September Update!

Since it seems I only update once a month, I'll just call this my September update!

The building is going well. Caleb has gotten all of the plumbing done, so it's ready for drywall. We've had a few teams come back to Anthony so work is progressing smoothly again. Caleb is working on the soffetts on the outside of the building, as well as stringing electrical lines for lights in the auditorium. The men are putting in the baptistry, and there are some other various things to finsih before all of the drywalling can be done, in two weeks

The kids are really enjoying school! It's going well and we can get most subjects done in the morning, saving the more in-depth ones for the afternoon, like Science and Heritage Studies. We alternate days for those so it isn't overwhelming. Kayla still thinks 1st grade is better than Kindergarten but she said yesterday that I'm a boring teacher. I suppose I should try to work on that!

The weather is still warm, although not in the 100's. Our trailer still gets warm in the afternoon but not stifling like it used to!

We were able to go home to Mustang, OK for our church's revival and had a wonderful time! The Spirit was definitely moving during the services and the Lord spoke to many people about revival in their lives. Ours included! The Nelson family came to sing and they are always a blessing. Check out their website . If they are singing at a church in your area, it would benefit to go hear them sing! Bro. Steve Johnson, Pastor in Aurora, CO preached the revival for us and he used simple illustrations that really drove his point home! It is always nice to be home and see friends and family, and to revive!

Well I am 19 weeks pregnant now and we should find out of Monday whether we're having a boy or a girl! We are excited and nervous. Noah is very worried it isn't a boy, he even mentioned selling the baby if it's a girl! I reminded him how upset he was when we found out Anna was a girl, but now he loves her and plays with her all of the time. He paused to think about that and then said, "Yeah, but I don't think I could love TWO baby girls!"

Ready for Fall!

We are ready for Fall around here. The temperature has cooled and we're able to leave the windows open for most of the day, just using the a/c in the afternoon. We even used the oven to make dinner one night! I had to stop and remember how to light it.
We are also ready to start school! I have Kayla and Lela's school work but I am *patiently* waiting for Noah's to come in. At the end of this past school year I really felt like we needed to try a different curriculum. The one we were using was good for traveling and with a new baby, and it worked well for us. But I felt like we needed to try soemthing a little bit more challenging this year. So I prayed about it, looked at a lot of different curriculums, talked to my mom (who is a homeschool expert), and talked to other homeschool moms to see what they use and what works for them. Finally I decided that I would like to use Bob Jones Press. That's what I mainly used growing up so I'm familiar with it and we've been given a few workbooks in the past that the kids really enjoyed. The only problem was, it's really expensive!! Well I decided to trust the Lord and "prepare for rain" so I planned what I would need for the kids, watched ebay auctions and searched Amazon to see what things were selling for. I ordered a free catalog from the company and memorized it! Then just as I knew He would, the Lord provided the money to buy the curriculum AND I found amazing deals for everything we need! I was able to buy full curriculum sets for Kayla and Noah for less than it would cost to buy JUST Kayla's straight from the company. What a blessing! So right now we're just waiting for Noah's to come in, hopefully we will start on August 31st.
We have a few prayer requests, if you could please remember them:
* That we would get more supporting churches so we can officially "buy" this trailer from the Means family, if it's the Lord's will
* For Caleb to be able to accomplish a lot with the building. There's been a few setbacks so the work has been slow, but praise the Lord, he is almost done with the plumbing in the walls!
* The new baby, pray that he/she will be healthy and the Lord will provide for financial needs.
We have had many blessings, the Lord has taken care of us in mighty ways! We have had a few churches take us on for support. Also I am starting to feel a lot better with my pregnancy, I just get sick mostly in the evenings or if I don't eat.
Thank you for the prayers!

hot, Hot, HOT!!

It is SO hot! That's all I can think about! It's hot when I wake up, it's hot at lunchtime, it's hot in the afternoon, and it's hot at night! HOT!! And it's just now August!

Not many exciting things have happened this last month. The kids and I had a great time at my parents' house in Iowa and did not want to come back, but Caleb wouldn't stop whining so we came back anyway. Turns out he doesn't like the peace and quiet as much as he thought! I am still pretty sick with this baby but I seem to be handling it better and better. I just have to remember my limitations and not fight what my body is telling me. The building is going slow, but steady. I would post some update pictures but everything they're doing is "behind the scenes" and doesn't make a big enough difference to matter! But it's all necessary work.

