Tired

As you may have noticed from my posts, we have been doing a lot of running around. Life with kids is seldom quiet, but the last few weeks seem to have been extremely busy. It has left us all tired and it is starting to catch up! This weekend will prove to be busy as well. I am excited for the events taking place, but at the same time long to be home to get something done.

This weekend I will be attending the Revolve Tour with my Sunday School class. It should prove to be fun and interesting! The Revolve Tour is like Women of Faith for teenage girls. I think it has a few more concerts and a little less talking, but the girls that went last year really enjoyed it. I was not able to go last year so this will be my first experience. Please pray for the 25 girls that are attending (Laurie's and my Sunday School class and the God's Girls Sunday School class). The event takes place Friday evening and all day Saturday. Please pray for safety to and from the conference as we will be driving several mini-vans. Also pray that God would really speak to the hearts of these girls and they would put to work all that they learn. Pray for me to "be there" and not longing to be home getting things done.

What will also make this weekend a challenge is that Andy has been asked to speak at a church missions conference in DE. Since we are by no means fully supported, any churches that ask him to speak, he jumps to accept their invitation. He will be speaking Saturday night, so I won't see him as he will be gone before I get back, and Sunday evening. I really hate tag team parenting, but this is how life goes at times. Pray for him to be able to speak clearly about the ministry and that people will feel led to support us both prayerfully and financially. Also pray for Andy as he has lessons to prepare for next week. He will be a busy man!

Speaking of tired, something is up with Daniel. Please pray for him as he is suddenly not sleeping. He screams at nap times and screams when it is time for bed. He will only sleep if someone is in the room with him. He is exhausted. At the moment he seems to be frightened of the car sounds (alarms, horns, back-up beeps) in the neighborhood. This is something that is not easily fixed. There will be noise no matter what we do. Please pray that he would get over this phase, quickly, as it is driving me crazy. I do not handle screaming toddlers very well. I have no idea what to do about the situation. I have never come across this before. Matt and Sarah always slept or played, but never screamed during naps or going to bed. If you have any ideas you can post them by hitting the comments at the bottom of this post. I think you need to register a Google account. It will walk you through it. Please pray for each of us to get the rest we need to function properly!

Lots of Treats!

We had a great day today! First thing this morning I gave the kids the "treat" of not doing math. They were thrilled! It's not that they hate math, well Sarah might, but it takes a long time to complete the lesson. So they were able to get through their school work in record time! As a result they were blessed with an outing! We went to the Camden Children's Garden with the Hinsons'. They had a "Trick-or-Treat" event and since we have a membership (one of the cheapest around) it would cost us nothing to go. They had a great time. The garden is a beautiful little place that has lots of garden paths and various sculptures that interest the kids. They even have this great butterfly house where you can walk around with butterflies flying all around. Daniel loves this place! They had a trick-or-treat parade in which the kids visited different areas and received candy! Once again, Daniel thought this was a great idea! He is definitely my sugar baby! Even though the event was geared for younger kids, Matt had a super time running around with everyone else.

After the Children's Garden we went to the Adventure Aquarium, which is right next door. It was such a treat! I think it was us, the Hinsons' and maybe two other families! We had room to roam and actually see the different fish. We were able to get close and touch the sharks, jellyfish and starfish. Sarah got brave and touched the sharks and jellyfish. It was all very relaxing and wonderful! When we were about to leave all the kids received a small bag with candy and some finger puppet pirates. They really made out well! Afterwards, we went to the Olive Garden and ate dinner with the Hinson's. The kids did amazingly well and we really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to sit and talk a bit with Frank and Carisa as we don't get to chat with them often, even though we only live two blocks away! We had a great day and what made it even greater was that Andy could join us! We were very blessed to have lots of treats today! I am thankful we have friends that we can hang out with and places we can go to and enjoy with our children. God is so good! Daniel had such a huge day - he came home and started to fall asleep on the floor! He's so funny!

