Well....sort of.

Not sure if it really counts since I did quite a few 2 days in 1 sort of posts....but hey, I'll go with it. :) You can go to nablopomo.com & see who else did, too!

Here's my fancy schmancy "I did it!" badge:

NaBloPoMo - November 28 & 29

Ok, I know. I've really given the NaBloPoMo a try. And I've mostly done OK, but the last couple of weeks, there have been lots of multiple day entries. So much for the 1 post a day rule, huh? Oh well!

Yesterday we got the house decorated for Christmas & I had fun reminiscing with old holiday pics of the kiddos. This one was taken in 2007.


This one is from 2008.

And this one I took yesterday. They are growing!


Today was church. I filled in for my co-teacher in the 4 year old SS classroom. I must say, when she calls or emails & asks me to fill in, I always giggle a little. I love those kiddos! We practiced our Christmas program today. It's only 2 songs, but when you're talking about 2, 3 & 4 year olds, two songs is about all you can manage. They looked so sweet & did such a great job. I guess we'll see how things go next week when they perform for the church. I kept hearing stories about last year's performance, so I had to go look up the video today. It's pretty funny! See?

SNAPSHOTS Performance 12/14/08! from Bethel Bible Church on Vimeo.

I am about 1/2 way done with a book that I'll be posting a review for soon. It's taking me a long time because I'm highlighting a LOT along the way. It's a great book!!!!!!!!! This link will take you to Amazon's book listing for the one I'm reading. It says it's about women's burdens, but so far, everything I've read could apply to men or women. I can't wait to hop in bed & keep reading in a few minutes!

NaBloPoMo - November 26 & 27

The past two days have been a flurry of food, family & fun. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Yesterday, we visited with Larry's family at his grandmother's house. This is Larry & his grandmother. (That's Larry's mom at the far right.)

She had a shingle off of her roof, so Larry & his cousin climbed onto the roof to fix it. Of course, the kids couldn't see so they found a way!



And there's no particular significance to this picture, I just thought that the tree was pretty & the sky was the perfect color of blue.


Today we went to see my family...and eat some more! (I am STILL stuffed!)

Sarah discovered that she loves my soon to be niece-in-law's Yorkie, Bella.


This is my 2 sisters & I. Cindy is 8 1/2 years older than me & Jennifer's 6 years older. Just thought I should point that out. You know, the fact that I'm soooo much younger is always important to know. :)



We attempted some family pictures outside, but it was pretty BRIGHT, so I don't know that either of these really turned out right.



On the walk back to my sister's house, Larry & I snapped a picture. Of course, with the wind & BRIGHT sun, well.... it was worth a try.


Folks, I am so beyond blessed! I am a lucky, lucky woman.

NaBloPoMo - Nov 24 & 25

Yesterday morning (Tues the 24th) I started out my day with a trip to Samuel's classroom for his Thanksgiving class feast. It's not an "official" school party, but many of the teachers do something like this privately...and even invite in the principals to eat. I'm not sure how they pull it off, but they do. I loved how the teacher invited everyone to circle around the room & join hands while one of the children blessed the food we would eat. Who says you can't pray in public schools?! After the feast, I came home to do a few chores before heading back to pick everyone up at 1:00. They got out of school early so everyone was home & finding fun things to do by early afternoon.


Today was a great day! I got to sleep til nearly 8:00. Both girls had an eye exam & have GREAT vision (Savannah is 20/15 and Sarah is 20/20 & can read a few letters from the 20/15 line!). In fact, the doc said we could wait til 2011 to come back!


Savannah also had her monthly orthodontic appointment & got a thumbs up there as well.

Somewhere in between all that running, I made a stop at our grocery store to get milk & I left with a carton of Peppermint icecream. All the staff at our church have been raving about this yummy stuff so when I saw it on sale today I decided to give it a try. They were right. It's really good!



Tomorrow is our first of 2 family Thanksgiving get togethers. I'm ready! Bring on the turkey & veggies & pumpkin pie. I can't wait! My favorite holiday of the year!!!!

NaBloPoMo - November 23

So...how does a wild & crazy girl like me spend her day off work with no hubby or kids around? Let me see if I can show you!

After I took the kids to school, the first order of business was some quiet time with God. I'm in 2 Chronicles right now.

