Baby bump :)

27 weeks

31 weeks

27 weeks

31 weeks

Heartbeat

Lewis hasn't been able to go with me to a doc visit, so I video taped the baby's heartbeat for him.

Not much here

Saturday we did an egg hunt at our house. I'll post pics later. It was fun. It was Ross and Mark and my best friend's 2 kids.

Sunday I went to church for a little bit. I taught the HS class, then went to choir. I can't sit still thru preaching right now, so I left after we sang our songs for the service.

Ross and Mark have a battle going on. I guess it's just a competitive nature in them. It drives me nutz tho. Mark is doing awesome in learning how to spell things and Ross will try and one up him with some hard word that there's just no way Mark will know how to spell. Mark says "I know how to spell police" and Ross will say "Well, let me figure out a word that you don't know." Then say some big word. When Mark asks him to spell it, Ross'll say "I'm not going to tell you" Just drives me insane!!

I am now 30 weeks pregnant. Ten weeks left! This is going so fast. I try not to complain about him moving so much, but sometimes I wish he'd take a rest hehe. Mark and Ross had hiccups real bad when I was pregnant with them. This one is starting to have them a lot too. I think he got aggravated yesterday from them cuz everytime he had a hiccup, he'd jerk around real quick. It was kinda funny.

Mark didn't want to go to school today. I can't figure out why. His teacher said he and two other boys had a bit of an altercation on Friday, so maybe that was it. Couldn't get him to tell why he didn't want to go. He broke my heart cuz he said he wanted to stay home with me~ tho I know he just wanted to watch tv. I just don't want him to think that he can just say he didn't want to go to school and get to stay home cuz he'll be going to "big boy" school in the fall. My baby is growing up.

Oh~ Mark wanted a baby sister, didn't want a baby brother. Well, he's starting to come around. The other day we were talking about it.

Mark~ "I wanted a baby sister"
Me~ "I know, but you'll have more fun with a baby brother"
Mark~ "What if he doesn't want to play with me?"
Me~ "I think it'll be the other way around. You might have times when you don't want to play with him"
Mark~ " I will. I'll be nice to him. But if Ross don't be nice to him, I won't let Ross play with him. He'll need to be nice"

So cute.

Sermon 3-9

(Kinda late at putting these up~ I think you'll understand tho :) )

John 3:16

This is a complex world and it gets more confusing every day. There is war, disease and ultimately death.

What kind of hope can we give to non Christians in this world? The same message~ John 3:16.

No technology can ever replace us as bearers of the gospel. We were chosen as Christ's embassadors.

Assignment~ John 3:16 Learn it, Love it, Tell it.

In Bible times, Jews were the chosen and Gentiles were the "outsiders" but Jesus changed that.

How?

Romans 5:8 ~But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus has done everything necessary for us, we just have to trust and submit to His will.

God is Holy and morally perfect. God hates sin and loves us. Sin must be punished. We like that God might punish our enemies, but recoil when our own sins must be judged. God is fair and just.

Sinners are spiritually dead, physically dying. Eternal life is ours NOW

Romans 10:13~ Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

So sweet

Mark had Grandparents Day at his preschool. Welllllll, his PawPaw didn't show up. I felt so sorry for him. Here was our conversation in the truck:

Me: Sorry sweetheart that PawPaw didn't show up.
Mark: It's ok
Me: But I'm still sorry
Mark: It's ok. It wasn't your fault.

Awwww. I teared up. I felt sorry that he had no Grandparent at Grandparent Day, but he took it well. He did ask his PawPaw later (which PawPaw didn't have a good excuse), but he's my little trooper :)

Baby Shower

Me cheezin' with some baby socks :)

Me with the blanket that Staci made me (THX!!!)

My cake. Notice the "booties" on the corners? So cute

From Staci~ I got my Bumbo!! :) (THX again :) )

Outfits. The hat at the top of the pic has doggie ears (let me hear ya~~ awwwww hehe)

Receiving blankets and baby care products

Bibs, blanket and a travel bed (the travel bed has another purpose~ so I can still be apart of the creative ministry at my church and have somewhere for the baby :))

Outfits and baby bath

Receiving blankets, wipes hangers, and rash cream (plus 1st toy)

Good news....bad news

Well, the guys are going back to work. I don't think anyone really knows what's going on. They make a decision one day, the next day, it's different. I suspect it will take a while to really work things out. They are using another cabinet business space. Cabinets business' are being nice and offering space up.

