Girl Time!!!

Keith took Gid bike riding and Emme wanted to stay home and have a pedi party!

Holiday Helpers!

I am always thinking…and during Fall Break, I had even more time to think…and I had an idea! I have lots of idea, but not many ever leave my brain and even fewer become reality! Sooo, when a friend of mine was discussing frustrations with a recent job possibility, I laughed and said, “Well, I have an idea!”

She loved it, further developed it and in 24 hours, with no time to even advertise or have second thoughts…we were working!!! We are having fun and praying God will use this idea to help and encourage others.

Sooo…if you need a Holiday Helper…please let us know!

MckMama’s and Her Charming Kids…

picture of Stellan, by MckMama at My Charming Kids

I love blogging, reading blogs, discovering new blogs and making new blog friends. MckMama is a wonderful writer, fabulous photographer and an amazing mom. Her darling son, Stellan, is very sick. Please take a moment to get to know MckMama and pray for her and her family.

A Perfect Day!!!

Perfect weather.

New friends.

Dancing.

Races.

Smiles.

A perfect day!!!

I Wish It Was Saturday…

At 7AM, I thought that my day could only get better. Emme woke-up in a GRUMPY mood, making demands for Sun Chips and Halloween candy. I refused the Sun Chips, since, on the average day…including yesterday, she eats them for lunch and dinner and for snacks throughout the day. I definitely was not giving candy to Ms. Demanding. She cried for 40 minutes and continued to cry after telling her she could have Sun Chips and a piece of candy after she got dressed and ate breakfast (which was cereal and pop tarts)!!!

In addition to Emme’s meltdown, Gid has a clothing issue. He does not want to feel his clothes, while wearing them. After 5 wardrobe changes, he finally found pants he could tolerate. While I was getting ready, I hear banging and ask him what he is doing. He was beating on a bag of chips.

Why are you doing that?

Because it is fun and I don't like these chips anyways!

PTL school starts in less than an hour!!!

11:00 Facebook Status…is wondering if I should have just gave Emme Sun Chips for breakfast?!? At school, she disrupted the class, wouldn't let the others do their work and then punched a girl in the stomach!!! She got in pretty big trouble (for Pre-K) at school and I am completely mortified. What is happening to my sweet little girl?!?!

Future Stylist…

I just hope when she becomes a professional, she will wear clothes under her smock!!!

A Day of Rejoicing, Celebrating and Answered Prayer!!!

The Marathon Halloween!!!

For a month, the kids had planned on being Snow White and Anakin Skywalker for Halloween. However, they commenced the Halloween Celebrations as Minnie Mouse and Ironman!

Our first stop was VBC’s Fall Festival.

They loved celebrating with friends.

There were great games, lots of treats and tons of candy.

Then, we went to D’s house to celebrate with Emme’s Pre-K classmates and their families.

And topped off the marathon Halloween with good ole Trick-or Treating…the Sullivan kids first time ever! They were a bit reserved, but after a few homes, Gid and Emme were leading the pack in complete shock that they were actually aloud to go to the home of a complete stranger and were give handfuls of candy!!!

We returned home at 9PM completely exhausted with pounds of candy and many great memories!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

A Perfect Saturday…

Bike riding, races and lessons…

Photography Experiments and Lessons…

Lake Hefner Adventures…

A Photo Trek…

Posing…

Pure Joy…

Races…

Togetherness…

We love you, Jill!!!

What A Day!!!

Jill arrived yesterday! We enjoyed Thai, lattes, brownies, lasagna, cupcakes, coconut Diet Dr. Pepper, a bushel of grapes and non-stop chatting, laughing, remembering, reflecting and rejoicing!!! I am so thankful for this special time with such a dear friend!!!

We drove to Enid and had lunch with my parents.

My dad is doing FABULOUS!!! His counts have not changed and he is feeling great and looks amazing!!!

After lunch and a great time with my dad and Barbara, we went to visit Anne, who served us tea and fabulous ginger snaps!!!

Emme sipped tea and created magnificent masterpieces, while we had a perfect afternoon of felloship.

We ended the day in Kingfisher to celebrate K’s 6th Birthday!!! The kids had a blast swimming, eating cake and spending time with K and all their friends!!!

What a great day!!!

50’s Day at School!

Jill Is Coming!!!

In 12 hours, Jill will be here!!! We served in Russia with the Willekes for 6 of our 7 years. We have shared so many memories, trials, triumphs, firsts, language class, celebrations, blunders, trips, discussions, holidays...Jill is one of my very dearest friends and I can wait to see her!!!

Dazed and Confused!

I try to be organized. I clean, give away, put away, simplify, make lists, have 2 calendars, but still fail to remember, am unable to find what I am searching for and seem to always be running late and on empty!!!

Last night, we attended the Y’s Fall Carnival. I left early to go have girl time, but needed to get my purse from our car. I told Keith that I would hide the keys in a special spot, so I would not need to go back into the Y. I immediately went to the car, grabbed my purse, put the keys in my purse and left in my friend’s car. I never again thought about the keys…until Keith called.

My cell phone doesn’t ring and if it did would probably be buried in my purse dead. Sooo, when my friend said that Keith was on the phone I panicked!!!

Where did you leave the keys?

Oh…the keys are in my purse!!!

Borrowed car, return keys, returned borrowed car…breaking the garage door upon my return!!!

Today, I tried to make cinnamon rolls with a quart of milk...equaling 8 cups of milk!?!?! Only after finishing the process did I realize I added twice as much milk as needed. I considered adding more flour to the already 9 cups...but after 4 additional cups I decided to just make muffins!!!

Unstealable Joy, by Keith

I posted a note almost a year ago. The point was that God was speaking to me and giving me joy despite being in a place in life that was not naturally enjoyable.

Somewhere between then and now I have been really fighting for joy. I have even lost it in many ways. I have been wondering how to get it back. I want to be joyful. I want to be content. I want to be at peace. But I haven’t been.

Today, I was reviewing some Scripture that I have been reading through and trying to think over some things that had jumped out at me. One of the things I read was in James chapter 1. In the translation I have been reading it says, “When you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy.” This a pretty radical and even strange expectation.

So, why should I consider all trials of life (especially the one I am in now) nothing but joy? As I read on it gives the answer “because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance…so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.”

So here’s what I’m learning. The testing of my faith produces better faith, which means in the end, I will be closer to the one I put my faith in. That’s Jesus of course. But for this to motivate me to be joyful, I must value my relationship with Jesus more than anything. If my connection with God is not that important to me, I would not want to be joyful in trials. I wouldn’t care about that particular result. I must value Him even more than that which I have lost in this trial. Like a ministry. Like the status of being a real life missionary. Like our friends we left. Like Russia. Like financial security. And on and on.

I am learning that I have valued some of those things even more than Christ and my relationship with Him. I want those things back, or similar things, to replace them. Jesus has not been enough. I haven’t lost Him, but He has not consistently been supremely valuable to me.

I am praying my heart is changed by Him, so that He becomes that. I am learning that this is not going to be a simple choice to change. It will entail more than singing a praise song at church or just declaring this is what I want. It will entail wrestling deep in my soul to make my Savior all that I need. No matter what else I have or not. For me, that is the secret to unstealable joy.

Anakin Skywalker, Star Student!!!

Gid’s Class did a Living Library, where each child dressed as their favorite storybook character and sharing what they love about that story.

The kids sang songs and recited poems.

He choose to be Anakin Skywalker from one of his many Star Wars books.

He did a great job and had a blast!

He was also selected as Star Student for the month of October.

Busy at work.

Gid, we are sooo proud of you!!!

The Y’s Fall Festival…

What a fun night!!!