The Dewhurst Family - Chris, Constance, Madelyn, Joshua, & Joel

Happy 5th Birthday-Joshua

2012-01-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to my hyper-active, bouncy, teasing, mischevious, sparkling eyes, ornery, but very very loving 5 yr. old. It is so hard to believe that 5yrs ago today, I was laying in a hospital bed in full active labor. He came 4weeks early. He weighed 5lbs. 14oz. 19in. long. Joshua had a few struggles at first, but he pulled through it and has been a very strong boy since then. Even though he's all the things that I said a few sentences before, he also has a very sweet and tender side too. I love you very very much Joshua Aiden!

LOVE-What does it mean?

2012-01-15T19:28:00.000-08:00

The next "holiday" is Valentine's Day. Now I know that day is normally considered a "romantic" day, but I was thinking about it in a different way for my sunday school kids. The whole thing wrapped around Valentine's Day is LOVE. So I decided that for the next five sundays we would discuss LOVE in the way that God sees it. I told the story of the prodigal son. As I was preparing for the lesson, I got to thinking about how the father welcomed and rejoiced over his lost son who had returned home. The prodigal son left home with all his belonging, his father's money and headed to what he thought was a better life. Which in a way, he had a good "new" life for awhile. He didn't have to work, no schedule to keep, and he didn't have to listen to his father, but the moment came that his life came to a screeching halt and he realized that he had sinned against his father and against God. When the prodigal son came home, it did not matter to the father of what his son did, the only thing that did matter is his son came back home. The oldest brother was upset with the celebration- he had stayed at home, helped his father, never wasted his father's money and never got a celebration. The father explained that everything that he had belonged to his oldest son, but the youngest son left home and now has returned.
We, as people, tend to get frustrated and upset with others because of stuff that they do or things that they don't do that maybe they should be doing. Jesus always accepts people back no matter what we have done or how far we have gone. Jesus always throws a celebration and welcomes us back, just like the father of the prodigal son did. That is LOVE. God loves us no matter how many times we fall, slap him in the face or never listen to Him. He will always welcome us into His arms and say welcome back. We need to show that same LOVE to others that we share our life with. I want to focus on the word LOVE over the next month and remind myself that word is the key to life. Isn't that the key? God LOVES us no matter what, let's show that same LOVE to those around us.

Pantry/Freezer Challenge

2012-01-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

So I decided to try something new this month and that is a Pantry/Freezer Challenge. You always have stuff just lingering in your pantry and or freezer. So I took a sheet of paper and went through my freezer and my pantry and wrote down everything I had and how many of each item. Then I went through and made out a meal menu for the rest of the month of January. Here is my list of foods we are going to have. Now, I like to do sandwiches on a sunday because I'm so exhausted on sundays from getting everyone ready, teaching sunday school, and ministering in worship services that all I want to do is relax on sunday afternoon and not do dishes and clean up from a big meal. :-) My family also likes leftovers, so I tend to have a few "leftover" days throughout the month.

My Meal Menu:

salmon cakes, spinach, corn muffins
friday night pizza, garlic bread (we are having this on two friday nights)
tacos
sandwiches(we are having this twice)
beans, cornbread
pancakes, sausage links
chili, cornbread
deer roast, mashed potatoes, steamed mixed vegetables
chicken pot pie, salad
roast, potatoes, carrots, corn muffins
hot dogs and fruit salad
chicken supreme, salad
out to eat :-)
tuna casserole, steamed mixed vegetables
and of course a couple days of leftovers

I challenge you to do a Pantry/Freezer Challenge. Then post your menu and give the rest of us some ideas. I love to print a free printable calander from the internet and write down my supper for each day so all I have to do is look at the day and it tells me what I need to prepare for supper. Now the nice thing about it is you can always switch around if your not in the mood to have what's posted for that specific day. :-) Good luck to all and hopefully we will have quite a few meals to look at later.

~Constance

Joel-3 weeks old

2012-01-04T19:44:00.000-08:00

Life has been very crazy here lately. We left for Arizona on the day after Christmas, so we could see Chris' family. We drove out there since Joel could not fly yet. All three kids did very well for being in the vehicle for a total of 5 days. We had a great visit with everyone and they loved Joel. Now we are just trying to get ourselves back on a schedule.

Joel is now 3 weeks old and that is so hard to believe. He's growing by leaps and bounds. It's exciting but sad all at the same time.

Our Christmas Tale

2011-12-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful wonderful christmas. The kids had so much fun and I, like always, enjoyed them opening their gifts. We went christmas caroling with the church. We also spent some time at my parents house on christmas eve then went to my husbands grandparents Dewhurst house for the evening. Christmas Day found us at church and spending the day with the kids. Right now as I'm posting this, we are in Tuba City, Arizona, visiting Chris' parents. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas season.

Our family on Christmas Day morning at church

Our three beautiful children

Joel - 1-1/2 weeks old.

2011-12-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

Our new arrival - Joel Andrew

On tuesday morning, Dec. 13, I went to the hospital at 6am. At 7am, they broke my water and gave me patossun (not sure if that's spelled right). I immediately started contractions every so often. They ended up coming every 3-5minutes apart. I asked for th epidural and the moment they got it in (without the medicine dripping yet) it was time for me to start pushing. I had to go through it all with nothing. Thankfully I didn't have to push that long. Maybe 10 minutes. He arrived at 9:55am, weighing in at 8lbs 6.6oz. 21-1/2 in. long. He is such a wonderful wonderful baby. I thank God for a wonderful delivery and the safe arrival of our third blessing.

3 days old. (I can't figure out how to get these pictures turned right. It was turned right when I got it from my computer, but the moment I put it on here, it turns sideways. It's driving me crazy)

Chillin' after getting ready for the morning.

He's sooo precious. Madelyn & Joshua absolutely love and adore him.

After thoughts

2011-11-27T18:46:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful wonderful thanksgiving holiday. Had two big turkey dinners in one day. By the way, that's miserable. Then went black friday shopping. Started at 10pm on thanksgiving night and finished at 1:30 on friday afternoon. I don't like the all night shopping. It really really makes you tired. But I still did get a few good things. Didn't do as well this year as I normally do, but I still got the two most important gifts for the kids at a very very good price.

Tonight is the first sunday of advent. We have started a new thing this year and that is doing advent with the kids. Since our sundays are so crazy and busy, we have decided to do ours on saturday evenings. I hope to get some pictures of it to post on here. Last night was wonderful as Chris shared with the kids what advent meant and explained about the wreath and all the candles. Then he read some scripture and each of us said a little prayer. As I listened to my children pray, I sat there and cried. It was so special and sweet to me.

We are all ready for christmas here except for the christmas shopping that still needs to be done. Hopefully this week I will be able to post of all of our christmas decorations. It has been so exciting to decorate our new house that God has given to us. The church has been decorated and our christmas play is in two sundays. We are having it a little early this year due to the fact that I'm due in 3weeks.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving holiday. I am posting a link below here that I found on a blog that I love to follow. She has alot of great ideas and this one is on holiday travel with younger children. Maybe some of the things will be helpful to those of you who will be traveling this holiday season. This blog is titled "Simple Mom". Have a wonderful and fabulous week.

http://simplemom.net/how-to-travel-long-distances-with-little-ones-and-not-go-insane/

Thanksgiving

2011-11-20T13:47:00.001-08:00

This week is Thanksgiving and my mind has been wondering about all the many things for which I am thankful. Here are ten things that I am thankful for:

1)   my husband
2)   my children
3)   a house of my own
4)   vehicles that run
5)   a full time job that allows me to stay at home
6)   my husbands job
7)   our little church
8)   my work christmas bonus this year
9)   a healthy pregnacy so far
10) the chance to be able to school my children at home

This year has had alot of ups and downs. There were times that we didn't even know if we were doing the right thing, but we put one foot in front of the other and tried our best to walk through the doors that God opened to us. Since January of this year, we moved from a very very large house to a tiny little cabin on a campground. 90% of our stuff was in storage and the rest of it was in a little 3 room cabin with a full bathroom. We lived there from the months of February to the end of July. We thought that Chris would get a teaching job over the summer, but due to budget cuts, that never happened. We had been driving an hour one way to pastor our little home mission church in the town of wellston. We looked and looked for a place to live in Wellston, but could not find anything. We didn't know what to do. Finally, we found a place that we could afford on a land contract as long as Chris got a lot of substituting jobs. So we took the house not knowing where our next house payment would come from.
Chris' work began to pick up and I was able to keep my job that allows me to stay at home. God was providing for us. Things were tight, but our needs were being met. When we took this house and moved to Wellston, it was a huge step of faith. I felt like that it was time that we placed God and his ministry before our own financial security. Then all of a sudden just about a month ago, Chris got a full time job with ohio virtual academy as a special ed high school teacher. God has shown us that if we place Him first and what He wants us to do, then He will meet our needs and take care of us. I am so thankful for God's guiding hand. We, many times, want to know what God is going to do way in advance so we can prepare ourselves. But that isn't how God works. We must trust Him and fully rely on His leadership to take us where He wants us to go. Even if that means that we must step into the unknown and trust Him on every little curve, hill and bump. This year has been a big huge step of faith and trusting for me, but it has been worth it every way and I'm so glad that I finally decided to put my little hand into His Big hand and follow him into the unknown part of life. Thank you God for you wonderful blessings, your love, your grace, and your healing power.

2011-11-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

A few pictures of updates for us. We are getting our household ready for Joel to arrive. Everyone is so excited and can't wait. I don't have alot of thoughts right now to write down, although I do have a few running through my head, but first have to be put together. Hopefully that will get done in the next couple of days.

I know we have to do another picture after Joel is born, but I wanted to grab a picture this morning after church.

My friend and soul-mate and me

34 weeks pregnant

Halloween 2011

2011-10-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Madelyn & Joshua - batman and super girl

Madelyn as a scarecrow for her school party (I do not know how to get this picture turned)

Joshua, Lincoln, Madelyn

Important people - kids and husbands

2011-10-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

What would we do if our lives were not so jammed packed full of activities?

About a month ago, I got a new client, who lives with us 24/7 and my life has been very busy getting paper work and info transferred with her. All of this includes lots and lots of meetings. My job is a wonderful job. I get to stay at home with the kids except for meetings here and there and many times I take them with me. I care for someone who has a mental disability and cannot live on their own. My new client is an older lady and she is wonderful. Of course there are always things you have to work on and programs that you have to do everyday, but that all comes with the job. It is very nice, during the day monday -friday she goes to a workshop all day, so that is a nice break for my daytime.

In the middle of all of this, I have my normal duties as a mommy and wife and pastor's wife and trying to get ready for our new little bundle to arrive. Sometimes I sit at night and wonder and play the days events through my mind. Sometimes I think of times where I used a short tone with the kids or even my husband, or maybe I wasn't patient enough, or I got frustrated with the toys that were laying in the floor somewhere in the house and there were no children around playing with them. Then at that moment, whether they are already in my bed or I know they will be coming down soon to crawl sleeply into bed with us, I snuggle them up close and ask God to forgive me and quietly whisper the same thing in their ears. The next morning, I ask for forgiveness and say to myself, let the little stuff go. It's so hard because we get caught up in the moment and our brain is going back as fast as it can to our list, whether it is on paper or it's just mentally in our head, of all the things that need to be accomplished.

As I'm sitting here (because I cannot sleep at the moment) thinking of all the stuff that needs to be accomplished tomorrow, I'm also reminding myself that I need to make sure that I don't forget that my kids just need a hug, kiss, held, or even a story read to them tomorrow. It's going to be very busy tomorrow, I have to go to columbus, ohio for tues and wed. I have training there for my job, so I need to lay out clothes, fix food, write notes, and the list goes on. A big lump is coming to my throat because I'm going to miss my kids and my husband and I don't like it when I have to leave and I don't know if everything will go smoothly. Here's the question to ask ourselves as mothers. At the end of the day, did I show love and did I teach my children that Jesus loves them?

I believe the answer to my question that I started this post out with is this - I don't think it matters what we do to try to free up our day, life is life and it will somehow get hectic and so busy that we feel like we can't breathe. Just in the very middle of our crazy crazy lives, let's not forget the most important people and that is our kids and our husband. Make them feel they are important, no matter what happens, they know that mommy will pause her very crazy hectic life to help them with their problems.

Now on to a couple of photos. I took these just seconds before walking out the door for school.

My little man who is so incredibly ornery, but very very loveable.

My little miss princess, who I love very much and is a very big help to me.

~Constance

Spiritual Leaks

2011-10-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

This past week I noticed the gas company was doing something to my meter. So I went out and asked the question if something was wrong. They told me that the gas company is contracted out with someone else to constantly go around and check the meters and make sure that everything is running smoothly and there are no leaks. Columbia gas(which is my gas company) told me that they got a write up from their contractors saying that I had a leak at my house. Columbia gas had been to my house twice that day to check on it and they were not finding anything. I told them that we hadn't smelled any gas and that our bill has been running normal. As I walked away, God seemed to give me some insight. It was as if He was sharing with me that there are Christians out there who have spiritual leaks. He warns us and comes and checks on us many many times, but with all of the warnings and communication, we do nothing about our "leaks". Then all of a sudden we have such a mess that it's hard to get it fixed. I want to make sure that in my life, even with the tiniest leaks, that I listen to God's warnings and I keep coming back myself several times a day or whatever is necessary to make sure that my "leaks" don't turn into something bigger and that I close them all up.

