Visit

We had the distinct honor of getting to spend time with my only niece last evening! I got to hold Reagan for the first time, which was TOTALLY cool! Check out the pictures below to see just how wonderful Reagan is!

We gathered at Amy’s parents place (a very comfortable place to be by the way!) for the festivities. Thank you Dave and Connie for allowing us to invade you’re home for a while! We hung out, had pizza and celebrated Reagan’s homecoming! It felt so right to be there all together – like we were complete! I haven’t seen Amy look that content in many months! I felt the Lord there and I saw His might miracle in that sweet baby girl! God you are so good, thank you Father for your blessings on this family!

I am looking forward to many more evenings together – just hanging out and letting the kids get to know each other, play and building a solid foundation for our kids to grow up loving the Lord on!

We leave this afternoon after church to head to GA, then tomorrow morning we are off to Vegas! I’ll post from there when I can!

Viva Las Vegas!

A week of Firsts

This week has been a week of firsts for Avery! She started crawling pretty well toward the beginning of the week – at least she was moving forward instead of backwards as she had been! I think the biggest motivating factor was her desire to play with Luke and his trains – much to Luke’s dismay! She doesn’t really play the way he would like her to! She thinks its fun to take the track apart, after Luke spent time putting them together!

She’s been making her way around our living room the last few days! Dana keep Avery all day on Thursday for me so I could get some cleaning and packing done and she enjoyed exploring a new set of toys in a different living room!

It also seems that it’s time to lower Avery’s mattress! She woke me up crying at about 5:15 this morning, so I got up to make her a bottle and I didn’t hear her again. I made the bottle and came upstairs – upon walking into her room I saw her standing at the end of her bed! It was the first time that she pulled herself up!

This week she also said what I believe to be her first word – which was Momma!!!!!! Well, maybe she wasn’t actually saying my name, but she was however making those sounds! That’s the first time she’s said anything other than screaming! So exciting! Luke’s first word was dada, so I’m pleased to have my name said first by Avery!

Time goes so fast! I cannot believe my baby girl is starting to talk, pulling herself up and crawling around! I’m enjoying every minute of it – as this will be the last time one of my babies has her firsts!!

Memories

I’ve been thinking a lot the last few days about some childhood memories (some of this is thanks to my mom’s comment about the pool with my cousins when I was a kid!)! It’s amazing the different things I remember and all the wonderful times I had as a kid! I really had a great childhood!

With children of my own now I realize just how important family is. Most of my childhood memories (aside from the gymnastics and ballet ones) involve my cousins! We did a ton of stuff with the Buckwalter cousins and most of my memories have something to do with them. The memories range from the silly (such as talking “private eye”) to the really funny (like my Aunt Carol yelling “HONK” at another car while my mom was driving!). But some of them are general memories, and an example of what I mean by that is that we spent many a Sunday evening with the Buckwalters – I don’t remember exact things we did each time we got together, but I remember it was always so fun! We would get pizza from Vince’s Pizza in Boyertown and that was YUMMY! And then we would run off somewhere and play. I do remember that when we wanted something – such as spending the night together - we would always send Bets. Bets was the youngest and therefore was dealt with (at least in our young eyes) more leniently… we thought Bets could always get us what we wanted when it came to us girls spending the night together. I don’t know if she really was or not… how do you remember it Bets?

I also have really good memories of summer picnics at the pavilion behind my grandparent’s house. We would meet and eat there for Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day if I remember right. The worst part about this spot for a picnic was that the only place to go to the bathroom was the outhouse! The best part of this picnic spot was the creek. We would spend hours in the creek playing around, catching crayfish and in general loving being together. Those were days when my Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins would come together and talk, play games, eat, and in general enjoy each others company! Those are some wonderful memories! It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I realized the food was really great too!

What a blessing it is to have a strong Christian heritage, and I’m so happy to be able to pass that on to my children as well!

Baby Reagan

GOOD NEWS! For those of you who don’t know – I have a niece that was born very prematurely at the beginning of March. There have been many, many prayers for Baby Reagan and for Robert and Amy (her mommy and Daddy!). Amy called me today to let me know that Reagan gets to COME HOME tomorrow! This is just so excited!

