Prayer Need

UPDATE: Thank you for you thoughts and prayers in these times for my Mom. After a much longer wait than expected, we got the news that the test was clear. NO CANCER! Praise be to God. What a huge weight that was lifted.

My dear mother, who is near and dear to me has had a lot of health dealings the last several years. After many years of dealing with fibroid tumors in her uterus, her Dr. has decided they need to go. She is scheduled for a full hysterectomy this summer. As the weeks pass by she has noticed more problems arising and her Dr. decided to test her for uterine cancer. We are all staying positive about it and patiently (as we can) waiting for the results of the biopsy. I request prayers for:

-her, that the test would come back clear (Lord willing) and she we stay on schedule for her previous plans for surgery.
-that the Lord would continue to help her as she has recently quit smoking and it would help to improve her health
-for the family that we could be an encouragement and help to her in her time of need.
-that the Lord would give us all peace in His will

Thank you!

Thanks Rochelle!

I have been wanting to have a spiffy template for my blog for some time now and thanks to Rochelle who pointed out where I could get a FREE one, I now am the proud owner of one :)

Oh Warm Weather, You Are A Wonderful Welcome!

This past weekend was gorgeous here in East TN and we enjoyed soaking in each minute of it. Saturday we grabbed some food and had ourselves a picnic at our favorite park. We played on all the playground equipment, the sandbox, and on the soccer field. We discovered that Thomas has a love for bugs as he took to a caterpillar he found. The caterpillar didn't even mind Thomas' oreo face. The boys didn't take to well to kicking the soccer ball around. They were very frustrated that it took them more than one kick to get the ball in the net while Mommy and Daddy gave one big kick. We tried encouraging them to keep trying, but they gave up almost from the start. I did manage to get some shots of the boys even through their frustration, as moms do best. I hope that they can learn to persevere through struggles and be content with their abilities or hardships. For now I want them to enjoy just being kids and enjoying these sweet times. I managed to leave sun burnt (is this really the month of April?), but it wasn't too bad and finally my white legs look less ghostly. What is one thing I learned? Ryan doesn't like it when I kick he ball and it hits him in the face/neck, oops!











Thomas cheers on "Team Joseph & Thomas", he yells!

I am loving this weather. It is so nice to be able to open the windows and it seems to make the house seem so much bigger, brighter and sweeter smelling. I have been struggling with lack of energy lately though. I wake up exhausted and ready for a nap despite the fact that we are going to be a lot earlier and I've been trying to be more active. I don't know what it is, but I am ready for it to go. Anyone else deal with this same thing?

Hittin' Pins

My oldest nephew, Ethan, turned the big 10 over the weekend and we joined the festivities at Family Bowl in Knoxville. I did learn several things through the fun.

1. ALWAYS bring a pair of socks for everyone when going to the bowling alley. We were wearing sandals and I had brought socks for the boys, but not myself, ewww!

2. Wii bowling is a poor representation of my skills. Wii bowling I am nearly a pro, real bowling I stink and hate to say it, but I love the gutter guards :)

3. My boys who act crazy at home and dance 24/7 (it seems) will not dance in public and instead stand there starring at the other children acting crazy.

4. You should always take one parent per child. I fore-went this rule and paid the stressful price and caught Joseph dancing all the way down in front of everyones lanes and Thomas was awefully interested in the bowling balls in the return caddy.

5. Kids will play for hours with glow sticks, so there is no need to spend the money on them to bowl.

6. Never pick your own bowling ball and always steal someone elses.

7. Don't expect to get good pictures in a dark bowling alley with strobe lights and disco balls.

8. I stink at real bowling, did I say that already? If so, I need to make that clear.

9. People (like my brother and sister-in-law) who hold babies while bowling should be considered cheaters, because the baby acts as a counterweight and they do much better.

10. Cut your nails very short before you bowl to prevent your nail from being ripped off your finger, believe me, trim those nails!

11. Help your children, under five, roll the ball hard enough to avoid the ball getting stuck nearly half a dozen times.

Here's the picture of our fun at the bowling alley. I really did have a great time and love doing these new things with the boys.

What I Hear From the Top Bunk

Joseph: "Here lay down and put this over your belly."
Thomas: "okay"
Joseph: "Ok, now we'll just pull the blanket down, like this...and...here's your baby!"


