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!