Hume Lake

We are back from our weekend and though it had it's challenges getting up there it was well worth it as usual. It's funny how you don't see most of the people except once a year and you just pick right back up from the last conference. Something about being in a group of men and women who totally relate to your life style and the challenges it brings to your marriage and your family really ministers to me. When we first got married I never realized how important this conference would be to me year after year after year. I LOVE that the guys work hard and then we all get together and play hard for the weekend.The weather was AMAZING! Cold but clear and beautiful. Dan got up every morning at 6am and ran around the lake, me? I slept in. :) Our speaker was amazing and as he taught on Romans 8:28 (you've never head it like this guy taught it!) we were reminded that there are no bad circumstances and then we took an oath not to complain........EVER about ANYTHING!
He reminded us that God's sole purpose in our lives is to mold us into his image. You can be molded like clay (turned on the wheel and formed by the potter's hands) or you can be formed like Iron (put through heat and beaten) He,hee! I don't know about you but I prefer the clay scenario! ;) Ken also said that we should give "thanks" in EVERY circumstance. Now hear me in this I didn't say "thankful" and nowhere in the bible does it say to be thankful but to give thanks is entirely different. God knows that I am not thankful for my illness but do I thank him for the circumstance I am in? Absolutely! If I wasn't in this circumstance at this time at this place I could not be molded into the image of Christ the way he needs me to be. Is your marriage hard and mostly up hill? Give thanks because that is what God is going to use to mold you closer to his image. God is more concerned about my holiness than my comfort level.

One of the things that he said was,"Complaining is going to the dark room to develop our negatives." Think about that one for a minute. Complaining wants someone else to fix it and crying out to God is wanting God to pull us out of the hole.


Last thing I will share that I took away from this weekend is that when Ken pointed out that maturity in Christ is NOT the ability to do allot of things it's the ability to rest in Christ. I must say that got a huge AMEN from me because if I have learned anything through having to slow down from my health it is that I am ALLOWED to rest in Christ.

When we got to our room I was treated to these and a lovely card from our friends Brian and Yvonne. Thank you friend for helping to start my weekend off right. I love them!! :)

Love Bites and A weekend away

Thanks to my blogging friend Christy P. I got the idea to make these little pieces of heaven today. We are heading up to our Firefighters for Christ conference this weekend and I always surprise our friends that ride with us with a home made goodies. This year I decided to make them Love Bites. I also made an extra box for our friends Brian and Yvonne who will be up there and for Jeff and Allie our friends who are taking the girls for us. So hopefully they all like them. They were a thumbs up at our house. :)
I cannot tell you how badly we need to get away this weekend. We plan this trip every year and this year we thought maybe just maybe it would be the first time in 11 years that we missed it due to my health and my scheduled surgery. I started praying that God would work all those details out and that my healing would be so fast so I could go, of course he did all of those things and more. But in the last two weeks since my surgery I have started Iron through IV in the hospital each Monday and lets just say that this last round didn't agree with me. I was violently ill this week and then Ryanne started wheezing when I picked her up from school on Wed. so I rushed her back to the urgent care since she had pneumonia back in Feb. So on top of home schooling, making all my Dr.'s appt.'s, rushing Ryanne around trying to get someone to tell me if they think she has asthma and being alone during most of this I am exhausted. I know satan does not want us to go to Hume Lake this weekend. Every year I throw my hands up and tell Dan we just can't make it work this year. Every year I stress about child care and being 5+ hours from the kids. Every year things start to fall apart right before we are to go and you know what? Every year by God's grace we make it and every year he restores and builds up our marriage. We have spent many hours and days at Hume Lake over the past 11 years with many amazing memories of tears, forgiveness, healing, rest, laughter, meeting up with old friends I could go on forever. The fact is that God has used this place and time that we make every effort to set aside every year to bless us and I am ALWAYS so glad we went. Once all the laundry is done, the kids are packed and shipped off and we are on the road (hopefully with Starbucks in hand) I know it will be good. Please pray for all of the fireman and their families as we commute from all over CA. You can't imagine the feeling of being in a room of 200 fireman and their wives and listening to their hearts and their worship, so amazing. Have a blessed weekend.
Oh and FYI if you were planning on breaking into our house we have someone watching it AND if you get past them could you just make sure you do any laundry I miss and wipe your feet OK!