Then I checked my email & got a little carried away playing some games on Facebook. I don't just sit & play computer games too often, but it was fun to do it today. In fact, I discovered a new game called TriPeaks Solitaire & really enjoyed it, but I figured out how to play it with real cards & will be trying that soon with the kids!

After sitting for so long, it seemed to only make sense to get up & go accomplish something. So I tackled the last bit of laundry that was remaining from Saturday.

I usually use a different brand, but Tide was on sale a couple weeks ago. I kinda feel 'fancy' using Tide, though. It's usually out of my price range, so when it was on sale, I jumped on it. I know, it really is the little things that make me happy!


Then, speaking of those little things, I got out my Dr. Pepper, which I bought yesterday & saved for my lazy day (today!) and the cleaner wipes & got busy in the kitchen.


At this point, it was lunchtime, so I ate some of the leftover ziti from Saturday night. Then, I made some pumpkin bread.

Once it was out of the oven & cooling, I decided that a day of relaxing & laziness simply isn't complete without a nap!

(and yes, I really was asleep when I took this picture. Seriously. Why don't you believe me?)

Of course, after the earlier baking, lunch & breakfasts that were eaten, there were dishes to be done.


By this time, it was time to go pick up the kids from school. This is the elementary school where Samuel & Sarah go.


When we got home, Sarah was a little flustered. She's super nervous. You see, she found out today that she got one of the lead roles in her upcoming 3rd grade Christmas program at school! Hooray!!! She will play Mrs. Claus in the school's production of "Santa Goes Green"! Remember, this is my shy child who gets really upset if she walks into the room & everyone turns to look at her & wave a friendly Hello. Being on stage in front of all the moms & dads trying to remember lots of lines had her completely freaked out. After talking about it & running through the entire play with me, we discovered that she already knows ALL the lines. It just took a little run-through for her to see that she would be totally fine to do this part!

This is the paper she got at school today stating which part she had been awarded. One for the baby book!

Savannah gave her some tips about how she prepared for a big role in a church musical a few years ago. She talked about setting up a lot of stuffed animals to "play" the roles of all the other parts in the musical & practicing her lines with them. SO cute! It helped.

Of course, then my bed turned into a circus where all three kids came to play with the animals. ha ha!

Oops....I should back up. Before Sarah & Savannah practiced Sarah's lines, we went out to play. I pick up an extra kiddo from school every day. He stays with us til his parents get off work. I got a short video of he & Samuel playing today. How fun is this?



Sarah & I were watching them throughout the whole thing, laughing & wincing every time they crashed. I JUST KNEW I was going to video one of them breaking their arm/leg/head/back, etc. At least we could tell the doctor exactly what happened, right?


After we played outside, everyone came in & THAT is when the kids played w/ their animals on my bed.

Soon after, it was time to cook supper. Tonight I made something called Black Bean Nacho Bake. It was pretty tasty. It looked like this.

Of course, no day would be complete without a visit to my blog. (I'm there now!)


And that's pretty much been my whole day!

On a side note, I will temporarily be using a new camera & the pictures are not quite as sharp as those taken previously. If you see a difference in the pictures on my blog, that is why. You see, the camera I've used & adored for about 18 months now, this one........

.....yeah, well, it crashed this week. Literally.

As in, it fell off the counter in my classroom & obtained a little damage. I guess I shouldn't say a "little" damage when it now looks like this.

See that springy thing sticking up? That's where the shutter & zoom toggle used to be. I thought I got it fixed over the weekend, but the whole thing fell apart again Sunday. I'm so sad.

Alas, I am grateful for the fill-in camera I have in the meantime!! Thank you Kristi!

My dear friend had a point & shoot that she got in a bundled package with some other computer equipment, so she sold it to me super cheap. It isn't perfect, but it will certainly do the job til I can afford to replace the old camera with something a little nicer. It was time for an upgrade anyway!

Tomorrow morning, I will walk Samuel in & stay at the school for a while. His class is doing a Thanksgiving breakfast and I am in charge of bringing 24 pancakes! (I may kill him if he signs me up for something next time without asking me first. I would've gladly volunteered for something, but I probably would've gone for something a little less time consuming than 2 dozen pancakes. Oh well, I'm off work. There's no better time than bright & early tomorrow morning, I guess!)

