Wrapping up a Year!

Well, this year is one that has it's moments I would just rather do with out. Though with out some of those times we as a family would not be who God is shaping and molding us to be. And I have many wonderful moments to remember of so many great times with my Family.

1. We had two great family vacations this year.
~The first trip being the big Marner Family traveling to Indiana for the Swartzendruber Family Reunion. I love getting together with this side of the family, Ruth's Sisters and Brothers are a hoot to be around, and their Families are just a blessing to visit with. Jon's extended family, both sides are incredible you can't help to want to be surrounded by them!
~Our family trip to Kansas City. As mentioned before, this is one of my favorite cities to travel to. We had so much fun at the Zoo there, and had a lot of fun. Though we did learn that we should just stick to our usually places for food when traveling with kids!

2. THIRD DAY, SWITCHFOOT, JARS OF CLAY concert at the Starlight Theater in Kansas City. A weekend to just Jon and I. My parents had the kids, how awesome was that! Though we chose to come back early from our trip for Bailee and Paige's birthday party! Are we not just the best Aunt & Uncle to do that. I sometimes wish I was a bit more selfish and stayed down in KC, but family time is very important to us, and I am thankful for that. Back to the Concert though ... Best One Ever! I mean it, they all rocked ... and it was so awesome to Praise God and sing my favorite songs at the top of my lungs without anyone around me able to hear my voice! Oh, wait that is like every day when I am driving with no kids, or sometimes even with the kids! :)

3. Forgiving Jon! This is very recent, and I won't go into details, that is for Jon. Wow, I never new what it felt like to physically forgive someone. When your burden is so heavy that you feel as though there is no way to let go of it. Few of you may be able to relate, or maybe you are still there with your baggage, maybe you are adding to yours as I did mine. STOP! I mean it, let reality hit ... it will hurt but the other side is such a blessing. Granted it took almost a year of God working my heart, hitting rock bottom with bitterness in October to right before Thanksgiving ... but what a transformation within me and Jon! Our marriage has been so much deeper and better and wonderful the past two weeks that I just cannot explain. But everything has it's timing, and even though it took me a long time, I am so thankful for what I had to go through to get to here. I sometimes look back and wish I had someone to help me though it all, so if you are there where I was ... I will be happy to pray for you, with you and be there too! Remember, things aren't perfect, but we are working towards something like it. I know there will be hiccups, and I know there will be blessings too!

4. Emily's 5th Birthday ... I drove my self crazy with this one. The kids get a "big" party for their 5th, and Emily really had a big one. She invited all her pre-school class mates and a few extra friends. Our basement was full, and I learned a few things. Three hours can last longer than you know, I appreciated her preschool teacher more for the three hours she had these kids four days a week! You can buy Jack's frozen Pizza for the kids next time! We got Pizza Hut Pizza's, like 4 pepperoni and 2 cheese, spent about $75.00 on them and threw a lot of half eaten pizza away! Plus I will remember kids other than mine like cheese pizza. That was the first thing gone, and I was like WHAT is going on. By the end of the party ... I did think I wish the kids had more time to just be kids and play.

5. Camden's 7th Birthday ... If you ask him, he did not get a birthday party. I was a big talker that he could have one or three friends (even number thing) over for an afternoon and we could go to the pool and to McDonald's or something like that. Yeah, summer got away from me and it did not happen. Bad MOM! He did get to celebrate with us and our families, we did not forget it.

6. 10th Anniversary. Should have been more momentous, but it wasn't! Though I am thankful today for all 10 years, so it is on my list!

7. Jon's 36th Birthday ... I have a tough time with Jon's birthday it is in August and that just brings about memories of his cancer. I should be over it as he is Cancer free now, but I think this year just kind of went by. We celebrated early with his family, which was abnormal ... we are always late with those celebrations. Sorry, we passed it by!

8. I TURNED 30! And I did not hide like I usually do on birthdays ... I was happy to turn 30. Granted these days with my "illness" (if you can call it that) I would like to go back to 29 to know what normal felt like again! I would have liked a big party, it would have been fun ... but we cannot always get what we want.

9. Eva turned 3, if you ask her she is still two though. She had a great birthday! and it seemed to last forever in a way. Like yesterday, she finally opened her present from Uncle Scott, Aunt Brandi & Mason. Pink Lego's ... she is loving them too. It was just one of those times it was hard to get everyone together to celebrate. But she did have her own birthday party at McDonald's play land with three of her day care buddies. I got "best Mom ever" ranking that day for that trip from Eva.


10. Christmas 2008! Even though I was sad not having my own parents to be with us on Christmas, I did end up enjoying this year. We had a quite day with Ray & Ruth and family. It was so relaxing to just enjoy each other. I can only hope that we can continue to have more relaxing time with family on Christmas each year. We also enjoyed spending the day after Christmas with my side of the family (really its family friends, but they are like family). It was so much fun to see Leon interact and "play" with my kids ... not sure if I always missed those moments or if this was a first. It was just a perfect time, we could all enjoy each other and did not feel pushed at all. We could all enjoy each other, granted the kids had their moments, but best time ever I think they had at this gathering! This Friday we get to have Christmas with my parents, and I have two words PRIME RIB! YUM ... and I get to spend time with them too.

11. Another great thing to happen this year was a new coffee shop opened up in town called Great Awakenings! ... yes I did say in town, as in Kalona. She makes the best Carmel Macciotto ... good bye Starbucks. I crave coffee in Kalona now. So it has been nice to indulge every now and then!

12. Going to Aunt Cheryl's has become another blessing this past year. The girls go to Aunt Cheryl's while I work ... and this has been so great. She is right in town, and what better way to get to know your Aunt for the girls, and my Sister-In-Law for me. Plus they spend time with Uncle Jeff, and Amber & Brittney! So that is great ... the girls love it there. Days that I have the kids home, makes me very thankful to have Cheryl around ... I can get so much more done when I have just me in my office!

Well, I think I will end there. I am recalling many other great things to happen this year, but I must get other things done. Take care ... I will try to ad some photos later.

To Mom & Dad: Words from the kids

Wordless Wednesday: Getting ready for Christmas!

Not Me! Monday

Ah yes, my weekly dose of Not Me! Monday. Thank you MckMama for this weekly confessional!

The following photo is NOT proof of what a child can do to oneself when trying to sled in the snow that has been topped with ice. Good think I tried to take Christmas photos earlier in the week. I have NOT been obsessing every time I am out with Camden that some one will think he is a child abuse case. My mom did NOT call tonight upon seeing this photo and wonder if he was really okay. BTW I did NOT pose Camden by the Christmas tree to make the photo look a bit "merry & bright"! No NOT Me!

Last week when putting Eva to bed and trying to explain something very important which at this moment I cannot quite remember ... Eva did NOT plug her ears as to not want to listen to us any more. Because of the situation she needed to be disciplined and we asked her if she new why she was being disciplined she did NOT say "because I had bad attitude" ... this did NOT make it difficult at all to carry through with the matter at hand.

I did NOT just finish getting the house decorated for Christmas a few nights ago. I am NOT contemplating how long I get to leave them up after Christmas now. I do NOT have all my presents to wrap. I would never leave them this close to Christmas to do so, or would I!

Well, I do wish you all a Merry Christmas ... may it be a wonderful celebration of the birth or our Lord Jesus Christ. And a very special blessing to those of us who can be with our family and friends to worship and praise HIM! Have a wonderful week, -b

Not Me! Monday

Again, another week has passed by before me and in my newest tradition of blogging I will post all of my denials of the past week. MckMama started it all, and you can go there to ready over 250 more denials of truth, Enjoy!

I did NOT go outside on Friday to put up Christmas lights all by myself. If I did do so, it would NOT look like this, which BTW I did NOT take this photo just for my blog:

The following photos are NOT at all taken for the only purpose of putting it in my blog. This photo is NOT of my children wondering how long it takes to "re-grow" a Christmas Tree.

This is NOT just the cutest photo of our youngest, and I did NOT just have to show you.

This is NOT my oldest daughter being a "Tree Hugger", she did NOT just love hugging her favorite trees to show us how much she wanted it. BTW this was NOT my favorite tree also, that we really truthfully did not get!

This was not our youngest trying to "plant" her own Christmas tree!

As you can see we did NOT by any means enjoy our trip out to Barnes Tree Farm.

Quick Grandma, do not look. This is NOT a photo of your grandson holding the saw!

We did NOT go out to dinner afterwards, and leave our tree on top of the Tahoe. I was NOT at all nervous that someone would take it, that would just be silly of me! This is NOT what a dirty Tahoe and a Christmas tree look like.

I did NOT allow Jon to bring in the tree right away, in which I did NOT at all get in the mood to put these beautiful LED Lights on the tree, and then declare it bed time because I was to tired to put decorations on. Nope not me!

I am currently NOT trying to find time to decorate for Christmas still. I do NOT at all find this container of decorations "daunting" when looking at it.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos of our weekend events. Take care, stay warm.

Flashback Friday

Merry Chirstmas! This is a photo of my brother Scott and I.

And, in case you need a reference point, who do you see?

Morning Drive

This is the view of the highway near our house, traffic was backed up East and West due to "wet ice" and two semis getting stuck, took over an hour or more to get both up the hill. I braved the cold elements and ice so Dad could get some photos in the Kalona News. Am I not just a loving daughter to think "Oh, I must get a photo for Dad!"

Have a warm and cozy day inside, please!