~Constance

A small update

2011-09-30T16:01:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy here lately for us. Between church activities, b-day parties, school and homework, piano lesson, chris teaching everyday, me-with my two clients, and doctors appointment, there hasn't been alot of breathing room. We are very excited about this next week coming up. We are trying something at our church(which is completely a home-mission church). It is called a family fun day. We are going to have corn hole, a bouncy house and 500 hot dogs. It's completely open to the public and we are hoping for a great turnout. The Lord has really been blessing our little church and we have seen alot of new people. Our attendance runs between the 20's and 30's. We are praying that God reaches their hearts and they turn their lives over to God.

I have been trying to write something that has been coming to my mind concerning pastor's wives. I was hoping to have it finished, but it's not yet. So hopefully it will be for next week. There are a few different titles that have been coming to my mind and I have been mulling it over in my head.

I am about 28weeks pregnant and growing very well. :-) I've only gained 16lbs. so far which makes me very very happy. Because Joshua was born 4weeks early the doctor wants to start keeping a closer eye on me since we will be nearing that 4wk early mark here very soon. Little Joel is very active and we all can't wait until he makes his appearance. He is now kicking so hard that you can sit and watch him move all over the place. The kids today saw him kicking like crazy and they thought it was so funny. Here is a picture of me at 7mo. pregnant. I thank the Lord so much for His blessings that He gives to me daily, for taking care of us, and constantly showing us that He cares.

~Constance

A Home Or A House

2011-09-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

My mind has been wondering the past couple of days with the question- What is a home? I've been looking around my house and sometimes feel very discouraged that it doesn't always seem to have that "everything is in it's place" look. Life is so crazy and hectic and you feel like you need to get up at 4a.m. to get everything done so that way when the rest of the household awakens you will be able to keep up with the small little chores throughout the day. The alarm goes off at whatever time in the morning and in the back of your brain your saying to yourself, "get up, you have to get up." But your body is arguing that you just want more sleep. Then when you finally get up, your frustrated with yourself because your back to square one and life is crazy and hectic and your happy if you can get through the day and have a somewhat straightened up house.

So as I mull over in my mind- My home is not perfect, I don't always look perfect, what is it that I can do? I am a pastor's wife, full time stay-at-home mom, I have a full time job, which I work from my own home. How your home is kept is what defines you as a woman. Is she a messy housekeeper? Is she very neat and clean, but I feel like I can't enjoy myself if I would visit? Is she clean, but doesn't get bent out of shape if someone visits and and something is put out of place?

I want my home to come across to people as being clean, but I also want people to feel very welcomed as they step through my door. I don't want to quietly send out the message that they need to tiptoe around my house because something might get dirty. The difference between a home and a house is this- a house is where people just sleep, but a home is a place where people live and love each other and welcome those who come to their door. I do not want people to come to my house and feel like my house is too nice of a place and they can't relax and enjoy themselves. Life is going to bring you curve balls and your days are not always going to go according to plan. Roll with the balls that are thrown to you. The number one goal should be- Does my home make people feel relaxed and can my family live in this home? We mothers need to stop focusing on what we didn't get accomplished, but focus on what we did accomplish. Let's always create a home environment instead of a house environment.

Maybe this will help inspire you as it has inspired myself.

~Constance

It's that time of year...

2011-09-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Fall is such a lovely time of the year. It's always so beautiful with the leaves changing and it is an awesome time of the year to take pictures. I took this picture a few years ago. No one lives in this house and it has that beautiful tree to the side of it. Looking at this always makes me feel so peaceful.

This week looks like it's going to be another busy week for us. With my normal household duties, plus there is pto mtgs at school, kids are going camping with my parents for the weekend, I have an extra client during the weekend too and still trying to put things in their places at our new house. I was trying to schedule some photo shoots this week, but it looks like the rain may have something to do with that. It's suppose to rain for the next three days.

It's also that time of year where it is time to clothe your kids for the winter. As I was unpacking, I looked at the kid's clothes trying to decide what it was that they would need for this winter. Since I don't homeshool and my kids go to public school, they have to have tennis shoes for gym which is once a week. Madelyn loves to wear boots in the winter and so does Joshua. Normally I try to buy a really nice pair of tennis shoes for each child because they will last longer. This year I've decided to try to find their boots on sale by continually looking all the time for my right price and just buy them a cheap pair of tennis shoes at walmart for their gym time once a week. Both of the kids needed socks and I was able to get them a pack (6pairs) a piece at target for $5 a piece. Joshua needed jeans and I was able to find him 3 pairs at garage sales that were in very GOOD condition for $1 a piece. So I just had to buy him a couple more pairs that were $10 a piece. Very rare can I find them cheaper than that. Madelyn- what I try to do for her on skirts is just buy leggings at walmart for $5 a piece and place those under her skirts. By the time we get through the summer, her skirts are getting way too short, but are still in perfec condition. So just had leggings underneath the skirt and she is modest again and you don't have to buy a new set of skirts until spring. My kids are really hot blooded so I can normally get them short sleeve shirts for $2 or so a piece and I normally just try to go with 5 so that will last them a week. This year- Joshua's winter coat from last year still fits him (hopefully he doesn't go through a growth spirt) and it is still in very good condition. Madelyn needed a winter coat and I was able to find he a really nice NIKE coat that looks like it's hardly been worn, at a garage sale for $5 and it fits her perfectly. I think where I'm at now is - Madelyn needs a few more pairs of leggings and her boots, Joshua needs boots and tennis shoes and then I think I'm done with both of them. I even have the baby clothes already through 6mo. old. I don't know if this was inspiring or not, but it inspired me even more as I was writing it. :-)

A little peak of our house

2011-09-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

It has done nothing but rain here for the past few days. Actually since sunday night to be a little more specific. I'm very thankful for rain, but I don't like it every single day. This week has been very very busy. Madelyn and I went out for breakfast at mcd's a couple of days ago before I took her to school. She loved it and so did I. Joshua had only one day of school this week and I left him crying that day. But he did fine and enjoyed it.

I thought that I would post some pics of my house of some of the rooms that I already have put together. Except I don't have curtains up yet because I don't know what I want. I'm the person that I don't want to go out and buy stuff just so I will have something. I'm searching and thinking. I'm also working on shutters for the inside of my living room windows, but the rain is kinda putting that on hold. :-( I don't know what has happened to blogger, but I'm now able to post and have realized that I missed it alot.

this is my living room

another view

another view. I love those front windows. Right now I'm in the procss of paining indoor shutters for the windows.

I love the fireplace. It doesn't work, but that doesn't matter to me. They kind of make me nervous.

dining room

another view

bathroom. (please excuse the rust stained towel that I did not realize was there)

another view of the bathroom

Finally...

2011-09-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

Life has been so crazy for this Dewhurst Family. We have moved to our new house in Wellston, OH, where we can be in the same town as the church that we pastor. We love it here and we are excited at accomplishing great things for God.

The kids have started a whole new school disctrict. They have adjusted pretty well, although our first day with Madelyn was very hard. I had to leave her crying and then I went to my own car and cried a whole bunch of tears. But after a few days, she has adjusted and loves it alot. Joshua has done well with his new preschool and loves it alot. They both seem to have great teachers that are really nice.

My pregnancy: Things are going pretty well. The baby is fine and we found out that we are having a boy. His name will be Joel Andrew and he is suppose to arrive on Dec. 20th. They are goin to try to induce the week before, but I have a sneaky feeling that he is going to try to come early just like Joshua did, which was 4wks.

I've had alot of problems with blogger not wanting to post any of my postings and that would be why you have not heard from me. It has been incredibly frustrating and hopefully there won't be any more problems. It's been very confusing because alot of you use blogger and you have been posting alot, but I could not get it to publish at all. Down below are pics of the kids on their first day of school. Madelyn is in 1st grade and Joshua is in preschool.

Unsettledness

2011-07-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Here I am again giving another written update with no pictures. Right now I'm sitting at the library with great internet service, but it takes forever for blogger to upload pictures to my blog. Does anyone have the exact same problem with picture uploads? This is very frustrating, I will try to upload just five little pictures and after sitting and waiting for fifteen minutes, I give up. If you have any ideas, I would deeply appreciate it so I can try to solve this problem.

Right now we still live in this tiny little cabin. Our church is in Wellston, OH and Chris is now finished with his schooling. We would love to move to Wellston so we can be with the church and put more time and labor into it. The problem is - He's not getting a job yet and we don't know what we are to do. We so desperately need God's direction. We may have a land contract on a house that we can get and still have not heard anything more about that yet. If you think of us, would you please pray that God will lead us and very clearly show us His way. The kids start school in 4 weeks and I have no clue where to put them.

Besides all of the craziness, we are all doing great. The kids are having fun and enjoying the summer heat. It's so hard to believe that the summer is just about over. It seems like only yesterday that it had started. Well, this is all of my rambling for now. Hopefully, we will know something soon.

Our life with no internet

2011-07-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Right now in our life, we have no internet and that is driving me crazy. The summer has flown by so fast that it's hard to believe. The kids start back to school in 6 weeks. Chris still doesn't have a job offer yet. We are really praying that God will still supply that need. Please pray with us. We need that job so we can move closer to our church.

The pregnancy is doing great. I want nothing but breakfast foods and nothing else. The baby is doing great so far and so am I. We will find out sometime next month of what we are having. The kids are so excited and can't wait for christmas time to arrive so they can have their new baby.
Chris is only 3 classes away from having his master's degree. He will be finished in August. The church is doing great and have alot of new people attending every sunday morning.

Hopefully we can get moved within the next month and get my INTERNET!!!!! Everyone have a great week or weeks. Depending on when I can get back on the internet.

Nearing the end of 1st trimester

2011-05-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

This past month has been a very horrible, exhausting, and non-productive month. I have been SO sick with this pregnancy. I have been in the hospital twice due to dehydration. Finally, after 3 medications at the same time, I have broken the cycle of sickness. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed and am hoping I have turned a corner. My dear mom has been running my house and feeding my family. Thank you mom so much. It has been a big help.

We are nearing the end of the school year. The kids have two more days of school. They are pumped and so am I that we do not have early mornings for awhile. Tonight Madelyn graduates from kindergarten. It is so hard to believe that 6yrs ago so was still in my stomach and giving me such hassle and wanting to make her entrance to this world. She turns 6 on June 1st. She is such a wonderful person and I love you so much Madelyn.

Joshua still has to go another year to preschool because of when his b-day falls. But he LOVES school. He will throw a fit when he can't go. There is really not a minute that goes by through the day that he does not provide some type of excitement. The other day, he and his sister were playing hide-n-seek outside and Joshua decided he was going to hide in the back of pappy's big truck. Well, he ended up falling out and landed in the gravel on his head. Thankfully, he was ok and nothing was wrong with him. He loves his bicycle and loves the outdoors

As far as me and Chris. We are just trying to survive right now. We still don't know anything about a job for him, but one is looking promising. Hopefully, we will know something for sure next week. Really pray when you think about it that God will just work all of this out.

Well, for now. Hope all is well and hope to see some of you at Pilgrim camp in a few weeks. I still have no pictures to post because we do not have good enough internet to upload them. Hopefully once we get moved this summer that will change.

Our new arrival

2011-05-02T09:40:00.000-07:00

We are going to have another little one join our family on Dec. 21. We are so excited and can't wait.

Our crazy life

2011-04-15T09:19:00.000-07:00

I know that I always have good intentions. Right now we do not have very good internet access so trying to post something is a huge headache. I would love to post some pictures up of the kids, but that is very difficult too. I'm still in nursing school and I'm just plunging ahead one day at a time. We are having faith that God will give Chris a teaching position very soon. Our church is doing great. Having quite a few visitors and alot of people wanting to visit. The kids are almost done with school for the year and we are EXCITED! Well, it was a quick update, but at least I made an effort. I hope everyone's Easter season goes wonderfully.

Our Week

2011-02-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Color - I'm so ready to see it again outside again.

Our week started out ok. We moved to a little two bedroom cabin, two floors for right now. Where we were living was not working out so well, so for now we are living here until chris gets a job and we can actually get a place. We live here on the campgrounds where my parents live. So yes, we moved. We had a school epidemic and then madelyn was sick with the belly ache and 102 temp. Dead battery on the van, had to take madelyn to school with me one day. It goes and goes and goes. Several times this week, I truly felt like Job. God has been wonderful to us and has helped us tremendously. I am hoping with all my heart that this week goes a little better.

Anantomy is about ready to kill me. Please pray that God will help me this week in it.

Tomorrow starts a new week. Everyone back on their normal schedules and I am looking forward to that so much.

Outside it is so dreary and wet. I am definitely ready for spring. I did see some robins today so hopefully spring will be here very soon. Right now as I'm typing, my kids are hyper and that seems to be the norm for around here these days. They are done being stuck in the house and ready to be outside.

Lot's of commotion

2011-01-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

It is so hard to believe that we are, as of tomorrow, completely finished with the first month of 2011. Where have the days gone? My schooling is going pretty well. I'm enjoying it and definitely been busy of juggling school, work, kids, and school activities. I am 1/2 way through my 1st quarter and will be signing up for 2nd quarter classes here in a few weeks.

