Livin' with the North in the South

The Days of Fall

2011-12-19T19:11:00.001-08:00

Just as Pumpkin Pie goes with a Thanksgiving feast, so does the days of fall go with falling leaves and unfortunately some work to pick up those fallen leaves. The greatest thing of all is when you can take those moments and make a little fun while the work is being done. Jeff was outside raking while the boys were playing some football and that is just a moment in this beautiful day!

Here is Tristin, Jacob, and Austin running some plays and trying to score.

Here is Tanner joining in the game. This was a flashback moment because Tanner and his friends used to play in this very yard.

Of course here is Jeff raking the leaves around the boys.

But then the next thing you know there he is getting in the plays.

Here is Tanner playing all time quarterback!

Here is Austin going out for a pass with Tristin and Jacob ready to try and get an interception.

Of course after the game and the leaves were raked up Jeff took the kids and put them in the leaf pile to jump around!

Here Emilee and Jaden are trying to throw the leaves up in the air.

Then finally of course Jonathan found his way into the leaves for his moment of fun.

Just remember there is always work to be done but it can always be mixed with fun. Every moment is another opportunity to make another memory. Of Course the days of Fall would not be complete without a Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends.

Above is only the beginning of what we cooked for Thanksgiving That we laid out on my new Wood Cook stove.

Here is a Pumpkin pie that Jeff decided he wanted to make! Looks like he did pretty good for an amateur chef…lol

Here are some home made Yeast rolls.

Above are some of the snacks we put out to hold us over until we ate.

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Above are some of the family and friends that came to join us.

We read the kids some Thanksgiving stories before we ate to teach them what thanksgiving is all about.

Here I am reading one of the stories.

Here is Jeff reading another one.

Here are the little bundles of Joy listening to the stories.

We have been so blessed this year and we are so very thankful for all that God has blessed us with and the friends and family that we are so thankful for. We pray that your days of fall were filled with friends and family as well and as we are almost at Christmas I am sure we will have more moments to share.

Being Thankful!

2011-11-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

Almost a year ago we started a whole new journey in our life and the path we began has taken us to a whole new place. Had you asked us a over year ago if we would have 5 new children in our home the answer would have been NO! That being said a little over a year ago we started taking Foster Parent classes not knowing where that would lead us or who would be lead to us, but now a year later we not only have been foster parenting for a year but we have adopted as well. So if I was to think of something that we are thankful for it is ALL of our children! We have 4 children that are grown and moved out on their own and we are thankful that they come to visit us as much as they can. Just the other night quite a few of our children came over to eat and we had a ball playing catch phrase and just spending time together. It is such a blessing that they all live close enough that we can do that and with those special moments you can build such awesome memories that will be talked about for times to come. These are the moments we live for and that we are thankful for. Being that we are lovers of Thanksgiving and of course Christmas we decided this year to get our Christmas lights up before Thanksgiving so we could spend our time off enjoying more little moments like we talked about rather than working on lights the whole weekend. So we took some time over a few days to put up all the lights outside and also decorating the inside. We are so glad that we did that because it may be a rainy couple of days and now we don't have to do it.

After we finished everything up my husband gathered us up on the front porch and took our picture!

The funniest thing of all is that the kids all lined up according to age and we didn't even notice that until later. How funny!

Here is Jeff setting up the tree.

Mallory helping me decorate.

Tanner being himself...lol Oh by the way Tanner is on the right.

Here is Mallory helping Jonathan.

Of course we talked Desmond into helping too.

We are so Thankful for all God has blessed us with and we owe it all to him. Enjoy this season with us in celebration of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ making memories with friends and family!

Happy Birthday!!!!! (KayLeigh)

2011-09-18T12:12:00.001-07:00

We spend our latest Saturday enjoying a time of celebration! This particular celebration was for KayLeigh’s 6th birthday. We decided that we would have her birthday party at a Lake near our home because when you rent a pavilion you also get 10 arm bands so the kids can do everything they want. Some of the things they had was a choo choo train that takes the riders all the way around the lake and back for a relaxing view of all the scenery. They also have putt putt golf, paddle boats, and many other things that don't cost anything. KayLeigh was looking at a magazine the week prior and she saw a three tier cake and said “I want a cake like that for my birthday”. Well needless to say we wanted to try and make that happen so we asked a friend to make us one and at first thought she could, but then realized she would not have time. We thought about it and decided that no task would be too big to at least try so we bought all the materials it would take to make this cake and got to it. I baked all the cakes during the day and once that was done Jeff and I cut them as level as we could and started stacking pieces and icing them. Once we finished that we put them in the fridge over night and then we pulled them out in the morning and stacked them all up and iced over the whole thing together. After that Chasity came over and we started adding all the fondant flowers that we cut out previously and it really started to take some shape. Here are a few pictures of the process and please keep in mind we have never done anything more than a single layer cake.

Here we are making sure it is getting done evenly.

We added a little icing to the back of the flowers to help them stick.

Here is Chas setting all the flowers in place on the cake and making sure we disperse our colors correctly.

And here is the cake finished ready for transport.

Once we were done with the cake it was time to head to the park. here are all the kids waiting for the cake to be cut.

Here they are filling up on their sugar for the day.

Oh we are really making a dent in that cake.

Here is Tanner taking to Emilee.

Here is the train way across the lake with everyone on it.

Here it comes

Now were back!

Here they are about to arrive at the station.

Here is Gabriel, Tristin, and KayLeigh getting ready for the paddle boats.

And off we go!

Whew it is not easy paddling those boats.

Here is Garrett and James hanging out too!

Here is Sadie, KayLeigh, Gracie, and Lilly!

We are so glad that we chose to have the party here and we are so grateful that everyone could come and join in the celebration. We had an awesome time!

A Day Of Fun

2011-09-04T12:23:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday we decided to make a day of fun and just do whatever we felt. My husband and Tristin went to men's prayer and when they returned we were all ready for our day out.

First we went to our local farmers market to get some fruit and vegetables, then we were headed to the park to play for a while.

On our way there we came upon a yard sale and they had a chair I just had to have, and the amazing thing was it was only 3.00 I could not believe it. Here are a few pictures check it out!

The kids were very patient with me because you could see the park from the yard sale and they never rushed me. They just let me look and never said a word. Then we were off to the park and what a awesome time we had. The kids loved it! We started out letting them feed the ducks:

Here are just a few of the many ducks that came to the feast. I think they see kids coming and know they are going to get a lot.

Here are the kids feeding the ducks. It was so funny because most of the duck food ended up on the dock instead of the water. Oh well as long as they got most of it in there.

Here is Jeff and Tristin throwing the food off the dock.

Here is Jeff and Jonathan. Jonathan was too busy feeding himself to worry about those ducks…lol

Once we were done feeding the ducks then off to the playground we went.

Here are all the kids on the bridge again. If you remember we took one of these a while back so we thought it would be neat to do another one.

Here is Emily!

Here she is coming down the slide!

Here is Jonathan!

Here he comes!

And here he is!

Of course he just had to get on the swing too!

Here is Jaden!

He decided to go down the big boy slide!

Here is Hagan!

Here come Hagan

Here he is!

Here is Tristin!

Here he is!

Of course Jeff being the big kid that he is had to get in on the action.

As a disclaimer KayLeigh never would go down the slide…

Here are Jeff and Jaden racing back from the bathroom…Jaden won!

Here we all are together1

It was such a nice day because the weather was very cool that morning and no one was there yet so the kids basically had the whole thing to their selves. After the park we took the kids for ice cream and then headed back to the house. The kids took a nap and Jeff and I began working on the yard and putting out all our fall items. Later that afternoon Tanner, Mallory, and Desmond came over and washed and waxed all the cars. Jeff and the kids were all running around the flower bed and being silly.

Here are the kids running around the flower bed and doing sit ups and push ups. It was fun to them.

Here are the three rug rats sitting together on the porch.

It was a great day and we had lots of fun and family time. God Bless and have a safe weekend.

The First Week Of School

2011-08-18T18:05:00.001-07:00

This is the first week of school for us,the kids are adjusting well.KayLeigh seems to enjoy riding the school bus. Her teacher is awesome our son tanner had her in first grade,he is now nineteen how fast the years go by.Tristin also has a wonderful teacher and seems to really like it. As for the rest of the children I'm no longer working outside of the home so i am homeschooling the younger ones. I am very excited we are going to be using Konos I really like it. I believe Jaden and Emily will enjoy it since it is a hands on type curriculum. hopefully I will have some pictures soon of everyone's first week. Other than school we have been very busy our church recently did a back to school rally which was great. Still putting up things from the garden although I think this is our last week for that. Then it will be time to plant some pumpkin seeds, cant wait to see the kids pick their own one this year. Fall is just around the corner it is my favorite time of the year and I absolutely Love decorating and enjoying the cooler weather. Well more to come soon God Bless.

