Prayers Needed

I just ran across a blog of someone I don't know.

What I do know is that they are suffering great loss in their life.

I have lifted up prayers for them and I wanted to request that you do too.

I put on my side bar something they she had on hers.
It encouraged me. Imagine that, they are the ones needing prayers and she encouraged me.

I just wanted to share.

New Book

The Best Gift was very good. I really liked it and I would definitely recommend it. Thank you, Grandmom for letting me borrow it. There are 3 in the series but it is not a continuation of the same story really. There are 3 sisters and each book is about one of the sisters. SO, I decided to read something different in between them.

I am reading The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. My friend Kelli told me it was a good summer read and that it was funny. I have read two chapters so far and she is right. It is very funny. I think I am going to like it. I have never read any of her books before but I think she is best known for her Shopaholic series. Has anyone ever read any of those? If so, did you like them? If I like this one then I may try to get some of those and see what I think. (Not that I don't have enough books waiting for me to read. AND I can only read one book at a time. I don't know how some of you people do it.) I like finding new authors that I like. Hopefully this is a new one.

Like Normal: I will let you know how it goes.

Justus

We had another Doctor's Appointment yesterday. Since they did not get to see Justus' heart from the angle they wanted, we got another ultra sound. They were able to see everything they wanted to see and all was wonderful!! Yipppeeeee!!

Here are some of the pictures we got.

They didn't scan as clear as I hoped they would but I think you can still get the jist of it.

The first two are the 4D picutres of the front of his face. These pictures just struck Chris and I so much. I can't believe how clear they are. Hannah's 4D pictures were not this clear. The doctor said that the more fluid the baby has around them the better for the pictures so maybe Hannah didn't have as much fluid.

The third one is of the bottom of his foot. I thought this was cute for them to try to get for us.

The fourth one is of Justus' profile. Now, Hannah's profile picture was much clearer than this... SO, I guess it just depends on the baby as to how and when they want to be photogenic.

Keep me and Justus in your prayers as we go thru this last 16 weeks of pregnancy. (Maybe a 24 weeks pregnant picutre of Mommy will be up soon - who knows?)

Go Lauren! Go Lauren!

Our family is so excited.

Chris' cousin, Lauren, has qualified for the US Women's Open!

Congratulations Lauren!

We know you have worked so hard and we are so proud of you!!

Go here to read her story!!

Our Sunday Pictures

Hannah has become such a ham with her Sunday Pictures.
It cracks me up!!

At Mom's Request

Here are a couple of things that I did with the 2 year olds for VBS. Our theme was the Olympics. The first nights theme was Wrestling. The story we focused on was Jacob wrestling with the angel all night before the angel blessed him and gave Jacob his new name, Israel. Well, again, Chris and I had 2 year olds for an hour and had to do something to talk about this. I thought that we would focus on the angel because they all probably had heard of an angel before some how. This is where I used the Making Friends website. I printed the information on the paper before class and had people, wings, hair, clothes, and a belt cut out for everyone. I printed the people from different neutral colored paper and let the kids choose what they wanted. I put the outlines of everything into the Paint program and had different colored wings (some light yellow, some bright yellow, some yellow orange), different colored hair, and different colored belts for the kids to choose from. I made all their clothes white just because that seems like the right thing to do. Anyway, I think the kids were excited about getting to choose the stuff and then we put sticky squares (like you use in scrapbooks) on the back and helped show them where to put it on the page. I think they had a really fun time with this and it was a neat and different thing for them to take home. I really love doing stuff where each child's finished product looks different. Here is a picture of mine.

The second night was about archery. The story they focused on was the story of David and Jonathan where Jonathan warned David and David ran away. I actually thought this one would be easy but it wasn't. I decided to focus on the friendship with the 2 year olds. They are hearing a lot about being good friends these days and so I thought they may understand it. SO, I just read a story about David and Jonathan and a book about being friends and then let them color a coloring page. Nothing really different or significant.

The third night was about weight lifting. The story we focused on was Samson. I thought the part of the story I would focus on is what it is like to be strong. I went to the dollar store and bought a bag full of different colored little pompom cotton ball things. Then I bought a couple of bags of big rocks. (SO, I spent $3). I put the pompoms in a container and the kids passed it around and held it high over their heads and we talked about how light that was. Then I put the rocks in it and passed it around and they could not lift it very well. We talked about how heavy the rocks are and that you have to be strong to lift it. We talked about how strong Samson was. As a project to take home to remember this I got some really heavy duty paper and put some stiff foam on it and they each got to stick a pompom and a rock on their paper. They really liked this, I think but it all ended up falling apart. I used the same sticky squares but that didn't work well on the foam. By the time it was time to give it to their parents everything was falling apart and I just ended up throwing them all away instead of trying to give them out. Luckily they did a coloring page too so they did have something to take home. I think this would have worked if I had made sure I had something that stuck well. Mine, that I did at home and did not mess with, turned out great. Oh well, at least I tried. Here is a picture of it.

