This week I only had one cleaning job scheduled which was yesterday and I don't have another scheduled until next Tues. soooo, I am taking this week to get everything spring cleaned and in order around here. I am excited. I started Monday cleaning out the laundry room. I like getting paid to do others but I love it when it is my house getting cleaned.
Soccer has started for Joseph so we have been enjoying getting to the field practices and games.
Brianna had her last choir concert on Monday but will go to a choir contest in a couple of weeks. We have been taking a look at what she will take next year as a freshman. She signed up to take FFA (Future Farmers of America). She is very interested in becoming a veterinarian and was interested in getting more experience being around and learning about livestock. She's also decided to play high school soccer in addition to her choir stuff so we should be very busy next fall.
Chris and I took Natalie to a wedding reception last Saturday. The entire night she just wanted to dance with her DaDa as she affectionately calls him. He held her while they danced and those big brown eyes were fixed on his. She is a big Daddy's girl.
We are taking the kids camping in the big red bus for five days the first week they are out of school. They have been looking forward to that all year long. I have reserved some fun books from the library about camping games, crafts, songs and campfire food for kids. I want to make is the best camp trip ever for them. They have had a long year and they deserve it, can't wait!!
Hope you are all having a good week!!
Love, Chelle
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Wonderful Easter
We had a lovely day of celebration. Hope you all had a great Easter too. Here are some recent pictures of the kids. Enjoy.
Love, Chelle.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Interviewing Your Daughter's Date
Praise Melissa and Keith Hutsell for giving us this wonderful resource-
How to Interview Your Daughter's Date by Dennis Rainey.
I know I have mentioned before how often the issue of the opposite sex comes up in our home lately. Again we knew this would be a part of public school. It has been a big issue the past few weeks for our oldest daughter. A boy was wanting her to "go with him" I'm terrible I say, "go where? you aren't of the age that it is appropriate to go anywhere with a boy." She will say "Mom!!! you know what I mean." I'll be honest this boy had me a little concerned, he didn't seem to obey boundaries and enjoyed the thought of challenging us. A small example is we said it isn't appropriate to talk on the phone to boys so we had told Brianna to let him know that if he calls, she would not be permitted under any circumstances to talk to him. He called anyway, he had said he was going to talk to me then if he couldn't talk to her. Just so happens that after school one of us Chris or I are always home with the kids. I'm guessing from his reactions he's not used to hands-on parents. It did however, put a red flag up to us about the character of this young man. In time Brianna came to see this for herself and made good choices but oh how tough the past few weeks have been.
I won't go into any more detail accept to say that book was so wonderful. It made us realize we have more power than we were feeling. We told Bri that she was a precious jewell to our family and that we would not just hand her over lightly to anyone. We explained that any boy that would like to spend time with her "at an appropriate age" or any boy that was thinking of calling her a girlfriend would most definately have to meet up with Chris for him to be able to get to know the young man and let him know of our expectations and make sure his character is honorable. After that we would both have to have time to get to know him in our home. I was amazed at her reaction. I expected great resistance but instead I could see in her that she felt so loved and protected. She beamed saying "she would feel better if Daddy did that." I could see the love in her eyes for her Daddy, The idea of him doing this opened her heart to him in a really deep way. This has opened the door for many good conversations about being evenly yoked and what to look for when choosing a date and not just wanting to go on a date with someone because she is asked but taking a look at the character of the person first and their possible intentions. This is hard stuff. She will be in high school next year. Anyway the book brings a great perspective that empowered us and with it and prayer we were able to quickly gain control over the situation. God is so good. I kept thinking God will use this for His glory or we wouldn't be going through it now. I can see how he is using it in her. Chris and I particularly like the part of the book that tells Dennis has a baseball bat in his office with the words "The Respect Her" lasered on the bat. We might need to get one of those. Just wanted to share that.
Easter preparations are in full swing. It is great to have the kids home today. Joseph and Natalie are getting ready to paint eggs. Brianna and I are going to make 4 dozen muffins today to donate for the Sunday morning breakfast at church. The Jr. High kids will be preparing the entire meal tomorrow morning. During that time Jose has meet the team for soccer then he and I will go off to the grocery and I will spend some time tomorrow making food to take to my Mother's. However, we are looking forward to a relaxing family night tomorrow night and will enjoy Chris being home for the weekend for a change. After church on Sunday we will go to Mom's house to celebrate for the rest of the day.
Hope you all have a great Easter!!!!
Love,
Michelle
How to Interview Your Daughter's Date by Dennis Rainey.
I know I have mentioned before how often the issue of the opposite sex comes up in our home lately. Again we knew this would be a part of public school. It has been a big issue the past few weeks for our oldest daughter. A boy was wanting her to "go with him" I'm terrible I say, "go where? you aren't of the age that it is appropriate to go anywhere with a boy." She will say "Mom!!! you know what I mean." I'll be honest this boy had me a little concerned, he didn't seem to obey boundaries and enjoyed the thought of challenging us. A small example is we said it isn't appropriate to talk on the phone to boys so we had told Brianna to let him know that if he calls, she would not be permitted under any circumstances to talk to him. He called anyway, he had said he was going to talk to me then if he couldn't talk to her. Just so happens that after school one of us Chris or I are always home with the kids. I'm guessing from his reactions he's not used to hands-on parents. It did however, put a red flag up to us about the character of this young man. In time Brianna came to see this for herself and made good choices but oh how tough the past few weeks have been.
