God is SO good!

There have been some things that have been weighing heavily on my mind lately. I have given it over to God and it has been so sweet because I have felt Him beside me through it all. He just keeps telling me to take one day at a time, go through the doors as He opens them. Even though the situation is a stressful one in itself, these times of growing in my faith makes it so worth it in the end. It seems like such a simple concept but so hard for me to do.

"Living Beyond Myself"

I have just started a Bible Study with a friend of mine and have been slapped in the face by what I'm reading countless times already. It is truly amazing! We are studying Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore. Once again, she is amazing! This study teaches how to live beyond our self and live in the Spirit. I have wasted so much time and energy on the things that don't matter, and not enough living the life God has for me. A life full of joy and peace and love. I could go on and on.

In the weeks to come we will be studying in depth each of part of the fruit of the spirit. The first week we discussed who and what the Holy Spirit is and what all he does for us. This week we are learning how love. I can't wait to see what else God has to show me through this study!

God is so good!

Hanging in there..

Well, my husband left Saturday morning at 3:30 to go hunting until the 15th. I thought I would be in a major funk by now, missing him and pulling my hair out with my children. But wow, has God helped me, I have been so content. The hardest times for me, when Matt gone is the weekend, I guess because that is when we spend most of our time together, but yesterday me and the kids spent all day at home, and I perfectly content. This is huge for me!!!

Anyway, I think the rest of the time Matt is gone will be all downhill from here. Once the week starts our normal routine will kick in and I know with Gods help, we will get through that as well. Friday after Jacob gets out of school, we are heading up to the Kansas City area to see Heather and her kids. Kirk is also going to be out of town so we will enjoy the time seeing them, we haven't seen them in 2 years.

I can't wait to see my hubby again 1 week from today, but I hope with all of my heart that he has an amazing time and I hope he is able to enjoy is dad and relax!

By the way, he got a dear this morning with the arrow we all kissed and rubbed for good luck, he put our names on each of the feathers. He is such a softy!! I love him dearly!

10 Years

Ten Years ago today I was marrying my best friend! I feel so blessed to be able to say that. I thank God for sending me Matt. He is my best friend and my soul mate. I have never doubted whether or not he loves me, he shows me every day in some form or another. I can't wait to spend many many more years with this man. I can spend the rest of my life trying to give him all of the love I have in my heart for you, and I would still probably have more to give. Matt, I love you more and more each day. Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with all of my drama! You are the best!

I'm back...

I can't believe I have waited this long again to do a post. Like everyone else we have been busy finishing up our summer activities and getting back into the swing of starting school.

Jacob finished up his ball season last week. I'm a little sad to see it end, but it will be nice not to have to make that trip to town every week. He played in two sessions of baseball and his team were the league champs both times. They were undefeated both rounds. We are very proud of our ball team!!

Jacob has started back to school and is loving the 1st grade he is in class again with his best buddy Clint, I'm sure that has helped things.

Abby started school on Monday. She was missing Ms. Shirley. She is sad however, because her good friend Skylar has moved to the afternoon class. Now she says all of her friends are in that class and she doesn't have anyone to play with. I'm sure you can hear all the drama in her voice! That is one thing about Abby though, she makes friends wherever she goes. I don't worry about her for a minute.

We have still been on the church hunt. We had been trying Life Point for several weeks but it just started to feel like something was missing for me. Then one Sunday a couple of weeks ago Matt agreed to go with me to James River. I absolutely love it!! The Spirit that is in that place is so sweet, you truly feel in the presence of the Lord. The kids love it. And I think that Matt even likes it if he can get past the size. But it is all part of stepping out of our boat right? I'm excited to see what God has in store for us.

Fourth of July Festivities...

Well, are day was suppose to be filled with swimming and then going to Auntie Ann's for fireworks. The kids were pretty disappointed when the sun never made an appearance for the pool. We just hung out here at the house together and it was really nice. We haven't had that kind of day in a long time, it was nice.

