life with four...

i often am asked, "what's it like with four kids?" well let me give you a quick idea...
trying to capture a family photo for a christmas card is basically impossible. in fact i think next year while attempting the for mentioned photo needed for a christmas card i will also have someone there video taping the whole ordeal. then instead of a family photo we will send out a dvd of the "adventure" and title it "we tried".

another fun thing about four kids is the fact that real life happens and though i would love to be able to have my eye on all the kids at all times (for safety reasons) i just can't do it. sometimes i have to go upstairs and change a poopy diaper and the others are left downstairs.

yesterday this is exactly what happened. i took ramey caroline upstairs to change her diaper and left the other three in the living room. upon my return i saw anna on the floor in the laundry room. i was not concerned at finding her in this location simply because her other name around here is emelda marcos and the laundry room is where we keep our shoes. i assumed she was putting on some shoes... we all know what happens when we assume! i said to her, "anna, what a you up to?" she turned around and this is what i saw-
don't worry- it is not blood. no it is in fact- my lipstick. for whatever reason she decided to put it on as if it were eye makeup. it actually scared me when i saw her at first but then i realized what it was and so i grabbed the camera and then washed her face.

i am finding that in so many situations where i could totally lose my cool and get mad about something the kids did if i grab my camera then i calm down rather quickly. don't get me wrong she did get corrected for this choice but not with the anger that was there when i realized what she has done to my lipstick.

another fun thing is that i love the stage where ramey caroline is (by the way she has finally reached 12lbs)...she found her feet a while ago and loves to put them in her mouth. this lends itself to seeing serious baby yoga poses!!

well there is just a glimpse of what has been going on with the kids around here.

for any of you who might not have heard- ross is working again. he started a position here in tucson last week. though it is a 3 month contract position it has potential to become permanent after that time. please pray we would trust God to put him right where he needs to be for as long as he needs to be there.

have a wonderful thanksgiving this week. i know our family is so very thankful for this year in many ways. praise the Lord we are able to say thank you!!

video clip is too big...

sorry, everyone, but the video of henry's baptism is too big for it to post. i am including some of the still shots of it for you to see.
allen is talking with henry about his relationship with Jesus.i know allen is blurry but check out all that water...

allen is praying for henry's relationship with Jesus to grow day by day and in all things.

haircuts and baptism...

henry decided to give himself a HAIRCUT on the morning of his baptism. yes- you read that right...he cut his own hair an hour before we had to be at the church. let me just say that our son was blessed with a double cowlick on the back of his head. this allows for an unintentional mohawk when his hair gets too long. the mohawk had been starting to stand out in the last week but i had no time to take him to get a haircut and he never seemed bothered by it. that was until sunday morning.

he came in after having gotten dressed and said, "mom, can you cut this up here? it's standing up." i responded with, "sure, just go get me the scissors." on his return he had a strange and guilty look on his face. then i saw it. there was a patch of hair laying on the front of his little vest. i then brought my eyes up to his hairline and there it was...a chunk taken out of his hair.

i immediately prayed, "Lord, don't let me lose it over something silly like this. help me keep my cool." i took a deep breath, smiled and told him to not cut his hair again. i then said, "henry, i am going to get the camera, take a picture of you and then shave your head." that's what we did.

for many of you who might want to see henry's baptism i have included the video of it here for you. henry prayed to accept God's gift of salvation two and a half years ago and recently began asking about baptism. he was very excited to let his church know that Jesus is his Savior. by the time we got to church and he saw all the people my shy little guy decided to only nod and answer the pastor with a quiet voice. it was precious to actually see what God has already done in his heart and the work that is going on in him daily. i held the tears back until the water poured over his head. what a day!!

"pick a peet"...

yes, "pick a peet" does in fact mean "trick or treat". it only took anna about two houses before she had the whole thing figured out. she even threw in a "tank to" after receiving the loot and gave a wave as the door would close.some of our good friends, who couldn't come last year, came over for the festivities this year. ross and alan stayed at the house enjoying tasty beverages and passing out candy while ramey slept upstairs and allison and i took the other 6 kids around the neighborhood. i think the older kids had a blast and i know anna and emmie did. every once in a while the kids would cop a squat in a driveway and dig in their bags for a treat. this was also the time when a diaper would get changed.
little miss ramey didn't go with us this year but she did sport a pumpkin outfit for about ten minutes...just long enough for some picture.

our neighborhood did a great job of keeping the decorations a little more low key. only a couple of houses were questionable. two in particular stand out as the wackos this year. at one house a man had a VERY SCARY mask on and of course when anna saw him she started to wig a little so we began backing away. meanwhile emmie is starting to walk backwards and all the while this guy is growling. yes growling at two year olds...wacko award #1 goes to him. wacko award #2 goes to the old creepy man who brushed his extremely long gray hair over his face like cousin it. none of the kids liked him either especially not luke. when the man realized he was not a favorite he pulls his hair back and makes a scary face at luke and a yucky noise too. what is wrong with people?? fetal alcohol syndrome?

on the flip side though- one family gets major kuddos!! dad dressed like captain hook from head to toe, mom dressed as wendy and the little girl was tinkerbell with pixie dust!

oh and for those who may be wondering if ross has a job yet- the answer is no. we are still waiting. there are four possibles but nothing for sure yet so please pray as we wait on the Lord.

ode to laundry...

friday i realized the kids were out of clean underwear and all their other necessities.
then i began to sort four kids worth of laundry plus mine and ross'.


this is what the piles of clean laundry look like for all four kids...there are still two more loads going. note to self...don't wait two weeks to do the laundry.
this is me when it's all done...

wonderful weather...

i love this time of year! highs in the 80s, low humidity, a cool breeze! my kids love this weather too. in fact this morning the girls played outside for quite some time. they were swinging on the swing set and writing with chalk on the porch. the windows are all open on the house and the birds are chirping a sweet sound. i don't know if there is anything better! it was so nice that i couldn't even finish cleaning the kitchen or brush my teeth. i had to go outside and play with them. i wish i would slow down more to just play! (jen- this pic is one that daph and i did for miss ellie belle.)
this week was crazy hair night at awanas. spiky hair just isn't crazy these days so thankfully my friend had some color spray. henry and sage had blue and green hair which they of course thought was the coolest thing ever. i have to admit...it was pretty fun looking!


henry has been doing a lot of reading these days which i am so excited about. i pray all the time that he would have a love for learning but most of all that he would have a desire to read the Bible all his days so that he would know God more deeply. the other day as i was getting dinner ready this is what i saw...




hope you have a great weekend!

the latest...

here's anna and emmie once again, loving life and enjoying each other.


ramey is now 3 and half months old...well she was when i took this picture. next week our little one will be four months old. time is flying by way too fast!


we withdrew daph from school at the end of september with the thought of moving away or at least saving money while we wait. last thursday i took the girls to the zoo with aunt cat and zach. we had a really fun time just enjoying the animals. i have to say, our zoo is just the right size for a morning outing. not too big and not too small.
this picture is of daphne being silly while we waited for aunt cat and zach to arrive. note my younger one in the background trying to jack the atm machine. we aren't that desperate!!


lastly, here's our birthday girl. daphne turned 4 on the 1st so we invited family and a couple of friends over for dinner and cupcakes to celebrate.

keep praying, folks. we are not going to phoenix either. there are a few things in the works right now so pray that something will stick SOON!!