Each time I think about Reagan I’m reminded of God’s unfailing love and faithful promises! God has been so good to this wonderful little family! You can check out Reagan’s blog for yourself by clicking the link on the side!

I cannot wait for the cousins to get to spend some time together and get to know each other! I’m looking forward to many years of wonderful memory making with Reagan, just like all the wonderful memories I have with my cousins! (more on that in another post!)

We love you Reagan and thank God for you all the time! I cannot wait to hold you!

Life Guard

Those of you who know me know I love the water! Any kind of water will do – a pool, a lake, and the ocean… really anything that’s cool and wet I love to be in! I like to swim, water ski, Jet Ski, boat, float or just sit in the water! I just love it and I cannot get enough of the water!

Well this summer we decided to get a membership to Bur Mil Park. The kids and I have been several times and have really enjoyed it! Luke is really learning to get in the water and not be afraid! Of course he hasn’t had any kind of swimming lessons, so a little fear is a good thing!

Since we’ve been a couple of times, Luke and I were talking while we were getting ready this morning about some of the rules at the pool. We are getting to know the lay of the land and understand all the different rules, like you cannot run around the pool, you cannot hang on the rope, and you have to wait your turn to come down the slide! This is all a new experience for him! So I asked him this morning “when they blow the whistle, what does that mean?” (They do adult swims at the top of every hour) he said “It means we get out of the pool.” Right! “Then how do we know when to get back in the pool?” Luke says – “When the Gardens blow the whistle again, we can get back in!” LOL “You mean the life guards?” “Yea, the life guards!”

We went today and had a great time! Avery really enjoys the water as well! She’s happy to be in the shallow end playing with some small toy or some other kids! Or she’s happy to be held while I catch Luke at the bottom of the slide! It’s really a great way to spend the day! I’m extra privileged to be able to go with my friend Dana and her daughter Riley – who is one of Luke’s closet friends! That makes it all that much more fun for both of us! I have someone to have adult conversation with and an extra pair of eyes and hands to help with the kids! And Luke has a friend to help entertain him!

At one point Dana was sitting with Avery while she napped and I was in the pool with Luke and Riley. They were going down the slide and I had a blast catching them at the bottom. Then they would kick their feet to “get away from the crocodile!” They are so fun at this age!

I’m looking forward to many more fun in the sun and water days this summer!

A Summer Saturday

I just love Saturday’s! I think I love them more now than I did before I had kids! When I was away teaching every day – Saturday meant a day to sleep in and get laundry done! Now it means a day of NO laundry and time with David!

Today we got the opportunity to celebrate Cameron’s 4th birthday! We started the party at the Summerfield Fire Station! Those guys did a great job showing the kids around the station, letting them see the different trucks and showing them all their gear! They even did us the favor of going on a call while we were there! Off they went – lights and sirens going! YIPPIE!!!!! Then back to Cameron’s house for some fun games outside, pizza, cupcakes, ice cream and present opening! It was so fun! Thanks for having us Shannon!

Hard to believe that Cameron’s already 4! Time is just flying and the kids grow and change so much in such a short amount of time. It just seems like yesterday that we were rescheduling Cameron’s first birthday due to him having the rotavirus. I’m reminded again of how important it is to continue to pray for my kids and their friends as time goes by so fast! I hope Cameron enjoyed his day!

Now we look forward to Julianna and Avery’s first birthdays in October and November respectively, to the homecoming of Baby Reagan, and the birth of Dana and Carrie’s babies!

The kids are napping now and I’m enjoying some quiet time to play on line while no one needs anything from me!

Hope you enjoyed your Saturday with friends and family!
Cameron and Luke in August 2006


Luke and Cameron in June 2008


Julianna 2008


Avery June 2008

Mercy

It's taken a while but here is the second part of the compassion and mercy post!

In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
From the depths of the grave [a] I called for help,
and you listened to my cry. Jonah 2:1

How many times have I felt like that? How many times have I cried out to the Lord in my distress? More than I could count in my lifetime. I think most of us have. The really cool thing about this verse is the last 5 words… “You listened to my cry.” Mercy that’s what that is. This is one of the attributes of God that I so often get stuck on. I can think and think and think about it, but somehow I cannot get my mind around the mercifulness of God. How is it that every time we get ourselves thrown into the stormy sea due to disobedience we call out to the Lord and he listens to our cries? I don’t deserve that. I don’t deserve God’s mercy in my life, yet He gives it each time I ask for forgiveness. Totally amazing to me!!