Then we got a call from Tina inviting us over for dinner at her house then we all headed to Gaye Ann's for a game of ball and some amazing fireworks. But we had to stop at a fireworks stand first to get some stuff for the kiddos.

On the way out to Gaye Ann's, Chase and Garrett decided to ride with us and Jacob and Abby rode with Aunt Tina. The boys had some pretty good stories to tell on their mom but I love my sister too much to repeat them. You owe me sis!!!

Here are a few pictures of the evening....

We had an amazing time once again with our amazing family! Most of you know that our family is going through a very difficult time. We are all going through a season of hurt and confusion, and change. But I am so thankful that with our family, when things get tough, we just get that much closer. Through all of this, I have felt God loving me through each and every one of them. I feel like he is showing me that even though me might not all go to the same building together to worship and serve, we will still be as close as ever if not stronger. I'm so thankful for the blessings in my life. God is so good.

It's been another month!! Are you kidding me?

I can't believe it has already been another month since I have blogged. Wow, I am really bad at this.

Let me see if I can catch you up ....

Jacob just finished his first session of baseball. I am so proud to say that his team (6 and under) won the championship!! They were undefeated!! They were so excited and proud of themselves. Here is a picture of them wearing their Championship T-shirts. Aren't they the cutest little team ever?

Other than that, we haven't been up to much. We have been spending alot of time at the pool. It is our free entertainment and the kids love it. Here is a picture of Abby soaking up the rays at the pool last week. She loves her pool days.

We have definitely been enjoying the summer. We are still adjusting the all that wonderful quality time together. The kids have been fighting allot. But thanks to Tammy's creativity, we are hanging in there. Well, now that I have caught you up once again on what has been going on with us, lets see if I can stay current.... don't hold your breathe. Love you all!!

Catching Up!

Here is an overview of some of the activities that have filled our lives. I'm so bad at keeping up on blogging, so here we go, about a whole month in one blog, this ought to be fun....

I guess we will start off with Jacob's and Abby's last days of school. Jacob was pleasantly surprised when I picked him up and I told him we were going to play with his cousins. Tina was in San Francisco and mom had some stuff she needed to get done, I picked up Jacob and we went to Tina's for the day. Here is a picture of Jacob and two of his buddies after school. We didn't know who the one little boy was, he wasn't in any of the boys class and he isn't normally picked up in the back of the school. We had to end up taking him back inside. It was kind of crazy.

On Abby's last day of school, she had a picnic, we me and mom took all of the other kids (Jacob, Garrett, and Chase) to the Ethan and Abby's picnic to share in there special day. Here are a couple of photos from that adventure...

We have been busy with the kids being in sports and stuff. Jacob and Abby both played spring soccer which finished up this past Saturday. Abby even scored a goal!! Jacob also did really well too. I'm so proud of both of them, and Matt too for coaching Abby's team, talk about a challenge!

Abby is in T-ball and has two games left. She does pretty well once we get past the fascination with the dirt. We have filled our glove up with dirt and even did a dirt angel I guess you would call it. All you can do is laugh right? Here is a video clip of this adventure....






Jacob is also playing baseball. He is a really good little ball player. I am ashamed to say I haven't gotten any pictures of him in action yet. I will try to do better this week. They have had two games thus far and the first game they won 10 - 0. Jacob hit a single, a double and a triple. It was pretty amazing. The second game they won 13-3 ( I think) and he got another double! I'm so proud of him and his little team!


Lets, see what else? Oh yeah, recently we had the whole family (Tammy, mom and dad, and the Sutherland's) over for a night of Mario Kart. It was pretty fun and I'm glad to say that I won!! I even beat Chase. Maybe that is just a little sad on my part?!?! Here a some photos of that night..

I promise Tina and Chris were there even though you can see them. And this picture of Abby and Pop cracks me up. Dad was the mediator for Abby and Chloe. Abby loves that dog a little too much! I think this post is long enough for now, but I will try to do better about not waiting as long to post again. Until next time....

