Another Miracle!

I wanted to share a wonderful little miracle that God saw fit to bless us with:

The check engine light has been on in our van for a few months now. We haven't been able to afford getting it checked out, and we hadn't really had problems with it; so we just got used to seeing it on. Last week, I think it might have been on our way home from church on Thursday, the van was acting funny and it actually died at a stop light. Matt was able to start it right back up, but it was acting very sluggish. We were very close to home, but I was worried that we wouldn't make it. I told the kids to pray that we would make it home.

Our van was waaaaay overdue for an oil change. I wondered if somehow this had contributed to the engine trouble. I told Matt that we were going to have to spend the money to get the oil changed. I had a coupon for a place and I made an appointment to get the oil changed on Saturday. When I went in, they ended up being behind too much; so they had to bump my appointment to Tuesday (today) I found out that they could diagnose the check engine light for no charge so I planned to have it checked out today when I went in.

We drove the van to church on Sunday, and Matt and I both drove it around yesterday with no real troubles. On my way to get the oil changed I was thinking about how I was going to have them check out why the check engine light has been on. I looked down on the dashboard AND THE LIGHT WAS NOT ON ANYMORE! I almost cried with relief! I had been praying so hard since our problems Thursday night. I had no idea how we would pay for van repairs. That light had been on constantly for months! And now, since we have actually been praying about it, it has just turned off. I do not think that this is a coincidence! There hasn't been problems with the van acting sluggish anymore either. When I told Matt about it, he said that the light had been on yesterday. I'm just so glad that God has done this for us. I just didn't want to fail to give credit where credit is due!

My Baby is Amazing!

I know I have been silent for too long. My life seems like it's been pretty crazy lately. I haven't read anybodies blog in a long time. Someday I will take the time to catch up on every body's lives! Right now I decided to take a little extra time from the crazies of my life to thank the Lord for my amazing baby!

I have said it many times, but I really believe that the Lord looked down on us and saw that we really couldn't handle a difficult baby, and he blessed us with Zaccheus! He is SUCH a good baby, I am often amazed by it! It's not like he never cries, but when he does, there's something I can do about it! He really is a blessing from the Lord! So why am I blogging about this now?...

Last night I didn't get much sleep. I feel like a walking zombie today. Zaccheus had a restless night. I really think he was running a slight fever. He seems fine today, by the way. So what is so amazing about staying up all night with a baby who doesn't feel good you say? Just that, he was only restless and a little whiny. Enough so that Mommy couldn't get much sleep, but not so much that he drove me crazy with his cries when there wasn't really anything I could do for him.

So even though I didn't get much sleep last night. I am not as grumpy and stressed out as I would normally be after a night of staying up with a baby who doesn't feel well. For that I am truly thankful! I am, however, hoping that I can get a little more sleep tonight ;D !!!

Did You Know...

I was racking my brain for some blog worthy material when I thought of this...

Many people who know me do not realize that my left hand looks like this:

When I was 2 (so I don't remember, but people have told me) we were visiting my Uncle Gene & Aunt Nadine. At that time they lived out in the country, and they had a bonfire. I guess the fire wasn't going, but there were hot coals. I was walking on the rocks around the fire and slipped. My cousin Brenda had some fast reflexes and grabbed me by the shirt before I could fall all the way in. These pictures show the scars from that fall. I'm sure the burns were bad, but I'm very thankful that the Lord watched out for me as a little child. If I had fallen all the way in it would have been so much worse.

Even people who know about the scars forget that I have them because they are not that noticeable. The scars have given my fingers a web look. They really don't affect me very much, except that I can't grasp things that are very big around, like large cups.

Anyway, so there's a little bit of information about me. If any of you are running out of blog worthy stuff, maybe you could post about some little known fact about yourself!

Working again! And so Much More!

I've been racking my brain for something blog-worthy to blog about; and I wasn't thinking of the best thing!

For the past few weeks Matt has been working full time again! We're not sure how long it will last, but we are very thankful for the full paychecks coming in. God really has been taking care of us. I am very thankful for it.

