Things are coming along nicely around here - we finally got to put up the lights I bought for the house last year - and they are sooo pretty!
[caption id="attachment_457" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="Our House In Lights!"][/caption]
I also got to finally decorate our stair banister!
[caption id="attachment_458" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Decorated Staircase (with our birthday girl in the shot for good measure!)"][/caption]
And here's some pictures of our Adventures in the Christmas Tree Hunt of 1009:
I hope you enjoy our photos! We sure enjoyed doing it this year! And don't forget, that "Unto Us A Child Is Born" - and little baby laid in a manger made from a tree - "A Savior Which Is Christ The Lord" - a perfect man who gave up his life to pay our penalty for sin, by being nail to a cross made from a tree! Make the most of your Christmas celebrationg by remembering that whenever you see a Christmas Tree!
As you may remember, I don't blog much when Jeremy is home...hence my absence!
Here's a few random photos of the last few weeks:
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We had a great time with Jeremy home! We bowled a lot, did pizza more often than usual, watched some great movies, played some great card games, played the Wii a lot, and just enjoyed seeing him at our dinner table!
What I can't get over, is that he has only been gone for just over a week, and he'll be back for Christmas in just over 2 weeks! We will be so spoiled!
We have all our Christmas lights up, but no photos yet...soon, I promise.
I've had so much fun decorating our new home for Christmas...we never got to last year as we spent almost all of December in the hospital with Esther! So even though we've been in our new home nearly two years (can you believe it??), this will be our first Christmas in our new house! I just loved decorating the stair banister! But the icicle lights on the house as just sooo cool!!!
I'm using the quick editor - Sorry no blogging lately - first my computer's memory card reader stopped reading, then all my transfer cables dissappeared, then my camera died (no surprise, just was hoping it would last longer), and now that I have a "new" camera, my blog editor isn't working properly due to a virus some hacker put on my site! The virus has been removed and we have now installed a protective service that will prevent that from happening again! My website is working fine, but for some reason, my blog editor is not! So, be patient and I'll soon be blogging again! [caption id="attachment_430" align="aligncenter" width="348" caption="We\'re ready and waiting for Thanksgiving!"][/caption] And we are sooo thankful to have Jeremy home with us again: [caption id="attachment_431" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Jeremy hard at work on his truck lowering project!"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_423" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Pride and Prejudice Puppies"][/caption]
But all is well with mommy and pups - you can see more pics of these adorable puppies on Jessica's website, Shakespeare Schnauzers - If you are interested in purchasing one of these wonderful puppies, the contact information is on her site as well! Oh, and best of all, these puppies will be ready for their new homes by Christmas!!
We just enjoyed a couple of nice fall days, but now the rain is back. It was so nice to have the kids outside again today! I had a terribly busy day, as usual, yesterday (homeschooling in the morning, Bible Study in the afternoon, run errands, then bowling right after dinner!), so I slept in a little (until 7 am), and got a late start.
To my surprise when I came downstairs, most of the kids were doing their school work and their chores! And Jessica hadn't been down yet either. Amazing! Most of the kids have lessons today (music for 3, art for 1), so they were motivated to get their work done early so their could play their favorite video games before leaving for lessons!
I found rather quickly that I am not really up to doing homeschooling (answering questions, helping them understand their math problems, etc), before and during breakfast! I soon called a family meeting and made a new policy...the children can't do homeschooling before I've had my cup of coffee, my breakfast, my vitamins, and have fed, changed, dressed Esther, unless they can do it without my help entirely! AND they have to have their chores done first! So then they were sent back to finish chores while I got myself settled down!
Then I got an update on Jessica...her dog, Juliette had started having puppies at 3 am, and there were 5 - 3 boys and 2 girls. All healthy, but she was pretty sure that there was one more in there.
Yesterday one of my errands was to get new strings on my guitar! This week we have started singing a few songs together at the beginning of school, a few we know and learning a few as well. We are all enjoying this and it's giving me a little practice time everyday on the guitar. Right now we are working on "Dare to Be A Daniel", and what I call the "Happy Song" (Ho Ho Hosanah, Ha Ha lelujah, He He He He saved me! I've got the Joy of the Lord!), and a few echo songs...those are the kids favorites. I'm going to have to find more echo songs!
After school, we had lunch and they left for lessons (still no puppy yet). I got some work done, spent time on lots of phone calls working out details on having a young friend coming to stay with us for a while. and caught up on emails, all the time checking in on Juliette every 30 mintues to see if there was any change in the status of that last puppy....nope!
The kids came home and Jessica left to take the momma and puppies to the vet. No news yet.