Not Me! Monday

Ah, yes ... another week past, where does the time go. Can you believe it is time for Not Me! Monday already. Just three more left in 2008! I have not been able to connect with MckMama's blog, but here it goes all on my own this week! Have a great week! ***I made it, and was able to connect with MckMama ... so check in on her, and ready up on some more Not Me! posts. -b

This past week I did NOT unknowingly try to make the traffic signal in the turn lane change to green by pressing my garage door opener! BTW, it did not work, just in case you wanted to try.

I did NOT forget to take my daughter to dance lessons, that would just be a waste of money. I did NOT feel great remorse after realizing that I totally forgot. Emily did NOT feel the pain of my forget fullness either.

My kids are NOT yet wondering when I am going to decorate the house for Christmas. I am NOT blaming my lack of interest on the fact that my parents will not be here to Celebrate with us this year for the first time. I am a grown adult with three kids ... most people are used to this by now, right?

I did NOT let my daughter convince me to let her friend spend the night last minute on Friday. During which I did NOT have a flashback to my younger "emily like" years of "tricking" my parents into letting me have a friend spend the night.

I did NOT try to tell myself the roads were to bad to go into town to exercise today. I did NOT then call my mom to let her know because I knew she wouldn't let me get away with such things! I did NOT have to get measured today. Because which I did NOT learn that I have lost 5 lbs Body Fat ... which could NOT have made me at all happy!

I did NOT ssh my children repeatedly during the HSM2 Pop-Up Edition on Disney Channel Saturday. Why do I need to know such silly facts anyways, plus I can watch mature shows on other channels other than Disney.

Well, this is all I really want to admit to for this week, hope you enjoyed a few laughs at my expense. :)

Flashback Friday!

Here are some photos from December 2004. It was a beautiful day we picked our Christmas Tree at Dane's Tree Farm outside of IC ... something like upper 50's if not into the 60's that day! We were also in the process of building our 2nd house, which is our current house!

Eva Cooks with Jon!

The kids love it when Jon lets them cook with him. They usually try when I am in the kitchen, but I am not good when I get to many helpers (ie. more than just me)! Maybe if this keeps up our kids will become great cooks and cook for us one of these days. Though hopefully not to soon, they can keep helping for a few more years, right!

So, here are a few photos of Eva's meal she cooked with him!

Did you know ... I love Socks!

Well, to be exact I love knee highs and leg warmers for the girls ... but I do have quite the assortment of HUE socks in my drawer. I have never been that fond of tights with the girls, and used to love getting knee highs at Gap Kids for Emily when they would be marked down to $1.99, so she has passed down her socks to Eva who can wear some of them. The other week at Target I found what I have been searching for ... leg warmers! These are so cute ... I was about to take my old knee highs and cut the foot off and hem them to make Eva and Em some leg warmers, but now I have these. Though ... I might just do the latter too.

How cute are these things!

Morning time with big brother ... not ready to share the square!

Look who wins, mighty is this small one!

Doctor Visited

Air 1's Verse of the Day

"Listen to my voice in the morning, LORD.

Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly. "
Psalm 5:3, NLT

Well if I am going to be honest with you, I am not sure if I have more questions than I have answers now. I was able to squeeze into my Doctor's Office due to a cancellation, but was not even sure if I could make it do to the weather conditions. I agreed to the appointment and knew I had to give it a try.

My symptoms were quite better than they had been, though I was still having some fullness/pressure sensation in the ears, voices sounded muffled at times and there was still that dull ache in my ears. So I explained my symptoms, and we went over a few other things. Minyon does not feel that it is Meniere's disease, but more like vestibular neuritis. While Meniere's disease is Chronic, Vestibular Neuritis is not and therefore sounds like good news. I am to stay on my Hydrochlorothiazide (diuretic) for two to three months and then stop. If symptoms reoccur then I am to go back on the medication and notify Minyon. So like usual when I am telling my mom about this I think "what if my symptoms do not go away while I am on this, what then? Would that mean it is Meniere's and not Vestibular Neuritis, or am I dealing with something else?"

I also did remember to ask Minyon about my blurred vision on Sunday, best described as a "swirly distortion". Which her answer was Ocular Migraine with Aura. Which I have never experienced an Ocular Migraine before, but I suffer from Cluster Headaches and Migraine's. So now I am feeling like 30 is kicking me in the butt! Minyon wants me to start on 1 baby aspirin a day as people with Ocular Migraines are more prone to Strokes ... FUN!

So I have all these questions that I just have to set on. I hope that the pressure and pain in my ears will go away and not become my new "normal" but if it is may I have the Grace to live with it, handle it and not let it be a burden. As long as I can continue to carry out my normal tasks I am thankful ... if not, I pray that I will find great thankfulness during this.

Last week at MOPS Amy Hansen spoke on finding contentment when dealing with an long-term illness. I am very thankful for hearing her words, and while not having a physical long-term illness I took her words to heart and was working on applying those words to my relationship between Jon and I. Then just a day later I started suffering from these symptoms, while in all hopes this is not Chronic unlike Amy, I may recover quickly and not experience this anymore.

Thank you for all who have prayed over me these past few days ... I am truely humbled and blessed! Your support means so much to me at this time of questioning my health and what is happening. Thanks!

Trying to be humble ...

So I will let you all know I could use some prayer right now. I really am in limbo not knowing what is going on. On Wednesday Night last week I started with some inner ear pain, and by Thursday morning there was so much pressure in my ears that hearing was difficult, and the pain was bearable, but at times very painful. I was not dizzy but felt as though everything was leaning to one side. And at times a very quite noise would sound very loud to me.

I did see a doctor at the Family Practice and she prescribed me with some medication to help, and gave me a temporary answer. We know my ears are clear and it is not an ear infection. The doctor I saw believes it is Meniere's Disease. Which does describe many of my symptoms. I am awaiting a call back from my normal doctor to be seen by her for further review or referred on to an ENT doctor for more evaluations and testings. My normal doctor is full already this week and currently does not have any openings, which my symptoms are not life threatening so I am somewhat okay with that thought. But I would like to talk to someone more about what this is or could be. I should have my call returned tomorrow or Wednesday, but could be next week.

Yesterday I had some blurred vision and that is not a symptom of Meniere's Disease, and I just do not feel like my vision is quite the same today. Not so much a blur, but not as clear as it was. So do I call the eye doctor, or do I wait for my normal doctor to call back? Is it related after all, or is something else going on.

I just need some peace about this, a little relief from the pain and some patience to know it is ALL in God's mighty hands! And it is okay to ask for help. I fear that others will think I am to needy when I ask, so I hate to, but this time I am. So hopefully I am not being "needy". I thank you for your time to pray for me, and will keep you updated when I can. -b

Not Me! Monday

Another week has come and gone, and Not Me! Monday is here. I missed last weeks confessions, but no excuse this week as I have gone into withdrawal of not posting or checking any ones blogs for a week. If you are interested check out MckMama where it all got started for the rules on how to play.

It is NOT December 1st today, I refuse to admit that it could possibly already be December. I haven't even got a single decoration up for Christmas, and never even got out my fall decor this year. WHAT!

My favorite things about Saturdays are NOT the morning newspaper with all the inserts. So therefore my most Favorite thing about Thanksgiving is certainly NOT all the inserts in the newspaper! There are other things to be thankful for, really.

I did NOT start Christmas shopping Thanksgiving Night just before Midnight at the Outlet Mall with my best friend Lisa. We most certainly did NOT have the best time shopping in the wee morning hours of "black Friday". I did NOT only buy clothing at Carters, Oshkosh, Children's Place and Kohl's for my kids. I really hope Jon does not read this! I did NOT have to give up shopping before 8:00 because I thought I might have an ear infection. Jon did NOT have to take me to the doctors because I could not drive my self safely that afternoon. I was NOT totally bummed out when I didn't get all the wonderful sales that I wanted to for Jon for Christmas!

I did NOT take Eva to the doctors today because she begged to see Dr. Miller, and to show her how her ears hurt. I did NOT try to talk my daughter into staying up in IC for lunch with her dad. We did NOT return home for lunch, which rice was requested. Rice was NOT then interpreted by Eva to be Puffed Rice. She is NOT currently eating puffed rice, I only feed my children healthy lunches when they are not feeling good.

Last Tuesday I did NOT almost post a "Worst Day Ever" because it sure felt like it. I was NOT under to much pressure to do to many things ... I know how to not take on more than I can handle. Plus I am a mom that can multi task even in her sleep, right? :)

On Saturday my kids did NOT meet Santa. Eva did NOT ask for a "pink rockin guitar" which sounds like "pink robin ribtar" and make Santa and Mrs. Clause laugh. On Thanksgiving Eva was NOT asked if she had seen Santa yet, only to reply "He is not real, he is just in a movie". WOW, I was floored ... I did not know weather to confirm it to her, or give her the belief that it was real. I didn't get a chance to make that choice before everyone had her convinced he was real.

Eva did NOT pick this outfit out just for Santa, and she did NOT just have to have these sunglasses on just for him too. Her words were NOT "Santa will just love it if I wear them". By the way she did NOT pull this sweater out of the dirty laundry, after already wearing it twice that week.

Here is one from the week before since I didn't get to posting it ... I did NOT have the Tahoe overloaded with 8 girls to take to the Library for a craft. I did NOT have to ask someone to take Camden separately down to the Library because I could not find anywhere for him to set other than on the floor.

So here it ends for the week, really nothing much more exciting to admit to. I hope to post some photos soon.