A Familiar Tree

 

The last week of March, Joshua's preschool class did some lessons on Spanish and different cultures. His preschool aide - who is very sweet - is from Spain and did some various activities with the kiddos. They made a family tree, and I had to laugh when instead of "family tree" it said "arbol familiar" (which is the Spanish translation) because at first I thought that it was saying a familiar tree rather than family tree. ;-) I even know better!

Joshua had to color what each person would look like from himself (yo) to his brothers (hermanos) to his parents (mama and papa) and his grandparents (abuelos). While this would be a literal tree, with the divorces and re-marriages in our family, our tree doesn't look quite this familiar. Haa!!! We're missing some folks. :)

I saw this quote the other day and cracked up: "I shook my family tree and a bunch of nuts fell out!" Isn't that the truth? And yet, would we have it any other way?

Speaking of apple trees, the house on the corner with the beautiful apple tree we admire has gone up for sale. We looked at the pictures on the internet just for fun, and we couldn't believe how gorgeous it was on the inside as well. It's an identical layout to ours, but that house makes ours look like a dive in comparison. They weren't asking a whole lot for it either, much to our dismay, since all sales in the neighborhood affect our house value. As we predicted, it immediately went under contract. I was a little sad about it at first, but such is life. We still get to enjoy the view of the apple tree, and we still have great neighbors and a nice enough house. Truly, what really makes a house is the people who live in it. Those folks that are part of our "familiar tree."

Big Boy Kindergarten!

On Tuesday, March 27, Nitrauer Elementary School held its Kindergarten registration. I signed up for the 12:45 time with my sister and my nephew Daniel so that Mamaw could watch nephew John and Caleb and Ryan at the same time. Joshua wore a very nice sweater, but I forgot to take along my camera in the rush to get out the door after preschool and Bible study that morning. I had his folder of paperwork complete, but I found out once we arrived that I will need an additional form to be signed by the doctor along with an extra inhaler dropped off with the school nurse because of his asthma. I wish they would note that in advance on the website so I could have gotten all that done with his typical doctor paperwork/immunization form that I had already gotten from his physician, but such is life!

At the registration that day, the kids did a craft of making a little bunny mask, and he met a few kids that could be in his class. The children went with the teachers for a short time while parents went into a meeting and learned a little about the school. They also touched on the importance of reading to our children. We also very briefly met both teachers, but I didn't even get a chance to say more than hi as other parents were talking to them, which was a bit of a bummer to me.

I'm glad that Joshua is ready for kindergarten. He is doing really well with school, and his preschool teacher said he is indeed ready to go! He knows all the academics, does well with other children his age, and we are confident that he'll do well in school. We've been working with him on self-help items like being able to wipe himself after going potty, etc and he's doing great on all fronts. I couldn't be more proud as a parent of how much growth I've seen in him this past year. Shawn & I both said that we're glad we know that we're starting him on a successful path for school.

The other day, I was doing some Puzzle Buzz books with him (both my older boys LOVE them!). There's a section that's typically for the older kids, I would say (the age range is 4-7). The questions can be really difficult like "what word is this _______ translated from Spanish" or "name four Great Lakes." I usually ask the questions and allow him to guess and then we talk about the answers. The one that truly shocked me that day was naming different types of birds. When I asked him, I really thought he might try colors or sizes, but he said "would that be like a pigeon?" Why yes, I said, thinking to myself, how does he even know this stuff? Then he said "how about a falcon?" I think my eyes almost popped out of my head as he continued to list different types of birds. Sometimes they soak in more information than we even realize!

Please pray for my little Bean as he heads to school. My biggest concern is that he makes good friends that will last a life time. We're not a family that has a ton of money in a very rich school district. I truly don't want him grouped with "have nots," and I know the first few years can be key for first impressions and building friendships. Pray that he makes good choices in friends, ones who will help him mature and not hinder him as he continues to grow. How we want the best for our little man!

So, he's officially registered and ready to go. Hopefully we'll find out what class he's being assigned to as he heads to "big boy" school this coming fall. He is thrilled to go, and we're happy to see him beam at the idea of going to school. I pray that he continues to like school and can learn lots and also have fun.

Hosanna! God Saves!

John 12:13 "They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!'"

