Dreaming of Sunshine, Warm Sunshine

H

O

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Sun
Is is just me or does it feel like this has been a particularly long, long winter? I just found these cute pictures while organizing. It seems some slip through the cracks and never make it to the blog.  It was August and I had just cut her hair. I think she was feeling extra cute. I long of those warm afternoons so we can once again sit out on the deck and soak up the sun! 

We have landed...

At the place we will refer to from now on as the "love nest".  I will call our house a nest because in my mind a nest reminds me of someplace cozy and small.  And cozy it is and small for sure. I got some good advise from Christine, "if you feel your world is small, just look outside!" and that is what I will do. And when one moves to the lake... well....

 One (rather two ones) must take out the canoe despite the frigid nip in the air. 

And the love part: True love must be painting nearly two entire houses for me in less than one year. Joe lovingly painted close to this whole house making it feel so much more like home. We spent all of Sunday just getting everything off the floors and onto the walls. Who knew all my rusty buckets, minnow cans and reeds I have had for years would find there true destiny at this little Lake House.  

And today snow, lots of it. I could not even make it home from work at noon. I have to agree with Ethan. "It feels like Narnia, like it's been winter for 1000 years!" 
So if you ever find yourself in our neighborhood, please stop by. I would love to see you. 

That's the way God works.

We are on the move again... To cut back on expenses we are moving on Saturday. Joe and I looked at several houses and I was well... depressed. I love our home and the ones that were in our price range were small with nothing special.  I was in tears. That night we involved God. "God where to you want us?" In Bellingham, out of town, please open up doors where you want us to go!   Then we looked again at what was available in the kids school district deciding it was best for all of us to try and stay in Bellingham. And as God would have it there was a charming "Lake House" right on the bank of Lake Louise available March 1st. God is awesome. The boys can walk right out the back door and fish. I can sit on the deck and listen to the ducks and frogs. Ohh how I have missed the croaking. What we are going to sacrifice in size we will gain in beauty.   Here is my plea: If anyone is available to help us move on Saturday we would be forever indebted to you!!!! We don't have a lot of help lined up and it would be such a blessing to have a few extra hands. We are going to have everything boxed up so the plan is to "simply" pick them up drive them over the the new house and set them down. We have a couple of tricky things like the rabbit hutch and a heavy dresser. The rest of the stuff should be fairly easy. :) Let me know if you could help, we will provide the pizza, candy, and I am certainly taking requests just to get you over here! Don't plan on spending the day here by any means, even an hour would be so helpful! 

Just Slashin'

I posted a couple back that we were cutting and slashing- Now we are just slashing. 

                                  EE vs. Pocket Knife = trip to doc for stitches   

Remarkably our first time. 

Dr. Herdman was out so we got this completely lovely person, does anyone know her name? She was amazing. 

When the doctor attempted to give the shot in the cut to numb it, E freaked out... I looked over and the other nurse was holding Isabelle- she was sobbing. Not the nurse, but Bellie. Her little compassionate heart could not take it. She was better once I let her stand by his side. So cute. 

Ouch! 

All better. 

"Mom, I think I'm going to live!" It was nice when he got his smile back... 

Hugs and Kisses

Make a Smilebox postcard

Cuttin' and Slashin'

Cut that, scrap that, is the way it goes around our house. If we don't need it and it costs money... It's out. That is the way it went this week with our home phone and extended cable package. Good bye Food Network and Cartoon Network, it's been fun.  SSoooo... if you have reached frustration wondering why you can't get through, that my friends is the reason. So Please, for any reason at all or just to Say Hello, by all means call me on my cell phone. I hesitate to post that number because you never know what crazy folk there are out there on the good ol' world wide web. If you want or need my cell number just send an email and I will get it to you!
Because I don't have a cute or clever picture of the phone being disconnected by Comcast guy with the butt crack,  here is a cute of one yip and yap, 3 and 5.  For fun and cheap entertainment I am constructing a photo book from My Publisher, one book for every year. I am back to 2005. What memories I have come across! This was a couple of months after we moved into the cabin in the woods on our own. Wow, they were little.

From Joe's Sister Sonja, Thanks for praying...

Rejoice, Rejoice and again I say Rejoice!

Matt 8:13

And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way and as thou hast believed
so be it done unto thee and his servant was healed in the same hour.

Psalm 30:2

O Lord My God, I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me!

Please rejoice with us and give God the PRAISE & GLORY he is so due!

My mom had an appointment at the hospital yesterday morning 7am for
a PET scan where they put radioactive die into her veins and performed a full body scan. We we're not aware that a lung cancer diagnosis usually means cancer in the heart, brain, liver and lungs. If the procedure was HOT it meant cancer - if cold it meant NO cancer.