Random fun!

For those of you not on Facebook with me, check this out....so much fun!

My girlfriend had this on her status & I tried it. Too cute!! Call the Nestle Crunch Hotline at 1-800-295-0051. It will ask if you want to continue in English or Spanish, but just wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will get a laugh out of their message, too!

NaBloPoMo - November 21

Some random thoughts:

1. Getting paid just once a month stinks. Larry gets paid on the 1st & by the last week to 10 days of the month, we are "scraping the bottom of the barrel"!

2. Cub Scouts are such fun.



3. I've never been formally diagnosed, but I really believe that I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).

4. That new recipe I tried tonight was awesome.......except for the fact that I forgot my tolerance level for huge doses of dairy products is low! (see #3)


5. The mountain of laundry I did today was whittled down to a small anthill by the evening. I hate laundry. (of course, I'm far too OCD to let someone else handle it....after all, it must be folded the RIGHT way!)

6. The only things I have left to buy for Christmas are (1) the kids' stocking stuffers, but I can get little do-dads & small candy anytime...no great expense there. (2) socks/undies for the kids (yes, I'm one of THOSE moms who give my kids necessities for Christmas!) (3) a $10 Payless Shoes gift card for Sarah (she lovessssss shoes!) and (4) something for Larry's grandmother. Other that those 4 things, I am completely & totally DONE!!!!!!!!!

7. Larry is awesome.

8. The new guidelines for breast cancer screenings from the Healthcare bill are STUPID. Yes, I said STUPID. I know farrrrrrrrr too many women who would not be here today if not for early detection. I hope that women use their brains & DO NOT abide by the guidelines set before us.

9. I am very excited to see some dear friends tomorrow who moved away several years ago. They're in town for a visit!! Welcome back to the homeland Clark & Kandice!!!

10. I am praying for Lisa's family as they embark on a new journey. Feel free to peek at her blog & follow along as well (click her name). You can go back in her posts & read up on what's going on if you want to. I'm sure they'd appreciate it!

11. It's 10pm. I need a shower. I need to clear all the (folded!) laundry off my bed so that I can get in it! Sigh. I guess I should go do that instead of sitting here.

PS If you are reading this on Facebook, you may not know that all of these notes are fed from my blog which is located at liz-ourblessedfamily.blogspot.com! Feel free to come to the real site to see the 'real' thing.

NaBloPoMo - Nov 19 & 20

As I type this, I'm hearing a couple of things.
1. my sweet husband's snores
2. the theme song to the Andy Griffith show (or should I say the 'theme whistle'?) The kids watched an Andy Griffith DVD at bedtime & I just realized that it went back to the menu where the theme song plays over & over til you turn it off. Guess I ought to go do that.
3. peace & quiet
Just thought you might want to know. I realize that was random, but it just seemed like something share-able.

Yesterday & today my classes at school at their Thanksgiving feasts. Although I do shop before Thanksgiving, I prefer to keep my focus on being THANKFUL until after Thanksgiving is over...so it was really weird feeling to put up my Christmas bulletin board before I left work. When we come back from the T'giving holidays, we will have moved onto Christmas celebrations around the world (our theme for the month of December) but still.... it just seems wrong somehow.

Today, I was thankful that my sweet husband could take our eldest offspring to the orthodontist. And that he was available to come by the school & check on a little issue I was having with the van. I was thankful that my class didn't lose their minds & bounce off the walls (too much) when we all discovered it was raining and we didn't have Treehouse or Music class today. (which means we were stuck in the room the entire day!) I was thankful for my next door teacher's idea to watch a movie & divert their attention for a little while. (We only watched for about 20 minutes...just enough time to make up for the recess we missed!) I was thankful for a good friend who was willing to share a digital camera she had upgraded from....and then thankful that I was able to put my old camera back together after it broke yesterday! (of course, it did fall apart again, but I figured out how to use it despite its brokenness, so it'll do til I can afford to upgrade to a nicer camera later on!) I was thankful to hear that a friend who had a heart cath done is perfectly fine with no heart issues after all! I was thankful that my son didn't REALLY need the Heimlich maneuver...and that my husband didn't kill him for faking that need. I was thankful for the ability to get a week's groceries cheaply and the chance to go to the store without any distractions (read: children).

