Haney Heritage

Mom Confession, and Hope

2011-12-07T13:52:00.001-08:00

I went to Bible study this morning. That sounds really nice I bet. But it wasn't really that nice, because to get there I was harping on my kids, raising my voice, being impatient.
While at Bible study, I was struck by 1 Peter chapters one and two. Read them, they're amazing. Also, the speaker quoted a few lines from Steve Green's "Find Us Faithful". I had never heard that song before, but the lines she read were powerful. After Bible study we had several errands to run. Running several errands with several kids can me a little hair-raising. Then we came home to a kitchen full of dirty dishes (and a trash that smelled like baby poop . . . ugh!), laundry that is stacked and ready to be put on hangers, freshly pierced ears that need to be tended to, little bottom's that needed to by wiped, a little baby that was in desperate need of a nap after running errands, ok i'll stop there. The point is, that even after I felt so convicted at Bible study I still came home to real life and I really struggled with being the kind of Christian mother I honestly want to be. When the rubber meets the road, can I handle it in a righteous way? I'm not sure I can!! Anyway, I looked up the rest of the lyrics to this song "find us faithful". My heart is dwelling on this idea of a living hope that we have in Jesus Christ. A hope that never dies and never dissapoints. A hope that I will be able to do the right thing even when everything has gone wrong. A hope that despite all of my shortcomings as a mother, I hope that when my children remember me, they find me faithful.

Find Us Faithful

by Steve Green

We're pilgrims on the journey

Of the narrow road

And those who've gone before us line the way

Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary

Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace

Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses

Let us run the race not only for the prize

But as those who've gone before us

Let us leave to those behind us

The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives

CHORUS:

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

May the fire of our devotion light their way

May the footprints that we leave

Lead them to believe

And the lives we live inspire them to obey

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone

And our children sift through all we've left behind

May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover

Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find

Ok, people, go! Go read the first couple of chapters of 1st Peter. Go think about the God who loves you so much he sent his son down to rescue you from sin that you might live forever in Heaven with Him. Think about the savior who suffered, oh what suffering, and yet was still righteous, think about who you are and what you do. Think about the legacy you are leaving for your family. Go and be faithful to your Savior, Jesus Christ!

Oh Yeah!!

2011-12-05T19:52:00.001-08:00

Almost forgot! My midwife came by last week and we determined that at that time I was right around 15 weeks, which puts me at 16 weeks now, which means I am due somewhere around May 20. :) Luke and I have decided to wait and find out if it's a girl or boy when it's born.

Praise the Lord for the work He of His hands as He knits this little one together!!

Do Your Ears Hang Low

2011-12-05T18:11:00.001-08:00

For many moons Mandie Lee has been wanting to get her ears pierced. Luke and I decided that would be her Christmas present from us this year. So today we went to Claire's and she boldly and bravely endured the pain that many a girl has endured before her. I was so hoping there would be enough people there to do both ears at the same time, but it didn't work out that way. Still, my brave little girl held back the tears while the job was done. I think I was 8 or 9 when I sat in the same spot to get mine pierced 20 years ago. My Mom-in-Law remembers when she got hers done, her mom just heated a safety pin over a flame to sterilize it and pushed it through her ears when she was a girl. OUCH! I don't think I could have ever done that! Different times I guess.

I love you Mandie Lee, even with holes in your ears!! Merry Christmas!!

Oh Me, Oh My

2011-11-26T21:26:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I can't believe that the holiday has already come and gone. This year's Turkey Feast was just as delicious, if not better, than it always is, and I enjoyed the opportunity to spend the day with Luke's family. This year I made my grandmother Beaulah's pistachio salad recipe, which Mandie found delightful, and my great-grandmother Cassy Mae Wheeler's Coke Sald recipe, which Mandie found to be equally delightful, and my Aunt LaJean's fruit salad with whipped cream, yummy yummy! (now that was a run-on sentence!!) My parents went to Austin to watch the UT game for Thanksgiving, so I was glad to have some of my side's traditional dishes for Thanksgiving even though we weren't actually celebrating with them. Luke's family really liked the Coke Salad, think that may be a new regular Thanksgiving appearance for them, too!

In pregnancy world, I really don't think it has really registered inside of me that I am going to have another baby! I told Luke that it probably won't hit me until I'm holding the little newbie in my arms! However, there is really no preparation to be done. The nursery is in full working order and is currently occupied by Michael, so I guess we need to assemble the toddler bed and move him into Matthew's room, which will soon just be the 'Boy's Room". Also, when we figure out if it's a girl or boy, which I'm thinking we may not do until birth, then I need to either wash the newborn boy clothes or the newborn girl clothes. Then I think we are ready. So that makes me one toddler bed and one load of laundry away from being ready for a baby.

I am starting to get rather concerned about birth. I know a lady who's having her fourth baby in a month and she is so not worried about labor or birth or any of it. That is NOT me. Birth is scary for me every time. My biggest fear is a long, drawn out birth. I pray for efficient contractions, efficient pushes, and a reasonable birth. I pray for health for all parties involved. And I pray that I do not make it something in my mind that it's not in reality. I just want good' ol plain'ol regular'ol birth. And I don't like people thinking about me in birth, I don't even like people to know that I've gone into active labor until after the fact. I absolutely have a very healthy fear of birth, and I have the utmost respect for the whole process, and I believe that the reward you gain from it is tenfold the work! Ok, more on that later I'm sure.

Well, I am somewhere between 15 and 17 weeks pregnant I think. I never had a period because I was nursing Michael, so I don't have a first day of my last period. I haven't had an ultrasound because in homebirth world you don't normally have an ultrasound until around 20 weeks, if you get one at all. I heard the heartbeat for the first time on October 28th. That means I was at least 10 weeks at that point. It was fast. It makes me wonder if there's a girl in there. It's been a while since we've had a baby girl around here and everyone seems to be hoping for a girl, but we would love a boy of course!! I have an appointment on Monday with my midwife and I'm hoping that after she measures and pokes around a bit she will narrow down a more precise due date for me. I have gained 10 pounds already, which seems like a lot. None of my clothes fit, all of my normal clothes are too small and all of my maternity clothes are too big/stretched out. So I'm mostly in sweatpants and t-shirts for now. I also really enjoy wearing my husbands sweaters, I just love that.

Also, it seems that I am less than a joy to live with. My hormones are all over the place. I get really bad headaches from time to time. I had a big RA flare the other day. And instead of placing the blame on things like pregnancy or hormones, or something that actually contributed to the problem, I like to nit pick at my husband. He doesn't like it so much. However, with the beginning of the 2nd trimester has come a surge of energy and change for the better in my disposition. Luke has expressed to me more than once how glad he is that the 1st trimester is over. He's a trooper that one!

Christmas is coming and I'm ready for it baby! I have purchased 90% of presents, and even wrapped some of them. The next few days will be spent decorating, wrapping, and doing a bit of Christmas crafting, and then bring on the Christmas Joy!! This year I really want to read a chapter of the book of Luke every evening of December. I had ambitions to do it last year but it didn't seem to fit. This year I think the kids would be very receptive to it, and I think it would be a highlight of the season for us all! Thank you God for sending Jesus!!

Speaking of crafting, Michael's baby book has finally been started! I have done his opening page, a spread about being pregnant with him, and a spread about his birth, and a spread about him meeting friends and family for the first time. Now I just have to do his baby shower and the months of June of 10 through June of 11 and it will be done. (Oh, it sounds so easy but it is so much work!) I am hoping and praying and hoping and wishing and hoping so hard that it will be finished before I give birth again! Oh my. Also, I have a grand idea to make a quilt out of old baby clothes and blankets and burp rags and stuff. I made a t-shirt quilt in hight school and I haven't done anything like it since then. I have been greatly inspired by Wendy at Sewing in the Wendy City, and I'm hopeful to start making some squares after the holidays slow down and much more progress has been made on Michael's scrap book. It's not a project that I want to finish quickly, because I would like to have pieces from every baby on the quilt, and obviously we aren't quite done in the baby department, yet. But I would love to get started on it!

Oh, my. I guess that's it for today. Have a wonderful week!

His Mercies

2011-11-22T20:11:00.001-08:00

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceasesHis mercies never come to an endThey are new every morningThe Lord is my portion says my soulTherefore I will hope in Him.Lamentations 3:22-24

A Family Affair at Blue Haven

2011-10-16T21:46:00.000-07:00

A chance. We had a chance. A relative had a cabin, and we had the opportunity to stay in it. Not just any cabin. A cabin in a special place. A sacred place. A place where my love for the Lord and for nature was nurtured and matured. A place where I had wonderful memories. A place where I was baptized.

The name of the cabin, A Family Affair. It had literally been built by this family. It was nestled up on the mountain side, right obove the creek; just a 10 minute walk from the pond, a 20 minute walk from the camp. It smelled of pine trees. When we walked along, we could hear the crunching of pine needles beneath our feet. The creek was cold. The sky was clear. The air was fresh.

Technology was far, far away. There was no internet. No cell phone service. No TV. No one there that we knew, besides ourselves. Nature was very close by. Bugs. Birds. Lizards. Horny Toads. Wasps. Flowers. Fish. Rocks. Trees. Deer! (Thankfully, no bears!!)

This was Michael and I on a hike ( I had no idea that I was actually pregnant at this time!)

This was the cabin, A Family Affair

Taking a hike

Playing in Tekalote (sp?) creek

Observing Nature

This little girl caught her first fish with some canned corn later that day!

Staying Warm

Playing Outside

Playing in Mandie's Tent

Thank you, Lord, for Camp Blue Haven!

Last Wednesday

2011-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

was a day I will not soon forget. That morning I skipped breakfast, except to eat the last few bites of my kid's gluten free rice krispies, and I just did not feel well. Honesly, I hadn't been feeling well for a while. The Sunday before I thought I had some kind of stomach bug. A few days before that I thought that maybe I hadn't been cooking my meat well enought. I just felt sick. Well, last Wednesday was no exception. I felt bad. But, life went on. School was done, snacks packed, and off we went to Bible Study, where I felt so darn tired. I mean pooped! In fact during the last half our I was taking notes, well, trying to take notes, but my eyes kept closing and my head kept dropping, and my notes were just illegible scribbles on a page, and that's when it hit me . . . I'm pregnant! I knew I had to be pregnant. I felt sick, I felt tired, I felt like a pregnant lady. So after Bible study we joined our dear friends for lunch, and then I went by CVS to get a pregnancy test. I had to pee so bad, I thought I might accidentally pee in my pants at the check out!! Thankfully that didn't happen, but I unwrapped the box and the test on the way home and ran in the house to the bathroom as soon as I could! I didn't even get the kids out of the car! Sure enough, there was a cross . . . not a line on the test.

Shock!

It wasn't that we didn't want more kids, because we did. However, we also wanted a little space between kids. It wasn't that I didn't feel pregnant, because I did, it was just a shock to see that test. The crazy part (WARNING: this may be too much information, proceed at your own risk) is that I never had a cycle after Michael was born. I guess it was from all of that nursing. Did I know you can get pregnant nursing, of course. But I had never not had a cycle between babies before, so I just figured I would worry about birth control after I had that first cycle.

Anyway, here I am. Pregnant. I don't know for sure how far along I am, somewhere between 6 and 10 weeks it seems. My midwife has a plan to figure that out without an ultrasound. There is a good chance that this baby will be born either towards the end of May or the first part of June. Yes, June. This may well be my 3rd June baby. It seems that September is a really good month for Luke and I :)

Later that day I wrapped up my pregnancy test in tissue paper. Wrapped the tissue paper in a box. Wrapped the box in a bag. Put the bag in another box, Wrapped the box with ribbon, and left it on the kitchen table for Luke when he got home. When he came home, he asked what it was and I just told him to open the box. When he got down to it . . .

Shock!

Then he smiled and said, "Hooray!" I love that man. I love the way he reacted to that news. He is such a great man. And an awesome Daddy.

Kids take work, so much work. They require money. They take up all kinds of time, energy, effort. They push us to our limits emotionally, phyically, spiritually. But they bring with them joy, love, laughter, enlightenment, relationship. They teach us about ourselves, and about our God, even about our parents and our grandparents. Raising children is good for the heart, good for the soul, it is good. Children are a gift from the Lord. They are a precious treasure that bring back ten fold what you put into them. I am honored to carry a child in my tummy. I am humbled to have another little one under my watch and care. I am excited to see how this child changes our family. And I am eager to teach this child in the way he/she should go.

Praise the Lord! Let all that is within me praise the Lord. His timing is perfect. His love covers my sin. His word lights my path. His way is good. Praise the Lord!

Fair Fun

2011-09-28T22:05:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday Nana Jana took us to the Tri-State Fair! We enjoyed riding rides, petting animals, watching performances, and most of all, eating carmel apples and fried potatoes! We had a great time! Thank you NJ for you generosity! We love our Nana Jana Banana Bobana!!

Faces (and feet) of Family

2011-09-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

(Mandie took the picture of Michael's feet)

A Favorite Baby Thing

2011-09-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

This is truly one of my favorite baby moments. The other night we were all sitting around the dinner table talking away. I looked over and saw . . .

Oh, I do love him so much.

Brothers and Sisters

2011-09-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the front yard this summer:

A Bear of Very Little Brain

2011-09-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

Fluff!

I feel often times that my head, unfortunately, is filled rather sparingly, which is also unfortunate, with fluff. After 257 pages of Winnie the Pooh (which is still 5 chapters short of the end), I have concluded that pooh and I have two things in common, a sweet tooth, and a fluff-filled noggan. Thankfully, after much effort on my part and much answered prayer on the Lord's part, I honestly feel like I am becoming much less of a flake. As far as I know, I have missed fewer appointments, returned more phone calls, and been late far less often. Praise The Lord!! In some strange way I feel like homeschooling has given me the right amount of structure and responsiblity to help me get my cotton picking act together! I am so relieved. It is worrisome to me that another pregnancy may in fact put me right back in flake-ville, not that I am pregnant . . . just speculating.

