Just reminded of how beautiful they are!

Joel and Annabelle, looking cute together.
Joshua had a really bad cold and rubbed his upper lip and under his nose raw, poor guy. I love this one, Joshua and Annabelle weren't even phased by the screaming.
Camping, Joel was having a great time!
Me and Joel, having a little snuggle.
Annabelle, I love how short her little legs look. Her pig tails... I love pig tails.
One of Joel's first real meals in his high chair. He had mohalk type hair for the first year. So cute!
Monster Daddy and Joshua, he was around 10 months old.
I will never forget this smile. He only did it when he was teething though. This is Joshua, back when we had satalite dish and I watch Wheel of Fortune with him everyday, he loved the colors.
Joshua and my Belle. She was almost as big as him and was about 3 months old hahahaha. How cute, he always wanted to hold her.
Joshua and I all dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner.
Annabelle, she was my squishiest baby.
Joshua and I at a Choices dinner. I loved that suit on him. We actually bought it for Chris and Christy's wedding and Joshua fit it for over a year. He grew really slow.
Annabelle, always bruised up. She was standing on a little table and fell off onto another toy and got the black eye. Just days earlier she had had her measles shot and she broke out in the measles rash. The day after this she went to walk out the door and fell and scraped her nose up. She seemed a little accident prone but now it just fine, more careful by the day, Thank God!
Joshua and I having a snuggleMy sis, Virginia with all the kids at Christmas time 2 years ago. I sure do miss her!

Birthday Cars

Well, as Joel's birthday is coming up very soon, I have decided to get him the Cars movie. We have seen a copy of it before and he LOVES it! I am excited to get the real thing. Joel will be 2 on November 19th... I can't believe my baby is almost 2. He is such a cool little guy.

A very long post... be warned! Just all about life.

Wowzers!!! What a week! Well, we have had a hard week, nothing too hard to overcome through Christ. Adam and I have felt the enemy at work in our life and we are trying to fight hard against him. I can't stand it! Anyway, today is a new day and Christ's mercy is new every morning and this very morning we finally felt some breakthrough, we will conquer with Christ! I feel like the world has lifted off my shoulders and that I am free again! Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and we will have the spirit abide in our home, and there will be freedom.

Okay so, other news goes like this. I was making Kraft Dinner the other day with Joshua. He loves to help and he had pulled his chair up to the counter right beside the stove. This didn't concern me much as he is very aware of the dangers of the stove so, we start to add the butter. I heard Joel say ouweee! And then screaming began and I looked at him. He had hopped up on the chair and wanted to see closer so while I turned to get the butter he leaned over to look closer around Joshua at what was going on. I have a stove with cast iron burners and it does not cool down quickly. Also I had just removed the pot, so it was hotter than hot. My goodness!!! I was so freaked out that I did the first thing that came to mind and that, thank God, was exactly the best thing to do. I grabbed him and without even looking at his hands I held them under cold water until my hands were going numb from the cold. I was so scared I had done the wrong thing becasue I was so in a flutter so I asked Joshua to get Daddy. Adam had gotten home from a night shift and had only been sleeping for an hour. Joshua went and told him that Mommy needed him and Adam slowly got up. I told Joshua to tell him it was important so Adam came running down and looked at what had happened. He asked me to call the nurses hotline or hospital and find out what to do. At that point Joel's hands were numb from the cold and he was happy as can be. There was no apparent blisters so the nurse said that it should be okay and to give him tylenol for the pain. Okay, so Adam felt better and went to bed and I got the kids their lunch which was disgusting and cold by this time. They started to eat but Joel realized how much it hurt and could not stop crying for a long time even after the Tylenol. So I called the doc and brought him in. It was semi serious he told me and they put some burn ointment on and bandaged his hand. I really wanted to get a pic of it, he was so cute and totally babied his poor little hand. It did blister though and later that night he ripped off the bandage as he can't stand bandages of any kind.
So, I went out for coffee with my friend Jenny that night. A very much needed break!!! We had great talk and yummy coffee. What a nice time out. I love to be able to have girl friend times and I thank God for a hubby who doesn't mind at all. When I got home with a movie, Finding comedy in a muslim world (was VERY boring), all the kids were in bed and Adam and I had a nice evening together. A great finish to a stressful day.
Next day we were supposed to go to a murder mystery party. I had all our costumes layed out and was excited about it. My mom was going to take the kids for their very first EVER sleep over. What a treat for me. Adam and I have not had a night alone since we had Joshua almost 5 years ago. So, unfortunately the party was cancelled but my mom, of course, still took the kids. That was so nice! We dropped them off for their fun at 5:30 and we went to the Golden Flame, my all time fave restarurant. We got in lots of good conversation which is hard to come by with all the monkeys butting in all the time, though we love the interuptions most of the time. After supper we went to Gus's, the local pool hall and played some pool. I have always loved doing that with Adam. Good times. For those of you who don't know, Adam worked for Gus for a month and a half when we dated and bought my wedding and engagement rings with his earnings without me knowing. Gus had gone out of town for that time and Adam ran the place. We had no idea what he would get paid, he did it more as a favour. If it wasn't for that we would have not been engaged when we were as Adam really wanted to get me the set I liked the most. I love going down there. We really care for Gus and his family. He is always good to us. Anyway, the music in there that night was the type you think might have actually been recorded in hell... but we laughed off a lot and played our pool. It wasn't too busy so we were able to have a lot of fun. After, we rented a movie, Lucky Number Sleven, great movie except it gave me some bad dreams so not so great for me. What an awesome night.
We picked the kids up from Nana's for church in the morning and they had had a great time! So, a success!!! Can't wait for Christmas break so they can do it again... thanks so much mom!Yes Joel always has a baby with him but doesn't really use a pink cup, he just took Annabelle's from her, just in case people are wondering. The kids rented 2 Dora movies for their sleep over.Mom's brand new comfy bed, she made it sideways so everyone could fit nice. Looks cozy hey?!

