I'm renovating!

I don't think anyone reads my blog anymore, anyways... because I never write on it! But regardless I will update. My husband works a lot. Because of that fact the trailer that we've been living in for a year now has had no more work done to it besides the work that was done a year ago. I was quite tired at looking at the things that needed to get done, when I would ask what the plan was regarding these things I was told it was too much work to start right now. I took matters into my own hands and I ripped up this room. This room was Jack's room when we first moved in. But it had some major problems. The kids were moved into the same room and this room collected stuff. I emptied the room of all its stuff and proceeded to rip off all its wood panelling and the horrible smelly carpet (with the help of my best friend Colleen - truly couldn't have done it without her!) Now I've been stapling up new vapour barrier. The old stuff was too thin and had some holes, now even more holes because of my over-kill with the hammer while removing wood panelling! Aaron is finally on board with renovating this room and is happy that I started it and told me that if I start things he'll finish them! The room will be getting carpet, a light fixture, a heater, new drywall, paint and a door! Then I think I'll give the room to Danielle. Very exciting!

My next project will be packing up and moving to Colleen's basement so that I can tear up my living room and kitchen. That'll be quite the thing I'm sure! Very excited about it! In the spring I may just start ripping the ucky aluminum siding off my trailer. I don't mind tearing things apart if it means that things get done around here - isn't the demolition of things the fun part anyways?

Once a month update

Cute pictures of my kids are always a nice addition to any blog entry! Its very easy to be patient with my kids when they look like this!

I'm obviously not a blogger. But for those few who like to read about whats going on in my world here's the dish.

My best friend AND her boyfriend recently got saved! So wonderful how God works in people's lives!

Jack is crawling very well and is starting to pull himself to standing and even gets around a little bit.

Danielle is starting to assert her independence more and more. "No" is becoming a lot more common around here (out of her mouth AND mine)

Aaron is busy working pretty much 2 jobs as he's hoping to possibly start his own business within the next year.

I've been trying to collect the fabric and notions to make a few baby slings to sell off and hopefully I'll actually find the time to do it as well!

I'm really finding that God is able to help with the day to day little things more than I could have ever thought. I get frustrated and I just stop and pray. I get a few moments and I stop to read my bible. Its so wonderful to have someone to call on who's always there and always knows the best thing to do! Its when I don't ask His advice that I find myself having rotton days. I'm not good at memorizing verses but I've decided I'm going to try a little harder to. This is my verse. Eccl 7:9 "Be not hasty in they spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools" I know some people may not think this verse applies to me but I do have a short fuse with my kids sometimes. I also really like this verse, but its REALLY long. Heb 12:1 "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." My "race" as a wife/mother is set before me and I sure do feel as though I'm running somedays! Whether or not I'm running it with patience is a whole other thing!

Jennifer ... how dare you make me start blogging again! LOL... just kidding. I don't know why I haven't in so long!

B. best friend? Male - Aaron of course. We've known each other almost 5 yrs, been married 3yrs (as of Aug 27th) and we've shared so much joy and sorrow. Female - Colleen, who would've thought we'd still be friends at all! We've known each other since we were born pratically but never really became close until she offered up a roommate position - wow have we had fun!

C. cake or pie? Pie! This is a very tough question because both are especially tempting. I choose cake today, birthday cake with ridiculously sweet butter cream icing and lots of pretty flowers on it!

D. day of choice? Sunday! Church and then a really fun day with Aaron home and usually getting out to visit and have fun with friends/family!

E. essential item? I think its swiftly becoming "Nave's Topical Bible" (but the bible by itself is right up there... good old instruction book for living!) Look up any topic (today its patience) and read every verse in the bible that makes reference to that topic! My pastor suggests that if you are having a struggle in your life to memorize 10 verses to help with it and you will get victory over that struggle. This bible is soooooo helpful for this!

F. favorite color? as a child it was always sunny yellow, until in grade 2 every other girl said pink so I felt left out and said pink too. But I wear a lot of blues.

G. gummy bears or worms? they both taste the same.... so... bears are much more appealing.

H. hometown? A Prairie town in Manitoba.

I. favorite indulgence? Cheesecake, something light like fruit, lemon or lime.

J. January or July? Do i have to pick one? Both are a little unappealing... January's too cold and July is far too hot. January is slow and relaxing, July is hectic and fun-filled. I pick neither!

K. kids? Two. My daughter Danielle, and my son Jack. They are 19 months apart and are oodles of fun! We are hoping to have 2 more yet.

L. life isn't complete without? God.

M. marriage date? August 27, 2005

N. number of brothers & sisters? One older brother Vern and his wife Chelsea. Aaron is the oldest of 6 siblings, Corinna, Brittany (married to Alex), Joseph, Jonathon, Andrew. I've married into a nice large family with lots of siblings and I sure do love it coming from just Vern and I!

O. oranges or apples? Apples

P. phobias? I can't do any fair rides anymore. Aaron and I were in a terrible roll-over just over 4 years ago and since then I can't go on fair rides or go mud-bogging.

Q. quotes? "Pray without ceasing" AND "when you know better, you do better"

R. reasons to smile? my kids are napping right now! AND I know I'm going to heaven when I die!

S. season of choice? Definately fall! Perfect weather, gorgeous trees, bringing in the garden harvest (although I don't have a garden this year I get to help reap the benefits of my MIL's)

T. tag seven peeps! Seven? I haven't been blogging in so long I don't think I know seven other bloggers.

U. unknown fact about me? I echo Jennifer's sentiments, it would now be known if I typed it here... but really I am an open book, I don't think there is anything I don't share with almost everyone!

