Christian Momma

With all the thoughts running through my head right now, I know this post is going to be all over the place.  Consider yourself forewarned!!

I, along with many others I know, have bronchitis!  Not fun!!  Because of this, I missed church…again!  I didn’t want to, I was scheduled for singing…but I couldn’t hit any note, and my “sexy voice” just wasn’t going to cut it!  Not to mention I didn’t want to get everyone else sick.

So, today was another lazy Sunday for me.  I got to sleep in.  We did run out and get groceries this afternoon after Kevin got back from church.  I am so glad we didn’t send our boys to church…Daniel got sick on our way home from the grocery store.

I had to miss my niece/God Daughter’s 2nd birthday too.  That was hard for me…I hate having to back out of plans, but I didn’t want to get their family sick too.

Noah has surgery on Thursday.  He’s getting his adnoids taken out and tubes put into his ears.  I pray that this will help with his hearing and that he would stop getting ear infections.  He’s struggling with reading and we have been working alongside his teachers getting him the help he needs to catch up.  I can’t help but wonder if his ear infections and him not being able to hear properly doesn’t have something to do with his reading.  I guess time will tell.   I just got to keep him healthy between now and Thursday.  I don’t want to have to reschedule his surgery.

Prayers would be greatly appreciated!!

I was surprised this morning by a knock at the door… A package arrived for me at the door.  Want to know what was in the package??

Sweet!

I was surprised!!

15 years, 4 boys, 3 states and 8 moves later, I love this man more today than I did the day I married him!

And the card…yeah I had tears!!

Happy 15th Anniversary Kevin!!  I love you!!

Wow, I haven’t been updating like I said I would.  Sorry about that!

I have finally started going back to the gym, which I’m so glad…Kevin is too (he pays for it).

This past weekend I went and visited with my dad at the hospital.  He had a clot that ran from his groin to his ankle.  His leg was swollen up and he has been put on blood thinners.  He’s not allowed out of the hospital until he gets rid of this blood clot.  They have him on a heart monitor the whole time, so, even though I’m really worried about him, I’m glad he’s being taken care of at the hospital.  He is up there cracking jokes and talking about different memories.  I’m really glad I got to go see him, even if I did have to leave my husband with 4 sick boys at home.

I have so much things running through my head…the biggest one is VBS right now.  I have to figure out where I need help and schedule a meeting with the Elder who is going to be helping me and lay out a plan with him before scheduling a meeting with the board to discuss how things are going and any changes that have been made since the last meeting.

I have been working harder on getting into the word daily.  I’m not where I should be yet, but I am heading in the right direction.  I sometimes struggle with actually reading something…I have done little things to remind me… I use my outlook to remind me to read devotions daily, I have a “Verse of the Day” on my desk top (Window’s Gadgets), I have a Verse of the Day (2 of them actually) on my Facebook, I have a bible on my phone and a bible in various rooms of my house, I have an email sent to me via Proverbs 31 Ministries each day.  You would think with all those things I it would be easy, but for some reason there’s a sort of disconnect somewhere, but I am truely trying to reconnect.  I would appreciate any prayer covering, so if you feel led to pray for me, please do.

We are house searching right now, which is really exciting!  I haven’t been letting myself get too excited about that, I just don’t want to have my hopes up too high.  I have been praying for this for years though…could this really be an answer to prayers?  The timing…it has to be a God thing for us to move forward.

I hang out on Facebook with so many friends now, I decided to set up my blog on the blog networks on facebook.  We’ll see how that goes.  I know it doesn’t matter how you bring people to your blog, it’s going to take me actually updating to keep people coming.  I’m hoping that I can get into some sort of routine.

Anyway, if you stop by, thank you, I’d love to hear from you.  I do appreciate you reading and following!

2008 has come and gone already.  It sure seemed to go by quickly…sometimes a little too quickly!

January

The year started out with me beginning to work on Power Lab VBS (Ah Ha!).  I was also homeschooling Michael.  We were pretty on top of our schooling and things were going pretty smoothly at the time.  I was also beginning to work in the K-1 Sunday School class room at church.  That, wasn’t going as smoothly as I had wished.

