Soras - Sister's

A Happy Birthday

2011-05-24T20:19:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's hard to believe but as of Saturday Jimmy is 1 year old! We celebrated over the course of the whole weekend since Saturday was moving day for my in-laws (they are now residents of Ohio! WOO! HOO!:) and Curtiss and I were struggling with a cold that I brought home from some where last week.

Anyway I thought you all might enjoy some pictures....

Here he is in his BIRTHDAY BOY shirt, with his favorite crackers.

and here he is with a very fascinating piece of tissue paper.

Ripping paper turned out to be GREAT fun :)

He likes it. honest!

Throwing clothes out of what they were in..... something Mama never lets him do at home.

Cheering for cake and ice cream, bet you'd never guess they were a big hit :)

My serious little man. I love him so much and am so thankful for him!

Yep, he's all boy...

2011-04-17T15:54:00.000-04:00

...bouncing balls are a BIG hit :) ;) :)

Us

2011-04-08T21:46:00.000-04:00

Well, and here I am again having had way too much time go by without posting anything. No, I have not been abducted by aliens nor have I fallen into a black hole, I have just been busy living life and never really remembering that I have a blog :) Other than the fact that Jimmy gets bigger every day (he's going on 11 months now) nothing too much has changed around here. Curtiss is still struggling with knee pain that we have yet to have a diagnoses for, and we now get to have the wonderful experience of finding out just how slow our government can be as all his treatments have to be approved through our local workers comp office before we and the Dr's can take the next step. But things are S-L-O-W-L-Y....... happening (we think :)

As you can see in the picture Jimmy is now pulling himself up and standing on his own. He did that before he started crawling and his absolute favorite thing to do is to be Mama's fitness trainer, he most faithfully makes sure that I make multiple trips back and forth across our living room by holding onto my hands and doing them along with me. He really is the most thoughtful boy :)

I just had to post this picture his face is just comical. He was telling me the most interesting story. His newest noises are rather yodeler like and he practices most faithfully to perfect it.

And now for our family photo. Jimmy was trying very hard not to cry during that part of the photo shoot...

He kind of succeeded. The Price Is Right show playing opposite us did a wonderful job of getting him to look at the camera though :) Well, that is at least a quick update just to let you know that we are still alive and well and enjoying our lives together :)

News and Movies

2011-01-30T17:17:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I last blogged and I know you have all missed my little boy, after all who wouldn't??? :) A lot has happened since I was last writing to you, a couple days after my last post my husband was in an accident. A lady ran into the back end of his truck while he was out working and ever since then he has been having problems with his knee. He has been off work for the last month and a half (which other than the fact that it is because he is in pain and we don't know exactly why it isn't healing I don't mind in the least:) and will be off for at least another two to four weeks if not longer. We have had a very nice Christmas and were able to go to NY and spend some time with both of our families and Jimmy was finally able to meet all of his aunts, uncles and cousins and I was able to meet the new members of the family that were born since I was last there as well.

And of course Jimmy has been growing and changing the whole time too :) He started sitting up with assistance while we were in NY and when we got home he didn't think he should ever have to lay down to play with toys ever again

Last week we had my Mom, younger sister and two of my brothers visit us for a couple of days and Aunt Elise got to introduce Jimmy to his first pickle which after puckering up after his first bite he decided that he really liked it.... ALLOT. And would get quite frantic if it was out of his mouth for any length of time :)

And here are a couple of videos I too the other night.

This first one is of his newest accomplishments...

CLAPPING!!!

which he does quite frequently :)

And this last one was taken right after the first when I was feeding his small pieces of animal crackers and for some reason I said the word "Oops" and he thought it was absolutely hysterical.

Well, I think that is at least a rough summary of what our lives have been like recently. I hope you all enjoy the movies :)

Meeting Family :)

2010-12-06T13:59:00.001-05:00

On Saturday my sister Bethany and her family were able to stop by on their way home from vacation. I haven't seen them since April and neither of us had seen the others' baby. It was so much fun to be able to swap babies :)

Here we are with the others' little treasure :)

Jimmy and Emma together, now we just need to get Seth (my brother's new baby) in with them and it will be complete.

I think that this ones looks like they are sharing secrets, Emma looks kinda traumatized by it too :)

And here is one that I just had to throw in 'cause I think he is just SOOO cute ;-)

And I finally caught him laughing on tape!!! I never know when he is going to find something humorous and so haven't been able to catch him on tape yet but today he just thought that the strap on his changing pad was hilarious and he laughed long enough that I was able to get the camera and still catch him giggling :)

Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T10:01:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving Curtiss and I had our plans changed a bit. We had thought that Curtiss's family would come and stay and celebrate with us here in Ohio but the Lord had other plans. Last Monday evening Curtiss's grandma (who had been struggling with Alzheimers for years) passed away to be with her Lord and Savior. So we ended heading to New York for this last weekend. It was a very bitter/sweet time, it was great to be able to see people again and to know that Grandma Bohall was no longer suffering but everyone will still miss and her greatly.

It was a lot of fun to see Nate and Jimmy together again. Jimmy was old enough to actually notice Nate and Nate kept us all on our toes to make sure that his loving care for Jimmy didn't end up detrimental to one or both of them :) I thought you all might enjoy some pictures of our time there.

The above picture isn't the one that I originally wanted but blogger kept messing up on the one that I did but this one was still cute and shows the two boys together. Jimmy looks kinda shell shocked and that is most likely because we had about three cameras going at the same time and we felt rather like celebrities with all the flashes going off. Usually when Jimmy was that close to Nate he was trying to touch his face and hair and Nate spent the time trying to dodge Jimmy's little fingers :)

Here is Grandma and Grandpa with their two grandsons.

While we were there we celebrated Christmas since Curtiss and I are planning on going to my parents house at Christmas time and it wouldn't work to fit in both families in one trip.

Jimmy LOVED wrapping paper (whenever mama wasn't fast enough and he got some) it was almost as good as pizza crust or cookie crumbs :)

Nate was a lot of fun to watch, he is old enough now that he really likes presents and simple things like M&M's really make his day :)

Jimmy did extremely well in the truck both on the way there and back, especially considering the fact that he usually is screaming after a couple of hours shopping and driving around town. I always thought it was the carseat that he didn't like but maybe he suffers from the same thing most men do and he just doesn't like shopping???

6 Months

2010-11-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, that is right as of tomorrow my little boy will be 6 months old. I really can't believe that he is already half a year old but at the same time I wonder what I did before I had him :)

He has changed SOOO much and gotten so big, he is starting to move into 12 month size clothing and to move out of 6 month size.

This picture was taken just a few days ago with my cell phone and I think he looks REALLY good in orange, it makes his eyes pop :)

Our happy family, we love our boy!!! :)

Teeth, Apples and Glasses

2010-11-10T17:11:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody! Yes, I know I have sorely neglected this poor blog but it just seems that I haven't had time to blog and I think that I am a horrible first time mother since I don't take pictures of my son nearly as much as I know other first time moms do. So I haven't had very many pictures of a certain cute little boy to share with you.

As you can see in the picture below Jimmy is teething and his first tooth finally came in far enough that you can see it in a picture. I think that he is the easiest teether ever (so far anyway:) since one day I noticed he had a large bump on his gums and the next day I could feel the tip of the tooth. No crying, fussing, runny nose or fever. I am very much hoping that all his teething is this easy!!!

Sorry about the slight blur of the picture... it is quite difficult these days to have anything within reach of certain little hands... and the camera had to be close to see the tooth :)

Jimmy is also very much enjoying his discovery of FOOD. He loves to eat and if I have anything that is going into my mouth he wants it too... BADLY :)

The other day Curtiss and I were eating supper and had some apple slices that I had cut up and Jimmy greatly enjoyed sucking on a piece, he was rather frantic if it slipped out of his hands :)

He has really gotten into playing with his toys now too. And for not getting around much on his own he sure can spread the toys around the room. He usually will have a radius of toys surrounding himself.
The not getting around part is changing rapidly too, yesterday he rolled onto his stomach for the first time by himself.

And now for this picture.... Yes, I now have glasses.... just got back from picking them up in fact.... Lets just say that it is going to take some getting used too. I mostly need them for driving especially at night but anything distance related I can for sure see better now. :)

My Man

2010-10-08T16:28:00.001-04:00

Since Curtiss and I are within a couple of days of our two year anniversary I just have to brag on my husband a little bit :) The last two years really have been the best of my life even though we have gone through some pretty significant changes together and it just keeps getting better. In many (good) ways it seems like we have been together much, much longer than two years.

Now some of you might be wondering what a picture of a burnt roast has to do with the anything I have said thus far. Well, that is what our dinner looked like this last Sunday. I had gotten it all ready Saturday night and started it right before going to bed, we woke up to the wonderful smell of roasted meat and I thought "Oh, that smells good!" and then I got up and got the baby out of his crib and went downstairs and by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs I knew something wasn't right. It didn't smell quite as good as it had upstairs. I thought I had added enough water but this is what I found when I looked in the crock pot...

Beautiful isn't it??? At first I thought it was completely charred but upon closer inspection the meat itself wasn't burnt (just my poor crock pot, which by the way came completely clean after soaking for 24 hours, HOORAY for soap and water) it was just completely dried out and in my opinion a little like jerky. Now for the bragging part. Curtiss liked it, to quote "If I had my way I would fix it like this every time." I had some very mixed emotions eating that meal, how am I suppose to feel bad about serving such a thing when I know he is telling the truth about liking it? but at the same time how am I suppose to be proud of such a dried, shriveled up hunk of meat???

And this is what I found on my doorstep when the Fedex lady rang my door bell this afternoon.

Beautiful aren't they?

I could keep going but I think that for now I will quit bragging because as the song in Calamity Jane goes...

Well, now, if you've got a cutie who's a real sweet patootie
better keep it under your hat
Just remember curiousity in fables of old
Killed the curious cat

Supposin' you love a laddie who's a sweet sugar daddy
Better take in the welcoming mat
Remember there's a dozen dolls for every Dan
You're not the only sweet pea in the can

So, if you wanna know the way to keep your man
Keep it under your hat
Keep it under your hat!

My Little (Big) Boy

2010-09-29T18:58:00.000-04:00

I always figured I would end up being the shortest person in my family, it doesn't take much to pass the 5' 21/2" (yes, half and even quarter inches count when you are my height) that I am. But I didn't think that I would have a son who is almost half my height by the time he is four months old, I do believe he is in danger of being taller than me by the time he is five (OK, maybe a slight exaggeration:) but he is tall....

For reference sake here he is in his car seat the day that we brought him back from the hospital, cute and little huh??? Well, he has now grown too long for that seat.

Here he is in his new seat. We got one that is convertible, as in it can face both the rear and the front and it has lots of room for him to grow.

And here is a picture that is here just because I think he is adorable and have to share :)

My view on ladders and life...

2010-09-23T22:32:00.004-04:00

My life of late has been busy,

but busy in a weird way...

A good three quarters of my summer has been spent away from home.

Between Summit, vacationing, spending time with family.

I really don't know what the weather was like in New York this summer.

Now Ohio and Tennessee on the other hand...

I could tell you exactly what the weather was like there.

On this first day of Autumn, I look back over my summer, and think...

It has been a good but challenging summer.

It has been full of new adventures, new faces, new experiences,

now some of these experiences I never want to experience again.

But I know that every experience,

and every thing that I have experienced this summer is all part of a bigger plan...

Even when I can't see what that plan will be.

This has been my view of late.

The caption of the photo above is very true. In many different aspects of my life, it is very true...

My view literally has I have been on a ladder a lot more then I normally am, as I have been helping rip old siding off our old/new house and put on new vinyl. It has also been the view of my spiritual walk. I am sure this needs an explanation.

'You feel like your walk with God is like being on a ladder???'

Well, no, not exactly, but there are some similarities.

First of all, you must make sure that you ladder is on level sturdy ground. You must be set upon "the Rock of Ages." And as soon as you are sure that your ladder is on firm level ground, you start your ascent, just starting the climb up a ladder can give you a thrill, you get that, "this could be an adventure" rush to the head, and your heart starts racing just slightly. A whole new exciting world with just one step off the ground.

As you climb you discover new things about yourself,

such as your fears, where you are afraid you will fail or fall.

It can be a truly terrifying spot... especially when the breeze blows and the ladder quakes just slightly. That is when all your fears are revealed in their full light. And it can cause you to freeze in your ascent to the top. Now it is when you are frozen to one spot that the most work can be done on the house that your ladder is leaning against. I mean you can't work when all that you are doing is climbing. It is at these frozen areas in your walk where you can get out the hammer and the crowbar and you can start accomplishing the work that you were on the ladder to do in the first place. I feel as if I am in one of these frozen areas on my way up the ladder. In fact I feel like God has allowed my ladder to be shaken. Which having your ladder shaken by someone can be the most terrifying thing one can ever experience, it sure will make you sure footed though. ;) It is a time that you truly get to know yourself. And hopefully a time when you can work on areas of your life that need attention. A time to get out the old crowbar and hammer and start prying away the old beat up layers of house, to reveal the original work of the carpenter. For it is only when the old battered pieces of protective layers are gone that the house is ready for the new protective layer of vinyl to be put on. What a mess it would be if we tried to just ignore the old aluminum and just started putting on the new siding... what a mess. It is a long and sometimes painful process. But oh, so worth it. Because someday the ascent will start again, move one hand, one foot, the other hand, the other foot, until finally you can go up one more rung on your ladder, and so starts the adventure once more. One rung or...

one day at a time.

Just take it one day at a time.

Our house before

And so ends my ladder object lesson to myself. It sometimes is just therapeutic to write stuff out, so if you read through it and were like, 'she can live on her ladder if she likes, but I don't really think life is like a ladder, she is a little whacked.' That's okay, this is the kind of post that comes out of me when the hour is getting later and later, and I am listening to Emile Pandolfi Radio on Pandora (piano ballads) Listening to piano music tends to make me a little reflective. ;) And sometimes strangely... emotional. But that is besides the point. Back to our house transformation, and enough about how piano music affects me.

During

Our house literally looks like it had a face lift.

I think it actually looks more sure of itself and cheerful with its new 'garments' on.


And I don't have a better after picture yet. So this will have to do. Our house just needs a porch swing for the front porch to be perfect... Time to get into that wood shop that I have been talking to much about and start working towards making a swing.

Just hanging out on the ridge.

