More Snow

Last week was a little crazy around here, weather wise!

The boys went 1 day all week!

On Thursday evening into Friday we got MORE SNOW!

The boys loved it!

Maddie loved it, too!

Who do you love best?

This afternoon, Eli was helping me make a meal for some shut-ins in our Farmer Church. He was really just watching and talking while I put the meal together. He was keeping me company and happy that he had gotten up early from his "rest time".

So he looks up at me with those big eyes and says, "Mom, do you know who I love best in the world?"

I grin and play along (thinking that yes, I do know who he will say), as I say, "who".

With a huge grin on his face, "GOD", came his 4 year old reply!

Silly me - I was thinking selfishly! I'm so glad my little guy loves God more than anything else, even more than his momma! That's what I want from him! That's what I desire for him! That's what were "Training" for!

Keep Loving Him Eli!

Cowgirl

These boots may not be made for walkin', but they sure did give us a good laugh!

Our Little Cowgirl

Moving!

From the time I was born until the time I went off to college, my family moved a lot. 6 states, at least 11 moves within those states (and that's just the ones I can remember to count). So moving is "normal". Then about 12 years ago mom and dad stopped moving - interestingly enough that was the same time I married Ron. So their lack of moving only meant that I didn't have to pack up my room anymore with them (Ron and I have lived in 5 homes)!

But now, Dad is retiring from preaching with the UMC. He will continue to teach at IWU and it will also give him more writing time. So they have bought a home in Marion. On Saturday we went down to visit for few hours and see the new house.

This is taken in front of their living room window!

Maddie and Grandma sharing a laugh!

Doesn't mom look great?!
Of course Ron and Pap had to figure out some things.

There are some improvements to be made, but Mom and Dad should be moving in the late spring!

They are finally going to be living in a home they own!

(a rare thing for those of us who live in parsonages)

Answered Prayer = Bonding Time

Lately, Ronnie and Eli have been "at" each other a lot. Now I don't know if it is a stage that the 7 year old is going through, or a stage that the 4 year old is going through, but they have just been picking and fighting and just not getting a long at all.

Then Monday, Valentine's Day (if that means anything), I turn around in the kitchen to see this at the table.

Ronnie was quietly reading to Eli. Not only that, Eli was quietly listening! Amazing!

I wondered if all the prayers were being answered and finally they were going to be past their "hatred" of one another.

Then Tuesday morning we found out Ronnie had strep (yes, we're guessing he got it from Maddie, but honestly that's another mystery - since those 2 are the least likely to be spending lots of time together). So, Ronnie was home from school for 2 days. Believe it or not Ronnie and Eli played well together both days. I think they were both ready for Ronnie to go back yesterday, but I was just very thankful they got along so well!

So only time will tell if these 2 will be buds or not, but for now...I'm happy with the bonding!

"Real" School Time

For several weeks now we have been having "real" school, as Eli calls it! We made a deal back in the fall that when he started wearing big boy underwear we would start. He kept his end of the deal in late fall and so we began at the beginning of the year. It was a slow start as I didn't get around as quickly as I would have liked and we had lots of sick days early on too!

But we are pretty much into a routine now and I thought I would share our routine of "real" school (I'm not sure what "fake school" would look like, but oh well!!)

We begin with Maddie, Evan (the 18 month old I babysit for) and Eli all on the couch with me as I read a Bible Story from this book.

This book was given to the boys for Christmas and I thought we would start with it. Eli seems to be enjoying it and Maddie and Evan just like to be read to!

After our Bible Story we say a little prayer for our school day! This picture is priceless. I love that I was able to capture this today! We usually pray for Eli to have a fun day of learning and for Maddie and Evan to get along during the day of play!

So may captions could go with this above picture - it's just awesome! Proverbs 22:6, at work!

Next Eli says his Bible Verses, we are working our way through the alphabet with Bible Verses - He's doing great. We also have some music and sing the songs that go with our verses!

Then Eli gets to Journal. Lately his journal pictures have been about our Bible story!

Then we have a couple of workbooks that we are using. He's learning things like his letters, numbers, shapes, colors, opposites, etc. Below he is drawing squares!

Maddie and Evan usually get a long pretty well. Today they were having a little reading/school time of their own.

Lelah usually just crawls around and plays while everyone is busy!

Our school day is not usually long, but we get in just enough to keep learning!

