Lots to do

Today I have many goals. Get some laundry done, upload photos, cut material for kate's quilt, and possibly stain a few grills in the door. I am almost done with it. I also want to work on a rough draft for Kate's birthday invitation. I realize I cannot get all this done during naptime but I want to do a little of each, as I have so much projects going on at once!  As the pictures were uploading I cut 4 peices of kate's fabric into 12 sections for her quiilt. So i am getting double done at one time. 

In the previous post I talked about Aria. If anyone feels on their heart to donate to her family, you can contact brookchelmo@hotmail.com. (Aria's father)  They are doing some fundraising this weekend, so pray that it would be successful. Also, all this rain and wind is really discouraging. Pray that we wouldnt get much, if any, rain this weekend. We don't need it at all. Yet, I am confident God will provide, even if this isnt what we want.

Also, last night I was with some ladies at church and met for supper in Hallock, and went to the green house to get some planting tips and to shop around a bit. I got a rose bush for the backyard and some vegetables for our brand new garden! Hopefully the rain will clear up so we can plant it soon.

I did a little picture taking this week. Here they are! None are edited, b/c photoshop could not be downloaded on our upstairs computer.Some need to be lightened, and some need to be toned down. One is a card I made recently, and the next is our growing flower bed in our front yard. Everything is getting huge!

Aria

Over the last week or two I have been praying for this little girl named Aria.  I found out about this little girl from a friend at church.  This couple had her in Japan. Keiko, her mother and Brooke, her father were waiting for papers for Keiko so they could move to the US.  Now, they are living in Japan and little Aria has been in the hospital since birth. I dont know the full story but apparently Aria does not breathe deep enough, especially when she is asleep.  She had some tubing going down her throat, and now she is wearing a mask, which I read is better for her, since a tracheostomy is possible. At one point, b/c of the tubing-her throat swelled up, leaving her to pass out and unable to breathe.   If you would just join me in praying for her, that God would touch and heal her and that she would have strength and can go home soon. Also just pray for her parents... for the rest they need, for their financial situation and just for peace and trust.  My heart is heavy for her, and I hope yours is too.

 "O Lord my God, I cried out to You, and You have healed me.” (Psalm 30:2) 

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)

Beautiful

I just have to chuckle at Kate.  She calls me Beautiful and she calls peter Donny. When we gather at the table for supper she says while pointing, "Maddy, Kate, Beautiful, and Donny! Everybodies eating!"

Then Peter said yesterday he and Maddy were playing in Kate's room, and Kate came down from upstairs and said to them: "What are you doing in my room? This is Kate's room!" in a 16 year old tone. 

This weekend has been magical yet again. I just have to stop and just be so thankful for everything we have. It just brings me to tears! Friday was date night, and that went ok. We rented PS. I love you. It was an ok movie, but i am so emotional I cried through most of it. Ugh, i hate that. I wish I could hold in the tears! Its so embarassing. It wasnt really our style of a movie, I mean, it was kinda weird but the concept was sweet. I also stained the trim on the door.

Saturday peter did some work in the yard and I went for a small bike ride. He removed all the sand and the swingset out of the backyard. We are planning to till a small-medium size garden back there. SO excited!  Then he left to play paintball with the Kennedy-Lancaster men. He had lots of fun, but also had lots of welts from the paint balls, and lots of ticks (gross)

For church today -- it was so moving. I watched a man who both Peter and I had been praying for, walk up to the alter and asked for prayer. I am guessing he asked to let Christ into his life..  Several people were moved to tears. Of course, I couldnt control it and had to leave.  If i could just shut off those tear faucets or even just tweak it a little so it was just a slight drip, that'd be ok. I even almost cried when the little kids were singing. It also moves me and thrills me that those seeds are planted within them and they are singing about Jesus and how that might affect them later on in life, even if they arent raised in a christian home. 

It is just so great to see what God is doing in our lives right now. so blessed.

