Tolley Tales

Warm Wishes!!

2011-12-24T08:58:00.000-08:00

Just wanting everyone to know that we wish you a wonderful Christmas time with family and friends and a Happy New Year. This will be Troll and the kids' first Christmas without family and my first one since I was a kid so it will be a bit of adjusting. Plus the fact that its like 80 degrees!! LOL!!!

Anyway, warm, warm wishes from all of us!! We love you all and trust that this year is full of love and hapiness for all of you!!

Merry Christmas!

Content

2011-12-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

Its a chilly eve in the South and I'm sitting here at the computer just thinking back over the past almost 2 months since our move and ALL that has transpired, the work that has been done and the laughs we've had. The kids are in bed, Troll is still at work and I'm pondering :)

What am I pondering? Duno really if there is any one certain thing that is making me smile softly like I am right now other than knowing I'm at peace. Happy. Thankful. Blessed. I guess to wrap it all up simply...I'm content! Part of what makes me that way is knowing that right now I'm in the center of God's will and to be there can assure nothing BUT peace. The other part that makes me smile softly is that I have some wonderful kids. I have two specific instances that I want to share to just give you an idea of why I'm saying how wonderful they are. They are not instances that make me want to shout out how proud I am of them or to gloat with that "bumper sticker type mentality"....these are just instances that have made me smile softly, whisper in my heart a thank-you to God for how He's helped me raise them, and yes, to follow the soft smile....a tear or so :)

First instance happened the night before my parents were going home after being here remodeling. I will not mention this child's name or say he/she so as not to cause embarrassment but it was one of my older kids. Dad had been here at the house late; Mom and my lil sis had gone to their apt. to start packing up for their trip North. He was cleaning up all his tools, packing the back of the van with them and making sure all was to his liking. I was in the kitchen putting away some dishes...the kids were all bedded down on the living room floor and couches. Dad opened the door into the kitchen and said, "I found this in my nail pouch!" and he handed me $2.00. I said, Oh! And then, after thinking for a moment said, I believe that is ____'s money...it must have fallen in there. So I turned and asked that kid if it were in fact theirs. That kid looked at me kinda awkwardly and affirmed that it was theirs. I laid it on the piano, said goodnite to my dad and that was that.

As I was going back into the kitchen a thought dawned on me. I paused a moment and then turned to that kid and said, ________ did you put that money in Gramps' nail pouch on purpose? The kid said that they had. (All the while looking disappointed/disturbed) I said, O...do you want me to run it out to Gramps? They said, sure! So I picked up the money and walked out the front door but Dad had already started the drive back to their apt. So I walked back in the house and laid it on the piano again and told that kid, I will give it to him in the a.m. They nodded their head and shut their eyes - I walked back into the kitchen. I had only been in there a few minutes when once again the disappointed look of that kid went thru my mind. And that's when it hit me! I put down my dish rag and walked over to them where they were bedded down for the night and said, Did you put that money in Gramps' nail pouch for all the work he did this past week to make you kids bedrooms? The kid looked at me with seeming gratitude for finally getting it (smile) and said, Yea I guess kinda yea. I hugged them, told them I was so proud of them for wanting to give Gramps something for all the work he had done and that I loved them SO very much. As I stood back up and walked back into the kitchen I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or both. I do know that I felt such an overwhelming joy in my heart at the tenderness in the heart of that kid and how willing they were to give. See....all that kid had was $2.00 to their name and to know that they wanted to give it to someone to let them know all the work they had done had not gone unnoticed...THAT was priceless to me.

Needless to say, I shot a text to my mom immediately to let my dad know exactly what had transpired and how that grandkid had really appreciated what Gramps had done to make their room special. Of course all the other ones were appreciative as well but this one ~ made me smile softly.

The next instance just happened tonight. As I eluded to earlier in this post...the kids have been sleeping on the living room floor. My parents had come down before Thanksgiving to turn a garage into 2 "brand new" bedrooms. Dad, with the help of Troll on occasion and our neighbor, did a great job of doing exactly that. However, they had to go back North on Black Friday and so I offered to put the texture on the ceilings and walls, fill in cracks with caulking and do the painting. I'm not a professional by ANY means but I do love to do that kind of thing. So with me doing that, juggling house work, school, and all that stuff...it took me longer than I'd hoped. Through this whole time the kids never once complained about having to all be in the living room on the floor and couches. They never complained about all the extra housework they had to do and Jet even did laundry pretty much every other day all by herself. Well yesterday I finally finished with all I had to do in those bedrooms. Sure they don't look super but I was happy. The carpet guys came today and a very happy family gazed on the two new rooms with big ol' smiles after lunch!

Troll and I set up the bunkbeds and other bed for the boys and got them all made up. Then Troll had to go to work. I had the two older kids go get the boy's toy chest out of storage and carry it over. When things had all settled down E and B realized that one of the toy boxes were in the room and were overjoyed to finally see the toys they hadn't seen since we moved in August! Let me tell ya...I'm thinking that we won't need Christmas cause they are so thankful to finally have their stuff back.

Ok, so on to the instance. The three boys walked into their room tonight after brushing their teeth and as they climbed into their beds they sighed great big sighs, smiled real big and said, Aw...its good to be in bed...great job, Mom. Now maybe to you it doesn't mean much...or maybe doesn't even rate as an instance. But to me it does! They don't have pictures on their walls, their dressers are still in other buildings, they don't have all their little treasures cause they are still in boxes and have been since August....all they have is their beds and a toy box......but that was enough :) So yes, it rates as an instance for me. Because I'm thankful they didn't walk in and say, Where are our clothes? or Where is the rest of our stuff? No, they were thankful to just be off the floor and in a bedroom. And that to me warranted a soft smile.

I am content. :) *Sigh*

Another smile :)

2011-11-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

So which one of ya need just one more smile for the day? :) Comin right up!!

The other day, after going thru yet MORE boxes, Troll decided to go thru his books and get rid of doubles, ones he never used and etc. He'd fill a banana box and take it out to the truck and sit it behind it to be loaded and hauled to the thrift store.

I'm not really sure how many boxes he ended up with but it came to a point in the evening where I realized I needed cheese for spaghetti pie and asked if he'd go to the store....and there sat those boxes. Jet had decided to go with him and so out they quietly trooped so that the other kids didn't realize they were leaving (cause that's what you have to do in our house or you get this mass exodus thingy going on that you don't really want!). They get out there only to realize that all those boxes of books were still sitting behind the truck. So Troll, being that "let's get'er done all at once" kinda guy, goes for a stack of boxes and picks them up....

..........(as Jet recounts later) "I hear dad say, 'Oh, NO!'...so I look down and there his pants were...on the way to the ground in quick fashion. So I quick grab for them. As I'm in the process of pulling them up (ya kno...cause he still had boxes of books in his arms) my hand touched his leg and I thought his boxers had fallen, too, so I let go of his pants while squealing and covering my eyes! ......

LOLOL!!! Now you just have to understand the type of person Jet is and how much she loves to have fun and be sarcastic and is kinda like her mom in that she laughs at things at the drop of the hat cause everything is so funny! To hear her tell this story was priceless cause she did her signature move of throwing her hand to cover her eyes and forehead as she laughed so hard she was crying :) I'm sure I didn't say all that she said and possibly mixed up a comment here and there....but you get the pic! Troll's pants were hitting the ground and she wanted to save him :)

So there ya have it....the other smile you needed to finish your day! :) On a side note....why are there NEVER video cameras around when ya need 'em?!!

Today!

2011-10-17T02:45:00.000-07:00

Well it's today :) That day we have looked forward to, dreaded, been excited about, been nervous about.....and thought would never come!! In a few hours my parents will be here and we'll load up our moving truck with the rest of our things and then go to their house to pick up the trailer and spend the night. Tues we'll be hitting the road.....Troll in the truck/trailer...me in the Burby. O, yea......and the kids tied down on top with the dogs mounted on the hood! LOL!!! We hope/plan to arrive to our final destination on Wednesday sometime early evening. We are excited about this new venture and praying God uses us to bless ppl and bring more into HIS kingdom.

So that's today. Now yesterday.... that was a doozy. Sigh. So many mixed emotions. Leaving a tremendous church family that picked us up and carried us thru some time of healing, loved us without needing explanations and accepted us for who we are as a family. Allot of tears shed...even from the kids. We will always hold Richfield congregation close to our hearts and pray that God blesses them for being such a blessing to us. Thank-you to a wonderful congregation and a terrific pastoral family in the McCarty's and their assistants, the Lenharts. Our kids talked for quite awhile when we left church on how much the loved Mr. Lenhart's teaching and how easy he made it for young ppl to understand Biblical things and how much they'd miss their close friends the McCarty's. We will always love all of them. God has truly blessed Richfield with a remarkable team of pastoral families.

We got to spend some time with family for lunch and then lots of visiting, funny stories from the past and reminding my one uncle how I thought he'd worn his slippers to church when I was a little girl! :) We also got to see my Gram for a little while and that was truly a blessing. Even tho she isn't up to par physically and of sound mind at times.... she's still my Gram and I love her dearly. Of course my Aunt Lyd regaled me with wonderful tales of all that she'd been up to of late... like fixing the neighbor's dentures, painting the dilapidated ol' farm truck and ordering 50 books for an amish neighbor off amazon! LOL! Gotta love the valley :) There were others of my family I woulda loved to have seen but time just wouldn't allow. :( I'm going to miss the birth of quite a few babies as well and that is hard to handle....me being the baby lover that I am. But I'm just imploring of those mama's....PLEASE TAKE PICS....LOTS N LOTS OF THEM!!!!!

So now I'm sitting here, wishing I hadn't packed the coffee pot up last night, thinking of all we need to accomplish today in loading and knowing that with God's help we will go far :) Literally!!! For those of you that have been on pins and needles wondering where we are going..... wonder no longer. Was it a secret? Nah! I just like making ppl wonder :) So for future reference...if you need our new address...just send me a message on facebook or I'll email it to ya. I really don't want to put it on here. :) I also wana say a BIG thank you to our friend that moved out of his apt. so we'd have a place to live these past two months. He's been a gr8 friend in so many ways and we are forever gr8ful.

Oh!!! I almost forgot to say where we were moving......

Whew!!

2011-10-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

Things are coming together and the house is pretty much packed!! The oldest two kids were gone for a few days getting in last minute visits with friends/family....Beeg to school with former classmates and Mavis to her cousins house an hour away. Doody was a HUGE help to me and we got things done really quickly. In fact...so quickly that I ended up sitting all eve bored to death! lol!

My parents are loading up all our stuff at their place (where it was stored) today with the help of some church ppl and then they will come up tomorrow nite, spend the nite and load the stuff here Monday a.m. Soon as we are loaded we'll go back to their place and pick up the trailer with lawn mower, etc, spend the nite and leave about 5 Tues a.m.!! Troll will be driving the moving truck/trailer and I'll be driving the Burby! So keep us in your prayers!!! Especially pray that I don't get any migraines while traveling or we'll be in trouble. Thank the Lord I've not had one in almost a week and that has been a HUGE blessing. Hopefully I continue to be free of them...at least until we get to our "new" home :)

Probably won't be posting now for awhile. But just because of that....doesn't mean I'm to be forgotten! LOLOLOL!!!

So from BOB...ttyl!!!

Stepping!

2011-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Steps. Sometimes slow. Sometimes in the dark. Sometimes full of purpose and drive. Sometimes faltering and unsure. Sometimes NOW! :)

We are stepping! Are you in shock? Lol!! In a way I think we are. But only in a way. Things have happened BANG BANG BANG and I now get the chance to let you (our friends) know what this step is.

Wait for it...................

We are moving! Again? Yup!! You'd think we enjoyed it or something. Actually (don't tell Troll) I don't mind moving. We did it so much when I was growing up that its kinda just "the thing to do". Lol!! Kinda like rearranging the living room furniture... its gotta happen every few months! :)

Ok...so enough about furniture and on to the move. We are moving! *giggle* Where? Well I'm kinda enjoying this suspense thing so I duno if I wana tell ya! :) We did just find out at 10 p.m. last night so don't go getting upset that we've been harboring this little secret and weren't telling you. And honestly....everything happened so quickly that it is just registering with us as well.

So...the move. It is clearly evident that God is asking us to go to the sunny south :) So after talking and praying on the legistical stuff (cause if God CALLS there is no need to mull over it) we have answered with a big "YES" and we will be moving within the next week or two! So we are asking an interest in your prayers as we pack up and travel quite a distance away from family and friends to minister to and become a part of another group of people's lives. :) We are all excited (except for missing out on the white stuff that falls from the sky in the North) and can't wait for this chapter in our lives to begin.

Thank you to those that have carried us, day after day, to the Throne of Grace...asking for God's will and purpose for our lives to become evident. Were it not for your prayers....these past few months would have been very trying and tiring. Believe me when I say (and speak for all of us) that we could feel those prayers. And will always be grateful. :)

Now wish me luck as I (once again) pack us up and prepare Troll for another move! LOL!!! :)

Oh my!

2011-10-01T06:33:00.000-07:00

Wow...I've severely neglected this blog! That is terrible :) And yet...I've been busy and doing just the humdrum typical of a stay at home mom who homeschools 5 kids! Nothing exciting to say! lol!! But I promise...I will do my best to put an exciting post here.

As soon as something exciting happens! Lol!!!

Family

2011-08-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

I was so happy to be able to be together with our family this week. We drove to Ohio and met Troll's brother and family on Wed, stayed overnight with them and then met with all my family on Thurs for the day and drove home. We had not all been together since Di was pregnant with Tay which was 7 years ago!! It was a wonderful time and I was so thankful it worked for ALL our schedules!! Which (let me tell ya) is a task in and of itself with all of us! Everything just fell so neatly in place and I'm so grateful!! It was awesome!!!

