Trick-or-Trunk

Yesterday was the end of our vacation and the trick-or-trunk.  I will write more about the UP tomorrow, today I want to let you all know how our halloween went...It was good, Hunter's costume turned out all right, not as cute as last years but I'll give it a passing grade.  He did decide he wanted to wear it after a bit of a freak out over the long johns, so that was good.  Wouldn't yo know it we get home from a five hour trip took naps got up and started to get ready to go only to realize that the pants I had set aside for Hunter to wear had been peed in and not washed, ARRRG!!!  Oh well I did a quick quick wash and we were still early.  Conner looked cute as a button in his dinosaur costume (there was another dinosaur that went through the parking lot but mine was way cuter).

Brian and Gordon were hilarious looking in their costumes, I took lots of pictures, ate way too much candy (I'll start loosing weight tomorrow) I once again pledged to make myself something fun to wear next year, maybe a his and hers pumpkin sweat shirt with a stem hat as a nod to my pumpkin costume from when I was a kid, and had a pretty good time.  My kids were exhausted from the trip and the fun but they were pretty good too.

Small Things

These are the things that make me happy; vintage table clothes, and a pie that turned out well.

God has blessed me in immeasurable ways.  Maybe the biggest thing, aside from his salvation, is the fact that he has blessed me with a very "quiet" life.  I don't mean boring by any means (and I really don't mean quiet most of the time there are two three year olds, a baby and dog running around) I mean there has never been anything so horrific to happen to me, nothing so dramatic that I could not function.  I grew up with good parents, got good grades, went to a good college, married a good man and have good children.  We make a living, laugh, go on the occasional date and have good health.  I am so very thankful for this so incredibly happy with my life and the people in it.  I don't want adventure on the high seas, just adventure in the nearby woods.  And so it seems God has granted me this very special very rare, in this day and age, life.  I still have some unfulfilled dreams, goals that I hope to accomplish in my future but I feel totally at peace with where I am now.

All that being said I experience a very real problem with my prayer life, with asking God for help.  Not because I think I can do it all by myself, I do not suffer from that delusion at all, but because I feel that asking for anything beyond what he's blessed me with is selfish.  It's hard for me to ask God to please pour out a small miracle and make my baby sleep through the night, even at two am when I am about to throw that cute little angel across the room.  How can I ask him for such a thing when there is a mom in a hospital praying that God will heal her dying child?  How can I ask for help to loose weight (which is totally my fault any way) when there is someone asking God for just a scrap of bread to eat?  So this is my dilemma how to approach the thrown with confidence when all I am asking for is eight hours of uninterrupted sleep?

I am in a women's sunday school class for the first time in my life and it has been incredible.  We are using a book by Beth Moore and it has been such a blessing to me.  I've always thought stuff geared for women was a little, well fluffy.  When I study God I really want to learn about him I want my intelligence stretched not cuddled, and Beth Moore's study is so what I need, so good.  She really goes into the Word, but uses what makes us unique as women to take it deeper.  In today's lesson she talks about Jairus' daughter and how Christ was on the way to heal her (it was a matter of life and death) when he is interrupted by a woman who is bleeding.  She asked me to write in the margin someone who's life was desperate who desperately needed Christ, then later she asked me to list some requests that were close to my heart for me no matter how "silly" they seemed.  I want to quote something from today's lesson:
Does He seem to be on His way to another need, one that you perceive may be more important than yours?  More a matter of life and death?  No problem! Reach out and grab that hem!  You are not going unnoticed-not even if He's on His way to raise the dead! (taken from Jesus the One and Only)

After having written my list of requests (one of which was to have conner sleep through the night) to say out loud: "Jesus, you have enough power."  It seems so simple so silly but I cried right out with the kids riding bikes in the drive way.  I cried because he does have enough power I'm just blown over that he cares enough for those little things, that I matter that much to him.

Thank you Jesus that just because I am doing well (for now and because of you) doesn't mean I don't have your attention.  Thank you.

