Misc. Pictures of our days!!!

Last Sunday was Becca's trumpet recital. (She is the 2nd from the left...) I think this was her 3rd recital and she has been taking lessons for just over 2 years. We are really excited about how much she has improved lately! (Goodness, that sounds critical, doesn't it? I meant, simply, that she has kind of matured in her abilities now. She does a pretty good job for a 7th grader!) She has played in church once and she and one of the other girls, the first girl on the left, who is a friend of hers, are planning to get together with the girl's father and create a little group to play at church. Exciting times! Becca isn't terribly thrilled about playing in public but I told her that she needs to honor God with what He has allowed her to do! Yeah, so she's playing at church.....

Last week, my dear hubby took me out to eat for my birthday...age will go untold...but I am NO spring chicken! ANYWAY, we ate outside and from the little terrace where we at, we could see the little gazebo where Roger asked me to marry him! At that time, he had made me believe that we were going out to eat along this little strip of quaint shops and restaurants and then he asked me to come over to the gazebo. I was really getting pretty hungry and wasn't terribly interested in the gazebo right then but when he dropped on one knee and "popped the question", my hunger somehow dissipated! We never did go to the nearby restaurant that night! Instead, we went to a Japanese restaurant where ALL of our children and one little grand boy was waiting for us! They all started cheering as we went in...evidently they were all in on the big engagement secret! There were 14 of us then and our blessings just keep growing!!

This is the new room for our most recent blessing, Liam, due in a month or so! His mommy and daddy have been working hard to make his nursery so very cute for him! In the middle of the picture, there is a football toy box that had belonged to Danny, Liam's daddy, when he was just a little guy! I think either my parents or I bought it for him for his 3rd birthday!

Erin got this wonderful giraffe at her baby shower! Isn't it incredible??

This young lady is a girl after my own heart! Erin is proudly showing me the pair of designer jeans she was able to purchase at Goodwill for a DOLLAR!!

Jennie, Becca and I went shopping today and I called Erin to ask her if Liam needs anything else. She said that he could use some shorts but that's about it. Soooo...we went to the baby stores in the mall and spent too much money. We really didn't get what we were looking for and on the way home, tired and with aching feet, we stopped at a children's consignment shop. They were having a sale on certain baby items...buy one get one free! We were able to get the shorts Erin needed and upon calling her AGAIN, we decided to buy him some jeans in slightly larger sizes!

I spent less in that store and bought probably 8 or 9 things than I did in ONE of the mall stores! Guess what's going back??? I am keeping one or two things to take to the hospital when he makes his big appearance, but I am much happier with the consignment shop shorts and jeans than with the Gymboree and Children's Place clothing! Good Grief!! What was I thinking????

Well, Becca is trying to be patient with me...her trumpet lesson starts in about 20 minutes so I guess I should take her, right? Tomorrow starts my long hard weekend...these 30 hours are really beginning to take their toll on me. I may decide to look for another job within the hospital I am working for!!

God bless you, my friends! You mean a LOT to me!

Beth

Pretty Pictures!

Thirteen year old Rebecca is entering Photography in 4H again this year so last week I took Jennifer and Becca and grand daughter Seraphina to Marian University in Indianapolis to take pictures of the Japanese prayer house. We dressed little 18 month old Seraphina in an Oriental outfit and the older girls snapped lots of pictures.

Isn't this beautiful? They have so many pictures and probably tomorrow we will get them developed and decide which ones are the best! Seraphina was a pretty good sport and she looked so pretty...of course, I'm a bit biased, I must say! By the way, the outfit was only $2.99 at Goodwill!! Becca has been studying China and Japan so she is incorporating that study into some of her projects for 4H! (Kind of a nice "end of the year" display for her, I guess! We used to belong to a homeschool group that had a year end open house to display items the students did but we are no longer living in that area.)

Ok, yeah, the dress was a bit too long for her....but in the farther away pictures, you couldn't tell. We are also intending to print out some 4X6 or larger photos and frame them to use as gifts to Seraphina's Mommy and Daddy AND for Grandpa Roger! Ssshhhh!!!!