The first day we did "real" school, Eli was so excited. When we finished he wanted to call someone and tell them about his first day. We found Grandma Adkins at home. So now (almost) every day after he is done he calls Grandma to tell her about his school day!

So...we're really learning around here!

Warming Up

It may be warming up outside but it's nice and cozy inside!

Who am I kidding, these 2 will find a way to snuggle any time, any season!!

Staying Up Late

I got a great idea from my friend, Anne, who made coupon books at Christmas time for her kids. So I decided to make the boys Coupon Books for Valentine's Day. I think they were a huge hit, although each one decided to handle them differently. Ronnie (the oldest) decided to keep ALL his coupons to use on his birthday (which isn't until mid-June). Nathaniel said he would use his "real slow". Eli...well that is a different story. Eli turned in 3 coupons yesterday alone (and honestly tried for 4, but it was too late in the day).

One of his coupons was staying up 30 minutes past bedtime and having popcorn with mom and dad! He was so excited! We had our devotions with everyone together then he and I made our way back downstairs and popped some popcorn! He was so excited he could barely contain himself! Not only was he staying up later than his brothers, but he also got food and water after bedtime! WOW!

He was so cute!

When he had his fill of popcorn and the 30 minutes was up, he and I went hand and hand back up the stairs. He said, "mom, I don't think I really wanted to use that coupon tonight!". I had to laugh! Seriously, you can't get your coupons back after your redeem them, but nice try!

Although, Ron and I had fun with him too! It's nice to have some 1 on 1 time with our kids and it's harder to do when there are 4 of them!

Thanks Anne for the great idea!
I'm looking forward to more coupons being cashed in!

Happy Valentine's Day

Last night Ron and I went out to eat to celebrate Valentine's Day. We had gotten a gift card at Christmas time from our friends, Ralph and Cathy. Along with the gift card was a free night of babysitting. Gotta love that! So we went out and had steak and shrimp while they stayed with our 4 and had frozen pizza. Not sure it was an even trade, but everyone seemed happy! Thanks so much Ralph and Cathy for the date night!

the boys and Ms. Cathy playing "Old Maid"

It was 12 years ago today that Ron asked me to marry him. On a Sunday afternoon at Hocking Hills, overlooking the snow capped hills! For 12 years I have shared my life, and my dreams with this wonderful husband of mine.

He is a wonderful husband and a fantastic daddy. I'm so blessed to have him as my Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day, Ron! I love you!I know I should have a picture of the 2 of us here, but Ronnie couldn't seem to keep his hands from shaking so all I have is blurry pictures! This one of Ron and his little girl will have to do!

Commentators are like Politicians

It's true! Commentators are like Politicians. They talk and talk about nothing in particular (especially what they are getting paid to talk about) and they don't care who is listening to them. We just finished watching the OSU basketball game. Dick Vitale is annoying, I don't care whose playing!

So our Buckeyes who were undefeated before today (24-0) are now 24-1. Wisconsin beat them. It's something about being #1 and playing the Badgers. It was a pretty good game. We've enjoyed watching the Buckeyes play ball this past few weeks. Although today was not quite as enjoyable, it was another good game. You can bet our Buckeyes will be ready for March Madness!

The kids were pretty excited about the game and disappointed after it was over. Honestly, it's not a big deal. So they lost a game, they're still good! Matter fact, they are still REALLY good! We'll keep watching around here, hopefully we won't have to continue listening to Vitale!

Marriage

I've been thinking a lot on Marriage lately. I guess with Valentine's Day just around the corner - it's a hot topic. Ron and I were actually discussing marriage earlier this week. We know of so many marriages that we can honestly say we would want nothing like what they have! There are few marriages out there that you can look at and say - "Now they have a great marriage, lets model ours after theirs."

It's sad to me but quite the opposite is true. Many marriages today have a lack of trust and a lack of communication. How can you love someone and grow in your love for them if #1, you can't trust them and #2, you don't even communicate with them? It doesn't happen!

When Ron and I were first talking about getting married we talked a lot about what we wanted in our marriage, our family and our lives together. We talked about examples around us, some things we like, some we agreed we wanted no part of. But the important thing is we talked about it. We made an agreement together that we would talk about everything - even if it wasn't easy or even if it would make the other person upset - we had to be open and honest and communicate what we were thinking! I struggle with this. I have never been the kind of person that just talks about things - I have to sit and think through and process before I open my mouth. Now, I know some of you might be saying, "that's good" and in a way it is, but it can also be bad. I tend to think a LONG time!

