My kids...my blessings.

During this time of Thanksgiving and Advent, I think a lot about my family, my blessings, my gifts. I want to take this time to give you a bit of an update about my children, my biggest blessings.

Abbigail My Abbigail is amazing. She surprises me. She is growing by leaps and bounds. Yes, she is growing a bit taller, but not nearly as tall as she would like. The jeans that I hemmed at the beginning of the school year are starting to look a bit short on her. So, yes, she is growing. However, the growth I am talking about is more intellectual. My little girl has always been "smart." She has always seemed inquisitive, curious, and knowledgeable about so many things! She was reading at a 3rd grade level at the end of kindergarden. She is now in the fourth grade and reading at over a 7th grade level. She has read so many books in her school library that they are now bringing books from the middle school for her to read. She loves reading so much! She is always asking questions that I haven't even thought to ask. One of her Christmas gifts (DON'T TELL HER IF YOU SEE HER!!!) is a set of books called "100 things you should know about..." there are many books in the series such as "the Earth" "the Human body" "weather" etc...). We recently met with her teachers, the school principal, and a school resourse specialest to come up with strategies to help her be more challenged in her classroom. She does work rather slowly, but she gets it right! Abbigail is always singing a song or reading a book...and sometimes both. She is in a special after-school choir. She loves to go to dance class and art class. She is a busy girl!

AndrewMy little man. Oh how I love him! Andrew has recently turned 8 years old. I can't believe he is THAT old! I love him so much, but he can infuriate me like no other! He can be so sweet and kind. He can be be selfish and demanding...how can he be both in the same minute? I don't quite know! He is also growing like a weed!!! He put on some pants this morning for church that fit perfectly fine less than a month ago, this morning they are WAY short on him! These pants now look like they are almost capris! Seriously, a month ago they fit fine, and now they are about 2-3 inches short! No wonder this kid is ALWAYS hungry! He is also a very smart cookie! He scored THE highest of all second graders on some standardised testing. WOW! We are wondering where these kids got their brains and Hubby and I have deduced that we didn't use ours, so we just gave them strait to our kids! Andrew has started taking gymnastics this year. Somethign that surprised his dad and me! He loves it! It is an all-boy class. He enjoys his boy scouts, and wrestling will start this week. He's a busy kid as well!

Bethany

My "Little Bit." What a sweet heart she has. She is still my baby and loves to snuggle as much as possible. She would sleep in my bed every night if I let her! She is still my baby, but she is growing up so quickly as well. She says she is too old for princesses and "baby stuff." But she goes over to play with the neighbor girl who is 2...she says she HAS to play princesses with "H" because that's what she likes to play! I think it is just an excuse to play with the "little" stuff since she still likes it, too! She takes after her brother a bit in the "temper" department. She is so sweet and loving, but if you ask her to do something she doesn't want to do, watch out!! She is doing well in school, just like her siblings. She is scoring as if she was at the end of Kindergarden instead of the beginning! She decided to take gymnastics this year instead of dance classes. She has fun running and tumbling. She is now a "Daisy" scout and enjoys making the crafts and having fun. She is a little social butterfly. Love my Little Bit!
My husband is one of my biggest blessings. He is so wonderful to us. He likes spending time with us and makes sure we are never in need. He works so hard for God and our congregation. He is always there when people need him. He is such a wonderful pastor, father, friend, and husband. I love him SO!
God is good. He is so kind and generous to have blessed me so richly!

Autumn Colors

I attempted to post about the beautiful colors once before, but blogger was having troubles that day...so here we go again!

A few of my bloggy buddies have inspired me with pictures of the beautiful autumn colors they are being blessed with in their home areas of the country (New York and Pennsylvania). I thought I would try to show off some of the beauty of autumn here in Kansas. My family and I enjoyed a day at the zoo last weekend, and here are some of the photos I captured that day...blessings of autumn color, and the blessings of my family. Enjoy....

Here is one of the first trees I saw when entering the zoo. All ablaze in bright golden yellows and oranges...just breathtaking! The picture doesn't do it justice, the sun was behind it and washed it out a bit.

These two were spotted in two areas of the zoo, I thought they were cute, they looked like they were dripping leaves of fire.

This tree is an evergreen, no fall colors...but it's shape just pulls me in every time I see it!

Here are two of my "little animals" racing to see the bigger animals.

My monkeys looking at the furry ones.

Abbigail and Bethany decided to help me find beautiful colors.

RED! RED! RED!!!

Andrew and Daddy playing around.

One little flower trying to hold onto summer...see you next year sweet thing!
(try to ignore the litter next to the flower...I was so entranced by the flower that I didn't even notice the garbage till i was posting this!)

Happy Birthday Abbigail!

