Wordless Wednesday - What's Coming Thursday

Wordless Wednesday - Fun Dip, REALLY Miss Beth??!!

Book Winner!

And the winner is....

Sherrill!!!

I have sent you an email for your free book from the LOL With God Book Giveaway!

I used random.org to generate the number.

I will be doing another giveaway soon, stay tuned! :)

Happy Love Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from our home to yours!

Last month I had an email from Shutterfly for some 10 free cards. I'm all for that! I created one FOR each of my boys to stick in their snack bags at school :) The rest I did FROM the boys to hand out to some of their friends.

I really like how they turned out! They are flat with a linen type finish. I'll tell ya, I'd NEVER order them at the price tag of $2.99 each, though - I'm too cheap!

Boy it's hard to find Valentine's cards that isn't all pink.... don't they know that boys celebrate Valentine's day too?? Next year they need to bring on the robots, dinosaurs, trucks, Star Wars....

Enjoy, and have a great day!

Snow Day... Again!

My kids are bored with the snow. It's too cold to go out and play in it (it was 3 degrees this morning!). We have built snowmen, school has been canceled all week, we have stayed inside quite a bit.

You would think we got the 22 inches like my friends back in Siloam where we used to live (which is not normal there either)!

Nope, our city just doesn't have salt and plow trucks to clear the roads. We are not supposed to get snow like this here :) Since they don't get the roads clear, they close all the schools. Needless to say, we have found lots of fun things to do in pajamas at home!

When I tell them "look outside guys, it's snowing!" they now just glance at it. Our first snow fall of the year caused jumping up and down and a stampede for the window. I'm glad we don't live further north right now, we have enough and don't need anymore right now :)

We have also been on a movie marathon.... of STAR WARS! Yes, my boys LOVE Star Wars!

We have been doing lots of crafts and playdoh....

...and Dan and I went with friends to our first NBA game on Monday! Memphis Grizzlies vs the Lakers. We were even on the JumboTron, but I missed the picture.

It's been an unusual week, a long week, a stay at home week, but a FUN week!

AND it's supposed to be 60 degrees on Sunday!!!!

Eli and his Family

(2 year old Eli - isn't he adorable!!)

I have mentioned my friend Christy and her son Eli in previous posts. Little 2 year old Eli is currently receiving chemo treatments for acute lymphocytic leukemia.

Brad & Christy are friends of ours from church back when we lived in Missouri. I remember what a blessing they were to us when the boys were first born. Christy and her mom came and stocked our kitchen for us when the boys first came home from the hospital. That is just a small picture into their generous hearts.

I was reading Christy's updates last night and my heart just hurts for them. As a mom I can't fathom having a 2 year old battling cancer and a 5 year old daughter. Their lives has been flipped upside down having to learn and immerse themselves in this new medical life.

The good news is Eli is doing well with his treatments. Praise God! It is a total answer to prayer and they would covet continual prayers for Eli. Passively Christy mentioned his treatments will continue until September 2013. I just could not believe it, 3 years of treatment is a long time! I know that it is worth it to save his little life. I am thankful for today's medicine to help Eli get better, even if in the moments it is stripping away his immune system in order to give him his treatments.

A testament to their relationship with God has been their ever present reliance on the Lord. They consistently bring their readers back to God's strength in their lives. That is such a living testament to me of being in the trenches and still crying out to the Lord! She wrote the other day:

I also want to say Happy Anniversary to Brad Tree! :) I never could have imagined where life has taken us this past 10 years. We have had some really great times, and some tough times, but through the good and the bad we have kept our faith in God and each other. I always dreamed for our 10 year anniversary we would be on a cruise ship sailing off into the sunset, but as I watch you read a book to Ellie and Eli right now, as they snuggle in close, I realize there is no where else I would rather be. I love you, Brad. ♥

It just touched my heart! I am thankful to know this wonderful family!

I ask on here for anyone that reads my blog, could you take a moment to pray for this family? For their relationship with each other? Their son Eli? Their daughter Ellie? For God's strength, for treatments, for monetary help?

If you would like to have your little kids pray for him and send him a drawing (or even send his sister a drawing), their address is:

Brad & Christy Tree

5356 W. Josh St

Springfield, MO 65802

Thank you, friends!

You can follow Eli's story on their Caringbridge webpage or their Facebook page.

Book Giveaway - LOL with God

Here is my first book giveaway! Please comment with your email address if you would like a chance to win.

"LOL with God: Devotional Messages of Hope & Humor for Women" is the first book I will be giving away. I did a review of this book for Tyndale Blog Network.

