What a wedding

Annaliese was in a wedding this past Saturday. Her pal Julia's wedding. And I don't say this just because she's mine....but I think she was the cutest flower girl ever!

She and the ring bearer bonded......

a little too much.

At the end of the wedding when they finished walking out he gave her a kiss on the cheek and told her "Good job!". I didn't know I needed to keep an eye on the handsome lad.

They were both so excited about their shiny new shoes. They wanted me to be sure to take a picture to capture the moment.

And check out these nails....

Is that the cutest french manicure you've ever seen?

And what's everyone so stressed about anyway?

Just grab your Nintendo ds and chill out.

She was so excited once it was actually time. I could hardly keep her still. She said everyone was waiting to see "her". After all, this whole wedding stuff was all about her and her flowers.

My son decided he would never have a girlfriend because then that would require he get married and have a wedding. Which he NEVER wants to do. Weddings are boring. Except for the food part.

A Huntin' we will go

So Alex and I just got back from an exciting pheasant hunting trip in Hanston, Kansas.

A pheasant is a type of bird.

I didn't know that.

Did you know that pheasants live in the ground? They dig holes in the dirt somehow and bury themselves in these holes.

The hunting dogs (which cost $10,000 each!) sniff the birds out and the hunters shoot them as the fly up to attempt to escape. They are beautiful dogs.

I will admit, I had no interest whatsoever in going on this hunting trip. I told my husband that driving 10 hours to go hunt was to me like asking him to drive 10 hours to go shoe shopping. I didn’t want to go. But being that it was a business trip in which he insisted that I had to go I gave in, and made the best of it.

I didn’t whine when there wasn’t a town within 50 miles. I didn’t whine when I didn’t have cell phone service for 3 days. I didn’t whine when we had to share a cabin with 6 other adults in a 3 bedroom 2 bath, approximately 1000 sq. foot house. And I didn’t whine when he wanted me to get up at 6am in 20 degree weather to out into the field to hunt with him and the group. Talk about some serious time in prayer. You just can’t image. Or maybe by this point you can.

As I was making the best of it I decided to bring out my camera and start shooting some pictures. I realized as I was going that this wasn’t so bad after all. I was never bored.

I talked a lot with the 3 other women. And each one of them, all separately, asked me something about my faith. Some questions were deep, like about sin, and whether divorce was forgivable. Other questions were more simple, like questions on baptism. I didn’t mention beforehand what church I went to, or that I attended church, or even that I was a Christian. It is such a relief to know that as much of a failure I feel like sometimes in my walk with Christ, He is helping me do something right.

I was so thankful that God allowed me the opportunity to share His word with these wonderful women.

He had to take me 10 hours away into the middle of nowhere to do it.

Where my cell phone wouldn’t ring,

where there was no shopping trip we women could plan,

and we were squeezed in a house so small that we couldn’t turn around without seeing each other.

And the pheasant didn't taste so bad either ;)

Roscoe is home!

Our sweet puppy (who we ended up naming Roscoe!) had been lost for about a week and a half. Or so we thought he was lost....here's the story:

He went missing Saturday night after Annaliese's birthday party. Sunday after church is when we realized he didn't come when the kids put out food for him, and he wasn't in the fenced in dog area. We started going house to house with his picture looking for him. A few days goes by and nobody has seen him. Friday one of my sweet neighbors calls me to tell me that she saw Roscoe on Craigslist in the pets section.

I email the person immediately and waited....emailed her again with cell phone numbers...and waited....emailed her with pictures of Roscoe with my kids and told her I would bring her the $100 reward...and waited...nothing. My sister emails her as a person interested in buying him and she emails her back immediately and tells her she can have the dog for a $50 rehoming fee. By the time my sister emails her back our Roscoe had been sold.

I call the sheriff's department and report a stolen dog. After a little research I find out this person has several other dogs for sale, 3 of which she offered my sister. I put an ad in Craiglist offering a $200 reward plus whatever they paid for anyone that bought our dog, along with pictures verifying that he is in fact our Roscoe. My sister gets an email on Monday from this person that had our dog saying that the dog had been returned to her if my sister still wanted to purchase him.

She set up a time to meet, and I called the sheriff's dept again and a deputy went along with us. He stayed down the street until the purchase was made and then he came up to her home. We got our money back, but she still said she didn't steal our dog. But she did say who gave her our dog. I was appalled....

It was our neighbor that lived directly in front of our home!!! I don't even know what to say...but that I'm glad they are loading up a moving truck and moving. We had signs posted on our stop signs that I know they saw every time they came and went. They saw him in our yard with our kids. They took our dog. I'm just.....MAD!

Please keep a close eye on your pets, and your neighborhood. This whole ordeal has been terrible for us. One of our neighbors stole from us while another one helped us get him back.

What's important now is that we got him back.