Rain

2011-08-09T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today the sun was shining, beautiful breeze blowing...the perfect day. The kids asked if they could go to the park. I told them all the necessary things like 'stay together', 'no fighting'...blah, blah, blah. They all got their shoes and stuff and left. Probably 20 min later I hear something behind me as I was sitting at the table. I look out the window and it is raining so hard that you could barely see. 'O dear', I said as I jumped up, grabbed the keys and ran out the door. Just the couple leaps to the truck had me dripping wet and I was wondering how the kids were fairing.

I drove down the street not sure of which park the kids were at. I look to my left and there are a few of them dashing madly towards the street and drenched completely. Jetta had a squalling Bia wrapped in her arms as best she could up against her while they ran with Reag. As I looked closer thru the wipers I see Aust huddled under a tree and Eth just randomly walking away from the park as if he was aggravated I'd shown up!!!

Needless to say, by the time we made it back into the house the kid (except my tree huddler) had to totally change and mommy was towling off and changing as well. We had no longer changed and gotten into warm jammies then the sun came out and turned gorgeous again :) It was so funny!!

ATTENTION

2011-08-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

Our email address has changed!!! Please send all emails to
troll.spazz@yahoo.com

We no longer have the embarqmail or pvbi.edu accounts!!

Thanks

Bday!!!

2011-07-25T07:58:00.001-07:00

Happy bday to our sweet, young lady :) She's growing so fast and is so much fun to be around. Love her so much. I don't think it will be too much longer and I'll be looking up to her. She's already as tall as me and doesn't appear to be slowing down in the height department!! We are so proud of her and how she has matured and is allowing God to work in her life. So to a wonderful daughter, we love you and are grateful that you are a part of our lives!!!

Wings

2011-07-20T10:41:00.001-07:00

Here's your smile for the day :)

Last night we were on our way to the camp that Troll is speaking at this week. I'm not exactly sure what we were talking about but evidently at some point my unrepareable car came up. Not sure if we were discussing what we were going to do with it or what but from the back this is what we hear and what followed.

Bia says, "We need a new vehicle." I turned to her and said, Yes honey we do but we will just have to talk to Jesus about it. I then hear a big sigh (as if in resignation) as she says, "Ok, I'll do it. (even bigger sigh) But I already have talked to Him."
I was kinda taken back at her declaration and was getting ready to ask her what she had talked to Jesus about when she emphatically says, "Yup! I asked Him to give me wings and He didn't!"
I had to then explain to her that evidently Jesus decided that it was better for her to walk around and He doesn't always give us what we think we need. :)

It was a sweet moment. One in which I'm glad happened. It reassured me that even our youngest understood that we can ask even the most profound things and God doesn't care how crazy it may seem :) And I will add.... I'm glad God didn't answer her prayer for wings or I'd never get to see her :)

The pits!

2011-07-06T19:36:00.001-07:00

Alright! I'm gona have to admit it...I feel like the pits today. Sure that's a glorified pic of what normally is referred to as "the pits" but I put it on there for a reason. My reason? No matter how rough it gets...there is always something good about what surrounds the pit.

I'm gona have to admit to being ultra human today in that I don't know what the good is that is surrounding that pit! lol! That is something I don't like to admit to. I like to be tough. In control. Not given to tears. (yes, yes..all you ppl that just gasped and said there was nothing wrong with crying...I KNOW there is nothing wrong with crying. And even when I do cry... I just don't like it.) But today I've not seen the bright side. Even though I worked hard at being positive and telling myself not to cry cause God would show us in HIS time.....I've not had a good day. True, I didn't cry (that is...until I got to church and I got the thumb in my back to testify) and was doing pretty good at staying in control (on the outside)....but on the inside I was suffocating.

So why did I have such a rough day? You know...in all honesty...I don't know why today was so rough. I get so aggravated that I get low cause ultimately I KNOW that God will work things out. But today I couldn't conquer the sadness and hurt inside. The kids and I do a good job I think. We are a good team and do our best without Troll here. Some ask what the big deal is. Well...in many aspects I'm a single mom. Troll gets one day off a week. Some still say, So, that's no big deal. Well true...its not really. But the thing of it is that the other days he doesn't come home. Its an hour and 20 min drive or so to where he works so he stays up thru the week at a friends house. So the night before the day that he has off he comes home after work. Which ranges anywhere from 11:30 p.m. to 1:10 a.m. (depending on how late they work/cleanup). Don't get me wrong...we are both so very thankful for him having a job. Its just hard not being able to be a family. Eth and Beeps cry allot more over things than they used to and I know its cause they miss their daddy. Thankfully the oldest three can cope better and they are a huge help to me.

And there you have it....my whine for the day. :) I don't mean to complain or gripe about our circumstances. It's life. I just felt like telling you (the poor ppl that read this post) a rambling tale of how I felt today, how much I miss my hubby, how much I dislike being daddy/mommy and how I know that tomorrow will be better :)

I will do my best to not post like this again!! Lol!!!
Nite all!

You Were Faithful Yesterday-Greater Vision

2011-06-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

A few here and there thoughts...

2011-06-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

First of all...my apologies for not getting pics of the kids' cakes on here. They just refused to be uploaded and after quite awhile of attempting...I gave up. :)

Second... we just got back from Youth camp/few days of R&R. Troll and the three oldest left last Monday for Knoxville, TN where Troll was the speaker for the Bible Methodist Youth Camp there. Me and the youngest two and the two dogs left on Wednesday to go out. It was a fun week, gorgeous weather (to the point of chilly in the eve) and a nice time of meeting new people (for me since Troll already knew them all!). We left there on Sat a.m. and went to IHOP where we hadn't eaten since Eth was a baby! I was thrilled to finally stuff my face full of the Strawberry Topped Stuffed French Toast. It was SO yummy!! O...I forgot to say that when we were loading the vehicles that a.m. at 7:30, I noticed that Ethan's pillow was wet. I couldn't figure it out cause it had no smell, the bed hadn't been wet...nothing. I was like, Eth, why is your pillow wet? He tipped his head to the side and said, "Well mom...you know...it was all those tears!" He musta been crying in his sleep! :)

We drove about 550 miles that day (grrrrr) to get to Yorktown, Va. On the way there we were just toodling along when all the sudden I see Troll slam on his brakes and swerve left into the other lane of traffic. In the split second for me to register a "what in the world is he doing!" I see coming right at me the blown out truck tire he'd swerved to miss! I did a quick jerk to the berm on my right. That tire was scattering us like feathers!! It all happened so fast and jerkily (i don't think that is a word) that it jolted my passengers pretty roughly. From the back seat Eth says, "Mom! You almost killed me!!" Lol!! I was very thankful God protected us and that we got back on the road safely.

We were able to walk around Yorktown and enjoy some history. The drums and fifes corp did a little show that was pretty cool. Kids really enjoyed that. Then yesterday we sat around until the rain ended and then took the kids to VA Beach. They had so much fun. The water was chilly as the weather was a crisp 72 after the rain so I didn't get in. I stayed up on the beach and molded a man's head into the sand, complete with golden colored stone hair, white shells for teeth, eyes, ears and nostrils, formed a frame around it and called him BOB! It looked just like a mans head laying there! lol! Sorry...didn't have my camera to take his pic. I was thrilled with the fact I'd managed to accomplish it! Two little kids up above me were excitedly telling the lady they were with that "it even has ears"! lol! Bia was content running along the beach collecting shells and staying right at waters edge. The other four were a hoot to watch. The waves were pretty decent so they'd sit down about shoulder height and when the waves would come they'd plug their noses, tuck head and let the wave do its thing. Eth usually ended up being tossed backward towards the beach about 3-4 feet. Aust got completely flipped over backwards!! I almost left a puddle that I couldn't have blamed on a wave when I watched that one!

It was a much needed time of us just being together as a family, laughing, sharing, talking about our future, crying and praying. And of course eating! I was thrilled to finally taste caviar. That was the weirdest stuff ever! lol!

So many of you are asking what now, what next! lol! Nope...we still don't know. :) Just this past week Troll also resigned his position as High School History/Bible teacher at Penn View Christian Acad. I won't go into anything about this other than it is/was not a knee jerk reaction. This was something that came about after awhile of talking, praying, talking, talking, talking, praying, talking! We told our kids Sunday and were so very thankful to the Lord for their willingness to be open to whatever is next in our lives. I was afraid it would be met with tears and upset but not a one of them were. :) I'm grateful for the kids that we have and how they have taken these last few months of total change for us as well as they have. I know God has been here all the way and I'm forever grateful.

Every aspect of our lives has changed. Our church, our job, our school and soon our home. A T-total upset of the life of a family. BUT...we are still a family and that is the most wonderful grounding a person could have. However, most of all, we are still grounded in the unshakable truth that GOD is behind us, holding us up and leading us on!! Of that I'm POSITIVE!!

Celebrations!!

2011-06-01T03:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Troll and I celebrated 14 years together :) I'm so very thankful for each one of those days that filled those years and am looking forward to as many as God allows us to have together in the future.

Since Troll had off yesterday we decided we'd celebrate our anniversary, Bia's bday (which is today) and Eth's bday which is next week (since Troll won't be able to be here for either of them). We went to Lancaster to do some summer clothes shopping for the kids and were treated to supper at Shady Maple! Yummmm!!! It was a nice afternoon/eve out even though I ended up with a massive headache and was quite sick by the time we got home.

Pictures will come later. They are getting messed up in a program I don't want them to go into! Lol! Gotta love technology.

Anyway... Happy Anniversary to my wonderful hubby and happy bday to our two youngest kids! So thankful for my family. I'm such a blessed woman.

Changes

2011-05-27T04:48:00.000-07:00

Well...this past Sunday a.m. was our last service at the church we were at for almost 3 years. Pretty rough day. I'm not going to lie to ya....it held allot of tears, feelings of worthlessness and discouragement for both of us. But, as we've said over and over to each other, God is in control and He will bring us through :) Of that...we are CERTAIN!

Because of no longer being in the pastorate, something that we've been in for almost 14 years in one capacity or another, one of us had to get a job! lol! You know...cause Pastoring isn't considered a job :) Hee, hee!!! And for those of you that would like to say that...I'd suggest being in those shoes for a couple weeks and then getting back with me on how its NOT a job. Anyway, our good friend that I did the designing for his pizza shop, is hiring Troll on and will be able to be flexible with different mtgs that Troll already has lined up.

Today after 12:05 dismissal from the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (!!!!!!!) Troll will be going to Howard to "start" working. (Start is in quotation because of the previous paragraph for those of you that are slow this a.m.!) It is going to be quite a change for us as a family. Sure, we are used to long hours or Troll being gone for more than one day at times. But due to Howard being quite a distance from where we reside now....Troll will have to stay up over the week and only coming home every once in awhile. This is not something that any of us are looking forward to but are praying that we adjust quickly. Thankfully Troll has worked there numerous times and also for our friends dad at his pizza shop (while in college) so he knows all the ropes for the most part :)

So, if you think of us, pray for us as we go thru this "new" phase of life. To not belong to a congregation is a strange feeling. God has led us to each church we have been a part of...of that we are also certain. So we know that He will continue to lead. :)

Love to all!!!

Just a thought...

2011-05-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

Gonna use those pebbles meant for harm to jump that puddle that was meant to disarm! :)

Baby!!

2011-05-24T11:36:00.001-07:00

Our family has been blessed by a new baby :) We've been looking for a little person to add to our lives to bring some smiles and new life and wala...here he is :) He's a Buckeye boy so that makes it even more cool. He is a silver dapple dachshund.

Anyway...thought you might like to see him! Palin isn't so impressed and goes around trying to ignore him! This afternoon she managed to coerce him off our bed...which resulted in a resounding "thump" and "YELP"! Then she walked off as if to say, "What a dork..he actually fell for that ploy!"

Scotch took one look and hasn't wanted to come into the house since! lol!! I'm sure Palin told him all about the new puppy and how the family is all goo-goo, ga-ga over him! And yes, we are all gooshy about him. Been awhile since we've had a "baby" in the house :)

Brick Wall!

2011-05-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

Ok...so as I was in church tonight and prayer requests were being given and I was thinking about our situation and wondering how/when things were going to work out...home, church, pay...I found myself slammed up against a brick wall in my thoughts. You know...that wall where you were totally unprepared for the results of looking into your own life and realizing you were in desperate need of doing better? Here they are....think about it.

If you were paid for being a prayer warrior.....
-would you be living in a mansion, eating nine course meals, surrounded by lucious gardens that made the entire neighborhood, city and surrounding states envious?
-or would you be living in a cardboard box under a bridge, diving in dumpsters for your next meal with the weeds in the cracks of the frequently traveled sidewalks for your "garden"?

Wow!!! Lord, help me to better myself in my prayer life.

Trusting

2011-05-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

There's not really much to say today....other than we are doing our best to trust in God and keep our chins up. Thanks to those of you that have been calling, texting, emailing, messaging and doing things with us to bring us through this time of "not knowing". God is so good and our hearts are encouraged to know that there are people who are keeping us in their daily prayers.

What's next??

2011-04-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

What's next? Now what happens? Then what?

All common phrases in a normal, ordinary person's life :) Ordinary? Common? Normal? Ok, so maybe that's pushing it just a tad when our family is being talked about but hey, for us...we're normal! lol!!

But those are questions that we are asking and seeking God's face about. After months of seeking God's face and trying to figure out His will for our lives, due to circumstances beyond our control, we felt very clear in not allowing our names up for revote at the church we currently are pastoral family of. April 10th Troll told the congregation of this decision and even though this has been a very difficult time in our lives and we do not understand...we knew this is what the outcome was to be.