February

VBS started to consume my thoughts.  I was having dreams about not being ready, and just an overwhelming sense that I’ve bitten off more than I could chew.  AKA…I wasn’t relying on God to help me, I was relying on my own strength to do it.

February also brought about Daniel & Andrew’s 3rd birthday as well as my 34th birthday.

Michael entered his first Science Fair and ended up with a Superior rating!  I was proud, but knew full well that if he had applied himself earlier in the month, but he decided to wait until the last minute to do it.  Then we hit a rough patch in our homeschooling…a bad one.  Causing me to question my ability to teach him not to mention my basic parenting skills.  But, through the Grace of God we got through it with help from some friends in our church.

March

March brought in a lot of saddness.  My grandmother’s health begain to fail drastically.  And a friend of mine lost her child in a horrible accident. My heart ached in ways I never knew it would.  Things in me shined trhough as well.  I didn’t realize how “in tune” I was to other’s saddness.  Michael had a meeting with the staff from his online school and things turned out so much better than I had originally anticipated.

April

In April, I took a blogging break…school slipped behind and I had to push Michael to get as much done as possible a day!  Spring seemed to bring out the worst in his schooling abilities and slowly we fell behind.

May

I won this Word Press blog…I’m ever so greatful to Lisa for hosting the giveaway that allowed me to win! The final push to get VBS was upon us.  VBS was scheduled for the 2nd week of June.  My grandmother passed away that month as well.

June

VBS week came and went without too much problems.  Yes, there were a few bumps in the road, but overall things turned out GREAT!  I was elated that things went as well as they did and relieved that it was all over with as well.

July

We celebrated Michael’s 11th birthday in July along with Kevin and I’s 14th wedding anniversary.  In between those 2 events, we threw my mom and dad a 60th Birthday/40th Wedding Anniversary party.  We were very impressed that we were able to pull it off!  Mom and dad had only suspected that we were planning on all going out to eat together, not that we would have all of their friends and family at a hall waiting for their arrival!  We even got one of their friends from High School to travel from Chicago to Ohio to celebrate with them as well!

We also got to see Extreme Makeover Home Edition in our town.  My mother drove down the night before to stay overnight and we headed out to the new house to watch the bus move.  That is a day that was HOT, but I wouldn’t have missed for the world.  To see something like that is a once in a lifetime thing.  Michael still claims to have High-Fived Ty!

August

We went for our 1 and only camping trip of the year.  We had so much fun, and would love to go back to the Michigan Dunes again.  Our church also had a Worship Night.  Something changed in me that night and I have been forever changed!

September

School started right after Labor Day!  We decided to send Michael back to public school since things weren’t working out the best for us at home.  We are happy to report that he is doing wonderful in the public school!

We celebrated Noah’s 8th birthday in September.  We also found out that an eight year old child, when given $20 in cash and not watched very closely at the grocery store (because mom and dad were busy ringing/bagging groceries), will spend the whole $20 on lottery tickets!  And before you ask…YES it’s illegal for him to purchase them, but when they have a “vending machine” of lottery tickets just sitting over by the bubble gum machines, it’s just calling for a child to play with it!  And he only wond $2!

October

In October, Kevin and I started going to a new Bible Study.  I was elated that Kevin wanted to go to one since he has never really showed any interest in going before.

We also walked, for the first time, in the JDRF Walk for a Cure for my Niece.  We were so proud of her, she ended up getting 2 awards…one for the amount of money raised and the other for the T-Shirt design!

November

We celebrated Kevin’s 38th birthday.  How?  Well, I went to a Arbone party and he watched football…now that’s love!

We had our traditional weekend after Thanksgiving shopping adventure.  My parents’ took Michael, Noah, Daniel, & Andrew for the weekend (it ended up my parents had Daniel & Andrew and my sister had Michael & Noah).  We always enjoy that weekend away from the boys.  It’s nice to pretend we are childless…even if it’s just for the weekend!  But we are always so excited when they return.

December

We spent most of the month either running from Christmas Program to Christmas Program or from Christmas to Christmas.  However this year it seemed to be a little less travel than usual.  We only spent 1 night up at my parent’s house and we actually had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home for the first time in a long time!