In other news, I met a lovely lady in Bible class this morning who also suffers from Rhuematoid Arthritis. She also handles her arthritis non-medically. She also has found that she feels really good when she cuts out wheat, sugar and dairy (and she even cuts out pork) from her diet. She is in her early 60's and has had RA for about 10 years. I am in my late 20's and have had RA for about 5 years. I am so hopeful that I will be able to manage my RA this way forever. BOOOO harmful arthritis meds!!!!! I have been walking a couple of miles most evenings for several months, and I even jog here and there when my body feels really good. I think the regular exercise is making a huge positive difference as well!

Here's an interesting fact: I have been married to an optomestrist for 4 years, yet I have not had an eye exam during that time.In Luke's 4th year of optometry school he began seeing patients. I eagerly made my way downtown to be one of his first patients. He gave me an exam, told me I had perfect vision and did not need glasses, then joked with his professor that that was an 'exam in a can' because I had nothing wrong and required no perscription. Here we are four years later and I feel like I'm having trouble seeing the print on signs at long distances. Sure enough, after giving me a non-can eye exam on Saturday, Luke informed me that I am in fact far-sighted (what a shame that I do not know how to spell that word . . . is that how you spell it? I'll ask him later!!) He proceeded to fit me with a new pair of glasses that I received yesterday. Within just minutes of putting those babies on, I could see EVERYTHING! Every sign, all the leaves on the trees, the fine details of pictures, I even felt like a was seeing the clouds in a whole new way. It was awesome!! Also, I don't squint anymore. I don't have to. I can see everything clearly, no squinting required. Hooray for glasses!! After being that man's patient, I am simply amazed by what a skillful doctor he is. I am also so impressed by the happy atmoshphere he has created in his office. What a mighty good man. In my next post I'll try to put up a picture of me sporting my new eyeware! Until then, hope you and yours are well!!

Silly Little Memories

2011-09-09T19:31:00.000-07:00

A few little anecdotes to remember about each of my babes.

Mandie learned a song at Bible study on Wednesday to help her remember her Bible verse. The verse is "I will be with you always" Matthew 28:20. You sing the verse to the tune of London Bridge is falling down. Mandie decided to change it up a little bit. Instead of singing "Matthew 28:20" She changed the words to "Mandie 28:20" I guess she didn't think it was right that Matthew's name was in the song and her's wasn't. She can't sing it with a straight face. She starts cracking up every time. She's hilarious I tell you!

Matthew has experienced a major, mind-blowing, momentous occation (according to his Daddy). He has officially begun viewing the first episode of Star Wars. Tonight after the viewing, while I was tucking the little skywalker in, I was trying to tell Him that he will be a warrior for the Lord. He was so excited! He kept asking me all of these application questions like " Mom, will I still live here? I haven't heard the Lord speak, when will he tell me? Where will I get my sword?" I assured him that when the Lord speaks to him he will know it. I told him I don't know when the Lord will need him or what his mission will be . . . but when the Lord calls on him, he'll be ready to go. Now I sit wondering, what are the Lord's plans for that little boy with a lot of heart.

And for Michael, that little guy does not . . . I repeat . . . does NOT. . . like the vacuum cleaner! When I turn on the vacuum cleaner he chases me around the house. He whacks at the vacuum cleaner and he says "No! No!" to the vacuum cleaner. Oh my. He is doing so well, though. Growing like a weed, trying to figure out how to run, saying a few words here and there (but mostly communicating via gestures and grunts and groans). He is into EVERYTHING! He pulls things from the wall. He dumps drawers. He unfolds blankets. He tears papers. Oh dear!

That's it for this little update. Hope all is well with you, too!

Summer Days

2011-08-19T15:33:00.001-07:00

Right now M & M are playing in the sprinklers with the neighbors a few doors down.

What fun!

Easter in August

2011-08-08T06:55:00.000-07:00

In true Cassie style, I think I will post about Easter of this year today . . . August 8th. Better late than never!

We spent some time making Easter Eggs. This gets more fun every year as they get older.

The cards were cut bunnies stapled onto cut out eggs. That made a little pocket to put a treat in.

Happy Faces . . .

Hunting eggs in the front yard before church . . .

Church Pictures . . .

Mandie and I tried to match, what do you think?

Hunting eggs at church . . .

Lunch with Nana, Poppy, and Whit after church

HAPPY EASTER IN AUGUST!

Dandelion Hill Academy

2011-08-03T23:18:00.001-07:00

Just launched our homeschool blog in case you are interested in such things:

haneyhomeschooling.blogspot.com

Another Cowboy Story

2011-07-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Matthew and Mandie's Cowboy Story . . . and the Baby as told by Mandie Lee Haney

Once upon a time there was a little girl, and her name was Mandie and she had braided piggie tails, and she was a cowgirl. She was out in the forest hoping it woul rain for her garden, and she was waiting to play in the rain outside. Then she met a boy. And the boys name was Matthew and he was a cowboy. He had on a boy cowboy hat and she had on a girl cowgirl hat. And Mandie and Matthew were looking for horses. And then they heard thunder and Mandie was so excited because she wanted to get wet! But cowboy Matthew was not excited because he did not want to get wet. When it finally started raining Mandie took off her cowgirl hat and put it in her house, and played in the rain. She already her swimsuit on. Matthew had to go back to his house to take of his hat and put on his swimsuit. Mandie and Matthew lived by each other. They played and played in the rain. The baby boy came crawling into the forest, and Mandie found him and she decided to be his mom. His name was Michael. The End.

Wodger, The Little Boy Cowboy

2011-07-27T07:26:00.000-07:00

Wodger, The Little Boy Cowboy as told by Matthew Cooper Haney

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Wodger. And he was looking in the forest to look for a little horse that he could ride on all the way to his home. He was a little boy with a cowboy hat on and with his boots on. And his boots were about this big (showing about an inch with his thumb and pointer finger).Wodger heard a sound, "Naaaaaaayyyyyy" and he looked and looked for the sound, but he coudn't find it. Then he looked in the bushes and he saw something wondering around and it was a horse rolling around, a baby horse rolling around! And then he heard, "BOOM, BOOM, BOOM". It was a GIANT FOOT STOMPING!! So Wodger was riding the horse this fast (bouncing his hand quickly) to get away from the giant. He made it home, and the giant never saw him again. The end.

M3

2011-07-21T23:39:00.000-07:00

Looking back, it's been a while since I've done any updating on Michael. So here is a snapshot of Michael Thomas' life April through June 2011.

This baby is an utter joy to our family. He is easy-going and happy. He has a silly, cheerful disposition, and he's fun to spend time with! He can really get a belly laugh out of the other two.

He is a great sleeper. He sleeps well at night (usually about 11 hours), and he's a great napper!

In April we went to Oklahoma City to visit my cousins Jean and Lee (above). Michael accompanied me to the Women of Joy Conference (we got to see Sarah Palin speak!). He was a perfect baby the entire time!

Michael LOVES to play outside. He like to dig his pointer finger into dirt, grass, holes, rocks, or anything else he happens upon.

Being the third child, sometimes this guy just has to get a nap in whenever he can.

His happy, smiling face will light up the world!

He and MiMi love to hang out together. Here they are at one of Mandie's track meets.

In this picture G-Dad had walked him to sleep. G-Dad is hoping he's left handed . . . we'll see.

I like this picture, it reminds me of Luke. . .

This was at Mandie's graduation from Kid University. Michael loves when the whole family is together. He's been known to get pretty out of sorts when someone leaves the room.

Sometimes we refer to Michael as "the destroyer". As in, "Mandie, you better shut your door, the destroyer is on his way into your room!"

Michael has no fear. At the pool he crawls as fast as possible straight down the beachfront entry into the deep water.

This guy loves his Dad more than the other two did at this age. They have a really cool conection.

I love you Michael Thomas Haney!

Fruit

2011-07-18T20:55:00.000-07:00

The fruits of the Spirit are the topic for M&M's Sunday School right now. They have covered love, joy, and peace. For a 3 or 5 year old, these subjects seem simple. Deeper reflection, however, really gets me to thinking aobut what they really mean.

Love, in and of itself, is a HUGE topic because it is patient, kind, never self-seeking, etc. . . Joy is a killer because of the whole "rejoice in the Lord always" part. Peace seems to be found so deep inside someone, and it's mysterious (peace beyond all understanding). Then I think about the fact that these are qualities that people who truly house the Holy Spirit posess. These qualities are our fruit.

Today I went out into my vegetable garden to "harvest" my potatoes. I pulled, I dug, I searched, I found 6 tiny little potatoes. The sum of the potatoes that I found was less then the sum of the 4 potatoes I had planted. Literally I would have been better off to simply eat the ones I planted, instead of planting them. I am reminded again of the fig tree that Jesus passed, and then cursed because it did not bear fruit. And the fact that Jesus cursed it made it wither up and die that very day.

I also wonder about what God thinks about Americans and the choice of greenery in their yards. We don't like fruit trees that actually make fruit because they are too messy. We by genetically modified plants that will flower and NOT fruit just for our convenience. Surely he looks down on us and thinks about how foolish we are. How much money we could save if we all had 3 good fruit-bearing trees on our property that we could actually eat from!

Are we the same way spiritually? Are we like the hundreds of cherry trees or pear trees that create beautiful blooms all over the city, but never bear even a single bite of the fruit that gave that tree it's name?

Cultivating the fruits of the spirit should be the top priority, above finances, education, and anything else. I would hate to be like my potato plant!! (I know, I know, potatoes are vegetables!! But you get my drift).

Whew!

2011-06-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

This was Saturday . . .

At 6:30 AM Michael awoke, I grabbed him up and nursed him on the couch until be both drifted off again back into blissful sleep. Until Miss Mandie wandered in with a sneezing fit that pretty much woke up the rest of the house . . . so much for sleeping in. By 7:45 we were all up, half of us were dressed, and Dad was cooking bacon and eggs in the kitchen . . . YESSSSS!

By 9:30 we were all dressed. Mandie, Michael and I loaded up in the car to drop off Michael at MiMi's house so Mandie could go get her five year old toenails and fingernails manicured (along with the rest of the bridal party) at La Bella Nails. After the white polka dots and turquoise flower finally dried, we headed back to Mimi's to pick up M3 who was sound asleep on a palet on the floor. So we ended up staying for lunch, whick gave us a wonderful opportunity to visit with Uncle Rocky, who we just don't get to see enough and Mandie was surprisingly drawn to! Luke picked up some gluten free frito pie from Crazy Larry's and met us there for lunch. He had been to Lowe's, his office, and he had mowed the lawn with Matthew during the morning hours . . . good male bonding time, I guess.

At around 1:45 we headed to the Cardiology Center of Amarillo for the Anual Hearts and Hogs fundraiser for the American Heart Association. We got there just in time to dunk dear old Dad in the dunk tank. I think we each dunked him at least twice, that man is such a great sport! (Although I think it must have been kind of a pleasant relief from the 103 degree heat!!) Then we moved along to horse riding, bunjy bouncing, and going through the inflatable maze. When it was time to head home and take what we hoped would be a really long late afternoon nap, we realized that the car keys were missing! We searched high. We searched low. We searched some more. They were gone. So Luke headed home to pick up the spare set when Nana reached in her pocket and VIOLA! Car Keys!! Neither one of us has any idea when I handed her my car keys or when she put them in her pocket. Praise the Lord we could head home!

4:30 PM, I am nursing Michael in the chair in Matthews room while I watch him fall asleep ( he's been having trouble falling asleep on his own lately . . . in fact, he was up at 11 last night drinking water from the cup by his sink and peeing in the potty at the same time. Luke and I thought that was kind of a cool trick) I then began getting dressed and ready for Chad and Taylor's lovely wedding. By 5:30 Everyone was up from their nap, I was ready and I in the long process of putting spiral curls in Mandie Girl's hair. I will say that it turned out pretty darn cute!! Praise the Lord that Luke was willing to step up and make dinner while I curled, and curled, and curled away on Mandie. After we scarfed down our food I changed a diaper and loaded up M1 and M3 in the car so we could get to the wedding in time for pictures.

6:30 PM, We arrived at the venue. Mandie could hardly contain her excitement. Today was actually the day of the wedding she has been anticipating for so long!! When she saw the bride she asked her if she had a baby in her tummy (I'm sure that's what every bride wants to hear on her wedding day, right?) Taylor replied that no she did not have a baby in her tummy. Mandie piped back that since she is getting married now, it would be great if she would get a baby in her tummy . . . good one Mandie! I will say that I am kind of glad to know that she understands the whole first comes love then comes marraige thing.

8 PM The wedding started. BEAUTIFUL wedding, I did have to take Mandie for a bathroom break right in the middle of the ceremony, however. The reception started about 9:15. The hour and a half after that was spent enjoying our extended family, and watching Mandie and Matthew rock the dance floor with their cousins. They were crazy! We left around 10:30, before they cut the cake. Mandie was devastated that she missed out on cake. :(

Finally home. Kids were changed, brushed, and tucked. Did a last minute project for tomorrow. And now here I sit. Good, busy day! Thank you, Lord!

Good Night!!

All Eight Were GREAT!

2011-06-14T22:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of the engagement pictures Luke and I took together in the summer of 2003 . . .

8 years ago.

This picture was taken today, June 14, 2011.

Since our wedding, we have earned a bachelor's degree, a doctorate, and masters degree.

We have lived in 4 places.

We have had three children at home, one of which Luke delivered all by himself. (Well, technically I did most of the work, but you get the point)

We have had over a dozen employers.

We have dealt with a chronic, debilitating illness.

We have been members at 5 churches.

We have adopted numerous pets (all of which are either dogs or fish).

We have started our own business ~ go OJO!!

Just to name a few . . .

Despite all of the changes we have been through in the past 8 years, there has been one constant: each other.

Tonight as we prayed before dinner on our anniversary date, Luke thanked the Lord that we had grown closer to each other, and closer to Him. Then he asked God that we would continue to do just that.

As I sit here and reflect on our life, I am filled with gratitude to the Lord. It is so easy to see God's hand when looking back, and often so difficult to see it in the moment.

It is my prayer and my hope that we will be willing to step up to the plate and do the things that the Lord has planned for us to do, and to do them together.

I married a good man, the best man I know.

Happy Anniversary Honey, I LOVE YOU!!!

To the Birthday Girl!

2011-06-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANDIE LEE!