So now what? Lol!! We don't know. :) Would make things allot easier if we did know but as we all know....easy is not the route thats normally given. So we've been packing here and there what we can for the past few months, going thru clothes to put in totes for the next sizes of different kids, giving things to Goodwill, etc. I love to purge things and Troll despises moving and all that is involved with moving so I've been purging allot while everyone is at school! :) Saves the whole, "but I wanted to keep that" thing. Its kinda nerve wracking when you don't know what the next step is, what the next "job" is going to be or where the next place you can call home is located. But one thing we are absolutely positive of is that God has never, ever let us down and I'm not expecting Him to do so now. We've been stretched beyond what we felt was possible and survived (of course with God's help) numerous times and this time is no different.

We do covet your prayers (those of you that actually read this poor blog) that we will make the right decisions for our family. God is able to do exceeding more than we could ever possibly think and He knows what will be our future. Glad to know that no matter what... I can trust Jesus!

O...and as a side note...Happy Anniversary to my wonderful parents :) Love you guys!!!

Its a Teen!!!

2011-04-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Well I'm middle aged :) I've got a teen on my hands!! So very thankful for this kid. He is such a blessing. Loves God. Loves his family. Loves to have fun! He's one of my bestest buds. In church he sits right beside me and keeps his arm around me. He knows immediately when I'm having a rough day...sometimes even before Troll figures it out. He's smart, loves a challenge and does so very well in school. I'm SO very proud of him and also so very thankful that God saw fit to entrust him to us! He asked for a Reds/baseball cake. This was the best I could come up with having no plan before hand.

Went to the flower shop a couple doors down and asked for funky balloons :) Added a bit of pizazz to the whole ordeal!

The cake!! The baseballs were ball cakes covered in white chocolate and "glued" to the side of a square cake. Unfortunately I didn't count the candles before coming home from the store in a mad rush to get the cake decorated and only had 12. But he gave me a couple bear hugs and kisses and said, "Mom...its ok! Thank-you for a great cake and meal!" Our kids are allowed to pick what they want for a meal and he picked the following... Liver/onions, Scalloped potatoes, Green beans with bacon/onions and coleslaw. Lol!!! I'm one proud mom of one awesome young man!! Happy Bday, Beeg!!

A.M. Antics

2011-04-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

I know that April Fool's is such a highlight of different people...especially kids. And I'll have to admit that watching the kids prank each other is cute and makes me laugh. But I've never been one to do anything on that day cause it always seems so obvious. So I saved mine :) Until this a.m. :) Troll is such a sweetheart and treats me so lovingly on a Sunday a.m. (not that he doesn't other days!). Saturday night he'll ask me what time I want up (whether I have cooking to do or ironing determines the time from Sun to Sun) and then Sun a.m. he'll make coffee and bring me a cup at the time I asked to be awakened cause he knows I hate alarm clocks with a passion. So this a.m. was no different. To a degree. :) I had asked him to wake me up at 7 cause I didn't really have that much to do. At 6:40 I woke up. For some odd reason I started laughing. I don't even know what brought the idea into my head but I quickly acted. Since we use feather pillows, and there are at least 4 and sometimes more on our bed, they are easily fluffed and formed to make a very convincing "figure" in the bed. I fluffed and scurried, pulled the blankets up around the "head" (as I'm prone to do cause I'm always freezing) and ran to the other side of the room. I scooted the glider rocker back a bit, sat down, grabbed two pairs of his pants that he had laying on the ironing board and a towel off the floor and covered myself up on the chair and waited....completely covered cept for my eyes. 7:03. I hear the stairs creaking. He walked in to our dark room, sat the coffee cup on my dresser and went to his side of the bed and laid down and threw his arm around the "person" to wake them up! LOL! There was absolute silence and no movement from him or the "person". About 45 seconds later he stood up, looked at the bed and went to turn on the light. I so wish I could describe the look on his face as he turned, with hand on the wall, and once again just stared at the bed with absolute befuddlement. I was laughing so hard, tears streaming down my face, and all the while willing the chair to not creak from my constrained laughter. Out of the room he walked as he went to each of the kids' rooms...lookin for me!! Less then a minute later he came back in, stood at the door with a hand on the wall and stared again at the bed. :) I don't know what he thought might happen in that time frame or if he thought maybe the pillows would magically transform into me but let me tell you it was classic. He looked back out into the hallway and then back to the bed and I couldn't keep quiet any longer! LOL!!! As I pulled the pants down off my face and covered my face with my hands to let out the gut wrenching laughter I'd been holding in he looked at me with a mixture of surprise, bewilderment and frustration and exclaimed, "What exactly are you doing?" Lol!!! It was so funny. So, so funny. That was my April Fool's.....a few days late :)

Thoughts

2011-03-23T08:27:00.000-07:00

First off....its another Wacky Day at school so the above pic is of my beautiful family in their getup this a.m. :) This pic does no justice to Jetta's hair but let me tell ya...if there were prizes being awarded....she would get one :)

Secondly...my mind has been very thoughtful this day. More so after talking to a dear friend and how stressed their family is and reading numerous comments on facebook of late by aquaintences/friends...so many people are hurting. The misunderstandings, the tragedies, the hurts, etc. Through all this whirring through my mind this a.m. the song my parents used to sing years ago has been on my mind so I thought I'd just post it. Don't know if it will help anyone out there that still follows blog world or not...but it is so true.

God is working out His purpose, He has planned for you and me;
Though to us it may be hidden, some day we shall plainly see.
How He stands behind the shadows, waiting to perform His will,
Whisp'ring, "Child, be of good courage; every promise I'll fulfill."

God is working out His purpose, even though we go alone.
It may take us from our loved ones, lead us far away from home.
It will be the greatest pleasure, just to feel His Presence near,
And to know that God is working out the purpose to Him dear.

God is working out His purpose, though it lead thru desert bare.
He'll go with us on Life's journey, and our heavy burdens bear.
Thru' the weary years of waiting, when the heart cries, "Lord, how long",
God is working out His purpose, right shall triumph over wrong.

God is working out His purpose, never murmur nor repine;
For our future's in His keeping, gladly to His will resign.
When the veil at last is lifted, and the shadows flee away.
We shall understand His purpose, thru one glad eternal day.

This has been an encouragment to me over the years and I couldn't help but think that maybe someone out there today could use this old song to brighten their day :)

Oh my!!

2011-01-27T06:20:00.001-08:00

Wow!! It has been like forever since I posted on here :) My humblest apologies :) As you can see in the picture...we are in the middle of a beautiful winter wonderland. This was taken on my way back from taking the kids to school this a.m. Since Troll is Florida (Camp Freedom starts tomorrow eve and he is one of the evangelists) I thought I'd best send him a pic of what he's missing. Besides...I luv covered bridges...specially covered with snow :)

As I said, Camp is starting tomorrow. Troll flew out yesterday and is neck deep in doing his job as learning the treasurer's stuff and working on a sermon no doubt. The kids, two ladies from church and me will be leaving at 6 in the a.m. to start the drive down. HOPE to get to Santee before we stop. Although...we are to get more snow so I'm not sure if we will get that far or not.

I'm so excited!!! Camp has always been a part of my life. Since b4 I was born even!!! My kids are also starting to catch the excitement of knowing that camp is just around the corner...and that is awesome to me :) The evangelists this year are Jim Plank and Troll!! The song evangelists are the McIntire's.

So that's my happenings as of now. I actually just packed yesterday! Aren't you so proud??? LOL!!! I didn't follow after my mom on that one. She is usually packed a week in advance I think. I have managed to shove, squeeze and push our belongings for 6 into the suitcases I actually found and we are hitting the road!!!! I will miss the snow though. Hopefully it will stick around til we get back! Have a super fantabulous day!!!

Christmas

2010-12-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, this post is not in any way shape or form to have you feel sorry for me and our family but to show you the power of prayer and putting things into God's hands.

Back in September, due to circumstances and situations, we realized that Christmas was not going to happen for our family. Although it hurt and made us feel badly for our kids' we understood that we had to put this in God's hands and if it was meant for us to have a Christmas it would happen.

We sat the kids down and told them that there was just no way that we could do it. The oldest three were disappointed but took it very well with only a few questions. The youngest two didn't grasp it but I figured we didn't need to upset them so we left it alone.

Thanksgiving came and both of us were starting to get discouraged over disappointing our kids but yet still knowing that God has never disappointed us nor let us down. I must be honest in that I wasn't even praying for there to be a way to buy presents but praying that God would just do His will and if it was meant to be it would happen.

A little over a week ago we got a call from someone that said they'd found out about our situation and had taken up a little collection and were sending it to us. A few days later we got $400 in the mail. Christmas cards started coming in and we were amazed over and over with the amounts of money that we were getting. Late last night someone showed up at our door from a distance away with $700 in an envelope from different ppl. This morning we woke up to an email from a congregation that felt we were a family they needed to help this year and they are sending us a gift.

My heart is bursting with thanks to a loving God and gracious God for taking this little issue in our lives and turning it into such a testimony for the kids to see how HE takes care of His children if we just trust in Him. Our kids are yet to know that we are shopping for them. I was able to go out Sat and get numerous things for them that was needed and a few "un-needed" items :) Tomorrow my mom is keeping them so that Troll and I can go out and finish up. We hope to wrap things up and have stuff under the tree the morning they wake up thinking that we are still not having a Christmas. :) I'm looking forward to seeing their faces.

Again, this post was not for you to feel sorry....we don't want that. There are so many ppl out there that are struggling. But I wanted to give you a bit of hope and strengthening of faith in reminding you that God provides. To date...we have received close to $1,500 to buy the kids gifts and take care of some bills. Only by God's providence and love for us was this even possible. We decided it would not be a known fact but we would just place it on the alter of our hearts and watch to see what God had in this for us. My faith has been strengthened. Did we need to buy presents for our kids? Not necessarily. We woulda been fine had it not happened. Its not about presents...our kids know that. But you as parents know how you want to do things for your kids. And God gave us a way to be able to do that.

So from the bottom of Troll and I's hearts (and the kids' when they find out) we greatly appreciate this and trust that each of you that were involved in giving money or presents to the kids are blessed richly and more than you could ever imagine for blessing our lives. God used you to allow us the opportunity once again to prove to our kids that He is in control and will take care of us.

Merry Christmas from our home to yours. May your new year be blessed with His love and care. We love you.

Bday

2010-12-17T06:10:00.000-08:00

Well, due to my schedule yesterday, I didn't get to get on here to post about a wonderful woman I know :) My mom!!

She had a bday yesterday and I wanted everyone to know that I love this woman so much and thankful that she is a part of my life. She's a giving woman beyond what anyone could ever imagine, has so much knowledge about babies, health, cooking, practical thinking and etc., works herself way beyond the average woman..... because she is NOT an average woman. Everything my mom does is over and above what she needs to do and yet she still does cause she wants to and wants to make those in her life happy.

I love her so very much and trust that her bday yesterday was terrific. So glad that God chose her to be a part of my life :)

Changes

2010-12-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sometimes life has such a way of taking us and saying, now just you wait a minute. Its in those times when we find out just how truly weak/strong we are, how deep our faith goes and how truly blessed we are.

Today was one of those such days. I was going about my daily routine of working on laundry and picking things up so that I could start canning the deer that Austin got on Monday when a friend from church called and with the words, "Did you hear about Ted?", my day quickly turned into a totally different reality.

You just never know from one minute to the next. One doesn't have the guarantee of even breathing another second of life for that matter. We all know this and yet we still run rampantly through our days and lives...squeezing every second out of each second that we possibly can. And then BAM...along comes a brick wall and you slam headlong into it and as you stand there reeling from the blow and asking yourself how is this even possible...you realize that you knew all along that it truly is possible as it has just happened.

This morning was one of those brick walls. And I am even on the side of it where its not as fatal a blow as it is to the family of Ted...but still a blow - a wound - a will we heal from this?

Blows like this come out of nowhere. You're rushing headlong thru life, seizing every opportunity to do better, to give more, to laugh more often, to be more thankful and yet, as one man at church said this evening...you sometimes forget that those right around you need you the most to let them know that you appreciate them, love them and are happy to be a part of their lives...until that blow happens...and they are no longer in your life.

Such a blow has come to our church just outside our town. Ted left this old world to become a part of a much better place. We so loved his humor, his love for life, his willingness to be in church "every time those doors were open", the way he laughed out loud when he appreciated a story from the pulpit, his telling the kids there was candy in his truck for them, taking his fake leg and turning it upside down to make the kids laugh and we adults smile, his summer and winter seats in church, his stories he'd share about farming, his testimony of how God was always there for him....in a nutshell...he was loved o so very much and he let everyone of us know that he loved us and was always there for us.

I know that there are reasons. God doesn't just do something to do something. He could if He wanted to cause He IS God. But He doesn't...there is always a reason. Its a bittersweet moment to say, ok, Lord...You know the why and I'm going to have to rest in that even though at this moment in time it hurts and it hurts to see Ted's family hurting so badly and his friends so sad and knowing that there are going to have to be changes made now.

So tonight, as I sit here in the living room by the Christmas tree, the family in bed asleep, I'm just going to do my best to thank God for the time I had to get to know Ted, for the laughs I got to hear, the "Howdy, Mrs. Preacher" that I got every time we were at church, the way he'd tell Troll on his way out the door, "Good message, big fella", or just the way that Ted was Ted. I know that my life was blessed immensely to know this humble, jolly, simple living farmer and I don't ever regret the opportunity that I had to meet him and be a part of he and his family's life.

Center Union/Newport has lost a truly wonderful man and friend....but Heaven has gained a big laugh and a heart full of gratitude and love for His savior...in the man we called.....Teddy.

Thanksgiving!!!

2010-11-24T06:06:00.000-08:00

Today we are headed to Ohio for the rest of the week!! Woooo hoooo! Its been 2 years since we've all been together and our family is really looking forward to it! Funny thing is I haven't packed a stitch! LOL!!! I gotta clean the house and pack in 6 hours. :) But thats ok....I will get'er done.

My wish is that all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving. And why wouldn't you when we are such a blessed people. It only takes a milisecond to realize just how blessed we are and I don't want to take any of that for granted. So happy Thanksgiving to all of you!! Enjoy your turkey's, hams and whatever else you have in your family!!! LOL!!! God bless!!

Harvest Home

2010-11-07T11:25:00.001-08:00

Our church family so kindly did a Harvest Home for us today. The kids were so cool to watch walk in this morning. They walked in as usual to turn on lights and then I heard their exclamations of "LOOK!! There's poptarts!" or "Awesome....there's all kinds of candy!"

So thanks so very much to each and everyone for sharing in what God has given you to help us out. We really do appreciate it and will have some very loud moments of putting everything away this eve as the kids pull this and that from all the bags :) I pray God richly blesses all of you. We love being your pastoral family and are so very thankful that God led us to this church.

Ages

2010-11-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

Wow! Its been ages since I wrote on here. Allot of water under the bridge. :) Went to the post op appointment yesterday and was given a clean bill of health! So that's a gr8 plus. My incisions are ridged up due to the stitches under the skin but doc said that those would go flat w/in 8 wks. And I was also impressed (kinda!!) to see that I'd gained 4 lbs back since I'd been there pre/surgery. Guess I'm back to normal! Hee, hee.

Of course the kids have made their funny comments since I've been on here last as well. A few that stick out in my mind...

Driving down the road to school Ethan said, "Mommy, when I get old, old, old, old....like 69...I'm going to get married."

I said, O? Who are you going to marry?

Ethan said, "My wife, Kayla!"

Over the weekend we prepared for a special service at our church where 14 of my side of the family came to sing and preach. After the service we had them over to eat supper and share in the bday cake I'd made for my dad and Reag. Beeps, who had fallen asleep earlier on in the service, was placed on the couch in the study and slept clear thru til 7ish Monday a.m. when she came running into the study.

She asked in a shocked sorta way, "Mommy!!! Who ate the cake?"
I said, Well Gramps, Grammie, Pap, Grama and all the other ppl came here after church and ate.

She looked at me and said, "Oh!"

About 3 hours later she came back into the study having just realized the tables that were still set up from the night before of company.
She said, "Mommy, who's coming over cause of all those tables?"
I said, Honey, remember...Gramps and Grammie, Uncle Scott and all the other family came over after church and we ate.

She shook her head, totally disappointed, and said, "I shoulda woked up!"

I felt so bad for her! She was thoroughly disappointed with the fact that she slept thru the whole thing when she was lookin forward to having everybody over. :)

Yesterday everyone got home from school. I was in the study talking with Troll when Reag walks in. I caught a glimpse of his glasses and thought they looked funny so I took them off his face and realized that they indeed looked funny. There were big gouges in the lenses.

I said, Reag...what happened to your glasses.

He looked at me kinda apprehensively and said, "Maybe my gum got stuck on them?"

I said, Reag, gum is not going to create gouges in your glasses. What happened? Did you fall?

He said, "Maybe I left them on the ground and someone messed them up?

I was getting a bit aggravated at this point in the obvious fact that something had happened and he knew exactly what HAD happened.

I said, Reag!! What happened to your glasses and you had better tell me NOW!

He looked at his dad then at me and said, "I blew a bubble with my gum and it popped all over my glasses. So I used my teeth to get the gum off."

Lol!!! Yes, I laughed. But I waited until after I reprimanded him and he had walked out of the study! lol! Only Reag woulda thought of something like that!! LOL!!!

Just a few

2010-10-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Tonite we went to the park for 45 minutes. I had to get out of the house. I tell ya...when you CANT get in a car and drive or just go for a long walk...thats when you realize how blessed you are when you CAN do that stuff. I had texted Troll while he was at school and asked him if we could please just go out for a little bit cause today everything seemed to be closing in on me. Fall is my fav season. Here is a tiny glimpse of what God gave me tonight! :)

I couldn't believe this sunset! It wrapped its way right into my heart! Felt like a gentle smile from God.

One of my fav boys! He looks me in the eye now, can pick me up and is a gr8 person to be with.

Lol!! Do I have to say anything else other than...look at that face! :)

This was taken b4 I had surgery when I was at my lowest point. The cat seemed to know that it helped to have that heat on my abdomen. Took some of the pain away. Reminded me of a cat we had when I was young on the mission field. That cat stayed by my dad the whole way through his sickness. So between our cat, Scotch, and Beeps...they have been my right hand ppl! :)

Surgery

2010-10-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

Had surgery yesterday to D-gall bladder me!! lol!! Got to hospital at 8. Went thru all the pre stuff they have to do. Got dressed in the lovely socks and gown that hospitals so lovingly provide and was sitting on the bed chatting with Troll when a lady walked past that i thought looked very familiar.

Next thing I knew...a man walked past, glanced in and stopped dead in his tracks. A few seconds later i realized my mouth was hanging open as I sat there staring at a life long family friend all the way from Kentucky!! Richard Lehman!! I was like, oh my word...what are you doing here!!! Up to that point I was very nervous with the whole surgery situation and the waiting and whatnot. Upon seeing him it was like everything just vanished. Which leads me to believe even more strongly that God knew all the hassle we'd go thru to get us to that point, time and place so that I could see someone that would set me at ease.

We chatted for a little bit and then started all the proceedures of pre surgery. The IV getting started (my veins...for the first time in my life, wouldn't cooperate and it took them a little bit to find one. they finally did and it was in my left hand right along my thumb. hurt like the dickens!), the shot of heprin (or however u spell that) in my tummy (which felt like a couple bees inside me stinging away), the pregnancy test (LOL!!!), blood pressure...yada yada! After about an hour i was taken to the pre-op room to talk to the surgeon, anisthesiologist and numerous nurses that all asked my name, bday and why i was there. At about 9:50 they gave me a shot to start relaxing me and I remember being wheeled back the hall and that is it. :)

Surgery took about 45 min. The surgeon (who by the way was a Christian and wearing a Steelers scrub hat!!!) went out to talk to Troll and informed him that everything went really well and he was happy with it all. I remember waking up in severe pain and three nurses around me trying to get me to breath and concentrate. I ended up getting 2 shots and a pill b4 I was even allowed out to the recovery room where I woke up to seeing my mom standing there...something I didn't think was going to happen due to their schedule. From that point on she took over and took care of me! :) There's just something about a mom that helps ya feel so much better. She fed me ice chips, chapsticked my poor dry lips and chatted with me. :) Dad was in for just a few moments and then they started to undo IV and stuff so they had to leave.

Around 2 they started sitting me up. That was really woozy. Took me about 10 minutes to get my bearing. Then came the standing. LOL!!! A sight to behold for sure!! After all that we got discharged and were home soon after 3.

I've been in quite a bit of pain and having issues sleeping but its nice to be in my own surroundings. Troll was home today and poss tomoro...duno about that yet. Beeps is really excited to have her daddy here all to herself.

Thanks to all of your prayers, the food, the taking care of our kids and the beautiful flowers that have been sent by our church and Bro/Sis Plank. They are making the house look and smell beautiful!

Happenings

2010-09-30T05:48:00.001-07:00

So many things can happen in a life that some would say..."upsets the apple cart". Some would say just complain and gripe until things get better. Some would say "why does this have to happen to me". Do we have the right to be that way? Are we not a blessed people?

Questions! Gotta love them!! So...allot of you know (and for this I'm sorry to be feeding you "old" news) that I have been kinda ill for going on three weeks now. It started back around Troll's bday, the 12th. (Actually...it started about the same time I got pneumonia but I didn't realize it at that point.) I started to feel very uncomfortable when I ate. Would start to eat and within minutes was full. I didn't think much of it as I've never been a big eater. Then things started to change.

I'd eat and within about 1/2 hour I was uncomfortable. It started to get worse to where I wasn't eating anything but crackers, pretzels and white rice and drinking ANY liquid was causing pain. Within a week I'd lost 10 lbs. and Troll was adament about me going to the doc. So on my bday I went. Doc was concerned after checking me out and for the fact that I'd lost that much weight that she ordered blood work and urine test done that day and scheduled an ultrasound of my abdomen for two days later. Urine test came back within minutes that there was blood and white blood cells in it. So that was sent away to a lab. That eve my parents came to watch our kids so that Troll and I could go out for my bday. I knew I wouldn't b able to eat but was looking forward to the evening out with my hubby...something we've not been able to do for probably 6 months or so. We got about 20 min from the house and both my arms went numb and i honestly felt that something was terribly wrong. We turned around and went home where I crawled into bed. Not long after my mom came up and said that she really felt I needed to go to ER. So we got ready and went. An ultrasound was done, blood work and another urine test. Everything came back "fine" and they said I might want to have a HIDA scan done. Other things happened there that led me to believe that they had seen something as they prescribed me a very souped up antibiotic given to ppl fighting serious infections and anthrax!! But I was sent home with a "UTI"!! (of which i knew i didn't have) and an inflamed liver.

The next day I was scheduled for a HIDA scan to be given two days later. I arrived at the radiology dept...a very nervous person! Never b4 had I had a test so detailed. I've had MRI's and CT scans b4 but never one where I was going to be injected with a nuclear device!! I'm a very imaginative person and was like, what happens if I blow up!! LOL!! For two hours I had to lay on my back completely still while this stuff went thru my liver and then into my gall bladder. This was a Thurs. I had to wait until Monday to hear from my doc. I managed to get to church Sun a.m. but that did me in strength wise. By this point, rice is now hurting to eat and I was down to pretzels and occaisional sips from a milkshake. Starving so badly and so thirsty. A friend mentioned ice chips (for which I said, duh, to myself for not having thought of this!!) and that helped tremendously.

Monday came and the doc office called to say that my HIDA scan had come back and that it showed my gall bladder wasn't functioning properly so I needed to see a GI doc. They said they'd call and set up an appointment. Mon. eve I was in terrible pain to where I thought i was gona have to go back to ER. I was down to "sipping" on stage 1 baby food to at least try for some food intake. Tues came and still no word. Tues afternoon my husband was called that the one place didn't acept our insurance so they would have to call another place. By the time Troll got home from school there was still no word so he called our doc office again. They said that the GI place had closed and they'd call asap Wednesday am. About 9 something I get the call. Doc office said that i had an appointment scheduled for Oct. 11th to see the gastro center. I started crying and said, you're kidding me....I'll be dead by then from lack of food. I hung up and called Troll who got very upset and informed me he'd take care of it. He called the doc office and said, "this is unacceptable!" The doc on call told him that he could do 1 of 3 things. Wait for the apointment, go to the ER or get a surgical consultation. Troll was talking to the lady at the doc office and said, "Ma'am...I know you are not to give out info over the phone but i know you know my wifes case and with your expierience at a doc office you know what is going on. If this was your husband...what would you do?" She said, I'd bypass all this mess and get a surgical consultation. Troll said, "Then that is what i want." So she said she'd do what she could. Within 20 min she'd found a surgeon that could get me in and Wed afternoon we drove to the surgeon's office.

He was shocked to know that I'd lost 15-18 lbs. in a little over 2 wks. and after looking at my chart/HIDA scan results informed me that my gall bladder deff had to come out. The cut off line for a gall bladder being in good enough shape to still keep is 35% and mine was coming in at a (as he put it) whopping 17%!! Basically my gall bladder is only cramping and its back flowing into my liver and swelling cause it can't discharge the bile. So within "minutes" he had made a decision and surgery was scheduled for this coming Tuesday.

The relief of finally knowing musta been huge cause both Troll and i were in bed a little after 9 and for the first time in almost two weeks...I actually slept!! I can't explain to you how wonderful it is to feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And I can't begin to tell you how blessed I am to know that there are ppl everywhere praying for me and supporting me through all of this. Ppl watching our kids, bringing food, sending warm wishes...it has been a true blessing to have such support.

Through all of this and not knowing and wondering what in the world was happening to me...I have been very thankful that I have been able to rest in God's hands knowing that He isn't going to put on me more than i can handle. Yes, I've had two breakdowns where I cried and felt so miserable from the not knowing. But I can honestly say I have had a peace that God knows the exacts and I don't need to worry. So many other ppl out there are going thru much worse...much, much worse so I don't have the right to complain or whine. I haven't even had the desire to do so cause I know my God is in control! To have that peace and comfort is the best thing to ever have. So...all this to say....I'm thankful that there are surgeons and tests out there that can help a person out, I'm thankful for a gr8 wealth of friends and family that have been praying for me, I'm thankful for a husband and kids that have been "putting up with" me and ultimately thankful that whatever the reason this was all for.....I can be at peace and rest in the hands of God! :)

Bday!!

2010-09-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

Today is my bday! Yea, I know, kinda weird to post a post on myself but hold on a second....don't turn off the computer yet...!!! LOL!!!!

My reason for posting about my own bday? The fact that I want to thank the Lord for another year. I'm a blessed woman. To be as blessed as I am and not stop and thank the Lord for this blessing would be wrong on my part so that's what I'm doing. I don't have the guarentee of another day so I'm going to do my best to not take each day's little blessings or big blessings for granted. :)

So many people don't have their parents anymore...I do! I have two wonderful parents of which I'm so very thankful for. Two parents that are going to be showing up in about 8 hrs to keep our kids so that we can go out to eat! Two parents that raised me to the best of their ability with God as their helper to make sure I was led along the right paths. I'm thankful I still have my parents.

