Must Be Summer Break...

When they try their hardest to stay up as long as they can!

Northwest Trek

One of the places we have been wanting to go for years is Northwest Trek.  It's a bit of a jaunt from where we live but with a little planning and arranging of schedules we actually pulled it off this year with the whole family!

We happened to arrive on the weekend of Slug Fest.

My nephew Caleb (the boy not the buffalo!)

While we were on the tram Kaden kept asking where all the animals were.  He was used seeing the animals at the zoo and not having to actually look for them in the distance.

Because the young kids didn't really get to see the animals I think they didn't have as much fun as we had hoped.  Caleb does this when he is tired..

And Lydia decided it was ok to sit on my lap for awhile.  She hasn't decided if we are friends yet though

Like Is said...slug fest

The whole Fam Damily!

Notice Todd is missing his beard?? There is a reason for this but I can't say why yet.  Big things could be happening for us soon!

Kaden hitched a ride with grandpa

Caution: Caterpillar crossing!

And watch out for peeing coyotes...

Cute as a bug nieces..

Otters trying to escape and..

The cutest kids on the block!

This Will Keep Us All Thinking

Who Lives In A Pineapple Under The Sea?

SpongeBob SquarePants!

Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!

SpongeBob SquarePants!

If nautical nonsense be something you wish...

SponeBob SquarePants!

Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!

SpongeBob SquarePants!

SpongeBob SquarePants!

SpongeBob SquarePants!

SpongeBob......... SquarePants!!

Help Me Rhonda...

...But I can't get over how cute he is!!!!

What A Difference A School Year Makes...

This is Kyler at the beginning of 6th grade

And this is Kyler on the last day of 6th grade

Can you believe how much he has grown up??

And that hair!! Look how much of it he has!!

 School is out and summer is here.

 

Well that's what the calender says but apparently Mother Nature hasn't received that email yet.  Rain Rain Rain Rain and more Rain.  But on the last day of school we were fortunate to have a bit of sunshine (really it was just a teaser)  I like to do something as kind of an introduction to summer so we headed to the beach for a little bbq and campfire time.

This child has a perma-messy face

Why must we always play with our food...just eat the darn thing without making a mess!

Everything is about looking cool now

Let the good times begin!!

Just Some Thoughts floating Around My Head Today...

 I'm living in a puzzle.

The box lid having just been taken off, and I stare down onto the pieces, some clear, some hidden, and they work together somehow.  But I'm just looking at them, smelling the woody pulp, and wondering, all the while knowing it's designed to do so, how in the world I'll make it all fit together and look like something real. 

Even the box lid sports no picture to guide.

Many things about tomorrow, I don't seem to understand.

But I know who holds tomorrow and I know who hold my hand

I have been driven many times upon my knees

by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go

-Lincoln

I....

Have red toenails all the time

Want to travel more

Wish I had a housekeeper

Hate when my kids get sick

Love sitting around a campfire

Miss my pre-children body

Fear someone in my family dying

Wonder if I'll ever feel like a grown-up

Regret not saving more money

Eat snacks late at night

Drink and don't feel guilty about it

Like watching tv in bed

Dance while I'm cleaning the house

Sing for Jesus

Cry every time I watch The Notebook

Make a really good chocolate cake

Can't drive a stick shift

Need to feel financially secure

Should be a better wife

Once jumped off a bridge

Sometimes get jealous

Still hate mornings

Start my day with Facebook

Finish my day with Facebook

Am saved

Hello??

Hellooooo??

Helloooo??

Helloooo??

Helloooo??

Is anybody out there still??

I have to admit that I almost quit.  A month has gone by and I am sure there have been a few who assumed it too.  It actually would have been very easy to quit. I don't know who reads me and quite frankly I don't really have anything to say.  I wish I could be one of those very sassy and clever-like bloggers.  One who has an interesting lifestyle and colorful opinions about things. But the last time I spoke my opinion about something I got "defriended" on Facebook.  So I guess I have learned my lesson in keeping my mouth shut.  It's a sad situation and hopefully I will soon just be able to purge it from my system for good.

But anyways...I am back if anyone cares.  I don't have anything fabulous and exciting to post about but I thought if  I just give a shout out then maybe it will get the creative juices flowing again.  Everytime I thought about this lil ole blog, I would get a bad case of writers block. 

I mean I could write about the mountains of laundry I need to do....

The enormous task of yard work ahead of me...

Or the fact that I can' seem to stay asleep at night.  But I won't bore you with those kinds of things.

I could post some pictures of...

When we took the train down to Seattle for the Mariners game.

or

When we went to the Locks in Ballard

or

When we took the ferry over to Poulsbo for the day

or

When I took the kids camping up in Birch Bay

or

Kaden just being his silly little self

But the hard drive thingy that connects both our computers so I can access the pictures doesn't seem to be working right now. (slightly worried about that but nothing can be done till the hubby comes home and rescues the day)

So for now I guess this is just me checking in and hoping the very few of you out there didn't give up on me.

Oh..and Todd got a new job so I am REALLY hoping these things are in my near future!!

What??

I don't think that's too much to ask for??

Picture This

This a story I came across on another blog as I was out blog stalking. I did not compose this story myself but I love it and if you know me then you just might know why I would post this! 

Picture this. You and your family all live in a small and very cramped one room home. There are spaces where there should be windows, but they are boarded-up and no light ever come through them.

Although you share the home with other members of your family, you find it really hard to see them, as the only illumination comes from a small, 5 watt bulb suspended from the middle of the room. So the room is very dimly lit and you can only ever catch glimpses of the other members of your family when they walk directly beneath the .light bulb.

Every-so-often water starts to drip down on to you and your family. This, you are told, is special water sent from God to bless you. Funny. But to you it feels cold and unpleasant. And not much of a blessing at all.

At regular intervals your family is visited by a pair of men who come to check on you and your family to ensure that all is well. They wear strange, thick clothing and have goggles on their faces to protect them from the evil that is outside of your hut.

They knock on the door with a special knock and are quickly hustled in, lest the evil influence of outside contaminate the home.

But still, you sometimes wonder what outside actually is and how evil it might really be. One evening, someone is a little slower than normal in closing the door and you catch a glimpse of outside. All you were able to see was that it looked really interesting. So, you decide to leave the safety of your family home to find out what outside was like.

When the others are praying with the visitors, you sneak out through the door, closing it behind you. You gaze around you. All you can do is say: Wow!” You see the remains of the setting sun in the West, watch the first stars coming out, twinkling in the gathering night.

You wander away, looking at everything. It all looks so beautiful. Presently, overcome by exhaustion, you fall asleep under a hedge.

The next morning you are awoken by the singing of many different types of birds. And you see the sun rise. You look around you, shielding your eyes. You are unaccustomed to such brightness, but your eyes gradually adjust.

You retrace your footsteps as best you can. Eventually you find your home. What a terrible shock. Your home, of which your parents are so proud, is, you see, nothing but a small and cramped shack. But worse than that.

It is quite clear that it is built out of a variety of strange materials, all from different sources. Old packing crates, randomly sized bits of wood, all held together with bent nails, bits of old string. From where you stand you can see the flat roof of the hovel that you have called home all your life. There were so many holes in it that there was no wonder water fell on you and your family.

As you walk towards your home, you see a pair of the visitors staggering down the street, in their thick clothing, clutching each other. You wonder if one of them is ill. But then you notice that they are both wearing goggles that are totally painted over with black paint. They are clutching each other because they can barely see where they are going.

Somehow they make it to a neighbouring hovel that is similar to the one you call home. There are, you notice, a small number of these hovels all gathered together in a piece of rough land bounded by a tumbledown fence. There is a rickety slam as they are hustled into the hovel.

All around them there is fantastic beauty. Trees, vales, open pastures, farmland, gorgeous hills, valleys, majestic mountains. Everything. As your gaze shifts toward your home, the hovel, you start to weep. How could you and your family have lived in such a horrible home, whilst all around was not great evil and horrors but a truly beautiful world?

You resolve to tell your family the truth. You run to your door and open it. The action of your family surprises you. Shocks you, even. As the light of the day falls on them, they scream in terror. They push you out, shouting that you had been tainted by the evils of the world. They slam the door behind you, and you see the whole, pitiful shack shake and vibrate with the force.

You spend hours and hours hammering on the door, shouting for your family to join you in the light. But they do not even deign to give you a direct response. Instead they sing hymns to drown out the sound of your voice.

Eventually, you realise that you will never reach your family. So you turn to leave, noticing that it is already coming upon the evening time, again.

As you stand outside the hovel, wondering what to do next, several people approach you. They identify themselves as fellow former dwellers in the hovels with their own families. Some had their entire family with them, others one or two family members but most were like you, with only themselves having been able to escape their family’s hovel.

They invite you to join them. So you do, wandering off to see what great adventures might exist outside of the hovel that your family called home. Picture this.

He is Risen!

Sunday is here and He Has Risen!!

Rejoice for He Is Risen Indeed!

I love the Easter holiday and I hope everyone had a richly blessed day.  The closer I get to God over the years, the more important and exciting this day is.

The power of sin and death has been broken people!!

How great to know that He loves me enough to sacrifice Himself.  

It isn't about the eggs

It isn't about the candy

or the bunnies.

It's about Jesus overcoming the grave, rising from the dead and paving the way for eternal life.

Now that's a reason to have a Holy Party!

