Halloweeen Pics

MAX THE POWER RANGER:





JACK AS CURIOUS GEORGE:




AND ANNIE making her Halloween debut as....well, we like to call this....J. LO ON SOUTH BEACH :)

I recently had a friend tell me, "You may have two southern boys, but you can be sure Annie is going to be a Miami girl." :) I'm not exactly sure what she meant by that, but she does look like a little Miami girl here, doesn't she?

Flower Child

We are home!! The trip home from Nebraska was sooo much better than the trip out there. It had to be: I made my mom do the 6 hour drive part of the trip the day before the flight (instead of doing it all in one day), I bought new carry-on bags that had wheels (and left the ones that didn't), I packed my spanking spoon so that it was readily accessible for me and visible to my kids :) , and I checked in all my car seats and carriers and just carried the kids in my arms. Besides the fact that I am now on a 6 month back-recovery plan with my chiropractor (the result of carrying at least 2 kids at a time through the Atlanta airport :), I am doing great and eager to get back into our routine. I have so many pictures to show you and just as many thoughts to share about our trip, but I will have do that another day because right now I am running around trying to get things ready for Halloween tomorrow. I just wanted to show you Annie's pre-Halloween costume:


Here's our FLOWER CHILD:





I can't wait to show you her "real" costume tomorrow!!

"Sunscorched and Satisfied" is currently "Frostbitten and Fulfilled"!

Here are some pics of our October - thats right October get away - Can you believe this?

Visiting the Farm

OK, guys, just wanted to say thank you to those of you who prayed for us during our trip. We made it. I am not going to lie though, this was the hardest thing I have ever done. I will spare you all the details, but it was rough. We left our house at 6am in Florida, and did not walk into my mom's house until 10:45pm! What a day--Chris and I forgot to pack the stroller, so I had to lay over in Atlanta, ride trams, board and then unboard (something was wrong with the plane), ride some more trams, go up and down escalators with 3 kids (none of which were strapped into a stroller), an infant carrier, and 2 carry-on bags! But we survived--I just think I am going to have to stay here until the kids grow-up and are a bit easier to travel with :). Chris asked me on the phone last night if I am going to be ready in a week to do it again. I told him if given the choice, I would rather go through labor with twins and with no drugs :). Please start praying for me now about the ride home. We will have a 6hr car ride (yes, they live that far from an airport!) before we get on the plane. I actually had one guy on the plane that said to me, "You really are a courageous woman." I replied, "I think crazy would be a better description." HE then said, "Well, that is what I was thinking, but I didn't want to be rude." Unlike me, he was not kidding. Oh well, my kids did great on the airplanes; I was so proud of them. I felt bad for them that it was such a long day--I just never figured in 2 delays and the extra long car ride. They really were troopers.

They are having the time of their lives now though. Papa Gene (he is my mom's new husband who is a pastor and farmer out here in Nebraska--and a great grandpa to my kids) woke them up early and took them out to feed the calves and chickens. Max got to feed one of the calves a bottle--isn't that sweet? They also found baby kittens in the barn that Jack has been talking about all day. They are having a blast; I am so thankful that they get to experience this farm life for a week--even if it was difficult getting here :). I am also thankful for this time to spend with my mom and to enjoy some down time with the kids myself.

It is snowing outside!! The weather report just said they are expecting anywhere from 8in to a blizzard tonight!! A BLIZZARD, guys! We were swimming on Monday and now we are possibly going to be in our first blizzard tonight. Should be fun--I hope :).

Monday night ramblings

Do any of you have a hard time thinking of titles for your blog entries? This truly has to be the worst part about blogging for me. I love everything else--except trying to think of a stupid title. I always seem to come up with a corny "oh my goodness that is so stupid and if I let people know my mind is this corny they will never read another post" title almost immediately. The problem is, that corny title just keeps floating in my head and blocks me from thinking of another title that will help me save face. Any suggestions?

Anyways, the point of this post before I rabbit trailed was to tell you that I am flying with all 3 kids tomorrow by myself (again--I know.) and to ask for your prayers--I am a little nervous.


Back to my topic on blog titles: I was going to title this post: Oops, I did it again, but decided I would rather save face :).

Which brings me to this conclusion: You know what one of the best things about moving to a new place or starting a new job is? You have complete control over letting people know how weird you are. You know how you feel the first time you screw things up and the real you comes out? All those hopes of being a "new, sophisticated, quiet person" (that's always my dream at least--sophisticated and quiet) are over you just want to kick yourself. Yeah, well--I'm kicking myself a lot lately.

Making Your Vote Count

My Pastor preached the best message (I think I am supposed to call it a "teaching", but that always seems weird to me, because Pastor Troy is an amazing preacher and it just sounds funny to say he preached the best teaching--isn't that an oxymoron? OR am I just a moron for this reasoning? Chris says that is not an oxymoron that teaching and preaching are not close enough to opposites to be an oxymoron...Does that mean he is calling me a moron?:) Regardless, I am going to stick with my reasoning that is seems weird to say he "preached a teaching" and message it is for me--unless Steph, you happen to read this and tell me otherwise :).

Anyways, sorry for the rambling. Pastor Troy just preached an amazing message about politics: What place the government has in our lives as Christians and what we should look for in our leaders as we make our decision about who to vote for. You can check it out here. You really should make time to listen. Let me know what you think.

I am so grateful that I have a pastor who has the courage to approach the controversial topics that are affecting our society and the integrity to put personal agenda aside and point us straight to the Bible and what God says.

Rest and Relaxation!

OK, I have to be quick. But I wanted to write while Chris is in the shower because this is so blog-worthy :).

Guess who just took a nap for 3 hours?? Chris and I!! I know. Who gets to do that with 3 preschoolers, especially during the stay-at-home mom's bewitching hours of 3:30 - 6:30 pm? WE DID; thanks to our church family at Hallandale Beach! They put us up in a ocean view suite at the Westin Diplomat hotel right on Hallandale Beach and they arranged childcare for the kids (Please pray for Gloria. She is my dear friend that bravely offered to take all 3 kids with her for the night.) I am going to sleep in tomorrow until my body aches so bad that I just have to get up. I am giddy about getting some time alone with Chris. We had really planned on it being at least 5 years before we would get a chance to do something like this!

I think Chris and I have some major time assessment issues. I just checked in our overnight bag, and do you know that between the two of us we packed 8 books?? In 24 hours we think we are going to read 8 books? I think we are just a little over zealous about catching up on some long awaited reading!

Gotta go. Chris is out of the shower and we are going to grab some dinner and then go for a walk on the beach and spend some time in prayer for this city.

Hallandale team: We love you all to pieces; thank you for this amazing time you blessed Chris and I with to relax and be alone together. This is a beautiful city, guys. Together we are going to raise high the banner of Jesus' name over this city!

P.S. My mom was right when she told me, "Sleep will come."