I've Got peas in the river??????

Ok, so let's all just say it and get it out of the way,"Christy has an addiction to the Flip recorder!" There now we can move on free of quilt. :) Actually if you have met my kids you know full well I could post every single day and it would be too funny. But then what mom couldn't right? I will spare you the daily videos and only post the very best ones. Ryanne learned a new song at church on Sunday and asked me to record her as she sang it to our friends.

Translation: "I've got peace like a river, I've got peace like I river, I've got peace like a river in my soul!" AMEN sister! :)

A Laugh For Your Monday.......

Saturday night we had some friends over and while we were all visiting the kiddos decided to take up ballroom dancing. I did what any good mother would do and I peeked in on them with my handy-dandy Flip video recorder! I don't know why but I have a sneaking suspicion I am going to get in allot of trouble with this thing. :) I know you can't wait huh!

My Early Birthday Present

Today my new toy/early birthday present came in the mail. I have been wanting one of these Flip videos for about a year but had kind of forgotten about it until it popped up on Woot.com last week for $80!!! My birthday is not until April 19th but I begged Dan and the girls to give it to me today. Plus, I reminded them they could always go and buy me something else if they REALLY wanted to have something for me to open that day. He,heee! ;)
As you can see this little baby basically fits in your pocket and records up to an hour before you have to dump it onto your computer. I love to catch the girls doing fun things when we are out but I never want to mess with a bulky video camera and a case etc. This flip video you can toss in your purse or backpack and just go. So much fun!

Here is my first attempt at using the Flip. See what you think.
Also, if you ever get a chance (I check it every morning) go to http://www.woot.com/ and check out their daily specials. I bought my Dyson for $200 there, normally almost $500! If you love a deal like I do you will find tons of fun stuff on this site. Every night at 10pm they put something new up for sale but when its gone its gone! :)
P.S. this is morgan's piano debut. She has been playing for about 8 weeks now. :)

Why I Love This Weather......

We LOVE this spring weather! We have been outside as much as possible this week. Yesterday we met our friends for lunch at the new park in town. I love the look of excitement on Ryanne's face as she takes Lillie down this steep slide. I wonder what Lillie was thinking! ;) To bad our kids are so shy huh?

"Can you see me now mama?"

Do you know what's better than a new park? A new park where the sprinklers come on in the middle of the day. Ryanne took full advantage of the 80 degree temp.'s and as you can see by the look on her face LOVED every minute! Oh to be so care free!

She is in a full speed run down hill at this point. Good to be 4!

This was one of those days that makes me oh so thankful for home schooling our girls. We get everything done in the morning and then we can enjoy just being together for the rest of the day. After such a crazy week last week and spending most of Monday in the hospital getting my iron I was so ready to get back into the swing of things on Tuesday and Wednesday and spend some good time with the kiddos! :) Have a great rest of the week and enjoy the sunshine!

Why I love This Weather Cont........

Ryanne and her friend Seth painted pet rocks this afternoon. They both LOVE anything crafty and will sit forever coloring, painting you name it. So cute! We have this beautiful display of flowers that blooms outside our City Hall every spring but only for a couple weeks. This time we caught some pictures of them in full bloom.

A little itchy climbing through the flowers and dodging the bee's but the kids were troopers. :)

Luke, Morgan, Ryanne, Caleb, and Lillie

Field trip and kid recipe......

You'll have to excuse my post because my photos came up all out of order but I wanted to share a couple photos of a recipe my mom brought and did with the girls.Pat the dough Grandma............

This is what we like to call "controlled chaos" in our kitchen.
Tomb Cakes
Start with two cans of crescent dinner rolls and 16 large marshmallows. Separate the crescent dough into 16 triangles. Dip the marshmallows into 1/4 cup melted butter and then roll in a mixtures of 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Wrap a dough triangle around each marshmallow. Completely cover the marshmallow and squeeze the edges of the dough to seal. Dip in melted butter and place seal side down in muffin pan. Place pan on cookie sheet and bake 375 for 10-15 minutes. As they bake the marshmallows melt leaving a hollow puffed up center.
Immediately remove from muffin tin and drizzle with glaze.
(1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2-3 tsp. milk, add 1/2 tsp. of vanilla and you have glaze)

The girls had fun making these and I had fun eating them. :) I thought it might be fun for a kindergarten class or Sunday school class for Easter. :)


While I was recovering on Friday Dan got to take Morgan on her field trip and caught a couple photos that I really liked. After the hike they went out to lunch and had a really good day together. :) I love this mama hummingbird protecting her babies, so cute and great shot Dan!

Morgan is in deep thought here and I thought she looked so beautiful. I just wanted to stare at this picture forever when I first saw it.

4 am whhaaaattt?????????

Good morning! As you can see laying around in a hospital bed ALL day did not burn enough energy as I could only sleep for 5 hours. I think that might catch up with me later! :) My surgery went well and the best part? I was praying like crazy for peace and that any fears I had would be calmed so I could love on the nurses and doctors around me and that's exactly what happened. I was so excited to get to come home to my girls last night and see relief on Morgan's face. My mom said when they were at the store Morgan wanted to know the EXACT time of my surgery and made my mom stop in the middle of the isle and pray for me..................so amazing! My mom and the girls picked me up some beautiful flowers and made me the cutest sign ever. It was like 10 feet long and so much love was pored into it that I lit up when I saw how excited they were.

So, now I rest for a few days and oh ya' the Dr. said and I quote,"pelvic rest for 4 weeks!" I would give you a list on what that means but it's more fun to let you use your imagination. If you struggle with that let me just say that Dan said,"4 WEEEEEEEKKKKKSSSS!!!!!!!" He,heeee! But then this is also the man that as they were taking me away and I had him hold my wedding ring said,"If you die I'm soooo getting a trophy wife!" I in return said,"that's OK I am really having a breast REDUCTION!" If you know us then you know this is soooo our personality and if you don't, well then you probably just think we are crazy! Have a great day, I am having a hard time getting my eyes and hands to cooperate so I am going to rest. Thanks again for all the prayers and well wishes and thanks to my mom and the girls for making me feel loved and missed while I was at the hospital. :)

Our Week So Far...........

Well, it feels allot later than Wed. to me for some reason. We attended the funeral yesterday of the captain that passed away and though it was very difficult the testimony's his family got up and shared (even his wife) was just amazing and I think it planted many seeds in the hearts that need to know Jesus and his saving grace.

Watched this little cutie pie for a little while today. I watched her brother too but he was not in the mood to be photographed, he,hee! This is what Wed. mornings look like at our house. I think it's safe to say she has not adjusted to the time change. :) I thought a warm bath would wake her up, guess not.
Here is a cute picture of Dan and Ryanne, can you say,"daddy's girl!" Oh ya' baby she has him right where she wants him.

I love this photo even though its a little cloudy it captures the sheer joy Dan brings to Ryanne. They are SOOO cute together.

Toilets scrubbed, check!

Floors mopped, check!

Laundry done, check!

Dishes done, check!

Grocery store, check!

School stuff laid out, check!

Car pool for Ryanne, check!

Check! Check! Check! Check! Now I can relax and have surgery tomorrow. Whew the lengths we have to go to put our feet up for three days! ;) Probably wont post for a few days, have a great rest of the week and a blessed weekend with your families.

Our Weekend.......

We had a really good weekend. Saturday am I went to Ontario with my friend Sarah for a couple hours to do a music survey for 90.1 and they paid us $75 in cash when we were done. Fun! Then kind of at the last minute we decided to head out of town for the night. After looking at our calendar next week (funeral, my surgery etc.) we thought it might be a good idea to get away to Lake Arrowhead for the night with the girls. No computers, cells didn't work in most places and no TV so it was great. Dan was all mad because our girls are not really "snow people." They have been playing and swimming in the ocean since they could sit up and so they tend to be water people. They love being in flip flops, shorts and dragging a boogie board behind them. Dan got all up in arms that he grew up in Lake Arrowhead and his girls should be able to sled full speed down the hill with no concern what so ever. Then as he was FLYING down the hill saying something about how he should have raised them in the mountains I caught this shot. As you can imagine it DID NOT end well. He told me to go next and I said,"ya' that would go over well. Hey Doctor while you are frying my uterus could you put my arm back on and fix my back?" No thank you!
This is my new FAVORITE picture. Nothing fancy, I am not as talented with the photography as the rest of you bloggers out there, I just loved that when I put the camera on them they did this. I know they are mine so I have to say this but oh man are they cute!!!! Love them!
Hope your weekend was blessed and you spent time with your family.

Since I last posted & other stuff........

We took advantage of the amazing weather out in Palm Springs this past weekend and went to the College of The Desert's outdoor market day. My mom met up with us and she of course made sure the girls got some cool shades to wear And Ryanne's cool hat because,"Grandma, I just DON'T do the sun!" Morgan brought the binoculars because......well I don't know why but she sure looked cute! :) You know how they say when people get their first ta too they can't stop? I wouldn't know about that; sorry blogger friends, no secret hearts on my butt or butterflies you should know about. I know, such a bummer! ;) BUT, I do think I am addicted to cutting my hair since I went short. It's just so fun a and kind of freeing if you will. No decisions on what the heck to do with it every morning and its just there and easy and cute. I love the girl who cuts my hair cause she knows me so well and does exactly what I ask her to AND gets it right. I know it's blurry but here is the back. Its all layered and choppy and fun.

I turned this black and white so you couldn't see how tired I was today. :) I Love black and white. It works miracles! Morgan took this. Good job Morgan!

Ryanne wanted her hair cut short as well so I said,"what the heck!" She loves it!
Sunday we all went back out to the desert to take a hike through Aqua Caliente Indian reservation. If you ever get a chance it is amazing and beautiful. You can hike for miles and find beautiful waterfalls and rocks and views that you wouldn't believe. The history there is rich and the people oh so nice. Great family day.

Other Random stuff:

I went for a walk yesterday and came home all dirty and bruised. When Dan saw me he was like,"What the heck? Who goes for a walk and comes back bloody?" Me I guess. I saw this older lady walking who I try and talk to every so often cause she's super interesting and I feel like God laid her on my heart a long time ago. So anyways, she was on the horse path below me and when I went down the hill to say hi and pet her dog I slipped on the wet plants and fell face first! Oooppsss! Dan asked if I was embarrassed. No, I guess I should have been but I just hopped up and kept on talking. He,heee! YOW my knees hurt today though. ;)

Monday I went into the hospital for my treatment and got all excited to see this older lady there that I knew. I rushed over and grabbed the recliner next to her and started talking away. She was so nice and jumped right in. About a half hour into it I realized she wasn't who I thought she was. ooppsss! I think I am loosing my mind. Dan said obviously she was to because she kept talking away like I knew stuff. At least she's 80 though! Whats my excuse?


Sad to report our Fire Dept. lost a Captain this week. You may have read it in the paper. The guys are really bummed and it was very unexpected as he was not sick. He was injured riding his dirt bike but they said he would be fine and then he died suddenly on Mon. They think a blood clot maybe. SO now we wait for the funeral so our guys can say good bye and lay a friend to rest. Very hard week for them all. Please keep them and also his wife and kids in your prayers.


Last but not least, well maybe least, ;) I got the call last night that I will be having surgery next Thursday. My ultra sound I mentioned a few posts ago came back clear (good news) and so did the other tests they ran but I still need surgery. They will first do a DNC and then a uteral ablation. Removing the lining of my uterus to hopefully stop my cycles. If all goes well I will get to go home later that day after the surgery. Basically this is the step they are doing to try and avoid a hysterectomy. I have been VERY anemic for some time and although some of that is from the chemo treatments I also have horrible cycles so they need to be lightened or stopped. Then the following week I will see my oncologist for iron infusions for 6 weeks. Please pray this lube job if you will works and I get back up to speed. I do OK now but OK is starting to not be enough. I need the iron to work so my body has some reserves to fight infection and stay healthy. Thanks so much for praying and for staying positive, no negative (I went through that and it was horrible comments allowed pleeeaasssee!) Ignorance is bliss sometimes people. :) Have a blessed week. :)