Family

Family

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

A Challenge From My Time Management Blog

A few months ago I chose a reading plan off of youversion and I loved it!  I was amazed at how fast I read it, I actually read it while I was getting my hair done!  After I started reading some small plans, I decided I wanted to read the bible in 90 days!  I didn't make it through all the way because I started school, but I did make to around day 30 of the reading.  It was amazing!  I gained so much more knowledge and understanding of the bible and about God!  I could feel my relationship growing closer and closer to God.  I read a lot more of the bible from my class, old testament survey than I did on the 90 day challenge.  When my class ends in 2 weeks, I have about 20 days off before my new testament survey class starts in January.  I am going to read the new testament in 30 days.  Some of the days there is no scheduled reading in this plan, there is only 20 scheduled days of reading in the plan.

I have a challenge for everyone this week that goes along with my last blog about time management! Find a reading plan on youversion. It doesn't have to be a long one, some of them are 2 days, reading about 3 chapters a day. Then I want you to comment on here what you picked to read and how it went. 
Here is the link to the reading plans on youversion: https://www.youversion.com/reading-plans
You can read it on the computer or on you smartphone! 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Time Management

I've always thought I didn't have enough time in the day.  Back when I only had 3 children, I said I couldn't find the time in the day to read my bible.  I had a friend from church who use to tell me I should be reading my bible daily and I made excuses, I'm too busy with my kids and the house.  I always found time to watch TV or cruise the web though!

I realize now looking back it was a time management issue.  I didn't organize my day in a way to utilize my time wisely and it was also a priority issue.  It wasn't a priority to read my bible.  Now I have 6 children, run a daycare with 5 children three and under all day, and go to school full time online.  I get the joy of hanging out with my kids all day, playing with them and teaching them.  I have found the spare moments in my day to do my school, usually nap time and bedtime.  In the last 2 days, I have read 1 & 2 Kings, which is 47 chapters.  I still manage to get about 6-7 hours of sleep every night!

 I'm excited for my husband, Chris, to join me in this adventure of starting school.  Chris will be starting school in the next month and then we will be sitting up together after the kids are in bed working on homework!  I have realized I need to make reading my bible a priority and it only took like 5 years!        

Friday, November 30, 2012

Our Princess is 2

The last 2 years have flown by!  I can't believe our little princess is 2.  I remember when she was born and I still couldn't believe we had a girl!  She has changed so much!  She has a got a personality on her! She is rambunctious, silly, needy for mommy's attention and just so much fun!  She is all over the place, there is no keeping up with her! Most of my pictures I take of her are smeared cause she likes to run all over the place!

 
 
This was her 1st birthday last year!
 
She finally started to get hair!
 
She liked pulling up her dresses!!
 
She finally has a head full of hair!!  I love her little looks she gives to people!
 
She has the prettiest smile!!! 
 
Happy Birthday to my princess Kyndal!
 
 
 
 


 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Give It All To Him

It's been a while since I've posted.  I've been real busy with my family and school or "LIFE". 

It's amazing how busy life can get.  We all have so much going on that takes priority.  Sometimes I think it is too much to juggle.  I'm waiting for the day I drop all the balls.  I think in our society today, we feel like we aren't complete unless we do everything.  I am really trying to give it all to God.  As much as I try to do everything myself, I end up making a big mess.  But when we trust God and give it all to Him, He leads us on our path.  Throughout history, we can see in the Bible where God just wants us to trust Him with our needs.  We had trouble with that then and we still struggle with that today.  I love reading through the Bible seeing all that He has done for us.  Miracle after miracle he performed for the Israelites and they still turned from Him and worshipped other gods.  These other gods did nothing for them and when they got in over their heads, they would cry out to God to save them.  It blows my mind, why they would ever worship anything else, but God.  These other idols did nothing for them, and they have seen what God does for them.  I am learning so much studying the old testament.  Humans screwed up then and we still do now. 

It's hard to give it all to Him, but I know I can't do it without Him!   
I came across this video that our church made a while ago, and it just shows how we are suppose to give all our struggles to God.  He's here for ALL OF US!!

