My new home....

I've gotta say, after about 13 years of living in dorm rooms and apartments, I am pretty happy to be living in a house again.


Here is my room.


My tv watching area...


My little bathroom. :-)
I know this may be a weird post for some, but I know my mom and Teresa would like to see my new place, so this is for them. :-)

Hunter is so happy.....

For the last year, poor Hunter, has not had too many creature comforts. He had my bed (his favorite), the couch, and the table chairs to sit on. But, in his new house, he has so many places to curl up and relax, he doesn't even know what to do with himself. The bench in this top picture is his new favorite place to curl up, but as you can see from the pics below, he has found plenty of other places as well.


He likes to keep me company, so the other day while I was on the computer, he decided to get really close. It might have had something to do with the sunlight coming through the blinds on the desk as well.... :-)


He knows enough to stay out of Brooke's reach. She loved staring up at him. She was laughing and jumping up and down. He just stared at her and twitched his tail.


He loves to cuddle, so Zach was especially happy when he cuddled up with him the other day. So happy he asked me to take his picture. :-)


Another favorite spot.


The sun is definitely a good draw for him. He dearly loves the outdoors and at my other apartments he hasn't had a whole lot of room to explore, so I am happy for my kitty! He still doesn't get outside, but he has a lot more room to explore and keep himself busy.

His Faithfulness!

In my moments of fear

Through Every Pain Every Tear

There's A God Who's Been Faithful To Me

When My Strength Was All Gone When My Heart Had No Song Still In Love He's Proved Faithful To Me

Every Word He's Promised Is True

What I Thought Was Impossible I've Seen My God Do

He's Been Faithful Faithful To Me

Looking Back His Love And Mercy I See

Though In My Heart I Have Questioned And Failed To Believe

He's Been Faithful, Faithful To Me

When My Heart Looked Away

The Many Times I Could Not Pray

Still My God He Was Faithful To Me

The Days I Spent So Selfishly

Reaching Out For What Pleased Me

Even Then God Was Faithful To Me

Every Time I Come Back To Him

He Is Waiting with Open Arms

And I See Once Again

He's Been Faithful Faithful To Me

Looking Back His Love And Mercy I See

Though In My Heart I Have Questioned

Even Failed To Believe

Yet He's Been Faithful, Faithful To Me



I think we all know this song, but as my church choir sang it Sunday morning, I was once again reminded with such clarity of the faithfulness of God. We as humans are so weak so many times, and yet He is still there for us, even when we stumble and fall, when we turn our backs on Him and decide to go our own way, He just keeps right on loving us. When we realize once again how much we really do need Him, he is there waiting to take us back with open arms. There is no other relationship in life that is as perfect as God's relationship with us. I play in several different volleyball leagues around here and have become quite close with several people, whom have no interest, whatsoever, in God. He is like a fairytale to them. I have struggled within myself, about how to be a good witness to them. Anytime God is mentioned, you feel the wall go up ten miles high....it is so difficult. I wouldn't say I am the best witness even in the best of circumstances, but I am totally at a loss with these people. I feel like the only thing I can do is to live my life in a way that shows them that having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is real and enticing. My pastor reminded me that no man can come to the Lord except that the Lord draws them to Him. So that has become my prayer, that the Lord in His wisdom and power, will draw them to Him in the best way possible, and that I will be a positive influence for Him in every way. As the song (and Scripture) says, "He is Faithful!"

Out with the girls!

Some friends and I went to the Reds vs. Cardinals game last night. We had a lot of fun. It goes..Carissa, Whitney, myself and Liza. I play volleyball with Carissa and Liza, and Whitney is a new friend that just moved here from Detroit.

The two Detroit girls.

Liza moved here from Puerto Rica earlier this year. She is so much fun. She is a great middle hitter on our vb team, but she just had to have shoulder surgery. So we are missing her a lot.

Taking pics by ourselves is Hard! lol

Carissa is my shopping/movie buddy. We have a good time together. It was a good game, the Reds actually won, which, I actually prefer the Cards, but hey....what do you do? :-)

The "perfect" storm.....

As I drove to church Sunday morning, I was thinking about what a beautiful day it was, but noticed it was a little windy. As I left church, once again, I noticed it was windy, but didn't think much about it. By 2:30 in the afternoon, it was so windy, I was getting nervous. Outdoor patio stuff started flying around and as we were watching Riley's dad build her new playset, we watched their trampoline start to bend right in half. I became even more nervous. Vickey the lady I live with decided she should run to the store and get some bread and stuff that she figured we would need, since the electric was off, so I told her I would go with her. As we drove to town, we saw a snapped electrical wire. By the time we parked at Target, I was scared to death. The wind was literally shaking her Suburban so hard it almost seemed like it would roll it over. Traffic lights were out and hanging by a thread, trees were down, signs were bent in half. As we drove home, we had to take several detours because of trees across the road on top of wires.


