Ramey Randomness

New Computer

2009-12-09T14:43:00.000-08:00

Several of the blogs I read are giving away a brand new HP Touchsmart 600, and I have a chance to win it! I'd advise you to enter, but that would lessen my chances, though it would be very cool if we both won one! What would you do with it? It looks really cool! You can check it out at several places...

http://boomama.net/hp-touchsmart-600-giveaway
www.mycharmingkids.net
http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/
http://nienie-reviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-giveaway_09.html
and
http://totallytogetherreviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-computer-review-and-give.html

Okay, Where did October go?

2009-11-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Who stole October? It's November already, and almost a third of the way through it! Ugh!

I've been taking things one day at a time lately, as it seems that's the only way I can do things and still focus on what I need to be focusing on. (And even that isn't accurate... I'm supposed to be doing homework right now...)

We had a great Halloween. Charlotte was Cinderella, and Joshua was a rock star. It was decided at the last minute that is what he would be. We tossed around several options and that's what we finally came up with, by default actually. He was originally going to be "daddy" for Halloween, because that's what he said he wanted. So I had this idea that I would get him a shirt, and embroider "daddy" on it, put him in some jeans, find a broom and one of those trash recepticle things on a stick (I know you know what I mean!) and then he'd be on his way. Only I couldn't find the trash thing... :( I was bummed. I did find this really cool guitar though and a cool shirt, so we put our microphone headset for the computer on him and his guitar, cowboy hat, boots and a cool pair of jeans, spiked his hair and called it good! Charlotte's dress from her birthday served as her Halloween costume (that was planned back in June when I made it originally), and off we went to the Harvest Festival/Trunk or Treat at the church. My mom went with us and we had a great time. It was a little chaotic, because there were about 3000 people there (throughout the night, but probably 1500 or so when we were there), but we managed. I refuse to go to that thing by myself. Hopefully next year Chris will be working days and he can go with us!

We also went to Bishops Pumpkin farm a week before Halloween and had a blast. The kids really enjoyed playing in the hay, petting the animals, sitting on large pumpkins, and riding the train. We stayed away from some of the more child-popular activities since it was pretty crowded by the time we were getting ready to go, but enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.

Chris and I were able to attend a David Crowder Band concert in Sacramento with an amazing group of friends. I am so lucky to serve on a youth staff with some great people, and most of us were able to attend the show. It was a ton of fun, and DCB puts on a great show. Thanks to my friend who bought my ticket as I was originally just going to send Chris. Can I share again how great my friends are?!?

School is going well for me. I'm in the middle of probably my toughest term this year. I'm taking 3 graduate level courses right now at the same time which has me quite busy. I am focusing on one day at a time right now, between school, family, work, ministries, sleep, my house, etc. God is doing amazing things though and I'm privileged to be a part of it all.

We've started a Biggest Loser Challenge with a group of friends and family. I'm excited to say that in four weeks (we weigh in for week 5 tomorrow) the group of us has lost nearly 200 pounds!!! That's AMAZING! My husband has been working out and has lost an incredible 31.2 pounds so far (not including what he's lost this week!). I'm so proud of him and he's looking great. I've not lost that much. I have lost about 10 pounds though, which is my goal for each month between now and next summer. I'm going to try and step it up a little bit more though and try and lose more. I'm so proud of this group. We're continuing until the first of the year and then we'll probably open up a new challenge for those that want to continue. It's a great motivator, and the extra support is always nice for encouragement and resources.

Alright, I've got to get back to my homework. I just wanted to pop in and let you know that we're still here and going along. There's not that much exciting to blog about, though I've been feeling the need for awhile. Perhaps when life slows down :P LOL.

Love you all!

Heidi, Chris, Charlotte and Joshua

September

2009-09-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hi friends... okay... crickets... since I'm fairly sure that most, if not all my "followers" have stopped doing just that for my lack of posting.

So much new in our world, yet nothing terribly earth-shaking.

I've started school and am already at midterm time for my first bunch of classes. I have been pretty bored with my classes, being that my B.S. degree is in education, not just some random degree. I have a gentleman in one of my classes that has his B.S. in aeronautical engineering (or something equally similar, he explained it as basically equivalent to basket-weaving in space... LOL), who is probably getting a lot out of these classes because they are so entry level into education. Oh well, perhaps the wisdom I have can be shared to him and to others in the class. That's how I'm getting through it anyway. I am REALLY looking forward to getting this stuff done so that I can get into my own classroom. Next year! I have also started looking for a "placement" for my student teaching. My friend Lori has a fourth grade classroom that I will probably do my upper-grades student teaching in, so I'm looking for a lower grades placement to work in now. I'm really hoping (praying) for a long-term substitute position that I can do instead of my student teaching, for financial reasons. A semester plus the summer without any sort of income on my end, while still paying childcare is a LONG time... and unless I win the lottery or something... but I'm trusting that God will provide as I know that he will.

Joshua is growing by leaps and bounds. He is talking so much now and we're seriously working on potty training. He finally went the other day at preschool in the toilet, but has yet to do so here at home. We're still working on it though! I think by the time he's three he'll have it down! Yay! He has such a sweet personality. He's lately decided that he's our "beff frend". I love that he thinks his mommy and daddy are his best friends. I hope that he continues to feel that close to us. That is not to say that we feel the same way. While I love my children and want to be one of their best friends, I realize that I am their parent, not their friend. I will continue to draw that line until their grown and out of the house, when I hope that the "friendship" comes to full fruition. We tease all the time that Joshua is going to be a worship leader or rockstar. I came into the playroom the other day to see this:

Hilarious. He is too funny. He was using the basketball hoop as a microphone and singing into it while playing his guitar. Way to go dude! You are sooo cool!

Charlotte continues to develop her teenage-girl attitude, yet she continues to whine like her 4 year old self. If anyone has any ideas on how to break that I'd love to hear them. I'm out of ideas... and fed up with the whine/attitude combo. I'm sure I'll have to just deal with it and pray that she'll grow out of it, but in the meantime, I'm pulling my hair out, and she's spending a lot of time in the corner. Poor us. See example below:

Other than that, we're all good here. Chris is back to his regular schedule at work, and I've been subbing a bit and keeping busy with school and ministry opportunities. I've been working with our youth group and am super excited that we'll be going on a missions trip next summer. I can't reveal the location yet, as details are still being worked out, but suffice it to say, I'm going to need a new bathing suit!

We did start painting the kitchen today, it's not finished, but I'll put up pictures as soon as we get it finished, probably next week.

Take care crickets! Until next time!

The Rameys

A Break in the Madness!

2009-08-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's not really madness around here, but I'm hoping that it will be in a couple of weeks. Really though, there hasn't been much going on, so I've been pretty quiet on here.

I'm in the middle of getting ready for everything to jump into overdrive. School starts for me on August 18th, school starts for subbing on August 17th (I'm praying for a long-term placement), MOPS starts the first week in September. Chris changes schedules again at the school on the 17th and has applied for a job at a different school and interviews for that on the 10th. So he may be changing schools in the midst of all of this as well.

The kids continue to plug along, growing and developing at a pace that exceeds my wildest dreams. Joshua is talking so much now. Tonight he told Chris, "No daddy, don't drink my milk!" It was perfectly clear and you can tell he's trying so hard to express himself with words. It's great fun! Charlotte is coming into her personality. She is so anxious to be the center of attention all of the time. It's maddening and hilarious at the same time. Sometimes I think she's not 4, but rather 14, because she says the strangest things, and has quite the attitude. She's convinced she is a princess, and that it's her birthday (still). I think I may be creating a monster! She's going to be quite the handful when she gets to her teenage years.

That's about all for now, I'll update more later. I have to go make ice cream!

Heidi

It's Official!!!

2009-07-20T21:09:00.001-07:00

Just a quick note...

It's official and they can't take it away!!! I got an e-mail tonight notifying me that my B.S. degree in Education with a minor in psychology was conferred today. I'm officially a college graduate!!! And to make things even better, it's with honors! Woo!

Hope this finds everyone well. Thanks again for all of your support through the years. Know that I love you! For those of you still in school, keep working hard in order to graduate. I look forward to celebrating with you when your time comes!!! Keep up the great work!

Heidi

3 in 3... this is getting better!!!

2009-07-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

I'm making a conscious effort to start blogging every day. I enjoy the outlet, and it's nice to keep you all updated on things around here.

I don't think I mentioned the other day that Chris and Charlotte have an eye appointment on Monday. Apparently, when I was at camp, Charlotte failed her eye exam at her 4 year old check up. I got the notice in the mail that said she has 20/40 vision, so they're sending her to an optometrist to have a more thorough exam. Her original appointment was scheduled for yesterday, but because I know my daughter is most likely going to freak out because it is a new situation for her and new setting, I went ahead and cancelled the appointment and scheduled a new appointment with our family eye doctor. Chris was due for an appointment anyway and that will allow her to see him have it done first, so that it is a little less unfamilliar for her. We'll see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have major meltdown. Should be a great time!!! Unlike the time that Joshua was having in this picture:

The cause of Joshua's meltdown you ask???? His friend took the tractor and licked it! I suppose that's one way to claim a toy. Far better to lick it than to smack someone with it. Tough life of two year olds...
We were at the park last week and I was able to take some pictures of the kids. I haven't put pictures up in awhile, so here you go!
Whew... like my cutie-patootie son... I'm exhausted!
May you be blessed on your Wednesday (or whatever day you read this!)

Heidi

Encouragement

2009-07-13T12:16:00.000-07:00

I get so many people who tell me they do not know how I do everything that I do. The short answer is I don't. God has given me opportunities to use the very gifts He has given me, and I have been blessed to serve Him in every way I can.

I was reminded of this during my MOPS retreat this weekend. In our curriculum planning for the new year, we were also given a leadership training, and I had the opportunity to view this on Saturday with the amazing women on my team. In short, God is pleased when we use the gifts He has given us in order to serve Him.

I think, as Christians, we are taught to be humble and not proud, and to be very honest I've struggled with that over the past several months as I completed my degree, and did so relatively easy and maintained good grades. Part of me wanted to be pleased with myself for my accomplishments, and part of me knew that I should be humble and not proud. What is the balance there? The answer came this weekend for me. God has given me the talents that I have, and He expects me to use them for His glory. Doing so pleases Him. It would be like me giving you a gift. Do I give it to you so that you can hide it in a closet? Absolutely not. I would want you to be blessed by it, to display it and care for it. The same goes with the gifts God gives us. Those natural talents, abilities and skills, passions and desires are all His gifts to us. We can choose to put them to good use, for His glory, or we can hide them in a closet, ashamed of our natural, God given abilities.

I have recently began to mentor a young lady in our church who desires to sing. She has the God-given talent, but is afraid. In a recent discussion with her, we discussed her fears, and I shared with her the idea that God would want her to share her gift with those around her, and not to let Satan, whom would NOT want her to sing for the glory of her Savior, use her fears for his purposes. Satan would love to see us all hide our gifts in the closet, to protect them from the world, and not use them... ever. He will use whatever tactic works... fear, anger, anxiety, jealousy, pride, etc. And he always does what's easy. He knows what works for you, and for me, and he'll use it every time. For this young lady, it's fear. For me, it was the fear of becoming too prideful.

So, I will be proud of my accomplishments. I work hard for the things that I do, and as long as I realize, and share, that it is not my accomplishments, but rather it is done through an amazing Father, one who loves me despite my fears and failures. He is the King of kings, the Lord of All and I choose to serve Him for all of my days. I pray that you know this Father. The loving, gracious, merciful Father, who sent his Son to die on a cross, a most unfitting death for the King of kings, in order to provide a way for us to spend eternity with the Father in Heaven. If you do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please contact me, or a member of any bible-based church, and we'd love to speak and pray with you.

May you be encouraged to use your gifts that He has given you, in order to glorify God, our Heavenly Father who loves us above all else.

Heidi

For those who complain...

2009-07-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. I KNOW!!! I haven't updated in forever. I'm sorry. Been a little busy. But you should know that.

The last month has been an amazing whirlwind of activity and excitement, and I'm finally sitting down to blog about it.

I think the two biggest announcements are that I passed my CSET, all three sections!!! Thanks for all of your supportive encouragement you all shared. The second big announcement is that I'm finished with school. For now. I finished up my Bachelor's of Science degree in Education on the 6th of July. I finished my last final that day and am waiting anxiously for the degree conferral and my degree to come in the mail. I'm super excited about it, and am pretty sure that I'm graduating with honors. :) We had a get together at my parents to celebrate and had some great friends come by to say Hi!

