Nurse Nate

Nathaniel is in Kindergarten. He loves his class and is doing really well too. His teachers, Mrs. Andrews, likes to have parents, grandparents or friends come in and share about what they do. So this week one of Nathaniel's friends mom came in. She is a nurse. He was so excited to share with us what she had given them. He didn't like that it covered his nose and mouth and was worried about how he would breathe, but his little brother thought he looked like a "real" nurse .

Eli couldn't help himself, he really wanted to be a nurse too! I'm sure you can tell he is grinning from ear to ear behind that mask!

Cheap Entertainment

Perhaps mine are the only kids who when you buy a gift they would rather play with box it came in or the wrapping paper it was wrapped in, perhaps, but I think not. So I thought I would share my find.

Last week Eli and I went to the store in hopes of finding some cute, cheap trinket or sorts to hand out to Nathaniel's classmates for his Birthday. We came upon these little sunglasses that we thought 5 year olds would love to play with. They came in a pack of 8 and they were only $2.00. You really can't beat that. So I was thinking I did pretty good.

The kids at school seemed to like them and I was content with that. Then the boys got home from school and I discovered they all loved them.

Even Maddie looked like a star!

I love entertainment that doesn't break the bank!

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

This past weekend Ron's parents came to visit. We don't get to see them often, so it is always a treat when they come. The boys had a great time with them and Maddie enjoyed being spoiled.

Grandma Adkins and Maddie

Grandpa Adkins and Maddie

Grandpa, Eli and Ronnie

Grandpa and his boys take a break from playing in the park.

Grandma and the boys!

Everybody had a great weekend!

59 Years!

Today my Grandparents celebrated their 59th Wedding Anniversary. We went for a visit and brought lunch with us. When I asked what the secret to 59 years was they said, "tolerance, flexibility and patience". Whatever it is, it works.

Here they are 2 kids, 5 grandkids and 10 great-grandkids and 59 years later

Happy Anniversary, Granny and Gramps!

A Whole Hand

At 12:36pm 5 years ago, Nathaniel Blake joined our family. Our little man turns 5 today. He woke up at 5:30 this morning, he was so excited. He is now joining the "Big Kid" ranks and quickly leaving those baby years behind. It's no longer necessary to check how many fingers are raised when asked your age, he's a Whole Hand Now!

What a blessing this little guy is. What a privilege Ron and I have had these past 5 years to raise him and teach him. What a blessing! Below are some pictures of the past five years. He has grown so much from that 8.5lb baby we brought home 5 years ago.

Maddie, Eli and I had a great time in Nathaniel's class today. We took in a snack and one of his favorite games, Bible Memory. His classmates enjoyed it too.

Below is Mrs. Andrews and his classmates

Here he is playing with one of his new gifts and wearing his Birthday Crown from Jr. Church

Nathaniel asked for a tractor cake!

Now he is such a big boy. It's seems like only yesterday and yet five whole years have gone by. As I tucked him in tonight he said he had enjoyed his 5th Birthday. It's exciting to see him grow and wonder how Jesus will change him and mold him in the next 5 years!

Roles at Church

Being the Pastor's Family, we all have "roles" at church. Eli has taken it upon himself to be the greeter. When we walk into Ney he waits for the greeter to hand him a stack of bulletins and then takes his place beside them. He stands there greeting everyone who comes in and keeping everyone entertained in the process.

He keeps his position until it is time to ring the bell. He and Katie (the little girl in the picture below) help Mr. Ronnie ring the church bell. They have a great time. I tried to get some pictures. It is a little dark, but you get the point.

Today, Eli showed a lady his finger where he had gotten a cut. She gave him a reaction that he just loved so he proceeded to show people one by one and then wait for their sympathy before going to the next person.

Fun Times at the Park

Last night we met my parents for dinner and then went to a park so the boys could play. It was a new park, to them, and they absolutely loved it. They chased each other around and giggled and just had a great time. I even managed to get them to "slow down" for a few pictures.

Eli was so excited he could "hang"!

Nathaniel thought he was "way" to big for these toys.

Ronnie's trying not to fall into the hole.

Playing together

Still for a moment

Mountains That Won't Move

I read a devotional this morning, I'll share the concept.

As a mom, I face mountains all the time. Piles of dirty or clean laundry, Towers of blocks, Heaps of dirty dishes, Mounds of food under the table. How are we, as moms, to respond? The laundry won't go away, the kids will still play with blocks, we have to eat; so what is our response?