Last Wednesday night, my hubby told me we needed to go to bed early. I agreed. However, he had ALREADY told Rebecca to stay up and bake me this cake! "Early"...being about 10pm...and poor Becca had to BEGIN to bake the cake at that hour AND to keep it a secret from me AND clean it all up before she could go to bed! Roger then took the cake to work with him and decorated it for me after 5 p.m. What secrecy that had to take! Aren't they sweet?

Roger bought me this purse for my birthday! He was somewhat disappointed that I didn't recognize the "brand name" on it. ( I love purses and he was sure that I would know this designer...I know a few but usually I buy my purses from #1 Goodwill #2 Salvation Army #2 Walmart #4 Kohl's clearances!!! ) I do like it and I appreciated it that he went shopping for me! He also bought me some earrings. I got flowers from Gideon (who rode his bike to the grocery store to get them!) and a new Beverly Lewis book from Marci!

We've been trying to sift through our junk and get rid of things. We will probably try to get our house on the market in a while...we are planning to do some work on it first updating the appliances and flooring. Kind of worries me a bit, I am sure that we won't get the money back out of the house. But some things just have to be done. After all, people USUALLY expect the stove's burners to work, the refrigerator and freezer to operate correctly and the dishwasher's upper rack to stay in place....Imagine that!! I told Roger that we probably ought to keep the old appliances just in case we are desperate for them when we DO get into another house! (I think I will get rid of the refrigerator, though! It is now 20 years old and wow, do we need another one!

I cleaned it out top to bottom last night and this morning, though! It doesn't RUN any better but it looks and smells nicer!!

Bright and Shiny Birthday Morning and an Urgent prayer request...

Isn't this a gorgeous picture? Becca took it a few weeks ago when we were hiking in Turkey Run State Park. (I think Indiana might be the only state to have a State Park with a strange name like Turkey Run!! Maybe we're a little backwards? It's a gorgeous park, though, and I believe that there might still be some wild turkeys roaming around...I'm not sure. I was awake early one morning while spending the night there several years ago and went on a hike by myself. I saw something that might have been a wild turkey but it just MIGHT have been a turkey buzzard...who knows!!)

I have an important prayer request!! My 23 year old son, who has JUST started on a southern Indiana police force, called me at 11:30 at night a couple of days ago and scared me to pieces! I was just SURE that his little precious wife had gone into premature labor. She hadn't, but what he called me about is much scarier than that. It seems that while on an arrest and car search, he was poked by a heroin needle. Now he has to go through almost a month of treatment to prevent him from getting something terrible and life threatening. He is NOT tolerating the medication well at all and his wife is so extremely upset. They need prayer. Please pray for him to NOT get anything from the needle and for God to strengthen his body against the medication. Also, please ask the Lord to quiet Erin's troubled heart and help her not to be afraid and worried.

They are soooo incredibly precious to me.

Sooo....today is my birthday and I decided to treat myself to a birthday present! I am just ready to step out the door and drive to visit Danny and Erin! I haven't seen him in possibly two months or more and that would be a wonderful present to myself, to get to spend a little time with them. I have seen Erin lately but not Danny since he is working some strange hours. They live about an hour away, which isn't far, but it is also a good chunk of your day when you are trying to figure out a time when THEY can be available AND when we're not busy with babysitting and so on! We are going to see their decorated baby nursery today! I'm sure it is adorable!!

Then, I'm going to see my parents and they are going to go to Taco Bell and get me a large raspberry Iced Tea!! Yum Yum!! Isn't that crazy, that I love raspberry tea that much??? I had a migraine the other day and my dear dear hubby stopped at Taco Bell and got me a big glass of it to bring home to me! (I don't know why he would do that, every time we go out to eat and if they have raspberry iced tea, I order it. THEN, when he goes to the salad bar, the restroom, or wherever, I switch his glass of diet coke with my raspberry iced tea! When he comes back, he takes a BIG drink of his "coke" and gags and makes a terrible face because I have tricked him!! He is not a fan of my iced tea!!!! He falls for it every time!!! It is a hoot!!

Anyway, thanks for sending up a prayer for my boy and girl. (and their baby...)

