Park Time with the Finnestads

We had such a blast playing at Mikayla and Jordan's school park with the Finnestad kids today. Isabella almost crashed into a big tree on her bike (one of the funniest things of the morning), Aliya was stung by a bee on the eyelid (one of the sadest), and there were a couple of quick trips to the bathroom. If the kids weren't on the spinners they were climbing everywhere. The bikes and the big hills were definitely the highlight of the day. We can't wait for it to snow! Thanks to the Finnestad's for coming out to play. We can't wait for the next one.

Not just a cook anymore!!

O.K. For any of you who know me well, I am a little prissy when it comes to getting dirty or "fixing" things around the house. Greg is good at it and I usually take the pretty little wife approach. Well today is a new day. Our dryer has been out of commission for about a week now. The Sears guy came out today and we were happily anticipating the dryer to be working when he left. Instead I got the grim news from him that he couldn't even diagnose what the problem was because he only had 1/2 power to the outlet. Well, I had no idea what that even meant so I showed him to the "power" in the garage. After tripping it and then going back up he came down again to inform me that there was now no power to the outlet for the dryer and there was nothing more he could do. I semi panicked as any good little housewife would. I knew nothing about what he was talking about and now it looked like I was going to have to call out an electrician to boot!! Talk about your expensive call!! After talking to Greg, my home inspector (who is so knowledgable), and the electric company that installed the box it seemed to everyone else to be a pretty easy fix. Greg assurred me he would look at it when he got home but it was only 11 am. I NEEDED TO DO LAUNDRY!!

So, I decided that was enough. If everyone was so sure it was easy than I was going to suck it up and figure it out! I promptly announced to the kids that I was going to try and fix it myself to which came cheering and a big hug from Mikayla. What supportive kids. I found the right screwdriver (is that one word or two?). I needed more light so I had to open the third car garage. All was going well until a big yucky spider appeared and started crawling right for where I needed to put my hand. I was starting to back down but something inside me snapped. I grabbed that handle anyway and opened the door. AHHH....Light!! I had to "pop out" the breaker and undo the wires but finally I got the thing off without blowing up. I decided to call Greg and let him know of my progress but the phone wasn't working due to the main power being shut off. In my nievity, I had no idea if I could switch the main power back on with those wires hangin' out. I tried to call from the neighbors but they weren't home. Mikayla looked at me with those "don't even try it mom" eyes but I had to. As I started counting to turn back on the power, Mikayla yelled NOOOOO and ran down to the end of the driveway as fast as she could. It was so funny. I was laughing as I turned it back on. All was well.

At Home Depot, a young man about 1/2 my age proceeded to inform me of all kinds of things that I knew nothing about. AMPS and voltage and breaker manufacturers and other things I didn't even catch. We found the right thing and I was headed back to finish the job, hopefully.


Back at home I was jazzed to get it all back together until I went to open the garage door again on the third side and stuck my hand right in a spider web. Not a good thing for me. I had a mini fit and gagged for a moment and then it was right back to work. I figured out the install of the new breaker and I am happy to report that I DID IT!! The dryer works. You learn something new every day!

Hangin' with my Girlfriends

I can't think of a better way to spend the day after my birthday than with a bunch of my girls!! How do you say "pecan"? Karen is so precious isn't she girls? Thanks to all of you for making my evening so much fun.

Mommy's Birthday

I can't believe I am already 32. I am so blessed. My kids were really into the gift giving thing this year so that was really fun to see what they came up with and the things that were important to each one of them. Greg took me out for the day. Thanks mom and dad for watching the kids. We had a fantastic lunch at Black Angus (best burger I've had in a long time and cooked all the way through!!) and then went to see Prince Caspian. We loved the movie. It was better than the first one. Definitely a buy it movie. Then it was off for a little shopping. I got Stormie Omartian's new book, "The Power of Praying through the Bible". I am so excited to dive in and learn even more about prayer in very specific areas. And of course, since there are three more birthdays in our home in the next 3 weeks we did some shopping for those too.

So, it's been another whirlwind of a year but another one truely blessed by God. I can see His hand throughout it all. Sometimes protecting, sometimes guiding, sometimes allowing me to fall and learn, and sometimes gently carrying me along. In all things I give Him the glory and hope that this year is full of new truths learned, old truths kept, and the ability to praise Him through it all.

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Sun Cove 2008

Wow. What a vacation! Our family had such a great time last week up at Sun Cove. Playing with cousins, fishing, swimming, cannon balls, bees, games, hideouts, throwing rocks and eating like crazy! You name it, we did it. What a blessing to spend time with family and friends. I wish I could tell you everything but you'd be here for a long long time reading. So just a few highlights.

Fishing was the best. The kids were thrilled every time they caught one. Jordan and dad got to go out on a boys fishing trip with Jimmy and James and they had a blast with the boys on the boat. Mommy even caught one! And no, we didn't eat them!

Pool time was always fun. The kids were crazy. We were there every afternoon from about 3 to 5. Jordan loved to do cannon balls and even started learning how to dive head first into the deep end. He has no fear! Mikayla is right behind him jumping in and having fun. Then there is Isabella who loved her boat this week. She got thrown so many times. If she wasn't jumping in from the side she was chasing people around the pool with her squirt toys. It was great. She got Aunt Denise quite a few times.

The talent show was hillarious. The kids did their version of "Tomorrow" from Annie. It was too cute!! They had motions and funny play on words. I am so proud of all three of them.

So, this picture of Isabella says it all. Although it was a fantastic week, we are a little tuckered out and glad to be home again (after only 4 bathroom/snack stops on the way!).

DANDELIONS

Alright. I have to admit my new backyard is going to take a lot of hard work to get looking like a golf course. But, in all the weeds I have found joy. God is so gracious to even make the dandelions beautiful. My mother in law had a real love for sunflowers. She created a devotional about them relating how they would stretch for the sun and open up once they found it. She related all that to us needing the Son and then opening up once we find Him and allow Him to shine down on us. To always turn our face toward the Son. I have it if anyone ever wants to read it. I could forward it to you.

Well anyway, I have discovered that dandelions do the exact same thing. They "sleep" at night and then stretch for the sunlight. Once they have it pouring down over them they awake to all the beauty God created in them. I have found that although I don't enjoy trying to walk in my backyard barefoot right now I absolutely love watching it. It is gorgeous.

I hope and pray that you have found the Son Light in your life and that you are allowing the beauty God created for you to shine through. There has been some definite stretching in my life to get into that light at times but it is worth the effort. Just ask the dandelions!!

ALL TUCKERED OUT!

We did it. We are all moved in. I have not been so tired in a long long time. Our weekend started out with Matt, Greg and myself moving stuff until about midnight on Friday night. I can't believe how much we got done. Then Saturday morning Christina, Adam, Dad, and Tim showed up to help finish the job. We can not thank you guys enough for all the help you gave. We couldn't have done it without you. Mom, a special thank you to you for taking the kids over the weekend so we could make it all happen. I love you. We are finally done cleaning the rental and it is ready to go. Now we start putting together the new house. It's amazing how much there is to do. I thank God for our beautiful new home. And finally, a HUGE thank you to my amazing husband. You are my everything. You have been moving boxes into the garage and making things perfect for about two weeks now. No one has worked harder than you to make this happen as smoothly as possible. I can not tell you how much I appreciate your undying devotion to our family and our needs. I know you are tired and yet you persevere with all my little to do's. You never give up, are gracious always and love us so intensly. I LOVE YOU FOREVER. I thank God for the man He chose for me.