PS!

I forgot one more very cool thing about the house we're in.

It has a detached garage. A fairly big garage {I've turned around our cars inside it during the winter when I've needed a good start to get out of our driveway - pretty big}. I wasn't praying for a garage as you may have read. But Mark was. I didn't know he was. So when we got the house he was ecstatic because, not only did it have every other thing we were praying for, it had a large garage. And boy have we needed it! Baby stuff takes up so much room...

Only My God!

Only My God

Another situation where I can only answer, only my God! Before, I shared how we sold our old house. This time I want to share how we got the one we're in now.

During the time that our old house was on the market we began looking for something to buy when it sold. I began to pray specifically for things I wanted in our new house. I figured that I could ask my big God for specifics and He could work out the details. I prayed for 4 things specifically.

I prayed for more than one bedroom and more than one bathroom. We'd lived in one bed/bath places and we needed/wanted something a little bigger. I prayed for a yard. I wasn't asking for acres but I wanted a little yard. A place we could hang out and enjoy the outside. I prayed for it to be less than 25 minutes from church. We are at the church so much that I didn't want to spend all of our free time driving all over La Plata county just to get home. And finally, I prayed for it to be $140,000 or less. This is a miracle in itself. The closer you are to town the more expensive houses are and obviously the cheaper they are, the worse shape they are in. Case in point - our old house. None-the-less, I prayed specifically. I knew God had a house for us somewhere we just had to be persistent and patient and we'd find it.

We told our realtor all the things we were looking for and I think inside she laughed. She took us to see a few places around the area and they were nice but they didn't have the 4 specifics. Most were close to town, 2 bed/2bath, a teeny tiny yard but way over our price range. We kept saying no. We knew God had a place. Eventually she got very frustrated and not long after the sale of our house, we never heard from her again. We couldn't get a hold of her and she never returned calls. She had told us that we weren't going to find what we were looking for so we needed to adjust our expectations. When we didn't, I think she gave up.

Okay, so we're still looking for this miracle house but now we don't have help. Then a friend of ours told us about another realtor in town that they liked. I got her name and planned to call her.

Then one afternoon I was walking from an appointment downtown and walked right by this woman's office. I decided to go in and introduce myself. This is miraculous because I don't usually drop by and see anyone. I almost always call to make sure I'm not interrupting anything. This was huge for me. It turns out that she was there and had a few minutes to talk. I sat down with her and told her my 4 specifics. She patiently typed them in to her computer and found 5 listings in La PLata county. Five! Only five!!! She printed them off and handed them to me. She said we could go and look at these places and if we found one we were interested in looking at then we could call her and she'd set it up.

I took my list and Mark and I began to drive around looking for our new house. One house was listed twice on accident and it was a nasty mess. No way. Another house was actually a lot further than 25 minutes so we didn't even go there. Another place was a repossessed single wide trailer that had broken out windows, dirt for the "landscape", and a broken chain link fence. I wanted to cry. So far, 4 out 5 places were not at all what I prayed for.

We almost gave up in frustration but decided to go ahead and check the final listing. We didn't have high hopes based on our experience but plugged on. I remember driving up to this house and doing a double take. I rechecked the address both on the house and my paper. I'm not saying it was a mansion but honestly it looked like it could've had a beam of sunshine from heaven with a sign saying ~this is it~ hanging above it. We immediately called our new realtor and had a look see. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 3 acres of land, and was just at our 25 minute limit. It was listed at $145,000 so we put in a bid of $136,000. She countered with $139,000 and the house was ours. For less than $140,000! After we bought the house we heard that just one month before we came on the scene, the previous owner was offered $139,000 and she said no way. One short month later she was willing to let it go for a price we could afford. Amazing!Only My God!

Kale's adventure

A friend of mine saw us yesterday after this adventure happend and she said, "Kale, this is gonna make a great blog story for your mama." She knows me so well :)

Yesterday, our church administrator got married. {congratulations!} The wedding was held at our church and after the ceremony everyone was outside having a cookie reception while the bride and groom were taking pictures.

I was in the building talking with some friends while Jack was finishing up his nap. Mark took Kale and Kate outside for cookies. A few minutes later a friend came down and said that Kale had been stung by a bee and that he was hysterical. Mark might need some help.

