A Family of 11

For the next 3 weeks we will be a family of 11. It has been 4 days so far and things are going great. We are taking care of 4 great kids while their father is in Europe working. Their ages range from 21 months to 12. They really get along great with our kids. I created a fun point system to earn rewards to help keep the house in order. They seem to like it. They can earn things like Ice cream Sunday night, A visit to the pool, movie night and dinner out at the China buffet! Today was the first day of cleaning and it went awesome. They got points for getting their area clean and a point for working well with one of the younger children working with them. I am really looking forward to next weekend when The girls and I get a girls day out and are going to the mall :) We are doing lunch out and maybe some pampering, nails and hair and then hitting the mall! I am very thankful for my husband who is very helpful. I will miss him when he goes out of town next week for 2 days! I know I always wanted a very large family. Just praying that the next 3 weeks go just as well as this week has gone :)

Crazy month and then Florida!!!

Ok one crazy month and a half and then we head to Florida... YEAH!!! For 3 weeks this month we will have 4 extra kids. I am kinda excited! They are an awesome family and ours kids get along great! After that just a few more weeks and we leave for Florida for a week. We are spending 4 days in Disney, some of us may go to the holy Land Experience and them we head to Ft. Myers for a few days. Really looking forward to taking the little boys to Disney and spending Thanksgiving with the family. It will be nice to take a little break after getting the Day Care really going... It has been fun but can get really exhausting.

Little Lukas turned 5 yesterday... WOW time sure does fly. I was a nice day full of football games and the rodeo. Lukas came second in Muttin bustin again(sheep riding) he might have come in first but his sheep ran right into the heard and he kinda slid off. He said I was not letting go! Noah tried for the first time and did not even get the hang of holding on... lol After the rodeo we came home and had Cake and gifts. It took no time for Lukas to blow out the candles on his spiderman cake. I love watching the older kids buy gifts for their younger siblings. Alayna used her own $$ to get him candy and cookies. Mason got him some beyblades. Caleb gave him some action figures and even put a dollar in his card. And Caleb does not give up Money easily. It just amazes me how quickly time goes by. They grow so fast and even though there are times I look forward to them getting to certain milestones I really want to cherish the stages we are in :)

End of Summer... Time for School

Well we ended summer the usual way relaxing at the cabin. It was along drive but always worth it. WE got to drive home through the UP and the drive was beautiful. The kids got to wade in 3 of the great lakes... Michigan, Huron and Superior. Now we are back to the grindstone with school starting this week. All 5 get to go this year. Caleb loves his first year of HS and was the first one to get homework. Mason is enjoying 6th grade, though he is pretty closed mouth as usual. Alayna has made friends with her desk buddies in the 3rd grade, Lukas loves preK says is teacher is nice and he plays with a brown boy. Love the innocence of this age. and Noah was so proud to go this morning! HE goes 2 days a week to Preschool! The house is very quiet but the day care kids keep me busy!

Loving Life

We have only been here in North Dakota since Feb. but feel that we have really settled in. We have a great place to live and are looking to buy in a couple years. The kids are settling into camps and scouts this summer and I have started by own business in home day care. I have been watching kids at home for a couple month now and am really liking it. I am currently watching 7 different at different times most are part time. It has really given us the freedom to take a couple vacations this coming year and be better prepared when life throws us for a loop, like the van needing a new transmission. I feel we are really putting down roots here... I love God's plan for our life. For the first time I am not searching for the next distant adventure. Being content is life is amazing! Looking forward to getting through this week and starting our vacations! This weekend we are heading to St. Paul, mn to meet my sister and do our yearly cousin swap. This year I get Matthew and she get Alayna, but she is taking Lukas too... he is soo excited!! We plan to pack in alot this weekend the zoo, Mall of America and the lake. Then we head home til we leave the next Friday for Grayling, MI where we switch back and spend the week relaxing at the cabin and lake with my parents, my aunt and cousin and her kids! then we are home for a week or so before school starts. Can't believe summer is almost over :(

They grow up so fast!