Creep in the Deep

As a rule, Andy and I have decided not to let our children Trick-or-Treat in the neighborhood. It can be dangerous as we don't know everyone in the area. So, we either visit home for their Harvest Party or other, safer, alternatives. So when I got an e-mail that the Adventure Aquarium was hosting a "Creep in the Deep" program I signed the kids and I up! It was a lot of fun! It wasn't crowded at all, making it nice to see all the different fish. We even saw the new Shark Ray - really cool! With it being less crowded I was able to let Daniel walk. He was such a good boy. He held my hand when I told him to and didn't eat any of his candy - though he was REALLY tempted! I often caught him peeking into his bag, but when I told him no, he closed it right back up! He and Sarah had a blast and Daniel picked up the trick-or-treating thing really fast! Daniel went as "Daniel in the Lions Den" and Sarah went as a Veterinarian. Daniel carried around a stuffed lion and Sarah carried around a stuffed Dog. They looked really great! In addition to trick-or-treating they also had pumpkin decorating. Each child got to pick out a pumpkin and decorate it. Daniel enjoyed this - he loves markers, crayons and stickers. Sarah was thrilled beyond belief! They also had a little Pirate Training Show. It was cute - they trained them how to be friendly pirates. Sarah laughed and enjoyed their antics! As you may have noticed Matt's name has been missing. Unfortunately, he had a horrible day and missed out on the blessing of attending this fun event. Matt sometimes gets it in his head he is 30 instead of ten and he doesn't have to listen to authority. I felt horrible about leaving him behind, but we have learned that Matt only understands the severity of the situation when we take away things that are important to him. Tonight was important. Please pray that he would learn to submit to his authority - more importantly, God's authority. Pray, also, for Andy and I to lead him in the right way.

Fall Weekend

We finally made it up to Andy's parents on Friday afternoon after almost 3 hours in the car! Between the rain and terrible traffic, it took FOREVER to get there. But it was well worth it! It was so nice to fall asleep to the sound of rain rather than the sound of partying, loud music and car alarms! When I went to bed I just lay there listening to quiet rhythm of the steady rain. It was wonderful. It was still raining heavily when we got up this morning. The great thing about the farm, though, is that there is a barn. The kids LOVE the barn, so many things to look at and investigate! Dad also has a pool table that the kids like to play around on. They had a good time.
After lunch, the sun came out and we decided to go for a walk. One of the things I miss most about living up there are the walks. I remember every Sunday afternoon we (Andy, his parents and I) would go for a walk. It is just so relaxing and at this time of the year so beautiful! It is also great for the kids to get out in the fresh air! Daniel loves the walks. Today we walked down to the creek to see how fast the water was flowing. It was going FAST! We really had to hold onto Daniel so that he wouldn't fall (read: jump!) in. We had fun throwing leaves into the raging creek and watching them float down stream. Unfortunately, it was too wet to jump in the leaves. It looks like we missed that activity for this year. We'll have to wait another year.Matt practicing his juggling (see the black walnut in the air at the top of the photo?)

He is his father's son!

It was a great weekend. It had been too long since we had been up to the country (since August!). The next time we'll get up is Thanksgiving. I can't believe we have to wait that long! It will be here before we know it!

What I'm Reading

So my friend, the one who encouraged me to start blogging, has encouraged me to get more creative with my blog. She taught me how to post pictures of the books that I am reading. She has it on her blog and I thought it was neat. I like seeing what other people are reading and learning if they thought the book was worth their time. I love to read, mostly fiction, but have been drawn to the two books pictured to the right. "Sacred Parenting" is an incredible book that I think anyone who is wanting to have kids or has them already should read. It is not a "how to" book, but a "why" book - why we have kids. It is very good and I highly recommend it! I wrote about it in an earlier blog about how convicting it is. Convicting, but very good.