You are growing into such a lovely young girl!
Your smile brightens the room!
Your laugh is contagious.
Your independence is fierce.
Your ability to connect with others is admirable.
You are about the cutest little thing I've ever seen.
You are a blessing.
You are so big!
You are deeply loved!

Mama

A Big Deal When You're 4

2011-05-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today miss Mandie learned how to tie her own shoes. It really didn't take her long. Making the first loop was easy, wrapping around was no big deal, finding the hole for the other loop took some concentration, once she figured the hole thing out she was making bows left and right! So proud of Mandie and those fine motor skills! Her next endeavor is getting rid of those darn training wheels!

Today was my first official day as an unemployed person. To celebrate I took the kids to Wild Cat Bluff (which is currently not being run or maintained, so there is no fee). We saw birds, frogs, tadpoles, fire ants, a beetle, some animal tracks, and all kinds of plants. They loved it so much we are going back in the morning.

A New Season

2011-05-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today was 'Graduation Day' at The King's Academy. I have officially worked my last day as a P.E, teacher for the forseeable future. I wouldn't change the season I am leaving, I am so excited about the season that I am entering into. A season of 100% commitment and devotion to these people:

(that one either just ate a smurf or discovered a blue piece of chalk. the other one thought that one was hilarious)

and these people:

I will be able to spend a lot more of my time watching those people do these types of things:

And I can look forward to seeing more faces like this:

And give truth to more statements like the one on this t-shirt.

(it reads "my parents are exhausted)

I'm so excited to venture into this new season. I will give it my best. Thank you, Lord, for the chance to homeschool my kiddos!

Nuts

2011-04-01T22:26:00.000-07:00

While talking with Luke on the phone today (he was at work) a series of events transpired. He told me I really needed to blog about this day. So here I go.

The big kids had just come in from playing in the backyard. They had started arguing, so I told them to each play in their own rooms for a while. Michael was tired and starting to fuss. I decided to go ahead and nurse him so that he could take a good long nap (wishful thinking in our moving house). About 3 minutes into nursing his eyes are growing very heavy. When the phone rings he stirrs, but settles again as Luke and I get into our conversation. Minutes pass, Micheal's eyes are sweetly shut as he eats. Suddenly, a rush of chilly morning air blows into the living room as the backyard door flings open. It seems the door was not shut all the way. Mandie runs in to shut the door. Baby is startled, eyes open, but he manages to find sleep again after a moment of readjustment on his part and a few choice words spoken in baby babble. Minutes pass. Baby almost down for the count, "Mommy, I'm all done pooping" Matthew yells from the bathroom. My choice is to either make Matthew wait probably 10 or 15 more minutes on the pot for a wipe, or set the baby down to clean him up and then start over with baby. I know that if I choose the first option I will hear "Mommy! I'm all done pooping!" every 20-30 seconds which will undoubtedly wake up Michael anyway, so I opt to put him down to take care of his brother. When I come back for Michael it seems he has a second wind, he shows no interest in sleep or food at this point and he begins another exciting adventure crawling and pulling up, finding and tearing apart, grabbing and pulling over. You get the idea.

I feel like I spent the next hour finding him.

Finding him with a piece of chalk in his mouth 3 times, It seems the big M's did not put the chalk lid back on after drawing.

Finding him with a handful of dirt from the potted plant in his mouth twice. This one I can't blame on the kids, but I just don't have another place to put those darn potted plants.

Finding him stuck under end tables.

Finding him with dry eraser marker marks on his face (thanks M2 for not putting the lid back on that one!)

It was nuts.

The dude is everywhere.

This is life right now.

It's nuts. But it's good.

Also, here are some of my favorite pictures from March. My Aunt and Uncles came to visit!

Potato Bud!!

2011-03-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

YESSSSS!!!

The potatoes that we planted a few weeks ago because they had already started to sprout in the pantry are budding in the garden!!!!!!

HORRAAYY!!!

C'mon lettuce, onions, and carrots! You can do it!

I can just see the pot roast bubbl'n in the slow cooker now . . .

A Doozy . . .

2011-03-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Just to warn you this may be a doozy of a post. All of the things on my mind are swirling around; I will attempt to get them down in a readable manner.

First up, an overwhelming need to glorify God for the healing he has allowed me to experience must be satisfied. It is so hard for me to just type this up like anything else I might blog about, because I know that it is so much more. I'm talking healing, cured, no longer feeling any symptoms of arthritis. Today I was able to be so active, and feel good while moving. I can jump, run, skip, hop, and most amazingly to me . . . snap my fingers! I simply can't describe how deep into healing my body is going, and I am most grateful that my spiritual and emotional healing has followed suit. Thanks be to God that I'm no longer a slave to my sin, by His wounds and His grace and His forgiveness and mostly His unending patience I am healed! Hope fills my heart when I think about my future, gratitude fills my heart when I think about my past.

The next topic on my mind: homeschooling! I liken the way we fell into homeschooling to the way we fell into homebirthing. Growing up I never imagined I would do either one. Researching each has enlightened me to the fact that I simply do not have to do things the way everyone does things, and the fact that doing things the way everyone does things is not always the best thing to do (I feel like I just wrote a line from Winnie the Pooh . . . oh bother!) Anyway, the kids and I are all so excited to begin this journey, and in many ways we already have. Many moons ago when I was running track at ACU, Coach used to have us start our 200's about 15 feet ahead of the start line. That way, by the time we got to the start line and he began the timer we were already at full speed and we could shave a second or two off of our time. I think he did this mostly to build our confidence by improving our times during practice. In a sense, I am doing the same thing with homeschooling. We officially will not start homeschooling until the fall when the rest of the world starts school, but we are gradually building up speed so that by the time school starts, we (at least I) will be confident in what we are doing. When it comes to homeschooling here's what I know:

I know that I want to use Charlotte Mason as my homeschooling inspiration. I love that she puts a big emphasis on environment, on building good habits in children, on using living books, and on studying nature and the arts as well as the three R's.
I know that the most important thing for me to do this year is to teach Mandie how to read and to inspire her to love to read. If the girl can read there is nothing she can't learn. This week Mandie read her first book. It is about a cat who patted a rat and then they both ran. None of the words in her book were longer than three letters, but you've got to start somewhere!
I know that homeschooling is giving me a peaceful easy feeling. I find so much comfort in knowing that I get an extra 35 hours a week to spend with my kids. To teach them, to shape them, to form them, to inspire them, and to live with them. It feels like such a gift.
I know that I am most worried about becoming some kind of slob who doesn't know if it's Tuesday or Friday and hasn't bathed or changed clothes for days on end. I will definetly miss the days that we get up and get dressed and I go to work for a few hours. I am planning on making a big effort to get involved with plenty of extra-curricular activites to keep us out and about, and to inspire us all to keep up our personal hygiene routines!!!
I know I want to name our school. I don't know what exactly that will be yet, but I have some ideas swirling around in my mind.

Hmmmm, I guess this post wasn't such a doozy after all. Everything on my mind boiled down to simply two main topics, and now that it's all out there I can think of nothing else to say.

Matthew's Favorite Come-Back

2011-03-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

If you are under the age of around 25 and get a chance to spend any time with Matthew, you may hear his favorite come-back. It usually goes something like this.

1. Someone other than Matthew playing with something that Matthew wants to play with
2. Matthew says "Can I play with that"
3. Other person says:
          "NO!"
          "I'm playing with it"
          "No sir, this is not a kid's toy"
          or some other form of no
4. Matthew makes is most patheticly sad whiney face and says "But I wanted to play with that!!!"
5. Then he throws out is come-back with all the sass of a sixteen year old girl, "WELL, YOU'RE NOT IN CHARGE!!! GOD'S IN CHARGE!!!!"

Oh, how we as parents try our best to teach our little one's about God. I guess they put all the pieces together along the way.

Blue Skies and Rainbows

2011-03-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

I know all of you "Church of Christ" people will appreciate this little tale:

Last night we went to eat with Luke's side of the familia at Blue Sky. I guess when she heard where we were eating, the song Blue Skies and Rainbows got into Mandie's little head and she started belting it out in the car on the way there. However, instead of "blue skies and rainbows and sunbeams from Heaven" Mandie had the words wrong in her head. She sang, "blue skies and rainbows and some guy from Heaven". Luke and I just couldn't stop laughing. Silly girl!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

2011-02-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Matthew is already 3!! Holy Moly!! I do love it, though! I am so excited to see how three year old Matthew is different than two year old Matthew as the year progresses! Here are some interesting facts about Matthew as of late:

-He loves to play "tiger tomcat". He thinks they are the coolest animals around, and only he seems to know exactly what they are! One of our "Animals on the Farm" books mentions a tiger tomcat, I guess that's where this whole thing started.
-He loves, loves, loves to sing. He sings himself to sleep in bed at night. He sings in the car. He sings while he plays in the living room. He sings at the table. He makes up some songs. He sings songs he knows. When he wants to learn a song, he will ask me to sing it a hundred times over until he learns the words. His favorite songs are "I love you with the love of the Lord", "How I Love You Child I Love you", "Jesus Loves the Little Children", "The animals came in 2 by 2", and "The Bad Guy Song" that he made up.
-He loves to line up his toys. He lines up his dinosaurs, his cars, rocks outside, pieces of paper, markers . . . everything!
-He loves for his Dad to chase him around and grab him a tickle him.
-He absolutely loves to jump, off of everything and onto everything.
-He thinks swords are awesome.
-He loves potty talk. He can't say the word "toot" without cracking up, and he says it often. He also likes poop, and pootie. This is my least favorite of his likes.
-He loves to take baths. The other day he was lying in the bath tub as still as could be, looking up into the water faucet. He stayed there for like 10 minutes, motionless.
-He loves to make jokes.
-He loves to play with the big boys down the street
-He loves going on walks.
-He loves books.

Happy Birthday Matthew! You are one great kid! I love to watch you grow, play, and learn! You are no longer a toddler, your like a little kid now!! I can't believe it! I can't wait to see who you turn into! I love you so much!
Mom

Attitude Adjustment

2011-02-05T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well, you might think from the title of this post I am going to vent about my 4 1/2 year old, or maybe the almost 3 year old.

Nope.

I've got the attitude problem around here. I think it comes from some kind of inward struggle I am having. I have felt the call from the Lord, I know what His plans are for me and for this family. I know that homeschooling is the journey we will take. But I am feeling the pressure from the world to make my life look like the other young mom's I know. I am feeling the pressure to make my kids "fit in" with the other kids around. I am struggling to keep my focus on the only thing that matters, loving and obeying the Lord. I am feeling a sense of failure because I know to "succeed" at being like every one else is to fail at fullfilling God's call on me.

When I step back, way back, and consider life I realize that things that are not in the Bible just don't matter. The Bible did not instruct us to send our kids to public school. For that matter, the Bible has a lot of negative things to say about the knowledge from the world. The Bible does not teach us to make ourselves and our families great, but it teaches us to make ourselves less.

I guess the ultimate issue going on in my heart, is the division I feel. Part of my heart wants to do what God wants me to do, but my "sinful nature" has such a strong influence over me, telling me to judge myself and my kids by the worlds standards. Hopefully just the awareness of the struggle will keep on the straight and narrow!

It reminds me of the song:

This world is not my home,
I'm just a passing through
If Heaven's not my home,
then, Lord what will I do?
The angels beckon me
to Heaven's open door.
And I can't feel at home
In this world anymore.

And now I am feeling the blessed assurance that with Christ comes freedom. Freedom from the demands, pressures, and critical eye of the world. Freedom to make serving God my only concern. Freedom to find peace and rest in Him.

“The Bible makes no room for the idea of the secular. In biblical worldview, there is only the sacred and the profane, and the profane is just the sacred abused, unkempt, trampled down, trivialized, turned inside out. It is just the holy treated in an unholy way.” ~Buchanan

Kid Stuff I Want to Remember

2011-01-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well, a few important milestones have been reached around here and I want to get them down before I forget when they happened. First of all, Matthew is officially potty trained! Hooray!! I am very proud of my "Big Boy"!

Also, Michael broke his top right tooth yesterday. This is his 3rd tooth. He's such a sweet baby, he just doesn't moan or groan too much even though you can tell he is uncomfortable. Also, he is CRAWLING! Well, sort of crawling. He is getting around. I think it's safe to say that he really is crawling backward, but really just pushing himself around in every other direction. He gets up on all 4's and rocks, and he has started moving his arms in a forward direction, but his rear end just lies flat on the ground when he tries to go forward. I know it's just a matter of time before he is crawling forward. Baby life goes by so very fast!

Also, Mandie get's reading. She has even read a few words on her own. Today she wrote MOM on a piece of paper (I think she knows that these letters make a word because I always put "MOM *hearts* MANDIE on the note in her lunchbox). And she asked me to read what she wrote, I said "Mom, Mandie, you just wrote the word Mom! Great job!!" and you could just see the light come on in her head. It just clicked for her and she was so proud of herself, and I am proud of her as well!

Speaking of Mom, this Mama just donated about a foot of hair to Locks of Love. I'm pretty sure this is the shortest my hair has ever been, but I really do like the change. Luke said it's the first hair cut I've ever gotten that he's actually been able to tell that I got a haircut. I'll have to post a picture later.

I'm so glad to be able to track events on this blog. Goodness knows I would never remember otherwise!

From the Bottom of My Heart

2011-01-16T21:49:00.000-08:00

I guess I just had a rough day today. It was a hard day. I made some bad choices, blamed my husband for things that weren't his fault, and proved to be weak in the area of self discipline and self control. The result of my actions have brought me to a place of self inventory, and a turning of my eyes upon Jesus.

As I look back over the last couple of years, I am literally silenced by the amount of healing and recovery God has allowed me to experience. I am not kidding, this time two and a half years ago I was unable to stand up straight when I got out of bed. I would cry when I had to change a diaper because it hurt my fingers so badly. I couldn't put any weight in the balls of my feet because of the pain. I was angry, bitter, and resentful. And for lack of a better way of putting it, I just didn't know how to live my life. Seriously, I was doing a horrible job at just being alive.