I am not saying being a mom is easy but sometimes it is really tough. I feel really confident when they are little(most of the time). Now Caleb and Mason are getting into their teen years and things get complicated. I thank God that they are good boys and that they look out for each other. It just hit me this year that I have 4 years to prepare Caleb for life on his own. That is crazy... I just started letting him go further than the block and only with his brother. Yes he has gone camping with scouts, Church camp and to friends to stay the night etc. But always with adult supervision and supervision I trusted and knew. He has a good head on his shoulders and I am very proud of him, but only 4 years are you kidding me!!! I guess these last four years are just as important as the first 4... they learn so much so fast! I just a month Caleb graduated 8th grade, got a job and is preparing to take his drivers permit test!!! I just feel like every decision from here on out effects his life greatly. We are pretty sure that we are going to switch school and send him to a larger private Catholic high school so that he has more choices in classes and more extra curricular opportunities. We want to give him the best start in life we can. God has blessed us so much! I thank Him everyday for the blessings we have and continue to have. I pray that we make the right choices for our kids and that our kids look to Him for the right path in life. I just never thought that I would be this effected by this stage in life. I just do not want to mess it up!

Moved again!

Yes we have moved again. Since you read in my last blog that Rob lost his job in Indiana and quickly found another one, we knew it was only temporary. We move here to North Dakota in February and LOVE IT! The first couple months were rough living in a one bedroom apartment with 5 kids. But we were blessed to have a roof over our heads! Many people are living in their cars and RVs here. there is an oil boom and housing is expensive and hard to come by. The one bedroom was just down the road from the kids school so they got to walk everyday, which we all liked. We have sinced moved into a 3 bedroom plus Condo and love it! Alayna hase her own room and the little boys have a toy room and an office that they use for their room. their is an upstairs living room and downstairs family room (with a fireplace for those cold North Dakota winters) The kids love having their own space, but even tonight they are all in their big brothers room watching a movie together! y The town has a great rec center that we love. We have taken to the sport of raquetball and enjoy swimming in the indoor waterpark. Caleb enjoys the rock wall and both boys like shooting hoops with their dad. We live close enough now that the big boys can walk their by themselves. The little boys like the indoor playground too. Since moving here we have gone to see Medora which is only 30 min away and beautiful! the bison are so close you can almost touch them. We have tried to make camping plans, but everytime we try it rains or like this weekend it not only rained but is 40 degrees! We will go a few time this summer though! We have met a couple great families here already and they have girls... Alayna has had quite a few sleepovers already! They are great Christian families and we love it. We also love the little Christian school the kids are going to. They are starting a high school next year, so Caleb gets to continue there which he loves. They all have made frinds pretty quickly which is nice. We love it here. Because of the oil boom it really feels like the land of opportunity. There are jobs galore here. I started watching kids at home again, because the need is so great. Caleb is getting a job this summer to save for a car, because at 14 they can get a liscence in ND! We are really enjoying ourselves here and plan to stay for a long while... at least for us anyway... lol

Life's Changes

Well here we are... Rob lost his job almost 2 weeks ago. Something about circulation numbers need to go up Blah... blah... blah... The newspaper industry needs to change because the world is changing. Circulation numbers are not going to go up... why pay and read the paper version when you have internet!!!! Especially when they take your circulation manager away. Who cares that you spent the last year rebuilding bridges in the community that the last Publisher spent 5 years burning. ANd those brides bring in advertising. OK enough venting, we knew that the newspaper industry needed to change and if the company wasn't willing to make the changes our family was going to have to. We were just expecting it on our terms not theirs. We do not know where God wants our lives to go from here? We are praying and waiting praying and waiting. Rob is filling out apps, sending resumes and having meetings to find a job. But everything is so unsure and I do not do well with that. just give me a plan any plan... OK God really instead I know you are teaching me patience. Some lessons are just not fun learning! I know that God has always provided for our family and will continue to do so. WE are just praying and waiting to see where God wants us next. It could be here which is fine with us. Just pray along with us, so that we are truly doing his will and not our own.
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Vacation

I just spent the most amazing week with my family. We went to my aunts cabin in MI to just relax and that is what we did. No deadlines, meetings or kids activities. We tend to live a pretty fast paced life that it was nice to have a relaxing vacation. We did some boating, tubing, swimming and fishing! We chatted, ate and played games. I was really looking to this vacation and it totally lived up to my expectations. We got to spend some great time with my family and the cousins got to play with each other all week... with really no big fights or problems. Noah bite his lip a few times and one time almost all the way through, but he is fine. I look forward to many more vacations just like this one.

