Updates

I haven't posted a lot recently about the happenings around our house and life, so I thought I would lump everything together in this post.

A couple of weekends ago the girls went with Kevin down to Ontario, CA for a Bible Quizzing tournament. Kevin was able to coach the girls team and they ended up taking 2nd with Delaney being the 2nd highest scorer on the all tournament team. All of the Sac teams did extremely well, but as I wasn't there I do not have any pics to post. If you click on the link for Apostolic Bible Quizzing you should be able to find results and pics of this tournment soon.


Denae is really enjoying her Kindermusik class taught by her Aunt Kathy. Dallas likes it to, but technically it's not for his age group although he does participate.

Denae also has enough hair to put in a ponytail now. This picture doesn't show it very well since the bow is about as big as her head, but it's a cute bow so I posted it, lol!

The other day, when taking Denae out of the truck, I noticed a yellow jacket on a little nest on the truck door where in where it closes. I had to take some pics because Delaney wouldn't get close enough to see it, although the other kids did. Kevin took care of it for us and we were soon on our merry way, but the kids thought it was kind of cool and wanted me to share it on the blog.
Thank goodness for zoom!

The rest of the pics are just random pictures I have taken of the kids. Hope you enjoy!

Denae and Dallas during alter service. Not praying yet, but oh so close!!

Denae cheesing for the camera last night. She wanted me to keep taking her picture while she hammed it up for the camera. She must be taking after Dallas, as you can see in the picture below. lol
Darilyn showing her beautiful smile. She is such a cutie.

Delaney's big news is she lost another tooth! This one on top. Nolan and Krista were over last night and he ended up pulling it for her. She must have really healthy gums, because it was a tough one to pull, even though it was almost falling out. Thank goodness Nolan kept her laughing.

By the way, as a side note, Nolan ships out to Iraq in just a few days, so keep him in your prayers!!

I also have some video clips I have taken of Denae driving the battery powered Gator and of kindermusik, but everytime I try to upload them to the blog, it never finishes loading. I will try to figure this out since I know Grandma and Poppa would love to see some clips of the kids.

Happy Belated Birthday, Austin!

Austin turned 10 on Monday, so Happy belated B-day, Austin! Austin is becoming quite the young man. He is a great Bible Quizzer and has taken top honors in recent tournaments, including the highest scoring individual at our tournament in February. He excels at school and does extremely well in the Boys club sports playoffs. We are proud of you, Austin, and look forward to all the great things God has in store for you! Love ya bunches!

Funny Home Remedies

Our cousin Delinda sent us these very funny 'home remedies.' They made me laugh, so I thought I would share them all my blogging friends. And just in case any of those people whom warning labels were created for happen across my blog and read this post:

WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

This blog and writer will not be held responsible for any injury and/or other problems caused by someone actually doing one of the below suggestion that were just meant for laughs, including someone dying laughing at the misfortune of the unfortunate one who does one of the below suggestions that was just meant for laughs.

AMAZINGLY SIMPLE HOME REMEDIES

1. If you are choking on an ice cube simply pour a cup of boiling waterdown your throat. Presto! The blockage will instantly remove itself.

2. Avoid cutting yourself slicing vegetables by getting someone else tohold while you chop.

3. Avoid arguments with the Mrs. about lifting the toilet seat by usingthe sink.

4. For high blood pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleedfor a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Rememberto use a timer.

5. A mouse trap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent youfrom rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snoozebutton.

6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you'll be afraid to cough.

7. You only need two tools in life--WD-40 and duct tape. If itdoesn't move and should, use the WD-40. If it shouldn't move and does,use the duct tape.

8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

Daily thought: SOME PEOPLE ARE LIKE SLINKIES. NOT REALLY GOOD FORANYTHING BUT THEY BRING A SMILE TO YOUR FACE WHEN PUSHED DOWN THESTAIRS.

Hope this brought a smile to your day. Remember, laughter burns calories and smiling causes less wrinkles than frowning!

Denae praying

Last night, Denae did the most precious thing. After church, the kids all had a snack and were put to bed. I layed Denae in bed with me while I read for a bit and Kevin finished up some paperwork for his job. She tossed and turned and layed on me, crawling all over the bed while singing and talking to herself. She finally laid still and started singing a song I couldn't recognize, but after a few minutes I realized she wasn't singing. She was talking. So I listened for a minute. She kept saying, "Jesuh, Jesuh," which is being interpretted, "Jesus." I looked over at her and she was laying on her back with her hands clasped in front of her face, praying. I began to listen and watch to see what she would do. Sometimes she lifted her hands, other times she covered her face, but the whole time she was praying. I wasn't able to understand it all, but I did catch "Jesus," "Dallas be a good boy," (a frequent prayer in our house when praying with the kids!), "Momma" and "Daddy." She also said, "N-n-n-n-nobody," which is part of a song the kids sang in choir Sunday that Denae picked up on and likes to sing. (Who is like the Lord? Nobody! Who is like the Lord? N-n-n-n-nobody!) After a few minutes she got quiet and her eyelids began to droop. Soon she was fast asleep. Denae prayed herself to sleep! I thought this was so precious. Jesus adnonished us to become as little children for such is the kingdom of God. I can just imagine Him smiling down on Denae as she prayed in her own way until she fell asleep. Sweet dreams little one!

Spring School Pictures

Okay, help me out here. I can curl my daughters' hair on Sat night for Sunday church and have curls that make it through two services, naps, school on Monday (including recess) and the various hairdos involved with these multiple activities. However, on school picture day, I curl the girls' hair the night before and fix it so cute for the pics and the curl doesn't even last until pic time. Of course, on this day they had to run laps for PE time before the pics. Hello! Does anyone understand this mystery? Oh well, the pics still turned out cute, but the cute curly hairdo was loong gone!

Family "Church"

Every Monday night we have family time of prayer and Bible reading with a lesson. About a month ago Kevin and I decided to start making this time even more "kid friendly" by having some type of object lesson or experiment or activity to reinforce the Bible truth for the night, kind of like a mini kids church. We thought it would give us a great opportunity to try out ideas we have read or seen on our kids so when the door opens for the childrens' evangilism we have praying about, we will have had all kinds of hands on experience. So far we have found out that balloons with water won't pop when over a flame (like being filled with the Holy Ghost helps us endure the fire of temptation), that even a small force will make a big difference on a pendelum, no matter how heavy the weight (like our prayers can move mountains), and that a small strand can bind us up if we get wrapped up in it enough times (like bad habits or sins) and that small strands can also be used to make strong ropes that help us (like good habits and prayer). Soon we are going to add some puppets to our family church night. But anyways, the kids LOVE it so far!! They talk about it all week and remind us all day on Monday that "Tonights our family church!" Tonight we played a hide and seek game with the kids and taught about the lost coin, lamb, and the prodigal son. Then we spent time in prayer. We have been following the Lord's prayer since our time of focus on that as a church in January. It has really helped the girls in learning how to pray. Well, tonight God just reached down and touched us as a family and we had an awesome prayer meeting with the kids! We even had some Holy Rolling going on. Oh wait that was Dallas rolling around on the floor. Well, we can always hope lol! Dallas did really get into his praying before his holy rolling started. He was sitting on our fireplace hearth rocking back and forth and hitting the ground with his fist. I wish I would have got a video clip of it, but I was praying with Darilyn at the time. We ended with Dallas in Kevin's lap and my arms around the Delaney and Darilyn praying for family unity, etc. Denae was there too, and soon she pushed between the girls to bury her head against me, and the girls put there arms around her. It was so sweet and precious. What a great way to end a prayer meeting.

Happy Birthday, Christian!

Wow, Birthdays are abounding in our family! My oldest nephew turns 12 years old today, so Happy Birthday, Christian! He is officially in the youth group now, so the DRAMA can begin! Anyone who has ever been part of youth group knows what I'm talking about! Christian is a great kid and we hope he has an awsome birthday! Below is a picture of Christian with his 1st place team trophy and his all tournament team trophy from the first ever Apostolic Bible Quizzing tournament held in Feb of this year. Congratulation to him and his brother for their great achievements. We look forward to seeing the awesome things that God is going to do with Christian's life!

Happy Birthday, Logan!

Happy Birthday, Logan! You turn 3 years old today! That is so exciting, although Dallas keeps reminding me that he is bigger than you, since he turned 4. We love you bunches. Have fun in Branson! Wish we could be there with you. Give baby Jaci a little kiss from us and tell her that her Meme and Uncle Kev and the kids love her very much, too.