Rosebud

Rosebud our puppy came in to play last night! She watched the boys play trains and played for awhile. She has a stuffed toy flea she loves to play with in the house... She is 5 months old now. She has 3 more weeks of puppy preschool.

Picnic

We picked daddy up from work yesterday and had a picnic at the park. We all enjoyed the picnic.

Ministry News

We have reached a decision about our future in the ministry.

Today Kyle and I went and had a meeting with our State Executive Director and State Missions Director. We shared our ideas, desire and calling to plant a contemporary Free Will baptist church in our local area. They were completely for it and were very excited about it. We went over it all with them and shared what we were looking at doing and they were very supportive of everything we mentioned.

You will be hearing more about INFINITY CHURCH soon. We would appreciate all your prayers for our new beginning in the ministry.

WOW, Kyle brought me more flowers today. I'm getting spoiled. I love having flowers on the table it brightens my day!!

Swimming lessons

Swimming lessons went great today! The boys slide down alittle slide and practiced going under the water. Jonas is fearless and did wonderfull. Jeremiah was alittle more scared I think, but did good. Jonas needs a lifejacket I think. He is so daring. He Was jumping in the deep water today. ;-0 Daddy came to my rescue today and helped me out with the three little rascals.

Mala wants to go outside

Malachi got the sunscreen out of the diaper bag and lathered himself up real good. The funny thing is the sun isn't even shining. ;-)

Summer Time

Last summer

Summer time is here at our house and we are excited. We had our first day yesterday with us all home and they played so good all day. They are all into Thomas Trains and love to play them. Of course it doesn't go over to good when the older two go into Malachi's room and take over the trains and shut him out!! Jonas has been looking in the train book deciding which one he wants for his birthday... We went for a long bike ride yesterday. The little ones surprisingly don't fit in that little bike trailer. Today is swimming lessons again. The boys are very excited. I really wanted a morning time, but since they have 3 weeks of morning classes in June we had to go with late afternoon for now. Jeremiah is going to learn to ride without training wheels, and going away with daddy for a weekend. He has some neat stuff to look forward to this summer. I think they are looking forward to swimming and there gifted summer program the most this summer. I love spending the summers with the kids. June is always a busy month and then we try to slow things down for the rest of the summer.


Oh Mala was listening to a conversation I was having with Jonas about Jesus in your heart and he said I have Jesus in heart. I said, no you don't yet but you will. Daddy, Mommy and Jeremiah do. So now he goes around pointing at our hearts(on the wrong side ;-))and says Jesus in heart.

As far as what I will enjoy this summer that would be going to the gym and getting outside for walks and bike rides. I have an unexpected and unwanted thing this summer. Dr. says I am depressed from the stress of life and hopefully that will lift soon. I struggle with things like sleeping to much and not getting stuff done. Man, if anyone reads this and struggles with depression it is the pits isn't it...I've tried to make myself stay busy. My prayer is that in the coming weeks it will get easier. Kyle is loving going to the gym in the mornings and is hoping to shed a few pounds soon. He can often be found being a dreamer ;-) He is a cute dreamer ;-)

Gramps & Granny visited

Gramps and Granny came for a little visit today and brought lunch. The boys had fun... They showed them all there Thomas trains. Gramps made a buddy showing Malachi his phone.

Culvers catastrophe

Today we went to Culver's to eat lunch and we had a catastrophe!! Kyle had just brought over our drinks. Jonas was sitting on one side of me and Jeremiah on the other. Jonas loves to push the buttons on top of the lids. He pushed it and the cup tipped over and the whole cup of ICE cold pink lemonade dumped right in my lap. It was So cold and I was wet from the waste down. Jonas got one side of his shorts wet also. Anyway, the guy that was cleaning tables saw it and came over and cleaned the table. Then Malachi almost dumped his ice cream in my lap. ;-0 What a interesting meal, but what should I expect with 3 boys ;-)

Jonas' breathing scare....

Last night Jonas woke up and came in here coughing really bad and wheezing. He couldn't catch his breath and was coughing really bad. I think it really scared him and scared Kyle and I also. He was just not breathing good at all for awhile. We finally got him calmed down some where he could sleep. I put him in the chair in the living room where his head would be up some. He is still wheezing some today. I am hoping he doesn't do that again... He has never done that before, but does have some allergies he has been dealing with. If he does that again we will just take him in and get him looked at. It acted just like a asthma attack so we are keeping a close eye on him. We had planned on going swimming this morning, but thought we better keep Jonas calm today since we weren't sure what was going on with him.

visiting Mam-ma & Pap-pa

We took the boys to a couple cemetery's today. We took them to see there Great Grandpa's and Grandma's graves. They each put flowers to each one and learned who they were. We then went to my folks for the evening. We had a fun time and saw Great Ma and Pa while we were there. They all thought Malachi has really changed and talking alot. My uncle had put together some old videos and they showed one of me learning to walk. The boys thought that was funny.

