The last adventure of 2011

It was a beautiful day for the last day of the year, and we decided to go on a walk to Jones Park one last time in 2011.   They recently cleared out one of the ponds and the bottom of the pond was dug out and dirt/mud was piled up on the side.  It looked fairly solid, so we decided to walk over it.  They kids walked on top of the dirt/mud no problem.  I walked over the dirt/mud no problem.  Scott started out walking over the dirt/mud no problem, but then, halfway through he started to sink.  We had to keep going because we were already halfway through.  He kept sinking further down with each step and ended up losing his shoes and one sock in the mud!  We were laughing so hard as he sunk down to the bottom and I walked right beside him on top.  I pulled out his shoes and we hosed them and him down when we got home.  Luke had a blask hosing daddy off.  Usually daddy is the one hosing Luke off. 

Christmas morning

 We had a nice quiet Christmas morning this year.  Addy woke up early so she got up and "read" Brooke's new picture bible.  Addy was so excited to get to go to church on Christmas morning.  Luke was so excited to get to eat pancakes and eggs for breakfast. They were both excited that we got to go out to Grandma Sharon and Papa Mikes house after church. And they were excited that we spent the night out there.  It was a house full with Amy and Ryan, Rachelle, Bren, Natasha, and Brylee the dog. We had a lot of fun playing games and laughing.  One of the many blessing of having a big family.  John and Jodi joined us the next day and the games and laughter continued. 

Here we are Christmas morning at church.  Thanks Nana and Aunt Tiffany for the girl's matching dresses! 

10 Things I Love About Scott

I have been doing a 12 days of Christmas thing for Scott this year.  Each day leading up to Christmas he gets a surprise that has something to do with the number for that day.  Today is day 10 and I am posting 10 things I love about him. 

1. He is content. He rarely, if ever complains.  He always finds the good. He takes things as they are and never lets frustrations rob him of joy. 

2. He is musical.  I love how he brings music into our home and helps us to worship the Lord as a family. 

3. He is sensitive.  He really tries to know me.  He wants to understand my feelings and will love me no matter what.

4. He is faithful.  To God, to me, to the kids, and to his commitments.  If he says he will do it, he will.

5. He is a teacher. Not just a high school teacher, but a teacher to his kids, at church, and anyone who learns from watching his example.

6. He's hot.  Oh yes he is! 

7.  He has the most amazing beautiful blue eyes that he has passed on to all three of our children. 

8. He is a great daddy.  He reads to the kids, builds blocks with them, prays with them, reads the bible to them, sings with them, snuggles with them, plays rugby with them, rushes into their room in the middle of the night when they've had a bad dream, takes them on dates, disciplines them, wrestles with them, lets them feel his prickly face, and lets them have a sip, bite, taste of whatever he has.

9. He takes care of his body by working out and eating right to manage his diabetes.

10. He romances me.  He tries to speak my love language even thought it changes.  He is even getting better at reading my mind.  By the time we've been married 50 years I bet he will be able to do it!

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 8th wedding anniversary.  A lot has happened in those 8 years.  We have a 5 year old, 3 year old and 10 month old.  Sometimes I just look at my kids and think, "How did we get to this point already?" They are really making me grow up.  I see how they grow so fast, but I think that I should stay the same. 

When this picture was taken I was still running track at Pittsburg State University.  I had just finished my last cross country season.  Scott was working at a special needs kindergarten for about $7 an hour and that's what we were living on.  We had no health insurance so we paid for his insulin out of pocket.  We used Walmart gift cards that we received as gifts from our wedding to buy food since most of his paycheck had to go to insulin, rent, and bills.  Those gift cards lasted 6 months!  Just enough to get us by until I graduated and we could move to Topeka where Scott got his first high school teaching job at Shawnee Heights.  God blessed us SOOO much during that time.  We moved to Topeka and had a place to live all lined out, but the day we were going to move in we got a call saying we couldn't live there because we didn't make enough money to pay the rent.  It was a low income apartment so we were really surprise we were turned down, especially after we had signed a contract.  We told them that Scott would be starting a job in August and would be making more money and assured them we could pay the rent.  A few minutes later we got another call from them and they said we couldn't live there because with Scott's new job we would be making too much money to live in the low income apartments.  So now we needed to find a place to live, we had our stuff in a Uhaul, and my parents were on their way to Topeka with a suburban full of stuff.  My aunt that lives in Topeka found out about our ordeal and offered us to stay with them until we could find a place.  We gladly accepted and moved in to their basement.  They ended up being out of town a lot and told us to stay as long as we wanted.  We tried to buy a house, but that fell through.  It took us a lot longer to find a place than we thought.  I think we ended up staying there about 10 months before we found a little 1 bedroom 800 sq. ft. apartment.  It was a perfect place for us. We lived in the little apartment until Addy was born in 2006.  Actually, we bought a house and moved in 2 days before Addy was born, so technically Addy was born in the new house.  It is so neat to look back and see how God worked everything out.  Those were some fun times learning to depend on God first and then each other.  I think back on those days with a smile. 

