C-ya!

Welp, we are leaving for the UP today. We will be coming home on Thursday night so I will let you know how it went then!

Later!

Blogger Question...

I have noticed that for the last couple of weeks my blogger post editing place here is missing a couple of buttons. I no longer have all the buttons to change the font or the font size and color. I usually don't change it much but if I am writing a caption for a picture or even quoting things at times I did use it.

Does anybody else have these buttons missing? Maybe it's my template but if that's the case it should have been like that for months because it's been quite some time since I have changed that and I used different colors, fonts and font size several times since then. Any, just kind of frustrating, that's all. :P

I just noticed that where I used different fonts and colors and sizes in my archives, they are gone! Who is responsible for this? Did I do something to make it change? I haven't even looked at my template or changed things on it in months - except for the sidebar...how frustrating!

Packing - Again!

Well, I am packing to take a trip to the UP next week. We plan on leaving on Sun. after church and returning Thurs. morning. My dad is up at the farm so it will work out quite well to stay with him. The only problem is that we won't have a car. It's not such a huge deal but I'd like to visit some friends that live about an hour from my dads and probably won't get the chance to. That part is a bummer but we will get to spend plenty of time with my dad and grandparents and my aunt and uncle and that is really the whole point of going.

This trip comes at a pretty good time actually. I started making an apron for Jozie for her birthday and got the whole thing cut out yesterday only to get my sewing machine out today and I can't figure out step one of sewing it together. So, I will be taking it with me to have grandma help me, shes been sewing for YEARS so we should get it done in no time. I thought I'd be able to do it myself because I picked out the easiest pattern I could find for a child's apron but I guess I was wrong. Hopefully I can learn a lot and do the next project on my own!

Happy Birthday Belle!

Jozie turned 8 today! We didn't do much celebrating - with AWANA and church on Wednesday nights we don't have a whole lot of extra time. We had popcorn cake after dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup.

I can't believe how much she has changed and grown over the years. Here are 8 things about her:

1. Jozie is a very loving and compassionate child. She is always ready to give a hug or hold someones hand.

2. She is the most forgiving person that I have every met. Her brother does normal mean brother stuff to her on a daily basis and still she quick to forgive and ready to call him "friend".

3. Jozie is always ready to help. She loves to help clean the house, help with dinner - whether it be setting the table, making a salad, or cleaning off the table and doing the dishes - she likes to garden - even pulling the weeds, she will even help her brother clean his "room" (the space by his bed that he keeps his stuff in)! The only time she will complain about doing something she is asked to do is when she has to clean her own mess up!

4. Jozie loves babies. When I was her age I never gave babies a second thought but she loves to go into the nursery at church and hug and help with the babies. That and with her willingness to be such a good homemaker-in-the-making, hopefully she will be a great mother and wife someday.

5. Animals are special to her - and not just her stuffed ones! She really likes horses but hasn't had much of an opportunity to get up and close with them. She says she wants to a vet someday. She isn't even scared of the things that most girls are afraid of like bugs and snakes and other creepy crawlies! :)

6. She likes to tell me that she wants to be just like me when she grows up! Lord, help her! LOL

7. She isn't fond of school work but when she works hard and doesn't complain she can do it without many problems.

8. She is a gift not only to our family but to everyone she comes in contact with. There is no doubt in my mind about that. I believe that she will grow to be a woman of great faith in her Lord, a wonderful mother, and a loving and supportive wife. I believe that she will bless many people as a result of these things that God has birthed in her at this young age.

I don't know what we would do without her!

Happy Birthday Beautiful!

Busy Saturday

Yesterday was the Youth Olympic Night at our church. It was a night of games for the kids where teams of 3 competed for cash prizes - first place got $50, second place got $25 and third place got $10 - with a big obstacle course as the final game. There was all kinds of food - hotdogs, corndogs, nachos, chips, candy bars, pizza and pop - it was all only a quarter.

It wasn't as well planned out as it should have been so I ended up running around all afternoon looking for a place to get change at but since it was Saturday afternoon none of the banks were open. I ended up going to WalM*art where I got a candy bar with a $100 just to get change.

I was the photographer for the evening with my camera and the churches digital video camera. The video camera had a dead battery so I didn't get much with that but I took almost 300 pictures with my camera so hopefully they will have enough to put a slide show together or something.