Biking

This week has been tiring for me, but also fun. I got all my flowers planted (that I have pots for) and I got a bike trailer for a soon-to-have-bike. I am borrowing my father-in-laws for now... and boy is it a workout! I am hopeful to lose a little weight this summer. I am so happy to have a bike trailor because I was getting so bored going for walks. Plus, it also serves as a stroller and works much better than the one I have. I got it at Target and even got a $10 coupon for it. Get this, I even put it together myself. *So proud!*

I went to Grand Forks yesterday to get some groceries. I went to only Hugos and Target and bought a lunchable for the girls to eat on the way home because I finally left GF around noon! We had so much stuff to get, and luckily they behaved well. Then also since Tuesday evening I have had kate in underwear all day. I read about an interesting solution to put the diaper on them, have them sit on the potty, and go in the diaper.  So she does that. Then we take the diaper off, and put on her underwear. Sometimes she'll ask for the diaper, sometimes I have to ask her.  But either way, the point of this is to not stretch out her bladder. So, as long as she is wearing underwear, I guess I am happy. I am more peaceful about it because I know maybe the older she gets, she will begin to realize that the potty isnt scary. And even now, to pee on the potty, with her diaper ON, is scary to her. We still struggle with that, but I make sure to give her the same rewards when she goes in her diaper as I would if she went in the potty.  Big sigh right there... its lots of work to potty-train kate. It is so weird. Sometimes she will sit just fine on the potty (with diaper) and go. And sometimes she doesnt want to, and cries (like twice today).  Why does it have to be her idea? I cannot even begin to tell you how frustrating it is.

Today I am washing more clothes and trying to keep the house in order. I havent been uploading/taking pictures at all, because our laptop is toast! It crashed and to update it we need a new operating system. I think it's my fault because we had too many antivirus programs installed and it conflicted with one another. I dont know... oh well I suppose. I mean, i am sad but I cant do anything about it. It was kinda junky to begin with... we will probably use the money we've saved the past 3 years to buy a new one. We havent touched that money. It's a fund we started for when we have a real bad year, so I can still stay at home. There's a line though... how much to put away. We dont want to hoard money, but we want enough in there so that if we do have a bad year, we dont have to stretch our dollar until it rips.

Tomorrow I will be staining, or attempting to stain the dining room door. I would try today but you need to do do all the steps in a set amount of time and I just know that one of the kids will wake up when i'm trying to stain. I dont think it will take very long because it is such a small door but, I might try tomorrow morning when Peter is home. Well that's enough for now. I suppose I should do some more work!

Flower Time

My sister in law Chelsie came home for a day so we were invited over for supper. In the meantime, we got to play outside with the kids and here's a few pictures from that...

Today has been an exhausting day for me too. My monthly visitor is here and brought aches and pains but nonetheless I went to Hallock to get the rest of my flowers and potting soil. So that's what I did all afternoon...  I raced to get what I could get done during nap time, and thankfully maddy napped 3 hours today, so Kate was a big help and planted the flowers in the backyard with me. Well I better go.. my time is limited on this computer because it's acting really poorly lately... freezing and running very slow. Hope it can be fixed!

Dentist

Kate and I went to the dentist yesterday. I had to wake her up at 6:45 and get everyone ready and out the door we were at 7:25. Kate was pretty excited to go to the dentist. But once it was time to get in the chair, to my surprise she was trying to escape out of the room.  I thought at least she would do well until he started putting instruments in her mouth. I had to sit with her and they put this thing over her nose for the 'relaxing' gas. She was relaxed for maybe 30 seconds and then freaked out!!!!!