On Tuesday, March 27, Caleb made this craft at Study & Share. When I saw him, I said "Look at what a cute sheep you are!" His teachers told me that this was a donkey, as in the one that Jesus was riding on Palm Sunday when people proclaimed "Hosanna!" (which means, God saves!).  The teachers said that after Caleb created it that morning, he didn't want to take it off. Most of the other children had taken theirs off while they were playing, but he LOVED his little artwork. I thought he looked adorable.

When Mamaw came that afternoon to watch him while his big brother registered for kindergarten (which I'll post about later), she said "Oh, you made an Easter bunny mask - neat!" Again, we learned that it was a donkey. Haaa!!!

He put it back on for Daddy that night, who took this picture. Hosanna! :)

Water You Coloring?

In mid-March the boys both wanted to paint with water colors almost every day. We got out the Easter books from a couple years back, and we also painted some of the papers that Caleb brings home from Study & Share each week.

Joshua LOVES the story about the loaves & fishes - how Jesus took a little and turned it into a whole lot, and how a boy shared and made a big difference in the lives of many. Joshua had fun painting this picture.

 

Speaking of pictures of fishes, here is another piece of artwork Joshua did one day. He showed Daddy and asked him to guess what it was. Can you tell by the picture what it was? I loved the picture of the person in the whale's belly. My little buddies love Bible stories! And I'm glad that they are learning them. :)

A Lunch Date with Daddy

There have been several days in March that were incredibly warm. One day was near 80 degrees. I asked Shawn if he'd like to meet for lunch. I think this was Friday, March 24. I offered to pack us lunches and meet him at the Leola Park. He said it sounded like a good plan. So, I threw together peanut butter & jelly for the kids, ham & cheese with lettuce for us, and I grabbed some yogurt & apples, cottage cheese, cheese & crackers, organic cookies, and whatever I could quickly find. We were excited to be in the sunshine!

Speaking of meeting for lunch, we had met Daddy for lunch earlier in the month and had driven to Wendy's in New Holland to eat together. Joshua told us that we ate at "Wednesdays." Haaa!!

Here's all my boys together. Shawn is such a good Daddy. His boys love him. :) Me too! We had fun at the park. The boys made a friend there. He looked quite a bit older than Joshua, so I'm assuming maybe he is a home-schooled kid? He played tag with them, and he said to Caleb "I caught you, you're it!" Caleb would laugh and say "Nope!" and run away. He wasn't playing by the rules, but Shawn & I laughed that he's like his Daddy. He marches to the beat of his own drum. He didn't necessarily care if he was being chased or not, and he had no interest in chasing the other kids. Shawn thought he was hysterical. At the end of their time chasing and playing, I told the boys that they had two minutes left. Joshua said goodbye and asked the child his name. It was Josiah. Joshua told him his name upon request and so did Caleb. They all waved bye like good friends. The boys had had fun!

Here's a random Caleb story from that morning. Shawn had gotten a new deoderant that was free from CVS after extra care bucks. The boys always like to get ready with Daddy in the morning, and he'll let them take his deoderant and pretend to put it on. Daddy told Caleb that morning when he asked about the new color, "Daddy got this deoderant and is using it because it was FREE!" Caleb got very excited! "HEY! That's like me! FREE!" We both cracked up. Caleb meant "three" as in his age, because he often pronounces it with an "f" he assumed we were saying "three" like him. It was seriously cute when we figured out what he meant.

Earlier that week, the buckle on my Chicco stroller broke. I was severely annoyed. I finally figured out that if you call the manufacturer, they give you a whole new 5-point harness free. The headquarters are actually in Greenfield, of all places. The woman seemed genuinely surprised to hear my address when we're so close. So, until then, we bought this little stroller off Craig's List and when Daddy gets the new straps in my old one, we'll sell this one since I like my old one better.

When we got home from the park that afternoon, Joshua asked me, is it summer or spring? It was hard to tell the difference! The flowers and trees were all in full bloom. But, cooler weather was on the horizon, so I knew we needed to enjoy it while we could. We are excited for the arrival of summer, all but the lawn care. :) And the fact that my baby will be a year old already this summer! This year has flown by... So, I'm treasuring each day for whatever it brings. :)

Can't Stand Ya!

If you are Seinfeld lovers like us, you'll remember the post with George's gym teacher mispronouncing his last name and saying it really mean "Can't STAND ya!" Haaa!!! We still giggle at the thought of it. This post title is about standing, though. When I went into Ryan's room on Thursday, March 22, he was standing up in the crib for the first time. Caleb thought it was great that little Ryan was standing up, so he climbed up to say hello!

