The Happiest Place On Earth

We spent 5 days at Disneyland last week.

I took 1587 pictures.....no, really...seriously.

I will not share them all here....hee hee...

But I will share some.

New Camera and Some Pics

So, I got a beautiful, wonderful amazing new camera ,

from my wonderful, amazing and totally hot husband...for mother's day....

And the pictures it takes are totally amazing....

I just wanted to share!

Funny

I think if anyone on earth would laugh at this it would be Dr. Falwell....

Call Me a Jerry's Kid

Lots of people loathed him...BUT A TON OF PEOPLE LOVED HIM....

I went to the High School...I went to the college...I went to the Church....
He was my pastor.

I have read it in so many places but I will say it here....many knew him as controversial....but if you lived there...YOU HAD A FUNNY STORY ABOUT HIM! He was a very VERY funny man...he didn't travel in a limo, he drove a suburban...he didn't have 3 wives....he had 1 wife and they just celebrated 49 years in April...he had 3 children and 8 grandchildren. They were all part of our community.

When I was in high school and college you would see him around and he was always joking and messing around. He loved to make people laugh. You weren't required to call him Doctor, or Pastor, or Reverend...Jerry would do just fine...and he got a kick out of it if you said "HEY JERRY!!!!!!!"....

ALWAYS SMILING...

He would come to the Liberty basketball games and CHEER and YELL and STAND UP....

He wasn't a "televangelist"....he was a pastor of a church whose services were broadcast on TV....that was my church...just like any other church...I went to my youth service and then sat in the balcony for "big church"...every Sunday... kids played outside and ran around....we had a big picnic every year...it is a REAL CHURCH with REAL PEOPLE....not a TV studio.

He was my pastor.

He was a Godly man who felt his convictions at his core and wanted to see the world Saved...he loved people, even those he disagreed with....and those people he disagreed with are mourning too...

It was a shock to hear about this yesterday. Someone like him, who's been in your life for so long and who is so important just seems like they will always be around....it almost takes your breath away.

So today I am mourning the passing of my Pastor an awesome man of God...

Some Cute Mom Things

My Hair - UPDATED PICTURE

UPDATED PICTURE...
I am now a redhead.
AND I HAVE ADDED THE HIGHLIGHTS....

Check it out.

Easter Pics 02

Easter Pics 01

Hokie Hope Day

Hey guys. I just wanted to share this with you guys in case your interested in participating and showing support. I am from Virginia and have had friends that attended VaTech and graduated from there. But even if you have no connection, I think it's still amazingly important to show some form of support for the people of Blacksburg and around the country who have lost someone. We will never know or understand the horror and pain they must be going through and can only pray that the Lord will be with them and comfort their hearts through this difficult time.

Wear orange and maroon tomorrow in support of the families and victims from Virginia Tech.

Hello Out There!!!!!!

I can't believe its been a month since I've blogged!!!

Everything is great here with us.

I'm potty training the little one...yes...potty training. We are going slow...at her pace. She's actually doing great.

My oldest is playing softball and loving it. The weather has been beautiful and she's enjoying spending time outside and having fun.

My allergies are KILLING ME. The doctor gave me Singular and Nasonex plus I tried some Claritan...to no avail. Last year Allegra worked for me so she is giving me some to see if it works again. If I can just make it to her office without my eyes closing up.

I hope you all are great. I try to visit your blogs but I only do it a couple times a month.

I'm still busy with 2 days of gymnastics, 2 days of bible study and working hard to keep a clean house and make good dinners.

I'll try to blog more often (I think I've said that before)....I miss talking to you guys regularly!

Stop in and leave a comment if you have a sec just to say hi. I'll try to do the same.

In the meantime...here are some recent pics.

The Oldest...and her new favorite shirt....

The Little One

My mom and my girls

Happy Valentine's Day

13

It had to happen sometime....

The oldest of the two Princesses has turned 13!

I couldn't ask for a better daughter. She truly is a gift! I've got it so good with my girls!

So here she is...at her party...and WHAT A PARTY IT WAS!

 

Of course...the littlest Princess had to get in on the fun too!!

Some Helpful Websites...UPDATED

I may have posted this before but I am posting it again anyway.

Before we go to any movie, I check out these sites to find out what the content is.

