Birthdays!

Well the 26th of March I celebrated the big 3-0 birthday! It was a fabulous day on Thursday and Matt took the day off to be with me. My good friend Ora watched Jameson and he was thrilled to get to play with Sara and the other Averett kiddos. Matt and I went to Bread Company for breakfast and then to an early movie. It was so relaxing. On Thursday night we went to Jeff and Theresa's (Matt's parents) for my birthday dinner. It was a my favorite meal complete with Shrimp Alfredo and Key Lime Pies. Yummy!!! On Friday night we had a Family Movie Night. The plan was to rent Bolt, but it was totally sold out so we settled on Beverly Hills Chihuahua. It was a very cute movie and we all enjoyed that. Jaden also opened his gifts from us, which he was thrilled about.

On Saturday we traveled over to Missouri to spend the day with my family. My mom had set up a wonderful luncheon at Miss Aimee B's Tea House in Old St. Charles. It was such good food and awesome friends that joined us. That evening we grilled out for Jaden's birthday. Uncle Jim prepared some awesome food and we topped the evening off with an Ice Cream cake that was to die for!

Finally, Sunday the 29th came and this is Jaden's actual birthday! We went to church this morning and had a meal with our church family. Then we went and watched Jakob and Alysha get baptized which was totally a wonderful moment. Back to Nana and Papaw's house to have Jaden's birthday dinner complete with Hamburgers/Hotdogs, Mac n' Cheese, Watergate Salad and Ice Cream Sunday's. This was all Jaden's planning!!! It was a very fun weekend of celebration. Jaden is thrilled to be 7 and I am handling my new number 30!!! Thank you to everyone for all the Birthday Wishes. It has been a great weekend.

I've been tagged

Stop what you are doing right now and take a picture of yourself. No prep work allowed. You must take the picture exactly as you are right now...you may not go put on makeup or brush your hair or change your clothes. After you are done tag 5 more people. Esther, Michelle, Neri, Tammy, Betsy and anyone else who would like to play along you are tagged!!!

This is me...ready to go to sleep!

Stellan needs our prayers

Pray for Stellan

I am asking that anyone who reads my blog to get on their knees in prayer for this precious little baby boy, Stellan. You can click on the button (My Charming Kids) and get all the updates, but basically Stellan was diagnosed with SVT in utero and seemed to be completely healed. 4 months have gone by and he is now in the hospital fighting for his life. I have been following this family's blog for over a year now and feel like I know them personally. Please pray for Stellan and his family. We know that the Lord is hearing our prayers and will answer them according to his will.

Bittersweet Celebration

Well, Jaden doesn't actually turn 7 until Sunday the 29th of March, but we sort of sped up the party b/c his best friend is moving. I had to break the news to Jaden last week that Grayson's family was moving back to Springfield, IL after only being here since August. His family had lived in Springfield for 10 years and just didn't adjust well here and saw an opportunity to move back "home" and jumped on it. Jaden, however, was heartbroken!!! He had decided quite a while back that instead of having a traditional birthday party he would rather do something fun with just Grayson. So we picked Grayson up on Saturday afternoon and headed to the theater to see Race to Witch Mountain. After the movie, they were able to play games before we left which was a real treat because that rarely happens. After that they were anxious to get to our house for play time!!! They broke out their Nintendo DS' and played games, jumped on the trampoline, built some really awesome Lego Star Wars ships, and just all around enjoyed each others company. Grayson slept over and they camped out in the living room. The boys wanted to savor every last moment so Grayson joined us for church on Sunday morning and then we met up with his family for lunch before they headed out of town!!! It was sad to say goodbye, but they are only a couple hours away so we plan to get the boys together again soon.

Monkey Joe's

We met our cousins, Kate and Kyle for a fun evening at Monkey Joe's. The kids always have a blast when we get them together, which is not nearly often enough. We only live about 15 minutes away from each other, but life gets in the way and we rarely see them. Mary and I are hoping to change that! It was fun catching up and seeing the kids run and play together. Jameson had a hard time because he was struggling to keep up with the big kids. It's amazing what a difference a year makes. Kyle turned 3 in October and he was doing a great job getting around. Kate was very helpful with Jameson and was guiding him around so he felt included too. Thanks for the fun time guys!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Fun Day with MOPS

Jameson and I had a very fun day with our MOPS group yesterday! We went to Troy, Illinois to Great Skate. They set up the skating rink with all sorts of fun bounce houses and obstacle courses. It was fabulous because the children were all preschool age so none of them were in fear of getting run over. They also got to bring bikes, scooters to ride around on. The mommies also got in on the action and took many trips up the wall with our 2 year olds hanging on for dear life. I am rather sore today, but not as much from that as from the Bungee Run!!! I thought it looked like so much fun to put this vest on with a bungee cord attached to the end of it. The object is to run as fast as you can and once the resistance hits you see how far you can make it go. There is a measurement in the middle of the 2 lanes. So, Kari the graceful ones takes off running and once the resistance hits that bungee cord flung me straight back and my glasses flew off my face. It was quite a sight I am sure!!! Needless to say, I think I gave myself whip lash and my neck is feeling the effects of the wise choice.

