Funny Kid Moments...

We had a rather funny kid moment tonight at the dinner table that I have to share.

The last few days I have been digging out all the Christmas decorations and putting them in their usual place. Yesterday I dug out the kid's Nativity scene and they have barely put it down since. It is such a sweet set of soft little dolls that are super child friendly, meaning of course that they are washable and not breakable. I bought it the year the girls were 21 months old and it has always been a favorite at our house. I can still see Claire toddling around carrying baby Jesus, holding him up to us saying "Jesus" in her sweet little voice. That year Jesus was a constant. We slept with him, ate with him, and carried him around all day long. We loved Jesus so much his arms had to be stitched back on more than once.

Today he may be a little dirty and worn but we still love him just as much.

So fast forward to dinner tonight. I am getting a drink and hear David yell "Put Jesus down! Put Jesus down Claire and go eat!", of course I nearly spit out my drink laughing. It was just not what anyone would have expected to hear my husband raise his voice about. Claire begrudgingly put baby Jesus back in the manger for dinnertime. Poor Claire. Who would have thought she could have gotten chastised for loving Jesus so much!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful as usual this year:) We had a fabulous visit with about 30 members of David's family over at the Krueger house. The food was great but the company was by far the best! It was so much fun to watch the girls run and play with their cousins and enjoy lots of the family being in one place. After the Krueger feast we headed over to my parents for another great meal and play time with Nana, Papa and Aunt Juli. Needless to say by the time it was all over we had three very tired kiddos on our hands.

We always have so much to be thankful for and sometimes I feel like I forget to "feel" thankful for all God has blessed us with. Indulge me for a minute while I list just a few.

This year I feel especially thankful for our home and David's job. So many are struggling in this economic crunch and we feel so very blessed to for God's provisions. I am thankful for our extended family and all the love and support they provide. I am thankful for our health and for the time that our family is able to spend together.

As many of you know our nephew has struggled this year with his health. In August he was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia and ITP. Since then there have been many ups and downs but we are so thankful that he is responding to treatment and able to be at home with his family for this holiday. We pray for him, his parents, and siblings every day for peace, comfort, and the Lord's guiding hand. We are so grateful that he is doing well and that God has provided so much for their family during this very difficult time.

God Bless you all on this Thanksgiving and have a wonderful holiday!

"Not me!" Mondays...

I have been reading a wonderful blog the last few weeks and want to share it with you all. This woman is incredible. Her simple faith and love for her adorable kiddos is apparent through her eloquent and honest words. Please take a look! http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

It has become tradition in her blog to do a "Not me!" Monday post and I am going to join in this growing tradition. So here goes...

This week when our household had the most terrible stomach virus ever I certainly did not wait until morning to officially mop the floor after Claire puked for the third time on it and I was just to tired to mop it again. And I couldn't have instead just thrown towels down on it until morning and figured I would wash them in the morning if she threw up again. Nope, not me.

And I would never ever wake up on a Monday morning like today and tell the girls to hurry and get ready because we need to get Target and when asked about breakfast bribe them with the idea of having a popcorn deal at Target for breakfast to get them to move a little faster. I would never do that! And I certainly wouldn't justify it by deciding that it would be OK as long as I didn't give them the usual soda or lemonade, instead opting for water. Nope. Not me!

Happy Monday All!

Sick and Tired of being Sick

For a little over a week now at least one person in our family has been ill with a horrid stomach virus. I am all antibacterial and lysoled out. I have mopped more floors, changed more bedding, and cleaned the toliets more times then I think I normally do in 3 months. I know there are so many out there that can sympathize with me. I will never understand how my kids can manage to get sick for a few hours and I am sick for days.

At about 4am Tuesday morning I finally had to make a trip to the ER. I was incredibly dehydrated and unable to drag myself off the floor, bed, or wherever I found myself laying after being sick for the millionth time. I knew in that shape I would never be able to take care of the kids.

Thank God for my mom watching the kiddos.

Thank God for Tammy running over and getting a completely sleepless night to take care of me in to the ER.

Thank God for Deneen agreeing to come get me from the ER and drive me home.

To be honest I don't remember all that much. It is all vague but I know the ER nurse told me I looked terrible and took me straight back and hooked me up to an IV before she even had the doctors order too. I don't remember her name but I remember thinking she seemed like one of those no nonsense people who just did what she needed to do without much fanfare.

Thank God for her too.

So after a few hours, several bags of fluids, lots of zofran and a few pain killers I finally stopped puking for the first time in 4+ hours. Hallelujah! And I pulled myself together enough to start the day. Today I am much better although eating is still not on my agenda and I don't think it will be for a while.

Maybe I will lose that last 5 pounds I have been working on? And yes, I would thank God for that too!

Wishing you all a much healthier week than we are having;)

Rules? What Rules?

My mom and I had one of the funniest moments I can remember in a while with Sarah today. It was definitely one of those out of the mouths of babes moments.

We really only have two rules in our house and I actually borrowed the idea from their preschool. At preschool they have two bible verses that govern their classroom behavior and I thought they were quite clever.

1. Obey them that have rule over you. Hebrews 13:17
2. Be kind to one another. Ephesians 4:32


I loved this "simple" plan to good behavior. In two bible verses you have covered just about any problem that is bound to arise in raising children in general. These are efficiency at its best. They not only apply to everything but also are easily recited, even by three year olds, several times a day.

