Sunday, August 31, 2008

Saturday Morning Songs and Prayer

Yes, she slept in her play dress.
No, I don't know what is up with her hair.
Yes, while I am having fun making a video of Hannah, Chris is in the background unloading the dishwasher.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Science in the Bible

In the class we are taking on Monday nights at the church building (Fishers of Men - the website is on my sidebar) one of the things that has interested me the most that I had not thought of before are all the scientific facts that are in the Bible and were written way before science discovered them. I thought you might find it interesting too. Here are some examples.
  • Both man and woman possess seed of life.
    • Science discovered: 19th Century
    • Bible Mentions: Gen 3:15, 22:18
  • There is a place void of stars in the North.
    • Science discovered: 19th Century
    • Bible Mentions: Job26:7
  • The earth is round.
    • Science discovered: 15th Century
    • Bible Mentions: Isaiah 40:22
  • Oceans have natural paths in them.
    • Science discovered: 1854
    • Bible Mentions: Psalm 8:8
  • Oceans contain fresh water springs.
    • Science discovered: 1920
    • Bible Mentions: Job 38:16
  • Dust is important to survival.
    • Science discovered: 1935
    • Bible Mentions: Isaiah 40:12
  • Air has weight.
    • Science discovered: 16th Century
    • Bible Mentions: Job 28:25
  • Light can be split into component colors.
    • Science discovered: 1650
    • Bible Mentions: Job 38:24
  • Water cycle.
    • Science discovered: 17th Century
    • Bible Mentions: Eccl 1:7
  • Lightning and Thunder are related.
    • Science discovered: 19th Century
    • Bible Mentions: Job 38:25
These are just a few.
What a testament to the fact that the Bible is the Word of God (The Creator)!!

((Speaking of my class - That reminds me - Don't forget to vote on my poll to the right!! And please email me if you would like to talk about any of these questions!))

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Celebrating Justus

I mentioned earlier that a few of my wonderful friends had a baby shower for me to celebrate Justus. It was so beautiful and so much fun. I am so thankful they did it. Our sweet boy will now be clothed!! YAYAYAYAY!!

Here are the beautiful hostesses. It is a little blurry but I had to put the picture in. And I have no idea why they put the big pregnant lady in the front so you can't see them all. Anyway, Elizabeth, Julie, and Shana really know how to make a girl feel special.

This is what I see when I walk up. Didn't Julie do a wonderful job with the wreath? It is SO SO cute.

This was hanging from the fireplace. I can't get over it. The look and the words were so wonderful.

Elizabeth did her first baby shower cake just for me. Not only did it look great but it also tasted wonderful. Didn't she do a great job?


And check out the paci mints that Shana made. How cute? I have never seen anything like it. They were wonderful!!

I gave my camera to my friend Rebecca and told her to get to snapping for me! She did. And of course, she snapped us opening presents first and I also don't have one picture of her!!
I was so excited that Sara Jo got to come. And she was able to hang out with Elizabeth and I as I opened presents. It was great!

Jaynie and Laura

Dorea and Julie

Ashley, Mrs. Carol, and Julie
(Mrs Carol is the one that teaches us new moms about Growing Kids God's Way and is so wonderful at it - She has really been a blessing in our lives. And shares a laugh often as you can see!)

Mrs Cooley, Mrs Poston, and Mrs Sweeney

Aren't they all so beautiful. There are a ton more pictures but I didn't think I would put all of them up showing all our mouths open talking. You get this group of girls together (there were at least 35 of us there) and there is NOT a quiet moment.

Thank You to everyone for thinking of my family during this time.
You all are such a blessing to me and Chris.
We Love you so much.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Poll to the Right

Check out the poll to the right.

Chris and I are taking a class at the church building on Monday nights. Each week we have a "survey" we are suppose to ask people. I have done that here at work and with some others but I thought it would be fun to take a poll here on my blog.

If it matters to you, remember the poll is anonymous. I would love to know what everyone thinks.

If you would like to share "why" with us, please feel free to leave a comment on this post about why you chose the question you did, as the most interesting.

If you are interested in talking more about all of these questions, I would love to hear from you. Just email me here and I will be sure to get back with you.

