10 Years!

This month celebrates 10 years that our youth pastor and his family have been serving in our church. This man is such a gift to our church family. He has a heart for the Lord and he has a heart for the youth of our church and county. He is real and he connects well with both students and parents. He desires to have children and their parents connect and to be able to talk with and share with each other. He desires to come along side parents and help them know their child. He loves his wife dearly and he let's it show and be known to everyone. He has this really cool t-shirt that says "I love my wife" and he wears it often. He loves his sons and desires for them to become men of God. I'm sure I could go on and on but I'm not going to. I just think...know that God has used and is using him in many great way and is impacting so many lives for the Lord and I'm so glad that God has put him here to minister to us and to serve the Lord!! Thank you Jon and Nikki for your service, friendship, love.

Ephesians 5:22 and following...

I am, have been, and probably will for the rest of my marriage struggle with these verses and all that relate to them. 'Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.' I don't want to "give up control" and I have just figured this out in only the past few weeks. For all of my married life (almost 7 1/2 years) I have really struggled with letting my husband be the head of our family. For some things I'll "let" him make the decisions, but for other things I'll be stubborn and put my foot down or I'll "let" him make the decision but have a bad attitude about it afterwards. It's so frustrating because I want him to be more of a leader but when he tries to make a decision that I don't like I'll get upset and let him know it.
Now I'm not talking about us not agreeing on bad or abusive situations or anything like that, just everyday type things. One thing is the budget. My husband is tight and strict on the budget. I on the other hand am not. So if I see a good deal on something I want for him or the kids I wanna get it but he says it can wait or we don't need it. I have a hard time sticking within the budget and he gets frustrated and I get frustrated.
My husband talks about how he's going to keep "fighting for me and my love" kinda like my knight in shining armor. I love that idea of my husband being in charge and fighting for me. Yet at the same time I don't want to give up my freedom and control. I want both but biblicaly I can't have both. I need to let him be the leader.
Now as a good leader though he has to take my needs and wants and desires into full consideration. And for the most part he's really good at that. He'll think about the good of our family or future when he tries to make some decisions when I think I only think of myself or the now when I want to make or not allow him to make certain decisions. So what that comes down to is me being selfish :( Wow, never thought of it that way before. But it's so hard to let go. Maybe because the "world" is full of "equal rights" and "a woman can do what ever a man can do". I guess what it really comes down to is the fall in the garden of eden. Genesis 3:16 ' To the women he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." '
So I know that this was kinda a long post, thanks for reading. I'm sorry if I jumped around or if this makes no sense what so ever. Just my thoughts typed out how ever they come! Thanks :)

Here's a quick note

Hi everyone. Just wanted to post a quick note so 1. You all know I'm still livin' 2. You keep checkin' my page. I want to update my page with pictures and stuff, I just don't know how and I don't wanna make the time to learn. Lots of things going on, I'll try(key word try) and post about them soon. Please be patient with me, I'm a work in progress. :)

I hate this house!

