A few recent pictures

Well, since this is the 3rd Sunday I'm home with my sick baby I decided to take advantage of a little time to post some pictures.  We are really looking forward to David being done with exams this coming week and having a few weeks' break before getting back to classes.  

 We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with Grandma Minnick here! That lower picture shows her with all 3 of her great-grands. Caleb is the only one who would really let her hold him :)

We have some Christmas decorations up. Decided to do small stockings this year, since neither of us like too much candy ( I think I still have candy from our first Christmas!) and stockings are expensive to fill, but we didn't want to ditch them altogether. :) The small picture is David keeping Caleb warm on our Hollywild adventure. He LOVED it!!

Heehee, we attempted to get a family shot late last night. Epic Fail. We didn't even dress to match, touch up hair or anything. And the pics on the right show the light box David assembled for Caleb. He loves it! Its so much fun to see him get excited about lights, animals, etc. and the fact that he's NOT crawling makes everything just enjoyable, and not crazy since he's not pulling anything apart. :) I'm happy with him waiting until AFTER Christmas to start getting around. For now he's content to sit in one place and just look and talk. :) Fine by me! :)

He is still pretty sick. May take him back to the doctor tomorrow or Tuesday if there's no improvement. He has all the symptoms of Pertussis, so I'd like to just make sure there's nothing we should be doing other than what we've tried so far. David got a touch of a cold for just a day, but I'm on day 3 and feeling kinda miserable :( Hopefully we'll all feel okay during David's time off. 

Love you all.

Na for all of us

Skytop Apple Orchard

Here are my top picks from our trip to the apple orchard today.  More pics can be found here, at the end of the album.

Ran out of good post headings a long time ago :)

One day I'll be a creative writer. Until then, you get the same boring stuff, written in the same dull form.  I always think up my posts so creatively in my head and then when I sit down to type them up I get stuck in the same ol' rut. Maybe its because I'm always in a hurry. Or its taken so long to get the pictures together that by the time they're ready, I'm ready to be off the computer. Or maybe I'm just not as creative as I like to think I am in my head :)


I finally got around to making my laundry soap. I was actually kinda waiting until I ran out of soap so I could use the container :) Here you have it.

Is it really worth it? Sounds like a lot of work, right? Wrong. 

First off, I don't have the exact prices in front of me, but I already had the oxyclean, vinegar (SavMor sale--I haven't bought any of this since we were married other than at the sale. So basically pennies), and the essential oil. Had that forever actually.  For this project I specifically bought the washing soda (meant to, but came home with the baking soda instead so just used a diff recipe), Borax, and Fels-Naptha laundry bar.  Borax & Soda were right at a couple dollars each. Bar soap was .97 Not bad. So far, between the powdered & liquid detergents, I have made enough for about 80 loads. And you see all the left over stuff I have? I think we're talking about 1-2 cents per load. TOTALLY worth it since we do laundry daily now, and sometimes multiple times a day.  I know, that's nothing compared to you folks with lots of kids, but compared to the once weekly we used to do . . .. 

AND besides being worth the money, it was easy, and a lot of fun to do. Not sure why. Maybe it just makes me feel like a good homemaker even though I'm not one :) Shall I tell you how many times I've pulled the liquid stuff out of the pantry and poured a little into the cap then back to the jug just to admire it and make sure it really worked?? No, I shall not tell you. Its fun. Trust me. (warning: if you try this at home your spouse may laugh at you ) :) I have done one load with it and the clothes came out clean. That's the best part of it all! :-) 

And because no post is complete with out pictures of my cutie pie . . . (the little cutie pie, that is. No pics of the big one this time)

It really is starting to feel more like fall every day! I can't wait to get some fall decorating done around here. Fall is one thing I will definitely miss in Australia. So I'm taking in each day and enjoying it to the fullest here. :) Don't we have such an awesome (in the right sense) Creator? 

Just love enjoying the crisp breeze,

 beautifully 

                            colored

 falling 

                         leaves,

 and the squirrels scurrying around with acorns in their mouths. 

So much to be thankful for!