There was some point in all of this when I began to shift my gaze from self hate and self pitty toward the hope that Jesus Christ had not forgotten me, and that he just might be willing to take me back in even though I had not earnestly made him a priority in my life for several years. I did my best to take little awkward steps of faith. I cried my way through church on a weekly basis, especially during praise and worship, for 2 months solid as I realized how great my need was for someone to save me from my darkness. I was able to see how proud and puffed up I had become. I was able to see how flawed my perception of people was, I would judge them. But I began to see that the Lord does not see people that way, he sees people through eyes of love and grace.

I began to pray more and read my Bible. The Lord really used the Word to speak to me. He made his will for me so clear and so plain. At that time I knew that what he wanted me to do was teach Physical Education at the King's Academy. I was scared to death to apply for that job. I was afraid the person hiring would simply look at me like I was some kind of joke and say, "Now don't be silly, Cassie. We both know that you are in no condition to be teaching anyone about physical education. You can hardly move!" And the truth is that that is exactly what should have happened. However, the Lord in all of his perfect faithfulness sent me into an interview with a woman that He had already worked on, and she told me that she thought I was supposed to be there, too. I had the job. I walked away from that interview more scared and excited than I have ever been in my life. And I was so grateful, and so shocked that the Lord could, or would, use me at all. My life started over at that point. I had stepped out in faith for God, and He did not leave me out in the cold.

I have been teaching at the King's Academy for a year and a half now. I love my job. I love the people I work with. And I love the kid's that I teach, even though their circumstances have truly broken my heart. I have a large percentage of students who come to school sick; be it a headache, or stomache ache or whatever. This is the result of their parents smoking "black stuff", which I won't describe here, or some other drug that the child is exposed to. Many have mouths that are full of rotted teeth. Two sisters have a mother that was working as a prostitute when school started last year. Many stuff their faces full at breakfast because they were not fed dinner the night before. One over eats and ends up throwing up many times a week.One came to school one day last year with a cigarette burn on his arm from his father. Many live in small homes with ten to fifteen other people. One of our families has 11 chilren, a family that CPS is most interested in at the moment. Most have no respectable male presence in their lives. I have a very, very, very, strong suspicion that one boy is being "mistreated" by his mom's new boyfriend and last week took my concern to the new administrator. All are in desperate, desperate need of the saving power of the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Being at the King's Academy has been a wonderful opportunity for me to do work for God. I think the Lord has used that time to teach me how to live. More than that, I should probably say how not to live. I care for kids every day who are simply not cared for enough by their own family. They are exposed to drugs, sex, violence, and a complete and total lack of reverent, holy living. They are so very poor. And they are very likely to repeat the life that their parents have modeled for them. I pray that they are able to break the curse, and live a different way than the example given to them by their parents.

My time teaching at the King's Academy has caused me to reflect upon myself as a parent. It seems so strange to me that someone else is watching my kids while I am watching someone else's kids. Every day I see a powerful picture from the student's, a picture depicting what happens to kids when their parent's fail to train them, guide them, teach them, direct them. And I can feel the Lord convicting me again. He convicts me as a parent. I know that the most important thing for me to do in this world is to love the people God has put in my home with me. To love them, train them, share with them, and go through experiences together with them so that they will learn to view the world through the Lord's lenses.

That is why after a long while of consideration, Luke and I have decided to homeschool our children. We are strongly convicted that this is the Lord's will for our family, and we feel that this is the best we can do for our children. Next year I will no longer be working at The King's Academy, but I will still be trusting in and following the guidance of God. I am so glad that I can trust him. He has been so very faithful to me. The fact is that in the past seven days I have been able to feel great with little aid from my homeopathic anti-inflammatory pills. I have been on a run and two walks. I have been able to hop out of bed without any thought of pain. I truly feel that the Lord is healing me. And I am grateful beyond words. As my mother in law put it, I am like a walking testimony. Even I can't believe how sick I used to be in light of how good I feel now. When I sit back and really remember the work of his hand in my life, it causes me to re-commit myself to Him. It makes me realize that I have no reason to act the way I acted today; no reason to waste whatever time I have doing anything less than my God's holy standards.

Dear Lord, I thank you with all of my being for saving me from my sin. I thank you for saving me from my sick body. I thank you for teaching me how to live. You are so worthy of all of the praise, all of the glory, and all of the honor. You are so trustworthy. You are faithful. Thank you for taking me in. Please continue to save souls and change lives. Please use this testimony in any way you want. In Jesus wonderful name, Amen.

Thursday's Wednesday in the Word

2011-01-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

I tried doing this last night, but it did not work. Luckily tonight blogger is in business.

Ephesians 2:8-10

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Now get up, get going, go do those good things people!!

Haney Holiday Pictures

2011-01-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

Some more Christmas favorites:

I love Michael's face in this one!

Do you think Matthew is ready to go inside for a hot chocolate break?

Silly Christmas Faces :)

2011-01-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Michael cut his bottom two teeth a couple of weeks before these pictures were taken. These silly Christmas faces are what you get when you are 5 months old and you like to feel your new teeth:

Except this next one, this is just one happy baby.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wednesday in the Word

2010-12-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

Romans 12 (New Living Translation)
A Living Sacrifice to God

1 And so, dear brothers and sisters,[a] I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.[b] 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

3 Because of the privilege and authority[c] God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.[d] 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection,[e] and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.[f] 12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them. 15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!
17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say,
“I will take revenge;

I will pay them back,”[g]

says the Lord.
20 Instead,
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them.

If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

In doing this, you will heap

burning coals of shame on their heads.”[h]
21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

This chapter is so packed, I could go on and on about it. However, I think I will simply let these words speak for themselves. I find the last verse "Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good" especially powerful. Thank God for His Word!

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

2010-12-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

This Christmas has been a wonderful blessing for me and our family! We spent Christmas Eve with the Chaffins this year, which is a rare treat because usually Christmas Eve is reserved for Luke's side of the family. However this year things were a little different to accomodate late arrivals from out of town. On Christmas Eve, we met my parents at a methodist church for a candle light Christmas Eve service. Mandie and Matthew got to work on their manger stickers during the preaching, then we all sang Christmas carrols with the congregation, then we passed the fire from person to person. M&M's favorite part was holding the fire. Whitney held little Michael during the service, and he slept in her arms most of the time. While he was preaching, the preacher mentioned a verse out of the book of Luke. Matthew had been very busy with his stickers, but when he heard the word "Luke" his head shot up and his eyes grew wide and he exclaimed in a voice loud enough for at least 3 rows in either directions to hear: "LUKE! He is talking about my DADDY!" Matthew is really freaking me out right now because he seems so big! I can see the toddler in him turning more and more into a big kid every day. We all returned home to my parents house to pop our traditional poppers and then eat a bite. Then Robin, Dickie, and Grandmother came by for a quick visit. While they were there Whitney read a Christmas book by Max Lucado and the story of the birth of Jesus out of the book of Matthew. Alas, it was time for the kids to open their presents. My mom went with the Disney princess theme for Mandie and the Toy Story 3 theme for Matthew. Little Michael had no theme. Thankfully, however, he could care less as long as he is well loved and well fed. We really enjoyed seeing Aunt LaJean during this time, she is such a treat to have around at Christmas time. We went home and put out milk and cookies for Santa and threw reindeer food on the lawn. Then we all gathered on Matthews bed to sing jingle bells about 10 times before calling it a night.

The next morning was Christmas morning. Luke and I woke up before the kids and hurried to get the camera and the video camera ready to see the expressions on the kid's faces when the discovered that Santa had actually come to see them. We had been ready for a while when Luke decided he was tired of waiting on them to wake up, so he went in to wake them up. It took them a few minutes to find their presents, because Santa had left them by the fireplace and not under the tree. I guess he was in quite a hurry because he left the doors to the fireplace open on his way out. M&M were very good this year, and Santa treated them well. He left them a Melissa and Doug art Easel, stockings full of little trinkets, a Littlest Pet Shop House for Mandie, and a Transformer for Matthew. Michael also got a little toy and a stocking full of bathtub toys. Luke and I both recieved a pack of mixed nuts in out stockings, apparently Santa was not as pleased with us as he was with our children!! After playing all of Christmas morning with our goodies, we all went down for a long Christmas day nap (praise the Lord!) and then we headed over to the Grand Parent's house on Luke's side. On the way over we were listening to The Chipmunks rendition of "All I want for Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth" and decided to take the CD in with us so that Mandie and Matthew could sing it for everyone for Christmas. That was pretty cute, at first they were a little shy, but as the song went on they got more and more comfortable and they were laughing and singing like silly gooses! They even got up on MiMi's coffee table to use as a stage. However the best part by far was when Matthew elected to turn around and pull down his pants for no apparent reason after the song was over. Apparently he wanted to show everyone the big boy underwear he got in his stocking that morning from Santa. We opened presents and ate a delicious gluten free meal (thank you so much MiMi for going gluten free for me!) MiMi and G-Dad got M&M&M some little rocking chairs with their names on them. They are really cute, I'll have to post a picture later. Then all of the Cooper's came over to listen to the guys play and sing. I am so blessed to be married to such a talented musician! Luke, your skills on the piano and guitar are truly amazing! It was a real treat this year because the little cousins are old enough now to hold a microphone and sing along while their dads play. That was really fun! Matthew and Noah really played hard that night, it makes me look forward to Matthew, Noah, Michael, and Micah all playing together as they grow up! I was able to sneak away for a few minutes for a Christmas walk that I really enjoyed. I think overall everyone was really able to celebrate the birth of Christ! Praise the Lord!!

I spent most of today un-Christmasing our house. I gotta say, it' looks a little bare and it really needs to be vacuumed! There are little green pieces of Christmas tree and other random greenery all over the floor! We are still looking forward to the New Year's celebration coming on New's Year's day. I am so glad every year to have a chance to give and recieve with our family, and more than that the opportunity to teach my children about the birth of Jesus Christ. At the candle light service, all the kids gathered on stage to hear the reading of a kid's book entitled "Love Came Down and Christmas". I didn't pay a lot of attention to the actual book, but I was deeply moved by the title. On Christmas night so many years ago, God sent love down to earth in the form of Jesus Christ. Love did come down at Christmas, Praise the Lord for Jesus! For the life He led, the death He endured, and the example He gave! Thank You Lord.

Mandie Can Read, in a manner of speaking . . .

2010-12-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

We have a Christmas decoration that consists of 3 rows of words made out of wooden blocks:
JOY on top,
NOEL in the middle,
PEACE on bottom,
and a Santa Clause rests on top of all of these words.

The other day, the blocks had been played with so I was telling Mandie the order to put the letters in so that the words would be readable again. When we got to "NOEL" I thought it was pretty simple phonically speaking, so we began sounding out the noises of the letters and this is what transpired:

Mandie: "nnnnnO . . . . . eeeelllllllll

nnnnnO . . . . . eeeellllllll

I GOT IT! . . . ELNO! I can read!!"

Of course, you can imaging what "ELNO" sounds like.

It was hilarious!!

So maybe we have a ways to go in the world of reading, we'll get there :)

The Exception

2010-12-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

Last night was not a regular night for us Haneys. Mandie and Matthew were both sick. Thank the Lord, they are rarely sick . . . but I guess last night was the exception. Mandie had a slight cough and a low grade fever, Matthew caught a stomach bug. At 10:30 he walked out into the living room where Luke and I were enjoying a bowl of popcorn, to inform us that he had spit up in his bed. The amount of throw up was almost indescribable, and for your sake I'll opt out of an effort to really make you see the picture. After a bath, new sheets, new jammies, and some teeth brushing Matthew was tucked snuggly back into bed. Luke and I thought we could settle back on the couch, except we had to repeat the above process 3 more times that night.

Usually when it's the middle of the night and I've been up taking care of my kid's, I get a little irritable. I think this is because of my desperate desire for sleep. But, last night must have been the exception . . . because by God's grace my witt's stayed intact throughout.

Later in the night, Mandie woke up coughing and wheezing a bit. Usually she's an awesome sleeper, but last night was the exception. After a little dose of medicine and some TLC she was back to dream land.

Michael has always been a great sleeper as well. In fact at around 3 months he was sleeping 12 hours a night most nights of the week. The last couple of weeks have really been the exception to that, because he's been cutting his first two teeth. Last night he was up at 4 for a quick meal, and then back to bed as well.

Man, having sick kids can be rough . . . although it is such a joy and a privilage to snuggle, and rock, and cuddle those snottly little babies in the middle of the night. Yes, that would definetly be the exception!

Michael's 1st Month in Pictures

2010-11-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

It was so fun for me to look back and see the pictures I do have of my little baby. He is so precious. He seems so different now than he did for these pictures. Thank you Lord for making this little guy!

Daddy giving M3 his first fingernail trim:

M3 with uncle Jake

The 1st time Mandie and Matthew saw the little guy. This was the morning after he was born. Mandie gave him a pink pillow to lay on.

M3 with Nana Jana:

M3 with his cousin Whitney

M3 with his Great Grandmothers, Dora and Donna:

M3 with his Mama:

M3 with Aunt Tynetta:

My growing family

Mandie loving on her newest brother:

I just love newborn feet. They are so indicative of a brand new baby . . .

Matthew kissing his little brother:

M3 and MiMi

M3 in the sling after I took him on a walk, it just looks like I'm pregnant again!

Hey little guy, I love you so much. You have been a joyous addition into our family! I am so glad you are here, I am so enjoying watching you grow! You are the easiest baby on earth, thank you! I love you so!

Love, Your Mama

Halloween :)

2010-11-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Halloween was really fun this year. Mandie and Matthew love dressing up, and Michael just loves everything!!

This year Mandie decided to be a Southern Bell. We found her outfit at Target, she knew it was the one the minute she laid her little blue eyes on it. We spent some time practicing her Southern accent. If someone asked her what she would be for halloween, she occassionally replied, "I'm gowna bee a Suthern Bell, Ya'll" in a really high pitched voice that would require my interpretation. I thought it was precious.

A few weeks ago, Matthew decided to borrow the next door neighbors old puppy dog outfit for halloween. It was really cute and he LOVES playing 'puppy', so it seemed like the perfect costume for him. However, when the time came to put the puppy outfit on for the Fall Festival, Matthew began stripping down . . . and I mean all the way down. He was very decided that there should be no underclothing of any kind under the puppy outfit. I mean puppy's don't wear underwear, why should he?! Anyway, when I made it clear to him that he must wear either underwear or a pull-up, he decided to be a cowboy for the fall festival, and then later a shark for halloween day.