I don't "hate" my house, I hate my housekeeping skills or lack there of. I went into the kitchen to make some popcorn and wanted to cry. What a mess. I thought of snapping a few pictures to post but then realized how embarrassed I'd be if people saw my mess. Heck, I'm embarrassed just writing about it. I don't know why I can't keep a clean or at least semi clean house. Paul is always tripping over something or stepping on something (usually a toy that he didn't put away even though I told him to put it away a few times already) and he says, "stupid thing! Why is this house such a mess?!?!" (He's good at never taking the blame for things, it's always someone or something else's fault)
One of the reasons my house is the way it is is because we are lazy. We come in and put things down instead of putting them where they belong. Another reason is because Dave (husband) and I (more me than him) don't make the kids pick up after themselves or put something away before taking something else out.
My mom was always good at keeping a clean house. I don't remember her ever making us help her clean, maybe every once and a while. She enjoyed cleaning, I think. I enjoy cleaning and organizing other people's houses, just not my own. Ask me to come over and help you clean and I'll be right over. But clean my own house, where do I begin? I just look at it and get overwhelmed and want to cry.
I think another problem is that I am a pack rat. I like to keep things that "I might use that" or "the kids like to play with that once and a while". I just need someone to come and get rid of everything for me when I'm not here. Isn't there a show like that?
Oh yeah, something else. Our dishwasher broke almost a month ago and I told Dave that we
didn't need to get a new one right away because we've been stressing about money lately.
There are other things that we need more than a dishwasher. Like a car. So I said I could keep up with the dishes, a dishwasher was the least of our needs. I guess it is the least of our NEEDS
but greatest right now of my WANTS!! I hate washing dishes. Especially when they are piled pretty high. Oh, pray for me. I'm having a really hard time getting this adult thing figured out. I'm 27 and I've been married for 7 years. I feel like I'm playing house and any minute my mom's gonna tell me it's time to clean up and get ready for dinner. Guess what Heather, it's not gonna happen. This is reality, this is life.

I was absent this summer

I was absent this summer from blogging and friends and everything and I didn't let any one know, sorry. I worked a lot this summer and so did my husband. I just felt so overwhelmed with everything that I stopped doing whatever I could. I've been doing just enough to slide by and not a bit more. Washing the dishes when both sides of the sink were overflowing, sweeping the floors when I got soooooooooooooooooo sick of stepping on cracker and cereal pieces, getting the kids clothes and mine each day from the mounds of clean laundry from the laundry table (I guess I at least wash the clothes, I just don't put them away).
Why was this such a bad summer? That's a good question. I feel like God is really testing our faith in Him. My husband and I have been having a hard time these past few months. Or maybe just I have. I don't know. Maybe I'll go deeper in following posts, maybe not, we'll see.
So I guess I just wanted to say, "Hey, I'm still here!" I'm really thinking this fall will be better and I'll be posting much more. Stay tuned...

summer

I know it's been a while since I've blogged... is it me or have I written this or something to this effect before. I was thinking that things this summer would slow down a bit, but they haven't. I didn't think I signed the kids up for too many activities this summer but for whatever reason we just seem extra busy. I'm still working this summer, same hours as during the school year (I am a school age child care teacher) Paul doesn't have school. Who knows. We're busy and I guess that's just the way it is. The kids don't seem to mind so I guess that's good. Annika is in gymnastics 2 times a week and she just loves it. She gets so excited when she realizes she has gymnastics the next day. She jumps up and down and yells "GYMNASTICS Yeah Yeah Yeah!!" It's cute.
So I signed up for flylady because I just can't keep up with my house anymore. Well... not anymore because that makes it sound like I used to be able to. I have never been able to keep a good house. It was a little easier BK (before kids) but now it just seems impossible. So from what I've read and heard about flylady it seems pretty easy. But I just can't do it. I am not disciplined and that's my problem. And I'm lazy too. If we'd all just put things away when we're done with them our house wouldn't look so bad. The other thing about flylady is the e-mails. I am getting a gazillion of them. I think I can change something on it so I can get them in on lump e-mail (that sounds weird) the e-mails are good reminders and testimonials, they're just overwhelming to me and my husband who shares the e-mail address with me. Oh well!!!
So that's that for now. My husband is almost done running on the treadmill that we just got. I walked on it for about 25 minutes this morning. I really hope we continue to be motivated to use it almost every day the way it is meant to be used and not as a thing to hang clothes on or something that just collects dust. Then we are going to watch a movie and fold about 5ish loads of laundry. I don't have a problem washing clothes. I just have a problem folding and putting clothes away where they belong. I think it goes back to being lazy and not disciplined. Oh well... I'm a work in progress. Good night :)

baby steps or 5 year old steps?