(1) Plugged In Magazine
(part of Focus on the Family)
This website actually reviews movies, music, books, video games, tv shows....It is a Christian website and gives it's opinion from the Christian perspective.

(2)Kids In Mind
This website is movies only (I think) and strictly gives content. (sexual content, violence, language). There is no "review" only a run-down of what the content is.

(3)Christian Spotlight on Entertainment
(part of ChristianAnswers.net)
This is also a Christian website. Readers can give their own reviews here...and they rate it negative, neutral and positive.

Cindee gave me two more I thought I'd share with you.
THANKS SO MUCH CINDEE!

(4)Dove Foundation. I used to use this website too all the time. I have no idea why I haven't been there in awhile because it's really great!

(5)Common Sense Media. I've never been to this one but I'm excited to check it out.


Sooo....there are a few resources to help you make informed decisions about the entertainment you and your family choose.

TTYL...

Mother's of daughters....check this out.

I read an article, and maybe you have too. It's about a book that is in some public school libraries and is becoming very popular among pre-teen/teenage girls.

It's called TTYL.

If you haven't heard of it, and you are a mother of girls, YOU NEED TO HEAR ABOUT IT!

Click HERE to read what one parent wrote (you have to scroll down to read the actual parent review)

And HERE is an article from a New York news station reporting on this story.

It is about 3 girls. It basically follows their IM's (instant messages). There is just about every curse word in this book. There is also GRAPHIC sexual language in this book. There is drinking (these are 15 year old girls!!!!) and these girls look at some pornography....

One article said it is geared toward 15 year olds and NOT younger girls...uh, HELLO! 15 is a younger girl and I certainly would not want my 15 year old reading this book.

I asked my daughter this morning if she had heard of it. She said yes. She saw it on the shelf at Borders and picked it up. She only got to the first page before we had to leave. She thought it looked cool, until i told her of the content. She said she was glad she did read any further...SO AM I...

Public schools have defended having this in their library...so let me get this straight...we can't pray in school, we have not religious freedom in schools...BUT we promote sex, foul language and EVEN flirting with teachers...hmmmmmmmmm.....that's just amazingly backwards to me.

A side note about this book is this. I have read articles and heard teachers (my mom-in-law and 2 of her sisters are teachers in public schools here) talk about how kids are beginning to use the same type of abbreviated writing that use for text and instant messages in their papers. This is becoming a major problem, and yet, this book is completely in text language.

PLEASE BE AWARE of what your children are reading, watching, texting, IMing, listening to, playing, and doing on the computer. NO MATTER WHAT THE POPULAR MEDIA SAYS these things all influence are children tremendously. We cannot be scared, as parents, to ask our children questions about what they are doing and what they are into and who their friends are. WE ARE NOT TO BE OUR CHILDREN'S FRIENDS, we are their parents. We shape and guide them into adulthood and if they have no accountability because we are scared they'll get mad when we say no, they will turn into adults with no accountability.

SO...another post about protecting our kids. There is no more important job in the world than being a parent. We need to take it seriously!!!

Baffled and Outraged

OK...every since the story about the 2 boys in Missouri broke, I've been completely blown away by the fact that there are people out there who think they can just come, take a child away from their home and family, for their own sick selfish reasons. I MEAN....

It just makes me SOOOOO mad!!!!! To think that these poor boys were taken and kept 60-80 miles from their homes, leaving their families scared, hurt, baffled and feeling a bit helpless to say the least.

It is so unfathomable to me that there are 3000 children EVERY DAY reported missing...WHAT! It is outrageous. The people who commit these crimes...no matter what the nature of it is...ANY crime against a child should mandate a life sentence.

Whew...can you tell I'm fired up!

And the fact that Shawn Hornbeck, who was missing for 4 1/2 years, had friends and those friends had families...and all of these people lived in the area that Shawn was abducted from, and some even noticed similarities between him and the pictures of him...but now one spoke up! NO ONE SPOKE UP...who cares if you're wrong...I mean, WHAT IF YOU'RE RIGHT? These are somebody's children.....if it was your child wouldn't you want someone to do the same?

I think everyone thinks...oh, I wouldn't recognize any of those missing kids...none of them are at my kid's school, or at church, or in line behind me at the grocery store....YOU NEVER KNOW...I certainly don't think any of Shawn's friends for the last 4 1/2 years REALLY believed it was him...BUT IT WAS HIM....