Michael wore Mandie's old pumpkin outfit and a Monkey outfit from Nana Jana.

Now for the pictures~

Happy Halloween!

Say click, take a pic . . . or not

2010-10-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

It seems to me that having three kids isn't really that much different than having two. I always tell people it's not harder, it's just more of the same. However, the main difference in my experience is that Michael's sweet life is not being recorded in the same manner as the other two. Mandie had an entire website devoted to pictures of her for the first year of her life. We took literally 200-300 pictures of that girl every single week. Some of you may think this is crazy, but I bet a lot of you did the same thing with your sweet little #1 as well. Although Matthew didn't have a website devoted to him, he's got about a million pictures on the computer, and I've done a lot of blogging about that boy! Michael on the other hand, definetly has pictures but no where near as many as either of the other two. And most of his pictures are shared with the other two. Now this might sound crazy, but I don't think this is really such a bad thing. This is a really busy time in my life, and the lack of pictures proves it. Praise the Lord for children, and more so for families. And for a sweet little boy who smiles at the rest of his crazy family while we run around living our life.

The Old Gray Mare

2010-09-09T11:49:00.000-07:00

There was a period of time in my life that was different than this time in my life.

The times have changed.

Things are different now.

I ain't what I used to be.

And 30 minutes on the elliptical has made that fact abundantly clear.

Oh well.

Life Right Now

2010-09-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

It may go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: since the birth of my 3rd child, my life has been a lot busy! I find myself with practically no time for this business of blogging! However tonight I am going to take a few moments to record my thoughts.

Having Michael is a wonderful blessing! He really is a happy baby, he makes all of those precious baby expressions, and all of the little baby noises. When he was younger his Dad would call him "Billy Goat" because of the noises he made, but now he's more of a cooer. He is growing so much! After wrestling his arms out of a onesie tonight I made the official decision that he's outgrown his 3 month clothes. He is content most of the time. He loves to give big smiles to anyone who will pay him an ounce of attention. He's been sleeping about 6-7 hours at night. He's awesome! He fits perfectly into this family, and I'm honored to be his Mama!

Matthew is a mess lately. He is deep into two-ness, which truly isn't all that bad. Here is an illustration. Today we were all eating watermelon. When the watermelon was gone, Matthew lost his will to live, fell on the floor, and cried the saddest cry you've ever heard. About this time I informed him that we would soon be eating spaghetti for dinner, at which point he grinned a huge smile from ear to ear, "we are!! YAY!!!" Then he continued to play happily. He's a cute, silly, mess! Who is so close to being potty trained . . . if he could just be a dependable potty pooper we'd be there!

Mandie is the sweetest thing on earth! A couple of months ago she decided to ask Jesus into her heart. Because she's only four, I didn't put a lot of pressure on her about this decision. I sort of played it down, in case it turned out that she simply had not understood what she had done. But she is quite sure that He's in there, and tonight she completely immersed herself in bathtub water and came up announcing that she had just baptized herself. For those of you who have ever seen Mandie try to go underwater at the pool, you know what a big deal this is! I really don't want to push her in this area, I want her decisions to follow the Lord to be her own decisions, but that girl knows what she wants, and she loves her Lord! I am so grateful for her heart for God!

Luke and I are great, for two completely exhausted individuals! This week was his first week at his new office. He really enjoys being there, but it does take a lot of work and a lot of time at the get-go. He has been so convicted throughout the process of changing offices that the Lord was completely guiding him to the place he is at now. Because of his assurance that this was God's will at God's time, it has been the most peaceful, non-stressful transition I could imagine. Why worry when your trust is in the Lord? Even if things don't go perfectly, we feel the Lord's will is being done, which is the ultimate goal anyway!

I started back at school this week. I'm only working 3 days a week from about 8 until noon. The schedule is ideal! I have a little window of time to nurse the baby just before it's time to teach. The group of kids at school is quite a mix. Some of them come from christian homes in which there parents are so caring and so in love with the Lord, others come from broken homes and bad choices by there parents. They are all there together, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the Lord grows the seeds inside these kids this year! Today at church our school janitor, and her husband were baptized. There son is in the kindergarten class at school. I love it when the Lord uses children to bring entire families to him!

Goodnight!

A Mandie Moment

2010-08-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about Mandie is that she knows what she wants. She is not one who has a hard time deciding what she likes, what she thinks is good, or which one is the best. It's great! Her opinion is strong. Occassionally, believe it or not, Mandie will feel quite strongly that something I have done, said, or enforced is not a good idea in her opinion. And, of course, she generally has no problem telling me all that is wrong with what I have done. I am grown, and I usually have confidence that I am making a good decision despite her remarks, but occasionally it will get to me when she is unhappy with me for long periods of time. But last night in the car, my little girl made my day and she didn't even know it.

Mandie: Matthew, what do you want to be when you grow up?
Matthew: I want to be a (some word no one could understand) duy. (duy means guy)
Mandie: I want to be a princess when I grow up.

Mandie: And then after I'm a princess I want to be a runner girl.

Mandie: And then after I'm a runner girl, I want to be a teacher.

Those words are precious to me. Although I was never a princess, I was once a runner girl, and now I am a teacher. It's good to know that even though she's displeased with me much of the time, Mandie looks up to me, she's proud of me, it's a great feeling!

I love you little girl!

Mandie's Birthday Blog

2010-08-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

Mandie and Elli

Birthday Girl

Daddy and Matthew

Family Picture

Birthday Girl

Princess Cake

Oh Blog Land

I am so very behind on some major family blogging! I guess there's no time like the present to get those important moments on the blog!! This is a post dedicated to Mandie turning 4 years old on June 4, 2010. I can't believe it, but I love it! The older she gets, the more I love my sweet child! These are some pictures from her party. She wanted a swimming party with a princess cake . . . you got it girlie!

Mr. Mason
Dusty and Mason

Hayden

Brooklyn

Elli Jay

the Princess Cake

Mama

Emma Kate

Noah Paul

Matthew

The Birthday Girl!

opening presents

happy friends

To my Mandie,

You are such a special creation of the Lord. He was having such a fun day

when he made you, and I am so honored to be your mother. I simply can't explain the responsibility I feel towards you. To teach you what's right, to impress upon you the love the Lord has for you, to be an example for you, to provide fun experiences for you, to provide educational experiences for you, to provide a pleasant atmoshpere for you. Oh sweet girl, I love you so much. More than I think you will ever know! I know you can't understand it now, but truly everything I do for you is what I think is best for you in the long run. I hope you understand it someday, and I hope you are glad. Your Dad and I are so proud of you, and we just can't wait to see the person you continue to become! You are God's special treasure, created for Him, by Him. Your smile can brighten a room, your humore can bring a silly laugh to any situation. We love you and we are so glad that you are our child!

Love,

Your Mama!

Matthew's Dinner Prayer

2010-07-16T06:29:00.000-07:00

Now I lay me . . .

For our food . . .

Christ's name . . .

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAmen

Chunk

2010-07-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

In 2 weeks and 2 days, Michael has gained 2 pounds and 10 ounces.

He was born at 7.4. He is now 9.14.

When he was born, he was 19 inches long. He is now 21 inches long.

I'm thinking it's safe to say this kid is going to be a chunk!

A Home Birth Story

2010-07-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

This post is the story of Michael's birth. It may be a little too much information for some, but I want to remember the events of his birth. So read at your own risk.

I love having babies at home. Mandie was born in our home in Pearland. Matthew was born in our home on Royal Rd. And Michael was born in the home we are in now. For each pregnancy and birth, I have had a different midwife. Not because I was ever unhappy with any of them, but because either we, or our midwife, seems to move away when it's time to have a baby. Mandie's labor and delivery was very long and very difficult. Her little baby body had to pave the way for the rest of them, which were much shorter and much easier deliveries.

The list of reasons why I prefer a home birth over a hospital birth is not short, so I won't go over all the gaping details and statistics here. However, if you would like to know more about home birth statistics (which are very impressive) you can read about them in a wonderful book entitled The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. Or you could probably just google them. For me, homebirth means peaceful, calm, dark, and quiet labor. It means I get to choose where and with whom I labor. It means I get to be in complete control of my atmosphere. It means a very low drama delivery. And don't get me wrong . . . I am one low drama mama!

Michael's birth was different than the other two in a number of ways. For one, he came 11 days early. In fact, his due date is today, July 3rd. Mandie was born two days late, and Matthew was born on his due date. Two days before Michael's birth, I spent the better part of a Sunday afternoon and evening having contractions. Luke and I were celebrating our seven year anniversary. We were staying the night at the ambassador, which is where we spent our first night as a married couple. I started having contractions at about 5 o'clock, just as we sat down to eat dinner at TGIF. They continued through the evening. We went to medi park to walk around, we went to marble slab for ice-cream, we walked around the hotel. When we finally settled in for the night, the contractions stopped, but they had certainly done some work. The next day Leah, my midwife, came over to check me. She informed us that I was about 90% effaced and three centimeters dialated. Also, she was concerned because Michael's hand was up by his head. This is called a nuchal presentation, and it's not what you want because it can easily translate into long and hard labor and delivery . . . and tearing. Leah tried to move the hand, but it didn't work for more than a few minutes.

The next day (Tuesday) I took the kids up to church because we like to be up there helping out on Tuesday mornings. I was on my feet all morning at church, and then I joined a friend from church on a visit to Splash (that's Amarillo's water park). We had a great time. Everyone at church and at splash was a little concerned that I was doing all of this at 3 centimeters dialated, but I was not having any contractions . . . and I was thinking I was still a day or two away from birth. Later that afternoon, Leah came by to try to move that pesky hand away from Michael's face again. She was successful, and we put a belly band around my tummy to keep the hand down. Well that really did the trick! Soon after Leah left I began having mild contractions that lasted the rest of the day. At around 10:30 I decided to hit the sack, and I assumed the contractions would probably stop when I went to bed like the had done before. I went to the bathroom before going to bed, and noticed some blood in the pot. I called Leah to tell her and she asked if she could come check me. I said sure. She arrived about 15 minutes later. During that 15 minutes I had several more serious contractions on the birth ball (this was my first time to labor with a birth ball~that ball was my best friend!) When she checked me I was 8 centimeters dialated. It was at this moment I realized I would be having a baby that evening.

The next hour and 10 minutes went very quickly. I labored on the ball for a few more contractions until I decided a salt bath would be more comfortable. I got in the bath for some REALLY intense contractions. I remember doing a lot of groaning, and saying "Help me, Lord" about a hundred times. I knew I was very close at this point, and I could not wait to feel the urge to push. Those last few dialation contractions are the worst part of labor (besides crowning of course!) but they are short lived.

Finally it was time to push, so push I did. Michael came out looking a little purple to me. I expressed my concern to Leah, and she assured me that he looked perfectly normal and that he would turn pink very shortly. I made the comment that purple or pink, Mandie's going to love him! At this point I replaced "Help me, Lord" with "I love you, baby" and spoke it at least a hundred times as well. Before long the placenta was out. Michael was deemed healthy and perfect, and soon both of our parents were over to love on our newest blessing. When they left, we hit the sack. We woke up the next morning as a family of five. M&M brought Michael all of their favorite toys for him to play with. It was a wonderful, joyous day in our house.

We were filled with gratitude to God. Awestruck by the process of pregnancy and birth, by the creation of family, by the means the Lord uses to accomplish his tasks! We praise Him for Michael. We respect what it means to be a family. We feel the weight of the responsibiltiy we have to teach our new son to do what's right, and to love and fear the Lord. We thank God for the health and safety of Michael and I.

Praise be to God, My Father, who daily bears my burdens

2010-06-28T20:55:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday

I went from this . . .

To this . . .

PRAISE THE LORD!

Welcome to the world Michael Thomas Haney!

Baby News and Picture Day!!

2010-06-19T19:22:00.001-07:00

Well, yesterday evening I had an appointment with my midwife.

Heartrate ~ check

Pee stick ~ check

Blood pressure ~ check

Measurement of uterus ~ baby has dropped!

Palpatation to determine position of baby ~ baby has dropped on top of his fist which is now stuck on top of his head!

This, my dear friends, is not what the impending laborer wants to hear. This, my friends, is what causes long . . . oh so long. . . labors that are sort of "on again off again" do to uneven pressure caused by that little hand! And this, friends, is known to lead to tears during birth (not always, but often). So, my midwife is coming over on Monday to try to get that sweet little fist OUT OF THE WAY! Before the contractions come rolling in. My prayer is that it works. Please let that be your prayer as well!!

On another note, we had a photographer over today to take pictures of M & M & M. She did such a great job interacting with the kids, getting great shots of them, and being a very happy person to be around. Later tonight, I met her out on a country road to get some belly pictures of just me. (Mandie was there too, but she's a little bit more rock n' roll than she is country, so she just played in the car while I got out into the wheat fields. Occassionally I would hear her call out, "Mommy, I'm ready to go get a drink!").

I'm really excited to see how the pictures turned out. Her name was Leah, and her website is http://www.thesaltedimage.com/ She's awesome!

Big O Belly Pictures a.k.a Can You Say Outtie?!?

2010-06-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

Well, good news . . . I'm not dreary anymore. In fact, I'd say I'm kinda perky. Oh, the ups and downs of hormones. Anyway, Luke did take some pictures, and when I saw them I couldn't believe that this is what I look like. Hope you like the Alfred Hitchcock belly button look. I sport this look every time. Anyway, here they are:

The Lord did such an amazing job when he created bodies, babies, the whole thing is amazing. How lucky we are just to be a part of it all!

Dreary

2010-05-29T06:48:00.000-07:00

Well, I am nearing the end of being pregnant with little Haney #3. And I am officially one tired chick! I have lost all motivation for housework. I'm tired. My joints are swollen. And I feel like being a little whiny about it!! There is so much to do, and I get a spurt of nesting energy about 3 out of every 10 days . . . in which I get a LOT done!! But the rest of the time . . . not so much. I am looking pretty big! I'll get Luke to take a tummy picture to add later. OK, I'm done complaining. Guess I'll go lay on the couch now.