She screamed, kicked, and cried the entire time. I had to hold down her feet and her hands. They put this object in her mouth so that she could bite down on it (to help her mouth stay open wide enough to see what they were doing) and they removed it, and down she bit on his finger.  He yelled.  and then said loudly, "JEEZ" and right then I felt my face getting red, thinking..... 'ok so this is far worse than I had planned".  He kept shaking his head the whole time and after she was done he said to me very sternly.. "you've GOT to keep her teeth CLEAN.... she is TOO YOUNG to get cavities." and it almost made me cry. I left very sad because he made me feel like I dont brush her teeth.    I brush it as well as any other parent, and she doesnt get sweets hardly at all.... For instance, some kids from daycare brought nachos and chocolate donuts to eat for breakfast.... and would get pop at home too! i know that some kids and adults are just prone to more cavities and Peter and Kate are among those people.. so, I guess another thing for her to be deathly afraid of.

Go away Rain!

I am not sure why it is raining so much... but part of me is regretful for thinking to myself that Peter was nuts to want to plant the beans. You never know if it's still going to frost... or in this case, RAIN FOR DAYS!! It is not too late, though, but I am praying that they can get in the field soon to finish.  I hope it is still a good bean crop. :( 

I called last night to the court house to make sure everything was still a go for jury duty and it was canceled!!  So i was really happy, and rescheduled kate's dentist appointment so plans are still back on for this week. I am on day 2 of my photography class.  I dont mean to be a downer but I am not impressed. That's all I will say about it.  I hope I can learn something tonight.

Anyway, that's all I have to say I guess. I am planning to wash a few more things and hoping to do a little sewing during naptime.  Its hard to get motivated with this weather though!

It's Done!

Finally, it's done. All the late hours Peter put in has finally paid off, and I am so so proud of him for putting all his free time into this swingset. And he did it all by himself! He built this thing!  I just think that's amazing. He has never really built anything besides some small carpentry things, so I am very impressed.

Yesterday was also Mother's Day. It has been the busiest Mother's Day yet. I will definetly know that I need to bake ahead of time and freeze because everything piled up within the last few days and it's hard when little ones are involved. I think on Saturday I made 3 mini loaves of b. bread, 2 loaves of rhubarb bread, 13 shortcakes, 4 egg bakes, and peter made two flourless cakes.  Plus I cleaned the house as best as I could. I was impressed becasue as I was cutting vegetables for the asparagus egg bake I was going to make on Sunday (at 10:30) all the dishes were done!!!

I woke up at 7 and Peter had purposely left the door to the upstairs open, so I peeked my head up there and there was a sewing machine and a pretty hanging basket upstairs for me!  I got my sewing machine. at 9pm I started to mess with it a little bit and embarassingly it took me 45 minutes to thread the bobbin and the machine. But finally I got it-- I had accidentally taken part of the bobbin out that I wasnt supposed to, so I spent a long time trying to get that part back in. Then I wanted it to thread to the top, but that couldnt happen unless I threaded the machine, and I didnt know that so a lot of time was spent trying to do that. So anyway, I also got a candy dish for some lifesavers, and also I got a cutting mat and some pins, rulers, and cutters. I am all set!!! Today and tomorrow is my photography class, which i am hoping to make it to at least one, and then jury duty starts tomorrow.  What awful timing. I am still upset about that. I got a cold too; hoping it will go away soon ! 

Lots to do

Today is Friday and I've got lots to do this weekend. I am preparing for a Mothers Day lunch after church. I just finished making granola and on the agenda today I plan to make orange rolls (to freeze for only a day... unfortunately, why didnt I think of this last week??!)   Tomorrow I plan to make a dessert for Sunday, maybe a banana bread, and possibly cut up some of the fruit. Plus the house needs to get in order, which I tried to do some yesterday.

Maddy's appointment went well. I forgot the stroller, so when I went to the mall to return a shirt, I had to carry Maddy and Kate tiptoed along, very slowly :)   Then at her appointment, she had 5 shots and one finger poke.  When we went to lunch at Denny's, they were understaffed and had to wait 35-40 minutes just to get our food.  It was pancakes for the girls and a salad for me. 40 minutes! Oh well, going alone with the kids only makes me stronger!

I got summoned for jury duty again.  When I got home I cried when I read the letter. It was the icing on the cake. Now Kate's dentist appt will have to be rescheduled and I am not 100% I can go to my photography class on Tuesday.  On a better note, I went to the prayer hour last night at 8.  It was refreshing to go and during the last 5-10 minutes you were to be silent and let God fill you with things he wants you to be praying about.  It was so fun to see all the images and prayers that I wouldnt normally think of come to mind. For instance, one of them was the abortion clinic in Fargo.

Now today I plan to wash some clothes and work on my list.  Its sad to me that this weather is so crummy!! We did go outside for a little bit yesterday and played on the new swingset, but it was not fun to be in the cold. I am certainly not hoping for rain, but i wish Peter didnt have to work tomorrow. Well I better go!

PS, Kate's favorite phrase to use lately after everything: "That would be fun!"  (except maybe if i said anything about going on the potty :))

Todays Over, Finally

First of all, here is an almost updated picture of the swingset. He is over half done, believe it or not. He built the picnic table (right where he's standing, under the first floor). He might finish it this weekend!!

And here is a card I made a few days ago. I am liking using fabric and buttons: my new favorite thing.

Right now I am eating cheetos. I just recently had a frustrating day and I am blaming Satan 100% for that! I just recently have been hearing so much about Satanic attacks and I am so glad that God is equiping me swords to fight him off. Today really wasn't that bad of a day, but I know it was Satan because it was a series of things that happened that were putting me in a bad mood.

1. I set the dishwasher to delay so it would run when we were done washing up the night before. It ran, but the soap never released so when I went to unload it at 11 am this morning, I had a dishwasher full of dirty dishes and lots more to load.
2. It seemed like every second I'd put something away, Kate and Maddy would drag it out, or drag our 3 more things. I was completely over-whelmed with a house that I could not keep up with.
3. I was trying to vacuum and make dinner at the same time and it just seemed like every possible thing, like phone calls, crying or sad children were keeping me from doing anything.
4. Tried to eat my cold tomato soup and noodles but due to crying and tantrums I could hardly finish my meal.

Doesnt seem very bad, but I was pretty much sweating and banging my toe on things and spilling liquids and etc.  I said outloud, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE SATAN! and I prayed that God would kick him out. (read Luke 8: 4-15, Luke 8 22-39, and especially Ephesians 6

So anyway, it is really frustrating but I am trying my hardest to read and memorize scripture this month. Once a week a new one I will memorize, or maybe a couple a week. That is a goal of mine, and to stay focused. I need to read my devotions every day, not just 4 out of 5 days or 5 out of 7 days, every day. I need to prioritize.  

Tomorrow is Maddy's appointment and we are going to GF. Hopefully that goes well. It's hard because she cries almost the whole way to Grand Forks, and when I give her milk, she drinks for 5 minutes and then purposely drops it. Same with a pacifier. One day when I went I stopped 3 times to pick up whatever she had thrown and then listened to her whine the rest. I just dont know what I am doing wrong or how to end this. She whines when she eats too, and throws her food on the floor. That is why I am vacuuming so much. Any advice would be appreciated.

Missing A Friend

So happy to have been able to spend some time with my good friend Melissa. We know eachother from church and I think it was because of MySpace and Facebook that we got to know eachother a little bit better.  I am so happy for Facebook so that we can stay in touch! Because our families are going to different churches now, we won't get to really see eachother anymore. I am hoping that we can still be able to meet up every once in a while when she's in town, or when we go to the cities.

It's sad for me because we both have a lot in common and it would be really fun to be able to get together and go for walks and just relate to one another. 

Here's some pictures of the little party we had in honor of her daughter, Ruby.

New Page

Here's a page I made this weekend for Kate's 1-2 year scrapbook. I finally took the time to upload, though it was only 20 or so photos. I am meaning to post a few times this week on different things: a new card and a small baby shower. Fun stuff!

