Laundry redefined

I have always hated doing laundry. I've envied those women who find such fulfillment in washing, drying, folding, and putting away laundry. I have tried to like it with no success.....but within the last week my attitude has changed.

Today I am catching up on my laundry with such a different attitude. Last week my Bible study group was talking about how we can continue to "glorify God in the mundane things we do" (example: household chores). There were 2 things that changed my heart......

1. When I have piles of laundry to do, I can thank Jesus for healthy children that are in OUR HOME instead of making their home in a hospital room.

2. Everytime I bring dirty laundry to the washing machine, it's symbolic of how we bring our dirty lives to Jesus to be cleaned. What an amazing thing to be reminded of EVERYTIME I do laundry. I might even start doing some everyday. What a concept!

October or December????

Is it really October 12 today? It FEELS and LOOKS more like December 12! Did we all sleep through Halloween and Thanksgiving??? My goodness! But don't take my word for it.....the proof is in the pictures.

Here are Abby and Joey waiting for the bus in our driveway this morning. Notice the little snowman right next to and a bit behind Abby??? It's just WRONG for October!

The front of our house!

One of the trees in our front yard. I must admit, the snow is beautiful hanging from the trees like that. It truly looks like a winter wonderland.

How bizarre to see our beautiful tree with red and orange leaves covered with snow!

Regardless, I am thankful that my family is together and that we are warm in our house. We have come to expect the unexpected living in Minnesota --- the Frozen Tundra!!!

Mudd Lake event

Last night (Friday) I had a new experience. I met many blogging friends who are now real life friends! This was all thanks to Jennifer (MckMama) whose little boy, Stellan, I have asked you all to pray for on a couple different occassions. We all met at Mudd Lake Furniture in Watertown which is a gorgeous place! It was like walking into a group of people you knew from reading their blogs and could finally put a face to the name.

This is Jennifer and me (VERY unflattering of me....but that's ok). It truly felt as though we were long-lost friends who finally had a chance to get together and chat. Thank you, Jennifer, for putting such an awesome evening of fun and fellowship together. I can't wait for the next time!

I found this BEAUTIFUL piece of furniture there.....but couldn't get it because of finances. Oh well....someday it will find itself a wonderful home in my dining room. Someday.....

Happy 1st day of school, Daddy!!!

Special breakfasts for the 1st day of school have become a tradition at our house. So, since today is the 1st day of school for Daddy, the kids insisted we have a special breakfast. We didn't tell Jeff exactly what we were having but we told him not to get up until the kids came to get him. Here's a look at what he saw when he came downstairs.....

We made a special 1st day of school banner that was simply 4 pieces of computer paper taped together and hung on the wall. But each of the kids got to decorate 1 piece of paper. Joey decorated the piece that said "Happy", Noah decorated the piece that said "1st day of', Abby decorated the piece saying "School", and Eli decorated the piece saying "Daddy". Jeff loved every minute of it!

fortunes

It's become a Sunday tradition that Jeff and I have time after church for a date....one of the many perks of having my parents close by and going to the same church! Anyway, we each got a fortune cookie after our lunch and I always find it interesting to see what the "fortune" is. Many times it's something incredibly generic causing Jeff and me to burst out laughing. But today was a little bit different. Don't misunderstand......I do not believe in fortune cookies. I believe that God is the One who is in control and has a plan for my life. It's just that today the messages were quite applicable.

Here is my fortune (which simply made us laugh):

And here was Jeff's:

The significance of Jeff's message is that he starts back to college tomorrow morning! We are all extremely excited for him -- especially the kids since he starts back to school before they do -- but it's a scary and daring step. One that we feel is being guided by God....and who can argue with Him?

Boy and Girl Caves

The other day, the kids had friends over to play. The boys were very busy with some project downstairs and the girls were working on something upstairs as well. I would get questions like "Where did you put the markers, Mom?", "Where is the tape?", "The boys are using all the good tape!", etc etc. But I was to stay in one place (which turned out to be the kitchen -- surprise surprise!) until they were done. This is what I found when I was allowed to come out of hiding.......

I had to stifle the laughter that was welling up in my throat to compliment them on their wonderful imaginations and spelling! hahahahaha The signs are still up and everyone still abides by them. I guess everyone -- even at young ages -- need their own spaces to be boys and girls.

Summer storms!

Saturday night we had a huge summer storm....along with tornado warnings, straight line winds, and hail! Jeff took these pictures of the lightning storm we were having. It just lit up the sky!

Poor Abby was a wreck that night when the sirens went off....twice! She was pacing the floor, wringing her hands....I finally got her to come sit down by me. She asked me to pray for the storm to stop which seemed to comfort her a little bit. Then I told her to pick out a movie to take our minds off of the storm. She let Joey pick it out since she didn't even want to get up. Joey picked the movie "Dumbo" which, ironically, has a storm in the beginning of the movie! hahahahaha But it helped take the kids minds off the raging weather outside.

Thankfully we had no damage to any of our trees or house. Two of our neighbors had trees down so we feel very blessed to not be dealing with any of that.