I'm the MOM

Just sit back and ENJOY this 2 min. 55 presentation of the things we've said as moms- at least I did...and it made me laugh...out loud!!! All 6 times I've watched it. I hope you enjoy it...treat yourselves to a laugh!
!

Birth Order of Children

I know there have been lots of studies done on this and many good books...but I think this is one of the best. What do you think?

BIRTH ORDER OF CHILDREN
1st baby: You begin wearing maternity clothes as soon as your OB/GYN
confirms your pregnancy.

2nd baby: You wear your regular clothes for as long as possible.
3rd baby: Your maternity clothes ARE your regular clothes.
_____________________________________________________
Preparing for the Birth:
1st baby: You practice your breathing religiously.
2nd baby: You don't bother because you remember that last time, breathing
didn't do a thing.
3rd baby: You ask for an epidural in your eighth month.
______________________________________________________
The Layette:
1st baby: You pre-wash newborn's clothes, color-coordinate them, and fold
them neatly in the baby's little bureau.
2nd baby: You check to make sure that the clothes are clean and discard only
the ones with the darkest stains.
3rd baby: Boys can wear pink, can't they?
______________________________________________________
Worries:
1st baby: At the first sign of distress--a whimper, a frown--you pick up
the baby
2nd baby: You pick the baby up when her wails threaten to wake your
firstborn.
3rd baby: You teach your three-year-old how to rewind the mechanical swing.
______________________________________________________
Pacifier:
1st baby: If the pacifier falls on the floor, you put it away until you can
go home and wash and boil it.
2nd baby: When the pacifier falls on the floor, you squirt it off with some
juice from the baby's bottle.
3rd baby: You wipe it off on your shirt and pop it back in.
______________________________________________________
Diapering:
1st baby: You change your baby's diapers every hour, whether they need it or
not.
2nd baby: You change their diaper every two to three hours, if needed.
3rd baby: You try to change their diaper before others start to complain
about the smell or you see it sagging to their knees.
_______________________________________________________
Activities:
1st baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics, Baby Swing , Baby Zoo,
Baby Movies and Baby Story Hour.
2nd baby: You take your infant to Baby Gymnastics.
3rd baby: You take your infant to the supermarket and the dry cleaners.
______________________________________________________
Going Out:
1st baby: The first time you leave your baby with a sitter, you call home
five times.
2nd baby: Just before you walk out the door, you remember to leave a number
where you can be reached.
3rd baby: You leave instructions for the sitter to call only if she sees
blood.
______________________________________________________
At Home:
1st baby: You spend a good bit of every day just gazing at the baby.
2nd baby: You spend a bit of everyday watching to be sure your older child
isn't squeezing, poking, or hitting the baby.
3rd baby: You spend a little bit of every day hiding from the children
______________________________________________________
Swallowing Coins (a favorite):
1st child: When first child swallows a coin, you rush the child to the
hospital and demand x-rays
2nd child: When second child swallows a coin, you carefully watch for the
coin to pass.
3rd child: When third child swallows a coin you deduct it from his
allowance!
______________________________________________________

GRANDCHILDREN: God's reward for allowing your children to live.

What an Awesome God we Serve!

One of my Christmas gifts from Dave was a necklace and earrings that I had seen at a local arts and crafts show. It wasn't real expensive...but he knew I wanted it and had to go out of his way to go back and get it and it was a sweet surprise. I wore it the first time on New Year's Day. Unfortunately...we spent most of that day with Dave in the ER with Sam and me with Lisa and the children at their home. Late that night- I was still at Lisa's- and took off the necklace and earrings and wrapped them in a Kleenex and put them in my purse. Several days laster I took them out and put them in my jewelry box...but when I went to wear them a day or two later...one earring was gone! I was so sad...looked for the tissue but it had gone out in the trash to be picked up the day before. In the next weeks I took the purse apart where they had been, looked all over in the cabinets and drawers near where the jewelry box was...finally took all the jewelry out and carefully looked through the jewelry box. All in vain! The earring was gone. I asked God several times to help me find it. Finally last Sunday I took the necklace and picked it up to make sure the earring wasn't just "hanging" in the necklace. It was not! I looked at the one earring and wondered if MAYBE I could find the same beads at Hobby Lobby or somewhere to make another. I was so sad that this earring was lost. I closed the drawer and then prayed and told God that I knew He had created the whole universe and all in it out of nothing, and reminded Him that it would be nothing to create a new earring...so asked him to please, make me a new earring. I then went back to the jewelry box in the drawer- picked up the necklace- and there in the box were TWO earrings. God, you are so awesome...you care about the little details in my life as well as the big! To GOD be the glory.

You are My Hiding Place

Last night we were accorded the fantastic opportunity to attend the Ballet Magnificat's performance of "The Hiding Place". Words cannot describe the beauty and awe inspiring adaptation of this true story to the way the Omega Company, a company of Magnificat Christian ballet dancers, brought this to life on stage. I am SO very sorry that you of Teen Mania in Garden Valley who had the chance to attend this did not take that opportunity. We took my cousin, Larry Snyder and his wife, Sue, with us as they were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. Larry and Sue had helped us once again this year in hosting our Christmas tea and we wanted to bless them with this.




This is Sue on the right and Kelly on the left with Elaine in the middle. Sue had helped me all day (this year AND last..with food preps...I couldn't have done it without her!)

The girls who performed the ballet danced so beautifully and what a joy to see a ballet with no men and girls in beautiful dresses that glorified the Lord. Our hearts were stirred as we relived this story of Hope in the midst of suffering. The girl in the white dress is Betsy, Corrie Ten Boom's sister, dancing before the Lord after she has died in the Concentration Camp of Ravensbrook. It was so beautiful and moving! I hope you enjoy the You Tube clip.