They will be paid every week. That's good news. Only, Lewis' main part of the paycheck came from the side work of spraying and finishing the cabinets. He'll still be doing it, but we don't know when he'll be paid for it. So, it's going to be a tough road for a while.

Two firefighters died in the fire. Pray for their families. One was 19 year old Justin and the other 40 year old Victor. Their funerals will be tomorrow.

On a good note, the boys got to have their first soccer practice last night. Mark was so funny to watch. I forgot my camera (first time too!!), but I'll take pictures next time. Ross had a good time. I think he was scared at first, cuz it was a new coach, but then he opened up and had fun.

Seeing smoke a couple of roads over

The plant itself

Lewis is in the red hat

Prayer

My husband's work went up in flames today. Please pray for us. I have pics, but Blogger isn't letting me post them. I'll post them later.

9th Grade

From Staci's blog

Who was your best friend? Christina~ still my BFF

Who did you go out with? Chad

What sports did you play? No sports

Did you buy your lunch?Yes, the school's pizza was my favorite!

Skip school?no

Did you get suspended/expelled?Nope

What was your favorite class?Bible History

What was your school's name?East Rowan

Did you go to the dances?No

If you could go back would you?yes

Where did you sit at lunch?in the cafeteria, in the courtyard

Who was your science teacher?Mrs. Cockerl

Who was your English teacher?Mrs. Greene

Who was your history teacher?Mr. Beaudoin

Who was your math teacher?Mr. Roseman

Did you think you were cool?No

Describe your clothes?jeans and t-shirts

Did you even have a cellphone?no

What's your most memorable moment? can't think of one

What's your least favorite memories?hearing that a friend of mine was
hurt and in the hospital

What was your best accomplishments? passing hehe

What action do you regret the most?Not being a stronger/bolder witness for the Lord., not being more outgoing

What did you spend the most time doing on weekends?Spent with my youth group

Did you make any lifelong friendships?Joel~ which is a combo of school and church.

No soccer=disappointment

We had some crazy rain tonight. So.....the soccer practice that my boys have been looking forward to for 2 months.....didn't happen. They took it better than I thought they would, but I knew they were still upset.

My house needs a good cleaning, but I can't get in the mood. We have more stuff than we actually need and just don't have to room for everything. I drives me nuts! Any hints on how to unclutter my clutter? I do go thru things every so often and get rid of things that I haven't used or needed in a while, but it never seems like it's enough. Plus, I have the husband factor~ he's a major pack rat too hehe.

He's making up for it

This pregnancy has me worried. My mom lost her 3rd child (3 days before she was born) and my grandma about died giving birth to her 3rd (my dad). Anything that happened that's "weird" to me, I get worried.


Yesterday, I wasn't feeling the baby like I normally do. He is a very active baby. It was making me nervous. Then the afternoon I started feeling him more. Well, today~ I don't think he's taken a break (I'm sure he has, just doesn't seem like it hehe), so he is more than making up for it. But I'm not complaining because I want to know that things are still ok.

Pics and updates

Mark and his new pj's

Mark's 5th b-day party

Mark's handprint put up on the wall at his b-day party. His is the black handprint (and no..he doesn't have 6 fingers hehe)

Ross had pinewood derby car races yesterday. This is one where he won. His is the one that has green on it. I was proud of him yesterday. He did well even when he didn't win.

I've got a head cold that I can't shake. It's driving me nuts. It's not like I can take any kind of medicine I want to, so that makes it harder.

Mark turned 5 in January. I was very emotional cuz my little man is growing too fast. You don't really believe your parents when they tell you that you grew up too fast. Now I know what they meant. He'll be starting Kindergarten in the fall.

Mark and Ross begin soccer this Tues. I can't wait. They can't either. I think Mark has been waiting for 2 months for this and has asked everyday if he gets to go to soccer. hehe

I'm missing being in school. I hope that I'll be able to go back at some point.