Oh my goodness, I think these boys have learned quite a bit about having babies from observing the cat. We may have an OBGYN in the making :)

Spring Brings New Life

Lady is now a tired mama of 5 kitties. She had them a couple of weeks ago ranging in every color in the gray spectrum. In about four weeks they will be up for grabs to a good home(s). Joseph takes after me, Daddy says, as he is often found sitting and watching them nurse and petting them every now and then. Unlike Daddy, Joseph watched nearly the whole birth process and was very interested with the whole thing. Who says you can't teach biology at home or to four-year-old's for that matter. Thankfully he hasn't wondered how those kitties got in the cats belly :) Here's their day beau:







As always, we will probably keep one of these cuties and this one is so far our pick. Joseph wants to name him, "Joseph", lol.

Celebrating My Husband Being Another Year Older

Ryan turns 32 on the 15th and with his CRAZY schedule starting his newjob (yay!)along with school, we thought best to have the festivities over the weekend. I try to make something special on birthday's and let the birthday person choose their cake (even though I realllllly wanted to make a cheesecake, yum). Ryan choose a meatloaf and I decided to make my first ever twice baked potatoes...more yum and FRESH green beans. It was a delicious meal. I really like the recipe I have for rice and cheese stuffed meatloaf. I don't know why everyone makes so much fun of meatloaf, it is so yummy. He choose a chocolate cake with white icing, not bad when betty crocker lends a hand. We also enjoyed the opening of presents, presents and more presents (which were shorts, pajama pants, burts bees shaving stuff, mouse pads (one of which looks like a mini projector screen--its for a laptop and retracts for portability) and a lantern. Boy was it a fun day.

Another of Gina's Great Giveaways!

A fellow blogger friend is havinga giveaway for DVD from The History Channel. If you are interested in these great DVDs go on over and check it out

The past two months we have had the opportunity to travel down to GA to visit Ryan's side of the family. It seems in these times (after being in the family for more than 5 years) that Ryan's brother's wife, Teresa, and I have grown closer. There is a uniqueness in being wives of brothers that has brought us together. As many people may know, marriage is difficult and add to that, that Ryan is from a divorced family...well that has been more difficult than I ever imagined. I never expected the many trials that come divorce and even more shocked how they follow through into adulthood and NEVER go away. Anywho, back to Teresa, well she is one of the more God-centered women I know. She never judged me for my difficulties with breastfeeding as many other women have. She never judged me for wearing makeup when other women do. She never judged me for my lack of knowledge of the scriptures. She never judged me for for being me. She has always been accepting of me and even more so understanding. It was such a sweet time sharing together (even tears at times) during this last trip down there. I love the fact that we can be honest with one another and not fear offending one another. I love the fact that she doesn't hold things against me, cause I know there has been plenty she could :) And what makes it all so great...she is 16 years older than me...which means she's been there done that. She's learned from many more experiences than I have and can share with me her life lessons. We also came to the realization that our husbands (being brothers 11 years apart) are alike in many ways and some of their traits have been a result of the divorce. You see, Ryan was 5 when his parents divorced and John would have been 16. Because of the age differences during the divorce, Ryan and his brother were sort of separated as his brother went to live with their Dad for a short while. Although separated they both have similarities in how they were affected--this was Teresa and I's realization this past visit as I shared my heart and she shared her past. I am so thankful to have someone I can talk to about my struggles without it turning to gossip or disrespecting our husbands. What a blessing she has been to me.

Great Giveaway Over at Gina's Blog

A blog friend is giving away the Exergen Temperal Thermometer. Go check it out!

The Good and the Bad News

First of all, the good news is....drum roll, please....Ryan got a job! He interviewed, assessed, assessed some more and had his final interview today that came with a job offer, yay! Now for the bad news. He will be taking a significant pay decrease and the insurance is twice as much as we did have (like more than $5 less an hour). I know, I know...we are to be thankful for the position and opportunity to work, but we do have to think hard and long about several things. 1) Will the schedule work with his schooling?, 2)Can we afford the insurance and still pay our bills?, 3)Can we afford the decrease in pay from his last job. Let me remind everyone that until the end of May his old company is paying for his insurance in full and we are getting unemployment, so it's not like we are comparing no income to having income. It is somewhat like a gamble. Do we take the job and make it work or take a gamble and continue to look for work as we take in unemployment and free insurance? Well Ryan is on his way home and I am sure we will be talking long and hard about it. Along with praying :) We were hoping for something a little more clear cut as to whether it would be a fit, but no such case. The job is at BRINKS home security working in their customer call center. Also no more having saturdays off :( He will be working tues-sat. I will miss the saturdays off as that is usually when we have family parties/get togethers/events and such. So sorry the news wasn't a grand slam of happiness, but with our economy right now, that's about as good as it gets out there.