That weekend, Shawn lowered the crib to its lowest setting. I can't believe Ryan is old enough to need this already! He's standing very well - can't have him climbing out!

I really think Ryan has started to say a few words. His first word was "burp" which started in February. He'd say "bup" in the middle of nursing, and when he did, if I'd sit him up, he'd belch. Other times he'd stop nursing and I'd try to get him to burp with no avail. I wasn't sure if that's what he was saying at first, but the more I tested the theory, the more it seemed to work. He'd say "bup" and bup he did! Shawn witnessed it, too. The next word that Ryan seemed to say was "poop." With his illness and diarrhea from the antibiotics, he was going fairly often. He'd say "pup" and I'd check and sure enough, his diapy was loaded. Shawn was appalled - "can't he say something other than bodily functions?" I guess at his age, these are things that are on his mind. I was checking him often, but I'm sure his little rear was raw even with my using the Desitin so it was probably nice when I changed and cleaned him up. My little Ry-guy is also saying "mom-mom-mom" with consistency. Recently at Study & Share, the worker noted that most kids his age are saying "dada" so his "mama" is sweet to hear. :) :) :) I agree! And I agree with Shawn that we'll work on more words that have nothing to do with the body. But, for now, he's talking away, I'm only understanding a few of them. :) And he's standing but not walking yet but gets around just fine crawling for now. :)

Visitors :)

I had a message from my friend Deb saying she'd like to come see me. I was excited! Deb & I went to college together and lived across the hall from each other our first year at Millersville. We were instant friends, hanging out at parties and ordering pizza late at night and I even have a picture of us in our cheesy work uniforms one night as we were both leaving the dorms to go to our different jobs. She was always fun to have around. :) I remember getting my tongue pierced with her one time when we were visiting her family in Philly. For the past several years she's lived in Washington, DC, FL and somewhere near the border of TX/AK. So, I haven't seen her in ages. When she said that she's living near her family up here and wanted to come to my house, I was pumped to see her and meet her three kids! She has a four-year-old son James, a 15-month old daughter Lila and a fresh-from-heaven two-week-old baby girl Naomi (who didn't make it into the picture below).

If you think of it, please pray for her and her children. She's been going through a rough time, which broke my heart to hear. They arrived shortly after Joshua & I got home from his field trip on Thursday and stayed until almost dinner time. The boys had a great time playing with James. He even discovered how to hatch one of our penguin eggs. :) :) :) Naomi napped in the pack-n-play as Ryan slept in his crib, and Lila hung out with us and played with the toys. It was great to catch up! Hopefully we can get together again sometime soon. :)

Lancaster Science Factory

On Thursday, March 22, Joshua's preschool class had a field trip to the Lancaster Science Factory. With Ryan's illness, Shawn agreed to stay home with the younger boys that morning so I could take the Bean and enjoy some one-on-one time. I wasn't sure how stroller-friendly it would be (and now I'll know that it would be for next time). When we got there, the kids played together with the Kinnex until they stamped our hands and told us to "go have fun." The first stop for Joshua was at this area where he was really good at getting the ball to go in a circle down (some kids couldn't quite get the knack of it or would rather throw it right in the hole).

The next thing we saw was this air ball thing where when you press the button, the air keeps the ball suspended, but if you add balls to other tubes, they will all shoot out. It reminded me of the elephant popper that he loved to play with at Nonie & Poppy's house when he was a baby (only this was on a much larger scale).

I was sort of waiting for our organized group activity time, but that wasn't the plan for the day. Literally, each parent and child could decide what looked interesting and check it out. The different exhibits were designed to educate children on:

• Light and Vision
• Electricity and Magnetism
• Mechanics and Motion
• Structural Engineering
• Acoustics
• Fluid Dynamics
• Puzzles and Brain Teasers

Joshua's favorite activity of the day came next. He loved to stuff these little plastic men and their parachutes into a tube that would suck them up and shoot them out. But, each time the parachute would catch in the air and make the little plastic man arrive safely down. Joshua would put them in every which way to test the theory and use all the different colors. He LOVED the parachutes!

Next, we tried connecting these magnets along the wall but never successfully got the bell to ring at the same time as the one thing moving on the other side. It was still fun to try!

My favorite (or one of them) from the day was creating this arch out of a bunch of little pieces. If you assemble them correctly, the "rainbow" will stand up without support. As you can see from his proud face, he made it stand on its own!