Luke donated his bike to the occasion because they needed a small bike for the obstacle course and they couldn't find a trike. I'm glad I brought it because it kept him occupied riding around the parking lot of the church, going "100 miles per hour" as he said, while the other games were going on. And thankfully they didn't wreck his bike because although he needs a new one badly - this one is too small, the back wheel is slightly bent, the chain is completely rusted, and he has had it since he turned 3 - we don't currently have the money to replace it! :)

The games were made up by some of the teens and leaders so the fine details and rules were sometimes questioned. One of the games was taken out because by the end they didn't really understand what to do and there were a few disgruntled kids when it cames to the rules of some of the others.

It was an exhausting day for everyone involved but I think the youth group kids enjoyed it and I'm sure there will be another one sometime in the future - although more planning is greatly needed!

Why? II

***This post is in no way meant to upset or offend anybody, it's just the way things are in my family. I'm sorry if it does.



Why does the family of a divorced man have to suffer because of the sins of his ex-wife? Because she left him with 3 children - ages 0 to 5 - only to come back a year later and reclaim them and let them never have a relationship with him again? Why does a man have to work like a dog only to bring home barely minimum wage because half his income goes to child support? Why does nobody else but me care? Why does the state of M@ine have the right to take his income tax return when he is almost $700 OVER paid on his child support? Why is it when he calls to get it back they tell him that they will send out a check on Monday only to find out SEVERAL weeks later that THEY haven't received the money from the Fe*dera*l Gov*ernm*ent? Is it just me or does that sound a little funny? And they can't answer when you ask if the $700 over payment will be included with the money they owe us for the tax return that they have STOLEN from us! I get so SICK of hearing how EVERY man who pays child support is a "de*ad be*at d*ad" because my husband is anything BUT that and still he is treated like crap JUST BECAUSE HE IS THE DAD! Why is he told that he "should have thought about that BEFORE he got married again" when he asks how he is supposed to support his wife and 2 kids on minimum wage? Why is his ex-wife deemed unable to pay child support when she goes back to school but when my husband goes back to school he will have to pay in through the nose JUST BECAUSE HE IS TRYING TO BETTER HIMSELF to make a better life for his family - INCLUDING ALL 5 OF HIS CHILDREN?! So not only will we have to start a new job with college loans he will most likely be behind in child support payments as well, what a life! Will it ever end? What do they want next? His blood? Oh, wait, they already have that! They have his 3 children that want nothing to do with him because of the lies of a crazy woman!

So when people blog about how perfect life is or can be, it makes me want to comment on their blogs about how reality is and how life could NEVER be perfect until we are dead and in heaven!

Why?

Why can't life be easy?

Today I read a lady's blog who seems to have it all together. She has beautiful children, a beautiful home, the ability to stay at home and homeschool her children, even the the pictures on her blog are perfect and the words she used are so idyllic. She is the perfect Christian mother and wife and can juggle 5 children, a part time job (she is an attorney), running a household (she bakes bread on a weekly basis - and it's HOMEMADE - not just the frozen dough), and she homeschools and sews her children's clothes. Looking at her blog made me long for something that I don't feel like I can ever have or accomplish. I only have 2 children and I'm hard pressed to make dinner everyday because I always have something to do and the days are never long enough. My kids are never prefect (don't get me wrong, I love my kids and wouldn't change them for ANYTHING) and I don't have any time to do the things that I want to do more often, like sew, or scrapbook, or even get outside and hike or Rollerblade. I always seem to be yelling at my kids about something and they are always fighting about something, even if the get the great idea to play TOGETHER they still can't agree on what to do or how to do it. The lady both inspired me to try and do better with my time but at the same time it was a bit depressing because it seemed that she had endless time and energy and resources to do what she wanted to do and she does it all with perfection! It kind of irritated me because I wondered if she was even being completely honest.

Anyway, this is a little disjointed and cranky (at this moment Jozie is having a crying fit because she HATES math and doesn't want to do her schoolwork so her crying in my ear isn't helping) but I needed to vent and all I really want to do is curl up in my bed and read my book so I don't need to think about reality right now!

But laundry beckons...

My Heart.

