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.