Sharing our Life

Maybe I'm showing my age with this title, but it's from some Saturday Night Live skit when I was a youngster (I still can't believe I watched that!). Well, this really has nothing to do with that other than our homeschool group just started a monhtly play date at the local Pump It Up (an indoor inflatable playground/heaven for children). Here are a couple of pics from the day this week! Jessica came for just a few minutes after she went to a play (Hank the Cow Dog) with the homeschool group. Jaelyn loving the big slide! Jessica enjoying her few minutes. Eric and his buddy Grayson

Someone sent this to me and I just liked it, so I thought I'd post it. Mary had a little Lamb, His fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, The Lamb was sure to go. He followed her to school each day, T'wasn't even in the rule. It made the children laugh and play, To have The Lamb at school. And then the rules all changed one day, Illegal it became; To bring the Lamb of God to school, Or even speak His Name! Every day got worse and worse, And days turned into years. Instead of hearing children laugh, We heard gun shots and tears. What must we do to stop the crime, That's in our schools today? Let's let the Lamb come back to school, And teach our kids to pray!

Can't beat that, huh!? Dairy Queen is joining the ranks of other food places and offering a Sweet Deal for you! They now have a value menu with several of your favorite choices! Go here to see the details. And, if you hurry there might be some free food in it for you! As for my choice - burger, onion rings and a sweet Diet Coke! Thanks, Dana , for the heads up!

It's been awhile since I've documented my weight loss journey. You might think, no news is good news; but, I've been struggling! I had only lost about 2 1/2 pounds since the first of the year. Now, I'm not complaining - praise God I am still losing weight. But, I lost those 2 1/2 pounds within the first couple of weeks of January. Since then, I've gained a couple of pounds, then lost those couple of pounds and back and forth like that for about 4-5 weeks. I've been on several of what I call 'feeding frenzies', where I just can't stop eating. But God has been faithful! I've been sticking to what I know works faithfully for the last 10 days or so and I finally broke through the barrier! I'm finally able to update by 'ticker'. I'm far from over this struggle. I'm not sure I'll ever be over it this side of heaven (I'm hopeful in heaven I can eat to my heart's content and not gain an ounce!). But for right now, it feels...

Well, not really! But, I want to give a shout out to Mrs. Ez for encouraging the below artwork. Jessica wanted to paint today and since we just finished ELO on Wednesday with a guest speaker from Australia, I suggested we do Aboriginal Dot Paintings. So, we briefly (and I do mean briefly) talked about Australia and the native Aborigines and some of the paintings they do. So, we got out our paints and Q-tips and away we went (yes, me too!). Here are the masterpieces.

What a special day at ELO today! I help with the 1st and 2nd graders and we've been studying the continents. Today, we learned about Australia and what better way to learn than to invite a true, blue Aussie (pronounced Ozzie, right Deb?) to our class. Mrs. Ez was so kind to take some of her precious school time and share it with our class. I have never seen these kids sit and listen so intently to any of us - probably because we don't have a cool accent! She shared her culture with the kids that none of us could do and she even shared a vegemite sandwich (turn your volume up!). So, I thought I'd leave you with some pictures and a song 'Land Down Under'.

I recently posted that David's mom had breast cancer surgery and that the surgery went well. I just wanted to give a brief update and ask for your continued prayers. She had a follow up appointment today and the good news was that there was no cancer in the lymph nodes - it hadn't spread. The bad news is that it was a little more invasive that they originally thought. So, even though there is cancer in only one side, they are recommending a double mastectomy as the doctor feels it would only be a matter of time before there would be more cancer (there may already be cancer, but it is very difficult to detect via a mammogram). She is leaning toward doing this, but I know she would appreciate your prayers as she makes this decision. Thanks!

We were reviewing some Bible verses this morning and the kids are memorizing the shortened version of 1 John 4:8 - "God is love." Fast forward to right before lunch . . . Jaelyn takes the scissors and cuts one of her stuffed animals and Eric comes to tell me about it. Jaelyn is rather upset that Eric is tattling (which tattling is a whole 'nuther thing I need to deal with). So, Eric tries to quote scripture (good thing, right?) to help Jaelyn understand why she shouldn't be upset! He says: "Don't you know, Jaelyn, in 1 John 4:8 God says, 'tell what you did unto the Lord' ". Well, at least his heart is in the right place (trying to quote scripture not trying to get his sister in trouble!) - now we just need to be sure he's referencing the Bible correctly! Possibly I should point out Matthew 7:3 - "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's (in this case sister's) eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?...

So, there have been a few things that I've written on my blog lately that require updates. So, here goes! #1 - I blogged yesterday about Jaelyn and Eric being sick. I'm happy to report that they are back to normal today. I'm thankful they didn't develop any fever and that it was very short lived! #2 - David's mom had breast cancer surgery on Tuesday. The surgery went well and the doctors don't think that it has spread. They are doing some additional testing to verify that. She will start radiation in about 4 weeks. Thanks for your prayers. #3 - Brady - I did several updates on the son of friends of ours who had a liver transplant. The surgery went well and although he's not out of the woods by any means, he is doing remarkably well. Here are a few of the updates since his surgery: February 3 - "Once again i come before you all with a deep heartfelt thank you thank you thank you for all the prayers and support, you all have been amazing. i love you al...