So I ran up to the other building where they were "working" on him. He was still sobbing all though he had calmed down somewhat. I couldn't believe the story I heard and the sight I saw.

Kale had been eating a cookie when he got stung by something. He, naturally, screamed. Mark came running over and Kale just kept screaming. They lifted his shirt and saw a welt on his back and assumed the bee had done his business and left. But Kale was still screaming. So Mark took him inside and was trying to calm him down. He calmed for a second but then started back up again. They finally realized that whatever was stinging him was trapped inside his shirt. They wrangled him out of his shirt and found, what we think was, a yellow jacket or wasp.

By this time a couple ladies from church were helping Mark and Kale. They brought out the first aid kit and some burn ointment to help with the stinging pain. I came in as they were putting the ointment on.

Kale insisted on bandaids because they help everything...We counted 10 stings on his front, side and back. And when we got home that night and helped him get jammies on we discovered a couple more. The poor kid got stung a dozen times at least! We felt so awful. But he had no reaction to anything and was fine a bit later after he'd calmed down all the way.

Now it's his favorite war story and he loves talking about it. He's gonna milk this one baby! And that's ok. :) I can't imagine how bad it hurt.

Playing in the sun

Tuesday, Mark took the day off so we packed up the kids and we moved to Bev-er-ly....{sorry, Beverly Hillbilly flashback - don't even comment if you have no idea what I'm talking about!}. Anyhoo, we packed up the kids and headed to our completely overpriced, under-staffed, non-toddler-kid friendly Trimble Hot Springs for 2-for-Tuesday. Whoohoo!

It was a fun day despite my issues with Trimble. We got to hang out with the Klines and the Lees and we always have a good time doing that. {again, phone camera pics, sorry!}It was yet another reminder that we desperately need to get our kids into swim lessons. When I was their age you couldn't keep me out of the water. I'd been in swim lessons since I was an infant. Kale. A much different story.

Mark took him out in the water, with arm floatie thingys, and he panicked and screamed. He and Mark wound up having a short swimming lesson together but Kale still ended up staying on the steps the entire time. Bummer. Maybe at the end of July or beginning of August we can get lessons for the boy. Just to help him not be so afraid. There is a little bit of ok-ness in being afraid of water. It will make him more cautious. However, it's not ok to panic. We need some balance here people :)Kate was fine. We pulled her around in a floatie ring and she hung out in there the most. She relaxed and had a blast. We put Jack in a float and he loved it. He didn't like the initial shock of the cool water but once he got over that, he had a blast. That made it so much easier to deal with all 3 of them. If I had to hold Jack and watch Kate it would've been way more stressful. I was glad Mark was there. There was no way I was ever gonna take all 3 by myself to a pool. Too scary for me. They need several swim lessons under their belt before I do that!

Here's a few pictures of Jack crawling on grass. He's not a big fan of grass but he's a big fan of moving around so he endures to get what he wants {Jen's keys from her purse}.

And here he is sucking on an apple core. Another of his favorite treats!

Kale and Toby playing in the grass. Trimble does have a beautiful grassy area to sit and play and bake on. I'll give them that :)

It was definitely fun, however it ended quite suddenly when we were called out of the pool due to P.I.T.P. {poop in the pool!} Ewwwwwwww. Plus it started getting cloudy. So we called it a day, showered, dressed, got in the car and the heavens opened up and downpoured. Just in time!

A sewing machine!

I don't really know what's gotten into me. I read a blog one time about things a woman was sewing. I looked at it and thought -- I could do that. So I tried. That's apparently how it got started. Just trying.

Last summer I made a quilt for my sister for her wedding. That was a huge undertaking but totally satisfying when it was completed -- not that I wanted to run out and make another quilt though. I needed a break.

Then I posted, a while back, about little bags the kids made out of t-shirts. That was fun too and they enjoyed coloring on them.

BUT THEN I found an adorable blog post about making baby stuff. Stuff like diaper clutches and diaper bags and more. Stuff people might actually use! I read them and thought, yet again, I could do that! So again, I tried.