In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tell us to respond with Faith. His word tells us that even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed we can move mountains. So, if I surround myself with Jesus and His word and focus on Him, the mountains will in fact move. OK, maybe I will still have laundry to do and cleaning, but it won't seem like a mountain.



There are days when in fact we can put our faith in Jesus and the mountains still seem overwhelming, and they just won't move. We can hold onto Jesus, who is in control and let Him lead us through these days. He can get us around the mountains.

You Figure It Out

Anytime you have 3 boys, a sunny afternoon, and any object - there are bound to be some crazy things happen. I have no idea why it takes 3 boys to pull an EMPTY wagon.

I guess it doesn't matter, they're having fun.

Just to put your mind at ease, he came up laughing and obviously wasn't hurt!

Nearing the End

Many of you know that Ron has been working on his Masters of Sacred Theology and is finishing up his thesis. In fact, one of the reasons we made this move a year ago was so that he could have more time to work on the thesis. So, as of right now, he is nearly finished. He lacks only an introduction chapter, a bibliography, title page and other small editing things. So he is close and he is excited about that.

This week, and for the past few months, he is cramming for his GRE (Graduate Record Exam). He is scheduled to take it on Friday morning at 8:30am. It is a four hour test and he has to go to Ft. Wayne to take it. He is somewhat worried about it. There are a lot of things that he hasn't seen since High School (which I don't have to mention has been a little while).

Ron hopes to get a good grade on the GRE and finish up his thesis soon so that he can begin applying for his PhD schooling. We have no idea where the future will lead, but we're trusting Jesus to lead us.

We would greatly appreciate your prayers this Friday and for the future!

A visit from Bradley

Eli was so excited this morning. We got the boys on the bus, then he knew his only boy cousin, Bradley, was coming to visit. My brother, Jay, is preaching a revival for my dad's church in Indiana. Today Jay, Bradley and my mom were coming for a visit.

It was a quick visit, but I think the boys had fun!

Eli, Bradley and Uncle Jay (Grandma is the in the background)

It's all so new

Yesterday the school called about 6:10am to say there was a 2 hour delay. I was getting breakfast ready and packing lunches, but I didn't wake the boys. By the time they woke, I was nursing Maddie and they came down the stairs with a very confused look. I explained that school was delayed for 2 hours because of the fog. Ronnie said, "there is fog every day when we ride the bus". I tried my best to explain that it was worse today and that they would still get to go to school, but it would be a different kind of day.


Nathaniel was concerned to know if they would still have lunch at school and Ronnie asked, rather nervously, if they would be home in time for supper. I did the best I could to explain this new concept of 2 hour delays. When they got home yesterday they were disappointed because they had one less recess.


Then today we woke up and got ready before realizing there was a delay, Ronnie again was not happy, but even more confused when they called and said the delay was now a cancellation. Life is full of changes.



Change is hard. My kids learned that from me. I don't handle change very well, although I do better than I use too. The Bible says, in 2 Corinthians 5 that "if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come!" We are changed! Change is not all bad! Praise the Lord, He can change us!

Go Buckeyes!

When I was younger, we always watched college basketball, perhaps it was because we (my brother, sister and I) all played basketball. My dad would love to watch March Madness. I still like March Madness and I love filling out a bracket and competing to see if I can pick more wins than Ron, but I would almost rather sit down and watch a good football game now.

I'm not sure what has changed. Ron would say that his old saying, "Marry them young and raise them how you want them", worked. He might be right, in part, he did introduce me to football. He was a high school quarterback and so he was also able to explain the game to me. I don't understand it all, but it is fun to watch.

Four of the six of us are true Buckeyes, born and raised. Ronnie and I were born out of OHIO, but we still call ourselves Buckeyes, in fact Ronnie gets offended when you tell him he is not really a Buckeye. Don't confuse the kid.

We are excited that it is football season again. We love our Buckeyes. We may not be able to watch as much this year, but we will still cheer for our team. One of the things I remember Ron telling someone when I was pregnant with Maddie was that now we have 4 kids we have enough for the O - H - I - O! That will be the next picture, as soon as Maddie gets big enough to be the little O. Enjoy our little buckeyes!

I was never real big on cheerleaders, but Maddie sure does make a cute one.

It may take her a little time to be as enthusiastic as the boys.