The flu is making it's way through our family. Jessica had it a couple of weeks ago and I was hopeful that since the others didn't get it right away, we would be spared! Not so. Last night about 8:30, Jaelyn's supper reappeared. Then, around midnight or so, Eric chose to follow suit! The bad news, both kids sick at once; the good news, they get it done at one time. It makes a rather long night for me, but at least Eric knows the signs well enough and makes it to the bathroom. Jaelyn, on the other hand - well, let's just say I've never seen a person who is able to almost sleep through puking. She's a tough nut to crack. The other good news is that it has been over an hour since they've puked. Hopefully they are on the mend and will still be able to attend the birthday party that is tomorrow afternoon. Now, I'm just praying that David and I don't get it!

Hopefully it isn't blasphemous to include facebook flair with a verse, but considering my frustration with our house, these both struck a chord with me! Most important first, the verse! Philippians 4:19 - And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Now the flair: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass . . . it's about learning to dance in the rain."

Just want to vent - I'm frustrated with our house in Omaha. I want to get rid of it. I trust that it will be gone at the appropriate time (unfortunately, not necessarily in my time!). We've had several showings and so far no one has even remotely liked it. The last showing was on Saturday and the realtor said they smelled gas. So, the utility company now needs to go out and check on a gas leak. Then, today, we got the statement from our property management company and we have to come up with over $600 for the electric bill, gas bill, and other miscellaneous things that have been done or repaired. I just want it to be done! So, please pray that I can have patience and wait this out. It's bad enough paying the mortgage, but when we get these additional expenses that we aren't really expecting, it is really frustrating.

For those who read this blog and don't know, I'd ask for your prayers today as David's mom is having cancer surgery today. Pray that the doctors can get it all and that it hasn't spread and pray for peace and strength for his mom and dad and the rest of the family. Thank you!

As much as Eric was so very proud of his jacket and tie (see 2 posts below), Jaelyn is just as proud of her attire! The good thing is, she does it all by herself, so it's one less thing I have to do! She definitely has a unique style about her! P.S. Please ignore the filthy, dirty door in the background!

Last week was a very busy week. We had a field trip to the Mud Hut (where you paint pottery) and dance on Tuesday. Wednesday was ELO. Thursday was the Valentine skate party and Friday was park day. I'm thankful that we have ELO off this week and so far this week is pretty laid back! I didn't get too many pictures, but I was able to get a few of the Mud Hut. Hopefully I'll pick up their finished product this week and post a picture of that as well! Also, it's raining today so the kids enjoyed some time outside in the rain today before school.

Eric has been dying to wear his jacket and tie. Unfortunately he never reminds me when it's really cool enough to wear it. Finally, he remembered a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday. He was so proud! Here he is:

The following is thanks to a good friend and I thought I'd pass it along! A ppreciate who they are B athe them in Scripture daily C ommit them to the LORD daily D iscipline them diligently E ncourage them often F orgive them and then forget G et to know them H ug hug hug them I gnore their imperfections J oy in being their mother K iss kiss kiss them L isten with your heart as well as your ears M ake many meaningful memories with them N ever tease, put down or use sarcasm O penly praise them P roduce plenty of photos Q uality time as well as quantity of time R ead to them God's Word & good books S ing with them and to them T alk to God about them and to them about God U nconditionally love them V alue them for they are God's rewards W ear a smile *Ü* e X amine yourself and be an example Y es!! Don't be so quick to say no Z eal and passion ~ have it for our children

Eric - "If you just put a whole bunch of words together, would you stop breathing and die?" Eric is my talker (he can stop non stop and for me, a non-talker, it just wears me out) so I'm sure this maybe was a concern for him! ******************* Jessica - "I sure like Jaelyn's school better than mine. I guess that's the life of a 3rd grader!" Those 3rd graders sure have it tough, don't they!

Thanks for your continued prayers. Brady appears to be doing very well. Here are the latest updates: As of Sunday (2/1), late in the evening "Everything was going well, so there is nothing "new" to report. Keep on praying for his recovery and especially for his new liver function, kidney function and no infection." Update 2/2 at 1:30pm Brady was moved out of the ICU and back onto the transplant floor this AM. He is continuing to improve and has a BIG room now - Flatscreen and all! (Note the room # change in Recent News, 5853 to 5800) In asking Brady what to pray for he added the potential for acute rejection. So add that to your prayer list. He will be here on the transplant floor until he can go to an outpatient center on the campus, where he will be for a number of weeks so they can monitor his health close up. Isn't it a wonderful answer to prayer that we are discussing these topics when you think of where Brady was less than a week ago. God truly deserves al...

As always - thanks for your prayers for this young man! This update is as of today (Sunday) at 1:00 p.m. "Brady is doing very well. They even had him sitting up in bed a little today. Liver docs have been in and said everything was where they expected it would be. Kidney docs have been in and say they are stable. So continued prayers should be lifted up focusing on no infection, increased kidney function and Brady's acceptance of the liver. WOW! Isn't it good to be in this situation today!"