I have a wonderful husband...and there are so many ppl that don't have their spouse anymore. I do!! And guess what??? I woke up this morning to a poem! Wow!! He's never written me a poem and there it was on the kitchen counter! :) He's a gr8 man and I'm so proud of him and thankful God gave him to ME!

I have 5 wonderful kids! Beautiful and healthy!! So many ppl that can't have kids and God blessed me with FIVE!! This is a blessing I thank the Lord for on a daily basis! I've wanted kids ever since I can remember and HE gave them to me! :) They fill my days with work, aggravations and tears at times...BUT...the times they fill my days with love and laughs totally outweigh and overtake those other times! I'm so thankful for my kids.

Friends. You know there have been times in my life that I have wondered where I was headed and feeling so utterly alone. That's a very hard thing to go through. I've been through depression even to the point of being put on meds and that was a REAL difficult thing to go through. BUT...through all that were those very close and special friends that stuck right there and encouraged me on and through it. Today I'm a better person due to my friends. REAL friends. And let me tell you...a REAL friend is just hard to come by anymore. But I have them. And I will not take that for granted. So, thank-you, Lord, for my friends.

And the rest of my family...brothers, sis's in law, bro in law, parents in law, neices, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents...on and on it goes....I'm so very thankful! For all the love, laughs and fun times that each of them have given to me...thank you!

Now I'm sure you're bored and don't wanna hear anymore but hey...its MY day!!! LOL!!! And I'm thankful for one more year that I've been granted to enjoy all these blessings and SO, SO, SO much more than this!

Ok, I'm done.......For now!!

LOL!!!

2010-09-16T18:20:00.001-07:00

Today I did apples. Seemingly GOBS of apples! I officially HATE apples!!! LOL!! No, not really hate them, just weary of 8 hours of peeling them. And yes, I will do it again cause I like to see my family is taken care of and I love to can things. Anyhoo...because of me having every burner and the oven occupied (applesauce and apple butter) Troll asked me if I'd prefer him getting supper! Now for all you men out there whose wives do canning and things like that....when they are obviously busy and have things strewn ALL over the kitchen and things on every burner and in the oven don't bother asking if we'd prefer you getting supper just call and say you're bringing supper home!!! LOL!! (Troll knows I'm teasing about this by the way as normally I make supper, too, when canning.)

So he brings home chinese food for us minus Reagan who had Mcd's!! We are sitting at the table eating and Jetta says, "Dad, were you alive in during the Depression?" Troll almost choked and I started laughing! (albeit quietly so as not to offend my poor hubby who was sitting there with such a stunned expression on his face) Troll said, "No, Jetta."

About 15 seconds later Jetta says, "Well you were at least born weren't you?" LOL!!! I couldn't help it. I put my head down and just laughed SO hard!! Troll literally looked stunned, hurt and confused all at the same time with mouth hanging open in disbelief and his eyes wider than possible displaying his bite of General Tso's chicken he was attempting not to choke on while he stammered a, "NO, Jeta!!!"

I was so thankful for the moment! :) Nothing like reminding the adults of who the oldest one is in this household!!! LOL

Prayer

2010-09-15T05:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's something that we'd ask you to pray about.

Last nite we were out with friends and got a phone call from our landlady. We were informed that the owner of the house we are renting is wanting to sell so we have until next November to find a new place to live in! :)

No big deal cause we have a year to look and pack and stuff. But, as you know, we have a big family and it's not always easy to find something suitable for us that is within what we can afford. So if you think of us...could you please ask God that He would provide the right place at the right time? :)

Our landlady was very kind and didn't want us to feel they were just kicking us out and even offered the place to us if we wanted to buy it (which we don't). So now I deff will be going through the attic, getting rid of stuff, organizing stuff and all that fun that goes along with packing up an entire house where 7 ppl, 1 cat and 1 dog live!! LOL!!! Wish me luck! (O...btw...I don't mind moving so maybe you better pray for Troll who HATES to move!!)

Latest cake

2010-09-07T08:59:00.001-07:00

Made this fishing cake for a friend.
Back of the cake.

View from the blimp!!! LOL

Really loved how the fishin pole/worm on the bobber looked. But my man ended up rather amish looking!!

Side view. My cattails looked like corn dogs!!! :)

Kidz Commentz

2010-09-07T05:33:00.000-07:00

The other night I was in the shower with Beeps. I looked down at my feet and there was a colorful liquid surrounding them that deff wasn't water! I said, Beeps...did you just pee in the shower? She said, "No!!! That is yellow water!!!" :)

Kidz Commentz

2010-09-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

After Spring (yes, Spring from 2008) cleaning the upstairs bathroom today I was rehanging the curtain. I had to go from the top of the toilet to the top of the register to do so and Beeps walked in on me while I was doing this.

"Mom, you are going to fall."
Nah, Beeps, I'm ok...but if I fall will you catch me?
"Only if you have 3,000,000 dollars!!"

Tonight at supper I was sharing the above story with the family and they all laughed. Someone commented on Beeps being silly/crazy and Eth very nonchalantly said, "That's how God made her." LOL!!! Troll almost spewed his mouthfull of iced tea all over the pizza!! :)

2010-08-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063972&id=1579565978&l=eeef679ce6

Click on this link for the Baptismal photos. :)

2010-08-31T05:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063922&id=1579565978&l=7a2eb1a0be

Click on this link for the DC photos. Sorry about the last posts that didn't work!! LOL

Baptismal

2010-08-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Baptismal

Here is the link for the kids' baptismal pics!

D.C. Daze !!

2010-08-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

D.C. Daze !!

Here are the pics from our D.C. trips. Enjoy!!

First day of school 2010

2010-08-26T05:02:00.001-07:00

Well, here it is, first day of school for the year of 2010. Sigh. Where our summer went is beyond me. But alas, school has arrived and I'm now mommy to a Jr. High kid. WOW!! They have grown SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fast. I'm a very blessed woman and thank God for what He has given me.

I know Beeps is going to be so upset when she wakes up to see everyone gone. She was so sure she was headed to school as well. I'm thankful that I still have one at home or I'd be going bonkers!

Pics

2010-08-24T06:34:00.001-07:00

Went to a state park with my parents. The kids on our hike.
Eth and Beeps taking a break to attempt feeding minnows grapes!

My lil sis, Noddy! Love this girl so very much.

My wonderful parents and lil sis.

These are some pretty cool kids if you ask me!

Funnies

2010-08-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we got 40 dozen ears of corn to do. With help different times from Troll and the kids...I worked 11 hours and we got 74 qts of home cut corn in our freezer! So very thankful for this. Troll had to take the youngest three to the dentist for a few hours so it was just me, Jetta and Aust working. Troll told me the following story when they got back....

A couple days ago Troll had been telling the kids that our new dentist was from the country of India so that made him Indian. Eth evidently found this rather fascinating and musta mulled this one over quite awhile. He eventually went to Troll and said, "Daddy, when our dentist comes into the room to do my teeth, will he be wearing an Indian suit?" :)

And this story happened while we four older ones were all working in the kitchen on the corn....

Aust and Jetta were my corn cleaner/put in pot/take outa pot/put in sink to cool/put on dish rack to drain/put on counter for mommy to cut people. At one point I looked up from cutting corn and saw Aust was turned completely away from the sink while supposedly cleaning the corn. I said, Aust...you can't expect to get something clean that you're not looking at. He immed retorted with, "But mom, I don't look at my back side to clean it!!" LOL!!! I was proud of him that he came off with something so quickly. It used to take me days, when I was his age, to come off with a humorous reply to something!! My brothers used to always laugh at me! So cheers to Aust for mastering humor with a quick reply!

I'm a very thankful person for the humor that flies around this house. Allot of you might not understand our type per se and might find it almost offensive. However, each of our kids and us spend many a time around the table or being somewhere together laughing. I know that not every family is blessed as we are and I don't ever wanna take that for granted. I'm forever grateful for the humor that Troll and I have. We both love sarcasm and our kids are learning it can be fun as well when done in the right manner.

So there ya go...two things that gave us laughs recently.

An "E" moment.

2010-08-13T05:32:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night in church Ethan got tired so he came over to me and laid down on my lap. He was cuddling away and looking pretty much content and sleepy when all the sudden he turns his head to look at me. Here's the following conversation...

"Mommy, did you laid me?"

Did I what?

"Did you laid me?"

(After struggling to figure out what he meant...) Yes, E, I laid you!

He looked away for awhile and I knew the wheels were turning in his head big time. Pretty soon he looked back and said, "I guess you laid everyone in our family didn't you?" LOL!!!

Not sure if he's been reading books about chickens or if it stems from too much Animal Planet/Discovery Channel on vacation but someone needs to educate this child! :)

2010-08-08T12:32:00.001-07:00

Black Bear Jamboree
Austin, Darren M., Ethan and Ethan!!

Dan, Troll, Wes....solving the worlds issues!!! :)

The Ethans.....that's all I need to say on that one! You can tell by the expression that they are TOTALLY alike!!

Missy, Samuel, Jetta....having allot of fun in the pool.

Had a gr8 day yesterday with friends from TN. Swimming, laughing, food....really gr8 time.

Vacation

2010-08-06T11:22:00.001-07:00

This week we r on vaca. Just a few shots of the trip. Jetta enjoying some soup at the cabin!

Beeps at Dollywood. The boys after a battle of guns and bow! :)

Troll and his mom in Charleston.

Bear and Bob in Charleston.

I will post random photos again. :)

Another park!

2010-07-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

We went to Col. Denning park today. Has an awesome 5 mile hike (round trip) that we opted for. Jetta and I went as far as I could talk Jetta into going. She finally begged me to stop as her side was hurting. It was so funny. I enjoyed it immensly but I'm not so sure the rest of the family did! Brought back allot of memories of me and my parents and uncles and aunts going on long hikes in Potter County and diff places in PA.
The boys opted for the creek instead of the trail after they'd gone about a 1/4 of the way.

Headed to the truck after the hike for our food.

Ethan made it part way up...he tried really hard.

This was as far as Austin went! He ended back up at the creek, too!!!

Beeps at the begining of the trail and she was starting to drag! Walking stick in one hand and a cluster of acorns in the other!!

random

2010-07-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Just a few random shots from last week. This is Bryson...went to help his mommy with VBS snack one evening. He was so alert and handsome looking! :)
The hot wing prank! These babies were so hot I had to keep my shirt over my face while I cooked them. The kids and Troll were walking thru the house gagging, coughing and sneezing!! LOL!!! Ethan informed me that, "that was a bad recipe, mom!!"

Had numerous kids over off and on all week. Here are a few of them! We went to the creek on a miserably HOT day!

Jenna and Beeps! These two might as well be sisters. They love being together.

VBS...Alaskan Adventure....kinda wished that snow up there was the real thing some of those nights. Wow, was it ever a hot week.

Laughin' on!

2010-07-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure WHAT the deal is but this must be my day. Someone out there must really need the smiles. Although I must say that Troll has had enough laughs at my expense so it's time for someone else to go thru something.

We started VBS this eve. Our workers came this morning to church to get everything set up and whatnot. Instead of driving back home (which is 50 min. away) they opted to stay at the church. I told Troll that there was no way they were gonna have McDonald's twice and that he needed to invite them to supper. They accepted and I had things ready when they walked in at 4:30. I wasn't hungry since I'd been drinking massive quanities of "arnold palmers" (a safe, unalcoholic, mixed drink mind you) and so knelt on the floor behind Eth and Beeps while they ate. I then did up the dishes while everyone visited and slipped off to take a shower.

All was well and good.

That is all WAS well and good if it hadn't have been for my fettish. A somewhat childish and eccentric fettish......heated towels. I have this thing where b4 I get in the shower I throw two towels in the dryer so that when I'm done I wrap up in one and the other gets wrapped around my head. In fact when I go places....my heated towels are one of the first things I miss about being home! So......I shower. Get out. Grab my towels out of the dryer and..........uh oh.....the vbs workers are still here. See...that wouldn't be a problem 'cept I had no clothes. When it's just us I take me and my towels and run up the steps. So I think to myself, ok self, its 5:45...VBS starts in 45 min.....they will probably be leaving soon and you can go get dressed and comb your hair. So i lean up against the dryer. Its then that I realize that Troll has just started into what seemed like his life story! Only it was the life story of how I met my good friend/sis, Teej, in Australia. And it wasn't the abbrviated version.

Hot. I go from leaning up against the dryer to leaning across the washer. The room the shower is in is not ventilated at all. I was begining to wish I wasn't wrapped up in heated towels. What to do? I got the brainy idea to text Troll to ask him to please cut it short. No answer. I tried again. Nope...he ain't answering. 15 minutes have passed and I'm feeling a bit odd. He's still yakking. I start thinking again....OH!! I know...text my friend. So I'm texting away. Whew....really feeling strange. I'm now hanging onto the side of the shower and 1/2 across the dirty clothes hamper. Starting to wonder if it was at all possible to dash thru the study, foyer, living room and up the stairs without anyone realizing. The room feels as if its closing in on me. I finally had had all I could take. I knew I couldn't call Troll or anyone else as the "shower room" is right off the dining room and the workers would hear my desperate plea for help. The room at this point was looking as if I could send up smoke signals. Steam and vapor. I texted a friend from church...Sam, will you please call Troll and ask him to PLEASE shut up? Two minutes later I hear his phone ring. He keeps talking...you gotta b kiddn me. Whew...there...I hear him walking. Next thing I hear...."Hello? Yea, how are you? WHAT?" and then these gut wrenching laughs (which was one of the first things I fell in love with) from the man I love (but don't really like). I hear him go back out to the dining room and say something about it being about 6 o'clock, feet, ppl saying goodbye and then silence.

