Faith's birthday and the day after...

A bit of what we've done for the girl's birthday...
Last night we went to Friendly's at the request of the birthday girl, and she got to open some gifts from her family (Operation and 'Car's' figures)... and of course they sang to her :)

Today after Faith got home from school we decided that we should all get out and do something. Last Sunday at her friend's bowling birthday party, we received some free bowling certificates, so we decided to use them today. The girls had a blast, and even the adults (my dad (Grandpa), Steve and I) had a bit of fun too. When we got home we got out the gift that Faith picked out and played around with the T-ball stuff, then went for a walk...

When we got home there was a package from my mom (Butterfly Grandma), so Faith opened it and even Megan got some gifts as well.

Below are some pictures from yesterday and from today. Some notable ones are Megan's spare... all of our scores from bowling... the buds coming out on one of the trees... There are lots of good ones... Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pierced and Tattooed

OK so not tattooed (unless it washes off), but......
Faith had been asking for a couple of months now about getting her ears pierced. As a side note I think she has friends that have them pierced... and I've been talking to her about how it hurts at first and how they have to be cleaned every day...

Well her daddy and mommy talked about it and decided that for a birthday present, if she wanted to do it, we would... So Sunday we were all out at Faith and Megan's friend's 'bowling party' (so much fun!!) and afterward decided that if there were two people at any of the places that pierce, then (if she wanted to) we would let her pierce her ears.

We went to one place and there wasn't going to be two people till the next day (and since Daddy wanted to be there, that wouldn't work) and we wandered down to Claire's where, lo and behold, there are two employees! Faith did waffle for a couple of minutes, but got brave (and nervous all at the same time) and did get her ears done. There were lots of tears, they were dried by two lollipops (and another one for her sister). She did so good though, such a trooper. And now she is quick to show off her new ears. :)

This one you can barely see the earring.

Here her ear still looks really red, but it had only bee about an hour or two, it looks much better now :) And don't let the sad look fool you...

She loves them! You can barley see them here too, but they are so cute.

I think Mommy is so excited to be able to buy her earrings now! Hahaha But her six weeks of the piercing studs having to stay in, is over on Easter day! Guess what's going in her basket? lol

Happy Birthday my sweet girl, Mommy loves you so much!!!!

Oh the awesome power of music... and of Beth Moore

There has been a song that has touched me lately ... and it's not even one we've sung at church :)
The Song is called "The Motions" by Matthew West, I have tried to find it to put it on my playlist at the bottom of this blog, but alas it doesn't seem to be available yet... maybe someday... if you want to hear the song, go HERE (Matthew West's story is quite amazing!), but I am going to post the lyrics...

MATTHEW WEST

THE MOTIONS

This might hurt, it's not safe
But I know that I've gotta make a change
I don't care if I break,
At least I'll be feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

No regrets, not this time
I'm gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love make me whole
I think I'm finally feeling something
'Cause just okay is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of this life

'Cause I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way ('cause I don't wanna go through the motions)
take me all the way (I know I'm finally feeling something real)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

I don't wanna go through the motions
I don't wanna go one more day
without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,
"What if I had given everything,
instead of going through the motions?"

take me all the way (take me all the way)
take me all the way (I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go)
take me all the way (through the motions)
take me all the way

I don't wanna go through the motions

I think that one reason why it has had such an impact on me is because I DO feel like I am just going through the motions of my days and my weeks. I don't want to do that, God has said that he doesn't want us lukewarm, but HOT or COLD... and by golly I want to be on fire for HIM, I need to be! I am feeling spent emotionally. I need to reset myself. The great thing about this desire is that I can act on it! I am currently doing Beth Moore's study (can I just interject here that Beth has become one of my very good friends, even though I have never actually met the woman! I love her! She is such a gift from God and I am so thankful for her ability to speak/write directly to the heart of women... anyway it's her study) of Esther (It's tough being a woman!) and it couldn't have come at a better time! I will, at the end of these ten weeks, be a better woman for God!

Not again...

So... I was planning this really nice pregnancy announcement complete with ultrasound photo and all... but it looks as though we are miscarrying another baby. I was only about 6 weeks...

This pregnancy was such a surprise, as we were not really trying as of yet... I was floored when I actually got a positive pregnancy test. I wasn't feeling as sick as I thought I should have been and in the back of my mind that worried me... but I was determined to not let it get to me and was trying to stay positive about this one. That was until this morning when I woke to blood, while that's not a pretty picture, it's what happens. The bleeding has gotten heaver throughout the day, and I am pretty sure that this isn't going to go to term.

We never did tell the girls about this pregnancy... mostly because I wasn't ready for the barrage of questions that would have been sure to come... The plan was to tell them after we got a good ultrasound and were pretty sure that everything was A-OK... Now I am thankful that all they know is that 'mommy didn't feel good today'

I have an ultrasound schedule for the morning, but... like I told my mom on the phone this evening.. I am holding out a sliver of hope, but not going to hold my breath...


****Update****
I did have the ultrasound done and showed that there was nothing in there now... and the blood work that they took on Monday showed that this pregnancy ended long before Monday... That's the update. I am healing physically and emotionally by the grace of God. May HE get the praise and glory HE deserves!

Valenstime day

Yes I know that I spelled that wrong, but 'Valenstime' is how Faith and Megan say it. It was a good day!! I had to be at work, like all Saturday's and be there an extra hour. When I finally got home, there were gifts on the table for everyone (the girls and I actually had to go wrap Steve's - I had forgotten to before hand), and Steve was working on a wonderful Mexican dinner of (soft) Tacos... Yum, which means "Grandma Naomi's recipe" for the meat and then the regular taco fixins; but he also did fajitas... OH they were so good, everything was!! For dessert Steve had made shortcake in the shape of a heart and had sliced some strawberries that I found on sale last week (yum) and we had Strawberry Shortcake... I was SO full afterward. And what about the gifts? Well, the girls both got a small heart of chocolates, we gave Steve a T-shirt (he goes through those fast - as well as pants...) and a Gardner's chocolate that says 'DAD' (he LOVES Gardner's chocolate, so I didn't feel too bad for giving him chocolate - something he doesn't ususlly like). My gift was a NEW (well I think refurbished, but...) Sewing Machine!!! I am SUPER stoked about this, as the one I had was starting to give out (timing issues and now no zig-zag)... now I'm sure that someone who knows what the are doing when tinkering with a sewing machine, could give it a nice tune up and it would work great again. I am just not that person! So a new one is FABULOUS!!! This one will do things that I never dreamed you could do with 'el-cheapo' basic sewing machines. And to top it off, it is SO much quieter!! Not sure yet what we are going to do with the old one, as I don't really want to just toss it, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.

The new machine, in the midst of the "Clothing for new Cabbage Patch Kids" project.

So, I hope everyone had a nice "Valenstime" Day!