Sweet face

It's so overcast here....not good lighting for pics in the house but I just can't help taking them!!

Friend's testimony

Friend of ours....great testimony :)
http://vimeo.com/60268767

Lamplighter Offer

3 posts in one day!!!

This is an AMAZING deal.  Our family LOVES LOVES LOVES the Lamplighter audio books.  We have set 1 and set 2 because of an amazing offer they had last year.  Now they are offering another amazing offer and I hope each of you will take advantage of it.  This offer expires on the 24th so please don't hesitate!!

These are amazing dramatic audio books for the whole family with the goal of teaching biblical character.  (*Dramatic audios means it is not just someone reading the story, it is sound effects/different characters voices/etc)  These are truly the BEST stories we have ever listened to.  Set one (7 dramatic audio stories) goes for $180 and set two (7 dramatic audio series) goes for $195.  For the next 2 days, they are giving these away for $7 each set.  

SEVEN DOLLARS!!!!

They are also offering ebooks as well which is what I ordered this time around.  Seven ebooks for $7....we got all three sets!!!

http://store.lamplighter.net/7-for-7-c228.aspx

Cancer can be cured

Cancer can be cured but Big Pharmacy won't allow it cause it won't make them money!!!!

My baby

Very overcast day today....so no good light in the house.  This was the only good pic of the day :)

My girl

 Some pics of my girl today....

You want me to do what?

Not a whole lot new going on here.  Seems it's been quite slow around the house lately which I don't mind at all!!!  The kids are busy trying to finish up their school year.  Everyone is healthy and we pray it stays that way!!!  The snow is really coming down today....very pretty outside, even for someone who doesn't like the snow :)  Hubby will be heading for an appointment to check on his throat.  We will be scheduling surgery probably around April???  Maybe a little later.  He has done so well this time around (it's been a year since his last surgery)...and I think it has to do with detoxing.  I've read that autoimmune diseases can be triggered by metals/toxins in our body.  I believe he has high levels of mercury in him from years ago, so he has detoxed twice now which may be what has stretched out his surgery length this time around.

I've also been doing a lot of reading and research lately on health.  I have a neat little tid bit of info to share with you (which has gotten some laughs).  The same hormone that is triggered in pregnancy (hCG) is the same hormone that is triggered in our bodies when we have cancer.  No kidding!!!  HCG can be detected in your body up to 2 years before you have the symptoms of cancer.  I encourage you all (men!!!!) to go and try out this simple test.  You need to get a pregnancy test that detects the lowest amount of hCG (here are the brands to look for.... E.P.T, First Response, Clearblue)  Hubby went a little bug-eyed when I told him this, but he took his test and it was negative!!  There are lots of articles out there to back this up......(it can detect testicular, ovarian, lung, pancreatic, stomach cancers)  I have been reading a fantastic book by a Christian man who lost 7 family members to cancer.  It is called Cancer: Step Outside the Box.  Anyone interested in curing cancer naturally....this is a must read!!!  It is also for prevention as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Cancer-Outside-Ty-M-Bollinger/dp/0978806506

On a winning streak

So I just won $25 towards any items at Deborah & Co. (her website button is located on the left hand side of my blog).  How exciting!!!!  I think I may look at those little tees you wear under your shirt.  Love it!

On another note, I want to warn everyone NOT to shop at Sears!!  They are not out for customer satisfaction.  Long story, but I'm very, very disappointed with them.  They want to charge us for their mistake.  Hopefully we can get this resolved but I won't be buying any big purchases from there again!!

Ok, now off to window shop at Deborah & Co......yay!

Sledding

Our first chance to enjoy the snow this winter.....

didn't want to look!

Daddy in on the action

Winner!!!!

And I won!!  A full set of map downloads from Map Quest.  I've been entering lots of giveaways for this product and I finally won!!!  Yay.....Thank you Lord :)

http://biblebasedhomeschooling.com/knowledge-quest-giveaway/

Teeth

We've got teeth falling out all over the place here.  First our girl lost another tooth a couple nights ago, then our boy comes to me last night saying his tooth is ready to come out!  I didn't even know any of them were loose!!  So we  pulled that one last night and this afternoon another one came out.  There is also a loose one on top as well so we are going to have a toothless boy soon :)

Videos - crawling, clapping, dada

At 9 1/2 months....crawling, clapping, saying dada/mama, getting into sitting position on her own

Finally!

Today it happened!  I can hear again....both ears.  How wonderful!  There is still some swelling on the right side but the fact that I can hear out of both sides is such a relief!  We even ventured out today which was nice (ended up buying a new mattress!!)  The boys are excited because they will finally get a nice comfortable bed :)  Again, thank you for all your prayers.  It was such a rough week and scary at times.  I hope I never have to go through that again!!

Update

Not too much change going on.  My left ear is definitely open now and I can hear on that side!!  The right ear is still completely closed BUT the drops are starting to make their way into the ear which tells me the swelling must be going down somewhat.  Hopefully within the next several days it will open up.  If not, I'll probably have to go for another doctors visit Monday to maybe flush the ear or something.

Nothing else going on here.  We've taken the week off of school....I just wasn't up to it at all.  The kids I think are bored!!  I have been able to get some reading in which is nice.

Baby girl is crawling now.  She made her way across the floor last night and all the kids were excited to watch.  I'll have to see if I can get a video of it.

We have started looking for houses.  We went to view one house last Saturday which turned out to be a little disappointing.  The house would need alot of work but the land was beautiful!!  I think we are off to see another house this Sat. as well.  We'll see what comes of that.  It would be so nice to move in somewhere before spring (wishful thinking??).  In His time!

Improvement!

I woke up this morning and can hear out of my left ear.  Thank you LORD!!!!  I'm not sure how much I can hear since the other side is so tightly sealed and everything still sounds very 'internal' at the moment.....but I can definitely hear a change from before.  Thank you everyone for praying for me.  Please continue to pray for the right side as well.  We can't get the drops to even go in this side so I don't know if that will delay the healing process.  The pressure is still building up as well.  I'm so thankful for this improvement, and thankful for so many who care and are praying.  It means a lot!!  Thank you Lord for your goodness!

Silence is NOT golden

Well, we can definitely rule out shingles now.  Shingles only affects one side of your body.  Last night my other ear completely sealed shut and now my lymph nodes have filled up to match the other side of my face.  How do you get swimmers ear in both ears?????  I can't hear a thing now....the pressure is unbelievable.   I feel like my head is in a vice being squeezed.  Eating is getting difficult since the lymph nodes that head towards the jaw are filling up on both sides now.  I can't tell you how much I hate this feeling.  Now, not only can I sympathize with those in chronic pain, I can now sympathize with those that have hearing loss.  It is so discouraging. Please pray for complete healing when I come to mind.

Day 3

It is day 3 of a swollen ear and face.  I can feel 2 very distinct lymph nodes or glands that are 'full' or swollen running out from the front of my ear (towards my nose) and another one running from the bottom of my ear towards my jaw.  The ear canal is still completely shut and it makes trying to get the drops in very, very difficult!!  I really dislike the whole 'internal' sounds of my voice, brushing teeth, combing hair, etc.  I have also broke down and started taking pain meds.  I really hate taking medication while nursing but I wasn't sleeping at night and the pain was getting so bad.  Still not sure what it is.....I haven't broke out in a rash yet to indicate shingles (but I am taking the antibiotics for it)....I don't have any discharge to indicate infection in the ear (sorry for too much info), so I have no idea what happened.  My lymph node behind the ear is still sore to the touch as well.

What I have realized is that I don't pray nearly enough for those I know going through physical hardships.  Being in this constant pain has brought many people to mind that I have been praying for.  Maybe that's why God has brought this into my life.

What did you say????

I can't hear.  My ear is completely closed.  I had a sore lymph node behind my ear which led to a completely swollen ear and pain/swelling down to my jaw  It is excruciatingly painful!  I told hubby I think I would rather give birth than have this!  I went to our after-hour clinic here and the doctor thinks it may be swimmer's ear.  I brought up the idea of shingles and he said it is too early to tell, but I could start antibiotics for it as a precaution.  Shingles of the ear can actually be quite dangerous leading to something similar to Belle's palsy (?) where part of your face droops and you could get permanent hearing loss.  I was given drops for my ear for swimmers ear and since the antibiotic for shingles is safe during lactation I think I may start it as well.  The last thing I want is my baby girl getting chicken pox's from her mama!!
I hate the thoughts of putting drops in my ears....freaks me out!  Here's hoping the next 10 days go by quickly and I can hear once again.

Thredup coupon

I'm going to share a little treasure I have found.  It is like a consignment shop with almost 'new' clothing for sale at discounted prices.  I have already purchased several things and have LOVED what I have received.  They even gave me a refund on a dress because of a flaw they found while shipping my order, and still sent the dress to me at no charge!  I have yet to find the flaw!!  Their customer service is fantastic and very quick to respond to any questions.  I am waiting for my next order in the mail this week :)
Below is a link for any first time buyers to save $10 off your order (shipping is $6.95). Have fun shopping! (I sure am)

http://www.thredup.com/r/HFLEMI

Current updates

Not a whole lot new going on here so I thought I would throw out a few updates on the kiddos.

Baby girl just turned 9 months.  She is still suffering with cough/congestion from the flu 2 1/2 weeks ago.  We have added Vit C and Vit D drops to her food and add a pinch of Tumeric as well.  I'm going to be adding garlic to my diet to pass that along to her as well.  There is so much sickness going around here, at church, etc....I'd like to boost the kids immune system.  In the developmental area, she is getting very close to crawling.  I think she is working on a few more teeth (she only has her bottom 2 right now).  She LOVES playing peekaboo with us, she claps alot now, she is eating more solids.  We have tried oatmeal, carrots (not a favorite) and sweet potato (loving it).

Our little girl has been potty trained for a week and half now.  She is doing fantastic!!!  She wears underwear all day (diaper at night but wakes up dry) and wears underwear out in public all the time. Now we are working on washing hands....she tends to like to play with the soap if she is alone and we find a mess in the bathroom!

Our oldest 3 are doing well.  We are currently enjoying our history lessons (their favorite part of the day).  We are going through American history and they love the lessons!  Our 5 yr old will be starting school full time soon.  Our school year (180 days) ends this month but our oldest has already moved onto some grade 5 subjects, and our boy is continuing to work on his grade 2 subjects.  

Hubby has been going into work early, early for 2 weeks now.  Tomorrow starts his regular hours again which is nice.  Still no news in the house hunt.  We are beginning to look but nothing to note as of yet.  Nothing new with me....so that's it for the updates!

Ark Encounter update

For those of you that like to keep updated with the Ark Encounter project, here is an update from Ken Ham.

Another milestone reached with the Ark project. As we continue to raise funds for the actual construction, at the end of last year we had a campaign to raise $3M for various permits and for preparatory ground work. We praise the Lord that the $3M goal was reached. We have been obtaining various permits--and as a result, yesterday the first tree came down as part of the site preparation work. We still have a way to go before we can break ground for construction--and while this ground preparation work is underway, fund raising etc continues. Here is a video of the first tree coming down--even though this is just a small step in the overall project--it is another step forward nonetheless. You can find out more about the Ark Encounter project at this link:

http://arkencounter.com/

Happy 10th birthday

Our girl is 10 today!  Double digits....wow!  Since we had a potluck to prepare for (and she didn't have a theme picked out) we decided to go with a specialty cake from Dairy Queen.  It was delicious!!!  She had a great day, spending the afternoon with her friends from church at our potluck get-together.  Our girl is becoming quite the young lady.  She loves to help around the house, loves to help with her baby sister, helps with teaching her younger siblings, loves to clean (I'm loving that!), wants to be in the kitchen, loves to laugh...write stories...and draw pictures (she is quite the artist!).  I'm so very proud of her and her desire to grow in the Lord.  We love you so very much.

Also to update on our potty trained girl.  She wanted very much to go to church in underwear and she did great the whole day!  She woke up first thing this morning and went to the potty herself (she stayed dry all night).  She asked to go potty at church all day and afternoon.  We are so proud of her accomplishment!  I can't believe we no longer need diapers......yay!

Potty trained *with update

I hate to jump the gun, but I've been so excited with our girl's progress.  After we got over our sickness, I thought we would give potty training another try (up to this point there has been no interest or effort on her part).  I put underwear on our girl in the morning, told her there are no more diapers, and just left it at that.  For the past 2 DAYS, she has been going potty ON HER OWN.  I haven't asked her to go sit at all!!!!!  It's like it all of the sudden clicked with her.  I seriously have not reminded her about it or nudged her to go potty at all for 2 days.  I'm sooooo excited!!  And there has been no accidents on top of it!   Today we are off to get a special prize for doing so well.  Mama is doing the happy dance.............