I Love Lucy

2010-05-19T20:25:00.001-07:00

Meet Lucy!!!

Well, technically this is not Lucy.

BUT, Lucy is a beautiful black cow.

Lucy is OUR cow.

Well, technically not all of Lucy is our cow.

We bought a cow share. Now, I know some of you may have a timeshare, in which you own a house in a fun to visit location for a week or two every year. Well, around here we are into cow shares. This means we own enough of Lucy to be entitled to 1 gallon of her precious milk every week. You can learn about cow shares and Lucy's precious milk at Heritage Dairy Farms of Canyon Texas website.

And they called him . . .

2010-05-16T21:45:00.000-07:00

Michael Thomas Haney

Finally we have named our child. We love him. We can't wait to see him. We are so glad the little angel has a name!! 7 weeks to go!

Rainy Day . . . What a Blast!!

2010-05-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

Today was wet. It was rainy. It was cold. It was FUN!

This morning my kids and I headed off to the King's Academy like we do every Friday morning. Mandie was upset because she does not like her KA shirt. But she perked up when I asked her if she wanted to wear her pretty rain coat with hearts all over. I advised her that this might be a good idea . . . because the weather woman said there may be rain today. She happily obliged. Matthew wanted only to wear his brown aviator coat and brown boots that he wears everywhere. I said sure.

When we got to school we had breakfast, then chapel, and then we began to rehearse for our end of school program called "Christian Mother Goose". You might want to put this event on your calendar because being that I am Mother Goose, I totally am the star of the show (HA!). Anyway, at the the end of our program the kids sing this song called Big Big God while the end of year slide show plays in the background. It just so happened that during this time some people from the mayor's office who were accompanied by some people from New York (I'm not quite sure who everyone was really) popped in to tour our school and they were able to sit in on our song and slide show. Does God have timing or what!?! They were impressed with what we were doing there, and they ended up making a very generous, much needed donation to our school when they left! Thank you Lord!!

Then, I got to go on a field trip with the Pre-K and K class to the downtown post office. Lenise was our guide, and she did an excellent job! We were all a little wet and windblown the whole time (except Mandie of course who was wearing her rain coat!). But we learned so much about the mail and had a great time!

Later at school I got to work in Matthew's room a little bit. That's always a treat because usually I don't see him too much during the day. But today I took him to lunch and put him down for his nap. It was fun. PE went well, I had a "breakthrough" with one of the girls who can have a little, OK a LOT of attitude! So that was great!!

On the way home from work I was debating in my mind whether or not to speak the following words to my children, "Hey guys, maybe when we get home we can go for a walk in the rain!" But before I knew it they were out and we were making plans to hit the sidewalk puddles! At first Mandie was just cold, wet, and miserable. However, she eventually decided to splash in a few puddles and before long she was giggling like the little school girl she is. Matthew didn't talk much. But he liked to jump in puddles, and he was smiling the whole time. Sometimes he wanted me to carry him. He wasn't sure what to make of it until it was over. When we returned home we stripped down and hopped in the warm tub to get clean and dry. Then we cut a watermelon in half and began spooning out the sweet, tastey goodness! After the three of us consumed an entire 6 dollar seedless watermelon, Daddy came home from work, we played 'homeschool' (Mandie calls it playing homeschool anytime we do anything halfway educational around here!) by counting out and building with popsickle sticks. Then some family time. Then dinner where we all ended up belting out "Snuggle Puppy" at the table. Then we brushed teeth, put on jammies, and I kissed Matthew off to be tucked in by his Daddy while I tucked in the silliest giggle box on this side of the Mississippi! It was so fun!! I topped off my day by heading to the new drive through Pack A Sak for a 'Turtle' candy bar, and am now spending some relaxing time on the computer. What a fun, wet, silly day!! Thank you Lord!! I hope we can have more days like today.

Make the Girl Laugh, She'll Return the Favor

2010-05-12T17:09:00.001-07:00

When Mandie gets to laughing, and I mean all out belly giggling, hard to breath. lost all control laughing, she has started saying something so funny!

"Oh, _____________(mama, bubba, whoever)!!! You are just cerackin me OUT!!"

So then we all get to going, and before we know it we are all cracked out. Silly, lovable little girl!

All laughter has been greatly appreciated today considering the fact that I threw up all morning, and laid like a wet noodle in bed all afternoon. Hope tomorrow brings recovery!

Make the Girl Laugh, She'll Return tne

2010-05-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Roman Reflections

2010-04-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

These are bits and pieces from Romans 12:

"And so I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind He will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is. . .

Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Stand on the side of the good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically.

Be glad for all God is planning for you. Be patient in trouble, and alays be prayerful. When God's children are in need, be the one to help them out. . .

If people persecute you because you are a Christian, don't curse them; pray that God will bless them. When other's are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share there sorrow. Live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!

Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do your part to live in peace with everyone, as much as possible. . .

Don't let evil get the best of you, but conquer evil by doing good."

I love this. I love that the ways of God are so different, and so vastly better, than the ways of man. This verse depicts an amazing way to live, a life set apart, exciting, run by different standards. But a life that is worthy. Worthy to present to the Lord in the end. There is so much potential in every life. So much time, so many opportunities, and when these moments are acted upon the Lord is the one who is working and moving and doing. He is the one making changes in the lives of those doing the actions, and of those receiving the benefit of the actions. He is changing hearts, opening eyes, and revealing the presence of a very wonderful secret! How sad to miss out on those moments and those opportunities. How exciting to be a player in the game. It seems that if you participate in this life, you are bound to be "transformed into a new person" who has very little in common with the "behavior's and customs of this world". When you look around and things don't look so great, it's wonderful to think that their is a completely different, and superior way to live! Thank you, Lord!!

Mandie's Prayer

2010-04-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

Tucking Mandie in tonight she wanted to say her own prayer. Usually, she makes the requests and I do the actual praying, but tonight was a treat:

"Dear Lord,
Please send an angel to Matthew's room, and Mandie's room, and Mommy and Daddy's room while we sleep. Thank you for flowers. Thank you for Mommy and Daddy and Matthew and Mandie and the baby in Mommy's tummy. And thank you for making all of my parts.
In Jesus name,
Amen."

Boy

2010-04-16T20:03:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I put my little boy to bed.

He was wearing his blue baseball cap.

He was snuggling with Handy Manny.

He was grinning from ear to ear.

Thank you Lord for my precious little boy.

Thank you Lord for my other precious little boy that will be arriving sooner than I realize.

Thank you Lord for family.

Amen!!

The Best Nap Time Ever!

2010-04-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

I am not a Mom who can't wait for naptime. When it comes, great . . . when it's over great. But today after lunch I mentioned to Luke that it might be fun to go for a little spin on his motorcycle around the block after we get the kids down for naps. So after they were snoozin' . . . we were cruisin'! We only rode for about 10 minutes, and we were never more than half a mile away from our house. But I found it to be exhilerating! I had more fun in that 10 minutes than I think I've had in a month!! Then we came home and hit the hay ourselves for about an hour and a half. It was the best nap time ever!!

Kingdom Come

2010-04-04T19:06:00.000-07:00

This morning at church my Sunday school class (ages 2-5) and I were learning about Easter, and we went off on a little tangent about who can enter the Kingdom of God. We were talking about the verse in which Jesus says you have to be like a little child to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Me: What makes a little kid different than a grown up?
Them: uuuuhhhhh???? (no answer)
Me: Do little kids have jobs? Do you have to have a job to get into the kingdom of Heaven?
Them: No. Kids don't have jobs.
Terrianna: Grown ups wear make-up!
Me: Do you have to wear make-up to get into the kingdom of God?
Them: no!
Mandie: Grown ups are married!
Me: Do you have to be married to get into the Kingdom of God?
Them: no!
Curly (this is what they call him, don't know why): They drive cars!
Me: Do you have to drive a car to get into the Kingdom of Heaven?
Them: No!

They said some more things, that I can't remember. It was so funny to hear what they thought the difference between kids and grown ups are. The end of our little tangent went like this:

Me: So what do you have to do to enter God's Kingdom?
Them: you have to be good!
Me: well, it is important to be good! but can we be good all the time? sometimes we do things that aren't good, but we can still go to Heaven to be with Jesus. So what do we have to do?

They did not know the answer to this question. A few gave some answers, but no one really got it.

Me: Ok, I'll tell you. To get into God's Kingdom, you have to believe in Jesus. You have to believe that he came to earth and died for us . . . and then He rose again! He became alive again after he died, so that we can live again after we die! And that is when we go to Heaven, we live there after we have died.

AND

we have to obey Jesus. When we obey Him, we are loving Him.

So to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, we must believe in Jesus, and obey Jesus!

I made them repeat believe and obey a few times out loud. But now, I am here wondering if they really got the message. Do they understand what it means to believe and obey Jesus? Do they know the difference between right and wrong. Most of these kids come to City Church on a van that we send out. Their parents aren't here. Their parents may not believe in Jesus. Their parents are probably teaching them a version of 'right' and 'wrong' that I would not agree with. I hope they got it. I hope the Lord continues to work in their hearts until they come to the end of themselves, and find a new hope and a better life in Him. I hope they know that Jesus will love them where they are. And He will love their parents where they are.

I have the same hopes for my own children. That the Lord will guide and direct their journey, provide them with water for the seed He planted in their hearts. Bring them to a place where they realize that life without Jesus is such a stupid waste of time and effort. That they would surrender their lives to Him, and begin an exciting journey, a life of intensity, purpose, love, and sacrifice. And most of all, that they would know that living for Jesus has nothing to do with wearing make-up, being married, driving a car, getting a great job, having the 'right' friends, being accepted by the world, or any other silly thing that we grown-ups get so easily entangled in.

To live for Jesus, you believe and obey.

"This is the true joy in life,

2010-04-03T06:40:00.000-07:00

the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one . . . the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy."
George Bernard Shaw

This made me think, so I thought I would share.

Happy Easter Weekend!!

Matt's Safari Birthday Bash!

2010-03-21T23:09:00.001-07:00

Matthew's 2nd birthday was 1 month and 10 days ago. I can't believe I am just now posting about my big man and his party! Oh well!!

We had a great time celebrating Matthew's birthday! He was so excited that it was HIS party, because we had been doing some partying that weekend for our friends, and it's more fun when you get to be the one getting sung to and opening the presents!

His party was a safari theme. I had ordered little masks to give out as party favors, they were a hit! We also had limbo, and a tattoo station (thanks Whitney for being in charge of tattooing!) I had big intentions of making a gluten free banana bread birthday cake for his party . . . that was a dis. as. ter! Uncle Jake gave him Optimus Prime the transformer. It's supposed to be for 5 year olds, but all of the 30 year old grown men spent the better part of the party working on that thing with no success until Dad finally did an hour later! I'm sure Matt will have it mastered in no time!

Since the cake didn't work out, we took Matthew to walmart and let him pick out his own cookies. He picked yellow and blue. For lunch on his birthday we asked him what he wanted to eat. He said sausage. So we went to Ihop, he was happy. He also got to eat sausage for breakfast that morning. The boy loves his sausage!

These are little facts about Matt:

It seems like he talks like a 5 year old. Anyone who watches him always says something like "Wow, he's quite a talker for such a little guy!" I guess that's what you get when you've got your big sister talking to you about everything under the sun 24/7. It's kind of funny though because I think he looks a little younger than he is because he's a little on the short side, but he talks so well that it seems to leave people confused. It's funny.
He does not have the 'terrible two's', but he does have what I have called the 'argumentative two's' . He likes to argue. He doesn't throw fits really, he just negates very word out of your mouth. For example, you could say "Matthew you are so silly" and he will reply with his eyebrows pointed down and a frowny, " no I'm naahhhwut!" The word 'not' always comes out really hicky sounding! He will also completely change views in an argument just for the sake of keeping the argument going. "I love you Matthew", "No you don't!!!", "I don't love you Matthew", " Yes you do!!!". Yup, we are in the midst of the argumentative two's alright!!
When he starts laughing, he will bring the whole family to their knees in laughter! His laugh is hilarious! It's like a high-pitched giggle, and he always runs out of breath. It's funny!!
He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES, his stuffed animals right now. Namely his puppies. He carries them around, tucks them into bed, puts them by him when it's time to eat. Pushes them in Mandie's baby strollers. However, he's not into sleeping with them. When it's time to sleep, he could care less about those puppies.
His favorite color is blue. He loves blue, and he likes pink. I think he has no choice but to like pink with a sister who has the pink version of everything on earth!
He thinks he is a big man. If you say something like, "Hey little guy", he'll come back with, "I'm NOT little! I'm bid!" And sometimes he'll do something good and say, "I'm the MAN!" He gets that from me, because I call him the man all the time.
He loves boots. He has worn nothing but navy blue snow boots all winter long!
He loves playing outside.
He loves his Daddy, and being around men.
He'll give you "knucks", that's where you push your fist into someone else's fist.
He like's to play like he's the Big Bad Wolf.

I love my son with all of my heart. It is an honor to teach him, a joy to spend time with him, and a privilege to be his Mommy! He's a wonderful little brother, and I'll know he'll be an awesome big brother, too! Thank you God for Matthew, thank you for my precious little boy!!

Here are some pictures from his party:

Secure in His Masculinity

2010-03-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

Only the most secure of men could pull off a look like this . . .

or this . . .

I kind of think he looks like the tooth fairy in that pink one.

