Hello World

It seems that I have been letting my blog fall by the wayside.
Its not that I don't love you all, its just that I "see" most of you on Facebook, and well lets face it folks, we're all a little bit addicted to that!

However, I have a few minutes on this fine Saturday, so I thought I would just say Hi.

In case you don't know its April, which means I am in VBS mode. My nightly bad dreams have already begun. You know the dream where its the day of an event and you've done nothing to prepare for it. Yes, I have those EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! It is a tiny bit annoying. But it sometimes reminds of things I need to get done.

One night I had a dream that I was in college and my roommate was a cannibel. Yep, now that is weird.



Stacy and I started on Season 1 of "Lost" and are making our way through the DVDs to catch up.


We are almost done with Season 2.
I must say, we are VERY obsessed! We are enjoying this show so much, and really enjoying Netflix too.
We reached a point where we didn't have the next disc and decided to watch on line and it was SO annoying. Commercials, small screen. blah blah blah.


We are nearing the end of the school year...the part of the year where I think "I can't homeschool anymore".
When it comes right down to it folks, its all about me.
Its my lack of discipline.
Its my wanting to do other things.
Its my not trusting in what God has planned for our lives.
I know all that, and every day I wake up and think about what a horrible teacher I am, and how we've gotten off track.
Right now I'm trying to keep our heads above water and get us through some basics and then we can be done.
September will be a new start. AHHHHH....I'll feel better then.
And God and I will have a good 3 months to work some discipline issues out (with me, not the kids;)


Well my friends, I leave you with this picture of my daughter and her new tactict for not eating carrots.
Look closely at her cup.

Yes, she chews, then "swallows" some water, and lets the carrots dribble down into her cup. I am being punished for my similar eating antics as a child.

Insight

Today the Lord ministered to me through my children.
I love it when that happens. I love it when I see His fruits manifesting themselves in their lives.
This morning was a good morning for the Gospel in our house.



Yesterday I got word from my sister, Laura, that there may be a complication with her unborn baby, Skylar. They had an ultrasound that showed fluid on the babies brain. Then they had another one with better equipment that said , no. But after her doctor has looked at that ultrasound, she is saying, yes, she is seeing something she doesn't like. So they will be having to wait until May 4th to have another ultrasound, when she is 29 weeks, to confirm that there is or isn't fluid.



I wasn't going to tell my children about this. I don't know why. I guess I just didn't want them to worry. But what I learned today was that by not telling them, I was not giving them the opportunity to experience God.

This morning they learned of this, through some written words that they read.
They asked me what was wrong with Skylar, and I told them.
My poor little Lana Lou proceeded to cry her eyes out. Uncontrollably.
She is like me. She doesn't like people to see her cry, and so she immediately buried her head in my chest and then proceeded to let the flood gates open.



What happened next was moments with my children that I won't forget.
Lana and I laid in my bed and read a missionary story together, prayed, and talked about God having a plan and a purpose for everything that happens.
She still was very melancholy and clung to my leg while I made lunch.

While she was clinging to my leg, Logan came in with his Bible and said "Lana, I want to read some scripture to you. Its long and a lot of verses, but I want you to listen."
He then began reading to her out of Genesis. The story of Noah and the great flood.
I was listening to him read, and kept thinking..."Where is he going with this?".
When he was done, he asked Lana if she got it.
Lana said no, and I myself was wondering what he was getting at.

Then he told us.

"You see Lana, I read you this story because it shows us that God is in control. That even when bad things are happening, like a flood that is destroying everyone except for 8 people, that God is in control of everything. Noah believed God and trusted in Him, and things were bad around them, but he knew that God was in control. God did what He said He was going to do, and protected Noah and his family. If God was in control over a big flood, God is in control over Skylar too."



WOW!!! I am so thankful for the insight God has given to my son! I am thankful that He uses even what to us is bad news, and uses it for His glory! If I would not have told my children this news, they would have missed an important lesson on God's love for His people and His sovereignty over all things.

What resulted after this, was Lana going and getting her new VBS music CD, and finding a song based on Psalm 33:4. The song is called "We can trust Him"
She then listened to and sang "You are my King, Amazing love", complete with the motions she learned, and had herself a little worship service.
The difference in her countenance before and after hearing the words of the Lord and then worshiping Him the way that she knows best, through music, was amazing!

I have learned a good lesson today about my kids and how God is working in their lives.
Praise be to Him.

