Cooper is 6 Months Old

C - Cutie Pie
O - Obsessive about his Mama
O - Observant
P - Perfect in every way
E - Easygoing
R - Rascal

Great Book!

I am sure many of you know that I am a fan of the show Jon & Kate plus Eight. A friend recently let me borrow her copy of their latest book. I took it home this weekend and devoured it in a few hours. It's not a real long book and it is an easy read but that's not why I loved it. I think God had it in store for me to read this book. We have had so many parallels to their life minus 5 kids. Within just a short time of Kate finding out she was pregnant with the babies Jon lost his first job. Very similiar to us not to long after I found out I was pregnant with Caroline my husband too lost his first job. The similiarities just start there and go on and on and on. One thing I really enjoyed about this book was how she talked about their situation with hindsight. Now that she has endured the hard times she really saw why God had Jon out of work and other neat things. She spoke about getting past the phase of "Why Me?" and moving on to glorify God through the hard times. It just really spoke to me. I recommend this book to anyone who is going through a hard time and wondering "Why Me God?" It really helped my perspective.

Penguin Palooza

Today our preschool met again and we added a new member to our crew! A girl!!! Haylee, she was a dreamboat! We learned about penguins. We made a penguin out of a toliet paper roll, we sang a song with our penguins, we played pass the penguin (which is like hot potato and they didn't really get it), and we read some books about penguins. We turned on Happy Feet for them to watch while they ate their lunch. They danced around and pretended to be penguins. It was really cute! I filmed the kids trying to sing their song, it goes to the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot!" but instead it's "I'm a Little Penguin!"

TRAINing Wheels

Connor got a Thomas the Train bike for his third birthday back in June and he has just now shown an interest in riding it. For Christmas, MawMaw & PawPaw got him a Smartcycle that you hook up to the TV and play video games by pedaling a bike. From that he has learned how to pedal so we took to the streets with the real deal. We've been practicing all week and he has really gotten pretty good at it. We take him up to the train tracks at the end of our street where there is a little hill that he can coast down. He likes to pretend he is racing to the speed limit sign that says 15 mph. I thought I'd share a little video of him riding and some pics, we sure are excited!!

Shut Up and Let Me Do My Job

I wanted to tell of the wonderful things God has been doing. The repairs to my car have all been paid for. God has totally provided for all our needs. We have the car in the shop right now, when I go to crank it there is a little shaking going on. The mechanic down in St. Pete said the fuel pump was going bad but the mechanic up here is not convinced. So I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

Another testament to God is Craig's Explorer started making a horrible grinding sound Sunday after church. He couldn't drive it home and we left it at the mechanic's shop which is located right next door to our church. I didn't hear it but Craig said it sounded horrible, the sound was coming from the right tire area. So the mechanic put it up on the block yesterday, took the tire off, and washed the area down, put the tire back on and nothing was wrong with it.

I really have been feeling God say to me, "Shut up, and let me be God!" I know that kind of sounds harsh. I feel like I've been talking a lot of faith lately and now I need to put it into action. I need to stop doubting God and trust that He will provide and sustain us. I need to shut up and let Him do His job. I do feel like this has been a test and I am just trying to make sure I pass the test and give God the praise.

It says in 1 Peter 1:7:
"These trials are only a test your faith, to prove that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold - and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."

So the job hunt is still on - Pray that Craig finds favor and the right job comes along.

Today I wanted to clean my bedroom and bathroom. That was the only thing I had on my agenda other than watching the Inauguration. I had to barricade myself in my bedroom so that Connor & Caroline wouldn't come in and mess up my bedroom before I could get it cleaned. I put a laundry basket in front of my bedroom door with it open so I could see what they were doing. They played in their rooms and they pulled out every toy they have ever owned but I got a chance to clean my bedroom. So at one point I heard them outside my door and I peeked around the corner to see what they were up to. On their own accord both grabbed underwear out of Connor's basket and put it on their heads. It was too cute so I had to share it with you.

Life Lessons

This post is probably more for me than anyone I just needed to journal my thoughts about this past week. So Craig & I have just endured the week from H E double hockey sticks, if you know what I mean. If my outside looked like my insides I'd be black and blue from the pain. As we are coming out of it I have some thoughts on life lessons. You know that phrase "Whatever doesn't kill ya just makes you that much stronger" that phrase applies to us. We've had a string of bad luck for a while now mostly dealing with the loss of jobs and most recently our Yukon. I love that car, it's my baby. It's nothing anyone would be envious of but it's perfect for me. I am not a minivan type of girl (I mean no disrespect to all those minivan moms out there.) We'll my darling car left us stranded on the highway this past weekend and cost us a pretty penny to repair. With Craig not working right now every little penny counts. I have just returned from St. Pete to pick it up and I had a two hour drive alone (I don't know how I managed that) to contemplate my life. I cried pretty much the entire drive, it was good, therapy. But it all came down to this - this is a season in our life, a life lesson. God hasn't left us, He hasn't forgotten us, He is not punishing me for some horrible sin in my life, in reality He loves me. I talked to my mom on my drive back and she told me of a season in her life, when I was really young, that was similiar to what I am going through now. I think everyone has a season in life when things are hard. God uses those times to bring stuff out of us, so we can help others. This all sounds so cliche as I write it but I know it to be true in my heart.
I'm not a huge country music fan but a song by Carrie Underwood popped into head on the drive back and I think it sums up what I am trying to say. I added it to my playlist.
So I am ending this post with a list, wow, that's something new and unique. I know I am just a list maker it's how I roll!

This is a list of the things in my life that I am thankful for:

1. My car - although not completely whole yet (we still have a few things that need repair on it.) It's running!
2. Our house
3. My husband - My man is faithful and helpful around the house and my he's my best friend!
4. My healthy, happy children! They mean the world to me.
5. My family - My mom & dad, Craig's mom & Dad, Uncle Brant! They are good to us! You are nothing without your family.
6. My friends - I have a handful of friends, a few people in my life that I count on and share life with and for them I am truly thankful.
7. God's provisions - We haven't gone hungry yet. We still have a place to sleep at night.

We would really appreciate your prayers! Please pray that a good, steady job would come along for Craig or me.

A Florida Winter

Where else in the world can you make a snowman while wearing shorts and enjoying 80 degree temps? Only Florida! Today our preschool met and our theme was winter. I was the teacher so I tried to figure out a way for our preschoolers to understand winter since they've never seen snow. I found some really neat ideas online and we made "Florida snowmen." They turned out super cute but they melted really fast in that Florida heat. We also made snowflakes, and snow out of Elmer's glue and shaving cream, and we "ice skated" to winter music by gliding on wax paper around the carpet. We made a snowman face snack out of rice cakes, covered in white icing and we used craisins to decorate their faces. Connor and Josie said the snack was their favorite part. We sang Frosty the Snowman, and read books about winter and What Snowmen Do at Night. The kids had a blast and I did too!