V. vegetable? roasted asparagus

W. worst habits? I am an over-eater.

X. x-ray or ultrasound? I choose ultrasound! but only if I'm pregnant again! LOL, no I'm not yet.

Y. your favorite food? This is really hard. I haven't met a food yet that I don't like. Today I pick king crab, with rice pilaf, piles of steamed veggies and delicious hot garlic butter.

Z. zodiac sign? Virgo.

A little conviction?

Its been a while since I've posted anything spiritual... I guess its time!

Shortly after I got saved I really felt God's hand in my life and it was really exciting and wonderful. As these couple short months have passed I've felt myself getting less and less enthused about the things of God and easily making excuses to not read my bible or spend time in prayer. Thursday evening was my very first communion (well at this church, I've taken communion at other churches) and I found myself forced to examine myself
1 Cor 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1 Cor 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
I realized that I'm just not spending enough time with God... He's supposed to be my closest friend and I haven't "called" Him in days. The times I have talked to Him all I've done is prayed and prayed and told God everything on my mind but haven't listened for his reply (aka have not been reading my bible regularly)

My biggest excuse is time. I fill up my day with so many things but haven't made room in my schedule for God. My conclusion, I've decided that I need to wake up earlier. I usually wait for my kids to wake up before getting up. This is silly for a number of reasons... the main reason being that I need time to do devotions. I'm nervous about typing this because it will make me accountable. I've concluded that I need to start getting up at least 2 hours before Jack. That means 5am. I know it sounds crazy but both my kids sleep through the night so I really have no excuse to be so tired. I just need to put myself to bed earlier. So far its Saturday, 2 whole mornings have passed where I've had the opportunity to get up earlier and I haven't. I think I need to be accountable. I need to get up. (I really need to start by going to bed earlier to make this work)

Ok well there is my babble.

My new sling!

This was unbelievably easy! Thanks to a good friend I acquired some rings yesterday evening and sat down at my sewing machine to make my sling. It took me no time at all... probably 20 minutes from start to finish - well I suppose quite a bit longer once I realized that I hadn't pre-washed my fabric and my fingers were stained bright blue! LOL... but after hang-drying my newly washed sling overnight it was ready to test out on my more than willing kiddos this morning. Yes thats right, this sling can hold up to 30lbs and since Danielle is around that weight I let her have a turn also! Anyways, I'm hoping to head to the fabric store sometime today to pick up some more fun fabric while its still 40% off!

It only took 10 days!

Well it only took 10 days before I sat down to blog again... hehe. I decided to take on some sewing projects. I really wanted to sew a baby sling because they are fairly expensive to purchase and according to these instructions reasonably simply to sew. So I picked the beautiful fabric pictured to the left and set out to make a sling. If you read the instructions you'll have noticed that I also needed 2 - 3inch, 4 guage metal rings which are commonly sold at western shops. Being that this city is a fairly 'country' town there are a couple of western shops. Only one of which was open in the evening when I decided to start my project and they only had one 3inch ring left... very disappointing. I went to a couple other hardware type stores and had no luck. I came home fairly discouraged and Aaron suggested that I call Michael's the craft store. So I did. The sweet lady on the phone told me she indeed had 3inch metal rings in the leather working section of the store. I asked if they were 4 guage. She didn't know but assured me that they did indeed look very sturdy and heavy. So once again I traveled excited that I was going to complete my sewing project and once again I was thoroughly disappointed. The rings were certainly not 4 guage and certainly not that sturdy looking. :( So my beautiful piece of fabric will have to wait for the rings I ordered online.

On a brighter note. While I was at the mall I noticed a really neat idea. It was a head pillow thingy for traveling. I've seen them before but had just gotten back from a trip to the big city where my poor kiddo's heads kept getting flopped around and kinked in awkward positions while they slept. Since there was a big sale on at the fabric store I picked up some fleece and stuffing. I started making Danielle's while I talked to my mom and she thought it was a great idea so I made her one too!

I don't like fishing.

Much to Aaron's dismay I do not like fishing. But it looks like Jack might. Fortunately Aaron has friends who like fishing and I am still playing tennis regularly. Unfortunately, Aaron is still trying to convince me that fishing is fun. The one time he caught a fish, I felt sorry for the fish... poor sad suffocating little fishy. This blog entry was mostly to share these very cute pictures!

Honey mustard curry chicken

Jennifer asked me for my honey mustard curry chicken recipe. I made it for supper tonight (well except for the peppers, I ran out so I'm having mixed veg alongside also)

I have a couple ways of doing this.

boneless skinless chicken breasts cut up
onion
peppers (whatever you have - I like the yellow or orange)
honey
prepared mustard
curry powder
flour

brown the chicken, chop up your veggies into chunks and add to chicken. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of curry powder on (depending on how spicy you like it), pour on about a 1/4 cup of honey (or less, I've never measured... I just make it kinda saucy), squeeze on a few rounds of mustard (again I've never measured). Once its simmered for a while and the veggies are tender-crisp then I sprinkle of a teaspoon of flour just to thicken the sauce and serve over rice or noodles like a stir-fry.


OR


Bone-in skin on chicken (breasts, legs, thighs - whatever)
curry
honey
mustard

Arrange chicken in baking dish skin side down (the meat seems to soak up the sauce better this way). Mix about a tablespoon of curry, 1/4 cup of honey and a couple rounds of mustard in a bowl and pour over chicken. Bake at 400 degrees F for approx 45 mins. Serve with rice and steamed veggies. (aspargus or green beans are nice)

Tennis Anyone?

Wow, I'm not good at blogging.

So I've taken up tennis. I've decided that this is the summer that I'd like to get into shape so I've discovered that I LOVE tennis (who would've thought?) and am trying to take a really good long journey at 2-3 times a week aside from my regular Monday evening tennis game. That's part of the reason why I haven't been blogging.

Spiritually things are going really well. I'm doing pretty well at reading my bible or at least my devotional book daily. I'm still really enjoying trusting God in all the little things of life. Its nice to know that when things are rough I can count on Him to be there for me.

I'm also having oodles of fun buying Usborne books lately. www.jmb.yellowducksonline.com Pictures cannot do these books justice. The man who created this line of books did so to compete with TV and video games and I really believe he's done an excellent job in doing so! I'm not keeping up with reading other people's blogs. I have a hard enough time sitting down to read the bible everyday! I'm not a reader. (but I'm hoping that with fancy fun books I can help my kids become readers... reading is important, I was a tv watcher as a kid - no tv in this house!)

I think I'm done blogging now... good night!

Cooking Meme

The rules:

1) Answer all the questions honestly.

2) Tag at least three people.

When was the most recent time you were burned?

I was making this yummy rice and cheese dish the other night and forgot to turn it down to low after bringing it to a boil and burned a layer of rice solid on the bottom of one of my pots... still trying to scrub it off :(

Can you cook?
I love to cook! I love food! You'll have to ask my husband if I'm any good at it though :P

If yes, name your specialties (three max.)
chicken and biscuits
honey mustard curry chicken
shephard's pie

If yes, do you like to cook?
usually... I really love cooking when I have someone there to occupy my kids and keep me company

If no, do you want to be able to cook?

What color is your kitchen?
We live in an old mobile home that is in the midst of renovations so our kitchen is not yet renovated... it is creamy whitish yellow with a border that is meant to look like square ceramic tiles with pears, flowers and grapes.

Do you bake?
yes! I LOVE sweets

If yes, specialties (max 3)
super moist chocolate cupcakes... mmmmm
carrot cake with thick cream cheese icing
apple crisp

If yes, do you like to bake?
I used to bake a lot more often when I had more counter space... its just not nearly as enjoyable when I have to keep looking for places to set things down!

If no, do you want to bake?
I want more counter space! LOL

What color is your apron?
I do not have an apron. I suppose I should get one.

Ok I am tagging:
Aunt Debbie
Ashli
Julia

Spuratic Blogging

So apparently I'm incapable of blogging regularly ehhe! I guess I sometimes wonder what to blog about. I don't know if there is anything spectacular going on. I have started doing the occasional special in church. I LOVE singing. I spend a good chunk of my day singing. My daughter calls the hymnal a bible and now brings it to me open to a random page begging me to "sing song?" Its been really wonderful to be singing praises to my God about just what a wonderful change he has done in my life! I'm never nervous either, I used to get nervous when I'd sing in my parents' church as a kid/teen but now whenever I'm sitting there waiting to go up I'm just praying that God will bless my singing and that His light can shine through me! I'm just so lucky that God gave me a voice to sing with and a new heart to sing about! I'm looking for the sheet music for a particular hymn "The Holy City" Creepy as it may sound my dad asked me a LONG time ago (back when I was a teen I'm pretty sure) to sing this song for him at his funeral. Not that I'm expecting his funeral any time soon but I think I'd like to find the music and sing it a few times so that I get it sunk in really well, I can't imagine how hard it will be to sing at my father's funeral but I'm not really going to spend any time thinking about it. Anyways, I'm going to get it rehearsed and then sing it in church and invite him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dif2lKHOIQA

The Holy City

Last night I lay asleeping
There came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem
Beside the temple there
I heard the children singing
And ever as they sang,
Methought the voice of Angels
From Heaven in answer rang
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Lift up you gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest.
Hosanna to your King!"

And then methought my dream was chang'd
The streets no longer rang
Hush'd were the glad Hosannas
The little children sang
The sun grew dark with mystery,
The morn was cold and chill
As the shadow of a cross arose
Upon a lonely hill
"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
Hark! How the Angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest,
Hosanna to your King!"

And once again the scene was chang'd
New earth there seem'd to be,
I saw the Holy City
Beside the tideless sea
The light of god was on its streets
The gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter
And no one was denied.
No need of moon or stars by night,
Or sun to shine by day,
It was the new Jerusalem
That would not pass away
"Jerusalem! Jerusalem
Sing for the night is o'er
Hosanna in the highest
Hosanna for evermore!"

Don't pray for patience.

I'm sure I've heard the statement "don't pray for patience, or God will test yours" plenty of times in my life but I don't think I've ever needed patience like I've needed it since having children. I would definately say that we are still a much happier bunch around here since I stopped talking on the phone so much. Of course being the humans that we are, some days are more trying than others.

Every child has their own way of "throwing fits" some children do it all kick, scream, cry etc. Others just pick their favorite and stick to it. Danielle cries. Its sort of a whining, grating, angry cry. I hate the sound of it. It makes my shoulders tense up and my teeth clench. I love my daughter immeasurably more than I ever thought I could... but when she starts that crying, I feel so frustrated. Today, I tried to just keep praying. While she was crying at me, I prayed. I didn't pray for patience I just prayed that God would help me to handle her crying appropriately and I really feel that it helped. I was able to calmly explain to her how inappropriate her behavior was and that she needed to stop. Usually, that works once but then I lose my patience and often will shout at her - that doesn't help.

Then there is Jack. I stopped scheduling him again... that was WRONG! He was so predictable. 7am wake up, 9am - 10:30am nap, 1pm-3pm nap and 7pm bedtime. I got lazy. When he would get up at 7am I started bringing him to my bed to nurse him, this part isn't new, but usually after he'd finished I'd bring him out here and plop him with some toys while I made tea and read emails etc. The lazy part is that I started just dozing off and letting him doze too. The results were not concerning at first, he would just sleep till 9am and then take one afternoon nap and still go to bed around 7pm. But now this week has been HORRIBLE! He sleeps till 9:30 or 10am and then gets really tired and grump by 11 or 12 to the point where I figure "fine, go to sleep then" and then he only naps for about an hour, wakes up miserable then is tired again by about 2 or 3pm and again naps for an hour waking up miserable. By 6pm he's losing it and so I try putting him to bed only to have him wake up in 30mins freaking out! Jack NEEDS his schedule back. Its now 9pm and he's awake again... so I have to go. I will be busy putting Jack back on his schedule next week.

Day 2

Well today is day 2 of no phone, no internet while the kids are awake. Its going surprisingly well! I can't believe how enjoyable it is! Danielle is super happy to have my full attention. This morning we colored pictures, made rice krispy squares and folded laundry together! I thought I would really miss the "adult" time on the phone... but its truly amazing what a lovely little girl I have when I'm actually really here for her. She listens to me better and is less whiny and is just happier overall! I think I'll need a little bit of "adult" time sometimes though so I think I'll head off to playgroup tomorrow, that way she can get some play time with other kids too.

The other thing I've been working on is drinking water. I always thought you were supposed to drink 8 cups of water a day to be healthy. WELLLLLLL, recently someone told me that you're supposed to take your weight (in lbs), divide it by 2 and thats how many ounces of water you should drink each day. I won't tell you how much water I have to drink, but lets just say its more than 8 cups. Surprisingly, I'm doing rather well at that also... and the days that I've succeeded are the days that I feel better! Well anyways, off to drink a glass of water a call a friend while the kids nap!

What a fantastic weekend!

Here are some much better pictures taken by my mother in law!

What a fantastic weekend! My brother, his wife and their 3 boys got here Saturday evening about 5pm. We had sushi for supper (except Aaron and the kids, they had hot dogs). After supper we put the littlest kids to bed, called a babysitter and then took the older 3 kids to the hotel and we all went swimming - loads of fun! Sunday morning came and I was only a little bit (dripping with sarcasm) nervous about giving my testimony... I just tried not to think about it and whenever I did, I just said a little prayer that God would give me the words to speak and that I wouldn't cry to hard, or talk too long! The message was really great and got me thinking hard about my first responsibility aside from serving God. Being a keeper at home. Titus 2:4-5 "That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." I just got thinking about this not long ago after reading someone else's blog entry about it but yesterday's message really convicted me. God has a plan for everyone and His plan for women is to care for their home and their children. I always felt that I was already doing this and was happily patting myself on the back for being within God's will. What struck me was whether or not I'm doing an adequate job of it. Sometimes we just get so busy doing things that we forget that we are not just babysitters of our children, we are here to teach them how to love God. We get caught up with what we'll feed them, if the house is clean, the laundry done, changing diapers, wiping noses etc that we ignore them. (for me it was putting my 2 yr old in front of the TV and then when I got rid of the TV I just spent all day talking on the phone or playing on the computer) I've decided I need to be much more present as a mother and so this morning I shut the ringer off on my phone, called no one and have only just sat down at my computer because both kids are napping. Danielle and I had a lovely morning! This isn't just about getting along better with my children either. The bible shows us that the consequences of not adequately training (lots of ppl hate that word in reference to children so I'll also add 'teaching' as a suitable alternate) our children are serious. Look what the bible says about it....

1 Sam 3:13 "For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not."

Its our responsibility to restrain our children, this verse doesn't talk about the children being judged for being vile, but their FATHER for not restraining them!

Prov 29:15 "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

This makes me think of all the times that I've said to myself "how embarrassing".

Prov 29:17 "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul."

I want my children to be a delight unto my soul! I am going to try to memorize these verses so that whenever I think "my child is just terrible!" I can remind myself that it is MY responsibility to keep my children from making themselves vile... they won't turn out to be nice people all on their own!

Ok now on to the fun part. After the service I was called up to give my testimony. I think I basically said everything that I said in my first blog entry. It wasn't as hard as I thought and I only cried a few times. After I was done Aaron got up and asked to have his church membership reinstated. (if you want to know why his membership had been removed, read this lengthy article and it will make sense http://www.baptistpillar.com/bd0626.htm ) The parts of his testimony that really struck me was how he said that it all started with just not reading his bible everyday. Then he stopped listening in church and stopped seeking God first in his life. Quickly sin crept into his life as he started just doing what HE wanted to do. It makes me realize how we need to guard ourselves that we don't compromise what we believe. After he gave his testimony I went down and got changed into an old skirt and t-shirt to get baptized. I was last. The water was warm and I could see Aaron, holding Danielle, while standing next to his Dad, who was holding Jack. Aaron pointed me out to Danielle who looked at me and then proclaimed "Mommy!" with a big smile across her face. My brother came to the front of the church and started taking pictures. Pastor Reaves asked me a few questions to assure that I understood why I was being baptized and confirm that I knew this made me a member of the church. I voiced my understanding and agreed to becoming a church member and then he said those words "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost" and down I went... And up I came! What a wonderful reminder of Jesus' death and resurrection... I know I'll never fully comprehend the depth of His love for us.

After the service I was welcomed into my new family with loving arms! My brother and his wife joined us at my in-laws for a nice big roast beef lunch and loads of fun and visiting. While we were there Aaron's sister presented their mom with the gift we'd all chipped in for - a porch swing to go on the deck that my FIL is building for her. My MIL presented me with a surprise, a plaster mold of my kids hands! She had snuck them off to do it while I was sewing over there the other day... it was a lovely surprise! All the kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline, swinging and sliding.

Here's a picture of my mother's day gift!



Thats it I think.

Getting Baptized today!

Well I'm up pretty early, just about to sit down and do my devotions and thought I'd post on here. People have been asking me lately if I'm excited about today and the answer is most definately yes. Really nervous about giving my testimony though. I'm an outgoing, talkative kinda person... however, getting up in front of the entire church is going to be a little frightening. I have been praying that God will give me the words to speak so that I can tell the important things and not babble too long or cry to hard. I'm just so happy that God is working in my life and that I am continuing to grow spiritually. This is just the first step in obedience to God and I am enthusiatic to take it!!!

I'm sure it would make sense to post a picture of me so I will post these two in honour of mother's day.

A picture of the day I met my daughter.

And the day I met my son.

I'm a clothing designer!

Well I was just not happy with the clothing options available for my little girl. In order to get the appropriate length of skirt I had to put her in dresses/skirts that were either too big or the same style I wore as a child. Neither option was very appealing to me and since I don't consider myself to be a very good seemstress the idea of making my own was a little overwhelming for me. SOoooo here's what I came up with....

This little brown skirt was a sundress. I cut off the ties and sewed down the flap and voila a skirt! (it already had elastic across the back so I just kept that) I also made a little slip since the brown fabric was a little see through. This was EASY!
These 2 skirts were little denim mini skirts. I came up with the idea to add one chunk of denim in the middle and then a ruffle to the bottom. I think they look great! (I didn't actually do the sewing of these, my MIL did while I sewed all the other stuff that I'm putting up, but I did come up with the idea)


These skirts started off as corduroy pants. I chopped off the legs and then added the additional fabric. I did the blue one first but decided that I didn't like it being so straight so on the purple/pink one I flared the fabric out... at first I was going to use the same fabric for the ruffle but then I messed up and had to cut a chunk off because I was too lazy to stitch rip so I decided it might be fun and different to add a different colored fabric to the bottom for the ruffle - I LOVE it!
Aside from all my skirt sewing for Danielle I also fixed up a skirt I pick up at VV to be a maternity skirt for my SIL by cutting off the top and then re-sewing it with some button hole elastic so that its adjustable. I works great! I hope she likes it!

I got tagged

http://bloominlife.blogspot.com/2008/05/tag-youre-it.html

1. Write your own six word memoir

2.Post it on your blog, and include a visual illustration if you like.

3.Link to the person who tagged you in your post

4.Tag five more blogs with links

5.Remember to leave a comment on the tagged blogs inviting them to play.


I'm so sorry I haven't been on here in a while! I go at it in fits and spurts I suppose. I was really hoping that I wouldn't get tagged on this thing when I saw it on Aunt Debbie's blog!

6 word memoir? Now that just baffles me. I try not to think too hard about myself but have had such a wonderful productive day that I actually feel positive about myself today!

I'm creative, outgoing, naive, compassionate, open and passionate (that was the nice word I thought of to describe that I'm a little quick to anger sometimes..... hehe)

Is this what I'm supposed to do? Maybe I should actually spend some time reading blogs so that I'll know whats going on!

Its Monday

Here is Jack and I heading to church yesterday morning!

Well the end of our missions conference was yesterday... what a great weekend! I'll post quickly about the highlights. Saturday was a ladies lunch and we went for a wonderful buffet lunch. Aaron got to keep both kids - I can't remember the last time I went out for lunch... and without kids yet! Jack had to drink his first bottle, (of breastmilk) which he did very slowly and uncertainly (Aaron said it took him an hour to chew out a mouthful at a time!) The two missionaries' wives spoke about their experiences in Nicaragua and South Africa. It was so wonderful to hear what God was doing in the lives of others all over the world! It was also very interesting to hear about these women's experiences in these foreign countries and how God was working in their lives.

During the preaching a few key thoughts really struck me. What is our purpose on earth? Mark 16:15 says it pretty clearly "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." I've heard this verse plenty of times in my life and never has it struck me as it did this weekend... I've never read it and thought of it as being written for me. But why not? Who is it written to if not to me? Isn't the bible my instruction book for life? Its the Word of God. How much clearer does it get? Which leaves me wondering... am I making it known to everyone in my life what a huge change I've experienced or am I just carrying on with my life as I was before? As Christians we should love one another and if I truly loved everyone I wouldn't just sit quietly and let people go to hell! If I don't know if people are saved I should ask... that way I can let them know how to get to heaven. Am I really putting God first in my life? Or am I just going through the motions of life on earth with no thought of eternity? Which brings me to my next point. Here on earth everyone has put a huge emphasis on 'preparing for the future' and we are taught to save for college, houses, cars, retirement and all these things that are not going to be a concern in heaven. Why aren't we putting as much thought and effort into spiritual things? What about the real future? Life here on earth is just one grain of sand in the hourglass of time, but our life in heaven is FOREVER! I want to make sure that I'm living my life telling everyone about God and seeking his will in my life. I used to say "people should have balance in their lives. it can't just be all church and God" but really, why can't it? As long as we're following his will (which according to the bible includes working hard - 2 Th 3:10 "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.") then why shouldn't the rest of our time be spent worshiping our Lord? Another thought was the idea that God's will for our lives is to let His light shine through us. We shouldn't enter into anything in life without being a light for Jesus! I believe that I am within God's will to stay home. God commands women to be "...keepers at home..." (Titus 2:5) The rest of that passage is also worthy of a good read on what God expects from us as women. I don't think there is anything wrong with saying it. God also has a laundry list of expectations that apply only to men, and a list that applies to both of us. But what I'm getting at is that even though I am at home I can still do the work of God by adhering to His expectations and telling anyone I come into contact with about the love of Jesus! The preacher was talking about men and how they shouldn't just enter a profession to make money but to use their profession as an opportunity to witness to others about God. You don't have to travel to the outermost parts of the world to be a missionary.

Well my kids are sleeping but my time is running out to fold some laundry and finish some dishes uninterrupted!

Busy week

There is a missions conference this weekend at our church and I'm very interested to see what it will be like. I've never experienced anything like this before. There will be a service every evening from thurs - sunday plus our regular Sunday morning service. There will also be a men's prayer breakfast and a ladies lunch on Saturday. It seems like a lot of church and in the past I would've thought WAY too much church but I am really looking forward to spending as much time as possible hearing about what God is doing in lives all over the world!

Aside from that on Thursday evening I have to go to church a little early to meet with our Pastor prior to getting baptized. He is going to make sure I understand why I am getting baptized and what church membership means. Apparently most people end up going for 1-3 meetings prior to being baptized. I know that I need to get baptized as a step of obedience to God. I'm interested to hear a bit more about our church's doctrine.

Today I have to take Jack for his 6 month immunization. I'm not at all looking forward to the needle but I am looking forward to having him weighed and measured! That is my favorite part about seeing the public health nurse. I'll be sure to blog the numbers when I have them.

Weekend in Winnipeg

We have a wonderful weekend away in Winnipeg! It was lots and lots of fun... we got to spend time with my family, my dad is recovering well from his knee replacement surgery, we went swimming and visited Vern and Chelsea's church! All in all we had a great time!

Danielle LOVES swimming. We put water wings on her and she actually let go of us and kicked herself along in the water! My little fish!

For those of you who are not yet tired of hearing about my glasses.... I got my new glasses in the mail on Friday! Here are the pictures I took of myself wearing them. I like the flower ones the best but Aaron says the shape of the blue ones really compliment the shape of my face (no really thats what he said!!! In those words exactly... I kinda stopped dead and looked at him. I never thought he knew how to say things like that. Then he told me that I had just gotten my compliment for the year hehehe... what a funny husband!)

Sleep!

This happy little fellow is a well-rested baby! (and so is his mommy!) Since Jack came into our lives I have fought and fought to schedule him. I read several baby books on helping children sleep and how to schedule them and eventually gave up. I figured that he was miserable and I was miserable and so I would just let him be. Finally, we were happy albeit a little tired due to waking during the night but happy. He slowly started sleeping more and more on his own. I then tried to get him to skip feedings during the night... it worked a few times but eventually I just let him eat whenever he said he was hungry again. Recently I moved him into Danielle's room (long story involving ants) and started trying to schedule him again... finally success!!! He is taking a liking to the schedule I'm suggesting and now the last 2 nights in a row he has slept for 12 consecutive hours!!!! I guess it just comes back to the idea that all kids are different and we can't expect ours to do the same as someone else's.

Here's Danielle saying cheese. This is such a cute picture of her I thought I'd share it!

On to spiritual things. I had recently gone on a hunt in the bible for the truth about baptist "briders", the church of God and baptism. It was very confusing and like some suggested a little too much for me to handle at this point in my walk with God. (I suppose one could equate it to trying to make Jack run a marathon! LOL) In the end I concluded that I am attending this church in Brandon (happily) and so I will just have to see it their way. Besides, I will likely believe whatever Aaron tells me anyways. So, I'm thinking of asking to be baptized tonight after church. Other than that I'm reading my bible daily (even if its just the proverb for the day) and finding it very refreshing to be able to give things to God. Its nice to not have to fight through some of life's little battles on my own! Anyways, I'm amazed to have typed this much with a 6 month old on my lap but now he's done!

Yet another bump in the road to cheap glasses.

Ok, seriously! This is dumb. At least the goggles4u site has better customer service. The other frames I picked "were found to be defective during production". Which is a good sign that they were already processing my order but I had to pick yet another frame! Maybe there is a downfall to getting glasses so cheap! Here's my next frame choice.... lets see if I get these or not!

Pleasing man or God?

Galatians 1:10 "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."

Was reading my bible this morning and read this verse and it really spoke to me! I had been talking to a friend of mine the other day and they were talking about TV and asking me if I'd seen a particular show. I said no and then explained that I hadn't been watching much TV lately and in the same sentence I lied and said "I don't know why, just haven't been into watching TV". But I DO know why! Its because of God in my life showing me that there is nothing but filth on TV and that I can do better things with my time. I knew this and yet I made an excuse so that I wouldn't have to explain this to my friend. Then this morning God showed me this verse and so I will pray that God will help me to be a good servant and not seek to please man... or in my words "make people like me" I will make sure that my main concern is not worrying about whether ppl think I'm looney but instead will just try to concern myself with doing God's will.