Halloween

Halloween is about to be upon us and I am working to finish up Hunter's costume.  He is going as a retro-space hero, with cape and alien antenna.  I was smart this year and made part of his costume for his birthday party.  He refused to wear it at his party and was in an all around crabby mood that afternoon so I'm excited to get another use out of it.  All I had to do today was hot glue (isn't that stuff awesome, especially for child costumes?) some shiny material onto a blue sweatshirt.  We're going to the UP this weekend so I had to get it done because our halloween celebration is Sunday, the day we get back.  I'll post some pics afterwards so you can see how cute my boys were.  Poor Conner he's going as a dinosaur, which is of course a hand-me-down,  oh well he doesn't know any different yet plus it's a super warm one. Why is it that every trick-or-trunk is freezing?  It could be sixty that day and then it will rain/sleet and turn COLD.

I love to sew and craft, especially when it's easy and fun, which his costume is.  I also love home-made costumes.  That's what we always had as kids, my mom must have cut up a million bridesmaid dresses to use as princess and fairies.  One time she hired a pumpkin costume made that I wore then each of my sisters and most of my cousins, it was cute the top of the pumpkin (the stem) was a hat.  Man she got her use out of that one.  When I think of halloween that's what I think of; the making of the costume.  I have this vivid mental image of a pair of fairy wings made out of poster board and glitter, and a wand that was made out of a wooden spoon and tinfoil star.  The costumes today are totally cheap (cheaply made, they are NOT cheap to buy) and so unoriginal.  I mean I'll see like 30 pirates from the caribbean and 100 cheerleaders etc.  And they seem ugly too not cute at all dumb plastic masks that the elastic breaks off of after like the second house.  Any way not to diss everyones costume but what happened to the days of scrounging around good will for that perfect set of bell bottoms for your hippie costume?  Well it is my hope to make my kids costumes at least until they just have to be the dumb blue power ranger.

Oh and if our church collected enough candy (500 lbs) Brian has to dress up as the old school Batman, with tights! And his boss is going as Robin.  Isn't that awesomely funny?

Trick-or-Trunk for those of you who live close is this sunday 6pm at Central Christian Church on Riverside drive.  It's great the cars are decorated and it's a nice safe place to trick-or-treat plus some of it is inside so if it's really cold you'll get a little break and there's donuts and cider.

A New Bed and New Eye Glasses

A lot has been going on in Hunter's life recently, not that he seems to care as much as I do.  He is pretty much potty trained, I mean he is doing exceptionally well, praise the Lord.  He just got a new twin size bed today and he went to the eye doctor for the first time.

Let's start with the bed, it's huge!!! My gosh if he falls off that thing he's liable to break a limb yikes.  It's cool though it has drawers in it and a cubby (which he fits in for now).  and the head board has some shelves built into them although I don't know what I could put up there that he wouldn't play with when it was time to go to bed.  It was a blessing everything we looked at was way more then we had budgeted and our house is so small I really wanted something with storage in it.  We found this bed at Value City Furniture, which contrary to it's name has really nice things in there.  (I wish we had looked there for our couch).  And it was almost exactly what I wanted.

Now onto the eye doctor.  I took him in not because I thought he needed it, but because I needed glasses so young I just wanted to make sure.  You know catch it early so as not to impede his learning etc.  I was worried about his colors though, I mean he's a smart kid and some of those colors just seem to allude him.  There is no color blindness in our family that I know of but better safe then sorry right?  Well Hunter did great as far as behaving goes but he failed almost every test they threw at him.  He does need glasses, can you imagine a three year old in glasses!?  How am I going to keep them on his face?  And this is going to sound stupid but I don't want to cover up those beautiful blue eyes.  Then he also did very poorly on the color testing.  The doctor said it could be a recessive gene.  I'm upset.  I know it's stupid but I feel like this is my fault.  Brian has perfect eyesight and I really assumed my children would end up with his, but no Hunter is far sighted with a stigmatism just like him mom.  And what really gets me is that he may have some form of color blindness (not total he see blue and red and brown) that makes me feel so sad; I mean he is going to miss out on so much of God's beauty, so many things...

The doctor said the color tests are inconclusive because it's hard to know if a three year old can't see something or just doesn't understand what we're asking we'll know for sure with in a year.  Please pray with me.  I know God can heal his sight totally, which as someone who's worn glasses practically my whole like can attest, that would be great, but please pray that God can heal him of the color thing.  One in eight males suffer from some form of color blindness (maybe all males when asked which shade they like better for paint ha ha) but I don't want my sons to be one of them.  I want Hunter to see all of God's glory every single shade.

Heaven

There is a dear old man in our church who is dying.  It's strange because he is ninety-four years old it shouldn't be so unexpected but it is.  He is one of the healthiest old men I have ever seen, don't laugh but he doesn't look a day over eighty.  He doesn't stay at home he is very active, in fact I think he still has a part time job, and he is always serving our church.  Well his friends decided to have a service for him before he dies of the cancer.  I actually think this is kind of nice I mean this way he will get to hear all the nice things people would have said to him after he dies.  It was a little strange, I mean for us, and of course it wasn't about us, but what is it about those type of things that make me feel so awkward, so clumsy?  In the car on the way over I'm a twenty-eight year old mother of two and as soon as we walk through the doors of the church I become a twelve year old girl.  However, as I was sitting in the back of the room listening to people talk about this man I was struck by how little I know him, by how many lives he's touched, by the fact that he has watched generations of children grow up right before him.  They talked about how he used to hold Carla and Marla on his hips while there mother got settled on Sunday mornings; Carla is our senior minister's wife and Hunter's adopted Grandma, how strange and moving to imagine this man much younger and Carla as a toddler!

Even though I have only known this gentlemen for three years he has managed to touch our lives as well.  A year or two ago, he came to church with a brand-new leather coat for Brian.  I love this coat it looks like an old bombers jacket and Brian wears it on Sundays and when we go out.  It makes me think about that scripture that says; if we have two coats and we see our brother in need we are to give it to him (very loose translation by me).  He embodied the meaning of this scripture in such a real way.  It makes me smile to think about it.

Blessed is the man who walks NOT in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water.  That brings forth it's fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither, and Whatever he does shall prosper.  Bob you truly lived this out, you love God, and others.  You served with a joyful heart and lived a long vibrant life.  You are the kind of man that I pray my sons become.  Praise Jesus that death does not have the final say in our lives.

The Apple Orchard

Saturday we went to Gull Meadow Farms, an apple orchard not too far from where we live. I love the whole harvest thing! It's the perfect time of year, when you know you have to take advantage of every last ounce of sunlight and coolness before the bleakness of winter sets in.

Plus all the fun things for Hunter to do; climb on hay bales, ride in a make-shift train, take a hay ride, buy apples and of course eat fresh made donuts. This is the first time we have ever been to Gull Meadow Farms and it was very nice. A little too crowded we'll definitely try to go during the week next year (in our defense every tuesday Brian has had off in the last three weeks have been cold and rainy). But the donuts were the best I have had in years! That's really saying something because I love love donuts but these were absolutely amazing. It was almost embarrassing how much I was oohing and mming over them, luckily we ate them in the car where only my husband could laugh at me. It costs to get in which I think is becoming more the norm these days but the prices did seem low which I appreciate because I like to spend my money on the kind of apples you can't get in the store, which I did. My Grammy swears that spys are the best for pies but they are impossible to find so I bought a bag of those, and a bag of Jonathans for apple sauce and a half gallon of cider for warm spiced cider. I did think the apples were a little overpriced compared to wear we went last year but I'm not totally sure because it was a year ago, after all. Hunter had a very fun time and was so excited to see barns (but disappointed that there were no animals in them) and the giant tractor that pulled the hay ride was AWESOME but his favorite part was... can you guess... the donuts (a boy after his mother's own heart, seriously it would be worth going there just for the donuts!)

Pics of the kids

I just wanted to put some more recent pictures of the kids on here and maybe a video if I can figure out how, so those of you who are interested can see my cuties!