A day in the life of a family of five.


Monday, September 11, 2006

Remembering...

Never forget... A plume of smoke rises from the crash site of Flight 93 in Somerset County, PA.





My heart is heavy today as I remember September 11, 2001. As I was praying last night, I prayed for families of the thousands of lives that were lost that day, and I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for the 20,000 that were ushered to safety by the FDNY, NYPD and others. And then I wondered how many lives were given to Christ that day. I wondered how many people cried out to Jesus in fear, anger, pain, hopelesness... How many were added to His kingdom that day?

I pray today that the families of the lost and of the survivors will find comfort and peace in the Lord. I pray for safety for our military that are still fighting today because of 9/11. I pray for their safe return and for peace for their families.

I pray for those that I know that have not yet come to know Jesus Christ as their personal savior. Life is short, it is unpredictable. We never know when our time is up. I want to rejoyce with my family and friends in heaven... what are you waiting for?

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

1st Day of school!

This picture just makes me want to cry!! When did he get so big?

Drew in front of the school on his first day.

Kaitlyn in line to go to 4th grade! I told her that it makes me feel old because I now have a 4th grader and she said it made her feel old too! HA!

Kait, Khloe and Cali Jo out front on the first day of school 2006.

Drew drawing a picture of himself on the first day of school.


Khloe headed to her classroom.

Kaitlyn listening.

Oh what a bittersweet day! Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. Oh how I hope that I am training them the right way! It was so hard to send all three of my babies off to school today! I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with three beautiful, healthy children, but why oh why do they have to grow so fast? I cannot believe that they are all in school. Drew went to his first day of Kindergarten, Khloe to 2nd grade and Kaitlyn to 4th grade. Drew's teacher is wonderful! I could not ask for a better start for him. I believe this year will be a "trial run" for him, as he is so young, and I'm not sure how he will do. Khloe has the same teacher that Kaitlyn did in 2nd grade, and she is very nice. She is a little loud and abrasive, and I'm not sure how Khloe will adapt to that, but as my husband sais (who never worries about anything), it will be good for her to be exposed to people like this. Kaitlyn is in a whole new hall, and gets Jr. High lunch this year. 4th grad is a big year, they learn so many new things. I think I am going to absolutly LOVE her teacher. She seems to treat the studens with respect and empower them with choices. You don't find that a lot with teachers. A lot of times they have the "I'm the teacher, you're the student, so you listen to me" attitude. I'm not saying that is all wrong, but this teacher seems to have a level of respect for the kids that I have not seen up to this point.

Because I now have three children in school, and one that is going to need a lot of extra help at home, I have cut my hours down to part time at work. This is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but the opportunity has just not been there. Drew going to Kindergarten was my push. I talked to my supervisor and my boss and they were both in agreement to let me change my hours so that I could be home with the kids after school every day. This was all God's work and God's timing and I am so thankful for this opportunity to be at home with my kids more.

A friend of mine sent me a copy of one of her daily devotions yesterday. It talked about how moms feel like failures as parents... boy could I realte to that! The author shared some encouragement that her husband had given to her. He said he felt that God thought that she was doing a better job than she thought she was doing. Wow was that comforting to me. I struggle every day with feelings of not doing enough, or not being enough, and I hope with all of my heart that God thinks that I am doing a better job at being a wife and mother than I think I am doing.

This is just another chapter in the life of being a mom, I know that I will face challenges ahead that are harder than this one... but for today, leaving that school with an empty van was the toughest yet.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Drew is 5!!

Drew is 5!!!



Painting the clubhouse.



I cannot believe that my baby is 5!! This is so hard for a Mommy! We celebrated Drew's 5th birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese with Grandma & Grandpa Penny and Great Grandma McCoy. We were supposed to celebrate with the rest of the family on the next day at Dragon Land water park, but it rained. :-(

Drew is such an unique child, we were unsure as to what to get him for his birthday. He does not play with toys... so why waste the $$? At the suggestion of a co-worker of mine (Thank you Nancy!) we got Drew cardboard boxes for his birthday. We also got him paints to paint his clubhouse and flashlights to use inside. We painted them and set them up end to end in his room and he has slept in them every night! I don't have pics of the finished project, but I will post them when I do. Happy Birthday to my baby!!!

Don't call me a hypocrit!

Main Entry: hypocrite
Pronunciation: 'hi-p&-"krit
Function: nounEtymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritEs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

I have been accused this week of being a hypocrite. I am here to tell anyone that ends up here that I am not. I have a faith in God that is the core of my being. My faith in God gets me out of bed each morning to face yet another day of overwhelming responsibility and inevitable failure, but I rise up to face it all, just the same. While I may faulter in my walk, as we all do, I walk with Him every day. I strive to do good, to be good and to be a Christian exammple to my children and others. I do not put on a false appearance of religion. I do the best I can. I do not act in contradiction of my beliefs intentionally, but I do stumble. I guess that makes me a sinner, but thanks to Jesus Christ, whose life left him as he hung on a cross for me, I am forgiven. Call me a sinner, but don't call me a hypocrite.