I could go on, but I'll quit. My point is, I am so very blessed & I have reasons to be thankful almost constantly every single day. What are you most thankful for this year?

NaBloPoMo - November 17 & 18

Can I just say it seems like this has been the longest 18 days ever? I've trying to keep up with the NaBloPoMo, but I'm having a hard time swallowing that I'm only 18 days in & there are 30 days this month! I may just have to break the NaBloPoMo routine & say "to heck with it".

Now, with that out of the way, I should change my tune & tell you...Wow, this month is going by so fast! ha ha! I know, how big of a flip flop is that?? What I mean is that the daily posting feels like it's going on & on forever, but the rest of my life feels like it's flying by!


I'm not really sure how to feel about a letter we got in the mail today. If you've been following this blog since the beginning, you'll know about my bro-in-law who is in prison. He's going to get out in April. I'm kind of numb actually....not quite sure how I feel about that just yet. I'm a little raw and I'm still processing that information right now. I don't know whether I should be fearful or worried...or happy for him...or concerned about the future...or what. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much & give it over to God every time it comes to mind, but honestly I'm not being too successful at that just yet. If you can say a prayer for me, I'd appreciate it.

I'm tired. I think I'm going to hit the shower & hit the sack early tonight.

NaBloPoMo - Nov 15 & 16

Oops! I forgot to post yesterday. I've been wiped out the last couple of nights, so I guess that explains it. Ok, playing catch up here.

Sunday:
I was not able to doze off til somewhere near 2am Sat night/Sun morning, so church was interesting. As much as I wanted to be awake & hear everything that was said, I'm afraid I did some listening & a whole lot of squirming & fidgeting to stay awake. Sorry Ross & Larry! I really did hear bits & pieces. After church, I had Larry stop & get me some caffiene on the way to a lunch we were attending for all the preschool workers at the church. Dan & Cay are such awesome hosts. We've been guests in their home several times & every time I am just WOW'd by their gift of hospitality. Thanks again, guys! I came home & crashed after the lunch, but not for long. Larry's alarm went off about 30 minutes after I fell asleep (so that he & Samuel could leave to go hunting) and then another 1/2 hour later his phone rang & woke me up. I gave up at that point. I got up, made our menu & grocery list for the coming week and loaded up the girls & went to the grocery store. But first I stopped at my school to clean up from Friday & set up things for today. And somehow, despite all of the busyness and having gotten so little sleep, it was still nearly midnight before I fell asleep last night. yikes. Gotta get back on a regular schedule!!

Monday:
Today my class at school began learning about Thanksgiving. One of my favorite activities is making a Thanksgiving trail mix. We did that today. It consists of: candy corn (to represent the corn that the Indians grew), pretzel sticks (logs used to build homes), teddy grahams (to represent the wild animals that they had to learn to protect themselves from), mini marshmallows (snow) and goldfish (they fished for food). In making the mix, we talk through the first Thanksgiving story & learn the history of the holiday briefly.

I am off all of next week -- Hallelujah!! I'm ready for a break. (Yes, I know I was off the past 2 Fridays, but I mean a longer break with no where to go & nothing specific to do for a few days!)

One last thing which falls into the "odd updates" category:
Somewhere between the time that Samuel took his 2nd grade school picture (Fall 2007) and his 3rd grade school picture (Fall 2008), he pulled a particular tooth. He had the tooth in the first pic & it was gone in the second one, but we don't remember specifically when he pulled it. Fast forward to this past summer (2009) when we started looking at the fact that the adult tooth had not come in yet. We started adding things up & realizing it had been gone for possibly as much as 19-20 months at that time. Frequently we'd run our fingers over the gum & you could feel the pointy edge of an adult tooth up there, but it wasn't through the gums yet. As school began this Fall (2009), we kept checking & watching for that tooth. Anyway, it's been gone forever & we were beginning to worry.

Well, guess what? It broke through his gums yesterday!!!!!!!!!! Hooray for the slow pokey tooth!