We went to the Farm

We went to the farm close to our house yesterday. They have baby animals, playground, little store and a fishing pond. The boys loved getting to see the baby animals and playing on the playground. They just opened a fishing pond there.

Prayer Request for baby Hannah

A lady that use to attend our church had her baby Friday night. She is having some problems and with her blood sugar and she now has pneumonia Her name is Hannah. I am going to go shopping for her today. Yeah, I get to buy something pink... ;-)

UPDATE: Little Hannah is doing alittle better today(5-25-08) I picked out a really cute little pink sun dress for her and a pink teething bunnie toy. I can't resist buying pink when I get the chance since I don't get to buy that stuff...

Swimming Lessons

Jeremiah & Jonas taking swimming lessons




Jeremiah and Jonas had there first swimming lesson today. They had so much fun and started learning how to kick. They had a 30minute lesson. Mala enjoyed playing in the water. He loved the little sprinkler. We were there about an hour. The boys liked playing in the water for 30 more minutes after there lesson. They are a handfull, but all in all it went very good!

Jeremiah's last Day of School

Jeremiah just got on the bus for his last day of 3rd grade. I now have a kindergartner and a 4Th grader. My mom always said, once they get in school time goes faster... I think I would agree to that... He seems excited to be getting out of school for the summer. He has also been asking us to get him a math book for the summer!! Yes, really he loves math and we have gotten him a math book the past two summers to keep him from getting bored. He has a pizza party today and then they get out early.

Mala and Jonas had fun this morning

After we cleaned it up!


They had alittle fun in Malachi's room and it is suck a mess now. I just got half the house clean and they have wrecked the other half.;-)We finally got it cleaned up...

Tragedy for Steven Curtis Chapman’s Family

Steven Curtis Chapman’s youngest child died Wednesday evening after being struck by a car driven by her teenage brother in the driveway of the family’s home. This is so horrible and my prayers go out to them during this horribly hard time especially the brother. They are such an incredible family. They have opened there home to 3 little girls from china through international adoptions and started an organization, Shaohannah’s Hope, to aid families wanting to adopt. God has used this family to open many heart to adoption including ours. On there Shaohanna's Hope website they talk about Starting an Adoption Fund at Your Church to help families that are called to adopt. Kyle and I think this is an awesome idea.

Chapman's myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=140270511

Shaohanna's Hope website: http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abt_home

Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman founded Shaohannah's Hope as a result of their experience adopting three girls from China and seeing the desperate need of orphans around the world. Though it has taken them out of their comfort zone in many ways, they have experienced the miracles of God and desire to share this with friends, family, and the church as a whole.

As you can tell they are an extraordinary family. Please remember them in your prayers!

Mother's Day Poem

Jeremiah wrote me an awesome Mother's Day Poem!! He also made me a beautiful bracelet. It was very sweet.......

WOW

DAVID COOK WON AMERICAN IDOL!! Everyone thought that David Archuleta was going to win big. We were shocked and David Cook looked shocked also. I thought David Archuleta was very good but, really wanted Cook to win.

Malachi's fun day

Malachi had fun playing outside this morning and watching for Jonas' bus. He had fun watching his brothers at field day at school this afternoon. He was kinda tired and stayed in the stroller.

Jeremiah's Field Day

Jeremiah had a great time at field day! He got to play all kinds of games with his friends and have a snow cone!!

Jonas' Last day of Preschool & Field Day

Last day of school
Flower for his teacher from his class.



Jonas' field day was today and it was Jonas last day of school. He is officially a Kindergartner!! They had lots of games set up and each class would stay at each game for so long until the whistle blew and then they would move to the other one. Mala and I got a work out going from one side of the playground to the other to see Jeremiah and Jonas do there games. They had lots of fun.... He has a fun morning at Felicia's house planned for tomorrow and then swim lessons and Jeremiah's pizza party on Friday.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah's school did game day today. He sounds like he had fun!! He has 3-1/2more days of school...

Mala hanging out with daddy at work

Mala had fun with Kyle this morning for alittle while. Then Mala, Kyle and I went out and had lunch together.

