A Peek at Christmas

We had an interesting Christmas. Aaron got sick then Lauren. Ethan had enough of Aaron's cough to keep us on our toes. We stayed home and had Christmas all by ourselves this year for fear of giving our "junk" to anyone else. We were unable to do our traditional meals and things with extended family but we were very rested and the kids are getting better.






























The tree that we almost couldn't get into the house :-)








Fairy Costume-she was so happy!













Serious cookie decorating....











and a gingerbread house.














Brendan was the only one that was 100% well.










A Shiner for Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Busy Week!

Wow!! What a week this is turning out to be!! The kiddos are back in school and we are back in that school routine. We really enjoyed a low key week during the Thanksgiving holidays. We stayed at home alot, tagged our tree, hunted, put up lights, and just spent alot of time together. They especially enjoyed Aunt Jen spending the nite because they still ask if she is coming over today;)
This week Aaron has a fieldtrip, Ethan has a fieldtrip, two days at the mission,bridal shower on Saturday and the kids are out of school on Friday because of a teacher meeting....WHEW! It will be a fun week but a little too much for ONE week. Next week will be difficult because we WILL NOT have anything to do:) We are carefully planning to NOT plan too much this holiday season so we can enjoy each other without so much hustle and bustle(this week being the ONLY busy one)
I will try to post some pictures from all the week's activities.

What to write today.....

I am thankful for:
healthy children
a week long break for Thanksgiving(-woohoo, no homework!)
enough food to eat
a warm bed
electricity
new relationships
seeing God at work in people
knowing He is with me all of the time,(esp when I lost my keys)
my husband, who puts up with me and rescued us when I locked us out of the house
the opportunity to bless others in the smallest way
hunting season
not having to fry chicken for the 1st grade feast
my Jesus who knows all about me and loves me anyway
that little secret that HE has for me and reminds me of often

What's on your list of blessings???

Random Pictures

Lauren's first horse ride with her new friend, Taylor.














Does my face look like this?












Stylin' and Profilin'













Ethan and Lily taste-testing the candy before the parade.















Jen and Aubrey

God's Mission

I haven't ever posted about this because somehow I believed that it was screaming "me, me, me!" I think that is a lie I believed that kept me from sharing about HIM,HIM,HIM!!!So here goes:
Our church began a new vision. Our mission statement is " To give ourselves away for the transformation of our community, the city of Las Vegas, the country of Wales, and a "un-nameable for security reasons" people group.I love mission minded churches so this was right up my alley but how could I transform my community? I live 30 minutes away from our church and have 4 small children! One day, Lauren and I dropped some clothes off at our local mission and they mentioned to me that they could use help hanging up all of the donated clothes. God was showing me how I could begin helping in MY community. From that day, I began working there 2 days every week. I love busy work so I felt that God matched me to the perfect job. As we hung up clothes, I silently observed and realized that that there was a need for interaction with the clients. It was like God spoke to me and said, "Be different, just follow my lead." As I began talking with clients and helping them find what they needed, I saw a change. I saw a change in how many garbage bags they tried to haul off. I was able to listen as a woman described how her husband left her with nothing and then pray for her afterwards. This wasn't a Wendy thing. Wendy is not comfortable making small talk and asking people if they need prayer. This was and is a God thing. Following His lead, I am able to help others and show the love of Christ. There are so many times, when I fail to do as He asks me. Sometimes, I just don't feel like it and I have found out that I truly am the one missing out on the blessings that He is waiting to share. Even worse, I am missing a chance to show someone to Christ. God has truly changed my heart. He has given me a new compassion for people here in my community. He has opened my eyes to needs that I was totally unaware of before.
I realized right from the start of this job that God had placed me here for a reason. Back in May, I was asked to be director of the mission. I know that God has a really big plan for my time here. It is so excited to watch! We are working on healthier food to give and regulating the clothing that is taken out more. We are beginning a trial adult reading program. We attempted to begin a Bible study but have not had a huge turn out so we are redirecting to building relationships with our clients first. We have helped people who have lost their homes to fires, people that have gotten out of prison, new single mothers, abused women and many needy seniors,children and families. I pray that this mission continues to go in the direction of helping people help themselves. I would love to see a job readiness program along with job placement. Before any of this comes about, it is our first priority to help people begin a relationship with Jesus! There are many days when the physical needs take precidence over the spiritual needs. The enemy wants to fool us into thinking that just taking care of one need is enough so we press on. Please pray for all of our volunteers, that it would press upon our hearts to share Jesus with every person that walks through our doors. Pray for those clients that come in that their hearts would be hungry for Jesus and their ears open to hear the truth.

Been Busy Round Here!!!

