Expectations for 2009

I don't know about you, but I am really excited for 2009! God has blessed me and my family in 08 and I just know that there is so much more in store in 09. Our Pastor, Mike Hayes(www.covenantchurch.org), the most wonderful church ever! Well he has been teaching in the book of Romans, going through each chapter part by part and it has been awesome. I am learning new things I had no idea about! He has also been really expressing on the power of "our words" what we speak. With our mouths, we can speak life or death! Words are powerful. Stephen and I have really been working on speaking positive things in our life, marriage and our children. We want to always uplift and encourage each other and our girls. I NEVER want to discourage them or break down their spirit and if we aren't careful as parents, we can do that to our children and not even know it! I really have to be careful with Simone because she is our strong-willed child and doesn't listen very well at all, BUT she is very loving and compassionate and will give you a hug and kiss in a minute:) I have to start speaking the good things in all situations. Its hard, but it is do-able!!!

I don't know why I wrote this, but the Lord has really been speaking to me about "speaking" out my destiny! I know I have a purpose here and its all about sharing Jesus Christ with others and being an instrument in helping someone receive Salvation:) God is good:) I am so thankful He is in my life and my families. Thank you Jesus!

CHRISTmas 2008

The first picture below, is our CHRISTmas card picture for 2008. I was very surprised how easy it was to photograph the girls this year versus last year. Camille has always been easy to photograph, you just say "Camille" and she has her instant pose:) Simone on the other had, is pretty challenging but I must say she is starting to get the hang of it:) Enjoy!

Yummy Gingerbread House!

Camille made a gingerbread house last week and I wanted to share pictures of her sweet creation:) She begged me to let her eat some of the candy off of it the other day and I said "yes" and prayed she wouldn't get sick:) Enjoy!

First Time!!!!!

Well I finally did it! I flat ironed Simone's hair for the very first time. This is the first time she has ever had "heat" on her hair. She LOVES it and is running her fingers through it all the time:) She is just like Camille when it comes to this kind of stuff:) Enjoy!

Christmas lights & oh what an UGLY tree!

Well we got started EARLY this year with our Christmas and we put lights on our house for the first time ever! I like the white lights on the house, but yet again, I am disappointed in our tree:( I can't get it the way I like it and every year I end up just putting the little red bows on it and calling it a day. I couldn't agree on a color scheme with colored balls, so I got frustrated and ended up with the tree looking like this. Maybe next year I'll have the tree of my dreams:)







See Simone?......at the door:)haha



Sad, pathetic tree:(

Never a dull moment!

Well we have had some really nice cold weather. Its definitely getting close to winter time:) Well today Stephen decided to buy some fire wood and have a wonderful fire tonight:) He gets things started and its looking really nice in our living room, real calm and Christmas tree shining next to it and then we start noticing the "smokey" smell is getting stronger and stronger. The vent is OPEN and we see LOTS of smoke coming out of the chimney outside, so what could all the smoke be from????

After we sit and watch our living room fill up with smoke, Stephen says "thats it!". He gets a metal pan and starts taking out piece by piece of fire wood. He takes it to the back porch and waters it down. He said one of the pieces was very sticky and looks like it has "sap" on it:( Grrr! I can't believe these people sold us wood that wasn't "dry"! Oh well, never a dull a moment at our house:)haha

Just had to share!

Oh no!........STREP-THROAT!

Yes, my poor baby Camille has strep throat:( She woke up this morning stating her "throat hurt when she swallowed or coughed". I looked back there and her tonsils were swollen a little, but nothing too bad and she didn't have fever. So, she gargled with salt/warm water, I sprayed chloraseptic spray and she sucked on a few throat lozenges and went her merry way to school. I was expecting someone to call me from school to tell me to come get her but no one called!

So as Simone & I are waiting in line in the parking lot to pick up Camille after school, I get a call on my cell from the school secretary saying "Camille's teacher just called and said Camille is not feeling well". So after I went in and got her we headed straight to the doctor's office(which I LOVE, because they are very good at getting us worked in:). They swabbed her throat and it immediately came up positive:( She was running a low grade fever at 99.2, but now I am pretty for sure she is in the 100's now.

She is laying in her bed now and has already taken her first dose of Amoxicillin and I am sure she will feel better tomorrow. She will be out of school tomorrow, but the doctor said she could return on Friday:) Please keep Camille in your prayers.......she can't stand being sick and not able to jump rope:)haha