Read the rest of what Jonah says to God in chapter 2 – I think these are similar words I may have uttered if it had been me in the stormy sea and in the belly of the fish.

5 The engulfing waters threatened me, [b]
the deep surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you brought my life up from the pit,
O LORD my God.
7 "When my life was ebbing away,
I remembered you, LORD,
and my prayer rose to you,
to your holy temple.
8 "Those who cling to worthless idols
forfeit the grace that could be theirs.
9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving,
will sacrifice to you.
What I have vowed I will make good.
Salvation comes from the LORD."
10 And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

God’s mercy – Jonah said all this, poured his heart out, acknowledged that God was his Salvation and then after the fish vomited Jonah out he went and did what God asked him, but as we talked about before, Jonah lacked compassion – and as it turns out mercy – for the people of Nineveh. And yet, God had mercy on him.

Mercy is defined by Webster as: compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power; also: lenient or compassionate treatmentThink about this – God knew (even before He ask Jonah) how the whole thing would play out. He knew Jonah’s heart – and he knows mine – and He knew that even thought He would show Jonah great compassion and mercy that Jonah would still lack those same qualities when the “deal was done.” Why wouldn’t God ask someone else to go? Why wouldn’t He use someone with a heart more aligned with His? Why would He show compassion and mercy to Jonah in the belly of the fish, and then AGAIN with the weed that grew to shade him? Why would he use someone so unwilling to show love and mercy to others whom God also loved? I believe it’s because weather we like to admit it or not, Jonah is just like most of the rest of us – willing and happy to do God’s will when it suits us, not so happy when we don’t want to. Yet God shows us mercy by continually forgiving us and loving us and allowing us to walk in fellowship with Him.

I think this whole book in the Bible is totally for the purpose of teaching me (well and maybe others too) how important it is to have the heart and qualities of our Lord and Savior. I need to really be aware of my heart and my life and all the many areas where I should be showing more mercy and compassion and less judgments! I have been given an undeserved gift of salvation, and I sure didn’t deserve it.

Viva Las Vegas

Overall David and I are not terribly spontaneous people. Oh, we were much more so before children! But with a 3 year old and a 7 month old being spontaneous is usually limited to “hey, let’s forget about what I put on the menu for dinner tonight and let’s grill something instead!” And “We’ve got enough hamburgers let’s call some friends to join us!” That’s been about the extent of the spontaneity these days.

Well all that flew out the window on Sunday afternoon! Both kids were in bed and we were sitting around chatting and we got to talking about our upcoming trip/vacation to Pigeon Forge. I was saying how I have mixed feelings about leaving the kids… I mean how often do you get all that time alone without children without having to ASK someone to keep them – Nanny and Grandpoppy offered us that time! But still I miss them when I’m not with them, so anyway…

Out of the blue David says “I wanna go to Vegas!” Now we’ve been to Vegas many times. We really enjoy vacationing there – there’s so much to see and do and the food is great! We haven’t been in a while mostly because we usually go for our anniversary – which is in September – and last September I was 7 months pregnant. Not the best state to be in for walking around Vegas. So we chatted about the possibility of going, guessing that we wouldn’t be able to get airline tickets – let alone a place to stay – for any decent money. As it turns out – the week of July 4th must be unbearably hot in Las Vegas, because we got low, low rates on a GREAT hotel – we’ll be staying that the MGM Mirage! And there were tickets available to buy with miles – but not economy class tickets – FIRST CLASS tickets!!! So we get to go to Vegas – flying in style – and stay for cheaper than it would have cost us to stay in Pigeon Forge for a whole week!

I’m excited! My favorite part of a trip to Vegas is of course – the Spa (and you thought I was gonna say the craps tables!!!)! I’m looking forward to some good pampering with a massage and pedicure – who knows maybe I’ll even do one of those body wrap things they offer now!

It'll be a good time for sure!