At Thanksgiving, I got to see my brother that I haven't seen in 7 years. I missed him.

I'm sure there's other things to say, but I've gotta lay down. I'll be back :)

I'm back

As you can see, I've been away from the blogging scence for a while. I just couldn't get into it anymore, but I think I'm back :)

My family has been having problems lately. Then last night, I read an e-mail I've been skipping over. I'm actually glad that I did skip it before, cuz I don't think that if I read it before now (when I think God had intended for me to read it), it would mean as much as it did when I finally got around to reading it. I wanted to share it, cuz it might be something you need to hear too.

Five Ways God Uses Problems
The problems you face will either defeat you or develop you – depending on how you respond to them. Unfortunately, most people fail to see how God wants to use problems for good in their lives. They react foolishly and resent their problems rather than pausing to consider what benefit they might bring.

Here are five ways God wants to use the problems in your life:

1. God uses problems to DIRECT you.
Sometimes God must light a fire under you to get you moving. Problems often point us in a new direction and motivate us to change. Is God trying to get your attention?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

2. God uses problems to INSPECT you.
People are like tea bags... if you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them into hot ever water! Has God tested your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about you?

“When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.” – James 1:2-3

3. God uses problems to CORRECT you.
Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It’s likely that as a child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you probably learned by being burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something by losing it.

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” – Psalm 119:72

4. God uses problems to PROTECT you.
A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being harmed by something more serious. Last year a friend was fired for refusing to do something unethical that his boss had asked him to do. His unemployment was a problem – but it saved him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when management’s actions were eventually discovered.

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” – Genesis 50:20

5. God uses problems to PERFECT you.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God and your character are the only two things you’re going to take with you into eternity.

“We can rejoice when we run into problems... they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady.” – Romans 5:3-4

Here’s the point: God is at work in your life – even when you don’t recognize it or understand it. But it’s so much easier when you surrender to his plan for your life.

A new look

Well, I finally sat down and made some changes. I wanted a different background, but the ones I was trying, kept making my posts go away. I finally put a pic and some blinkies on here. I'll probably do more, but for now, I'm happy :) Hope ya'll like it.

Our freezer went out in our refrigerator the other day. So now we have a bunch of food we have to eat before it goes bad. :(

Ross has been getting into trouble at school. Ugh! Having problems doing the whole raise your hand thing. Oh, well. We'll just have to work harder on it.

Can you believe it's almost Oct? It's crazy!

Trivia question~ Where does this phrase come from~ "The Lord helps those who help themselves"?

Please don't critize me

Kinda a rant~ just need to vent

I'm was looking into some new insurance the other day. The guy calls to find out info. Well, I tell him that Mark is diagnosed with ODD and ADHD. Then he begins to take our birthdays. Here's a part of our conversation:

Me: Gives Mark's b-day
Him: Oh~ he's only 4?
Me: Yeah
Him: And he's already diagnosed with ADHD and ODD?
Me: Yeah
Him: Just sounds like being a 4 year old to me. I have a 4 year old and she can be kinda wild, but that's just being 4.
Me:Well, he was having problems at school and at home
Him: I have a 4 year old and a 7 year old. My four year old can get rowdy and everything. Sometimes she doesn't listen. That's just a part of being 4.

EXCUSE ME??? Does he know my child? All he knows is that he's 4 and he assumes that there's nothing wrong?

Let me be clear with everyone. I wrestled for many months about taking him to the doctor. I knew something was going on and figured what it was. Just was trying to not take him to the doctor~ I knew what they'd say. I just know that a lot of parents use these conditions as crutches for not wanting to parent.

The past year everything has been going crazy. I just didn't want to resort to going to the doctor. I wanted to be "Super Mommy" and be able to handle it. Then it got so bad that he was even having problems in pre-school. It was to the point that I was in tears almost every night and was so discouraged. I had tried all kinds of discipline. I had tried all kind of reward incentives. I had tried the taking away of toys. I was at my wits end. I had no reserve left. I HAD to get help. If I didn't, I'd be in a nut house.