Wow! Things just don't seem to slow down much and when they do it throws all of us into shock! Today is one of those perfect days for a Sunday afternoon nap so that's waht we did!! Ahh! So nice to rest and relax. I even got out of my grocery trip today. Thad went to pick up the necessities for tomorrow.
School is going, going, going. We get report cards in two weeks. Also in two weeks, Ethan will be on the Homecoming court as crown bearer. We are so excited but it has taken up alot of time to get things ready and we have the smallest part in the whole deal!!!!
There has been alot going on a the mission. New changes, new ideas, new procedures equals tons of work. It will be so worth it all when these things take place so I'm not griping for sure!
Hopefully, there will be a big and more detailed update soon with pictures and everything! Love you all and let us know how you are!!!!

Just in Case You're Wondering.....

what that lil square is about on my blog--its Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a way to earn points as you search and use the internet. The points can be redeemed for gift cards or used in the Swagbucks store. Points can be earned when you search through Swagbucks. I recommend downloading the Swagbuck toolbar and using that to do your regular internet searching. Periodically, a screen will show that says you've earned a swagbuck. When you invite friends, you earn a buck everytime they earn a buck. Hey people! We are going to search on the internet so we might as well get paid while we do it! Christmas is coming soon so I can't think of a better time to join. Please leave a comment if you are interested and I'll send you and invitation!

One of "Those" Weeks

Yep, this has been it! First, getting stuck in the woods then...not an hour later...Lauren fell off of the boat into the pond!! We were so thankful that she was wearing her pink tutu. That's how Thad could see her when he jumped in to "save" her! I am so thankful that I don't have that picture in my head of the whole event.
Since then we have had a ripstick wreck, shower fall, and yesterday Lauren was stung on the head by one of those big, red wasp!!! Can you please pray for our family??? We need it!!!!

Survivor Woman.....

I AM NOT! You know how you watch those Survivorman/Man vs Wild shows and think. OK, what's the big deal or he's nuts. Well, I too watch those shows and I know that when you see him in the rain or filthy dirty or wet and col- we just don't get it. We are in the comfort of our home- not feeling the way he is about those things. With such an eventful week last week, Lauren and I got our survivorwomen experience. We headed out to the back where there are new dirt roads and trails to explore. We do this several times a week but we happened to find a new trail that we hadn't been down before. We were having a great time until we ran over a blue runner. I HATE SNAKES!!
This particular blue runner was about a foot away from me when we ran him out of the grass. I decided to make a hard right and ended up high centering our atv on some very old trenches. So here we are stuck in the woods-no cell phone and Lauren had no shoes. I tried to move our atv but was unsucessful so I began digging the dirt out from underneath while Lauren watched for the snake;) After about 30 minutes we gave up. It really stunk sitting there not knowing what to do which made me think of survivorman. I could walk out but I was thinking more of the snakes that I would surely step on if I went back the way we came. We sat for a while then decided that we should walk anyway. We were walking in the opposite direction when we saw "our boys" coming to "save" us. They had been looking for us for awhile but couldn't find us. Of course, they were able to push the atv out. Thank goodness for our boys!!!

School Update

I thought this may be necessary since there was some concern over the look on Aaron's face ;)
Aaron is loving school so far. He came home with a sticker today because he was so good. He had a hard time last week because like he said, "I just like to talk!" Yes, I know where he gets that from. He is doing super on those math facts so far. He is at the point where he just can't learn enough in one day. He always wants more. I love that about him!
Ethan is doing well but has developed a complex over the dreaded math facts. He really hates it when Aaron shouts out the answer before him. He is doing super reading and came home with a 105 on his science test. The five bonus points came from him memorizing and writing-I will praise thee;for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Love that too!
Brendan is hanging in there with jr high. He did come home concerned about a vocabulary test but he wasn't upset. I managed to help him with his algebra tonite since DAD isn't home. Luckily, there were plenty of examples and he only needed a "little" help.
Lauren was feeling left out tonite with mom doing homework with all of the boys so we pulled out the alphabet cards. She loved every minute of it. She did recognize her L and was very satisfied that she had some homework time with mom too.
So that's the update today. I figured that I still owed ya for not updating much.

Wow, its been awhile!!!

We have been really busy lately but I didn't realize that it had been so long since I blogged. Well, school has begun. We officially have a jr. high student! All is well in jr high so far. Second grade is going smoothly considering that E is adjusting to new glasses for reading. First grade is much better than Kindergarten was! Lauren and I have adjusted to life without the boys at home. We are super busy at the mission! It seems we are doing that way more than two days a week. She has been a real trooper allowing mom to spend so much of her time working. She usually watches a movie, colors or plays with the people there for the few hours that I work. I am so thankful that she can be happy without all of Mom's attention;) Here are a few pics of the going ons around here:

Pictures for Nevin

Family Pic minus me and Aaron







Took this as we were leaving...sorry about the glare!









