Night out with 7 friends.

Tonight we were invited to eat dinner with some friends up the street. We attend church with them and they are just the best. We went over around 5:30pm and all 9 of us (the tenth one is on the way :0) sat at their table and had a WONDERFUL meal. Yes I did say 9 of us. Jason, AJ and I sat with Michelle, Eric and their fantastic children Lauren, Grant, Faith, Lance and the little girl that is on her way. It was so wonderful to be surrounded by such warmth and love. I know we're not to be envious of those around us, but how can you not be with all those wonderful children. Her house is filled with the sounds of happy, secure, loved children. They are so happy. We were all outside after dinner and my little AJ was having a ball. Literally he was playing with the ball all night, but the girls were so good with him. AJ and Lance would toddle around. It's just the most amazing site. Michelle is the most precious pregnant woman you have ever seen!!! Eric has built the most gorgeous flower garden that surrounds them in the back yard. The flowers were beautiful, the weather was perfect, and Jason and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We sat and talked for over 4 hours. The kids played in the pool, swang on the swing set and picked black rasberries from the vines. That's what being a kid is all about isn't it?? After all that we were invited onto the front porch to watch the fire-works. AJ did really well. I don't know if he was a little nervous of the actual fireworks or the screams from the excited children after they started popping off. He sat in my arms and watched the whole thing and did FINE!!! I covered his ears some and he seemed to do a little better. He furrowed his eyebrows a little before I did that. It was too cute. He's in his bed all tuckered out now. He had a packed night. God is so good to bless us with such wonderful people in our lives. I just really enjoyed myself. Tonight, I make it a special point to thank God for allowing me to have such wonderful relationships in my life. I'm such a dork though, I took the camera with us to take pics of all the kids having fun and the fireworks. Of course, I left the camera in the bag ALL NIGHT LONG. SOOOO, no pics of this night out. Go figure. Oh well, maybe next time.

Ethan needs prayers NOW

Below is an excerpt from Ethan Powell's website. This precious little soul has gone through so much in his tiny little life. I have found this web-site through a dear friend fo mine and I have praying for Little E ever since. Right now, they really need prayers. They have rushed the little guy down for chest x-rays and are now drawing blood cultures. Please pray that God sustain them and rid his tiny body of any infection. The chemo that he is about to endure is going to be pretty severe in the next couple of days and an infection right now could kill him. Please please pray. He's such a little fighter. Thanks guys.

3rd update/ 8:53pm [Ben] I just posted an update with pictures a few minutes ago, but since there has been a major prayer request. IT JUST GOES TO SHOW HOW QUICKLY THINGS CHANGE AROUND HERE. While resting tonight his respiratory rate has dropped considerably low. In addition, he is sleeping very very hard. You can poke him, and I even sneezed pretty loud and he didn't budge. From what we were told, one of the first issues to look out for are breathing problems. Please pray for Ethan's lungs. ITS BEEN AWHILE SINCE I'VE SAID THIS... BUT THIS IS URGENT! PLEASE RALLY THE PRAYER TROUPS... ETHAN NEEDS PRAYERS NOW! BELIEVE. PRAYER WORKS!!!

4th update/ 10:02pm [Ben] We just rushed downstairs for a chest X-ray and now they are going to take blood cultures. This is how they check to see if he has an infection. If I get any news, I will post it. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR ETHAN'S LUNGS. The last thing that we need is breathing issues. However... BELIEVE WITH ME THAT THIS WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM. PRAY AND BELIEVE! PRAYER WORKS!!!

Pic of the lot

The first pic is looking straight onto the lot. You would be facing the front of the house. The second pic is (from standing on the porch) looking left to the scenery. I wasn't able to take really good pics d/t my fussy little monster but anyway, this is where our home will be built. They should break ground within the next couple of weeks. You can't really see the markers with this pic but the lot itself is over .5 acres. It doesn't seem like a lot I know, but with all of the constuction going up everywhere, we actually have one of the bigger lots in the neighborhood. It's d/t the influx of people moving in from DC. Everyone wants these bigger homes for less so they're all moving here and the builders are lovin life. The lot will be big enough for AJ and Jason to throw and hit some baseballs without the fear of taking someone out. The lot we're on now isn't even 1/4 of an acre really. We'd love to have some real land but with Jason's commute being 60min to and 75 min back we just can't do it. This new house is going to add 15 minutes both ways for him. Yuck. I feel like my anxiety about it all is getting a little better. If we do have to get a rental (we're going to try to work out an agreement to rent this house from the new owners if we sell it for a certain amt of time) but if we do have to rent, it will only be for a short while. I was thinking we would be in there for months. I'm steady praying and I thank you to those of you that are thinking of us as well.