Jacob's Field Day

Well Jacob had his first field day on Tuesday, he had a blast! Matt took the day off of work to go and spend the day at the school with Jacob. I was also able to go in the morning since Abby was in school and she went home with a friend so that gave me a little extra time.

At the beginning of the day they were separated into teams (Kindergarten and 1st grade). Then they all went around from station to station competing to see who could win or score the most at each station. Jacob's group did really well. His favorite thing was the tug of war which his group won! He had such a great time!! The whole day ended with a little assembly to announce the winners of each event and then the 1st grade teachers and the Kindergarten teachers had a tug of war contest. The Kindergarten teachers didn't even last a minute, it was so funny! Here is a little clip of Jacob in the championship tug of war contest! He was having the time of his life!

He Lost His First Tooth!!!!

He finally lost his first tooth. Yesterday he came home from school on a mission to get that loose tooth out. He was eating granola bars and apples, anything to get that tooth out. Well, we finally decided that it just wasn't quit ready yet. Well, this morning he woke up and was determined to get that tooth out before school today. I called Matt to see if he could come back by the house before heading out on his route and it worked out that he could. He came home and pulled the tooth. Jacob was so excited. He couldn't wait to show his classmates and his teacher. He looks adorable don't ya think?

Saturday was such a great day. We started off the morning with soccer pictures and soccer games. Then I we went to buy some flowers to plant in the yard. We ended up getting 2 purple day lillies and a lilac bush. Can you tell I love purple? Anyway, Tina had brought Ethan to us earlier that morning and he was with us for all of this fun stuff. Then we took the kids home and let them play while I went to Garrett's baseball practice. Just as I was getting out of the car to go sit closer to watch, Garrett was taking a pop fly to the forehead! That child seems to be so accident prone. I say that with nothing but love, it's a good thing he is as tough as nails! He was one tired little boy though.

Then after baseball practice we went to get Teddy (their dog) and then we headed back to our house for a day of play. My sweet nephews along with my sweet babies and my awesome husband planted our new flowers. I love them even more because of all the love that has gone into them. Here are a few pictures to capture the day. Please notice that Jacob had nothing to do with planting the flowers, he was to busy working on his swing!

Here is what I have been up to on Saturday's.....

Jacob and Abby have been playing in soccer games for the last several weeks. The bad thing about it is, all of their games this far have been at the exact same time. Matt coaches Abby's team and so he needs my help a little to rotate out the kids. I hate it for Jacob because he is on his own. But thankfully that is all about to end. They aren't going to be at the same time for a little while now. Abby's team has won 1 game and Jacob is won all of them except for 1. He does a really great job and I'm so proud of him. He has gotten close several times to scoring a goal! I can't wait to see it when he does. Here is a picture of Abby kicking the ball into play!

You just never know...

When I woke up this morning, I thought today twas going to be a nice and lazy day around the house. I never thought it was going to be as crazy as it turned out. Tina called me this morning crying, telling me that she needed me to come over, that Garrett had cut his eye open while at his cousins house (obviously not my house). Chris was still out of town and she needed me to stay with the boys so she could do what she needed to do with him. So I rushed the kids around and we went to Tina's house. Once Garrett got there, Tina and Tammy left with him they were on there way to Dr. Jess. Thankfully they were able to glue his eye instead of giving him stitches. I took the rest of the kids to town and met them for lunch. His eye looks good, puffy but good. Then we took the kids to Monsters v.s. Aliens in 3-D. It was so good! Now we are back at home and I'm ready for a peaceful evening with my family. I hope all of you have a great Easter!!

My Baby is 4!!

It doesn't seem possible that Abgail Kalynne is 4 years old. It just seems like yesterday that God blessed our family with this precious little one. She is such a free spirit and many say she is just like her Great Aunt Carole (I think thats one of those extra blessings from God). My prayer for Abby is that she always lead her heart and as you follow where God leads you. I know that these years I have been able to stay home with her it such a blessing from God. She never fails to brighten my day with her unpredictable nature. I love you Abby and I pray that I will be the mommy to you that God has called me to be!!

