An appropriate theme

Today was PJ Day at Discovery School. The girls love theme days so they had looked forward to wearing their PJs to school. I was so glad that they were finally well enough to get out of the house and go back to DS. You can tell they have been sick :( Lizzie ate NOTHING for 4 days and she was having to keep pulling up her pants this morning.

After our week, I could not think of a more appropriate theme than PJ day! We had been our PJs for a while! This was the picture at our house for 6 days (with the addition of 4 more sick bodies)! Notice I got wise and covered our couch! Better to wash a quilt than try and clean the entire couch... Yes, we ALL ended up with it. I can not believe how much I am hearing about the stomach bug. It really seems to be all over the country and sweeping through entire families. I have heard of so many families who have all had it. I feel for them! This was for sure NOT a 24 hour thing. This was the first time we have all had something like this. It seemed to never end and we hurt like we had the flu! We are still weak and very tired but so much better! The irritability factor in our house is at an all time high but we do have excuses, right? Enough said about all that... I am ready to move on!

Once again, I was reminded through this period of chaos and well LOTS of other things that we are so blessed by wonderful family and friends. We had so many people checking on us and offering to bring us things and praying for us. My sweet friend (who has 4 small children) dropped a bowl of homeade chicken soup at our door last night. The timing was great! The girls could finally eat and they were excited to have something home cooked. She also had left a warm loaf of fresh baked bread and it was really good to our fragile tummies! We are beyond blessed!

I had so many good blog ideas in my head for this week and they have somehow all been erased from my mind. Maybe the ideas along with my energy will return soon!

Hope you all STAY WELL!

The chicken is still in the freezer...

Where do I begin?

Let's start with last Friday:

I have really been needing some "time" lately and of course there is a lot to do here and a lot to do in RS. A convinced me to let him take the girls to RS, me stay here and have some "time" and I was planning to get some things done around here.

I scurry around getting A and the girls ready to go. Fridays are therapy days and Ell teaches at Good News Club so lots of running around, etc. But I got their groceries bought (and mine) and got them packed and ready.

I had Supper Club on Fri nt so I headed there and A and the girls left for RS.

Had a wonderful time at supper club. Great food, great relaxed time with friends, they gave me some really cute kitchen towels and an ADORABLE apron because my supper club time is coming to an end :( Nov. was our 3 yr anniversary. There are only 4 of us now from the original group. I make the 3rd who has moved away (all 3 of us being minister's wives).

I was telling the supper club girls that I was going to make some chicken salad and I had some Pepperidge Farm entertainment crackers and I was going to eat that all weekend since I was alone.

I get home from supper club and A and the girls are home. WHAT???

I walk in the door and know immediately that Lizzie is sick.

I confess I had a very selfish moment and was not happy that MY TIME had been interrupted!

Shortly after I felt really bad about this selfishness and went into mama mode! Once again I admit that I was still thinking "this is not Fai????" I can't say the word because A doesn't allow that word! It ends in a R!

We debate what the rest of the weekend holds and as much as I did not want to be home without A and with a sick child and the other girls I knew that is what I had to do. I knew that since Lizzie was throwing up there was the possibility of the other girls getting sick and A could not take care of them so they needed to stay with me. A went on Sat morning to RS so he could do some projects around there.

Lizzie continued to throw up all day Sat, running fever, eating nothing, not even being able to keep down Sprite, etc. She had 5 baths in a 24 hour period!

Same story for Sunday...

Millie is just at that age so she is a handful and she is the baby and she likes attention so she did not like me taking care of Lizzie and trying to keep her away from us. So Sun was really quite a challenge with her!

She kept telling me her tummy hurt but I thought she wanted attention. Bad mama for the second time in one weekend. First my selfish moment and then thinking Mill was being selfish!

Sallie holds her head which is her telling me she is sick. Great, now Sallie is being selfish! She curls up beside me and about 10 min later she shows me just how sick she is! BAD, it was BAD! All over the couch, all inside the couch, EVERYWHERE! We get a shower, clean up, clean up, did I mention clean up??? Ell (I love her more than ever!) was trying to help me and gagging! I told her she had to GET IT TOGETHER! I NEEDED HER! Bless her, she did "GET IT TOGETHER!"

In the midst of cleaning the mess, I slip on a toy on the hardwood floor and fall. I thought I was really hurt! I just laid there and cried for a while. Ell was about to call 911 and she is always calm! She was saying "mama, what is hurt" and all I could say is "I don't know!" I finally "GOT IT TOGETHER" and got up (while Lizzie is standing there waiting on me to pick her up)! I am fine. A little sore today and huge bruises on one of my legs.