For 2009, I’m sure there will be new things that God shows us along the way, new challenges to overcome and new friends to meet, but I trust that God will be joining us along this journey and we will rest in the knowledge of Him.

I was reading my morning blog feeds, and came across one that made me pause…and seriously contimplate what I have been doing way too often in my life!

Peter from Without Wax had a post entitled:  I’m Tired of this Game.  In it, he talks about comparisons he makes about other people.  I sat there and realized, I too do this ALL the time!  I don’t like it, it doesn’t make me feel better about myself either.  Usually, I look at them and wish I were that way…I see something I am lacking in my own life.  If I’m not careful, it can lead to jealously…something that is ugly in and of itself!

I am who God intended me to be and I shouldn’t be comparing myself to anyone else!

This past week, we went and got a new dog! My boys were so excited about that too…she’s an AKC German Shepherd! She’s so pretty…and the last one left of her litter! We’ve been looking for dogs for quite some time…but weren’t looking all that hard. When we saw the ad in the paper for her, we called. Next thing I knew, we were driving down to KY to pick her up!!

So, without further ado…I’d like you to meet Sierra

The boys absolutely adore her! Michael always asks to take her out to “potty”.

As far as the new “do”, well, last Thursday, I decided to run to get my hair trimmed before I went to my Zumba class. Notice, I said trimmed? Well, after getting in there and talking with the lady, I decided to get it cut.

Kevin took my picture before church…

So, yesterday at church, we had our Ministry Fair. Since I’m the Director for this summer’s VBS, I got to run the booth…of course since I have been taking pictures for the church and all the booths, my wonderful husband took my picture! What do you think? Can I pull off the “Science” look?

Have a wonderful day!

100 Things about me!

I have noticed that around here when you hit your 100th post, you make a 100 Things About ME post! So, I’m jumping on the bandwagon!! However, I’ve been posting for years, so technically, this isn’t my 100th post overall, but it is my 100th post here!! Here we go!!

