All Things Beautiful

I learn something new from my kids everyday!

Each one of them is unique and just so amazingly wise!

Unfortunately, only one of them has a blog, but if you haven't read it, you are totally missing out!

She blows me away!

If you haven't taken time to read her blog, please do it. Every time I read an entry I am amazed at who she is becoming!

When I was her age I was dating guys who wore make up and listening to such bands as Nine Inch Nails and The Dead Milkmen! She is so far ahead of where I was at her age, and I am thankful!

You know people often try to say that our kids are the way they are because of our parenting, but I know for a fact that our parenting is only a small portion of who our kids are. Each one of my kids have invited God into their lives, and I know that He is the reason they are different. He is the one who gives them wisdom and discernment.

And once again, I'm thankful!

Kristen

Move Over Ulrich

This is Joshi playing his new DRUMS!!!!

During our time running back and forth from the hospital with Todd we had lots of great friends help us out with the kids. I will never be able to thank these friends enough. They were a blessing to our lives. They allowed us to be with Paula and with our friend till the end.

One of the nights we weren't expecting to go back to the hospital, we had just returned home from the hospital, when we got the call that Todd had been air lifted to a hospital in Chicago. Mike and I, of course, wanted to meet Paula there, so we called Ms. Jen up and asked her if maybe her and her boyfriend Mr. Brad would come and stay with the kids, we didn't know how late we would be. They came, no questions asked, just came. What a blessing.

We got home really late, don't remember even what time it was but it was late, or early however you want to look at it.

The next morning Joshi jumped out of bed ran into our room and announced that he was going to buy Mr. brad's drums.

Hmmmm.

I asked him to tell me what he was talking about. He told me that he told Mr. Brad that he wanted to buy drums and Mr. Brad told him he had drums for sale.

One thing led to another and the next thing you know Joshi had offered to buy Mr. Brad's drums.

For four dollars.

Because Jen and Brad are so sweet they didn't tell him, that wasn't enough money, just that he was almost there.

In his mind, he was really almost there. He began telling everyone he was buying Mr. Brad's drums.

Well, last week Mr. Brad called Mike and was so excited, he found an old set of drums for Joshi!!

Mike came home and told Joshi that Mr. Brad had found him a set of drums!!! Then he told him he would have to pay for them though.

Joshi looked at Mike and said,"you will have to help me...." when Mike said,"they are four dollars!"

Joshi screamed,"Hey, I have four dollars!!!"

Very excited.

He loves his new drums. He thinks they are the best things ever.

I just thank God for the sweet people in our lives that love our kids, love us, and continually bless us.

Thanks friends!

Kristen

Taking the Plunge

We are all very excited about our up coming BBQ and Baptism this next weekend!!

For one, there are over 100 people signed up to be baptized this year! Awesome!!

For two Seth has decided that he would like to be baptized this weekend!! He really wanted to do it last year but didn't quite understand what the commitment was really about. We spent the last year praying with him and studying what God has to say about baptism and asking him questions. I believe that he is ready, and he is off the charts excited about it.

How cool is that?

His Granny, Papa, Uncle Charlie, and Aunt Staci are going to be able to come up for the weekend. We are all excited about that!

Also, I am thrilled because I get to help Mike in the water, baptizing people again this year. It was absolutely the highlight of my year last year. I feel honored and privileged to be allowed to participate in this day! And on top of it all I get to be there, in the water with my son when he is baptized!!! It really doesn't get better than this!

Here are the videos from the last two years. Check them out you will cry, so go ahead and get some tissues then click on the link. Here and here.

I will post pictures as soon as we get them this weekend.

Kristen

Sump Pump Miracle 2

Let me just say one thing first... If you happen to be in the suburbs of Chicago today and are in need of a sump pump, don't go to Menards, Ace, Lowes or Home Depot. They don't have any.

I know this because we just spent our morning going from place to place trying to locate one. After our first two rejections we called Home depot and found that they had one 1/2 hp left and I begged her to put it aside for us.

So we got home put it in the hole and it sucked all the water out and at that moment the water started pouring into the hole!! I can't even tell you how blessed we feel right now not to have a flooded basement. By all rights we should have a lake down there!

Okay I have to go and help Mike install the back up we bought a few months ago!!

Kristen

The Miracle of the Sump Pump

I think we are in the middle of little miracle right now.

See we have this sump pump down in our basement, and if you have a basement you know how important they are. Well, ours is the one the builder put in so it is only two and a half years old but because the builder put it in it is not top quality. We have been worried about it for a while so much so that we bought a back up emergency pump, that we never installed.