Cheaper glasses yet!

These glasses were only $30.99 after shipping!!! Found them on www.goggles4u.com So now I'm getting these AND the black, white and silver flowery ones! I'll have two options and can match glasses to my outfits! Woo-hoo!

Glasses choices

So here are my two glasses choice as alternates to my really pretty ones (can't even show you a picture cause they're not on the website anymore and I didn't save a picture :( Anyways, I think I'm going to end up with the black and white ones cause the other ones are recently showing as sold out but the picture is still there so I'm holding out hope. I like the purple ones the best. The other ones I picked were the same shape but with a full frame and they were blue and black with pretty blue roses along the side part.

Aside from choosing glasses.... I'm having trouble with a passage in the bible. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. This seems to be a passage that speaks about the body of Christ. The problem I'm having. On one hand if I'm reading it as a general believer I would read this to mean that all saved people make up the body of Christ. Or if I read it as a passage written to a particular church I would have to interpret that God means that you must be a member of one of His churches to be a part of the body of Christ. I'm not sure how to take it. I'm going to pray about it and then try to find other passages that talk about the body of Christ.

Irritated.

Trying to figure out church doctrine and some other things.... very complex. Once I get it figured out I will write about it. Hate figuring things out. Just when I think I've got something decided someone will point out a different verse and flip flop me back and forth.

Very mad at glassescrafter.com!!!!! My friend and her husband both successfully ordered and received glasses from this site. Then Aaron ordered and received glasses from this site with no problems and now I have problems!!!! grrrrr. Very frustrated. I ordered my glasses just over 3 weeks ago now (they promise 7-10 business days). They've taken their money and now when I go to my account on their website there is no record of my order!!!! It shows Aaron's order but not mine! Now I'm playing games with their stupid customer service, all the while struggling with stupid pinned together broken glasses thinking I was being smart and saving money. Never ordering glasses online again, unless of course they fix the problem and provide appropriate compensation for pain and suffering :P Extra annoying is that I looked on their site to show someone the glasses I did order and they don't have that frame anymore!!!!!! So even if they fix this I probably will have to pick a different frame and I don't like any of them half as much as I liked the other frame I picked!!!!! Stupid online ordering... I'm dumb.

Got a little courage.

Baking a cake with my 2 year old Danielle! What fun!

So, I did it! Last night I ended up telling one of my friends about my recent commitment to God and it went really well! I think she really understood what I was saying and doesn't think I'm crazy and most importantly still wants to be my friend! LOL, well she might think I'm crazy but I think that has little to do with me getting saved! Maybe now I can slowly get up the nerve to tell other people! Church tonight and tomorrow I am heading over to another friends' house to babysit her kids in the morning so that should be a little tiring.

Trust

Isn't this the cutest little baby in the whole world!!! Just thought I'd introduce you all to Jack. I love my kids! I am so excited to teach them and watch them grow. Trying very hard to make good decisions for them that will lead them to make good decisions in their lives! But mostly I'm just enjoying loving them up with cuddles and laughter!!!

Now onto the deep and thoughtful stuff. I have a real problem with trust. I imagine that psychiatrists would say that its because I grew up distrustful of my parents bla bla bla... but what do I do now? I need to trust God and most recently I need to be able to trust my husband to make good decisions for our family. I'm just praying that God will help me with this.

Another thought is that I've experienced this wonderful change in my life and yet I haven't really told anyone??! What's wrong with me?! The only people I've really told have been the people who I knew would be really happy for me. Any of my other friends/family members I'm just talking to as usual. Its not that I'm not happy its just that I don't want them to think that things are weird between us and stop talking to me.

Overwhelmed.... a little confused.

So I decided that I wanted to make sure that I had biblical backing for every decision I make. I don't want to just babble and repeat things that other people have told me but want to be able to say that I am doing things because God led me to make these decisions. I am a little overwhelmed when I sit down with the bible. I don't know where to look to find answers and I don't really know what people mean when they say "God spoke to my heart" or statements like these. I start to question whether or not I really 'got saved'. Aaron says that he thinks God speaks to us at church. That kinda makes sense because that is the only place that I really feel close to God... but then that leads me to wonder is it God or is it people??? There is just so much to learn and I feel so anxious that someone is going to ask me questions and I won't know the answers!!!! Even after being raised in church I feel like I know nothing. I want to be able to show people in the bible how I got saved so that no one can say that it wasn't God.

I'm also wondering about modesty issues and wanting to find answers that didn't come from someone's opinions or writings about how clothing styles have changed over the years. I want to find in God's word what He teaches us about modesty. It seems to me that everyone can derive their own personal standard of modesty and claim it to be Godly or biblical. People have quoted Deut. 22:5 "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the LORD thy God." The problem I have with people using this verse to say that women should wear skirts is that in biblical times when this verse was written men and women all wore robes... so then they are drawing a conclusion based on a particular period in society when women wore skirts. But there are plenty of problems with this analogy. My main problem with this is that every era pushed the envelope in terms of dressing immodestly and so even though I choose to wear pants, the pants I wear are considered modest by today's standards... but the skirts that some of these women wear would have been considered immodest by the standards of those living in the 1800's - so I think we should base our modesty on God's standards not ANY of the world's standards. But I can't find anything in the bible that specifies how to judge modesty.... so confused. Someone help?

