Last weekend: Say CHEESE~

We decided not to go to the local pumpkin farm & to go ahead and visit some pumpkin patches at the local churches. We visited two places and bought more than our share of pumpkins. Here are the only pictures where the kids would sit still long enough to take one. They were all too excited to sit still for the three seconds it takes to snap the pic.

Hanging at the park~

After we found our pumpkins we headed to the park for a picnic lunch & some good ole' exercise and fun. The kids lasted longer than the parents. Or maybe I should say the mommas. There were four preggo mommies that were ready for a nap before heading over to Nathan & Traci's later for a shrimp boil & spaghetti for those anti-shrimpies.

Nathan & Traci's House: pumpkin painting

Carving~

On Monday Josh & Aubrey came over and we carved our pumpkins. Sam was at work so I did our, although Josh had to help me do the spider because I was getting frustrated at the end.

Super Star~

For Nic~

Here is the original post. The way I read it & understood it was- It's out there for whomever to drop by & pick it up. Maybe I assumed too much.



I am moving and offering bikes, grill, lawn chairs, 4 poster bed, rails, mattresses (double to queen) futon with black mattress, charcoal grill, mountain bike, girls bike for 8 yr old, camping gear. Trash day tomorrow so please take what you can so it's re-used.

Off Poole Road near Dan Nicholas Park.

I've got a gripe~

Most of you are familiar with Freecycle- it's a great way to get FREE things that you need. Today a lady posted a bed & futon mattress. Both of which we have been looking for & need. Immediately I ask for more info. because Sam is available NOW to go get the items. And these things don't stick around for long! We get no response. So, the only detail we have is the name of the road. Mapquest list several of these road; which ended up being the same road but in sections. Mapquest is wierd. Anyways~ The guys head out to look for the bed stuff and look for 20+ minutes up & down the street. Never found it. The lady finally writes: " THanks for 20 responses in 30 min." but no details as to where in the heck to look. So gripe one---we wasted gas LOOKING for something we needed but couldn't find. And two---she wouldn't even give us a frame of reference on where to look. SO, am I asking to much or is she giving to little?

Hanging out in the sun~

At our last cookout/ bbq Zeke decided he want to go around in the buff & jump in the sandbox which had no sand but rain water. Justus of course wanted to do the same but had to at least keep on the underoo's. Check out Z's face on the last pic.

Thanks for responding! You all put a smile on my face. Rarely do I have anything 'important' to say but when I do I want you all to know it first. Anyways, I will try to return the favor b/c I too am guilty of reading & not leaving many comments. So, thanks again girls! I feel loved.

Geeze, don't bother to comment. Good, bad or just plain boring (my blog)....any comment would be welcome.

Well, I had a pretty good weekend. I went out with several girlfriends for a girls night out. We ate dinner at a Japanese takeout place. I had enough food left over to each lunch the next day-yummy! Then we went and saw Lakeview Terrace with Samuel l Jackson. I don't really recommend it but it was OK. After the movie we had a little bit of time left until we had to head back to the babysitter. So, we did a little bit of window shopping and ended the night with some ice cream from Cold Stone. Extra yummy!

Celebrating~

I felt the baby moving!!!! A couple of weeks ago I thought I felt the baby move & then nothing until now!!!!! Sweet relief. The baby bump is getting bigger too. When I lay on my stomach I can feel it now. Of course I don't lay that way for long. Oh yeah, also celebrating the two new zits on my face confirming an overload of hormones!!! Yippee! And lastly- Sam comes home tommorrow! He'll doesn't have to go back in until Sunday so we get six days!!!

Eeeew GROSS!

This nasty booger was crawling around in our house today. Yuck, yuck, yuck! It's a grub worm. Not at all harmful but still just plain GROSS!

Blogger has been so slow today. IT took me forever to get on here. I tried three times to leave comments on everyones blogs & it took an eternity. I finally gave up but I will try again later.

It is unusually quiet in my house today. Justus went to work with Sam. So Ezekiel has been my constant companion, ever by my side. He cracks me up! Since Justus isn't here to play with Zeke has been back to his quieter self. I guess that it's just a volume up when the two of them get together. For the most part they play really well together & keep each other occupied. Which brings more noise. They play blocks, wrestling, cars & all kinds of other things together. It has been odd not having the constant movement of the two throughout the house. I can't yet imagine what it will be like to add another to the mix!