My 5 year old son took a shower by himself for the first time!!! I thought this day would never come :{ My son is totally afraid of some forms of being in water. He hates going under water in a "big" pool, he is afraid to float around by himself in a pool with a life jacket on, he's not too fond of the sprinkler, he majorly hates getting his hair washed when I pour water on his head, and a shower!?!? well forget that. So today I gave him a summer cut (shave it all off). He was covered with hair when I was done so I told him to jump in the shower to rinse off and guess what?... He DID it!!! :) I helped him a bit from outside the tub and he had to wipe his eyes once, but he took his very first shower. So after he said we didn't get all the hair off and he wanted to take another shower tonight. Then tonight after his shower he said he wanted to take a shower in the morning. Oh no. Have I created a monster?
He is very shy and it takes him awhile to do things that he's just not sure about. But once he's ready...watch out. And I never know when he's gonna be ready, it just all of a sudden happens. He keeps us on our toes that's for sure. Gotta love um!! :)

Happy Father's Day

I don't think may father's read my blog, but if you do... Happy Father's Day! If you are not a father, remember to say it to your father or husband. I know so many times fathers get over looked in day to day life. I know so many times my kids and I take my husband for granted. He does so many things for us and it's not because he has to, even though some times I think he does because he's the guy. But he usually does things because he loves us. He could chose to sit around and do nothing because he's "the man of the house" but he does things for me and the kids because he loves us. Now he may not always have the greatest attitude about doing something, but he's not perfect and he's working on it (the attitude, not perfection). I am so glad God gave me the husband I have and my children the father they have. God is doing great things in his life and I am so proud of him. My prayer for him on this... Father's Day Eve is that he will seek God's wisdom as to how to be a godly father and that our kids would be able to see their heavenly father through their earthly father. That he would seek wisdom and advice from godly christian men as to how to raise or son to be a man of God and how to constantly show or daughter how beautiful she is and how much she is loved and cherished by both her heavenly father and her earthly father.
So take some time this weekend to let all the father's in your life know how much you love them. And if you don't have a good relationship or any relationship at all with your father, I pray that you could talk things through or that you could pray for your relationship. That God would help heal hurts and pains. But remember... you have a heavenly father who love you very much no matter who else loves you. And If you didn't know that or don't know Him as your "daddy" or savior, I'd love to tell you more!!

here I am

It's been so long since my last post but I'm glad I'm back, for now. Life is crazy. My daughter A was sick and my husband likes to be on the computer a lot. When I wanted to try and post, either the kids wanted to play on the computer or they wanted to play a game with me or I felt the need to clean (that doesn't happen much) or some other excuse. It seems the only time i have to myself to be able to really think and type is when the kids are in bed and asleep. But by that time all I feel like doing is lay in bed and knit and watch TV. or I read a book. Oh well, the busy life of me.
My kids are not in bed actually now. My son P is in the tub and A is running around the house somewhere. They are calm and behaving for the moment so I thought I could sneak in a few minutes to post.
As I read over what I just wrote I realize that it's pretty boring. Not much is going on. I have lots of things going around in my head that I want to post about in the future, not yet though. So I guess this post is to say "hey, I'm still here!"

This is EARLY for me

It's about 5:55 AM and it's early! I was actually up at about 5:15 because my son P woke me up. I'm reading a book about anger and it says something to the fact that anger is not bad, it shows you that there is something goin on. It's how you deal with that something (getting angry) that is bad. So I was angry that P woke up his sister also at 5:15. I went into their room and picked up P's pillows (that's why he woke me up) and I rubbed his head and he and A went back to sleep. I came down to go to the bathroom (sorry, is that too much personal info?) and thought this would be a great time to be alone and blog. I really should be spending time with God in the word... I'll do that after this. This is an accomplishment for me because I usually have a hard time getting up in the morning. It's my fault though. I stay up way too late at night and the kids are usually up between 6 and 6:30. I don't get up when they do but I should. I usually let them come in our room and I put a movie on for them to watch and I try to sleep for a bit longer. if they get bored with that they usually go down stairs and get out food and tend to make a mess of things. Then I get angry with them and then with myself for getting angry with them. If I would just "get up" with them they wouldn't make such a mess and I wouldn't get angry. Oh man, what a vicious cycle.
So any way, what I'm trying to say? I don't know. I'm awake, still a bit sleepy. Maybe I'll lay back down after my quiet time. Probably shouldn't though. So in the end it was a good thing that P woke me up early!! Thanks buddy!! :)

