Enjoying The View!

You may have to click on the picture to be able to see the little birdie.



It is so nice to enjoy the view of God's creation!  

While sipping a hot cup of coffee, on a cold morning, I watched the deer and birds go about their morning routines.  I absolutely love being able to watch the wildlife here.  (At our last house all we could see out of each window was another house!)  We just put out some corn for the deer, and Clinton is supposed to put up a bird feeder for me on Friday!  It doesn't take much to amuse me.  I guess that's a good thing?!  

To HIM Be the GLORY!

Lord, I want to thank You for all that You have done, and continue to do, in my life.  Help me not forget that the Glory is Yours.  I want to give You the praise that You so richly deserve.  Help me to not get caught up in "all things me".  I want You to be able to use me for Your glory.  May I show Christian love toward others so that they will know Your love.  Help me to step out of my own comfort and share the comfort of Your spirit with others.  Thank you, Lord, that you never leave us.  You give hope in the most hopeless of situations.  You are with me through every trial and struggle that I face.  You turn tragedy into VICTORY!  Give me the strength to see Your purpose in unpleasant circumstances.  And help me to accept YOUR answers, even when they differ from what I had in mind.  I pray against discouragement when I don't see immediate results.  I want to follow wherever you lead me.                   Amen.

Please be praying for a boy named Brady and his family  they need God's grace and mercy!

Kids Say the Funniest Things!

Some of the things that these kids say cracks us up!!!  Last night at dinner we were talking about how Ezra really likes spicy foods.  He even likes hot buffalo chicken!  Well, Ethan said,"Ezra likes spicy food so much that he is probably gonna be mexican when he grows up."!!!  He was dead serious!!  I don't know where this stuff comes from, but we love it!!!  They are so much fun!!!!

Our 100th Day Of School!!!

Monday will be our 100th day of homeschool!!!!!!!!  I am so proud of the boys and their hard work!!!  Homeschooling has been a great decision for us!!  I love being able to teach my children and the reward I feel when I witness them "getting it"!  Homeschooling is a HUGE job!  It definitely takes A LOT of time, but it is my privilege!

The holidays are certainly over and we are back in full swing!!  You may not be seeing much of me.  Being a homeschool mom requires devotion and commitment! ( Add to that all of my mommy and wife duties!)  So, I will be checking in from time to time!  For now, I need to help these kids graduate to the next grade!  :)  

P.S.  I may even find a good book to dive into during my free time!  What little I get!  :) 

P.S.S.  Last night after basketball practice Ethan said to me,"Mom, I am the luckiest boy in the world!"  I said, "Why is that?"  And he said that it was because he had the best Mommy and Daddy, the best brothers, the best sister, the best teacher, the best dog, and the best room in the whole world!  Wow!!  Talk about feeling GREAT!!!!!  That was awesome!!!  Thank you, Lord, for his sweet little spirit!

To Infinity and Beyond!!!

I have got to get Emma some "big girl" undies!  I put Owen's Buzz Lightyear underwear on her to let her little bum air out, and she loved 'em!!!!  She was running all over the house, dancing, and singing!  The whole family was getting such a kick out of her show!  She is so much fun!  A few times our golden retriever, Bingley, tried to pull on the back of her undies.  If I could have gotten a picture of that it would have looked like the little girl and dog on the sunblock bottle!  Remember that?

Boy's Room

Yesterday, my friend, Jessica and I went to Bowling Green to do some shopping and have some Girl Time!! Clinton stayed home with the kids while I enjoyed a much needed break!!! Thank you, Baby!!! We had such a great time!

We have been wanting to fix up the boy's room for a while now. I was so excited when I found some really nice quilts on clearance! The problem was there were only 2 and I needed 3. Then I found a quilt that was very similar to the others!!! I called Clinton to see if he was okay with the purchase, thankfully, he was!

I still want to put their names or first initial above each headboard. Hang some curtains and a few more things, but this is our start. It is a new color scheme for me. They have always had blue, green and yellow. The change feels good!!!! Owen's bed is in the middle and he loved that his quilt had a pond, trees, and a bear on it! Ethan spent the night with a friend last night, so I can't wait to see what he thinks!!

I'm Not the Only One...

I'm not the only that kicked out the dog and brought in the cat!  Last night was so cold that I was very concerned for my "outside" cat, Badgera.  I have been asking my husband to let me put him in the garage or something, so he doesn't freeze to death.  Well, he finally let me put Badgera into Fiona's ( our chihuahua) crate and keep him inside!  Fiona got to sleep with us (something else Clinton wasn't too happy about- at first).  I wish that I had taken a picture of the two of them all cuddled up this morning!!!  It was so funny when I saw that my friend, Tina, had done the very same thing!!  Except, my cat didn't have the luxury of a warm crackling fire!  I would love to have that!!!!  And the poor "little" thing had much smaller sleeping quarters than Porch Cat and... Oh! I forgot the other one's name!  I'm sure our furry friends appreciate our act of kindness!!!!

Story Time!

One of my most favorite things to do is READ!  Love it!!  I really enjoy sharing the "magic" of books with my children.  I have always read to them in hopes of instilling a love for reading.  Ethan and Ezra love to read!  Every night they read a few chapters of their books before "lights out".  Owen doesn't read yet, but looks at books and makes up his own stories for the pictures.  That brings up a huge challenge that I will be facing VERY SOON!!!  Teaching Owen to read!!!!!  I'm a little nervous!  Okay, maybe more than a little!  If anyone has any good tips, let me know!!

Secret Santa?

