Possible change

Last year when we made our big move across the U.S., we moved into a house with a one year lease. That lease will be up in the middle of November. Which brings about a new decision.

Do we:

A) stay put and continue to rent this current house

B) find another rental (cheaper)

C) buy a house

We are very heavily leaning towards option C, buying a house. We've checked around for the last couple of months, driving to different parts of town, surrounding small towns...all just trying to decide what we really want. If we are going to buy we want to go into it with a long term mindset.

Which brings us to the present time. I have a really hard time not getting anxious when the ball is started rolling. I want decisions made...like, NOW. ;) I don't like the 'in limbo' feeling.

So, I'm trying to remember to pray every time I feel anxious... I'm praying often! :)

Happy Birthday Abram!

October is a two birthday month for us...this time it's Abram's turn.

Today he's four years old.

Four seems so much older sounding than 3. He's moving out of toddlerhood into childhood and the time just seems to be going WAY too fast!

Abram is a very happy go lucky kid, full of smiles and laughs. He cracks me up.

He's also very brave or fearless...upon meeting him I've had people tell me things like, "I see stitches & broken bones in his future." Having older brothers to imitate only intensifies this. :)

I feel very blessed to be able to watch him as he grows!!

Yesterday morning I attended a moms group (similar to MOPS). During the course of the morning we came to the prayer group segment. The larger group divided up into a few smaller groups and we went around the circle talking about our prayer requests. As each of the ladies took their turn it struck me how similar we all are as moms.

We all wanted prayer for training our children.

We all feel inadequate.

We all feel like we need more patience, more consistency, more effective discipline.

One woman would speak and there would be a round of "ditto", "me too", and "yeah, write that for mine".

It's moments like this that make me lean on the Lord the most. Moments when I feel so weak. When I feel like weeping.

I know that I don't have the strength, but HE does!

So I pray.

Are you with me? Would you like prayer too?

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

-Philippians 4:13

Today is my son Kenny's 8th birthday,

For the kids' birthdays I try to make meals that they choose, so today's menu will be:

Breakfast: pancakes with blueberry syrup & whip cream

Lunch: Giant soft pretzels with cheese dip

Dinner: Homemade sausage pizza

Dessert: Chocolate cake, white frosting w/a picture of a cornucopia (that's what he picked?? because it's fall I think.) and chocolate chip mint ice cream

Happy Birthday Big Guy!!!

Raider Family Farm

Yesterday our neighbor asked us if we'd like to go out and visit a farm in town that had family activities. They had a bunch of cool things. Lots of places set up for photo shots, big bins of corn or soy beans to play in, a giant sand box, hay bales to climb on & animals to pet. We opted out of the pumpkin patch since it was REALLY muddy and decided against the corn maze ($5 a person seemed too spendy!)

We did get the hot apple cider though and the kids rode on the Caterpillar Train. :)




I think it was run by a Christian family too, since I saw the sign (bottom left of the collage) posted on a wall. It's a cute little poem titled "A Christian is like a pumpkin".

All in all it was a pretty fun day!


(and a special thanks to Melissa for her tutorial that she posted awhile back on how to make photo collages!!)

***Also, I now realize that I ended up with two of the same photo in the collage. I just didn't have the time or patience to fix it once I noticed it. Oh well.***

Head bands

Every time I see a little girl with a headband, I just think it looks so cute! I've searched through Etsy stores and drooled over quite a few but I'm just too cheap to spend $10-$15 for one. So last time I was at the store I bought some flowers for $1.99 and some elastic for $2. Then I made three, one for each of my girls.





Not bad for $3.99 eh?

Thursday Thirteen

Today I'm going to list 13 things I'm thinking about or thankful for in no particular order.

1. My kids LOVE going to Awana's each week, seeing them that excited about learning/memorizing scripture just amazes me.


2. I like the clearance section here but also they give teachers/home educators a 20% discount, you gotta like that!


3. Starfall.com is a great site for pre-school & K levels. Right now my 3 yr (almost 4) is really into this.

4. Email is nice but there is just something special about getting mail the 'old fashioned' way.


5. My crock-pot, oh how I love thee. ;) Makes the dinner hour go so much smoother when things are already cooking away....



6. The Shred. NOT something I'm sure I like, but something I'm thinking about doing anyway thanks to Emily's influence.


7. Kathleen likes this sling and so do I. It's comfortable to wear and easy to get on & off. That makes it a winner in my book.


8. Babies. I love them and they seem to be everywhere lately! I have one, Michelle just had one and my sister just had twins!

9. Fall, it's a very pretty time of year.

10. With fall comes cooler temps, which make it possible to wear COMFY SOCKS!



11. Coffee is a staple for me, I don't function as well without it. But, coffee isn't tolerable without...

12. Pizza. I.want.some.now.

13. Books. Good books, big stacks of ones to read. I love to read and love to see my kids read. The only downfall is library fines...we always seem to acquire those. :(