Chris has substitued a few times this past month and has immensly enjoyed it. He definitely is ready to have a full time job and we are both trusting the Lord that He will provide that within this school year. He has done a funeral for a family and has made alot of contacts for our church.

Madelyn & Joshua are still having a great time in school. Joshua just celebrated his 4th b-day. It's so hard to believe that I have a 4yr old which is my youngest. It seems like he should still be a baby. They grow up so fast that it takes my breath away.

Well this is a very short posting, but at least I did post. Try to give a better update here in a few days.

Thoughts in January...

2011-01-21T20:18:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. Hope that January is treating ya'll well. We seem to be getting quite alot of snow here in southern ohio. School has been cancelled several times. I believe right now Madelyn has to go until the 1st of June. Hopefully the snow will leave us soon.

Today is Joshua's 4th b-day (jan-21st). It's so hard to believe that he's that old. It seems like yesterday that we brought him home. He's such a sweet boy. Very lively and ornery, but very sweet. Happy birthday Joshua. Mommy loves you!

I have started school for nursing. Everything is going pretty good. Anatomy is very hard and very overwhelming. I just keep praying and asking God to help me make a decent grade.

Chris just recieved his diploma from ohio university. He is officially now a school teacher. Please pray that God will send a job his way very soon. A permenant job!

Madelyn is still doing very well in school. she's wonderful! Although she is like her father, she loves to torment her brother in a very quite way. Something that we most definitely have to keep an eye on that one.

Well you know, It might be another month. Life is full and I'm trying to juggle being mom, full-time job, school full-time, girl scout troop leader and all the other mtgs that go with the kids schooling. Hope that everyone has a blessed January. I do get on here quite often and check everyong else's blogs. I love them. I would love to post pics, but I need an easier way. It takes forever for pics to upload to blogger that I don't even mess with it. I would love to hear ideas on how to load pics up a much faster way to blogger.

~Constance~

Ho! Ho! Ho!

2010-12-29T16:48:00.000-08:00

We have had a wonderful week. Christmas was wonderful. The kids got alot of things they wanted and we are able to spend time with family & friends. We are actually in Indiana right now with some family and tomorrow we will get to spend some times with some friends. It's so hard to believe that christmas is over and we are just a few short days away from year 2011.

I will be starting nursing school on monday. I'm kinda getting nervous and hopefully I will do fine. I do believe that I'm ready to get life back to normal.

I want to upload some pictures of christmas time, but blogger is so slow at uploading and you can't do very many at a time. Is there another way that someone knows about on uploading pics to your blog that is alot easier and faster? Please let me know if you know anything.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year. May the New Year hold many wonderful and happy times and strength and grace for the rough times.

~Constance~

Christmas Week

2010-12-20T11:39:00.000-08:00

The long expected week has finally arrived for my kids. Lots still needs to be done, stocking stuff to be bought, cookies to be made with Nana, presents to wrap and the list goes on and on. Me, I'm excited to give the kids their gifts to them. The joy on their face is the most wonderful thing ever on christmas morning.

We had the christmas play at church and I wanted to upload the pictures so everyone can see them, but I'm at a hospital right now sitting with someone and the internet connection won't let me due to security. So hopefully tonight we can upload them.

I hope everyone has a great week and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the most wonderful holiday of the year. Remembering our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

~Constance~

Slacker

2010-12-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

There is no excuse for my laziness at all. Why oh why, is it so hard for me to keep up with my blog. I don't know, but I'm not going to make any new resolutions about it either. :-)

Madelyn is doing wonderfully well in kindergarten. She loves it so much and enjoys having her aunt Shannon as her teacher. Joshua is in pre-school and is doing fabulous. He loves his teachers and enjoys playing with all of the other kids.

Chris has now graduated with his Bachelor's degree in education. He just put in some applications at some schools, so hopefully he will be able to start teaching come January. He is 1/2 way through his Master's Degree, which is also for teaching school.

I, me and myself, have registered for school at Hocking College in the nursing program. My first day back to school is Jan-3rd. I am very excited, but very nervous at the same time.

My brother, Ricky, got married in November to a wonderful girl, Crystal. We are so happy to have her apart of our family and we all love her Very Much.

Well for now it is trying to get ready for the Christmas activities for this week coming up. Very excited to be able to spend time with family and enjoy all the wonderful food. I hope that everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas Holiday and may we not forget the reason for the season.

~Merry Christmas~
Constance

Simple Daybook

2010-08-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Outside my window...

I'm noticing the very beautiful weather outside. The sun is shining and there is a little breeze whispering through the trees. Chris mowed the grass yesterday and I love the sweet smell of freshly cut grass

I am thinking...

Tomorrow is my little girls first day of kindergarten. And I'm trying to wrap myself around the thought of how fast the time has gone since I brought her home from the hospital. Is my little girl going to be okay tomorrow in that big school all by herself? Will she feel insecure and very lost? Have I taught her enough to be able to stand on her own as a 5yr. old? So many thoughts for this Mama to think about and to worry.

I'm thankful for...

that Madelyn's Aunt Shannon is her kindergarten teacher. Not sure why I'm worrying, because she will be well taken care of at school.

From the kitchen...

there is a small amount of dishes that are calling my name to come and wash them. Table and counters are clean and ready for someone to come and make peach cobber. (maybe later.)

I am reading...

everyones blogs. Trying to get all caught up.

I am hoping...

that I can finish my kid's bedroom.

I am hearing...

the quietness of part of my house being down for a nap and the other is my husband getting his school supplies to take to his student teaching job tomorrow.

Around the house...

there are alot of jobs that need to be accomplished. The rest of the house needs to be cleaned where it didn't get finished yesterday. But that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Madelyn is...

very excited about her first day of kindergarten tomorrow. She already has her outfit picked out and her book bag ready to go. She's already planning on her food for her lunch box.

Joshua is...

excited and not so excited about starting preschool on Tuesday. He will only be going on Tuesday and Thursdays and if I have any other meetings on any other days. He is doing very well at the whole pottying in the toilet thing. We have made alot of headway with that department this week.

One of my favorite things...

is to see my family so very happy. Seeing them grow and learn so many things.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

finish the kids bedroom, get yard sale stuff together, office work, and normal household duties

New Way

2010-08-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hello to all of my blogger friends. I have been a little in the dumps over how difficult it is to blog. It takes forever to upload pictures(even 5 or 6 at a time) And because of all of the delays whenever I want to post, I just haven't posted. So I want to try to do a once a week post and kind of do it more toward a day book and possibly post a couple of pictures of the kids at the same time. I have been facebooking a whole lot more because that is alot easier, but I also don't want to give up my blog. I'm hoping this will work out. In the meantime, I'm trying to get everything together for my 'new' blog. I want to do my postings on sundays.

We have had a very busy week and month. It's so hard to believe that summer is almost over. This week has been full of kindergarten open house and orientations, work mtgs., shopping for school shoes, bank business, painting kids bedroom, cleaning, laundry, meals, etc. etc. The list never end. School start monday morning for Madelyn. She will be all day kindergarten. It's so hard to believe. It feels like just yesterday I was bringing her home from the hospital. Mommy is having a hard time with all of it.

Joshua- starts 1/2 day preschool 2x's a week on tuesday. He's not ready for it, but he's going to go there in the mornings while I go to work mtgs. or office time. He will be in the same class that Madelyn was in and seems to be excited about it one moment and then not the next. We are still trying to work on the whole potty training and we have made alot of headway with it this week. Which excites this mama very much.

Chris - has started his internship for his college degree to become a special ed school teacher K-12. He only has 10 or 12 more weeks and then he can get a job. He is very excited about it and so am I. We see the light at the end of a very long 5yr. tunnel.

Until the next post... hope everyone has a great weekend.

Madelyn's 5th b-day party

2010-07-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

We are a little late of posting pics, but Madelyn had a great b-day party. She got alot of nice things and it is so hard to believe that she is starting kindergarten this year.

My little princess. Do you see Joshua's signature on the front of the cake.

Her cake was not really big so I made another one and we used that one for the candles.

Today Madelyn is 5yrs. old

2010-06-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

Today 5 yrs. ago, a little girl was born into this world. We named her Madelyn Elizabeth Dewhurst. She has absolutely brought lots and lots of joy into our life. Happy b-day Madelyn. We love you very much.

Here in this picture she is 2wks. old.
And here is the now. She's grown up so much. She starts kindergarten this coming fall.

My beautiful little girl!

Our week

2010-04-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

I am really having trouble loading pictures up onto my blog. I'm not sure what is going on. This makes my 4th try and nothing will happen. Since I have no pictures, I will just give you a writing journal of our week. Last week, was wonderful. We got alot accomplished. Cleaning out closets for the goodwill or garage sale. Now mind you, those things now need to be organized and put into totes.

Chris' sister, Jenna, came in from GBS for the weekend. It was nice having her here and the kids most definitely enjoyed her.

The kids were able to color easter eggs and had a blast. They went to an egg hunt on Saturday with their cousins.

And of course, hasn't this weather been nice. Madelyn & Joshua have enjoyed their trampoline and the sand box. We had a bon fire on Friday night and enjoyed S'mores! :-)

Easter was wonderful. Had great services and enjoyed a dinner with mom and dad. The kids loved their easter baskets. They got three this year. One from us, one from nana & pappy, and one from aunt Jenna. In all it was great and looking forward to another week.

Hopefully I can get this picture thing straightened out and put some up here soon.

Some fun things...

2010-03-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

I just got this nice new camera and I haven't figured out all of the settings so a few of these pictures are blurry and grainy.
My two loveable kids on St. Patrick's Day.

We went to the park one day. They loved it and it felt so good to get out. I think we were there for two hours.

Madelyn learning how to do the monkey bars. She was very proud of herself and so was I.

The kids having a little picnic right outside the bathroom door in the hallway. Their "lunch" consisted of apples and bananas. They were so cute.

The kids new picnic table. They were very very excited.

And there new basketball goal. Which they love.

Well, hopefully the next time I post pics they won't be so grainy and my settings will be figured out.

Joshua's 3rd B-day party

2010-03-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

These are just about 2mo. late and the pictures are backwards. He had a very good 3rd b-day. Got lots of wonderful things. We had the party at a place called Party Hoppers in Parkersburg, WV. It was a great place and the kids had a blast.

Joshua blowing out his candles. He had a really bad cough, so I cut a piece of cake and put his candles in it to blow out so he wouldn't blow his germs on the rest of the cake that people would be eating. I think I'm going to do this from now on anyways.

One of the bouncy houses that they enjoyed.

The b-day cake that Joshua wanted really bad. Chris works with this man and his wife makes cakes. This was a full sheet cake and paid $32 for it. It was really good. I loved the deer that she did.

I forgot my camera so I had to use a throw away camera and all of the pictures are grainy. Oh well, at least we have pictures.

Happy 3rd Birthday Joshua

2010-01-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

Today 3yrs. ago I was in the hospital in labor with a very precious bundle who was trying to make his appearance 4weeks early. It was a huge huge snow storm. It took us a little while to get to the hospital earlier in the morning. Mom & Dad had a 4-1/2 hr. drive and because of the snow they were 15min. late. Joshua Aiden Dewhurst made his appearance in this world at 2:38pm. He weighed 5lbs 14.8oz and was 19in. long. He was having problems breathing so after I held him for a few minutes they rushed him to the nursery to be put on a oxygen hood, IV's, heart monitors, etc. It was 2days before I could hold him or even nurse him. He came through everything and started gaining weight. He has been healthy ever since then. He has been a wonderful child except for the terrible two's and the pooping training which we are still trying to conquer, but I'm not sure if it will ever be done! :-) He is very active and very smart and very funny. We love him so much and thank God for giving him to us. This picture here below was taken in the hospital. He looks so tiny.
Here he is. A little man who is very ornery today.

Joshua, I hope that you have a happy birthday. Mommy loves you very very much.

A little bit of our life

2010-01-13T04:17:00.000-08:00

I don't have any pictures to post, but I thought that I would post about what's been going on in our life. Chris has obviously started back to school for the quarter. We are very excited when the next 11weeks are up because then he will be home for supper and the rest of the evening from now on. His schedule has always been he leaves about 8am and gets home about 10pm. He will be done with his bachelor's degree in November. YAY!!!!!!! He does start his masters in the summer and he is doing that online with Wright University. That should be completed by the summer of 2011. I am very excited for this to be almost done.
Madelyn has started back to school for the semester. She was very excited to return so she could see her friends. She is doing very well and loves her school. You never know what she is going to say. Last night I was putting her to bed and she told me, "Mommy I want you really bad. My heart is breaking and breaking so bad that it can't stand up." :-) I love her so much.
Joshua is just ornery. No other word for him. He can be quite the pistol the majority of the day. We are having a huge issue of trying to get him poop trained. We have been on this for a few months and he refuses to poop in the toilet. We have done everything. Bought prizes, given candy, spanked, sat in time out, grounded him from going outside. Nothing is working. Any suggestions?? He does not pee his pants even sleeps in his bed all night with no pull up. Doesn't even where pull up during the day. So yep, I am cleaning poop from underwear every day. He is such a sweet boy and definitely mommy's little boy.
I am very happy being a stay at home mom and enjoying my job. I thank the Lord for giving me this job so I could stay home with my kids.
We are doing great and we are trying to live life to it's fullest.