Merry Christmas!

Party fit for a Princess

We had Annaliese's birthday party this past weekend. All she has been talking about was having a princess birthday.

And a princess she was...

With her princess attire....



With a princess pinata....



And a princess castle cake....

A princess moonwalk

And a princess attitude!

Happy 4th Birthday little Princess Annaliese!

It's that season

Not Christmas.....

It's deer hunting season.

I don't get it.

I don't like it.

I have enough deer heads in my house. I'm to the point where I just do what any loving hunter's wife does.....roll my eyes, sigh and point to what wall the next one will go on.

But I did want to understand hunting.

So I decided to investigate it a little.

And here's a few things I learned:

You have to dress the part.

Boys are drawn to a fire and they never outgrow it.

A campfire is a VERY important part of hunting.

As is the rough housing and the jokes aimed at others expense.

Hunting is relaxing and exhausting at the same time.....

and you could sleep anywhere.

Another important thing I learned.....

To spot that deer

and have him at the right position

the right distance

and then you pull the trigger

and you know you hit him

is an amazing feeling.

But to know you shot

that perfect deer

and not being able to find it

can make a grown man cry.

Happy Hunting

New member of the family

We welcomed our Gus Gus's offspring into our home on Saturday. Isn't he the cutest?

I have no problem waking up Alex and Annaliese in the mornings now. They jump at the first welp he makes. But look at that face....how can you say no to those eyes?

Right now he's Annaliese's toy. She carries him, put him in her stroller, lays him on her bed. She even, much to his dismay, laid her pink blanket on him. He tries to run and hide, but there's no hiding place she hasn't discovered first.

There's no escaping her.

Little Alex is overjoyed. They fight and bite and scratch and claw...all in fun. It's a little boy's pure delight.

If you notice I haven't mentioned his name.........it's because he doesn't have one!

We can't decide or agree.

Annaliese: Let's call him Chris.

Me: Umm...I don't think so.

Annaliese: Ok....let's call him Crisco.

Lil' Alex: I want his name to be Big Dog.

Annaliese: Come here Sha Sha!

Dad Alex: How 'bout Jr?

Seriously?

What do you think? Does he look like a Sam? Buster? Tigger? (he has stripes)

We need some help deciding.

Playing catch up

A little late on this one.....

Happy 9th Birthday to my little man!

9 things I love about this sweet boy:

1. He give the best hugs.

2. He's a sweet brother to his 2 sisters (most of the time!)

3. He was a short labor & delivery.

4. He's a great baseball player....basketball play....soccer player....

5. He LOVES pizza. And his mom's chicken pot pie.

6. When he smiles, you can't help but smile back

7. He likes his John Deere tractors

8. He can scrub a toilet like a pro

9. He has such a gentle heart that can melt mine :)

Someone else who celebrated a birthday on the same day......

His Dad!

Here are my guys sporting their birthday gifts.

My son said this year he didn't want a party for his birthday. He just wanted to go huntin' with his dad. He would even invite his big sister along. So dad set up the hunt.....it would be himself, my son, his sister, his uncle and 2 cousins. They were going hog huntin'. And a huntin' party it was.

But he didn't shoot a hog.

You wouldn't guess in a million years what he shot.

Go ahead.

Try to guess.

A deer?


Nope.



A bear?

No way.



A skunk!

I wish it would of been a little skunk.

He shot this:

Can you tell what it is?

You're not looking at it wrong.

It's a KANGAROO.

I'm not exactly sure yet, but I'm sure there's something biblical against shooting kangaroos.

Something.

"Though shalt not shoot anything that uses a pouch to carry it's young"

I'm not completely against hunting.

I just don't understand it.

He was so excited. He says "Mom, he jumped up in the air and I shot 'em in the neck!"

I hid my true feelings and said "Man, what a good aim!"

And, well, all things aside....it was a good shot.


But seriously....

A kangaroo.



Poor Joey.


Just hopping along minding his own buisness...and


BANG!


What's he going to do with a dead kangaroo you ask?


Well, honor his life by having him stuffed....


So he can go on forever...(this is in my oldest child's words)


She's been hanging around those hunters too long.


I know one thing that will last forever...

This little boy will never forget his 9th birthday.

Note: In case you're wondering like I did where they shot this kangaroo without going to Australia.....there's a game ranch outisde of town that apparently has them roaming around, along with other types of "exotic" game.

Count your blessings

If you're reading this, you have a lot to be thankful for. It means you still have electricity. It means you're probably in the comfort of your home with water, food...and somthing else important...internet!

We are currently housing 18 members of our family and their extended families. One of them has a 3 week old baby and a 1 year old. Another has 2 month old twins. Can you imagine being forced out of your home 3 weeks after having a baby?