That's Brendan in front of the new Airbus! That thing was huge!







Our future pilot!









Aaron learned to rivet!








Cutest pilot award







Not sure what they were doing but it was fun!

It's Been a While.....

Man, where has the summer gone? We have been so busy enjoying all of the summer activities that I have not taken time to blog. The kids have been fishing, swimming, doing chores, playing video games, riding bikes and watching lots of cartoons. The older two went to a daycamp at church every day last week. They didn't like the idea but ended up having a great time. They have had a blast this summer and do not want it to end. This will be our last official week of summer vacation. Next week is full of appointments for haircuts, immunizations and check ups. I put it off until the last minute so we could just soak up summer as long as possible. I'll try to put some pictures of all the summer fun on here next blog. Let us know how you've been!

She Doesn't Get This From ME!!

This whole girly girl thing is really crackin' me up!! She needs to wear dresses EVERY day. She is constantly putting on her play makeup--blue eyeshadow is the current trend ;) Hair accessories are a pretty big deal too. Today's request was two braids with a flower on top. And last but not least..EVERYTHING revolves around being a princess!!


Yesterday's scenario:

(Mom & Dad hugging in the kitchen)

Lauren:

STOP!!!!! That's my handsome prince!!!!!

My "Baby" is Eleven!!!

Can you believe that???!!! Brendan is 11 years old!!! He will be going to the 6th grade this year. THAT IS JUNIOR HIGH PEOPLE!!!!! Can you tell that I'm not so sure about this??!! Its so hard to see that lil man that has always been my baby ....well....as a little man!?! OK, enough on all that. Here are some pictures of his birthday. He had quite the day and was treated a bit "royally"...I think;)









The day started off with our traditional Happy Birthday cinnamon rolls for breakfast-Plus a little aggrivation from Dad!










Everyone loved that it was Brendan's Birthday! What a fun day!










Blowing out the candles.....









on his birthday cookie cake!!!










Looks like daddy is suffering through this day. Don't ya think?











Can you ever really win enough tickets????












A big surprise for everyone at the end of the day!!!!



Don't worry! To ward off all the damage mom and dad did on this special day, the boys are learning to replace toilet seats today!! See they aren't totally ruined!!!

Southern Summers

There is something quite unique about southern summmers. Only a true Southerner knows what it is like to have to get up very early to get things outside done or waiting until dark to get back outside. All of this to avoid the heat. All those expressions, "dog days of summer"and "lazy southern summers", they have new meaning to me. The heat here is so oppressive! We have to plan our whole day around when it it just so hot that we MUST stay inside under the a/c. There's nothing lazy about those summers-just to0 dang hot to function! After saying all this, I couldn't resist the tradition of putting up corn this year. I haven't made time to do that in several years. We got up very early one morning and drove to my grandparents corn field, picked about 100 ears of corn and was back home by 8am. The boys enjoyed the work day. I cut the ends off of each ear, Brendan and Ethan did the shucking, Aaron did the silking. After we finished, we ended up helping Aaron with the silks. The boys got to go play some video games while I cut the corn off of the cob, blanched it and put it up. We got about 7 large bags of cut-off corn and a couple of bags still on the cob. Lots of work for so little result but it will be worth it this winter when we have fresh corn! I'm so glad that the boys got to do something that I did while growing up. I hope we made a memory. The funniest part was watching there reaction when they were surprised by a bug/worm in the corn. They even kept a few in the bug dome to watch for awhile- I NEVER DID THAT GROWING UP!

A Lil Update

Ok, so we made it through screen-free week. Well, six days at least;) It was tough! We watch more tv than I thought! The thing that I found the hardest was finding time to get my stuff done with no tv on. I hope that this will be a reminder not to fall into the same bad habits. This week has been so hot! We have been swimming quite a bit and yesterday went bowling. I believe we will have to stick to indoor activities for most of the day and save the swimming til last when it is not so hot!!!! I really would love to be up north in the cool,not humid weather! Thad is spraying here close to home for now. It is really too hot to do that! On the agenda for today: get rid of six kittens, get Lauren ready for her swim lesson (Thank you,Casey), get the boys packed to go help at the mission. Yea, that should keep us busy and cool for awhile;)

Hope your day is blessed!!!

Our Judeo-Christian Nation

Screen Free Week!