Friday, September 14, 2012

September Update!!

Sorry, it's been so long since I've last posted anything on my blog!  I feel like we have been so busy lately! 
It feels like it has slowed down now that the 4 older kids are back in school.  It's weird just being home with my 2 youngest ones.  I love the time I have to spend with them.  Right now I am on Day 2 of potty training Kyndal!  I'm really hoping she gets this soon.  I know she is only 21 months, but I thought I would give it a try.  Tyler was potty trained before he was 2, Jacob was 3, Zach was almost 3, Logan was 3, and Mason was at 26 months!  So, I'm hoping she gets it because I'm tired of buying diapers!  Kyndal is getting so big!  We just recently took her pacifier away and she has adjusted to it well!  We just got her a toddler bed for her to start sleeping in.  I get it tonight!!



 Mason is loving getting lots of attention from mommy.  Him and Kyndal play so well together most of the time!  Logan started Kindergarten this year and he loves it!!  Zachary is in the 2nd grade!  He's a little disappointed, he told me he thought he would get to do more homework!  I told him, I'm sure that will be coming soon!  Jacob is in 5th grade at the intermediate school!  He's doing well there.  Tyler is in 7th grade at the junior high!  He is really enjoying it.  He just joined the chefs club, he loves to cook! 

This is a picture of us from our camping trip in late June!


I just recently decided to go back to college!  I registered at Indiana Wesleyan!  I'm going to do their adult learning program.  I'm going to work on my Bachelor's Degree in Biblical Studies! I should finish it within 2 years!  I'm very excited for the opportunity to go back to school!

Chris and I are both reading through the bible in 90 days!  Chris is on Day 19( i think), and I am on Day 3.  I love reading the bible in big chunks at a time.  I have learned so much already.  I've read through Genesis before, but so much more is sticking out to me this time that I have never noticed before! 

Hopefully I can do a better job with keeping up with my blog!!














Sunday, June 10, 2012

Eight and Counting?

Sorry for the delay in posts, but let me catch you up. 

Some of you are aware of our situation that we have been working through, but for those of you who are not, this is what it is!!  We have been waiting for a court date about my nephews in Mississippi.  We finally had one this past Wednesday.  So, me and the kids drove down last Saturday to visit with family since we already had to go down there for court.  Chris flew in Tuesday night for court on Wednesday morning.  Chris and I feel called to have my nephews come live with us.  So, we went to court and the judge said YES!!!  We are all very excited for them to come and live with us and get them out of their foster homes.  Right now they are separated in different foster homes.  We will get them as soon as all the paper work is done with DCS, which could be a couple of months!  They will live with us until the court decides on the future of the parents.  If my brother doesn't get them back, then we will adopt them!  Looks like we are changing from 6 and counting to 8 and counting!!!  Poor Kyndal is going to have 7 big brothers!!!  My nephews are 3 and almost 2!  They are very sweet little boys and I can't wait for them to get here so they can be loved on by our family!  Now we have to figure out where we are going to put everyone in our house!! 

So, after court, Chris and I were driving back to pick up our children, and he said he wanted to go look at the houses that were torn down by hurricane Katrina.  He starts going down all these different streets to take us closer to the water and all of a sudden, I look up and we were at Thunders!!  This is the night club we met at!!



We get out of the car and I wanted to take a picture of the sign.  Chris grabs the phone and says, I'll do it and then says his hand is too shaky and for me to take the picture.  So, I take the phone and take a couple of pictures.  I turned around to him and he was down on one knee!  I said, "what are you doin?"  He re proposed to me, it was so sweet!  I thought he was joking at first!  I of course said YES!!  Wednesday was a great day, proposed to and adding 2 more kids to our family!!  We are going to get remarried July 2013, it will be our 15 yr anniversary!  We just got married at the courthouse the first time!  We are looking forward to having a wedding!  There are lots of details to figure out on how we want to do it!  I really don't even know where to begin!

It was alot of fun visiting with all my family!  All the kids got to see their aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents!!  I still need to post pictures on facebook of our trip!!!  Sorry, pictures of my nephews aren't aloud online at this time!!

I will be posting more updates, more often now that the daycare is closed and the courts have made their decision.  As an added treat, my sweet hubby wants to write on my blog some too!!!  Stay tuned for that!!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A New Way of Life

If you know me well, you know I DO NOT like fruits and vegetables!!  The only vegetables I will eat are potatoes, corn and peas!!  I have awful eating habits! 

But I've started working out and I am using this work out program and part of it is eating clean.  So, that is what I am gradually starting to do! 

My goal is to retrain my taste buds!

Today, I ate an apple slice......that made the hair on my arms stand up to gag that down!  In a little while, I am going to eat a carrot stick, yuk! 
Everyday, I am going to try to eat some kind of vegetable or fruit that is not potatoes, corn or peas!

I plan on making everyone in the house try all these new foods!  I really want our whole family eating healthier!  I've already lost about 5-6 lbs in the last week and a half, just by cutting down what I eat and working out!  Imagine what I could lose if I was eating healthy food!!

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions on different fruits and vegetables I should try and how to cook them(cause obviously I don't know how), leave me a comment so I can put it on my list to try!   

Friday, March 23, 2012

Spring Cleaning

Over last weekend, I was invited to join an event on facebook where everyone would be doing their spring cleaning!  It was just what I needed to push me to do this.  They were using this awesome blog that broke down all the cleaning to do by zones.  The blog is http://organizationforreallife.blogspot.com/2009/05/review-spring-cleaning.html.   This past Monday I started my spring cleaning!  I have 15 different zones to clean!  So far, I have cleaned: kids bathrooms, linen closet, kitchen pantries(that's right it's plural, we have two), coat closet, and laundry room.  Today I am going to work on the foyer and front door, and the hallways and back door.  The only time I have to work on cleaning is during naptime.  I get about an hour and half to do it.  After I do one of the zones, I do one thing in the kitchen.  The kitchen would take me days to do if I tried to do it all at once.  I have been working on cleaning out my drawers and washing them and trashing a bunch of stuff!  Our trash can was over flowing yesterday!  We are going to be having a huge garage sale when I'm done cleaning!! 

Friday, February 24, 2012

Adding more to our Life!

We have been attending our Church for a few months now, so we have decided we would like to get more involved in some of the ministries.  Chris and Tyler went on a ski retreat a couple of weeks ago with the youth group.  All the teens were talking about how Mr. Fresh is so awesome.  Chris is awesome with teens, he has such a gift with them.  So he is going to be a youth group leader, which is cool since Tyler is in there with him. 
I have been feeling called to do something too.  I always loved helping out with AWANA.  I have helped out with T & T girls (3rd & 4th), Cubbies (3 & 4 yrs old), and the nursery.  So, I volunteered to help out where ever they needed me.  Looks like I get to try something new this time, because they need me in Sparks (K-2nd)!  I get to be with Zachary & Logan in Sparks.  We start helping this Sunday!!

We have also decided to join the YMCA!  The kids and I have been going all this past week!  The kids love going to hang out there!  Tyler gets to go to the teen center, which he loves!  The rest of the kids are all together.  Kyndal is having the hardest time being there.  My poor baby just cries the whole time.  Hoping she gets use to it quickly!  I am really enjoying it.  Excited to start taking some classes like Zumba and Kickboxing!  I tried Yoga last night, and I am sore today! 
I am looking forward to swimming some this year with the kids.  We haven't been swimming since the summer before last!  I want to get Mason and Kyndal use to the water!  Maybe I can even get Chris to come swim and workout eventually!!!

Monday, February 13, 2012

Haircuts Are Not So Easy

Going to get haircuts with 6 kids is a tough job!!  I took the kids to Cookie Cutters and got the youngest 4 kids a haircut.  Kyndal does very well sitting there and letting someone cut her hair!  Not so easy on me, while I'm trying to stand there with her and the other kids are running a muck through the salon.  They were running around, going down the slide, playing on the other chairs, whining and complaining about anything they could! 
Kyndal had alot of fun walking around while the other kids were getting their hair cut!  Though Tyler didn't like following her around to keep her out of everything while I was with the other kids getting their hair cut!


I think Mason's hair looks more different than anyone else.  Here is a before and after shot of his hair!


Next time, I will definitely take Chris with me to help out!  Not a trip I want to do by myself again!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Rock & Worship Roadshow 2012

On Saturday night, Chris, Tyler and I went to the Rock & Worship Roadshow!  It was a few christian bands at the Conseco Fieldhouse!  We went with some friends of ours. 
Some of the bands that were there are: MercyMe, Tenth Avenue North, Lecrae, Hawk Nelson, Disciple, and Sidewalk Prophets.  My favorite is Lecrae!  Here is one of my favorite songs that he sang that night:


All the bands did a great job.  They were sponsoring Compassion International!  They are a great organization.  Compassion works through local churches to holistically address the individual physical, economic, educational and spiritual needs of children—enabling them to thrive, not just survive.  We sponsor a little girl in Ecuador through Compassion.   We use to think that we didn't have the money to help anyone out.  I never realized that it is only $38 a month to help a child in need!  I use to blow that much on eating out, for us it was a no brainer to not eat out a couple of times to help a child in need!
It was a really fun night out with my hubby and oldest son and our friends!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

"The Talk"

So, we are at the point of having to have "The Talk" with Tyler.  We've known we were going to have to do it soon, but it's part of his curriculum for homeschool and it is talking about how babies are made and stuff.  He is going to start reading these books, "almost 12 and The Boy's Body Book", tomorrow and it goes into great detail about his changing body and stuff.  I have been dreading this day.  I just feel like he shouldn't be that old yet.  I still look at him like this little boy in the picture!




He's excited for all that is to come.  He's been asking me, "when am I going to go through puberty, and get taller?  I think my voice is changing don't you mom?"  "No Tyler, your voice is not changing", I said. 
Then the other day, he comes to me and says, "I think I have a hair on my chin, do you see it mom?"  I was like, Tyler that is just peach fuzz, everyone has that!  He is so funny! 
I told Chris, that I would be directing any questions Tyler has to him, so he better be ready! 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Pinterest

For about the last year, I have been seeing people write about something called pinterest.  I would see them talking about pinning something.  I never had a clue what they were talking about!  Finally, a close friend of mine started talking about it with me and wanting to see what it was.  So, I found it and signed up for it online. 
I must say, I'm a little addicted now!  They have the cutest stuff on there.  I've been able to find different ideas for decorating my kids rooms.  I've found websites on photography and different poses, different ways to do Kyndal's hair (for when she gets some more), and one of my favorites is http://onesimplebliss.blogspot.com/.  She has all kinds of stuff she made herself.  She made a hooded towel, a bath toy holder, and all kinds of other awesome things!  She gives step by step instructions on how to do it!


Now it's time to bust out my sewing machine!  I knew I took that sewing class for a reason! 
Now to only find the time to try to make some of her creations!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Church

We have been attending Fall Creek Baptist Church for the past few months.  I am really enjoying the sermons from Pastor John!  He talked about everyone reading through the bible in a year, so Chris and I are reading through the bible chronologically using youversion.  It's great so far!
The Sunday School classes are set up a little different.  Each class teaches something different and you choose which one you would like to go to.  We are attending one that is studying the book, Shepherding a Child's Heart.  I am really enjoying the book and I am happy Chris is going through it with me.  This helps in keeping our parenting on the same page as each other.   

Tyler is in 6th grade, so he is in the youth group!  He loves it!  They do so much together. 
Jacob helps out in the children's church with the younger kids after Sunday School.  He really enjoys being a helper.
Jacob, Zach, and Logan all do Awana on Sunday nights!  It's nice for me and Chris because Tyler's youth group meets Sunday nights too.  So, we only have Mason and Kyndal to hang out with, which is great quality time with them.
We have been searching for a church for almost 2 years.  We have visited a few different church's.  Some we only spent a couple of weeks at and others we've spent more time at.  They were all good church's, but we just felt like that's not where God wanted us, so we continued our search.  It's funny, everywhere we have visited, we are always the largest family!  We always get noticed for having so many kids, but I think everyone is shocked to see five boys and only one girl!  We really like where we are now and we are thinking about making this our home Church!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Family Update


Earlier today, we went to Ben and Ari's to have Zach's birthday party!  It was a great place for the kids to hang out and play.  Zach was so excited to see some of his friends from school!  He has a crush on one of the little girls that came!  I think she likes him back, very cute! 



Big news is that Mason is pretty much potty trained and Kyndal is walking alot more!  They are so cute when they play together!  They get along so well!  I love that they are so close in age, only about 15 months apart!  Mason was playing peek a boo with her using an ice cream!


Here is another picture of Kyndal since she's not looking in the other photo!  I love dressing her up and fixing her hair, now that she is getting some!



It's amazing how quiet a house can be when just a few people are missing. Chris, Zach and Logan are all at the basketball game. Tyler, Jacob, Mason, Kyndal, Bella, Rocky and I are still here at the house, yet it is awfully quiet. The three of them must be the loud ones!!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Lives Changed

My son, Zachary, turned 7 yrs old today. 



So much has changed in our lives over the last seven years.  Seven years ago, if you would have told me how my life would be now, I would have told you that you were crazy and laughed in your face!  Life was very different then.  We lived with so much sin in our lives.  We only had 3 children.  I didn't think I wanted anymore children after we had Zach, ha ha, that seems funny now.  We had just moved into our house a couple of weeks before Zach was born.  I felt like something was lacking in my life.  My mom had been telling me I should go to church and make some friends.  So, when Zach was 3 months old, I passed by a church and saw their sign and decided to try it out.  Chris wasn't interested, so I just took the 3 boys and I went without him.  I thought I was going to church to make friends and I found so much more!  I found God, someone I use to know, but hadn't been close to for many years. 
Chris came to church with me the following week.  We started attended church on a regular basis over the next year.  A month before Logan was born, Chris accepted Christ.  Our lives have made a 180.  We are such better parents now than we were without Christ!  I'm excited to see what the next seven years look like for our family!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

I'M A NUT!

I have this whole process I go through to go grocery shopping!  First I have to figure out a menu.  So I create a menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the whole week.  Then I can start my list.  I type of up my list and it is color coordinated for daycare food, groceries for our family and non grocery items.  I then alphabetize it.  It makes it easier to find everything, although my husband totally makes fun of me.  When I get to the store it always takes two carts.  People look at me like I'm crazy for pushing and pulling a cart through Walmart.  And if they happen to catch a glimpse at my grocery list, they think I'm very organized, but totally crazy!  When I get to the Milk isle, we use at least 8 gallons a week.  People love to make comments to me, about how I'm going to take all the milk or why don't you save some for the rest of us!  Funny, haha!  So, finally when I'm done getting everything, I go get in line at the registers.  I'm worse than most people with 2 carts.  I have to pay for things on separate orders.  One for daycare, one for groceries for us and then the rest for non grocery items.  Why do people get behind me when they see I have 2 CARTS of groceries and get angry when it takes forever!!!   I try to warn people who get behind me, they're like, oh it's fine.  By the time I'm halfway through getting checked out, they are annoyed and throwing their items back in their cart to go to a different line!!  I warned them! So, I'm the NUT who takes forever at the register, hopefully you never end up behind me!

Monday, January 2, 2012

BED HOGS!!

So, we have two other member's of our family that I have not mentioned yet.  They are our dogs, Bella and Rocky.  Bella is full blooded German Shepherd and she is 1 yr old. 

Rocky is half German Shepherd and half Alaskan Malamute and he is 15 weeks old. 
They are very protective, especially Bella.  She does not allow another person in the house that she doesn't know when Chris isn't home.  She will growl and bark at them if they come up to the door, espcially at men. 
They are great dogs, but they are total bed hogs.  They both love to lay in our bed at night with us.  It's a good thing we have a king size bed, because they take up alot of room!  Rocky loves to cuddle up in between me and Chris and Bella lays where ever she has room to.  Once Rocky gets bigger, I don't know how we can all fit. 
Chris may have to lay somewhere else, cause the dogs aren't willing to give up their bed!