Lots Of Fun This Week

2011-07-23T20:00:00.001-07:00

This was a busy but fun week because we had two birthday parties as well as a lot of cleaning and canning. It was a very productive week, first we had our daughter Emily’s (just turned 3)birthday party and we had a blast. Jud was able to come by and spent some time with us but all of our other children had to work. Emily got some awesome gifts and a princess cake. We call her our little princess so what could be more fitting than that. Then I canned seventeen quarts of green beans which makes our total to thirty-one quarts. We are hoping to get at least fifty before they stop producing. Then today we celebrated my daughter Chasity’s (just turned 23) birthday. My husband watched all the other children so Chasity and I could spend the day together. We started out with breakfast and then a friend was having some people over for a scrapbooking class so we headed over there. We made some pages and also some cards. It was a great time then we headed home to start on her dinner. We have a tradition at our home when it’s your birthday you get to choose the dinner. Her request was “No Peek Beef Tips, Green Beans, Potatoes,and Rolls”. We had no cake this year because she is watching what she eats. As the dinner was cooking we did some other scrapbooking and made a couple more cards. Below are some pictures of this week. Also this coming week we have two birthdays to celebrate. Our oldest son Jud turning 24 and Tanner’s girlfriend Malory turning 18. God Bless

Here is a few pictures from Emily’s birthday.

Here are a few photos from the scrapbooking party.

Here are the green beans before I started breaking them.

ARC week

2011-07-09T15:08:00.001-07:00

This week was ARC which stands for Alabama Revival Conference that is held in Birmingham every year. This year was a little different because we had five small children,and that was certainly a change from years past. We had a great time even though unfortunately my husband had to work this year and had to drive back and forth. The services were great but there was one that i just cant forget and it was titled (The Stolen Babies) Pastor Doug White preached it and it was so powerful, he talked about how satan comes and tries to steal our babies by distracting us with all our problems and stealing our faith. We have to realize that God is there for us and in control of our lives . I'm not willing to let satan steal anymore of my faith. God is a great and mighty God whom I will put my trust in . We have to reach the dying babies before its to late the cities of this nation are full of people who do not know the one true God and it is our responsibility as Gods chosen people to reach them and teach them about him. They need to know it does matter what name you are baptized in, the Bible teaches that we are to be baptized in Jesus name and that you need the Holy Ghost. The evidence given in scripture when they were filled with the Holy Ghost was speaking in an unknown tongue as the spirit gives the utterance. This is the only way to salvation according to Gods word. Thank God for a awesome move of his spirit at this conference. If you would like to learn more truth about baptism here are some chapters in the Bible to help you get started. Acts Ch.2, Acts Ch.10, Acts Ch.19 these will get you started in the right direction on your quest to know truth. God Bless

Fourth of July Weekend(Day4)

2011-07-04T19:43:00.001-07:00

Well this is the final day of our long weekend. We started out the day with an awesome breakfast of omelets with old fashioned oatmeal and toast and it was so good. Later on this afternoon we took a short nap when the kids went down for theirs. After we woke up my husband and the kids went outside and stayed in and got the craft ready for them to do. We had so much fun my husband even got to join in. Then after the craft my husband told them the story behind why we celebrate the Fourth of July and how blessed we are in having our freedom. Then of course the kids had to have snow cones one more time, so dad came to the rescue then off to bed they went. What a wonderful weekend we had filled with lots of family, friends, and relaxation. God Bless !

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Fourth of July Weekend (Day3)

2011-07-03T20:28:00.001-07:00

Well this is day 3 and though we didn't rest a lot we did give the day to the Lord. After church this morning we went out to eat with some friends. Then as usual we can home and put the kids down for a nap. when they woke up we ate supper and then headed back to church. The service was about winning souls and changing lives of others which when you think about the fourth that's really what it is about, someone fought battles to give me my freedom, some have gave their life to make a difference in others. I thank God for my freedom to worship and even speak his name to teach my children about the one true God and how you are not truly free without him. I thank God that he saved me and gave me a life with him.

Fourth of July Weekend (Day 2)

2011-07-02T20:33:00.001-07:00

Well here we are at day 2 and it has been quite a bit of fun. Well I know I said all we were going to do was relax but I have one of those husbands that just has to get something done to feel like he has accomplished something. The reason I say that is he spend 7 hours of the day cleaning up the garage and of course he got me out there for about 5 hours too; however, I must admit that it was in dire need and besides that we love to go fishing in our boat and we couldn’t get it out of the garage, so I guess in reality we were preparing for another relaxing time fishing. Besides that we started out the day with a good old fashioned homemade breakfast. We had biscuits and gravy, eggs, fruit and sausage this morning. After that well you know the story above, but after all that we had some of our kids come over, and our very good friends, and as a surprise Allison and Tyler came over too for a cookout. We grilled steaks, burgers, and hot dogs. Then after that we started a fire and made snow cones. Then we got out the fire works and lit them as we were eating the snow cones. Heidi and Camille made some S’mores too! It really was a very good time and I think the kids had fun chasing each other with the Pop-Its we got for them. They also got to hold some sparklers as we were wrapping everything up. We have church tomorrow so I am not sure what we will blog but we will do our best.

Here are a few pictures of our breakfast.

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Here are some of the pictures from the cookout.

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Here are some from the Fireworks.

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Fourth of July Weekend (Day 1)

2011-07-01T20:06:00.001-07:00

We have been waiting for a good weekend to kick back since we have been so busy lately and now we finally have one. My pastor recently gave me a book to read called The Rhythm of Life. It is about taking time for yourself and your family. I have learned more in this book than any other book i have ever read. That's why this weekend we are staying home to take advantage of the time off. Our older children are going to be coming over Saturday to grill , Sunday is the Lords day, and on Monday we will spend our time with the younger children. They are looking forward to fireworks. We are not exactly sure how Jonathan will react but hopefully he will do ok. I will be posting each day to show our activities and how we are spending our days. Tonight Jud and Heidi came by and we are roasting marshmallows and making S’mores.

First we started a pretty good fire in our outdoor fireplace.

Then we had some family to join us. Jud and Heidi of course.

Then we helped the kids actually roast the marshmallows.

And here they are enjoying their creation.

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Little Helpers

2011-05-08T20:22:00.001-07:00

You know that once in a while the ones that are wanting to help others get rewarded by the very ones they are trying to help, and it is such a joy to see that it actually changes your outlook about things even that much more. We wanted to share one of the those little moments and let you know it was a real privilege to be a part of this team. I know when you read on that it will seem like no big deal, but if you pay close attention to these moments then you will begin to see the impact of what we are all about. If you go back into the archives on this blog you will see that we had a pine tree struck by lightning back in June of 2010. This tree stood dying until I believe November of 2010 when I had it cut down. The guy I hired only helped to drop the tree and cut the large parts into manageable pieces that I could try to get rid of. Well to say the least a tree looks easier to get rid of until it is on the ground and you have to move the pieces, then the enormity of it begins to unfold. I eventually got the branches moved with the help of my son Tanner and my son in law Joey; however, I had quite a pile left to move and just haven’t had the time. Well one afternoon just playing in the yard with the kids and all of the sudden:

they are helping move this pile of braches with me:

and the next thing you know it is all moved! Even the littlest ones got in on the moving.

Personally I love these little moments! We are a blessed family having these children here and they change our lives and make us to know how important we are to them and also how important they are to us. I didn’t get to take the pictures but after this pile sat for a week we burned it all to the ground so now all we have left are the really big logs to finish cutting up and moving. Now I know we will have the best help out there too!

A day in the Park

2011-04-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

There sure has been a lot going on since we posted last; therefore as I put these together they will not necessarily be in order. This was one of the latest things that we all did together so I decided to share this one first. We started out the day working in the yard and having fun around the house and since the day was so nice we all loaded up and went to the park to have a picnic supper and some fun. Here all the kids are together getting ready to take on the playground equipment.

Here they are again minus Jonathan because he wouldn't stay still for another picture.

Here is our oldest (that lives in the house) Tristan kicking back on the slide.

Here Kayleigh our second oldest.

Here is Jaden our 3 year old having fun going down the slide.

Here is Emily our two year old experiencing the static electricity while coming down the slide. look at her hair...how funny.

Here is our one year old Jonathan who was the biggest fan of the slide. He just kept going back for more.

Here he is going again.

Here Jonathan is getting a taste of the static electricity and because his hair is so fine it really stuck out.

Here all three came down at the same time.

We had a such a great time that day. We went to feed the ducks too but it must have been time for them to go because they weren't coming for the food anymore. We will just have to go back a little earlier next time. The kids were so good at the park and with a little help from Caila one of their favorite people (ours too!) we had an awesome time.
Thank you Caila!

Back to Blogging

2011-03-31T19:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry we seem to have been out of the loop lately, but it is only because we have been so busy. We have been blessed with 5 children now ranging in age from 17 months to 7 years old and it has taken a little getting used to. Laundry day now really is a day instead of only a few hours; however, the benefit is well worth the extra labor. We just wanted to write a quick hello and we will be posting more very very soon.

Christmas Day 2010

2010-12-27T15:36:00.001-08:00

Well we sure had a beautiful Christmas day since this is the first time in 20 years that we have had a white Christmas in Alabama. We were not able to go to Wisconsin this year and we thought we would not see any snow, well obviously we were wrong. Unfortunately the snow did cause Joey, Chasity, and Jody not to be able to come because of the roads being so bad; however, it was very beautiful. The good thing is they were able to come the next day and we still had a lot of fun playing games and opening gifts. Not only were we so very blessed to have all of our children able to come over the weekend to our house, but we also had two new additions to the Koehoorn family. The two new additions were Jaden (2 1/2) and Jonathan (14 months) and we were so glad that God blessed us with them especially at this time of year when we are reflecting on the things God has done for us and what we have done for God. We had a blast watching them open their presents. Of course before all that we had started the morning with a big breakfast made up of good old fashioned biscuits with chocolate gravy and regular gravy, bacon, sausage, and scrambled eggs with orange juice or milk. I hope I didn't leave anything out.

Here we all are gathered around the kitchen table awaiting the feast! Heidi looks like she is happy.

Here is Jaden sitting with Heidi

Here is Jud playing with his phone.

Here is Jaden sitting with his buddy Tanner.

Here is Jaden opening up one of his gifts.

One of Jaden's gifts was a truck and he sure likes trucks.

Here Jaden is getting a little help from Tanner.

Here is Jeff and Jaden Playing with some of Jaden's toys he got for Christmas.

Here is Jonathan opening up his gifts.

Well he needed a little help to open them, but he did do most of the ripping.

He looks like he is pretty happy with his presents.

Here is my ornament from Mallory.

Here is Mallory with her hooded pullover we bought her.

Here is Jud and Heidi getting ready to leave and go to Sulligent to be with Heidi's parents.

Here is Jaden and Tanner playing in the snow.

Here is Jaden and Jeff playing in the the snow too!

Here is our house all lit up for Christmas. We had a little snowman off to the left, but we got to build a real one for this year.

The snow just keeps coming.

Here is Jaden and Jeff rolling the snowman body.

Here is the finished Snowman complete with a scarf and a hat. We used a carrot for his nose and black beans for his mouth. Jeff laughed but I colored one end of the marshmallows and used those for eyes. At first they just stuck the eyes on and they were poking out, but once they dug holes for them they looked much better.

Here is Tanner and Jeff so proud of their snowman.

Family Christmas 2010

2010-12-18T18:22:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Koehoorn Family!
Here is a picture of our tree.

Here is me and my Hubby!

Here is my Hubby with my Mom.

Jud and my Dad are passing time talking about guns.

Here is Chas opening here gifts.

Here I am with my hand in my new Cookie Jar! Thank you Chas and Joey I love it!

Here is my favorite Daughter-in-law and Tanner hiding his face.

Here is my Dad and Mom. They are awesome!

Here I am waiting to open the big gift.

Here is a picture of Tanner from my new camera my hubby bought me for Christmas. Now I will have better pictures and more probably.

We are so blessed to have us all here together. Except for Jeff's family who we miss very much and we were so looking forward to playing in the snow, but unfortunately we don't know if we will make it up this year; however, we are so thankful that God has blessed us with the time to all get together and have fun and eat an abundance of food. He has been so good to us this year as he is every year and as we look back in reflection over the past year we just pray we can continue to serve him every day this next year.

Pears, Pears, Pears!!!!

2010-10-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for friends who take time out of their busy schedule to help another friend. We had a great time and lots of fellowship. Cindy was so helpful in giving Christy and myself important life advice, she always has an answer. Just kidding Cindy really is a good friend and has helped me in several matters.We did 21 quarts of pears and they turned out awesome.Thank you guys your the best.

Fall is Here!!!!!

2010-10-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well with fall coming in quickly we decided to spruce up our front porch a little bit. We like to do this because it makes it really feel like fall and it is a good way to celebrate the cooler temperatures and hopefully lower power bills. This is my favorite time of the year all the colors of the leaves and the fall flowers.Every morning before I start my day I try to take time and just sit on the porch and have a cup of coffee and meditate on the goodness of God,it is amazing watching all the birds, squirrels and all the other animals already about their day.Thank God for the little things that we find pleasure in.Hope all is well with everybody God Bless.

A Day of Family Crafts, Fun and Great Food!

2010-09-22T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well we went this past weekend to visit our daughter Chasity and our son-in-law Joey and eat some supper. We ended up putting together a little something that us ladies could work on kind of like the good ole times. We ended up making some fall centerpeices using the same idea as the one I made for Christmas last year and it was great. While us ladies were working on the centerpieces Jeff was trying to keep the dogs busy. It really is fun to get together and make things around the holidays because as the times change people find it easier to just purchase things already complete and while that is fine, there is no creativity of your own involved and just the time together will be remembered for a very long time.

Socks was a little more hesitant to play than Tippy was.

Well here we are getting started on the Centerpieces. Before we came we screwed together the cut pieces of logs in just a pattern that makes like little shelves to set stuff on.

Once we drilled the holes to slide in the dowel on the back of the scarecrows to hold them in place we just started cutting flowers, prepping dead twigs (that is what Jeff calls the harvest type flowers), and hot gluing acorns and pine cones to the wood pieces.

Here we are just working away like we used to having fun coming up with our own creations.

Here is the close up!

Jeff didn't seem to interested in helping us out either. Him and Joey had there own thing going and once they drilled the holes the rest was up to us.

Here is Chasity's once she had the scarecrow glued in place.

Here is Chasity's final product after all the flowers, leaves, and pine cones were in place.

Here is mine once I had all the fall items in place. we stopped at Walmart on the way home to find just the right color candle to finish it off.

Take time for the small stuff because it is times like these that we remember so well and you can't replace them either. I look back at so many fond memories and I am just thankful that we can still enjoy them together and now my husband has someone to talk to while we are doing it...lol. Thank goodness for Joey so he wouldn't be bored watching us. By the way supper was great and Joey's parents, Jud, Heidi, and Jody came to eat as well so they had a full house for supper. Thank you for supper Chas you did a great job! You did a great job cleaning it up too Joey.

God and His Goodness

2010-06-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Everyday brings new challenges but God is always FAITHFUL. Recently we had a lighting storm in our area and our tree beside our home was struck by lighting. It was truly a sound that will bring you out of the deepest of sleep. It was about 2:00 am when it all happened and we knew it was very close to our house we just did not realize how close. The next morning when my husband went out he saw that it was our tree, and the bark was striped completely off in one section from the top of the tree to the bottom. This was amazing to see considering the tree is about 90 feet tall. The thing that I realized is just how amazing these storms can be. The most awesome thing about this situation is right next to this tree is another tree that is almost just as tall and is only about 3ft away with a gas tank beside it. So why write about this? Well sometimes we just go about our day thinking we are always relatively safe in our own home, but in fact it is a false sense of security that could be taken away in a moment. Be thankful for each moment and pray often so when things happen that are beyond our control we have that vital relationship with the One who does have control...Jesus Christ.

Busy as Bees

2010-06-06T11:44:00.000-07:00

We have been extremely busy around here for these last few months. To give you a taste of all we have been up to we have started a daycare at our church, our youngest son Tanner just graduated from high school, and of course just everyday life such as putting in our garden and all the typical work around the house. Sometimes I think I need thirty hours in a day but I would just fill it up and need more time anyway. For our garden this year we are only planting tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers, and bell peppers. We mainly need the beans and tomatoes but the others are good to have for salads and besides that I have really been wanting some pinto beans with ham hock and cornbread salad with the other fresh veggies. Tanner is now working as a stock person at a grocery store nearby and will be starting college in the fall along with my husband. It seems so different not having children in school anymore and it truly was a sad time of my life because I had a very hard time adjusting to the ideal that my baby was 18 years old and was now going to start a new chapter of his life. I know God has every thing in his control my only prayer for him is that he will do the will of God for his life. That has been our prayer for all of our children and that is why we raised them the way we did. As for me God has started a new journey in mine and my husbands life with the opening our the daycare (Cornerstone Great Beginnings) on May 24. It has been awesome because we have met some of the nicest people you could ever imagine and the children are wonderful too. It is amazing how you become attached to them in such a short time. God is really a great God we pray he will continue to bless our family and move us in the direction that he would have us go. We do so many things with children like the kids church we recently had and it was awesome as well. We have so many awesome people that help us out but this time the Wisener's took a great idea they had and we all went with it. I know they put in a lot of work because we always want to make sure the kids have a great time learning about Jesus and there is a lot of prep time to make that happen, so we want to thank them for all the extra time they put into it. The rewards are great too because we had one child receive the Holy Ghost this time also and that is a total of six in the last 3 extreme kids churches. We are expecting more and more for God does give the increase. My prayer is that every child we meet we some how touch their lives and they will never forget us and what they felt through the love of Christ. Below are some pictures of all the things I have written about in this update. May God Bless You All!!!!!!!!

Here are the tomatoes with the cages. Boy what fun it is trying to get those cages in the ground.

Here are some day lilies right next to the garden. Nothing we planted but just beautiful.

Here are the beans. They came up very quickly this year. This is only two weeks from the day we planted.

And now for the Graduation pictures:

Here is Brother Greg (Our Youth Pastor) leading in the graduating class of 2010.

Here is Sister Wilbanks (the school visionary) and the first lady of our church. She is an awesome woman of God and we were blessed to have all of our children graduate from this school.

Here is our Pastor presenting the graduates with their diploma. This is Tanner getting his.

Here are the three graduates for 2010 from Cornerstone Christian Academy. There were four graduates but Brittani had a car accident on the way. Thank God she was okay.

Here is the moving of the tassel.

Here is the whole clan (except for Patrick).

Oh there's Patrick...but now Chase is gone. We just couldn't get them all together.

Congratulations to all the graduates this year!

PROGRESS!!!!!