Ions cleanse

I went and got a ION Cleanse today. I don't know if any of you have ever heard of this or not. It is a feet detox clease. You put your feet in warm water and toxins are pulled out during the cleanse. They can tell you how your body is doing by what colors the water turns. Certain colors mean it is detoxing from the area of the body. Like brown means liver. Mine was all colors and very gross. Mine was green, yellow, brown and black flecks came out. She siad I had alot of yeast pulled out. Stress can bring on immune problems which can cause yeast. Yeast can then cause lots of other stuff. It was very simple and painless. The warm water actually felt relaxing. They can then recommend what your body may be needed to help balance it out. It was very neat and I'd defiantly recommend it. We have an awesome natural family Dr. where I did my cleanse. Below is the water color chart and a little segment on what a ION Cleanse is.

Yellow-green Detoxifying from the kidney,bladder, urinary tract,female/prostate area
Orange Detoxifying from joints
Brown Detoxifying from liver,
tobacco, cellular debris
Black Detoxifying from liver
Dark green Detoxifying from gallbladder
White foam Lymphatic system
White cheese-yeast
Black flecks Heavy metals
Red flecks Blood clot material


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Boys haircuts

I gave Jonas and malachi haircuts last night so they won't look like little orphans anymore. ;-0 Jeremiah is getting a hair cut wednesday at school. Malachi is still sleeping this morning and I will add his picture later. He is getting his top 2 year old molors and has been alittle out of sorts the last few days.

It is such a beautiful day out today! The boys and I went to our old church today. It was So awesome in every way. It just send chills up my spine! The boys were so good for me and loved there classes. Jeremiah had 3 kids from his school in his class, Jonas got to paint and Malachi was very excited about his class and didn't even cry. The actually service was just awesome. Some people would have heart attacks at this church with there lights, music and stuff, but it is what I love. I absolutely love that church... Jonas says, that church is fun... In 2 weeks Jonas and Malachi will be moved up to the next area on there move up date.

Kyle filled in preaching at a little country church this morning. He said, it went good.

We visited Gramps and Granny on the Farm

We all had a fun day at the farm today. We took pizza down for lunch and saw Gramps cutting hay in the field. The boys loved getting to watch him. Malachi talked about Gramps and the tractor all day. Jonas loved to play games and Jeremiah really liked getting up in the tractor. They played outside alot with Granny and all got turns riding on the 4-Wheeler. Kyle got out Jonas' kite and the boys enjoyed flying it for alittle while. Jonas let go once and Kyle had to chase it down. We stayed alot longer than we intended to and they were all asleep before we got to the highway. They should all sleep good tonight.

Lasy Day of Preschool for Malachi

We has so much fun at preschool today. It was our last one for the school year. Reagan will be back for 4 weeks of summer school in July. We made yellow play dough, watched a Thomas movie in our PJ's and ate popcorn. Then Kyle brought CiCi's pizza for lunch!! The kids gave me the cutest card and a $50. Gift card to target. ;-) I am going to miss them. I told them to come see me anytime! They all got certificats of Achievements for completing the ABC's I believe Bible series. Jonas last day of his preschool in Next Tuesday and Jeremiah will be out at noon next Friday. The boys are ready for summer I think.

reading books

Boys reading there sponge Bob books together... They love books.

Rosebud playing inside

Rosebud was having fun playing inside. She loves to play with her stuffed animal. A neighbor that opened a animal shop gave us a big bag of goodies and toys for her.

Jonas had a fun Pj day at preschool. Before he went to preschool Malachi and Jonas loved to play at Felicia's house for alittle while. They love to play on her trampoline. After we got Jonas on the bus Malachi and I went to the gym. I walked 1-1/2miles on the treadmill and then Malachi and I played basketball. Malachi loves to run in the gym. Jeremiah is having fun his last couple weeks of school. He loves school... Swim lessons got pushed back a week because the instructor had to do something tomorrow. The boys are so excited to get started. They picked out there towels. We ended up with 2 Thomas towels and one Sponge Bob! I guess I need to get one so I can take Malachi in the water to play some... I'm not to much of a water person, but would like to be. Kyle says he knows how to swim, but I've never seen him swim.

malachi found his singing voice

Malachi has been singing alot lately. He likes to sing B-I-B-L-E, Jesus Love Me and Wheels on the bus. He sings loud... He is talking in 4 and even 5 word sentences now. He is acting so big the last few weeks. He can tackle Jeremiah and Jonas and make then cry. He sure doesn't act or look like he was ever a preemie!!