We then went to McDonald's for lunch with some of our friends. Nap time was super easy! Jameson went without even a wimper! I was exhausted too. It was a really fun day and we are hoping to go back to the Great Skate and do it again sometime!!!

Big Time Boo Boo

Well this morning as we pulled into our drive way from taking Jaden to school after he missed the bus the excitement began. I was focused on the Waste Management truck at the end of our driveway. They didn't seem to be taking our trash, but were just sitting at the end of our driveway. I was sort of concerned b/c we really needed our trash taken. There was a lot of trash! It couldn't wait another week. So I was looking down at the end of the road. Jameson was supposed to be headed toward the house. At the last second he reached back into the van as I SLAMMED the sliding door...right on his hand! It closed, latched...for what seemed like a whole minute Jameson stood in silence as his hand/thumb was IN the door. I opened it back up as quickly as I could and then the screaming began. It immediatly was bright red and purple! I took him in and grabbed a bag of frozen veggies and put that on there while he was screaming anyway. I was only able to do that for maybe a minute or two. His hand in the knuckle area by his thumb started to swell a lot, turned bright red and was really hot to the touch. I called his pediatrician and told him what happened. He suggested we come in and get it checked out. He let Dr. Cleveland touch and squeeze all around it without any trouble. But if I even looked at it wrong he was in tears. hmmmmm! Anyway...moving right along. They sent us down to X-Ray and took 3 pictures. There was no break, which was a huge blessing. The doctor was surprised by the look of it that it wasn't fractured. They wrapped his hand up in a tiny little ace bandage and told me to keep it like that for a couple days. He said it would help with the swelling. Mommy, of course feels horrible!!!! What a day!!!

Mothering is Tough!

Mothering is the hardest job in the whole entire world. There are many days when I wonder..."Am I doing these kids any good by being their mom?" I feel like I say the same things to them over and over and it still doesn't sink in. I try to teach them the love of God and show them by example what it means to actually LIVE as a Christian and not just spout off that I am one! Sometime's I feed into trying to rationalize with them by explaining why I am telling them certain things to do. I also sometimes feed into the arguments that they try to have with me when my answer is NO! I have been trying really hard to not get into that trap and explaining to them how disrespectful it is for them to act this way. It is a constant battle and I realize that I am not meant to be their best friend in this season of parenting. If I do my job correctly, that part of our relationship will hopefully come. I have a strong desire for them to respect me and the way that I acheive that respect is through discipline. Children long for this type of discipline so that they know boundries and are secure in life. They have to know how to follow rules or they will be in for a life of serious trouble because our world is full of laws to obey...or else. The thing that I have been forgetting in this tough parenting process is something I was reminded of today. I need to be asking God for wisdom each and every day for how to raise these 3 boys. They each have different needs and personalities and the only way I will know how to raise them up to love the Lord is to ask HIM for wisdom! He promises us that he will give us the wisdom that we ask for. So I just need to remember to daily ASK for it!!!!

James 1:5 Is any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks he must believe and not doubt because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Blue & Gold Banquet

Jakob and Jaden were recognized last month for all their Cub Scout achievements. You can see all of Jakob's belt loops that he received for doing all sorts of different activities. Jakob earned his Wolf Scout badge and Jaden earned his Tiger Scout badge! They have thoroughly enjoyed this year in Cub Scouts and plan to stick with it for a while longer. We are so proud of them.

Photo Fun

Okay Betsy, here it goes. The name of the game is to find the 6th picture folder and the 6th picture and post it!

This is Jaden at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MS. He is at the Wood Park!

Let's see what you've got Ora, Esther, Tammy, Michelle, Neri, & anyone else who'd like to play along!

Thoughts from Jameson

Sorry the video is sideways. I thought for sure that I changed that before I uploaded it, but it didn't work. It took so long for me to even get the video on here in the first place so I am leaving it. Don't forget to go down and pause the player so that you can actually hear Jameson!

My Brothers and Family

More Ordination

Senior Minister Charlie Mcgee and Associate Minister/Family Life Counseler, Jeff Rhoderick signing my certificate.

Signing my Certificate

Those signing my certificate are...Brian Harris (high school youth minister), Rick Kerkove (my dad), Donnie Sanders (Jr. High youth minister), Gary Bryant (long-time family friend), and Jim Bradley (my uncle).

My Ordination

Sunday, March 1st was my Ordination into the Children's Ministry. It was an awesome service filled with people who mean so much to me. In these pictures, I am with my cakes that Bonnie Tucker made. She also made our Wedding cake and they are totally awesome!!! The others are from parts of the service...laying on of hands and the charge into the ministry.