Blog post

I started a blog that will be about making our house a home kinda.  It will have some of my sewing projects or decorating projects or chickens.  You know, whatever :)  here's the first post.

Simple Stitches

Internet Again

It's been a while sense I posted. We haven't had the internet at home for four or five months now. We have moved into a small place to be able to save money and it has been a interesting experience. It's hard to fit a family of four into a little two bedroom apartment but it is just right for our family right now. God has definitely shown us that this is where he wants us to be, so many blessings.

As I write this I can't fail to mention that I am very anxiously waiting for little Eli to be born as Rebecca is in labor right now. I am so excited to be an uncle for the third time from my big brother. I is very cool to see how God is blessing him and continuing to grow his family. It does make me very sad to be so far away, but thankfully God has provided us with internet just in time and hopefully we will be Skyping soon and seeing all of them.

One last note for tonight. On Monday there is a "strong" cold front coming. It is bring with it our first chance of snow for this year! I am very excited for snow. Shannon would tell you that I have mentioned wanting snow for several weeks now, but we haven't seen fall yet. Well the room is that the Aspens are in color at higher elevations, so I think we will go see them on Saturday (Yes! a very rare Saturday off.) and the go pick apples at a farm. Anyways I will hopefully have some nice fall pictures for you all.

I think that God is teaching me a very valuable and difficult lesson through my 2 year old. Our pastor has been speaking for the last 6 weeks about how to Live Free and what exactly that means. It has been amazing and I have learned so much but haven't applied it because well, it's really hard. I think the things that I am struggling with the most are breaking genetic habits or cycles I guess you could call them. For me, that means yelling, CRAZY moodswings, (not just normal woman mood swings) and stubbornness. And it is really hard and it's easier to just not do it. However, I am also learning that that is like leaving all the doors and windows wide open and saying hey come rob me! I am making it easy for that "sin" I guess you could call it, to just live and breed in me; and I HATE the wife, mother, and woman that it makes me. Especially mother to my two year old. I yell, I don't play with him because I'm mad that he isn't listening, and throwing a tantrum and...go figure...yelling. And as I'm writing this, it is breaking my heart because he deserves so much better than that and I feel like I can't do it. I feel like I have really good days, but then days like today come when I think, ok let's go to the library and Focus on the Family and just have a really fun day. So we go to the library and he is kicking and screaming and I'm frustrated so I just drag him out by his arms as he's yelling owie!! and I don't care. And then I get home and all I do is cry because it seems like, what's the point?? Yes I know being a mother is hard, and I knew it was going to be hard. I just feel like I won't ever become that mom I dreamt I would be. I'm not trying to have a pity party or fish for compliments that tell me I can do it, I just felt like venting. I hope tomorrow goes much better than today. God's lessons for my life are hard ones and I hope I can get through them with a little grace.

If nothing else...

Even if you don't scrapbook, I'm telling you I have the product for you. All you need is a digital camera. Ok, So I thought I had a pretty good organizing system for my pictures on our computer. Little did I know there was something better! SOOO much better. As a lot of you know, I am a Creative Memories consultant. So I was doing a webinar to learn how to use some of our software that people buy. MAN oh MAN! It is amazing! It's called Memory Manager and you can do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING with it. It seems pretty basic, I've had it for six months and didn't really use it because I figured my system was working just fine and the software didn't seem that special. Now, after learning so much about it on my webinar, I am constantly on it. I have almost all my pictures imported into it and organized. When my kids are napping or asleep for the night I am going through all the options and exploring it because it is so awesome. So, after this whole thing, all I am trying to say is : If you buy NOTHING else from me, at least buy this one thing! It will change your life. Then, after you buy it, listen to the webinar, because it is extremely helpful and will make more sense than just trying to figure it out on your own. I hope to hear from you all very soon!!! :)

90 Day Challenge

We are committing to the 90 day Challenge that our church is doing. Here is what it is:

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Acts 4:32-35 NIV

What would it be like if the body of Christ could really live out Acts 4:32-35? What if we could literally take care of one another's needs, and the needs of the poor and needy around us? That's what the 90 day challenge is all about.

Let's set aside the first 90 days of 2009, January 1-March 31, and live out the Biblical principles of giving our first-fruits to the Lord.
There are 5 components of the 90-Day Challenge:
o Be thankful at all times.
o Set aside a percentage of our income and give it to God first.
o Make a decision to live below our means.
o Follow our budget plan for 90 days.
o Look for every opportunity to serve others.

We think that God will bless us VERY much in these next 90 days. I am really looking forward to seeing what is going to happen. The bible study that I started is also for 90 days and I didn't even know it! :) Funny how that works. I think this is a great way for us to start the New Year! Happy 2009!! :)

Snowed in..."snow" fun Pictures

Snowed in..."snow" fun!

Sunday we had A TON of snow! We drove to church, good thing it's around the corner. When we came out, there was A LOT of snow! Kelsey HATED it hitting her face and Nathan thought it was very funny. We went to Brad and Kim Oaster's for lunch and ended up getting snowed in there. Not a bad place to be. There was 19 1/2 inches when we measured around 8:00 at night. During the day, Nathan played outside with Eric and the dog. They would through snow balls and the dog would dive into the snow. It was really funny. We took videos and lots of pictures. On Monday when we woke up, it was beautiful outside. Very sunny and snow on everything. So we got all bundled and went outside. Eric helped them shovel the driveway (Nathan helped a little too) and then Eric took Nathan on plastic saucers. He totally loved it. But only when Eric was pulling him. He wouldn't even sit on it if I was holding the handle. Oh well! It was a fun two days and there are lots of pictures. I would post them but Eric has the camera in the car and he is at work. Go figure! I will post them when he comes home!