Our Adventures

Caleb loves getting a few minutes with daddy before he goes to work in the mornings. He's not super awake here, but precious anyway. One of these days I'm gonna take pictures outside or without flash so he can keep a smile and not have the "deer in the headlights" look.

Early morning shaving with daddy

 This kid is a spit-up monster. (Oops, sorry, GJ! I mean monster in the most endearing way possible!! He's precious!! :)

I put this bib on him to catch all his spit-up (its getting ridiculous! and I'm having to wash EVERYTHING--including the walker seat, etc) but he thought it would be more fun to chew on it . . . .

until he saw the camera. Then we can try to grab and chew on that!

I gave up on the bib. He falls over. Notice the mouth. See? Told you he's a spitter! :)

 Our dear mother made me some GF baking mix with her new machine and gave me some recipes with it. You know its not bad when even David will eat the GF stuff! :)

My first attempt at gluten free choc chip cookes. David even likes them! :)

AND, and apple crisp. Because the neighbors brought freshly picked apples. And the weather was in the 70s-- that's *almost* fall, right??

Last night poor mom came and baby sat Caleb while David & I went the the Weecycled consignment sale. Our sweet boy messed up his schedule in the afternoon. He was supposed to eat shortly before mom came, then go to bed for the night and we'd have no time limit on returning. Well, he decided to eat an hour + early, then take a short nap and see if g'ma could keep him happy until mom and dad returned. He's got enough fat reserves I'm sure he wouldn't starve, but you know . . .  It was our first time to this particular sale and it was only opened for new parents/grandparents so you had to stand in line and show your printed e-mail letter of confirmation. The line was AGES long! Took us a good 20 min to get in and all they were doing was taking the letter at the door, like a ticket.  Then there was SO much stuff it took forever to go through and I think we stood in the check-out line for at least 30 min. They had about 8 people working registers, but wow.  We got some really good deals and came home with a few things accidently. Including a cute little tux for Caleb that I meant to show David but not keep. Oh well. Guess he'll be well dressed for your wedding, Jon! :) He should be good to go for the winter. We're only missing a good church outfit, so I'll check Ashley's (HWGA) sale for that next month. We got a baby monitor set to use at church during teen activities/fellowships. We currently use our phones (put one on speaker in the sleeping baby room and keep one with us), but this will be better.

Some of our loot from the consignment sale

Can't remember if I mentioned our dishwasher going crazy last week, but Jackie decided to install a new one for us. It came this morning!! Please pray for the guy who installed it. We had a good talk-- I wasn't able to give him the gospel straight-forward (as in I Cor 15:3-4), but talked a lot about religion in Bulgaria, what he's thinks of religion in general, a relationship with Christ,  life after death, etc. He is from Bulgaria (hence I can't remember his name), as is his wife. He said they've had lots of people invite them to church and they've gone to several, but have decided they are just not religious. They had some Mormon friends evangelize them extensively and he said they always give a polite hearing b/c they don't want to offend. I was his first job of the day so didn't want to detain him, but I had mentioned (in a discussion on large families) that my SIL had passed away last year and when he left I gave him her pamphlet. He seemed very touched and said he would find it very interesting to read. I did put our e-mail on there in case he ever wanted to contact us. Pray for him!

Our Busy Life :)

This past Sunday (a week ago) we started teaching the 5-6 grade SS class. We have 28-30 kids in the class! We really enjoyed our first week. Our classroom is small and we had to add chairs a couple times as people kept coming in. We have a good group of kids and we're excited to see how the Lord grows them and us over the next 2 years of working together. I am especially burdened for this age group since I was saved in 6th grade. David shared his testimony with them last Sunday, and I'll be sharing mine tomorrow. Very excited about that!

David had his first full week of classes and is pretty excited about them. He did have to go in to work extra early (leaving between 7-7:10 most mornings) to get in his time, esp. b/c he had a long lunch with Pastor Rush on Tuesday. 

Thursday evening Jake & Liz Swanson, our neighbors, watched Caleb for a couple hours so we could go on a date. That was really nice. We weren't sure where to go for free, so ended up walking the Swamp Rabbit trail and talking, then got an ice dream at Chic-fil-a (they are gluten free and dairy . .  well, I'm eating it sparingly ;-). 