Anyway, all that to say...I think one of the most important things in a Marriage is Communication! Without communication, would you ever have known anything about your spouse in the first place? The way we learn and grow and draw closer to someone is to communicate with them.

Communication is extremely important. In fact at a Ladies meeting last night, that was how I answered the question, "what is your secret to a happy marriage?" "Communication!"
However, I've been thinking about it a lot since giving that answer. I don't think that is all. There is more.

Ron and I can talk until we're blue in the face, but if we are missing one key ingredient, it won't matter.

I'm talking about Jesus! I'm 100% convinced (and you can't change my mind) that without Jesus in our marriage - Ron and I would have a terrible marriage!

It's JESUS that makes it a happy marriage. We have joy, we have tears, we argue or disagree, but through it all we have our relationship with Jesus in common. We pray for each other, we pray for our children, we pray for every circumstance we face. What do couples do that don't have Jesus?

I want my marriage to be modeled after the Trinity! I want Ron, Jan and Jesus! We are ONE! We are a team! We are lost without one of our members!

Jesus, thank you for giving me a loving spouse. Thank you for teaching me to be a loving spouse. Thank you so much for Ron's relationship with you! And Jesus continue to teach us how to love one another in a self-giving way! We want our marriage to model you! Amen!

So what about you - what's your key to a happy, healthy marriage? Any thoughts?

Puzzles

The boys have been really into puzzles lately! Only they want to see how many they can get together at one time. This picture is pretty amazing considering they have both a younger brother and sister - and there are still 8 puzzles together!

Catch Up (Maddie, Snow & Ryan)

The past week has been a little crazy to say the least. Maddie returned to the doctor on Thursday (for the 3rd time in 10 days). She had a rash that scared me. Ron has never had chicken pox and so I was scared that perhaps we were going to be dealing with that. As it turns out she had a very non-typical (don't you love that word - sarcasm intended) strep rash.

When she is older, she will not be happy about this picture, but I documented it on Friday afternoon, as it was so bad. Honestly the picture doesn't even come close to how bad it was. The good news - she is much improved now. We got some meds in her and by Saturday she had improved tremendously!

Then Saturday we got another 6+ inches of snow! The boys all shoveled for an hour or so (it wasn't as heavy of snow as last week, thankfully). Then they decided to play a little! This pile comes to Ron's chest at least - it's a big one.

By the end of their play there were steps on the back of this pile and a sled path down the front. I didn't get a picture yet as it was pretty dark that night when they finally all came in! FUN times in the snow around here!

We continue to appreciate your prayers for Ron's brother, Ryan. He had his second treatment this past week and returned home Sunday morning. He is in tremendous pain and the next week will be more of that. We are praying for a good PET scan on the 23rd of this month. He will receive the results on the 24th. If the results are good and the chemo that he has had has been doing a good job then they will begin scheduling for the bone marrow transplant. If they decide more chemo is needed first, they will admit him on the 24th for yet another round.

Please continue to pray for Healing and please Pray for the Lord to be honored throughout all of this! We serve a mighty God who knows each one of us and holds us in His Hands! Praise the Lord, we wouldn't want to be any other place than right in the middle of His Hands and His Will!

Digging Out

This past week we got a BUNCH of snow! The kids were so excited. They were off school for 2 days and then delayed another. We took a little bit of time to play in it after the first round came through.

Maddie wasn't sure if she liked all the clothes it required - this was her very first big snow!

Honestly, no one had much energy to play in it after the 3 hours of shoveling that was needed to just clear our small drive (or path in front of the garage) and our sidewalks! All 3 boys and Daddy worked non-stop and did a great job!

OK, so maybe we took a little break for pictures!

Yes, that is Ronnie behind all that snow!

Told ya!

The snow was so heavy that Nathaniel cracked his new shovel!

That pile keeps getting bigger.

Even Maddie and I helped a little - we cleared the porch!

Maddie realized that if she took her gloves off she got cold very fast.

Note: tears are not good in the cold either.

Now today we are getting more, even as I type. We figured in the first round this week we got about 3 inches then at least another 8 on top of that. Now today, I'd say we have at least 4 as of this writing and it is still coming down. I'm not sure where all that snow can be piled. Yes it is treacherous, but I also think it is beautiful! I'm sure there will be more snow pictures to come!

Big Brother

There are times when having a Big Brother around is the absolute greatest thing in the world!

Especially when he is as kind and sensitive as Nathaniel!