Saying Goodbye

Today we said goodbye to our brother Adam for a long time. He leaves for Iraq in November for about 9 months. It was hard knowing that it could be the last time that we see him, although no one likes to think about that. Please pray for his safety, and especially for him to stay strong and be a good testimony to those around him. You all have been there for us when we were going through hard times with him, and I thank you so much for that! God really does answer prayer!

The 4 guys: Robby, Danny, Adam and Nate (Rob was trying not to squint :)

I miss him so much!

Trip to the Riverwalk

This weekend, Adam was able to come on a 4 day leave from where he is stationed in North Carolina. Those of you who have followed this blog since the beginning know that he has had a very rough year and a half or so. Praise the Lord he got saved 2 weeks ago! god had been dealing with him for a long time and he finally gave in and gave his heart to the Lord. He's been trying to be a good person on his own and have the victory over his sins for a long time. Now he will have the Holy Spirit living inside of him to help him out!
We spent as much time as possible together while he was here. Saturday we all drove to San Antonio and spent the day on the riverwalk and in the mall.

Nate and Brooklynne on the boat ride

Uriah and Adam-- On the way there
Brookie playing with Nate's phone :)
Nate and Joanna on the boat ride (with Brookie trying to climb in the "bath" :)
Nate and I, although I look pregnant :(
All of us (except me) waiting for the IMAX to start. :)

It was a really fun day and the kids behaved well despite missing nap time. :) Pretty much everyone crashed out on the way home, and we ended the day with pizza and another late night!

Bumper Stickers

Across the street from my house there is a car parked with 2 bumper stickers on it. I always thought they looked a little weird but wasn't sure what they said so yesterday I stopped for a second to read them.
The first one...

"Feeling Guilty? It's because you're Catholic."

Maybe someone can help me out because I have no idea what that means.

The next one was a little disturbing.

"Lucky for you, murder is illegal."

That one I understood. Yes, in this case, I count myself lucky.

Give and it Shall be Given!

If there is one thing that marriage has taught me about myself, it's that I am a very selfish person. When you grow up with 9 kids in the house,( and often times other people staying with or living with you!), there's not a lot of room for your selfishness to show.

Now, I'm living with my husband and one child. He adores me and wants to make me happy, so it's very easy for me to be selfish, and of course to see it.

Thankfully, I do see it and I'm really working on it. I've learned that there is one way to get rid of it: giving. Giving makes me the happiest person in the world, and makes me focus on someone other than my self.

I am the typical girl; I love flowers, chocolate, jewelry, little presents, love notes and especially quality time with my man. Sometimes I have a pity party for myself that I don't get these things on a regular basis, and when I'm thinking about it, it will often turn into me getting upset at him about it. He feels bad, then I feel bad, and we waste a nice night we could have had together having an argument. (Not because he doesn't want to. Because it takes me a while to get over things--another thing I'm working on, but we'll save that for another time :)

So lately, I've been trying something. I've been giving of myself more. I've been truly loving him the way he needs to be loved, without an attitude or the "I have a headache" excuse. It's truly amazing how much happier I am in our relationship. I feel closer to him, and I feel that spark in our marriage that goes dull once in a while. Mainly, I love to feel like my husbands' girlfriend and see that twinkle in his eye when he looks at me from across the room!

I think of the verse, "Give, and it shall be given unto you..." and it is so true. Instead of focusing on myself, I focus on him and his needs and I become the better for it.

And, what do you know. Right now I am savoring a little piece of dove dark chocolate, which has pink wrappers, because he knows I love pink and chocolate. What a Man!

Prayer Request!

This Sunday is Anniversary Sunday at our church. The gospel will be preached in the morning service, and afterwards there will be a prime rib dinner for all the adults. During the service and afterwards when the parents are eating, the kids will be in classes, eating their own meal, and playing games with prizes, etc. It's a really big day here, so I ask you to pray for a few things:

1) The people that have been invited would come
2) Many souls would be saved

I've invited the people I babysit for, piano students and a friend at the gym. I pray that they will come and be able to hear the gospel, and I hope that you will pray with us!

