I haven't posted about this exciting news yet. My brother and his wife, Josh and Paula, are expecting thier first baby on May 13th (Abby's B.day). We are so happy for them and can't wait to welcome the new little one. I am excited for a number of reasons. I love babies so it is just another one to cuddle. They will finally know what we are talking about since they will be parents. You know how it is, before you have kids you look at people and wonder what the big deal is and why they are screwing thier kids up so bad. Now they will know and understand :-) !! It will just be fun to have this shared connection and give us something more in common. My kids will finally have some cousins on my side of the family to play with. Abby is thrilled. She talks about them having a baby all the time. Of course, we can never get through the conversations without her asking me when I am going to get a baby in my tummy again. In due time Abby.
As for my blog title- Let's just put it this way. I have 9 new babies in my life and 12 pregnant friends/sister in law. So crazy. It tis the season!

emotions

I can't help but feel down today. As I watch the t.v. and hear about how this election is so historical as a black man has won the presidency, all I can think of is how wrong they are. It isn't historical for that reason- it is historical in the fact that we, the American people, have been led so far from God that we would vote for the most liberal man in the senate. Our values have gone so far down the toilet that we no longer use them in our voting and in who we elect. I am really just sitting here in disbelief. Where were the Christians? People who were supposed to be voting to uphold God's standards. Did they vote their values? Did they listen to God? It is a very sad day in U.S. history. Our founding fathers were Christian men. Men who wanted the constitution to uphold what is right and good. I am sure they are turning in their graves over the man who is going to be our next president. I believe there are going to be some wicked things happening to the U.S. now. God's favor has been removed from us because his people have decided that we no longer want it. Have mercy on us Oh God!
Here is a letter written to portray what a Christian will be writing in 2012- only 4 years from now. It is scary how easily this could happen with a Obama presidency and a democratic majority. Life is going to change alright- I hope you are ready!
http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf

Dr. Appt

I had another dr. appt today. I had a headache on Thursday night and I actually lost vision in my eye for 20 min. It was really scary. She is really concerned about that so I am having a catscan done on my head this week yet. I don't want to have so much radiation so I would prefer an MRI so she is going to talk to the radiologist in the a.m. and then call me and let me know.
I brought Emily with me because she has had a cough for weeks. I wanted the dr. to listen to her. Poor little Emily. She has bronchitis. The other night she was coughing so much that she threw up a whole bunch of mucus. She is just such a trooper.
Not much else is going on. I am trying to not watch the election coverage and spend time praying instead. With God all things are possible and we can still win this thing!

enough said

I got this from a friends blog and thought it was appropriate.


'Twas the night before elections
And all through the town
Tempers were flaring
Emotions all up and down!
I, in my bathrobe
With a cat in my lap
Had cut off the TV
Tired of political crap.
When all of a sudden
There arose such a noise
I peered out of my window
Saw Obama and his boys
They had come for my wallet
They wanted my pay
To give to the others
Who had not worked a day!
He snatched up my money
And quick as a wink
Jumped back on his bandwagon
As I gagged from the stink
He then rallied his henchmen
Who were pulling his cart
I could tell they were out
To tear my country apart! "
On Fannie, on Freddie,
On Biden and Ayers!
On Acorn, On Pelosi"
He screamed at the pairs!
They took off for his cause
And as he flew out of sight
I heard him laugh at the nation
Who wouldn't stand up and fight!
So I leave you to think
On this one final note-
IF YOU DONT WANT SOCIALISM GET OUT AND VOTE!!!!

Men

On Saturday morning Joel let me sleep in so I took my time about getting up and waited about an hour after everyone else had gotten up. Whenever I sleep in I always just sit at the top of the stairs once I get up and watch my family playing in the living room for awhile. I wait until they notice me and come running to the steps with thier big huge smiles. So precious. This particular morning Abby noticed me right away and came running over. I immediatly noticed her blankie looked like it had poop on it. Her p.j.'s too looked all spotted and gross. Then I looked at her hair and there were chunks in it. I went and looked in Abby's room and sure enough there was throw-up all over. It was on her floor and in her bed. Even in her dora chair at the foot of her bed. It was all dried by now and she never woke up or came and got us and in fact she doesn't even remember doing it. The thing that got me though was how could Joel get up, go in her room and rock her, feed her breakfast and be playing with her and not notice anything. I noticed it within a second of looking at her. Men--- they sure don't notice the obvious.

Halloween

Our little stinker

Two cuddly creatures

Here is our frog and skunk. We went around the neighborhood and got a whole bucket of candy. You could tell Emily was getting tired of holding her bucket but whenever I would take it from her she would get mad and want her candy back. She just kept staring in her bucket at all that candy.

When people would ask her what a frog says she would reply, "oint" - Ok Emily- that is a pig. I know we call you one all the time with your eating but really- you don't have to talk like one. :-)

Painting pumpkins

My Abby

Emily had way more fun painting herself than the pumpkin

Busy at work

Emily did lots of artwork on our sidewalk and siding of our house. Thanks honey!

Abby made a very beautiful pumpkin. We decided to paint instead of carve this year. It gives them more to do in the process. Carving they just watch us do and honestly, neither of us felt like doing it.

An Old Friend

I had the privilege of meeting up with my old high school friend Anna. We were good friends all throughout high school and now sadly we rarely talk. She had a baby in May and she has never seen Emily so we finally saw each other's kids.
This is Emily holding her little guy Austin

Abby, me, Emily, Anna and Austin

Abby and Austin

Me and Austin. He was such a good little guy. He never cried once. Just adorable!

last chance

Tomorrow is soo important to our country, to our families, to human life. Remember, if you endorse Obama and what he stands for you are helping kill innocent human life with our tax money. I believe you will be held accountable!