Don't Waste Your Vote

A Candy Tip

With Christmas coming up, it can get expensive just filling up stockings! Here's something that I've always done that can save you a bunch of money...

Tomorrow, all of the Halloween candy will be 50% off. Be sure not to get candy that has any Halloween decorating on the wrapper! You'll save yourself at least half of what you'll pay in another month or so and the kids won't know the difference!

What does Obama consider wealthy?

In the debates, he said $250,000...

In this campaign ad, he says $200,000...


And here is good ole Biden saying $150,000...

Funny commercial

Is Obama a Socialist? You decide...

Read more about it here.

A few random pics for the grandparents

Jamison likes to climb on the bottom rung of her crib to look and talk to her:

Sweet...

The only one of my boys who doesn't complain when I put a Patriots shirt on him:

PSA for parents of boys

I never had this problem with my two oldest boys. They each have the body type of what I would describe as 'stringbean'.

Then came Haddon. He is a little rounder than his brothers...a bit more robust. He's the kind of kid that has to push his belly in with his hands to properly see which character is on his underwear.

This afternoon, as I was wrapping up our day of school, I began to hear screams from the bathroom.

I wasn't sure what to expect. As I grasped the handle to the bathroom door, I took a deep breath and braced myself for what I was about to find.

I inched the door open to find Haddon sitting on the toilet. All appeared fine...until I looked closer.

The first thing I noticed was that the wall across from him was wet...very wet...with pee. The floor was also wet. His lap had drips on it. His pants were also spotted and the bathroom rugs were also darkened with urine.

Then I looked at his face. He was very sad and afraid that I was going to get upset. I assured him that it was okay, but he was still so sorry that he had made a mess.

You see, the problem was that he forgot to make sure his penis (we're all adults here, right?) was properly placed between his legs, pointing down into the toilet.

Instead, he sat down...and being such a robust little fellow that can't really see if he has proper penis placement (Piper would be so proud!)...and continued to urinate all over the bathroom. I can only imagine the look of horror on poor Haddon's face when the pee started and couldn't be stopped.

So, I urge you all...as parents of boys...be aware to teach your child the 3 P's of going potty: Proper Penis Placement!

(And just in case you were wondering, he doesn't normally sit down to go pee, unless he is also needing to poop...which was the case in the above situation.)

Songs About God's Love are Cheap

So many of the songs about God’s love currently being written and sung are cheap. They are mushy without being hardy. Like milk-bloated cereal, they drip with emotion but fall flat on substance. Such cheap love songs act like God is our cosmic girlfriend. God is not a girlfriend; God is God.

Cheap love songs typically talk about how great God’s love is for us, full stop. They fail to consider how God’s great love becomes great for us. Biblically, we know no great Godly love apart from an angry God. If God was not angry, he would be bad lover. If he didn’t grow wrathful over idolatry, murder, lying, jealousy, gossip, and sleeping around, then his love would be cheap. He’d be like the pathetic girlfriend whose identity is so bound up with male affection, that she just takes a beating. But God stands up for himself, for his infinite glory and beauty, and says, “I will not be abused. Those who treat me poorly must suffer the consequences of failing to honor the God who is infinitely honorable.” And so he pours out his righteous wrath and anger by putting to death his enemies or by putting to death his own Son. Because God is angry and just; his love is deeper than we will ever fully comprehend.

In order to understand God’s love, we must understand his anger. God’s anger inevitably leads us to the cross where justice and mercy meet in perfect, soul-wrenching, Christ-crushing, sin-forgiving, life-giving, love-flowing harmony. For those that hope in Jesus, the anger of God against our unrighteousness is mercifully diverted from us onto His beloved Son. As a result, God preserves and promotes his justice and humanity’s joy where anger and love converge, at the cross. The purpose of God’s anger is to display the depth and character of his eternal justice and his love for us. When we understand that God’s love is God’s because of his justice and anger, only then can we begin to comprehend how great a love he has for us.

So how do we write worship songs that speak of God’s great love, not cheap love? Two suggestions:

1.Contrast God’s great love with his great wrath. The more we see God’s just wrath, the more we see how great his love is to save us, “a wretch like me.”

2.Show how God’s love is ours in the death of his Son. Text after biblical text ties God’s unfailing love to the sacrifice of his Son.

