1 Thes. 5:17 "pray without ceasing"

Prayer is one of my hardest disciplines. I struggle to remember to pray and well as I find so many other things in my life that gobble up my prayer time.
One of the hardest times for me, and also the MOST critical, is the morning. Getting that time in the morning to focus on Christ is SO pivotal in how your day will wind up. When I take the time to start my day out in prayer the outcome is NIGHT and DAY different to when I skip it. Trying to get through the day on our own never works out quite right. Now all that said, how many of us have things competing for our time in the morning?? I know as a mother and wife we can easily wake up with a FULL TO-DO list the moment we open our eyes!! Often I wake up to a baby monitor with a very adorable very LOUD baby making himself known on the other end! Or my two oldest daughters are arguing and someones stomping down the stairs to plead there case! So, it can be quite hard to get the quiet time with God with all that happening if I don't plan ahead!! When I can, I try to wake up by an alarm clock. Even if it's 15 minutes before the rest of my family gets up, it's enough to start the day out right with prayer. Author Elizabeth George says it like this " BEAT YOUR FAMILY UP!!" LOL That is, if you can, try to wake up before them to have that quiet time to pray:)
Not all of us can do this every morning I realize. I know I sure can't. SO, Kelly's tricks to time for prayer go like this:
#1. This one is my favorite secret and , shall we say, alittle taboo...:)
TOILET TIME PRAYER!! We all know there is not to many rooms we mom's get to be alone in for long, so I always take this opportunity to chat with God!! I'm sure God will bless our efforts to try to find as much time as we can to commune with Him, even if we are multi tasking!! LOL
#2. There are many other bathroom tasks that lend to time alone with God. Brushing your teeth, doing your hair/make-up, showering or taking a bath. All great times to pray in privacy.
#3. Doing household chores can be a bit mundane, but we can use this time wisely and fill it with prayer too! Thank God for the dishes He's given you to clean and the food he gave you too eat. Thank him for the clothes He's provided for your family and for the family He's provided for you. When you focus your mind to why you have the chores in the first place, it's easy to think of many things to thank God for when your doing the chores:)
#4. Aron's in the car bring great opportunity for prayer. When the kiddos and I see ambulances or fire trucks going by we try to remember to say a prayer to everyone involved in the crisis. Sometimes we will pick a color and each time we see that color car we will say a special prayer for them. ALSO, while the kiddos are reading, chatting or watching a movie, take that time to pray.

So these are just some tips that might help in finding that all so important time with God. Any relationship will suffer if the lines of communication aren't open and well used. Start your day out with the Lord and He will be faithful to bless you for it!!

Ben's Surgery

Well, we are all finally back home and I can now share with you some of the pics from Ben's surgery! Take a look:)

Checkin the vitals:)



Is my gown open!!????


Is it time yet??

He was SOOOOOO hungry!! Eating in his sleep! He was also VERY VERY lethargic from the anesthesia.



Soooo tiny! He was a trooper and came out of everything great thanks to God and ALLLL of your wonderful prayers!! GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!

Ben is safe and sound!!

Praise the LORD, Ben is doing just great!! His surgery went VERY well and he is now snoozing in the other room! Hospital Pictures will come on Saturday or Sunday when we get home! God bless you all for your prayers!! Enjoy this 6 week old pic of my little man!

Quick video

This is a quick video of Ben's first hospital visit for the ultra sound. Does anyone know how to make video's load faster?? This one took forever!!

Kayla and Samantha say HELLOOOOO!

A short clip of the ladies singing with there new mustaches!

Prayer for Benjamin

Well folks, Benjamin's FIRST big day is tomorrow. His surgery is at 1pm Midwest time and I am asking for prayer for him and us during this time. His surgery should be about 30 minutes and then some recovery time. As soon as he starts to wake up they will let us back there with him. Thank you all for your prayers and thank you JESUS for my fantastic little man!!! God bless you all!!

15 weeks in the womb!

One day old:)

This is one of my faves! We all have long knit caps and Kayla made him this one!

Such a funny pic! This kids got PERSONALITY!

Family photo!!

Families share the load...

Today was a pretty busy day! One of the fun things we got to do today was come and see where my husband has been working at for awhile. Some very sweet and generous friends of ours offered my husband some work while he is layed off this winter. He is helping fix up a house of theirs. Well, today we got to help!

Clean up as we work!

Notice the concentration!

The upstairs in this house is so cute! Sammy really liked the window spaces.

OK, so there's NO heat in this house, so little Ben was SUPER WRAPPED! I forgot his gloves so Sammy sacrificed hers. I'm tellin you, they look like scary chicken feet!

Family Craft night! MUSTACHE MADNESS!!!

This weeks family craft was a funny one. For History this week, we will be reading/doing a play on Daniel Webster, a Northern Senator. I thought it would be fun for us each to have our own "costume/disguise" for each character we are playing. Thus the MUSTACHE MADNESS was born! Take a look at some of our wacky creations!








You have no idea how hard it was to get this pic!! LOL

Sandwich Puzzles!

Something fun, quick and easy to do with the kids is make them a Puzzle Sandwich! This makes lunch just that much more special and FUN! Take a look:

Make a yummy sandwich!

Pic your favorite cookie cutter and go for it! ( I used a Pampered Chef tool I received from my sista's in Christ!)

Cut the rest of the sandwich into different size pieces, easier or harder according to age:)

Place on the plate all mixed up!

Have fun watching them work the puzzle ( and lick there fingers!)


Happy kiddos!

