A Visit from Friends & Pizza Production

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday some friends came down from their new home out west to visit family. During this weekend they stopped by to pay us a visit. Boy were my boys excited. They couldn't wait for their long lost friends to come to our house to play and have lunch.

They arrived, played, ate, and left all too quickly. In between herding children, making sure children were eating, and assuring that children weren't too wild and hurting each other, we actually got part of a conversation in ourselves. I guess we'll just have to finish it later. All in all, everyone had a great time, although the visit was way too short. We made plans to visit again when they come in for Christmas. We can't wait.

After they left the boys went down for a nap. While they were down I went shopping by myself to begin gathering Christmas gifts and a few baby shower gifts for a friend. It was fun to go out, but I was by myself and longed for the company of a friend. There was none to be had. My mom and sister were together shopping, and all the friends that are so close to my heart were far away by distance. So alas I took to my shopping alone.

My last stop was the grocery store to pick up a few things, which quickly turned into a weekly shopping trip. I HATE grocery shopping. I would do one trip for 5 months if I could. Yuck. Anyway - I was trying to figure out what to have for dinner, which is a constant nagging question in my house. I get stuck in the "What are we gonna have tonight?" rut. Toward the end of my trip I had a brilliant idea. Make your own french bread pizzas! Assembly line production at its best!

As soon as I got home and put the groceries away, the boys washed their hands and sat at the table. We explained the concept and the goal. They had a ball. Dad's job was to put on the sauce. Monkey did the cheese. Chopsy did the pepperoni, and I put on the mushrooms. Everyone's pizza was different, but oh so yummy. They boys had a blast and really enjoyed it. Monkey asked when we could do it again. Chopsy kept eating the pepperoni from the bag AND off of the pizzas.

We finished off the night with a popcorn party and a video - The Easter Carol... Monkey's choice. We tried to encourage The Star of Christmas - but he was set on the Easter Carol. Oh well.

BIG OOPS!

Not that anyone besides Heather reads this... but I made a BIG mistake the other day by posting her birthday two days early. It was written down on my calendar as the 26th. I don't know what happened because I've gotten it right every other year, right Heather?

Let's try it again -

Now -it's Happy belated birthday Heather!


So sorry I missed it.

(hope you like the pink enough to forgive me!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heavenly Father,
We are so thankful for all of the blessings You give us so freely.
We are so unworthy of Your love. Because You loved us so much You
rescued us from death by sacrificing Your only Son.
He is the greatest blessing and gift we could
ever receive. We are so thankful for Your gift of salvation.
May we live to glorify You and make You smile.
In Jesus' precious holy Name.
Amen!


Come Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise:
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home:
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.


O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.


Psalm 75:1, 9

We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks!
For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.
But I will declare forever,
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

Psalm 107:1-
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.

Happy Birthday Heather!!!!

Today is my dearest friend, Heather's, birthday.
She is 30 something years young. (Right, Heath?)
I just wanted to say - thank you for being born,
And even more so - thanks for being my friend.
You are so dear to me, and I love you tons!
I'm praying that the LORD blesses you beyond your wildest
imagination this year! Have a great birthday!

Love -
G

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear Heather!
Happy birthday to you!!!!

(I even blogged in pink - just for you- cuz you know "we need not pray about pink - it's always God's will")

Wordless Wednesday

Found this on Flickr posted by LuckyOliver. It's a good one.

A heart of thanks

Psalm 92

It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
On an instrument of ten strings,
On the lute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

O LORD, how great are Your works!
Your thoughts are very deep.
A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.
When the wicked spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.

But You, LORD, are on high forevermore.
For behold, Your enemies, O LORD,
For behold, Your enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox;
I have been anointed with fresh oil.
My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies;
My ears hear my desire on the wicked
Who rise up against me.

The righeous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bear fruit in an old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
To declare that the LORD is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

OOOH video!

Okay - so hubby and I have played with the computer's video program and decided to upload a video for the blog. This video was taken this past week... hubby was late at work, which meant I had dinner with the kiddos after a long day at work. The boys obviously knew that I was exhausted and decided to have a little fun after dinner. This is one of the nights I was emotionally done and thought about how easy it would be in the short term just to let the boys have their way... however, I knew what price I would pay in the long run for the bad decision I would make. I determined to keep my wits about me and thankfully, hubby came home just in time. Praise the Lord for my husband!

Change for Sundays

In the summer and early fall our tradition was to spend the waning hours of daylight at a park getting out some extra energy. Since the kids don't get up from naps until after it's dark we have switched our tradition to movie night. Tonight we watched The Incredibles complete with popcorn and drinks. It doesn't work out any energy, however, it is a fun family activity. I guess this will do until the sun shines later than 5 pm so that we can get back outside and play. I miss eastern daylight time. The hardest day in the world for me is December 21st, the day with the least amount of hours of daylight.

I guess movie night will just have to suffice until spring.

Wordless Wednesday

Before sour halloween candy

after sour halloween candy

BRRRRR!

The leaves are all but gone from our trees - which is evidenced by our yard even after we raked last weekend. Somehow several of them showed up again, thanks to our neighbor's big sycamore tree. The weather has turned quite brisk, especially today. Today was the kind of day where your cheeks turn rosy red and your nose decides to drip after being out in the cold air for an extended length of time. The wind makes it feel like the temperature is actually 15 degrees colder than it really is. The fact the sun is set by 4:30 in the afternoon doesn't make it any warmer.

