Aleigha lost her first tooth!

Aleigha lost her first tooth today! She is so excited! In her own words "I had been pulling, and pulling, and finally I got it out."

-Angie

Planting Pansies

 

I love these benches with flower pots that are on our front porch! The other day the kids and I had been out doing some yard work in the front and then sat down on the benches and I asked them what kind of flowers I should plant in these pots. They had a few ideas but then Jacob came home for lunch and with him he brought a flat of pansies!  So yesterday Austin, Aleigha, and I planted some of them in the pots and we still have over half a flat left.  Now I just have to figure out where to plant the rest.

-Angie

Sick Again (2 of Angie's post under this one)

We are now on our fourth bout of sickness for the family since the beginning of the year. We’ve  gone through colds and such in the past with the occasional real sickness but so far never at his intensity. In a large family, as in ours, it starts out with one person getting sick (usually one of the kids) the hope then is that they will get better and no one else catches it. It seems inevitable that just about the time that first person is getting better that everyone else gets sick in a domino type effect making the whole episode stretch way out.
We all love the opportunity to attend church Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings but of course we do not want everybody else to get sick so we try to use our judgment as to who can go to church without getting everybody there sick. This of course means in these long sessions of sickness we miss a lot of church :). 
Usually I am able to avoid catching what the family has but not this time. For the third time in 15 years I got sick and had to stay home from work. Austin said “I don’t think I ever saw dad stay home from work”. In my mind if I can work then I go. You just have to press on and finish the task set before you. In fact I hate just lying on the couch doing nothing. This time I came home a little early from work and decided to take a little nap. I woke up 16 hours later! Not quite sure I ever slept that long before.
Well the question is always asked why do I get sick? Why does this happen to me? One predominant thought is why did God let this happen? Did he make this happen? Questions, questions, questions….
That brings to mind the questions Job had. Yes he was called righteous but did he (or do we) have any justification to question the almighty? No. Our human “blame it” condition constantly looks for a reason. Did I pray enough? Was I nice enough? Those questions, although they may be valid,  paint the wrong picture. God does not punish us for lack of piety. God is not looking for us to mess up so he can hurl upon us disaster. In fact the one thing he expects of us is to “mess up”.  We do however sometimes incur natural consequences to sin (not punishment but consequences). If we choose to stay up all night and party because we deserve it (I, I , I) then our body’s defense system is worn down and we are more likely to catch something.
So to if we choose to stay up all night seeking God in prayer, our body’s defense system is worn down and we are more likely to catch something.
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Bad things (or at least what we think are bad things) happen to those in and out of God’s will. Being a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ offers is hope in that he will cover us with his feathers and under his wing we will take refuge (his protection).
If and when you go through a time of sickness or trial, don’t blame God or seek a justification. Bless his name in the good and the bad because he is always there with you.

One last note… Maybe he is not with you?? The Bible clearly lays out that to be forgiven you must believe the Jesus is God and that he died for your sins. You must believe that and confess it to be so. Then he will be with you and he PROMISES he will never forsake you!!!
-Jacob

Sun Dresses

  

I made the girls these sundresses yesterday. The girls love them! I was going to make Aleigha’s with straps that tied up on the shoulders but she wanted her straps to be like Karissa’s but then I made them too short so hers do not cross in the back. She doesn’t seem to mind though I guess she just wanted ruffle straps. It is still too cold here for them to wear them but Aleigha asked me if she could wear hers today because she is sick and won’t be going anywhere but I told her she had to wait.

-Angie

PAINTING

 

  Before

 

 

Every one helped out!

After

We like the color a lot, though when we first started we weren’t too sure. Tyler says it looks like peanut butter! We are very happy to have the checker print out of the corners.

-Angie

Some funnies

today'sFUNNY===========================

 

During a visit to the retirement home, I asked the director, "How do you determine whether or not a person should be institutionalized?"

 

"Well," said the Director, "We fill up a bathtub, and then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

 

"Oh, I understand," I said. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

 

"No," said the Director. "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

 

today'sFUNNY===========================

 

It was snowing heavily and blowing to the point that visibility was almost zero when a young lady got off work. She made her way to her car and wondered how she was going to make it home.

 

She sat in her car while it warmed up and thought about her situation. She finally remembered her daddy's advice that if she got caught in a blizzard she should wait for a snow plow to come by and follow it. That way she would not get stuck in a snow drift.

 

This made her feel much better and sure enough in a little while a snow plow went by and she started to follow it. As she followed the snow plow she was feeling very smug as they continued and she was not having any problem with the blizzard conditions.

 

After an hour had passed, she was somewhat surprised when the snowplow stopped and the driver got out and came back to her car and signaled for her to roll down her window.

 

The snow plow driver wanted to know if she was all right as she had been following him for a long time.

 

She said that she was fine and told him of her daddy's advice to follow a snow plow when caught in a blizzard.

 

The driver replied that it was okay with him and she could continue if she wanted, but he was done with the Walmart parking lot and was going over to Sears next.

 

[forwarded by Steve Sanderson]

www.mikeysFunnies.com

 

-Jacob

 

Setting Up Our Garden

 

(Strawberry patch complete)                                (Garden complete)

 

The other day the weather was pretty nice so we decide to go out and start working on our future garden. There were two planter boxes in our yard when we bought this house so we took them apart and used the wood to frame our garden and strawberry patch. It is still too early to plant anything out doors here but we can start planting our seeds indoors next month. The kids all had a blast helping out. We also bought 4 fruit trees that we are going to plant in the back yard as well. 

1 plum, 1 pear, 1 cherry and 1 apple. The pear, cherry, and apple all have 3 different varieties on each tree. We’re going to have a very yummy yard.  :)

-Angie