Sleigh riding

2010-01-09T09:43:00.000-08:00

This week has been very fun with all the snow and no school. The kids have gone out alot and enjoyed it very much. Madelyn I think is ready to go back to school. I asked her the other day if she thought she was going to be able to go to school next week. She said, "I sure hope so." I thought I would throw in this picture of them. I thought it was really cute and I definitely love both of their smiles.
Christmas outfits that mom & dad got them.

Sleigh riding with their cousin Lincoln.

Madelyn & Aunt Shannon going down the hill together.

They went farther than they planned to go. They thought they were going to go in the creek, but stopped before they got there. It was very funny.

Madelyn & Lincoln climbing the hill.

2010 Thoughts

2010-01-05T20:56:00.000-08:00

As I start the new year, my thoughts go back a long ways. I think of all the things that we have accomplished, the hard times that we have been through, the good things we have experienced this year. Then my mind goes back for the past 6yrs of everything that we have enjoyed, things that have come into our lives and gone out. I thank God so much for what He has given me. His strength in all the bad times, the wonderful moments throughout my life for the past 6yrs. I thank him for a wonderful husband, who understands my thoughts and needs. Who loves me for who I am and loves his children with everything he has. I thank the Lord for my kids that He has given me. They are so precious and bring such joy to our lives. I cannot wait for the next year and everything that it holds. I want to make sure that I savor every joyful, funny, growing, quiet moments that come my way. That I will hold onto God's unchanging hand through all the tough and trying moments that I may experience. I want to be a better mother to my children, a better wife to my husband, a better pastor's wife to my church and a better friend to all of my friends.
Well, enough of my rambling. I was looking back through my pictures on the computer and wanted to post two pictures of my kids that were taken in May of 2007. Madelyn would have been 1month shy of turning 2 and Joshua would have been 4mo. old.
I love this picture of Joshua talking to his grandma Becky. It is very priceless.

Christmas Sunday Happenings

2009-12-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

We are having a wonderful Christmas season. I have all the gifts bought except for Chris' stocking stuff. I started wrapping gifts last night. My brother flew in last night. It has been a long time since we have seen him and we're very glad to have him home.
We pastor a start up church. It has been going for 8 months. NO we do not have floods of people coming yet, but we do have a great start and we are enjoying it very much. We have a couple of people who attend faithfully 3x's a week. Then we have about 5 others who are there if weather permitting or if their schedule allows it. :-) There is one lady who can not come all the time due to her job, but very faithfully sends her tithe and she is not a christian. Well, since this is Christmas Sunday, we wanted to have a Christmas play. None of the other children came so it was just our kids. We didn't have any costumes so I brought bed sheets and towels from our house. Madelyn was Mary and Joshua was Joseph. We made Christopher (my client) a shepherd and Chris was an angel and he read the scripture. We did have a manger and used a baby doll for Jesus. And for our shepherd and Joseph's rods we used the handles off of brooms. It went very well and we enjoyed it alot. My kids came out and got stage fright. Madelyn did okay until she had to sing Away in a Manger. She has sung it so many times at church this month and has sang it so loud that she really didn't need a microphone, but she would not sing it this morning. Joshua had to be carried out and then we knelt down on the floor with his back to everyone and his head was on the floor. It was very cute. I have some pictures from our Christmas Sunday's events to show ya'll.

Madelyn as Mary

And here is Joshua with his head on the floor. :-)
Madelyn completely freezing on Away in a Manger. By the way, they sing in church 3x's a week. But this morning, there was no singing.

Did get to snap a face shot of Joshua sitting beside his pappy.

Our church, with it just starting up, obviously cannot afford to pay us. That is why I work full time and chris works and is trying to finish up his schooling so we can have a good income. But anyways, they try to do things for us every now and then. This morning they gave us a money tree with $106 on it. We were very surprised and also felt very very blessed.

Since we have gotten snow over the past couple of days. The kids wanted to play out in it. So we bundled them up 2day and out they went for 2hrs. They had a blast and my heart filled up with so much joy as I watched them out there playing until their hearts were content. I kept asking them if they were too cold to play and they kept telling me no and they wanted to play more.

Madelyn is going down the hill here.

Joshua going down the hill. I love his facial expression here. It shows absolutely joy and happiness as he is taking his little ride. You might have to actually click on the picture to get a better look at his face.

Joshua at the bottom of the hill getting ready to go back up.

Madelyn at the bottom of the hill. She was so cute. She kept helping Joshua with his sled so it wouldn't move as he got onto it. She would scream with glee as she went down the hill.

I have been trying to remind myself to just relax and enjoy those moments of complete joy with my children. Before we know it, they are going to be grown up and gone and I don't want to miss those times that I could have had with my kids if I would have just slowed down for them.

Our Thanksgiving weekend events

2009-12-14T05:02:00.000-08:00

I know it has been awhile again since I have posted, but blogger really annoys me. It seems like it takes forever to upload your pictures. So I always put it off. I really didn't get pictures of Thanksgiving, but the Dewhurst girls had a breakfast the saturday morning after thanksgiving. It was alot of fun and we plan to make it a tradition. I did get some pictures of that days happenings.

Well, blogger won't let me put these pictures in order so here it is. This is Joshua and Grandma decorating her tree. After the breakfast, Erin and I went to Grandma's house to put up her tree for her. It was alot of fun.
Of course this is a precious little bundle, Maveryk, who was there also. He really didn't put much effort into decorating. But we enjoyed having him there.

This was at the breakfast. Three little monkeys. They have so much fun together.

Madelyn & Riley. They are the best of buds.

Here we are at the breakfast. Robin fixed us a great one and then all of us brought a dozen of cookies and we did a cookie exchange. It was absolutely a wonderful time.

Our wonderful grandma. I love her so much.

Another picture of our little Maveryk. He is so precious. I love him so much

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone one had a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving. We had a great time with family and then went shopping today. Started at 4:30am and had a wonderful time and got lots of stuff on SALE!!!!

Random Pictures

2009-11-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

I know that it has been awhile since I have posted, but we've had b-day party's and dr. appt., getting ready for thanksgiving, etc. etc. I thought that I would post a few random pictures up here. This week we are getting ready for the Dewhurst Thanksgiving Dinner that is at our house. And then me, Chris' aunt Penny, cousin Erin & Shannon go shopping very early on Friday. I am very excited.

Here is my wonderful little boy, Joshua. He has a b-day coming up in January. It's so hard to believe that he is almost 3yr. old. He is so cute, but very very mishevious and ornery all the time.
Back a couple of months ago, me and Madelyn went with my mom to a lady's luncheon at her church. I had one of the ladies to take a picture of us. I thought it was pretty good. My smile is a little cornie, but oh well. We had fun and that's what matters.

I bought this pink shawl for Madelyn at a second hand store for .50. She loves to wear it. She wanted me to take her picture and this is how she posed all by herself. I did not tell her how to pose at all. She looks like a teen model.

Another pose. She is so cute and beautiful. I guess I'm just a little partial. She is only 4yrs. old. And trust me she acts much older.

I am very thankful for my family. They are very precious to me and many times I don't say thank you enough, but I want them all to know how much I love them and appreciate them. You guys mean all the world to me.

My great deals

2009-11-05T13:34:00.000-08:00

I went to a second hand store today and found a few deals and then went to the show show a found an awesome deal. This skirt here I got for myself for $1
The shawl for Madelyn was $.50 and the sweater for Joshua was $1

The sweater and the bluejean dress was $1 a piece.

I found these boots at shoe show. They were $40 boots and I paid $9. I love them.

I am going to try to post some pictures tonight of some of the kids clothes that I want to sell. I was going to put them on e-bay, but I thought I would see if there is anyone out there that would want them first. The sizes would be girls 4/5 & 5T and boys 2-3T. I will double check on the sizes when I post.

Update on Maveryk

2009-11-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

Maveryk is home and doing wonderful. They never found out what he really had. Everything was coming back negative. The doctors said that they may never find out what was wrong, could have just been a small virus that needed to run its course. He has gained 5oz in the last week. We are all so happy and thank God daily for touching him.

Trick or Treating

2009-11-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

Madelyn & Joshua in their Halloween costumes. Madelyn wanted to be Cinderella and Joshua- Superman. I had to end up getting that turtleneck for Madelyn because she said the dress was itching her. They had fun and got loads of candy. They went with their cousins and then at the campgrounds where Dad works. It was a great time. (Madelyn's hair was done up in a curly bun and I thought I got a picture of it, but didn't. It looked really cute)
Madelyn, Joshua, Riley, Jordan and Jakie. (Jakie is the one w/scary mask)

Madelyn & Riley

This was the night w/out the turtleneck and she complained the whole night. :-)

Maveryk is very sick

2009-10-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

Maveryk went in for his well check up on Tuesday. Everything was fine. Wednesday morning, he went to be circumsized and he was running a 101 temp and struggling to breath. They put him in an oxygen tent, but even with that his oxygen was still not at 100%. They started running all kinds of test and everything was coming back normal. The doctor called the children's hospital in Columbus, OH and they feel like with everything coming back normal, that he probably has H1N1 and they are catching it when it had just started. They wanted to life line him to children's hospital, but no helicoptors were available. So they sent the mobil ICU to get him. They have him stable and he seems to be doing much better. They have started rounds of the tama flu shots. I do believe that God has touched him. It was very scary last night, and it is still scary for all of us until he is home and much better. Please continue to pray for him. He is 8days old.

More pictures of Maveryk

2009-10-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

Maveryk Scott Lisle at 3 days old. He is so adorable. We went to see him yesterday. Madelyn & Joshua just loved him. They held him alot.

Newest Arrival to the Dewhurst Family

2009-10-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

Here is the newest arrival to the Dewhurst Family: Maveryck Scott Lisle 6lbs 9oz. Born on Tues. Oct. 20th, 2009 at 3:08pm. This is his sister Rylee (not sure what she is doing with her eyes). She is the little mommy and she is so cute and sweet with her new brother. We absolutely love him. He loves his Aunt Constance the best. :-)

He had just had a bath, so we didn't want to unwrap him very much. Will have more pictures after this weekend.

Grandpa Dean Harris, Rylee, & Maveryck.

Activities from this past week

2009-10-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of our last weeks activities. We have been very busy, but we have managed to have some fun in the process. Here are the kids after their baths. They wanted the towel on their head like this.
The kids and my client Christopher made halloween cookies and decorated them.

They are very proud of what they did.

Christopher was really enjoying himself.

I think Madelyn enjoyed some of the icing as she decorated. :-)

Rolling out the dough

Joshua trying to get his cookie off of the table.

They also painted pumpkins. These pictures are kind of out of order. This here is the finished project.

Joshua's pumpkin

Christopher's pumpkin

Painting

Madelyn and Joshua were playing princess. We couldn't help but laugh quite a bit.

Computer Issues

2009-10-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, I had some more pictures to update on here, but my computer is kinda of acting weird and I'm afraid to put the pictures on the computer from the camera. Today me, mom and madelyn went to a luncheon and then went shopping. We had alot of fun. I found Madelyn a pair of black boots and white dress shoes for a total of $25. Found Joshua a $50 outfit and paid $22 for it. (it is for church) Hopefully I can get these pictures uploaded in the next couple of days.

Catch up and pictures of the kids

2009-10-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know it has been 4-ever since I have blogged, but life has been very busy and also I have been trying to figure out if people are more into blogging or into facebook. I would kinda like people thoughts on that one. Life has been very good for all of us. We had a busy summer and now we are back to school for Chris and Madelyn. Madelyn is in preschool and loves it. She goes 5 days a week for 1/2 days. Joshua doesn't really know what to do with himself while she is gone. He has nobody to fight with is the problem. :-) Joshua is little over 2-1/2 yrs. old and Madelyn is 4. It has been awhile since their pictures have been taken, so I took them to the park and got them done. They did pretty well. Hope all of you enjoy it.

Beginning of the summer

2009-06-06T16:12:00.000-07:00

Here is the start of our summer. The kids have had a lot of fun and have been in the pool everyday.

Joshua and Grandpa Buck

Uncle Patrick teaching Joshua how to shoot a B.B. gun

We are also doing potty training and Aunt Kimberly is reading to him while he is pottying.

Joshua and his favorite buddy, cousin Lincoln.

Madelyn, Aunt Kimberly, and Joshua

Story from Madelyn

2009-03-04T19:26:00.000-08:00

We were walking through wal-mart and she looked at me and said, "Mommy, you know what my dream is." "My dream is to someday buy you flowers."
I just about started crying. Madelyn has become a big girl, she attends pre-school now. Her teacher is my friend, (that is the only reason why she goes). Madelyn has been begging to go to school so we decided to let her attend at Heart of Valley because of who the teacher is. Thanks Jessica, you do a great job. Madelyn loves school and she is asking when she can go when I put her to bed. She goes five days a week, all day. It is the expansion program, which works out great since I have to work. I do have pictures to post, but it seems like I never have to time to do it by the time I get home from work, spend time with kids, do what household duties that need to be done and then get to bed for another 5am morning. And I am getting to bed way TOO late tonight. Everyone is doing great. Joshua is doing wonderful at the sitters without his sissy. He walks in like a big boy, strutting his stuff. Chris is busy with school, gearing down for this quarter and ready to start another one. I will be glad when this schooling is over. I plan, whenever Chris is done, to go to school myself for my LPN. I know you should do the RN first, but I don't want to overwhelm myself. I will work my way up to the RN. :-) I must sign off for now so I can go to bed. See you in another month or so. Ha Ha!!! :-)

Happy 2nd Birthday Joshua

2009-01-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, the 21st. was Joshua's 2nd birthday. It is so hard to believe that he is two years old now. Time has flown by so fast. He is such a wonderful and precious little boy. It was on the 21st, two years ago on a Sunday morning at about 7am (just right before my alarm went off to get up for church) that I woke up with my bed soaking wet from where my water broke. This was way too early, I said to myself. He is not suppose to be born for another 4wks. Chris called his grandpa to come and preach for him and we called a lady in the church to come and stay with Madelyn. Called the grandparents and then headed off to the hospital in a BAD snow storm. Finally got to the hospital. I wasn't too bad, dialated 2 and very mild contractions. Then ended up giving me potosum (do I have it spelled right?) to speed me up. Then I got the great shot in the back. WONDERFUL!! He finally arrived at about 2:15p.m. with two pushes!! My parents got there 15min. late. They were pulling into the town as we called them so they could hear his cry. 5lb. 8oz. He had a little bit of a problem breathing, so they put him on an oxygen hood for two days, I.V. and a heart monitor. He got his food through I.V. and it was two days before I could hold him or feed him. He pulled through it and gained weight very fast. He is now a very strong boy weighing in at 27lbs. I thank God so much for the little life that He gave to us. I cherish him every day. Happy Birthday Joshua and Mommy loves you.

(I have pictures of him when he was a newborn, but evidently did not put them on my computer. I wanted to post one of him when he was in the hospital, but can't find it on the PC. And by the way, the day he was born was the day the Colts won their game so they could go to the finals. Chris and the Doctor was concerned that I would not have the baby in time so they could watch the game. :-) I had him in enough time. My Doctor and Joshua's pediatrician watched the game together. They were very happy the next morning when they made their rounds. :-)

P.S. His B-day party is next week. Post pictures about that after the party.

Barack Obama

2009-01-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

A funny story from Madelyn:

The other day I was on the internet and there was a picture of Obama. Madelyn was standing beside me, watching, and she saw that picture and said, "Mom, I think I know him." I said, "That is President Obama, he will be our next President of the United States." She said, "No mom, his name is Barack Obama." Wow, I didn't know my child knew who he was or even what he looked like. Anyways, I said, "Well, your right. But he is our next president." She said, "I know him, but I have never met him before."

I was shocked. She is 3-1/2 yrs. old. It is not a surprise to me for her to know his name, but to place the picture with his name. WOW!!! It really cracked Chris and me up. We still laugh about it days later. You never know how much they are paying attention to things or even how much they pick up.

I Am Back!!

2009-01-11T19:17:00.000-08:00

Okay, I know, it has been quite a LONG time since I have blogged. My life has been BUSY BUSY BUSY........!!!!! We all have been doing great. We are trying to settle in our new house and in the midst of getting settled, we have had Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, my aunt came in from Texas, a wedding, christmas shopping, wrapping gifts, normal household duties, packing boxes and trying to unpack boxes, working 36hrs. a week, getting everything switched over from the old house to the new, new year's eve party, starting a new schedule since Chris is back in school, trying to get my kids used to a babysitter two days a week and now preparing for Joshua's 2nd birthday party. Plus we have had a bad case of the flu on top of all of this.
Okay, you can breathe now. This week is the first week in a few months that our life will be back to normal. Chris started college again this past week. He is taking 17-1/2 hrs. for this quarter plus he is working 15-1/2 hrs. a week. Mon - Fri. he leaves for school/work at 8:30a.m. and arrives home around 10p.m. I work my normal days and thankfully the kids only have to go to the sitters two days a week. My mom picks up the kids when she gets off of work and keeps them until I get off of work at 8:30p.m. I only work three 12hr. shifts a week. Two of them are during the day and the other one is during the night. So Chris is with the kids during the night shift and I am home the next morning before he goes to school/work. It has been very different for all of us, but it is something that we are all trying to work together on and it is definitely something that none of us choose. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do even if you don't like it. The Lord is helping us and we are very excited about whatever lays in our future. I posted a few pictures that I had. Sorry about no christmas pictures, maybe I can post a few over the next few weeks.

Joshua with his big sunglasses. They were in his stocking, he loved them alot.

Madelyn and Joshua in there Christmas outfits. These outfits were $60 a piece at JCPenney's and I got them on sale for $20 a piece.

I loved this picture of Joshua and my Dad.

Madelyn and her cousin Riley. They have alot of fun and love to spend time with together. It is nice now since they are only about 10min. away from each other. They get to see each other all the time.

I loved this one with Dad and Madelyn.

A Great Change

2008-12-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

For the past 4-5 months, there have been alot of changes in our life. Two weeks ago my husband resigned from the church here in Ohio. Things have been really hard, but God is helping us alot and giving us guidance and strength. Today we are moving to Rutland, OH on Chris' grandparents land. Chris' uncle has a house there on the land that nobody is living in so he offered for us to live there for rent free. It is a $160,000.00 house - five bedrooms, two bath with a huge front room, living room, laundry room, plenty of closets, and the one bath has a jaccuzi and a finished basement. The kitchen has two dishwashers and two stoves. It also has a wrap around deck. God has been so wonderful to us and supplying all of our needs. Including the $200 deposit we needed to turn the water on at our new place. God has also provided 4 deer for our freezer for this winter- 3 of the deer somebody gave to us and the 4th on is a 8 point buck that Chris shot himself. We are going to do all of them into burger since we use more of that then anything else and it is alot cheaper to get processed, too. I was hoping I could post pictures from the Thanksgiving holiday, but I have not had time, with me working 36hrs. moving, and getting ready for a wedding I have to play for next Friday night in Bluefield, VA. We will not have phone or internet service until the 8th. So I am signing off until then. I hope everyone has a great week and weekend. Check back with everyone at the beginning of the week.

P.S. You can click onto Chris' website off of mine and see a picture of his deer. His blog is with the rest of my blogger friends.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

Hello to everyone and a very Happy Thanksgiving! We are at Mom & Dad's house. My grandpa came in from Bluefield, Va. We just had dinner and we are all very sleepy. Chris, the kids and I are going to his grandparents this evening for Dinner with all of the family there. And then tomorrow, I am going shopping with Chris' cousins. I think we are leaving at about 2:30 or 3:00a.m. YEA!!!!!!! This is my favorite shopping day. Then on Sat. I am going with some friends to Charelston to do some more shopping and see a christmas play. I promise I will have pictures from this weekend and another update. We have had a few changes in our life and I will update about that also. Have a great weekend.

My life ~ BUSY

2008-11-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, my name is Constance Dewhurst. I am a pastor's wife, a mother of two, a full-time homemaker. Sorry, I needed to do that for myself just to make sure I know who I am. Last weekend we went to Bluefield, VA to see my mom's side of the family. Her sister came in from Texas, she only comes in once every 4yrs. We had alot of fun visiting with everyone and the kids enjoyed all of their cousins. BUT - we were leaving Bluefield on Sat. and we had just barely gotten out of city limits when our car broke down. Yay!!!! We were able to get it back to my grandma's house and she let us take her car home. I had an interview for a job Sat. night at 6p.m. My parents took our car to a shop in Bluefield on Sun. before they came home. Needless, to say our car is fixed for $318. We have to make another trip in next weekend to pick it up. I now have a job taking care of a 92yr. old lady about 50min. from my house. I work 3 - 12hr. shifts a week. It works great with our schedule and the kids only have to be with a sitter (which is a girl from our church) for about 9hrs. a week. This week was my first week and so I have trying to readjust our schedule here at the house and I have not had anytime for blogging. And on my day off on Tues. (when I was going to do blogging) our telephone line fell, which was okay because our phone still worked, but our dog chewed right through it, SO our phone was not working on Tues. which meant I don't have internet. We have it all through cable. So here I am trying to blog real quick before I do some house work and go to work at 8:30 tonight. I never work the weekends so I will post some pictures up this weekend, right now I do not have the time. We start revival tomorrow night and end Sun. night. I pray that the Lord will help and we can see some victories during this time. I hope ya'll have a great weekend and I will catch up in a couple of a days.

Something New

2008-11-05T20:26:00.000-08:00

I have created a blog just for my "good" pictures. They would be the ones that are more than just snap-shot pictures. You can click on it here www.picturesbyconstance.blogspot.com

Or you can just scroll down to "My Favorites" and you can go to it from there.

Our new and approved family picture

2008-11-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

Thank you Holly for telling me about that website. I LOVE it. I just had to post this. This is our family picture and I just added some things to it.

Family and Halloween pictures

2008-11-05T07:27:00.000-08:00

Life has been very busy and I haven't been able to blog. Finally, I have a chance to do some. The other day I thought that I would try something new. I would take our own family pictures. I don't have the software that makes the fog around the edges (I plan on getting that after Christmas) so they don't look quite professional, but I thought they turned out pretty well. Here are the better ones that were taken. I didn't get to take alot, #1 Chris hates to take pictures, #2 we were on a bridge that had big cracks in it and Joshua was scared.

Me and my wonderful hubby.
My two beautiful kids. I really liked this one.

This one was pretty good, too.

Our family picture. I wish my smile was better, not sure what I was doing. But everyone else was really good, so I picked this one.

Our trick-and-treat pictures.

We went with cousins and had alot of fun and the kids got lots of candy. (l-r) Lincoln, Riley, Madelyn

(L-R) Joshua, Lincoln, Riley

Also for my great grocery shopping trip this week. I had to buy some deoderant, fabric softener, diapers and I got a few extra things that was not on my list like toilet paper, bananas, shredded cheese. The toilet paper(white cloud) it was a 4pk. big rolls = 8 rolls was $1 after my coupon, bananas were $.59/lb. so I got 4lbs. and the shredded cheese was $1.66 @ Krogers so I got 2 pks. to put in my freezer. My diapers were$7.68, I had a $2 coupon so I paid $5.68.

My total for groceries and neccessities for this week was $62.00. I was very happy.

I saw Sarah Palin today!

2008-10-29T19:19:00.000-07:00

Today Chris and I left the kids with a babysitter and we headed out at 9a.m. this morning and headed toward Chillicothe, OH. We got there at around 10a.m. And we started lining up at 11:40. Entered the gates at 1p.m., the rally started at 2:30p.m. and Sarah Palin spoke at 3:30p.m. It was very cold and we were froze half to death from standing in the cold for about 5 hrs. GO SARAH PALIN!!!! There were tons of people there and of course there were all kinds of Secret Service Agents, State troopers, city police, and snipers that were on tops of the buildings. I am so glad that I went to see her.

Here is the line that was behind us and we were pretty close to the front. By the time it was time to go through the gates, the line was MUCH longer.
The line in front of us.

These are some secret service men standing at the gates.

Chris standing in line. Doesn't he look thrilled. :-)

Some of the snipers on top of one of the buildings. They were looking around constantly with binocholers.

Someone dressed their child up in an elephant costume. He looked so cute.

Okay, this one is really cheesy, but we were freezing and we were really close because of all of the people. This would be us trying to stay warm.

Another sniper.

I thought this sign was so funny.

The red and white pom-poms waving in the air.

The great and wonderful SARAH PALIN!!!

Don't you love her buckeye necklace.

She said the weather here made her feel like she was back at home in Alaska. It definitely was cold.

Her husband Todd.

Don't you love the look on one of Sarah Palins personal guards face.

Another personal guard, actually two of them. The black man and the one right beside him with glasses. By the way, as she made her way around to shake hands, etc. There were also more guards going through the crowd not to far from her. Two of them stood right behind me and they were so close, they were breathing down my neck and the one had one of their hands on my behind. Let me tell you, they were very serious about their job and they really didn't care what you wanted to do. You moved for them so they could keep up with Palin or they would just move you themselves.

She was right in from of us signing papers, posters, etc.

They were giving out these hats before we entered the gates. Chris got one and guess what. Sarah Palin herself signed it. We were so close to her that he could hand the hat to her hisself and she thanked Chris for coming. Now I on the other hand could not reach her because I had the personal guards behind and in front of me.

My great grocery trip

2008-10-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share with you all on my great weekly grocery trip. I have been trying to go through my weekly shopping ads and then plan my food menu for the week by what is on sale and what is in my cupboards. Then I clip out coupons for the stuff that is on sale and save alot more money. My total bill for this weeks grocerys and household neccessities was $52.15.

$18.42 - Wal-mart
$3.98 - Save-a-Lot
$29.67 - Kroger

I was very very happy. So was my budget. :-)

Youth Challenge weekend

2008-10-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone and hope that all of you had a great weekend. We had a busy weekend, but a great and fun one. We left Thursday to go to Youth Challenge. On the way, we dropped the kids off with Mom and Dad and then later picked them up on Sunday afternoon. My grandmother and her boyfriend were in on Sat. and Sun. We went to Mom & Dad's on Sun. to eat dinner with all of them and to pick up the kids. Madelyn & Joshua were definitely excited to see us since we had been away for four days. Today has been the great big unpacking, cleaning, laundry and spending time with kids day. I have done pretty good on everything, there are things that are not done, but I guess you can't always get everything done in one day. I thought I would take a picture of our supper tonight. I fixed sliced pork loin (I baked it with canned apples over the top of it with a little butter and white and brown suger. I did it in the oven on low for four hours), steamed frozen vegetables, homemade biscuits(my mom gave them to me on Sun.) with butter and apple butter on them. It was very delicious.
On our way to meet mom on Thurs. so she could get the kids, we passed this dead buck deer that someone had hit the night before. And guess what, Chris had to stop, he wanted the head. So while we waited for our friend to show up with a hax saw, this is what the kids did. They kept petting it and trying to lift it's head up. Ugh!

Chris and Travis Johnson helped with the 3 on 3 basketball game. Travis was the announcer and Chris watched the stop watch. They had alot of fun and there were some great games.

As always at Youth Challenge, we got to see alot of friends and people that we haven't seen for awhile. Our great, dear and best friends, Andy & Sharilynn Stroud.

There was one point before one of the services, I just happened to look over and saw Darrell III chowing down on this apple. I thought it was so cute.

The great Travis Johnson in the afterglow. :-) (I am sure he would just love to see this picture)

Madelyn's friend Gracie Stetler. Gracie was asking about Madelyn and wanted to see her. She is such a sweet little girl.

Okay we stayed at the Comfort Inn with choice hotels. We have never had a bad experience except for this one. The hotel was very unclean, we were not impressed at all and will never stay there again. We were standing at the elevator waiting for it to come to us and my brother-in-law just leaned up against this wall and the trim completely came off of it. This place was a joke. I do believe they need new management.

Me and Lizzie Stetler. It was alot of fun to get see you again and spend time with you guys. Can't wait to see ya'll again.

Me and Merillee Stetler/Luther. It was great to see you again and to spend time with you and get to see the baby. He is a doll and can't wait to see you guys again.

My grandmother and my dad.

My grandma and her boyfriend. They were looking at some pictures.

A great time with Uncle Ricky

2008-10-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

My brother flew in from Florida last Saturday. He has been here all week and we will also get to spend time with him at Youth Challenge. We haven't seen him since Christmas, so it has been a long time and we have had a great time with him these past few days. The kids have absolutely loved their time with Uncle Ricky. In fact, Madelyn was choosing to do things with him over doing them with my dad. (I think it kind of hurt his feelings a little.) She told my dad that, "they were going to play frisbie." And he said, "Oh we are." She replied with, "No, not you. Just me and Ricky." She later told him that when her and Ricky were done playing then he could play. We were there every day and he came and spent the night with us one night, also. Today I am staying at home and trying to get some housework done, etc. Anyways, here are some pictures of the past few days, I hope you enjoy them.

This is our bonfire we had one night. It was really nice. Madelyn roasted her own marshmallows and did a very good job at it. Sorry, I never did get a picture of that part.
Pappy with his two "pride and joys".
Joshua playing on the golf cart. He loves this thing and wants his pappy to take him for a ride on it all the time.
Pappy and his buddy resting for a little bit. (A little secret, my dad had been asleep, also. He had just gotten off of work.)
Nana and Joshua

Pappy and Joshua grilling our supper one evening.
My brother. He can be a weirdo. Love ya, bro.
Joshua and Ricky. Ricky was really cold. It wasn't really that cold for a hat, but hey when your use to the WARM Florida weather I guess it does feel really cold here.
Madelyn and Ricky. I loved this picture of them.

Ricky and Madelyn playing basketball. I think he was showing her some tricks.

Joshua kept saying, "Ball, Ball."
Madelyn and Ricky raked some leaves. Madelyn told him to let her do it because it was really hard. So he laid down and she piled all of these leaves on top of him. This is the end result.
She loved it.
I don't know if you notice all of the wood neatly laid on the fire ring. Well, Joshua did all of that. He carried the wood and placed it on the fire ring so he could help his pappy out. Then he went over and got his seat and pulled it over by the ring and sat down. He is so cute.

Ricky reading a book to Madelyn on Sunday afternoon. And mom that dinner was really good. Thank you. :-)

Don't you love this picture of my brother?
I believe Madelyn was watching Ricky do something with the basketball.
I love this picture of Joshua. He has a very focused look on his face.
This is all I have until this weekend. I must finish the packing for Youth Challenge, plus we have church tonight. Hopefully, I will see some of you at YC. I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend.

Our LONG LONG night

2008-10-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this week, I was sick. My body would just ache and ache. It would come and go, I might would feel good all day long and then all of a sudden in the evening, I would start aching so bad. It lasted for a couple of days. Well, yesterday Madelyn woke up not feeling good. She just wanted to lay on the couch and stay in her p.j.'s and that is not like her at all. I asked her if she was feeling bad and she said, "No, I am just sick and my legs are hurting and hurting because was walking and walking all night long." Isn't she so cute. She did not sleep at all yesterday and last night we went to bed, and she would wake up countless times in the night just talking away while her body was burning up with fever. And I'm not talking about stuff that didn't make sense, she was having conversations like we were having a day in the park. Well, let me tell you the one that had all of the conversations with her and got up countless times to get her a drink. My wonderful, dear husband is the one that did all of this through the night. These pictures below are them resting this afternoon from their all-night conversations.
Madelyn and Joshua are sharing a carmel apple. I love all three of these guys. Especially my husband, he is absolutely wonderful. Thank you honey and I LOVE you very much.

A 2nd response to my 2nd annonymous comment

2008-10-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

In response to my annonymous lurker. When you first made the comment on my blog, you worded things as if you were not apart of the holiness movement or even a christian. But from your second comment, you obviously have a very strong background in the holiness movement. My husband and I always respect people and their convictions, but it feels like you are being very critical and judgemental with me and what I let my kids do because I don't have the same standard/conviction as you. That is the problem I have with the radical holiness people, they have all of these convictions and if anyone does anything that they don't do, then they are not christians, or holiness. They are considered liberals. Now, my husband and I feel like you are a coward because you are saying all of these harsh statements and making it sound like we are not Christians because of this, and your doing it all under annonymous name. Now I am going to ask you, out of respect, that you please tell me who you are and where your from. Now, after you tell me your name, etc. I am going to ask you to please never visit my blog again. I have created this for family and friends to be able to keep in contact with us, and you are using this as a way to be critical and judgemental and show a un-christ like spirit. There are alot of people out there, even in my blogging world, that may do things that I don't agree with, but I would never in a million years think about leaving a comment on their blog de-christianizing them in what they do. What convictions I have are for myself and I am not to use those convictions to go around preaching to people if they do those things. Thank you very much.

In response to the annoynomous comment

2008-10-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

In answer to the comment that was left on my blog about Halloween, hop over to my husband's blog www.dewhurstchris.blogspot.com. He has researched this very extensively and has posted it and made comments.

Weekend Happenings

2008-10-15T07:00:00.000-07:00

What a busy weekend. And I am a few day behind on posting on our happenings. We had a great weekend, the weather was beautiful. Hasn't it been very warm for October? The whole weekend here, it was in the 80's. Friday started our weekend. The kid's and I took Chris to school and while he was there we did a few things in town. One of them was going to the park.

Joshua cheezin'

Sorry about the blurry picture. This tree was in the park and I thought it was so pretty.
They have those mirrors that make you look short and fat or tall and skinny. The kids loved them and I thought it was neat how you can see two of them.

After we picked up Chris from school, we went to Rutland to visit the family there. Joshua and Lincoln, they had been jumping on the bed. They are roughly about 1 - 1 1/2 mo. apart.

Then on Saturday, we went to the Bob Evans Farm Festival. It was really neat, but VERY VERY HOT!! The kids got tired very quick so we didn't stay for very long. We live only 45min. from it so it wasn't like we drove hours to get to it.

Madelyn riding a pony. She enjoyed it very much. Joshua was going to ride one, but he started stiffing his legs up and screaming as loud as he could.

Madelyn petting a horse
Joshua had been looking at some sheep
My mom, Joshua, and Madelyn (I think my mom was saying "Hee Hee") :0)

That is the conclusion of our weekend. And now I am trying to catch up on all of the laundry. I have one more load to do. :0)

My great deals

2008-10-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

Here are my great deals for the week. I wanted a carharrt coat for Joshua for this winter really bad. I got this one off of e-bay, shipping and everything for $30.51
I also got the kid's halloween costumes. Joshua's I got it for $0.99 + $6.00 (shipping) on e-bay, Madelyn's came from Old Navy for $10.00. As you can imagine, I am very happy. I still have to get Madelyn a winter coat and I am still working on that one.
A closer look at Joshua's. You can't see on this picture, but on the costume the feet are open. I don't know what to do for him on shoes. I don't want him to look geeky, with him just wearing tennis shoes and the frog costume. Would anyone have any suggestions or ideas?
A closer look at Madelyn's. She is very excited about this and ask if she can wear it to church all the time. :-)
Well, tomorrow we are heading to Rutland to see Chris' grandparents and then the Southerlands are in revival about 5 min. from there, so we will go and hear them on Fri. night and Sat. night. And then also on Sat. Me, Mom, and the kids are going to the Bob Evans Farm Festival. I will have pictures come Sun. or Mon. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Funny Comics

2008-10-08T07:30:00.001-07:00

Here are two comic strips my husband passed on to me. He says that my name is all over them:

Making a Christmas List

2008-10-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

What a familiar looking site. It is just about that time of year and to be exact this thursday will be 11 weeks until Christmas. I am trying to get everything done here and get my shopping list together so I can start buying for those that need bought for here. We are doing alot of name drawings this year which I am very thankful for, it will definitely lessen the cost of Christmas. I took the kids to the store tonight and they showed me what they wanted for Christmas. This picture below, my kids did not write this. I found it off of the web. I think that my kids asked for just about everything. All Joshua could do was point to what he liked. :-) We had fun and I am glad that we did it now so I can pass out their list to those that have their names.

Sunday afternoon

2008-10-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

My two little munchkins watching a Dora show on the internet.
My parents were over on Sunday for dinner and Madelyn wanted her pappy to lay in Joshua's bed with the both of them. I grabbed these pictures before they decided that it was time to "get up." I am sure my dad would love to see this picture since he is in his night clothes. :-)
Pardon my dad's church clothes hanging from Joshua's bed. My kids love their nana & pappy and enjoy them coming over every Sunday.

Biden/Palin Debate

2008-10-03T06:16:00.000-07:00

Biden/Palin Debate
I watched the Biden/Palin debate on the internet last night. I thought Palin did very well. She did make the statement that she is not for same sex marriage and I was very glad to hear that. Chris and I were not really for sure how she stood on it. I also thought she did very well when they tried to pin her down saying that she agreed with Biden on this issue. Biden kept wanting to bring up things that have been done in the past 8yrs. in the Bush administration and it's like Palin said, Everybody make mistakes in an administration and we should not point our fingers back to other administrations, but look forward and see what we can do for the American people and not for our own selfish reasons. The thing I loved about Palin was - she always looked at the American people when she spoke and she smiled the whole time. I liked that, she connected and she was very much down to earth.
Well, I did enjoy it and I plan to vote for McCain/Palin in November.

Fall Pictures of the kids

2008-10-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night before we left for church, I took the kids out to my fall display and took some pictures of them. They did pretty well, Joshua does not like to do what you want him to do, so that is kind of frustrating, but oh well, as least I got some of them.

Me and my "little" man. Don't you love my cheesy grin with Joshua. :-)

Me and my little princess.

A lot of exciting things

2008-09-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

We have had a really great week and weekend. Chris has been out deer hunting. It is bow season right now and he is out hunting just about every evening and all day on Saturdays. Madelyn says, "Dad I want you to shoot a deer and kill it so we can eat it." She also tells her daddy that when she gets big enough, she is going to get her a bow and go deer hunting. :) She is so cute, but hey I can't blame her much. I love to shoot a bow and I plan on getting me one within the year so I can go hunting next year. Anyways, I have a few pictures to show you. We went to Chris' grandparents house on Friday and spent the whole day there and then on Saturday, my mom, the kids and I went shopping for winter clothes for the kids. We had a great time.

I got my fall display up outside yesterday and I took some pictures so you could see it. Never mind the burn barrel you see and our landlords other trailer that just sits there. :(

This is Chris' cousin Brian's little baby, Luke. He is about 2mo. old I believe now. He is very cute and we all love him. I love his smile here. He had just awakened and his grandma was talking to him and he was loving it.

Chris' grandpa has a four wheeler and Chris took the kids on a ride. Needless to say, they did not want to get off of it. They LOVED it.!

Lincoln and his mommy Shannon (Chris' cousin) He is so cute and talks VERY WELL. He is 2mo. older than Joshua.
Just look at that grin.
Madelyn and Lincoln riding the toy four wheeler.

Saturday when mom and I went shopping we passed this eating place on the way to the mall. We have heard that they are very very good and people talk about them all the time. Well, as you can see from the pictures we didn't really ever want to stop...

This school bus below, it is connected to the building and you can go inside the bus and eat. Also they let you sign your name ANYWHERE you want on the inside of the restaurant.

This is an old car they have sitting out front. Well, I talked mom into stopping on the way home and getting hotdogs. The place is actually VERY clean on the inside and the hotdogs were GOOD. We just got a to-go order because the kids were tired, but I do plan on going back and eating inside. It is really a cool place.

Well, on for my shopping story. We went to Target, Marshall's (like a T.J. Max), shoe dept., old navy. I got a few things at each store that was on clearance, but my biggest shopping deal was at old navy. Everything I got (except for the kids' socks) was on clearance. I had a coupon that if your total was $100 or more you got 40% off. My total came up to $110. I had $110 worth of clothes and they were all clearance items and I paid around $68 for all of it. Was I ever excited. Hooray for coupons. These brown shoes below, I got at Marshall's for $7 for Madelyn.

