elly, dryer

So, Elly woke up on Sunday morning with no fever!  Can you believe that?  She had a restful day and is back at school today.  Elly and Maddy are having a blast getting ready for the R. Thanksgiving feast.  Today, Elly made corn casserole with her class and Maddy helped peel, cook, and mash potatoes!  More on the feast to come...

The dryer repairman is coming tomorrow.  Looks like both the labor and parts are still under warranty...so maybe things are looking up!  We probably won't get it fixed until after Thanksgiving, but, at least we won't be paying another service call!

A Whisper

I had some time to pray and reflect this afternoon. I listened for God's voice. A whisper told me that I was giving Satan too much credit for the things happening right now. God knows my heart. He knows I have wandered far from Him in the past 6 months and He knows why. I have been praying for Him to draw me back. He is trying to get my attention with all of these "things". I have a humble heart this evening and I know it is all about Him. Not me. So, I still ask for your prayers. But, I know that He is in control, not Satan. Two summers ago, Kevin and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to the Billy Graham Center in North Carolina for an FCA marriage retreat. We went there with a decision to make...to make our marriage work or end it. It saddens me to say that, but, it is the truth. While the weekend was not what we expected...it did save our marriage and more importantly, brought us closer to our Lord. We were so blessed with music by Joel Engle that weekend. He is amazing. I wish I could play you my favorite song, but I can't (it's not on playlist). So, here are the words...if you want a copy of it, I can send you a cd. Just let me know. Thanks for praying for us. "First Love" In this thirsty land / Where I ache and yearn / Too weak to stand / Will I ever learn? / That I have nothing without You / No, I am nothing without You / In this lonely place / Where I am so cold / Be the fire of grace / Burning in my soul / And I have nothing without You / No, I am nothing without You / Jesus, You are the one I love / You are the only thing that melts my heart / Jesus, I have wandered so far / Draw me to where you are / My first love / In my brokenness / I run to You / In Your faithfulness /I am renewed /Revive the song I used to sing / Take my heart and everything / I surrender all of me to You / You are my first love

laundromat

That's where Kevin is. Why? Oh, you will be so glad you asked. The dryer (which we just spent $187.30 on November 7th to have fixed!) is doing the exact SAME thing it was doing on November 1st when it broke!!!! PRAY. FOR. US. That's all I'm going to say. Satan is obviously attacking our family. I can feel it. One of us has been "sick" for the last 8 weeks. Fevers, colds, strep throat, pneumonia... We have not been to church in ages b/c of illness. Elly broke a tooth...that was a quick $200 at the dentist. Just this week, my van decided it might let me roll down the windows and it might not. We need to take it in to our mechanic. Did I mention that Kevin broke his little toe on his right foot last week AND hurt his left hand yesterday. Did I mention our vacuum broke...thank goodness, Kevin could fix that! He rocks! :) Our moxi and our cable box on 2 different tv's went out within 24 hours of each other. Not at the same time because that would have been too easy to deal with. Kevin had to make 2 trips to the cable company and we had to have a service call. Plus, we have another service call in b/c the replacement dvr is not working right. And now, the dryer is broken, AGAIN. PRAY. FOR. US.

Guess who has a fever?

Yep, Elly. Last night it was 101 degrees. This afternoon, it is 103 degrees. This doesn't make a mom too happy. She does have a red throat and is not eating great. But, she is not complaining and is still drinking and eating a little. We will head to the doctor tomorrow. I think she may have strep throat again. You can bet your bottom dollar we will be discussing this article and we won't be heading home with amoxil.

Hot Chocolate

In honor of the girls' favorite movie, The Polar Express, they have been slurping on hot chocolate by the fire in the evenings.

Elly loves chocolate!

So, this is right up her alley. :)

Do you see the chocolate rolling down her chin?

Maddy likes hers with marshmallows.

Elly likes hers plain.

I did some research on what's really in marshmallows.

Hmm... I might have to make my own or buy some organic marshmallows.

Good friends

Elly went to another birthday party last Sunday. She had so much fun...

