Life is Sweet

I spent the day yesterday in the hospital with a dear friend who was in labor.
I've heard people who assist with labor say things like....."I am so tired. I really felt like I was laboring with her." And my past thoughts were....Are you kidding? They didn't feel the pain or have to push a boulder through a garden hose!
But after yesterday, I totally understand! I needed a message after giving hours of lower back massages and letting her squeeze my hands 'till they turned blue and started tingling! Boy, did I sleep like a rock last night!
So, needless to say, my view has changed.
The gift of life is incredible and completely amazing. God bless all the parents and thoes that labor with them!

Living the Legacy

This past year, with it's downs and ups, has brought more serious thoughts my way.

Like; Ben and I are now who our parents used to be and our parents are now who our grandparents used to be. Meaning we are the ones who are now carrying the flame; starting new traditions or carrying the old ones on. We are now carrying the legacy to the next generation....our children.

We are also living the legacy of the path paved by our parents before us. With out them first paving the way (with their prayers and faithfulness), we'd be worse off and thus so would our children and in turn the world would be worse off as well!

Thank you God for giving us a legacy, whether it be starting with us or paved by our parents/grandparents! 1 Corinthians 1:4,8+9 "I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. He will keep you strong to the very end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

The picture was taken yesterday (Only the ones who golfed are pictured. Almost the whole family was there.) The Lewis family got together to honor our Grandpa Lewis on his birthday.

Crime Scene????

Last night, Sam (2nd kid), asked Ben and I if he could make our house a crime scene!!! Ben asked him why he'd thought about, or where he'd heard of 'crime scene'. He said "I was pulling the toilet paper from the roll and the thought just popped into my head that I could use the paper for the tape of a crime scene." Silly kid!

Here are the results of our crime scene house this morning.

Mother Dearest

Not feeling your best stinks. I thought I'd be over this bug......yesterday! Thankfully, Ben's been able to get off work by about 1pm both yesterday and today. I've been either, in bed trying not to move or in the bathroom......trying not to puke.

The amazing part to this story is that my Mom came to the rescue! She took care of the kids today and cleaned my kitchen (which I really hadn't seen in two days) and did my laundry! Oh, and made chicken noodle soup for my family for dinner tonight!
THANKS MOM!
Just to note, the woman pictured above is no one I know.....just pulled it off the internet.

Taking For Granted

Well, I haven't posted for a few days......I've been fighting the flu. Head pounding, joints aching, nausea, fever.

I realized today that, for the most part on a regular day, I feel sooooooo good! Feeling awful for a while, isn't so bad. I know that I'll be feeling better in no time......then there is a friend of mine who's over halfway through her pregnancy and she's nauseous for about 12 hours a day. I have greater compassion for her!!!! God bless you Allison, I'm praying for you!

Ben and I are finally getting our taxes filed......for 2005! Then on to 2006! I can't wait for the weight to be lifted!!!!! Hallelujah!

Couldn't Take It!

I don't have much for you at the moment. I'm blogging primarily to get the prego picts from the forefront!

The photo was taken last week. Esther (Our first. She's 7 1/2 going on 16.) and I were relaxing and watching a movie. Sooooo much fun!

Tomorrow is Patty's Day! Yippee!

Hope you have a great week-end..........

If I Had a Rememberance Book....

This post came about due to recently remembering my belly during the twins' pregnancy. I have an acquaintance who delivered triplets last year.......so I was just reflecting on my own pregnancy with multiples.

I can tell you that I was NOT active at all, and Es and Sam got away with more due to that fact! Enjoy the photos, the twins were about 38 weeks gestation here. (I took a picture of a picture, our scanner isn't working. And I couldn't figure out how to rotate the last one!)......I hope they're not too freaky!

Home Sweet Home

The kids and I returned today form visiting relatives in southern Oregon. The drive was okay. The kids did soooo great on the drive.

It was wonderful to spend time with my in laws. It was WARM there, in the 70's!

Sam (our 2nd kid) asked last night (our last night there) if we could stay the rest of the week. When I didn't give a definite answer he asked "Then maybe we could stay a whole leap year??? I think Grandma wants us to!"

