Happy Birthday Jaron!

I can't believe it!~ My baby is 8 years old!

Will someone please tell me how time flies so fast? It seems like only yesterday we was learning to walk with the aid of our dog Katie. It was so cute, he would hold on to her collar and she would just stand there while he took steps. She was always so gentle with him. Katie took to Jaron like Jaron took to her.

Since Sean has to work today we celebrated

Jaron's birthday on Thursday. We took him to his favorite place to eat...Cracker Barrel. You thought I was going to say

Mc Donalds didn't you! Then we came home to celebrate with ice cream cake and gifts. He was so excited about getting his gifts early.

My Jaron is growing up. He loves to listen to music and this summer is going to learn to play the guitar. He is so excited about this! I haven't seem him this excited in a while. He also wants to learn to play the drums. Not sure how we can teach him that since neither of us can play them. But what a difference it would make during our church services if he could play. Definitely something we will work towards and encourage him in.

Anytime Jaron's name is brought up at school all we hear is how great he is with Kristofer and with Eli and Sara. All the teachers praise him as do the OT, Speech therapist and even the principle. His Sunday school teacher, Ms Kathy just loves him and appreciates his willingness to help and learn. He makes us very proud.

Jaron is a great big brother! He does help alot with them. Just yesterday he was teaching Eli how to catch and throw a baseball and football. He loves his baby sister too. Although he likes to aggravate her till she screams her head off at him. I asked him why he does it and his response, " I like making her scream!"

Jaron is a good student. He loves going to school but hates the homework. Which I think all kids hate. He is a smart kid and learns things very quickly. He barely ever studies and still gets good grades. I have told him if he would study more he would get more 100% on his work. His response, "Why do I need that I just need a A not a 100%."

He loves to draw and has recently started writing his own stories and illustrating them. He gets it from his father, the writing I think but I love writing too. He has a wild imagination and comes up with some of the funniest stories. But I love it. He told us his first story when we was just three about a butterfly. I have it written down in his baby book that is stored away right now.


Jaron is one special kid and I love him so much. He is a lot like my dad, with his stubbornness but also his body structure. In fact my dad calls him Macky Peyton after himself. Jaron loves my dad and mom too. He has a great relationship with them and for that I am so thankful!


Jaron took his first communion on Easter. We were so excited for him. He finally is old enough to fully understand what communion is and why we take it. He loves the Lord and has a faith that surpasses anyone I know. When he prays he believes it will come to pass, its just that simple. It's too bad that we all aren't more like him when it comes to praying. When was little he prayed for a baby sister. Every night we would say our prayers and he would say, "and God give me a little sister." One night he prayed, "God give me another little brother too." Not long after that about a month or so we found out that not only was God answering his prayer for a sister but also for that little brother all at the same time. DON'T under estimate the power of a child's prayer!

Jaron today is your day! Happy Birthday buddy!

I know God has some awesome plans for you and

I am glad I get to watch those plans unfold as you grow up.

We love you!!

Mom and Dad

"I can shoot water out the hole!"

This was Kristofer's response to losing his first tooth last night! He was so excited! It was very late, 11:30 and he was still up. We had a terrible thunder and lightning storm so he was curled up next to me in bed. I simple asked him if his tooth was still wiggly and he proceeded to wiggle it right out. He was so excited he wanted to wake everyone up. His first thoughts were, I have to call Granma Dede...he settled on calling her this morning.
Sad thing is we were not prepared...no money from the tooth fairy to give. So this morning when he looked under his pillow and the tooth was still there he had the saddest face I have ever seen. I quickly told him the tooth fairy could not find the tooth cause he wasn't sleeping on his own pillow. Sean ran to the bank, I told the boys to hide their eyes or go back to sleep or the tooth fairy would not make an emergency tooth call. It worked! Kris was elated to find $5 under his pillow. Normally we give less but this was his first tooth and he was so brave. Normally the sight of blood would send him into orbit specially his own blood. The strangeness of a hole in his once perfect smile is something he has taken too. He told me this morning, "Mommy my mouth feels weird!"
Now had this been Jaron we would have just told him we will give him his tooth fairy money later. You see Jaron decided when he was 5 that there was no Santa or tooth fairy...we have never pretended there is a Easter Bunny. Does he feel left out, not exactly...he loves pretending with the others and even gets a kick out of their excitement. He has always been one to want the truth. Which is fine with me...eventually the other three will realize that we are Santa and the tooth fairy.

"CRASHED"

Ok before my family flips out I better clarify the title. I did not crash and neither did Sean or the kids. Our lovely, fun loving computer has crashed! Thank goodness we purchased Sean's laptop last month. It is a true blessing to have not only for him but to me as well. It has kept me company when I have been resting in bed due to the surgery.

This is the third time that the wonderful machine has crashed. The first time it did this was in Oct of 2003. Yes I remember the date because Sean was in Honduras on a missions trip, I was very pregnant at the time (w/the twins but didn't know it) and I was panicking because I had my mothers business banking info on my computer...I was in charge of computing the paychecks! Oh that was not fun! My computer was down for 2 weeks. I had to wait for the HP System Recovery disks. Which thankfully I kept!

Here is the biggest problem when a computer crashes! YOU LOSE EVERYTHING!!! Now unless you are able to work around it and save the computer then you basically up a creek! The last time (3 yrs ago) I lost a years worth of pictures, all of the baby pictures of the twins. Thankfully I have some great friend that had saved them from emails I had sent so I was able to recover a few that we had not printed.

So this time my pictures are saved...hahaha computer I was smart this time! Actually I was thinking this was going to happen. We have been having major issues with the computer. I have installed virus protection and cleaned out 8 viruses in the last month. It has been sputtering, freezing and just not working proficiently. WHAT A PAIN! So on Sunday I spent all afternoon saving pictures onto a flash card. I was able to save all but what has been taken since Jan of this year. What is nice is that some of those pictures I have posted on here so I can go back to save them and when I get a new flash card I can add those new ones. HAHA computer I got smart! smart!

Here is what is interesting....when you have to do a system recovery process to your computer it is like starting over! You lose all the stuff you have down loaded and and saved in memory good and bad. Well when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior you too are being covered by the most powerful system recovery (Jesus' blood). All the yuck is washed from your slate and you are given a new life to start. Unlike the computer your good and bad memories are not washed from memory but they are covered by the blood. When you stand before God on judgement day can you say I have been washed by the Blood of Jesus!? Do you need a system recovery and a new slate to start on? It's super simple...Just believe with your heart that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died and rose again 3 days later for your sins. He shed His blood to create a bridge between you and God.

Just pray... Jesus I am confessing today that I believe You are the Son of God. Fully human and fully God. I believe you died an innocent death and just as promised are alive and sitting at the right hand side of God. Jesus I know that I have sinned and am not walking in Your truth. Please forgive me of my sins, wash me clean and set my feet on solid ground. Please help me to know Your truth. I love you Lord! ~ Amen

Now go find a Bible believing church, start attending services and get involved. If you have a Bible start by reading the new testament if not go purchase a Bible. Trust me you have just started on "the" adventure of your life!

Happy Easter!

Today has been an eventful day! Up early with the boys digging into their baskets..fraggles, chocolate and punch balloons. Then everyone was racing around getting ready for church. Off to church...which by the way Sean preached like I have never heard him preach. Very proud of him! Great message too! Had a friend take a few pictures of us as a family and then back home. Once home Sean changed and then went out to hide eggs. We had 3 doz eggs and made it back in with 35 and then the neighbor kids found the last one and brought it in. I think it is the first time we came back in with the same amount we took out.
We have had a great day. Later this eveing we will have our Easter Dinner. It is cooking now...yummm. The family picture was taken by our friend Kathy and then our friend Angie did some picture doctoring and added the frame and background. We had just a plan white background that did not due our family justice. Thanks Angie you did a great job! A few of the others are of the kids finding eggs. Have a blessed and relaxing Easter Sunday and remember Jesus is alive!

Sara w/ her pretty yellow dress her Papaw Mac picked out!

Running to find the eggs...

Eli & Sara searching together!

Hey I found an egg! Eli shouts!

In the background what is left of the swingset!

Made "New Again"

Today is Good Friday. I am so thankful for what my Jesus did for me so long ago. He touches my heart everyday and gently guides me when I have decisions to make. The biggest decision I have ever made was accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. NO my life has not been all happy and a garden of roses. Remember every rose as thorns! I challenge you to just try God! He will radically change your life if you truly seek Him and follow His teachings in the Bible. I can't promise that everything will be pleasant and cheery but I can tell you if you place your trust in Jesus that you will have peace that passes all understanding through the toughest times. I have and I know this from experience. Today I plan to just go spend time at the alter, pray, sing some praise songs and then sit and wait on the Lord. Later this evening we are having family communion for the church, we look forward to serving communion to the members of our church and praying with for them. Take time to think about what to day means!