My "Baby" is turning 7!!! Her birthday isn't until Tuesday, but that is looking to be a busy day, so we started celebrating early! Yesterday, we went to town and she got to choose where we ate. She chose Lone Star Steakhouse. We love Lone Star. Particularly on Saturday afternoons, and Tuesday nights. At those times, kids eat FREE! If Warren and I just get burgers or sandwiches (which are YUMMY, and HUGE!) the meal only cost around $15, and we can't even eat at McDonald's for that! The meal starts off with a bucket of peanuts, and hot fresh rolls (with cinnamon butter to spread on them...YUMMY!) The children always order mac-n-cheese (big surprise!), which comes with a side. Bethany and Andrew usually get fries, but Abbigail loves their baked sweet potato. The kids meals come with a little bowl of ice cream at the end of a meal, but if its your birthday, you get the chocolate brownie blast...Oh My Goodness! The first time we went there for a birthday, was on Bethany's first birthday (it was also Mother's day, so I got to choose where to go!). The desert is served in a goblet that was bigger than her head! We always share it with the entire family. So anyway, you could say that LoneStar is our family favorite!!!
Lots of people were telling Abbie happy birthday today at church, so she felt pretty special. Our church family is pretty wonderful. They make our kids feel loved, even during a temper tantrum! Bethany threw a doosie just as Sunday School was supposed to start. I was doing opening, and my husband was preparing for his class...and Bethie was NOT being an angel! I tried sitting her on a step in time-out so I could conduct the opening, but she refused to sit and just YELLED! LOUDLY!! So, one of the nice women picked her up and took her to another room until I could finish opening and deal with her. Another wonderful family blesses us each year with a family pool pass for our city pool. What a blessing! Thank you! We do not take these blessings for granted, or expect them, but when they come along, we are so grateful.
We decided when we came home from church that it was a good day to spend in our own little pool in the backyard (the city pool isn't open on Sundays). So we filled it up while making lunch, then it was rest time so the pool could warm up in the sun. Of course by the time we were ready to play, it was starting to cloud up! We only got to spend about an hour in the water before we heard the thunder rolling. Right now the sky looks dark, the thunder is still booming, but no rain has fallen...yet. Oh...I almost forgot, the hail from the other night. Apparently, just 2 miles north of town they didn't even get a drop of rain, the crops could use the moisture, but not the ice! Thank you God for sparing the crops.
I will be sharing Abbigail's birth story either Monday or Tuesday...it's been 7 years, but I still remember! On June 2, 7 years ago...I was in "false" labor for a L-O-N-G time. We even went to the hospital after contractions lasted 4 hours at home. 5 Hours later, they sent us home...STILL pregnant! Of course, my parents didn't listen and were already 5 hours into the 8 hour drive when I called them to tell them it was a false alarm. So they spent the weekend with us. Dad left to go back home for work on Sunday...and Abbigail was born Monday morning...if only he'd stayed one more day! :o) I'll share the rest in another post.
Hope you all have had a blessed weekend with time for family and worshiping our awesome creator and redeemer.
BTW...it's now raining!

Hi, it's ME!

Well, after reading other's blogs for months, I got tagged, so I decided it was time to start one of my own. I have thought for a long time about starting a blog, but truly don't think my life would be interesting to others. I am blessed, but not very exciting! So...I decided to start this blog to keep a journal of my children and their growing up years (I never was very good at the baby book thing...and my scrapbook is about 6 years behind...maybe I'll keep this going!)

So...let me introduce myself! I am first and foremost a child of God. I thank God for all the blessings in my life...most importantly, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. I am the wife of a wonderful man (most of the time ;-)). My husband is the pastor at our church, and a wonderful father to our three blessings. We have been married almost 11 years, and have only been together for not quite 12...quick dating & engagement, but what are you going to do when love gets a hold of you?? I'll tell you the whole story sometime. We were married the day after he graduated from college, and 6 days before he started seminary. Those were some crazy years!

After struggling with infertility for a few years, we were blessed with our first daughter, Abbigail Grace. She is a joy! She is about to finish her 1st grade year. She loves school. She is reading at more than a 4th grade level. I know we're in for trouble in a few years...she's too smart for us!

Andrew Martin came along 17 months after his sister, our surprise blessing. He is all boy and a joy to me. He is so excited about going to kindergarten next year! He has been going to a Christian pre-school this year and has enjoyed it so much! He says he doesn't want to leave his teacher, he wants her to go to Kind. with him.

When Andrew was 12 months old, my hubby decided that maybe one more might be fun, so we began "trying" again. After 8 months, we tried one round of clomid, and we were blessed with Bethany Joy. She will be 3 on Monday, where has the time gone???? She's in the trenches of potty-training, but is having more good days than bad (finally!). She's also really looking forward to going to preschool next year.

While my husband attended the seminary, I was able to help pay the bills by doing what I love...TEACH! I love teaching! I taught preschool for 3 of the years, and junior high for one year. During that jr. high year, I realized how much more I am suited for the little ones! We have been so blessed...since our children have been born, I have been able to be a full-time mom. I was my husband's secretary for a few years, but our children were able to go to work with us. Now, I'm a SAHM, though I have a few extra most days. I am able to stay home with ours, but to help with the bills, I also watch a few others.

Well, this is a bit about my life...I hope I didn't bore you to tears!

Blessings-
Andie