There is a song that has been playing lately on our local Christian radio station that has captured my heart and I wanted to share it. It's called "Praise and Adore" by Wavorly

what i have to say is obvious
and knowledge free,
for all of us are
you're word leaves us with no excuse
the paths we choose make us who we are

there's a breeze blowing through
here tonight

so i praise and adore you
lay it all down before you
in every way you're beautiful
from my heart
i praise and adore you
made the world beautiful
and i cannot sit and deny you created life
and some live without it

wake up morning sunrise in my eyes
at night the moon lights all the skies
the sound of hope that's in the air
and everything that's everywhere

there's a breeze blowing through
here tonight

so i praise and adore you
lay it all down before you
in every way you're beautiful
from my heart
i praise and adore you
made the world beautiful
and i cannot stand and deny you created life
and some live without it

and it's true
its for you

so i praise and adore you
lay it all down before you
in every way you're beautiful
from my heart
and i every breath i take
there's no way
outside you created this place

prise and adore you
lay it all down before you
in every way you're beautiful
from my heart
i praise and adore you
made the world so beautiful
i cannot stand and deny you created life
and some live without it
and some live without it

A Little Boy in Mourning.

Well, today we found a new home for Buster. It will be with a single man who has his older children visit him every other weekend and he has 10 acres where Buster can run. We think he will be much happier there because if he wasn't in the house here he was on his leash outside and really couldn't run freely, except for the couple of times we tried to let him run and he just ran away...so there is no longer any more fear that the dog will attack my children. He was also a very aggressive dog and since we got him as a fully grown 2 yr old dog, it was hard to break him of that. He played VERY rough, biting hard even in play. There was a couple of times that he cornered the kids in the bedroom and would snap and growl at them for no reason. He also bit me once and had I not had a sweatshirt on I'm sure he would have broke the skin. He didn't like having the door on his crate shut either. He would roll his lips back and bear his teeth and grown and snap if anybody attempted to close him in there. The worst part is that he was unpredictable in his moods an it was hard to trust him. He was a sweet and wonderful dog when he wasn't all those things but an untrustworthy dog isn't worth much and we had to make that decision to get rid him for the safety of not only Jozie and Luke but for Sami too, since he slept in her bed at night.

Anyway, Luke was pretty upset that we had to say goodbye to Buster, he cried for quite a while. I guess every little boy needs a dog but this wasn't the time and it wasn't the dog. He seems to be OK now but we were having breakfast this morning and talking about one of us having "issues" and Luke said, "I'll tell you what MY issue is, my issue is that I want to get Buster back!" I'm sure it will be some time before he gets over it.

So, here's to Buster. He made my little boy happy and that means a lot to me. Because of that I will miss him also. I hope you are happier in your new home, Buster, and have lots of room to play and chase those squirrels you so much wanted to chase in our yard! :)

PS Jozie didn't really care too much that the dog is gone!

Blah!

I am paying our taxes today to the state of IN. Normally we would be getting a big refund but Bob was basically self employed for his bus driving job so we have to pay taxes for that. It didn't exactly work out for the positive for the state of IN. I can't wait to get to South Dakota, they don't have state income taxes!

Pictures I've Neglected to Post.

Mondaine Monday.

Today was a same old, same old nothing new Monday. My Aunt Karen and Uncle Gene from MI came to visit on their way home from Arizona, where they spend a few months every winter. A. Karen said that they hit the cold and she was temped to turn around and go back! :) But they made it this far and they only had about 6 hours home from here. They spoiled the kids and brought home some outside toys for them Luke got a Ball and Bat and was thrilled with it! He has been using a rather heavy large stick and a tennis ball in the yard, I am rather embarrassed to say. I guess I should have taken that as a hint to get him one as a good mother, he's never had one of his own but I've never had the occasion to spend money on him and I hate just spending money on the kids just because. Not that's a bad thing I just don't want to spoil them. Anyway, they slept in the fifth wheel last night with A. Karen and U. Gene and were up by about 7 and Luke was ready to play ball before he had his breakfast! So he had U. Gene outside in the freezing morning sunlight playing ball before 8! Last night we had dinner and he filled up but as we were cleaning off the table he was helping himself to whatever he could get a little piece of here and there because he said he was still hungry. When I questioned him, because he was full when he left the table, he said, "Hello, I'm a baseball player and baseball players have big appetites!" - as he patted his stomach! What a kid!

Jozie got one of those Velcro toss the ball things that you catch it with the paddles and sidewalk chalk to share with Sami (for those of you who don't know, I remember being asked once in a comment, Sami is my 14-year-old step-sister that lives here with my mom and her dad). She likes to color on her hands and put it on her cheeks like blush. She is a girlie girl!

So I took some pictures that I will post here in a second. It was nice visiting with them and playing cards last night. The have friends where we are moving to in SD so we look forward having them visit us there.