Sallie begins throwing up again (more than just from her mouth!). While she is throwing up Millie starts throwing up. NO, I am not kidding! I would not make this up!

It all gets really blurry about now! Sallie throws up a few more times that night and Millie threw up 6 times in a 2 hour period. I have never had puke and poop on so many things! Sorry, but it's just the truth! Our linen closet was bare and our laundry room was FULL!

A finally gets home late Sun. nt armed with much Lysol, gain, oxy clean, soup, gatorade, sprite, and the such! Not sure I have ever been so glad to see him.

He comes in and immediately begins washing and cleaning.

Ell goes to bed and tells me she doesn't feel well. Around midnight she gets up throwing up and she throws up more and more and more!

A was so sweet to clean it all up and take care of her and the other girls that woke up at different times. He kept saying "I got it, you have done this for 2 days" I LOVE HIM!!!

He stayed home with us today and bleached everything we own and helped take care of sick girls! The task was much more managable with both of us!

In fact I can hardly breathe the bleach smell is so strong. He may kill us all along with the germs!

So far A and I have not gotten it. Lizzie is much better tonight. Millie and Elleigh a little better and Sallie not so much. She went to sleep today at 1:30 and at 6 we went in to wake her up and she told us to leave the room so we did and she has not gotten up. I am hoping she will be better after sleeping so long.

This was our first experience with them all having a stomach virus at the same time. NO FUN! There is so much work that comes with stomach bugs! Whew... I am SO thankful that A and I have not gotten it. I know we are not out of the woods yet but at least if we get it maybe the girls will be better.

I have for sure been reminded that MY plans are often not what ends up taking place! Lord, I already knew that! Really, I didn't need THIS MUCH of a reminder!

Needless to say, no "time" for me (which is OK!), no completed projects, and no chicken salad... THE CHICKEN IS STILL IN THE FREEZER!

DaySSSSS... of Celebrating LOVE!

With Valentine's Day being on Sunday this year we had to break up our celebrations. As usual we had a great time! A always goes way out to make this time special for us. I pray our girls have husbands who do the same for them.

On Friday night he cooked our usual Shrimp Fettucine Alfredo. Delicious as always! A took this picture of all his ingredients and I love the picture.
LOVE these girls!

I made the girl's shirts and they were quite proud of them. I have been wanting to make some and I had this fabric leftover so decided to make these. I zig zagged around them and that was not so easy on these curvy letters. The part I am most proud of is that I could not find a font to work so I free handed the letters. It took me a while but I got it!
Ready for dinner

Being silly

LOVE this picture!

My LOVE and I

What more could I ask for? My man in a turtleneck sweater serving up some delicious food he cooked!

Looking at this picture makes me feel so full of LOVE!

Thank you God for giving me a WONDERFUL husband and 4 WONDERFUL girls to LOVE!!!For the first time ever, I did not make our dessert. Poor planning on my part and the snow are to blame! So, I came up with this idea and it turned out really cute and very good!
We always use our fine china and the little girls get better each time at handling the china

On Sat. morning before heading to Red Springs A did breakfast and gave the girls their teacups. This year he did the Vera Bradley covered mugs. They are very different from what he normally gets but very pretty. Table shot. A normally does pancakes but this year since we were in a hurry to head to RS I made a breakfast casserole the night before and A cooked it and got the table ready, made the tea and coffee, etcOnce again, Daddy serving his girlsLOVE, LOVE, LOVE everything about thisSipping tea
Ell loves hot tea. She drinks it all the time.Lastly, A and I celebrated together on Tues nt. We went to Italian Inn. We have heard about it since we have lived here and never been. The food was good. For sure not the best italian we have ever had but not bad either. The prices were reasonable. The highlight was the private booths. You actually close the doors on your booth and it is really private. It is known for the private booths. It was a neat experience. The restaurant itself is nothing fancy at all but the booths were unique! This pic was made as we were leaving for our date.

Blizzard, Book, Brisket, and Bragging

I know, I know I posted more snow pics than one blog should allow on my last post BUT 1) we got lots more snow after those were taken 2) because we aren't accustomed to snow, we go crazy! 3) I love snow pics and 4) this was the largest snowfall in history in one day in DFW so I have to document history! These were all taken in our yard and neighborhood on Friday morning.

The trees were BEAUTIFUL!