Anna is walking like a champ now and is cutting more teeth than ever. She has 9 teeth now! The kids are exciting to start school again, our start date is August 17th. I was able to get Kayla 1st grade curriculum from Bob Jones Press for a very good price and my parents were very kind to help out in purchasing it! She looks at the workbooks every day and begs me to let her start! I want to get Noah his 3rd grade stuff from BJP also but I don't know if we'll be able to this year. There are some good deals on Ebay that I'm watching, and if it's the Lord's will, I know He'll provide. I just have to be patient and trust His workings. Lela will be doing preschool again so she's excited too!

I recently was hired by an online newspaper to write articles for them. I am the West Oklahoma City Pregnancy Examiner, officially! I write 2-3 articles a week relating to pregnancy and get paid by how many views my articles get, how long they're read, and if people subscribe. So please check it out!! I left my computer at my parents' house and just got it back this weekend, so I'm trying to play catch-up and get going on that again. The link is: West Oklahoma City Pregnancy Examiner

I can't think of much else that's going on. We're going to Oklahoma next week for our church's VBS. Please pray about our financial situation with this pregnancy. We feel led to not use government assistance, and we are members of Samaritan Ministries (bill share group), but the doctor and hospital aren't cooperating and would rather try to convince me why I should just use SoonerCare than actually get me a quote so I can start seeing a doctor. We want to trust the Lord and depend on Him for this one!

It's Been a While!

I didn't realize how long it had been since I've posted a blog. Wow! A lot has happened too. First and most importantly, we found out we're going to have another baby! Probably the end of February sometime. We're all pretty excited. Pray for Noah, that either it's a boy or he'll still be alive if it's a girl. He said if we have another girl he just might die! Kayla also informed me that when I have this baby she will get to take care of Anna ALL BY HER SELF! So I might just take her up on that offer. Lela is more excited about this baby than she was for Anna. Probably because she knows what to expect and she's a little bit older now, she can appreciate what is coming.
Another exciting this is that I got a job! I applied for an article with an online newspaper, examiner.com. I got the West Oklahoma City Pregnancy Examiner position. So I write three or more articles a week relating to pregnancy. It's been pretty easy coming up with topics! You can see my profile page here. Please stop by and browse some articles! You can subscribe to my column and get an email update whenever a new article is posted. I've always loved english and writing, and had dreams of writing some day, and so this job is almost a dream come true. It doesn't pay much yet. I get paid depending on how many people view my articles, how long they view them, and how many people subscribe. So until I get a following I won't make very much.
We are still in Anthony, Kansas and still loving it. It is forever HOT and we are always trying to come up with new ways to stay cool. The kids' new favorite way is to turn on the hose and soak themselves. I tell them to go for it, but they can't come inside until they're dry! The building is going slow, but they're getting stuff done. The walls are mostly up, and most of the windows are in. Caleb is starting to put plumbing in the walls so he's excited to be back with the plumbing again.
The kids and I will be going to see my parents in Iowa for a week. We have plans of going to train museums, a drag race, a water park, Kayla is going to learn how to sew, and the kids have major plans of running around crazy!

After taking almost two months, all of the roof trusses and OSB sheeting are finally on the roof! Bro. McCullough, Bro. Cannon, Bro. Newkirk and Caleb worked steadily today and finally got it finished! The roofers are coming on Monday at 6am to start putting on the actual roofs which means the men can focus on doing other things. What things, I don't know! I'm assuming something with the walls, but I don't know for sure. I just watch and report on what I see get done.
This week it has been super hot and it isn't even July yet. I'm not sure if we'll survive the next two months! I have started making dinner in the crock pot and I'm hoping Caleb will be able to take the time to make a Solar Oven, so I don't have to use the oven in the trailer. We either have to be frozen in the morning until about 11pm so it stays relatively cool (around 80*) during the afternoon, or suck it up and endure the warmness in the afternoon until about 7pm. Our poor a/c works on high for most of the day, going continuously. I pray every day that it keeps up and doesn't quit on us! In the afternoons we try to either go somewhere and do something, take naps, or watch movies. Any kind of activity is almost unbearable! I know, we're such wimps, we are grateful for the fact that our trailer is less than 90* during the day when it could be over 100* like outside! The kids and I like to go to the library, or walk around Alco, or even just going to a park and spreading out a blanket is preferrable to being in the trailer when it gets so hot.
God has blessed us in so many ways. We've gotten random love offerings, had food given to us, and I've gotten into contact with some friends I haven't talked to in years! There is definitely hope for the future and I love it when the Lord allows us to see a little bit of His glory to keep us going. We have started to have family devotions in the morning, something we are very bad about keeping going, and the kids have been very receptive in hearing the daily devotion. We are teaching Anna, who is 1 year old now, to sit still on my lap. She is doing well and only squirms a few times in the 15 minutes it usually takes us.
Thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts! We love to hear from people, so leave a message or comment!

Wow! This has been a long week! We came to Oklahoma with few plans; only to have Anna's birthday party, and for Noah and Lela to go to the dentist. Shortly after we got here, however, plans changed! A very loving and giving family in our church has been letting us "live" in a house on their property. We have had our stuff there and lived there when we were back in town, for 1 1/2 years now. We knew they were going to try to rent the house and that we would need to move our stuff out, little did we know we would need to do it this week! So our short vacation turned into a longer working-vacation. Thankfully Caleb and I were able to pack Thursday and Friday without the kids, and then Saturday the kids helped us pick up trash, sweep and vacuum. They were such good helps that we got it done in only two hours! We got all of our stuff seperated into four categories; pack in storage, keep in trailer, sell in garage sale, and throw away! We thought we would find a "few" things to sell and we ended up filling half of Caleb's parents' garage!

I made Anna a little cake for her party and she loved it! She must have been watching a few dogs to get some pointers on the best way to eat, because she dove in head first! It was too cute. She is really walking now and prefers to walk over crawling, except for if she loses her balance.

We are headed back to Anthony, Kansas tomorrow and Caleb will return back to work. We had a wonderful time home and really enjoyed seeing family and church family. We probably won't be home again until September, unless we need to come home for another reason. But otherwise, we won't be back until our church's anniversary.

God is good!!!

I didn't realize it had been so long since I had updated! The work in Anthony is going well. They got all of the trusses up (I believe) and are finishing up the sheeting. It seems the process is very slow, but there are so many little things to do, that it takes a while to see progress.
We are in Oklahoma for a week. Anna is turning one year old on Wednesday so we came home to have a party for her and also because Noah and Lela have dentist appointments. They have cavities! AH! I am nervous for them, but I'm trying not to show it! I didn't get cavities much as a kid, the first one I got I believe I was close to the age of 10, and I remember it being a little bit traumatic! But I'm hoping it isn't so bad for them. The dentist we had as a kid is a little bit of a legend in our family; a bad legend. The kids' dentist, however, is very kind and gentle so I'm sure it will be fine. Since finding the cavities the kids have been very faithful to brush, floss and rinse. I'm so proud of them!
There isn't much else going on with our family. We are trying to plan a trip to Iowa to see my family and spend time at "the farm". But since Caleb doesn't really know when the plumbing will need to be done, it's hard to plan. Plus we are trying to work around my mom's work schedule. The kids and I might just go by ourselves so Caleb can keep working.
Anna is starting to walk now and she is so proud of herself! She hasn't gotten the hang on regaining her balance, she just kind of sets off until she can't walk anymore! It's quite humorous. And then she will look around to see who was watching and see if she can get some praise!
One of these weeks I'm going to start summer school with the kids, it just hasn't worked out yet! I'm still considering switching curriculum this fall, but we're waiting to see what exactly it will cost.
Caleb turned the big 3-0 on the 7th! He is now "old" as we all that are younger like to remind him. We were able to go out on a date without ANY of the kids, including Anna! The Pastor and his wife, David and Holly Newkirk, watched the kids so we could go. It was such a blessing to be able to leave them with people we could trust! I was a little panicked at first, I wasn't sure how Anna would do without me for so long, but we both survived with no problems.
Please pray for the men as they work! It is terribly hot and humid and they are on the roof. We've already had one man who had to go to the doctor for dehydration.