More Birthdays!!

Abby turned 7 on October 26th and right after that we celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday on November 9th. Time sure seems to be flying lately. Happy Birthday to both of you! We love you and enjoy watching you grow and learn everyday!

first snow!!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! our first snow of the season. The kids woke up this morning and were sooo excited. It was like Christmas morning. They couldn't wait to go outside and even though we did not have winter items ( such as boots, hats and gloves) they went out anyway and got soaked but loved every minute of it!

Our newest addition.......

Lilyan Rachel was born Friday, October 7th at 2:56 PM. A week late but still only weighed in at 7lbs 6oz and 19 1/2 inches. It was the hardest labor and delivery out of all 7 but well worth all the turmoil. Welcome, Lily, to this beautiful mess. We are so blessed to have you as part of our family.

Happy Birhtday Time.........

My oldest just turned 12!!!! TWELVE! It is hard to believe she will be a teenager next year. She is definitely a young lady now. Thank You Lord for my beautiful daughter. She is definately a Gift from above!!! Happy Birthday Eve!

Karate Lessons...........

Jack and Eve have been taking tae kwan do and eskrima (Filipino style) for the past 4 months and they Love it! Jack especially loves it and all day long runs around the house doing kicks and forms. He uses his little siblings as pretend sparring partners and, needless to say, they love to try their own moves on big brother. Recently though, Jack broke his arm..............doing the thing he loves the most, Sparring in class with a partner trying out kicks and punches that only advanced students do. While attempting an exchange front snap kick his beginner partner reacted and grabbed Jack's leg and Jack lost his balance falling off the mat onto the tile floor. He landed with his left arm twisted behind his back. Diagnosis: a broken humorous! But that has not stopped the boy. No, He still wants to go to class to watch so he doesn't miss anything and now two weeks later, even with his cast still on, he is jumping off the couches and doing his kicks in the middle of the living room with Samuel. Lesson Learned?????? All of this excitement comes just four weeks after a swimming pool accident landing Jack in the ER with two gashes in his head resulting in 5 staples and quite the scare!! Hopefully, that is the last of the drama for a while. This mommy needs a breather!

Samuel.........

Sam turned the BIG 5 on Friday. He was so excited when the big day came that he couldn't wait to tell everyone we know how old he was now. I looked at some old pictures and it is so amazing to see how he has changed in a few short years. Samuel, you are as handsome as can be! We love you bunches.........Happy Birthday!!!

The last few months...............

I can't believe it is almost May! This (school) year has gone by too quickly and there is still so much to be done. Here are just some of the things that have been going on.

---In August we moved back to Florida after being unemployed for a year. Joshua was offered a job as a Language Arts teacher at the Public School. Even though it was not a ton of money we trusted that God would work it out and so far He has provided for all of our needs on a small teacher's salary.

---In September we started a new homeschool year with 4 of my 6 kids . That was a HUGE load for me to transition into especially after I found out I was pregnant again!

---I had a misscarraige in mid November at 10 weeks. Things were so crazy with birthday's, Thanksgiving and Christmas that I barely had time to rest. But God was there the whole time and the experience has changed our thinking about a lot of things. God truely is good!!

---December, of course, was Christmas and much needed break from homeschool. We don't really ever take breaks because we feel that just a trip to the grocery store can be quite educational (especially in the area of Character Building). But we did take a break from formal bookwork!

---In January I thought I would be able to slowly get back to normal but that idea was scratched upon finding out I was pregnant again!! I got so sick right away that all planning was out the window and everything came one day at a time. We are soooo thrilled to be adding Baby #7 to our family. God has blessed us so much!!!

---February we began to feel God tugging on our hearts to pray. Faced with our family expanding and so many needs we knew we were going to need to change some things. We really began to feel that God wanted us to stay out of debt and rely on Him to supply our needs so we began to pray for his provision. The first thing He provided was a 15 passenger van!! WOW! Right now we are currently debt free except for some student loans while Joshua works on finishing his Doctorate. Thank you Lord!

---March turned out to be pretty nice but sooooo busy. Here is where I left off with the blog posts.............We had a wonderful surprise visit from a Baby Otter. We found him under the kids slide scared as could be. We were able to rescue him and put him back in his home ( the large pond across the road). It was a great homeschool opportunity and we learned a lot.

My parents came for a visit in mid March from Pennsylvania and we went to the state park and to the beach. Joshua had an evaluation for his Job that went extremely well. He was told he was doing well and the school was glad to have him as a teacher............Then in the same breath the administrator said that due to budget cuts he was not going to be able to recontract with Joshua for next year!!!!!! Little did we know back in February that this may have been what God was preparing us for........... Trusting Him to supply all our needs seems so much harder when He strips us down to nothing!!! Now, once again, we will be looking for employment and praying for God to direct our steps. School ends in June.......But, God is still Good!

---The first week of April we went to Asheville, NC for our annual Evangelical Methodist Conference (Pastor's School). We had not been to conference in a few years but God provided at the last minute and we decided we needed to go. It was wonderful to fellowship with all our friends and fellow Pastor's. It even snowed the first night we were there!

Last but not least, Easter!!

Happy Birthday!!!

I can't believe it has been three months since my last post!! So much has happened and we have been sooooo busy. I'll have more updates later but this post is for Katie's birthday. Three years old and counting................Love ya girl!!!