Glick Update

This is copied and pasted from Jessi's blog! Thank you all for your prayers and keep them coming if you will!



Wednesday, June 18, 2008
update from Betsy

They had their meeting with the agency people, and, while nothing earth shattering, they at least are one step closer, and basically just waiting on an appraisal and then will be able to sign the papers and have loan in hand. They told them 2-3 weeks for the appraisal...I'm praying it will be more like 1!! If you think of the Glicks, keep praying, and I'll be sure to post pictures in a few weeks when they officially break ground and start the foundation!! Yay!!

Posted by Jessi at 12:59 PM

Prayer Please

Good Morning! I would like to ask my beloved friends and family (who haven't already received this urgent request) to click on the attached link. It's a link to my cousin Jessi's blog and she is asking prayer for her sister Betsy - who is also my cousin. I'll let you read the details yourself, but I do covet your prayers for this wonderful family today! Thank you and I'll be sure to keep you updated as I hear more from PA. Click here to get to Jessi's blog Crocuses in march

Compassion

A note before you begin - it's a long one!

Thanks to the Veggie Tales movie – Jonah – (Luke watched it often while we were at the lake!) I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, reading and studying on compassion and mercy (more on mercy in a different post). It’s amazing to me how one kid’s movie can get the mind going. Of course when it’s all you watch on TV I guess I shouldn’t expect anything different.

Compassion is defined by Webster this way - sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. I think compassion is something we’re all familiar with; something we think we have a lot of. I have compassion for those folks in the mid west that are dealing with flooding. I have compassion for people in places like the jungles of Africa who have nothing. I have compassion for some very close friends of mine who have recently lost loved ones. It’s easy to have compassion for my brother in law and sister in law who have traveled a long hard road with their sweet premature baby girl! I mean who wouldn’t, right? It’s easy to feel compassionate towards those who we think might have gotten the “short end of the stick” or who we feel are being asked to unjustly go through something hard, but it’s hard to feel compassionate when we think people are getting what they deserve. But what is it that people really deserve?!?!?

Jonah lacked compassion for the Ninevehites. The Ninevehites were an ungodly people for sure and Jonah didn’t want anything to do with them. Here’s the first thing that struck me – I’m really not so different from the people of Nineveh – without the grace of God I would be living just like the Ninevehites… a godless life, nor am I all that different from Jonah, I often don’t want to do things God asks me to do. They seem to hard, or too yucky or honestly sometimes I think I’m too good for what God’s asking me to do.

The Word says in Jonah 3:1 & 2 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."” This city was important to God, the people were important and God wanted Jonah to go and tell them how much He loved them so they could repent, change their ways and come to God. Jonah didn’t wanna go, so he ran the other way. It took being in the belly of a big fish and God telling him twice to go for him to actually go. Seems silly doesn’t it? We all know we cannot run away from God, right? But how many times (admittedly on a much smaller scale than actually getting in a boat to physically GO away from God) in a day do we “run” from God. I know I do it all that time. Not good! And that makes me as bad as Jonah.

Here’s the next thing that really gets me… and this part I’ve read and reread cause somehow I didn’t remember the end of the story of Jonah (I guess somewhere in all my church days and Christian school days I missed it – sorry Mom and Dad!). It ends like this - Jonah DID go to Nineveh and he DID give God’s message and the people of Nineveh DID repent! Yippee!! People saved, souls going to heaven! Jonah should have been overjoyed, right?!?! Well he wasn’t! You know what he did? He waited outside the city for God to destroy them!!! HOLY COW! How could he still feel like that? After all that God had done for him, all the compassion God had for him, he still sat there in the heat of the Arabian Desert waiting for God to strike them dead. I mean that takes some guts doesn’t it!?!? The man did what God asked, and the people repented right away, without hesitation, and turned to God, and then Jonah still wanted God to destroy them! Then the Word says “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:2b) That really hit home for me. I too know – in my head - that God is a God who is gracious and compassionate and yet sometimes I get upset with Him for not doing what I think he should do. The story goes on to say that Jonah gets so mad at God that he asks God to let him die.

