A lot happens while I am not online!

I haven't been online for a few days because I ended up getting Evie's stomach flu on Tuesday night. I hadn't checked my blog since I last posted the snow pictures, and wow! A lot of chatting (or should I call it bantering) has been going on with the political post! It has been some interesting conversations. I am still not feeling 100%, so I'm not too chatty at the moment. I just wanted you all to know that I wasn't ignoring what you all wrote. I'm just not very energetic at the moment to post any replies.

First snow!

Last night we took Evie to therapeutic horseback riding, and she did really well. The only problem is that she is so tiny! Her little legs barely get past the saddle, so the horse won't move because she isn't able to squeeze the horses sides hard enough for the horse to feel it! Last night she was on a horse named Josie, and the instructor Tim wanted Evie to have the reins, with the volunteers just walking beside Evie (instead of them holding onto the lead rope). This was Evie's first time of doing this, and unfortunately Josie wouldn't budge half the time so the volunteers had to grab the lead rope and pull her along. Tim told Evie that all she needed to do was grow her legs about another 6-7 inches :). She was able to trot on Josie, which Evie loves to do. Next week they are going to try putting her on a smaller horse. I never notice much that Evie is a tiny little thing until she gets on a horse!


I had to laugh that while we were in the arena watching Evie, a black cat that lives at the stables came and visited us in the stands. She is the sweetest cat, and I love when she cuddles on my lap. I patted my lap so she could come up, and instead she jumped up on Jeff's lap! The thing is that he isn't super fond of cats. He doesn't hate them, he just isn't a big cat lover. That cat would not get off his lap, and loved on him the whole time. It was hilarious! Jeff finally had to throw her off, and she came and laid next to me.


When we got done with horseback riding, we walked out into the parking lot and it was snowing! It is the first snow of the season. When we got home, Evie wanted to go out into the snow to catch some on her tongue, so Jeff went out with her (and I went out with my camera).

More family

Julie and Steve went back to Nevada yesterday. We had a great time with them. On Saturday, they came over to our house for a little bit with my parents, and then we met them at one of our favorite Amish restaurants for dinner. The food was wonderful. Steve had never been in Amish country before, so he was really fascinated. His eyes were like saucers when he saw all the wonderful Amish food :). We really enjoyed getting to know Steve better. It looks like he is probably going to be a member of our family in the not so distant future!

P.S. Evie enjoyed the food too :).

My sister

My sister Julie is visiting from Nevada, and she brought her boyfriend Steve with her so we could meet him. They are staying with my parents. We got to see them last night, and we had a great time. I haven't seen my sister since April, and I have really missed her! We had a wonderful dinner of rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn bread and salad. We just sat around and talked. Evie keeps calling Steve "Uncle Steve", which is really cute. We sat down later and watched some Bugs Bunny. Our family loves Bugs Bunny cartoons. We stayed until around 10:00, and then headed for home. We are going to see them tonight too, so we are looking forward to it. They leave tomorrow :(. Time goes by so fast. Steve is really, really nice, and he is so good to my sister. I'm not used to seeing Julie look adoringly at anyone :). I look forward to getting to know Steve more!

The future of this country

This is a long article, but for those who are unsure about this election and who they are going to vote for, this article is a must read. Believers in Jesus who are on the fence over this election really need to read this article. It is scary, but I can honestly see this happening. This letter was from citizenlink.org, which is a Focus On The Family website.

http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf

Tired

I have been tired for the past few days. Evie had the stomach flu yesterday in the very early morning hours, so I slept on her floor. Well, I shouldn't say slept. She was up every 1/2 hour from 12:00 to 5:00 a.m. throwing up :(. The poor thing. I prayed for her, and she stopped throwing up at 5:00. Praise the Lord for that! She spent all yesterday on the couch watching tv, and I just laid around because I was so tired from lack of sleep! She is still on the couch this morning. Her tummy has been hurting, but she hasn't been throwing up. I am hoping to get more done today. I got a good night's rest last night, so that helped.

My sister Julie is coming in from Nevada today. She won't get in until really late, and she is staying with my parents. We get to see her Friday, and I can't wait! She is bringing her boyfriend Steve with her from Nevada, so we will get to meet him for the first time. We are all looking forward to it. They are really serious, so this is a huge thing that we get to meet him :). I'm believing for us all to be healthy, so we can have a wonderful visit!

Leaves

It is that time of year where all the leaves are changing color and falling. I love fall. I love the smell of burning leaves too. Jeff bought a leaf blower last year, so we don't have to do much raking. We have a big yard, and raking almost an acre of yard with a hand rake got to be way too big of a job last year. Evie loves it when Jeff uses the leaf blower. She will sit in a pile with her hands over her eyes and ask him to blow leaves on top of her. Then he will make a huge pile so she could jump in!

Here they are showing off their leaf raking muscles :).

Trip to Wisconsin

This past Saturday, Jeff, Evie and I left and went to Wisconsin Dells. Jeff was there for business, so the company paid for our way there, and paid for our motel. We stayed at a very nice resort called the Chula Vista. The resort had a huge indoor and outdoor water park. The huge building in the picture below (the picture was taken from our room) was where the indoor water park was. It had some of the craziest water slides I have ever been on! Evie absolutely loved it. She could have lived there. We went to the water park 3 days out of the 4 that we were there.













The colors were beautiful in Wisconsin. Our motel had a walkway that went along the river, and the colors were amazing. We hiked down to an overlook, and we watched some boats go by.



























Jeff took a few long hair pictures. My hair was a mess that day, so the pictures aren't that great. The view was pretty though.













The resort had a golf course, and Jeff played golf with the guys from work once. There was also a miniature golf course on the property, and we played that twice.

The maids were so nice at the resort. They cleaned our room one day after Evie had been playing Barbies on the bed. When we came back to the room, we saw that they had lined up her Barbies in a nice row on the bed. I thought that was really sweet that they did it so carefully!














We came back from Wisconsin on Wednesday night. It has been a busy week trying to get back into the swing of things!

Childlike faith

The Bible talks about having faith like a child, and I never completely understood that until I had my own child. The other day, I got to see the perfect example of childlike faith. Shortly before Evie went to bed a few nights ago, she was upset because a huge bug had scared her. We couldn't find the bug, so she was afraid that it was hiding and was going to come in her room. She finally calmed down, and Jeff read her a story and put her to bed. Jeff and I always pray for protection over Evie, and our family. Psalm 91:11 says that God will give His angels charge over us, to protect us. Jeff and I will pray and ask God to charge the angels to watch over our family. We also pray that no weapon formed against us will prosper (Isaiah 54:17). We have prayed that morning and night since Evie was little, and we have seen God protect us in ways that are supernatural at times. After Jeff read Evie a story, he prayed for her. Evie stopped Jeff in mid prayer and asked him what charging the angels meant. He said that it basically meant they were being given a job to do. Evie pondered that for a minute and asked, "So I can make them clean up my room?" How Jeff kept a straight face at that point is beyond me. I couldn't stop laughing over that one when he told me later. He told her that the angels could not clean up her room. That was her job. He told her that their job was to protect us. She thought about it for a few seconds, and then asked, "You mean, like, against bugs?" He said, "Sure, they could protect us against bugs." Then she rubbed her hands together (like you would after you are happy with a job well done) and said, "Well that's that!" Then she laid down and went to sleep! There were no questions. No asking, "Well, are you sure they will really protect us like the Bible says?" It was a pure and perfect example of childlike faith. She truly believed she was protected. I want that kind of faith! To not question that God answers prayers, to not question that God's Word is true, to not question that God loves and cares for me, to completely put your trust in the Lord knowing that He will take care of you. That is what childlike faith is. It was such a great lesson for me to learn from my precious 6 year old daughter :).

Wanting a change

I haven't blogged in awhile! I have been busy with homeschooling, and I haven't been very chatty lately. I'm not sure why. I have been going through a phase where I am really wanting a change. I feel like I have changed a lot in who I am on the inside, and I feel that God is helping me to become more of what He wants me to be in that way. It's the outside though that I feel stuck. When I look in the mirror, I just think I look old and frumpy. I asked my hubby the other day if I looked old and frumpy, and he laughed! That is not the response I wanted. He clarified that he definitely didn't think I looked frumpy and old. I keep looking at pictures of me, and I basically have had the same hairstyle for the past 10 years. I wear it in a lot of different updos, but I am still feeling like I am in a hair rut. What really gets to me is the reaction I get from people when I tell them that I am thinking about cutting my hair. Instead of, "Oh no, you shouldn't do that", I get encouragement to cut it! I'm trying to give it the 2 week rule, where I wait 2 weeks to do anything drastic. It has been driving me crazy lately that I have to wear it up often. The other day I was outside with Evie, and we were playing basketball. My hair got in the way, and I had to stop and put it up. It seems like I am always having to put it up. Maybe that wouldn't change unless I cut it short, which I don't plan to do. I'm just wanting to feel young and hip, and I see some really cool styles that I really like and wonder how I would look with one of those styles. I'm not going to jump into anything right now. I'm going to give it 2 weeks to think about it.