AWANA Time

I've mentioned AWANA in some previous posts so I thought I'd take some pictures so you could see the kids in action. It's the highlight of the week for them! Monica helps out with the T & T's, which are 3rd - 5th grade. Zachery is not really in AWANA anymore but they have a middle-school youth group that meets at the same time which he is part of. Logan is in his first year of Sparkies and on his second book already. Alana and Jesse get to hang out with Mommy and Daddy who go next door to someone's house for prayer meeting.

And here they are, lounging and waiting for Mommy to go around and take pictures.

Logan, he's very excitable!

Here he is cheering along with his teammates during game time.

Zach is playing a 'Sword Drill' game with his class.

Monica helping to keep some kids quiet during the Bible lesson time.

Here she's helping one of the other leaders with an illustration.

We're very thankful for our local church and the role it plays in the life of our family. What better way to help families 'train up their children in the way they should go' than by having programs like AWANA where Scripture is memorized, Jesus Christ is taught, and salvation is presented.

A TIME TO REJOICE!!!!

My parents have finally closed on their house. I said "MY PARENTS HAVE FINALLY CLOSED ON THEIR HOUSE!!!". I am so excited to be able to do this post - this is something they've been waiting for and God has finally answered their prayers and the prayers of many others on their behalf in this area! Like I've said before, Monday was the fifth closing date to come and go and the past 48 hours since then have been a roller coaster ride. Tuesday the bank asked the buyers to put another 5% of the purchase price down, their lawyer then contacted my parents and asked them to pay it! They said no, so at this point many of us were thinking that was the end of things and it wasn't going to happen - BUT, this afternoon the papers were signed. PTL! My prayer over the next couple of days is for my parents to be able to recoup emotionally and then take a big, deep, sigh of relief....and start house shopping=)

Conversations with 'Lana

This afternoon when I drove into town to do some errands I took Alana along with me and thought I'd share with you bits and pieces of our conversation as we rode along. There is usually no introduction or leading up to her comments either....it is a bit lengthy but it is well worth the read!

Alana: "Mommy, when is our blood going to get out of us?"

Mommy: "Hopefully it's not, we need our blood to live and stay alive."

Alana: "Why do we want to be alive?"

Mommy: "Um, well, if we weren't alive we would be dead."

Alana: "But Mommy, if we get dead we can go to God's house. When can I be dead?"

Mommy: "Well, it's up to God how long we live and when we die."

Alana: "But I just want to be dead..." (driving up to the ATM) "How come people stick those stuff on the wall?" (gum stuck on wall by ATM)

Mommy: "I don't know."

Alana: "Do they know where the trash is?"

Mommy: "I don't know." (trying to do the transaction)

Alana: "They do because their Mommy told them, and the people who live in that house (the bank) will get mad and disgusting at them."

Mommy: "Uh, huh..."

(a bit later)

Alana: "Why is all that stain coming up off the water?"

Mommy: "Steam, honey."

Alana: "So why is it?"

Mommy: "Because it is." (one of Mom's favorite answers)

Alana: "Mommy, can you get that piece of papoe (paper) on the floor?"

Mommy: "No, Alana, I'm driving and have to watch the road."

Alana: "But you could get it and I could ask you to turn if someone is coming to crash into us."

Mommy: (laughing)

Alana: "Why are you laughing at me?"

Mommy: "Because you're cute and I love you."

Alana: "But you don't need to laugh at me because I'm cute, I love you and I don't laugh at you."

And I'll close with one of my favorite pictures of Alana, this was on her second birthday.

No big "Yipee!"

Well, I'm losing track of the number of times, but I'm pretty sure this is the 5th closing date to come and go on my parents home. I just spoke with my dad about it and there is always one reason or another or some missing paper or another - so today will come and go and my parents will still have a house on the market....14 months and counting. So I'll ask again that you might pray the next 24 hours because it is possible that it may happen tomorrow, Lord willing! Sure is nice to know that He's in control, isn't it?

PS - It's really windy again here, we had another truck tipped over this weekend on the highway in front of our house.