I took the picts. in the vehicle while driving. Before you think I'm crazy, I seriously wasn't paying any attention to the road.....er......I mean......the camera! I truly was only watching the road (I did glance at the camera when I took the one of myself).

Now, I need to get to the enormous pile of laundry that appeared when we unloaded the Suburban.

Chew Away

I've been following a Bible study that , when you read the appropriate chapters, you read through the entire Bible in a year. Well, I just finished Leviticus..........I'm glad! No more reading about rules and regulations! Boy, I'm sure glad that I wasn't a Jew.
One thing that I'd not realized before, it states that the burnt offerings were God's food. (Lev. 22:25) Now, doesn't it state in Romans 12:1 "in view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship." Wow! My living body is God's food! That is if I offer it to Him. So I say.....chew away God! My thoughts, actions and words are Yours!
Okay, that was just a bit of revelation that I wanted to share. Now, on with the show......
Tomorrow is our first day of Spring Vacation!!!!! I'm excited to be freed of our daily schedule and challenges of home education; even if it's only for two weeks! I'll take what I can get! I will be treating myself to a beauty school, $14, delux facial (it's a whole hour long......ahhhhh). Happy Day!

Things Change

Some say they don't enjoy change.....others welcome it. I would have to say that I am one of the not-so-keen-on-change persons.
Here is a perfect example. Wednesday was Joey's (youngest) day to unload the dishwasher. This is one of his favorite jobs so he was done FAST! I was helping the older kids finish up their school work and Joe asked if I could come and see that his job was done. Several moments later (poor Joe had to wait a while while Es and Sam finished! This is how my life is though......waiting and patience!) I was praising Joey for a job well done when he exclaimed "Did you see?!? I changed the drawer!" He had re-organized the flatwear drawer!!!!(And was quite proud of himself.) The only thing that he had kept in the same spot were the teaspoons!
Now, for someone else this may have been fun. I can almost hear them (the easily changable person) saying "Joey, how did you know that Mama needed a change? Thanks!" I had to put on a smile and remind myself that......HELLO!!!! this is just sliverwear! I did end up telling him something nice about it (can't remember now what it was) and getting on with my day. It wasn't until it was my turn to unload that it hit me........I need to be more flexable!!! It took me a little longer to put the silverwear away and because of this I sooooo much wanted to change everything back to the familiar. The Holy Spirit reminded me that everything does not have to be my way. I was reminded of the verse: God has made you a new creature, the old has passed the new has come.
So, my silverwear drawer remains.....CHANGED! I can honestly say THANKS JOEY!

Buckling Under Pressure?

Okay, due to my Sisters comment......apparently I needed to post again.......Ahhhhh!!!!the pressure to perform!
I'll call this segment; getting to know me. (This should be a warning for the faint at heart. Watch out!)
A work out day for me starts at 4.30am. Why so early you may ask. I have to get done and home before Ben leaves for work at 6.50. The idea is to work off the desert of the previous day, or is it working out in advance for the sweets I'm GOING to eat that day??? Working it off (or in my case, TRYING to work it off!!!!) none the less.
Enough of my boring schedule........I will ask a question. What is your favorite thing in this world? To me there is nothing better than feeling God's love. I realate His love for me to a voluntairy hug from a small child. The chubby (no, I'm not refering to God's arms here!) little arms wraping around my neck in a surprising and spontanious embrace. I guess I've been overwhelmed lately about how tremendously God cares and loves me and really all of us.
Thanks be to Him who's grace and mercy abound!

Just Starting

Well, I said that I don't have time to blog, but, I've been infected with the BLOG BUG! Ahhhhhh! What next? Wearing white after Labor day! I hope it never comes to that. I do have a discalimer.....not all the words you are about to read will be spelled correctly, nor is there any gurantee that it will be gramicaly sound. This will be my long-standing disclaimer.

My bolgs will be short.... I do have a life outside of the circumference of the computer desk.

Our morning has been great. The picture is of my boys playing chess. Funny note: Zach and Joey call it 'chest'. Imagine we're at a church function and one of the twins comes and says they want to play chest with mama! Can anyone say "Things that make you say, hum!?!"