I won't go into any more detail accept to say that book was so wonderful. It made us realize we have more power than we were feeling. We told Bri that she was a precious jewell to our family and that we would not just hand her over lightly to anyone. We explained that any boy that would like to spend time with her "at an appropriate age" or any boy that was thinking of calling her a girlfriend would most definately have to meet up with Chris for him to be able to get to know the young man and let him know of our expectations and make sure his character is honorable. After that we would both have to have time to get to know him in our home. I was amazed at her reaction. I expected great resistance but instead I could see in her that she felt so loved and protected. She beamed saying "she would feel better if Daddy did that." I could see the love in her eyes for her Daddy, The idea of him doing this opened her heart to him in a really deep way. This has opened the door for many good conversations about being evenly yoked and what to look for when choosing a date and not just wanting to go on a date with someone because she is asked but taking a look at the character of the person first and their possible intentions. This is hard stuff. She will be in high school next year. Anyway the book brings a great perspective that empowered us and with it and prayer we were able to quickly gain control over the situation. God is so good. I kept thinking God will use this for His glory or we wouldn't be going through it now. I can see how he is using it in her. Chris and I particularly like the part of the book that tells Dennis has a baseball bat in his office with the words "The Respect Her" lasered on the bat. We might need to get one of those. Just wanted to share that.
Easter preparations are in full swing. It is great to have the kids home today. Joseph and Natalie are getting ready to paint eggs. Brianna and I are going to make 4 dozen muffins today to donate for the Sunday morning breakfast at church. The Jr. High kids will be preparing the entire meal tomorrow morning. During that time Jose has meet the team for soccer then he and I will go off to the grocery and I will spend some time tomorrow making food to take to my Mother's. However, we are looking forward to a relaxing family night tomorrow night and will enjoy Chris being home for the weekend for a change. After church on Sunday we will go to Mom's house to celebrate for the rest of the day.
Hope you all have a great Easter!!!!
Love,
Michelle
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Way to Heaven
Natalie has been home from school all week with an upper respiratory virus. Chris took her to the doctor yesterday and they said it would pass in a few days. Her poor little cough has been relentless and many sleepless nights for all of us.
On Wed. evening I dropped Bri and Joe off at church and came back home with Nat since Chris is always in Col. on that night. Bri was to help my friend with the pre-schoolers and practice singing her part for Easter. Joseph loves going to his class and has been learning so much lately.
My friend called me yesterday to let me know how great they did without me there. Music to a mother's ears. She said, " if my kids were that good I'd want someone to tell me." She went on to say they were servants of the church. Bri was patient and good with the children and did everything asked of her. She said instead of playing when it was over Joe came to her and said, "Miss Robin I will sweep this whole floor for you if you would just put up the chairs." She said she so delighted with them and wanted to let me know how great they were. I hope it is ok I am bragging on them, it made my heart sing.
When they got home Wed. night, Joseph was all about telling me what he had learned in his class. Little sister who is going through quite a rebellious phase was listening in. Natalie says to me, "Mama I don't believe in your Jesus." (Joe went through a short phase like this at her age too, I panicked then but have not with her.) Anyway, Joseph gets very agitated when she hears her talk like this. All of the sudden her blurts out to her, "Well Natalie if you want to go to heaven you have to believe in Jesus. Mom and Dad will be in heaven , Brianna and I will be in heaven and where will you be? Jesus died on the cross for our sins so when we die we can go to heaven and be with God and if you don't believe in Jesus then you don't get to go!!" This was not said gently but rather abrupt, so quickly Natalie burst into tears. I comforted her but then confirmed all her brother had said. So black and white in his little mind, I do so hope it stays that way for him. Grown-ups tend to muddy the waters a bit. It was desperation I heard in his little voice for her to believe what he was saying, he loves her so much. It made me think of God and how he must feel each time we turn away from Him. Desperate for us to come back so we can be with Him.
I just wanted to share that.
Hope you all have a great weekend!!!
Love-Chelle
On Wed. evening I dropped Bri and Joe off at church and came back home with Nat since Chris is always in Col. on that night. Bri was to help my friend with the pre-schoolers and practice singing her part for Easter. Joseph loves going to his class and has been learning so much lately.
My friend called me yesterday to let me know how great they did without me there. Music to a mother's ears. She said, " if my kids were that good I'd want someone to tell me." She went on to say they were servants of the church. Bri was patient and good with the children and did everything asked of her. She said instead of playing when it was over Joe came to her and said, "Miss Robin I will sweep this whole floor for you if you would just put up the chairs." She said she so delighted with them and wanted to let me know how great they were. I hope it is ok I am bragging on them, it made my heart sing.
When they got home Wed. night, Joseph was all about telling me what he had learned in his class. Little sister who is going through quite a rebellious phase was listening in. Natalie says to me, "Mama I don't believe in your Jesus." (Joe went through a short phase like this at her age too, I panicked then but have not with her.) Anyway, Joseph gets very agitated when she hears her talk like this. All of the sudden her blurts out to her, "Well Natalie if you want to go to heaven you have to believe in Jesus. Mom and Dad will be in heaven , Brianna and I will be in heaven and where will you be? Jesus died on the cross for our sins so when we die we can go to heaven and be with God and if you don't believe in Jesus then you don't get to go!!" This was not said gently but rather abrupt, so quickly Natalie burst into tears. I comforted her but then confirmed all her brother had said. So black and white in his little mind, I do so hope it stays that way for him. Grown-ups tend to muddy the waters a bit. It was desperation I heard in his little voice for her to believe what he was saying, he loves her so much. It made me think of God and how he must feel each time we turn away from Him. Desperate for us to come back so we can be with Him.
I just wanted to share that.
Hope you all have a great weekend!!!
Love-Chelle
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