Extreme Mothering by Mary Steinke

This is an article that I received today from Hearts at Home Newsletter. If you want to check out their website I will include the link. This site is not just for stay at home moms. It is a Christian Organization that celebrates motherhood. The articles and newsletter always lift me up and encourage me as a mom. http://www.hearts-at-home.org/
I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did this morning!
Melissa
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Motherhood often seems just like spring. It's a season of extremes. During a spring day, it can be freezing, raining, blowing and sunny--all in an hour. Mothers can be yelling, crying, pleading, and cuddling--all in a matter of minutes.Extreme mothering begins with the "extreme" wait. We wait, filled with impatience, for that once-in-a-lifetime call from the adoption agency or we count the days until our due date. We wait to witness our baby's first step. We wait to see if the preschooler will ever stay dry.We long to hear our elementary child read aloud with fluency as they master their first reader. We hold our breath as we listen to our children recount their first day of junior high. We pray constantly throughout high school as our children begin to drive and date.Then, we wait to hear how they're really doing in college or in their first apartment.

As moms, we also plan in extremes. One minute we've got all our ducks in a row. The next, our children moved every duck until nothing is going according to our perfect plan--today, this week, this month or this year. We live every day of mothering activating Plans B, C, D and E. We may even plan for an extreme, fun-filled Easter ending up with everyone too sick for one bite of Easter candy.

Extreme mothering also shows up in our emotions. We whisper under our breath that we won't live through one more day of a particular childhood stage. A few months later, tears well up remembering that our children will never be that little again.Some days we're angry with their willful behavior. By the next day, we're so proud of them that we send out a press release to family and friends.

But the ultimate extreme found in mothering involves compassionate, zealous, sacrificial love for our children. There's a she-bear inside us ready to lay down our lives to protect our cubs. We adore and protect our children to the extreme--beyond distraction, distance or empirical data.

This compassionate, no-holds-barred kind of parental love is celebrated on Easter. The perfect heavenly parent sent a perfect son into a totally imperfect world to save totally imperfect people--by sacrificing the life of his son.

Today people still give up the lives of their beloved children to save the lives of others. A few years ago, I read a story in a national news magazine about two sets of parents--one whose son needed a heart transplant and the other whose son died and donated his heart.The mother of the son who donated his heart held the son who lived and breathed. In the chest of this healthy baby boy beat her dead son's heart--still alive, still thumping--although he died. I can't imagine the poignant pain, yet agonizing joy, of holding someone else's son whose healthy, pounding heart belonged to the son I lost.

Asking Jesus into our hearts is like what happened between these two mothers. At the time of death, one mother willingly gave up her son's heart so it could beat in another. It's as though our father in heaven did exactly the same thing. God looked down knowing that this totally imperfect mom was worth the suffering and death of his one and only son. He placed the heart of his son into me so that I might live. Simply put, God replaced my dying heart with the living heart of Christ. His son died so that I will live eternally.The Bible says: "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ gave up his life for us." 1 John 3:16.That's a supreme extreme of a parent's love to give up the life of a beloved child to save the life of another.

Why not ask God today for the living heart of his son to replace your own dying heart so you, too, will live eternally?And have a happy extreme Easter--no matter what the weather or too much candy might bring!


Mary Steinke

Mary speaks at retreats and moms groups, teaches Bible studies, writes many Hearts at Home newspaper articles, and serves on the Publishing Team for Hearts at Home. Before children, she worked in full-time ministry as chaplain in such diverse settings as nursing homes and prisons. Mary resides in Normal, Illinois, with her husband, Harry, and three sons.

Chris Tomlin - How Can I Keep From Singing

This song is how I feel today!!!

FREEDOM!

FREEDOM!!! FREEDOM!!!

When you type in freedom and do a word search the images that come up are of the American flag, Statue of Liberty, posters of anti-slavery, freedom of speech and religion, broken chains and eagles soaring over mountain ranges. What I did not find is my type of freedom.






The freedom to walk without a brace! I still have to walk with crutches but no more brace! Yes today is a brand new day for me. I am so excited. Dr Morgan gave me great news. Everything is healing perfectly. So now I can start walking and he wants me to start riding the stationary bike not only during PT but also 30 mins a day twice a day to help with my range of movement. I am now 8 weeks post op and free. I am allowed to drive around the neighborhood to start with until I gain more strength in my knee and leg muscles.



Until you have relied on someone else to drive you around and or have been cooped up in a house do to having surgery and non mobility you have no idea what a breath of fresh air means. I am very happy!
In fact I just can't stop praise God for today!

I have posted a song from youtube.com "How Can I keep From Singing " by Chris Tomlin...enjoy!