I cannot believe that school starts in just a couple days though. This summer has really gone by quick! It seems like they just got out yesterday, there was so much I wanted to do with them this summer, but it seems like camps took over! They had a fun so I guess that is what matters! No to readjust our schedule back to the school year. We are trimming back a little this year. And whenever things get a little crazy I think I will just sit back and count my blessings!

This is the crew enjoying the lake

Cooking by the campfire

Garage Sales... Are they Worth it?

Garage sales... are they worth it? Some times I tend to ponder this question. Do you make very much for all the time you put in... not really! I get rid of lots more stuff and so do the kids. We always chose a large item for the family to get with our earned money. One time we got a Wii and another everyone got new bikes. This time we are going for a pool or trampoline, getting to the point where we may have to take a vote! Maybe would could get both :) Iknow that if I was just getting rid of the stuff I would not get rid of as much stuff, but making a little money always makes it worth it a little more. After we do give most of it away but there are a few items we price higher and if it sells great, but if not we may take it back into the house. We have gone through every room of the house and we have helped the kids go through their rooms. They are more willing to part with things if they know they will get a little something out of it. Neither Rob or I are keepers, that is the good thing about moving we are able to constantly purge through our stuff. In our zealous I am just hoping we are not making hoarder out of our children. Alayna is our closest one to that end of the spectrum, while Mason and Caleb see the value of getting rid of all the little stuff in return for the bigger things. I thing Alayna's is a girl thing... But Torrance made that for me ( a sheet of paper with their names on it!) So do you garage sale? How do you price items??? We tend to price on how badly we want to get rid of them! I like to make some $$ off of my kids clothes fetish. Let me know your thoughts!

Kids and Camp

WOW!! This is the summer for camp, it is exciting that there are so many fun things for the kids to do here. Caleb is going at Boy Scout camp this week and will go to Church camp the end of July. Alayna is going to a 2 night Church camp this month and is so excited to finally get to sleepover! She is also going to a Girl Scout day camp and Music day camp at Church. Mason is really getting to do some fun things this summer... Church camp over night for a week, Cub Scout day camp, Camp Invention day camp, which is a science learning camp and Artventures day camp with comedy and drama, which he loves! IT seems like every week someone is gone, which is nice for them. How do you feel about camp? Are your kids going this year? We are blessed that all scout camps were free due to great popcorn and cookie sales and the Church pays half of those camps! WE are throwing in spuratic day trips as well! Tomorrow since Rob has to go to Owensboro, KY for a meeting we are going down with him and hitting a couple museums! It is a great way to spice up the summer for the kids. Being involved in Scouts and Youth group at Church we have a few events scheduled with those activities, check out the pics! I get my little time away every Thursday at my Beth Moore Bible Study! We get to end our summer in Michigan at my aunts lake house in Grayling and might make it to Mackinaw as well. This is turning out to be a great summer... WHAT are your summer plans?

Alayna and the Girl Scouts at their lemonade stand

Mason Bike Riding with the Cub Scouts

Mason enjoying DAWGS for the first time (the 5/6 grade Youth Group)

Girl Scouts such a blessing

This year we have jumped in to so many activities with the kids. While it has been busy it has been fun as well! I got the joy of being Alayna's Daisy troop leader. It has been a blessing in so many ways. I Co-lead with an awesome lady Crystal! She has fast become one of my closest friends here in Vincennes. We work great together and continue to introduce each other to new thing... thus we now have 3 bunnies! And I will be taking her on her first outlet mall trip in about a week! God always knows exactly what I need and who to place along my journey. I have also gotten to get to know eight little girls pretty well and they are such a sweet group. So looking forward to getting to lead 6 of them again next year as brownies and will really miss 2 little girls who will still be daisys. It has been a fun year of crafts, games, field trips, service projects and cookie selling! I think Cookie selling the the best part for me. Doing booth sales I got to get to know the girls more one on one and they did an awesome job selling. We sold over 3500 boxes of cookies with just 9 girls! Two of them sold over 1100 and were regonized at a Gala 2 of 15 in our region to sell that many... we had to drive an hour to the gala if that tells you the size of our region! Can you tell I am proud of them! Our last meeting for the school year is in a couple weeks and I look forward to watching the older group bridge to Brownies and conitue to become great young women over the years to come!