LAST MEETING!!!!

We had out last meeting today!!!! Once the permits come in, they're going to break ground. We met with the construction manager today, whew, he seems like a rough and tumble one. I'm glad I'm not working under him but hey, if he gets the job done... On the blueprint and the house layout that we were shown, it was showing that our basement would have double doors leading out, making it a wider entrance way. While we were talking, they were saying it was only going to be a single. Jason got em. He said since it was on both the blueprint and the layout that they had to give it to us because nowhere on the thing did it say that was an option. A $2,000.00 option no less. Whoo hoo, score one for dad!! Anyway, the construction manager was telling us that we will probably not break ground until the end of July now. A little disheartening but what can ya do.

We met with Nikole yesterday from the real estate agency. She's such a doll. I think she's really going to help us out. The money that we are going to be paying her kind of makes me queasy though. Good grief, we could use that money to put down on the new house and drop our payments a little more. I'm not real big on crunching numbers but that amazing man of mine can. He says we'll still be OK and that I will not have to go back to work full time. Nikole really helped put me at ease about people being in this house. She took a lot of pics to put up so people can see it. She seems to think she's not going to have that hard of a time selling it because of how we've upgraded so much and kept the house nice. I'm tellin ya, for the price that people are asking for houses around here, it would amaze you at the condition of some of them. It's pathetic. I'm excited though. Still a little nervous as to where we'll go inbetween houses but if Jason tells me we're going to be OK, then I guess we'll be OK. I'm still trying to convince him to hire some help to move the heavy stuff. I'm afraid one of us will get hurt moving some of these heavier things and if that happens we're really going to be up the creek. KWIM?


AJ went to bible class again yesterday. They learned about the good Samaritan. Anyway, one of the little tykes fell off the chair and scared my monster, and then he fell out of the chair too. The first one got away unscathed but poor AJ has a pretty good goose egg. Dena said that she was so sorry he fell out of the chair, but she was excited too because when AJ bumped his head, the other children rushed over to him and placed a bandage around his head. She was excited the kids were actually listening. He came out of class looking like Tonto. :0) He's no worse for the wear though. He's a tough little monster. I guess he has to be. Dad pinches his legs in the car seat and today I pinched his little finger in the car door handle. Like I said, he has to be tough.


2 of my 3 kids in Sunday school completely memorized their 3 verse memory verse!!! I was impressed. I figured we'd be doing a verse a week or something like that. They are hard, I couldn't even recite it to you yet!! Anyway, Matthew and Kenneth both were able to spit it back out at me. Kenneth even repeated the King James version. Talk about being impressed!!! They seemed to really like the letters I sent out to them mid-week. I'm going to do that again this week too.


AJ took a 2 hour nap today (in his crib) so mommy took a 2 hour nap today too!! (on the couch) Gotta love that!!!! I took a pic of the land today so I will post that a little later. I don't think monster will let me get that done just yet. Sorry, I know you're all dying to see it. (haha) Love you guys!!!!

We've gone with a Realtor

Nichole just called me back. We are going to meet with her on Sunday at 5pm. We are going to list with her for 90 days. I'm a little nervous. The thought of strange people in my house without me here just kind of gives me the creeps. I don't like it. When she talked about putting a locked box on my front door it made me a little queezy. I feel a little better knowing that she is good people. We are meeting so late on Sunday because she also attends church and wants to be able to go home, feed the kiddo's and get in naps. I dunno. Pray pray pray. Guess I'll be hitting my knees again today....don't they make knee pads for this sort of thing?????

AJ's first bible class

AJ is 13 mo old come the 20th of this month. He's at the age now where he's too mobile to want to sit still during services on Sunday. He knows he can move and knows he's on the move 24/7 while at home so he gets really upset when mommy and daddy tell him to sit still for an hour. We've put him in the nursery at church just for services the last 3 Sundays. He was doing GREAT. I figured, it was time to start taking him to bible classes now. He needs to start learning. I am now teaching the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders on Sunday morning so we all got up early yesterday morning and off to church we go. Normally dad is the one that drops him off. It just works out easier that way. We left dad at home yesterday because he was still in the shower at 0915 and I had to get my class set up. Well, Mrs. Dena was there and she just took AJ right out of my arms and into the classroom they went. She never came to get me so I figured they did fine. After my class I went and met up with Jason and AJ in the auditorium and I was handed AJ's first craft. It was a little circle piece of paper with hands on it and it says "we are helpers" Dena told me that when she starts class they sing "If You're Happy And You Know It" and by about the 5th time AJ was actually clapping along. She said they looked at the picture book together and AJ followed along. When I was given that little circle piece of paper with his little scribbles on it with his name written in the middle by Dena, I cried. My precious little boy is starting to really learn about Jesus. I play all the CD's at home, we pray at home, and he actually holds his hands together to pray,we put Go Fish in the van and it automatically gets put in or AJ pitches a fit, but it was the first time my little boy went to "bible class" That little piece of paper is something that will forever be cherished by me. I thank Dena so much for thinking that my son's soul is as precious as I do. Aparently Dena wore him out because he fell asleep in my arms and was still for the first service in over a month. These are the memories life is made of. I just want to bottle them up so when I'm old and grey and I open that bottle up and feel all these emotions flood over me again. Have a good week guys.

