Easter Egg Hunt

We had our church's Easter egg hunt today... the girls & I all went, along with my parents, my sister-in-law & my nieces.

I was in charge of the nursery age group since I'm the nursery class coordinator, so I had Jenna's group. She got 7 eggs in her basket, and she was excited to open them up and find candy inside.

Delaney was in a different group, so I didn't get to see much of her. She came home with 33 eggs!

I would love to post pictures of them, but I am still working with an old-fashioned film camera... so perhaps I can post pictures of them in a few days! :)

Mike is on his way home, and he will probably arrive around 5 am. I really don't know that he will make it to church with us tomorrow morning, but I can hope!

We're supposed to go to Mike's mom's house tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see if I get the chance to finish up my roll of film and get the pictures developed. I may just need to take the girls out in our back yard for a mini photo-shoot to finish it off!

Just A Relaxing Day

Well... today wasn't exactly an exciting day, but we did have fun!

We slept in, then went to the library for story hour... Delaney is getting too old, I think. She spent most of the time coloring in another area! It was just me & Delaney--Jenna went to Granny's house while we went to the library. She tends to run up and down the aisles and scream. Yikes.

When we finished at the library, we went to pick up Jenna and Granny. Took them to lunch at the Covered Wagon... pretty yummy.

Dropped Granny off at her house, then the girls and I went to Lowe's for some mulch. We bought 6 bags. Came back home and mulched 2 of the flower beds. Just a couple more to go! Hopefully we bought enough. I only have 3 bags left!

The girls rode their bikes (Delaney on her bicycle, Jenna on her tricycle!) and scooters in the driveway for a while, and two of the neighbors from across the street (both older gentlemen) came over to chat... One of them brought the girls over a Little Debbie rice krispies treat. They loved that. :)

We came in about an hour before dark, had supper, cleaned up and put jammies on, then the girls settled down in my bed watching a movie... so I'm actually enjoying a little bit of quiet time by myself tonight. :) Well, except that Mike has called me about 6 times to ask me to look up directions. lol

Feeling a little down

I have seen and heard some things in the past several months that have been bothering me a lot lately... things I really can't talk about here because they might affect someone I know. (And I'm really not sure who reads my blog, lol!)

Anyhow... if you're reading this, would you please just say a prayer for me and for the person/people who may be affected... I just need to feel a peace about the whole thing! Right now it's really affecting my mood and my outlook on life. I have been sitting back and watching, and I almost feel like things are going in the wrong direction, in a sense...

Thanks. :)

Funny things from Jenna recently :)

Ok... I'm typing it out like she pronounces it, so you'll probably notice that "L"s and "R"s don't come out correctly! ;-)

A couple of days ago, we were at my parents' house when a helicopter went overhead. Jenna hollers, "Wook! A Hewwo Kitty Copter!"

Today we were in the van and the kids had gotten kids' meals at Wendy's that had little floppy frisbees in them... Jenna asked Delaney, "Dawaney, can you give me my fwizz ball?"

And right now Delaney is upstairs working on a card for her teacher (our upstairs is one room, which I've dubbed for crafts!)... Jenna is marching up and down the stairs like it's a real treat because I keep it gated off. Jenna just came down with a winter stocking hat on her head and said, "Wook at me! I a no-man!"

Jenna is carrying an old frisbee up and down the stairs (upside down like a serving tray), pretending to be a waitress... She just asked me if it was ok for Delaney to have Pepsi. She promptly went back upstairs to Delaney and said, "Here go! I need a dollar for dat!"

I just wanted to share because I thought it was so funny!!

Haven't heard from my hubby in 2 days

It's now Monday morning, 7:25 am. The last time I heard a word from Mike was Friday afternoon around 1:30 pm... I've tried to call him all weekend and had to leave voice mails because there's been no answer!

I'm really starting to worry. It is not normal for him to leave me hanging this long... I don't even know what state my husband is in! The only thing I can think of is that he must be in a "dead" area... or that he's lying dead on the side of the highway somewhere. Man, I just need him to call me.

I sent him a text message late last night, and I still have not heard back. If he was moving around, he should have gotten the message by now and replied. Maybe he's parked in a spot where there's no phone signal.

If I haven't heard from him by 8:30 this morning, I'm calling dispatch. I need to know that he's alive!!

I don't understand why it's ok to just let me worry. And HE is the one with the ulcers. You would think my stomach would be eaten up with them! Ugh.


UPDATE:
He finally called me about 9:10 am, and he's ok. His phone is not working correctly, so he didn't know he was getting phone calls. The company called another guy's cell phone (who he was with) to get in touch with him!

He did get the text though, so he has no excuse for not answering that! :( So I'm trying not to be angry with him right now!!

Sunday night dinner after church

I really love Sundays... they're generally pretty relaxing.

Tonight after church we had dinner in the fellowship hall of our church to raise money for the youth group. We sat at a table with my parents and some other people I really love! Miss Teresa sat on the other side of Jenna from me... She made sure that Jenna had bread and butter (a whole little container, lol!) and a baked potato and chicken and ribs... and she shared her strawberry pie with her, too. I think Miss Teresa will make a really good grandma someday. :)

I just love the people in our church. They're all so much like family.

Jenna's choice of breakfast

This morning I asked the kids what they wanted for breakfast, and they both said they weren't hungry yet.

A few minutes later, I walk into the kitchen. The box of frozen waffles is sitting on the floor; they are half thawed. And Jenna is sitting at the table with a cold hot dog in her hand, munching away.

