Prayer Request

Please pray for me. I have been sick since Wednesday afternoon. I started running a crazy high fever of 102.7! Well, if I don't take my ibruprophen on time it stars creeping back up into the 102 range. Then this morning I was throwing up. Ugh.....I am feeling so miserable. The bad part is that we scheduled our anniversary dinner tonight. The kids are spending the night at MawMaw and Papa's house even. Well, I have ruined it :( Thankfully I have such a sweet husband!

Our Week

We were on our way to our celebration dinner when there was an accident in Red Bud. So, we took the back way and just followed the rest of the cars. Well, in the process we were rear-ended. Thankfully the guy was really nice and we were able to discuss child rearing and church going while waiting for the sheriff :) Please pray for those details to work out!

Wednesday we took our first Cousin School field trip. The chief of police for the city of Waterloo goes to our church. He let us come for a tour even though we were the youngest group ever. Our kids did us so proud! They listened and obeyed so well. The tour lasted for 1hr 45 minutes!

The kids and Aunt Pam in the holding cell

Papa even got to come! He kept tabs on Joseph for me. The only ones we are missing are me, Aunt Tammy and Audrey

Getting to sit in and push buttons in the police car!!! This was one of the highlights :)

Officer Spencer showing us how a tazzer gun works. No he didn't shoot any of the kids :)

The interrogation room. This was the best tour ever. I was so very impressed!!!

Praising God!

Good news! Allen just got THE call tonight. He got the job!!!!!!! Praise God our trial has ended. What a blessing. Not only did God provide a new job, but he provided many benefits. He got a raise, better health benefits, job advancement and here is the kicker........they are giving him a week of vacation for this year...plus they are starting him off with 3 weeks of vacation next year! God is soooo good to load us with many benefits. He starts in two weeks.

Pray he will leave with a good testamony and that the management will be kind to him as he leaves.

Thank you SO very much for all of you praying.

Wow!!! (401th Post)

Yikes, I don't think I could possibly write more on this thing :) I don't think any of you are missing anything in our lives even with you all living far away!

Sigh....big and heavy sigh.....

Still no word on the job. The lady from Ameren's HR said to call back on Tuesday if Allen still hadn't heard anything. Please keep praying. Pray that I will be an encouragement and help-meet to Allen and not make the waiting any harder than it is.......did any of you know that I am a very impatient person?!

Curious George Party

This weekend we had Hannah's 4th birthday (IL edition) and Julianna's 1st birthday party. It was so much fun! The kids were soooo amazingly good. We had nine kids all under 5. Yes, we are insane. Parents were there to help though.

Birthday Girls!!!!!

Birthday tractor train ride courtesy of Papa Railroad :)

Everyone heading out for the Curious George Savenger Hunt

Pam, Lauren, Breanna, Michelle and Vella

Cutie Pie Cowboy Caleb. We had dress up time outside. The kids were so funny!

Leopard Hannah hitting the pinata. The kids were all too small to do enough damage to that thing. Uncle Michael had to help Hannah and Caleb break it open.

Yummy! Julianna had so much fun with her cake.

Hannah's Curious George cake

Curious George cupcake tree

Each kid had a place setting. Yikes, I went so very overboard with this party. I have been planning it since our tax return...so lots of time to think and plan :)

Our family tree. left to right....Breanna, Lauren, Joseph, Samantha, Hannah, Caleb, Emily. We were missing Julianna and Audrey. They were a little young to be monkeys :P

Tammy and me

Allen is such a super daddy....with such luscious lips :) He was so great in helping keep Joseph occupied and helping with anything else I needed. I love you, Babe. Happy Anniversary. I couldn't ask for more! "I knew I loved you"

Still Waiting

Sigh....we still haven't heard one way or the other about Allen's job interview. We did receive the employee benefit info to look over. That was a blessing as the benefits look to be much better than we have now. Keep praying. I am begging God to give us a reply even today! Thank you so much for checking with us and praying for us about this. It means the world to us.

Friday

For her big birthday present from us and MawMaw and Papa Hannah got gymnastic lessons. I went in to check to see if they have the new schedule for all. Yikes, I was so glad I did. Her class started that week! I would have been devastated if she would have missed her first class. Her she is posing in front of the Y. She is so very excited. You can see her shoes, but she has on leopard ballet shoes. Too chic :)

Can't you just hear her...."Mooooommmmm"!

She did a very good job. She was great at waiting her turn and listening to Miss Ashley. I was so proud of her!

After the lessons we had a picnic in the park. Joseph is so quickly changing from a baby to ALL boy! Oh I just want to squish him even now!!!!

Thursday

Thursday we girls had doctor appointments. I was thinking I was going to be in trouble with my cardiologist as I quit all four of my medications this summer. My blood pressure in the office was 146/96! Needless to say, I am back on my blood pressure medicine. Other than that, Hannah is super and far ahead in her reading skills. She is in the 50% for weight but only 25% for weight. She is such a peanut. Emily is only two inches or so shorter! Emily went in because she had stepped on something. So she is on antibiotics. We had a wonderful girl time :)

I am so glad that they love each other so much. I am so very blessed!!!!