Anniversary

Just a quick post... My husband and I are leaving this afternoon for a mini anniversary/vacation/get-away trip. We will be gone till Thursday afternoon. The kids will be staying with both of our families and I can't wait to go. We need some time away together alone. I will post about it when we get back. BYE

parents(grand)

So for Mother's Day I made my MIL a black and purple knitted/felted bag and she absolutely loved it. I made a similar one for myself and we are going to get together soon and try to line them.

I guess I am the first one in our "group" to cut "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH" a button hole in an already felted purse. Jessica helped a bunch with it cuz I was real scared. It turned out real good actually.

Then I stitched on a button that Jessica made for me. It was made out of clay and then baked in the oven and then I painted a glaze over the top of it.

I know I'm not the greatest knitter and I will never be. I'm just glad that I discovered this gift that God has given me a my prayer is that I can use it (the gift of knitting) to give Him ALL the glory!!

My creative little busy bodies (with a little help from mama) made these for their grandmas for Mother's Day. They were so proud of the work that they did and they were so excited to tell them what they made. But for the most part they did a good job at keeping it a secret.

My husband and I are so blessed to have our parents around us. Neither of us grew up living close to any of our grandparents and we didn't really get to see them that often. We are so glad that our children can grow up for now with all 4 of their grandparents living so close. P and A love spending time with Nana and Bumpa and Granny and Papa, even more then with us, which is fine. God sure has blessed my husband and I with great parents.

I wasn't sure what to title this post, but I guess parents(grand) sounds nice :)

P.S. I made something for my mom as well for Mother's Day but I just got them back as we speek...type...read...(15 minutes ago). I knit and felted something for her but they didn't felt right so Jessica took them and worked her "magic" not "magic" but her "gift" and fixed them. I'm too tired to take pix, I'll try to get them on here maybe tomorrow. Night : zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Tag I'm it!

OK so I got tagged by A Mile In My Shoes. So I guess I have to tell how it works, write the instructions, tell 7 things about me and tag 7 other people and they have to do the same thing, or something like that. Ok so here we go I guess...

#1) The first time I met my husband I was in Jr. High and I was his family's paper girl. I wasn't fond of going to their house because him and his sister would sometimes try and jump out at me from behind a corner or somewhere. How mean to do that to an Innocent Jr. High paper girl. You'd think that 2 high schoolers could think of something else to do but Oh well.

#2) My husband and I went to prom together my freshman year...but with different dates!! I went with my boyfriend at the time and he went with his girlfriend at the time. He drove, and he and his girl sat in the front seats and me and my guy sat in the back. Who would have thought that day that 5 or 6 years later I would be married to someone else's prom date?!?! God did!

#3) My favorite color is brown. I don't really like pastel colors very much. They have their place, just not in my world very often.

#4) I LOVE pasta! My husband HATES pasta! The first time we talked on the phone when we realized we were interested in each other, he told me he HATED pasta and the first thing I thought was "Great! :( now I'm never gonna be able to have a relationship with this guy!!:( Boy was I wrong, God doesn't lets someone's food likes or not likes stand in the way of His plan!

#5) I was never, and am still not, good at athletics. The "sport" I was pretty good at though was target shooting. My dad got me into it when I was like 6 or 7 maybe and I did it all the way into high school. I won some medals and trophies and things.