The week after our birthdays, I had the opportunity to go to Houseboat camp with our youth group. It was an amazing week, and we had a great group of kids. I lived with 10 teenage girls for a week and never once saw an eye-roll. If you have or know teenage girls, you know how amazing that is. I was able to see some great friends get baptized and saw God work in the kids and in the staff as well. I managed to not get too sunburned (that week), and a great time was had by all.

Charlotte and Joshua's last day of preschool for the summer is tomorrow. With me not working and not having school work to do we really can't justify the expense. I know I'm sad for them (and for myself) and I know they'll miss their teachers, but they'll go back in a few weeks, once school starts back up and I'm subbing again!

We're hoping to go out of town for the weekend in a couple of weeks. We'll see how finances are and if we have the time and can get away. Chris and I haven't done anything as a couple away from the kids for an overnight since before Charlotte was born, and it's about time to get away. I know I could use the refresher, and I'm sure that Chris could as well.

I start back to school in August, for my credential program. This will be done here in town instead of online, so I'm trying to get that worked out and will have to get used to being in a classroom instead of able to do my work anytime I want. I'm excited to get that started and finished, though the current state of affairs in California leaves much to be desired for incoming school teachers. I'm guessing my class will be small... I don't know that there will be many people getting into teaching this year. It's not a pretty picture. I trust that God will provide though and we'll figure it out when that time comes. In the meantime, I'm still applying for jobs, hoping to get an internship, though it's unlikely. God knows what He is doing, and I'm trusting that.

Praying for you all.

Heidi

A month?!?

2009-04-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a month since I last blogged... okay, over a month. A month of lots of stuff, and yet not really anything. Mostly life as usual. I am a month closer to graduating. Hard to believe that the 3rd of July will be my last day as an undergraduate student, and I will, on that day (if not before) have completed my work to get my Bachelor's degree. It is exciting and awesome, and terrifying.

I am the first person in our immediate (and extended) family to graduate from college (as far as I know). I am humbled by that. I have the opportunity to leave a legacy and want to make sure that I do it right. Am I showing those who come after me that school is important, and that education is a gift that we should not take lightly, but should persevere to the end, despite the "hiccups" that occur along the way. I married young, and when I did, I promised those around me that I would finish college. And I intended to, at that time. But life came, and hiccup. Two young adults trying to make it in the world, on their own, did not, in my case, allow for me to go to school. Hiccup. Work would come first then school would come at some point down the road. Then Charlotte came, and I started to return to school, but now two young adults and a new baby definitely didn't allow much time, or resources, for school. Hiccup. Then Joshua came too. And school was beckoning me. I knew that I needed to go back, for the promise I made to those I cherish, and for myself and my family. So the search began for a school to attend, and I came across Liberty. I sent for information and fell in love with the idea of a college teaching biblical values that I could attend from home on my own time. I have been so blessed to take courses in general education, psychology, education and bible learning from professors who wrote the textbooks, and who prayed for us and our successes. I am so proud to have been able to complete my studies there, and will miss it, but it is time to move on to more experiences. I am excited to begin Chapman in the fall as a credential student, and am considering the Master's Program as well, but that'll be for later. A HUGE thank you to all of you who have supported me through the last couple of years, (and longer) to get this done. I owe a lot of my success to my wonderful supportive husband who was more than willing to continue to work two jobs and watch the kids on the weekends while I completed homework or various projects. Thank you so much.

I have been coming across a lot of good ideas and inspirational things lately, I'm hoping to start blogging more about those kinds of things, but for now, we'll wait and see. I'm extremely busy right now with the end of this semester, and am hoping that in the next few weeks things will slow down a bit more and I'll have more time.

God Bless!

2009-03-16T23:21:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Alright, since I haven't done this in awhile and it is oh so much fun to air the things that I didn't do... grab a cup of something and a seat and enjoy the show.

Okay, I most certainly did not put off doing my math homework for 3 weeks, until the last possible day that it could be turned in, completely eating up the 1 week extension that was given to everyone because some people were having trouble submitting things.

I did not print out my graduation application for LU this week! And of course, I did not check my degree completion plan like 10 times making sure that I didn't miss something or they didn't change something... because, of course, they would be making changes to my file at 11pm our time (2 am Eastern Time).

I did not just put Charlotte in bed with me this morning to get a few more minutes of sleep while she "read" in bed with me and then finally get out of bed about an hour and a half later. (I really was not sleeping the whole time, we read books and talked about letters and such)

Of course, if I did do that, I absolutely would not blog about it.

I did not sign up Charlotte and Joshua for preschool today starting on Wednesday despite the fact that I currently have no work scheduled for the rest of this week, and honestly contemplate not taking a job and sending them to preschool anyway, just so that I can get some things done around the house and homework!

I also did not put Barney in the movie player tonight instead of putting the kids to bed, just so I could catch up on MckMama's blogs and her Not Me Monday posts.

I'm sure there are hundreds of other moments that I could blog about, but they are escaping me right now. I hope you enjoyed the show! Have a great week!

News on the Homefront...

2009-03-09T22:16:00.000-07:00

It's been quite awhile since I blogged and I thought that I'd update you all if you still read this as to what is going on in our lives.

I'll start with myself, since most of the rest of everybody's news revolves around changes in me. I have completed the process to start substitute teaching. I actually had my first subbing job last Tuesday and have worked every day but today since then. I was scheduled to work today, but started feeling ill last night and it continued throughout the night so I called in sick this morning. I have loved it so far. It's been great experience and I am learning a lot about classroom management and keeping kids busy :) So far so good though. I also am finishing up my coursework for my Bachelor's degree. I have four courses I'm finishing this semester, and then 3 that I am taking during the summer. I actually just printed out my "Graduation Application" tonight and filled it out to submit in the next couple of weeks! I will be adding a second major to my degree meaning that I will have a Bachelor of Science degree in both Education and Psychology. I am so thrilled. I have also started researching different options for my credential program. Because of the current education crisis in California, the original plan of me going into a district intern program is not a good idea. I can't foresee school districts hiring a non-credentialed teacher when they are laying off teachers. In the meantime, I will work on getting my teaching credential and substitute teaching where and when I can, gaining experience and networking with schools, increasing my chances of getting hired when I am able to be.
All of that being said, Chris is changing his work hours to 4 days a week at A-1, and the other day he'll be at home with the kids in the morning. We will then have my dad stay with them for the couple hours in the afternoon. I will be working 4 days a week also, having a different day off so that I can finish up my year as the MOPS Co-Coordinator and then also taking care of the other things that pop up in life, (i.e., doctor's appointments, dentist appointments, school stuff, etc.). The rest of the week the kids will be starting preschool in the next few weeks. I am excited for them and they are excited about it. We have found a local christian preschool that is affordable and has open spaces for younger kids. Thankfully they are working with us on taking Joshua since he is not potty trained. They prefer to have them potty trained, but are making exceptions for us. We have been so blessed to have found this preschool and that there are spaces available.
We went to San Francisco a couple of weekends ago. It was a last minute trip down there to visit with Chris' grandparents and to get out of the house for awhile. We ended up going to the Aquarium of the Bay and had a blast. The kids really liked seeing all of the different fish and sharks and such. They got to touch a bat ray (like a sting ray) a leopard shark and some starfish and urchins. There was one bat ray that just kept swimming in circles up near the top of the water so that we could pet it. The kids were troopers through the whole day despite not getting a nap. Toward the end of the day Joshua started getting ornery but wasn't horrible.

Joshua and Charlotte peeking in the peepholes before going into the Aquarium of the Bay.One of the Bat Rays that we got to pet later on the tour.The Leopard Shark that Charlotte got to pet.Joshua "smelling" the flowers... or eating them... not sure which. :)Looking at the Sea Lions out on the pier.

My grandma is coming into town next weekend and I am over-the-moon excited about it! It has been about 2 years since she's been here and we miss her so much. I grew up with her around the corner from our house and I sure miss her now that she's down in Mexico. The last time she was here, Joshua was only 4 months old and Charlotte wasn't quite 2 yet. They both have grown up so much in that two years. My mom and I can't wait for her to see them and get to know them a little more. We have been telling Charlotte about it for a couple of weeks and she is excited too. She'll ask me periodically, "When is great Grammy coming??? Grammy's mommy. Grammy is mommy's mommy." She is too funny. We miss you Grandma and can't wait to see you!

That's about it for now. I'll write more later. I know I keep promising to write sooner, but life gets in the way. I'll try and write again soon!

Heidi and the rest of the Ramey Family!

Thoughts and Life...

2009-02-01T16:22:00.000-08:00

Life goes on as normal around here lately. Thus the reason for no real blogging going on around here.

I've started my second to last summer of undergraduate work. I'm so excited to be so close. I keep checking the status report thing that Liberty offers, just to make sure that I haven't made a mistake somewhere and am suddenly missing 20 credits or something. I know, a bit irrational, but it's all so exciting. I'm taking a teaching practicum class this semester, and I have the opportunity to go work in a friend's classroom 4 mornings per week. I'm learning so much, and it's been a lot of fun to get back into the classroom. I am looking at my options for the credential program. I think at this point I am planning on going to a Chapman University which will allow me to get my credential without having to drive an hour each way for classes because it is in Yuba City. I was planning on doing the Project Pipeline program which would allow me to get a job as a district intern teaching math as I work on my credential, but because of the current economic situation in California, I am not sure if that is the best direction to go anymore. I can't see a district jeopardizing their NCLB (No Child Left Behind) status to hire non-credentialed teachers when there may be an influx of credentialed teachers who are being laid off because of budget cuts to education. It's all very up in the air still, but I need to decide what I am going to do in the next couple of months.

Chris has been working on family and friends' computers in the last couple months. I think that he enjoys it and it gives him something to do while he's home for the weekends. I am so proud of him and everything that he accomplishes. I am so thankful that God has given me such a great husband who is willing to do what he can to help out around the house, oftentimes without my needing to ask. He's great about taking Char and Josh into the other room or outside to play while I work on homework over the weekends, and he pitches in around the house too. Thank you husband for all that you do for our family. Thank you Lord for such an amazing husband. I am so blessed.

Charlotte has been up to her usual antics lately. She is talking so much more and getting more and more personality. I went to pick her up from the childcare at the church the other night after my bible study and she started whining, when Gramma Suzie (the childcare director) asked her what was wrong, she started wiping away her imaginary tears and sniffling while she told Suzie that "I'm just so sad. I don't want to go home!" All she needed to do was pretend to faint for her Oscar in the category for most dramatic 3 year old. Then at dinner the other night, she was sitting in her chair and looked at Chris and I and said, "I'm so high!" Not what a mother wants to hear come out of the mouth of her child, no matter what age. Oh she makes me laugh.

Joshua is two. My baby is two! He is trying so hard to be like his sister and is so funny as he does it. He's starting to recognize that letters within words have a name, though most of the time, all of the letters are "o" or "u". He is also starting to recognize some of his colors. His favorites by far are "ello" and "dreen". Everything is either ello or dreen. He's so good-natured and easy going. He takes after Chris in that. It is my prayer that he continues to be so easy as he grows up, and that God would give Chris and I the wisdom to help him grow to be a man who represents God and lives for Him.

We just hooked our alarm system back up. We've had a couple things come up missing from the house and the other day we had a man "casing" our house. He asked what door we use as our front door, and because I'm home alone at night with the little ones, I feel more comfortable with that alarm. The same person who was casing our home came back the next morning and stole about 4 large garbage bags worth of recycling Chris and the guys at his work had collected for recycling. Thankfully the guys were understanding and Chris did give them most of what was left to recycle. It stinks though that it happened, and I hope that it is all over now.

I know that I keep saying this, but I am trying to make a conscious effort to blog more often. So much of the time I really have nothing new to share, so I keep quiet. I'm going to try and change that (not by having more to blog about, but rather to share what I've been learning in life, or share different insights that I've come across lately). So to start that off, I'll share a bit of insight I got last week from my mentor teacher at the elementary school. We are expecting a large tax refund this year and were talking about how we were going to spend it. Chris and I were discussing getting a new HDTV for our living room. However, I got sick a couple weeks ago and ended up going to the emergency room. Long story short, I ended up having a flu bug (the ER doc diagnosed it as a urinary tract infection) and a very large ER bill. We decided that a TV was not a necessity and that we should be adults and pay our bill rather than spend the money elsewhere (i.e., the new tv). Anyway, Renae (my mentor teacher) made a statement about the tv being a weed. When I looked at her, confused, she said, it's a want that isn't necessarily a need. I really liked the idea of needs and weeds in regards to the "stuff" that society feels that we should have. As a christian I need to be thankful for the things that God gives me, and a good steward of the resources that he entrusts to me. So, most of the refund will be going to bills and savings. We are planning on doing some things that are fun with it, though we're not quite sure what those are yet.

That's about all that is new around here. The kids are up from their naps, so I better get back to them and I need to start dinner. I hope that you are all blessed and I will update again soon!

God Bless!

The Rameys

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of you and your families!

Just a quick update and popping in to say Hi. I've added the Twitter feature to my blog, so you can get bits and pieces of my day. I'm going to try and update it a few times a day, since that's a fun way to keep up with me.

I hope that your Christmas' went well and that you all got a chance to spend some time with family and friends. We're hanging out with Chris while he's off of work. We've enjoyed having him around a lot lately and are getting used to it. Too bad it will change after next week back to normal. *sigh*

Have a great day and be Blessed!

Heidi

Wow.

2008-12-15T21:35:00.000-08:00

Wow. 9 days until Christmas. Already! Where has the time gone. I am feeling so blessed this year, and am thankful that I am able to recognize it, and appreciate it. I know that there are so many others out there that aren't as blessed as we are, and I pray that they find comfort wherever they may be and know that there is One who loves them and desires to know each and every one. Wow.

I'm writing this as I should be preparing for my MOPS meeting tomorrow, but as usual, I'm procrastinating, and popped in here to catch all of you up and check out the comments that people have left. I was disappointed that someone chose to anonymously post some comments that aren't helpful in any way. Wow. I suppose that is your options, or was, as I've changed my settings to no longer allow anonymous settings. My fault for trusting in the first place. Those of you who have put helpful comments, I pray that you know how encouraging they are.

And a big Wahoo! I'm done with school this semester. I will start back on the 12th of January. I did fairly well this semester, though it kicked my behind to get it all done. I'm within 30 units now of getting my B.S. degree (28 units to be exact) and I should be done this summer if everything stays on track. I have two math classes left to take to fulfill my "requirements" the rest is simply elective courses that will probably be made up of education, psychology and theology classes because I learn the most from them. Woo! (Sorry, not much to wow there.)

I went and got the application packet to start substitute teaching today. I'm waiting for them to get back to me, because Sutter County seems to require a Bachelor's degree, where as there is a credential that you can get as a prospective teacher that will allow you to sub with less than that. So I'm waiting to hear if they'll accept me or not. I will be majorly bummed if they won't. It's an insanely expensive and time consuming process to go through to get just a substitute credential. It's slightly more than 200 dollars once you throw in the fingerprinting fees, license fees and other various fees that are associated with the process. My jaw almost hit the floor when I realized that. (WOW!!!) I'm confident however that God will provide the money though, and am trusting that I will be allowed to go where He wants me.

I sincerely want to thank all of you who have supported me over the last year and a half as I've been doing this. All of your encouraging words and helpful advice, offers to help in any way, have been MUCH appreciated and I am so humbled by your kind words and thoughts. I ask that you would continue to pray us through this journey as I'm terrified of what's to come. I've never been afraid before, but the farther I get into the process, and the realization that I will be responsible for students on my own, and the vast amount of responsibility and weight that carries, is feeling slightly overwhelming to me right now. Please continue to offer that up for us. We do so greatly appreciate it.

As for the rest of the family, everyone is doing well. Joshua celebrates his second birthday next week (WOW!). He is talking more and more, and is definitely getting his own opinions. He and Charlotte are beginning to fight more too. It's great fun! Most of the time I let them work it out themselves, however, I do intervene if it goes seriously awry. It's so fun to watch them grow and learn to love each other, and those around them. Charlotte has decided that it is her job to help tuck Joshua in bed each night. The three of us (and daddy when he's home) kneel at the foot of Joshua's bed, we pray and then give kisses all around. Charlotte has been the last to kiss Joshua lately then, she tells him goodnight and shuts off the light and closes the door. It's so sweet. She loves him so much. He lights up in the morning when he sees her too, so I know the feeling is mutual. (Wow!)

Chris is working so hard to provide for our family. I am so humbled by his willingness to continue to work two jobs, even telling me that if I need to take the summer off and finish my school in the fall semester (I'm not going to), that he's willing to continue to work so that I can stay home as long as I want. I'm so blessed. Beyond blessed. I thank the Lord that He has given me such an amazing partner for life. I definitely didn't/don't deserve it. (Wow!)

That's about all from here. I pray that you all have a wonderful Christmas. Spend some time with your loved ones, and know that Christ came for you, because He loves you. Spend some time with Him this season as well. He wants to know you more.

Reflections on Mary...

2008-12-06T02:14:00.000-08:00

December. Cold. Damp. Still. Quiet. Yet, in it all, there is a celebration being prepared in Heaven. The angels are preparing for the Messiah's birth. The promised one.
A 14 year old girl has been chosen to carry the Christ-child. How scared she must have been, yet so full of wonder and hope as well. I was 24 when I had my daughter, and I know how scared I was, I can't imagine being 10 years younger, and having God's Son.

As I sit here now, in my bed, snuggled up in a heated house, I think about Mary traveling on the back of a donkey, 9 months pregnant. I never made it that far with either of my kids, yet I know how miserable those last weeks can be in the comforts of the modern ages, let alone 2000 years ago. Was it cold? Was she having labor pains the whole time she was walking to Bethlehem? Was she excited? Scared? Confident? Confused? Lonely? At peace?

I remember being pregnant with Joshua this time of year and found myself fascinated with Mary. I tried to imagine what she must have been going through feeling the child inside of her as she traveled to Bethlehem. Was she uncomfortable? Or did God spare her that? What was Jesus like to raise? Ha, I imagine he was the quintessential "perfect child" in that he was fully God. The Bible says that he never sinned, and was a pure and spotless lamb. I wonder if that means he never threw his food on the floor, or stayed up half of the night and then was cranky in the morning?

I think I'm going to have to find a study on Mary over the next few weeks. I'm in awe of her strength and faith. To be 14, betrothed, and to know that the child she carried was the Christ-child, yet also know she could be stoned to death for being pregnant before she had been in the marriage bed with her husband. I desire for my heart to beat the same way. To say "Lord, I'm here" whenever He calls for whatever He wants.

May God be with you all this Christmas season. Know that I am praying for each of you to find Him and to be in His will this Christmas. Please join me in welcoming Jesus this Christmas, into your home, into your heart and into every part of your being. Know that He loves you, and desires to become intimate with you.

God Bless You!
Heidi

We've got a new family member!

2008-11-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Ashley and Alex! Welcome to the world James! Auntie Heidi, Uncle Chris, Cousins Charlotte and Joshua love you! (P.S. We're you're favorite!)

Not Me Monday

2008-11-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

This is my first Not Me Monday! I came across this idea at MckMomma's blog and I love it. You can check it out by clicking on the button above. ('m hoping this works!)

So here it is. I did not do these things! You can't make me own up to them!

I did not have rice krispy treats for dinner last night since we had a bible study and were not frantically trying to clean house enough so that people would not see how messy it gets.

I did not put on a movie this morning because I wasn't ready to get up with the kids, so I absolutely did not snooze on the couch with them watching the movie!

I did not put off homework again this week, to the weekend, knowing full well it is due Sunday night, then panic because I was running out of time!

I did not cry this morning when I realized that on top of the cold I have, I am now on my period too! (Blah!)

I totally did not just admit that I'm on my period for the whole internet world to read!

I was not secretly glad that none of our regulars were here for bible study last night. I love you all, but I felt like junk!

That's about all my "Not Me's" for today. I'll post more later if I can come up with them. This is fun and I love reading some of the ones out there that you can find on MckMomma's blog!

Choose more...

2008-11-05T22:12:00.000-08:00

I have begun helping out with the senior high youth at our church. This is something I feel like I've been called to do for awhile, and it's a small part that I can help connect with some young people, make a difference, and it doesn't take much preparation, other than getting the kids and I ready and there on time. I really enjoy meeting the youth, and since I'm planning on teaching this age group, it's a great fit. Kathy, our youth secretary, spoke tonight, and she really touched my heart. She was my inspiration for this blog, and the "change I want to be!"

Any time I tell someone that I'm planning on teaching middle/high school age kids, they tell me I'm crazy. Why is that? I'll tell you why I think it is. I think this world has gotten a hold of the word teenager and twisted it and changed it to be something that many teenagers are not. The world expects teens to do drugs, be disrespectful, skip school, have sex, break laws, have abortions, rebel, curse, and the list goes on and on. I'm not naive enough to say that teens don't do these things. But I, as Kathy did tonight, pose the thought that, perhaps they do these things because that's what we expect out of them. Brian Tracy once said, "Whatever we expect with confidence, becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy."

Is this what God calls us to though? Did God mean for us to limit our youth and future generations to this type of behavior? I think not. There are tons of examples in the Bible of young people stepping above the expectations of their time to achieve God's will and plan for themselves and the nations around them. Kathy spoke of three people tonight: George, Clara and David. George was an 11 year old who was incredibly proficient in math, and became a surveyor at a young age. At the age of 12 he became ward to his younger brother when his father died. Successful, he ended up becoming the first President of the United States. That's right, George Washington. Clara, was accomplished in dealing with medical care. At a young age, she founded the American Red Cross. David, at the age of 11 went on his first voyage across the oceans. At 12 he was given the position of Captain of the ship. When one of his shipmates challenged him, he took it in stride, and threatened the man with his life if he continued his rebellion. The man never came back up to challenge the David. David Farragut was his name, and he was an Admiral in the US Navy in 1812.

On the way home tonight, I started considering what society expects of me, and what I expect of myself. Is it aligned with what God expects of me? Probably not. The world's expectations of me are far different than God's. Sure, both the world and God expect me to follow the laws, treat others fairly, etc. But the world expects me to look a certain way, listen to a certain music, accept popular culture, and be okay with the rampant sin that exists in this world. God, however, has a very different view. He expects me to trust in Him, believe in Him as my Savior, and turn away from what the world has to say/think. He is my Father and truly wants what is best for me. The world may say that they do, but I know that is only as long as I give something in return.

So, I pose this question... what are your expectations for yourself? For the youth of our society? I was asked tonight, what I would change if I could change anything in the world. My answer to that would be that I would change people's views of the youth. So I'm starting here. Thank you for reading this, and I pray that you would take a minute and get to know a young person around you. To really open yourself up to them, and get to know them. I don't mean just hang out with them once per week, but to really get involved in their life. Check out the things that they are into, see the world from their eyes, because I guarantee you will be changed. There are some amazing young people out there, and I pray that you will have an impact in their greatness.

What's new in the Ramey Household

2008-10-22T11:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing. Really... there's nothing new.

Charlotte is the same. She got to spend the night at Grammy's a few weeks ago, which was a first. She absolutely loved it, and is still talking about it. She got to play with Papa and his microphone as he recorded her singing songs. Absolutely adorable! I felt kind of lost without her, as it was weird only having one child to look after and be responsible for. We enjoyed some time together with Aunt Sandra and Uncle Bryan and the cousins at dinner, then had to run by the store, but after that, we just hung out at home and then went to bed. He did get a little time in the morning with me which was nice. Plus he got to sleep in (which meant I got to sleep in), since his sister wasn't there to wake him up.

Joshua's toe healed nicely (I may have mentioned this in the last blog...) He looks mostly normal, though that toe is pointy in one spot for some reason. Unless you look closely you can't really even tell. I can't believe he'll be two in about 2 months. Time flies!

We took our annual trip to Bishop's Pumpkin Farm this past weekend. Charlotte was so excited to be going to the "punka match". She got to play all over the trains, and farm equipment, jump in the hay, pet animals, ride on the hay ride, pick out her very own pumpkin (our requirement was that they had to be able to carry it themselves!), and watch the pig races! Great fun!

That's about it from this neck of the woods. Like I said, there's not much new here. I hope and pray that everyone who reads this is doing well and is happy and healthy. Know that we love you and are praying for you.

6 weeks?!?!?

2008-09-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

It's been 6 weeks since I blogged last?!? What have I been doing?!? Answer: Life. Everything, and nothing all in the same time. I can't believe that much time has gone by without word from me! I'm so sorry.

Joshua's toe is almost healed. It looks much better, and the nail is growing back just fine. I'm so relieved and thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. He just got a hair cut last week and I think it changed him. He's grown up all of a sudden. Even "Gramma" Suzie (the childcare director at church) commented on how big he got all of a sudden. He's also started making all kinds of goofy faces. Cracks me up. He's great. I love this age.

Charlotte is officially a big girl now. She's potty trained!!!! We aren't quite to the overnight stage yet, but we are fully potty trained for the day. Yay!!! That cut my diaper bill in half! I'm so excited to be changing fewer diapers, but she has not gotten the concept of going all at once, so in the hour and 45 minute class today, we made three trips to the bathroom... ugh!

