opening my eyes...

In the past week I have been making more time in my chaois for some quite time with God and I just wanted to share how cool it has been!

My mentor gave me a book titled "New Day New You" my Joyce Meyer. It is a daily devotional book and at first I was not very interested because...well honestly I am not her biggest fan but I read it because my mentor gave it to me.

This week my dear friend called me and encouraged me to start training with her to run a half marathon. This is something I have thought of in the past but never worked on and this time...with a little push :) I decided to do it.
After that converstation was finished I found a few moments to read my devotional and BAM God reaffirmed my decision to run the race "Don't spend your life looking back, wishing you had tried different things or done things differently." (hmm thats me!) Basically why not try it..."you wont have to live your whole life hearing about what everyone else is doing and wondering what it would be like (once again...thats me!)

Now for today. I have been down, on and off, for several weeks and I hate being negative and being a complainer but sometimes...well thats what I am.
I laid all of the kids down for their nap and sat in a comfy chair to read my devotional again. The title today..."Complain and Remain, Praise and be raised" "When we praise God in the midst of difficulty, He raises us up out of it"

Wow! God is amazing. The book is designed to be read daily..each selection has a date at the top. He perfectly planned for me to read about these two topics on those specific days!

So now I pray that I can stick with my running! and accomplish something that I have had in the back of my head for a long time and I pray that I can praise God in all things - even in the midst of a messy house and a grumpy husband. God is Good

september in review

A quick update for everyone out there...

Ben is now 8 years old. We had a party at Grandma Barbs with our family and a few friends. We planned our party to be outside but, it rained the ENTIRE weekend and were stuck inside.
A few days later, it was still raining, but we headed out to the bowling alley with several of Bens friends. They all had a great time bowling and playing video games. It is so hard to believe that my baby boy is getting so big. He is such a sweet little guy (for the most part) He love to play football, soccer, fishing, playing the computer/Nintendo DS and he is a pretty good reader.

Sydney is learning SO much in school. She comes home talking about all of the things she is learning. I was so concerned that she would be behind but she seems to be right on track! She loves to dance and sing and is planning to try out ice skating lessons soon.

The business is still going strong. We haven't had much down time, which is good and we have been expanding quickly. I am so proud of Chris - he is working so hard and has scaled back so much on his hunting/fishing - although he still finds time for a bit of both.

Thats all for now...

Remember when...

I was just thinking about how fast my children are growing up and thought I would post a couple of pictures of what they looked like not too long ago

Back to School

Here She is... Our Big Kindergartener!

She LOVES school. There were no tears (from her at least) and she has had no trouble with the transition. I just hope she is being "sweet" sydney instead of "sassy" sydney. She has already made a 'best friend forever' (her words) and she loves to tell me about seeing her brother in the hall or at lunch.

Ben is doing great too! He is now is 2nd grade (also hard to believe) He loves to play tag on the playground and he is a little scientist in the making - He is planning to be a biologist - Marine Biologist to be exact. He knows so much, and is learning so fast! I usually have to google what he is talking about to make sure I am telling him the right information

Our little get-away

In the early spring, Chris went to Indianapolis to a Build a pondless waterfall seminar at the Zoo there. When he came back he suggested that we go back at some point during the summer so I started planning!

We left on a friday afternoon around 2pm and headed to Indianapolis. Not only did we plan to visit the zoo, but also the museum and my friend Stacey and her family!

The kids had alot of fun running around together - so much so that we didn't get any pictures of all of them together - except this one in which the boys are moving.

Saturday was our day at the zoo! It was great. There was a dolphin show (almost like sea world), we saw an elephant show (we actually got to touch it!) sharks and Syd was able to ride a pony. There was so much to see and do! Oh and the waterfall - our main reason for going...

After the zoo we went back to the hotel for some resting and swimming! Sydney was sure that she was staying at the Tipton ( anyone else out there watch disney channel?)

On Sunday we went to the childrens museum and had a great time there too! The dinosaur area was a hit

we only ended up with one Family photo and is has a ton of bright light in the back but I thought I would share it anyway!

I forgot to mention that Grammy joined us for the drive and the zoo. She has a friend that lives in Indianapoois and was able to visit her!

Beach day

My kids - and I - love going to the beach. Today started with more rain but ended beautifuly. I packed up our beach stuff and a small picnic and we headed out.
Ben wouldn't leave home without his tackle box and fishing pole. I never expected he would catch anything worth commenting on but, I was wrongHe caught 2 large carp using soggy corn chips for bait. All of the children around were so excited to see someone catch one of the fish that swim around with them in the lake. Ben released both fish and the swam away quickly. Sydney was a proud little sister!

Camping?

We had been planning to go camping for weeks and as it came closer to the big day...the weather didn't look so good. We met up with 3 other families at a local state park on friday afternoon and had plans to stay until sunday.

I didn't take any pictures on friday night because I thought I had 2 more days to capture the perfect photos....I was wrong.

On Sat morning we all woke up to have pancakes (thanks Michael!) and then shortly after we ate it started to rain. Those of us camping in tents decided we had better pack up. It rained all day! but instead of just heading home we all went together and hung out at the Millers home (8 adults and 10 kids). We all stayed for lunch, games, naps and then dinner! We had such a great time will everyone. We are so thankful for so many amazing friends

Here are some pictures of us "camping".