Dirty Job

Stephan has discovered that working in the crawl space replacing old insulation, is a very dirty and smelly job. Our heat pump install has been delayed. However Stephan decided he needed to check the insulation under the house, and in the process discovered that it had fallen from many areas. This was part of our problem with cold! The heat pump does need to be replaced regardless, we had made a small fix to get us through last summer, and need the AC big time around here in the summer. Stephan with the help of Phillip spent 5+hours under the house working on this project and the back half of the house has been re insulated. They smelled nasty and where filthy when they where done. I now have a mound of insulation in the back yard, awaiting a trip in the truck to the dump!

Growing Girls!!!

Chloe, Molly, and Tristen have all grown.. The result a need to change out clothing sizes for each girl. This is a difficult task, because, I have limited times as to when I can get this done due to mine and Stephan's schedule. Stephan happened to be off this Saturday so I started my journey, in the tubs of hand me downs... and baskets of laundry.

The pictures offer a small glimpse of my bedroom over taken by little girls clothing. Chloe has gone from a size 6/6x top to a 7/8, Molly a 4/5top to a 6/6x. The tricky part with the hand me downs, They start w/ my niece Stirling, then good condition stuff gets to Ainsley, who also gets tome new things, then the good condition stuff comes to Chloe, then Chloe gets some new, then it all goes to Molly, result, Molly always has way too much clothing. So I then have to evaluate what will work for them, and then pass some on to charity, because I just don't have the space for it all. Tristen is moving from 12mo clothing in some items to 18month, so that transition is taking place too. Now Tristen is tolerant of being left on the bed to play with clothing and hangers for some lengths of time, however the 6+hours spent Saturday where not enough to tackle the task at hand, now I face Stephan sleeping in my work space so the transition of clothing has come to a halt.... The master bedroom stuffed, and some of the tubs are living in the family room. Homeschool is needing to resume for the week. I hope to tackle it in small increments each evening this week, and hope to complete the task of downsizing Molly's jumbo collection of clothing, Getting Tristen's bigger sizes washed and switched out. My hope is to have it done, by next week, or I may loose my mind in the process.

What about the kids??

Guess I left the girls out of the last post! Tuesday nights they have Daddy time! Wednesday nights there is a place for them and some wonderful teenagers watch them! On every other Friday Grandma and Grandpa Rouze have graciously agreed to watch them for us, since we'll be in their area. So that's where they will be while Mommy and Daddy have their Bible study time with the other adults. More kiddie posts later!!

Busy Mommy and Daddy!!

I resumed my Tuesday night ladies bible study, we are doing another Beth Moore Study called Daniel . I'm on my 3rd week, have 5days of homework a week, it's just awesome, and it's helping to clarifying some things that God has already been placing on my heart over the past 2years. Starting this Friday, Stephan and I are returning to our Friday night local bible study group (with church friends who live on our side of town), and are doing a study called "The Bait of Satan" By John Bevere and is about Living Free from the Deadly trap of Offense. That study will require us to read the book and attend the video sessions every other week. Oh there is more, we are some bible studying folk right now! Wednesday nights, the men are starting a study called "The Way of the Wild heart" by John Eldridge, Stephan helped line some things up, and Ricky (Debby's Husband) will be leading the group of men. The ladies are starting another Beth Moore Study "Believing God"(workbook and homework optional) for those who attend Wednesday nights. I chose to dive in and get the work book!! It's just like taking a bunch of different classes in school, just our subject matter is God, serving Him, believing Him, and growing in His word! We are looking forward to our adventures in the coming weeks.

Baby it's COLD inside!!

So this past week we had some very cold weather, boo on the fact that we didn't get a lick of snow to show for it. Our heat pump, is not the best, at night it can't seem to keep the house warm enough. Chloe, Molly and myself do well with extra blankets. For Tristen I was layering her with the following, short sleeve onesie, long sleeve onesie, tights, socks, lightweight sleeper, blanket sleeper, a blanket pouch (in place of a blanket) and a pair of mittens w/ long socks over them to stay in place. Despite all of that clothing, Tristen would wake up with ice cold fingers, hands, and lower arms. So Friday and Saturday the temperature lows where to be bel0w 10degrees, since the heat pump couldn't hang with 20degrees, I opted to stay with my parents while Stephan was at work those 2 nights. We have 2 options, replace the heat pump, or just make costly repairs to it over and over, not really knowing when it will break completely. We have decided to replace the whole system, and this will take place next weekend. Last night wanting to sleep in my own bed, we returned home, it was not as cold, but still now warm enough for Tristen, so she snuggled up for the night with me in my bed, we slept well and no ice cold fingers this morning.

Parenting....

Why we do what we do...... In the realm of parenting. When Chloe was just a baby we dedicated her to the Lord.. and committed to raise her to love and serve the Lord. We repeated that dedication with Molly, and plan the same route for Tristen. Neither of us where made to attend church, or where taught much about God as children our parents had decided to introduce us to church and let us choose our own way. I'm grateful that Stephan and I had found friends in life that directed us towards church. We stepped away from church in 1999, to return in 2000 after an invitation to what would become our current church family. Our christian walk has not been an easy one, and not always a faithful one. However in the past year we have jumped into our faith with both feet, and are working more diligently to raise our girls the way we dedicated to do so 6years ago. Today I checked out a CD series by Jimmy Evans titled "Successful Parenting", it has confirmed many of our parenting methods, and has given me more incite as to which way to go with other areas of parenting to show them God through us. I look forward to continuing on this difficult and challenging path of parenting our girls. So following listening to this message I plan to listen to it again, and then to share w/ Stephan. Below is a link to Marriage today.

http://www.marriagetoday.org

Happy New Year!!!

The Girls and myself spent New Years at my Parents place. Along with my sister and her girls since our husbands had to work. Uncle Chris was home too. For Chloe and Molly we said Happy New year and had some sparkling grape juice around 9pm so they could go to bed. :o) Hope everyone has a great year in 2009!!

Camping indoors....

Our 15x14 2 room Family Cabin Tent

Queen Air bed and Tristen's Pack n Play

Chloe & Molly w/ their twin air beds and sleeping bags!

For Christmas we received a Tent. The girls got their air beds. With misc cash gifts we purchased our Queen air bed, my sleeping bag, and other camping gear. So to be sure that all functioned well and was not missing parts we camped out in the house in the tent. What a blast... we are looking forward to warmer weather to venture outdoors. Over the next few months we will begin to search for and purchase any other camping equipment that we may need.