Needless to say...by the time he came into the shower room (which he did about 5 min. after h received the phone call, opened the door, looked at me and busted up laughing again) I was sitting on the floor of the shower feeling non to well and telling myself that maybe my fettish of heated towels was not the gr8est idea after all! There is just no sympathy!!

One with the pot!

2010-07-19T10:42:00.001-07:00

Ok....so all you fellow wives and mother's of boys....DON'T YOU JUST WANNA HURT THEM? I mean...com'on!!! A little bit of respect.

You ever wake up in the middle of the nite and are so stinking tired...trying to figure out why in the world you woke up in the first place? And then you realize...you have to go to the bathroom. BUT you're so tired it takes you 5 minutes to attempt even getting out of the bed and by that point....YOU GOTTA GO!!

So you stumble and weave your way to the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light, to relieve yourself and crash back into bed. ONLY when you think you're doing yourself a favor by NOT turning on the light so that you stay in the closest thing to sleep as possible you realize that you mighta probably shoulda turned on the light as you crash down only to realize you have become one with the toilet! And not just the toilet....BUT one with the water IN the toilet! You've totally missed seat and ring which (thanks to either the hubby or one of the boys) is standing upright. Trust me......by the time you get yourself unearthed from the water, grossing out cause of what you just crashed down into and dried off......you're no longer sleepy. It then takes an hour to rid yourself of the memories and the threats that you feel running rampantly through your mind towards those males you live with to even attempt falling back asleep. There's just nothing quite like.............

..........................BECOMING ONE WITH THE TOILET!

Park

2010-06-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Took the kids to the park two days ago to go crawfish hunting. Here's just a few shots.
Austin attempting to catch a fish.

My skinheads found a hole that was deep enough for their bodies to swim!

Thought this was a really nice pic of Jetta.

Beeps luvn up on her daddy!

Just one of the many crawfish that got handled by the Tolley's! I wasn't real thrilled with how those things were absolutely everywhere. EVERYWHERE! So as soon as you moved you'd feel thm on your feet. Nasty! It was a fun evening though. Cheap entertainment!! Unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready when Troll slid down a bank with a crash into the creek!! LOL! It was so stinking funny! This must be the week for crashes. One of my friends missed a curb and hit the pavement, Troll crashed down the bank at the creek, Eth slipped on some rocks and went down with a thud and today our bed hit the dirt! Wonder who is next!! Probably me since I keep laughing! Talk about cheap entertainment...doesn't take much for me!

Tomorrow is the first day of July! Wow!! Summer is already flying by with entirely too much speed. We got our first pickings out of the garden yesterday...zucchini and hot peppers. Austin informed me that he picked (and ate) the first tomato. So far it all looks good. Our yellow squash plants died for some reason but hey....that happens. Looking forward to the canning and preserving that is soon going to be hitting with a vengance.

2010 Ball

2010-06-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Well the 2010 ball season is over for us. The Newport Indians (aust's team) made it to the championship game! They lost 4-2 but played hard and with gr8 attitudes even though the umpire was against them and for the other team. I was proud of the whole team.
Here's our Phillie and Yankee (much to daddy's dismay and Reag's delight on the Yankee part!).

Aust played first base this year and did a tremendous job. I'm so proud of him. He's turning into quite a fine young player.

Our little Phillie! Don't you just luv the xpression on his face? LOL!!! It's like "just try to strike me out"!! :) He did really well. This was his first year. He was the only kid that didn't have to have the "t" to hit the ball. He hit off of coach pitch.

Reag played first base and pitcher all season. He too did a tremendous job. His team made it to one playoff game.

All in all...its been a gr8 season and I really enjoyed the games. Of course mommy gets into them and screams and goes crazy for her boys! Even harrassing the umpire if it was needed! Troll got a warning at Austin's playoff game for harrassing the umpire but hey....when a call is bad...its bad! We're still wondering if one of these games we're gonna make the front page of our town paper!! Still debating on who our "one and only call" is going to be to. Thinking our church treasurer is pretty close to top of the list!!! LOL!!! Looking forward to Fall ball and next season!

Dad's

2010-06-20T19:31:00.001-07:00

Dad's. Wow!! So much that comes along with that word. Below I'm just going to share a few things about a few dad's that are in my life. There are so many dad's out there in my life that I've watched but these 6 are the most important to me. Since this is their day.....I wanted to honor them. I know I didn't have a seperate pic of three of these men on here but its cause I love this pic.

First off...of course...is Troll. For someone that never thought he'd have kids....he is a gr8 dad! He loves to play ball, tickle, chase the kids through the house and yes, even changed those diapers whenever I just couldn't get to it. He would put some women to shame and I'm so very thankful that God put us together and blessed us with the kids that we have. I've watched you go through some really stressful trying times and yet you still take time to be with your kids. That is one of my favorite pastimes.....watching you 6 play. The trust that our kids have in you is a wonder to see. Not many kids out there can boast having a dad as smart as you that still takes times for them. You have touched so many young lives in your jobs and yet some of the biggest impacts and impressions have been on our 5 kids. Honey, thank you so very much for being the kind of dad that our kids need. I love you!!

Next is my father in law. You know, seriously...I don't even like that word. "In law". From the day I met him way back then and he gave me a hug when he didn't even know who I was....I fell in love with him. He's been a gr8 encourager, supporter and smacker!!! :) Whenever I need someone to just listen or let me cry...he's always there. Thanks, dad, for being a truly wonderful 2nd dad to me. I couldn't have picked a better one.

Then there's Brian. Laredo as we affectionatly call him. Another truly wonderful man. Loves his girls with all his heart. Through many butt whoopins in "Canasta", jokes, pranks and laughs....I have grown to love and appreciate this man just as if he was my own brother. Thanks for accepting me into the family as you have.

Titus. My oldest brother. My confidant and best friend as a child and teen. Anytime I needed to talk...morning, noon or late into the nite...he was always there. We were so much alike. Loners, goofy......almost hermits!! Many a time he scared me half to death flying up or down Bent Mt. in Virginia but that didn't stop me from riding with him. I can still remember the nite when we were in his room and he made a comment that his calf muscles were stronger than mine!!! Ha! I proved right quick that that just wasn't the case! I always have and always will love you Titus.

Doran. Well lets see. Doran!!! The nut of the family. The one that always wanted to make sure we were laughing. The sensitive one. The people person.....that's Doran. I was always ecstatic when he'd come home from college and brought home a bunch of guys!! I was scared to death they were all there but loved to hear them laughing and beating each other with towels. We both started piano lessons at the same time. Ha! I lasted a whole month I think and he continued on to be the player he is today. I'm proud of what he accomplished. Even though I'm not around him to see him be a daddy...I know that his kids adore him and are proud of him. Forever and always, Doink....you will be my little bro. (even tho you're 3 yrs older) I love you.

My dad. So much that can be said here. So much that I could convey with just those two words..."MY DAD". And yet how do you put into words the man that he is. He's my hero. I've watched my dad go through a breakdown on the mission field. I watched my dad lose his mom. I watched my dad cut off part of his finger. I watched my dad go through struggles at church's he's pastored. And yet through all of those tough instances (just naming a few) he has remained the man he is today. Tough, sensitive, always there for others, putting aside himself and what he could be doing to help someone else out. A man of God. A prayer warrior. A man with so much work ethic you wonder where it comes from. A man that is so smart that it makes me of weaker mind...sick!!! Ha! God knew exactly what I needed in a dad and picked him extra special cause HE knew that Dad would be the one that would get through to me the best. THAT to me is something that makes me feel like a pretty priviledged lady. Never in a million years could I express what my dad means to me but know this dad.....you are loved with every fiber in my being and I'm SO proud that God chose me to be your daughter. I love you.

Happy Fathers' Day to all of you. You're all the greatest dad's I know and I'm proud that you're in my family.

Stuff n Such

2010-06-14T04:59:00.001-07:00

This pic isn't the best but it captured what was happening!! The boys thought Beeps needed some extra lovin when we were at a steakhouse on the way home from the zoo the other day. I luvd the pic.
The kids at the zoo.

Wedding cake I did Saturday.

E's bday cake.

Beep's bday cake. This was done on the fly. I had about an hour and 1/2 to throw something together. Troll was in Ohio with his family during this time so it was just me and the kids and we wanted Beep's day to be special even tho daddy couldn't b with us. She is our girly girl and luvd the purse.

Pizza

2010-06-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

Well here is my first attempt at "pizza" cakes. Our friend that i did the restaurant for has a bday this month and last year he'd asked me to do pizza cake for him. Here is what I came up with!! I luvd them!

This one was pepperoni (fruit rollups), blk olives (blak jelly beans cut), peppers (gummi bears chopped), green peppers (gummi worms sliced), onions (gummi bears chopped) and cheese (grated white choc with a powdered sugar glaze drizzled every little bit to giv it a melted look).
The cake part was a one box mix made with an extra egg, baked in a greased and floured pizza pan at 300 degrees. Our local pizza shop gave Troll two boxes for them. The pizza below was pepperoni and mushroom (rolled out marshmallows cut to shape and dusted with cocoa powdered to resemble color). The sauce for the pizzas were tubes of red icing (cause they come without taste) with cocoa powder added to make darker and chopped up green and red gummi worms to make it look like peppers and tomatoes in the sauce.

So there you have it. I really enjoyed doing these. Troll said they were rather rich with all that was going on on them and you needed coffee to enjoy it immensly but that they were really good. :) And the friend was impressed. Thats all that matters to me!!

Part III

2010-06-07T06:16:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite ppl on the planet!! This guy was such a hoot to work with. :)

Side door b4 it was finished...Hallway to bathrooms looking back towards the hallway to dining area..

Entrance to hallway to bathrooms.

The lights on the sides.....I absolutely luv them.

I still forgot a pic of the textured walls!!! Sorry....

Anyway, there you have it, what I was doing for the past while. Again, thanks to Yancy for believing in me, thanks to Troll and the kids for putting up with not having their mommy/wife around for days at a time. Love you guys.

Restaurant II

2010-06-07T06:08:00.001-07:00

Here are the "finished" product pictures.

I will put some close up pictures on so u can see the texture on the walls. But this gives you the idea. A very special thank you to Yancy for asking me and having faith in me that I could pull this off. It was allot of fun and it boosted my confidence. For those of you that would like to see it in person.....Brothers Pizza, Howard, PA!!!

Restaurant

2010-06-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Alright....
So some of you knew that last year I was asked by a friend of ours if I would be the designer of his new restaurant. I freaked out and said, I've never done anything like that. He told me that he really wanted me to do this and that he knew I could. Troll was really excited and told me that I'd always wanted to do something like this and that he had faith in me. So I accepted. Our friend got an old bank that had turned into a bike shop and decided that it would make a gr8 pizza shop. Below are pics before I got started. (Numerous ppl were involved as far as floor laying, building, etc. And I would never take credit for the work they did. Specially Kyle and Saul.) I was in charge of picking the color scheme, doing the texture on the walls, painting and picking of lights, bar style, seats, floor scheme....etc. I really enjoyed it. I started in October of last year, had a few months off when I got pneumonia and he just opened in April. The place is really cool looking..albeit not finished. I still have to get the artwork for it and and some finishing things need done but for the most part...it looks gr8 as you will see in the next post

Beeps

2010-06-05T04:47:00.000-07:00

So the other day I was downstairs and was headed for the bathroom when I realized there was no toilet paper. Bia was following me around and I said, Hey Beeps...will you go get me some toilet paper for this bathroom cause Mommy has to go potty. She said, "Sure!"

She came back down with four rolls of toilet paper and said, "Now Mommy, listen....if you need more just let me know ok?" LOL!!!

Not sure what she thought I had to do but I almost went on the floor laughing so hard!!! :)

Stuff

2010-05-29T14:27:00.001-07:00

Alot of stuff happening in our lives. Eth and Aust graduated on Thurs nite. Some of these pics are blurry. Beeps was proud of her brothers as were all of us. Feelings were kinda sad though as we knew Troll's gram was in a hosptial after having a massive stroke. Troll left to go be with his family Fri morn early. I was glad he was able to be there for the boys' graduation tho.
This has to be one of my fav pics...EVER. So many mixed emotions. It was so neat watching them all do the penguin waddle down the aisle and yet so sad to realize they are growing in to boys that are not gonna need "mommy" much longer.

Not sure what Aust was looking at!!!

This cake I did for a surprise baby shower for a family that I've been friends with for a very long time. You can't tell the colors on here real well as the pic is blurry. It was really cute. That is a bunny in the middle. :)

Fish

2010-05-25T05:47:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning at 5:30 Reagan went fishing with a man from church. Around 10 he showed up where we were working at the garden with these 5 beautiful rainbow trout! He was so proud! Gibb told us 3 of them he reeled in all by himself! Good job, Dooder!

Feeling warm

2010-05-19T07:11:00.000-07:00

Last week Eth had a fever for three days so he missed two days of school. He didn't care. He does very well in school but every nite before he has to go...he cries and begs us to not make him go to school. Its really heartbreaking and hard for mommy to enforce.

Sunday nite on the way home from church he said, "Mommy, do I have school tomorrow?" I said, yup...you sure do. I glance back at him to see his reaction and saw he had his hand on his forhead. He gave a moan and said, "Mom...I'm feeling warm." I said, Eth..u don't have a fever anymore. He said, "But mom...I know I'm going to get one if you send me to school."

LOL!!!!

I can't help it!!! LOL!!!

2010-05-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

There have been allot of funny things that have happened in our marriage in the home, out and about or in church. However, tonight was the best one yet where church bloopers are concerened. I have not stopped laughing over this and I hope you get a good laugh over what I'm about to share as well.

We had Penn View trio at our church this eve with the Durkee's. They did such a wonderful job. All three ladies have beautiful voices and blend so well. The Durkee's are a real joy to listen to as well. They did their program through and Troll got up to lift the offering at the end. I honestly thought I was going to pass out right there in my seat from laughing so hard when he started off his little speech with, "Thank-you, ladies, for such encouraging thongs.....songs!" LLOL!!

I did a double take, thinking to myself....He didn't just say that..., looked over at Michelle to see her grinning way too big and realized he had indeed just said what i thought he said!! I lost it. I literally sat there throught the entire song the Durkee's sang for the offering laughing uncontrollably. Every time I'd think I had it under control I'd look at Troll and he had this stupid grin all over his face!! OMW!!! Tears were streaming down my face as I sat there and shook so hard. I felt terrible for laughing and the Durkees were up singing their hearts out about "keep looking ahead not looking behind"!!!!!

Troll thanked everyone for coming, asked a man to dimiss in prayer and we as one (trio, Durkees and us) walked outside and lost it!!! And what was even more funny about it was that only one other person in the entire church caught it!!! Wow!!!

Thanks, babe, for giving me a good laugh. I needed that SO badly!

E

2010-05-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Baseball has been going wild this year for us with three playing. They also changed the league so now we travel to and fro to play games. Last nite was a game in Dauphin. I had to go to Thomastown to deliver supper to a new young mother, go to Mechanicsburg to return shoes I'd bought Austin and they were to little (he's now in a size 9.5 mens!!) and then on to Dauphin...all this within a 2.5 hour period.

We all got there, me from Mechanicsburg and Troll and the kids from school/staff mtg, 5 min before the game was to start. It was cold and overcast and our team just didn't seem much into it. Eth was weirding us out with how he was laying!! At least he was keeping entertained!!

We lost 16-11. Reag seemed pretty bummed and all of us were hungry due to not having supper that Troll opted for us to go to Pizza Hut.

Off we went. Got there and sat down to garlic bread with cheese, stuffed crust cheese pizza and stuffed crust meat lovers pizza. I happened to glance over at Eth and saw he was staring at ppl. I said, Eth, don't stare at ppl. He turned and looked at me with complete amazement and said, "Mom...I'm not staring at ppl...I'm looking at their hats!" LOL!!!

Wedding

2010-05-11T11:20:00.001-07:00

Well all that worry for nothing! As so many ppl have told me! Below are some pics of the wedding cake I did for Troll's cousin LC and his new wife Amy. I really enjoyed it (after the first 3 weeks of nerves left)!!! Pics are small cause i stole them off my sis in laws facebook page!

The finished product.

LC and Amy cutting the cake.
My neice and I. She is such a beautiful girl. We were so cold that Troll gave us his suitcoat and we both got in it and walked around! Makes me look like the hunchback of notre dame!! I luv u, Kerrigan!!!

What do u do?

2010-05-04T10:27:00.001-07:00

What do you do when your 3 yr old decides she wants to play Dogopoly, Clue, Jenga and Bongo all at the same time and tries to get them off the shelf all at the same time? AND your 5 yr old dumps a bowl of rice krispies all over the floor?

You thank the Lord for a husband that saw you were stressed the night before and so gave you the night off and sent you away. Shove all the games into the closet in an undesired heap of money, tokens, cubes, dice and figures with all the coats and gloves and balls that are also there. And tell your 5 yr old to get paper towels and laugh at the attempt of trying to clean it up!!! Then you grab the broom, call the dog and pray no one wants to play a game in the near future!!! Lol!!!

Random & cakes.

2010-05-02T16:43:00.000-07:00

Last nite Jetta and I went to a concert that Bryan Potteiger was a part of. My cousin Sheri, Zoran and Jaron were there. Here's Zoran. I luv this little guy!
Sitting with Uncle "BJ"...chewing on a straw!!

I made this cake on Friday for ShaDawn Heidler's bridal shower.

This cake was for twins. They love dogs.

A close up of the tops.

Another anniversary!!

2010-04-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here's a wish for my parents in law for their 38th anniversary! They, too, have been great parents and I'm proud to have them for in-laws. Both are there for you when you need a listening ear or just a hug. Thanks to you both for welcoming me into your family like one of your own. We love you guys very much!!
Wheezer was very happy to be able to witness Ambria coming into this world. Looks like she's VERY happy to be holding her new grandaughter!

We went on vacation with Troll's family back when Jetta wasn't quite a year old. Brian, Dad and Troll....three men I dearly love and am proud to call family.

Jetta and Dad. She's deff her papaw's girl and I'm so glad he's a great grandpa to my kids. He's always there with words of wisdom for me and something to make me laugh when i need to.

Mom is a true nut and I love her for that. The numerous times we've laughed so much we're both crying, the times we've gone shopping or the times we're just venting...she's been a good mother in law.

Dad and Mom Tolley...you've been so helpful to us and we love you both so very much. Congratulations on 38 yrs together. We wish you many, many more.

Anniversary

2010-04-28T14:50:00.001-07:00

Today is my parents 38th anniversary. I wanted to let everyone know just how much I love them and appreciate them. They are heroes in my eyes for all they have been through. They do anything for anybody. They work until they can barely move. Gentle people, kind people, compassionate people and wise. Thank you for being great parents. Thank you for your Godly influence. We love you guys and happy anniversary!!
This is my fav pic of my dad! So shows exactly how calm and gentle he is in spirit.

This is my mom...always has a child in her arms. The love she's shared with all the little ones that have gone to her home has been over and over what most people give. A real trooper!

Dad again...always helping out and doing what he can to make things easier for others.

Mom. Goofy when needed to make the kids laugh. I'll never forget the day she crawled across the table to throw ice cream at our evangelist!!! I was a teenager and will never get that scene out of my mind!! They have truly been great parents. Godly and giving. Thanks mom and dad!!

Cakes and Crud!

2010-04-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here are the last two cakes I did. This was for my Aunt and Uncles 40th anniversary. I luvd the hearts on these. I used a papertowel that I cut into the shape of a heart and then pushed it into the icing to get the design!!

Yesterday we had two ball games. Aust's was at 4 and Reag's was at 6. I was washing their uni's last nite so that they would have them cleaned for their games every nite this week and I had to laugh. Below is Aust's getting pretreated with Oxy Clean...

...and these are Reag's getting pretreated with Oxy clean!!! Aust had dirt on his from a gr8 slide into home plate where he scored from first base. It was pretty funny to me to see the difference in the boys. Eth hasn't had a game yet but i'm interested in seeing what his pants are gonna look like. Reag is the only one of my boys so far that almost every pair of pants he owns are grass stained and have holes in the knees!

All three boys are doing a real good job. Aust was in the outfield last year but seems to be on 3rd base this year. He had a gr8 game yesterday. Reag was first baseman last year but this year the pitching coach tried him at pitching and was pretty impressed with how good he did. He's working pretty hard on him. Eth is yet to hav a game but so far at his practices he's done super. This is his first year so he's actually in T-ball but the coach pitches to him and he hits gr8 without the T. His team is so funny to watch. They are so little and they get SO distracted! They'll throw their mitts up in the air, squat and play in the dirt, fight over the ball...etc. !!! If nothing is happening where Eth is tho...he'll stand there stiff as a board with his hands in his pockets as if to say, "Just what exactly am I doing here?" LOL!!! I luv baseball season.

"Only Gwen"!!

2010-04-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday was deff one that won't be forgotten soon! And as my one aunt and a dear friend said, "Only Gwen!" Grab your asprin...you're gonna need it!!

Sunday nite I left right after church to go to a friends house where I've been working the past few months. Got up Monday and worked until after 11 that nite. Got up Tuesday and worked again until a little after 3 when I was to leave. But things got kinda hectic and I was asked this and that and things kinda feel apart from there on out. Going on 4 I was finally getting ready to get into the truck when I dropped a heavyish item on my foot and it landed smack on my toe. It started to bleed and it really hurt. The whole way home it throbbed and throbbed. I was supposed to have left at 3 so I could get home in time to feed my kids, shower and get dressed to go back up to Belleville so Jetta could sing in the Revival services that were going on. As it was, due to the construction on the road and all the numerous other things that occured, I didn't walk in the door until 5:45. I was to leave at 6:15 for Belleville.

Kal came to pick up Reag and Eth for their ball practice/scrimmage and I ran upstairs with Bia to get changed as I no longer had time to shower. First outfit didn't match right so off it came. Second outfit went better and I quickly threw clothes on Beeps, combed her hair and realized that my hands were still paint covered and my nails were black due to the stain I'd be using (yes, mom...without gloves!!). So I ran into the bathroom and scrubbed my hands. Didn't work. I was running outa time. I grabbed Bia and we flew down the steps, foot killing me in my church shoes and out the door we ran. 6:20. I locked the door...looked down at my feet and realized I had on cream hose instead of white to go with the outfit. ugh! Now all my lady friends know that there is a vast difference between white and cream. You can't mix em.

I moaned...said, com'on Beeps we gotta go back inside. Up the stairs we both flew. Yanked open my dresser drawer to realize there were no white hose. What to do?? I went to digging and found another type of hosiery item that was a more neutral color and put that on only to realize that they were gonna fall down the minute I took a step. I said to myself, girl....you're gonna be walking up to that piano and down they are gonna fall...you really want that?? Nope, says I, not gonna work. Those came off only for me to realize that my poor toe was bleeding again and was killing me. I ran to the closet and found a pair of white sandals and attempted to put them on which only added to the aggravation of the hurting toe. I thought...girl, you gotta get out of here...ignore your toe. So Beeps and I ran back out the door. 6:40.

By the time I got to the church in Belleville, after driving 90 most of the way and praying that God would help the cop that might stop me to realize I was on my way to church and it was all for a good cause (LOL), my foot was NOT going back in my sandals which I'd taken off. I was in a quandry of what to do. I decided it wasn't worth the pain and decided to go in barefoot and carrying the sandals so at least the ppl there wouldn't think I was too poor and couldn't afford shoes.

I was a nervous wreck. We were almost late for church to start; in fact...got there right as the pastor was getting up. My hands were ice cold and sweating. I asked my cousin when the special was and she informed me and I sat there and prayed the whole way through. Lord, you know that we were asked to do this and we consented and I don't know why my nite went like this but you can use the song and PLEASE help them to not be offened when I walk up there.

The pastor brings attention to the fact that I was there and it was our time. I felt like squirming under the bench. I grabbed the song and marched up front like I was Sandi Patti!!! Jetta got her michrophone and I put the song on the bench and looked down at my feet. There sat the pastor and their visiting evangelist right on the front row!! I knew I had to explain the absence of shoes! So I launched into my story!!! And what was worse was that my feet had been hurting while working anyway so they were all stained and looked terrible. LOL!!! I told my story and informed them that I did in fact own shoes and soap and they neednt feel sorry for me but I wanted to apologize for looking like I did!!! Everyone was laughing (well at least the ones I dared to look at) and I went on to say how the song said to let the storms and dark clouds come...they don't worry me cause I'm sheltered in the arms of God. No matter how stressed out we become or how things just don't seem to work right...God know why and He has it all under control! That's what is so exciting about being a child of His!

We finished the song and I went back to my seat shaking!! The pastor (who is a gr8 friend of ours) got up and said he was glad we'd made it and did that song...barefeet and all...cause it spoke to him. :-) I'm thinking...ok, you're allowed to be compassionate cause you knwo me but what is this poor evangelist from God's Bible school area gonna think? Wonder of wonders he got up and said, "I'm glad the sister made it as well. And in my neck of the woods (Ohio) barefeet fit in just fine!" :0)

After church the pastor walked back, shook my hand and said, "I'm so glad you're still Gwen!" His wife and my aunt looked at me and said, "Only Gwen!!!" LOL!!! I begged them to please not tell my mom!!! They both agreed but as I've just put it on here...... (sorry mom!! LOL!!! I really do try to be finesse but it just doesn't work out too well!)

This gets chalked up to a first for me.....
I went to a church and played the piano in my bare, stained feet with black fingernails, paint all over my arms and hands and shaking like crazy!!!

baby cries when she hears the Michigan Fight Song

2010-04-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

baby cries when she hears the Michigan Fight Song

This is for all our fellow Buckeye fans out there!!! :-)

latest cakes

2010-04-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Amber's diaper cake.
Faye's 75th cake.

Chas' 25th whimsical cake!

Aust's bday cake.
Diaper cake for Shannon.

AJ Peacheys

2010-04-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

AJ Peacheys

Some pictures of the fire

'It Tears My Heart Apart,' Employee Says

2010-04-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

'It Tears My Heart Apart,' Employee Says

For those of you that worked at or have been to Peachy's...my heart goes out to you. Click on the link to see the destruction.

Mooing burgers!

2010-04-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm not sure what my deal is but it never fails. I mean NEVER. I'm not a meat eater by any stretch of the imagination. I eat enough to get a very small amount of protein. But when we grill burgers and hotdogs I will eat those.

BUT.......here's the issue.....it has to be DONE! And I mean DONE!!! No pink whatsoever. Not burnt either or dried out. Just done! There can be an entire plate of hamburgers sitting on the counter and I grab one and fix it up how I like it...lettuce, mayo, ketchup, relish, mustard and tomato.....sit down, pray, take a bite and EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! There's pink! Yuk! it NEVER fails! A whole plate of them and I get the pink one.

It happened again last nite. I picked a thin one that looked done, doctored it (minus the tomato and lettuce cause we didn't have any) and sat down to take a bite. PINK! Troll shook his head and said, "HOney, what is your deal? It just never fails!" To prove the point he gets up, goes to the kitchen, takes the platter with the remaining burgers on them (5) and breaks open every one!!! Not a single one had pink in it!!! I don't cause a fuss about it normally I just give it to Troll but I knew he'd put horseradish on his so I wasn't eating his pink burger either (he makes sure his has pink in it).