What better place to hang out after ripping stuff off the sides of the house then the roof? Josh didn't help but he ended up being in the picture 'cause he brought his Pepsi out onto the roof and that happened to be when Mom came out to snap some pictures. He at least gave me a sip of his Pepsi. ;)

Four Months

2010-09-21T15:36:00.003-04:00

That's right, my baby is four months old today. I really can't believe that that much time has passed since he was born but at the same time it's hard to imagine life without him. What did I do all day long anyway? :)

He now...
weighs 13lbs 2 1/2 oz
is 25 1/2" long
and is wearing 6~9 month clothing

Yeah, that is a bathrobe he is wearing, I got that as a shower gift and I
just had to get a picture of him wearing it (before he out grows it)
so that is what we used today after his bath :)

He has been getting better and better using his hands, he doesn't have to concentrate so hard to grab something anymore. Mommy is proud and scared because her days of eating while holding him in peace are quickly coming to an end :)

Me and my boy
(he isn't so good at looking at the camera yet:)

Hello

2010-09-17T12:07:00.005-04:00

Well, I guess it has been a while since I have posted anything. I thought I should at least come on here and say Hi to everyone.
Elise and I had a great time while she was here visiting, so much fun in fact that we never even took the time to take a picture of the two of us (awful I know) I guess she will just have to come back again sometime so that we can get at least one :)
Jimmy has been doing very well, he has been growing and changing so fast. He is now wearing 6-9 month clothing (No, he is not older than you thought he was he is just extremely long, he will be four months old on this coming Tuesday :) He is getting quite good with his hands and is starting to really like and notice toys. I was planning on posting a few pictures here but blogger isn't working very well and keeps giving me an error report so I guess you will all have to wait for another day ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

2010-08-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

We would like to take this opportunity to wish our not-so-little-any-more brother a VERY Happy 15'th Birthday!

And since he is going to read this blog (because he loves us so much he wouldn't miss a post:)
we would just like to say that we love you and hope that this next year will be a wonderful one and that you spend lots of it with your big sister in Ohio.
(Oh, and Isaiah we hope you liked your present;)

Oh be careful little hands....

2010-08-26T18:53:00.003-04:00

It has been one of the best experiences of my life to watch my son grow and learn and when he suddenly discovers something that he hasn't ever noticed before it just sends a thrill all through me.

Yesterday was one of those days....

...He discovered his hands!!!

As you can see they are completely absorbing, he will just sit and stare at them watching them move and intertwine :)
It just really makes you appreciate the small things in life, the things that most of us don't even notice like the use of our hands and how they work. Our God is truly an awesome God!

And this video is just one I got of Jimmy having a conversation with his Aunt Elise :)

2010-08-25T20:43:00.002-04:00

Well, since I am at Joanna's house we figured that we couldn't go through the whole visit without blogging at least once and since this little boy consumes so much of our time, and is so stinkin' cute he happens to be in all of the pictures that I have taken :) So here are a few of my favorites taken so far.

Joanna found him surrounded by all of his bears during one of his naps... he had rearranged them so that they were grouped around him.

His changing table/buffet is one of his favorite places to hang out and stare at the pictures that Joanna and I hung up above it.... he also likes to stare and talk to you in the mirror.

Now because this boy takes after his father who should be on the geek squad I had the hardest time getting a picture of him smiling... Every single time I got my camera out he would just stare at it completely absorbed as if he wanted to figure out what it was and how it worked. So after vowing that I would have a picture of him smiling before I left I waited for the right moment... and it finally came while he was sitting on his Momma's lap. The next goal will be getting him while he is laughing, which he did for the first time while I was here, and has done a couple of times since.

Now this a "just-because-I-love-his-blue-eyes" picture... At times his eyes almost look like they have a purplish hue... Joanna and I try to avoid saying that they are pretty... but the color sure is pretty. ;)

Sweet Pea

2010-08-16T14:51:00.002-04:00

Here are some new pictures of Jimmy.... they are especially for Mrs. G- and my Mom :)

The rest of you will just have to guess what the meaning behind it is :)

Too Young???

2010-08-12T14:38:00.002-04:00

This afternoon I was watching something on youtube while holding Jimmy and he was so interested that I thought "Hmmm I wonder if he would watch something if I put it on for him". Curtiss and I are members of Netflix so I went on there to see if they had any Baby Einstein on instant play, unfortunately they didn't but they suggested Barney as the closest thing on instant to Baby Einstein so I decided that since this was an experiment anyway why not try that???

As you can see it was a success. He sat there for over 20 minutes watching and smiling at it.
And it had me asking the question "isn't he too young for this????"

Lift your eyes...

2010-08-11T21:43:00.002-04:00

" I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore."

~ Psalm 121 ~

This Psalm was mentioned this past Sunday and I have been brought back to it all week. I just thought I would share it... the promises made in it bring such hope and comfort to me and I hope they do the same for you.

My thr3e weeks: Tennessee Hobos ( Final Part )

2010-08-06T12:28:00.006-04:00

I finally got around to posting my final post on our vacation in the hills of Tennessee, and I must warn you that it will be a rather random post, using up the last few pictures.

One day we all just went into Gatlinburg to go walking/shopping down Main Street. And somehow all of us ended up taking a picture as this mountain man, and I figured it was the perfect set of pictures to show us off as the Tennessee hobos.

:: GRinddddd :: Every time we started the Expedition up and started driving this is the sound that we heard coming from the rear right side tire. I guess a vacation is never complete without a break down of some sort. The truck was still drivable but it made horrid grinding noises that made you cringe and wonder when the tire would just fly off. Knowing that we needed to find out what the noise was, Dad, during on of the sessions at the conference, went out with Micah to pull off the tire to find out what was wrong with it. It ended up being the wheel bearings which they would have been able to fix themselves if they had the right tools and parts... but we were on vacation and obviously didn't have any of the tools needed. So, Dad asked at the conference where we could find an auto shop, and ended up finding a guy who was local who recommended a good place. So having only Christine's car to work with we were kind of in a pickle, for you see it was lunch time, the truck was in the shop, and we had eight people and a five passenger car. Now, don't get me wrong, we were still very thankful we had a car, but we could only fit five people at a time into it. We couldn't eat at the conference center, they didn't allow outside food in. And Mom had packed us stuff for sandwiches but we really didn't have anyplace to eat it. Especially since it was 90+ outside and there really wasn't any shade around the conference center. So it was decided that five people would climb into Christine's car to go find a place, and three people would stay and wait to be picked up as the second load. Now I was among three people that stayed at the center so I was not a party to the group who was driving around trying to find us someplace to eat. I was able to stay in the nice air conditioned building, while the other party sweated to death in the non-air-conditioned car. I really do think us three got the better end of the deal. Forty-five minutes after leaving us, Christine came back all wet and very weary looking to pick us up, and she said that after searching for a food court at the outlet malls which they found out didn't exist they had finally decided we were eating at Wal-mart. Hmmm... I don't believe I have ever had a picnic lunch at Wal-mart but I suppose there is a first time for everything. When we arrived I gave Dad a call to find out exactly where they were we finally found them outside a little bus stop in the Wal-mart parking lot. The lady inside Wal-mart said it was the only place she could think of that we could sit down and eat. Apparently they didn't even have picnic tables for their employees. So, she had recommended the bus stop, but it was about the temperature of a greenhouse and smelled worse then a cigarette pack. So, looking very much like homeless people we ate out of a Wal-mart grocery cart. It was an adventure to say the least, and provides a lot of memories.

After our picnic lunch was over we visited Chic-fil-a and got a few milkshakes to cool us all off, and then we started Christine's tram service back up. Five of us went back to the conference center and three decided to go shopping at Wal-mart. This time I was in the first five to go back. Upon arriving back at the conference center we all found a couch or chair and made ourselves comfortable and took a nap. When the second "tram" run arrived, we found out they had gone and rented a car so we could go home that night without Christine having to drive for three hours to get us all back to the cabins. Thankfully we only had to rent the car for 24 hours 'cause our truck was fixed and ready to be picked up the next afternoon.

After spending four days in the conference center the plan was to take it easy on Friday, our last free day before heading home. Our plans changed very quickly when we were given 7 tickets to Dollywood. We would only need to buy one ticket for all of us to go and they were selling them for a special price at the conference. So, we all got to go to Dollywood for thirty-eight dollars. It was a fun theme park with several roller coasters and a few water based rides. One of the last things we did there was ride on their steam engine/coal powered train. This was the perfect ending day to a very nice but busy vacation. The next day we loaded the truck and trailer up and drove 14 hours straight home. Thus ended my three weeks in Tennessee which were exhausting but awesome.

I DID IT!!!!!!!

2010-08-04T10:35:00.003-04:00

For some time now I have been feeling the NEED of a hair cut. Really since before Jimmy was born but I thought I would want my hair long so that I could put it up during labor if needed, so one day has followed another - we moved (where do I go??? - I have a baby to care for (and who wants to get their hair cut while listening to a screaming baby? let alone the poor person who is cutting your hair) and I never know whether Curtiss will be home at noon or nine so I it wouldn't be very easy to schedule an appointment, and did I mention that I had been feeling a major need to get my hair cut???? Anyways all this added up to this.....

Yep, you guessed it I cut my own hair!!! and so that you can see what it looked like before

This picture was actually taken over a month ago so it was if anything even longer

I think I am still in shock!! :)

Jimmy D (Again :)

2010-08-03T12:22:00.005-04:00

I thought it was time for another Jimmy post, are you all sure you aren't tired of him yet???? :) He has really started smiling and "talking" a lot lately and I have been hoping to catch it on film so that I could share it with all of you but up until now the camera hasn't been anywhere nearby when he has been especially talkative until this morning so here is a clip for your viewing pleasure...

...sometimes he just has to tell me something whether he is eating or just laying on the couch by himself he just HAS to talk, it is SOOO cute even if I do say so myself :)

Lounging, looking cool in his bumbo :)

Announcing...

2010-08-02T14:06:00.001-04:00

My thr3e weeks: The Hike (Part 3)

2010-07-30T13:14:00.004-04:00

It 'twas a fine day for a hike and one of the only opportunities that we would have to go... So we all loaded up into our Expedition and went to the nearest State Park headquarters to get some maps and figure out where we wanted to go hiking. After looking at some of the maps we realized that we'd better find a hiking trail that was nearby as it was getting later and later into the afternoon and getting lost in the Tennessee mountains at night on vacation did not sound like fun. So we chose a trail that had an old homestead somewhere along the way... that is if we could find the right trail. Finding the park entrance was the easy part... being in Tennessee was a little bit different then being at home where every trail is marked with many different signs and arrows showing you which way to go. There were no signs telling you how far to go or where the trail started. So we just drove, and drove, and drove. Now the road that we were on seemed to get narrower as you went on. And it was a two way road, so occasionally we would come upon an oncoming car or truck and sometime I think I could feel our car cringing as we squeaked by the other cars with just inches to spare. But needless to say we finally got to a gate blocking a pathway and a parking lot, so this must be the spot. It had to be the spot, wherever we were, we were going to go hiking, whether we found the old homestead or not, we would at least get our hike in. It was a beautiful day, only slightly humid... which is better then other days when it was unbearably humid. And so on this beautiful only slightly humid day we took our hike.

There were a couple very cool trees that I had to get pictures of... (Above) A tree that was right by the creek and because of the rush of water all of its roots were visible. (Below) A tree that Dad said probably grew on top of another tree stump that had over time rotted away, as there was a big cavern that the tree grew on top of.

A spider web that I nearly wore as a mask, thankfully I ducked away before I met the web and its maker.

After all the wondering and wandering we finally found the old homestead, which was actually a barn that was built in 1875, and over a little stream was a hikers club cabin that was built in the 1930's and a little cold spring cellar that they must have used for refrigeration. The cabin was actually built using logs from a nearby Whaley family cabin. Our hike was successful and was pretty cool to boot.

"Located along the Porters Creek Trail, the John Messer Barn was constructed in 1875 by Pinkney Whaley. The only remaining structure of the pre-park community of Greenbrier Cove, it was added to the National Register in 1976. The Messer Barn is a type of double-cantilever barn unique to East Tennessee and rarely found outside its immediate vicinity." ~ Wikipedia

NEWS ALERT

2010-07-29T09:33:00.004-04:00

My baby slept ALL night long last night!!!
I fed him last night around 10:30 and he took awhile to eat and finally fall asleep, I actually had
to get him back up out of his crib because he wanted to eat more after I had put him to bed but it completely paid off because he slept until almost 7:00 this morning. I actually woke up before he did because I realized I hadn't heard him all night. He has always slept well, just waking up for feedings during the night but it was VERY nice to sleep through the whole night uninterrupted and I hope that it is a new habit ;)

On other news...

...I do believe I am going to get a thumb sucker.

Before he was born and you had asked me if I wanted my baby to suck on fingers or thumbs I would've told you "no, I would like them to take a pacifier" because then I could control when and if he had it, but Jimmy won't take a pacifier unless he is in a VERY rare mood and then I have to hold it in his mouth or it falls right out. But now I say that it is rather nice to have him be able to keep himself happy for a little bit when he gets his thumb in his mouth. Last evening he was in his crib taking a nap and I heard him making noise before Curtiss and I sat down for dinner and we were able to eat our WHOLE meal without him crying!!! a rather rare occurrence since he was born unless he happened to be sleeping (which he always seems to wake up as soon as I put the food on the table). After eating I went upstairs and there he was laying with his thumb in his mouth :)

My thr3e weeks: The Cabin (Part 2)

2010-07-27T15:31:00.004-04:00

This post should be labeled "The Cabins," for we did have two. One cabin was a three bedroom and the other was a two bedroom. Christine and I stayed in the master bedroom of the two bedroom and Isaiah and Nathanael had the second bedroom. Mom and Dad had the bigger cabin, where Micah and Colin both had there own rooms.

A lot of our time was spent in the bigger one mostly because they had most of the food... but we did have the snacky type food in the smaller cabin, and we had the pool table.

It had beautiful pine interior and exterior. It was gorgeous.

The cabins looked about the same with a few differences in layout and furniture set up.

The Master Bedroom, had the most comfortable, huge, ginormous bed. It was like laying on pillows, you literally sank down into it... Christine said she had to really look for me the first morning, only my head was partially visible.

I didn't get a picture of the back porch which had a hot tub, and I also didn't get a picture of the super cool pool that they had at the resort, or the huge hot tub they had right next to the pool, which because it was so big, was pretty much a hot pool. It was a truly beautiful vacation spot. To bad we couldn't pack it all up in our suitcase and bring it home with us. But then it really wouldn't be special if it was normal, so I suppose we will have to leave it where it is. :: sigh ::
But anyway, enough about how wonderful the cabins were, forward to the next post...

