How Cool!

I have discovered something new about my camera! I can take pictures in black and white and sepia!!!

It is so much fun to learn new things about my camera!

Here are some pics I took during home school gymnastics class.


She wasn't very happy to be doing schoolwork and then I made her turn around for a picture! Smile, why don't you?!



She was happy for a break in her studies!!




In this picture she is reenacting a scene from the musical 'Cats'! She is doing the part that says that Jellicle cats have moonlit eyes. ;)

Then and Now (kind of!)

I found this first picture on the computer and thought it was cute!



These were our last family photos.

More Surprises

These are on the side of our house! Aren't they beautiful?

No, That is NOT a Hat!

This is not a hat. This is not a wig.

This is the coloring from the sleepover I hosted a few weeks ago.

It took us three days with three washes each to get the majority of it out.

She still has spots on her scalp where it is stained pink!




This one wasn't so bad. We did have to scrub for about thirty minutes to get it out. She still has a few spots that are staining her scalp!


I won't talk about how many times I had to wash my hair! (yes, I let them do it to my hair)

What a day!

These are old pictures, I just forgot to post them!

My sister Robin came over and watched the girls so that dh and I could go out and celebrate our anniversary.

We came home to a colorful driveway!








This happened when our dd was running by the post on the stairs and she ran her face into the corner of it. It didn't actually break the skin; but it was so close that it scabbed over and it might leave a scar!

I have been tagged!

Mrs. Edwards had tagged me. I am a bit of a movie junkie and so this was fairly easy for me in thinking of movies. However, it was hard to narrow down the choices!

1. One movie that made you laugh
   There are sooo many that make me laugh. But, one of the best is Clue!’

2. One movie that made you cry
An Affair to Remember, of course.
3. One movie you loved when you were a child
Gone With the Wind! I have loved this movie since I was young.
4. One movie you've seen more than once

Which ones haven’t I seen more than once? I watch movies over and over and over! Ever After, Two Weeks Notice, Anne of Green Gables, The Princess Bride are ones that I pull out often.
5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Joe verses the Volcano! The Scorpion King! Evolution! The People Under the Stairs!
6. One movie you hated
Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows. Any movie that kills the dog!
7. One movie that scared you
I watched a lot of very yucky movies when I was younger. Hellraiser and Poltergeist were among the worst and I am sorry I have those visions in my head. I don’t watch those kind of movies anymore.
8. One movie that bored you
Castaway.
9. One movie that made you happy
The Quiet Man, I love the characters and the story of love and triumph. Plus it is John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, how can you go wrong?
10. One movie that made you miserable
The Passion of Christ. It made me realize, again, how unworthy I really am. It also gave me great hope and appreciation for Christ and His sacrifice.
11. One movie you weren't brave enough to see
. Um, I am not sure about this one. I am sure that there are some, but I have blocked them out of my memory!
12. One movie character you've fallen in love with
I really love Anne Shirley. I love her spirit and her determination. The one line that I love the most is when they are sitting at the dinner table and she tells Marilla that she would be proud of her if she knew all the things that she wanted to say but didn’t!
13. The last movie you saw
Prince Caspian---WOOHOO!!! It doesn’t follow the book completely, but it was good anyway!
14. The next movie you hope to see
Indiana Jones!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this insight into why my movie watching habits!

Now, Robin and Kristine, what do you think about playing?!

We Have Forgotten God

I am convicted this morning by a verse I read from Galatians. I will get to that in a minute.

For the last month or so I have not been doing personal Bible Study. I am ashamed to admit that; but, it is true. I have been doing only the minimal amount of praying and only for other people.

Why would I do this or let this happen? Well, you know the excuses. 'I am too busy', 'I am too tired,' 'I forgot,' 'I can't concentrate,' 'The kids need too much of my time.' Shall I go on? No, I think not.

Translated, they all mean that I am too lazy to do what I need to do. I know this about myself and I fight it daily. Sometimes, I don't fight it enough.

So, on to this morning. The dog woke me up much earlier than I had intended to open my eyes. She saw a squirrel and was in desperate need of chasing it! I crawled back in bed and was just about to fall into that warm, black place when I felt a voice saying to me, 'Spend time with the Lord'. Yes, maybe later after the alarm goes off. Again, almost to that sought after sleep the voice calls again. This time, my eyes pop open and I realize that I am a lazy wretch (okay, not a new realization just a fresh vision of it!) and God is calling me. I had better answer.

I made my coffee and decided that the quiet wasn't so bad after all!

I read through the book of Jude and found some wounds were opening up. But, it wasn't until I picked up the Bible Study book I have been using that I found real conviction. The method that I was to use today was to look at a Scripture passage using several translations to view the differences and gain a fresh insight to them.

I had SEVEN translations laid out before me. The passage was Galatians 2:17-21. Here it is:

"If, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."

Now, some of the differences in the versions wordings are interesting.

Verse 17 had these differences: made right with, justified, put right with
God forbid, May it never be, Of course not, Absolutely not, By no means

Verse 18: transgressor, guilty, breaking the law, law-breaker

Verse 21: nullify, frustrate, treats as meaningless, reject, set aside

All of these differences had me thinking. But, it wasn't until I read the entire passage all together that it made an impact.

I read each version and was stopped in my tracks when I read the Living Bible. I have to admit that I don't read this version much, I don't like it. It is a personal preference. However, God used this version to prick my heart this morning.

Verse 21 from the New Living Bible reads like this:

"For I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die."

"For I am not one of those..." Actually, I think that I am. This is where I have been living. I have been taking Gods grace and His sacrifice for granted. I have been setting it aside, rejecting it, nullifying it, frustrating it, and treating it as meaningless.