2010-05-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Well it sure has been a busy time in our lives and sometimes it is hard to find the time it takes to get some of those rooms done in your house that have been needing a face lift for some time. As a part of the face lift list our laundry room was in desperate need of one. It definitely was in need of some attention and the worst of it is we have had all the materials to do it for about two years now. We can finally report that we have our laundry room finished (thanks to mom and dad who came in for a visit). If Jeff's dad hadn't come in and helped us get this done there is no telling how long it would have been till we were able to do it alone, especially considering that we have lived here for almost ten years and it still wasn't done. What kept us from getting this room done was that the walls needed to have a finish on them and we did not know how to do it. Jeff's dad came in and showed my husband how to do it. He took a sponge and dipped it in the mud and blotted it on the wall and then let it sit for a few minutes. After those few minutes were up he took a flat edge trowel and just flattened out the high spots. We couldn't tell how it was going to look until we painted and it turned out wonderful. We also cleaned out our garage and how happy my husband is because most of the junk belonged to me . On top of all we are doing our youngest son is graduating this month, so even if this project is complete there are still things waiting to be done. At least we did get this project finished and once again we have linoleum to walk on. I have attached a few pictures of the progress from beginning to end.

Here is the section of drywall he had to remove because the paper was actually falling away from the sheet rock material.

We have to add a few studs because once we removed the drywall we noticed they didn't stud the wall correctly when it was build all those years ago. Not only that but there was some wiring that needed some attention so we did some other work too. Luckily we had most of those materials as well.

Here we are putting in the new piece of drywall.

Starting to take shape again.

Here it is with the joints taped and ready to sand.

We decided to unstack our washer and dryer and the adhesive tape they used on the washer was quite a chore for Jeff's Dad to get off. He used a hairdryer to heat it and removed it slowly. He said it was the stickiest tape he has ever seen.

Here the wall is finished behind the washer and dryer before we put up the shelves. You cant tell the design in the picture here but it looks good in person and covers the small imperfections of an older paint job well.

Here is one view of the finished product. The only thing we lack is putting something over the hoses coming in from the wall. We have some ideas and hopefully that doesn't take another ten years.

Here is another view. I cant' tell you how nice this is but it beats only a concrete floor and a decade old paint job.

We want to thank Jeff's mom and dad for all that they helped us to accomplish on their visit this year. Jeff's mom isn't in the pictures but she was doing plenty behind the scenes.

We All Need A Heart Transplant Every Now and Then

2010-02-14T18:35:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we had Kids Church and what an awesome time we had. We talked about Restoring the Heart and what it meant to make sure that we have good things in ours. Sometimes without even realizing it we allow things to enter in that are not of God like jealousy, lying, cheating, and disobedience just to name a few. The kids really enjoyed it and there was such a move of God. We have a awesome team that is so talented they just get right in make the whole thing happen. We had the room set up like a hospital with a waiting area to the side. Bro Garett was our patient and unfortunately he had some pretty bad things in his heart but thanks to God he was able to make him whole again. When all was said and done we had an alter call and kids were praying everywhere and seeking for the Holy Ghost, and then God swept through and we had 5 kids received the gift of the Holy Ghost and 3 of them were Baptized. What a wonderful thing to see right before your very eyes. Thanks to everyone who helped and made it a success it takes us all to do the work of the kingdom. A special thanks to Michelle O. for all the supplies you got us, as well as Brother Harry for getting us a real gurney. Brother O. and Brother Ronnie Miller helped me to go and pick it up and for that I am also very thankful. We also wanted to thank Sis. Carla for taking the younger children out to another room and entertaining them while alter call was going on as well as keeping the little ones in order during the puppet songs and the skits.

Here are a few pictures from our practice.
Well it doesnt look like much practice was going on below but we did eventually do some practicing.

Here is Sister Camille and Sister Natalie two of our awesome leaders in Kid's Church!

Here are some more practice pictures with the three musketeers!

They are practicing pretty hard huh?

Right at the beginning of the Sunday Service the "Wee Praise" kid's choir went up to sing. Sister Kristie and her talented group of teachers do an awesome job getting the kids ready to sing every Sunday during Sunday School. Here is Sis Von De Leigh running them through another practice before they went up to sing.

While the Kids were singing our Doctors and Nurses were getting prepared for surgery.
Here is Brother Derek getting his gloves on. He did one excellent job at being a Doctor and talking to the kids at alter call.

Here are Sister Camille and Sister Kimi which were the Nurses , and Brother Grant which was also a doctor and they did so awesome (they are also awesome kid's church leaders) . You had to be there to see just how realistic these people made it look. The kids attention were drawn to the action and the teaching. Having a script is one thing, but the people involved in making it come to life deserve the credit.

Here is brother David Brazeel which narrated between the scenes, and Sis Natalie was the mother of the sick child (Brother Garrett). Brother Chase ran the sound for us and Sister Jade was another visitor in the waiting room and also helped with the puppets.

What an awesome group of kids we had too. I think we had over 90 kids in there and it was great.

Here are two of the three kids getting baptized right after kid's church!

I can't thank all the people that participated in making this happen enough. We had many more people helping out behind the scenes like Brother Luke running the lights (which was quite an endeavor in itself) and the many puppeteers that were behind the curtain that put smiles on the kids faces. We look so forward to the next Kid's church and seeing more kids lives changed each and every time we get together, even in the Sunday School classes.

To God be all the Glory!

Work is Never Done!!!!

2010-01-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

We have officially completed Tanners room. He has been asking us for sometime now to redo his bedroom for him because he thought it needed an upgrade; therefore, while David my brother and Yolanda my sister-in-law are here they decided to paint Tanners bedroom for his birthday. WOW what a job it turned out due to the fact that Tanner wanted to stripe one wall. Off to Lowe's we went to get the paint and away they went. Yolanda started painting all the walls while David and Tanner started chalk-lining the wall that was to be striped. It was a very time consuming task, but they finished just in time for us to put everything back in its place so Tanner could go to bed. Below are some pictures of the work in progress and the finished work of art (that is what Tanner and David call it). We just call it FINISHED!!!!

Here is the color prior to painting.

Here are David and Yolanda painting!

A little view of the mess in the middle of the room.

Here are the stripes taped out.

A little closer look.

Here is one of the walls with the new color.

Here is the finished product.

Here is a view with some of the stripes.

A Little closer view of the stripes.

It's What Is In the Cup That Counts!!!!!!!

2010-01-23T12:30:00.000-08:00

My husband received an email from someone last week and it had a little power point slide-show, but I could not get the slide-show to work on here; however I did write the words that went with each caption. These are not my words and the slide show didn't say who's words they were to give them credit, but when I read this it certainly did make me think. Here they are so you can read them for yourselves:

The Wisdom In Hot Chocolate.

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired.

During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives.

Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said:

'Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.

While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

The cup that you 're drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.

What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups.

And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this:

Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups.

They are just tools to hold and contain life.

The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us.

God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything.

They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. And enjoy your hot chocolate!!

Why do we tend to think just like that. I want to be the kind of person no matter what my cup looks like I make the best of it with what I have. Sometimes I think we forget just how Blessed we are. I pray Lord help me to be content with the things I have they may not be the best, but if the Lord is in them how could they get any better. He has always provided my every need.

Blast Into The Past!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-11T19:37:00.000-08:00

Back in time we went, and oh what fun we had. While school was out we and our friends (The Wiseners) decided to go to Tennessee to visit the Amish. It was very cold that day so we carried our blanket and bundled up for the ride, that is the horse and buggy ride. At the Amish welcome center they give tours of all the farms in the area and of course what better way to see all of it then in a horse and buggy. We got a first hand look at their lives the way they cook, make furniture, wash their clothes, how they weave baskets and so much more. You can also purchase items that they make . The craftsmanship of their work was beautiful and very detailed. The people were also very nice especially the first farm we went to where he made all types of wood items such as beds, dressers, tables, benches, and just about anything you could want that is made out of wood (by hand of course). He said he had ninety-four grandchildren (whew); God help him and all of his family. I think he said he had twelve children, which our tour guide said is how many they would like to have. The next farm we went to, we got to go into their workshop where they were making swings and bird houses. The last farm we went to they hand made baskets and we were able to look into his shop as well. There was so much to see I wish we would have got to stay longer. On our way home we stopped at a little store that sold homemade fried apple pies, antiques, and all kind of fresh canned items. The thing I loved the most about it was the outside they had big barrels of different kinds of apples, and that reminded me of how it must have looked back long ago. Could help but think about how life would be without some of our comforts and technology and it truly makes you thankful for what you have, but it also makes you reflect back to how simple their life appeared to be. I say appeared because I am not sure what life without those things is like; however, I am sure getting out and doing things without the help of technology would be hard and time consuming as well. So the next time you climb into your car, or use a power tool to complete a task we can be mindful that there was a time when all those things were not available for us to use, and for some people they just choose not to use them. I just choose to be thankful for all that Jesus Christ has provided! God bless!

Here is Tanner so happy about the trip...lol.

Here is Jeff and I in the buggy on the way out.

Here is Kimi and Micayla enjoying the ride while Tanner and Kyle sit up front with the guide. Later on Camille and all the kids get to drive the buggy. They only got close to taking out two mailboxes...lol just kidding it was only one.

We weren't being rebellious by taking these pictures as the guide instructed us just not to take any pictures of the people i.e. the sign in the picture above states no pictures so I just wanted to clarify that.

And here is Camille what a beautiful young lady! We were so glad she came.

Here is one of the barns we went by. Notice no poles for electricity or wires because they never had them installed when the electricity was being put along the roads. As a matter of fact the poles just stop where their community begins. The guide also told us that if the Amish were to purchase your house they would go in and remove the wiring and the plumbing.

Here is one of the houses of the Amish.

They don't want you to take pictures of them because of their religion, but we found a hat in the store and put it on to see what we would look like.....good thing Jeff doesn't have a beard huh?

Of course Tanner had to be different and wear it tilted.

Here is Kyle too.

Here we are at the country store

Here is me and Kyle at the store.

Baptism in Jesus Name!

2010-01-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

I received a comment asking us to explain why we believe it is essential to baptize in Jesus' name. In response I wanted to write the reason in a post in lieu of just answering the comment in case anyone else may have the same question. The reason we believe that you need to be baptized in the first place is because the bible records Jesus stating in John 3:5 "Verily verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God", so from that we know that we need to be baptized in the first place. If that isn't enough to convince us of how essential baptism is we can look into what every person recorded in the new testament did once they believed in Jesus Christ, and the answer is they were baptized. Just as important as it is to be baptized it also is important how you are baptized. In Matthew we have Jesus speaking to the disciples in what is commonly called the "great commission" and this is the place that we find Jesus commanding the disciples to baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." At first glance that would seem like we are to say those exact words; however, it is speaking of only "one" name, which is why the bible states in the name, and not names. If we look into prophecy we can go to the book of Zechariah and look at chapter 14 verse 9 which states "And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one." If there is any question into what that name was to be we can look to Acts Chapter 4 where Peter is speaking about Jesus and he states this in verse 12: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." We do follow that great commission but we actually baptize in the name he was referring to and that is Jesus. When he was speaking to his disciples they knew what that name was and what Jesus was instructing them to do. We know this because in the very first place after this happened we have Peter in Acts chapter 2 verse 38 telling the people what they must do to be saved, so what did he say? He said "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." If that isn't enough every where after this where people were baptized, they were baptized in the name of Jesus. There is not one place that we read in the New Testament where anyone baptized in the titles. The reason they didn't was because they were titles and Jesus didn't ask them to baptize in the titles Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but the Name of the Father, and the Name of the Son, and the Name of the Holy Ghost which is Jesus.

Using ourselves as examples my husband is a father, and he is a son, but his name is Jeff. The authority is in the Name of Jesus Christ and your name is a recognition of who you are. We believe in Jesus Christ and so we want to be recognized as being his; therefore, we are baptized in his name. A very good example to read in regards to this is Acts chapter 19 where Paul finding disciples said beginning in verse 2 "He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." Then what did they do? Verse 5 lets us know "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus". So as you can see from this it does matter into what name you are baptized. We also were at one time years ago baptized in the titles, but we could not deny the revelation the scripture gave to us that we needed to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so just as the scripture speaks in Acts 19 referenced above once we believed on Jesus Christ we were baptized in the name of Jesus and filled with the Holy Ghost.

It Feels Like Livin in the North with the South!!!!!

2010-01-08T11:12:00.000-08:00

We are certainly not use to all this cold weather. It has been very cold today and the worse is yet to come,I believe that the high for tomorrow is only about 20 degrees and the wind chills are 0 to 5 degrees.With all this cold weather I have been trying to stay in and stay warm.So I decided to catch up on some sewing projects and just relax before going back to school on Monday. Kyle on the other hand ventured outside to try to make a small snowman with what little snow we have but unfortunately the snow was like powder, and Tanner wasn't worried about staying warm he was out to shoot basketball must have cabin fever(Tanner said it is mother fever he tries to be so funny). Oscar and JJ were fine and dandy with staying inside with me away from the cold air they don't really care for the snow either.I'm loving every minute of time at home and spending time with my boys.They really do grow up so fast. God bless and stay warm.

And Like A Good Neighbor!

2009-12-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

Well I got this idea in prayer on how to be a better witness to our neighbors, but it still took a little preparation to put it all together. What came to me was to make some goody baskets and hand deliver them and hopefully get to know them (neighbors) a little bit better. So my husband and I put together the baskets to deliver them today. What we started with is this simple ordinary basket we picked strawberries in last year (Below)

I did some baking for part of the goody baskets as well. Here we have little loaves of apple bread. I also made some banana nut bread as well.

Here are the loaves after I put on the topping.

Then we put together bags of Pecans, White Chocolate covered pretzels and chow mien noodles, and plum preserves from over the summer (Below). Oh and I almost forgot we put in some candy canes too!

Then I took the baskets and covered them with burlap material and tied the top with Raffia with the help of the Jeff's thumb to hold the knot. Next I used multi-colored tissue paper and laid it inside and I started putting in the goodies. And here is a close look at the final product.

I had an idea that I would put together five baskets for the five places we wanted to bring them to so below is all five of the baskets and off we go to deliver the goodies.

We were able to deliver 4 of the 5 baskets this afternoon and the neighbors all loved them. We we had some good conversations and a guided tour of one of our neighbors houses. My husband was also able to volunteer his help to one of our neighbors that needs a few things done around the house and are unable to do them. I remember a statment from a while back that we heard and that is "it takes so little to be above average" and I am glad we could do something like this for people we live around everyday. We also are seeking to exceed the expectation of a good neighbor this year!

Homemade Winter Centerpiece

2009-12-30T17:57:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas 2009 has become a memory I had to take down all our Christmas stuff, and in doing so I had to remove the Christmas centerpiece I had on my table; however, since it is still going to be winter for quite a while I took a little bit of time and some left over items and I was able to make the winter centerpiece shown below. Maybe this will inspire you to take something and make one of your own. If you do reply with a picture if you want and we can see how many creative people are still out there. I know some of you reading this wont be able to resist the challenge...lol

First we started with some logs cut and screwed together in different sizes.

Then you take some pine cones

And glue them into different places.

Then add some greenery

And some berries

and then get some snowmen or whatever you have for winter and set them around on the logs .
(The snowmen we didn't glue in place in case we wanted to use something else later)

Finally the finished product.

Anyone want to venture a guess at where this wood came from? (Thank you Sister Judy!)

Let it Snow!!!

2009-12-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

Well we sure woke up to surprise this morning didn't we? As soon as we knew there was snow on the ground we went and got out the camera to take some pictures. Of course Jeff had to turn the lights on because they look so much better in the snow, don't you agree? Seeing that Jeff is from the North, hence the name of this blog, it is nice for a little of the north to reach us down here.

Here is a few more pics of the snow around the house.

Here is one looking down our street.

There was enough to cover the car too!

Then since there was snow we had the bright Idea to get a family picture at 7:30am on Saturday. So off Jeff went to get the ladder to set the camera on and use the timer to take the picture..........

Ok well as you can see above a 2 second timer just isn't long enough! lol

Yes a 10 second timer is much better!

On the way back inside we thought we would write a message in the snow.

Stockings Galore

2009-12-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm going to be joining some friends who are doing DPP , so to start that out today I made stockings at Kimi's house. We had a great time and lots of good laughs. This year we have two new children I needed to make a stocking for, Joey(chasity's husband), and Heidi( Jud's wife). I was very pleased with the way they turned out. Tanner of course had to have a giant stocking, because he is the baby (even though he is 17 now). He still thinks he should get what ever he wants, he calls it the baby syndrome, I call it spoiled.It turned out to be a wonderful day and was very productive. Wish you could have been here Tammy I know Kimi would have really liked that. Well can't wait till tomorrow to see what everyone is doing, including myself. God Bless!!!!

This is some of the different material we had.

Here are our sewing machines, were ready now!

We used a newspaper for the pattern and it worked very well.

Here is Kimi working on the hangers for them.

Here they are all finished. I haven't hung them yet, but that will come soon.

Life is always changing

2009-11-30T20:17:00.000-08:00

Well a lot has happened since my last blog. First of all we have a new daughter (since our son got married), and we are so blessed to have Heidi in our family. Heidi is going to be such a great asset to our family and to our church. We love her and thank God that he sent her for our son. After all that our mom and dad came down from Wisconsin to help do some work around here before winter sets in. I had been praying for the last two years about a mantel and fireplace, but we just could not afford one because the whole unit costs quite a bit of money, but about a month ago a guy that worked with my husband had one he wanted to sell for a $150.00. what a blessing!, but it even gets better than that because it turns out all he wants is a gas heater to hang on the wall in place of the mantel. Well last year we had someone give us a gas heater, so when I told him I had a heater he just said "let's just swap then" wow it opens your eyes to see that God really does care about all of our desires even if they are not always spiritual. In all of this, the wedding and parents coming in, my husband started a new job and it has been a big change for the whole family, So please be praying for us. Well I will be posting pics of the wedding really soon but here is one of the new fireplace. God Bless

Busy Weekend!!!!

