Is it me?

or...do people just not get together much anymore? 

I have noticed over the past 4-5 years a decline in "play dates" and get togethers for not only mom and tots(which are the most popular) but also for arranging play dates for older kids too.  I also do not mean just the drop off play dates but the "mom comes along too so mom can have some adult interaction and adult talk" play dates.  It makes me wonder if the technology spree has taken over the relationships that people NEED.  We all need people and relationships in our lives, outside of our own family.  Especially the moms, right Moms?   I am tending to think that the Internet, texting, emails, twitter, face book, blogs, forums, IPhones, IPad's and whatever else is out there that I don't know about has taken the place of real live people.   I remember how weird it was when emails came about.  I still would rather talk on the phone than email someone about something. 

It saddens me that our society is okay with this and has let the real human relationship, the sense of community, go by the wayside.   

We (my family and I) are living in a very populated area and there are many very valid reasons to why other moms and kidos don't want to venture out.  Traffic, schooling, clubs/activities and certainly the stress, stress, stress that congestion brings.   Besides the traffic, this would be applicable to any other part of our country too.  Wouldn't you agree that if someone really wants to see another or get their kids together to play and moms to chat, that they would seek them out?  But I wonder if that desire is being fulfilled electronically.

At times, I feel like I have the plague or something!  I had this conversation with a dear friend that lives 8 hours away from me and she feels the same way.  It has to be this electronic world we are living in and not so much the actual location/state we live in.  I have noticed lots of moms feel this way, all in different parts of our country. 

I am not so keen on how this society and world is evolving.  It truly saddens me.

I don't mean to complain but it is something that has been heavy on my heart lately and wanted to share.  I am not sure even how to deal with it or try to change it or if it is possible to change it.  How do I go along with this and enjoy the ride when I feel like I missed the boat?

God bless,
Mary

Fat Tuesday fun times and Lent Ideas

Since our Valentine's day last week was rudely interrupted by a nasty stomach bug (uh, it was that bad....6 kidos plus hubby sick through the night-yeah, no fun for me :(  I could really use that pity party b/c it was that bad.) we are finally getting to making our Valentine's day cookies that Kido #3's godmother sent to us!  It was a super cute combo of heart cookie cutters and 6 different sprinkles.  Thanks K~!

Today....we are having SUCH fun!!!

Lots of sprinkles all over us and the kitchen....made with fresh sugar cookie dough...lots of sprinkles and flour all over the kitchen too!!!

We had chocolate ice cream and hot chocolate for snack and we'll be enjoying these heart cookies for dessert tonight.   Just trying to get rid of all this sweet stuff in our house before Lent begins tomorrow.

How can it be Lent already?  WOW!  That came fast!

At snack time today, we went over Lent and the different types of ways we can experience Lent to a deeper degree....offerings of sacrifice, almsgiving and prayer.  I am so proud of my children and all their desires to offer up certain items. 

Let me list them now...
Kid #1, boy, age 11--pray every morning
kid #2, girl, age 9--no lying
kid #3, boy, age 8--no bothering/teasing
kid #4, girl, age 6--no M&M's
kid #5, boy, age 5--no hot chocolate
kid #6, boy, age 3--who knows?  I wish I could make a long list for him! haaa haaa

And me?  Yeah, I knew you'd ask....well, I refraining from my favorite....ice cream!  and no wine unless we have visitors.  You like that second one?  Well, since we live away from family I thought that it would not be very courteous if our company were the only ones who had a glass of wine.  Makes sense to me! :)

I am going to print up or make up our annual Lenten Path---the kids love it and they look forward to coloring each day that we finished up the color purple as we get closer to Easter.

Then there's the Bean Jar.  Each sacrifice we offer up to God, we put a kidney bean in the jar then on Easter- the Easter Bunny comes and turns it into Easter Jelly Beans!  Kids LOVE this too!

And lots of Lenten pretzels....fun and yummy and they make great snacks and my kids enjoy making them so much.
God bless your Lent adventure,
Mary

Sin-freeeeeeee

I am so happy and proud to announce that we have 2 very sparkling clean souls in our household!

2 of my bigger kids, kid #2 and kid #3, went to their First Confession last night.  200 children and 2 hours later-they are shining bright with holiness!  Yes, that many children and that long, I am not kidding.  This year I have both of these kidos in the same grade-2nd grade.  The best decision I made-it is working SO well for all of us.  A little bit of competition and peer pressure to get their work done goes a long way with these two!  We realized that why push one child just to be a grade higher when clearly they are not ready for it.  This is God's doing and how He made each child.  I am just glad I figured it out and listened to Him early on and not when they were older.  I have heard it is much harder when they get older to hold a child back a year. 

Anyway, it is a 2 yr process of prep for their 1st Confession and 1st Holy Communion in our parish.  We decided to not enroll them in the actual classes that the religious ed offers.  They were totally okay with it-in fact, the RE director home schooled her own kids! What a blessing that homeschooling is so welcomed and encouraged around here.  I am very thankful to God for this.  We are using the Faith & Life series by Ignatius Press.  We, as parents, find it awesome!  The kids do too!!! IT is a great mix of learning and fun, coloring and writing.  My children do not mind doing religion almost every day.  Since we incorporate our Catholic Faith in ALL aspects of our life and our family, doing the religion 'book' is not that grueling for them :) I highly recommend this for all kids, even if they go to a CCD program.  It is so easy and fun for parents to do with them, along with what they are learning in the classroom setting. 

We have such an awesome diverse parish, with 31 countries represented (seriously!), that we were obviously the minority.  We love our priests and parish and all the colors and beauty that is displayed.  What a wonderful gift that my children get to see how 'universal' our Catholic Faith is!!! Growing up in a mainly white/Caucasian neighborhood, town and parish, I love that my own children get to see, early on, how widespread our Catholic Faith truly is. 

We went as a whole family last night and I am glad we did.  Even for 2 hours, I am glad we did.  In fact, I sort of persisted with this decision with my husband-he thought the opposite.  But, in the end, we are all SO glad we went.  What a great learning experience and how awesome that my little children got to see what their big siblings got to do and what they have to look forward to. My kid #4 (age 6) and kid #6 (age 3) even asked us (ahem...begged us over and over)  how they wanted to go to their own first confession THAT night!  Now, that is a testimony to what a great decision it was to bring them all!

Now, onto a celebration party for my kids!  We're all a little bit holier now!!!

God bless,
Mary

It's not BAD if things are hard

Over these past few weeks I was convinced in a deeper loving manner of how when life is hard, it does not mean it is bad.  When things in life may be difficult, it does not mean that it is not worth it.

I have been bombarded by others trying to escape the hardships of their life.  For me, instead I am trying deeply to embrace my hardships, as they are very different from theirs... albeit still hardships.  Knowing that it is God's Will for He either is making them happen or is allowing them to happen.  Either way, there is peace.  Believing that in all things, there is a greater good, even if we do not know what it is at that moment or may never know or may never understand the why's of it all.

The most difficult things in life are usually the ones most worth it.

Our world is craving the easy life.  The life that everything goes smoothly and 'their way'.  Of course, if asked if I'd rather have it easy or harder, my human side most definitely says the easy way.

But, in life, in reality, there is not many easy ways around things.  Life is not easy.  There is no easy way out.

Jesus reminds us of that cross that we must pick up to follow Him.  He has the perfect cross for us, no matter what we may think of it. 

And just because I may be upset that life in a big family and being a mother of many young children is difficult....  Well, of course it is.  But that does not mean that it is not worth it.  


Just as someone who trains for a marathon does not enjoy the pain and suffering accustomed to training long and grueling hours.  The outcome is really good.  Passing that finish line in that marathon is certainly worth it.  Worth it so much, that sometimes that runner may even start dreaming of the next marathon.  Much like the mother who just goes through a hard labor and birth may start dreaming of the fruit of their marital love, their next baby. 

Staying married to the love of my life, my husband, is worth it.

Parenting a big family is worth it. 

Homeschooling is worth it.

Our Catholic Faith is worth it.

The end product, our goal, Heaven, is totally worth it.

Period. 

God bless,
Mary

Horse Hair Teeth

Weird title of this post, huh?

On Friday, one of my sons came up from the playroom to tell me something and all I heard was "Blah...blah...blah...horse hair...so I'm gonna brush my teeth."

My curiosity was peeked and I asked him again...this time I heard right:

"Sister said my breath smells like horse hair so I'm gonna brush my teeth."

HAA HAAA!!!

Now that's what I call motivation!!! HAAA HAAA!!!

God bless,
Mary

My day full of Blessings

Today was a day full of a mix of feelings and emotions.

It was (is) my husband's birthday.  Happy Birthday to you!  I am so happy to be a part of your life and so thankful that God blessed me with you and the fruit of our love....our 8 beautiful children.  You truly are my helper, my true companion on this journey of life heading for our final destination.  Your life blesses me and I thank God for that.  Happy Birthday!

It is also my oldest sons' Baptism day...11 yrs ago!  Happy Baptism day!!!

Lastly, this morning, we added yet another memorable experience....

We buried Therese's remains.

It was harder than I thought it would be.  You see, I had hoped with all my heart that I could go through this miscarriage naturally, not needing a D&C, unless I absolutely needed one.  God granted me this prayer request and I did naturally.  It was much more than just a 'bad period' as some say.  Way more.  In fact, these past 3 weeks have been very tough on me emotionally, physically and spiritually. 

I was a wreck thinking of how and where I would put my baby's remains and what to do with them.  It really concerned me and upset me.  I thought about going to a Michael's store and buy a sweet little box that we could decorate somehow, to make it very personal to our family.  I had visions of my children all helping out and making it a family affair.   But, I thought time was not on my side.  I hate to say that.  How could I NOT make time for this important ordeal?  I realized afterwards that time was not really the issue, it was more about investing even more of me and more of my kids, more of my heart into this child that was mine for 10 weeks.  I was so sore, physically but my heart was what ached and is aching even more.  I ache to hold my child more.  I asked God "why?" and sure, I was a bit upset at God.  But thankfully, that did not last long.  I have some days when life just unravels and then I think of Therese or see something that would remind me of her and the tears would drop a little here and a little there, sometimes even turning into a flowing river!  This grief is not over, it is better, but not over yet. 

About 2 days before I had the actual miscarriage-the major part of it- in one day and has continued to linger on, it occurred to me that I have had this most beautiful box that was engraved with gold flowers and vines on the top.

It reminds me of Psalm 128:3:

"Your wife should be like a fruitful vine within your house,

your children like olive plants around your table."

It could be considered a sweet keepsake box.  It is red velvet inside and made of the best solid wood.  That would be it!  I was so relieved to know that I already had this tiny little coffin already in my own room, in my drawers, for the past 3 or 4 years.  Could it be that God has this all planned?  That is my belief.  He knew way before I did that that teeny tiny box would be something special.  In fact, it was given to me and I did not know what to use it for so I put in these really tiny saint statues in it so that they would be secure and not break.   Little did I know that our sweet teeny tiny Therese would be our real live Saint in there now.

The wonderful priest said some beautiful prayers as I held out the box near my husband and our children huddled around us.  I did not show or tell the children that this box carried their baby sister's remains until afterward.  I thought it to be too much of a distraction with so many questions and maybe that was not the right thing to do but I thought so at the time.  I was so caught up in holding my child for the last time, that at the time that I had to hand over this tiny wooden coffin to Father, that it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do...to really let go of my baby.  My eyes filled up with tears.  My husband noticed my pain, my sorrow...some of my children did as well.

It was closure.  It was over.  It is finished. 

Our little Saint Therese Avila, pray for your family here on earth to be holy and get to Heaven to finally meet you, God, Mary and all our patron Saints and Guardian Angels.  We love you!

God bless,
Mary

Kitchens...love it, love it not...

I have a love-hate relationship w/my kitchen.  

I love the fact that my whole family likes to hang out in this specific room in the house. 

I love how the kids all coral around a little kitchen table squeezing in 6 chairs where only 3 would be most comfortable.

I love how they bring their books in and lay on the kitchen floor just b/c the others are in this room and Momma is in the room too.

I love how when I am cooking or cleaning (about 70% of my day), how drawn my kids are to be around me.  Whatever they are doing, they bring it in this room and plop themselves down....near me. 

I love how eating and talking go hand in hand.  Some of our best conversations have been in the kitchen.   Some of the best moments of parenting happen in the kitchen.

Learning math while cooking.  Painting tons of pics.  Spelling tests while Momma cooks.  Social Studies--learning about generosity and patience while waiting for dinner and setting the table in the dining room.   The list goes on and on. 

What a wonderful feeling.  (Thank you God :))

I love this room.

I love kitchens.  Don't you?

But do you know what I do not love about it?  Actually I really really don't like it?  OK, I admit...I pretty much hate it.  Period.

The size of this kitchen.  It is 1/3 the size of our last kitchen.  Not a big deal if a family is not that big or does not truly "LIVE" all day in the house, right?  No.  But, for us?  This does not work. 

I guess you can say our kitchen is a work in kitchen with very limited counter space.  Barely enough room for those chairs I mentioned above.  It is really tight.  Then throw in a highchair, and it's quite the maze to get around.  Seriously. 

I dream of a big kitchen where we all can be around comfortably.  A big long farm style table.  We've got the benches already (thanks to Daddy and the boys!!! You rock!)

Kitchens.

Love them and hate this one.

God bless,
Mary

Snowsuits already???

We went from hot and muggy humid weather directly into very cold days of 50* for the past number of days.  Add that into the mix of 3 weeks of rainy cloudy days and this Momma is going a bit crrrrazy!!!

I also don't have the guts to turn ON the heat...just yet.  So, our house has been lingering around 60* throughout the day and it is quite chilly.  Not too bad, but enough that we have the massive amounts of clothes that have escaped from storage bins-the changing of seasons always brings out mega amounts of laundry and clothes galore, right?! :)

So, that leads me to allow the kids to let them put on their snow suits (well, they have to stay warm somehow, right?) and sleeping bags (warmth, OK?) and "sledding" down our staircases all dolled up in these particular super FUNNY outfits!

And I will add in that those kids are my boys.  Not my girls-ha ha!!! :)  Those girls just finished their math assignments and are off to play dolls for a little bit.

OK, so I have noted quite a lot of things my boys have been up to lately.   It is just that they are so peculiar and so well...boy-ish!  They just crack me up.  Totally.

Boys need to be boys---that is how I also "just do it"---having let them be just who they are w/out stopping their creativity. Schoolwork had to take a little recess break....and I needed to blog :)   Mind you, the little boys are totally loving every minute of it too!!!

I might even make some hot cocoa for us :)

Best go now.

God bless,
Mary

Bugs and Insects and Reptiles...oh my!



It's a good thing that I don't mind bugs and insects and anything else my kids seem to find and catch and run up to me in great wonder and amazement and with great confidence and joy! 
I was looking through my pics on my computer to send some overdue pics of the kids and their bday parties to my family members and came across TONS (and I really do mean tons!) of pics of all the little creatures my kids (girls included, thank you!) that they found. 

One of my favorite...praying mantis' are sooooooo cool!!!!  Yes, it is one of my favorites...if there is such a thing? 
I guess so...for this momma!: )

Look at this little guy!  We have found about 5 or 6 over the summer and they are always a huge hit.  Here is one enjoying our little baby pool (and we were done using it!) so it became his little home for the day.

WOnder and amazement of God's creations...

Looking at his every move--close ups!  My 4 yr old loved to see him pop his head out and then quickly in when he raised his voice at the poor little guy.  It was quite funny, though!

Our little habitat for a friendly toad

Can't get enough of these creatures...

Mr. Praying Mantis-see this one is brown?  The other one in the top pic is green.  They are really cool! :)


God bless,
Mary

Funny Faces

Ha ha ha!!! :LOL!!! :)

This is my 3rd child, age 7. 

I will be introducing you to my kids in pics over the next few days!

Stay tuned.

God bless,
Mary

Totally lovin' this moment

My 4 yr old little man ran to my oldest daughter and said, very giggly:

"I thought I married Momma, but I didn't!  (insert heee heee giggle giggle)  I just married 'little lady'!"

You see, just moments before I was nursing little lady and 4 yr old little man came over...

"Oh, Momma, I just have to give her a kiss." 

(Btw, this is nothing new...4 yr old little man adores and I mean, ADORES, his baby sister and is so sweet w/her.)

So I propped her up and just then she turned her head to see him and BOOM-he smooched her right on her lips! :)  The giggles and smirks arose from within him!  Oh if you could have seen his face! 

Now, according to my kids, if a man and woman kiss on the lips, that equals marriage. 

(Not a bad indicator, wouldn't you say???)

He tells me that he just married little lady and I have tried to convince him that he did not.  How do I explain that one to a 4 yr old?  Who knows...but  right now, it is awfully cute!!! :)

4 yr old kids ROCK!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE this age!!!
Thank you God for this moment...

God bless,
M

Livin' on the edge

Yesterday, our family went on a hike to a new forest park.  It was one we were told was full of great hiking adventures.   Since our family loves the outdoors and hiking is one of our top activities to do together, we couldn't wait to get there! :)

We decided on a path that was along side the big stream and of course my kids loved it!  What kid wouldn't?  I love the woods, the sounds of birds chirping or flying overhead.  The sounds of crinkling leaves underfoot, the sounds of rushing water over rocks.   So soothing and I am so glad we all enjoy this together.  

On part of the hike, my hubby and I were getting nervous as we watched them ahead of us and the path got dangerously close to the water.    At one point, we had to pull them aside to talk with them about getting too close to the edge and not knowing b/c one cannot see, if there is adequate support under what one is standing on or else it will cave in and drop and they'll fall in the water.  A couple giggles resounded as that sounded pretty fun to them but then I reminded them that their younger siblings do not swim and could drown an that was the clincher-they got it and understood our point.  Thank God!

It made me think about in a short amount of years,  I will not be there to pull them back and warn them.  I will have to trust and hope that they'll make the right decision, esp. when I am not looking.  For right now, they have me to help them but not for long.  This is the time of youth, of formation, and I pray that we can help them in the way God needs us to and that is pleasing to our Lord.  Then, I'll have to let go and watch.  But for now, I think I have a little more time.  Thank you God for this time.  Precious time.

God bless,
M

Family time ideas/memories

What do you do for family time?

How do you have FUN?

This question was posed to me a number of years ago and I actually stumbled in my answer.  I found that a bit disturbing.  I told my dear friend, who I was asking a lot of parenting questions to at the time, that we enjoyed going out to do things.  As in 'out of the house' to do things and go places.  Even though we still really REALLY enjoy going places, I have also realized how important it is to have fun just being at home.

So, what are those things that I have found to be FUN at HOME?

I figured there might be some other moms that have or are struggling with that question, so I'll give you brief answers:

For our family, most every Saturday night (after bath time) is our "family movie night" usually it is an appropriate age movie but we all sit together squished on the couch.  Add in low/dim lights and popcorn, sleeping bags and pillows and we are having FUN!

Playing a sweet game of kick-ball!

Hide and seek

Family coloring picture-we pass a piece of paper and one crayon around and each person draws a part of the picture.  This is so cool to have each of our uniqueness shine through.  We always LOVE the end product.

As with the family coloring picture-we also do a family story---we each say a part of it and go around the table adding in part of the story-never fails to bring on the laughter! :)

Just recently, we added in NIGHTLY during dinnertime- THE HAPPY GAME-every night while we eat, we pass around a mug with each of our names on a piece of folded paper and we pick out ONE name, then say something nice about them that they did or said that day.  It could be something we are thankful for about them, or that we noticed was super kind or generous.  My 4 yr old son LOVES this game and not a night goes by without him reminding us to do The Happy Game :)  Soooooo glad we added this in, so awesome.

get on the floor with the kids and play blocks

cleaning the playroom-sounds odd to say this is FUN for us, but it is!  When we clean the playroom, we dump all the toys in the middle of the room, put on some loud music and organize.  This turns into playtime along with organizing.  Fun for all :)



Arts and crafts-always a pleaser (not so much for Mom and Dad after all...but well worth it!)

All these things do not cost $, or are very low $ if any. 
But these times are priceless! 

Our kids are growing up so so fast.  My oldest is 10.  Now, to some, that is still so young...but I know that very soon he won't want to do that movie time together or hide and seek.   And then the rest of them won't and it will be a domino effect. 

I love my kids and my family and I want them to know it so I make sure that we spend TIME together-that is how they spell LOVE by spending TIME together.

During the week, school occupies our time mostly and who wants to always see a stern teacher with assignments and chores and discipline?!  Surely not me and I want to have my kids know that there is that FUN side of me to :)  I love to have FUN and I pray my kids will have these memories and be proud of them.  Who knows, maybe in 20 years, they'll be doing the same things w/ their own children!  And what a delight that would be for me to see!!!!!!

There are some ideas.  If you have any, please share-we're always ready to add in some more FUN! :)

God bless, and remember to have some FUN with your kids!!!
God bless,
M

Our own mardi gras party/big fat Tues

Family fun day

2 weekendw ago we had a really REALLY fun afternoon at the park.  Here are a few snapshots of what we did:

BASEBALL WITH DADDY:

WAITING YOUR TURN TO PLAY BASEBALL:

SWINGING ON SWINGS WITH THE BASEBALL:

(seriously this kid loves baseball-just like his Daddy was when young!  He would not go anyway without that baseball.  This is nothing new to my kid #6...!!!  He still loves to go to sleep with a baseball or a baseball glove!  Too cute.)

See that clear day?  Absolutely beautiful:

We also had the BEST EVER kickball game with 2 teams just from OUR family!!!  Funny, isn't it?  I never would have imagined that we'd have enough players within our own family!!!  Never would I have imagined that!  We had such a blast-if only I had taken pics-but even I was  having the best time ever that I did not want to stop to take a pic!!!  Another time...

God bless,
M

Breakfast keeps going and going and going...

Somdays, like today, breakfast never seems to end.

How does someone get lost in the passing out of breakfast foods, only to alert me an hour (or 2!) later that this person never had any breakfast or OJ?

I don't get it. 

How can an easy breakfast turn into a 2 or 3 hour meal? 

Just wonderin'.

Back to cleaning up eggs off the floor and cheerios covered in honey off the walls...

These are the days I'll remember... (remember that song?)
...and I am trying to remember that NOW!

God bless,
M

Fire Recap

This week flew by for me, big time. 

Monday we were sadly saying our goodbyes to my wonderful-awesome-totally crazy- energy filled b/c they actually sleep-fun and loud -sisters who came for the weekend. (hee hee) 

How cool is that?  They ditched their own husbands to join my hubby, me and our brood.  Very cool, I must say. 

So, did you notice my blog post about a, uhm...fire?  (if not, click HERE. I'll wait...)

Well, those sisters of mine were here and thanks be to God that they were!!!  We believe that WAS the reason they were to come up to visit us on this specific day and night and weekend.  What a crazy and terrible thing we had to have happen.  Let me explain...

Saturday night, all kids were sleeping, hubby was sleeping and even baby was asleep in her bassinet (which she does not do too often...she likes her Momma a whole lot).  So, that leaves 3 sisters up talking, of course, with wine, of course and that 7 dip thingy except it was not 7 but more like 5 dip thingy.  Anyway, it was super yummy (Thanks D!) and we were goofing off, chatting it up till late. 

11:30pm to be exact.

Then sweet baby started crying and b/c the considerate (ha!) wife that I am, I did not want my hubby to wake up so up I ran to gather my little sweetie and soothe her back to sleep.  As I am sitting in bed, I hear my sisters run, and I mean RUN up the stairs, knock quickly and abruptly at our bedroom door and say

"There is a fire...in your backyard!!!"

No time for me to think to look outside, I wholeheartedly believed what my sister was saying.  Who wouldn't, right?

At that moment, our thoughts were totally focused on getting our 7 children out of our house, far away from our house and as I did that, I glanced back to see an orange/yellow glow behind our house and our neighbors house with very high flames (looked about 10-12 feet probably).  I scurried them all into our van and awaited my hubby as he ran back inside to get a few things.  I knew we were still too close to our house so I drove the van up the street a little bit.  I was petrified, totally!  I was shaking as I heard and saw my sisters screaming "FIRE!!!" to all our neighbors as well as banging on their doors to alert them.  All of my kids were freaking out.  One had her head hid between her knees with her ears covered, another one was shaking so badly it looked as if he was having a seizure, another one stared blankly straight ahead as if he was blind.  The baby was still on my lap, ASLEEP THROUGH ALL THIS!!! Thank God she was sleeping!  I don't know what I would have done if she was up crying and screaming.  I started to bang on my horn and yelling "FIRE!" as well.  I keep on honking my horn for, what felt like 5-10 mins.  It was so scary.  Then the fire trucks came, 5-6 fire trucks and about 30 or more fire fighters.  It was quite the scene.  It took them 2+ hours to calm the fire, put it out, and drench our whole backyard wooded area. 

This is what it looked like once we got the "OK" to get back into our house and the firemen were putting away all their equipment and hoses.  It was around 1:30am, I think.

I am so thankful the kids all were OK (except one who slept on our bedroom floor-I don't blame her!  I am surprised they all were not in our bed!!!  I was freaking out!) with going back to their own beds and went back to sleep. 

I am thankful for those hardworking firemen who protected us and put out that nasty fire.

I am thankful for a sisters weekend and up late laughing and talking, for if we were not, there is NOWAY we would have known about this fire!

I am thankful for a very kind neighbor who called us and ended up leaving a message wondering if we were OK and if we needed to come to her home.  She called at midnight and of course, we were not here to answer her call.  Thank you God for good neighbors.

I am thankful that our other neighbors (well, at least some of them!) actually heard us beeping and yelling and banging on their doors.  Some were not concerned in the slightest -why, I have no idea! Weird... 

And I am thankful that we are all safe.  Thank you God.

God bless,
M

FIRE!

Yeah, you've heard me right. 

Fire. 

Can you believe this?  What an ordeal!  How scary!!! 

When I have more time I will HAVE to explain. 

Let's just say---forrest fire was in our backyard last night at midnight!!!

More to come...

Here are some pics to hold you interested....

 Pics one day after>>>

View at 1:15am in our living room...

Thank you GOD we are all safe.

Thank you.

GOd bless,
M

Snowman!

Our FIRST snowman of this Winter Season!
Bring it on'~!
Who would have known that moving to the "South" we'd have more snow than the North?
Sorry guys up there, I know you miss this white stuff!!!
We're pretty happy to have some-just 2inches but it goes a looooooooong way with little ones.  Just perfect for them...not too much to not be able to walk in but enough that it does not melt right away :)

I do have to say that it is really funny to see that these folks down here have no idea what to do when it snows.  For ie:  yesterday it snowed and it is over 24 hours since it stopped and STILL there has been no plows to be seen!  Our road is still pretty much covered in snow still!  It's like they are at a standstill not knowing what to do!  so funny.

God bless,
M

One thing to say

or rather SCREAM FROM THE ROOF TOP....



WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!
WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!
WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!

DO YOU HEAR ME?

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE...FINALLY!!!!

ALL THANKS BE TO GOD-HE SURELY INTERVENED AND WE ARE SO GRATEFUL AND RELIEVED.  FINALLY.  FINALLY.

THANK YOU GOD!

God bless,
M