Other than that our day went downhill. We went out to breakfast at Cra*cker Barre*ll for breakfast but I was feeling rather sick by the time I got home and spent most of the day on the couch, blah! I did go out for a little while to help in the garden by pulling grass and weeds but all that bending over and standing up again got my stomach feeling not so good again so I was back to the couch after about 30 minutes. I'm feeling a little better now again so as soon as I get the kids in bed I am going to watch a little TV and then go to bed myself!

Welp, I'd better get those kids off to bed, they were just playing a sibling rivalry game of checkers only to have it end in tears as Jozie was sent to her bed for having a poor attitude about not getting her way with the rules.

April is Sexual Assult and Child Abuse Awareness Month

I intended to do this earlier but couldn't find the ribbon that I wanted to put up. The one I found is the closest thing to it. I guess if I wait much longer than April will have come and gone before I get it done. :) Anyway, I am "wearing" the teal ribbon my blog in honor of my friend who stood strong when her son and niece were sexually abused by a close family member.

I love you Sarah and I am so glad that God is healing your son and your family. I am proud to call such a strong woman of faith my friend.

The Joys of Left Overs!

We have been eating leftovers the last couple of days and today I think we polished off the rest of them...except for maybe a little German Potato Salad. Yesterday Luke went straight for the polish sausage and sauerkraut at supper time and ate quite a bit - with a big drink of water between each bite! It was so funny watching him! He said it was good, but a little strong! Jozie, of course, couldn't get enough of the mashed potatoes, German Potato Salad, or the rolls...my carboholic!

And all those 2 dozen eggs that all of you must have been thinking "what was she thinking?"...there are only 4 left and I promise you they won't make it to lunch tomorrow! And I'm sure that with a little suggestion I can have the German Potato Salad gone by then too. :) Nobody in our house will say that they like leftovers but when there are 8 people in the house there aren't always too many other options if you want to eat!

Erin

My childhood friend, Erin, has a new website I wanted to mention. It is www.erinjoycole.com. She is a missionary in Guatemala at an orphanage and school. Check it out and consider sponsoring her and her mission and keeping her in your prayers. She has also been updating her blog so check that out as well! :)

Happy Easter!

We did end up having Spring Break last week. We didn't do much all week, which was actually wonderful. Except for the normal cleaning and cooking. Friday I had a day full of grocery shopping for Easter Dinner. Fun. :)

Saturday morning the kids and I got up early and dyed eggs. They had a great time and asked for more....after a mere 2 dozen! We used food coloring so there was an abundance of colors - we had the regular colors plus neon and fall colors, which included Luke's favorite - orange. :) The one thing I forgot was the camera. :(

We took the kids to an Easter egg hunt at our church which ended up being held inside because of the cold...yes, Chicagoland has been quite abundant with that this week, including the snow flakes in the air this morning! They didn't find the prize eggs but they had a great time with their friends and we even got some video of it with our "new" video camera from Bob's brother.

The rest of the afternoon and evening I spent cooking with Kristin and Matt came over to visit a little while. My mom put him to work after she got home. She made him start the grill (we did the turkey on it) and take us to WalMart (we need a meat injection needle for the turkey because I forgot that the last time we used hers we threw it i the trash because it wasn't working right) but they didn't have what we needed there so he took us (me and Kristin) to Lowe's where we found what we were looking for. After we got home she had him fixing the lazy Susan cabinet in the corner of the kitchen because the screws came out of the top of it. We laughed and told him that would probably be the last time he called asking for something to do because he was bored! He's a single young man from our church that is in our young adult group so when he's not gone during the week for work he gets bored at home by himself.

Anyway, I took the kids to the early service for church on Sunday morning (Bob had to work a double for work yesterday - 8am to 12 midnight - so the kids didn't even get to see him). I was in the nursery for the second service and I didn't get home until almost 2. My mom and I finished making dinner for our family of 8 plus Matt plus a family of 5 from church we invited over. The kids had a blast with their friends and they have a baby who is adorable. She reminds me of Jozie when she was that age with all her curly hair but Abby's is blond, not red.

So we had a very full weekend. I was more than ready for bed last night and Luke slept until about 10 this morning! He must have been extremely tired! They are usually up by 8 or 8:30 at the latest!

The only thing I regret about the whole weekend is that I didn't take more than a couple of pictures. And I didn't even get the kids in their cute Easter attire! I need to get my camera out more often again. I know I will regret it in a couple of years, especially because we have a digital camera and I have no excuse not to use it. I don't even need to "develop" pictures if I don't want to!