THIS IS FOR EVERYONE!!
(even if you are a blog stalker like me and read my blog but don't know me!!)

A new poll will be up next Wednesday (there are 3)!!

:-)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A Room For Justus

When we set up the nursery for Hannah we set it up in such a way that it could easily be converted into a boy room, if needed. To see the room before go to this post and check it out. Let me give you a tour of the "new" room. The Room For Justus!

We took down the Cinderella picture and the truck picture now hangs in it's place. We also switched the curtains so that the blue is in the middle and the pink is separated. And another truck picture is above the bed. We also flipped the bumper from the side with the animals facing out to the side with the blue gingham facing out.

We took down the picture of Simba and Nala loving on each other and put up the Toy Story picture from another wall in the room in it's place. We got a glider with blue for the corner and despite the way it looks in this picture - the ribbon around the horse is now blue.

Over the head of the bed is where the Toy Story picture was and now we have another truck picture. The Truck pictures came from our friends The Fergusons and they are SO cute (actually the glider came from them too - Thank You Brian and Kelli!!).

Nothing really new here. However you can see the new truck picture a little better.

Here is a better picture of the crib and another new truck picture. This is also the picture showing the secret pink in the room. Look under the crib. This is the same container we used for Hannah's clothes that she needs to grow into because it fits so perfectly under there. I don't have another one so we are just going to have to ignore the pink bin under the bed!!

With this being all set up and the beautiful shower some friends gave me this past Sunday (pictures and post will come soon), I am actually starting to feel like we are really going to be ready for Mr. Justus.

At least in material things we are. 2 children in 1 house and they are BOTH our responsibility -- that is a whole other thing.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Sunday Pictures






Thank You to our wonderful friend from the congregation where we worship (Ms. Tammy) for the beautiful dress.

Exciting Day

**
YES!! I finally got a purple 3 column blog and yes, you will be seeing this for a while. I am not interested in changing it myself again any time soon. I did learn a little about html which was kinda neat. But I still have not gotten my list of websites up yet. That will be coming soon.

My sidebar was starting to look a little junkie and no matter how I arranged it I couldn't get it to look organized to me. With 3 columns I can put picture stuff on one side and other stuff on the other. I am very excited.

**
Someone told me that blogger will now allow you to add Adsense to your sidebar as a gadget and if anyone is on your blog and clicks on the ad you will get money. They said you could also set it to not put ads on your blog that you did not want ... SO nothing unfamily-friendly. Has anyone heard about this or done it? What do you think?

**
No, I have not quit the Monday Menu Planning but I have not taken the time to get it all down on the blog the last couple of weeks. I may try to put this weeks' on tomorrow but no matter what - I promise to get it together for next week and be sure to put it on!! I am really proud of us. I think we have done really well with it!

**
Another exciting thing about today. ONE MONTH from today until our scheduled CSection. So, at the very longest, we are a family of 3 for only one more month. CRAZY to think the time is already so close. I feel like I have so much to do!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Blog Drama

I was so digusted last night that I didn't blog what I wanted to AND I didn't blog my frustration. I just turned off the computer and went to bed!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! And now, today, looking at my blog..... Frustration!

SO, I decided Wednesday night that I wanted a blog with 3 columns and I wanted a little purple color in it. Doesn't seem like too much to ask. Why I decided that 9.45 at night was the time to start this - I have no idea.

Here is the story...
(Just bare with me for a moment and let me whine!)

I saw this lady's blog from Patrice's blog and I liked her layout. I went to the site (The Cutest Blog on the Block) and it specifically said that I would not loose any of my sidebar information when changing backgrounds. GREAT! That is what I wanted to use.

SO, I looked at the 3 column designs and chose one. (Before I did anything I copy and pasted my old HTML into a word document - Just in case!) I did the instructions. I got the new template and I didn't loose any information. Yipppeeeeeeee! However, it was not a 3 column set up like I wanted. Booooooo!!!

SO, I put my blog back to the way it was. Again, no information has been lost at this point.