Here are some photos of her birthday party that we had last night. Abby invited 5 of her girlfriends to come and celebrate with her. And of course her favorite guys her in life joined the fun as well. She is so crazy about her cousins, she was worried that they wouldn't come to the party since it was a Tinkerbell Party. She was very relieved when I told her that they would come to her party just because they love her!

Needless to say after a full night of fun, getting the kids to bed wasn't difficult at all. Just before me and Matt went to bed we went to check on the kids. We went to Abby's room first and we couldn't find her. We looked on the floor next to her bed, we looked in her closet, then we decided to make sure she wasn't in Jacob's room. After taking a second look, we found her all snuggled in to her brothers bed. She is so crazy about her brother.

What a gift!!

Abby's Soccer Begins

It has been a while since I have posted a blog so for so long, but I have kept up on every ones blogs. Since my last blog, Abby has started soccer. She is so excited, I think it is mainly because of the clothing items she gets to wear. She has a pair of soccer shoes, they are black and hot pink and then to accessorize those, she picked out some pink Nike shin guards, then moving on up she we got her a pair of black soccer shorts. She is too cute for words!! Her first practice was on Tuesday. It was too funny we showed up at practice to find her friend from preschool was wearing the same things as her. They could have been twins.



During practice however, daddy did get a little frustrated with his princess. She was very distracted by her new pink water bottle. She would literally get a drink every couple of minutes. Then she found some flowers to pick to give to me. She can be a little stink but she definitely has her moments. Big brother didn't know quit what to think about going to a soccer practice that wasn't actually his. His practice starts up tonight, then before you know it, he will be starting baseball. Summer time is the best!!!

Grandparents Day

Jacob had his first Grandparents Day last week. At school the kids were suppose to write something they like to do with each of their grandparents. Well, one day I was asking Jacob what he wrote about Grandma and Grandpa and then I asked him what he wrote about Pop and Grammy. He looked at me with those big brown eyes and told me he wasn't suppose to write about Grammy and Pop, just grandma and grandpa, like Mrs. Maness said. He cracks me up, he is so literal about everything. He was able to go back and fix it, but I thought it was pretty funny!!



All four of his grandparents came to the school to have donuts with him, take him to the book fair, and listen to his little program. Jacob also got to show them his art work he made. They all said he did a great job. Thanks mom for taking the pictures for me! We recently got Jacob's report card, it was nothing short of amazing. He got 6 number 4's. This means that not only is he proficient in this area but he is advanced. The area he scored so high was in his reading. We are so proud of him, he never ceases to amaze me!! Way to go Jacob!!

The BIG Sleep Over

Matt had the great idea to have my nephews over for a sleep over, yes, all three of them. We had such a blast together. We fixed chicken strips and tator tots for dinner, and then we had brownies and ice cream for dessert. Then we all faced off on the Game Cube racing one another on Mario Kart and then playing Mario golf together. Oh, and the wrestling, you can't have a sleep over with a bunch of boys with out there being some wrestling involved.

Before you know it, it was time for bed. Abby, being the only girl slept alone in her room. She still thought she was taking part in the sleep over fun because Garrett let her sleep in his sleeping bag. Garrett, Jacob and Ethan all slept in Jacob's room. It started out that Jacob and Ethan would sleep in the floor, and Garrett would get the bed. It ended up with all of the sleeping in the floor together. They were so cute. Then Chase being the oldest, got to sleep in the living room on the couch. Since he didn't have to go to bed quit as early as the rest of them, he stayed up with me and Matt and challenged us to some games on the Game Cube.

The next day was Sunday and so we took the kids to Krispy Kreme before church. We had such a great time with all them. I am SO glad that Matt thought about it! I have the BEST nephews in the whole world!!

Hop-a-Thon for MDA

Thursday at Abby's preschool, they help a hop-a-thon to support Muscular Dystrophy. The kiddos were too cute. They each were timed to see how many times they could hop in a set amount of time . Abby came in at 163 jumps. We are so proud of our little hopper!!!