Since being on medicine, he is doing awesome in school. He's been paying more attention in school. At home, he's been able to get one "project" done before having to hop up and do something different. He's more compliant. He's listening better. He's getting better sleep at night.

If you don't agree, it's ok. A lot of people don't agree with children being put on drugs for these conditions. To each his own. Some people NEED them. My son is one of them

As someone told me when I was wrestling with this~ "If your child was sick, wouldn't you treat it?" That's what I'm doing. Helping him stay well.

Not doing so well....

....with keeping up with my blog :(. Well, I'm still here :)

Schools going ok. I'm having a tough time with my Astronomy. I hope it'll get better.

My schedule is CRAZY. I've never had to be in so many places as the same time and it's defiantly different.

Ross is starting Cub Scouts. I hope he'll stick with it. I'm just not sure.

L had his 20th HS reunion this weekend. It was cool, even if his "crew" wasn't all there. Met some of the people I've heard all the crazy stories about. They are talking about having a huge b-day party for them all when they turn 40. That's gonna be interesting.

Also, my "niece" had a birthday party Sat. So we were at the park from 11am to 7pm. Long day, but fun

My 10 year is next year. SO hard to believe it's been that long. Just crazy how fast the time goes by.

Time flying: Christmas in 3 months!; My 5 year anniversary in 4 months; Mark turns 5 in 4 months; I turn 28 in 5 months; my girls turn 12 and 14 in 6 months. CRAZY!!! Where~ please tell me~ has this year gone??!!

Pictures from this past Sat.

Write ya later.

Well, I'm hanging in there. Hope things are going good for everyone else.

School started for me last week. Such a different schedule for me. I'm going to school during the day since Mark is in preschool now. I'm such a night owl that this having to get up and be "ready to learn" at 8am is crazy.

The public schools started today. I'm going to pick up Ross from 2nd in a little bit.

Everything else is me just hanging in there. I know God is there for me.

Write ya later.

Wow

Didn't realize it had been so long since I had posted. My bad :)

Well, I'm starting a Bible Drill team with the children in Sept. and am hoping to start one sometime for the youth. I am so looking forward to it. The leader's guide I got has so many options of how to do things. It's awesome.

Started school today. Had my Intermediate Spanish class this morning. Then in the morning, I go to my Math class bright and early. Gonna be a big change for me, but I know I can do it.

Mark's doing better. He did get into trouble at school today. He wanted to be "line leader" and pushed another child out of the way. He has no patience (like his daddy hehe)

Next week~ Ross starts 2nd, Emily starts 6th (she's nervous about middle school), and Ashley starts 8th (she's happy about her last year in middle school). One more year before Mark is in "big boy" school.

Hubby's 20th year reunion is in September. It'll be interesting.

I can't believe how fast this year has gone! Where does the time go??

I guess that's it for now.

Write ya later.

The Zoo and news

We took the boys to the zoo last Wed. It was HOTT!

(Ross didn't want to make a good face for the pic)

They were able to "paint" with water on this chalboard.

This is a marble egg statue. It's made from Georgia marble.



This explains what eggs are what.

My boys on the egg statue.

My Shorty :) awww



Another pic of Shorty

Took Mark to the doctor today. I have been going absolutely crazy~ and I mean literally. I cried Sun. cuz I just can't handle how Mark has been behaving lately. When we went to the zoo~which is 5 MILES long and Mark walked the whole time~when we got home, you'd think he'd drop from being tired. But noooooo~ he was bouncing off the walls. Sunday, he talked for 5 hours straight and never got quiet. Now he's done a lot of this before, but it's getting worse and worse. He was diagnosed with Oppositional Deviance Disorder and will also be diagnosed with ADHD. She couldn't say ADHD until she gets an evaluation from Mark's teacher, but it's pretty clear.

The evaluation~ First 9 questions~the attention part of ADHD~have to have 5 out of the 9 questions.....Mark had 8 (I didn't answer one question cuz it didn't have to do with Mark~ so technically he had all the ones I answered)

Second 9 questions~the hyperactivity part of ADHD~ have to have 5 out of the 9 questions.....Mark again had 8

Next 5 questions~ODD~have to have 3 out of the 5...Mark had 4.

