Sevan's Purity Ceremony <3

Here are some of the pictures and a video from Sevan's Purity Ceremony. The video isn't good, but better than nothing ;) She did this with 17 others..( 3 of those were guys ) After walking down the aisle, on a beautiful white with flowers carpet rolled out for them, they would kneel before the cross, pray, take their Purity ring off the cross, walk to the table, and sign their Purity Pledge; Then they would walk off the stage and wait for the others to join. ( Van didn't sign at the table, she had already signed one, so didn't think she was suppose to sign again.....Sweet Van, once she makes a commitment to God she knows it is good ! ) When all finished this, they turned to face their pastor, who confirmed again what they were doing and encouraged them in it. They then repeated their "vows" and put their ring on their finger, all at the same time:) It was beautiful, of course I cried. Her ring is silver and says True Love Waits. It matches Chasity's <3 God is Good ! Keep them and their pursuit of Purity in your prayers !

Only my son !

The other day Luke was playing outside. Him and 2 older boys were in the front yard. ( My door is open) The ice cream truck comes. Luke runs in and I tell him he cant buy one that day. He returns a lil later with a big sour ice cream.

Luke:" Mom, you won't bewevie this !!!!!!!! I got this for FWEE"!

Mom: "How Lukie" ? ( puzzled)

Luke:" The ice cream man gave it to me "!

Mom:" Why, How" ?

Luke: " " Welllllllll " , I said "Sir, what is your lowest priced ice cream"? He told me. I said "Oh, could I have one for free " ? ( Raising his eyebrows up, holding head to the side, shoulders shrugged up, arms out, with palms face up ) " AND HE GAVE IT TO ME " ! "WOW " !! " It's not even the low pwiced one " ! ( Huge smile of amazment/unbelief on his face !) LOL

THe next day of course..he wants to do the same thing..I tell him AGAIN why he cant..even talked this time about how it takes away from the ice cream mans profit..he says....... "It's a different truck ...this is the blue one "!

On that same note...we stop in to pick something up at Wal-Mart. The big girls and I are checking out..Tori and Luke ask if they can go get a pretzel sample from the pretzel place. I said ok. They come back with Tori in front, shaking her head side to side with her lil hand by her eyes.

Tori:" I am sooooo embaressed"!

Mom:" Why baby "?

Tori:" Luke tried to get a free coke" !

Mom: "Luke "! "It makes me very sad that you would do that" ; "We have talked about why it is wrong"." We are going to tell the pretzel man sorry and you are going to be punished".

Luke: " I just wanted a SAMPLE of coke..not a fweeee one"

ClC Birthday Celebration/Talent Show

Here's a few pictures from CLC's Birthday Party. Am having a hard time posting them for some reason. I'm gonna try one more time, and then call for MEGAN ! Ok, pics are up, but not captioned. I so am not understanding why that is. The one on stage is Van-Van singing with the Praise Team ....Great Job Van! I tried to post Victoria singing in the talent show ( discovered the camera records video too ) here..but nope...ugh! You can watch it by clicking on the top picture on the right hand side of my blog. It's on youtube too...you can leave her a comment there ..Just type in SinginforJesus in the search engine after clicking videos...or click on Chasity's link on the right, and Toris video will be there under Chasity's favorites :) May be easier that way. bye-bye

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG MONTH !

Ok, it has actually been over a month...but sooo full. Lets start with my yucky stuff.......was called into the office at work, thinking I was gonna get my raise that comes with being a cake decorator ( had been doing it a little over 2 months) only to be told that I couldn't get it yet, because there was already someone being paid to decorate who wasn't decorating, so she had to start. Was told to wait about a month 1/2 and then I could go back over..but could still work on cakes when finished with my packaging job...was also told she wanted me to work on my speed. ( Another story in itself) This bummed (and shocked) me,sooo badly, cause i LOVE decorating cakes. It's alot of fun and you feel really good helping someone find or design the perfect cake, and giving a customer a cake you did that makes them so happy :). I understand why I had to step down, but still hate it. (Not the speed thing though..I am at the same speed as another girl there/ meeting wal-marts time alllowed :) ) I am soooooo looking forward to going back officially soon..I have to say,... I would SOOO do it without the raise ;). But on with my list.... Luke had to have 4 staples put into his head; He fell off the couch. Myautomatic window on the van broke. I couldnt get it to go up ( Larry can pull it up) It rained hard and my seat was soaked...our basement flooded because of the same rain, Larry had to have emergency oral surgery because a tooth broke (didn't have our dental ins. long enough to cover it ) Everything but the cake thing happened in one week-end. The week-end Jacob and Caylin got married..soooo I was cleaning a basement while they were saying I do's !!! I use to say I wanted to put Jacob in a freezer for one of my girls <3 Such a great guy...I am sooo glad he found a good christian girl!
On the brighter side of this long month...wal-mart let me off to teach my abstinence classes at Jeff High...they also DONATED the candy I needed for it :) !!! The classes went GREAT !! Such a blessing to go in and expose the kids there to a lifestyle they have never considered..to see their faces go from thinking "you are crazy" in the beginning to being " wow that makes sense" at the end! THANK YOU GOD ! Luke did great getting his staples/ So awesome to pray with him for comfort and peace, and even have the nurse be amazed at how great he did..didn't have to hold him down or anything! Lots of I love you coffees and a rose from Larry <3 We got our pool open, The girls all sang at our Church's birthday celebration ( other church ? lol ) And my pastor's ( other pastor ? lol again ) wife wants me to do my Spiritual Role of the Mom seminar. Sooooooooo not all bad ! Will try to post the girls singing soon !! I tried to get Luke to sing a song he wrote ( Give God a chance, even on the week-ends ! lol ) but he was not at all interested! Oh I was also let off work to go to the zoo with Tori and Luke's classes ! I am so blessed to have a manager who is a dad ( kids grown now) who understands how important family is <3 Even with alot of yucky stuff going on...i know I AM BLESSED ! I LOVE YOU JESUS!! Thank You , Thank You , Thank You <3

Insurance

Welp, I just filled out all the paper work (online) for medical insurance through Wal-Mart...too bad I couldn't do it sooner.....just spent a good chunk of money on Dr. visits/ Immediate Care visits for Van-Van and Chasity...Van has strep throat :( and Chas has an ear infection :(. Poor baby girls..ex specially Van..Strep throat is soooo... ugh. She was so pitiful Sunday and Monday. I stayed home with her on Monday..couldn't leave my sick baby. I am soooooo blessed to have a great friend who will watch the kids for me when they are sick ( if no vomiting or diarrhea ), so I don't have to miss work...but when they are feeling as horrible as Van was, We need to be with each other <3 , so I called in. They were really nice about it...but I still felt badly...although am so glad I was with Van. She is at Mam-Maw's now. She is still sick...but not like on Sun/Mon...So we are okay with G'maw. My mom is the best<3 Back to insurance...I have never carried our insurance before..lol..it's kinda funny to me..I told Lar I was gonna blow up my insurance card, frame it, and hang it on the wall..lol..yes..I am too goofy ! Now that Lar is self-employed, me being able to get the insurance will save us ALOT...$495.00 a month..going by what we paid for it almost 2 years ago ! Another blessing from God :) It's better Insurance too. I better go...Van was waking up every 2 hours and I still haven't caught up on my sleep..THAT's IT !! I AM SLEEP DEPRIVED ..THAT's probably WHY I told Larry that our insurance has a maternity plan and we would be covered if we wanted another baby ;) He will probably ban me from checking out the newest pics of Lincoln until I get rested up..lol...and from Maria's blog too, if her newest sweetie gets here before my shut-eye ! lol

No bunny ?? !!

