Got Faith?

Hi all, things have been so busy here. Busy in a good way.....Josh just turned seven is doing fairly well in school (although we have had some bumps getting used to taking tests), and Sean is starting to read short words and books. They will both be starting basketball soon which is such an answer to prayer as I have struggled to find things for Sean to do. And Ky? Well, I am glad to say that she interrupted me a moment ago to use the potty. WOOHOOO. Haven't had an accident since last Monday...WOOOOHOOOO. Soooo what have I been doing? Well worrying of course. (I am shaking my head just looking at that sentence.)

You see, (and maybe you are like me)when things go really well with my biggest worry being whether I should put Ky in Pull-Ups at playgroup, I start to worry about the future. After all, the future is fairly unknown for most of us and can really work one up to a frenzy don't ya think? And one must never rest in God's presence now should we? (Please hear the sarcasm.)

God (as the faithful Heavenly Father he is)has once again gently spoken to me in so many ways. Through my Beth Moore Bible study....How does Beth know that God will carry her tomorrow? Well, because God has carried her yesterday and today....(Praise God). Through scripture....Do not worry about tomorrow.....God has not given you a spirit of fear....Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you whereever you go.....The Lord will never leave you nor forsake you.....I could go on and on, and I will post the reference for each one of those later, but He has been so good right? Worry should be over? Nope. He then had to show me through a child's video "Webster the Scaredy Spider" and finally through this devotional http://proverbs31devotions.blogspot.com/ . Proverbs 31 emails me a devotion every MOnday through Friday and todays was on G.F.I's. God Faith Interrupters. Go ahead and read it. I am sure it will speak to you as much as it has me. (It was September 30, 2008's entry)

Email me or send me a comment. He loves us so much doesn't HE? Enough to send me a video about a tiny little spider when His word should have been enough. Got faith? Got worry? Email me and I shall pray for you. And please pray for me. =) Love ya!!

My daughter has a mohawk.

OK, so I have discovered that my daughter has a mohawk. I don't know if it is from her ripping her ponytail holders out or her hair is growing in weird, but it is a definite mohawk. Observe:
See? Sad but true. We will be staying away from the pigtail/ ponytail thing for awhile. The poor thing had very little hair to begin with too. *Sigh* Guess it's good to get the wild hairdos out of the way now right??

Shocking- I do have a bit of my Grandma in me. =)

Guess what everybody? I just spent the day cleaning and here is the shocking part and will make many of you pass out. I actually....drum rolll...... ENJOYED it. Wow. Seriously cleaned the whole day- mopped all the wood floors in every room but mine, vacuumed, swept, cleaned two bathrooms (and not with just a Clorox wipe), cleaned up the dishes...cleaned them up again and again (lunch and breakfast), changed and washed the bedding on all the beds while watching FIVE kids. Wow. My grandmother (who was the neatest woman I have ever known) must be smiling in heaven, shoot, she's probably dancing. =)


Oh, the pic is just random....from a beach trip. It's not Hawaii, but it was pretty. =)

The rest of the house....well almost =)

Correction: Many of you are falsely assuming that I had anything to do with the paint on my walls. Silly people. I had very little to do with it actually. I went to Starbucks with my friends Sarah and Pat and while they discussed colors, I calmly drank my coffee (I do admit that I told them what color my rug was as well as the slipcovers and the plates). They then went with me to Lowe's and painted much of the house, although my hubby did a lot of it too. I babysat the kiddos while cracking jokes and making them smile (although I was cranky from watching the kids, so that didn't happen a lot either. ;-) ). Just needed to clarify. =) Enjoy.

My hubby is currently at the movies watching Batman with friends, so I figured I'd post some more pics of our house. Shocking isn't it.....two posts in less than a week. I hope blogger doesn't overload. :)

My favorite room is the living room. I love to sit on the love seat, drink coffee, and chat with my friends. Care to come for a visit? =)


Eventually, we are going to hang pictures....well at least before we move again...maybe. =)
Our dining room is probably my second favorite room hr, and I'd show it to you, but I keep getting an error when I upload it. See- Blogger is going nuts.=)
OK, there it is....

I am going to hang pictures of my Pike's Market trip around the room.......hopefully. (See a theme?)


