Saturday, January 31, 2009

Leianna Skye

This is my great niece Leianna. She is all of two and I think should definitely be a model. She just got these pictures taken and they are a breath of fresh air to me. They make me feel all February-ey, and ready to anticipate spring in a month or so. I know it is a day early, but I think I am done with January. Can we please just start fresh into the next month!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Smiling Jesus

It is now day three of Snow days for my kids, and I have sunk to a new level of mean mom. I am starting to not like myself.

My sweet husband toughed it out and took the old deathtrap van today, so I could have the 4 wheel drive. I at least was able to get out of the house some, and one of the boys had basketball practice, while the other one's was cancelled.

I have really struggle with my daily bible reading, mainly with the Old Testaments. I cling to the New Testament, and drag myself through the Old. I get through the assignment each day, but I feel lacking and like I am not fitting in or understanding what I should. I just don't agree with so much in the Old Testament it is unsettling. Does anyone else out there feel the same way?

One thing I stick with is the love I have and know. These are some beautiful pencil drawings from Jean Keaton. They are how I picture Jesus. Laughing and smiling.












Thursday, January 29, 2009

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Snow Day Math



One SnowBound Day Equals



Four Kids home from school.

One "log" floating in the baby's bath.

One Baby gettin a shower.

Eight loads of laundry.

Zero showers for Mom.

Thirty-Six Hershey kisses for Mom.

Two snow shovels in the yard.

One nap for Baby.

Two litter boxes cleaned out.

One 7 year old happy with Moon Sand.

One 11 year old Mad he's still grounded from D.S.

One 15 year old we still have yet to see come out of her room!

One cat that got vomited on by baby.

One Ice Storm headed our way:(

Twenty five days till Cancun!

Two times the dishwasher has ran.

One husband out working in this mess.

Fifty percent chance they won't have school again tomorrow.....

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Verdict Is In

Today we had our follow up visit with the ear specialist. We also had a hearing test done on Summer's ears. At least it helped us ease our minds on the decision we had to make.
She has hearing loss in both ears. They also did some kind of test to see if they would respond inside in a normal manner, and they did not move at all (a normal response would have been movement inside) due to fluid build-up.
The good news is they were able to test her hearing behind all that fluid and there is NO PERMANENT hearing loss yet. Wwhheww!! Thank Goodness!

She is scheduled for surgery on February 9th. Please keep us in your prayers that day. I have heard that it is a breeze, and simple, and you will be in and out.....but you can't tell that to a mother's worry!

Monday, January 26, 2009

I Need An Apron

We talked in church on Sunday about how important it is to take a little time to yourself each day to pray. Not only that, but how important it is to do in a calm and quite setting. Time that you schedule to do your daily bible reading or such, where you are not distracted and can give your whole to God.

I have struggled with this aspect of it since we started our Bible reading plan on Jan. 1st and thought to myself. "Yeah, that's me! The kids, the phone, the constant interruptions" I'm just not good enough at this. I suck at this aspect.

Well the pastor was able to put me in my place, and give me inspiration at the same time. See the picture below. It is a picture of Susannah Wesley. She was the mother of the famous hymn writer Charles Wesley.
She had 19 children. Only 10 lived to adulthood, but still that is quite a houseful. Every day she prayed.

How did she do it. Well if she was really exasperated she would just throw her apron up over her head. If the kids saw mom with the apron on her head, she was praying...leave her be~!



I know some days I wish I was wearing an apron because not only would I hide under it for some solitude, I could even tie my kids up with it, if I was really desperate. (just kidding..kind of)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Summer Sunday

My Grandma is working on her 90th year, and once a week , her big trip is to go to my mom's house for dinner. One of the things that makes her most happy is Summer. For some reason, she is quite taken with this little girl, and pictures of her delight her to no end. On her Sunday visits, my mom shows grandma my blog, so she can see updated and funny pictures of Summer. I thought of a great idea of showcasing a weekly special Summer picture for Grandma on these days.


Here is Summer in her Daddy's Winter boots...








have a great day Grandma, We love you!!!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Sugar Gliders

Tatum got to spend the night over at her friend Amanda's this weekend, and got to see her new pets. They are called Sugar Gliders and are so cute! They are similar to like a flying squirrel.
She had two of them and their names were Bella and Daisy.

They are nocturnal and they had to order them special. They originate from Australia?? Cassie-Ann...you are from there. Do you know any thing about these little guys??
Here is one above all tucked away in Tatum's pocket. It crawled in there itself and got all snuggly.

This was the coolest part I thought. Look at the sides. The ripple like elastic furry skin used to spread out to glide with.

They were so sweet and let me bring in the whole Motley Crue to hold and pet them.

Here we are trying to give it a little snack of applesauce.

Looks at those big beautiful eyes!
I have never even heard of such and animal! How very cool....

Friday, January 23, 2009

Secret Night Out

We all know most of us, in the privacy of our own home have done it alone...



And there are a few of us who have branched out our addiction, and done it with others...over the phone! (I did this for the first time ever a couple of months ago and it was sooo much fun!)



But how many of you have crossed that addiction line and dared to go to the extreme of doing it...along side of someone else. Together??



I know! I know!! We are sad!! We get together---and then we BLOG!! And then we take a picture of us together blogging, so we can do a post about us blogging together! (and Heather can Scrapbook it for her Project 365.
Throw in some wine and anything is really fun:)

What?......What did you think I was talking about??


Thursday, January 22, 2009

The story of the Deer


When my father passed, he was the first person really close to me to have died. As much as we were sad we mainly were so relieved, because his existence here had turned into a nightmare by that point.

This post isn't really about his life (which was an amazing one), or his death really. But it is the story of what happens after.

After.

