I didn't know what picture was going to load since I didn't have this named. It happens to be of the cake I made for Sierra's 2nd birthday and her looking ever so engrossed in how her dad is lighting the candles. Our little Spongebob Crabby Pants! Sierra is ever the skeptic.

My little Bean, sleeping so sweetly. These are the only times she is not extremely busy. She always want to bake, color, do crafts, play games, do puzzles...the list goes on!!! : ) The newest activity is to pick on her younger sisters! There's always a fight at our house.

You didn't notice the lapse, did you? : )

Goodness me! How long's it been since I've checked in here?

Since the last time I wrote I have been to Waconia, MN to a vintage snowmobile swap meet and ride. The event actually turned out to be fairly fun for the amount of time I spent at the place. My sister-in-law Lisa, her husband Glen, brother-in-law Marlin, father-in-law Dalles, and Larry and I each rode a "vintage" sled in the 11-mile ride that was held on Saturday, the 31st of January. Only Dalles, Larry, Lisa, and I made it back without breaking down, and Lisa, Dalles, and I actually did the course twice while the other guys spent some time fixing and being mad about having to fix. The joys of old machines! My sled was a Yamaha, by the way.

I do remember as a kid and teen having snowmobiles that we (my brother and I) would ride out to the middle of the field behind our farm yard. It seems we would always have to walk back home. For some reason those older sleds are just not that reliable. The newer models are so much nicer, and we actually can now go on rides that are many miles in length. Imagine! No walking home!

I came across a cool blog that some of you might appreciate. I like it because of its eccentricity I guess. It seems to house a little bit of information about anything and everything. I like that kind of thing since I just like to learn things merely for the sake of learning. I guess that's why I like trivia games and such. You just never know what I know...dumb stuff sometimes...but I learned it somewhere! : ) Try this 50 states quiz that is a part of his blog. It's fun to see how many states I can really remember! I missed 3 of them the first time I took this and so I'll need to try again just to see if I can master it. The web address is www.ironicsans.com/state22.html. I think you could even click on this link to take it. I'll give it a try after I log out of my entry here. You get 10 minutes to name all 50 states. Sounds easy, but like I said, I forgot 3!!! That's irritating.

Well, I think I need to get to bed. Hannah has preschool tomorrow, so I'll be in town even though I don't work. Wednesday's are always busy days. I'm also hoping to make some more calls for my online work. I'm suddenly hitting dead ends here. I'll have to keep bugging! : ) I'm also really hoping we don't get any snow tonight. I'd rather just have the rain, even though icy roads are no fun. I'm just plain sick of snow!!!!!

Destiny with her cousin, Amy Miller--one of the many pics of them while driving somewhere.

Back again!

OK, I've been told I need to update! I warned at the beginning that I may not exactly be up-to-speed on this whole process.

The weeks have been flying by, yet nothing too exciting has been going on. I feel like I'm just always cleaning my house, chasing after kids, or running to town to get one of the kids. The joys of motherhood I guess. I would love to have a close girlfriend to go out and do things with just for lunch or on weekends. I do have Shauna (Faul) but she's always busy with her family and Michelle (Hammer) lives too far away as do Jenni and my other college buds. I'm praying for someone to hang out with again.

My goal this week is to get my job with Medware reinstated. I need to get the tech guys to call me so I can get hooked up with Dictaphone Turbo, a supposedly faster version of speech recognition. I am actually feeling ready to go as far as transcription is concerned. I can hardly wait to make more money! Again, a goal is to keep whittling away at debt. The debt calculators I've used online get me so excited to see big changes in my accounts. I sure hope we can do this. Now just to get Larry excited about paying bills instead of buying TVs! Anyone needing a boost should definitely stop at Dave Ramsey's website. I just love his stuff!

We will be heading to Waconia, MN this weekend (near Mpls) for a vintage snowmobile rally. I know, exciting as all get out...It's sure not Florida or Arizona, my choice for a vacation. Hopefully we will have fun. It will be nice just to get away from the kids and the house I guess. Larry's two sisters and their husbands will be meeting us there too as well as his mom and step-dad. Wish us luck on the vintage ride. I think we can only go about 30 mph so things can't get too dangerous. I have to keep a positive attitude. I'm going for Larry's sake because he loves these things so much. He went with me to Sturgis last year, so I owe him...

Let's see...not much else is new. I'm still working on getting Sierra's doctor to quit playing phone tag with me. I just wish we could be done with doctoring for her, but hopefully she will be on her way to growing out of the kidney problem. I'm believing!

Oh yeah. I'm still getting to the gym everyday. I see no changes in my body yet, but I'm going to have to keep going. I need to work on calorie reduction of course. That's the very toughest part. My goal in weight loss is 40 to 50 pounds. I have to keep my eyes on 5 at a time though or I'll surely get more discouraged than I already am about the whole process. I always have little "prizes" for myself when I reach my 5-pound goals. I haven't reached my first one yet : (

I'll possibly try to get more posted before the MN trip, but if not, I'll stop back in after we're back. : )

Day 2!

I'm actually logging in for a second time. I'm all on this! : )

Today was church, and things went pretty well despite having to keep Maci occupied during the service. I really like the Sunday school video we are watching called Epic by John Eldredge. I really wish my husband would have the desire to attend. I think he could be so fed and inspired. I'm really praying that he has a desire to know the Lord more. I could really see him winning souls for Christ if he just had the fire himself, because once he develops a passion for something...watch out! He doesn't give up the subject and he completely obsesses over it. Right now his passion is vintage snowmobiles. Maybe someday it will be Jesus.

A busy week is ahead of me. I will be working 3-1/2 days this week and Larry's uncle's funeral is on Thursday with the family service being held Wednesday night. Keep prayers going for the family. I am not able to say for certain that they are saved, but may they have God's peace throughout this.

If anyone is reading this, please pray for our financial health as well. We so need to get out of our huge debt load. I am really trying to make some changes, but needs always seem to come up. Our vehicle needs some attention now. What next! : ) I know it is God's will that people not be in bondage to debt. "The borrower is slave to the lender." We will get out of debt, but it will surely need to be with God's help. Right now we just need to get our monthly bills paid without having to go without food or electricity. That's not happening thus far, don't get me wrong, but we really need a financial breakthrough soon. There's just always way more month left at the end of the money.

Good night all!

A new thing!

I really can't believe I'm falling for the blog trap that everyone has seemed to have done. I have wanted to write more in a journal, however, and so maybe this is a way to do that without the pencil and paper taking up space in my already cluttered house.

Let's see...to begin...I guess my current state of mind is that I'm really trying to see God's hand at work in my life and others' lives. I really do want to do more trusting and growing in the Lord. I want to be a better person, for real!

What I am learning is that there is so much growth to take place in my life. I am by far done becoming what God has planned for me. The hard part is that I'm not exactly sure yet what God does have planned for me. One step at a time...one day at a time...that old learning curve.

So, here goes my first entry. Just a quick look into my head and heart thus far. Time will tell what happens next.