Discouraging news

We just found out today that our apartment situation might not work out. The owners of the building aren't ready to hire anyone new yet. There is still a chance it may work out just not now. Inside I am freaking out wondering what we should be doing. Joel is not worried at all and just thinks all the more reason to put our trust in God. God knows our situation and where we sit with everything; financials, emotionally, relationally. He does want things to work out for us. Maybe he is saving us for something even better. Maybe moving in there would have been a huge mistake. God does know best so I am just basking in that truth today!

Quinn and Naomi

I was able to sneak away for a couple hours on Christmas and see my good friend Quinn. It has been years since we last talked in person so it was so great to see her. It is so fun that we are both mommies now. I hope we always remain friends!

Kopkie Christmas

The girls playing with thier new dogs. Seth and Liz got Abby one and then Maria and Kyle had bought Abby one too so they got her something else and after we got home and saw how bad Emily wanted it we asked if we could exchange Emily's present from them for that. They both love thier dogs. Abby's is Bella and Emily's is woof woof

Emily kept asking for more and more presents. Grandpa was handing them out and she would would reach her hands to Grandpa and say "Please". It was precious.

Abby's smart cycle

Emily and another little doggy she got

The girls

All 7 grandkids

Me, Emmy and Grandma/Mom K

Joel and I

Our family

Abe and Abby

Abby getting pulled in the sled

Maria, Abby and Emma going for a ride. Abby loved it!

Joel in a tunnel that he spent forever digging





Kayley, Abby, and Emma

Cookie Decorating

Emily decorating- or should I say eating-

Grandma and the 5 kids decorating cookies

Kayley- Emma- and Abby

Emily

Pearson Christmas

The men sitting around talking while the women played cards and mom and Paula did dishes. Maybe next year they will learn to like cards! :-) Joel's dad joined us for Christmas dinner too.

My dad playing Abby's new game with her

Emily all dressed up and no where to go

Daddy and Emily

Abby with her new princess scooter- Thanks Josh and Paula

The girls opening gifts

See how excited Emily was about it~

Patiently waiting

The original 5 siblings

The girls eating Christmas Eve dinner. They were quite tired of thier dresses and opted for this look instead.

update

We ended up having a lovely Christmas and nobody else got sick. Praise God! We are now awaiting our Christmas with Joel's side tomorrow. There is a mound of gifts and a couple of excited little girls. I'll post some pictures soon.

and more to the story....

Well- Abby started throwing up lastnight. Poor little girl. She couldn't quit. She also got diarrea and had it go up her back. I am so thankful to my sister. She took care of her all night so I could try to sleep. I still was up most of the night too but Leah did most of the gross stuff. She is so amazing. What a Godly example of how selflessy we are supposed to live. Thank you Leah.
I still don't know whether it could just be bad food and we got food poisoning. It was too early for Abby to get it from me so it means we would have both had to pick it up from somplace but for fear of getting sick we haven't been anywhere together all week. I had to go to work but she didn't come. I don't know if we could have different things or if it really could just be food. Little Emily is still fine. I pray she stays that way. I am just so bummed. Christmas is ruined. Nobody wants to be around us which is totally understandable but I don't know what we should do. I am here alone right now- Joel comes tonight and we are in a winter storm watch so I don't want to drive back alone. Plus Leah is home for Christmas from Sweden and Caleb is here before leaving for South Korea. I really want to spend time with everyone. We have Joel's family's christmas on Saturday which gives us several days to be over it by then. I guess we will just have to wait and see if anyone else gets it. I am so thankful to my in-laws for letting us stay here and being so gracious to us.

We made it

Well the girls and I ventured to P.R. today by ourselves. Joel is coming tomorrow after work. The whole point of me coming early was to do hair, pedicures, and see friends.
This morning on our way out we ate at (I can't even say the word) McDonalds. Right after I started feeling sick, like indigestion not sitting with me kind of sick. I made it to P.R. and even made it through one pedicure before I started feeling really sick. To make a long story short I was fortunate enough to have it coming out of both ends. How grotesque I am sorry. This blog is not for the faint of heart! I am not sure if it was the nasty food, noone should eat there- seriously. :-) I am just praying it is not puking flu. I guess we will know if by Thursday there has been no little girls throwing up. I sure hope not. What a horrible Christmas that would be.
Thank goodness for in-laws and my sister. Noone wants me around for obvious reasons, it is not really the ideal time to be sick but my mother in law told me to come on over and make myself at home. Leah came with to take care of the girls for me as my in-laws are currently out of town. I am very grateful. At the moment I am tired and achy (from not drinking at all today), but my stomach is feeling way better. I think I just had to get that food out.
I hope you guys all stay healthy for Christmas. I will avoid you all- I promise! ;-)

Merry Christmas 08'