OK, I"m only three minutes away from my targeted bedtime. SO this will be quick. AHEM---I have an announcement to make. DRUMROLL------ It's a BOY!!!! I was so nervous going to the sonogram appt. I"m not sure why but in the bottom of my gut...not my fat roll but deep down inside I knew it was a boy. I still was wishing for a girl but am COMPLETELY exstacic (sp?) about my boy. The sonagram lady was a drag & only came away with two pictures of my little angel. She was pretty stingy! Besides that we got to see his heartbeating. I cried! And then we say his "junk"- I knew immediately that my gut instinct was right even before she said it. And just before she finished up we got to see his little feet kicking like crazy....what a relief! I always get worked up just before an appointment. So I felt so much joy seeing my baby peanut bouncing around in his cozy hideout. On Monday I will be twenty weeks....to the halfway point already!!!!!!! OK, now I am three minutes past my bedtime & I"ve still got to jump in the shower.

YEA!!! Sam is home today, tommorrow & Tuesday. Then back for another five day stretch. Followed by SIX days of daddy heaven!

Odd ball

Sometimes I just think I'm a wierdo. For example when Sam is gone for long-er periods of time (5+ days at once) I get bored and start cleaning things that I normally overlook. This week it was the upolestry (sp?). I got out my spray bottle of Resolve & got to work. I cleaned three kitchen chairs, the couch & two of our other chairs. All of these were things that have been given to us over the years. I wish I had taken a before & after because the chairs were just disgusting. I guess I just don't normally pay attention to such things but when I'm bored I start to look for something to do. Having kids insures there will always be something to clean. What odd ball things do you do when you get bored?

After having my husband back for three days we are daddy less again. THis time he will be working until Sunday AM so that is another 5 day stretch. The kids have been great today---hallelujah! Our weekend flew by. On Friday we met my grandmother, aunt & uncle for dinner to celebrate October birthdays. Josh, Aubrey & Sam finished training in time to meet us there too. ON Saturday I went to a yard sale & got some groceries. Then it was officially FOOTBALL time around here. So we watched football the rest of the day and did as little as possible. Because on Sunday Josh & Aubrey were able to get into their new apartment at the childrens home. So we moved them in and then settled in for some more football and fellowship. We also celebrated my dad's 54th birthday. His actual birthday is today but we usually do birthday celebrations on Sundays since it's one of the times that everyone was off. That will all change since the children's home jobs.

Pregnancy dream

I never had those crazy pregnancy dreams everyone talks about until now. Last week I dreamed that I was having a sonagram & all of a sudden my belly started taking form of my baby. It was like an out of body experience. My stomach all of a sudden came up & there was my baby staring at me face to face just inches away from my face. I don't know if it was a boy or girl- I wanna say a girl cause it had really long eyelashes. Anyways the baby smiled the most gorgeous smile & then disappeared & my stomach went back to it's 'normal' preggo shape. How wierd!

IT's been super windy here today. I LOVE listening to the leaves blow in the wind. The sound has a very calming effect on me that makes me wish I could drop everything and go for a walk. These kind of days are perfect for prayer walks. Reminds me of the good ole' days. Only I'm not worried that I am safe where I walk like I was during MC's. Guess I was a sheltered chicken.

Gas~

So there seems to be some kind of gas crisis. Georgia has no gas. The closest 'big' city Charlotte has no gas. Most of our gas stations around here have no gas. Is this happening down you way too?? We filled up our tanks tonight. So we should be good for almost one week depending on how much traveling we have to do.

There is NO gas where Sam is so on Friday we will have to take them gas so they can come home. So we will be driving an hour & a half to rescue him (and myself). Of course by Friday they may have gas & that would be great as well!

The countdown begins, just two more days until Daddy comes home. The first few days always pass pretty smoothly but by the third or fourth day everyone wants someone else to look at. Justus especially missed Sam. Leah has been doing well. She and Zeke fight like they are brother & sister.

Today was See You at the Pole. Sam usually heads up a youth rally at one of our local high schools. He had everything in place when he resigned so hopefully it will go well tonight. Our youth praise band always sings & tonight my brother Jacob is supposed to lead two of the songs. That is IF he can sing. He now has the same cold that is still sticking with me.

Weekend News~

Not to much to report. I've got an nasty cold. It started with a raging sore throat then my chest got tight & finally the whole headache, while breathing through your mouth thing. Luckily it didn't all hit at once. I was able to rest most of Friday & Saturday. And am feeling somewhat better. All just in time from Josh, Aubrey & Sam to leave for training. They're going to be gone thru Friday. Mom & I are tag teaming keeping up with Leah. And my own wild things are of course right here with me.

Today was our last official day at the church. And now I breath a sigh of relief that the hardest part is over with. I hate saying good-bye. Most of our students are on myspace so we will have a way to keep tabs on them & keep in touch if they want to. One week from Wednesday the church is doing a farewell party. I think it's awesome that they want to bless them. But it will be a little awkward when Sam had to take the kids from Nazareth to youth there. I'm not sure how long that arrangement will last.