2009-10-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

This was a very productive weekend. We awoke at about 8:00 Saturday morning (I don't know when the last time was that we slept that late on a Saturday) we got our Bible and prayer in first thing and then the race began. I made pumpkin muffins, bread, boiled the chicken for the dressing and got the cornbread ready as well. Lately I have been doing as much of the Sunday dinner as I can on Saturday it is so much easier than trying to come home and cook everything in between services. After all the cooking was done, I rearranged the living room and did all the laundry up. Then finished any other housework that needed to be done. Then after all that we had a family soup dinner we had to go to. It was the first one we had ever attended and we had a wonderful time. Everyone who came had to bring a pot of your favorite soup I of course took Santa- Fe-Soup. It was great to see lots of family we had not seen in a long time and the same time having lots of fun. Below are some pictures of my work on Saturday.

Here is the living room prior to rearranging.

This is during the moving process.

Here is one view of the finished Product.

Here is another view of the finished Product.

Here is wheat being ground into flour for the muffins.

Here are the muffins fresh out of the oven!

Here they are in the serving tray with the oatmeal chocolate chip muffins I made the day before.

Here is the boiled chicken for the chicken and dressing for the next day.

Here are a few pics of the soup dinner.

Here is my mom with her FAVORITE son-in-law
(of course it is her only son-in-law so Jeff can't brag too much but he sure loves her.)

Here are more of the soup dinner.

Let me tell you they were not shy on the soup either and it was great.

You Never Know What Life is Going ToThrow Your Way

2009-10-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

Here lately life is been throwing us some curve balls. Just when everything seems to be going good all of a sudden your life is upside down. Recently my husband had a opportunity to change jobs. What a decision that was for our family. So we did what any intelligent person would do we took it to God and our Pastor. This was difficult because my husband has a very good friendship with his boss, but after much prayer and advice from our Pastor my husband will be changing jobs. We were very excited and just looking forward to relaxing since we had made the final decision when my husbands appendix ruptured. We were so surprised he just had a little stomach ache or so we thought. The next thing we know he is in the surgery room and shortly after that the doctor came out and said everything went great he was doing fine and he could go home tomorrow. Then the following Wednesday he had a slight pain in the lower part of his stomach which turned out to be a pocket of blood in the pelvic wall from the surgery so they had to go back in and drain the blood off. Thankfully it was not anything more than that. He is at home and doing good we were so blessed to have the friends and support we had during this time in our life. Most of all I thank God for being our best friend. You really never know what tomorrow will hold but we do know who holds tomorrow. God is just as much God in the inbetween moments as he is in the highest points of our lives. Praise God!

Apples, Apples, and more Apples mixed with a little fun too!

2009-09-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

I have so much to blog about to get caught up with all the pictures I have been taking. This day my sister-in-law Yolonda and my brother had come to spend the week with us and we decided to take a day and can some apples. So I called my friend Kimi who also had apples to do and said lets make a day of it. Oh my what a day of fun we had; Everything we made that day was so great. After all the labor and hard work we thought the men should do the cooking for supper so they grilled and then we played games. It truly was a profitable day that we will continue to enjoy this winter. Here are some snap shots of the progress throughout the day.

Here are some of the apples we needed to get put up. Mm mm mm Macintosh apples, my husbands favorite.

Yolanda is busy here peeling and coring the apples all at the same time. That little machine has been well worth the $25. Kimi is also pictured lending a helping hand and a big smile as well.

Here are the apples cooking on the stove after peeling, coring, and cutting.

Well the apples do need to be stirred you don't have to use this expression shown above unless you are just having that much fun. Well of course she is having that much fun because she's with me. Ha Ha Ha.

See she is having that much fun. We always have such a great time together.

Well here is some of the finished product ready to be tasted!

Well now it's time for games. Catch phrase anyone?? Boy David must have a hard word because Jeff sure is thinking hard.

Here is Grant trying to describe the word without saying it. What a blast we had that day and we hope to be able to get back together soon.

Every Day I'm still Amazed by God!

2009-09-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today, I awoke very early and thought I will just get up and get my day started.Of course JJ our baby (our dachshund) had to go out so I grabbed my cup of coffee and headed out the door with him. As I was sitting on the front porch I began to watch a Squirrel and he was making a nest for winter. I watched as he took each branch and chose it so carefully and if it wasn't what he wanted, he would just let it fall to the ground and would get the next one. I just began to think how God takes care of all his creation. He gives us everything we need to live but it is up to us to use our resources. I'm so thankful that my God always supplies our needs. We know this by what Matthew recorded Jesus saying in Matthew chapter 6 verse 26-33 "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Mat 6:27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
Mat 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
Mat 6:29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
Mat 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Sometimes we just need a reminder when things aren't going as we think they should he is always in control. God Bless and may everyone one have and a blessed weekend!

Our Mini Labor Day Getaway!

2009-09-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well were back from our mini getaway at my mom's house. We had such a great time filled with lots of laughs and lots of rest. My husband helped fix my nannies roof and went fishing while I learned about quilting. My Nannie has been trying to teach me how to quilt for some time now, and I think I finally have the hang of it. The one time we did leave the house we took the boys shopping to the mall in Tenn. and Tanner of course needed everything. Tanner has this thing with shoes......i.e. he never has enough of them. Then Jody of course didn't need anything as he is perfectly content with what he has. After we left my moms on Monday we drove to the Wisener's home for Labor Day brunch. We had pancakes, eggs, and hash browns which were all absolutely delicious. Then the men played a game of football while the ladies talked. We then decided to get out the fall items from storage and put them out. This was very exciting for us ladies but not for the men, so they decided to go target shooting ( you know getting ready for deer season). Thanks you guys for having us because we had a great time and we always love the company. Then it was time to go home to prepare for the rest of the week, but before we got started with all that we had to grill of course, I mean it was Labor Day you know, and grilling is required. With school starting we are still trying to get into the routine, and the older I get the longer it seems to take me. I have included some of the pictures of us at the Wiseners below . God Bless

Where Does The Time Go?

2009-09-02T19:52:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? We are doing so many different things now, I always feel like there is just not enough time in the day. We are going to be going on a short vacation, my husband and I could really use the time away. I will be posting pics. from our vacation so check often and see what we are up to. I have been thinking a lot here lately about who God really is and what he means to me personally. God truly is my best friend and knows every need I have and even though we may go through some things in our lives he showed me again tonight that he is always with us. I thank God every day for his mercy and that is what I have been praying for. I want to have mercy and compassion for those around me. I don't want to be so busy that I forget to check on a neighbor or send a card to the sick. Jesus is about mercy, grace, and forgiveness and I am so thankful he forgave me and saved me from a life of sin. God Bless and may everyone have a safe holiday weekend.

How busy I have become

2009-08-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

I cant believe it has been this long since my last blog. I have been working so much between getting a daycare started for our church and gardening I completely lost track of my last blog update. Well let me see where to start, I have put up about 90 quarts of green beans, a bushel of apples of which I am hoping to put up more of Saturday, I can't even remember how many pickles, and also corn on the cob and I am now working on tomatoes and all the glory goes to God! This has been a blessed year for us in our garden. We have also been trying to get a daycare started for our Pastor who by the way is a AWESOME man of God, whom we cherish. Well it has not all been peaches & cream it takes a while and endless hours on the phone. Thanks to a lot of good people ( Kimi, Holly, Sis. Kim P, Sis. Von., Sis.Natalie, Camille, Jessica, and Kristy S.) we got the rooms almost finished. So now it is time for school to start back and we are working really hard to get everything ready for that. Where did the summer go? Well now that things are calming down I should be able to get back on track with my blogging. I will be posting pic. of all my canning and my harvest God blessed us with.

Garden Time!

2009-06-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning stage of our garden. Of course this is after all the tilling and raking and tilling again until the grass is all out. Funny thing is that you want things to grow in the garden but we just want to be picky and leave the grass out of the party.

This is our onions and cucumbers.

These are the Lima beans and cantaloupe.

These are our four rows of Green beans and squash.

These of course are the tomato plants.

These next few pictures are what our garden looks now after everything has had a chance to grow. Of course this is after more tilling and raking and watering and that crazy grass keeps trying to grow in here. I have determined that Grass is the ultimate party crasher. If only we could send out invitations to who we want to grow here......... grass would not be invited.

Here is the squash in the foreground and the tomatoes beyond.

Here is another view of the tomatoes.

Here are the Lima beans and cantaloupe to the left. Our neighbor gave us the Lima beans after we already planted the Cantaloupe so we hope the flavors don't mix. Then we may have some Limaloupe or Cantabean stay tuned for a flavor update.

Here are the Green Beans. Some people use the poles but we do a plastic fence so that it is easier to till in between and also to pick because they spread out better.

So far we have had a great garden this year and we have been trying to put in a little extra time to make sure it keeps growing good. Last year was a pretty bad garden year for us and we drained our canned supplies over last winter, so we are praying that this garden produces well.

The little bandit!

2009-06-04T18:47:00.001-07:00

I just could not believe my eyes when I finally decided to do a little surveillance of the pecans that I had set outside. It seemed like everyday there were pecans sitting outside the basket and I could not figure out why...until now. It seems that our little squirrel that was robbing our bird feeders had a master robbery in mind. Just look at him scoping out the area to see if anyone is watching.

Remember look right left right before crossing the porch.

A little closer now

Oh its the mother load and I don't even have to shake them off the tree first.

I am too close to my prize to let someone taking a picture of me hinder my plan. Who cares if they see me cause we all look alike anyway.

Well I got my prize and I am off to bury it for a future delicacy of a meal.

Bye Bye now be back for more later!