There's a peace I've come to know

Though my heart and flesh may fail

There's an anchor for my soul

I can say "It is well"

Jesus has overcome

And the grave is overwhelmed

The victory is won

He is risen from the dead

And I will rise when He calls my name

No more sorrow, no more pain

I will rise on eagles' wings

Before my God fall on my knees

And rise

I will rise

There's a day that's drawing near

When this darkness breaks to light

And the shadows disappear

And my faith shall be my eyes

Jesus has overcome

And the grave is overwhelmed

The victory is won

He is risen from the dead

And I will rise when He calls my name

No more sorrow, no more pain

I will rise on eagles' wings

Before my God fall on my knees

And rise

I will rise

And I hear the voice of many angels sing,

"Worthy is the Lamb"

And I hear the cry of every longing heart,

"Worthy is the Lamb"

(Chris Tomlin)

It's Friday....But Sunday Is Coming!

Today, on Good Friday, we reflect on how that beautiful babe in the manger came to fulfill a mission. A terrible and glorious mission! God invaded planet Earth. He became a human child, to live as one of us, to call us to repent, to love God with our whole heart, minds, and souls, and our neighbors as ourselves.

And today we should tremble and shudder as we remember the horrible climax of His mission. Beaten, scourged, mocked, and stabbed, Jesus mounted the cross, receiving the just punishment for your sins. For my sins. For the sins of the world.

 

This is why He came and died....

 

Yes, Easter is coming. The light is at the end of the tunnel. But that’s days away. Today, stop. Think about why He came and died.

Bring The Rain

This blog is supposed to be my (very public) journal. Sort of an outlet for my feelings and my life.  But as I look back, I realize I haven't been as open as I thought I was.  As I've been documenting various activities in our lives, I feel like I've been glossing over something this past year.  Something I was kind of ashamed of.  Something that at times I felt really wasn't anyone's business.  But as we are finally emerging out of the situation, I find myself excited about possabilities, life lessons and my relationship with God.  So if I feel excitement after this "situation" then why not talk about it?? Why not share my experience and what has come out of it?

What is the experience????

Bankruptcy!!

Ugh! Such a nasty word! A terrible, shameful and embarrassing thing to admit.  Something everyone is fearful of but also something you never think is going to happen to you. (Kind of like the word miscarriage.  Yeah...been there too!) 

So it's the typical story in these hard economical times.  Todd sells cars..our income depends on people spending money...when people stop spending money....we lose out big time!!  It was a hard decision to come by.  We talked about the possability for months but it finally came to a point where we hit a wall and there was nowhere left for us to go.  It's somewhat shameful to admit because you don't want people to know how very broke you are.  Especially in these days of who has the biggest house and the fastest car. 

Money problems can take a toll on many things in your life.  Your marriage, your moods, stress levels (which can affect your weight) and everything else in between.  But I was determined from the beginning that this was not going to be bigger then me.  And most important.. not going to be bigger then God!  Now.. I felt I had a good relationship with God, but there is always room for improvement. (If you haven't read about where I've been, who I was and why I'm not there anymore...then go HERE  and be sure to read all 5 parts to the story)   The reason I was created was to draw closer to Him an all I do. And to not lose sight of all this, I was dedicated to keeping my eyes on God at all times. 

Even when....

 I couldn't see past the next week (I literally saw the color black in my near future)

We had to go on state food assistance so my family would have food

I had to be creative with our playtime because there was no money to do anything

Todd would work long long hours trying in vain to make some money

We had no goals anymore

We feared losing our house

We feared losing our cars

We couldn't dream anymore!

I started with a dedication to make it to church every week no matter what!  Even when I sure did not feel like going.  I went with an attitude that God was going to speak to me and I was going to be comforted by his words.  And you know what? That really did happen!  It seemed like almost every week I heard what I needed to hear at that time.

I also drowned myself in Christian music.  Everywhere I went, whether it was the car, my ipod or in the house...I was listening and drowning myself in the words. I found the right songs that really spoke to me and immersed myself in them.  I sang them with a conviction that brought me to tears.  I really think that doing this saved me and kept me from getting lost in a dark hole.

I was determined that this was not going to affect our marriage in a negative way.  I promised myself that I was not going to blame Todd or resent him in anyway.  I was not going to nag.  I was not going to cry and whine about our situation. We were a team and since we got ourselves into this together then we would get ourselves out of it together.

I also prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed! Oh and I prayed a little more!

And I repeated over and over..."God was faithful before and he'll be faithful again"

God gives and takes away but my heart chose to say..."Blessed be His name!" everyday!

