Please pray.........

Our grandson is still not doing well. We thought he was doing better but he had a relapse yesterday. Throwing up again and diarreah. Please pray for Elijah to be healed. He really needs your prayers. It would really be encouraging to know those who are praying if you wouldn't mind posting that you are.

Fun day at Rico's ball game.....

Rico's ball game

Click on the picture to see all the pictures.

update........

I saw my grandson Elijah today and I'm happy to report that he is doing better. He's eating more and going potty less. We were all at Brianna's basketball tournament today. Her team won 3 games out of 4. Not to bad at all.
Later on in the day I finished planting my flowers. Edwin and the boys went to the Barnstormers game. And the girls and I rented the movie Aragon. Bri had read the book and wanted to see the movie. She was disappointed in the movie and thought the book was much better. Usually the way it goes. But not haveing read the book I thought it was a decent movie. Bella had "Wagon Train Day" at school on Friday and here is a picture of her get up. She said she had a great time and came home with some candles that she dipped herself and also made one mocassin. I don't know if Dawn reads my blog or not but the dress Bella is wearing is actually the bridesmaid dress I wore in her wedding. When Erika was in school she wore it for "Wagon Train Day" as well. We got some good use out of that dress.

more unloading.....

home to unload.......

so many to choose from....

the lady in red.......

Elijah

Would you all pray for Elijah. He has had diarrhea for weeks and now today has a fever as well as throwing up. Erika has had Elijah to the doctors as well as to the hospital for tests and so far there is nothing showing up as being wrong. But Elijah has lost 8 lbs. He is already a thin boy and to have him lose weight well it's not a good thing. We are all concerned. Erika has another doctor appt. for Elijah tomorrow (Thursday). Pray for the doctors to have wisdom in caring for Elijah as well as pray for his healing.

Salvation and this too..........

Words spoken on Sunday during the message. Pete closed the message with these words.
Salvation and this too!? I want to keep reminding myself of those words I want to cultivate a thankful heart in myself and in my family. We have so much to be thankful for. For me one of those things is my family. Yesterday was a fun day it was FLOWER DAY. As I have said before on here every year the ladies in my family go flower shopping together. There was 10 of us. How we all look forward to going flower shopping together. There is much laughter and of course lots of flowers. But I forgot my camera. I'm waiting for some pics my neices took of the day and when they arrive I will post the pictures. I'm hoping to get everything planted this week.
Till next time............

beautiful day........

So many days I drive through County Park to get to the many places that take me in that direction. I always think how nice it would be to walk through the park it's a beautiful place. Today I finally got to do that. Edwin and I and the youngest kids walked a nice two mile jaunt. I know it was 2 miles cause I had my handy dandy pedometer on me. It was just lovely. We saw 2 different times deer cross in front of us. The trees are all starting to bud and it won't be long to the leaves burst forth.
I also washed off my porch. Edwin brought out our lounge chair. So look for me if you go by you might see me there. And of course you can always stop in for a visit.
The first week of May I'll be going with the ladies in my family flower shopping. It's an all day affair. My mom takes her big van with a trailer on the back. Last year we had to come back to my mom's three times to unload the trailer. That's a lot of flowers.

His Forever........

Jesus, friend of sinners, loved me 'ere I knew Him
Drew me with His cords of love, tightly bound me to Him
Round my heart still closely twined, The ties that none can sever,
For I am His and He is mine forever and forever.

the tree.......

In case anyone is wondering that tree in the previous post is indeed a Fig tree.

Faith....Wait.....Rejoice

Habakkuk 3

17 Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Things to ponder:
What is your response to unfullfilled desires?

No matter what I get or don't get will I rejoice in the Lord?

Can I rest and rejoice in God alone?

Philippians 4:4
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Laura...Danielle.....????

Okay well how many doses do you need of "the miranda experience". Here I am listening to the demand for more "experience" and I'm going on my 3rd post and no sign of Laura Joy, or Danielle. What is up with that?