The second book I have only started so I can't give a critique on it just yet. I am a screamer. I hate it. Everyday I work on this aspect of my parenting. Some days are better than others. But with God's strength, one day I will not be a screamer. I am reading this book to see what the author's thoughts and ideas are on the subject. I'll let you know what I think.

I have enjoyed today's weather. I love rainy days. The kids hate it. I keep trying to show them the great things about rainy days - they just look at me like I'm crazy. I am currently sitting in my school room listening to the patter of the rain drops on the skylight and windows. It's so very peaceful and settling. Now maybe I'll get some much needed paper grading done!

14 Years!

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary! I find it amazing that we have been married that long. It doesn't feel that long - I guess that's good! Our marriage has had many twists and turns, but when you go through it with a guy like Andy, it's pretty wonderful! He is a great man of God, wonderful husband, super father and my best friend! I look at some of my friends marriages and am so thankful to God for the blessing of a fabulous husband. It really is a blessing, one I never thought I would want or have! For those of you who don't know, I had planned on being a single missionary to Africa. But God, in His infinite mercy, saw fit to bring Andy into my life. And after much denying of the relationship, I finally gave in to His plan. What a great plan it has been so far! I can't wait to see what the next 14 years bring!

We aren't doing anything special today. We have Kids Club tonight (what a way to spend our anniversary, huh!? With lots of preteens!!!). The kids think we should have off school! We are, instead, doing a little extra work each day so we can have a half day on Friday. We are planning to go up to Andy's parents this weekend and hit Olive Garden for lunch. Andy loves their All You Can Eat soup and salad. We have a gift card from our Discover Cash Back points, too! That helps the budget. It can get expensive taking all of out to eat. The kids love it since we only go out to nicer restaurants about three times a year - anniversary, Valentine's Day, and my birthday/ Mother's Day since they are usually near each other, if not the same day. Andy knows I like to go out to eat - he doesn't care about his b-day. He would rather put something on the grill since his birthday is near Labor Day. God is good. I have a great husband, three beautiful, healthy kids, wonderful in-laws and parents, caring and loving friends and a ministry that we love being a part of. Praise God with me today!

Busy Sunday

I didn't blog yesterday because it was a crazy busy day! We had church as normal and it's my month to teach the Teen Girls Sunday School (we've named it HEART). We are currently working through Max Lucado's book "Every Day Deserves a Chance!" Teen Edition. It is a great, but challenging, book! Yesterday we talked about peace for stressed out days. It was a great reminder that God will supply everything we need on a daily basis and breaking down our days into manageable parts. Today I needed that reminder! Monday's are the worst. When we try to cram a lot of family time into two days, it wears us all out! I needed to get through each hour, trying to stay patient and be a good mom and teacher. I made it through! God is good!

After church Andy is coaching Little League Soccer for the church from 2:00-4:00 pm. Since church doesn't usually get done until 12:30ish (and yesterday it was 12:50 pm), it's a mad rush to get home, get lunch and get back out the door. While Andy is coaching, Daniel is napping and I am trying to get ready for the school week. The kids are having a great time playing soccer and there are almost 20 kids in the older group (8-10's)! I think it's the largest group we've had in a while. Andy is a great coach is really trying to teach them the basics of soccer.

To make things even more crazy for a Sunday we were invited to attend the wedding of Daniel and Marisol Ramos. That was at 5:00 pm. It was a great wedding. They are a couple that have been attending our church for a few years. Daniel started attending Kids Club with his two children when I was teaching the 5 & 6 year-olds. He would sit in with his kids and listen to the lessons being taught. Soon he started attending church and a while later Marisol started attending. They both have come to know the Lord and even separated because they knew they were not setting a Godly example for their children. It was great to see them walking in obedience to God's Word as they took their vows. They were so happy! It was beautiful. Please pray for them as they begin their new lives together.

By the time we got home (8:00 pm) it was bedtime and I still had much to do in preparing for school. It proved to be a late night! One of these days life will slow down, right?