We both taught at teen club last night, and then attended our first teen activity today. It was 7th grade initiation, which is always fun :) There are 16 new 7th graders!!! The activity began at 8:15 with work around the church. David was in charge of mopping the choir loft and choir room (with a team of 4 guys) which included moving and replacing all the platform chairs, mics, etc. I had a team of 4 girls and we cleaned ALL the baseboards in the building, erased scuff marks, etc. 

The second half of the activity was at the park where we played a couple games, had lunch and the Bible challenge, then initiated 7th graders and played another game before heading back to church at 2.  

Caleb did *not* sleep much :( He did fall asleep in one of the teens arms during lunch, so I laid him in his stroller where he slept for about 25 min or so. By the time he got home to take  a nap he would have normally slept at least 4-5 hrs of his day. I think this will be good for him, and for us. :) He did GREAT even without sleep. He was so sweet and calm and never made a fuss. LOVE that kid :)

No, he's not eating baby food yet, but I started making/freezing some. We plan to start him at 6 months. He would LOVE to eat!! I did let him taste this when I made it and he about attacked me for more. He's always reaching for our food and making chewing motions/noises.  Hmmmm, our fat kid just might get fatter ;-)

Its hard to believe that our baby boy turned 5 months on Wednesday!! I'm sure he's close to 18lbs or more by now.  He has found his feet and can spend minutes on end just looking them over and playing with them. Precious! :-) We love every minute with him and thank the Lord for him constantly. We have truly been blessed beyond measure!

Tomorrow starts PACE for the youth group, and we have a youth workers meeting after church in the evening. Next Sunday is the parent/teen meeting. Here we go full steam ahead! :) And loving it! The Lord has been gracious to give us so many valuable opportunities for learning in ministry here.

Just the normal every day life

David is back to school this week! Working 40 hrs and taking 2 classes should make for a fun semester :) He is taking Advanced NT Theology and Advanced Greek Grammar. He's pretty pumped about both of them and feels they will be very profitable for both life and dissertation work ;-)

Caleb and I are holding down the fort at home each day. Well, trying to anyway :) Seems like Caleb does something new about every day. He's *so* close to rolling from back to tummy. I think he would have done it yesterday but he was holding a big toy that kept him from landing on the tummy :) It would be SO nice if he could learn that skill so we don't have to get up in the night to roll him back onto his tummy once he's rolled over and can't go back to sleep on his back. Silly boy :) I'm sure if we left him long enough he'd go back to sleep, but the noise he makes keeps us awake so its faster to just get up and roll him back over so we can get back to sleep. Sleep is very important for me. :) Since getting up early in the mornings, I've come to really sleep well and love it :) I'm also enjoying my early morning Scripture memory walks. This has helped me immensely in memorizing and retaining what I learn. Wonder how I ever memorized without doing this before?

Here are a few pics of my little snuggle-muffin! LOVE him! :)

Loving on the monkey before mommy changes my diaper

"Finally something new to chew on!!"

"Who me? I was just holding it for you, mom!"

 He's learning how to reach for things, handle new toys, bang his head with larger toys that he insists on having, turn pages, chew on spatulas, spit up all over daddy's dress clothes, and all the other fun things that come with being an almost 5 month old! :)

"Why do you always interrupt my study time with that camera?"

Today was a glorious day for this book loving mama! While I was reading to Caleb he kept reaching for the book. I gave it to him and he must have spent 15 minutes figuring out how to turn the pages and look at the pictures. :) Clearly he has no idea what its all about, but board books will definitely be part of his daily play toys now and I hope he will learn to love learning from them at an early age.

Well, I hear the monkey stirring so I'm going to try to get a few more things done before he wakes up for good :)

*sheepishly* Hi, it's me!

And . . . . . we're back! I'd like to say that the only reason I haven't posted is b/c we've had major issues accessing the blog the past few weeks since we put a new internet filter on. The truth is, that is the biggest reason. But, there were a few opportunities that I just didn't take. :(


Caleb is our 17lb monster and is getting sweeter and cuter every day! He is so active that I'm about to think he's going to skip the crawling stage and go straight to walking. He LOVES to stand up with our help. And he's never on his tummy long enough to learn how to crawl :) He immediately rolls onto his back, and scoots around with his feet. Who does that?? Such a cutie pie!