1. I’m Ann
2. My mom is Janice
3. My dad is Pat
4. My dad has diabetes (diagnosed in 1999, I think)
5. They have been married for almost 40 years!
6. They are wonderful parents, I am so blessed to have such great parents!
7. I have 1 sister (Deb)
8. Deb’s DH is Nate
9. They have 4 kids…Jacob, Abigail, Joshua, Alyssa
10. I have an “adopted” sister (Liz)
11. Deb & Liz went to school together and that’s how she became part of our family!
12. She just got Married to Pat (not my dad) June 9th
13. She has 2 daughters…Jordan & Jessica
14. God gave me a dream of what my husband would look like at 14
15. I was in a car accident when I was 16
16. Because of that accident, I was told I couldn’t have children
17. I broke my Femur in that accident
18. I grew up in a very small town
19. I graduated in 1992
20. There were only 32 kids in my class
21. Most of which showed up at my hospital room when I was there!!
22. I met Kevin (1991) because he worked at the store by my HS
23. I fell in love with him quickly!
24. I took Kevin to my Sr. High Prom
25. I went to Edison Community College after HS
26. I met Wendy (not my SIL) in College
27. She’s married to Dan
28. They have 1 daughter, Emma
29. We are still friends…just hard to connect at times
30. Kevin and I got married 7/23/94
31. I’m married to the most wonderful Man in the world
32. I worked at Meijer for a few months
33. I have an Associates Degree in computers
34. You wouldn’t know that if you saw how many times I ask my dh about computer stuff
35. I became a Christian in 1995
36. Kevin did too!! God is AWESOME isn’t he!!
37. I worked at UVPC as a Billing & Insurance Rep
38. I kept getting sick at the copier at work…that’s how I found out I was pregnant
39. Michael (my oldest son) was born 7/5/97
40. We moved to Colorado in August 1998
41. Michael was 18 months old when we moved to Colorado
42. I joined my first MOMS Club in Colorado
43. I was the secretary of the MOMS Club
44. I met Karyn out in Colorado
45. We tried for 2 months to get pregnant with Noah
46. Found out I was pregnant with him the week after we got back home from Christmas
47. Kevin traveled every other week throughout my whole pregnancy
48. Noah (my middle son) was born 9/19/00
49. We moved to Minnesota in September 2000
50. Noah was only 2 weeks old when we moved to Minnesota
51. I joined my 2nd MOMS Club in Minnesota
52. I was very involved in the MOMS Cub there (lots of committees)
53. I became the President of the MOMS Club in MN
54. We owned our first house in Farmington, MN
55. Loved the neighborhood…still miss Renee & Jen!
56. Renee & Dan had bonfires a lot during the warmer months in their back yard!
57. I worked at Super Target for a couple years (that’s how I met Jen)
58. We moved back to Ohio in June 2004
59. Kevin & I were pretty sure we were done having children before we moved back to OH
60. We were only in Ohio for 1 month before I got pregnant (2004)
61. We found out I was having twins when I was 18 weeks pregnant
62. Toward the end of my pregnancy with the twins, it was rough
63. I had HELLP Syndrome and would have died had I not delivered
64. They came 9 weeks early
65. Daniel (one of my twins) was born 2/16/05 at 1:23 pm
66. Andrew (one of my twins) was born 2/16/05 at 125 pm
67. My mom was with me for the c-sect of the twins because Kevin had the flu
68. Dan from Church saw the boys before Kevin did…and was there right after they were born
69. They spent 4 weeks in the NICU
70. The first time I walked into the NICU was hard on me…I about passed out!
71. I sell AVON and have since Nov. 2005
72. I go to The River Church
73. I’ve met some great people there…Kim, Kate, Marian, and the list goes on…
74. I teach K-2nd Graders
75. I will be directing VBS in 2008 for the Elementary Children
76. We are doing Power Lab from Group
77. I sing on the Praise and Worship team about once a month
78. Michael is homeschooled this year (2007-08)
79. I have a cat (MAC)
80. MAC is my niece’s cat (Kierstin)
81. He’s my 7th cat (follows FIFA, Teal’C, Morpheus, Satin, Blizzard, and Aslan)
82. We’ve had 2 different dogs
83. MJ – a German Shepherd/Rotwiler Mix got hit by a car on Christmas Eve 2005
84. Jango – a German Shepherd/Collie Mix he was too hyper we had to give him away
85. Kevin’s mom is Agnes
86. Kevin’s dad is Don
87. Stacy (Kevin’s youngest brother) is married to Denielle
88. Denielle & Stacy have 2 daughters, Kierstin & Kayla
89. Denielle & I are becoming pretty close friends
90. Kevin has 2 younger brothers
91. Pat (the middle in that family) is married to Wendy
92. Wendy and I graduated together
93. They have 1 boy, Bryce
94. I have a friend named Rheannah
95. She’s pregnant too! Her 3rd girl
96. We go out for coffee once every couple of months (email each other a lot)
97. I post on a message board www.thefamilygarden.net
98. I also make siggies, blinkies, icons, etc. on www.thefamilygarden.net/graphicgarden/
99. I have a web page for all my creations http://annabellescreations.tripod.com/
100. I write a little poetry, it’s mainly for me and my thoughts though.

I never thought having a UTI would be that much of a bother! I’m so glad I’m feeling better!

I joined a new message board the other day http://faithcommunitynetwork.com/default.aspx All I can say is WOW! A Christian message board!! I’m excited to learn and get to know others there!

From this site, I’ve found other Christian bloggers…I’m excited about that too. I’m going to have to figure out how to make my blog all pretty now. I don’t know why it isn’t coming easy like it usually does…could be because I haven’t spent any time trying to adjust things! In time, I suppose!

I have a UTI! I went to the doctor on Tuesday evening (wanted to go before the 4th)…So I’ve been on medication for a few days. I was starting to think I’d never get any better, but today I’m feeling a lot better!

I’m having the hardest time staying on a diet. I just don’t have the will power! I try, but I fail every time!

I need to lose 40 pounds to be in my “Ideal weight” range, however, just 20-30 pounds would be wonderful to me!

Summer is here…I want to swim and not feel so self-concious about being in my bathing suit.

My 15th High School Reunion is coming up…I really don’t want to be overweight for that either.

My boys…I want to keep up with them!

Health…I know with being overweight, it can cause health issues…ones I don’t want.

If I wasn’t so lazy…I guess this wouldn’t be an issue!