My thr3e weeks: Summit (Part 1)

2010-07-25T16:49:00.008-04:00

How do you sum up three weeks of awesomeness? You cannot do it in one post, I can tell you that much. So I will be doing a few posts on my last 3 weeks. Some of the content will be taken directly from my journal, so bear with me.
July 4th, Day 1: (Diary entry 1) "Chattanooga, T.N. here I come... Christine's alarm went off at 5:15 this morning. Dad greeted me with a "Happy Birthday!" and an omelet at my bedroom door. I donned my red, white, and blue star-spangled shirt, Dad grabbed my 48 lb. suitcase, Mom grabbed my really heavy carry-on, I gave Christine a hug and we were off. We made it to the airport by 7:00 am and I was through customs and at my gate waiting at 7:30. The flight was uneventful which is good. The only thing that happened worth some notice, was, as I sat down in my seat in the very back of the plane, I looked down and I had egg and cheese clinging to my shirt, breakfast left-overs. I quickly wiped them from my shirt and thought, "is this as embarrassing as egg on my face?""
~~~ Making it to the college campus late afternoon on Sunday, I then settled into the dorm room
met my room mate, ate dinner, and then I headed to orientation. Looking at the schedule I knew the two weeks were going to be exhausting. This is what the first full day looked like:

(Diary entry 2:) ~ "5:40 - get up, get stuff out and be ready to take your shower at six. Read your Bible, take a 12 minute shower. Get ready to go to breakfast.
7:00 - Walk down to breakfast in cafeteria
7:15 - eat breakfast.
8:05 - Classes start. Ben W---'s does a couple sessions with a couple of breaks.
10:20 - Scott K---- does a couple of sessions
12:00 - lunch
1:00 - Another session with Ben W.
2:00-5:00 - free time to join in with the group activity or whatever you want to do.
6:00 - Optional-open forum with Scott K. I go play pool with a girl in my small group.
7:00 - Worship with Josh B---'s then last session for today.
9:00 - Get out of session, and walk to dorm to take your contacts out, that are starting to bother you after wearing them since six-something. Write in journal.
9:45 - small group meeting, which goes to 10:30
11:00 - Lights out."

Pretty much this is what everyday looked like, just different speakers and different topics. Over 72 hours of teaching and many different topics were covered. It was a truly awesome challenging time.
~~~

On Saturday after being at Summit for almost a week, Kami (my room mate) and I decided to join in a hike through Pocket. It was a beautiful day for a walk/run in the heart of Tennessee. I think it was a six mile hike, and it was extremely warm for this northerner. It was fun though... and Kami and I realized we were dressed alike which was pretty funny.

The two weeks went by very quickly... and before we knew it we were sitting in the last sessions... Friday night they had a graduation ceremony which we got to dress up for, which was cool. Kami and I were reunited with our families, and we both stayed in the same hotel Friday night.

This was my small group... we would meet every night and discuss the stuff that we were learning. Jessica (the one standing next to me) was the small group leader, and she would direct stuff and ask questions. We had fun together, they were a cool bunch of girls. It is weird to think that our paths might never cross again, after spending two weeks together I feel like we should live closer... it is kind of a strange feeling, knowing that they live a long way away, and I might not see them on this earth again. I am thankful for the time we had together though.

Well, that just about sums up my time at Summit... there is a lot more I could write about worldviews, and post-modernism... but I think that is better in person, and it would take forever to talk about even half of what was taught there. So this will be my last post on Summit, but family vacation (part 2) is coming shortly...

For Aunt Trina

2010-07-16T20:11:00.003-04:00

So that you can see him in his dragon slayers outfit :)

(He was still recovering from the bath that his mother made him take thus the expression;)

and to prove that he doesn't always smile ^^^

'bout Time

2010-07-14T13:21:00.003-04:00

For a post, don't you think? Sometimes I am amazed by how fast time flies, I can't believe it has already been weeks since I posted anything on here, I mean July is already half over before you know it I will be posted pictures of Jimmy's first birthday :) Ok, so maybe we have a few months left to go before that but come Friday he will be 8 weeks old.
I feel like I have left many of you behind in what has been happening in our lives, we have had so many life changes coming all at once that I either haven't had time or haven't been up to keeping you all up to date on what has been happening. Just for a brief overview...

Over the last three months we have:
Started a new job (after looking for almost a year) and because of that we...

Moved to a different state
(a first for me but of course I did plan on moving to Romania so moving to a different state doesn't seem all that big of a thing :)

And had a baby (personally this is what has changed my life more than anything else:)

We have gotten some good looks when we tell people one or two of these things, and if we mention all that we have done over the last year they think it is amazing that we could handle so many things in such an short time and still be able to walk and talk in a somewhat coherent manner ;)
The Lord has been so good to us and we are doing very well. Curtiss is loving his job and we are starting to get some stability in our lives. I don't even remember if I have mentioned what he is doing now, he is working on maintaining oil and gas wells for a small company owned by his uncle. He has about 10 wells that he has to go out and check everyday (except for Sundays) plus some other duties, so his schedule varies and he is doing something different everyday.

And since I haven't posted any in a while here are some pictures for all of you, I took them this afternoon while I was eating lunch and I couldn't decide which ones to post so here are all of them :)

I will try and post sooner next time, and sometime I do promise to post pictures of our apartment.

One Month

2010-06-22T16:12:00.004-04:00

My little boy celebrated his one month birthday yesterday. It seems so long since I had him and so much has happened in that time yet I can't believe that he is four weeks old. Here are a few pictures for all of you.

These two pictures are for his Grandma Holden,

Lounging with his bears :)

He likes his mobile!

This is his "I'm in a good mood" face

And this is his "I'm so happy I can't contain myself" face :)
(yep he is four weeks old and smiling, I think his first smile was almost a week ago now but this is the first one I caught on camera)

Our newest family photo, as you can see he wasn't too happy about it :)

Decks Dances and Dinosaurs

2010-06-12T11:56:00.004-04:00

Hello all... Life has been busy beyond belief lately. I haven't even had time to check blogs let alone blog. I hadn't thought about he fact that a lot of you haven't seen our deck yet. And so the other day Joanna says, "You should post pictures of the deck." I hadn't even thought about it. So, below are pictures of our new favorite hang out spot.

We dug a table and four chairs out of the grange and they now have a home on the new deck. We ate dinner out there a couple of nights ago, we have played cards, I have crossed-stitched... As I said it is the new favorite spot. It is almost like being in a tree house 'cause of the surrounding trees.

Another thing that has kept us quite busy is getting ready for the dance recital. Our first performance was last night and our final performance is tonight. It is a bittersweet thought that this will be our last one. A lot of good memories, and I know I will miss dancing, but I also feel like that chapter of my life is closing.

Jesse was always pleased to see me in between dance numbers. Here is a picture that we snapped during one of the intermissions.

This summer doesn't look like it is going to slow down any either. The rest of June is filling up... and in July, God has opened up a opportunity for me to go to The Summit, which is a two week Christian worldview conference, and it includes 70 hours of instruction in worldview
analysis, and Christian apologetics. It is a very intense retreat, and I would really appreciate your prayers... I am excited about it but I'm also wondering what those two weeks will hold in store. Even in all this busyness God has been showing and teaching me certain things. At times the busyness can just make you get a tubular vision and you start living in a box and thinking only about yourself and the stuff that is important in your own life. And when I get into that mentality I have a really warped view of life and God. And after going to the LEAH convention and hearing Jeff Myers speak, I really started thinking about how warped my thinking has been lately. I realized that life is more then just me. And that took a huge weight off. I have been more content and happier then I have been in a long time. There are bigger things than just me and my problems, and God is bigger then them all. And God kind of confirmed that the other night. Thursday just before I turned off my light to go to sleep, I really felt like turning to Job and reading the last few chapters. So I started in Job 40 and in it God is talking to Job, and He tells Job about Behemoth which I believe was a huge dinosaur. So, one of the things that God used to comfort Job was that there was something out there bigger then Job was, and that God was still in control of even the biggest of His creatures. And He is still in control of our lives... and reading it now I pray that I can be more like Behemoth;

"If the river rages, he is not alarmed;
He is confident, though the Jordan rushes to his mouth."
Job 40: 23

Jimmy D :)

2010-06-11T12:38:00.004-04:00

Here are some pictures so all of you can see how much my little boy is growing.

He wanted to be a cowboy for his first church outing (he didn't have a hat or boots that fit)

We had another outfit on before this one but it was a little big and Daddy thought he looked funny so we put some camo pants on and Daddy liked it much better ;)

These two pictures were taken yesterday when he was sitting up on the couch like a big boy

I just love his expression in this one, it's my favorite picture of him at the moment :)

We're Here!!

2010-06-03T12:35:00.004-04:00

in Ohio I mean :) Curtiss and I moved yesterday along with baby Jimmy (of course) and my mother in law, she and Curtiss are the ones moving us in since I am under orders from all sides to "take it easy" which considering the fact that I had a baby less than two weeks ago is a wise thing even if it is extremely hard to sit down when there is a pile of boxes to be unpacked and put away so that our new house can become a home. It definitely helps to have a baby to distract myself with since I have to take care of him and I can't unpack at the same time as nursing or changing him. That is all for now, I just wanted to let you all know that we are here and doing well. I will at some point post pictures of our new place, it is very nice and I am loving it already.

A just because picture :)

Introducing...

2010-05-25T13:30:00.002-04:00

James Daniel Archer

Born on May 21'st 2010 at 3:45 in the afternoon.
Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz
Length: 19.5"
Head : 14.2"
Chest: 13.6"

I just wanted to share a picture with you all of my beautiful little boy and let you all know that we are both doing very well.
Labor couldn't have gone any smoother, there were no problems whatsoever.
Labor started at about 3am when my water broke and didn't stop until he was born just over 12 hours later. We were able to come home Sunday morning (they would've let us go Saturday night if Jimmy's circumcision had been done) and I have been feeling better each day and gaining my strength back. I must admit that I have felt "great" ever since labor stopped, it is so nice to be able to move without feeling like a hippopotamus and I can actually get close to the table when eating now too :)

I will try to get on here again sometime soon so that I can update you on other big changes in our lives, the Lord has been giving us many answers in the last couple of weeks but I just have not felt like blogging at all for some reason :) As I type this I am hoping that Curtiss is on his way back home, he left early yesterday morning so that he could go and look for a place for us to live in the Columbus, Ohio area. We had found a place online that we both really liked the look of (we actually drove right by it when we were in Ohio a couple of weeks ago) and when he saw it yesterday it was as good as we had hoped so today at noon he was going to be signing a lease agreement and then driving back. So yes, if some of you didn't know this does mean that we are going to be moving and soon. Curtiss has a job out there and now we have a home. So LOTS of big life changing things happening around here :) Like I said I will try and get on here and give more info some other time.
For now I just want to say "Welcome to the world my baby!"

wait and trust... my thoughts...

2010-05-11T21:08:00.003-04:00

"Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He will strengthen your heart:
Wait, I say, on the Lord."
~ Psalm 27:14 ~

I have discovered that a lot of life is spent waiting. When you are young you have to wait your turn to jump rope or play a game... As you grow older you have to start waiting for more important things, which also means it gets harder to wait for them. Life seems to go very quickly from waiting your turn to climb on the teeter-totter, to waiting to see who God is going to put on with you, to join you on life's big teeter-totter. And on this see-saw you spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for a job, a closing on a house, or for a doctors diagnoses. How well do we trust during these times of waiting? I know I flounder... I know I have doubts... I know I have times when I say, " I don't want to wait anymore, somethin's gotta give!" It is at times like this that I read the Psalms and God gives me the above verse to read. How awesome is it that out of all the thousands of verses in the Bible, He leads us to the one that speaks to us at the exact time we needed it. So, to all of you that are in a season for waiting, "...be of good courage, and He will strengthen your heart, wait, I say, Wait on the Lord."
just wait.

Baby Shower

2010-04-15T09:12:00.003-04:00

This last Sunday my mother-in-love held a baby shower for Jimmy and me. We had a lot of fun and I would have posted about it sooner except I have been busy packing and sorting since Curtiss and I are moving on the 24th. I have found that I can't work as fast or as long as I used to for some strange reason :)

Here is the cake that Curtiss's cousin made, she is the same one that made the cake for our wedding.

On Monday I spent the day going through and sorting everything that I got so that some of it could be put in storage and the rest could be used when needed. This picture is of all the bath type things that I got, as you can see in the top of the picture Jimmy is going to be one clean kid with all the shampoo and baby wash that I received. I believe that there were 8 in all, so if you are expecting a baby don't be surprised if you get some shampoo from me :)

These are the clothes that we were given. Almost all of them were in a larger size so they will fit him when he is a few months to a year old, which is really nice since I have almost everything that I need for the newborn size.

And of course all the toys and books he got. I must admit that I put almost all of this in storage since he won't care for quite some time whether he has any toys or not and hopefully by the time that he does we can be living somewhere where we can have all of our stuff unpacked. Now I just need to figure out what last minute things I need before the birth and we are all set :)

Sorry if this feels kinda rushed, I don't have all that much time and I wanted to share with you all. Sarah G- is on her way here right now to spend the day with me and help me with some packing so this had to be brief.

Last week Curtiss and I were able to go and spend with my family and here is a picture of Trina and I. We are exactly 10 weeks apart so I am 34 weeks here and she is 24 :)

Our Next Step....?

2010-03-29T12:54:00.003-04:00

All right peoples I suppose that I have neglected you long enough, it has been forever since I have really given you any updates on what is happening in my life and since I haven't blogged much else either I wonder if any one still looks to see if I have posted anything :)

The biggest reason for the silence on the blog is just because I didn't know what to say because I simply didn't know myself, I would say that is a pretty good reason, you know the old saying "If you don't have anything worth saying then don't say anything at all" :) As many of you know Curtiss and I have been looking for someplace for him to work since we got back from Romania last June. We have gotten by with him doing odd jobs and him working as a lift attendant at our local ski resort over the winter. But we all know that spring follows winter and spring is definitely here so his work at the resort is now over. And that leaves us with the question -What next???- Over the winter we have had what I will call a couple of "close calls" where we were in a way holding our breath to see if we would get a job or not. This last Friday we had our most recent breath holding time ended when we found out that the job we had applied for was being filled by another applicant, so we are back at square one so to speak and with me getting ever closer to my due date, seven weeks come Wednesday :) :) :) and because we can't afford to pay rent when we don't have income coming in on a regular basis Curtiss and I are going to have to move. Over the last several month (ok, years:) my prayer has been that the Lord give us clear answers as to what he wants us to do for our next step, and the Lord has faithfully been doing that. Every time we have come to a crossroads we have gotten our next marching orders. I must admit that I would usually like to know much sooner what those marching orders are going to be and I definitely want more information, sometimes it seems like he has us taking REALLY, REALLY small steps but we do know what our next step is and for that I praise him.

So you are probably wondering what is their next step? well right now it is moving back in with my in-laws, they have been so good to us and I am so thankful for the relationship we have with them that makes a step like this possible and one that I don't at all dread, in fact with a baby coming it is in a way a relief because I don't have to wonder about finding help and getting meals for Curtiss and myself when Jimmy makes his appearance. Yes, I must admit it I am a lazy bum and like being pampered, which I for sure will be and I will have all the yummy food that I could ever eat (food and I are VERY good friends :) What happens after this? I have no idea... but I know that we are going to eventually know what that will be and some day we will know we will know the step after that.... and on and on it will go until one day we will have all our questions answered and we will see Jesus face to face.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. ~ Psalm 37:23-25

Get back up by Tobymac

2010-03-10T09:56:00.002-05:00

You turned away when I looked you in the eye,
And hesitated when I asked if you were alright,
Seems like you're fighting for you life,
But why? oh why?
Wide awake in the middle of your nightmare,
You saw it comin' but it hit you outta no where,
And theres always scars
When you fall back far

We lose our way,
We get back up again
It's never too late to get back up again,
One day you will shine again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,
Lose our way,
We get back up again,
So get up, get up,
You gonna shine again,
Never too late to get back up again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever
[May be knocked down but not out forever]

You're rolled out at the dawning of the day
Heart racin' as you made you little get away,
It feels like you've been runnin' all your life
But, why? Oh why?

So you've pulled away from the love that wou'd've been there,
You start believin' that your situation's unfair

But there's always scars,
When you fall back far

We lose our way,
We get back up again
Never too late to get back up again,
One day, you gonna shine again,
You may be knocked down but not out forever,
Lose our way, we get back up again,
So get up, get up
You gonna shine again
It's never too late, to get back up again
You may be knocked down, but not out forever,
May be knocked down, but not out forever!

This is love callin', love callin', out to the broken,
This is love callin'.
This is love callin', love callin', out to the broken
This is love callin'.
This is love callin', love callin',
I am so broken
This is love callin' love callin

Lose our way, [way way way ay ay ay]
We get back up, [get back up again]
It's never too late [late late late ate ate ate]
You may be knocked down but not out forever!

Lose our way,
We get back up again,
So get up get up
You gonna shine again
Never too late to get back up again
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever,

This is love [lose our way] callin' love callin' [get back up again]
To the broken
This is love [never too late] callin'
[may be knocked down but not out forever]
This is love [lose our way] callin' love callin' [we get back up again]
To the broken
This is love [never too late] callin'
[may be knocked down but not out forever]

This is love callin' love callin'
Out to the broken,
This is love callin'....

Listen to it on YouTube

Baby Things

2010-03-05T13:41:00.004-05:00

OK, so I have held out as long as I can and have succumbed to the "Baby Prep" bug :)

Up until now I have thought that it would be too soon to start getting baby things out when I don't really have a place to put them without them taking up part of our living quarters which we need for actual living :) But now that I am in my third trimester and baby shower time coming up sooner rather than later I have been literally "forced" [ :) ] to see what I have (thanks to Daniel and Whitney being very generous with Nate's baby things) and what I still need.
I don't know if it was a good thing though since now I really want to start preparing, like setting up sleeping and play places about the house, and I really can't do that so I shall have to just content myself with washing and folding things and trying to figure out what else I absolutely have to have to raise a child properly :)

Count That Day Lost...

2010-03-01T15:12:00.002-05:00

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard,
One glance most kind
That fell like sunshine where it went --
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay --
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face--
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost --
Then count that day as worse than lost.

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

;)

2010-02-10T10:33:00.003-05:00

Goin' Courtin'

Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Oh it sets your senses in a whirl.
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Dudin' up to go and see your gal.
Oh, it's fun to hunt and shoot a gun,
Or to catch a rabbit on the run
But you'll find it's twice as sportin' goin' courtin'.
Now there's lots o' things you gotta know
Be sure the parlor light is low
Y' sidle up and squeeze her hand
Let me tell you fella's that is grand.
You hem and haw a little while
She gives you kinda half a smile.
You cuddle up she moves away
Then the strategy comes into play.
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
If you find it hard to break the ice
Goin' courtin', goin' courtin'
Here's a little feminine advice.
Roll your eyes and heave a little sigh.
Grunt and groan like you're about to die.
That is what's known as emotin' goin' courtin'!

"Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"

I'd Like You to Meet...

2010-02-06T13:27:00.003-05:00

Our Son

James Daniel Archer

Yesterday Curtiss and I went to O- for my first prenatal appointment with the midwife that we are going to use. Since I happened to be 25 weeks along we were able to find out what we were having on our very first visit. The ultrasound was amazing both just to see the baby and because they had a college student in the room observing so the technician did a very thorough job of explaining exactly what to do and what to look for. Both Jimmy (I just had to call him that:) and I are doing very well and the ladies in the office didn't gape too much when they asked if I was transferring from somewhere else and I said no :) Curtiss and I are just amazed and excited and looking forward to seeing our little man in person not just on a black and white screen :)

Howdy :)

2010-01-29T15:27:00.004-05:00

Yep, you may be surprised but I am still alive, just not in a blogging mood very often :)
I have reached the third trimester mark (BIG WHOO HOO if I do say so myself) I love feeling this little one wiggle and kick inside of me. Curtiss has been able to feel a few times too although Baby seems to like to tease Daddy and either only moves when he is not around or quits moving whenever Daddy tries to feel :) After many months of waiting and searching for what we should do I now have an appointment with a Certified Nurse Midwife for prenatal care, which I am very happy about. I thought it was quite funny that I had to go and have an "official" pregnancy test in order for us to apply for the insurance we needed to afford the birth. Here I was five months along having already heard a heartbeat a couple of times, felt the baby kick on a daily basis, besides the fact that I looked pregnant, going into the health department to get a pregnancy test. The nurse didn't quite know what to do with me. And you will never guess so I'll tell you... the test was positive! So I can now know that I am pregnant:)
I know that you all will want to see a picture so I just went and took one... You'll have to take me as you see me :)

So, there you are, all caught up. Hope you all are doing well!

Our Home: My Bedroom

2010-01-08T15:54:00.003-05:00

A very big "hello" to all who read this. It seems like ages since I posted last but it really has been less then a month. In that time we have had Christmas, New Year's, and we have moved into our new home! We don't have Internet in the new house yet, so I am sitting over in the old mostly empty house blogging. It is slightly chillier and sad feeling over here in this old house, it almost feels like it was abandoned, with its few furnishings here and there. Anyway, this post is mostly for my Grandma who has been asking for pictures, so without any more ado here is,

My bedroom

(which is pretty much my bed ;)

As I was flipping through a magazine after Prayer and Praise one night, I came across instructions for a built in bed and bookshelf... I showed it to Dad and he said that we already had the wood that we needed to make it... Green light #1 I got permission from Mrs. G--- to steal (or borrow) her magazine... Green light #2. I also had the perfect window in my room to build a bed around as my bedroom used to be a kitchen. Green light #3. Three green lights... I believe that made it a go. I drew up my own version of the original magazine drawing, (which I scanned in below) Dad did a lot of the actual measurements and stuff... I just knew what I wanted it to look like, he did most of the math. ;) I drove a couple of nails into it, but Dad did most of the hard work, thanks Dad.

Before bed...

Viola, After Bed... and thus you have my bedroom and haven.

I hope to do another post on the house soon, but you never know... My next post will probably be about the kitchen. We are still working on the basement level, Mom and I painted the utility room today. So some of the house is still labeled under construction and thus can't have anything blogged about it as of yet.

I am getting very cold sitting here so I think it is time to sign off. There is something very chilling about sitting in a cold empty house, it almost feels colder then the outdoors... almost. Well, goodbye y'all I am off to warm up.

The Reason for the Season...

2009-12-23T10:31:00.003-05:00

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Ceasar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." Luke 2:1-7

I don't know about you but this story has been such a big part of my whole life, I don't remember the first time I heard about Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem and Mary having baby Jesus and laying him in a manger. I don't know about you but sometimes when I hear of something so often you forget that it actually really happened and that these were real people who really lived through these things, and then there are the times when something would strike me about the story that I had never really thought about before, some part of it would just come alive and it would be so real to me. This year being pregnant has been bringing a whole new area of the story of Jesus' life alive for me, as I feel my baby move inside of me and the thrill that goes through me every single time it happens, I think about Mary and what she must have been feeling, and the fact that at some point in time she first felt Jesus move inside of her.
Have you ever tried to think of Jesus as a baby? One that wets his pants, cries because he is hungry and spits up after eating? Have you ever wondered what a perfect baby would be like? We all know what the perfect adult would be like, the Bible tells us that when we read about Jesus and what he did or didn't do while he was alive on this earth. But what was he like as a newborn? Can you imagine the absolute thrill that must have gone through Mary and Joseph the first time that he smiled? How about when he said his first word? Have you thought about that? the son of God, the maker of the universe, the one who said "Let there be light" had to learn how to talk. That just amazes me.

Let me encourage you to really think about what you are celebrating this December 25th,
Jesus, the son of God, creator of the universe and my (and I pray yours also) own personal savior came to this world as a little newborn baby.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas trees and tummies

2009-12-13T13:10:00.004-05:00

On Friday Curtiss and I were able to go and get our very first Christmas tree (last year we used my in-laws artificial tree that we set up before they left for Romania) Because it is just the two of us this year we wanted a small tree that could sit on top of a chest that sits in our living room, but we have come to find that places that sell trees around here are rather scarce so we went to the only place we were able to find that sells them any where close to near by. We got the smallest one they had and then Curtiss took the saw to it and trimmed it down to size :)

Here it is waiting patiently for the lights and such to be put on it, it had to wait 24 hours to get it's trimmings due to the fact that Curtiss started work yesterday, so after getting it into it's stand on Friday night the rest of our time was spent getting things ready for him to go the next morning.

We found "mini" bulbs and bells at Big Lots that we both really like, and we had fun putting them all in just the right place (I am married to a perfectionist after all:)

The finished product, I have always loved looking at a lighted tree and this one is no exception :)

And I had to post a picture of the ornament that my sister Bethany sent to us this year, she found it last year but when she went to buy it they were all sold out so she got it this year and some of those of you out there will really appreciate it...

... and as promised here is a picture of me and baby, we are both getting bigger :)

The day my hair turned gray...

2009-12-11T09:25:00.004-05:00

Yesterday my hair turned gray,

For a day.

I was over with the boys cleaning the house and the vacuum was not working quite right, so I decided to check and see if the vacuum was full. It was not full, that was not the problem, but the filter looked like it had about 10 lbs. of sheet rock dust ingrained into it. So I promptly took it outside to shake it out. And as everyone knows this little town that we live in is prone to windy days especially in the winter... and yesterday was no exception. The wind was blowing and blowing and blowing, and I even made sure it was blowing away from me. But the next time the boys saw me, they asked what happened, as it looked as if the vacuum had blown up and then sucked everything including me inside it. As I was sitting at the supper table last night, the boys were commenting on how dirty I was, and we were talking about how I had taken the filter out to shake it and that the vacuum was working much better now, and Dad made the comment, "Three accidents happened today on Main St. in O- because of low visibility." For a second I looked at him in shock half believing him, until I remembered what we had been talking about and that the wind had been blowing towards the road, and that there probably were people wondering what in the world the white dusty stuff was pouring out from behind that house.

That was the day my hair turned a whitish sort of gray.

Yesterday was also Dad's birthday, and I would just like to say,

"Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!"

Another Update

2009-12-09T21:39:00.003-05:00

Phew! Back to blogging and back to the people who faithfully check it to see if anyone has posted anything "new." As you all probably know we have been keeping extremely busy working on completing the house. We also have had Thanksgiving and a couple of birthdays and now, ready or not...
Christmas is coming!

Nathanael and Claire both celebrated their birthdays in the last couple of months. Nathanael turned 9 and Claire turned one... How time flies!

One of "my projects" in the house was painting a medieval looking shield display on Isaiah and Nathanael's bedroom wall. It turned out pretty good, and it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. The boys like it anyway, and that is what counts.

And this final picture is the first box that made its way over to the house today, it even managed to get unpacked onto the bookshelf it is sitting on. Exciting! This bookshelf is actually the foot board on my bed, and hopefully I will soon be able to post and show you the whole bed.

I have been taking pictures for the whole house project, and I really want to do some "before and after" posts on different rooms, it will just be a matter of when I will have the time to do it. But for now this post will have to do.

An Update

2009-12-01T14:39:00.002-05:00

Yes, you may all be surprised but I am still alive, just haven't felt much like blogging :)
Over the last month or so since I last posted I have gone from being exhausted all the time and kinda nauseous to having my stomach be all right most of the time (although it doesn't feel like it used to:) and having more energy for the most part, for which I am very grateful.

As you can see (in the bad quality photo) I am well cared for by my wonderful husband, who has been using his cooking skills in the kitchen from time to time so that we both don't go hungry :)

I am very thankful that he like to create in the kitchen, that means that he opens the fridge, freezer and cupboards and pulls things out adds them together and adds spices to taste and voila we have a wonderful tasting dinner at a time when I go to the microwave and can't remember which button I need to push to start it :)

Over the last few weeks we have had the chance to be at my Mom and Dads house for a couple of weeks while Curtiss helped do some work in the house project, we have finished our Christmas shopping had a wonderful Thanksgiving and as of tomorrow will have reached the 16th week mark of pregnancy. Not bad huh???

I shall try to not have it be as long before I post again, sometime I shall have to post a picture of my expanding belly for all of you :)

Why are we surpised???

2009-11-06T18:17:00.005-05:00

Are you ever surprised when God answers your prayers? Has it ever taken you two days to realize that two days ago is when He answered a certain prayer? I don't know about you but I do it quite often. Now sometimes I think it is because the answers to our prayers aren't always that obvious, they don't always come all wrapped up with ribbons and bows with a flashing card that sings, "An answer for you, from God." Usually the answers are more subtle, but sometimes I wonder why I am surprised when God answers my prayers... Did I not think He would or could do it?

~~~

Anyway, all of that to say, God has been teaching me a couple of things, the first one being: He has the ability to do anything, and yet even in this position of power, cares enough about us to answer our prayers, even when our prayers are over little vain things. He has made it very evident that He is the God that still answers prayers. When you call out for help He will send someone, or several "someones" to help and encourage you. I would like to thank the several "someones," who have been councilors and encourager's to me in the past several weeks. God sent you to help me... and I just want to say thanks.

The second thing God has been teaching me is to just trust Him. Trust, trust, trust... I have heard or seen that word many times in the last week and finally I realized, "God must be trying to tell me something."

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a passage of scripture that most of us are very familiar with, most of us had it memorized by the time we were five. It was so much easier trusting God when I was five. Do you need to go back to a five year olds mentality of just trusting? I know that I do. I need to have the trust of a five year old. As a grown up, it is way to easy to just grab the reins and take control away from God. If we could just trust him and willingly give Him the reins to our lives, I believe He would drive us to places that are beyond our comprehension, better then we ever could have imagined...

Sometimes we just have to give up the reins and trust Him.

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."

2009-11-03T10:26:00.004-05:00

Can 't

by Edgar Guest

Can't is the worst word that's written or spoken;

Doing more harm here then slander and lies;

On it is many a strong spirit broken,

And with it many a good purpose dies.

It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning

And robs us of courage we need through the day:

It rings in our ears like a timely sent warning

And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.

Can't is the father of feeble endeavor,
The parent of terror and halfhearted work;
It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
It stifles in infancy many a plan;
It greets honest toiling with open derision
And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man.

Can't is a word none should speak without blushing;

To utter it should be a symbol of shame;

Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;

It blights a man's purpose and shortens his aim.

Despise it with all of your hatred of error;

Refuse it the lodgment it seeks in your brain;

Arm against it as a creature of terror,

And all that you dream of you someday shall gain.

Can't is the word that is foe to ambition,
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
Its prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill
Hate it, with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: "I can."

A Belated Birthday Song...

2009-10-27T14:31:00.005-04:00

A very Happy Birthday to you Mr. Guthrie! I hope you enjoy it too Jake!

( I am posting the lyrics below for your convenience.)

We Saw the Lights

We wandered so aimless down Guthrie Lane,
We couldn't see through all of the rain.
Then we were blinded by something so bright,
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

We saw the lights! We saw the lights!
No more darkness the cakes much to bright
Now were so happy we celebrate tonight
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

We saw the porches, your sons, they did make
54 candles on top of your cake.
You won't need your flashlight to illuminate the night
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

We saw the lights! We saw the lights!
No more darkness the cakes much to bright
Now were so happy we celebrate tonight
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

We hope you've enjoyed this version of the song,
And tell your 9 children they must sing along.
So Happy, Happy Birthday, and enjoy your cake!
Thank your newest son-in-law, This ones from Jake!

We saw the lights! We saw the lights!
No more darkness the cakes much to bright
Now were so happy we celebrate tonight
Praise the Lord! We saw the birthday lights!

All right....

2009-10-13T13:34:00.004-04:00

I will now release all of you who are wondering and those of you who know/figured it out and make it public.

I am pregnant!!!!!

Come May Curtiss and I are expecting a bouncing baby_________
(insert boy/girl your guess is as good as mine :)

The picture of the stork was one that I took while in Romania this last spring. Storks are a common sight over there and most villages have at least one nest up on top of one of the cement electric poles. The one in that picture wasn't from the village we lived in but in the next village over. We have been saving it for just such an announcement as this :)

For those of you who will be wondering....

I am feeling good considering the circumstances :)
Most days I don't have much if any energy but I have for the most part gotten over the morning sickness and it's not an infrequent thing to hear me say that I am hungry :)
If any of you ever have a hankering to do dishes or clean the bathroom by all means come on over since there will most likely be at least one of those things that needs doing :)
I have decided that I don't like being a lazy person, life is much too boring when you don't do anything but I keep reminding myself that the cobwebs in the corner aren't the most important thing in life and even though I don't have the energy to cook gourmet meals (or anything at all for that matter), or keep my house spotlessly clean, my body is very busy bringing another life into the world and that is one of the most awesome things that any woman can do.

One Year ago today...

2009-10-11T09:53:00.001-04:00

It hardly seems possible that a year could've gone by already since Curtiss and I said our wedding vows.

And yet so much has happened in that time that I sometimes wonder how we fit it all in :)

I just want to say how thankful I am to the Lord for where he has placed me and the lot he has given me. I am blessed beyond anything I could've ever dreamed.

2009-10-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

"Hanging by a Thread..."

2009-10-06T16:11:00.005-04:00

As I was waking up to one of my favorite Cd's this morning, this song really stuck out... It kind of describes the way I feel sometimes.

Hanging by a Thread
Wayne Kirkpatrick and Gordon Kennedy

There's a kind of emptiness that can fill you.

There's a kind of hunger that can eat you up.

There's a cold and darker side of the moonlight.

An' there's a lonely side of love.

With you here, Jesus, I am strong; no sign of weakness.
With you gone, Jesus, I am hanging by a thread.

There's a certain kind of pain that can numb you.

There's a type of freedom that can tie you down.

Sometimes the unexplained can define you,

And sometimes silence is the only sound.

With you here, Jesus, I am strong; outside of weakness.
With you gone I am hanging by a thread.

A Progression...

2009-10-05T20:30:00.002-04:00

Our house project started over a year ago, and at that time we didn't know that it was going to be "our" house project. At that time we were planning on using it as a guest house for friends and family. So with that plan in mind we started by putting new shingles on the roof. It was a fun job, Joanna, Anja, Olivia and I did a lot of the work with the guys helping out when they could.

Several months went by and the plan was changed, my family would be the ones moving next door. So with that change of plans came another change of plans, instead of just patching and painting up the walls and fixing the floors we were going to gut the whole place. We will be forever grateful that we picked the gutting instead of the patching route, as we found major problems with the structural soundness of the house.

(a picture of our soon to be kitchen)

After putting in beams and supports to insure that the house would not collapse on top of us, we were finally ready to start studding in new walls. Next came electric, plumbing, inspections, insulation, and dry wall.

Our 2" tongue and groove flooring was now ready to be put in, which involved measuring, marking, sawing, nailing, sanding, and three coats of the same stuff that they use on gym floors. The floor turned out beautifully!

We are finally to the finishing stages such as painting, putting the kitchen in, and putting trim boards up. We still have quite a bit of work to do, but we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are trying not to put a time on when we will be able to move in, but hopefully I will soon be able to post that we are moved in, and give you some before and after pictures. But until then I will try to keep you updated. ;)

(the beginnings of our kitchen.)

The "eyes" have it...

2009-09-29T15:56:00.005-04:00

Mark Shultz wrote a song, it is called "Running just to catch myself " right now that is the story of my life, and the lives of those around me. We have been running and running and sometimes it feels as if we are running in circles... or at least painting in circles. ;) Yes, we have been painting an awful lot! But through all this painting I have learned two things:

1. Make sure paint can lids are tightly secured before tipping paint can over...

2. Do not wear contacts while painting ceilings without wearing the proper eye protection, or this might happen to you. Little droplets of paint all over your contacts.

A big "Thank You" to Mom who finished painting the ceilings for me!

Well, I was kind of posting this as an excuse for why I haven't had time to blog lately, but hopefully it will also motivate me to blog more with updates on the house and such. So, goodbye for now and I hope it will not be as long between posts next time... ;)

Oh, and here is a sneak peek of our new kitchen cabinets being safely delivered to there new abode.

Happy Birthday...

2009-09-26T16:40:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't blogged in a long long time, but I wanted to get on here to wish my sister a very quick "Happy Birthday!" Have a very special day with you husband! "" Happy Birthday from the whole clan here! We love you!"

Of Foam and Curtains

2009-09-05T21:05:00.006-04:00

I thought you might all like to see/read about a few changes that I have been making to various things around the apartment. First of all our living room has been rearranged again... I think this makes it the 4th time, but you didn't know about all of them since they were mostly done before I ever took pictures to share with you. I think it will now remain the way it is for a little while, at least until Christmas when we have to make room for a tree that is :) Curtiss thinks that I am nutty for actually liking to do these kinds of changes.

The next change is actually a piece of furniture that my in-laws gave us.
a few years ago they were at a garage sale and they bought a chair and dubbed it...

THE HIPPIE CHAIR

Now this chair is quite unique and we think you would have to go a long way before you would find another like it. It sits quite low to the ground and the shape of it is not a common one.
But we needed furniture and since the chair had been sitting in the garage unused for quite some time we were given the option of taking it and fixing it up.

The biggest problem was that it had no cushions and since it had a spring bottom it was quite uncomfortable to sit in besides the fact that it meant that you were even lower to the ground.
So I thought "no big deal, we'll buy some foam and some nice fabric and I'll make some"
So sure enough I got the measurements and after a call to my ever faithful sister, Trina, I had the information I needed for a trip to Joanns.

I never before knew how expensive foam is, I think my jaw just about hit the ground
when I saw the sign that said 4" foam $56.99 a yard.
I quickly decided that I didn't like the chair that much, it would've cost us about $100.00
to fix the chair up. So we figured that the chair would just have to
go back to the garage where it came from.

This is where my mother in law comes in.
It seems that there were some ugly porch cushions that belonged to Curtiss's grandmother and she was just going to get rid of them so Mom asked me if I wanted to take them and see if I could use the filling to make some cushions out of. She also had some curtains that had been hanging in the living/dining room of the house in St- and she was replacing them so she wondered if I wanted the material. So I figured "nothing ventured nothing gained" and set to work...

The first thing that I did was take the foam
(it was actually more like think batting that had been layered)
out of the plastic like fabric.

(you can see the chair in the background there)

My next step was to take the curtains and remove all the meddle hooks and pleats that were all along the top, and wash them. To tell the truth I felt kinda like Maria Von Trapp when she is making clothes for the Von Trapp children. I still have lots of fabric left so if any of you want a dress or something let me know :)

I don't have any pictures of the next few steps but suffice it to say I pieced the foam together so that it would be the right size to fit in the chair and then I layed them on the fabic and cut them to size. I didn't have any zippers or elastic to finish off the back of the covers so I made them with a flap that folds over the end.
And here you can see the finished product.

The next thing that had to be done with the chair was to stain and refinish the wood. What had been on there years ago was completely worn off so I took an old sock and some varnish and went to work.

Personally I think it looks like a completely new chair
and instead of $100.00 we spent about $5.00.
(and yes, I did get the stripes to line up just about perfect on the two cushions :)

I also spray painted a floor lamp that Curtiss's grandmother gave also,
it was one of those pieces that has been around since the time when everyone thought you should paint all the furniture gold and some thing..
most things that I have seen are green with gold but this lamp was off white and gold, well to make a long story short it is now a nice black and it is vastly improved :)

Fame, Wealth, Love and Health

2009-08-31T15:16:00.002-04:00

That is what the four leaves of a four leaf clover stand for according to Wikipedia.
Shortly before Curtiss and I left Romania we were visiting some friends and we were all out in their back yard picking cherries (they gave us a Wal-Mart sized bag full of them) and after wards we were standing around talking (or rather everyone else was talking and once in a while Curtiss would fill me in on what was being said:) and I looked down and staring right back up at me was this:

A four leaf clover. It was the first one that I had ever found or ever seen in person for that matter.
I have always wanted to share a picture with you but up until now haven't been able to since it was put into one of my books to dry and has been packed ever since :)
But now we are all unpacked and all the books are on shelves and I can get a picture for you:)

Our Apartment

2009-08-26T17:05:00.005-04:00

I was going to wait until I had pictures and decorations on the walls but I don't know when I am going to get to that and I don't want to wait any longer before showing you where I live :)
So if you want to see how it will end up when everything is done (does that ever happen for any housewife???) you will just have to come and see it in person :)

We're in!!

2009-08-21T13:27:00.003-04:00

We did it, we are now living in our new apartment! Of course we have been for almost a week and I am just now letting you all know but I have been just a little busy:)
We were able to move last weekend, we did most of it on Saturday. It was quite something getting all of our furniture up the steep stairs and through the narrow doors but we did it with the help of several people and then we were able to get most necessary things settled by the time my Mom, Elise and Nathanael left on Monday night (they traveled out Saturday afternoon to help) Since then I have been pretty busy getting most other things set where I want them. I am to the decorating stage where you pick what knickknacks go where and where you want different pictures hung. The part that I really enjoy and that Curtiss just grimaces and looks at me like I went mad:)
But we are having fun and enjoying having a place of our own.
Sometime soon I plan on taking pictures and sharing them so that you can "see" where we are living:)

One year ago today...

2009-08-14T09:00:00.002-04:00

I got up VERY early in the morning so that Curtiss could take me on an all day date to the city of Cluj in Romania. It was a beautiful day, bright and sunny (and quite warm). Since we took the train there and back the only way we had of getting around was by foot so walk we did, while taking pictures and enjoying each other's society. There were suppose to be some kinds of ancient ruins some where around the city and since we were both interested in seeing them we decided to go looking for them. We never did find them though, part way up the hill while we were taking a break and enjoying the view of the city Curtiss asked me to marry him, and of course I said "Yes" :)

If any of you want to read more about our story or if some of you just want to refresh your memory you can go Here
or Here
if you want to see more pictures :)

It's coming!!!

2009-08-12T15:37:00.003-04:00

Moving day is on the way. Come Saturday night Curtiss and I (and hopefully Elise who is coming to help me) will be sleeping in our new apartment. I am getting quite excited about being able to set up house. We have greatly enjoyed being able to stay with Curtiss's parents but it will be nice to be able to have a dresser and to stop living out of a suitcase (which I have been doing since we got back here in June) and to have more than one room in which to put our things instead of having them piled about the room or in a storage unit. I am also looking forward to setting up my kitchen and arranging the furniture and hanging pictures and curtains and making a home for Curiss and I.
Hopefully next week sometime I can post some pictures of our new home so you can all be a part of the fun too :)

The Sky is Falling...

2009-08-03T11:30:00.003-04:00

Have you ever heard the story of Chicken Little, Henny Penny and all the others? Well, if you have then I am sure that you know when something drops from the sky it is no light matter. Well, I have my own "Chicken Little" story.

Once upon a time, (a time not much different then our own.) Little Girl waking up from a long nights rest, was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, when suddenly she saw something on her floor that made her gasp.

"What is that?" cried Little Girl.

You see Little Girl wore glasses and therefore without them on she could not see very well. Now Little Girls glasses were not anywhere nearby so she squinted her eyes to see if she could see what was on her floor.