A January Christmas

When I sat down to write this post I immediately started to think about all the things people might say to tease me. But, we had so much so much fun that I'm going to risk it! Many of you may remember that back in early November Matthew and I led a work trip down to Chile with NTI, during that time my parents came and watched the kids for us. My mom, being the organized planner that she is, bought several Christmas presents in advance and left them here for us. There was so much going on at the time and I was still on a 'Chile high' and excited to be home with my kids so I put them away and waited another 6 weeks or so to get them out. When the time came I put her presents under the tree. But I'd forgotten some of them....You see I put them in 2 different places and not until today, cleaning out Jesse's closet, did I find the other bin full of presents for all of us! What a fun surprise! So Daddy tortured the children and made them wait until he came home in the evening and we opened them all together=) Here's the pictures that tell the story of our January Christmas!

Jesse loved opening and reading his present - he also got some clothes, but I think his favorite part of that one was tearing the paper off.


Alana loves to play cars with her brother so she was VERY excited to get a 'Polly Pocket' car of her own. Monica was equally excited about getting some cool clothes from Grammy....I love when kids get old enough to be excited about clothes for Christmas!



It is next to impossible to get either one of these two boys to look 'normal' when the camera comes out! Unless you catch them when they're not watching!



Even Uncle Chad, my brother, got a present. And, as you can see, I had some help with mine!

Thanks again Grammy and Grampy - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Today is my brother Lincoln's, birthday. But to be honest, I'm not sure if we've ever celebrated it together. (Maybe more on that story another time.) He and his wife live in Scotland with my beautiful niece who I've yet to meet. Anyway, have a Happy Birthday little brother!

I chose this picture because I knew you would love it. Hope you at least have a radio around so you can enjoy your birthday to the fullest!

PS - Lincoln, please send more pictures!

Girl time

For most of the day today the girls outnumbered the boys. Since it's usually the other way around we took advantage of it and had some girl fun. Daddy and Zach were at work all day so Logan took the pictures for us!

Our morning view

Lam 3:22 -23 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

It's cold out there!

Today we woke up to wind chills of 30 below but now it's warmed up to a balmy 19 degrees! However, it's winter and it is supposed to be COLD so I'm not complaining. Plus the snow makes everything look so much prettier. For those of you who've never visited, our area of South Dakota is not pretty, nor is our town, nor is our house - again, not complaining, just stating facts. But every once in a while God uses His creation to cover up the 'ugly' and make it into something 'pretty' and that is what the snow has done for us. Other than a few weeks in spring, we are surrounded by brown most of the year, so the change of scenery is quite welcome! So, here are some pictures of what we've been able to enjoy the past few days. I know I keep apologizing for the pictures but one day I'll get a new camera....that's my excuse, anyway!

There's no picture of Zach because I took it from to far away and it was quite dark...or maybe it was because when I was trying to get a shot his father was sticking him head first in a pile of snow as revenge for a face full of the white stuff!

A time to close

Today marks the countdown - seven more days - until the sale of my parents house finally goes through. The closing is scheduled for Jan. 28th! But there's more to the story....this is the fifth closing date they've had and the house has been on the market for over a year. After the hurricane season of 2005 the housing market plummeted in Florida, which is where their house is. All this to say the I was hoping to post a big "YIPEE!" on Friday, their previous closing date, but it fell through again. The Lord is in control and I know there is a time for everything but pray with me that a week from today will be the time to close!

Happy Birthday!!!

Once again we've had some internet 'issues' so I haven't been able to post in a few days. Yesterday was Matthew's birthday and although you may hear about it a day late we made sure to celebrate it on time for him! I have to tell you, though, he's not a big fan of getting his picture taken - I think the cheesy smile Logan often uses in front of the camera was inherited!

On Friday afternoon I showed up where Matthew was working to take him away for his birthday. OK, so all we did was go out to eat, but it took quite a bit of orchestrating for things to fall into place without him finding out about it. We went to a nice restaurant about an hour away and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a meal just the two of us. Saturday night we had the birthday meal with all the family and Matthew's favorite cheesecake. So here are some pictures of my wonderful man; there's one from yesterday and then just a few of my favorites. Yes, he is a little goofy but I think he's perfect...for me! I love you, Matthew. Thanks for another year of being the wonderfulest husband to me and the bestest dad to our kids! Remember, only 62 more years to go!