Inbetween that and today there was a couple not so great days... but like I said... today is a new day and I see the victory at hand. Yay!
Also a special man in our lives, someone I have known and loved for the majority of my life, passed away this week, just yesterday in fact. It is a little hard to think of it. I am glad that he lived long and loved much and knew Jesus as his personal savior and friend. Grandpa Courtney will be greatly missed. I miss him just thining of it. My prayers are with His family and if anyone thinks of it, pray a prayer for peace in this situation. I pray that God will fill the void in Grandma Courtney's life. I know He can, only He can.
Tonight I gave the kids their bath. They weren't in there long but when I took Joel out all his burnt spots, fingers and palm were all peeling really bad. I made sure I didn't pop the blisters as that is not a good idea I hear but I think the water did it anyway. He was really upset about it and Joshua could hardly look. He is a little squeemish about such grose things. So I put some polysporine on to help so it won't get infected and it is supposed to help with healing and I bandaged it all. He was very unimpressed so I let him watch a Blue's Clues video since it is his favourite thing in life. Off to bed at 9pm, later than I would have liked but I managed to get Adam ready and off to work at 10:00 without much stress. Well, I hope you all had a great week and there is cell tomorrow night which is my highlight for this week.
Oh I forgot to mention that we set up Joshua's so cool train set which we have had stored for almost 2 years. I finally made enough space for us to really make a cool set up. We are in the buying process of getting it ready to be a reasonably permanent model in our house. Adam took Joshua to the bottle depot and returned what we had. He got about $10 so we took the kids down to the creative zone and got the proper scale... pigs, yes pigs the kids picked, for the model railroad. Just starting out. I think that it will be so cool one day. The kids already think it is. I love that about kids. We will buy stuff as we have the money. I am very pleased with it.

Well, do you think this could have been any longer??? I am thinking that I need to close. Have a great night and a wonderful day tomorrow everyone!

Snowman! Yay!

Trying to put on the head without it breaking. It was a lot of fun on the very first snowfall of the year to have enough snow to make a snowman! I love it!
Okay, the dirt makes his eyes look like he was punched a few times but this was the finished product. There are a lot of sticks and dirt in it but we succeeded in building the best snowman in the world!!! hahaha The kids were very excited about the carrot. After all was said and done they all tackled the snowman and kicked him into a pile of snow and Joel grabbed the carrot and said, "mom, me got carrot" Like I was concerned about it.

The whole gang and Joel sat on that chair and there was nothing that would get him up. He is so stubborn sometimes! Good times for sure!

Swimming fun!

Joshua and Annabelle have been taking swim lessons since we got back from our holiday. It was 2 lessons a week for 5 weeks . So last Thursday was their last day. They brought me their reports at the start of the class and it ends up that they both have to repeat. Joshua didn't really understand because we had told him that next he would go into Sun fish. It is alright though as Joshua needs to work on a few of his skills. We will take them swimming as often as possible in the next couple months and then I will try to get them registered for January. It is so fun to watch them learning and interacting with the other kids. They did very well at that and the teacher said that they are like little fish. They have no fear so I expect that next time they will both go on to the next level. Annabelle had the skills down, she is just a little too young to move on.
Joshua waiting for his class to start.
Practising his back floats and glides.
Joshua waiting and dreaming of swimming
Belle-no fear-Brown heading down the slide. She loves the water!

No fish to be found but I got out fishing yesterday. I love winter fishing. It's so beautiful and you usually have the whole river to yourself. Very refreshing. 

THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE

I just finished Rick Warren's, "The Purpose Driven Life". I love reading the basics. I think a Christian can never review them too much. I liked the simplicity of the Points to Ponder throughout the 40 days so here there are for you to enjoy and/or ponder. The only think I didn't like, like my brother Andrew, was the Covenant at the start of the book.
WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR
1. I'm not about me.
2. I am not an accident.
3. Living on purpose is the path to peace.
4. There is more to life than just here and now.
5. Life is a test and a trust.
6. This world is not my home.
7. It's all for him.
PURPOSE #1- YOU WERE PLANNED FOR GOD'S PLEASURE
8. I was planned for God's pleasure.
9. God smiles when I trust him.
10. The heart of worship is surrender.
11. God wants to be my best friend.
12. I'm as close to God as I choose to be.
13. God wants all of me.
14. God is real, no matter how I feel.
PURPOSE #2- YOU WERE FORMED FOR GOD'S FAMILY
15. I was born for God's family.
16. Life is all about love.
17. I am called to belong, not just believe.
18. I need others in my life.
19. Community requires commitment.
20. Relationships are always worth restoring.
21. It is my responsibility to protect the unity of my church.
PURPOSE #3- YOU WERE CREATED TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST
22. I was created to become like Christ.
23. It is never too late to start growing.
24. The truth transforms me.
25. There is a purpose behind every problem.
26. Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
27. There is always a way out.
28. There are no shortcuts to maturity.
PURPOSE #4- YOU WERE SHAPED FOR SERVING GOD
29. Service is not optional.
30. I was shaped for serving God.
31. Nobody else can be me.
32. God deserves my best.
33. I serve God by serving others.
34. To be a servant I must think like a servant.
35. God works best when I admit my weakness.
PURPOSE #5- YOU WERE MADE FOR A MISSION
36. I was made for a mission.
37. God wants to say something to the world through me.
38. The Great Commission is my commission.
39. Blessed are the balanced.
40. Living with purpose is the only way to really live.

Halloween fun!!!

Okay, Adam already posted the pumpkin pictures but I thought that I would post this anyway. I wanted to post them earlier but blogger is often not letting me do pics. Anyway, this is the book I read to the kids every year in the fall time. I love it. It is totally God centered and this is why we carve pumpkins. The story is all about what God does with us when we get saved, just awesome for kids.
He chooses a pumpkin, for a special purpose, and washes it up. Then...

He starts to do a work in us. He scrapes and pulls out all the gunk that is in our heart...

And seperates our sins from us!!!

Then he starts to make a new face for us and we start to have his joy! Even though it sometimes hurts, He shapes and molds us into His image. We always do a smiling pumpkin.

God put's His light inside us and it shines out for all to see. As the neighbours come by, the pumkin makes them smile, just as we share the joy of the Lord just by having Him in our hearts. The book has scriptures on every page. Pretty cool I think! I would totally recommend it to anyone who likes to carve pumpkins. There is so much more to it than what I said here. The kids called our pumpkin, Angel. Then they said that Angel was lonely and cold so Adam said, let's make one with a cross...and as soon as it was done and we put it outside the kids said, now Angel won't be cold or lonely because she has Jesus beside her!!! I loved it. What a blessing it is to do these activities and see the kid's faith grow in such simple things. What a cool book, too! I am so glad my mom gave it to us! And I am glad, as I always loved carving pumpkin's at halloween, that we have this to center around God during a day that we are not so proud of... Halloween. And the kids love the hotsprings. Joshua says that he loves it even more than candy and dressing up. I bought the kids a couple costumes after halloween, when they were on half price, for their dress up clothes. A Giraffe for Joshua, and some wings for Annabelle so she can be a butterfly. I love it! Hope all your nights were filled with fun and joy and the love of God!

Happy Halloween People!!!!!! 

What a big helper!!! 

Joh 1:5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
 

The kids said the pumpkin was lonely so we made a Jesus pumpkin. 

Voila!!! 

Annabelle poking out the pumpkin's nose. 

 

Annabelle loved the front desk lady's Snow White outfit. The lady was nice enough to pose for this pic. 

Here we are having a snack of nachos and fries after the swimfest. 

Had a great time swimming with Chris, Christy and Tristan on Halloween night at the hot springs.  

My Utmost for His Highest

Well, as Adam and I have faced some minor struggles in our recent life, I was reminded of something I read once. It said, Make plans! Make lots of plans, but don't fall apart when they don't come through. (By the way, this has nothing to do with my Christmas dreams below) I tend to forget sometimes that God has designed us so that no one can always come through for us and we will often fail others, even the ones we love the most. So, this weekend at church, Pastor Mike preached a message and in it he said that depression is, believeing something that the enemy tells us, and then playing it over and over in our mind until we spiral downward into depression. I do this FAR too often. Not to the point of depression but just wear I feel defeated and useless. This study really ministered to me. I alreay knew the truth of this but needed to hear, rather, read it again.
November 1, 2006
"You Are Not Your Own"
Do you not know that . . . you are not your own? —1 Corinthians 6:19

There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.
The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, "Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine." If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?