Well, last night with all that rain it should have been running continually pumping water out from the house. But, we listened and listened and no sound. Mike checked the water level and it didn't seem out of control high so we figured it was doing it's job. This morning, after all that rain last night, we went down to check it and the water level had dropped but still no running pump. I went out to check the pipe the water should be flowing out of and it was dry!!!

Okay, so that means it hasn't been pumping water out, the water level has gone down even though it has been pouring rain, and our basement isn't flooded, yet.

Praise God for the blessing but Mike and I are running out right now to buy a new pump.

What is up with the failing appliances? Does it really come in threes? What is next?

Kristen

The Big Double Uno

It feels like just yesterday when Mike and I found out we were going to be parents for the first time. Mike tells a different story, something about us agreeing to wait three years to have children, but seeing that this is my blog I will tell my side of it.

Mike and I were married on December 31, 1994. This sounded like a good day to get married since I have issues remembering dates. And it was a great date until we had kids....it is really hard to find a babysitter on that day, let me tell you!!

For as long as I could remember I wanted to be a mom. That's it. I didn't want to be a career woman or have a great rewarding job out in the workforce I wanted to be a mom. When Mike and I were first married he was working at Garcia's in Mesa, a Mexican food restaurant, and I was working at a pre-school while we both went to school full time, and I was waiting for the moment we could become parents. Then our first summer hit and Mike got to work as an intern at Motorola. When we found out that he would be staying on after the summer and we would have full insurance WE decided that it would be a good time to start our family.

I promised God that I would do everything in my power to raise the children He gave us in His name. That I would do everything to teach this baby about Him and show them His love. By October of '95 we found ourselves expecting our first little love.

It seems I read every book ever written on pregnancy, children, and child rearing. We had a great pregnancy a small snafu with the all important finding-out-the-sex ultra-sound and had an at home ultra-sound pizza party where we invited our entire family and all our friends for pizza and an ultra sound. You should have heard the room when we heard that we were having a girl. Very loud cheering. We now had a name for our baby, Faith. We all anxiously awaited her arrival.

Then it was the week of our due date. I was a little discouraged. I had taken the classes and read the books and I was having few symptoms to show that this baby was ever going to be born. It was at this time that I said to Mike, "I don't think I will ever have a contraction." He was quick to remind me of this statement the next week when I was in labor.

The day before our due date I woke at 4 A.M. in the morning with pain. I was sure that this was it. It felt like the real thing. And it was the day before my due date. So we waited until 10 in the morning and went off to the hospital. We laughed and talked in between contractions and when I got to the hospital they took one look at me and sent me home. Told me to come back when I couldn't talk.

I walked the walk of shame out of the hospital and sat down in the middle of the parking lot and cried. I couldn't imagine it getting worse!! What if I am never ready? How will I know when it's time?

We went home and I did every bit of housework there was to do. Mike finished building the book case for her room and the contractions continued every five minutes all day long. Finally, that afternoon at about 4 o'clock we decided to try the hospital again. I was no longer laughing. I was tired. Then we got to the hospital my status hadn't changed since I had been there that morning, but they could tell I was tired and let me stay. Oh, and hooked me up to the epidural. I slept. It was wonderful.

Then at 12:04 am our sweet, perfect, baby girl was born. She was gorgeous. I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew I was having a baby I just hadn't been able to picture her. And here she was everything in it's place and just beautiful. She captured both Mike's and my heart from the moment we saw her. Mike followed her everywhere the nurses took her. The man who wouldn't leave my side all through the labor was now guarding his daughter. And he still does to this day. Funny the bond between a daddy and his daughters, it really is an awesome thing.

What a great kid. I can hardly believe it has been eleven years already. She is such a special girl!! I thank God for her sweet spirit, kind heart, friendly attitude, the loving care she has for others, her natural leadership qualities, the encouragement she gives to people around her....the list could go on forever. Her daddy and I are truly blessed.



Happy Birthday Faith!!



Kristen

New Ride

So we found out this week that our van was not just cosmetically unattractive, but also a hazard to drive and to top it off worth literally no money. But my savvy husband was able to work it out and we traded the old thing in for a new, safer, and I have to say outwardly more appealing van. We are pretty jazzed. I love the fact that the steering wheel doesn't shake violently as you are driving down the road and the kids love that the back sliding door windows roll down. Something for everyone.

For me this is also a lesson in the great things that God has in store for us. We went into this venture just trying to get out of this dangerous vehicle and were looking at anything available. And God literally shut the door on it. I see now that He had something better for us, a newer better vehicle. Isn't that the way we all are a lot of times. Expect the least when God really has so much more that He wants to bless us with? I just praise God that he continues to bless and keep our family safe.

Kristen