Oh, The Things They Say: Deep conversation over Mac and Cheese

While eating our Mac and Cheese for lunch today my Sarah asks in her loud voice, "Does God cry?"
Before I could answer her Caleb says, "If a shark bite him he would."
Sarah then continued, "Or an alogator got him, he would cry and be so sad."

Yeah, I laughed.

I then tried to explain that Jesus did cry. He cried with his friends when they were sad and he cried when he saw his people disobeying. And just like you cry when I ask you to do something you don't want to do, and you ask if your sister can do it for you, Jesus cried when he had to obey God and die on the cross for us so that we can live forever with him in heaven.

After a second of shoveling more noodles in their small mouths Caleb asks, "Does God eat?"

Oh how lucky can I be to have such deep thinkers among me.

I asked Caleb if he thought God ate and he told me, "yeah, mac and four cheeeese!"

I told him that I wasn't sure if God ate anything but a good guess would be, maybe. I told my children that God is going to prepare a banquet of food for us when we are in heaven.
Hannah asked me what a banquet was and I explained that it was a large party with food for a lot of people. So Sarah said we would have cake and Caleb added that we would have balloons too. :)

This is the reason why family should eat together!

Today

A day in the life...

I put braids in Hannah's hair. She like it, but told me Gail (a family friend that watches the kids) does it better.... yeah... I told Hannah if she let me practice more with her then I'd get better. Aside from that comment, we had a fun day together. Hannah helped me make lunch. Such a big girl. Won't be long till she is making lunch.


Hannah liked her hair so much she wanted a picture. She asked Joshua to take one of her and the other girls got in on it. My princess in dresses!


It was quite for awhile. No Abrianna talks. I asked the kids where she was and they didn't know. We all start calling for her. Loudly. I'm glad we didn't wake her. I found her in the school room with her pillow and blanket all nicely snuggled, asleep. I guess we had a fun day. :)

The People You Meet

It's funny how people you never thought you'd see again get put in your path... a little back story first.

In High School there was this cool guy pursuing a musical carrier. I thought he was talented. He put together a CD pretty much by himself. I don't know all the details on how he got it made, but I do know that he did all the instruments and vocals and he even wrote the songs... amazing, if you ask me! It was a 5 song CD that he was selling for like $5, if I remember correctly . I bought it for $10, telling him that it was worth it, and got him to even sign it for me. Yeah, I thought he was going to make it and was cashing in. You'll see it up on ebay soon... j/k!!! :) Anyway, after I graduated I saw him and his girl friend at my church a couple times and then at Subway after I got married and that was the last I saw of him.
One night (about 3 months ago) while up late and listening to music I wondered what ever happened to him. So I did what everyone does now when they loose contact with someone... google them! I put in the google bar... Bryce Avery, and would you believe he is out touring and has a new album and wow, he made it. (I say made it... I mean he's out living his dream, doing what he pursued back in high school, touring the country and even in the UK... he may not be touring by himself... I don't know who opens for him or if he opens for anyone..., I do know you can find his album in stores, and that tells me he made it!!) I got so excited for him and felt weird that I felt so excited for him. I mean it's not like we were buds or anything, just knew of each other in passing really. I found out he married his "high school sweet heart," and that is just great! What better way to spend your music carrier than with the girl that has supported you since the beginning!

Well tonight I ran into him at starbucks! Yeah, out of the blue. I'm leaving to get my kids from Awana at church and he and his wife were coming in. He saw me and said hi and even his wife recognized me. Pretty cool. He sees so many people now, knowing my face is recognizable, is kind of cool. I don't think he remembered my name... but not a big deal to me.
I told him the story I just told you and said that I wanted to give him a high five (and so I did). He asked about me and I told him who I married (He knew of Joshua too) and that we have 5 kids now and he and Tara were blown away. My guess is they haven't even thought about kids yet. I wish I had a picture of Bryce's face when I said we had 5! Saying they were blown away is an understatement. Then Tara gave me the best complement! She said I don't look like I've had 5 kids. Very kind of her! And yes, I don't look like it. :) (Just boosting my confidence here.)

Well that's it. My story for today. Go check out his web site and look him up on iTunes, myspace, and facebook. I like his style.

Wait A Minute: curiosity can bite

Curiosity can get you... it can find you, it can get you into trouble, you can seek it, it can sneak up on you, it can bite you... curiosity bit me.

I checked out Grey's Anatomy.
Back in the day of my TV watching I liked ER. I must say that this show would have me too.
But again, can anyone say adultery! Why is this so accepted? Why is it ok to sleep with someone other than the person you made a promise to? Who decided it was ok? Well, I know the answer... We live in a fallen world.

Did God not call us to a higher standard? Was it not Jesus that said if you even look at another women you have commented adultery? Is it not time that we take a stand? Are you willing to give up your entertainment to take that stand?