#6) I love doing projects with my kids. It's fun to paint and do beads and all kinds of fun crafty things. Both my kids are always making projects or pictures for different family members. One time they wanted to give my mom a present so they each got a gift bag out of our stash and put her "presents" in their bag. My daughter gave her 2 cotton balls, 3 marbles, and 2 little balls of clay, and a pipe cleaner I think. My son gave her 3 or 4 colored Popsicle sticks, a bunch of marbles, some little pieces of clay, and a little kitty made out of little pom-pom things but one ear and one foot was missing. They were so proud of their gifts!! So yeah...they are definitely crafty and creative!

#7) My favorite drink is Diet Coke even though I know it's not that good for me. I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches (with the banana wrapped in the bread like a hot dog). My favorite fruit is probably strawberries. I love dark chocolate...but really any kind of chocolate will do. I love to dunk double stuffed Oreo cookies in milk.

Ok so that's a glimpse of me. Sorry if it was too long. I don't know who to tag so I guess the game stops here. Sorry :(

baseball vs. knitting

#1 My husband is a HUGE baseball fan. His all time favorite team is the Milwaukee Brewers. He has been a Brewers fan for as long as he can remember, for winning seasons (now) and not winning seasons. He loves going to Brewers games and wishes that he could go to more games than he gets to go to, tickets are kinda expensive and he works a lot and stuff. Oh well, but when he does go we have to be in our seats before the national anthem and we can't leave till the games over, even if there is a big margin between the scores.

#2 But I'm not complaining too much because I actually like the Brewers too. I didn't get into baseball until we got together but now I'm hooked. I'll even listen to a game on the radio in the car instead of music sometimes.

#3 I love to knit. My friend Amy taught me how about 2 years ago and I really enjoy it. I'm not very good yet, but I'm working on it. Amy has been knitting for years so she's really good. She can knit and watch tv or something at the same time... I can't. With that in mind...

#4 Amy told me about this thing called Stitch n' Pitch where people can bring knitting or any kind of needle craft thing to a major league baseball game on a designated night and "stitch" at the game. I was so excited to go to a Brewers game which I like and be able to knit with my friends which I like. I told my HUGE Brewers fan husband about this and he said it was a dumb idea and that he wasn't gonna pay money for me to go to a game and not even watch it but to knit. I really wanna go and I'm sure I can convince him to let me go. It's a good way to get people (women especially) to go to a baseball game. It's happening all over the country not just in Milwaukee.
So...baseball vs. knitting...which one's gonna win in this house? Will he let me go with my knitting or am I gonna have to leave the sticks at home?

pretty yellow flowers?

1/4 of my back yard is full of these pretty yellow flowers? And there are some in the front yard too. Our neighbor who has no pretty yellow flowers? in his yard says (in a nice way) that we should pick them all just right at the top. In fact last year he would sometimes come over and pick them from our yard if he saw any. What a guy. This year he cut back some of our bushes for us in the front and he cut back my raspberry bushes too.

So yesterday my daughter and I went out to the back yard to pick the pretty yellow flowers? How cute is she?

Both her and my son love picking these for me or Nana or Granny. How soon they will learn that these are not actually flowers but weed. Have you ever thought about this...

These pretty yellow flowers? are beautiful if you like the color yellow. They disguise themselves as flowers. To the average person they look and feel like flowers. But once you research them or someone tells you what they really are you were fooled. That reminds me of some sins. Something may look or sound good but it's really not. The king of lies and deceit is great at making sin look good to us.

