Under Construction

Dear sweet patient family and friends, life has happened at our house :) We have a wedding in 2 months, and we are moving to Africa this year to do mission work. Because of this and homeschooling, the holidays, ..... my blogging has been pitiful at best. I am going to completely redo this blog in May to focus on our mission school and work in Africa. If you would like me to contact you when the new Africa blog is up and running, please let me know. If you want more information now on what we will be doing, you can go to www.irismin.org. We will be in Mozambique this summer, and Randy and I think we will probably settle there in the fall. Talk to you in a few weeks!!!
Much love, Mary

Happy New Year From Our Crazy Family!

Nuff said!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Yes - we are still here! My Missy has graduated from college and moved home (with my new computer). She will be with us until her wedding in March - such a blessing! Michael flew in from New York last week, and we have LOVED having him home again. We had not seen him in 10 months. Way toooooooo long. Matthew drove in from Dallas on Christmas Eve just ahead of a major snow and ice storm. And so we are a complete family for the first time in a year!!!

Mason, Molly and Madelyn absolutely adore their older brothers and sister. Christmas came in second place to siblings this year! We have decorated a gingerbread house and tree, made cookies for Santa, colored and painted and glued decorations, enjoyed the break from schooling, and just had fun.

We had a full house today for Christmas lunch. I am stuffed! The little ones have been playing with Christmas presents this afternoon while Randy and the older three went to a movie. The dishes have all been washed and put away, and we are resting and reflecting on another beautiful, snowy Christmas afternoon.

Enjoy the pictures! I promise that I will be posting at least twice a week from now on :)

Still Here!

My new laptop is with my precious Missy in Oklahoma. She had a HUGE project to finish before graduation, so I said goodbye to my new Macbook for another 2 weeks - lol! I promise I will be back with LOT of cute pictures in the middle of December. Have a wonderful week!

Reading Day

Well, really every day is "reading day" around here :) I love the cooler weather in the Fall. We snuggle on the couch every morning and read the Bible and then read a book together. This week it is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie finally found the golden ticket this morning! Molly is a great reader, and she sweetly reads and rereads the same books over and over to Madelyn.

I am trying to figure out how to get all of our books to Africa. I think I would rather pack books than clothes - lol!

I am blessed beyond measure everyday.

My Sweet Little Molly

Well, it finally happened. We had our first trip to the doctor's office for something other than a well-child visit :( Our Molly had an allergic reaction when we were in Tennessee, and she just couldn't get over the coughing. Friday night and Saturday morning were awful for her, so we called our wonderful doctor friend, took a road trip to his clinic, took another road trip to the pharmacy, and finally arrived home and started her breathing treatments.

The great news is that she is feeling soooo much better. I realized that I will have to battle a spirit of fear concerning my children and moving to Africa. Saturday morning I kept thinking, "What if this had happened in Mozambique?" The good news is that God is in Africa too! He is more than able to watch over and protect my children wherever we go. He is able to watch over the children we will leave behind as well. Such a journey of faith and provision.

Pumpkin Carving Time!

We are not a Halloween family, but we do love pumpkins! This year we have a large assortment of pumpkins in different sizes that we grew in our garden. Mason picked a pumpkin that was so tough-skinned that we could not cut it. Randy finally had to get his power tools out to even get the top off - lol! I can honestly say that in 30 years of marriage, I have never had pumpkin dust all over the kitchen before :) Finally, all three were carved, scooped out, seeds cleaned and cooked, and the kitchen returned to normal. Mason, Molly and Madelyn are almost as excited about pumpkin carving night as they are about Christmas. Tonight we are painting pumpkins - more pictures to follow!