And these boots were $35 boots and I got them for $14 at the shoe dept. They need a few more things, but hopefully we will get those in the next couple of weeks.I hope you guys had a great weekend. By the way, I started the thing on my blog that tells me when each person has updated their blog. It is WONDERFUL!! I love it. Thanks for whomever that shared this great thing with us.

A great buy

2008-09-25T07:37:00.000-07:00

I was out shopping the other day and found these boots for Madelyn for $5. They were originally $15. I was very excited. I always put these boots on her with those cute sock tights (they have the designs on them) in the winter time. Anyways, I thought that I would share my great buy with you.

Mommy's angels and Daddy's helpers

2008-09-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a very crazy week. Last week we were in Revival with Bro. & Sis. Walden. They did a wonderful job preaching and singing to us and the Lord really helped them. This week, we have been catching up on all of the little things. Joshua has been sick, we actually had to take him to the ER during Revival because he was wheezing. He just had an upper respitorary infection, so they put him on some medication and he seems to be doing alot better now. I have a few pictures here I wanted to share with everyone. The other night before church, I snapped some of the kids.

My beautiful kids! :)

These are Daddy's little helpers. Chris was doing some yard work and they love to get out there and do whatever they can to help.

Especially when it has to do with the wagon.
They are so cute. They do anything to try to please us.

I am not sure what they were doing here, but they were cuddled up on the chair and it was too cute to pass up.
A little story on Madelyn: Yesterday we were eating some supper. We were just having some leftovers and Chris had the cheeseball out and Madelyn asked for some of it on a cracker. Well, she also wanted some spaghetti and meatloaf, too. She tasted the cheeseball and laid it down and said, "My stomach is hurting, I want some of that." She was pointing to the meatloaf and spaghetti. I chuckled and said, "If your stomach is hurting than you can't eat that." She looked at me and said, " My stomach is hurting just for the cheese and crackers, but not for the other stuff." I laughed so hard and she was being so serious because she didn't even laugh herself. The things they say and do sometimes. I could not ask for sweeter kids than what I have.

Pictures from our trip to South Dakota

2008-09-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry this is late. Enjoy!

Update...

2008-09-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone. We are back from our vacation and since we have gotten home we have been running a hundred miles an hour. I have not had a chance at all to post pictures. I don't know how to use picasa web and so Chris is going to show me how to do it this weekend so you can see all of my pictures. I have been very frustrated because I wanted them up before now, but oh well, that is life. Sorry that it is taking so long.

We're off to South Dakota

2008-08-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a very busy two days. Packing, cleaning, paying bills, etc. etc. I am actually doing very well on this trip, for it is Tuesday and the suitcases are packed. Now all I have to do is to finish cleaning my house. Tomorrow (wednesday) we head out to South Dakota for 13 days. Chris' parents live in Mitchell, SD and he has almost two weeks off from school. My dad is going to pick us up at 11:30a.m. tomorrow and we will head to the Columbus, OH. airport. We fly out at 3:49p.m. and arrive in Omaha around 8:00 that night. We then have a couple hours drive to his parents house. We are very excited to be able to spend this much time with them. I believe this is the first that we have been to there house for this long period of time. We got a great deal on tickets. Whenever your children turn two yrs. old, you have to start paying for their ticket. So the four (Joshua does not have to pay yet.) of us will fly out there and back for $616.00. Not bad at all. Well anyways, this is a goodbye to my blogging friends for a couple of weeks. I will very much have pictures to post when we return on Sept. 8th. Hope all of you have a great Labor Day weekend. :0)

Some great prizes

2008-08-25T12:26:00.000-07:00

What a crazy weekend although it was alot of fun. Friday evening we took the kids to my parents house and they stayed Friday and Saturday night with them. Then my parents brought them back Sunday afternoon. On Saturday, Chris and I went out with some friends. It was alot of fun to just hang out and have nothing pressing on your schedule. Sunday afternoon, I didn't feel very well, so Chris did the supper for us and my parents. He did fried fish, corn cob, mixed vegetables and he heated up some homemade bread that his grandma made. I did make a double-layer chocolate cake for dessert. It was a very very yummy supper! :0)
The Southerlands were here for our evening service. We had a wonderful time with them.

Here are a few pictures I wanted to share. Chris went to town last week and happened to stop by the goodwill and found this little tikes desk for Madelyn. The nice thing was the price - $3. All it needed was to be cleaned and the white part on the top needed painted. So Chris took it off, and painted it white and it looked as good as new. Madelyn absolutely loves it.
Another view.
Our church does secret sisters with the all of the ladies. My secret sister got me a few things for my anniversary/birthday and thought that I would share them with you.
A cake pan, towels, dishcloths, pot holders, and little leaf dishes. My cake pan.
The towels and dishes

Happy 24th Birthday to me!!

2008-08-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, August the 16th was my 24th birthday. I am a little behind, but hey it has been busy. There is a funny story behind this cake. My parents work at this resort and when you come up to it there are these gate and you hit the intercom button and tell them what you are there for and then they let you in. Well, we pulled up to the gate and I hit the button and said that I was Rick Bourne's daughter and I was there to see them. The lady in the office said, "Okay Candice." And I said, "It's Constance." There was a pause and she said, "You know your right, and I think that I put Candice on your cake." I told her if she did then don't worry about it. Well, she brought the cake up to my parents house and this is what it said...
Isn't that funny. In spite of that mistake, it was a very good cake. Thank you Sharon! I had a great birthday, we had a little party at my parents house. Some of Chris' family were able to come. It is hard to believe that I am 24. That may seem young to some of you. Oh well, I am very happy and couldn't ask for anything more.

The 4-H Fair

2008-08-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to the Fair this past week with their cousins. They had so much fun. They enjoyed the pigs and cows, cotton candy, playing the games and of course riding the rides. And we can't forget the time they were with their cousins. Madelyn cried and cried after we left. She wanted to stay and we had already been there for HOURS!

Here is Madelyn on the Berry-go-round. She loved it so much. I thought it would make her sick, but she got off of it excited and running.
Joshua "driving" the train. He cried when he had to get off of this. They rode it 3 times.
Merry-Go-Round. They rode this one a couple of times.

Joshua. I stood beside him on the ride. If I looked down during the process, I got dizzy.
This ride here, I thought would be to scary for Madelyn. She begged to go on it and finally I let her. You are in this swing and the more you go around the higher you get, the higher you get, the faster you go. She laughed through the whole thing. She said, "I was going very fast and I was up really high, mommy." She is a little dare devil.
A little higher. I couldn't get a picture when she was really high, because she was going way to fast for me to capture it.
She is nearing the end of it.
Madelyn and her cousin, Riley.

Madelyn and Riley on the dog ride.
Madelyn, Riley, & Joshua on the car ride. Joshua was really mad when it was over.
The three muskateers on the train.
Madelyn climbed all the way up this big slide and slide down it by herself.

Positive Attitude Chart

2008-08-11T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have started a "Positive Attitude Chart" for Madelyn. As you can see on the left side of this poster are all of the attributes we are working on. On the right are all of the stickers she has gotten. What it is, you start looking for the attributes and every time you notice one, then she gets to put a sticker on whatever you noticed. For every 10 stickers she gets, she can choose between buying an icecream or a book. For every 50 stickers she get, she can choose between the zoo, museum, or some great field trip. She has gotten her first set of 10 stickers and she is on her second round. So this past Saturday we celebrated her ten stickers and she decided to get an ice cream. Here below is her chart.
Madelyn and the icecream on her celebration trip.

This past Friday we went to Mom and Dad's for a cookout. We had a great time with them and as always the kids had fun playing with Nana and Pappy. The love to wrestle with their Pappy.

Mom readying Madelyn's devotional Bible to her. (She was laughing at me)

My wonderful wide-brown-eyed little man. He is so adorable.
Joshua giving Nana kisses.
More lovin's.

The newest arrival - Luke Enwright

2008-08-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

Our newest arrival in the Dewhurst family. Chris' cousin and his wife had their first baby. A little boy. He arrived Mon. evening around 8p.m. Luke Enwright is his name and he weighed a little over 7pds. He has not been here for very long, but we love him so much already. There are a few pictures below of him.

I love his feet. They are very long.

His grandma was re-wrapping him in his blanket and he did not care for it at all.
Grandma and Grandpa with their newest grandbaby. This is their 2nd grandson. (This is Chris' Aunt Andrea and Uncle Rodney)

I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures.

Happy Birthday ~ Chris

2008-07-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

Happy 27th birthday to a wonderful man in my life - my husband and my best friend. I could not live my life without you. Thank you for being who you are, for the life you have given me and the way you lead our family spiritually. You are a wonderful father to our children also. Always caring and ready to talk about their troubles. I love you babe and happy birthday!!!!

Who am I?

2008-07-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

By the way, Happy Birthday to my dad. Dad you have a been a great father to me and I love you very much.

Wow, my life has been so crazy for the past two weeks. We had V.B.S. and then my two kids were sick, vomitting, etc. We did all kinds of work to our yard. Our landlord still had a bunch of his stuff in our shed, which meant we could not get our stuff in it. And all of our stuff was around our porch. (That really makes your house look nice.) Finally the shed was cleared out, Chris tore down the walls and put new ones up and all of our stuff in put away. Yay! :) Mom and Dad were here for supper on Sun. It was a combined birthday dinner for my Dad and Chris. I fixed meatloaf, brocolli n' cheese, mac n' cheese, salad, and banana creme pie for dessert. Monday went pretty well, but I went to bed Monday night vomitting and my stomach cramping all night. I woke up Tuesday morning vomitting. And I have laid around all day with my stomach cramping. Over the weekend, I had a stye on my eye. That started on Thurs. It hurt and was swollen a little, Friday - my eyelid had double its size and it hurt even worse, Sat. - It had tripled its size and I went to the ER and they gave me eye drops for it. I have to use those every six hours for five days and cannot wear my contacts. So I have to wear glasses for five days which I utterly hate. I think I am caught up for now. There are quite a few pictures below from our crazy weeks.

Here is the way my eye looked when I went to the ER this past Saturday. I couldn't even get my contact in then. It was quite horrible and very painful. I have never had a stye before and never want one again. By the time Sat. had come the stye had moved from the outside of my eyelid to underneath it on top of my eyeball.

This is Madelyn and her friend Zoe from church. We went to their house for dinner and the girls enjoyed playing together. Doris fixed a wonderful meal of enchiladas and they were wonderful. Thank you Rick and Doris for a great evening.
It is so funny because Joshua loves sunglasses way more than Madelyn. He is also getting into this baby thing. He wants to hold a baby like his sister does. We were getting ready to leave for church here and this is the way he walked into church, also. He is SO CUTE!
Madelyn with her baby in its carseat and the diaper bag. She actually has a real bottle in that diaper bag. And her baby always has to sit between her and Joshua in the car. She is going to be a great mother one day.
This was so cute. Chris and I overheard Madelyn telling Joshua his name and she was showing him how to count. I was able to snap this picture before they saw me. As you can see, they have Madelyn's computer and she was "teaching" him a few things. She always thinks she is the mother.
I was doing laundry one day and was coming through the hallway when Madelyn was taking some of our clothes and putting them in her washer. She said, "Mommy, I am doing laundry, too." I love her so much. She always wants to be doing what I am doing. (Joshua is standing by making sure it is done right. 8)

This is a very funny story. Chris had made him a milkshake and the kids wanted some drinks. So he decided they could all drink out of it at the same time. They enjoyed every minute of it. The funny thing is, long after it was all over, I went to the fridge and opened it and there sat....
my mixer. He had placed the mixer in the fridge when he put back the milk. I laughed so hard when I saw it. I love you babe! You are so awesome.
We had some Bob Evans gift cards so on our shopping day we decided to go there and have lunch and have some dessert. We live 40min. (one way)from our big shopping town. So once a week we all load up and do our weekly grocery/neccesities shopping. Go to the library and try to get an ice cream.

Joshua at Bob Evans.
Madelyn at Bob Evans.
We are at the library. My kids love that trip. They look for books, play with puzzles and all of the other toys.Joshua doing a puzzle. Sometimes he needs a little assistance, but he does good for the most part.

Crazy Week...

2008-07-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I have been able to use this computer since last Thursday. Last Friday, Josiah Wendell, and a boy, Timmy, from his church came down. We had alot of fun. We grilled out and had a bomb fire. Then on Sat. the guys went on a boat trip that took alot LONGER than they expected. Then sat. night at about 12:30a.m. three more people arrived from our Corydon Church and they were all with us on sun. Josiah preached both services and did a very good job. Then we had a carry-in dinner. They all left Sun. night after the service and we were very sad to see them go. This past Mon. night started our VBS at church. Chris and I are doing it. Very stressful at times, but the Lord is helping and we are having a very good turn-out. Our last night service is Fri. and then we have our program on Sun. morning.

I do not have pictures to post right now, but I will at the end of the week. I do want to put on here some things the kids have said that was absolutely hilarious.

The other day, Joshua did something and I told him, in a very stern voice, to sit down on the couch. He looked at me and said, "Uh Oh!"

