One Shot

Yesterday I turned 32...
I can hardly believe it.
This morning I was reminded again of how fleeting life truly is. How it is but a whisper, a blink. Every moment needs to count. Wasting life on material things and selfishness...That's not where I want to be. I want to be cherishing every second, I want to be living every day like it is my last. Isn't that what God calls us to do? The older I get, the more it makes sense.

This morning I read in the paper that my high school color guard coach died, She was 43. She left behind a husband and young daughter. She had battled cancer and lost. She was only 11 yrs older than me.... a whisper, a blink of time.
I saw her this summer, full of life. The day after Thanksgiving... the day before my birthday... she drew her last breath.

This news has affected me more than I want to let on, I have been thinking about it all day..near tears at times..dwelling on the sadness of a mother, a wife, a women who should have lived another 43 years, and is now gone.

I only have one life....God doesn't promise me tomorrow...I don't want to miss anything, I don't want to look back and wish that I had spent my time differently. I want to hold my tongue and use my ears, I want to hug, laugh, kiss, play, cuddle with my children. I want to teach them about Jesus, I want watch them grow in the knowledge of our Savior. I want to be the kind of wife that is a blessing to her husband. I only get one shot...life is but a whisper, a blink and it's gone.

Lord, Open my eyes to what is most important. Give me the strength to withstand the forces of this world. Hold me up when I feel like caving in. I only have one shot at this Lord, let me hit that bullseye...
...Amen

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was different than what we have done in the past. We went to my brother Paul and Nadia's house and my younger brother Tim cooked the whole meal.

Once we arrived we all pitched in to help finish getting the meal ready....Kevin worked on the sweet potatoes.

Melissa, Laurie, and I all took turns stirring the cauliflower/pear/hazelnut dish (that was surprisingly very good).

We also had green beans with a lemon vinaigrette, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls and of course the Turkey.

I have NEVER tasted a turkey as good as the one Tim made. It was juicy, tender and full of flavor. It was also all organic, hormone free, range free turkey. It was soooooo delicious. Cooked to perfection!

Tim now has the job of cooking our every-other-year Thanksgiving meals. He said he was fine with that job, he loves to cook!

While preparing for the meal Paul's kitchen sink got clogged up. They tried everything to clear the pipes, but to no avail. So after our meal was done, Laurie and I took to washing dishes...camping style. For those of you who camp, you know what I am talking about. It took us (I think) almost 2 hours to clean all dishes from dinner. That is NOT including the plates. Nadia said for us to just pile those and as soon as they had someone come out and clear their pipe out, they would throw them in the dishwasher.

While we were cleaning up the kids were playing the Xbox 360. They had a lot of fun....The little ones got to play too :-)

Micah even got to hold Donal for the first time. He was really excited. We had a great time. I even got to sneak a few more pictures of Donal that I will share next time.....

I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Blessings!

Keeping it Light

After my dramatic day yesterday...I felt that I should keep things nice and light today. So here are a few snapshots I took of the kids this fall. My miracles....I never understood the love my Abba Father had for me until I had children of my own...

If I don't get back on here before Thanksgiving (I have a big day tomorrow with making bread and watching 2 extra kids all day)...Have a Blessed Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for....I am sure I will have lots of pictures of Thanksgiving to share with all of you.

Be a Blessing!

Today

What a day..That is all I have to say...well not really, I have a lot more to say, so I guess you better sit back and get comfy cause here comes my story.

It all started early this morning. I had to be up and out of the house, with all the kids by 7:45am. I was scheduled to clean a house with my Mom and Babula (my sister-in-law's mother) at 8:30am. I was doing great, I dropped the kids off at Kevin's parents and made it to the house by 8:20am. Our assignment today was cleaning the basement. Three people to clean a basement you ask? Well, if you saw this house you would know why it takes three of us.

This house is beautiful and huge. The basement (which I had never cleaned before), is a world of it's own. Probably the coolest thing(s) down there is the grand children's playrooms. One playroom is a complete western theme. it has a murals painted on the walls (it reminds me of an Arizona mountain range at dusk). Then there are "western building" fronts built all the way around the room. there is a board walk in front of the buildings. One of the buildings you can go into it, it's set up like a post office, but it has all kinds of cowboy hats and boots the kids can play dress up with. There are 3 horses that can be ridden (like the old bouncy ones that I grew up with and one that is a rocking horse with an actual saddle on it). Then each grandchild has their own mailbox that the cousins can leave messages to each other in (grandpa and grandma have their own mailbox too). The doors to this playroom are the swinging western doors. So cool, I don't think you could have gotten me out of that room when I was a little girl. Just between us....I was very tempted to have myself a seat on the real saddle, just to see if I fit.

The next playroom is located under the stairway. it has a door, but adults have to be on their hands and knees to crawl into it....and of course I crawled right in there to see what it was like. Mom could have shut the door and I would have been all set until they were done cleaning.

Then the next playroom, was huge, it had a popcorn maker (you know like the kind you see at carnivals). It had a drum set, pool table, different kinds of game tables. Then in one nook (bigger than Jilli's bedroom) it had a full kids kitchen (frig, oven, cabinets...) with a table and 5 little chairs already set for a tea party. Cribs for the baby dolls, stroller, bouncy seat...What a little girls dream! There were bins full of all kinds of toys, cars, blocks, puzzles. The list could go on and on.

We finish cleaning this beautiful basement in about 3 hours (3 hours X 3 women = 9 hours for one person to clean...it doesn't take me 6 hours to clean my WHOLE house!) We packed up and went to our vans. It was about 11am and it had been snowing for the last 2 hours. We wiped off our windows hopped in and got ready for our 30 min ride home.

I pulled out first, I slowly drove down their driveway (one of those circular ones) and was pretty happy when I made it too the bottom without slipping. I started to drive up the culd-a-sac to the "main street" in this association and as I am driving I started to fishtail around a little (I drive a full sized rear wheel conversion van). I was thinking, wow this is slick, but I should be fine once I get out and onto the main street. As I approached to gates to the community, I noticed that the "main street" was still very much completely covered in snow. I thought well, I will just take it slow and I will be fine. Being one who never really has an issue about driving in the snow, I seriously wasn't nervous about it at all until I saw the hill that I would have to climb up to get out of the valley.

I started to pick up as much speed as I felt was safe. There was the first hill, then it leveled out for a brief moment then the next hill which was much steeper, that would lead to to its crest and freedom on the other side. I started up the first part and felt my back end fishtail slightly, my stomach started to turn, I started up the second hill...the van started to slow down and fishtail all over the place. Normally, I can pull the van out of a fishtail with no problem, but I knew if I took my foot off the gas I was going to be in big trouble. I am now chanting "help me Jesus, help me Jesus, come on van, come on van..." Then it happened....

I was no longer moving in a forward direction. I looked in my rear view mirror, to see where my Mom was...."Please God let her see I am having trouble and have stayed at the bottom of the hill. Thank you Jesus, she looks to be stopped at the bottom." What do I DO???!!! Well if you can't go up, you have to go back down.

I put the van in reverse, hoping to just slowly go back down, but the ice, snow, and van had other ideas. As I was carefully sliding back down, the van started to fishtail......what do I do?? I have never fishtailed in reverse before!!! Nothing I did helped, all I could do was pray that God got me down the hill Ok...The van was now sideways sliding down the hill getting precariously close to a huge ravine that was on the side of the road. I truly thought that I was going to go over the edge and........die. Then the van stopped moving. A short distance away from where I was, was a little side street, I thought that if I could just get my van there, I could stop and regroup and figure out how to get home.

I pulled onto the side street and promptly got stuck again. Mom pulled up behind me and and we tried to push me out, to no avail. We finally ended up calling The personal assistant (Lynnette) too the family who's house we cleaned. She said she would find a shovel and salt and come too us (in the 4x4 Lexus SUV). Once we got my van moving again, we decided to try and make it out the other way. Back into the community we drove, I was following Lynnette, Mom was to follow me. Mom wasn't behind me....I called Mom, now she was stuck where I was stuck and thankfully and women came up and pushed her out.

Driving back through the gate around the curves through the stop signs (without stopping) and there lay before me a beautiful white long sloping hill. I made it halfway up and then.....plop into the grassy ditch. Lynnette pulled up next to me and we decided that I would park my van back at the house and try and get it out later.

I put the van in reverse and backed down the hill in the ditch (more traction there, didn't want to go sideways again). Drove back too the house and tried to get it into that circular driveway. I drove it up the driveway as far as I could. I got stuck. Lynnette said it was fine where it was and to just park it. I threw the van in park, took my foot of the break and it slid into the street. We decided that I should try the other side of the driveway..it had less of an incline. I gunned it up the other side, made it too a point and it stopped. Lynnette said again to park it. I did, then this time it stayed.

Meanwhile, my Mom got all mixed up driving around the community and wound up heading back out the way we first tried to get out. She made it, and decided that she would continue on to drop off Babula to Nadia at the designated location. Lynnette said she would drive me out and bring me to where Mom was.

After Lynnette dropped me off, Mom and I were traveling down the road and discussing what happened. She told me that while they were sitting at the bottom of the hill watching me struggle and then turn sideways they were both praying out loud to God for my protection. My Mom in English and Babula in Russian. I kind of wish I could have heard that:-)

Halfway home Mom's phone started ringing. It was Dad saying that Lynnette called and said that the van is now sitting in the middle of the street again. Mom and I turn around. I called Lynnette, she said she would meet us again and drive us back in. Once we were back to the house Mom and I tried to clear a portion of the driveway with garden spades (no snow shovels in this house, they have heated walkways and the driveways get plowed). We threw salt back down and I climbed back in my van and tried it again. This time I was able to make it to the top of the driveway where it could safely stay until I was able to go back and get it.

Lynnette drove us back out again and Mom and I started our way back home. We pulled into my driveway at 2pm, do you remember what time we left??? 11am, I could have driven all the way to Chicago in the time it took me to get home from a location 30 min away.

Thankfully Kev's parents didn't have anything else going today and were able to stay with the kids this whole time. Then later they drove me back out to the van to attempt my pilgrimage again. This time I made it (with 4 60lbs bags of sand in the back of the van. Once "out" I pulled into a parking lot so that we could transfer the kids back in my van. Then they went on home. I pulled into a gas station and got another shocker for the day. I filled my whole tank for $43.01!!! I thought the pump was messed up when it turned of at $42.xx...It sure is nice to have gas under $2 again.

That is the book version of my day...if you want the cliff note version...ask Kev:-)

I am counting my blessings as I lay my head down tonight...."Thank you Jesus, that I was not hurt today, thank you that my van was not damaged in anyway. Your Angels were surrounding me, Lord, Your hand of protection was upon me. I praise you Abba Father. Amen."

My day could have turned out sooooo differently.

Cinnamon Bread

For those of you who are my friends on Facebook, you probably saw my status about putting my seven loaves of homemade cinnamon bread in bags. Well I thought I would show you what the dough to seven loaves of bread look like.

It was quite comical. I used the biggest bowl that I have in the house. The recipe called for 24 cups of flour. All you bakers out there know that I could not possibly make a batch of bread that big with any type of electric appliance. Who needs a gym when you are kneading that much dough! My arms got a great workout!

Each of my kids got a ball of their own dough to knead, roll out, smear butter all over then sprinkle (dump) cinnamon on. They get so excited for their bread to rise. "How big will it get Mommy, when is it done rising Mommy?" Are just two of the questions that I get about every 5 min.

Oh and the smell of my house as the bread is baking is just phenomenal! The best part is that I KNOW my family is eating something very good and healthy for them.

I think I need a bigger bowl (this was the big Tupperware bowl)!

Anyone have a HUGE bowl they don't need anymore? I am thinking that I might make this again, possibly this week for a few privileged people who are related to me. Just a thought though....

Blessings!

I Just Can't Help It!