This one is just from this past summer when we had a chance to be a part of a family camp in MN.

Here he is with Logan almost 5 years ago - what an adorable pair!

In this picture Jesse is not even 1 month old, Daddy's lap was quite full that day.

Royal Daddy Treatment

"A man's home is his castle"....or something like that. I'm not sure how the saying goes exactly but the principle is that here in our house Daddy is king. Our family subscribes to that belief and below are a few pictures of us putting it into practice.

The three younger kids are 'helping' Daddy enjoy his nap after a long hard day of work by giving him a back massage as he 'sleeps'.

My grandmother, Jane Rozelle, just published a book called Creatures of the Creator and we've been reading it as a family. In a recent chapter about horses she described in detail how a blacksmith shoed a horse. When Matthew hurt his ankle a couple days ago I though I'd give it a closer look using the 'blacksmith' technique.
Wouldn't the man of your house love to be 'pampered' like this?

Best Buds

Jesse tops the list as the most excited when Daddy comes home from work at night. He is his best friend and, as you can see, the feeling is pretty mutual.

Secrets shared between best friends.

A quick grin at Mommy - Daddy must have told him something good!

Even Daddy's need a piggy back ride sometimes.

P.S. We are thankful for Jesse and the Lord's protection over him. It seems like he's had the most close calls of all the kids - I just found him chewing on a safety pin....it was OPEN!

A request

Every day, all around the world, people suffer and go through tremendous trials - 99.9% of them we never even hear about. The grand majority of those people do so without having the Lord on their side. When we are faced with things that seem humanly impossible to handle, those of us that are Christians, are given the opportunity to do so in front of the eyes of the world for HIS honor and glory. I've been following the story of one young family who, at this point in time, would covet your prayers as they live out such a struggle in front of many witnesses. I won't go into the details of their situation only to say that, because of their stand on the sanctity of life in the womb, it has placed Mom at great risk. She's now in need of a double lung-transplant and the baby, who arrived at 24+ weeks, also has a long road ahead. If you've taken the time to read this post then please also take the time to pray for them. If you'd like more information then you can read the husbands blog as he details their days for us. Click on the link below to visit their blog.
http://cfhusband.blogspot.com/

It's a bit windy!

Between my husband and I we've lived quite a few places all over this country and even all over the globe. Some of those places have been windy, some not - Buffalo Gap, SD definitely tops the list by far as the 'windiest' of all. This morning Matthew and I were out walking and on the way home I had to literally grab onto his arm to keep from being blown forward. Well, just few hours later as I drove into town I saw a truck, laying on its side, on the highway. This is the third time that we know of that this has happened in the past 2 years we've lived here. Buffalo Gap got its name from a gap, or pass, between the hills across from where we live. Back when there were tons of buffalo in this area of the country they would travel here by the thousands to go through the natural pass.

By the time I got back from town the truck had been righted and I only managed a quick picture with my phone. The one that was tipped over is one the right,with a red cab and white trailer.

Who can help but see the spiritual application in this one? When the winds and storms of life come your way who are you holding on to? Do your spiritual roots run deep enough to keep you from toppling over?

Husbands and why I need mine

Today reminded me again of something I already know about myself. I'm an American used to having her luxuries and having them now! Since yesterday afternoon our internet has been down. At first we assumed it was an area-wide thing since that has happened before, but when I made a call to our provider this morning she said I was the first caller. That led to several more useless calls to the help desk where they told me to do things I had no idea about. One conversation went something like this, "Ma'am, please unplug your modem"...."Umm, what does it look like?"..."It's a little black box with little shiny lights on it"....etc. Needless to say after MUCH frustration I called Matthew and ranted and raved and told him this was 'his department' and I wanted nothing more to do with it! So, when he got home he calmly went about figuring out what was wrong and, despite my helpful reminders to call the help desk, he figured it out and here I am again - LOGGED ON=) I don't have a lot of time during the day to go online so I usually grab 5 minutes here and there to check e-mail - to not be able to do that today frustrated me to no end. And yet I survived....How the Lord must laugh out our silly human ways. I'm glad for His reminder today of how little I need the internet but how much I need my husband! Thanks again, honey!