4/11/07

Yesterday was Bella's 11th birthday. For her birthday meal we had her favorites. Baked spaghetti, broccoli with cheese and garlic bread. Her birthday cake was cheese cake with cherry topping. Bella was very excited to find out she had gotten what she wanted most on her birthday and that was Heely's. Sneakers with one skate wheel on the back heel of the sneaker. Latest rage amongst kids. Bella loves Dolphins so Daddy got her a Dolphin balloon she named him Wally. After dinner and presents we went to Park City and there Bella tried out her Heely's. To bad there is so many grout tracks it made for a bumpy ride for her. Bella said she had the best day ever. That was nice to here cause it wasn't that we did something really spectacular for her birthday she just really appreciated what she got and enjoyed being together.
We love our Bella and we are so happy God blessed us with her.

The hunt........

We made it pretty easy for the little kiddo's to find the eggs. The bigger kids had a harder time. At the far end of the yard I saw a ruckus going on between the big kids. Someone got something just not sure what they got.

grand kids and great grand kids

Back by popular demand a new post. Hey it ain't easy being a blogger. Oh the pressure of it all.........=) Just kidding I like doing it when I got something to say.
This past Sunday we had an outstanding meal with my family at my sister Jane and her husband Paul's home. There was 32 of us. We also had our annual Easter egg hunt.
Here's some pictures of the happening.

Different subject now. What did you all think of this past Sunday's gospel Sunday.
Is this type of thing a blessing and encouragement? Or just something different?
I'd like to know your thoughts.

The cross.........

He is risen! Hallelujah what a Savior.

Corn Curls and Spring............

As you can see Jazelyn had her first taste of a corn curl. Rico was snacking on the curls and when we looked at Jazelyn who was crawling around in the dining room this picture is what we saw. It was pretty funny looking. I guess Rico thought she should have one too. Kind of Rico but.......sorry Jazzy when your older you can have one.

Nicer weather is here and that takes everyone outside. The kids and Dad celebrated Spring with a rousing game of 4 square. Yeah for Spring!

nooooooo not the carpet knife........

So tonight was interesting. I got a splinter in my foot one of the hazards of having wood floors. This splinter was deep it was hurtin for certain. So I showed it to Edwin and he said it's deep I'm going to get my carpet knife. I'm like what not the carpet knife he said yes I need the carpet knife. Oh my Lord have mercy!
So I was laying on Noah's bed and Noah was holding my hand while he was watching "24" while Edwin was digging in my foot with the carpet knife. Well the knife wasn't working so I told him to get the tweezers. He couldn't get it with the tweezers I said get the nail clippers. I clipped some skin away on the bottom of my foot for a better vantage point of the evil splinter. Then I thought we better take a break and disinfect. So I got out the Hydorgen Peroxide. Love that stuff. Got it all disinfected and and tryed again. I was praying and asking God for deliverance. Finally after much digging around I said let me try it. I clipped a bit more skin away and then got busy with the tweezers. I'd rather be the one digging in my foot thank you. I spyed the splinter with the use of my book light. And continued to maniplulate with the tweezers and then there it was on the end of my tweezers the splinter. Hallelujah!! Oh yes what a relief that was. It's amazing how much pain a little splinter can cause. The End.

gotta get it............

Gumption is the word for the week. I've realized I need to get some gumption. The definition is as follows: 1. initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness.
2. courage; spunk; guts
3. common sense; shrewdness.

Can you all say it with me.......gumption.

sweet grandkids..........

Flowers.................

Monday my sisters and I went to the Philadelphia Flower Show. It's an annual thing for us. We always have a fun time. And it always gets us in the mood for Spring.
Unfortunately Spring will need to wait since there is SNOW on the ground again. It does look pretty and I am enjoying my day off with the kids but I am kind of ready now for warmer weather. These are not pictures that I took. I forgot to take my camera so these pics are from the Philadelphia Flower Show website. http://www.theflowershow.com/home/index.html Think Spring!!!!

Grand Finale..........

Tonight we went as a family to see the last night of "Guys and Dolls" the musical that Noah was in. It was even better then when I saw it on Thursday night. We had such a good time watching the musical and Noah. My oldest sister Jane came as well as my other sister Diane and her family. Edwin's mom and his nephew came and the Kinderwaters came too. I know Noah was happy for those who came to see him and support him it meant alot to him and Edwin and I as well. Noah's part was just perfect for him. I was impressed at how calm and how professional he was during his performance. And the song he sang he did so well. I couldn't help but beam and laugh as I watched him. I could feel my sisters behind me laughing and smiling as well. So much fun.
The other picture is Shawn a good friend of Noah's who was also in the musical.

B-ball

Brianna had her last game of her regular season last night. And we won! Winning sure does feel good. Winning is not something they have done alot of this year so it was especially sweet to end on the positive note. Brianna played a really good game.
Now her next season starts. She's playing on another team coming up here called Chickies Rock. This team is made up of girls from all over Lancaster County. Practices start this week. This team will be more of a step up and should really fine tune her skills.

Opening Night

I went to see the play Noah is in last night "Guys and Dolls". It went really well.
The singing and the acting I thought was really well done especially the singing.
We are going as a family to see the play on Saturday night. I was proud of Noah he did a very good job with his lines and his solo. This is a picture of him after the show with his makeup on.

Guys and Dolls

March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. That's this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Noah will be in the musical called "Guys and Dolls" at Lampter Strasburg High School. It starts at 7:00p.m each night.
I've been seeing bits and pieces here and there of the production and I think it's going to be entertaining for any of you who would like to venture out. I saw Noah perform some tonight and as always he surprises me. It's so fun seeing him do something I've never seen him do before. I can't wait to see the whole production.
If you have the time come on out to the musical. Cost is 6 dollars students and 8 dollars for adults.

Friends

I'm thankful for friends. It is so kind of God to give to us our friends to strenghten us and to care for us as well as have a good time with. That's exactly what I got this weekend. Our caregroup had a mini retreat. Our caregroup leaders did a fabulous job of making our retreat a wonderful time of fellowship and fun.
We learned how to play "Black Rook". We played that till about 2a.m. Ladies against men. Happy to say the ladies won but we did not play to 500 like we wanted to so I'm thinking the men are thinking we ain't done yet.
Also had some good discussions and read a very good article on how we must be aware of what we show our children in our unguarded moments. And of course we showed each other that we are definately sinners in need of our Saviour. Which was also good. We know that God uses all things for our good. Thank you Jesus for that.
Then today got to spend some more time with friends. The Landis's came over and watched the race with us kind of. =) Now on to a new week.

6 days

After 6 days off of work I finally had to go again today. We had two days off for snow and then Bella was sick on Friday I stayed home with her. Then it was the weekend two more days off and after that was Presidents Day we already off for that and then Monday night Rico developed a cold and a fever so I was off Tuesday as well.
So the grand total was 6 days. It was nice to have those days off. I was quickly reminded how it used to feel to not work outside the home. While it was great to be at home all the same temptations were there waiting for me. I had to push myself to do something while home. So yes I did clean the house and get the wash done. But guess that doesn't last long as ya all know. Always more wash and cleaning do be done.

In other news Brianna now has contacts. It was a real struggle for her to learn how to get them in and take them out the first couple of days. It was so frustrating for me to watch her. Being a veteran myself of wearing contacts I just wanted to grab the darn contacts and stick them in for her. But she wasn't having any of that. But I believe she is definately getting the hang of it now. Good!

go fast turn left!!!!

