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October 29 My GirlsWe had a great weekend together...just the girls. Steve was away on a retreat at Penn York and we ran errands, took great naps and then went swimming at the YMCA. We had so much fun! I realized that I don't spend enough time during the week with them...especially Emily. During the week I take care of their needs...making meals, cleaning up afterwards, picking up toys, brushing teeth, dressing, reading stories, doing bedtime routine...etc. Idon't have the time to play or just hang out with them...we hung out this weekend and I loved it. I must be a terrible Mom to only hang out with my kids one day a week. Emily is learning new words everyday...and learning more about how life works. It is amazing to see her become a person. I love this stage right now!! When we were in the pool I had her in a lifevest and as she was floating I told her kick her feet like she was a fishy...and she smiled big and laughed as she kicked up a storm. But it was like she "got it." She knows about our fishies and when I said she was a fishy she thought that was so great! My baby didn't get that this summer. She is saying "Oh Toodles" with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and says, "Boo-Bah!!!" Every time she sees Dora. She recognizes and understands so much around her. She is stinking adorable!! Even the workers in the church nursery told me today she is talking more every week. So I feel so sad that she is growing so fast...and I'm busy and tired every day. It stinks.
Hannah is walking so great. Just a small limp now. She is drawing so well. Her teachers told me she is the youngest in the class and one of the best artists and one of the best readers in the class. I am so proud of her. She is a real sweetheart. She loves finding every new word on every sign, letter, tv, or product. Each week when she learns new sight words I find mysterious circles around words like THE, LITTLE, AM, TO...etc. on our bills, newspapers, or any paper that we leave laying around. She just does that on her own. I love it!
So, The next 2 weeks will be busy but then we should have more family time after that..including birthdays to celebrate. By Thanksgiving I will drop over dead, but at least my girls will know that I love them more than this life itself! October 27 Hannah's WalkingWow, Hannah has been making some great progress this week. On Wednesday out of the blue she said, "Mommy, watch this..." and she started walking! That was it! She is walking stairs now and walking all over school without the stroller. She's doing great. It is sooo refreshing!
Emily and I are spending our sacred Friday together playing babies. She tries to undress every baby doll she has and Mommy has to put all the clothes back on. Great game.
 We have only had 6 rehearsals for the FLM production and next rehearsal we are supposed to be off-book. Steve is gone all weekend so we can't really run lines together. We're a little worried about that. If you think of it, please pray for us. We open November 10th!
Thanks! October 17 The Gifts of the MagiSteve and I are going to be FLM's next dinner theater, "The Gifts of the Magi." We are playing the married couple who sells their only precious possessions to buy each other one Christmas gift. It is a beautiful story with AWESOME music. The performances are November 10 & 11 at 7:30 and November 17 & 18 at 7:30. Hope you can come to see it!
We only considered doing this because they had a great need to fill these parts and rehearsals are after school so we still can do normal bedtimes and worship team commitments. Plus the show will be over in a few weeks. Until then please pray for us... we are tired, and learning music like crazy!! We are working with Darren Litz, Denny & Sandy Brownlee, and Mr. Dave. And fulfilling a great passion in both of our lives! October 15 Dewey Decimal SystemI got an email yesterday and had read it before, thought it was nice, but didn't give it much attention. Then I took communion today at church and the Lord brought it back to my mind and it hit me in a new way.
The email was about a high school boy who wrote this essay for school. He said he dreamed he was in a library and the entire room was full of drawers of cards...organized by topic, like the Dewey Decimal System. Each drawer was labeled: Girls I've Liked, TV shows I've Watched, Impure Thoughs I've Had, Acts of Kindness I've done...etc. He said as he pulled out each drawer and looked at the cards, they recorded every detail of his entire life...in extreme detail. Every card was written in his own handwriting and signed by him. He was guilty to reread the impure thoughts & he was shocked to see how much TV he had watched. Then there was a file named, People I've Shared the Gospel With and he was embarrassed to see only a few cards in it. He was so embarrassed he felt he could never let anyone into this room to see these cards. Just then he turned around to see Jesus Christ standing there.
He was so utterly scared and embarrassed and deperate for Christ not to open any drawers...but He did. He seemed to go to all the worst possible drawers. He pulled out a card and the boy cringed as Christ read it...then He signed His name over the boy's in bright red. The boy cried out, "NO!!" as Christ owned all the horrible things the boy said and did. As if Christ reading them wasn't enough...He was writing His name over the boy's on every card. The boy was terribly humbled and broken as he collapsed on the floor and weeped. Then Christ came over not to barrage him, but simply to sit on the floor and weep with him. Christ said, "It is finished." and led him out of the room.
Soooo, this morning in church I was reminded that I'm a sinner and Christ's name has covered mine in all of my sins. Even in my selfish, inner most part that no one has ever seen. The problem with being a Christian in a great church and working in ministry full time...is taking that simple fact for granted. Think about that room...with YOUR thoughts recorded, with YOUR actions cataloged. We truly owe Christ nothing less than the rest of our lives. October 13 Hannah is free from her castHannah went to the doctor today and got her cast off. It was a very cool procedure. I have pictures of it but can't upload them from the camera directly to the computer... so without a CD burner I'm stuck until we take the pics off the cam and put them on a CD at work. Sorry!
Anyway, they used a saw that sliced right through the fiberglass cast, but doesn't do a thing to skin. Amazing! she was a trooper and is now free! She had her first bath tonight in 6 weeks and didn't want to get out. I let her in there for like 45 minutes. Her knee has been bent for 6 weeks so she is slowing stretching it out, but the Dr. said it will be serveral days before she will be comfortable walking on it and it will be stiff for some time. Her skin is a little yellow and peeling, but doing well. She actually got to wear two shoes home from the Dr. today!
 Thanks for all the love, cards, and gifts during this time. We appreciate it so much! We are looking forward to a nice weekend. Steve's event at FLM was cancelled so we get to be home together all weekend! Tomorrow we are going shopping for new flooring for our whole upstairs; a housewarming gift from my parents. Thanks, Mom & Dad! October 11 No Daylight Savings Time!!!I hereby am starting a petition to NOT turn the clocks back this fall. If I get every Mom on the internet on board with this, could we do it? My Hannah has slept in until 7:00 the last two mornings. It is 7:15 and I still don't hear the "thump, thump" of hop-a-long. If you know Hannah you are saying, "WOW!" If you don't let me tell you that she has an internal clock that gets her up between 5:45 and 6:15 every morning no matter what time she has gone to bed. I don't know what has happened but I'd give anything for it to continue!  October 09 A Day OffOn this Columbus day Steve took his comp day and Hannah had off school. I went in to work for a few hours and stayed a little later to work on my blog on a fast computer...what a difference! I am much less frustrated today and I think it looks pretty good!
 The people we bought the house from are finally moving out completely today. They had stuff in the laundry room, garage, cellar, crawl space, entry room, barn, and shed. Does that give you any idea how much room we now have? We are completely moved in and unpacked and haven't even tapped these spaces yet! We are so blessed. These people have saved our financial lives...not that we were in dire straights, but we now have a great house, land to call our own, and lots of equity already. They have just blessed us and gave out of what the Lord had given them. We are so grateful and can't wait to pass the blessings on when God chooses to put us in that position.
Enjoying a BEAUTIFUL day at home with my fam...life doesn't get better than this.
October 08 Here I am! Breaking into the 21st century! When I graduated high school in 1994 I had never heard of the internet. I went to college and noticed people spent an awful lot of time just sitting in front the black monitors in the mass computer labs. When I would talk to some of my friends from high school they would ask me what was my email address, it would be so much easier to stay in touch. I said, "what is email?" And just never got around to learning it until I was a junior in college!So here I am 12 (oh GOOD LORD!) years later breaking into the blog world after my friends are all doing it and saying how great it is for keeping in touch. Well, I'm all for keeping in touch and relationships are very important to me. So I'm stretching myself for the opportunity to stay in touch better...not to mention the added perk of showing off my beautiful family to all of cyberspace.
Now, we have a computer that is as old as our marriage. Setting this site up and uploading pictures and trying to figure out how to do what I want has not been easy. My computer is slower than ...(I can't think of silly similies like that; where is Vaughn??) IT IS SLOW! And it freezes up and I want to scream. So, all that to say that there are stupid things about this site that I have yet to fix...don't know how, or if I keep trying my computer might end up in the street. Two in particular...how do I delete the unwanted photo ablums I started and how do I enter my age (not that I want to)? I tried to enter numbers but they would not take. Oh well. If you have any advice for me as I meander this 21st century highway, let me know!
Quick update: We have finally moved to a BIG HOUSE! We have lots and lots of room, a big big yeard where we can play football, and a big big table with lots and lots of food at 240 Beartown Rd. We are incredibly blessed. The Lord gave us this house and is providing more than we asked or imagined.
Hannah fell and broke her leg the day after we moved in and is in a full leg cast until Friday. When the emergency room told us it was a sprained knee, we sent her to her first day of kindergarten and made her walk on it! When I was called in to come get her we took her to an orthopedic who immediately put her in a cast. She's doing great and has been such a trooper. I really want to show photos of Hannah's cast and our new house, but the computer kept freezing up when I tried to add those news ones in. AGH! I will try another time.
Thanks for whoever might be reading this. It is nice to know that our fmaily is important to some and we love you!
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