My heart is hurting today for a family we have been praying for. Last night their first son was called home yesterday at 10:30pm. Luke was born with a major heart defect and spend most of his short life in the hospital. Please pray that the Lord will comfort the whole Michal family.

Rock City

Kuiper is attending Pre-K at Flintstone Childcare and is loving it! We had our first field trip of the year on Dec. 13 at Rock City Enchanted Lights. I like the idea of having field trip during the evening hours because that gives the whole family a chance to go.

Lotion Art by Elaina

This is just a sample of her lotion art! She was
busy working while mom was checking her email this morning. Yes, that lotion container was almost completely full when she started!!!



You notice that it starts from the first blanket and then goes all the way to the second. She did get it on the furniture and on her.



******Dish soap worked the best getting the lotion up*******



Here is one of the the tool she used to make this very big mess. If you look closely the lotion is down inside the remote to my car!!! Which I can't use soap and water to clean it.

Girl Stuff

I hope one day to learn how to post pictures on my blog. But for now I have to tell you something about Elaina. I finally got her hair in pig tails and its sooooo cute. I love having a little girl and all the girl stuff is so much fun. Once I was done I told her she is so pretty and she gave me the biggest smile I'd ever seen. I think that smile meant "Yes, your finally done pulling at what little hair I have left."

Medicine....

I'm completely off my anti-anxiety/depressant medicine and feeling great!
After having Elaina (June of 06) our third we had a very hard time, her 2 month stay in the hospital, and then in December back for a week for the flu. The whole thing took its toll on me as a mom. I felt really guilt about her being sick again and knowing I was already blue from the summer. So after two brake downs, feeling to tired to do the simplest thing, anxiety about everything, and feeling out of control. I got help. First went to a wonderful Christian counselor and started on Lexapro 10mg in January of 07. Then, in August I started cutting the dose by half and now in October stop taking it a week ago. It's funny because I didn't even realize I had stop taking it. I know what to look for if I start down that road again. God gives us medicine so that we can use it if it's necessary. I think it's always important to try to come off any medicine to see if you still need it. Do I still need my medicine? Time will tell. But for now I thank God for how good I feel.

Planting Seeds

We were in Florida this past weekend to celebrate my aunt Karen's 60th birthday. While there my uncle Neal came to Jeremy and I saying "your dad has mentioned so much about this Pastor Dan that I would like to meet him next time I'm up your way." I was floored... He said that Tommy (my dad) mentioned that he (Pastor Dan) was there when Elaina and I were in the hospital. Neal also said that if all pastor act the way Dan does that the churches would be full.

Can it get any hotter?

The answer is yes it can!!!! We are going on day 12 with no AC! Thankfully we have a neighbor who let us borrow 2 window units that he was not using! So with those two and the one we have working over time during the heat we are able to keep the house at 78-84 degrees. Not bad for it being 105 yesterday with the morning low of 77. The AC guys said he will have the AC fixed today!!!

I'm very excited today because today is the day we are leaving for FLORIDA! My aunt is turning 60 and everyone will be there for the surprise birthday party and family reunion of sorts! Some of my family I haven't seen in 11 or 12 years so it's going to be fun. Plus, I love the beach and the kids will have such a good time. They have been asking when are we going to the beach. Jeremy is taking Friday and Monday off so it will be a nice family vacation.

Update on AC

Well we found out the the AC unit outside is not under warranty. Which totally makes me so upset why buy a brand new house if it's not covered. Then the AC guys stated that we can't buy a unit to match the inside one so that means we might need a whole new unit. That price tag is $3,500-4,000 so we are currently wait to see if home owners insurance will cover it. The guy from insurance said that we have about a 1% chance of them covering it because it wasn't cause by a natural disaster. He said "it's basically like if your car engine is broken your car insurance company wouldn't cover it." That upset me too because we pay them to cover us in case something does happen. The crazy thing is that if it burnt the whole house down they would pay for us to get a new AC unit!!!!!

Fire! Fire!

So Jeremy and I were sitting in the house and smelled smoke. He just burnt popcorn in the microwave so we thought nothing of it. Then we get a knock on the door, it was our neighbor to tell us that our AC unit outside was smoking!!! We go out there and sure enough its smoking. Jeremy unscrewed the top to get some water down there to cool it off and that when the flames came up out of it. The neighbor Cole went across the street to get is fire extinguisher to put it out... Needless to say we have NO AC on the hottest week of the year! Last night was very hot and we got little sleep so tonight we are going to my parents house to sleep. The AC guy came this morning and basically said it completely gone. We are currently waiting to see if it's under any warranty I pray that it is because I know they are very expensive. I'm very thankful for my neighbors because I don't know what would have happen if they didn't spot it.

Free Books..