Our Christmas Card

Click on the link to see our Christmas Card for 2011.  It's about 15 minutes long.  We do this every year as a gift for our parents and grandparents.  And so we can look back in 20 years and see what things were like in 2011.

http://youtu.be/UV96vv0yyJc

From the WORD

I was reading from Isaiah this morning in chapter 2. Verses 7 and 8 say: Their land has also been filled with silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with horses and there is no end to their chariots. Their land has also been filled with idols: They worship the work of their hands.  That which their fingers have made.

We always give God's people in the bible a hard time.  They seem so foolish.  Why are the so disobedient?  Why do they always rebel against God?  When I read this passage this morning, the people that came to my mind were the Americans, myself included.  You could rewrite it, especially this time of year as we approach the holiday season, to look something like this:

Their land has been filled with stuff and more stuff, and there is no end to their treasures; Their land has also been filled with cars and there is no end to the fords, chevys, hondas, toyotas.  Their land has also been filled with idols (their stuff):  they worship what they can buy from the money they make (or don't make) that they get from the work of their hands. That which their fingers have made.

Go read Isaiah chapter 2 and see if you can put yourself in there.  I know I can.  We're pretty foolish aren't we? Read on and see what happens to these foolish people. Verse 22 says:
Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed?

Big teeth!

 My baby is growing up so fast!  She has 4 teeth and when she smiles she looks so ornery!

She likes to feed us.  She takes a little piece of what she is eating and tries to put it in somebody else's mouth.  She also likes to tease.  She will hold it out like she wants to put it in someone's mouth and then she will quickly put it in hers.  Silly baby!  We are having so much fun with Brooke.  I wish she could stay 10 months old for 10 months!

Apple pie crescent rolls.

 Tonight I was making crescent rolls for dinner and an apple pie for tomorrow.  I had a couple of cute little helpers who were very eager to get their hands dirty.  So we came up with the idea of apple pie crescent rolls.

 We cut the dough into triangles, rubbed some butter on them, sprinkled them with cinnamon, sugar, and apples and rolled them up. 

 Ta Da!  We have a yummy breakfast waiting for us in the morning.  They're not much different than cinnamon rolls. But they have apples instead of frosting, so I guess you can say they're healthier.

And here's the cute baby.  Those teeth make her look so ornery.



A little laugh

Addison and Luke were building a house in the living room.  They weren't talking, but were concentrating really hard on putting up the walls when Addison said, "Luke, you're going to die someday."  Luke said, "I know, you are too."  Then went back to building their house in silence.  I laughed out loud and they wondered what was so funny.

FIghting My Battles

I was thinking today about what I do as a mom.  Many of the things I do are pretty mundane. I do laundry, prepare meals, clean the house, bathe the children, change diapers, wipe noses, wipe bottoms, wipe faces, wipe tables, wipe counters, wipe chairs (or anything else in the house that needs to be wiped), The list goes on. At the end of the day I am exhausted, and many days I feel there's nothing really to show for it. 

I also teach my children. What I teach my children is very important to me.  My children have a lot to learn.  They need me to teach them over and over and over again. I am for sure not the perfect teacher.  I have many opportunities every day to teach them in obedience and respect and many times I fail. 

I have a list of things to do and my son is eating his food very slowly, complaining, and pouting.  Do I teach him to thankfully eat what is set before him in a timely manner, or do I let him get his way so I can stay on my agenda?  Naptime finally comes and I put all three down.  I sit down to rest or read and I hear evidence that they are not resting. They are not necessarily being naughty, but still disobeying. Do I pretend that I don't hear them or do I get up and teach them that they need to obey right away, all the way, with a happy heart?  What if it's the THIRD time? Do I lose my temper, threaten them, and show them who's boss? Or do I calmly discipline them out of love and shepherd them according to the way my Father shepherds me?