The Room Debut

Sorry its taken me so long to do this. My original pics turned out blurry so I just had to retake them.
First of all I don't have very good before picture. This one basically gives you the idea though that our room was nasty white, always a mess with clutter, and the dumping station for everbodies stuff. I also don't have a picture of the ugly border that once was, but it was mauve flowers. Enough said.

And this is the inpsiration piece for the room. Our wedding flowers were Daisy's and Stacy took this picture and had it framed for our 1st anniversary.

This is as you walk into our room. Notice we have curtains! Never had those before!

We moved the bed to the smaller window wall and WOW what a difference that made!

I got the bedding at Aldi, of all places, for $50. Included the bed skift and shams. It is so soft and comfy! Got the sheets at K-Mart. They are Martha Stewart and are the first new sheets we've had since our wedding 10 years ago.

This is our dresser that Stacy painted years ago and it "just so happens" to match the comforter!

I go the cool iron thing at Hobby Lobby.

I, with the help of friends that are better at Staple Guns than me, made this headboard type thing. It is a 36 X 48 piece of Canvas on a board, then fabric around it. There is a better picture of the fabric below.

Love this cozy little look.

I wanted the kids to do a little project for the room so I painted these frames white and they made daisy pictures for them. I love what they did!

I got this vase at Hobby Lobby for $3. I was a $30 vase but the glass insert was broke, but I didn't need it anyways! The framed napkin is from my Bridal shower 10 years ago.

I love this thing! I saw it at Kohls and got it for $9. It is just so cute and whimsy.

This I made. Obviously a wedding picture and tied in the daisy's. Then I have a quote from Richard Baxter who was a purtian theologian that we had his piece on Marriage read at our wedding. This is one of my favorite parts of the room. And here you can also see that the fabric I found had sage dots in it! I couldn't believe how perfectly it matched!

We didn't have end tables, I had a cheap little wooden round table with the detachable legs, next to my side of the bed. Stacy had that basket on the floor for his clock. I got these cute iron tables at none other than Hobby Lobby.


The frame has 2 brown candle sconces next to it, and I found the brown and sage throw pillow, also at Hobby Lobby.

I love my cute little daisy's and vase on my night stand.

I always wanted curtains like this, plus I discoverd they really block the light from outside and it has been alot harder to get out of bed in the morning!

I poked some holes into this lamp shade and put this brown polka dot ribbon through it and added a little daisy to it.

I found this tray at Target for $3. I decorated the candle with the same ribbon and daisy, and also added some little gems to the candle holders.

Another decorated candle.

I got this plate at Target for $3. There is one on each night stand.

This frame we already had and I definetly wanted to keep it. I got the little candle holder at Hobby Lobby.

This is another candle holder that I decorated with the same ribbon and some daisy stickers that I used in the Love picture.

And here we have Stacy entering the room for the first time!
He had NO idea that Crissy and I did this, and couldn't believe we did it in one day while he was gone to work.

Love that face!

He was so funny. He just kept saying "This is crazy, this is ridiculous, I can't believe it."

At one point in the evening we were downstairs watching TV, and he came upstairs to get something and I heard him laughing and talking to himself. He had to just have one more peek!

I am SOOOOO pleased with my room makeover! It was a lot of fun planning for weeks and gathering things here and there. It was fun having the kids in on it to and they did awesome keeping it a secret!

I am amazed at how different my room looks. It is a totally different room. Plus it looks a ton bigger!

The wall color is called Toasted Wheat. I like it. It looks very crisp and clean!

I must also thank Crissy Sharp who got this ball rolling by pealing my border one day, and then saying "Oh yeah, we could totally do that in one day.".

She came from 9-6 last Thursday and we knocked it out! I couldn't have done it without her!!

Thanks my friend! Oh and thanks to Crissy's husbands, Chris, for taking care of their kids for the day so she could help me!

Also must thank Ginger who came and helped us for a little while. It was fun having her for a while. She also ironed the head board fabric one day at her house when we made it.

I have to thank her husband, Trace, too, cause he took over with the staple gun and stapled the fabric on for me...which brings me to, I must apologize to Heather Nold for Stapleing her finger. Uh yeah, I had the staple gun wrong and the staple popped out and hit her in the hand. Thankfully it didn't puncture and there was no blood, but I am offically never using a staple gun ever again because of that!

Anyways, hope you like it. Now when you come over I won't keep the door shut, I will gladly let you peak in!