God's been working again :)

The last month has been such a blessing for our family. WE are really enjoying our new Church. The kids love going. Caleb at age thirteen says the Youth group is sooo much fun. I think the pastors are the key they LOVE their calling. Caleb's youth pastor really has helped him fit in and made Caleb welcome, his only flaw is being a Colts fan. Looking forward to the opportunities that the Church has to get more involved. I love when I pray and watch God's answer be so obvious. HE is amazing!!!

Amazing the things we hear when we listen!

Rob and I got a note today from a lovely lady from the new Church we found. It really touched my heart. When we first moved here there was an article in the paper about the new publisher and his family(us). When her husband read it when called Rob at the paper inviting us to Church... he left a message on Rob's voice mail. Rob mentioned that he got a few calls like that. In this note she goes on to say that her husband unexpectantly died October 20th. She said that she is sure our deciding to come had nothing to do with the call, the joy she felt she saw us. She said it touched her heart when she saw our names on the registry for the service. I think that our GOD is amazing and he knew exactly what he was doing doing when we got lost Sunday morning and decided to turn into that parking lot to check out this Church. And so many times we forget He is bigger than us... His plan involves more than just ME! I am so excited to go back to Church this Sunday and I have not felt that in months... I am excited to hear his word on Life Church(an online Church... check it out it is awesome!). I feel like He is talking to me again, but really it is more like I am listening again. And boy did I miss my confidant. God is Good... All the Time!

God Planting people in our path

Just wanted to share another family God has put in our path. After being in Arkansas for awhile we were wondering why here. We had left the most awesome Church and Church family one could every ask for... Westover you are forever in our hearts!! We knew that God brought us to Arkansas for a reason and we are still waiting to see more reasons. But one I know was to meet the Jacksons. They are a military family and just passing through as well. It was such a blessing to meet them. I had forgotten how hard it was to find family friends. Where 2 families could hang out together and everyone be happy with a playmate! Having 4 kids, 3 boys and a girl at just the right ages. I love being able to share my family adventures with Emilie and her share theirs with me. Not very often you find a family with a similiar adventure streak. I am better for knowing them and cherish the adventures we have shared together and the ones we get to share in the future. They are heading to Japan this month and have been on my heart and in my prayers. Just remember that great friends are hard to come by and I cherish all mine.

Hope the picture posts! learning as I go along :)

How has God Blessed your socks off

I know cannot believe I am writing twice in one day. I know it amazes me too. The last few months when we moved to Vincennes we very quickly got involved in our community, but did not find a Church we loved. WE settled on one the kids liked, but we really weren't connected. I believe that God places people, places and events in our lives on purpose and sometimes just picks us up literally and puts us on His track. So many times in my life when I have wondered why the most... He has blessed us the most. See my last post to see the most recent time, but there have been many!!!! So I thought that I would start sharing them with you. I will start with 3 that happened in Lincoln, IL and share others as God places them on my heart. One was the First home we found to rent in Lincoln... I was soooo against renting a house, it was just the 3 of us and I thought that an apartment would do. With Caleb not yet born some of the house responsibilities scared me. But as usual Rob talked me into it. Little did I know that God had great plans for us in that house. We met lifelong friends because of that house. Some were our neighbors and other because our neighbors took us to Church with them. Amazing how a simple house selection impacted not only my life, but my kids have some of their most cherished friends from the people we met by living there. And to come full circle one of the same neighbors moved near us when we lived in Arkansas and we got to reconnect with them there.

Another time I did something crazy while we were still in Lincoln and answered an ad for someone wanting part time child care. I thought sure some extra money and it would not hurt to meet them. But who really answers an ad like that and who places an add, those things are done by word of mouth right?!? Again God brought another life friend into my life.

Lastly I want to share another life Friend I met through God's hand. WE moved into a house we were planning to buy before closing... I know big mistake. It had some huge sewer problem, that we paid a lot to fix, we were going to buy this house!!! SO we went to close and there was a huge lien on the house... so we did not buy it, but put lots of $$$ into it :( Why I asked, but I knew the answer. God blessed us with some awesome friends that we met that lived across the street.

