Healer

Check out this video of this little girl healed from a rare form of Leukemia in children. God is a healer...not only the healer of our souls, but of our bodies too!
Thanks to Angie for sending this & Windsor for posting it.

She Shoots, She Scores!!!

On Saturday we celebrated Adrienne & Matthew's birthdays & my family visited from NY and Bill's family from Lancaster. We began the day with soccer games for Adrienne & Madison & Adrienne scored her 1st goal!
Congrats AA!
We are so proud of you!
Here are some soccer shots.
More to come from the party.
Have a great week everyone!!

The Latest Project

Oh and was it a project! We have these bar stools many of you have sat on in our kitchen. They were blue &....getting really gross. I used to wash the fabric with a sponge but the stains that covered the fabric were beyond what any sponge could fix. So I found this fabric and loved it's boldness & colors & thought it could hide stains well (you have to think this way if you have young messy kids). I thought I would cover them quickly & easily with my new staple gun. Yeah, that's not exactly what happened. After 3 staples go in perfectly, I ran out. I had to take a trip to Kmart praying "please have staples!" Got the staples BUT they weren't the right size so they would only go in half way & they were busting my staple gun apart every time. Bill was not happy , because of course he had to work the cranky staple gun. After staples were literally flying around the room (as well as tempers), and me having to pound each staple in with a hammer...here's the finished product. So if you are coming to our home this weekend, or any time for that matter, I'd better hear you say you like my chairs!!! ;-)

Time to Pray

The following I received in the mail this morning. Change for our country is a good thing...but THIS kind of change? I don't think so...

September 25, 2009

Islamic Day of Prayer at the White House
Dear Friends,
We received this email today and feel that it is important enough to
pass along to you. We need to pray for our nation like never before!
In June 2007, Presidential candidate Barack Obama declares the USA no
longer a Christian nation.
In 1952 President Truman established one day a year as a National Day
of Prayer.
In 1988, President Reagan designated the first Thursday in May of each
year as the National Day of Prayer.
This year however, President Obama, decided to cancel the ceremony at

the White House not wanting to offend anyone.
On September 25, 2009 from 4am until 7pm, a National Day of Prayer for
the Muslim religion will be held on Capitol Hill, beside the White
House. As a Christian, it makes me really wonder where the REAL
direction of this country is headed.
Whether or not you voted for the man, as Christians I would
surely hope that this would stir your spirit. They are expecting over
50,000 muslims that day in DC.
The website is:
www.islamoncapitolhill.com
Pay particular attention on the website to the bottom of the page where
it states, "OUR TIME HAS COME."
2 Chronicles 7:14 says "if my people, who are ca lled by my name,will
humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked
ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will
heal their land." becomes more important each day.

My Baby is Turning 4

Ok this is not good. Matthew's turning 4, and posting these cute baby pictures of him makes me want another one!! Somebody remind me of late night feedings & potty training woes...QUICK!!! Happy birthday to my son. What joy and laughter you bring to our happy family! You are observant, smart and a big talker once you get going. You love all insects, bugs and slimy things and give the best big boy hugs & kisses. You always tell me I'm beautiful on Sunday mornings and that simply melts my heart. We love you so much buddy. Have a great birthday at Oasis with your best bud Joshy.

Happy Birthday Little Brother

...or should I say, Major Monti. Have a happy birthday...even though you are far from home, you are not far from our daily thoughts and prayers. Work hard, stay safe, and come home soon. Your whole family cannot be prouder of you and your service to our country. We love you Jonathan!

The Indians Find a Home

 We are into our second full week of school and really enjoying American History. We are learning about the North American Indians and Madison has really enjoyed pretending to be an Indian princess and watching Pocohantis.I said to Bill, "maybe you can build a tepee for the kids in the backyard." He just looked at me funny. This weekend a huge tree limb fell from our big tree in the backyard and landed just like this.

Bill and I both looked at it and knew right away what to do with it.

Of course!!! Build a tepee! The kids loved it. We brought out a basket with pretend food, a net for Matthew to catch fish with and a sword to defend the family from the white-faces. I'm not sure the kids will remember most of what I teach them, but I am pretty sure they'll remember their tepee.

Adrienne Elise Is Six!

Today we celebrated A. It began with opening a gift of 3 outfits & new pink shoes, eating minnie mouse chocolate chip pancakes with friends Isabella & Sofia, serving with mommy at church, and eating awesome chicken at the church BBQ. After a long nap, we ate dinner at Adrienne's favorite place, Peace-A-Pizza, followed by chocolate oreo ice cream at Carvel, and finished the day with an amazing time playing at a new park in Springfield. What a great day to celebrate our little girl. You fill our lives with so much joy Adrienne. We hope you had a very happy birthday...(we are pretty sure you did.)

Back To School!

This week we began school. The past 3 years we began on Labor Day and it works out pretty well. Bill takes the girls out to TJ's with their new backpacks and get to open them up and show daddy their books and flash cards and talk about the upcoming school year. This year I stayed home with Matthew for some fun school time focused just on him. We did our letter and number flash cards and read Matthew's favorite magazine "Your Big Backyard" (Thanks Gege & Papa!) When the girls came home we started on math and writing while daddy wrestled with Matthew upstairs. Around noon we traveled to Lancaster for a Labor Day picnic with Bill's side of the family. This was a nice way to ease into the year. The week has had it's ups and downs...the down would be when I forgot to eat breakfast and the hypoglycemia set in and I freaked out and yelled at Madison...yeah, it wasn't pretty. The ups included watching Adrienne succeed in completing her math work with a smile saying "Math is easy and fun!". I will be quite busy this year as I have taken on more responsibility at COMPASS (our co-op enrichment program) updating the website and other responsibilities.

After I yelled at Madison, I was running in my mind all I had to do and all the challenges that were facing me as well as how I can continue to struggle with anger at my kids. I began to become discouraged and feel weak in my own strength to homeschool the kids, take care of the home, run the kids to soccer and gymnastics and do the COMPASS responsibilites well and have the patience I need to be loving and compassionate with the kids. "I don't think I can do this all and do it well" was my silent prayer to God. And quickly He responded with His word to my mind..."But MY power is made PERFECT in your weakness!" Ah yes, thank you Lord. It's ok for me to feel weak and ill-equipped for all I have to do...because it is those times my faith grows a little bigger, that HE will provide all the power and strength I need each day to do it. So I am going back to school too...learning that I will never be a perfect mom, but each day I have faith that God is changing me and teaching me how to live relying on His strength and NOT my own.

Hilton Head, SC

So on our way home, we stopped at Hilton Head Island and stayed at Sea Pines Resort for a week. Now this was my type of vacation. Not that I didn't love Disney...but by nature, I am a relaxer, and at this place, that's what you do. The ocean water was so warm, the kids were in it all day. We rented bikes there and rode all around, even on the beach. This was so nice. We loved it there and wish it wasn't so far away. Highlites from Hilton Head include being in the ocean, Matthew catching a frog, Poppy catching a shark, and running away from a 6 foot alligator who was angry at us because Bill threw a rock in the water...YIIKKES!!!

More Disney Pics

Disney Characters

Bruce the Shark...AAAHHH! Matthew & Blue Power Ranger Madison and Pink PR Thing 1, Thing 2...and Thing 3 The Grinch Spidey ...of course! The Evil Emperor ZURG! Stitch TINK!!! She LOVED our shirts.