Tuesday, August 08, 2006




I just returned from the Women of Faith Confrence. What an amazing weekend. This was my third year of attending the confrence and I would have to say this was the best confrence that I have been to. There were so many things that touched me this past weekend, the music, the laughter, the tears, the scripture, the testimonials... I could just go on and on. The speakers really spoke to my heart and stirred some things in me that have been dormant and/or un-nurtured for a while. I am looking forward to this renewed faith and insight that I found in St. Louis at the Women of Faith confrence. I cannot put into words how profound this confrence is, I cannot explain the things that you take home with you. I cannot articulate the emotions that you experience. I can only say that I will go every year until I no longer find that wealth of information and spiritual growth. I would encourage each and every woman that reads this to consider joining me June 15th and 16th next year. It is an amazing experience that you will not regret investing in nor will you ever forget.

Also, seen above (because I can't figure out how to put the picture here), is a picture of The Revolve Tour. This is a branch of Women of Faith, it is a confrence for teen girls. Several ladies from our church, along with myself, are going to take van loads of girls to The Revolve Tour in September. I am very excited about this. I wish that I would have been introduced to something like this when I was about 13 or 14. I am looking forward to taking the girls and watching how the information effects their lives. Here are links to these two confrences... I encourage you to get involved, it will strengthen you.

http://66.18.106.124/conferences/
http://www.revolvetour.com/

Monday, July 24, 2006

Receiving our tropheys.
We are the Champions!!!

Victory plunge!!



We were so excited as the Mustang Girls 3rd & 4th grade girls softball team took the championship with a 8-5 win over Hartsburg-Emden on Saturday night!!! It was a really good game and the girls did a great job! Kaitlyn really enjoyed playing this year and I actually enjoyed it too! I am not one for sports at all!! We celebrated with a swim party and a sleep over! It was a great season and we are sad to see it end! We can't wait for next year!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Good times, happy memories.
On the way home... we had so much fun!!
Khloe was unsure of the boat at first, but she warmed up to it pretty quickly. All of the kids had a chance to tube on Table Rock Lake. It is a beautiful lake!
My heart and soul... I love these guys!!
Drew and Daddy on the big slide!


We are back from vacation! We had a great time in Branson. This was our first real family vacation and we had a great time. We went to several shows, Silver Dollar City, Celebration City, White water,saw the Titanic exibit, rode the ducks, rented a boat and lots more. We had a very busy 8 days. Hope you enjoy the pics! Start at the bottome and work your way up... I'm still getting used to how to work this blog!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

They just grow


My children are growing as fast as the flowers! It is summer, they are home and glad to be spending time outside and in the pool. Kaitlyn has gone to church camp this summer and enjoyed that very much. Khloe is hoping to go soon. Kaitlyn is playing softball and doing well, she got a RBI and scored a run last week!! Khloe is now wishing she would have signed up to play too. Drew just started T-ball and seems to be enjoying it more this summer. Kaitlyn and Khloe are both entering their 3rd year of competitive cheerleading and are finishing their 4th week of try-outs next week. We have had a very busy summer so far. We are going on vacation in July to Branson. We will post pictures! Have a safe and happy summer everybody!

Kaitlyn is 9!!


Kaitlyn's kid party was held on Saturday from 1:00p-8:00p. We had a lot of fun!!

We had a movie theater with movie popcorn and candy!


We swam and did the YMCA!!

We had pedicures!!


And we had pizza and did scrapbooking. It was a very busy day filled with lots of fun and friends!


I can't believe she is 9!! Kaitlyn Nicole celebrated her birthday on Friday night with family and Saturday with friends. Above is Friday night. Grandma Jaeda and Uncle Chris and Leslie came. Rebecca and Noel were there. Grandma & Grandpa Penny and Great Grandma McCoy, Papa Dixon and Cindy all came. Aunt Kris and Gracie and Spencer were there too!


Thursday, April 06, 2006

Khloe is 7!!


Having a great time with friends at Pizza Hut!


My good friend Tracy made this cake!



Khloe celebrated her 7th birthday on April Fools Day. We had a Chuck-E-Cheese party on Friday night and Great Grandma McCoy, Grandma & Grandpa Penny and brother and sister were there to help celebrate! Saturday she took her friends to movies and pizza to celebrate! We all had a great time! I can't believe she's 7!!!!!!

Happy Easter!



Happy Easter to everyone!! We are so excited that Spring has finally "Sprung"!! We hope all of you have a blessed easter! Jesus is the reason for the season! Praise God for all of your blessings! Lots of Love~ Rich, Kari, Kaitlyn, Khloe and Drew

Wednesday, February 01, 2006




Drew got a haircut!

After talk all week about going to see Aunt Shelly this weekend for a hair cut, Drew got inspired! He thought that maybe he could do just as good as Aunt Shelly, so he took the clippers to his hair!!! Isn't it cute!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Thank you!

We would like to give a big heartfelt "Thank you!" to all of our family and friend that have expressed their sympathy for us at this time. The calls, cards and flowers were so very appreciated. I myself have never had to deal with a loss so "close to home" before, and being on the receiving end of support from family and friends has shown me how importaint it is. Please continue to pray for my family. It has been a long hard week and much healing is still needed. Thank you!

Friday, December 23, 2005

Picture



We took over 100 this year!!!

Merry Christmas!

I guess we have a blog...

Pastor and Becky have a site here, and I wanted to be able to respond to their posts so I registered. Now we have a blog! Well with family here there and everywhere, I guess it isn't a bad idea! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!!! Here is one of our attempts at our card...