Please Pray

A former student of mine, tragically lost her father and 11 year old brother in a car wreck this weekend. Please keep Madison and her mom, Jane in your prayers.

I'm completely heart-broken and I cannot even imagine what they are going through.

Love Y'all.

10 Things You Might Not Know

Over at the Living Proof blog, Beth made a list of 10 things you probably don't know about her and she wanted us to make our own list. So here's the list I left as a comment:

1. I love funky praise music! Kirk Franklin and Toby Mac rule and my kids love them too!
2.I can't put an extinguished match in the trash until I dip it in water.
3. I love to read and I'm a fast reader.
4. I love roller coasters.
5. I'm a spelling enthusiast. Seeing misspelled words on signs, church newsletters, etc. drive me crazy! (After posting my comment on Beth's blog, I realized I had misspelled a word. humility is hard!)
6. My husband is a terrible speller, opposites DO attract.
7. I have an irrational fear of alligators.
8. I love chips and salsa.
9. I cannot keep my van clean.
10. I like a little coffee with my cream. And no I didn't get that backwards!

So what about you? What are 10 things that we might not know? Please share!!

Because I want to remember.....

Because time goes by so quickly, I wanted to take the time and write down some of the things that I love about my kids during this stage of their lives. They're all at very different and unique stages and because I want to remember, I better record it now!

Emma~
I love that you are the exact definition of a 'tween'. I love that you will play Twister all by yourself just so Caleb and be the spinner. I love it when you get frustrated because he says right foot yellow, over and over again. I love the way we can look at each other and laugh about something that no one else understands. I love the way you tell a story and you have to make sure we hear every.single.detail. I love the way you still says, "Goodnight, Momma."

Dougie~
I love the way you love to wrestle and 'tussle' with Caleb. I love the fact that you LOVE to read. I love it that you think Jackie Robinson is a hero. I love the way you love all sports and that you enjoyed watching the Olympics as much as I did. I love it that you think you're still small enough to sit in my lap. I love it when you get up! (kidding, but your tail is so boney!!!) I love that you've discovered bird watching out your window and that you want me to enjoy it too! I love that you want to protect our home with an air soft gun when a strange man knocks on the door! I love that you remind me, "I won't always want to snuggle with you Momma, so you better enjoy it."

Caleb~
I love it when you do something great and you want celebrate, you say, "high five, big hug!" I love it when you ask us a question and we tell you we don't know, you respond by saying, "you better ask me." (instead of you better tell me.) I love the fact that you could eat cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner!I love the way you say, "I want a whole big" when you want a lot of something. I love the way you want to wrestle with Dougie and Daddy but when it gets too rough, you run to mommy. I love the way you love to sing Toby Mac, especially "Boomin." I love it when you laugh so hard, your face turns red and you drool! I love that just a few weeks ago the thought of not being 3 caused you to lament ALL day long! (I'm not kidding!) But now I love that now you can't wait to be 4. I love that you believe that when you're 4, you're going to be "Super Boy." I love that you don't ever forget anything!

Asher~
What's not to love!? I love that you light up when you see your sister or brothers. I love that you will "carry on" a conversation. You will babble, we respond and then you babble some more! I love that you love to laugh and play. (Although I do wish you'd start crawling!) I love that you are turning into a really good sleeper! I love the way you love to see Daddy and Mommy!

I'm very blessed with wonderful children. Steven and I pray daily that our children will grow up and love God will all their hearts.
Kiss your babies today!

The Brady Bunch House

Being a child of the 70's, I grew up watching the Brady Bunch. I loved all the drama between the kids but I also loved their house! They had the coolest house, the open staircase, the orange kitchen, I just loved it all. Who knew that some 30 years later, I would live in a house that has some decorating that is leftover from the Brady Bunch era? Like I said earlier, we LOVE our home, it's just some of the wallpaper that is less than desirable. Be prepared for a LOT of pictures because how else can I show you how "Carol" decorated this house!
This is the half bath. The reflection in the mirror is of the laundry room. I don't know about you but I think it was sheer genius to put the half bath in the laundry room. I'm just sayin'.... Doesn't this wallpaper just make you start to sing, "Here's a story..."?
Emma's Bathroom, yes, that's a chandelier...in a bathroom.A close-up of her wall paper. The pattern is raised velvet. When we first moved in, I kept telling my mom about the felt wallpaper. When they came for a visit, she informed me that it was velvet, not felt. OH. Classy, that's my middle name. Anyway..... Emma's room- very dramatic with the faux window covering for the headboard. An interesting combination of peach and green. This is our closet, yes, another chandelier. The wallpaper is the same in our closet and bedroom. Please don't judge me about the burned out light bulbs, between the 8 chandeliers in this house, I'm doing my best to replace the light bulbs!! This closet is HUGE, it's more like a dressing room. To the left are 2 closets. The door ahead leads to our bath room. Have you ever?!?! This is the mirror and lights above our bathroom sink. Checkout that wallpaper! On to the dining room. Again more felt velvet wallpaper. This picture doesn't really do it justice, I wish you could see it in person! Now, hold onto your horses or hats or whatever because I've saved the most unbelievable for last! The boys' bedrooms are plain, no wallpaper, just beige walls. Which leads me to believe, that the previous owners made those changes because who would have left a room beige when you see what they did to the closet and bathroom!
This is the closet, again, huge and more of a dressing room! Again, my picture doesn't give you the full effect of the jungle green and gold shimmery wallpaper, that is not only on the walls but on the ceiling as well!!! There are built in shelves and drawers, that you can see in the corner. It's so much room that Dougie doesn't even have to put his clothes in his dresser! The boys' bathroom is to the left and when you walk in this is what you see~ Marcia, Marcia, Marcia, check out those groovy stripes! It just makes me chuckle every time I go into that bathroom!
Well, I think I've shown you enough. But one last pic, here's our absolute favorite thing about this house~

Y'all have a great weekend! I just deleted my signature thingy.
Love Y'all,
Cheryl
btw, It wasn't my choice to have the animals on the mantle. It's all about compromise!