Next, I went to the same place I went to for my Recipe Blog. Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates. I found a 3 column template that I liked, read the instructions, made sure I still had the back up of my old html. Changed it. It was 3 columns!! Yippppeeeeeeeeeeeee!! I lost some of my information. Booooooooo!! Why just some? I have no idea. Why did it choose to keep a couple and not others? I have no idea. Well, I decided that it was getting late so I would put the blog back to the way it was and then, when I have time, change it and just take the time to add the stuff back that I wanted or try to figure out how not to lose it. I used my old html and guess what.... My information didn't come back. It was all still lost. Booooooo!

All day yesterday at work I was so upset and I decided that that night I was going to clean up supper, play with Hannah, put her to bed, clean up the bonus room and play room, and then spend the rest of the night until I went to bed fixing my blog. That was the main goal for last night.

Well, I tryed the first site again. Still not 3 columns (that is what it is now) and all my information was still gone.

I figured, if I am going to have to redo all my stuff I may as well do it on the template I want. SO I went back to the second site. Found the one I really wanted - tried to put it on and it wouldn't work at all.

I am determined to take care of this sometime this weekend.
This is probably the reason I should have just stuck with working with my friend Len in getting it done instead of trying to do it myself!!

Whew! Getting all that out feels better! (deep breath!)

Please Note: I am not at all complaining about these particular websites or giving any of these websites a "bad review" or anything. I completely know that the problem here is the user! I do realize that!
By The Way: Elizabeth, could I borrow Keith if I can't fix this myself? He did such a good job on your blog.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

New Book


The Unexpected Gift by Irene Hannon was a great book. It was a little different from the first two which made it a little more interesting. It also gave a great ending to the whole series bringing in a little more final info on the sisters from the first two books. I liked that part a lot.

The Sisterhood Series by Fern Michaels has a new book out and so that will be my next book. It is Fast Track. I am so excited to hear more about the Sisterhood. I am even more excited because when I was looking up the book on Amazon so that I could link it to my picture on my sidebar I saw that the next one in this series is called Collateral Damage and comes out on 9/30/08!! Another great Maternity Leave Read!! Yipppeeeeeeee!!

As usual, I will tell you how it goes.

Cardboard Testimonies

I saw this video a while ago on Melissa Lee's blog and it touched me.

Today someone emailed it to me. Altogether, I have cried during this video 4 times so far! I decided today - I wanted to share it.

I know it is 8 minutes long. It is worth taking the time to watch it. Promise.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

More Sunday Pictures

We had a wonderful weekend with our family. It was my family's Family Gathering. Unfortunately, we "lost" our camera on Saturday (it ended up being in a bag that we did look in) so all the pictures we have from the weekend are Sunday pictures. Since that was all we got. I had to share lots of them..... Enjoy!


Daddy Helping Hannah Put Her Shoes On.


Grandpop And Hannah Sharing Their Morning Drink Time Together.
One Prefers Milk. One Prefers Coffee.


Hannah Really Thought This Was Lots Of Fun.
Grandpop is Always Lots Of Fun.


Hannah is Being Sure That Grandpop Drinks His Morning Drink Properly!


Hannah Then Insists Grandpop Try Some of Her Morning Drink. He Just Doesn't Know What He is Missing By Drinking that Coffee Instead of Milk!


Hannah Decides It Is Time To Give The Girls a Little Lovin'.
Aunt Wendy and Mollie Seem Just Fine With That.


Hannah Sharing Her Lollipop (that she would not stop asking for) With Grandpop. They Have a Great Time with This. I Think Grandpop May Have Ended Up a Little Sticky After a Few Minutes of This Game.


AW and Mollie.


Aunt Teresa and Uncle Perry.


Aren't They a Beautiful Mother Daughter Pair.
Grandmom and Aunt Wendy.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Sunday Picture

I have not had a moment to get my pictures off of my camera and onto my computer yet from our time out of town this weekend but my Aunt Wendy got this picture with her camera phone at the church building on Sunday after worship. She taught Hannah what to do when she sees those vents in the floor.



I thought this Sunday Picture deserved a post of it's very own...... More to come......