3.Articulate the greatness of God’s love alongside the magnitude of his glory. Reveal that God’s love is just one aspect of God’s many splendored glory.

HTT: Worship Blog

Georgia Football Coach Mark Richt: Adoption

Pink Poodle Paysie

While I was at BRU today, I saw that their Halloween costumes were 75% off! How could I resist?

I was able to buy a couple more for the future too...next year she can be a pink googly monster, and the year after that, she can be a daisy :)

Not bad for $5 a piece!

A good deed

A couple of random videos

Here is my girl in her crib...with a special appearance from Nolan:

The many faces of Haddon:

Jamison:


disclaimer: I was in the process of folding and putting away several loads of laundry...you can see these piles in Haddon's video, lol.

The difference a month makes

My birthday present from Paysie...

Consistently sleeping through the night.

Thank you, sweet girl.

Today is my birthday.

I have reached the point of no return.

I can no longer consider myself a 'twenty-something'.

Middle age is my new best friend.

Hello to the big 3-0.




I walked out of the shower this morning to find a gift certificate for a 60 minute massage, that had been pushed under the bedroom door! It's been far too long since I've had anything like that to schedule. I'm used to scheduling doctors and dentists appointments!

When we were getting ready to leave for church this morning, Gideon told me that I looked beautiful...and Haddon told me that I was a princess. You can't ask for much more than that from your children!

I find it hard to believe that I have reached my thirties. I don't quite know when that happened. I guess it snuck up on me while I have continually had baby after baby. If you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought I would have 5 children by the age of 30, I'd of thought you were crazy. Now, I couldn't imagine my life any other way!

Happy Birthday to me :)

A gift from her great-great grandmother

My mom always told me that if I ever had a daughter, I would inherit a collection of crocheted items that my grammy's mother had made, many years ago.

I told my mom that we were having a girl, by telling her to bring me the box of crocheted goodies her grandmother made!

Today was the day I took pictures:

The absurdity of Abortion arguments

Overheard at the Doctor's office

Nolan: "Mommy, I know a song that we can sing at church about Halloween."

Me: "Really, what's it called?"

Nolan: "Halloweened Be Thy Name"

Bird eating spider....

Yes, you heard that right...there are spiders out there that eat birds. I can't really say what my reaction would be if I looked out my window and saw this:

or this:

or this:

or this:

One thing I do know is that I would not be happy...and there would be a call to my pest control guy....or would I have to call animal control?

Spider eats bird
Thursday, October 23, 2008
© The Cairns Post (Cairns is on the east coast of Australia)

THESE amazing images of a mammoth spider devouring a bird were taken in the backyard of an Atherton property, west of Cairns.

And the images, which are being cirulated via email worldwide, are real, according to wildlife experts.

The photos, believed to have been taken earlier this week, show the spider clenching its legs around a lifeless bird trapped in a web.

Joel Shakespeare, the head spider keeper at NSW's Australian Reptile Park, told ninemsn that the spider was a Golden Orb Weaver.

"Normally they prey on large insects, it's unusual to see one eating a bird," he said.

Mr Shakepeare told ninemsn he had seen golden orb weaver spiders as big as a human hand but the northern species in tropical areas were known to grow larger.

Mr Shakespeare said the bird, a Chestnut-breasted Mannikin which appears frozen in an angel-like pose in the pictures, is likely to have flown into the web and got caught.

"It wouldn`t eat the whole bird," he told ninemsn.

"It uses its venom to break down the bird for eating and what it leaves is a food parcel," he said.

Queensland Museum's Greg Czechura is reported ninemsn as saying cases of the Golden Orb Weaver eating small birds were "well known but rare".

"It builds a very strong web," he told ninemsn.

But he said the spider would not have attacked until the bird weakened due to its struggle to free its wings.

"The more they struggle, the more tangled up and exhausted they get and they go into stress."

"If a spider gets a bird, it`s a very lucky spider," Mr Czechura said.

What He Must Be...If He Wants to Marry My Daughter

Voddie Baucham has written a new book! It's available for preorder from Amazon.

Here is a brief description:

All parents want their daughters to marry godly young men. But which qualities, specifically, should they be looking for?

What will you say when that certain young man sits down in your living room, sweaty-palmed and tongue-tied, and asks your permission to marry your daughter? What criteria should he meet before the two of them join together for life? What He Must Be… If He Wants to Marry My Daughter outlines ten qualities parents should look for in a son-in-law, including trustworthiness, a willingness to lead his family, an understanding of his wife’s role, and various spiritual leadership qualities.

Author Voddie Baucham follows up on his popular book Family Driven Faith with this compelling apologetic of biblical manhood. By studying the principles outlined in his book, parents who want their daughter to marry a godly man—as well as those who want their sons to become godly men—will be well equipped to help their children look for and develop these God-honoring qualities.

A day of Dr's appts!

This morning at 9:45am, I brought my crew to the Dr's office. Since we just switched pediatricians, we doubled up appts and had Paysie's 2 month and Haddon's 3.5 year check-up!

Let's start with the girl...she is up to 12 pounds 13 ounces! That's almost 3 pounds heavier than Nolan was! In 7 weeks, she has gained more than 5 pounds! That puts her off the charts on weight! She measured almost 24 inches long :) and ended up with 3 shots :( She was a trooper and has been resting comfortably since!

Haddon is 40.5 pounds and almost 40 inches tall. The Dr then pulls out his laptop to show me that he measures toward the high end on the body mass index chart. He's always been more stocky than his brothers...it's not something I'm going to worry about! He got his finger pricked to check his iron levels, and the kid didn't flinch, he was actually pretty amazed by the whole process.

Tomorrow, we go in for Nolan and Gideon's check-ups. I know Gideon will need his 5 year shots...that should be fun!

And on the way home, Nolan asked me what a true woman was. I told him it was a woman who loved Jesus and wanted to learn all she could about Him in the Bible. He then told me that he was a true man and loved true women!

When is it Acceptable for a ''Pro-Life'' Voter to Vote for a ''Pro-Choice'' Candidate?

by Gerard V. Bradley

You can read the article here.

Let me add the disclaimer here that I don't think that it is every acceptable to vote for someone who is pro-abortion.

Making Meatballs

Yesterday, Nolan asked if he could help me make meatballs! It's been awhile since we've had that for dinner, so we made some today.

Here they are rolling them...

Good job guys!

In line to wash the meat off their hands...


They came out yummy! They can't wait to eat them for supper...with no sauce of course. What is with my guys and tomato sauce?

Nothing like a toothless grin

My happy girl...

How big is Paysie? Soooo big!

Yum...these fingers are delicious!

My version of Alice Springs Chicken

I've been making this for several years now...and it's always a hit!

4 chicken breasts
8 ounces of bacon
8 ounces of fresh mushrooms, sliced
8 ounces of broccoli (I use frozen)
a little bit of margarine or olive oil
some fresh garlic
4 ounces of cheese

Cook up the bacon in the oven at 375 until it is almost at the crispy stage. I use a large stoneware bar pan and it doesn't splatter at all. When the bacon is done, take it off the pan and let it drain on some paper towels.

Keep the oven on, and place the chicken breasts inside until they are cooked through. While the chicken is baking, cook up the veggies.

In a small frying pan, place sliced mushrooms with some margarine/oil, and fresh garlic that has been pressed. Do the same thing in a separate frying pan with the broccoli. You can add more oil or margarine as you see needed. You want to cook these until they are cooked through. Once they are cooked, take off the heat and set aside.

By this time, the chicken should be done. Remove chicken from the oven and on two of the chicken breasts, top with mushrooms, then slices of bacon, then cheddar cheese. On the remaining two chicken breasts, do the same thing with the broccoli.

Place under the broiler until bubbly.

Serve with rolls :)

ENJOY!

If you both want mushrooms, then omit the broccoli and vice versa. I make it like this because I prefer broccoli, and John prefers mushrooms. This recipe should definitely leave some leftovers for lunch the next day!

Purple Paysie

Holy cheeks

What a chunker!

Paysie has now met AP

To stay in form with her brothers, Paysie went to her first Andrew Peterson concert. He is currently doing a cd release tour for his newest cd, Resurrection Letters! It is a great cd, and I recommend it to everyone.

It seems like each time we meet up, I have had a new child. That's just the way it goes, I guess!

The first concert I ever went to, I was newly pregnant with Gideon.

While I was pregnant with Haddon, we went to the Ryman for his Christmas show. BTW, if you've never seen his Christmas show, GO SEE IT! It is amazing! It is so not your ordinary Christmas music. I also saw him a couple months after that.

Then, we helped our church have him come for a concert, when Haddon was a baby. And later that year, had him come to our church for his Christmas tour.

Fast forward several months, I was pregnant and a couple months from my due date with Jamison, when we helped him come to town, yet again! And saw him again for his Christmas tour in Greenville, SC or NC...I can't remember...when Jamison was a week old!

And finally, Paysie met the great AP last night. It all comes around full circle. Though I can't say that, the next time I see him, that I'll have a new baby with me. I'm thinking probably not!

If you've read this far, good for you. If you were able to follow the above ramble...great, lol.


And CONGRATS to Ben Shive who just welcomed baby #4!!

Children's Catechism...

I recently posted about a new cd that answers the first 21 questions of the children's cathechism.

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this cd! It is great, and the kids love it....and it's not cheesy (like a lot of Christian kid's music).

Here are the kids in the car this morning, singing the first song.

They were being silly and if you can't understand what they are saying...here it is:

Who made you? God did!
What else did God make? God made all things!
Why did God make you and all things? For His own glory!

repeat, lol

Earth Fare 2008

My kids have a new favorite store. They really enjoyed Sam's Club for awhile...but the food samples seem to have dwindled down.

Today, we made our first trip to Earth Fare, that just opened up a couple of days ago. Gideon was in cheese heaven. Nolan was in steak heaven. Haddon was in peach pie heaven. Jamison wasn't picky about anything and gobbled everything down he could get his hands on.

My boys even ate smoked salmon and rainbow trout. Now, you know they would never eat that if I tried to serve it here at home!

The selection of organic food was great. I didn't get any, since right now, we have plenty of food and fruit at home. But in the future...I will be getting all my fruits and veggies there....it's actually cheaper than at the regular grocery store :)

I did walk away with a couple giant pumpkins and 2 pots of purple mums for the front door. Nolan wants to chop the pumpkins open so we can make faces in them, but I think we'll wait!

Mohler responds to the Robert George article

The Abortion Question and the Future

True Woman Manifesto

Please read and join in by signing!

I regard the True Woman Manifesto as a faithful, clear, true, wise—indeed—magnificent document. What an amazing thing it would be if hundreds of thousands of women in America signed on with their heart to the True Woman Manifesto.

—Pastor John Piper

If you see biblical womanhood as a gift from God, and agree with the True Woman Manifesto, sign it by filling out the form below. We are believing God for 100,000 people like you to join this movement!

True Woman Manifesto

Obama's Abortion Extremism

I urge you to read this article. It is unfathomable the amount of influence Obama will have over the unborn if he is elected. It is amazing to me how many Christians and young evangelicals can simply overlook the facts when it comes to Obama's feelings toward the unborn. Why are people willing to say that the abortion issue is just a side issue in this election?

Obama's Abortion Extremism by Robert George

Downtown Chicago

Entering the city...

A building...oooh, aaah!

Some water and some boats....ooooooooh, aaaaaaaaaah!

Erin, Paysie and I, in front of the giant silver bean....

A class at the outside symphony place....

Erin in front of this cool water/brick/fountain thing...
This is my friend Teresa. I'm thinking Melanie might recognize her....
I heard that these lions had Bears football helmets on them when they made it to the Superbowl...she's up higher than she looks!

Who knew that out of the three of us, no one would like olives? This is what was left of our bruschetta....yum!
Although, Teresa knew just what to do with the olives!
You can't go to Chicago and not get a stuffed pizza!!! Sooooo good! (in case you were wondering...we got broccoli, green pepper, and fresh tomato)
Our very own Vanna!

Erin is happy she doesn't live in Chicago....between the cheesecake and the pizza....oy!

We had so much fun...thanks to Teresa, our tour guide! I don't think I would have been able to manuever through the traffic!

A few odds and ends....

Here's the mall we went to...talk about confusing! See all those walk ways?

Here's Erin at the Lego store...Hi Mark!

Paysie loves her Auntie Erin....

So pretty....dressed up for the last morning of the conference.

Check out this pimped up car at our hotel, lol.

Is this not a weird coffee pot? See the spout? Pure craziness!