"It looks like I must have broken something last night!" said Little Girl to herself. "I wonder what it could have been? It looks like it was something glass, I don't think I have anything that big in my room... Maybe I was sleep walking and broke one of my lamps." All these thoughts went through Little Girls head. But none of them made any sense...just as she was getting a bit puzzled over what was on her floor she looked up at her ceiling. " Ah-HA, that is what is all over my floor, it is my ceiling!" she said relieved that it wasn't something else.

After climbing out of bed she went running through the house telling everyone that her sky was falling. She told Mother Brother, and Brother Other. Mother Brother went and told Daddy Paddy and they all went to inspect the hole in the ceiling. "The sky really is falling today." said Little Girl and that was all she said. Chicken may have been wrong when she said those famous words, but I think Little Girl was right, don't you?

What to blog???

2009-07-31T10:35:00.001-04:00

It seems that every time that I try to sit down at the computer to post something here my mind ends up being a complete blank with nothing there to write. There is always something going on around here but not always something that would be interesting to all of you to read.
You might be wondering if we are moving? Well, yes we are but not as soon as we had originally thought. The people who are renting the apartment that we are moving into after they leave are buying a house, and as we all know closings on houses never happen when they think they might so they aren't going to be able to be out of the apartment until the 15'th of the month or so and hopefully a few days after that we will be able to move in. So that brings you all up to date on the house situation. Other than that Curtiss is busy with different odd jobs and is still looking for a permanent job, and I am helping out who ever needs something done around here when and where I can. So as you can see not much of interest on the home front for all of you but we are busy living life even if there isn't anything unusual to write about :)

An Update

2009-07-10T14:25:00.002-04:00

Yes, I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. Apart from being quite busy over the last few weeks I really haven't been in the blogging mood so even if I did have time I usually didn't even think about it :) In the last couple of weeks since getting back to the states we have:
1) Moved all of our things into storage until we can move them into the apartment that we are renting
2) Moved Daniel, Whitney and Nate up here for the summer
3) Bought a truck (yeah I know I should've posted about it and put up pictures)
4) Gone to the H- family reunion
5) visited with my family (and got to celebrate Elise's 19'th birthday with her!!!)
6) Gotten cell phones (I have my very own!! Exciting I know:)
7) Curtiss has started working on some remodeling jobs (and will be looking for a more long term job)
8) Got a dog (who will live here in Steamburg after we move down the road) her name is "Momo"
9) and last but now least found a place to rent that should be available for us to move into on August 1'st.

There if that hasn't gotten you tired it sure has me. Like I said we have been busy with getting everything settled and it isn't slowing down any let me tell you.
Tomorrow we are celebrating Nate's first birthday (his birthday is actually on Wednesday but we are having the party tomorrow) so that will be fun.
I think that just about catching you up on what our last 3 weeks have been like, I think that the next couple will be a little bit slower (until moving time) but you never know :-)

Home We Go (eventually)

2009-06-26T16:57:00.003-04:00

I finally have a minute to tell all of you about our trip home. We have been so busy that blogging just hasn't happened and so much has happened that could be blogged about, sad isn't? :(
Here goes.... We started the day at six am on Friday the 19'th of June 2009. The day we had tickets for flying home. Our first flight was scheduled to leave at 1:55 pm but since we had to close up everything in the apartment and had a (depending on road conditions) 3-5 hour trip to the airport we had to get up and get moving. Other than several delays for construction the trip to the airport was smooth and uneventful in fact everything went very smoothly, getting there, checking in, the flight left almost on time (a rare occurrence when leaving the Romanian airport:) and we landed in Munich, Germany without incident. We had a half or so wait in Munich and then it was time for the LONG flight across the Atlantic to the Chicago O'Hare airport. The flight was about nine and a half hours long and the whole way was day time since we were actually headed back in time :) The flight was good though, we had good seats (thanks to a very nice man in the Romanian airport) and several movies to choose from to pass the time. We landed on time and made it quickly and smoothly through Customs and immigration. Since we already had our boarding passes we were able to head right to our gate and wait for our next flight that was suppose to leave about 9:30 to Buffalo, NY. By this time we had been up for about 21 hours and I for one was VERY tired. But we were relatively close to home and we both looked forward to getting to and sleeping in our own bed. It was about this point that we started listening to what the other passengers were saying who were sitting and waiting for the same flight we were. It seemed that due to weather most of the airport was shut down and there had already been multiple flights canceled, some of the people there had had seats on earlier flights to Buffalo and had had their flights canceled before we even got there. We're thinking "O No, not a good time to have our flight delayed or canceled" We weren't there long when some one said "it's been delayed to 1:30" I think it was about this point that my headache, which I had from being so tired, got decidedly worse. Since we were coming from over seas where we had planned on being for a year or two we had no phone with which to communicate with our parents at home who were suppose to pick us up so Curtiss went to find a pay phone and get us something to eat at McDonald's. After waiting half an hour or so and having the time for our flight get pushed back further and further it was canceled. Everybody got up and went to stand in line at customer service (the line there was VERY long and it wasn't moving quickly) and we were left there trying to gather ourselves together and figure out what we were suppose to do. A guy from United Airlines came and we found out that because of all the flight cancellations there were no flights available until Monday and that everybody was going to have to come and be on standby and hope that they could get seats on one of the flights. Because we weren't pressed to be home by a certain time Curtiss went to talk with him and see if we had to go on standby or if there we would lose our tickets if we just had them put us on the next available flight two days away. The guy told us that we wouldn't be able to do that but he would check and see if there were any other flights that we could go on that would at least take us close to where we needed to be. There wasn't anything to Rochester or Syracuse or even Cleveland but he found a couple of first class seats that were available for the next afternoon (Saturday at 4:45). He told us not to tell anyone else but he was going to make an executive decision and do something that he wasn't suppose to do and give us those tickets, for which we were VERY thankful. After that all we had to do was make it to a hotel for the night... simple right? HAHAHA :)
The airlines gave us a pink slip of paper with a number on it that we were suppose to call and get a discount on hotel accommdations so we called the number were given a hotel name with a confirmation number and told that we could take a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and that we had a room ready and waiting for us when we got there. So we found the shuttle (which took a while) and made it to the hotel. We weren't the only ones who were stranded there so we had a bus full of people armed with pink slips and confirmation numbers on our way to the hotel. At the hotel we waited our turn to be waited on and everybody was getting in with no trouble until we walked up to the counter. We handed the lady the slip and said that were had a confirmation number from the airport and she looked at it and turned to the guy who was working with her and after consulting for a few minutes they said that they were only suppose to take five of these pink slips and that they were full and couldn't take us. To make a long story short we ended up having to take a taxi to another hotel that didn't have free shuttle back and forth to the airport. By the time we made it there and had checked in we had been up for more than 27 hours and we were beat. It has been a long time since any bed felt as good as that one did :) Anyway we both woke up (most likely due to jet lag) after about six hours sleep and we were both wide awake and hungry. The hotel didn't have a free breakfast so Curtiss walked to the nearest convenience store and got us some breakfast sandwiches and we heated them up in the microwave that was in the room. After spending some time trying to get the internet to work (it turned out that the phone lines were down and none of the phones or internet in the rooms were working) and watching most of a movie on tv. We went to check out of our room. We were very blessed to have a nice lady working the desk, she allowed us to leave our carry on bags in a locked room after we checked out so that we were able to walk to a near by pizza place for lunch. After eating we walked back to the hotel picked up our bags and waited for the taxi driver that we had talked to to pick us up. We made it safely to the airport and back through security and made it to our gate several hours before our flight was suppose to take off. But the time passed fairly quickly, there were enough interesting people to watch and we got an ice cream flurry to eat (which tasted really good:) About an hour before our flight was suppose to take off we were told that we had had a gate change and that we needed to move across the hall. After moving over there we waited again for the flight to start loading. Right about the time that we were suppose to get on the plane it was announced that the flight was going to be delayed for a while because of technical problems. After waiting about an hour we were told that the mechanics had it just about fixed they just had to fill out paper work and we would be able to load. We waited and waited and all of a sudden the flight was canceled and we were told that we needed to go and talk with customer service. I guess it was a good thing that it was canceled it wouldn't have been good to take off in falty plane but we were ready to get home. The line in customer service wasnt' as long as it has been the night before but we were still one of the last ones to make it over to stand in line so we had a bit of a wait. By this time we were ready to just a get a pink slip, get a good nights sleep and rent a car so that we could make it home. Neither one of us wanted to wait on standby for three days until there was a spot for us on a plane. But by the time we made it to the desk United had scheduled a special flight for all of us stranded people (there were 26 people waiting on standby for the plane that we had tickets for that was canceled) The airlines paid for the night at the hotel (they gave us our registration right there at the desk so we were fairly sure we wouldn't have the same thing happen to us that had the night before) two fifteen dollar meal vouchers. The flight was scheduled to leave and 7:06am so we ended up getting up at 3:30 so that we could shower and make the shuttle and get through security on time, but that flight left on time and we made it safely home :)
There now that I have written a book that I hope is understandable, you can understand why I am still not completely recovered:)

HI From NY

2009-06-22T14:35:00.003-04:00

Hello everybody, I know that it has been a very long time since I have posted anything and you are all going to be surprised because I haven't been not blogging because there wasn't anything to blog about but because there was a LOT to blog about :) I might as well get it out now, Curtiss and I are in NY again. There anybody surprised??? We arrived here yesterday morning after some great hassle to get here. A couple of weeks ago Curtiss and I had been praying for wisdom and direction as to whether or not we should come home or not due to the fact that Curtiss had not been feeling well the entire time we were there, mostly due to allergies. He had had a non stop headache, he had a hard time breathing most of the time and the longer we were there the worse he got. A few days after deciding that if his health hadn't gotten much better by the end of June we would have to go home we found out that I wasn't going to be able to get a visa to stay in the country and we took that to mean that the Lord had given his answer and we needed to go home. After having many talks with parents and others and because of some other circumstances we decided that the sooner we got home the better. Some other time when I am not feeling exausted from jet lag and lack of sleep I will share about our trip, it was most interesting since we were suppose to be home the same day we left Romania and we didn't get home until three days later :)

Operation Dance Recital

2009-06-17T20:41:00.004-04:00

Helping someone else get ready for a dance recital is so much easier then getting yourself ready. That is why it was very enjoyable to be able to help my nieces Havalah and Esther get ready for theirs. I didn't have to worry about forgetting my costumes or not being able to put my hair in a bun, it was lovely. And it was a whole lot of fun to boot!

Havalah having her hair blow dried as the clock ticks down to when we had to leave.

After getting Esther's eye makeup all done we sent her out to the living room to see what she would look like on stage and the result was, " She looks like a CAT!" So, after calming down her makeup to look good on stage but not cat like we were all set. Except for waiting for her toe nail polish to dry which is what she is doing in this picture.

I think that Esther looks like a frog in this picture, she is so adorable!

She danced to the song, "Singin' in the Rain" She did a really good job, she was the only one following her dance instructor.

Havalah had two dances one was her ballet which was called, "Egyptian Princess" Here she is in her costume, she did an awesome job.

Her tap dance was called "Freeze Frame" and here she is posing for me. Her dancing gets better and better each year, I can't wait to see both of them again next year!

Life...

2009-06-17T16:31:00.004-04:00

I was trying to figure out what to call this post and the most fitting seems to be this one word... life. I have been checking the blog over the past few weeks and find myself saying, " I really should blog." but I find that there really isn't a whole lot to blog about even though life is happening. There is one thing that I am sure most of you would enjoy seeing and hearing about though: our dance recital. It seems really weird that just last year Joanna was dancing with us, as I said though life happens and when it does, it seems to happen fast! ;) I am having trouble getting the dance video's to load, the one that did load is my Irish dance so I hope you enjoy (I am in the third in from the right.) I don't think I will take the time to load all of the videos, as there are two videos of our tap dance, so if you would like to see them you will just have to visit us. ;)

KAABBOOOOOM

2009-05-30T09:54:00.003-04:00

The other night I was busy working in the kitchen fixing our supper. We were having my Romanian version of Alfredo sauce over spaghetti with cajun flavored chicken and some broccoli thrown in for a veggie, along with some rather yummy garlic bread (even if I do say so myself:)
Everything was going quite well, I had the sauce already made, the water for the pasta was boiling (finally) and the chicken was just about finished cooking. It was time to warm the sauce so that it would be hot to put over the noodles. Since both front burners were in use I went to light one of the back burners (you have to light all of them, including the oven with a match) Since I haven't done a lot of cooking here I had never tried to use this particular burner before. I turned the burner on, moved the pot out of the way so that I could get to the burner and put the lit match next to it and..... KAABBOOOOOM!!!!! the blast hit me in the chest, Curtiss (who was in the other room) said that the windows rattled (he came out to the kitchen rather quickly:)
I don't remember ever being told not to light this burner before (but I probably was since it has been several months since I have been here to use it) but when Curtiss came out he said he vaguely remembered it not working before. Anyway, the burner itself might not light but it does get gas cause it blew. There was a fire somewhere underneath the stove top and I turned all the burners and the oven off (before Curtiss even made it into the room, I was fast:) and the fire went out. After waiting a few minutes (and after Curtiss turned the gas off completely and then back on) I very nervously lit one of the burners and supper was a great success :) But I won't ever use that burner again and Curtiss has now insisted that we get a new stove cause to quote him "That things gonna blow up one of these days!"

Plus-and-Plus = Equals

2009-05-29T13:32:00.002-04:00

Esther + Chocolate Fountain + Marshmallows = a very happy sticky little Princess

Jesse + Hide-and-Seek + Blanket = Big Smiles

We did have a slight problem taking pictures when we were playing hide-and-seek though, he thought it was a lot of fun to hide from the camera. So if I couldn't capture a still of him then I would capture him on video.

(I thought you would enjoy this Joanna)

Picture My World

2009-05-23T15:22:00.000-04:00

THE WATER CLOSET
Other wise known as the bathroom

is going to be the first room in the house that I tell you about.
Yes, we do have indoor plumbing (for which I am very thankful)
and we have one of the two water heaters in the whole apartment building
(at least as far as we know, something else I am truly thankful for)
The shower and toilet complete the list of things for a working bathroom
(in most American minds anyway)

The bathroom also holds the reason for this room being the first on the picture my world list.

THE WASHER

Why is it the first you might ask?
Well, because the washer is an adventure every time we use it.

As you can see from the picture it really is most interesting, this was probably a week ago when my mother in law and I were trying to get the laundry done and I opened up the washer after it had finished it's cycle and my feet got all wet.

As you can see it is a front loading washer
(which most washers are here since there isn't much extra space in any ones home and there is usually something above the washer, in our case the water heater)
and it never drained so we got to wash the floor as well as the clothes,
such a handy multi use machine :)

So we tried to find the spot on the dial that was suppose to drain and ended up with a VERY full machine.

That line across the top, do ya see it?
that is where the water was.
It was so full that water was coming out of the drawer that you put the soap in.
Any way we ended up getting our laundry out (eventually)
and now every time we put a load in we wonder "what's it going to do this time???"
Today Curtiss called someone who fixes them and he is going to be coming sometime Monday or Tuesday to see what needs to be done with it.
In the mean time I have all the laundry done