I was pretty nervous and hoping that a tree wouldn't topple on us. Shingles and siding were flying off houses, and it was obvious that a lot of damage was being done.


Thankfully we made it home safely to a dark house. We grilled some meat on the grill, which we stacked stuff around to keep it lit, and had a good time considering there was no electricity.

Around 9:00 it started to die down and it was over. The next day, I took the kids out to try and find some lunch, and I had Kyle take pictures of trees that we saw on our way there.

All in all it was a pretty crazy day. The thing that amazed me the most is that it was just pure wind almost the whole time. No rain, no lightning and thunder, just a massive wind. Pretty crazy. Our power was out for three whole days. I have gained a new appreciation for hot water, and electricity, refrigerators, etc...

Watch this! Its awesome!

This man paid for this on his own.  I love it!

Odds and ends....

Here is one of my favorite boys in the world. I have a few, but he is pretty special. His name is Egan, and I begged him to wear his new pajamas because I thought they were so cute and soft. I got his brother to wear his as well, but he wouldn't cooperate for a pic.

This is his youngest brother Timmy. He was tackling him and Timmy was trying to push him off.



This is Ashley and Riley on our first day of working together. They both had outfits with turtles on them, so they wanted a picture together.



Funny story here. This post is really for Teresa since she knows the boys and I wanted to show her and Callie, Hunter's new "friend". I don't think Hunter likes Harley as well as he did Callie yet, but I am pretty sure they will develop a very similar relationship. This was the best pic I could get, because Hunter really did not want to be too close to the dog and the dog wanted to be in my lap so it was pretty complicated to get even this good of a shot. :-)

Emma Noelle 3 years

So here is Jeremy and Melissa's little girl. She turned three in January.

Usually, she is a pain to try and get a good picture of, but this time around she did a great job. I think the photographer had her number.

Shy Emma

She is getting so big, its crazy.

Her mommy's favorite picture. Love this little munchkin. She is a lot fun.

Changes

As I looked on my summer at the beginning of it, I was thinking it was going to be a pretty slow, relaxed summer.....boy, was I wrong!! I have been so busy, it has flown by so fast. With watching Jade for thirteen days, taking an unexpected vacation to New York, playing volleyball three nights a week, and a lot more, I have been going 24-7. I have had a lot of changes happening here in the last month. As I posted earlier, my baby girl went to school full time, and I had to take on two new jobs. I have been doing the one job, since March. Two little girls, 8 months and 5. They are great kids and belong to really nice parents. Their neighbor across the road with whom they are pretty good friends with, just got a divorce and is going back to work full time. So, she asked me to move him and help her with her kids ( 2 boys--11 and 9, and a girl--5), and combine the two jobs. So, that is what I have decided to do. So my days are quite busy, and I am THRILLED about not having a huge rent and utility bill every month. Vickey and her kids are really nice and it has, so far, been a really smooth transition. So soon, I will post some pics of my new life. :-)

The "newer" kids

This is the family that I have been nannying for along with Kaelah since March of this year. Brooke is 8 months and Ashley is 5. While I was home, we happened on an art fair outdoors and this lady had a great booth full of awesome barrettes. I bought one for all of my girls. The one that Ashley is wearing is the little mermaid. I got Rapunzel for Riley the new girl and a pirate for Kaelah. They are all made out of Ribbon and done so well. Brook just has a cute pink clip with a flower on it, that actually STAYS in her barely there hair. :-)

Here is the mermaid. Ashley's favorite princess.

You can't really see Brooke's but she is smiling great for the camera! :-) LOL

some pics of Jada

My mom is so creative. I wish I had half her talent. She made this headband for Jade. I thought it was so cute and Jade kept it on, which is a feat in and of itself. :-)

Jade running from "Bapa" in her cowboy outfit I got her.

Watching "Bapa" give her bear a hug.

Cute Jadakins!

The soldier returns....

A happy little family reunion...

Nick left for boot camp in May of this year, and he was finally able to come home for a weekend. He is trying to get into the special forces so he has several challenges ahead of him. He is not the best picture guy in the world. He was trying to obey my instructions and as you can tell, Jade and Liss got the hang of it quite well, but Nick.....he just didn't quite get it....lol