I can always count onthe girls for a "pick me up." Peyton presented this pencil drawing to me at dinner last night.

My sweet girl

Some of the best days of my life...

I told my sister in law tonight that today, I realized that in an odd sort of of way, I am living some of the best days of my life. Spending so much quality time with Peyton and Paige has been wonderful for me. I feel closer to God, and I am grateful for the opportunity to grow closer to my Savior, and closer to my children. They are growing and changing so much. While this week has presented some challenges with the girls. They have come to me with some pretty deep questions that indicate them questioning God's sovereignty. It is a challenge to answer many of these questions. One of them indicated that she didn't know if the whole Bible was true, because it didn't seem that God was answering her prayers. I was reminded to always take the girls back to scripture to answer these questions. Please pray for me as I am presented with the privilege and responsibility of raising children to know God in a world that doesn't care to know Him.

Secondly, they are alot of fun! There was a day, not that many months ago, when I would have been anxious to do something other than hang out with the girls on a Friday night after spending the entire week working with them. That is no longer the case. There is no one that I care to spend time with more! I am sure there will need to be breaks from being Mommy for me, but most of the time, it is a great joy. Even on days that they try my patience (ok, that can be many of the days), I still relish the time with them. I praise God for this feeling of gratitude for having them in my life. I also praise God just that I have them in my life.

Next, I am thankful for my friends and family. There is no way to mention everyone that God uses to get me through the day. Today, I would like to especially mention my mom and dad. They have spent many days this week at my house. My dad already takes care of three houses, and he has taken on many awesome responsibilities for me and my house. He is taking care of things I didn't even know I had to have taken care of! He does this with barely a mention of what he really thinks I should do to run my life. (for anyone who knows him, this is quite a challenge). My mom has also been here. She stayed the night at a moments notice, in case I had to help my sister in law with a sick child in the night. She is always helping with laundry and dishes, and she likes to help the girls with their school work. My parents have been a great support for me. I am thankful to God for them. My friend and counselor, Donna, assigned me
I Thes 5:18 to memorize this week.
In Everything give thanks. FOr this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
A pretty simple verse, but packed with meaning!

Here comes the tooth fairy

Paige has been working with her first loose tooth for many weeks now. Finally, today, it came out! She noticed that it was almost out while we were doing school this afternoon. I took ahold of it with a paper towel for traction and gave it one good tug, and out it came! We called around to inform family of this new first (and Paige's first thing to do before Peyton). We then headed out to eat at Garfield's with Grammy and Poppa. We saw the Easter Bunny, and then watched TMNT (don't wait too long for a review;) Paige said it was one of the best days of her life! I AM so glad to have been a part of it! I love you guys!

Mommy, Paige (with the missing tooth), Peyton

Peyton tells us to "hang loose" while Paige shows us her new "gap" and holds up her tooth

look at that new smile!

there's her 1st baby tooth out, in her hand

Adventures in babysitting...

Today, Paige and Peyton and I kept my niece (Brock and Amie's daughter) Mia
we had such fun! She is a very good natured baby

Paige and Mia Kate (5 months old)

Peyton feeds Mia, yes, this is what her hair looks like EVERY MORNING

Paige and Peyton petting the donkey at the Ag Day.
^^wink wink^^ this one's for Aunt Brittany and Nana^^

As much as I destest people dressed up in costume, Paige and Peyton enjoyed the spotted dog at the
AG Day at DACC

Our Week-continued-A trip to the library

Paige shows one of the books she chose

Peyton reads to Grammy about Abraham Lincoln

Our Week...

Ella had surgery yesterday. We went to pick her up (me, Peyton,
Paige, and Mia Kate) today. She was pretty quiet all the way home.
This is how she has sat, curled up in her bed, since arriving home.
Poor baby!

Me and my buddy! Time to head home the next day. This picture is a bit blurry, but it was taken by Paige! (I think that we have aged great, for those who don't believe me, head back to the archives, or look at my albums of one of the two of us in 1992!)