Friday, August 15, 2008

I

As you can probably tell, since I have not posted a lot this week, I have been crazy busy. We went out of town this weekend to gather with my family. We had lots and lots of fun but that made for a long and tiring week trying to get ready for it.

I thought I would come back and try to do this "tag" from Melissa Lee. We will see how it goes. I am going to really try my best not to reference sleep in every single one of these, but to be honest, sleep seems to be the only thing on my mind right now.

I AM ....
a Christian and sometimes I worry that when people see me that is not the first thing they know/notice about me.

I WANT...
a clean and organized house, at all times.

I WISH I COULD ...
not be so lazy so that my house could be clean and organized at all times.

I HATE ....
Satan. I also hate the word hate. WOW, it is so powerful and final.

I FEAR ....
taking the Lord lightly.

I HEAR ....
my bed calling my name right this very moment. Seriously.

I SEARCH ...
for every opportunity that I can find to take a nap.

I DON'T THINK ....
I would be a very good stay-at-home mom, even though I don't want to work 40 hours a week either.

I REGRET ...
times when things have gone wrong in a relationship and I didn't make the effort to make it right. (Even if I was not in the wrong) I decided, for some reason, it was easier to let things go.

I LOVE ...
Chris with all my heart and everything that I am.

I ACHE FOR ...
the moment that I get to meet Justus.

I ALWAYS CRY ...
(That, for me, is actually the sentence. No need for me to add anything.) :-)

I AM NOT ...
worthy of Heaven but I am thankful for God's grace and mercy.

I DANCE ...
with Hannah regularly, in the privacy of our own home when our family is all alone.

I SING ...
with my heart because the actual notes are so very off. The words I sing to God, however ARE from my heart. That is all that matters - right? right? I hope!

I NEVER ...
have been a fan of tomatoes.

I RARELY ....
use the words conservative and liberal because of confusion as to what those words mean.

I CRY WHEN I WATCH ...
Holiday Hallmark commercials. Don't Laugh! I know you do too!!

I AM NOT ALWAYS ...
on time, even though, I do everything I can to be.

I HATE THAT ....
I don't ever want to watch the news because it will just make me paranoid. It is all so awful.

I'M CONFUSED ABOUT ...
politics.

I NEED ...
Christ. Every Day!

I SHOULD ...
go to bed right now!

OK, if you have a blog and you are reading this... Go for it. I think you should try this out. It is fun!!

Monday, August 11, 2008

Menu Plan Monday


This week we were at $90 again. This is OK but I am really wanting to cut this down. Coupons are not helping that much and I check all advertised sales before I go out to see if someone else has something I need on sale. This price (again) does include some diapers so I suppose the grocery bill for food really was only about $80. We are, however, doing really well with sticking to the list once we get to the store. I am happy about that. (Especially with me because I get hungry looking at all that food!!)

Here is the menu plan for this week. We are trying 3 new recipes this week. I didn't necessarily mean for that to happen but we will just call it an adventurous week.

Monday - Pound, Pound, and a Bottle
Tuesday - Sweet and Spicy Chicken Stir Fry
Wednesday - 4 can Black Bean Chili
Thursday - Tuna Casserole
Friday - Going to Grandmom and Grandpop's House (will eat on the way)
Saturday - Eat at Grandmom and Grandpop's House
Sunday - Left Overs

For more great plans and recipes visit orgjunkie.com!!

Popcorn Poppers

Ben has recently put a couple of posts up on his blog about how times have changed and some of the things that our children may never know about.

For example:
Will our children ever use a phone booth?
Or will our children ever know what a busy signal sounds like?

Well my question is will my children ever know Jiffy Pop or use a Popcorn Popper and buy a big bag of popcorn kernels in a bag at the grocery store?



Did anyone else have these?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Our Sunday Pictures



Whew! This was a little bit of a crazy Sunday morning. Hannah, apparently, either has a cold or some major allergies. I think it is allergies. Claritin has helped her out today and there has been no fever.

Anyway, that meant that when she woke up this morning her hair was full of dried snot!! Very Exciting. So, an unexpected bath put us a little behind.

These Sunday Pictures feature wet hair and a wet upper lip. Enjoy!