Praying for my niece

Many of you may know much of this, but thought I'd pass on the ongoings here. Cheyney went in Monday for a tonsillectomy at the Children's Surgery center. The surgery went well and she was home around 12-1pm that day. However, she had difficulty keeping food/drinks/medicine down the past couple of days and with that she has gotten dehydrated, lethargic, in much pain, and low blood counts. She was admitted today to stay overnight for observation in hopes they can get IV fluids and solids in her. I just spoke to Tiffany(my sister), who says Cheyney hasn't improved much and is still in much pain. We are praying that she will get over this hurdle quickly and make it back home to recover and get back to playing.

The Fruit of Homeschooling

Here is a great article that I stumbled on through a friend. At times I wonder and admittably get anxious when I think to the future with our homeschooling. It is easy to let in the world's views and get discouraged. This article was written by a homeschool young lady who is now 20 and graduated from "homeschooling", but admits she is never done learning. This is the hope I have for our boys.

Introducing Chef Thomas!

I have learned that when I am making a meal and the boys are acting wild and even fighting that it helps to call them in to help me in the kitchen. However, it usually creates more fighting as they fight over who does what with Mommy and so on. I finally had a peaceful wonderful time that I have been hoping for just cooking with my children. How did I pull it off? I invited one to help and if the other wanted to be in there, they could only watch. And hopefully we can take turns with it. Thomas was my cook tonight as we were making Loaded Potato Soup...mmm...just seeing the words makes my mouth water. It was so cute to see him stir that big 'ol pot as I added the ingredients. Every time I added something he said, "oh, thanks Mommy!" and stirred some more. He hung on till the end and really enjoyed seeing it come together and loved smelling it. Almost every meal Ryan thanks me for the meal and the boys follow. Well for the first time both me AND Thomas were thanked for the meal, and he thought that was pretty neat! I can't wait for our next cooking class :)


CHEF THOMAS


"Mmmm, smells good Mommy!"

I Was Suckered...

Well not really! We have the greatest dentist in the world, at least we like him! Even though, nearly every time I have a cleaning, I find out I need yet another filling. Well this last cleaning I found out that a tooth that I "killed" when I was 8 is in need of a root canal before it gets bad. I also found out that I need yet another filling. So we went ahead and scheduled the filling first. As I went in today to get the filling Dr. Lambert got word of Ryan's layoff and the fact that we have insurance just until the end of May. With that knowledge he decided we better go ahead and do the root canal as he has to do it in steps over a period of several weeks :( I was less than thrilled, but agreed to let the torture begin. As he prepared to stab me with the longest needle in the world I asked about nitrous and if I would be allowed any. He was so kind to give me some, but I began feeling light headed and decided to fore go it. So on with the torture. After the never ending stabbing into my gums he gave me time to ponder and let my jaw feel like it was a mile from my head. As I sat there I felt myself tremble with the thought of what it may be like. So I decided to pray for the Lord's strength and mercy and that he would ease my pain and anxiousness. Dr. Lambert came in and began the process of drilling, filing, roto rooting...hehe, rinsing, more filing and roto rooting, rinsing and then packing and closing off the hole. And guess what...not one ounce of pain or discomfort. I just felt the vibration, but no pain or even pressure. I am thankful now that the worst part is over and can't wait to see what my teeth will look like once I get the crown. No more yellow tooth that always stands out in every picture :)

Thomas' 3rd Birthday Was a Charm!

Thomas turned three years old on the 12th. We've always done birthday here at home or at the park, but decided we would like to do a little more this time. Since Thomas loves the water so much I searched around for an indoor pool that was cheap and would allow us to do a party with our family as guests. Finally I found a local hotel that was gracious enough to let us do it and all we had to do was get a room for one night, which I consider a bargain compared to other birthday venues. We all had a blast, but I am certain that Thomas got the most out of it. He would repeatedly jump in the pool, swim to the steps, get out and do it all again. He also got a thrill out of being thrown up in the air as high as possible and crashing into the water. I again kept of the tradition of making the cake and again enjoyed it. This was by far my easiest and probably my favorite.


