Naomi Silliman

We got snow!

2009-01-19T07:57:00.000-08:00

Well a little bit....not enough to have fun with. The ground is just white. Not enough to make a snowball or sleigh ride in. It is warmer these past 2 days....it's up to 30 instead of 10. What a difference!

I am enjoying a day off of work today. My kids do not have school so I am home with them. Mike is also off of work today too so we may go do something fun. If not it is nice to be home together as a family.

This past weekend my sister, niece and great-niece came to visit. We had a great time catching up on each others lives. I love spending time with family!!! I am reminded what a blessing from God family is.

For now I wait for MORE snow......I would love 6-12 inches. Enough to shut things down and have fun with the kids in. I don't know when or if that is going to happen but.....I will wait!!!!

Looking back

2009-01-14T14:00:00.000-08:00

Looking back on 2008 it was a great year! God was in control and that's the way I like it. When I review the year in my mind I am so glad God sees the big picture but, He only gives me one day at a time. If I had known all that was going to happen in 2008 I would have been so overwhelmed. So many good things took place but, life happened too. We had our sad times too (when our neighbor died and a friend from Church died). Those were some rough times. In the midst of all of the sadness we were reminded of all of our blessings and made sure to stop and thank God for our health and for the people closest to us.

I went back to work. I am now working at the YMCA and I love it. The only downfall is that I am not home with my kids. Mike is doing a great job at being Mr. Mom for me. When the kids are sick he keeps them home and works here. Mike, I love living life with you by my side. I could not do it without you nor do I ever want to.

Our kids are such a blessing to have. It is never far from my mind that there was a day when we were not sure we were ever going to have children of our own. God has blessed us with more than we could ever imagine. I love each stage and age of our 4 children! They each make our family complete. I love you guys with all my heart!

Elk Creek Church is doing awesome! God has some big plans for us and I am so honored to be a part of something so big for Him! I have been teaching the 2-4 yr. old class and really enjoying getting to know these little ones better. I pray that God uses me to make a difference in their little lives. Mike has made me so proud.....he does a great job preaching and leading the Church! We have both grown so much. To God be the Glory!

I am also reading through the Bible in a year. I am loving it and look forward to it every day. This will be my first time reading the whole Bible. I wish I had done it a lot sooner. It is full of so much good stuff.

Out of town!!!

2008-10-22T19:20:00.000-07:00

I am so excited.....I am going to my parents to visit this weekend! I am hoping to get some good pictures of my family. I know it is going to fly by....so just a heads-up this weekend will be over before we know it so enjoy. I am going to try to get some good sleep before then because I try to stay awake as long as I can and visit with everyone. This comes at such a good time. I love going to the farm and hanging with my family. My kids love it too. They have already told me what they need to pack. Abbey has already packed 3 toy bags filled with stuff that she won't even play with. Michael told me he needs to pack old boots "O....I don't have any" and old pants so he can play down at the ponds. Casey just screamed with excitement. And Caleb; he is happy no matter where he is, most of the time.

Very sad day

2008-09-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

When I came home from work today I found out that my friend/neighbor is loosing her battle with cancer. My family and I have come to love her and her family very much in the last year and a half. My heart is so heavy for the family as they are together with her. As I have been thinking about our friendship I was reminded of how I stopped everything if she needed me......because I knew my time with her was limited. I am so glad I did.

I started this post a few weeks ago. I could not finish this post at the time. I was crying to much. Since then she has died and so has another friend of ours. They were both great people and are missed very much buy their family and friends. The past few weeks have been hard. Mike (my husband) did the funeral service for our friend and we were able to attend the viewing of our neighbor together. It was a sad few weeks.

Still here

2008-09-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am still here.....however I am trying to adjust to all of the changes going on around in my life. I still love my new job but, I do miss being home with the kids. Mike is doing fabulous with the kids and helping out with whatever I need help with (and that has been a lot lately). All 4 of the kids are adjusting well to all the changes too. I appreciate the time I spend with them so much more now. I am always striving to be a better mom and I love stopping everything to just spend quality time with my kids. The house will always need cleaning but my kids are growing up to fast and I know that my time spent coloring and reading stories is flying by to quickly. Abbey is waiting for me to read so my time is done here!!!

Working!

2008-08-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

I started my new job this week at the YMCA. I love it! I was working at the camp helping out where I was needed for a few hours this past week. Tuesday I will start in my classroom. I am an assistant in the kindergarten class. I am really excited to start and meet the children in my class. Abbey keeps asking me when it is time for her to go to my work. She will be going in the childcare for a few hours while I am working. She is looking forward to it and I think it will be a lot of fun for her. Mike has been awesome helping with the house and taking care of the kids in the morning when I was working this past week. It made the transition so much easier! Thank you Mike!! No more late nights for me on week days. Mike can tell you.....I can't hang past 9:30pm. Getting up at 5:30am takes its toll if I don't get my sleep. And if you know me you know I love my sleep.