Caleb loves this little gym the Swansons loaned us. The red ball is his.

Happy to be sitting up and moving!

First piano lesson-- ok, really he just watched me play

Yes, this is my son who has to *see* everything! I leaned back to take a picture, so he leaned back to see what I was doing. Love this kid! :)

Our neighbors (the Swansons) had their baby Friday night. David and I spent the night over at their house with the 3 older kids. Today while Jakey was at school I had the girls over for a tea party. I even dressed up with them, but forgot to get pics :( Liz doesn't tend to take people up on their offers for help, so I invited the girls to a tea party. We had a peach/banana smoothie for our "tea" and oatmeal cookies.

Daisy's attempt at a smile (she's 2)

Princess Ashley (4)

Not much else going on here. We'll be at mom and dad's for dinner tonight. Josh and Amber get back from Turkey,  etc tomorrow.  David will hopefully take his German proficiency test this week and start school next week!! We're enjoying the last of our "slower-ish" summer days. The Lord has given David and I some really sweet times of fellowship this summer during our evenings. I'm so very thankful for the godly leader, and best friend the Lord gave me in my husband!
 I am so very blessed!!!

"If you're grateful and you know it, then your life will surely show it! :-)"

Clearly I haven't posted in AGES, but I fully intend to do much better in the future.

Since NBS and Cola Wars things have been fairly calm. Poor little Caleb got a cold this past weekend and was NOT a happy camper. He's still having trouble sleeping. I've been up more with him this past week then I have been since probably the week he was born. :(
 He has his 4mo check up on Monday so we're excited to see how he's growing! He's putting EVERYTHING in his mouth these days, loves rolling over, and is sleeping much less in the day time. He's SO much fun!! :)

 I tell David often how grateful I am that he lets me stay home and care for our home and family, but I've lately been trying to make sure that I really show him (and the Lord) my gratitude. I can do that, of course, by keeping the house clean, dinners ready, etc. but also by trying to save money wherever I can. This week I learned how to make rice milk! Since I can't have dairy (thanks, Caleb! :) I have been using Almond Milk or Rice Milk (the Lord provided both of these for us at the Sav-Mor sale last week!!) which can be quite pricey (around $2.75 for one of these). By making my own rice milk I only use about .20 worth of supplies to make the same amount. Very quick and easy to do-- and delicious! I used white rice this time around since we have so much we want to use up (we like brown rice much better, but bought white out of habit :/), but I think in the future I'll do all brown, or maybe a mixture of both since the brown has better flavor, but i still want to use up the white.

Rice Milk in the making! :)

Also used some "ugly tomatoes" (that's what the Tomato Vine calls their over-ripe, discount stuff) to make our spaghetti sauce this week. Time consuming, but hey, what am I home for?? :)

 Next on the agenda is making our own laundry soap. I've been doing TONS of reading up on that and am very excited to give it a go! :)

This is what was going on outside while I was making spaghetti sauce :)

My lil' helper!! The BEST part of the whole day! :)

Another milestone

David graduated yesterday with his MA. U. Marks says he probably has the record for a MA student graduating with the most credits since he has about half of his PhD credits completed as well. :) SO nice to have graduation on a Friday and then have Saturday free (ish). We're praising the Lord for bringing him this far and are really looking forward to his next (and hopefully final) graduation. What will he do with himself??

Caleb was so excited for daddy! :)

Family

Us! :)

U. Mark, A.Linda, David, Charles & Nick

Cousins (and cousin's cousins)

The day wore these man out so they had to sleep in this morning

So much for Saturday morning family time. We're tuckered out, mom! :)
SO sweet!!! :)

Oh, and good news? Caleb slept until 6:45 this morning!!!! :)

Daddy/son times :)

I was sewing in the kitchen when I heard this going on. I asked David to start over so I could video it.  Caleb was such an intent listener. WAY too cute!! Love my men!! :)

Helping daddy get the grill ready

Getting ready for bed

Evening conversation with dad