There are some things I would like to get pictures of, but since I don't know when that will be; here is a little update on how our life has been:

A few weeks ago Ruby and Anthony found my sewing scissors (I did leave them out :(, but used this incident as a good excuse to get some new sewing storage containers!). When I found them with my scissors, Anthony had very short hair right in front. So now his haircut that I liked some much is gone; and he now has a buzz. I'm very thankful that Ruby didn't decide to cut her hair. I think they knew that was a bad thing to do. Isn't it odd how they will do one bad thing, but not do another because it's bad? I'm glad they used their children type logic in this instance though.

Bro. Lee & Sis. Cherrie are leaving us. :( We are sorry to see them go. For a good bye party; had a BBQ at our house on Sunday, and a singing later. It was a very nice day. I really enjoyed having the brethren in our home. there were a few visiting brethren at church, and then even more came for the singing. It was wonderful to hear the brethren lifting their voices in praise to the Lord in my home. The time I spent in my kitchen was great because I had the brethren serenading me!

Next week is my 8th wedding Anniversary. Matt & I decided that since we would have to take the baby wherever we went that we would make this year a family celebration. We've made reservations at the coast; and we are all going to spend this weekend at the coast. Matt's Mom is supposed to meet us there. I'm really looking forward to it!

I have had a few sewing projects that I've been working on. I really enjoy sewing, but don't usually take the time to sew. It really is hard to do with so many small children. Lately my house has been neglected a little so I can work on these projects. Sis. Cindy F. has been sewing some purses. She showed me how to do it, and I decided I would like to try. So far I have made a purse for Sis. Alyssa E. and a diaper bag for Sis. Cherrie B. I didn't get pictures of the purse, but I did of the diaper bag. I might post them later. I'm thinking about trying to make more and sell them on the same website as my quilts (of course none of those have sold yet... but maybe they will). Sis. Bridget D. also saw the purses and wanted to learn to make them to. After Sis. Cindy showed me; I have showed Sis. Bridget. It has been nice to spend some time with Sis. Bridget, and she has made a cute purse also.

For the Oregon camp out they always make a quilt to raffle off. This year they decided to send the quilt around to the different assembly's that are usually represented at the camp out and have them each add a border to the quilt. We are the last assembly to receive it, and I have been working on that too. For our border we traced the hand prints of our children; and I am sewing them on by hand.

So, with getting ready for the singing, going to the coast, and all my sewing projects. Plus Matt has been working so I don't have him to help around the house and with the kids so much; my life has been VERY busy. But it is a happy kind of busy! Just remember that if any of you happen to stop by! My house really isn't at it's best! Maybe I will concentrate more on that next week...

Just to let you know...

Tonight I actually took the time to read every one's blogs. (unless you're not on my blogging buddies list, then let me know so I can add you) It's almost midnight and my baby has finally settled down for the night. He seems to be a night owl, but once he goes to sleep he sleeps pretty good. Anyway, I read every one's blogs while I was holding him, putting him to sleep (my computer chair doubles as a rocking chair); so I wasn't able to comment on any one's blogs. I just wanted to let you all know that I read your blog entries, and really enjoyed them. It felt nice to catch up on what every one is up to; to reconnect to the outside world a little bit. Some of the blogs I read really lifted me up; motivated me to better myself, or gave me that extra bit of joy that I needed; so thank you for sharing your life with me on your blogs.

We've had sickness in our home like so many, ours really didn't linger as long as some, but I'm glad it is over. God has really taken care of us, my little baby has not caught any of the bugs that have been flying around; for that I'm truly grateful.

I really want to be better about blogging more often, and I promise to try to do better. I do have the excuse of a new baby, and the sickness, but things should be settling down now, and I shouldn't have those excuses anymore.

I'm really needing to go to bed, but I did want to add how thankful I am that God has taken such good care of us. When I look at our life and examine all the facts and how things have worked out for us I am amazed all over again how God works to take care of us.

Matt is still laid off. He has been able to work a few days in the past few months, but the economy is just so bad that there's not that much construction going on (he's in the laborer's union) He's applied for other jobs, but hasn't gotten any responses on any of them. The unemployment rate here in Oregon is very high and just keeps going up; so any jobs that are available everybody is applying for them.

