Cool hair

Caleb loves his bath. Can you tell? He is just such a pleasant kid to have around. God knew what He was doing when he blessed us with Caleb our #4 and final kid. All of us enjoy having some Caleb time! Often I will catch Casey and Michael fighting over who gets Caleb! I hope their love for him stays the way it is even when he is big enough to get into their stuff!

My #1!

Mike is my favorite person in the whole world! I forget to tell him like I should. I am so glad to be living life with him. When I first met him I thought that he was to good to be true. I began praying hard that he would be interested in me. Next I prayed that he would be falling in love with me like I was with him. Now 18+ years later I pray for our marriage that God would continue to bless it. We learned early on that our marriage took 3 Mike, Naomi and God. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 talks about how " A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." It is so true for us. With God being the 3rd strand in our marriage we can do so much more and overlook so much more when times are tough. Mike is such a great husband and I tell our kids that I search for the best man I could find to marry so that when we had children, they would have the best father. I am honored to be his wife. Mike I love you, thank you for being such a great husband and father to our children! This is not a great picture of Mike but, he is doing what he is great at and what he loves...preaching! I will have to get a better picture and post it sometime in the near future (no promises).

Drum roll please!

My sister Kim is definitely one of my favorite people in the whole world!!!! Please don't be offended because if you are reading this you may be another one of my favorite people in the world! I truly love (most) people. Kim is one of my favorite because she is just so sweet. She always puts others before herself and I mean always. I don't know if she even realizes how much I look up to and respect her. For example today (she is at my house :) she wore her hair curly ( she also wears is straight) and so I liked it and wore mine that way. Then my daughter came down later with her hair curly! I just thought it was kinda funny! We all love Kim! I love spending time with her and am always sad when our time together is done. Right now we live about 2 1/2 to 3 hours away. We visit each other with our families as much as we both can but, it is never enough for me. She is such a great person and I love her A LOT!!!! Kim thank you for being such an awesome big sister.

Check in later

Since it is raining and Abbey is play so good with the "junk" I am going to sell tomorrow I am going to try to post again later. I am waiting for my battery to charge for my camera. I have a great picture of me and one of my favorite people in the whole world. Check in later to see who it is????

Off the hook!

If you read one of my other posts you will appreciate this even more. It is raining outside! I was planning on mowing the grass today but, now I can't! YEAH I am off the hook!!! I have been mowing the grass for Mike since he has been away or his allergies have been bothering him. I did use earphones and music last week and that helped. I just hope that I was not singing to loud. Sorry neighbors if you heard me over the lawn mower! As for tomorrow... our neighborhood is having their yard sale so I am hoping for good weather. I have my side of the garage full of "junk" that will be another persons "treasure"! Casey reminded me yesterday that "one mans junk is another mans treasure". She told me that that is my dad's (her poppie) favorite saying. I believe it. The only problem with that is that he has everyones "treasure" but it really is "junk". I love my dad! I hope you get to enjoy your rainy day too!!!!

Happy Birthday Michael!

Michael turned 8 years old today! I can't believe how fast they flew by! I was so excited that we had a girl and now our boy. I talked Mike into naming our little boy after him. When Michael was born he was to little for the name Michael so we called him Mikey until one day he announced that his name was Michael. And so he has been Micheal ever since. He is the one to make you laugh. He also likes to play games or outdoor sports. I am so proud of the young man you are turning into Michael. Remember to always keep God #1 in your life. He will always be there for you. I really think a lot of your earthly father too that is why I named you after him. He has good footsteps to follow after too. You will always be my #1 boy! I love you! Happy birthday buddy!!

My mother-in-love

Mom don't be mad at me for putting your picture on here. Please!!! I wanted to try to highlight a few things from the past 19? years since we met. Again I will try to keep it brief. You were so sweet when Mike brought me home to meet you all. I think I got a hug that day.
I was a young, shy teenager and you made me feel so welcome. Thank you mom. I am so glad to be able to brag about our relationship when others are complaining about their in-laws! Thank you mom. You raised a godly man who I am so glad to be married to (most days, I think we all have our bad days). Thank you mom. I never knew it but, you were an example of being a "pastors wife" all those years. Thank you mom. You bake the BEST Boston cream pie. Everything in it is from scratch! Yum Yum! Thank you mom. We still joke that you had Mike trained on making his bed and all that house stuff... then he married me.....I don't know what happened but.....he rarely makes the bed. But, he does help me ALOT with cleaning the house. So, thank you mom. You are the best and I love you!!! Ps. I am so glad to have you a few min. away now and not a few hours away!