That's right it's time for NASCAR! Now don't roll your eyes. Nascar is a great sport and lots of fun to watch. I did indeed grow up with racing. My dad every year used to pack up the family along with some other friends and head down to the Rockingham 500 race in North Carolina. That track is no longer on the circuit now. Today is the big race the Daytona 500. We have our picks in and we are ready to roll. Picks what is that you wonder? Us and 5 other couples have been part of a Nascar pool where you pick who you think will win in 5 categories. At the end of the season whoever has the most driver points wins a free meal at the resturant of there choice. It's always lots of fun hanging with our Nascar buddies. Something that is funny to me is after Edwin and I pick our "picks" and we're watching a race and a guy does good we are always asking each other "did we pick him" Well this year I printed out our picks and I'm taping them beside the t.v. See even in our senior moments I have some good ideas.

Yes! (say it like Napoleon says it) =)

Yeah baby it's snowing! I know I said I was ready for Spring but I was just saying that ya know to psyche myself up for it if the snow didn't happen. And now here it is. Nice! So we had an early dismissal at school. Glad it worked out not have off today cause ya know you have to make up those days. We were supposed to have off from school this Friday and Monday but now we will probably have school on Friday to make up for the day off which we will more then likely have off tomorrow. That's fine we still have off on Monday.

Progress Report for Rico

This is going to be a long post. I just received Rico's progress report from school. And I would love to share with you what is happening with Rico. Rico is doing a reading program called "Reading Milestones". He is working at a first grade reading level. I'm encouraged by his progress cause he's able to read words out of a book. That to me is terrific. He's on his third story called "Friends". Rico has been practicing his penmanship. He has been receiving instruction on how to fill out a job application, filling out a check, writing his address on an envelope with contained spaces. These are all works in progress. He needs to practice his g's and m's.
Rico's favorite subject is math. He uses Saxon 2 math curriculum. He is able to use the "addition" and "equal" functions of the calculator with ease. He's working on adding single-digit addition facts up to 18. Rico is able to count by 5's up to 40 with 100% accuracy. Rico can identify certain events on an analog clock like lunch and dismissal by answering yes/no questions on his DynaVox (speaking device he has) or by signing. Rico has gone with his teacher and some classmates on store excursions. At the store he learns how to navigate his cart respectfully through lines and people this is called isle etiquette =) He's also learning when it is safe to cross parking lots and streets. Rico also goes on work training days. Usually once a week. He's worked for Jay Group, Salvation Army, Rockland Plantation, and he helps daily when lunches are done at school to help push chairs and tables aside for the custodians to clean. He's doing great with that. I think that he likes to work and is proud of his accomplishments. Rico is learning how to use his Dynavox more for his voice. He really gets around well on it. Some of you may not know what his Dynavox is. Think of it as a small hand held computer. It has all kinds of words, sentences, numbers, etc. on it. Where he make sentences that will speak the words. And also ask questions. It audibly speaks for him. He needs to learn to use it more often for interaction with people. He mostly uses it at school. We want him to use it at home and other settings as well.
Rico seems to get along well with his peers. Altough at times his classmates don't always appreciate his form of humor. But at least he's doing things in humor and not out of spite or anger. Rico is a happy boy most of the time. We are very thankful for that. Rico needs to learn out to interact with adults. How to initiate greetings and so forth. Rico also has a problem with scratching. His teacher counted one time that he scratched or touched his face, body, head area about 40+ times in a 35 minute period. We aren't sure why he does that and if he is really itchy or is it just a habit or maybe his way of dealing with things. Rico is able to walk back forth daily from his class room to lunch everyday and back again. He sometimes takes the classroom trash out and is able to do that on his own. Rico's teacher tells me that he seems to be a popular guy at school receiving many greetings from his peers in the halls. That makes me happy. Some things we would like Rico to master but has not yet is learning how to button, how to fasten a zipper on a jacket, tie his shoes, learn how to cut his food with a knife and fork.
Rico is doing well at school he is definitely makeing progress and we are so very thankful for his progress. If you think of him you could pray for the things I've mentioned above that he needs help with. And last but not least pray that he will understand the love God has for him and in his own way come to understand the Gospel.
I would love if Rico could learn how to interact on Sunday mornings with worship. Learn how to sing and show expression and show and interest in what is happening around him. He usually checks out during worship and teachings and sits on the floor and plays with his shoes or something. We need wisdom on knowing what to work on with Rico if you could pray for that as well for us. And of course it's not just for Rico but having wisdom for all of our kids. I know you all know it is not easy raising children. But we do it by God's grace. Which reminds me of a song.........
Your grace opens the way
That I might draw near to You with my heart full of faith
Your grace is all undeserved
Though there are times I fail, still You are with me.