Our God is so amazing

Well my last post was about this huge mountain that seemed to be in front of me. Well, I am so blessed to be able to say that God has once again moved a mountain and the peace he has given me is so sweet. We had an amazing church service on Sunday where God answered my prayers. He is so good isn't he?!

The Mountain Before Me (or so it seems)

Well it's seems like Satan has been busy. So when it seems like you have done all you can do, pray and pray some more right? So that is just what I have decided to do. I heard a friend mention her "prayer journals", so I thought what a great idea. Often times in my prayer life I find my mind wondering all over the place, which I know is another way that Satan is at work, he wants me to be distracted when I'm talking to God. So I started my very own prayer journal today. So far I can already see how God has worked in a situation that I mentioned in prayer just this morning. God is good and I know that he will be with along this journey. I'm looking forward to see how God is going to work. He never ceases to amaze me. Also, Tina if your reading this, Thanks so much for being so understanding. You will never know how much I appreciate it and I'm praying that God will bless you for your kindness. I love you!

Celebrating Jacob

Well Jacob's birthday was last week (the 18th) and we celebrated his birthday with the family and a few friends on Saturday night. I really think he had a great time. All the kids were great! And the conversation was good as well. I've been blessed with such amazing people in my life. Here are a few photos of the celebrations!

Here is Jacob and his buddies celebrating on his actual birthday, they came home with him from school.


Jacob got a basketball goal for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa and mommy and daddy. He was pretty surprised!

Here is the birthday boy and all his friends (mostly family!)

I think he really enjoyed his birthday parties and I know he is really enjoying all of his new toys!!! He is a great kid and deserves to be fussed over every now and then!

My Little Man

I can't even believe it was 6 years ago today that I became a mommy! Jacob Steven was born on February 18, 2003 at 10:55 at night. What a long day that was. I remember it so well. It was over President's Day weekend that I first realized that I might be leaking fluid, so I went into Labor and Delivery on the Monday (this was the holiday, I remember because I was off work), they ran different tests on me all of which came back negative for the amniotic fluid so Dr. Stuppy said he wanted to see me in his office the next day just to check me again. So Tuesday morning I got up and went into the doctor (before work) and he did one more test on me to make sure it wasn't the amniotic fluid, well this one came back positive (this was the more conclusive test of all of them that was ran). Dr. Stuppy told me to go ahead and check myself into the hospital, that I would be having my baby boy today! I freaked!! I was all alone, Matt had just had knee surgery the week before and he couldn't drive and I hadn't even packed my bag (this was 2 weeks early ya know!!) Well fortunately Tina was able to go and help him get my bag ready so that my mom could come straight up there with me.

Around 8:30 or 9:00 that morning I was induced and he came into our world that night. I wasn't quit expecting it to be as hard as it was, he was what they call "sunny side up" he came out looking up instead of looking down. This made it incredibly hard to push him out. I pushed for 2 hours. My body was going into shock, I began throwing up in between all the positions they had me to push. I ended up with a 4Th degree tear.

That night Jacob ended up in the NICU and we ended up staying and extra night in the hospital to make sure he was OK. It was a tough time for us both. I would endure every bit of the pain again, just to have this special man in my life. He has forever changed me. I never knew it was possible to love anyone as much as I love my child. God gave me that gift in Jacob. I'm so blessed. I love him more than I can put into words. I have loved making all kinds of memories with Jacob for the past 6 years and I can't wait to make many many more.

Jacob, mommy loves you so much and I'm so proud of you for being you!! Have a great 6Th birthday baby! I love you!! ----Mommy

You just never know what she will say next...

Abby definitely keeps us on our toes that way. She completely cracks me up. Yesterday Jacob and Abby were fighting and arguing most of the day. They were just basically mouthing one not her non stop. Well out of the blue Abby tells Jacob "You will be hearing from my lawyers". I busted out laughing! I couldn't for the life of me think where she had heard that before. Then it came to me, she heard it from the movie the The Little Rascals. I'm telling you with Abby, you never know what to expect!!!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!!!