(I only washed the floor one more time while using it:)
and we shall see what happens now.

I have a slight problem...

2009-05-23T13:22:00.006-04:00

It is booksale time again... and with it comes the hastle of trying to fit all the new books in with all the old books, and sometimes it can be quite the task. As you can see in the picture above that the end of my bed is already quite full, and now I have a whole new stack of books to try and fit in. Maybe I should start stacking them three books high, or maybe I should just go and buy myself a bookshelf.

(Joanna the rest of these pictures I posted mostly for you, I knew you would enjoy seeing what I got.)

The best "catches" of the day.

Three books by one of my favorite authors.

These three I call my "just because books." I bought them "just because" they looked interesting.

The oldest book I bought, Printed in 1851 with a inscription on one of the front pages dated 1856. I wonder who Mary Davis was???

Here are all my Treasures. Beautiful aren't they???

All By Ourselves

2009-05-22T05:05:00.002-04:00

Yep, Curtiss and I are on our own here now. We drove Mom and Dad to the airport yesterday and we found out this morning that they had a safe trip and are now visiting with Daniel, Whitney and of course Baby Nate for a few days. We had a safe and interesting drive through the Romanian countryside yesterday both on our way to the airport and on our way back.
Let's try and make a list of unusual things we saw, One truck tipped on it's side in the ditch, it must have gotten to close to the side when it was going up the hill and over it went.
Two VERY rusty, VERY dented 55 gallon drums being filled with gas.
I don't remember how many near head on collisions we saw, (but then again that is a fairly usual thing to see around here)
Many, Many construction sites where one or both sides of the road were closed. Romanian road construction is always very interesting and most of the time incomprehensible. Ok, picture this you are driving down a main road and you get to a constuction site and you wait your turn to go through (by a red light or a man holding a little ping pong paddle with a red and green side) Not too unusual your thinking right?
but then you go half a mile and there is another section that is all torn up and being worked on. And so on it goes every few miles or so there is another section of road with either one side or the other torn up or perhaps both are and then you have some kind of by-pass that you need to go through. One time yesterday we went through a site that had both sides of the road torn up and they had us drive through the parking lot and by the gas pumps of a working gas station. Now where do you see that in the U.S.? Life is never dull around here, there is always something happening that makes life interesting.
Today Curtiss and I are taking it easy after spending most of yesterday on the road and we are also getting ready for church on Sunday and doing a little laundry (well Curtiss is doing the church prep and I am doing the laundry:)

Oh Brother-in-laws, Thou Art Weird!

2009-05-20T17:30:00.003-04:00

What can I say, I love my brother-in-laws, but sometimes they are a little strange. Now I can't say anything against them, because I am a "little strange" myself. But I think that these pictures will prove that my brother's-in-law are a little bit weird!

Celery wrapped in a pancake... Yes, that is what he is eating. Now this concoction was kind of my fault since I am the one that gave Curtiss all the celery. But I did not have him eat them together, I may say that that was completely his idea.

Joanna's face is priceless... She looks really weirded out!

I think he looks rather proud of his concoction.

Josh said he fell into my closet and this is how he came out... I don't think the closet was completely responsible though. Maybe I should ask Joanna if I should give him that bath robe to him for is birthday, I think it fits him very nicely.

Our Address

2009-05-20T11:48:00.002-04:00

I added the address for Curtiss and I here in Romania on the side panel of the blog for those of you who might want the info :)
I will add it again here so that you don't need to go looking. If any of you do send anything please make sure that you copy the address exactly or else it won't make it ;)

Fam. Archer, Charles

sat Bretea Romana

bl.1 sc. B, et.1, ap.9

Judet HD, Romania

Picture My World

2009-05-19T08:53:00.006-04:00

I got enough "GOOD IDEA" comments from everybody that I thought I couldn't let you all down now :) After thinking about it, I decided that the best place to start would be where I live while on this side of the pond :)

THE BLOC

(pronounced bloke)

This is the apartment building where we own a small, three room apartment.
Consisting of:
one living room
one bedroom
one den/family room
a kitchen
bathroom
and hallway connecting it all.

It is about 700 square feet and is considered large for living space here.
In the picture above you can see our porch where the clothes are drying on what we would consider the second floor.

It is the only apartment building in the village and is right in the middle of the town,
it is hard to see from the picture below but the other side of the apartment building is the town park. This spring we got permission from the mayor to care for and spruce it up so that everyone can enjoy it.
In previous years the only time it had the grass cut was when someone wanted it for hay.

The people here have no idea/no desire to care for much of anything that isn't their own
(and all too frequently they don't care for that)
So it is a very different idea for them to see someone picking up and caring for something that if they don't have to.

(Next time I will move inside the building:)

A Quick Hello

2009-05-15T05:38:00.004-04:00

Howdy from Bretea Romana Romania. I just had to share the wonderful, wonderful news.

Are you ready????

Ok, here goes.

We have FAST internet!!!!

Exciting isn't?

Well, I think it is.
Curtiss and I were so excited when we learned that fast internet was available in the village a few months ago. But knowing the way that things are here we didn't really hold our breath that it was completely true.
I mean what is fast? does that mean it is just faster than what we already had?
Which, by the way, took a good 2-5 minutes just to load a simple page
even longer if you wanted a few pictures to load.
A small video clip? forget it, it will just stutter it's way through if it does anything.
And don't forget that the connection might space out at any point and you have to start all over again.

Last summer I tried several times to have voice chat
(don't even bother with a webcam)
with my family and we got it to work a couple of times,
(that was after trying for an hour and a half)
and then it would die and we would have to try again or just give up and type everything.
(which isn't the easiest when you are trying to plan a wedding:)
Don't get me wrong, we were very thankful that we had any but that doesn't mean that we won't celebrate now that it is even better :)

Curtiss and I are like kids with a new toy,
we'll just smile at each other and say "did you see how fast that went???"
We can't wait to get on the computer.

Anyway, I thought you might all enjoy a small glimpse into some of the way of life here
I was thinking of having a special (maybe weekly) post called
"Picture My World"
where I would have a post about some aspect of life here that might interest all of you.

Whether it be some kind of food, what traveling is like or maybe what it's like to cook on a stove that has no temperature gauge.
What do you think? Would it interest you?
Let me know and I start working on it.

Be Funky

2009-05-13T11:11:00.006-04:00

What can I say this is one of my newest favorite things to do. It is so easy and it is cool to see some of the effects that you can do, and the best news is that is doesn't cost a thing. Sarah introduced me to the website and I am forever hooked. It is www.befunky.com

I thought it would be a fun way to share some pictures with Joanna while she is on the other side of the world.

This one of Curtiss and Joanna is one of my favorites

I wish I could paint like this

It is also a cool way to save fuzzy pictures, this picture was quite fuzzy and now it looks pretty good.

It is also a fun way to show my patriotic side.

Even Dad and Mom can get Funky. ;)

We Made It

2009-05-11T05:31:00.002-04:00

Hey everybody! I thought it had been long enough for all of you to know whether we made it safely or not. Obviously since I am writing this I must still be alive :)
Curtiss and I had a good but very tiring trip. We left our home in S--- last Tuesday morning and met my parents, siblings and friends in B--- to have a goodbye lunch at a local diner. From there we headed south so that we could spend a couple of days with Curtiss's brother and family. They live near D.C. so Wednesday we all headed to the subway and spent the day sightseeing in the city. We had a really good time going through a couple of the museums there, we went to the Haulocaust Museum and half of the American History Museum.
Thursday we headed t0 the airport about 1:30 in the afternoon and made it through checking in and security fairly quickly. We loaded on time and thought we were going to be leaving on time until the co-pilot came on the speaker saying that we had to go back to the gate because of some mix up with luggage. We got back to the gate and they took a few peices of luggage off the plane and then we headed out again only to be told that no planes were taking off (atleast not going the way we were) due to weather in N.Y.C. SO we ended up sitting on the ground in the plane for two hours before actually getting in the air. After that everything went well, we had a long enough lay over in Germany so that we didn't miss our connecting flight and we got to Romania at about 1:30 Friday (that would be Romanian time, which is 7 hours ahead of the U.S. east coast) we then had a three hour trip from the airport to the apartment. By the time we got here we were both beat and were in bed by 9:00 and slept (for the most part, I was awake for a couple hours in the middle of the night) until 11:00 the next morning.

Now we are slowly but surely getting adjusted to the time change and getting settled in.
I have to go now, as we are going into the city this afternoon to get a few things done that we need to do. I'll try and update again soon.

Blessed Be Your Name

2009-05-06T14:41:00.002-04:00

Last night at Prayer and Praise I wasn't feeling much like blessing the name of the Lord, in fact I just wanted to go to bed. After saying our goodbyes to Joanna and Curtiss earlier that day, I was just feeling down. And as I was sitting in the G---'s home I wasn't really thinking much about anything. But after having someone toss me a penny and whisper, " A penny for your thoughts." I started to half heartily think about what is was I was feeling, I was feeling sorry for myself. Well I was sitting there twirling the penny in between my fingers we started to sing, "Blessed Be Your Name" and as the room began to fill with the sound of music, I realized that blessing God's name is a choice, in the good and the bad times we have to make that choice. And as we sang, "You give and you take away, You give and you take away, my heart will choose to say Lord, Blessed be your name." I was able to make that choice of blessing God even when I didn't feel like it.

So to that someone who tossed the penny, "Thanks for tossing it."

Blessed Be Your Name

By Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where Your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name

When I'm found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name

When the sun's shining down on me

When the world's 'all as it should be'

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there's pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I'll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

One Week

2009-04-29T18:05:00.004-04:00

Howdy everybody! Yeah, I know it's been a while but I do have a good excuse, at least I think it's a good excuse, I mean if leaving the country for who knows how long isn't a good excuse then I don't know what is. Yep, it's almost time, this time next week we will be in VA with Daniel and Whitney touring Washington D.C. and a week from tomorrow we will be in the air on our way across the ocean. We have been very busy the last few weeks doing everything that needs to be done before leaving and in between times trying to see and spend as much time as we can with family and friends before leaving. The next few days will be taken up with packing and trying to fit what we need into four suitcases (that don't weigh more than 50 pounds each) and getting the house ready to leave. So it might be a while again before you hear from me. (You will have to get after Elise to keep writing:) I am going to try to be more faithful posting while I am over there so that you all can keep up to date with what is happening with me, and you all will have to leave comments and write emails so that I can keep up with you :)

I know that there have been a lot of things that have happened over the last few weeks that I could've shared but right now the above is all that I can think about so you will have to excuse me if this isn't longer or more informative ;)

Curtiss and I would greatly appreciate it if you keep us in your prayers over the next few days, weeks, months and or years might be better :) Thanks

"Well if were going to go to a barn raising then lets go!" - Adam from "Seven Brides for Seven Brother's"

2009-04-28T12:18:00.007-04:00

Sunny day, blue skies, a nice breeze, a good work crew.... ahhhh, it is a perfect day to be on the roof. Last Saturday felt a lot like the barn raising scene from the movie, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." All of the guys were on the roof and all of us women were in the house making "viddles." There were only two things missing, first was the line dance, second was the fistfight that breaks out. ;)

Joanna and Curtiss' barn was in need of a new roof so a couple of the families from our church joined us out in S---- on Saturday to get the roof put on before Curtiss and Joanna cross "the big pond" as they call it.

The new roof was a lovely color green that gave the barn a whole new look.

Joel looks like he is about to use the roof as a big slide.

Enjoying the "Viddles" i.e. Cinnamon rolls and Lemonade

Mr. G... working very hard, or at least he looks like he is... ;)

Hanging out as the work day comes to a close

The younger boys spent there day on the back of this little wagon being pulled around by Zack. They did an awesome job getting all the sticks and pine cones picked up out of the yard.

After we were done cooking the snacks, Joanna and I sat on the porch working on starting our tans and painting our toe nails. lol

Curtiss our host, he kept himself so busy I never was able to get a good picture of him on my camera.

And our beautiful and charming hostess, who kept all of the guys hydrated and fed.

Six Months

2009-04-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

Can you believe it?!?!
I can't,
Curtiss and I are today celebrating our six month anniversary!

I thought you all might enjoy looking at another wedding photo,
I mean I never get tired of looking at them so of course you wouldn't either would you?
:)

My Cowboy

2009-04-03T17:20:00.003-04:00

A few years ago my in-laws gave Curtiss a leather vest from Romania for his birthday.
There was just one problem with it, the vest was several inches wider than he was and they were never able to find anyone who was willing to work with the leather, so he has never been able to wear it.
After our engagement his mom asked me if I had ever worked with leather and told me about the vest, and shortly after our wedding Curtiss asked me the same thing.
I told them that I had never made anything out of leather before but I could take a look at it and see if it was something that I thought that I could do. My biggest concern was that my sewing machine wouldn't be able to go through the leather.

The leather was thin and very flexible, so after getting a leather needle and heavy duty thread from Joann's, and being told multiple times that I couldn't make it any worse than it was since he couldn't wear it as is anyway, I gave it a try.

I picked apart the seams several weeks ago but due to our schedule and needing Curtiss around so that I could fit it to him I wasn't able to actually sew it until today

Some parts were easier and some harder than I had at first expected but it is now done and if you don't look too closely at the side seams where my poor machine groaned over the thick material, it doesn't look too bad.

And if you put a very handsome man in it who is tipping his hat at you then you really don't notice the mistakes in the vest. :)

Blogging Hibernation

2009-03-19T11:00:00.005-04:00

:: big yawn ::

I feel as if I have just crawled out of a big cave and am now trying to wake up from blogging hibernation. Winter is a time for hibernation for certain creatures, and I suppose I have followed them into a cave. Now that it is so warm out I can't use winter hibernation as an excuse, so I suppose I will just have to find something to blog about.

Enter 2009

2009 entered just like every other year, the clock ticked down to the countdown, and everyone all cheered as we heard twelve strokes. It is now time to remember to write your checks '09 instead of '08 which is always new and weird.

Winter 2009-

Fresh new snow is falling and makes everything look pure and white. Sheets of ice and blankets of snow make beautiful beds for ground and trees alike. Everything looks so clean and new.

Spring 2009

A time for new things to burst through there covering of winter, to make there appearance, to pop there heads up and say hello to sunshine and to blue skies. And of course we can't forget about the lovely brown, smooth, Mud!

Spring somehow always make you want to brighten up your home too. It is a time when you see rugs hanging outside to get rid of the winter dust. New curtains are being made to be hung in the windows. In helping my sister Bethany make new curtains, I realized that just by hanging material on you windows you can give a room a whole new look and feel. When you walk into a room with nice new curtains you can feel at home, warm, and peaceful.

Spring is also a time when you make an appointment with your hairdresser so that she can tame your winter coat. I don't know about you but I was very ready to get my hair cut after long winter months of frizzy uncontrollable hair.

I think that in reading this you will know that I have had a bad case of spring fever. Now don't get me wrong I love winter and all of it's coldness and snowiness. But after months of cold and harsh weather, I was more then ready to feel the soft touch of the suns rays, and to feel a gentle warm breeze. I do believe that when God made the seasons he was giving us a picture of seasons in our lives. Sometimes the winds are going to blow and the cold is going to chill you to the bone. Sometimes life will just seem downright harsh and mean. But then God will give us a season of rest when we can feel the soft sun caress our cheek and we can feel the breeze slowly warm us up. Now that is not to say that there isn't any mud during this time, but God can help us dig through the mud to reveal all the "new" beautiful flowers that are coming in the next season of life.

Spring

2009-03-05T09:00:00.004-05:00