Last but not least- Some of my favorite Super Heroes. The two little ones you may not recognize are Chaille and Alex- friends from Georgia who God has blessed us with again. Oh, and the two dresses the girls are wearing are my old drum major dresses. I knew they'd come in handy. =)

Our "New" Toys

Hi all,

We've been settling in slowly but surely in Virginia. Every box is unpacked and the boxes were taken away.....boy were they taken away. The movers somehow knocked down my telephone wires leaving me without phone service for three days. It would have been longer, but after ten to twelve hours on the phone with so many people from Verizon I finally in desperation emailed (from the library since I also did not have Internet) the CEO of Verizon. Apparently Mr. Seidenberg or someone in his office checks his email on Friday afternoon, because that night while Jamie and I were on a delayed anniversary date, I received a call from someone in Verizon offering to have my phone service fixed that night. It did take until Saturday morning, but it was nice that the CEO of Verizon took time to care about a lonely mom with three kids. The Internet and phone are my lifelines to the outside world. For a while, I felt completely isolated from the real world.

Anyway, I walked around the whole weekend feeling so special that the CEO of Verizon thought enough about me to have his employers (who were previously unkind and rude) to straighten up and treat me like someone important. It dawned on me though that I should have that special warm feeling all the time. After all, the CEO of the whole universe adores me and loves me enough to send His SON to die for me. He doesn't just sit upon His throne allowing me to stumble through life.....He blesses me. Now how special is that?

A few blessings that we have received in the past few weeks:

My "new" treadmill.
I used to go walking a lot in Hawaii and even Georgia. I would hook up my earpiece to my cell phone and call my friend Heather and I would walk outside in Hawaii for miles while hatting with one of my favorite people who would be walking on her treadmill on the other end. It was fun, and since it was only a one or two hour time difference, quite easy. Now though, Heather is four hours behind me, and walking off base after eight makes me a bit nervous. So we decided to buy a treadmill. We were discussing this with my godmother and husband when we were visiting them in June, and they just offered us theirs. How cool is that? I love my treadmill, and try to walk on it at least two miles a day. Thanks Mary and Joe, you guys rock!

Our second "new" purchase is a second car!! In the eleven years that we have been married, we have never been a two car family. We have always made do with just one car. Well, after spending a few days completely isolated from the outside world, we decided that a second car was necessary. After a couple of discouraging weeks, we stumbled upon a great deal on a Chevy Aveo. "Ava" as I call her, is small, but has fabulous gas mileage which, since it is Jamie's commuter car", was our first requirement. It also was cheap enough that we could buy it outright. Yeah.
"Ava" has 25,700 miles and is still under warranty for another year. Believe it or not, Jamie says he has tons of room......Chevy Aveos are known for their headroom. =)

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend or week if you are reading late. Remember (if only to remind me later on when I am in a rut) that the CEO of this universe adores you and cares about everything in your life. You are HIS most important client. =)

Oh, here's some pics of the kids' rooms. I am sure you can guess which one is which. =)

Our new house

I am sitting outside Kyla's room......almost makes me feel like I am in Hawaii again. Anyway, since I can't unpack the LAST remaining box in my house (don't get excited, all the stuff in the boxes have been transferred to any open space (mainly the floor) in the house), I decided to post some pics. These are pics of before we actually had the house, so they were taken rather quickly. I'll take other pics when I find my camera and some time. =)

Our living room. This was taken very quickly, so sorry about the glare.
These two pics are of our family rooms. The white room is a converted garage and is right off the dining room. Our futon is in there as well as my treadmill and the kids' foosball table. There is also a laundry room off this room which is now Jamie's practice room and laundry room. The darker room is off the kitchen and is huge. And yes, that is a wood stove of which I have no idea how to operate, but I am sure my family will have no problem teaching me when they come to visit. =)


This is my kitchen. It is without a dishwasher, but we have since added a portable one compliments of our landlord. =)


OK, so those are the main rooms with the exception of the dining room.(At the time, all the rooms were white with wood floors and bare. You can picture it fairly well. There is a hallway off the living room where the bedrooms and hallway bathrooom are. We painted my room, but the kids got to pick out wall decals for their rooms. The living room and dining room have been painted, and I will post pics after I get curtains and pics up. =) I also need to get a pic of he front and the back as well. Miss you guys!!

Things I saw on our trip across....

We are finally at the place in our journey where we will be hanging out with family and friends more than sightseeing. These past few weeks have been so much fun! This trip has been a blessed one with great weather (we missed snow and tornados by days) and great times.

A few things I saw....

Local entertainment at Pike's Market.