We didn't expect the results until Feb 9th-

She had an appointment with her internist at 3:30 yesterday afternoon to
listen to hear lungs for congestion.

The front desk nurse went on line to check the PET Scan results and her long time Doctor who had actually given her the initial diagnosis was able to deliver the PET results. Per her Doctor- 9 out of 10 patients receive positive results.

1.7% COLD which = 100% healed in the name of JESUS... NO CANCER!

She cried with JOY!

Jesus... The name above all names he is glorious and to be praised.. forever and ever AMEN!

Thank you for your prayers and JESUS thank you for the answers!

Terry, Sonja and Justin Stevenson

Anyone want Sweet Valentines?

PLEASE CLICK TO ENLARGE...

Location: Dependant on the weather that weekend, we will determine that when the date gets closer.
Number of Photos: Dependant on how cooperative the kids are. In fifteen minutes we can get I don't know...50?
Prices: Included-photo shoot, design consult, disk, cards, envelopes and delivery
10 Valentines: $35.00
25 Valentines: $49.00
50 Valentines: $65.00

Cards designed by the one and only Jen Huguenin...

He's a Winner

Jack called me from school today to announce he won the reflections Art competition for Geneva Elementary for his age group. I'm very proud. We don't know what he won, or what that means but the mystery lady coming into his classroom to announce he was the winner was enough for him! 

Please Pray...

There is a very real possibility that Joe's mom Mari got diagnosed with lung cancer yesterday. Please pray for the following things, we would appreciate it so much.

-First pray for an overwhelming peace for Mari, that she can feel God is with her every moment and that He is the ultimate physician. Pray she will feel His arms around her. 

-Pray for an accurate, concise diagnosis and treatment plan.

-Pray for smart, caring doctors and nurses that can provide her with exceptional care.

-Pray for Joe's sisters and their families as they help her navigate this process. 

-Pray for Joe as he feels helpless from this far away.

-Pray for a job for Joe so we will have the resources for him to travel to Missouri whenever he needs to be with her. 

With all that is going on in our lives and in this world it is such a comforting reassurance that all we have is God, and He is all we need. Thanks for praying. 

First

This was the best... these two had never held hands, touched before this day... They got to hold hands for the first time when we started pictures. It was awesome. To see more, check them out on my photo site: Seth and Kristy 

Attention Moms... LEGO TV

For moms going coo-coo cachoo with boys in the house, I found this in Jack's lego magazine and sure enough it was right on our t.v. Sweet!!!!!! Hours of entertainment! Go to Comcast on demand, kids, activity tv, LEGO TV.  Again, sweet! 

There and Back!

Not even two boys vomiting almost the whole way home all over the car could put a damper on this trip. We had an amazing time. I have so much that I want to share that I will have to do it in stages. 

I already covered the puppy so I will start with our time at my parents house....

 I would love to tell you latter about:  *the 4000+ miles all the way to the Mississippi River and back  *Entering a lot or a little of each of the following states! WA, OR, ID, UT, WY, NE, IA, MO in December with three kids *Christmas Day *Searching and cutting our tree on my parents land with my brother *Spending the night outside of Kansas City with my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Tom *Hunting with my Uncle Dave *Visiting Joe's family including meeting his mom (for the first time) in Missouri and loving them!!!!! *Seeing Sonja, Terry and Justin again *Ethan's first visit to the Bass Pro Shop *Visiting the Arch in St. Louis *my cute nephews 

The time we were able to spend with friends and family was so wonderful. It made every mile well worth the trip. I can't thank God enough for providing safe travels. The roads were terrible at times but God got us there and back with no serious issues. It was awesome. 

The sunset from my parents deck...

One of the many excellent views along the way, Wyoming I think.

My parents cozy cabin on the Platte river in Nebraska

Jack with my adorable nephew Drew

Jack, the self proclaimed camel trainer, cute! 

Christmas day sledding with Uncle Andy and dad.

Drew again in one of his first times in the snow. 

The bird feeder on the deck is constantly full of cardinals. They are beautiful. There is a 'hunting' story about two boys and a cardinal but I won't go into that now. 
Sitting in the hot tub, freezing outside. Fun.
Ethan and his cousin Joseph had a lot of fun together. 
Mom cringing at the poor bird but Ethan, like my dad and my brother loves Hunting! 
All the grand kids under one roof: Joseph, EE, Drew,  Happy Grandma, Happy Grandpa, Max, Bellie and Jack. :)
Ahhhh more hunting! Poor Birds. 

My mom's favorite walking destination, the cross in the woods