Every time I chose to do something else, I was doing this.


It breaks my heart to admit this; but it breaks my heart even more that it took me this long to see it. I am a stubborn, stiff-necked child who can't see the forest for the trees.

I am going to print this verse out and hang it on the window above the kitchen sink, on my bathroom mirror, on the computer monitor, and anywhere else that I am standing still long enough to read it.

I need reminded of it often.

There but for the Grace of God, go I.

Field Day

This year our home school group had a Field Day. We had an Olympic theme and had six events that the kids could compete in.

We started our day with prayer and a little history. Mrs. Edwards gave the history of Eric Liddle and the importance of faith and honoring God.


We had been fore casted to have rain for our morning. However, God held back the rain and we were afforded a beautiful day for our events.


Yes, she is wearing pants. It started out a little on the chilly side, then warmed up quite nicely.


She eventually took off the undershirt!


These two waited all morning to play in the mud.


The day ended with a game of kick ball after lunch.

All in all, it was a wonderful day of fellowship with some of our best friends.

A Night to Remember

Have you ever volunteered to have a bunch of silly, crazy, girls spend the night at your house and you are not even one of them?

Well, I did.

Our homeschool group is made up of some absolutely wonderful families. In those families, there are girls that are very dear to my heart. Their ages range from 10 years old to 16 years old. A few of them are going to public school next year and won't be with us any longer. :( I am continually impressed with these young ladies and the depths of their hearts.

So anyway, on to the sleepover.

During the Home Ec class in our group, the girls decided that they wanted to have a sleepover. But who would host it? They were so excited about the idea, giggling and planning, that I just leapt forward and said YES!

What was I thinking? Nine girls, all night long. Um...

It started last night at six o'clock and is still going on this morning at ten o'clock!

I didn't know that 'little' girls could eat so much food! There was more snack food than I think I have seen in any one place for a long time. It was very yummy. I went to bed with a stomach ache!


We decided to play outside since the water was BEAUTIFUL. We played tag and then we decided to play Bigger and Better. In this game you start out with something small like a bobby pin and go to someones house and ask if they have something bigger and better. Anything.

Our neighbors were really good sports; most of them. The girls ended up getting a clothes pin, a calendar page, and some wrapping paper!

We then moved inside and spray painted our hair. The choices were pink, green, and sparkles. I think that the air in the room might have been illegal at one point! The curling irons and straighteners came out next along with the make up.

Next was movies. Princess Bride was up first and the then Enchanted. By the time Enchanted was over it was around 1:30 and lights were to be out by 2 am.

I went upstairs and read on the couch and heard talking and giggling until around 5 or so. At 6 am I was startled awake by an alarm. I ran around the house trying to figure out where it was coming from. Finally I went downstairs and it was coming from the room with all the girls in it. It was pitch black in there and the alarm was blaring. Did any of them wake up? NO I was fumbling around in the dark trying to find the silly thing and then I was trying to figure out how to turn it off without turning the lights on.

Still, none of them woke up. I went back upstairs to catch a little more sleep and by 7 I was waking everyone up.

Boy were they happy to be waking up!!! They were not very happy with my singing and didn't like the songs that I had chosen. ;) When they were finally awake, we had cinnamon rolls and orange juice. Needless to say, there was not a lot of conversation during breakfast.


The next movie was watched this morning waiting for the moms. What a Girl Wants is actually a cute movie!

For now, they are putting more color is hair and I am starting to feel a little dizzy as the cloud of smoke is coming at me!

As I sat listening to their conversations last night, I was thinking that this is exactly what I want. I want to be the house that my girls and their friends want to congregate at. I want to be the 'cool' mom so to speak. Not necessarily the one that is their friend; but the one that they want to bring their friends home to. I want to be the go to house and I want to maintain that close and open relationship with my daughters and their friends.

I hope that I can do this many more times in the future with this group and with the ones that are my next daughters ages. That is another group of girls that I really enjoy being around.

A New Beginning

This is a butterfly that hatched out of a cocoon that the girls found in the backyard.



It was fun to see the chrysalis and try and figure out which kind of butterfly it would turn into!

One Day a Boy and a Girl...

Sixteen years ago, a boy and a girl stood before a gathering of friends and family to dedicate their lives to one another and to God.

Vows were spoken and promises made.

A new life begun.

Marriage is hard and messy. Anyone who is married can attest to that. It is not always fun and carefree. It is a daily commitment to look out for someone else before yourself and to love that person even when they are unlovable.

Sixteen years...

I did not even want to get married while I was in high school. I wanted to date and move to New York, work on the stage and probably live with someone. I was not a Christian and had no aspirations for anything better.

Then came a wonderful young man who treated me differently than other guys and I was hooked. He was incredibly handsome, mind you, but he was different inside and everyone that knew him could see it. He was a gentleman. He treated me like a lady, even when I didn't act like it.

The dating ensued and I knew almost instantly that I did not ever want to be without him. It was a natural fit in my heart and mind.

After dating for three years he was privy to most of the warts that I had and he was still willing to hang around! We fought, loudly. We argued, a lot. We always came back together stronger than before.

The first years of our marriage taught me about sacrifice and change, mine. How he ever stuck by me during that time I will never understand. He loved me in spite of myself and his commitment never wavered.

Sixteen years and I am still wildly in love with this man that is truly, my better half. He is my best friend. He encourages me to be better than I am and loves me through the ugliness in my heart. He makes me laugh when no one else can.

He understands my heart, both good and bad, and accepts me anyway.

We have been through a lot in our sixteen years. We have some children already waiting for us in Heaven. (maybe that is where all the boys are!) We have had health problems, financial problems, family problems, and we are still standing. Together.

I can't wait for the next Sixteen Years...