Have any of you noticed that Bekki is like Santa?  Before going to bed (no matter how late it is) you check your blog (and others) once more.  There's nothing new, so you feel content to get some sleep.  The next morning (just like Christmas!) you wake up and check the blogs.... SURPRISE!!, there's a new post from Bekki and a few comments on your blog!!!!!  I love it!!!!!!!!  I get so excited while I'm getting my coffee, on my way to see what Bek has for us that day!  Thank you, Bekki B., for the joy you give me!!!  You really mean a lot to me!  After 11 years of friendship I guess you have become more like a sister!  I know Lori and Mom would agree!  So I guess there's only one thing left to say, "Welcome Home Bekki B.!  Welcome Home!".  Sponsored by Sears.   He! He!  Just kidding!  Love you Bekki!  You ROCK!!!!!

P.S.  Thanks for the award!  I didn't write this post in response to that.  I was wanting to write it last night.  But unlike somebody I know, I can't seem to stay awake!!!  You know the award is much appreciated even though I don't know how to link the stuff, right?  And I don't feel comfortable making a list of only a certain number of people.  May seem silly, but it's honest.

This is what the kids did  while we were recuperating.  Everyone was feeling better, but still taking it easy.  They love Narnia.  So they decided to put on their robes and make crowns out of pipe cleaners.  They even asked me to make a girlie crown for Emma Jane.  It was fun!  We made all kinds of things!  I was napping with Emma, when Ethan and Owen came to show me their "new looks"!  And yes, that is MARKER on my baby's face!!!!  They were so proud of their selves!  I'm pretty proud of my flower and bee!  He, He!

GREAT NEWS!

We are healed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!!  We ALL are feeling so much better!!!!  A couple of times I thought I was gonna buckle, but I didn't!!!!  Wha hoo!  

Thank you, Tina!

Tina, you are too kind!  Thank you for the "sweet treats".  Right back at ya!  I don't know how to put those icons on my blog.  I might need to get some help with that.  : )  Sorry!  I am not very computer savvy!  My blog friend, Tina, from So Very Blessed, gave me a "Kreative Blogger" treat that said to list 6 things that I am most thankful for.  So here they are:

• Jesus!  My Saviour!
• 
  
• My INCREDIBLE Husband!  I cannot put into words how VERY much he means to me!  My love for him is uncontainable!  He is my dearest friend, my knight in shinning armor, my confidant, my protector,..... my love. 
•  
• My precious children!  God has blessed me beyond belief!
• 
  
• Wisdom!
• 
  
• Love
• 
  
• Forgiveness!!!!!

I thank God every day (honestly) for all that He has done for me and who I have become!  Sometimes I feel so unworthy.  I am so glad that God's love is unconditional!  He is there whether we deserve Him or not.  If we stay in His word and desire His will then we are allowing those blessings to flow all over us!  

******************************** 

         HappY  

  BiRtHdAy

     ***LoRi !!!!

Here is my little contribution to the color challenge thingy.

In similar colors.  He! He!    :)  

Ahaaaaaaaaaa......!!!!!!!

I forgot to mention in my last post that Ethan, my oldest, was the only one that did not get sick!  And that he helped me out a lot!    WELL,... I was on my blog friend, Tina's, blog when.... Ethan came to me and said,"Mom, I'm gonna throw up."!!!!!  AHAAAAAAAAA!  I rushed him to the toilet and immediately got the phenergan!  Unfortunately it didn't work for me and my two younger sons!  I pray that Ethan will keep it down!  I sort of feel like crying.  How much more of this???  Sob.  Moan.         ....I know that God is faithful!  I better get back to my Ethy Bo!  Keep the prayers comin'!

Thank You!

I would like to start this post with an enormous" THANK YOU", for all of your prayers!  I truly appreciate them from the bottom of my heart!  This week was an extremely grueling time for me and my family.  We passed around a very nasty stomach bug.  I believe that only God helped me get through it with a kind and patient heart.  I don't like to see my babies and husband in pain!  It is my privilege to nurse them back to health, but was difficult since I also had the virus, TWICE!  Yes, I got over it, then caught it again!  Clinton worked late every night (He said that many of his patients had the same thing.), so I had to do all household tasks by myself.  Even though I was ill, I was cleaning up after the kids "sick messes"(which were frequent!), assisting bathroom trips (VERY frequent!!), trying to care for the ones that weren't sick (and needed lunch, diaper changes,...), and feeding the horses (all the way in the back pasture)!  Clinton was so sick that I did not want to wake him, when I noticed that he had forgotten to take the trash to the road for pick-up.  Normally, I would have just waited until the next week, but the garbage was overflowing already!  So I bundled up, went outside and  forced two more bags into the huge receptacle.  Then came the hard part.  I could barely pull it up our gravel driveway (a hill)!  It tipped over a few times and other times the gravel was so thick that the wheels were no use at all!  Thank you, God, for giving me strength!    

We are almost rid of the bug!  Owen and Ezra are still experiencing some.."symptoms", and Emma got sick last night.  Maybe it will be just that once!  She was the one that got the bug first!  Lord, please don't let her get it again!  I have been sanitizing EVERYTHING!  I even opened a few windows to air out the house.  It was nice, but I couldn't keep them open for very long because of the cold weather.  

Thank you again for all of your prayers!!  Thank you, Father, for your love and mercy!  By Your stripes, we are HEALED!

Pray for us

We have a really bad virus going around our house.  Owen and I have it now.  It has been very hard today!  I don't have any strength yet I have to carry Owen to the bathroom every time he has to "go" or throw up (which happens at the same time).  He can't even hold his poor little head out of the puke bowl.  We are struggling to get through this.  It has been a VERY difficult day for me.  Please pray!

On New Years Eve I put Emma Jane's hair in pigtails for the very first time.