Unplanned events~

Well, tonight we told the kids about 'our ' resignation'. As soon as Sam said it there was a hush over the room. One of our youth leaders said it was like all the air was sucked out of the room. Follow that up with some sniffles & lots of hugs and you get the gist.

The kids were so shocked. It was super hard & we still have to announce it in front of the rest of our church on Sunday. Not really looking forward to that but still it will be a relief to get that part overwith.

*Pastors original plan was to tell everyone on Sunday. We didn't really think it would be good to wait & tell the kids, we wanted them to know first.

ps Jamie-we were wanting to get pregnant, so we weren't preventing anything if you know what I mean.

Baby News~

I first thought that I might be preggo in July at our beach vacation. In June my cycle was little off so I wasn't sure what to expect in July. SO when I didn't have 'the visit' I was first of all relieved because we were at the beach after all. One night I randomly got nauseous, that was the first red flag. Sam kept asking me every four hours if I had started...he was making me nuts. I finally told him to cut it out & we'd have to wait another week or so to see what was going on. Nothing happened.

We were both excited. Eventually I told my mom because I just couldn't not tell someone...she got my dad to get a pregnancy test. Positive of course! So then we started the process of getting pregnancy medicaid and finding a doctor that I was comfortable with that actually takes medicaid. I had already decided not to go back to the doctors that delivered Ezekiel. I wan't happy when he came out black & blue because I had to wait on the doctor to get there & deliver.

So, last week I FINALLY got to go to the doctor. I was sick to my stomach on the way there. I was crying & getting all flustered. I have had some spotting this time and having to wait so long was really wearing on me. I was afraid that the doctor wouldn't be able to find a heartbeat. I was SO scared! Thankfully my Sammy was there to comfort me & pray with me and tell me everthing was going to be alright. And it was!!!

The doctor found a 'strong' heartbeat. I could have cried all over again but I held it in and said a prayer of thanks to the creator of life. The spotting has stopped & the anxiety is gone! Thank you Jesus! I am supposed to go on Monday for my first sonagram but I'm gonna cancel since Sam will be gone. I will be sixteen weeks by then so I would have been able to find out if this one is a boy or girl. RATS, I have to wait a little longer!

Breaking News~

So, my life is officially being turned upside down. Thankfully I'm OK with it this time. Sam resigned his position as a youth pastor and this morning he had an interview at a group home. He got the job. HOLY COW! Our lives are about to change completely. We have been praying about change for quiet some time. And now it's finally here. I have to say that this is a bittersweet feeling. We are hoping to have an open ended relationship with our pastor so that we leave on good terms. Our pastor has even said that he will have Sam come back and preach sometime. Well, that is our goal. It is going to be difficult to leave our church family. I have no idea where we will go. It's hard not knowing where we will take Justus to church. He loves our church! Especially on Sunday mornings! January would have been the four year mark.

As for the new job I think it's going to be a HUGE adjustment. Sam will be working as an 'alternate' to the house parents. Basically he works with them as a team so that they can have their own family time. House parents have the hardest job because they are ultimately responsible for their cottage. Each cottage has up to eight boys at a time. They are troubled kids who have problems at home or school, that kind of thing.

As an alternate Sam will work 14 days a month (twenty four hour days). They usually do three to five days at a time but he could do up to seven days at a time. Again, HOLY COW! The longest I have gone without Sam is five days & it's not pretty when daddy isn't around! However, he only works ten minutes from home and we can go see him. During the day when the kids are at school he's free to hang out. And the boys (at work) go to bed at 9:30 during the week so we could go see daddy before bed as well.

I am nervous about all the changes but excited as well. My brother & SIL accepted a position as house parents in a different cottage. So they will be moving out at the end of the month. Everything in our life is changing! All these changes have occured in the past week. When God moves lookout!

ps~ we will still be involved in our church for a few more weeks, we're not leaving them out in the cold.

Making me laugh~

These mistakes were on our prayer request list today......they made me laugh!

"please pay for mental clarity and peace". I guess that is was supposed to say PRAY for mental clarity & peace but I'd pay for them as well!

"my aunt, will be having surgery on her food Wednesday" Supposed to say FOOT, what kind of surgery could you perform on food., unless it was turkey. Anyways, I had a momentary break from the usual.

Coming next year~

The cone of uncertainty~

It's great to see that Gustav didn't do as much damage as they thought. New Orleans dodged a bullet & I am really thankful for that and we don't even live there. But we do have family that lives there. My uncle is on the police department so he had to stay during the storm. He was there the entire time during Katrina too. I have an Aunt who lives there as well. She and her boyfriend left to be right outside of the evacuation zone. I haven't heard if they've been able to get back in yet.

