36 weeks

I'm finally getting around to posting a pregnancy picture. I'm now a little over 36 weeks, but this picture was taken at 36 weeks. I really only have a 3-4 weeks to go. It is amazing! I'm looking forward to finally getting to hold this little one in my arms and meet it face to face. I'm really dreading the labor of course. Just pray that I will get through it the right way. I always worry that I will not deal with labor well. And of course there is always the worry that something will go wrong. With all my others things were very normal; so I really don't have any reason to worry.

I still have quite a bit to do to get ready. Since Matt has been home I have organized the things that I have. There are a couple of things I still need to do, like burn the flour; but mostly I have a list of things I need to buy, but we have been stranded at home, so I have not been able to buy them. Hopefully this baby is not born 3 weeks early!

We went through all our little baby clothes and Matt & I picked out the first outfit for if it's a boy, and if it's a girl. The bassinet is set up by me bed now, and I have stuff set out for the birthing. Doing all this has made it all seem more realistic somehow. The baby moves constantly it seems, and I, of course am getting more an more uncomfortable, but nothing to really complain about. I'm so thankful for how well this pregnancy has gone. God is really good to me, I don't want to fail to thank him.

Just keep me in your prayers, and of course I will try to find a way to inform the blogging world of our new addition when it arrives!

Potty Training

Garrison really started kind of potty training himself a few months ago. I think it was because he lives in a houseful of older people that use the pot; so he wanted to be like us. He's to the point where he only messes himself when he's having problems and can't make it in time. He's still very inconsistent with the wetting, but we are happy for the progress he has made.

This past week we tried underwear (before we were just doing Pull-Ups) He had a lot of wet underwear, but I think it was helpful for him to have that immediate knowledge that his underwear were wet. For now we've went back to the Pull-Ups because he has been having problems getting to the pot on time for his messes. We're cutting back on juice and such to get him back on track.

Anyway, I really doubt he'll be completely potty trained when this baby comes, but I think things will be a little easier and he'll be well on his way. All my other kids weren't done potty training until they were 2 1/2 or older; so he still has a few months.

I took some really cute pictures of him on the pot! (good blackmail material when he's older!) Notice the cute afro ( I guess afro is not a word, oh well)? Daddy actually cut it off recently, but I just love his hair!

Snow Days & Family Time

Well, I finally decided to acknowledge the existence of my blog! I have a lot to catch up on, I'm sure. I just put new pictures on my computer and have plans to turn some of them into blogs.

The most immediate news is that we have had snow ALL WEEK. Now for some of you that is the norm, but for here it is very irregular. The amazing thing is there's no end in sight it seems. We really don't know when it will let up. I will post pictures of my family playing in the snow. For the most part I've enjoyed this weather. My biggest concern really has been what our energy bills are going to look like after this. Which leads to some other news...

I was going to save this for it's very own blog entry, but it really is a part of this blog, sooo.. Matt got laid off last Friday. The construction business is really slow right now, and they just didn't need him on the job anymore. We are trying to be as up beat about it as possible, and trust in the Lord. It seems like that we are doing ok so far. Matt especially seems to be taking it really well. His last layoff he didn't deal with it so well. God has always taken care of us, and we are really trying to trust that he will continue to do so.

One thing that we have thought of is with the weather this week, and then Christmas and New Years the next couple of weeks he really might not have made that much more money working than getting unemployment (he doesn't get paid Holidays). He's been looking for odd jobs or something, but so far hasn't found anything, but this week people have pretty much been hibernating at home as much as possible; which takes me back to my original subject...

Christmas break was not supposed to start until next week, but because of the road conditions Christian has been out of school all week, and Matt has been home all week too. It has actually been really nice to have the family time that we've had this past week. It seems like it's been a long time since our lives had slowed down enough for us all to just enjoy each other. We've spent more time doing fun things with the kids. Matt has got an amazing amount of things done around here too. It has been really nice to have him here each day to help me.

I think it helps him to see what my day to day life is like too. There's always so much to do. Today he was really getting restless and tired of being at home, but for the most part it's been really nice. Matt has actually been the one to run the few errands that have needed done in the last few days. I have actually never drove in these kind of conditions; so he's been doing the running around. So he hasn't been holed up at home as much as me, but then I'm used to it.

Today it snowed quite a bit. We haven't been letting the kids play out in it too much because they've had colds. Plus at the beginning of this weather it was in the 20's or below, which was way too cold! If the snow is still there tomorrow we might let them play in it some. I've also been considering making snow ice-cream. Yum! My aunt told me how to do it today, and it sounds simple enough, and I'm sure the kids will like it.

Anyway, there's a little update on our life. I better get to bed so I can enjoy more snow and family time tomorrow! There isn't going to be church in the morning because of the weather, but I might see what Matt thinks about us at least having a little family Bible reading or something.