Some things were said last Sunday in Kids church that really touched my heart.It was about Easter. Made me want to share how we celebrate...at the risk of everyone thinking we are horrible parents and are "cheating" our children out of something. We do not "do" the bunny.(gasp)In our "defense" we did the bunny with 2 out of the 4 (actually 3, but Tori was too little to get/remember doing it) and there is NO DIFFERENCE in the excitement that they have the night before or morning of Easter. In fact the mornings are even more fun..with whoever awakes first waking the others by saying.."He is Risen"...to which the sleeping sibling pops right up and yells " He is risen indeed". It is sooo much fun and such a reminder of the excitement and joy that was being felt over 2000 years ago when our Saviour arose!! We do have their baskets sitting out that we put together while they are sleeping ( Yes..still the same excitement for us in making them..still them wondering what will be in it and trying to hear us while they are laying in bed waiting for morning to finally come :) FOR US it is about building our children's faith / belief up in something that is real...Jesus...yes our kids "pretend " things...we just feel, for us, that the belief and faith of a child is so powerful and strong..( The Bible tells us this) why take that faith and or belief , and direct it towards something that isn't true? Most people can remember when they found out the truth....strong emotions for sure. I was even reading that there are secular studies being done on this, to see if your ability to trust/believe in things is affected negatively. I know everyone says "I believed and I am fine" Lar and I can both say that too...but just because we are "fine" doesn't mean we keep rolling with it...just because we can. Our children should walk even closer to the Lord than we do and again For Us..we believe that this is a way of building up their faith in God. The real story is soo exciting..they don't need a bunny to make it any better.
We do the Resurrection Eggs each year ( Tori accepted the Lord while doing this :) !!!)
Watch the Passion(not Tori/Luke)/read the Gospel of John (have the movie now!)
We always make sure that their baskets are Christ centered..they all have the same traditional candy,including chocolate crosses,in each basket, then each child has their favorite candies/snacks/lil prize(s) in their basket; We serve a personal God who knows their desires and them personally.
There will be something(s)in their basket that they can use to strengthen their relationship with Christ..again what each individual child/teen:) would like/could use.
We do communion as a family.
We color eggs..and taught the kids that the way alot of things we do to celebrate Christ resurrection was also the way pagans celebrated "Easter" before Christ ( We think Truth/the History we know, is really important) we tell them that now we do it for different reasons..IE the egg. It was created good..used in a bad way..now we use it to teach the Trinity and use bright colors to color it ,symbolizing the joy God gives us,the beautiful life we have in Him, and how He changes us.( That ugly color that sinks through is a great way to show how having God in our lives affects not just what you see on the outside, but the inside as well..turns the yucky egg into a good one ..lol ).(our reasons for keeping that fun tradition)
We make a fun craft/activity each year. We are making Christian Fish this year. One year we secretly hollowed out an egg..still colored it ..and had one of the kids smash it on their forhead..lol..it was empty (like the tomb) and we all laughed our booties off !
Anyways..I am rambling.... Just wanted to share. Hope you don't think we are horrible..(we don't think people who "do" the bunny are horrible) This is just how our family celebrates the amazing and glorious resurrection of Jesus. Most importantly is that we believe in Him and His resurrection. How we choose to celebrate it comes in at a far 2nd. God Bless<3

Here We Go Again

Wow. For those of you who knew Larry went to Iraq to help pay off some of the bills we acquired with our first company, F.R.O.G. Trucking ( Fully Relying on God ) after having to close it down, ( the last year we had it, we paid about $80,000 in fuel alone !! ) it may seem crazy to try it again...but that is just what we are doing. After much prayer and God shutting and then opening the door for everything to fall into place,Larry left for his first run as an owner/operator yesterday.
Things have been really hard financially, even with me returning to work.( although working in Wal-Mart's bakery is such a blessing for me)
I pray God will use this to prosper us while bringing Him Glory ! Would love your prayers too :)