Anyway, I am not writing this to have a pity party, but to thank the Lord that through it all he has taken care of us. When I look at how much he gets from unemployment, and then how much our monthly bills are, it is literally impossible that we would be able to take care of all our financial obligations, yet somehow we have been able to pay all of our bills. For this I'm truly grateful.

I've really been glad for Matt's help at home with the new baby and all, but I will be thankful when he can go back to work. Until then, I know that God will continue to take care of us. It is truly amazing how good of a job he does.

IT'S A BOY!

Well, God has blessed me once again with a beautiful healthy baby! Things went real well (as well as labor could be), and me and baby are doing good.

My mom and husband are bugging me about needing to lay back down; so I won't go into too much detail, but here are the important facts:

Zaccheus Cash McManus was born on January 2nd, 2009 at 5:55 P.M. He was 6 1/2 lbs and 20 in. long.

I will try to get some better pictures on later, and if anyone wants some more information, just ask away and I will get back on here some other time.

Thank You every one for your prayers that helped to get baby Zaccheus safely here to us!

A Faithful Prayer

For a few months now I've had a very personal affliction, I guess you'd call it. It's actually the same one I had the elders for at our camp-out. The problem did not go completely away like I had hoped. Last week it got so bad that I was at my wits end and I was really having a hard time dealing with it. It is not a serious thing, just very bothersome and annoying; so I feel bad that I was having such a hard time with it, but I was. It's something that is supposed to be very easy to take care of with medicine, but I really want to trust in the Lord with it. The really hard part was that it seemed like there was nothing I could do, but just endure. Like I said, I was getting very frustrated with it.

On Sunday Sis. Marisela came and prayed for me. I was so thankful for that prayer and I told her so after church! I had been hoping someone would come pray for me, but didn't want to ask even God to send someone, because it really isn't that serious of a problem. Just the fact that she prayed for me made me feel better. Even if God doesn't take it away I know that he sees me and is aware of my small trial. It was a great comfort to me. Well, since Sunday my problem has been better. It would be wonderful if it went away completely, but I am so thankful for the relief that I have. Thank the Lord for his blessings and the faithful prayer of my dear sister!

Sometimes bad news is good news

There was another major catastrophe on the job Matt is on. I do feel really bad for the company Matt works for, but the job was almost over and Matt was beginning to worry they were going to lay him off soon and he wouldn't be able to get on another job very soon. Construction has really gone down around here. Anyway this latest problem is giving Matt more time on the job. He's been busy cleaning up the mess and working overtime. It's been nice having the extra money, but he sure is wore out.

Anyway, here is the story...

They are guessing that Monday about the time when everybody left the building for the day, or shortly after, a water main broke in one of the units. (This is a 16 or so story condo building). Matt says there are security guards at the building around the clock, but the one there that night for some reason didn't call in the fact that he heard rushing water all night long! It wasn't until 5 the next morning that somebody came and the problem was stopped. They estimated that 72,000 gallons of water spewed out during the night! Needless to say that security guard company is getting fired, and I'm sure the security guard was fired too.

I guess the break was on the 9th floor; and so a good majority of that floor and the one beneath it has to be ripped apart and redone. Every floor beneath that has water damage too. The building was almost done; so these floors especially were pretty much ready. Matt has been busy hauling out all the ruined flooring etc.

Like I said Matt has been working a lot of overtime. Even before this accident he had been working Saturdays; because they were wanting to get the building done. It has been really nice to have the fat paychecks, but Matt really is getting wore out; so you might pray for him if you think about it. Also, I hope we use this time of plenty to set aside some money for when he does eventually get laid off.

Anyway, just wanted to update you all on the latest drama...

Life Long Friends

Last weekend we went to Ashley and Bodie's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding and I'm very glad I went. I would write up all the details; but I'm sure others already have or will. Sorry, I haven't read any blogs lately.