Knowing all of this my boys decided they wanted to play outside this afternoon after I picked them up. Cabin fever had finally got the best of them and they couldn't stand it anymore. As soon as we arrived home I grabbed hats for both of them and warned them that if they came off we would go inside. I had not one problem with a hat coming off. We played soccer and hide and seek for as long as the light would allow. We only got to play for a brief 25 minutes - but some was better than nothing. There is just something about being outside in the fresh air that helps boys - but especially my boys - expend their energy. It was fun. I couldn't get any pictures because the camera wouldn't focus due to lack of adequate light. That's what I get for living in the eastern US.

Ready, Set, Go!

Here lately, Chopsy has been letting us know that he's understanding the concept of going to the potty. Just last night I was getting him ready for bed, and he said "Tinkle, potty!" I asked him if he wanted to try the potty and he got up and ran to the bathroom. With a little help from mom behind him, Chopsy tinkled in the potty. WooHoo! He repeated the feat again today at two different times. I am amazed. I wasn't even going to attempt to begin this task until summer when I had enough time to devote to the entire task. Looks like Chopsy might be doing it for me.

It still leaves the poop situation to question. I'm not going to even attempt to tackle that until later. For now this is enough.

Way to go Chops!

Wordless Wednesday

I need to remember these times when they do get along.

Wild Life

I had the day off today, so we planned a day at the zoo. Jeremy met us there as a surprise and we spent the day seeing the animals. It was the perfect fall day. It was crisp and cool, yet sunny with a clear blue sky. We rode the zoo train for the first time since it's been up, and also saw some interesting work going on. Our zoo is doing construction to create a new area for the tigers and other hoofed animals. It's gonna be awesome when it's finished. They are also supposed to be adding orangutans and other animals to the zoo in the upcoming years.

Horsin' around with Dad

Just the other day the boys needed to expend some energy, and of course, it was raining outside and wet. Because of the asthma that looms over our household we must be careful of damp cool weather, so we had to stay inside. So Dad decided to rough house inside while I made dinner. Before I set to work I felt the need to pick up my camera and capture the moment.

Go Eric!

Today, we had an awesome message in church. Our pastor has been doing a series on prayer. Today he touched on the hazards that happen in our lives and how we handle them in relation to prayer. The sermon was focused around Acts 27:29 in which the Apostle Paul was being taken to Rome via ship. He had advised those in charge not to go... but they decided to go anyway, and got into trouble.

In the middle of the chapter (verse 29) Paul writes, "Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come."

How often have you been in the midst of turmoil, in the midst of a squall? You can't see the way in front of you, you may be confused and exhausted... trying to keep your head above the circumstances that push you to and fro. You feel exhausted from what life has been bringing your way, and you are simply praying for morning to come. You are waiting for a break.

When circumstances come we are encouraged to Trust God (Acts 27:25). Paul was told by an angel that not one person on that ship would perish. He chose to trust that what God said was true.
We are to Surrender Control (Acts 27:29-32). Paul told the men to cut the ropes of the skiff and stay in the ship. Lastly, we are to move forward in faith (Acts 27:35-36). Paul began to celebrate by eating, believing that God would do what He said He would do and rescue them - likewise his shipmates saw Paul's attitude and did likewise to strengthen themselves.

God promises deliverance to those who love Him. Psalm 50:15 "Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will glorify Me. Ps. 91:15 "He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.

In light of our country's current economic situation and other circumstances that we, as Christians, will soon face our God will deliver us. We MUST trust Him.

Great message Eric. Thank you for being a tool of the Almighty to deliver a message that was much needed.

The Wiggles

So the mania in our household lately has been the fab four from down under, aka The Wiggles. Monkey never really got into them, but Chops adores them. At the recommendation of my sister, who has taken her two, we bought tickets to surprise the boys. Not a word was said until we actually arrived at the arena. All went well for about the first 1/2 hour. After that, the night went awry. Chops wanted to get down and run around the venue, which we couldn't allow. Monkey just said, "Mom, I want to go somewhere else." We sat through the remainder of the show, which was quite entertaining, what I saw of it. However, Chops was screaming, and Monkey kept climbing up and down the stairs, in and out of the seat. Ugh. This will be the LAST time we go to anything that they need to attend to for quite a long time. I felt so deflated.

Oh well. Live and learn.

Wordless Wednesday

A little levity in the light of the day after...

Silly boys

While the rest of the country was in the throws of election mania my boys were busy....
Stuffing the box, well, more like the dresser... with each other.

So proud.

Resting between His shoulders

Deut 33:12
The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him,
Who shelters him all the day long;
And he shall dwell between His shoulders.

I was scanning the LPM website tonight and came across this verse. How comforting that in the wake of a major election we, as sons and daughters of THE KING, can dwell in His shelter and in His protection between His shoulders.


It was refreshing and exciting that I had the privilege to wait in line for over an hour in the pouring rain to be able to vote. It was exciting that so many people turned out to vote, even if they weren't voting the way I would have chosen.

Whether or not my guy and gal win, I will commit to pray for the administration, that the Lord's hand would be with them, that they would come to know Him and seek His face in the running of the country.

May God continue to extend His hand of mercy toward our nation, and may we, individually and as a nation, repent of our sins and cry out to the Almighty for forgiveness.