I am currently (in my spare time) reading Beth Moore's new book So Long, Insecurity http://www.solonginsecurity.com/ I have not had much time to get very far into it but so far it is really good. I do not consider myself to be a really insecure person but we all have insecurities and this book has pointed out some to me that I didn't even realize I had until it made me think about it. I highly recommend it for any woman (or man!). I am anxious to finish reading it so Elleigh can read it and maybe by then A will have some free reading time! I think it would be a good read for men for them to realize some of the struggles women face with insecurity. Check it out!

Having lived the last 5 plus years in TX we have grown to love brisket or beef bbq. For a couple of years I have used the same recipe to cook mine and it was good but I am always looking for new recipes. Our church had our annual widow/widowers Valentine's banquet on Saturday night and we had brisket and the fixins'. We had volunteered to cook 2 briskets so when Pioneer Woman posted her brisket recipe I knew we had to try it! We did and I will probably never use another brisket recipe again! It was wonderful. My sister Connie loves brisket so I wanted her to have this recipe and I thought some of you might want it as well so here it is:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/brisket_baby/ We were not able to marinate it for as long as the recipe says but we did marinate for about 8 hours and it was really good. Next time we want to marinate for the full time to see if there is a difference.

Now for the bragging!

Our first born who we are so proud of has been chosen to be an acteen staffer at GA camp this summer!!!

Back in December she found out about this opportunity. 7th-12th graders can apply but we were told that 7th graders are normally not chosen. She really wanted to apply and so we encouraged her to go for it and if it was God's will she would be chosen this year and if not it would be great experience. She applied which meant answering lots of questions concerning her experience and spiritual maturity. She had to have a recommendation letter which she got from the lady who heads up Good News Club since Ell has taught for a couple of years and currently is teaching in 2 schools each week. Several weeks ago she had to attend a 5 hour evaluation. There were around 45 applicants and they would only be choosing 25. There were three 7th graders who applied and the majority of the other applicants had been acteen staffers in the past. So, looking at the numbers it appeared that she might not be chosen this year. She understood that and said if not she would just apply again next year. Of course, deep down she would have been disappointed but not devastated! She (we) waited a little over 2 weeks for the letter to come with their decision and she got the letter on Fri afternoon that she had been chosen! She is SO MUCH like her Daddy that she was excited but if you did not know her really well you would not know it! However, she has talked about it a lot since then! She will go to 2 weekend retreats between now and June for training and to prepare for camp which will be in June. We are so proud of her and I am bragging BUT it is all GOD! Our prayers are that she will allow HIM to use her in a mighty way to minister to those GA girls at camp this summer. Not sure exactly what she will be doing at this point but her heart is really in teaching so she would love to be chosen to teach but we know God will use her in whatever position she is placed in. WE LOVE YOU ELLEIGH! Keep taking a stand for HIM and allowing HIM to guide your decisions! Elleigh's life verse right now is "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." I Timothy 4:12 I pray that you continue to live by this verse and never let anyone look down on you and that you are an example of what he has called you to be in all areas of your life! You are an example to your mama and daddy sweet girl!

Still to come at some point this week will be our Valentine's celebrations!

SNOW DAY!!!

2 posts in 24 hours!!! First of all, THIS is probably the most picture heavy post EVER! Second, we had a wonderful day. We have had a stressful couple of weeks and it was wonderful to have some fun and enjoy our huge snow storm! They say it is the largest in at least 33 years and it is still falling tonight. A was off today because the Seminary closed (and tomorrow because the roads will be ice tomorrow). Snow, 2 days off, and it's Valentine's weekend! YES!!!!!!!!!!! Lizzie and Millie did have Discovery School today and we did not want them to miss their Valentine's parties so they went and had fun and then came home for some more fun!

Headed to school Not sure about those faces!
A went out to take some pics and came back in with this one for me. I LOVE THAT MAN!!!

Ell doing what she does best-POSING!

Sallie and Elleigh making snow cream with Daddy! YUM!
We picked the girls up and headed to campus becuase there is so much open space to play and I wanted some snow pics of campus.

We did not do these but I thought they were cute and the girls loved that the little one has a hairbow!


LOVE this pic!

My BIG BABY!
Notice Sallie doing her thumbs up! Priceless!
Millie falling... It was all over for her after this!

A getting ready...
Gotcha!Not even the camera woman gets a break from A!

Ell about to retaliate
Daddy forcing Elleigh into the car so she doensn't hit him again!

The snow reminds me of how BIG our GOD is! Thank you God for the many things you give us to marvel at and have fun with in your world!