So I'm getting down to the middle of this burger and I'm like...this burger tastes weird. I said, did you put relish on your burger troll? He said, no. I'm like well this is my burger but it sure tastes like it has horseradish on it. I ate 3/4 of it and couldn't hack it anymore. I said, this HAS to have horseradish on it! AFter much thinking back over my steps (and his) we came up with a point of time where'd we both just put our burgers on our buns with ketchup, mayo and mustard..he'd gone into the dining room for soemthing and I'd gone into the pantry. In the process I misplaced my burger and thought his was mine and i got his, added relish on top of the (what I thought was mayo) horseradish and started eating!!! Two very nasty things in my mind....pink meat and horseradish! Gag!!! About next I'm only gonna get burgers from McDonald's. It doesn't even matter if I go to someone's house...I STILL get the one with the pink!

Me and mooing burgers just aint the best of friends. Blah!!!

Sunrise Service

2010-04-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

This was Easter Sun morn out on Sunrise Hill. The pic below didn't turn out too well as I was using my phone. But I had to put it on here. Not sure if Troll was drinking his phone or what was going on but the look on Kim's face was priceless!

This is the pose that gets struck when Sam doesn't want her pic taken!! :)

Part of the 45 that were there.

This is the guy that shared/invaded (LOL) my space with me!! We had this huge grill with 3 cast iron skillets. Trust me when I say that the morning was not without incident! He was doing all the eggs and numerous times they'd come flying over into my potatoes!! :)

Here's our grill. It was allot of fun and I'm looking forward to next year already.

Trip to Park - Exploring

2010-04-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

Saturday we took the kids to the park. We were on the hike through the woods when Troll spied a rock with fossils in it! So for the next hour we went fossil hunting. It was pretty cool how many we found.
One of the bigger rocks that got turned over had this monster worm under it! Beeps LUVS worms! She was proud to have her pic with it!

Eth was one of the official rock turner overers!

Beeps is our poser/dancer! I told her to look at the water and this is the shot that happened!

The hike up these steps might not look like much but trust me....they get ya!

Eth's Easter party

2010-04-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Easter party in the kindergarten class. Lined up to do the egg on spoon relay race.
Rolling eggs across the floor with their noses.

Beeps really enjoyed this one!

This little girl was so decked out in color I had to take her pic! I luved it!

Eth showing Beeps around his class. (O, and yes...Eth refused to dress wacky that day! Unlike Beeps and I!!)

Bread of Life

2010-04-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday we went to the restaraunt called "Bread of Life". It is a Christian owned place and all the menu (for the most part) has Biblical names. Like a kids hotdog is called "Nehemiah's Dog"!! Someone at church had gotten us numerous gift certificates for there for Christmas and we finally decided we were taking a few moments to just go enjoy it.

For the last week or so our kids have all been sneezing, snotting and coughing. I had gotten it while in Florida and just got over it last month. It's that nasty head cold/sinus stuff that puts all the pressure in your head and you can't blow anything out and yet you're so full. I can't handle the sound of sniffing and blowing at the table and we had no tissues anyway so everytime someone had to blow their nose off they'd go to the bathroom. Well after an hour of this, with five kids getting up (sometimes all at once...sometimes different) to go to the bathroom to blow their noses, Austin had had all he could take.

Bia, Reag and Jetta had just gotten up and left. Aust was in the middle of eating his liver and onions and said, "Where did everyone go?" I said, to the bathroom to blow their noses. He rolled his eyes, sighed and said, "MOM!!! Do you realize that everyone is going to think that our entire family has bladder issues?" He was honestly embarrassed with it all!!! :) I found it quite funny and both Troll and I almost spewed our drinks across the table!!

Only in the eyes of a "child"!!

Whacky Day!!

2010-03-31T15:05:00.001-07:00

Today was wacky day at school. I always love this day as I get to see what the kids come up with. Here's Mavis Davis.

Beeg....

And then "Bob"!!! I had to go to Ethan's Easter party so I thought, you know what...I'm going wacky as well!! Got there early so popped into Troll's Bible class!! I got all kinds of whistles! It was rather funny!!! Told Troll I was going to church like this but when he buried his head in his hands I figured maybe I'd best not!!!

There are a few more pics from the day of Eth's party but I don't have time to get them on here right now. Next time....

Aunt Lydia's take II

2010-03-29T07:03:00.000-07:00

Bia enjoyed lugging Lyd's new pug puppy around all day! Poor thing!!!

Lyd changing drill bits til she found one good enough for troll to drill the holes for the front of the bird houses.

Austin measureing and marking lines for Lyd to cut the sides.

I I do believe that Gram was wondering who in the world had taken over the house!!! :)

Troll and the pug become gr8 friends!

Aunt Lydia's

2010-03-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last Monday we all went to my aunt Lydia's house for the day. These pics aren't the gr8test as I was using my phone. We made our own pizzas, built bird house treasure boxes and then they pulled taffy. I had to go to work so I didn't get to see the taffy pulling adventure but I've been eating it ever since!!!

Ethan and Bia loved all the animals my aunt has!

I fell in love with "Fuzzy"...my aunt's ferret! Austin has decided this is what he wants for his birthday!

Ethan fell in love with "Fuzzy" as well!

Reag wasn't so sure he was enjoying the getting his hands messy with dough! He did a pretty good job of shaping his pizza into a football though!

Austin and Jetta making their pizzas.

Resort II

2010-03-17T06:50:00.001-07:00

This entire hallway was lined with windows like this and a chair. LOVE IT!!
This walkway reminded me of a cruise ship back in the day! Windows to one side and all these cool little shops on the other side.

One of the small sitting rooms.

This was the gentelman's lounge. The doors to the ladies' crystal room wasn't open. :( And trust me...we tried doors! Lol! There were 3 other ballrooms I wanted so badly to see but the doors were locked.

The brick building was the original structure.

Resort

2010-03-17T06:36:00.001-07:00

On our way back from MD after the funeral for Tom Funkhouser we stopped in Bedford Springs to check out a resort Troll had heard about. My Pap had told him that one of my great aunts used to work here. I can't remember when it was built but the place was absolutely gorgeous. 11 of our presidents stayed here back in the day with President Buchannon staying 40 summers in a row...making this his summer White House. It was really cool. I love the whole time period with the big gowns, ball rooms and all that so it was pretty thrilling to me. The place had flooded and was abandoned for 20 years and it 2003 someone else bought it and renovated it. Here are just a few pics I took.

I loved the staircases which were EVERYWHERE!!
This was President Buchannon's desk.

One side of the outside. I couldn't get the entire place in my phone camera. This was to the right of the original brick structure and then to the left was another entire wing!

One of the many ballrooms they had! Sigh. This was so cool.

One of the dining areas set with crystal and silver. Beautiful.

I will have to do a couple posts I guess to put in some more pictures. Troll and Mr. Corman were just as thrilled as I was being they were the REAL history buffs. I love history but was more fascinated with the era it came from. One of these days Troll and I plan to go here to stay. :)

New York!

2010-03-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I didn't get my camera out on our mini vaca so I've no pictures. :( so sorry. It rained about the entire time we were in New York! But we had so much fun. I've never seen New York City thru rain soaked eyes and hair turned "fro" but it was worth it. Thanks to our two friends that took us and made the few days even more fun. I don't know when I've laughed SO hard. :)

Spring is in the air!!

2010-03-09T04:41:00.001-08:00

Sunday, as some of you know, Troll made it to church only to turn around at 9:15 and go home sick. Poor Brian walked in at 9:20 to be informed by me that we had a problem....no pastor! God used him and helped him to give us a really good Sunday school lesson. My uncle Scott came Sunday night and filled in for us and once again....God used him.

Yesterday morning I was tired of being in the house. All this sickness and staleness.... I had to get out. The kids didn't have school due to it being parent/teacher conferences at school. Troll felt well enough to go so here I was....again....inside. I said, enough is enough. A little after 11 I loaded up the kids and we went to McDonald's and then to a park to eat it and play. We had a gr8 time swinging, sliding, laughing, playing ball and yes, even when mommy got hit in the face with the ball.....we had fun!! We were out for about 3 hours and I was thrilled to smell the Spring air that seems to be coming!

Eth and Reag

Bia said she was playing dice!!

Reag favors me with a tongue display!!

Once mommy got hit in the face with the ball she opted for outfield! Austin took over!!

I luv this pic. Jetta has such a pretty smile.

Tolley town trouble

2010-03-05T06:10:00.000-08:00

Well as some of you know Tuesday nite Eth was up all nite throwing up. It started when Troll was carrying him upstairs to bed and he sat up and puked all down the staircase, walls, floor, pic, rocking chair and Bia's bike. Then all nite long it happened over and over. No one else seemed bothered and we went thru Wednesday and Thursday without incident.

Then Thurs afternoon I started feeling yucky. Blisters in my throat, tired and blah. Bia fell asleep at 5 p.m. and around 9 sat up and threw up. Not too long after that I hear the bathroom door open and someone else was throwing up. Jetta. About an hour after her I threw up. About thirty min after me someone else was in the bathroom....Reagan. Needless to say, every hour almost on the hour we were all in there puking. Around 4 Austin woke up and joined the ranks.

The problem with this is that you wake up puking. I woke up knowing I'd better run but hte kids just woke up with it coming up. Poor Troll spent the nite cleaning floors. I felt terrible for him but I only managed to clean up Bia's first couple times. She got so good by the time she was into her third trip that she'd pop outa bed, run to the bathroom, puke, wipe her mouth and get back in bed!

So please pray that this goes soon. We've never had anything strike us like this and it's taking a toll. Hopefully Troll doesn't get it but I told him most likely today while he was teaching (as he and Eth were the only ones to go to school) that he'd probably hurl all over everything!!!

It's just butter, mom!

2010-03-03T09:57:00.001-08:00

I was busy in the study today with some printing and whatnot. Realized I hadn't seen or heard Bia in quite a bit of time. Thought I'd best go investigate. Found her in the kitchen with a cereal bowl, spoon and the tub of butter on the floor. She was in the process of scooping and filling!!

Bia, what are you doing?

She answered very nonchalantly, "Just getting butter mom."

A cereal bowl full?

"I like butter, mom!"

A real live one!

2010-03-02T05:25:00.000-08:00

Amelia Bedelia. Everyone's childhood comedian in the book form. Well at least she was mine. I LOVED that girl. Everytime we went to the library I had to get one of those books. And then I'd sit and laugh my way through it. She was my hero!! Alas, I've found out that I have a real live one in my own home! Lol!! A slightly smaller male version of her but still....a version of her!

Saturday was cleaning day here due to having company on Sunday. I was busy with food prep and whatnot so I got a list up of what needed done and scattered it amongst the three oldest kids (who, by the way, are really good when it comes to cleaning. i'm proud of them) and sent them off to do their jobs. Reag was to sweep the upstairs hall, down the steps and the dining room. He did the upstairs and steps and was working in the dining room when I peeked in on him. He was sweepin around all the chairs. I said, Reag, you need to pull out the chairs and sweep under the table. He looked at me and said, "Well how do I do that?". I said, just pull out the chairs and extend the broom under the table and sweep.

So he did. He pulled out all the chairs.................

He extended the broom...............

crawled underneath the table.............

and swept........................... (wait for it)................................

the bottom of the table!!!!! :-)

Lol!!!!!! I have a real live male child version of Amelia Bedelia!!! And I luv it!

Devotions last nite...

2010-02-24T07:49:00.001-08:00

We are doing a quizz book for family devotions and the older kids like to help the two youngest with the answers. However, like gossip, things get a bit constrewed from mouth to ear to mouth!!

Troll: What did John the Baptist do for Jesus?
Austin to Ethan: He baptised people.
Ethan: "He diced people!"

Troll: What kind told people to bow down to an idol?
Troll to Bia: King Nebuchadnezzar
Bia: "King Nebuthenaster"

LOL!!!

2010-02-23T15:57:00.000-08:00

I'm not really sure what it is about me and the fridge anymore but this is what I found in it the other day!! No...relax...he'd not been left in there. I'd taken something out, turned around to put it on the counter and was gone for about 25 seconds (yes, with the door hanging open) and when I got back over there....Scotch had found himself a spot! Guess he was hot!

And for my company...... the fridge gets cleaned! :-) Lol!!! Welcome to my world! Where pets jump into the fridge and drink out of the toilet!

pushups?

2010-02-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

We were eating Chinese food the other night for supper and Eth looked over to see we had noodles for the Hot & Sour soup that Troll and I luv. He looked at the noodles then at me and back to the noodles and said, "Mommy, how many pushups do I have to do for those noodles?" Lol!!! hahahaaha! :-)

Not sure why he thought he had to do pushups for food but it was so funny. I almost choked I was laughing so hard! He then said, "Well don't make me do too many cause I don't know how but I'd sure like some of those noodles!"

He got the rest of the bag! :-)

2010-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Jetta and Zoran.

Here is the gr8 youth group that was at camp this year.

The kids doing their program.

My fav pic of Beeps at the ocean.

We left the ocean and came home to this! Austin worked hard getting our sidewalk cleared. Troll did it again before we went to bed and had to get back up in the morning and do it again! I luv it! It could have kept on snowing the rest of the week in my opinion!

More Florida

2010-02-11T07:03:00.001-08:00

E-man modeling Jets hat.
Nadia takes her turn with it.

We found these at Sea World. Oh wait.....they belong to us! (And I proudly claim them!)

Mom and Nadia in their daily post!

Bia very quickly fell in love with Joyce.