My mother

I wanted to thank my mom for being being such a wonderful mom! I don't have the time to share them all so I will just highlight a few things. My mom drove the school van that took us to our small Christian school. She did that so she did not have to "work" outside of the house. My mom does not like to drive. Thank you mom. She put up with our "pets". She is not a real animal lover. Thank you mom. She bakes the BEST apple pies and only makes them her 18inch pie plate. Yes, that is one big apple pie but, it always goes quick. Thank you mom (I hope to get one this year). She always makes me fell so loved and is always there to listen. Thank you mom. I always felt safe in knowing that my parents would never get a divorce. They have their disagreements but, they always work things out. Let me tell you our family has had its tough times too but, God is always the center and divorce was never an option. Thank you mom. My life has been so blessed by the times you have spent on your knees for me and I am not talking about cleaning the floors. You taught my by your example that it is a good place to start and end the day on your knees talking to God. Thank you mom. My prayer is that I will pass down these qualities to my children. Mom I love you and I am so grateful to have you in my life!!!! Mom THANK YOU!!!!

Spending less

I am amazed at how God works things out! It really should be of no surprise to me since I know that He created everything.... but, He always amazes me! Let me back up a little.....Mike and I have gotten used to spending to much money on eating out. So our kids also are used to living like that for a few years on and off. In Jan. when we realized that we had to scale back on a lot of things so I would not have to go get a job (sometimes I would love to work a few hours out of the house but, that is for another day). So we canceled our cable tv service and made a few other adjustments financially to help offset our change in lifestyles. Back to our eating out. We knew that we could cut out a bit by eating out less and then we realized how much more we spent by ordering sodas and milk: at least $10 for our family. I used to be the one thinking that people who made their family order water out we just plain cheap. I am now that person. Now I realize that if we all order water that adds up to: 2 blockbuster movies, a pizza, ice cream cones or almost 3 gallons of gas. We now let our kids help us decide if they want soda or last night it was ice cream. They all ordered water and we all enjoyed the treat of ice cream! When we did the ice cream part we let them pick anything that they wanted! I loved that it was such a treat and not like it used to be, expected. I only wish that we had done this a long time ago! I want to help develop good spending habits in our children. God has blessed us with more than we could ever imagine! Our kids can drink some soda at home and all the milk they want. Just wanted you to know that they do not do without!

Things you may not know

Here are 5 things that you may or may not know about me:

1. I am very afraid of lawn mowers ( it is stressful for me when I mow our lawn )

2. I love my neighbors (past and present) but, I wish I lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere

3. Growing up I had a lot of different pets

4. I love the spring for a lot of reasons one being that it reminds me of the farm that I grew up on

5. I still love all kinds of animals but, I love my husband MORE and therefore we don't have many pets (he has alergies and does not love animals)

6. I used to be the one to beg Mike to go and do things now....I am begging him to slow down

7. I can't count.....and I love my Creator more than anything/anyone and that is ALOT

my apologies

I know it has been a long time since I posted and for that please accept my apologies. Mike was out of town for a lot of the past 2 weeks and I had to run this house on my own. Yes, it was a little scary at times but, we all survived. We are all glad to be united as a family again. As for me not posting.... I will try to never put this blog ahead of my family. I had to do double duty and was to tired to think or stay awake to blog. I did enjoy some fun time with the kids while Mike was away. I allowed them to take turns having sleepovers in my room. By the last night I declared it "me" night. That meant I was claiming my room back and needed one good nights sleep alone before Dad came home. I must admit that I slept much better when he returned. Something about having the Man of the house home at night just makes it so much easier to sleep sound. Speaking of.... he is such a great man.....I heard a noise in the middle of the night 2 nights ago and he got up to check it out for me. If you know Mike you know how awesome of him that was (he likes his sleep to be uninterrupted). Don't know what the noise was but, boy was I glad that did not happen when he was away! Ok I am rambling but it does feel good to be able to get back on here. I am not sure with the nice weather how often I will post. I am hoping for 2 times a week. If I have to choose between being outside with my kids or posting.....sorry again but, I will always try to pick my kids.