Your amazing grace is perfectly free.
Day by day Your grace empowering me
To please you in all things, to walk in Your ways
Completely forgiven, and it's all by your grace.

Your grace lightens my load
Gives me the strength I need to keep walking this road
Your grace is all that I need
Though I am weak, Your grace is mighty within me.

Praise God for his wonderful Grace!!

blog funk

I'm in a blog funk I can't really think of much of anything to say or post. Sorry to my faithful few readers. I know my blog is lacking here of late. I think it's the weather. I got more then I wished for I got not just colder weather but like extreme style answer to my wants. I am so very thankful I have a nice warm home to stay in and warm clothes to wear when I have to venture out.
This morning I heard the little birdies outside as I got in my car and took a minute to just watch them flitt around in the bare branches of our vine that grows over an arbor by our driveway. They were so cute. They had there feathers all puffed up. You know that keeps them warm right? Hearing them chirping this morning was a nice reminder that Spring is definitely coming. One of the things I really enjoy about Spring is hereing the birds chirp in the mornings they don't do that in the winter. I think I may even be fine with us not getting a plowable snow this winter. Oh horrors I can't believe I just said that. Well I did and I'm sticking to those words. Hope you all are staying warm and toasty.

father - daughter

Last week our church had a father teen daughter date night. Edwin took Brianna and they had a great time together building memories. They went to a tea shop that also serves light fare. There wasn't any motive for it as far as a teaching or anything.
It was just a time to spend with your daughter or if you were the daughter to spend a nice evening out with your dad. After the meal Edwin took Bri to the Prince St. Cafe for a beverage. Anyone that knows Bri well knows that her beverage of choice is a chocolate milkshake. Brianna said it was the best milkshake she has had yet. So there ya go next time you got a hankering for a milkshake head to the Prince St. Cafe.
Here are some pictures of the evening.

remember this.......

Last year around this time we had this to look at. I was hoping for at least one good snow this year. There is still hope. So I thought I would post these pics to remind us what this season is supposed to look like. Think snow!!!

SNOW finally....

Okay so now it feels a little bit more like winter. Tonight we headed to the Clipper Stadium for some ice skating courtesy of Edwin's employer that was very generous of them. It was picture perfect with a light snow falling. So here we are having a night of fun and I can't help but feel for the Haughery family who is getting ready to undergo a very scary and serious time tomorrow with Alivia's operation. Jesus please watch over Alivia protect her and I pray for peace for James, Emily and there families.

fun stuff

At the arcade at the Water Park the kids got a combined total of 2891 tickets which they turned in for a nice array of prizes.

water park........

King of the sauna........

whirlpool fun

I'm trying.........

I haven't forgotten to post. I've been trying to upload a video of some fun stuff we did on vacation this past week but it's not happening. Not sure what's wrong but I'll keep trying. Anyway we did have a very nice time on a mini vacation we took to Massanutten Resort near Harrisonburg, Virgina. We had a great place to stay it had a huge whirlpool that the kids loved and a sauna. Beautiful scenery from our balconies. Friendly deer passing by and the squirrels were really romping around making all kinds of noise and little birdies flitting around as well. There was also a Woodpecker doing his thing near by. It was fun hearing him. We spent most of our time at the Water Park they had. It was really a great place the kids loved it and Edwin and I did too. We all went down the slides they had they were a blast. And it sure felt good to just float around the perimeter in our tubes. The kids all tried there hand at the Wave Maker. They all did great job even Rico. He was a trip. Edwin of course wanted to ride the wave to but I had to put my foot down. His knee isn't recovered yet from his surgery so I didn't think it would be a good idea to take the chance on something hitting his knee. The first day we were at the water park the fire alarm went off so we had to all go outside. It was a good thing the weather was unusually warm or else they would have had some problems. The power went out in part of the city that's why the alarm went off. To make a long story short since we got jipped out of a lot of time and since they eventually closed the park down for part of the day we got to go back the next day for free. So that's what we did. It was worth it. Edwin took the kids down to the rec center the rest of the time in the evenings. They had an indoor pool, basketball, ping pong, raquet ball, etc.
Sometime soon I'll post some pictures of our time. The trip was a blessing to us all and we made some nice family memories.

Soooooooo..........

The Eagles lost. It's a bummer but I'm proud of the Eagles they played well but it was the same story as all year the little flubs were there down fall. Those little mistakes that cost them big.
Not interested in talking about next year yet. I have to get over this year first. I'll need to think a bit who I want to win the Super Bowl now. I want to give a shout out to Chris who made an appearance on my blog. Being the big Steeler fan you are I appreciated your gracious words about my Eagles. And by the way you owe me a case of Diet Pepsi. I forget what for but I know you owe me. And we still need your handy work at our house. =) Also there was a Bear fan sighting on my blog saying something about thinking they are going to the superbowl.............hmmm we shall see.

Music Honor Society

This past Monday night was a busy night. Bri and Bella both had a basketball game and Noah had a special program too. God was gracious and thankfully everything was in one school. So we got to see Bella play a little of her game and then we headed down to the auditorium to see Noah and then after his program we headed back up to the gym to see the last part of Bri's game.
So Monday night Noah got inducted to the Music Honor Society at his school. It was a really nice ceremony. All the people who were inducted 13 in all gave a small recital. They were all really good. It wasn't just singing there was instrumentals too. I was amazed once again to here Noah sing. Around the house he doesn't sing like he does in concerts so I'm always surprised when I here him, pleasantly so. He sang Mattinata composed by Reggiero Leoncauallo. Can I be the proud momma here and say that I think his voice is wonderful. We will see where God leads with that gift. One kind of interesting thing happened the night of Noah's induction. Just as he started singing the fire station near the school, alarm went off. If you listen in the video you can definitely here it. I felt bad about that for Noah cause it was a little distracting. But still it was a great night. Congratulations Noah!

Tri-M

Noah's recital performance for his induction to the Music Honor Society.

EAGLES WIN.......

Eagles beat the Giants yesterday 23-20. Yippee! Now it's on to the Saints. We had a fun time once again at my sister Jane's house watching the game with my family. Here's some pictures from yesterday. Janie had some extra Jerseys so we stuck them on mom and dad. Daddy is definately an Eagles fan and mom well we told her when to cheer and she did.

Noah's solo

Noah's Christmas Concert I've been wanting to post this video since before Christmas but I did not know how to do it. Finally took the time to figure out how to post a video. I think the blog queen Sara will be proud of me. Sorry for my camera almost losing Noah towards the end. But I was watching him so intently and so into it that I didn't realize my camera was moving up. But you get the gist of it. We didn't know Noah was doing a solo till we read the program. He wanted to surprise us. Which he did. I think he did a great job!!

Noah's solo

Noah's Christmas Concert

NFC East Division Champions!!!!!

E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!! The Eagles are Champions once again. It's been a crazy season but this last half of it has been thrilling. The Birds are playing great. Playoffs begin this Sunday against the Giants at the Link at 4:30p.m. You know I'll be watching.