The Land of Dial-Up

I took the kids and headed back into the land of dial-up internet (a.k.a. my parent's house)! Have a great weekend. You probably won't hear from me until sometime on Monday!!

Emma's Last Soccer Game

Monday night was Emma's last soccer game of the season. We were all so excited to be able to go because it was originally scheduled for Saturday and she was going to miss it because she was at her dad's house. So it was great that we all could go and she was thrilled to be there!

I tried to take pictures of the game, but you can see how that turned out...so all my pictures are from the sidelines!

This is Emma hanging out with her friend Ellie. Sometimes I think the water breaks on the sidelines are Emma favorite part. Although I must say she improved about 100% from the start of the season to this last game. She learned to go after the ball instead of just waiting for it to come to her. She actually blocked a ball one time from going in the goal when she was the goalie. She learned how to "turn the ball" and get it going in the right direction. She made a goal once during practice and she learned a lot of new terminology!

McKenna was so bundled up you could hardly see her! She was so cute and I'm sure she was wondering what on earth we were all doing standing around in the dark cheering like crazy!
The boys!
And it was a great season all because of this guy...Coach Jason!

He was such a good sport about the silly string and the kids will probably never forget this night!

Christian was obviously a little unhappy when Abby got him with her can of silly string! Christian definitely doesn't hide his emotions!

Thanks Coach Jason for a great season, lots of patience, and good instruction! We can't wait until next year!

Slow Down McKenna, Slow Down

Slow down sweet girl! You're growing up too fast!

This dress is my absolute favorite and she wore it for the last time on Sunday. Nine month stuff just doesn't fit anymore. I could hardly get it buttoned in the back.
And here she is standing up. Ignore the fact that she's trying to eat the remote! She loves the remote and somehow gets her hands and mouth on it all the time.

Standing up in her crib too. Now don't get excited. She doesn't pull herself to a stand (although she can pull herself into a sitting position), I stood her there. But she can stand there for quite some time all by herself!
I can't believe she's almost nine months old. Oh my word! How did that happen?

Another One of Ryan's Adventures

I told myself a long time ago that I was never going to post about politics on my blog. I really didn't think was the place for it. I have never wanted this blog to be divisive in even the tiniest way, but Ryan had a amazing experience yesterday that I wanted to share. And he got some awesome pictures that were too good not to post. So here we go...now you'll know who I'm voting for :)

It was freezing yesterday. Temps in the 30's and wind gusts at about 45mph. Despite all that Ryan and his friend Josh stood in line with thousands of others for over two hours!
Then after waiting for three more hours inside (he was getting a little hungry by this point) Sarah Palin finally arrived.

Ryan was only about six rows from the stage...can you tell?

Ryan thought the whole experience was great. It was fun for him to participate in the political process in this way. He said it was interesting to see the unbelievable number of secret service there (and those were only the visible guys) and the vast media coverage as well.

Ryan's friend shook Todd Palin's hand, but Ryan was too busy taking pictures.

So now I feel a certain responsibility to explain my vote just a bit! Read at your own risk. I'm not trying to offend anyone, just sharing what's on my mind and heart. I am not a single issue girl, but I do prioritize the issues and the issue of LIFE is at the top of my list.

Why I will cast my vote for McCain/Palin on Tuesday:

1. I believe that every human, in every condition from the single cell stage of development to death, is made in God's image and possesses inestimable worth.

2. I think it's appalling that parents are given the option of "terminating" a pregnancy if they find out the baby could possibly have Trisomy 18 or Down syndrome, or a host of other things.

3. I believe women do have a choice: to choose abstinence, to choose adoption, to choose birth control

4. I believe that humanity should not get to decide when the heart of a defenseless, innocent life should get to stop beating.

5. I believe that there are millions of women who have been "empowered" by the decision of Roe V. Wade who are walking around with scars of grief, broken by the decision they made or someone made for them. Just click here and start reading some of the comments on this post if you don't believe me.

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Barak Obama is opposed to "live treatment" for babies whose abortions go wrong. That means if an abortion goes wrong and a baby is born alive by accident he does not think they should receive medical treatment. That makes me want to cry just thinking about it!

In March of 2008 he voted "NO" to a law that would make it illegal for minors to cross state lines to receive an abortion. So he thinks it's okay for a 13 year old to be driven to another state to receive an abortion without her parents knowing about it.

In April of 2008 he said he was "undecided" about whether or not live begins at conception.

Here's a quote from Barak Obama: "I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby." I get what he's saying, but that statement also makes it very clear that he in no way values the lives of unborn babies. It seems to me that abortion would be fine with him even for his own daughters.

Barak Obama clearly states on his official campaign website that he supports "reproductive choice" and as president will work to ensure that Roe V. Wade is not overturned.

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Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." -- John Quincy Adams

Happy Birthday Nathan Alexander!

Dear Nate,

You think you turned three a few days ago, but today is your actual birthday and I remember the day well. Christian was only four months old and we flew to Massachusetts so we could be there when you were born. It was going to be my job to take care of your sisters when Mommy went to the hospital with you. I will never forget the stress of getting Emma (4), Abby(2) and Christian(4 months) all buckled into the car to go to the hospital to see you. Then they were servicing the elevators when we got there, so the whole thing was quite complicated. I was so exhausted by the time we left the hospital that I went through the drive thru at McDonalds in order to feed everyone dinner. Little did I know that three years later taking three kids somewhere wouldn't be a big deal at all!!

(Emma holding Nate at the hospital for the first time!)

I was so excited for you to arrive and thrilled that you were a boy. Christian was four months old, your cousin Adam had just been born in August and you were going to complete the trio of boy cousins. I was so excited that you guys were going to be close in age so you could be friends.

(Christian, Adam and Nathan)

Little did I know that on the day of your birth God gave us an amazing gift. Not just a son for your parents and a little brother for your sisters, but a best friend for my little boy, a snuggler for me (Christian is NOT one), a protector for McKenna, a "helper boy" as you like to call yourself and an example of perseverance and strength for all of us. You have been through more transition and change in your short three years than most of us have been through in a lifetime and I have watched your fear turn into determined strength. You go from Mommy's house, to daddy's house, to daycare, to PopPop & Grandmom's house, to Aunt Judy's house, without batting an eye. You have learned to adapt and you have grown up soooo much in the last year. A year ago you were quite attached to your binkie, you still slept in a crib, you barely talked, you cried a good bit and you wanted to be held ALL the time. Most days, even with my huge pregnant belly, I would rock you to sleep for your nap because you needed that one on one time to feel secure and loved. You've come so far in this past year and I couldn't be prouder of you!

I also just have to tell you how immensely loved you are. Seriously, everyone who is in your life absolutely adores you. Your big brown eyes seem to melt everyone you meet. I've seen your teachers at school love all over you and Uncle Ryan actually loves it when you sit on his lap and pull his ear. I know that Grandmom and PopPop miss you terribly when they're not with you and they love the special times they do have with you. I've must say that you are Emma's favorite. She thinks McKenna is cute. Abby and Christian frustrate her most days, but you are her boy! She will give you anything and she'll do anything to make you happy. You guys never fight! It's almost ridiculous :) You crawl in bed with your mommy in the middle of the night quite often and she acts like it annoys her but to tell you the truth I think she secretly loves it. I just haven't seen her trying all that hard to get you to stop (just my own observation on the matter :) I know that your daddy is so excited that he lives closer to you now so that he can see you more. And my life just wouldn't be complete without you in it! Right now you and Christian are playing downstairs, still in your pjs at 12:30pm. You're building forts with the couch cushions and making a complete mess of things. Oh, what would I do without you? In other words you are adored as the priceless gift of God that you are!

(Christian sharing his exersaucer with you!)

(Christian and Nathan hanging out at Grandmom and PopPop's house)(Christian has put you through a lot from the beginning, but you're a tough little guy because of it and I can see a great friendship in the making.)


( You have always been so special to Uncle Ry and I!)

(You and Christian getting squirted with the hose this summer.)

(You were so excited to hold McKenna for the first time. And boy oh boy does she love you. You're always very gentle with her. I've always been able to trust you around her. And you're always very concerned and quick to report when she's crying.)

Happy Birthday Nathan!

"Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

"And now thus says the Lord, your creator, and He who formed you, 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-3

Girl in the hood

Big Brother, Little Sister

It's so fun to watch Christian and McKenna's relationship develop! They are really starting to become friends. No one can get McKenna to laugh like Christian can. She loves taking baths with him because he's so entertaining. She laughs all the time when he's around. I love it! I love it that they love each other!

McKenna washing Christian's hair! They're so funny!

Christian had been playing peek-a-boo with McKenna and she thought it was hysterical. Of course he stopped playing with her as soon as I got the camera, but McKenna still thought it was funny when I was talking about it. Check it out.

Wanna know what we did today???

SHOTs...yup! It was very unpleasant but definitely not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
McKenna had to have her ears check after having three consecutive ear infections. Nate keeps getting this weird virus where he gets a fever and throws up for a day and then he's better. So we thought after the third time a doctor should probably check him out. And Christian just has a really bad cold. We're going to give him some honey tonight (doctors recommendation) to see if that helps to suppress his cough. And all three got flu shots. Christian and McKenna didn't get them last year and that was a big mistake. Remember my two week old little baby in the hospital? Not fun!
I really thought the shot thing was going to be horrible. I've never had three kids get shots all at the same time so I was really worried about it. But McKenna surprised me and didn't really cry at all. Nate and Christian recovered rather quickly once they realized my purse was filled with lollipops :)

Miss Abigail is on her first field trip today. She's been so excited about this and I've been thinking about her all day. She rode on school bus and went with her class to the pumpkin patch. She was definitely more excited about the school bus than the actual pumpkin patch since she had already been there. I hope she's had a great time. There won't be any pictures, but I'm sure it was fantastic!

Click here if you want to see what we did yesterday!

Little Green Alligator

A very scary thing happened today! Christian was eaten by a roaring alligator!
Did you know alligator's could roar?
Then Nathan was taken captive by the same roaring alligator! We're going to have to watch out around here!

We have a date!!!!

Ryan finally got the final call today!! He will be donating his bone marrow on November 6th!! I'm sure I'll update again before that date, but we would certainly appreciate your prayers as we work through all the details of this. We're going to be away from our sweet kiddos for two nights. Honestly, I'm more worried about that than the actual procedure. I'm sure Ryan is actually more worried about the procedure :) and I would be too if I were in his shoes. Please pray that the patient will be healthy enough for the procedure and pray that Ryan's marrow will be used to bring complete healing to this woman. This is a bit exciting to watch God use Ryan in this way!! So here we go...

October 22nd 1983

I've you've been reading my blog for anytime at all you know that my FAITH plays a very important role in my life. In fact, I would say that my FAITH shapes just about every aspect of my life from my relationships to my finances. And so, in honor of what happened on this day 25 years ago I thought I would share a little bit about how I came to this place in my life.

On October 22nd, 1983 I started on this journey of FAITH. I told my mom that I wanted to "ask Jesus into my heart." So we prayed together and I told Jesus that I believed in him and that I was sorry for my sins and that I wanted to be in Heaven with him one day.

Romans 3:23 says All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means that I'll never be good enough for God. I can't get to Heaven on my own. I can't please God on my own.

So thank goodness for this next verse. Romans 10:9 says That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It's that easy and that's what I did 25 years ago.

And so I've spent the last 25 years of my life learning more about God and growing in my relationship with Jesus. And it's been quite a journey. I will confess that I'm not the most consistent person when it comes to my faith. Over the years I've had times when I've been excited about going to church and times when I'd much rather stay in bed. Times when the Bible seems interesting and alive to me and times when it seems boring and difficult to understand. Times when I've prayed a lot and felt like I've really been heard and times when I've felt like I've been talking to the air. But one thing has never changed! Jesus has always been waiting for me. In my apathy, in my disobedience, in my busyness, in all of it he's been there just waiting for me to turn to him.

These past few years have really been a turning point for me. My faith has been tested over and over and OVER again and I have finally come to a place where I feel like my feet are firmly planted. I have no more questions. I have no more doubts. I know exactly what I believe. I know exactly Who I believe in.

I believe that the Bible is 100% true.

I believe that God sent his son Jesus to atone for our sins.

I believe the Jesus is the only path to God.

I believe that you must have faith in Jesus Christ in order to go to Heaven.

I believe that prayer really, really, for real, works!!!

It's all the same things that I've believed for 25 years, but I have a new earnestness about it that I've never had before. I want more than anything to be obedient to God's word and to be in His perfect will. It's so, so easy to get off track. Think for a second about the night that Jesus was born. It was a starry night in Bethlehem. The son of God was born. The savior that everyone had been waiting for and the entire town of Bethlehem was asleep. They all missed it. Only the shepherd out in the fields even knew what had happen. I don't want to go through life missing it. I don't want to be asleep and miss what God has for me!

Think about the Israelites. After God used Moses to bring them out of Egypt they were supposed to go to the promised land, but instead they wandered around in the desert for 40 years. They missed what God had for them because they were too busy whining, lying, complaining and being disobedient. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to go through life being so selfish that I miss what God has in store for me.

And that's my prayer for YOU too! I know that God has something amazing in store for each one of you! Oh how I don't want you to miss it! If you've never had a relationship with Jesus before click here and check out this explanation of what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I think there are two main ways that God communicates with us: prayer and through His Word, the Bible. I am still working on being more disciplined when it comes to reading and studying the Bible. I should do it a lot more than what I do. But I do have a pretty strong prayer life. If you ask me to pray for something, you can bet I will be praying about it for you. Please email me (judah322@hotmail.com) or leave me a comment if there is something I can be praying about for you. You can be annonymous if you want to! I know that there are lots of people who stalk my blog who like to be annonymous and that's okay :)

Whew...this got a little long, but I hope you're still here with me at the end. This post is really about what's on my heart! I want you to know the peace that having a relationship with Jesus brings. So that's it. Happy "Born-Again" Birthday to me!!

Apple Art

We used our apples from our apple picking expedition to do some apple stamping this week.

It was very fun until Abby got green paint splattered all over the wall.

It was still some good messy fun and the end result turned out quite colorful and cute.

I forgot to tell you...

Just in case you've been wondering. My neighbors are home and their cat, dog, fish and hamster are all still alive! The cat never did eat much, but I cleaned out the litter box and it started to do it's business in there again. I'm hoping that they won't be traveling again for awhile!

Pumpkin Picking

Today was the perfect fall day to go on a hayride to pick a pumpkin. It was chilly and quite windy, but we had a grand time anyway!
The boys.
Perfectly pink Abigail!
Nathan and Jacob!

Caedmon and his prized pumpkin!

Beautiful girl, beautiful sky!Can you tell that we were all a little cold?
I love this picture of Millicent and her little ducklings following her! And isn't the sky amazing!
Poor little Addie kept getting hung up on all the pumpkin vines. She finally gave up and had a rest for awhile.

Abby helping Addie go down the slide.
Look how tall Abby, the five year old, is!