One of the reasons I was so glad to have gone was because there was a lot of brethren there that I hadn't seen in awhile and it was so good to see them. I only wish that I could have more time to visit with everyone. After seeing everyone I've really been thinking about how many good friendships I have with so many brethren. There's the one's my age that I grew up with and even the older ones that I can really say are my friends. Even if I don't see them very often I know that when I see them again our friendship will still be the same. I guess maybe not the same because as we grow and mature our friendships do too, but I know that there are so many brethren that will always be my friend. I have so many life-long friends that I can't even begin to count them. I am really blessed.

I thought about in the world it seems like most people are doing good if they can hold onto just a few friends their whole life. Me I'm surrounded by a whole network of friends that I know will always be there for me. It's really been a wonderful thing to think about these last few days.

So, for all my blogging buddies and all my other many wonderful friends; Thanks so much for your friendship! It really is a gift from God to be treasured.

On another note:
The memory card on my camera actually got full! So I was forced to take the time to download all my pics. It really is a huge amount of pictures and I've been slowly working on categorizing them and editing them; so as soon as I'm done I plan to make some posts with pics! I still don't have any pictures of my house because it doesn't seem done enough to take picures of. Sorry! I might try to at least take a picture of the outside. Also, I'm sorry I haven't taken the time to read everyone's blog. Hopefully someday soon I'll take the time to catch up with everyone and you'll be getting some comments from me!

Back to Work!!!

Well, Matt got a call on Friday from the Union and he's supposed to start work on Monday!

He got called on a one day job a week and a half ago. The general foreman was really impressed with him and told him that if he had a full time laborer's position come up that he would ask for Matt. Anyway, it sounds like this is a full-time thing. The guy that called him from the Union said that Morgan (that's the company that Matt will be working for) has a lot of work lined up. So we are super excited! Matt will know more tomorrow when he goes to work, but I really think it's all going to work out.

Really he was only off for 3 weeks; which isn't bad at all, but since we didn't know how long it would be before he got called out it made it hard. It was kind of nice having him around all day, helping around the house and with the kids, but we are very glad that he's going back to work tomorrow!

God has really taken care of us. I'm so thankful. I'll have to post again and let you know how it's going.

Traveling Memory

When we were traveling through the mountains yesterday we came upon an accident. It was a good thing there were flares set out or we probably would have hit the car. This car was on its side in our lane. We had to move into the passing lane to miss it. As I said in my last blog our trip took longer, but I'm glad we were far enough behind that were weren't in that accident, or come up on it before flares were set out. After passing the accident I was reminded of a trip I took when I was 12 with my Uncle Gene and Aunt Nadine.

They took me and my sisters with them and their 2 daughters that were our age on a trip through Washington. We went to quite a few different assemblies, and I know there were a lot of things on that trip that helped strengthen my belief in God and my Love for the Brethren; but there is one memory from that trips that really sticks out the most.

It's been a long time ago, but I think we were on our way to Prosser. We were driving on a kind of curvy mountain road when we decided to stop at a viewpoint and look around and read the sign. As we pulled off a van full of people went past us and around the next curve. After looking around for awhile we got back in our van and got back on the road. When we went around the next curve, there was the van that had passed us upside down on the road. Somehow they had lost control and ended up flipping. We stopped to see if they needed help, but they were all OK. As we continued on the road we all marveled at how God had kept us from being in that accident with them because someone would have been hurt for sure then.

The next meeting we sat in was in Spokane. I wasn't in the faith yet, but I know my sisters were and maybe even my cousins I don't remember. I remember thinking all through church about how someone should testify about our near miss, but they never did. I really wanted to tell people about it myself, but I knew I couldn't because I wasn't in the faith yet. I remember that some of my family got up in church, but never mentioned that incident.

After church Uncle Gene said that he thought there was something I wanted to tell everybody. I hadn't even told him how I wanted to tell the brethren about what had happened to us (or what hadn't happened to us). So God had revealed my desire to tell the story to my Uncle Gene and I was able to share with the brethren how God had protected us.