This time I tried it out on my friend Jen. She's preggers and due to get that baby out on July 14th (scheduled C-section so everything is planned out!). I decided to try and make her a baby gift. This is what I came up with.

I made her a diaper bag, a diaper clutch and sewed some ribbon on burp cloths and washrags to match. She's totally a child of the 80's so I thought she'd dig the pink polka dots as much as I did! I think she does :)

Here's a better picture of the diaper clutch. It's made from a placemat and some fabric. Seriously! YOU can do this!

Here's a picture of the inside. It has 6 pockets on the inside and one on the outside. Plenty of room for everything. All of the washrags and burpcloths are in there along with the diaper clutch and a bottle to show how big the pockets are.

I loved her diaper bag so much I had to make one for myself. So I went back to the original website with the tutorial {CLICK HERE if you want to check it out} and then modified it a bit to fit into another type of bag. I was able to make a messenger bag. It's a bit smaller than the other bag and is obviously a bit of a different style, but it's the same basic concept. I found some way cute and funky fabric squares at Walmart and pieced those together for my little project. Here are some photos:

I took this shot cause I wanted you all to see how fabulous my underarms are -- yeah right! I just wanted you to see what it looked like on.

The front.
Here's the back. I sewed a large pocket onto the back for all of my things like keys and wallet etc..

Here the flap is open. The outside is all funky blue patterns and the inside is funky green patterns. I love all of them! It was hard to decide what I wanted to be on the outside but finally decided on blue since it's my favorite color.

And finally the inside. There are only 4 pockets inside but they fit everything perfectly. The red thing in the middle is my own diaper clutch I made myself as a practice before I made Jen's. I love it, actually, and use it all the time.

So there you go. I've been a regular sewing machine and I have no idea what's gotten into me! It makes me want to save up for a nicer actual sewing machine. I am thankful for the one I have, very much actually, but boy would it be nice to have a new one! *sigh* maybe someday ~~ when I'm really good! Ha!

Thankful Thursday ~ My family

I am thankful...
...for this sweet girly. She's been such a trooper the last few months. This is a picture of her in her fancy glasses from the eye Dr {more on that in a second} in her superhero pose. Note the stance - legs spread, hands on hips...either that's a superhero or a girl who knows too much :) I think a bit of both.

She's been through a lot, physically, this year. Walking pneumonia, strep, influenza, ear infections, colds, being on oxygen...and now eye troubles. And she's handled them all like a trooper. I'm so thankful for her ability to just keep going even when it's not fun. She doesn't always enjoy it but she presses on. The stubborness can also be a good trait! It breaks my heart to see her go through all of this but ultimately I am so thankful that none of these things are life-threatening and she is still here.

I took her to the eye Dr yesterday. You may remember in one of my previous posts about the chica I mentioned that one of her eyes randomly crossed. We've been concerned about it for a while and I finally made an appointment. The Dr's office was booked till August but they had one cancellation yesterday so we jumped on it!

The Dr checked her out {she was so stinkin' good! Once I bribed her with a sonic slushie she answered every question and did everything he asked her to.} and even dilated her eyes - hence the funky glasses - and came to the conclusion that she has Accomodative Esotopia. Basically her eyes are over-compensating for her far-sightedness and her right eye gives up and crosses. If left untreated her brain will stop using her right eye. So the treatment is glasses. My little chica is getting glasses! She will have to wear them until she outgrows this - possibly 8 or 9.

She's excited to pick out some princess glasses. Of course! We'll see if we can encourage her to wear them all the time. I told Mark that I was kinda thankful that it wasn't Kale who needed glasses. Kale is much more concerned about neatness and things that I think I'd have to clean his glasses every half hour. Kate, I think, will be a bit more laid back about that. We'll see if I am correct :)

...for this funny, caring supportive man who loves me through a lot of stuff. Here he is enjoying his fire pit...in a very small camp chair :)...for this crazy kid. He decided the other day, while it was 82 in my house, to dress up and pretend he was playing in the snow and shoveling. I don't get him all the time but I sure do love him and his sense of style!
...for this sweet, sweet smiley boy. I am so loving this age right now. Even though he is into everything and goes everywhere, he's been so much fun. His smiles, his sweet spirit, his independence and his loves. He's a nice distraction :)