After watching 2 month old twins I have a whole new respect for mothers of twins. It was like a circus act. A very organized & flowing one though. This mom juggled bottles and diapers and clothes and laundry and babies. While one slept, the other ate. While one cried the other cooed. And then they switched. All their needs were met without missing a beat. All while in a home that wasn't her home. Amazing...

Know what else is amazing? Just how many people you can actually fit into your house if you had to.

Count them....18 people plus my family of 5......that's 23 total.....

That's 1 queen bed, 2 twin beds, a toddler bed, 1 fold out cot, 4 queen air mattresses, 1 twin air mattress, 2 sleeping bags, 1 bassinett, a play pen.....and a partridge in a pear tree.

We are very blessed also in how we were able to house so many people. When we bought this home it came with a small garage apartment size little house in the corner of our acre lot. It wasn't in good shape. A year ago we decided to work on making it look like a home. Paint, carpet, new wood. We even put in a tv, refrigerator, and stove. Looks like a cute little house on the prarie type house.

Who knew a child would actually need to use it as their home?

God knew.

This summer we bought a small house off Holleman. A foreclosure that we remodeled quickly to get it sold quickly. We expected it to sell within the first 2 weeks. Nothing. It's been 5 weeks. We didn't want to worry. But I must confess........I did worry.

O, ye of little faith.

Who knew a hurricane would come? That there would be no power for days, and no hotel rooms in sight? Who knew a family of 10 would be needing a home?

God knew.

I'm tearing up as I write this. I'm always in awe of how God works in our lives to glorify Him. Even during the times that I question what's going on.

I'm surprised, and thankful, that God hasn't decided that I'm not faithful enough to use.

Even with all that is happening around us....God is in control.

I'm counting my blessings. One by one.

I feel blessed to be able to glorify my Lord with all that is in me...and with all that is His.


"I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever".
Psalm 86:11-13

Experiencing grief

This summer we lost a precious little pup member of our family. Our beloved little Gus (or Gusy Gus as Annaliese called him) passed away. I didn't blog about it when it happened. It was too hard. Too tragic.

It was the first time my kids experienced grief. It took me a little time to realize it. It hurt my son especially. There's something about a boy and his dog. He cried and it broke my heart. The next day he told me"I don't know what this feeling is. Every time I think about Gus I cry, and it hurts here". (pointing to his chest) I had to explain to him that he was greiving. Such a difficult concept to grasp.

Annaliese has finally stopped going outside calling for him.

The really crazy part.....he dreamed it before it ever happened. About 1 week before it happened. He woke up telling me Gus had died in his dream. I told him his dog was fine, and it was only a dream. Now how can I tell him his dreams are just dreams now?

The day it happened I called a neighbor where Gus frequently visited. He had just spent several days on their property and I wanted to let her know. We discussed what the possibilities where of why he may have died, and then she mentioned to me her cute english bulldog had been gone the same day Gus was gone. We were sure the friends went off on a rendevous. She told me there could be the possibility that her dog was pregnant.

She called me last week to let me know.....her dog is expecting...due in a week or two....and most likely our Gus is the daddy!! She's going to allow us to have first pick of the pups. The kids are so excited. While it won't replace our Gusy Gus, we're happy to be able to bond with another puppy that is a part of him.

There was a part of this experience that made me not want to have another pet....ever....

It was hard to watch the kids go through the grief.

But I realized what a teachable moment it had become.

We talked about death. About heaven. And the joy of heaven.

And who before us is in heaven.

And how Gus is playing with all of them right now...chasing his tail....

They were able to experience the grieving process and come to understand what loss was......

Before they ever had to experience it through losing a family member.

I know they will someday. It's a fact of life.

So I'm thankful for our sweet Gus.

And the joy he gave to our family.

And the joy he left behind :)

A week of bliss

We just returned from an amazing vacation. We went to Disney World and on the way back we stopped at the beautiful beach of Destin, FLorida.

One of the first things we did was visit the Bippitty Boppitty Boutique for some princess makeovers for two sweet girls.

So much girly fun!

A little too much according to my guys.....they were ready to leave...

What did the guys want to do? Ride the Tower of Terror!!

That's us on the front row.......terrified! The front is the worst place to be...but according to the little guys beside us, it's the best. I beg to differ.....

On another of our days we made a stop at the Rainforest Cafe. If you've never been.....be careful....it's a jungle in there...

We made our way to the hundred acre woods and found these friends:



We even went up to the top of a mountain......once there we begged for another way down...

Oh, well......


At least the beach was relaxing....


I did have a few complaints....

There was limited seating...


The waves were too big & "narly" (words my kids used...all of a sudden they are surfer dudes?)

And the seashells were only to be found by those shortest and closest to them....

At the end of it all....what can I say?

It was a week of fun...

a week of bonding...

of relationships...

of memories....

of pure exhaustion...

but more important.....

a week to remember.