First Blog Video

We saw a video on a friend's blog and decided to try it out. This video should be titled "The Never-Ending Raspberry."


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Dust Storm

Sorry it's been a while since we've been blogging. We've had lots of family in town (which we will blog about later), and so we haven't gotten around to posting anything new.

Last Saturday, Abilene had a pretty bad dust storm. I heard that we had winds that were at least 60 mph. It was pretty incredible. We get these storms every once in a while, and they always make the sky look so creepy. Check out these pictures:

Here's a funny story about the dust storm. My mom and aunt got to Wal-Mart before the wind got really bad, and so the sky turned dusty while they were inside. As they were leaving, they overheard a kid say to his mom, "Hey look...It's snowing!!!" That's some gritty snow.

The Ear Infection Club

Noelle is now recovering from her first ear infection. She had been sick for a couple of weeks and so I decided it was time to take her in to the doctor's office. We were lucky enough to get an appointment that afternoon, which was fun because Chris could go with me. I'm really glad he was there because we were at the office for 2 hours and 15 minutes! It's nice to have some company.

We go to a pediatrician's office that has at least 6 doctors there. Their waiting room is HUGE...Chris was bored and counted 76 chairs! When we arrived for our appointment, pretty much every seat was taken. When you figure that many kids were in infant carriers or in parent's laps, that's a bunch of sick kids. We had Noelle on our laps and I got the creepy-crawlies thinking of how many germs were probably circulating in there. I figured that if she wasn't too sick when we got there, she'd be sick by the time we left.

Anyway, our doctor checked her out, and found out that she had an ear infection in her right ear. She got a prescription for an antibiotic and we were out of there...at 6:25. Even though it was a pretty long wait, I was thankful that our doctor stayed late enough to see us. I'm sure his day seemed REALLY long. One of our friends said that the secretary told them they'd been seeing 300 kids a day for the last 3 weeks. Yikes.

That night was the worst. She was really cranky and cried in the night. She'd only stop when we were holding her. Normally Noelle isn't a "cuddly" baby and won't sleep when she's held, but she did that night. I felt so bad for her. Imagine how miserable it is to not even be able to blow your nose! Thankfully, once her medicine kicked in, she slept a lot and wasn't as cranky.

Now she's almost back to her normal happy self, as you can tell from this picture!

Cake Decorating

Well, I intended to blog about Noelle's ear infection and all of that stuff first, but cake decorating is so FUN! I couldn't resist blogging about it first.

I'm taking a Wilton Cake decorating class at Michael's this month. It's something I've always thought would be so fun to know how to do. Chris is so sweet to let me have an evening "off" so that I can take this class.

So far we've learned how to make icing, frost a cake, decorate with stars, swirl flowers and writing. I think that some of the techniques are really easy, but others require lots and lots of practice. I'm definitely willing to put in the practice though (because each time I feel like I deserve to eat some of the icing!)

The only major drawback to this is the mess I make! I'm not one who cleans as I go, so by the time I bake a cake, make the icing, and decorate, you can imagine what a huge mess I've made. Icing is hard to clean, too, because of how much crisco is in it. I think that now after I've experienced the HUGE messes in my kitchen, I will learn to clean as I go & make myself not decorate (the fun part) until most of the kitchen is already clean.

Here are my first two cakes:

Home Alone

Last weekend was my first time home alone (for longer than 5 hours) with Noelle. I had her from lunchtime on Thursday until dinnertime on Saturday. I was really glad that I was able to stay with Noelle so that Sarah could go on her retreat, but then I realized that if Sarah is on the retreat nobody is at home helping me with Noelle...

My time with her was great though. It stretched me in many ways, but I certainly came out better at the end of the weekend. I've never been one who thought that being a stay-at-home mom was a cushy, slacker-of-a-job, but after my weekend with Noelle I was able to even better understand and appreciate all that Sarah does each day.

God really gave me a perfect weekend with Noelle. There were times when she was very happy, easily entertained, and napped well, but then there were times that made me wonder what in the world I had gotten myself into. Honestly, that's just what I needed. If the weekend had been too smooth, I would have been tempted to think of Sarah's job as easy. If the weekend had been a nightmare, then Sarah wouldn't be going on another retreat until she is 63.

My time with Noelle was so much fun, and I look forward to getting to have her to myself again. Isn't it great to know that we can always trust God to provide us with just what we need?

Here are some pictures of our time together:

Early Friday morning, after breakfast

Playtime with Daddy

After bathtime on Friday

Sarah's Retreat

Definitely one of the hightlights for me of the past few weeks was going on our church's ladies retreat. (By the way...when did I get old enough to be considered eligible for a "ladies" retreat, anyway??) It was so awesome. We went to T-Bar-M Ranch in New Braunfels from Thursday night-Saturday afternoon.

I was sad to leave Noelle for the 2 days, but also was excited to have a little bit of a break. Chris was wonderful with Noelle the whole time, and he is such a good daddy that I never worried how they were doing. It was funny because people would ask me how I was doing being away from her, and I'd cry most of the time. But it was more from the fact that I was so TIRED. Being tired seems to make the tears flow a lot easier!

Anyway, I was amazed at what God taught me while I was there. Here are some of the highlights:

• Gods Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11). Anytime I am able to speak God's Truth, it can accomplish so much--not by my power, but through God's.
• In raising our kids, we should desire more for them to have a changed heart than changed behavior. When Noelle's heart is turned towards the Lord, she will desire good behavior to honor Him (and not just to avoid being punished). Our disciplining of her should also include training her to do what is right according to God's standard & showing her her need for a Savior. (Ephesians 6:4)
• I also was reminded of how God desires to meet with us each day. So often I read my Bible like I would read a magazine, or I pray like I'm ordering my requests at a drive-thru. But God's word is alive and active and He wants to meet me each day and teach me things. He really taught me this weekend how much he pursues each one of us.

I encourage you to meet with God today, too. It doesn't take a retreat to do it. :-)

So much to blog, so little time...

Sorry it's been so long since we've updated you on what's going on in our lives. Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to write much, but here are some things that we'll try to blog about in the next few days:

> A 2 hour wait at the doctor's office.
> Noelle has her first ear infection...fun fun.
> Sarah's taking a cake decorating class...now that is real fun!
> Sarah went on a retreat this last weekend.
> Chris stayed at home with Noelle while Sarah was gone.

I'm sure there are others, but that's all I could think of right now. (Plus I need to finish so I can go make some icing for my class tonight!)

And for those of you out there who only visit because of the pictures: