These pictures go in ascending order so you should start at the bottom.

A missionary came to my parents church a while back and he had a display table with items he has collected from around the world. He encouraged the children to play with the items so they eagerly took him up on his offer.

I wish I remember where these items came from. Obviously the turban is from India. I think the bracelet is from India also and the shaker stick is from Africa.

Here's Betsy. She is absolutely hilarious. Kyle brought her from Chicago because they are engaged to get married in May. She has a beautiful smile and twinkle in her eyes.

Here is Kyle, Sarah and Michelle. Honest, Michelle does have a pretty face despite her ultra cheesy grin.
We had a social night to welcome the newest member of our group, Betsy. James and Joe did all the cooking. I love it when men cook.

Bethany is dabbling in a little archeology. Here she is searching for bones to dig up.
Sweet little Sery played quietly with her toys so I could capture pictures of everyone else. She is such a good baby.

The was a vinyl igloo in the room with puzzles on the inside.

This lady was wonderful. It was so cute. She pulled out this huge furry tarantula and started singing, "Itsy, Bitsy Spider," to Macy. I think Macy was a little freaked out by the spider but I know she liked it because when she saw this picture she started to sing the song.
Still not to old to play with toys.

This is something they love to do. They pretend this gigantic elephant is about to step on somebody. Of course all the children involved were very dramatic in their roles.

In January we took a school field trip to the Sam Noble museum with my mom, my nephew Ajay, my mom's neighbor Mary and her little boy Joseph. We had a blast. The kids hadn't been there in a while so it was like everything was new to them. We spent most of our time in the Discovery Room. The kids wanted to see more of the museum but we had to go eat lunch. After the museum we went to McDonald's and let them play on the Play Place. They had a great time and it seemed like every time we were in the van Bethany fell asleep so she was good to go. Nap time was not an issue at all. I would love to go back there with Asher.

I downloaded pictures from my camera today and am going to try to post them here.



Caylee got a new bike for Christmas that had no training wheels. She was overjoyed and wanted to see if she could ride her bike with no wheels. We spent a couple of days outside going down the street with me or Daddy holding on to her seat. We had to do it in short increments though because it was so cold outside and there was a lot of traffic. This was a day or two after she actually learned to ride her bike. For a while she wanted to spend every bit of free time on her bike. Natalie too. You can see Natalie riding a bike in the background. We got Natalie her first real bike for Christmas and she was loving it.

The following is my bible study from last Friday. I am so excited about my study. I have been meditating on the attributes of God this week and it has been such a wonderful aide in worshipping my Savior. Fortunately for us our God is a God such that the more you know Him it just brings about this awesome wonderment of who He is.

This was last week's study, there will be more to come in the coming weeks.


Omniscient-Psalm 139:1-6, Psalm 147:5

Omnipotent-Genesis 18:14, Ps 61:2-3 Cry out to the God, He has the power to save you, Mathew 14:17 There will be more than you need, Jeremiah 32:17 Nothing is impossible for God, Numbers 11:23, Job 42:2

Omnipresent, Proverbs 15:3, Psalm 121:3, Jeremiah 23:23-24, Psalm 139:7-12, Acts 17:24,

Everlasting- Genesis 21:33, Isaiah 40:28, Psalm 90:1-2, Rev 1:8 Rev 1:8

Immutable (Never changes) – Psalm 102:25-27, Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17,Father of lights-He goes on in the metaphor: for the sun by his many and various kinds of turning, makes hours, days, months, years, light and darkness.
No shadow of turning-God is unchangeable, always the same, nor does he cast a shadow of turning like the sun. The allusion is to the constantly changing shadows of objects in the sunlight caused by the movement, not of the sun, but of the earth.

Incomprehensible- Job 11:7, Job 26:14, Romans 11:33

Self-Existent- Exodus 3:14, Isaiah 43:10-13, Isaiah 48:12-13, Psalm 90:1-2, Acts 17:25, Romans 11:36





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Amy Grant - El Shadai

Update.

Asher talked to a few people who he respects today about his decision whether or not to move our family to Shepherd AFB. He talked to his dad, Mike Warren and Will. All of them thought that the residency was probably the best idea, but Will was by far the most helpful because he was able to give Asher inside information about the dilemma he was facing.

First of all, Will knows someone who just graduated from Shepherd and he says it is a great program there. Secondly, Asher will enjoy his times in the military much more immensely if he is trained at a residency program before going into full-time active duty. Apparently all dentists that go directly to their duty station are assigned only to large bases and are labeled, "Vanillas." Residency dentists are able to opt for small bases if they so choose because if they are left alone in the clinic they will already have to skills to fulfill their duties. Vanillas are sent to large bases where there is always someone else in charge and they are put on something called "The amalgam train." Which means that they will spend four years filling cavity after cavity. I asked if Dr. Schaffer was put on that train, but apparently Dr. Schaffer is Dr. Schaffer. I guess he was always getting in trouble for doing procedures that he was not supposed to do, but he did not care. It didn't seem to affect him in the long run.

Asher seems to be a bit excited about this opportunity now. He told me this evening that he was pretty sure that he was going to accept the assignment. The thing he was most unexcited about previously was the case presentations he was going to have to do. Will reassured him that they are not like the ones that he has been doing in school. They are much more effective in teaching him to treatment plan. So now with even that out of the way, I don't see any reason why we would not go.

I can't say that I am all that keyed about going though. What is over there? As far as I know, nothing. When Asher and I were getting our minds prepared to possibly go anywhere in the U.S., we didn't realize it, but we were both thinking somewhere outside of the Midwest. We love Oklahoma, but if we are going to have to move away from the place that we love, we want to go someplace exciting. Alaska, Virginia, Florida... Not Wichita Falls, TX. BLCK! I guess God is going to have to work on my heart a bit more. We asked God for HIS best choice, so who am I to whine about it.

It is funny, the ladies in the Bible study and I have all laughed before because none of us were very happy when we first heard the news that we were about to move to OK, but now we all love it and would prefer to stay here the rest of our lives. (Except Sarah. She loves it also, but she has a close-knit family back in Michigan.) So, who knows what will happen. I will trust in God. Even if things are hard, He will be with us.

Some surprising news.

Asher and I did not think that we would be finding out what base we would be moving to until March, but this morning Asher got a call from Randolph AFB asking if he would accept a residency at Shepherd AFB. He said yes, but he is not sure about his decision. For one, we both wanted to go somewhere a little more exciting and Asher is now not too sure that he wants to put in another year of school. He was more willing to do it until he did his externship with our friend, Dr. Bryan Schaffer, who has a practice out in Yukon. Bryan did the military/dental school plan like Asher but did not enroll in a residency program. Bryan's practice is booming, so Asher is starting to feel like it might be a waste of time and effort.

Residency Pros:
valuable experience with procedures he is not already familiar with
more supervision without the confines present in dental school

Residency Cons:
more time away from family
plan just changed, now adds another year to military service
may not add anything to future success
have to live in Texas

I suggested that Asher call our friend, Will, who has already been through the program, to see if he feels like it was worthwhile. Of course Will is not out in the real world yet and Will enjoys academics whereas Asher enjoys hands-on work. We will just have to wait and see.

Note to self: If I ever take a short sabbatical to lesson at a lesson plan at a coffee shop, do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink caffiene. I am sitting here with hours ahead of me. Asher has the children and all should be peaceful but I feel so anxious that I cannot concentrate on my work. AGGHH! I just realized that I have drunk too coffees and that is why I feel like climbing the walls. Caffiene is great for me when I have physical work to do, but not so great for mental work.



This morning Asher agreed to let me have some time alone with the laptop to do neccessary lesson planning, so I took it and went to Starbucks. I knew that they had Wi-Fi. The first Starbucks was too small, so I proceeded to the next one on down the road. It looked like it had a nice setup so I proceede to buy a latte and muffin because even though I was not hungry I was grateful for the warm place to work. I got all set up when I realized that is cost $9.99 for 24 hours of internet access which I could use for up to 120 days. That is cheese! I already spent 6 something on food and now I have to pay ten dollars more.



So I packed up my stuff and left. I called my friend Ricky from co-op because she volunteers to work at a coffee shop in Valley Brook. It is really more of a ministry than anything else. She told me that they did have free Wi-Fi, so I headed on over there.

I felt like I need to be polite, so I bought another coffee. Big Mistake!

This is a really cool coffee shop though. I highly recommend it. They have games for people to play if they just want to hang out. Comfy, worn furniture and a very modern, cozy look. The people that work her are all doing it for free so they definitely want to be here and they are very nice.

Gotta get back to work!

Here Caylee with her group of friends at Co-op. The only one missing is Natalie.

Last time we were at Classical I happened to walk in as Bethany was doing her art project so I snapped a few pictures. She is making an angel for her placemat that she will use every week at lunchtime for that month. I think it is a neat idea. They do lots of neat things with the kids. I am glad that Macy and Bethany are in Mother's Day Out and where they are doing crafts, learning colors and numbers and such.

I just recently emptied my camera so I have a bunch of random pictures to share.


Here is Caylee and Natalie at dance. They love their dance teacher, Miss Sarah. She is such a sweet and bubbly young lady.


Caylee had some technical issues with her shoes. We found out that day that she is now too big for those shoes. So after class we went and got her some new ones.

We have a pecan tree in our backyard! Okay, technically the trunk is in the neighbor's yard, but the branches overhang into our yard. So according to zoning laws that makes them belong to us.

We have had these seed pods that the girls have been collecting during their playtime all summer and fall. They informed me that they were alligator eggs for a while, but when they found a stray kitten in the back yard suddenly the seeds became kitten eggs. (Yes, they do know where kittens come from.)

So I have had annoying brown seed pods hanging around the house because as much I clean them up and take them outside, inevitably one of the little ones will bring a new batch back in. Well, tonight I was looking at them and thought they looked an awful lot like pecan shells, so I decided to crack one open. The girls and I were delighted to find a delectable treat. Actually, they weren't that good. The one that I tried was bitter, but I am sure they will taste delicious mixed in other foods. Don't worry Michelle, I am not going to try to slay you with my cooking.

Does anyone know how to store them so they will not spoil? Some of the ones that the girls have saved look a little funky.

We are now 6 days into this power outage and STILL no power. The temperature at our house has been about an average whopping 30 degrees. So obviously we cannot stay there with our babies. I am so grateful to have someplace to stay. I have discovered just how nice it is to be warm.



Our power went out at 10:00 Sunday night. Asher and I were attempting to watch a movie when all of a sudden the house went dark. Our power goes off every summer and winter. It goes off anywhere from a couple of minutes to a few hours. We have never gotten to the point where we felt like we had to leave the house. We have contemplated it a few times, but it seems like when we have just decided that the temperature is getting too much for our kiddos to handle it comes back on. One summer the power went off about 11:30 p.m. and a bunch of our neighbors all came out to see if there was anything to see. So we just stood there and chatted in the humid night air. We agreed that we need to find other reasons to all together than a power outage.

So when the power went off Sunday night I was not too particularly worried. I figured that we would wait a couple of hours and if it did not come on we would leave. After waiting awhile Asher and I decided to go to bed. I was awoken sometime about 4 or 5 o'clock. I am not sure because the digitals were not working and it was too dark to see the analog. It was becoming quite chilly in our house. I knew if I awoke the children at that point they probably would have not gone back to sleep so I made sure all of them were well covered. In the morning I called my mom to let her know that we were all coming over for a short visit, but she informed me that she did not have power either and she was wondering where she was going to go. So, I called Tegan. Tegan had previously offered to let us stay with her if we needed, which I thought would be fun, but much too crowded. So we all got our stuff together, enough for a least a couple of days, which I thought would be more than enough. Then we trooped on over to Tegan's house. We were joined by Joe and Michelle who were staying at Thomas's apartment because not only did their power go out, but a tree had fallen and ripped out their power box and it took siding with it.

Tegan was really great to let us stay with her at her house. I know that it was hard for her because she has lots of breakables in her apartment. She has quite a few bookshelves with knickknacks all over them. Not only that but the apartment has only two bedrooms. Bethany kept getting into everything because she is just at the age where she likes to explore and find out how everything works. But that is why Tegan was so great. I knew she was having a hard time but she was so gracious and kept giving and giving. She hardly sat down. She was always right on top of it if she felt like we had a need. I think that Tegan will make an excellent nurse because she is so kind.

After the second day staying at Tegan's I started to have an allergic reaction to her two cats. I have never had any sort of reaction to cats but I have also never had that much exposure at one time to them. I slept on a mattress on the living room floor where the cats spend much of their time. (They spend time on the floor not the mattress.) Tegan had vacuumed before we went bed but it was too no avail.


That second day I was attempting to do school with my older girls, but it was proving to be difficult because I felt so overwhelmingly tired. I was ignoring it and pushing through when all of a sudden I noticed that I throat was closing up and it was getting difficult to breath. I took a decongestant/antihistamine hoping it would go away, but it did not. By that time my parent's power had come back on and so Asher and I made the decision to move our family.

I am actually glad that I had that reaction to Tegan's cats. I started getting a tightness in my chest when I was pregnant with Serenity. I talked to my doctor about it and she sent me to a cardiologist. I got to wear a heart monitor and I had an ultrasound. The heart monitor did not find anything, but the ultrasound found that I had a minor leakage. Apparently this is not uncommon for pregnant women and not really a big deal. Since I did not know what was going on with my heart I felt that maybe the occasional tightness I was feeling was caused by some issue my heart was having.

When I was at Tegan's I realized that the tightness is actually allergy-induced asthma. So that means if I keep exercising than it will go away. This is a big relief to me because I was a bit concerned about having a heart condition later on in my life. There are no heart problems in my family but heart failure is the leading cause of death for women in this country.

Yesterday I went to see Grandma Ann with my girls. I have been checking up on her to see if she has been alright. Yesterday she did not answer the door so I went to the neighbor's house to inform her that I could raise Grandma Ann. The neighbor told me that Grandma Ann's son had visited the previous day and had probably taken her home. ( This neighbor just lives a few houses away from me but nobody can remember their names because they usually keep to themselves.) While I was over there Kevin, another neighbor who has a 4 year old girl that my children like to play with, came over and told us about how he had started a fire in his house. He has a wood stove that he has been using to keep warm. Well, I guess that he was pouring a can of kerosene on the wood and there was a little tea light candle next to the stove and he accidentally got some kerosene on it. The fire somehow got to the floor and he was surrounded by flames. He was trying to beat the flames out the whole time he was frenzied thinking of his family. He knew that if the can of kerosene caught on fire it would be worse so he threw it in the back yard and caught the back yard on fire. He said that he found a carpet and was beating the flames out when he realized that he himself was on fire. He was able to find a blanket and put himself out. The way he was describing it, it sounded like something in a movie. It was awful. I think he is going to be alright though. He said that his burns are mostly second degree with some first degree. I feel so bad for him. I wonder if there is a way my family can help them. Kevin said that they are staying with his wife's aunt now and she has her power on.

Besides Kevin and Grandma Ann there are at least three other neighbors that are living on our part of the street that I know about that are staying in their house with no power. The people on our street are a hardy bunch.

I will have more later. I have quite a few pictures on my camera but I can't download them until I get my power back on my computer.

I LOVE CO-OP!

We had our orientation meeting last night and it there was such a sweet spirit. There is something so special about co-op ladies.

When I first walked in I was glad to be there because this is the third year that I have been part of the group. It was nice to not feel like the new person and be able to look around tenderly at the other ladies and love them because I know what terrific ladies they are. It was also great that my friend Valerie and my neighbor Kara were there.

Then as the meeting progressed I realized that my happiness was much more than just from being part of the group. The Spirit of God was in that room. One thing I love about co-op is that the ladies are not focused on the things of this world. They all just love Jesus and truly want His will for their lives. That is so rare and it just shines because it is like finding a diamond in the rough.

Valerie made a comment that this the the "prayenist" group of ladies that she has ever met. I have a feeling that may be the reason that God's Spirit was dwelling with us. Something was started at the retreat and that feeling has not left. I don't think I have ever seen a group of ladies pray like they did at the retreat. They didn't have to. We could have just gone and had a great time of fellowship. But one thing that was mentioned last night is that they feel it is important to be intentional in our relationship with Jesus. We need to be purposeful in making a place for His presence. I am not charismatic but I do agree that it is needed. If we don't, we end up just traveling through life doing our own little thing and not experiencing His awesome power or the fullness of His plan for our life. I am just so encouraged every time that I go there.

Stephanie T. and I had some neat fellowship together because we are going through a similar situation. It was great to be open and totally honest about concerns we were having. She is such a great encourager and it was heartening to know that my situation is not unique.

We all really did have a great time last night. I am so sorry Michelle that you were not able to make it to the meeting. Hopefully there will be another time that you can join us soon.

Good News! Bethany did not have the rotavirus! I think I was pulling a Michelle and being a bit over dramatic. ;)

When the nurse called back she did not seem to overly concerned and just told me to keep up with the fliuds and then put her on the BRAT diet. I think the fact that she did not have fever and had only had been sick for three days showed the nurse there was no cause for alarm. I am just not used to my kids getting sick this much. It seems like my kids are getting sick much more and they are staying sick longer than before. I was thinking about it and it might be because I breastfeed Caylee and Natalie longer than the other children. Caylee was breastfeed for 10 months and Natalie for 6 months. I have a very good immune system and I think I was able to pass that on to them through nursing. It was hard for me to nurse and got more difficult with each baby. The three little ones were not nursed much past three months. I noticed a big difference with Macy. Caylee rarely got sick and it seemed like Macy was always sick when she was a baby. I still think my kids all have pretty good immune systems but I guess I am just going to have to get used to dealing with this stuff.

By the way, I think Bethany had the flu. This weekend Asher and Serenity got it too. Serenity is finally feeling better, but I think she still feels a little weak. She is not quite as active as she is normally. I have to admit it was nice to let everything go and just sit and snuggle with her this weekend.

We were planning on taking family pictures this weekend but Asher was in so much pain there was not way we could, so hopefully we can get that done before it gets too cold. Next year Asher is planning on getting the flu shot so he doesn't have to go throught that again.

Bethany has been sick for a few days now. At first we were thinking it was something minor because she was vomiting small amounts after she was eating and she had some diarrhea. Well, now she just seems to be getting worse. She won't eat anything but she will drink her Powerade, Thank God. ( I mean that literally.) I was thinking about it this morning and I realized it might be the dreaded rotavirus. I had a friend whose little boy went to daycare and got it and had to be hospitalized. The doctor told her that if she had not brought him in when she did he could have died from dehydration. Those little guys get dehydrated so easily.

I researched rotavirus on the internet and it said the incubation period is two days. The symptoms include severe diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and fever. The only way to truly tell is from a stool sample.

The incubation period seems about right for Bethany because she went to Mother's Day Out (she and Macy are in MDO while the older kids do Classical Conversations) on Thursday and she got sick on Saturday. She does have severe diarrhea, vomiting, possibly some nausea but no fever.

I called the doctor today, so we will have to see what her nurse says.

Here are more pictures with Natalie. All I have left to do is Bethany. Hopefully it will warm up again. Natalie was freezing while we were out in the open. It was a wonderful day, except when the wind was blowing.

We went back to the park again on Satuday. This time we went to a slightly different part then we have been at before because I wanted some different scenery. I took two children with me because I wanted to take Caylee so I could get a shot of her with her two top missing teeth. I think it is so adorable. I love how kids talk when their teeth are missing. Actually it is not that much different, but if I listen close I can hear a little lisp.

I put most of these pictures in sepia because I have a plan to put them on the wall that way. I want to put them all in matching white/offwhite frames with white/offwhite matting. I haven't decided which ones I am going to put up yet. I am going to decide that when I have them all complete.

I have been meaning to take "professional" pictures of my children for a while now. We have stopped going to the studios because I don't like having to deal with the people that work there. I have noticed that they are not very patient with my children, especially when I bring in more than two at a time. Oh my goodness, could you imagine if I brought all my children in. Some are more patient than others and Sears is definitely better than JCPenny, but they all have a small time limit for each appointment and I feel like we get hurried through so they can make the next appointment.

There was one time that I went to Sears during the day and there was nobody booked after me. It was right after Bethany was born and the lady spent extra time getting the shots perfect. She was great. If I could have that type of experience every time than we would be regular customers again. But since there is no guarantee of that we will stick to the park. Not to mention how much cheaper it is.

I think I will go back and re-do Sery's pics because her pants kept bunching up around her diaper. Honest, she had a clean diaper on, but her pants were too big and made her diaper look like a 5 pounder. Also, Caylee has been fascinated with my camera so I was letting her take pictures with it but I guess she touched the lens and made it dirty. Ergh!

Overall I do like how they came out. I feel like I achieved my overall goal which was to get a few pictures to display. Really I just need one to go on the wall by the front door with my other girls.