Paige Gretchen and Peyton

I don't believe that I have ever gone this long without posting! To be honest, I haven't even had much desire or opportunity lately to spend time at the computer. Since arriving home, we have been trying to settle into our new routine, and also to catch up on school work. Not to mention that the last few days have be SO WARM, so we have been outside. I have a web album with pictures from the past part of my trip. You can access it here. The girls were great travelers. I had a great time with them. I just want to take the opportunity to say how thankful I am for my children. They are far from perfect, but so is their mother! However, they are a huge joy to me, and I am grateful for them. We had a wonderful time in South Carolina. Matt and Charity were SO gracious to open their home to us. It was a busy week. Charity worked hard to set up informal discussion times with a few different ladies in her church. These were a huge encouragment to me. On the way home, we stopped at Josh and Gretchen's in Louisville for the night. This one night reminded me of what it would have been like to live in a dorm. They have a cute apartment, but it is quite small. They welcomed us in anyway! I was struggling emotionally at that time (like most of the time ;), and the visit with Josh and Gret was a great encouragement. There are links to their individiual blogs to the right. Please check them out. Josh's recent posts on God's sovereignty have been a huge blessing. And as you can see from the picture, Gret is a huge blessing to me AND the kids!

And last night, we started Prasso at the church. We had nearly 20 ladies come to join the discipleship based Bible Study. For any of my long time readers, you will remember that Prasso, which I first became familiar with in SC in the fall, was life changing for me. I am sure that the benefit of the instruction videos, as well as group discussion will be a blessing. Please pray for us as we begin our journey, and as we memorize Romans 8:1-15.

Bye, Bye Aunt Charity...

So sad to see my little girls leave tomorrow but I will look forward to the next time you come to visit. (I'll be sure to have tator tot casserole all ready, Paigers!)

Love you, sweets!

Aunt Charity

Fun at Monkey Joes!

click here for the entire web album for our trip so far! We had a great time at Ceasar's Head (hiking) and at Monkey Joe's!

North Hills Community Church

I love Matt and Charity's church! Click here to check out the church's website. You can even listen to recent sermons online. I really like the music in the service. Tonight, the kids were in the service and I was able to take communion with the girls. There are two big screens that give the words to the songs. Peyton moved down a bit away from me so that she could see the words to sing. I glanced down at her and watched her sing "Amazing Grace" and "The Wonderful Cross." The church is a bit more, ahem, expressive than what we are typically used to. Peyton got into it though, and she was, somewhat timidly, raising her hand in praise during the singing. I had to smile, it reminded me so much of myself at her age. It is rare for Peyton to remind me of myself in any ways. She is SO MUCH like Brad. So it was kind of neat to see a bit of myself in her. Mostly, it was a blessing to see her enjoying the worship music, and praising the Lord.

greetings from sunny SC

Sorry it has been so long without a post. This past week has been hectic. I have many birthdays to make up for when I get home, so I will probably do a birthday tribute post soon after life settles back in. We had a good trip here. It was very windy, but the sun was shining and the complaining was at a minimum. (at least with the kids, now Charity was a different story;) Charity and Matt and I stayed up late last night and talked about God, and how our trials are used to work for our good. It was an encouragement to learn new insights. It is finally occuring to me that I need to obey God in choices each day, simply because it pleases Him-not to attempt to control some future event. I know, I know, big newsflash! I really did already know this, but I don't believe I have consistently practiced it. I am also learning that anything that I want more than God is a "worthless idol." This would include my precious children. This is a freeing concept. I am still called to protect, teach and discipline my children God's way, but then I must have faith that God will do the rest. We will all give an account for our choices, and God takes our choices in how we raise our children very seriously. If each day, I choose to walk by faith, make choices based on faith, and be obedient, I can rest in God's goodness. Heck, even when I mess up, God is still good! He is good to discipline me and remind me of exactly why I am living in fear and anxiety rather in in grace.

When I read the daily bread today, as well as comments from Matt last night, I was reminded that I don't have grace for any day but today. I can't think about the past or the future. When I dwell on either, I again forfeit God's grace. I am again a slow learner, so I post this in order to remind myself.

Anyway, we have many things crammed into the next few days. I will try to get a few pictures from the trip on here sometime soon.