Summer fun!

I love summer and all the fun memories we create! We are down to only having Caleb home with us for a few days. Casey's at a youth conference and Michael and Abbey are at Grandma & Poppies. I am praying for all 3 of them that they have a great time! I do miss them though.....

We got snow!

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

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!!!

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

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

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!

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.