Yes, that the happening at our house this week. We have been screen free since Saturday afternoon. This means no t.v, video games or computers for a whole week. This rule only applies to the kids;) (hehehe) It started out as a punishment for all of the fighting going on around here. I also wanted them to be creative and do something fun using their imagination. So far it has gone rather smoothly. I was actually surprised by that. They have spent most of the time fishing and swimming. We have had friends over to play and I have noticed lots of board games and puzzles going on into the night. I can't wait to get a good game of UNO started. So I will be looking for ideas of more thing we can do togther this week. We have a library trip planned, a sleepover with cousins, and a little mission work. I will be grateful for any other ideas. It hasn't gotten to the point of pulling out the crafts yet.....But towards the end of the week, we will be looking for something--- I'm sure of it!!!

Wendy's Favorite Things About the Beach

Hanging Out













Watching Handsome Dudes!








The Scenery














Happy Children











Sand Creatures











Sand Castles

Happy Birthday Aaron!!

Everyone is still asleep in our house this am. It is incredibly nice to have a day when we don't have to be up early and ready to leave the house. Everyone is exhausted from our busy day yesterday. We woke up to wish Aaron a Happy 6th Birthday-complete with gigantic cinnamon rolls,candles and the bday song! Then we were off to do a lil work until lunch. We came back and celebrated with an ice cream cake. Oreos, vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake--impossible to go wrong with that!!! Finally, we spent the rest of the day at the pool with all his new pool toys that he got for his birthday. They swam for 3 hours so that explains why they are still in bed this am. Here's a little picture of the birthday boy with his cake!

Mother of the Year!

Yes, that's exactly how I feel this week. We were so excited to get to the last week of school. I kept telling myself over and over, "Get through the week!" The last day of school was our awards day. I sat with my family taking pictures of the two oldest boys. They both got awards for having honor roll all year long. (so proud!)I noticed that Ethan's hair was a little different. He never has forehead showing with his cute little haircut. (Brendan is the lucky child that inherited my cowlick;)) After awards were over I noticed that a huge chunk of his hair was missing! I fixed his hair for school and never noticed it. Does this give you an idea of how alert I am in the morning??!! My child cut his hair the night before!!! We found scissors and hair in his bed. Why?? Why would my seven year old do this??? All the scissors have been confiscated and I am aware that I have to wake up earlier in the am and have coffee before I fix hair!

If its not working.....try something else!

This is one of the important ideas that I want to teach my kids. Keep trying!!! I have to admit that most of the time they get so frustrated when something doesnt' work. I hear.."I just can't do it" more often than I would like. Yesterday, the oldest two boys were given the task of letting a fish out of the live well in Daddy's boat, putting it in the pond, and draining the live well. We were a little concerned as to why it was taking them so long to do the task. Brendan came in and said that they simply could not catch the fish. It kept swimming away from them. Thad was about to go and do the job when they informed him that the fish was already in the pond. We were quite confused until they told us that they had figured out another way to catch him. (I would have loved to been out there to see whose idea this was!) They baited a hook and caught him with their pole. Then took him to the pond and let him go.

I have to admit, that was one of my proud moments!!!

Brandon Heath - Give Me Your Eyes

Wanna Spend the Night in a Teepee???

Let me assure you that if you are over say 15, you don't! We decided to go on a little "fieldtrip" to the diamond mine in Arkansas. We had a great time digging for diamonds in the huge crater. We didn't find any diamonds, but we found quartz and some really pretty rocks. The teepee is where we spent the night. It is not at the state park but just down the road. You can check out the accomodations at www.diamondjohns.com The video is so relaxing to watch and a perfect place for kids to roam. Well, it actually was very misleading. The whole area was covered in duck and goose poop. The giant sand pile for the kids to play in was no exception. The yard was grown up and the tents were musty with mildew on the plastic--stinky. There was an air conditioner that kept it cool so there was less musty smell. The sheets (where I found someone else's hair) were not clean! So inspite of my state of disgust, I kept it to myself and the kids had a great time. I don't think they even noticed that I was ready to go at first light to wait at the park until it opened;)








Aaron took pictures while I was texting Thad about the accomodations.






Aaron playing with the flashlight and loving how it looked at the top of the teepee.









Lauren headed out the door of the teepee.

The Making of a Southern Belle

Vespa Tour

Some beautiful scenes in Florence!



















Our cool rides!




















The guys and our tour guide










The vineyards were beautiful even when they were bare!

























Olive trees







This was one of my favorite parts of the whole trip. I was a little nervous about driving through the city but it worked out just fine. I stayed close to our guide and let him watch for all of the traffic. Our tour was 8 hours!! We were so tired at the end of the day but saw some unforgettable scenery. We took some very curvy roads up the hills and back again. I had to drive slower than the guys would have liked. They claim that 70mph seems to be a good speed but 62mph was the fastest I dared to go;) It seemed to work fine for me especially since I didn't lay my bike down on a curve!