Great Reading for this Holy Week.

http://www.aholyexperience.com/

Yup, we're still here.....and I've got plenty I want to get posted, but we've been sidelined by a rotten virus that is hitting us all....and it's

taking a good long week to get to feeling better....so, hopefully I'll be back soon, posting and catching up on everyone's posts too. 

In an effort to eat healthier, we are cutting way back on sugar snacks and sweets.......

1 maybe 2 desserts or sweet treats a week.

So this week Alli made a cake from scratch.

Happy Monday! 

The house is quiet except for the radio.

I've got our local Family Life radio station playing.

I've got my juice.  Yum~

The older 3 kids are off to work.  Today is also the first day of class for the new term, so kids will be coming and going all day, every day for the next 10 weeks.

Jake is still at work.  He is no longer going to school. He has a full-time, 3rd shift job. Right now he is working 12 hours, 7 days.  He works from 11:30 pm til 11:30 am. and then comes home and sleeps, wakes up and does it all over again. 

Bob's also at work.  Not sure how long he will be there though, as he seems to be battling kidney stones....He hasn't been to a dr. but, we're thinking that's what it is..

The younger 3 girls have their alarms set for 9am.....We are back to regular routine after having everyone home for the holiday break.  Chores and schoolwork for us today. 

Here are some pics from the weekend:

Fruits and Veggies for a new juice recipe.

Purple this time, not green.

Saturday breakfast =

Juice and dry toast

Rosie showing everyone that I thought maybe the

new recipe was just a bit too tart.

Abby talked Nikki into getting up a 1/2 hour early

Sunday morning to make Moody Muffins for everyone

for breakfast before Sunday School.

On Sunday, Nikki decided to make some more muffins,

including bacon/cheese muffins to eat before or take to school or work

this week.

Alli loves bacon!  Alot!  And Alli loves bacon/cheese muffins alot too.

Her she is patiently (not really) waiting for them to finish

baking so that she can have one (or two) warm from the oven.

Good thing Nikki made extra.

The weather has been so crazy here this winter.

Very mild.  The kids have been able to get their bikes out

and get some fresh air.

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Well, actually we had a couple birthdays. 

In early December, Aaron turned 21. 

Wow, 3 kiddos in their 20s now....

and on December 21st, Miss Rosie finally got to celebrate her 14th birthday. 

I say finally, because she had been counting it down forever and couldn't wait.

  For her Dad and I, though it seemed like it got here too quickly,

as all the birthdays with our kids seem too.

Here are Rosie's birthday pictures.

She couldn't stop smiling that day.

I loved it.

Today is January 2nd.

Bethany's birthday.

Today, we would be celebrating her sixth birthday.

She is never far from our thoughts.

She is always in our hearts.

We've healed, but we will never stop missing her.

She is as much a part of us, as if she were here with us.

But, today, I will miss her more and she will be

in my thoughts and on my heart more.  I will

think of what could've been, what I wished would've been.

I will remind myself that God's plans are not our plans.

I will be sad. I will remember. 

I will remember holding the beautiful, sleeping little girl that

I miss so much my heart hurts.  I will remember the heartbreak

that our family endured. I will remember it all.  But,

I will thank the Lord that

He has been with us, comforting us, healing us, leading us.

I will thank Him that he has never left us.  I will thank Him that

we have hope of seeing our sweet little one again someday.

I always remember that.  It is what has gotten me here.

It is what we cling to. 

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When we moved into our house, it was actually divided into two apartments.  One upstairs, one downstairs w/ a side entrance for the downstairs.

The upstairs used the front entrance.  In order for that to work, the previous owners had to cover, board over 3 doorways in the front hall, so that it

wasn't accesible from the downstairs.  First thing we did when we moved in was open two of the doorways....the one leading from our bedroom to the front hall and the one connecting the front

hall to the downstairs living room....But, the doorway connecting the front hall to the dining room needed a bit more work, as they had paneled over the doorway on the dining room side.

So this project was put on the "little bit later" list......Ever since we moved in, I always felt like the front hall seemed cut off from the rest of the house...it just seemed like closed in space....

Well, one day a month or so ago, Jake was nice enough to tackle the project for me...While I do miss the extra space in the dining room for the buffet, I like having the doorway open, it makes the house feel more connected....it gives a certain flow to the rooms, ties them all together....

Here are the before and after pics:

Before:

 (standing just inside the front door, looking into the front hall)

After:

Before:

(From the dining room side of the wall)

The door was behind the buffet, right next to the other door in the pic.

After:

(Excuse the messy dining room.....we still have to trim the doorway up,

since I'm sure they removed the trim in order to make it flush w/the wall

when they covered it up.

I love this pic.~

Even though you can't see all of that pretty face,

you can see her smile.

Just by looking at her eyes.

Love it!!!!

Just ask my kiddos and they'll tell you I am incapable of making decisions.

Give me too many choices and uh-oh, we're in trouble.

For most of my life I've been drinking my coffee black.

No cream. No sugar.

Lately, I've fallen in love w/ all the different flavors out there.

Currently, we have all these flavors of coffee creamers.

Do you have any idea how long it takes me to decide

which one to put in my first cup of the morning????

I do have to say that it all started w/ the little blue cups.

They are just your typical French vanilla flavor,

also known as Nikki's creamer. Because she has never taken her coffee black

and has always used that brand, that flavor in her coffee.

So, then I decided to add the hazelnut creamer, because I love hazelnut, of course..

Well, the other day, we went looking for the

Pumpkin Spice Creamer because I've had one too many

bad cups of pumpkin coffee from the coffee places this season.

4 grocery stores later (it ended up being at the smallest

little grocery store in town)

and these are what we ended up with. 

We actually bought 2 of the pumpkin ones