Spiritual Gifts

Ahh.  Feeling so refreshed. I just wept in church today because I felt so thankful for being able to be excited in Gods word.  This church has been so uplifting in our lives. Even kate is asking to go to church. (I know it is to play, but she enjoys going!)  Today we talked about spiritual gifts and "Gang Tackle".  Pastor Steve really explained it well; we can't all do EVERYTHING. Different people are given different gifts, and together we can make a difference.  Pastor's ability is to teach and entertain while drawing in an audience. He needs the people of the congregation such as trustees, deacons, music committee, etc. to help him with the church service. He can't do all of that himself. That's what makes a successful church; people willing to work together, to use their gifts to serve!

If you are a believer, what gifts do you believe have been given to you?  According to Romans 12: 6-8, the gifts are: Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Encouraging, Leadership, Giving, & Showing Mercy.  It is a great reminder to be intentionally using these gifts on a daily basis. Especially when sometimes I feel like I am trying hard to make a difference and the world rejects my attempts. I guess I just need to keep trying.  And that is where I enjoyed an answered prayer, just today.  Through this church, I wanted to surround myself with those who really love the Lord like I do and can be an encouragement to me.

 Lots of things happened today at church:

1. I asked to sing in the worship team
2. Work is being done to start a morning bible study this summer, once a week, and perhaps WITH childcare for those who attend our church!
3. I'm going to a Women's meeting this Tuesday with a bible study and prayer time
4. Thursday is National Prayer day and our church is offering one hour slots to come pray, and I get to go; my time is at 8pm
5. I am going to host a progressive supper in a couple weeks. I am so excited about that.

So, lots of things to be excited for, plus next Monday and Tuesday I have my photography classes offered in Crookston that I am hoping I get to go to. It has been planned for a few months so I am hoping it works out. I know that if I am consistant in being in the bible and praying diligently that God will get me through this life, and all the daily Satanic attacks.  It's so hard to feel alone, and especially rejected for just being myself,  but I guess situations like that draw us closer to God.

I wanted to download some pictures from my camera but honestly I am too lazy and it really slows down my computer to load Photoshop (so many pictures) so maybe sometime this week.  This week I am meeting with a gal from church on Tuesday, Thursday is Maddy's year appointment finally, then 10th and 11th is my photoclass, and 13th is Kate's dentist appointment. She has to get one filling, possibly two (one is really small). Be praying for us to know what to do. We havent heard great things about this dentist and was advised to switch, but we had a good experience last time. We dont know what to do especially since this appointment will be a BIG one... she did great though last time.   Until later, 

Love

So lucky.  I've been blessed to have a great week so far. Thursday night was date night and decided to watch a movie since Peter didnt have to work Friday.  It was awesome to spend time with him and start the weekend so early. Friday I kept the house clean which is always a good goal to have and accomplish and even got to make a page of Kate's scrapbook while peter watched the kids upstairs.  I will post that sometime this weekend.  Then he got to work on the swingset the rest of the time, and started putting up/building the beams that attatch the swings and etc.  He will need someone to help lift it up today though.

Then at 3:30 we left for Grand Forks. We got home at 11!  I took a look at some sewing machines that I might get some day, and then we went to the Christian Book store and got a few things. I looked at some bikes, we went to eat at Mikes Pizza, then went to scheels to look at more bikes, then to the mall where I got some things for the girls and peter and I each got a thing or two of clothing.  Then we went to Sams and to Target.  I was planning to get a bike there but...that didn't happen. I didnt realize how expensive bikes were.

Today we are going to go to Wilsons Green house with the kids to get mulch and also to just look around.  Then peter will work on the swingset today, and I am not sure what else we are going to do.  I would like to scrapbook a bit more when the kids nap. it helps to get paper together and the picture, just to have ideas in at least before I start scrapbooking.  Anyway, better go. I am SOOO looking forward to church tomorrow! I just love having that feeling. I just am so thankful that we started going to that church. It makes me feel alive!!