The area where I was most impressed I didn't take a picture. There was a little game where there as a boat with holes and then pegs that represented adults and kids. Two kids could go at the same time or one adult and one kid but never two adults. There were two kids playing in the boat and four adults wanted to cross to the other side using the children's boat. Joshua figured out the solution with ease and took the adults and children across, back and forth, until everyone was on the correct side. I thought it might trip him up, but he knew immediately what to do.

That said, at the station where you could build a car that should race and get timed (see photo above), we couldn't get the cars to go far enough. Not sure what we did wrong?

We went to this ball/track-building station twice. This was definitely a favorite for him. Each piece can be assembled in different patterns and then once the ball is released, you figure where it stops due to the force being too much or not enough. It was great fun for him and his friends!

There were a couple ball stations where you drop a bigger ball that's on the bottom and the top little ball shoots into the air. Each station had a description of what was happening and why. At some of them he listened and at others, he just wanted to keep moving. I would say that as he grows older, this would be even more fun. But there was lots of hands-on activities for this age group!

Joshua loved to make the connection and watch the lights turn on, but he wasn't interested in the explanation I tried to read to him.

I personally thought this activity below was cool. You turn the bottles upside down and then if you twirl it, you watch as the liquid continues to go on the outside edges of the bottle rather than straight down. Neat-o! I also liked the one next to this one where you used different shapes to watch soap bubbles form. I didn't take a picture at most of the activities we did, but I was glad I got the ones I did. :)

One of our last activities of the day was trying to create a dam to block the water flow. The kids had a blast with the water and trying to see how to seal the cracks, etc. Lots of friends could do it at the same time, so different kids would come and join in the fun. At this time, his teacher who made her rounds taking her own photos of the kids came and talked to me for awhile. I have been very blessed my Mrs. Zimmerman this year. We talked about churches and faith and children in general. It was a great conversation, and I have appreciated her praying for our kids and imparting wisdom into their lives beyond educational activities. :)

Joshua & I were the first ones to leave since I wanted to make sure to give Daddy plenty of time to get to work. But, we had seen most of the activities they had to offer. It is a place I would recommend for kids and would definitely go back. I had fun Mama/Joshua time. It's so great to spend one-on-one time with each child. My little man is growing so big!

Yummy in My Tummy

One of the things that I put on my "to-do" list for Shawn was try to make his Grandma's chili. One day he went on and on about how good his grandma could cook and how she made the best chili, which is a food he really likes anyway. I sent his Aunt Kathy a message on facebook to see if she had Grandma Kennel's old recipe book. While she said Aunt Erica inherited it, she sent me a message with the recipe she said Grandma Kennel always used. So, i tried it. The chili was very good, but Shawn said it wasn't exactly like he remembered it. But, he must have enjoyed it since he polished it all off. I thought it was delicious, but I never had his Grandma's. :) I've made it since, and he even took a stab at making chili himself one day (and Shawn is a way better cook than me in that he can guess and test with ingredients to get the right taste whereas I typically follow a recipe). It was amazing! Hopefully he appreciated the sentiment behind my trying to make it for him. :)

Speaking of recipes, I've been trying to eat healthier and praying that God would give me a new-found love for vegetables. I realized there's a ton I haven't even tried, mostly because I don't know what to do with them. But, with the Internet these days, I'm trying to discover new recipes and new foods that we can eat. One thing I do enjoy that Shawn doesn't is flounder almondine, which I made with green beans and a baked potato. He'll make something else for himself and the kids when I make it, but since I think it's healthy to eat fish on occasion, I'll make enough for one. :)

I saw a recipe on Pinterest for balsamic parmesan roasted cauliflower and decided to give it a try. I thought it was delicious, but next time I would skip the marjoram since I discovered it's basically like pepper. Now I have a whole bottle of it since I didn't know what it was. Here's the link if anyone would like to try making it.  :) http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/balsamic_parmesan_roasted_cauliflower.html. I made it with a new pork recipe that also turned out really good - rubbing it with just a little olive oil and Jamaican jerk (or Carribean jerk) seasoning. Yum!

