For those who can help...

My heart has been touched by this little girl, Lily, who is fighting a rare form of cancer. Her family is good friends with our good friends, and if A=B, and B=C, than A=C, and that makes this family our friends too (by my elementary calculations).

The family blog can be read here. The family has three other children and must keep the house clean and all germs at bay to keep Lily healthy as she goes through chemo. I can't imagine needing to do this and take care of a sick child, and three others without help.

There is another blog set up to take donations to help out this family with the extra costs endured during this trial. If you are as touched by this family as I was, and can make a donation to help them during this time, please do. Go here for more information.

And please pray for the Mallory family, they need all the prayers they can get.

I've got so much, so much, so much to be Thankful for!!

If anyone knows the song "I've got so much, so much, so much to be thankful for..." than you now know the song that has been the constant background music in our family the last few days. Even as I write this, I hear Corban sleeping on his mat in the hotel singing "so much so much so much so much" (the only words of the song he really knows...). If you ask him what he's so thankful for he will point to the sky and say "Airplanes!". Which, our family does need to be thankful for airplanes, since they kind of pay our bills...

Anyway we DO have so much to be thankful for. In no particular order, I am thankful for

1) The most precious-hearted husband who absolutely adores me. He sacrifices so much for us, works 12 hour days and then comes home and helps me clean the house, bathe the boys, gives me a little bit of time to be alone. He never says a word when he comes home to me wearing the same pajamas that I was wearing when he left the house that morning. I honestly have never seen a daddy love on his boys and just enjoy them as much as Nate does his boys. He would really rather hang out with his boys than go out for a "Guy's night". He listens to me vent and then gently reminds me of how blessed I am. What can I say, I found me a good one.

2) My boys. They are a piece of heaven and I can't imagine life without them. They daily remind us that life can change drastically with the next breath we take, so we truly strive to just enjoy and capture every moment with them that we can.

3) We are very blessed. There is nothing that our family needs. Nate is constantly reminding me that if the biggest complaints in life that I can come up with is having to live in the boondocks, and having too much stuff for our house, than we are doing pretty good. Also, Nate's job. Although it sometimes requires sacrifice, it is a steady paycheck with job security during these tough financial times.

4) Family-both my family and Nate's. Both put the FUN in dysfunction, but life would be so boring and lonely without them. At the end of the day, they always have our backs. :)

5) Friends- My "sisters" back in Wichita who think so much like me, I don't seem like the weird one when I'm with them. My friends here who have become like family in such a short time. My friends all over who I get to keep in touch with via email, blogs, and Facebook! (thank God for technology!).

6) Do I dare say it?? I'm thankful for being stationed in Altus, OK. There I said it. Though not our choice, we have found it to be a blessing that we are here. We are close enough to family to visit fairly often, we are "off the radar" so to speak where we feel safe here, Nate doesn't deploy and is home every night (the biggest blessing of all), we have a lot of family time and have to be more creative as to how to have fun, and if we weren't here, we would never know some of the people who have become so precious to us.

There are so many other blessings big and small (big=our eternal salvation and current freedom to worship and small=coffee, down comforters, Christmas lights, etc.) but these scratch the surface.

I hope you all had a great and safe Thanksgiving. My next post will be about our Black Friday Extravaganza and our Christmas Tree Selection Process.

Better Late Than Never...

Here are the pictures of the boys in their costumes. We scored big time on the candy and my waistline is paying the price (though I blame the pregnancy!).

Good eye if you noticed that Caleb is wearing a different costume in each picture. That's what happens when you got a little pooper on your hands!

Fun with the Family in Florida

I know I've been a slacker in the blogging department. What can I say, life has been busy. But hopefully I can get back in the swing of things and blog on a regular basis again.

We got back last week from visiting Nate's family in Boca Raton, Florida. The week went by way too fast, of course, but was a much needed time away from Altus and it was great to reconnect with his family again. Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

10) All of Nate's family (thirteen of us total) rented a five bedroom condo for the week. It had a pool in the backyard, so Corban and the kids were in heaven.

9) Corban and Caleb had constant attention and always had someone to hold them and play with them, and it wasn't US!
Corban and his Aunt Celia
8) Caleb's first visit to the ocean, and Corban's first time that he remembers. He still talks about "da beach".

7) Nate and I and the boys got the Master bedroom with the jacuzzi!! (It pays to have the biggest family!) Unfortunately, we also got the bed with the bedbugs. (Yes, Kevin, they were bedbugs!! :))

6) A break from cooking... each couple took an evening to cook and we got to eat different things like Mom's famous Taco Salad, Julia and Kevin's Crab Bake, and Celia's Enchiladas.

5) I again rejoined civilization and enjoyed Panera, Jason's Deli, Macaroni Grill, Target, and a Christian Bookstore.
Caleb and his Uncle Stevie

4) Activities including the West Palm Beach Zoo, Sugar Sand Park, and Ice cream in Mizner park.

3) Playing the most political game of Monopoly ever where every move made a person either Obama or McCain.

2) Getting a nice long date with Nate. We ate at a fancy restaurant in Mizner Park and then went to a lounge bar where Nate drank a beer and I drank Coke and we just talked for hours and enjoyed each others company.

1) Having the best and happiest little travelers in the world. Both of them did great on the plane, the long layover, and the two and a half hour drive home after landing. (Another sign that we live in the boondocks.)

Thanks family for a wonderful vacation.!! Sorry we got you all sick! We love you all so much. Corban mentions you all daily. See you next year in Orlando ??!!??

I've been Tagged!!

I just got "Tagged" by my friend Erin (who I met in Alabama) to do a random post, so here goes.

Rules:
1) Post the rules on your blog
2) Write 6 random things about yourself
3) Tag 6 other people at the end of your post

1) I just got back from Florida 24 hours ago and our luggage didn't arrive, so they have to UPS it from Oklahoma City to Altus and it won't be here til Monday...so Nate and I are currently sharing a toothbrush!! (Gross, I know!)

2) My oldest son, Corban's, new favorite phrase is "Dat's Ahwshome!!" (That's awesome!)

3) My nine month old son is STILL not sleeping through the night. I'm 15 weeks pregnant with baby #3 and a Mama needs her rest, if you know what I'm saying!

4) My number one biggest time killer is cyber stalking my friends through Facebook and blogs.

5) For my birthday/Christmas/anniversary present (all happen within six days of each other) I want 24 hours to myself in a bed and breakfast nearby. Time to journal, read, scrapbook, plan, soul search, etc.

6) I'm starving right now and am debating whether to rough it out for the night or muster up the energy to go downstairs and get something to eat. Decisions, Decisions.



Now onto tagging six other people:

Ruth
Jen
Kirsten
Sandy
Lenora
Rena

On a side note, we just got back from Florida and I have a lot of posts and pictures that I want to share, but the camera is in the lost luggage bag, so it may be a few days before I get some real posts up. Check back soon!