That's not to say I was successful in every area 100% of the time.  There were days I felt I had been abandoned. I felt God had forgotten about me.   But everyday it got a little easier.  I used to be confused about the concept of laying your troubles at the feet of Jesus. I wanted to understand how to do that but me being such a worry wart, I just couldn't get past the worry.  But after awhile I have to tell you that I kind of figured it out.  It wasn't an overnight thing.  It was definetly a gradual process.  But I soon began to just have the state of mind that God is in control.  God has a plan.  He knows what's best and He will guide us. He is the only one who knows how this is going to end. It became easier to just let it all go and let him have it because I obviously was not in control of my life!  And that's ok!  It is his to do with how he pleases.  I am ok with not being in control and I don't think it is a sign of weakness.  It's very freeing.  You should try it sometime!

So here we are a year later.  We kept our cars, we've so far kept the house (still crossing our fingers on that one), I've kept my marriage and I've kept my sanity.  And it's not that God rewarded me because of my attitude.  I don't think that's the case at all because we still are paying for our mistakes in other ways.But "all I hath needed Thy hand hath provided".  Not all that we wanted but all that we needed.  And I like that.  I like learning contenment. Looking back, I liked being stripped of everything but my faith. At the time it was hard but...isn't everything more clear and easier when your looking back on it?  I think sometimes God needs to do what has to be done to get our attention.  And I don't regret anything.  How can I regret something that brings me closer to Jesus!  How can a regret the kind of person I have become over this past year?  How can I regret a strong marriage? How can I regret  a peaceful feeling in my soul?  I'm not saying I welcome pain and hardship but I know that whatever comes my way...I can handle it.  I can handle it because God will carry me the whole way. 

I love the lyrics to this song (of course doesn't it always come down to a song) But if I have to be brought to my knees to draw closer to God then.....

Bring The Rain

I can count a million times

people asking me how I

can praise You with all that I've gone through

The question just amazes me

can circumstances possibly

change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed

Long before these rainy days

It's never really ever crossed my mind

To turn my back on you, oh Lord

My only shelter from the storm

But instead I draw closer through these times

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings You glory

And I know there'll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that's what it takes to praise You

Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of

the dark clouds that may loom above

Because You are much greater than my pain

You who made a way for me

by suffering Your destiny

So tell me what's a little rain

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace

Bring the chance to be free

Bring me anything that brings You glory

And I know there'll be days

When this life brings me pain

But if that's what it takes to praise You

Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy

Is the Lord God Almighty

 

(MercyMe)

Back In The Saddle Again

Todd is officially back to work so I guess you could say that...

We are back in the saddle again!

A whole month off and to tell you the truth I could have handled a little more. Being married for 13 yrs and we still enjoy each others company. I think that is something to be proud of!!

Everytime I would think of Todd going back I would get this feeling like he was actually going away...leaving us for good!.  That's how much we hate his schedule.  It doesn't allow him to really be 100% a part of this family.  I hate it and it makes me sad. I have been a bit down this week because I actually got a glimpse of real family life and it's now been snatched away from me. 

 Yes...let's all take a brief moment and feel a bit sorry for Andrea...

 

Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

 

Closer To 40 Then 30 Now!

Today I am now closer to 40 then I am to 30

How do I feel about turning 36????

Like I'm going to go CRAZY!!!!

Happy  Birthday  to  me!!!!

It's Sooooo Rock & Roll!!

Todd's been off for almost a month now and I have LOVED having him home but when he started feeling better and the weather felt like Spring, I told him...

I NEED TO GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!!

It had been since Christmastime that we had a family day out of the house so we packed a lunch, grabbed a coupon and headed to the big city.

This is our day at the EMP (Experience Music Project)

Kaden was so excited to be going to the "Rock & Roll Museum" He wanted to wear his guitar shirt because "It's so rock and roll, ma!!"

It may be February but it sure feels like Spring!!

Cute little boy in his guitar shirt

Then this crazy boy came around and gave Kaden some bunny ears!

The EMP

I guess this is the car from Bladerunner.  Todd found out that I had never seen the movie so first thing he did was put on our list for Netflix

This sculpture of instruments was really cool!  It somehow had some of the guitars playing by themselves

Kyler enjoyed mixing the music in the Hendrix room

My beautiful family!

This table made music too

There's Kyler mixing the music again.  Do I see a future career??

When you play the guitar you HAVE to look cool

Kaden wasn't impressed

So we left the boys to jam on their own

Todd always wanted to be a singer

Again Kaden is not impressed!

So he decided to show us how it's done...

But the pressure to perform was just to much for him. 

The fans just wear him out sometimes!

The science fiction museum was also there.  We realized that Kaden doesn't know who E.T is yet!

It's time for Kyler to watch T-2!

Can you imagine what this Star Wars set would be worth??

One thing we learned at the EMP....

They can make you a star!!!!

(and you have to bribe Kaden with candy so he will be in the picture)