Whose afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

2010-03-21T22:28:00.001-07:00

Mandie and I have been having a lot of very interesting discussions lately. It all started a few weeks ago when my mom let her take home my old "Little Red Riding Hood" book and doll. It's really pretty neat, the doll can morph into Red, the Big Bad Wolf, and Grandma all with the change of a hat or the flip of a skirt. I remember taking that doll and book to show and tell in elementary school, and Mandie really loves reading the book and acting out the story with her doll.
However, it seems that she has developed a rather serious wolf-phobia after all that reading and role playing! So now, at night she will usually say something like, "Mommy, are there any wolves in our house?" and I'll calmly reassure her that real wolves live far away from houses out in the wild. They just don't like it in houses with the people. Then we will say our prayer that the Lord will send an angel to stay in Mandie's room and watch over her while she sleeps to keep her safe. This prayer has brought on a lot of discussion about angels and what they are like, I'll go more into that in a minute.
Then her Dad will come in to kiss her goodnight, and she'll say something like, "Daddy, make sure you lock all the doors so no wolves come in our house." Then her heroic Father will respond with something brave like, "What! There will be no wolves wandering around in this house! Your Daddy eats wolves for breakfast! In fact, I'm kinda hungry right now. I'm going to go check around for wolves so I can cook'em up and eat 'em if I find 'em." All of which Mandie finds quite delightful!
OK, back to angels. Last night I was reading in Mark about right after Jesus was baptized. He was led by the Holy Spirit to spend 40 days in the wilderness with the wild animals, but he was kept safe from them by angels. I read it to Mandie today so that she would see that Jesus is protected from wild animals by angels, and because we are His children too, we can also receive that protection. When Mandie heard this news her eyes opened wide and she was so excited and relieved to hear such news! She even fetched her brother so that he could hear the exciting news. Even though he's not scared of the Big Bad Wolf. In fact, that's his favorite thing to pretend to be. He calls him, "Du Bid" big inhale, "Bad", big inhale, "Woolf".
I hope to always remember that the Lord intends to protect me when I need protecting. That is a privilege of being His daughter. However, there will be times in my life when protection for me would be more hurtful than helpful for his glory and his plans. So I must remember that the Lord knows what is best for me, and He is sovereign to do what is right and fair at all times. I haven't broken that last part to Mandie yet, I think she'd never fall asleep if I did!

Snow, Snow, Go Away . . .

2010-03-19T08:59:00.000-07:00

This winter has been one of the snowiest winters on record for our city . . .

We have built snowmen . . .

We have shoveled . . .

We have trudged through the snow . . .

We have played . . .

Even Buster got in one the fun . . .

But now . . .

Let's just bid the snow good bye!

It's knocking our spirit's . . . or was that Buster?

It's making us crazy . . .

AND, it's supposed to snow more tonight and tomorrow! Mercy Me!!

Let's Work Out!

2010-03-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is my new favorite thing!

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to experience arthritis, you may not have the same appreciation for a mini tramp as I do. But let me tell you, it feels awesome! I can do things on my mini tramp that I just can't do on the ground! I can run!! I can jump!! I can do the twist!! AND, I think my kids have added about two hours of exercise/week to their life (which is the minimum recommendation FYI).

So, if you like to work out I would highly recommend the $30 investment! (This one came from Walmart). Or, if you know of anyone with arthritis . . . young or old, get them one for crying out loud!

Lazy Sunday

2010-02-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

Well hello blog world! I'm not great on updating, but that's because I'm busy just living my life, and I think that's a decent enough reason to not have time to blog. But here I sit on a Sunday afternoon blogging away, finally! Today was a great day. My sweet guy almost always gives me a long nap on Sundays and boy am I happy to take him up on it! My weekly routine has gotten pretty full, but I really like what's going on, and I'm happy to be doing everything I'm doing.

The pregnancy is going well! I hit 22 weeks yesterday, I'm just cruising along right now letting the time go by. But I know this little man will be here before I know it! Last weekend we painted and re-decorated Mandie's room . . . can you say pretty in pink! She's been wanting a pink room for so long, and when we found out that this baby was a boy we were ready to go! Matthew's is next. I'm thinking we are going to go western in his room. All he will tell me is that he wants blue on his walls and horses in his room, so that seems like the logical choice. It will probably be summertime before I actually paint in there.

The baby room is a disaster! Just a bunch of baby stuff thrown on the floor. It wouldn't take me long to get it together, I just haven't taken the time yet. I'm not going to paint in there because the baby will share with Matthew when he gets old enought to sleep through the night.

Enough about kids rooms!

Matthew turned 2 on the 10th! He had a great party and he just seems so much taller and more talkative now! Surely that didn't happen overnight! He has a certain coat and a pair of boots that he wears, literally, every single day. But he's doing pretty good. Except for a recent issue with biting! I am really struggling with this! He bit a little boy at playgroup the other day, and then he bit his sister. He gets in HUGE amounts of trouble for biting, but he still struggles with it! Not only is it completely embarassing, it is also completely unacceptable! Any advice there??

Mandie is doing well! She's a big 3 1/2 year old! Too big for her britches for sure! But she is full of love, and she is very smart, and I know God has big plans for her little life! Can't wait to see what kind of ministry He plants in her heart!

Ok, goodbye blog land. I guess I'll go work on that nursery. I'm feeling motivated now that I've confessed what a mess it is!

Oh BOY!!

2010-02-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Haney Baby #3 is a little BOY!

No name yet, but everything looks very healthy!

Mandarin Oranges

2010-01-30T06:19:00.000-08:00

This morning, I poured Mandie some cereal for breakfast and she noticed that the picture on the box showed bananas in the cereal. "Mom, I need bananas in my cereal!".

"Mandie, we ran out of bananas yesterday. We don't have any."

"OK, I'll take oranges in my cereal"

"Well, why don't you try it without oranges and see if you like it."

Mandie takes a bite . . . . . . "Oh Yuck! I need oranges in here!!"

"OK"

So I put oranges in her cereal. And of course Matthew wants oranges too. And then they decide to eat only the oranges and none of their cereal. So for breakfast thismorning. My kids has oranges, and I had 3 bowls of cereal!

Well, yesterday we made our appointment for out ultrasound. So, Lord willing, on Feb 15 we well find out if this little wiggle worm in my tummy is a boy or a girl! I am very anxious to find out, because I'm feeling the need to nest. I want to get out the crib and paint some walls and get stuff together. I think I can wait 2 more weeks.

We are enjoying the snow. The kids got out and played in it yesterday while Dad shoveled the walk. They had a good time. I'm planning a snowman day sometime when the sun can shine on us and we can pack that snow!

Our house is coming together! Today I am going to try to hang several pictures that I've been putting off hanging. Hanging pictures is the hardest part for me! I'm always afraid I'll get the all hung and then not like the way they are arranged! Oh well, I'll do my best.

Enjoy another day of snow!

Tell me what you think

2010-01-20T16:40:00.000-08:00

Is it safe to name your child Mary-Jane? This baby may not be a girl, and if it is, we may not even go with Mary-Jane. But if someone wanted to name their daughter Mary-Jane, would that be OK?

What a Mighty God . . .

2010-01-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

we serve!!

Sing with me now!!! What a mighty God we serve, angels bow before Him. Heaven and earth adore Him. What a mighty God we serve.

I have found myself experiencing deep, consuming feelings of love for the Lord lately. I am awed by his plans, enamoured by his strong and silent ways, tickled by his humor and creativity, and captivated by his heroism. And because of it all, I am thrilled to be a part of His church (bride), and elated to look forward to an eternity in his safe, calm, and joyful presence. What a mighty mighty God. I'm honored to serve!

I'm An Emo Today

2010-01-06T17:34:00.001-08:00

It's been one of those days.

It all started at 6:30 am as I snoozed away in bed, when the phone rang. I was called in to work on my day off.

OK, I can do this. No big deal.

So I go to work and we get all of our work done. Except that the classroom happens to be a total disaster of 4 and 5 year old's out of their seats turning in there work when the newspaper man decides to pop in and take some picures . . . if only he had been there 10 minutes before! Oh well.

Then I decide to let the kids play outside today because it's the nicest day we've had or will have in a long time. So out we go, we play play play. And when we come in . . . . . . . MUDDY FEET. My kids tracked in mud all down the hallway, all in the bathrooms, on the carpet!! Great!! My boss was so understanding and so nice, but I feel horrible. I wonder what it will look like tomorrow. At least the newspaper man was already gone at that point.

Then we went to our wed. play group. That, fortunately, was a real bright spot in my day. Then we come hope for a nap, also a lovely moment in my 'emo' day. Then, at 4:30 my midwife came over for a regular appt. Everything was great. I gained some weight, My blood pressure was great, time to hear the HB. First she gooes my tummy, and then she remembers that her doppler is out of battery. Then she de-gooes my tummy, then she goes to the gas station for a battery. She returns and re-gooes my tummy and spends about 5 minutes looking for a HB. No luck. An uncomfortable silence begins to fill my living room when Luke walks in the door from work. He assesses the situation and asks if he can have a go at it. He places that doppler on my belly and . . . . bum bum, bum bum, bum bum at about 150 bpm. That was a very emotional 5 minutes. Praise God for that HB!

Then I have to go to the grocery store because we are OUT of food, and I have to work tomorrow and Friday. Mandie and I return from the store and I start feeling very overwhelmed. We need to unpack groceries, eat, make lunches, take baths, lay out our stuff for tomorrow, change a poopie diaper. I find myself tearing up over the kitchen sink, feeling tired, overwhelmed, and just plain EMOtional.

Luke finds me there and listens to my concerns. He proceeds to unpack all groceries, pack up lunches, feed Mandie, and totally lighten my load. So, I'm a little teary tonight . . . but I know that I'm doing all the things the Lord is asking of me, and I know he will continue to lighten my load and provide for my spirit and body. So for now, I'll hold back on the body piercings, purple hair, and skinny jeans.

In the Mood to Blog . . .

2009-12-21T20:54:00.000-08:00

but nothing very specific to say.

So I will simply proceed with randomness from this point on.

I can't wait to find out if we are having a boy or a girl. We didn't find out with Matthew, we are finding out this time. It's going to be fun. And then I get to decorate some kid rooms! yehaw!!
We moved about a month ago. That was crazy. I am so thankful to be where we are.
Mandie's pretty good about only sucking her thumb in bed now! Praise the Lord!
Luke and I spent the afternoon hanging stuff on the walls today. Starting to feel more and more like home!
I made an appointment to have my dogs groomed, never done that before. I always just gave them a bath in the tub.
I watched the movie Julie and Julia last night and was so inspired I got on amazon and ordered 2 cookbooks. Don't expect a year of blogs about that any time soon!
My pregnancy vericose (that's not how you spell it I'm sure!) that I had with Matthew are already back with this one and I'm only 12 weeks along . . . pouty sigh.
I think I'm just falling more and more in love with Jesus. And I'm really enjoying all of the talk about Him this Christmas season.
Finally, the pastor of our church, Pastor Don Lane of City Church, passed away a few days ago and his services will be tomorrow. I'm still a little shocked that he's gone. But mostly, I'm grateful to have known him, and felt the powerful effects of a life of service to the Lord. His effect on this city will still ripple for years to come. I can't imagine what life would be like if we all lived with such clear purpose, passion, and love.

Merry Christmas!

Hungry, tired, excited . . .

2009-11-28T15:42:00.000-08:00

and PREGNANT!

Another baby on the way, estimated arrival date: July 3rd 2010!
Thank you, Lord!!

Praying for Pop-C

2009-11-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

Hello Family and Friends,

I want to take a moment to honor Pop-C. Pop-C is my Dad's dad. He turned 95 years old on Saturday, Halloween Day. Pop-C is one of the sweetest, most caring and nurturing men I have ever known. For several years my Mom-C was in a wheelchair and he happily cared for her and pushed her around well into his 80's. Pop-C is also a highly intelegent man. In fact, he was one of the engineers that created the paint that is used on roads. He helped figure out how to make the paint reflective at the correct angle at night. He would be happy to tell you all about it. What I remember most strongly about Pop-C is that every time we went to visit him he would try to teach us about our ancestors back for generations. My brother and I would sit and listen to him and try our very hardest to act interested. What I appreciate most about Pop-C was his ability to work with his hands. He was a wood worker. He built a kitchen set for me when I was a little girl that Mandie plays with daily now. He could fix anything, anywhere, anytime.

This past Friday night, the day before his 95th birthday, Pop-C was admitted into the emergency room. He is having a lot of trouble taking in oxygen. And the doctors are still unable to get his oxygen levels under control. This afternoon, Pop-C will head back to his house. He is not expected to make it very long. Please say a prayer for my family at this time. Especially for my Aunt LaJean who has been his primary care-giver for the past few years. It is an honor to be the grand daughter of a man like Pop-C. It is a privalege to cary on his legacy. His life will be celebrated and honored, but it is always hard seeing life come to an end. But our great hope, that guides us everyday, is that the Lord Jesus Christ died for us, saved us from our sin, and accepted us into his family. He is teaching us how to live on earth, and he has a room waiting for sweet Pop-C in Heaven. I hope it's close to mine!

I love you Pop-C. Thank you for your righteous life, your wise words, and your steady example!

**Update: Pop-C passed away on Friday afternoon. Funeral services will be held in Lubbock on Monday morning. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, Pop-C's passing was very peaceful.

Ephesians 2:10

2009-10-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

While tucking Mandie in tonight I was telling her that her Dad and I had been discussing an allowance for her. I told her, in short, that she would have to do some chores (age appropriate of course), and if she completed her chores she would recieve an allowance. Mandie got the saddest look on her face and started to cry. She said, "No Mommy! I don't want to do any chores! Cinderella had to do chores and she did not like them! ahu ahu ahu ahu ahu . . . " So I giggled at her and explained that we would not be treating her like Cinderella, and I told her that if she did not like the word 'chores' we could pick another word, like 'job', or 'work'. She decided she likes the word 'work'. So she was very happy about that, and as I was getting up to leave the room so she could go to sleep, I heard that precious little girl say, "I am cweated to do good work" as her little eyes shined up at me from under her comforter.

Oh, that just filled my heart in so many ways. I teach Mandie's little Sunday School Class on Sunday mornings, and that is the verse we have been remembering for the past several weeks (Ephesians 2:10). It's nice to know that it's sinking in. And it's nice to see her making some good connections. The Lord is so good to His little children!

Feeling a little crafty!

2009-10-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't even want to know how much I've spent on craft projects lately. (The price is probably not as shocking as the sheer volume). But I've decided that I need to do a little less purchasing and a little more crafting. So tonight and tomorrow are official craft days for me! I'm excited. Also, did you check out some of our new family pics!