...especially with her good friend, Reese. They got pretty silly... dancing...

...and wrestling!

What fun! :)

A visitor

Who is this?

Those silly Wade girls!

They are cute!

Puzzles

Lately, puzzles have been no match for Elly. Look at 2 of her favorites...

Do you see the smile on her face in the next photo? She was so proud of her work! Yay, Elly!

A new family photo

We had some family photos taken in October. These are our 2 favorites. Which one do you like?

I like them both!

Maddy's Prayer

"Dear God, Thank you for this meal. Thank you for my family and my friends. And please let our Thanksgiving be just like the pioneers. Amen."

How I spent my Saturday afternoon.

Something has been looming over my head for weeks! But, Elly got strep throat. So it got put off. Then, Maddy got strep throat. Delayed again. And me? Well, then I got pnuemonia! And EVERYTHING went to heck in a hand basket. I finally feel like myself again and had quite a job to do this weekend. What was it? LAUNDRY.

And not just laundry. I had to go through the girls' closets and put away summer items and outgrown items.

Then, I had to pull out these...

...and have Elly try on Maddy's outgrown clothes to see what will fit her this winter. And have Maddy try on clothes from last winter to see if they will make it through this winter. Then, put all summer clothes, outgrown clothes, and other clothes back in these bins and put them away. It exhausts me. PS~Did I mention that our 2 year old dryer decided it needed a new timer last Sunday and we didn't have use of a dryer for 5 days? Let's just say that our washer & dryer have been in use continually since we were able to get it fixed on Friday morning. I am happy to report that all laundry is put away. And if I never have to do laundry again, I will ----. :)

A 7th birthday party...

Maddy invited her 3 good friends from school, Eva, Sydnee, and Isabelle, out for a sweet treat and swimming last weekend to celebrate her 7th birthday.

It was quite hysterical listening to them chit chat about school, their lessons, and Mr. Joe (whom they call "Joe-Joe" in a sweet kitty-cat voice!)

The girls are such good friends. There were no spats the whole 3 hours we were all together. They swam, went down the water slide, mastered the lily pads, and had so much fun! :)

Eva loved her banana split! She wanted to eat the whole thing... but realized that was a lot of ice cream!Isabelle walked right across the lily pads on the first try! Wow! Sydnee practiced all afternoon to master the lily pads...

...she was such a good sport about it. :) We even had a great time when this little person showed up...

She was so excited when Maddy told her she could come swimming, too! She even went under the water! What a brave girl! Thanks for helping Maddy celebrate her birthday, girls! It makes me so happy that Maddy has such good friends who like to be a little silly!

Trick or Treat!

Elly practiced cheering for Auburn University before we went to her friend's Halloween party. Go Tigers!!!

We had dinner in my classroom and dressed the girls there. We took pictures in front of our scarecrow that my friends made...

The girls were so excited!

After the party, the children went trick-or-treating as a group. There were about 10-12 children running from house to house with all of the parents trying to keep them corralled (this can be challenging when the goal is free candy!!) It was so fun to have so many friends to trick or treat with!

So much fun that Elly fell asleep by 8:20pm and we headed home... She did not even wake up while we unpacked the car and the light was on. Too much trick-or-treating! :)

***I had one more picture to add but it's not the best quality.. Maddy was inside chowing down on candy while we were unloading!

Halloween Parade

On Halloween, the elementary children parade through all the primary classrooms. They tell the children their name, what class they are in, and who they are. I was so proud of Maddy when she came into my classroom. She very clearly stated, "My name is Maddy Wade and I am a first year in Joe's class. I am dressed up as Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz." The really cute thing is that her good friend, Sydney, also dressed up as Dorothy and another first year student, Valerie, did too! I couldn't get the best photo but here are the Dorothy triplets!

Halloween Happenings

We carved our pumpkins the Tuesday before Halloween...

Afterwards, we always watch...

It's hard to tell but the girls requested a spooky jack o'lantern and a happy jack o'lantern.