Here I am once again sitting in the lodge at our favorite ski resort and I am wondering what to blog about. Ya'll won't know what to do getting a post three days in a row :) It is a bright, beautiful, sunny day here in WNY. This morning as I was loading the car I just enjoyed the feel of the brisk cold air as the sun was coming up over the hill... knowing that it would warm up through the day and become a lovely spring feeling day. I love the spring when you can feel the cold fingers of winter losing their grip, don't get me wrong I love the winter too, beautiful moonlight, snow covered nights when you can curl up on the couch with a blanket and a book. But by the time I get to the last of February, first of March I am ready for warm weather, for green grass and trees, for the first flowers to peek up through the ground. It is such a lovely, hopeful time of year, when everything is new and fresh.
For me this spring means change, it is the first for me being a wife and that for me doesn't just mean a new name and home but a new country and langauge. Intimidating? Yeah, I must admit it is, a little anyway. But I have no doubt that I am where I am supposed to be and that gives a confidence that I wouldn't otherwise have. So as I sit here looking at snow covered slopes and bare trees I can look ahead to the promise and the great "unknown" of spring with complete peace because I have the knowlegde that whatever I have to face in the future and whatever comes my way I don't have to face it alone. I have a father who knows everything from the end to the beginning and not only knows it but planned it himself. And that is the most reassuring of all!

Brain Power

2009-03-04T15:07:00.000-05:00

This last Sunday Curtiss and I were scheduled to speak about Romania and what our plans are for returning there at a church about half an hour from our home. So Saturday was get everything ready day. My husband and in-laws spoke at this church once last year so the folks there knew a little bit about Romania and the work there but not near as much as some of the other churches that we have been to so we wanted to be able to bring a little bit extra in the way of "show and tell" so to speak. People love pictures and that is the best way on earth to help people understand some thing that they have never experienced for themselves.
So while Curtiss worked on a slide show I started digging around for some poster boards that my mother in law had made for previous churches that they had visited. And I found some, slight problem though, all of them were several years old and the village that was shown in them isn't even the same village that we work in now. "No biggy" I thought, "we just got some pictures developed from this last summer, I'll quickly make a new one" HA,HA,HA. Have you ever noticed that whenever you think some thing will be easy and quick it ends up being just the opposite?
I have worked on several different picture boards in the past and they aren't hard so whats the big problem?
Well, I am not one to just take a few pictures and tape them on some card board and call it done.
I don't like to go some where and hope that no one finds out that I made "THAT" horrid monstrosity. In order to have some that that you're not ashamed of is to have some materials to work with that give subtle but dynamic details and that is exactly what I didn't have.
after looking around for a little while I found a good sturdy box that would work well for a base, now all I needed was some paper to cover it and give me a nice background.
We only had white paper. I didn't have anything to use for a background or for backing the pictures themselves, no crayons or markers nothing to add some contrast to the board.
I started getting visions in my head of an "asylum" picture board,
white walls, white clothes, white everything except a little splotch of color here and there where you saw the hands and face of the doctor :)
So I started thinking, there had to be something around that I could use. And this is what I came up with...

The background is a table cloth that was made in Romania that I taped to the card board.
The picture of Romania that is in the center my wonderful Husband printed for me and any of the backings that you see I made myself with a red pen and a permanent marker. O and a red envelope that clashed with the red in the table cloth but if put next to the picture and then put with another layer of white it didn't look to bad.
I was like completely brain dead by the time I finished but it was done, simple but done :)

The Happy Hunter

2009-03-03T14:36:00.004-05:00

The sun was low on the horizon as the man slowly crouched down to pick up his weapon. Cautiously so he didn't attract attention he took his aim and fired. BANG! the rock hit the side of the side of the building and bounced off to hit the target and the startled possum ran into the supposed safety of the barn...

You may be wondering what in the world I am talking about and some of you may be wondering if you want to but what is the point of a blog if not to share the every day events of our lives and to brag about one husband???
The other day when Curtiss got home from work I noticed that he was getting out of the car in a different way than normal. He was all crouched down behind the door of the car, it looked like he was either hurt or hiding from something. I couldn't see him well because of the car door so I didn't see him pick up a rock but I heard it as it hit the side of the barn and low and behold a possum goes ambling across the yard and into the barn. Curtiss quickly came inside and asked me to get him his gun and the hunt was on.

I could see him through the kitchen window as he moved around inside the barn looking for the fugitives hideout and it took him a little while to find it. I was moving around the house taking care of some things when I heard the first shot so I went to watch, I could tell that he knew where the possum was but couldn't get a good shot at it, later he told me that it was being a smart possum and playing dead but it didn't play long enough :)
It is amazing what you can tell by body movement, just by watching Curtiss I could tell just about what the possum was doing whether it was playing dead or moving into a better position for shooting:)
It didn't take too long for the possum to pull it's slightly bleeding self into range of the pistol and O the fun that my man had :)
BANG! BANG! BANG! the gun shots rang out as Curtiss stood there in his shooting stance, then BANG! BANG! BANG! and it was done. No doubt about it after getting shot seven times the possum was dead.

Now I know that some of you might not appreciate it all that much but I have to show you a picture of the happiest man alive as he brought out his kill to show his lady love :)

Pictures

2009-02-24T11:05:00.002-05:00

Here are some pictures that I thought you might all enjoy...

This one is at Jake and Rachel's wedding. Rachel and I have had a lot of similar things happen to us in the last year (I guess that would mean that Curtiss and Jake have some things in common too:)

And these pictures were taken at a Fernando Ortega dinner concert that we went to on Valentines day. It's horrible but we don't have one of Curtiss and me:(

Sorry it took me so long to get these on here Trina! Hope you all enjoy.

Of Sisters, Tires and Friends

2009-02-20T13:30:00.003-05:00

Well, I have had an exciting and interesting week and I thought you might all like to hear about it :)
This last weekend Curtiss took me to a concert in B- NY and after wards we went to my parents house and spent the night and went to church with them the next morning. On our way home Curtiss and I were talking and we decided to go back and get Elise so that she could spend some time with me this last week since she didn't have any dance lessons due to Presidents Day.
We had a great couple of days shopping, skiing and watching chick flicks :) She had to be back home by today so that she could travel with Jeremy and Trina to Lake Placid for the Empire State Games for the Physically Challenged to help as a volunteer. Because of Curtiss's work schedule and the weather we decided that the best way time to get her home was on Wednesday. So Curtiss left me the car and we went and met Mom in Hornell and had a good time visiting and having chicken wings. When we got there it was cloudy but the rain that was suppose to come and then change into snow hadn't started yet. But by the time we came out of Wegmans it was snowing quite hard and since I had over an hour to drive I got on my way as fast as I could. I drove for about 15-20 minutes and slid off the road into the median and had some fun sliding around and having my heart beat speed up to a rather fast rate, but I came out of it and got back on the road and thought everything was fine. I was driving along at a slightly slower pace until the car started making a funny thumping noise that got louder and louder and I thought "I better pull over before the car blows up". I got out and walked around the car looking for signs of what might be wrong, everything looked fine until I got to the front tire on the passenger side which was completely and totally flat. I got back in the car and called Mom and Elise since they were my closest help and I knew that they were quickly going in the opposite direction. They then called some good friends of ours and Mr. G- (who was just getting out of work) quickly came to my rescue. Through all of this I had been talking with Curtiss trying to decide what the best way to get me and the car home safely was. Weather was even worse for Curtiss out here (it usually takes him about half an hour to get home and it took him almost an hour that night) After lots of deliberation it was decided that the best and safest way to go was to have me spend the night at the G's house and Curtiss would take Thursday off from work and come out and get me and get the tire fixed. So after leaving the house Wednesday afternoon I finally made it back over 24 hours later. I am now very glad to be back to laundry and dishes and especially welcoming Curtiss home from work:)

Rambling Reflections

2009-02-03T12:19:00.004-05:00

Hey everybody! I know it's been a while since I have really blogged anything. Life has been busy and I am sure that there were things that I could've told all of you but I just didn't feel like it so you'll have to just bear with my moods :) I am writing right now from one of the ski lodges at Holiday Valley (where Curtiss works). This is the second time that I have come with Curtiss when he headed to work and hung out in the lodge while he works and then we ski when he finishes.
Hanging out ALL day in a lodge??? you might ask, how boring. Actually it's not that bad and I kinda have fun doing nothing but reading or writing all day and the fact that Curtiss is near by and depending on what lift he is working at can pop in now and then makes it nice too:) Right now I can look out the window and see him swing chairs around as people get in them and head up the hill with theirs skis or boards. Who would've thought that when Mom and Dad got ski passes for all of us for a few years while I was growing and developing a love of "strapping two sticks to my feet and going down a hill" (as some people say:) would play into my life now? I mean I never would've thought that I would marry some one that works at a ski resort and that I could ski just as much as I wanted for free? Life is so fun, I have been so awed lately how different things from my childhood have played into my life now and prepared me for what I am doing now. Skiing is just a very small thing, just a bonus but it just impresses in me an even stronger belief that the Lord directs every one of our steps and nothing is done without a reason. This last Sunday Curtiss and I visited one of our supporting churches and gave them an update about the work in Romania and when we were done Curtiss asked me how it was and whether I liked feeling like I was on display (it could've been really disconcerting since last time Curtiss was there he wasn't married so of course everyone is interested in the newest "member") and I thought about it and realized that I hadn't felt uncomfortable at all and I figured it was because it wasn't new to me. Growing up as a pastors daughter and going to countless conferences that Dad either spoke at or organized where I helped in any way I could whether it was running the book table or just talking with people when they had questions. No, it wasn't in the exact same role or reason but it wasn't new and it prepared me to handle my new role of "missionary wife" without too much trepidation:). I know that this post is kinda rambling and it is finishing far different from where it started with sitting in a ski lodge, I hope that it is understandable if it's not then please disregard and just know that I know what I am trying to say:). Sometimes when I sit down to write I surprise myself, I had no idea that this post was going to head this way when I started but it is what I have been thinking about and sometimes writing helps me define exactly what I am feeling and going through. So thanks for letting me ramble it has made me feel better and I hope that it encourages you too. Just remember that nothing happens by chance and you never know how what you are going through now will play into your future, even if it is something as small as skiing with your family all those years ago...

HOT WATER!!!!! :)

2009-01-27T08:30:00.002-05:00

After going almost a week without hot water, Curtiss taking two days off from work (for some reason I didn't mind that at all:) and a couple trips to the hardware store, we again have running hot water (YEAH!). It wasn't too bad going without but boy did it feel nice to again step into the shower and feel hot water again that I hadn't had to heat up and pour over myself, it was wonderful. Just thought you might all want an update and to celebrate with me:) Three cheers for Home Depot!

Of Water, A Canner, and Shampoo...

2009-01-20T14:23:00.007-05:00

Warm water that runs through our pipes and into our shower hoses out through the nozzle and onto are heads ahhh... what a life we live. And how much we take it for granted.

"Do I get a boy scouts medal for taking a cold shower?" asked Mom as she came out of Joanna and Curtiss' bathroom. Earlier that morning Joanna had said that she didn't think the hot water was working right, as her shower was just on the verge of being chilly. After hearing that I would be bathing in ice water, I decided not to take a shower I said I would be happy to just wear a hat, since I was planning on wearing one anyway. The next day Joanna was feeling like a really bad hostess saying that, "She couldn't even give her guests a warm shower." After telling me that my hair looked like it could use a good cleaning, and not really wanting to send me home dirty, she quickly came up with a plan to heat up water on the stove.

So, by setting the big canner on the stove, and getting her old pitcher and basin set, which she had gotten for her 18th birthday, we started building our shower.

After the water was a good temperature, we had Curtiss heft the big pot to the bathroom, we then filled another pot with cold water, and then we started our showers. In order to get the water the right temperature we added just a little bit of cool water, after testing the water we started the baptism. ( As Curtiss calls it)

I was the first one since I needed the shower the most. ;) It felt so wonderful to have my hair clean.

Joanna was second. Because we had lots of water left she decided she might as well enjoy it.

The only thing I could think of was the song of from South Pacific "I'm gonna wash that man right out of my hair..." I have never even seen the movie, but I have seen the preview many times. :)

Mom was the last to decided to dip her head into the wonderful warm water. It was so lovely to feel warm water again, we all had to experience it. Curtiss and Joanna still don't have hot water but Curtiss is planning on working on it tonight. Doing dishes washing hands and taking showers are all tied up in your hot water, and when it is not working you realize how much we rely on it. Although it does make some very interesting adventures.

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord!!

2008-12-22T13:25:00.005-05:00

Curtiss and my nephew Nate was born with a cleft lip and pallet. He just went through his first surgery to repair his lip and I thought you would like to rejoice with us by seeing before and after pictures.

Nate before his surgery.

Nate after his surgery.

Continue to pray for him and his Mom and Dad as he still has more surgeries coming up to repair his pallet but we are all thanking the Lord that his first surgery is over and that it went so well.

Housewife Tales

2008-12-19T14:27:00.002-05:00

The Circling Rodent

Setting: a cold predawn winter day.
Characters:
The Heroine- Yours Truly
The Hero- Valiant
The Villian- The Mouse

The day started like most others with Yours Truly working in the kitchen to get a good hot (well at least some of it was hot) breakfast for Valiant before he heads of to work. Everything was going well so Yours Truly decides that it would be ok to leave the food for a few minutes when suddenly she notices a quick movement on the floor not far from her feet.
She looks down and sees The Mouse frantically running in circles chasing it's tail. Yours Truly (relieved that it wasn't something worse then a mouse) stops for a moment observing this strange behavior in The Mouse, why in the world is it running in circles? and why isn't it running away? Were some of the things that quickly flitted through her mind. Then something else presented itself to her mind, What should I do now???
(Options)
1. Cry out for Valiant to come and save her!
Problem he probably won't hear her as he is upstairs.
2. Just let The Mouse go free and forget about it. or
3. Catch The Mouse and then let Valiant deal with it.
Yours Truly picked the third option and after finding a handy bowl quickly plopped it on top of The Mouse placed a couple of heavy items on top and then went to tell Valiant about it.
He (after smiling and telling her to take a gun or knife and shoot or stab it) gets a pair of gloves, lifts the bowl and grabs The Mouse. He then throws The Mouse out the front door hoping that one of the cats will catch it:) The End

Seriously though this did happen this morning and all those things did run through my mind in the matter of seconds. Does every new bride have a "mouse" story? I have heard several and I was relieved when it was just a mouse as I have already in my life time almost stepped on a snake while walking down the hallway of our house (it was very little but still a snake) and had a rat hanging over the kitchen sink so the mouse was better in my mind then those but I still wasn't going to pick it up by the tail like Curtiss suggested:)
and to end with a question, why was the mouse running in circles??? Your guess is as good as mine.

Mmmm... Yummm...

2008-12-18T11:56:00.004-05:00

Yesterday Jesse and Claire came for a little visit, and while here they enjoyed helping me make some Sugar Cookies. Jesse was given his little lump of dough, and Isaiah, Nathanael, and I had our big lump of dough, Claire was comfy and cozy in her own little chair and thus we started the cutting, cooking, and cooling process. It wasn't very long until I looked over and noticed that quite a bit of Jesse's dough was gone, he looked up at me and went, "Mmm...Mmmm...!" Being an Auntie I couldn't very well say in a very serious voice say, " Jesse don't eat the dough. " So I just let him enjoy himself. Later that day that I found out Jesse never fell asleep when his mommy laid him down for his afternoon nap, he just happily played in his crib. Sugar high. "Sorry, Trina!"

This is what happens when you give Jesse sugar and then ask him to smile for the camera! ;)

Claire slept the entire time in a kitchen chair.

Nathanael (being the photographer) was not able to be in the photo, but here is the rest of us. We had a lot of fun as you can tell.