Chili Bowl 2009

Our church did their Second Annual Chili Bowl. It was a lot of fun and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. The team that won the Super Bowl was not who won during the chili bowl. The Arizona Cardinals won at our Chili Bowl! We had the teams compete by playing trivia, pictionary, field goals, humming hymns, and throwing small footballs. A woman won the chili trophy this year and we had a Jr. division who made chili as well. The kids took it really seriously and they did wonderful making their chili. I even made chili to compete but I did not win!

Travis and Kurt were the announcers. They did a great job of playing the part.

We cheered for the Cardinals to win!

TOUCHDOWN!! OH Wait...no ball.

Josiah's Hospital Stay

Josiah and I are home from an exhausting hospital stay over the weekend. Josiah was admitted to the hospital at 3pm on Friday afternoon. He is doing better now, but Friday afternoon he was struggling to breathe. He was coughing persistently with no rest all night Thursday night and Friday morning he was wheezing. It sounded horrible. He was even complaining about his stomach being "ouy" because he had been coughing for so long. I did not realize it was as bad as to admit him to the hospital though. I took him without really preparing anything. Thankfully, Travis' mother came as soon as she heard Josiah was being admitted. I am so grateful because I could not leave Josiah alone to go get anything. It was a logistical nightmare. We stayed there for two nights. Trying to keep a 21 month old happy and contained while being bound by IV is very hard. I have a new soft spot for any parent with a young in the hospital. God was very much showing His love for us throughout our time though. He showed us even in the little things His timing is perfect. I am thankful.

Here is another instance that I am thankful for our portable DVR. All Josiah wanted to watch was Dora. All Dora All the time! But it helped a lot to calm him down to rest.

This is Josiah's poor hand that they covered well so that he would not bother it. It did work. God answered my prayer in this instance because I was nervous about when they were putting it in. I prayed that he would not react badly and that it went in the first time. Both were answered. He did not scream at all. He barely even said anything. He handled the needles well. He did not however handle oral medication or the nebulizer well at all, both of which we have to do at home for several days. So please pray that he gets used to these things. Josiah is very strong so it's hard to hold him down, especially with the nedulizer which will take about 20 minutes at home where it only took maybe 5 minutes at the hospital!

Travis and Abigail are doing okay. Travis has taken a few steps back though in his recovery of his sickness. He may need more medication to wipe it out. He was so sick that we were unable to travel home from his parents house last weekend so he missed church for the first time ever due to sickness. Abigail has a double ear infection that she's healing from this week as well. So I am the only healthy one and I pray that it will stay that way!

Thanks for your prayers!

We enjoyed decorating for Christmas and Josiah was a big help as you can imagine!

Lake Sallateeska

Travis spoke at a youth retreat at Lake Sallateeska.

We all joined him and had lots of fun despite the cold weather.

October Photos

I pulled the wagon with everyone in it.

It was pretty heavy but they had a good time. Happy birthday to me!

This is Abigail and Emma. They are the best of friends.

We watch Emma three days a week so they can go to preschool together.

Look how strong these girls are!

This is a tree on the side of our house that has started leaning over the summer.

Josiah loves his sesame street friends.

He wakes up every morning with a handful of them.

A wonderful quote

I went to a true woman's conference this past month and it was wonderful. I was reading over my notes from the conference and this was a quote from a breakout session with Holly Elliff on "Intentional Mothering."

"Treat your child as if you won't have them next year. Train your child as if they won't have you next year."

Abigail is 5 years old

My little Abigail has turned 5.

We had a Princess party. We had lots of fun with 8 little girls who attended. Abigail invited her classmates from preschool.

We played "Kiss the Frog" and made castles from sugar wafers and Travis performed an animated version of Cinderella with finger puppets.

One of Abigail's favorite gifts was a new comforter that she received from Aunt Brenda. She also got a scooter from her Ma Ma that she is learning to use.

For the party we had the girls go into a homemade castle. It was fun to make.

We shouldn't forget about the prince of the castle. He had a royal nap all through the party. He didn't wake up the whole time. He went to sleep right before the first guest and woke up after the last guest left. I couldn't believe it.