After the funeral, the whirlwind of family, the shock, the tears, the wish I would of could of should of.

This is the beautiful story of the day we came together to spread his ashes.

Now his wish was to have them spread at his old fishing spot, by his old fishing buddy. He hadn't been able to go in years due to his advanced Multiple Sclerosis, but his friend had taken these pictures that he had hung in his room.
Jake was 6 weeks old when my dad passed, so he was probably barely 2 months old when we did this. It was late fall and this ol' fishing spot was not an easy spot to get too. We all met up, Mike and I with Tatum and Jake....Tim and his wife with their two kids....my mom...my dads brother...and my dad's old fishing friend and his wife. We started our trek out into the woods, all bundled up, and realized the hike we were in for. As each fallen tree trunk barred our passage we would work together to hand the baby over to each other, and help with the little ones, carrying them on our backs.
I was 22 at the time, and my faith was definitely not what it is today. I had watched my dad suffer for years and years, and the novelty of him being gone from that retched body and on to something else had now had me shaken into almost a panic. I wanted reassurance that he was safe now. I wanted more of a sign. We had had signs already. But me in my immature faith doubted and wanted more. I wanted another sign. More signs. A big sign!
My mother in her calm, and ever reassuring way, was having this talk with me yet again, as we trudged through the woods. "What was it going to take Becky?"
"Fine..." I said, scraping for anything, "If I see a deer right now, I'll have to know he is okay."
I know~ keep listening. A deer in the woods, not too unlikely. But within a few minutes one DID appear. He came down from the other side of the creek. Now we were a big bunch of 12 people. He saw us and continued to walk towards us, not spooked. He stood in front of us. He looked right at us. And just stood.
It was a male. He had big antlers. You know it is much more common to see the female, but more rare to see the male.
After awhile he slowly turned around, and then walked away. He did not run.
The 12 of us just stared and watched him walk back up the hill to who knows where. Mom said "well there's your sign, Becky".
Whether or not that was a sign, I felt my dad there that day. I held those ashes that once were a precious life, and knew that he was still around, whether or not it was here on earth.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Wordless Wednesday

One of the many reasons you don't let your 11 year old give the baby a bath....



Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Ring Around The Rosie X 80000

With the holidays last month, the snow days, snow delays, very very cold temperatures outside, and now a 3 day weekend due to Martin Luther King Day, we have all about had it with "indoor togetherness"! But with Spring still far far away, we better come up with some more ideas!

Summer has been quite taken with Playing Ring around the Rosie. She doesn't tire of it, and wants all involved...






What have you been doing to keep busy???

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Totally Rad Animal Saving Heroes


One of my new friends over at "Don't Make Drugs" is a sweet girl named Lacey. Lacey and I are finding out that we have much more in common than we knew. One of those things got sparked when she wrote a post that struck a cord in me called Lady T.R.A.S.H. I knew she had something deep in her, that I have deep in me. It is something that I know God sees as a blessing, but sometimes my family and friends have seen as an obscene annoyance. It is a deep compassion and drive that (comes at the most inconvenient times)leads you save and help animals in need. She told her story and in honor of the emblem we now share on our blogs, I thought I should tell a deserving story too! (Future note Lacey: I think that should be the entitlement for people to take the logo if they want to be in TRASH!)


It was the fall of 2005, and our family had out of town guest come to visit. Along with another family we met up with we all went up to Caesar's Creek for their annual Pioneer Village. This is held outside throughout the woods. It was in the 50's and a beautiful autumn day, getting closer and closer to bitter cold nights. The people there were all dressed up in their pioneer garb and pots of apple butter and stew were cooking in the breeze. The leaves were all colorful and fallen and there were 12 of us, 6 adults, and 6 kids. We came across a little Benji type mutt who the pioneer workers said they fed frequently and lived in the woods. This little guy had tuffs of brown hair (what hair he had) but mainly just patches of tough hard scabbed skin. He was a solid bone. From top to bottom, just skin covering his bones. When you petted him. I was horrified, the the workers nonchalantly said "oh yes, we see him and feed him when we can!" They told me that this state park was a common drop off spot for people to leave their dogs. I think the thing that broke my heart the most was the demeanor of this dog. His face lit up when he saw someone giving him love and he was so friendly and adoring. Here life had not done a thing for him, and routinely people passed him by, but he looked up at you with a happy face! I got him a bowl of water and we scrounged up some food, and I knew I couldn't just walk away. It was almost winter, and it was getting cold. There was no shelter for him, he had almost no hair. It was the weekend and we had all these children and friends looking at me. I pleadingly looked at my husband to help me. We called the emergency number for the Humane Society, and they said it would take 30 minutes at least. I apologized to my friends, and while Mike and them went off to salvage the day, me and that dog found a sunny patch and laid in the sun and waited.

I knew it probably wouldn't be good for the dog. But it was all I could do at the moment. He and I laid there and I petted him. I stroked him from head to tail and talked soothingly. His brown eyes looked up at me trustingly and he even dozed off a few times. He was at such loving peace with me there in that warm sun patch getting petted.

Soon enough they came from the SPCA. They told me he was covered in Mange and that I needed to go home and shower and wash my clothes. I felt miserable for the dog. I felt miserable for my guests.

I let it eat at me until the following Monday, I showed up when they opened, just to see how he was doing...maybe I could work it out with another dog.

Oh no, they said. He was too far gone. They had to put him down right away. He had a severe case of mange and was very sick.

No, it wasn't a happy ending......but that little dog did not die cold, and alone, starving in the wood. I feel what I did was all I could. It makes me so mad that people are not responsible enough to take care of animals that they just drop them off like that!


Well, there is one of my stories. If you feel a comradeship like that you are welcome to join us! Take our logo~and go fight dirty!