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Fun night

We got together with some friends the other night and they have one of those big jumpy blow up things. The girls had such a blast. My friends boys are the same age as the girls so it was fun to watch them interact. The even cooler thing is that we can borrow this bouncer and use it for the girls birthday parties this year! Talk about a fun party!

new beginnings

Tonight was my last night at Applebee's. It was kind of sad. I will miss some of those friendships I have made in the last 10 months. I didn't know that they had this tradition of "going out with a bang," they whip creamed my front and put ice down my back. The ice went into my pants and soaked my shirt and it is -6 tonight so it made for a chilly ride home. I guess none of the girls wanted to get me so they were nicer to me than they are most. They only cream the people they like, that is a plus. The last girl that left got mustard all over her. It could have been worse! :-)
I have quit Applebees because I have taken a new position in the cities. I am going to be a property manager at an upscale condo/apt. building. Joel and I have prayed about this transition a lot and feel it is what we should do. We will be leaving our home and trying to sell it. I think we have Rocky sold too. How sad! I will be taking care of the building, renting units, doing paperwork, billing, making sure people are doing their jobs ect. Joel will do maintenance and we will have an on-call phone. That is the thing I am most worried about. We will be moving into a 2 bedroom, I hope the girls like sharing. I am just praying this next stepping stone in our lives goes smoothly and we adjust quickly and can make this work for several years.
I'll let you all know how it goes.

*Twas the month before Christmas*
*When all through our land,*
*Not a Christian was praying*
*Nor taking a stand.*
*See the PC Police had taken away,*
*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*
*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*
*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*
*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*
* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*
*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*
*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*
*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*
*Something was changing, something quite odd! *
*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*
*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.*
*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*
* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*
*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*
*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*
*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty*
*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*
*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*
*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*
*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*
*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*
*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*
* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*
*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*
*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*
*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*
*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*
*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*
*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday !*
Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

Cold days

With how cold it has been we have been bringing Rocky in the house and in the garage and putting a space heater on.
The girls sure love having him in.

Abby hugging Rocky

gift exchange

My friend Jill and her daughter Sofia came over to exchange gifts. Abby got a horse which she loves and Emily got a beautiful dress with little leggings. Thanks Jill and Sopia!

Sophia opening up her gifts from us.

Abby opening her gift

Caleb's home

Uncle Caleb came home last Friday. It was so nice to see him and the girls loved seeing him. He is now home for Christmas and leaves in January for South Korea.

Look at this little ham! :-)

Caleb and his girlfriend Danie and the girls

Abby

Abby never ceases to crack me up. The other day she named her pet rabbit Sarah Palin. Where does she come up with this. I know she heard us talking about her during the election. I always had talk radio on so she heard her name there a lot too but it is now over a month past. We haven't talked about her in a long time. It just really caused me to laugh. I am glad she knows to choose names from people with character!

croup

My poor girls are suffering with croup right now. Abby had it first and woke up on Sat. night with a fever and barking cough. Lastnight we had a houseful of company (Danie, Jonah and Leah) and Emily woke up crying and barking and had a fever. I ended up sleeping with her in my bed because her breathing was so difficult. Does anyone know anything about what to do with croup? I have a feeling I am in for some long nights. At least I have Leah around for a few days to help me out. On Friday Caleb comes back from boot camp and he and Danie are staying for the weekend. I can't wait to see him. Hopefully my girls will be in better spirits.

Holidazzle video

Emily sure loved the parade. Her reaction was the fun part. Abby liked it too but wasn't as enthusiastic.

Downtown Excitement

We brought our kids to the Holidazzle Parade and top floor Macy's exhibit, "the day in the life of an elf." It was cute and the kids had a great time despite not feeling well. We met up with some friends that we don't get to see very often.

Here is my little Emily with a look of glee.

Here is the parade in front of us. Emily loved it. She would squeal and giggle whenever she saw one coming and wave and say bye whenever they would go by. It was too cute. It was too cold to be outside so we found a skyway to sit in. Here are some singing Christmas trees at the Macy's display. They do such a good job every year.

It was so pretty

Our friend Natanya and Abby looking at the snow man

Girlfriends

There is just nothing like a girlfriend. I have a number of girlfriends that have shaped who I am today and I am eternally grateful for what they have taught me and how they have always believed in me and loved me. Abby has several great girlfriends already and I am so happy to see that.
This is Sofia. They have been friends since they were babies and I used to watch Sofia. They have really had no choice but to be friends. Jill and I are glad that even as they get bigger they still love to play together.

family

Uncle Jonah and his neices
They were both dressed in vikings clothes for the big game on Sunday night. Joel and Jonah went the the game and they said it was awesome.

My aunt Deb, Grandma, cousin Veronica, sister Leah, Emily, me and Abby

playing more cards