10 months (and 1 day)

Asher turned 10 months old yesterday.
I know, I can't believe it either.
At 10 months old, Asher, you weigh right at 20lbs. You are about 29 inches long and are wearing 12 month clothes. The last month has been a rough one for you. Even though you had tubes put in last month, you still keep getting ear infections. You also had pink eye and a terrible cold that you can't seem to get rid of. Through it all, you're still as sweet as ever. You smile, laugh and are very easy going. Your sleep habits aren't the best but it's understandable with how sick you've been. Being sick also took a toll on your appetite and for almost 2 weeks, you've barely eaten and would only take your bottle. But the last couple of days your appetite is picking up. Which is so good to see. Your bottom teeth are getting bigger but there's no sign of any other teeth yet. But it hasn't stopped you from learning how to eat Cheerios!
You are saying Da-da and Ma-Ma. You say e-Ma, which is totally different sounding than when you say Ma-ma. Whenever you make the Ba-ba sound, Dougie and Caleb both claim it as "Bubba."
You're not crawling yet and don't really show much interest in trying. You do not like to be on your tummy unless it's when you're going to sleep. But I'm not worried, I know you'll get there in your own time.
This past weekend, we had some snow and even though you didn't get outside to play in it, you did get your first taste of snow ice cream! Mommy gave you the first bite and then Emma took over. Needless to say, you LOVED it.

Asher, I love you so much! Love, Mommy

Life According to Caleb....

Sometimes, while uploading pictures, I'll come across some that weren't taken by me. Since the perspective of the picture looks like it was taken by someone who is about 36 inches tall, one can assume that Caleb got the camera and took some pictures. Or maybe out of desperation, it was given to him so that he can entertain himself, but whatever. It always makes me laugh to see what he captures, so I thought I'd share a few with you.

Most of the time, Asher is the subject of his photos. From Asher's look, he's a little scared.

Me feeding Asher. Obviously, he didn't want Asher in the picture. This may or may not have been one of those times when he had permission to use the camera.
Close up of Asher eating and I'm pretty sure he's thinking, "Dude, personal space...."

Trying to stretch his skillz as a photographer......still art, except the photographer couldn't be still because..............

Daddy's coming to take the camera away. Pretty sure this is one of those times he didn't have permission!

Saving the best for last. This is my all time favorite picture that Caleb has taken~

"Bo-Feet" that's Calebese for barefeet!

Happy Friday!

Love y'all dearly,

Hey!

Hey there. Do you remember me? I used to have a blog, well I still do but I've kind of neglected it lately. And to keep from the awkwardness of you trying to remember my name, let me refresh your memory, I'm Cheryl.
I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since my last post. I won't give you all the typical excuses like; trying to settle into our new home, the stomach bug making it's way through our family and subbing full time; nope, no excuses here, just b.u.s.y, that's the only reason.
What?
What's that you say? I never told you about our new home? Well, let me fill you in!!
If you may remember waaaaay back in Nov. and Dec. we were looking to move out of the parsonage and wanted to find a home to rent. We looked for months to no avail. Our move out date of Jan. 15 was rapidly approaching and we couldn't find anything. We decided that since there are so many homes for sale in our area, maybe we would contact the owners about the possibility of renting. The only problem with that plan is if the owner is still living in the home, they probably don't want to rent it. Then we thought about a house that was just around the corner from us. The family had moved about a year ago and we knew the house was empty. So in late Dec., Steven called the owner and presented our idea. He told us he would need to talk to his wife and get back to us. A few days later, he called and since we'd never seen the inside of the house, he wanted us to meet him there to walk through the house and make sure it would meet our needs. On the day we met him, he told us that he and his wife had never had the desire to rent the home but they'd been praying about our offer and they believed God wanted them to rent their house to us! "My God shall supply all your needs." In a matter of 2 days, we went from having no clue to where we were going to live to having a place just around the corner.
As we walked into the house we were blown away! Now remember, we are a family of 6 moving out of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch house. We walk into the family room and there is a HUGE brick fireplace, I think that sealed the deal for Steven. The next thing I hear the owner say is, "there are 2 bedrooms downstairs and 2 bedrooms upstairs." "Excuse me? Did you just say this is a 4 bedroom house?," I asked. "Yes, and there are 3 and a half baths." OMW!!! "To Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine."
We are absolutely thrilled with our home and although we know it's temporary, we are so grateful for the time we will get to live here as a family. We are already making so many wonderful memories and I hope our children will learn more about God's provision for His children through this experience!

On a side note, for all the wonderful things about this home, the large rooms, the fireplace, the huge yard, the closets (y'all, I can't even begin to tell you about the wonderful closet spaces!) there is one negative. This house was built in the early 70's and y'all, most of the original wallpaper is still on the walls! I know I keep saying y'all, but y'all, if you could see it!!!! It's like the Brady Bunch with a little bit of Austin Powers mixed in! I'm so not exaggerating either! Maybe I'll post some pictures to prove it!

Well, I guess that's enough for now. I hope to be a better blogger and not stay gone for so long. Leave me a comment so I know that at least somebody is reading this!

Love Y'all dearly!