Another recipe I tried was eggplant parmesan. I love Italian and spaghetti sauce in general. I made spaghetti using spaghetti squash, and it wasn't all that hard to do. That said, while it tasted good, I won't make it every time instead of pasta. But, it was good for something different. For the eggplant parmesan, I blended a few recipes I had together and did my best using the ingredients I had. First, I saw on a couple different sites that the key to making good eggplant is to cut it, put a little salt on it, and let it sit in a colander for 20 minutes to sweat out the extra moisture. Then you wipe the salt off but it's better for baking. So, I did that first. Then, I followed this recipe from Martha Stewart (http://www.marthastewart.com/313564/baked-eggplant-parmesan) only I used store-bought spaghetti sauce and I didn't have quite all the ingredients so I did some basic substitutions. For example, I used Italian seasonings in place of things like basil, etc. I also added ricotta (if I'm not mistaken this recipe doesn't call for it), because I had already purchased it. Anyway, it turned out delicious. I was genuinely surprised how good it was. I will definitely make it again.

Shepherd's pie always sounds better than it tastes to me. Does anyone else ever feel like it's bland? So, I used a new recipe but added my own touch-ups and it was fantastic. This is the one that Shawn said he liked the best, so I will definitely make it again. I added some seasoned salt to the burger along with the other things it calls for, and I used a can of mixed vegetables instead of fresh or frozen because it's what I had on hand (so I didn't cook them in with the meat). I then sprinkled a little salt on the veggies and added a layer of Velveeta cheese on top before putting the potatoes on. Not quite as healthy but amazingly delicious. Everyone ate it all up and loved it! This one is a keeper, and next time I'd double the recipe and put it in a bigger pan.  http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/easy_shepherds_pie/

Another one that I made was baked french toast. This is anything BUT healthy, but it's great if you're having company over for breakfast or you just want to have a big breakfast with the family. I made it once and it was amazing! I didn't cut off the ends of the bread and I thought it tasted just as good without that extra step, as she notes.  http://sheldonrachel.blogspot.com/2009/03/french-toast-bake.html

Lastly, the other week we did a "make your own pizza" at our house. I bought a bunch of veggies for mine since I like it that way, but we also had ham & pineapple and meat for meat lovers and the kids could add what they wanted (which was just cheese and bacon). Then we put them in the oven and feasted. For next time, only the thin pizza crust had the note on it that you could pre-bake it before adding sauce if you wanted to. I would say all pizza crust needs to be pre-baked before adding any ingredients. Now I know! The one that we did pre-bake tasted better than the other. But, it was still a fun night to do together.

I love new recipes! If you have any keepers, send me the link or leave a comment with it! :)

Math-a-matters

This morning, as we were driving to preschool, Caleb started talking softly from the back seat like he often does. He said "Mommy, when Joshua's 9, I'll be 7." I mindlessly said "Yep, that's right," and he kept right on going at an extremely quick pace. "If Joshua's 10, I'll be 8; when he's 11, I'll be 9; when he's 12, I'll be 10..." He kept going and I was sort of tuning it out. Then it struck me. He's not only counting, he's subtracting and going in step perfectly by two's. It doesn't necessarily seem like much when you're around him everyday, but that's impressive to me that our three year-old does math like that quite easily and quite quickly. He takes after his Daddy! ;-)

Feeling Lucky :)

St. Patrick's Day was a really fun day this year. I had seen all these neat craft ideas to do on Pinterest, like printables saying "I'm Lucky to Have You" but I didn't do any of them. Instead, we just enjoyed the day. I picked out the boys outfits, each in green. Joshua wore his pocket t-shirt, but I realized that it's getting too short. I'd say this was probably the last time he'll wear it. Caleb wore his long-sleeved baseball t-shirt with green sleeves, and Ryan wore his Quarterback shirt that's green. They all looked adorable! I don't know why we didn't get any pictures! I put on a green t-shirt from Old Navy that was $5 that was a St. Patty's Day special with a four-leaf clover on it, and my black work-out pants.

We headed out the door and went to Chick-Fil-A in the morning to get free breakfast sandwiches since we had coupons from its opening week that were about to expire. Thereafter, the older boys & I went to the gym. Nothing like working out on a FULL stomach. But, it was still fun. I love the Jazzercise class there! I saw my sister Jen, also in green, and her kiddos that morning. In some of the songs they had green hats to wear and pass around, and we each got a green Andes mint when we left. :)

When we got home, I got a quick shower and fed the baby and then my sister Becky arrived. She was picking me up to treat me to lunch at Sugar Plums & Tea, a place we've both wanted to try. Shawn agreed to watch the boys so I could go. She was saying thanks for us giving them an airline ticket that was expiring and we couldn't use. It was a bummer, too. We had a couple free vouchers, but we looked at our budget and realized that we couldn't afford the boys' tickets and we couldn't leave them behind either. At least someone could use them extremely last minute when we realized they were literally about to expire that weekend. I enjoyed lunch there, and it was nice to visit with Becky, who I don't get to see all that much.