My Wedding :)

This was a fun survey I found about my wedding. I know that most of you already know the details, but I thought I would share anyway!


What time of year did you get married? Summer, and the weather was perfect!

What did the groomsmen wear? Black tuxes, silver pin-striped vests and silver ties

Color of bridesmaid dresses? French Blue (like a deep baby blue)

How may bridesmaids, including maid/matron of honor? 7, including 2 junior bridesmaids ( I have a ton of sisters and best friends! :)

Are you still friends with all your bridesmaids? Oh yes. We are all still best friends, and I don't think that anything will ever change that.

Location for reception: Fireman's Hall (It really was nice!)

Band, DJ or other? None. I sang to Nate though!

Something unique about your wedding? We had sparklers that everyone held at the end of the reception and we walked through them. It was so much fun, everyone loved it!

Did anything go wrong? My dad and I recorded "Butterfly Kisses" to play during a slide show at the reception, but the sound guys weren't very prepared and you couldn't hear it at all, which was really disappointing because it was a really special song to us and we worked really hard on it! (Can you tell I'm still bitter? Just Kidding :)

Where did you go on your honeymoon? Orlando, Florida

Name one thing looking back you would of changed? We would have relaxed a little bit more on our honeymoon. We went to 3 Disney Parks, Universal Studio's, Arabian Knights and did tons of shopping. It was a blast though! And we ate like pigs the whole time! :)

Bear With Me!

I want one of these. Not only is it the perfect size for me, it pink and it's Italian made! I understand that it is not at all practical. Hello, I'm a Mom! Where would I put my child as I was cruising around town? And where would I put all my groceries and shopping bags from my frequent trips to the mall? :)

It can't be wrong to want one, though, can it?

Someone needs to invent a moped with a child's seat on it. Then I might consider purchasing one and zooming around on it frequently!

(I warned you that you would have to bear with me!) :)

Pastor Thompson Update

Most of you know that our Pastor has been deathly ill for a few years now with a rare genetic disease. It attacks the kidneys and liver and causes his body not to absorb any protein. So he's been "wasting" for a while now. He only weighs 110 pounds. It is truly amazing that he is still alive, but it's obvious that he is holding on for something!
He's been living a Los Cruses, NM, since January. The hospitals there can give him the specific protein medication that he needs and he has a special doctor treating his case. Here he never got care like that, so they have to stay there basically to keep him alive. He's been on and off dialysis several times now.
At this point, he has shingles which are causing him intense pain. He is totally bed ridden now, and he may shuffle to his chair in his living room once in a while. After that it's back to bed. For weeks has not been able to counsel or talk to anyone except for one of his sons. He hasn't even talked to my FIL who is the assistant Pastor. It seems clear that he is going home soon, but yet we've said that so many times.
At this point, it's hard to know what to pray. Do you pray for god to just take him home? He cannot do what he lives for and loves--preach--and he's living away from all of his family, grandchildren and church family. His wife is also going through the separation of her children and grandchildren since she is there with him. It seems that if the Lord was going to heal him he would have done it by now, but perhaps he has some purpose planned that we cannot see.

Please pray that the Holy Spirit would intercede for us as we do not know what to pray, and for us as a church without our Pastor for 8 months now and for comfort for his family.

My Back

Today was my second chiropractor appointment and it went very well
All during my pregnancy I had horrible lower back pain, sometimes so excruciating I could hardly move. Afterwards, it got a little better of course, but has always been there nagging me when I would get out of bed. I have a horrible habit of cracking it a lot myself just to get some relief ( I also crack my fingers and neck...but we'll save that for another time :)
Why I waited 15 months to finally go for an adjustment was because of insurance deductibles, but I had finally had enough and it was traveling down into the back of my thighs. I couldn't sit for very long without having to stand because I get pins and needles in the backs of my legs.
One of my best friends, Veronica, works at a clinic so I went for an adjustment almost 2 weeks ago. They took x-rays and we said that we would look them over at the next appointment.
The adjustment did wonders for me, and I had relief for about 8 days but then it started coming back. I went again today and looked over my x-rays with Collette, the chiropractor. She says that my pelvic and hips are out of whack (makes sense after you push a baby through there that it would be messed up!). Also, my neck has no curve at all; she will be showing me exercises to do for my neck ,and to strengthen my core.
She says that I will heal and I have to go weekly until I do. Last week the left side of my neck didn't move, but this time it eventually did which she was happy about. I'm glad that she will be able to work it all out, because I'm 21 years old for crying out loud! I shouldn't have to feel like this!
I'm just happy to finally be getting some relief from this annoying pain in my lower back, and hoping that I will not have such bad pain during my next pregnancy!