I have to remind myself every day of this incredible duty I have been given.  I don't always like it, I don't always feel like doing what I know I need to do.  But it blows my mind to think that God has entrusted me with these three precious souls for just a short time. Each act of disobedience is a gift.  A chance to teach them what is right.  One of my children gives me many more chances to train and teach than the others. I think God must have something big for him because he gets more lessons than the others.  I try to be thankful for these times because not only is God giving me opportunities to train him, He is training me.  And there will be a day when the time runs out and it's too late.

I am learning so much about being a mother.  It's not only about providing for their physical needs, what I can give them or what fun activities I can do with them.  Those things are good, but it's really about teaching them to give, to love others, to submit to authority, to fear God.  It is a battle I am constantly fighting myself, how can I teach them what I don't even have a handle on? 

The world says you can have it your way, do what you want. The bible says you are to be a servant, set apart for God.

The world says it is good to make a lot of money and have a lot of stuff.  The bible says the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Tim. 6:10

The world says to strive for perfection. The bible says to strive for holiness. 

The world says you need to give your kids a good self esteem.  The bible says you need to put your confidence in God. 

The world says you are perfect the way you are.  The bible says all are sinners and need to be saved by grace.

The world says the way we look matters.  The bible says our heart matters.

The world says that Christians are weak and foolish.  The bible says that God's power is made perfect in our weaknesses.

These are things I need to constantly remind myself of.  But I have hope that God is doing a work in me, and as my children watch me fight my battles, God will be equipping them to fight theirs.

Making Meatballs

We love meatballs.  The kids love to help make the meatballs. They do a really great job at it too!  (When Luke concentrates he always sticks out his tongue.)  Tonight we are trying a new meatball recipe.  Sweet and sour meatballs with rice.  Hope it's good!

Sit and talk

One of the things the Marshall kids like to do is build houses.  As I am sitting here typing this another house is going up! Addison built one the other day and then went to Scott and said, "Daddy come to my house and we'll just sit and talk." He was right there in her house in no time.  I don't know what they talked about, but I'm sure it was important.

We cherish these precious times when we can go sit in our kid's pretend houses and "just sit and talk".  I know that it will come too soon when we get a phone call from a young lady saying, "Mom and Dad, why don't you come to my house and we can sit and talk."  Lord willing.

And we will be right over.

Good Morning!

If you come to the Marshall house at about 7:30 am this is what you might see.  Since it has been colder, the kids have discovered the air vents.  The first thing Luke does every morning is sit on one.  Notice he has no pj's on and is wrapped in his beloved soft green blankie.  He always takes of his pajamas so he can feel the softness of the blanket.  Before he goes to bed he rolls up his pants and sleeves so he can feel the blanket next to his skin as much as possible.  And his little Maxie dog tags along with him.  He puts this little dog inside his shirt when he sleeps.  When I asked Luke why he always puts Maxie in his shirt when he sleeps he replied, "So he can drink my milk all night long."

Sometimes Luke will sit on a vent and Addison will sit on another vent and they will holler back and forth, "Do you feel warm air coming out of yours?"  "Yeah."  "It feels good." "Yeeeaaaahhh."  Then the furnace shuts off. "Is it still coming out?" "Nope."  "Hmmmm, mine either."

Cubbies Theme Song

Tonight Scott discovered the Cubbies theme song in the back of the Cubbies book.

More top picks

Brooke, Luke, and Addison a couple days old. Can you tell they're related?

 On one of our exploring trips. We like to explore.

 Silly kids.

Brooke always tags along when we explore. She loves nature too!

Jesus Loves Me

I found this video from the beginning of 2011.  I love the sound of singing babies.  I think this must be precious to the Lord. 

Top pics cont.

 A daddy kissing his newborn baby definitely makes one of my top picks from the year.

 And the rest of the family loved to adore all those cute mini person parts.

I still laugh every time I see this picture.  It is one of those where you laugh later but at the time I wasn't laughing.  Daddy plays a little rougher than me...But that's a good thing!

Dentist Dan

I got a call the other day from Dan saying he had an opening to clean some teeth.  He is in training to be a dentist so he needed some kids to practice on.  Addison was very excited get her teeth cleaned.  She has had it done before and was looking forward to the goodie bag with the toothbrush and toothpaste.  This was a first cleaning for Luke, and he wasn't so sure he was ready.  Addison tried to convince him all the way in, but I could tell from the look on his face that he was scared.  Luke loves Dan (he has babysat, he comes out to my mom and dad's when we're out there, and we go to church with Dan) so I thought Luke wouldn't be scared.  Luke wasn't scared of Dan, but he was terrified of the chair.  We tried to convince him that the chair was really fun and it went up and down and back like a bed. But the chair was just too big and scary.  So I held him on my lap and then all went well.  He held very still and did everything Dan told him to do. He loved the straw thing that sucks the water out of your mouth.  I thought that he ended up enjoying getting his teeth cleaned, but when I asked him what his favorite part was he said, "I didn't like any of it." 

Addison on the other hand LOVED it.  As we were walking to the car she said, "I love getting my teeth cleaned can we go back tomorrow and every day?"  Dan did a great job.  If you want to get your teeth cleaned you should go see Dentist Dan.

Top Picks of 2011

 I took this picture the night Bren and Rachelle got engaged.  Definitely one of my favorites from the year. Luke reminds me so much of his uncle John.

 Luke was almost to fall off in this picture.  Luckily Scott brought them down before he fell.  They loved helping Daddy with his workout.

 Bedtime bible time. 

Don't forget to stretch after you work out!

Try not to laugh

I was going through some videos and pictures of this past year because I am starting to put together the annual Marshall Family slideshow.  This is one of my favorite.  I will try to post a few more of my favorite videos and pictures from 2011 in the next few days.

First Snow

We hurried outside today so we could get a chance to play in the first snow of the season.  For awhile there were some pretty big snowflakes.  The kids had fun trying to catch snowflakes in their mouths.

Where did the pond and trees go?

 The other day we went to Jones park to visit one of our favorite places by the pond and trees.  It is very close to our house and we walk there at least once a week, even on cold snowy days.  When we got there, we were in shock.  The water in the pond was gone and a lot of trees were gone. All that was left of a big cedar tree that Addison and Luke played "house" in was a stump.  (see above picture)  They were very sad.

Here they are standing by what used to be a dock, which they pretended was a boat. All of the land behind them was the pond.

  Here are the men that were cutting down the trees.  Luke yelled to them, "You stop cutting down our trees that God created!"  Their chain saws were too loud for them to hear him though.

So they scavaged for treasures that were left behind in the pond.  Addy said, "I'm really sad that the trees and water are gone, but the good thing is now we get to see these neat shells that God created."

 And there's lots of other cool stuff to do in Jones Park.  We found a neat little bridge!

Addy was trying to climb up a little creek bank.  Good thing Luke was there to save her!! It looks like a pretty steep bank in this picture, but her feet could touch. :) Brooke was on my back the entire time riding along so she didn't get in any pictures this time.  

Operation Christmas Child

 Today we put together our Operation Christmas Child boxes.  The kids were thrilled!  They loved going to Walmart and picking out all the goodies. 

 When Luke realized that he would be giving everything to a little boy in another country the smiles turned to frowns.  His selfishness REALLY came out. 

 But Addison was glad to give this gift. She even went looking through the house looking for more things she could put in the box. She came up with a book and a few more pieces of candy.  She didn't want to stop filling the box until it was full to the max.

I have to laugh at this picture because this really does seem to be the difference in their hearts right now.   As you can see Luke is still holding on to one last thing that needs to go in the box.  Prayerfully in the years to come his hard little heart will become soft so that he can experience the great joy that comes with giving.  You can join me in praying for him!

Take 4

We took another family picture today.  We need one for a special project we are working on, and so far we have not been able to get one that will work for this project. 

This picture will not work either though.  So I guess we'll do take 5. The first time we got a good picture of all of us, but the resolution was too low.  Second and third times the kids were cranky.  This time the picture is zoomed in too much for the project we're doing and it cuts parts of us off.  I think this is the first and last time for this photo project.  But we've got a good choice for Christmas cards!

Home Improvement!

I had been wanting a new kitchen faucet for awhile, but was waiting until the old one bit the dust and we had the time and money for the project.  Our old faucet was barely working as the water just dribbled out and the water pressure kept getting less and less.  The past few days I had been using the water sprayer to fill up the sink because the water pressure was so low that by the time there was enough water in the sink to wash dishes the suds were all gone.  So I started saving some money, but I did not realize how much a kitchen faucet costs!  I almost settled for a cheap one, but then I thought, "I use this probably more than anything else in the house, I want something functional that will last."  I knew I wanted something that had one handle for hot and cold water, was tall enough for big pans and had a pull out sprayer.  After narrowing down the faucets that fit this discription, I had a choice between two.  I chose the one that wouldn't show the fingerprints and water spots over the one that had the little built in soap dispenser.  So I took it home to my handy man husband and my eager -to- help kiddos and they got to work.  It was an exciting process and before I knew it.....

I had a beautiful new faucet that had AWESOME water pressure!  My wonderful husband also had to remove part of the window sill because it stuck out too far for the higher faucet.  That was the hardest part for him, but it looks great as well!  I am so excited I almost WANT to do dishes.  I think I'll go start dinner... 

Math nerds

 Today I realized that my kids really like math.  Luke is a hands on kind of guy and he had a blast sorting cubes into groups and counting them.

Addison can't get enough writing right now.  She thinks it is so fun to do math problems.  She prefers "mental math" instead of cubes.  She just pushed the cubes off to the side.  She did enjoy stacking them and counting how many she could get until it toppled over.

And Brooke is getting more teeth!  She has 3 and counting!  The top tooth is just starting to poke through.  She is happy in this picture, but she's actually been pretty fussy.  

Give Me Jesus

Tonight Addy wanted to sing Give Me Jesus.  Luke had some heartfelt expressions.  They even added some dynamics! Precious worship. 

Addy's burden

One of the books the kids like to read over and over and over is the kids version of Pilgrim's Progress.  Addison came down the stairs this morning and said, "I've got a burden on my back."

A sad day in Emporia

Well, the day we have dreaded for the past few months has finally come. Emporia is losing a wonderful family. The Lees drove out yesterday and we said our goodbyes.

We know that we will stay in touch, but it is hard knowing that we are many hours away now instead of a 2 minutes. We are so thankful that God let our paths cross for these 3.5 short years, and that we were able to make these lifetime friendships.   Last night was WEW and it was so weird to not see Sandy there.  Maybe one day my teary eyes will dry, but for now every thought of the Lees turns on a faucet.

   They will be greatly missed by all the Marshalls and Flint Hills Christian Church.  Even Luke was sad to see them go.  He said, "I'm going to miss the Lees. I love Matthew and Andrew."   It will be weird to drive by their house and not be able to stop in to say "hi".  We are thankful for the many fun times we had and are looking forward to visiting Albequerque in June!!

Popcorn cereal?

Have you ever popped popcorn in a pan?  I never had, until tonight.  I saw a recipe for popcorn cereal and I thought it would be a fun thing that the kids would like.  So tonight before bed we went into the kitchen to start our breakfast for in the morning.  I have always just stuck a bag in the microwave and pushed the "popcorn" button, so I had to carefully follow the directions.  I guess I didn't follow them close enough.  The pan I used wasn't quite big enough and the lid was too small.  The directions said to heat some oil in a skillet and when one kernal popped then add the rest.  When that one little kernal popped it didn't just pop.  I popped up almost to the ceiling.  So I decided to pour the rest of the kernals into the pan. I knew that it would make a big mess, but I knew that it would also make for some really excited and giggly kiddos.  In a matter of seconds popcorn kernals were literally flying all over the kitchen and the kids were squealing with delight.  They were even thrilled that they got to gather all the kernals that were scattered throughout the kitchen and help mop the floor.  I wish I would have got some pictures of the popcorn party, but I wasn't quick enough.  Maybe next time.  By the way, popcorn cereal is REALLY gross.

My little puppies!

It was costume night at AWANA last night.  The kids had fun getting dressed up as dalmatians.  They were super cute with their little ears and tails.  Of course Brooke ripped her little doggie ears right off.  I don't know what happened to Addy's ears in this picture.  It was the last AWANA with the Lee's tonight too.  At bedtime Addy broke out into tears.  We didn't know why she was crying and finally when she calmed down a little she said, "The Lee's are moving.  I'm going to miss all of them."  And then of course I got teary eyed.