When I got home, we all quickly changed out of our green and into our black for our family photo shoot. I specifically wanted one with all our faces together for a frame I have, and even though I requested it from our photographer, I know that none of these will work. He was TERRIBLE! I should have insisted on getting my favorite gal. He put down his camera in hopes of making Ryan smile, but even if he did give a half grin, the guy's camera wasn't ready. I told him that as long as the baby was looking, take some shots. By the time he finally listened, my other boys were about done. I was also getting annoyed. It took forever, and Ryan is scared in general of new men. He's not around anyone but Daddy most times, so it takes him awhile to warm up to strange men. And the camera guy was strange enough that I personally wouldn't have wanted to see him in a dark alley at night, if you know what I mean. I was a little disappointed with our pictures, but they're cheap enough to get and we can schedule another time to go back. So, I guess it doesn't really matter.

I got some nice photos of Joshua, and that was the original intent of scheduling the portrait session around March 18, which is Joshua's 5.5 year birthday exactly. I try to get each one of the kids' pictures taken at the 6-month mark. It's incredible how much they can change in just six months!

When we got home, it was later than I was expecting. But, it was a beautiful day outside. Shawn said that he'd take me out to dinner if our babysitter was available, so I texted her and she said she didn't have any plans. Yeah! We called around to see if any outdoor patios were open. We were hoping maybe the one down the street, but alas their outdoor area wasn't available yet. So, we ended up at Loxley's. But, their outdoor dining was seriously a joke. The entire thing was enclosed so there was no sunlight at all, and they had a couple open canvasses that people would shut who sat next to them to get rid of the glare. It was like a cold indoors. :( :( :( Bummer! I thought maybe Daddy would go for green beer for St. Patrick's Day, but he ordered a diet coke instead. We enjoyed our time without the kiddos. We prayed they would all be good for Miranda, and they were really easy. When we got home after dinner, Ryan had slept the entire time in his crib (since he missed his afternoon nap) and Caleb fell asleep watching a movie. That meant it was just Joshua and he is always captivated by any movie. So, she had an easy night, which is what I'd prefer.

We drove around a little after waking the boys, and I think I gave them a bath that night. It had been a fun day, even if I didn't even drink green milk or make it for the boys. Some year we'll have a treasure hunt and do all the fun things that I have dug out to do for St. Patrick's Day fun. This year, we had enough going on that day!

But, I must say that in looking at all these pictures, I do feel really lucky to be in our family. I am blessed beyond measure by my amazing husband. And I love our three little boys with fierce intensity that only a mother can. I am so glad that each one is in my life!

I recently finished reading "Heaven is For Real" and I'm not sure if I believe it all (not that I don't think they believe it, but I'm only really required to believe what's in the Bible). Anyway, in it, the little boy said that in heaven, the men fight the devil at the end of the age with Jesus while the women and children are on the sidelines. While the dad in the story was a little worried at first about the comment, he little boy quirked an eyebrow at him and said "Dad, you know Jesus wins, right?" The dad finally found peace in the situation and said "I guess if Jesus wants me to fight, then that's what I'll do." The boy is serious and agrees "You will, Dad, and just remember that Jesus wins." I've thought about it a lot lately. Is that why I'm training these little boys? As they grow into fine young men, will they be able to ward off the enemy and fight in the battle ahead of them? IF there really is a battle at the end of ages, I'm praying that they stand firm. And while I wanted a girl and would still be thrilled to have one, I'm actually thankful to have my three little men along with their Daddy. I am praying that I will be able to arm them with the Sword, or the Word, as they grow.

 

So, maybe the word isn't really "lucky" but blessed. I believe that nothing is by chance. I've been given a "GOOD" name by God, a Good husband and three Good boys. They have all lived up to their name. :)

Enjoy the pictures! I still have to drive over and pick up the couple that I purchased. And while I wasn't thrilled at the photographer this time, I like that JCPenny's has changed its pricing strategy where all pictures are now $4, not just coupons, etc. And since I have its little savings card, there aren't any sitting fees. The only hassle is the driving back to get them, but hopefully I'll remember sometime soon when I'm already near the mall.

Since you're still reading this post and looking at the pictures, will you take a moment to pray for our family? I think prayer is a crucial part of life, and it can never hurt to have too much of it. Thanks!