I'm going to try to enjoy this day and try not to worry so much. I know that my hubby and kids here at home have something concocted for my birthday...there is much whispering going on!

Have a lovely day!

Nasty Old Economy!!!!

Oh dear...we got our appraisal back for our house and it was really really bad! I'm not sure what we are going to do...not much we CAN do about it, I suppose. In this current economy, we seem to have lost $100,000 at least on the value of our home. We had intended to sell it and pay a small modest home off (or close to it) and now we aren't certain of what we can do. We still need to stay in a certain area due to my babysitting the grandkids and the location of our jobs. There are sweet little homes in the counties surrounding Indianapolis that are affordable but the distance might be too great especially for our children who depend on me to take care of our precious grandchildren.
I'm sure that God will provide but it is certainly upsetting. We have been praying for God's leading and directing our lives. We are pretty certain that we aren't supposed to stay here since our house payment and expenses will SOON be more than we can afford.

I usually have this little "plan" in mind of HOW He is going to work in us and through us and MY plan just doesn't seem to be working out! Didn't GOD get MY memo??? I really don't mean that to sound disrespectful or irreverent but isn't that how WE sometimes think? I mean, I have everything all planned out and then HE doesn't do what I want HIM to do! Oh dear, I think I'm a Diva......

God provided for Elijah by having ravens feed him and then by the widow woman feeding him! Our wonderful God provided for the widow woman by her obedience to God in taking care of Elijah!!

I am sure He will provide just the right thing for us and we will be sooo grateful for His provision for us. He loves us and we are His children!

Part of my "plan" includes adopting from foster care or foreign adoption. I was hoping that we would have enough money from our current home that could help us adopt from Ethiopia or somewhere. That doesn't seem to be happening. Roger is thinking more about adopting from foster care in the United States. I honestly don't care where but I think that there are some issues in adopting from Foster Care that intimidate me a bit. I guess that's where faith comes in.
I'm also concerned about the SIZE of house that we can afford. I was hoping to be able to find a house that would have enough bedrooms to ALLOW us to adopt. We currently have an extra bedroom all ready.....

I was thinking about the failure of our lot purchase and the little house we were going to have moved not working out. I told Roger that perhaps there were issues with that house that would have been unhealthy for us, such as asbestos or mold. Maybe God was protecting us from it.
Roger simply answered that it doesn't matter...it wasn't God's plan and that we should be able to accept that. RATS....I hate it when he is so much better than me....!!!!! hahahaha. (I am so grateful to have a husband like him! ...and he's cute, too....)

So, that's what's been going on, another chapter in our saga of our house.

What's been goin' on!!!!

It's been a while since I've posted anything...we've been very very busy! I am watching little grandy kids two days a week and working my 30 hour weekends as well as homeschooling. The girls are a BIG help with the little ones! This picture was taken on Easter...Dylan goes to kindergarten but I did have him on Spring Break and it was just a JOY! Brody is now 3 months old and sooo skinny...oops...did I say skinny?? He's kind of chunky and so precious and smiley! Seraphina is 17 months old and so very precious! She's learning new things every day and one of my favorite things is to see her walk up to me and with the tiniest little voice, say, "hi." Melts my heart!!

My hubby installed these antique windows...two of them...about a year ago but I just wanted to share them with you! I love them!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our bedroom is fairly clean and neat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has only taken 3 years to get things organized enough to share a picture with you! I just love our bed...we bought it at a good discount...I can't remember the manufacturer, for some reason, I keep thinking it is Lane but that doesn't sound right, either. We bought it at Direct Buy...by the way, I have my own opinions about Direct Buy...I'm SURE they wouldn't put ME on a commercial for them.....'nuff said.

My hubby installed the blinds in our bathroom two nights ago and I just love them! We had been having a "makeshift" curtain looped over a curtain rod and then I lined up pretty linen napkins to make a "valence" but I like this soooo much better! It was an expense that we didn't want to do but since we are considering selling our house, it seems like we need to invest a little bit of money to update it a bit.

My girlies and I are off to see a movie and maybe get something to eat...they have helped me soooo very much lately that it is time to just have a good time together!

Have a happy day!

Blessings to you all!