Sleepover

Evan came to stay with us this weekend - just one night, but boy what a night!

As always, they went straight to Julian's room and attacked his toys - trains and tracks are always the favorite. I love seeing their creativity - you should hear the stories they come up with and act out with Thomas trains! I am starting to not mind the mess as much - as long as they keep it in the kids' rooms - since they are the ones to clean it up anyway! That is definitely a good thing about them growing up.

I really have no idea what they are doing in these pictures. In the first one, I tried to sneak up on them to take a candid shot, since as soon as they see the camera, they either start with just making faces or doing some weird dance while making faces.

This picture came out blurry, but I was scared to leave the light on to take another...I definitely did not want to wake them up and have to get anyone to sleep again!

Fun outside

We have experimented lately with letting the kids go outside to play by themselves (no adult supervision). It is scary and has really been a leap of faith on my part. I know it sounds silly - I was playing by myself outside when I was much younger - but when they are together playing, they just have no interest in behaving, it is just too much fun to be bad! Not to mention the absolutely terrifying stories you hear on the news about children being hurt or taken. Anyway, they love their new sense of freedom, and have really enjoyed playing with these "bike" toys, which they outgrew a while ago. They take them to the top of the "little hill" and roll down. The little daredevils especially like playing bumper cars, of a sort, and crashing into each other as they get to the bottom. Lucy loves it too, and goes for their feet as they roll. Of course I peek from the dining room to be sure they are still there and not bleeding or limping every few minutes (I'm afraid it is too much of a leap for me to leave them completely to themselves for that long!)

The drought has really reaked havoc on our lawn - what little grass we had is absolutely gone and now even the weeds - our mainstay for greenage in the backyard - are dying. I don't know if it is the recent frosts or no water, but I am already looking forward to the spring and new growth.

Field Trip

Kathryn went on her very first field trip today. I'm so glad I was able to go with her. As it turns out, I made a lot of new friends today - her classmates loved me! At one point, there were several little hands fighting over who got to hold my hand. Very nice :)



We went to a farm pretty close to where we live - it only took us about 20 minutes to get there. The kids got to ride a horse (wearing helmets!). It was a very slow ride in a circle, but every child there seemed to love it. After the horse ride, we went on a nature "hike" through the woods. There was a path (you could barely call it a path, really), which was pretty treacherous for a group of 4 year olds. In the middle of the woods, the owner of the farm read a story about trees and had them look around at all the trees (at this point, we were far enough in that all you could see was trees). After the hike, they played some games, which were kind of a flop, but some of the kids liked them. They made a craft (a scarecrow out of a paper bag), ate lunch, then made a real scarecrow. That was the most fun, I think. We broke up into teams - boys and girls and made a pretty funny-looking scarecrow. That took all of 5 minutes, and they spent the rest of the time we were there rolling in the left over hay and throwing it at each other.

Halloween

This was the first year we have actually gone door to door Trick-or-Treating. We have finally gotten comfortable enough with a few of our neighbors to let the kids go to their doors. For many reasons, we decided not to go to the Halloween event at church this year. Obviously, Julian is Spiderman and Kathryn, according to Kathryn is a "fairy godmother princess".



I was surprised at how few people had their lights on for Trick or Treaters. I think we went to maybe 4 doors within 1/2 mile of our house. Times have sure changed. It's a sad commentary on our world that people are either too scared to open their doors for strangers or think a child in a costume is evil in some way.

No one seems to mind the actual religious holidays being taken over by a big bunny or a fat man in a suit, but a holiday that has nothing to do with Christ - just a night for kids to have fun dressing up and asking or treats - that is boycotted! Seems strange to me. The most sacred holidays of Christianity - the celebration of Jesus' birth at Christmas and the celebration of His resurrection at Easter - those are the ones we should take seriously - get rid of the Easter Bunny and Santa! Don't do away with Halloween....

Baby Vivian

We went to meet baby Vivian Saturday. She slept most of the time we were there, but we did get to take our turns holding her for a few minutes... actually, she slept while we were holding her too!

Julian brand new

Of course a new baby makes me think of my babies when they were actually babies. This was of Julian probably just a week old. He was so small - less than 5 pounds when he was born, and you can really tell with the way Ronda is holding him here. Amazing how much he has grown!

The new family

Thanks Sherri for sending pictures. I really liked this one. What a sweet family.

A funny letter

I am going through college text books, getting rid of most of them, and I found this letter tucked into an old French book. I think this was from 10th grade where we signed up for penpals who lived in France. It's funny that I can't remember words trying to speak French, but I only had to look up a couple of these - I can still read French. Interesting...

Pictures of the kids

This is from the antique festival a couple of weeks ago. Good pictures.

A picture

She is so beautiful. It's been so hard on me to be here and not with them, but seeing her picture makes it a little better....

Vivian Elizabeth

Vivian was born last night - I don't know exactly what time (I'm assuming around 7:30???). She is 7 pounds 14 ounces and Dad said he thought she was 20 inches long. Not huge, but definitely a healthy baby! Emily was exhausted last night but in good shape otherwise. I have not seen pics yet, but hopefully that will happen very soon!