We had fun at the park

I took Jonas and Malachi to the park tonight while Kyle & Jeremiah did puppy preschool. The boys had lots of fun sliding and swinging. Jeremiah & Kyle had a good time with rosebud. They are all learning lots. She has 4 more weeks of puppy preschool. She is such a sweet puppy. We are all very attached to her. She is sitting good. We are working on laying down, walking on a leash and not jumping up.

Mother's Day

We had a good afternoon at the pizza place yesterday on Mother's Day. I got to eat free! We ate lots of food on the buffet. The boys love to eat pizza and I love the broccli salad. We then went to the game area and the boys had fun. Kyle & Jonas won the race on the Go karts. He was excited since Jeremiah has won twice. He carried around his ribbon most of the day. The boys gave me the cuttest card with a Golden Retriever puppy on it.

Riding bikes

The boys and I love to ride bikes. Jonas and Malachi love to ride in the bike trailer. They are getting kinda heavy in there. We ride down the road by our house. Jeremiah is needing a new bigger bike. He has grow alot. He is going to try to get rid of those training wheels this summer. Jonas has moved up to the next size bike and is getting use to riding it. He'd rather ride the little tricycle, but that is Malachi's size now. Jeremiah took the pic of me and the boys.

What a Stay-at-Home Mom Earns!

Salary.com has come up with an estimated fair wage for the typical stay-at-home mom with two children of $134,121 for executing all of her daily tasks based on a 100-hour work week. Salary.com used a combination of salaries based on what you would have to pay other people to do the same work as a stay-at-home mom. For example the national average salaries for:

1. Day-care Center Teacher $26,891
2. Van Driver $30,762
3. Housekeeper $18,750
4. Cook $31,099
5. CEO $612,623
6. General Maintenance Worker $29,656

Salary.com Stay-at-home Mom Base Pay (40 hours): $45,697
Plus Mom Overtime (60 hours): $88,424
TOTAL Stay-at-Home Mom Salary: $134,121

Salary.com also feels that stay-at-home mom's are still not adequately compensated with this salary because moms are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and stay-at-home moms do not get any benefits such as pension plans. In addition, mothers perform other chores and responsibilities that were not listed above such as counselor, educator, tutor, entertainer, laundress, nurse, or accountant.


I love being a Stay-At-Home-Mom!! I love being there with my boys for all those priceless moments...

Poem "It's In the Valley I Grow"

It's In the Valley I Grow

Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble, and woe
It's then I have to remember
That it's in the valleys I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced pain,
I would never appreciate God's love
And would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn
And my growth is very slow,
Sometimes I need the mountain tops,
But it's in the valleys I grow.

I do not always understand
Why things happen as they do,
But I am very sure of one thing.
My Lord will see me through.

My little valleys are nothing
When I picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death;
His victory was Satan's loss.

Forgive me Lord, for complaining
When I'm feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it's in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.

Thank you for valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it's in the valleys I grow!
(author unknown)

The vote is in!!

Since Sunday is Mother's Day I get to choose what we do and where we go. ;-) We are going to the church we use to attend Sunday.. YEAH... We haven't been there since my birthday. They have a new children's area now that will be open. I am taking a break from doing children's church at our church. Last Sunday was my first Sunday to ever sit in a Sunday morning service where we have attended for 14months.

Allen's Dr appointment.

Kyle's dad Allen saw the surgeon today. He is scheduled for the biopsy on the lymph nodes. They will test the biopsy and if it doesn’t show any cancer cells, the surgeon will go ahead and take that lobe out that same day, but if it shows cancer cells, he will only do the biopsy that day and Allen will have to have chemo and radiation. Please keep Allen in your prayers that the lymph nodes will not show cancer.

Swimming Lessons

They boys will start swimming lessons next week. They are excited. We seem to have alot going on right now but, I want them to go ahead and do this so they can swim this summer. If we wait until things calm down they won't have much summer left. We got to pick the instructer and it will just be them 2. I didn't want Jeremiah to feel funny in with little kids and they do good together.

preschool & company

Yesterday we had preschool here and they all had fun. We worked on the letter I and made ice cream cone pictures. We also made pictures for our Moms for Mother's Day. We have 2 more week of preschool for the school year and then 4 weeks of summer school in July. Then because Jonas is going to Half day Kindergarten the times just are not going to work out next year to do preschool here. I hate to see Reagan go. She is so funny the things she says. Since I don't know much about Girls. One day her hair fell down and I was trying to fix it and she was rolling her eyes at me. Another day she came in and put her hands on her hips and said, I can't believe my mommy put this shirt on me! Boys are nothing like that. They don't even care if there wearing clothes. ;-) Jonas is very excited about Kindergarten and is ready to go now. I have talked to the director where Jonas is going to kindergarten about maybe helping 1x a week with there MDO next year or being a sub.