Beautiful waterfalls at Spearfish, South Dakota.....The larger waterfall is where "Dances with Wolves" was filmed....or is it Dancing? I don't remember. Didn't really like the movie. =)




The President's Park. We found this completely by accident. It is a park with large sculptures of every president. This pic was for you, Jeff. ;-)
Will President Sproul be the fiftieth? Please let it not be so. ;-)




Mt. Rushmore....so much more than just this picture. It is a beautiful park. The kids were able to do a booklet where they learned different items and became junior park rangers. It worked. Ky could point to each president when named. =)

Here I am being interviewed by CNN. They asked me what I thought of Hilary and Obama....this was the day before the South Dakota primaries. (Also two days before Hilary conceded the race) I doubt the interview was ever filmed, but I was nervous.

EST!!

We are now in the Eastern Standard Time zone!! Indiana specifically. Wow. I realized today that in less than a month we have been in five different time zones. What happens when you take three children in five different time zones? Well, bed time goes out the window, BUT the kiddos will sleep in longer than they have ever slept beofre. We had to wake Josh and Sean up at nine one time!! Shocking. We'll be headed to Jamie's sister's house tomorrow which should get them back on track as her three kiddos sleep only until six...hmmmm...must be Sproul genes.

I will post pictures someday when I don't have three kids and a hubby waiting for me to jump in an indoor pool. =)

Miss all my "western" friends. Will see my EST pals soon. Love ya!!

Spokane to Mt. Rushmore

Spokane, WA

While we were in Hawaii, we purchased a Military Lodging book that listed all the military lodges in the world. Since military lodges, traditionally, tend to be cheaper than regular hotels this has been helpful. We loved our place at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, WA. It was literally a place....a two bedroom single floor house for $43 a night. Awesome.

Spokane was great too. Honestly, I loved pretty much all of Washington state. Spokane has a fun park right in the middle of downtown. There is a huge Red Wagon which is actually a slide, a gondola ride where you go right over the falls (scary but fun), and a whole bunch more. We spent two days there although we tried to spend three without success.

These are a few pics of the drive to Spokane from Lacey, WA (near Seattle) Kyla got to touch snow for the first time. Sean for the first time in his little memory. They were thrilled....me not so much. Brrrr.



This is a monument to the WIld Horses. It is so beautiful. Jamie climbed to the top. We stayed below and ate cookies (bribery to keep the boys from following Daddy)


A few pics of Spokane.
This giant red wagon was a hit with my active kiddos. =)



Last but not least....

I had to take a pic of this poor mother and father with all those children. It reminded me so much of my life herding them from one place to another......of course at the time,I was taking the pics and Jamie was well....A picture is worth a thousand words right? ;-)

Across the country!

Aloha....hmmmm, I guess all I can say is hello now. =( Nah, I lived in Hawaii for thee years, so "Aloha!" =)

On May 15th, we flew into Seattle that had a temperature of 68 degrees at nine o'clock at night. Nice. The following weekend consisted of balmy "Hawaiian" weather. Very nice. On Monday the temp dropped down into the fifties. Not Nice at all. Brrr. We were able to get a clear look at Mt. Ranier which is a beautiful mountain near our friends' house....but forgot the camera. Here's a pic of Mt. Ranier on a less than clear day. We spent eleven fantastic days with our friends (who are awesome by the way) where we made a few trips to Seattle- Jamie went to a ball game, I went to Pike's Market and the Space Needle, and we took the kiddos to the Pacific Science Center as a fam. Pike's Market was so much fun....definitely leave the kids at home or take them to the zoo which is what Jeff and Jamie did while Kathryn and I were in Seattle.

Riding the "Hamster Wheel" at Pacific Science Center (PSC)

Playing chess at PSC. (Oh by the way, they had a wonderful tropical butterfly exhibit....think Hawaii with lots of butterflies. Nice and warm which was nice since the temps had dropped down to the upper fifties.....so beautiful...until my daughter stepped on two of the butterflies. *Sigh* Leave it to Kyla to end up on a "Wanted" poster at a museum.
A pic of the sign at Pike's Market Place. The Space Needle.

OK, I need to go fix dinner, so other pics will have to wait. FYI: We are now in South Dakota near Mt. Rushmore. We have been to Spokane, WA; Butte, MT, and Spearfish, SD. Three days here, and then we head to Minneapolis. More later. ;-)

Deal or No Deal

Jamie and I were really into watching "Deal or No Deal" last year. Each of us would pick a case, and then we'd proceed to yell at the contestant telling them which case to pick. (My case was usually 18 due to that being the day I was born and all.) We were definitely "Deal or No Deal" junkies for a time. We would even record it on our DVR, so that we could fast forward through the commercials.