So, now that Gustav is basically over 'we' the east coast are the next target for a hurricane & it's coming this weekend. The weather channel has been really sketchy about it though. They are forcasting that Hanna which is a tropical depression now will turn hurricane again & head right our way. How fun! OK, not really fun but something out of the usual. Anyways, on one hand they're saying it's coming this way & then when they show our weekend forcast rain isn't shown on the day that Hanna is supposed to make landfall in NC. Basically they don't know which way the tides will turn so they're riding the fence for now.

I have started a little list of things we will need just in case we lose power. Batteries, drinking water, canned stuff we can eat cold or over a camp fire. I doubt that we will need any of them but the last time a hurricane came the way they are predicting Hanna to come was (that I remember) HUGO in 1989. We lost power for a week. As a kid we had a blast! As a parent I don't quiet see it that way. Anything that we might buy can be used in the winter if there are ice storms. According to the almanac this is supposed to be a rainier/wetter winter that the past few, & in our part of the state it usually means icier which sometimes equals no power. At least the supplies will serve a double purpose.

All this excitement & probably no follow through. OH yeah, we do need some rain so that would be a plus.

So, this weekend didn't turn out to be as busy as I expected. Sam & I were going to go to a highschool football game but I wasn't feeling up to it so he went with my brother Josh. Carson High School is the newest in our county & they have a horrible track record. They had NO wins until this Friday when they beat North 36-0.....finally a win after a two year losing streak!

Saturday we planned to go to the flea market, again we didn't make it. Instead we stayed around the house & ordered chinese for supper. YUMMY!

Sunday we didn't get home from church until 2 & went right back up there for our church picnic. The boys had a blast!!! They had a giant slip n slide, pickle eating contest, a lots of good food. I'm glad we weren't busy on Saturday cause I was wiped out by Sunday night.

ANyways, today we went to Chic-fil-a, if you wore a team shirt (football) you got 3 free chicken strips! That cut our bill almost in half so we had a yummy cheap lunch! The boys played in the indoor playground for a while and then we headed to the library, which was closed. If I had actually thought about it I would have remembered that they are closed on most holidays. We also took the boys to the arcade to 'play' so video games. Most of the time they just run from game to game & so we get out pretty cheap on that end. Our last stop was at Walmart--the dreaded store!!! WE got in and out as fast as possible!

We're grilling tonight for supper---I know, we're SOOOOO creative! And the Y isn't open tonight. I'm a bit bummed about that just because that's when I have my best quiet time. Maybe tommorrow.

Surprise, surprise

So, there will be a women running in the VP spot this year. I was SO surprised to see who Senator McCain chose! Wow. I've never heard of this lady, that doesn't really say much since I'm not all that politically informed. Anyways, I think it's quite interesting that he chose a woman. If he would have hinted at a woman as running mate people would have probably guessed Condoleza (sp) Rice. It will definetly bring the press to attention and give him spotlight attention. What do you think???

Ants on a log

"Snails" turkey & cheese roll ups with pickles as the head & carrots for antinea (sp??)

The spread

Leah's ladybug cake

Ezekiel & his cake

Zeke's cake--cholate on chocolate

"Butterfly's"- grapes

"Ladybugs"- they didn't turn out exactly as I thought but they were tasty! (Strawberries) I had some fruit dip just in case anyone wanted some for the berries & grapes.

Zeke and Leah's Party

We finally had Zeke and Leah's birthday party. My camera went dead in the middle of the party so we used Aubrey's. Unfortunetly when she emailed them to me it was just the small pics. GRRRRR!. I hope that the pictures on my camera are better so I'll try to get them up soon. It's hard to tell from the pics but we had a bug/picnic party. We had snails, ants on a log, ladybugs on a stick, watermelon, deviled eggs, hamburgers/hotdogs, pasta salad, and two cakes. A lady bug and a bug cake. IT was really cute, I wish you could see. Like I said I'll try to get my pics up soon.

Enough silence~ IT's been a long two weeks since I've been on blogger. We've had some fun family issues in our hacienda. Josh & Aubrey are planning to move out at the end of the month and my sister has threatened to move out---I will believe that one when I see it. So, our household may be getting smaller and yet my family and I will stay right here with my parents. I cannot begin to explain how frustrated I could be. We've been here for WAY longer than planned and yet I don't see any end in sight.

I am hoping for some changes though. I am looking into going to school, doing some internet classes and that kind of thing. I think that I can get some financial aid maybe in the spring or summer session next year. Anyways, I am trying to focus on my goals and not get caught up in my temporary circumstances. And that is my spill for now.

Prince Caspian

We may go see it tonight! It's at the two dollar theater this week. Yea! I love great deals!