My sister has recently "gone green." She tells me how I should not be going to WalMart because their clothes are made in sweat shops and so on. A subject that admittedly I should explore and learn more about. However, why are we so quick to help the world yet forget to stand for what Christ calls us to stand for. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall Jesus calling the Jews to hug trees. Yes we are to be good stewards of what God has given us, but if you read the end of the story this world will be destroyed and a new one created. The signs of the end of time are signs of the world dieing. In the same light, the signs of the end times are that of more and more corrupted thinking. I guess it's priorities. Do you care more of the world we are not to be of, or the world we are to be in as light and salt?

I may have gotten bit by curiosity, but I can bite back. :) I'll stick to my pod casts of tech, nature, and biblical teaching.

Wait A Minute: What is tolerated in this generation will be accepted in the next.

Some of you may know that we have chosen to not have TV. (TV channels, we do watch movies) A decision Joshua and I made about 4 years ago. That's 4 years of not watching TV... That's 4 years of not knowing what people are talking about because TV consumes most conversations... That's 4 years of not being desensitized to what the world is passing off as OK.

I've recently got a membership to a ladies gym. At the gym there are TV's all around you. You can't escape them! :) Truly not caring about TV, I haven't watched anything while working out. However I forgot my iPod the other day. I needed some sort of entertainment after all, the gym had the news playing over the speakers. Who wants to run while a newscaster is telling us the world is doomed? So I plugged in some headphones and watched TV while I ran. Again, not very motivating...
My mom and sisters talk about LOST. They think this show is IT and have all sessions on DVD. I'm not sure how you can watch one episode and understand anything... it must be an acquired taste...? I may have watched 2 mins, and I was done. Flipping through the remaining channels I found nothing to watch and ran while being told the world was doomed...

My sister tells me of a show called Brothers and Sisters. She was over today and asked if I'd like to watch this show with her because she missed it. The TV stations now offer some of their shows online. So we kicked back while my children were watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
In my Friends watching days I may have enjoyed this show. I will admit, it was entertaining. But how worldly! My only guess is, most shows on now are so openly supportive of homosexuals, lies, adultery, deception, and... the list goes on. The show was produced so well, and I like the actors... I wish they lived lives that uplifted the audience.
I don't think that having made the choice to not watch TV puts me on a higher pedestal than anyone else... What not having TV does do: it keeps your head out of the sand! Before we turned off the TV I would have watched this show with no problem (well, the gay guys would have really bothered me). And now, having not been exposed to such out right unGodly behavior, I have no desire to watch more. My insides struggled as I watched the show. One side of me was entertained and the other was disgusted.
There have been days when I've missed Oprah, (not her advise... it was entertaining, new things, guest stars, you get the idea) or the alike shows, however having watched Brothers and Sisters has reaffirmed our decision to be in this world but not of it. (However, I'm a little curious of this Grey's Anatomy that I hear so much about, now that I know I can watch it...)

Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong,
and you do this to your brothers.
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral
nor the idolaters
nor adulterers
nor male prostitutes
nor homosexual offenders
nor thieves
nor the greedy
nor drunkards
nor slanderers
nor swindlers
will inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:8-10

Birthday: Abrianna is 2!

Birthday's again. We are rounding off the Crispin 7's birthday season. Sijah and I will be next month and then we take a 4m break. Abrianna had her day today.

I did something different, less messy. Birthday cookie. I made a very yummy peanut butter cookie with peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and pecans in it. Very good!


Abrianna blow out the candles before we were done singing to her so I lit them again and she grabbed the fire with her fingers... ouch. Out of 5 kids, she is the first one to touch fire... i think we're doing good. :)


I love how she holds her fingers to say she's two. Too cute! (Like that play on words?!)


Present time! After Christmas toys and... shh... bikes out back (we just need to get the two oldest bikes), I didn't want to spend much and she doesn't need much. Aunt Rachel gave her 2 dollars and I took that to the 99cent store and got her some princess items. (Thank you Aunt Rachel!)



If you know Abrianna, you know she loves shoes! These pretty slippers are perfect for her, and she loves them!



A fun family time!
Next up... my birthday!!!

Why would you work from home?

Joshua had some music on and Sijah fell asleep on his lap. Cute. What more can I say?

Just A Note: not a resolution

It's that time again, when people all over the US are making promises to their selves that they aren't going to keep. :)

I am not making a resolution here, but I am here to say that I plan to do more blogging of my thoughts this year. It's nice having a blog about our crazy family and the fun we have day in and day out... but It's time to step it up a notch. (We'll still have the pictures of our family, don't worry.) There have been plenty of times in the past that I've thought to blog about my thoughts and just haven't... I'm here to say I plan to.

So you'll be hearing from me soon... :)