Granny and Aunt Julie came over today. They brought chicken for supper. Jeremiah couldn't wait to show her a new game on the computer. Aunt Julies new job is going good. They boys had a good time playing with them.

Mala is SO 2

He was chasing the kitty around and jumping on him. Our kitty is so tolerant of the boys. Just takes it all and loves being around them. Malachi jumped on Jonas and Jonas was actually crying for me to get him off. He can also tackle Jeremiah.

silly mala

Malachi was climbing on our broken tv sitting in the living room and I told him to get down. They have been told over and over to not get on it. He looked at me and said,"Daddy gone to work." Like it was ok if daddy wasn't here. ;-)

More flowers and lunch date

Kyle brought me some more flowers this morning!! They are very pretty... ;-) Then he took me out for a lunch date!! We went to Golden Corral. It was a very nice lunch.

Jeremiah reading his puppy preschool book

Puppy preschool went great and Jeremiah is reading up for next week!!

Bath time...

play time

Jonas and Malachi had fun this morning playing at a lady's house for a couple of hours. She has tons of toys and has a trampoline in the back yard they loved. She watched Jonas when Malachi was born and in ICN for a few days. They are going to enjoy going there next week again. Malachi said, "I had play fun." Jonas took his bear to preschool today for stuffed animal day! He took trains yesterday for show and tell. Tomorrow is PJ and movie day...

SURPRISE!!!

I decided to get my hair cut today! Shocking I know... I took Mala and off we went to be daring today. He sat on my lap the entire time and never moved... Could be because he was SLEEPING the entire time we were there...

Puppy preschool

Tonight was Rosebuds first puppy preschool session. She did good and Jeremiah had a blast. She has 5 more weeks and then hopefully she will graduate. ;-) She loved playing with the other dogs. There was 6 dogs there. I took Jonas and Malachi to the library for an hour. They had lost of fun also.




Jonas and Malachi put on a puppet show, played and read books in the train and played Blues Clues on the computer.

silly boys

I was getting the boys dressed this morning and they just had to stop and play a game right then. ;) They are a pair. Tonight is puppy preschool for rosebud!!

Saturday

Jeremiah and Jonas playing trains in there room this afternoon.




Malachi loves playing with Frosty. Malachi was giving him a KISS in one of the pictures... He did that the other day and came to me crying because he has cat hair in his mouth!!



It was cold this morning, so they got some energy out in the garage.

The boys have had a big day so far. Kyle has been out doing some stuff this morning and I have been doing lots of laundry. Jonas has ask all day if it is Monday yet. He is looking forward to going to the library while Kyle and Jeremiah do puppy preschool with rosebud.

Friday night

We went to the gym tonight for something different to do. Jonas and Malachi played in the play room with the kids and had lots of fun. Malachi actually stayed!!! Kyle, Jeremiah and I walked/ran a few laps and then Jeremiah played on the pool table while we were through the glass window in the exercise room. We used the exercise bikes and the tread mills. Kyle may be sore tomorrow. He went Wed. morning and has been sore the last couple days from that. I haven't been sore, but I also walk everyday and do yoga exercises. It was a fun Friday evening. Jonas wants to go back tomorrow and get in the pool. ;-) They are going to take swimming lessons soon I think if we can get a time set up that will go with our busy schedule. I'd love to take water yoga if I can get Malachi to stay in the play room long enough. He stayed 50 minutes today. He has never stayed that long with anyone other than Kyle and I. He had Jonas with him so I'm sure that helped. They have a class this summer for Jonas and Jeremiah's age that they will like to go to.

boys will be boys!!!

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Preschool fun

The boys had fun with Reagan yesterday at preschool again. Drew's dad got held over for his job, so they are not back in town yet. He should be here next week. We finger painted and did some crafts. Yesterday was bring your favorite stuffed animal day! Reagan brought her Duck, Jonas brought his teddy bear fluffy that Jeremiah made him when he was born and Mala brought his puppy blue. Reagan loves to feed Rosebud treats when she comes. Rosebud starts puppy preschool Monday. Kyle and Jeremiah are doing that.

Summer is coming......

Jeremiah informed me today that he has 14 more days of school. Then we realized Jonas has 3 less than that!! Summer is almost here. They are excited about there summer gifted program in June. They have lots of stuff at school the next few weeks...