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.

Just Checking In

It has been almost a week since my last post, and I wanted to catch everyone up on our lives. We have been fighting colds the past week. So far the hardest one hit has been me, although I am feeling a bit better now. I have also been busy with some work I do from my home. The kids are doing fine. Delaney and Darilyn both got progress reports last week with great reviews. They also recently started to get an allowance and they are taking their jobs very seriously. They are such great helpers. Dallas is busy getting his dad to teach him Bible Quizzing verses. He is also trying to learn to climb trees. Uh oh! His last attempt gave him a pretty bad scrape on his back, but did not result in a Dr. visit, thank goodness. Denae is just as bright as ever, talking more, and, my personal favorite, putting toys and things back where they go. She also likes to try to copy the hand clap games the girls play. It is pretty funny. Kevin is busy with work which is going great. As usual, he has both his "regular" job with the flooring distributor as well as roofing sales. It keeps him pretty busy. I recently joined Signs of Praise, our church sign team. We are preparing for a Christmas service right now and I am enjoying learning the song. It is a lot of fun and the ladies involved are just awesome. I of course am also busy with christmas cards and christmas shopping. Oh, the season of great joy!! I really do love the Christmas season, all the lights and decorations, the music, the cold weather, and of course the giving of gifts. But lets not forget the real reason for all the celebration. Jesus gives us this love to share and the reason we can celebrate.

On a different note, I wanted to tell my mom congratulations on doing so well on her last final on medical terminology. Great job, Mom. You continue to amaze and inspire me.

Well, I am going to join my family now for some Bible Quizzing review and other fun things in front of the fire. Until next time, have a great holiday season.

Just Another Day

Today was "just another day." Nothing out of the ordinary or exciting happened today. I don't even have a picture to post. It was just a Saturday at home with kids, enjoying the nice weather. The kids were up by 7:30, as usual. They played outside for most of the day with some neighborhood/church friends and two kids who came over for a few hours while their mom was at choir clinic. (That is the nice thing about living down the street from the church: there are always people dropping by, stopping by, or sometimes just waving as they drive by.) Kevin went over to his sister's house to help them install new flooring. Later we had a Kick-off for Bible Quizzing at the church, which included a really cute slideshow of the kids this past season. It was amazing to see how the kids have changed in just a few short months. We had pizza for dinner and ate in the living room in front of a cozy fire. We had cookies for dessert as the girls reviewed quizzing verses and we talked about what they meant. The kids took showers and I spent forever curling my girls' pentecostal hair for church. Their hair is getting so long and thick and beautiful. Then it was bedtime with stories and prayers.

Now, the house is quiet. No kids running in and out. No laughter. No shouting. Nowhere to go. Nothing to do. Peaceful. And now, if I take the time, I can look back at my "just another day," and realize how special it was. Nothing big happened, but memories were made. Riding bikes on the church parking lot with friends. Spending time with family working on a big project. Celebrating our kids' achievements in quizzing. Having a pizza picnic. And now sharing my thoughts with you.

That's what life is all about, I think. It's not always "top of the mountain" experiences or exciting trips. It's not about the next big thing I can post about on my blog or memorialize in a scrapbook. It's about the little things that happen in between. It's about all my"just another days." I took time out tonight to enjoy mine, now I hope you enjoy yours.

With Daddy's Help

We were eating out the other night and Dallas said the cutest thing. He was getting a drink when he looked at me and said, "Mama, I got my drink all by myself with Daddy's help!" He was so excited to tell me just how big a boy he was. It got me to thinking (uh oh!) about my relationship with my heavenly Father. So many times I just don't think I can do something or that I can't make it through a tough situation, but then He reaches into the situation and helps me out. Others looking on may say what a great job I did or how strong I must be to do such and such or get through thus and so, but I know that I did it with my Father's help. And no matter what, I need to always remember where my strength comes from and give glory to Him for all the glorious and wonderful things that He has done.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Phillipians 4:13

Birds in the storm

While Dallas, Delaney, and Denae were all in bed sick, Darilyn was feeling a little lost and left out of all the attention. She was walking around outside and I decided to join her. We spent some time admiring the rain clouds that were coming up and the birds twittering about in the trees. We even took some pictures when we would find them. Something about the birds singing at the tops of the trees in spite of the cool weather and the storm clouds put me in the thoughtful mood. Sometimes our life has storm clouds blowing about and we know that a major, or maybe just a minor, storm is about to happen. But instead of worrying about what we can't change and fretting about what is out of our hands, we should spend our time singing and praising because God knows where we are and He is always there to help us. Besides, when I think of how many storms He has brought me through so far, why should I worry that He won't come through this time? He always has and He always will! Just a few thoughts I had while admiring the birds. Hope you enjoy the pics of Darilyn's and my birds. Maybe they will inspire you, too, to sing in spite of the storm!