Christmas trees and tummies

On Friday Curtiss and I were able to go and get our very first Christmas tree (last year we used my in-laws artificial tree that we set up before they left for Romania) Because it is just the two of us this year we wanted a small tree that could sit on top of a chest that sits in our living room, but we have come to find that places that sell trees around here are rather scarce so we went to the only place we were able to find that sells them any where close to near by. We got the smallest one they had and then Curtiss took the saw to it and trimmed it down to size :)



Here it is waiting patiently for the lights and such to be put on it, it had to wait 24 hours to get it's trimmings due to the fact that Curtiss started work yesterday, so after getting it into it's stand on Friday night the rest of our time was spent getting things ready for him to go the next morning.



We found "mini" bulbs and bells at Big Lots that we both really like, and we had fun putting them all in just the right place (I am married to a perfectionist after all:)




The finished product, I have always loved looking at a lighted tree and this one is no exception :)



And I had to post a picture of the ornament that my sister Bethany sent to us this year, she found it last year but when she went to buy it they were all sold out so she got it this year and some of those of you out there will really appreciate it...



... and as promised here is a picture of me and baby, we are both getting bigger :)

The day my hair turned gray...

Yesterday my hair turned gray,

For a day.

I was over with the boys cleaning the house and the vacuum was not working quite right, so I decided to check and see if the vacuum was full. It was not full, that was not the problem, but the filter looked like it had about 10 lbs. of sheet rock dust ingrained into it. So I promptly took it outside to shake it out. And as everyone knows this little town that we live in is prone to windy days especially in the winter... and yesterday was no exception. The wind was blowing and blowing and blowing, and I even made sure it was blowing away from me. But the next time the boys saw me, they asked what happened, as it looked as if the vacuum had blown up and then sucked everything including me inside it. As I was sitting at the supper table last night, the boys were commenting on how dirty I was, and we were talking about how I had taken the filter out to shake it and that the vacuum was working much better now, and Dad made the comment, "Three accidents happened today on Main St. in O- because of low visibility." For a second I looked at him in shock half believing him, until I remembered what we had been talking about and that the wind had been blowing towards the road, and that there probably were people wondering what in the world the white dusty stuff was pouring out from behind that house.

That was the day my hair turned a whitish sort of gray.

Yesterday was also Dad's birthday, and I would just like to say,

"Happy Birthday Dad! I love you!"

Another Update

Phew! Back to blogging and back to the people who faithfully check it to see if anyone has posted anything "new." As you all probably know we have been keeping extremely busy working on completing the house. We also have had Thanksgiving and a couple of birthdays and now, ready or not...
Christmas is coming!

Nathanael and Claire both celebrated their birthdays in the last couple of months. Nathanael turned 9 and Claire turned one... How time flies!

One of "my projects" in the house was painting a medieval looking shield display on Isaiah and Nathanael's bedroom wall. It turned out pretty good, and it didn't take as long as I thought it was going to. The boys like it anyway, and that is what counts.

And this final picture is the first box that made its way over to the house today, it even managed to get unpacked onto the bookshelf it is sitting on. Exciting! This bookshelf is actually the foot board on my bed, and hopefully I will soon be able to post and show you the whole bed.

I have been taking pictures for the whole house project, and I really want to do some "before and after" posts on different rooms, it will just be a matter of when I will have the time to do it. But for now this post will have to do.

An Update

Yes, you may all be surprised but I am still alive, just haven't felt much like blogging :)
Over the last month or so since I last posted I have gone from being exhausted all the time and kinda nauseous to having my stomach be all right most of the time (although it doesn't feel like it used to:) and having more energy for the most part, for which I am very grateful.

As you can see (in the bad quality photo) I am well cared for by my wonderful husband, who has been using his cooking skills in the kitchen from time to time so that we both don't go hungry :)

I am very thankful that he like to create in the kitchen, that means that he opens the fridge, freezer and cupboards and pulls things out adds them together and adds spices to taste and voila we have a wonderful tasting dinner at a time when I go to the microwave and can't remember which button I need to push to start it :)

Over the last few weeks we have had the chance to be at my Mom and Dads house for a couple of weeks while Curtiss helped do some work in the house project, we have finished our Christmas shopping had a wonderful Thanksgiving and as of tomorrow will have reached the 16th week mark of pregnancy. Not bad huh???

I shall try to not have it be as long before I post again, sometime I shall have to post a picture of my expanding belly for all of you :)

Why are we surpised???

Are you ever surprised when God answers your prayers? Has it ever taken you two days to realize that two days ago is when He answered a certain prayer? I don't know about you but I do it quite often. Now sometimes I think it is because the answers to our prayers aren't always that obvious, they don't always come all wrapped up with ribbons and bows with a flashing card that sings, "An answer for you, from God." Usually the answers are more subtle, but sometimes I wonder why I am surprised when God answers my prayers... Did I not think He would or could do it?

~~~

Anyway, all of that to say, God has been teaching me a couple of things, the first one being: He has the ability to do anything, and yet even in this position of power, cares enough about us to answer our prayers, even when our prayers are over little vain things. He has made it very evident that He is the God that still answers prayers. When you call out for help He will send someone, or several "someones" to help and encourage you. I would like to thank the several "someones," who have been councilors and encourager's to me in the past several weeks. God sent you to help me... and I just want to say thanks.

The second thing God has been teaching me is to just trust Him. Trust, trust, trust... I have heard or seen that word many times in the last week and finally I realized, "God must be trying to tell me something."

Proverbs 3:5-6 is a passage of scripture that most of us are very familiar with, most of us had it memorized by the time we were five. It was so much easier trusting God when I was five. Do you need to go back to a five year olds mentality of just trusting? I know that I do. I need to have the trust of a five year old. As a grown up, it is way to easy to just grab the reins and take control away from God. If we could just trust him and willingly give Him the reins to our lives, I believe He would drive us to places that are beyond our comprehension, better then we ever could have imagined...

Sometimes we just have to give up the reins and trust Him.

~ Proverbs 3:5-6 ~

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths."