House changes

We recently put our house on the market because our family is quickly growing. We ran out of space in this house about 7 years ago, and have put it off until we couldn't stand it any longer. We had hoped to rent our house to some reliable people, but these days those kind of people are hard to come by. So we finally gave in, and Christian said we could list it with our agent.

A little back ground on our agent, Brooke. We've been attending church with her for the last five years and she's just as sweet as they come. She's very talented and respectful. She puts up with our (mostly Christian) mood swings, mind changes, and countless request. If I were her, I would have ditched us a long time ago. However...
She has show us so many houses over the last two years, I can't even begin to tell you how many. I can call her at most hours of the day and she's available. I've called on holidays and she's dropped her plans and shown us a house...that we just HAD to see that day. And then, we usually found something wrong with it.

Back to the drawing board she would go. If she's gotten discouraged (or more like disgusted with us), she's never shown it. She's always professional. So we tust her completely to sell our house.
Yesterday, we were supposed to have someone come look at it, but they decided not to come.
Today, they stopped by to see it without an agent. We have people here painting the house and they got their name and number. Brooke set up a viewing tomorrow at 2:30. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand myself. Apparently they already have all of their bank stuff situated and are extremely interested in our house. They even have another agent, which is out of town, so they are letting Brooke bring them. Exciting!!!!!!!

Please pray that this goes accordingly. I just have to keep remembering God's will.

My new...

Computer. I come to you this evening, typing this post on my new laptop. Christian surprised me with it this evening. It is an early anniversary present, but he knew I'd need one to keep up with all of my upcoming projects. I'm so excited!!! A computer all my own. I don't have to share it with anyone and I can put anything on it that I want to. Yippee!!!

I know, I know. I'm too excited over a piece of new technical equipment. In a few weeks, or months, I'll probably be cussing it because it doesn't work right. Or because I've put too much stuff on it that it works too slowly. But for now, I'm really excited.

I have a truly wonderfuly husband. He readlly does think of me even when I think he only has work on his brain. Thanks, honey! I really love you with all my heart.

At last

I have a few moments to myself.
Its been a crazy few days, yet it seems like I've gotten nothing done. Our house went on the market two Fridays ago, and we've had ZERO calls or visits. I'm really bummed about this, and I'm beating myself up about it. I work hard every night and every morning to make sure everything is in its place...just in case. But the days pass, and we get nothing. On the bright side, my house is staying clean. Even the kids have gotten in on the action.
I had a "child-raising, heart-breaking, make-you-want-to-cry" moment yesterday. On the way to school, Mallory announced from the back seat that she didn't want me to walk her in to school. She was a big girl and she could walk in with Mason. I almost stopped the car. I asked her if she was sure and she proudly said yes. Me...on the other hand...I was devistated. I'm telling you, this baby I'm carrying has saved me from a lot of tears lately. Just when I think their young years are coming to an end, this baby reminds me that I'll still have a few more baby years left. Anyways, I'm proud of her independence. She is a big girl and I applaude her! (Sniff, sniff, sniff!)
On a more serious note, Mallory had her 4 year check-up last week. Her pediatrican found a heart murmur. She said she's never heard it before, and asked me to schedule her to see a pediatric cardiologist. She said its probably "innocent" but she wants me to make sure. Talk about making your heart beat fast....I'm trying not to get too worried. We go tomorrow morning at 10:30, so be thinking of us then. Mallory doesn't want to go because she thinks she getting a shot.

I haven't taken any pictures of the kids lately, but I'll try this weekend. They are getting so big!

Baby update

I went to the doctor earlier this week for a standard check-up. I had gained 1 lb., which seems incredible because most of my clothes don't fit. I heard the heartbeat and it was very strong. The doctor said everything looked fine and we would come back in 4 weeks.

We go back Sept. 9th for an anatomy ultrasound. This ultrasound will let us see all of the features of the baby and will show us the sex of the baby. We have decided not to find out the sex of the baby. My mom will be going with us, and she'll be the only one to know for a while. Later in the year, say around Nov., we're planning a party for our families and closest friends. Its called a "Gender party". My mom will have a cake made and the inside will be either pink or blue, depending on the baby. Once the cake is cut, everyone will find out at the same time. I think it will be lots of fun, and my friends are really excited. Even Christian thought the idea would be fun.

Other than that, I'm doing fine. Just trying to keep up with the kids and rest too. I'll keep you posted.

A first

The kids have been in school for a full week now. Everything is going great, and they really do like school. Getting up, and getting dressed is a tough job every morning. But once we get going, they really do good. Mason is usually the most excited. I think because he gets to be a helper a good bit of the time because he's a Kindergartener now. Ms. Janie gives them special jobs every day.



Mallory has gotten some great comments from her teacher. Ms. Janie commented yesterday that Mallory was a quick and skilled worker. She worked quickly and efficiently on her desk work. I think Mallory just likes being with Mason.



Today, however, she wasn't as thrilled about her day at school. As I picked them up, Mason decided he wanted a piece of candy from the store at school. I sent him back in the school to buy a piece of candy from Ms. Janie. In the few quiet moments I had with Mallory, I decided to ask her how her day went. Her reply was, "I didn't like it."



I asked her why she didn't like it, and she said she just didn't have a good day. I didn't press her. I just figured she'd tell me why when she was ready. A few minutes passed and she said she got in trouble today......I asked her why, and she said "I don't know."



I asked Mason later what happened and he said Mallory got in trouble because she didn't answer Ms. Janie when she was asked a question. She didn't get into bad trouble, but Ms. Janie called her up to talk to her. Mallory didn't seem too upset, but I know this was probably her first time getting into trouble at school. Poor baby! I felt bad for her, but she seemed to handle it okay. I gave her lots of extra love this afternoon.

1st Day of School

Today was Mason's first day of Kindergarten and Mallory's first day of Pre-K. They are both attending Grace Christian Academy. They were so excited this morning when they got up. I didn't have to beg anybody to get out of bed. And I didn't have any trouble getting Mallory into her uniform jumper. I was worried that she wouldn't want to put on the dress. My mom came out to take pictures of the occasion (she got up really early!) and to spend the morning with me. I was glad. Otherwise, I would have been sad when I left the kids and came home to an empty house.

They had a great day with Ms. Janie!

Mallory looked like a big girl sitting at her desk with her coloring books.

Mason was making sure he all of his new supplies in his desk. He was "chatty charlie" this morning!

Oh, where to put everything and everybody! Good luck, Ms. Janie!

Mallory was nervous about going into the room, even though she already knew where she would be sitting. She wanted to make sure I was right there, but she never got upset.

Doesn't she look cute??????

One last cheesy grin before off to school!

It was a great birthday and the kids had a great day at school. We'll do it all again tomorrow. (Wonder if Mom will come out and take me to breakfast everyday?)

"Masonisms"

Mason is always doing or saying something that cracks me up. Usually, I'm not to thrilled at the time he's saying or doing this funny thing, but the longer I think about it, the funnier it gets.
Today was our check-up day at the doctor. As we were getting dressed, I asked Mason to get his clothes on while I was in the shower. When I got out, he was dressed and ready to go.

We get to the doctor an hour later, and had to pee in the cup for the doctor. We all go to the bathroom (because Mallory has to do this too) and I have Mallory use the bathroom first. After she finishes, I asked Mason to come over and I explained what he was about to do. He agrees and pulls down his pants. He proceeds to tell me that he's "doubled-up today". I had zero idea what that meant so I questioned him. He tells me that he has on both pairs of underwear - the pair from yesterday and the new pair I laid out this morning!

When I asked him why he would do such a thing he says, "It takes too long to get them (underwear) off, so I just put the new ones on top." I take a deep breath and ask why he didn't take the time to remove his dirty underwears, he says "Because I didn't want to be late for the doctor and you told me to get dressed before you got out of the shower!"

Oh boy! I was upset at the time because I had to get him completely undressed in the doctor's bathroom and remove the dirty underwear! Now its really funny to tell my blog. Just another day in the life of me, Mason & Mallory.

As a side note, they laughed all afternoon at the doctor because I had Mason's underwear in my pocketbook!

Revival

Last night I sang at Revival at Harvest Baptist Church. Terry and Pauline Stutes are friends of ours and they asked me to go and sing with them. The church family was so nice. Terry and Pauline attended church at Harvest prior to coming to our church. Terry's sister, Belinda, still goes to Harvest and was really sweet to me. She made sure I felt comfortable on their stage.

But most importantly, the preaching was FANTASTIC!! They had a traveling evangelist come to preach their Revival. His name is Rick Cronan. He was wonderful! He started preaching about the "Welfare Christian". His definition of a Welfare Christian was someone who always took things from the church, and never gave back. God asks us to serve Him in all our ways. Welfare Christians show up to church regularly, go to Bible Studies and live a good life. But they never use the talents God gave them to serve Him. It was such a good sermon, and mirrored the sermon that our own pastor had given earlier in the morning.

He went on to preach about tithing. I usually do pretty good in this area. I know when we don't tithe, things start to go wrong with our checkbook. Just this week, I made a mistake in our checking account to the tune of $475.00. Christian was not very happy with me, but I told him that I would have it fixed by the end of the month. This meant, I was not going to be able to tithe for the next two weeks. But after last night's sermon, I've spent all morning working it out some other way. I decided his message last night was for me, and that I didn't need to challenge God on his promise to us. I just have to have faith that our needs will be satisfied.

I encourage you this week to head down to Harvest if you can. Services start at 7:00 and go through Thursday of this week.