What I’ve learned – I am no more deserving of God’s love, salvation or compassion than anyone else! And if God continues to extend his compassion to me, then it’s the least I can do to do the same to others – whom God greatly loves! It’s helping me to see just how much I AM IN NEED of God’s graciousness and compassion in my own life.

Morning!

Good Morning All!

I sat down to start writing this very in depth blog about compassion and mercy - something I've been thinking a lot about lately! Luke was happily looking at a book and Avery was asleep. Well, Avery is awake and crying now, so I must go and take care of her. I'll try and get the other blog posted later on today!

Happy Father's Day

I want to take a minute to say Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful men in my life that happen to also be fathers! Happy Father’s Day to my Dad who has always been a rock in my life! Daddy’s always been there to support Chanda and me – he spent endless hours at gymnastic meets on Saturdays, many ballet recitals, and how many Christmas’s is one man supposed to see his girls in the Nutcracker?!? Thanks Dad for all your time, support and love over the years! I couldn’t ask for a better Father and I am so blessed to have a family who raised me to love the Lord and who have shown me time and time again how to deal with life and situations in a godly way. I pray today Daddy that you would know how much I love you and how very special you are to me!

I have the same thanks for Ed as he helped to raise and mold the man I love so much! David too has a great Dad and a man who was and is a godly example of what a Dad should be. Thank you Ed for loving your sons so they would grow to be wonderful fathers!

David – thank you so much for being the most amazing Dad to our babies! It has been so neat for me to see your relationship develop with Luke. He sure loves his Daddy and already enjoys doing everything he can with you. I already see him being molded into a young man who will follow in his father’s footsteps as a godly man. I couldn’t ask for more than that for our son. Thank you for being committed to loving him and raising him to be a man after God’s own heart. Little girls and their daddies – there is something different about that than there is between a little boy and his Dad. When Avery looks at you – even at her young 7 months – there is total love and admiration. I know that feeling is mutual! I look forward to watching her relationship with you grow as well. I pray that Avery’s love for her Daddy would continue to deepen and grow and that you’re relationship with her would help to mold her into a happy, confidant young woman who knows just how much her heavenly Father loves her because of how much her earthly father loves her! I love you, and I’m so blessed to have you as my husband, but also as the Fantastic Father of our kids! Happy Fathers Day!

A quick thanks also to the other men in our lives who will love and influence my children and help them grow to love the Lord! There are many, many of you out there – and I hope each of you Dad’s enjoys your father’s day! Know that we love you and that we’re praying for you!

Home Again, Home Again

Luke enjoying the boat ride
Are we gonna go for a ride?

Now, those are some cute kids, aren't they?!?!
Enjoying our time in the water!

The end of vacation is always a bummer! I hate coming home – I hope getting back to the “normal every day routine” – I hate going from having David around all day to him being gone back to work every day. It’s always a bit depressing the first day or two home.

But I love the memories you make on vacation, I love the relaxing feeling of wearing your pj’s until well after noon – or putting on a bathing suit first thing in the morning and playing in the lake or going for a Jet Ski ride! I love spending the afternoon watching a movie or laying out in the sun while the kids nap. I love getting everyone their bath and then putting Avery down for bed and cooking a late dinner. What a fun time we had this past week at the lake. It was a wonderful time – really relaxing for sure! I have to say that even though Luke got up very early (like 6:00 or 6:15) every day – he slept all night every night (which is somewhat unusual for him) and so did Avery! That makes a world of difference in how relaxing and enjoyable a vacation can be for mommy!

On the other hand it is nice to be home (after the first couple of readjustment days) again… back in my own bed, using my own stuff in the kitchen and in general getting settled back into my house. I’m looking forward to the coming summer days as we will be going to the pool and having play dates with our friends! I really love summer. The sun, the water – of course the 100 degree heat in early June is a bit much, even for me, but I am looking forward to a really fun summer!

Having something to look forward to is always nice as well, and luckily for me, I have something to look forward to coming up the end of June, beginning of July. My parents – mostly my mom (since Dad works every day) will have the kids for a week the beginning of July. David and I are going to Pigeon Forge TN for a week. We’ll bring the kids with us on Sunday (which I realized just now is only 2 weeks from today!), my parents will get them on Monday, and then David and I will drive the rest of the way to my parents house on Friday July 4th. I’m really looking forward to some time alone with David – that’s somewhat unusual for parents with small children. Taking on 2 little kids is a BIG deal! I’m so excited about it and I’m so thankful to my folks for offering to do this for us! I know my kids will have a blast and Nanny and Grandpoppy’s house! I’m saying lots of extra prayers for good rest for Luke, Avery and mostly Nanny!