Hope that mad sense, just something to think about. Let me know if I'm way off.

shhhh he's sleeping

My 5 1/2 year old son has been asleep in his own bed since 9 o'clock ish PTL!! :) For those of you who don't know... for about the past almost month or son my son has not wanted to sleep in his bed. To make a long story short, he wants to sleep with me in my bed when my husband is at work (he works 3rd shift) and when he finally falls asleep in his bed he comes into my bed in the middle of the night without waking me up and falls back to sleep. I either see him later but am too tired to put him back to bed or I don't see him till morning. Well last night my husband and I decided that we need to be consistent and have our son sleep only in his room. Last night was tough with crying and running and getting up 2 times in the middle of the night. But we made it through and hopefully tonight will be a bit easier.
I never thought that parenting would be so hard. Nobody ever talks about how hard it is, and even if someone would have tried to tell you before you had kids you probably wouldn't believe them. It's funny... while P (my son) was crying and screaming last night he said "fine mama doesn't love me!" Too bad he doesn't realize that if I didn't love him I'd let him sleep in my room and get his way all the time and not discipline him. Oh well, some day he'll understand. Probably when he calls me and says that his child refuses to sleep in their bed!! :)

here are some pictures

I finally got the help from someone special to show me how to put pictures on here, lets see how it works. Actually...I must say that this is my 3rd time trying to put them on here. I guess I've forgotten exactly how to do it. But hey, 3rd time's a charm, right!?!?

These are the Easter cookies that I made. Some of them got a little dark, but who cares...they're gonna be frosted.

And here they are after I frosted them. How pretty :) I really enjoy making cookies, especially cut outs. Well... except until I get to the last 2 dozen or so. Then i tend to get bored and want to quit. Oh well, it's still fun.

Stinky Eggs

So I'm still pretty new at this whole blogging thing. I'm pretty much computer and Internet illiterate so my blog is still pretty blah. I found out how to download pics to my computer but I don't know how to get them here or anywhere. I need the help of someone special... a Higgly Town Hero!! (a show on Play House Disney)... See, I don't even know how to have a link to Play House Disney. My kids really like going to that site and from what I've seen (and I'm always watching them when they're on the computer) It's a good one. Oh yeah... so I need a fellow blogger to help me with the whole picture thing so I can make this site a bit more entertaining. So for now, this is what ya get :)
Back to the stinky eggs... I colored eggs at work on Thursday and brought the extras home. My 5 year old son opened the fridge to get out the milk and stared to gag. He told me to "get those stinky eggs outta here!" I didn't listen to him. I just went to the fridge to get a Diet Coke (my all time most favorite drink in the world) and smelt the stinky eggs.
On Wednesday at work we made bunnies out of plastic Easter eggs, cotton balls, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and markers. They turned out pretty cute. I'll try and get a picture of them on here one of these days. I also made cut out cookies Easter style the other day. One batch I made by myself. The other batch I made with a friend.
I really enjoy doing fun crafty things with my kids or other people's kids or with friends. I can't say that all my ideas are original, they usually come from books or on line or other people. But hey... we all can't be the one who comes up with the idea. We just gotta do them.
So this is all for now. I must go and try and fold laundry and maybe some other form of house work if I feel up to it. By the way... I've noticed that when my blog thing posts the time is not right and Mrs. I Don't Know Much About This Computer Stuff doesn't know how to change it so... the time is 9:30 pm. Good Night

ok now this posting is for real

so I finally got this blog thing figured out with the help of a fellow blogger, so here I am. Speaking of me, which I must say I don't like to do that often, let me say two things about me. #1...I love to knit and #2...I love to write. I don't think I'm extremely great at either of the two but they say practice makes perfect right? Wait... I'm not saying that I'm perfect or will ever be perfect at anything in life. OK so how 'bout this...practice makes you really good some day. Yeah, that sounds better. Oh, one other thing about me #3...I think I am a sporadic thinker,speaker, and typer. I usually say and type what comes to mind without really thinking about it first. The only good thing about typing is that I can backspace things before they get to you. So if something gets past the backspace key that doesn't make sense to you, just blame it on the sporadicness. Well I think this will have to be it for now. I've got lots to do in a little bit of time...seems like the story of my life. Hey, maybe I'll blog about it sometime. I hope you liked this post a little bit and hang on for a couple weeks, give me a chance. With the help of some blog pals and some more time, I hope to get this blog lookin' better and more fun. Until then...BYE!

dose this work?

Just wondering if this blog thing really works...