Smoker Fam

I know you can hardly see anyone, but i just had to post this. This is my mom's family. Everyone is here (thanks to photoshop), which is amazing! My mom has 2 brothers and 1 sister and look at what resulted! My Grandparents turn 88 this month. They have 19 great grand children and counting. We have fun getting together every summer for an ice cream party. This was taken in August. Rod and I both have such great extended family. i wonder if our family will be this big 50 years from now :)

Decisions

One of the many things that stood out to me so far on Beth Moore's study, Living Beyond Yourself, is when she touched on all the gray areas in life. Decisions that we need to make that aren't black and white. The Bible of course doesn't give specific answers to what you do in certain situations that come up. She helped me realize that most often with these gray areas (she gave several examples: which job to take, which school to send my child, vaccines, etc) there isn't necessarily a right or wrong answer, you could choose either one and make it work. But there's a right fit for you specifically in your situation. God has a plan for your life and it's up to us to ask His spirit to guide us to the answer that is best for us. So instead of me trying to find the RIGHT answer by researching and asking others, i was challenged to realize that what God has for me and my family may be different then what a lot of people would precieve as the right thing (just talking about the gray areas). I need to ask God what He wants for me, my family, etc. A specific "gray" for me right now is whether or not to take the hormone progestrone to possibly prevent preterm labor again. Now for some women this would be great and work fine. But i'm not sure it's what i should do in my situation. The docs might wonder, "why won't she just agree to this?" I'll need clear guidance from the Lord first.

I know i get carried away with videos, but gotta share this one...What's up with boys and wrestling?? I knew it was coming, i grew up with brothers who very much liked to wrestle. But at ages 2 and 3?? They do this all the time. I have the book, Bringing up Boys by James Dobson. Maybe i should read it and see if he has any insight! At any rate, it's very entertaining for Rod and I and it's nice to see them "bond", as long as noone draws blood or bangs heads together.

I'll end with this quote i read tonight, i like it....

"Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, satan shudders and says "oh no, she's awake!"

News

I think most of you have heard our news through phone calls, facebook, or word of mouth :) But i'll let Ben tell it anyway, he says it best.....

Translation: "Mommy having a baby....Mommy get humongous!"

Yum

Here's a recipe for peas that's a must try. The heavy cream makes this so good.

Creamy Peas

2 T butter

6 oz ham steak, diced

1 red onion, halved and sliced thin

2/3 c. heavy cream

1 tsp parsley

1 lb. peas

1. Melt butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add ham and cook until browned. Add onion and cook until soft and beginning to brown, about 5 min.

2. Add cream, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to simmer and cook until cream just begins to thicken, about 3 minutes. Stir in cooked peas.

*you can eliminate the ham, and it's still good!

Corn table

This thing has been such a blessing! We're borrowing this corn table from my aunt and uncle's church. They are letting us use it for the get togethers we're having here. So we'll have it for a few weeks. The boys love it, and since it's big they can all play around it without fighting! They do have trouble keeping it in on the table though.

If any of you want to bring your kids over the next few weeks to play in it, just let me know! it's in the barn, so you can still come if the weather isn't great...

brad sticks his tounge out when he's concentrating..

tidbits

The boys really like blackberries. But lately i haven't been able to find them fresh, so i bought them at Weis in the plastic containers, who knows where they came from. Rod thinks there is something wrong with them. They shouldn't be the size of your son's hands. Now Brad has small hands, but still!! Kitty got a chipmunk the other week. Go kitty! (all our cats are named kitty, but one)Speaking of kitties, we have a new litter again. Ug.. but only 2 this time. That makes 5 litters this year! The boys all love kitties, but Ben is the sweetest with them..They are kinda funny looking. Their eyes are really far apart..