Baby Fink is on her way!

I'm so excited - my brother called last night and said they were pretty sure Emily was in real labor and that they would eventually have to make their way to the hospital. He called this morning and said Emily is definitely in labor, is in the hospital, has had the epidural (the absolute best advance in medical technology, by far!) and is slowly but surely moving towards motherhood!!!!! I can't wait to meet Baby Fink (and finally hear what her name will be) and am going crazy that we are here and they are there, 3 hours away. I want to be with my brother and sister-IL during this SO special time.

Anyway, I hope to post pictures or at least direct you to pictures very soon!

A prayer answered

Julian told me on Sunday morning that he wanted to be a Christian. We talked about it, and I asked him why he wanted that and what he thinks that means. He told me he loves Jesus and he knows that he is a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross to take the punishment for his sins. He said he understands what repent means and that he wanted to repent and ask Jesus to be Lord of his life. Jason talked to him too and prayed with him....

Of course we have prayed for this since Julian was a baby - that one day he would make a decision to serve God. Praise God, Our Father loves us enough that He sacrificed His son to save ours.

I am so thankful. This came at a perfect time in our lives - we are so full of discouragement and sadness over so many things, this is a bright light in our cloudy day (really it's been cloudy for weeks!) We have an appointment to talk to our pastor this week and will set something up about a baptism date, so just one more thing to look forward to!

Family night/Candle night

For a while now, we've tried to find something fun but cheap to do with the kids on Friday nights to replace our former "Friday restaurant night". We eat dinner by candlelight, which is a lot of fun, and tonight, we made up a story together. We all took turns, each writing a sentence or two before passing it to the next person. Posted for your enjoyment!

The Young and Beautiful Princess

I have been waiting for Julian to finish coloring this, but coloring is not one of his favorite things, so I don't know if it will ever get colored. If it does, I'll change the pages out, but this is a must-read.

Rice Bowls

This Sunday we will be returning our rice bowl to church for the "gathering day" I realized last night that I will be sad to see it go. This has been an amazing object lesson in our family for showing us what we are blessed with.

We got our rice bowl in September and put it on our table. With it was a calendar listing suggested offerings for each day. Everything we put inside the bowl will go to our church's World Hunger Offering (of which every penny actually goes to feeding people - no administrative costs, if you can believe that!)


We have not followed exactly all of the suggested offerings - some days giving more, some less than what was suggested. But each night, Julian finds and reads the verse from his Bible, we talk about what it means, and then the kids put that day's money in the bowl.


It has really made us aware each day of how blessed we are, though we complain about not having stuff. We have everything we need. And it has made us more aware that there are many, many, many people that do not have what they need, and Jesus wants us to help them, even sacrificing to do that.

Ready for church

They looked so cute after they got ready for church a couple of weeks ago, I had to capture the moment. It is funny to note that I have to fuss at Julian to un-button that top button - he likes it buttoned all the way up! AND Kathryn was SO excited to get to wear tights.

The Colors of Fall

An original composition by Julian

A clean house

Last weekend, we borrowed Jason's Dad and his pressure washer and performed a miracle on our house. After 7 years, we can finally see the yellow siding. These pictures are from the north side of the house (which no one ever sees). It is always shady on that side of the house, which is why it got so dirty, so we couldn't get really good pictures. I was truly amazed at the difference when they were done; our house looks wonderful. I did feel a little bad - after the fact - that we used so much water to clean our house when water is in short supply. Although we are not actually on any restrictions, it was still probably not the best time to do it. But once in 7 years isn't too bad, I guess.

Sometimes even big boys play cars...

Jason's 1969 Plymouth Satellite.

These were taken this week, and he thought they were very good....

My Mom

Yesterday my Mom would have been 58. She has been gone for almost 25 years, and I have have spent most of my life without her. But I remember her birthdays and always look back on what I have left of her - pictures mostly. I was so young, there aren't many memories. From everything I've been told, she was an amazing woman, full of faith in God and love for her family and friends. I try to remember that and her birthday instead of the loss and grief. Even being absent from my life, she has had an amazingly large impact on me - as a mom should. I would not be the person I am today, who God wants me to be, if my life had been any different than it was and is. So, to not be to philosophical, I am exactly where God wants me to be and so is she. I look forward to the day I can see her, healed. So, anyway, this is just my way of saying I love and appreciate my mom.

In this picture, my mom is pregnant with Ronda. Do you see the look on her face - I can almost hear her saying, "Ray, what are you doing with that thing?"

I had to edit this picture to remove the large thumbprint from the corner! This is my brother Randy. I noticed in this picture the sweet look on his face. Just lost in his mommy's face. Do you see it? And she looks so happy - holding her son.

Obviously her wedding day. I think she was 18. I wore this dress on my wedding day as well.

I don't know when this was taken - at my Grandma Gathagan's house, I assume - maybe before mom and dad got married.

This is me, maybe a day or two old? It makes me happy that she looks so happy. This picture has taken a beating, unfortunately.