If there is anyone else out there teaching any classes then I would love to hear about the things you do in your classes. It is fun to get other's ideas.

Ephesians 3:17-19

(New International Version)

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saits, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Shoes. Shoes. Shoes.

Hannah is no doubt a girl. A shoe girl at that. I was a little worried at first about her not liking shoes since I am not sure we put any on her for almost the first year of her life. I will never forget in the middle of October (she was 4 months old) our Day Care teacher asked if Hannah had any socks.

Anyway, she is definitely in to shoes. She checks regularly to see if Mommy and Daddy have any shoes on. If she sees a pair of shoes around the house, she puts them on no matter whose they are. She knows the difference between her boots, her crocks, her sandals, and her tennis shoes.

These are just a few pictures I have taken in the last couple of weeks of her in some different shoes.

The first one is of Hannah in her rain boots that Papa Joe got her. She thinks these are great because they are a little big and they have the handles on the side so she can put them on all by herself. Too bad she can't walk in them.

The second one is of Hannah's New Balance. Everyone knows I am a huge Adidas fan, however, I would have to say my second favorite brand in shoe is New Balance. These were on a very good sale and they are PURPLE so Chris and I just couldn't resist.

The third and fourth ones are of Hannah in her first pair of flip flops. I have this issue with putting things between my toes but there are SO many cute shoes with things you have to put between your toes. I saw these shoes in the Dollar Spot at Target and thought I would get her some and see if she likes them. If I start her at an early age, maybe she won't be like me. She likes them but she sort of scoots instead of actually walking. It is funny. They are a little too big for her too so maybe she will grow into them and be able to wear them out like regular shoes one day.

Making Friends

So in all this hustle and bustle if VBS week I have been exploring the Internet for some fun sites to help me with teaching 2 year olds and making pretty bulletin boards for the nursery. I found this really great site that has helped me lots and lots.

I felt the NEED to share.

The Making Friends website is great.

One of the stories we talked about was the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel all night long, then Jacob tells the angel to bless him (a little bold of a request after wrestling - don't ya think?) and then of course it ends with the angel changing his name to Israel and all is good. I had to remind myself of this story before I could even think of teaching it. Anyway, I was trying to decide what 2 year olds could really understand from this story and so I thought I would try to focus on the angel since they had all heard about angels and the changing of the name since they all knew their own name. I used the Making Friends website to print some FREE "paper dolls" and then angel "accesories" to put on the angels. Some had red hair, some had brown hair, some had black hair, some had blond hair. It was really neat.

There is a song that they sing in the class that meets in the nursery that says "Whatever I will be When I Grow Up, I Will Be a Christian First....." and I think I am going to put the words on one of the bulletin boards and make some career friends to put with it.

And then to illustrate the song "Jesus Loves The Little Children. All the Children Of the World" I am going to use some multi cultural friends. This may be my new go-to website for help with Sunday School.

Did I mention that I can print all this stuff for FREE?

Vacation Bible School

VBS is fun and exciting and exhausting.

Of course for me some of the fun is the summer outfits that I get to put Hannah in. This first one is one that I have been saving for VBS. Nannah, correct me if I am wrong about this but this outfit was something like $12. It was at a department store and I compared the 2T size to the 24 month size and I think I found a 1/2 inch difference. The 2T was $24.99 and the 24 months was $14.99 and then we had a coupon or discount or something. That seemed like a crazy price difference to me for 1/2 inch. When I picked it out, I specifically said that I wanted for her to wear it to VBS. I thought it was SO adorable. (This was last night.)


Maw Maw, you can correct me if I am wrong on this outfit. I feel like we found this dress last summer at Target and I loved it so much that I had to get it for her. I think 2T was the smallest it came in so I got it for her to wear this year. I was so excited it was time for her to wear it. And then when we got downstairs we realized that Daddy and Hannah matched. We were in a REAL RUSH after work to make it on time since we had to be there early and so we got one very quick picture of the matching two before heading out the door. (This was tonight.)

Tomorrow night the snack afterwards is ice cream so I think we will be going with a T-shirt and jeans tomorrow. We will see....

For those of you that blow these pictures up and look at them. Here is the story. Yes, in the picture from today you see a bite mark on her arm. Yesterday a little boy in her class bit her (I think that mark is on the other arm). Hannah has been bit several times in her year and a half or so of being at day care. Well, today, she decided to get him back and she bit him to which he answered her and bit her again (that is the mark on the arm that you see).

I know there is a point where she should defend herself and when we started getting on to her when we found out, the teacher, I could tell, kinda felt bad for her. She has NEVER retaliated before. I just don't want her to end up being the dreaded child. When Chris and I talked to her about it, she started crying just from our scolding so I think she knows very well that she did wrong. Hopefully she won't make a habit of being the one who does the biting.