We were able to spend this weekend with my sister and nephew that lives in SC. We had a good time with them and had my original family all together for the first time since 1995! We took Ken to Action City and played for a while then we went back to my dad's and had dinner and sat and visited until we had to leave and some of the girls took off for a girls night out. It was good to see them. And Ken is really starting to look so grown up. He is really going to be a heartbreaker if he already isn't but he is also such a neat person. I really do enjoy them. Can you believe he's only 15?!

I was going through my Christmas pictures and found a really special one from Knights side of the family. Auntie M was very excited because she recieved a very special present. Click here to watch her reaction.

We had a great Christmas weekend being able to spend some time with Knights extended family who we have not seen in a while. Knight and the kids have seen them more than I have but it was fun to do some catching up. Christmas eve we spent time with grandma and grandpa and aunts and uncles and cousin. We had a good time and we were thankful that there were less people there so we could really appreciate the ones we love. That evening we were able to witness my nieces baptism. What a blessing to watch her grow in her faith and what a differences in churches. The kids were surprised at how small the church is but it was a good service. Christmas was spent at my dad's with a quiet morning and the rest of the family coming late afternoon. Knight was not feeling well so it was good to be able to rest. Here are the pictures from the weekend. I am off today for my annual shopping day with a good friend while Knight enjoys the kids.

Between other people having trouble posting with blogger and stumbling on a new blog site I thought I'd try out this one and see how it works. If you want to see the new blog click here. Let me know which one you like. I will probably double blog until I figure out which one I like better. Stay tuned....

The Youngest Grocer In America

This is great. I am always amazed to see people like this

I know I have expressed this before but technology is truely amazing. Tonight as I am looking into school books for next year, ebaying, answering emails not only from people in state but also on the other side of the great big earth I am amazed. Last week we studied on how much time and work it was to create the telegraph and then the telephone. The lesson ended in them explaining we have a new device, the fax machine. As much as I use my cell phone, email, dsl, etc without thought every once in a while I have to stop and marvel. I listen to what I want to when I want to on the internet radio, I shop without leaving my pajamas, and I can communicate with those I love all around Gods great earth. Now if I could only get a house that automatically cleans clutter....

Last night the kids had their Christmas program. It went well and they remembered their parts for the most part. I have some video that I will try to get up eventually but not this morning. We are off to see A Little Princess Christmas... a play at the childrens theater. Kids are very excited. Rara and J-Bird have never been to an actual play.

With inspiration from Akeela and the Bee we had a spelling bee last night to practice the kids spelling words. J-Bell spells like her dad, and that is not a good thing. It was a good but very hectic time because the kids get very squirrelly when the whole family does something like this. We can't just have a nice, quiet time of fun. I was baking cookies for tonight's Christmas program during the bee while the rest of the family was spelling in the kitchen and stealing the dough. It was a great night and hopefully helped them with their spelling words.

In case I get yelled at again for missing Thankful thursday I will share a story of what happened this week. I recieved a call on Monday from one of my bosses saying that my job is now requiring about triple the amount of time that I have been taking in it and let me know that if I was not able to do this, she understands, but needs to find someone else. Knight and I talked and decided that since we were considering having me quit next month anyway we should probably just do it now. Step of faith cutting my earnings in half. Not huge money but our budget has me making all the grocery money. Tuesday I get a call about someone wondering about homeschool curriculum. The curriculum she described is not something I had heard of before (so I had thought) but sounded like it may be good. I didn't think much more of it. Later that day another friend mentions that same curriculum so I do some research. I look at the philosophy, set up, and on another site, reviews from users. Never looked at price. Next day had another conversation about it and did more research. Looked at other curriculums, subjects, etc. I ended up ordering this one curriculum at 1/2 price and it was already about 1/3 of what I am using. The Lord is taking care of our school budget in such a neat way and we were able to shift numbers so that our budget meets our need and some wants. So I can say and know, yet again, Isn't God good? He has never not taken care of our needs.

Just a quick note to let everyone know we are alive--barely. We are doing the flu thing here this week. I have to say I am thankful that all of my kids are old enough to make it to the bathroom or bucket so it's not all over my house but I am pretty down and out also so my house is bey0nd messy and I think there are germs everywhere. Until further notice...Stay away.