merry CHRISTmas

The Birth of Jesus

 ¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while^[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

 ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

 ⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

 ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

 ¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

 ¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:1-20 (New International Version, ©2010)

It was time!

So I have mentioned before I believe that a few years ago I had a test done to see if I might have Celiac's well one of the test results came back indicating that I might have it. At the time I knew my Aunt had it and she no longer could eat bread and it scared me horribly. So did some research and saw that the test results can be wrong so easily in fact it's common for people to get a negative result but still have it and vice versa have a positive result and not have it. So I went with that and convinced my gasterenterologist that I felt fine and would wait for the biopsy.

Ok so fast forward to today. I've had some other medical issues along the way with blood pressure issues and anemia issues durning my pregnancies. I also do have as horrible of IBS as I use to have but it still affects my life. Now I am struggling the last few years with this mood type depression issues, inablity to lose weight, funky test results that lead no where, and even still losing hair like I'm pregnant. So I made the call today to the Dr to get this biopsy done once and for all! I also have seen many symptoms in each of the kids. Maddie has horrible tooth enamel problems and has way to many cavities for someone who brushes as much as she has in her life. She also has been very slow for gorwing in both weight and height. They were very concerned about her about a year ago that I really should have done something then!

In the meantime I need to not change my diet because that will affect the test but I also really want to lose this weight. I am praying that I can get this test done ASAP so I can start a new lifestlye change if need be. One of the first orders of business if I do have Celiac's diesase is to find a protein powder that is glueten free and get this weight gone before introducing new types of carbs! I want to make a huge change in my life no matter the outcome but I need to cross this test off my list. Please prayer for a fast test date so I can truly move forward!

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish every one a Happy Thanksgiving.  I know I have so much to be thankful for this year and it all comes from the one who made me!  I hope you all have a wonderful day and are able to reflect on the many blessings in your lives!!!

Please Vote but...

Of course there is a but because even though we are doing the right thing by making our voices heard we also need to remember that God puts people into places for a reason. We honestly do not have ultimate control as he is the one taking care of us and making his will for us. We need to do as Peter talks about and be mindful that even if the rulers that are put into place are not the Christian leaders we seek for our lives we need to respect them and honor their rules. We may not agree on things that they do and it's okay to feel that way but we can not slander then because then we are slandering God who created them and orchestrated their lives. He has purpose for everything and we need to trust that he will take care of us even in times of bad leaders!

"13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. 16 Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. 17 Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."

1 Peter 2:13-17 (New International Version © 2010)

Spend, Save, Give

As Joel and I go through the Financial Peace University Program in small groups our kids are also going through FPU Jr in their Kids Church Programs.  For Joel and I we are so shocked that just the awareness of our money flow has made a huge change in our financial situation.  Our kids though have truly started to look at money in a different way and it so neat to see them going through this.  I would have never thought that instead of feeling how are we ever going to get ahead and save for the future could truly be changed by such simple steps and a mind awakening.   Now we can start putting our money to things that would please God and it's all from trusting Him to give us what we need.

As we proceed into the future our outlook for the kids future of money has changed as well.  With the Spend, Save, Give plan we are showing them to be wise and also to honor God in the process.  We have changed it a bit because we also feel that they need to save for more than just their current wants.  So we have broken down the percents of how the incoming money is broken down.  They get to have 40% for Spend, 30% Save, 20% Long term Savings, and 10% Give.  I can see that for the most part the girls are planning for now only keeping a very small amount of the Spend and putting the rest into their Save for their next awesome purchase.  It's so great to see that!

I hope that by next month I can truly say that the 2 credit cards we are planning to pay off are paid off and closed accounts.  They aren't interest growing ones just those pesky no interest pay plans we set up to buy things from certain stores.  How ever they keep money from going to other things.  At a long term plan we hope to be 100% Credit Card Debt free by end of summer and hopefully by Sept 2012 we hope to have no payments for anything but the house!  That is the point we will be screaming we are debt free.  So we will fully pay off the student loans of mine, the camper, and our car all about 4-6 years early saving us money in the long term too!!!

Updating

So today was a day to see where things are at Post Operative for Allie and both of the girls in school.   It kept me pretty busy because it was also a school day for Logan as well.  Allie is doing well and was given the okay to go back to school on Friday.  Granted they do not have school Friday so she will go back next week.  It was also our ENT's last day before retirement so it was nice to see him one more time.  We will see a new doctor in the office next time we go.  So that was a nice visit with good news about her progress.

Conferences went well for both girls as well.  Maddie has come such a long way since she was in Kindergarten and it's so awesome to see how great of a student she is!  The only concern is that she needs to slow down and put her best effort forward to each task at hand or problem instead of trying to look ahead to the next.  It's not a huge issue but one to take care of now.  Allie is doing really good as well and is right where see needs to be.  The only thing that her teacher would love to see come out of Allie as the year goes is for her to exhibit her self confidence.  She is really quite and hard to get to talk to groups without prodding.  It also applies to writing workshop and just giving her sentences a try.  We are going to try and work on both here at home as best as we can.

TRX...

Holy cow so today I got myself back to a class at the gym.  I was a bit nervous because it involved a new system called TRX and it looked really hard.  It was not as hard as it look but it really pushed me to new levels in my workout.  I have a feeling after doing that for 30 mins plus a 30 min kickboxing session as well that I am going to be sore for days!  Granted it felt so good to go and I totally plan on going back.  I can't wait to be more than just on top of my financial plan but to really be true to a healthier lifestyle of eating right and working out at a consistent rate.

Baby Bear

Our Allie Bear had surgery today to have her adenoids and tonsils removed and had T-tubes put back in. I was not worried as much about the actual surgery but the post op time worried me some. She has had some really yucky coughs along the way and I was worried that if she started to cough it would make things start to bleed. Thank goodness that did not happen and she did really well. She did have some face swelling mostly in the lip area due to the tubes and clamps around her mouth. It make it so we had to stay for an extra hour but she did awesome. She doesn't seem to be in too much pain at this point but it's not going to be as obvious until tomorrow because she has been given some good meds. Hopefully we can keep her drinking and just get back to normal. I know that they prayers have helped us to get to now and some more for the next week or so would be appreciated!

Happy Birthday Logan

I can not believe that 3 years ago today our little man came into our world.  He may be a bit of chaos at times but there is so much love and personality in that little guy that I know our lives would be very boring without him.  He is starting preschool this fall and he's potty trained.  It's so hard to believe how fast it went and there are times when I miss holding that bitty little guy.  Granted that is pushed away wit thoughts of how much work he was as well at that age.  We are looking forward to his party tomorrow.

Extended Camping Weekend

That is exactly what we are getting ready to do.  We so need some downtime where the kids can play and enjoy themselves while Joel and I do not need to worry about all of the things that need to be done around here.  So we are off here tomorrow afternoon and we are all very much looking forward to it!!!  I hope you all have as great of a weekend that I know we will have.

10 years

How cow is about the best thing to say at this point because I can not believe it's already been 10 years in some ways because of how fast it has gone since I married my Best Friend. In other ways though I can not remember times that he was not part of my life. We have had an awesome 1 decade with so many of the great big things people strive for. We got married and less than a year later we bought our first home and got a dog. Two years later we had our first child followed by 2 more over the following 5 years. We now have a almost 3 year old starting preschool in the fall, a 5 year old starting Kindergarten in the fall, and an couple of s away from 8 year old going into 3rd grade. It's just crazy to look back and see where we were and where we are now. I could not have asked for anything else, right down to the little bumps and pot holes. I would not want to go through even the tougher times with any one else but someone who knows me and accepts me for everything I was created as and for. God could not have blessed me any more than He has!!! I am so thankful for the last 10 years and the special trip we were able to take in February to celebrate this time. Looking forward to see what the next decade brings us!

Memorial Day Weekend

This weekend was a fun and busy weekend. We left on Thursday afternoon to go camping up in Ludington. We stayed at our favorite campground called Poncho's Pond where they have so much for the kids to do. We really like the fact that there is an indoor and outdoor pool to enjoy depending on the weather. The playground is really great too.

Our first night was interesting because Logan took a bit to settle in as usual but the bigger problem was his peapod bed tent falling off from the dinette bed because he had moved so much going to sleep. So that took another 2 hours for him to settle in and he still woke up at 7am. We still had a good day on Friday and the kids just love going swimming. Logan got a new life vest/swimming aid that has given him a ton of freedom. I will get some videos and pictures posted soon as my laptop is still out of commission (a whole different post).

The second night was a ton better and on Saturday we got Allie the same swimming thing and she took to the water better than she ever has.  We just spent the day playing on the playground, swimming, and relaxing on our camping site.  The same thing happened on Sunday as well.  I was even able to reorganize the camper and finally feel like we are in a great set up for our stuff.

Monday morning we woke up to storms and rain coming off the lake and decided to pack up and head home.  We were home by 9:45am and able to get a few things done around here as well.  We spent the rest of Memorial laying low and vegging around the house.

