So Silly

These are my little cuties. Aren't they just goofy? I am so excited for the weekend! As we speak Nick and the kids are his Aunts house waiting on the Piano movers to arrive. And by tonight we will have a Baby Grand Piano for our little blessings to learn on. I am so excited for them and for our family. I am sure a lifetime of memories will be created around our new instrument.

In other news the interview yesterday went well and he should have a second interview next week, so keep those prayers coming! I will let you know more as I know it. I am praying for a job offer by Thanksgiving...that would truly be something to be thankful for.

Monday Nick is studying for some AICP exam. Before he was laid off his former employer had paid for him to take the test so he is still going ahead with it. This would give him a lot of accredation and help out job wise. He has been studying every spare second he has for this so I am anxious for him to take the test.

Nothing planned for the weekend. The children and I will be preparing for Christmas with cleaning and decorating while Nicholas is studying away.

Hope you have a great weekend!

As M.C. Hammer Would Say...

You've Got to Pray, pray, pray, pray!



Nick got a call last night from a friend and he has an interview at the place he works tomorrow! Did you hear that? TOMORROW! Praise Jesus! I am begging you to pray for this. Please coat this sucker in prayer. I want him to have this job so much. And he wants it too. It would be a great opportunity for him. Not to mention the fact that we wouldn't have the leave the area which would be AMAZING and such an answer to prayer. Okay...get praying!

Ughhh.....

Please bear with me as I am having a pity party kind of day. The ladies at work have been talking about trips they are going to take and things they are going to do. I guess it is hard to hear that others are doing well and able to do such luxurious things. We've kind of just had a hard week I guess you could say. We have kind of just accepted the fact that this is our life and it sucks. I know I am usually positive and upbeat but some days that is just too hard. Some times I am just tired of being strong. Tired of being upset about all of this, you know?

Then there is the life stuff that takes a toll too. Like our truck now needing a new Alternator...yikes! Unexpected things just tend to put me over the edge and that I guess has done it this week. I know God is going to provide and I have Faith that Nick will get a job. But sometimes I am just tired of WAITING.

Anyway that is the reality of today. I am holding strong to the fact that there is a lot of love and I have a lot of God's Grace to cover me today...because I surely do not have the right attitude today. Prayers would be wonderful! :)

Typical Day

Calvin feet while reading stories...soooo cute!

Emma washing her hands after craft time

Story time!

This week we enjoyed having just normal boring days. Here are some of the pictures. I love that we have the children on a schedule so most of the time they know what to expect. I think that is especially comforting to children. The children love story time...both in the afternoon and before bed in the evening hours. I also love that I have a craft time with Emma for a little while after Calvin goes to sleep. I think it helps her to feel that she is getting enough attention. Anywho enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend!

Coming Along...

Can someone please let me know what in the world possessed me to make decorated sugar cookies for a bake sale? Geesh! I should have just stuck with Rice Krispy Treats or something. Well after a VERY late night last night I am about halfway done decorating these silly little things. And yes there are Christmas cookies AND Dinosaur cookies. I thought they dinos would be fun for kids and YES I do know that Dinos weren't alive when Jesus was born. :) Hope you all have a great day. Someone stop me if I have frosting stuck to my face or something!

Whew!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a short little while! I've been super busy. With what Iam not quite sure. This weekend was my Birthday and I just want to climb on our roof and shout a huge "thank you!" to everyone who made it awesome. Every little thing made it wonderful. Nicholas pampered me to no end, the girls at work made me wear a tiara to be a princess, my BIL called me and left a sweet message, my MIL spoilng me rotten, my Aunt Jan sent me a little somthin' somethin', and everyone else...all of which was so appreciated and so surprising and wonderful! Hooray for all of you!

I volunteered to make cookies for the bake sale for Emma's school. Its Saturday which I thought, yeah, Saturday's still way out there...except I just realized I have to send them to school with her on Friday meaning I have to have those silly cookies ready THURSDAY NIGHT...Yikes! This is my first bake sale EVER and in my Bree Van de Camp style that I always annoyingly gravitate to, I want everything to be perfect. Errrr I hate that about me. So anyway I have been googling and researching most popular bake sale cookies and figuring out how to properly decorate those puppies.

All of this coming down to me telling you that I probably will not be blogging much this week. Or sleeping. Or eating anything but leftover frosting. Yikes again.

What's on your nightstand right now? There seriously are about 10 books on my nightstand, ranging from Apraxia, to the history of setting a table, which yes Marcy you can tell me later what a dork I am...I'm expecting it. :) And yes Aunt Jan I will totally write down the title of the book so you can read it too. And yes Jaime you can laugh at me and tell me how I'm being dumb...cute but dumb. Teehee, there's my shout out to some of the people I know who read this. Love you all!