Homeschooling tip

Today my homeschooling tip is a quick and easy one! Both my girls DREAD the dictionary. The idea of having to actually look something up seems to be equivalent to walking in the snow barefoot uphill!! Soooo, this morning, they had a dreaded word to look up!!! ( It was covet by the way:) But instead of asking them to get there dictionary's out and look it up, I said "DICTIONARY WARS!!" These two words put together to them meant " TIME TO RACE MY SISTER!!!" and , WALLLAAAAH, no longer did they see the dictionary as an evil monster, but as a shinny red sports car in which to speed there way through the race and win!!! On your marks, get set , GO!!! NEVER have they searched for a word with such vigor!!! LOL To add a little somethin somethin to it, I mentioned that the esteemed winner would receive a nice shinny sticker to be placed where ever they like ( EXCEPT on my furniture!!!) I have used this technique many time in SWORD DRILL with the Bible, but never thought to try it with the dictionary. SO there it is, my morning revelation for you to share!!! Ready, Set, GO!!!!

MAJOR discount at COCO KEYS!!

I just wanted to put up a quick post about some GREAT discounts I saw at COCO KEYS! Coco Keys is a INDOOR WATER RESORT that is SO SO MUCH FUN!! Click HERE to go to the web sight home page or click HERE to go to the discounts/specials page. Tomorrow day passes are just $5 dollars and ALL the proceeds go to the HAITI RELIEF FUND!! ALSO, Monday through Thursday day passes are just $5 dollars through February!!! Enjoy fellow kansasians!

Boys..boys...boys....

Well....., when the mom is away ( blogging...), the boys will play!! Get a load of this dynamic duo!!! These are the two cutest men I have ever seen!! A MUST BLOG MOMENT!!

Making a child's t-shirt and pants!!!

I love to sew. Something about it is therapeutic to me, ( even though when I'm done I'm always acing in my back and neck), but it's so worth it!! Now, i'm not much for the tecnical side of sewing though. I know the VERY basics and just make things up from there useually.

Recently I have found a websight that has some FANTASTIC tutorials on how to sew many things super easy and even better, super QUICK!! Check out the blog indietutes to see the vast erray of sewing projects she has up!! Today I used her tutorial on how to make a child's T-shirt or Lapshirt. You can find it on there websight with GREAT pictures HERE.

I also went along and made a pair of matching "15 minute" pants here. I learned how to make these with this FANTASTICLY easy video made by the Rookie Mom's. Click HERE to see the video!! The rookie mom's way is even easyer because they use a t-shirt so you don't have to hem the bottom of the pants!! I used some great flannel fabric my Aunt Mary blessed me with!

Now, I can't show you pictures of the finished product right now because this is a present for a very sweet nephew of mine for next saterday!! SOOooo, I will post the pic as soon as I get home after his party:) For now, check out the pattern I made useing indietutes tutorial page ( the one on the left is for a regular t-shirt and the one on the right is for the lapshirt)! Worked out well. Sleeves are evil and will just always be evil, but managed to get them on there. NOT perfect but totaly wearable and mostly just I will be able to see where I slipped up.
If you give these sewing project a try, please post a comment and link to your pics of finished product!! Would love to see how it works out for everyone else!

Happy Sunday

Good morning!!! I just LOVE Sundays and this one is even more exciting cause I finally get to start my "A Woman after Gods Own Heart" study in Sunday School today!! I have been wanting to do this study for so many years and it is finally happening!!! God's timing is PERFECT!!! I'm excited to see how God works in each of these woman's lives to bring them closer to Him!! God Bless!!

Little girls and there dolls...

Good morning everyone!! A sweet friend of mine reminded me that I could ask the holy spirit to wake me up in the morning AND to wake me up in a good mood, SOoooo I did!!! Me up right now in a good mood is proof enough that God exists for me!! :) I knew at 1:30 am it was seemingly a tall order to ask Him to get me up at 6am, let alone in a good mood, but He always goes far and beyond what you ask for and here I am, smiling after my...nap....:) THANK YOU JESUS FOR BEING SO FAITHFUL!!
Today is a bit of a busy day, gotta sort through the girls MOUNTAIN of clothes and widdle it down to something they can manage with there two drawers each. Gotta get ready for the start of my new study tomorrow ( YEAH!!!), try to sew some to make some gifts, welcome in laws over and go watch my oldests basketball game!! Time to get started!!! Thought I would start your day out with something my youngest daughter Sammy did the other night. She loves dress up, and while daddy was away, the Sam shall play...dress up that is... with her little brother!! Don't tell Jason!!! LOL

My Favorite State ESSAYS:)

Here are the newly turned in Essays I promised:) If you know my girls, you will know exactly what state they picked!!!! Kayla's first ( we happen to have the same favorite state:)...


Next up Sammy. For those of you who don't know, because sammy was born in Oklahoma, even though she only lived there for 6 months, she would like to live there the rest of her life and remembers everything about it....:)

Babies and Sundaes...

Today was a pretty busy day! After breakfast, spelling test and some essay work ( which is still going on...essays to come later..), we headed off to drop Kayla off for Hands on Science, Learning Lunches and Fun Friday! These are all WONDERFUL classes offered to homeschoolers here in Leavenworth county! If you are interested click HERE and check them out!
While Kay was having fun there, Sam, Ben and I did some grocery shopping at various places, went to the bank, and had some Sam and Mom time at McDonald's for lunch!! She and I really enjoy getting this special time to be together, as well as the yummmmmy fries ( well there just the best, they just are!!)
After lunch I bought a Sundae for us all to share... as I was feeding this creamy sugary chocolate delight to my 9 1/2 month old I realized something. With the first baby, your so worried about everything and then with the second... not nearly as much:) Then with the third, you find yourself feeding your 9 month old ice cream and hot fudge!!! LOL Anyone else get this??