End of June.....

Jason and I recieved all of our official paperwork for the new house in the mail. We were going over the check-list of "to-do's" and we noticed that before they break ground we are supposed to have a pre-construction meeting with the builder. We hadn't heard anything about this previously so we were kind of confused. We call the office and of course, can't get anyone that knows anything and Tyler's out of the office. He finally returned the phone call today and told me that we will prob have this meeting at the end of June. He said we're looking at breaking ground come the first of July. He had previously told us that it will take approx 6mo to get the house built. My heart sank. I was going, 1)Aug. 2)Sept. 3)Oct. 4)Nov. 5)Dec. 6)Jan. I told him, "so, we're not even going to be in the house before Christmas then??" He relayed to me that we will most def be in the house before Christmas because it only really takes them approx 90 days to build the house. So as long as nothing "major" happens between now and then, we are looking at being in our new house by the end of Nov with the closing and everything. I'm excited again. Wow, what a roller coaster ride this has already been.... I will take a pic of the lot and post soon. Take care all!!!

Whew, what a month!!!

Howdy ya'll!! Soo nobody liked my lily story huh ;) Anyway, this has been a wild 4 weeks. We had AJ's birthday May 20, the in-laws left for Germany for 3 weeks, we've shown the house 3 times, and we've had the in-laws 70lb yellow lab ( Great dog but a shedding machine!!!) The In-laws came back Sat night. Sun. night they saw the realtor that sold their house across the street so of course we had to talk to her, Then SHE WANTED TO SEE THE HOUSE!!!! It was Sun night around 8pm. We had been to church, then a meeting, then we had gone out to dinner after AJ woke up from his nap. We hadn't been home so the house was a mess. Jason signaled to me that she wanted to come over and I liked to had a stroke. Did you know a bed can be made in less than 30 seconds if you're really motivated??? I was throwing all kinds of stuff under beds and in clothes hampers. I was a freaking wild woman. I was screaming Vicki's name. She couldn't get the guest bed made fast enough because she was too busy laughing at my freaking out self. I was flying. By the time she walked across the street to the house, it wasn't sparkling but it was better than it was, and I was out of breath!!! I showed her the house and she gave me a few pointers. (take down the boarder in the kitchen,,,,NOT.) but anyway, she said that 3 showings in less than a month at this time was really good. We didn't officially ask her for her services but she is soooo nice and she can advertise the house in areas that we can not soooo. We're thinking about it. Monday was busy too. I mowed the lawn, cut the bushes back, got a pretty good tan in the process. AJ played in his pool. Jason and his dad were taking stuff to storage. It was just busy. Well, today Jim and Vicki left. They told their sleeping grandchild goodbye. Vicki was in tears. You could tell they really had a good time and they absolutely LOVE their grandchild. I think AJ missed not having Opa to make all over him first thing this morning. He went into the living room looking for him too. AJ's being really clingy, like he's afraid I'm going to leave him too. We had such a great weekend. AJ was spoiled just a little bit more, (thanks, appreciate that!! ;) It was really great. We even had Dairy Queen last night and AJ went between Oma, Opa, mom and dad getting his fill. They were cracking up at him. He's such a clown anymore. In a way, it's nice to have the house back, but really, I hate the quietness after the visits. It's almost too quiet, even with Blue's Clue's in the background. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is... it's been busy, but it's been great!!!!

Lily of the Valley

MY LILLIES ARE IN BLOOM!!!! I planted bulbs for the first time ever and they are BLOOMING!! I'm so excited. It's only one so far but the buds are on the rest. It is so pretty!! I planted the Lillies because I love the hymn.

I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.
Refrain:
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tow’r;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His pow’r.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.
He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessed will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
From His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessed face,
Where rivers of delight shall ever roll.

It just has the most reassuring words to it. "I've found a friend in Jesus, He's everything to me"...."In sorrow He's my comfort, in sorrow He's my stay"....."Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal"..."He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here"....."Where rivers of delight shall ever roll"....It's just so beautiful. Hope you guys are having a great day!!!