It's not about me

It seems like we live in a day and age where there is a lot of emphasis on ME. True happiness comes by pleasing me, in order to do for others we have to put ourselves first, I have MY rights, etc., etc. Therefore, having a servants heart and putting ourselves last on the list is not a common mindset. But it is the heart and mind that Christ had while here on this earth and we are to follow His ways and not be sucked into the culture that we are immersed, in no matter how appealing it may seem. I remember my Mom telling me the importance of the word JOY through this little song:
"J is for Jesus, for He has first place,
O is for others we meet face to face,
Y is for you in whatever you do,
Put yourself last and spell JOY."
So, as a family how do we teach our children the importance of being a servant? We are all born with our own needs and wants as our primary concern so it takes a conscious effort to change our way of thinking. Matthew and I are learning that what we do and how we act in front of our kids will be imitated a lot more easily than just what we say or tell them to do. So, our family is doing the church cleaning for this month and each one is doing his own part. Please don't think I say all this to tell you to follow our example because we are such great servants. What I'm trying to say is we need to follow Christs example.



Here are some pictures, they aren't the greatest, but at least you can see that each one had their own job to do!





Alana's job was to play with Jesse and keep him entertained.
Phi 2:5-7 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.

The Library

I really enjoy our library. It is a beautiful, brand new, log building that is spacious and full of books and movies and fun stuff for the kids to enjoy. It's a bit of a controversial place since the town went into debt building it but being homeschoolers we still go around once a week. So here are a few pictures of a trip we took last week. Zach was at work with his dad so he wasn't there.

All the kids love this 'little bear' that plays the audio kids books.

Jesse usually needs a little help.

When we go into the kids area Logan and Alana spend almost all their time inside this tree.

And here is my big kid who probably enjoys the library more than even the younger ones!

While we were there Aunt Helaine pulled some lovely fake teeth out of her purse and let Alana try them on and smile 'pretty' for the camera!As much as we enjoy the world of books, and trust me I do from way back, let's not forget to spend time in God's Word which is the Book!

Cat and Mouse Game

A game of cat and mouse was played at our house last night....literally. What I am about to tell you and the picture you are about to see may just get me kicked out of the world of 'blogdom' but I will plead ignorance since I am new to blogging and hope that I am forgiven. But, the truth must come out. Several months ago I once again began my plea, a plea that is as old as my marriage, to get a cat. My husband is not a big fan of cats but I am not a big fan of mice - and we've had several since moving to this house 2 years ago. So, long story short, we got a kitten. And after seven months of being just a plain old cat she graduated to the level of beginning 'mouser'. With the help of my husband she caught her first mouse last night. She wasn't quite able to do it all on her own but we probably couldn't have caught it without her either. I say we, but it was Matthew since I was abiding by the cardinal rule of 'mice and women' - "Always be in a place of higher elevation when in the same room as a mouse". (Let me illustrate: mouse in kitchen, Alisha on counter; mouse in living room, Alisha sitting on back of couch) Well, she was victorious and I was able to sleep soundly thanks to the efforts of Sam and Matthew! My sincere thanks to both!

Sam, or Kitty as she is most often called, with her prize.
PS - A quick congratulations to two friends of mine who have both had their first baby this past week! Congratulations Angie and Liz!

My confession

Sometimes I don't give my full attention to the kids when they are talking to me - there, I said it, the truth is out. Well, today it happened to be one of those times. I was busy and Logan quietly and politely asked me if he could do something and it wasn't until a few minutes later that my mind processed what he'd said. So this was the scene that awaited me when I found them and then gave my full attention.

Thankfully the paint is washable and managed to actually stay off of the wall...for the most part.

Here's a glimpse of the fierce tiger I referred to before.

Not to be outdone, Jesse found trouble of his own by stealing Logan's toothbrush and, um, using it.