My Five Things

** My fridge **

~1% Milk

~fish waiting to be cooked

~2 jars of pickles (one hot flavored)

~mandarin oranges (Mark's new obsession)

~Slim Fast that really needs to be thrown away...been in there forever

** My purse **

~5 pens (down from my normal number since a little someone keeps stealing them hehe)

~gum

~GermX

~camera

~marriage licence (have no idea why I carry it around hehe)

** (what will be) The Baby Room **

~car seat

~garbage bag full of bottles

~blankets

~diaper genie

~bottle cooler

** (messy) Closet ** (the reason I need a storage building hehe)

~ hunting clothes

~suitcase full of Lewis' matchbox cars

~Christmas decorations

~4 suitcases (not like we go anywhere)

~an old comforter

** Computer **

~my faithful Sprite (all I can drink)

~cleaning rag

~coupons

~a pic of the kids and Lewis

~my broken bracelet :(

Not doing so good, huh?

Not doing so well at keeping up again, am I? Sorry.

Well, things are going pretty good. The boys had their 1st soccer game on Saturday. We got in Mark's game, sat with Staci to watch Jess' game, then went to watch Ross' game. At halftime, it started thundering, so they called the game. I was upset, but as we started walking to the parking lot, it started POURING. So, I felt better that the game wasn't called for no reason. hehe. I was upset about another thing too. At the beginning of Ross' game, me, Emily and Mark went to the concession stand to get drinks and food. As we were gone, Ross made a goal. He looked for me, but :( I wasn't there. So when the game was called, it made me feel bad since I didn't get to see his goal.

Weather has been CRAZY around here. ALL last week, it was so pretty and nice. Then the weekend comes and it rains on Saturday. Not for long, but for a bit. Then it's getting cooler this week. It's also calling for rain this weekend. I just wish it'd make up it's mind if it want to be cold or nice hehe.

My mom went to have an MRI on her brain this past week. She won't have the results until next Thurs., so please be in prayer for her.

What kids will say

Mark is so excited about seeing his baby brother (even tho to him (and sometimes me)) its a while away.

Mark was talking about things to do with the baby. He then said "What does he do in mommy's tummy? He's got to be bored! He doesn't have any toys in there" hehe What kids will say :)

Too funny

Hope these pics put a smile on your face :)

Praise God!

I had been worried about our doctor bills and medication costs since Lewis' job is kinda in a hiatus. Mark's doc wasn't covered under the "insurance" that we had. I don't call it a real "insurance" company. They get ya by having the word insurance in their name, but they are more of a discount program. Then, Mark's doc put him on a new medication and it was mucho dinero! Which of course wasn't covered. So I was worried. The medicine works wonders for Mark. I even told the doc "Me and my husband went to the grocery store with him and actually had a good time!" We have been very happy with the outcome of this medicine.

I got a letter yesterday that Mark was approved for Medicaid! I am so happy. God has provided so that Mark can stay on this medicine. Thanks be to God!

What do ya think?

I've been watching some documentaries on tv. They had one series called "In the Footsteps of Jesus". It was good. It wasn't one where all they said was that Jesus was "just a man". They showed some cool places in Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth. There was one series that I didn't watch after a bit of the first one. They only talked as if Jesus was "just a man" and that he wasn't the Son of God. I couldn't handle it.

What do you think?~ Why was Judas needed? Why did the people that came to arrest Him need Judas to "point out" who Jesus was? (Just an opinion thing. I never really thought about it and these programs got me thinking)

Why was the price of Judas' betrayal 30 pieces of silver? (I never knew this one until I watched the documentaries)

This and that

Baby gifts from MIL

Outfits from MIL

Mark egg hunting~ such concentration...see the tongue out? hehe

Lewis' work. That's where his work station was

The upper part of Lewis' work

Cross at Maunday Thursday

"Though your sins are like scarlet, (during communion, people came up and put in nails with red ribbons)

they shall be as white as snow" (we switched them out for Easter)

The communion table on Maunday Thursday

Mark at soccer practice~ he's on the left in a red shirt

Some pics

The kids had an egg hunt in our front yard. Here's some pics:

My friend's son and daughter

Mark and friend's daughter

Friend's daughter taking off for those eggs

Our church has one this Sat., so I'll post some of them after Sat.

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.