Oh, my. What a lovely breakfast, my dear... I decided to just put away the waffles and fix her a cup of chocolate milk!

Hmmm... maybe I should look into putting some sort of locking device on the fridge.

Looking forward to spring break

This week has been pretty good... The weather has been great these past few days, and we have spent a lot of time in the back yard. The kids have been able to get out and run, swing and slide!

Finally the sun is shining, and I think it's lifted my mood a bit... I don't feel as grumpy as I've been feeling. I had gotten to a point where I felt like I could tear something up, and I don't like feeling that way!

I am glad for spring break next week, as I could use a little break from getting up at 6 am to be sure Delaney and I are both ready for the day... and I could also use a break from babysitting. It's nice to get a week "off" to relax! So relax is what we plan to do most. We might do a movie one day. Maybe lunch out someplace fun... We'll just have to see what the budget allows.

I really hope to buy both of the girls something new for Easter next week... Hopefully we'll be able to spend a little time shopping, even though we don't have an over-abundance of money to spend. Right now I'm just grateful that we have enough to keep the electricity on and all of us fed. I feel like I'm learning as I go... :)

Mommy said no!

Jenna (who will be 3 next month) brought me a bag of chips just now. "Open these! I want one! Plleeeeeeezzzeeee!"

Well, I don't think we're going to have chips for breakfast! I told her no.

She got upset. She jumped up & down one time and said to me, "I want one! You can't tell me no!"

Excuse me? I'm trying not to laugh as I say to her, "Well, I said no. And when mommy says no, that's the end of it!"

Delaney (in her 7 1/2 years of knowledge) pipes in with, "Yeah, Jenna. You're not going to win against Mommy, so you might as well just give up! She won't change her mind after she already said no."

HA! At least one of them gets it.

Surrender--what does it mean?

This past month has been hard on me... First, I had Jenna to the doctor twice and spent $300 on doctor office visits and prescriptions! This week, I had Delaney at home for two days with a stomach bug.

All the while, we're still feeling the extreme financial stress. I have feared losing our house for several months.

Last Sunday night, I went to the altar to have some of our prayer team pray over Jenna for healing of her skin infection. They annointed her forehead with oil and layed hands on her and prayed for healing in her body. When she was finished, she decided it would be fun to run up and down the aisles of the sanctuary, lol... But the ladies who had prayed for Jenna started to pray for me. I heard diffeent prayers from different ones--one saying she sensed how tired I was, and asked for rest. Another smiled big at me and whispered in my ear, "The Lord gave me a word for you. It's one word. The word is 'surrender'."

Surrender. What does that word really mean? I picture myself waving a white flag.

I looked up the meaning of the word... here is what dictionary.com says:

sur·ren·der
–verb (used with object)
1. to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; deliver up possession of on demand or under duress: to surrender the fort to the enemy; to surrender the stolen goods to the police.
2. to give (oneself) up, as to the police.
3. to give (oneself) up to some influence, course, emotion, etc.: He surrendered himself to a life of hardship.
4. to give up, abandon, or relinquish (comfort, hope, etc.).
5. to yield or resign (an office, privilege, etc.) in favor of another. –verb (used without object)
6. to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield. –noun
7. the act or an instance of surrendering.
8. Insurance. the voluntary abandonment of a life-insurance policy by the owner for any of its nonforfeiture values.
9. the deed by which a legal surrendering is made.

Synonyms for the word "surrender" include the following:

abandonment, abdication, acquiescence, appeasement, capitulation, cessation, dedition, delivery, giving way, relenting, relinquishment, renunciation, resignation, submission, succumbing, white flag*, yielding

I have a feeling that this "surrender" has everything to do with the circumstances in my life right now. I am dependent on Mike to bring home our income. I constantly fight worrying about him, his job, the truck, our kids, our house, how we will make our next month's payments, and on and on... I can let myself become very stressed over all of these things in a matter of minutes.

I have a feeling that this "surrender" is supposed to be me turning over everything to God. I am supposed to give it all to Him. Put it all in His hands. I am to trust Him. Trust. That's a big thing for me because I don't just trust. I am stepping out on the water, but I don't feel like I have the faith that Peter did when he stepped out of that boat. He had his eyes on Jesus. He had complete faith and trust in Him. I allow my eyes to become so focused on so many things--things that are not Jesus--that I forget to trust Him.

Lord, I pray that you will help me to learn to put my complete trust in you. Help me to let go of the other things I put my focus on so that I may focus on You alone. I believe that you want to help me. I believe that you want to bless me, as in my dream. I believe Your Word says that you have a plan for me, a plan to prosper me and not to harm me. You have promised me in Your Word that you would never leave me or forsake me. You promised to take care of all of my needs according to Your riches in Glory in Christ Jesus! Father, help me now to stand on those promises and to believe them with all my heart. Help me to keep my eye on the "prize" that is Heaven--not the things of this earth! For I know that the earth will pass away, but I will soon live in glory with you forever in Heaven! Thank you for your promises, Lord. Father, I'm sorry for the mistakes I have made in the past. Please help me to learn from them and not to repeat them. Bind my mind to the mind of Christ so that I might have knowledge to do Your will. Bind my tongue to Your tongue so that I might speak the right words. Lord, I surrender to Your will for my life. I give you my worries. I give you all my concerns. Father, you know my needs. You know them better than I do. I believe that You will take care of my needs! I put my trust in You alone, Lord. I give you praise and glory, for you are the Creator of all things, you are the all-knowing God, and you alone are my strength. My hope is in You all day long! Thank you, Lord! In the name of Jesus, Amen.