Heartbroken

I just found out that my cousin Scotty was killed in a car explosion.  I don't know many details, but I am SO sad for his family!!  It is hard enough to lose an elderly family member, when you have time to prepare and say goodbye, but for someone so young and to not even get a chance to tell them you love them one last time, is unbearable.  He was so young, just 24 (would have been 25 New Year's Eve).  He had the sweetest personality and was such a nice young man who was trying so hard to live for the Lord.  Please keep his family in your prayers during this difficult nightmare.  It really does show you how things can change in an instant.  We all have to be prepared for where we will spend eternity.  God loves us all and wants us all to join Him in heaven.  We cannot do that on our own, since we are all sinners, but through Jesus Christ, we can all have a lifetime of peace and happiness in heaven.  Jesus offers us all the free gift of salvation to all who will accept Him and call upon His name.  I believe Scott is in heaven now, and I have peace knowing I will one day see him again.  I hope you are all ready yourself.

Christmas is almost here!!

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by, and yet how slow it seemed at the time.  So much has happened.  We moved to FL, we moved twice, we got an offer on our house (my FAVORITE part!), we added 2 1/2 more babies to our family (one is still cooking) and we went to Disney, a few times :-) Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.  Unfortunately this year, I have hardly any of my own decorations, since they are still in NC, but my parents were nice enough to lend us their tree/ornaments and I had some other items to put out.  I did have to go and by the kids some stockings from the Dollar Tree.  We don't do Santa, but we do the stockings.  The kids need to open something in the morning so I don't get woken up too early :-)  Although, to be honest, I don't think my kids have EVER gotten up before 7 AM Christmas morning.  Which boggles my mind.  I remember waking well before daylight, opening our stockings, and seeing the white snow on the TV (back before there was in the middle of the night shows on TV!)  My kids sleep too soundly to wake up that early, but I won't complain about that!  Last year was very weird because we opened presents at the last minute on the 23rd and went to Nathan's grandma's funeral in MO that day, which means we were driving on Christmas day.  It was nice to see his family, but not under those circumstances, and also I lost my voice (a nice quiet drive for Nate!)  This year, we are trying to be as "normal" as we can, with some modifications due to Nathan's weird work schedule.  Christmas Eve, our church has a candle light service at 5 PM.  Nathan will be late to that and meet us there, but after the service, we will come home to some delicious finger foods and have a birthday party for Jesus.  He is the ONLY reason we celebrate Christmas, and we always make it special with a cake and everything!!  Then we sing songs and give a gift to Jesus, something about ourselves that we want to change and make better.   More like Christ.  Christmas morning, the kids can open their stockings, and then we have to wait, and wait, and wait to open gifts until Nathan gets home from work around 10 AM.  At least it will get us time to eat, and get ready to go for the day :-)  After we do gifts, we are going up to Brooksville to my aunt's house.  I am really excited, since we haven't been there yet, and I haven't been up to that neck of the woods in 9 years!!  I'm interested in seeing how it has changed.  The guys are all excited because they get to bring their guns and go shooting.  Ok, I'm a little excited too!!  Not to mention the white elephant gift exchange!!  I think it will be a really fun Christmas that will give us fond memories.  I finally got a camera, so I will be able to post some pictures as well.  Merry Christmas everyone.  I hope you center the holiday around Christ, and His miraculous birth.  Without Him, we would have no hope for something better, and we would have noone to look up to and strive to be more like.  He is the true meaning of Christmas!

Mystery Guest

I haven't been on a lot lately, because we didn't have internet at the house.  We have it now, so I hope to be able to update more often.  Since moving back to FL I have not done any Mystery Guest work, and I am hoping to get back into it soon.  If you don't know what a Mystery Guest is, let me catch you up.  There is a site that you go to and fill out all your information to see if you qualify to do the work.  If you are accepted, you go to a certain restaurant at a certain time and then you answer all these questions for the owners of the restaurant, such as what the waiter was like, was the bathroom clean, were your drinks filled in a timely manner.  Stuff like that.  They reimburse you for your meal, so it's pretty much like going on a date for free!!  We did it a lot here before we moved to NC and we also did it in NC, but we have not done it since moving back.  It's a great way to have a date, but not spend a lot of money.  It's a lot of fun, and you get to try out new restaurants!! 

Good news/bad news

Sorry I have been absent for so long, but I have been very sick with the flu. I literally felt like I was dying. I haven't been that sick in years, and I hope I never get that sick again!! I am feeling a little better, so that is a blessing. Good news is that we have an offer on our house!! I am so grateful to God for opening this door for us. I hope we have a quick closing, I will definitely celebrate when that is over :-) God has really grown my family this year, and I really hope and pray next year is uneventful! Although with my family, anything is possible!!

Out of the mouths of babes . . .

I was listening from the other room to Dylan's conversation with Marissa.

M, "I'm older than you, that makes me your big sister and that means I'm responsible for you."

D, "What about Auntie Karen, and Auntie Rachel and Auntie Becca's babies?  Those are mommy's sisters, and that means I am the babies big brother and I am responsible for all of them!"

LOL :-)

Christmas Pictures!!

Things have been fun around here lately!!  We decided to start a new tradition.  Everyone would put suggestions into a jar on where we should go for dinner, and what activity we should do as a family.  Every pay day we choose one place for dinner, and one activity!  This week we went to Chuck E Cheese, and then made mazes!  Well, we are doing the mazes tonight because we ran out of time last night!  We went to a new place to get our pictures done, (the kids were VERY well behaved, even with the long wait) and then went to Chuck E Cheese.  By the time we got home it was past the little ones bedtime.  We had a blast, and I LOVE the new photo studio we found!  They take great pictures, AND they print them all there for you for no extra cost.  I was really excited about that part :-)  We also got a photo CD and a free mug with our family photo on it.  Here are some of the photos that were taken.  Make sure I have your address, so I can send you a picture of the family not posted here :-)!

Co-op ending for the season

I am really surprised at how much I have enjoyed working with the homeschool co-op this semester.  Friday will be our last day, and it has flown by.  I am so glad to be involved, and to get to know so many wonderful women and children!!  I love getting out of the house and letting my kids learn and play every Friday.  I have been praying that God will guide us and show us what His will is, and when He brought this along, I wasn't really sure how I would feel about it, but I am SO glad I chose to follow His guidance.  I will really miss the friends I have made, and I am looking forward to it starting back up in a few months.  Always follow God, He knows what He is doing, even if it doesn't quite make sense to you at the moment!!