Back home!

2008-08-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

We are all home after a great week at Ocean City MD!!
The kids loved the beach and boardwalk! They all played
great together and had a lot of fun. At the end of the day
I am not sure who was more tired the kids or adults.
I am trying to get unpacked today so I have not downloaded
the new pictures yet. When I do I will post some. It is
good to be back home.

Happy Anniversary!

2008-08-09T06:50:00.000-07:00

Today 17 years ago I was getting ready for our wedding!!! Today I am getting our family of 6 ready for church and I Love the preacher!!!! I would have never thought that this is where Mike and I would be 17 years later!! I am so blessed to have a husband like Mike. He is fun, smart, handsome, life of the party, great father, great communicator, I could go on and on but, I can't be late for church!!! Mike I love you now more than the day I married you and let me tell you that is A LOT!!!! Thank you for being such an awesome partner for life. I can't wait to see what the next 17 years hold for us.

Vacation here we come!

2008-08-09T06:28:00.000-07:00

This picture of my son's hermit crab describes our
vacations. We almost always come home with a new
hermit crab. We are going with friends to O.C. MD.
I am almost all packed after staying up til 2 and 3am
the last two days. That seems to be the only time I
can get my work done. I am looking forward to eating
some seafood and spending some quality time with
my family and friends . As much work as it is to go
to the beach it is so worth watching them play and
have a great time (usually without fighting).
We are having a few baby/child dedications at
church in the morning (this always hold a special
place in my heart) and then we get to head out!

Job

2008-08-07T22:55:00.000-07:00

Well there is a lot of news going on in our house! I am not going to bore you will all of it. One of the big things going on is that I am going to be starting a new job in a few weeks. I have mixed emotions about this new chapter for my life. I also have confidence like never before about this next step. You see, I prayed for God to make it obvious to me if this is where He wants me and.......you guessed it.......He made it VERY obvious ( I was hired on the spot ). What you may not know is that I have been a stay-at-home-mom for over 11 years. So, with all that said I have loved staying home but, I am excited to get out of the house for a few hours and help financially too.

Zoo with the crew!

2008-07-13T19:35:00.000-07:00

Do ya think he likes the zoo?

The monkeys sure do!

Happy Birthday Gus!

Yum! Yum!

2008-07-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

This is me and the girls (they are best friends
they just don't know it yet). They were sharing
their sandy snacks with me. Not long ago I
would have graciously said "no thank you" but,
this day was different; I laid down on the
towel and enjoyed the moment. I asked a
friend to capture it on film for me. That way
when my mind forgets these moments I can
be reminded by looking at the pictures. It was
so worth it....just look at our smiles!!!

Summer

2008-07-13T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things that I love about summer:

swimming
cricket sounds
fireflies
guest (like my niece that stay for a week)
ice tea
ice cream
no schedule / late nights
my kids out of school
beach

Now for the few things I don't like about summer:

sunburn
cooking
bug bites
grouchy kids home for summer break
poison ivy
sand from the beach in my van
flies in my house
weeds all over my property

Caleb is 1!

2008-07-02T17:42:00.001-07:00

Caleb turned 1 on June 19th! He is just such a
joy to have around! He is almost always happy
and trying to get into everything. He knows
which kitchen cabinets do not have locks on
and he gets into them often (only 2 but boy
does he make a mess of the Tupperware). He
is not walking yet, but he will be very soon.
He is eating mostly "big people" food now and
loving most of it. I can't even drink a glass of
water without giving him some. We are so
blessed to have Caleb as part of our family!
We love you Caleb!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Trash digger!

2008-07-02T17:32:00.000-07:00

Is this not the funniest thing or what???!!!
Only a mother of 4 would take a picture and
then wash her sons hands!! I just could not
resist...it was too cute!!! I had to capture this
moment on camera. Times like these pass to
quickly and I want to always be able to
remember moments like this.

First video

2008-06-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

This is my first attempt at posting a video. Hopefully with time I will only get better at this!

Girls

2008-06-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

Abbey and Trinity were having some girl time. I just wish I knew what they were talking about. They looked like this for a while; just talking and sitting under the tree. O, to be a kid again!

Cool hair

2008-05-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-16T07:23:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-05-16T07:03:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-12T19:03:00.001-07:00

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

2008-05-12T09:16:00.000-07:00

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

2008-05-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

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!!!!