We started a school readiness program today. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, we'll go another day this week, maybe Wednesday or Thursday. Joshua gets to go too and learn and play while the moms get to visit and help out. It is a parent co-op kind of thing, which is interesting, but we'll see how it goes. It was good to see a friend from my MOPS group there, so there was at least 1 familiar face.

Sandra and Bryan have moved in with us, until they find a place and get settled here. It's exciting to be so close to my niece and nephew, and great to really get to know Sandra and Bryan. When everyone else is in Utah, we would only see them for short times, so it's been great to have them here. Trying at times, but great none the less.

Chris is just getting over bronchitis. He started feeling sick Sunday of last week, and by Wednesday when he went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with bronchitis and the beginning stages of pneumonia. So, he was off all week pretty much since he took Part of Monday evening off, then all of Tuesday through Friday. By Thursday and Friday I was ready to send him back to work. I teased that it would be better for his health for him to go back to work rather than stay home :P

I'm finishing up my first set of classes for this semester. I have this week and next week, then I'm finished with this set. The next grouping I have 4 classes instead of 3, so it'll be a bit more work, but worth it in the end. Then I get to apply for my substitute credentials! I'm terrified and excited at the same time. We're looking at childcare options now for what to do with the kiddos while we're at work. I think right now we're considering finding a preschool/daycare setting 3 days per week and then one of us will be home the other two. We'll get it figured out, but daycare is pricey! We're looking at nearly 800 dollars per month for 3 days per week.

That's about all for now. Will write more soon. (I hope...)

Heidi

What a week!

2008-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

What a week we've had. I got back from my retreat, feeling relaxed and energized, and that feeling is pretty much gone now. I realize that it is Friday, and that another weekend is here, but it's been a heck of a week.

On a positive note, my cousin Ricky and his wife Tiffany had their little boy on Wednesday. Steven Matthew was born in the early afternoon. Congratulations Ricky and Tiffany! I'm so excited for you both.

Thursday was a day from hell with Charlotte. She's so ... well.... three. She had a rough day yesterday, and it started in the morning and just continued throughout the day, until she went to bed last night. I fell into bed shortly after her, absolutely exhausted, mentally, physically and emotionally drained from being with her all day. It's days like that, when though I cherish being home with them and the opportunity that has been given to me to stay home, but it's days like that when I'm ready to go back to work. I know I'll have days like that at work too though, so I don't think I'm getting out of anything by escaping to work, but the endless whine has been getting on my nerves lately.

This morning, as I was sitting down to work a bit on my newsletter, the kids were playing with some benches (they're used as end tables, but are really more like barstools) and pushing them around the house. Well, somehow, I didn't see it, Joshua knocked one over on himself, and broke his big toe, nearly severing the tip of it off. Chris said that he could see the bone! (Gross!) We rushed him to the E.R., and they sewed it back on. He should heal perfectly, but we'll have to see. He's not one to wear socks/shoes (he will take his shoes off in the car), so this could be interesting with him having a bandage on his foot. We've got a sock on it right now, but we'll see how he does. I'm not sure what else to do for the poor little guy. He was pretty sad about it all, and screamed while they were numbing it to get the stitches, but as soon as they got it numb, he went to sleep and slept through that whole procedure. Talk about a blessing from God, that they didn't have to fight him over the whole deal. The student nurses were amazed. He goes to see a podiatrist on Monday, then next Saturday will have the stitches out. *sigh* this boy is going to kill me with his adventurous spirit. He's so, boy.

We are going to the State Fair tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about getting to go. It should be fun. Hot. But fun nonetheless. The Doodlebops are coming (for those of you with kids), so we'll see them, and explore all the other fun areas. Joshua is going to be a challenge I have a feeling, because he'll want to run and play, and I'm not sure he'll be able to. May have to come up with some sort of sandle/shoe thing for him. Hmmm... I'll have to think about that.

Anyway, I'll write more later. We see the podiatrist on Monday, so we'll know more after that. Love and hugs to everyone!

Wedding Pictures... so far...

2008-08-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

I've been editing all morning, I still have a whole lot to go, but I figured I'd put some of these up to give you all a taste! Chris did a great job! I told him that he should start doing some side work and take a class or two to hone his skills! Enjoy!

More Pictures

2008-07-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

Charlotte and Joshua at Marilyn & Papoo's house, she was getting ready to give him a kiss.

Joshua as Charlotte was getting closer to kissing her brother. I adore this picture.

Charlotte would go sit on Papoo's lap, but Joshua wouldn't. He's still a bit stranger-shy.

This is Papoo and Marilyn's adopted daughter Kim who is getting married the weekend after SuAnne and Jason. I've known her since she was about 12, I can't believe she's getting married!

Utah Trip So far...

2008-07-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

The bride, SuAnne, as we were working on favors, she was just watching! Okay, let me rephrase that, SuAnne was doing quality control as Jason was cutting candles to put into shotgun shells, to be used as favors, which I was tying rafia and charms to.

Jason, on the phone on the way to Clearfield to see Marilyn and Papoo (Chris' grandpa and his wife). I love this picture of him.

SuAnne in the "thinker" pose, watching Jason on the phone. This is so typical Su.

Joshua in the car on the way to visit Marilyn and Papoo. He was tired.

Reflections on life...

2008-07-15T20:08:00.001-07:00

I'm honestly in some sort of funk tonight, and as such, thought I'd blog a bit about my life and the things that are going on.

My good friend Kristina had brain surgery this morning. She went to the optometrist a couple of weeks ago because she had been having a lot of headaches and through several trips to her regular doctor, and no success she figured that she needed new glasses. God had ordained that trip. She was scheduled for an appointment at around 4:30, but was in town and figured she'd give the optometrist's office a call, because she wasn't feeling well and wanted to go home, to see if they could squeeze her in. They did, and the optometrist looked at her and referred her to an opthamologist, immediately. Like she was to go straight to the opthamologist's office. He looked at her and said that there was a major problem and that he was going to refer her to a neurosurgeon. To make a long story somewhat shorter, she had an MRI last Monday, a spinal tap on Friday, and then went in for the results yesterday. While at that appointment, they told her they were not going to let her go home, and that she was going to have surgery last night. That didn't happen afterall and she went in this morning. Thankfully everything is okay and she is recovering now. They removed a tumor from the lower ventricle of her brain and put in a shunt to help with drainage. So she's recovering now and we're thankful that God had her in his hands all along and orchestrated the best care possible for her.

I recently found out that my sister in law is going to make me an aunt again. James Alex is due sometime around Thanksgiving. So that is going to be fun. I've been working hard to get the dresses done in time for SuAnne's wedding (not the sister-in-law who's having the baby) on the 2nd of next month. We leave a week from Friday to head out to Utah for 10 days. I'm ready for a vacation. I'm hoping that we'll have some time to go sightseeing and see somewhere new while we're out there. Should be fun.

I've been reading a blog that has me amazed at this family's strength in trials. Audrey Caroline Blog I love how honest and heartfelt her writing is, and I have laughed and cried along with her. Warning, if you do go read it, take a box of tissues. She has an amazing talent with words and I can't wait to read it when she posts. We have a friend who is going through a similar problem with her pregnancy and I was able to connect the two ladies, and I"m so glad that it has given our friend hope and strength to just read the words that Angie writes. Beautiful.

I wish I had something profound to update you all with. In truth it's just been pretty much every day life around here. Still now potty training. I'm wrapping up my summer classes. I did drop my biology class, because I was essentially failing it and didn't want that ugly mark on my transcript. I learned that you can't fake a biology class, and you certainly can't do it in a shortened time period. So, if I need to take one, it'll have to be over a full semester sometime. We'll see. I think I'm okay without it though. I will have to pick up a single unit somewhere this semester (probably through Yuba College) though, in order to keep on track with substitute teaching this spring. I'm so excited and yet a bit anxious about that. I think it's part of the whole change thing, and knowing that it is something I've worked so long for, and dreamed about for even longer, and it's finally here. It's almost like I'm giving birth for the first time again. I have doubts and questions over whether or not I'm really ready, and if I can do this, and all the what ifs. It's a bit nervewracking, and exciting at the same time. I'm not even sure that I really experienced it like this when I was pregnant with Charlotte, because she really didn't give me that option, arriving so early.

We've been working on Joshua's room this past weekend. (Thanks mom!) I'm totally in love with all that's been done. It's still a work in progress, but you can see what we've done so far. (okay, we've really done more than this, but I forgot to take pictures again today).

I love it! It's so fun and kid friendly. Joshua loves it too. He spent his first night in his room the other night, and I heard him chattering to himself for a good half hour before he went to sleep. I'm sure he was talking to the sheep and the airplane and all of the rest of the characters and things in there. I'll share more pictures when it's done!

I hope this finds everyone well. Know that we love you and are praying for you all.

Bad Heidi...

2008-06-23T22:55:00.001-07:00

I'm getting really bad about keeping this updated. I think it may have something to do with MOPS, VBS, School, kids, homework, church, sleeping, being a wife, and whatever else I commit to!

So not much new here, just life in general. We have a friend who is getting married on Saturday! Yay Heather & Brian! I'm so excited for the both of you and can't wait to share in your special day. Speaking of weddings, we're getting ready to go back out to Utah next month for SuAnne's wedding. I still have to finish both Charlotte and my dress, Charlotte's is going to be easier to finish, but I just haven't done it yet. I just need to put the zipper in and hem the thing, I just haven't done it. I keep telling myself that I have time still, but I know that soon I won't be able to say that. I'll procrastinate like normal and say... maybe tomorrow.

School is going well. I have three rather difficult classes this summer as I'm taking Political Science (Government), Social Psychology and Biology all at the same time and during a shortened time frame. Fun! So that's taking a lot of my time right now. It really will be a vacation when we go out because I finish my last day of school the day after we leave for Utah. Woo! Then I start back again in August at Liberty. I'm getting excited and a bit nervous to be quite honest. It's always been something that's in the future and now it's getting really close, and I can see the end of school for me and being able to be a teacher and have my own classroom and such. Yay!!!

We're still working on potty training Charlotte. We've figured out that she can hold it. And she can hold it lots. We had her diaperless all weekend pretty much (She wore a diaper at naptime and when we went to church Saturday night, and then during bedtimes, and she only peed in the toilet twice with no accidents. Boy can that girl hold it! Ugh! But we're getting somewhere because she did pee in the potty twice. Yay!!!

That's about all that's new here, I just wanted to check in and say Hi! We're all doing well and life is busy as we know it. I'll write again soon.

Heidi

Busy Bees

2008-06-10T23:43:00.000-07:00

Even though my kids aren't in school, I'm finding that we are increasingly busy now that school is out. I have no idea how it's possible, but as evidenced by my lack of posting lately, we've been full of activities.

I registered for my classes in the last hour, for the fall semester. I will be taking 2 psychology classes (Psychology of Adolescence, and The Exceptional Child) and 4 education classes (2 Instructional Practices classes, one for math and one for reading, and a classroom management class, and a educational philosophy class). I'm actually really looking forward to it. It'll be nice to get classes that are beneficial to my degree and should be really interesting. I figured I should take the classroom management and instructional practices classes before I start substitute teaching in the spring. Perhaps it'll help me be a better substitute teacher, so that I won't have those nightmare classes.

Chris has changed his schedule around a bit. Since many of the guys at the school district wanted to work in the mornings, Chris had to go along with it. They wouldn't let him and another guy work their normal shift. So he is working from 6:00 - 2:30 at the school then from 3:00 - about 7:00 at A-1. It means that he is home earlier, but he's gone all day, without a break in between like he had been getting. About the time we get used to this new schedule he's going to have to go back when school starts again to the working evenings for the school and not getting home until 10:30. We'll figure it out though.

Charlotte's birthday is Saturday. I can't believe that 3 years ago was my baby shower and little did I know that my daughter would be here 3 days later. I've been thinking hard about those hours, days and weeks shortly after her birth, and how hard they were, going back and forth to Sacramento daily, and sometimes a couple times per day. (Thank God gas was cheaper then!) I knew she was in the best place she could be, but it was so unnatural to have a baby and have to leave her behind while you went home. I remember crying the entire way home from Sacramento, and those difficult rides to and from. I am so thankful for the people who were able to help drive back and forth and came to visit during that time. You truly were a blessing to us, more than you know. I am so thankful that the Lord gave us Kerri as Charlotte's nurse the night she was born. My best friend Kati's sister had just recently gotten a job in the NICU at Mercy San Juan, and little did we know that she would be the one who would welcome and hold Charlotte before we would. Thank you Lord that your hand was in that even when we were sure we wouldn't need the NICU, or see Kerri. Lots of memories, of great nurses, laughs at our sweet girl and the joy she brought the nurses, lots of tears shed each time I thought too much or had to leave, worries that something would go wrong, and excitement for each hurdle she cleared. I'm so proud of her each day, and amazed at how she is continuing to defy the "premature baby" status that was given to her because she was born early. I'm happy to report that she's meeting and exceeding the developmental goals for children her age, and though she may be short (hello? Seen her mommy?), she's on track physically as well. Take that brain bleed! You may have scared me 2 days after she was born, but you don't scare me now! My God is bigger! Thank you Lord for your wisdom and guidance as I raise this daughter you've given me. I pray that you will continue to guide me and give me patience as she is strong willed and stubborn. Thank you for the spunk and life you've given her spirit and may she take those gifts you've given her and use them for Your glory!

Joshua is starting to talk more and more. He's got 6 official teeth now! Woo!!! He's almost 18 months old already! Where'd my baby go? He's rough and tumble, full of life, all boy, and such a sweet cuddler when he's tired. He gives me big hugs, tells me he loves me and loves to give slobbery kisses. He knows what he wants, and will do what he can to get it, whether charm the pants off of you, or will throw a full on throw himself on the ground temper tantrum.

That's about all from this end. I'll post more later. We finally got the living room and dining room painted. So I'll try and get pictures tomorrow. I know I've been promising them forever, perhaps I'll do it this time :P

Heidi

It's been nearly forever.

2008-05-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

So it's been nearly forever since I last updated everyone on how things are going in our lives. So here's some updates.

The House: I had grand plans this past weekend to get lots and lots done around the house. Unfortunately God had a different plan and gave us a BEAUTIFUL weekend so I didn't want to get any housework done. We did finish the bathroom (okay, so we still need to caulk the trim and touch up the ceiling). So I can put a done stamp on that one. I've painted the trim in the dining room, but that's about it as far as work on the house goes. I'm frustrated that it's taking so long, but at the same time I want to spend time with my husband when he's home that is not painting or working on the house. Hmmm... guess I'll have to get over that one, or we're never going to get anything done on this place.

We got a kitten! She is super cute and her name is Lina. We have a sort of tradition in our family (thanks Joe!) to name our cats something that begins with the word cat. Joe began it all with Strophic (Catastrophic) and we continued it with Maran (Catamaran) who now lives with my parents, and now we've continued the journey with Lina (Catalina). I was also thinking Clysmic (cataclysmic... you get the idea) but couldn't see my self yelling it when she did something bad. Lina just sounds so much more girly and somewhat normal. (Why am I worried about normal cat names?) I'll post pictures of her one of these days. She's quite the fluffball.

Charlotte: Charlotte will be three in three weeks. She is talking so much more and you can actually understand a lot more now. I"m continually amazed that God is so gracious, and despite her difficult beginning, he has blessed us with a perfectly normal child who is so full of life and spunk. Truly amazing to think of her journey into the world so early and how she struggled for breath on her first days here, now we can't get her to sit down for five minutes. I'm continually humbled by it all.

Joshua: Joshua is working on catching up with his big sister in everything she does. He's so confident and fearless. He was standing on the top of the stepladder we have (it's only two steps, quit freaking out!) and trying to jump up and down. When I told him to get down because he may fall he shook his head at me and told me no! Then a bit later he came out of the hallway with Lina in arms upside down and being squished. Poor kitty. (I'm waiting for Charlotte to put her in the baby stroller and take her "baby" for a walk.) He cracks me up, and is so fond of eating it's not funny. Don't mess with that boy and his food.

Chris: works so hard for this family. I am so proud of him and all that he does. I am so fortunate that he is willing to work so hard for me to be able to go to school and stay home. I keep reminding myself that I need to work hard to make him proud and so that I can get finished so that he can stay home more. After I get my substitute credential, he can quit working for A-1 in the mornings to stay home with the kids while I'm working. Thank you Chris for being the Godly man that you are and I pray that you will be blessed by Him in your work. He has also taken on repairing computers lately. Last year (in 2007) I bought my laptop with our tax return, with the promise that Chris could build his the following year. So all year, he spent hours (and I do mean hours) researching parts and products and all the stuff that goes with it. Finally, we got our tax return this year and he built his computer. I was so looking forward to not having to hear about this part or that program. While we were waiting for it to ship and arrive my laptop died, and after figuring out that he couldn't fix it (it was a motherboard problem under warranty and recall) he sent it out for repair. Fast forward a month or so, laptop is back, new computer is put together and my laptop cord won't work anymore. Here comes the part research again. So part ordered, laptop fixed. Fast forward about another month or so and my parents computer dies. Meanwhile Chris has been working with my dad on several of his computer projects, and casually mentions to my parents that he could build them a better computer than they could get from Wal-Mart for about the same price. So here goes the research again... ugh! Anyway, now that's been bought, put together and he's also worked on Joe's computer and is currently sitting next to me trying to put my laptop together again. (He took it apart about two weeks ago because the cord stopped working again... and now he can't remember for sure how it goes back together :P LOL)

My turn? I finished up the spring semester with Liberty. I registered for some summer classes online and a tv class at Yuba College (so much cheaper than LU, when I don't have financial aid to pay for the classes). I am enjoying a few weeks off between them and yet I'm excited to get back so that I can work some more on getting it all done. I applied for a position with Sutter County Schools last week. There are two part time positions open that have flexible schedules (they're only 10 and 12.5 hours per week) and I hope to hear from them soon. I am no longer watching the Lee kids in the mornings which has been nice to only have my two kids, but it is kind of stressful financially. I am confident though that God won't leave us stranded financially. He has blessed us so much with this house and the things we have to take them away. (Not that he couldn't if it was his plan).
Now that I've written a novel, I'm going to close this post. I will post pictures of the new kitty this week (hopefully) and will write more later.

God Bless!

2008-05-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Not much to report, we're slowly getting a little more settled in each and every day. We're almost done with the bathroom (just need another coat of paint and trim work). I can't wait to be able to put a done stamp (even if it is just a virtual one) on one of the projects around here.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Mine was nice. I got to spend time with the family and the kids were in a really good mood for most of the day. (yeah!) We got our rebate check from the IRS on Friday, then Saturday we got our deposit back from the apartment, so we were able to get a desk for my laptop for the playroom (so that Joshua doesn't keep throwing it off the couch, damaging it even more), a new office chair for both of us, and a couple other little things, as well as do some general shopping, fill up my gas tank, and put some money aside for savings. Plus we still have quite a bit to fund all the stuff in June (birthdays, father's day, etc.) Overall it was a really nice weekend, and we got quite a bit done too.

Not much new to report other than that, Joshua has been diagnosed with the early stages of asthma (his doctor doesn't want to call it that yet because he's so young, we'll see if he grows out of this "reactive airway" issue that he's been having) until then, he's on a nebulizer with one medicine twice daily, and another every 4-6 hours as needed. Plus he gave him claritin to help clear him up and a nasal spray as well. Poor little guy. I feel so bad for him when he gets upset and gets into one of his coughing fits. I know how he feels and it's miserable.

Charlotte is getting smarter and more aware every day. I'm so proud of all that she's learning. She can almost get herself completely dressed (we're working on it) and is getting a little closer to potty training. I think we're going to start really working with her on it soon though. Fun! I'm looking for princess underwear for her, (I've found some, they just didn't have her size), since she likes Cinderella so much I figured that may push her to wear her Cinderella big girl underwear.

That's about all from here. Have a great week! I'll write again when I have more news to share, or I think it's been too long since I wrote last!

News from the Homefront:

2008-05-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

What a weird week and a half we've had. It's just been busy and different things have happened. Friday afternoon while at Wal-Mart as I was backing out of my parking spot, some girl hit my car, so I've had to deal with that. There's not a lot of damage, mostly just a couple scratches on mine and she broke her taillight and has a dent and some scratches in her bumper. Poor girl was scared to death though, then it really didn't help that I had the kids with me in the car. Poor thing almost passed out when I opened up the back van doors to check on the kids. Everyone is fine, but now it's just the pain of dealing with it. Oops, I was supposed to go get it looked at today and forgot... maybe later if I get myself and the kids together in the next hour.

I've had a tooth bothering me for a couple weeks now, but being that I don't have insurance I thought it would go away, well, since it didn't I needed to get it taken care of, so 4 1/2 hours later, almost 300 dollars broke-r, I'm now one tooth less. That's a whole nother story that I'll go into later if you ask about it. Pretty frustrating to have an appointment at 12:45 and not be out of the office until 5:15. Ugh.

I did find out on Monday that I passed my CBEST test. So, as long as I continue to pass all of my classes, I should be able to start substitute teaching next spring. They scale the scores from a 20 - 80 and I scored 70 in both my reading and math and 75 in my writing. I'm pretty proud of myself for that. Not that it was a hard test, but just getting through it the first try and not having to re-do any of it is nice.

Joshua has taken to getting up before the sun recently. I have no idea why he wants up at 6 or 6:30, but he's decided that's his new wake up time. Any suggestions on how to get him to sleep longer? It's difficult to let the other kids sleep when he wants to trample over them and play. Not to mention I'd still like to sleep at that hour.

Monday morning our friends Karyn and Rich finalized the adoption of their sweet little boy Zack. We're so excited for them, and sad that we couldn't have been there to watch, but they know our prayers were with them as they have been all along. Congrats again guys!

We finally finished painting the bath part of the bathroom. I really like it. It's a milk-chocolate brown color (kind of) with white trim. I really like it and I'm excited to see progress in the house. Painting stinks, but it's nice when it's all done. We'll start on the other portion of the bathroom and hopefully get it done this weekend. I'd like to have one room done.

Saturday we help my parents move. I'm so excited for them! Yay for bigger spaces! That's about all for here, I'll write more later. I'm going to go take pictures of the bathroom and I'll post them in a bit.

We're HOME!!!

2008-04-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

We moved on Saturday, and are adjusting to life in our new place. I'm so excited and wanted to share pictures with you all, ignore the mess, and keep in mind we still need to paint and such. It's just the inside for tonight, I'll try and make it out tomorrow to get pictures of the house itself and the yard. The Playroom The Playroom opposite corner Washing Machine/Pantry/Hot Water Heater Kitchen from laundry room
Breakfast nook?/More storage since there's not much cabinet space in the kitchen
New appliances! I love having a gas stove!
Our Dining Room. The spot on the wall is the color of paint that we're painting the dining room/living area.
Living room from the hall looking South-East
Living Room from the dining room

I will get pictures of the kids' rooms tomorrow once they are awake. The kids are loving all the space, and since we haven't put anything on the walls yet (we have to paint first) and there is hardwood floors throughout they love the echo. Joshua loves to walk throughout the house yelling various types of ooh, and aah, and uh, just to hear himself echo. He does it anytime we go into a bathroom also. Charlotte and Brianna love to run throughout the house screaming because they have the room and can. I'm working on putting an end to that real quick though to save my own sanity. I love having them in separate bedrooms, though I think they miss having eachother in their room to entertain themselves before I get up and get them out of bed. We don't have much in their bedrooms right now as we have yet to decorate. It all will come in time.

We have been so blessed to have been provided this house to take care of. I spoke with the owner's daughter-in-law today and she just asks that we treat it like it's our own. I guaranteed her that we would and thanked her again for trusting us with it. I am amazed at how God worked through my frustration at not getting a different house to provide us with this place. It's another reminder that though we get frustrated when things don't go the way we think they should and we whine and complain, God really has our best interest in mind and has something better for us once we give ourselves over to his plan.

We're going to have a painting party after the first of the month, so get on your grubby clothes and come join us! We have a lot of house to paint, and the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can have a party! We'll probably do it the weekend of the 3/4th (if my parents don't move that weekend!), so mark your calendars!

Speaking of my parents moving, I'm so excited to tell everyone that they've bought a new place! It's in the same park as they were in before, but they are moving a few streets over and getting twice the space! Talk about spreading out! They've got central heat and air now and are going to take the extra fridge we had (we bought one before we knew we were moving to a place that already had one!) and a dishwasher! Talk about moving up in the world! I'm so proud of them, and hope that they enjoy it half as much as we are enjoying ours!

That's all for now! I'll post in the next couple of days more pictures as we get more settled and it's daylight for outside pictures!