Man on a Mission

2009-10-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

OK, make that woman on a mission. Here's my plan:

Well, let me begin by giving you a little history. For a long time, most of the spring and about half of the summer I had a very distinct prayer that cam from Psalm 51 (NCV). My prayer was, "Lord, make me want to obey you". I needed Him to give me the motivation and clear direction for what he wanted me to do. And, of course, he came through, and here I am working at the King's Academy and feeling like I am in accordance with the will of God for me, the best feeling in the world!

So, back to now. For several weeks my new prayer has been, "Lord, teach me how to live". Meaning, teach me how spend a day the right way. Lately, I have been feeling at the end of every day like I am missing something, and I like I am doing something wrong. So last night I finished up the book of Psalms (which took me about 27 years to complete!), and I moved along to the book of Proverbs. I am reading in 'The Message' version. The intro to the book of proverbs basically said, "this is a book that will teach you how to live your everyday life". So, yet again, the Lord has come through (Big shocker right!!) Why am I always surprised when he does what he always does every time?

Anyway, here's my mission. To gain wisdom, understanding, insight, and 'Fear of God'. Thus yeilding a full life lived without regret, to gain favor with God and man. My plain is to read the book of Proverbs in every version I have available, and to pray diligently for the afore mentioned qualities.

I am pumped! I can't wait to learn what the Lord has to teach me!! I can't wait to see how my life begins to change for the better! Praise be to the God, our Father, who daily bears our burdens!

Sigh . . .

2009-10-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

I am one tired chick. I haven't even looked at blogs or checked my email in days. I just read all of the great updates ( I especially enjoyed the story about the Lord in Martin Memoirs on my side bar . . . check it out!!) I'm now very ready to hit the sack! Good night!!

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

2009-09-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

You won't believe this!!

I had a doctor's appointment today at the ICAM clinic. I needed to consult with my naturopath about some blood work I had done a couple of weeks ago. At this point I should probably mention, even though you probably know this, I have rheumatoid arthritis. You may not know, however, that the diagnosis for RA is usually nailed in by either a high Rheumatoid Factor or a high C-Reactive Protein in your blood work (in addition to noticably swollen joints symmetrically on the body). I had a very high CRP, and a little high RH Factor. I found out today . . .

OK, this news is very big and exciting. I feel as though I am having a hard time making it big enough and exciting enough in typed words. So please take this moment to feel great anticipation, and excitement. And please pretend that you can see the huge grin on my face.

. . . BOTH OF MY NUMBERS ARE BACK IN THE NORMAL RANGE!

Hooray!! So, even though I still have swollen fingers, and some days are not great, most of my days are great, and the proof is in the pudding that my immune system is chilling out a little!! Hooray!!!

The other interesting thing I found out is that I tested positive for the Epstein Bar Virus (may not have spelled that right). Which a normal person might think was bad news, but I think is great news, because it is now a known, treatable problem that I will soon be able to cross off of my list of things that are contributing to my RA. Hooray again!

I am so happy that my "scarry" numbers are back down to normal, and I am so excited to see how my body continues to improve as time goes on. And I am giving ALL of the glory and credit to Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior! He has saved me from my sins, he will save me from my RA, and He will save me from anything else I need saving from. Because he is faithful, he is good, and I belong to him, and I will worship and praise him and love him and honor him until the day that I die!! AMEN!!

I ADORE . . .

2009-09-13T20:14:00.000-07:00

BATHTUB PICTURES!!

The other day M&M were playing really well and cracking up in the tub. So I pulled out my camera to take some pictures. I love 'em, so I thought I'd share 'em. . .

BTW, Matthew has a 'DANGER' pirate tattoo. Scary, huh??

Excited

2009-09-03T21:07:00.001-07:00

I just went through my ENTIRE blog. I mean I read all of my previous blogs. Well, I at least skimmed them. It was so fun to relive my journey over the past couple of years. To see the path the Lord has led me down. And now I am SO excited about what the next few months/years will hold. I can't wait!! Fall is coming, Hooray!!

Thank you, Lord for seasons!! Thank you for change. Thank you for making life good. AMEN!

Lord, I'm Amazed

2009-09-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today I completed my second day with students at the King's Academy. My time there has left me amazed. Amazed that the Lord has provided all of the needs for the school and the students. Amazed that I have found a job that allows me to spend so much time with my kids while I'm there. Amazed that when I got home from work today my entire house had been cleaned top to bottom by my most amazing husband. Amazed at how tired I truly am. And amazed at the route the school is taking to get where it's going. I'll try to remember little anecdotal stories to share on my blog.

Here is a little something that happened today:
We were talking about what sin is. Mrs. O was giving an example that stealing candy from walmart would be considered a sin. One little boy raised his hand to get her attention and blurted out enthusiastically, "Mrs. O, my mom stealed a cake for me before my birthday!!". Yeah, he was pretty proud of his Mom.

I know the kids at our school may have a different 'norm' than I'm used to. But I also know that God will whisper in their hearts, He will draw them near to Him, and He alone can change their direction and direct their path. I'm AMAZED that I'll get to watch Him do it for these kids. Please continue to pray for the 'King's Kids', and for the teachers up there, too!

"How I Love You Child, I Love You"

2009-08-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

At church this morning all of the students for the King's Academy, along with their families, were asked to come to church for the dedication service followed by a tour of the school and a meet the teacher day. Officially, school starts tomorrow. Donnie was sharing the gospel with all of these people that are not usually there (I don't if or where they usually go to church), and during the invitation several of the family members who came responded to the invitation including a 9 year old girl who wanted to pray for her family because they "just aren't doing that good". The little girl recieved Jesus, and her family went home with a load of groceries along with some other needs that were met. Her little sister will be in the Kindergarten class at the King's Academy. Please pray for this family, and for all of the students at the school and their families.

Wonderland and Texas

2009-08-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

Last week my Aunt Sandi and Uncle Ronnie came to Amarillo with their Granddaughter, Kara. We went with them, and my parents, and my niece, Whitney, to Wonderland. We also went to see the play TEXAS in Canyon. Here are our family pictures from said events . . .

Dad, Mom, and Mandie on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Mandie was smiling, but you wouldn't know it from the picture . . .

Matthew and Poppy, two silly guys . . .

Mom, Dad, and Mandie on the . . . huh, I just don't know the name of this one. We were not brave enough to take Matt up there without a seat belt or harness or something.

Dad and Matt watching Mom and Mandie on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Can you tell this picture was taken after the Log Ride?

Mom, Dad, and Mandie on the Log Ride. Mandie was in front of me but she couldn't see anything. She did bonk her forehead on the 'log' on the way down, but she thougt that was

funny. . .

Mandie and I on the Tilt-A-Whirl, I think we did this one 4 times . . .

I thought she would be scared of the Frog Hopper, but she laughed and laughed . . .

Mandie found her dream car . . .

Mandie riding the helicopter . . .

Mandie and Matt riding the boat . . .

The next three pictures are from the play TEXAS in Canyon. As you can see, Matthew was kind enough to let Dad borrow his hat in the last one.

Mandie. 'nuf said.

Matthew . . .

Dad and his little cow-princess . . .

We had so much fun with my Aunt and Uncle. I guess next time we'll head to Odessa and see what fun that city has to offer, surely nothing as fun as our exciting Amarillo attractions!!

Mysterious Ways

2009-08-22T21:32:00.000-07:00

I am going to try to re-cap a conversation Mandie and I had this morning. First of all, let me say that Mandie is at a point in her life where she is trying to figure out what it means to get married. A couple from our church re-newed their vows a few weeks ago which had a big impression on her, she has a princess movie where the princess marries her prince, and other stuff like that seems to make her little mind start ticking away, because she's really trying to figure it out.

So this morning I was in my bathroom getting ready, and Mandie was in my bedroom talking to me and she looked up at the picture from our wedding. She said with lots of excitement, "Oh Mommy! You're getting married!! Do you want to get married again, today??"

I replied, "I'm not planning on getting married again today, but if your Daddy asked me, then I would marry him again!"

Mandie: "Or if God asked you? You could marry him."

Mom: "Ya, if God asked me to marry him I would marry him, too."

Mandie: "God is in my belly button Mommy, if I can find a way to get in my belly button then I can get married with him!!!!"

Mom: "What? God is in your belly button? Why?"

Mandie: "I don't know, He just is. And I can get married with Him when he is in my belly button."

What is that!! I don't know what she is thinking! Hopefully she will eventually come to the realization that God, who may or may not be in her belly button (because all things are possible with Him right??), loves her very much and has a perfect plan for her that may very well include marraige and children. But I'm kinda wondering how we will get from here to there.

What I think is so precious is that anyone who knows Mandie knows that she loves her belly button. Ever since she was little, she would suck her thumb and tug on her belly button to fall asleep or find comfort. I think it is so interesting that she has somehow made an association between her belly button and her Lord.

Who knows?? Anyway, this was a conversation that I did not want to forget.

The Message Planted in Your Heart

2009-08-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

I want to share a verse that has been quitly convicting me lately. It comes from James chapter one. The first part of the message is one that is probably very familiar to most Christians," My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God's sight." This is not the part that hit home with me, although it is extremely convicting for us all I am sure. The following lines are amazing, and somehow they are words that I have never really dwelt on before:

"So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls."

My mind has chased tangents about all different facets of this verse. The part about being saved, the part about humbly accepting God's will over my own, the part about the filth and evil in my own life, and maybe I am most taken by the part about "the message" that God himself planted in my heart.

This verse does not say, "humbly accept the random seed that happened to land on your heart and take root". We all know that a lot of things grow that way, something sprouts a seed and the wind blows it to an acceptable enough plot of land and boom ~ plant. Or worse, some cow or bird eats up a seed and four hours later, boom ~ plant. I dare say that more often than not this kind of planting usually yeilds what we all just LOVE to have in our own yards . . . WEEDS!

No, this is not how our convictions have come to us. The Lord PLANTED a message in my heart. This requires (and I know because I watch Gardening by the Yard!) preparing the soil, providing irrigation, digging a hole, inserting a seed, covering the hole to the right depth and spacing, fertilizing the hole (organically I hope!) and waiting and waiting and waiting until, boom ~ the perfect, beautiful, lush healthy plant in the perfect location yeilding all of the right flowers/fruit.

When I think about this, I reflect back on all of the events in my life that have shaped my heart. My pains, my joys, watching others who are suffering, and my basic realizations as a young one that some things are simply "not right". This verse helps me in realizing that this was all the planting of the message in my heart. It has made me very passionate about certain things, and yet there are other things that I simply do not feel "called" to do.

I could go on even more about the words "humbly accept" in this passage, but I'll spare you all my tears. All I know is that I am so so so grateful to God to be given the opportunity to serve Him. There was a time in my life that I most decidedly did NOT accept the message in my heart, I did not follow it, and it led me down a road into the darkest place I have ever been. Now that the Lord has allowed me to come back to Him, I am most honored to accept the message in my heart, and I am speechless before Him with gratefulness and dumbstruck by His faithfulness.

*Sigh*, God is so Good.

Goodnight.

Nosey Rosey

2009-08-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

This morning Mandie made a pig nose, looked up and me and asked "Mommy, is there paper up my nose?" I looked deep inside her nose and sure enough there was a little wad of paper. Turns out she ripped a little piece of paper off of a book (which she got in trouble for), wadded it up, and proceeded to stick it up her nose.

Turns out all her nose needed was a good nap to get that little wad of paper out. She woke up, and out it came. A few hours with paper up your nose never hurt anybody, right?

Be Happy

2009-08-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

I just went through our pictures from July. I decided to take a few that make me laugh and share them with you.

The following three pictures were taken in succession, each about 4 seconds apart. This makes me giggle . . . I just can't stop laughing!

This is Mandie and her friend Paisley who lives in Abilene, are they hot stuff or what!

After Mandie got the '12 Dancing Princesses' DVD for her birthday, she really wanted to wear her hair in a bun like the dancers . . . this probably won't be happening again for a while now that Mandie is her own hairdresser.

This is Mandie with her girlfriends, Elli and Brooklyn. I love all of Mandie's sweet little friends!

This is the first time any of my children have ever done this. One minute Matthew is eating goldfish, the next he's eating goldfish with his eyes closed, the next . . .

HA! Good memories!!

Awesome

2009-07-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

Just ran to Mardel for about 25 minutes.

Came home, Mandie had cut herself some bangs.

Awesome.

Good Boy, Mama

2009-07-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Today I was changing Matthew's diaper. While I was bent over trying to pull a diaper out of one of the over-stuffed baskets under the changing table, Matt sat up and started patting me on the back saying "Good Boy" like he does to the dog. It was funny.

Question

2009-07-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Hello blog world! I have a question for all you girls living in A-town. Do you know of anyone here who homeschools their children? Have you ever considered homeschooling your children? I am not necessarily for it, or against it at this point. I just want to know if there is anyone around who does it? Thanks for your input!

Note: The purpose of this post is not to affend anyone, or get anyone going crazy! If you comment, please be considerate of someone who may not feel the same way you do.

Reuniting with Family!

2009-07-16T13:40:00.001-07:00

Well, tomorrow we are packing up and heading to Fredericksberg (sp??) for the annual family reunion. We are spending tomorrow night with some of our dear frieds that we never get to see enough of, and then on to the schnitzel! (like I really eat schnitzel . . . ugh!) To all we will see there, can't wait to see you! And Mom, can't wait for our date tonight!

The Way, The Truth, and The

2009-06-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

WARM BRIGHT LIGHT

OK, I have a great desire to give the Lord a lot of glory and this seems to be a great way to do it. So here I go.

I feel great. I have RA, but I feel great. The Lord has taken me from a rather dark and stiff place and he has graciously allowed me to have comfort and light. He is the reason I feel good. He has done this to me, and for me, and he alone should receive all the glory.

Thank you Lord for all you have done. For forgiving my sins, and giving ease, rest, and comfort to my body. Amen.

Thank you also to all of my sweet friends for your tender prayers and heartfelt words. I am so grateful for the way I feel, and so awestruck by God's Love and faithfulness.

Pool Fun!

2009-06-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, clearly this picture has nothing to do with the pool . . . but it is so darn cute!

On to Pool Fun!

That was Nana with all her grandkids!

Matthew was turning blue and shivering . . . so he had to take a nacho break.

Mom and Matt ~ love that boy!

She's just getting sweeter and sweeter! Love her, too!