Every time we head home we try to connect with each one of these friends and I know that we will always keep in touch one way or another. God is amazing and just when you want to ask WHY??? look around and you will probably have your answer. Check back for more ways that God has blessed us and feel free to share how he has blessed you :)

I think we finally found an awesome Church

Ok I have not been good about writing. I am so excited!!! I think we found our Church in Vincennes. It is the The First Church of God in Vincennes. It seems to have the perfect combination for us. Great Children's programs, a preacher who will step on your toes a little, contemporary worship, alter prayer, the Lord's Prayer and Doxology(been missing some litergy). We felt more welcome in a day, than the months we have been at a much larger Church. I just think we are not big Church people. Since we live farther from family, we like to have an intimate Church family. Love how they introduced Communion with scripture. Right now we are going through a story form of the Bible. We have parts we are to read at home and then we discuss them in small groups, the kids classes and the sermon is preached on it. We did the Ten Commandment this past week. I love knowing that my kids are learning the same things we are... great family discussions. They have children's Church, but yet include the children in the beginning part of the Reg service. They have many youth and children's programs. I really feel that it was a God thing. HE has always blessed our sock off when we ask. We have not been great about going to Church which is not normal for us, but we were not excited about the Church we were attending. I really started praying about and that God would either help us find something else or give me peace about where we were at because the kids like it there(it is fun for them, but not sure what they are getting out of it spiritually)So we decided to look around again... we were actually looking for a different Church and could not find it! It was in our GPS but the spot the GPS took us to... nothing! So we drove around looking for awhile and then just decided to head toward the 11 o'clock service of the Church we had been attending. On the way we saw that this Church(the First Church of God in Vincennes) started at 11 as well, so we just turned into the parking lot saying why not! we met so many people and were invited to lunch and ended up going tot he Superbowl party at the Church that night. Everyone had a good time and met new friends. I just have to say God is Good... All the time!!!!

this crazy life

Things have been crazy busy. I really need to keep up with writing and posting. I am planning to get better. I have gotten to spend some great one on one time with the kids lately. Last weekend Mason and I went camping with Cub Scouts. We had so much fun. We put a tent up by ourselves and even helped cook. It was great seeing his creative side making up skits by the campfire. This weekend I got to help Alayna with a PAgeant. She lovesgetting dressed up like a princess. She sang a song acapella. She did great. I know at 7 I never would have stood up on stage and done that... so proud of her. She was so excited that Daddy made it. HE was an hour away at a swim meet with Caleb. Then just Alayna,daddy and mommy went out to eat. Then today I got to take Caleb back to the meet and then we spent some time at a bookstore,then we went out to eat. HE did great at his meet. I did miss Masona and Alayna's soccer games,but they did great... Mason tied( so still undefeated), coming back from 3-0 score at the half. Alayna won there second game of the season. Such a great family weekend... I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mom:)

Busy week

This has been a busy yet fun week. I usually have my mornings, but with storytime and the kids book fair... not so much. Plus Rob's van would not start this morning, hoping just the battery!!! We are getting ready for 2 campouts. Caleb in going on his first Boy Scout campout this weekend. They have been working hard to build a trebuchet to chuck pumpkins. We are going to go watch just that part Sat. afternoon. Mason and I are going on a Cub Scout campout the following weekend. He is excited as well... me too. Rob has a cooking contest that weekend and Caleb is earning a merit badge for Scouts. Then we are planning for Alayna's pagent the next weekend and Caleb's first swim meet. This is all on top of the weekend soccer games and trying to make our popcorn selling goals. We love to keep busy and have fun, but sometimes I wonder how we do it?!?! Soccer is half way done, almost in time for basketball to start :)

Almost settled

OK so we are really getting settled and love Vincennes. We are all so busy, just how we like it. Caleb is on the swim team and in Boy Scouts, Mason is playing soccer and in Cub Scouts, Alayna is playing soccer, taking 3 dance classes and is in the daisy scouts. WE love the scout programs here, very active groups. Lukas and Noah are enjoying storytime at the Library. WE have joined the YMCA and are still looking for a Church we can call home. We have visited a few, but have yet to make a final decision.

All the decorating pieces are bought and hung, but the pictures. WE have put a swing set in the back yard. WE are happy to call this home. Mason and Alayna are going to the school around the corner and loving it. I have gotton to go on one field trip already and will go on another next week. I have gotton involved as well. I am a daisy leader, a scrip coordinator for the school, commitee member for scouts and an asst. cubmaster. Very busy but I love it. Rob is on some boards already and is a soccer coach. It is so great to be really immersed in a community again... YEAH VINCENNES!!!!