I love summer time!

Fun Times

I just had to post and let you all know that Luke has decided that riding the Jet Ski is fun after all! He finally agreed to get on with David the other afternoon as long as David went slow and stayed in the cove. It didn't take but about 5 minutes for him to want to go faster and head out to open waters. They had a great time ridding around! Then yesterday Luke rode with David and I took the other jet ski and we rode around a bit looking for a marina that was open, so we could get gas. Luke did very well and really loved being on the open lake and going "really fast!" Thank you to Aunt Amy and Uncle Robert for hanging out at the house with Avery while we went. I'm sure Avery would love the Jet Ski too, but I'm not sure how well she would hold on!

Vacation has been good for Avery too - she has started getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. And the other day she worked her way over to the coffee table and tried to pull herself up! WOW - she's moving right along. Jet skiing is a strong motivator in getting going I guess!

We had the privilege of spending the afternoon with our good friends Terri and her son Justin Payne yesterday! It was so much fun to have them and I'm so glad we got to hang out with them. The Payne family has been long time friends of both the Miller and Winslow families! So it was so nice to see and spend time with Terri and Justin yesterday! Josh didn't make it, and we're sorry we missed him! On a food note - we made chicken kabobs last night for dinner. It's the first time we ever made them. They were SO GOOD. We put them all together and David did them on the grill! TOTALLY yummy and something we will sure do it again!

It's been a real blessing being here these last few days! I've really enjoyed seeing David playing with Luke and Avery! I've also really enjoyed the family time we've had together. I've got some great memories wonderful family and I'm looking forward to more of the same the rest of the week!!

Vacation

There is nothing better than a few days away with nothing to do and limited phone access. Of course you get used to things like computer and high speed internet, luckily for me David got all that worked out before we left to come to Badin Lake, so I still get to check my email and post on the blog! Of course David set it all us so he could work while he's here, but whatever the reason, I'm glad for it!

We've had a great time here the last couple of days! The weather has been unseasonably warm - and the lake water is PERFECT for swimming in! The kids both really love the boat - Avery falls asleep as soon as the boat starts moving every time we get in it! She sleeps like a log while we're on it! Luke loves it too! He won't get on the jet ski but really loves the boat! Avery also loves to float in the lake! We put her in here little baby float and she'll happily be in the lake for about an hour at a time! That's my girl - I love the water for sure and could spend all day just hangin out by the dock floating around and such!

We had the pleasure of having our good friends the Bartlett's down yesterday afternoon and evening for some fun! It was great to have them here and we all really enjoyed playing in the water and sharing a good meal! Thanks for coming for the evening guys - it was tons of fun!

We've had a really relaxing time so far and I'm looking forward to more of the same! Thanks so much Willard and Renee for letting us come!! We've taken some great pictures so I'll get those posted when we get home!

Money...

One of my favorite things to do is spend money! I love to shop! And really it doesn’t matter what I’m shopping for – cloths, shoes, makeup, stuff for the kids, groceries… it just doesn’t matter. One of my favorite places to shop is Costco! Gotta love being able to get everything you need (or want I guess is more like it) in one spot! But being an adult comes with some responsibility (thank you Dave Ramsey) so I have to keep a watch on how much I spend!

I’ve been thinking a good bit about money lately – not something I do a lot - but it’s been a topic of discussion for David and me the last few days. Now David loves to talk about money. How to make it, how to make more of it, how to invest it - all that kinda stuff, but me not my favorite topic for discussion. I have learned over the last few years though how important it is for both people in a marriage to be involved in the family’s finances. Again, in general this is something I really dislike. David has been paying bills and in general managing our finances – even mine before we got married – for our family for going on 8 years now. I pretty much was TOTALLY hands off – didn’t know a thing that was going on, and didn’t care to. David would tell me if we had money to spend, or he would tell me don’t spend any money right now, and that was all fine and good with me! Then we somehow (I think it was probably thru some talk radio station that David listened to) we ended up discovering Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University program. Turns out this is a great Biblical way to handle finances. I was none too thrilled about spending an hour or two each week in a small group setting to watch a DVD and have discussions on all aspects of money. Boring!! The worst was (and still is after teaching FPU 3 times) the investment lesson! That’s some hard for me to understand stuff, but anyway – I’ve come to really look at money differently and it’s changed our approach to our finances.