Then the rest had to do with depression and anxiety disorder~ which I knew he didn't have that.

So now maybe I can get some help for him AND me. I've been having a tough time dealing with him the last few months. Especially when I have Mark and Ross together. They just grate on each other and fight all the time. Just pray that I can get thru all this.

Write ya later.

Semester's over :)

Whew. The semester is over. I made an A in both World Religions and Intro to Computers. Yeah me :) Next semester: Astronomy, Math, and Intermediate Spanish 1. Astronomy~ I've always wanted to figure out where all the stars are. I can find Orion's belt....but that's it. I can't even find the Dippers. Math~ the math I'm taking is cuz I can't remember what I learned in HS. hehe. I had to take a test to place in college math and didn't do so well, so I have to take this one first. Intermediate Spanish 1~ I've been out of Spanish for 3 semesters now so I figured I needed to go back and take this one again. I'll take Spanish and Math at the school and Astronomy online.

Lewis stayed home Wednesday and we took the boys to the zoo. I'll post pics later. It was fun, but it was hot!!!

We're having a bit of problem with Ross. Don't know if his medicine isn't working right or what. He's also not sleeping thru the night, so I don't think his sleep medicine is working. So frustrating.

We did our first performance the other night at church. It went real well. I'll have to get the pics from my FIL and post them.

Hope to get our bible drill teams going soon. Don't know when, but hopefully soon.

Write ya later.

New Photos

Mark actually made this cake for Lewis. It was great!!!

Can ya tell he iced it, too? hehe

Our new member of the family. He's such a sweetheart. He was free at the Animal Shelter. His owners abandoned him. I don't know how. His name is Shorty. He's a pug mix and is such a loving dog.

Great News!

Ok first~ I've got my new creative ministries group going at my church. It's so awesome.

Second~ I am starting some Bible Drill Teams with the children and the youth. I've got some information right now, just got to get a few more things.

Third~ I have been asked to help out with the youth group more. The lady working with them now and I are going to sit down sometime and find some new curriculum to get for them. I'm excited to work with them. It's what I've wanted to do for a long time. Just at my other church, I was so far away to really get as involved as I wanted to be.

Let me tell ya, these youth have been so neglected. During our Bible study on Wed's, I asked them one time who had ever given their testimony. They asked...."What's that?" I was like "Did I hear that right?" Also, these kids don't even know the books of the Bible, they have to look in the table of contents every time I asked them to look something up. At their age, I already knew them for years. So I had gone up to the pastor and asked if I could start the Bible Drill Teams. And he said yes. I'll do it with the youth and the children. I'm going to get ahold of the children before they are neglected too.

And fourth~ Saved the best for last~~My daughters got saved this week! I'm so proud of them. Just keep them in your prayers that their mother will support them. That worries me a lot.

L's b-day cake

My best friend got this b-day cake for L. It's so cool.



With 38 candles



Blowing the candles....



See all the smoke?! hehe

After candles taken out. Looks like he missed shooting the deer hehe

Not dead :)

I'm still around :) Just haven't been doing good at keeping up with everything. School's out for the semester in a week, so I'll be able to keep it up for a few weeks.

Went to NASCAR Speedpark last Sat. for L's b-day. It was a blast.



L beating Emily



Ashley



Playing putt-putt



Miniature L hehe (I made him do this lol)



Miniature Emily



Miniature Ashley

My unique items

I did two things cuz I couldn't decide.

This trunk is from my mom. It's over 100 years old passed down through the family(can't remember the exact # of years) My brother was supposed to get it, but never came and picked it up, so I got it :)

When L's step-father passed away, we got this. I just think it's so cool. We have it hanging up above our mantle. Definitely a conversation piece.

YEAH

We had our first practice tonight for our new group, Creative Ministries. It went well. We came up with our name: Water Walkers. It refers to a song I did when I first came, Voices of Truth. We are stepping out on the "water" and having faith that God has big plans for our group. Plus, I found out that our church name means "Living Water", so it fits us all the way around :)

Our first piece is "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" We did a great bit of work on it. We are already planning on doing it for the 5th Sunday sing. I'm sooo excited.

Just wanted to let you know how it went.

Write ya later.