So, what's the anticipation in my title about???? Underlying every minute of every day lately is the a current of excitement...counting down the days until Jeremy is back home! We just found out yesterday that he'll be arriving in Bellingham just before midnight a week from Tuesday! So much for an welcome home party at the airport! LOL! We are so excited to have him home after his deployment of 7 months in Iraq. He'll be home for almost all of November, and, Lord willing, back for Christmas as well! We have only had Jeremy home for one holiday in over 4 years! Yeah!!!
So, there you have it, a somewhat typical day for us! If you want an update on the puppies, look for me on facebook (search for Snap-EZ)
You can find me by searching for "Snap-EZ"!! Please let me know how you know me, as I'm only approving people I can verify, as I have more personal info there! If you are a customer, just let me know, or if you follow my blog, just say so when you make a request to be my friend!
We've had a rough couple of years, some of it good, some of it really trying, and everything intense and exhausting. In the last 2 years we've gone through our van breaking down and not having the funds to replace the engine, building a new home, painting that home, moving into that home, trying to sell the old mobile home, a difficult pregnancy, 4 weeks on bed rest, a life threatening birth, and new baby with a heart defect, adjusting to the idea of having a child with Trisomy 21 (she's really a wonderful, easy baby...but it was an adjustment to us mentally), 5 weeks with Esther in the hospital, 5 weeks at home with a seriously ill, fragile baby, 5 more weeks in the hospital, having our baby go through open heart surgery, my oldest son going to Iraq, our economy tanking and effecting our home business, landscaping our front lawn, hosting our biggest birthday party ever, camping with bronchitis/sinus infection, a business trip to Vegas, and homeschooling through it all.
Through it all, God has graciously met our needs or enabled to make due with what we have. This process has been difficult but good for us all. We have been learning so much through the process, especially about keeping priorities straight. We have received so much from His hand this year and always just when we've needed it. Here's a breif list of some of the many things that God orchestrated in our lives in the past 2 years:
*We decided to change banks for financing our new house with in days of the first bank going bankrupt, yet we were able to get the money back that we gave them for an appraisal that had not been completed
*Getting our station wagon running just a week before the van's engine dying
*We picked the first builder that was recommended to us and he was just what we needed
*Friends who came alongside to help paint our house when I had sprained my knee
*Having all the EMTs already here when Esther was born (they were called for me), so my midwife was able to get the help she needed to keep me and Esther alive and transport Esther so quickly!
*More people than I could ever count praying for Esther and our family last fall/winter, sending emails of encouragement, phone calls when I really needed them, meals for our family, child care just when needed most, money to cover traveling expenses from out of no-where,
*Finding a wonderful truck with exactly what we had left of our tax return - exactly what we needed!
*Our two vehicles continuing to run well in spite of both having over 200,000 miles on them!
There are so many things God has done for us, that I could spend all day doing this and still find more things to be thankful for. I'm sure you can too! So...you are probably wondering why I am blogging about this now - it's not Thanksgiving yet (and I'm not Canadian, hehe )!
Well, God has shocked my socks off once again!!!! Our station wagon has been spewing water and oil the last few weeks, the heater fan stopped working a few months ago and with the weather turning cold, this is beginning to be a problem! It also has over 240,000 miles on it, so we were starting to wonder what in the world we would do if it completely broke down (our finances have been tight the last few months to put it mildly). I tried not to worry about it, praying daily that God would meet our needs (knowing that it wasn't a "need" yet, so I kept reminding myself not to worry about it).
Then, seemingly out of the blue, we now have a 12 passenger van! FREE! Yes, FREE! A family we've known through Bible Quizzing no longer needed theirs as their family is shrinking (children moving out of their home), and they couldn't seem to sell it, so they decided to give it to whomever they found that needed one. They mentioned this and Jason heard about it, told me about it and now, just 5 days later, we have a white 1994 GMC 12 passenger van in our driveway, just waiting for tabs/licensing! Completely a gift!!! Is that amazing or what!! It may have over 200,000 miles on it, but Daryl says it runs great, starts right away, and the exhaust looks clean! The only stipulation is that we give it away when we no longer need it! I'm still in shock! As soon as I'm well enough to get up and out, I'll get the licensing done and we can all ride together to church on Sunday for the first time in 2 years!
[caption id="attachment_396" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Here's the new van!"][/caption]
I haven't looked at it closely, or inside (I'm sick with something, just not sure what yet, but going outside sounds like too much work), but Daryl says the inside is blue, in good condition (well used, but clean) - amazing isn't it!
May the Lord richly bless the Forbes family for blessing us in this way!
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