I have to post some more pictures of my nephew. The kids and I went up to see him again yesterday and of course I took my camera. I just can't get over how cute he is! He is truly a masterpiece!

He loves to chew on his tongue, a few times I caught him sticking it out. Lucky for me, I had my camera ready for it:-)

I was thinking about them last night as MY baby had me up EVERY two hours (I am supposed to be over that stage). It will be fun to watch Paul and Nadia figure out what this parenting thing is all about. They are just beginning this new season of life, I am slightly jealous....

Remembering.....Waking up, just to make sure the baby is still breathing (by the time the third one comes, you don't do this anymore....). Being able to change the diaper, nurse, and burp while still sleeping. Throwing a heating pad in the bassinet to keep it warm, so that when you laid the baby down, it didn't get startled awake by a cold bed (key to this one is making sure you TAKE OUT THE HEATING PAD....Micah got a little cooked one night). Finally getting a shower at 4pm, because you were SO BUSY taking care of a baby all day (do you know how much I could get done now if I had just one baby??). Loving the fact that God made my body to nourish my child... I could keep going on, but it makes me a little teary-eyed.

Nadia and Donal went home today....I pray that the transition from couple to parents goes smoothly for Paul and Nadia. It is such a precious time, Cherish it...drink it in....it goes too fast...

For My Dad

The other day Dad and I were talking. He was trying to think back to the last time he was able to give a "horsey ride". He couldn't remember. His back has been so bad, now with his most recent surgery, it has completely robbed him of all things he once enjoyed...like playing with his grandkids, holding them.

That was one of the games we used to play with my Dad as kids. We have pictures of us up on top of our horsey. I reassured my Dad that they do get horsey rides from their Daddy, he was so happy to hear that. So here is proof that the tradition of horsey rides live on in our house. Jilli even gives horsey rides to Daddy!

Blessings!

A Little Early

What a day....This morning I received a phone call from my Dad asking me to make sure my camera had film and my batteries were all charged up. I was sort of confused. We were having Nadia's baby shower today, so I figured I could take some pictures of that, but why would Dad call me just to tell me that? Then he told me....Nadia's water broke last night and they are at the Hospital awaiting the arrival of their baby. What a shock! She is three weeks early!


After church I received a phone call, the baby BOY was born at 11:17am he was 6# 9oz 20in. Through God's grace, Mommy and Baby are doing well. Nadia had to have an emergency C-section. The baby's heart rate would drop as low as 60bpm during the contractions. Paul and Nadia learned after the birth, that the cord was wrapped around his neck....twice...very tightly.

Very quickly I left my house to take care of some last minute details for Nadia's shower that was still taking place in two hours. Swung by my parents house to pick up Nadia's Mom and Laurie and up to the hospital we flew to grab a few pictures to show off at the shower.

I couldn't get over how beautiful this new little one was (is)! This little one was named after his Grandpas. First name after my Dad and his middle name after Nadia's Father who has passed on.Congratulations Paul and Nadia on the birth of Donal Alexander Van Dyk!

(side note, the red scratch on Donal's head (seen well in the first picture)was more than likely caused by the back of the scalpel when they were quickly trying to get him out)

Bet you can't wait to get here and hold your new nephew Uncle Timmy and Aunt Melissa!

Blessings!

Making Bread

I am striving to become all the God created me to be. Part of that is expanding my abilities in the kitchen. Most of you know that I do not enjoy time spent making food, it's just not a gift of mine. But God doesn't call me to enjoy every job He has given me. He just calls me to find joy in doing the jobs (my joy just maybe completing the job).

An example of my ever expanding abilities... I am now trying to make all of our own bread, rolls, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, etc. Not that it is that much more cost effective, it's just SO much healthier for you. I can put so many wonderful things in the bread that my children (husband) eat. I am not going to tell you all of my secret ingredients because my husband reads this... Having the family history of colon cancer like I do, I really want to be proactive for my family and myself. Bread is just one of the ways I can do that.

Making bread is also a fun thing for the kids to do. I remember my Mom making bread every week when we were growing up. She would always give us our own piece of dough to knead. We got to pick what (if anything) we were going to put inside of it. I always put cinnamon in mine. What a great memory I would like to pass down to my kids.

My kids are already catching on the the fun of kneading the dough. I showed them how to do it, and then I said they could beat on it too....you don't have to tell them twice:-)

OK, so I am going on the homeschooling thing again.....If I didn't have my kids home, how could I do all I do with them? We would miss out on so much together! Micah would be in school full time right now. He would have to be to school around 8am and then wouldn't get home until around 3:30pm. All those hours someone else is influencing him....no thanks! Sure life would be easier...one less kid all day, wow, can't imagine what I could get done. But God didn't say parenting was supposed to be easy. I am so blessed to have the choice of keeping my babies at home, sheltering them, loving on them, pouring myself into them. May not always be good, life around here isn't always pretty, but it sure smells better with home made bread in the oven!"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road (when you are making bread), when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on you hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deut 6:6-9

Blessings!

Picture from Tonight

This is a face of a little boy who should be in bed....but instead is getting a little time with Daddy while his siblings are sleeping.

Our Little Night Owl. He usually stays in his bed playing for an hour after we put him to bed, but tonight he was finding every excuse in the book to get out of bed. This is not a regular occurrence, so...we cherish his smiles and giggles and laughter....then back up to bed he goes on Daddy's back.

Good Night TyTy!

Having Fun

(this post is a few days old...had problems uploading pictures to it. sorry for the delay)

I thought that I would post a few more pictures from last Friday. As the tradition continues, Aunt Laurie was there for all the fun and excitement. The kids always think it is so cool when Aunt Laurie decides to hang with us for the evening.

This next bit of info, I am sharing just because I want to remember this...

Yesterday Tyler told me that he wanted to wish on the wish star at night. I asked him why and he told me because he wanted to make a wish (duh Mom). I asked him what the wish was......."I want to wish for more baby sisters". Oh boy.....By the time it came to look for a wish star....it was cloudy and there were no stars to be seen...Good Thing! Then he told me that the next night he wanted to "wish that our house was the biggest in the neighborhood". Now that one is a little easier for me to deal with!

Blessings!

Sunshine

What a beautiful stretch of days. Warm with soft breezes. Kids running in and out enjoying the sunshine. Ahhh, but that is all about to change.



Life as we know it is changing again. Seems like we are always adjusting to change. I guess that is part of life..... So I will again adjust to this next season of life and wait until the Sun shine's warm again on us.

God's Blessings

Today

Waking up to my husband kissing me goodbye (no better way to wake up). I turned over and looked at the clock, and began. "Father God, I pray that you would open the eyes, remove the blinders, give courage to those that are still undecided. Silence Satan today Lord. Let Your voice be the only voice heard today. Unleash your Angels upon us Lord, protect those in service today, protect my brother, keep harm far from him. Let this be the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

My friend calls, letting me know she just spent 50min in line (she was calling around 7:45am). She told me that while she stood in line she was warfare praying. She said the people around her probably thought she was crazy. We both laughed. People think we are crazy all the time. God hear the prayers of your faithful servant, who got up before the sun to place her vote!

I have another friend coming today. We are going to teach our children together. Then we are going to show our children how two, stay at home, homeschooling mothers can approach the Thrown of God. Praying for our country, for our fellow citizens, for each other, our husbands, our children. Let's watch what God can do, for where there are two or more gathered in His name there He will be also.

Tonight when Daddy gets home, we are going to teach our children how important it is to vote. We will go together as a family, for however long it takes, we will stand there, all of us, as a family, waiting for our turn to place our vote.

At close of day, we will again come before God, praying. Knowing He has us in His hand, He will guide us. We will faithfully lay our lives down before him, willing to go and do what he has planned for us, no matter the cost.

I could cry

I am beyond upset. I have been working my tail off to get a wedding done and uploaded to my website and....my website is gone. I have no idea what happened too it. Looks like someone took my web address. I have no idea how this could even happen. I had to just email the bride and let her know that they won't be there tomorrow.....I am so frustrated!

So here is too the happy couple that can't see their pictures!