No Dirt Yet. :(

Well, I drove by the lot again today. They are tearing up some dirt across the way but haven't touched ours yet. Our lot is still full of greenery. No dirt yet. I guess this is pretty normal for those of you that have built houses in the past but I was hoping they'd get started by now. They said it will take 2-4 weeks to process the permits because they're building so much around here. Kinda sad if you ask me but anyway. It's only been about 3 weeks. When they do break ground I'm going to take pics along the way so I can keep you all updated on the progress. We've had a lot of people take fliers from the box outside but hardly any callers. I had one lady call Fri. saying she would call Sat to leave a time she could see the house on Sun. She didn't. I think that's rude and aggrivating. I'm really excited but I'm also very anxious. I'm very excited about the house. To this little country mouse it's a monster! But then I have all these fears...What if we sell the house but don't have a place to go. Where ever we rent has to allow dogs because my baby girl isn't going anywhere without me. What if we sell too late and end up with 2 morgages? We'll be ok for a while if that happens, we just don't want it to happen, KWIM? God says "do not worry" I ask that you all pray for me that I can give these anxieties and worries to our God and feel safe and secure in the fact tht our Father will take care of EVERYTHING. Thanks guys, love you all.

Zoo pics

Here are some of the pics from the zoo. Sorry it took me a few days to upload them. The rest of the pics are on "fish" You guys know how to get there. I'll probably get in trouble for posting the first one but there's no faces to be seen and I just LOVE that pic. It was taken at the Panda Cafe after we ate. I was getting everything together and I looked up, AJ was giving dad ALL these kisses. It was precious. Dad loved the monkies and AJ really liked watching the sea lions. We were exhausted by the end of the day but we really had a great time!!!

The Zoo!!

Well, today we went to the Washington Zoo for the first time. We got started about 0830. We travelled to the metro station at Shady Grove and then rode the metro for approx 30 min to the zoo. We originally went to meet some of my on-line friends from La Leche League. We have been setting up a meeting date for about 3months now. It was so great to finally meet them in person. Karen, Anthony, and their baby Anneliese, Lynda and her baby girl Lorelei, Kelly Ann and her baby girl Emily, Wendy, Ed, and their son Aaron and finally Leslie and her son Shilo were all there. It was really neat to meet the people that I have been talking too fro about a year now. They were all super nice. Jason and I did kind of sneak away at one point because we really actually wanted to see the zoo. They all went to get something to eat and we just kind of went on our way. We saw all kinds of neat creatures!! Isn't God neat?? He has such a personality. You go from these majestic Lions and tigers to the goofy looking hipo to the little prairie dogs. It's just amazing. The zoo was really nicely kept and fairly easy to get around. It was more walking than any of us had done in a long time. AJ really liked watching the sea lions. There was a place where you could watch them swim underwater. They were playing with each other and goofing around. They would come real close to the window and AJ would hit his head every time trying to get close to them. He was able to look at all the animals and he would study them pretty good but I don't think he was really able to understand yet what it all was about. Jason liked the monkeys. He was able to get some really good pics. I loved the toucan but Jason wasn't able to get a good pic of them. The lion was amazing. I just wanted to go down and scratch his belly. He was rolling around on the ground just as sure of himself as he could be. We saw some beavers too. Those things are freakin huge!! I didn't realize they were as big as they are. AJ only took him about a 10 minute power nap on the way to the metro and he did not go to sleep until it was time to leave. We were actually going to take him to the kiddie zoo and on the way he finally crashed. So we just turned around to leave. He slept all of 30 minutes while we made our way back to the metro and then he was up and ready to go again. He did not go back to sleep until 8:30pm that night. My little energizer bunny. I'll download the pics on fish and let you know. It really was a great day. We were worn out. My new friends (well old considering how long we've been talking to each other) but anyway, it was really so neat to be able to meet these people in person and Jason, AJ and I just had a good day in general. Little man is finally down for a nap today. Church really does wear him out. :)

Well, after a few question in the regular e-mail I figured I'd post the answers here.

a) Why are we moving:

Jason wanted a bigger yard for his little man. He said he wanted to teach AJ how to hit the baseball without the fear of taking someone's house window or car window out. Plus we're tired of being right on top of neighbors. We NEED some space!!! The new lot is over 1/2 an acre. It's still not as big as we want it but it's one of the bigger lots in the area. It's actually one of the bigger lots in the new neighborhood.

b) Where are we moving:

We're moving to Quail Ridge. It's still here just about 15 minutes away.

c) When are we moving:

The new house hasn't even broke ground yet. We're still awaiting the permits. It should happen in the next 2-3 weeks.

Here's a pic of the house we're in now:

Here's a pic of the new house: