1. Earlier this week when hubby and I were out and our older girls were babysitting our ten year old feel off of a ripstick.
2. She was not wearing a helmet.
3. She hit her head hard enough that she was unconscious.
4. She lost her sight.
5. She was answering questions posed to her but not remembering 2 minutes later that we asked her anything.
6. She was also nauseous.
7. We headed to the ER.
8. She vomited a few times and then her sight returned.
9. Two cat scans, an x-ray, and a lot of waiting time later we returned home.
10. She has a severe concussion.
11. She still has symptoms and can continue to for up to a month.
12. She now knows she must always wear a helmet!
13. I am so thankful for God's protecting hand over my children.

Labels: children, Give Thanks, Thursday Thirteen

1. You might have noticed I have been a bit random in doing memes lately. I have moved to doing whichever one comes the easiest at the time rather than sticking to them on a regular basis. Sorry about that but right now easiest is the best.
2. I had my first OB appointment yesterday but it is still too early and we did not hear a heart beat yet. I will have to wait until next time.
3. I have an ultrasound scheduled for May 12th!
4. They are going to finish resurfacing our street today. It is a good thing I am not going anywhere!
5. I have to finish filling out a mortgage application. I do not know how we are going to qualify for enough for the size of a home we need, have you seen the prices for a 5-6 bedroom in the Anchorage area??? Ouch! It is double than what we pay here! We may end up having to rent!
6. 68 days until we pull out of town and head to Alaska.
7. One month until I head to the midwest to visit my parents and siblings.
8. I am still dealing with morning sickness and feeling a bit crummy but I am hoping it passes in the next couple of weeks.
9. I cannot wait to move somewhere without the big nasty Texas bugs that are creeping into my house!
10. Only 3 more weeks and we are finished with Sunday evening programs and AWANA.
11. Only 4 more weeks of piano.
12. We only have 2 out of our 6 spring birthdays left to celebrate which is good because we are running out of money with that many birthdays!
13. Randomness is the state of this pregnant lady's mind and you are stuck with it for the next 7 months! If I can get anything coherent out then I am doing pretty well!
    

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Labels: Give Thanks, Thursday Thirteen

1. You take up a whole pew at church.
2. When you laugh and shake your head at so called "family-sized" products.
3. Cheaper by the Dozen is one of your favorite movies.
4. You buy milk 5 gallons at a time.
5. You need a minimum of 2 carts in the grocery store.
6. The children are lonely when there are only 4 of them home.
7. People ask "are they all yours?"
8. You leave half of the children home when you shop, and people still ask if they're all yours.
9. You own at least three sets of bunkbeds.
10. Your grocery budget resembles your house payment.
11. You just really wish people would not think they were clever for saying, "Don't you know what causes that?"
12. You have forgotten how many times you have been asked, "Are you Mormon or Catholic?"
13. When you see photos of castles and grand mansions, all you can think is how many bedrooms it has (YES!), and how much space all those other rooms provide for the kids to mess up (NO WAY!).

Labels: children, Laughter, Quiverfull, Thursday Thirteen

Here are the movie titles for the 13 movie quotes.

1. Dances with Wolves
2. Schindler's List
3. The Postman
4. Pride & Prejudice
5. O Brother Where Art Thou
6. One Knight with the King
7. Count of Monte Cristo
8. The Village
9. A Knight's Tale
10. Elf
11. Singing in the Rain
12. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
13. Brave Heart
    

Labels: Thursday Thirteen, What to Watch

Labels: Thursday Thirteen, What to Watch

1. Clear out stuff we do not really need.
2. Replenish the grass the dogs wore down in the yard.
3. Find a reputable realtor in Alaska.
4. Check ferry schedules, availably, and make reservations.
5. Figure out how and what to pack in our suite cases for the dramatic change in weather.
6. Get dogs ready for international travel.
7. Study to transfer our driver's licenses, we will actually have to take a written test.
8. Take a quick trip to Missouri and Iowa to visit some family before we move that far North West!
9. Find a home to live in once we arrive in Alaska.
10. Finish homeschool lessons on schedule.
11. Work ahead on blog posts so when we are traveling I have something to post with limited time. I can post about our trip when more time allows. You just never know when you are using library and hotel computers.
12. Find someone who will take and love my plants since I am not going to move them with us this time.
13. Remember to enjoy life where we are while tending to our future location.
    

Labels: Alaska, Thursday Thirteen

Can you guess where we are moving this time? We just moved to where we are last summer and we are moving again this summer. It will be a much longer stay this time though! I thought I would give you 13 facts about where we are moving and you can comment with your guesses. It really should not be that difficult! Just as a side note, we are all very excited and doing the happy dance about this move!!! Dance along with us as we rejoice!

1. There are more than 3,000 rivers and over 3 million lakes.
2. There are more than 5000 glaciers.
3. About 5000 earthquakes occur each year.
4. Three of the world’s ten strongest recorded earthquakes occurred here.
5. The coldest temperature ever recorded in was -80 degrees F.
6. Its name comes from a Russian version of an Aleut word meaning “great lands.”
7. The place's motto is “North to the Future.”
8. The actual city has an annual snow fall on 70.6 inches. Good thing we love snow!
9. The actual city temperatures are: January, 20° F; July, 65° F; annual average, 35.8° F.
10. The city is embraced by six mountain ranges and warmed by a maritime climate.
11. You can see the “aurora borealis”.
12. Be careful, you might have a moose on your front steps because more than 1,600 moose live in the city.
13. Did you ever want to see The Last Great Race, the Iditarod?

I couldn't resist...
Here are a few pictures of downtown in the city where we are going, isn't it beautiful???

Labels: Alaska, Family, journal, Military, Thursday Thirteen

Labels: Blogging, Thursday Thirteen

1. checkbook
2. yesterday's mail
3. video camera
4. 1200 page book of Christian quotations
5. diet coke
6. empty oatmeal bowl
7. Wooly Willy toy, you know the face with shaving that you can move around with the magic pencil to make fun hair!
8. DIVE CD that contains Algebra lessons on it
9. tricycle petal
10. travel bottle of lotion
11. my 9 year old's address book
12. Table Talk magazine
13. A book I need to mail

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

1. You are popping Vitamin C like candy.
2. You have considered buying stock in Motrin and Tylenol.
3. You wonder if you will see the day when you wear something other than pajamas.
4. You new perfume smells strangely like Lysol.
5. You are more familiar with your bathroom than you would care to admit.
6. You begin to come face to face with the fact that even with an empty bladder you can cough and sneeze hard enough to wet your pants.
7. Even though it makes a great drawer or trunk liner you wonder why God EVER saw fit to create cedar. (severe allergies)
8. Your children cry at the site of the nebulizer. (breathing treatments)
9. Mom and baby make a perfect fit; baby has a high fever and mom has the chills, so mom cools baby with cold hands and baby warms mom up.
10. If you ask where did your fever go the answer is higher and higher.
11. You have a funny crick in your neck from holding your head at an angle to allow for your ear to drain but also to try and keep your nose from running!
12. You hand out medication in an assembly line fashion.
13. You didn't know your children's little bodies could hold so much air.

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Click Comments are located at the end of each post. Click comments makes it easier for readers to express their thoughts and appreciation with just one click. It will also suggest other posts that might interest your readers. With just one click it is an added way to be kind to blog owners and leave some imput with very little effort. Just don't let it replace commenting in the comment section.

2.
This is a place for bloggers to develop that community spirit. You can track which pages your readers prefer to read so you know what is of interest to them. It is a great place to make new friends and connect with other bloggers.

3.
This is another benefit of belonging to MyBlogLog. This little pop-up button lets you know which links are clicked on most often. That way you know what is popular with your readers, not to mention it is just fun!

4.
Here is a new banner for those who would like to use it to link to my blog. It was made by Eric at "The Voice of Experience." All you have to do is look in my side bar and copy the code from the little box and place on your blog. It is that easy!

5.
Would you prefer the button to link here? Eric made this one too! The code is located in the sidebar as well.







6. STICKY POSTS- I have added a sticky post section directly above the first post that shows on the page. This is to highlight certain posts or important things that are going on. If you missed it, check it out!


7. The Heart of the Matter online homeschool magazine. I write for a monthly column over there entitled, "Ducks in a Row." It is for homeschooling with a large family.

8. "Weekend Kindness; Reaching Others Through Kindness" run by MInTheGap is my latest venture.

9. The Well Drained Mind is a place I blog very spuratically but there are a lot of other great things over there for you to check out as well!

10.
This is an online newsletter for encouraging homeschool families. It is run by my dear friend Valerie. You can visit her at SoCalVal or sign up for her newsletter by clicking on the image!

11.
The 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge. My husband and I have decided to join up in the 2008 Puritan Reading Challenge and I encourage you to consider doing so. You can click on the image here for more information. There is also a link in the sidebar to the original post and guidelines.

12.
I am having my first ever giveaway. This is the last week to get in on this. For more information on how to get your name in for the drawing go here, JANUARY HOMESCHOOL GIVEAWAY.

13.
I am also participating in my friend Trish's Winter Reading Challenge! She is having a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon for one lucky participant.

To view my reading list go HERE.

To view the guidelines and to enter for your chance to win visit Trish's Winter Reading Challenge.

Labels: Blogging, Thursday Thirteen

My grandmother passed away on Saturday. She was very dear to me. You can read a bit about her here. So today I thought that I would share a little more about my much loved grandmother.

1. She attended a one room school house.
2. She graduated from 8th grade.
3. She loved Scotty Dogs.
4. She used interesting words I have never heard another use; words like floozie when someone wore too much make-up.
5. She collected salt & pepper shakers.
6. She liked to eat burnt black toast.
7. She had the sweetest laugh.
8. She never remarried after my grandpa died (he died in his early 40's from a heart attack).
9. She hated snakes, they gave her the willies.
10. She loved the big city and was scared of the woods.
11. One way she showed you she loved you was to feed you a big meal.
12. She took care of my great grandma (her momma) when other siblings would not.
13. She filled my childhood with good memories.

I miss you and love you grandma!

Labels: Family, Thursday Thirteen

1. Since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:16
2. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 20:7
3. The Bible as a whole speaks more of God's holiness than of His love. Walter Chantry
4. Contemplating Jesus' sacrifice is the highest motive to holiness . J.L. Dagg
5. To be holy is to be morally blameless. It is to be separated from sin and, therefore, consecrated to God. The word signifies "separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated." Jerry Bridges
6. How little people know who think that holiness is dull. When one meets the real thing...it is irresistible. If even 10 per cent of the world's population had it, would not the whole world be converted and happy before a year's end? C.S. Lewis
7. A true love of God must begin with a delight in His holiness, and not with a delight in any other attribute; for no other attribute is truly lovely without this. Jonathan Edwards
8. The Christian must be consumed by the conviction of the infinite beauty of holiness and the infinite damnability of sin. Thomas Carlyle
9. Christ is the most perfect image of God, into which we are so renewed as to bear the image of God, in knowledge, purity, righteousness, and true holiness. John Calvin
10. Christian holiness is not a matter of painstaking conformity to the individual precepts of an external law code; it is rather a question of the Holy Spirit's producing His fruit in the life, reproducing those graces which were seen in perfection in the life of Christ. F.F. Bruce
11. Holiness is the end of redemption, for Christ gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. Charles Hodge
12. A holy life will produce the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine. Dwight L. Moody
13. It is an undoubted truth that every doctrine that comes from God, leads to God; and that which doth not tend to promote holiness is not of God. George Whitefield
    

Labels: Christianity, Quotes, Thursday Thirteen

In January....

1. There is no snow.
2. The neighbors are washing their cars by hand with the hose.
3. The other neighbors include in their Christmas decorations a light machine that makes it look as if snow is falling.
4. People around you wear coats, scarves, and mittens when it hits 65 degrees.
5. Your children are the only ones playing barefoot and in shorts outside.
6. It is 82 degrees outside on New Year's Day.
7. You have NOTHING to wear because if you wear your Christmas-time-of-year clothes you will boil.
8. You do not need your heater.
9. Flowers start blooming.
10. People always ask you, "Are you sure you are not cold?" and you always respond, "No, it finally feels good!"
11. You cannot figure out why on earth the pools are not open year round!
12. You get sun burnt hanging Christmas lights.
    
13. You sleep with your windows open at night.
    

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

1. To read through the entire Bible this year.
2. Strengthen the areas of the Fruit of the Spirit that I weak in.
3. To be a more caring mother.
   
4. Continue to fight my depression and anxiety disorder; hopefully with another year medicine free.
5. Be a stronger and better wife.
6. To move beyond my past sins that the Lord has forgiven and not let them hold me back. Even if they are brought up by others to not let it hinder my growth.
7. Develop a stronger prayer life.
8. Widdle down the things we own. Simplify things!
   
9. Strive harder to pay off our remaining debts.
10. Lose some weight.
11. Focus on the joy of the Lord and to not get easily discouraged.
12. To try and read more.
13. To continue blogging and making great new blogging friends!
    

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Labels: Thursday Thirteen, What to Watch

1. One amazing husband who is the perfect match for me.
2. Two cute dogs run around our home.
3. Three bathrooms in our current house is wonderful.
   
4. Four is the number of Turkish rugs in our house.
   
5. Five is the number of bedrooms in our current home.
   
6. Six is the number of different grades we currently have in our homeschool
   
7. Seven is when the children and I attempt to roll out of bed every morning.
   
8. Eight terrific children that the Lord has blessed us with.
9. Nine is the time we leave for worship on Sunday mornings.
   
10. Ten is the number of plates set at my table each night.
    
11. Eleven candles sit a'top my dresser.
    
12. Twelve crosses hang in my house.
    
13. Thirteen is the number of different houses we have lived in since we got married.

Labels: Thursday Thirteen

Labels: Christmas, Thursday Thirteen

Labels: Christmas, Thursday Thirteen