There are two ways you can earn an entry:

1. Comment on my blog post that you would like to win (please include your email address!)

2. Share the post on Facebook and comment on my blog post that you shared (and don't forget your email address!). At the top of the post is a Facebook icon to share, or you can copy and paste the link in Facebook.

Winner will be chosen via Random Number Generator on Wednesday February 16th. The book will be sent via USPS Media Mail.

Wordless Wednesday - The Start of the Next 3-5 inches

God is Bigger than Any Storm and Any Wind

Three years ago this past Saturday an EF-5 Tornado hit the campus of Union University where Dan works. We did not live here at the time, but we have been able to see the videos and see how the campus has been rebuilt.

It's amazing! God is bigger than any storm and any wind.

There are tons of images still online of the storm.

You can watch one of their videos on the devastation here:

and here:

For all my Southern Snowed in Friends

This is for all my snowed in southern friends. Especially those in Springfield, Missouri and Siloam Springs, Arkansas :)

(Click on it to see it larger)

I saw this on a friend's Facebook and thought this was hilarious!!!

Would You Like Giveaways??

If I did a book giveaway on my blog, would you be interested?? Just comment if you would.

I have another blog, Momma Reads, about some books I have read. It's mostly to try and get myself back into reading books, not about getting blog followers :) Most of the books I have reviewed, I'd like to give away! Media mail, of course.

If you are interested in a book giveaway (or have a family member that would be interested) , could you comment? If I actually have people that want to do it, I will start giving away books here and there.

(available in the US or Military only, please - so the shipping costs the same on my end).

The Squeaky Wheel

I try not to be negative on my blog, but then I also strive to be real. If years down the road my kids happen to be reading my blog {will there even be blogs then?}, I don't want them to feel bad about what I write.

As I mulled this over in my head I realized that if/when my kids would read what I am about to write, I don't think this would matter to them.

Yesterday was one of those days. It started off fine. The boys had a dentist appointment and I thought to schedule it a little later in the morning so we didn't have to rush out of the house.

{side note - setting up appointments first thing in the morning are great! ONLY for things the kids are not upset about. Try not doing this for shots, dentist, etc.}

I have not taken the boys to the dentist since Summer of 2009 in Arkansas. It was a shared decision that we hold off until they were older because they were pretty traumatized at 3 years of age.

As soon as I mentioned the dentist, Quinton started his whining. Due to his newfound hate for anything strong tasting, minty, or strong smelling - he already started to whine about how bad it was going to taste.

You can't reason with a 4 year old. I still have not learned this, probably because I am stubborn. I can talk things through with him until I am blue in the face but if he doesn't want to do it, he doesn't want to do it.

{side note - I do not let this dictate our world and what we do. Just some things end up to be more difficult.}

We got to the dentist while Quinton started in again about the taste. We walked in, signed in, saw the fish tank, read books... then we were called to back.

We stepped in and first thing she said was "Quinton, can I do your picture first?" He dropped to his knees, started saying how bad the taste would be, then stopped. He stood up "just a picture?" he asked.

Yes, it was going to be one of those visits.

Quinton is my dramatic child. He loves hard. He dislikes hard {we don't use the "h_t_" word in our house}. He can out stubborn most anyone. I feel like my head hits a brick wall many days while trying to point his stubbornness in the correct direction.

I love my Quinton. I actually LOVE that he is not easily changed, that he doesn't care with others think about him when he feels a certain way.

Those two last paragraphs contradict each other, I know.

I know we have a lot of training ahead of us, but I am looking forward to see what God's has planned for Quinton. His determination pointed in the correct direction will be unstoppable!

Back to the dentist....

The other two went side by side first. They did AWESOME. Didn't cry, complain, or bite. Put the headphones on and watched the tv above their stations. Cleanings, check up, x-rays, fluoride, etc.

Quinton went last. Whined the entire time through his brother's check ups. Started screaming when she stuck her gloved finger in his mouth because "it tastes bad". Fast forward through 20 minutes of trying to talk him through a 2 minute cleaning process. Tears, spitting, water that "didn't taste right", no x-rays. The entire time trying to check out he was crying and trying to wipe the fluoride out of his mouth with his shirt.

I was frustrated, embarrassed, upset. It's not like I cater to his whims, or don't let him do things he doesn't want to do. {I can't imagine if he was an only child! He has had to learn a lot being a brother.} He was given a few words from me in the bathroom and in the car afterwards.

It took me until after lunch and our drive home to realize something.

Then I felt even more frustrated with the situation and my parenting.

I turned to Easton & Dalton. I told them how proud I was of them. They did fantastic. They never complained. I am proud of their goodie bags. They did awesome with their x-rays. I tell them how thankful I am for their attitudes.

The Squeaky Wheel. Ugh.

*palm to head*

Wordless Wednesday - Two Down, One to Go