I was telling a friend about this free books every month program that I signed Kuiper up with. I really love the books with great pictures and story lines. So here is the website: http://www.dollysimaginationlibrary.com/firsttime.php

It free so enjoy!

Cruising is Good

We got back from our cruise about 2 weeks ago now. I can’t believe its been 2 weeks!! Jeremy and I had a great time we especially loved Cozumel, Mexico. Grand Cayman Island is okay I wouldn’t go again but that’s just me. On ship we enjoyed the shows and the comedian they had. The food was so great in fact I gained 7 pounds (very sad). Note to self just because there is food you can eat all night doesn’t mean you have too. Leaving the kids for a week was hard but totally worth it. When we went to get the kids Jacob our oldest came to me with tears in his eyes saying, “I’ve missed you.” I felt rested and ready to be a mom again

Live the Life

Today I had some friends from church over at my parents pool. We had a great time! Kuiper jumped off the diving board by himself today with Sam's ( he is my friend Willa's son) help. THANKS SAM your great with the kids. Everyone was just enjoying themselves sunning and swimming. It didn't dawn on me that we are witnessing to two people. Till someone suggested that my mom come to Wednesday night bible study at our church. (You know who you are. Thanks!) See my parents haven't attend church (regularly that is) in years. My parents have been hurt by people at church. My dad for example was told in front of the whole congregation that his working on Sunday was totally wrong and that he needs to quit. Don't get me wrong working Sunday is wrong but there is a time and a place to tell someone that. My mom was a member of a Methodist church which they told her that if you drink you are sinning and it was totally wrong. Then one day they decided to have bible study at a bar.
It's okay to look at people as an example on how to live a Godly life but when those people sin, then what! Like my parents they feel hurt because they think people who are Christians DON'T sin. But we Christains do sin! Only when you look to Christ as your example will you find true happiness.
All this to say that no matter whether your on a mission trip, talking to a neighbor, worshiping in church, or swimming in a friends (or parents) pool God uses us even when we don't realize it. And here is just something even more amazing, you witness without saying one word. WOW! God is good!

Thanks to all who came to swim. It was great!

To Long...

Well its been to long since my last post..

We've all been really busy and sick with a stomach virus from HELL. But we are all better and things are slowing down. Jeremy is finishing up his last couple days of work and he will be off for the summer. Well, and me I'm just tring to keep the kids busy since they are all home with me know that Jacob is done with school.


Jeremy and me are very exicted about taking a cruise this summer, that's without the kids. Jeremy is more exicted than I, just because I'm sad about leaving the kids for a week. This will be the first time I'll be leaving Elaina for this long since she came home from the hospital. But it will be nice for us to have time alone after the year we've had.


Elaina's Birthday is this Friday 22nd. I have a hard time believing that it's been a year. She is just a joy to have and I store everything she does in my heart. I've been reading story of people who have lost children. It makes me sad and also VERY thankful for every moment with my children.

Update on Elaina

Its all GOOD!!! Praise the Lord!! We just got back from the visit to the neurologist and everything looks good. Dr. Strait said that he doesn't see any reason for her to have surgery. He just wants to see her back in three months. What a relief this is to us!! Thank you for all your prayers.

G Diapers

I've been really think about the disposal diaper issue, how we are filling our landfills, and it takes a disposal diaper 500 years to biodegrade. So I've been doing some looking around the web and found these diapers. I like the idea of this diaper because with cloth diaper you have to wash them out. These g diapers you just flush and that's it. To cool! I think I'm going to start Elaina in them. Here the link: http://www.gdiapers.com/home

Family History

This is the first for me so bear with me...

I thought I would share a little bit of what's going on in the life of our family the past few months...
We were pregnant with our third child (Elaina) which seemed to be going well until we found out she had about 5 percent survival rate. After a lot of prayer she made it. Praise the Lord!! The doctor just couldn't believe it calling her a "miracle." She has a much higher physician.. The 2 months she spend in the hospital were VERY trying but God NEVER gives you to much that you can't handle.

Well 10 months later she is full of laughter and almost crawling. We did have a CT scan done after she doctor thought her head was to big. I first laughed and said I have a big head (it runs in the family) the doc measured and sure enough I have a big head (98th%). Well, after the scan, it showed she had fluid build up in the middle of her brain were the spinal fluid comes in. She will either get a shunt or just moderator her.We are currently waiting on the specialist to call for an appointment. In the meantime, please be praying that the doctors just moderator her and it clears up on its own.
Kuiper the second, he just started this 2 day a week Pre-k class and loves it. He's our funny man!
Jacob is the quiet of the three. He's really excited about his all A's on his report card. For a special treat for doing so well, he gets to pick out anything he wants from Toy's R Us. That's what Jeremy told him. I was like, should we give him a price limit what if he wants an $200 item. Are we going to get it?