Then tonight Madelyn was in one of those moods, showing off about everything, messing with little things that she normally wouldn't. So finally I just thought I am going to ignore her and then she will stop. Well, she got my attention for on of her "acts" and I said, "I know I am ignoring you." She looked at my mom and said, "She is ignoring me and then she is going to spank my hind-end." I laughed so hard I thought I was going to cry.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

4th of July with family

2008-07-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, I hope everyone had a good 4th of July. We had lots of fun spending it with family. We did have a tire to go flat on our car so Chris spent a good 3-4 hours getting it fixed at Wal-mart. But that was the only down side of it. We went to Mom & Dad's for the 4th and had a cookout and then we stayed the night at their house and went to Rutland the next day to be with Chris' Dewhurst side of the family. The kids had alot of fun playing with their nana and pappy, and all of their cousins.

Here is Madelyn, Lincoln, and Riley. They are watching kids play some games at the Rutland 4th of July festival. Madelyn and Riley would not get out and play the games.
Madelyn did play one game and here she is.
Me, Joshua, and Lincoln. Lincoln is so cute. He loves to give hugs and kisses (but in a rough way) and Joshua doesn't really care for it. They are getting better with each other, but we are still not there yet. :)
This would be Jordan showing the younger kids a great trick. Hooray for us parents. All of the smaller kids love her to death.
My dad with Madelyn. She loves to go with Pappy to close the pool up where my dad works.

My dad with Joshua. My dad cannot go out the door unless he takes Joshua.
Madelyn and Riley cheesin' for the camera
Madelyn, Riley, and Aunt Robin.
I wanted all of the kids to sit beside Grandma, but obviously Riley and Joshua would not do it and we are also missing Lincoln. I think he was taking a nap.
My little princess in her patriotic outfit.

My mom with Madelyn and Joshua. They love to be in the kitchen with her when she is cooking. They are dragging out all of the stuff in her drawers.
Chris and Dad were chillin' while we were waiting for ice cream to be made.
Me and Joshua. He is so adorable. I call him my prince
The most wonderful thing. Homemade ice cream. Very Very yummy!! :)

Our 5th Anniversary

2008-07-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today is our 5th Anniversary! I have been happily married to a wonderful man for these past five years. Chris is a loving, caring, compassionate, long-suffering, forgiving,...I will stop there, but could go on and on. He is an amazing husband and father. Always making sure that we are taken care of. The kids always fight for his attention and I love seeing that. We are spending the day with family, but maybe we can go out for a meal next week before my next crew of visitors arrive next Thurs. for the whole weekend. Happy Anniversary my love! I love you with all of my heart. Thank you for choosing me to spend my life with you.

Catching up and Madelyn's 3yr. old pictures

2008-07-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

Well, it is Wednesday and we have been home for three days after being at youth camp and family camp for two whole weeks. We had alot of fun at youth camp with all of the teenagers and saw alot of victories. Tuesday night was our best service. God came on that service and we saw I believe 5 or 6 open and closed alter services. It was wonderful. Then of course we had a great family camp. Madelyn and Joshua had fun with all of their friends and uncles and aunts from South Dakota. Chris' family came in for camp and it was so wonderful to see and spend time with them again. Hopefully we will get to go out there in Sept. and see their new house they just moved into. I enjoyed the shopping day with my good friend Julie Sproles. It is a camp thing, we go shopping and go out to eat one day during camp. While the guys, keep the kids. :) I had alot of fun. It was good to spend time with you again Julie. Then it was alot of fun, (Ralph and Belinda) for us to be sent to bed by the guard. :) Anyways, it is good to be home even with all of the piles of laundry and mail. Anyone want to apply for a job? :) Hopefully everything will be caught up before the holiday weekend.

I have below Madelyn's 3yr. old pictures. She did very well. The scar on her left side above her eye is from her run-in with the paino bench, which had to be glued back together.(her forehead, not the bench) I did not post all of them. These are just my favorite ones.

This is my favorite one.

Happy 3rd. Birthday Madelyn!

2008-06-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

Madelyn has turned 3! Her actual birthday was on June 1st. And since we were out of town at that time, we decided to have her party this past weekend. She wanted a princess party. She got all kinds of things. Including a 12' trampoline with the enclosure from her great-grandpa on my side. She had a great birthday and it is really hard to believe that she is three. She is growing up so fast. I love her so much and thank the Lord for such a wonderful child.

This is her princess cake. It tasted just as wonderful as it looks. The lady that manages the office where my dad works, made this cake.
She was very happy about the crown and the sceptor. She looks so cute. 8-)
Some of the kids enjoying the bubbles from the great and wonderful bubble machine. I couldn't get a picture of all the kids at the same time. There were a few more pictures from her party that I wanted to post, but I was having problems getting them on here. Oh, well, we had a great time and she loved it. I will take a picture of the trampoline later and post it.

Back from our busy weekend

2008-06-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. It has been a very crazy weekend and crazy week so far. On this past Thurs. we loaded up and headed for Kentucky for Andrew Stroud and Sherilynn Stetler's wedding. With Chris and Andy being very very best friends forever, obviously Chris was in it and he was the best man. We had rehearsel Thurs. night, the wedding Fri. night, then we were up late visiting our best friends, Wesley and Shannon Webb, (whom we have not gotten to see for almost 3 yrs.) way up into the night. Sat. morning found us accidently oversleeping and we rushed out of there to head to Marion, IN. for Chris' cousin's, Derika Smith, wedding. That of course was only 15min. away from where we use to pastor in Fairmount, so we had lots of people to see. We got back home about 12:30 on Monday morning. We were very exhausted and just rested on Monday. Then on Wed. everything was going good and I heard Madelyn fall in the living room. Well, I didn't hear her cry so I didn't think anything about it. Until I heard the most horrible scream ever. I came running through the house and came into the living room and she sat by the piano bench with blood pouring down her face. She fell and hit her forehead on the corner of the bench and there was a very deep gash right above her left eyebrow. So we ended up in the ER. They glued it shut and it was a very rough (screaming) time. They wrapped her up tight in a sheet so she couldn't move and Chris and I had to hold her down. The worst part was the cleaning part. But we are over it now, she has quite the scar on her face. So now maybe we can get caught up from being gone and get ready for Madelyn's 3rd. birthday party this Fri. evening.

Madelyn and Joshua in the lobby at the hotel where we stayed for Andy's wedding.
Andy and Sherilynn (excuse the trophies in the back.) The wedding was gorgeous. They make such a beautiful couple.
A picture of the back of her dress. It was so beautiful.

A few random pictures

2008-05-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

My grandma came up this past week for a few days. It was alot of fun. It has been awhile since I had seen her and it was good to spend some time with her. While she was here, she wanted to have a little early birthday celebration for Madelyn since she was not going to be able to be here for her actual party. She got her a princess cake and bought her an outfit. Madelyn really enjoyed it.
Here is the princess cake. Madelyn was SOOOOOO excited!My grandma and Joshua. (by the way, she doesn't dye her hair)

Her and Madelyn. Madelyn didn't want to take a picture so we had to promise to buy her something if she would take a picture. :)

We had our Mother/Daughter Banquet last week, also. Sis. Nichols came and spoke to us and it was wonderful. We also had the privilage of her daugher, my friend, Stephanie and her grandkids, Kaitlynn and Allison. It is wonderful to see friends again. Here below are Madelyn and Kaitlynn. They are good friends, but can also be good enemies. :) They are both strong opionated people. Makes for an interesting relationship. Here is a little story. I'm not sure what happened, but last year at camp, Madelyn had pushed Kaitlynn to the ground, pulled her hair, and punched her in the face. Needless to say, Madelyn did get into trouble.

Me and my Mom.Me and my grandma.
Me and Stephanie.After the banquet, Madelyn and Kaitlynn wanted to ride this horse. They had a blast on it.

We went to a flea market and Joshua saw this tractor and wanted to play with it. I got a picture because I sure wasn't going to pay the price they had on it.

This is us with the Mitchell's when they were in Revival with us 2wks. ago. We had a wonderful time with them.
This would be the kid's new swingset. They enjoy it greatly and get alot of use out of it.

I've Been Tagged

2008-05-18T20:05:00.000-07:00

What was I doing 10 years ago: I would have been 13 years old. I was doing normal things that a girl at that age was doing. I also had a steady job of babysitting.

5 things to do today:
1. Pay bills
2. Do laundry
3. Make doctor appointments for me and Joshua
4. Get Madelyn's birthday party invitations ready
5. Clean out the fridge

Snacks I enjoy:
Dove dark chocolate candy bars,
Grapes
ANYTHING else that is chocolate.(Hey, I had to at least get a fruit in there.)

If I were a billionaire:
I would pay off alot of things.
Give money to our conference for our new campgrounds,
Get Chris a new car for all of his driving for school and work,
Get my kids some things that they need and want,
Help my brother out with his TLC trip.

Bad habits I have:
Not getting up early enough,
Not getting rid of some things (junk),
Getting stressed out over the small stuff, and putting things off that I really hate to do.

Places I have lived:
Bluefield, Va.
Bramwell, WVa
Nellis, WVa
Bluffton, IN
Tocsin, IN
Floyd, Va
Westfield, IN
Sheridian, IN
Fairmount, IN
Zaleski, OH (currently live) (I was a pastor's daughter, reason for so many places.)

Jobs I have had:
Babysitting
P.A. at a nursing home
C.N.A.
Sears Optical
House cleaning

5 more people I would like to know about:
I am not sure because all of my blogger friends have been hit.

A few funny things...

2008-05-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone. My life has been really hectic these past few days. It always seems that there is never enough time for all of the tasks that have to be done. Joshua is learning to say more words. He is my late talker. He started walking before Madelyn did, but she started talking way before he has. It is very funny to watch him, because he wants to talk so bad. He says, "light, this, that, sis, dad, mom, papaw," Madelyn - you never know what she is going to say next. I have really been trying to work with her on her manners and she has been doing really well. Last night at church she was sitting on my mom's lap and I was turned around talking to someone before church started. And Madelyn was wanting to say something to me so she said, "Excuse me Mom." and I held up my finger for her to wait just a minute. She kept saying it over and over. Finally she looked at my Mom and said, "I don't think she understands." Many times if she is acting bad, she will come up to me and say,"Mom, I'm sorry for being grouchy." Oh, I love them so much. I would not trade staying at home with them for anything. They are so precious. Here are a few pictures. We are in Revival this week with Rollin Mitchell. He and his wife are also doing the singing. It is going really good and have very much enjoyed his messages and their songs.

My two little ones in the bathtub.

My kids with Bro. Mitchell. They sat on his lap for a long time and he played with them.
This would be after church on Wed. night. I think maybe he is getting exhausted from Revival. He looks so cute here, though.
One more thing that Madelyn said. She has really been on this thing of the story of Joseph. And I wish she would get on another one, because I am really getting tired of telling this story over and over. It is getting so bad that she tells it along with me. Oh well, many times it is told as she is trying to take her nap. So I don't go through Joseph's whole entire life. I stop after his brothers sold him into slavery. Well, one day I was telling it and got to my stopping point and she said this in a squeky voice and with her finger moving like she is calling someone to her. She said,"Come here Joseph, let's do bad things." I was like where did that come from because I had never told her that part. Come to find out, Chris told her that part. She is so hilarious. Well, I hope to post some more pictures in the next day or two. But this week is hectic because of Revival. Hope everyone has a great week.

IHC Happenings and Home Happenings!

2008-04-22T21:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at IHC this year. I believe it was the best in a long time. Of course, My kids did not have a clue of what it was. Last year, Madelyn wasn't quite two and Joshua was just 3mo. old. Madelyn kept saying, "This is IHC!" She very much enjoyed the children's services and she was going to go up on stage, but decided she wasn't while walking to the platform. We got to spend time with Chris' mom and sibblings. It had been awhile since we had seen them, so that was very nice to be able to see them again. Then we got to see all of our friends and my "Blogger" friends. :) Now all day Tuesday I did laundry and cleaning up from having company all weekend. It has been wonderful days and the kids have enjoyed it. Here are a few pics from IHC and of family.

Madelyn with her friend, Brooklyn Sproles. They had alot of fun together.
Another picture of them together. I think this one is my favorite.
Of course Joshua who eats all the time could not even stop for the service. Madelyn just chillin'. I think she actually did not care for me taking her picture here.
Madelyn and her Aunt Heidi. We went to Wal-mart on Friday and as we were going in, there was a couple coming out with a turtle sandbox. Madelyn said, "Grandma Becky, I want a sandbox." So guess what, we came out with a turtle sandbox, five bags of sand, and sand toys (can't forget the coloring book either.) She enjoyed her Grandma Becky and misses her very much.This is our dog, Sadie Rose. She is five months old. A full-blooded golden retriever that has enough energy for 10 dogs. She knocks the kids down and makes a horrible mess of the yard. We finally had to go and get farm fencing and put it up down the center of our already fenced in yard so Sadie could have the back part and the kids, us and our guest could have the front part. It is sad for the dog right now, but until she can get her puppy stage out of her, sad to say she will be like this. Don't worry, She has PLENTY of room to run. We have a HUGE yard. We split it down the middle.

Here are the kids enjoying their new sandbox. They have played with it so much in the two days that we have had it already.

Monday night, Chris cooked us fried cabbage and sausage over the fire (we have a fire ring in our yard)Let me tell you, it was really really YUMMY!!!:)