My name is pride

My name is Pride.
I am a cheater.
I cheat you of your God-given destiny...because you demand your own way.
I cheat you of contentment...because you "deserve better than this."
I cheat you of knowledge...because you already know it all.
I cheat you of healing...because you're too full of me to forgive.
I cheat you of holiness...because you refuse to admit when you're wrong.
I cheat you of vision...because you'd rather look in the mirror than out a window.
I cheat you of genuine friendship...because nobody's going to know the real you.
I cheat you of love...because real romance demands sacrifice.
I cheat you of greatness in heaven...because you refuse to wash another's feet on earth.
I cheat you of God's glory...because I convince you to seek your own.
My name is Pride.
I am a cheater.
You like me because you think I'm always looking out for you.
Untrue.
I'm looking out to make a fool of you.
God has so much for you, I admit, but don't worry...If you stick with me, You'll never know.

*Beth Moore

Kate Update

I realized that I haven't given an update on my blog yet. So sorry to neglect you!

Kate is doing much, much better. We talked with our Dr on Thursday afternoon and he decided that since she was feeling better, acting better and breathing better she could go completely off the oxygen. He advised to keep the tanks for a few more days just to make sure but that he didn't think she'd need them again. We also can do nebulizer treatments as necessary and so far they haven't been.

There is still no reason - that the Dr can figure - why Kate had any breathing problems in the first place. I'm thinking that she is susceptible to any cold type virus, possibly anything in her ears, nose or throat, and that affects her lungs. The ER Dr did say that she has huge tonsils. He asked me if anyone had ever told me that. I said no but I wasn't surprised. I had mine out at 5 yrs old for similar reasons. I was sick a lot. Too bad they don't do that really anymore...

Anyway, Kate is great and we're hoping for that boring week.

We had a busy and fun Father's Day. We started off with church up at the college. 8 or 9 churches gathered up there for a big service. It was a perfect morning to be outside praising God! The kids got waaay bored - these are days that I love children's ministry. A way to teach kids about Jesus in a way that they relate and respond to. Adult sermons just don't really cut it for them. At least for my kids.

After church (which ended at 10:30 - we had no idea what to do with ourselves getting done with church before 1) we stopped at Serious Texas for Mark's favorite lunch - the Texas Taco. Seriously one of the most yummiest things ever. We took the kids home for lunch since Jack didn't get his nap and he was beginning to lose it.

After lunch the kids took naps and Mark watched The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. He was in heaven. Watching "great" old western movies with a Texas Taco in his belly, relaxing for the afternoon.

We also had a softball game last night. They'll cancel softball on Mother's Day but keep it going on Father's Day. I guess they think that dads really want to play softball so it doesn't matter. It didn't I suppose. We played and lost but it was a beautiful evening so we enjoyed being outdoors.

I think Mark had a good day. I sure hope so anyways. He's a great dad and he deserves a great day. Hope you all had a good Father's Day as well!

Happy Father's Day

We asked Kale a couple weeks ago what he wanted to be when he grew up.

His answer? "A police officer and a dad."

I think that shows how much he adores his dad and wants to be like him when he grows up. Way to go Mark. You are definitely leaving an awesome legacy. Happy Father's Day.

***************************************************

I interviewed the kids the other day about Mark. Their answers were pretty cute. Thought I'd share with you all what my kids think of dad. By the way, I talked to them at the same time (will probably do it separately next year) so many of their answers are similar. Monkey see monkey do.

1. What is something dad always says to you?

Kale: I love you
Kate: I love you so baby

2. What makes dad happy?

Kale: that I love him, I do the dishes and I shower
Kate: when I take a shower and I love him

3. What makes dad sad?

Kale: when I do something I wasn't supposed to do and when I hurt myself
Kate: when I cry and hurt myself

4. How does dad make you laugh?

Kale: when he tickles me
Kate: when he makes funny faces

5. What was dad like as a child?

Kale: scared
Kate: watches movie (? I don't know, that's what she said...)