How to Please your Husband

"The married woman must be concerned about her earthly responsiblities and how to please her husband." I Corinthians 7:34
I was listening to Corinthians on the way to work last week and had time to ponder this passage. As long as I keep this in mind, "Lord, how can I please my husband today?", things really run quite smoothly around here. I am very blessed as my man is EASY to please. He is not demanding about what to eat, or most anything. The things he likes me to do are so easy to accomodate in my life. He loves sitting in the hot tub in the morning with me. He gets up and makes our morning drink (consists of frozen fruit, Keifer milk, and a vitamin powder supplment- we love it) and Dave also brews our coffee(he has just the perfect blend of regular and decaf and adds JUST the right amount of French Vanilla Creamer!) He decided years a go that he did both these things better than I did...and I AGREED! The other thing he loves is to go dancing. We did this last Monday after we had babysat for 24 hours for Henry and Jonah. What fun! They are so darling.

We took them home in the afternoon- Sam got out of the hospital that day- then went to the Monday night dance.
What we didn't realize was how tired we were! We were only there less than an hour when we both looked at each other and said, "Let's go home." We hate to admit that our age wears us out sooner than we would like. I thought you might enjoy seeing an East Texas band and how the dance "hold" of East Texas looks They probably think we look just as strange doing Fox Trot, Rhumba and Swing to the country music! We have a great time though and I feel so blessed that Dave loves to dance so much. On Tuesday night we resumed our "Dance class" where we are teaching beginning Rhumba. It keeps us working on new steps ourselves so that we have things to "teach". Somehow, the things that tooks us many lessons to learn when we took dance in Florida- our younger students here pick up in one lesson! It is fun though and we both look forward to it each week. Our students range in age from a 6th grade girl to a 72 year old man. How much fun is that!
The other thing Dave just loves doing at the close of day....as the sun is setting. (This by the way is taken from our dining room window)
..is go out to his big wood pile which he has cut...pick out just the right logs...and build a fire for us to sit in front of and watch...football...or Law and Order ...or maybe Everybody Loves Raymond.
I can usually only handle about one t.v. show a night...preferring to read or work on the computer...but can do that sitting here with him. He makes us popcorn, and pretty much waits on me. What a guy! Pretty easy to "please him." He so pleases me.
If Paul had only known how wonderful married life could be...he may have written the Corinthians a different story!

Saturday at home

Our day starts out in the hot tub...enjoying God's creation and just talking with each other, planning our day, praying and being blessed. God is good!
Dave was anxious to try out some of the attachments to the Tractor today and was very pleased with the results of the "bucket" which can dig, haul and act like a front loader. He LOVES working outside and is really thrilled to have a tractor! He is working on getting a garden ready.
I LOVE working inside and CLEANING...and got to do that all day. It was a great day!

Top 10 Predictions for 2008

1.The Bible still have all the answers.
2. Prayer will still work.
3.The Holy Sprit will still move.
4.God will still inhabit the praises of his people.
5. There will still be God-Anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7.God will still pour out blessings upon his people.
8.There will still be room at the cross.
9.Jesus will still love you.
10.Jesus will still save the lost.
SOME THINGS WILL NEVER CHANGE!!!!!!!!

Have a blessed year!

A visit to the Tabernacle

Although this took place a few month a go...I don't think I ever wrote about it. We were so privileged to visit the replication of the Wilderness Tabernacle while it was on display near here. We took Ashley and Jonathan (their parents were out of town) and since I had just been doing the BEth Moore study, "A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place" this was especially meaningful to me.
Above- Jay is standnig before the Altar of Incense.

Here are Dave, Jay and Ashley, behind the Brazen Altar and standing before the Lavar of Brass.


And...the Ark of the Covenant....how blessed we are that we can enter the Holy of Holies and go right to Jesus. I loved the study and the recreaction of the Tabernacle. What a blessing to be able to have Jay and Ashley to show this to and talk to them about it all!

Two in a Row!!!

For the two of you who read my blog... I know this will come as a huge shock for me to post 2 days in a row...but I am trying to turn over a new leaf!

This is a Christmas picture taken of all of us by a neighbor on Christmas Eve Day...see previous post. We are REALLy looking forward to March 22 and the promised family photo that all our kids have made a commitment to have taken as our Christmas gift! It has been 5 years (and 6 children a go since we've had a family portrait so I can't wait!
This morning we got the joy and adventure of sharing our hot tub time with Henry and Jonah. It sure makes it a different experience with a 4 and 2 year old but one we wouldn't want to miss! We are still enjoying our balmy weather with highs in the 70's here in East Texas! What a blessing!

The New Year is Upon us!

Christmas has come and gone...and I MUST blog more often so I don't have so much to catch up on! We loved having all the kids and grandkids (all 26 of us) here for Christmas Eve Day. The highlight for me was the "Christmas Pagent" put on by most all the grandkids. What a joy to see our children's children proclaiming the true message of Christmas! We got to all the homes in the Garden Valley area- David's, JOn's and Sam's on Christmas Day.
This past weekend Amy and family were here for the Twins' Haley and Tori to celebrate their 14th birthday. We got to enjoy the 5 youngest in the hot tub with us on Sat. morning.

Tori caught a small bass but that was the extent of the fishing for the day even though we were able to enjoy unseasonably warm temps in the mid 70's. Tori longs for the days of the bigger bass like last summer!