A Prayer Answered

As a parent my greatest concern is that my children will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior and ask Him into their hearts.  For some time now Luke has told HD and I that he is a Christian, and until yesterday I have felt like he might not really get it.  Every time we have tried to sit down with him and read what God's word says about salvation he gets a little confused and I have felt like it was not really time yet.

Sunday at church 3 kids went up and asked Jesus into their hearts.  After church he asked why is it they got to have everyone shake their hands?  HD and I explained that they were Christians now and our church family wanted to congratulate them and welcome them into the kingdom of God.  He said no one has shaken my hand yet, I'm a Christian.  I prayed and prayed yesterday for God to guide me in how to know for sure and how to lead our son.  When HD came home from work we went into our room with Luke and read him a few verses from the bible and he completely got it, he had great questions and ultimately he then prayed with us and he excepted Jesus as his Savior.  After we had prayed together I asked Luke how do you feel and he started to cry, he said I feel so full inside.  Of course I was crying too!  I explained that the Holy Spirit has come to live in your heart.  I know for sure that my son has eternal salvation and our prayers have been answered, each and everyday of each one of our children's lives we have prayed that they would come to know Christ and an early age and yesterday our oldest did just that.

We will speak to our pastor this week and he will be baptized soon.  I am just so grateful that as parents HD and I could walk with our son on this journey.

I'm alive!

Blog friends I really do miss you all, are you all there anymore or have you left my lack of blogging all together?  I have found times in the last year where I never had trouble blogging I had endless ideas and other times where you all were my dearest friends.  I have to tell you that lately I can't come up with one thing to write about.  Not at all because I'm not busy but because I am so busy.  More than anything I am so fulfilled in our new church, I knew back in November that something was missing a void of sorts.  Now I realize I was very lonely, I longed for more friendships with women in our church and this blog filled that void, but lets face it most of you don't even know my real name.  I was so lonely.

This last 2 months have been the best months I have had in years.  My children are making friends and can't wait until we go to church and my husband is making friendships and going to men's bible study and he is also so happy.

I do feel bad for the lack of blogging because you all have encouraged me in bad times and laughed with me during happy times, you all have been a source of comfort when I didn't even know why I was so sad.  Thank you.  Although I can't promise to blog daily I am sure I don't want this part of my life to end.  I have found in the last year that I love writing, I love reading your blogs.

So let me tell you some exciting things going on in our life.  We are having a Chili cook off and pie bake off contest this Saturday at our church, we are also having a snow day, our church has rented a snow making machine and we are going to have a snow day.  I am entering 2 pies into the contest, I will post the recipe this week and HD is making his famous Texas chili.  My mom is going to enter a white chicken chili also.

We are still not pregnant and sadly it has been a year since HD had a vasectomy reversal, I will say I am becoming less hopeful as time passes.  I also find that I have more peace as time passes also, see I know God wants me to be a mother again and I feel like God is leading my heart into different directions, I keep feeling like maybe we are to adopt maybe a 2 year old girl.  I can't believe I am sharing this with you all but I really need your prayers for so long I have wanted to be pregnant and to nurse a baby and hold my own child but when it all comes down to it, none of that really matters I feel like if I can't have one maybe someone already has, and God wants us to open our hearts and home to a child that really needs us.  Please pray for HD and I as we pray about this journey and ask God to lead us completely into his will for  our family.

I hope you all have a great Tuesday!   We are having freezing rain today so hopefully we don't lose our power!

Sincerely Fro Me To You ~ Family hunting trip

Back in December we all went squirrel hunting as a family.  We got our squirrel dog for our children Christmas 2 years ago.  He is a very sweet doggie, even though he got in a fight with a skunk!  On this Saturday morning we got out in the woods at 7am, we got 5 squirrels.  Yes I do cook them and yes they kind of taste like chicken...  They are good fried with gravy, but what isn't good fried with gravy?

Here we all are posing 

This is Luke with his doggie

Go to We Are THAT Family for more Sincerely Fro Me To You.

confessions of a disorganized housewife....

I still have my Christmas decorations up!  Ok now that, that's out in the open I feel much better!  I really want to get everything packed away but I haven't had a minute yet, except for maybe last Sunday but ya'll I needed a nap...

I am going to have HD get the boxed down from the attic tomorrow evening so that we can start on the job.  HD works this coming Saturday so I can get everything done and have him put the boxes away.  We are going to a Sunday School class get together on Saturday night we are to bring soup.  I am making clam chowder, and some fresh bread.  I love the New England creamy kind not the brown Manhattan kind.

We are enjoying our new church so much!  I realized a few weeks ago that I really wanted to go to church, I actually couldn't wait to go.  I have been going to church for many years but for the last few years I have not really felt like a vital part of a church family and even though we have wonderful friends something was missing.  I have found it, it was a whole family of Christians.  We have a small couples group we go to on Wednesday nights, I am really looking forward to meeting tonight.   In two weeks our church is having a sledding snow boarding, chili and pie cook off  festival of sorts.  We have rented a snow machine and will be having a great time.  HD, being a Texan and all has decide that he needs to win the first prize for the chili contest.  I on the other hand want to have the best pie.  But what pie, the rules do not say we can't make more than one pie so I think I will make 3 so I have a better chance to win, and you can never have to much food at a Baptist function, we like to eat.  I am thinking I need a peanut butter pie and maybe a cream pie, I am unsure of the kind of fruit pie to make so if you have any ideas let me know...

So I am going to go vacuum around the Christmas tree's again and hopefully for the last time this year.  As soon as we get the decorations put up we are starting on redoing the kitchen flooring and painting so that we can get this house on the market, maybe that's why we have been procrastinating so much we just have so much to do.