6. How old is dad?

Kale: 33...no wait....35
Kate: 42

7. How tall is dad?
Kale: same size as me
Kate: this tall (holding up her arm to the top of her head)

8. What is his favorite thing to do?
Kale: stay with us
Kate: eat dinner

9. What does dad do when you're not around?
Kale: go to work
Kate: go to work

10. What is dad really good at?
Kale: changing poopy diapers (I swear he said that with no help from me!)
Kate: picking up toys and his room

11. What is dad not very good at?
Kale: locking up
Kate: turning lights on

12. What does dad do for his job?
Kale: makes money for us
Kate: to get clothes washed

13. What is dad's favorite food?
Kale: pasta and chicken
Kate: pasta and chicken

14. If dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Kale: Duck from WordWorld (on PBS)
Kate: a policeman or firefighter

15. What do you and dad do together?
Kale: watch TV
Kate: sing happy birthday

16. How are you and dad the same?
Kale: What? We're not the same!
Kate: ?

17. How are you and dad different?
Kale: I'm littler, he's bigger and he has glasses
Kate: ?

18. What do you love about dad?
Kale: at night when he prays and in the morning he sings ABC's
Kate: when he snuggles me

Sports Camp

This week, in addition to the other crazy happenings, was Sports Camp. It's kind of like a VBS involving sports. The kids love it! They can choose to participate in soccer, volleyball, football, cheerleading or basketball. Each night there is a practice time as well as Bible lessons and worship. It's a really great idea and our church has partnered with 3 other churches in town for two years now and it's been hugely successful. This year they had 160 kids each night!

This was Kale's first year to participate and it was actually a fluke. The age requirement is 6. It turned out though, that there were other 5 year olds being admitted and since we were going to be there we let him go ahead and try it out.

There is a reason that you have to be 6. Kale did great, loved playing soccer (yes, he was a lawn fairy but he loved it!), and loved worship. BUT it is definitely exhausting and challenging for a 5 yr old. He was up late every night, running for 2 hours, singing his heart out and trying to keep up with the big kids.

He did come home, however, every night and want to show me all the things he had learned. He's learned how to kick the ball, trap it, pass it and throw it in. It's been amazing to see the confidence he's built up this week. Not long ago he wouldn't kick the ball around with me at all. He's the type of kid that if he doesn't know how to do it or isn't good at it right away then he doesn't want to do it. Then yesterday he was begging Mark and I to go outside and kick his new soccer ball around and show off his new tricks. It was awesome. I am so proud of him.

Getting checked in. Doesn't he look so excited?

The beginning of the night. Singing the first worship songs before practice.

Love the tongue!

This takes focus people!

Silly break!

I'm a bit tired...

I love that he is sitting still, listening and focusing.
He's absorbing every word his coach is saying.

Worship again. This time a little more into it.

Here he is {in the middle} leading worship. Although he's a little distracted by the Popsicle in his hand.

I can't help it!

I'm terrible with gifts. It's been a issue for me forever and with Mark {my gift loving husband} it's worse. I never know what to get him. He doesn't always love what I do get. It just makes me nervous. And gift-giving is his love language! That just makes me break out into a cold sweat...

Anyway, for Father's Day {yes I know that it's on Sunday....} I was browsing things and trying to come up with an idea. I decided on a fire pit for the back yard. Mark loves fire. I thought he'd love to put the fire in a pit and roast things.

I was right! I was so excited to give him his gift that I couldn't wait another week to give it to him. So last Friday - because we weren't busy at all, haha! - I asked him if he wanted his gift early and of course he said yes. We set it up. And it was good. Very good.

I had also picked up some bubble things for the kids so they could have something to do while Mark assembled his present.

Mark's obvious excitement at setting up his new gets-to-play-with-fire-fire pit.

Random kid pictures of bubble blowing {random pictures not random kids...}

Bubble blower/sword

I'm pretty sure there are bubbles in here....somewhere.

Maybe if I blow them up to the sky....

And here's the pit, in the dirt, in the backyard and no, Kate did not shovel around it. I did.

The happy hot dog and marshmallow roasting and eating, fire-watching family. So happy for fire.

Can I just tell you how stinkin' hard it is to keep this adorable, snot-nosed, squirmy-wormy out of the dirt?

It's hard!