The Comedian

Just a few minutes ago, we (Ron, Eli and I) were sitting at the table eating lunch. Ron and I were actually talking to Maddie (who was on the floor next to us) when Eli, out of nowhere says, "Mom, my toe don't work". I didn't quite hear him so I said, "what?". He repeated in a very matter-of-fact tone, "my toe don't work". He stuck his foot up in the air and looked at it. Ron and I burst out laughing as we realized he had been sitting on his foot and it was asleep and numb. His toe didn't work. While we were busting up laughing he kept looking at his toe and then said, "It's workin' now".

That will for sure go in the notebook.

What would we do without our little comedian? Never a dull moment around this house.

PRAISE THE LORD!!

I could just not post today, but I really feel that Jesus needs to be given Praise.

Let me explain. There have been a couple of days in the past few months when Ron and I sat down and realized we needed to go to the store and had no money. We knew when we made the decision to come here that we would be taking a pay cut, but we also knew that Jesus would provide. We didn't know that we would be adding to our family, but again, Jesus knew. So this morning was one of those days when I really needed to go to the store and we simply didn't know how to make that happen. There were a few bills that were needing to go out in the mail and we simply didn't know what to do. Ron and I both prayed and Jesus answered. A check came in the mail today. It was a check we knew was coming, but it was much earlier than we expected.

Has Jesus answered your prayers? Don't forget to praise Him for His answers and remember He provides in ways we don't even know.

Praise the Lord!

Guy Time

Yesterday when Ronnie got home from school, Ronnie, Nathaniel and Daddy loaded up to go camping. Ronnie had gotten a tent for his birthday last year and they haven't had many opportunities to use it. A friend allowed them to use his property where he had several acres of woods. The boys were so excited and could hardly wait to leave, even passing on a snack to get going.

Ron was excited too. He was looking forward to some time with the boys.

I got a call about 9pm last night to say Nathaniel was not feeling good and would I mind coming to get him. I asked if he was sure and then loaded up Eli and Maddie and headed out. They were only about 12 minutes down the road and Nathaniel was crying by the time we arrived. He had a headache and didn't feel well. Ron said he hadn't been very hungry and just wasn't feeling good. We got nearly home before he lost what little supper he had eaten. It made for a long night by the time I got everyone cleaned up and the car, but finally we all got some sleep.

First thing this morning, when Nathaniel woke, he asked if he could go back out. We decided against it, but he was really missing his brother and the time with daddy. When Ronnie got home he kept saying how much he missed Nathaniel and how much fun he would have had and that they need to go fishing sometime.

Ron and I figured out that it was the mold. Nathaniel has been tested for allergies and one of the things he is allergic to is outdoor molds. Ron said the wood they were burning had mold on it and there were a lot of leaves and things they had to clear before setting up camp. Which would make sense with when Nathaniel said he started to feel bad. SO...next time the campsite will have to be a little "cleaner" and they should be fine. They all 3 had a good time, although some more of a good time than others.

getting wood for the fire

setting up camp

bacon for breakfast

What's so funny?

Maddie wanted to show you how cute she is in red! She's cute in anything or nothing, but I thought I'd share the pictures! She thinks it's funny that we take her pictures so much. ENJOY!

Dedication

This past July, at our Evangelical Church's Family Camp we had Maddie dedicated. This was a very special night for not only Ron and I, as parents, but also for Maddie. When she gets older we will be able to tell her about how we had her dedicated and how we gave her to the Lord. Jesus blessed us with a beautiful girl and we are so blessed to have her.

Being Christian parents we have a responsibility. We are instructed, in the Bible, to raise Maddie (and the boys) to know, love and serve Jesus. This is not something to be taken lightly. As a mom, I feel very responsible for my children. I want them to be protected against dangers, kept from bad things and spared even the tiniest of problems. But my responsibility goes even deeper. I want my children to stand before their Creator one day and hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant". Now this is not something that I can just snap my fingers and it is done. In all honesty, I can't even tell you with 100% certainty that they will make the right decisions. But there are some things we can do:

1. We can pray daily for our children



2. We can teach them not only right and wrong, but what Jesus tells us in His Word, the Bible.



3. We can introduce them to Jesus.



4. We can instill in them a love for Jesus and for doing His will.



5. We can dedicate our own lives to Jesus and lead by example.



6. We can "train them in the way they should go" Prov. 22:6

So, on July 16, 2009, Ron and I took a vow in front of our family and friends and promised to raise Maddie in a way that would be honoring to Jesus. Our hope is that when she is old enough to understand what happened on that evening in July and the commitment we made on her behalf, she will desire to make her own public statement of faith.