Testing, Moving, Working, & Playing

2008-04-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

My CBEST test on Saturday went well. I think I did fine on it, I'm not worried about it too much. I will be able to access my score online on the 28th, then will get my official score after that. There wasn't anything on the test that I didn't really know or couldn't work out. So now it's just a waiting game for the results.
We're moving this weekend, and my house is like 3/4 packed. We've gotten to the "miscellaneous" boxes that really don't go with anything, and some things we can't pack because we're not sure if we'll use them between now and then. As we use stuff and know we won't need it again I'll pack it at that point. We're recruiting help for Saturday, so if you are available for help we'd appreciate it. We're going to pick up the truck at 7 a.m. and then we'll start packing it after it gets here. The more help we can get the faster it will go! I also would like to get someone to watch the kiddos for me so that I don't have to worry about where they are and having to wrangle them as well.
Chris' work is going well. He seems to really enjoy it. I hear all kinds of stories all the time about the guys at work and the pranks they pull on eachother, the fits they throw about "their" things, and so on. The kids and I try to go at least once per week to have dinner with Chris, and I think Chris' co-workers really like seeing us. Charlotte has befriended Randy who seems to get a kick out of her. She drew him a picture the other night. They crack up at Joshua's eating habits, and the amount that he eats. The other day he ate 3 cupcakes at a birthday party we were at. He had his own, shared mine (read: ate most of mine), then went outside and snagged a cupcake from a friend's daughter, who complained loudly, but it was too late, he'd already eaten half of it. The boy is quick, and don't mess with him and his food.
We're so excited about the backyard at the new house. We're looking at getting a swingset/jungle gym thing for it for Charlotte's birthday. We'll see though, they're pretty expensive. Maybe we'll get a few people to chip in to help with that gift instead of getting lots of little toys. We'll see.
I hope that everyone had a good weekend. God Bless!

Sorry it's been so long...

2008-03-31T08:31:00.000-07:00

I just realized I haven't blogged in like two weeks. With getting ready for the trip and then just getting home from the trip my mind has been elsewhere.

The trip went well, the kids did great on the drive considering they were stuck in their carseats for 12 hours. We were glad to see everyone (with the exception of Chris' sister Colleen, who unfortunately refused to see us but that's a whole nother story), and meet Jason and Alex. My computer died just as we pulled into Salt Lake City, so I didn't have my own computer for doing homework on, but there are 3 others that I could've used. It turns out we think my hard drive died, but we're still able to get things off of it, so we're not sure. Anyway, a new hard drive and a re-install of everything and I'm back as good as new. Chris took out his golf clubs and was able to go golfing with the guys in the family which he enjoyed, and now his dad and brother in laws all are starting up golfing.

We were able to get pictures of all the grandkids, the idea was to get all four of them together in one picture, but since Damion wasn't feeling well, and therefore wasn't cooperating we had to settle for individual pictures and then make a collage of all four of them on the same page. The night before we came home was the worst. After pictures and lunch I took the kids back to the house to get a nap in, and Charlotte got whatever bug Damion had and was throwing up all afternoon, evening, and most of the night. I think we finally got to sleep sometime after 1:00 only to be up 4 hours later to leave to come home. Chris also got some sort of a stomach bug (different than the kids) at the same time, so I was a little panicked as to how we were going to make a journey of 700 miles stopping at every bathroom without going insane. Fortunately though stomachs cleared up and we were able to make it back without any problems on that end.

Charlotte and Joshua - we make pretty cute kids!

Charlotte is so photogenic. Pretty girl.

Joshua "honking" the invisible horn.

This is my favorite. Charlotte was playing peek a boo and this got snapped at the right moment.

Damion in my cousin Sammy's lap. He wanted nothing to do with his mom, and the only way we could get him to sit for even a half a second (even mid-scream) was if Sammy sat down with him.

This is the new baby, Stormie Rain Mitchell. She is 4 weeks old now, and is a whopping 6 pounds 6 ounces. I can't remember Char ever being that tiny, though I know she was a pound less than that at one point.

We're looking forward to going out in September again. SuAnne (the 2nd oldest) is getting married and I'm the Matron of Honor in the wedding. So I'll take the kids out (by airplane) the week before the wedding, and then Chris can come out a few days later and not take off so much time from work. It will be fun to see how much Stormie has grown in almost 6 months and to have all the grandkids together again to play with eachother more. But for now it's good to be home and sleeping in our own beds without the kids in the same room.

Now we're packing and getting ready to move. We move in less than 3 weeks and we have a lot to do. The kids enjoyed having a big backyard to play in out in Utah so I know they're going to enjoy having the same at the new house. I'm excited to be able to have people over and have room for everyone.

We went Yard Sale-ing this weekend and got two really good deals. We bought a real wood dresser with attached mirror for 15 dollars, then later found a twin size bed frame, headboard and footboard for 10 dollars. We figured that we'd found our share of good bargains for the day and went to the home show, which was not as impressive as I'd hoped it would be. I think being renters is part of that disappointment, but there just wasn't a lot that interested me this year there. Bummer.

So that's about all of the news from this end. I'll throw a few pictures in from our trip to share.

Excitement!

2008-03-18T20:51:00.001-07:00

Our house is abuzz this week. It has been a great week and it's only Tuesday! First, as you know we are getting ready to drive to Utah, on what we originally thought was going to be Friday night, but it turns out that we are able to leave on Thursday night instead. I am excited that we will be able to spend another day there with the family and getting to see everyone will be very nice. I'm really looking forward to the trip, though not necessarily the drive. If you have a chance to send up a prayer for us between now and then, we'd appreciate it. Specifically please be praying for the drive to go safely as we'll be leaving Thursday night after Chris gets off of work, and driving through the night. I plan on napping that afternoon when the kids are napping, and sending them to bed early so that I can get a few hours sleep before Chris gets home, then I will drive the first part of our journey while Chris sleeps and then he can take over after a few hours sleep. I'm sure once we get there we'll probably crash for a few hours, letting the kids play with the family there, then we'll be refreshed and ready to go after that.

We also found out this morning that we did get the house on Pershing. I am so grateful to a friend of mine from our MOPS group that encouraged me to call the lady on the house, even though it wasn't going to be ready until the 20th of April. We are moving into a 3 bedroom 2 bath house, with about a 1/4 acre back yard. The house is mostly hard wood floors, with the exception of the kitchen, bath and family room. There is some cosmetic work to be done, it needs painting and work done in the bathroom (it's fully livable) but we are being allowed to paint it whatever colors/decor we want (with the exception of black) and she is paying for the cost of materials. She has also said that we will work something out in regards to the cost of labor, which probably means taking the cost off of our rent. We're across the street from a peach orchard, and allowed to have as many peaches as we want when they come in bloom. I can't wait as peaches are my favorite fruit. I think once I start seeing them bloom and produce fruit I'll be waiting with baited breath. The house has a brand new fridge, stove, and sink in the kitchen, and a new toilet and sink in the bathroom. That kinda stinks because we just bought a fridge thinking we'd need one in a house that we were going to rent, so we're going to sell ours. We have a 6 month used stainless steel side by side fridge for sale now if anybody knows someone who needs one. We bought it off of Craigslist from someone who used it to decorate houses she was selling, and didn't have any room for it. She had only used it for about 6 months, and most of that was light use just for the contractors/people working on the houses to put their lunches in. I'm sooo excited and can't wait. The owners of the house are also planning on selling the house in the next few years, which is about the same time we're planning on buying, and they're willing to do a lease option with us as well if we are interested in that as the time goes on. It is a little bit of a jump in price, so we are having to buckle down our finances a bit more, but we're also going through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, which is teaching us how to better manage our money, so I think we can do it!

On the Financial Peace University thing, I highly recommend it to anyone! I've learned so much in the past three weeks, and am looking forward to the next 10 to get on top of our money management issues and start saving for retirement/college for the kids. I'm excited that we're paying off bills that we haven't been able to in the past, and we're looking forward to getting completely debt free! I want to be able to call into his radio show and yell, "I'm COMPLETELY debt free!!!!" and retire comfortably knowing that my children will have a secure financial future and not have to worry about them getting caught in the same trap that we've been caught in so many times before and have struggled to get out of. It has also strengthened our communication over money. Dave's approach is simple, easy to understand, and if you use the tools he gives you, it works. I've heard nothing but good things about the program in general and am completely satisfied with what I've seen so far. I hope that you will consider it if this is an issue in your life, it's changing ours, and has changed hundreds of others!

"Getting It"

2008-03-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

I've sat down four times over the last two days trying to come up with something that wasn't the same old stuff to write about. Nothing came to me until I was visiting a friend's blog tonight and came across this video. Grab a tissue people, this is inspiring to me.

How does a 13 year old know this?!? After Todd's message this past Sunday at church when he spoke about his own 6 year old hearing from God and now this video I'm amazed that these children "get it" and yet it is so hard sometimes for myself and the adults around me to do the same thing. Can it be as simple as just listening with a childlike faith? I want that kind of trust and belief, yet I struggle so much sometimes and think I'm hearing when in fact I'm making my own decisions and not truly listening to His will in my life. Perhaps that's why we haven't moved yet. I'm making up His will rather than "Letting go and Letting God!" That's so hard to do though when we're programmed and marketed to about leading your own life, making your own decisions, having it all and more, and the "Me First" attitude that is pervading our culture. Why is it that Satan uses the same old tired tricks over and over again and we don't learn? We still fall for them.

Thank you Lord for your message to me tonight. I pray that I will "get it" like this young man did when he went out to put that calf down. Please open my ears so that I may hear You and know what it is You want for me. Amen.

A Deep Breath

2008-03-07T15:47:00.000-08:00

I can now breathe a big breath again. I've been swamped this week with school, MOPS, Financial Peace University, and two kids, a husband and house hunting. I'm so glad the week is over. I've finished with my finals in three classes, and only have 1 class for the next couple of weeks. I start 2 more classes on the 17th, so I'll have homework over vacation, but it shouldn't be too bad. I'm hoping to finish up the first week before we leave and then work on the second week after I get back. (At least that's my hope.)

Here's the status on the house hunt for those of you following it. We moved our 30 day notice back until the 31st of March, so we have another few weeks. Between the theater next week, then being gone the following week it was too much to try and do it all before we left, plus we had not found a place that fit our needs after being rejected by the one on University. I mentioned our search to a friend at the MOPS meeting on Tuesday and she called me after looking on Craigslist and encouraged me to call on one of the postings. There is a 3 bedroom house for rent that is about 1500 square feet bigger than what we're in now, that is coming up for rent the middle of April. The owner knows about our credit issues and is willing to work with us on that. She is moving to Virginia and wants someone who can take care of the house for her without needing a property management company or having to call someone to fix everything. She is willing to pay for all of the materials for anything that needs to be fixed and will take some off the rent for the labor. We go look at it on Sunday evening, so we'll know more then what needs to be fixed/worked on. I'm excited and a bit petrified because of our previous experience. So we may need to extend our lease here a bit longer if this goes through.

We're getting very excited about our trip coming up. I don't know how much Charlotte understands about the trip, but we're talking about it more and more often, so we'll see how it goes. Joshua is beginning to have issues in his carseat, he yells at me every time I put him in it, but then he's usually okay, so hopefully he'll be okay in the car that whole way. Poor kids... we'll have to let them out at a stop or two if they're awake. I don't know if I mentioned in the last blog or not, but Sandra had her baby at the very end of February, so we have a new niece waiting for us. I can't wait to get my hands on her and love the heck out of both her and her brother. I've been sewing up a storm for Stormie (hehehe...) and need to figure out something for Damien so he doesn't feel neglected. Maybe I'll embroider some fabric panels and make him some balls?!? Or... hmm... I'll figure something out.

Other than that, not much going on around here. I'm off to go jump in the shower so that the kids and I can go do something tonight. We'll go take dinner to daddy tonight thengo figure something out for us to do.
Be Blessed!

Starting and Stopping

2008-03-03T18:42:00.000-08:00

It seems that God is putting us in transition for a few things right now. I am not dealing well with it at all. I am feeling a bit stressed out about it all, and though I know that He has us in mind, it's hard not to get what I want.

We heard back this morning from Trident Property management, it seems that despite jumping through all of the hoops that we did, the owner of the property we were looking at decided that they weren't comfortable renting it to us. I was pretty bummed out about it, and spent the morning driving to all of the other property management places in the area to get their listings, checking the Appeal and Craigslist for a new place. After much thought, and prayer over the last few days we've kind of decided that maybe right now isn't the time for us to move, and we're going to hold off until at least after we get back from Utah. We would have to find a place by this weekend and move this weekend because we have plans next Saturday and are supposed to be out of here by the 16th. So I'll call down to the office tomorrow (or just walk down there) and cancel our 30 day notice for now. I had hoped that it was the right time, but with all of the signs that seem to be pointing to us staying here I think we need to trust that God doesn't want us to go anywhere yet. That's been a hard pill to swallow, but after the fiasco last year with the move before we got to this apartment, I don't want to go somewhere that He doesn't want me to go again. We are going to keep looking, but not with such fervor. We are going to go see a property tomorrow, but I think if we don't like it we're going to back off for awhile. There is another property that I saw this morning from the outside, but it's not available to be shown until later this week. We'll see how it goes between now and then if I want to see another. I sometimes wish that we could just buy a house instead of this darn rental stuff. But alas, our credit is so shot that until we get it back in track and get some money saved up that's just not going to happen. Plus we're still waiting for prices to keep coming down before we're ready to commit to something. We're thinking that when I get my degree and into at least my credential program before that happens. Probably another year and a half or so. I'm hoping by late next year. We'll see though.
I'm also in transition with my classes. I am finishing up three classes this week, and have until the 17th before I start my two new ones. In the meantime I do have one class that overlaps, so I'll take this time to focus on it, and my family and other obligations I have. By now I have almost enough credits to get my A.S. degree in general education, but I would have to pay 100 dollars for it and I'm just not sure that it's worth that. It's not like it will help me in my job once I get my Bachelor's. Besides, it's more or less a piece of paper that says that I've completed 60 credits. I don't think I need a $100 piece of paper to tell me what I already know. And it's not like my employers need it! They'd use it to color on! Pretty color mommy?!? Yes darling... my degree is pretty to color on! The good news is that I currently have 2 A's and 2 B's in my classes. I've finished one of my finals and am getting ready to finish up another class either tonight or tomorrow. The third class I have to take a final in doesn't allow me to take it until at least Thursday, so I'm studying for that one now.
That's it for now. I'll write more later when I have more to update.

Heidi

Life as we know it.

2008-02-24T22:48:00.000-08:00

Moving stinks! I will be so glad when we are in a house and unpacked. Now if only we knew where we were going to be. This is beginning to have undertones of last January, although I know at any time I can walk down to the manager's office and cancel my 30 day notice, so we won't be "homeless" like last year. We're still waiting to hear back on two houses we've applied for. I really don't think we got the one on Joseph since they were supposed to make a decision on Thursday and we haven't heard from them. The good news/and frustrating thing in some aspects is that they are still moving forward with our application at Trident for the house on University Avenue. Hopefully we hear back on it this week. I would venture to say we're about 60% packed, just waiting to hear when we get keys somewhere to finish and begin moving. I think we're going to start moving some of the stuff that's already packed first, then one weekend move the rest of it. We're supposed to be all out of here on the 16th of March. We'll see... please pray for us to hear back soon and that God would give us wisdom as to what to do/where to go next.

Charlotte has been better this weekend. Thank you all who are praying for us and specifically for her behavior. I pray that she continues to grow and mature through this "terrible" twos. I'm beginning to think that she's definitely one of those "strong-willed children". That red hair doesn't detract from that either. I'm learning tricks to help, and I find that if I stop what I'm doing which isn't always possible, and explain that it is not okay for her to throw a temper tantrum, and that I can't help her if I dont understand what she wants, it usually somewhat helps. That's not to say that she stops the fit, but rather there is a moment of quiet that my brain can function in. She's also learning that her bedroom is going to be her living room if she doesn't start communicating more effectively as we are sending her there a lot when she's inconsolable. We've taken all of the toys out of there and don't let her come out to the living room unless she stops crying. That's helping too.

Joshua got his first haircut today. He needed it! It was getting so long it was hanging in his eyes in the front, and over his ears on either side. He did really well and looks like such a big boy now that its done. The pictures didn't turn out great, but you get the idea.

Before...

Being such a big boy during his haircut:

And afterwards riding on the train with Charlotte (who needs her haircut too as you can tell by this picture, we were going to do it today, but it meant waiting another 20 minutes just to have hers done, and all I really want done on hers is her bangs.)

And a cute picture of Charlotte and Bri from last week:

Now Charlotte was leaning over a bit, but she really is that much shorter than Bri. She gets her lack of height from her mommy poor girl.

That's about all that's new from here, I hope everyone's weekend was great and you all stayed dry and warm. May our week be even better and may you all stay safe and healthy.

2008-02-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

Since I have no idea for a creative title for this I'll just write it without one!

So, Chris had Friday morning off of work at A-1 so we spent time looking for a new place to live. While our apartment is great, I'm itching to have a house, with a yard, and seprate bedrooms for the kids, so that hopefully they won't wake eachother up at 5:30 anymore. (We haven't slept past 7:00 in like a week and a half now, even though they were sick and still needed the sleep.) So we've been watching the paper and got the listings for all of the property management places in the the area, for 3 bedroom houses, and we think we've narrowed it down to two. We will go see them on Tuesday to see if we can figure out which we'd prefer. Hopefully we'll get our tax return on Friday and can put a deposit down. We've already given our 30 day notice here, and we have to be out of here by the 16th, so we're anxious to get out of here. We're starting to pack boxes and figure that once we find a place we'll start moving a little here and a little there and then one weekend we'll load all of the big stuff and then work here on cleaning and stuff. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I think I'm somewhat fearful because of the last time and all the stuff that happened. I know that it won't because we're not going to go somewhere that isn't ready, but I'm still a little nervous about it. It does help to know that I can walk down to the manager's office and cancel my notice at any time.
Saturday was awesome. My cousin came over and watched the kids for us so that Chris and I could go spend some time together with just the two of us. We haven't spent a whole day away since before Charlotte was born, nearly 3 years ago now. We went to breakfast, went shopping in Sacramento, went miniature golfing, followed by lunch and more shopping. Although, we really didn't spend much, we did look at options for dressers for the kids and such, but we really only bought some fabric, a pepper mill, a set of cutting boards, and a really cute "town" floor rug for the kids to drive their cars on and such. It was really nice to be able to just get out and do things without the kids throwing fits, crying and being a real pain because it was naptime. I think it was good for both of us, as we've been a little snippy with eachother and not really communicating well, and I think this helped. It was nice to sit down for a meal and focus on eachother rather than the kids and keeping the items on the table.
Today I woke up feeling kind of yucky. I think I'm getting the cold back that the kids passed to me a couple of weeks ago. I think they got it again and Chris got it and I'm hoping that I'm not coming down with it again. So we stayed home with the exception of running some errands this afternoon and grabbing 5 movies to watch in the next two days. We watched Elizabeth, Underdog is currently on, to be followed by The Game Plan, Becoming Jane and Mr. Woodcock (not necessarily in that order) sometime between now and Tuesday. Elizabeth was pretty good, we watched it with subtitles on, because it was a bit hard to understand/follow if they weren't on. Underdog was pretty cheesy, Chris enjoyed it though (it's almost over).
Tomorrow Chris and Papa Joe are going golfing in Arbuckle (I almost typed Aruba for some reason?). They have been looking forward to this trip for a few weeks now. Chris has been really funny, he got a set of left handed clubs (he's left handed) and found this course in Arbuckle and has been focused on that since then. Silly boy. So my mom and I decided that we are going to take the kids to Chico to visit with my Great Aunt Nadine and Uncle Bob. We haven't seen them since before Joshua was born, and it will be nice for them to see the kids. I pray that they will be in good moods, we're going to wake them up early so that they take a nap early and can last through the afternoon for a bit. (At least that's what my hope is.)
Hope all of your weekends went well. I will post more later.

Double Double...

2008-02-12T11:32:00.000-08:00

toil and trouble? No, but after a few days of high fevers, coughs, icky noses, green snot, and general crabbiness, the kids went to the doctor (Charlotte calls him Dr. Misameem, it's really Dr. Naseem) this morning and came out with a diagnoses of a double ear infection for Charlotte, and Joshua is working on one. So, we've got antibiotics, and we're resting more comfortably now with some Ibprofen. Actually, both kids are napping right now, which means I can actually get something done. I will have to admit that it's been kind of nice that Charlotte has been losing her voice the last couple days. It's been a lot quieter around here, and her tantrums are much less irritating, although they are more frequent, simply because she doesn't feel good.
School is going well, I'm over halfway done with my current course load. I have 3 1/2 weeks left for the current classes, then I'll start 2 more. I have 2 "A's" and 2 "B's" currently, but that may change as there's quite a bit out that still needs to be graded. We'll see how it goes. I actually have a 99% in my math class. Woo! And I'm 2 weeks ahead of the rest of the class.
Joshua has figured out blowing kisses, so now he blows kisses to everyone. It's super cute because he uses both hands. He's also figured out if he puts his hand in front of his mouth and does the "indian noise" that it makes mommy and sister laugh, so he does that quite a bit now. And he's started dancing. It is HILARIOUS, because he just shakes his head in chicken form, only side to side rather than front to back. If you don't get what I mean, try and keep your chin and forehead parallel and move your head side to side. Haha!! I bet you tried that didn't you?!? I can just picture all of you out there trying that! Thanks for the chuckle!
Anyway, that's about it around here... I'll post more later. Maybe I'll take a picture or two of the sick kids so you can all see how sweet they are when they're sick. I hope this finds everyone well and happy. Valentine's Day is Thursday, but there's no reason you can't spoil those who you love every day of the year. God Bless!

Disappointed

2008-02-07T00:54:00.000-08:00

I'm finding myself disappointed tonight. Disappointed in people. I hate the fact that I've been disappointed by people, and that I am in fact disappointed in people. Over the last few weeks there has been several occasions where I've been disappointed by someone. Not the same someone each time, but the fact remains that I've been let down by people. Why does God allow us to experience disappointment? Or is it rather that our hope in people and their nature don't coincide with eachother. I guess the lesson I'm learning is to be who I say I am, or at least strive to be in every sense of the word, and to watch what I say and/or think about.
Lord, Thank You for being there when we need you. Thank you for allowing relationships and the ability to learn from eachother's strengths and weaknesses. Please forgive me for the unkind thoughts and words I've had lately. Please help me to have patience and forgiveness with those that have hurt me. Help me to guard my heart against those who wether knowingly or not, damage it. Help me to trust in people again and know that You have our ultimate plan in mind, and that You know where each one of us is at any point in our lives. That you seek to reach out and comfort us where we are, I thank you for. Please bless those who read this and those who don't, but are affected by it in some way or another. Amen.
Thanks for reading, and I hope that you know that you are loved and cared for by a God who knows where you are and cares deeply for you. I understand that my blogs might put some people off because they are too "religious" or what not, but I just put out what my thoughts are, and am finding this a place to be totally honest and get things out there. Please know that it is not my intention to upset or offend, but rather to maybe inspire or ignite a flame in whoever reads this. Anyway, thanks for reading and God Bless!

Seeing Less of Me...

2008-02-03T13:03:00.000-08:00

No, not in the form of my blog or online or anything like that, I mean physically... and no, I am not turning into a hermit, I mean size wise. I've made a decision to go back to Weight Watchers and to turn my health around. I'm tired of feeling tired and fat, and overall yucky. So, I signed up for a monthly pass for Weight Watchers, and since Chris is home on the weekends now and I don't have to haul the kids with me to a meeting, I can go on Saturday mornings for a weigh in and fun-filled meeting, and hopefully do something different with my lifestyle. Chris has decided he's cutting out sugar as part of his "diet", but I think we're going to have to discuss that, I'm not sure it's the best way to go, when we just went shopping and he bought cheese filled bratwurst. (Isn't this like drinking diet soda with your extra large french fries?)

Other than that, it's pretty much life as usual around here, school is in full swing again, I got my issues worked out with my math instructor (until I find the next problems), I don't think I'm going to be able to take the summer classes like I thought I was, which means that my timetable for getting my sub credential and my BA will all be pushed back. The reason? We can't afford it. I'm only allowed so much to come from my student loans each year, and I've maxed that out for these two semesters. I can get outside loans to pay for it, but our credit is such that I don't think we'd be approved. So, I've pretty much come to the conclusion that unless 6 grand that isn't accounted for elsewhere, falls into our laps, I'm taking the summer off. I did schedule my CBEST test for April 12th, and am getting ready to take that. It is one of the first hurdles in getting your teaching credential. I have to pass it to go anywhere from here. So, lots of extra studying will be happening over the next 2 1/2 months, on top of my regular schoolwork.

Charlotte and Joshua are as crazy as ever. Josh has taken to throwing tantrums already when he doesn't get his way, and boy are they dramatic. He's ready for the stage anytime now. He was sitting on the floor this morning and Chris didn't pick him up when Joshua wanted to be picked up so he folded himself in half, laid his head on the floor and wailed. He looked crushed. Chris and I just laughed. He is too funny.

Charlotte is in the middle of the whining/fit throwing part of childhood. They say it gets better, and I can't wait. (Do I sound like a broken record? I think I've said all of this before) The other night we were at the store and she was driving me nuts, just whining this uncomprehendable whine for general no-goodness, the ENTIRE time. So we get out to the car and I'm loading her into the car, she stops, looks at me, says I love you this much with her arms spread wide. I chuckled and said I love you too, but not that much right now, and her reply was, "I love you more." Yes, honey, at this point in time that may be true... Then she looks at me and says "Sorry mommy. Hug?" How could I not melt? I hadn't even prompted her to apologize or anything. She is so smart sometimes it amazes me. It was like she knew what she was doing was frustrating me and was doing it anyway... stop that kid!!!