Interview

Thank you, thank you, Thank you all my faithful friends for all the prayers and for checking on Allen's interview.

It lasted for an hour and a half! He felt pretty prepared for all the questions, so that was a blessing. The median payscale was reasonable, he was told the benefits were super and they have a pension.....BUT he was surprised to find out that it wasn't a regional director for the power company, it is a STATE director. YIKES, if he gets this job, it will be kinda funny b/c I don't think Allen would have even applied for the job. God has given him peace about the job still, in fact, he is quite excited!!!!


Keep praying. It is only between Allen and another guy. They said that they are planning on filling the position quickly. Now I am hoping that they are talking IL quickly and not TX quickly. Sidenote: Alan (my brother in law) is still waiting to hear back from Austin, TX!!! It has been a month since the interview I believe!

Our Weekend

Friday I had to go in for some vocal help so Allen's parents agreed to watch the kids for me. I then had a super idea that maybe I could take Allen out on a date for dinner. They said they would even take the kids overnight!!!! What a huge blessing. We had a wonderful date. We went to TX Roadhouse for dinner (my second favorite to Maggiano's). Then we were able to get a new outfit for his interview. We were both so exhausted. It was nice to not have to worry about the kids as well.

Saturday we went them at the Dupo parade. Tammy, Caleb and Audrey saved us awesome seats! The kids had such a great time. Lots and lots of candy!!!!

We gave them their Grandparents Day gifts early. Beth had designed these for me. Isn't she amazing. The one of the left is from Alan Michelle and Julianna of Miss Julianna. The one on the right is from us and it has each of my kids. They turned out so beautiful!

I took all kids to the van while Allen was picking up chairs and whatever else we left (which usually is tons of stuff). Well, I had to set Joseph down in order to open the van and move some things. I turned around to find he had found the biggest puddle in the parking lot!!!!! He is SO ALLLLLL boy!!!!

Prayer Requests!!!

I have some big prayer requests this week:

1. My dear friend, Karen, lost her Granny this week. Her funeral will be the end of this week. Pray for her travel back home as well as for the Lord to work even in death!

2. Praise God!!! Allen has a job interview tomorrow with the big power company around here. He is so very excited. Pray for God's will first and foremost. Pray for Allen to have calmness and clarity of thought. Then pray that we will hear a yes or no quickly (unlike my poor brother in law, Alan.....it has been a month since the last one!).

3. Pray for our new ministries: Praise Team and 5th & 6th grade Sunday School. Pray that God will use us to show his love to these precious kids. They have been told over and over that they are wild, a handful and rowdy. We want to be used to encourage and build them up.

Our Cabin Trip

All right! Get ready. I had a little of bit of time this morning, but I don't know when I will again....so here are all my favorite pictures from Labor Day. I can't believe I am almost a week late getting these on here!!!! It has been a crazy week. We actually plunged into ministry this week. We had our first Sunday School class. Allen, Karen and I are teachign 5-6th grade. They were super. I just love them already. The funny part is that I have heard from tons of people how wild they are and things....but we had a great class. Part of it is that this is my favorite age anyway. Quirky but fun :) Then we started our Experiencing God Bible study. Now we are not teaching...we are learning....lots and painfully lots! Then I also joined the church's Praise Team. I sang for the first time on Sunday. Then next Sunday I sing my first solo in 8 years!. Nothing like jumping in with both feet.

The traditional $.25 cone by the river

All the kids hiking up my parents path in the woods

My parents with Dakota, Gavin, Emily, Hannah, Allison and Joseph in the woods

My cousin Amanda is showing the kids the 4 ft snake they found on the road. Very cool. I didn't know we grew snakes that big in WI!!!

My men! I just love Daddy and kid pictures. I have the most wonderful and amazing Daddy for my kids. I am so blessed and so are they!!!

All the kids' feet. My mom has a foot fetish :)

Sitting on a log in the river by the waterfall. A very favorite spot for all the kids to play

Floating down the river all by herself (Hannah)

My cousin Stephanie (Amanda's sister) and Joseph

I love the expression on Hannah's face. Chris was in mid sentence and isn't really buck-t00thed :)

My Uncle Mark playing with the kids in the sand at the lake.

You have no idea how many pictures I had to snap in order to get one where they are all almost looking!!!!!

My honey and me at the river(the crash site for those of you who are in the know :P)

Jen, Steve and Sierra got to come up for a couple of hours. It was so good to see them. I miss them terribly! Here is Jenny holding Joseph.

My birthday princess, Hannah!!! Can you tell how exhausted she is? :)

My best friend Jen and me. Yeah, it was late. All my makeup and everything had worn off. I look a bit rough :P Oh well....love ya Jen!

Dana and me at the lake. Do we not have the sexiest sunglasses ever?!

Brave man! My brother teaching the girls (Hannah and Allison) how to fish!

This was the beach we were sitting on. In land a little farther it is a Christian camp. My dad actually took this picture. Bravo Dad!

Can you tell I am quite fond of him? Wow, amazing. We got two pictures of us in one weekend!

Hannah, Emily and Gavin right before the cake. Boy are they tired!

Miss Emily blowing bubbles and building sandcastles. She is my most photogenic and likes getting pictures taken :)