Glorious funeral

Thanks to those of you who knew my Aunt Sue died and was praying and sent cards...Thanks also to Tony K who let my church family at CIC know :). Her dying was a shock. My cousins were afraid to tell my Uncle Bob..fearing he would go into shock and have to be hospitalized..his health is not so great....They had been married about 46-47 years...I can't imagin...anyways..the showing and funeral were the same day. Uncle Bob didn't come until about 10 minutes or so before the funeral service was to start. He had first said he wasn't going to go see her...wanted the casket closed before he entered the room. He changed his mind. As they wheeled him into the room, everyone was so quiet......he started out telling her how pretty she was and how much he loved her and already missed her....THEN...he started praising God..so beautifully that I could not stop smiling this really big smile..he started out saying how he knew he would see her( and would recognize her ) again, because that is what the bible said and the bible doesn't lie..then he just praised and praised and praised God in such a beautiful,personal, and loving way ! God's presence was soo strong and the strength, peace, hope, and comfort he gave my Uncle was so evident !!! Even the pastor doing the service started crying and gave a message on salvation instead of what he had planned on. He talked a lil about her and the rest was all God and salvation ! He would say "Folks, this was not what I planned" and "This was not in my notes" stuff like that. Soo cool. My dad, who is an atheist was not very happy, BUT, it took alot for me to not jump up and yell AMEN!!! (Although I did have to say it in a lil lower than normal voice). It was so fitting for my Aunt :) She loves the Lord soo much ....I am so excited that she is with Him now...although I know her family is sad to have her gone. Say a prayer for them :)

Inauguration Day

Today April and I made some cookies and cupcakes ( at Wal-Mart ) for Obama's inaugaration tomorrow. I think I am going to buy some for my kiddos...they ( along with Lar and I ) were so sad when McCain didn't win. I thought they could eat some of them while watching the inaugaration. Make it a "fun" lesson in how we have to respect the position Obama will be taking, how GOD IS in control, and how He tells us to pray for our leaders, and then do just that. Anyways, Thought I'd share what we'll be doing to "cheer up " our day...in case yours might need a lil cheering up too ;)

It's a BOY ...and another BOY...and another BOY !!

They are lil yorkiepoos. Godiva ( our chocolate poodle ) had them a lil over 5 weeks ago. They are soooo cute!! We have had lots of fun with them. I put a post out on one of my homeschool groups, to buy a kiddie pool for them to go in. They lady who said she had a pool that I could have, was in the same situation I was in a few months back...( having to stop homeschooling ) Long story short , she was crying, I was praying, and we both hung up knowing what a personal, powerful, loving God we serve!!! What a blessing it was for us both. We both felt SOOOO encouraged....SOOO touched by God. We laughed that I thought I was just calling about a pool. Isn't God's ways so much greater than ours ? !!! Thank You Lord !! Here are some pics of the puppies..aw... On a side note, I'm thinking that now that Godiva is losing her preggy weight, maybe I will lose my sympathy weight I gained with her ;)

New Years /first communion

For the first time in years, we didn't go to the Evans'. Larry was on the road and Chas and Van went to their youth group party ( starting at 6 ). After work, I was tired and just wanted to have lazy home time... so after I dropped off the big girls Tori, Luke, and I went to McDonalds and then went home and played wii and ate lots of junky food. We took the stuff for communion up to the youth group party around 11:00. Luke has been wanting to take communion for a couple years. He accepted Christ at 3 and he is 6 now. : yes I know that is really young; Tori actually led him to Christ. We were all 3 in bed, he was scared, I said my usual..."who do you belong to?" He said "God" so I said "Ok, then you don't have to be afraid". He said "But I don't see Him" I said "But He is everywhere Luke-e" Tori says "Yes, and He is in my heart" Luke said " He is in my heart too" ( I wasn't going to touch that, because he was sooo little :( sorry God ) Tori said, "No He's not Luke " and went on to tell him the WHOLE story :) Luke excitedly wanted to become a Christian :).: He has understood what communion meant, but I wanted to have him be able to explain it in his own words with no prompting from me.(more than the "it is his blood and body ) Well, he did that for the first time New Years eve :) So our family (minus daddy :( ) along with the girls youth group rang in the New Year taking communion together for the first time! ( the girls were so happy for Luke) Awwww, what a blessing. Sunday morning he took it again at church. He was so excited..I thought he was gonna burst. Afterward, I was teaching mini jr.church with Kathy, and Luke told his class what he did, and volunteered to pray out loud for our class highs and lows :) Such a blessing to hear and see. I am so excited about what awaits us all this year ! God is AMAZING! May all of you and yours , along with my family, grow even closer to the Lord this year and live the abundant lives He has for us, which will further His kingdom. ; He is so worthy !! Happy New Year!