Well my little princess has officially attended her first school dance, and according to her aunt Meme, she danced the night away. Tammy's school was having some sort of dance and she invited Ethan and Abby to accompany her. Abby was so excited. She loves to dance and she loves to go and do. She even had to take her purse. She was too cute. Thanks Tammy for taking her, she really had a great time. In fact, we had a movie night after she got home, we were watching Madagascar 2 and she couldn't even make it through the whole movie (which she loves) she told me that she was just too tired and she went and climbed into her bed and was asleep in a couple of minutes. She really wore herself out. That is one girl who knows who to have fun!

The Big 30!

Well, remember what I said about having the best husband in the world, well I guess that is still true, however he is also the orneriest as well. He threw a surprise party for my 30th (I was not at all excited about turning 30 either). Most of my family was there and allot of my friends. He had gotten me a black cake with an old lady on it with gray hair (which I'm sensitive about as well, since I have a few!) He had a rocking chair out for me to sit in, in front of everyone (again not one of my favorite things to do). I know that 30 isn't old, I just like being able to say that I was in my twenties. Anyway, he somehow managed to take the birthday I was dreading for a long time and turned it into something I will always remember and hold dear. It took allot of planning on his part to pull this off, and allot of hard work, and that is just a little insight on how much he loves me, he is truly amazing and I know I'm very blessed to have him in my life. I know he could have done this without the help of my sisters and my mom, again just another way I'm blessed. I have the best sisters in the world and in them, I also have two of the best friends I will ever have and my mom fits right in there with them. I'm so thankful for all of them!

Jacob's Surgery Day

Well on Thursday, February 5th, Jacob had his surgery to put in more ear tubes (his second set) and take out his adenoids. I was a little apprehensive just because Abby went through this same surgery in May 2008 and she didn't do so well. It seemed to totally alter her personality for a couple of weeks. Well, Jacob handled it completely different. He came through the surgery with flying colors and was acting like normal by later that afternoon other than just looking really sleepy! We had promised him he could pick out a new DS game if he was really brave and he even felt like doing that errand before going home. The child amazes me. He is my tough guy. The hardest thing for Jacob I think has been not being able to run and play like he wants to. The doctor says he can't participate in strenuous activity for 2 weeks. That means no recess or P.E. class. I feel really bad for the guy. He stayed home from school today just to get one more day of rest in, the last couple of days he comments allot on how is throat is really sore. Plus daddy really felt strongly about keeping him here. You see when the adenoids are taken out, while they are healing, you have really stinky breathe (it's bad!) and Matt is really worried that someone might tease him about it. I think if it were up to Matt, he would go back until that was gone all together, but we know that we can't do that. He will be going back to school tomorrow. He is ready, we would just protect him as long as possible if we could. We are so thankful for how God was with him through this whole process, it really has been a piece of cake!!

Snow Day!!

Today is Jacob's first snow day at a Kindergartener. He is loving it! I have to say I am enjoying it myself as well. Abby is playing with her babies and her doll house and Jacob is playing with his transformers and Spiderman. Life is good. We did find out yesterday that Jacob has to have surgery on February 5 to put in more ear tubes and remove his adenoids. Abby just went through this early in 2008 and did ok and Jacob is even a better patient than Abby. I'm ready to get him well again.

Family Time

OK, I have heard so much about this whole blogging thing, I decided to give it a try. So here we go!
I had a special day with my daughter Abby. We had a family get together to go to tonight and we were asked to bring a dish. She helped me in the kitchen every step of the way, it was too cute. I really enjoyed her. The boys were out for a day at Pop and Grammy's farm. Matt and Jacob helped fix fence for the horses and as always Jacob had a million questions. Matt, being the good daddy that he is explained everything they were doing and why it was important to learn how to do these things. Matt told Jacob that one of these days when he is at work Jacob will be able to just go and help Pop because he will know just what to do. Jacob then informed his daddy that he also needed to learn in case he has a little boy of his own one day. He absolutely cracks me up. He is such a forward thinker and is so smart!

Anyway, hopefully soon I will get some pictures on here to share. Until next time....