Now the reason I remember this story is not because God protected us on the roads. I know there's been a lot of times that God has protected me on the road and I don't remember it so vividly. What makes it such a wonderful memory for me is that God looked into the heart of a 12 year old and saw what I desired to do and revealed it to someone else. This is one of my many wonderful memories of God's goodness to me.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

I've had some bad news to share with everyone for a week now, but I just haven't gotten around to posting it yet. Now I have some good news to go with it; so it seems like its time to tell all of you.

Last Friday Matt got laid off. The construction business is really slowing down right now; plus I know that being in the laborers union a lay off should be expected and prepared for towards the end of each job. We are a little bit prepared. We have some money in our saving account left from our tax return. It really won't last us very long if he's laid off for very long. He applied for unemployment, but that's now even enough to pay our bills each month. So he's been looking for people that need little odd jobs done to make a little extra cash until his next job comes up and he can start working again. So here comes the good news...

Yesterday he went to help a guy with a move. I guess this guy helps people move fairly often, and it sounds like he'll have Matt help him when he needs to. Also the people that were moving have some things they want to pay Matt to help them do; so once again God is taking care of our needs. I don't know why I feel so amazed. Last night I asked Matt why God was so good to us. I really don't know why he is, but I'm sure glad we have him watching out for us and taking care of our needs. The downside of Matt finding that job to do yesterday is he didn't end up being done in time for church; that's when things got ugly...

I took the kids to church myself. I was going to go into all the details, but I'll just make a long drawn out story short. The kids were worse than normal without their dad there. At first they weren't too bad, and Sis. LeAnne did what she could to help (I really appreciate her help), but after so many fits and having to take multiple children out. The final straw was towards the end of meeting was when Garrison wouldn't stop throwing fits (he was probably getting tired) and Anthony wasn't minding me and decided our church bench was a jungle gym. I decided that everyone would probably get more out of meeting if I took my kids home. So I left.

It really made me appreciate my husband. It is amazing how much difference he makes. I've decided he has to live a long life because I don't think I would survive as a single mother!

As I was driving home I was reminded of a sister who used to live in Brownsville who had 4 very rowdy boys and for years she took those boys to church by herself. I remember that they were very hard for her to control in church. Well she is now my hero! I plan to write her a little note telling her so.

Matt has told me that he is really going to try not to miss church again. He's already told the guy he can't help him on Sundays. I really feel like God is blessing us with the money we need; so it seems weird to miss church to get the money. Anyway hopefully I don't have to go through that again any time soon. I really admire all the sisters who take their children to church by themselves and actually manage to get something out of meeting and stay through all of it!

God's Protecting Hand

I'm finally posting again!!! Yahhh! Here are my excuses: I got sick, plus I've been having a hard time coming up with something to blog about. There you have it, I know it's pretty lame. Anyway...

The other day I was taking care of some errands around town. I had pulled into a corner gas station to get gas. The place where I pulled out was a light where I wanted to turn left. It just so happened that the way was clear for me to get right into the turning lane; and the light was green so I just kept on going. As I was going out into the intersection I noticed the little sign that said that I was supposed to yield to oncoming traffic if the light was green. Sure enough there was a line of cars coming. Somehow we all just kept going and missed each other. It all happened so fast that I didn't even have time to react at all. I didn't step on the brakes at all. Now that I think of it, if I'd have slowed down I might have hit someone (or them hit me).

Later on I told Matt about the incident and how I felt like through my mistake and bad observance skills, God had protected me and the kids from getting into an accident. Matt told me of a very similar incident that had happened to him a few days ago. I am so thankful for God's protection to us.

I've still been trying to read the Bible sometimes. I don't have some glorious insight about what I've been reading, but it's all good stuff; so I decided to sometimes post my "verse(s) of the day". Technically this is my verses of yesterday since I read them yesterday, and I haven't yet done any Bible reading today; but here it is:

"But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver.
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work."