Mom and Dad - so sweet. I wish I could remember moments like this.

Me and Mom on the floor. I have no idea what the context of the picture is, but I like to imagine we were doing something fun together. I do know it was in our living room in PA.

Staying at home

So, everyone knows that all stay at home moms have loads and loads of free time and that we just sit on our couches and eat bon bons while watching soaps. Or, no, sorry, we actually talk on the phone to our other mommy friends while the kids watch Barney on TV, right?

I don't know about other at home moms, but I stay busy - all day, every day. With work, chores, all the kid things in the day, and other commitments, there's not a lot of playing time. HOWEVER, there are days when I just can't make myself do what I know I should be doing, and those are the days I guess I fit the mold of the stereotypical at home mom.

Today, for instance, I have 9 pages of shops to publish - I mean right now at this moment as I'm typing this. I have been so busy for so many days, I just wanted to take a day to do stuff I like doing. That, I have to say, is the best thing about being at home with the kids. I can take a day if I want (though to be honest, I'll have to work twice as much tomorrow to make up for it, but let's not think about that now).

I played my clarinet this morning for about 2 hours, cleaned for almost that much time and after getting Kathryn and working for a while (yes, I guess even on a play day, I can't completely ignore responsibility!), I took some pictures of a beautiful butterfly that caught my eye bringing Lucy inside.

So, maybe there is some truth to the stereotypes of the S.A.H. mom....at least on my part.

I thought these pictures turned out really well, so I wanted to share them.

The Awana year begins

Unfortunately, I have been a bit scatterbrained the last few weeks, and have forgotten to take my camera to the recent Awana events at church. Our slide show at the end of the year will be missing KICKOFF pictures, but hopefully no one will notice!

Thankfully, our Awana year is off to a great start, so the time I have to spend on it during the week will go from more than 10 hours (!!!!!) to maybe an hour or two a week (with the exception of theme night week once a month and store night one week every other month!!!). I can also get rid of a lot of stuff I had been storing at my house until the club year started, so we can almost completely open the front door now without hitting anything (I do still have to keep some stuff at home!)

We had our Awana kick off last week, and it was not as amazing as I had hoped. Don't get me wrong, it was great because we had a really good turnout for the first night and the most of the kids came back tonight for our first regular-schedule club meeting, so I assume they enjoyed themselves. There were just a few annoying snags that I didn't foresee - such as the consequences of the drought we are in. The grass was SO dry it popped the balloons the game director had planned several games around when they touched the ground. Game time was not as exciting, since a lot of the games just didn't work. On top of that, it was really hot - 95+, and the kids didn't want to stay out for games. Unfortunately, we don't have an indoor game space, so they just had to "suck it up" and finish their time until we were ready for the dinner.

As I said though, of the 32 that came for the kick off, 26 came back tonight for our first real Awana club meeting of the year. SO they must not have thought it was as bad as I did. I guess I will say it was marginal, and start thinking of a better plan for next year.

The kids loved the new take home bags - they get a couple of neat toys (Oriental trading company!) and I get to send home all the papers that always seem to get lost between church and home with dates, rules, etc.

Everything went really smoothly tonight, although, as always, I saw ways I can improve my part in things for next week. We have a really great team of leaders, and I can see we are going to have a great year. A lot of kids have actually already finished their entrance books and are starting on their handbooks! When leading the leader prayer meeting and dedicating the night to God tonight, I could just see that we are going to impact these kids in a positive way, and plant the seed towards their eventual relationship with Jesus as their Lord. It is humbling to have a part of that. I just want to do my best to please God and make it as easy on Him to do the watering and fertilizing as I can.

We traveled to Cary yesterday for the annual ministry conference. The host church, Colonial Baptist, was SO big, a few in my group (me included) actually got lost in the building trying to find one of the classes. We eventually found our way around, so no harm done, but it definitely made me appreciate my little church with its 12 classrooms and 2 building campus (200 person sanctuary and fellowship hall!). We had 7 people in our group, so we didn't quite make the 70% needed to earn a plaque, but it was a really good group, and I think we all got some ideas for ways to improve our methods. We were encouraged and reminded that our mission is to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him. We were reminded how important it is to reach a person while they are young with that gospel. I think we all came away energized and ready to get started with our kids. We also had a lot of fun on the ride there in back - with Jason driving way too fast, riding in that shaky bumpy church van. We were definitely NOT one of those church groups you see moseying down the highway, taking their time about things. We had fun and learned a lot - it's going to be a great year!

Purble Place

Today is a preschool teacher workday, so it is just me and Kathryn. While I was waiting for it to get late enough to make some phone calls, we played some Purble Place on the computer.

She loves this game. You have to make cakes - and make them look exactly like the picture on the screen. She likes to remind me how smart she is when she gets it exactly right.

Kathryn's 2nd 4th birthday party

Our kids are so lucky! They get two parties every year for their birthdays (and normally a small just the 4 of us party on their actual birthday). Here are some pics from Kathryn's party.

Kathryn's party