Now that we don't have our DVR anymore, we have gotten out of watching it. It's just too suspenseful. Still, I catch a show on occasion. I especially like the holiday shows....like the Thanksgiving one. Did you see it? Instead of money, they had T-giving food words such as cranberry sauce, gravy, and squash in the cases. The contestants already had enough pressure with being afraid that their case that they chose would have a small amount of money, but with the T-giving one, they had even more to worry about. I mean, what if their chosen case had gravy in it? Who would want to go home with gravy?? It was so suspenseful watching the poor guy trying to decide whether he should trust the case he had chosen or take the deal that the mean rotten banker was offering him.

Don't you think life is like "Deal or No Deal"? We each have cases of our very own to open....some good, some bad, some we open with the good advice or bad advice of our friends and family, and with each case we have to make a decision. Do we listen to the banker and take his deal or do we yell "No deal" trusting that our final case is better than the ones we opened? We all know the banker. The Bible says he prowls around looking for whom he can devour. (I Pet. 5:8)Yep, that's right he's Satan. You see, Satan, our banker, tries hard to convince us that his deals are way better than any case that we could ever open.

As we're going through life, we may open a case that's not very nice or, unlike the game, that someone else may have even opened up for us......maybe its cranberry sauce or gravy. Who would want to settle for gravy? My children can't stand gravy, and they'd be yelling "No deal" without a problem. Yet our banker, well, he tries to convince us that this is all we get...all we deserve. In fact, he may even try to heap extra gravy on top. Satan tries so hard to get us to settle and push that button yelling "Deal".

Have you had gravy in your life? I have. There was a time in my life that I bought into Satan's lies. I thought my life was worth nothing more than gravy. I couldn't imagine that God could possibly have more for me. I had so much gravy that I was suffocating under it all. I used to beg God to remove the gravy, and when He didn't, I would beg him to remove me. In fact, (and I am not proud to say it), there was a point when I held the pills in one hand, ready to push the "deal" button with my other. I bought into Satan's lies big time.

You know what happened? I was rescued. Not by Howie or any girl wearing a way too short skirt, but by Jesus. As I stood crying for mercy, I saw a wonderful vision of a little girl being held by a wonderful man in white. That little girl was me. That man in white was God. You know, afterwards, I still had the gravy. Lots and lots of it, actually, but after that, it didn't seem so suffocating. God was there; holding me.....making it easy to say "No Deal".

Are you buying into Satan's deals? Maybe you're not holding pills, but are you having a rough time? Did you know that GOD promises to be there for you?

Isaiah 43:1-2

But now, O Israel, the Lord who created you says, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you." NLT

He loves you so much. He created you simply for HIS pleasure. (Rev. 4:11) Still doubting?

Psalm94:18-19

"I cried out, "I'm slipping!" and your UNFAILING love, O Lord, supported me.
When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.

You see, my husband and I chose our own cases when we played along with the game on TV, so we were sometimes left with, well, gravy. BUT, you know who picks your case in life? God. And do you know what He has in it? He tells us......

Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."

Picture the one thing you most want....Is it a million dollars? A new car? A moment of silence? God may give it to you and so much more. BUT, if he doesn't, it's because HIS plans are SOOOO much better than you or I will ever dream. His cases are full of hope and a future. He plans so much good for us. After all, every perfect and good gift comes from Him. (James 1: 17)

If I had said, "Deal", well, it makes me want to weep at what I would have lost- my handsome husband who makes me feel like the treasure that God created me to be, my two sons who make me laugh at least ten times a day (even when I am mad at them), and my beautiful daughter, Kyla Victoria whose name means Lovely Victory, who God promised me so long ago.

Feeling like giving up? Don't. You see, there is one more thing I want to share. I am doing this Bible study called Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore. It’s an intensive study on Jesus’ life, and I am learning SOOOOO much about my Lord. Anyway, in Luke 11, Jesus is accused to be from Satan, because he is casting out demons. Silly huh? He quickly tells his accusers that a house divided can never stand then goes into this story about how this really strong guy guards his house and keeps all his stuff safe. But then, another person even stronger than that strong man attacks and takes away that stuff and divides up his spoils. Beth Moore points out that Satan is the strong man and that he has stolen a lot of stuff from us all. Can you think of a few? I sure can. BUT, and here’s the coolest thing: The stonger man is God, and do you know who he divides up the spoils with? US!! Oh, how I know this to be true. Thirteen years ago, I thought life was hopeless, without blessing, that I had lost all. And now……oh the blessings indeed. God has given me back what Satan stole and even more!!