So to update, we decided to go grocery shopping....our first outing together since we've been sick.  I took our girl upstairs to say we needed to put a pullup on while we were out at the store.  No way!!!!  She wanted underwear!!  I brought a change of clothes just in case, but while we were there, she went potty!!!!  Now I'm not sure what to do tomorrow about church.  I know she'll want underwear on (and we have a potluck dinner too all afternoon)  Guess we'll see how it goes tomorrow!

Happy New Year

There have been posts I've wanted to write over the holidays, but with going away and then coming down with the flu, I just haven't been able to blog like I wanted.  A quick update on everyone one here first.  The kids are doing so much better.  They still have coughs and congestion (some more than others) but are all active and playful.  Our 5 yr old has coughing fits (mostly at night) that almost bring about vomiting each time.  He gags so much and cries because he hates to cough.  Our baby girl has a nasty cough as well, but other than that they are all doing quite well.  Hubby has had to go into work this week very early to try and get a project completed.  No vacation for him this week!  He is still trying to recover as well, so he is quite exhausted by the time he gets home.  I have only a cough to contend with, so I think we are all on the mend finally!  Now comes the task of catching up from holidays/sickness.  I still haven't unpacked since returning home!!!  I see mounds of laundry in my future :)

Some updates on baby girl.  Over the holidays she FINALLY got a tooth!!  Actually 2 teeth.  Eight and a half months is very late for teeth budding with our children, but I'm glad she finally is getting them.  She has also started clapping which is so cute.  Her smile has returned once again which makes me a happy mama!

Our oldest is also going to have a birthday on Sunday.  Hard to believe we are entering the double digits with her!!  She is turning into quite the young lady.

Other than that, it was quite the quiet household here last night as the new year rang in.  It will be exciting to see what God has in store for us this year.

Flu

This is my baby.
This is my baby with the flu at 1:30 this morning.
I'm one tired mama.

Home

Spent the holidays down south.  We had a great time with family and we were able to go to our 'old' church and see all our friends.  Good times....but now half the family is sick so we rest and pray the other half doesn't come down with it!!!

Caroling at the senior center

Today, many of the kids from church went to the senior center (where we meet on Sundays for church) to sing some Christmas carols.  The first clip is our girl reading her passage (Luke 2:1-7) and the second clip is the kids singing Silent Night.  Our three are front row.

Lights, camera, action

Playing with lights today....need to work on this more!

More of my cutie

Can you tell I got some new kufi hats and flowers in the mail.  I just HAVE to take pictures!!!!

My doll baby

My cutie- 8 months

I won...again!

Just won a Homemaking DVD today.  I'm on a roll!!!!!!  Thank you Lord!
http://www.familyvisionfilms.com/Homemaking-101_p_37.html

Joseph's song

I love this Christmas song from Joseph's perspective.  Hope you enjoy!

How could it be
this baby in my arms
sleeping now, so peacefully
the Son of God, the angel said
How could it be?

Lord I know
he's not my own
not of my flesh
not of my bone
Still Father let, this baby be
the son of my love.

Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a man be father to the son of God?
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king?
How can I raise a king?

He looks so small
his face and hands so fair
and when he cries the sun just seems to disappear
and when he laughs, it shines again
How could it be?


Father show me where I fit into this plan of yours
How can a man be father to the son of God?
Lord for all my life I've been a simple carpenter
How can I raise a king?
How can I raise a king?

How could it be
this baby in my arms
sleeping now, so peacefully
the son of God, the angel said
How could it be?
How could it be?

Birthday girl

Hard to believe our girl turned 3 today!!  She is our capital 'T' trouble girl *smile*  She gets into everything, you always need to keep an eye on her, she is funny, loves to make her siblings laugh, her buddy is her big brother (5 yr old) but she follows her big sister everywhere, she can never have too many 'babies' to care for, and her smile and big brown eyes melt any heart!!  We love you so much.  We are so blessed to have you in our family.

seeing her new doll