First Camping Weekend

This weekend was a nice change of pace...well sort of. We can say we survived our first camping trip of 2010 but it did have it bumps along the way for sure! It started off smooth and easy and I was able to get the camper down to the campsite and set up while Allie and Logan did nap time. It seemed like it might be an easier year with Logan being a bit older now so we were excited to see if it did go that way. Well our first night was nothing but easy. We had started with the idea of Logan sleeping on the top bunk as then he would just hopefully lay down and go to sleep. That left Allie on the double bed below him and Maddie set up with a bed on the couch. That did not work as he went to the part of the bunk that did not have a rail to lean over and talk to Allie as soon as we put him into bed. So we immediately switched Allie and Logan and just prayed he would stay in the bed. Not a chance!!! He was up till almost 11pm trying to climb into our bed. Then he woke up at 5:40 am as if he slept his normal 11 hours. In an effort to keep him quiet I gave him a snack and some milk. Once he had waken the girls less than an hour later and we were feeding them breakfast the threw up all of that snack and milk for us all to enjoy. We cleaned the mess up and just came home early like I talked about in a previous post.

Allie also had a rough afternoon because she was tired and refused to do her BM's in the camper and insisted on going home to do so. It took us almost 3 hours to figure out why she kept asking to come home and not stay camping to realize she had an upset tummy and would only go at home. That night for sleep we put Logan into the pack and play that he is much to long for but he totally slept there without an issue. Another plus is that Maddie went back to the top bunk and Allie below her on the double. That left an extra mattress pad to be used and so we just threw it on our bed making it even more comfortable.

Sunday morning was way less eventful and even though they were all up by 7:30am it was all way better than the previous morning. We also were able to get packed up and home at a time that allowed us to get a lot done in the morning and early afternoon with some great veg time in the evening. So it was survived but lots was learned!

Mothers Day Weekend

I am yet again going to try and start using a new meme.  This one was created by a good friend of mine and it's a great way to get people to talk about their weekend.  The other great thing is as we go on trips and do exciting things as a family I'll have it all documented to read through again down the road.  Time is so precious and sometimes we forget about the important stuff.

This past weekend started off with a Tea for moms at Allie's preschool.  We met them at their classroom door where they escorted us down to the Tea room.  The kids even were taught to have their elbows extended for us moms to hold on to and they had made wrist corsages for us to wear.  When we got downstairs they had homemade place mats with two types of Flower vases for us.    We had cookies with Ice Tea and Lemonade while we watched a slide show of the kids from the year.  It was a very sweet, special, and great day with my little Allie Bear!

Saturday my mother in law came over and we spend the day with her here at our house.  She treated us to our favorite Chinese restuarant.  Then we had Strawberry Shortcake for our dinner.  It was a nice and relaxing day!

Sunday I was greeted by the kids with cards and a necklace that my little birthstone kid gems could actually fit on.  Maddie also presented me with a gift she had made at school.  It was "TIME Exclusive "Tina Ross chosen Mother-Of-The-Year 2010" Special Edition".   Then we spent the afternoon at my parents house with my sister and her family.  It was a great day and my husband made allowed me to relax and enjoy the entire day! 

I am working on uploading lots of photos to share with you and am trying to find the best way to do this since I have so many to share.  What photo sharing site do you use when blogging?  We have a smugmug account and I have used Flickr and Photobucket but I can not decide what is best to use to share here on my blog.  I also upload way too many pictures to Facebook.  I wish there was a photo sharing site that synced with Facebook as that would make my life so much easier all around!

Garage Sale

Well we had a last minute Garage Sale today.  I was only going to put a table out at my neighbors sale but then the stuff to sell kept adding up that it took up 5 tables and a good chuck of my front lawn. Since I ended up with so much stuff I decided to do it right here in our driveway since we are right across the street from where I was going to put a table.  Well I am so glad that I did this because I was able to make $270 and I just got done listing things on Craigslist and have already pretty much sold another $200. It feels so good to make money and get rid of things.  Now to get the Goodwill stuff out of here and it will feel so great!

Family photo

On Easter we were able to get a semi decent family photo.  I must say though looking at it I see so many things that bother me.  I really need to learn how to use the many setting on my new computer.  I also really want to get this weight off again because I so am not happy with pictures if me.  Drum roll please.....

Allie's future as a cosmetologist

Well based on today's events I do not think Allie has a future as a cosmetologist.  She decided that she needed a haircut and took care of this by herself.  Oh man did I want to break down and cry considering her hair was so pretty just yesterday and she loved me doing things to it.  So here ya go...enjoy the before, middle, and after!!!

Happy 5th Birthday Allie

5 years ago today my best April Fools joke came into my life in the form of Allie. I can not believe it has been 5 years since we had the worlds easiest baby! She really lulled us in to a false sense of security because we even decided to start trying for Logan before she was even 18 months old. Little did we know that she would become a little sneaky stinker just before little guy was born. She is still such a blessing and brings much humor into our life! She will be starting Kindergaten this fall and she can not wait. She is super excited about learning to read and do math. We love you Allie Bear!!!