How life Does Change

Going to the grocery store before having a child:

Decide to Go

Grab Purse

Leave

Approximate time spent getting out of the house: 3 minutes.

Going to the grocery store after having a child:

Decide to go
Wait until baby wakes up from nap
Feed baby
Change baby
Fill sipi cup
Pack snacks
Check to make sure you have diapers and wipes in diaper bag
Pack water bottle for Mom
Pack snacks for Mom
Change babies' clothes, since she got jelly on her shirt from lunch
Put on shoes
Put on babies' shoes
Carry out diaper bag, water bottle, snacks and baby into the car
Buckle baby in car seat
Start car
Stop Car. Run back in house for forgotten grocery list
Run back out to car
Give baby sipi cup since baby is screaming
Pull out of the driveway, exhausted and ready for a nap
Approximate time spent leaving the house: 48 minutes

I know that some of these are exaggerated, but sometimes you forget how easy it used to be...and forget to enjoy how much more fun it is now, even if it is a little crazy!

New Background...

Again!
The other one was annoying me because it made the pictures look faded. This is much better.

Pictures from the last few days...

A little close up of us!
Playing the piano. I just got this shirt for about $3.00 and think it's so cute!
Mom! I love it!
We bought a bike seat last night, so this morning we went on a little bike ride. She liked it except for the helmet!

Back to...LIFE

My Mom and sisters left yesterday. We had such a great time together. We went to the park, swimming (3 times!) and did way too much shopping. Or maybe I should say spent way too much money--at least I did! :) It was worth it though, and when Macys' has little girl clothes for $3-$4, you have to stock up! We ate a lot of good food and went to Culver's one night, which is a lot like Abbott's custard. Nate and I shared a carmel-pecan Sundae, the little girls got chocolate and vanilla cones, and Mom got the flavor of the day: Oreo-mint!

It was a very tearful goodbye and hard day for me after they left. I've never spent time like that with just my 2 youngest sisters, and since we were able to get so close it was hard to see them go. It's amazing that even though there are 15 and 17 years between us, we were able to get so close. (And let me just say, someday I will not like that age difference though. They will be beautiful, young, thin, cute Mom's and I will be the old fat granny!)
Anyway,I cried a lot yesterday to say the least! I don't know what I would do without my man in times like that when he just holds me as I cry and tries to comfort me in the best way that he can.

Today I'm doing much better and it's back to life. I put away my 3 baskets of laundry that have been full of folded clothes since Monday and Tuesday. I cleaned my kitchen and scrubbed my microwave and cleaned my room. Thankfully the little boy I watch is at my house today so I was able to get this all done while still watching him. Later I'm going to need to pick up some fresh fruits and veggies. We don't have any right now and I'm craving it!
Visits are good, but I do have to admit that it's nice to get into a routine again. I wish we could have visits and a routine! That would be the life! :) I wouldn't have traded this visit for anything, though. It was so great to have them here for over a week. It was one of the best weeks of my life!

Family Night

Every Monday night we have family night, so since my Mom is here this week we had it at my house and she made sauce. It was delicious and the night was so much fun!

The girls getting ready to eat
Brookie was really enjoying it :)
Trinity and Brooke were both looking at Uncle Danny :) (Poor little Trini fell head first out of her stroller the other day so that is what the marks on her head are. Thankfully she was Ok!)
Uriah helped with the dishes for about 20 minutes! He layed over the counter and would turn on the water for Steph who was washing the dishes.
Verity and Nicole got along so great once again! They played for so long and made a big mess in Brookie's room :)