The Strawberries are Here!

2009-05-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Mmm! Mmm! Mmm! This is one of our favorite times of the year. We love strawberries of which my family especially loves homemade strawberry freezer jam. This year I also had to put up my mom some so in all I made about 60 jars. Hopefully this will get us through till next year, but between Tanner and Jeff its hard to know because they are always getting into it.

Here is a picture of the beginning the process:

And here is the finished product:

Now into the freezer they go until we need them. They stay in the freezer even after you open one and they never freeze completely solid so you can scoop some out and put it back into the freezer till the next time you need some.

Graduation Day for Jody!

2009-05-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well what can we say except that we are so proud of Jody. This is a day that all parents look forward to but are not in a hurry to see. Well we know that this is a very important step in Jody's life that he has navigated successfully there is still a thought or two that drifts to that feeling of separation that is so hard for parents to face at times. Lucky for us Jody is number three and we have had just a little bit of experience in this area; however, that does not mean it is easy. Here are a few of the pictures we captured of Jody on his Graduation day.

Jody and Brittani were the two students we had graduating this year from Eva Homeschool Academy.

Here is Jody receiving his diploma from Pastor Wilbanks.

Here is one of the whole family! Tanner will be our last one to graduate next year then what? Well we will leave the details to God and besides there are still a lot of great moments to look forward to especially since the family is expanding.

Our Fishing Trip

2009-05-12T04:41:00.000-07:00

We decided the other day when all the boys were gone that we would take a little trip to Lake George and go fishing; just the two of us together at the end of a beautiful day.
Here we are together enjoying the time.

We had so much fun, well except when I got my line caught in the tree and my reel fell into the water!
Don't worry though because Jeff was determined to find it, so he got out the boat paddle and put one leg out of the boat and started raking the bottom as we were only in about 3 foot of water at the time. About 20 minutes later he was successful in retrieving the pole from the bottom of the lake (myself, I would have left it there, but don't tell Jeff...Shhhhh)
The sad thing was we didn't catch any fish, but we sure had a great time together! Just look how peaceful the water was.

Vacation Time!!!!!

2009-05-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here was the view from our beautiful cabin!

Here is the front of the cabin as we drove up

This is the Living Room

Here is Jeff making coffee in the kitchen!

Here are our squirrel friends right above our porch. There were five in this family.

Here we are mini Golfing with the Wiseners and we had a great time!

Can't wait until next year when we get to go again because it was soooo relaxing to wake up every morning and enjoy time on the swing overlooking the beauty in the mountains.

I'm Back

2009-05-02T14:37:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I blogged last. I have been very busy. Even though I have been busy I have been keeping up on your blogs, some of you have been very busy yourselves. I'm hoping to stay updated on my blog now that I have prioritized a lot of things in my life and I'm learning to say no which all of you know is a big deal for me.Well we have 12 days of school left and I can't wait. It is also time to put in our garden and I am so excited that I have all my plants bought just waiting on the weather to clear up. Since my last blog we have now taken another vacation to the mountains and it was beautiful. The Wiseners came up and spent a day with us and we had a great time mini golfing and grilling. I will be posting pics. of the trip later on. Our daughter also got married it was a beautiful wedding. That Friday night before the wedding we went to Joey's (her husband) parent's cabin because they grilled out for both families . It was very nice meeting more of his family and getting to know them as they are some really nice people. Well I guess that's all for now stay tuned for more updates. It is great to be back in blogging land.

Were Still Here!

2009-01-30T18:36:00.001-08:00

Sorry we haven't posted but our computer has been down and of course when vacation is over all the work begins again. We will be posting a new post within the next week.

Were Home!!!!

2008-12-31T09:27:00.000-08:00

Well here is a picture of the last few moments at Jeff's Mom and Dad's house and since the day was warmer the snow was melting just enough for me and Lisa to make one snowman before we left. So Kimi here is the snowman you wanted to see. Ha Ha!

Just look at that cute little thing!

We got a late start because of the snow the night before and that put us driving into the heavy fog that stretched about 4 hours south, but as you know in heavy fog it took us much longer. So after driving in rain, sleet, freezing rain, ice, snow, and finally heavy fog I am ready to be home! Can't you tell?

It is about a 812 mile drive there and looking at the trip meter we only have 26 miles to go. hooray!

We had an awesome time up in Wisconsin and we enjoyed every minute of it thanks to Mom, Dad, Pam, Brad, Linden, Leandra, Kaye, Justine, and Lisa. Thanks guys we had a great Christmas. Here is a familiar sight.

Here is a picture of the house all lit up that night minus the snow of course.

J.J led the pack in welcoming us home!

Then Oscar!

and finally Shaggy!

And of course I didn't come home empty handed. I received tons of gifts from everybody up there and a new mixer to boot from Jeff.

These dishes were a great blessing from Jeff's mom becasue as you know I love the oldies and these are around 30 years old according to Jeff's mom and she gave them to me! How awesome is that? The story behind the dishes is even better as Jeff (who knows how much I like old stuff) told his mom I wouldn't want them! I said "WHAT?" Then I told him to call her back and tell her that yes I would want them. Then as we were leaving the next dilemma was how to fit all this extra stuff in the car. Well when it was all said and done we fit it all with room to spare.

The greatest blessing in coming home was the Alter working seminar that night and the services the next day as 21 people received the Holy Ghost! That is awesome!

Snow Tubing on Christmas Eve!!

2008-12-28T21:43:00.001-08:00

We tried to find the perfect time to go tubing and since Jeff's niece and nephew had school on Monday and Tuesday the 22nd and 23rd (can you believe they had school the day before Christmas Eve!) the only day we had left was the 24th which was Christmas Eve. When we called to see if they would be open they said they would be until 2:00pm so the time was set and thank God the conditions were perfect because the night before we got more snow and then it was supposed to snow again during the day! Here is a pic of the fresh snowfall the night before.

Here is the first thing you see as you walk up to pay and get your tube.

Up up and away we go! Thank goodness for the escalator or you would be so tired by the time you got up there you wouldn't want to go much more. The hill is three stories high and with the gradual slope and the bumps in between you get to go a pretty good speed by the time you hit the bottom.

Here is the view from the top as soon as you get off the escalator!

Here we are all getting prepared for the next run. You can go at it alone or you can lock your feet in the tube behind you for up to four people and when you do that you can really go fast and far, even if Jeff's brother in law does not believe it. Here is Jeff's niece Justine and mom with Tanner waiting to push them off and jump on.

Here is Tanner and me getting ready for my first try.

Whew I made it. What a blast! My only problem was my boots were not waterproof and they got wet fast and then cold so I headed into the heated shack to warm up! Here is the view from the bottom looking up to the top.

Here is Jeff's sister Pam leading the way, then Mom, Kaye, and Lisa bringing up the rear!

Here comes Kaye, Lisa, and Brad!

Here is Brad awaiting another run down the slope.

Here Pam is headed up for another run.

For a while it was pretty slow and we could get up and down pretty fast, but as the day went on it got pretty busy.

Time to go!

We came we saw and we went away snow covered and tired and ready to eat!
Here we all are at the end of the day!

We took two of these so Jeff's Dad could be in the picture too!

We had a great time and we will not soon forget this trip as it was a wonderful time filled with laughter and tons of fun.

The Snow and the Sled!

2008-12-25T12:55:00.000-08:00

Well I know it has been a few dqays since our last post but we got even more snow during this week. Southeast Wisconsin has now beat a previous snowfall record for the month of December with 37". Now we are expecting another 3" tonight before we leave. These pictures are actually from the 23rd of December in lieu of the date on the picture. With all the snow a local hill in the city had enough on it for us to get prepared for the bigger hill coming tomorrow! Ironically the name of the park is Tanner Park. We did have a few spills along the way also. Here is Tanner giving Jeff's sister Lisa a good start!

Here is Jeff's Mom and Dad. Jeff's mom even took a few turns on the hill.

Jeff's dad decided to spend most of the time in the truck where it was warm!
Here is Jeff's mom and Dad.
Here we are after the sledding was done!

Tomorrow we are headed to Kewaskum, Wisconsin to Sunbusrt to go snow tubing!

Brrrrrrrrrrrr!!! It's Cold Up Here!

2008-12-21T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well got my first real taste of cold this morning when the low was -10 degrees below zero and just to prove it I took a picture of the thermometer. The temperature on the right is the outside temp and the one on the left is the inside temp. The wind chill this morning was -32 below zero so you could only stay out for 15 minutes and you had to come in.

Here is a few picks of the new snowfall from last night which turned out to be at least 5 inches.

Since Jeff's dad is so tired of all the snow Jeff thought he would get out and shovel it for him. Now he remebers why everyone hates all the snow. One neighbor came over twice to tell Jeff how much he hates this snow. In case you didn't notice the snow is over the top of the deck and it is only December 21st so it is officially the first day of winter.

We are going to be going to Sunburst ski lodge and do some snow tubing one day this week so stay tuned for more pics.

Trip to the Amish

2008-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well we went ahead and took our annual trip to the Amish community up here in Wisconsin to get all the seasonings we need for the year, because last time they were closed as we got there right before Christmas. I took quite a few pictures, but I forgot to take one of the actual general store that we went to. Here is a few of the pictures we took.
How would you like to hang clothes out in the snow. I wonder how long it takes for them to dry!