Don’t give up, beloved. Listen for Jesus. He so loves you. You are so valued. He was there for me, and I know He is ready and waiting to hold you in his arms just like He did me. Take your hand off that buzzer, there is no deal worth as much as God has planned for you.

The most romantic words....

My husband, Jamie, said the most romantic thing to me yesterday. It had been a rough afternoon and for you to understand rough, I must explain.....

1. Her highness, Ms. Kyla, decided napping was optional and after two different times of trying to get her to sleep, I gave up. This meant that around three she became extremely cranky (Think Godzilla in a two year old's body) and needed to be held all the time which was difficult due to the next statement.

2. To get Kyla to go to sleep, one must sit in front of her room for around ten minutes. This will keep her in her room (Kyla is an accomplished Houdini, nothing except another human a.k.a mom can make her stay in her room.) and hopefully will get her to fall asleep.

Sooo, Josh gets out of school early on Wednesdays which is nice, because Sean USUALLY gets in less trouble with him around. Soooo, I left them downstairs expecting them to play quietly (which they did) and stay out of trouble (which they didn't).

Anyway, I come downstairs after unsuccessfully putting my daughter to sleep and find my two boys in the bathroom making a concoction in the sink that I have yet to figure out the purpose. This lovely little recipe consisted of enough water to fill the sink, all the soap that was in TWO soap dispensers, I believe, a half roll of paper towels, and some toilet paper. Oh yes, and DIRT. Sound messy? The wall of the bathroom had mud smeared down it, the floor was wet and dirty, and the sink looked well muddy. Josh, who is holding a blue piece of paper which I will get to later, immediately blames Sean. Sean who is elbow deep in the muddy bubbly water simply smiles. I tell Sean that it would be in his best interest to get upstairs as quickly as he can. He takes my word for it and runs upstairs, although not quick enough for me to notice his used to be white shirt now covered with mud stains. I then explain to Josh that this is one of those things that he will hold equal responsibility for and that he better scurry into the garage and do some major cleaning.

Long story short, we spent the next two hours cleaning the bathroom, the garage, and anything else that I could think of that needed cleaning by my "sweet" little cooks.
As always, cleaning is just the highlight of my life.....right next to root canals, so you can imagine my mood when my hubby came home. After hearing the above account of my afternoon, he said the most romantic thing. He asked me if I'd like him to take the kids and go pick up some chicken for dinner from Popeye's. *Sigh* He is such a romantic. =)

By the way, the blue paper had a little checklist of various objects created by my oldest son who said it wasn't his idea. Here's a pic of this recipe. Did I mention that there was so much dirt that it clogged the sink up, and I needed (with Josh and Sean's help) to scoop out the water with a coffee can?

One more thing, my hubby also bought me a very nice necklace, bracelet, and earrings which he presented to me after the kids had gone to bed. Very romantic, but just not as romantic as that box of chicken. =)

A monk seal, a rainbow, and Jump Rock

On Saturday, we went to Waimea Bay to help set up for our church's Easter Sonrise service. Waimea Bay is an absolutely gorgeous place, and this past weekend was tops. I know this, because people who have lived in that area for thirty years said it was one of the prettiest Easters ever.

It's funny too, because the church has a baptism service after the Sonrise service, and the pastor and elders are always half joking about losing people during the baptism due to the waves. One year, the waves were so strong, they had to tie the people to the person who was baptizing them. Last year, I think was one of those years with fifteen foot waves. This year, though, nothing. No waves. 0-1' waves (When in Hawaii, one rarely pays attention to the weathr report, but the surf forecast is a huge deal.)

Anyway, on our way to Waimea, we were able to see our first monk seal! He has beached himself on the sand and was taking a snooze. Jamie and I (Not being the kama'aina- local that we had hoped, thought he was dead.)After being assured by my friend Sarah that he was truly alive, I took a pic on the way home. So cool.


Before we left Waimea we took a couple of pics of guys jumping from Jump Rock (a popular thing to do) as well as a rainbow that ended on the adult tent that we had set up. The children's ten is toward the front of the pic. Jamie was the head leader for Easter and did a fabulous job.


Hope everyone had an incredible Resurrection Day. It was beautiful, and I'd show you a pic of Easter there, but I left my camera in the car. =}. Since I don't have a Waimea sunrise (which actually isn't as pretty since the sun rises on the other side), I'll leave you with a Waimea Sunset.