Congratulations?

Noun

Singular congratulation

Plural congratulations

congratulation (plural congratulations)

1. The act of congratulating.

Verb

Infinitive to congratulate

Third person singular congratulates

Simple past congratulated

Past participle congratulated

Present participle congratulating

to congratulate (third-person singular simple present congratulates, present participle congratulating, simple past and past participle congratulated)

1. to express one’s sympathetic pleasure or joy to the person(s) it is felt for

Well I guess it is the right word! I went to church last night and people kept congratulating me! To me it was very strange and for once I was not comfortable with the attention coming my way. I tried hard to remember what people did at my parents' church when someone became and Christian and I couldn't think of any adults 'getting saved'. Not that they don't, I'm sure people must... but I can't think of any.

I'm starting to wonder about baptism.. admittedly its partly for the selfish reason that I want to do special numbers in church and have to be a member to do this! LOL, so I'm just praying that God will show me when and the real reasons to get baptised. Not that I don't already know the 'reasons' but I want to seek the answers for myself and read them in my bible and really know that this is what God wants before I 'jump in' hehe ... get it? Jump in? LOL I'm silly!

Last night at church our pastor preached about some of God's promises. One of these that really made me think was of his promise to provide our needs. I remember thinking how I don't really trust God to provide my needs. I'm always worrying about the future and its comforting and hard all at once to stop worrying about it and just trust God. I think trusting God is going to be one of my biggest struggles.

My Testimony

So it seems that I am without a voice on the wonderful world wide web! I want a blog too! I am not a writer. I am just a mother, wife and a few other things but these are the two that stand out in my mind at this moment. I don't know if I'll keep up with this but I think I'll share a little about what's going on in my life lately.

Here is my testimony. (this could take a while and I'm sure I'll miss a lot but I'll give the summery version here today)

I grew up in a Christian home (or at least thats what I'll call it for lack of better terms) My mom, brother and I went to church every Sunday. Dad came sometimes. When I was almost 8 I went to a summer camp and was told about Jesus and how he died for our sins and that if I believed in Him, asked him to forgive my sins and come live in my heart I would go to heaven. So I did. During my childhood I always believed that I was a Christian and that I would go to heaven. When I was 9 a nasty family secret was revealed and my dad started coming to church and got baptised. In junior high and high school I struggled with acceptance and felt like I lived a double life. I had my school friends and my church friends. I tried to incorporate my two lives but inevitably I started smoking and drinking with my school friends. I kept up an impressive rouse and still got baptised when I was almost 16. Deep down I thought this step of faith would give me the strength to stand up to my school friends and leave my rebellious ways behind. I was wrong. After graduation I moved to the big city and started doing drugs. Quite a few awful things happened to me and every once in a while I would clean up my act and think I had control of things again. Eventually the drug problem became much more severe and I regularly questioned whether or not God was real and whether or not I could still be a Christian. I tried to kill myself and while in the hospital my mom came to visit. I questioned her (quite rudely and angrily) about the nasty family secret (which really was a something that happened TO me) and finally came to terms with a few things. I always blamed this for causing my drug problem. Strangely, my drug problem got much much worse and eventually in July of 2003 I called my parents and begged to come home. I can only imagine that it was by the grace of God that my parents agreed to let their 23 year old drug addicted daughter come live with them. I met Aaron in Sept of 2003 and we started "dating" in October. We were an on again, off again couple for most of the winter and then in April of 2004 we had "the accident". Aaron and I grew much closer after this. We moved in together but still struggled with commitment for a little longer before finally getting engaged in February of 2005. We were married Aug. 27, 2005 and our daughter was born March 11, 2006. Our son was born October 25, 2007. Our marriage has been a pretty happy one. I love my family! Since we've been married I've been struggling with spirituality. I suppose some might say that God has been working in my heart. About a month ago I realized that I never became a Christian that day when I was 7. I did not know what was being asked of me. I did not fully comprehend the depth of right and wrong. I only knew what my parents said were right and wrong. I also was incapable of understanding that I needed to put God in control of my life. At this time in my life my parents were in charge of my life so how could I let God take control. So suddenly I realized that all this time I was trying to do things on my own instead of praying and seeking God's will for my life. No wonder life was so hard! Once I realized that I was not "saved" I had to decide that I needed to be. This was surprisingly hard. Lots of little things kept standing in my way. Every time I felt convicted I would shut it off and turn away from God. Finally, Sunday March 16th I was listening to some powerful preaching and this pastor just kept quoting scripture and it seemed like every time I thought I might be able to regain my composure and shut my ears he would quote another verse that just kept driving into my heart! I couldn't control my tears and during the invitation I gripped Aaron's hand and begged him to not make me do this alone. He asked me what I needed from him and I just cried so he asked me if I wanted to go up and pray and I nodded yes. We went up to that alter and I just fell down on my face and sobbed. I was gripping Aaron's hand tightly as he prayed and asked for God's guidance in our lives and when he finished praying I sobbed out the words "Lord I need you to save me" and then was crying so hard that Aaron suggested we go and talk with the Pastor. So we did and during that meeting I finished my prayer and told God how I needed Him to be in control of my life because I just couldn't do it and was so tired of trying so hard. I let go and felt such freedom from my worry. Its still a day to day struggle just to let go but I don't feel so worried and hopeless anymore. I'm starting to read my bible more and praying often. Aaron has taken charge as the leader of our home and it feels wonderful to follow his lead. Things are definately changing. Little by little.