From reading these verses in context, I believe it's talking about donating physical items, but this could be applied to other ways of giving too. Basically God wants me to give from the abundance that he has given to me, to help others who are in need. Whether it be giving things, money (even giving to the church), or just using my health and time to help others, or just saying the right words; or sharing the spiritual blessings that God has given to me; so that I can encourage others. I guess kind of like writing about my near accident the other day. I really believe that the Faith is all about giving. If I'm not cheerfully giving what God wants me to give; then I'm not living the Faith as I should. I know that I need to work on this.

The Twice Weekly Church Battle

In Brownsville we were very spoilt and had grandparents readily available to help with grandchildren. I think the hardest thing for us has been the difference in church. Our children took turns sitting with Gramma Linda, and every once in awhile one of them sat by my Dad and Mom; so we never had all of our children sitting by us in church.

Of course when we moved we have had to get used to dealing with all of our children in church, plus I think moving to a new place somehow made them act worse in church than they did before. Needless to say this has really been a trial for us. There's been times Matt has said he doesn't see the point in going because we didn't enjoy meeting because it was just one big battle field with our children. We did always go though, but it has really been hard for us to enjoy meeting and contribute to meeting in any way. This has been an ongoing battle ever since we moved. We've tried a lot of different things to try to get them to behave in church. We've even prayed about it, but they were still little terrors for us.

Last Thursday night all of the kids were especially bad. We had literally gotten to the end of our rope. As Matt was talking to them it dawned on me that we had never explained to them why we go to church and why it was important for them to behave so that we could enjoy meeting; so Matt and I took Christian and Ruby (the other two are too young to understand) and tried to explain to them why they needed to behave in church. It really seemed like they understood what we were trying to explain to them.

Yesterday when we were on our way to church, we stopped at the store and Matt went in to get a few things. While he was gone Ruby asked me if we ought to pray that they would be good in church. I thought that was a great idea! So me and all the children (except Garrison) took turns praying about it. I think being part of the solution instead of the problem really helped them because they were sooo much better than normal in church yesterday! I was so thankful! They weren't perfect (you can't expect perfect from a 5, 4, 2, and 1 year old). Garrison was his usual grumpy self in church, but having the other kids behaving better made that so much easier to deal with.

I am really praising God for this little victory; and I pray that this is the beginning of the end of the twice weekly church battle!

Witnessing the Miracle of Birth once again.

My Aunt Sara had asked me to be with her when she had her baby. She's about my age; so she's really more like a cousin or even a sister than an Aunt. On Thursday my mom called me and talked to me about how Sara was coming along in her pregnancy. I had heard so many different due dates that I wasn't sure which was the right one; but Mom told me that Sara was due in about 2 weeks! Time had crept up on me! I hadn't talked to anyone about watching my kids while I went up there or anything. I had plans to get that all figured out on Friday.

Well about 3 in the morning Sara called me and said she was probably in labor. She was early enough that I wondered if it could be false labor, but she sounded like she wanted me to come be with her; so I packed up some things along with my kids and headed to brownsville. I had to make a last minute phone call to Sis. Connie to see if I could take my kids to her house. It is sooo wonderful that you can call the sisters in the middle of the night like this and have them willing to watch 4 small children at a moments notice! Sis. Connie if you are reading this I REALLY appreciated this!

When I got to my mom's house Sara was definitely in labor; and for the rest of the day we all played the waiting game. Sara did really well during labor, but of course she was getting tired of being in this much pain with no immediate results. There were no complications whatsoever, but it was just taking time. Especially with a first baby this was very normal, but hard. We were getting into the evening, and there was still no baby. Sara was getting to that point where she was feeling like she needed to get some extra strength from somewhere. She asked me to call the brethren and tell them that if any of them felt like coming to pray for her that they could and she would really appreciate it. When I left the room the pains just didn't seem quite hard enough, Sis. Cindy could feel the baby when she checked, but we couldn't see it yet; so I was telling everyone that it would probably still be awhile, but Sara was getting tired and needed some extra strength. I hadn't finished my phone calls when I heard a commotion in the bedroom. Me being the person that I am didn't want to miss out on anything; so I abandoned my phone calls and rushed into the bedroom. Within a minute or two we had a little baby boy!

