God is so good!

I am now employed full time and it won't interfere with my homeschooling, my evenings or my daytime. How can this be, you ask?

On Sunday morning, Sandy from our church came up to Dan and I right after the service and asked to talk to us. She was wondering if I would be interested in a job that involved care for a special needs lady who is 28 years old. I went Sunday afternoon for a job interview and I was hired on the spot!

The job is at night from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday. I will be sleeping there and only need to get up to help her if she needs to go to the bathroom. I have my own gorgeous bedroom with a huge bed, a flat screen tele and a connecting bathroom with a huge shower, and my own porch that looks right out at the lake.

Because the family that I will be working for is quite wealthy, I'll get some nice perks that come along with the job. Because they have a house in the cities, they are down there quite a bit and when they are not here, I'll still get paid. I can also take the kids swimming at their house and use their pontoon boat. Their house is out on a point here on the chain and has water on 3 sides. It's incredible! They also said that they frequently get tickets to the Twins and the Vikings and will pass those along because they rarely go. :) Whoo, hoo!

I met the lady I will be caring for and we liked each other immediately. She kept saying that she was so happy. I think we will get along just fine!

Dan and I have both been praying for a way to pay off our bills (early) and that it would be a way that would let me continue to homeschool and be at home with the kids as we both feel that this is really what God has called me to do. We started wondering...what would this job look like, how could it even work out? We realized that this is where faith becomes action instead of just words. We began laying it at God's feet during prayer and trusting him for the answer. Wha laa... here it is and it's so much more than I could even imagine!

I am still in shock at how awesome our God is and how much we can trust him with every aspect of our lives. He's not impersonal, He's not way up there, not caring! He's right here and he wants to be involved in our lives, wants our trust, our love, a relationship.

There is no such thing as chance or luck. Everything brought into our lives is a lesson to be learned. Sometimes, it can be painful. As I look at the past 7 years that Dan and I have gone through, painful is definitely a word that I would use to describe them. But, we have also grown in a way that isn't possible when life is a bed of roses. I'm reminded of the poem about footprints in the sand.


Footprints in the Sand


One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
"You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during
the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one
set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most,
you have not been there for me?"

The Lord replied,
"The times when you have
seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you."
Mary Stevenson

I can say with assurance that there have been many times that Dan and I have been carried by our sweet savior! God is so good!

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Since we don't have medical or dental insurance, we haven't had the chance to have our teeth cleaned for quite awhile. A dear friend told me about our local college that does cleaning and Xrays for those that don't have insurance. (Another God thing!) So we went last Friday and all six of us had our teeth cleaned and Xrayed for....drum roll please..... $52 dollars! Yee haw! The dental assistants were young and so great with the little ones - they thought it was so fun.

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On another note, we are under a storm warning and could receive a foot of new snow. I start my job tonight so pray that I get there and get home with no problems. :)

Have a sweet day!

It's snowing, it's snowing. Old man winter's not going...away! Aaaah well, it won't be long now!

Kylie came to me yesterday and said the back of her neck hurt. Then, she said, "It hurts when I swallow". I looked in her mouth and her throat was almost swollen shut. I had MOPS in the morning and then took her to the doctor in the afternoon. The doctor took one look and said, "Scary"! We came home with a $70 antibiotic and she's on the road to recovery. I kept her home from AWANA at church tonight because she's still contagious. She's singing in the bathtub right now. :)

Macy had a visit from the tooth fairy the other night. She lost one of her front, bottom teeth with the new tooth pushing the old one out. Then, the next door tooth fell out somewhere and we can't seem to find it. She may have swallowed it...and no one has volunteered to go there! The tooth fairy will have to come even though there isn't a tooth as evidence.

The others will be home soon. Kylie and I are going to get cozy on the couch with a movie!

Mmmm, homemade pizza!

Tonight we made homemade pizza which is usually a weekly occurrence around here. Dan and I are getting good at it. We have stuck with tradition pizzas, like pepperoni and beef generally because the kids eat those better! Now, we are starting to make an "adult" pizza that can be more adventurous! We add things like onions, jalapenos or some hot peppers, that the little ones will not eat. I'm looking for a great chicken pizza recipe. I'll post it if I find a good one.



We sometimes make individual pizzas. Everyone gets their own dough and they get to chose their own toppings. My sister, Carleen, used to do this when she would invite us over and it was a kid favorite!

I make the dough in my bread machine - dump in the ingredients and zap! in an hour and 1/2 it's done and ready to be made into a pizza. I have a great friend who thinks it's incredibly silly to spend time MAKING your own pizza when there's Papa Murphy's. I guess I get a deep satisfaction from knowing that what I set in front of my little ones is nutritious and I can pronounce each and every ingredient that went into it! Mind you, we still eat frozen, or store bought pizzas once in awhile. But, we've found that we can save a ton of money by cooking from scratch and who of us can't pinch a few more pennies during this downturn.

Dan started turning on the speed bake (convection) during the cooking of the pizzas. That's how the cheese gets nice and brown like this.

We were sitting at the table muching on our pizza when Levi piped up out of nowhere and said, "Mmm, I can feel the love in Mommy's sweet, homemade pizza!" What a little cheese head but it made me happy!

While I'm waiting

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord.

Lyrics to While I'm Waiting by John Waller

my new table

My Christmas present from Dan this year was a new farmhouse table. I didn't actually get one, though, because he decided he would build one for me. We needed more length, more width, room to seat 8-10 comfortably.

Here it is! Dan's been working on it for awhile but he was able to put it together on Saturday and then we brought it into the house. The final step is to stain the top a nice, rich brown. We'll paint the bottom of the bench and stain the top just like the table. The kids love having a little more elbow room at the table. I like having extra places for guests and more room to put food on the table.

I think that the heart of a family is exposed around the table. No conversation is off limits...well, we try to steer around those poop/fart conversations but sometimes, ya just got to go there! :0 I want our table to be a place of welcome, warmth, friendship and family. Stop by sometime, you'll always be welcome!

The Underwear Gang Rides Again...

I was taking pics off the camera the other day and found these that Shelby had taken of herself and the other three. I just had to crack up! Not sure why they decided to put their underwear on their heads but...it made for some great photos!

Pass the barf bag please!

After coming home from dinner and a movie with friends, I found Dan scrubbing the carpet outside the kids rooms. (Have I ever mentioned what an awesome guy he is?) Macy had failed to make it to the bathroom and had spewed all over the carpet and in her bed. I guess this type of stomach bug is making it's way around town, lurking in the schools and churches for the next victim! One bright spot is that she puked once and then, today, seems to be perfectly fine. Wonder who will be next? :)

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We had little snippets of spring last week with some temps in the 40s and a driveway that started to melt. Today, it's snowing HUGE, flakes and we're suppose to wake up to 13+ inches by morning. If it's going to snow now, it should snow like this! I love it when it's snowing so hard that it covers the old, brown snow in a matter of minutes! I'm going to enjoy it because old man winter won't be around too much longer.





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The other night we had a fashion show in our house that would have made the runways of Paris jealous. The girls were the models and Levi emceed the event. Check out the video clips.

In case you didn't catch that joke...Why did the monkey go up the tree? To get to the bananas! Lol, you gotta love kids jokes!