Joseph's fear of the water is all but improving. He refused to get in and I eventually forced him to get wet. Aren't Mom's great?



Thomas in constant action; made it hard to get a still picture.



The adults get away from the crowd as they soak in the hot tub.



My brother, Brandon with his youngest, Hayden...how sweet!



Birthday Boy!!!



Daddy takes over for Mommy as he holds onto Joseph. Joseph actually told me he didn't love me because I made him get in the water. FYI: The water was only 3 ft. deep at that end and he is nearly 4 ft. tall.



The adults had there fill, but the kids just can't get enough :)



It actually looked a little cuter than the picture shows. I used graham cracker crumbs for sand that goofy ran around on, fruit roll ups for seaweed and a surfboard that donald road on, gummy lifesavers for..well..lifesavers :), gummy sharks and sprinkle fish.



Thomas gets a little help blowing out all those candles, thanks Mamu!!!



Little Hayden thinks the wrapping is the best part!

First of all...

Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes with Ryan's recent interview. We are praising the Lord for revealing His will to us. Ryan got the email today that told him he did not get the position. We were a little dismayed because it would have been a great job, but we are hopeful that the Lord has a wonderful plan for us. We may have a bumpy ride in getting to see His will, but none the less, it will be worth it. Please continue to keep us in your prayers in these times.

Pray for Ryan

Just a quick update on Ryan's job search. He has an interview, as I type, with US Cellular in Knoxville. This would be a great job opportunity for him. It is close to where we would like to move back to. The benefits start day one and from what we hear from other employees, the coverage is great. They also cover tuition 100%. The way he got this interview was nothing less than providential. The job would be a great fit for Ryan as it is in their customer service call center. Please pray for our hearts to be searching the Lord's will. We hope this is where the Lord would have us and hope he will make a good impression on Brandy the interviewer. Thanks, got to go, I am finally getting some of my cleaning done.

Some Interesting Views

I had ran across a tag that involved interviewing my boys. At four and almost three I knew it would be trying and most interesting to see what their minds pick up on. Here goes! Joseph's is the first response and Thomas' is the second response.


1. What is something mom always says to you?
J “um, um, um…I can’t tell.”
T “ummmm, I can’t tell.”

2. What makes mom happy?
J “to say sorry to you”
T “I can’t tell, I need my new book, I need it.”

3. What makes mom sad?
J “I don’t know, hmm, swing toys like that, that makes you sad.”
T “uh, mad.”

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
J “um..to tickle.”
T “um, I can’t tell.”

5. What was your mom like as a child?
J “um, um, I can’t member”
T “uhhhm, um a girl.”

6. How old is your mom?
J “uhhhm, did you got a birthday…I can’t member, it’s hard to member”
T “ummm, I can’t tell.”

7. How tall is your mom?
J “um, BIG!”
T “ummm, um, a measuring tape.”

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
J “um, um, uh, I can’t say.”
T ”um, your computer.”

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
J “uh, ummm” (by this point he gave up.)
T “ummm, I can’t tell, I have a paci in my mouth.”

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
J “um, um”
T “um, I can’t tell.”

11. What is your mom really good at?
J “um, playing.”
T “ummm, COOK!”

12. What is your mom not very good at?
J “um, not doing cooking”
T “umm, I can’t tell.”

13. What does your mom do for a job?
J “ummm, at um, your working at, um, you work at home.”
T “ummm”

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
J “um, um fries.”
T “ummm, eggs.”

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
J “um, ummmm, um, proud of Mommy to do anything.”
T “umm, I can’t tell.”

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
J “uhhh, um, um, how ‘bout, how ‘bout…hmmm, an ambulance from cartoons?”
T “umm, hmm.”

17. What do you and your mom do together?
J “um, share.”
T “umm, I can’t say it.”

18. How are you and your mom the same?
J “umm, umm, how ‘bout…our nose the same.”
T “um, sing.”

19. How are you and your mom different?
J “I was different like me, cause…I watch tv all day.”
T “I can’t tell.”

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
J “um, because I was loving you to be a superhero.”
T (spinning in circles he says)”um, I can’t tell.”

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
J “uhhh, how bout you like Daddy playin and when you go get Daddy.”
T “um I can’t tell”

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
J “ummm, a store.”
T “um, to the park!”