Our New Home - Day 1

I am excited (and a little sick in my stomach at times) to inform you that plans are in motion right now on the building of our new house. Our trailer is still serving us well and we are by no means complaining, but Shawn feels that we will soon outgrow this one... and no! Do not congratulate me! I am not "with child" again, but we do feel as though we might add on to our growing family in the future.
God has blessed my husband with an incredible work ethic, financial smarts, and a giving heart. So we just believe this is a way God is blessing those who serve Him. Just one step in our life, but who knows where it can lead? We will just have fun tagging along and helping be the pieces to God's masterful design.
That being said...Yeah! Yeehaw! Woohoo! I am so excited! I told Ethan that we were going to get a new house and he asked me if he was going to get all new toys, too. Shawn has already cleaned out a big area of our woods, but a couple other guys are here to finish it. Getting the foundation laid is on the agenda for this week. And please pray that the process goes smoothly...obviously, you want a good foundation and every step in building has a specific purpose and we would like it to be a "secure" home.

And the work begins...
The boys pose for a shot...
Morgan is tangled up in the camera strap...

The area needing cleaned out...
Progress...The boys were very disappointed when I told them it was nap time...
Getting where it is needing to be...
Coming along quite nicely...
Just as we want a safe "earthly" home for our children, this also overwhelms me with the thought that my children will need to hear God's Word from ME over and over to instill in them that there is another "eternal" home to which we want them to live in. I pray that I will be able to do all I can do to help them build a Godly foundation to stand upon. But as a house it built little by little, so I will strive to teach them little by little....

Proverbs 24:3
Through skillful and Godly wisdom is a house (family, home, life) built, and by understanding it is established (on a sound and good foundation).If you made it to the end of this yackity-yack, then kudos to you!..and thanks for allowing me to share our excitement with you -our family and friends (and to those I have never meant..!)-

The Canning Newbie

My aunt (Melodie) makes some wonderful salsa and shares it with us...I use it in my chili - oh, the flavor! Well, this year I decided to make my own....

Usually this phrase is used by kids my son's age, but I find that I still need to use it as well: "I did it all by myself!" I have never canned before and I believe I did it successfully.
The tomatoes and jalopenos were from our garden...definitely going to do this again.

Pudding Paint

Mmm...what fun...I let the boys play with their food! We made 2 kinds of pudding and scooped some onto wax paper . Then we had fun drawing pictures . When we were done making our creation, we would then proceed to erase it with our finger and lick the remains. Yes, I joined in on the fun. And yes, I let Morgan join in, as well. She really got into it...she tried to just bend over and lick it off the table....
Made these for our church fellowship...the theme of the evening: Back-to-School. The pencil is just a whole bunch of mini cupcakes pushed together....

This is an icecream cone - sort of. I baked cupcake batter in the cone and then topped with chocolate buttercream icing...oh my!

God gave them "milk & cereal"

It was Landon's turn to go to Mawmaw's house. (Or as Landon would say, "Me? Mawmaw? Her truck?") So, that left just Ethan, Morgan, and Mommy. It gave me time to focus on Ethan and this is what we did to fill up some of the time...we made a ...guitar!

Our finished project

The items needed to create our own unique instrument

Creating his masterpiece

I would really like to saturate my children's minds with God's Word. Let me tell you, easier said than done if you are the parent of my eldest - Ethan! A couple of days in a row he listened to a certain Bible story about the Israelites journey to the Promised Land. I was quizzing him a day or so later and told him how God was bringing the Israelites to a land flowing with milk and ______. (wanting him to fill in the blank.) He piped up and said, "Cereal!" Ahh! He eats honey on his bran flakes...so I am assuming it was a slight mix up since he is only 4! Hilarious! He keeps me smiling!

A baptism was held yesterday afternoon and we were going to be taking Ethan and I left the two other kids with mom. (Thanks, Mom!) As I was cleaning up after lunch, I tried to explain why the people were going to "go under the water" with Pawpaw Clemens help. "Oh!," came his reply, " is Pawpaw going to throw them in?" Where did he get that? What picture had I painted in his mind?!! This was even a better question than the ones before "the talk" since those were along the lines of "are they going to fish?" ...smiles...

1978 - still kickin'

After numerous lies....I pulled off a surprise party for Shawn's 30th birthday - My mother informed me that I am great at telling "tales" just like my Grandad C.! (Those in the family will appreciate this statement and quite possibly cheer me on!)

Shawn said he was totally surprised....he knew all the family that lived close by was coming, but had no idea that I had invited all his employees and their families. 27 adults/kids were here to celebrate -

For part of the table decor, I had placed pictures of Shawn (at different stages in life) onto construction paper. Goodness....my kids sure do look like their daddy...Someone did pick up one of the pictures (of Shawn as a boy) and thought is was Ethan.
If you click on these pictures for you viewing pleasure :-),
you can have a peek into Shawn's life.

Since the only time my husband reads my blog is when I set the laptop down in front of him (or I read it out loud...) I will skip all the mushy, mushy things I could say about him on here...I have worked hard to make his day special, and have enjoyed it immensely. I do believe he is thankful, grateful, and thrilled beyond words. Although he did not jump up and down and do cartwheels, (which I would have preferred) he did let me know - in his very own unique way - that he loved the party. So, the feeling of satisfaction is so sweet....

Happy Birthday to all the September "babies" out there!

So long, 6 months. Hello, 7 months

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world.
It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in it's path. - Agatha Christie

Our household has been blessed to have Morgan in our lives for seven months (on Saturday)! She is totally into holding her own bottle (for which I am thankful) and loving a few different baby food fruit and veggies. She has 6 sparkling white teeth which are surprisingly sharp which also means I cannot give her any type of food to gnaw on. She bit a chunk out of the apple I gave her (which explains why I can't give her anything - I mean, apples are hard!) so Shawn picked up one of the mesh bags for babies that they can "eat" through...umm..well, don't recall the correct name for it! Anyway, she will now be able to chew on something other than a hammer, toy car, or basketball...etc...! Of course, if Landon continues to share his food with her - like he did his hotdog bun...yes, she had hold of a chunk of it..yikes! - than she will be good to go!
Morgan is working on sitting up for longer periods and is tipping over quite gracefully when she loses her balance. She has already started to pull herself around (just a couple of pulls) if she is trying to reach for a toy that has escaped her.

Food & Fun

My parents, Shawn's parents and a handful of others came to share some of their holiday with us. A new couple (pictured above), that has started coming to our church, came out as well. Their oldest is 6 months older than Ethan and their youngest is 6 days older than Landon. The little tykes got along fabulous with only a few bumps in the road - 1, Kierra stubbing her toe and hurting her leg and 2, A gun (toy!) pointing in the wrong direction (person!) which caused a little girl to panic since she thought it was real. :-)