I have to say that I really thought that things would be worse than they were. I didn't expect any fatalities or anything, but I just thought it would be harder than it was. I guess the Lord heard all our prayers and things went REALLY well. I guess that's what I get for shortening God's arm as they say. I'm so glad the Lord proved my ideas and fears wrong!

Here are the important details:

Jack Dean Elliott, born January 25th 2008, 5:20 p.m., he was 5 1/4 lbs., 18 in. long.

He's pretty small, but seems healthy. We have been a little worried about him getting the nourishment he needs since he's so small, but we've all been working hard to get him to eat; and I think he's doing pretty good.

My job was being the picture taker; so I'm posting some pictures.

Here's little baby Jack with his proud new Daddy.

Here he is with the midwife, Sis. Cindy.

Little Jack on his first day after getting cleaned up, dressed and bundled.

Here he is on his second day. I just think he's sooo cute! I of course went wild shopping for him on Saturday!

Here's the proud new Mommy!

Little Jack sleeping in the family cradle. It was originally made for Eric (Sara's brother). There's been a lot of family babies that have used this crib. He's also bundled up in an afghan that was made for Eric.

Here's Jack on his 3rd day. I, of course, requested he wear one of the many outfits I got him before I left! This one was small enough to fit him OK; and it's soooo soft.

On Sunday I finally brought my kids over to see the new arrival. Here I am showing him to them. They thought he was pretty special.

Well now I'm back home, but it was such an honor to get to see and have a small part in the miracle of birth!

Little Blessings

Today I went to Christian's school with all my kids for Teacher's conference. It wasn't too big of an ordeal. The teacher gave them paper and crayons and they were pretty happy. Christian's doing pretty good in school too, by the way. The teacher says he's showing potential of being a good leader. I guess he tries to help the other kids when they need it. He does have a problem wanting to doodle instead of doing his schoolwork; and sometimes he has to be reminded to do what he was told to do. All fairly normal stuff I think.

Anyway, today was payday and there was a few things I needed to get; so I thought I would brave the Dollar Tree and Jo Anne's without my hubby to help with the kids. I stopped and got a cheap $5 pizza and bread sticks and let the kids eat in the van. Then off we went. I went all over both stores because it took me awhile to find everything I wanted. My kids really did pretty well; but there's always a certain amount of "I want, I want." It really didn't go too bad, but by the time I got back in the van and had all the kids buckled in I was breathing a sigh of relief because it was over. The baby was also getting pretty cranky by this time because he had missed his nap. I got in the drivers seat and went to pull my keys out of my purse... and they weren't there!! I was imagining the ordeal of having to unbuckle all the kids back up; loading them in the cart again, and going through the stores looking for my lost keys. I was sitting in the van dreading the inevitable when I looked up at our abandoned cart and there were my keys!! They were hanging by my key chain in the front right where the baby sat. I was soooo thankful! I said a little prayer of thanks to the Lord right then and there! Just wanted to share this little blessing with all my blogging buddies!

The Comfort of a baby

Garrison, my baby, is almost 1 now. I have 4 children and the oldest is 5. All of my children are about 1 1/2 years apart. After Anthony, life was getting pretty stressful with them being so close together; so we decided to slooow down. God had other plans! I'm so glad he did.

Garrison is such a joy! He's not a perfect baby by any means, but he's fairly happy and content. As I've posted before, our life has been pretty stressful at times lately. There's moments when things just aren't going right, there's even somtimes when I want to have the freedom to be in a bad mood (why do we do that sometimes? When we actually don't want to be cheered up?) Anyway, then I'll look at my baby or he looks at me with that sweet little face. I mean who wouldn't melt when they look into this face?

The circumstances haven't changed at all, but somehow just looking at my baby, or cuddling with him makes things seem better. It is very amazing the comfort that a baby can bring when they don't even do anything!

Just to clarify things, today has not been an aweful day. It actually went pretty well, but I just wanted to share this little bit of sweetness with you. I'm so thankful that God sent us this blessing. God sure knows what we need even if we don't agree. It so nice that God doesn't always do for us what we want. I would have missed out on a beautiful blessing named Garrison!