So today the girls, Jack , and I all went shopping with Nana to give her some ideas for Christmas. We started in Target and then proceeded to the mall with the twins in rare form. Well by the time we hit the mall they were everywhere. I would get one under control just for the other to start. I had finally had enough and in a "come to Jesus moment" got very stern with Ms. Sarah and took away a privilege, no Noggin tonight. She got that "What just happened?" look on her face and I asked her what rule she broke. Her answer in a sing songy voice, "Forgive your Mommy and Daddy." At this point my Mom bursts out laughing and so did I. I mean really can you believe she just said that? She is just so full of herself sometimes. And no, I don't know where she gets it from. Must be her father.

Thoughtlessness

Sigh...

I have had one of those days today that makes you wonder why you ever chose to leave the house. With David home this weekend I decided to make good use of my time and run some errands that would have been difficult dragging the kids on. So I left with my list, plenty of energy and a ton of determination to get it all done in a short amount of time. As you have guessed what I ended up with was long lines, items I couldn't locate and a bruised spirit.

Let me preface the rest of the story by saying I have really been trying to have a positive outlook on everything that is changing in our life. Things in our family life are changing rapidly and while some of the changes are exciting, some are really hard. I am not blind to the fact that this move is going to be difficult on my family. I am also not ignoring the fact that it will affect more than just my immediate family. There are some out there though who must think I am oblivious to this all as they constantly insist on making ugly or thoughtless comments about our decision to make this move. This is most disappointing to me because they seem to imply that we have not thoroughly thought this through and weighed all the positives and negatives.

I am hurt and my spirit is wounded by their thoughtlessness. I am certainly capable of understanding the sadness as we will also be very sad when the day to comes to leave good friends and loving family. At the same time we are not planning on dropping off the face of the Earth. Most of the time I believe they are hurt and simply lash out at me without thinking first. So I try to contain myself and just smile, brush it off, and move on.

So today as I was running errands I seemed to be unfortunate enough to continue running in to those who instead of saying "Congrats! What a wonderful thing for you all. We will be praying for you." were more inclined to be thoughtless and in one case down right ugly.

So why did I decide to post this as my nightly blog?

The answer is as simple as asking you all to pray for us. This was not an easy decision. It was prayed about and thought through immensely. We asked for guidance and counsel from God. However, we still need love, support, and encouragement.

So...

Pray for God's guidance in our families life.
Pray for faithfulness from David and I to Him as we take on this new journey.
Pray for our children that we can comfort them and answer their questions in way they can understand.

State of Our Country

First let me ask you all to hear me out on this one. I am not really making a political statement with this particular entry. God laid this on my heart tonight and I thought I would share. Honestly I asked him if it could wait until tomorrow about a millions times. I reminded him that Sarah kept me up all last night and that I had already taken a sleeping pill tonight but obviously he thought it would be more important that I post this since I can't sleep. So here we go...

I was watching Obama's victory speech tonight and listening to his charismatic rhetoric and ideas when I felt the need to just turn it off. I felt God just telling me I didn't need to see it. It took a second but I did finally turn FoxNews off. I flipped the light back on and grabbed my bible and just sat there. I felt God nudging me. I was thinking of all the people who have idolized one candidate or another. And yes, specifically I was thinking of Obama's campaign. All the tears and man hours. All the volunteers and money that was given and spent. And I just couldn't help but wonder what our country would be like if we invested in Jesus/God like it did in this political election? What if we served Him with our time? What if we invested our money in Him? What if we idolized and worshipped Him instead of a particular candidate, party, or ourselves? What would life be like?

I realized I didn't need to continue watching and trying to convince myself of my security. In all reality my security lies in my Lord.

I opened my bible and I landed in Psalms chapter 146 verse 3:

Don't put your confidence in powerful people,
there is no help for you there.
When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
But joyful are those who have the God of
Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in their Lord their God.
He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.
He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The Lord frees the prisoners.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.
The Lord loves the Godly.
The Lord protects the foreigners around among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem
throughout the generations.

It is so easy to get caught up in everyday life and forget who we really serve. Am I saying the political process is not important? No. It is our right and duty to vote and we should seek God's guidance in those choices. The point is win or lose, good or bad, who do you really serve? Can you imagine where we would be if America served the Lord with the excitement, devotion, and dedication they have served these presidential candidates? Food for thought:)

This Week...

Hi all! Lots of changes are taking place this week around our house. First our house officially went on the market on Monday. We are praying for God's timing and will but I will tell you that we are a little nervous. Second, David left on Sunday night for Lufkin. I really felt like I had taken a proactive role in explaining it to the girls. I kept it simple by telling them Daddy would be at work burt he will be home Friday night. I reminded and reminded and answered all their questions simply but truthfully. Everything went well until Monday night when Sarah had an absolute meltdown. Bless her heart I have never seen her so upset. I thought Claire would be the one to meltdown on me but I couldn't have been more wrong. Poor Sarah. We are even stuggling at school drop off, which has never been a problem before. I know we will get past it and everything will become more normal but pray for us.

David is doing well. He misses us but it busy so that is good.

Presidential Race

Obviously the race is looking like it is pretty much over and Obama will be the winner. I wish him the best, but to say I am not nervous about the state of our country would be a lie. At this point I will watch wait and pray that he can become a leader that I can respect.

Pray for our family.
Pray for our country.