Friday, August 8, 2008

Recipe Swap


Gayle at Grocery Cart Challenge is having a recipe swap today. I am going to share a recipe Chris and I just tried for the first time this week. We really liked it. I think Chris really really liked it. I ate a lot of it and commented more than once about how good it is. I got it from KraftFoods.com.

Creamy Pasta Primavera

Ingredients
3 cups penne pasta
2 Tbsp Italian Dressing
1 1/2 Boneless Skinless Chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
2 Zucchini cut into chunks
1 Red Pepper chopped
1 1/2 cups cut up fresh asparagus
1 cup Chicken Broth
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta as directed on package

Meanwhile heat dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Add chicken and veggies; cook 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked thru, stirring frequently. Add broth and cream cheese; cook 1 minute or until cheese is melted, stirring constantly. Add Parmesan cheese; mix well.

Drain pasta; return to pot. Add chicken veggie mixture; toss lightly. Cook 1 minute or until heated thru. (Sauce will thicken upon standing.)

Check out more recipes from others at the swap on Gayle's blog.
Check out more of my family's favorite recipes at Our Family's Recipe Blog.

New Book


Little Earthquakes was a great book. I really do recommend reading Jennifer Weiner books. They are not from a Christian perspective and have a small bit of language in them but Jennifer Weiner is a great writer. And if you like reading about women - this is the author for you!

However, IF I am ever pregnant again (I AM NOT SAYING I WILL BE!) remind me that it is NOT fun to read a book about pregnant women having babies when I am actually pregnant myself. I did this when I was pregnant with Hannah. I read At First Sight by Nicholas Sparks and then I did it again with Justus by reading Little Earthquakes. I very much liked both books but I wish I had read them when I wasn't pregnant.

My next book is the last in the series from my Grandmom. I am reading The Unexpected Gift by Irene Hannon. A Love Inspired book. Again, I really like these. They are pretty relaxing but still have a little something that makes you want more and more. ((I will see my Grandmom in a week so I may try to speed read thru this one this week so that I can give it back to her!))

As always, I will keep you posted.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

31 Weeks Pregnant


Not too much longer to go.
Justus and I are both Growing Growing Growing!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Monday Menu Plan


This week was good. Our grocery bill was down to $80!! I was so excited.

We did however spend another $50 on things we did not need now but will. There was a special on diapers and Cheerios. So we bought 3 packages of diapers and 4 boxes of General Mills (mainly Cheerios) cereal. I was kinda upset at our final bill but when I started looking at the whole thing I realized we really saved money in the end. I just have to be sure I am careful when I do this and I have to be sure we don't just spend on things because they are on sale. Diapers and Cheerios, though, will get used in our home and we will have to buy them some time, no matter what.

(( At Publix, I spent $33 and saved $21 with specials and coupons!! ))

Monday
Breakfast - Eggs, Bacon, Toast
(We ended up having left overs one night instead of this last week.)

Tuesday
Tacos
Chips and Salsa

Wednesday
Zesty Chicken and Rice Skillet

Thursday
Beef Stroganoff (Just hamburger helper from the box.)
Green Beans

Friday
Creamy Pasta Primavera (New Recipe for us)

Saturday
Sweet& Spicy Chicken Stir Fry

To see other's menu plan check out organizational junkie!!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Our Sunday Pictures




This is a beautiful dress that Hannah got for her birthday! I just love it and of course, I am jealous that she can wear yellow so well.

Chris did a great job of trying to get a family picture this morning but for some reason the picture quality didn't do so well.....

Happy Sunday to everyone!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Please Explain




Is it really worth buying a red pepper for $1.50 when you could buy a green one for $0.77?

We Have A Date

Yipppeeeee!!

As most of you know, Hannah was born via C-Section. This means we are planning on having a C-Section with Justus also.

Justus' C-Section is scheduled for Thursday September 25, 2008 at 7.30 am! SO, if he doesn't decide to come on his own a little early this will be his birthday. FUN!!

I changed the ticker at the top of the blog to count down to this date instead of my actual due date of October 1st so that I would know how long until we get to meet him!! I can't believe it is less than two months! WOW!!