So anyway I will try to write more starting next week. I think I might need a vacation sometime soon to reclaim my sanity!

The Boys and the Girls

Thought you might enjoy a couple of pictures from our Christmas Card Photo Shoot...we had so much fun, can you tell? Thank to Aunt Maime for taking the pictures...she's always ready and able when we ask for something. I love that Nick's throwing Calvin around and I'm tickling Emma to pieces...pretty much how our days are every day...just kidding!

First Crush!

Well I think Emma has her first crush. Isn't that just adorable? The little boy she's interested in is named Nicholas. Hmmm what a coincidence! Anyway her and I were driving to Hobby Lobby, girl time as she calls it, and we were chatting away. I told her Nicholas seemed nice because I had just gone on a fieldtrip with the class. She said "yeah but I can't talk around him."
"Why not?"
"I just get all jumpy when I'm near him and I can't talk."
"What do you mean jumpy?"
"I don't know I just feel like I need to jump, jump, jump, and I can't talk or anything."
Isn't that the most precious thing you've ever heard? I know that's how MY Nicholas makes me feel too so I can totally relate. She is just so precious. And if this is starting already we DEFINITELY are going to have our hands full!

Praising Him through the Doozies

Yesterday was a real doozie of a day:
I went out to my car to go to work and the hard working battery was dead…thanks for 6 years of effort little battery. So I cruised off in the family vehicle. No problem.
I came home to a glum Nicholas. He didn’t get the job he really wanted. He was sad. Crushed. Kisses and hugs, prayers and consolations. How I love that man. It pains my little heart to see him not in good spirits.
As we were getting ready to leave our house our refrigerator started making a really funky noise. I mean a Funky Winkerbean kind of noise. A call to Nicholas’ child hood neighbor gave us some suggestions of what to do. And lo and behold it was fixed!
We are trying to praise God in all things. ALL things. The crappy unexpected things where your heart is crushed and you feel like you can’t breathe. Or the sudden things that could ruin your day. I will praise God in all of those things. I am determined.
I must tell you when Nick was first laid off I was TERRIFIED. To be honest, we only had a few hundred dollars in our savings account. Yikes. You can’t survive for very long on that much. But that money has grown. Seriously it has, I'm not just bad at math. Money doesn’t just grow on its own you know? God has made that money grow. There is no doubt in my mind. Now in all honesty we don’t have money just oozing out around us. But we are okay for now.
God has provided in ways we had never thought possible:
Monetarily we have been blessed by friends and family over the past months. We’ve found money left in trash cans for us, checks slid over the table at casual lunches, and a simple gift of cash just given without being expected. We weren’t looking for such gifts but God has pulled on these people’s heartstrings to give, and they obeyed.
We’ve also had an abundance of bills that were lower than expected. Credits showing up that make no sense and things that we know God was behind.
In other ways of being blessed our friends and family have been working overtime to make sure we are refreshed and provided for. Watching the kids so Nick can job hunt or study has been such an enormous blessing. Babysitters so Nick and I can go and window shop or get a cup of coffee, just the two of us, has meant more than you’ll ever know. Seriously, Nick and I are strong but umemployment kind of just sucks the life out of a marriage. Its times like those that help us to stay strong and puts wind in our sails to fight together and not one another. Chicago Bears tickets, paying for meals, taking us out to dinner, bringing a bottle of wine for a night of cards, gifts for the children…all of those things bring tears to my eyes that we have been blessed with all of you.
And we now have fairies. We have a diaper fairy, a chicken fairy, a meat fairy, a wipes fairy, a Christmas shoes fairy. Most of these fairies are Nick’s mom who without I don’t think we would make it at all. But to know we have people in our lives we can call and they will help makes us feel as though we are going to be okay. It reminds us of God’s love because we see it in these people.
I don’t tell you all of this for you to think “geesh they are down and out” or “I need to help more”. Please don’t think that way at all. Rather I want this time to be a testimony to God’s power.
All of these things remind us and encourage us that God is in control and provides for us…constantly. So when I have a doozie of a day I can take solace in knowing God will pull us through. Just look at what he has done this far. And when thinking of all the ways he has helped us doesn’t perk me up I simply lift my eyes. I look at the hottie of a husband I have and the two amazing children. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. I can look higher up and see the sky: the vastness of God’s power and beauty. And I know, I KNOW, he holds the future.

Gloomy Gus

Please be praying for Nick right now. One of the jobs he REALLY wanted was one of two that would allow us to stay in the area and not have to be uprooted. He found out today he wasn't being considered for an interview. I know this isn't life threatening or anything but I can just tell by looking at him that he is a broken man. I am sure he feels that he has failed us somehow or that it is somehow because of him. My heart just breaks to see him like this, he is always my upbeat guy. Please lift him up in prayer now. Thanks!