Here is a few pictures of the (unheated) buggies they were riding around it.

Here is one of the guy plowing the snow from a school or church with a team of horses. Very innovative.

Here is their school house.

They had a sign referring to the highly efficient vehicles and it did heed a warning that you do not want to step in the exhaust...well I took a picture of that exhaust and they were right you don't want to step in it.
As we were driving home we thought we woudl take a few pictures of actual sheaves of wheat done by hand. Pretty cool to see after only reading about it in the Bible.
Here we are headed back to the house because we were getting 3 to 5 inches of snow that night.

Stay tuned because I have another post showing the temperature from this morning and boy was it cold.

oh we finally made it!

2008-12-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Well after a lot of rain, ice, and finally snow we finally arrived in Wisconsin and boy the snow looks pretty to us; however, if you ask the locals they are all too ready for it to leave today.

Well here is the ice pictures. It is hard to tell but it is about an inch thick over everthing. The one picture is Tanner and Jeff pouring hot water over the ice to get it off the car.
These next ones are on the way between Illinios and Wisconsin.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

These are right outside Jeff's Mom and Dad's House

The Date stamp on the pictures are not right but this is all on Thursday and Friday on the way up. We are having more snow right now and are expected to get 5 inches more tonight. We did go and visit the Amish community today and we will try to get them posted tomorrow.

We are still here just busy!

2008-09-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

We haven't gone anywhere although if this blog were proof of that some would have to wonder. We have just been a very busy bunch of people lately as we are so close to moving into the new church and praying there every night, coupled together with a new Bible study, and just plain trying to keep up with the daily tasks that never seem to go away no matter how much we are away. I find rest in the fact that this is merely a season that comes with change; therefore, at the end comes an even greater change in us. We are extremely excited to be moving into our new
church and we know as well as anyone that it isn't just going to happen, and therefore it takes us to make it happen. The giving of time is a small price to pay for the revival we are about to not only witness, but also be a part of. Of course all this has been going on and school also started a few weeks ago, so those days I used to have.........gone, but not forgotten. Ha Ha! I love school and I love all the kids that we teach. This year I have two of my same students: Caila & Korie, then I have one new student: Anthony. I also have the pleasure of teaching a few classes to the high schoolers this year. I just thought I would include a few of the school pictures I have been able to take so far this year.

What's New?

2008-07-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

Whew! alright whew! it has really been way too long since I posted last, but I can tell you I really have been very busy. Bet you never heard that one before, huh? Okay so let's just talk about what has been going on. In talking about the garden it has been a challenge to keep up with the weeds and grass, because while the rain always does wonders in growing the vegetables it also grows the the rest of it. Just on a side note it is so amazing how you can water a garden to the best of your ability as often as needed and get minimal results and the first time God waters it everything grows a foot overnight! That always will amaze me and make me think about how God does everything so much better than we can do it. Anyway the veggies look good, but because we have been so busy our tomatoes are not staked up and don't look as good as they usually do, but everything else looks like it is doing fine. Moving right along the next item is the fourth of July. We went up to Stevenson to my mom's house to spend the night with them so Jeff could go fishing with my dad and my mother and I took advantage of it also and we put up 51 jars of plum preserves. Here is a picture below of my mom cooking up the plum mixture!
By the way thank you to Brother and Sister Hollander for all the plums as they had an over abundance of them this year and blessed us with 3 five gallon buckets, and the trees were still hanging. I would love to take credit for picking them, but Brother Hollander, Brother Tristan, and my boys did most of the picking; therefore, I didn't make them help put them up. Anyway my Dad, Jeff, and Jody went fishing at 4:00am the next morning and caught quite a few fish (Jeff said my dad caught most of them) but regardless it was a pretty good amount of fish. Here is a picture of the fish:
Later in the afternoon they cleaned them and put them up for us to take home. Looks like I can add fish to my menu later on. Jeff and Tanner got in the mood to clean my dad's boat and truck and wow it was pretty dirty. Of course my dad found the first mud hole to get the truck tires dirty again because they were too clean. While they were cleaning my mom, my dad, and I cooked up a ton of great food like ribs and, pork chops, cole slaw, potato salad, and rolls. Then they asked if we wanted to stay till Saturday and go see "the cabin" and needless to say they didn't have to twist our arms too hard because we really like time we get spend with them. Being that we are always so busy we don't get as much as we would like to. The cabin was great and they actually still use this cabin and it was built in 1820 by Peter Sells which was a homestead in my dad's family. It was the central point of a 3,00 acre farm and cleared by Peter Sells along with his family. It is pretty neat because the cabin kitchen is a separate place from the living quarters with a covered walk in between. The bedroom upstairs is a single open loft area which housed all ten children and I think mom and dad too! Whew again! Anyway we had a great time.

Okay Menu Time:
Sunday - Deer cube steaks, potatoes, and green beans
Monday - Burritos
Tuesday - Hamburgers and chips
Wednesday - Chicken Pot Pie, Mac'n'cheese, and fresh bread
Thursday - Spaghetti, Salad, and Garlic Bread
Friday - Fish (There it is in case you were wondering from above!), corn, slaw, and Hush Puppies

I will try to do much better ast getting my menu out every week. Thank you for all your feedback and if you want to know any recipes let me know and I will write them down.

Garden Update

2008-06-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Our garden is doing great, but Jeff says our neighbor's looks better. But it's only because theirs has been in longer. My beans are vining, my tomato plants have tomatoes on them and I got my first banana pepper. I'm so excited! Pictures are coming soon.

Also, I would like to share about my grocery adventure. I managed to spend only $129.00 on groceries to last us for the next two weeks! And that is to feed a family of five, which three are teenage boys with bottomless pits for stomachs! That breaks down to be about $65.00 per week! It took some time. I had to go to four different places. Now I know what you are thinking. With gas at $4.00 a gallon I probably didn't save that much. But the stores were all within 6 miles. I usually spend about $180.00 every time I go to the grocery store. But my husband wanted to try to budget our groceries for two weeks on the least amount of money we could. I was so proud of myself. So I thought I would share my menu for the next week with you.

Monday- Homemade pizzas
Tuesday-Chicken Fried Rice w/Cream potatoes, corn on the cob and cornbread
Wednesday-Grilled Pork Chops, salad
Thursday-Homemade burritos, salsa and chips
Friday-Meatloaf, pinto beans, potatoes with cornbread salad
Saturday-Hamburgers, potato salad, chips

Hope this gives you some ideas!

More Birthday Surprises

2008-06-21T17:22:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since my last post. Which is why I haven't had a post. One of the many things that has happened, was another birthday surprise! We had a surprise birthday party for one of the families from DHR, that we work with. The Artis' came and we had a great time with Samantha's mom and brothers. Samantha turned 13 years old. And she was so excited to receive a new eighteen speed bicycle! We were excited just seeing her face light up when she saw it. We had grilled burgers and hot dogs, cake, ice cream and lots of birthday food. We are so thankful that God has given us the opportunity to reach out to these families. And special thanks to the Artis family for helping make the party a big success.

My Birthday Surprise!

2008-06-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

I unknowingly went with my husband, Brother Ken, and Sister Holly over to Sister Von De Leigh and Brother Jeremy's house just to spend some time with a few friends and lo and behold I was met with a total shocker! These friends of mine put together a surprise birthday bash and the funny thing that was I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. I even told my husband to bring the camera so could get some pictures of my friends for this blog. Here is me with the brains behind the whole operation!

Below are some of the accomplices involved in the great birthday caper. The only one missing is Sister Heather who stayed in the other room while we were having this picture taken but not to worry as I went into the other room and captured her for a picture.

Sister Kimi, me, Sister Holly, and Sister Von De Leigh

And here is me and Heather with Sister Wilbanks, Jud and Sister Von De Leigh in the background.

I had such a great time and I am so thankful to have such great friends even though they all got together and conspired this party without me knowing it. Here is me with my Husband who by the way allowed this all to happen without my knowledge.

I am also very glad that Sister Camille, Brother Austin, and sister Micaylah came and surprised me too! Remember guys that you have birthdays too and maybe I will be able to pay you back for surprising me. Ha Ha.

Thanks also to Brother Ken for rushing us out the door at our house almost spoiling the whole thing. Sister Von De Leigh and Heather had to rush to get the cake off the table before I came in the house and Sister Kimi wasn't even there yet. (She and the kids snuck in through the garage...see how sneaky they were)

Brother Ken taking it easy!

Here is Chase and Tanner waiting for Brother Jeremy to bring in the pizza. Thank you very much!

Here is me with my buddy Noah!

Chas and me. I am glad she got to come by and surprise me too!

I want to thank everybody for all their hard work and for making this such a special and memorable birthday! I love you guys!!!

Welcome to Livin' with the North in the South

2008-05-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to our new family blog! We created this blog for a couple of reasons. The first reason was to keep a virtual photo and scrapbook for our family and friends, and secondly it is just neat to be able keep up with events and create a history you can go back and reminisce over. The greatest of all is when you look back any number of years and you can physically see the changes God has made in your life, and along with the posts we write it becomes our families journey closer to Jesus. We have been so blessed from the day God saved us and we certainly don't want to forget the testimony of where God has brought us from, so we plan on documenting these journeys and sharing these wonderful testimonies God has given us with you! JK & BK