Being a stay at home mom I bring no money to the table, so at first being at home and spending money was really weird for me. I wasn’t out earning money, so I felt weird about spending money that I saw as David’s money. But after going thru FPU and sitting down on a monthly basis and doing a budget, it got better. David might argue at this point that I’m VERY comfortable with spending our money! LOL

Money is something that’s really hard on many relationships and for us it was a blessing going thru FPU. It’s helped us communicate better about our money and it gives us security about what the other person is doing with money. We agree to follow the budget each month and talk if something comes up and we need to change it. It also allows me to spend money and not have to feel bad about it or like I need to hide it if I’ve spent money. I’m grateful to David for taking care of us, and for providing all that we need to live a comfortable lifestyle. I'm also grateful to him for discovering Dave Ramsey and for helping me see the importance of living like no one else, so that later we can live like no one else!

I love you babe, thanks so much for taking such good care of me and the kids!

It’s hard to believe, but tonight my very first kindergarten class graduates from 8th grade at Greensboro Academy! That first year was a whopper for all of us… my first year teaching, the first year a brand new school was open and for most of the year we didn’t even have classrooms! Each Monday for months the teachers had to lug all of our curriculum and other materials into conference rooms at Bur Mil park in Greensboro. We hung up all our visual aids as best we could on the walls and did our best to cover the material! Did our best is key there – I had really NO IDEA what I was doing! Then every Friday we had to pack it all up, take everything down off the walls and take it home with us, just to have to do the whole thing all over again on Monday!

How did the parents sick it out, how did the teachers hang in there, and how in heaven’s name did the kids learn anything?!?! It’s hard to imagine but when the time came for the years testing the kids did SO WELL! I’m not taking credit here at all, but I sure was proud of them. I had a wonderful first class they were all so very smart! 14 girls and 7 boys, it was a total experience that’s for sure. There were lots of hurt feelings and a good bit of crying on the girl’s part, and the boys – well there was some pushing and pulling, but that was about it for them. I truly loved my class, the kids and their parents! I made some wonderful friends that year and had the BEST parent support and involvement! Some of whom I am still in contact with. It was a great first year in the classroom and one I will always have fond – if not a bit strange (we had gym class in a large banquet room, and art class around conference tables – hard for 5 year olds to work at!) memories of the first kindergarten class to attend Greensboro Academy.

I will be honored to be in attendance for the kids that are still at GA and will move on to bigger schools and very promising futures!

And boy – do I feel old!

Sorry

I tried to put a link on for Birch Hill Happenings the other day - didn't go to well - so I'm trying again!

Cry it out

Letting my babies cry was never my strong point. When you have your first baby you read every thing you can get your hands on – this will make an expectant mom CRAZY! There are about a million different theories on everything from feedings to where your baby should sleep. When I was pregnant with Luke I thought that letting your baby cry themselves to sleep was a good idea. I understood in my head how beneficial that would be to him in the long run – what I didn’t know was how hard it would be for me to listen to. So when Luke came along and cried – I held him, every time! This was fine for a while when he was very small… but soon grew old when he hit about 8 or 9 months and started waking up in the night. If he would have just gone right back to sleep, that would have been fine too, but he took to staying up for 2 or 3 hours at a time. NOT COOL! I think we’ve finally worked thru that he is after all 3 years old! Not to say that he doesn’t still wake up in the night, cause sometimes he does, and he has been know to be up for hours on end, but now I check on him to be sure he’s ok and I go back to bed. Good for me right?!?!

Baby number two – Avery – I told David when she was born; we’re letting this baby cry! Nope, didn’t happen. I didn’t like hearing her cry any more than I did Luke. When Av woke in the night she would take a bottle and go right back to sleep with no crying until recently. So with the help of my wonderful (and more determined) husband we are letting Avery cry it out! Not to fun for any of us, but I do know that in the long run, it’ll be better. The first day we let her cry she cried for about an hour and 45 minutes. Since then she’s worked her way from an hour to thirty minutes to about 20 minutes today. We figure after about a week, she’ll be putting herself to sleep with little or no crying at all! That’ll be so nice! Thanks to Shannon also for the encouragement of the let them cry it out theory! I see how nicely it works for her and Julianna – boy do I want that too!


I’m also trying to do this to help out Nanny and Grandpoppy! Luke and Avery will get to spend a week with them in GA, and I know it would be a LOT more helpful to Nanny when putting both of them to bed, if Avery could put herself to sleep! Hopefully by the beginning of July she will have this skill mastered!

Next thing to work on… not crying when she’s not being held during the day so Mommy can get things done without going crazy! Anybody have any suggestions?!?!?!

The hardest part of having kids for me is when they are sick – they are so small and especially when they are little – there’s only so much you can do for them. Plus they cannot tell you what hurts and what doesn’t. It’s so hard for me! I know they get over it, and in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t take that long, but it’s still sad when they don’t feel well!

Avery has been sick since Friday and not sleeping very much at all. But last night – she sleep ALL NIGHT LONG again! It’s amazing what a full nights sleep will do for both baby and mommy! She seems to be doing a lot better today, and the runny nose has almost completely dried up! I’d been giving her Benadrly, but on Sunday it hit me that I could use some of my essential oils and maybe that would help her some. So I added a few drops of peppermint to her bath, then her bib and her nose opened up enough for her to take a whole bottle! I am becoming more and more sold on the whole essential oils thing. Thanks to Deb Raner – a wonderful friend at church – who turned me on to the benefits of oils. You can check out the site I get my stuff from. http://www.birchhillhappenings.com/aroma1.htm The site has all kinds of helpful info on all sorts of different things from colds to health and beauty tips. I really love this stuff.

Today we’ll be taking advantage of the beautiful weather and going over to Cameron’s house to play with him and Riley. Two of Luke’s best friends –I’m glad everyone got some sleep last night!

Holly's Hobbie

How you might ask, did I came up with the name Holly’s Hobbie for my blog title. Actually I didn’t – David did. I told him I was working on setting it up, but didn’t know what to call it. I had kicked around Winslow World, but didn’t really like it too much he didn’t either, so I asked him for suggestions and he suggested Holly’s Hobbie. At first I didn’t really like it, cause I thought it was kinda corny (when I was young I did NOT like being called Holly Hobbie), but then I got to thinking about it and it seemed as good as anything else I could think of, and I actually came to think it was kinda cute. When I was setting up the blog David said to me shouldn’t that be Holly’s Hobby? Well yes, but Holly Hobbie spells her name like this – Hobbie – and I liked that better than hobby.

Besides, I would like to think that I have many hobbies besides blogging such as reading, scrap booking, shopping – all of which I hope to do more of as my kids get older and I have a bit more time.

So there you have it – the origins of the blog name!

The Beach

Sun, sand, seashells sleep – these are what I woke up wishing for this morning! I truly love the beach! I love anywhere where it’s sunny, warm and there’s water, so waking up thinking about and wishing to be at the beach aren’t all that unusual for me, but this morning it would have been particularly nice.

You see, poor Avery had a really bad night last night. She seems to have gotten a cold or is getting more teeth or a combination of both, I don’t know, but she’s very stuffy and didn’t sleep much at all last night. So when I feel particularly stressed or tired I ALWAYS wish I was at the beach! There is something about being at the beach that just says relax, enjoy and don’t worry if you didn’t get any sleep last night. Thoughts of the fun and sun at the beach make every day life seem so - every day! I want to go there more after a long night of little or no sleep with one of the kids!

The up side is, well 2 up sides really – one: Luke is not sick (not this week anyway – he was sick last week!) and two: we leave to go to Badin Lake for a whole week this coming Saturday!! Thank you so much Willard and Renee for letting us use your place! I’m so excited about some time away! I know that Av will be feeling much better by then so we’ll all really be able to enjoy ourselves!