Oh, before I forget, there is a place at the bottom of each of my blogs that says something like 0 comments. If you click on that, you can leave a comment for us right there. I know that has been some of the feedback that I have gotten is that there is no way to leave feedback. Just wanted to let you all know it was there, and we love hearing from you.

Thanks for "listening" to me again. I will update soon.

Back to the middle of the night blogs...

2008-01-26T03:18:00.000-08:00

So I had to blog and get my frustration out... I just finished my test for my math class and found 2 errors in the stinking test. In one of my quizzes for the sections I found another error. I would think that a textbook and software package manufacturer would have correct answers to their own problems. I hate that I am a student who is finding these errors, and having to point them out to my instructor. Why am I paying 250 dollars for a class that I have to correct myself?!? Ugh! And this was only the first chapter. *sigh* maybe it will get better in other chapters?

Other than that not much going on around here, Joshua's appointment went well yesterday. He's 24.5 pounds (85th percentile for weight) and 30 1/4 inches long (66th percentile for height). The visiting doctor (his doc is out of town for the month) said he's "healthy, healthy, healthy!" He seems to be developmentally on track despite being a month early, and we go back again in 2 months for another checkup. Yay for big healthy babies!

Well, I'm going to go to bed now. I think I will be able to get some sleep, my eyelids are feeling droopy. Thanks for putting up with my rant, and caring enough to read this. Know that we love you and are praying for you.

Lord, thank You for the wisdom in my math class. Thank You for giving me the knowledge to receive a good score on my test despite the errors in the program. Please give the instructor wisdom and understanding, and help her to know where to turn to for answers on their end. Lord help my attitude towards this class improve, since I'm finding frustration with the problems I've experienced so far. Help me to continue to learn and grow from the experience. Thank You also for keeping us all safe despite the wet weather. Please continue to be with those that travel in it, and those who are away from here, I pray will be safe wherever they are. Thank You for Your love and patience when we continue to mess things up. I pray that everyone who reads this will blog will be blessed by it, even when I just come to vent. Thank You for friends and family that are willing to listen. In Jesus' holy name. Amen.

P.S. - Mom and Joe we're proud of you, and hope that you will join us either tonight or tomorrow for services. We love you! Thanks for making my day yesterday!

An Evening Blog

2008-01-23T20:36:00.000-08:00

An evening blog?!? What? Not a middle of the night, Heidi can't sleep so she's up blogging blog? What is the world coming to?

Okay, so I have to admit, I started this blog yesterday and hit a wall. I don't want to keep repeating the same things that I said in the last blogs over and over again. So I decided to sleep on it and that I would blog more today. So this morning I was working on my newsletter for MOPS and got busy doing something else (I think it was when TJ and Brianna left) and my computer went to sleep. I came back to it about 10 minutes later and tried to wake it up. Nothing happpened. So I tried again. Still nothing. So I went to restart it, and nothing. It would start to power up and the lights would come on the keyboard for a second, then go right back off. I had Chris look it over and he couldn't figure it out so I called tech support. They walked me through a couple things and then advised me of an apparent recall (we got a notice on it a few months ago, but I wasn't having any problems so we ignored the recall) where they have to replace the motherboard of the computer!!!! So I have to ship my computer to HP (they pay for the shipping) and have them replace the motherboard and ship it back to me. They say it's a 7-9 day turnaround (I am thinking this doesn't include shipping... I hope it does), so I won't have my computer for a couple weeks. In the meantime, my dad has been gracious enough to let me borrow his laptop, so that I can do my homework. We're going to try and fix the old HP (the desktop we had that we passed on to my dad before he bought his laptop) and then we can give him his laptop back. Am I making any sense? Anyway, to make a long story short... bye bye all the work I did on my newsletter (or a late newsletter), bye bye computer temporarily, hello different laptop... temporarily, and frustration for me. Ugh, oh well, at least I have something that I can do my schoolwork, e-mail, blogging on.
Joshua has a doctor's appointment tomorrow. It's just his 12 month physical, so nothing really to worry about, at least I hope not. I think he will get some shots, which generally don't make him happy, but he's not too bad. He's getting huge. I will update tomorrow on how big he is. I'm sure we'll all be blown away by how big he is. I think he's right around 25-26 pounds, and I have no idea how tall he is. Crazy boy is going to be a linebacker for sure!
Other than that, there's not much going on here. We're finally all over the cold thing that we kept sharing, so we're all feeling better, now let's hope it stays that way. We are looking forward to our time off in March, I told Kim this morning that I won't be here for those days, and Chris has them scheduled off through both jobs. Woo!!! Vacation is coming!
That's about it on this end. I hope this message finds everyone well and blessed. May the God of the universe shine brightly into your day tomorrow and throughout your weekend.

Gray Lodge Trip

2008-01-20T02:33:00.000-08:00

My parents invited us to go to Gray Lodge with them on Saturday so we piled into the car and headed out. While there weren't as many ducks as there were last year, we still had fun getting out in the fresh air and stretching our legs for awhile. Thought I'd share some more recent photos of the kids too.

Joshua sweeping my kitchen for me on Friday night... he pulled all of the stuff out of the drawer/side of the fridge and then was trying to sweep...

Hey dad! What's up?

Charlotte in the car on the way there.

My mom and Charlotte walking back from the lookout point.

A duck in the reeds. I figured you all wanted to see at least one duck from Greylodge.

Joshua poopled out on the way home. Sleep and food are two things that we don't mess with with this boy. He was so out of it. Poor little guy.

After our trip we came home and Great grandma and Great grandpa Ramey came over. The kids took a quick nap and then we headed for dinner. Dinner with the kids is always an experience. While they aren't bad, they're just messy and loud. It keeps us on our toes when we go out with them. We had fun though, and it was nice to see the grandparents. While the kids are slow to warm up sometimes, after awhile they love playing with grandma and grandpa, and we love getting to see them.

Blessed

2008-01-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

Tonight I'm feeling reflective. I think back to a year ago, Joshua was only a few weeks old, we had just moved into this apartment after staying with the Richardson's for nearly two weeks when the whole house thing fell through, and Chris was working full time at A-1. He had put in job applications at the school district, but nothing had come through. Within about a week after moving in he received a phone call from the district with an interview. That would turn into a job offer, Joshua would be hospitalized with a kidney infection, and he would start the new job in a span of about 3 weeks. I am feeling so blessed to look back and reflect on where we've come in the last year. Yeah, there have been tough times, and there have been times where we struggled, but overall we came through it, and now we are so much better off for it. We've seen lots of babies born this past year, (we're still waiting for one in Utah that still needs to stay put for a few more weeks), made new friends, strengthened and pruned some old relationships, changed jobs, worked more, worked less, laughed more, cried less (most of us anyway). I am so thankful for being a part of the things we shared with family and friends this past year. It continually amazes me what wonderful, caring, thoughtful, creative, passionate friends and family we share. I only hope that someday I will grow up and be more like each and every one of them.
Lord, thank you for placing the people in our path that you've placed. I pray that each of them would be blessed abundantly this year and that they would continue to thrive and seek You. Please let me be what you would want me to be for them, and let them trust that whatever they need from us, that we would be able to provide it. Thank You again for blessing us so richly.

I have no idea what to title this...

2008-01-13T02:00:00.000-08:00

So here I am with my middle of the night blogging again... I slept all day because of this silly cold, and now I can't sleep. Ugh... oh well. I got a lot of schoolwork done. I finished all of my tutorials, homework, and quizzes for my math class. So far.... 100% in that class! Woo! Now I just have to take the Chapter 1 test by the 3rd of February (yes... three weeks from now...) and I'll be set for the first module. However, I think I'm going to take it early if I can get the password from the instructor... that way I can focus on my other three classes for a few weeks. We'll see though...

I had to bow out of the church drama thing for the elementary kids that we were doing. We had been doing the skits for the kids church on a weekly basis, and between Chris working so much and I got a lot more schoolwork than I expected, plus the kids and everything else, something had to go. So we spoke with Pastor Tad (or Chris called him today while I was snoozing) and we apologized for not being able to do it. I knew I'd have a lot of work, but didn't know it would be this much... so for now we're taking a break. We'll see how it goes.

I think we've decided that we're going out to Utah in mid-late March to visit the family out there. I think we're going to leave the evening of the 21st and drive through the night so the kids will sleep. I think we'll stay until Wednesday and come back either Wednesday day, or Wednesday night. Haven't confirmed that yet though with Chris' work schedule. He did speak with his boss about taking the time off and he was told that he's the first person to ask, so all he has to do is fill out a time request form and if he has the time off available (his vacation time) then he can have the time. Soo.... it doesn't look like that will be too much of a problem. And since we'll have our tax return by then (hopefully) that shouldn't be a problem either! Wooo!!! A vacation? What is that? So... that would be....

Yay! That worked!

Well, I'm feeling a little sleepy now (it helps that I took some NyQuill)... My God bless you all as you go through the rest of your weekend and we will see you soon!

Life...or something like it....

2008-01-08T01:32:00.000-08:00

Ahhh... life has settled into its normal routine. I start back to school on Monday (my coursework is supposed to be up later today, and I can get started on it early, which I plan to do), Chris is back to regular schedule at work, the Lee kids are back in the mornings, and I'm back to being mommy for the vast majority of the day. I'm not complaining though, I love it. While I do miss Chris not being home as much, I love that I can stay home with the kids and finish my degree.

So I found out that I will be able to get my substitute credential in the fall sometime. I'm thinking it should be around October if my calculations are correct and I pass all of my classes (I'm not paying 250 dollars for a course I won't pass...). So that's exciting. Then Chris can stay home with the kids in the morning instead of working at A-1, and maybe do some schooling for himself, and we'd just need to find someone to sit with the kids for a couple hours for the time between when he goes to work at the district, and I would be home.) Yay! Plus the extra money would be great too. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hitting the books hard this semester and over the summer in preparation for that. I will take the CBEST (a test you have to take to prove you know the basics at a college level), probably in April, or June. I have to pass it before I can get my credential. I am going to get the study books and register for it once I get my student loan money processed and refunded to me. It's not expensive I just think that would be a great "educational expense" that I could use some of that money for.

That's about all that's new around here. I've become the publicity coordinator for our local MOPS group, which is proving to be fun and challenging at the same time. I'm currently brainstorming ideas to get our group out there and into the community and am also working on the February newsletter which I'm really excited about. Fun stuff. If you're in the Yuba Sutter area and want to join us please feel free to do so. It's aimed at mothers of children from birth to kindergarten and we'd love to have you join us.

Joshua almost has his top tooth or two teeth. They're soooo close. Every time I pick him up I'm checking to see if it's through yet. Teeth are a big deal in our house right now. Charlotte LOVES to brush her teeth. I'm considering hiding the toothbrushes so that she doesn't wear the enamel off hers by brushing them so much. Joshua is so stinking cute too. He is so friendly and a flirt. He cracks me up all the time with the looks he'll give me. He'll be getting into something and I'll tell him no, and he'll just look at me and grin this adorable grin that makes me want to scoop him up and give him some love. Not a good discipline idea though. I love this age.

Charlotte tests my patience on a daily basis. Sometimes an hourly basis. She is learning so much and so quickly. Her vocabulary is really coming along and she's starting to use more words than whines... that's been a frustrating process. Her current favorite (and my current despise) is huh. She says it for everything. Drives me bonkers, but I think it was my fault. I find myself saying it to her sometimes and know that's where she's picked it up. So we're working on ridding huh from our vocabulary in favor of other words. She's fascinated with stickers. I think she had a sticker of some sort (it could be a label off a banana, a stamp, an actual sticker, a piece of tape, a wrapper that has static cling, the list goes on and on) of "sticker" on some piece of her about 75 percent of the time she was awake today. I think I'm going to start using stickers as a potty incentive.

Anyway, that's about it from the home front. Thank you Lord for allowing me to learn and grow through my children and the things you place in my day. Thank you for giving me the strength to confront culture and confirm Christ's love and sacrifice to my family on a daily basis. Help me to continue to become more and more like you every day, and less like the world which seems to call louder and louder with each step I take. May I be a light unto the world, and a willing vessel to share what You would lead me to. Amen.

Welcome Home

2008-01-02T02:37:00.000-08:00

Welcome Home to everyone who reads this. May this be a welcoming haven for you to get some insight as to the comings and goings of the Ramey family. May you be Blessed for being here and may you someday (if not this day, this hour, this minute this second) dare to do something mighty. Look for updates on our family and the things happening in our lives as I get a chance to update. I'm going to shoot for once per week, but would like to update more often as time and circumstances allow. Thank you for being a part of our lives, and thank you for all that you are to us.