You can go to www.ncmec.org and look through pictures of missing kids in your state or any other state. It doesn't take a long time, and who knows what might come of it.

We have such a great resource in the internet. 3000 kids a day...missing...taken from their families and the safety of their homes. WE CAN ALL DO SOMETHING TO HELP....

As you might notice I've added a bunch of different banners to my blog. I've also signed up to have Amber Alerts delivered to my cell phone. We have the resources, we need to use them to save these children.

AND PROTECT YOUR OWN KIDS! It can happen to anybody. Ben Ownby was 500 feet from his home when he was abducted. THANK THE LORD that 15 year old boy, Mitchell, paid such close attention to the details of the vehicle he saw at the time. And PRAISE THE LORD for those police officers who acted on their gut instinct and rescued these boys.

SO....there is my post for the day. DO SOMETHING...be proactive....help someone find their kid...pass along the word....

If you want html for any of the banners let me know and I'll give them to you.

THANKS FOR LISTENING...This has been burning me up!

Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain,
Why the early bird gets the worm,
Life isn't always fair,
and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but over bearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 -year- old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouth wash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Calpol, sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility and his son, Reason.He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If y o u still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CARTER BOAZ!

My nephew was born 1 year ago today!

I CANNOT BELIEVE IT HAS BEEN A YEAR ALREADY!

He is such a big boy too!
So happy birthday to you Carter!!

You can read about my brother and his wife and the miracle of both of their children!

Click here to read about them.
Here are some pictures of both kids right after Carter was born.
:-)

My Favorite

Did you watch Sunday night and last night? Only the greatest action/drama on television in history! WOW! What a premier too! If you don't know what I'm talking about it's not too late to get hooked....i got my 12 (almost 13) year old hooked now too!


I'm off to my Bible Study.

Hi to you all and I hope you are all having a fantastic new year!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I know I'm a little late for wishing you Merry Christmas but I'm doing it anyway.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and I hope you have a fantastic New Year.

God Bless You All!

HOLY COW

Has it been over a months since I last wrote anything?

Who would've thought I'd get out of the habit of blogging?

I STILL refuse to say I'm taking a "break" cuz I'm really not.

I just have gotten into my routine here at the house and I'm not on my computer much at all anymore except to check email and the news.

Since I last wrote I celebrated my 5 year wedding anniversary and I turned 30.
Here are me and my hubby.


I'm still working out although I took a couple weeks off because my feet were hurting so bad. I have extremely HIGH arches and my shoes were not supporting them very well. I got these.... and I wore them for the first time last night and they were awesome....i'm very excited.

My oldest is doing amazing in school. As of today she has 3 A's, 2 B+'s and 1 B. She's been doing cheerleading and she's been very involved in her church youth group. I can't believe she's halfway through 7th grade....she's growing up SOOO fast...she' 5'6 1/2 which makes her 2 1/2 inches taller than me....it's crazy! We had to get her new pants because she's grown over an inch since school started and all her pants are too short!!!


The little one is nuttier than ever. She talks in sentences and says the FUNNIEST things, and she KNOWS she's funny. She can say her ABC's and she can count to 20 only missing "15" occasionally....She can sing just about any song on earth, 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', 'Silent Night', 'Itsy Bitsy Spider'....She's over 3 feet tall and weighs about 35 lbs. She's in 5T tops and 4T pants....size 6 diapers....and she's not potty trained yet. I better get going because 6 is the biggest diaper....She love Dora, Diego, Elmo, CAILLOU...she loves Caillou. She's still doing gymnastics and she's doing so good. She can do her forward roll ANYWHERE, including my mother-in-law's tile kitchen floor and her hardwood floor....She knows her colors and shapes and she suprises me EVERY SINGLE DAY with something else she knows. She's sleeping pretty good too.


Here are the girls...


And although this one is fuzzy...here are me and the girls.


My husband is still doing wonderful. He's still the best husband ever.

I'm excited for Christmas...I always am. This year my oldest brother will be here for a week and my neice will be here for 3 days.

So...there's an update....Sorry it's been so long. I think about all of you guys all the time. I'll try to write more often.

:-)
Stephanie