I have  been getting up early every day to do the Wii Fit I have lost 4 pounds since I weighed in on Monday with a group of woman, we are calling our little group Weigh and Pray and we are following WW while weighing in on Monday mornings and praying for each other.  I really want to lose 16  more pounds.

Have a great  and Happy Wednesday!

Small things can mean so much

Last night HD went to Walmart with me....  Let me tell you it really meant the world to me!  I love grocery shopping, I really do.  Nothing brings much more satisfaction than to fill our cabinets and fridge with healthy food and make nutritious meals for our family.  The problem, shopping for two weeks at a time with 3 small children it toe.

So, last night HD went to the store with us, he got a cart for Daisy to ride in the front and Bo to sit on the coats in the back.  He took the kids and would go fetch an item or two meet back up with me and I would send him on the next hunt.  He really enjoyed the time with the kids and I was able to get our shopping done in less than 2 hours, and we made it to Sams Club too.

This is such a wonderfully kind thing because HD does not like shopping, he actually hates shopping unless it's at a sporting goods store.  

On Wednesday HD took a vacation day to stay home and spend the day with us.  I decided he should see what our school day looks like, he really doesn't get a chance to watch the kids do school so he really has no idea what a whole homeschooling day looks like.  He was surprised, I guess he thought it went faster or maybe that it was  easier...  I guess he was unaware of how many times a day the kids interrupt me or that they have so many different needs or how different each one of their schooling is, from second grade to Kindergarten and even pre K with Daisy.  He was full of compliments at the end of our day, from "it is really a hard  job, you do" to "boy our kids are smart"!  It was really good for him and in turn he realized my days are hard and last night he made my job as a ~stay home wife, mother, home school teacher, nurse, cook, and  maid  much easier!

Tonight we are going on a much needed date!  My mom is  keeping the kids over night she is even coming to pick them up to give me more time to get ready.  We are going to Panara Bread for dinner.  I have never been there before so I look forward to trying something new.  We are also going to go to a movie, and maybe even to Starbucks for coffee.  We have no curfew, no kids, I am really excited!  I even scheduled a couples massage for us in the morning before we have to go pick up the kids.  As much as I am in love with my husband and as attracted to him as I am and always have been, his sweet gesture last night has made me even more excited to be alone with him, and spend time with just us!  

I hope your Friday night is great I know mine will be!

Money Well Spent

I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have stressed and worried about what is the best gift to give.  Hundreds of times probably!  With Luke our oldest I wanted him to have everything and I over spent most every holiday.  I never bought with in the age range which always turned out to be a huge mistake!  With Bo I bought him expensive toys to make up for the fact that he had so many hand me downs.  One Christmas, it was his first Christmas I think I spent $80 on a stuffed Octopus with bells and mirrors that was supposed to be very intellectually stimulating all because we had everything else.  No matter how I spun that stupid thing he never would look at crawl to or play with it!

Now with Daisy being the only girl I wanted her to have barbies and babies and a toy kitchen and dress up clothes you know girly stuff.  All way to early though, she was just starting to speak in sentences when we bought her the kitchen and she didn't even know what to do with it.

So with all that in mind I really did some research this year.  I wanted to buy the kids age appropriate gifts that they would enjoy, learn from and remember.  I love that the boys are interested in action figures, we invested in more Playmobil this year we got them a Cowboy and Indian set, they have played with it every single day, and a Forestry set because with HD being a hunter the boys love playing with this set as well.  They were given the Tag reader, and it is worth every penny!  Even Daisy loves it, she is picking up some of the words by using it over and over.

Daisy got Bitty Baby Twins this year and she has proven to be a wonderful little mommy, it will be no time at all until she is ready for her American Girl.

Luke was given a Ball of Whacks, this is a great gift idea for any boy who likes to take apart and put together.  We got 2 really amazing board games one is an old classic called Shut The Box it is a math game and if you have kids who like to play games this is a great one it is fun and teaches math all at the same time.  We also got Blokus and even I am hooked, we have played almost everyday, its a little to advanced for Daisy at 3, but with supervision she has played with the pieces sorting and stacking them on the board making her own game.  The other game we got this Christmas is Cosmic Catch, I think this is my favorite game the kids got, all 5 of us can play together and it is not a long game.

Oh and we got the Wii Fit.  I found it on Amazon.com for over the retail value but really it has been worth the extra money I paid!  I have lost 2 pounds already.  I have been getting up at 5:30 and exercising before I make breakfast and I feel good.  

As far as I am concerned the money we spent this year was all on great toys and games.  I wish I could say that about every year!

Happy New Year 2009!

I really can't believe a whole year has past so quickly!  I find that these days I am so busy I don't even find time to blog or read blogs.  That's because we got so many fun games for Christmas we have been playing non stop for two weeks now.  So I won't apologize for my blog absence because I have really been having a great time with my kids!

We have been doing the new Wii fit, playing shut the box and blokus, domino's, uno and many many other games all the while dressing and undressing Daisy's bitty baby twins.

Are you enjoying the kids during their school breaks?  I wish it could last even longer but Monday morning I will be doing school again.

Do you have any New Years Resolutions?

Last year I had so many, this year seems so different, I had no idea last year we were going to have a vasectomy reversal and remain baby less, I really believed I would have four children by now....  I had no idea that I would lose my Grandpa with lung and liver cancer.  Life just seems shorter to me I guess.

I do want to remain positive this year!  I want to remain hopeful and thankful this year.

Happy New Years, I hope you day has been wonderful!