I will try to blog again soon, and take the time to visit everyone else's blogs. Enjoy these pictures:

Good Ministry

Now before I get started I would like to state that we've had a lot of good ministry here, and I've really been enjoying it; but every so often I hear a sermon where something is presented in a little bit different way and it helps me to look at things differently. Tonight was one of those times.

Bro. Dennis started his talk about how when he was 14 or 15 he liked a girl and really thought he loved her. He thought he knew what love was. Looking back now he can see how it was more of an obsession than anything. He said when he married his wife he thought he loved her too; and I'm sure he did, but he explained how after 20 years of marriage he knows her so much better that the love he felt back when they were first married seems insignificant compared to what he feels for her now. He explained how the reason he loves her so much deeply is because he's gotten to know her. He knows how and why she feels and thinks the way she does. He knows her well enough that he can know how she feels or thinks about something without her even telling him. He understands her so much better and it has caused him to love her so much more.

He then compared this to how we should search out to know and understand the Lord; so that we can love him and be so much closer to him. He explained how instead of just following the commandments of God, we should try to understand why he wants us to follow those commandments. In finding the reason behind the commandments we can get to know God better and understand him better. If we understand him better and grow to love him more we will then have a better relationship with him. We will have more of a desire to serve him rather than just going through the motions because that's what we're supposed to do.

Now there were a couple of reasons this talk had such an effect on me. First of all I had never quite thought of things that way; about how we should try to understand God and then learn to love him more, and then have more of a desire to please him. I, of course, knew that we should understand the will of God, that we should love him and desire to please him, but I had never had it all connected like that for me before.

The other reason this talk really got me to thinking is because it allowed me to see how to work on my relationship with my husband. Now this is a little hard for me to admit, but I've realized for awhile that our relationship just isn't quite what it ought to be. It's not real bad, but I know that we aren't as close as we should be. The one problem I've had is respecting him sometimes. To be perfectly honest there are times that the way he feels, thinks or does things I just think is really stupid! I've had a hard time respecting him with these things. Bro. Dennis' talk helped me realize that if I strove to understand why he feels, thinks and does the things he does my relationship with him will be better. When I look back on some of the things he's done, or said, or whatever, that I just really didn't agree with, I can see where his reason behind it was good; but because he's imperfect he sometimes comes up with imperfect feelings, thoughts or actions. I really, really want to strive to get to know my husband and my God both better; so that I can have a stronger relationship with both.

I would also like to explain that I really do love Matt, and he is a good husband and father. He cares about his family, and he takes good care of us. He loves the brethren and has always been steadfast in the faith. There is so much good in him that I know it out-weighs the bad. Those of you who are married I'm sure can relate to how we can love our husbands so much, but still get so irritated at them sometimes! I really want to try to be more understanding of why he's does what he does during those times that he irritates me.

As some of you know, I have my cousin, Kara, staying with us. She's been helping me quite a bit around the house and with the kids. This pregnancy it seems like I've had a harder time being able to do everything and she's been a good help to me. She just turned 2o and she's not in the faith. Every once in awhile we'll get into some pretty in depth conversations about problems or concerns that she may have, or about the faith. Just the other day we had a really long conversation and I was able to talk to her pretty frankly about some things. What was really neat is that Bro. Dennis brought up a lot of the things we had talked about in his ministry tonight. I noticed some of the things he said, and how it was so close to the conversation I had had with her. After church Kara mentioned the same thing. It was so great that God was able to confirm our conversation in that way. I think it really helped her to hear someone else say the same things I had said and not even know about her life like I do.

Bro. Lee also got up and talked about how if he saw a rich man with a lot of land and he had servants to work that land he would think a lot of that man. But he also said that if he saw the workers just sitting around doing nothing he would wonder how in the world that man got rich. He said his advice to that man would be to get different workers that wouldn't waste his time and money. I know that I have been to idle in the faith, and I sure don't want God to give up on me and grant someone else my place in his kingdom.

He also explained about striving for perfection. He compared it to when he has workers working for him in his tile business. When he tells them to do a job that he knows they are capable of doing, he expects them to do it. If he comes back and it's not done, or done right, and he explains to them their mistakes; he expects them to correct their mistakes. He said it doesn't really matter to him the process they use to get the job done as long as the finished product is done according to his specifications. To him that his perfection. I know we always think of perfection as everything done exactly right, but God knows and understands us. If we make mistakes he just expects us to correct them. Basically as long as we are truly striving to please him and doing all we know to do, and doing what we can to fix or learn from our mistakes, that is perfection.

There really wasn't a whole lot done in meeting, but I really got a lot out of it and came home with a lot to chew on. Hopefully I swallow it and digest it and allow it to really improve my life.

I wasa going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but I couldn't go to sleep anyway because it was all going over and over in my mind; so I thought I would relate it all to my blogging buddies while it was still fresh in my mind. Just pray that I will follow the exortation I recieved tonight.