NaBloPoMo - November 13 & 14 Women of Faith

In case anyone who read my last post had any questions, I was busy this weekend attending the Women of Faith conference in Houston. As always, it was an absolutely fabulous conference. Great speakers, great singers, fun time with friends on the way to & fro. What more can a girl ask for in a weekend away? (This picture only shows part of our group. Some of the other ladies met us in Houston. And no, our church van isn't purple striped. I added that to cover the church name/city...ya know, gotta be safe!)


Having only ever attended the Dallas conference, I was not sure what to expect at this conference. It was very much the same with only a few differences in speakers who attended. The Women of Faith team is made up of (about?) 10 speakers, but not all 10 attend/speak at all the conferences. At each conference, there are about 5 speakers & usually 2 musical guests as well as one dramatist. At this conference, we were blessed to hear Patsy Clairmont, Sheila Walsh, Marilyn Meberg, Lisa Harper & Lisa Whelchel speak. Steven Curtis Chapman and Nicole C. Mullen sang. Allison Allen was the dramatist. (Shoot...I hope I'm not missing anyone!)


Patsy Clairmont spoke first. As always she told a hilarious story which led into a very strong biblical truth. I love Patsy! She is about 5' tall & couldn't weigh more than 115 pounds. She's a spunky little lady who has no problem telling a story that embarasses herself for the sake of making the audience laugh or cry. She is willing to crawl across the stage, jump up & down or do whatever sort of physical movement to tell a story. Have I mentioned that I just love Patsy?


I'm not sure if I'm getting everyone in the right order, but somewhere later in the conference, Sheila Walsh spoke. Every time I hear her speak, I am moved to tears. She is always gut-wrenchingly honest & can convey the raw emotions, the pain or loss, of whatever story she's telling. But just like one of the other speakers said when they spoke of Sheila this weekend, just as honest & deep as she is, she's that funny, too!


I am in the early few chapters of this Sheila Walsh book that I will post a review on soon. (I'm doing a book review for Thomas Nelson publishing company & this is the book I'm working on right now! Sneak preview: I'm loving the book! Of course, it would be even better if she were around to read it to me in her pretty Scottish accent.)
Later on, Lisa Harper spoke. I had never heard her before, but boy am I glad I got to hear her this weekend! Lisa is HILARIOUS. She was able to take a really big Biblical story that is confusing & one that people would often skip right over in reading Scripture & she turned it around & made it make so much sense. She was able to take a 'little' creative license & add her own twist to make us giggle, but also to make us grasp the concepts she was teaching on. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, go for it. She was a hoot & such a great teacher! If she & I lived near each other, and you know...if she was willing to befriend a total stranger...I'd totally hang out with her. She's my kind of girl in so many ways! (And for the record, I'm trying....I sent her a friend request on Facebook. We'll see how that goes. I'll report back later if she 'friends' me!)


This morning, Lisa Whelchel spoke. You may remember her best as the teen girl, Blair, on the 80s TV show The Facts of Life. I did watch the show, but I've become much more of a fan since I read Creative Correction. I've told tons of people since then that I think this book should be required reading for all parents. It really changed the way I looked at my own parenting. This weekend, she wasn't talking about parenting, but about the things God has taught her 'behind the scenes' growing up in Hollywood & learning to make it on her own so young. It was an inspirational look at her testimony more than anything, and I loved that. Just kinda felt like I was sitting & talking with a girlfriend. (except, of course, we weren't actually TALKING...I was just listening...but you know what I mean!)


Marilyn Meberg spoke today as well. Marilyn is such a sweet lady. I was not expecting her to be funny & silly the first year I heard her speak, but she is! She just looks like she'd be more stern and serious than she is, but the truth is, ALL of the WOF speakers are hilarious. I'm so glad she's a part of this team! Aside from her humor & storytelling ability, she is incredibly wise & seems to package the wisdom she speaks in small packages, so it's never overwhelming. Such a gifted woman!


Last night, Steven Curtis Chapman did a concert for us. His wife, Mary Beth, was in the front row, right in front of his microphone, so he was able to look down at her smiling face the whole time. He did an amazing concert despite his hoarse voice. The poor guy has had a cold & his voice was scratchy, but somehow, he still pulled off an awesome concert!! He told the story of losing his daughter & how he'd written "Cinderella" (see youtube link below for the video) about her and her sister....and then he sang the song. Oh yeah....not a dry eye in the place! I took a picture, but he never turned to face us, so this is the best I could get. In case you don't recognize him from my blurry picture, the one below that is his professional looking headshot. I'm sure you can find more of him online, but I grabbed this one so you could see what he looks like from the front. :)



This morning, Nicole C Mullen did a concert as well. Folks, let me just tell you, I love this girl. Not only is her music powerful, but I can 'see' her heart every time she speaks, in the things she pours her time into, in the way she never accepts applause without pointing her finger up (to God), reminding everyone that it's not HER but HIM who deserves the applause & the Glory. I love people like that. I pray that I point to Him every time I am applauded throughout life.

(I took this one....I love it! Kinda looks like she was looking right at me for the picture, doesn't it?!)


This morning, the dramatist, Allison Allen performed a skit for us. It was a very moving story of a girl with bulemia who came to know the power of God's healing. Very good!


The thing I saw most at this conference was something that people sitting anywhere else in the arena may've missed. You see, we had THE BEST SEATS EVER. We were just 4-5 rows behind 'the back porch' (where the speakers sit). SEE??? You see the folks in the seats in front of us...and then the little "fenced" area in front of them? That's where the speakers sat all weeked. We were THAT close.


I loveddddddd watching the way the ladies interacted. They're 25 cities into a 26 city tour, so I know that by this point in the year, they are absolutely exhausted & ready to be DONE. But as each speaker was announced, the arena would go dark for a short (maybe 2 minute long?) video intro for them. While their video played, I watched as that speaker would move down the line of ladies on the porch & each one of the other women would whisper into her ear, give her a hug, pray over her, kiss her cheek, hold her hand or just generally gave her a pat on the back as they spoke a blessing over her as she went on stage. When they were not on stage, the way the ladies smiled & whispered to each other showed me that these ladies are not the least bit 'fake' when they tell you (on stage) that they're all very close friends. It was clear as I watched Sheila Walsh & Lisa Whelchel giggle & talk and take pictures of each other with their cell phones, as I watched Marilyn & Allison & Lisa Harper dance along to Nicole's music (trust me...anyone who can follow her dance moves is going to be about 20 pounds less by the end of the song & these ladies were attempting to keep up & cracking up the whole way). I watched the group of speakers crowd around Patsy Clairmont last night, lay hands on her & pray for the health of Patsy's son Marty who is in the ICU at a hospital in another state in a medically induced coma. I watched tears being wiped away as they begged God for a miracle in their friend's life. I watched the faces that they made at each other as they stepped off the stage. You know...the one that says "whew...I did it" or "wow...that was hard", and I watched the other ladies high five them or give them a thumbs up as they returned to their seat.

Up until this year, I've always seen the ladies who speak with Women of Faith as just, well, celebrities. After all, I could quickly find every single one of their headshots (those I posted above)....only famous people have those, right? I mean, I know they're real people, but this year, sitting so close, seeing their expressions from the stage (not just on the big jumbo-tron) was a vastly different experience for me. For some reason, this year, sitting RIGHT THERE...so close I could've tossed a wad of paper & hit them...they became REAL to me. Real women with real lives & real families & yes, real struggles. I really really wanted to go over & step onto the 'back porch' to hug each one of them, to say a prayer for them one by one, to whisper into their ears how much they've touched me in the past several years. I would love to have just a few minutes with each one of them to tell them what their ministry has meant to me, to hug them and you know....to trade email addresses & phone numbers because after all, I want to be part of the WOF team. Not because I'd ever be brave enough to speak in front of 15,000 women 26 weeks out of the year, but because I want to be best friends with every one of them! I would love to know them personally and to be a part of their lives, to be ministered to and to minister to them, all the time. Not just 1 weekend a year.

But alas, I didn't step onto the porch to speak to the WOF ladies....there was a guard at either end of their area. And I won't be stalking the WOF ladies (ha ha!), but I feel like I got to know them better this year. I know that they have lives of their own with families to feed & groceries to buy and vomit to clean up when their children get the flu. But just like me, they have hearts for Jesus and a testimony to share. God has moved each one of those ladies in a special way in the past year and I am so glad I was there to hear their stories, to hear how God has grown them & changed them this year, to learn from them.

Thank you WOF speakers & all the people who work for you!! Can't wait til next year!! You rock my world!