Another year already?

It's hard to believe that we are at the close of another year. As this year began, we were anxiously awaiting the birth of Seth. He came on Feb. 5-I was hoping for another girl (just so we wouldn't be out numbered), but the Lord gave us another boy-and he is so sweet and happy. He smiles all the time. He seems so small in this picture-he's huge now. :-)

This is something funny that happened yesterday at church. (speaking of births) First of all, let me say that our church is relatively small and there aren't many young couples and we definitely are the only family w/five small kids. So there are always comments about us- My pastor doesn't ever say anything like that to us....Yesterday in his message he was talking about this past year and how there have been times of "milk and honey" (those words were in his text) and "hills and valleys"- he then started talking about some of the good and bad times we had experienced as a church. He said, " there have been births, thanks to Todd and Jennifer" (insert laughter from the whole congregation) and there have been deaths" It was so funny....

So anyhow, we are thankful the Lord gave us Seth. We are happy with the family the Lord has blessed us with.

Also at the beginning of this year we were uncertain about Todd's job. He thought he might be laid off the week Seth was born, but the Lord saw fit to let him work through the month of June. I thought it would be kind of nice to have him home for a little bit...I though for sure he would have a job in a few weeks. I don't know why the Lord chose not to give Todd a job, but I definitely have seen His hand leading us and felt His presence. This has been a trying time for both of us, our relationship, and our family, but I thank the Lord that we have (almost) made it and by His grace we are still standing! :-) I wouldn't have picked for us to go through this, but there have been so many blessings that we would've missed out on-and I do think it has increased our faith to watch the Lord provide, when we knew there was no way we could. Todd does start a job on Jan. 7 for a machine shop in Indiana (just across the river)-we are still praying for a job he interviewed for a couple weeks ago. We want the Lord's will-we know His way is best.

We are thankful that Spencer was saved this year and baptized yesterday. My dad got to baptize him-we were so proud. I know Daddy was, too. Shelby was saved a couple of years ago, but she also got baptized just this year. (Pardon the jacket my dad has on- :-) )

I think that is all of the big things that happened in our family this year. We are thankful for the health the Lord has given us and for His watch and care over us. We are anxious to see what the Lord has in store for 2008!!

Happy New Year!

Ten years ago today.....

Ten years ago today, I married my best friend. I am so thankful for the life we share and for all the Lord's blessings on us-FIVE special blessings in particular, Shelby, Spencer, Sarah Beth, Stuart and Seth. :-) It has been a lot of fun....

The Christmas Fairy

Merry Christmas from the Christmas fairy.... :-)

Stuart loves dressing up...especially in the girls' stuff...he sure does make his Daddy proud! (yeah right)

I wish I had gotten closer to Spencer's face so you can see his injuries better....you can see the scuff on his forehead. Thankfully, the swelling is going down. He was going to be baptized tomorrow morning, but we are going to push that back.... I know he was looking forward to it, so was his PawPaw who was going to baptize him. :-)

Today we are travelling to Bowling Green to have Christmas w/my mom's sisters and my cousins. It's hard to believe Christmas is just a few days away. I was going to make sugar cookies last night, but we had visitors bearing gifts. Yesterday was an unbelievable day....we are so amazed by the Lord's goodness and we are so thankful for how He has taken care of us.

I'll post more later....Hope everyone has a nice Christmas!!! :-)

Hopefully this isn't becoming a Christmas tradition...

So last year at about this time, the kids were playing and running in the basement, even though we've said 50 million times not to run in the house, and Cassie, my niece slams the door shut just as Spencer gets to it-he ends up with a big gash right at his eyebrow-we ended up taking him to Children's Hospital and they glued his head. So, tonight we are at my parent's house and the kids were being nuts....I told them to go play in the toy room. There is a set of bunk beds in there that my dad made (there are no slats under the top mattress). Spencer is standing on the top bunk and Shelby is on the bottom bunk, she puts her feet on the mattress and lifts it up and the whole bunk board and mattress come down on top of her. Spencer falls and busts his lips on the side of the bed. I hear crying and run in the room to find Spencer covered in blood and Shelby saying "Help me"-she's trapped under the mattress. I yell for Todd to come help me...I'm trying to get Spencer down and get Shelby out. To make a long story short, I end up taking Spencer to the hospital-PRAISE THE LORD he didn't have to get any stitches and his nose was okay. His poor little face looked so horrible.....we got in quickly, too because he looked so bad-thankfully we were only there for about an hour. He didn't say two words probably the whole time we were at the hospital and all...I know he was so afraid. He started talking on the way home, but it was hard to understand him because his lips are so swollen. When we are almost home he tells me, "I think the kid who got hurt should get to stay up late". I said, "I think the kid who got hurt needs to go to bed so the swelling can go down on his face and his mouth can heal up." :-) He is still up and it's after 10--we'll put them to bed soon. It has been a crazy night.
Come to think of it, this is our third "disaster" close to Christmas time. One year when Sarah Beth was a baby, she drank denatured alcohol that my dad was using to clean something with....I had to take her to the emergency room so they could run tests and be sure she was okay. Hopefully this isn't going to be a tradition in our house. :-)

It has been a while....

I know it has been a while since I've blogged. There's not a lot of interesting news to report. On the job front, we have had some calls here lately. Friday Todd had an interview with a place that we were not too impressed with and he also took a test and passed for another place. They sent him for a drug test....we have our fingers crossed hoping he passes that. Just kidding. Today he has an interview with another place in E-town (about an hour away). We are just praying for the Lord's will....

The kids are so excited about Christmas...they love all the decorations-especially Stu. He gets so excited when we are riding seeing all of the lights.

This was something funny that happened...I don't know if anyone has seen that "real life" horse, Buttercup. Well, my kids have seen it and they want it. It's only about 300 bucks.... So anyhow...Sarah informs me Saturday morning that "IF me and Spencer don't get Buttercup, then we are going to get that parrot" (that talks and does I don't know what else) I went ahead and informed her that she would not be getting Buttercup (I couldn't see keeping her in suspense) and I told her we have enough people talking in our house....I didn't foresee her getting the parrot either.

I will keep you posted on the job situation and how that all unfolds.